Technolgies useful for Indian problems

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 06 Dec 2007 11:32

This is interesting:

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... BPDVO0.htm

It's a technology for converting waste lumber/timber/wood into fuel.

vsudhir · Post by **vsudhir** » 18 Dec 2007 01:56

Synthetic DNA at brink of creating first life-forms reports the Washington Post today in wehat is undoubtedly a huge, huge story.

Unlike conventional biotechnology, in which scientists induce modest genetic changes in cells to make them serve industrial purposes, synthetic biology involves the large-scale rewriting of genetic codes to create metabolic machines with singular purposes.

"I see a cell as a chassis and power supply for the artificial systems we are putting together," said Tom Knight of MIT, who likes to compare the state of cell biology today to that of mechanical engineering in 1864. That is when the United States began to adopt standardized thread sizes for nuts and bolts, an advance that allowed the construction of complex devices from simple, interchangeable parts.

If biology is to morph into an engineering discipline, it is going to need similarly standardized parts, Knight said. So he and colleagues have started a collection of hundreds of interchangeable genetic components they call BioBricks, which students and others are already popping into cells like Lego pieces.

Mind blowing, eh? Or is it just more promising fluff aimed at cheating grants out of governments and foundations yielding little in the long run? Doesn't look that way. There're many indications, this time, the revolution is for real. In real time. And might see another scitech revolution in my own lifetime.... (I consider the IT-telecom revolution as the first that I witnessed first hand. This one though is on a order of magnitude removed from all that. This one is as fundamental as the mastery of fire, of agriculture and of the wheel.....

J. Craig Venter, chief executive of Synthetic Genomics in Rockville, knows what he wants his cells to make: ethanol, hydrogen and other exotic fuels for vehicles, to fill a market that has been estimated to be worth $1 trillion.

In a big step toward that goal, Venter has now built the first fully artificial chromosome, a strand of DNA many times longer than anything made by others and laden with all the genetic components a microbe needs to get by.

Details of the process are under wraps until the work is published, probably early next year. But Venter has already shown that he can insert a "natural" chromosome into a cell and bring it to life. If a synthetic chromosome works the same way, as expected, the first living cells with fully artificial genomes could be growing in dishes by the end of 2008.

The plan is to mass-produce a plain genetic platform able to direct the basic functions of life, then attach custom-designed DNA modules that can compel cells to make synthetic fuels or other products.

It will be a challenge to cultivate fuel-spewing microbes, Venter acknowledged. Among other problems, he said, is that unless the fuel is constantly removed, "the bugs will basically pickle themselves."

Go figure.
Here're meanwhile ever more applications just spewing forth...

It will be a challenge to cultivate fuel-spewing microbes, Venter acknowledged. Among other problems, he said, is that unless the fuel is constantly removed, "the bugs will basically pickle themselves."

But the hurdles are not insurmountable. LS9 Inc., a company in San Carlos, Calif., is already using E. coli bacteria that have been reprogrammed with synthetic DNA to produce a fuel alternative from a diet of corn syrup and sugar cane. So efficient are the bugs' synthetic metabolisms that LS9 predicts it will be able to sell the fuel for just $1.25 a gallon.

At a DuPont plant in Tennessee, other semi-synthetic bacteria are living on cornstarch and making the chemical 1,3 propanediol, or PDO. Millions of pounds of the stuff are being spun and woven into high-tech fabrics (DuPont's chief executive wears a pinstripe suit made of it), putting the bug-begotten chemical on track to become the first $1 billion biotech product that is not a pharmaceutical.

Engineers at DuPont studied blueprints of E. coli's metabolism and used synthetic DNA to help the bacteria make PDO far more efficiently than could have been done with ordinary genetic engineering.

"If you want to sell it at a dollar a gallon . . . you need every bit of efficiency you can muster," said DuPont's Pierce. "So we're running these bugs to their limits."

Yet another application is in medicine, where synthetic DNA is allowing bacteria and yeast to produce the malaria drug artemisinin far more efficiently than it is made in plants, its natural source.

Bugs such as these will seem quaint, scientists say, once fully synthetic organisms are brought on line to work 24/7 on a range of tasks, from industrial production to chemical cleanups. But the prospect of a flourishing synbio economy has many wondering who will own the valuable rights to that life.

Of course, there are concerns, fears etc about the social, economic, environmental and security implications of such technology.

In the past year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been flooded with aggressive synthetic-biology claims. Some of Venter's applications, in particular, "are breathtaking in their scope," said Knight. And with Venter's company openly hoping to develop "an operating system for biologically-based software," some fear it is seeking synthetic hegemony.

"We've asked our patent lawyers to be reasonable and not to be overreaching," Venter said. But competitors such as DuPont, he said, "have just blanketed the field with patent applications."

Safety concerns also loom large. Already a few scientists have made viruses from scratch. The pending ability to make bacteria -- which, unlike viruses, can live and reproduce in the environment outside of a living body -- raises new concerns about contamination, contagion and the potential for mischief.

"Ultimately synthetic biology means cheaper and widely accessible tools to build bioweapons, virulent pathogens and artificial organisms that could pose grave threats to people and the planet," concluded a recent report by the Ottawa-based ETC Group, one of dozens of advocacy groups that want a ban on releasing synthetic organisms pending wider societal debate and regulation.

"The danger is not just bio-terror but bio-error," the report says.

Many scientists say the threat has been overblown. Venter notes that his synthetic genomes are spiked with special genes that make the microbes dependent on a rare nutrient not available in nature. And Pierce, of DuPont, says the company's bugs are too spoiled to survive outdoors.

"They are designed to grow in a cosseted environment with very high food levels," Pierce said. "You throw this guy out on the ground, he just can't compete. He's toast."

"We've heard that before," said Jim Thomas, ETC Group's program manager, noting that genes engineered into crops have often found their way into other plants despite assurances to the contrary. "The fact is, you can build viruses, and soon bacteria, from downloaded instructions on the Internet," Thomas said. "Where's the governance and oversight?"

In fact, government controls on trade in dangerous microbes do not apply to the bits of DNA that can be used to create them. And while some industry groups have talked about policing the field themselves, the technology is quickly becoming so simple, experts say, that it will not be long before "bio hackers" working in garages will be downloading genetic programs and making them into novel life forms.

There's not to mention religious implications galore.... Man is finally out to play God.

"The cat is out of the bag," said Jay Keasling, chief of synthetic biology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Andrew Light, an environmental ethicist at the University of Washington in Seattle, said synthetic biology poses a conundrum because of its double-edged ability to both wreak biological havoc and perhaps wean civilization from dirty 20th-century technologies and petroleum-based fuels.

"For the environmental community, I think this is going to be a really hard choice," Light said.

Ya think??

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 18 Dec 2007 16:22

Beluga SkySail

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Dec 2007 01:08

I have been reading about improvised gassification stoves which burn the wood mass fuel at higher than usual low temperature stoves. It might be the next bio fuel revolution for rural areas in countries like India.

They have an air chamber and method of forcing air through the fuel mass made of chopped wood etc and burns upto 900 degree F.Will try to locate pictures to make sense out of this.

Here is one link:
Wood Gas Stove

Would like India based members to get a copy made and see how it works out.

Another link:

Turbo Stove

And DIY tpe page:

ZEN Stoves

Rudranathh · Post by **Rudranathh** » 19 Dec 2007 21:50

Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) develops low-cost water filter

12/18/2007

Bangalore, Dec 18 (UNI) The Bhubaneshwar-based Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) has developed a low-cost water filter to provide potable water on a mass-scale in rural areas.

IMMT Design and Rural Technology Head Surendra Khuntia today said the water filter called 'Terafil' would be a big boon to the rural people.

''Terafil is a low-cost burnt red clay porous filter used for treating turbid raw water into clean drinking water,'' he said.

''The filter, prepared from a mixture of ordinary pottery red clay, river sand and saw dust, removes 99.9 per cent of turbidity, 100 per cent of bacteria and 90 per cent of soluble iron, including heavy metals, bad odour and colour,'' he said.

With a lifespan of over five years, the product filters ten litres of water per hour and it could be fitted to any container to make a domestic or community water filter, he said.

He said the technology for the filter, which was invented in 1998, was tested in several countries for its effectiveness in providing safe drinking water.

The Orissa Government had already planned to install the 'Terafil' in all schools and health centres, he said adding that he had proposed to take up a pilot project on community-basis in other states including Karnataka.

The IMMT had already conducted training programmes in Kochi and Bhubhaneswar to popularise the product, which costs Rs 350.

It had also planned to transfer the technological know-how to entrepreneurs for a licence fee of Rs 60,000, he said adding that a research was on to develop a filter to remove fluoride from water.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 20 Dec 2007 13:56

V-Shape Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency

Boosts it by quite a lot, it seems.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 20 Dec 2007 20:51

Bamboo road bridge can support 16-tonne trucks

A novel type of bridge with horizontal beams made from a bamboo composite proved strong enough to support even heavy trucks in tests. The bamboo beams are cheaper and more environmentally friendly to make than steel or concrete, yet offer comparable structural strength.

Yan Xiao, who works at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, US, and at Hunan University in China, led the development of the bamboo beams used to make the bridge.

Instead of using round, pole-like pieces of unprocessed bamboo, which have been used as building material for many thousands of years, he came up with a way of assembling timber-like beams from many smaller strips of bamboo.

Precise details on the process remain proprietary, but Xiao says the strips are cut from large stalks of bamboo, arranged in multiple layers, and bonded together with glue. The technique has never been used to build such large beams before, Xiao says.

Using prefabricated beams, it took a team of eight workers just a week to assemble and did not require heavy construction equipment. It proved strong enough to carry a 16-tonne truck and, and based on structural testing of the bridge, should be able to support even more weight, Xiao says.

Pound-for-pound, bamboo is stronger than steel when stretched and more robust than concrete when compressed. Also, stalks several meters tall mature in just a few years, rather than a few decades as with trees, so more can be harvested from the same amount of land.

Rudranathh · Post by **Rudranathh** » 20 Dec 2007 22:13

New laser technique to combat terror
Thursday, December 20, 2007 03:30 IST

Chandra Kumar Patel, inventor of CO2 laser, has developed a technique for easy detection of RDX, TNT and chemical agents

MUMBAI: He is a pioneer in the field of lasers and despite having invented the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser more than 40 years ago, Chandra Kumar Patelâ€™s quest for innovation goes on and on.

Patel, who received the prestigious National Science Medal from President Bill Clinton in 1996, has now embarked upon developing a laser technique that would enable law enforcement agencies to detect explosive substances and chemical warfare agents more effectively.

Patel presented the latest explosive detection technique during a colloquium at Tata Institute of Fundamenal Research (TIFR) on Wednesday.

During his talk, the 69-year-old Baramati-born Patel, who is visiting India under the Sarojini Damodaran International Fellowship Programme, said that the existing explosive detection techniques lacked high sensitivity, specificity, speed of detection and ruggedness. â€œAs a result, the false alarm rates are pretty high and so is the inconvenience caused to the travellers.â€

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 21 Dec 2007 04:18

Stanford Researcher Develops Super-Battery

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 25 Dec 2007 08:14

New Scanning Chair Detects Contraband Smuggling by Prisoners

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 20 Jan 2008 09:48

This is another model that could be emulated for an affordable home:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/01/18/pre ... itzerland/

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 14 Feb 2008 07:29

A list of emerging technologies from Purdue University:

http://rebar.ecn.purdue.edu/ect/New/new.aspx

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 20 Feb 2008 07:20

Hmm, I guess a Desi Gadgets thread might be too specialized for this forum, but here's an interesting item I just came across:

http://www.gizmag.com/fastap-hindi-mobi ... oard/8842/

I'm sure they'll be bringing them out in all languages, if they haven't already.
Heh, I prefer Roman-Hindi myself, for texting purposes.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 24 Feb 2008 09:52

Intel to sell low-cost CPU:

http://www.physorg.com/news122897920.html

Multatuli · Post by **Multatuli** » 27 Feb 2008 02:45

People, could ISRO do something similar for India ?

JAXA Satellite Promises to Pump Worldwide Internet Speeds

A new JAXA satellite, which promises to bring rural subscribersâ€™ connections up to speed, launched last Saturday from Japan's Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center. The new satellite, named WINDS, promises "super high-speed Internet" throughout the world. It was developed as a joint project between Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The satellite promises residential internet subscribers the ability to use small dishes to connect to the Internet many times faster than speeds current DSL or cable connections. According to the Associated Press the satellite will provide data transmission at rates up to 1.2 Gbps. The service will initially focus on the Asia-Pacific region, covering such high-tech giants as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and likely China. However, if the service catches on, U.S. providers will be certain to want North American coverage as well.

http://www.dailytech.com/JAXA+Satellite ... e10849.htm

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 27 Feb 2008 05:45

I've sometimes wondered if we could do such things without having to launch satellites -- by using high-altitude balloons or blimps. Even Google is now contracting with and looking into buying some high-altitude balloon companies, to set up a wireless broadband system that would help it to achieve market dominance in mobile broadband access.

India is famous for rubber and textiles, and now increasingly coming up in steel and petrochemicals. We should be able to create large balloons or airships to send to high altitudes and use as "Poor Man's Satellites".

Army has a use for aerostats to do surveillance, and such platforms could fulfill a dual-use purpose by serving the civil/commercial broadband market too.

After seeing those pictures of US & British soldiers dying in Afghanistan, and how the Taliban knew how long it would take before air support arrived, I'm imagining that a heavy-lift airship could provide more useful air support than AC-130 gunships, by loitering high over a broad area for very long duration. It could be armed with the ground-pounding howitzers, etc, and even inflict low-dispersion kinetic kills with "rods from god", etc.
Let's face it, Taliban-types are not armed with an air force, or with sophisticated SAM-6 missile sites, to knock down high-altitude platforms at 30,000 feet. Such a platform could be remote-controlled anyway, to reduce risk and sustain long endurance missions.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 27 Feb 2008 07:33

Heavy storage batteries could store electricity produced by solar panels during the day, for later use at night:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-home ... ies-460226

Also, a new electrode system made of nano-particles could radically increase the efficiency of electrolysis, to produce hydrogen much more cheaply and easily:

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showAr ... =206801669

Hydrogen could then likewise be used as a storage medium for electric power, in addition to serving as an eco-friendly fuel for vehicular transportation.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 29 Feb 2008 08:22

Behold, the solar laptop computer:

http://www.hardgeek.net/2008/02/28/inbu ... k-concept/

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 Mar 2008 05:10

Indian currency is the victim of counterfeiting by criminal organizations, including that practiced by our malicious neighbors. Here is a new technology that enables high-resolution holographic imprinting, which could be useful as an anti-counterfeiting measure:

http://www.physorg.com/news124039000.html

Keshav · Post by **Keshav** » 07 Mar 2008 07:53

Sanjay M wrote:Hmm, I guess a Desi Gadgets thread might be too specialized for this forum, but here's an interesting item I just came across:

http://www.gizmag.com/fastap-hindi-mobi ... oard/8842/

I'm sure they'll be bringing them out in all languages, if they haven't already.
Heh, I prefer Roman-Hindi myself, for texting purposes.

I'm surprised India hasn't done this already. Why is it that the Americans did it before us?

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 Mar 2008 10:47

Because they're more enterprising and thoughtful than we are

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 19 Mar 2008 09:59

Cellphones are pretty commonplace in India. Now here's a microscope attachment for the cellphone:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20433/?a=f

Perhaps this device and others like it could be useful for rural doctors, etc, to quickly transmit a patient's blood sample info to a hospital for further analysis.

Keshav · Post by **Keshav** » 19 Mar 2008 10:04

Sanjay M wrote:Because they're more enterprising and thoughtful than we are

Enterprising... maybe. Thoughtful... mmm... maybe not.

Someone should do one for Telegu, Tamil, Gujurati, Marathi, etc. Could make a buttload off that.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 23 Mar 2008 08:41

Long-Distance Wi-Fi

Intel has found a way to stretch a Wi-Fi signal from one antenna to another located more than 60 miles away.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 25 Mar 2008 08:33

This would be a useful gadget for Indians looking to watch videos or even do some computer work, while sitting on the bus, or train, or passenger seat of a car or airplane:

MyVu Reviewed

All they'd need is a mouthpiece and a portable keyboard, and you could be totally interactive with the world.

ashish raval · Post by **ashish raval** » 25 Mar 2008 19:34

Interesting Stuff.

http://gizmodo.com/370698/colbert-first ... -distiller

India can invite this guy to test it in Rajasthan.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 28 Mar 2008 06:30

Cheaper Solar:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20476/

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 28 Mar 2008 07:00

Anti-Malaria Treatment:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 032608.php

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 28 Mar 2008 08:29

ZAP Electric Truck:

http://www.gizmag.com/zap-xl-electric-truck/9039/

Yerna · Post by **Yerna** » 28 Mar 2008 10:19

We should probably start a thread about technologies NOT useful for Indian problems.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Apr 2008 09:34

The Cheap MRI Machine

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 12 Apr 2008 21:48

New Cheaper Method for Aerogel Production

Dr. Halimaton Hamdan from the Universiti Teknologi in Malaysia has developed a method of producing aerogel that could reduce the cost of producing aerogel by 80% by using agricultural waste from rice husks as the feedstock. Rice husks evidently have a high silica content, and silica is the main constituent of aerogel. In addition to potentially being able to produce aerogel for one-fifth the current cost, this also addresses a problem with disposing of rice husk waste.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 14 Apr 2008 09:18

http://www.gizmag.com/wind-turbines-har ... ower/9120/

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 30 Apr 2008 21:36

[url=http://www.silicon.com/research/special ... 851,00.htm]Tech to tackle India's poverty[url]

Villagers in India are turning to technology to lift them out of the deprivation that keeps 280 million people in the country below the poverty line.

Change is stirring in the heart of rural India as computer-filled business process outsourcing (BPO) units spring up next to rough shacks, and village patients receive diagnoses from doctors hundreds of miles away via satellite link.

With the average rural Indian family of five living on less than $1.5 per day, 220 million malnourished children and 300 million illiterates in the Indian countryside, these opportunities are desperately needed.

The Unesco-recognised scheme to revolutionise rural education, healthcare and sanitation through technology and business acumen, is the work of the Byrraju Foundation - a not-for-profit organisation set up by chairman of Indian outsourcer Satyam Ramilinga Raju.

Among the 191 villages who have been adopted by the scheme, 141 have reached 100 per cent literacy, fuelled by e-learning for adults and children via telecommunication links and 263 new schools.

More than 22,000 jobs have been created in villages, from BPO employees earning $150-a-month to entrepreneurs starting book binding or tailoring businesses.

The foundation's chief integrator Verghese Jacob says it takes between three to five years for a village to become self-reliant after being adopted by the scheme.

He said: "We want to achieve dramatic change in a very short period of time. We are aiming for state-of-the-art solutions to be made available at a minimum of cost.

"We have had people who have left jobs in the city and come back to the village because they can be with their family and have a better quality of life."

Every adopted village has a health centre, some with remote diagnostic capabilities, tending to more than six million patients and treating more than 40,000 for diabetes and hyper-tension.

Water treatment plants provide clean drinking water to more than one million people and more than 76,000 toilets have been built.

The foundation relies on 1,100 employees, 11,000 volunteers and 120 commercial, state and organisational partners.

It is now reaching out to westerners to help fund the redevelopment through rural tourism, where people can stay in an Indian village.

gopal.suri · Post by **gopal.suri** » 01 May 2008 20:54

ISRO and DRDO sign MOU for the supply of Doppler Weather Radars

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 May 2008 09:48

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20737/?a=f

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 13 May 2008 11:32

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20754/

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 14 May 2008 22:57

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Lab-on-a-Chip Made of Paper

Paper-based microfluidic devices could yield cheap, disposable diagnostic tests.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 15 May 2008 00:02

[quote]Where Are Indiaâ€™s Innovative Companies, Products and Solutions?
by: Mark Fidelman posted on: May 09, 2008 | about stocks: EPI / IFN / INFY / INP / TTM / WIP Font Size: PrintEmail India produces some of the brightest minds in technology, science and medicine yet has not demonstrated any truly large scale and breakthrough innovations in those fields. The giant India corporations of Reliance, Tata (TTM), Wipro (WIT), and Infosys (INFY) have huge revenues but produce very little innovative intellectual property [IIP]. Yet, India has critical â€œCountry Developmentâ€

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 17 May 2008 03:57

Friday, May 16, 2008
A Cool Trick for Solar Cells

A technology developed by IBM to cool computer chips could be a boon for solar energy.