Mid -monsoon update
After a sluggish start, the monsoon seems to be moving ahead full steam. Here is all you need to know about this year's monsoon
The ghost of Christmas yet to come: how an AI ‘SantaNet’ might end up destroying the world
Scientists identified a series of behaviours by the AI general intelligence system which, though well-intentioned, could have adverse impacts on …
TIFR Swarnajayanti fellow to study plasticity for better design of materials
Plasticity enables a solid to undergo permanent deformation without rupture under the action of external forces
Three-body problem needs real, and not artificial solution
The equation that has confounded mathematicians for over 300 years needs an elegant and beautiful solution, not something where the end is there …
Eliud Kipchoge's sub-2hr marathon: It all comes down to 15 extraordinary seconds
Kipchoge must put one foot in front of the other, at the frighteningly fast average pace of 2m 52s per km
A new technique to protect copper from corrosion
IIT (BHU) researchers used a technique called ‘floating film transfer method’ to obtain ultrathin films of an organic material, …
What determines height of mountains?
Height of the mountains stops increasing after crossing a threshold, influenced by erosion of the areas between mountains, finds the study
The dark side of 'racial science'
Angela Saini exposes how some scientists even today use race to define intelligence, behaviour, predisposition to diseases and even creativity
In thunder, lightning, or... Gamma rays may warn you of the next hurlyburly
Radiation sensors can predict lightning within 10 minutes and around 2 kilometers of where they happen
‘Potentially hazardous’ space rock to fly past Earth on June 24
Named 441987 (2010 NY65), the rock has a diameter of 130 to 300 metres and will pass the Earth at a speed of more than 45,000 kilometres per …
Diamonds are forever. But where do they come from? Watch
Do you know the diamond on your finger is most likely made recycled minerals by Earth below the ocean floor?
Russia to grow 30 gene-edited plants, animals by 2027
The country aims to create 10 new varieties of such crops as well as animals by 2020; another 20 by 2027
Three scientists share Nobel for Chemistry for research on DNA repair
Tomas Lindahl of UK’s Francis Crick Institute, Paul Modrich of USA’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Aziz Sancar of the …
Pluto flyby: The mystery deepens after New Horizons’ encounter
The NASA mission is the first-ever foray into the “third region” of the solar system, also called the Kuiper Belt, containing …
Researchers convert carbon dioxide in to coal
Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have for the first time developed a process to turn CO2 into coal. The new process uses …
Definition of kilogram set to change
Since 1879, the kilogram has been defined as the weight of Le Grand K, a cylinder of platinum and iridium weighing a little over 2 ounces and …
Meet Bandicoot India's new robot that can end manual scavenging
A robotics start-up from Kerala called GenRobotic Innovations has developed a solution to end manual scavenging
State Science & Technology councils should work in synergy: Harsh Vardhan
At the S&T ministers’ conclave at India International Science Festival 2018, Vardhan said every year 4-5 states should hold a science …
Holding the mirror, truthfully, for 28 years
Down To Earth's mission is not hidden in reams of corporate gloss. It is open. It is a dare, writes our editor, Sunita Narain.
World Earth Day: A new landscape on the horizon
Changes in the East African rift system suggest that the African continent could split into two
`Aditya-1 will take images every second'
Dipankar Banerjee of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, which is one of the institutions working on Mission Aditya-1, speaks …
Cultural calling
Henrich attempts a thrilling adventure in the fierce interplay between genes and culture in human evolution
Gravitational Waves: Explained
Hundred years after Albert Einstein’s prediction of the presence of gravitational waves in his Theory of Relativity, a team of scientists …
Roots, barks and leaves
CHANDRA PRAKASH KALA spent three months with the Baiga tribe in the forests of Chhattisgarh. He learnt how they use plants to their advantage
Adam’s luck
Men, after all, may not become extinct. Y chromosome has lost only one gene in 25 million years