Ask a sixteen-year-old about a social media ban, and you get an answer sharper than most adults arguing about bans. She says, “It doesn’t prepare us for the real world when we will have to deal with these distractions in our life”. The teenager’s response strikes at the core of the ban vs
How I got hooked on chasing solar eclipses Traveling the globe for celestial events may seem downright loony—until you get a taste of the addictive world of ‘eclipse chasing’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 18:30:10 IST WSJ Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link ‘It was glorious
Made-in-India semiconductor chips are now powering key Indian space missions. These domestically manufactured components support lunar and solar exploration efforts. Specialized chips from Mohali's Semiconductor Laboratory are used in Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1
India's space program began with a small rocket range in 1962. It progressed to launching its first satellite and developing indigenous launch vehicles. Chandrayaan-3's lunar landing marked a significant achievement for the nation. The program now includes private sector involvement and ambitious
India plans to establish its own space station by the year 2035. The first module for the Bharatiya Antariksha Station has already received approval. This ambitious project aligns with the nation's growing space capabilities and aspirations. National Space Day celebrates India's achievements and
how humans evolved in the last 10
Revealed: how humans evolved in the last 10,000 years alone
People who lived and died thousands of years ago have left behind their skeletal remains as a legacy. In recent years, scientists have isolated and sequenced the DNA from more and more of these remains.
A team of researchers led by scientists at the Harvard Medical School in the U.S. has compared 15,836 ancient DNA sequences from across Western Eurasia with the sequences of 6,438 modern people from the same countries. (Western Eurasia includes Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Iran.)
The comparison revealed evidence that for many genes for which two sequence variants have been known, one variant had undergone a sustained increase or decrease in frequency relative to the other over the past eight to 10 millennia.
Using new statistical methods coupled with computer simulations, the team found that these changes in frequency can be attributed in many cases to natural selection rather than to processes like genetic drift and population migration. The findings were reported on April 15 in Nature.
The oldest remains examined were dated to 18,000 years ago — yet the scientists were able to obtain enough genetic material to meaningfully calculate gene frequencies for the last 10 millennia alone. The study is in fact the largest survey of ancient human genomes to date.
Scientists figure out how ancient a skeleton is by measuring the relative amount of carbon-14, a.k.a. radioactive carbon, in its bones and teeth. Carbon-14 is a carbon isotope generated when cosmic rays collide with nitrogen atoms in the earth’s upper atmosphere. Its chemical properties are identical to that of the non-radioactive isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-13.
When an individual is alive, the fraction of carbon-14 in the body is the same as that in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and in the plants and animals consumed as food. This level begins to drop after death. Radioactive decay turns carbon-14 back into nitrogen and there is no way to replenish its level.
Carbon-14 decays with a half-life of 5,730 years. That is, the fraction of radioactive carbon relative to non-radioactive carbon halves every 5,730 years. So after 50,000 years, the fraction of radioactive carbon 14 remaining in the bones and teeth is only two-thousandth that at the time of death.
An instrument called a mass spectrometer is used to measure the relative amounts of each carbon isotope, then estimate the age of its source in this way.
The human body has two copies of a gene called ABO. Each copy comes in three variants, called A, B, and O. Which combination of variants we have determines our blood type. These blood types appeared very early in evolution and we share them with other great apes.
The researchers found that over the last 6,000 years, the B variant has been occurring more commonly among the West Eurasians, with a concomitant decrease in the A variant. The A and B variants are associated with opposite effects with respect to many traits. Therefore, it may be that a population benefits by maintaining an optimal balance to respond to changing pathogenic exposures.
Similarly, a variant of the HLA-DQB1 gene makes people susceptible to coeliac disease. In individuals with two copies of this variant, the gluten in wheat, barley, and rye triggers the immune system to attack the small intestine, leading to diarrhoea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
In the last 4,000 years, the frequency of occurrence of the disease-causing variant has increased from 0% to 20%. Since agriculture also began 10,000 years ago, the researchers have clarified that the increase was “not a phenomenon only or largely of the rise of agriculture” even as they admit what could have driven the increase remains unknown.
Also around 8,000 years ago, humans began to select for gene variants in several genes that produce lighter skin tones and pigmented hair. The researchers have suggested this was an adaptation in response to having to synthesise more vitamin D in regions with low sunlight, especially among farmers whose diets supplied little of it.
Possessing two copies of the ∆32 variant of the CCR5 gene makes an individual completely resistant to HIV-1 infection. The frequency of this variant among Western Eurasians increased from 2% to about 8% between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. This predated the origin of HIV, however, which happened only in the early 20th century. Put another way, other unknown ancient pathogens must have driven this increase, as scientists have previously hypothesised.
But perhaps the most interesting signals of ancient selection were found in the gene combinations today associated with ‘modern’ traits such as performance on intelligence tests, household income, years of schooling, and healthy lifestyle (e.g. faster walking pace).
Smoking was unknown to Eurasia until Christopher Columbus introduced tobacco from the Americas less than 600 years ago. The study found that the gene variants associated today with smoking were selected against even in those ancient times. However, it is not clear what traits governed the selection in that time.
As the researchers wrote: “it will be of interest to apply similar approaches to ancient DNA time series over longer times and to other world regions. This would allow more generalizable insights by identifying which patterns of selection are shared and which are distinctive to Holocene West Eurasia.”
South Asians have genetic contributions from ancestors from Iranian Neolithic Farmers and western steppe herders; from indigenous Eastern Eurasian ancestors, including ancient ancestral South Indians; and East and Southeast Asian and Australasian ancestors. A comparable ancient DNA study of our ancestors is likely to be just as fascinating. But we need to first start assembling our own legacy: the remains of our ancestors from thousands of years ago.
D.P. Kasbekar is a retired scientist.
Published - May 20, 2026 07:30 am IST
genetics
Source: TheHindu
Related Posts:
India observed its third National Space Day, commemorating the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing. ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan recalled the agency's humble beginnings and current global standing. He highlighted Chandrayaan-3's soft landing near the Moon's south pole in August 2023
1 days ago
The Indian government created the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) to offer students an intellectually vibrant research environment and to bring them into research at a relatively — vis-à-vis the Indian milieu — early stage
1 days ago
Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to lure global expertise to India's expanding space landscape. He identifies the private sector's potential as a crucial asset for global competition. Key advantages include India’s affordability and its appetite for innovation
1 days ago
The Northeast India Space Workshop 2026 will convene in Guwahati to explore regional transformation. This event aims to leverage space technology for global reach and economic growth. Stakeholders will discuss Northeast India becoming a developer and testbed for space solutions
1 days ago
The dramatic 1° Celsius rise in global temperatures since industrialisation has already proved to have upended the lives of wild flora and fauna: that of at least 15,801 species on the Red List of Threatened Species, according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
2 days ago
India faces a substantial cost gap with the United States for launching payloads. A recent study estimates India's cost at over $13,000 per kilogram by 2025. This contrasts with the United States' estimated cost of $3,225 per kilogram. The study highlights scale and experience as key factors for
2 days ago
Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged young space entrepreneurs to innovate for agriculture and daily life. He highlighted the potential of India's private space sector for global impact. Startups were urged to engage with schools and inspire future generations
2 days ago
Rock-solid evidence for the origins of birds Stones in dinosaur stomachs may help understanding of avian evolution Published on: Aug 20, 2026, 21:09:09 IST The Economist Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link How do you know what a dinosaur ate? Guts rot away after death
3 days ago
Was it meat or glucose that fueled the growth of the human brain? If evolutionary science told us, hitherto, that human brain expansion relied on meat to grow, a new study has an interesting addition to this theory. Published in a recent issue of Science
4 days ago
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch the GISAT-1A satellite in September, in a mission that will be watched closely for many important reasons. Since the two successive PSLV mission failures, in 2025 and early 2026, ISRO had paused launches as it investigated the reason
4 days ago
The Hara forests are a vital ecological treasure of the Persian Gulf. Spanning the Strait of Hormuz, these mangrove forests consist mainly of grey mangrove trees (Avicennia marina), which have a special filtration system in their roots that allows them to thrive in saline conditions
5 days ago
India spends more to put a kilogram of payload into orbit than any other major spacefaring nation, marring its public image as a cost-effective launcher, according to a new peer-reviewed analysis of more than six decades of rocket launches published in Economics Letters
7 days ago
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there,” the English novelist L.P. Hartley wrote famously in his 1953 novel The Go-Between. In a peculiar twist, the same cannot be said of the Moon. It is not a foreign country, or even a foreign world: the U.S
7 days ago
The computer did not create a virus. It did not touch a test tube or handle a living cell. What it did may ultimately be more consequential: it helped decide what the virus’s genome should be. Researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute used artificial intelligence (AI) to design
8 days ago
Spectators across Spain watched in wonder, some whipping off their protective glasses and rising to their feet in unison, as a rare total solar eclipse swept across the north of the country on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) evening, plunging it into darkness
8 days ago
Japan's MMX mission will blast off soon to collect Martian moon samples. The spacecraft will orbit Mars for three years and land on Phobos. This mission aims to understand Solar System origins and life's emergence. A rival Chinese mission also plans to return Mars samples around 2031
8 days ago
Draft rules for the SHANTI Act, 2025, mandate financial security for nuclear damage. Operators must maintain insurance or financial security until spent fuel removal. Foreign reactor designs require certification by their country of origin's regulatory body
9 days ago
As a total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Europe on August 12 for the first time since 1999, solar physicists at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru, along with collaborators, have predicted the magnetic structure of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or its ‘crown’
9 days ago
When a young man was brought to my clinic after his first episode of psychosis, his parents wanted to know when he could return to college. This is not an atypical first interaction. However, in many instances, after a few consultations later and especially once the immediate crisis had settled
11 days ago
Some people can live apparently ordinary lives even when both copies of a gene (one inherited from the mother and the other from the father) have stopped working. Until their DNA is sequenced, they may never know that this has happened. A large study from Pakistan, published in Nature (June 2026)
11 days ago
Physicist Deepak Dhar received the 2026 Dirac Medal for his statistical mechanics work. He shares the award with three other scientists for their complex systems research. Their contributions span biology, finance, computer science, and artificial intelligence
12 days ago
Colombia and Venezuela experienced deadly earthquakes due to tectonic plate friction. The Nazca plate sliding beneath the South American plate caused tremors. Earthquake magnitude and depth significantly influenced the destructive impact. Building codes and terrain also played crucial roles in the
12 days ago
India has been invited to join NASA's Moon Base program. Discussions focused on expanding civil and commercial space cooperation. Both nations agreed to advance open scientific data sharing under Artemis Accords. They also reaffirmed commitment to UN guidelines for outer space sustainability
12 days ago
A team led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has found that several inherited traits in the mouse genome break the rules Gregor Mendel laid down in the 19th century about how genes work. This is not because the genes mutate but because of chemical modifications of the genome
13 days ago
Urban India’s water emergency will not be fixed by better crisis management alone. Over the coming decades, hundreds of millions more people will live and work in Indian cities, driving a sharp increase in the urban water demand. And unless we change how we design, finance
15 days ago
IN-SPACe seeks private partners to manage ISRO's new launch complex. This facility will support small rocket launches and enhance launch efficiency. Private entities will handle end-to-end operations and maintenance of the complex. ISRO will provide initial technical and operational support for
15 days ago
NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Jessica Meir on Friday (August 6, 2026) concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station to assemble the modification kit for its power channel that would allow addition of solar arrays. The spacewalk – 281st in support of the space station –
15 days ago
