European researchers have recently revived 13 “zombie viruses” from Russia’s Siberian permafrost.   Details – The virus emerged due to the thawing of permafrost as the global temperature is rising. The new strain is one of 13 viruses outlined in the study, each of which possessed its own genome. The oldest, dubbed Pandoravirus yedoma after… Continue reading Zombie Virus

The Manthan platform won NSEIT the Best Tech Initiative of the Year at the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Awards 2022.   About the award – The award was presented for building the technology infrastructure to support Manthan. Manthan is a platform that promotes collaboration at scale between industry and the scientific research and development… Continue reading Manthan Platform

World’s first Intranasal Vaccine iNCOVACC has recently received approval for Covid booster doses from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).   About iNCOVACC – It is developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited. It was developed in partnership with Washington University, St Louis, which had designed and developed the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and evaluated in… Continue reading iNCOVACC

SARAS 3, a radio telescope designed and built at the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, has revealed information about the origins of the Universe’s first stars and galaxies.   Findings – Researchers from RRI, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, etc., used data from SARAS-3 to throw light on the energy… Continue reading SARAS 3 Telescope

Agnikul Cosmos has set up India’s first private space vehicle launchpad at Sriharikota.   Details – The facility, which was designed by Agnikul and executed in support with ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center) has two sections to it — the Agnikul launchpad (ALP) and the Agnikul mission control center (AMCC).… Continue reading Agnikul Launch Vehicle

Union Minister of State of the Ministry of Science and Technology recently said, India is taking steps for development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR), with up to 300 MW capacity to fulfill its commitment to Clean Energy transition.   What are Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)? SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity… Continue reading Small Modular Reactors

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched 9 satellites, including an Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-06), into multiple orbits using the space agency’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C54) in one of its longest missions.   About the mission – Launch vehicle: PSLV — This is the 56th flight of the PSLV and the 24th flight… Continue reading PSLV-C54

Recently the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has called upon doctors to avoid using antibiotics for conditions such as low-grade fever and viral bronchitis among others.   Details – Recently, a multi-centre survey carried out by the ICMR to spot the trend in antibiotic resistance across the country showed Acinetobacter baumannii, a gram-negative bacteria… Continue reading Gram-negative bacteria

Recently, The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), organised ‘National Workshop on Cryptology (NWC)’.   Details – The workshop was conducted as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ with the theme ‘Advancements in Cryptology for enhancing security & privacy in communication networks’. NWC 2022 aimed to bring all the relevant stakeholders on a common… Continue reading Cryptology

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare has participate in the ‘Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance’ to be held in Muscat, Oman.   About the conference – Theme — ‘The AMR Pandemic: From Policy to One Health Action’. It will enhance international cooperation to tackle AMR and build on the success… Continue reading Conference on Anti-Microbial Resistance