SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2012

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2012

• Good year has developed a new self-inflating tire for commercial vehicles. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is showing off tires that pump themselves for large commercial trucks at a European trade show. Last year, the tire company won a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the tires. In Europe, governments gave the company grants to develop self-inflating tires for consumer cars and trucks. The Air Maintenance Technology systemuses an internal pressure regulator to determine when the tire is low. When pressure falls below a certain parameter, the regulator opens to allow air into a pumping tube. The benefits to an automatic inflation system are obvious. Vehicles with under-inflated tires use more fuel, have worse handling and chew through tread much quicker than their properly maintained counterparts. Goodyear says implementing Air Maintenance Technology on commercial vehicles was particularly difficult due to the higher-than-normal pressures found on large truck tires. Most commercial vehicles run an average of 105 psi compared to the 32 psi of passenger cars. Goodyear is still a few years away from a production version, but hopes to begin real-world tests of the technology next year.
  
• IBM scientists are reporting progress in a chip-making technology that is likely to ensure the shrinking of the basic digital switch at the heart of modern microchips for more than another decade. The advance, first described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology on 28 October, isbased on carbon nanotubes, exotic molecules that have long held out promise as an alternative material to silicon from which to create the tiny logic gates that are now used by the billions to create microprocessors and memory chips. The IBM researchers at the T.J. Watson Research Centre in Yorktown Heights, New York, have been able to pattern an array of carbon nanotubes on the surface of a silicon wafer and use them to build chips that are hybrids of silicon and carbon nanotubes with more than 10,000 working transistors.IBM scientists said they believed that once they have perfected the use of carbon nanotubes sometime after the end of this decade, it will be possible to dramatically raise the speed of future chips as well as dramatically increase the number of transistors.This year, IBM researchers published a separate paper describing the speedup made possible by the new material.
  
• A massive radio telescope for use in space observation was unveiled on 28 October, at the foot of Sheshan Mountain in Shanghai. The telescope will be used to track and collect data from satellites and space probes. The newly-built radio telescope can pick up eight different frequency bands and also track Earth satellites, lunar exploration satellites and deep space probes, said Hong Xiaoyu, head of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. The telescope will be used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy, as it can collect accurate data and increase its angular resolution during astronomical observation. China's VLBI system is made up of four telescopes in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Kunming, Urumqi, respectively, as well as a data center in Shanghai. Radio telescopes differ from optical ones in that they use radio antennae to track and collect data from satellites and space probes.
  
• Scientists believe they have found a planet made up almost entirely of diamond. Planet 55 Cancri e orbits a sun-like star in the constellation of Cancer. According to ScienceBlog, the planet is also twice the size of Earth, with daily temperatures reaching close to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.Nikku Madhusudhan, the Yale researcher whose findings are due to be published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, "This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth. The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite.”Madhusudhan added that at greater depths, the diamond could also be in liquid form. David Spergel, an astronomer at Princeton University told that the discovery of 55 Cancri e may be the first of many exciting planetary discoveries to come.The planet is 40 light years, or 230 trillion miles, away from Earth.
  
• Researchers have developed a new method for delivering a variety of vaccines directly into the bloodstream via a soluble film placed under the tongue.The technique was developed after scientists discovered they could use 'good bacteria' to administer various vaccines including flu and tuberculosis. Professor Simon Cutting, of Royal Holloway, University of London, said that rather than requiring needle delivery vaccines based on Bacillus spores could be delivered via a nasal spray or as an oral liquid or capsule. Alternatively, they can be administered via a small soluble film placed under the tongue in a similar way to modern breath fresheners. As spores are exceptionally stable vaccines based on Bacillus do not require cold-chain storage alleviating a further issue with current vaccine approaches.'
  
• Train-tracking has become easier than ever before with all trains, except those running on the Mumbai suburban network, being covered live by the web-based trainenquiry.com service of the Indian Railways. It has now taken on a new map-based dimension with the addition of railradar.trainenquiry.com. At any point in time, information can be had online or via SMS about the location and schedule of the 9,700-odd trains that run a given week. And what is more fascinating is that the location of any train, except those in the Konkan railway belt, can now be seen on a map anytime, represented by a colour-coded arrow that indicates whether a train is running on time or late. With RailRadar, passengers can now spot trains on a map by clicking on the blue (on time), yellow (delayed) or red (delayed by more than 15 minutes) arrows that represent individual trains, and know where it is at the moment.
  
• As per the report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on 15 October 2012, twenty-five species of monkeys, langurs, lemurs and gorillas are on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking. Six of the severely threatened species live in the island nation of Madagascar, off southeast Africa. Five more from mainland Africa, five from South America and nine species in Asia are among those listed as most threatened. Primates, mankind's closest living relatives, contribute to the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and maintaining forest diversity. The report was released at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity being held in Hyderabad.
  
• A humanoid robot with 'common sense', designed to work safely alongside its human co-workers on factory production lines, has been unveiled in the US. Baxter, the robot is priced at USD 22,000 and will go on sale in October. Its makers said, it could apply common sense, adapt to its environment and be trained in less than 30 minutes to complete specific tasks, by workers without robotic expertise.
  
• Scientists of the City University of New York have engineered a 'super-hero' sniffer mice that could be used by armed forces and aid workers to smell out landmines and explosives . The "danger mice" have been genetically modified so that their noses are hundreds of times more sensitive to the scent of explosives than house mice. The created mice that have up to 500 times more of nose cells that detect TNT-like chemicals, using the GM technology. The mice could be deployed in future, to countries scarred by war to rapidly snifff out landmines, which are then cleared by a human handler. The project, funded by the US government's health research arm, may sound rather off-the-wall , the idea of super-sniffer rodents is not without precedent. A Belgian charity already uses giant African rats to sniff out TNT and has deployed them in Mozambique and Tanzania and on the Thai-Burmese border. While the so called HeroRATs are very good at their job, however, it takes nine months of painstaking work to train them to detect trinitrotoluene or TNT.
  
• The Supreme Court on 16 october, has lifted the ban on tiger tourism in core areas of reserves and sanctuaries. The apex court vacated its interim ban order of July 24 and permitted tourism in core areas. The court asked all authorities to strictly adhere to the guidelines notified by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
  
• A panel of experts appointed by a Supreme Court has recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all genetically modified (GM) food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops in India.The committee had scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the National Institute of Nutrition. The recommendation was a giant blow to the future of GM food crops in the country and was the first time a panel such as this has specified the period of moratorium as 10 years. The safety dossiers of all GM crops approved for trials and those in the pipeline were requested by the panel and asked to be reviewed by independent biosafety experts. Several food crops are currently being tested in open fields by various local and multinational companies. If the court accepts the panel's recommendations, all such testing will have to end.
  
• The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) have joined hands to set up a modern environmental training institute in Alwar, Rajasthan, about 100 km from Delhi. The partnership was announced on 17 October, by CSE Director-General Sunita Narain and Country Head, HSBC, India and Director HSBC Asia-Pacific, Naina Lal Kidwai. The institute will offer short and long-term courses on environmental governance for regulators and decision-makers. These will cover multiple research disciplines such as air pollution, water and waste-water management, climate change, sustainable industrialisation and urbanisation, renewable energy, public transport and mobility and environment impact assessment. The institute will also be developed as an incubation, development and demonstration centre for green technologies. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1980. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.Centre of Science and Environment uses knowledge-based activism to create awareness about environment related problems and helps in proposing sustainable solution.
  
• Showcased as brand ambassador by the Minister of Environment & Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan during her inaugural speech on 19 October, in high level segment of Conference of Parties (CoP), the “Science Express: Biodiversity Special” - a mobile biodiversity exhibition train is on a mission to create massive awareness on India’s biodiversity. This is an unique, state-of-the-art exhibition train that brings biodiversity awareness to cross section of people, particularly children and youths, as it travels across the country. The express has been able to create unprecedented public awareness on biodiversity across the country. Till date, over 1.8 million people, including 500000 students 25000 teachers from 5000 schools have been able to visit and enjoy one of the most interesting mobile exhibition on wheels. Over 4 lakh people visited the express at Kazipet and Secunderabad. The express was stationed at Secunderabad to coincide with the the express will be on its onward journey and will eventually travel over 18,000 km in the first phase to cover 55 locations. It is expected to be visited by more than 3 million visitors, much higher than the envisaged target of 2 million. That the Conference Brand Ambassador has halted at Secunderabad, during full duration of the conference and has been visited by over 2.5 lakhs visitors thus contributing to unprecedented awareness on biodiversity issues. The express has been greeted with great deal of enthusiasm by the international delegates attending the CoP. Making of the unique brand ambassador has been a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) & Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, with engagement of large number of knowledge partners.
  
• Scientists claim to have identified a tiny snippet of genetic material which can promote healthy insulin production, a finding which could lead to new therapies to treat diabetes. Researchers led by Michigan Technological University biologist Xiaoqing Tang found that the genetic material in question is a microRNA molecule called miR-30d, which is the same in mice and people. Researchers found that the protein MAP4K4 blocks the formation of insulin when cells are under adverse conditions. Tang and her research team showed how miR-30d can counteract the tumour necrosis factor–triggered production of MAP4K4 and help the pancreas make more insulin.
  
• China on 14 October launched two satellites that would be used for "technological experimentation". The Practice-9 A and Practice-9 B were launched at 11.25 a.m. from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China's Shanxi province, the China Daily reported. The satellites were launched on a Long March-2C carrier rocket and put into a predetermined orbit. The two are the first in a series of civilian satellites designed for technological experimentation, the daily said. Developed by an affiliate company of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the satellites will be used to experiment with domestically developed components, satellite formations and inter-satellite measurement, the centre said.
  
• Scientist of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai together made a Projection that India may warm up by 1.7 ° to 2 ° C by 2030s and up to 4.8 degree Celsius by 2080s. The Scientist had pointed out more warming over the northern areas, especially the Himalayas and Kashmir. The projections were made for the period of 1860 to 2099 which is based on new climate data, models and new emission scenarios termed as Representative concentration pathways. Also as per the scientist Rainfall is predicted to increase from four per cent to five per cent by 2030s and from six per cent to 14 per cent towards the end of the century in 2080s compared to the 1961- 1990 baseline. All these new projections should be used in future assessment of impact of climate change and adaptation planning. However, also contradicting analysis was presented which has indicated that limiting warming to roughly 2 ° C by the end of this century is unlikely since it requires an immediate ramp down of emissions.
  
• Scientists have discovered that the most likely source of water on Moon is the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun known as the solar wind. The findings came by researchers from the University of Michigan who imply that ice inside permanently shadowed polar craters on the Moon, sometimes called cold traps, could contain hydrogen atoms ultimately derived from the solar wind. Also, The Theoretical models of lunar water stability dating to the late 1970s suggest that hydrogen ions (protons) from the solar wind can combine with oxygen on the Moon’s surface to form water and related compounds called hydroxyls, which consist of one atom of hydrogen and one of oxygen and are known as OH. The researchers have found that the 'water' component, the hydroxyl, in the lunar regolith is mostly from solar wind implantation of protons, which locally combined with oxygen to form hydroxyls that moved into the interior of glasses by impact melting. With this research it is also clear that water likely exists on Mercury and on asteroids such as Vesta or Eros further within our solar system
  
• Astronomers have discovered a new intriguing exoplanet about the mass of the Earth, orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri star system — the nearest to our planet. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever found around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern skies and is the nearest stellar system to our Solar System — only 4.3 light-years away.
  
• The Navy on 8 October, successfully test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg, from a warship off the Goa coast. The cruise missile was test-fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg, the Indian Navy's latest induction. The INS Teg, which has been built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, had fired the missile successfully during pre-induction trials in Russia last year. The two remaining warships of the project namely INS Tarkah and INS Trikand will also be armed with the lethal missile in vertical launch mode. Defence officials said, the two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, and the Air Force version is in final stage of trial. Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, is also working to develop the air as well as the submarine launch version of the missile system and work on the project is in progress.
  
• Nasa's Swift satellite on 7 October, has found evidence of the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole in our Milky Way galaxy. Named Swift J1745-26 after the coordinates of its sky position, the nova is located a few degrees from the centre of our galaxy towards the constellation Sagittarius, Nasa said. While astronomers do not know its precise distance, they think the object resides about 20,000 to 30,000 light-years away in the galaxy's inner region.
  
• “AROGYA” , an exhibition showcasing the strength, efficacy and affordability of the AYUSH systems of medicine which include Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homeopathy was inaugurated in Hyderabad on 12 October. The last Arogya fair at Hyderabad was held in November 2005. India has signed several MoUs for bilateral cooperation in the area of traditional medicine and setting up Ayurveda chairs and AYUSH information centres in various countries, such as South Africa, Malaysia and Trinidad & Tobago. AYUSH has been adopted as one of the core strategies under NRHM to augment effective provisioning of healthcare services. AYUSH services are being introduced at various levels, i.e. in the Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres, Sub-District and District Hospitals across the country. The aim is to utilize the AYUSH doctors in implementation of the national health programmes. The Department of AYUSH has set up a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library in collaboration with Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This initiative, well acknowledged by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is a patent compatible instrument for patent search and prevention of wrong patenting of products based on traditional knowledge.
  
• The Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh inaugurated the “International Seminar on Energy Access” at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Prime Minister said in this regard that, the government aims to provide 24x7 electricity to all households in the country and affordable access to electricity in the next 5 years. Government is striving to light up around 20 million rural households with solar home lighting by 2022. Renewable energy technologies provide probably the most sustainable and economic options for energy access. At present renewable power represents about 12 per cent of the total installed generating capacity in India. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched under the aegis of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change aims to install 20 Gigawatt of grid connected solar power by 2022.The links between access to energy and the various Millennium Development Goals are now well established and they are well documented. Meeting these goals that are fundamental to an existence of minimum dignity and well being all over the world requires access to affordable energy. The United Nations General Assembly has designated 2012 as the “International year of Sustainable Energy for All” and the 2 days seminar is organized in recognition of the importance of energy access for sustainable economic development and supporting achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. About 30 countries are participating of which 26 Ministers in the ministerial level delegation included the Prime Minister of Guiana, Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius from about 26 countries.
  
• Drug multinational Sanofi on 9 October, launched the country's first indigenously manufactured reusable insulin pen, specially tailored for diabetics in India. In another instance of reverse innovation, the insulin pen, which has been developed by Sanofi's medical device development team at Frankfurt, and manufactured in Gujarat, will also be exported to south-east Asia, Latin America and Africa. India becomes the first country outside Frankfurt (Germany) where the reusable insulin device will be produced.The reusable insulin injection is competitively priced at Rs 650, 20% cheaper than what the MNC was importing till now. Most MNCs in the country are importing these insulin devices, with Sanofi becoming the first company to manufacture it locally.
  
• Soyuz launches second pair of European Galileo satellites:
  Two navigation satellites from Europe’s Galileo programme blasted off on 13 October from French Guiana aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. The rocket lifted off from Kourou Spaceport at 1815 GMT and launched the satellites into orbit after three hours, 45 minutes in flight. Galileo is a joint initiative of the European Space Agency and the European Union, which will provide a European version of the US GPS navigation system. The two 700-kilogramme satellites launched on Friday from South America join a first pair of satellites launched by a Soyuz rocket in October 2011. The ESA described the launch as a “significant milestone.” The four satellites launched on Arianespace’s VS03 (on Friday) and (last year’s) VS01 missions will form an operational mini-constellation that enables a validation of the Galileo system. Deployment of the full Galileo system of 30 satellites will take several years.
  
• Scientists have discovered a bacteria that has the ability to withstand incredible amounts of toxicity and can be the key to creating 24-carat gold. Researchers from the Michigan State University have found that the metal-tolerant bacteria 'Cupriavidus metallidurans' can grow on massive concentrations of gold chloride or liquid gold, a toxic chemical compound found in nature. The researchers fed the bacteria unprecedented amounts of gold chloride, mimicking the process they believe happens in nature. In about a week, the bacteria transformed the toxins and produced a gold nugget.
  
• The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will host the sixth international conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics (ICLGG) in Hyderabad. The six-day conference will begin on October 2. About 500 delegates from 44 countries are expected to attend the conference to discuss advances in the area of legume genetics and genomics. William D. Dar, Director-General of ICRISAT; Swapan Datta, Deputy Director-General (Crop Science) of ICAR; and Rick Dixon, Plant Biology Division Director and Senior Vice-President of Noble Foundation, the USA, will address the conference. Earlier editions of the conference have been held in the US (twice), France, Australia and Mexico.
  
• Scientists have decoded the deafness gene
  Scientists of UK claim to have discovered a gene responsible for deafness and hearing loss, paving way for new treatments for the syndrome. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have found a new genetic mutation responsible for deafness and hearing loss associated with Usher syndrome type 1.Usher syndrome is a genetic defect that causes deafness, night-blindness and a loss of peripheral vision through the progressive degeneration of the retina, they said."In this study, researchers were able to pinpoint the gene which caused deafness in Usher syndrome type 1 as well as deafness that is not associated with the syndrome through the genetic analysis of 57 humans from Pakistan and Turkey," said Zubair Ahmed, assistant professor of ophthalmology and lead investigator on this study. The findings were published in the journal 'Nature Genetics'.
  
• A newly discovered comet may become one of the brightest lights in the sky even outshining the Moon, astronomers including an Indian-origin scientist have claimed. Russian astronomers recently spotted the comet 2012 S1 (ISON) 90 million km from the Earth. It is currently a faint glow streaking between Saturn and Jupiter, but as the Sun's gravity draws the comet closer, dust and ice will be blasted off, giving it a highly-reflective tail. Depending on how big the tail gets, the 3-km wide comet may become more visible for a few months in late 2013 and early 2014.
  
• India on 4 October test-fired its nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range near Balasore as part of a user trial by the Army. The flight test of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted at around 0907 hrs from a mobile launcher from Integrated Test Range's launch complex-III at Chandipur. The state-of-the-art Prithvi is the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMPD) and has the capability to carry 500 kg of both nuclear and conventional warheads with a strike range of 350 km. The missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering trajectory. The test-fire of the sophisticated short-range ballistic missile, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the Army and monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The sleek missile is handled by the strategic force command (SFC), a defence scientist said, adding the trial was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the weapon in a real time situation. The whole exercise was aimed at studying the control and guidance system of the missile besides providing training to the Army. The missile is 9 metre-long and one metre in diameter with liquid propulsion twin engine.
  
• 'Dhanush', the Naval variant of the missile 'Prithvi', with a range of 350 km, was successfully flight tested from INS Shubhadra, in the Bay of Bengal between Paradeep and Puri coast on 5 October. Integrated Test Range(ITR) sources said the missile was test fired from INS Shhubhadra at about 1110 hrs and the test fire met all mission objectives. All the operations for the launch were carried out by Naval personnel.
  
• Australia on 5 October unveiled a colossal radio telescope that will allow astronomers to detect distant galaxies and explore the depths of the universe with unprecedented precision. The Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope, at the remote Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Western Australian desert, is made up of 36 antennas, each 12 metres in diameter. The Aus$140 million ($140 million) facility can survey the sky much faster than existing telescopes, with the antennae sensitive to faint radiation from the Milky Way, giving it the ability to detect distant galaxies. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s ASKAP director Brian Boyle said studying the radio waves would tell astronomers unique details about the cosmos. The telescope is part of Australia’s contribution to the broader $2.5-billion SKA project, jointly hosted with South Africa and New Zealand, which will have far greater capabilities. It will be 50 times more powerful than current radio telescopes and will explore exploding stars, black holes, dark energy and traces of the universe’s origins some 14 billion years ago.