Look sharp
With the most powerful telescope in the world coming up in Chile, our view of the final frontier is sure to become larger and clearer
Super-heavy elements
Two experiments succeed in creating super-heavy elements, improving our understanding of the nuclear structure
2016: the year in space and astronomy
Colliding black holes to exploding spacecraft, 2016 was an incredible year for astrophysics
Shutting down the particle powerhouse
Even though funds for the Superconducting Super Collider have dried up, particle physicists are determined to prove their theory of, well, everything
Making clothes more comfortable
A mathematical theory may result in an objective technique to evaluate both the comfort of a fabric and how it will behave over time
A new technique to control laser intensity
Indian scientists have developed a technique that uses electromagnetic radiation to manipulate the intensity of laser beams.
Return of the tube
Announcing the second coming of vacuum tubes, which were wiped out by transistors and integrated circuits
Unaware and unprepared
More than 26 asteroids entered Earth's atmosphere between 2000 and 2013. None of them was detected in advance
The halo is hotter than the star
An astrophysicist tries to explain why, in violation of the laws of thermodynamics, the corona is hotter than the Sun.
Encounter with the future
The newly-discovered method of lasing in conjugated polymer microcavities may herald bright possibilities for the electronics industry
A brief mania called Hawkins
Barely 100 out of the 5,000 present at the Stephen Hawking public lecture actually understood what he said. Some felt Hawking had endorsed the …
2008 A lunar odyssey
From a pariah after Pokhran II to scientific self esteem, India raced its way to the moon. Archita Bhatta tracked the nation's voyage to find …
Mercury transit helps scientists study the planet
Scientists attempted to understand the processes of sodium atoms being released into Mercury’s atmosphere
What international scientists have to say on the detection of gravitational waves
The consensus is that the discovery will reveal to us a completely different side of the universe
Significance of CERN
Books>> Smashing Physics • by Jon Butterworth • Headline Press • Rs 700 (Kindle edition) and The Particle At The End Of The …
From beyond the back of
If some recent findings hold water, the mysterious gamma ray blasts emanate from the most distant celestial objects
The back up man
BOOK>> MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION, THE LONG JOURNEY HOME FROM THE MOON • by Buzz Aldrin and Ken Abraham • Bloomsbury • Rs 750
Universal redux
For over 100 years, gravitational waves remained just a hypothesis. Now it is a fact. The discovery could open new channels of understanding our …
Life beyond Earth
Book>> Five Hundred Billion Years Of Solitude • by Lee Billings • Penguin • Rs 799
Where are the heroes?
Book>> Destination Moon by Pallav Bagla and Subhadra Menon Harper Collins New Delhi 2008, Rs 195
Celestial explorers
Book>> Voyager, seeking newer worlds in the third great age of discovery • by Stephen J Pyne • Viking • Rs 1,000
Celebrated minds
In 2016, many Indian-origin scientists made it big and got international acclaim for their work. From genetics to nanoelectronics, these …
‘Einstein’s E = mc2 does not work in the biosphere’
Behaviour of light changes on entry into Earth's atmosphere from space; it assumes a benevolent role
Unlocking our universe, step by step
From time immemorial, scientists have tried to unravel the mystery of the universe-from India's Aryabhata to Albert Einstein