Category: Amazing Feats

** UoH research finds ways to improve yield of pigeon pea

It is a primary protein source for people across the world, more so in India

Research results of the research scholars at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) could lead to improved yields of pigeon pea, which is considered as a primary protein source for people across the world and more so in India.

Pigeon pea (known as kandulu in Telugu and toor daal in Hindi) is a climate-smart pulse crop of Indian origin and is widely grown in the tropical drylands around the globe. A research team led by former UoH Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile in a three-year collaboration with two groups in the United Kingdom (Prof. Philip Poole’s group at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, and Dr. Andrew Neal at Rothamsted Research) has made a major breakthrough in plant symbiosis studies related to pigeon pea.

** Trials for India’s first medical drone delivery service begins in Karnataka

India’s first drone delivery service, that specialises in medical supplies, will begin operating in Karnataka soon. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s green signal is awaited, Throttle Aerospace Systems (TAS) CEO Nagendran Kandasamy said.

The trial, which started on Monday and continued till Tuesday, was successful, Kandasamy said. He said India’s first official beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) medical drone delivery experiment started in Sembhukha Nagar of Gowribidanur taluk in Chikballapur and the trial will continue for 30 to 40 days.

** Jamsetji Tata named world’s top philanthropist of the century

  •  Jamsetji Tata, the founder of Tata Group, has been named the topmost philanthropist of the century globally by Edelgive Foundation and Hurun India.

The inaugural list on philanthropists of the century released by Edelgive Foundation and Hurun India noted that with donations of $102.4 billion, Jamsetji Tata is the topmost philanthropist globally.

The total philanthropic value of Tata is made up of 66 per cent of Tata Sons, estimated at $100 billion, solely based on the value of listed entities, the report said

** European awards for Mumbai scientist’s ‘stem-cell’ remedy to kill Covid-19

Mumbai scientist-cum-researcher Pradeep Mahajan – who recently developed a unique stem-cell/platelet-based remedy to kill the coronavirus naturally – has bagged two top Global Health & Pharma, UK, awards for his therapy, here on Tuesday.

Mahajan has been conferred the award for the “Best Regenerative Medicine & Cell-Based Therapies Development Company 2021” and the “GHP Innovation Excellence Award for Mesenchymal Stem Cells and LPRP Manufacturing Services 2021”, in a virtual ceremony from London.

** Mysuru man designs world’s smallest rideable electric bike

Known for bringing innovation to bikes, Santhosh’s bike is just 145 mm (lesser than that of a pencil), a wheelbase of 130 mm weighing 2.5 kg which can withstand over 65 kg load.

Love and passion for machines have resulted in a Mysuru-based pharma company employee designing the world’s smallest rideable electric bike.

Meet Santhosh who has designed and developed ‘Mooshiqk3’, the world’s smallest rideable electric bike, which has now entered the golden book of world records.

** IIT-B scientist gets DCGI nod to launch algo-based Covid-19 testing tool

Called Tapestry, the new testing tool is developed by the startup launched by IIT-Bombay professor Manoj Gopalkrishnan.

Bengaluru-based tech startup Algorithmic Biologics has received regulatory approvals to launch its Covid-19 testing method that can help scale up testing for the deadly virus infection at half the prevailing cost and one-tenth of the time.

** The journey of the Thoothukudi Macaron: From Italian nunneries to the Coromandel coast

The final Kucini Tale tells the story of the creolised macaron uniting the Coromandel and Canara coasts, Portuguese and Muslim traders, Arabs and Jesuits, Italy and France, and, finally, our elusive lovers.

When the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama disembarked near Calicut in 1498, he inaugurated a new phase in history. The sea routes were opened up, and the Dutch, French, Danes, and British soon followed. The coastal enclaves they founded became hubs of cultural exchange. Their economic potential attracted many kinds of people, including merchant communities, from outside and within India. ‘Creolisation’ resulted. New, unexpected cultural products sprang up from this interaction between different languages, different gods, different ways of living, and different ways of cooking and preparing food.