Manipulation of particles whose sizes are a billionth of a metre poses a huge challenge and is a vast area of research. Manipulation of objects on this scale has important application from medicines to quantum technologies. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have devised a new approach to trap and maneuver nanoscale objects. 

As conventional memory devices like the hard drives and flash drives, generally made of semiconductor materials reaching limit in terms of their size and storage capacity a new emerging technology- Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM)- holds the promise of cheaper and efficient replacement to existing technologies. 

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore design a novel transistor by combining two different types of transistors in to one. The new hybrid device can switch between a conventional thermionic transistor and a modern tunnelling transistor overcoming many challenges faced before. 

Scientists from Indian Institute of Khragpur (IIT KGP) have developed a novel method to estimate the biomass and pigment concentration of algae, without ever having to touch or disturb the organism, which could help algae using industries, like pharmaceutical and food industries, with quick tests of their yield.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, find a way to convert undesirable heat energy from electronic devices to electricity and reconverting this into electricity using the concept of thermoelectric effect - a physical phenomenon where a difference in the temperature between two contacts leads to a difference in the voltage, and hence flow of electricity.

In a first of its kind study in India, scientists from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) and National Institute of Solar Energy, New Delhi, conducted a detailed survey at 51 locations across India to check for the degradation in the performance of photovoltaic modules. This study, to establish reliability of the modules, could help India achieve the ambitious dream of 100 GW of solar energy by 2022.

Scientists at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a new type of energy harvester that uses piezoelectric and electrodynamic mechanisms in a single device.

Energy harvesters are devices which converts ambient sources of energy like solar, wind, thermal or mechanical, into usable electricity. Unlike energy producers which consume fuel to produce energy, energy harvesters can only convert one type of energy into another usable form, usually electricity and often run on renewable energy sources.

It was years ago that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said, “It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, or a rich country inhabited by starving people... Who indeed could afford to ignore science?” 

Nehru was one of the first people to use the term scientific temper and advocate the promotion of scientific temper:

A new research from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai have developed a cost effective method of measuring the deformations in geotextiles-- a type of fabric generally used in the soil, using a common digital camera.

A new research from Space Physics Laboratories, Thiruvananthapuram and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru has used a ground-based microwave radiometer profiler to evaluate the height of the atmospheric boundary layer, which is the lowest part of the atmosphere and changes based on its interaction with the surface of the Earth.