Tag Archives: India World Record

INTERNATIONAL: ARTS : INDIA’s HUMAN- WILD LIFE CO-EXISTENCE- Installation in New York, USA : A herd from Nilgiris takes over New York, throws spotlight on a jumbo problem

The statues have been conceptualised by Gudalur-based The Real Elephant Collective (TREC) and sculpted from boiled Lantana by 200 tribal artisans from the Nilgiris, who make up the Coexistence Collective.

At the elegant Meatpacking district of New York, where shopfronts have names such as Rolex, Gucci and Hermes, a different kind of display is attracting the crowds — a herd of 100 wild elephants that has made its way from Gudalur in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri hills to the US.

In the parade are kind-eyed matriarchs, playful calves, bulls with outstretched trunks and grand tuskers. These elephants are made of Lantana, one of the 10 worst invasive plant species in the world, that’s making food scarce for these giants in the forests and driving them out.

The statues of the pachyderms make up The Great Elephant Migration, a public art installation that has been to Kochi, London and Bengaluru before trumpeting into New York, where it is one of the biggest such works on display. The installation, which highlights the importance of human-wildlife coexistence and the need to protect Asian elephants, is the brainchild of a UK-based conservation group, Elephant Family USA.

The statues have been conceptualised by Gudalur-based The Real Elephant Collective (TREC) and sculpted from boiled Lantana by 200 tribal artisans from the Nilgiris, who make up the Coexistence Collective. “The scene in New York is hard to describe. It is amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of people, all so moved by the elephants. People who live nearby keep coming back and volunteering to look after the elephants,” says Tarsh Thekaekara, a researcher and conservationist who works on human-animal inclusive models of nature conservation.

Tarsh, who co-founded TREC with Subhash, Subhra Nayar and Tariq Thekaekara, says,“The logistics of travelling with the elephants is not difficult. The challenging part is to push the message of coexistence. Traditional conservation assumes that we need to protect only the pockets of forests and ignore the rest. That is not working. Animals are coming out of forests everywhere in the world.”

And who would know about human-animal conflict better than the tribals? Gudalur lies in the middle of the Western Ghats, located between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and close to four forest reserves, Mudumalai, Wayanad, Bandipur and Mukurthi. Locals here have grown up seeing elephants and leopards around their houses, but fatal elephant attacks have risen over the past few years.K

Ramesh Madan, who is in his 30s and belongs to the Betta Kurumba tribe, says, “When I was a child, an elephant or two would come (to our houses) in the jackfruit season. I have never known so many elephants to come near our houses, as has been happening in the last few years. When we go into the forest to collect things, I can see that Lantana has taken over large parts. It is the reason why elephants are coming out of the forest.”

A weed that sports clusters of small, colourful flowers, Lantana camara was brought to India by the British as an ornamental plant in the 1800s. According to a study in the Journal of Applied Ecology in October 2023, Lantana has penetrated over 5,74,186 sq km of India, including 50 per cent of the country’s natural areas.

In a takeover by Lantana, which is fast-growing and toxic, a forest gets completely matted, not allowing for growth of any other plant species. Deprived of their food sources, animals are pushed out of forests into urban areas. Moreover, as Lantana goes up trees, forest fires become more widespread. TERC co-founder Subhash says, “If trees burn, they don’t come back as quickly as grasses.”

Tarsh, Subhash, Subhra and Tariq, who were schoolmates, came back to Gudalur to contribute to their home. Between 2013 and 2015, TREC started a mapping exercise at the four forest reserves in collaboration with the Shola Trust in Gudalur. “Initially, the forest department was in denial and we had to physically ascertain how bad the Lantana problem was. We found that 30-40 per cent of the forest was taken over by Lantana. If 30 per cent of land area is not viable for animals, it could be the reason elephants were coming out of forests,” says Subhash.

It was Tarsh and Subhra who first came across Ruth Ganesh, a trustee of the Elephant Family. The organisation creates outdoor figures of elephants to draw attention and finances for the protection of Asian elephants. TREC, which was looking for fresh ideas, wondered if it could make life-size elephant statues out of Lantana. “What was beautiful in that whole exercise was that the indigenous communities did not need to be taught to make the elephant figures,” says Subhash.

In the workshop above his office in Gudalur, artisans from the Soliga, Betta Kurumba, Kattunayakan and Paniya tribes are immersed in creating elephant statues. Each model is a likeness of a real wild elephant that the tribals coexist with. Subhra, who has a background in puppetry, is the resident designer. Using photographs, she constructs metal structures of elephants over which the artisans place strips of Lantana, which are cut out from the forest by a group. “Lantana are boiled and used for the sculptures,” says Tarsh.

The pieces are sold by TREC to partners, who auction them in the US and the UK, among others. The profits go into supporting human-wildlife coexistence projects across the world, including India. In India, the funds are disseminated through the Coexistence Consortium, which comprises ecologists, anthropologists, geographers and conservationists, among others, who promote the concept of coexistence.

M Ranjini, also from the Betta Kurumba tribe, manages the production of the Lantana elephants. “We feel hopeful that the New York exhibition is spreading our message,” she says.

India’s policy on invasive species is, according to Delhi-based naturalist and author Pradip Krishen, “patchy at best and close to nil at worst”. “We are one of the last countries in the world to have an official Invasive Alien Species (IAS) list. In Delhi, where I live, the forest department stands by while a highly invasive tree like subabool (Leucaena leucocephala) fills up the Ridge and unoccupied verges in the city. The invasive vilayati kikar accounts for more than 90 per cent of the trees inside the huge Central Ridge in the heart of the city. Delhi’s Tree Act is completely silent about invasive plants. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that awareness might be 4 or 5, but effective action and policy remain abysmally low at 1 or 0.5,” he adds.

Krishen says that Lantana — like Chromolaena — has proliferated under the noses of forest authorities. “I have heard foresters say that Lantana is being unnecessarily demonised and that it provides habitat for small animals like hares and pigs, as well as food for bears, butterflies, and so on. This needs to be weighed against the harm Lantana does to natural habitats, such as pushing out native plant species, reducing forage for wild ungulates (animals with hoofs), having many deleterious effects especially on the herbaceous layer and greatly reducing biodiversity. The areas most affected are dry deciduous forests, which includes all of northern India upto the sub-Himalayan zone, all of Central India, parts of the arid zone in the west excluding the Thar desert and along the Eastern Ghats,” he says.

Subhash adds that, for generations, tribal communities managed forests. “After the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, they were stopped from accessing forests. Controlled forest floor fires are one of the ways indigenous communities manage forests. That helped because grasses grew well and so herbivores did well. With Lantana taking over the forest, the viability of forests was reduced. We would like indigenous communities to access forests so that they can actively participate in its management. This became another driver for us to get involved,” he says.

Tarsh adds, “If we carry on with the traditional model, we are creating pockets of forests that are being taken over by the Lantana. We are destroying the rest of the world and creating unhealthy environments for ourselves to live in. That is what we have to change. It is the vision that we are pushing overall with the Lantana elephants and it is not easy for people to grasp. They see the elephant, are amazed by it and take home the word ‘coexistence’. But, slowly, coexistence is a bigger message that we will be driving.”

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SCIENTISTS: Joe Biden honours 2 Indian-American scientists Ashok Gadgil and Subra Suresh for remarkable medical discoveries

Two Indian American scientists were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday.

Two Indian American scientists were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday.

The two Indian-Americans — Ashok Gadgil and Subra Suresh — were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and the National Medal of Science, respectively.

President Biden also honoured leading American scientists, technologists, and innovators at the award ceremony.

The scientists, who were honoured at the event, made discoveries enabling lifesaving medical treatments, helping fight the opioid epidemic, improving food security, advancing accessibility, and much more.

“Today, President Biden is awarding the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to a number of Americans who have made exemplary achievements in science, technology, and innovation to strengthen our nation’s well-being, ” the White House said in a statement.

The National Medal of Science is the nation’s highest scientific honour, established by the US Congress in 1959 and administered by the US National Science Foundation. “It is bestowed by the President of the United States on individuals deserving of special recognition for their outstanding contributions in biology, computer sciences, education sciences, engineering, geosciences, mathematical and physical sciences, and social, behavioural, and economic sciences, in service to the Natio,” the statement added.

“Those who earn these awards embody the promise of America by pushing the boundaries of what is possible,” it added.

Further, according to the official statement, these trailblazers harnessed the power of science and technology to tackle challenging problems and deliver innovative solutions for Americans and communities worldwide.

The accomplishments made by the awardees have advanced American leadership in science, technology, and innovation and their work inspires the next generation of American minds, it added.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: CHINESE VISITOR to INDIA IN 629 CE : Xuanzang – The early visitor to Nalanda, all the way from China. Excerpts of William Dalrymple’s latest Book – ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’

Xuanzang’s epic journey to one of India’s largest early centres of learning. An excerpt from William Dalrymple’s latest book ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’.

Late in the autumn of 629 CE, a tall, well-built man, twenty-nine years old, set off on foot from the walled capital city of Chang’an. He was heading westwards, towards the wastes of the Taklamakan desert and beyond that, so he hoped, over the peaks of the Pamirs.

In many ways the walker could not have chosen a worse time to set off on such an ambitious journey. The country was still in the middle of a civil war, and robbers and brigands haunted the unpoliced roads. To make matters worse, there was also a ban on citizens leaving the country, part of an attempt by the new Tang authorities to stop people joining the insurgent groups lurking in the western border country. But the walker was no rebel. Instead he was an urbane and learned monk, ordained into one of the most philosophical of the Mahayana Buddhist orders.

Xuanzang wanted to travel to the source of the religious tradition to which he had given his life. Specifically, he wanted to enrol at the great Indian Buddhist monastery and university of Nalanda. There he wished to study the manuscripts held in the largest Buddhist library in the world. Nalanda, however, lay 3,000 perilous miles south-west of Chang’an, and getting there would be no easy task, particularly as the Tang authorities had just turned down his application for a travel permit.

Not only was it a time of violent upheaval, it was also the year of a great famine, and there was every likelihood that if the authorities or the brigands did not stop Xuanzang, starvation would. But the monk was well used to taking risks. Although he had been born into a family of elite Confucian scholars and public officials — his great-grandfather had been Governor of Shandong and his grandfather was the head of the Imperial College at Beijing, in reward for which the Emperor had endowed the family with the revenues of an entire town — it was nevertheless Xuanzang’s fate to live in the violent and fractured period between two great dynasties. One, the Sui, was falling and the other, the Tang, had yet fully to establish itself.

Xuanzang’s father, a “brilliant and elegant man, with bright eyes, who used to dress himself in the manner of a Confucian scholar”, reacted to the disintegration of his world by immersing himself in the classics. “Anticipating the fall of the Sui, he
buried himself in his study with his books. Many offers of distinguished
positions were pressed on him, which he persistently refused.”

After his death, two of his sons became Buddhist monks, hoping to find within themselves a peace that was notably absent in the world around them. But there was no escape from the endemic violence. In 618, aged thirteen, Xuanzang and his elder brother had had to flee for their lives through the fields along the Yellow River after their monastery in Luoyang was threatened. At this time, according to Xuanzang’s friend and biographer Huili, “the House of Sui lost power, and the country fell into a great turmoil”.

The imperial capital became a nest for brigands like Zhe the Bandit, and the region between the Yellow River and the Luo river turned into a cavern for men as brutal as jackals and wolves. Civilisation collapsed, and the Buddhist community dispersed. White skeletons were scattered at crossroads and the region was depopulated;
no smoke drifted from cooking fires.

Xuanzang was deeply troubled. It was not just that society was disintegrating in front of his eyes; he was worried that the Buddhist tradition he lived and studied was deeply corrupted too. He could see that the texts he used were full of errors and discrepancies. “When he compared editions of the holy scriptures,” wrote Huili, “they showed differences either vaguely or manifestly, so that he was at a loss to decide which of the theories he should follow.” Despite risking his life travelling through the burning countryside from monastery to monastery in search of Buddhist masters who could resolve these inconsistencies, he found none who could adequately answer his questions. Xuanzang felt a growing need “to make further specialised studies and to resolve the contradictions… Thus he resolved to travel to the West, to India, to clear his doubts.”

He had heard that the university monastery of Nalanda contained the fullest and most complete collections of the texts of the tradition known as Yogacara, a spiritual path first outlined by the Gandharan monk Asanga, at the dictation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, or so the monks maintained.

Asanga maintained that our experience of the world is nothing but an illusion, a misleading creation of our own consciousness. Xuanzang believed the writings of Asanga’s Yogacara school to be the peak of all Buddhist thought, and the one which had preserved the most profound and authentic secrets of his own Mahayana tradition. In particular Xuanzang wished to seek out one specific manuscript — the Yogacarabhumi, “Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Practice”. This was a text for which Xuanzang had been searching all his adult life.

Xuanzang had also heard that at Nalanda the supreme master of Yogacara, a 106-year-old scholar called the Venerable Shilabhadra, was still teaching and, despite his age, taking on new pupils. Ignoring the many dangers, Xuanzang resolved to set off westwards, knowing that centuries earlier other Chinese monks such as Faxian had successfully made the same journey and returned alive, even leaving brief accounts of their journeys. “As the road was obstructed and long,” wrote Xuanzang, “the transmission [of Buddhism to China] was still incomplete… Secretly praying for spiritual protection, I determined to go out from the land of my birth and throw myself into the realm of ten thousand deaths. When passing in the footsteps of the Buddha, I paid my respects to the numinous [presence] he left behind. If there were people who propagated the dharma, I sought out their authentic teaching. When I passed through a place, I was moved to see what I had never seen before. When I encountered a word, I rejoiced at hearing what I had never heard before. In this way, I exhausted my life’s resources to copy texts that were missing at home.”

Xuanzang’s sixteen years of travels, and the different accounts that he, his biographer Huili and his various followers and correspondents have left of his journey, bring to light an entire world that is otherwise lost in shadow and archaeological ambiguity. It is not just that we find ourselves able to draw on a sudden glut of well-verified letters to and from Xuanzang and his learned correspondents; we also have Xuanzang’s own travel book, The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, the most comprehensive account of seventh-century Central Asia and India ever produced, and written with all the care of a sceptical scholar who was unusually scrupulous in matters of fact. “Although it was difficult to exhaustively verify all matters,” he wrote in a postscript, “I never resorted to speculation.” Most remarkable of all, at over 80,000 characters, Huili’s biography, written during his master’s old age and completed after his death, is the fullest single biography to survive from pre-modern China.

These different sources illuminated the intellectual and spiritual bedrock of the Indian ideas that were finding their way over the mountains and deserts and coming to change the way people in China lived and thought. It is one of the richest moments of cultural and philosophical interaction in world history. In the course of China’s first really intimate encounter with an equal civilisation, not only did Buddhism profoundly transform China, bringing about a massive metamorphosis of its arts, history, society and culture at both popular and court levels; at the same time, and no less profoundly, Buddhism was changed and moulded by China.

No one really knows when Buddhism first reached China. Xuanzang himself believed that it had arrived as a result of “a dream of the Emperor of the Han dynasty”. According to this legend, the Chinese Emperor Ming (r.58-75CE) had a vision of a golden being who had a nimbus behind his head that shone like the sun. The Emperor asked his advisers about this strange apparition and was told that in the west there was a deity named the Buddha. “As a result,” wrote Xuanzang, “envoys were sent to the West, and consequently the Right Dharma was transmitted.”

Excerpted with permission from ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed The World’ by William Dalrymple, published by Bloomsbury

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SPORTS: WORLD RECORD- SHOOTING: World Deaf Shooting Championship: Dhanush Srikanth breaks world records as India sweeps men’s air rifle event

India dominated the men’s 10m air rifle event on day two of the second World Deaf Shooting Championship in Hanover, Germany, with Dhanush Srikanth, Shourya Saini, and Mohammed Murtaza Vania making a clean sweep of the medals.

Dhanush set two world records in a single day, first by scoring 632.7 in the qualification round, followed by a stunning 251.7 in the final.

His performance left Shourya, who secured the silver with a score of 249.9, trailing by a significant margin.

Mohammed Murtaza Vania claimed the bronze with a score of 226.2.

In addition to their success in the men’s event, India also shone bright in the women’s category with Mahit Sandhu and Natasha Joshi winning silver and bronze respectively, adding to the country’s medals tally.

The Indian contingent had already secured four medals on the first day of the competition, including one gold, two silver and a bronze.

( Source : PTI )

source/content: deccanchronicle.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SCIENCE & HEALTH : VACCINES: Chhattisgarh scientists develop new biomarkers to predict Covid severity

The new biomarkers have been designed to diagnose early stages of infection in patients who are affected with severe COVID-19 illness.

In a major breakthrough, the scietist of the Multi-Disciplinary Research Unit (MRU) in Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar hospital, Raipur, have introduced the country’s first-ever bio marker kit that could provide early-stage severity assessment of Covid.

The research, published in Scientific Reports, a journal by the Nature Publishing Group, holds promise for enhancing patient care during the pandemic. The new biomarkers have been designed to diagnose early stages of infection in patients who are affected with severe COVID-19 illness. With the help of an invented kit, doctors will be able to decide whether it is necessary to hospitalise the patient or he can recover at home through medicines.

Under the headship of Dr Jagannath Pal, the team utilising leftover samples from routine Covid-19 tests, has developed a method with impressive accuracy-boasting a sensitivity of 91 per cent and a specificity of 94 per cent in non-comorbid.

The MRU’s research also aligns with the Prime Minister’s “Make in India” initiative. The project was supported by the health administration of Chhattisgarh and funded by the Department of Health Research (DHR), Government of India.

How the kit works

The test results determine the response of adaptive immunity to new virus infection. The test required input of leftover RNA followed by the routine COVID-19 diagnosis by RT-PCR. Complementary DNA is prepared from RNA samples by reverse transcription.

The complementary DNA is used for subsequent qPCR reactions to determine the expression of the signature genes. By analyzing the level of the genes we determine a “Severity Score”. If the score is lower than a cut-off value it indicates the good immune response (T-cell) suggesting low risk and the patient could recover without the requirement of advanced medical facility or extra drug treatments. If the score is higher than a cut-off value it indicates a poor immune response (T-cell) suggesting high risk and patients may require advanced medical facility or extra drug treatments for recovery. The same test could be used for other virus infection also.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICINE: CANCER RESEARCH: President Murmu launches India’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer -‘CAR-T cell therapy’

President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday launched India’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer at IIT Bombay.

Describing the newly-launched treatment, named “CAR-T cell therapy,” as a beacon of hope, President Murmu expressed confidence that the therapy will provide a new lease of life to countless cancer patients.

CAR-T cell therapy, considered a groundbreaking advancement in medical science, has long been available in developed nations. However, its prohibitive costs have rendered it beyond the reach of many.

President Murmu said that the therapy is not only accessible but also the world’s most affordable CAR-T cell therapy.

She applauded the collaborative efforts between the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Tata Memorial Hospital, and industry partner ImmunoACT, highlighting the indigenous therapy as an example of the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives.

source/content: ddnews.gov.in (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SPACE FRONTIERS : India’s first National Space Day: August 23rd, 2024 – PM Modi and ISRO chief reflect on India’s space milestones

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday extended his greetings to the nation on the occasion of the first National Space Day. In a message shared on X, the Prime Minister expressed immense pride in India’s remarkable achievements in the space sector.

“Greetings to everyone on the first National Space Day. We recall with great pride our nation’s achievements in the space sector. It is also a day to laud the contributions of our space scientists,” Prime Minister Modi said.

Highlighting the government’s commitment to advancing the space sector, the Prime Minister said, “Our government has taken a series of futuristic decisions relating to this sector, and we will do even more in the times to come.”

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S. Somanath praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his role in strengthening India’s space ecosystem.

Speaking to ANI, Somanath highlighted recent policy reforms and initiatives under the leadership of PM Modi toward advancing the space sector.

The ISRO chief said that PM Modi’s leadership has been crucial in several key policy interventions in India’s space sector. “As Prime Minister, Modi has not only created but also implemented policies through the governmental system,” he said.

Underscoring three major initiatives, the ISRO chief said, “After the space sector reforms, we worked on a space policy. This new policy clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Space, ISRO, and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), paving the way for greater private sector involvement in space activities.”

“A foreign direct investment policy has also been announced, allowing private and foreign investments in the space sector with certain controls and regulations that were not possible earlier. The third initiative, undertaken by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), involves the geospatial policy. This policy makes all geospatial and satellite data freely available up to a five-meter resolution, creating secondary effects,” he added.

Reflecting on recent milestones, Somanath recalled the Prime Minister’s live participation in the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing event. “I remember our Prime Minister Modi watching the live transmission and taking a moment from the BRICS summit to join us,” he said.

Somanath also recounted Modi’s visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, where he showed keen interest in the Gaganyaan mission and other space projects.

“We were asked to prepare a long-term roadmap, a vision for space 2047 in the Amritkaal. The Prime Minister was delighted with our presentation on future space missions, including the Gaganyaan program and plans for a space station,” Somanath said.

M. Sankaran, Director of the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), also recalled the Prime Minister’s visit to the space center after the success of Chandrayaan-3.

“When he was talking, he was a bit emotional, thanking all of us for our efforts and appreciating everyone’s contributions. He was very clear that we need to involve other government agencies in space activities, which eventually led to the space sector reforms,” Sankaran said while speaking to ANI.

Following the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3, PM Modi declared August 23 as National Space Day and named the landing site ‘Shiva Shakti Point,’ while designating the Chandrayaan-2 landing site as ‘Tiranga Point.’

This historic achievement made India the fourth country to land a rover on the Moon and the first to do so in the Moon’s southern polar region. The celebration aims to inspire future generations and foster interest in space exploration across the nation.

The theme for National Space Day 2024 is “Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga,” reflecting the impact of space achievements on everyday life and the nation’s ambitious space endeavors.

source/content: ddnews.gov.in (headline edited)

NATIONAL: DRONE PATENTS: Patent Granted: Path-Breaking Drone Technology Developed by Anna University Researchers to Revolutionise Package Delivery Applications

A path-breaking technology has been developed by the researchers at the Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai that may open up a new era of drone operations.

The airborne-based intelligent autonomous landing system for mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that come with accurate identification of geographical location of landing sites from the plurality of images captured has been granted patent by the Indian Patent Office, Intellectual Property India.

“The technology would immensely help in the delivery/pick up of load such as weapons, ammunition, medicines, food etc. to armed forces deployed along hilly terrains or inaccessible locations along the border,” said Dr K. Senthil Kumar, Professor and Director, Dr Kalam Advanced UAV Research Centre, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT,

The system developed by his team of researchers is capable of not only finding the precise location of a marker like a particular coloured dress or object on the site and land there safely even if it were to be a hilly terrain with uneven surface and slope. At present, existing UAVs were designed to land at a pre-determined well prepared plain surface locations,

Dr Senthil Kumar explained, “Once the landing site is identified, the position coordinates are obtained and UAV lands at the target including moving platforms. Further, QR code can also be used to enhance reliability. The efficiency of the UAV landing system is increased, landing time is reduced, and the complete process is on-board and autonomous using AI and deep learning algorithms. The system is particularly useful for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) applications.”

According to Dr Senthil Kumar, the UAV landing system could be utilised in high-altitude logistics drones to assist armed and border security forces in day-to-day essential supplies delivery to border posts, emergency relief and rescue operations or delivery of certain goods to strengthen combat missions.

“We now have UAVs with the capability to fly up to 50 kg load to 20 km. Efforts are on to enhance the load to 100 kg and flying distance to 50 km,” he added.

Highlighting the UAVs utility, Dr Senthil Kumar said, besides defence, firefighting and surveillance operations, the intelligent autonomous landing system for mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles could also be used for civilian missions such as organ/medicine delivery in healthcare, product delivery in e-commerce etc.

“The invention marked a significant breakthrough in drone technology as it would revolutionise the package delivery applications. The existing delivery methods were done only by way of airdrop from certain altitudes,” he remarked.

source/content: raksha-anirveda.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH: Single-Molecule Transistor Breakthrough in Nanoelectronics

In a major achievements for nanoelectronics , researchers at the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences have developed a pioneering transistor design that utilises single molecules controlled by mechanical forces.

This innovative approach marks a significant departure from conventional electronic technologies, promising advances in ultra-compact electronics, quantum information processing, and advanced sensing applications.

The breakthrough centres on a technique known as the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ). This method diverges from traditional transistors by using mechanical forces to regulate electronic properties instead of electrical signals. To achieve this, the researchers employed a piezoelectric stack to precisely fracture a macroscopic metal wire, creating a nanometer-scale gap tailored for the insertion of single molecules, such as ferrocene.

Ferrocene, a molecule consisting of an iron atom sandwiched between two cyclopentadienyl rings, displays unique electrical behaviours when subjected to mechanical manipulation. This phenomenon occurs because the mechanical gating process alters the molecular structure, influencing how electrons are transported through the junction.

By exploiting this characteristic, the researchers have demonstrated how mechanical forces can control electronic behaviour at the molecular level, opening new avenues for advanced electronic devices.

Dr Atindra Nath Pal and Biswajit Pabi, leading the research team, found that the orientation of ferrocene molecules between silver electrodes plays a critical role in the transistor’s performance. Their experiments revealed that the device’s electrical conductivity could either be enhanced or diminished based on the specific alignment of the molecules. This discovery highlights the crucial impact of molecular geometry on electronic properties and device functionality.

In further studies, the researchers investigated the use of gold electrodes in combination with ferrocene at room temperature. The results were remarkable: the transistor exhibited a low resistance of approximately 12.9 kΩ, which is about five times the quantum of resistance.

This is notably lower than the typical resistance found in molecular junctions, which averages around 1 MΩ. Such low resistance suggests the potential for developing highly efficient, low-power molecular devices that could revolutionise several technology sectors.

The implications of this breakthrough extend beyond traditional electronics. The ability to precisely control electron transport through single molecules could lead to the development of ultra-compact devices with applications in quantum computing, where managing electron flow with high precision is crucial.

Additionally, the advancements in sensing technology could benefit from the enhanced sensitivity and specificity provided by these molecular-scale devices.

This innovative approach also aligns with broader trends in the technology sector, where there is a growing focus on miniaturisation and energy efficiency. By harnessing mechanical forces to control electronic behaviour, researchers are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in nanoelectronics and paving the way for next-generation technologies that could reshape the digital landscape.

India is making significant headway in the field of Nanotechnology , with groundbreaking advancements in sensor technology and material science that promise to enhance healthcare, food safety, and environmental monitoring.

Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to highly sensitive sensors using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and 2D materials. These low-cost, point-of-care devices quickly detect health conditions, food safety parameters, and environmental pollutants.

Researchers from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) have developed sensors that excel in accuracy and reliability, addressing critical needs in health, food safety, and environmental monitoring.

This achievement by researchers at the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences represents a significant leap forward in the field of nanoelectronics. By integrating single molecules into transistor designs and controlling their properties through mechanical forces, the research team has set new standards for electronic devices.

As this technology evolves, it holds the promise of advancing multiple fields, including quantum information processing, ultra-compact electronics, and advanced sensing applications, heralding a new era of technological innovation.

source/content: opengovasia.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SCIENCE – RESEARCH & DISCOVERY: Living walls: Indian student Prantar Tamuli develops carbon capturing building material in University College London(UCL)

Tamuli developed the C-ELM under the guidance of research supervisors during his MSc in Bio-Integrated Design, even innovating new methods to culture cyanobacteria at home during the Covid-19 lockdown in London.

An Indian student at University College London (UCL) has developed an innovative construction biomaterial that utilises living microorganisms to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, potentially revolutionising the building industry’s carbon footprint.

Prantar Tamuli, a Master’s student in UCL’s Biochemical Engineering Department, recently introduced this material as part of an art installation at St Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland.

The biomaterial, known as a cyanobacterial engineered living material (C-ELM), incorporates living cyanobacteria within translucent panels that can be mounted on the interior walls of buildings. As the microorganisms grow through photosynthesis, they capture carbon dioxide from the air.

“My goal with developing C-ELM is to shift the construction of our future human habitats from being a significant carbon-emitting activity to one that actively sequesters carbon,” Tamuli was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Through a process called biomineralisation, the captured CO2 is converted into calcium carbonate, effectively trapping the carbon.

A kilogram of C-ELM can capture up to 350g of carbon dioxide, while the same amount of traditional concrete would emit approximately 500g of CO2. A wall covered with 150 square metres of these panels could sequester about one tonne of carbon dioxide.

“The potential of this biomaterial is immense. If scaled up and widely implemented, it could significantly reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint,” said Professor Marcos Cruz of UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture and co-director of the Bio-Integrated Design Programme, according to the report by PTI.

Tamuli developed the C-ELM under the guidance of research supervisors during his MSc in Bio-Integrated Design, even innovating new methods to culture cyanobacteria at home during the Covid-19 lockdown in London.

Dr Brenda Parker, co-director of the Bio-Integrated Design Programme, added, “By breaking down traditional disciplinary barriers, we can enable breakthroughs like these. Biotechnology is now in a position to transform sustainable design and construction,” PTI reported.

Inspired by studying stromatolites—ancient structures formed by algal mats—Tamuli focused on the cyanobacteria species *Kamptonema animale*, which grows in long strands that easily bind to surrounding materials within the panels. The calcium carbonate produced by the cyanobacteria strengthens and reinforces the panels.

These panels offer multiple benefits for buildings, including being lightweight, sound-absorbing, translucent enough to allow light to pass through, and thermally insulating to improve energy efficiency.

The first panels were publicly displayed inside the “Bioscope” pavilion at St Andrews Botanic Garden, showcasing low-carbon, nature-inspired construction methods designed by the collective Studio Biocene. A patent for C-ELM technology has been filed by UCL’s commercialisation company, UCL Business.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)