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With Winter coming, air pollution in India is going to once again hit crisis levels soon. At the individual level we can wear masks and use air purifiers in our homes, but more broadly, cities and municipalities have also been installing outdoor air purifiers over several years now — but do these actually work? Have smog towers and outdoor air purifiers made an impact on the air quality in India? Despite the outdoor air purifiers and smog towers, the PM2.5 concentration in India air is currently 5.2 times above the WHO annual air quality guideline. The air quality in India is simply not getting better even after all the money and efforts spent to curb the air pollution problem in the country. We talked to a number of experts to try and understand why this is, and whether there are any better solutions possible.

Cities like Mumbai have been deploying Wind Augmentation Purifying Unit (WAYU) since 2015, in an effort to cut down the air pollution problem in India. Major Indian cities like Delhi and Bengaluru have also resorted to installing outdoor purifiers and smog towers along the city roads in an effort to curb pollution problems. Delhi got a new smog tower in Connaught Place in August this year.

Yet, India stood third in a list of top ten countries that had the worst air quality in 2020, coming only behind Bangladesh and Pakistan. According to research by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) — a Delhi-based policy research institute — Delhi’s air quality in winter 2020 was worse than winter 2019 despite the lockdown. The study also found out that Delhi residents were exposed to air that does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (60 µg/m3) for more than half of 2020 despite low economic activity levels for close to eight months (March to November) due to the pandemic-induced lockdown.

According to Tanushree Ganguly, an air quality researcher from CEEW, the air pollution that India is facing is an urban infrastructure problem. “If there is an unpaved road, it is bound to have more dust,” Ganguly said. “Vehicular pollution also results in air pollution. In winters, a significant amount of pollution also comes from biomass that people burn for their heating requirements.”

Are outdoor air purifiers a solution to air pollution problem?

WAYU devices, jointly developed by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) have been around since 2015. The Central Pollution Control Board had installed WAYU units across some major locations in Delhi in 2018.

“Its creators claim it can reduce pollution at busy traffic junctions by 40-60 percent,” Dr. Prashant Gargava, member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board, had said at the time of installation.

“The air pollution levels change depending on the time it was measured,” Ganguly said. “So when was it measured, in what area is the air quality being improved — is it just within ten metres of the air purifiers or within 500 metres of the air purifier — all these factors need to be considered to show that it is really making any impact. I have not come across any publicly available research or database which clearly says that WAYU devices have actually impacted air quality in the 500 metre radius.”

“There is a constant dynamism in the system and you are not just trying to address sources of pollution which are present at the moment; you are also trying to address the sources which are outside the city,” she added. “I’m not sure how these filters are able to cater to these varying dynamics outdoors. I think the idea is to have credible evidence on their impact before we go ahead and have them across the city.”

Vivel Chattopadhyay, Senior Programme Manager of the Clean Air Programme at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and advocacy organisation based in Delhi said that apart from the installation costs, outdoor air purifiers come with several added costs.

This includes the cost of maintenance, cost of the filters which will have to be changed periodically, components like sensors which require periodic calibration, operational costs, manpower, the cost of the land which is being occupied by the air pollutants and more. These are not easy to solve problems, but the companies making these solutions are also aware of them and working on solutions.

“We have nano-filters in our outdoor air purifiers which can be reused up to four times, thus saving a lot of maintenance costs, “ said Rajeev Krishna, founder of ATechTron, a product development company based in Bengaluru. ATechTron have installed their outdoor air purifiers in locations including Marathahalli junction, Whitefield, and PR Nagar in Bengaluru.

How can we really solve the air pollution problem?

CEEW had suggested in their research that Delhi needs a dedicated air quality forecasting cell to facilitate the rollout of preventive measures. “If we have the forecast for the next 72 hours, we can clearly see the contribution ratio to the pollution — for example, urban dust at night is the highest,” said Ganguly. “Perhaps, this is due to the trucks at night. The government can take measures to cut out the activities which they really can through forecasting — it’s very difficult to execute these activities due to the significant economic repercussions.”

“Wherever in the world where pollution reduction has happened in a big manner, the solution has been cleaner fuel and technology working to controlling pollution from the sources, better assessment and study of where the pollution is coming from,” said Chattopadhyay.

Chattopadhyay added that the amount of money that is being spent on outdoor air purifiers can be used to cut down the emission from the sources. “The same amount of money can be spent to buy electric buses, you can have waste collection and segregation centres. That will eliminate the source of the problems. That will give us better long term gains. Outdoor air purifiers are really futile efforts. Government is letting the pollution be released from the source. The emissions are taking place from industry, from vehicles, and multiple sources. Cutting down from the source will have a wider implication in terms of exposure too,” added Chattopadhyay.

Ganguly also suggested that the transit infrastructure, including waste collection, waste transport, and waste management infrastructure need to be improved. “In winters, a significant amount of pollution also comes from biomass that people burn for their heating requirements,” she noted. “The Delhi shelters are perhaps not able to cater to all the homeless people in Delhi. So I think it is also important how the government is planning on upgrading these existing shelters, so that at least their utilisation is better. At night, if these shelters can accommodate the homeless population, then their reliance on garbage or dry leaves for their heating requirements could be reduced.”

Chattopadhyay also added that tighter emission control norms must be in place. “Tighter emission control norms for power plants will lead to a reduction (in air pollution). The government has to put in the money into the right sources — cutting emissions from the sources and maintaining regulations. Smog towers are not a right policy decision. Such methods give a signal to the polluters that it is okay to pollute,” he said.

A bandage solution

Krishna, of ATechTron, disagreed with the researchers’ suggestions that forecasting and air quality monitoring is a better solution. He suggested that strategically placing outdoor air purifiers within a distance of two-three kilometres to each other throughout the city will surely lead to a reduction in air pollution.

Angad Daryani, founder of Praan, a deep tech startup which makes outdoor air purifiers also said that what the NCR government is doing with smog-free towers is non-scientific. When asked if outdoor air purifiers can really contribute to solving the pollution problem in India, he said that the outdoor air purifiers from Praan serve as a bandage solution to the pollution problem while we transition to cleaner energy.

I asked Ganguly if this was the case, but she remained unconvinced. “Let’s not call it a solution before we know for sure it is one,” she said. “Once the entire range of measures has been taken and if we still don’t see any significant impact, then perhaps this could be looked at as a solution. But this cannot precede all the other solutions. As a researcher, that is what I have an issue with.”


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Scientists Reportedly Found a Potential Sign of Life on a Distant Planet: What You Need to Know

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Scientists Reportedly Found a Potential Sign of Life on a Distant Planet: What You Need to Know

A team of astronomers have reportedly discovered biological activity outside the solar system. The scientists have revealed that the distant planet, named K2-18 b, comprises more than one molecule in its atmosphere that potentially has been generated by living things. However, this revelation has made a sensation among astronomers across the world, more specifically for those who study biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres.

 

According to report by Nature.com, K2-18 b is a planet that is smaller than Neptune. It lies at a distance of 38 parsecs above the Earth.

About the Discovery

Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) has been discovered by scientists from the University of Cambridge, UK, in the atmosphere of K2-18b. The DMS molecule is generated by living organisms, which has raised speculations about the potential for life on this distant planet. The scientists used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to implement research. Also, the discovery happened when a molecule was detected in the starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere. These chemicals have raised curiosity amongst astronomers as they are generated by living organisms on the planet Earth.

This discovery first came into the light in the year 2023. However, the new revelations have been made as a result of the follow-up on similar findings. This time, the scientists used different wavelengths and a research strategy to support their discovery of molecules on the distant planet. .

Significance of this Discovery

For decades, scientists have been engrossed in studying life beyond Earth. Now that the pieces of evidence are hinting towards the potential existence of DMS or DMDS on K2-18 b. If proven, this will be a historic win for the scientists. Furthermore, this discovery is a step towards understanding planets from a broader perspective. Overall, more than 5,800 planets have been detected throughout the Universe.

Reason Behind Uncertainty by Other Researchers

The scientists are sceptical about this discovery as they doubt whether DMS or DMDS are really present or is K2-18 b is barren. While some of the researchers are not confident about the discovery, the expert team of scientists from the University of Cambridge, UK, is working extensively to provide a proven base to support their findings.

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Space Veteran Astronaut Returns to Earth to Celebrate his Birthday on April 20

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Space Veteran Astronaut Returns to Earth to Celebrate his Birthday on April 20

The oldest veteran astronaut from NASA landed from the International Space Station on his 70th birthday. Donald Pettit, the U.S astronaut, reached Earth after seven months with his crew members Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, two Russian cosmonauts. The spacecraft Soyuz MS-26 launched on September 11, 2024 and came back to Earth on Saturday, April 20, 2025, at 6:20 AM local time in the steppes of Kazakhstan. He has made a remarkable history by landing on his birthday. He is a renowned name in the space world and has completed 13 spacewalk hours.

Legacy of Pettit

According to reported by space.com , This was the fourth flight of Pettit and Ovchinin, but the second for Vagner. Pettit worked for 590 days, Ovchinin for 595 days, and Vagner for 416 days in space until now, counted after this landing. This trio orbited Earth 3,520 times and finished this 93.3 million-mile journey throughout their mission. NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 flight engineer Nichole Ayers wrote on X on Saturday, saying goodbye today to Donald Pettit. It’s a bittersweet moment as Pettit had an amazing mission by inspiring many individuals while being here.

Back to Earth

The trio began their arrival at 5:57 PM EDT on Saturday, as the Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the station. The vehicle had deorbited burn for around two and a half hours, shedding its orbit, leaving the gumdrop-shaped capsule to bring all of them home. Anne McCain, Ayers, and Jonny Kim, together with JAXA astronaut and Commander of expedition 73, Takuya Onishi, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, are the ones who are still in space.

Soyuz Spacecraft MS-26

It marked a significant spaceflight to the ISS (International Space Station), from its launch to landing, as it transported three well-experienced crew members, including Donald Pettit, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksey Ovchinin, to space for long-term microgravity research in the field of biology, physics, and material science. The spacecraft also docked as an emergency space vehicle for up to 220 days.

Pettit’s Achievements

Many people who follow the science of opportunity demonstrations and photographs of Earth by him know that he is a man of great contributions. Pettit has also helped to oversee the departure of Spacex’s Crew-9 mission on Dragon Freedom, along with Crew-10 on Dragon Endurance and the Cygnus departure of a cargo ship. He has also been a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has made major contributions by discovering g-cups to drink coffee in space and polarised photography from space.

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New Study Finds Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall Bigger and Nearer Than Thought

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New Study Finds Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall Bigger and Nearer Than Thought

Astronomers have revealed that the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, a massive network of galaxies, might be bigger than they realised. By mapping the cosmos with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)—the brightest explosions in the universe—astronomers found that this structure is even bigger than previously estimated. Surprisingly, portions of it also lie significantly closer to Earth than previously believed, challenging fundamental assumptions about how the universe is structured and evolves.
This cosmic structure was first observed in 2014 — a dense galaxy forming a filament of a supercluster.

A new study now extends the researchers’ previous work, but with a wider GRB sample. Hakkila and Zsolt Bagoly, authors of the study, have refined the measurements. They detected a number of relatively nearby GRBs in their sample. The evidence also shows the Great Wall is larger and wider than previously predicted.

Gamma-Ray Bursts Expose Structure Too Large for Current Models

According to a Space.com report, the GRBs figure prominently in the early discovery and more recent growth of the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall. These explosive outbursts — from either collapsing massive stars or colliding neutron stars — produce powerful jets that can be spotted over cosmological distances. Hakkila told the publication that GRBs act as another bright beacon for identifying galaxies, even those too faint to see directly. Because of their brightness, scientists can follow matter throughout the universe more distinctly than ever.

The Great Wall, over 10 billion light-years long, challenges the cosmological principle of uniform universe appearance. Its massive size indicates gaps in current theories and implies that the universe’s formation time was insufficient for such massive structures.

THESEUS May Reveal Full Scale of Cosmic Great Wall

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Burst observations reveal 542 GRB events, but more data is needed to fully understand the Great Wall’s scope due to misidentified origins and sparse sampling. Hakkila points toward the upcoming ESA mission THESEUS — the Transient High Energy Sources and Early Universe Surveyor — as the next major leap.

The mission aims to dramatically expand the catalogue of known GRBs, particularly at extreme distances. “It could finally provide the observational leverage needed to map the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall to its full extent,” Hakkila told Space.com, emphasising its role in refining our understanding of the universe’s large-scale structure.

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