News on Science, Technology and Research in India
In just over a year since they completed fabrication of a prototype engine, Skyroot Aerospace, a firm founded and led by former Isro scientists, has successfully tested India’s first privately developed fully Cryogenic rocket engine — ‘Dhawan-I’ — running on two high-performance rocket propellants, Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) & Liquid Oxygen (LoX).
During the welcome address in the inaugural session of the conclave, Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO / Secretary, Department of Space (DoS), mentioned a plethora of futuristic technologies like Satellite-Based Quantum Communication, Quantum Radar, Self-Eating-Rocket, Self-Vanishing-Satellite, Self-Healing Materials, Humanoid Robotics, Space-Based-Solar-Power, Intelligent Satellites and Space-vehicles, Make-in-Space concept, Artificial-Intelligence based space applications, etc. where ISRO has initiated its Research & Development initiatives, with well-defined milestones and deliverables.
Efforts to unravel the mystery around the highly debilitating disease of Alzheimer’s have got a shot in the arm with a recent study getting newer insight into the biomolecular mechanism for the formation of protein clusters/aggregates that are often seen in the disease.
A team of scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, found that the unnamed NE moving glacier had been abruptly truncated and forced to move towards SE.
A study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), along with collaborators, has identified potential blood-based biomarkers to predict disease progression and survival times in those with late-stage brain tumours.
A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Madras has been exploring the use of carbon nanotubes and graphene nanopores to overcome the problems. Although studies have shown that graphitic carbon materials show a large water permeation capability than the conventional reverse osmosis membranes, their tube-like structures reduce the rate of permeation due to the hydrodynamic resistance at their entrance. To solve this issue, the team took inspiration from nature.
A group of Indian researchers have developed a compound called “6BIO” that can provide a better method to treat Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). They have determined the potency of the compound in a pre-clinical mice model. This is the first compound that has been proved in pre-clinical evaluation to have the potential for improving daily activities like learning and recollecting new tasks in patients with ASD/ Intellectual disability (ID).
The lunar orbiter of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which was successfully deployed in 2019, was moved from its 100-km circular, polar orbit last month to avoid a close approach with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) near the north pole, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said on Monday.
India has successfully launched the 41st Scientific Expedition to Antarctica with the arrival of the first batch of its contingent at the southern white continent. The first batch comprising of 23 scientists and support staff reached the Indian Antarctic station Maitri on last week. Four more batches shall be landing in Antarctica by air using DROMLAN facility and onboard chartered ice-class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovnin by mid-January 2022.
Globally, IP filings — including patents, trademarks and designs — rebounded in 2020, indicating the resilience of human innovation despite dire global and economic turmoil during the Covid pandemic, latest data from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) showed. In contrast, during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, both patent and trademark filing activity had contracted sharply.
