Many people fervently believe that coin tosses are random. The Indian men’s test cricket team captain Shubman Gill lost all five of his tosses against England this summer. The probability of such an event is only 3.1%, or one in 32, if winning or losing is assumed to be random. Some cricket enthusiasts realised then … Read more
The northeast monsoon has kicked in early this year, and at least four days sooner for the second year running, over Tamil Nadu. Last year, this phase of the monsoon ended with the State recording 33% more rain than the long-period average, and forecasters expect this year to go the same way as well. Historically, … Read more
Immunology has increasingly taken centerstage in modern biomedicine, powerfully capturing the popular imagination. From revolutionising vaccine development during the COVID-19 pandemic to yielding profound insights into autoimmune disorders and cancer treatment, immunological research now drives biomedical innovation more significantly than ever. The recent pandemic revealed immunology not as an esoteric branch of science but as … Read more
Baratang’s mud volcano in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. | Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons The samples collected from India’s only active mud volcano at Baratang in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands belong to the Oligocene age, which was around 23 million years ago, a Geological Survey of India (GSI) official said. The lithoclasts ejected from the … Read more
A artist’s depiction of the Chandrayaan 2 Lander Vikram on the Moon. Photo: YouTube/ISRO Official The Chandrayaan-2 mission, launched in 2019, has made the first-ever observation of the effects of the Sun’s Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on the Moon using its onboard scientific instruments, ISRO said on Saturday (October 18, 2025). This observation would help … Read more
In science and technology, as is the case in many other fields, progress often isn’t accomplished by one person acting in isolation. Renowned English polymath Isaac Newton probably summed this idea best in a letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke in 1675, when he stated that “If I have seen further [than others], it is … Read more
As the principal investigator in the phase III trials of the Rotovac vaccine to prevent rotavirus related gastroenteritis Gagandeep Kang is “very excited” with the publication of the results of a study that established the effectiveness of the vaccine, country wide. Currently director of the global health team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, responsible for enterics, diagnostics, epidemiology and genomics portfolio, Dr. Kang, in a previous position with the Christian … Read more
Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently has warned that the type of microbes in rice paddies can determine whether arsenic, a notorious carcinogen and plant toxin, builds up in rice grains and triggers drastic crop losses. The study has identified an important balance between arsenic-methylating bacteria, which convert inorganic arsenic … Read more
Edible palm weevil larvae (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) at a traditional food market in Puerto Francisco de Orellana, Ecuador. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto We depend on insects in many ways for producing food for the world’s population. They pollinate our crop plants, break down decaying plant and animal matter, and are natural pest controllers. We also … Read more
Nearly 80% of the world’s poorest, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards exacerbated by global warming, bearing a “double and deeply unequal burden,” the United Nations warned Friday (October . “No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and stronger climate change effects like droughts, floods, heat waves, and air … Read more