News on Science, Technology and Research in India
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.
Researchers from India and Japan are working on smartphone-based mapping of road health in both the countries to reduce the accidents caused due to damaged roads.
As part of New Delhi’s space diplomacy, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is preparing to launch a nano satellite built by engineers from the neighbouring country with the help of Indian scientists in the second PSLV mission that’s in the pipeline.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has commissioned a new 18m antenna, which for the first time, allows the space agency to conduct telemetry and command operations on the much faster X band (frequency). So far, Isro only used X band for payload data downloading and used the S band for telemetry and command.
Indian astronomers have developed an algorithm that can increase the accuracy of data from exoplanets by reducing the contamination by the Earth’s atmosphere and the disturbances due to instrumental effects and other factors. This algorithm, called the critical noise treatment algorithm, can help to study the environment of exoplanets with better precision.
This research was undertaken by Ms Kanchan Aggarwal, who is a PhD Scholar under the guidance of Prof. Arun K Tangirala of the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras. A report on their study has been published in the science journal PLOS ONE. The research was partially funded by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, an advisory body of the Department of Atomic Energy.
The human gut contains 300-500 types of bacteria that help in digestion, protect us from infections, produce essential vitamins and neurochemicals. In 2011, German scientists classified human beings into three “enterotypes”, depending on the kind of bacteria that dominates the gut – Prevotella, Bacteroides or Ruminococcus.
Seventeen scientists from scientific institutions across India have been awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowships for their innovative research ideas and the potential of creating impact on R&D in different disciplines.
