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Uric acid is a compound made of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and is one of the components in urine. High amounts of uric acid in the blood could lead to many debilitating medical conditions such as diabetes and gout. However, detecting the compound in living cells without damaging the cells can be quite a challenge.

Bamboo is one of the most easily identifiable grasses, with people readily recognizing the long, smooth tube shaped trunks. It is also one of the most widely used grass with several implements being made using bamboo, like ladders, chairs and even entire houses.

While open defecation has well known health risks, toilets with sewage pits come with their own drawbacks. One of them is the contamination of ground water due to sewage leachate -- the water that seeps into the soil from the pit and has extremely toxic levels of nitrates, ammonium and organic carbon. These toxins are known to contaminate ground water making it unfit for drinking. Now scientists have designed a twin-pit toilet system that reduces the levels of nitrates, ammonium and organic carbon in the sewage water before it is being absorbed by the ground. This treated water, the researchers say, have low levels of toxins, making it safe and saving water bodies from contamination due to sewage.

In a city like Bangalore, public transport system has a huge responsibility of transporting millions everyday and is a necessity to decongest the cities roads and help the city take a step towards sustainable living and greener environment. BMTC, the city's public transport cooperation has introduced many fleets of buses catering to different areas and targeting different types of customers. A new study now evaluates the sustainability of BMTC's fleet of Volvo buses and suggests ways that could help the cooperation maximise its profit and run its services efficiently.

Zirconium is a hard and ductile metal with high resistance to corrosion and low absorption of thermal neutrons, like the ones produced in a nuclear reactor, making them extremely useful as cladding for fuel rods in nuclear reactors. Zr-1Nb is an alloy of Zirconium and Niobium, which is one of the common alloys used as cladding.

Competition among different animals in a natural ecosystem is ubiquitous and determines many characteristics of the ecosystem. Ecologists use different mathematical models to estimate population of animals in the wild and help determine those species that are on the verge of being endangered or extinct. A new study by undergraduates at IISc has proposed a modification to an existing mathematical equation that takes competition of species into account, thus helping ecologists make accurate predictions along with actual field data.

How do we test the strength and rigidity of the materials used by engineers to build? We could use a sample of the material that we wish to study, and bombard it with projectiles to study how the material reacts to the bombardment. This method, however does not allow us to understand the behaviour of the test material at a microscopic level.

India is no stranger to air pollution, with the capital, New Delhi, being identified as one of the most polluted cities in the world, several times. The harmful effects of this deteriorating air quality can be seen in the increasing number of patients with respiratory disorders. Now, a team of scientists have designed a novel gas sensor using MEMS technology that is compact, highly sensitive, consumes very little power and accurately detects gaseous pollutants like CO, CO₂, NO₂ & SO₂.

Isoprene is a naturally produced organic compound, produced by plants. It is a colourless volatile liquid produced by many plants and is the main component of natural rubber.

The race to space is heating up with the addition of private players around the world. With increasing competition to make space explorations affordable, there is a whole ecosystem of small and big companies trying to eye the possible revenues. One among them is the award winning start-up from Bangalore, incubated at IISc, called Bellatrix Aerospace. In a recent conversation with Research Matters, the company reveals its plans for the future and talks about its innovative solutions that aim to make space explorations cheaper than ever.