Oxford (UK): A virologist named Beata Halassy recently made headlines after publishing a report of successfully treating her own breast cancer by self-administering an experimental treatment. Having previously undergone a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Halassy informed her doctors that she wanted to treat her tumor by injecting it with viruses known to attack cancerous cells. This…
Simon Griffith, Macquarie University and Daniel Ho Sydney/New York: Across the animal kingdom, birds are some of the most colourful creatures of all. But how did all the amazingly coloured different bird species arise? Nearly all birds with bright red, orange, and yellow feathers or bills use a group of pigments called carotenoids to produce…
New Delhi: Chimpanzees perform difficult tasks better when they have a human audience, a new study has suggested. Researchers from Kyoto University, Japan, said the audience effect — where one’s behaviour changes if they think someone is watching them — is considered unique to human societies, in which reputation plays a huge role. While chimps…
New Delhi: India will launch the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission early next month from the spaceport at Sriharikota, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said here on Tuesday. Singh said the two satellites that are part of the Proba-3 mission to study the Sun were brought to Sriharikota on Tuesday morning for integration with…
New Delhi: Global investment in combating and adapting to climate change reached nearly USD 1.5 trillion, doubling between 2018 and 2022, but it must increase at least fivefold by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a new study. The “Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2024: Insights for COP29” report, published by…
New Delhi: Complying with the WHO-recommended levels of sodium intake could avert three lakh deaths due to heart and chronic kidney disease in 10 years, a modelling study by the World Health Organization has estimated. High levels of sodium — an ingredient of salt — are one of the main dietary risks of death and…
Luis M Garcia Marin and Miguel E Renteria Brisbane: The human brain is a marvel of complexity. It contains specialised and interconnected structures controlling our thoughts, personality, and behaviour. The size and shape of our brains also play a crucial role in cognitive functions and mental health. For example, a slightly smaller hippocampus, the structure…
Sydney: Islands have long intrigued explorers and scientists. These isolated environments serve as natural laboratories for understanding how species evolve and adapt. Islands are also centres of species diversity. It has long been speculated that islands support exceptionally high amounts of global biodiversity, but the true extent was unknown until now. In world-first research published…
Mumbai: The Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) observatory, the largest imaging Cherenkov telescope in Asia built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), has been inaugurated at Hanle in Ladakh, giving a boost to scientific research. Located at an altitude of 4,300 metres, it is also the highest of its kind telescope in the world,…
New Delhi: Effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on Earth may have reached the Moon, as lunar temperatures were found to have abnormally dipped during April-May 2020, according to a study. Maximum temperatures on the Earth’s natural satellite fell in this period, while nights were found to be cooler by nearly 8-10 degrees Celsius. The Moon could…
