Researchers from IIT Bombay propose cost-effective techniques of making microcontact printing stamps to print protein and grow cells.

Nanomaterials are revolutionising the way we do things with applications in medicine, electronics and biocompatible materials, to name a few. Scientists are studying various nanoforms of carbon—nanotubes, nanocones, nanohorns, two-dimensional graphene and even carbon onions! Now, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have added a new form to this list called nano carbon florets. These nano-sized florets, shaped like marigold flowers, have much more than just good looks to flaunt; they can help keep the environment clean by removing harmful heavy metal pollutants from industrial effluents. In a study published in the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, Prof C Subramaniam and his team from the Department of Chemistry have designed nanocarbon florets that can remove up to 90% of pollutants containing arsenic, chromium, cadmium and mercury.

Researchers show that the shape of dried paint or ink deposit is related to the concentration and size of particles in these colloids.

Ever wondered why we use only specific inks for the inkjet printer? Why not any random dye? The wrong ink may result in non-uniform and patchy printing. Printing inks are colloids—tiny solid particles suspended in a liquid. The size and the concentration of the solid particles in ink specified for printers are designed to deposit uniformly on paper.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) proposes an improved additive manufacturing method to repair damaged industrial components for the sustainable growth of the industry.

Researchers investigate the effects of dark matter particles on the growth of black hole shadows. 

Study finds younger women in India do not have better jobs than their mothers.

Humans communicate a lot non-verbally, thanks to the ability of our brain to understand tone. Would computers be able to do this? Currently capable of understanding plain text, they are struggling to learn the emotions behind the words, conveyed through tone. But these machines are catching up fast. Digital audio processing tools equip computers to understand various information in sound, including emotions.Prof Preeti Rao of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is an expert in sound processing—an approach that helps us do various useful things, one of which is removing unwanted sounds (or noise) from an audio clip. With her team at the Digital Audio Processing Lab, Prof Rao attempts to understand the nature of sound, reveal the information it may hold, and use it for, say, identifying tracks, melodies or the raga of a song.

Carbaryl is one of the commonly used pesticides for agricultural as well as non-agricultural use. But like any other insecticide, higher concentrations of Carbaryl in the soil can have adverse effects on humans and other organisms. The need to completely remove it from the environment or break it down into less harmful substances is of primary importance. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), Delhi, have achieved a significant breakthrough in identifying bacteria which can clean up this pesticide from the environment and understanding exactly how the breakdown occurs.

 During the fag end of 2015, Chennai experienced severe floods resulting in the death of about 500 people and economic losses of about INR 50,000 crores. The flooding stranded the city and was termed a 'man-made disaster' resulting from irresponsible water management and rapid urbanisation. The northeast monsoon of the year left most parts of South India marooned, exposing how vulnerable our cities are to such catastrophes. That's when the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor took a major initiative to develop a real-time, integrated, urban flood forecasting system that was non-existent in our country. Soon after, a team of scientists from various institutes across the country, swung into action to develop the first-ever expert system in India to forecast floods. In a recent study, published in the journal Current Science, the researchers shed light on the development of the automated flood forecasting expert system. 

Study analyses what drives the choice of transport to shopping malls in Mumbai.