May, 2014 | TechieTonics

10 Unanswered Puzzles about Science: Will They Ever Reach Consensus?

May 15, 2014June 18, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Even though we have made tremendous progress in science, yet there remains a mystery when it comes to give reasons to some everyday activities. These mundane stuffs generate the same kind of awestruck curiosity to scientists as it does to a toddler. Some of these bewildering questions are: 1) Slipperiness of Ice The unusual & unique properties of water have given numerous explanations about ice being slippery. Experts have dispensed most of the theories propagated so far and there could be more variations in the future discoveries envision majority of…

Stimulating Neurons can modify Human Learning: Curbing the Addictive Behaviors

May 14, 2014May 31, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania have put forth a research as per which excitation of a set of dopamine-sodden neurons within the brain has substantial chances of altering the learning process. These neurons are present in substantia nigra, the grey matter in the midbrain. Stimulating this patch of the brain has resulted in altered learning by swaying people to reiterate physical actions leading to positive reinforcement producing immediate reward. For the experiment, eleven individuals who were going through deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment for Parkinson’s disease were taken into…

GU Psc b: Another Exoplanet Discovered Through Direct Imaging

May 14, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Space scientists have discovered a new planet by collective observations from the Gemini Observatories, the Observatoire Mont-Mégantic (OMM), the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and the W.M. Keck Observatory. The gas giant is situated around GU Psc, in the constellation Pisces and is believed to be 3 times less massive than the Sun. The distance between the planet GU Psc b and its star GU Psc is approximately 2,000 times Earth-Sun distance. With this distance, it would take the planet nearly 80,000 Earth years to complete just one orbit around its star.…

Titan Arm: An Affordable, Streamlined and Wireless Upper Body Exoskeleton

May 13, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Resemblance back to the normal lifestyle after getting an injury to either of the limbs is li’l difficult. Although there are physical therapies available but the process is quite lengthy plus there isn’t enough guarantee of making hundred percent recuperation. Robotics does offer an alternative solution in terms of prosthetics but the cost factor has always remained one of the biggest huddles. Research students from the University of Pennsylvania have come up with a robotic arm exoskeleton, which is portable, powerful and at the same time quite an affordable invention.…

Lamborghini Huracán: The New Italian Exotic Supercar Replaces Gallardo

May 10, 2014May 16, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

21st century heralds the supercars that not only give preference to speed but also give equal importance to safety, reliability and spaciousness where minimum fuel consumption and less carbon emissions comes in as default features of course. The new Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 rolls in at the same time and earns full marks in all the set parameters. Huracán made its presence felt in the 2014 Geneva Auto Show, where it replaced Gallardo, the most sought after sports car from the same company. The exotic is expected to release somewhere…

Biomimicry: Tabbot Mimics Cartwheel Movement of Desert Spider

May 9, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

After the termites inspired crew of tiny autonomous bots, insect-inspired Micro-Robots and Gimball, biomimicry has a new entrant called the Tabbot. It is a tiny bot inspired from Morocco based spiders famous for doing cartwheels effortlessly. Interestingly, these spiders are capable of doing cartwheels up and down the sand dunes. Ingo Rechenberg, a professor at the Technical University of Berlin has been credited for this discovery. In order to preserve and utilize the resourcefulness of this unique mode of locomotion, the researcher has already fabricated a small bot that works…

Right Enzymes Replicated the Semi-Synthetic DNA: Expanded-DNA Biology

May 9, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Scientists always dig deeper into the functioning of nature in order for their better understandings. At times, these trials and errors have given rise to serendipity or accidental discoveries in science, amongst others, recent being how sliding saltwater over graphene generated electricity. While at other times, these experiments go beyond the natural order of workings even at the miniscule level.

Illustris is New Time Machine: Simulation of the Realistic Virtual Universe

May 8, 2014May 8, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

We know how our universe look today and we have pretty good idea as to how it looked before the things started taking shape somewhere around the Big Bang. But we have no idea how the galaxies evolve and what was before the Big Bang. In order to study this, researchers at the MIT have built a computer simulation, they have named it the Illustris. This simulation is so complex that calculating on single desktop might take 2k years alone and its volume comprises around 215m light years. Although there…

Magnetic Fields in Electric and Hybrid Cars Involve No Threat: Cars under Safety Margin

May 7, 2014May 16, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Majority welcomed the vehicular era when electric and hybrid automobiles took to the center stage. While there were still others who were doubtful regarding the dangers that might affect the passengers including drivers imposed by the possibly generated electromagnetic fields. However, the increasing number of electric car ownership has thwarted this idea. Seven various electric cars, including hydrogen, gasoline and diesel powered cars, were put under survey by SINTEF, Norway and they discovered that exposure of the electromagnetic radiation was less than 20%. A limit, which was suggested by ICNIRP,…

10 Ways to Conserve Smartphone Battery Life: The Power Management

May 7, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Technology behind smartphone is evolving at a very fast pace, unlike the past era, people are not reluctant to adopt the new expertise with respect to their devices. However, when it comes to battery life, the same people then take a back seat before delving deeper into the ocean of technology. Smartphones have witnessed a major leap in terms of huge screen, fast CPUs and other eye catching system features but batteries still haven’t crosses the initial threshold. Till the time, technology behind new super batteries make its heyday, we…

High Fiber Diet helps in Combating Overeating Problems: Acetate for Eating Disorders

May 6, 2014 Neha Shukla

Researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Imperial College London have discovered an anti-appetite molecule named as acetate. These acetate molecules are discharged when our body digests fibre. The released acetate molecules carried to the brain, which then signals our body to stop consuming more food.

Unlocking East Antarctica would yield to Escalation in Sea-Level Rise: The Uncontrollable Ice-Melt

May 6, 2014May 18, 2014 Neha Shukla

Today cities situated along the coast or on the islands are under constant threat, posed by the sea level rise caused due to changes in the climate. As the climate gets warm, sea level would rise due to melting of glaciers and it is known fact that warm water requires more space than compact water stored in the form of ice. Therefore, researchers are continuously monitoring changes in the climate and its impact on the lives of millions of humans that would get displaced if the sea level rise considerably.

Absence of Large Mammals Lead to Escalation of Disease-Carrying Rodents: Ecological Imbalance

May 5, 2014 Neha Shukla

Every creature that lives on this planet has a role to play in maintaining a balance in the nature. Many animals have got extinct or on the verge of getting extinct, mainly because of human activities like deforestation, poaching, pollution and other activity. Following the extinction of large animals, the population of smaller animals like rodents will surge rapidly and this imbalance will have dire consequences on the health of humans.

10 Extinct Species of Animals That Ruled in Yester Decades: Wild Life That Was

May 5, 2014May 5, 2014 Pragati Kashyap

Time and tide wait for none! Well, who’s not aware of this fact? Even the Earth has never been the same. Dominated by man today, the planet was ruled by some other species in yester decades. And who knows – how long are we as humans gonna make it here! Species come and go but what are left behind are their trials. The reasons for sudden disappearance of these long gone species are many, namely – catastrophic meteor collisions, ice age and of course there’s inexorable threat of one specifically…

Recombination Leads to Evolution of Drug Resistant Lineage: Bacterial Genomics

May 3, 2014May 3, 2014 Neha Shukla

Researchers have always wanted to know the process by which bacteria become drug or vaccine resistant over the time. They have now an answer to this mystery. To get genetic material that could make bacteria drug resistant, bacteria use recombination method, which is in other words a substitute for sex.