Author: Nigel Pereira

A new sodium-ion battery promises to make electric vehicles safer, cheaper, and greener, and could help countries like India cut their dependence on costly lithium imports. India’s growing hunger for energy storage has long run into one stubborn obstacle: lithium. Pricey, scarce, and mostly imported, it’s the Achilles’ heel of the EV and solar boom. But now, sodium, a far cheaper and more abundant element, is stepping into the spotlight. A research group at the University of Surrey, has come up with a fresh take on sodium-ion batteries that could see them outlast and outperform lithium batteries in the near…

In a ground breaking study that has since gone viral, scientists have discovered that trees do indeed grow gold and act as treasure maps for what lies beneath the surface Gold does grow on trees, not in the form of coins or bars hanging around the branches like fruit, but in glittering microscopic specks. A team in Finland recently found actual gold nanoparticles hiding inside the needles of Norway spruce trees, yes, inside the plant tissue, not just dusting the surface. The discovery adds a fresh twist to a decades-old mystery that’s fascinated both scientists and prospectors: how plants living…

As “Evil LLMs” like FraudGPT and WormGPT hit the dark web, cybercrime is no longer about skill, just intent. After proving useful to writers, coders, and students, generative AI has inevitably slipped into the hands of cybercriminals. In the past year, security analysts have begun tracking a troubling new trend, malicious chatbots called “Evil LLMs.” The best-known examples, FraudGPT and WormGPT, look like regular AI assistants on the surface but are built for deception. Instead of essays or debug scripts, they produce phishing messages, fake IDs, and malware. Reports from a number of sources like The420.in, VarIndia, and DQIndia describe…

The Race to 6G is not just about speed, but rather about effectively collapsing complexities! In a rare collaboration between engineers from the two global economic superpowers, China and the United States, researchers from Peking University, Hong Kong, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, have jointly unveiled a new prototype chip. One that squeezes an entire spectrum of wireless frequencies, from 0.5GHz to 115GHz, onto one minuscule sliver of hardware. In lab tests, this compact module, barely 11 millimetres long, pushed data transfer speeds beyond 100 gigabits per second. To put that in perspective, that’s thousands of times faster…

“India’s weather is getting a homegrown upgrade—faster, smarter forecasts powered by BFS and AI.” India’s battle with extreme weather is about to get some serious backup. After years of struggling with unpredictable monsoons, flash floods, and punishing heatwaves, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has unveiled the Bharat Forecasting System (BFS), a new high-resolution model designed to give meteorologists sharper tools and the public earlier warnings. Launched on May 26, 2025, and powered by the “Arka” supercomputer in Pune, BFS runs on a 6-kilometre grid, doubling the detail of the older 12-km models. That jump in resolution could mean the difference…

Apple’s ‘Awe-Dropping’ event slimmed down its phones, beefed up its wearables, and gave its ecosystem a health-first makeover. Apple’s “Awe-Dropping” event took place on September 9 at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. At the center of attention was the iPhone Air, Apple’s thinnest and lightest smartphone yet, which effectively replaces the Plus model. There was also the iPhone 17 lineup with display upgrades, camera refinements, and Apple’s latest A19 chip. The company also rolled out AirPods Pro 3 with built-in heart-rate sensing and live translation, as well as the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 with enhanced health tracking,…

A machine running on household-level power but simulating billions of neurons—Darwin Monkey is China’s boldest step yet into brain-inspired AI China has just unveiled what it calls the world’s largest brain-inspired supercomputer, and the name is as unusual as the achievement: Darwin Monkey. Built by researchers at Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Lab, the machine is powered by 960 custom neuromorphic chips that together simulate more than 2 billion artificial neurons and over 100 billion synapses. That’s roughly the scale of a macaque monkey’s brain, making this system unlike any AI computer we’ve seen before. Unlike conventional supercomputers that burn through…

After years of waiting, Indian gamers finally get a homegrown AAA RPG—Age of Bhaarat promises epic storytelling and cinematic gameplay rooted in Indian mythology India is one of the fastest-growing gaming markets in the world, with over 300 million gamers already calling the country home, many hailing from mobile-first backgrounds. Yet those of us who once farmed XP in Diablo or raided in World of Warcraft always wondered: When will India get its own global-grade, console-worthy RPG? That question may finally have an answer. The Age of Bhaarat, billed as India’s first true AAA game (or our own Aatmanirbhar MMORPG,…

As tabloid news spreads visions of a Chinese ‘pregnancy robot,’ scientists caution it’s no closer to real life than science fiction. A bizarre story went viral last week, claiming Chinese engineers have built a humanoid “pregnancy robot” capable of carrying a baby from conception to birth, inside a humanoid robotic body, artificial womb, and all. But Live Science has shot down the hype, labeling the tale a total fabrication that scientists and institutions never saw coming. Even Snopes and Nanyang Technological University have chimed in, confirming no such Zhang Qifeng exists, and no labs in Singapore or China are working…

As global powers look beyond East Asia, India is pitching itself as the next trusted home for semiconductor fabs. India’s semiconductor story is no longer just about Dholera or Sanand. On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined that semiconductors are not just about technology; they are about self-reliance, jobs, and national security. His words came as four new fabs were announced across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab, showing how the government’s ₹76,000-crore incentive scheme is reshaping the tech map of the country. For decades, India was seen as strong in software but absent in hardware. Now, with global supply…