General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Apr 07, 2021

Biden, Congress Roll Out Plans to expand National Science Foundation

The idea of massively expanding the budget and mission of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help the United States out-innovate China is gaining political momentum in Washington, D.C.
In Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–NY) is preparing to introduce a revised version of bipartisan legislation that would create a technology directorate at NSF and boost its funding by $100 billion. The changes address fears voiced by academic leaders that the new unit might disrupt the agency's culture and dilute NSF's ability to support basic research at universities.
In March, President Joe Biden lined up behind the concept, including both the new directorate and a $50 billion bump for NSF in his $2.3 trillion proposal to upgrade the nation's aging infrastructure. And late last month, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX), chair of the science committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, also backed both a new directorate and a larger NSF budget as part of a bill reauthorizing programs at the agency, which currently has an $8.5 billion budget.

Apr 06, 2021

IIT Kanpur Develops Touch-sensitive Watch for the Visually Impaired

A professor and a research associate at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IIT-K) have developed a novel touch-sensitive watch for the use of visually impaired people to sense time accurately. The watch was developed by prof. Siddhartha Panda and Vishwaraj Srivastava of IIT Kanpur.
The watch we have developed is a haptic watch with a tactile interface that makes it easy for visually impaired people to read the time easily.

Apr 05, 2021

Google Wifi App Getting Rolled into Google Home App

Google is reportedly shutting down its dedicated Google Wifi app for managing its routers and rolling that functionality over to the Google Home app to help users control and manage all their connected products in one place.
The switch over to the Google Home app will come in two phases -- first, Google will disable most of the functionality of the Google Wifi app on May 25.
Starting then, users will only be able to view the current status of their networks, but any changes, including adding new routers or access points, will have to be done in the Google Home app.
Then, Google will remove the Wifi app from the Play Store and iOS App Store, funneling all users to exclusively use the Google Home app in June.

Apr 04, 2021

First Image of Black Hole Magnetic Field

For the first time, international scientists working on the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) have created an image showing the magnetic field around a black hole. The black hole is located in M87 galaxy.
In 2019, the astronomers working on the EHT captured the first image of the shadow of the same black hole. The shadow of the black hole is a dark region that surrounds the black hole. It is three times the diameter of the black hole. The shadow of the black hole is the point beyond which even light cannot escape.
Messier 87 or M87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy. It has more than 15,000 globular clusters. It is larger in size as compared to the Milky Way that has only 150 globular clusters. The M87 is one of the brightest radio sources. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. It is 53 million light years away from the earth.

Explorers Dive to Deepest Known Shipwreck

Explorers recently dove to the deepest known shipwreck in the world.
The team reached the USS Johnston, a U.S. Navy destroyer that sank on Oct. 25, 1944 after an intense battle with the Japanese during World War II. The ship, about 376 feet (115 meters) long and 39 feet (12 m) across at its widest, was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.
The wreckage was first discovered in 2019 off the coast of Samar Island in the Philippines Sea. At the time, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) recorded parts of the wreck, but couldn't reach the deepest parts.
The shipwreck lies about 21,180 feet (6,456 m), or the equivalent of about 15 Empire State Buildings deep. Victor Vescovo, a former U.S. Navy commander who funded the new expedition, piloted his submersible, the DSV Limiting Factor, down to the wreck during two, eight-hour dives, the deepest any human or submersible has gone to explore a shipwreck.

Apr 03, 2021

NASA Delays First Flight of Mars Helicopter

NASA is targeting now April 11 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the historic first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.
The decision to push back the date of the launch from April 8 to April 11 was announced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

India's Biggest Floating Solar Power Plant to Operate in Telangana

India's biggest floating solar power plant with a capacity of 100 megawatts is expected to become operational in Telangana next month.
The project has been set up by the energy conglomerate National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in the reservoir of its thermal power plant at Ramagundam, Peddapalli district.
The solar photo-voltaic project, spread over 450 acres, will have 4.5 lakh photovoltaic panels and it can be expanded in the future.
According to C.V. Anand, Executive Director, NTPC Southern Region, this will be the largest floating solar plant in the country in a single location as of now.

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