Kartavya Kant Tiwari

The latest mission of Axiom Space with the four astronauts has found their stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule called Grace, unboarded from the ISS on July 14, 2025, carrying the quartet on the last leg of Ax-4 mission at 4:45 p.m. IST. It safely manoeuvred away from the orbit's lab, which was the crew's home for more than 2.5 weeks. Further, it performed the deorbit burn series and is on the path to come back to Earth at around 3:00 p.m. IST. Ax-4 Mission Wraps Up After Extended ISS Stay and Record-Setting Research As per NASA, The former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is the commander, and the other crew members are pilot Shubhanshu Shukla and mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu. it is the first spaceflight for all three. However, its fifth mission for Whitson to orbit is recorded as 695 cumulative days. The mission is an extension of the Houston-based company's previous crewed flights, and is for research ...

Reports indicate that for three days this summer – July 9, July 22 and August 5 – Earth's rotation will speed up slightly, trimming 1.3 to 1.5 milliseconds off each day. Imperceptible in everyday life, this shift underscores how the Moon's position influences our planet's spin. For reference, the shortest day on record was July 5, 2024, lasting 1.66 milliseconds less than 24 hours. Over billions of years Earth's rotation has slowly lengthened, but recent data show speedups. Scientists say monitoring these tiny changes is important for understanding Earth's dynamics and timekeeping. Causes of Faster Spin According to timeanddate.com, the shortest-ever recorded day was on July 5, 2024, which was 1.66 milliseconds shy of 24 hours. The acceleration is largely driven by the Moon's gravity. On those dates (July 9, July 22 and August 5), the Moon will lie far north or south of Earth's equator, weakening its tidal braking on our planet's spin. As a result, Earth...

A minuscule meteorite seems to be rewriting the history of our solar system. The 50-gram Northwest Africa 12264 has brought a new understanding of when and how rocky worlds came together. Inner planets such as Earth and Mars were thought to have formed earlier than their more distant siblings, given temperatures and composition. But a new study of this meteorite, which originates from beyond the asteroid belt, suggests that the birth of planets throughout the solar system occurred tens of millions of years earlier than previously believed, narrowing the gap in time between the solar system's inner and outer surfaces. Outer Solar System Meteorite Reveals Rocky Planets Likely Formed Simultaneously Across the Galaxy As per a study led by Dr Ben Rider-Stokes of The Open University and published in Communications Earth & Environment, the meteorite's chemical makeup offers critical evidence. Its chromium and oxygen isotope ratios place its origin in the outer solar system. Most s...

For the first time, researchers have managed to simulate a fundamental process of cosmic particle acceleration in a laboratory: the first series of discoveries that will transform our understanding of cosmic rays. Now, scientists from the Universities of Birmingham and Chicago have created a tiny, 100-micrometre Fermi accelerator, in which mobile optical potential barriers collide with trapped atoms, in a partial replica of how cosmic particles pick up energy in space. The technique not only replicates cosmic ray behaviour but also sets a new benchmark in quantum acceleration technology. Lab-Built Fermi Accelerator Using Cold Atoms Validates Cosmic Ray Theory and Advances Quantum Tech As per findings published in Physical Review Letters, this fully controllable setup demonstrated particle acceleration through the Fermi mechanism first proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi in 1949. Long theorised to underlie cosmic ray generation, the process had never been reliably replicated in a lab. By...

Question What's Real (QWR), an Indian deep-tech startup, announced Humbl, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, on Thursday. The startup claims that Humbl is the first made in India AI smart glasses, and offers features similar to the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. The glasses are said to come equipped with an AI assistant that can record videos, summarise conversations, play music, help with navigation, and more. The startup plans to officially launch the glasses later this month, and claims to start shipping the device later this year. QWR Unveils AI-Powered Smart Glasses In a press release, the deep-tech startup unveiled its latest product and said that Humbl is focused towards utility, discretion, and contextual awareness. The company did not share a lot of details about the device, but based on its features and appearance, it is pretty similar to the Ray-Ban Meta. Humbl can be worn as simple sunglasses, but its real usability is when the AI assistant is activated wi...

Astronomers predict an unseen class of star-like bodies called “dark dwarfs” near our galaxy's center. A new study suggests these objects could shine thanks to annihilating dark matter, not nuclear fusion. Dark matter makes up about a quarter of the universe and interacts via gravity. If WIMP-like dark matter particles collect in a brown dwarf, they would annihilate and heat it, causing a faint glow. Dark dwarfs would be too light to fuse hydrogen, but would keep lithium-7 in their atmospheres, offering a signature. This prediction comes from a JCAP study. The discovery of one could reveal dark matter's nature. Predicted Dark Dwarf Properties According to the paper, sub-stellar objects just below the hydrogen-burning threshold would be powered by dark matter. The authors find that the minimum mass for hydrogen fusion shifts above ∼0.075 M⊙ in dense dark-matter environments, so lighter brown dwarfs instead become stable dark-matter–powered stars ('dark dwarfs') via WIMP ...

Vivo V60 is said to be in development and might make its debut soon. The purported Vivo V series smartphone has reportedly been spotted on Malaysia's SIRIM certification website and the TUV SUD site, which is a strong indicator of its existence. The Vivo V60 is expected to arrive as a successor to the company's V50 model, which was launched in India in February. It is speculated to debut with similar hardware specifications to the Vivo S30, which was unveiled in China in May. The phone is expected to run on the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset. Vivo V60 Certifications Hint at Imminent Launch in Asia Xpertpick reports that the unannounced Vivo V60 has appeared on the SIRIM and TUV websites bearing the model number V2511. The SIRIM certification confirms the moniker of the phone, while the TUV listing reportedly reveals it will support 90W fast charging. The appearance on these certification websites suggests that the Vivo V60 could be launched in the Asian market soon. However, Vivo h...

Realme 15 Pro 5G will launch in India soon alongside the base Realme 15 5G. Several details about the upcoming handsets have already surfaced online. A new report has shared a leaked design render of the anticipated Pro variant. It shows us the probable design of the rear and the display panels of he phone. The Realme 15 Pro will likely feature a dual camera unit at the back. The phone is expected to succeed the Realme 14 Pro 5G, which was unveiled alongside a Pro+ variant in January. Realme 15 Pro 5G Design Render Leaked The leaked design render of the Realme 15 Pro 5G handset was shared in a 91Mobiles report Monday. The handset appears in a silver colourway — this could be the rumoured 'Flowing Silver' shade of the Realme phone. Realme 15 Pro is also been tipped to be sold in 'Silk Purple' and 'Velvet Green' colour options. The leaked render of the Realme 15 Pro 5G shows the handset with a dual rear camera unit. Two camera sensors are placed within two separat...

Astronomers have discovered the third interstellar comet to pass through our solar system. Named 3I/ATLAS (initially A11pl3Z), it was first spotted July 1 by the ATLAS telescope in Chile and confirmed the same day. Pre-discovery images show it in the sky as far back as mid-June. The object is racing toward the inner system at roughly 150,000 miles per hour on a near-straight trajectory, too fast for the Sun to capture. Estimates suggest its nucleus may be 10–20 km across. Now inside Jupiter's orbit, 3I/ATLAS will swing closest to the Sun in October and should remain observable into late 2025. Discovery and Classification According to NASA, in early July the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile spotted a faint moving object first called A11pl3Z, and the IAU's Minor Planet Center confirmed the next day that it was an interstellar visitor. The object was officially named 3I/ATLAS and noted as likely the largest interstellar body yet detected. At first it appeared to be an ordinary near...

A striking new image captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has shed light on an underexplored gatekeeper of our galactic neighbours' achievements and tragedies. Adorned with multi-hued stars, the spherical cluster glitters amid the expanse of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. This type of globular cluster is a very dense grouping of stars — about the same mass as 100,000 suns — that orbit all around the centre of their galaxy. Stars in a cluster are typically roughly the same age, as they formed from the same collapsing gas cloud. In this new view, stars show up in temperatures indicated in red and blue colours: red for colder and blue for hotter stars. Hubble Maps Forgotten Star Cluster ESO 591-12 to Uncover Milky Way's Ancient Stellar Secrets As per a report from NASA's Hubble team, ESO 591-12 was imaged during the Hubble Missing Globular Clusters Survey—an initiative targeting 34 Milky Way globular clusters that had never been observed by the space telescope. The ai...