In future, batteries may run on sugar ...

Scientists have developed a new biodegradable battery that runs on sugar and can work for long hours without charging.

In as soon as three years, the new battery could be running some of the cell phones, tablets, video games, and the myriad other electronic gadgets that require power, researchers said.

The battery developed by a Virginia Tech research team has an unmatched energy density, a development that could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable.

While other sugar batteries have been developed, this one has an energy density an order of magnitude higher than others, allowing it to run longer before needing to be refuelled, YH Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering, said.   More from Times of India - Tech        

Epic 27 year war that saved Hinduism in India

Good analytical observations about post Shivaji-Sambhaji Maratha-Mogul war for supremacy in south India.

"In this war, Aurangzeb’s army totaled more than 500,000 in number (compared to total Maratha army in the ballpark of 150,000). With him he carried huge artillery, cavalry, muskettes, ammunition and giant wealth from royal treasuries to support this quest. This war by no means a fair game when numbers are considered.

The main features of Aurangzeb’s strategy were :-
Use of overwhelming force to demoralize the enemy -
This tactic had proved successful in Aurangzeb’s other missions. Thus he used this even in Maharashtra. On several occasions giant Mughal contigents were used to lay siege to a fort or capture a town.

Meticulously planned sieges to the forts -
Aurangzeb knew that the forts in Sahyadri formed backbone of Maratha defense. His calculation was to simply lay tight siege to the fort, demoralizing and starving the people inside and finally making them surrender the fort.

Fork or pincer movements using large columns of infantry and cavalry -
With large number of infantry and cavalry, pincer could have proved effective and almost fatal against Marathas.

Marathas had one advantage on their side, geography. They milked this advantage to the last bit. Their military activities were planned considering the terrain and the weather.
The main features of Maratha strategy were :-
 
Combined offensive-defensive strategy -
Throughout the war, Marathas never stopped their offensive. This served two purposes. The facts that Maratha army was carrying out offensive attacks in Mughal land suddenly made them psychologically equals to Mughals launching attack in Maratha land, even though Mughals were a much bigger force. This took negative toll on Mughal morale and boosted morale of their own men. Secondly, these offensive attacks in terms of quick raids often heavily damaged enemy supply chains taking toll on Mughal army. The forts formed backbone of Maratha defense. Thanks to Shivaji, the every fort had provision of fresh water. The total forts numbered almost 300 and this large number proved major headache to Aurangzeb.

Strategic fort defense -
Marathas had one big advantage on their side. They were the expert in fort warfare. The game of defense using forts had two components.

First component was the right play of the strategic forts . In modern warfare, you have some strategic assets like aircraft carrier, presence of which needs a substantial change of plans on your enemy side.  And then there are tactical assets, like tanks and large guns, which matter from battle to battle, but can be effectively countered by your enemy without making big plan changes. Similarly there are strategic forts, like Raigad, Janjira, Panhala and Jinji. Then there are number of tactical forts like Vishalgad, Sinhgad, Rajgad, etc."

read more here ...

Lost and gain of 2013

Year 2013 saw fall of some personalities and rise of some.  The always falling image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can not find any breaks, so does the quintessential appeal of Congress party. It seems baggage of corruption loot become impossible to carry forward the fortune of both the entities.  The Rahul Gandhi's so called inherited charisma seems to be faded away before blossoming. The failure after failure, has very aptly justified the bollywood song 'Pappu can't dance sala...'.

Laloo Prasad Yadav is finally in jail, thanks to fodder scam, seems to shattered man, he may have never though about a politician going to jail for corruption charges.

Nitish Kumar the savior of down trodden, and messiah of minorities lost the sheen since shifting to congress fold, 'Ab topi pehenke bhi koi faayada nahi...'.

Biggest rise of during the year is of Narendra Modi, despite the cacophony of congress, paid media, and sec-liberals about his so-called role in Gujarat riots, which the legal system of india has quashed time and again.  Another rise, a la comet, is Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party, Kiran Bedi once said of his achievements as a formula to become Chief Minister in two years, which get Gandhi like pure soul, in this case Anna Hazare, build a social cause, spin of a party from it and win elections to become CM.