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Sci-Five | The Hindu Science Quiz: On Printing 1 / 5 | What was the earliest known form of printing in ancient China, which involved cutting calligraphic texts into wooden blocks? Typography Xylography Lithography Engraving Around the 8th century, the Chinese had found a way of cutting calligraphic texts into wooden blocks that could be used to…
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Since I was a little boy, like many Bengalis of my generation, I have been obsessed with Satyajit Ray’s tales about the mythical scientist Professor Shonku. Among his other magical inventions are “Miracurall,” a drug that cures all illnesses except the common cold; “Annihillin,” a pistol that can exterminate any living thing; “Shonkoplane,” a small…
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The eggs of dengue and zika-carrying Aedes mosquitoes can endure extended periods without water, akin to plant seeds patiently waiting for germination in the absence of moisture. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi and the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) in Bengaluru have discovered the biochemical…
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ISRO successfully launched the Gaganyaan’s Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. | Photo Credit: ANI After the successful Test Vehicle-D1 (TV-D1) mission on October 21, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has lined up more test missions in the months ahead for the Gaganyaan programme. Upcoming tests include…
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The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science have uncovered how the stiffness of a cell’s microenvironment influences its form and function. The findings are expected to provide a better understanding of what happens to tissues during healing of wounds. Scar formation “Inefficient wound healing results…
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A long-exposure photograph of stars over the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in Ladakh. | Photo Credit: Akash Anandh The temperatures were subzero and freezing. The conditions were unforgiving. We were elated and thrilled being outdoors all night. At 4,300 metres above sea level, we felt it could have been the Everest Base Camp. In reality,…
An illustration shows how a landscape the size of Belgium located in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, would appear if the thick ice sheet covering it were lifted away. | Photo Credit: Stewart Jamieson, Durham University/Reuters Antarctica has not always been a desolate land of ice and snow. Earth’s southernmost continent once was home to rivers…
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This artist’s impression, not to scale, illustrates the path of a fast radio burst from the distant galaxy where it originated all the way to Earth, in one of the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms, in this handout picture obtained on October 20, 2023. | Photo Credit: Reuters Every day and night, hundreds of thousands…
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In 2021, there were more than 14 billion cellular devices in the world even though there were only 7 billion people. The ubiquity of these devices – but especially smartphones – has come to define the contemporary era together with climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and war. But for smartphones’ outsize mark on history, one essential…
Many tiny organisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses normally live on our bodies, and even inside us. These are called the microbiome. The large number of these organisms living in the gastrointestinal tract are collectively known as the gut microbiome. Increasingly the gut microbiome is recognised as playing a large part in health and disease, particularly relating…
Read More “Could gut fungi be linked to severe COVID? What to make of new research findings” »