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Subject: Science and Technology

  • [pib] Hybodont Shark fossils found in Jaisalmer

    In a rare discovery, teeth of new species of Hybodont shark of Jurassic age have been reported for the first time from Jaisalmer by a team of officers from the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

    Hybodont Shark

    • Hybodonts, an extinct group of sharks, was a dominant group of fishes in both marine and fluvial environments during the Triassic and early Jurassic time.
    • However, hybodont sharks started to decline in marine environments from the Middle Jurassic onwards until they formed a relatively minor component of open-marine shark assemblages.
    • They finally became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous time 65 million years ago.

    Significance of the fossil

    • The newly discovered crushing teeth from Jaisalmer represents a new species named by the research team as Strophodusjaisalmerensis.
    • These sharks have been reported for the first time from the Jurassic rocks (approximately, between 160 and 168 million years old) of the Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan.
    • The genus Strophodus has been identified for the first time from the Indian subcontinent and is only the third such record from Asia, the other two being from Japan and Thailand.
    • It opens a new window for further research in the domain of vertebrate fossils.

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    Back2Basics: Geological time-scale

  • What is a Solar Storm?

    Studies have found that a powerful solar storm can cause a disruption of the internet, damage submarine cables, and communication satellites.

    What is a Solar Storm?

    • A solar storm or a Coronal Mass Ejection as astronomers call it is an ejection of highly magnetized particles from the sun.
    • These particles can travel several million km per hour and can take about 13 hours to five days to reach Earth.
    • Earth’s atmosphere protects us, humans, from these particles.
    • But the particles can interact with our Earth’s magnetic field, induce strong electric currents on the surface and affect man-made structures.

    History of solar storms

    • The first recorded solar storm occurred in 1859 and it reached Earth in about 17 hours.
    • It affected the telegraph network and many operators experienced electric shocks.
    • A solar storm that occurred in 1921 impacted New York telegraph and railroad systems and another small-scale storm collapsed the power grid in Quebec, Canada in 1989.
    • A 2013 report noted that if a solar storm similar to the 1859 one hit the US today, about 20-40 million people could be without power for 1-2 years, and the total economic cost will be $0.6-2.6 trillion.

    Why is it a cause of concern?

    • The Sun goes through an 11-year cycle – cycles of high and low activity.
    • It also has a longer 100-year cycle.
    • During the last three decades, when the internet infrastructure was booming, it was a low period.
    • And very soon, either in this cycle or the next cycle, we are going towards the peaks of the 100-year cycle.
    • So it is highly likely that we might see one powerful solar storm during our lifetime.

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  • Tasks accomplished by the Chandrayaan-2

    The failure of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon, to make a soft landing on the lunar surface had led to much disappointment.  But that did not mean the entire mission had been wasted.

    Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap

    • Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
    • The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
    • ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, meaning wisdom.

    Utility of the Orbit

    • The Orbiter part of the mission has been functioning normally. It is carrying eight instruments.
    • Each of these instruments has produced a handsome amount of data that sheds new light on the moon and offers insights that could be used in further exploration.

    Some of the most significant results so far:

    (a) Water

    • The presence of water on the Moon had already been confirmed by Chandrayaan-1, India’s first mission to the Moon that flew in 2008.
    • Using far more sensitive instruments, the Imaging Infra-Red Spectrometer (IIRS) onboard Chandrayaan-2 has been able to distinguish between hydroxyl and water molecules and found unique signatures of both.
    • This is the most precise information about the presence of H2O molecules on the Moon to date.
    • Previously, water was known to be present mainly in the polar regions of the Moon.
    • Chandrayaan-2 has now found signatures of water at all latitudes, although its abundance varies from place to place.

    (b) Minor elements

    • The Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) measures the Moon’s X-ray spectrum to examine the presence of major elements such as magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, titanium, iron, etc.
    • This instrument has detected the minor elements chromium and manganese for the first time through remote sensing, thanks to a better detector.
    • The finding can lay the path for understanding magmatic evolution on the Moon and deeper insights into the nebular conditions as well as planetary differentiation.
    • CLASS has mapped nearly 95% of the lunar surface in X-rays for the first time.
    • Sodium, also a minor element on the Moon surface, was detected without any ambiguity for the first time.

    (c) Study of Sun

    • One of the payloads, called Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM), besides studying the Moon through the radiation coming in from the Sun, has collected information about solar flares.
    • XSM has observed a large number of microflares outside the active region for the first time.
    • This has great implications on the understanding of the mechanism behind the heating of the solar corona, which has been an open problem for many decades.

    Utility of this Data

    • While the Orbiter payloads build upon existing knowledge of the Moon in terms of its surface, sub-surface and exosphere, it also paves the path for future Moon missions.
    • Four aspects — mineralogical and volatile mapping of the lunar surface, surface and subsurface properties and processes involved, quantifying water in its various forms across the Moon surface, and maps of elements present on the moon — will be key for future scope of work.
    • A key outcome from Chandrayaan-2 has been the exploration of the permanently shadowed regions as well as craters and boulders underneath the regolith, the loose deposit comprising the top surface extending up to 3-4m in depth.
    • This is expected to help scientists to zero in on future landing and drilling sites, including for human missions.

    Who is going to use it?

    • Some key future Moon missions that hope to make use of such data include the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)-ISRO collaboration Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission scheduled for launch in 2023/2024.
    • Its aim is to obtain knowledge of lunar water resources and to explore the suitability of the lunar polar region for setting up a lunar base.
    • NASA’s Artemis missions plan to enable human landing on the Moon beginning 2024 and target sustainable lunar exploration by 2028.
    • The Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme too plans to establish a prototype of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) at the lunar south pole and build a platform supporting large-scale scientific exploration.

    What was missed because of the crash-landing?

    • The most obvious miss has been the opportunity to demonstrate the technology to make a soft landing in outer space.
    • The lander Vikram and rover Pragyaan were carrying instruments to carry out observations on the surface.
    • These were supposed to pick up additional information about the terrain, and composition, and mineralogy.
    • While the instruments onboard the Orbiter is making “global” observations, those on the lander and rover would have provided much more local information.
    • The two diverse sets of data could have helped prepare a more composite picture of the Moon.

    Future with the Chandrayaan-3

    • ISRO scientists maintain that the accident was caused by a relatively small error that has been identified and corrected.
    • But, to demonstrate this technology all over again, ISRO would have to send a fresh mission, Chandrayaan-3, planned for next year.
    • It is expected to have only a lander and rover, and no Orbiter.

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  • [pib] What is Pollen Calendar?

    Chandigarh now has its first pollen calendar, which can identify potential allergy triggers and provide a clear understanding for clinicians as well as allergy sufferers about their causes to help limit their exposure during high pollen loads.

    What is a Pollen Calendar?

    • Pollen calendars represent the time dynamics of airborne pollen present in a particular geographical area.
    • They yield readily accessible visual details about various airborne pollen present throughout the year in a single picture.

    Is this a new concept in India? Where else in the west has this calendar been used?

    • Though the concept is not essentially new, this is one of the major environmental concerns that had not been addressed for the Indian cities.
    • Such calendars are location-specific, as pollen concentrations are closely related to locally distributed flora.
    • Europe, UK and the US are using regional pollen calendars in a big way to prevent and diagnose allergic rhinitis/hay fever and predict the timing and severity of the pollen season.

    Why is it important to study pollen?

    • Pollen grains are male biological structures with the primary role of fertilization, but when inhaled by humans, they may strain the respiratory system and cause allergies.
    • Pollen found suspended in air can cause widespread upper respiratory tract and naso-bronchial allergy with manifestations like asthma, seasonal rhinitis, and bronchial irritation.
    • About 20-30 percent of the population suffers from allergic rhinitis/hay fever in India, and approximately 15 percent develop asthma.
    • Pollen is considered a major outdoor airborne allergen responsible for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis in humans.

    What were the key findings?

    • The study highlights the variability of crucial pollen types in different seasons.
    • Spring and autumn are two seasons when airborne pollen dominate.
    • The findings will enhance the understanding of pollen seasons, which will in turn help minimize pollen allergies.

    How will a pollen calendar benefit people, especially those who have respiratory issues?

    • A pollen calendar provides a clear understanding for clinicians, as well as people with allergies to identify the potential allergy triggers and help to limit their exposure during high pollen load season.
    • The early advisories can be prepared and disseminated through media channels to the citizens so that they can use protective gear during the period when the concentration of allergic pollen will be high.

    Does the study infer that gardens and parks in the city contribute to the pollen and thus there must be proper scientific tree plantation?

    • It is important to involve experts while designing parks.
    • We should try to plant trees/shrubs that release no or little pollen.
    • Trees such as palms, nettle, safeda, white mulberry (shahtoot), congress grass, pine, have a high incidence of pollen.

    What kind of trees must be grown alongside our roads or in parks?

    • Plant monoecious plants (male and female flowers on the same plant).
    • Hibiscus, lilies, and holly that are grown widely in Chandigarh are examples of such plants.
    • Cucumbers and squashes are also monoecious. Select plants with low to moderate pollen production.
    • Non-allergic or entomophilous plant species should be chosen to provide an allergen-free atmosphere.
    • Examples of such plants include rose, jasmine, salvia, Bougainvillea, Raat Rani, and sunflower.

    With inputs from:

    Indian Express

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  • Revolution unfolding in data regulation

    Context

    A number of countries have been looking to extend their existing data protection frameworks to ensure that users have more effective control over their data than their regulations currently allow.

    Measures to unlock the data silos

    • Benefits: These measures aimed at unlocking data silos will make it easier for data to flow from the entity that currently holds it to any other data business that might want to use it with the permission of the data subject.
    • In Australia, Consumer Data Right framework will allow consumers in Australia to require any business with which they have a commercial relationship to transfer that data to any other business of their choice.
    • The first sector in which this new data right is being rolled out in the banking sector, with power set to follow close on its heels.
    • The EU’s proposed Data Act will create a fairer data economy by ensuring better access to and use of data and is intended to cover both business-to-business and business-to-government transfers of data.
    • Along similar lines, the EU has also drafted a Data Governance Act to govern the data exchanges and platforms.
    • It will thus both enable and regulate new data-sharing arrangements that will intermediate the transfer of data from data businesses that currently hold it to those that have been permitted to use it.
    • Data regulation to protect and utilize data: Regulatory activity seems to suggest that it is not enough to protect data if you cannot also ensure that this data is effectively utilized.

    What are the issues with regulation measures?

    1) Law and regulation cannot keep pace with technology

    • Technology determines how data is collected, processed and used, and, by extension, the manner in which it is transferred.
    • Decades of trying to regulate technology businesses have taught us that laws and regulation simply cannot keep pace with changes in technology.
    • No matter how fast we move, if the only weapon we are using to regulate technology is the law, we will be doomed to play catch-up forever.
    • These new consumer-centric measures are likely to fail if they are to be implemented solely through legislation.

    2) Data transfers in the absence of a legal framework can lead to problems in India

    • India has adopted a slightly different approach to data transfers known as the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA).
    • DEPA offers a technology-based solution for consent-based data flows, allowing users to transfer their data from data businesses that currently hold them to those that want to use them.
    •  Last week, the country’s Account Aggregator framework—the first implementation of DEPA—went live in the financial sector.
    •  It too suffers from infirmities that could threaten its success.
    • India still does not have a data protection regulation and implementing a technological solution for data transfers in the absence of a legal framework could lead to new problems.

    Way forward: Techno-legal approach

    • Use techno-legal approach to regulate: Technology businesses are most effectively regulated through a judicious mix of law and technology—strong, principle-based laws to provide the regulatory foundation, with protocol-based guardrails to ensure compliance.
    • Seven countries came together to endorse a techno-legal approach to data regulation.
    • If successful, this would be the first global attempt to adopt a techno-legal solution for data-transfer regulation.

    Consider the question “There is growing appreciation in regulatory circles that it is not enough to protect data if you cannot also ensure that this data is effectively utilized” In light of this, examine the challenges in regulation of data while ensuring its safe transfer for utilisation.” 

    Conclusion

    Techno-legal solution offers effective ways to deal with the problems of data regulation and data transfer.

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  • Inspiration4: SpaceX’s first all-civilian space mission

    SpaceX has announced its ‘Inspiration4’ mission, the first all-civilian, non-governmental spaceflight, for launch.

    What is Inspiration4?

    • Inspiraton4 is a part of an effort to raise funds for pediatric treatment and research facility that focuses on children’s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers.
    • The mission involves circling the Earth for three days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.
    • Inspiration4 will orbit the Earth at 575km, higher than the International Space Station (408km) and the Hubble space telescope (547km).
    • This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.
    • The Dragon module that the group will be using has also been modified for the mission.
    • Usually, the SpaceX module is used for travelling to the ISS, where it has to dock or join the floating laboratory.

    UPSC may ask an MCQ asking: Which of the following is/are the space missions related to human flights? It may throw up 4-5 options (which we all get confused at after few months) like Cassini , InSight , Messanger, Voyager etc.

    Key feature: Dome window

    • Since Inspiration4 is not going to the ISS, the docking port has been removed and has been replaced with a dome window instead.
    • This dome window will offer breath-taking views of the Earth for the four travellers.
    • The window has been inspired by the Cupola, a module on the ISS used to make observations about our planet.

    Why is the mission significant?

    • According to a report in the Independent, the journey will present an opportunity for collecting large amounts of health data that will aid in planning future crewed space missions.
    • As per the report, they will collect data on ECG (electrocardiograph) activity, movement, sleep, heart rate, and rhythm, blood oxygen saturation, cabin noise and light intensity, which will help in assessing behavioral and cognitive changes over the journey.
    • The travelers will undergo balance and prescription tests just before and after their journey to assess their response to the change in gravity.
    • The immune system function will also be monitored by collecting blood. Their organ systems will also be monitored by an AI-powered ultrasound device.

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  • What is Wood Wide Web?

    Plants appear to be simple enough in their organization. Whether small shrubs or tall trees, all they seem to be made up of is leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, and roots. But simple they are not. Being rooted in one spot has required very special personality traits.

    Wood Wide Web

    • Trees in the forest share resources by using an underground network.
    • A scientist from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Suzanne Simard, revealed this network and called it the wood wide web.
    • In the wood wide web, mycorrhizal fungi colonize the plant roots, and their tiny fungal filaments, or mycelia, connect hairy root tips of different trees together.
    • Mycorrhizal fungi refer to the role they play in the plant’s root system—as symbionts.
    • These root-associated fungi are harmless to plants. Instead, they form harmonious symbiotic relationships with plants.

    An ancient association

    • The association between plants and fungi is ancient.
    • Fossils of plants from about 400 million years ago show the first evidence of roots, and these roots are fungus associations – rhizoids – suggesting that roots co-evolved with fungi.
    • One good example is species of Penicillium, the fungus from which Alexander Fleming isolated the antibiotic penicillin.
    • Fungus–root associations, called mycorrhizae, appear at first glance to be simple mutualisms that are beneficial to both.
    • The root-invading fungus gains nutrients made by the plant, and the plants get difficult-to-find minerals like phosphorus from the microbe. But the association is deeper.

    How does it work?

    • The wood wide web works by offering a win-win situation for all parties: mycorrhizal fungi and trees.
    • The fungal filaments transport nitrogen, phosphorous, water, and other hard-to-capture nutrients from the soil to the trees, in exchange for carbon-rich sugars made by the plants.
    • The fungi also help deliver substances from one tree to its neighboring trees.
    • By using the network, mature trees feed their seedlings with nutrients to boost their survival.
    • When a plant is sick or dying, it can allocate its nutrients to the other plants nearby through the wood wide web.

    Benefits offered

    • Bacteria that associate with roots are called rhizobacteria, and a very wide range of these species are plant growth promoters.
    • Like the fungi, mutualism operates in these relationships too. In exchange for sugars, these bacteria offer plants a wide range of benefits.
    • They may help plants ward off pathogens that cause diseases of the root. They may even trigger systemic resistance to a pathogen throughout the plant.

    Back2Basics: Symbiotic Relationship

    Parasitism

    • It is a type of interaction between two species that results in damage and harm to one member and benefit to another member.
    • Ex. As in the case of the tick-host relationship, the tick gains benefit by sucking blood while the host is harmed as it loses blood.

    Commensalism

    • In this type of relationship one species benefits without affecting the other.
    • Barnacles growing on the back of the whale, orchids growing as an epiphyte on some mango branch, cattle egret and grazing cattle in close association, Sea anemone, and the Clown Fish are some of the classic examples of Commensalism.

    Amensalism

    • In this relationship, one species is harmed while the other is neither harmed nor benefitted and remains unaffected.
    • When an organism excretes the chemicals as a part of the normal metabolism of its own, but which may severely impact other nearby species, this kind of relationship is seen.

    Mutualism

    • In this type of relationship both the partners benefit from one another. When similar interaction occurs within a species, it is known as cooperation.
    • Lichens a mutual relationship between algae and fungus. In this mutual cooperation, fungus gives protection and raw material for the preparation of the food while Green Algae synthesizes the food for both.

    Saprophytism

    • In this kind of biotic interaction, certain organisms live on dead and decaying organic matter.
    • Dung Beetles, Vultures, Fungi, Bacteria, Protozoa are the example of Saprophytism.

    Predation

    • In this type of biological interaction, a predator feeds upon its prey and in this type of relationship, one species is benefitted while the other is harmed.

    Competition

    • In this type of interaction both the species compete with each other for the resources like food, shelter, mating, and both the species get harmed out of the process of competition.

  • [pib] Formation of Blue Straggler

    Carrying out the first-ever comprehensive analysis of blue stragglers, Indian researchers found that half of the blue stragglers in their sample are formed through mass transfer from a close binary companion star.

    What are Blue Stragglers?

    • A blue straggler is a main-sequence star in an open or globular cluster that is more luminous and bluer than stars at the main sequence turnoff point for the cluster.
    • The most likely explanation is that blue stragglers are the result of stars that come too close to another star or similar mass object and collide.
    • The newly-formed star has thus a higher mass and occupies a position on the HR diagram which would be populated by genuinely young stars.
    • One-third of them are likely formed through collisions of 2 stars, and the remaining are formed through interactions of more than 2 stars.

    How are they formed?

    • A bunch of stars born at the same time from the same cloud form a star cluster.
    • As time passes, each star evolves differently depending on its mass.
    • The most massive and bright stars evolve and move off the main sequence creating a bend in their track, known as the turnoff.
    • Stars above this bend or brighter and hotter stars are not expected in a cluster, as they leave the main sequence to become red giants.
    • But in 1953, Allan Sandage found that some stars seem to be hotter than the turnoff of the parent cluster.

    Behind the nomenclature

    • Initially, these blue stars still straggling above the turnoff were not part of these clusters.
    • However, later studies confirmed that these stars are indeed cluster members, and they were termed “Blue Stragglers”.
    • The only probable way these stars can still be present in these clusters is if they have somehow acquired extra mass along the way while on the main sequence.
    • Confirming the mechanisms of the mass gain required a study using a large sample of blue-straggler stars and estimates of the mass they have gained.

    What have Indian researchers found?

    • Research showed that these stars are primarily present in the older and massive star clusters. And due to their large mass, they are segregated towards the centre of the clusters.
    • The researchers compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive ‘normal’ stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.
    • The study will help improve understanding of these stellar systems to uncover exciting results in studies of large stellar populations, including galaxies.
    • Following these findings, the researchers are conducting detailed analyses of individual blue stragglers in the catalog to obtain their stellar properties.

  • West Nile Virus outbreak in Russia

    Russia warned of a possible increase in West Nile virus infections this autumn as mild temperatures and heavy precipitation create favorable conditions for the mosquitos that carry it.

    West Nile virus (WNV)

    • WNV is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites and can lead to fatal neurological diseases in humans, although most people infected never develop any symptoms.
    • Cases of WNV occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through fall.

    Its origin

    • Originally from Africa, the WNV has spread to Europe, Asia, and North America.
    • It was first isolated in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937.
    • It was identified in birds in the Nile delta region in 1953.
    • Before 1997, WNV was not considered pathogenic for birds.
    • Human infections attributable to WNV have been reported in many countries for over 50 years.

    Symptoms

    • Infected persons usually have no symptoms or mild symptoms.
    • Some of the symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, skin rash, and swollen lymph glands.
    • They can last a few days to several weeks and usually, go away on their own.
    • Prolonged illness may cause inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis, or inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, called meningitis.

    Treatment

    • There is no vaccine against the virus in humans although one exists for horses, the WHO says.

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  • What is Milky Sea Phenomenon?

    Some researchers would use satellites to study the elusive milky sea phenomenon.

    What is the Milky Sea?

    • Milky seas, also called mareel, is a luminous phenomenon in the ocean in which large areas of seawater appear to glow translucently (in varying shades of blue).
    • Such occurrences glow brightly enough at night to be visible from satellites orbiting Earth.
    • They are a rare nocturnal phenomenon in which the ocean’s surface emits a steady bright glow.

    Why do they glow?

    • Luminous bacteria cause the particles they colonize to glow.
    • The purpose of this glow could be to attract fish that eat them.
    • These bacteria thrive in the guts of fishes, so when their populations get too big for their main food supply, a fish’s stomach makes a great second option.

    How do they occur?

    • It is typically caused by Noctiluca scintillans (popularly known as “sea sparkle”), a dinoflagellate that glows when disturbed and is found in oceans throughout much of the world.
    • Once their population gets large enough – about 100 million individual cells per millilitre of water – a sort of internal biological switch is flipped and they all start glowing steadily.

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