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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.

  • [pib] FASTag declared mandatory

    Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided that all lanes in the fee plazas on National Highways shall be declared as “FASTag lane of the fee plaza”.

    Fastag went unnoticed this year. The RFID technology deployed in this holds an intuition for its relevance in CS prelims and many forthcoming exams.

    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.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] Implementation of FASTags

  • [pib] National Monsoon Mission

    Under the National Monsoon Mission (NMM), Ministry of Earth Sciences has developed the state-of-the-art weather and climate prediction models, which are now in operational use.

    Tap to read about the mechanism of Indian Monsoon System at:

    The Southwest Monsoon Season (Jun – Sep) | Part 1

    National Monsoon Mission (NMM)

    • Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had launched NMM in 2012 with a vision to develop a state-of-the-art dynamical prediction system for monsoon rainfall on different time scales.
    • The responsibility of execution and coordination of this mission is vested to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
    • Climate Forecast System (CFS) of USA has been identified as the basic modelling system for the above purpose, as it is one of the best among the currently available coupled models.

    Targets of NMM

    • Development of a seamless prediction system using monsoon mission model, on different time scales, like Seasonal (for whole Monsoon season), extended-range (upto 4 weeks), short-range prediction (up-to 5days).
    • Initiate and coordinate the working partnership between Indian and foreign institutes to develop a system for prediction of extremes and climate applications
    • Develop and implement the system for climate applications having social impacts (such as agriculture, flood forecast, extreme events forecast, wind energy, etc.
    • Advanced data assimilation system for preparing high-quality data for model predictions.

    Achievements of NMM during the last 3 years

    • Setting up of an advanced prediction system for Seasonal prediction; Extended range prediction and Very high-resolution Short-range prediction.
    • Commissioning of a Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) for short and medium-range prediction at 12km.
    • The Cyclone track and intensity prediction has also shown a steady improvement over the last three years.
    • The operationalization of Monsoon Mission dynamical model (MMCFS) to prepare operational seasonal forecast of monsoon rainfall and temperatures during the hot and cold weather seasons over India.
    • Development of an algorithm to monitor and predict the Monsoon Intra-seasonal Oscillations (MISO) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the extended range.
    • Development of an index to predict the genesis and evolution of tropical cyclones and other cyclonic disturbances over the north Indian Ocean.

  • Dickinsonia fossil discovered in Bhimbetka

    Researchers have found the first-ever fossil in India of a Dickinsonia —the Earth’s ‘oldest animal’, dating back 570 million years — on the roof of what’s called the ‘Auditorium Cave’ at Bhimbetka.

    Dickinsonia

    • Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, Russia and Ukraine.
    • The individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval.
    • Its affinities are presently unknown; its mode of growth is consistent with a stem-group bilaterian affinity, though some have suggested that it belongs to the fungi or even an “extinct kingdom”.
    • The discovery of cholesterol molecules in fossils of Dickinsonia lends support to the idea that Dickinsonia was an animal.

    What are the new findings?

    Like the awe-inspiring rock shelters themselves, this fossil was discovered by chance.

    • Dickinsonia fossils have shown that they could exceed four feet in length but the one found in Bhimbetka is 17 inches long.
    • Eleven feet above the ground, almost blending with the rock and easily mistaken by laymen for prehistoric rock art, they found imprints of the Dickinsonia.
    • It is believed to be one of the key links between the early, simple organisms and the explosion of life in the Cambrian Period, about 541 million years ago.

    Cambrian Explosion and Dickinsonia

    • The ‘Cambrian Explosion’ is the term given to the period of time in history when complex animals and other macroscopic organisms such as molluscs, worms, arthropods and sponges began to dominate the fossil record.
    • Researchers from Australian found the Dickinsonia fossil since its tissue contained molecules of cholesterol a type of fat that is the hallmark of animal life.

    Do you know?

    Cosmogenic nuclide dating is deployed to determine time of earliest human culture. India’s oldest stone-age tools, up to 1.5 million years old, are at a prehistoric site near Chennai.

    About Bhimbetka

    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the prehistoric Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period.
    • It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times.
    • It is located in the Raisen District in Madhya Pradesh about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south-east of Bhopal.
    • It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km (6.2 mi).
    • At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.
    • Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 10,000 years old (c. 8,000 BCE), corresponding to the Indian Mesolithic.
    • These cave paintings show themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting.
    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters were found by V S Wakankar 64 years ago. Since then, thousands of researchers have visited the site, but this rare fossil went undetected.

  • Einsteinium: the mysterious element named after Albert Einstein

    The University of California has reported some of the properties of element 99 in the periodic table called “Einsteinium”, named after Albert Einstein.

    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? (CSP 2012)

    (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.

    Einsteinium

    • It was discovered in 1952 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean).
    • Since its discovery, scientists have not been able to perform a lot of experiments with it because it is difficult to create and is highly radioactive.
    • Therefore, very little is known about this element.
    • With this new study published in the journal Nature last week, for the first time researchers have been able to characterize some of the properties of the element.

    The discovery of the element

    • Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, as part of a test at a remote island location called Elugelab on the Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific.
    • The blast produced an explosion that was about 500 times more destructive than the explosion that occurred at Nagasaki.
    • Subsequently, the fallout material from this explosion was sent to Berkeley in California for analysis which identified over 200 atoms of the new element.

    Properties of the element

    • Einsteinium has a half-life of 20 days.
    • Because of its high radioactivity and short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes, even if the element was present on Earth during its formation, it has most certainly decayed.
    • This is the reason that it cannot be found in nature and needs to be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.
    • Therefore, so far, the element has been produced in very small quantities and its usage is limited except for the purposes of scientific research.
    • The element is also not visible to the naked eye and after it was discovered, it took over nine years to manufacture enough of it so that it could be seen with the naked eye.

  • Hope: UAE’s first mission to Mars

    The first Arab interplanetary mission is expected to reach Mars’ orbit on February 9 in what is considered the most critical part of the journey to unravel the secrets of weather on the Red Planet.

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

    Q.Which of the following pair is/are correctly matched?

    Spacecraft Purpose
    1. Cassini-Huygens Orbiting the Venus and transmitting data to the Earth
    2. Messenger Mapping and investigating the Mercury
    3. Voyager 1 and 2 Exploring the outer solar system

    Select the correct answer using the code given below.

    a) 1 only

    b) 2 and 3 only

    c) 1 and 3 only

    d) 1, 2 and 3

    Hope Mission

    • The Emirates Mars Mission called “Hope” was announced in 2015 with the aim of creating mankind’s first integrated model of the Red planet’s atmosphere.
    • Hope weighs over 1500 kg and will carry scientific instruments mounted on one side of the spacecraft, including the Emirates exploration Imager (EXI), which is a high-resolution camera among others.
    • The spacecraft will orbit Mars to study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with outer space and solar winds.
    • Hope will collect data on Martian climate dynamics, which should help scientists understand why Mars’ atmosphere is decaying into space.

    Objectives of the mission

    • Once it launches, Hope will orbit Mars for around 200 days, after which it will enter the Red planet’s orbit by 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of UAE.
    • The mission is being executed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, UAE’s space agency.
    • It will help answer key questions about the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space over the span of one Martian year.

  • Square Kilometre Array Observatory

    The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope.

    Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.

    SKAO

    • It is a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy and is headquartered in the UK.
    • At the moment, organisations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO.
    • These include Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.

    What are radio telescopes?

    • Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can detect invisible gas and, therefore, they can reveal areas of space that may be obscured by cosmic dust.
    • Significantly, since the first radio signals were detected by physicist Karl Jansky in the 1930s, astronomers have used radio telescopes to detect radio waves emitted by different objects in the universe and explore it.
    • According to NASA, the field of radio astronomy evolved after World War II and became one of the most important tools for making astronomical observations since.

    The Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, which was the second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, collapsed in December 2020.

    Significance of SKA telescope

    • The telescope, proposed to be the largest radio telescope in the world, will be located in Africa and Australia whose operation, maintenance and construction will be overseen by SKAO.
    • Some of the questions that scientists hope to address using this telescope include the beginning of the universe, how and when the first stars were born and the life-cycle of a galaxy.
    • It would explore the possibility of detecting technologically-active civilizations elsewhere in our galaxy and understanding where gravitational waves come from.
    • As per NASA, the telescope will accomplish its scientific goals by measuring neutral hydrogen over cosmic time, accurately timing the signals from pulsars in the Milky Way.

  • Stardust 1.O: the first rocket to run on biofuel

    Stardust 1.O was recently launched from Maine, the US has become the first commercial space launch powered by biofuel.

    UPSC may puzzle you with the following type of MCQ asking:

    Q.Which of the following is the unique feature of the Stardust 1.0 Spacecraft recenlty seen in news?

    (a) It is propelled by Bio-fuels.

    (b) It has the largest payload capacity.

    (c) It is re-usable launch vehicle.

    (d) All of the above

    What is Stardust 1.O?

    • Stardust 1.O is a launch vehicle suited for student and budget payloads.
    • The rocket is manufactured by bluShift, an aerospace company based in Maine that is developing rockets that are powered by bio-derived fuels.
    • The rocket is 20 feet tall and has a mass of roughly 250 kg.
    • The rocket can carry a maximum payload mass of 8 kg and during its first launch carried three payloads.
    • The payloads included a cubesat prototype built by high-school students, a metal alloy designed to lessen vibrations.

    Why such missions are important?

    • Such efforts are a part of a growing number of commercial space companies that are working to provide easier and cheaper access to space to laypeople.
    • It also makes access to space cost-effective for purposes of academic research, corporate technology development and entrepreneurial ventures among others.

    Back2Basics: Biofuel

    • Biofuels are obtained from biomass, which can be converted directly into liquid fuels that can be used as transportation fuels.
    • The two most common kinds of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel and they both represent the first generation of biofuel technology.
    • Ethanol, for instance, is renewable and made from different kinds of plant materials.
    • Biodiesel on the other hand is produced by combining alcohol with new and used vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled cooking grease.

    Categories of biofuels

    Biofuels are generally classified into three categories. They are

    1. First-generation biofuels – First-generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using conventional technology. Common first-generation biofuels include Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable oil, Bioethers, Biogas.
    2. Second-generation biofuels – These are produced from non-food crops, such as cellulosic biofuels and waste biomass (stalks of wheat and corn, and wood). Examples include advanced biofuels like biohydrogen, bioethanol.
    3. Third-generation biofuels – These are produced from micro-organisms like algae.

  • Type-II Supernova and the role of neutrinos

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

    Another space-based abstract terminology has appeared in TH.

    What is the news about?

    • Many stars, towards the end of their lifetimes, form supernovas – massive explosions that send their outer layers shooting into the surrounding space.
    • Most of the energy of the supernova is carried away by neutrinos – tiny particles with no charge and which interact weakly with matter.
    • Researching the mechanisms of the so-called Type II supernovas, a team from IIT Guwahati has come up with new insights into the part played by neutrinos in this dramatic death of massive stars.

    What are Neutrinos?

    • Proton, neutron, and electron are tiny particles that makeup atoms.
    • The neutrino is also a tiny elementary particle, but it is not part of the atom.
    • Neutrino has a very tiny mass, no charge and spins half.
    • It interacts very weakly with other matter particles.
    • Neutrinos come from the sun (solar neutrinos) and other stars, cosmic rays that come from beyond the solar system, and from the Big Bang from which our Universe originated.
    • They can also be produced in the lab.

    Their types

    • Neutrinos come in three ‘flavours’, another name for ‘types’, and each flavour is associated with a light elementary particle.
    • For instance, the electron-neutrino is associated with the electron; the muon-neutrino with the muon and the tau-neutrino with the tau particle.

    What is Supernova?

    • All the stars burn nuclear fuel in their cores to produce energy.
    • The heat generates internal pressure which pushes outwards and prevents the star from collapsing inward due to the action of gravity on its own mass.
    • But when the star ages and runs out of fuel to burn, it starts to cool inside.
    • This causes a lowering of its internal pressure and therefore the force of gravity wins; the star starts to collapse inwards.
    • This builds up shock waves because it happens very suddenly, and the shock wave sends the outer material of the star flying. This is what is perceived as a supernova. This happens in very massive stars.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?

    1. Detection of microwaves in space
    2. Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
    3. Movement of asteroids in space
    4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space code

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 3 and 4

    (d) None of the above can be cited as evidence

    The Type-II Supernova

    • In stars that are more than eight times as massive as the Sun, the supernova is accompanied by a collapsing of the inner material of the dying star – this is also known as core-collapse supernova or Type II supernova.

    Role of neutrinos

    • The collapsing core may form a black hole or a neutron star, according to its mass.
    • As they spew out of the raging supernova, the neutrinos can change from one flavour to another in a process known as neutrino oscillations.
    • Due to the high density and energy of the supernova, it generates neutrino oscillations happening simultaneously over different energies (unlike normal neutrino oscillation), termed collective neutrino oscillation.
    • The oscillation result may dramatically change when one allows the evolution with the angular asymmetry, the oscillations can happen at a nanosecond time scale, termed fast oscillation.

  • What caused the tilt to Saturn’s rotation axis?

    The tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant Saturn may in fact be caused by its moons, space scientists have reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.

    About Saturn

    • Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.
    • It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine times that of Earth.
    • It only has one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.

    Reasons for Saturn’s tilt

    • Saturn’s axis interacted with the path of the planet Neptune and gradually tilted until it reached the inclination of 27 degrees observed today.
    • This current tilt of Saturn’s rotation axis is caused by the migration of its satellites, and especially by that of its largest moon, Titan.
    • Recent observations have shown that Titan and the other moons are gradually moving away from Saturn much faster than astronomers had previously estimated.
    • By incorporating this increased migration rate into their calculations, the researchers concluded that this process affects the inclination of Saturn’s rotation axis.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which phenomenon has Venusian winds rotating 60 times faster than the planet below on the dark side?

    (a) Super rotation

    (b) Monrotation

    (c) Dual rotation

    (d) Macrrotation

    Continuous tilting

    • As its satellites move further away, the planet tilts more and more.
    • In fact, Saturn’s axis is still tilting, and what we see today is merely a transitional stage in this shift.
    • Over the next few billion years, the inclination of Saturn’s axis could more than double.

    Why it matters?

    • The decisive event that tilted Saturn is thought to have occurred relatively recently.
    • For over three billion years after its formation, Saturn’s rotation axis remained only slightly tilted.
    • It was only roughly a billion years ago that the gradual motion of its satellites triggered a resonance phenomenon that continues today.

  • Global antitrust and the challenge of Big Tech

    The article deals with the issue of checking the misuse of monopoly power by the Big Tech while encouraging their positive externalities.

    Worldwide Investigations against Big Tech

    • Big Tech firms, especially Facebook and Google have been investigated worldwide, including in the European Union and the United States, on the abuse of monopolistic power.
    •  Comparisons are drawn with investigations in the U.S. on the telecom industry and the break-up of the AT&T.
    • However, there are important differences this time around.
    •  First, the information good that is being provided by the Internet firms of today, is largely non-rival.
    • Second, Internet firms operate globally, therefore, it is often difficult to lay down international rules of obligation and fulfilment.
    • Third, while it is debatable whether the goods and services provided by the Internet firms are excludable.
    • It is this factor that was leveraged by the Internet firms to provide search, navigation, and social connectivity with no charge to the consumers, and, consequently, making these services non-excludable.

    Monetisation model of Big Techs and isseus with it

    • Public goods should be provided by governments, but the information goods as described above are being provided by private firms.
    • This arrangement poses several problems.
    • First, private firms need to have monetisation models to cover the costs of providing their services.
    • So,  the Internet firms have resorted to personalised advertisements and third-party sharing of the personal data of their users for monetisation purposes.
    • Second, the strong network effects present in these Internet platforms warrant increasing the subscriber base and garnering as much market share as possible.
    • This results in near-monopoly of some firms in their defined markets.
    • These firms may resort to anti-competitive behaviour including acquiring rivals to vertically integrate; erecting entry barriers by refusing to interconnect and inter-operate with competing firms, and leveraging their capital base, thereby engaging in predatory pricing, and driving out competitors.

    Positive externalities and consumer surplus

    • Network effects create a huge consumer surplus.
    • Even without our knowledge, these Internet firms have now become an indispensable part of our lives.
    • There are positive externalities as well, for example, Google Maps Application Program Interface (APIs) is being used by almost all logistic transand port companies.
    • Facebook APIs are used for advertisement by almost all firms across the industry.
    • Google, recently announced that its Search is being expanded to provide accurate and timely information on vaccine distribution to enable quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Challenge of regulation

    • The question before policymakers is how to regulate these Internet firms from abusing their monopoly power while encouraging the positive externalities and consumer surplus they create.
    • It is often very difficult to prove that the firms engage in the abuse of their monopoly power.
    • Due to strong network effects, it is not possible to ban or curtail these services.

    Way forward

    • A traditional view is to subsidise the good that creates positive externalities.
    • Governments can provide tax subsidy to these Internet firms in return for their orderly behaviour in the marketplace.
    • Governments could explore mandating sharing of Non-Personal Data (NPD) owned by these firms for societal and economic well-being as pointed out in the expert committee on NPD.
    • The other way to control any abusive behaviour of the Internet firms is to use the power of public voice.
    • The huge public outcry and subsequent government actions have delayed the recent changes to privacy policy relating to the sharing of personal information between WhatsApp and its parent firm, Facebook.

    Consider the question “Services provided by the Internet firms have become indispensable part of our life, this leads to the problem of checking their monopoly power while encouraging their positive externalities and consumer surplus. In light of this, discuss the challenges posed by the Big Techs and suggest the ways to deal with them.”

    Conclusion

    While governments and regulators deal with these dilemmas the Internet firms should adhere to core ethical principles in conducting their businesses as firms that aim at super monopoly profits and are greedy to become powerhouses of the world, often end up in the ditch.

    Back2Basics:What is positive externality

    • A positive externality exists if the production and consumption of a good or service benefits a third party not directly involved in the market transaction.
    •  For example, education directly benefits the individual and also provides benefits to society as a whole through the provision of more informed and productive citizens.

    What is Network Effect

    • The network effect is a phenomenon whereby increased numbers of people or participants improve the value of a good or service.
    • The Internet is an example of the network effect. Initially, there were few users on the Internet since it was of little value to anyone outside of the military and some research scientists.
    • However, as more users gained access to the Internet, they produced more content, information, and services.
    • The development and improvement of websites attracted more users to connect and do business with each other.
    • As the Internet experienced increases in traffic, it offered more value, leading to a network effect.