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On August 7, Vinesh Phogat was set to become the first Indian woman to compete in a wrestling finals at the Olympics. At the 2024 games in Paris, she had defeated defending Olympic champion Yui Sasaki (Japan) and European and Pan-American champions Oksana Livach (Ukraine) and Yusneylis Guzman (Cuba) in that order, guaranteeing herself at…
Read More “Vinesh Phogat versus the perplexing biochemistry of losing weight” »
Personal care products (PCP) like face washes and shower gels in India contain a significant amount of harmful microplastics, new research has revealed. According to a study published in the Emerging Contaminants journal and led by Riya K. Alex, a third-year Ph.D Scholar at the Cochin University of Science and Technology, polyethylene (or polythene, PE)…
Read More “New research finds abundant microplastics in personal care products available in India” »
File photograph used for representational purposes only | Photo Credit: REUTERS India has developed its own home-grown RT-PCR testing kit for Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). The IMDX Monkeypox Detection RT-PCR Assay, developed by healthcare services company Siemens Healthineers, has received manufacturing approval from the Central Protection Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). On August 14,…
Anand Kumar, managing director, Indian Immunologicals Limited, at the company’s facility in Hyderabad | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Hyderabad-headquartered vaccine manufacturer Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL), in partnership with Griffith University, Australia has developed a needle-free intra-nasal booster vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, a press release from the company stated. The company said the live-attenuated booster has been…
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule sits on Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Polaris Dawn Mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, August 26, 2024. The mission crew will carry out the first ever private spacewalk. | Photo Credit: AFP SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission is poised to…
Read More “SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission: Who are the astronauts doing the spacewalk?” »
The story so far: On August 24, NASA said Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule that took astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS), as part of its first crewed test flight, wasn’t safe enough to transport them back. Instead, NASA extended Williams’s and Wilmore’s stay onboard the ISS until February 2025,…
Read More “What does spaceflight do to the human body? | Explained” »
You’ve developed a minor cold. You heard there’s something going around, maybe a virus? Or maybe it’s just an allergy. You want to play it safe and maybe get the medicines you need before the cold gets worse. So you make an appointment with a clinic for the next day. When you get there, the…
Read More “The simple medical tools of an OPD visit | Explained” »
That lunchtime staple, the humble ham sandwich, has come in for a bashing in the press recently. According to many reports, eating two slices of ham a day can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But what’s the science behind these headlines? The research offers a more complex picture. A new study from…
The first 10,000 mpox vaccines are finally due to arrive next week in Africa, where a dangerous new strain of the virus – which has afflicted people there for decades – has caused global alarm. The slow arrival of the shots – which have already been made available in more than 70 countries outside Africa…
Read More “Why mpox vaccines are only just arriving in Africa after two years” »
Gopichand Thotakura celebrates successful mission to space. | Photo Credit: Blue Origin India’s first civilian space tourist Gopichand Thotakura returned to the country on Monday (August 26, 2024) to witness a warm welcome in New Delhi. He has set the record of being the second-ever Indian citizen to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma, a…
