Author: Pooja Kashyap

A CPD certified Fitness Trainer, Pooja also likes to spend time reading and blogging the latest research and discoveries in science and how technology is shaping the world. Besides writing, she enjoys reviewing books and taking interviews of creative/innovative people. Currently, she is located in Noida, India, where she actively participates in marathons as well. She is also on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Resurrection of Old CDs into Wastewater Treatment Technology

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers from National Taiwan University, National Applied Research Laboratories in Taiwan, and the Research Center for Applied Sciences in Taiwan have come up with an innovative idea of resurrecting the old CDs and giving them life by employing them in breaking down sewage. Instead of going into e-waste, the team has developed a very practical application of the obsolete thing. As per the stats, 20 billion compact disks are manufactured every year plus the extensive collection of people that has now superseded by the advent of MP3 files and iPods.…

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Heralding Futurism

Pooja Kashyap

If we look around we’d see, we are heralding the futurism already. We are surrounded with technology; imagine a place where there’ll be no such thing as tech know-how and gadgets. We’d then be living in Pandora minus the Unobtainium and the gravity of course. We as humanity have reached great heights. First, we created a horse called technology and then rode over it to reach places where we could satiate our thirst for curiosity. For instance, we have delved into the ocean to discover the oceanic life support system…

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MEMS Can Be Used For Creating Seismic Network

Pooja Kashyap

Seismologists from Italy, Antonino D’Alessandro and Giuseppe D’Anna have postulated that small sensors that are employed for adjusting the screen orientation may assist in creating an urban seismic network. They compared LIS331DLH MEMS accelerometer installed in the iPhone with an earthquake sensor EpiSensor ES-T force. And concluded that MEMS accelerometers can identify earthquakes with magnitude 5 and above especially when located near the epicenter. What is MEMS? MEMS or the Micro-electromechanical Systems is one of those outstanding entity of the twenty first century technology that has seeped deep affecting the…

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Scout: The First AUV Enduring Transatlantic Journey

Pooja Kashyap

In 2009, scientists from Rutgers University launched Scarlet Knight, the first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). It was more of an oceanographic glider spending major portion of its time under the waterbed. Thinking on the same lines but with an improved version, a team of young DIYers, have created a 12 feet long autonomous robotic boat called Scout to face the transatlantic journey. Unlike the Scarlet Knight, Scout would not be remotely controlled rather it would rely on its pre-programmed commands and information that it can collect about its environment through…

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End to Keywords Slavery: Hummingbird

Pooja Kashyap

Google has modified its search engine car with a brand new engine called Hummingbird. After the much-hyped Penguin, Panda and other updates, the big G made a huge leap with an altogether new search algo. As is the case with the secure search, Hummingbird too is created keeping in mind the users requirements. I feel Google is trying to become interactive with the users in helping them in landing on the exact location, which is defined by the search query.

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Mathematical Obfuscation: A Trajectory In Cryptographic Research

Pooja Kashyap

Figuring out any computational system’s Achilles’ heel won’t be a trouble-free job as it might be before. Hackers are you listening! Period. Algorithms now are so progressive that deducing future trends is just a matter of few lines of codes. For instance, alogs can calculate which post might pull the maximum readership, on what topic one gets the highest number of tweets or how many times one scans own pic after uploading on facebook (this one’s for datasexuals).

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Magnetic Energy Near Earth Responsible For Space Weather

Pooja Kashyap

If we look up at the sky, we find there is no notion of chaos and everything is calm and stillness prevails but this is not the actual case, at least not in the orbit surrounding the earth or the interplanetary space. Some or the other form of activity is reigning in the region which gives rise to space weather. Explosions of solar material and magnetic fields of strong potency are some of the activities that are thronging the interplanetary space. These eruptions causes weather alterations on the planet Earth…

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Bartending Robot Comes To Punters Rescue

Pooja Kashyap

Punters don’t have to wait for long or have to push their counterparts just to take a pint of beer or alcohol. James is going to play safe, fast and much more fairly. With its tablet computer head and one-armed metal body, it is waiting behind the bar to take your orders. Yes, you guessed it right, James is the new Barman, created by the Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems programme. Just by scanning the body language of its customers, James ‘decides’ who to serve first.

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Mars Exploration Via The Hopping Bots

Pooja Kashyap

After the robo snakes, the European Space Agency (ESA) has come up with their innovative idea of launching CO2 powered hopping rocketbots that’ll forage fuel from the Martian atmosphere. Power density has always played a major role in launching rockets especially when the chemical reactions take place. This is one of the reasons, why gasoline is employed in automobiles but the case is different with respect to rockets. While pushing satellites off from Earth, rockets require huge power, which sucks massive amount of fuel, and the same – although not…

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Carbon Nanotubes Now A Successor To Silicon Transistor

Pooja Kashyap

Carbon nanotubes, the exotic molecules are coming up as an alternative material to Silicon. In a major breakthrough, a group of Stanford engineers has fabricated a basic computer from carbon nanotubes, which they hope, run faster whilst consuming less energy. Researches from all across the world where working continuously to harness the promising material and finally they are able to see the results.

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3 Man Crew Went On A Sprint Run to Space Station

Pooja Kashyap

Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov & Sergei Ryazansky of Russia took off from Baikonur space centre for the International Space Station atop a Soyuz rocket. The technique employed by the capsule in orbiting the Earth is slightly different from the conventional one in the sense that it will orbit the Earth four times than 30. This technique of sprint run in space was formerly employed in Soviet era but only implemented on a regular basis in the past year. The plan is to combat stresses of space faced by…

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Design Creates Jobs, Says Entrepreneur / Designer Michael Laut: An Interview

Pooja Kashyap

As an entrepreneur / designer / professor heading his own eponymous firm, Laut design, Michael Laut has developed user-centric product and brand development ranges from military and defense applications to biomedical devices, consumer electronics, and many other categories. Lately, we got a chance to talk to Michael on various factors related to ID and the misconception about the profession of Industrial Design. More after a jump: TechieTonics: If we talk about your practice, do you think Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design holds true today? Taking the case of…

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Ocean, An Epitome Of Stable Nutrient Reservoir

Pooja Kashyap

Understanding the oceanic life-support system has always been a subject under the radar of researchers. Recently, they have postulate a hypothesis according to which the wobbling of Earth on its axis in cyclic motion is responsible for producing a nutrient that determines the health of oceans. Earth’s climatic conditions, size of marine fisheries and aquatic environment all are directly proportional to the health of the oceans, says the study. The investigation conjectures that in the past 160,000 years, nitrogen fixation in the deep sea has increased and decreased in a…

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Robots Will Now ‘Ask’ For Human Help

Pooja Kashyap

Finally, robots will be learning if not all at least some part of human language. Researchers at MIT are teaching robots to interact with humans in human language. Team at MIT taught a group of KUKA’s youBots to ask for help if they happen to face problems while building Ikea furniture. Once the bot determines failure of not completing the task or face some form of huddle which it think cannot pass, it would then call for request in a comprehensible manner.

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Epsilon Soared Into Space To Gaze Planets

Pooja Kashyap

In order to create a mark in the international rocket – launching business, Japan has come up with their new rocket called Epsilon. As per the sources, Epsilon is a cheaper yet efficient solution of sending satellites into space. This is the second rocket after H-II that the nation has launched to improve the reliability and minimize costs. The production of Epsilon has cost around a third of H-II. The reason being its latest computer machines, that can perform self-autonomous tasks, like keeping checks and assembling parts. In order to…

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