Science

Astronomers have signalled the discovery of a planetary body roaming the Milky Way that is not gravitationally bound to the Sun or any other star. The entity is termed a free-floating planet, a class that embraces planetary mass bodies that are travelling in interstellar space independently. These bodies do not shine in a way that…

Artificial intelligence is easily the most deceptive technological innovation of the 21st century. Its ease of use and the lightning-fast reflexes with which it spits out responses belie its enormous appetite for water and energy.ChatGPT took the world by storm when it launched in late 2023, signalling an era of intelligence demand marked by seamless,…

Image credit: European Space Agency As you travel from the middle of Mars toward its northern regions, the landscape changes dramatically. In an area called Coloe Fossae, long shallow grooves stretch across deep valleys, scattered craters, and rocky terrain: evidence that this part of Mars was once shaped by ice.According to ‘Science Daily’, these features…

Mice have remained the focal point for life sciences research for the past several decades. Their universality in biomedicine lies in the fact that they present unparalleled insights into human biology. Their applicability to biomedicine can be attributed to genetic and anatomical similarities with the human body. Mice have played an invaluable role in translating…

Isro Chairman V Narayanan (File photo) BENGALURU: India’s space programme is beginning to look beyond rockets and orbits to a quieter, less visible frontier: data processing in space.Isro is studying the feasibility of establishing physical data centres in orbit for on-board processing and storage of satellite and communication data, the department of space (DoS) has…

Life on Earth relies upon an astonishingly short list of elements. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen compose the essential structure of all living things, trace amounts of metals like iron and calcium serving specific biological roles. But gold certainly cannot be one of them. This is why scientists were left aghast by the discovery of minute…

Lightning sits at the boundary between routine weather and sudden hazard. It appears briefly, illuminates a landscape, and vanishes before the eye adjusts, yet its physical effects persist in scarred trees, damaged wiring, and recorded injuries. Advances in detection now allow individual discharges to be tracked across wide regions, revealing patterns that were once invisible….

Some nights ask very little of you. You step outside, maybe for air or quiet, and something brighter than expected is already there. This January, that something is Jupiter. It does not flicker like a star or hurry across the sky. It sits, steady and pale, often close enough to the Moon to make people…

Neil deGrasse Tyson rejected moon-landing denial, citing physics, Saturn V calculations, and decades of independently studied lunar samples/ Screengrab YouTube Moon-landing denial remains a recurring feature of online culture, resurfacing whenever distrust in institutions collides with viral media. That dynamic played out again during a recent episode of the Impaulsive, where astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson…

People sometimes ask what would happen if the Sun suddenly exploded, often after seeing a dramatic film or picture online. It is an understandable question, especially for children, because the Sun feels permanent, like something that has always been there. Each morning it rises, warms the planet, and quietly shapes life without much attention. Yet…