General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - December 2018

Dec 2018

Apr 22, 2020

Swiss Scientists Discovers Six-Planets System With Near 3:2 Resonance

A team of Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered a six-planet system (a 'super-Earth' & five 'mini-Neptunes') orbiting the star HD 158259 in the Draco constellation.
The discovery was done by using the SOPHIE spectrograph installed at the Haute-Provence Observatory in the South of France and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) exoplanet-hunting space telescope.
The star HD 158259, which is 88 light-years away from Earth, was observed by Astronomers for the last seven years. Every planet in the HD 158259 star has the same orbital resonance from its later planet and it is 3:2. This would be 1.5 according to Period Ratio. That is, when the inside planet makes three rounds, then immediately after that the planet makes two rounds.

Pune Municipal Corporation Develops 'Saiyam' App To Track Home-Quarantine

To track home quarantine people on a real-time basis, Pune Municipal Corporation has developed a mobile application named 'Saiyam'. The mobile application has GPS tracking so that whenever quarantined citizens leave their homes, city administration gets alerted and the local ward or the local police station gets informed, who then visit the family.
The municipal corporation has appointed dedicated teams for five zones of the city to monitor home quarantined citizens with technology in their hand.

Iran Says It Launched a Military Satellite Into Orbit

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran had launched a military satellite into orbit, after months of unsuccessful efforts that raised the specter of outside sabotage.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the announcement, which came amid wider tensions between Iran and the United States. This was the first military satellite ever launched by Iran.

Apr 21, 2020

Rajasthan Government Partners With Healthcare App 'Aayu' to Tackle Coronavirus Pandemic

Rajasthan government has exclusively partnered with healthcare startup MedCords to provide 24x7 online consultation and medicine delivery to the people of Rajasthan as the State battles to control cases of Coronavirus. Through its integrated solution -Aayu & Sehat Sathi app, MedCords will help over 68 Million of people in Rajasthan through this collaboration.
MedCords' solution is fully adopted in 7 districts of Rajasthan - Kota, Udaipur, Shri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Ajmer, Pali, Jaipur.

ARI Researchers Develop Bug Sniffer To Rapidly Detect Bacteria

Researchers at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune have developed 'bug sniffer,' a sensitive and low-cost sensor to rapidly detect bacteria.
The portable device can detect as low as ten bacterial cells from a sample size of 1 mm in just 30 minutes. The team is currently working on a method for simultaneous separation and detection of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium.
The bug sniffer is a biosensor that uses synthetic peptides, magnetic nanoparticles, and quantum dots to detect the presence of bacteria.

Fish Gills Used To Develop Efficient Low-Cost Electro-Catalysts For Energy Conversion Devices

Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, have recently come up with an efficient, low-cost electro-catalyst from fish gills that can help develop environmentally friendly energy conversion devices.
This bio-inspired carbon nanostructure can help overcome the bottleneck in the realization of several renewable energy conversion and storage technologies such as fuel cell, biofuel cell, and metal−air battery. It could be utilized as next-generation nonprecious carbon-based electrocatalyst for energy conversion and storage applications.

IIT-Mandi Team Develops Magnetic RAM

Data storage concerns will soon be history with researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, developing magnetic Random Access Memory (RAM) which is faster, more energy-efficient and capable of storing more information in a smaller volume than existing data storage technologies.
The team, which is in process of patenting the technology, claims that the Spin-transfer torque (STT) based nano spintronic devices will also put an end to computer data loss due to interruptions of power supply and hence will have the capability to transform next-generation computers, smartphones and other gadgets.

IIA Scientists Connect Lithium Abundance In Interstellar Space To New Lithium Rich Red Giants

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science &Technology, Govt. of India, have discovered hundreds of Li-rich giant stars indicating that Li is being produced in the stars and accounts for its abundance in the interstellar medium.
They have also associated such Li enhancement with central He-burning stars, also known as red clump giants, thereby opening up new vistas in the evolution of the red giant stars.

Apr 20, 2020

Gravitational Waves Reveal Unprecedented Collision Of Heavy And Light Black Holes

The gravitational waves from a black-hole merger typically ripple at twice the frequency that the black holes go around each other.
Researchers with the world's gravitational wave detectors said today they had picked up vibrations from a cosmic collision that harmonized with the opening notes of an Elvis Presley hit.
The source was the most exotic merger of two black holes detected yet—a pair in which one weighed more than three times as much as the other. Because of the stark mass imbalance, the collision generated gravitational waves at multiple frequencies, in a harmony Elvis fans would recognize. The chord also confirms a prediction of Einstein's theory of gravity, or general relativity.

Apr 18, 2020

EU and Australian tracing apps 'ready in weeks'

Coronavirus contact-tracing apps will be rolled out in Europe and Australia in the next two to four weeks.
Germany's health minister Jens Spahn said his country's app would be ready to download in three to four weeks.
Meanwhile, Australia and Denmark plan to push out apps within two weeks.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said using the app would be voluntary to begin with - but he did not rule out making it compulsory.
Contact-tracing apps are being developed by several countries around the world.

DRDO Innovates Automatic Sanitiser And Ultraviolet Devices To Fight Coronoavirus

From an automatic mist-based sanitiser for use while entering offices to ultraviolet devices that can destroy the genetic material of COVID-19, the Defence Research and Development Organisation introduced these two new technologies that are aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
The ultraviolet device, which is hand held, can disinfect office and house objects like chairs, files and food packets. It also comes as a box, which has been designed to disinfect personal belongings such as mobile phones, files and wallet.

IIT Ropar Design 'Wardbot' That Will Deliver Food, Medicines To Patients In Isolation Wards

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar in Punjab's Rupnagar district has come up with a design of an autonomous 'WardBot' which can deliver medicines and food to COVID-19 patients in isolation wards without human intervention.
Researchers working on the project said its deployment in hospitals will help in minimising the risk of the frontline health staff getting infected with the deadly virus.

Kisan Rath Mobile App Launched To Facilitate Transportation Of Food Grains And Perishables During...

Agriculture Ministry has launched Kisan Rath Mobile App to facilitate transportation of food grains and perishables during lockdown. This mobile application is developed by the National Informatics Centre to ensure farmers and traders are able to find transport for Agriculture and Horticulture produce.
Kisan Rath' App will greatly facilitate farmers, FPOs and Cooperatives in the country to have the choice to find a suitable transport facility to transfer their agriculture produce from farm gate to markets

Chhattisgarh Launched Cghaat Website For Online Essential Delivery

Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the online delivery website 'Cghaat' on 16 April, 2020.
Cghaat will facilitate doorstep delivery of fruits and vegetables during the extended lockdown phase due to contain COVID-19 spread.
The web portal, cghaat.in, has been developed by Chhattisgarh government's agency Chips.
The fruit and vegetable vendors who are interested to provide services can register online through this portal.
After registering, they can provide home delivery against online orders placed as soon as they receive Collector's permission.

Apr 17, 2020

IASST Develops Plasmonic Semiconductor Nanomaterials To Remove Toxic Materials From Water

Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Assam is to develop plasmonic semiconductor nanomaterials for the removal of toxic organic compounds from water by harvesting solar light. Plasmonic semiconductor nanomaterials are metal-like materials with free electrons on the surface that oscillate collectively when hit by light.
In this method, the solar light is utilized to increase the photocatalytic efficiency of nanomaterials to degrade pollutants and generate renewable Hydrogen.
The researchers are trying to understand the science behind the photon accumulation and amplification of incident light by the plasmonic materials for this purpose.

ICAR Developed Pusa Decontamination And Sanitizing Tunnel

Pusa Decontamination and Sanitizing Tunnel are developed by the Division of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The tunnel was inaugurated by the Union Minister Kailash Choudhary on 16 April in New Delhi.
The sanitization protocol of the tunnel included handwashing with foot-operated soap and water dispenser and fogging in a sanitizing tunnel for 20 seconds.
In the tunnel, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QAC) are used at a concentration of 0.045%, as per the recommendation of the Health Department.

CeNS Develops Portable Sensor To Detect Heavy Metal Ions In Water

Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) has developed a compact solid-state sensor that can detect the heavy metal ions in water. It was developed by a team of researchers led by Dr. Pralay K. Santra at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences.
Heavy metal ions like mercury, lead, and cadmium show severe potential threats to living beings. These metal ions can easily be accumulated in the human body. It cannot be detoxified by any chemical or biological processes.

Centre Launches SAHYO App To Help Area-Specific Strategies, Decisions In COVID-19 Outbreak

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, developed mobile application SAHYO, an Integrated Geospatial Platform out of available geospatial datasets, standards-based services, and analytic tools. The mobile application and the website prepared and managed by the Survey of India (SoI).
The SAHYO aims to help decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will aid devising area-specific strategies to handle the socio-economic impact in the recovery phase.
The platform will strengthen the public health delivery system of the Central and State Governments.

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