Science

Do you know a newborn’s umbilical cord is home to life-saving stem cells like lymphoma and leukaemia? This is one of the major reasons parents, these days, opt to store the blood in an infant’s umbilical cord. Notably, if pregnancies get affected by gestational diabetes, the stem cells of the umbilical cord get damaged, making

Scientists had attributed the fall of several ancient civilizations including the Akkadian Empire, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, to factors like climate change and shifting allegiances. However, a new study proposes that this could be due to some extinct pathogens. Archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology excavated remains from an ancient burial

Fusing wearable technology with artificial intelligence, researchers, at the University of Chicago, have developed a flexible stretchy device that records heath data and processes by mimicking the functioning of a human brain. Today, a range of wearable fitness bands and other health devices exist in the market. However, most of them are not capable of

A mysterious object from space crashed into the ocean off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014. Called the CNEOS 2014-01-08, the meteorite has still kept scientists puzzled about its origin but initially, it was speculated that it could be an interstellar object. After its discovery, researchers namely then graduate Amir Siraj, and Harvard

Millimetre-wavelength light originating from a collision of a neutron star with another star has been captured for the first time by researchers. The team, led by astrophysicists from Northwestern University, US, and Radboud University in the Netherlands, has claimed that the flash emerging from this collision was among the most energetic short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)

Scientists have discovered four exoplanets that appear to be shrinking in size and losing their atmosphere gradually. The rate at which this change is taking place suggests that these celestial bodies, called mini-Neptunes, will eventually lose their atmosphere completely to become a terrestrial planet having a size similar to that of Earth. They are found

NASA and the White House have since late last year quietly drawn up contingency plans for the International Space Station in light of tensions with Moscow that began building before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to nine people with knowledge of the plans. The US space agency’s game planning shows how the US is juggling its relationship

The next full moon and the last supermoon of this year will appear on Thursday, August 11, reaching its peak at 9:36pm EDT, as per Space.com. Accordingly, in India, it will be visible on Friday, August 12.  This supermoon is also known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, and it will be the fourth of the

In what can prove to be substantial to the treatment of handling disorders related to drug abuse, scientists have discovered a new brain mechanism. The study, which was based on cocaine-seeking in rats, discovered that inhibiting certain acetylcholine receptors made it more difficult to resist cocaine-seeking urges. These receptors are located in the lateral habenula

An underwater volcano that erupted in the South Pacific near Tonga on January 15 this year causing a catastrophe in the archipelago. The Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption also triggered an earthquake and tsunami that flooded the country. A new study indicates that during this event, the volcano spewed not just ash into the atmosphere but also a

The James Webb Space Telescope has peered through time and huge amounts of dust to capture a new image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing the spinning ring of colour in unprecedented clarity, NASA and the European Space Agency said Tuesday. Located around 500 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor, the Cartwheel gained its shape

Developing a method to observe the movement of atoms in a liquid, scientists from the University of Manchester have captured — for the first time — images of single atoms swimming in liquid. When a solid and a liquid come in contact with each other, both substances tend to change their configuration. This solid-liquid atomic-scale interaction governs the behaviour

A water-activated disposable paper battery has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of electrical trash produced by single-use devices, such as those used in the medical and industrial sectors. Researchers have developed a battery that is cheap to assemble, biodegradable and made of renewable materials. Additionally, it can be made in a range of

Evidence discovered by a professor emeritus at Tohoku University in Japan indicates a high correlation between the size of mass extinctions and historical fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature. Kunio Kaiho, the climate expert, claims that the current major extinction event will not compare to the previous five — certainly not for several more centuries. Earth has lost most

Experiments on mice have helped scientists identify some key differences in the development of brains in modern humans and our closest relative, Neanderthals. After our ancestors split from the Neanderthals, some one hundred amino acids underwent changes and spread to almost all modern humans. The reason behind this change had puzzled scientists all this while.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are the most common neurodevelopmental disorders that are diagnosed in early childhood. While both are separate conditions, their symptoms tend to overlap which makes it quite tricky to differentiate between them. Now, in a novel study, researchers from the University of South Australia and Flinders

To understand any physical phenomenon, one must identify the variables that are responsible for it. While scientists are familiar with the variables for most physical connects, some have remained to be elusive. Now, researchers from Columbia University have used artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a program that observes such physical phenomena and detects the relevant

A first-of-its-kind study has found new stars forming beyond the visible boundaries about 1.5 to 3.9 billion light years away from the Earth, according to an article by a research scholar of Tezpur University. Anshuman Borgohain, the research scholar was a member of the team of astronomers from India, the USA and France which conducted

The “origin of life” is a subject that scientists have invested an unparalleled amount of time and resources in to understand it better. How life emerged from non-living molecules continues to be a much-debated topic. But now, scientists at Scripps Research may have found something to shed light on the subject. Scientists have discovered a

In what could revolutionise the way ultrasound imaging is performed, engineers have developed a stamp-sized sticker that sticks to the skin and provides continuous ultrasound imaging. Currently, this is done using sophisticated and heavy equipment that requires specialised technicians. These ultrasound machines provide live images of the heart, lungs, and other organs. However, they are