Science & technology

Many believe that a historic Jesus statue, paraded every year, brings good fortune Throngs of believers flung themselves at a historic statue of Jesus Christ as it was paraded through the Philippine capital on Wednesday in an annual festival that is one of the world’s biggest shows of Catholic zeal. …

Tech giant unveils ‘interpreter mode’ that can translate between two people in real time Dumb charades in hotel lobbies between a concierge and tourists who don’t speak the local language may soon be a thing of the past. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 currently on in Las Vegas, …

HD 21749b orbits a dwarf star about 53 light years away in the constellation of Reticulum NASA’s latest planet-hunting probe has discovered a new world outside our solar system, orbiting a dwarf star 53 light years away.This is the third new planet confirmed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) …

Researchers have identified glucagon producing cells in the pancreas that can mimic functions of damaged or missing insulin-producing cells, an advance that may lead to cures for diabetes. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/our-body-may-cure-itself-of-diabetes-in-future-study/article25936011.ece

Besides affecting health, prolonged exposure to air pollution can also reduce employee’s productivity, finds a study. The study showed that daily fluctuations in pollution did not immediately affect the productivity of workers. However, a definite drop in output was witnessed when measured for more prolonged exposures of up to 30 …

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have experimentally shown that methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) can exist as gas hydrates at temperatures and pressures seen in interstellar atmosphere. Gas hydrates are formed when a gas such as methane gets trapped in well-defined cages of water molecules forming crystalline …

Principal Scientific Adviser slams remarks made at of the 106th Indian Science Congress Responding to pseudo-scientific discourse at the ongoing 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC) in Punjab, India’s Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), K. VijayRaghavan, in blog post, said that a formal complaint should be lodged against the speaker, and India’s …

A 14-year-old boy in the U.S. who was allegedly driving an SUV that caused a fatal car accident has been arrested on a murder charge.The Texas Harris County Sheriff’s Office says the SUV was filled with teens who were throwing eggs at other cars on Tuesday afternoon when another driver …

Inspired by the magic carpet featured in the folk tale of ‘Aladdin’, researchers have designed a two-dimensional, shape-changing sheet that moves autonomously in a reactant-filled fluid. The ‘magic carpet’ in tales from One Thousand and One Nights captures the imagination not only because it can fly, but because it can …

Ultima Thule, an icy celestial body, is aptly shaped like a giant snowman, NASA scientists have announced.The first detailed images beamed back from the U.S. agency’s New Horizons mission allowed scientists to confidently determine the body was formed when two spheres, or “lobes,” slowly gravitated towards each other until they …

The Indian cricket team does not have to adopt a vegan diet to avoid fat and cholesterol if it eats the meat of the famous Kadaknath chickens of Madhya Pradesh.In a letter to Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and the Board of Control for Cricket in India written on the …

On December 31, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas quietly progressed towards manufacture in an enhanced, battle standard format.A new ‘limited’ clearance from Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, for the fighter aircraft green-lights its production in a superior lethal version, …

NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft has beamed back new images of volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon Io, captured during the mission’s 17th flyby of the gas giant. On December 21, four of Juno’s cameras captured images of the Jovian moon Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system. Source : …

It is dedicated to Urdu writer Razia The second edition of Parallel Literature Festival (PLF), which started last year as an answer to the Jaipur Literature Festival, will be organised here from January 27 to 29 to provide a forum to distinguished personalities from the fields of literature, art, culture …

Start-up uses artificial intelligence to identify behavioural changes to improve employee satisfaction Technology companies like to promote artificial intelligence’s potential for solving some of the world’s toughest problems, like reducing automobile deaths and helping doctors diagnose diseases. A company started by three former Google employees is pitching AI as the …

Scientists have successfully used sound waves to levitate and manipulate multiple objects simultaneously for the first time, using the system to “sew” a thread into a piece of fabric. The system could be use to acoustically stitch up internal injuries or deliver drugs to target organs. Sound exerts a small …

Lupin Ltd. on Monday announced a partnership with global pharmaceutical giant AbbVie for the development and commercialisation of its novel oncology drug to treat hematological cancers. AbbVie has entered into a licensing agreement with Lupin for its MALT1 (Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma Translocation Protein 1) inhibitor programme and taken the …

India on Sunday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km. The flight was tested from Integrated Test Range at the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island near here. The indigenously developed Agni-IV is a two-stage missile.PTI Source Link : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nuclear-capable-agni-iv-missile-successfully-test-fired/article25815942.ece

Researchers have genetically modified a common indoor plant, pothos ivy, to remove pollutants inside the house, according to a new study. They put modified plant and normal pothos ivy in glass tubes and added either benzene or chloroform gas into each tube. They found that the concentration of either gas …

Researchers at University of Cambridge programmed it to play a number of short musical phrases Scientists have been building and programming piano-playing robots for decades. But there’s something different about a new robotic hand that tickles the ivories with techniques usually reserved for humans. Rather than relying on a maze …