A conversation with Deccan Herald, Prof Rajaram Nityananda, a well-known Indian physicist who is now a Professor at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, sheds some light on how scientists captured the image of a black hole and the role of radio astronomy in this achievement.

Researchers from IIT and IIIT Delhi design an algorithm to find rare cells 

Scientists from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have developed a novel detonation–driven shock tube device for needle-free, painless drug delivery method. If commercialized the technology could replace the dreaded injections used in drug delivery.

All the electronic devices that we use today have components made of semiconductors, mostly silicon. In recent years, gallium nitride, another semiconductor, is making its way into electronics. It is better suited for high power and high-frequency applications. Researchers from IISc have developed India’s first-ever e-mode gallium nitride power transistor, whose performance is comparable to some of the best reports till date.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, have developed a biomolecule-based fertiliser that can help address the drawbacks of chemical fertilisers. 

On April 26 2019, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Interferometer detected gravitational waves from a possible black hole-neutron star collision thought to have taken place 1.2 billion light years away. The event was observed by both LIGO observatories, based in Louisiana and Washington state in the USA, and the Virgo facility based in the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in Italy.

A long-standing mystery in the evolution of life seems to be solved in a study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, USA, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA. The study, published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, provides a convincing explanation about the fusion of two genes in an ancestor of today’s animals, about a billion years ago.

Scientists have revealed the first ever photograph of a supermassive black hole present at the heart of the distant galaxy Messier 87 in the Virgo constellation. The image, released today shows the shadow of a black hole.

Rainbows have amazed us since the dawn of humanity—either as a divine depiction, a scientific puzzle or an epitome of beauty. These celestial arcs appear when sunlight hits airborne water droplets at some angles. For a rainbow to occur, sunlight refracts into the droplet, reflects within, and refracts out. However, what if light keeps getting reflected in a loop within the droplet?

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, develop a polymer based bioartificial pancreas which can be implanted into the body to help diabetic patients.