Science Alert
Catch up on the latest science news, from space and technology to life and environmental research- all the discoveries shaping our world today.
Updated: 2 hours 24 min ago
Isro-AIIMS Space Medicine Mou: Pact to study astronaut health; aims to build expertise
India's space agency Isro and AIIMS have joined forces to research space medicine, crucial for upcoming long-duration missions like the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and lunar expeditions. This collaboration will investigate the human body's response to microgravity, focusing on muscle and bone health, immunity, and psychological well-being to ensure astronaut safety and develop vital medical countermeasures.
Meet Gurnoor Kaur: Indian-origin teen wins Canada’s National High School competition for AI project predicting wheat diseases
Gurnoor Kaur, a Canadian high school student of Indian origin, has won a national data science competition. Her project used artificial intelligence to predict crop diseases. Kaur's innovative approach analyzed climate data to forecast wheat pathogen outbreaks. This achievement highlights young scientists tackling global food security challenges. Her work offers potential solutions for sustainable agriculture.
King penguins breeding earlier as warming climate raises success rate, study finds
King penguins are now breeding 19 days earlier, boosting their success by 40% due to rising global temperatures. This remarkable adaptation, unlike many other species struggling with climate-induced timing mismatches, is attributed to their flexible breeding window and varied feeding habits. While currently thriving, scientists caution this advantage might be temporary as environmental changes accelerate.
‘History’s most precise experiment’: How Henry Cavendish weighed the Earth with just two lead balls in a closed room
Scientists long pondered Earth's weight, an impossible task with conventional scales. In 1798, Henry Cavendish, using a modest torsion balance with lead balls, ingeniously measured the faint gravitational pull between them. This groundbreaking experiment revealed Earth's density, finally allowing its mass to be calculated, a feat still admired for its precision and ingenuity.
Yass Queen: How the bumble stays alive underwater
Bumblebee queens possess a remarkable ability to survive underwater for days, a feat achieved through a combination of physiological strategies. When their burrows flood, these queens enter an ultra-low-power mode, drastically reducing their metabolic rate and relying on a physical gill and anaerobic metabolism to conserve energy and endure submersion until conditions improve.
