Science

Henri Becquerel accidentally uncovered radioactivity by keeping photographic plates in the dark. Image credit – Wikimedia Some of the greatest scientific discoveries started out unexpectedly. One such case was a finding made in 1896 by the French scientist Henri Becquerel during experiments with phosphorescent substances. Photographic plates, which had been wrapped together with uranium salts,…

The chemist licked his fingers after dinner, and uncovered the first artificial sweetener. Image credit – Wikimedia The odd flavor detected while eating dinner sparked one of the greatest innovations in the modern food industry. In 1879, Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist, was experimenting in Ira Remsen’s chemistry laboratory in Johns Hopkins University. He noted that…

Renovating their English countryside home, Robert and Betty Fooks unearthed a 17th-century coin hoard. Image Credit: Gemini Imagine that you’re browsing through Zillow as you dream of the ideal “fixer-upper” with character. Then you find yourself in a historical house situated in the English countryside. You grab some axes to push down the foundation floor…

The deep Antarctic drill that pulled up air from a world long before humans. Image credit – Gemini Deep under East Antarctica, scientists are drilling into one of the oldest frozen records in the world. But the ice isn’t the only thing they seek. The air bubbles locked inside it hold many secrets. The Beyond…

Construction work in Pombal, Portugal, unearthed a colossal dinosaur skeleton. This sauropod, possibly Europe’s largest, measured 82 feet long and 39 feet high. Image Credit: Instituto Dom Luiz (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon) (Portugal) It is usually the most seemingly ordinary things that lead to some of the biggest revelations. In 2017,…

A significant ancient artifact, the Venus of Willendorf, was unearthed in Austria in 1908. This small statue, made from stone transported over 450 miles, challenges previous beliefs about Ice Age societies. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons In some cases, the turning points in the course of history take place not in royal castles, but rather in…

A new scientific study is quietly changing the way researchers understand human evolution. It focuses on something surprisingly small: ancient tooth proteins preserved inside fossils around 400,000 years old. These teeth were discovered in China and are linked to early human ancestors. The findings suggest that long-lost human populations may have interacted in ways scientists…

The emergence of a fresh alert on the climate front continues to make rounds in meteorological circles across the globe. Preliminary reports indicate that the currently forming El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean will grow to become extremely strong within the next few months. There is a possibility that it will be the strongest…

Galileo Galilei (Image: Wikipedia) People often assume old quotes survive because they sound wise. Sometimes they survive because they sound uncomfortably accurate.The quote: “There are those who reason well, but they are greatly outnumbered by those who reason badly” by Galileo Galilei feels like one of those lines.It does not sound poetic. It is not…

Switching from capturing carbon to utilising it is a pivotal paradigm shift in the fight against climate change. Recently, scientists introduced a new catalytic system that can turn atmospheric carbon dioxide and hydrogen into high-quality liquid fuel, producing up to 110 pounds each day. This isn’t just another lab experiment; it’s proof that synthetic fuels…