Category: Science

Patient data, including medical records and patient experiences, are essential for scientists to develop new treatments, especially for rare diseases. The data help identify diagnostic biomarkers, predict disease progression, and help investigators design better clinical trials. This is important because clinical trials are required to show that a new treatment is safe and effective before…

Read More “Taking a leaf out of Amul’s textbook to help rare-disease patients” »

When lightning strikes, it superheats the air around it and creates a shock wave that we hear as thunder. But thunder doesn’t just travel through the atmosphere to our ears. When that energy reaches the ground, some of it is converted into seismic waves that ripple through the soil and rock beneath. The resulting vibrations…

Read More “Using thunderquakes to X-ray earth – a new study shows urban seismology in action” »

A villager carries a bottle of spring water after collecting it at Gunung Batur village, Indonesia, on July 17, 2026, after struggling to access groundwater at their homes in part due to the impact of El Nino, which has brought a prolonged dry season and triggered extreme drought. | Photo Credit: AFP This year’s El…

Read More “U.K. forecasts ‘biggest’ El Nino will smash records, spark hottest year” »

A view of a collapsed building in Iskenderun, Türkiye, following the February 2023 earthquake. | Photo Credit: Çağlar Oskay/Unsplash — S. Prakash, Tiruchi The processes that produce earthquakes happen deep underground. These processes include stress building up in rocks and faults and the complex ways in which they transmit or release it. Faults may also…

Read More “Why are earthquakes hard to predict? Can AI make it better?” »

Narwhal whales live in social groups called pods and live in the Arctic ocean. Its males have a tusk. narwhal. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Narwhal tusk is unique thanks to its double twist The narwhal tusk is nature’s sole straight tusk, and scientists know how it gets its left-handed twist. X-ray images of the…

Read More “Science Snapshots: August 23, 2026” »

On August 23, India marked its third National Space Day, three years since the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lunar lander ‘Vikram’ touched down in the moon’s south pole region. Between then and Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace launching India’s first privately built rocket to orbit, India has actually come a long way — even as it is also just…

Read More “Global space norms find a firm footing in India’s new re-entry rules” »

A ban restricts access, but it does not fix the environment around the child. For teenagers building their sense of autonomy, that restriction in itself can cause harm |Image used for representational purpose only | Photo Credit: AFP Ask a sixteen-year-old about a social media ban, and you get an answer sharper than most adults…

Read More “The science behind social media bans, and why they don’t work” »