Science News

NASA is accepting astronaut applications until December 3, its USAJOBS posting says, offering a salary of $164,395 (around ₹1.5 crore) a year. Applicants must be US citizens with a master's degree in a STEM field or an approved alternative and three years of experience. NASA picked 10 astronauts from over 8,000 applicants in its last selection, announced in September 2025.

A study of 2,912 Israeli adults found that people who believed they would be remembered after death tended to report better mental health. They also reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD, fewer sleep problems, along with lower levels of problematic substance use and addictive behaviours. The findings were published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

The fossil of a giant rat believed to have weighed around 30 kg has been discovered in Thailand's southern Krabi province. Named Sirindhorn's Giant Rat, the fossil dates back 33-35 million years and was found in the Bang Mak coal basin. "It tells a lot about the diversity of life in the past," a researcher said.

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon demonstrated how astronauts measure their body mass despite being weightless in space. In a video, he showed a device with a calibrated spring that oscillates at different frequencies depending on a person's mass. Menon said he had lost 2 kg since arriving in space and astronauts can initially lose around 10% of body mass.

India and Norway discussed joint research to convert industrial and construction waste into building materials at the India-Norway Dialogue on 'Waste to Resource Solutions', held at India Habitat Centre. Organised by CSIR, SINTEF and Norway's Research Council, the dialogue identified pilot projects, joint research proposals and technical guidelines as priority cooperation areas under their Green Strategic Partnership.

The WMO warned that Earth's energy imbalance reached a 65-year record in 2025. Greenhouse gases are trapping excess heat, 90% of which is absorbed by oceans. The WMO further said that 2026 is on track to be the 10th consecutive year of record ocean warmth. It added that 146.5 million people in India faced extreme heat during April 2026.

Delhi-based Class 12 student Krish Aggarwal has won the 2026 Diana Award for developing a ₹140 technology with Class 11 student Samarth Meattle that can turn ordinary fans into air purifiers. Their tech, named Project Vayu, aims to make air purification more accessible in classrooms. Project Vayu has copyrighted the design and doesn’t charge for distributing purifiers to schools.

Swiss researchers have identified a biomarker that can detect date-rape drug GHB in urine for up to 72 hours after ingestion, extending the usual 12-hour detection window. The biomarker is a compound of GHB and a sugar thought to be ribose, known as GHB-pentos. The date rape drug is excreted rapidly from blood and urine, leaving little time to test.

Astronomers discovered that TOI-2535 b, a planet located 1,000 light-years from Earth, has mysteriously disappeared from view after repeatedly passing in front of its star. Dubbed as the “disappearing planet”, it is not believed to have vanished physically. Scientists suspect an unidentified object tugging at it altered its orbit, making it no longer visible where it was previously observed.

Scientists at IIT Bombay have launched KrishiDrought.in, a free public web portal that forecasts agricultural droughts across India up to four weeks in advance. The early-warning platform provides weekly soil moisture predictions, giving farmers, district administrations, and disaster planners a vital head start to make protective decisions before crops begin to fail in the field.

Researchers at JNCASR have developed an imaging technique to map the complex microscopic interior of living cells in multiple colours. Named 'affinity encoding', the method uses synthetic, molecular containers that hold onto cellular targets with varying degrees of grip. By selectively washing away and swapping fluorescent tags, the team created four-colour biological maps in live tissues.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said cloud seeding trials are ongoing under IIT Kanpur supervision, with details to be shared only after the study yields positive results. He also noted Delhi's AQI stood at 299 ('poor') on Wednesday, with stronger winds helping reduce pollution levels after Diwali.

A mysterious jellyfish-like object with moving tentacle-like extensions spotted over Anchorage, Alaska, has sparked UFO and alien theories online. Sara Jane Osborn captured the footage while photographing a rainbow in June. While some viewers believe it resembles an extraterrestrial object, others insist it is an unusual kite. Osborn has also dismissed claims that the footage was AI-generated.

IBM has unveiled the Nighthawk r3 quantum processor, capable of executing 10,000 quantum operations on 520 programmable qubits. It extends the r2's high-speed qubit reset tech, cutting wait times to ~25 nanoseconds. IBM plans to link two r3 chips in 2027, forming a 1,000+ qubit system. A cloud-based IBM Quantum Platform was also announced.

Researchers at Gladstone Institute found the blood-brain barrier actively selects proteins entering the brain, including APOA1 and AAT linked to Alzheimer's. In mice with Alzheimer's-like symptoms, APOA1 levels dropped while AAT rose. Boosting APOA1 via liver-targeted gene therapy improved symptoms in these mice, suggesting a potential new treatment pathway for Alzheimer's.

NASA scientists, led by Lindsay Keller, found signs of ancient water in dust from the Kuiper Belt, an icy zone beyond Neptune. The dust grains, rich in carbon and water-linked minerals, carry a unique 'heavy' oxygen signature, indicating the water originated from a separate reservoir largely isolated from chemical changes near the Sun.

NASA announced the Perseverance Sample Retrieval Architecture (PSRA) on November 9, 2026, led by Mars Exploration Program head Tiffany Morgan. The team launches in January 2027 and will report retrieval strategies by winter 2027–28. The plan comes amid cost estimates of $8–11 billion and competition from China's Tianwen-3, targeting a Mars sample return by 2031.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) organised a webinar on energy conservation on November 2 during BRICS Sustainable Lifestyle Week 2026 (Nov 1–7). Experts from TERI, IIT, and CLASP discussed energy efficiency, India's Standards & Labelling Programme, and demand-side management. BEE also held an Energy Conservation Pledge, Switch-Off Hour, and a seven-day #BRICSforLiFE social media campaign.

India ranked 28th among 68 countries in 2027 Climate Change Performance Index, slipping five places from last year. The index is compiled annually by NGOs Germanwatch and New Climate Institute to assess countries' greenhouse gas emissions and climate policies. "None of the countries achieved positions one to three...No country is doing enough to prevent dangerous climate change," the report said.