THE BEST OF SCIENCE IN 2019 Popular stories THE BEST OF SCIENCE IN 2019 Popular Stories A Collation by Research Matters Published by: Gubbi Labs LLP No 2-182, 2nd Cross, Extension, Gubbi - 572 216, Tumakuru District, Karnataka, India. Email: [email protected] | [email protected] Web: https://researchmatters.in This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 2019 was an exciting year for science as ever. We have collated the top ten stories that was popular on Research Matters in 2019. These were the ones that garnered most views because of readers like you. We would like to thank you for patronage and look forward to your support in the years to come. TABLE OF CONTENTS 06 08 Mathematician Two Dr Neena Gupta Bengaluru scientists shines as the shine on the list of youngest Shanti 2019 Padma Swarup Bhatnagar awardees awardee 10 13 “High blood Welcome AJIT, pressure? a ‘Made in India’ It could be in Microprocessor the air! 15 18 21 Researchers discover a new Alternatives to Watch what you eat: species of vine stubble burning not 1 in 5 deaths due snake from the only possible but to poor diet, reveals Western Ghats that profitable, shows study dates back study 26 million years 24 26 29 Hearing out IISc Develops the deaf: IISc Cutting Pesticide India’s first e-mode researchers design Costs in Cotton Gallium-Nitride a smar phone- Farms Power Transistor based therapy and hearing aid Two Bengaluru scientists shine on the list of 2019 Padma awardees 6 Prof Rohini M. Godbole and Prof Sharada Srinivasan, ratio and compositional analysis in fingerprinting and two Bengaluru-based scientists, were among those studying the art history of sculptures. conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award Prof Srinivasan is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic announced yesterday by the Ministry of Home Society of Great Britain and World Academy of Art and Affairs, Government of India. Prof Rohini Godbole is a Science. She is also a recipient of the Dr Kalpana Professor at the Centre for High Energy Physics, Chawla State Award for Women Scientists 2011, Indian Institute of Science. Prof Sharada Srinivasan is a besides many national and international recognitions. Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies She is also an acclaimed performer of Bharatanatyam. (NIAS), Bengaluru. We wish them both hearty congratulations! The Padma awards namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri are one of the highest civilian honours in the country awarded for notable contributions in various disciplines. These awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day and are conferred by the President of India with a certificate signed by the President and a medallion. This year, 94 persons have received the Padma Shri for their ‘distinguished service’ in respective fields. Prof Rohini Godbole is a particle physicist best known for her work at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Her work on high energy photons could form the basis for the next generation of particle colliders, used to study the fabric and composition of the Universe. She is a part of the International Detector Advisory Group for the International Linear Collider (ILC) at CERN, which monitors the design and working of the ILC detector. For the past three decades, her work has resulted in more than 300 research publications. She is a member of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, USA, and a recipient of many national and international awards, besides being the fellow of all three prestigious science academies in India. Prof Godbole is also the Chairperson of the ‘Panel for Women in Science’ initiative of the Indian Academy of Sciences. She is very vocal about gender equity in scientific careers and has jointly edited the book Lilavati’s Daughters, a biographical essay collection on Indian women scientists. She is also a renowned science communicator who enjoys talking about physics and delivering talks to students, researchers and scientists. Prof Sharada Srinivasan is a renowned archaeologist who specialises in the scientific study of art, archaeology, archaeometallurgy, and culture. Her significant contributions include archaeometric characterisation of bronzes using lead isotope analysis and archaeometallurgical studies on ancient mining and metallurgy in southern India. Research Matters has previously covered her work on the disappearing ancient Indian metallurgical traditions, the sophisticated high-tin bronze metallurgy in the Iron Age from Tamil Nadu and the usefulness of lead isotope 7 Arunita Banerjee Mathematician DR NEENA GUPTA shines as the youngest Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awardee 8 Dr Neena Gupta, Associate Professor at the Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, has been The cancellation problem asks that if you have awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2019, cylinders over two geometric structures, and they in the field of Mathematical Sciences. This prize, one have similar forms, can one conclude that the original base structures have similar forms?” of the most prestigious awards in the country for explains Dr Gupta. research in Science, honours scientists for significant and cumulative contribution to their area of research. Dr Gupta, the youngest person in Mathematical Sciences to receive this award till date, has been Another problem solved by Dr. Gupta was posed by recognised for her contributions to affine algebraic Masayoshi Miyanishi, who is now revered as a father geometry, especially in proposing a solution to the figure among the present affine algebraic geometers. Zariski Cancellation Problem. During the later half of the 20th century and early 21st Elated about winning the award, Dr. Gupta attributes century, eminent mathematicians have tried to work her success to her strong conceptual foundation and out a solution for the Zariski Cancellation Problem. This the guidance of her teachers. particular problem had remained open for about 70 years, before Dr. Gupta finally provided a complete solution to it in positive characteristic, in 2014. Behind a successful person, there are many people, not just one. You need support from the whole system. My parents were very keen on “I knew this problem right from my PhD days, getting me higher education. My PhD supervisor, but I never imagined that I will be able to solve Prof Amartya Kumar Dutta, has been very it,” she says, pleasantly surprised. The solutions encouraging. Also, I am fortunate to have a very provided by Dr Gupta have given both insights supportive husband and in-laws,” she shares in and inspiration to young researchers as they can an interview with Research Matters. initiate research into other associated conjectures, which remain open. “Dr. Gupta’s field of research is Commutative Algebra and Affine Algebraic Geometry. Commutative algebra, Till 2019, there have been 547 Bhatnagar awardees, apart from being a beautiful subject, provides a base out of which, only 17 are women. “There needs to over which a vast body of pure mathematics develops, be social awareness so that people start sending their Algebraic Geometry being one of the primary ones. girl child for higher education,” she says in response to A quick recap of high school geometry reminds us of the question about gender disparity in the scientific polynomial equations which govern geometric shapes, community. like x2 + y2 = r2 for a circle or x2/a2 – y2/b2 = 1 for a The thrill of solving problems, based on mathematical hyperbola. But these shapes start getting complicated theories, is her greatest motivation. Ground-breaking when the number of variables and the number and results do not come overnight and are a result of the degrees of the equations involved increase. Affine patience, perseverance and continuity of efforts put Algebraic Geometry, the research area of Dr. Gupta, into scientific research. deals with the understanding of the properties of geometric objects that arise as solutions of systems of polynomial equations. Her natural strength being in Algebra, Dr. Gupta approaches these problems using “Maths is for somebody who can solve the algebraic methods. problems on their own. The pleasure which I get in solving problems in mathematics is much more In the last few years, Dr Gupta has provided solutions than any award,” signs off Dr Gupta. to two open problems, one of which was posed by Oscar Zariski (1899-1986), one of the founders of modern Algebraic Geometry. She describes these open mathematical conjectures as problems which can be easily explained to mathematicians but are very difficult to solve. The ‘Zariski Cancellation Problem’ has intrigued mathematicians around the globe, since a version of it was proposed by O. Zariski in 1949. 9 Arati Halbe Welcome AJIT, a ‘Made in India’ Microprocessor Researchers at IIT Bombay develop the country’s first indigenously designed and fabricated microprocessor. 10 India’s electronics market is in its biggest boom ever. AJIT - PACKED WITH FEATURES Fuelled by the demand for electronic devices, it is expected to reach a whopping $400 billion by 2020. Akin to most microprocessors available today, Most of the electronic devices we use are imported; AJIT comes with an arithmetic logic unit that can only a quarter of the devices are produced in the do basic arithmetic and logical operations like country. According to statistics, electronic goods in India addition, subtraction and comparison, and a memory account for more than 10% of total imports, second only management unit that stores and retrieves data from to petroleum products! One electronic equipment that memory. There is also a floating point unit designed is almost always imported is the microprocessor—the to handle calculations with non-integer numbers ‘brain’ of an electronic device. efficiently. For those who would like to program the microprocessor, there is a hardware debugger unit to A microprocessor is an integrated circuit (IC) that help them monitor and control the processor.