Category: Tech

A San Francisco-based venture, Living Carbon has created poplar trees that are genetically engineered to grow larger and pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than standard trees do. In February, workers planted rows of these poplars in southern Georgia, kicking off the company’s plan to transform forestry. Living Carbon plans to plant 4 to 5 million trees by the middle of next year to help address the climate crisis.

“Living Carbon is our answer to the question: Are we capable of storing carbon with the same ingenuity that allowed us to release it?” writes Maddie Hall, Living Carbon’s CEO, in a blog post. “In short, yes. We can enter a new ecological and economic age where we use the power of plants to capture and store more carbon.”

When plants photosynthesise, they convert carbon into sugars and nutrients that are eventually consumed by all living organisms. However, the plants also produce a toxic byproduct that must be broken down during the energy-intensive process of photorespiration. “This not only wastes energy, but also loses a lot of fixed carbon in the form of CO2, which gets released into the air again,” said Yumin Tao, the company’s vice president of biotechnology in an interview. “It’s a wasteful process that a lot of plants do.” Living Carbon has reduced photorespiration in its poplars, instead channeling the energy into growth, he added.

Reliance Industries (RIL) is getting into genetic mapping space, says a Bloomberg report. The Indian conglomerate plans to make a healthcare trend launched by disruptive US ventures like 23andMe more affordable and extensive in India’s growing consumer market, the report added.

RIL will roll out a comprehensive Rs 12,000 ($145) genome sequencing test within weeks, said Ramesh Hariharan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Strand Life Sciences, which has developed the product. RIL had acquired the Bengaluru-based firm in 2021, and owns about 80% of the company.

The genome test, which is about 86% cheaper than other offerings available in the market, can reveal a person’s tendency to have cancers, cardiac, and neuro-degenerative ailments. It will also identify inherited genetic disorders.

The project, to bring affordable personal gene-mapping to 140 crore Indians, will potentially build vast biological data that can help in drug development and disease prevention. Hariharan said the new genome testing being rolled out by the Reliance Group will “set the standards” for India. With more genomic data, global drugmakers could potentially develop new drugs and have insight into how to better target existing therapies. This could be useful in genetically under-mapped India, for example in helping prove a genetic link to certain over-represented diseases in the country.

Northwestern University researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind small, stretchable bandage that uses electrotherapy to a wound site to accelerate the healing process.

In an animal study conducted by the US university, the new bandage healed diabetic ulcers 30% faster when applied for just 30 minutes per day.  It also actively monitors the healing process and easily dissolves into the body when no longer needed. The new device could prove to be a useful tool for patients with diabetes, whose ulcers can lead to serious complications.

Clinicians have used electrotherapy for healing in the past as well, but most of that equipment included wired, bulky apparatuses that could only be used under supervision in a hospital setting. The researchers have now developed battery-free, wireless bandages that deliver healing electrical signals to wounds. The innovation can be wirelessly controlled by a physician.

The small, flexible bandage is made up of a smart regenerative system that contains two electrodes. The electrodes are designed from molybdenum, a metal widely used in electronic and semiconductor applications. The researchers discovered that when molybdenum is thin enough, it can biodegrade, which means the device can simply dissolve into the body once the wound is healed.

UK-based satellite company Inmarsat has claimed that it achieved the world’s first carbon neutral rocket launch with the send-off of its I-6 F2 satellite into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.

“We are offsetting roughly 5,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the launch,” said CEO Rajeev Suri. The CarbonNeutral Protocol certified the launch as a carbon neutral event.

London-based Inmarsat sent its I-6 F2 satellite into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on February 17, lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Rajeev Suri said the rocket and spacecraft build emissions had been offset through carbon offsetting projects, including a biodiversity reserve in Indonesia, a gigawatt grid solar farm in Rwanda and community reforestation in Ghana. “We’re also funding several sustainable projects across the world, through renewables, reforestation and afforestation,” he said.

The impacts of rocket emissions on the climate are still relatively unknown due to the infrequency of launches. It is estimated that the space industry burns less than 1 per cent of the fossil fuels burned by the aviation industry, however unlike the aviation industry, rockets release pollutants all the way up to the mesosphere and stratosphere in the upper atmosphere, making it difficult to make comparisons between the two.

Researchers from IIT Guwahati have developed a ‘recombinant protein toolbox’ that converts skin cells into heart cells. The heart cells produced using this toolbox can perform the same function as the original heart cells and regenerate damaged heart tissues. This technique is safer as the recombinant proteins disappear over time, without leaving toxic waste. The toolbox comprises six special proteins.

The results of the research have been published in the journals, Current Research in Biotechnology, Molecular Biotechnology, Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, and Scientific Reports.

The six special proteins can be used to convert healthy skin cells or any somatic cells from an adult human body into heart cells. All the cells in the body apart from germ cells (sperm and egg cells) are called somatic cells. The heart cells generated using this technology are cardiomyocytes, which are the cells responsible for the contraction of the heart. In other words, cardiomyocytes are responsible for the beating of the heart. The cardiomyocytes produced using this tool box can perform the same function as the original heart cells. The toolbox can be used in laboratories to facilitate the generation of autologous heart cells. This means that an individual’s own cells can be used to generate healthy heart cells. 

A 53-year-old man diagnosed with HIV in 2008 is now free of the virus after a stem cell transplant treatment, researchers reported in the journal Nature Medicine on February 20.

The German man, known as “the Düsseldorf patient,” is the third confirmed person to be cured of HIV using this treatment. Last year, the researchers announced that two other patients had recovered from the virus. The patients included a woman of mixed race. However, papers on these patients have not been published yet.

The Düsseldorf patient received the stem cell transplant to treat his leukemia. The doctors decided to use donated cells with a mutation that made them resistant to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Now, about four years after he stopped taking drugs to manage HIV, the patient shows no signs of an active infection.

Despite this method’s success, it’s not likely to become a widespread cure—due to the high-risk nature of the treatment. It is unlikely that people with HIV who do not have leukemia would receive it. However, the success of the treatment can help scientists learn more about how they might cure others.

In 2021, 38.4 million people around the world were living with HIV. The virus attacks the body’s immune system and weakens its defenses against diseases such as tuberculosis, fungal infections and some cancers. Currently, there is no cure for HIV, but antiretroviral therapies have made its infections less deadly and more manageable. In the 1980s, a person’s life expectancy after an HIV diagnosis was one year; it is now close to normal.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the government has released Rs. 126.99 crore towards Kisan Drone promotion.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the union minister said that the released funds include Rs. 52.50 crore released to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for purchase of 300 Kisan Drones and organising their demonstrations on the farmers’ fields in 75,000 hectares through 100 Krishi Vigyan Kendras, 75 ICAR institutions and 25 state agriculture universities. The released funds will go to various state governments for supply of more than 300 Kisan Drones to farmers on subsidy and setting up of more than 1,500 Kisan Drone Custom Hiring Centers to provide drone services to farmers.

The Centre is promoting the adoption of Kisan Drones by the farmers, as its use not only supports agriculture, but also provides ample opportunities of employment to people in rural areas. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is also aiming at building standard operating procedures to provide concise instructions for effective and safe operations of drones for pesticide and nutrient application. Financial assistance is also provided under the Centre’s Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization.

The Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S Somanath on February 17 said that the space agency is planning to launch a second batch of 36 OneWeb satellites in March. In October 2022, ISRO had successfully launched the first batch of 36 satellites by OneWeb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

S Somanath was speaking after the successful launch of ISRO’S Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) D2.  He said that the year 2023 will see new developments and activities, specifically leading to the Gaganyaan programme.

The OneWeb communications satellites will be launched by ISRO’S Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) rocket. A batch of its 36 satellites reached India on February 16 from the US for their launch in the middle of March, the UK-based satellite communications company said in a statement. ISRO said on Saturday that it is in the final stages of preparing its heaviest rocket for the launch. ISRO’S LVM3 rocket is capable of launching a four-tonne class of satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strapons, a liquid propellant core stage, and a cryogenic stage. The OneWeb satellites will be placed in orbit at an altitude of 1,200 km above the earth’s surface.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India was linked to Singapore’s PayNow payments system on February 21 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, and Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore, led the launch of this cross-border connectivity on Tuesday.

The linkage of two real-time payment systems will enable faster and cost-efficient transfer of money. It will help residents of both countries to send cross-border remittances more quickly and cheaply. It is expected to benefit the Indian diaspora in Singapore, particularly migrant workers and students, by allowing for instant and low-cost money transfers from Singapore to India and vice versa. Prime Minister Modi called it a new milestone in India-Singapore relations.

According to the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) document Population of Overseas Indians (2022), there are 6.5 lakh Indians residing in Singapore, including non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin.

In a statement on February 13, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the developed countries like Canada, Japan, and Mexico have shown interest in the UPI model.

Amazon has said that its self-driving vehicle unit, Zoox, successfully carried passengers on a public road in its fully autonomous vehicle on public roads for the first time.

On February 14, the electric vehicle, which does not have a steering wheel, ran a mile-long route carrying employees between Zoox’s two main buildings in Foster City, California. The company said that its employees are test-riding the taxi on California public roads. It now plans to operate a shuttle for employees on the same trip, while it seeks additional clearances to expand its service to the public.

Amazon said that the robotaxi trip marks the first time that a vehicle designed without human controls has carried passengers on a public road. Zoox’s driverless testing permit, which Amazon has held since September 2020, was extended by California to include the purpose-built robotaxi. To date, its public-road testing has been limited to a fleet of retrofitted gas-powered cars that carry sensors powering the self-driving technology.

The robotaxi was built as a fully autonomous vehicle from scratch. The vehicle has room for four passengers, with two facing each other. Zoox is designed for city streets, but will not go fast, the company said.