Category: Tech

Singapore ranks first globally in fixed broadband speed with a median download speed of 242.01 Mbps, says Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index for April. The index also found Qatar to be first globally in mobile internet speed with a median download speed of 189.98 Mbps.

The Asian city-state is followed by Chile, the UAE, China, Hong Kong (SAR), Thailand, the US, Denmark, Spain and Romania in fixed broadband speed. Meanwhile, the Gulf country is followed by the UAE, Macau (SAR), Kuwait, Norway, Denmark, Bahrain, South Korea, China and the Netherlands in mobile internet speed.

In the April index, India ranks 83rd worldwide with a median speed of 51.12 Mbps in fixed broadband, climbing up one spot from March. It has ranked 60th globally with a median mobile internet speed of 36.35 Mbps, climbing from 64th position in March. Its mobile data speed increased by 115 per cent in April 2023. With the roll out of 5G network services picking pace, India has moved by four positions in global ranking for median mobile speeds. It is ahead of some G20 nations such as Russia and Argentina.

According to Ookla’s April Speedtest Global Index, Senegal registered the highest increase in rank and gained 16 spots globally, with Qatar ranked first for overall global median mobile speeds. For overall global fixed median speeds, Bahrain registered the highest increase in rank, climbing by 14 spots.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on May 19 announced the successful operation of the first domestic flight by AIX Connect – formerly known as AirAsia India – using India-produced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Delhi-bound flight i5-767 took off from Pune and was received at the airport by the minister.

On the success, Puri said, “Today, I received crew and passengers who took the first commercial passenger flight from Pune to Delhi powered by indigenously produced sustainable aviation fuel. We have started with 1% blending of SAF in one flight, which will be taken to 1% in all flights by mid-2025.”

The union minister also tweeted the pictures of the achievement. “Historic step making aviation fuel from ethanol taking #FarmtoFlight! India takes a positive step towards a green & sustainable future under visionary leadership of PM Sh@narendramodi Ji. Proud to launch India’s first domestic commercial flight on indigenous feedstock & SAF!” he said.

The SAF is a milestone in the decarbonisation of the aviation sector. The fuel was supplied by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) in partnership with Praj Industries Ltd. (Praj) using captive agricultural feedstock.

The efforts to make aviation more environment friendly are in tune with Atmanirbhar Bharat and India’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2070, said the minister. On May 4, full-service airline Vistara became the first Indian carrier to operate a commercial domestic flight on a wide-body aircraft (Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner) using a blend of 17 percent SAF with 83 percent conventional jet fuel. The aircraft was flown from Delhi to Mumbai.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned while using artificial intelligence (AI) generated large language model tools (LLMs) to protect and promote human well-being, human safety, and autonomy, and preserve public health.

LLMs include some of the most rapidly expanding platforms such as ChatGPT, Bard, Bert and many others that reproduce understanding, processing, and producing human communication. Their sudden popularity among people and rising experimental use for health-related purposes is generating significant excitement around the potential to support people’s health needs, the global health body said. It added that it is, thus, imperative that the risks be examined carefully when using LLMs to improve access to health information, as a decision-support tool, or to enhance diagnostic capacity in under-resourced settings to protect people’s health and reduce inequity.

While WHO is enthusiastic about the appropriate use of technologies in healthcare, including LLMs, it underlines that caution that would normally be exercised for any new technology is not being exercised consistently with LLMs. This includes widespread adherence to key values of transparency, inclusion, public engagement, expert supervision, and rigorous evaluation. Adoption of untested systems could lead to errors by health-care workers, cause harm to patients, erode trust in AI and adversely affect the potential long-term benefits and uses of such technologies around the world, the WHO said.

The Indian Navy successfully test fired a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on May 14 using its frontline guided missile destroyer INS Mormugao. The ship and the weapon are both indigenous.

The INS Mormugao hit a bull’s eye with the maiden BrahMos supersonic cruise missile firing. It is the latest guided-missile destroyer to be used by the Indian Navy. “The ship and her potent weapon, both indigenous, mark another shining symbol of Atma Nirbharta and Indian Navy’s firepower at sea,” said a senior Indian Navy official in a statement after the test.

BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited is an Indian-Russian joint venture, responsible for producing supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms. India also exports the BrahMos missiles, a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage, that fly at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound. The country sealed a $375 million deal with the Philippines for supplying three batteries of the missile in January last year.

INS Mormugao is the second of the Project 15B stealth-guided missile destroyers. The destroyer has been named after an important port in Goa. It was built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL). It was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 18, 2022. 

The United Kingdom’s fertility regulator on May 10 confirmed the births of the country’s first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people, an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases.

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said fewer than five babies have been born this way in the UK. Most of their DNA comes from their two parents and around 0.1% from a third, donor woman. The pioneering technique is an attempt to prevent children being born with devastating mitochondrial diseases. These diseases are incurable and can be fatal within days or even hours of birth. Some families have lost multiple children and this technique is seen as the only option for them to have a healthy child of their own.

Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into usable energy. Defective mitochondria fail to fuel the body and lead to brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure and blindness. They are passed down only by the mother. Mitochondrial donation treatment is a modified form of IVF that uses mitochondria from a healthy donor egg.

There are two techniques for performing mitochondrial donation. One takes place before and after the fertilization of the egg. However, mitochondria have their own genetic information or DNA which means that technically the resulting children inherit DNA from their parents and a drop from the donor. This is a permanent change that would be passed down through the generations. This donor DNA is only used for making effective mitochondria and does not affect other traits such as appearance.

The Uttar Pradesh board will introduce topics such as e-governance, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and drone technology, among others, in its revised syllabus for classes 9 to 12, to be implemented from the current academic session. The board experts have also replaced C++ and HTML programming learning with other coding languages such as Python and Java for classes 11 and 12.

From the academic session 2023-24, the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad has revised the syllabus for classes 9 to 12, introducing topics such as cryptocurrencies, drone technology, and IT advancements, as per the National Education Policy 2020.

While the concepts of robotics and drone technology have been added to the Class 12 syllabus, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing and cloud computing have been introduced for class 11 students. Class 10 students will be taught the basics of how to avoid hacking, phishing and cyber fraud. E-governance will also be studied by students. Programming techniques, computer communication and networking, which were earlier taught in class 10, will now be taught in class 9.

The subject experts of the UP Board decide the curriculum for computer learning taught in more than 28,000 schools of the board. It is not prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), board officials said while confirming the development.

The soft drinks division of Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings plans to test its new vending machines capable of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. The experiment planned in June will begin by installing about 30 units in Kanto and Kansai regions.

The patent pending design is the first of its kind in Japan. Asahi is aiming for the machines to be fully operational from 2024. The company said that each machine is capable of offsetting 20% of the CO2 emissions generated from the production of the electricity they require to operate.

Asahi Soft Drinks, the group’s dedicated non-alcoholic division that has brands like Calpis and Wonda, said it will utilise the absorbed carbon dioxide as an “industrial raw material in fertilisers, concrete” and other products. The unique vending machines will work similarly to conventional machines, with the key difference of being capable of filtering and absorbing CO2.

Asahi Group, which plans on developing fully carbon-neutral vending machines in the future, says the absorbed CO2 will be used as a raw material in “various industrial applications, through co-creation with local governments and businesses,” such as boosting soil carbon sequestration rates by blending absorbents into fertilisers sprayed onto soil and using absorbed CO2 as an additive in concrete as a way of restoring blue carbon ecosystems in marine environments.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has successfully conducted a trial run of blood bag delivery using drones under its i-DRONE (ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach for Northeast) initiative.

The i-DRONE initiative was during COVID-19 pandemic for distributing vaccines to hard-to-reach areas. The trial flight carried 10 units of whole blood samples from Greater Noida to New Delhi. The initiative was in continuance with the national mission of expanding the drone ecosystem in India. After the successful completion of the service, blood delivery through drones can be expanded to the whole country, said a senior ICMR official.

“Today, we are transporting blood and blood-related products which are supposed to be kept at a low temperature. After the experiment, we found that not only can we maintain the temperature but there was also no damage to the products transported, said ICMR Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl. “We sent another sample through an ambulance and if there are no differences in the samples sent using the two modes then drones will be used all over India.”

Countries world over are already using drones to deliver blood products, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and even organs to remote, rural areas or areas with poor infrastructure. For example, in Ghana, drone delivery of blood is now available for thousands of health facilities serving millions of people.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have developed a new sensor for underwater communications. This technology is expected to facilitate communication between divers and underwater vehicles or submarines.

The underwater communication system is a vital component in defence and civilian operations such as oil exploration and environmental monitoring. However, conventional radio frequencies cannot transmit signals underwater due to the high absorption of electromagnetic waves. To overcome this challenge, the team developed a new sensor that can pick up signals from acoustic communication systems.

The sensor uses the piezoelectric effect to convert sound waves into electrical signals. These signals are then amplified and processed by a microprocessor, allowing the system to decode and transmit messages to divers and underwater vehicles. The device can detect acoustic signals up to a range of 100 meters and can operate in a temperature range of 0 to 60 degrees Celsius.

The new technology is expected to make a significant impact in defence operations. For instance, it can enhance the communication between divers and submarines during rescue missions and covert operations. In civilian operations, the sensor can facilitate underwater exploration and monitoring, including oil and gas exploration and oceanic studies.

In conclusion, the collaboration between IIT Madras and DRDO is a significant milestone in the field of underwater communication technology. The new sensor technology can revolutionize underwater communication, improving safety and efficiency in defence and civilian operations.

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can decode human thoughts and convert it into text using technology similar to that of ChatGPT. More fascinating aspect of this breakthrough is that this has been done without the use of any implants.

In a discovery, a University of Texas, Austin, team led by computer science doctoral student Jerry Tang and assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science Alex Huth, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine to record 16 hours of brain activity from three human subjects as they listened to narrative stories. The researchers were able to identify neural stimuli that corresponded to individual words. The team then employed a custom-trained GPT AI model, something similar to ChatGPT, to decode this brain activity and translate it into text. However, the participants’ precise thoughts could not be captured and only a gist of what the participants were thinking was translated by AI.

In decoding perceived speech, the AI model was 72-82 percent accurate, while in decoding imagined speech, the accuracy was around 41-74 percent. In interpretations of silent movies, the accuracy ranged from 21-45 percent. The results were published in the Nature Neuroscience journal.

The scientists at University of Texas say that with this breakthrough technology, it will be possible to help the people who are physically incapable to express themselves. However, it is still developing and further research is needed before it can actually be used at a clinical setting.