Urvashi Verma

I am an American journalist, specializing in the coverage of science and technology with focus in big tech, business, startups, technology companies and South Asian news. I hold a MS in Journalism from Medill School of Journalism in Chicago, Illinois. 

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Medill Reports Chicago •

U.S. Shale Oil Production Rises To Meet Global Demand

Afer nearly two and a half years of barren fields, U.S. shale producers are restoring operations as oil prices have rebounded from increased demand from Asia and OPEC production cuts. The Brent and WTI crude oil prices have increased 13.0 and 9.4 percent respectively reaching above the $50 per barrel mark since November after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries made a historic move to cut production by nearly 1.2 million barrels per day. Less than two months later, shale oil outp
Times of Israel •

Car sensor aims to prevent infant death caused by heatstroke

An Israeli startup, Guardian Optical Technologies, has developed a car sensor that it says is capable of saving lives of infants accidentally left in cars by detecting the smallest heartbeat. In the US a child dies from vehicular heatstroke every ten days, often because a parent or caregiver forgets that there is a child in the backseat. “Tragedies like these are preventable. Guardian is dedicated to protecting drivers and passengers, so incidents when infants and children are left in hot cars
Medill Reports Chicago •

Fukushima: Six Years Later, Is It Safe to Go Back?

Nearly six years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, environmental activists are raising alarms that radiation levels are still dangerously high, despite the Abe government’s reassurances that thousands of residents can return home. Last week the Japanese government lifted the evacuation orders in the Fukushima prefecture citing radiation measurement levels under 100 mSv per year and pronouncing that safe for residents to return. mSv means 1 one-thousandth of a sievert, which is a measure of
News India Times •

Hard hit by COVID-19, Chicago’s Little India struggles to survive | News India Times

An epicenter of diversity and home to thousands of Jewish, Indian, Pakistani, and Syrian immigrants, West Ridge has emerged as one of the hardest hit in the state of Illinois by the deadly COVID-19 virus. According to data collected by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), there are more than 1675 reported cases of COVID-19 and nearly 30 percent or 564 residents have tested positive for the virus. A hotspot for COVID-19, the North Chicago neighborhood faces two significant challenges: keeping i
Built In •

Behind the Effort to Make Startup Boards More Inclusive

It comes down to big-picture thinking and actionable next steps. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a problem that the tech industry seems to talk a lot about, but hasn’t yet figured out how to fix. In an effort to bridge that gap, a group of powerful stakeholders in the Chicago tech ecosystem are taking a closer look at the issue with a hyperlocal focus and an eye toward actionable next steps. Chicago’s existing tech workforce, much like Silicon Valley’s, is predominantly white and male. Wome
Times of Israel •

Israeli water desalination technique could help relieve Cape Town’s thirst

For months, Cape Town, a city of four million people, has been facing the doomsday scenario of taps running dry. The city’s Theewaterskloof Dam, a water reservoir which once supplied the city 50 percent of its supply, looks more like a desert area. Two cataclysmic issues are at the center of Cape Town’s water crisis. First, the scarcity of rainfall: in the past three years, the once reliable rains that fell during winter months have disappeared. Second is the inequity in the distribution of wa
Times of Israel •

Startup sets sights on scent as new frontier for smartphone apps

Your smartphone may soon be able to identify and analyze scent as easily as it scans a QR code or recognizes a voice. A Haifa-based company, Nanoscent, has developed an electronic nose that can detect odors and flavors through a smartphone. As an extra bonus, the technology might also help jump-start your love life, the company says. Co-founded by Oren Gavriely and Eran Rom, Nanoscent is developing a smartphone app that, used together with a chip called a “scent recorder,” can determine users’
Times of Israel •

China’s bike-sharing titans roll into Startup Nation

The most disruptive technology in transportation this past year wasn’t an electric-powered vehicle or a self-driving car, but a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track, two-wheeled bicycle. In less than 18 months, two Chinese dock-less bike-sharing companies, Mobike and ofo, have become the fastest startups to produce valuations of $3 billion each, according to CB Insights. Now, these companies are making their way to Israel and experts say that existing stationed bike platforms like Tel Avi

Checkout app by Israel’s Supersmart follows Amazon Go’s lead

The arrival of Amazon Go has shoppers saying goodbye to long checkout lines and retailers saying hello to the idea of completely cashier-less systems. This, for Israeli entrepreneurs like Yair Cleper, CEO and founder of Supersmart, is a huge boon. Last month, Amazon. the American e-commerce behemoth, introduced a new kind of store, Amazon Go, in which no checkout is required. Customers simply walk out with their items and are charged automatically as they exit. Israel-based SuperSmart has crea

West Pharma sets up new R&D center, sees Israel as regional hub

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., an Exton, Pennsylvania-based US manufacturer of packaging components and materials for injectable drugs and other healthcare products, relocated its existing Israeli offices last week, combining its former product development and administrative facilities from Raanana and Or Yehuda into one Raanana location. West acquired Israel-based Medimop Medical Projects in 2005, which has grown into a regional office with nearly 100 employees. The 2,750 square meters o
Connected Real Estate Magazine •

Siemens Showcases Test Bed for Digital Twins & Smart City Infrastructure

The use of digital twin technology in smart buildings will become critical to meeting energy demand in the future. Population growth and urbanization put increasing pressure on cities across the world. Buildings account for nearly 40% of global energy consumption. With this is mind, the sector is expected to play a critical role in reducing energy use. This through technologies that optimize for efficient use of energy resources. Precisely by monitoring temperature control and occupancy levels i
Desi Talk Chicago •

Chicago Mayor Evokes Mahatma Gandhi's Teachings To Support Sanctuary for Immigrants

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know By Urvashi Verma, Special to Desi Talk -CHICAGO, IL hicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was the chief guest at an Indian-American event, said the Windy City’s sanctuary status must be maintained in order to preserve the human dignity of Chicago’s immigrant and poor communi- ties Lightfoot was speaking at the annual Delhi Committee of Chicago Sister Cities luncheon Sept. 27. In honor of Gandhi, Mayor Lightfoot issued a proclamation declaring Octob

Chicago South Asian Film Festival Features Range Of Social Issues | News India Times

This year’s collection of films at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF) Sept. 20-22, featured more than 65 films from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, USA, Canada, Australia, and Pakistan, covering a wide swath of societal issues ranging from age, transgender culture, widowhood, and communism, to childhood education, domestic labor, music, food and poetry. “I hope this past weekend, we were able to connect with you through films, diverse and nuanced perspectives and were able to empower story

From video game to disaster relief, pioneering Israeli tech showcased at AIPAC

Edgybees Ltd., an Israel-based startup, has developed a technology to enhance the awareness of first responders in emergency situations, by layering 3-D mapping and other data onto live video feeds from drones, airplanes, and cars. The startup, which has just completed a $5.5 million funding round, was among one of three selected to present its technology at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual policy conference on Sunday. The technology has received an “overwhelming re
News India Times •

Jersey-based Indian food manufacturer donates 14 tons of meals amid COVID pandemic | News India Times

Amid the chaos created by the vicious pandemic that engulfed New York City and the rest of the modern world, a Indian sweet-shop in Jackson Heights found a way to serve thousands of healthcare and essential workers. Rajbhog Foods donated more than 14 tons of food, nearly 27,000 thousand pounds in meals to healthcare and essential workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our businesses and employees are all located in the New York & New Jersey area. We were in the epicenter of everyth
NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News •

Now You Can Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch, Instead Of Culling Them | Health News

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission. Each year more than seven billion fluffy little yellow chicks worldwide are tossed into a grinder or gassed to death less than 24 hours after hatching because they are of no use to egg producers. Now, an Israeli startup, eggXYt, has developed technology that can detect their gender before hatching, saving the egg industry nearly $2 billion per year and eliminating the senseless killing. “These birds will
News India Times •

US viewers can now enjoy exclusive SonyLiv web originals & Bollywood movies on Sling TV | News India Times

Whether you are interested in watching your favorite old school Indian television show or an edgy web-series about Harshad Mehta’s 1992 stock market scam, SonyLIV, India’s fifth-largest pay-television broadcaster has your entertainment needs covered. DISH Network and Sling TV customers in the US can now enjoy on-demand Bollywood and American movies and shows on SonyLIV fr
Medill Reports Chicago •

Why Wall Street is losing patience with energy giant Exxon

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s new CEO Darren Woods announced that the company will spend more on refining operations and acquired projects such as those in the Permian Basin. But the moves aren’t enough to change analysts’ pessimistic forecasts for the company, as higher oil prices hurt the bottom line. Exxon will increase its spending on capital projects to $25 billion, after two years of declining investment, Woods said at a meeting with analysts last week. The move follows the acquisition of companies
Times of Israel •

Wisconsin looks to Israel tech to solve water pollution woes

Wisconsin, a US state whose name evokes flowing rivers and abundant lakes, has an endemic water problem of nutrient pollution and is turning to Israeli startups to solve it. Nutrient pollution is caused by agriculture, storm water, wastewater and fossil fuels, and is creating an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus in Wisconsin ’s water supplies, harming the economic viability of its freshwater lakes and drinking water, experts say. Now, a partnership forged by Israel’s Start-up Nation Central ha
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