Electricity consumption from the manufacture of artificial intelligence (AI) chips has soared by more than 350 percent worldwide between 2023 and 2024, according to new research from Greenpeace East Asia. In East Asia, the global hub for AI semiconductor production, growing electricity demand from AI chipmaking has been met primarily …
AN AMERICAN company, Ultralife Batteries, has launched the world's first lightweight rechargeable battery made entirely from solid materials. The battery, launched a few weeks ago, can be recharged more than 1,000 times with only a tiny loss of capacity. In comparison, conventional batteries can be recharged a maximum of 200 …
The American industry is pushing for a new lease of life to solar thermal power technology. As a first step in this direction, Solar One, a solar thermal power project located in California is being renovated (Solar Today, Vol 9, No 2). The Luz International Company which set up and …
The total food grain production reached an all-time high of 186 million tonnes in 1994-95, says the annual report of the Union ministry of agriculture with unprecedented optimism. India's first Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) clinic was inaugurated on April 20 by Harsh Vardhan, health minister for the Delhi government. …
A DEVICE called the "Instrument Pig" will soon be used to monitor the health of gas pipelines. Being developed by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the indigenously manufac- tured device is expected to be ready in a little over 2 years. The memorandum …
One of the most frustrating things about laptop computers is changing their batteries. Now, a London-based company, Radix Techno-logies, has developed a gizino that can circumvent the exorbitant new bat- teries by recharging those stone dead from a car engine. The device, which plugs into the car's cigarette lighter, converts …
British researchers are developing a voice recognition system that can identify a speaker if he or she is drunk or even has a cold. This could help reduce fraud involving cash machines and credit cards, which British banks say costs them over f,150 million annually. The new system, called Time-Encoded …
WEATHER and climate exercise tremendous influence over human wellbeing and health. Humans make dwellings for themselves to escape the vagaries of climatic variations. Sitting in the relative comfort of our airconclitioned offices and homes - between a past in which electricity was unimaginable and a future in which it probably …
RECENTLY, a woman in France was convicted to 10 years in prison for letting her quadriplegic husband rot to death. What would that man have given to be able to use his hands can well be imagined. But awaiting the us Food and Drug Administration's approval is a medical device …
EVEN while the Berlin Summit on climate Change was in progress, 20 European companies, under the aegis of the European Business Council for a sustainable Energy Future, have forged alliance for "promoting technologies it fight global warming". The Council mctions as a sister concern of the Fear-old us group that …
Folk remedies, which for long used moulds and fungi for patching up wounds, have been discovered to have a scientific basis. Researchers at the British Textile Technology Group in Manchester hope to develop fungus-based surgical dressings to accelerate wound healing. Fungi contain chitin and chitosan in their cell walls rendering …
GERMAN researchers have developed a tiny reversible pump which allows through just 50 nanolitres of liquid, equivalent to 1/1,000th of a drop of water. The micropump was designed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute based in Munich for Solid State Technology. The pump consists of 4 silicon chips superimposed on …
THE direct steelmaking process, long the holy grail of researchers around the world, may soon be reality. Scientists from Nucor, a US steel producer, have identified iron carbide as a new raw material for steelmaking. The new technology aims at producing steel directly from iron carbide, cutting out expensive and …
MOST burgeoning cities are cursed with piles of rotting garbage and endless hours without electricity. But now, Western-Paques (India) Limited, a subsidiary of the Rs 1,000 crore Western India group, is offering a solution to both the problems, rather using one to address the other. The company has developed a …
ANTI-POLUTION GIZMO: Diesel engines will be spewing less nitric oxide fumes, promise KMH, a Doncaster-based business house, and Leeds University in the UK. They have jointly developed a steam-based anti-pollution device, which they claim is cheaper and requires less maintenance than catalytic converters. The De-NOX device, as it has been …
WHO would have thought of archaeologists and anthropologists using cutting-edge computer and laser technology in their disciplines? Now, the scribble pads beloved of anthropologists and archaeologists' calipers could well be given a decent burial for all time to come. At the University of Texas at Austin, for instance, researchers are …
INDIAN scientists, in collaboration with Dutch researchers, have developed the technology to convert agricultural residues -- like rice husk and groundnut shell -- into briquettes for use as an efficient, economical and a non-polluting fuel. The screw press technology for briquetting biomass compacts low-density agricultural residues into cylinders with a …
A recent study conducted by scientists from the Regional Engineering College (REC), Kurukshetra, reveals that all energy needs of a village can be met locally from the available biomass, using fluidised bed technology -- an industrial technique for efficient combustion. The technology involves suspending the material to be burnt by …
Sundaram-Abex Limited, an Indian firm, has begun producing clutch facings free of asbestos. The company, which has been producing asbestos-free brake linings for years, recently imported technology for clutch facings with the same feature from a Spanish company, Saluda, at a cost of Rs 6 crore. The clutch facings will …
THE roar of a V8, the smooth looks of a shark, the power of a freight train, the goggle-eyed gullibility of a citizenry used to driving biscuit tin -- India is a gold mine for automobile manufacturers. An indicator of their serious intent was a closed door workshop on Environment …
Researchers from Magellan Technology, a firm based in western Australia, have developed radio signal-based bagtags to ensure that the luggage of air passengers is not misplaced during transit (New Scientist, Vol 145, No 1961). Unlike the currently used optical scanners, which 'read' the codes inscribed on the tags, the new …
