Drone mapping, Micro-hole Drilling, Sparrow survival, Singlet fission, Solar forecast and more...
Weekly Newsletter | Issue #47 - 19 Nov, 2025
Greetings from Research Matters!
In this week’s stories: learn about the six winners of the Infosys Prize 25, how drones and deep learning are employed to count trees, micr-hole drilling using ultrasonic vibrations, stresses of urban life for sparrow mothers, tuning the energy of a singlet fission, estimating the amount of solar resource available, and more...
In the new species section, learn about the discovery of a new wolf snake species from the Nicobar Islands.
There is also STEM news from other Indian media outlets and public STEM events to attend. Don’t forget to check out Scidle - the science wordle, for a new science word every day.
Stories in this edition
Infosys Prize 2025 announced: Infosys Science Foundation Honours Six Young Researchers - Infosys Science Foundation
Six young researchers have been named the winners of the Infosys Prize 2025, celebrating their extraordinary contributions to science and scholarship in India.
Drones and deep learning join forces to map and count trees accurately - VIT, Chennai
Deep learning models applied to drone images offer a fast, accurate, and scalable alternative to costly manual tree surveys.
New study reveals how ultrasonic vibration solves microhole drilling problem in brittle materials Like glass - IIT Bombay
Researchers at IIT Bombay analysed the electrolyte flow and debris removal dynamics to demonstrate how Ultrasonic-Assisted Electrochemical Discharge Machining (UA-ECDM) can overcome the deep debris problem in microhole drilling for improved fabrication in brittle materials.
Urban stressors undermine extra effort by city-dwelling house sparrow mothers - IISER Bhopal, others
Researchers found that urban female sparrows invest more time and energy into parental care than their rural counterparts, yet have significantly lower reproductive success.
Researchers tune the energy conversion rate of singlet fission by controlling molecular distances - TIFR, JNU, IACS
The study showed that control for singlet fission lies not in the energy of individual molecules, but in the distance and electronic coupling of the molecular paired structure.
Machine learning boosts solar forecasts in diverse climates of India - VIT, Chennai
Researchers found that the Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) machine learning model is the most reliable tool for forecasting seasonal Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), an important parameter for assessing the available solar resource.
New Species
New wolf snake discovered on Great Nicobar Island, named after Steve Irwin
Regional
Hindi: काँच जैसे भंगुर पदार्थ बिना टूटे उनमें सूक्ष्म ड्रिलिंग के लिए उपयोगी अल्ट्रासोनिक कंपन तकनीक
Marathi: काचेसारखे पदार्थ न तुटता त्यामध्ये सूक्ष्म ड्रिलिंग करण्यासाठी उपयोगी अल्ट्रासॉनिक तंत्र
Science Games & Puzzles
Did you play the Science Wordle game - Scidle, we have a new word every day! Play and share your score with the world!
Research Beat | STEM-based news in other media
IISc study finds that anthropogenic changes threaten survival of Eastern Himalayan birds - The Hindu
Indian scientists discover ‘genetic switch’ inside womb that leads to pregnancy - The Hindu
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis: the physicist who gave India its statistical foundation - Mint
Flying 1,000 km per day: Tiny Indian Falcon stuns scientists with marathon flight - India Today
Scientists correct a century-old misidentified scorpion and describe a new species - Mongabay
Events
We need your support! As a small team, we have often found it challenging to produce science- and research-based content, including daily articles, weekly infographics, comics, and newsletters. If you like our work and want to support the growth of a small science newsroom, hit the button below to make your contribution (There is no minimum amount).
For over a decade, Gubbi Labs and Research Matters have been the one-stop shop for all your science communication needs. From crafting effective outreach campaigns to creating engaging content, we can help bring the science to life in your content. Contact us today for all your communication needs at editors@researchmatters.in.