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Astronomy & SpaceNinth Planet Discovered in the Solar System

EARLIER this year, scientists at the California Institute of Technology

presented evidence that a ninth planet exists with an orbital period of 15,000 years and about 19 million miles away. The proposed planet was ten times the

mass of the earth. The fi ndings were published in the January 2016 issue of the Astronomical Journal.

More recently, the same researchers announced that the planet that existed beyond Pluto, may have tilted the entire solar system. Given the hypothesized size and distance of Planet Nine, a six-degree tilt fi ts perfectly into models of the solar system, said Prof. Mike Brown who discovered the planet.

SpaceX Successfully Lands A Rocket VerticallyThe ability to successfully land a rocket vertically allows it to be easily reused, saving huge amounts of money. The private company SpaceX successfully landed a rocket vertically and they did so on a fl oating autonomous drone ship. Traditionally when (spacecra ) is sent into space there is no a empt to salvage them, pushing up costs; for every new venture new rockets are required. SpaceX’s success will ensure that new rockets don’t need to be built for every new mission.

From the discovery of a new planet beyond Pluto to space probe Juno entering Jupiter’s orbit, from the discovery of the biggest prime number to the deepest underwater cave, and from the world’s fastest supercomputer to the world’s fi rst soft-bodied robot, the year 2016 saw some big breakthroughs. Here are some of the most impressive accomplishments of the year.

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COVERCOVER STORY

Asia’s Biggest Telescope: Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT)On 30 March 2016, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel inaugurated Asia’s biggest optical telescope – The Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) – in Nainital, U arakhand. The DOT, a result of Indo-Belgian joint eff ort, is the biggest completely steerable optical telescope in Asia.

It has been developed by the Aryabha a Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital and Belgian company Advanced Mechanical Optical Systems (AMOS). The telescope is a collaboration between Indian, Russian and Belgian scientists that enables the study of star structures, magnetic fi eld structures, explorations of planets and astronomical debris, etc.

This telescope is located at 2.5 km high peaks of splendid hills of the Western Himalayas in Devasthal about 50 km from Nanital in U arakhand and was chosen as the site as it aff orded a clear view of the sky.

This telescope has high-end technology that enables it to be operated with the help of remote control from

anywhere in the world. The telescope will help us peer deep into the mysteries of the space enabling a be er understanding of galaxies, stars, blackholes and much more. India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology DemonstratorOn 23 May 2016, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched a Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstration Program or RLV-TD – a series of technology demonstration missions in a phased approach toward the introduction of a new Two-Stage To Orbit (TSTO), winged, fully reusable launch vehicle in India. The launch was accomplished at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It is India’s fi rst winged body aerospace vehicle operating in a Hypersonic Flight Regime.

ISRO has developed a four fl ight test sequence as part of this development series. The four fl ight test sequence includes the Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX), the Landing Experiment (LEX), the Return Flight Experiment (REX) and the Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX).

The total fl ight duration from launching to landing was 770 seconds.

The launched mission was HEX, the fi rst test in the four fl ight sequence. This fl ight test was conducted to test the capability of the vehicle to survive a re-entry at speeds higher than that of sound.

RLV is being developed at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. A er completion, it will launch spacecra s including satellites into space and re-enter the earth’s atmosphere withstanding the extreme pressure and heat conditions and land at the intended spot, helping to cut costs on launch vehicles substantially.

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Earth Has A Second MoonNASA scientists have discovered an asteroid in stable Earth orbit, making it a constant near-Earth companion, or a second satellite around the Earth. Named 2016 HO3, the asteroid orbits very far from Earth and is more gravitationally aff ected by the Sun than Earth, but it does orbit Earth as well along its orbital path of the Sun. It is too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion, or “quasi-satellite.”

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COVER STORY

Juno – Revealing the Secrets of JupiterIn July 2016, a er an almost fi ve-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet – Jupiter – NASA ‘s Juno probe eff ectively entered the orbit of Jupiter’s circle amid a 35-minute engine burn. Juno’s central objective is to comprehend the origin and evolution of Jupiter. Juno will give us a chance to step forward in our understanding of how mammoth planets form and the part these titans played in assembling the rest of the solar system. World’s Largest TelescopeOnce again in July, China put the fi nishing touches on the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest radio telescope. The telescope is placed in the remote Pingtang County of southwest China’s Guizhou Province. FAST will serve as a useful tool for scientists to detect radio signals from distant planets, gravitational waves and listen for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Researchers said that the ultimate goal of FAST is to discover the laws of the development of the universe. The radio telescope has double sensitivity and 5 to 10 times the surveying speed of the Arecibo Observatory.

Measuring 500 metres in diameter, FAST surpassed the Arecibo Observatory (300 metres in diameter) in Puerto Rico, a dish used in research on stars that led to a Nobel Prize. FAST requires radio silence within a fi ve-kilometre radius (three mile). In a test run before the launch, FAST had detected electromagnetic waves emi ed by a pulsar more than 1,300 light years away.

Nearest Star System May Host A Habitable Planet – Proxima bThe discovery of a roughly Earth-sized planet named Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the sun has produced a considerable measure of buzz.Stargazers utilizing ESO (European Southern Observatory) telescopes and other diff erent facilities have discovered clear evidence of the planet revolving around Proxima Centauri. Just over four light years away from earth, the planet (Proxima b) orbits its cool red-dwarf guardian star once every 11.2 days and has been located at a distance of nearly seven million kilometres. It is believed

that the mass of the planet is about 1.3 times that of the earth.

The speciality of this planet is that it is in the habitable zone of its star. The planet has a reasonable temperature for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is somewhat more massive than the Earth and is the nearest exoplanet to us – and it might likewise be the nearest conceivable residence life outside the Solar System. A paper portraying this fi nding was published in the journal Nature on 25 August 2016.

ISRO Accomplishes Another Landmark with PSLV-C35 LaunchThe PSLV C-35, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty seventh fl ight launched a total of eight satellites into two diff erent orbits in a single fl ight from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) on 26 September 2016. The PSLV C-35 was carrying advanced weather satellite SCATSAT-1 along with seven other co-passenger satellites from Algeria, Canada, USA and two from India.

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COVER STORYThe mission is the longest of the

PSLV missions conducted till date which was completed in 2 hours 15 minutes and 33 seconds a er li -off .

The PRATHAM from IIT Bombay expects to assess the total electron count with a resolution of 1km x 1km location grid and PISAT from the PES University in Bengaluru is expected to investigate remote sensing applications.

The remaining fi ve co-traveller satellites were Algeria’s ALSAT-1B which is an earth observation satellite, ALSAT-2B is a remote sensing satellite and ALSAT-1N is a technology demonstrator. Canada’s NLS-19 is a technology demonstration micro satellite and the United State’s Pathfi nder-1 is a commercial high resolution imaging micro satellite.

With the success of this mission, the PSLV’s ability to launch satellites into two diff erent orbits has been eff ectively demonstrated.

Scientific ResearchGenetic Mutation 800 Million Years Ago Led To Multicellular LifeUniversity of Chicago evolutionary biologist Joseph Thornton and his colleagues found that it was because of an ancient molecule, GK-PID, that single-celled organisms evolved into multicellular organisms approximately 800 million years ago. The evolution of multicellularity is one of the most important events in the history of animal life. But li le is known about the molecular mechanisms by which it took place.

The molecule that the researchers discovered has been found to be able to pull chromosomes together to latch them onto the inner wall of a cell membrane

when division occurs. This allows cells to copy properly and avoid becoming cancerous. However, the researchers also found that the ancient version of GK-PID did not behave in the same way it does currently. It was a single mutation that altered its function that ultimately led to multicellular life, suggesting that multicellular life is the result of a single, identifi able mutation. The paper was published in the 7 January 2016 issue of Elife.

Cavefi sh Shows Similarities To Four-Limbed Vertebrates

A species of cave fi sh has been documented ‘walking’ up waterfalls like a lizard, in a discovery that could help scientists be er understand how land-dwelling tetrapods evolved from prehistoric fi sh. The team of researchers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) travelled to Thailand to study the Cryptotora thamolica, a species of blind fi sh found in a handful of caves. Only around 2,000 of them exist in the wild. They found the fi sh was capable of walking up walls and has the same anatomical capabilities as an amphibian or reptile. The fi ndings were published in Nature Scientifi c on 24 March 2016.

Biggest Prime Number DiscoveredIn January this year, Curtis Cooper of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg announced the discovery of the largest prime number that is 22 million digits long. The new prime number was discovered through the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. The new prime number is 2^74,207,281 – 1. Cooper had also discovered the earlier record holder in 2013.

Bumble Bees Found to Have EmotionsScientists have found that bumblebees may encounter something like bliss a er having a sugary treat that makes them seem more optimistic.

The researchers demonstrated that bumble bees show dopamine-dependent positive emotion–like states across behavioural contexts. They searched for signs of positive or negative emotion in their behaviour. Clint Perry, a neurologist at Queen Mary, University of London and his team trained bees to navigate a small arena to fi nd food in a blue fl ower and no food in a green fl ower, and then tested the bees on a new blue-green fl ower.

The researchers found that the bees that received sugar treat prior to the test took less time to discover ambiguous-coloured fl owers and took less time to re-initiate foraging a er a mimicked insect a ack. This shows that the sugary treat might bring about a positive feeling-like state in bumble bees.

This study was published in the journal Science on 30 September 2016.

World’s Deepest Underwater Cave Discovered Polish diver Krzysztof Starnawski and his team teamed up with some robots to discover the world’s deepest underwater cave in the Czech Republic. The cave, called Hranická Propast, reaches a dizzying depth of 1,325 feet (404 meters).

The expedition team used ROV technology to reach the base of the cave. The limestone abyss was recently measured with the assistance of a Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle (ROV), and determined to be the world’s deepest. The expedition team used ROV technology to reach the base of the cave, because depths past 400 meters are beyond the limits of scuba. Once the team explored the cave’s depths, they found fallen trees, logs and branches at the bo om, suggesting the cave had changed its shape. They also found the cave to be surprisingly large, as it appears to follow a natural rock feature, or a fault line.Ph

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COVER STORYSupramolecule’: Reduce Nuclear, Agricultural WasteThe German scientifi c journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, provides experimental proof for the existence of a chemical bond between two negatively charged molecules of bisulfate, or HSO4, which was once regarded as impossible according to the 250-year-old Coulumb’s law which states that two molecules with the same charge create a repellent force that prevents chemical bonding.

Indiana University researchers have reported the fi rst defi nitive evidence for a new molecular structure with potential applications to the safe storage of nuclear waste and reduction of chemicals that contaminate water and trigger large fi sh kills.

The new molecule in the study was detected using equipment at the IU Bloomington Department of Chemistry’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility, the Laboratory for Biological Mass Spectrometry and the IU Molecular Structure Centre. The ability to produce a negatively charged bisulfate dimer might lead to the advanced search for chemical solutions which has several environmental challenges. Due to its ion-extraction property, the molecule could potentially be used to remove sulfate ions from the process which is used to transform nuclear waste into storable solids – a method called vitrifi cation, which is harmed by these ions – as well as to extract harmful phosphate ions from the environment. New Species of Pika Discovered in Sikkim HimalayasA new species of Pika has been identifi ed in the Himalayan region of Sikkim. The biological name of this new species is Ochotona sikimaria. The research was conducted by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore. Pikas belong to the rabbit and hare family.

They are highly temperature sensitive and cold adapted, hence they live

on high mountains or in cold (temperate) places. In the Himalayas, they are found in very cold environmental conditions at 2600 metre and above. Most Pika species look quite similar to each other. For this reason the Sikkim Pika, in spite being very common in the Sikkim Himalayan region, were considered as an Ochotona thibetana sikimaria.

Researcher Nishma Dahal from NCBS, Bangalore, collected Pika pellets to access their DNA and identify the species. A er studying the DNA sequence and comparing them with other Pika species, Nishma found the clear distinctness in the DNA of the species from others. The study has been published as a paper titled, “Genetics, morphology and ecology reveal a cryptic Pika lineage in the Sikkim Himalaya”, in the Journal of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Pikas are particularly important because they are ecosystem engineers and are also considered climate change indicators. Most of the known species of Pika are of Asian origin. Asia is said to be the hot spot for this species, yet there is a lot more to be discovered about them in detail.

Indian Scientists Closer to Predicting Solar FlaresA team consisting of Dr. Piyali Cha erjee from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore along with her collaborators from the University of Oslo, Norway have come up with new studies on solar spots and fl ares that could play a vital role in predicting space weather and preventing natural disasters on Earth caused by explosions on the Sun. Solar fl ares have been known to cause malfunction of the radars at Sweden’s airports grounded all of the country’s commercial fl ights on 4 November, 2015. Earlier, on March 13, 1989 the hydroelectric transmission system in Quebec, Canada had suff ered a nine-hour outage.

The international team of astrophysicists has developed a numerical model that explains how magnetic fi elds from deep below the Sun’s surface can produce such energetic fl ares in the corona. Their fi ndings have changed the way these phenomena are understood. The research work was published in Physical Review Le ers and selected for a ViewPoint in Physics in March 2016.

Matter & Ener y Giant Leap in Pursuit of Clean Energy

Scientists and engineers at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center have set a new world record for plasma pressure in the Institute’s Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. Plasma pressure is the key ingredient to producing energy from nuclear fusion, and MIT’s new result achieves over 2 atmospheres of pressure for the fi rst time. The record plasma pressure validates the high-magnetic-fi eld approach as an a ractive path to practical fusion energy.

Graphene – A Great Companion

US and Indian scientists have reported a new kind of packaging that incorporates a single layer of graphene, which is a million times more effi cacious at blocking moisture.

Reported in ACS Nano, the researchers synthesised a monolayer of graphene by chemical vapor deposition, embedded in a pliable polymer by an extremely simple and scalable melt casting procedure to fabricate the Graphene-Embedded Polymers (GEPs). This decreases its Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) by up to a million-fold. An accelerated aging test demonstrated that an organic photovoltaic device wrapped in the graphene-implanted fi lm would have a lifetime of over one year compared to less than 30 minutes if packaged in the polymer without the graphene.

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COVERCOVER STORYAnother team of researchers (reported in Nanoscale) has successfully placed a graphene layer over the stable fa y lipid monolayer. Surrounded by a protective shell of lipids, graphene could enter the body and function as a versatile sensor. Lipids are fats found in the cell membrane. This membrane comprises of a double layer of lipids. When graphene is put between these two layers, it goes through the body freely. Eventually graphene travels through the body when it is stabilized by lipids. This impact of lipids is promising for future applications.

Solar Power Tree Developed by CSIRAlmost 3.5 acres of land is required to produce 1 MW of solar power. But now, a Solar Power Tree, developed by CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, generates electricity by trapping maximum solar energy in

a confi ned space. The model is actually designed like a tree with branches made up of steel to hold the photovoltaic panel. Even tillable land can be utilized for harnessing solar energy along with farming at the same time.

The device has been functioning eff ectively at three places in West Bengal as a pilot project. As a future prospect, the Solar Power Tree would be developed in a rotatable module, which would have a motorized mechanism to align itself with the movement of the Sun during the day. It would thus be possible to harness 10-15% more power above the current capacity.

All-Weather Solar CellsA major drawback in harnessing Solar Energy during rains. Chinese scientists have now come up with a fl exible solar

cell that is triggered by combining an electron enriched graphene electrode with a dye-sensitized solar cell.

The team of researchers from Ocean University of China (Qingdao) and Yunnan Normal University (Kunming, China) have developed a dye-sensitized solar cell which when coated with a whisper-thin fi lm of graphene can effi ciently harness the energy in all weather conditions, whether rainy or sunny. This study has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, Volume 55 Issue 17. Transforming Carbon dioxide into RockScientists have discovered a new solution for the disposal of carbon dioxide by converting it into solid rock. According to a study published in Science, carbon dioxide can be permanently and rapidly locked away by injecting it into the volcanic bedrock. The carbon dioxide reacts with elements present in the rocks such as Ca, Mg and Fe and forms minerals that are gentle to the environment.

The development by an international team of scientists from the Columbia University, University of Iceland, University of Toulouse and Reykjavik Energy, shows that this technique can take as li le as two years to convert atmospheric carbon into solid rocks.

TechnologyNearly Eternal Data Storage Method DiscoveredIn February 2016, University of Southampton scientists successfully used nano-structured glass to create a process for recording and retrieving data. The storage device is a small glass disk that

can hold 360TB of data (equivalent to 75,000 DVDs), it can remain intact up to 1,000°C, and can last approximately 13.8 billion years (roughly the same amount of time the universe has existed).

Data is wri en on the device using an ultrafast laser via short and intense light pulses. Each fi le is wri en in three layers of nanostructured dots that are only 5 micrometers apart. When read, the data is realized in fi ve dimensions: the three dimensional position of the nanostructured dots as well as their size and orientation.

No More Washing: Clean Your Clothes in the SunNow just wear your dirty clothes and go out in the sun to clean them up by solar chemical reactions. A team of researchers, including Indian-origin Dr. Rajesh Ramanathan, has developed a technology that makes clothes clean themselves within six minutes when exposed to a light bulb or sunlight.

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Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a cheap and effi cient new way to grow special nanostructures which can degrade organic ma er when exposed to light directly onto textiles.

The researchers embedded minute fl akes of silver and copper particles, which are invisible to the naked eye, within co on fabric. When they are exposed to light, the tiny metal particles, or nanostructures, release bursts of energy that degrade any organic ma er on the fabric in as li le as six minutes. The tiny metal particles don’t change the look or feel of the fabric. They also stay on the surface of the garment even when it is rinsed in water.

An advantage of the technique is that copper and silver are commonly used as catalysts in the chemical industry and are relatively cheap. The only thing which has to be fi gured out by the researchers is how to build the nanostructures in suffi cient quantity and how to permanently a ach them to textiles. Researchers want to grow the nanostructures directly onto the textiles by dipping them in a few solutions, a process that took about 30 minutes.

Bendable Electronic Paper Displays Whole Colour RangeResearchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed the basis for a new electronic “paper” – a material that is less than a micrometer thin, bendable and gives all the colours that a regular LED display does, and yet still needs ten times less energy than a Kindle tablet.

The researchers placed conductive polymers on nanostructures and discovered that the combination would be perfectly suited to create electronic displays as thin as paper. This isn’t lit up like a standard display, but rather refl ects the external light which illuminates it. Therefore, it works very well where there is bright light, such as out in the sun, in

contrast to standard LED displays that work best in darkness.

The material is not yet ready for application, but the basis is there. The team has tested and built a few pixels. These use the same Red, Green and Blue (RGB) colours that together can create all the colours in standard LED displays. The results so far have been positive, what remains now is to build pixels that cover an area as large as a display.

The best application for the displays will be well-lit places such as outside or in public places. This could reduce the energy consumption and at the same time replace signs and information screens that aren’t currently electronic today with more fl exible ones. The results were recently published in the journal Advanced Materials. New Carbon-nanotube Tool for Ultra-sensitive Virus DetectionA new tool that uses a forest-like array of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes, which can be fi nely tuned to selectively trap viruses by their size, can increase the detection threshold for viruses and speed the process of identifying newly-emerging viruses. The research, by an interdisciplinary team of scientists at Penn State, was published on 7 October 2016 in the journal Science Advances. The research team has developed and tested a small, portable device that increases the sensitivity of virus detection by trapping and concentrating viruses in an array of carbon nanotubes. The device allows selectively trapping and concentrating viruses by their size – smaller than human cells and bacteria, but larger than most proteins and other macromolecules –

in incredibly dilute samples. It further increases the ability to detect small amounts of a virus by more than a hundred times.

Most lethal viral outbreaks in the past two decades were caused by newly emerging viruses. Not only this new technology enriches viruses by at least one hundred times, but it also removes host and environmental contaminants, and enables direct virus identifi cation by next-generation sequencing from fi eld-collected samples without virus culture. Largest Stop-motion Puppet CreatedStop motion can be an incredible fi lmmaking tool. Laika, the stop-motion animation house, usually uses handcra ed puppets that are just 6-12 inches tall in their movies. But for its latest fi lm, Kubo and the Two Strings they created an 18-foot tall stop motion puppet that’s believed to be the largest stop-motion puppet ever built. It was manufactured using handcra ed and 3D printing technique.

Industrial foam has been used for the puppet ribs and other parts. Instead of the traditional ball joints that might be used on stop motion puppets, a series of magnets were used to fi x the arms and

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Laika rigging supervisor Oliver Jones working on the Giant Skeleton

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head to a skeleton. It is hard to move such a big creation, so Laika made its own Hexapod, which imparted fl exibility and was used for moving it. A robot-operated stepper motor was used for the perfect movement of skeleton hands, arms and elbow in place. When instructed, the Hexapod actuators move the puppet.

The 18-foot version took six months to construct and was fi lmed for a year. The result: 49.2 seconds of footage.

3 D Printing in AnimationLaika has also worked with the stop motion animation technique–which involves countless one frame shots of puppets moved into diff erent positions. It creates a very remarkable appearance, but tends to look outdated because budget constraints mean only so many diff erent puppets and expressions can be provided. Impressively, Laika is overcoming those problems through 3D printing – which enables them to design, animate and print tens of thousands of replacement facial expressions. The face is bisected into two parts; the upper eyebrow section and the lower mouth section. By swapping out the upper section and the lower section of the face to create diff erent expressions,

the end result is that a character in a Laika fi lm can have millions of possible facial expressions. Track Your Child with Snowfox GPS A device named “Snowfox” and equipped with GPS tracker has made it easy for parents to keep an eye on their children. It’s not only a high performance locator, but also a phone. Snowfox is very small and can be easily placed in the pocket, backpack or worn in the neck. It has inbuilt location tracking and voice call functionality.

The device connects to a free iPhone or Android app. It has been confi gured to automatically send notifi cations to the companion apps, for instance to tell a parent if their child has arrived at or le school. The map view can show the location of all trackerphones linked with the app. The app can fi nd a single child, displaying his or her current location and timeline of movements, as well as the ba ery level on the Snowfox. Each child profi le can be viewed by up to fi ve guardians, such as parents, grandparents and caretakers.

There is just one bu on on Snowfox which is used to make calls, the child presses the bu on, which sends a notifi cation to all the listed guardians’ smartphones. Any guardian can then call the child, who can answer the incoming call by pressing the bu on once more. To make a call to a Snowfox phone, a parent or guardian can dial its number or simply use the app.

Chinese Supercomputer is the FastestChinese engineers have constructed a new supercomputer faster than any in human history. The new titleholder, the Sunway TaihuLight, was developed by China’s National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi.

It is powered by more than 10.6 million processor chips, designed and built in China, and consumes 15.4 megawa s (MW) of power. The ‘Sunway TaihuLight’ is fi ve times more powerful than the fastest US system, which is now ranked third in the world. It is capable of 93 petafl ops, or 93 quadrillion calculations per second, according to TOP500.

Octobot – First Autonomous, So -bodied Robot

The world’s fi rst so -bodied robot – the Octobot – was recently unveiled. In a paper published on 25 August 2016 in the journal Nature, a team of scientists led by Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfl uidics announced the creation of the world’s fi rst autonomous, untethered, entirely so robot.

It has been given the name Octobot as the designing was inspired by an octopus. This squishy mechanical creature is approximately two centimetre tall and is powered by gas under pressure, utilizing a chemical reaction to power internal logic to operate its eight appendages. The Octobot has no hard parts. It’s developed using a blend of 3D printing, shaping, and so lithography, and runs on hydrogen peroxide. A reaction inside the bot changes a small amount of fl uid fuel (hydrogen peroxide) into a large amount of gas, which streams into the octobot’s arms and blows them up like a balloon.

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Ksheer Scanner Technology Developed by CSIR-CEERIIndia ranks number one in the world for the production of milk and contributes a

total of 18% of the world’s milk. However, it is estimated that about 60% of the milk is contaminated and does not meet the food safety standards.The milk is adulterated with contaminants such as urea, boric acid, salt, detergent, liquid soap, hydrogen peroxide, soda, caustic soda, etc.

CSIR-Central Electronics Engin-eering Research Institute, Pilani has now developed the Ksheer Scanner for detecting adulteration in milk. It is a low cost portable system that can detect adulterants at a price less than 50 paise and in just 40-45 seconds. The system off ers automated scanning of raw milk samples at milk collection points and can also be useful for on-the-spot milk testing by food inspectors. The system has been successfully tested at various dairies located in Rajasthan, U ar Pradesh and Haryana.

CSIR is also in the process of building a portfolio of technologies for detecting milk adulteration and analysis of milk quality, namely, ultrasonic-based milk contents analyser (KSHEER ANALYSER) for fats, solid non-fats, protein, lactose,

density and water addition; Infra-red Radiation based Fat Analyser (IRFAN); Rapid Milk Analyser (KSHEER ANALYSER+); Milk Adulteration and Content Analysis (KSHEER SCANNER PLUS); and Handheld Milk Adulteration Tester for domestic usage (KSHEER-TESTER).

Health & MedicineHyperelastic BoneVery soon in the future if a bone gets sha ered, a 3D printer and some unique ink is all that would be required to fabricate a “Hyperelastic Bone”, which works nearly just like a real bone. Hyperelastic Bone is a mix of hydroxyapatite (a calcium mineral found naturally in human bone) and polycaprolactone or poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), which can be implanted under the skin as a framework for the growth of a new bone, or used to supplant lost bone ma er.

The capacity to eff ortlessly print customizable implants is a major progress and would off er solutions in plastic surgery, tumour removal and bone repair. The work was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on 28 September 2016.

Cybernetic Implant Helps Quadriplegic Man Move His FingersIn a major development, researchers at Ohio State University implanted a small chip in the brain of a man who had been a quadriplegic for the past six years – a er the implantation the man was able to move his fi ngers.

The device once implanted, sends signals to a nearby terminal, which transmits that information to an electronic sleeve worn on the man’s arm. The sleeve then uses wires to stimulate specifi c muscles to cause the movement of the fi ngers in real-time. The patient was even able to play the guitar.

Stem Cells Enable Stroke Patient To WalkIn a clinical trial held at Stanford University School of Medicine, researchers injected modifi ed human stem cells directly into the brains of several chronic stroke patients. Not only

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was the procedure successful and with no negative eff ects, all the patients showed signifi cant healing long a er any healing is expected following a stroke (a period of six months). The patients who were previously confi ned to wheelchairs were able to walk again freely.

CSIR-CFTRI Develops Healthy Dessert – NUTRICE A scoop of premium ice cream contains 178 calories and 12 grams of fat. To the delight of those with an appetite for sweets, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI) in association with M/s Oleome Biosolutions, Bengaluru and M/s Dairy Classic Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd., has developed ‘Nutrice’.

Nutrice ice cream is an enriched frozen nutritional dessert from vegetarian sources. This ice cream is a dietary supplementation of Omega-3 fats and vitamin E, both of which are known to

Photo credit: wexnermedical.osu.edu

have benefi cial health functions including brain development in children and good health in the elderly population. Nutrice is developed using Chia seeds, having the highest content of Omega-3 fat from a vegetarian source. One serving of this cream delivers the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of Omega-3 for children.

Nutrice has combined the love for ice creams with much needed nutrition making it an enjoyable treat.

BGR-34: Ayurvedic and Anti-diabetic DrugCSIR has developed the fi rst Ayurvedic medicine in the country for diabetic patients called BGR-34 that works by controlling blood sugar and limiting the harmful eff ects of other drugs. The anti-diabetic Ayurvedic drug has been jointly developed by CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and CSIR-Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), the research units of CSIR situated in Lucknow.

The drug is meant for control of type-II diabetes mellitus and priced at only Rs. 5/- per tablet. The medicine, enhances the immune system, performs as an anti-oxidant and checks free radicals. The medicine will help manage normal blood glucose levels, decrease chances of problems because of chronic high blood glucose levels and provide a good quality life to suff erers with high blood sugar levels.

The year-round scientifi c update was compiled by Swasti Malik, Sonam Choudhary, Nitika Seth, Shubhada Kapil, Kirti Bansal and Sonali Nagar who are with the Popular Science Division of CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (CSIR-NISCAIR), New Delhi

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