Science & technology

Humans have no option but to leave the earth Stephen Hawking’s final work, which tackles issues from the existence of God to the potential for time travel, was launched on Monday by his children, who helped complete the book after the British astrophysics giant’s death. Hawking was forever being asked …

‘Camera that can capture light in slow motion’ Scientists have developed what may be the world’s fastest camera, which can capture 10 trillion frames per second — making it possible to ‘freeze time’ to see light in extremely slow motion. The advance may offer insight into as-yet undetectable secrets of …

The predators have turned into prey as people in the North African country cash in on the crustaceans by exporting them to markets in Asia Tunisian fishermen saw the blue crab wreak such havoc on their catches when it first appeared that they nicknamed it after the terrifying jihadists of …

U.S. court to hear a lawsuit challenging the government’s decision not to list them as threatened Given a choice between giving birth on land or sea ice, Pacific walrus mothers would most likely choose ice. Likewise, they prefer sea ice for molting, mating, nursing and resting between dives for food. …

Critical hardware swapped to back-up units, solar panels pointed towards sun Barely a week after NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope entered safe mode, the Chandra mission has also suffered a glitch possibly due to the failure of the gyroscope, the US space agency said. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, observing the universe …

Injected bacteria transferred the pigment-producing genes to the rose genome It may soon be possible to breed blue roses in your garden, say scientists who have found a way to express pigment-producing enzymes from bacteria in the petals of a white rose. Researchers including those from Chinese Academy of Sciences …

Drug safety results of over 5,000 patients showed significant reductions in patient mortality while no new safety signals have emerged In a recent Rapid Communication, the World Health Organisation (WHO) made important changes in the regimens to treat patients with multidrug-resistant TB (resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin). Two of the …

The silk scaffold has seamless junction between the cartilage and bone portions Implanting cartilage alone or injecting cells found in healthy cartilage (chondrocytes) at the site of injury to heal the damaged cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis does not produce favourable results. Similarly, implanting two different scaffolds joined together to …

DSRV can be mobilised from Mumbai The Navy has inducted its first deep submergence rescue vehicle to rescue downed or disaster-struck submarines on the high seas. India has now joined a select group of countries that have the capability to locate “distressed submarines”. At present, the U.S., China, Russia and …

Record ‘radio bursts’ detected from space Australian researchers on Thursday said they have detected a record number of radio waves from space, including the closest and fastest one that may help understand the matter between galaxies. They said they found 20 fast radio bursts in a year, almost doubling the …

Egyptian blue was used for cooling walls A colour developed by Egyptians thousands of years ago can boost energy efficiency by cooling rooftops and walls, and could also enable solar generation of electricity via windows, scientists say. Egyptian blue, derived from calcium copper silicate, was routinely used on ancient depictions …

Stephen Hawking’s final scientific paper — which was completed days before the British physicist’s death — has been written and posted online by his colleagues at Cambridge and Harvard universities. The paper named Black Hole Entropy and Soft Hair, tackles with what happens to information when it falls into a …

Further studies may lead to fertility treatments in same-sex couples A team of researchers has produced viable offspring from same-sex pairs of mice, using a novel technology that involves stem cells altered to remove certain genes. While the applications of the research are largely theoretical for now, they could include …

Research team is comparing the medical histories of 10,000 former football players with non players Does heading a football give you dementia? That’s the question neuropathologist Willie Stewart is attempting to answer by comparing the health of thousands of former footballers with non-players. Football authorities have been accused of dragging …

Russia’s rocket developed engine glitch midflight The two-man crew of a Soyuz rocket made a successful emergency landing on Thursday after an engine problem on lift-off to the International Space Station, in a major setback for the beleaguered Russian space industry. U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin …

A probe by The Hindu and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds a veterinary drug producer promoting their misuse in poultry farming The world’s biggest animal drugs company has been accused of double standards and of exposing consumers in India to “higher levels of risk” by selling antibiotics for purposes …

Australian researchers on Thursday said they have detected a record number of radio waves from space, including the closest and fastest one that may help understand the matter between galaxies. They said they found 20 fast radio bursts in a year, almost doubling the number detected worldwide since they were …

Stephen Hawking’s final scientific paper — which was completed days before the British physicist’s death — has been written and posted online by his colleagues at Cambridge and Harvard universities. The paper named Black Hole Entropy and Soft Hair, tackles with what happens to information when it falls into a …

A team of researchers has produced viable offspring from same-sex pairs of mice, using a novel technology that involves stem cells altered to remove certain genes. While the applications of the research are largely theoretical for now, they could include improving existing cloning methods for mammals and even eventually fertility …

Research team is comparing the medical histories of 10,000 former football players with nonplayers Does heading a football give you dementia? That’s the question neuropathologist Willie Stewart is attempting to answer by comparing the health of thousands of former footballers with non-players. Football authorities have been accused of dragging their …