News on Science, Technology and Research in India
India’s first ‘Gaganyaan’ human space flight mission is slated to take off in 2022 and the training for its crew, drawn from among experienced Indian Air Force pilots, has already commenced in Russia, according to S Somnath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
The new firework, which cover popularly used sound emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers, are based on formulations developed by a consortium of eight laboratories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) led by Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute.
With over 49,000 plant species reported as of 2018, India holds about 11.5% of all flora in the world. Now, a new fossil record has shown that India is the birthplace of Asian bamboo, and they were formed about 25 million years ago in the north-eastern part of the country.
The study has been done jointly by researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. It included two groups of 30 individuals each, matched in age, gender and education. The first group comprised those with bipolar disorder while the other was control group of healthy individuals.
The technique, developed by PhD student Souvik Ghosh and Associate Professor Ambarish Ghosh, uses a focused laser beam to trap and manoeuvre a nano-sized silver disk, which in turn can attract and ensnare nanoparticles when light is shone on it.
Two satellites would be sent to space on board a regular PSLV mission and the two would be made to dock with each other, Sivan said, describing the exercise as a technology demonstration experiment.
Photodynamic therapy is an emerging treatment method considered safer than conventional techniques. It involves use of chemical substances called photosensitisers that can be activated by light to target and kill cancer cells.
The researchers have also shown that this type of gene editing can be used to correct sickle cell anemia, a genetic blood disorder. The experiments have been done in human-derived cells from patients of sickle cell anemia, according to findings of the study published in leading scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In the last five years, the Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM, India’s first interplanetary endeavour, helped India’s space agency prepare a Martian Atlas based on the images provided by the orbiter, Mr Sivan told news agency Press Trust of India.
Researchers at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun have come up with a way to monitor soil erosion and decrease in carbon content in soil by correlating it with levels of radioactive cesium in soil.
