Author: Science India Bureau
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for SHIELD, an S-band High-Power Microwave Integrated Evaluation System intended to assess the effects of high-power microwave radiation on electronic systems. The proposed system is being developed under the Technology Development Fund (TDF), which supports the development of indigenous defence technologies through industry participation. The SHIELD project aims to create a dedicated platform for evaluating how electronic equipment behaves when exposed to high-power microwave energy. High-power microwave systems are part of the broader directed-energy technology landscape and can be used to study the vulnerability of electronic…
Image: AI Generated The human brain has traditionally been described as one organ divided into specialised regions. But new research suggests that its basic architecture may be far more unusual: what appears to be a single brain may actually have been assembled from two ancient developmental systems with distinct origins. Researchers led by Stanford scientists have found that the front and back portions of the brain originate from different groups of progenitor cells at the earliest stages of embryonic development. The findings challenge the prevailing model that the entire brain develops from a common population of precursor cells. The discovery…
Image Courtesy: PIB YOUNG SCIENTIST / DR DEEPA AGASHE Dr Deepa Agashe was selected for the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar 2025 in the Vigyan Yuva–Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar category in Biological Sciences. The award, instituted by the Government of India, recognises scientists under 45 for significant achievements in science and technology. Dr Agashe is currently an Associate Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCBS-TIFR), Bengaluru, where she leads the AdaptationLab. Her central scientific question is deceptively simple: how do living organisms cope with a new environment? Her laboratory investigates this question using bacteria and insects,…
IN FOCUS: ICAR-CMFRI The ocean is a source of life, culture, and livelihood for millions of coastal families. Every stretch of India’s vast coastline has untold stories of resilience, success, and hope woven into the lives and traditions of communities who have relied on the ocean generations. “The ocean remembers everything it is given”. This adage beautifully captures the significance of protecting our oceans. It reminds us that, while the sea sustains the human life and livelihoods, it also bears the imprints of our actions, and demands environmental responsibility in return. Needless to say, this saying assumes greater significance in…
Image Courtesy: PIB TECH TALK / UNIFIED DENTAL IMPLANT Researchers have developed a bi-layered, single-piece dental implant that could reduce the number of surgical interventions required for implantation while improving durability, stability and biocompatibility. The new structure, developed by scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) in Hyderabad, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), combines titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) and yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) in a unified implant. Conventional dental implants generally consist of three components—a fixture embedded in the jawbone, an abutment connecting the fixture to the crown, and…
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the state-of-the-art Earth obs er vat ion spac e craft EOS-05, aboard the GSLV-F17 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on 4 September. The launch of this advanced Earth-observation imaging satellite marks the first time that India has successfully placed an imaging satellite specifically designed to operate from a geosynchronous orbit, approximately 36,000 km above the Earth. The mission is being regarded as a major technological advance in India’s remote-sensing and space-based monitoring capabilities. The 51.7-metre-tall GSLV-F17 lifted off from the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota, carrying the approximately…
Image Courtesy: NASA NASA has launched one of its most ambitious space observatories yet, designed to look deeper into some of the universe’s greatest mysteries. From mapping invisible dark matter and investigating dark energy to discovering planets beyond our solar system, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could dramatically expand humanity’s understanding of the cosmos. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was launched on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The telescope is now undertaking a three-month journey of about one million miles to the second Sun-Earth…
Noted Indian Theoretical Physicist Prof Deepak Dhar has been awarded the 2026 Dirac Medal by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, for his important work in statistical mechanics. Dhar is an INSA Distinguished Professor and is known for his research on statistical physics and stochastic processes. He is among four physicists selected for this year’s award for their contributions to theoretical physics. The other recipients are Bernard Derrida, Honorary Professor at the College de France; Marc Mezard, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bocconi University; and Haim Sompolinsky, Professor of Neuroscience and Physics at the Hebrew University…
Image Courtesy: NIOT TECH TALK / MULTI-FUNCTIONAL NANOBOTS In a significant advance towards precision cancer therapy, Indian researchers have developed multifunctional nanobots that can be remotely guided using near-infrared (NIR) light to target and destroy breast cancer cells. The research addresses a major challenge in cancer treatment: delivering therapy precisely to a tumour while limiting damage to healthy tissue. Conventional chemotherapy circulates drugs throughout the body and can therefore cause substantial side effects. Nanomedicine has sought to overcome this problem, but many existing nanoparticles still depend largely on passive accumulation inside tumours and have limited ability to penetrate tissue or…
Image Courtesy: PIB YOUNG SCIENTIST / DR WALIUR RAHAMAN When scientists want to understand what the Earth looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago, there are no written records to turn to. Instead, they read clues preserved in rocks, sediments, oceans and ancient ice. Dr Waliur Rahaman has spent much of his scientific career learning how to decipher these clues. It is for this field of study, involving geochemistry and paleoclimatology, that he has been awarded the Vigyan Yuva– Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award 2025 in Earth Sciences. A Scientist-F in the Isotope Geosciences division of the National Centre for…