Category: Science

The colorful trompo on a brown background With just a flick of the wrist, a spinning top balances on its tiny tip, seemingly defying gravity. This dance of physics introduces us to the concept of angular momentum, a force that keeps it upright and steady. The physics of spin To understand the magic behind a…

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The story so far: The air quality in the national capital has been struggling to recover from the lows to which it dropped right after Deepavali despite the implementation of GRAP stage IV measures, the active intervention of the Supreme Court, and stop-gap measures by the Delhi government. Many fingers are currently pointed at the…

Read More “The discrepancy between satellite data of farm fires and air pollution | Explained” »

Imagine yourself in a mathematics class. The teacher is working out a problem on the board, and deftly arrives at an answer and starts explaining it to the class. Even while they were at it, you noticed that a mistake had been committed along the way, thereby arriving at an erroneous answer. Would you raise…

Read More “The first recorded observation of the transit of Venus” »

Researchers have discovered that in a foraging ant’s search for food, it will leave pheromone trails connecting its colony to multiple food sources when they are available, successfully creating the first model that explains the phenomenon of trail formation to multiple food sources. Foraging for resources is an essential process for the daily life of…

Read More “How do ants selectively travel to the food source that is the shortest distance from their nests?” »

HPV 16 and HPV 18 are responsible for about 70% of cervical cancers A population-based observational study from 1988 to 2016 in Scotland has found zero cervical cancer cases in women who were fully vaccinated with a HPV vaccine when they were 12-13 years of age. The HPV immunisation programme began in Scotland in 2008….

Read More “Scotland: zero cervical cancer cases among women vaccinated early” »

For the first time, scientists have directly measured the hearing range of minke whales, discovering that the species can detect high-frequency sounds as high as 90 kilohertz (kHz), according to a new study, demonstrating hearing sensitivity far greater than previously believed. The findings suggest that baleen whales — the planet’s largest mammals — may be even more impacted by…

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Viral RNA titers significantly increased in milk over time and remained high in the mammary gland tissue During 2020, the highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus of clade 2.3.4.4b emerged and rapidly spread across many parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. In 2021-2022, the 2.3.4.4b clade of H5N1 first spread to North America and then…

Read More “Study shows fatal spread of H5N1 virus from ferrets to suckling kits” »

Black dust coats streets and collects on rooftops in the neighbourhood adjoining a sprawling cement factory in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Activists and local residents accuse the plant operated by the Alexandria Portland Cement Company (APCC), a subsidiary of Greece’s Titan Cement, of fouling the air by burning coal. “Every night, we see particles…

Read More “How big fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad | Explained” »

Representative image showing a ship off the coast of Kochi, Kerala, September 16, 2021. | Photo Credit: Anil Xavier/Unsplash Several ships in Singapore and Rotterdam reported operational problems in recent months after using marine fuel blended with cashew nutshell liquid biofuel, fuel testing agency CTI-Maritec said in an advisory on Thursday. Singapore-based CTI-Maritec said it…

Read More “Cashew nutshell marine biofuel causes problems for some ships: testing agency” »