4 LESSONS
Research: signals, systems and materials
Follow lunar spectra, processor design, microplastic capture and carbon-storing materials from mechanism to measurement.
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Indian research and achievements: understand the evidence
Explore Indian discoveries and engineering through the ideas, measurements and teams behind them. Each case names its publication or announcement date and teaches you how the result was reached.
A guided place to begin
4 LESSONS
Research: living systems and fair comparisons
Study crop trials, clinical evidence, genetic reference data and river-dolphin estimation through worked examples.
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Guides 1–8 of 8
Research & achievements
IntermediateChandrayaan-3: reading lunar soil as evidence
A rover cannot bring every laboratory to the Moon.
Learning outcome: Explain how a spectrum becomes a composition estimate, calculate a simple calibration and mixture, and distinguish local measurements from claims about the whole Moon.
Read the guide →Research & achievements
IntermediateCounting river dolphins: survey effort and uncertainty
How do researchers estimate animals that spend much of their time underwater? India's 2021–2023 river-dolphin assessment, publicly released on 3 March 2025, teaches a central ecological skill: account for animals that are present but missed.
Learning outcome: Calculate encounter rates and a simple two-list estimate, test their assumptions, and interpret a new survey without confusing expanded coverage with population growth.
Read the guide →Research & achievements
IntermediateGenome-edited rice: from a gene to a field trial
On 4 May 2025, ICAR launched DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1.
Learning outcome: Explain the logic of CRISPR editing and field trials, calculate a yield advantage, and separate a launch, trial result and adoption claim.
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IntermediateIndiGenomes: building and interpreting a genetic reference
A genetic variant can look rare because it is genuinely uncommon or because a reference database has sampled too few relevant people.
Learning outcome: Explain sequencing and variant calling, calculate allele frequency and overlapping database counts, and describe the limits of a reference sample.
Read the guide →Research & achievements
IntermediateMicroplastic hydrogels: capture, degradation and evidence
A material that removes particles from a test beaker raises several questions: where did they go, what changed chemically, and would the same result hold in river water? An IISc study published in 2024 provides a concrete way to investigate those questions.
Learning outcome: Calculate removal percentage and apparent removal per gram, design meaningful controls, and explain why a promising material still needs further testing before practical deployment.
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BeginnerSHAKTI MOUSHIK: how a processor becomes a working system
A chip announcement becomes more meaningful when we understand the chain behind it: instructions, logic, fabrication, a circuit board and a successful start.
Learning outcome: Distinguish an instruction set from a chip, trace a simple control program, calculate execution time and energy, and propose tests beyond a successful boot.
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IntermediateStoring carbon in construction materials: chemistry and accounting
Can excavated soil become part of a useful building material while carbon dioxide becomes a solid mineral? IISc research published in 2024 lets us study this question through three linked tests: chemical change, engineering performance and environmental accounting.
Learning outcome: Explain a carbonation reaction, calculate compressive strength and a simplified carbon balance, and distinguish early strength gains from long-term or whole-life claims.
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IntermediateThe BBV152 trial: how to read vaccine efficacy
A percentage from a clinical trial describes a defined comparison, outcome and period.
Learning outcome: Calculate relative and absolute differences, use person-time correctly and interpret a confidence interval without overstating a historical trial.
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