Science and Technology News: 18 November 2021

Latest Science Technology news:

1. A group of researchers led by scientists at Hokkaido University have developed a simpler, greener method for producing Grignard reagents—one of the most important and widely used type of reagents in the chemical industry—that drastically cuts down on the use of hazardous organic solvents and could lead to reduced production costs. This new process was reported in Nature Communications. Scitech Daily
2. In a new study published in the scientific journal PNAS, researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences have just discovered that a group of proteins in plant leaf cells, called CURT1, plays a much more important role in photosynthesis than once thought. “We have discovered that CURT1 proteins control a plant’s development of green leaves already from the seed stage. Thus, the proteins have a major influence on how effectively photosynthesis is established,” explains Associate Professor Mathias Pribil, the study’s lead author. Phys.org
3. The idea that the universe started in the big bang revolutionised 20th-century cosmology. But it seems increasingly unlikely it was a case of something from nothing. Newscientist
4. The scientific community has been divided on whether or not life could even be possible on this planet. All of these studies indicate that this question cannot be answered until astronomers characterize Proxima b’s atmosphere, ideally by observing it as it passes in front of (i.e., transits) its host star. But in a new NASA-supported study, a team led by astrophysicists at the University of Chicago determined that this is an unlikely possibility. Phys.org

5. NASA’s Perseverance rover collects its third Martian sample from a rock ‘loaded with the greenish mineral olivine’.The goal is to find chemical signatures that act as signs life once existed

6. There are smartwatches available in the market  that offer an SpO2, or blood oxygen saturation, sensor; a couple of them also offer ECG monitoring. One of them is Garmin Venu. Buy on Amazon. Garmin Venu .Price: ₹22,990.00 You Save: ₹3,000.00 (12%) ( Garmin Garmin Venu has Pulse Ox sensor that estimates your blood oxygen saturation during the day and as you sleep to show how well your body is absorbing oxygen ) Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Compiled from Google Trends