The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has published the R&D; Roadmap for Green Hydrogen Ecosystem in India. This document was published on 13th October, 2023. One of the central pillars of the National Green Hydrogen Mission is the establishment of a supportive research and innovation ecosystem for green hydrogen …
FINANCE minister Manmohan Singh contends non-conventional energy sources (NCES) have been given a boost through customs duty reductions of upto 20 per cent on a variety of items and continuation of the tax holiday for renewable energy projects. Funding for solar and wind energy programmes have been raised from 22.9 …
INEFFECTIVE funding and easily accessed foreign technology are twin reasons for Indian industry's halfhearted funding for research and development. In 1990-91, industry's share of the R&D; expenditure of Rs 4,186 crore was only Rs 970 crore, or about 23 per cent. In comparison, industry's R&D; funding in technologically progressive countries …
• Accessibility of technology to all segments of society, upgrading of traditional skills. • Waste prevention, lower raw material consumption, preventive pollution control. • Augmentation of scientific and technical personnel, improvement of management of R&D; institutions. • Thrust areas to include alternative energy technologies, agriculture, health services, transport, communication, housing, …
FORMER environment minister Maneka Gandhi's exhortations against cruelty to animals were often extreme -- depriving itinerant animal trainers of their pets or campaigning against the killing of stray dogs even though this could expose children to rabies. Now, Richard D Ryder, former programme organiser for the International Fund for Animal …
THOUGH medieval Christian saints such as St Thomas Aquinas and St Francis of Assisi never doubted the official ecclesiastical view that all creation exists for humankind's benefit, they still stressed in their preaching that spiritual merit could be gained by treating birds and animals kindly. St Francis referred to them …
EXPERIMENTAL observations have amply confirmed the Big Bang theory, but some of its shortcomings have led scientists to develop the so-called inflationary theory, to pursue their bid to trace the early history of the universe. Proposed originally by Alan Guth of MIT in 1980, the inflationary theory predicts the density …
ASTRONOMERS are excited about the recent observations made by the satellite ROSATwhich provide the strongest evidence yet that as much as 90 per cent of the matter in the universe is invisiblewhose presence is indicated by its gravitational pull on matter in space. Astronomers have been searching for this invisible …
THE NEXT time you board a bus, don't make a beeline for a seat in the front and avoid the rear seats like the plague. They are the least comfortable. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay say the seats in front, including the driver's seat, and …
MINISTER of state for science and technology P R Kumaramangalam's announcement of the formation of a body to select and finance industrially useful projects is caught in a contention over its funding and scope. Hectic meetings are under way in New Delhi's Technology Bhawan to finalise the shape of the …
INSPIRED by the human sense of touch, robotics engineers are trying to build a mechanical hand that can feel, grab and manipulate objects just like the human hand. Ultimately, engineers trying to design sensitive robotic hands picture their research coming full circle to biology -- by restoring tactile sensibility to …
SOCIAL insects such as ants, bees, wasps and termites fascinate us. Few, however, believe we have direct lessons to learn from social insects. Much like our fascination for a tribal society, it's more a question of wanitng to know how they do things. Our curiosity about social insects relates to …
The dons of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have devised a way to get around cuts imposed by the University Grants Commission's in fund allocations that threaten teaching and research programmes in several of the country's universities and colleges. After six months of negotiations, senior economics professors at JNU struck a …
The full moon is said to drive people loony. Now, a scientist says the sun makes them murderous. V S Venkatavardhan, director of the Nehru Planetarium in Bombay, asserts major disturbances on earth occur during solar flares, which are increased eruptions of nuclear protons, electron particles and gamma rays oii …
KAREN Perremans and her colleagues at the Zoological Institute at Leuven in Belgium have discovered that birds have unique "featherprints," which may make it possible to identify bird species by analysing a small piece of feather (BBC Wildlife, Vol 10, No 12). Feathers from more than 200 species of birds …
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton wants American research to adopt the Japanese stress on industrial applications. But his call may have come too late as Japanese scientists are switching their thrust to basic research, in which the Americans have hitherto been pre-eminent. Clinton plans to add at least $7 billion to the …
SETTING up of an Indian Research and Development Authority (IRDA) and reviving the cabinet committee on science and technology are among the steps expected to be taken soon to boost science research, Union minister of state for science and technology P R Kumaramangalam has told Down To Earth. The minister …
The 80th session of the Indian Science Congress ended in the first week of January in Goa without adding to anyone's knowledge or wisdom. The importance of the theme of the conference -- Science and the Quality of Life -- did not get the attention it deserves in a country …
WASPS from the same nest recognise each other by smearing wax from the outside of the nest onto themselves, discovered scientists at the University of Georgia in the US. If the wax is removed, nest-mates fail to recognise a member and drive it out. Poliste wasps (Polistes metricus) coat their …
IN A MAJOR breakthrough, neurobiologists at the Stanford University in USA, led by Jack McMahan, confirmed the protein agrin plays a vital role in communications within the nervous system. The protein, which comprises more than 1,900 amino acids, is released by nerve cells. It helps trigger the establishment of the …
THE CAMPAIGN by astronomers to stop artificial light in cities from affecting stellar views, which prevents them studying stars, is gaining a wider audience. Relentless light from surrounding cities has shut down the largest telescope at Mount Wilson in Southern California. Scientists believe artificial lights should be shielded so that …
