Sci &Tech

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…

Bill Nye, famously known as “The Science Guy” and CEO of the Planetary Society, led protests on Capitol Hill earlier this month against proposed NASA budget cuts by the Trump administration. The plan would slash NASA’s funding from roughly $24 billion to $18.8 billion, a nearly 24% reduction, with science mission funding targeted for an…

Source: Discover Magazine Millions of years ago, the Red Sea, now a vital marine region, disappeared from the Earth’s surface. Cut off from the world’s oceans, its basin gradually dried into a vast salt desert. About 6.2 million years ago, a catastrophic flood refilled the basin, carving the Bab el-Mandab Strait and shaping the Red…

An asteroid made a remarkably close approach to Earth last week, flying nearer than many satellites in low Earth orbit. Named 2025 TF, the space object passed over Antarctica at just 266 miles above Earth’s surface on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 1, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Roughly 3 to 10 feet…

Today, October 8, marks the birth anniversary of Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran (1922–2001), a pioneering Indian scientist whose work transformed the understanding of proteins and medical imaging. Despite his groundbreaking contributions, he never received the recognition he deserved, including a Nobel Prize or India’s prestigious Padma awards. Ramachandran’s work helped explain the fundamental structure of proteins,…

The story of Soyuz 11 remains one of the most tragic and haunting episodes in human space exploration. On June 30, 1971, three Soviet cosmonauts, Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, became the only humans to die in space, beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Their mission had been a triumph: spending 23 days aboard Salyut 1,…

File photo: US scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis STOCKHOLM: US-based scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for “experiments that revealed quantum physics in action”, paving the way for the development of the next generation of digital technologies. “There is no advanced technology today…

Gold may not literally grow on trees, but a groundbreaking study from Finland suggests that nature may come close. Researchers investigating Norway spruce trees in northern Finland found tiny gold nanoparticles inside tree needles. Surprisingly, these particles appear to form with the help of microbes living inside the needles. The study, conducted by the University…