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    Deep beneath South Africa’s famous gold fields, scientists have uncovered evidence of a rare and precious gas that has been quietly building up for nearly three billion years. Helium, a non-renewable element critical for medical imaging and scientific research, is trapped inside some of the oldest rocks on Earth in the Witwatersrand Basin. The discovery comes from research led by Fin Stuart of the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Isotope Sciences. His team has been studying how helium forms deep underground, how it moves through rock, and how it can survive intact for immense geological periods. Their findings suggest that ancient rocks beneath the basin have acted like a natural vault, holding helium since long before complex life appeared on Earth. At the cent...

    Gurgaon’s air quality showed a brief improvement on Monday after slipping into the “very poor” category earlier in the week, but experts have warned that the relief may be short-lived. According to official data, the city recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 240, placing it in the “poor” category. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app shows that Gurgaon had registered an AQI of 333 on January 4 and 244 on January 3, while the air quality was relatively better on January 2 with an AQI of 187. The latest readings indicate a marginal improvement, though pollution levels remain a cause for concern. Among the city’s four monitoring stations, Sector 51 and Vikas Sadan recorded AQI levels of 288 and 254 respectively, both falling in the “poor” cate...

    Africa is losing its forests at an alarming pace, and agriculture-driven deforestation has emerged as the biggest reason behind this crisis. According to the State of Food and Agriculture report released last month, sub-Saharan Africa lost nearly 72 million hectares of forest between 2001 and 2023 an area roughly equal to the size of Kenya. As the continent struggles to feed its rapidly growing population, expanding farmland has increasingly come at the cost of its remaining wild landscapes. At the heart of the problem lies Africa’s persistently low crop yields, which are the lowest in the world. On average, African farms produce only about half the yield per hectare seen in India and nearly one-fifth of what farms in the United States achieve. These low productivity...

While the world celebrated the arrival of 2026, hundreds of families in Bhubaneswar’s Salia Sahi slum one of the city's largest informal settlements spent their nights under the open sky. In a massive eviction drive carried out last November, municipal authorities demolished over 550 homes to make way for a road project intended to ease traffic congestion. However, this pursuit of urban infrastructure has come at a staggering human cost, raising urgent questions about fundamental rights, constitutional protections, and the ethics of urban governance. The displacement in Salia Sahi was carried out without prior written notice, household surveys, or verification, leaving residents many of whom are Scheduled Tribe families residing there for decades with no opportunity for consultation....

    In a breakthrough that highlights both the immense promise and the chilling risks of modern technology, scientists have successfully used artificial intelligence to design and create complete viral genomes from scratch. While the researchers focused on bacteriophages viruses that infect bacteria rather than humans the feat demonstrates that AI can now "write" the blueprint for life, a capability that has sparked urgent debates among biosecurity experts. The Rise of AI-Designed Pathogens The core of this innovation lies in genome-language models. Much like AI models that predict the next word in a sentence, these systems are trained on thousands of existing genetic sequences to predict plausible stretches of DNA. By learning the "grammar" of viral genetics, the AI ...

    A volcano in southeastern Iran that has remained dormant for nearly 700,000 years is showing subtle but significant signs of renewed activity, according to a new scientific study that has raised concerns among volcanologists. Researchers have detected a gradual uplift of around nine centimetres near the summit of Mount Taftan over a ten-month period, a movement identified using satellite radar observations. While the rise may appear minor, scientists say it indicates increasing pressure beneath the volcano and warrants close monitoring. Mount Taftan has no recorded eruptions in human history and is often considered inactive. However, the new deformation signal suggests that internal volcanic processes are underway. The study, published in Geophysical Research Lett...

    Coral reefs, among the most biologically rich ecosystems on Earth, may be approaching a critical breaking point, with scientists warning that 2026 could mark a year of irreversible global decline. Despite covering less than one per cent of the ocean floor, tropical coral reefs support nearly a quarter of all marine species, making their survival essential for ocean health and coastal communities worldwide. Over the past few decades, an estimated 30 to 50 per cent of the world’s coral reefs have already been lost. The situation has worsened dramatically following record-breaking ocean heatwaves in 2023 and 2024, which triggered mass coral bleaching across at least 83 countries. As the planet continues to warm, scientists now fear that the next few years, particularly ...

    New Delhi: Delhi continued to remain in the grip of dense fog and cold wave conditions on Tuesday, with air quality staying in the ‘poor’ category for the second consecutive day. The worsening winter conditions prompted airlines to issue advisories, cautioning passengers about possible flight delays due to low visibility. According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app, the city’s Air Quality Index stood at 286 on Tuesday, slightly higher than Monday’s reading of 244. Out of 40 air quality monitoring stations in the national capital, 19 recorded ‘very poor’ air quality levels. East Delhi’s Anand Vihar emerged as the most polluted area, registering an AQI of 343. The India Meteorological Department said Delhi and large parts of northwest Ind...

    In the quiet village of Jhalaguda, tucked inside the Gundal Gram Panchayat of Odisha’s Kundra block, Rukmani Khilo begins her day much like generations before her. Yet, her work today goes far beyond subsistence farming. A member of the Paraja tribal community, Rukmani has emerged as a powerful symbol of sustainable agriculture, seed conservation, and women-led rural transformation in one of the state’s most marginalised regions. Her journey reflects how traditional knowledge, when supported by scientific training and collective institutions, can create resilient livelihoods. Rukmani’s turning point came in 2019, when she joined the Board of Directors of Bamandei Farmer Producer Company Limited, promoted by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Jeypore. Through t...

    Earth’s plants may not be the climate saviours scientists once hoped for. New research has revealed that vegetation across the planet is absorbing significantly less carbon dioxide than climate models have predicted for years, raising fresh concerns about the world’s ability to slow global warming naturally. For a long time, scientists believed that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could stimulate faster plant growth, allowing forests and other ecosystems to absorb more carbon and partially offset climate change. However, this benefit depends heavily on the availability of nitrogen, a critical nutrient that plants need to grow. The latest findings show that the natural supply of nitrogen has been seriously overestimated. The study, involving research...