1. Peptide-Based Piezoelectric Biomaterials for Self-Powered Healthcare
Syllabus Mapping: GS3: Science & Technology | Nanotechnology | Biomaterials | Biotechnology | Healthcare Technology |
- Researchers from CeNS, Bengaluru, with IISER Kolkata and JNCASR Bengaluru, developed peptide-based nanomaterials whose piezoelectricity can be switched on by controlling molecular self-assembly, without chemically modifying the peptide.
- Piezoelectricity is the property of certain materials to generate an electric charge when mechanical stress is applied; the reverse effect—mechanical deformation under an applied electric field—is called the inverse piezoelectric effect.
- Common piezoelectric materials include quartz, certain ceramics and polymers; conventional high-performance ceramic materials can be brittle and unsuitable for direct biomedical applications, motivating the development of softer, biodegradable and biocompatible materials.
- Peptides, short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds, are attractive biomaterial building blocks because they can be biocompatible, biodegradable and capable of self-assembly into structures such as nanofibres.
- The researchers found that peptides formed nanofibres in water without showing piezoelectricity, but addition of only 1% suitable co-solvent reorganised them into an ordered supramolecular structure, activating a strong piezoelectric response without changing their chemical composition.
- The underlying principle is chiral self-assembly: molecular organisation aligns electric dipoles in a non-centrosymmetric structure; breaking inversion symmetry is essential for piezoelectric behaviour.
- The technology enables mechanical energy harvesting, where otherwise wasted mechanical energy from heartbeat, breathing, walking or body movement can potentially be converted into electricity for low-power biomedical and wearable devices.
- Potential applications include self-powered implantable medical sensors, biosensors, wearable electronics, electronic skin and health-monitoring devices, reducing dependence on conventional batteries in certain low-power applications.
2. Thermo-Responsive Microgels
Syllabus Mapping: GS3: Science & Technology | Materials Science | Nanotechnology | Drug Delivery | Biomedical Technology | Smart Materials
- Researchers at Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute under DST, demonstrated that temperature shocks can temporarily fluidise jammed systems and erase their structural memory, providing a way to control their structural recovery.
- Microgels are microscopic, three-dimensional cross-linked polymer networks that can absorb and retain very large quantities of liquid; the microgels used in the study could absorb around 300–500 times their weight in water.
- Because of their polymer-network structure, microgels can swell by absorbing water and contract when external conditions change, giving them stimuli-responsive behaviour; depending on their composition, they can respond to temperature, pH, ionic strength or other stimuli.
- Thermo-responsive microgels undergo a temperature-dependent change in their swelling state; this makes them useful as smart materials in which temperature can act as an external trigger to control their physical properties.
- In drug delivery, thermo-responsive microgels can act as carriers that load drugs in the swollen state and release them when temperature triggers contraction/collapse, allowing controlled and potentially site-specific drug release.
- The study used densely packed microgels as a model jammed system and found that a sudden thermal shock could rearrange the particles and temporarily make the system behave like a liquid, while erasing its previous structural memory.
- Microgels have applications beyond drug delivery because their high water-absorption capacity, softness and stimuli-responsive behaviour make them useful in diapers and sanitary products, biomedical coatings and flexible/biomimetic materials.
- Their soft and water-rich nature makes microgels particularly relevant to biomedical applications where conventional rigid materials may be unsuitable; they can be engineered to mimic some properties of biological tissues.
- Applications of microgels include controlled drug delivery and thermo-responsive biomedical coatings, absorbent products such as diapers and sanitary napkins, and the development of soft, flexible and biomimetic materials that can mimic properties of biological tissues; their stimuli-responsive nature also makes them promising for broader smart-material and biomedical applications.
3. Record Seebeck Response in ScN: New Generation of Thermoelectric Sensors
Syllabus Mapping: GS3: Science & Technology | Semiconductor Technology | Thermoelectricity | Energy Efficiency
- Researchers from JNCASR, IISc and the University of Sydney demonstrated an exceptionally high thermoelectric response in scandium nitride (ScN), challenging the long-assumed upper limit of thermoelectric voltage generation in crystalline solids.
- The Seebeck effect is the generation of an electric voltage from a temperature difference across a material; it enables conversion of otherwise wasted thermal energy into electricity and forms the basis of thermoelectric generators and temperature sensors.
- The Seebeck coefficient measures the voltage generated per unit temperature difference and is expressed in V/K; conventional metals generally show values of only tens of μV/K, while good semiconductors generally reach hundreds of μV/K.
- The researchers used ScN, a refractory transition-metal nitride, as an epitaxial single-crystalline thin film, and introduced magnesium to compensate naturally occurring free electrons, producing a heavily doped, highly compensated (HDHC) semiconductor.
- The HDHC ScN exhibited a Seebeck coefficient exceeding −124.6 mV/K near room temperature, far above the earlier solid-state ceiling and even reaching a range traditionally associated with ionic electrolytes and hydrogels.
- The significance is not merely the record value: engineered disorder and charge compensation were used to modify electronic transport while retaining a crystalline structure, showing that controlled disorder can become a tool for designing extreme thermoelectric and sensing materials.
- Thermoelectric materials are important for waste-heat recovery because they can directly convert a temperature gradient into electricity without moving parts; potential sources include industrial plants, automobile exhaust, power plants and other heat-generating systems.
- The present ScN breakthrough is particularly promising for ultrasensitive temperature sensors, heat-flux detection, low-noise thermal imaging, bolometers and IoT sensors, where even very small temperature differences need to be detected.
4. Vulture Conservation in India: From Crisis to Recovery
Syllabus Mapping: GS3: Environment | Biodiversity Conservation | Species Recovery | Wildlife Conservation
- International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 was observed at Panchkula, Haryana, where MoEFCC organised the national workshop “From Crisis to Recovery – Conserving India’s Vultures”, focusing on Vulture Safe Zones, veterinary safety and conservation capacity.
- India supports both resident and migratory vultures, including White-rumped, Long-billed, Slender-billed, Red-headed, Egyptian, Himalayan Griffon, Eurasian Griffon, Cinereous and Bearded Vultures, making India important for vulture conservation across South Asia.
- Vultures are obligate/efficient scavengers that rapidly consume animal carcasses, thereby preventing accumulation of carrion, reducing potential spread of pathogens and contributing to nutrient recycling and ecosystem health; hence, they function as an important ecosystem service provider.
- India witnessed a severe vulture population decline from the 1990s, primarily associated with disruption of the food chain and consumption of livestock carcasses containing residues of veterinary painkillers, particularly diclofenac, which is highly toxic to vultures.
- The Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) approach seeks to create landscapes where vultures have access to safe food and veterinary care, particularly by promoting vulture-safe alternatives to harmful veterinary drugs and ensuring safe carcass management.
- Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC), Pinjore, a collaboration between the Haryana Forest Department and BNHS, is an important conservation-breeding centre for White-rumped, Long-billed and Slender-billed Vultures, undertaking scientific husbandry, artificial incubation, veterinary care, breeding and genetic management.
- During 2025–26, JCBC housed 356 vultures and bred 35 chicks, while 87 vultures were released or contributed for reintroduction and 90 birds were transferred to other conservation-breeding institutions, illustrating the transition from captive breeding towards population recovery in the wild.
5. Corporate Mitra
Syllabus Mapping: GS3: MSMEs | Ease of Doing Business | Formalisation | Skill Development | Inclusive Growth
- Corporate Mitra is an initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), implemented with ICAI, ICSI and ICoAI, to create a pool of trained and certified paraprofessionals providing affordable support to MSMEs in business and regulatory compliance.
- The initiative was announced in the Union Budget 2026–27, with the objective of reducing the compliance burden on MSMEs and improving their access to professional support, thereby promoting ease of doing business and formalisation.
- The first batch has 2,879 registered learners and the Corporate Mitra Learning Management System (LMS) has been launched for structured learning and capability development.
- The programme has a 12-month duration: 6 months of academic learning (~150 hours) followed by 6 months of on-the-job training in professional firms of ICAI, ICSI and ICoAI members.
- The academic and technological ecosystem is supported by IIT Madras, IIT Madras Pravartak and SWAYAM Plus, while ICAI, ICSI and ICoAI provide professional/domain expertise.
- The programme is designed to create a skilled compliance-support cadre for MSMEs, helping improve transparency, accountability, regulatory compliance and orderly business growth.
