Science

The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially terminated cooperation with Russia on a mission to put a rover on Mars, with Russia’s space chief furiously responding by banning cosmonauts on the ISS from using a Europe-made robotic arm. The ESA had previously suspended ties on the joint ExoMars mission, which had planned to use Russian

The James Webb Space Telescope offered a never-seen-before glimpse in the deep dark depths of the universe in high-resolution photos released by American space agency NASA this week. It filled the hearts of space enthusiasts with joy and the scientists who created it with hope that the world’s most powerful telescope will help them unravel

NASA officials gathered today to unveil first full-colour images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful orbital observatory ever launched. The first batch of full-colour, high-resolution pictures, which took weeks to render from raw telescope data, were selected by NASA to provide compelling early images from Webb’s major areas of inquiry and a preview of science missions ahead.

Whether to spend money on outer space exploration or to apply it to solve serious problems on Earth, like climate change and food shortages, is a contentious debate. But one argument in favour of space exploration highlights benefits that do, in fact, help study, monitor and address serious concerns like climate change and food production.

Digging deeper through laboratory experiments and computer simulations, researchers at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich have proposed a new theory on the formation of the Earth. In their study, researchers developed models to demonstrate how planets formed in our solar system and shed light on their composition. “The prevailing theory in astrophysics and cosmochemistry

India needs to work on the artificial intelligence mechanism “extremely carefully” and it must be ready to face legal, ethical, political and economic upheaval that may follow due to this technology, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday. “We have to use artificial intelligence (AI) for humanity’s progress and peace. It should not be the

Paving the way for the fabrication of artificial hearts, bioengineers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have successfully created a biohybrid model of human ventricles. The fabrication of a human heart is crucial as a heart cannot repair itself after injuries like other organs. But, to do so,

Researchers have found that certain drugs used for treating ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) could help deal with the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. In a new study, researchers analysed how noradrenergic drugs, used in ADHD patients, can also be used for treating Alzheimer’s. These drugs tend to target the noradrenergic system which has locus coeruleus, a

A group of scientists have identified that the fossil records of yunnanozoans, an extinct creature that lived 518 million years ago in the Cambrian Period, are the oldest known stem vertebrates. Stem vertebrates refer to creatures that were vertebrates, i.e. possessing a spinal column, but have now gone extinct though have closely related living vertebrates.

NASA said Friday the first cosmic images from the James Webb Space Telescope will include unprecedented views of distant galaxies, bright nebulae, and a faraway giant gas planet. The US, European, and Canadian space agencies are gearing up for a big reveal on July 12 of early observations by the $10 billion (roughly Rs. 79,330 crore) observatory,

Scientists have managed to determine one of the biggest mysteries in recent astrophysics – the formation of quasars in the early universe. These cosmic entities were first spotted in 2003, and soon after, over 200 quasars were identified by supermassive black holes. These 200 quasars had formed within the first billion years after the formation

Elon Musk said Thursday that he was helping combat falling birth rates after it was reported that he had twins last year with an executive at one of his companies. “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” tweeted the billionaire tech entrepreneur, who has fathered 10 children. “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest

Detroit airport in the United States recently added a futuristic information board that shows travellers personalised information about their flight. The “Parallel Reality” board, currently in its beta stage, has been developed by Misapplied Sciences in collaboration with Delta Airlines. As per a release by the airline, the screen caters to up to 100 people

Space travel company Virgin Galactic on Wednesday said it had reached an agreement with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build two new air launch carrier aircraft for its spaceships. These new motherships will replace Virgin Galactic‘s existing carrier plane — the VMS Eve built by Scaled Composites — with the first of the new

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) — the modular space station orbiting the Earth — conducted experiments on Tuesday to explore space physics, artificial intelligence, the human nervous system, and the effect of microgravity on the human body in space. Conditions in space, such as zero gravity, allow astronauts the ability to explore phenomena

A newly discovered star takes only four years to travel around the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. In the vicinity of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy is a densely packed cluster of stars. This cluster, called the S cluster, is home to well over a hundred stars that

Researchers have developed new lithium-ion batteries that perform well at both freezing cold and scorching hot temperatures while packing a lot of energy. The batteries, described in the journal PNAS, could allow electric vehicles in cold climates to travel farther on a single charge. They could also reduce the need for cooling systems to keep

A satellite the size of a microwave oven successfully broke free from its orbit around Earth on Monday and is headed toward the moon, the latest step in NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface again. It’s been an unusual journey already for the Capstone satellite. It was launched six days ago from

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, have designed an affordable ‘radiative cooler’ coating material, an alternative to air-conditioning system that needs no electricity to operate. According to officials, this material is an electricity-free cooling system as it can be applied on the rooftops, and functions both during day and night time to provide

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the world’s first full-scale planetary defence test against potential asteroid impacts on Earth. Researchers now show that instead of leaving behind a relatively small crater, the impact of the DART spacecraft on its target could leave the asteroid near unrecognisable. A giant asteroid impact on the Earth