A Fortnightly newsletter on S&T, Science Policy and Diplomacy
A New Era Begins for India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation
The symbolic significance that the materialisation of India-US Civil Nuclear Deal holds for ushering in a new phase in the bilateral relationship cannot be understated. Even as the cooperation under iCET is picking up, nuclear energy is set to re-emerge as a central pillar of cooperation. Anupama Vijayakumar writes.
The ESA’s budget for 2025 will be 7.68 billion euros ($7.91 billion). With big contributors including Germany, Italy and the UK cutting down contribu tions, the figure “is down by about 1.4 per cent from the 7.79 billion euros the agency had for 2024”.
The idea has been proposed in a paper published in the One Earth Journal, authored by researchers from space agencies including NASA and industries. They recommend for space sustainability to be included as a sustainable development goal.
South Korea has so far had to go through US export consent or notification procedures for exporting their nu- clear reactors. The new MoU could pave the way for US governmental consent for South Korea to sell its AP- 1000 reactors to the Czech Republic.
The draft law spans 17 articles and includes definitions for key concepts such as “personal data” and “automated systems”. It also covers aspects related to cybersecurity and intellectual property rights.
With Israel it is looking to cooperate on cybersecurity, while with Japan it is looking to enhance collaboration to stay ahead in the rapidly changing tech land- scape.
The company “plans to invest US $3 billion in India in cloud and AI infrastructure and skilling over the next two years, including the establishment of new data centers”.
The Ministry has sought public comments on the draft executive rules under the Digital Personal Data Protec- tion Act. The rules require data fiduciaries to obtain verifiable parental consent before processing children's personal data and conduct annual Data Protection Impact Assessments.
The event held at IIT-Hyderabad during 3-4 January, 2025 focused “on advancing research and innovation in critical minerals, emphasising sustainable methodologies for exploration, extraction, and recycling”.
Chaired by Dr. Parvinder Maini, Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to GoI, the con- sultation sought to conceptualise and discuss a draft Self-Assessment and Reporting Framework (SARF) developed by the Office of the PSA on ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility’.
The plenary session called the “Green Connections: Diaspora’s Contribution to Sustainable Development” was organised on the second day of the celebrations in Odisha.
Held on 10 January 2025, the forum discussed six themes including clean mobility, energy storage and industrial decarbonisation. During the forum, India also launched a forum to focus on clean tech manufacturing.
The Indian Meteorological Department was founded on 15 January 1875 by the provisional British government. In addition to the IMD Vision-2047 document, PM Modi also announced the launch of Mission Mausam, “an initiative aimed at transforming India into a ‘Weather-ready and Climate-smart’ nation” during the occasion.
The researchers observed species belonging to genera Pseudomonas and Acetobacter to be particularly capable of breaking down certain toxic compounds found in the soil. The bacteria can also enrich the soil with nutrients.
The startup, Novacret utilised geopolymer-based materials which would “cut carbon emissions compared to traditional Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), but also promises zero use of water. The new tech, IISc team claims, would offer 15-20% cost advantage”.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda noted that the new health policy would integrate yoga, ayurveda and naturopathy with modern medicine for combining traditional wisdom with contemporary practices.
“The CROPS (Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies) experiment was successfully conducted on PSLV-C60 POEM-4, and germination occurred in just four days. We expect leaves to emerge soon.” The agency tweeted on 4 January 2025.
The data was compiled as part of the Genome India Project launched in 2020 under which genome sequencing of 10,000 samples collected from diverse sections of the India’s population.
The expert committee on big data and data science for official statistics was “created to further investigate benefits and challenges of big data, including potential for monitoring and reporting on sustainable development goals.
The problem:After steel, aluminum is the second-most-produced metal in the world. Its demand is projected to drive aluminum pro- duction by 40 percent worldwide. This steep rise will magnify alumi- num’s environmental impacts, including pollutants that are released with its manufacturing waste.
Nanofiltration Process:The novel membrane filters solutions that were similar in content to the waste streams produced by aluminum plants. The membrane captured more than 99 percent of aluminum ions in these solutions.
Future Prospects:The membrane technology could reduce the amount of wasted aluminum and improve the environmental quality of the waste. “This membrane technology cuts down on hazardous waste and enables a circular economy for aluminum.”
The problem: Ebola virus is one of the deadliest pathogens. It has a fa tality rate of about 50 per cent, and poses a serious threat to global health and safety.
Nanobody Inhibitors: Researchers developed two new nanobody in hibitors for Ebola: Nanosota-EB1 and Nanosota-EB2. These nanobodies work in different ways to stop Ebola. The virus hides the part it uses to attach to human cells under a protective layer. Nanosota-EB1 prevents this layer from opening, blocking the virus from attaching to cells. Na nosota-EB2 targets a part of the virus essential for breaking into cells, stopping its spread. In lab tests, Nanosota-EB2 was especially effective, greatly improving survival rates in Ebola- infected mice.
Future Prospects: These nanobodies represent a major step toward treatments for other viruses in the same family, like Sudan and Marburg viruses.
The report elaborates on global risks while classifying them as short-term, medium-term and long-term con- cerns. It classifies technology and polarisation as a long-term concern while noting “biotech and super ageing as areas where serious risks could unfold over a longer-term time horizon” . Key snippets from the report as it pertains to risks from technology are presented below:
Adverse outcomes of AI technologies is one of the risks that climbs the most in the 10-year risk ranking compared to the two-year risk ranking which classifies the same as low risk.
Technology and Polarisation, The report identifies polarisation brought about by proliferation of digital platforms, misinformation and disinformation as a major risk. It also notes that this scenario could lead to growing algorithmic bias and misuse of surveillance capabilities to aggravate polarisation in societies.
Losing Control of Biotech? The diffusion of biotech offers opportunities for threat actors to create novel biological agents which can be employed as bioweapons and potentially lead to pandemics. Moreover, bio- tech-based health solutions can create new risks and lead to unknown impacts. Disregarding ethical con- cerns would aggravate such risks and lead to new sources of division and conflict.
The report has been published by the Subcommittee on AI Governance and Guidelines Development formed under an advisory group chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India. The advisory group has been constituted to undertake the development of an 'AI for India-Specific Regulatory Framework'. The draft is open for public consultation until 27 January 2025.
Based on its examination of key AI governance issues and a gap analysis of existing frameworks, has proposed a comprehensive approach to ensure the trustworthiness and accountability of AI systems.
It highlights the importance of a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to enforce compliance and ensure effective governance as India's AI ecosystem evolves.
It identifies three concepts for operationalising principles which should guide AI regulation: lifecycle ap- proach (across development, deployment and diffusion of AI), ecosystem approach ( to involve multiple stakeholders) and techno-legal approach for AI governance.
It also recommends means to strengthen AI governance such as, the creation of a technical secretariat for AI governance, instituting an AI incident database, the integration of AI specific measures in the Digital India Act and voluntary regulation for industry.
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