Overwhelmingly WEIRD!
The edifice of Western science is built on generalisation, where homogeneity has replaced diversity
Influenza: The search for a universal vaccine
Flu virus mutates so quickly that one year's vaccine won't work on the next year's common strains. But a new way to create vaccines, called '…
Captain Cernan leaves planet forever, 44 years after his final walk on moon
Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan was the commander of Apollo 17, the final manned lunar landing
How Africa can close its continent-wide science funding gap
Successful economies are led by innovation and driven by knowledge. For Africa to advance, it needs to make more substantial investments in its …
The physical Net
Book>> Tubes, A Journey to the Center of the Internet • by Andrew Blum • Penguin • Rs 499
Quake Escape
Geoscientist Harsh Gupta speaks to Dinsa Sachan on the need for an early warning system for earthquakes
Cyber dystopia
Book>> The Filter Bubble, What the Internet is Hiding From You • by Eli Pariser • Penguin Books • US $25
Satellite link
Book>> Moon: A Brief History • by Bernd Brunner • Yale University Press • Rs 1,000
Old shine
Indian scientists have found a chemical that cleans antique metallic objets d'art without damaging the patina
Mushroom boom
Indian farmers are busy harvesting the booming demand for mushrooms. The problem is that it is a delicacy that is rather fastidious about its …
Light information
Optic fibres enable transmission of information at the speed of light and without any interference
Mars' water connection
Channels and valleys observed on the Martian surface and meteorites of Martian origin indicate that once there might have been water on the planet
Automatic warning
Posting humans to inhospitable sites in the Himalaya to monitor snow and wind patterns may soon be unnecessary
Ironing out pollution
A recently-developed cheap and environmentally-benign iron compound helps dispose of polluting nitrogen oxides
Rock-hard sandwiches
Thin film, no more than a few microns thick, can endow substances with hardness, magnetic, superconducting and optical properties
Endurance test for microorganisms
A technology for preserving food relies on creating a hostile environment for bacteria and fungi in whose presence food goes bad
The liquid heat trap
A giant pond at a dairy in Gujarat is the world's largest water storehouse of the sun's energy and heats about 80,000 litres of water everyday
The computer plays postman
India seems ready to cash in on electronic mail, a cheap and fast way of communication in which messages are exchanged through computer networks.
Switch on the window, please
Windows that change from clear to dark and back at the flick of a switch are set to make air-conditioning systems redundant in buildings, thereby …
Manipulating reality
The concept of Virtual Reality -- simulating the real world -- is adding a new dimension to entertainment and education.
The secret sex life of the sea urchin
With the unravelling of how fertilisation occurs in sea urchins, scientists may now better understand the reproduction process in higher mammals, …
Helping computers keep a tight hold on power
Scientists are trying to integrate a new type of circuits - called reversible circuits -- into computers to make them more energy efficient
New chip on the firmament
A microchip developed by a US firm will greatly increase the working speed of personal computers. But the chip's long-term success will depend on …
Why some bumble bees spend the night out
Bumble-bees infected with the larvae of parasitic flies stay the night out in the cold to hinder the development of the eggs
In search of gravitational waves
Two projects are under way to detect an elusive phenomenon that are thought to be produced by violent events in outer space