Mumbai vs Navi Mumbai: Where does your ₹2 crore buy a better home?
Mumbai vs Navi Mumbai is one of the biggest confusion faced by homebuyers these days. For many in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), ₹2 crore is a budget that means a lot. Now the answer completely depends on your priority. Whether you prioritise location, lifestyle, or living space, the choice is yours. But recent industry reports suggest that while Mumbai continues to command a premium infrastructure and limited land availability, Navi Mumbai is increasingly emerging as a value-driven alternative because of better infrastructure and expanding employment opportunities.Let’s try to find a logical solution to the confusion:What ₹2 crore buys in MumbaiIn Mumbai, ₹2 crore translates into a small 1.5 or 2 BHK apartment in many suburbs. In fact a smaller apartment in premium micro-markets. In prime areas like Lower Parel, Powai, Bandra or Andheri West, buyers may have to compromise on carpet area or choose older resale properties in the given budget.According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2026, US$1 million buys only around 96 square metres of prime residential space in Mumbai, which makes the city one of the costliest housing markets worldwide. The city continues to witness strong buyer activity, with residential registrations touching new highs in 2026.What ₹2 crore buys in Navi Mumbai In Navi Mumbai, a ₹2 crore budget means a spacious 2 or 3 BHK apartment in premium developments like Kharghar, Seawoods and Ulwe. These societies offer modern amenities such as clubhouses, gardens and parking facilities. So affordability remains the biggest advantage and one of the region’s biggest selling points. JLL’s latest residential market analysis states that growth clusters in suburbs and satellite cities—including Navi Mumbai—are attracting buyers. In Q1 2026, Navi Mumbai accounted for the largest share of residential sales within the MMR market.Infrastructure; the game changer
One of the strongest features of Navi Mumbai is future-ready infrastructure. The inauguration of Navi Mumbai International Airport in January 2026 played an important role in boosting the real estate sector in Navi Mumbai. As per data by industry insiders, average apartment prices across Navi Mumbai increased by over 22% between 2021 and 2025. The data reflects growing demand in the real estate market especially in areas such as Ulwe and Panvel. These areas have benefited from airport-led developments.Lifestyle vs Location
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Once again, choosing between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai comes down to priorities.For professionals working in offices in South Mumbai, living in Mumbai can significantly reduce commute times and travelling stress. Navi Mumbai is attractive to those seeking planned development, wider roads and greener surroundings. Investment perspectiveFrom an investment point of view, Mumbai remains a relatively stable market. Navi Mumbai, on the other hand, offers stronger growth potential with continued improvements in transport connectivity and commercial development.The verdict
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Again it all depends on what’s your goal. If you want maximum living space with modern amenities, ₹2 crore will get a better home in Navi Mumbai. But if your priorities include a prestigious Mumbai address, closer to workplaces, spending the same ₹2 crore in Mumbai may still make sense, even if it means a smaller home.
Fortnite officially unveils Olivia Rodrigo skin after fans slam early reveal
Olivia Rodrigo and Fortnite have finally confirmed their collaboration, with fans still holding the same disapproval that came with initial images.
The 23-year-old singer and Fortnite announced the collaboration through a joint Instagram post on Wednesday.
The teaser, heavily inspired by Rodrigo’s recently released third album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, shows an animated version of the singer enjoying a swing in a garden while wearing a pink dress similar to the one featured in the album’s artwork.
She then falls, gets up and discovers a dollhouse, inside which another Olivia-inspired character is seen lying on a bed listening to music before getting up, putting on her black gloves and setting fire to the dollhouse before leaving.
The caption read, “I think we might go really nice together. Olivia Rodrigo officially joins Fortnite tonight!”
Fans quickly flooded the comments section with intrigue.
“the way I’m gonna be downloading fortnite just for Olivia,” one person wrote.
“My poor wallet (i’m getting her either way),” another joked.
However, others were less impressed by the character design.
“i love her but this skin is horrible omg,” one fan commented.
“She doesn’t look like her if you know what I mean,” another added.
Meanwhile, another name kept appearing throughout the comments: Conan Gray.
Fans repeatedly joked that Gray, one of Rodrigo’s closest friends, would be jealous of the collaboration.
“I know Conan is mad somewhere,” one user wrote.
“Somebody go check on Conan,” another commented.
The jokes stem from the pair’s well-known friendship, which has become a fan-favourite part of both artists’ online presence over the years.
On the other hand, Fortnite’s announcement comes after images of the alleged skin started making rounds online earlier this week.
Rumours of the Fortnite crossover had been building for weeks after players spotted in-game clues linked to Rodrigo’s new album, including a pink swing and a knife in a tree that matched imagery from the record’s artwork.
Fortnite has previously partnered with major music stars including Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Laufey.
How Australians taught themselves to stay safe in the sun
In 1981, Australia launched a fight against skin cancer with help from a yellow cartoon seagull and a catchy jingle.
Astronomers find 2 gigantic planets lighter than cotton candy:
Astronomers have uncovered a pair of giant planets that are lighter than cotton candy — super-puffs the size of Jupiter.
The featherweight pair — orbiting a star 1,110 light-years away — are the biggest exoplanets found to have less density than cotton candy.
That makes them the lightest known planets of their size, said the University of Oxford’s George Dransfield.
“These two planets have densities comparable to a nice blob of shaving foam, fresh from the can,” Dransfield said in an email. She and her team reported their findings Wednesday in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Dransfield suspects these fluffy, wispy worlds are probably white or blue, depending on whether the skies there are cloudy — not shades of cotton-candy pink. The planets are probably mostly hydrogen and helium, although it will take follow-up observations by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope to confirm their chemical makeup.
Detected by NASA’s Tess satellite over the past decade, these two especially puffy puffs orbit a star in the southern constellation Volans, known as the flying fish. The researchers studied the planets’ orbits using telescopes on Earth to determine their density, from 1,110 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles.
Daniel Rutter/NASA via AP
In 2024, researchers found a super-puff planet 1,200 light years from Earth, calling it a “cosmic mystery.”
Jupiter, by comparison, is as much as 35 times denser than these two lightweights.
The newly found planets also have unusually long orbits, with one taking 139 days and the other taking 232 days to circle the host star, NASA said in a news release.
Considered rare in the cosmos, super-puffs are thought to form around the disk of gas and dust around a newborn star where there is more gas than dust. They shed much of the material over time, stripping down even more.
“The main reason these planets are interesting to study is that we didn’t expect to see them at all,” said Jon Jenkins, the science lead for the Science Processing Operations Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “They represent a puzzle for us to solve about how giant planets like Jupiter and the super-puffs form.”
NASA’s tally of worlds outside our solar system currently stands at nearly 6,300 confirmed. Fewer than 40 are super-puffs, according to Dransfield.
“Ultimately, by studying exotic systems containing rare planet types, we add further pieces to the puzzle of planet formation and learn more about our place in the cosmos,” she said.
Mara Brock Akil Finds a New ‘Muse’ in ‘The Revelation of Dionne Daphne’
“I remember being stunned,” she said. “I was like, ‘But you do have sex, right?’”
Brock Akil has consistently defended the need to tell the stories of Black women who reject the demands of respectability politics that tell them how they should behave, especially in romantic relationships.
“I’m very proud of carving out space for Black women’s sexuality,” she said. Thinking ahead to how she would be like to be remembered, she said she hoped to be recognized for liberating Black women “from the asexual trope or the ho trope.”
“We are somewhere in between — we are at the spectrum,” she said. “We are not the polar opposites.”
As younger audiences have discovered her work via streaming services, many have called out the women on “Girlfriends” for being toxic friends, or described the romance on “The Game,” in which a young woman gives up medical school for her football star boyfriend, as a horrific cautionary tale.
Brock Akil doesn’t feel affronted. That was the point, she said: to hold up a mirror.
“I wrote the truth,” she said. “And the truth is, if you think about a gem, it has different facets, you see different things depending on how the sun hits it and what you’re looking at, and we are all of it. Joan is amazing as she is toxic.”
In this new era, Brock Akil hopes that her vulnerability through Dionne’s story will give readers a new muse to resonate with.
“Dionne, I think, is my way of hugging that version of myself that’s brave,” she said. “Who went through something harrowing to get to this moment, to use her pen to say hey, maybe we should pay attention.”
Euclid space telescope captures 60 million Milky Way stars in stunning image that could transform astronomy for decades
The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope has delivered one of the most detailed views ever captured of our galaxy’s crowded heart, revealing more than 60 million stars in a single extraordinary image. The observation offers astronomers an unprecedented look into the densely populated central regions of the Milky Way, a part of the galaxy that has long remained difficult to study because of thick clouds of dust and overlapping stellar populations. Beyond its visual impact, the image represents a scientific treasure trove that researchers expect to analyse for years, if not decades. By mapping stars, star clusters and hidden galactic structures on an enormous scale, Euclid is providing fresh clues about how the Milky Way formed, evolved and continues to shape the cosmic environment around us.
How Euclid captured 60 million stars in the crowded heart of the Milky Way
Launched in 2023, Euclid was designed primarily to investigate the mysterious dark universe, including dark matter and dark energy. However, its powerful instruments are also proving exceptionally valuable for studying our own galaxy.The newly released image focuses on the Milky Way’s central bulge, a densely packed region containing vast numbers of stars concentrated around the galactic centre. According to the European Space Agency, Euclid observed an area covering approximately 500 square degrees of the sky and detected more than 60 million stars, many of which had never been studied in such detail before. “With a single observation, Euclid has captured millions of stars, demonstrating its extraordinary ability to survey vast regions of the sky in remarkable detail,” ESA stated.The telescope’s visible and near-infrared instruments allow it to peer through dust that often obscures observations from Earth, revealing stellar populations hidden deep within the galaxy.
Why astronomers believe the Euclid image will fuel discoveries for decades
The significance of the image extends far beyond its sheer scale. Researchers expect the dataset to help identify previously unknown star clusters, trace the structure of the galactic bulge and improve understanding of stellar evolution.ESA scientists note that the immense catalogue will provide opportunities to investigate how stars are distributed throughout the Milky Way and how different populations formed over billions of years. Because the image contains tens of millions of objects, researchers anticipate years of detailed analysis and follow-up studies.The mission’s advanced imaging capabilities are particularly valuable for detecting faint objects that might otherwise remain hidden among brighter neighbouring stars. This could lead to discoveries ranging from previously overlooked stellar nurseries to rare astronomical phenomena.According to Euclid science team at the European Space Agency: “These observations provide an unprecedented view of the Milky Way’s central regions and will support a wide range of future scientific investigations.”
What Euclid’s Milky Way map reveals about the future of space research
Although Euclid’s primary objective remains understanding the large-scale structure of the universe, its observations are increasingly demonstrating their value for galactic astronomy.By combining visible and infrared observations, the telescope can build detailed maps of stellar distributions, helping scientists reconstruct the history of our galaxy. Researchers hope these observations will shed light on how the Milky Way assembled over cosmic time and how interactions with smaller galaxies influenced its development. The image also highlights Euclid’s ability to produce datasets on a scale rarely achieved in astronomy. As additional observations are collected throughout the mission, scientists expect even larger catalogues and more comprehensive maps of the universe.For astronomers, the release marks more than a striking snapshot of the cosmos. It is the beginning of a long-term scientific resource that could reveal new insights into the Milky Way for decades to come, helping answer some of the most fundamental questions about our place in the universe.
Fuel price warning as hopes dashed of cheaper petrol despite oil costs tumbling
UK drivers are being cautioned that it will take “some way to go” for fuel prices to align with the significant drop in oil costs, which have now returned to pre-Middle East conflict levels.
The AA reports that the average price for a litre of petrol at UK forecourts stands at 152.9p, with diesel at 170.5p.
While these figures are below the April 16 peaks of 159.7p for petrol and 192.4p for diesel, motorists are still paying approximately 20p more for petrol and 28p more for diesel than before the conflict began.
This disparity comes as the price of oil, a key determinant of fuel costs, dipped below 73 US dollars a barrel for the first time since the Iran war commenced on February 28.
This comes as more tankers pass through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which is reopening gradually after the US-Iran peace deal.
AA president Edmund King said: “While drivers have been pleasantly surprised by the speed of price falls at the pump, there is some way to go before prices return to where they were before the outbreak of the war.”
Mr King claimed some drivers will fear “prices could go the other way” because of “uncertainty” over the future actions of Iran and the US.
He added: “The hope is that pump prices continue to tumble with the summer getaway late in July now coming into view.”
The fall in oil prices comes as traders increasingly bet that a surge in crude supplies could outweigh lingering geopolitical risks in the Middle East.
Hopes of a lasting peace agreement between Washington and Tehran continue to improve market sentiment. Progress in negotiations has encouraged more oil tankers to resume voyages through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, easing concerns over supply bottlenecks.
Shipping data indicates traffic through the waterway has rebounded strongly. According to MarineTraffic figures reported by CNN, vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz doubled over the past 24 hours to reach their highest level since late February.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped as low as $72.24 a barrel on Thursday, slipping beneath the $72.48 closing price recorded on the eve of US and Israeli strikes against Iran in late February.
The decline marks a dramatic reversal from the sharp price spikes seen during the conflict, which raised fears of severe disruption to global energy markets.
The price of a barrel of oil peaked at $120 in April, well below the worst forecasts of some analysts.
Motoring groups say it usually takes about ten days for oil price falls to feed into the price at petrol pumps.
Lizard-inspired Mars rover wheels could transform space exploration by swimming through sand
Getting stuck in sand has ended dreams of exploration before. On Mars, where loose dunes, soft soil and rocky terrain stretch for thousands of kilometres, a trapped rover can mean the loss of years of scientific work and millions in investment. Now, researchers in Germany have turned to an unlikely source for a solution: a small desert lizard that “swims” beneath Sahara sands. Inspired by the remarkable movement of the sandfish lizard, engineers have developed a new generation of Mars rover wheels designed to move through loose terrain rather than simply roll across it. The breakthrough could help future robotic explorers travel farther, avoid dangerous traps and navigate some of the most challenging landscapes on the Red Planet with greater efficiency and stability.
How a Sahara sandfish lizard inspired next-generation Mars rover wheels
The project is part of the VaMEx (Valles Marineris Explorer) initiative, a programme supported by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) that is developing advanced robotic systems for future Mars exploration. Researchers from the Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Program, Georgia Institute of Technology looked at the sandfish lizard (Scincus scincus), a reptile famous for its ability to dive beneath desert sand and move through it as though swimming underwater.Scientists have spent years studying how the sandfish moves. Research published in the journal Science revealed that once beneath the surface, the lizard propels itself using a wave-like motion that travels down its body, allowing it to move efficiently through granular material.Using this biological blueprint, the engineering team created unconventional wheels that imitate the lizard’s interaction with loose ground rather than relying solely on traditional rolling motion. Instead of becoming trapped in soft sand, the wheels generate forces that help the rover effectively move through it.Professor Marco Schmidt and colleagues from University of Würzburg stated:“The wheels mimic the animal’s characteristic interaction with the ground, generating both longitudinal and lateral forces.”
Why conventional Mars rover wheels struggle in deep sand
Soft terrain has long been one of the greatest challenges facing planetary exploration vehicles. Traditional rover wheels are generally optimised for low-speed travel but can slip, sink or become immobilised when crossing loose material.The problem is not merely theoretical. Past Mars missions have encountered significant mobility issues caused by soft ground and wheel wear, highlighting the need for more adaptable designs. Future missions targeting regions filled with dunes and rugged landscapes will require vehicles capable of handling terrain that resembles deserts more than roads.According to VaMEx researchers, the biomimetic wheels leave distinctive sinusoidal tracks in the sand, providing evidence that the intended “swimming” mechanism is functioning as designed. Early testing demonstrated improved stability and movement across sandy surfaces.
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What the breakthrough could mean for future Mars missions
The rover has already undergone testing on sand and outdoor terrain in collaboration with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the University of Bremen. Another researcher Amenosis Lopez, University of Würzburg researcher stated:“Conventional wheel designs are often optimised for driving at low speeds and tend to slip, sink or get stuck on soft ground.”Researchers found that increasing wheel width and reducing wheel mass improved stability, reduced slippage and lowered the chances of sinking into soft ground.The team now plans to refine both the wheel design and the software controlling rover movement. Future systems may actively adapt to changing terrain conditions, allowing explorers to respond intelligently to slipping, sinking and uneven surfaces.As space agencies prepare for increasingly ambitious missions across Mars and beyond, nature may provide some of the most effective engineering solutions. A small lizard that evolved to survive beneath Sahara dunes could one day help robotic explorers travel through the vast canyons and deserts of another world.
Priyanka Chopra opens up about how motherhood has changed her
Priyanka Chopra has opened up about how her life has changed after becoming a mother.
For those unversed, the Bollywood diva tied the knot with Nick Jonas in 2018, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Malti Marie, on January 15, 2022, via a surrogate.
Speaking at the Cannes Lions conference on Wednesday, Priyanka said, “Your priorities really change. I don’t just pack my bags and go off for a movie anymore.”
“I don’t do five films a year. I don’t travel the way I used to,” she continued. “I’m really, really selective about the time I spend and who I spend it with.”
The Heads of State star added, “I’m navigating working-mom life. I have so much more respect for my mother now.”
At the same conference, Priyanka also compared her Hollywood career to Bollywood success.
“In my Hindi-language career, I’ve worked with all the best filmmakers and the best actors, I’ve told amazing stories and done a variety of genres,” she said.
“Whereas in America, in Hollywood, in my English-language work, I haven’t really done that as much,” she confessed.
“My next reinvention is figuring out how, in (my) English-language work, I can bring that kind of variety to my characters that I have been able to do in India,” added the 43-year-old actress.