Science & technology

The sensor could detect levels of the analytes in spiked human serum and urine Developing electrochemical sensors to detect dopamine and paracetamol in the body is an active field of research. A team from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, has come up with a nanocomposite material made …

Why not convert CO2 into solid carbonate rocks? As we have kept on burning more and more of organic fuel, such as coal and crude oil, over the last century across the world, the amount of the oxidation product, carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere has reached alarming levels, causing …

Despite being an attractive drug target, designing inhibitors against HupB protein has been largely unsuccessful till now By using a small single-stranded DNA molecule (DNA aptamer) that specifically binds to a single protein (HupB) present in TB bacteria, researchers have been able to achieve 40-55% reduction in the bacteria’s ability …

Diplomats praise new skills ofrural women A group of 45 women from 10 countries, ‘solar mamas’ who learnt the skills needed for the fabrication of solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits in a six-month-long training programme, were felicitated at a ‘graduation ceremony’ at the Barefoot College here on Saturday. Diplomats …

Scientists who tracked collared animals found that social learning of migration routes was better down the generations Young watch the old The researchers didn’t study how the knowledge is passed along within the herds, but it’s probably from young animals watching their mothers or other herd members, said the study’s …

A robot submarine able to hunt and kill the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish devastating the Great Barrier Reef was unveiled by Australian researchers on Friday. Scientists at Queensland University of Technology said the robot, named the RangerBot and developed with a grant from Google, would serve as a “robo reef protector” …

In a significant move, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has decided to migrate its cloud servers to India to store data locally. The migration would cover all Indian user data across Xiaomi’s e-commerce platform — (www.mi.com/in/), Mi Community (in.c.mi.com), Mi Cloud, MIUI (Xiaomi Market, feed, Mi Video, advertising, Mi Messaging, push …

It might seem harmless at first: a thread of dental floss tossed in the toilet, a contact lens swirling down the drain of the bathroom sink. But even the tiniest items can contaminate waterways. The small fragments of plastic contact lenses are believed to be contributing to the growing problem …

The Defence Ministry is shortly expected to release project-specific implementation guidelines for the 111 naval utility helicopters to be procured under the Strategic Partnership (SP) model. However, foreign companies say there is still some clarity required on crucial legal, liability and technology transfer issues. “There are two important issues that …

In a major effort to improve emergency medical support to soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen, the Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to set up telemedicine nodes in critical places across the country. …

Indian companies are investing more on securing their data rather than pumping money into technology as they try to build comprehensive solutions to prevent hackers from attacking their networks, said Sanjai Gangadharan, regional director SAARC, at U.S. cybersecurity firm A10 Networks. “IT budgets are shrinking and security budgets are going …

Setting aside its ban on the sale of oxytocin, the Health Ministry has allowed private retail stores to sell the life-saving hormone from September 1, an official said on Thursday. State-owned Karnataka Antibiotics Pvt Ltd will be the only company to manufacture and distribute oxytocin in India from September 1. …

Rail patrol men, foot soldiers and key men of track maintenance of the Indian Railways, have also gone digital. With smartphones in everyone’s hands these days, the South Central Railway (SCR) has been successfully monitoring the condition of track, overhead power lines etc., making use of a mobile app to …

A national effort is needed to develop and produce advanced and exotic materials to drive the future space programme, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Sivan has said. Along with high propulsion systems for its launch vehicles, the ISRO is pursuing materials that have extraordinary properties, such as aluminium …

The deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient Scientists have confirmed the presence of frozen water deposits in the darkest and coldest parts of the moon’s polar regions using data from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, that was launched by India 10 years ago, NASA said on Tuesday. With enough …

R&M’s Bengaluru unit marks its first Asia Pacific investment R&M (Reichle & De-Massari AG), a Swiss cabling solutions provider, has set up a manufacturing facility in Bengaluru as it aims to tap a surge in demand from communication networks and data centres in the country. The company plans to set …

Drinking high-protein milk at breakfast can help lower blood glucose level throughout the day, suggests a study. The findings showed that milk consumed with a high-carbohydrate breakfast reduced blood glucose even after lunch. Milk with an increased proportion of whey protein had a modest effect on pre-lunch blood glucose, achieving …

Robots can influence the opinions and decisions of young children, according to a study published in the journal Science Robotics. The study shows that kids are significantly more susceptible to manipulation by machines than adults. Researchers from University of Plymouth in the U.K. compared how adults and children respond to …

Residents of Tripoli’s seafront wake up most weekends to loud blasts: fishermen using dynamite to maximise their catch, regardless of the damage they are causing to marine life. Dynamite fishing, or “blast fishing”, has flourished — with impunity — since Libya’s 2011 uprising that left the country awash with weapons …

Dodgy lip sync dubbing could soon become a thing of the past as researchers have developed an Artificial Intelligence-based system that can edit the facial expressions of actors to accurately match dubbed voices. The AI system, called Deep Video Portraits, can also be used to correct gaze and head pose …