A ventilator can be a life-saver for patients whose lungs are damaged by the COVID-19 infection. But India, like all countries grappling with this pandemic, is likely to face a large shortage of ventilators. Manufacturers are unable to source key components such as sensors and flow controllers from abroad due to the current disruptions in global supply chains.To address this shortage, a team of engineers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is currently building a prototype of an electro-mechanical ventilator from scratch, using only components found or made in India, based on guidelines issued by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. It is expected to be ready within the next couple of weeks.

As COVID-19 pandemic marches on in India with over 800 positive cases and 19 deaths at the time of this article, there is an urgent need for deploying out-of-the-box innovations that can help curb this menace.

In this episode of The Joy of Science, Shambhavi Chidambaram speaks to Professor Shravan Vasishth, an Indian-origin professor of psycholinguistics at the University of Potsdam in Germany. In addition to his research, Prof Vasishth is an author of two interesting blogs—“Shravan Vasishth’s Slog”, where he talks about statistics, and “Things People Say”, a moving personal blog about his experiences of dealing with kidney failure and hemodialysis, and navigating the German health care system. 

A new study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, shows that dogs too have developed strategies to coexist with humans, and numbers play a role in it. 

Vehicular exhaust is a significant cause of air pollution in India, resulting in the rise of many fatal respiratory illnesses.

 During the fag end of 2015, Chennai experienced severe floods resulting in the death of about 500 people and economic losses of about INR 50,000 crores. The flooding stranded the city and was termed a 'man-made disaster' resulting from irresponsible water management and rapid urbanisation. The northeast monsoon of the year left most parts of South India marooned, exposing how vulnerable our cities are to such catastrophes. That's when the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor took a major initiative to develop a real-time, integrated, urban flood forecasting system that was non-existent in our country. Soon after, a team of scientists from various institutes across the country, swung into action to develop the first-ever expert system in India to forecast floods. In a recent study, published in the journal Current Science, the researchers shed light on the development of the automated flood forecasting expert system. 

In February, when the news of the first few confirmed cases of coronavirus in India came to light, we as a nation warmed up to the ‘Wuhan virus’, now at our doorstep. The mainstream media rushed to report on emerging new cases and debated if our infrastructure could handle this epidemic. Social media was abuzz with guidelines and ‘pro-tips’ on what and what not to do, nevermind the accuracy.

Infants require the highest level of nutrition for healthy growth and development. A four-month-old child, for example, uses 30% of its consumed food for growth. Adequate intake of minerals, like calcium and potassium, are known to be conducive to their wholesome diet. But, data from UNICEF shows that there is a high rate of undernutrition in children around the world.

Study analyses what drives the choice of transport to shopping malls in Mumbai.

Today is National Science Day—a day to celebrate the spirit of science and scientific temper across the county. It is a day to commemorate Sir C V Raman’s discovery of the Raman effect. This year, the theme of National Science Day is ‘Women in Science’, celebrating the contributions of women scientists to the field of science in India.