May 12, 2022 07:20 PM IST

Scientists unveil image of huge black hole at Milky Way's center

Sagittarius A* possesses 4 million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years -- the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km) -- from Earth.

Fitness Planner | 10,000 steps: benefits, myth vs reality and where the number came from

There is no medical basis for suggesting that 10,000 steps a day is the magic number. As with most modern myths, the source of this number is in marketing.

SpaceX capsule splashes down, bringing 4 astronauts home from 6-month mission

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying three US NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency (ESA) crewmate from Germany parachuted into calm seas in darkness at the conclusion of a 23-hour-plus autonomous flight home from the ISS.

ISRO plans mission to Venus, eyes December 2024 launch window

Addressing a day-long meeting on Venusian science, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somnath said the Venus mission has been conceived, a project report made and "money identified”.

Language isn’t an instinct, it’s a game

In their new book, scientists Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater put forward the intriguing argument that origins of language lie in cultural improvisation and human imagination.

Imagine Another World. Now Imagine 5,000 More

More than half of the 5,000 known exoplanets were spotted by Kepler, a workhorse NASA space telescope that retired in 2018. Out of them all, William Borucki, Kepler’s principal investigator, has a clear favorite: Kepler-62f, a super-Earth about 1,000 light-years from Earth.

South Korea says it successfully test-fired first solid-fuel space rocket

The launch is the first such test since South Korea and the United States agreed last year to end decades of restrictions on the South's ballistic missile and rocket development, and comes less than a week after North Korea conducted its highest missile test yet.

Over 60 innovative tech projects featured at IIT Madras CFI open house

Numerous projects such as CFI Team Abhiyaan's autonomous vehicle called the Bolt,' Team Abhyuday's rocket, Team Avishkar's Hyperloop, a Sports Science and Analytics' Projects done in collaboration with Sports Science Centre of Excellence, IIT Madras, a Bird Diverter project undertaken in partnership with Wildlife Institute Of India, and projects on Blockchain Technology were hosted.

Chandrayaan-2 spectrometer makes first observations of global distribution of Argon-40 in Exosphere of Moon

'Exosphere’ is the outermost region of the upper atmosphere of a celestial body where the constituent atoms and molecules rarely collide with each other and can escape into space.

Will the Ukraine war derail the green energy transition?

As Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian oil and gas and global energy prices soar, coal could be the winner

Olympic skiers and snowboarders are competing on 100% fake snow – the science of how it’s made and how it affects performance

Storyboard18 | Bookstrapping: “The Code Breaker” Walter Isaacson

There’s a certain reader-phobia that scientific biographies can be cumbersome. This one isn’t, writes our critic. This week on Bookstrapping, we have a book about friendly neighbourhood scientists.

ISRO's first launch mission of 2022: Countdown starts

The launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which will also carry two small co-passenger satellites, is scheduled on February 14 at 05:59 hours

Qualification testing of cryogenic engine for Gaganyaan programme successful: ISRO

The performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test on Wednesday, the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said.

Google Doodle pays tribute to Stephen Hawking on his birth anniversary

Google Doodle: Stephen Hawking did extensive work on singularity theorem concepts and black holes. He received several awards for his work, including a lifetime achievement award for the contributions he made to science and culture.

Chandrayaan-3, Gaganyaan-1 and more—here’s what Isro has on the launchpad for 2022

India’s space agency has around 11 launches planned during the year but the most-watched would be its preparations for the country’s maiden human space mission Gaganyaan now scheduled for 2023

India successfully tests 'Pralay' missile off Odisha coast

The solid-fuel, battlefield missile developed by Defence Research Development Organisation is based on Prithvi Defence Vehicle from the Indian ballistic missile programme.

Why the World’s Astronomers Are Very, Very Anxious Right Now

A $10 billion telescope -- the James Webb Space Telescope -- is set to be launched into space after years of delays. The telescope is finally scheduled to lift off from a European launch site in French Guiana on its way to a point 1 million miles on the other side of the moon.

SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites from California base

Starlink is a satellite-based global internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world.

First ever true millipede with over 1,000 feet found in Australia

Worm-like creepy critters with hundreds of legs are commonly known as millipedes, a name that roughly translates to "thousand feet" -- but until now none has ever been found with more than 750.

NASA picks up Indian-origin Anil Menon for mission to Moon and Mars

Born to an Indian and Ukrainian immigrants, Menon is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force and SpaceX’s first flight surgeon

Why some people find it harder to be happy

Genes influence the behaviour that helps people choose their environment. For example, extroversion passed from parents to children helps children build their friendship groups. Equally, the environment changes gene expression.

International Space Station swerves to dodge space junk

Calls to monitor and regulate space debris, or space junk, have grown since Russia conducted an anti-satellite missile test last month. This generated a debris field in orbit that U.S. officials said would pose a hazard to space activities for years.

Longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years on November 19, to be visible from India

The rare phenomenon will be visible from a few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Director of Research and Academic at MP Birla Planetarium Debiprosad Duari told PTI.

SpaceX, NASA Crew-3 mission: How to watch Dragon's journey live

The mission is commanded by NASA's Raja Chari, with fellow NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn serving as pilot and Kayla Barron as a mission specialist. Also on board will be ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will become the 600th person ever to reach space.