Technolgies useful for Indian problems

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 03 Oct 2008 09:18

Friday, October 03, 2008
Cheap, Off-Grid Cooling

A hybrid refrigerator will bring efficient, cheap cooling to India.

By Prachi Patel-Predd

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 04 Oct 2008 06:13

Bike Made of Recyclable Plastic

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 13 Oct 2008 10:31

Here's a van-sized motorhome:

http://www.gizmag.com/the-miniature-hig ... ome/10174/

Might be useful for travelers/sightseers. Pretty compact form-factor.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 15 Oct 2008 06:13

Electric shaver which can be charged up by wind-up means:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10 ... shaver.php

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 03 Feb 2009 06:35

Pneumatic hybrid for autos:

http://www.dailytech.com/Pneumatic+Hybr ... e14128.htm

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 09 Feb 2009 18:57

High-Altitude Balloons Could Replace Satellites

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090208/ ... 09.85.html

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 12 Feb 2009 03:26

Laser Surgical Healing:

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22088/

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 13 Feb 2009 11:18

Amazing work by DARPA could help amputees:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/22730/

Stem cells would obviously be most preferable, but this in itself is fantastic.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 24 Feb 2009 02:22

In world first, Israeli know-how helps India village get water from air.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 28 Feb 2009 15:58

Brammo Enertia e-bike:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaIXR1h_dME

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/27 ... ns-in-may/

I'm wondering if electric motorbikes could become rugged silent transportation for special forces and infantrymen?

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 01 Mar 2009 01:55

Take a look at this video of the new Sumo motorbike by Axle Corp of Japan - listen to how quiet it sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs4GXH5Q3Rk

It's almost completely noiseless. Even regular electric bikes make a high-pitched whine that's fairly noisy, although obviously not as bad as gas-powered motorbikes.

Here's more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8utqgS7es7k

Wouldn't this type of motorbike be excellent for special forces, etc? You could travel quite rapidly on this, covering much distance in silent stealth, without producing any noise to give you away.

In the civilian context, it would reduce noise pollution, as 2-wheelers do make a lot of noise.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Mar 2009 16:45

This bicycle achieves strength as a tensegrity structure, using cables:

http://www.gizmag.com/wire-frame-bike-c ... les/11187/

I don't think this bike is designed to be collapsible, but I'd wonder if a tensegrity structure could be used to create a uniquely collapsible form, for portability purposes?

Imagine what could be done for personal mobility, if tensegrity structures could be used to make portable collapsible vehicles, for example.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 16 Mar 2009 04:06

Scientists Working on Anti-Mosquito Lasers:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandte ... laria.html

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 27 Mar 2009 03:51

Here's an interesting eco-friendly idea:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03 ... -water.php

Boxed Water instead of Bottled Water

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 Apr 2009 05:10

Stem Cell Injections Could Heal Bone Fractures

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7985142.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healt ... bones.html

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Apr 2009 13:27

Solar-powered Bug-Zapper

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 19 Apr 2009 02:15

Behold FAWN - the Fast Array of Wimpy Nodes:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22504/?a=f

This low-energy array of notebook CPUs could radically reduce the energy cost for data-centres.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 24 Apr 2009 08:40

Ultrasound Attachment for Windows Smartphone

http://www.dailytech.com/Researchers+Co ... e14941.htm

Now people can take ultrasound scans even when they are far from hospitals

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 24 Apr 2009 09:58

Holy Cow! The bovine genome has finally been fully sequenced and catalogued!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8014598.stm

Great sacred scrolls, what are we going to do now, with the great cow mystique made naked in front of the world?

Got milk?

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 30 Apr 2009 04:47

Bricks Made from Cow Dung 20% Stronger Than Clay Bricks

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 30 Apr 2009 05:36

Human Hair Excellent Fertilizer to Make Plants Grow

sivabala · Post by **sivabala** » 30 Apr 2009 06:01

Sanjay M wrote:Human Hair Excellent Fertilizer to Make Plants Grow

Human hair can be used for making lot of important chemicals which are expensive instead of fertilizers.

Unfortunately, only Japs have the technology and we are exporting almost all the hair from Thirupathi to Japan. They sell it back as an expensive chemical.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 08 May 2009 02:39

The Sustain Mini-Home

Note that it's designed to be an off-grid dwelling, generating its own electricity, economizing on water, etc.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 19 May 2009 09:53

Ion-wind cooling technology could replace fans:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22668/

Lithium-ion battery breakthrough triples energy storage:

http://www.physorg.com/news161863249.html

(Hey, from my alma mater, Univ of Waterloo!)

Hey, things like this could enable faster and longer-running electronics.
They could even make electric cars even more practical.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 19 May 2009 17:57

The Lithium-Air Battery:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... nline-news

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 01 Jun 2009 10:01

Indian tubewells suffer from a high degree of arsenic contamination. Here's another cure for this:

http://www.technologyreview.com/article/22729/

Sanjay · Post by **Sanjay** » 02 Jun 2009 17:44

I am grateful this thread has started. Perhaps it can also be used to highlight what is actually being done and not just new technologies that might be useful ?

That being said and without meaning in any way to detract from the undoubted value of this thread sometimes I think the most useful technologies for India are as follows:

1) The broom
2) The shovel
3) The scrubbing brush
4) The bucket of water
5) The paint brush
6) The gallon can of paint.

Shovel, sweep, scrub and paint India and with little effort a new country will emerge. India looks poorer than it is and is really unnecessarily dirty and shabby.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 06 Jun 2009 14:36

That's mainly because India doesn't have Singapore-style laws to keep everything squeaky clean.

Sanjay · Post by **Sanjay** » 06 Jun 2009 16:48

True - but still a good scrub and a new India would emerge.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 07 Jun 2009 02:26

All the cleaning and upkeep like painting every 5-10 years takes money. People are choosing to spend that money on other things.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 Jun 2009 06:31

Yes, spending it on paan to spit onto the pavement

We Indians are notorious for our hygiene, such as it is

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 07 Jun 2009 10:56

Sanjay M wrote:Yes, spending it on paan to spit onto the pavement

We Indians are notorious for our hygiene, such as it is

"hindu-yon ka Galli main , Musalmano ka ghar me nahi jana"

Old Hyderabadi saying

( One should aviod streets where Hindus live or enter Muslims Homes, implied meaning is Hindus dump the trash in the streets and Muslims don tkeep their homes clean)

No wonder Ganhiji started with the Broom, if you want proof visit Jersey City or Jackson heights or go to Devon street Jinnah-Gandhi Marg in Chicago)

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 15 Jun 2009 02:57

E-bikes Fill China's Streets

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 15 Jun 2009 17:26

New Porous Concrete Pavement Eliminates Need for Storm Drains

http://www.physorg.com/news164267918.html

It just lets the water directly seep through it. No need to build a separate storm drainage system.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Jun 2009 00:28

SanjayM, We should all thank you for the sustained effort in keeping this thread alive.

Thanks, ramana

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 18 Jun 2009 03:43

A way has been found to improve concrete, to reduce its "creep" (deformation under load over time)

New Ultra-High-Density Concrete Could Transform Architecture

Structures built from this concrete would require far less material, and would last hundreds of times longer. New structural applications would be made possible, that could not be achieved before.

Abhijeet · Post by **Abhijeet** » 18 Jun 2009 16:51

I think the lack of cleanliness in India is because most cleaning is still done in the most antiquated, un-mechanized ways imaginable (using a broom to move dust around from one place to another); and because of people's disconnection with their environment that causes them to despoil even their immediate surroundings. Even in rural areas, where you would expect more of a "connection" between people and nature, I see garbage dumped everywhere, even right in the middle of dense living spaces.

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 25 Jun 2009 15:09

Gurus,
Is there any government project for large scale economical desaliantion of sea water to make it fit for drinking puposes??
Kalpakkam nuclear station has such facility but whats its scale and can it be upscaled??
Also Ratan Tata declared that after nano ,his next project will be to provide such a facility.
If he does a 'nano' on desalination facility,it would be one of the biggest innovations affecting directly
crores of people all over India.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 25 Jun 2009 20:05

Like Obama's 'green job' push and allocation of billions of dollars for 'smart grids'; we might need some kind of push for "clean India" where it could create jobs and make a positive impact on the country.

mmasand · Post by **mmasand** » 25 Jun 2009 21:51

Anyone got any idea as to what the new MNIC prototype looks like??? It almost seems that we have had 3 so far.Which one will Nilekani settle for?