Image: European Southern Observatory Close to the centre of our galaxy, there exists an immense molecular cloud known as Sagittarius B2. This has been a subject of interest among scientists due to its peculiar composition, which includes chemicals capable of giving it the aroma of rum and the taste of raspberries. The presence of ethyl…
In cities filled with concrete, glass and rising temperatures, Spanish botanist Ignacio Solano sees something different in the empty walls around him. Through massive vertical gardens covered in thousands of plants, Solano is helping transform ordinary buildings into living ecosystems that cool the air, reduce pollution and support biodiversity. His work, spread across Europe and…
Stephen Hawking quote of the day Some quotes sound intelligent immediately and then disappear from memory a few minutes later. Others seem to sit quietly in the mind and become more interesting with time. This quote, widely associated with Stephen Hawking, feels like one of those lines that grows heavier the longer a person thinks…
For a long time, astronomers treated the early universe as a place where galaxies were still finding their footing, small systems forming stars rapidly, while the larger cosmic structures familiar today had not yet settled into existence. Galaxy clusters, the sprawling cities of the cosmos, were thought to become influential much later. Yet fresh observations…
In the mid-1960s, inside a research laboratory run by DuPont, Stephanie Kwolek was searching for something fairly practical. The company wanted lightweight yet durable fibres that could eventually replace steel in vehicle tyres and reduce fuel consumption. Synthetic materials were already common in industry by then, but the challenge was finding one that could survive…
A technology that could propel crewed missions to Mars and robotic spacecraft throughout the solar system was recently put to the test at NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The result was a milestone that engineers and space scientists have been working toward for decades, and one that brings the prospect of humans setting…
On Earth, a cloudy morning giving way to a clear evening is unremarkable, the kind of forecast that barely warrants a glance at the weather app. On a gas giant orbiting a star nearly 700 light-years from Earth, the same basic pattern plays out every single day, except the clouds are not made of water…
On Earth, a blazing orange and crimson horizon marks the close of day. On Mars, the planet famous for its rust-red landscapes, the sky does the opposite, turning a cool, haunting blue at dusk. The science behind it is as beautiful as the sight itself. Imagine standing on a cold, rust-coloured plain, looking west as…
At several hundred metres below the surface, the limestone caves around Minamidaito Island are mostly untouched by sunlight, currents, and routine marine surveys. The landscape is narrow, uneven, and difficult to navigate even with modern submersibles. During one of those deep exploratory dives last year, a remotely operated vehicle passed close to a colony of…
The rivalry between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk has officially reached the Moon. NASA announced on Tuesday that it had selected Bezos’s Blue Origin to carry out the first in a planned series of three uncrewed lunar missions aimed at preparing for a future Moon base, handing the company a contract worth about $230M. The…
