Science

Scientists for the first time have grown seeds in soil from the moon – samples retrieved during NASA missions in 1969 and 1972 – in an achievement that heralds the promise of using earthly plants to support human outposts on other worlds. Researchers said on Thursday they planted seeds of a diminutive flowering weed called

Biofuel researchers have been constantly working to develop a self-sustaining technique for converting renewable carbon sources into fuels while excluding carbon out of our environment and water. Despite significant advances, finishing the cycle using clean energy has proven to be difficult. Now, a group of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has

Boeing is feuding with Aerojet Rocketdyne, a key supplier for its Starliner spacecraft, as the US aerospace giant races to test launch the uncrewed astronaut capsule and mend its reputation in the space sector, people familiar with the matter said. The CST-100 Starliner is scheduled for a May 19 Florida launch atop an Atlas 5

A quake of magnitude 5 shook the surface of Mars on May 4, as per a seismometer placed by NASA’s InSight lander on the planet. The seismic event has been dubbed a “monster” quake by the space agency given that it is the strongest temblor ever detected not just on Mars but also on any

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera achieved great feats for the American Space agency. The retired observatory has captured several spectacular images of the deep space until recently. It was the first of its kind to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared universe. And, now, we are glad that it has received

The first ever photograph of a black hole — a fiery ring of light that surrounded a black pit of emptiness — stunned the world three years ago. The Event Horizon Telescope, a global network of synchronised radio dishes serving as one large telescope, brought that image of the black hole at the centre of

A Chinese cargo vessel docked with the country’s under-construction space station Tuesday ahead of a new three-person crew expected to arrive next month. The Tianzhou-4 spacecraft was slung into space atop a Long March-7 Y5 rocket at 1:56am (11:26pm) from the Wenchang Launch Base in the southern island province of Hainan. State media said it docked

The intrigue around black holes is something that fascinates every space enthusiast. The physics behind it has troubled scientists for decades. These mysterious space elements are known as powerful cosmic engines because they provide the energy for quasars and active galactic nuclei. We may be discussing the magnetic field of black holes, but black holes

Over the years, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured some breathtaking images of the cosmos, giving us a peek into a world many of us will not have even imagined. From capturing stunning galaxies hundreds of light-years away to noticing the quiet, undramatic passage of planets by Earth, Hubble has been our eyes in space.

Autism, a development disorder, can end up impairing a person’s ability to communicate and interact. It affects the nervous system and affects cognitive, social, emotional and physical well-being of an individual. To understand the symptoms disorder in detail, a team of researchers studied lab-grown brains developed from human cells and uncovered changes in neurological structure that

The human brain is said to be the most complex biological structure ever to have existed. And while science doesn’t fully understand the brain yet, researchers in the expanding field of neuroscience have been making progress. Neuroscientists have made substantial inroads towards mapping the complex functions of the brain’s 85 billion or so neurons and

NASA shared a special surprise for Star Wars’ fans on May 4, revealing how the fictional series is inspired from the real world. The franchise has presented a fictional world to its viewers, making it difficult to imagine that the planets shown in the series would have any relation to the our universe. It turns

The universe is full of enigma and mysteries. Millions of objects move around undetected. In fact, there’s no dearth of such objects lurking in our very own Milky Way galaxy. We know very little of them, yet they continue to impact our lives in a number of ways. While the effort to study these objects

The third long-duration astronaut team launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) safely returned to Earth early on Friday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida to end months of orbital research ranging from space-grown chilies to robots. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying three US NASA astronauts and a European

The most comprehensive genetic assessment to date of the vaquita, the world’s rarest marine mammal, is offering a glimmer of hope that this small tropical porpoise native to Mexico’s Gulf of California may avoid extinction despite its population dwindling to about 10. Researchers said on Thursday genome data from 20 vaquitas showed that while the

Researchers at the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) here in collaboration with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed an optogenetic tool which can help understand brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, depression and schizophrenia. In a statement, the JMI said that the tool can study molecular trafficking in neurons and has been developed by