Author: Aishwarya R N

The Orionid meteor shower is one of the most dazzling displays of “shooting stars” visible to us, seen past midnight even through naked eyes; these meteors put on a spectacular show at about 15 to 20 per hour. Though the display peaked last night, if you can catch a glimpse of the sky past midnight, especially at the early hours before dawn, you should be able to catch a peek at these “falling stars”. The Orionid Meteor Shower The annual Orionid meteor shower, known for its quick streaks across the sky, is expected to peak this weekend at around 15…

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) gives us images of the cosmos that always show absolute beauty and allure, teasing us with the infinite wonders and uncharted territories of the universe. Even within our own solar system, where things seem familiar, the Space Telescope continues to surprise us with stunning clicks and eye-opening data. In its most recent discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy the James Webb Space Telescope has captured an extraordinary phenomenon on the gas giant Jupiter, revealing a high-speed jet stream above the planet’s equator, surpassing the speeds of Category 5 hurricanes on Earth. Jupiter’s Racing Jet…

In a shockingly deep discovery, scientists have unearthed a massive brine pool at the bottom of the Red Sea, lurking beneath the ocean floor. Spanning an area of a whopping 1,07,000 sq. ft., this underwater marvel measures about 100 ft. in length, and poses a deadly threat to any living creature that slips into its ominous depths.  Brine pools are characterized by the absence of oxygen, and are a natural phenomena found across various locations worldwide. They offer a unique glimpse into the origins of life on Earth and provide valuable insights into the local environment’s dynamics. Professor Sam Purkis,…

The planned Neutrino detector in China could end up being quite a deep dive into the field of astrophysics. The country has made ambitious plans to construct the world’s largest underwater telescope named the Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope (TRIDENT), which is set to delve into the mysteries of the universe by hunting for particles known as neutrinos. Planned to be anchored 11,500 feet (3,500 meters) below the surface of the ocean in the Western Pacific, the TRIDENT aims to unlock the secrets of cosmic rays, and try to observe neutrinos through detection of possible momentary flashes of light emanating from…

Cleaner sources of fuel like solar energy are more important now more than ever with increasing energy demands. With global trends of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, we search for better ways of switching to greener sources of energy to prevent and possibly reverse global warming.  A crucial part of this new green deal is research on better utilization of existing clean energy sources. From attempting to recycle nuclear fuels to coming up with legislation to better support clean energy like solar energy, conscious human efforts become an important part of this process.  As a beacon of the research…

Stratosphere is a major part of one of the most important resources of our age – space . It seems we have been slowly dumping toxic metals now polluting it. With space debris being an issue already with how much we are crowding low earth orbit with our satellite constellations; metal aerosols are now another issue to worry about. A study led by Dan Murphy, Purdue science college, has quantified the amount of metals that have made it into the stratosphere due to spacecrafts and satellites that we have launched up into space. The consequences of this can be quite…

Recent efforts to restore the ecology of the Galapagos islands, especially Espanola, the native island of the Galapagos Giant tortoises has produced positive results with the island looking more lush than before. Conservationists from the NGO Galápagos Conservancy and the Galapagos National Park Directorate set on a mission to restore the giant tortoise population as well as improve the ecological balance of species within the island by breeding the tortoises in captivity. The full extent of the positive outcomes of these attempts have been documented in the new study published in the Conservation Letters of Society for Conservation of Biology.…

Things that we take for granted may not always ring true as this new study has found ice that does not melt at the usual melting point of ice. Termed “superionic ice”, this exotic material forms when subjected to unusually stressful conditions that could exist within water rich gas giants. The substance is referred to as a different phase of matter as it is both water as well as ice simultaneously, giving it very unique properties. The superionic ice forms could be analogous to the iron present at our own home – Earth’s core, present in both solid as well…

Aerogels are ultra low density materials that have taken the world by storm recently. they have various scientific applications due to their extremely unique properties. Making these aerogels can be quite challenging as achieving the ideal crystalline structure and purity levels desirable for high value applications can get quite difficult. Scientists are on the lookout for creative methods that can create this material with high accuracy and effectiveness. This new study might just have figured out a creative avenue in this need yet. When we stir a solid like sugar into a liquid, we typically expect the solid to dissolve,…

Monkeys that received genetically modified pig kidneys in xenotransplants as part of a study in the journal Nature, have lived for about two years, regarded in medical history as one of the longest survivors of interspecies organ transplantations. Scientists are hopeful that this research can help make replacement organs for humans that are currently waiting on the organ transplant list due to organ shortages. In just the United States, over 1,00,000 people are on the organ transplant list, waiting for life saving organs to be donated to them and about 17 of them die each day without that hope being…