Ernst Öpik’s journey from Estonia to Northern Ireland is a story shaped by war, forced migration and scientific achievement. A respected astronomer and astrophysicist, he left his homeland during the Second World War as Soviet forces advanced across Eastern Europe. Like thousands of Estonians in 1944, he fled the Red Army and began a long…
Researchers in China have discovered the 11th new lunar mineral, ‘Cerium–Magnesium Changesite,’ from the first Moon meteorites recovered in China. This important advancement, announced by the China Geological Survey, represents a major development within extraterrestrial geology. The new mineral is colourless, transparent and brittle, with unusual physical characteristics such as a distinct fluorescence effect and…
Antarctica has long been seen as Earth’s frozen shield, vast, remote, and seemingly unbreakable. Yet scientists are now warning that some of its most fragile regions may have crossed a dangerous threshold. What was once a slow, measurable retreat of ice is increasingly being described as something far more serious: a tipping point. This so-called…
The recent failure of a Blue Origin mission has raised fresh questions about the timeline of NASA’s Artemis programme, even though the space agency was not directly involved in the launch. The company’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket lifted off successfully but failed to place a commercial satellite into the correct orbit, ultimately leading to the…
BENGALURU: Inside a seminar room at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Monday, astronaut Group Captain Angad Pratap laid out a scenario spacecraft designers prefer never to confront: a crew module hurtling back to Earth with its primary Navigation, Guidance and Control (NGC) system compromised.His answer is not to replace automation, but to add…
Near the shore of the Caspian Sea is a very unique geological formation called the mud volcano islands. Recently, they have been discussed in the Earth Observatory blog of NASA. They have an unusual formation that seems to be unearthly if seen from space. They are formed through explosive events and ocean waves shaping the…
In Brazil, scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology of São Paulo State University (ICT-UNESP) are working on a new way to safely treat drinking water. They have found that a saline extract from the seeds of Moringa oleifera can be used to remove microplastics from drinking water. By taking advantage of the coagulant…
Do you ever find yourself pondering the volume of the sun? On the surface, it seems like a rather odd thing to think about because space doesn’t produce any sound waves that we can hear. However, there’s actually quite a bit of evidence that shows the sun isn’t as silent as one might expect. Studies…
The idea that a day on Earth always lasts 24 hours feels fixed, which is believed to be permanent. The same rhythm people build their lives around. But scientists have long observed that Earth’s rotation is not completely stable. It changes in very small steps over time. The planet is gradually slowing down. This means…
Leonardo da Vinci was sketching the human body long before modern medicine even existed. One of his more curious drawings focused on the inside of the human heart, something most people barely understood back then. Reports suggest the 500-year-old structure has long puzzled scientists, but they now think they understand what Da Vinci was looking…