News on Science, Technology and Research in India
Counterfeiting a banknote containing multiple security features is rather difficult. But counterfeiting a bank cheque is not that tough because of a lack of security features. To fix this problem a group of researchers from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) has developed a new security ink for bank cheques that is difficult to replicate.
As a result of the complete lockdown imposed by the Government of India to stop the spread SARS-CoV-2 virus from March 25 to April 14, 2020, the highways and streets of cities became almost empty, devoid of any public transport, and workplaces were closed. People were confined to their homes. This has led to an unprecedented reduction of air pollutants which rejuvenated the atmosphere.
The new species, which belongs to the genus Cyrtodactylus commonly known as bent-toed geckos, was discovered by Zeeshan Mirza of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru, Harshal Bhosale and Mandar Sawant of the Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai, Faizan Ansari of the Madras Crocodile Bank in Chennai, Gaurang Gowande of Ferguson College in Pune, Pushkar Phansalkar from Pune, and Harshil Patel of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in Surat.
The study explains that complex chemical reactions involving Hydrochloric Acid (HCl), which is directly emitted in the atmosphere from plastic contained waste burning and few industrial processes, is primarily responsible for high PM2.5 chloride level.
The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has developed a bio-plastic film using marine seaweed and PEG-3000 which could have a huge impact on limiting the usage of non-biodegradable plastics and a game-changer in the plastic industry. Bio-plastic films safely breakdown in the environment without leaving any toxicity. The physical and mechanical properties of bio-plastic film meet the properties of conventional plastics.
Two new species of a rare ant genus have been discovered in India. The species of the ant genus Ooceraea found in Kerala, and Tamil Nadu add to the diversity of this rare genus. They differ from others of the same genus on the basis of the number of antennal segments.
While the country has already attained the third position in terms of publications, it now features among the top 50 innovative economies globally as per the Global Innovation Index (GII), placing it ahead of many developed and developing countries.
Astronomers exploring the massive intriguing globular cluster in our Galaxy called NGC 2808 that is said to have at least five generations of stars have spotted rare hot UV-bright stars in it. These stars whose inner core is almost exposed, making them very hot, exist in the late stages of evolution of a Sun-like star. It is not clear how these stars end their lives as not many of them are detected in these fast-evolving phases, making their study crucial.
Number theory concerns the study of integer solutions to polynomial equations with integer coefficients. Solving such equations, in general, is challenging. They are studied by attaching various invariants– function, quantity, or property, which remains unchanged when a specific transformation is applied.
Scientists have developed a gold microstructure substrate with the ability to repel water as well as bubbles with tunable wettability, which can be used in designing microfluidic devices, biosensors and useful in water transportation and self-cleaning.
