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The ‘breakup’ of a water stream into droplets is not caused by external noise or dysfunctional nozzles but by “thermal capillary waves,” physicists have found. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Why is the leaky faucet – that most irksome domestic malaise – so universal? Perhaps its scourge may be behind us now as a new scientific…
Read More “Why do faucets drip even when you close them tight?” »
Nuclear activities worldwide generate around 200,000 m3 of radioactive waste every year. Of this about 10,000 m3, less than 5% by volume but containing most of the radioactivity, needs deep, long-term geological storage in the form of geological disposal facilities (GDFs). These caverns purpose-built hundreds of metres underground are packed with waste containers, cement backfill,…
Read More “Low-pH cements could let microbes seal cracks in deep nuclear vaults” »
“Wastelands”. That’s how India’s biodiverse semi-arid grasslands and savannas have been undervalued ever since the British colonial era. For the masters, the woody forests of the subcontinent fuelled industrialisation, while the grassy biomes served no purpose in their timber-driven colonisation. Much of post-independence policy and jurisprudence drew heavily from the erstwhile rulers and “wastelands” made…
Read More “World Soil Day: Grassland soils, not trees, anchor India’s climate resilience” »
Helical paths are everywhere in the microscopic realm. Many bacteria and parasites don’t simply swim or glide in straight lines. In three dimensions, they trace corkscrew-like tracks through their surroundings. Malaria parasites, for example, glide through soft 3D gels and, in the skin of a bitten host, on paths that look like stretched springs. For…
Read More “Malaria parasites corkscrew their way deeper through skin” »
Edible insects are part of traditional foods from southeast Asia (Image used for representational purposes) | Photo Credit: Getty Images The Science Gallery in Bengaluru unveiled its year-long exhibition, Calorie, earlier this year. Through art installations, workshops and interactive games, the exhibition explores our relationship with food, nutrition and agriculture. Now as part of Calorie,…
Albert Einstein couldn’t admit Niels Bohr’s argument that uncertainty is an inalienable part of nature. | Photo Credit: Image created with ChatGPT In the 1920s, Albert Einstein proposed a twist on the double-slit experiment. Rather than a wall with two fixed slits, he imagined a very light slit that would recoil when a single photon…
Read More “One-atom experiment settles Einstein’s challenge in Bohr’s favour” »
Science quiz: The natural artists called minerals Visual: This photo shows various minerals displaying ____________. Fill in the blank with the name of a phenomenon where they absorb UV light and reemit it as visible light. START THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | This photo shows various minerals displaying ____________. Fill in the blank with…
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It is possible to build a temporary reality sans noise. | Photo Credit: Freepik Our reality is a yes, yippie one for noise. We are always swimming in it. Sound waves pervade our atmosphere and a certain portion of those sound waves are what we refer to as noise (Sounds change into its alter ego…
In August 2008, Bihar experienced one of the worst floods in nearly five decades when the Kosi River breached its embankment at Kusaha in Sunsari district of Nepal, killing more than 400 people and displacing thousands. A staggering 33 lakh people were affected at the peak of the flood in Bihar. Indeed, the Kosi River…
Read More “How the Kosi’s shifting course exposes the perils of embankments” »
Anxiety changes how you pay attention to bodily sensations. | Photo Credit: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash When you’re nervous or scared, your body enters its fight-or-flight mode, controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Adrenaline levels rise, your heart races, palms sweat, and blood flow and muscle tone are redistributed to prepare you to act. Your bladder and…
Read More “Why do we feel the need to go to the bathroom when we’re nervous or scared?” »