Science & technology

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 …

Denmark said on Thursday it would create an international research centre focused on the fight against resistance to antibiotics, a scourge affecting almost half a million people worldwide. Danish Health Minister Ellen Trane Norby signed a memorandum of understanding in Seattle, in the United States, with the international network of …

In a bid to reduce global air pollution, Swedish home furnishing company IKEA on Thursday announced its plan to turn rice straw into a new renewable material source for its products. The project, part of the company’s ‘Better Air Now’ initiative, will begin from India and is focussed on New …

The human lifespan is increasing by approximately three years every generation — a trend likely to continue, a Stanford study has found. A team of researchers analysed life expectancy data from the past 50 years and found that people who survive to age 65 are continuing to live longer than …