Current Affairs - 18th Jan 2014

New giant 3D printer can build a house in 24 hours

Scientists claim to have developed a revolutionary new giant 3D concrete printer that can build a 2,500-square-foot house in just 24 hours.

The 3D printer, developed by Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis from the University of Southern California, could be used to build a whole house, layer by layer, in a single day. The giant robot replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, which squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home based on a computer pattern, MSN News reported. The potential applications of this technology are far reaching including in emergency, low-income, and commercial housing

Empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by finance minister P.Chidambaram approved the sale of 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) and Oil India Limited(OIL)

ONGC and OIL will buy a part of government’s stake in IOC for a total of 4700 to 5000 crore. It will help the government to meet its part of disinvestment target of 40000 crore set for the financial year 2013-14.

India developed internet spy camera

The internet spy system developed by Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), a lab under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to be deployed by security agencies in India is “Netra”.

Gorakhpur railway station entered the Limca Book of World records as being the world's longest platform with a length of 1355.40 m.