NewsBytes

NASA’s new telescope will create ‘most colourful’ map of cosmos ever made

NASA will soon launch a new telescope which it says will create the “most colourful” map of the cosmos ever made. The SPHEREx telescope is relatively small but will provide a humongous amount of knowledge in its short two-year mission. It is an infrared telescope designed to take spectroscopic images – ones that measure individual wavelengths of light from a source. By doing this it will be able to tell us about the formation of the universe, the growth of all galaxies across cosmic history, and the location of water and life-forming molecules in our own galaxy. In short, the mission – which is scheduled for launch on February 27, all things going well – will help us understand how the universe came to be, and why life exists inside it.

India’s wind power capacity poised to surge to 63 GW by 2026-27

India's annual capacity addition of wind power is projected to more than double to 7.1 gigawatt (GW) on average in the next two financial years, compared with 3.4 GW in fiscal year 2023-25 -- driven by government measures to ramp up the pace, a report said on Monday, adding that this will take the country's total installed wind capacity to around 63 GW by 2026-27.  The capacity additions over the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 continued to remain tepid in the range of 6-7 GW on account of fewer successful auctions of wind capacities (5.9 GW in FY21-23 and 5.2 GW in FY23-25), according to a Crisil report.

Over 3 hours of sedentary behaviour may up mental health risks in teenagers

Teenagers and adolescents who spend more than three hours a day engaged in sedentary behaviours, which includes playing video games or increased screen exposure, have a higher risk of facing mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, according to a study. The study showed that adolescents who spent more than 180 minutes a day on screens for leisure were associated with greater psychological distress at age 17. Video games were particularly influential, with each additional hour associated with a 3 per cent increase in psychological distress. Those who spent more than three hours a day reading for leisure (especially boys) also reported more psychological distress.

Celltrion’s autoimmune disease treatment gets approval in Europe

Celltrion, a major South Korean biopharmaceutical firm, said its new biosimilar for an autoimmune disease treatment has obtained approval from the European Commission (EC). The EC approved Celltrion's Avtozma, a biosimilar to Actemra, in both intravenous and subcutaneous formulations, for sales in the member countries of the European Union, the company said. Avtozma can be used as a treatment for multiple autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and giant cell arteritis. Avtozma was also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for local sales last month.