News on Science, Technology and Research in India
The other research products that have emerged from the institute’s collaboration with people from various industries include a bulletproof jacket 22 per cent lighter than existing ones; a waterless shampoo, and a waterless body wash that would not require the use of water and could prove useful for astronauts and soldiers.
The new centre would address several critical R&D challenges towards the development of clean coal technologies in tandem with developing supercritical power plant technologies, both at the materials and system level.
The restoration method has been tested on a two-hectare degraded patch of mangroves in Ramganga village over the past five years and has been found more effective than monoculture of mangrove plantations as usually practiced. The project was initiated with help from the Department of Biotechnology in 2013 and is now likely to be extended to 100 acres.
Some of the critical technologies to be provided by the DRDO to ISRO include space food, space crew health monitoring and emergency survival kit, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for safe recovery of crew module, the ministry said in a statement.
“Instead of retro-fitting an existing vehicle, we thought we would build one up from scratch, especially because the design is so important for an electric vehicle. Each design has been conceived, analysed, prototyped and the cycle repeated many times before the actual product came out,” said Prof. Racherla.
His prototype device employs radiative cooling, the phenomenon that makes buildings and parks feel cooler than the surrounding air after sunset. As Raman’s device releases heat, it does so unevenly, the top side cooling more than the bottom. It then converts the difference in heat into electricity. In the paper, Raman described how the device, when connected to a voltage converter, was able to power a white LED.
The nano-chip fabricated by team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati is enzyme-free and can be used for hydrogen peroxide detection. Researchers used peroxidase activity of gold to detect hydrogen peroxide, and plated gold on indium tin oxide plate which is used for performing scanning electron microscopy in laboratories but discarded after one use.
The importance of hydrogen gas has grown in recent times because of its promise as a clean energy source. However, there are major challenges – hydrogen gas is difficult to produce and it is hard to detect if it leaks. Since it is highly inflammable, leaks can be catastrophic if not detected immediately.
“We have found the location of Vikram lander on lunar surface and orbiter has clicked a thermal image of the lander,” said Sivan. “But there is no communication yet. We are trying to have contact. We do not know if the Vikram module was damaged during the hard-landing on the lunar surface.”
The new algorithm is more efficient in searching compatibility between ride-orders. Called “Share” (Sharing with History-Aware Route Recommendations), it finds routes beyond shortest paths and recommends a route that is close in length to the shortest path and offers higher chance of finding a compatible ride-order.
