Science This Week | 2023 Nobel Prize winners announced, ISRO to begin unmanned flight tests for Gaganyaan and more

From figuring out why galaxies created during the cosmic down appear to be mature and more massive to ancient human footprints in New Mexico that can be dated back to the last Ice Age, here are this week’s new discoveries and developments from the world of science. Observations of the BlueWalker 3 showed it was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining all but the brightest stars ISRO to begin unmanned flight tests for Gaganyaan; gearing up for TV-D1 The Indian Space Research Organisation, which is planning to commence uncrewed flight tests for the Gaganyaan mission, has started to make preparations for the Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1. New tests confirm antiquity of ancient human footprints in New Mexico Humans trod the landscape of North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought, according to new research that confirms the antiquity of fossilised footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico using two further dating approaches. The footprints date to about 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques, researchers said on Thursday, showing that our species Homo sapiens already had a foothold in North America during the most-inhospitable conditions of the last Ice Age First fossilised snake traces discovered in South Africa Scientists have described the first snake trace in the fossil record found on South Africa’s Cape south coast.