Pavithra Sindhu LCE

Some Scientific Developments of 2018 1) Gene-edited babies  A Chinese Scientist claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies resistant to contracting HIV through the gene-editing tool CRISPR, causing an uproar within the scientific community. 2) ET, that you? The first interstellar object - 'Oumuamua' was found to be neither a comet or an asteroid so Harvard University astronomers suggested  that Oumuamua may be an extraterrestrial solar sail. 3) There is a car in space SpaceX successfully test-launched the Falcon Heavy rocket with two boosters landing back on earth safely and aboard was Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster just chilling by itself. 4) 12 years to disaster An IPCC report warned that global temperatures may cross 1.5 degree Celsius as soon as 2030. The planet has already warmed up to 1degree and is on track to produce record greenhouse gas emissions. 5) Microplastics Microplastics were found in all levels of the...

An illustration of the electrolyte solution used in the new study, on the atomic scale. The fluoride ion (pink) is surrounded by a liquid of BTFE molecules. Credit: Brett Savoie/Purdue University Imagine not having to charge your phone or laptop for weeks. That is the dream of researchers looking into alternative batteries that go beyond the current lithium-ion versions popular today. Now, in a new study appearing in the journal  Science , chemists at several institutions, including Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech for NASA, as well as the Honda Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have hit on a new way of making rechargeable batteries based on fluoride, the negatively charged form, or anion, of the element fluorine. "Fluoride batteries can have a higher energy density, which means that they may last longer -- up to eight times longer than batteries in use today," says study co-author Robert Gru...

Hydrogen Finally Mega-Evolved As reported back in September,  two studies , each with a different approach, were attempting to created metallic hydrogen, and now, more than 80 years after it was predicted to be possible, the  Harvard University  team has finally managed to produce the elusive state. Physicists Isaac Silvera, who has been working on this problem for 45 years, and Ranga Dias published their study’s results this week in the journal  Science . To develop metallic hydrogen, Silvera’s team squeezed two opposing heavy-duty diamonds together to compress gaseous hydrogen, and then they transitioned it into its liquid state by lowering the temperature [hydrogen liquifies at a temperature of -252°C (-423°F)]. They then gradually increased the applied pressure on the solid hydrogen by twisting a steel screw to exert force on the diamond anvil. It was then that changes were noticed. At about 2 million atmospheres (or 200 gigapascal), the hydrogen st...

Separation of Substance In the day to day life, there times when one needs to separate a useful substance from a mixture. This is done by using various methods of separation of substance. Pure Substance: A substance is called pure when each particle of the substance has the same unique property. For example; distilled water is pure water as each drop of it contains nothing but water. Mixture : A substance which is composed of two or more substances; in which each component retains its unique property; is called mixture. Air is a mixture of gases. Water which we drink is a mixture of pure water and many other substances. Need for separation of substances:   Taking out useful substances from a mixture is usually the main reason for separation of substances. Sometimes, we also need to separate substances when we need to use different components in different ways. To get two or more useful products. To remove impurities from  the useful product or rem...