SCIENCE
People becoming desensitised to Covid illnesses, death: Study
Despite the increased death toll, those behaviours then gave way over time to less concerned responses to Covid-19 news, along with increases in societal risk-taking during that time period. The study was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Infodemiology.
IIT Kanpur creates portable O2 bottle for medical emergencies
Sandeep Patil, an IIT Kanpur alumnus and Director of E-Spin Nanotech, told IANS, "In view of the Covid-19 crisis in the country, E-Spin Nanotech has created 'Swasa Oxyrise'. It increases the oxygen flow inside the body. To fulfil the requirement of oxygen during the second wave of Covid-19, this device has been made at IIT Kanpur Incubation Centre.
NASA's Hubble space telescope returns to science operations
Hubble, which has been watching the universe over the past three decades, faced trouble with its payload computer on June 13. As the computer halted, the instruments were kept in a safe configuration and science data collection was suspended. On July 15, scientists at the US space agency successfully switched to backup hardware on the Hubble Space.
Wobbling moon, climate change to raise flood risk in 2030s: NASA
A natural alteration in the Moon's orbit -- also known as wobble -- coupled with rising sea levels will lead to dramatic increases in floods in the 2030s and will last about 10 years, according to a study by NASA. A wobbling Moon is not dangerous. It was first reported in 1728. But, one of the wobble's effects on the Moon's gravitational pull is the main cause of Earth's tides and will combine with rising sea levels resulting from the planet's warming.
Mars Ingenuity helicopter completes its most challenging flight yet
The mini helicopter flew to the Red Planet on February 18, while being attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover. It was now airborne for 166.4 seconds -- 2.8 minutes -- and flew at a speed of 5 metres per second, NASA said. "#MarsHelicopter pushes its Red Planet limits. The rotorcraft completed its 9th and most challenging flight yet, flying for 166.4 seconds at a speed of 5 m/s," NASA tweeted.
NASA's self-driving Mars Rover begins search for signs of ancient life
The rover, moving at a top speed of 120 metres per hour, will trek across the Martian landscape using a newly enhanced auto-navigation system. Called AutoNav, this enhanced system makes 3D maps of the terrain ahead, identifies hazards, and plans a route around any obstacles without additional direction from controllers back on Earth. "We have a capability called 'thinking while driving'," said Vandi Verma, a senior engineer, rover planner, and driver at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
MIT physicists confirm Hawking's black hole theorem for first time
In 1971, Hawking proposed the area theorem, which set off a series of fundamental insights about black hole mechanics. The theorem predicts that the total area of a black hole's event horizon -- and all black holes in the universe, for that matter -- should never decrease. The statement was a curious parallel of the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy, or degree of disorder within an object, should also never decrease.
Life could exist in clouds of Jupiter, not Venus: Research
For some decades, space exploration missions have looked for evidence of life beyond earth where we know that large bodies of water, such as lakes or oceans, exist or have previously existed. However, the new research shows that it isn't the quantity of water that matters for making life viable, but the effective concentration of water molecules -- known as 'water activity'.
China shares Zhurong rover's landing footage, sounds from Mars
Footage of the entry, descent and landing shows the deployment of a supersonic disk-gap-band parachute, separation of the backshell, followed by powered descent, a hazard-avoidance hover phase and landing, SpaceNews reported on Sunday. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) published the footage in a Zhurong mission update on early Sunday Beijing time.
'Dragon man' fossil may be our closest relative, not Neanderthals
The fossil -- Harbin cranium -- is the largest of known Homo skulls and scientists now say this skull represents a newly discovered human species named Homo longi or "Dragon Man." Their findings, appearing in three papers published in the journal the Innovation, suggest that the Homo longi lineage may be our closest relatives -- and has the potential to reshape our understanding of human evolution.
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