The Voyager 1 spacecraft was 25 billion km away in February, somewhere in the outer edge of the solar system. It’s the farthest a human-made spacecraft has gone from the earth. The hope is that in the distant future, a human astronaut will be able to go where Voyager 1 has been — a journey … Read more
The Central government’s plans in the Nicobar Islands, especially land taken over for deforestation, will affect the native Shompen tribe, which needs forests for its livelihood. | Photo Credit: Public domain The famous tree crusader and tree lover Shri ‘Vanajeevi’ Ramaiah who passed away last month was a firm believer that trees are vital for … Read more
Fishers venture out to fish in mechanised boats in Mandapam North Sea, June 16, 2023, after the end of the 61-day fishing ban. | Photo Credit: Balachandar L./The Hindu The total allowable catch (TAC) is a limit on the total quantity of fish that fishers can catch in a particular area. It’s usual for agencies … Read more
Representative image. An American man named Timothy Friede has subjected himself to more than 200 snakebites and 700 injections of venom over 18 years. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto For millennia, there have been stories of people who tried to make themselves immune to poison by regularly ingesting small, non-lethal doses of it. The practice … Read more
Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus set to plunge to earth half-century after failed launch
Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size – from the straw-like beak of a hummingbird to the slicing, knife-like beak of an eagle. We have found, however, that this incredible diversity is underpinned by a hidden mathematical rule that governs the growth and shape of beaks in nearly all living birds. What’s more, … Read more
G.S. Vaitheeswaran | Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT G.S. Vaitheeswaran from University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) School of Physics has been elected as a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry for his contributions to understanding the electronic structure of solids, particularly in the field of energetic materials. The fellowship will enable Prof Vaitheeswaran to expand … Read more
The Science Quiz: Mathematical puzzles 1 / 6 | Visual: Name the game whose starting setup is shown here. The point is to move the entire stack of disks to another pole, one at a time, but at no point allowing a larger disk to sit atop a smaller one. 2 / 6 | Pick … Read more
Ever hear about a fantastical yarn featuring Manchester United being down in 14th place in the Premier League yet somehow standing proud at 3-0 up a mere quarter-way through a major European semi-final, against a 10-man Athletic Bilbao who already appeared cooked? Before kick-off here the answer would be no – of course. But, by … Read more
The Large Hadron Collider has been responsible for astounding advances in physics: the discovery of the elusive, long-sought Higgs boson as well as other new exotic particles, possible hints of new forces of nature, and more. Located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the border of France and Switzerland, the LHC is … Read more