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NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins evaluates the AstroRad vest onboard the International Space Station, July 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: 2s0ckz (CC BY-SA) Despite their best efforts to settle the moon and later Mars, humans may never become a spacefaring species, more than a few experts have said over the years. An important reason for this…
Imagine a classroom where you are given the space to explore and understand concepts on your own with the guidance of a teacher and the internet. Imagine the amount of knowledge which will open up if this non-traditional education style is adopted. That is exactly what Professor Sugata Mitra, a computer scientist and educational theorist,…
There is a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae. It comes in at least a hundred different forms, or serotypes, and lives in the tissue lining our nose and throat. S. pneumoniae is normally harmless. But when your body’s immune system becomes weaker, for example when you have a viral fever, these bacteria may invade your lungs…
Read More “A first step towards a universal vaccine against pneumonia, meningitis” »
The world needs more mega-science projects, said Director-General of CERN, Mark Thomson, during his visit to Mumbai on Monday (August 31, 2026) for the India premiere of ‘The Peace Particle’, a documentary on CERN. The documentary premiered at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. During the programme, Dr. Thomson also delivered an address titled ‘Particle…
Read More “CERN Chief in India: Why mega-science projects matter” »
Linguistics has a confession to make. It is just like you. It tells you that it is as emotional, messy, dynamic, strategic, and perfectly imperfect as any human being. Whatever you are, linguistics becomes. Why? Because linguistics watches you. It watches you with the same clinical precision of a surgeon. It watches you speak and…
The brain doesn’t always activate only those muscles needed for an activity. | Photo Credit: Vanessa Bumbeers/Unsplash — Akarsh A: People often make oddly tense facial expressions when putting eye drops in their own eyes because the activity significantly tasks the nervous system. To place a drop in your eye, you need to control yourself…
Read More “Why do people make odd facial expressions when self-administering eye drops?” »
A blue hawklet in Silent Valley National Park, Keralam, August 2016. | Photo Credit: Jee & Rani Nature Photography (CC BY-SA) In the imagination of children, flying holds a special place. Folded pieces of paper become airplanes ready to be launched, eager gazes follow soaring eagles, and dragonflies are the helicopters of their fantasies. Dragonflies…
Read More “Dragonflies are bellwethers of earth’s ecosystems” »
A striped hyena in Bhigwan, Maharashtra, August 2025. | Photo Credit: Tisha Mukherjee Thanks to its unusual appearance, preference for decaying meat, and nocturnal activities, the Indian striped hyena is a tragically misunderstood animal. Estimates suggest there are around 5,000 to 14,000 striped hyenas worldwide of which some 1,000 to 3,000 are in India —…
Read More “Striped hyenas help keep India clean, but remain misunderstood” »
India’s laboratories are expanding, research funding is growing, start-ups are emerging, and Indian researchers are increasingly contributing to scientific knowledge. Amid this expansion, who is preparing scientists to become leaders? A researcher may spend years mastering experimental techniques, analysing data, publishing papers, and writing research proposals. But when that researcher becomes a principal investigator, a…
Read More “How BODH is training India’s scientists to become better lab leaders” »
Each one of us has questions throughout our life. And we know the answers to only a few. Efforts of varying degrees go into getting the answer. We can ask our parents, teachers, friends, a book, an article, the internet or an expert who helps us find the answer. The process takes time, which means many failed attempts and a lot of reflections. But since 2023, we have a new answering…
Read More “AI can finetune our research if we can challenge it constantly” »