Research

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad have found that fly ash – waste byproduct of power plants that poses a threat to the environment – can be modified into a waterproofing material.

The new work is based on tapping what is called the ‘Seebeck Effect’. It is a phenomenon in which temperature difference between two dissimilar electrical conductors or semiconductors produces a voltage difference between the substances. When heat is applied to one of the two conductors or semiconductors, heated electrons flow toward the cooler one. If the pair is connected through an electrical circuit, direct current flows through that circuit.

The test, based on a liquid biopsy technology called OncoDiscover, will help pick up circulating cancer cells in a patient’s blood much before they have affected or spread to other body parts.

Indian researchers have now developed a new method to fabricate graphene sheets from camphor — a readily available ingredient often used in religious rituals.

Now that Chandrayaan-2 has completed its trek to Moon, it is just days away from Moon landing, which will put it in an elite club of nations—the US, USSR (now Russia) and China—to have successfully landed probes on the lunar surface.

In their new work, Scientists led by Dr. Uttam Manna have sought to tackle the problem by developing a membrane using graphene oxide, cotton fibre and dopamine, an organic chemical, which is more known for its functions as a hormone and a neurotransmitter in human body.

In the new research, the scientists have found that any injury to the neuron led to an increase in the level of lysozymeprotein in it and this in turn activated a protein called `Toll like receptor-4‘ on the neuronal cell surface leading to development of pain and that application of lysozyme inhibitors subsequently resulted in pain relief. The experiment was conducted on laboratory rat models for pain.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 was successfully carried out at 2.21 a.m. by firing the spacecraft’s motors for 1,203 seconds.

Indian researchers have developed a cost-effective hybrid gel-sensor that could potentially be used to detect the elevated levels of high spermine in blood and urine. The material in the gel glows by fluorescence quenching in the presence of high spermine levels.

The American firm has bought payload slot on the first commercial launch of ISRO’s newest rocket – Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). The first flight of SSLV is slated to take place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre later this year.