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This China National Space Administration (CNSA) handout image released by Xinhua News Agency, shows the lander-ascender combination of Chang’e-6 probe taken by a mini rover after it landed on the moon surface. | Photo Credit: AP China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned on Earth on June 25 with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far…
In a scene from The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015), a biopic of the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, G.H. Hardy (played by Jeremy Irons) asks Ramanujan (Dev Patel), “How did you know that theorem?” “It came to me,” Ramanujan says. The scene brought to life a famous aspect of Ramanujan’s mathematical prowess: he just knew the…
Read More “Could the key to how good we are at maths be hidden in our brains?” »
On March 4 this year, India stepped on the threshold of the second stage of its nuclear power programme when engineers started the core-loading process of the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at the Madras Atomic Power Station, Kalpakkam. While the first stage used uranium isotopes as nuclear fuel in pressurised heavy-water reactors to produce…
Read More “Nuclear study provides major update on plutonium isotope fission” »
Representative image. | Photo Credit: Adrian Swancar/Unsplash Around 4% of the world’s population has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). PTSD is often associated with war veterans, survivors of sexual violence and typically anybody who has lived through a life-threatening situation. They often experience anxiety, flashbacks,…
A team led by scientist Lal Ji Singh, discovered aerial stem-parasitic flowering plant species Dendrophthoe longensis from the Long Islands of middle Andamans. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Indian botanists and researchers have discovered two new species of plants from two bio-geographic hotspots of the country the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Arunachal Pradesh. While…
Read More “Two biogeographic hotspots in India yield two new plant discoveries” »
The winged vehicle, Pushpak, was released from an Indian Air Force Chinook Helicopter at an altitude of 4.5 km. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completed the third Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Landing Experiment (LEX) on June 23 at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka. This is the…
In the history of toys, there haven’t been many that have met the craze and frenzy created by the Hula-Hoop. | Photo Credit: Andrew David Newdigate / flickr When do you grow up? Is it when you become tall enough that you can reach the highest shelves, even fetching stuff for others in the household…
A new study presents video evidence that at least one species of terrestrial leech can jump, behaviour that scientists have debated for more than a century, published the footage and corresponding analysis in the journal Biotropica. During two separate expeditions to Madagascar in 2017 and in 2023, lead author Mai Fahmy, a postdoctoral researcher at Fordham University…
Read More “First conclusive evidence that a terrestrial leech species can jump” »
A new study has found that chimpanzees appear to consume plants with medicinal properties to treat their ailments. The researchers combined behavioural observations of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with pharmacological testing of the potentially medicinal plants they eat. They monitored the behavior and health of 51 chimpanzees in the Budongo Central Forest Reserve in Uganda…
Read More “Do wild chimpanzees seek out medicinal plants to treat illness and injuries?” »
Health appears to improve when one listens to music The annual world music day was held on June 21, 2024. It is an occasion to look back at how music and rhythm have evolved from ancient times. As the study by Hattori and Tomonaga points out, when a rhythmic piece was played to a group of…