SCIENCE - Page 15

Scientists have found evidence that the core of our planet could be leaking. They made this remarkable discovery after studying 62-million-year-old lava rocks on Baffin Island in the Arctic Archipelago and found unusually high levels of helium-3 (He), a rare isotope. This is a significant finding because it indicates that the inner layers of our planet are swapping materials, which was never previously known to happen. The research was conducted by geochemists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the California

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has successfully executed the first test flight for the Gaganyaan Mission, the country’s human spaceflight program. The space agency’s TV-D1 rocket lifted off at 10 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The launch had been initially scheduled for 8.45 a.m. but was delayed due to engine ignition issues. ISRO chief S Somanath said the anomaly’s cause has been identified and corrected. The mission is crucial to Isro’s plans to send a

Nasa’s Juno spacecraft has received one of the most explicit images of Jupiter’s moon, Io, showcasing the tortured surface of the most volcanic world in our Solar System. The new photos showcase Io’s lava-scarred surface in unprecedented detail and reveal that much of the moon is still active, with volcanoes constantly spewing tons of molten lava. Despite its small size, it is one of 92 moons that orbit Jupiter and the fifth largest in the Solar System. It is the

On Thursday, a team of international scientists collected fish samples from a port town near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, seeking to assess the impact of the plant’s recent release of treated radioactive water into the sea. The study by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is the first since the water release began in August, a move that drew criticism from local fishermen and prompted China to ban all imports of marine products from Japan over food safety fears. The government

Scientists constantly study planets within our cosmic neighborhood to unravel their mysteries and understand their unique characteristics. By examining these planets’ atmospheres, surfaces, and geological formations, scientists hope to grasp fundamental insights about our solar system’s origins, the potential for extraterrestrial life, and the dynamics of cosmic phenomena such as meteor showers and stellar winds. One celestial body that has long intrigued astronomers is Mercury, a rocky planet with a non-existent atmosphere and situated very close to the Sun, which

When a potent 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Mars in May of 2022, it was big. It wouldn’t have shaken dishes on Earth, but it would have made a building’s wooden frames creak, at the very least. It was the largest seismic event recorded on the Red Planet and lasted six hours. The scientists overseeing NASA’s InSight mission have finally unveiled the quake’s source. They’ve been working on it for months and are now ready to share their findings with the

Astronomers have a new tool in their arsenal to help them hunt down the most enormous explosions in the universe. An international team led by Northwestern University has successfully created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can detect, identify, and classify supernovas—a fully automated system that cuts out the human middleman and could dramatically speed up the discovery process. This machine—which is named Bright Transient Survey Bot, and no, the researchers weren’t fans of the wildly popular South Korean boy

Tournament hosts France were expected to notch up one more victory in their World Cup quest and cap an era of glory with the Webb Ellis trophy. But they were stung by the first big hurdle when defending champions South Africa edged them 29-28 in an epic quarter-final at the Stade de France. The stalemate drew gasps from the home crowd, and even as the slender margin of defeat sank in the throes of silence, it was clear that both

Bengaluru: Isro on Monday said it would commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission with the launch of a test vehicle between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on October 21 from Sriharikota spaceport to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system. The test, dubbed TV-D1 for short, will simulate an abort condition during the ascent trajectory of the Crew Module (CM), which will carry three astronauts to orbit 400 km above earth’s surface for a one-to-three

Scientists have discovered that 40 percent of Antarctica’s ice shelves have significantly reduced in volume over the past quarter-century. This alarming revelation points to the accelerating impact of climate change on the world’s southernmost continent. The loss of the ice shelves threatens to accelerate glaciers flowing into the sea, potentially raising ocean levels worldwide. It also increases the risk of an irreversible tipping point – beyond which Antarctica’s polar ecosystem as we know it may no longer survive. A recent