Category: Science

Science

Scientists search for a female partner for world’s ‘loneliest’ plant

June 21, 2024 admin

E. woodii is a member of the cycad family, heavy plants with thick trunks and large stiff leaves that form a majestic crown. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons “Surely this is the most solitary organism in the world,” wrote palaeontologist Richard Fortey in his book about the evolution of life. He was talking about Encephalartos woodii (E. woodii), a plant…

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The mysterious fate of the Neanderthal Y chromosome

June 21, 2024 admin

Neanderthals, the closest cousins of modern humans, lived in parts of Europe and Asia until their extinction some 30,000 years ago. Genetic studies are revealing ever more about the links between modern humans and these long-gone relatives – most recently that a rush of interbreeding between our species occurred in a relatively short burst of…

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Climate change has made the Hajj pilgrimage more risky

June 21, 2024 admin

Muslim pilgrims gather at the top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, June 15, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP Each year, millions of Muslims from across the world embark on the Hajj…

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Australia’s enigmatic pink sand was born in Antarctic mountains: new research

June 21, 2024 admin

In parts of South Australia, long stretches of beach are often blanketed in large patches of pink sand. Strong swells can dump drifts of reddish grains of garnet along the shore – but the origin of these colourful crystals has until now been a mystery. Garnet is rare in beach sand, as it is destroyed…

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World’s oldest termite mounds found in South Africa, storing carbon for millennia

June 21, 2024 admin

Image for Representation. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The landscape along the Buffels River in South Africa’s Namaqualand region is dotted with thousands of sandy mounds that occupy about 20% of the surface area. These heuweltjies, as the locals call them (the word means “little hills” in Afrikaans), are termite mounds, inhabited by an underground network of…

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Remembering Dhirendra Sharma, quintessential dissenter and academic-activist

June 21, 2024 admin

A photograph of Dhirendra Sharma (right) holding hands with A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement With the passing away of Professor Dhirendra Sharma (1932-2024) in Dehradun this week, a highly contested and sensational chapter in the history of nuclear technology development in India has ended. Prof. Sharma was the first intellectual to publicly…

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Solar can provide 20% of world electricity on northern summer solstice, thinktank says

June 21, 2024 admin

People watch the sun rise, as they take part in the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Friday, June 21, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP The world has enough solar power capacity to generate a fifth of its midday peak electricity needs on the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, up from…

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The Science Quiz | A brief history of the earth

June 21, 2024 admin

Questions: 1. In the earth’s first geologic aeon, the moon was created, in the process also laying the groundwork for an atmosphere rich in hydrogen, water vapour, and carbon dioxide. This period is named for a famous Greek god. Name it. 2. Some 720-630 million years ago, the Cryogenian period immediately followed another billion-year-long period…

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IISc designs device to make infrared light visible, with diverse applications in defence and optical communications

June 20, 2024 admin

The Indian Institute of Science team used a 2D material to design what they call a non-linear optical mirror stack to increase or up-convert the frequency of short infrared light to the visible range, combined with widefield imaging capability. | Photo Credit: File Photo Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have fabricated a…

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Sci-Five | The Hindu Science Quiz: On Dormancy

June 20, 2024 admin

Updated – June 20, 2024 05:46 pm IST Published – June 20, 2024 05:30 pm IST Sci-Five | The Hindu Science Quiz: On Dormancy 1 / 5 | The dormant state a bear goes during cold weather into to conserve energy is called ____________. Hibernation Brumation Aestivation Homeostasis Hibernation is a voluntary state an animal…

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