News on Science, Technology and Research in India
Prof. Satyajit Banerjee from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and his group (Md. Arif Ali) have indigenously developed a unique innovation of a prototype of a Smart Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SCFLsm), which has a circuit wherein a superconducting element has an array of hall sensors distributed around the superconductor.
SWADESH is supported by JAVA-based workflow environment and Python. Backed by a dedicated storage system, it provides quality control, data analysis reports, and data backups. Its development will facilitate the integration of multi-site data and collaborative research worldwide. Presently, SWADESH has data of 500 AD and MCI patients and 70 PD patients. It also includes data of 600 healthy old individuals and 800 healthy young individuals in the control group.
A first-of-its-kind programme to promote women in the field of research and development through lateral entry was launched yesterday. The programme called Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program was launched by Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) for encouraging women researchers in joint R&D projects.
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).
