Smart Irrigation Plan can save 10-30% of irrigation water in drought-prone regions: IIT Bombay research

Image for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan   The researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM Pune) have developed a Smart Irrigation Plan to save 10-30% of irrigation water in drought-prone regions, combining weather forecasts, satellite soil moisture data, … Read more

Spare live animals, move to biological models

‘Conducting experiments on laboratory-grown anatomical parts would also help the development of the nascent field of tissue-engineering or regenerative medicine’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto As human beings are superior to animals, and as animals instinctively rely on the benevolence, goodwill, and protective nature of man, we must fulfil our obligation to treat our fellow … Read more

Telescopes spot start of planet formation in Orion

HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation, as imaged by ALMA. | Photo Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. When rocky worlds like the earth began to form, dust in the young Solar System was first heated until it vaporised and then cooled so that the very … Read more

Trump’s Golden Dome looks for alternatives to Elon Musk’s SpaceX

The U.S. Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon.com’s Project Kuiper and big defence contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX’s dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on … Read more

Where is the centre of the universe?

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data collected from September 3, 2003, to January 16, 2004. | Photo Credit: NASA, ESA A:The universe has no top, bottom or middle and no centre either. Scientists know today that the … Read more

A beetle-fungi combo threatens plantations in rubber capital Kerala

Rubber plantations in Kerala have been under threat since a beetle-fungus alliance has been attacking trees, causing severe leaf fall and rapid drying. Researchers at the Kerala Forest Research Institute in Thrissur recently identified the parasite to be the ambrosia beetle (Euplatypus parallelus). In their new study, published in Current Science, the beetle has been … Read more

Surprised to observe the pace with which our body can adjust to new settings, says astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Axiom-4 crew assisted out of the Dragon Spacecraft onto the recovery vehicle, after their return to earth from the International Space Station 18 days later, on Tuesday. Photo: Axiom Space/ YouTube Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is undergoing a week-long rehabilitation programme to mitigate any adverse effect of … Read more

The workings behind television screens

After a few months of a hectic summer, the rains are here. The IIT Kanpur campus is green and nature’s colours abound once more. With monsoon, however, comes alive the age-old tradition as well: Sunday evenings of guilt-free laziness, together with the music of the rain’s patter, a Bollywood classic on the TV, and some … Read more

India’s water, energy demand spotlight risk of human-induced quakes

Earthquakes are usually natural — but not always. Sometimes some natural factors can combine with human activities to lead to earthquakes as well. Quakes induced by human activities are called human-induced earthquakes. According to one estimate researchers discussed in Seismological Research Letters in 2017, more than 700 human-induced earthquakes have been recorded around the world … Read more

NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite to be launched on July 30: ISRO

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), the first joint satellite of the Indian and U.S. space agencies, will be launched by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on July 30 at 5.40 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. | Photo Credit: RAGHUNATHAN SR The … Read more