Science This Week | Intriguing water source found on the Moon, piezoelectric effect found in liquids and more

A weekly science wrap that lists the top 7 science stories from this week. The wrap includes scientific discoveries, findings, and studies from India and all over the world.

From Saturn’s rings heating up the planet, finding water in glass beads from lunar soil samples to finding a new shape find all the latest news, discoveries and findings that happened in the field of science this week.

Astronomers have found that Saturn’s ring system is heating the planet’s upper atmosphere. Observations made by the Hubble telescope, Cassini probeVoyager 1 and 2 along with the International Ultraviolet Explorer mission, showed a glowing line of excess radiation that is believed to be hot hydrogen from the icy ring particles raining down on the planet’s atmosphere causing it to heat.

ISRO has released images of Earth captured by the EOS-06 satellite. The space agency said that the images are a mosaic generated by the ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). The EOS-06 is envisaged to observe ocean colour data, sea surface temperature and wind vector data to use in Oceanography, climatic and meteorological applications. The satellite also supports value-added products such as potential fishing zone using chlorophyll, SST and wind speed and land-based geophysical parameters.

Glass beads created during violent impacts from space rocks on the lunar surface have been found to have water trapped inside, offering what scientists describe as a potential reservoir of this precious resource for future human activities on the moon. While analysing lunar soil samples retrieved in 2020 during China's robotic Chang'e-5 mission, scientists found spheres of glass - rock melted and cooled - created during the impacts bore within them water molecules formed through the action of the solar wind on the moon's surface.

For the first time, scientists have reported evidence of the piezoelectric effect in liquids. The effect has been known for 143 years and in this time has been observed only in solids. In the piezoelectric effect, a body develops an electric current when it is squeezed. The effect was found in pure 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide and 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide – both ionic liquids (i.e. liquids made of ions instead of molecules) at room temperature.

A group of four scientists have discovered an entirely new shape which has 13 sides and has named it “the hat.” It is also the first time that an ‘einstein’ tile has been found, meaning the shape can cover a plane without overlapping, leaving gaps or repeating patterns. The shape is a polykite with the edges of eight kites to make it.

India has been slipping in the global rank in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the past five years, with the country dropping another place since 2021. India’s rank worldwide has slipped from 116 to 121 since 2017. It now ranks behind most of its neighbours: Bhutan (70), Sri Lanka (76), Nepal (98), and Bangladesh (104). Pakistan is the only other country in the subcontinent that has ranked behind India, at 125. The rollback has been attributed to declining performance on 11 goals.