We have all heard of the term ‘global warming’. But what does it mean and how does it affect us? Global warming literally means that our planet is ‘heating up’. From 1906, the average surface temperature of the earth has increased by more than 1.60 ^oF (or 0.90 ^oC). This change is more in the sensitive polar regions.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the leading greenhouse gases thought to be responsible for global warming. What if it was possible to convert this gas into useful fuel? It sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it? Researchers from Stanford University seem to have taken a step in this direction by discovering a new catalyst which can help convert CO₂ into fuels.

Navic means “Navigation with Indian Constellation“. And it has another name called Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). It is India’s indigenous navigation system that is similar to the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the USA. In 2016, the honourable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi gave IRNSS the name “Navic”, and it means Sailor or Navigator. Top mobile brands Xiaomi, Realme and Poco, have announced that their upcoming mobile phones in India will have an indigenous navigation system called “Navic” for the first time in history.

Latest Update(May 31): The rocket ship (SpaceX) thundered away from Earth and lifted off successfully!

Update(May 28): The launch is scrubbed due to bad weather conditions and is rescheduled to be at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Chandrayaan – 2, the most prestigious project developed and executed by ISRO, drew attention across the globe, marking its impression in Indian space history. Exceptional track record of ISRO and its commitment to imprint its trails on the moon created high expectations for everyone.

The year 2020 will witness an annual solar eclipse on 21st June. The previous one was on December 26, 2019, after 15th January 2010, and 1st September 2016. In an annular solar eclipse, the moon covers the sun from the centre and leaves the outer periphery visible which looks like a “ring of fire”. It can last from under a second to 12 minutes.

A lunar eclipse always accompanies the solar eclipse. Solar eclipse might occur about two weeks either before or after the lunar eclipse. Sometimes there will be the third eclipse too. The period in which these eclipses occur is called “eclipse season”. In this season, the first eclipse (lunar) took place on 5th June, second eclipse (solar) will take place on 21st June, and the final eclipse (lunar) will occur on 5th July.

The Government of India instituted Bharat Stage (BS) emission standards to regulate the vehicular pollutants. The latest BS-VI standards came into effect from 1 April 2020, which would reduce the pollution from vehicles remarkably. The automotive industry has been manufacturing BS-VI compliant vehicles and Oil Marketing Companies started supplying BS-VI compliant fuel. Though the new norms will substantially reduce the air pollution caused by the vehicular exhaust, the manufacturing cost of these vehicles would be a bit higher. However, the increase in price is compensated by the savings by the public on health as the new standards mitigate the air pollution risks considerably.

In October 2019, it happened for the first time in history that two flight engineers of NASA, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir embarked on the first all-female spacewalk mission named Expedition 61. During the spacewalk, the ground co-ordinator was Stephanie Wilson, also an astronaut. It was a 7 hour 17 minutes walk conducted to complete the replacement of the failed power charging component, also known as Battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). This unit is required to charge the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems. It was the first time when two females independently have done a spacewalk. Earlier, the other spacewalks were accomplished with men.

How many women did the spacewalk till now?

Along with Svetlana Savitskaya, 14 US women conducted 40 spacewalks over the past 35 years, Koch and Meir were 14th and 15th, respectively.

We all know a superhero can do multiple tasks at the same time, right? Have you ever wondered how a device completes several tasks at the same point in time? Well, it is because of software called the operating system. Be it the Android on your phone or the windows on your computer.

They all fall under the same category of operating systems. This operating system is the one that helps you listen to music and play games or perform other tasks simultaneously. Let us learn more about this superhero software.