Category: Science

Science

Right against climate change a distinct fundamental and human right, SC judgment

April 8, 2024 admin

The Supreme Court’s judgment noted that the right to a healthy environment, safe from the ill-effects of climate change, was a “fundamental human right”. File | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR The Supreme Court has recognised a much-felt, but less articulated right against the adverse effects of climate change as a distinct fundamental right in…

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What is the technology behind manufacturing a semiconductor chip? | Explained

April 8, 2024 admin

For representative purposes. | Photo Credit: iStockphoto The story so far: Semiconductor chip manufacturing capabilities are currently limited to very few regions in the world. With supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and recent geopolitical tensions, many companies and countries, including India, have realised the importance of investing in chip manufacturing infrastructure. The TATA group…

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How genetics is revealing skin colour biology is more than skin-deep

April 7, 2024 admin

Students of a school in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, wave at the camera, April 18, 2018. | Photo Credit: Church of the King/Unsplash Skin, with its wide spectrum of textures, hues, and histories, has long captivated the imagination of poets and storytellers. It has served as a canvas for the expression of beauty, identity, and cultural…

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Kerala researchers batting for better understanding of the flying mammal

April 6, 2024 admin

Participants at the training programme on bat research held recently at KFRI, Thrissur. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Myth, superstition, and zoonotic diseases such COVID-19 and the Nipah virus infection, have created a negative impression of bats. The fallout is that these nocturnal, flying mammals are losing their habitat and their numbers are falling. On…

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Over-reliance on smear microscopy for TB detection continues

April 6, 2024 admin

The proportion of molecular testing in 2023 has not increased compared with 2022 The presumptive TB testing rate in the country increased from 1,352 per lakh population in 2022 to 1,710 per lakh population in 2023. However, even two years before the 2025 deadline that the government has set to “eliminate” TB in India, only…

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Can large landslides be remotely detected in real-time?

April 6, 2024 admin

Now it is possible to remotely detect large landslides within minutes of occurrence and to quickly determine whether they are close to open water and present a tsunami hazard. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have devised a way to determine a landslide’s location, volume and potential impact. This might support the National Oceanic…

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Influenza A H5N1 detected in dairy cows in six States in the U.S.

April 6, 2024 admin

Avian influenza (bird flu) is a highly contagious viral infection that primarily affects birds. An emerging new lineage 2.3.4.4b of avian influenza has been spreading across the globe since late 2020, carried by migratory birds following specific routes. This panzootic has a significant effect on the avian population with disastrous consequences to the ecology and…

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Cracking the mystery of how the chemical origins of life formed

April 6, 2024 admin

Heat flows through cracks in rocks, such as those found in volcanoes or geothermal systems, can purify molecules relevant to the chemical origins of life, laboratory experiments described in a study published in the journal Nature reveal. The study offers an explanation for how the first building blocks of life may have formed from complex chemical mixtures. The…

Science

The Southern Ocean has the earth’s cleanest air — scientists finally know why

April 5, 2024 admin

The Southern Ocean is renowned for having the cleanest air on Earth. But the precise reasons why have remained a mystery, until now. Image for Representation. | Photo Credit: AP The Southern Ocean is renowned for having the cleanest air on Earth. But the precise reasons why have remained a mystery, until now. There’s more to it…

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A century after the EEG was discovered, it remains a crucial tool for understanding the brain

April 5, 2024 admin

Jena, Germany, 1924: Working in near-isolation and with painstaking tediousness, the psychiatrist Hans Berger observes rhythmic electrical activity from the scalp of human subjects. He is convinced the activity arises from within the brain and coins the term “electroencephalogram.” It is 10 years before the scientific community accepts Berger’s work, birthing the field of electroencephalography, or EEG for…

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