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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.

  • What is Federated Learning?

    An improvement in a Machine Learning (ML) model, called ‘federated learning’, is said to enable companies to develop new ways of collecting anonymous data without compromising their privacy.

    Data privacy is the right of a citizen to have control over how personal information is collected and used. Data protection is a subset Right of Privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

    What is ‘federated learning’?

    • Federated learning is an ML method used to train an algorithm across multiple decentralised devices or servers holding data samples.
    • It doesn’t exchange data with the devices, meaning there is no central dataset or server that stores the information.
    • Standard ML models require all data to be centralised in a single server. Implementation of federated learning eliminates the need for maintaining a storage hub.
    • The term was first introduced in a 2016 Google study titled ‘Communication-efficient learning of deep networks from decentralized data.’
    • Google emphasised mobile phones and tablets, stating that modern devices contain special features like speech recognition and image models that can store large amounts of data.
    • Since then, Google has used the technique is various products, including Gboard, which provides text and phrase suggestions to the keyboard.

    How this works

    • Federated learning aims to train an algorithm, like deep neural networks, on multiple local datasets contained in local nodes, without explicitly exchanging data.
    • The general principle involves simply exchanging parameters between these nodes. Parameters include a number of federated learning rounds, the total number of nodes, and learning rate.
    • The distinct advantage of the model is its ability to reduce privacy and security risks by limiting the attack surface to only the device, rather than the device and the cloud, Google stated in the study.

    Why need such technology?

    • Smart home devices like speakers and smartwatches collect and share data with other devices and systems over the network.
    • These Internet of Things (IoT) devices are equipped with sensors and software that store a user’s private information like body measurements and location.
    • This large chunk of stored data is used by the device makers to improve their products and services.

    Applications

    • Federated learning is said to have application in healthcare, where hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can exchange data for treating diseases without sharing private clinical information.

  • Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

    The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been selected as a ‘Milestone’ facility by the U.S.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

    Note: GMRT is not an ISRO mission.

    About GMRT

    • The GMRT located near Pune is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45-metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths.
    • It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.
    • It was conceived and built under the direction of Late Prof. Govind Swarup from 1984 to 1996.
    • At the time it was built, it was the world’s largest interferometric array offering a baseline of up to 25 kilometres (16 mi).
    • Astronomers from all over the world regularly use this telescope to observe many different astronomical objects such as HII regions (interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized), galaxies, pulsars, supernovae, and Sun and solar winds.

    A significant feat

    • IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering.
    • The IEEE Milestones programme honours significant technical achievements which have a global or regional impact. This is only the third such IEEE ‘Milestone’ recognition for an Indian contribution.
    • The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning (in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928.

  • Chang’e-5 Lunar Probe

    China is preparing to launch an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the moon in four decades.

    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.
    • If successful, China will be only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

    Significance of the mission

    • As per the Lunar and Planetary Institute, 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.

  • Sentinel-6 Satellite

    The Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, designed to monitor oceans, was launched from the in California.

    Try this MCQ:

    The Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) Mission recently seen in news is aimed at observing:

    (a)Microgravity changes

    (b)Sea level rise

    (c)Cosmic radiation

    (d)Space debris

    Sentinel-6 Satellite

    • This is a part of the next mission dedicated to measuring changes in the global sea level.
    • It has been named after Dr Michael Freilich, who was the Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division from 2006-2019 and passed away in August this year.

    What is the mission?

    • The mission, called the Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) mission, is designed to measure the height of the ocean, which is a key component in understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing.
    • The spacecraft consists of two satellites, the other, called Sentinel-6B, to be launched in 2025.
    • It has been developed jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, and France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).

    What will the satellite do?

    • The satellite will ensure the continuity of sea-level observations into the fourth decade and will provide measurements of global sea-level rise.
    • Since 1992, high-precision satellite altimeters have helped scientists understand how the ocean stores and distributes heat, water and carbon in the climate system.
    • Essentially, the satellite will send pulses to the Earth’s surface and measure how long they take to return to it, which will help scientists measure the sea surface height.
    • It will also measure water vapour along this path and find its position using GPS and ground-based lasers.

    Significance of the mission

    • As per NASA, it is possible to observe the height of the oceans on a global scale and monitor critical changes in ocean currents and heat storage only from space.
    • Data from satellites such as Sentinel-6 help scientists foresee the effects of the changing oceans on the climate.
    • Further, in order to measure and track changes in the oceanic heat budget, scientists need to know the ocean currents and heat storage of the oceans, which can be determined from the height of the sea surface.

  • [pib] IRNSS now part of World Wide Radio Navigation System

    The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) has been accepted as a component of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) for operation in the Indian Ocean Region by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

    Try this PYQ:

    With reference to the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), consider the following statements:

    1. IRNSS has three Satellites in geostationary and four satellites the geosynchronous orbits.
    2. IRNSS covers entire India and about 5500 sq. km beyond its borders.
    3. India will have its own satellite navigation system with full global coverage by the middle of 2019.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only            

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) None

    What is IRNSS?

    • The IRNSS, with an operational name of NavIC (acronym for Navigation with Indian Constellation) is an Indian regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services.
    • It covers India and a region extending 1,500 km around it, with plans for further extension.
    • The system currently consists of a constellation of seven satellites, with two additional satellites on ground as stand-by.
    • The constellation is in orbit as of 2018, and the system was expected to be operational from early 2018 after a system check.
    • It will provide two levels of service, the “standard positioning service”, which will be open for civilian use, and a “restricted service” (an encrypted one) for authorised users (including the military).

    Benefits of the move

    • This move will enable merchant vessels to use IRNSS for obtaining position information similar to GPS and GLONASS.
    • This will assist in the navigation of ships in Indian ocean waters within the area covered by 50°N latitude, 55°E longitude, 5°S latitude and 110°E longitude (approximately up to 1500 km from Indian boundary).

    Back2Basics: International Maritime Organisation (IMO)

    • IMO is the UN specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.
    • Its primary purpose is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping and its remit today includes safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping.
    • IMO is governed by an assembly of members and is financially administered by a council of members elected from the assembly.

  • Community Cord Blood Banking

    Community Cord Blood Banking, a stem cell banking initiative, has recently helped save the life of a girl child making it India’s first dual cord blood transplant through an unrelated donor.

    Must read:

    What is Cord Blood Banking?

    • Community Banking is a new sharing economy model of stem cell banking that was pioneered by LifeCell in India.
    • Parents who choose to store their child’s cord blood in a community bank will have access, in the event of medical need, to all of the other cord blood units in the bank.
    • A community bank is like a public cord blood bank in that the members are supporting each other, but it is also like a private bank because the members pay for this service and outsiders cannot participate.
    • It can fill an unmet health need in a country like India, where there is no national network of public banks and the population has unique genetics that are not covered by banks elsewhere in the world.
    • It is different from “hybrid” banking where both public and family banks share a laboratory, because in hybrid banks the pubic and family sides operate separately.
    • In a community bank the public and family functions are blended.

    Benefits of cord blood

    • It gives protection to a baby against all conditions treatable using stem cells (own & donor).
    • It gives protection to the baby’s siblings, parents and grandparents (maternal & paternal) by providing unrelated donor stem cells.

    Back2Basics: Stem Cell Therapy

    • It is a type of treatment option that uses a patient’s own stem cells to repair damaged tissue and repair injuries.
    • It is used to treat more than 80 disorders including neuromuscular and degenerative disorders. Eg. Bone-marrow transplant is used in Leukemia (blood cancer), sickle-cell anemia, immunodeficiency disorders.
    • Stem cells are usually taken from one of the two areas in the patient’s body: bone marrow or adipose (fat) tissue in their upper thigh/abdomen.
    • Because it is common to remove stem cells from areas of stored body fat, some refer to stem cell therapy as “Adipose Stem Cell Therapy” in some cases.

  • What is mRNA vaccine?

    The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines which recently announced their success use the same technology, based on messenger RNA, or mRNA.

    Try this PYQ first:

    Q.‘RNA interference (RNAi)’ technology has gained popularity in the last few years. Why?

    1. It is used in developing gene silencing therapies.
    2. It can be used in developing therapies for the treatment of cancer.
    3. It can be used to develop hormone replacement therapies.
    4. It can be used to produce crop plants that are resistant to viral pathogens.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1, 2 and 4

    (b) 2 and 3

    (c) 1 and 3

    (d) 1 and 4 only

    What is mRNA?

    • Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.
    • The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.
    • During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

    What is the mRNA vaccine?

    • Such vaccines make use of the messenger RNA molecules that tell the body’s cells what proteins to build.
    • The mRNA, in this case, is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
    • It is the spike protein — which appears as spikes on the surface of the coronavirus — that initiates the process of infection; it allows the virus to penetrate cells, after which it goes on to replicate.
    • A coronavirus vaccine based on mRNA, once injected into the body, will instruct the body’s cells to create copies of the spike protein.
    • In turn, this is expected to prompt the immune cells to create antibodies to fight it.
    • These antibodies will remain in the blood and fight the real virus if and when it infects the human body.

    Back2Basics: Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA)

    • RNA is an important biological macromolecule that is present in all biological cells.
    • It is principally involved in the synthesis of proteins, carrying the messenger instructions from DNA, which itself contains the genetic instructions required for the development and maintenance of life.
    • In some viruses, RNA, rather than DNA, carries genetic information.
    • The type of RNA dictates the function that this molecule will have within the cell.
    • Aside from the coding region of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that will be translated into proteins, other cellular RNA elements are involved in different processes.

  • SpaceX-NASA’s Crew-1 Mission

    SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will lift off carrying a crew of four people to the International Space Station (ISS) on a six-month-long mission.

    What is the Crew-1 Mission?

    • The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, whose objective is to make access to space easier in terms of its cost.
    • This will carry four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory.
    • With this, the cargo and crew can be easily transported to and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific research.
    • At the ISS, the crew will join the members of Expedition 64, the space station crew currently in residence at the ISS.

    Mission goals

    • The goals of the mission are the same as that of Expedition 1 that lifted off 20 years ago.
    • NASA has called both of these ISS missions “historic”.
    • At the ISS, the Crew-1 team will join members of Expedition 64 and conduct microgravity studies and deliver new science hardware to ISS.
    • Once in orbit, NASA astronauts will collect samples to provide data to scientists back on Earth so that they can continue to study how dietary changes affect his body.
    • The crew will also study the effects of dietary improvements on immune function and the gut microbiome and how those improvements can help crews adapt to spaceflight.

    The term micro-g environment is more or less synonymous with the terms weightlessness and zero-g, but with an emphasis on the fact that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small.

  • Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)

    With regime change in the US, hopes have been raised for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii. India is one of the partners in the ambitious next-generation observatory project along with the US, Canada, China and Japan.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.“Event Horizon” is related to:

    (a) Telescope

    (b) Black hole

    (c) Solar glares

    (d) None of the above

    Thirty Metre Telescope

    • The TMT is a proposed astronomical observatory with an extremely large telescope (ELT) that has become the source of controversy over its planned location on Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.
    • It is being built by an international collaboration of government organisations and educational institutions, at a cost of $1.4 billion.
    • “Thirty Metre” refers to the 30-metre diameter of the mirror, with 492 segments of glass pieced together, which makes it three times as wide as the world’s largest existing visible-light telescope.
    • The larger the mirror, the more light a telescope can collect, which means, in turn, that it can “see” farther, fainter objects.
    • It would be more than 200 times more sensitive than current telescopes and would be able to resolve objects 12 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.

    Utility of the telescope

    • One of its key uses will be the study of exoplanets, many of which have been detected in the last few years, and whether their atmospheres contain water vapour or methane — the signatures of possible life.
    • For the first time in history, this telescope will be capable of detecting extraterrestrial life.
    • The study of black holes is another objective.
    • While these have been observed in detail within the Milky Way, the next galaxy is 100 times farther away; the Thirty Metre Telescope will help bring them closer.

  • GRACE-FO Mission

    The GRACE-FO mission has mapped deviation in Earth’s surface mass and spatial variations in the rate of sea-level rise between 1993 and 2018 using altimetric and gravimetric analysis.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.NASA’s VIPER mission sometimes seen in news is related to the study of-

    a)Moon

    b)Venus

    c)Sun

    d)None of these

    GRACE-FO Mission

    • The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission launched in 2018 is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
    • It is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which orbited Earth from 2002-2017.
    • It carries on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.

    How did NASA measure this?

    (1) Altimetric Study

    • Altimetry missions are used to know the ocean surface topography — the shape and height of the ocean’s peaks and valleys.
    • Radar altimeters continually send out pulses of radio waves (microwaves) that bounce off the surface of the ocean and reflect back toward the satellite.
    • The instrument calculates the time it takes for the signal to return, while also tracking the precise location of the satellite in space. From this, scientists can derive the height of the sea surface directly underneath the satellite.

    (2) Gravimetric Study

    • Gravimetry is a process of using ice’s gravitational pull on a pair of satellites. It helps estimate ice loss and its contribution to sea-level rise.
    • The twin satellites in each mission detect subtle shifts in Earth’s gravity field.
    • The strength of gravitational forces is determined by mass, so changes in Earth’s gravity field indicate a change or redistribution in mass.