technology | TechieTonics

The Ear-EEG Measure How Astronauts Sleep: Sleep in Orbit

July 8, 2022July 8, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Sleep is the most vital process for overall mental development. Irrespective of age, sleep deprivation leads not only to mood fluctuations the next day but it also affects the overall productivity including decision-making skills, creativity and judgment. Astronauts who spend quite some time in zero gravity face issues while maintaining normal sleep patterns. Even an artificial day-night cycle does not help them in keeping up with a natural circadian rhythm. Therefore, to get more understanding in the brain’s electrical activity and map sleep patterns, researchers at Aarhus University have developed…

DNA Mutations are Not Random: Genetics Challenges Evolutionary Theory

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Plant evolves to protect itself, there is no random mutation at DNA level. In a collaborative effort, researchers from University of California, Davis, and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany concluded that when it comes to mutations, there is no such thing as randomness. In fact, it is in a non-random way that benefits the plant, claimed Grey Monroe, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

Book Review: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress happens to be my first peek into Heinlein’s work. The book is embedded with wonderful interstellar imagination – artificial intelligence, extra-terrestrial colonization, and interplanetary warfare.

Interview: Takashi Ozaki, Research Scientist at Toyota Central R&D Labs, Japan

December 24, 2021December 24, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Takashi Ozaki is the frontier research leader at Beyond-X Research Domain, Toyota Central R&D Labs. Inc. Japan. He completed his B.E. and M.E. from Kyoto University. His area of research fields includes – bioinspired actuators and robotics, micro electromechanical systems and microfabrication processes.

Honda Plans a Rapid Shift to EVs, FCVs: Electrification of Automobiles

October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

With an aim of zero-emission, Honda has planned to shift its anchor to electrified automobile business in China. Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of the third-largest Japanese automaker announced a trio of new battery-electric concept vehicles.

Radio Signals from Hidden Planet Star Interaction: New Exoplanets

October 12, 2021October 12, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

In a collaborative effort, an international team of astronomers at The University of Queensland and the Dutch national observatory ASTRON have been looking for planets with the help of the most powerful radio telescope – Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) – located in the Netherlands. Recently, they were able to figure out stars spewing off radio waves. This hints at the presence of some hidden planets.

Tracing the Beginnings of Planet Formation: Stellar Factory

September 22, 2021September 22, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Astronomers led by Kamber Schwarz (MPIA in Heidelberg) have successfully deduced the mass of a potential “planet factory”, the protoplanetary disk around the star GM Aurigae. With the help of radio data from the ALMA observatory and physical modelling, the astronomers were able to track the GM Aurigae system.

Nanoscale Thermal Transport: To Prevent Overheating in Electronics

September 21, 2021September 22, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Nano world is full of mysterious features such as uncertainty principle, probabilities and wave function. It’s been at the beginning of quantum mechanics that researchers are working unceasingly to understand the perplexing phenomenon of the nano realm. Unlike the macro world, events at the nano scale are beyond the comprehension of physicists. One such problem is why some uber small heat sources cool down faster if they are packed too close.

Borexino detects CNO Fusion Cycle in Sun: Stellar Energy Generation

November 28, 2020November 28, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

Until now, astronomers had classified nuclear fusion that is taking place within the core of the Sun is due to Proton Proton Cycle. However, an international scientific collaboration at the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratories, Italy were able to detect neutrinos in the Sun by the CNO cycle.

Sentinel-6 in Orbit to Monitor Global Ocean: Earth Observing Satellite

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

Ocean-Monitoring Satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched at 9:17 a.m. PST on Nov. 21, 2020, from Space Launch Complex-4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California.

Tactile Sensation For Soft Robotics: Stretchable Sensor

November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

Sensors that could stretch will pave way towards new intelligent soft systems. Working on the same line of thought Cornell researchers have combined fiber-optic sensor with no so expensive LEDs (light-emitting diode) and dyes. The outcome is a form of a stretchable “skin” that is able to spot topographical distortions like pressure, bending and strain.

Biodegradable Electronic Blood Vessels: Tissue Interactions

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

In a joint effort, researchers at China and Switzerland have developed electronic blood vessels that mimics their natural counterparts. Most of the times, some foreign agent when implanted within the human body display uncertain behaviour. Incompatibility is a critical issue and at times, it often leads to tissue trauma.

PETase with MHETase Speed Up The Breakdown Of Plastic: Enzyme Innovation

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

We live in a plastic era. Ubiquitously, the substance is found in our household and communities across the globe. Not only we have filled up our land but also oceans with plastic. Worldwide waste management market size is expected to reach $484.9 billion by 2025 from $303.6 billion in 2017.

A Three Agent Robotic System For Red Planet: Mars Exploration

September 23, 2020September 23, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

One of the most famous quotes from Interstellar ‘Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here”, throws light on the intrinsic fear that we all have. Fear of being extinct. Mankind wants to leave the planet Earth, thus escaping extinction. And this is the motif behind all missions of Mars.

Internet of Things Will Morph To Internet of Humans: Neuralink

September 9, 2020September 22, 2020 Pooja Kashyap

In The Age of Intelligent Machines (1990), inventor and visionary computer scientist, Raymond Kurzweil predicted that there will be a huge increase in the use of technology and an exponential growth in the internet. And by mid-21st century, AI would overtake human brain in computational capabilities. Eventually it would lead to intelligence explosion resulting in a powerful super intelligence that qualitatively surpass all human intelligence.