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

  • Proxima Centauri: the closest star to the Sun

    Astronomers running the world’s largest initiative to look for alien life have recently picked up an “intriguing” radio wave emission from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun.

    Proxima Centauri

    • Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Sun – considered a close distance in cosmic terms.
    • Its mass is about an eighth of the Sun’s, and it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth.
    • Proxima b, one of the two planets that revolve around the star, is the subject of significant curiosity.
    • Sized 1.2 times larger than Earth, and orbits its star every 11 days, Proxima b lies in Proxima Centauri’s “Goldilocks zone”.

    Goldilocks zone is the area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets. To give an example, the Earth is in the Sun’s Goldilocks zone.

    The mystery of radio signals

    • Astronomers at the Breakthrough Listen project, started by the legendary physicist Stephen Hawking, regularly spot blasts of radio waves using two powerful telescopes.
    • They are Parkes Observatory in Australia or the Green Bank Observatory in the US.
    • All of their findings so far, though, have been attributed either to natural sources or interference caused by humans.
    • This raises the possibility that the emission could be an alien “techno-signature”, meaning something which provides evidence of alien technology.
    • There are also reasons to believe that the signal might not mean ‘aliens’.
    • Another possibility could be that the signal could have been caused by something behind Proxima Centauri or by a natural phenomenon whose existence we so far do not know of.

  • IISER scientists identify the gene that greens plants

    Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have identified a gene that facilitates in the greening of plants.

    It would be no surprise to expect a core Biology question in the coming years, if we look at this PYQ:

    Q. Which of the following statements are correct regarding the general difference between plant cells and animal cells? (CSP 2020)

    1. Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
    2. Plant cells do not have plasma membrane unlike animals cells which do
    3. Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst animal cell has many small vacuoles

    Select the correct answer using the given code below-

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    BBX11

    • The synthesis of chlorophyll in plants is a lengthy, multi-step process.
    • When a seedling emerges from under the soil it must quickly synthesize chlorophyll to start supporting its own growth.
    • In order to facilitate the quick synthesis of chlorophyll, plants make a precursor of chlorophyll called ‘protochlorophyllide’ in the dark, which glows red when blue light is shone on the plant.
    • As soon as the plant comes out into the light from under the soil, light-dependent enzymes convert protochlorophyllide to chlorophyll.
    • The two proteins oppositely regulate the ‘BBX11’ gene to maintain optimum levels of ‘BBX11’.

    How does it work?

    • It plays a crucial role in regulating the levels of protochlorophyllide — an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the green pigment chlorophyll.
    • The amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized needed to be proportional to the number of enzymes available to convert them to chlorophyll.
    • If there is an excess of free protochlorophyllide, then exposure to light converts it into molecules that cause ‘photobleaching’.
    • Thus, it is very important to regulate the amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized by the plant and here comes the vital plant played by the ‘BBX11’ gene.
    • If it is less, plants are unable to efficiently ‘green’ in order to harvest sunlight.

    Benefits of the research

    • The study could have tremendous implications in the agriculture sector in tropical countries like India and can help provide leads to optimize plant growth under stressful and rapidly changing climatic conditions.
    • Due to the rapidly changing climatic conditions, farmers in several states in India, especially in Maharashtra, are suffering huge losses in crop yields.
    • This often leads to severe distress among the farming community as indicated by the high number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra for the past several years.
    • Severe drought, high temperature and high light are some of the major reasons for crop failure. Young seedlings emerging out of the soil are extremely sensitive to high irradiance of light.
    • This study can provide leads to optimize plant growth under these stressful conditions.

  • How dangerous is Ammonia?

    Two persons died and several took ill in a major ammonia gas leakage at a fertilizers unit at Prayagraj.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. With reference to chemical fertilizers in India, consider the following statements:

    1. At present, the retail price of chemical fertilizers is market-driven and not administered by the Government.
    2. Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas.
    3. Sulphur, which is a raw material for phosphoric acid fertilizer, is a by-product of all oil refineries.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1,2 and 3

    Ammonia

    • Ammonia is critical in the manufacturing of fertilizers and is one of the largest-volume synthetic chemicals produced in the world.
    • More than 80 per cent of ammonia made is consumed in the manufacturing of fertilizer, and most of the remainder goes into the production of formaldehyde.
    • A tri-hydroid of nitrogen (NH3), ammonia is a building block for ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) that is used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.

    Why is it harmful?

    • According to experts in Chemistry, ammonia is stored for industrial use in liquid form under high pressure or in gaseous form at low temperature.
    • In such cases, the cause of death is always suffocation as in the case of Prayagraj incident, the victims must have been very close to the point of a gas leak.

    Effects on the human body

    • Ammonia, even in moderate concentration, can cause irritation to eyes, skin, nose and throat.
    • It interacts immediately upon contact with moisture present in the skin, eyes, oral cavity, and respiratory tract to form ammonium hydroxide.
    • It is very caustic and disrupts the cell membrane lipids, ultimately leading to cellular destruction.
    • As cell proteins break down, water is extracted, resulting in an inflammatory response that causes further damage.

    Secretion in humans

    • Ammonia, which is highly soluble in water, is found in soil, air, and water; it is naturally present in the body.
    • It is secreted by the kidneys to neutralize excess acid.
    • However, it is highly diluted when in the environment and does not affect the human body to a noticeable level.

  • What are Fastags?

    From January 1, all lanes of National Highways will accept only electronic payments through FASTag.

    Fastags work on a unique technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This has gone unnoticed in several competitive exams. Hence it is still relevant for the aspirants.

    Also read

    Fastags

    • As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
    • It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
    • For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.

    What is ‘FASTag’?

    • FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
    • The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
    • As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.

    How does it work?

    • The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
    • It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
    • RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
    • If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
    • If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
    • Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.

  • Why the universe has less ‘antimatter’ than matter?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in DownToEarth.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?

    (a) Gravity is the strongest of the four

    (b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge

    (c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity

    (d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.

    What is Antimatter?

    • Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter.
    • The electrical charge of those particles is reversed.
    • Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang, but antimatter is rare in today’s universe.
    • To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about the matter.
    • The matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or oxygen.

    Their existence

    • The existence of antimatter was predicted by physicist Paul Dirac’s equation describing the motion of electrons in 1928.
    • At first, it was not clear if this was just a mathematical quirk or a description of a real particle.
    • But in 1932 Carl Anderson discovered an antimatter partner to the electron — the positron — while studying cosmic rays that rain down on Earth from space.
    • Over the next few decades’ physicists found that all matter particles have antimatter partners.
    • Scientists believe that in the very hot and dense state shortly after the Big Bang, there must have been processes that gave preference to matter over antimatter.
    • This created a small surplus of matter, and as the universe cooled, all the antimatter was destroyed, or annihilated, by an equal amount of matter, leaving a tiny surplus of matter.
    • And it is this surplus that makes up everything we see in the universe today.

    Studying the difference between matter and antimatter

    • A Quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.
    • Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
    • The behaviour of quarks, which are the fundamental building blocks of matter along with leptons, can shed light on the difference between matter and antimatter.
    • Since they are unstable, they will “decay” — fall apart — into other more stable particles at some point during their oscillation.

  • What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?

    (a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

    (b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

    (c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

    (d) A herbicidal sub

    What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    • Intentional genomic alteration in animals’ means making specific changes to the genome of the organism using modern molecular technologies.
    • These are popularly referred to as “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”. However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
    • Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
    • One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.

    What does FDA’s recent approval mean?

    • The FDA made the announcement this week and allowed IGA in GalSafe pigs to eliminate a type of sugar found in mammals called alpha-gal.
    • This sugar is present on the surface of these pigs’ cells and when they are used for products such as medicines or food.
    • The sugar is found in red meats such as beef, pork and lamb, the sugar makes some people with Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) more susceptible to developing mild to severe allergic reactions.
    • IGA will help eventually free these products from detectable alpha-gal sugar, thereby protecting their human consumers from potential allergies.

  • Christmas-Star Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter

    After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter – the two largest planets in our solar system – will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” and popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is a coma, in the context of Astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

    What are the Conjunctions?

    • A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.
    • In June 2005 for instance, as a result of the “spectacular” conjunction, Mercury, Venus and Saturn appeared so close together in the sky that the patch of sky where the three planets were could be covered by a thumb.
    • Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.

    The “Great Conjunction”

    • It happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets takes to orbit around the Sun.
    • Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years.
    • This is because Saturn has a larger orbit and moves more slowly because it is not as strongly influenced by the Sun’s gravitational force as planets that are closer to the Sun.
    • As the two planets move along their orbits, every two decades, Jupiter catches up with Saturn resulting in what astronomers call the great conjunction.

    A ‘rare alignment’

    • Jupiter and Saturn are bright planets and can be typically seen with the naked eye even from cities.
    • But during conjunction, they appear to be close to each other, which is what makes the event noteworthy.
    • The event will coincide with the winter solstice (shortest day of the year in terms of hours of sunlight received) in the Northern Hemisphere and summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
    • This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries; in what astronomer Henry Throop described is a result of a “rare alignment” of the planets.

  • CMS-01 Satellite launched by ISRO

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into a transfer orbit India’s 42nd communications satellite, CMS-01, carried onboard the PSLV-C50.

    CMS-01

    • It is a communications satellite envisaged for providing services in extended C Band of the frequency spectrum and its coverage will include the Indian mainland and the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, the ISRO.
    • The satellite is expected to have a life of over seven years.
    • It was injected precisely into its pre-defined sub- geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
    • CMS-01 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satellite GSAT-12. It provides services like tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster management support and Satellite Internet access.

    What is GTO?

    • A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit.
    • Satellites which are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit.
    • A GTO is highly elliptic.
    • Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit.

  • Chang’e 5 returns to Earth carrying moon rocks

    A Chinese lunar capsule has returned to Earth with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What do you understand by the term Aitken basin:

    (a) It is a desert in the southern Chile which is known to be the only location on earth where no rainfall takes place

    (b) It is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon

    (c) It is a Pacific coast basin, which is known to house large amounts of oil and gas

    (d) It is a deep hyper saline anoxic basin where no aquatic animals are found

    Chang’e-5 Probe

    • The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, aims to shovel up lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.
    • The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long.
    • It will collect 2 kg of surface material from a previously unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — which consist of vast lava plain.
    • The original mission, planned for 2017, was delayed due to an engine failure in China’s Long March 5 launch rocket.

    A big achievement

    • The successful mission was the latest breakthrough for China’s increasingly ambitious space programme that includes a robotic mission to Mars and plans for a permanent orbiting space station.
    • This return marked China’s third successful lunar landing but the only one to lift off again from the moon.
    • It also marked the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.

    Significance of the mission

    • Rocks found on the Moon are older than any that have been found on Earth and therefore they are valuable in providing information about the Earth and the Moon’s shared history.
    • Lunar samples can help to unravel some important questions in lunar science and astronomy, including the Moon’s age, its formation, the similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon’s geologic features.
    • For instance, the shape, size, arrangement and composition of individual grains and crystals in a rock can tell scientists about its history, while the radioactive clock can tell them the rock’s age.
    • Further, tiny cracks in rocks can tell them about the radiation history of the Sun in the last 100,000 years.

  • Galaxy NGC 6240

    NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shared the images of Galaxy NGC 6240 that contains two supermassive Black Holes in the process of merging.

    From astronomers to general space enthusiasts, black holes are a topic of interest for many. If you’re someone who spends a lot of their time researching facts about this region of space-time or watching videos on the same, then you must check out this news.

    Galaxy NGC 6240

    • The black holes, located in Galaxy NGC 6240 are 3,000 light-years apart and they will drift together to form a larger black hole millions of years from now.
    • As per a blog post by the observatory, the merging process began some 30 million years ago
    • The pairs of massive black holes in the process of merging are expected to be the most powerful sources of gravitational waves in the Universe.
    • Seen as the bright ‘dots’ near the centre of this image, the black holes are just 3,000 light-years apart.

    About Chandra X-ray Observatory

    • It is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.
    • Orbiting at 139,000 km in space, the telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-93 by NASA in 1999.