|
| FRONTIER
S&T |
| AEROSPACE/SPACE |
| BrahMos
Missile |
Supersonic
BrahMos cruise missile with a range of 290 km was
successfully test-fired in the Rajasthan desert. Missile
has been developed jointly with Russia. It is reported
that the unique technology in the Block II version
of missiles made them “unparalleled” and
would help the armed forces hit even “insignificant
targets” hidden in cluster of buildings which
are insignificant in terms of size, in a cluster of
large buildings. India is now the only nation in the
world with this advanced technology,” an official
claimed.
|
|
(Financial Express, Mar 30, 2009) |
| Manned
Space Mission |
India will reportedly redesign Russian space capsule
Soyuz to send its astronauts on the country’s
maiden manned space mission. The Soyuz, which has
been in use since 1967, has been upgraded several
times and has recently brought back American astronauts
from the International Space Station. The Soyuz TM
is a modernised version of the Soyuz T with a new
docking and rendezvous, radio communications, emergency
and integrated parachute/landing engine systems. It
has a more durable metal body and lighter heat shield
material. ISRO plans to undertake the manned space
mission in 2015 in which the space craft will be placed
in a low earth orbit. Finally it will splash in Indian
Ocean.
The human space flight mission holds immense potential
in terms of telemedicine, material science and would
involve various work packages before it is launched.
It includes development of human-rated GSLV, an escape
system, an environmental life support system, thermal
protection system for re-entry into the earth’s
atmosphere, facilities for training astronauts and
crew and with mission management system in place with
man being in the loop.
|
(PTI Science Service, Jan 1-15, 2009)
|
| BIOTECHNOLOGY
|
| Adult
Stem Cell Bank |
| Cyro-Save
Group, Europe’s largest adult stem cell storage
bank, has announced the launch of its India operations
through its 100 percent subsidiary, Cryo-Save India.
The Indian subsidiary has been set up with an investment
of 1.8 million euros. Cryo-Save Group will scale up
its investment to two million Euros within a year of
its operation of the Indian subsidiary. The company
will offer the collection and storage of adult stem
cells derived from cord blood. The services will be
available across all metros and other cities.
Stem cells are natural repair kits of the human body.
In the last two decades more than 10,000 patients are
reported to have been treated with cord blood stem cells
transplantations in over 150 countries.
Cryo-Save India offers the dual storage system and does
away with manual intervention and thereby contamination
by ensuring automatic processing. Cryo-Save India headquartered
in Bangalore has a state-of-the-art fully automated
adult stem cell storage facility. The facility covers
10,000 square feet with a storage capacity of 150,000
samples, extendable immediately to 300,000 samples.
|
| (PTI
Science Service, Jan 1-15, 2009)
|
| Biocontrolling
Congress Grass |
|
Congress grass or parthenium, a native of tropical America,
came to India accidentally in 1955. A rapidly growing
invasive species, this grass competes well for nutrients
and space and reproduces fast. One of the world’s
seven most notorious weeds, parthenium has already taken
over about five million hectares of this country’s
land. Many methods, ranging from manual uprooting, chemical
herbicides to biological control agents, have been proposed
to limit the spread of this uncontrollable variety of
grass. Biocontrol agents are the most preferred as they
are inexpensive and cause few side-effects.
Quite a few bioagents, including the leaf beetle, Zygogramma
sp, and the rust fungus, Puccinia abrupta, have been
used in the management of parthenium in different parts
of the world with some limitation in field trials. Further
need based research is continuing in this area.
|
| (Down
to Earth, Feb 16-18, 2009)
|
| DRUGS/PHARMACEUTICALS |
| Experimental
Malaria Vaccine |
An
experimental malaria vaccine was able to reduce the
rate of infection and disease in children by 53 to
65 percent in two clinical trials conducted in Africa,
according to studies released recently. Researchers
have been trying to develop a vaccine for the deadly
mosquito-borne illness which kills nearly a million
people a year and sickens 250 million others for more
than 70 years.
The vaccine was first developed by GlaxoSmithKline
in the late 1980’s and initially tested in US
volunteers. The drug company entered a partnership
with the nonprofit group PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative
in 2001 to test the vaccine in African children. They
are on track to start the final phase of clinical
trials at sites across Africa early this year to confirm
and evaluate the vaccine’s efficacy, better
determine its duration and closely monitor its safety.
In the published trials, researchers separately studied
two groups of children in Kenya and Tanzania.
|
|
(PTI Science Service, Dec 16-31, 2008)
|
| New
Diagnostic Tests |
| Researchers
from the Harvard University in US invented a device
called the 3D µPAD that could do away with the
requirement of a laboratory analysis as the present
method of testing blood for iron, glucose and protein
levels is found to be time-consuming and costly. Also
the device is portable and can be used to test various
constituents of blood simultaneously. Even urine samples
can be analyzed this way. The researchers arranged vertical
stacks of patterned paper with alternating water impermeable
double-sided adhesive tapes. The arrangement was such
that between each two layers of paper there was a layer
of adhesive tape creating a three-dimensional network
of paper-tape-paper and so on.
This technology can make up for detection in places
where the doctor can’t reach on time. Depending
on the number of inlets, one device can test blood or
urine samples of the entire family. The more the number
of detection spots (which can be increased by increasing
the stacks of paper), the more the number of constituents
to be tested.
|
| (Down
to Earth, Feb 1-15, 2009)
|
| ELECTRONICS/COMMUNICATIONS |
Energy
Efficient Communications
|
The
communicating devices are generally portable, powered
by small batteries that need to be recharged regularly.
This can be expensive and time consuming, reducing
the device’s efficiency. Bangalore-based American
multinational called Honeywell Technology Solutions
Lab (htsl), has devised an energy efficient communication
technology that uses silence to transmit data. In
the world of wireless communication, data sent by
a transmitter is converted into a binary language
consisting of 0 and 1. The silent symbol technology
allows the transmitter to stop transmitting when it
reads 0. The receiver is programmed to understand
that the absence of a signal denotes 0. Hence energy
is conserved while transmitting parts of the message.
At the same time the complete message is sent. In
other words, information is communicated even when
a signal is not transmitted. Research claims that
technology halves the time needed for transmission
and also saves 33-50% energy both at the transmitter
and at the receiver.
Research would be beneficial in setting up wireless-based
development projects in rural areas where availability
of electricity is unpredictable, making it difficult
to recharge batteries.
|
| (Down
to Earth, Feb 1-15, 2009) |
| Sensor
for Health Monitoring |
GE
Global Research has announced that its scientists
have developed a low-cost wireless medical sensing
platform, a potential product application that includes
neonatal and home health monitoring. The technology
development arm of General Electric Company said the
scientists have transformed a common and commercially
available GE sensor for home security into an innovative,
intelligent wireless medical sensing platform.
One of the most promising applications of this new
technology could be in neonatal infant health monitoring.
Further GE’s sensing technology could enable
new applications in elder and outpatient care as well
by enabling remote monitoring of the health and well-being
of a patient and loved one.
|
(PTI
Science Service, Apr 1-15, 2009)
|
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