Society
Water is the new ‘spice’ of space travel
As we enter a new space age scripting history, we may be yet to come to grasps with the politics of space.

“Power over spice, is power over all,” said an ominous voice (In an alien sounding language) as words then took shape on the theater screen, at last week’s release of Dune: Part Two (2024), a sci-fi adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 eponymous novel. To give a basic premise of its fictional universe, humanity has become a space-faring race, inhabiting planets orbiting distant stars. In Herbert’s Dune, humanity accessed a novel spice found only in a barren, desert planet called Arrakis.
As much as it works to spice up food, it functions as a psychotropic drug as well. In fact, consuming too much spice can help you enable bend space-time itself like a wormhole, providing prescience to enable safe passage between the stars.
It may just be a novel that recently got adapted into a two-parter (perhaps it’s a trilogy if Dune Messiah is adapted too) movie, but the story vibes with a lot of chatter in our society too.
Elon Musk, for instance, envisions humanity to colonize Mars with 1 million people. He tweeted at one point on the need to avoid the Great Filter, and similarly embrace our destiny as it were of becoming a space-faring species.
Much like spice melange in Dune, the Artemis program hopes to demonstrate how water on the moon can fuel dreams of space colonization.
It may just be chatter and hype, but last week saw Intuitive Machine’s Odyssey mission end all too soon, after a rough landing in the rugged lunar terrain, leaving it tipped over its side. That mission may have ended all too soon. However, it surely would be replaced by another robotic exploration mission that Intuitive Machines’ contracted to do as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). And more missions will follow up to set the stage for Artemis III’s planned lunar soft landing in 2026. That mission would presumably see the first astronauts to set boots on the moon since Apollo 17.
Much like spice melange in Dune, the Artemis program hopes to demonstrate how water on the moon can fuel dreams of space colonization. Simple electrolysis of water can yield molecular hydrogen and oxygen on earth. On the moon, it’s easier to launch a rocket with even limited fuel compared to earth, since lunar gravity is one-sixth of the earth. In outer space, water as fuel can help alleviate the cost burden inherent in human spaceflight.

The spice is actually the excreta of the native gigantic sandworms of Arrakis. Credit: Astronimation / Wikimedia
Regulating space
Dune explored themes beyond technological supremacy inherent with spice. In fact, what made the book so popular was how it imagined humanity 8,000 years from now ruled by an ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’ with their nobility like in feudal societies. However, the bearers of the spice melange held prescience abilities in addition to folding space for interstellar travel. The Spacing Guild as they were known in the novel, could see events unfold like no one could. They weren’t noble, despite being elevated to nobility status. The politics of space travel isn’t a subject that’s not been broached in science fiction, but perhaps we don’t talk as much of it in our real world as we ought to.
The universe in Dune would see wars unfold time and again. However, what’s important is how space agencies in our world – NASA, ESA, ISRO, CNSA, JAXA, Roscosmos and now many from the developing world contest for space in space. The Donald Trump administration brought the Artemis Accords to bear, and now has seen 36 countries become signatories for peaceful use of outer space. This isn’t an international mandate, since the Chinese and the Russians say they have no plans to sign yet – calling it ‘US-centric’ in designs.
What’s at stake now for space exploration is the question of whether anyone own property in space. Well, the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs says no, referring to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty signed and thus agreed upon that space is international property. However, it doesn’t state how the resources can be utilized in other respects. Soil samples in the moon collected by Apollo have been distributed by the US to other nations. Space research and the space community so far has always been known to be cordial, seemingly escaping the touches of politics. Seemingly.
The politics of space travel isn’t a subject that’s not been broached in science fiction, but perhaps we don’t talk as much of it in our real world as we ought to.
Water ice exists as just on average 500 parts per million in the lunar regolith (in higher latitudes) – drier than even the driest sands on earth. Though to a spectrometer on a lunar orbiter, that’s the signature for water, although not in drinkable form. However, water ice can’t be directly electrolyzed without essentially mining that water much like we do on earth. Perhaps in a not so distant future, space mining could be a thing perhaps on asteroids where, much like the Spacing Guild in Dune, space companies could send diggers. The ‘Emperor of the Known Universe’ though isn’t really well-known at this point. It’s more like the many Great Houses in the novel, with Dukes and Duchesses scheming their own ambitions, to dominate the spice and control planet Arrakis.
The space sector isn’t regulated well enough as technology seems to keep abreast of everything else. Water’s the new oil of space. There isn’t too much of it either. However, mining anything in space would come at the cost of violating UN designated sustainability goals. Mining water from the moon in excess could cause some long lasting damage to the soil.
Here’s an ethical outlook. When we think and dream of human spaceflight exploration and all that, we also carry with it our character as a species. Although polluting space may not affect earth physically, doesn’t it deem a society with little moral rectitude if it ever was to happen? Wouldn’t the wrong people be incentivized? Shouldn’t we care for principles we believe in on earth and apply them to space?
As we enter the New Space Age, we perhaps remember that dialogue, “Power over spice, is power over all.” Dune’s nihilistic at best, although we can do better to not act on that urge to control and dominate. Perhaps, we can treat outer space too with some respect and the awe we always had for it.
Earth
In ancient India, mushy earth made for perfume scent
Kannauj, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, offers a sustainable alternative in producing perfumes using traditional modes of distillation.

A sweet scent typically lingers around in the air at Kannauj, an ancient city in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. It’s an imprint of the countless occasions when it had rained, of roses that bloomed at dawn, and of sandalwood trees that once breathed centuries of calm.. Though mushy smells are not unique to Kannauj, the city utilized traditional distillation methods to make perfume out of these earthly scents.
Kannauj has had a longstanding tradition in perfume-making since four centuries ago. The city, colloquially known as the country’s ancient perfume capital, still uses rustic copper stills, wood-fired ovens, and bamboo pipes leading to sandalwood oil-filled vessels, or attar as it is colloquially known, to make their perfume. Though it gives a pre-industrial look, a closer peek would reveal an ecosystem of complex thermal regulation, plant chemistry, sustainability science, and hydro-distillation chemistry at work.
When synthetically-made but sustainable perfumes, and AI-generated ones share the spotlight today, Kannauj’s tryst with perfumes offer an alternative, sustainable model in traditional distillation, which is inherently low-carbon, zero-waste, and follow principles of a circular economy; all in alignment with sustainable development goals.
Traditional perfume-making is naturally sustainable
In industrial processing, hydro-distillation is a commonly done to separate substances with different boiling points. Heating the liquids produce vapors, which can later be liquefied in a separate chamber. Perfumers in Kannauj follow the same practice, except it promises to be more sustainable with the copper stills, a process colloquially known as dheg-bhakpa hydro-distillation.
There’s no alcohol or synthetic agents in use. Instead, they heat up raw botanicals – such as roses, vetiver roots, jasmine, or even sunbaked clay – to precise temperatures well short of burning, thereby producing fragrant vapor. The vapors are then guided into cooling chambers, where they condense and bond with a natural fixative, often sandalwood oil. Plant residue is the only byproduct, which finds use as organic compost to cultivate another generation of crops.

Trapping earthly scent to make perfume
In the past five years, Kannauj’s veteran perfumers noticed a quiet, but steady shift in their timely harvest and produce. Rose harvests have moved earlier by weeks. Vetiver roots grow shallower due to erratic rainfall. Jasmine yields are fluctuating wildly. The local Ganges river, which influences humidity levels essential for distillation timing, is no longer as predictable. For an entire natural aromatic economy built on seasonal synchrony, this uncertainty has rung alarm bells.
“The scent of a flower depends not just on the flower itself,” Vipin Dixit, a third-generation attar-maker whose family has distilled fragrance for decades, said to EdPublica.
“It depends on the weather the night before, on the heat at sunrise, on the moisture in the air. Even the soil has a scent-memory.”

As a result, perfumers in Kannauj have begun to adapt, applying traditional wisdom through a modern scientific lens. Local distillers are now working with botanists and environmental scientists to study soil microbiomes, measure scent compounds using chromatography, and develop community-based rainwater harvesting to ensure sustainable crop health.
One of the most surprising innovations is trapping petrichor — the scent of first rain — through earth attars. Clay is baked during extreme heat waves, mimicking summer conditions, then distilled to trap the scent of rain hitting dry soil. This aroma, called mitti attar, is one of the few scents in the world created from an environmental phenomenon; and not a flower.
At a time when the world is scrambling to save biodiversity, the humble attar may become a template for green chemistry — one that doesn’t just preserve scent, but also restores the relationship between science, nature, and soul.
Society
How Scientists and Investigators Decode Air Crashes — The Black Box and Beyond
The final report may take months, but it will be critical in issuing safety directives or revising standard procedures.

As rescue and recovery operations continue following the June 12, 2025, plane crash in Ahmedabad, aviation safety experts are now focusing on the technical investigation phase. With 241 lives lost, the search for the cause isn’t just about accountability—it’s about prevention.
The Black Box: Aviation’s Memory Keeper
1. What Is the Black Box?
Despite the name, the black box is actually orange — for visibility. It consists of two components:
- Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR): Captures conversations and audio from the flight deck.
- Flight Data Recorder (FDR): Logs dozens to hundreds of parameters — speed, altitude, engine status, control inputs.
These devices are housed in titanium or steel and can withstand:
- Temperatures above 1,000°C
- Underwater pressures up to 20,000 feet
- Crashes with up to 3,600 G-force
They also emit underwater locator beacons for up to 30 days.
2. Forensic Engineering & Flight Reconstruction
Beyond black boxes, investigators use:
- Radar data and air traffic control logs
- Wreckage analysis for structural failure clues
- Satellite-based tracking systems like ADS-B
- Weather data for turbulence or wind shear insights
Forensic teams often reconstruct the flight path virtually or even physically using recovered debris to determine failure points.
3. Human Factors & AI in Modern Investigation
New tools like machine learning and human factors analysis are used to identify procedural errors or lapses in judgement.
In many modern investigations, AI helps:
- Filter large datasets (e.g., over 1,000 flight parameters per second)
- Detect patterns missed by the human eye
- Predict similar risk scenarios in future flights
What Happens Next in the Ahmedabad Crash?
Authorities, in coordination with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), are likely:
- Retrieving and analyzing the black box
- Interviewing air traffic controllers
- Reconstructing the aircraft’s final seconds using both data and simulation
The final report may take months, but it will be critical in issuing safety directives or revising standard procedures.
Society
Researchers Unveil Light-Speed AI Chip to Power Next-Gen Wireless and Edge Devices
This could transform the future of wireless communication and edge computing

In a breakthrough that could transform the future of wireless communication and edge computing, engineers at MIT have developed a novel AI hardware accelerator capable of processing wireless signals at the speed of light. The new optical chip, built for signal classification, achieves nanosecond-level performance—up to 100 times faster than conventional digital processors—while consuming dramatically less energy.
With wireless spectrum under growing strain from billions of connected devices, from teleworking laptops to smart sensors, managing bandwidth has become a critical challenge. Artificial intelligence offers a path forward, but most existing AI models are too slow and power-hungry to operate in real time on wireless devices.
The MIT solution, known as MAFT-ONN (Multiplicative Analog Frequency Transform Optical Neural Network), could be a game-changer.
“There are many applications that would be enabled by edge devices that are capable of analyzing wireless signals,” said Prof. Dirk Englund, senior author of the study, in a media statement. “What we’ve presented in our paper could open up many possibilities for real-time and reliable AI inference. This work is the beginning of something that could be quite impactful.”
Published in Science Advances, the research describes how MAFT-ONN classifies signals in just 120 nanoseconds, using a compact optical chip that performs deep-learning tasks using light rather than electricity. Unlike traditional systems that convert signals to images before processing, the MIT design processes raw wireless data directly in the frequency domain—eliminating delays and reducing energy usage.
“We can fit 10,000 neurons onto a single device and compute the necessary multiplications in a single shot,” said Ronald Davis III, lead author and recent MIT PhD graduate.
The device achieved over 85% accuracy in a single shot, and with multiple measurements, it converges to above 99% accuracy, making it both fast and reliable.
Beyond wireless communications, the technology holds promise for edge AI in autonomous vehicles, smart medical devices, and future 6G networks, where real-time response is critical. By embedding ultra-fast AI directly into devices, this innovation could help cars react to hazards instantly or allow pacemakers to adapt to a patient’s heart rhythm in real-time.
Future work will focus on scaling the chip with multiplexing schemes and expanding its ability to handle more complex AI tasks, including transformer models and large language models (LLMs).
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