20 Most Important Technological Developments for WBCS & Other Competitive Exams (Science & Technology)
Block-chain Technology: It is a specific type of data structure which contains records of the ownership of the asset, stored cryptographically. The Government of India is harnessing this technology for e-governance, banking and cyber-security, in the Centre of Excellence, set up in Bengaluru by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). This technology will help attain decentralized, anonymous and secure data transfer.
Dark Web: It is that part of the internet which cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google or through regular browsers like Chrome or Internet Explorer. A specialized browser like TOR (The Onion Ring) is used for this purpose. This technology is used by smugglers and pedlars. The Indian law enforcement agencies are finding the rampant use of the dark net in crimes.
Quantum Computing: It is based on the principles of quantum theory of wave-particle duality. In the field of computing it is being used for faster computation. Google developed a quantum computer called Sycamore that takes 200 seconds to perform a calculation that the world’s fastest supercomputer, Summit, would have taken 10000 years to accomplish.
Hydrothermal Carbonisation: It is a technology developed by scholars of IIT Kharagpur, which can help generate energy from solid waste with high moisture content.
Ramanujam Machine: It is an algorithm that reflects the way Srinivas Ramanujam, the famous Indian mathematician, worked during his lifetime. It is developed by scientists at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
NaVIC: It is India’s indigenously developed, regional navigation system. Also, known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, it is designed to provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services to users in India as well as regions extending upto 1500 KM form its boundary.
Ceramic Membranes: It is developed by the Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata, for treatment of water contaminated with heavy metals. It will help curb water-borne diseases by removing metal-pollutants in water, which the prevalent micro-filtering technologies like UV, RO, UF have not been able to attain.
IOT: The “Internet of Things” or IOT is a system of interconnected devices and machines that communicate between each other by sending data over a network without requiring any intervention from humans. The synchronisation of multiple devices via the internet is an application of IOT that can be used for e-governance, digitization of healthcare services and in banking and finance activities.
Cloud Computing: It is the process of storing and accessing data through the internet. Here the data is stored in external data warehouses and not in the hard-drive of the user’s personal device. The Internet of Things (IOT) system performs all their computations in the cloud using data centres.
Edge Computing: It is an evolving version of cloud computing whereby the data is stored and processed locally. Here the data is to be first analyzed at the edge of the network before being sent to a data centre. It will make data transfer and access faster, secure, scalable and reliable.
Microbial Fuel Cells: It is a bio-electrochemical device that converts organic substrates directly into electrical energy by harnessing the power of respiring microbes. Relying on living bio-catalysts, it transforms chemical energy into electrical energy by using oxidation-reduction reactions. Scientists of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) used power-sensors in the wild by installing microbial fuel cells.
GAGAN: The “GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation” or GAGAN, was developed jointly by the Airport Authority of India and the Indian Space Research Organization to improve the accuracy of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver by providing reference signals.
GEMINI: The “GAGAN Enabled Mariners’ Instrument for Navigation and Information” or GEMINI is a satellite-based advisory service for deep-sea fishermen. It is based on the technology of GAGAN.
Machine Learning: It is an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that provides computer systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Computer systems are programmed and developed to access data and to use it to learn by themselves.
Deep Learning: It is an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that mimics the workings of the human brain in processing data for use in detecting objects, recognizing speech, translating languages, and making decisions. Deep learning AI is able to learn without human supervision, drawing from data that is both unstructured and unlabeled.
Big Data: It is a field of study that deals with analysis and systematic extraction of data sets that are too large and complex to be dealt with traditional data-processing softwares. It includes the capturing, storage, sorting and analysis of data.
PARAM Shivay: It is the first supercomputer designed and built under the aegis of the National Super-computing Mission of C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advance Computing).
EAST: The “Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak” or EAST reactor is popularly termed as China’s “Artificial Sun”. It is part of the global initiative of the “International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor”, an attempt to mimic the nuclear fusion reaction in the Sun to generate energy.
Cloud Seeding: It is the process for causing additional rainfall by dispersing chemical substances like sodium chloride, dry ice, potassium chloride or silver iodide, into the clouds that serve as ice nuclei for moisture to form rain droplets.
HysIS: The “hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite” or HysIS is a satellite launched by ISRO, that combines the power of digital imaging and spectroscopy to attain both spectral and spatial information from an object.
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