1. Electronic nose
  2. Bio-inspired microbot
  3. Nano-tech: Some new applications
  4. SCOAP3
  5. Baxter
  6. Marconi vs Bose: Wireless
  7. Lytro

Electronic nose

  • Prototype electronic instrument.
  • It can detect small quantities of harmful airborne substances.
  • can be used for Batch to batch consistency during production. (perfumes, food)
  • Detection of contamination, spoilage, adulteration

Bio-inspired microbot

  • Developed by China
  • It is capable of not just walking on water but jumping up and down on the water’s surface like the insect.

Nano-tech: Some new applications

  1. Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs): by adding them to soil, we can increase crop yield.
  2. radioactive gold nanoparticles= used for prostate cancer treatment in dogs. It has a chance of being used in humans.

SCOAP3

  • Initiative by CERN. (those God-particle wallas)
  • Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics.
  • Under this project, about 7,000 particle-physics papers, published in subscription journals, will soon become freely accessible to anyone from any part of the world.

Baxter

  • A humanoid robot with ‘common sense’, made in USA.
  • It is designed to work safely alongside its human co-workers on factory production lines,

Baxter Robo looks like this

Marconi vs Bose: Wireless

  • Guglielmo Marconi is often credited with inventing radio transmission
  • But the record clearly shows that wireless transmission of electromagnetic waves was first successfully demonstrated by Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose and that too in Kolkata
  • Bose reported on his experiments at the Royal Institution in London.
  • But soon after Bose’s talk, Marconi changed the design of his detector and cameup with his invention.

Lytro

  • New type of camera that lets users adjust the focus after taking pictures. “shoot now, focus later.”

Lytro Camera

Ref

Based on The Hindu S&T Section, Sept-Oct 2012