💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (August Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

GS Paper: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

  • Punjab farmers create Bio-Enzymes from Kinnow

    Some farmers in Punjab, especially in the Kinnow belt, have started making Bio-Enzymes (BEs) from this waste fruit — peel and ‘D’ grade, very small kinnows.

    What is a Kinnow?

    • The ‘Kinnow’ is a high yield citrus fruit cultivated extensively in the wider Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
    • It is a year-long duration crop and the main harvesting period is from November-end to March.
    • It looks similar to orange but is smaller in size.

    Agricultural significance of Kinnows

    • Fallen fruit is a major challenge for kinnow farmers in the state as one needs to dig up small pits to bury them, otherwise the fallen fruit rot and invite a fly attack on the healthy fruit still on the plants.
    • But now, some farmers are using this waste kinnow to improve the pH level and soil fertility of their land by making BEs from this waste fruit.

    What are Bio-Enzymes?

    • Chemically, the Bio Enzymes are a mixture of complex organic substances such as proteins, salts and other materials that are by-products of the bacteria/yeast.
    • They produced through fermentation of organic waste including various fruits, vegetable peels and flowers, by mixing in sugar, jaggery/molasses and water.
    • BE’s also have a lot of usage in our daily lives. They can be used as natural cleansers.

    Benefits offered by BEs

    • BEs have a lot of good microbes and one of the major methods which helps overall improvement of our ecology.
    • It helps in mitigating the imbalance occurred due to overuse of chemicals, in our soil, air and water.
    • In a state like Punjab where water table is depleting fast and water contamination is also major issue, BEs can bring the soil back to life.
    • It helps in better water recharging and also stops the contamination of water by improving the health of soil.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • What is the Lucy Mission?

    The NASA has launched Lucy, the spacecraft on a 12-year cruise to look back into the origins of the solar system through Trojans.

    Lucy Mission

    • Lucy will fly by eight Jupiter asteroids—seven Trojans and one main-belt asteroid — over the next 12 years.
    • It is NASA’s first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids.
    • Lucy will run on solar power out to 850 million kilometers away from the Sun.
    • This makes it the farthest-flung solar powered spacecraft ever, according to NASA.

    What is Jupiter Trojan Asteroids?

    • Simply known as Trojans, they are a large group of asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun.
    • Thousands of such asteroids exist in a gravitationally stable space.
    • The swarms lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun.

    What exactly are Trojans?

    • Lucy’s Trojan destinations are trapped near Jupiter’s Lagrange (L) points, which are gravitationally stable locations — it is where the gravity from the Sun and from Jupiter cancel each other out.
    • This means their orbits are stable and the Trojans are trapped in the space between.
    • This also means that asteroids are as far away from Jupiter as they are from the Sun.
    • Jupiter’s leading and trailing Lagrangian points (L4 and L5) have been stable over the age of the solar system.
    • This means that their orbits have accumulated many, many asteroids.
    • It makes sense to call a Trojan a co-orbital object, which moves around one of the two stable Lagrangian points.

    When and how were they discovered?

    • It took many a scientist to understand Trojans, and subsequently, name them so.
    • A German astro-photographer in 1906 made an important discovery: An asteroid with a particularly unusual orbit. As Jupiter moved, this asteroid remained ahead of Jupiter.
    • It was observed that the asteroid was nearly 60 degrees in front of Jupiter.

    Students with engineering background would better understand who Lagrange was. Rest need not care.

    Lagrange’s propositions

    • This specific position of a peculiar behaviour was predicted by the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange over 100 years earlier.
    • Lagrange had argued that if a small celestial body is placed at one of two stable points in a planet’s orbit around the Sun (the L4 and L5), the asteroid would remain stationary from the planet’s perspective.
    • This is due to the combined gravitational forces of the planet and the Sun.
    • Thus, Lagrange’s prediction acquired credibility. More such asteroids were discovered over subsequent months in Jupiter’s Lagrange point L5.

    Behind the name: Lucy

    • It is the fossil of a hominin that lived 3.2 million years ago.
    • She is known to be one of the most famous pre-human fossil in history.
    • Nearly 40 per cent of the fossilised skeleton of this hominin was discovered in 1974 by a team of paleoanthropologists led by Donald Johanson.
    • The name was inspired from the famous Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which Johanson’s team listened to at camp the night of their discovery.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Back2Basics: Lagrange Points

    • Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
    • They are named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.
    • At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
    • These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce the fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
    • There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.

     

  • Places in news: Mawsmai Cave

    A micro snail species named Georissa mawsmaiensis has recently been discovered from Mawsmai, a limestone cave in Meghalaya, 170 years after the last such discovery was made.

    Georissa mawsmaiensis

    • Georissa is found in soil or subterranean habitats in lowland tropical forest as well as high altitude evergreen forests or on rock surfaces rich in calcium.
    • The members of the Georissa genus are widely distributed across and reported from Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
    • However, they are confined to microhabitats consisting of limestone caves or karst landscapes formed by the dissolution of limestone.

    About Mawsmai Cave

    • The Mawsmai cave is situated in the small village of Mawsmai, around four kilometres from Cherrapunjee (Sohra) in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
    • It is located at an altitude of 1,195 metres above sea level and is indirectly influenced by the streams of the Kynshi river originating from the East Khasi Hills.
    • The term ‘Mawsmai’ means ‘Oath Stone’ in the Khasi language. The Khasi people use the local term ‘Krem’ for the cave.
    • It is famous for its fossils, some which can be spotted looking at the walls and formations inside.
    • The longest is Krem Liat Prah in the Jaintia Hills, which is 30,957 m (31 km approx.)

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Type Of Technologies in Solar Panels

    Context

    Large-scale solar projects in Tamil Nadu have seen rapid growth in recent years. By embracing advances in solar technologies, India can continue to lead in this sector.

    Factors driving growth

    • In the past five years, the cumulative installed capacity witnessed a four-fold increase in Tamil Nadu to 4.4 GW, as of March 2021.
    • High insolation level: Aiding this capacity addition is the State’s reasonably high insolation levels and matching solar potential, estimated at 279GW.
    • Decline in price: The sharp decline in the prices for solar and resulting cost competitiveness is another factor.
    • National target: Additionally, in response to the ambitious national targets and to spur sector specific development, Tamil Nadu released the Solar Policy of 2019, aiming for 9GW of solar installations by 2023.

    Type of technology use for solar panel

    • 1) Mono-crystalline Vs multi-crystalline panels: ‘First-generation’ solar cells use mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon wafers.
    • The efficiency of mono-crystalline panels is about 24%, while for multi-crystalline panels it is about 20%.
    • Mono-crystalline cells are dominant today.
    • Although mono-crystalline panels are priced higher than multi-crystalline ones, the difference is diminishing and will soon attain parity.
    • This would result in mono panels being preferred over multi due to their higher efficiency, greater energy yield and lower cost of energy.
    • 2) Bifacial solar cells: Newer technologies incorporating crystalline silicon focus on bifacial solar cells, capable of harvesting energy from both sides of the panel.
    • Bifacials can augment the power output by 10-20%.
    • Within this, the Passive Emitter and Rear Contact technology is predicted to gain popularity. However, it is yet to achieve price parity for large-scale deployment.
    • 3) Thin-film technologies: It is classified as the ‘second generation of solar PVs.
    • In addition to being used in solar farms and rooftops, thin films with their low thickness, light weight and flexibility are also placed on electronic devices and vehicles, power streetlights and traffic signals.
    • Mainstream thin films utilise semiconductor chemistries like Cadmium Telluride with module efficiencies of around 19%.
    • Other technologies include Amorphous Silicon and Copper Indium Gallium Di-Selenide.
    • Nanocrystal and dye-sensitised solar cells are variants of the thin film technology. These are in early stages for large-scale commercial deployment
    • However, the efficiency of thin films is lower than that of crystalline silicon.
    • 4) Perovskite: These are grouped as ‘third generation’ and contain technologies such as perovskite, nanocrystal and dye-sensitised solar cells.
    • Perovskites have seen rapid advances in recent years, achieving cell efficiency of 18%.
    • They have the highest potential to replace silicon and disrupt the solar PV market, due to factors such as ease of manufacture, low production costs and potential for higher efficiencies.
    • 5) Use of Graphene Quantum-dots: Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms bonded together as hexagons.
    • Solar cells made of graphene are of interest due to high theoretical efficiency of 60% and its super capacitating nature.
    •  Quantum-dot PVs use semiconductor nanocrystals exhibiting quantum mechanical properties capable of high efficiency of about 66%.
    • However, both these are in the early stages of research.

    Technologies to better integrate solar PVs into the grid

    • These technologies include weather forecasting and power output prediction systems; operation monitoring and control systems; and scheduling and optimisation systems.
    • Additionally, automatic systems have been developed for the smooth resolution of output fluctuations.

    Way forward

    • A portion of the budget for renewable energy targets should be set aside exclusively for new technologies.
    • Grants and subsidies can also be provided for their adoption.
    • Efforts must be taken to address gaps in research, development, and manufacturing capabilities in the solar sector through sector-specific investment and incentives.
    • There must also be greater industry-academia collaborations and funding opportunities for startups.
    • A comprehensive sector-specific skilling programme is also required for workers.

    Conclusion

    All these efforts would help the country become a global player in the solar power sector.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • EU food recalled over alleged GM rice exports from India

    The European Union has recalled some packaged food items which were made up of Indian GMO.

    GM crops in India

    The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under Environment Ministry oversees the approval of GM Crops in India.

    • Bt cotton: It is the only GM crop that has been approved for commercial cultivation in 2002.
    • Bt Brinjal: Resistant to brinjal shoot fly, it was approved by GEAC in 2009. However due to 10 years moratorium imposed on GM crops by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by the Supreme Court of India, its commercialization has stalled.
    • GM Dhara Mustard Hybrid 11: DMH 11 developed by Delhi University is pending for commercial release as GEAC has advised to generate complete safety assessment.

    However, unauthorized HtBt Cotton and Bt Brinjal are being grown commercially, with hundreds of growers blatantly defying the governmental ban.

    What about GM Rice?

    • GM rice is not grown commercially in India.
    • However, multiple GM rice varieties have been approved for confined field trials.
    • There seems a possibility of cross-contamination from such field trials directly or through seed leakages.

    India’s rice exports

    • India’s annual rice exports amount to 18 million tonnes worth ₹65,000 crore, and reach more than 75 countries.

    What is the EU move?

    • A European candy has recalled several batches of its product from the market due to the use of rice flour with genetically modified (GM) contamination that allegedly originated in India.
    • The EU notification has identified the product as ‘Unauthorised genetically modified (p35S and tNos) rice flour from India’.

    Impact of the EU move

    • This has led to the loss of reputation of India and its agricultural market.
    • With such a move by the EU, it is Indian farmers and exporters who have much to lose.

    Threats posed by GM crops

    • It is believed that consumption of genetically engineered foods can cause the development of diseases which are immune to antibiotics.
    • Besides, as these foods are new inventions, not much is known about their long term effects on human beings.
    • Genetically modified rice may potentially cause serious public health and environmental problems.
    • Two major issues about GM rice are their tendencies to provoke allergic reactions and the uncertainty of gene transfers.

    What can be done to reverse this?

    • Ban on field trials of GM crops
    • Slapping liability for illegal release of GMOs into the environment on developers
    • Probe to identify the source of the GM rice contamination

    Try answering this PYQ:

    With reference to the Genetically Modified mustard (GM mustard) developed in India, consider the following statements:

    1. GM mustard has the genes of a soil bacterium that give the plant the property of pest-resistance to a wide variety of pests.
    2. GM mustard has the genes that allow the plant cross-pollination and hybridization.
    3. GM mustard has been developed jointly by the IARI and Punjab Agricultural University.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”zieaak7yfu” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Zeolite Oxygen Concentrators: Chemistry in 3-D

    To meet the demand of oxygen supply in the country during the peak of pandemic, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had chartered the Air India to import ‘Zeolite’ from different countries.

    What are Zeolites?

    • Zeolites are highly porous, 3-dimensional meshes of silica and alumina.
    • In nature, they occur where volcanic outflows have met water.
    • Synthetic zeolites have proven to be a big and low-cost boon.

    Uses in Oxygen Concentrator

    • One biomedical device that has entered our lexicon during the pandemic is the oxygen concentrator.
    • This device has brought down the scale of oxygen purification from industrial-size plants to the volumes needed for a single person.
    • At the heart of this technology are synthetic frameworks of silica and alumina with nanometer-sized pores that are rigid and inflexible.
    • Beads of one such material, zeolite 13X, about a millimeter in diameter, are packed into two cylindrical columns in an oxygen concentrator.

    How does it work?

    • Zeolite performs the chemistry of separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.
    • Being highly porous, zeolite beads have a surface area of about 500 square meters per gram.
    • At high pressures in the column, nitrogen is in a tight embrace, chemically speaking, with the zeolite.
    • Interaction between the negatively charged zeolite and the asymmetric nucleus (quadrupole moment) of nitrogen causes it to be preferentially adsorbed on the surface of the zeolite.
    • Oxygen remains free, and is thus enriched.
    • Once nitrogen is captured, what flows out from the column is 90%-plus oxygen.
    • After this, lowering the pressure in the column releases the nitrogen, which is flushed out, and the cycle is repeated with fresh air.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • James Webb: The most powerful space telescope

    On Dec 18, 2021, after years of delays, the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch into orbit and usher in the next era of astronomy.

    James Webb Space Telescope

    • JWST is a joint NASA–ESA–CSA space telescope that is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission
    • It is the most powerful space telescope ever built.
    • It will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe,
    • It would help understand events such as the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets.

    Its significance

    • Some have called JSWT the “telescope that ate astronomy.”
    • It is said to look back in time to the Dark Ages of the universe.

    What does the ‘Dark Ages’ of the universe mean?

    • Evidence shows that the universe started with an event called the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, which left it in an ultra-hot, ultra-dense state.
    • The universe immediately began expanding and cooling after the Big Bang.
    • One second after the Big Bang, the universe was a hundred trillion miles across with an average temperature of an incredible 18 billion F (10 billion C).
    • Around 400,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe was 10 million light-years across and the temperature had cooled to 5,500 F (3,000 C).
    • Throughout this time, space was filled with a smooth soup of high-energy particles, radiation, hydrogen and helium.
    • There was no structure. As the expanding universe became bigger and colder, the soup thinned out and everything faded to black.

    This was the start of what astronomers call the Dark Ages of the universe.

    How will JWST study this?

    Ans. Looking for the first light

    • The Dark Ages ended when gravity formed the first stars and galaxies that eventually began to emit the first light.
    • Astronomers aim to study this fascinating and important era of the universe, but detecting first light is incredibly challenging.
    • Compared to massive, bright galaxies of today, the first objects were very small and due to the constant expansion of the universe, they’re now tens of billions of light years away from Earth.
    • Also, the earliest stars were surrounded by gas left over from their formation and this gas acted like fog that absorbed most of the light.
    • It took several hundred million years for radiation to blast away the fog. This early light is very faint by the time it gets to Earth.

    Try this PYQ:

    Consider the following phenomena:

    1. Light is affected by gravity.
    2. The Universe is constantly expanding.
    3. Matter warps its surrounding space-time.

    Which of the above is/are the predictions of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, often discussed in media?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”paxyo3n1wt” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Indian meteorite helps study Earth’s formation

    The researchers from the Geological Survey of India collected about 30 meteorite fragments with the largest weighing around a kilogram near the town of Katol in Nagpur in 2012.

    Significance of meteor study

    • Now, by studying the composition of these meteorite fragments, researchers have unraveled the composition expected to be present in the Earth’s lower mantle which is at about 660 km deep.
    • Studying the meteorite could also tell us more about how our Earth evolved from being a magma ocean to a rocky planet.

    Key component of the Meteor: Olivine

    • Initial studies revealed that the host rock was mainly composed of olivine, an olive-green mineral.
    • Olivine is the most abundant phase in our Earth’s upper mantle.
    • Our Earth is composed of different layers including the outer crust, followed by the mantle and then the inner core.

    How to study a meteorite?

    • The researchers took a small sample of the meteorite and examined it using special microscopy techniques.
    • The mineralogy was determined using a laser micro-Raman spectrometer.
    • These techniques helped the team identify, characterise the crystal structure of the meteorite and determine its chemical composition and texture.

    What does the new study show?

    • The international team of scientists examined a section of this highly-shocked meteorite. It resembles to the first natural occurrence of a mineral called bridgmanite.
    • The mineral was named in 2014 after Prof. Percy W. Bridgman, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics.
    • Various computational and experimental studies have shown that about 80% of the Earth’s lower mantle is made up of bridgmanite.
    • By studying this meteorite sample, scientists can decode how bridgmanite crystallized during the final stages of our Earth’s formation.

    Bridgmanite: On Earth vs. on Meteorite

    • Katol meteorite is a unique sample and it is a significant discovery.
    • The bridgmanite in the meteorite was found to be formed at pressures of about 23 to 25 gigapascals generated by the shock event.
    • The high temperature and pressure in our Earth’s interior have changed over billions of years causing crystallisation, melting, remelting of the different minerals before they reached their current state.
    • It is important to study these individual minerals to get a thorough idea of how and when the Earth’s layers formed.

    How does it help understand evolution of Earth?

    • The inner planets or terrestrial planets or rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are formed by accretion or by rocky pieces coming together.
    • They were formed as a planet by increased pressure and high temperature caused by radioactive elements and gravitational forces.
    • Our Earth was an ocean of magma before the elements crystallised and stabilised and the different layers such as core, mantle were formed.
    • The heavier elements like iron went to the core while the lighter silicates stayed in the mantle.
    • By using the meteorite as an analog for Earth, we can unearth more details about the formation.

    Answer this question from our AWE initiative:

    What are seismic waves? How have they helped in understanding the structure of the earth? (250 W/ 15 M)

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

     

  • Linear No-Threshold (LNT) Model for Radiation Safety

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decisively upheld the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model to prescribe radiation safety standards, ending the protracted controversy on the topic.

    What is the LNT Model?

    • The LNT is a dose-response model used in radiation protection to estimate stochastic health effects such as radiation-induced cancer, genetic mutations etc. on the human body due to exposure to ionizing radiation.
    • The LNT model states that biological effects such as cancer and hereditary effects due to exposure to ionising radiation increase as a linear function of dose, without threshold.
    • It provides a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers.

    Why in news?

    • LNT model continues to provide a sound basis for a conservative radiation protection regulatory framework that protects both the public and occupational workers.
    • The model helps the agencies to regulate radiation exposures to diverse categories of licensees, from commercial nuclear power plants to individual industrial radiographers and nuclear medical practices.
    • There are also studies and findings that support the continued use of the LNT model, including those by national and international authoritative scientific advisory bodies.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Nobel Prize 2021

    (1) Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, 2021

    The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded in one half to Canadian-born David Card and the other half jointly to Israeli-American Joshua D Angrist and Dutch-American Guido W Imbens.

    • David Card has been awarded for his empirical contributions to labor economics. Joshua D Angrist and Guido W Imbens won the award “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships.”
    • The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.

    Contributions

    • David Card: He has analyzed how minimum wages, immigration and education impact the labor market.
      • One of the significant findings of this research was that“increasing the minimum wage does not necessarily lead to fewer jobs”.
      • It also led to the understanding that“people who were born in a country can benefit from new immigration, while people who immigrated at an earlier time risk being negatively affected”.
      • It also illuminated the role of resources available in school in shaping the future of students in the labor market.
    • Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens: They were rewarded for their “methodological contributions” to the research tool.
      • Their work demonstrated “how precise conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments”.

     (2) Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2021

    The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.

    • Last year, the honour went to Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer Doudna, for developing the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 – DNA snipping “scissors”.

    About the Development

    • They have developed a new and ingenious tool for molecule building: organocatalysis.
      • Many research areas and industries are dependent on chemists’ ability to construct molecules that can form elastic and durable materials, store energy in batteries or inhibit the progression of diseases. This work requires catalysts.
      • According to researchers, there were just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes. Catalysts are any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.
    • In 2000, they, independent of each other, developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules.
    • Significance:
      • Its uses include research into new pharmaceuticals and it has also helped make chemistry greener.
      • Both these sets of catalysts (metals and enzymes) had limitations.
      • Heavier metals are expensive, difficult to mine, and toxic to humans and the environment.
        • Despite the best processes, traces remained in the end product; this posed problems in situations where compounds of very high purity were required, like in the manufacture of medicines.
        • Also, metals required an environment free of water and oxygen, which was difficult to ensure on an industrial scale.
      • Enzymes on the other hand, work best when water is used as a medium for the chemical reaction. But that is not an environment suitable for all kinds of chemical reactions.

    Organocatalysis

      • Organic compounds are mostly naturally-occurring substances, built around a framework of carbon atoms and usually containing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, or phosphorus.
      • Life-supporting chemicals like proteins, which are long chains of amino acids (carbon compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen) are organic.
      • Enzymes are also proteins, and therefore, organic compounds. These are responsible for many essential biochemical reactions.
      • Organocatalysts allow several steps in a production process to be performed in an unbroken sequence, considerably reducing waste in chemical manufacturing.
      • Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed since 2000. Benjamin List and David MacMillan remain leaders in the field, and have shown that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions.
        • Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells.

    Asymmetric Organocatalysis

      • The process called asymmetric organocatalysis has made it much easier to produce asymmetric molecules – chemicals that exist in two versions, where one is a mirror image of the other.
      • Chemists often just want one of these mirror images – particularly when producing medicines – but it has been difficult to find efficient methods for doing this.
      • Some molecules with mirror versions have different properties. An example is the chemical called carvone, which has one form that smells like spearmint and a counterpart that smells like the herb, dill.
      • Different versions of the same molecule might have different effects when ingested. Then it becomes important to be able to make only the mirror image of a drug that has the desired physiological effect.

    (3) Nobel Prize in Physics, 2021

    The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”

    • This is the first time climate scientists (Manabe and Hasselmann) have been awarded the Physics Nobel. Last year, the award was given for the research into black holes.

    Manabe and Hasselmann

    • Awarded for work in physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.
    • Demonstrated how increases in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase global temperatures, laying the foundations for current climate models.

    Parisi

    • Awarded for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
    • He “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning.

    (4) Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine, 2021

    Recently, two United States-based scientists, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.

    • They have focused their work on the field of somatosensation, that is the ability of specialized organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.

    About the Discoveries

    David Julius:

    • He discovered TRPV1, a heat-sensing receptor.
    • His findings on the skin’s sense of temperature was based on how certain cells react to capsaicin, the molecule that makes chili peppers spicy, by simulating a false sensation of heat.

    Ardem Patapoutian

    • He discovered two mechanosensitive ion channels known as the Piezo channels.
      • The Piezo1 is named after the Greek word for pressure, ‘píesi’.
    • He is credited for finding the cellular mechanism and the underlying gene that translates a mechanical force on our skin into an electric nerve signal.

    Significance of Discoveries

      • The findings have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us.
      • This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain.

    Back To Basics: About Nobel Prizes

    • The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the five Nobel prizes in 1895.
    • The Nobel Prizes are a set of recognition given to fields of Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine by The Nobel Foundation.
      • The Nobel Foundation is a private institution established in 1900, has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions in Alfred Nobel’s will.
    • The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.
    • In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.