Pooja Kashyap | TechieTonics

Book Review: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

November 1, 2017June 29, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Catch 22 is an American post-war novel written by Joseph Heller. It is one of the interesting pieces of American literature juggling dark humor, war issues, bleakness, satire, silliness, wordplay and serious theme. Initially the book looks like a noose of loose strands but as the plot progresses, we find that very deftly, Heller has been able to surface the absurdity of war and the human condition itself. It is a world of madness, where each character fits in perfectly well with his personal streak of eccentricity.

Book Review: We the Living by Ayn Rand

August 2, 2017 Pooja Kashyap

“We the Living” is Rand’s first novel and probably amongst the greatest works of nonfiction depicting the life during the Soviet Era, the communist dictatorship in Soviet Russia in 1920s. The motif runs around the struggle of individuals against the totalitarian state.

Interview: Robert Cheek, Head of Business Dev at UVify, San Jose, CA

February 1, 2017June 7, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

Recently, we got the pleasure of having a virtual meet up with Drone and AI startup UVify’s, Head of Business Development, Robert Cheek. UVify’s new Draco drone was the main attraction at CES 2017. The startup has developed technologies that can provide drone racing to general public. For those who are interested, Draco is currently up for pre-order, at $499. Shipping is expected to start by the next quarter.

Muscles Powered Biohybrid Devices: Robotics with Tissue Engineering

August 22, 2016August 21, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Let’s picture the word, “Robot”, immediately, we get a glimpse of self operating machines, with nuts-and-bolts as building blocks. These machines are permeating all sections of our society. Machine human relationship has crossed the realms of science fiction. In fact, machine learning has become one of the most interesting and sought-after science, sprouting artificial intelligence (AI).

Ushering An Era of Quantum Computers with Built-in Optics: The Qubit Technology

August 10, 2016June 1, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

Quantum computers are hypothetical devices with higher computational power than a traditional computer. The classical system involves bits as the smallest unit of data, that is represented by 0 or 1, while quantum computers are made up of quantum bits, also known as qubits. Unlike the conventional computer, where a bit has to be either 0 or 1, quantum mechanics grants a qubit to be in both the states at the same time. A qubit would be represented as 0 and 1 simultaneously, a hallmark which is rudimentary to quantum…

Io’s Atmosphere Is Daily Collapsing And Repairing: The Jupiter System

August 8, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Documenting atmospheric changes in eclipse on Io, the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter, has always been a challenging job. The darkness caused by planet’s shadow makes it impossible to observe atmosphere on its moon.

Book Review: The Eternal Nazi by Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet

August 6, 2016June 29, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim is written by Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet. It is a semi biographical sketch of SS officer Aribert Heim, a medical doctor by profession and an able ice hockey player. He was serving at Mauthausen during 1941. People who survived the concentration camp reported that he used to take pleasure in operating healthy people without giving them anesthesia. Plus, he decorated his table with skulls of victims and offered the same as gifts to his…

Obesity May Trigger The Progression Of Brain Ageing: Neurobiology Of Aging

August 4, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Over the years, various researches across neurobiology of aging have suggested that brain shrinks with age. A recent study led by the University of Cambridge has added that obesity may also trigger the progression of brain ageing.

Whisker System Reveals How Neurons Communicate Touch: Sensing Mechanism

August 3, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Sense of touch helps us in distinguishing things in regions where sense of sight or our eyes can’t go, let’s say in purse or pocket. If we are to fetch keys from loose change in our pockets, without giving it a second thought, we take out the required thing, this happens due to sensorimotor integration.

Center of Our Galaxy is Devoid of Stellar Populations: Cepheid Desert

August 2, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Recent research lead by Prof Noriyuki Matsunaga and his team of astronomers at the University of Tokyo suggest that our understanding of Milky Way Galaxy is still not complete. The team discovered that major portion of the region surrounding the center of our Galaxy is devoid of young stars, a study that contradicts the conventional thinking. In an interview covered by Universe Today, Dr. Andrea Ghez, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA, said the probability of formation of young stars at the center of the galaxy is high.…

Saturn’s Rings Bending at the Limb: Image captured by Cassini Spacecraft

July 27, 2016July 27, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

The rings around Saturn appear to be wrapped around the intersection of the planet’s edge or layer near the horizon. The atmospheric limb here acts as a gigantic lens.

RoboRacing: Fusing AI with Automotive Technology

July 26, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Driverless cars are the future of private transportation, where crashes are rare occurrences. Raj Nair, Ford’s head of product development claimed that the year 2020 will mark autonomous vehicle at SAE Level 4 [1 step below full automation] into the mainstream auto market.

Bacterium Inspired Remote Controlled Microrobots: Biomimicry

July 25, 2016July 25, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne have developed a technique that can be used for both, fabricating bio-inspired robots and secondly, furnishing them with higher configurations. Their newly constructed platform also helps in examining and researching robot designs along with their various modes of locomotion. Result of their platform is the production of complex yet reconfigurable microrobots – the nanobots can change their own shape by rearranging the connectivity of their parts- with high throughput.

Mercedes-Benz unveils Driverless Bus: Future of Public Transport

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Future Bus is the new city bus coming straight from the vault of Mercedes-Benz. Unlike its previous autonomous semi-truck Actros that was targeted only for highways, CityPilot ridden technology bus is developed especially for an urban market. The German automaker has demonstrated that its self-driven bus is proficient enough of maneuvering through an urban environment stretching across a distance of 12-miles. It’s been nearly a decade since Mercedes-Benz has been working on automated driving technologies and the current CityPilot technology too is based on Actros Highway Pilot, the autonomous technology…

Digging Adaptations Facilitated Shell in Turtles: Study on Eunotosaurusafricanus

July 19, 2016 Pooja Kashyap

Turtle shell, conventionally, is considered an outer covering for protection and lodging for the animal. Till date, turtle is the only living vertebrate with such a sturdy broad ribbed proto shell. However, recent study of fossil turtles, which happen to be around 260- million-year-old, has revealed that the hard and rigid protective structure of the animal is not adapted for protection rather for digging underground. Dr. Lyson, the scientist behind this discovery said that during the early (evolutionary) phase, birds’ feathers too were not employed for flying. Nevertheless, birds starting…