Science news

Emissions from biomass burning, rather than fireworks, drive Delhi’s poor air quality in the days after Diwali, a new study has found. The study — Chemical Speciation and Source Apportionment of Ambient PM2.5 in New Delhi Before, During, and After the Diwali Fireworks — was led by scientists from IIT-Delhi and published in the Atmospheric Pollution Research journal.
The research was partly funded by the Union Ministry of Education and IIT-Delhi and conducted as part o

Cloudy skies kept the mercury in check in Delhi on Wednesday, with the maximum temperature settling at 34.4 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The capital logged a minimum temperature of 23.6 degrees Celsius.
A slight increase in temperature — up to 41 degrees Celsius — is predicted over the next three to four days but there is no forecast of a heatwave for another week, the IMD said.
Delhi’s 24-hour air quality index (A

taly has issued a yellow alert after red-hot lava appeared from Mount Etna last week, which is considered to be the tallest active volcano in Europe.
Footage shared by news agency Reuters on Twitter shows lava and plumes of smoke billowing into the sky in the night. In an amazing display, the lava is seen coming out of Mount Etna volcano.
Reuter’s stated that “Europe’s tallest active volcano, Mount Etna, put on a stunning display May 20, 2022, with hot lava and plumes of smoke

Growing trees in agroforestry systems — a landscape restoration technique where farmers add trees to their land — and in and near cities can offer many environmental and socioeconomic benefits, according to a study by the World Resources Institute (WRI) India.The study by the global research non-profit organisation also identified 10 types of incentives — seven monetary and three non-monetary — that policymakers use to encourage farmers to grow trees.Subsidies for plantin

The World Economic Forum’s annual gathering is resuming for a second day, with business leaders, government officials, representatives from global institutions and journalists gearing up for more panel talks and networking at the exclusive meeting in the Swiss Alps.
Tuesday’s agenda in Davos is packed with sessions on one of the meeting’s key themes – climate change. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is due to make an appearance.
There also will be addresses by Spanish Prime

North-western parts of the country on Monday enjoyed some respite from the scorching heatwave as the region received heavy rainfall under the influence of the season’s first moderate intensity thunderstorm.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), no part of the country, except West Rajasthan, is likely to witness a heatwave condition during the next five days.
An extra-tropical weather system approaching from north Pakistan led to formation of rain-bearing clouds that broug

Exposure to high levels of air pollution is associated with a life-threatening heart condition, according to a study. The research, presented last week at the scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Madrid, Spain was conducted in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), enabling them to track the occurrence of arrhythmias.“Our study suggests that people at high risk of ventricular arrhythmias, such as those with an ICD, should check daily po

Delhiites woke up to thunderstorm and rains on Monday morning that brought a much-needed respite from the sweltering heat as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 18 degrees Celsius. Trees got uprooted in some parts of the national capital and traffic snarls were reported in various stretches, including ITO, DND and near AIIMS, on the first working day of the week.According to the weather department, this was the first moderate-intensity storm of this season. Summer is considered to start f

HCL Group and UNLEASH, a global innovation programme for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), have announced a year-long collaboration to mobilise youth and develop innovative solutions to promote aquatic ecosystem conservation.
These solutions will aim to tackle challenges from source (mountains and glaciers) to sink (oceans and seas) and their links to terrestrial ecosystems, according to a statement.
“…UNLEASH and HCL will collaborate to establish a year of youth-led acti

Researchers from smaller cities will soon be able to access expensive research infrastructure at state-funded institutions as the Centre has released guidelines for sharing such scientific equipment at a small cost.
While researchers from mofussil towns will get access to cutting-edge equipment, the Scientific Research Infrastructure Sharing Maintenance and Networks (SRIMAN) guidelines also seek to incentivise the institutions by rating them for the extent of participation in the initiative, whi

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday said efforts to improve air quality have shown positive trends in cities across the country and participative governance holds the key to achieving what India aspires.
Addressing the ‘Sensitization cum Review Workshop – National Clean Air Programme’ (NCAP) in Chennai, he said it was time to make ‘clean air for all’ a participative mission.
NCAP is a national-level strategy for a 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduct

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has written to the Union environment ministry, requesting it to allow compensatory afforestation (CA) for all projects undertaken in the city in the neighbouring states in view of a scarcity of land in the national capital.
The land-owning agency said the ministry should at least relax the guidelines issued under the Forest Conservation Act to allow compensatory afforestation for the projects implemented by the Centre and public sector undertakings (PSUs) on

Delhi’s minimum temperature settled at 29°C on Saturday as overnight showers and thunderstorms were followed by a cloudy morning. The maximum temperature is likely to hit 40°C, the India Meteorological Department said. The minimum temperature at the Safdarjung weather station was 29.8°C, three degrees above normal, on Saturday.
Pre-monsoon rainfall is likely to intensify slightly in Delhi and the National Capital Region by Sunday and continue till Tuesday, leading to a signific

The universe’s expansion rate has fascinated astronomers for a long time. Since the initial studies by Edwin P. Hubble and Georges Lemaitre in the 1920s to the discovery of ‘dark energy’ in the 1990s, the field has advanced slowly but steadily. The Hubble Space Telescope has provided a huge amount of data to study and is one of the most potent space-based observatories, helping astronomers understand cosmic mysteries.
In 30 years of existence, the telescope has taken over 1.3 b

The environment ministry’s exemption of some genome-edited crop types from bio- safety norms for genetically modified (GM) crops, and the biotechnology department notifying guidelines for safety assessment of such plants, are likely to spur faster development of climate-resilient crop varieties. Sandip Das explains gene- editing technologies and their potential.
Genome editing
Genome editing enables modification of plants’ owned genes, without insertion of external genes, as with GM

In order to ensure crew safety as part of the roadmap for Gaganyaan, ISRO will be conducting two unmanned ‘abort missions’, which will include one in September and the other in December. Gaganyaan will be the first manned flight of India to space in 2024, ISRO chairman S Somanath told IE. Somanath, who is also Secretary, of the Department of Space, said that the first priority would be human safety because of which there is more focus on aborting missions that would simulate fai

Delhiites on Friday woke up to a warm morning with the minimum temperature settling two notches above normal at 28.2 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).The weather office has predicted a partly cloudy sky with the possibility of development of thunder and lightning.The maximum temperature in the capital is likely to soar to 44 degrees celsius at the Safdarjung Observatory, the IMD said. Delhi had recorded a maximum temperature of 45.6 degrees Celsius, the hig

Climate change has made the record breaking heat waves in India and Pakistan over 100 times more likely, and also increased the chances that such events will occur more frequently in the future, according to a study by the UK Met Office.The analysis released on Wednesday means extreme temperature events once expected every three centuries are now likely to happen every three years. climate change, climate change impact in india, heatwaves in india, UK met office,The study estimated the chances o

A holiday was declared for schools in Dakshina Kannada district on Thursday for a second day in view of heavy rains, Deputy Commissioner K V Rajendra said. Normal life was thrown out of gear in the district since Wednesday with the heavy downpour due to the low pressure in the Bay of Bengal.To ensure safety of school children, a holiday was declared for on Thursday to all government, aided, unaided primary and high schools. Rajendra said the decision was taken considering the difficulties of chi

One assumption about the extra-terrestrial world that continues to get everyone curious is the existence of Alien life. Though scientists have not been able to find valid proof about the same, space exploration pictures often make the beliefs stronger.
One particular photo released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) known for exploring faraway planets and galaxies has opened up a string of conspiracy theories about life beyond Earth. But the internet has recent

The department of biotechnology on Tuesday notified the guidelines for the safety assessment of genome edited plants, which is expected to accelerate genetic improvement of crops in the country.
The guidelines provide a road map for the sustainable use of genome editing technologies and applicable to public and private sector research institutions engaged in research and development and handling of genome edited plants.
The environment ministry, in a notification in March 2022, had exempted cert

A volcanic eruption under the water near the Pacific country of Tonga in January 2022, sent a huge pressure wave through the atmosphere of the earth, a research published in the journal Science on May 12, 2022, said. Before this, the last volcano that generated such large ripples across the earth’s atmosphere was Krakatau in 1883, which was one of the world’s most destructive volcanic eruptions that was recorded.
“This atmospheric wave event was unprecedented in the modern geop

Iraq, which has seen unprecedented sandstorms since April 2022, witnessed sandstorms in the country on Monday. Affecting normal lives in the middle-east country, the sandstorm forced the cancellation of a large number of flights and also led to the closing of schools and colleges.
Due to this, a large number of people who were facing breathing difficulties were rushed to hospitals in Baghdad and other cities. According to the BBC, the haze led to a dip in visibility in several parts of the count

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an Orange alert in nine districts in Kerala for today while it issued the same for seven districts on Wednesday indicating heavy rainfall.
Even though the Red alert, which indicates extremely heavy rainfall, issued in the last few days at various districts has been withdrawn, various weather forecasting centres in the country have predicted isolated heavy rains across the state.
The IMD has issued an Orange alert today for the districts

By Akanksha Sharma
From growing income and wealth inequality to climate change, to biodiversity degradation, to increasing discrimination based on race, colour, unemployment – all these issues have grown graver post the pandemic. However they are also getting more and constant focus– thanks to the activism surrounding these issues under the broad umbrella of ESG. 
While there is no dispute or second thoughts regarding the relevance of ESG and its urgency, this agg

Nano-sized robots manipulated using a magnetic field can help kill bacteria deep inside the teeth, and boost the success of root canal treatments, according to a study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru. Root canal treatments are routinely carried out to treat tooth infections in millions of patients. The procedure involves removing the infected soft tissue inside the tooth, called the pulp, and flushing the tooth with antibiotics or chemicals to kill the bacteria

The spectre of climate change is here to stay and even worsen, say climate scientists as searing winds blow across swathes of north India, including New Delhi where temperatures have crossed 49 degrees Celsius, and flash floods ravage parts of the northeast. A day after two weather stations in Delhi saw temperatures of more than 49 degrees Celsius and neighbouring Gurgaon registered 48 degrees Celsius, the highest since May 1966, experts on Monday analysed the incidence of extreme weather events

Dr Yatharth Kachiar and Aditya Chauhan
The war in Ukraine has brought a painful epiphany for Europe that it needs to reduce its long-overdue dependence on Russian energy. The EU meets 40 % of its natural gas requirements from Russia, also the biggest oil supplier to the bloc. However, the dependence on Russian energy is uneven throughout the bloc since few countries are more dependent on Russian energy than others. For example, Germany imports 25% of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia. Simil

Rajib Dasgupta, Shweta Sharma
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is jointly launching the first Global Report on Assistive Technology (GReAT) on 16 May 2022. This report is the culmination of the 71 st World Health Assembly resolution in 2018 to prepare a global report on effective access to assistive technology. Despite the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic, the editors and the contributors ensured that it was launched on schedule. The r

The first photograph of the supermassive black hole situated in the center of the Milky Way and about 26,0000 light-years from the Earth was made public by the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope last week. For the project, 300 researchers worked together.
The first-ever picture of a black hole was captured not before 2019, located in a distant galaxy called Messier 87 and known as black hole M87.
The black holes are formed as stars collapse, leading to a space in the universe with escape

By Girish Linganna
Will matters most to reach the hills. Yes. This has been proved by the Indian Space Research Organisation. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the ISRO is marching toward its ambitious India’s maiden human spacelift mission, Gaganyaan, in 2023. It has completed one more crucial test, which will boost the confidence of the scientific community to push the project further. The ISRO on May 9 completed a test called a static test of a human-rated solid rocket booster, s

The first of this year’s two lunar eclipses will take place on Sunday and Monday.
A total lunar eclipse — when the full moon moves into the shadow of the Earth —will be visible from parts of the Americas, Europe, Africa and the east Pacific. New Zealand, the Middle East, and eastern Europe will witness a penumbral eclipse, which arises when the moon is in the lighter penumbral shadow.
BLOOD MOON
The lunar eclipse will occur on a day of the full moon. When the Earth’s shad

By Prof Neelam Rani and Jatinder Handoo
India’s recent budget announcements regarding incentivizing energy transition and climate-friendly policy initiatives are the reinforcement of her commitment towards a 100% net-zero economy by 2070 and reducing its reliance on fossils-based energy to renewable energy up to 50% by 2030. To put it in perspective China and the USA, the world’s first and second-largest producers of Green House Gases (GHGs) have committed to attaining net-zero emiss

Heatwave conditions prevailed in most parts of the national capital with the minimum temperature on Sunday settling at 25 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said. The relative humidity recorded at 8:30 am was 40 per cent, it said.
The weather office has forecast mainly clear skies with heatwave conditions at most places while severe heatwave conditions are predicted in isolated areas of the national capital. The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 45 degrees Celsius

With the Yamuna drying up under the blazing sun and Haryana not responding to SOS calls, authorities in Delhi are barely meeting the drinking water demand in several areas, officials said on Saturday.The level in the Wazirabad pond has dropped to 670.70 feet, the lowest this year. It was 671.80 feet on Thursday.The pond level had dropped to 667 feet on July 11 last year, prompting the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to move the Supreme Court seeking directions to Haryana to release additional water in the

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for Ernakulam and Idukki districts of Kerala for Saturday indicating extremely heavy rainfall and an orange alert for southern districts till May 16.
The weatherman has issued a red alert for Ernakulam and Idukki for Saturday while an orange alert has been issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Thrissur districts till May 16.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 cm in 2

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday said ambitious implementation of climate actions by developing countries is contingent on the adequate delivery of climate finance, technology transfer, and other support.
Participating in the BRICS high-level meeting on climate change, the minister highlighted the relevance of the forum to jointly address climate change, to explore approaches to accelerate low-carbon and resilient transition, and to achieve sustainable recovery and developm

Astronomers have revealed the first visual of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way — the Earth’s galaxy. Known as Sagittarius A* (Sagittarius A-star), the object is four million times the mass of the Earth’s Sun.
The image — produced by the global team known as the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration — is the first, direct visual confirmation of this invisible object and comes three years after the first image of a black hole from a distant gal

The intense heatwave, which has scorched Delhi over the past two days, is expected to worsen on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department has already issued an ‘orange alert’ and warned that the mercury might soar to 46-47°C in parts of the National Capital.
SATURDAY TEMPERATURE
Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s base station, is expected to record a maximum temperature of 44°C against Friday’s 42.5°C. On Friday, Najafgarh in Delhi recorded a maximum temperat

The southwest monsoon will likely hit the Kerala coast, where it enters the sub-continent, by May 26, five days ahead of “normal onset date” of June 1, private weather forecaster Skymet said on Friday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), meanwhile, predicted onset of monsoon over Kerala on May 27.
“This year, the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be earlier than normal date of onset,” IMD said in a statement.
According to Skymet, the onset of mons

A heatwave broiled parts of Delhi on Friday, with the mercury soaring to 46.1 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh.The weather stations at Jafarpur and Mungeshpur recorded a maximum temperature of 45.6 degrees Celsius and 45.4 degrees Celsius, respectively, six notches above normal for this time of the year. Pitampura also reeled under heatwave conditions, recording a maximum temperature of 44.7 degrees Celsius.The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s base station, recorded a high of 42.5 degrees Celsi

South-west monsoon, considered as the lifeline of India’s agri-based economy, is likely to bring first showers to Kerala by May 27, five days earlier than the normal onset date, the weather office announced on Friday.“This year, the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be earlier than the normal date of onset. The monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be on May 27 with a model error of four days,” India Meteorological Department (ID) said.In 2009, the south-west

Southwest monsoon, considered the lifeline of India’s agri-based economy, is likely to bring first showers to Kerala by May 27, earlier than the normal onset date, the weather office announced on Friday.
The normal onset date for monsoon over Kerala is June 1.
“This year, the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be earlier than the normal date of onset. The monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be on May 27 with a model error of four days,” India Meteorological

The mean annual temperatures in Mumbai and Delhi will rise by 5°C in 2080-2099 against 1995-2014 if global carbon dioxide emissions double by 2050, Greenpeace India said. Delhi’s annual maximum temperature (the median of June record from 1995 to 2014) will leap to 45.97°C in 2080-2099 from 41.93°C at present, according to Greenpeace India’s new heatwave projections based on the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. The temperature can