Author: Deshwale Science and Environment Desk

Smoke curls upwards. Flames dance in copper vessels. Water ripples in silver bowls. A yajña begins. The priest chants. The fire awakens. Water is offered. Sparks fly. Smoke rises. In each gesture lies meaning as old as time. Vedic yajñas, or sacrificial rites, are among Hinduism’s most ancient rituals. They date to the Rig Veda, composed around 1500 BCE. The word yajña means “sacrifice,” but sacrifice here is not loss. It is exchange. The deity receives offerings. The worshipper gains blessings. Fire is the mediator, Agni, the god of flame. Agni’s role is central. He carries oblations, ghee, grains, herbs,…

City lights glow upwards. Streetlamps, neon signs, and sports arenas banish the stars. For most of human history, the night sky was ablaze with celestial wonders. Today, more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives under light-polluted skies. This skyglow erases the Milky Way, dims meteors, and hides faint nebulae. Let’s explore how artificial light affects us, wildlife, and astronomy, and what we can do to reclaim the night. What Is Light Pollution? Light pollution comes in several forms: These effects reduce contrast between stars and sky. They push the limiting magnitude—the faintest star visible—to brighter levels. Amateur astronomers…

Twinkling dots. Endless pinpricks of light. The night sky hosts more stars than we can ever count. Yet humans have tried. We have gazed. We have tallied. We have calculated. And still the numbers stagger the mind. On a clear night away from city lights, you might see up to two to three thousand stars with the naked eye from your location. Across the entire sky, about six thousand are visible without a telescope. At a dark-sky reserve, the view improves. Stick your eye to a modern telescope and you unlock millions more. But even telescopes have limits. Their fields…

Imagine a not-so-distant future where animals have legal voices, this scenario, while fictional, is fast becoming a global conversation rooted in real developments. What if a Bengal tiger, its Sundarbans home shrinking under rising seas, could stride into a courtroom and sue the coal plants choking its air, or a pod of dolphins in the Ganges demanded justice for polluted waters, their case backed by AI-translated distress signals? Picture 2030, where animals gain legal personhood, a concept already taking root in 2025 with India’s Ganga River granted rights in 2017 and New Zealand’s Whanganui River following suit. This isn’t science…

Imagine two cosmic heavyweights, black holes so colossal they make our Sun look like a speck, spiraling toward each other in a dance that shakes the universe. On November 23, 2023, scientists caught the echoes of this epic collision, named GW231123, through tiny ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA team, this is not just any black hole merger, it is the biggest ever recorded, and it is turning our understanding of the cosmos upside down. These were not ordinary black holes. One weighed about 103 times the mass of our Sun, the other around 137. Spinning…

Wide. Vast. Limitless. When you step outside and look up, you see a dome of blue by day and a glittering black tapestry by night. Yet that dome is no mere ceiling. It stretches beyond all we can imagine. It curves around us in every direction. It folds in on itself at the horizon. This is the celestial sphere—a handy tool that ancient stargazers used to map the heavens. But today we know there is no solid sphere. No visible boundary. Just space. Endless, expanding space. Imagine Earth at the centre of a great sphere. That’s how Ptolemy and his…

Soft light filters through emerald leaves. Footsteps on cushioned earth. A single breath of pine-scented air. This is Shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing.” Not bathing in water, but bathing in the forest’s peace. You walk. You pause. You listen. Birdsong drifts on the breeze. Your shoulders loosen. Your mind unwinds. No phone. No deadline. Just you and the trees. “Forest bathing is medicine without a prescription,” says Dr Qing Li of the Nippon Medical School. “It lowers stress hormones. It boosts our immune cells.” He points to studies showing reduced cortisol after only twenty minutes among ancient cedars. Why does it…

The ocean whispers secrets in ripples and waves. Beneath its surface, a hidden world thrives, teeming with life yet to be unveiled. Over the past two years, from July 2023 to July 2025, scientists have pulled back this aquatic curtain. They’ve revealed fishes so unique, they captivate the imagination. For us in India, these discoveries strike close to home. Rivers like the Brahmaputra and the Western Ghats have gifted us new species. Even the rare oarfish has surfaced off Tamil Nadu’s coast. Each find is a testament to nature’s ingenuity. Let’s plunge into this extraordinary tale of discovery, where science…

Could Ants Teach Us Economics? Lessons from Insect Societies Ants march in perfect rows, building empires in soil. Their colonies hum with eerie efficiency. Ants spark fascination. Could they teach us economic wisdom? This journey explores insect societies through science. It blends entomology, economics, and philosophy vividly. From Amazon jungles to backyard nests, ants work. Imagine their lessons reshaping human markets. Let’s delve into the economics of tiny architects. What Ants Reveal About Markets: Lessons in Efficiency and Sustainability Ant colonies function like bustling economies. Each ant has a role: forager, nurse, soldier. A 2023 PNAS study compared them to…

Ancient Origins to Modern Apps: How Astrology Captivates Across Cultures Astrology’s roots stretch to ancient Babylon, 2000 BCE. Priests charted stars, linking them to fate. A 2023 History of Science study traced its spread. From Greece to China, zodiacs took hold. Each culture wove unique systems, yet patterns emerged. Sun signs, like Leo or Virgo, claim to shape traits. Today, 30% of people read horoscopes, per a 2024 Pew survey. This global allure captivates, binding humanity to skies. Science, Psychology, and Skepticism: Does the Zodiac Truly Define Us? Psychology tests astrology’s bold promises rigorously. A 2023 Journal of Personality study…