Science

A fossil that appears to shine like gold has been quietly misleading scientists for decades. Found in black shale deposits in southwest Germany, these 183-million-year-old remains, mostly ammonites, were long considered classic examples of pyritisation. In simple terms, researchers believed the original biological material had been replaced by pyrite, a mineral often called fool’s gold…

MUMBAI: Three days after the successful splashdown of Artemis-2, the Trump administration on Tuesday issued a memorandum which among other things includes safely deploying nuclear reactors in space orbit as early as 2028, and on the moon in 2030.Dated April 14, the document issued by Michael J Kratsios, assistant to the President for science and…

BENGALURU: In the vast hierarchy of the universe, the smallest galaxies are often overlooked. But a new study now suggests they may hold clues to one of astronomy’s most persistent questions: how black holes first formed and evolved.Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru have examined whether dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the tiny,…

Nasa heliophysics spacecraft observed the destruction of comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) during its close approach to the Sun on April 4, according to data from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), a joint Nasa–ESA mission, along with Nasa’s STEREO and PUNCH spacecraft. The comet passed at a distance roughly twice that between the Earth and the…

Water scarcity is emerging as a major threat in contemporary agriculture, necessitating the development of innovative means by which every drop of water should be put to use efficiently. Previously, irrigation was done through a universal method, in which all the trees were watered, thus causing inefficiency at times due to wastage. Luckily, an innovation…

Image: Left/Wikipedia/Right/ESA Space exploration got another boost recently when Elon Musk’s SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover into the red planet, Mars, in 2028 via the strong Falcon Heavy rocket. Sponsored byNASA and under the leadership of the European Space Agency, this mission is expected to start a new journey for Mars…

A supermassive black hole binary system (two black holes orbiting each other) has been directly identified in the final stages of orbital decay in all of astronomy. These two supermassive black holes (each boasting a combined mass ranging from 100 million to 1 billion solar masses, the mass of the Sun) are located at the…

NASA has released a document that sketches out one of its most ambitious space plans in decades. The so-called “Moon Base User’s Guide,” published in early April, lays out what it might actually take to build a permanent human presence on the Moon. It does not read like a finished blueprint. It feels more like…

Six days after returning to Earth, the four astronauts of Nasa’s Artemis II addressed their first joint press conference on Thursday at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center, accompanied by their zero-gravity indicator mascot “Rise”, saying their historic journey around the Moon fostered a rare sense of global unity while reflecting on the landmark crewed mission.Commander Reid…

In April 2029, asteroid Apophis will pass Earth at a distance that sounds almost unreal on paper. About 20,000 miles away from the surface, close enough that it sits inside the region where many satellites already orbit. It is not expected to hit Earth, and NASA has made it clear there is no known risk…