Recent 6 months news in Science

The Department of Higher Education (DoHE) under the Ministry of Education (MoE) has launched the Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) Scheme 2026. The scheme aims to integrate accomplished Indian-origin researchers, scientists, technologists, and professionals from across the globe into the research and innovation ecosystem of India.

The scheme identifies 13 priority sectors categorized under three pillars: Lead Institutions, Host Institutions, and PMRC Fellows. The MoE has designated 7 premier institutions as Lead Institutions to facilitate the implementation of the scheme across various thematic areas.

The selection of participating institutions and fellows is monitored by an Empowered Committee chaired by Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India.

The Frontier Tech Hub of the NITI Aayog has released a 10-year roadmap titled “Future of India’s Semiconductor Industry” to strengthen India’s position in the global semiconductor value chain.

The roadmap, unveiled by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, aims to establish a semiconductor value chain worth $120–$150 billion by 2035, with India potentially capturing 10–13% of the global semiconductor market.

It is to bo noted that India imported semiconductor products worth $150 billion between FY17 and FY25. Projections suggest that annual imports could rise to $240 billion by 2035 if current trends continue.

The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, orbiting the Moon since 2019, has provided evidence of subsurface water ice deposits within the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of lunar south polar craters. This study, conducted by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, was published in the Nature Portfolio Journal (NPJ) Space Exploration.

Researchers utilized the Dual-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR) to analyze ‘doubly shadowed craters’ within the PSRs. The findings from a 1.1 km crater in the Faustini Basin indicate an impact into an ice-rich subsurface that briefly flowed before refreezing.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the indigenously developed Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) system and the new Research Entrepreneurship for Translation, Innovation and NAvigation (RETINA) incubation centre at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) campus in Kolkata.

The inauguration coincided with the 150th-anniversary celebrations of IACS, which is recognized as Asia’s oldest research institution and the birthplace of the Raman Effect. It is to be noted that the PECVD system is India’s first completely indigenous technology developed for the fabrication of amorphous silicon solar cells.

IIT Madras has launched an advanced hydrodynamic testing facility named “Circulating Water Tunnel Facility” at its Thaiyur campus in Chennai.

The facility is designed to strengthen indigenous ship design, ocean engineering research, and hydrodynamic testing capabilities in India. It was constructed with ₹4.5 crore in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding provided by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL).

An international team of researchers led by Dr. Ronaldo Laishram from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has discovered an ancient cosmic structure named the “Loktak Protocluster”.

Located 12.6 billion light-years away in the constellation Sextans, the structure allows astronomers to observe the universe as it existed when it was only 1.2 billion years old (9% of its current age).

It is named after Loktak Lake in Manipur, the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India, famous for its “phumdis” (floating masses of vegetation). The discovery was made by integrating data from the Japan-based Subaru Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of NASA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has unveiled a $20 billion, 3-phased plan to establish a permanent lunar base equipped with rovers and drones.

The plan aims to set up the base by March 2027, with the objective of landing astronauts on the moon in 2028. The mission is structured into 3 phases: Moon Base-I (2026-2028), Moon Base-II (2029-2032), and Moon Base-III (2032 onwards).

China has launched the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft carrying 3 astronauts to the Tiangong Space Station for scientific research and orbital operations.

The spacecraft was launched onboard a Long March-2F Y23 (LM-2F Y23) carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The mission marks the first spaceflight of the country expected to support a year-long human residency in orbit. It is scheduled to conduct over 100 scientific experiments during its orbital tenure.

The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) has selected 10 institutions under its Convergence Research Centres of Excellence (CoE) programme. The initiative aims to promote multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to address complex societal challenges.

The selected institutes include IIT Gandhinagar (Gujarat), IIT Madras, IIT Dharwad (Karnataka), and IIT Kanpur. These centres are eligible for funding support of up to ₹25 crore for projects with a maximum duration of 5 years.

Union Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh has inaugurated India’s first ‘SkyCast’ system at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. With this, India has become the 19th country globally to implement this advanced integrated aviation weather monitoring system.

Developed under ‘Mission Mausam’, the system aims to enhance aviation safety by facilitating safer take-offs and landings. It integrates advanced atmospheric sensors to monitor atmospheric conditions up to an altitude of 3 km. A second facility is planned to be established at the Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh.

Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh has launched the second phase of the Unique Methods of Management and Treatment of Inherited Disorders (UMMID) programme for Rare Genetic Disorders (RGDs) in New Delhi.

Under Phase-II, the initiative will expand its network by setting up 25 additional National Inherited Diseases Administration (NIDAN) Kendras across 13 states and one Union Territory, along with three proposed training centres in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chandigarh. The NIDAN Kendras are designed to provide genetic testing and counselling.

It is to be noted that the first phase of the UMMID initiative was launched in 2019 by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the first comprehensive national program in India to introduce molecular diagnostics for rare genetic diseases.

Red Balloon Aerospace has launched “Mission SANA”, the first indigenous super-pressure platform of India carrying commercial payloads from 7 national and international partners.

The launch places India among only 5 nations globally, alongside the United States, France, Japan, and China, to possess indigenous stratospheric (hydrogen) balloon capability.

The VISTA super-pressure platform of the company ascended to an altitude of 25 km above Earth from the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. It is to be noted that Red Balloon Aerospace, established in 2025, achieved operational commercial flight within an 8-month timeframe.

The Department of Space (DoS) has approved the establishment of Common Technical Facilities (CTFs) in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The initiative aims to strengthen the space ecosystem of India by promoting domestic manufacturing capabilities and supporting the growth of the space sector industry base.

Under this, a Space Manufacturing Park will be established at Khoraj, Gujarat, while a Space Vehicles Cluster will be set up at Thoothukudi, TN.

The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched the official online “Investors Support” portal.

The portal serves as a single-window digital platform designed to streamline communication and enhance confidence for global and domestic companies entering the semiconductor ecosystem of India. The platform also enables project tracking by providing comprehensive overviews of approved ventures under the national “Semicon India Programme”.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has organised the largest biomedical innovation and technology transfer event of India, titled “Medical Innovations Patent Mitra: Innovators-to-Industry (I2I) Connect”, in New Delhi.

The event was inaugurated by Union Minister of State Prataprao Jadhav to launch a collaborative platform for the development and commercialisation of public health technologies.

During the event, a total of 41 public health technologies, including vaccines and diagnostics, were transferred to industry partners. The ICMR also transferred inactivated Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) and Chandipura virus biomaterials to support vaccine development and research.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have successfully launched a joint spacecraft named “Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)” onboard the Vega-C rocket from the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana.

It is to be noted that the scientific observations are scheduled to begin 3 months post-launch, and the SMILE mission is projected to operate for a duration of 3 years to improve protection against solar and geomagnetic storms.

Scientists at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) in Cuttack, Odisha, led by Kutubuddin Ali Molla, have developed and validated a platform named “Plant-OpenCRISPR1” (POC1).

This represents the first AI-designed genome-editing platform in the world for plants, developed utilizing rice as a model crop. The POC1 platform facilitates advanced gene knockout, base editing, and prime editing in rice crops using AI-designed enzymes, surpassing conventional Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technologies.

It is to be noted that the research findings have been accepted for publication in the international journal “New Phytologist”.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has virtually inaugurated the first Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)-led semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) / Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in India at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.

The facility has been established by Sahasra Semiconductors Pvt Ltd under the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS). Constructed with an investment of over ₹150 crore, the unit spans an area of 57,000 sq ft.

The first solar-powered ‘Algae Tree’ in India has been installed at Swami Vivekananda Park in Bhopal under the Smart City initiative to mitigate urban air pollution. Developed by the Mushroom World Group, this 3-metre-tall climate tech device uses microalgae-based photobioreactor technology to function as an artificial lung. It is capable of absorbing 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and generating about 1 tonne of pure oxygen annually.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has released the first satellite-tagged Ganges Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia gangetica) in the country at the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam.

The project was executed in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department and Kaziranga park authorities, with funding provided by the National Geographic Society. The adult turtle was fitted with a transmitter under strict veterinary supervision and released along the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River.