News on Science, Technology and Research in India
: Mahindra Ecole Centrale (MEC) has announced the launch of its first Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) named Black Pearl. Created by MEC students and mentored by their professors, the Black Pearl is a self-propelled, unmanned, untethered underwater vehicle capable of carrying out simple activities with little or no human supervision.
Lipstick is the most used cosmetics all over the world. It enjoyed its global share $5760 million in 2016 and expected to reach $8670 million in 2021. To provide a safe, non-toxic and eco-friendly substitute to synthetic colours, the Scientists of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) have extracted natural colours and dyes from the natural occurring vegetables and plants sources.
According to news agency ANI, the packaged food items for Mission Gaganyaan – scheduled to take off before 2022 – will include veg rolls, egg rolls, moong dal halwa, idli sambar and upma, among other things. Food heaters will be provided too.
Delivering the inaugural address, the Prime Minister said, “The growth story of India depends on its achievements in the Science & Technology sector. There is a need to revolutionize the landscape of Indian Science Technology and Innovation.”
The IDRSS is planned to track and be constantly in touch with Indian satellites, in particular those in low-earth orbits which have limited coverage of earth.
The population of the saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has increased in the water bodies of Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Kendrapara district, with forest officials counting 1,757 individuals in this year’s annual reptile census on January 3, 2020.
The polymer Chitosan is being increasingly used in the treatment of wounds. Among other things, it has anti microbial properties and promotes tissue growth. However, its use in wound management is limited since it has poor mechanical properties.
If the observation made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the 107th Indian Science Congress at Bangalore last Friday is any indication, Chennai is set to emerge as the country’s hub for deep sea missions akin to its feats in Space explorations. While ISRO has started training astronauts for space faring, the country’s aquanauts are being trained for deep sea missions.
Astronomers at the National Center of Radio Astrophysics ( NCRA) spotted galaxy AGC 203001 using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune. They found that even though the galaxy had a ring of hydrogen gas around it — there were no new stars being born. This is despite the fact that the ring is 380,000 lightyears wide, much bigger than the galaxy itself.
Under the Rs 400-crore NETRA’ project, an early warning system is being set up in space to detect debris and other hazards that could pose a danger to Indian space assets like satellites and experimental platforms. Like other space powers, NETRA will give the country its own capability in space situational awareness.
