The roachmobile
Researchers are teaching insects how to drive. This can lead to a wheelchair that can be controlled by twitching a muscle or two
Suit yourself for safety
A new safety suit can sound alarm bells the moment it is damaged and make working in hazardous environments safer
Breaking ice
The discovery of water on the Moon means little unless it can be used. Scientists are using all their skills to figure out how
Never mined
A simple, inexpensive device now gives hope to thousands living in fear of stepping on a live landmine
Firepower
Space. The final frontier. It is here that science is seeking ways to make a better automobile engine
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
Nanotechnology can make biopesticides more effective
This means farmers would be required to use very small quantities of biopesticide in its nano form
Scientists find new bacterium from Sundarbans
New bacterial species could have wider applications in industrial sectors such as leather and textile industry
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 …
Adam’s luck
Men, after all, may not become extinct. Y chromosome has lost only one gene in 25 million years
Why using AI tools like ChatGPT in my MBA innovation course is expected and not cheating
We need the various manuals of style to update their rules to include work generated by an AI
The horse bit and bridle kicked off ancient empires — a new giant dataset tracks the societal factors that drove military technology
Around 1000 BC, nomadic herders in the steppes north of the Black Sea invented the bit and bridle
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
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
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 …