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Times Top News

Tile by jowl

Tile by jowl

by | Apr 28, 2024 | Science


He wouldn’t have noticed it if he weren’t a dentist. Being one, he spotted it right away — and wrote about it to The Washington Post. Our floor and wall tiles often come from materials that may have formed millions of years ago. A mirror-polish granite tile has many random features — we neither can make sense of them, or we do care to see what they are.

But a man, whose Reddit username is Kidipadeli75, said he was visiting his parents’ home in Europe when he spotted something odd in a floor tile. The travertine tile came from Denizli Basin of western Turkey. Travertine is a type of limestone that forms through the precipitation of minerals from mineral-rich water, typically in hot springs or limestone caves. It is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). The Denizli Basin was formed between 0.7 million and 1.8 million years ago. The feature that caught Kidipadeli75’s eye was a horseshoe shaped white material with some squarish shapes embedded in it. That was where Kidipadeli75’s expertise as a dentist came in handy. He instantly recognised it to be a mandible — lower jaw — of a man. The square shapes were remnants of his teeth.

The owner of the mandible and the teeth should have died at least 7,00,000 years ago. The lower jaw and teeth became part of rock. If the rock had not been sliced into tiles for homes, they would have probably been extracted and studied. But it was outlandish to file a dead man’s teeth in a floor tile of a home, thought Kidipadeli75. So, he wrote to WaPo.





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How to make soft and squishy robots

How to make soft and squishy robots

by | Apr 28, 2024 | Science


For the majority who stand outside the robotics sector, our perceptions of robots are often inspired from science fiction narratives and cinematic portrayals — by the likes of Isaac Asimov with his visionary laws of robotics, to the iconic duo C3PO and R2D2, among countless others. Our collective imagination once painted robots in the anthropomorphic image, mirroring human form. However, today’s reality diverges significantly. Modern robots are specialised industrial tools, designed for precise tasks — be it a singular robotic limb or a complex assembly of mechanical armature and sensory equipment. The so-called humanoid robots of our era merely echo the basic human structure, equipped with a head, torso, limbs, and rudimentary sensory inputs akin to sight and sound.

But what about true human-like?

The major challenge to robots becoming more human-like is the skin and the sense of touch, and responses to it. The complexity of design in creating human-like skin for robots is enormous: considerations of texture, elasticity, and sensory capabilities — the physics of touch — is a challenge of balance between real and artificial.

Integrating human-like skin into robots can also be a software challenge, not just a hardware challenge. The human skin is a sensitive organ capable of detecting a wide range of tactile stimuli with precision. Replicating this level of sensory accuracy including pressure, temperature and texture can be challenging to integrate into robotic systems because of constraints around compatibility, space, and power requirements.

What the challenges with hardware and software mean to creating human-like robots is high-cost and low-scalability, as well as concerns of maintenance, hygiene, and durability.

But, a new research, from a team led by Kyungseo Park and Kazuki Shin, on “Low-Cost and Easy-to-Build Soft Robotic Skin for Safe and Contact-Rich Human–Robot Collaboration” has presented a novel solution — an easy-to-build soft robotic skin that could revolutionise how robots perceive and respond to human touch.

The groundbreaking paper from the IEEE Transactions on Robotics shows methods to employ air-pressure sensors and 3D-printed pads to provide a level of sensitivity and safety previously unattainable at a low cost.

The implications for industries like healthcare, personal robotics and any industries where robots and humans interact in a social setting are profound, potentially leading to robots that are not only safer but also more capable of complex social interactions with humans.

Why Soft Robotic Skin?

Traditional robots operate in structured environments where interactions with humans are minimal. However, as robots move into roles that require more direct contact with people — such as in homes, hospitals, or workplaces — the risk of accidental injuries increases. Hard exteriors can cause harm upon collision, making the integration of soft, sensitive materials essential for safety.

Giving robots a lifelike appearance and texture with the use of soft skin creates a more approachable and engaging presence. Imagine a robot that not only performs tasks efficiently but also looks and feels like a friendly companion, making the human feel more comfortable at vulnerable times.

The newly developed soft robotic skin addresses these concerns. It covers a robot’s hard surfaces with a layer that can sense pressure changes caused by physical contact. This skin is not only shock-absorbing but also capable of detecting and interpreting various types of touch, from gentle pats to firm presses. The technology is based on a network of air-filled pads made from thermoplastic urethane (TPU), a material chosen for its durability and flexibility.

One of the standout features of this technology is its simplicity and affordability. The skin can be produced using standard 3D printers and off-the-shelf sensors, making it accessible to a wide range of users—from industrial designers to academic researchers and hobbyists.

Each pad in the skin functions as an independent sensor, measuring changes in internal air pressure when deformed by contact. This data is then processed to distinguish between different types of interactions, like a steady push or a quick tap. These sensors are integrated into a system that utilizes the Robot Operating System (ROS), allowing for easy adoption and integration with existing robotic systems.

Is it good enough?

The research team demonstrated the effectiveness of their design with a custom robot equipped with the soft robotic skin. The robot could safely interact with humans in a controlled environment, responding to touch by adjusting its movements to avoid potential harm. This capability was showcased in scenarios where the robot had to navigate around human operators, adjusting its path in real-time to prevent collisions.

In addition to safety, the soft skin enhances a robot’s ability to perform tasks that require delicate handling, such as in assembly lines or when interacting with the elderly in caregiving scenarios.

While the current design offers significant improvements in safety and tactile response, the team acknowledges that further enhancements are needed. Future versions could feature improved spatial resolution, allowing for even finer distinctions between different types of touch. Additionally, integrating sensors that can detect temperature or texture could further enhance a robot’s perceptual capabilities.





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Brightening up to fight climate change

Brightening up to fight climate change

by | Apr 14, 2024 | Science


Is climate change clouding your moods and you need some brightening up?

Scientists are experimenting with a wild idea to fight global warming — brightening up marine clouds by aerosol sprays so that they reflect more sunlight back into the atmosphere.

Really, the idea of using aerosol to reflect sunlight — geo-engineering — is geriatric. So is ‘cloud seeding’, which is a rainmaker, literally. And now, somebody has thought of combining the two for a “brilliant” effect.

But the Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) programme of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, USA, is somewhat different from conventional geo-engineering. Guess what they are spraying? Salt. Trillions of extremely tiny particles of sea salt sprayed into clouds increase the clouds’ density and reflective capacity.

Only, we don’t know by how much. There are specific regions of the ocean with clouds that could be more favourable for brightening in this way, though it is still uncertain how much brightening could be achieved in different regions, says MCB. If marine cloud brightening were ever to be used, which areas are brightened, and by how much, would determine how much climate cooling could be produced. Furthermore, we don’t know if there would be any negative side-effects. This uncertainty has attracted criticism from some quarters, especially from a formation called The Alliance for Just Deliberations on Solar Geoengineering. But MCB says it is only a scientific experiment.





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Tailoring carton boxes to fit more, waste less

Tailoring carton boxes to fit more, waste less

by | Apr 14, 2024 | Science


Pretty often, when you order something online, something as small as a perfume or a bottle of shampoo, it comes in a huge package. Products ordered online are often shipped in oversized cartons. The size of the overall package is much larger than its contents. This is fine as a protection for the ordered goods, but too much packing material goes against sustainability.

Helping to combat this issue is the CASTN (Carton Set Optimisation) software created by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), which puts together the optimum order-to-carton combination for each customer’s order. Clever algorithms calculate the best carton utilisation based on the item and order structure.

With the help of this software, shipping companies can select the optimal carton set for each item and order structure, says a press release from Fraunhofer IML.

30% item, 70% air

The CASTN software functions using two algorithms — The first uses an approach to create different carton sets based on parameters such as the number of permitted cartons or the maximum and minimum dimensions. The second — a bin-packing algorithm — ensures that the orders are efficiently packed in the selected cartons. The aim of this is to minimise packaging volume and achieve the smallest possible overall volume. At the end of this process, the software assesses each carton in a set, checking how well the internal capacity is filled by the order inside. This information is fed back into the evolutionary algorithm, which uses each carton’s score to create new, better sets. This continues until no better volume utilisation can be achieved.

Lukas Lehmann, scientist at Fraunhofer IML, says that customers are often unaware of the volume utilisation of their packaging, which is often only around 30 per cent. “They have no idea how much air they send. This is what our software calculates,” says the researcher. Once optimisation is complete, the results are analysed together with the customer so that they can select the appropriate carton set, says Lehmann.

Several industry partners, each with their own online retail business, have already benefited from carton set optimisation and increased their volume utilisation by 35 to 45 per cent while also reducing the number of carton types used.

Long way to go

While the concept looks good, it may not suit India as the cartons cannot be customised to the requirements of the e-commerce market, says S Veeraragavan, Managing Director, Sri Srinivasa Cartons & Containers, a Puducherry-based carton box manufacturer. If the company has a large volume, the cartons can be customised, but presently, the items are packed mostly using padding materials, he added.

An official of a leading e-commerce giant agrees with Veeraraghavan, saying it is too complex to have customised cartons — there would be too much variety, compared with standardised cartons. So, for now at least, India is not ready for the Fraunhofer’s solution.





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Ceramic composites for efficient electronics 

Ceramic composites for efficient electronics 

by | Apr 14, 2024 | Science


As more and more people across walks of life turn to their mobile phones for performing lifestyle functions — listening to music, watching movies, ordering food, navigating new places, among others — and a public push towards electric vehicles (EVs) for transportation, finding effective materials for storing and managing energy is challenging.

Imagine smartphones that can charge in minutes and last days or electric cars that can travel longer distances on a single charge.

A recent study by researchers — Hodam Karnajit Singh, Prajna P Mohapatra, Subingya Pandey and Pamu Dobbidi — at IIT Guwahati has brought us closer to this reality by exploring the potential of a special kind of ceramic composite material. These are advanced materials engineered to have extraordinary electrical properties.

But it’s not just about storing more power. These materials also show fascinating dielectric relaxation behaviours — essentially, they can respond to changes in electric fields in ways that can be incredibly useful for electronic applications such as sensors or even in the development of stealth technology, by absorbing unwanted microwave signals.

How it’s made

At the heart of this research is the creation of a dense ceramic composite from a blend of two specific types of ferrites: M-type hexaferrite and an inverse spinel ferrite (NCZFO). When combined into the new composite material, it exhibits what scientists call “colossal permittivity.” Permittivity is a measure of how well a material can store electrical charge. Higher permittivity means more electricity can be stored, which is exactly what we need for better batteries and more efficient electronic devices.

However, creating these composites aren’t simple; it involves carefully mixing and heating the materials in a solid-state process — a method notable for its precision and control over material properties.

The researchers started off with precise weighing of pure barium carbonate (BaCO3), strontium carbonate (SrCO3), and iron oxide (Fe2O3) powders required for the hexaferrite phase.

The powders were then subjected to ball milling for 12 hours. After milling, the resultant slurry was dried through a slow heating process which were then calcined (the process in which the materials are heated to a high temperature in the absence or limited supply of air or oxygen). This step is crucial for initiating chemical reactions between the raw materials to form the hexaferrite phase.

The other ferrite — inverse spinel ferrite (NCZFO)— was also prepared using a solid-state reaction method. The proportions of nickel, cobalt, zinc, and iron precursors were carefully controlled, similar to the hexaferrite preparation.

The synthesised M-type hexaferrite and NCZFO were then combined in varying percentages (80–20 per cent, 60–40 per cent, and 40–60 per cent of hexaferrite to NCZFO, respectively) to explore the effects of different concentrations on the composite’s properties.

The mixed powders were ball-milled for an additional 15 hours to ensure uniform distribution of the two phases. The homogenised powder mixture was then pressed into circular plates using a hydraulic press. These plates were sintered at 1250°C for 3 hours. Sintering further densifies the material, which enhances the chemical bonds between the components and optimises the micro-structural properties crucial for achieving colossal permittivity.

The researchers varied the concentrations of each component to see how it affected the material’s properties. They discovered that adjusting these concentrations changed the material’s microstructure, including the size of the grains within the composite and the presence of tiny defects. These microscopic changes have a massive impact on how electricity is stored and flows through the material.

High permittivity materials can revolutionise energy storage solutions, making devices like capacitors far more efficient. Batteries that charge in a fraction of the current time, electric vehicles that need less frequent charging or even new types of sensors that can detect changes in the environment more accurately, becomes a possibility.

These materials could also lead to advances in telecommunications, enabling devices that can operate at higher frequencies, which are crucial for the next generation of wireless communications. In a world increasingly concerned with electromagnetic interference, these composites offer a promising solution. They could be used to shield sensitive equipment, from medical devices to military hardware, protecting them from interference and ensuring they operate reliably.

For a sustainable future

For the common man, this research might seem distant from everyday concerns. Yet, its implications are profound: In the not-too-distant future, this could mean electronics that are more durable, reliable and powerful.

It’s about more than just convenience; it’s about sustainability. Devices that charge faster and hold their charge longer are devices that consume less energy over their lifetime.

As we move towards a more electrified world efficient energy storage becomes crucial. These ceramic composites could play a vital role in this transition, helping to store energy more efficiently, whether it’s harvested from the sun, wind or waves.





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Ashwagandha is great, but not for everybody 

Ashwagandha is great, but not for everybody 

by | Apr 14, 2024 | Science


Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Indian ginseng, is growing in popularity, both in India and abroad. All retailers of ayurvedic medicines that Quantum spoke to said that Ashwagandha was a “fast-moving product”. The Indian Medical Practitioners Co-operative Pharmacy and Stores Ltd (IMPCOPS) in Chennai, one of the leading manufacturers of ayurvedic (and siddha) products with 29 outlets in Tamil Nadu, said that Ashwagandha sales were going up year-after-year.

In the recent years, Ashwagandha has become a subject of intense scientific discussions throughout the world and dozens of scientific papers have been published on its properties in various technical journals. Even the National Geographic magazine has featured Ashwagandha in its latest issue.

Because of the increasing popularity of ashwagandha in several Western countries, the number of human trials evaluating its efficacy across a range of conditions have also subsequently increased, says Adrian L Lopresti and Stephen J Smith, researchers at Clinical Research Australia.

A review of several research papers shows that they are all broadly in agreement that Ashwagandha is a sort of a wonder drug with multiple uses, ranging from anti-neurodegenerative to aphrodisiac, narcotic and stimulant.

But all papers caution that consumption of the over-the-counter medicine should be under strict medical supervision, because there are many downsides to it. Denmark has banned Ashwagandha sales and many other Nordic countries are considering banning it.

Wonder drug

There is little doubt that Ashwagandha has immense beneficial effects. One detailed research paper from the Ponzan University of Medical Sciences delves into minutiae of Ashwagandha’s benefits. It notes that the “growing body of research on Ashwagandha highlights its potential as a valuable natural remedy for many health concerns.” The paper records that Ashwagandha is useful in stress management, cognitive function and physical performance. Several studies have suggested that Ashwagandha supplementation may exhibit neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-bacterial properties.

What is in it?

Ashwagandha has active substances called withanolides and alkaloids. Withanolides are organic compounds which are known to have medicinal properties. Alkaloids are also organic compounds (compounds of carbon), which are generally known for their soothing effect. Caffeine and nicotine are among the better-known alkaloids.

Withanolides are helpful in treating neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia. These diseases are caused by deposition (called ‘senile plaques’) of a protein called Beta-amyloid on the brain. Withaferin A in Ashwagandha fights Beta-amyloid.

Lopresti and Smith from Clinical Research Australia note that they came across 41 studies (32 in India) examining the effects of ashwagandha on stress and anxiety, sexual function and fertility, athletic performance, cognitive performance, pain, fatigue, thyroid function, schizophrenia, diabetes, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), insomnia, hypercholesterolemia and tuberculosis. Results from most of these studies indicated positive effects from ashwagandha intake, although treatment dose, duration, and extract types varied significantly.

So, should you rush to the pharmacy for a bottle of this medicine (which, by the way, comes in the form of tablets, powder, liquid and paste)? No, please don’t.

Caution advised

Several of the papers reviewed by Quantum (and National Geographic) stress that the full effects of Ashwagandha, including all contraindications, are not yet well understood. For example, men with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer should not use Ashwagandha, because it increases testosterone production which intensifies the progression of the disease. Ashwagandha is also contraindicated in patients planning or in pregnancy, as the use of higher doses of Ashwagandha root extract can lead to miscarriage.

Also, there are many reports of liver disorder linked to Ashwagandha intake, notes the Ponzan University paper. Also, “patients taking hypoglycaemic, hypotensive or immunosuppressive drugs, as well as those suffering from autoimmune diseases, should consult a doctor about possible Ashwagandha therapy,” it says.

Scientists of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have concluded that Ashwagandha extract might just have negative effects on thyroid and sex hormones and could not therefore establish a minimal limit for intake of Ashwagandha based on the available scientific data.

Amar G Chittiboyina of the National Center for Natural Products Research, USA, notes that the reasons for concern about Ashwagandha’s safety include “a dearth of information on verification of the botanical raw materials used in their studies.”

The lesson from all this is obvious: Ashwagandha is pretty good but check with a doctor before you use it.





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