Find the latest news and updates from the world of science.
| Photo Credit: AP

From figuring out why galaxies created during the cosmic down appear to be mature and more massive to ancient human footprints in New Mexico that can be dated back to the last Ice Age, here are this week’s new discoveries and developments from the world of science.

Nobel Prize winners announced for 2023

This week the Nobel Prize winners of 2023 were announced for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry. The Medicine or Physiology Prize was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modification that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”. The Prize for Physics was shared between three scientists—Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier—for developing new tools and exploring the world of electrons. The Chemistry Prize was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.

Scientists untangle mystery about the universe’s earliest galaxies

The James Webb Space Telescope has provided an astonishing glimpse of the early history of our universe, spotting a collection of galaxies dating to the enigmatic epoch called cosmic dawn. But the existence of what appear to be massive and mature galaxies during the universe’s infancy has baffled scientists and defied expectations. A new study has now found that these galaxies may have been relatively small, as expected, but might glow just as brightly as genuinely massive galaxies do – giving a deceptive impression of great mass – because of brilliant bursts of star formation.

BlueWalker 3 satellite outshines most stars in the night sky

An international team of scientists have published a paper in Nature journal, detailing the impact of the prototype BlueWalker 3 satellite on astronomy. The BlueWalker 3 is a prototype satellite, part of a satellite constellation planned by its owner AST SpaceMobile, intended to deliver mobile or broadband services anywhere in the world. Observations of the BlueWalker 3 showed it was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining all but the brightest stars

ISRO to begin unmanned flight tests for Gaganyaan; gearing up for TV-D1

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is planning to commence uncrewed flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission, has started to make preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1). Though the space agency has not announced the date for the TV-D1, it is expected to take place by the end of October 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Gaganyaan mission aims to demonstrate the capability to launch human beings (three crew members) to low earth orbit and bring them back safely to earth by landing them in either the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.

New malaria vaccine is more efficacious and inexpensive

A malaria vaccine — R21/MatrixM — developed by the University of Oxford, manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India and tested in a phase-3 trial at five sites in four countries — Mali, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Tanzania — in Africa was recommended (but yet to be prequalified) by the WHO on October 2. At above 75%, the vaccine efficacy of R21/MatrixM is much higher than the first malaria vaccine — RTS,S/AS01 that has been recommended by the WHO in 2021 — which had a vaccine efficacy of 56% at the end of one year in children aged 5-17 months. The results indicate that the vaccine was more efficacious in places where malaria was seasonal than when it was perennial.

New tests confirm antiquity of ancient human footprints in New Mexico

Humans trod the landscape of North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought, according to new research that confirms the antiquity of fossilised footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico using two further dating approaches. The footprints date to about 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques, researchers said on Thursday, showing that our species Homo sapiens already had a foothold in North America during the most-inhospitable conditions of the last Ice Age

First fossilised snake traces discovered in South Africa

Scientists have described the first snake trace in the fossil record found on South Africa’s Cape south coast. It dates to the Pleistocene epoch. Their studies have shown that it was probably made between 93,000 and 83,000 years ago, almost certainly by a puff adder (Bitis arietans). The trace fossil was found in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve ), just over 100 kilometres south-east of Cape Town. The newly described puff adder traces help fill a gap in the Pleistocene trace fossil record from the region. More than 350 vertebrate tracksites have been identified, of mammals, birds and reptiles.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, U.S.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

From finding traces of carbon dioxide and methane on an alien planet to discovering tiny jellyfish that can learn from experience, find all the latest news, discoveries and findings that happened in the field of science this week.

What will ‘cosmic detective’ OSIRIS-REx bring back?

Debris from an alien world will land on the Earth on September 24. NASA’s asteroid-hunting spacecraft OSIRIS-REx – short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer – will drop a capsule containing pristine asteroid material in the Utah desert. OSIRIS-REx, which is currently winging its way towards the earth after a close encounter with Bennu, a near-earth asteroid (NEA), “is a cosmic detective.” Many scientists believe that along with comets, carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu may have seeded the earth with primordial life as they smashed into the young planet more than four billion years ago.

No signals from Vikram and Pragyan, says ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which was hoping to awaken the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Friday, says it has not received any signals from either of the two, despite continuing efforts to establish communications. On September 2, the rover was put into sleep mode; two days later, on September 4, the lander was also put to sleep, following the end of one lunar day.

Astronomers have found carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere of an alien world

Scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States have just reported some very interesting chemical traces in the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b, which is about 124 light-years from Earth. In particular, they may have detected a substance which on Earth is only produced by living things. The new study found a lot of carbon dioxide and methane. This is interesting as this is like what is found on Earth, Mars, and Venus in our Solar System – rather than Neptune. The only process we know that creates dimethyl sulfide on our planet is life. In particular, marine life and plankton emit it in the form of flatulence.

Genomic clues suggest humans’ ancestors nearly went extinct 9L years ago

In a recent paper in Science, researchers from China used a new computational technique to analyse about 3,000 present-day human genomes from 10 African and 40 non-African populations. They concluded that the modern human population likely originated only from about 1,200 founding ancestors from a bottleneck. The finding challenges previous estimates that predicted this number to be about 100,000. The scientists also found that our ancestors went through this bottleneck about 900,000 years ago and that the drastic reduction lasted for over 100,000 years.

Six out of nine planetary boundaries breached

A recent study published in Science Advances found that human activities have pushed the Earth past the ‘safe limits’ in six of nine planetary boundaries, which scientists have used to measure the planet’s health. Crossing the ninth boundary could be altogether disastrous, jeopardising the precarious balance of the earth’s ecosystems. The nine planetary boundaries are climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, synthetic chemicals and plastics, freshwater depletion, nitrogen loss, ocean acidification, particle pollution, and dust in the atmosphere and ozone depletion.

Tiny jellyfish can learn from experience

The Caribbean box jellyfish, or Tripedalia cystophora, is known to be able to navigate through murky water and a maze of submerged mangrove roots. Despite this considerable disadvantage, the Caribbean box jellyfish responds to what is called “operant conditioning”. These gelatinous, fingernail-sized creatures are capable of learning from visual cues to avoid swimming into obstacles — a cognitive ability never before seen in animals with such a primitive nervous system. Their performance of what is called “associative learning” is comparable to far more advanced animals such as fruit flies or mice, which have the notable benefit of having a brain.

In a first, RNA is recovered from extinct Tasmanian tiger

The Tasmanian tiger, a dog-sized striped carnivorous marsupial also called the thylacine, once roamed the Australian continent and adjacent islands, an apex predator that hunted kangaroos and other prey. In a scientific first, researchers said on Tuesday they have recovered RNA – genetic material present in all living cells that has structural similarities to DNA – from the desiccated skin and muscle of a Tasmanian tiger stored since 1891 at a museum in Stockholm. While not the focus of this research, the ability to extract, sequence and analyse old RNA could boost efforts by other scientists toward recreating extinct species.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research announced the winners of the Bhatnagar Prize 2022 after a year’s delay while Kerala reports another outbreak of Nipah virus. Find all the latest news, discoveries and findings that happened in the field of science this week.

NASA names chief of UFO research

NASA has named a new director of research into what the government calls “unidentified anomalous phenomenon,” or UAP, while the U.S. space agency’s chief said an expert panel that urged deeper fact-finding on the matter found no evidence of an extraterrestrial origin for these objects. Administrator Bill Nelson made the announcement about the new research chief – without disclosing the person’s identity – after the independent panel of experts recommended in a new report that NASA increase its efforts to gather information on UAP and play a larger role in helping the Pentagon detect them. UAP are better known to the public as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.

Centre announces winners of Bhatnagar Prize after a year’s delay

After nearly a year’s delay, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has publicised the list of awardees for the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awards for 2022, considered among the prestigious prizes for science in India. While usually announced on September 26 – CSIR’s Foundation Day – the prizes weren’t announced last year, without any official reason being ascribed. Last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a committee to review all the national awards administered by various science and medical ministries and whittled down some of them. The SSB awards were however retained. This year’s awardees constitute 12 scientists below the age of 45.

Ian Wilmut, a British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, dies at age 79

Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland said on September 11. He was 79. Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for animal biosciences had cloned a lamb using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep. Initially referred to as “6LL3” in the academic paper describing the work, the lamb was later named Dolly, after the singer Dolly Parton.

One-third of TB patients received no payment for nutrition support

Undernutrition is the leading risk factor for TB disease. A 2022 study noted that 45% of people in India are undernourished, accounting for nearly 1.2 million TB cases each year. Yet, nutrition support became a part of the national TB programme only in April 2018 when Nikshay Poshan Yojana — a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for nutritional support to TB patients — was launched. Under this programme, Rs.500 per month is credited into the account of a person with TB for the duration of treatment. As per the India TB report 2023, of the 2.4 million notified TB cases, only 1.6 million (66%) received at least one month’s payment in 2022 under the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana programme. There has been very little increase in the number of beneficiaries in the last three years.

Over 95% chance of El Nino conditions from January-March 2024

There is a more than 95% chance that the El Niño weather pattern will continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter from January – March 2024, a U.S. government forecaster said, bringing more extreme conditions. El Nino is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific and can provoke extreme weather phenomena from wildfires to tropical cyclones and prolonged droughts. The naturally occurring phenomenon is already spurring calamities across the globe, with the stakes seen higher for emerging markets more exposed to swings in food and energy prices. “As El Nino strengthens to strong status, there is a good likelihood it will have an impact on the upcoming growing season for the southern hemisphere crop production areas,” said Chris Hyde, a meteorologist

Nipah virus breaks out again in Kerala

Nipah scare returned to Kerala, with two deaths reported from Kozhikode district. Four suspected cases are currently under surveillance and their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. A Central government team of four experts has also been sent to Kerala to assist the State government in surveillance and reduction in the response time. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nipah has a relatively high case fatality ratio, and is an emerging zoonotic disease of public health importance in the South East Asia and Western Pacific WHO Regions

Over 75% of European bumblebee species threatened in the next 40-60 years

More than 75% of European bumblebee species may be threatened in the next 40-60 years according to worst-case-scenario projections of bumblebee populations, according to a paper published in Nature. Degradation of habitats and alterations of climate due to human activity are identified as key drivers of these estimated population declines. The findings underscore the importance of climate change mitigation policies to protect bumblebees.

Aditya L1, India’s first ever solar mission, was launched by the ISRO on Saturday at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikotta in Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft will be positioned within a ‘haloo orbit’ around Lagrange point 1 (L1) in the Sun-Earth system, located approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth. Study will be conducted of Chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections and flares.
| Photo Credit: Raghunathan SR / The Hindu

With the success of Chandrayaan-3 landing on the moon, ISRO has set its sights on the Sun. On September 2, it launched Aditya-L1 which is programmed to study the Sun. Read about this week’s latest studies and discoveries from the field of science here.

ISRO launches Aditya-L1 to study the Sun

India’s first solar observatory mission — Aditya-L1 — was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on September 2. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 59th flight with the Aditya-L1 onboard, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 11.50 a.m. About 63 minutes after take-off, the separation from the satellite took place with the PSLV launching the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in a highly eccentric orbit around the Earth at 12.53 p.m. This was among the longest flights of ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle in recent times.

Pragyan safely parked and set into sleep mode: ISRO

ISRO said on September 2 night that Chandrayaan-3’s rover Pragyan had completed its assignments and had been safely parked and set into sleep mode. The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. Since its landing on the Moon on August 23, they have carried out many in-situ measurements and taken pictures. The battery is fully charged and the solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, it added.

Rare blue supermoon brightened the night sky this week in the closest full moon of the year

Stargazers were in for a double treat this week: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind. On Wednesday night, a second full moon of the month rose which is dubbed a supermoon because it was closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright. This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometres) or so away. That’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) closer than the August 1 supermoon. As a bonus, Saturn was also visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to NASA. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

Scientists in Japan scared flies to understand fear

Previous research has shown that flies exhibit defensive responses that resemble fear-like emotional states. Now, a group of scientists in Japan built a virtual reality arena – a mini theatre for flies – fit with lights, cameras, screens, and a scary action scene to understand fear. Researchers found that the flies would turn away from the scary stimuli. Some flies froze or jumped, but most turned and ran away from the threat. The research also identified a cluster of 20-30 neurons in the visual regions of the fly’s brain is responsible for this behaviour.

Oldest yet fossils of a plant-eating dinosaur found in Rajasthan

In a paper published recently in Scientific Reports, scientists from IIT Roorkee have characterised dinosaur fossils from the Middle Jurassic period, found in the Thar desert near the Jaisalmer Basin by the Geological Survey of India. They discovered that they had uncovered remains of a sauropod dinosaur, which is the same clade as the long-necked herbivores in Jurassic Park – only these happened to be the oldest known fossils of this particular kind of sauropod.

Cyclone frequency may rise over Indian coast from the warming of Pacific: study

Tropical cyclones that originate near the Equator, while being devastating, have been unusually subdued in recent decades. The last major cyclone of this kind in the Indian neighbourhood was the 2017 Cyclone Okchi which devastated Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. However, a combination of global warming and a cyclical event called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) that repeats every 20-30 years, could make such cyclones more frequent in the coming years, a new study revealed.

New study establishes link between greenhouse gases and polar bear survival

Fifteen years after polar bears were listed as threatened, a new study says researchers have overcome a roadblock in the Endangered Species Act that prevented the federal government from considering climate change when evaluating the impacts of projects such as oil and gas drilling. Researchers estimated the relationship between how long bears fasted and each gigaton of cumulative emissions, which they said allowed them to calculate the impact of emissions from specific projects on future polar bear cub survival.