Science News, Nature, Technology, Gadgets

Coronavirus | Most infections in second wave in Tamil Nadu were due to Delta variant: study

Delta variant was observed in 70% of the samples collected

Footprints of dinosaurs that walked 110 million years ago found

The largest footprint found – measuring 80 cm in width and 65 cm in length – has been identified as belonging to an Iguanodon-like dinosaur

COVID-19 | Health infrastructure has increased up to 45-fold to brace successive waves, Centre says in SC

The Centre told the Supreme Court that the nation’s health infrastructure has increased up to 45-fold to brace successive waves of COVID-19 pandemic.

Explained | What is the Delta plus variant?

How prevalent is the new SARS-CoV-2 variant and can the K417N mutation escape existing treatment methods?

Explained | What is gain-of-function research?

Do the benefits of such studies on possible future therapies outweigh the risks of pathogens escaping from labs?

Explained | Is there a Wuhan connection to the study on bat viruses in Nagaland?

What is the controversy surrounding the 2019 research on filoviruses, and why is it back in focus now?

Explained | Why do periodical cicadas stay underground, and when do they emerge?

Why are they called periodical cicadas? Why is the present emergent population of cicadas called Brood X?

When the world’s first stored-program computer ran its first program

On June 21, 1948, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), known popularly by its nickname Baby, executed its first program successfully. A.S.Ganesh takes a look at how the Baby, the world’s first stored-program electronic computer, came to be...

500 astronomy labs yet to see light of day

Aryan Mishra and three others now working towards making low-cost telescopes

Question Corner | Do spiders have sticky feet?

Readers may send their questions/answers to questioncorner@thehindu.co.in

Dog language now falls in line: pattern analysis study

The analysis is a tool for behavioural biologists to study their model animals

Coronavirus | Do excess deaths suggest mortality crossed one million?

Besides models, all-cause mortality numbers from India’s Civil Registration System suggest that official figures may have been exceeded by far

Are your staple rice and wheat losing their nutrients?

One reason could be that the rate of yield increase is not compensated by the rate of nutrient uptake by plants

Government working on real-time translation tool to bridge language barrier among people

MeitY Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney explained with an example of the technology where people speaking only Bengali will be able to communicate with those who speak only Malayalam.

Watch | Google's first-ever physical retail store

A video on Google’s first-ever physical retail store in New York City where customers can come and buy its devices and services from Pixel phones and Nest products to Fitbit wearables and Pixel books.

Forest fragments in agricultural areas are key to bat conservation: study

The odds of bats using forest habitats was nearly six times higher than open habitats

Fish once labeled a 'living fossil' surprises scientists again

Scientists said these large and nocturnal deep-sea creatures can live upto 100 years

As digital payments rise amid COVID-19, experts urge users to take precautions

There has been a significant surge in financial frauds

Australia may list east coast koalas as endangered

Bushfires across New South Wales and Queensland states in 2019 and 2020 are estimated to have killed as many as 30% of the population

Weekly Bytes | Ferrari’s tech partnership, Android’s new features, and more

Here's our curated list of important tech news from this week in byte size.

Fossils show new species of extinct giant rhino that roamed Asia

Paraceratherium linxiaense were hornless, long-necked herbivores

From Mandaveli to Mahabalipuram: How the ashy woodswallow receded from urban spaces

As this bird’s breeding season reaches its tail end, a throwback to the days when nesting pairs could be seen in urban spaces, sometimes atop lamp posts. Despite being more easily sighted in Chennai and other bustling sections within its distribution range, an erroneous notion about the bird persisted for a long time

Peacock population booms in Odisha’s Pakidi hills

There is a belief that peacock sighting brings good luck.

Books that touch upon different aspects of the pandemic and give us hope

From information on vaccines to how to keep ourselves fit and glowing during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, this month’s compilation of health books provide tips and comfort reading

Study suggests anaemia is being over-diagnosed in India

It emphasises need to re-examine WHO haemoglobin cut-offs to define anaemia and see the ailment in more region-specific ways

A human DNA-inspired storage system is in the works

The MIT team has developed a new retrieval technique to pull out the required file from the data repository. It involves encapsulating each DNA file into a small silica particle. Each capsule is labeled with single-stranded DNA “barcodes” that correspond to the contents of the file.

Facebook to start testing ads in virtual reality headsets

In February last year, Facebook said developers on the platform are seeing “meaningful revenue growth” on the Quest platform, with over 60 titles generating revenue in millions.

Pacific undersea cable project sinks after U.S. warns against Chinese participation

The U.S. Commerce Department publicly lists Huawei Marine on its so-called "Entity List" - known as a blacklist - which restricts the sale of U.S. goods and technology to the company.

Jaguar Land Rover to develop hydrogen-powered concept car

The concept car is part of JLR’s plan to achieve zero emissions by 2036. The company is also working on becoming a net-zero carbon emitter across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039.

Study highlights gender gap in health innovations

Despite years of improvement, women make up only 27 percent of all US STEM workers, according to census data -- and the gap in future products benefiting women's health needs will likely persist.

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