* Astronomy

For a small town, Devasthal has astronomical ambitions.
Next year, the town in Uttarakhand will host a unique telescope, only among a handful of its kind in the world, that uses a big, spinning bowl of liquid - and not the usual glass mirrors - to focus light from celestial objects.
The telescope, with its 4m wide dish, will cost only one-hundredth of its equivalent-sized glass-mirrored counterpart, and is much easier to maintain, say scientists associated with the project, making it a potential candidate for futuristic space and lunar observatories.

Read more