Two German researchers got down to answer an easy query: What makes a great bird photo? But to find the answer, they had to collect over 20,000 photos of birds from nine of the largest bird accounts on Instagram with their corresponding data. The result was startling. They found that the bird image most liked
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Shiny satellites and space junk orbiting Earth may have increased the brightness of the night sky by more than 10 percent above the natural light levels, a new study has found, and further stated that these objects in the sky could also pose a threat to our viewing of the universe. The research, published in
A few days ago, a couple in Las Vegas hired a team of workers to construct a pool in their backyard. Just when the team started digging, the couple — Matthew Perkins and his wife — joked among themselves that maybe they would find a dinosaur for them and it would pay for the pool.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts back to Earth splashed down off Florida early Sunday in NASA’s first nighttime ocean landing in more than 50 years. The crew reported they were feeling well after their arrival back on Earth following a nearly six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA said. The capsule
The International Space Station (ISS), on Thursday, shared a collection of photographs, featuring the ‘Super Moon’. This celestial event occurs when the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth and at the same time is full. As a result, the Moon looks larger and brighter than other days. Also known as the ‘Pink
US space agency NASA has told Elon Musk’s SpaceX to halt work under a contract it won to develop a lunar spacecraft, pending the outcome of challenges by rival bidders at the US Government Accountability Office, the agency said on Friday. NASA’s decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the Moon
After proving powered, controlled flight is possible on the Red Planet, NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter has new orders: scout ahead of the Perseverance rover to assist in its search for past signs of microbial life. The next phase extends the rotocraft’s mission beyond the original month-long technology demonstration. Now, the goal is to assess how
The neem tree growing outside my house is a shape-shifter. Every year, without fail, in the cool dry winter its leaves become tired and yellow-brown, and sometimes fall off completely. Just as the weather turns a bit warmer, heralding the summer, the neem miraculously becomes green again. Then the shy white flowers emerge, hiding in
Scientists say they have been able to resolve a long-standing controversy about an extinct horned crocodile that lived among humans in Madagascar, an island country in the Indian Ocean, saying this particular crocodile, Voay Robustus, was closely related to the modern-day “true” crocodiles but on a separate branch of the crocodile family tree. Based on
Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, a start-up founded by alumni of IIT Madras, has made what it says is India’s first 3D-printed house. The team printed the structure using a specialty concrete that it had developed to print large-scale 3D structures in short periods. They say the mix is based on ordinary portland cement, which has a
The world is still experimenting with and in awe of Deep Nostalgia, an AI-powered technique from online family tree service MyHeritage, which adds facial animations to still portrait photographs. Almost daily, we come across small clips on the Internet in which the said technology has been used to animate still pictures, making a character smile,
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Tuesday it had voted to approve a SpaceX plan to deploy some Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit than planned as part of its push to offer space-based broadband internet. Elon Musk’s SpaceX had asked the FCC for approval to fly 2,824 satellites at a lower orbit
Blue Origin, the space rocket company backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is formally challenging the $2.9-billion (roughly Rs. 21,650 crore) Moon lander contract awarded by NASA to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Blue Origin said on Monday it had filed a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office, accusing NASA of moving the goalposts for contract
NASA has made a new discovery through its Chandra X-ray Observatory that could turn out to be a major step towards pinpointing exactly how some giant stars explode. The space agency said that its scientists have found fragments of titanium blasting out of a famous supernova — an extremely bright super explosion of a star.
NASA’s mini helicopter Ingenuity on Sunday successfully completed its third flight on Mars, moving farther and faster than ever before, with a peak speed of 6.6 feet per second. After two initial flights during which the craft hovered above the Red Planet’s surface, the helicopter on this third flight covered 64 feet (50 metres) of
The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch a data relay satellite that will help maintain contact with the Gagangyaan mission throughout after the launch, sources said. The satellite will be launched before the final leg of the Gaganyaan mission, which will send astronauts to the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). The first leg - the unmanned mission