Science

For a few frenzied weeks, beekeepers from around the United States truck billions of honeybees to California to rent them to almond growers who need the insects to pollinate the state’s most valuable crop. But as almond trees start to bloom, blanketing entire valleys in white and pink flowers, so begin beehive thefts that have

Elon Musk’s SpaceX achieved yet another milestone on February 21. It has successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth for the 100th time after deploying its payload into orbit. The rocket was launched from Florida, US, at 8:14pm IST, carrying 46 Starlink satellites. About nine minutes later, the rocket’s first stage (booster) returned

Hubble Space Telescope, a joint project by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), has been witnessing mysterious events in the Universe for over three decades. It recently captured a stunning image of a triple galaxy merger in progress some 681 million light-years away from Earth, in the Cancer constellation. The image also shows a tumultuous

The first phase of the James Webb Space Telescope’s months-long process of aligning the observatory’s 18-segmented primary mirror is nearing completion. The initial stage of this technique, known as “Segment Image Identification”, has been completed by engineers. The James Webb Space Telescope, with its 18 primary mirror segments, has now recorded 18 unfocussed images of

We know how flames behave on Earth, thanks to our use of fire for thousands of years. But how it would behave in microgravity in space is still a puzzle. Understanding its behaviour in space is crucial for the safety of astronomers on future space missions. In space, the reduced gravity creates flames that look

Researchers have discovered a partially complete skull of new dinosaur species in Argentina that they say could be a close relative of an armless group of dinosaurs that roamed the southern hemisphere. They say the new species, called the Guemesia ochoai, offers new evidence of a unique ecosystem during the Late Cretaceous, more than 70

NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance is celebrating the completion of its one-year stay on the Red Planet by learning to run on its rocky surface. The roughly 1,025-kg machine has accomplished several milestones, including new distance records, since its touch down on the rocky surface a year ago on February 18, 2021. And now, it is trying to gain

The race for space exploration is unfolding at an unprecedented speed. Private companies have forayed into this sector with commercial ventures, and the US and China have set their eyes on landing humans on Mars by the next decade. While this ambition is laudable, it presents significant technological and logistical challenges. For instance, a mission

The Universe is full of processes that are as exciting and thrilling as they are enigmatic. Astronomers have long tried to unravel these mysterious processes to better understand the composition of our solar system and the world beyond. To push the boundaries of human understanding, NASA has placed several observatories in space to continuously keep

A new report by US government agencies has warned that coastal flooding is bound to increase significantly over the next 30 years because of “alarming” rise in sea levels. It says the sea level along the coast of the US could increase by as 10 to 123 inches, or almost a foot, above today’s levels

NASA has temporarily closed the camera of one of its space-based telescopes following a power issue. The closure of the camera eye of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been studying the very hot regions of the Universe for over two decades, has halted its science work. The telescope suffered a power supply problem with

A US patient with leukaemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, researchers reported on Tuesday. The case of a middle-aged woman of mixed race, presented at the

NASA’s Juno mission has yet again stunned us with breath-taking images of Jupiter and its moon, Ganymede. Scientists are awed by an image of Jupiter in a crescent phase. The picture was taken when NASA’s Juno spacecraft approached the giant planet during a regular close pass. The crescent shape of Jupiter can never be captured

Astronomy experts say they originally misread the secrets of the night sky last month: it turns out that a rocket expected to crash into the Moon in early March was built by China, not SpaceX. A rocket will indeed strike the lunar surface on March 4, but contrary to what had been announced, it was

The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence has major implications for our privacy. A new study by two researchers shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to distinguish between a face created using AI and a real face. Startlingly, the researchers said their study has shown that fake images are more trustworthy than real ones. Researchers

NASA has released the first imaging data received from its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The images are of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The object exploded in the 17th century and sent shock waves, heating the surrounding gas to high temperatures. It features a cloud, formed by accelerated cosmic particles, that glows in X-ray.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a stunning photograph of the surface of Mars, demonstrating how winds sculpt the landscape. The Hooke Crater area in the Red Planet’s southern highlands is shown in this image taken from orbit by ESA and Roscosmos’ ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). The artificial hues are due to filters

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C52 blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 5:59am on February 14. After the end of a 25-hour countdown, the launch vehicle carrying the Earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two co-passenger payloads — INSPIREsat-1 and INS-2TD — blasted off from the spaceport, marking the Indian space agency’s

Finding traces of life on other planets is one of the most intriguing and exciting aspects of astronomy. Scientists have long aspired to identify planets that may one day be habitable. With that distant goal in mind, a group of Indian researchers – two students and a professor — has found not one but 60

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted its first star and captured a selfie, NASA announced Friday. The steps are part of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s enormous golden mirror that astronomers hope will begin unraveling the mysteries of the early Universe by this summer. The first picture sent back of the cosmos is far