Author: Rahul M

Summary Lamine Yamal, who turns 18 in July, has signed a new long-term contract with FC Barcelona The new contract keeps him at the club until the age of 23 with the contract end date on June 30, 2031 The new deal reportedly makes him one of Barcelona’s highest-paid players and includes a massive €1 billion EUR release clause FC Barcelona has solidified the future of their prodigious talent, Lamine Yamal, by announcing his new long-term contract extension. The 17-year-old forward, who turns 18 in July, has signed a deal that will keep him at the Catalan club until June…

In a laboratory in Kyoto, a team of geneticists made a small but significant tweak to the DNA of mice. Using CRISPR gene-editing technology, they inserted a single variant of a gene once carried by Homo neanderthalensis and Denisovans—archaic relatives of modern humans—into the genomes of living rodents. The mice, raised under controlled conditions, soon began to show signs of anatomical differences that echoed the skeletal structure of these extinct hominins. The experiment, published in the journal BioRxiv, led by Dr. Ako Agata and Dr. Tadashi Nomura at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, focused on the gene GLI3. This…

Deep in the parched terrain of western Namibia, geologists have found something that challenges long-held assumptions about the Earth’s crust. Lining the inside of ancient marble formations are countless hair-thin tunnels, running perfectly parallel to one another for as long as ten meters. Carved into rock that dates back over half a billion years, these micro-burrows raise a confounding question: What could have created them? The structures, found in the remote desert between 20 and 29 degrees south, were first documented by Professor Cees Passchier of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Passchier made the discovery during a geological survey of Neoproterozoic…

At a windswept plateau in Saqqara, a short drive southwest of modern-day Cairo, an ambitious new theory is upending traditional ideas about how Egypt’s first pyramid was built. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, constructed around 2680 BC, may not have relied solely on manpower and primitive tools as long believed. Instead, researchers suggest the monument rose block by block through the aid of a sophisticated hydraulic lift system, fed by water redirected from nearby wadis. The theory, laid out in a comprehensive study published in PLOS ONE, is the result of a multi-year investigation by a French-led team of researchers…

Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, far below the reach of drills or direct observation, scientists have identified two massive formations that may be something far more extraordinary than previously imagined. These subterranean zones, located beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean, have long intrigued geophysicists due to their unusual behavior—now, a new theory suggests they could be the remnants of a lost planet that collided with Earth billions of years ago. The structures, known as large low-velocity provinces, or LLVPs, are massive accumulations of material in the lower mantle. They are characterized by their ability to slow down seismic waves, indicating…

NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) BVR Subrahmanyam said that India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, citing data by the International Monetary Fund. Addressing a press conference of the 10th NITI Aayog Governing Council Meeting on ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat 2047’, Subrahmanyam stated that India’s economy has reached the USD 4 trillion mark. “We are the fourth largest economy as I speak. We are a USD 4 trillion economy as I speak, and this is not my data. This is IMF data. India today is larger than Japan. It’s only the United States, China, and…

The iconic Rashtrapati Niketan, the Presidential Retreat in Dehradun, will soon be open to the public starting June 24, 2025. The initiative aims to strengthen citizen engagement with the President’s residence while offering a glimpse into India’s rich heritage. President Droupadi Murmu will visit the estate on June 20, 2025, to oversee preparations for the grand opening. On the same day, she will lay the foundation stone for the Rashtrapati Udyan, a sprawling 132-acre ecological park designed to promote environmental awareness and recreation. Originally used by the President’s Bodyguards for training horses, the 186-year-old estate will now showcase curated artwork…

Some creatures come and go within the span of a single week. Others glide through time with barely a sign of aging. Scientists are working to understand why certain species live dramatically longer than others, and what biological forces shape the boundaries of life across the animal kingdom. At the University of Birmingham in England, João Pedro de Magalhães, a molecular biologist, leads the Human Ageing Genomic Resources program, which oversees the AnAge database, a growing catalog of maximum lifespans for hundreds of animal species. Accoding to Scientific American, His research focuses on species that, in his words, “appear not…

A fossilized dinosaur egg unearthed in southern China has revealed one of the most complete dinosaur embryos ever discovered, providing paleontologists with unprecedented insight into the origins of behaviors now associated with modern birds. Named Baby Yingliang, the specimen was found inside a 17-centimeter egg and is believed to be between 66 and 72 million years old. It had been stored in a museum warehouse for over a decade before a staff member noticed bones visible through a crack in the shell. The discovery was made at the Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum in Nan’an, a city in China’s Fujian…

A fishing trip turned into an accidental archaeological find when a father and daughter discovered a long-lost shipwreck near Green Island, Wisconsin. The wooden sailing vessel, later identified as the George L. Newman, had vanished for more than 150 years after it ran aground during the Great Peshtigo Fire. The discovery was made in August 2022 by Tim Wollak and his five-year-old daughter Henley, who noticed an unusual shape on their fish finder. Initially suspected to be a different wreck, the submerged remains were eventually confirmed to belong to a vessel tied to one of the most devastating fires in…