Science

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

Ever since NASA confirmed the presence of water on the moon, a number of researches have been conducted to understand the source of water on the surface. And, now, a new research has suggested a very unlikely source for this water. It stated that the presence of water on the Earth’s closest neighbour could be

Global warming is posing an existential threat to the Siberian tundra, the frozen lands near the Arctic Circle, researchers have said in a new study. The researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, prepared a computer simulation of how global warming could affect the tundra — a special ecosystem consisting

As we age, the retention power of our memory often degrades. This makes performing everyday tasks difficult. It gets very difficult to remember things. For instance, elderly people could forget by afternoon what they ate for breakfast. They may even find it difficult to recall a conversation they had with someone. One key brain region

Coral reefs hide within them several secrets that are difficult for scientists to record and study. Experts must do rigorous analyses to determine reef health based on sound recordings because coral reefs have a complex soundscape. Now, in a new research, artificial intelligence (AI) can track the health of coral reefs by learning the “song

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the USA’s space agency, has conducted several probes and expeditions over the years to find answers to several hidden answers. In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to fly across the solar system and give humanity unprecedented access to the world far away from us. On each

Black holes are thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies, including our Milky Way, holding important clues to the functioning of these giants. A group of researchers has now found a previously overlooked trove of massive black holes in dwarf galaxies. Black holes are usually detected when they actively grow by consuming gas

On August 15, 1977, a mysterious ‘Wow!’ signal had briefly blared through a radio telescope that lasted for 72 seconds. Now, almost half a century later, researchers may have discovered the source of the alleged alien broadcast. A study recently published on May 6 indicates that the signal likely came from a Sun-like star located

Artificial intelligence or AI algorithms trained on real astronomical observations speed up the pace of discoveries. However, astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered that AI can reveal unsuspected connections hidden in complex mathematics arising from general relativity — in particular, how that idea is applied to the discovery of new planets around other

For many people around the world, watching television has long been a favourite pastime. But if you’re watching television for long periods of time, it’s time to reconsider your daily routine. According to a new study, watching TV for lengthy durations can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, regardless of one’s genetic composition. The

An international group of astronomers has revived an alternative gravity theory, known as Milgromian Dynamics or MOND. A majority of astronomers agree that there’s something out there, called a ‘dark matter’, which causes spiral galaxies to rotate faster than they should. If we follow the rules of physics, galaxies rotate so quickly that they should

A mirror world is a common trope in fantasy and fiction, but it may also be the answer to one of Space’s biggest mysteries today. A group of scientists behind a new research paper suggest that a “mirror world” of particles that remains unseen from us may be the answer to the Hubble Constant problem.