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GS Paper: GS3-16.Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology

  • InfoCrop v2.1: Indigenous Crop Simulator

    infocrop

    Central idea: Scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute conducted an experiment using InfoCrop version 2.1 to quantify the impact of hot weather on crop yield in Punjab and Haryana.

    What is InfoCrop v2.1?

    • InfoCrop version 2.1 is India’s only dynamic crop simulation model developed and released by the IARI in 2015 to study the long-term impact of climate change and crop management practices on yield.
    • InfoCrop is more suited for India as it has the life cycle data for almost all the local varieties of 11 crops: paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, pigeon pea, chickpea, soybean, groundnut, potato and cotton.

    How does it work?

    • In InfoCrop, the parameters are already calibrated to Indian crop varieties and they are updated at regular intervals by the institute.
    • The parameters deal with aspects of-
    1. Weather (precipitation, temperature, radiation and others)
    2. Crop growth (phenology, grain characteristics, leaf growth, temperature and flooding sensitivity and others)
    3. Soil (texture and organic carbon, water holding characteristics and pH levels) and
    4. Pests and crop management (organic matter, fertiliser and irrigation).

    Efficiency of InfoCrop model

    • The model has an 85 per cent accuracy rate.
    • This is on par with widely used dynamic models such as the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer model, developed by the US, and Agriculture Production Systems sIMulator, developed by Australia.

    Utility of this tool

    • Prevent on-field corruption: India currently relies on field trials, which are expensive and resource-intensive as well as highly corrupt practise.
    • Crop insurance prediction: Government and insurance companies can use this for climate impact projections and for pre- or in-season crop yield forecasts to improve accuracy.
    • Assess crop loss: Besides forecasting, simulation models can be used to assess crop loss in the aftermath of an extreme weather event, which can then be used to provide relief packages.

     

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  • Reconstructing past Deep-Water Circulations of Indian Ocean

    indian ocean

    Studies have indicated that tectonically driven changes in the ocean gateways such as the closure of the Central American Seaway, a body of water that once separated North America from South America, since the late Miocene period, had a dramatic impact on the Indian Ocean circulation.

    What is Global overturning circulation (GOC)?

    • It is the equatorward transport of cold, deep waters and the poleward transport of warm, near-surface waters.
    • It controls ocean heat distribution and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, thus playing a critical role in global climate.

    Concept: Panama Closure Hypothesis

    • This news essentially talks about the Panama Closure Hypothesis.
    • Panama Hypothesis states that the gradual closure of the Panama Seaway, between 13 million years ago (13 Ma) and 2.6 Ma, led to decreased mixing of Atlantic and Pacific water Masses.
    • This led to the formation of North Atlantic Deep water circulation.
    • It strengthened the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, increased temperatures and evaporation in the North Atlantic, increased precipitation in Northern Hemisphere high latitudes.

    Impact of Panama closure

    • It is thought that tectonic changes might have led to the formation of two separate water bodies — northern component water in the North Atlantic and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the Southern Ocean.
    • Consequently, it is also hypothesised that there would have been large-scale changes in the Deep Water Circulation (DWC) in the oceans across the world.

    Impact on Indian Ocean gyre

    • The Indian Ocean does not have any major deep-water formations of its own.
    • It acts only as a host for NCW and AABW.
    • Further, the northern parts of the Indian Ocean are located at one of the terminal ends of the GOC, far away from the deep-water formation regions and oceanic seaways.

    What has the new research found?

    • The scientists have generated an authigenic neodymium isotope record from the Arabian Sea and reconstructed the DWC record of the Indian Ocean for the period from 11.3 million years ago (Miocene era) to 1.98 million years ago (Pleistocene era).
    • The record shows a clear shift from the Pacific water-dominated deep circulation system before about nine million years ago, to the onset of a modern-like deep water circulation system in the Indian Ocean.
    • It comprises of Antarctic bottom water and northern component water during the Miocene-Pliocene transition (about six million years ago).
    • This suggests a widespread impact of the late Miocene Central American Seaway closure on the evolution of ocean deep water circulation and validates the so-called Panama Closure Hypothesis.

    Back2Basics: Indian Ocean Circulation

    indian ocean

    • The Indian Ocean circulation/gyre, located in the Indian Ocean, is one of the five major oceanic gyres, large systems of rotating ocean currents, which together form the backbone of the global conveyor belt.
    • The Indian Ocean gyre is composed of two major currents: the South Equatorial Current, and the West Australian Current.
    • Normally moving counter-clockwise, in the winter the Indian Ocean gyre reverses direction due to the seasonal winds of the South Asian Monsoon.

    How does it function?

    • In the summer, the land is warmer than the ocean, so surface winds blow from the ocean to the land.
    • However, during the winter, these temperatures reverse, making the winds blow from the land to the ocean.
    • Because most of the air pressure gradient is retained behind the Tibetan plateau, air pressure gradients over the Indian Ocean and the gyre are small.
    • This results in winds of moderate strength, due to the protection from the full-force winds blowing off the Mongolian high-pressure region.
    • Because of these moderate, dry winds, the Winter Monsoon season in the Indian Ocean region is the dry season for most of Southern Asia.
    • Due to this seasonal wind cycle, the currents of the Indian Ocean, which make up the Indian Ocean gyre, are directly affected, causing reversal.

     

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  • 129th birth anniversary of Satyendra Nath Bose

    satyendra nath bose

    Born on January 1, 1894, Bose collaborated with Einstein to develop what we now know as the Bose-Einstein statistics. We take a look at the Indian physicist’s illustrious legacy and stellar achievements.

    Satyendra Nath Bose

    • Born on January 1, 1894, Bose grew up and studied in Kolkata, where he solidified his position as an exemplary academician.
    • His father, an accountant in the Executive Engineering Department of the East Indian Railways, gave him an arithmetic problem to solve every day before going to work, encouraging Bose’s interest in mathematics.
    • By the age of 15, he began pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at the Presidency College, and later finished his MSc in Mixed Mathematics in 1915.

    Career as researchers

    • These were tough times for Indian researchers as World War I had broken out and, European scientific journals came to India quite infrequently.
    • Not only this, most of the research papers weren’t available in English and both Bose and Saha had to learn scientific terms in German and French languages to read published works.
    • However, the new skill came in handy for them in 1919, when they published English translations of Albert Einstein’s special and general relativity papers.
    • Two years later, Bose was appointed to the position of Reader in Physics at the University of Dhaka. It was here that he made his most significant contributions to physics.

    Association with Einstein

    • Bose wrote a letter to Albert Einstein in 1924 about his breakthrough in quantum mechanics.
    • He claimed that he had derived Planck’s law for black body radiation (which refers to the spectrum of light emitted by any hot object) without any reference to classical electrodynamics.
    • Impressed by Bose’s findings, Einstein not only arranged for the publication of the paper but also translated it into German.
    • This recognition catapulted Bose to fame and glory.

    Breakthrough in the invention of Boson

    • He went on to work with Einstein and together they developed what is now known as the Bose-Einstein statistics.
    • Today, in honour of his legacy, any particle that obeys the Bose-Einstein statistics is called a boson.
    • On his 129th birth anniversary, we take a look at the Indian physicist’s illustrious legacy and stellar achievements.

     

     

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  • What are Globular Clusters?

    cluster

    Astronomers and scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) while studying the Omega Centauri have found that hot stars and white dwarfs emitted less ultraviolet radiation than expected.

    Omega Centauri

    • It is the most massive globular cluster system in our galaxy.
    • It was first identified as a non-stellar object by Edmond Halley in 1677 and as globular star cluster orbiting Milky Way galaxy by John Herschel in 1830s.
    • It contains approximately 10 million stars and is about 16,000 light-years away.
    • It also includes stars of a variety of ages, whereas other globular clusters contain stars from only one generation.
    • It is the largest and brightest globular cluster in the Milky Way.

     What is a globular cluster?

    • A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars.
    • Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centres.
    • They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars.
    • They orbit mostly in the extended stellar halos surrounding most spiral galaxies.

    How are they formed?

    • No one knows precisely how globular clusters formed. Or what role, if any, they played in the development of galaxies.
    • We know globular clusters are the oldest, largest and most massive type of star cluster. And globular clusters contain the oldest stars.
    • Their age is determined by their almost complete lack of what astronomers call metals, the heavier elements forged in star interiors.

    Our Milky Way has over 150 globular clusters

    • Our own Milky Way has over 150 globular clusters, with perhaps more, hidden by galactic dust.
    • The Andromeda galaxy (M31), our neighboring spiral galaxy, appears to have around 300 globular clusters.

    Difference between a globular cluster and an open cluster

    • Globular clusters are big, symmetric and old. They can reach 300 light-years in diameter and contain 10 million stars.  On the other hand, open star clusters, contains sibling stars, scattered through the disk of our galaxy and presumably other galaxies.
    • Globular star cluster are very symmetrical in shape, and are densest toward their centers. Open star clusters are irregular in shape and loosely grouped together.
    • Globular clusters orbit in the halo of our galaxy. Plus, center around the galaxy’s core and expanding above and below the galactic disk. Open star clusters tend to orbit within the disk.
    • Globular star clusters contain million of stars. Yet some globular clusters, like Omega Centauri, contain millions of stars. Open star clusters contain only hundreds of stars.

     

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  • What is a Trisonic Wind Tunnel?

    tunnel

    The new trisonic wind tunnel at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) was inaugurated by conducting the first blow-down test successfully.

    What is a Wind Tunnel?

    • Wind tunnels are large tubes with air moving inside.
    • The tunnels are used to copy the actions of an object in flight.
    • Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft will fly.
    • Space agencies uses wind tunnels to test scale models of aircraft and spacecraft. Some wind tunnels are big enough to hold full-size versions of vehicles.
    • The wind tunnel moves air around an object, making it seem like the object is really flying.

    How do Wind Tunnels work?

    • Most of the time, powerful fans move air through the tube.
    • The object to be tested is fastened in the tunnel so that it will not move.
    • The object can be a small model of a vehicle. It can be just a piece of a vehicle.
    • It can be a full-size aircraft or spacecraft. It can even be a common object like a tennis ball.
    • Smoke or dye can be placed in the air and can be seen as it moves. Threads can be attached to the object to show how the air is moving.
    • Special instruments are often used to measure the force of the air on the object.

    About Trisonic Wind Tunnel at VSCC

    • ‘Trisonic’ refers to the tunnel’s capability to test in three speed regimes—below the speed of sound (subsonic), at the speed of sound (transonic), and above the speed of sound (supersonic).
    • Its parts include air storage vessels, a settling chamber where the airflow is ‘smoothened’ out, and nozzles for releasing the air into the test section.
    • It is about 160 metres long and measures 5.4 metres at its widest part.
    • In a ‘blow down test’, stored gases are released and blown through the tunnel’s test section, simulating flight conditions.
    • The tunnel can simulate flight conditions from 0.2 times the speed of sound (68 metres per second) to four times the speed of sound (1,360 metres per second), according to the space agency.
    • Commissioned in 2017, this tunnel can simulate flow speeds up to Mach 12.

     

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  • India’s first indigenous Overhauser Magnetometer

    magnet

    Indian scientists have developed an indigenous Overhauser Magnetometer, one of the most accurate magnetometers extensively used by all magnetic observatories around the world.

    What are Overhauser Magnetometers?

    • A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field.
    • OVH magnetometers are known for their higher accuracy, higher sensitivity, and efficient power consumption.
    • They find applications in all magnetic observatories worldwide as well as in international space programs.
    • It has so far been imported for such purposes in India.

    Feats achieved

    • The performance of this indigenously made magnetometer is at par with a commercial OVH sensor that is currently installed at the magnetic observatories of IIG.
    • The Indian OVH sensor reproduced the geomagnetic diurnal variations accurately and precisely.
    • It showed the signatures of various space weather events such as geomagnetic storms, sudden impulses, etc.
    • It would also be of potential help to develop a sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument.

    Benefits of OVH magnetometers

    • OVH magnetometers reduce the cost of sampling and sensing experiments essential for geomagnetic sampling.
    • It can reduce India’s dependence on commercial OVH magnetometers for performing geomagnetic field measurements.

     

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  • India tests medium-range ballistic missile Agni Prime

    agni

    India has successfully test-fired indigenously-developed new generation medium-range ballistic missile Agni Prime from the Odisha coast.

    Agni-Prime Missile

    • Agni-P is a new generation advanced variant of the Agni class of missiles.
    • It is the sixth missile in the Agni series of ballistic missile.
    • It is a two-staged canisterised missile with a range capability between 1,000 and 2,000 km.
    • Many advanced technologies including composites, propulsion systems, innovative guidance and control mechanisms and state-of-the-art navigation systems have been introduced.
    • Significantly, it weighs 50 per cent less than the Agni 3 missile and has new guidance and propulsion systems
    • The missile strengthens India’s credible deterrence capabilities.

    Back2Basics: Agni Missiles

    agni

    • Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missile.
    • The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) and tested in 1989.
    • After its success, Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing its strategic importance.
    • It was designated as a special program in India’s defence budget and provided adequate funds for subsequent development.

    Variants of Agni missiles

    1. Agni I: It is a Medium Range Ballistic Missile with a Range of 700-800 km.
    2. Agni II: It is also a Medium Range Ballistic Missile with a Range more than 2000 km.
    3. Agni III: It is also an Inter-Medium Range Ballistic Missile with Range of more than 2,500 Km
    4. Agni IV: It is also an Inter-Medium Range Ballistic Missile with Range is more than 3,500 km and can fire from a road mobile launcher.
    5. Agni-V: Currently it is the longest of Agni series, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of over 5,000 km.
    6. Agni- VI: The longest of the Agni series, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of ICBM 11,000–12,000 km.

     

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  • An Indian Pioneer of ORT

    ORT

    Context

    • In the demise of Dilip Mahalabnis on October 16 we lost a pioneering public health physician the ORS pioneer who helped save millions of lives. In 1978, a Lancet editorial termed ORS the most important medical advance in this century.

    Background

    • ORT was first introduced worldwide in the 1970s to treat millions of children suffering from severe dehydration in crisis-stricken and impoverished areas. At the time, the world’s leading general medical journal The Lancet called ORT “potentially the most important medical advance since penicillin.”
    • A Lancet editorial in 1978 termed it “potentially the most important medical advance this century”.

    Interesting story of Dilip Mahalabnis and invention of ORT

    • Mahalanabis was trained as a paediatrician and joined the Cholera Research Programme of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Medical Research and Training (JHCMRT) in Calcutta in 1966.
    • His team was treating cases of the cholera epidemic in a camp in Bangaon, West Bengal that housed 3,50,000 refugees but ran out of intravenous fluids. He thought that it would be opportune to use ORS. As no ORS packets were available, they mixed salt and sugar solution (ORS) in drums and administered it to the cholera patients in the camps.
    • The library of the JHCMRT was converted into a factory. This was not a mandated mode of treatment and at great personal risk, Mahalanabis chose to respond to the humanitarian crisis in this manner.
    • It was evident in two to three weeks’ time that not only was the therapy working but that it was possible to administer ORT through volunteers (in the absence of a sufficient number of trained workers).
    • It was subsequently analyzed that ORS reduced mortality due to cholera or acute diarrhoeal diseases in these camps from 40 per cent to 5 per cent. They coined the term “oral saline” and rest is the story.

    ORT

    What is Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)?

    • A fluid to correct dehydration: Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) entails drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium to correct dehydration due to fluid losses from diarrhoea.
    • ORT ingredients: ORT combines three ingredients such as salts, sugars and water to quickly reverse the signs of dehydration. Through the process of osmosis, the salts and sugars pull water into your bloodstream and speed up rehydration.
    • Essential electrolytes which replenish Blood: ORT also replenishes your blood with essential electrolytes (minerals) that are lost due to intense exercise, exposure to extreme weather conditions, or diarrhea and other illnesses. Water doesn’t contain electrolytes and so, ironically, water alone cannot cure dehydration like ORT.
    • An effective electrolyte: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses.
    • Quick and efficient: The translation of the basic science concept to quick and efficient practice was, however, not easy. And that is the fascinating story and sterling contribution of Mahalanabis and his co-workers on ORT.

    What is Dehydration?

    • Dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated.

    ORT

    What is Disease Cholera?

    • Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that can kill within hours if left untreated.
    • Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms and can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution. Cholera affects both children and adults.
    • Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
    • Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.

    Recent outbreak of cholera In India

    • Cholera is said to be endemic in India. However, the reported cases in India tend to be much lesser than the actual numbers, say doctors and experts.
    • The number of cases is rising in India because we still lack the basic sanitation, hygiene and access to clean water in many communities,
    • The country reports nearly 20,000 to 30,000 cases of cholera every year, usually during the monsoon season of July to September.
    • Climate change adds up another layer to the cholera outbreak.

    Contribution of ORT to the world.

    • As a perfect alternative over the prevailing doctrine: ORT was in marked contrast to the then prevailing doctrine of patients being given only sips of water without food, euphemistically called “resting the stomach”, often worsening the underlying malnutrition.
    • For Diarrhoea: An estimated 54 million diarrhoeal deaths were averted by ORT alone between 1978 and 2008, such was the magnitude of its beneficial impacts. ORT for the management of severe diarrhea was developed in the latter half 1960s. WHO launched a worldwide campaign in 1978 to reduce mortality related to diarrhea, with ORT as one of the key elements.
    • For cholera: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses
    • Cholera pandemic: This period coincided with the seventh cholera pandemic (El Tor biotype) that started in Indonesia in 1961 and spread to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) by 1963 and to India in 1964. Though experiments with ORS were underway, the WHO responded in 1970 by distributing large amounts of intravenous fluids – a move marked by high transportation costs and limited utilization on account of a shortage of a trained health workforce. The focus of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), through the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, was to find a vaccine to protect the US troops from cholera attacks in Southeast Asia.
    • One solution for everyone: Athletes; people with illnesses, especially babies and toddlers; seniors; military personnel stationed in extreme climates; air travelers who lose electrolytes every time they fly: They all stand to dramatically improve their health and well-being with ORT.

    ORT

    Conclusion

    • Dilip Mahalanabis pioneered a simple and effective solution for diarrhoea that saves millions of lives which can be considered as one of the greatest contributions of Indian in medical sciences. To carry the carry legacy forward young scientists should step in.

    Mains Question

    Q. What do you Understand by Oral Rehydration Therapy? How it could be effective in tackling the yearly outbreaks of Cholera in India and the world. Discuss.

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  • Black Hole, Resolving the Mistry

    Black Hole

    Context

    • For the very first time, scientists noted that this observation of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave (LIGO) observatories coincided with the measurements made by other telescopes that measured visual and electromagnetic signals.

    What is Black hole?

    • A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
    • Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.

    Black Hole

    What is the background?

    • LIGO Observations: In 2017, astrophysicists observed an unusual feat among the stars. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave(LIGO)observatories recorded a signal which indicated that two massive and dense stellar bodies had merged to form a third body, likely a black hole.
    • Generation gravitational waves: In the process they gave off vibrations that quite literally shook the universe and its very fabric of space time.
    • Neutron stars: Scientists, piecing together evidence from complementary measurements, surmised that the event they had observed was of two neutron stars merging and forming a black hole and, in the process, giving off light.

    Black Hole

    What are the observations through telescopes?

    • The matter moving faster than light: An unusual jet of matter was observed that gave an illusion of travelling faster than light. These were all exciting phenomena observed for the very first time by telescopes and observatories.
    • Confirmation by Hubble Space Telescope: Now, using data that had been recorded by the Global astro metric Interferometer for Astrophysics (GAIA) spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope instruments, scientists have confirmed that the above picture is correct. They have made it more precise and descriptive.
    • Seven times the speed of light: In a paper published in Nature, they describe measuring the “apparent speed” of the jet to be about seven times the speed of light.
    • Lorenz factor: They have also measured more accurately a factor called the Lorenz factor which scales with the actual speed of the particles in the jet. Unlike earlier estimates which placed this factor at about 4, the present paper estimates this factor to be over 40. This is because they measure the speed of the relativistic jet to be close to 0.9997c, where “c” is the speed of light.
    • Clarity about the source as neutron star in block hole generation: This resolves the earlier fuzziness about what the source was and puts the source clearly as massive neutron stars merging to give a black hole and throwing off relativistic jets of particles in the process.

    Black Hole

    Merging of Neutron stars

    • Born out of Supernova explosion: Neutron stars are stellar corpses, left behind after a star has undergone a supernova explosion and reached the end of its lifetime. They are extremely dense, containing more mass than the sun in a sphere that is a few tens of kilometre wide.
    • Produces fast moving material: This has been seen in many active galactic nuclei  galaxy centres that harbour black holes and binary star systems within our galaxy, where one of the stars is a black hole. “Mostly, black holes are responsible for producing such fast moving material

    Why present observations about black Hole are significant?

    • Estimating changing position of sky: The present measurements and observations made with GAIA data are extremely challenging. They amount to measuring the position of an object in sky coordinates. These authors measured a change in sky position one millionth the span of the full moon. Normally, if one were making these measurements from earth-based telescopes, it would require data from radio telescopes spaced apart by intercontinental distances.
    • VLBI technique: This technique is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and was used in the earlier papers. “Here, the authors could beat VLBI in precision because they calibrated Hubble Space Telescope data with GAIA, which is a precision astrometry mission.
    • It’s an estimate not a measurement: the researchers used both their Hubble Space Telescope and GAIA optical position measurement along with the earlier VLBI position measurement to get a better estimate of the speed of the source and angle (viewing angle) with which it is travelling with respect to us on earth. This estimate requires plugging in equations of the special theory of relativity. “So, it is an estimate as opposed to a measurement.
    • Improvement in estimation: we have learnt that neutron star mergers can result in material moving with speeds as high as 0.9997c.Earlier results using Very Long Baseline Interferometry had pegged this value at about 0.938c. with the new results this lower limit has been improved. Even earlier, with VLBI, it was understood that it was a neutron star merger that produced such ultra-relativistic material. Before the VLBI results, there were several models that could replicate the observations.
    • Explanation using ultra realistic material: The observations could be explained both by ultra-relativistic material and non relativistic material, with some differences in assumptions. That study indicated that the observed gamma ray bursts were produced along with the ultra-relativistic material.

    Conclusion

    • Current discovery strengthens the hypothesis that such neutron star mergers are responsible for a class of gamma ray bursts. Gamma ray bursts are flashes of extreme gamma ray photons that release a huge amount of energy nearly 1047 They come from different galaxies in the universe and are observed here quite frequently.

    Mains Question

    Q. What is the neutron star and how the merger of two stars produces a black hole? How LIGO and Hubble space telescope are useful in demystifying the black Hole phenomenon?

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  • Dr. Mahalanabis: the man behind ORS no more

    ors

    While Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) as a simple, effective remedy for dehydration is known around the world, the physician who pioneered the treatment, Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, passed away.

    What is ORS?

    • Oral rehydration therapy is a type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat dehydration, especially due to diarrhea.
    • It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.
    • Oral rehydration therapy can also be given by a nasogastric tube.

    About Dr. Mahalanabis

    • Born on November 12, 1934 in West Bengal, Dr Mahalanabis studied in Kolkata and London.
    • He joined the Johns Hopkins University International Centre for Medical Research and Training in Kolkata in the 1960s, where he carried out research in oral rehydration therapy.
    • When the 1971 war broke out, millions of people from then East Pakistan took refuge in India.
    • Clean drinking water and sanitation were problems at these refugee camps, and cholera and diarrhoea broke out among people anyway exhausted and dehydrated.
    • Dr Mahalanabis and his team were working in one such camp at Bongaon.
    • Stocks of intravenous fluids were running out, on top of which there weren’t enough trained personnel to administer the IV treatment.

    How he discovered ORS?

    • From his research, Dr Mahalanabis knew that a solution of sugar and salt, which would increase water absorption by the body, could save lives from Cholera.
    • He and his team then prepared solutions of salt and glucose in water and began storing them in large drums, from where patients or their relatives could help themselves.
    • The oral solution then consisted of 22 gm glucose (as commercial monohydrate), 3.5 gm sodium chloride (as table salt) and 2.5 gm sodium bicarbonate (as baking soda) per liter of water.
    • This was the simplest formula, containing the minimum number of ingredients, previously found to be effective in severely ill patients with cholera.

    His legacy

    • While initially, the medical fraternity was septical, the WHO eventually adopted ORS as the standard method for treating cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases.
    • Today, the WHO recommends a combination of sodium chloride, anhydrous glucose, potassium chloride and Trisodium citrate dihydrate as the ORS formula.
    • In India, July 29 is observed as ORS Day.

     

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