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SHetA2 therapy is an investigational oral small-molecule drug designed to treat HPV-related precancerous cervical lesions and advanced solid tumors by targeting heat shock proteins without high toxicity . It was co-developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research and the University of Oklahoma.  About the Technology:   SHetA2 selectively targets HPV-driven oncogenesis, with the potency to kill cancer cells while sparing normal cells. It targets mortalin, Hsc70, and Grp78 to disrupt HSP70/E7 complexes, reduce p16 expression, and inhibit tumor growth. SHetA2 has shown strong safety, tolerability, and improved bioavailability in preclinical and Phase 1 studies. Delivered orally or as a vaginal suppository, it offers a cost-effective, non-invasive, take-home therapy, well-suited for global use, including LMICs. Need and utility of the Technology from Public health perspective: SHetA2 inhibits HPV induced tumor growth ...

 The U.S. FCC recently cleared Hawthorne-based startup Reflect Orbital to launch " Eärendil-1 ," an 18-meter-wide orbital mirror designed to reflect sunlight back to specific locations on Earth at night . The company aims to sell on-demand artificial twilight for solar farms, disaster relief, and round-the-clock construction. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] How it Works The concept relies on large, ultra-lightweight deployable reflectors (made of materials like mylar) that fold up during launch and expand once in low Earth orbit. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Targeted Beams: By precisely angling the mirror, it can direct a beam of sunlight onto dark, predetermined coordinates. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ] Brightness: The beam is adjustable and at its maximum can appear brighter than the full Moon, casting up to 36,000 lux (daylight brightness) if fully concentrated, though commercial setups will likely aim for softer, moonlight-level illumination. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Control: The mirrors can be rotated out of position, ...

Vikram-I is a four-stage, expendable orbital small-lift launch vehicle developed by Skyroot Aerospace. Its first three stages are solid stages, while the fourth stage is a liquid stage. Skyroot Aerospace unveiled the Vikram-I launch vehicle in October 2023 at its MAX-Q headquarters in Hyderabad. The company stated that the rocket was developed to serve the growing global small satellite launch market. The vehicle's development followed the successful launch of the suborbital demonstrator Vikram-S in November 2022, which made Skyroot the first Indian private company to launch a rocket from the ISRO's launch facilities. In May 2022, Skyroot completed a full-duration static test of the Kalam-100 solid rocket stage, a component of Vikram-I. Additional qualification tests, including stage separation tests and avionics validation, were carried out through 2024 and 2025. In November 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the flight-ready configuration of Vikram-I during the inau...

It was developed at CERN to provide sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds precision of synchronisation for the LHC accelerators chain. It was developped as an open-source hardware, with primary adoption by other research infrastructures with similar challenges in highly accurate synchronization of distributed electronic devices.  It was first developped in 2012. It is an ethernet based technology. Sub-nanosecond synchronization, deterministic data transfer, timestamping***, trigger distribution are its important features.  It has potential to be incorporated into different sectors including  telecommunications, financial markets, smart grids, space industry and quantum computing . ( *** Time stamping is the process of securely recording the exact date and time when a digital event—such as a file creation, data transaction, or signature—occurs . ) PIB CERN

Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora .  People can become infected by consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite.  This illness is not usually spread directly from person to person.  Case counts typically rise during spring and summer months, and CDC considers May 1-August 31 the annual cyclosporiasis season. Previous outbreaks have been linked to consuming contaminated fresh produce. Since May 1, 2026, CDC has received reports of 1,645 confirmed domestic cases of cyclosporiasis and is aware of more than 5,100 cases that require further analysis to confirm the illness as domestically acquired cyclosporiasis. This is substantially higher than the 249 cases reported nationally by this same time last year. Of the 1,645 case-patients with available information, 141 (9%) were hospitalized, and none have died.  Symptoms: Symptoms of cyclosporiasis typically begin about 1 week after exposure. Onset of sympt...

  Indian Railways is set to flag off India's first Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trainset, a train that generates its own electricity onboard using hydrogen, the cleanest fuel known. It produces near-zero emissions at the point of use. This milestone marks the latest chapter in the evolution of how Indian Railways has powered its trains, reflecting India's broader journey from coal and steam to cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy. Over the past 12 years, rapid electrification has significantly reduced dependence on imported diesel, paving the way for the next leap in clean rail mobility. Today, with over 99% of Broad Gauge routes electrified, Indian Railways is taking that journey a step further. Unlike conventional electric trains that draw power from overhead lines, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trainset generates electricity onboard through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with water vapour as its only by-product. In a sense, the train once again carries its own source...

The National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, has achieved a significant milestone in the conservation of India's wild rice genetic resources through its funded project titled "In-situ Conservation and Management of Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon) in Sonitpur District of Assam. The project has been implemented since 2022 by the ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi, in collaboration with the Assam State Biodiversity Board. The researchers informed that the Borjuli site in Sonitpur district of Assam, identified under the project, has been notified as a Biodiversity Heritage Site by the National Biodiversity Authority. The recognition marks a major step towards conserving India's rich wild rice diversity and strengthening climate-resilient agriculture. About  Oryza rufipogon: Oryza rufipogon is one of the most studied wild species of rice. It is a perennial plant commonly found in a marsh or...

"  Astronomers Create the Largest 3D Map of the Early Universe’s Hydrogen Glow " - Gadgets360 The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is a major spectroscopic survey at McDonald Observatory aimed at understanding dark energy—the force accelerating the universe's expansion. Using the 10-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) and VIRUS spectrographs, it maps over one million galaxies 9–11 billion light-years away.  HETDEX is currently collecting data on at least one million galaxies that are 9 billion to 11 billion light-years away, yielding the largest map of the early universe ever produced.  Key Details of HETDEX: Goal: To measure the expansion rate of the universe and determine if dark energy changes over time by mapping the 3D positions of over a million distant galaxies (specifically, Lyman-alpha emitters). Instrument: The survey uses VIRUS (Visible Integral-Field Replicable Unit Spectrograph), which consists of 150 spectrographs connected by 33,000+ op...

Key Facts Common Name: Indian leopard or common leopard Scientific Name: Panthera pardus Population: No official countrywide population estimate is available. However, within the 17 tiger bearing states of India, the leopard occupies an area of around 1,74,066 km2, nearly double the area occupied by the tiger Height: 45-80 cms Length: Head-body length: 100-190 cm, Tail length: 70-95 cm Weight: Male: 30-70 kg, Female: 28-60 kg Status: Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and included in Appendix I of CITES. Listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List Characteristics Nine subspecies of the leopard have been recognized, and they are distributed across Africa and Asia. Each of them vary to some degree in appearance and biology as one moves across this wide geographical range, but their exceptionally beautiful black-spotted coat, supreme stealth, and elusive nature remains common. The leopard is the smallest of the big cats, and known for its ability to adap...

An  astrophysical maser  is a naturally occurring source of  stimulated   spectral line  emission, typically in the  microwave  portion of the  electromagnetic spectrum . This emission may arise in  molecular clouds ,  comets ,  planetary   atmospheres ,  stellar atmospheres , or various other conditions in  interstellar space . This galaxy has a far more exciting and futuristic classification than most — it hosts a megamaser. Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like the Milky Way. The entire galaxy essentially acts as an astronomical laser that beams out microwave emission rather than visible light (hence the ‘m’ replacing the ‘l’). A megamaser is a process where some components within a galaxy (like gas clouds) are in the right stimulated physical condition to radiate intense energy (in this case, microwaves). Astrophysical Maser - Wikipedia Megamaser ...

HTV‑X1 is cargo spacecraft, scheduled to depart Friday, March 6. It is a joint Mission by  NASA and its international partners, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s). The HTV-X1 spacecraft will remain in orbit for more than three months acting as a scientific platform for JAXA’s experiments. Following the deorbit command, the spacecraft will dispose of several thousand pounds of trash during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up harmlessly. The spacecraft arrived at the space station on Oct. 29, 2025, after launching Oct. 25 on an H3 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center.  NASA News

  NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory began its 24-month primary science mission on March 1. The spacecraft, launched in September 2025, will focus its full efforts on studying Earth’s exosphere, the vast cloud of hydrogen that forms the outermost part of our atmosphere.  Carruthers launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 24, 2025, and reached its target orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point on Jan. 8. From its vantage point at L1, about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth toward the Sun, Carruthers has a constant view of Earth’s exosphere. Hydrogen atoms in the exosphere emit a bright ultraviolet glow, known as the geocorona, when they are illuminated by the Sun. Carruthers carries two ultraviolet imagers, one with a wide field of view and one with a narrow field, that together will capture images of the geocorona, revealing details that are otherwise invisibl...

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has carried out successful demonstration of Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha at around 1045 hrs on February 03, 2026. The successful demonstration places India into an elite league of nations possessing this technology that enables developing long-range air-to-air missiles to give tactical edge over the adversaries. The Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) is a missile propulsion system that includes a thrust modulated ducted rocket with a reduced smoke nozzle-less missile booster. The thrust modulation in the system is achieved using a hot gas flow controller. The system utilises a solid fuelled air-breathing ramjet engine. It is an extremely long-range missile with a projected range of 350 km. As per International Institute for Strategic Studies, this kind of propulsion system drastically enhances the range with higher average speed. The missiles which u...

An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment  reported that  " Belgica antarctica " - the Continent’s Only Insect is consuming microplastics. It was published in  the journal  Science of the Total Environment. Belgica antarctica, the Antarctic midge, is a species of flightless midge, endemic to the continent of Antarctica. At a length of 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in), it is the largest purely terrestrial animal native to the continent. It also has the smallest known insect genome as of 2014, with only 99 million base pairs (Mbp) of nucleotides and about 13,500 genes. It is the only insect that can survive year-round in Antarctica. Microplastics are   any fragment of plastic that is between 1 nanometer and 5 millimetres wide( UNEP ). SciTechDaily Wikipedia Wiley Online About Microplastics - UNEP 

On 17 December 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the prequalification of two rapid antigen diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT) for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The two tests are the SD Biosensor STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test and the ACON Biotech Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Self-Testing). This marks the first time that rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 have achieved WHO prequalification. Rapid antigen-detection tests provide results in 15–30 minutes, are affordable, and can be used outside centralized laboratories – in clinics, community sites and mobile settings – making them critical for timely detection of infectious cases and targeted public-health action. They are a vital complement to molecular (polymerase-chain reaction or PCR) tests, particularly in resource-limited settings with limited laboratory capacity. Rapid antigen testing remains essential for: detecting and controlling local outbreaks protecting vulnerable populations and health-care wo...