US university first 1000-processor chip

                Scientists have designed the world’s first microchip containing 1,000 independent programmable processors, that can compute upto 1.78 trillion instructions per second and is thought to be the fastest ever designed at a university. The energy-efficient “KiloCore” chip contains 621 million transistors.

                “To the best of our knowledge, it is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university,” said Bevan Baas, professor at the University of California, Davis, who led the team that designed the chip architecture.

                While other multiple-processor chips have been created, none exceed about 3000 processors, researchers said. Most were created for research purposes. Since each processor is independently clocked, it can shut itself down to further save energy when not needed. The chip is the most energy-efficient “many-core” processor ever reported.

Qora, indigenous faecal incontinence management device, launched

                On 20 May 2016, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary launched Qora. It is an indigenously developed faecal incontinence (FI) management system. The affordable device is primarily aimed at patients outside the intensive care Unit. Qora was developed by the Department of Biotechnology in partnership with AIIMS and IIT Delhi. The international partners of the programme include Stanford University, US, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and Tottori University, Japan.

What is faecal incontinence?

•          FI is a medical condition marked by inability to control one’s bowel movements.
•          It causes stools (faeces) to leak unexpectedly from the rectum. It affects nearly 100 million bed-ridden patients worldwide.
•          As per an estimate, 58 percent of patients in hospital intensive care units suffer from this condition, as well as another 27 million patients who live at home and are cared for by their families.

Way to produce clean Hydrogen Fuel using Sunlight

                Stanford scientists have developed a new way to produce hydrogen fuel using sunlight, in an effort to tackle one of the world’s biggest energy challenges – clean fuel for transportation. Hydrogen fuel has long been touted as a clean alternative to gasoline. “Millions of cars could be powered by clean hydrogen fuel if it were cheap and widely available,” said Yi Cui, an associate professor at Stanford University.

                Unlike gasoline-powered vehicles, hydrogen cars themselves are emissions free. However, making most hydrogen fuel involves natural gas in a process that releases CO₂ into the atmosphere. To address the problem, researchers focused on photovoltaic water splitting which consists of a solar-powered electrode immersed in water.

                When sunlight hits the electrode, it generates an electric current that splits the water into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen. Conventional solar electrodes made of silicon quickly corrode when exposed to oxygen, a key byproduct of water splitting. Researchers presented a new approach using bismuth vanadate, an inexpensive compound that absorbs sunlight and generates modest amounts of electricity.

A portable Ultrasound scanner is coming

                A portable ultrasound scanner being developed by British scientists could save the lives of wounded soldiers on the front line by quickly detecting injuries like bleeding on the brain. The portable ultrasound scanner will use new brain scanning software. The device – much smaller than an MRI scanner – would create a 3D model of the brain on location and it could then be used for swift diagnosis.

Nanoparticles may help prevent tooth decay

                Scientists have found a way to use nano-particles to effectively break down plaque and wipe out more than 99.9% of cavity-causing bacteria within minutes, an advance that may help better prevent tooth decay. The bacteria that live in dental plaque and contribute to tooth decay often resist traditional antimicrobial treatment, as they can “hide” within a sticky bio-film matrix, a glue-like polymer scaffold.

                Researchers at University of Pennsylvania took a more sophisticated approach. Instead of applying an antimicrobial to the teeth, they took advantage of the pH-sensitive and enzyme-like properties of iron-containing nano-particles to catalyse the activity of hydrogen peroxide, a commonly used natural antiseptic.

                The activity hydrogen peroxide produced free radicals that were able to degrade the bio-film matrix and kill the bacteria within, significantly reducing plaque and preventing the tooth decay, or cavities, in an animal model. “Even using a very low concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the process was incredibly effective at disrupting the bio-film,” said Hyun Koo, from the University of Pennsylvania. “Adding nano-particles increased the efficiency of bacterial killing more than 5,000 fold,” said Koo.

                Previous research showed that iron oxide nano-particles behave similarly to a peroxidase, an enzyme found naturally that catalyses oxidative reactions, often using hydrogen peroxide.

China launches Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellite

                On 15 May 2016, China launched the Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellite. It was placed in the sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) by using the Long March 2-D rocket. The Satellite was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Canter located in Gobi desert in Northwest China’s Gansu Province.

Key Features:

•          It will be used for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment and disaster monitoring.
•          It has high resolution optical sensors that have a resolution of between one to three meters.
•          The satellite was placed in the SSP so that it provides favorable illumination for the imaging missions.
•          It has two deployable solar arrays along with batteries. It uses the CAST-2000 platform, which has a dry mass of about one metric ton.
•          The first satellite in the Yaogan series, Yaogan-1, was launched in 2006.

Computer that roll up like paper in the offing

                Ultrathin an lightweight computers that roll up like a piece of paper may be closer to reality, thanks to highly flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) developed by Korean scientists. The OLEDs have excellent efficiency and make use of graphene as a transparent electrode. OLEDs, built upon a plastic substrate, have received greater attention lately for their use in next-generation displays that can be bent or rolled while still operating.

                Researchers led by Seunghyup Yoo from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Tae-Woo Lee from Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea used graphene as a transparent electrode (TE) which is placed in between titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and conducting polymer layers. This is an optical design that induces a synergistic collaboration between the high-n and low-n layers to increase the effective reflectance of TEs. Under this approach, graphene-based OLED devices remain intact and operate well even after 1,000 bending cycles at a radius of curvature as small as 2.3mm.