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The American astronomer Thomas Gold proposed that over the past 12,000 years, there were extreme solar storms one or two orders of magnitude greater than the Carrington Event of 1859 , which was the most intense solar storm in living memory. The plasma physicist Anthony Peratt at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in USA explored computer simulations of auroral evolution under intense solar wind, using the Roadrunner supercomputer. This involved multiple currents merging into quadrupoles, creating structures such as helices, concentric circles and filamentary rays. Snapshots of these simulations closely resemble rock art found around the world. A page from Astronomical Petroglyphs – Searching for Rock Art Evidence for an Ancient Super Aurora is embedded below. Similar experiments conducted at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow generated intense plasma columns, producing shapes that matched petroglyphs through evolution of pinched toroids. Rock art and paintings depicting these...
In an advancement for quantum interferometry, researchers from the University of Vienna have demonstrated matter-wave interference with sodium nanoparticles exceeding 7,000 atoms, delocalised over 133 nanometres, more than ten times their diameter. This is a superposition similar to the Schrodinger 's Cat thought experiment, and achieves an unprecedented macroscopicity, outstripping previous records by an order of magnitude, and rigourously testing macrorealist modifications to quantum mechanics. The experiment used a Talbot-Lau setup with three 266 nanometre ultraviolet standing-wave gratings spaced at 0.983 m. The team sourced cryogenic sodium clusters at velocities around 160 m/s yielding de Broglie wavelengths down to 10 femtometres. The first and third gratings act as photodepletion masks, ionising clusters in the antinodes, while the second grating imparts a phase shift via induced dipoles. Bayesian analysis of raw data falsifies minimal macrorealist models, affirming...
India is building the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST), a two-metre class telescope for detailed studies of the Sun. It will observe in visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The telescope uses a Gregorian design on an alt-azimuth mount, so that it can track the Sun as it moves across the sky. The adaptive optics on board allows for sharp images, with a spatial resolution of 0.1 to 0.3 arcseconds. The telescope will be powerful enough for scientists to see very small features on the Sun, such as magnetic structures, plasma movements and changes in the solar atmosphere. Instruments on the telescope will also be able to track magnetic fields, and capture spectra from multiple solar times. At night, the same telescope can also be used to observe stars. The telescope will be located near the Merak village close to the Pangong Lake in Ladakh, at an altitude of about 4,200 metres above the sea level. The location is a high-altitude desert with clear skies, low water vapour and stable...
Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting organs, tissues or cells from one species to another. Most of the ongoing research is focused on transplanting pig organs to humans. Pigs are suitable donors because their organs are similar in size to human organs, and they reproduce quickly, allowing large numbers to be raised. The primary barrier is the human immune system, which recognises the pig tissues as foreign, and attacks them. This results in hyperacute rejection within minutes to hours, triggered by antibodies against pig carbohydrates. Without modifications, xenografts rapidly fail. To overcome rejections, scientists are using gene editing tools such as CRISPR to alter pig DNA. The crucial changes including knocking out certain genes, especially ones associated with producing carbohydrates, to reduce binding by human antibodies. Human genes are added to express proteins, to control coagulation and inflammation. Pigs with 10 or more edits, sometimes up to 69, have...
Active galaxies are galaxies with centres that emit more energy than can be explained by their stars alone. This excess radiation comes from an active galactic nucleus (AGN), a compact region in the core of the galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole containing between millions and billions of times the mass of the Sun. This supermassive black hole consumes gas and dust from the surrounding galaxy, forming a superheated accretion disk of tortured material. Friction and compression in the disk heat the material to millions of degrees, causing them to emit radiate across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. The luminosity of an AGN can outshine the host galaxy by many times, with the brightest examples, known as quasars reaching outputs equivalent of trillions of Suns, from a region no larger than the solar system. The appearance of active galaxies varies depends on the accretion rate, the presence of relativistic jets and the viewing angle. In many...
American author and space philosopher Frank White coined the term 'overview effect ' in his 1987 book, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution . White developed the concept after interviewing a number of astronauts, and drawing from his own experiences of a similar effect while flying over the Earth in an aeroplane during the 1970s and 1980s. The overview effect describes a profound cognitive shift reported by many astronauts when viewing Earth from space. At altitudes of about 400 km or Low Earth Orbit or farther out, the world appears as a fragile sphere suspended in the blackness of space. This visual perspective triggers an immediate awareness of the unity and interconnectedness of the planet. In the Houston We Have a Podcast podcast , White describes how he came up with the term, " So what happened was, the first thing that happened with that I had the experience that led to coining the overview effect as a term. And that was an experience flying...
Researchers from IIIT-Hyderabad have developed a low-cost UPS monitoring device, as a response to frustration by a campus IT staffer, Prakash Nayak, who was struggling with frequent equipment failures without clear explanations. One of the scientists who developed the device, Sachin Chaudhari says, “It is important to note that IT staff Mr Prakash is part of the research paper we have published. He is also part of the patent we have recently filed on this. This highlights the value of treating campus operations teams as co-creators of research problems rather than mere end users – a mindset that leads to more relevant and impactful outcomes.” A paper describing the device, titled ‘Low-cost IoT-based Downtime Detection for UPS and Behaviour Analysis’ won the Best Paper award at 18th International Conference on COMmunication System and NETworkS (COMSNETS-2026) Workshop on AI of Things in Bengaluru. The researchers developed a non-intrusive current-monitoring system that...
Four Indian new space startups have signed an agreement to develop and deploy the first Earth Observation Constellation of India under a private-public partnership model. Pixxel and SatSure are based in Bengaluru, Dhruva Space is based in Hyderabad and PierSight is based in Ahmedabad. 12 satellites will be deployed over the next five years with an investment of over Rs 1,200 crore. The companies won a proposal by IN-SPACe to design, build and operate the constellation in August 2025, with the companies now entering into a formal agreement. The consortium 's winning bid was for zero rupees. The companies will design, build and operate the constellation. The satellites will be equipped with multispectral, hyperspectral, panchromatic and microwave synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads. Pixxel completed its Firefly constellation of six hyperspectral satellites last year, PierSight has demonstrated its SAR payload on the upper stage of a PSLV rocket, Dhruva Space has flow...
Scientists have only been able to speculate on the outcomes of discovering extra-terrestrial life, drawing from astrobiology, psychology and sociology studies. Detection methods include analysing the atmospheres of exoplanets for biosignatures such as oxygen, methane or carbon dioxide through astronomical instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which can indicate habitability with up to 95 per cent possibility. Local searches are targeting subsurface oceans on ice moons such as Enceladus and Europa, as well as potential underground Martian lakes, where microbial life might persist. Evidence could also come in the form of meteorites bearing organic molecules, or radio signals from intelligent civilisations. The least likely route of discovery is via say a physical spaceship captured by any military, which is a nonsensical or at least pseudoscientific scenario unsupported by any evidence. Any potential impact on the market because of the introduction of alien technology is...
The Tic Tac videos captured in 2004 by the US Navy remains one of the most credible and scrutinised cases of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). On 14 November, 2004, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group operating about 160 kilometres shouthwest of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean detected unusual radar contacts over several days. The Radar operators on the USS Princeton tracked multiple objects descending from altitudes of about 24,000 metres to near sea level in fractions of a second, implying extreme velocities and accelerations inconsistent with conventional aircraft. One object, later dubbed the 'Tic Tac ' by pilots due to its smooth, white, oblong shape roughly 14 metres in length, was investigated by pilots in F/A-18F Super Hornets. The video was captured by the forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera on board the aircraft. The pilots visually observed the object hovering above churning water with no visible wings, rotors or propulsion. It mirrored the movements...
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