Climate-related disasters, including droughts and hurricanes, are increasing the risk of armed conflicts, suggests a new study carried out by a team of German researchers. The study found that about one in four violent clashes in ethnically divided countries in past years have coincided with extreme weather events. “Armed conflicts are among the biggest threats […]
Science
Earth-sized Exoplanets are Rocky Worlds, Reveals a Study
A new study has confirmed that two potentially habitable planets in nearby system are actually rocky worlds. In May this year, scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Liège, and other schools announced the discovery of a planetary system hosting three potentially habitable planets. These scientists used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to catch […]
Tim Peake Says He is Feeling Great and Trying to Readjust to Life on Earth
On Friday, British astronaut Tim Peake was at Farnborough Air Show to launch Futures Day – an event which aims to inspire youngsters to study science, technology, and mathematics. “I’m absolutely delighted to be back here at Farnborough 2016,” Major Peake said ahead opening the event. The astronaut also revealed that he is now feeling […]
Tiangong-1 – China’s First Space Station – is Likely to Crash Back to Earth
Tiangong-1, China’s first space station, could make an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere sooner than expected, an amateur astronomer has warned. Tiangong-1, nicknamed —was launched from the Jiuquan launch centre in Gansu province in September 2011. Chinese space agency had planned to bring down the station into the ocean in a controlled crash, but it […]
Goats are Intelligent and Could Rival Dogs in Their Ability to ‘Talk’ to Humans
A new study has revealed that goats are more intelligent than what they are thought to be and could rival dogs in their ability to ‘talk’ to humans. The study, which was carried out by researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), revealed that these horned ruminants can form an emotional bond with humans […]
Antarctic Ozone Hole is Healing Now, Scientists Report
A new study conducted by an MIT-led team of researchers has suggested that the Antarctic ozone layer is now healing, and the hole has shrunk by more than 4 million square kilometers in the past 15 years. The study also reveals that this ozone recovery gets slow sometimes due to volcanic eruptions that take […]
Prehistoric Tombs may Have Worked as Telescopes for Early European Communities
Prehistoric humans may have used 6000-year-old passage graves as underground observatories to spot faint stars, suggests a new study carried out by researchers from University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Nottingham Trent University. Passage graves are underground tombs, scattered across Europe, and made by early European communities to bury the dead. These tombs were […]
A Mini Ice Age Could be on the Way as Sun Goes Blank for the Second Time in June
Planet Earth could be heading for a mini Ice Age, scientists have claimed after finding that Sun has gone blank again during the weakest solar cycle in more than a century. According to scientists, there were no sunspots on Sun surface on June 4 and this continued for four days – something which happened last […]
Autonomous Vehicles Revolution could be Marred by Ethical Dilemma, Says Study
Driverless car technology – a bright vision of the future – could be marred by an ethical dilemma, suggests a new study carried out to analyze how people would like their autonomous vehicles to behave when faced with moral decisions that could also result in death. It is claimed that autonomous vehicles, when introduced on […]
Iceland’s Hekla Volcano Could Erupt at Any Minute, Warns Expert from the University of Iceland
Pressure readings within Iceland’s Hekla volcano are alarming and suggest that this volcano – dubbed ‘Gateway to hell’ – could blow in any minute, an expert from the University of Iceland has warned. Hekla volcano is located in South Iceland and is believed to have erupted about 20 times since 870 AD. The volcano erupted […]
Four Hundred Fen Raft Spiders (Dolomedes plantarius) Released in the UK
Zookeepers at Chessington World of Adventures (CWoA) park have released 400 baby fen raft spiders (Dolomedes plantarius) in the wilds in the UK to protect the endangered species from extinction. The organization has been rewarded with a gold medal at the annual BIAZA awards for its conservation efforts. Fen raft spiders are the largest of […]
A Rare, Translucent Blind Catfish Discovered in Amistad National Park Cave in Texas
A rare species of blind catfish has been discovered recently in an underwater cave near Del Rio, Texas, by a team of researchers. These endangered catfish or Mexican blindcat (Prietella phreatophila) are unique in color and size, and were previous known to exist only south of Texas in Mexico. A pair of these fishes was […]
An Aquatic Scientist Films a Video Showing Thousands of Giant Spider Crabs Gathering on the Shores of Port Phillip Bay in Australia
An aquatic scientist in Australia has filmed a video which shows thousands of giant spider crabs gathering on the shore of Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne to molt in a moving mass of shells and pincers. The clip shows these marine creatures piled on top of one another and stretching for hundreds of meters in […]
Scientists at LIGO Say They Detected Gravitational Waves for the Second Time in December Last Year
Scientists at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Waves Observatory (LIGO) have announced that they detected gravitational waves for the second time – on December 25th last year. Earlier in February, LIGO scientists had announced first detection of a large space-time ripple at LIGO labs in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington. This ripple was detected on […]
British MPs Call for a National Space Program to Help Country Get More Leadership Roles in Future ESA Missions
British MP have demanded the government to develop its own national space program, that would run alongside Britain’s existing participation in the European Space Agency (ESA) and help address the problem of skills shortage that is holding back the growth of the British space industry. A report from the House of Commons Science and Technology […]
British Astronaut Tim Peake is Preparing for His Return to Earth on June 18
British astronaut Tim Peake is about to complete his six-month space mission on Saturday, and is currently preparing to leave the space station to return to Earth on 18 June. The British astronaut will land in the steppes of Kazakhstan, along with two other astronauts on Saturday morning. From there, Tim will leave for the […]
Carbfix Project Team Gets Success in Converting Waste Carbon Dioxide to Stone
A team of international scientists believe they have discovered an innovative way to covert carbon dioxide (CO2) gas into a stone, thus promising a more secure technique of burying the heat trapping gas underground. For the past two years, these scientists are busy carrying out the $10 million CarbFix experiment in Iceland. The experiment involves […]
Archeologists Discover a Huge Monument in Petra, Jordan
Archeologists have discovered a huge monument buried under the sands at the Petra World Heritage site in southern Jordan. The monument near the ancient city’s center was found after archaeologists used satellite images, ground surveys and drone photography to locate the structure. The detailed results of this study, carried out by Sarah Parcak of the […]
This Mathematics Question Has Baffled Parents as Well as Their Kids in the UK
A puzzling mathematics question has so much confused father of a Year five student in the UK that he has turned to the social media to get help to solve the problem. This mental maths question was given as homework to Year 5 primary students at a school in Glossop, Derbyshire. The question asked students […]
Arctic Tern Sets the Record for Longest Migration Ever at 60,000 Miles
A tiny Arctic tern has set a new record for longest migration ever by flying from Farne Islands in the UK to Antarctica and back again. In its journey, the tiny bird covered a distance of 59,650 miles (about 96,000 km), which equals flying over twice around the planet. This study was partly funded by […]
Sussex University Scientists Discover How Snails Use Two Neurons to Make Complex Decisions
A team of researchers from Sussex University in England has carried out a new study which reveals that snails use two neurons in the brain to make “complex decisions.” In the first-of-its-kind study, the team, including Michael Crossley, Kevin Staras and György Kemenes, all from the University of Sussex in England, examined the brain activity […]
Sweden Ranks First in the ‘Goodness’ Index in the World, Study Suggests
A new study has ranked Sweden as the topmost country in the world ‘Goodness’ table, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands. The UK got fourth position in the Goodness index, and Libya came last in the table. Sweden outranked 162 other countries in the table to be announced as the ‘goodest’ country. The positive lifestyle […]
A Woman Gives Birth to a Girl with Zika Virus at a New Jersey Hospital
On Tuesday, May 31, a woman from Honduras gave birth to a baby girl infected with Zika virus – the mosquito-borne disease that can cause small heads and brain damage in newborns. Earlier, the mother was admitted to the emergency room at Hackensack University Medical Center, New Jersey, where she gave birth to the girl. […]
ISRO is All Set to Launch Record 22 Satellites in Single mission in June 2016
ISRO has announced that it is all set to launch a record number of 22 satellites in a single mission next month. The satellites will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. ISRO will use Polar rocket PSLV C34 for the launch. Of these 22 satellites that ISRO will launch, three are Indian […]
Archeologists Discover 5000-year-Old Recipe for Beer in China
Researchers from Stanford University claim to have discovered 5000-year-old recipe for beer in China. The researchers now believe this find may be the first indication that beer was an important product in China many years before experts previously thought. Different studies have revealed that ancient humans were fond of beer. Evidence of 11,000-year-old brewing […]
NASA Announces to Make Second Attempt to Inflate Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, BEAM
NASA has said that its astronauts on board the International Space Station will make second attempt to expand the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM on Saturday. The experimental module had failed to inflate during the first attempt carried out by NASA astronauts on Thursday. Jeff Williams tried to expand BEAM with spurts of the […]
Long Space Shuttle Fuel Tank ET-94 Arrives in Los Angeles
ET-94 – the huge, empty, NASA fuel tank – finally reached the California Science Center in Exposition Park on Saturday. The shifting of the tank started around 12:30 a.m. PT early Saturday at Fisherman’s Village in Marina del Rey. Spectators had lined the streets to watch the huge tank making its way from […]
India Successfully Launches First-ever Indigenous Space Shuttle RLV-TD
On May 23, India launched its first-ever indigenous space shuttle – the Re-Usable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. RLV-TD, the country’s first winged-body aerospace vehicle, is being said to be the ISRO’s first step towards developing a reusable launch vehicle that would be capable of sending spacecraft […]
Tiny RoboBees that can Fly, Land and Stick to Surfaces Using Static Electricity
Scientists at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab have developed a tiny robot – dubbed RoboBee – that can fly and stick to surface using static electricity. Weighing just 0.08 grams, the RoboBee is equipped with a pair of tiny wings that can beat up to 120 times in one second. The first model of the tiny […]
Scientists Discover Aggressive, Man-eating Nile Crocodiles in Florida
Scientists have discovered an aggressive “man eating” crocodile in Florida. The first hatchling was first found on a householder’s porch near Miami in 2009, but the results of DNA testing have only been announced. The second crocodile found was a small female discovered two years later at a Fruit & Spice Park in Homestead, Florida. […]