Kerala health department has confirmed that the 22-year-old man who died on Saturday had succumbed to monkeypox. The confirmation came from the National Institute of Virology in Pune, making it India's first confirmed monkeypox death. Earlier, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that the man had tested positive for monkeypox in the UAE before he reached Kerala on July 22.

The ISRO today launched its smallest commercial rocket, SSLV, from Sriharikota. It is designed to carry satellites up to 500 kg and is a low-cost vehicle due to its low turnaround time. It is carrying an Earth Observation Satellite and AzadiSAT, a satellite built by 750 school girls from across India to mark the 75th Independence Day.

Shortly after the launch of ISRO's smallest commercial rocket SSLV on Sunday, Chairman S Somanath said that while the rocket performed all stages, it suffered some data loss in the terminal phase of the mission. He added, "We are analysing the data to conclude the final outcome of the mission with respect to achieving a stable orbit."

Hours after the launch of the ISRO's smallest commercial rocket SSLV, the organisation said that the satellites placed in the orbit today "are no longer usable". It said that the satellites were placed in the wrong orbit. "Failure of a logic to identify a sensor failure and go for a salvage action caused the deviation," the ISRO added.

University of Edinburgh scientists said they've used the world's most powerful telescope, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, to spot the most distant galaxy ever observed by mankind. The galaxy CEERS-93316 is located 35 billion light-years away, researchers said. Last month, the galaxy GLASS-z13, located 33 billion light-years away, had broken the record of the farthest galaxy ever observed.

Rice University's researchers have released a video showing how they transformed deceased spiders' legs into robotic gripping claws. They found that spiders extend their legs using hydraulic pressure, but lose this ability upon dying. Therefore, they attached a needle into dead spider's body, which allowed them to deliver a minute amount of air, turning the spider into a "necrobotic" gripper.

Several purported videos showing burning debris from a Chinese rocket lighting up the sky in east and southeast Asia are being widely circulated online. The US Space Command confirmed that China's uncontrolled Long March 5B rocket debris reentered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean around 12:45 pm ET on Saturday. China launched the carrier rocket on July 24.

Debris from a SpaceX rocket crashed onto a sheep farm in Australia on July 9. An astrophysicist said the debris belonged to the SpaceX Crew-1 Trunk capsule, launched in 2020. When a rocket is launched, pieces of the spacecraft often separate from the primary payload and either burn up due to friction with Earth's atmosphere or land in oceans instead.

A series of 'rarely observed' radio wave-emitting objects have been spotted by scientists in the middle of a galaxy cluster located 800 million light-years away from us, scientists have said. The objects include "a fossil radio emission, a radio relic and a radio halo" within the galaxy cluster Abell 3266. The objects "defy existing theories" about their origins, scientists said.

The pictures of a rare 'ring galaxy' called Cartwheel Galaxy taken by the world's most powerful telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, have been released by NASA. NASA tweeted, "Believe it or not...this galaxy was probably your average spiral galaxy before it collided with a smaller galaxy over 400 million years ago. Now, it's made up of 2 rings."

Top French scientist Étienne Klein has apologised after tweeting a photo of a Spanish sausage, claiming it was an image of a distant star taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. "I feel obliged to specify that this tweet...was a joke," he wrote. Klein said his intention was "to urge caution regarding images that seem to speak for themselves".

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel have created the world's first 'synthetic embryos' without using eggs, sperm or fertilisation. The embryos were assembled in a lab by collecting stem cells from mice and placing them in a special incubator which mimicked a mother's womb. While most cells failed to form anything, around 0.5% combined to form embryo-like structures.

European Space Agency (ESA) shared pictures depicting ground motion around Mount Etna and Bologna in Italy, as well as an area around Larissa in Greece. "You've never seen Earth like this," ESA captioned the post. "Any movement beneath our feet...spells big trouble. Even relatively modest subsidence can weaken buildings and infrastructure and lead to issues such as flooding," it said.

The length of Earth's days has been "mysteriously increasing" despite Earth clocking the shortest day ever in June 2022, experts have said. Earth's rotation around its axis (which determines a day's length) sped up over the past few decades, the researchers said. However, there's been a slowdown since 2020, making days longer and the reason is a "mystery", they said.

NASA has shared the largest-ever image of the Andromeda galaxy, which is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way where the Earth is located. Sharing the picture on Instagram, NASA said it showed over 100 million stars across a 48,000-light-year-long stretch of the galaxy. The picture was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope seven years ago.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Tuesday informed that another monkeypox case was reported in the state, making it the fifth case in the state and seventh in India. The patient is a 30-year-old man who reached Kozhikode airport from UAE on July 27 and is currently undergoing treatment in Malappuram. Other two cases of monkeypox were reported in Delhi.

A Kolkata-based private school will build its own nano-satellite to educate its students in space technology. South Point High School has named the satellite 'PriyamvadaSat' and signed an agreement with Indian Technology Congress Association for its design, development, testing, integration and launch. ISRO will send the satellite into Low Earth Orbit from Sriharikota.

According to study, 99% of turtles born in Florida in the past four years have turned out to be female, thanks to hotter summers. According to researchers, the sex of sea turtles depends on temperature of developing eggs. If a turtle's egg is incubated below 27.7°C, the hatchling will be male, but if it's incubated above 31°C, it'll be female.

A new species of giant panda believed to be the "last known" and "most evolved" of its kind in Europe has been discovered in the wetlands of Bulgaria. "Although not a direct ancestor of the modern...giant panda, it is its close relative," a researcher said. The species that lived six million years ago likely fed on softer plant materials.

Parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef recently showed the highest coral cover in 36 years, scientists said. According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the average hard coral cover in northern and central regions increased to 36% and 33% in 2021, respectively. Experts, however, warned any recovery could be reversed as coral bleaching continues due to global warming.

The underwater eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in January released a record amount of water into the Earth's atmosphere, NASA scientists said. The eruption expelled 146 teragrams of water vapour into the stratosphere that's nearly 10% of the water already present there. This amount is enough to have a small, temporary warming effect on Earth's average temperature, they added.

Boeing will establish a research and development centre in Japan with an aim to further develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In a news release, US aircraft manufacturer said that the facility will focus on robotics, digitalisation and automation. Sustainable aviation fuel uses feedstock like animal fat and cooking oil which is more expensive than conventional jet fuel.

Rainwater, even in the remotest part of the Earth, contains cancer-causing forever chemicals making it unsafe to drink, a study has found. Forever chemicals are group of man-made hazardous products known as PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) that have spread globally through water courses, oceans, soils and atmosphere. Hence, they can now be found even in rainwater and snow, researchers said.

Scientists have developed a technology to restore blood circulation and other cell functions in pigs an hour after their death. The technique delivers a specially designed cell-protective fluid to organs and tissues that delay cellular degradation of transplantable organs like heart, liver and kidneys for hours after death. Scientists believe the findings can make more organ transplants possible.

South Korea launched its first lunar orbiter, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, nicknamed Danuri, on Friday. The orbiter was launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is expected to enter the moon's orbit in December and start a year-long observation mission to search for possible landing sites, conduct research on the lunar environment etc.