Sci &Tech

Avi Loeb, a renowned Israeli‑American astrophysicist and Harvard professor, has become one of the most provocative voices in the search for extraterrestrial life. Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at Harvard since 2007, Loeb has authored over a thousand scientific papers and multiple bestselling books, including Extraterrestrial and Interstellar. He has consistently challenged…

When you look up at the night sky and spot a bright streak of light racing across it, you’re witnessing one of nature’s most mesmerising events- a meteor, often called a “shooting star.” Despite the name, these dazzling flashes aren’t stars but tiny fragments of rock or dust from space. As they enter Earth’s atmosphere…

Astronomers have discovered the most pristine star ever observed, offering a rare glimpse into the universe’s earliest moments. This ancient celestial body, found in the Milky Way’s halo, contains the lowest levels of heavy elements ever recorded, indicating that it formed shortly after the Big Bang. Scientists believe the star may have been born from…

Have you ever felt your heart racing, your palms turning clammy, or a sudden chill running down your spine when something startled you? These aren’t random quirks of the body; they are part of the carefully wired fear response designed to protect you. When you get scared, your brain and body work in sync to…

In a discovery that reshapes our understanding of life’s origins, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found new evidence suggesting that the first animals on Earth were ancient sea sponges. The team uncovered chemical fossils, traces of long-buried biomolecules, preserved in rocks more than 541 million years old. These fossils, linked to…

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, a tiny bright yellow worm called Paralvinella hessleri thrives where almost nothing else can, around boiling hydrothermal vents that gush metal-rich, poisonous fluids. These underwater chimneys are packed with toxic substances, including arsenic and hydrogen sulphide. Yet, instead of dying, the worm uses these poisons to its advantage. According to…

This October, skywatchers have a rare celestial show to look forward to as Comet SWAN (C/2025 R2) and Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) approach their closest point to Earth around October 21. Observers in the Northern Hemisphere may be able to see both comets in the sky on the same night, a spectacular and uncommon sight….

In a rare cosmic discovery, scientists have detected an interstellar comet, 3I/ATLAS, releasing water vapor while still far from the Sun, a phenomenon that has left astronomers astonished. Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, researchers identified ultraviolet signatures of hydroxyl (OH), a byproduct of water molecules broken apart by sunlight. What makes this extraordinary is…

File photo: Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Omar Yaghi and Richard Robson STOCKHOLM: Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel chemistry prize for developing a new form of molecular architecture, yielding materials that can help tackle challenges such as climate change and lack of fresh water.The three laureates worked to create molecular…

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, and Omar M Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.“Announcing the award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the trio received the prize for “creating new…