8 tiny NASA satellites launched to study hurricanes

    

     NASA launched a constellation of eight small satellites designed to aid weather forecasters in understanding and predicting hurricane intensity. A rocket propelled into orbit eight tiny NASA satellites meant to peer deeply into hurricanes and help scientists better understand how they gain force, the US space agency said. NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System mission, or CYGNSS, was launched aboard Orbital ATK's Pegasus rocket XL. The rocket was carried on the underside of the company's Stargazer L-1011 aircraft which deploys the Pegasus XL rocket in mid-flight. “All CYGNSS satellites have been successfully deployed,” Orbital ATK tweeted at 8:53 am (local time). The $157 million satellites “will probe the inner core of hurricanes to learn about their rapid intensification,” a NASA spokesperson said. Current remote sensing technology is unable to peer past heavy rain into the eye of a hurricane. Recently, NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of tropical cyclone Vardah that showed strongest storms expanding west of the center. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of tropical cyclone Vardah in the central Bay of Bengal, Northern Indian Ocean. The VIIRS image showed thunderstorms wrapping around the low level center and expanding and becoming more persistent just to the northwest of the low-level circulation center. Moderate vertical wind shear is the reason for the displacement of the strongest storms. Despite the wind shear Vardah has become more organised over the previous 24 hours and had strengthened. The deployment of these new satellites should help deliver greater clarity to meteorological scientists in both predicting the development of impending hurricanes and the impact of their passing.

Source: DNA-17th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-17&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

Flying high at 12, Jaipur boy scores big at Tech Fest

  

    In a sea of first, second, and even final year engineering students, cheers and requests for Arnav Sharma to stand up could be heard, as the winners of Round 1 of the Boeing IIT National Aeromodelling Competition were announced at IIT Bombay's ongoing Tech Fest. ‘You deserve to win,' came a few encouraging calls. And why not? At age 12, Sharma's scale model pretty much ruled the sky.

“We had to give power to our planes in 20 seconds, then once they were in the air, we had to cut off the throttle and let them glide. The more glide time, the better. There are three rounds and I've been selected to go on to round 2, which will be held tomorrow (Saturday). Those who win the second round will go on to nationals at IIT Delhi,” says Sharma, who participated in three events on Friday, the other two being Full Throttle and Skylark, the winners for which are yet to be announced. He will also be participating in two additional events. “I've participated thrice each at the IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay tech fests and I always get selected for the second round in aeromodelling and full throttle. It's a tough competition and while my aim earlier was to participate and learn, this year I am hoping to win,” says the Class 7 student, who has already won several tech competitions.

In Full Throttle, a competition in which participants had to build their own IC car and race it with other racers, Sharma was “the only boy who completed the minimum two laps in 40 seconds without any check point (if the car stalled in the middle of the track, racers would have to restart from the nearest checkpoint)”.

His father, who is an engineer tells us that his son's skills are in his DNA. That and a lot of YouTubing is what works for him. “Instead of watching Pogo and other cartoons, Arnav spends his time watching aeromodelling YouTube videos. He started learning at a very young age, he's got hurt many times, but we encourage him,” says Dr (Prof) Ashish Dutt Sharma, Arnav's father.

Sharma's interest and curiosity in aeromodelling began nearly five years ago when his father told him about some models that his students had made. “It took me a year to build my own model. I've been trying for three years. The first time I participated at an IIT tech fest was when I was in Class 4; I took part in robotics. I started participating in flying only when I was in Class 6 shares Sharma, who studies at Neerja Modi School, in Jaipur.

Sharma started off by watching videos on ‘Flying for Beginners', which opened him to a world of transmitters, motors, turbos, propellers, and a whole lot more, including making models of corrugated sheets that “are used in advertisements”. While his father showed him the ropes, it wasn't long until Sharma started creating designs based on ideas and prototypes from the Internet, and soon after, tried to design his own models.

Sharma tries to finish his homework in school and spends his time before and after school playing sports-table tennis, swimming, and tennis. “He stood first in class,” adds his father. And on Saturdays and Sundays, “when I'm free I spend time flying my aeromodels,” says Sharma, who attends coaching classes for two hours a day, three days in a week at Allen Career Institute, which prepares studentsfor the IIT JEE entrance exams.

As if that's not enough, Sharma is also going to attempt making a Guinness World Record for the largest periodic table in January 2017, where “each element of the periodic table will measure 10ft X15 ft. And there are a total 117 elements”. Kudos to this kid!

Source: DNA-17th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-17&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

Top 5 free Google Chrome Extensions

Source: DNA-15th-December-2016

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Bees inspire swarm-based AI

If you look at social species, they always tend to work better and more efficiently whilst in large numbers. This is the reason why certain creatures, such as bees, flock together - it allows them to react in favourable ways by combining all the information the group has as a whole, rather than each member's individual knowledge. Researchers are now applying this approach to AI. However, can humans better use collective intelligence in a similar manner? Louis Rosenberg, who manages a Silicon Valley startup called Unanimous AI, believes they can.

The company has built a ‘hiveminds' platform that supports human decision-making by crowd-sourcing opinions online. It is described as a human swarming, a real-time method for parallel-distributed intelligence. Breaking that down, it means that inputs come from real humans, where the computation is done as it happens with all inputs coming in simultaneously. Rosenberg's platform has, in a series of recent tests, made numerous predictions that are surprisingly accurate, including the winners of the 2015 Oscars and the winners of the 2016 National Hockey League's Stanley Cup for example.

These results aren't based on a single person's opinion but instead derives an average that is gleaned from the wisdom of the crowd. Also, it was observed that small swarms consistently outperform much larger crowds. Also, the system indicated better conclusions when people picked an answer all at once, because we tend to make better decisions as a group than as individuals. Rosenberg believes that this hybrid human-computer approach, which until now was either human based or all-out artificial intelligence, could someday help us attain solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. Rosenberg says, “Swarms will outperform votes and polls and surveys because it's allowing the group to converge on the best answer, rather than simply finding the average sentiment.” His team successes have led to them receiving interest from a wide range of groups.

Source: DNA-17th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-17&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

Multi drug-resistant fungus sets alarm bells ringing

New Delhi: Since a global alert on pathogenic fungus Candida auris in 2009, Indian scientists have been actively engaged in research on the strains of this fungi. A recent report of the study indicates that the strains found in Indian hospitals are multi-drug resistant.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi, and Department of Medical Mycology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi University, conducted a full genome sequencing on six strains of Candida auris, and have published their findings in the latest issue of the UK journal Elsevier.

“A full genome sequencing analysis of Candida Auris isolates from four Indian hospitals - three in Delhi and one in Kochi - revealed a clonal transmission, that is the same strains were circulating in Indian hospitals. All C. auris isolates analysed originated from cases of fungaemia (fatal fungal infection, a form of sepsis) and were resistant to fluconazole (a broad-spectrum antifungal medication),” said Dr Anuradha Choudhary, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Medical Mycology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute.

“This emerging multi-drug resistant yeast causes acute hospital-acquired infections. The emergence of this yeast is alarming doctors, as it also exhibits resistance to azoles, amphotericin B and caspofungin, all anti-fungal drugs,” she said.

Molecular identification are not part of routine testing in diagnostic laboratories, and C. auris can only be identified by genome sequencing. Doctors insist that due to this, fungaemia is likely to be much more prevalent than reports indicate. As per IGIB and Delhi's Chest Institute reports, about 40 cases have been documents until 2015.

C. auris infection has been reported to occur in all age groups, and bloodstream infections have a 60 per cent mortality rate.

Hospitalised patients are at high risk. “Recent surgery, diabetes, broad-spectrum antibiotic and anti-fungal drugs, and central venous catheter use are all risk factors,” said Dr Anoop Misra, Chairman, Fortis-C-DOC, Centre for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology.

“Fungus infections, especially multiple drug-resistant ones, are difficult to treat and C. auris in particular carries a high mortality rate. With prevalence of suppressed immune response among patients, including those with uncontrolled diabetes, this is a big concern. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial,” said Dr Misra.

As part of standard procedure, ICMR is already looking into this. Director General, ICMR and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, said, “We have a network of tertiary hospitals looking at fungal infections and their drug resistance. We are also looking at how common Candida auris is.” Frequent use of antibiotics or anti-fungals is supposed to be a cause of origin for any multi-drug resistant fungi. Doctors have urged for the need for new antibiotics.

At least a dozen countries have reported drug-resistant Candida Auris, in the last five years. C. auris was first reported in 2009 after being isolated from the external ear canal discharge of a patient in Japan. In the same year, about 15 isolates of C. auris were reported in South Korea.

Source: DNA-15th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-15&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2