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1. Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday exhorted academic institutions and universities to foster research culture for finding innovative solutions to social problems.
2.Tulsi mitigates radiation effects
3. Use of hi-tech for cheating at the exams
‘Applied and fundamental research is the crying need of the nation to foster research culture in our academia and universities for the basic needs of our growing population, especially, clean drinking water, food, healthcare, energy, housing, infrastructure and education,’ Kalam said at an awards ceremony in this tech hub.
Noting that the country would have to depend on technologies derived from Indian science to improve its innovativeness index, Kalam said the growth so far was achieved using technologies developed elsewhere and discoveries and patents generated over a decade ago.
‘As latest technologies will not be available for us from developed countries at least for a decade, innovative research is very vital, particularly, in basic science to develop products and services required to meet global competitiveness by organisations, institutions and industry,’ Kalam said, after presenting Infosys Prizes to six scientists.
He referring to the global innovation report for 2011, which ranked India 62 in the Global Innovation Index, while smaller countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong among the top four countries.
‘If India has to graduate from the present ranking in competitiveness index and become equal to economically developed nations (within the top 10), we have to depend on technologies derived from Indian science and improve its innovativeness index to better than five,’ Kalam asserted.
The former president said when the entire planet was faced with the problem of climate change, there was a need for farmers, agricultural planners, educationists and researchers to intensify the quantum of organic farming
2. Tulsi mitigates radiation effects
The ancient Indian tradition of growing tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) in the backyard is not without scientific backing.
Research shows that the tulsi, or Indian basil, mitigates the ill-effects of radiation, whether background or nuclear, and could protect cells in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.
Scientists at the DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicines and Allied Sciences, and the Department of Radiobiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, have successfully tested tulsi extracts on mice for its anti-radiation and anti-cancer properties. The DRDO is now preparing a herbal concoction from tulsi that will serve to both prevent and cure the ill-effects of radiation.
In the mouse model, there was no impact on bone marrow after the mice exposed to radiation ingested the tulsi preparation. It is the bone marrow that is affected in case of radiation exposure, and this brings down the immunity level.
The DRDO now proposes to take up human trials, says Dr W. Selvamurthy, chief controller (research and development), DRDO, who presented a research paper on the anti-radiation impact of tulsi extract at the 99th Indian Science Congress, which concluded in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
“We need to conduct a few more tests and take up phase II trials before it is released for general use,” said Dr Selvamurthy. The DRDO is spending `7 crore on the tulsi project
New Delhi: High-end mobile phones with powerful camera and bluetooth devices were the tools used by three young men to scan the AIIMS post graduate entrance exam paper and send it to an email id outside the exam hall. How did they manage to smuggle the devices in?
An apparent lack of frisking at the examination centre in Sector 28 Noida helped the three accused secret in their Sony Xperia and Nokia Lumia phones with camera, specific softwares and bluetooth device to scan the question papers
Amit Punia, who did his MBBS from PGI Rohtak, Kapil Kumar, 27, MBA graduate from Jamia Milia university and Krishan Pratap, 27, MA in public administration from Jamia Milia university and an MBA from IMC Meerut were the three young men arrested along with two others for attempting to leak the question paper.
The blue tooth and the earphone were used to confirm whether the transmitted photographs were legible.
They had the bluetooth device stitched to their shirts and a minute earphone was given to one of the accused.
Punia, along with Kumar and Pratap, the latter two posing as medical students, entered the hall with their gadgets. As soon as the three got the question papers, they clicked pictures of the papers and sent it to an email id of Bhisham Singh, 27, who was operating a computer in a rented accommodation outside the hall.
Singh downloaded the question paper and took out printouts.
.Mohit Choudhary, 23, who hails from Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh) was the gang leader.
As soon as he got the question paper he was to take it to some people to get it solved, and give the answers on phone to some candidates who were willing to pay a huge amount.
However, he was arrested before he could do so.