Bheem Habitat Mars: Living beyond Earth: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla unveils BHEEM concept for setting up habitat on Mars, Moon, other planets

The habitat concept emerged from research undertaken during the Indian leg of Shukla’s astronaut training in Bengaluru NEW DELHI: Indian astronaut and ISS-returned Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has shared details of his academic research project exploring how future Indian astronauts could live on Moon, Mars and other extraterrestrial destinations, proposing a concept called Bharatiya Habitable…

Read More

In 1816, a Barbados-born doctor used dogs and cats to test blood transfusion; his forgotten experiments showed why animal blood could not replace human blood |

Human blood was used in an attempt to revive exsanguinated dogs. Image Credit: National Library of Medicine In 1816, a young doctor from Barbados carried out blood transfusion experiments that challenged a dangerous medical assumption and helped point the field towards a safer future. ‘John Henry Leacock’ used dogs and cats to investigate whether blood…

Read More

Meet Hu Jiahao, the 17-year-old Chinese student who spent 40 nights searching for a snake and helped identify a species new to science |

​Representative Image of an adult female snake with distinctive scales crossing a mountain road after being discovered by a persistent youth (AI-generated image) On October 18, 2024, Zhou Jiajun of the Zhejiang Forest Resources Monitoring Centre and local biology enthusiast Chen Haojun found the incomplete remains of an unusual snake while surveying the Kuocang Mountains…

Read More

Tomato plants grown in space switched thousands of genes; Nasa study reveals how light helps replace gravity as a growth signal |

A tomato plant carries thousands of genes that stay largely quiet under normal growing conditions. Send that plant into orbit, however, and a striking number of them switch on or off within weeks. New research examining ‘Red Robin’ tomatoes grown aboard the International Space Station has found that once gravity is taken out of the…

Read More

In 2019, US researchers added fluorescent dye to a Pennsylvania mine-water wetland and flew 12 drone missions; a system designed for 29-hour retention held water for only 4.65 hours

Visual observations indicated a retention time of about 61 minutes in Cell 3 and 66 minutes in Cell 4. Monastery Run Wetland 1, near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was built in 1997-1998 as a passive treatment system for several discharges from an abandoned underground mine. Adequate retention time for iron removal from mine water before discharge to…

Read More

Scientists found a fungus that turns ants into ‘zombies’, forcing them to bite leaves and die so the parasite can spread |

PC: Natural History Museum of Utah A fungus can turn an infected ant into what scientists describe as a real-life ‘zombie ’, taking over its behaviour in a way that helps the parasite reproduce. The phenomenon is linked to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a fungus that infects several ant species. After infection, the ant may continue behaving…

Read More

Older than dinosaurs and Himalayas: Why Bengaluru’s 3-billion-year-old Lalbagh Rock is in the news; history of city’s ancient landmark and why citizens are fighting to protect it

On August 30, thousands of Bengalureans gathered at Lalbagh and marched towards the iconic rock. It has been standing in what is now Bengaluru for billions of years, long before humans, cities or even the Himalayas existed. Now, one of Bengaluru’s most significant geological landmarks has found itself at the centre of a modern infrastructure…

Read More

Quote of the day by Neil Armstrong: “We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream” |

Human beings have always been drawn towards challenges that appear difficult, uncertain or even impossible. From exploring unfamiliar places to developing new technologies and solving scientific problems, progress often begins with the decision to attempt something that has never been done before. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, once offered…

Read More

Scientists discovered Mars’ southern interior is 200-400°C hotter than its northern half; the planet may be partly molten beneath the surface |

Scientists have found that Mars is not the geologically uniform ball of rock it might appear from orbit. New analysis of nearly two decades of spacecraft tracking data shows that the mantle beneath the planet’s southern highlands runs between 200°C and 400°C hotter than the mantle beneath its northern lowlands, a temperature gap wide enough…

Read More

In 1967, the US detonated a 29-kiloton nuclear device 4,227 feet below New Mexico to unlock natural gas; 5 tests produced 213 million cubic feet, but the gas had measurable radioactivity

The site was decommissioned. However, contamination remains underground. In 1967, the United States tried an unusual method to increase natural gas production. It detonated a 29-kiloton device and had an explosoion 4,227 feet below the ground in north-western New Mexico to stimulate the flow of natural gas.According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), the…

Read More