Snehal Fernandes is senior assistant editor at Hindustan Times, Mumbai. She writes on science and technology, environment, sustainable development, climate change, and nuclear energy. In 2012, she was awarded ‘The Press Club Award for Excellence in Journalism’ (Political category) for reports on Goa mining scam. Prior to HT, she wrote on education and transport at the Indian Express.
Articles by Snehal Fernandes
Potential presence of primitive lunar mantle materials on Chandrayaan-3 landing site: Study
SPA basin is one of the Moon’s largest and oldest impact features in the solar system. The Chandrayaan-3 landing site is located 350kms from the basin.
Published on May 01, 2025 03:57 PM IST
Space scientist who helmed Isro, shaped NEP, dies at 84
Eminent space scientist and former chairman of Isro, Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan passed away on Friday morning at the age of 84.
Published on Apr 26, 2025 07:42 AM IST
Snehal Fernandes, Mumbai
‘Are we ready for this?’: Wknd interviews the astrophysicist who captured signs
At 45, Nikku Madhusudhan has made the discovery of a lifetime. How did he know where to look? What else could these gas signatures be? An exclusive interview.
Updated on Apr 26, 2025 03:07 PM IST
Sugar-sweetened beverages cause “molecular addiction” in small intestine: Study
The study is important because findings from the UN Public Division, Global Dietary Database and other global studies have indicated an alarming increase in the consumption of SSBs globally, including in India. “Whatever the socio-economic status and urban/rural background, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has increased in India
Updated on Apr 09, 2025 06:09 PM IST
Are the kids really all right? Snehal Fernandes on the pandemic and education
Most children alive have lost two years of their childhood. Studies are still discovering how these deleted years are affecting learning, temperament, habits.
Published on Mar 07, 2025 06:21 PM IST
Prof John Cryan: We humans outsource some of our jobs to microbes
In an exclusive conversation with HT, Prof John Cryan said that he recommends fibre and fermented foods to people. “Increase your fibre intake to as much as you can tolerate. Try and get as much fermented foods into your diet,” said Cyran who also featured in the Netflix documentary ‘Hack Your Health: Secrets of the Gut’, which was released last year
Published on Feb 21, 2025 07:30 AM IST
Alibag OG Pinakin and others band together to stop it from turning into another Mumbai
Architect Pinakin Patel is leading a campaign to preserve Alibag's green space amid rapid development, urging for a zonal plan to avoid urban chaos.
Published on Feb 11, 2025 09:04 AM IST
Dr Rajagopala Chidambaram, architect of India’s nuclear programme, dies at 88
Chidambaram was a pivotal figure in India’s nuclear history, playing a key role in both Pokhran I and Pokhran II tests
Updated on Jan 04, 2025 03:00 PM IST
Mind craft: Brain researcher Shubha Tole discusses embryos, dreams and dance
Exactly how does the brain take shape? Tole has won awards for her efforts to answer that question. She is now set to head the global brain research body IBRO.
Updated on Nov 30, 2024 05:28 PM IST
Why Goodall feels lucky she grew up in WW-II
One learnt to live with less then – a lesson Goodall feels should be revived so that “we can get out of the mess we created”
Updated on Nov 17, 2024 07:10 AM IST
TIFR neuroscientist first from developing world to head global neuroscience body
Tole completed her BSc from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and is recipient of the Infosys Science Foundation Award for Life Sciences in 2014
Updated on Oct 16, 2024 09:51 AM IST
TIFR-led study identifies brain region targeted by psychedelic drugs
Given that human trials on the use of psychedelic drugs to treat anxiety and depression are underway in different parts of the globe, the TIFR-led team said the results of its work would prove useful
Updated on Sep 25, 2024 09:16 AM IST
Oh, manel, this again?: Two women are fighting gender inequality at STEM meets
As men crowd STEM panels across India, with 32% of these featuring no women at all, two women are fighting back, with an online data project called BiasWatch.
Updated on Aug 17, 2024 04:02 PM IST
At Jamnagar, a billionaire’s passion creates the world’s largest rescue centre for animals
For several hours every day, Leelavati’s mahout applies medical oxygen on her burn wounds at the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HOT) chamber at the Elephant Hospital, India’s only such facility, nestled within the Green Belt of Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar Refinery Complex
Updated on Feb 27, 2024 09:20 AM IST
Are citizens’ movements dying in Mumbai?
Bengaluru civil society's recent successes put Mumbai’s protest movements in sharp contrast
Updated on Feb 18, 2024 10:15 AM IST
Magic beans: A Wknd interview with sustainable-seeds warrior Swati Nayak
She works to bridge the gap between lab, farm and fork. She just won the Norman E Borlaug Award. ‘I want to show that excellence comes from courage,’ Nayak says
Updated on Oct 13, 2023 05:28 PM IST
How amateur mapmakers are solving real world problems
FOSSEE, or Free/Libre and Open Source Software for Education, is a project developed by IIT-Bombay and funded by the Ministry of Education
Published on Oct 01, 2023 11:06 AM IST
How amateur mapmakers are solving real world problems
Given the paucity of data available, an IIT-B-backed army of students has stepped in to fill the vacuum
Updated on Oct 01, 2023 11:01 PM IST
How IIT-B alumni honed the art of giving
The hostel, which will be thrown open in 2025, will host 1100 students. It has been tagged Project Evergreen – the largest alumni project ever in the institute’s history that involves fund raising, design, construction and project management
Updated on Jun 29, 2023 05:55 PM IST
Bonds that tie 1000 members of the Kosambi squad
Three years since its inception, the gung-ho members continue to marry political thought with on-ground truth
Published on Jan 29, 2023 12:01 AM IST
How a robotics contest led to start-ups and go-getters
In 2012, to bridge the gap between employability and the curricula of higher education, Kavi Arya, professor of computer science, IIT-Bombay, conceived e-Yantra – a project-based learning approach to education, funded by Ministry of Education and hosted at IIT-Bombay
Updated on Dec 12, 2022 06:37 PM IST
MPCB’s last month’s warning on pollution emergency unheeded
Mumbai: A thick blanket of haze covered the city for the third consecutive day, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) value rising to 309, categorised as ‘very poor’, on Tuesday
Published on Dec 07, 2022 12:30 AM IST
Snehal Fernandes and Yogesh Naik
International team of astronomers studies rare Tidal Destruction Event
Mumbai: In what is being described as the most powerful flash from 8
Published on Dec 02, 2022 12:48 AM IST
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya wins UNESCO Award for cultural heritage conservation
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) was conferred with the ‘Award of Excellence’ at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation-2022 on Saturday
Published on Nov 27, 2022 01:00 AM IST
This year’s Infosys Science Prize winners extend understanding of the brain and the cosmos
Vaidya won for “fundamental contributions to understanding brain mechanisms that underlie mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, while cosmologist Nissim Kanekar from the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics affiliated emerged winner in the category of physical sciences
Updated on Nov 16, 2022 12:25 AM IST
‘Bulli bai’ victim to VP, TISS student union
Mumbai: Ten months after her name cropped as one of 100 Muslim women whose details were made available on Bulli Bai, an application made on open source-platform, GitHub, which allowed users to take part in their “auction”, 22-year Nidha Parveen was elected as the new vice-president of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Students’ Union
Published on Oct 22, 2022 11:42 PM IST
New methodology developed to detect light from first stars of early universe
The Big Bang is the prevailing cosmological model for the universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution
Published on Jul 22, 2022 12:11 AM IST
Higher complications among newborns of Covid-infected mothers during Delta wave: Study
The 18-member study, conducted using data from PregCovid -- a registry aimed to study pregnant and post-partum women with Sars-CoV-2 infection
Updated on Jul 09, 2022 11:22 PM IST
Scientist turns sculptor
One clay sculpture was an interpretation of Sir Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation; another depicted a 28-day embryo
Published on May 30, 2022 11:38 PM IST
Three ministries to form consortium for climate-related policies
In a first, three ministries - earth sciences (MoES), science and technology, and environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), are set to form a consortium for climate science, mitigation
Published on May 02, 2022 08:08 PM IST