Science & technology

The influence of James Cameron, the Canadian-American filmmaker, whose cinema has frequently explored the mysteries of the deep ocean, looms large on scientists at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai. Ananda Ramadass asks this correspondent. The documentary charts Mr. Cameron’s solitary, 10,000-metre journey down the Marianna Trench …

The US military said its MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed into the Black Sea after a Russian Su-27 fighter jet damaged its propeller. It is a remotely piloted drone. It can reach up to 50,000 feet for more than 27 hours, gathering intelligence with cameras, sensors and radars. It can also carry precision strikes. Black Sea ·        The Black Sea is a mediterranean …

Researchers have created a design for a ‘glowscope’, a device that could democratise access to fluorescence microscopy. An optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light. A fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it re-emits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces. The process: The object is illuminated with light …

Stepping up from its ongoing initiative of providing potable water on six islands of Lakshadweep using low temperature thermal desalination (LTTD) technology, the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is working at making this process free of emissions. Key details: Currently, the desalination plants are powered by diesel generator sets — …

Minister for State  for Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences informed Lok Sabha that Deep Ocean Mission would not result in any over exploitation of the marine resources by the corporate houses and will not affect the life and livelihoods of fishers in the country. The mission is …

For well over a century, the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun, capturing images of sunspots, and recording changes in its behaviour. KoSO is owned and operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun. The idea was first proposed by the astronomer Norman Pogson, …

AI is the digital distillation of a technological revolution that is facilitating the long-overdue evolution of the human mind. AI, as fear-inducing as anything disruptive and new is, can trigger new avenues of intelligence in human minds. These new avenues enable us to understand and attack society’s greatest challenges today. …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) satellite from the U.S. space agency. NISAR is a Low Earth Orbit observatory jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. According to ISRO, NISAR will map the entire globe in 12 days and provide spatially and temporally consistent data …

The theme for International Women’s Day 2023 is ‘DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.’ The transformational and all-encompassing role of digital technology is growing even faster in the post-pandemic world. But sadly, the digital revolution also poses the challenge of perpetuating gender inequality, which is increasingly noticeable in the …

That OpenAI’s ChatGPT has received a lot of attention is well known by now. Recently, two journalists from the United States polling company, FiveThirtyEight, asked the artificial intelligence chatbot to create an 800-word piece regarding public perception of AI chatbots. “A 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center,” the chatbot …