Chennai: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, (IIT-M) have developed a novel device that can visually detect even a single molecule of TNT used in the making of powerful explosives. Apart from national security, this ultra-sensitive and highly selective detection method will have applications in early identification of diseases and in radiation prevention, the IIT researchers claim.
Chemistry professor Thalappil Pradeep and his students Ammu Mathew and P.R. Sajanlal reporated the principle behind this device in the online issue of the leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie on Aug 22. They are now building the device that may be put to practical use soon.
The science behind this explosive detector is rather involved and difficult to explain. In simple terms, the detector works somewhat like an alert traffic cop who spots a violator by simply looking at the traffic signal. In other words, if the suspected sample being tested is clean, the detector gives off a red glow on being irradiated with light of a particular wavelength.
But if the sample contains the explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene), the signal changes to green. This dramatic change from red to green that can be observed with a fluorescence microscope has been demonstrated by the IIT team to take place in the presence of even just one molecule of TNT -- a lower limit that has not been achieved by any detector so far....
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05:27 PM, Aug 28, 2012
Coimbatore: Incidents during the past week at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) have left me bewildered and worried. Not because a photographer colleague was assaulted on the campus but more so the way the institutes administration is mishandling the development. As someone who loved following the highs and lows in the higher education sector for nearly a decade, I am rather concerned about the drift in the IIT...
02:56 PM, Aug 28, 2012
Chennai: The police have registered a case against six persons, including IIT-M Professor Maiya and five security guards of the institution, for assaulting Express photographer Albin Mathew. Both Mathew and Maiya were summoned to the Kotturpuram Police Station on Wednesday evening.After preliminary probe, a case was registered under Sec 147 (punishment for rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 506 (ii) (threat to cause...
07:51 AM, Aug 24, 2012
A first year M Tech student at the premier Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) hanged herself at the campus hostel here on Tuesday.Police said Nerugu Manasa (23), a native of Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, and wife of Srinivasa Manisala, had preferred to stay back after lunch and locked down the entire Sarayu Hostel Extension Annexure Building to commit suicide around 2 pm. It was a three bedroom apartment where...
08:19 AM, Aug 22, 2012
New Delhi: Even as confusion reigns over the HRD Ministry's proposed common entrance test for all IITs, with some institutions backing it and others opposing it, it is the aspiring engineering students who are suffering the most. Kshitij is one of the lakhs of students every year who dream of joining the prestigious IITs. But with the deadlock persisting between the HRD minister's proposal and the senates of different IITs,...
06:40 PM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are split over the joint engineering exam for all centralised institutions. While IIT Madras and Guwahati back the government's proposal on the new format, IIT Kanpur and Kharagpur oppose it. The All India IIT Faculty Federation is likely to meet the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Differences have also emerged within the IITs. The Director of IIT Kharagpur, Damodar Acharya, is the first...
01:30 PM, Jun 11, 2012
Cyrus Broacha also talks about the Agni-V missile test fire and IIT Madras' attempts at curbing sexual harassment on campus. ...
12:32 PM, Apr 22, 2012
Chennai: A 19-year-old student of IIT Madras allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his hostel room on Monday, police said. Kuldeep Yadav, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was a second year civil engineering student. Other students in the hostel noticed that Yadav's room had remained closed since morning. On suspicion, they broke open the door and found his body hanging from the ceiling, police said. He was immediately rushed to...
11:44 AM, Apr 09, 2012
Madurai: A cross-section of hostellers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has locked horns with wardens and administrators over restrictions imposed on 'Hostel Night' celebrations. While upset students have dubbed the move 'moral policing', faculty members claim they are only imposing reasonable restrictions. The Hostel Night celebrations are an annual ritual towards the end of academic year when hostellers invite friends to their rooms for an unwinding session that...
09:59 AM, Apr 06, 2012
CHENNAI: Around 400 people participated in the first leg of a dawn-to-dusk run at the IIT-Madras campus on Sunday morning. The 12-hour run was held to mark 50 years of Round Table India and to raise funds for its project that aims to increase underprivileged childrens accessibility to education. The event, which was led by city-based athlete Neville J Bilimoria, was flagged off from the Open Air Theatre by TT...
08:14 AM, Jan 09, 2012
Washington: IIT Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh, has been sworn in as the director of America's National Science Foundation (NSF), the top US science body with a $7.4 billion budget to support scientific institutions. "We are very grateful to have Subra taking this new task," said President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair Monday after Suresh was sworn in as the 13th NSF director by John Holdren, Obama's science...
01:02 PM, Oct 19, 2010
New Delhi: A total of 13,104 candidates on Wednesday cleared the prestigious IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) 2010 with Anumula Jithendar Reddy from Madras zone topping the test. These students will be eligible for admission in 15 IITs, ISM Dhanbad and IT-BHU. There are 9,509 seats in these institutions. Over 4.5 lakh candidates had appeared in JEE-2010 which was conducted by seven of the IITs on April 11. The number of...
08:39 AM, May 26, 2010
![New York impressed, buys IIT students' business plan]( "New York impressed, buys IIT students' business plan")
IIT team to get money, office space to develop their business. ...
02:50 PM, Jan 10, 2010
Orders say, seniors-juniors interaction only in common room during roll call. ...
12:07 PM, Aug 26, 2009
UPA Government launching cheapest laptop ever seen priced at Rs 500. ...
04:04 PM, Feb 03, 2009
New Delhi: Services captain Soumik Chatterjee and veteran campaigner Yashpal Singh put on a remarkable fightback with a 152-run partnership to put the hosts in the driver’s seat against Kerala on day three of their fifth-round Ranji Trophy match. Chatterjee scored his career’s third first-class century to ensure three points for Services after his team was bowled for 335 for a lead of 21 on Monday in reply to Kerala’s...
09:43 AM, Jul 26, 2008
