Science

A 190-feet wide asteroid is going to approach Earth soon and NASA has already announced its approach. To give you some perspective, the asteroid is larger than the Colosseum (157 feet) situated in Rome. According to the space agency, the asteroid will make its closest approach to our planet on Wednesday, June 8. It isn’t

For the first time, scientists have constructed simulations that directly mimic the whole life cycle of some of the greatest collections of galaxies discovered 11 billion years ago in the distant universe. Cosmological simulations are essential for understanding how the universe came to be the way it is today, but many of them do not

A new study based on asteroids that collided with Earth has given some of the turmoil a chronological frame. Astronomers believe asteroids have remained virtually unchanged since their genesis billions of years ago in the early solar system. However, not all asteroids stayed intact. Repeated collisions gradually robbed the insulating mantles of their iron cores,

Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture Blue Origin completed its fifth crewed launch on Saturday after a New Shepard rocket’s back-up system that had not met expectations delayed the voyage last month. Blue Origin’s fourth flight landed successfully in March in west Texas after taking six passengers for a 10-minute journey to the edge of space.

With an upgraded supercomputer and strategic modelling program, a team of geologists have successfully forecasted a volcanic eruption in the Sierra Negra volcano five months before it took place. The volcano forecasting modelling program was set up in 2017 by geology professor Patricia Gregg and her team. They installed the program on the Blue Water

NASA is set to launch a probe to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 10 that will monitor climate change on Earth. Named Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), this probe will study the composition of mineral dust from Earth’s arid regions and how the desert dust carried through the atmosphere affects the

In a step that may help achieve better network connectivity in the near future, scientists have developed a beam-steering antenna that enhances data transmission beyond 5G standards. This will give access to a range of frequencies for mobile communications that were earlier out of reach. With the size of an iPhone, the beam-steering antenna has

A team of international researchers from the US and the UK have received a grant of $750,000 to develop portable, rapid biosensors capable of detecting noroviruses and mycotoxins in foods and agricultural products. The researchers say noroviruses are the leading cause of foodborne illness globally and are highly contagious. They cause a pandemic every few

Making use of artificial intelligence, a team of scientists from the Boston College have shed light on the differences in the behaviour of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its link with neuroanatomy. Autism or ASD is a complicated condition that is characterised by difficulties with communication and behaviour including problems with social interaction,

Sony on Thursday said it formed a new company that will build and supply devices that allow small satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams, dipping into the fast-growing space sector. Sony Space Communications, registered on Wednesday, is meant to take advantage of laser technology to avoid a bottleneck of radio

Online travel firm MakeMyTrip on Thursday said it has partnered with Climes, a climate-tech startup backed by Sequoia, to introduce carbon neutralisation options when booking a flight through its platform. Flyers who booked tickets through MakeMyTrip will find an option to neutralise carbon emissions via a link on their e-ticket from June 5 — World Environment

Top NASA officials on Wednesday said the payload integration of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission has been completed in the US and it is expected to be shipped to India after testing for integration with the satellite and eventually with the launch vehicle. NISAR is a joint earth-observation mission between ISRO and the

In a first, researchers have been able to preserve and repair a human liver, which was considered too damaged for transplant, in a machine over three days and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient. Their success is set to have far-reaching consequences in the field of medicine as human livers for transplant

The Milky Way has millions of potentially liveable planets, with about four of them harbouring evil alien civilisations that would conquer Earth if they could, states a new study. The study, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet, asks an intriguing question — what are the chances that humans may one day come into touch with a

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which is scurrying Mars for signs of ancient life, completed record-breaking 25 flights in the tenuous atmosphere. When the tiny helicopter was sent to the one-way trip, along with its partner Perseverance rover, engineers had only planned for five flights. While space agencies usually set their goals conservatively to maximise their output,

Climate scientists at the United Nations believe it’s “now or never” to prevent catastrophic temperature rises and the disintegration of the climate systems that support life. Reports of bomb-like blizzards and scorching droughts provide a dreadful image of climate change’s potential reality. Huge climatic swings are nothing new, they have historically been extremely destructive. Moreover,

Most of us don’t like to wait at traffic signals till the light turns green to move past them. Sometimes, we try to bypass the signals and end up getting caught in the process, followed by paying a hefty fine. At times, this can also result in accidents. It’s true that waiting at the signal

Evolution is a continuous process by which species adapt to their changing environment. English naturalist Charles Darwin expanded this simplistic understanding to say that species evolve by way of natural selection, which leads to genetic changes in individuals that favour the survival and reproduction of the same traits. It also meant that various species originated

In a recent discovery, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet or a super-Earth that is four times the size of our planet. The exoplanet named Ross 508 b revolves around a red dwarf star called Ross 508. Although the star is located just 36.5 light-years away, it is too dim to be seen with naked eyes.

Ever wondered why watching someone yawn instantly triggers a similar urge in you to open your mouth? While scientists have understood the physiological purpose behind yawning, the reason why it is so contagious among social animals has kept them puzzled. According to Andrew Gallup, an evolutionary biologist from the State University of New York Polytechnic