Science

Experiments on mice have helped scientists identify some key differences in the development of brains in modern humans and our closest relative, Neanderthals. After our ancestors split from the Neanderthals, some one hundred amino acids underwent changes and spread to almost all modern humans. The reason behind this change had puzzled scientists all this while.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are the most common neurodevelopmental disorders that are diagnosed in early childhood. While both are separate conditions, their symptoms tend to overlap which makes it quite tricky to differentiate between them. Now, in a novel study, researchers from the University of South Australia and Flinders

To understand any physical phenomenon, one must identify the variables that are responsible for it. While scientists are familiar with the variables for most physical connects, some have remained to be elusive. Now, researchers from Columbia University have used artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a program that observes such physical phenomena and detects the relevant

Powerful storm systems triggered flash flooding across the US in late July, inundating St. Louis neighbourhoods with record rainfall and setting off mudslides in eastern Kentucky, where at least 16 people died in the flooding. Another deluge in Nevada flooded the Las Vegas strip. The impact of climate change on extreme water-related events like this

The “origin of life” is a subject that scientists have invested an unparalleled amount of time and resources in to understand it better. How life emerged from non-living molecules continues to be a much-debated topic. But now, scientists at Scripps Research may have found something to shed light on the subject. Scientists have discovered a

Alphabet’s DeepMind unveiled its AlphaFold software in 2020, and it has since been used to create the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (AlphaFold DB). It includes highly accurate protein structures predicted by the software. This database has been accessed by researchers to tackle real-world problems like plastic pollution, antibiotic resistance, and more. DeepMind has now partnered

Till today, not much is known about the Earth’s inner core and its contribution to the sustenance of life on our planet. However, that may change soon, thanks to an analysis of ancient rock crystals by researchers from the University of Rochester, New York. Among the different layers that make up our planet, the outer

Scientists have worked out how to turn dead spiders into “necrobotic spiders” that can mechanically grip objects.  Researchers at Rice University in the United States released a report of their experiment in the journal Advanced Science, in which they were able to repurpose the bodies of dead spiders by pumping air into their legs to

Satellite startup OneWeb’s past decade has resembled a space opera. Founded by a US entrepreneur and headquartered in London, it has partnered with Google and Elon Musk, supplied Arianespace, attracted investment from Hughes Network Systems and SoftBank Group and fallen into bankruptcy. It was then rescued by the UK government and India’s Bharti Global. The

A chess-playing robot grabbed the finger of a seven-year-old boy and broke it during the ongoing match with him at the Moscow Open last week, according to news reports. The incident took place on July 19 and videos of it were soon circulated on the Internet. A clip, shared by the Baza Telegram channel, shows the

Russia has decided to quit the International Space Station “after 2024”, the newly-appointed chief of Moscow’s space agency told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The announcement comes as tensions rage between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of unprecedented sanctions against Russia. Russia and the United States

Researchers have suggested a new way to detect planets that orbit around dead stars known as Cataclysmic Variables (CVs), which are essentially binary star systems that have two stars in extreme proximity to each other. The lack of distance between them leads to one star drawing material from the other, thereby dimming the second star.

Three Chinese astronauts aboard the country’s space station, currently under construction, successfully entered the lab module in orbit for the first time on Monday, a day after the space laboratory was launched, according to the China Manned Space Agency. China launched its space laboratory called Wentian on Sunday, sending the country’s largest-ever spacecraft into Earth’s

A new study has found that computers can be trained to better detect distant nuclear detonations, chemical blasts and volcano eruptions by learning from artificial explosion signals. The study was published in the journal, ‘Geophysical Research Letters.’ Witsil, at the Geophysical Institute’s Wilson Alaska Technical Center, and colleagues created a library of synthetic infrasound explosion

In what may lead to the development of new treatments for heart diseases, researchers have created a novel artificial intelligence (AI) technique that can detect plaque erosion in heart arteries. The technique uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) images to monitor arterial plaque. The finding is crucial as the disintegration of the plaque can serve as

E.coli is a type of bacteria that has been a major health concern and has led to numerous deaths. While the bacterium is found in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, the history of its evolution has remained unknown. Now, researchers, at McMaster University, have successfully reconstructed the first ancient genome of E.coli by