Developed by Thomas Biotech Lab, the papaya variety, christened ‘Dawn Delight’, grows only up to three or four feet and is best for cultivation on the terrace, balconies, and kitchen gardens.
Category: Inventions, Innovations
* ‘This Is Us’ Honours Nasir Ahmed in Ep 8, Season 5 – Who is He?
Nasir is the man behind Discrete Cosine Transform – the technology which makes it possible to share photos & videos.
Nasir Ahmed hails from the southern city of Bengaluru, in India. He was born in 1940, and subsequently completed his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys School. He earned his Bachelors in electrical engineering from the University College of Engineering in Bengaluru in 1961. Thereafter, he moved to the US for his higher studies and pursued both his MS and Ph.D at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Inventor – DCT Technology
* Bengaluru virologist’s test kit ‘Omisure’ for Omicron variant cuts delays
“Globally, all other test kits for Omicron are either made for gene dropout or mutation specific detection. Omisure is the first test kit combining both.”
In a major and global breakthrough towards cutting down procedural delays in genome sequencing to ascertain the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2, Dr V Ravi, former head of the Department of Neurovirology at National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences and Head, Research & Development, Tata Medical & Diagnostic Centre, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, and his team have developed the world’s first test kit, Omisure, that can detect the Omicron variant by combining S-gene target failure (SGTF) and S-gene mutation amplification (SGMA).
* Techie-turned-farmer teaches kids about forgotten flora
He is a storehouse of knowledge on Indian trees, plants and herbs, and in his farm, which is nothing like the traditional setup, the flora grows wildly and naturally.
The farm has over 300 species of plants and trees, all either edible or used for medicinal purposes.
Srivathsa Govindaraju, a software engineer-turned-farmer, started his farm 13 years ago with the intent of “respecting nature as it is and to understand how it functions”.
* Bengaluru firm Strides Pharma Science to launch oral drug to fight Covid
n a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir.
Bengaluru pharma company Strides Pharma Science Limited said that it has received Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to launch Molnupiravir, an oral medication for Covid-19 in India.
In a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir. The company is commercialising the product with a group-integrated supply chain for active pharmaceutical ingredients and solid oral dosage from its large-scale WHO pre-qualified manufacturing capacities, the company stated.
* Spreading innovation
Joseph Lobo, a 44-yr-old farmer, is popularising the hydroponic method of cultivation and is growing the famous Shankarapura jasmine.
They say a farmer is a magician who makes his living from the mud. But that is not true in the case of Joseph Lobo, a 44-year-old farmer from the coastal district of Udupi.Lobo hails from Shankarapura, a tiny nondescript village sandwiched between the mighty Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. Shankarapura is called the jasmine capital of the Karnataka coastline and is famous for its Shankarapura mallige (mallige in Kannada means jasmine flowers). And like the majority of the residents of the village, Lobo too cultivates Shankarapura mallige. A passionate farmer, Lobo has been growing the Shankarapura mallige — which was accorded GI tag in 2008 — for the last 15 years.
But what sets him apart from the rest of the growers is that he has attempted to grow his prized possession without soil! Yes, you read it right. Lobo became the first grower in the region to adopt the novel hydroponic method of cultivation, which in layman’s language is soil-less cultivation.Lobo says he was inspired after attending a workshop at University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, and started experimenting on the new method of cultivation. Lobo has 32 jasmine plants already, including the three grown using the hydroponic technique.
First
* Azim Premji Foundation, Salesforce to launch app to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination
‘To cover 110 million people in 25 States by June 2022’
Salesforce, a customer relationship management player, and Azim Premji Foundation have entered into a collaboration to introduce VaxIT, an app to help accelerate Covid-19 vaccination in India.
The programme would use VaxIT across 25 States to cover a population of 110 million (11 crore) across over 3,500 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) by June 2022.
The VaxIT app, developed on the Salesforce platform for Azim Premji Foundation and its partners, would capture the status of vaccination to help individuals plan and stay updated on their progress in the healthcare programme. VaxIT is available on the Android app store and offers multi-lingual, and offline capabilities.
* Hearzap app launched
Hearzap, a hearing aid provider launched their mobile application and six stores in Bengaluru, located at Indiranagar, Jayanagar, HSR Layout, Nagarbhavi, R.R. Nagar and Sadashivnagar recently.
The inaugural ceremony was conducted at Jayanagar 5th Block.
Dr. S. Raja, senior audiologist and founder of Hearzap, said, “There is an urgent need to identify and manage hearing problems at an early stage, and follow some healthy habits to primarily avoid hearing related issues.”
* NCBS, Tata Institute of Genetics and Society announce institutional alliance
“This engagement with the TIGS is a wonderful opportunity for NCBS researchers to engage with questions that concern both genetics and society, and at the same time broadening the collaborative footprint of the TIGS at the Bangalore Life Science Cluster,” said NCBS director Satyajit Mayor.
TIGS director Rakesh Mishra said by joining hands with the NCBS, the TIGS brings top-quality science closer to addressing societal problems in the domain of rare genetic diseases, infectious diseases and nutrition, using cutting-edge science and technology.
* Students create Gaganyaan’s functional rocket model with an eye on Guinness World Record
Gaganyaan, India’s manned mission, launch has been postponed to 2023 due to Covid-19 but the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working hard to keep the buzz about the mission and motivate young minds by sponsoring 550 students to create Guinness World Record (GWR) for assembling Gaganyaan’s functional rocket model at one place.
All these rockets assembled by 550 students following a 2-hour exercise at the India International Science Festival (IISF), 2021 under the guidance of N Sudheer Kumar, Director, Capacity Building Programme Office, ISRO, will be launched at the Panaji gymkhana ground using ISRO launchpads.
The man behind training the students is Diyanshu Poddar’s start-up, Rocketeers.