Physicists have designed a microscopic heat engine by optically trapping a colloidal bead in a bacterial bath1. The heat engine could potentially be used in nano-electromechanical and microfluidic devices. A conventional macroscopic heat engine converts heat energy into mechanical work by confining a few cubic centimetres of gas between a moving piston and its walls.Read more about How a microscopic bio-heat engine works[…]
In the ice-clad mountains of Sikkim in the north east of India, some unique bacteria have been thriving in a glacier – not just surviving in the extreme temperatures but resisting harmful radiations and churning out industrially important enzymes. Researchers scouring the glacier of East Rathong in West Sikkim have now unlocked the genetic secretsRead more about Glacial catch: cold loving, radiation-resistant bacteria[…]
Indian scientists isolate genetic information needed for the large mammals to produce biologics Water buffalo wallowing in muddy pools are a common sight in rural India and other Asian countries. When not relaxing, the large black mammals plow the rice fields, haul carts laden with produce, or drive sugarcane presses. Their horns, hides, meat, andRead more about Producing Protein Therapeutics: Could Water Buffalo Be The Next Big Thing?[…]
Study in India suggests that the toxic element is making people there more vulnerable to the disease visceral leishmaniasis In parts of the Indian subcontinent, the only source of drinking water is groundwater that naturally contains arsenic. Lacking the means to remove the toxic substance, millions of people in these regions succumb to arsenic poisoningRead more about Arsenic Exposure May Be Creating A Drug-Resistant Parasite[…]
The archipelago nestled in the Indian Ocean might have got its population just 10,000 years back Tenacious gene hunters armed with better techniques to read genes have challenged prevailing theories on the colonization of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. They say Negrito tribes from Africa might have wandered in to populate these mystery-shrouded islands 24,000Read more about Andaman peopled much later than thought[…]