Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: More sunny and hot weather.
🧐 Did you know? Chennai’s Sarvana Bhavan claims the world record for creating the world’s longest dosa in 2019. 60 chefs made a 100-foot-long dosa using over 37 kg of batter.
🚦 Reducing traffic congestion
IIT Madras has developed a possible solution to the city’s traffic problems.
What’s it about? Could a probe-based real-time re-timing of traffic signals help reduce Chennai’s traffic woes? Researchers at IIT Madras think so. They say it’s probably the first time such a system has been developed for Indian roads. Their findings were published in the International Journal of Transportation Research.
- A study was done using travel time data from four sample probe vehicles to calculate Green and Red timings for each signal. A signal cycle is the time between one green signal and the next green.
- Instead of using traditional traffic flow data, travel time data ensures the algorithms are easy to implement with several data sources like Bluetooth and WiFi.
Previous efforts: Earlier, efforts were made to implement off-the-shelf traffic-responsive signalling software from abroad. These haven’t worked out well for Indian traffic conditions since they needed traffic stream data which wasn’t easily available.
🛫 E-aircraft maker’s milestone
Chennai-based ePlane Company has received approval from the aviation regulator.
What’s it about? The company said it got the Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA). It’s now the first Indian electric aircraft maker to get this approval taking it one step closer to its concept of electric air taxis by 2024.
- This approval is the next step for the company to begin commercial production of its e200 Electric Vehicle Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It’s a two-seater piloted aircraft that takes off like a drone and flies like a plane.
- The company recently conducted successful test flights of its e50, a drone with eVOTL capabilities. The DOA means the plane’s capabilities meet the standards set by the Civil Aviation Ministry.
Next steps: The approval now allows the company to complete the designs of the eVTOL. After them comes certification and several rounds of design reviews, prototyping, and flight tests before they get the go-ahead to start production.
🎓 Anna University to increase intake
The university is thinking about increasing its intake to avoid vacant seats.
What’s it about? Anna University is looking to increase its intake as engineering counselling could be brought forward a month. The Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee proposed paying tuition fees within seven days of seat allotments in each round to avoid vacancies.
- The university may not increase seats across departments in one go. The lapsed seats are only in a few departments like computer science engineering and biomedical engineering. The university will increase admissions once approvals are received.
- Despite the TNEA tuition initiative, around 400 seats lapsed after students left their BE and B.Tech seats once they got medical admissions.
Medical counselling: One university official said if the counselling happens before medical counselling, there’ll be more than 600 vacant seats. It’s likely to get delayed since over 5,000 students from Manipur haven’t written the exam, and it’s unclear when it will be conducted.
🐢 Turtle hatchlings
Thanks to higher temperatures, there are more female turtle hatchlings in the city.
What’s it about? The coastal temperatures play a role in determining the sex of turtle hatchlings. Forest Department officials said the hatching rate increased to an all-time high of 78.94%. For the 2022-23 season, they collected over 2.1 lakh eggs, of which over 1.7 lakh hatched.
- With the city’s weather patterns and temperatures, at least 70% of the hatchlings would be female. Those that survive would return to the Chennai coast later and lay eggs of their own since they have a habit of returning to the beach where they hatched.
- There’s increased pressure on officials to protect the turtles due to the development work at the beaches. Chennai has a decade-long data set of nesting turtles. Conservation scientist A Kumaraguru said turtles play a major role in regulating the ocean’s health.
World Turtle Day: The Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI) launched an Android mobile app to locate nesting grounds. It was unveiled to commemorate World Turtle Day. The theme of World Turtle Day this year was “I Love Turtles”.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
What’s your breakfast preference?
- I prefer a dosa for breakfast.
- I prefer idlis for breakfast.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your preferred movie theatre in the city?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Chennai surfer Rajasekar Pachai becomes the second person from the state to climb Mount Everest.
- Medical graduate students in KK Nagar protested the transfer of 36 faculty in the middle of the academic year.
- Shriram Properties acquired a 100% stake in the Divine City residential project.
- Kapil Kumar Saratkar, the head of the Chennai traffic police, speaks on several issues of the city’s transportation landscape.
- Chennai Corporation began the work to relay 2,000 interior roads across the city.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have asked a famous person for their autograph or a photo: 20.0%
- I haven’t asked a famous person for their autograph or a photo: 80.0% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Who do you consider to be the most famous Chennaiite?
Chitra: “A. R. Rahman”
Shiva: “R Ashwin – Brownie points for being thru and thru Chennaite, born and raised in Chennai”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!