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After a pair of Islamist bombings rocked the south-central Indian city of Hyderabad in 2013, officials rushed to install 5,000 CCTV cameras to bolster security. Now there are nearly 700,000 in and around the metropolis.

The most striking symbol of the city’s rise as a surveillance hotspot is the gleaming new Command and Control Center in the posh Banjara Hills neighbourhood. The 20-story tower replaces a campus where swarms of officers already had access to 24-hour, real-time CCTV and cell phone tower data that geolocates reported crimes. The technology triggers any available camera in the area, pops up a mugshot database of criminals and can pair images with facial recognition software to scan CCTV footage for known criminals in the vicinity.

The Associated Press was given rare access to the operations earlier this year as part of an investigation into the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools used by law enforcement around the world.

Police Commissioner C V Anand said the new command centre, inaugurated in August, encourages using technologies across government departments, not just police. It cost $75 million (roughly Rs. 620 crore), according to Mahender Reddy, director general of the Telangana State Police.

Facial recognition and artificial intelligence have exploded in India in recent years, becoming key law enforcement tools for monitoring big gatherings.

Police aren’t just using technology to solve murders or catch armed robbers. Hyderabad was among the first local police forces in India to use a mobile application to dole out traffic fines and take pictures of people flaunting mask mandates. Officers also can use facial recognition software to scan pictures against a criminal database. Police officers have access to an app, called TSCOP, on their smartphones and tablets that includes facial recognition scanning capabilities. The app also connects almost all police officers in the city to a host of government and emergency services.

Anand said photos of traffic violators and mask-mandate offenders are kept only long enough to be sure they aren’t needed in court and are then expunged. He expressed surprise that any law-abiding citizen would object.

“If we need to control crime, we need to have surveillance,” he said.

But questions linger over the accuracy and a lawsuit has been filed challenging its legality. In January, a Hyderabad official scanned a female reporter’s face to show how the facial recognition app worked. Within seconds, it returned five potential matches to criminals in the statewide database. Three were men.

Hyderabad has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on patrol vehicles, CCTV cameras, facial recognition and geo-tracking applications and several hundred facial recognition cameras, among other technologies, Anand said. The investment has helped the state attract more private and foreign investment, he said, including Apple’s development centre, inaugurated in 2016; and a major Microsoft data centre announced in March.

“When these companies decide to invest in a city, they first look at the law-and-order situation,” Anand said.

He credited technology for a rapid decrease in crime. Mugging for jewellery, for example, plunged from 1,033 incidents per year to less than 50 a year after cameras and other technologies were deployed, he said.

Hyderabad’s trajectory is in line with the nation’s. The country’s National Crime Records Bureau is seeking to build what could be among the world’s largest facial recognition systems.

Building steadily on previous government efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have seized on the rise in surveillance technology since coming to power in 2014. His flagship Digital India campaign aims to overhaul the country’s digital infrastructure to govern using information technology.

The government has promoted smart policing through drones, AI-enabled CCTV cameras and facial recognition. It’s a blueprint that has garnered support across the political spectrum and seeped into states across India, said Apar Gupta, executive director of the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation.

“There is a lot of social and civic support for it too – people don’t always fully understand,” Gupta said. “They see technology and think this is the answer.”

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Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid impact, study finds

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April 9, 2025

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Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid impact, study finds

Scientists say that dinosaurs weren’t doomed when an asteroid hit Earth. Fossil unearthings before the asteroid collision, at the end of the Cretaceous epoch, show that dinosaurs were losing variety and numbers. At first, some scientists thought this alteration showed dinosaurs were headed toward extinction even before the fatal asteroid incident. Nevertheless, this concept has long been argumentative, with other researchers insisting that dinosaur diversity was doing just fine at the time of their loss of life.

Challenging the Long-Held Narrative

According to a report by Live Science, the visible rarity of dinosaurs before their extinction may merely be due to a low fossil record. Emphasizsng four families—that is, the Ankylosauridae, Ceratopsidae, Hadrosauridae, and Tyrannosauridae—the studies of the scientists reveal records of approximately 8,000 fossils from North America dating to the Campanian age (83.6 million to 72.1 million years ago) and Maastrichtian age (72.1 million to 66 million years ago).

Th range of dinosaurs peaked 76 million years ago and started to shrink after the asteroid collision wiped off the nonavian dinosaurs. This drift was more pronounced than in the 6 million years before the mass annihilation, with the number of fossils from all four families reducing in the geological record.

Fossil Records and Statistical Models Paint a New Picture

Vegetation either covered or obscured geological outcrops from the Maastrichtian period in North America. Specifically, rock from this time that might contain dinosaur fossils was not easily accessible to the researchers who were searching for them. The study’s encapsulation might also have worldwide branching due to North America being home to half of the familiar fossils from this age.

A Catastrophic Exception, Not a Gradual End

There is no evidence of environmental conditions or other aspects that would specifically elaborate the reason of this decline, the researchers landed. All of the dinosaur broods were far-flung, as per models come into being developed by the researchers — and consequently at low risk for extinction, barring a catastrophic event such as the asteroid effect.

In the group of 8,000 fossil records evaluated, the team found that ceratopsians—a group that includes horned dinosaurs like Triceratops and its relatives — were the most common; most likely, they inhabited plain regions that were most conducive to preservation during the Maastrichtian era.

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Scientists Revive Dire Wolves Using Ancient DNA and Modern Gene Editing

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April 8, 2025

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Scientists Revive Dire Wolves Using Ancient DNA and Modern Gene Editing

Three live dire wolf pups have been born using reconstructed DNA. The extinct species had last roamed North America around 12,500 years ago. The milestone was reached by a Dallas-based biotech firm that focuses on genetic conservation. Ancient DNA samples from fossilised remains were analysed. Modern gene-editing tools were used to mimic key characteristics of the extinct predator. These pups were brought to life by implanting modified embryos into domestic dog surrogates. The young wolves have been named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi.

Ancient DNA edited in lab to recreate species

According to a study shared by Colossal Biosciences, DNA samples had been collected from two ancient dire wolf fossils. One was a 13,000-year-old tooth, while the other was a 72,000-year-old skull fragment. These fragments were compared to modern wolf relatives and grey wolves were chosen for DNA alteration because of their evolutionary proximity. Gene sequences that were found only in dire wolves were isolated. These were introduced into the DNA of grey wolves through targeted editing.

Cloning technique used to implant embryos

The altered genetic material was inserted into grey wolf egg cells after removing their original nuclei. These prepared cells were placed inside domestic dogs. Each surrogate received multiple embryos. Interestingly, only one embryo survived in each of the first two dogs. Both gave birth by caesarean section, while the third pup was born in a second round of implantation.

Physical traits match fossil record

The new pups have been observed to develop features consistent with known dire wolf fossils. Thick white coats, larger teeth and body structure have been reported. These results came from identifying changes in 14 genes. The gene edits were introduced using CRISPR technology.

The same company had previously cloned red wolves. The team had also created “woolly mice” as part of a mammoth revival effort. The successful dire wolf birth marks a new phase in gene-driven species restoration.

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Panama Tree Shocks Scientists With Lightning-Based Defense

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April 8, 2025

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Panama Tree Shocks Scientists With Lightning-Based Defense

Lightning is commonly considered a sign of disaster in the forest, as lightning kills or damages trees. On the lowlands of Panama, the tonka bean tree (Dipteryx oleifera) might have evolved to capitalize on this natural occurrence. New research suggests that lightning strikes could help the tonka bean tree (Dipteryx oleifera). According to Live Science research, these trees not only survive these electrical interactions unharmed, but the lightning also harms their competitors and the parasitic vines that cling to the tonka bean plants.

The researchers published their findings on March 26 in the journal New Phytologist. Lightning is a major cause of tree mortality in tropical forests, particularly among the largest and oldest trees, which play important roles in carbon storage and biodiversity.

Lightning as a Canopy Weapon

On average, each lightning hit destroyed over 2.4 tons (2 metric tons) of adjacent tree biomass and approximately 80 percent of the lianas (parasitic vines) that plagued the tonka bean canopy. As per Gora’s assumption, the key to these trees’ lightning resistance comes from their physical structure.

A few studies describe the tree as having strong internal conductivity, letting lightning current flow through without building up damaging heat like a well-insulated wire. Because they tend to grow large — up to 130 feet (40 meters)—and live for centuries, a single tonka bean tree is estimated to be struck at least five times after reaching maturity. Each strike helps to clear out vines and competitors, opening up the canopy to help it thrive.

Ecological Impact and Evolutionary Marvel

Gregory Moore, a horticulturalist from the University of Melbourne who was not involved in the study, thinks the results will apply to other species. “The sort of work could also apply to other tree-dominated plant communities, such as woodlands or low woodlands where trees are widely separated, so it’s nothing like a tropical forest,” he said, adding that other tall trees are also possible targets of lightning strikes.

More Than Just a Tree

“We have long known that some trees can withstand multiple lightning strikes,” Moore said, noting that some tall trees survive Australian bushfires and grow up towering over their neighbors, making them prime targets for lightning strikes. “They are often referred to as stags because the top of the crown has been blown out, but they can survive for centuries after being hit by lightning,” he added.

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.


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