Science & technology

The Indian Space Research Organisation wants to make the ambitious manned mission Gaganyaan “more and more” indigenous by utilising the facilities available in the country, ISRO Chairman K. Sivan said here on Thursday. “In order to meet the Prime Minister’s (Narendra Modi) vision (of sending humans to space) by 2022, …

Workhorse launch vehicle PSLV C-43 injects Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite into space Nearly three minutes after lift-off on Thursday, India’s workhorse launch vehicle, the PSLV, carrying 31 satellites on board soared in a trajectory crossing the path of the Sun and sped to inject India’s Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS), …

The Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander’s sensors are set to undergo a crucial test in the next few days as the mission races towards a planned take-off in around two months.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to fly the sensors on an aircraft over its artificial lunar site at Challakere to …

The number of cases of the killer disease climbed by 2 million to 219 million in 2017 The World Health Organisation on Monday said global efforts to fight malaria have hit a plateau as it reported there were more cases of the killer disease in 2017 than the previous year. …

India has picked Russia’s Igla-S missile system as the choice for the Army’s multibillion dollar contract for man-portable air defence systems, officials said on Monday. “The Igla-S bid from Rosoboronexport of Russia has been declared the L1 in the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) deal,” said a defence official …

The number of cases of the killer disease climbed by 2 million to 219 million in 2017 The World Health Organisation on Monday said global efforts to fight malaria have hit a plateau as it reported there were more cases of the killer disease in 2017 than the previous year. …

India has picked Russia’s Igla-S missile system as the choice for the Army’s multibillion dollar contract for man-portable air defence systems, officials said on Monday. “The Igla-S bid from Rosoboronexport of Russia has been declared the L1 in the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) deal,” said a defence official …

Con artists edit bank details, get customers to share PINs Scamsters seem to have stumbled upon a gold mine in the form of a loophole in the Google Maps interface. Taking advantage of the fact that on Google Maps, an establishment’s contact details can be edited by anyone, a group …

Research will unravel the specialities of Assam teas, says an official A genome study project initiated by the Tea Board of India, to establish the origins and speciality of Indian teas, has now reached an advanced stage. The study is being conducted on Assam teas to establish it as a …

Firm develops metal-air battery to deliver higher mileage If you ever get stuck at a traffic signal near the verdant campus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and see a fellow commuter driving a white Mahindra e2o Plus electric vehicle covered with stickers, don’t mistake him for …

Fixing them is more profitable to companies than relaunching new ones Imagine an airport where thousands of planes, empty of fuel, are left abandoned on the tarmac. That is what has been happening for decades with satellites that circle the Earth. When satellites run out of fuel, they can no …

The 0.7 m GROWTH-India telescope at the Indian Astronomical Observatory located in Hanle, Ladakh, has made its first science observation which is a follow-up study of a nova explosion. Novae are explosive events involving violent eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars, leading to temporary increase in brightness of …

The first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), which was stopped on August 1 for the mandatory third annual fuel outage, resumed power generation at 12.35 p.m. on Saturday. The loading of fuel and associated maintenance work were completed in 108 days. After the reactor ran for about …

Black kites in Delhi actively choose to live near humans, even accepting food that they offer. But the birds perceive people near their nests as potential predators, suggesting that they can react to people based on the context, shows a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE . In …

By using virus that infects bacteria (bacteriophages), researchers from Panjab University have successfully treated multidrug-resistant bacterial infection in diabetic mouse model. People with diabetes are more prone to fungal and bacterial infections and the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms has worsened the situation. Researchers have been searching for alternative treatment approaches …

In a historic vote, nations on Friday unanimously approved a ground-breaking overhaul to the international system of measurements, uniting together behind new scientific definitions for the kilogram and other units.For more than a century, the kilogram has been defined as the mass of a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy kept in …

In new research studying how genetic factors determine taste, scientists now believe they know why some humans prefer coffee, while others opt for tea.A paper published this week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports found that people who are genetically predisposed to like more bitter tastes typically choose coffee due …

Sometimes my greatest challenge was just getting out of bed; compared to that, winning a gold medal was pretty easy, says Olympic swimming champion From winning 23 gold medals and setting 39 world records to battling a strong urge to end his life, Olympic champion Michael Phelps has come a …

Buried beneath a kilometre of snow and ice in northern Greenland, scientists have uncovered an asteroid impact crater, bigger than the area of Paris. This is the first time that a crater of any size has been found under one of Earth’s continental ice sheets, said researchers from the University …

Astronomers have discovered a frozen planet with a mass over three times that of the Earth, orbiting the closest solitary star to the Sun. The potentially rocky planet, known as Barnard’s star b, is a ‘super-Earth’ and orbits around its host star once every 233 days, said researchers from Queen …