"Brearley launched his 'rustless steel' (later renamed... 'stainless') on the world with great gusto" IP Review: Accidental Inventions Stainless steel is an alloy of iron and chromium. It does not corrode in contact with air and water, stays bright, and can be polished. The chromium, which has a great affinity for oxygen, protects the iron by forming a molecular layer of chromium oxide at the surface, preventing contact between iron and oxygen. Harry Brearley (1871-1948) was head of the research team at the Brown Firth company in Sheffield, England, when the firm was commissioned to develop an erosion-resistant metal for gun barrels. Brearley experimented with iron-chromium alloys, which were known to have higher melting points than steel. He varied the proportion of chromium between 6 and 15 percent and also changed the carbon content until he developed an alloy with 12.8 percent chromium and 0.24 percent carbon. The alloy was more...

"Supercomputers will achieve one human brain capacity by 2010, and [PCs] by about 2020" Raymond Kurzweil, inventor and futurist A computer has two fundamentally different types of memory. The main memory is Direct RAM (DRAM), which represents the active storage components of a computer's memory. DRAM is fast, but it stores relatively little information. The other type of memory is the hard drive, which uses a solid, locally magnetized, metal disc to store information. (For this reason, a powerful magnet should never be placed on top of a laptop.) The hard drive uses a single "pick-up" to read the information while the disc spins beneath it. This process takes a long time by computer standards. In 2005 IBM demonstrated a possible alternative in the form of the "millipede"—so-called because it looks like one. The millipede uses nanotechnology to store information in tiny depressions on the surface of a silicon-treated polymer. more...

"Tie the [handkerchief] corners to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite..." Benjamin Franklin, to Peter Collinson,1752 The kite was first invented in China about 3,000 years ago. The first recorded construction of a kite was by the Chinese philosopher Mo Zi (c. 470-391 B.C.E.) who spent three years building it from wood. Materials ideal for kite building, such as silk for the sail material and bamboo for a strong, light frame, were plentiful in China, and kites were soon used for many purposes. Stories and records from ancient China mention kites that were used to measure distances, to test the wind, and to communicate during military maneuvers. The earliest Chinese kites were often fitted with musical instruments to create sounds as they were flown; they were decorated with mythical symbols. The first kites were flat and rectangular in shape, but kites are now more...

It is hard to imagine how popular music might have evolved without the use of the synthesizer and other such electronic innovations. Although Dr. Robert Moog is a household name for his pioneering efforts in this field, important groundwork was done several decades earlier by a Canadian physicist and instrument designer named Hugh Le Caine (1914-1977). One of his instruments in particular, the electronic sackbut, is now widely recognized as being the first voltage-controlled synthesizer. Developed at the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1945, Le Caine's sackbut featured a piano-type keyboard built into an old desk. Unlike most of the early commercial synthesizers that appeared at the start of the 1970s, Le Caine's instrument was touch- sensitive; the characteristics of the sound altered according to how lightly or forcefully the keyboard was played, giving the sackbut much the same potential expressiveness as a real acoustic instrument. Two other particularly innovative more...

“... the balls... will touch in one point only between the load and its resistance...” Leonardo da Vinci, The Madrid Codices (c. 1490) Ball bearings are a low-cost method of allowing different parts of a mechanism to rotate past each other without much energy loss from friction. They have many uses, including in bicycles, gyroscopes, electric motors, and turbines. They did not come into general use until the Industrial Revolution, but the concept has been around for more than 2,000 years. Roman Emperor Caligula (12-41 C.E.) had two large ships built at Lake Nemi. When the remains of these ships were recovered in the early 1930s, marine archeologists found the earliest known ball bearings. There were two types found—bronze spheres and wooden balls. The wooden ball bearings supported a rotating table, similar to a lazy Susan or dumbwaiter. Prior to this discovery historians had believed that Leonardo da Vinci invented more...

"A teacher told Kapany that light could travel only in a straight line. Kapany set out to prove him wrong." Fortune Magazine (1999) Optical fiber, made from glass or plastic, is used to guide light from a source to another location. First used in medicine to examine internal organs, the technology has since been developed for many applications, including telecommunications. Indian-born Narinder Singh Kapany (b 1927) is the father of fiber optics. While undertaking research at Imperial College in London in 1952, Kapany drew out fine filaments of optical-quality glass and found that when he shone a light in at one end, it emerged unchanged from the other, even if the fiber was twisted. The concept behind optical fibers was first shown by Irish inventor John Tyndall, who used the principle to illuminate water fountains in the 1850s. Kapany discovered that light was guided by total internal reflection within the more...

Every Indian contributes somethings as far as the defence of India is concerned. But the role which a soldier plays in defending and protecting the borders of India, is really unparalleled. A soldier is the most disciplined lot of the nation. Upon him depends to a great extent the security and stability of the nation. A soldier's life, no doubt, is very difficult and hard. It is he who obeys the orders of his commanders and does what is ordered by them. A soldier keeps night long vigils on the borders even in the face of great and grave dangers. He stands heroically before enemies. For a soldier, in the words of Longfellow:  Their' s not to make reply, Their' s not to reason why, Their' s but to do and die. A soldier faces death bravely. He fights up to the last  moment of his life in order to more...

...says Atulya Nath, CEO, Global Institute of Intellectual Property (GSIP). He discusses importance of patents and policy framework in the life sciences vertical, which is favoured towards domestic companies. Arshia Khan What is the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) in pharma and healthcare? IP protection boosts innovation. It goes without saying that a strong enforceable IP regime fosters research and encourages inventors to produce technology, which is both beneficial to the society at large and has commercial value for the innovator. With the coming-in of the TRIPS compliant product patent regime in India, effective 2005, India has come a long way in the field of establishing a patent system, which can boast to be at par with the rest of the world. IP protection for the pharma and healthcare sector in India assumes a great significance, since apart from the considerable size of our generic industry, innovator companies are also more...

The Alien Institute for Brain Science  has   recently  released  the  world's anatomically   and   genomically comprehensive human brain map. The mappings are the foundation for the Alien Human Brain Atlas, which is an online public resource, developed to advance the Institute's goal to accelerate understanding of how the human brain works and fuel new discovery among the global research community. While developing the Alien Human Brain Atlas, the Alien Institute characterized and mapped the biochemistry of two normal adult human brains. This has provided opportunities for scientists to study the brain with new detail and accuracy. The data reveals a remarkable 94 per cent similarity between human brains, establishing strong foundation for translational and clinical research. The data analysis from the two human brains also indicates that at least 82 per cent of all human genes are expressed in the brain. This highlights the great complexity of the human brain while more...

"It shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light... to shine amongst men." Johannes Gutenberg, printer Writing was an important step in the advancement of civilization, but few books were produced and they reached a limited number of people. Such books were usually of a religious nature, handwritten in Latin, and copied by clerks for the clergy and the nobility. It was only when the printing press was developed that knowledge and ideas were spread more widely. The earliest form of press incorporated a wooden block with raised letters on one side. Such blocks were arranged in a frame and inked, so that when pressed onto paper an impression of the letters was produced. Unfortunately the blocks disintegrated with use, and so could not produce many copies; it was very time- consuming for craftsmen to produce new blocks for letters and illustrations. In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400-1468), more...