Month: March 2022

** Bombay Blood: how the rare blood type was discovered

Why is it called Bombay Blood, and how was it discovered? Dr Durgadas Kasbekar of CDFD Hyderabad has written a detailed and lucid article about it in the forthcoming issue of the journal Indian Journal of History of Science , and I give a short summary of it here.  It was in 1952 that Drs. Y.M. Bhende, C.K. Deshpande and H.M. Bhatia of the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Mumbai published a note in The Lancet (pp. 903-4, May 3, 1952) about two patients (X, a railway worker and Y, a stab wound victim) who needed blood transfusion. None of the blood types known until then worked for them. The moment their blood samples were mixed with any of the above types, the blood coagulated or clumped up. The doctor trio tried the blood of over 160 donors and found at last that one from Mr. Z, a resident of Bombay, suited the type of both patients X and Y. This donor blood type was then named by Dr. Bhende and others as the ‘Bombay Blood Type.’ Technically it is now termed the (hh) type of blood.

** Deepak Dhar and John J. Hopfield chosen for the Boltzmann medal

Prof. Dhar is the first Indian to receive this top honour in the field of statistical physics

Deepak Dhar, physicist, from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, has been selected for the Boltzmann medal, awarded by the Commission on Statistical Physics (C3) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. He becomes the first Indian to win this award, which was initiated in 1975, with Nobel laureate (1982) K.G. Wilson being the first recipient. He shares the platform with American scientist John J. Hopfield who is known for his invention of an associative neural network, now named after him. The award consists of the gilded Boltzmann medal with the inscription of Ludwig Boltzmann, and the chosen two scientists will be presented the medals at the StatPhys28 conference to be held in Tokyo, 7-11 August, 2023.

** First of its kind State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre set up in Tamil Nadu

It will deal with cases pertaining to organised cyber crimes, ransomware attacks and cryptocurrency frauds, among others

The Cyber Crime Wing of Tamil Nadu Police is setting up a first of its kind State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre at its headquarters, to deal exclusively with cases like organised cyber crimes that have international ramifications and require intra-country investigation, ransomware attacks, cryptocurrency frauds.  

“We already have cyber crime police stations in districts and cities, which handle investigation into routine cyber offences including phishing, vishing, morphing, extortion and cyber stalking from individual complainants,” Additional Director General of Police, Cyber Crime, Amresh Poojari told The Hindu.

** With three of our men in Portugal’s government, there’s much to be said about Goa’s relationship with its former coloniser

Portugal’s prime minister, finance minister and planning minister are all of Goan origin in a delightful little twist of history

Election results aren’t due for India’s smallest State until March 10, but the biggest victory for any Goan politician was announced on January 30. That’s when results came out from Portugal’s snap elections, validating the go-for-broke political instincts of Prime Minister António Costa. The charismatic 60-year-old leader of the centre-left Partido Socialista had preferred to appeal to voters rather than submit to the increasingly strident demands from far-left parties in his coalition government. The electorate rewarded him handsomely, with an unexpected majority of 119 out of 230 seats.

But here’s the twist. This famously personable former Mayor of Lisbon, who looks visibly desi, is Goan; his father was the anti-colonial Goan novelist Orlando da Costa. One wing of the family remains rooted in Margao. It is an intimate, flourishing connection, which both India and Portugal have been eager to celebrate. In 2017, during the first-ever standalone bilateral visit by any Indian prime minister to Lisbon, the Portuguese leader was embraced by Narendra Modi, who personally handed him his Overseas Citizen of India card.

The story doesn’t end here: Costa isn’t the only Goan at the pinnacle of government in Portugal. His finance minister is another — João Leão earned his Ph.D in economics from MIT, where his thesis advisor was economist Abhijit Banerjee. His planning minister is Nelson de Souza (who was actually born in India in 1954, just a few years before Nehru’s troops decapitated the 451-year-old Estado da India colonial state in 1961).

** Ashwin goes past Kapil Dev’s 434 wickets; becomes India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests

Ashwin got to the mark with the wicket of Charith Asalanka in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Mohali

Indian off-spinner R. Ashwin on Sunday went past the legendary Kapil Dev’s 434 Test scalps to become the second highest wicket-taker for India in the longest format of the game, reaching the mark in his 85th match.

The 35-year-old Ashwin achieved the feat in the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka. He began the match with 430 scalps and claimed two wickets in the first innings before adding three more in the second essay to cross Kapil’s mark.

Kapil had managed the feat in 131 matches. The legendary Anil Kumble tops the chart with 619 scalps which he claimed in 132 matches.

** PM Modi inaugurates Pune metro rail project, unveils Shivaji Maharaj statue

The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone for the project on December 24, 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Pune metro rail project and unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the premises of Pune Municipal Corporation.

The inauguration of the 12-km stretch of the total 32.2-km long project took place at the Garware metro station, from where Mr. Modi flagged off the project and proceeded to take the metro ride to the Anandnagar station, located nearly five km away.

** Home-grown train collision prevention system ‘Kavach’ to be exported: Vaishnaw

Terming the indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system–‘Kavach’ as a phenomenal improvement in safety and a great contribution to accident prevention, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said the technology will be implemented over entire rail network in the country and will also be exported to the world in the next coming years, even as he had a first hand experience of the collision aversion mechanism by being part of a live demo here.

** DRDO-developed monolithic microwave integrated circuits on board EOS04 satellite

Monolithic microwave integrated circuits developed by the DRDO are on board the EOS04 satellite launched on February 14 by the Indian Space Research Organisation, the Defence Ministry stated on Friday.

The circuits have been used in radar imaging modules of the satellite, the ministry said in a statement.

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** Former Army Chief Gen Rodrigues passes away

He was Army Chief between 1990 and 93

Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Sunith Francis Rodrigues passed away in Goa on Friday. He was Army Chief between 1990 and 93.

In addition to over 40 years of service in the Army, he had served two terms on the National Security Advisory Board and was Governor of Punjab between 2004 and 2010.

Goa