Science This Week | NASA hands over NISAR to ISRO, fastest single-shot camera shows how flames form soot and more
The Hindu
Find the latest news and discoveries from the world of science.
From Webb telescope discovering a new galaxy to following the controversy surrounding scientist Ranga Dias, find the latest and most riveting updates from the field of science here.
Using the James Webb Telescope, astronomers have discovered a quiescent galaxy named JADES-GS+53.15508-27.80178. The galaxy has a relatively low mass and shows very little signs of star formation. Formed when the universe was just 700 million years old, the galaxy has a high redshift which can give astronomers insights into the early days of the universe. The post starburst galaxy appears to be compact and disk-shaped with a radius of 650 light years.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) satellite from the U.S. space agency. NISAR is a Low Earth Orbit observatory jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. The satellite will map the entire globe in 12 days and provide spatially and temporally consistent data for understanding changes in Earth’s ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater and natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
After three nasty years, the La Nina weather phenomenon that increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought is gone. That’s usually good news for the United States and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said. The globe is now in what’s considered a “neutral” condition and probably trending to an El Nino in late summer or fall.
The global food system's greenhouse gas emissions will add nearly one degree Celsius to Earth's surface temperatures by 2100 on current trends, obliterating Paris Agreement climate goals, scientists warned. A major overhaul of the sector -- from production to distribution to consumption -- could reduce those emissions by more than half even as global population increases. The global food system accounts for about 15% of current warming levels.
Researchers at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have found that grazing by livestock leads to lower carbon storage in soil compared to grazing by wild herbivores. In a study conducted in the Spiti region of the Himalayas, CES researchers found that this difference appears to be due to the use of veterinary antibiotics such as tetracycline on livestock.
Scientists from Germany and the U.S. have built the world’s fastest single-shot laser camera – 1,000x faster than its predecessors at capturing extremely short-lived events. They used the camera to provide the most precise view yet of how a hydrocarbon flame produces soot, which can teach us about how this important climate pollutant is produced in kitchen stoves, car engines, and wildfires.