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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Moon-forming region seen around an exoplanet for the first time

     

    Scientists for the first time have spotted a Moon-forming region around an exo-planet beyond our solar system.

    What are Exoplanets?

    • More than 4,400 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, called exoplanets.
    • Most orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic center and are untethered to any star.
    • No circumplanetary discs had been found until now because all the known exoplanets resided in “mature” – fully developed – solar systems, except the two infant gas planets orbiting PDS 70.

    What is the new finding?

    • The researchers have detected a disc of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn planets.
    • They were seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70, located a relatively close 370 light-years from Earth.
    • It is called a circumplanetary disc, and it is from these those moons are born.
    • The discovery offers a deeper understanding of the formation of planets and moons.

    Focus of the finding: Formation of disc

    • In our solar system, the impressive rings of Saturn, a planet around which more than 80 moons orbit, represent a relic of a primordial moon-forming disc.
    • The orange-colored star PDS 70, roughly the same mass as our Sun, is about 5 million years old– a blink of the eye in cosmic time.
    • The two planets are even younger. Both planets are similar (although larger) to Jupiter, a gas giant.
    • It was around one of the two planets, called PDS 70c, that a Moon-forming disc was observed.

    Observing birth of a moon: Core Accretion

    • Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies.
    • Leftover material spinning around a new star then coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary discs surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.
    • The dominant mechanism thought to underpin planet formation is called “core accretion”.
    • In this scenario, small dust grains, coated in ice, gradually grow to larger and larger sizes through successive collisions with other grains.
    • This continues until the grains have grown to a size of a planetary core, at which point the young planet has a strong enough gravitational potential to accrete gas which will form its atmosphere.
    • Some nascent planets attract a disc of material around them, with the same process that gives rise to planets around a star leading to the formation of moons around planets.
    • The disc around PDS 70c, with a diameter about equal to the distance of the Earth to the sun, possesses enough mass to produce up to three moons the size of Earth’s moon.

  • What is Monkey B virus?

    China has reported the first human death case with the Monkey B virus (BV).

    What is Monkey B virus?

    • The virus, initially isolated in 1932, is an alphaherpesvirus enzootic in macaques of the genus Macaca.
    • B virus is the only identified old-world-monkey herpes virus that displays severe pathogenicity in humans.

    Answer this question from our AWE initiative:

    There is been an increase in occurance of zoonotic human infectious diseases are zoonotic . Give reasons for this. Also suggest ways to contain and decrease the frequency of such events.(250 Words)

    How is it transmitted?

    • The infection can be transmitted via direct contact and exchange of bodily secretions of monkeys and has a fatality rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
    • According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Macaque monkeys commonly have this virus, and it can be found in their saliva, feces, urine, or brain or spinal cord tissue.
    • The virus may also be found in cells coming from an infected monkey in a lab. B virus can survive for hours on surfaces, particularly when moist.

    When can a human get infected with B virus?

    • Humans can get infected if they are bitten or scratched by an infected monkey.

    Symptoms

    • Symptoms typically start within one month of being exposed to B virus but could appear in as little as three to seven days.
    • The first indications of B virus infection are typically flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills, muscle ache, fatigue and headache.
    • Following this, a person may develop small blisters in the wound or area on the body that came in contact with the monkey.
    • Some other symptoms of the infection include shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and hiccups.
    • As the disease progresses, the virus spreads to and causes inflammation (swelling) of the brain and spinal cord, leading to neurologic and inflammatory symptoms.

    Is there a vaccine against B virus?

    • Currently, there are no vaccines that can protect against B virus infection.

    Who are at higher risk for infection?

    • The virus might pose a potential threat to laboratory workers, veterinarians, and others who may be exposed to monkeys or their specimens.
    • To date, only one case has been documented of an infected person spreading the B virus to another person.

  • Near-Earth Asteroid Scout Mission

    Last week, NASA announced that its new spacecraft, named NEA Scout, has completed all required tests and has been safely tucked inside the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

    For landing on Moon

    • NEA Scout is one of several payloads that will hitch a ride on Artemis I, which is expected to be launched in November.
    • Artemis I will be an uncrewed test-flight of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket.
    • Under the Artemis programme, NASA has aimed to land the first woman on the Moon in 2024 and also establish sustainable lunar exploration programs by 2030.

    What is NEA Scout?

    • Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, or NEA Scout, is a small spacecraft, about the size of a big shoebox. Its main mission is to fly by and collect data from a near-Earth asteroid.
    • It will also be America’s first interplanetary mission using special solar sail propulsion.
    • This type of propulsion is especially useful for small, lightweight spacecraft that cannot carry large amounts of conventional rocket propellant.
    • NEA Scout will use stainless steel alloy booms and deploy an aluminium-coated sail measuring 925 square feet.
    • The large-area sail will generate thrust by reflecting sunlight.
    • Energetic particles of sunlight bounce off the solar sail to give it a gentle, yet constant push.

    How will it study the asteroid?

    • NEA Scout is equipped with special cameras and can take pictures ranging from 50 cm/pixels to 10 cm/pixels.
    • It can also process the image and reduce the file sizes before sending them to the earth-based Deep Space Network via its medium-gain antenna.
    • The spacecraft will take about two years to cruise to the asteroid and will be about 93 million miles away from Earth during the asteroid encounter.

    Why should we study near-Earth asteroids?

    • Despite their size, some of these small asteroids could pose a threat to Earth.
    • Understanding their properties could help us develop strategies for reducing the potential damage caused in the event of an impact.
    • Scientists will use this data to determine what is required to reduce risk, increase effectiveness, and improve the design and operations of robotic and human space exploration.

  • Why does Mercury have such a big iron core?

    Researchers have developed a model showing that the density, mass and iron content of a Mercury’s core is influenced by its distance from the Sun’s magnetic field.

    About Mercury

    • Mercury is the first and the smallest planet in our solar system.
    • It is also the closest planet to Earth.
    • Like the other three terrestrial planets, Mercury contains a core surrounded by a mantle and a crust.
    • But unlike any other planet, Mercury’s core makes up a larger portion of the planet.
    • MESSENGER was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury’s chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field.
    • It was the analysis from the MESSENGER mission that tells: Mercury’s core is solid.

    Mystery over the core

    • It has long been known that Mercury’s core composition is made of liquid metal.
    • The core itself is about 3,600 km across. Surrounding that is a 600 km thick mantle.
    • And around that is the crust, which is believed to be 100-200 km thick.
    • The crust is known to have narrow ridges that extend for hundreds of kilometres.
    • This large core has long been one of the most intriguing mysteries about Mercury.

    Why does Mercury have a large core?

    • A new study reveals that the sun’s magnetism is the reason.
    • The sun’s magnetic field influences the density, mass, and iron content of Mercury’s core.
    • The four inner planets of our solar system—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—are made up of different proportions of metal and rock.
    • A gradient in which the metal content in the core drops off as the planets get farther from the sun.
    • The researchers explain how this happened by showing that the sun’s magnetic field controlled the distribution of raw materials in the early forming solar system.

    What are the key propositions?

    • During the early formation of the solar system, when a swirling dust storm and gas encircled the sun, iron’s grain was drawn toward the centre by the sun’s magnetic field.
    • At the time of planet formation from clumps of that dust and gas, planets nearer to the sun consolidated more iron into their centres than those farther away.
    • Scientists also found that the density and proportion of iron in the planet’s core correlate with the strength of the magnetic field around the sun during planetary formation.
    • Existing models on planetary formation were used to determine the speed at which gas and dust were pulled into the centre of our solar system during its formation.
    • The magnetic field that the sun would have generated as it burst into being and calculated how that magnetic field would draw iron through the dust and gas cloud.

    Cooling led solidification

    • As the early solar system began to cool, dust and gas that were not drawn into the sun started to clump together.
    • The clumps closer to the sun would have been exposed to a stronger magnetic field and thus would contain more iron than those farther away from the sun.
    • As the clumps coalesced and cooled into spinning planets, gravitational forces drew the iron into their core.

  • What are Doppler Radars?

    The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Doppler Radar in Mumbai, which surveys weather patterns and forecasts, stopped working after heavy rainfalls.

    How does a Doppler radar work?

    • In radars, a beam of energy– called radio waves– is emitted from an antenna.
    • When this beam strikes an object in the atmosphere, the energy scatters in all directions, with some reflecting directly back to the radar.
    • The larger the object deflecting the beam, the greater is the amount of energy that the radar receives in return.
    • Observing the time required for the beam to be transmitted and returned to the radar allows weather forecasting departments to “see” raindrops in the atmosphere, and measure their distance from the radar.

    What makes a Doppler radar special?

    • It can provide information on both the position of targets as well as their movement.
    • It does this by tracking the ‘phase’ of transmitted radio wave pulses; phase meaning the shape, position, and form of those pulses.
    • As computers measure the shift in phase between the original pulse and the received echo, the movement of raindrops can be calculated.
    • Thus it is possible to tell whether the precipitation is moving toward or away from the radar.

    Types of Doppler radar

    • In India, Doppler radars of varying frequencies — S-band, C-band and X-band — are commonly used.
    • They help track the movement of weather systems and cloud bands and gauge rainfall over its coverage area of about 500 km.
    • The radars guide meteorologists, particularly in times of extreme weather events like cyclones and associated heavy rainfall.
    • An X-band radar is used to detect thunderstorms and lightning whereas C-band guides in cyclone tracking.

    Why are they called ‘Doppler’ radars?

    • The phase shift in these radars works on the same lines as the “Doppler effect” observed in sound waves.
    • It tells that the sound pitch of an object approaching the observer is higher due to the compression of sound waves (a change in their phase).
    • As this object moves away from the observer, the sound waves stretch, resulting in lower frequency.
    • This effect explains why an approaching train’s whistle sounds louder than the whistle when the train moves away.
    • The discovery of the phenomenon is attributed to Christian Doppler, a 19th-century Austrian physicist.

  • What is UV-C technology?

    The Union Ministry for Science and Technology has informed that Ultraviolet-C or UV-C Disinfection Technology will soon be installed in Parliament for the mitigation of airborne transmission of SARS-COV-2.

    UV-C air duct disinfection system

    • The UV-C air duct disinfection system was developed by CSIR-CSIO (Central Scientific Instruments Organisation).
    • The system is designed to fit into any existing air-ducts and the virucidal dosages using UV-C intensity and residence time can be optimized according to the existing space.
    • The release adds that the virus is deactivated in any aerosol particles by the calibrated levels of UV-C light. It can be used in auditoriums, malls, educational Institutions, AC buses, and railways.

    What is Ultraviolet (UV)?

    • Ultraviolet (UV) is a type of light or radiation naturally emitted by the Sun. It covers a wavelength range of 100-400 nm. The human visible light ranges from 380–700 nm.
    • UV is divided into three bands: UV-C (100-280 nm), UV-B (280-315 nm) and UV-A (315-400 nm).
    • UV-A and UV-B rays from the Sun are transmitted through our atmosphere and all UV-C is filtered by the ozone layer.
    • UV-B rays can only reach the outer layer of our skin or epidermis and can cause sunburns and are also associated with skin cancer.
    • UV-A rays can penetrate the middle layer of your skin or the dermis and can cause ageing of skin cells and indirect damage to cells’ DNA.
    • UV-C radiation from man-made sources has been known to cause skin burns and eye injuries.

    So, can UV-C kill coronavirus?

    • UV-C radiation (wavelength around 254 nm) has been used for decades to disinfect the air in hospitals, laboratories, and also in water treatment.
    • But these conventional germicidal treatments are done in unoccupied rooms as they can cause health problems.
    • It can destroy the outer protein coating of the SARS-Coronavirus.

    Is it safe for humans?

    • The device is specifically developed to disinfect non-living things.
    • UV-C radiation used in this device could be harmful to the skin and eyes of living beings.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.What is the role of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the water purification systems?

    1. It inactivates/kills the harmful microorganisms in water.
    2. It removes all the undesirable odours from the water.
    3. It quickens the sedimentation of solid particles, removes turbidity and improves the clarity of water.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2010)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

  • What is lightning, and how does it strike?

    With the monsoon making a slow revival over several parts of India, except the northwest region, there is a rise in lightning-linked deaths.

    What is lightning?

    • Lightning is a very rapid — and massive — discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.
    • These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.
    • The base of these clouds typically lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while their top is 12-13 km away.
    • Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45 degrees Celsius.

    How does it strike?

    • As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense.
    • Heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
    • As they move to temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
    • This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
    • Collisions follow and trigger the release of electrons — a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity.
    • As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
    • This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged.

    Making of the thunder

    • The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge — of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts.
    • In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
    • An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column between the two layers of the cloud.
    • This heat gives the air column a reddish appearance during lightning. As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.

    How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?

    • While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral.
    • However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged.
    • As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well.
    • It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
    • There is a greater probability of lightning striking tall objects such as trees, towers or buildings.
    • Once it is about 80-100 m from the surface, lightning tends to change course towards these taller objects.
    • This happens because air is a poor conductor of electricity, and electrons that are travelling through air seek both a better conductor and the shortest route to the relatively positively charged Earth’s surface.

    What precautions should be taken against lightning?

    • Lightning rarely hits people directly — but such strikes are almost always fatal.
    • People are most commonly struck by what are called “ground currents”.
    • The electrical energy, after hitting a large object (such as a tree) on Earth, spreads laterally on the ground for some distance, and people in this area receive electrical shocks.
    • It becomes more dangerous if the ground is wet (which it frequently is because of the accompanying rain), or if there is metal or other conducting material on it.
    • Water is a conductor, and many people are struck by lightning while standing in flooded paddy fields.
    • For the reasons given above, taking shelter under a tree is dangerous. Lying flat on the ground too can increase risks.
    • People should move indoors in a storm; however, even indoors, they should avoid touching electrical fittings, wires, metal, and water.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.During a thunderstorm, the thunder in the skies is produced by the:

    1. meeting of cumulonimbus clouds in the sky
    2. lightning that separates the nimbus clouds
    3. violent upward movement of air and water particles

    Select the correct option using the codes given below (CSP 2011):

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) None of the above

  • What is Suborbital Flight?

     

    Virgin Group founder Richard Branson became the first billionaire to fly to the edge of space and back, riding aboard his own Virgin Galactic spacecraft in a suborbital flight.

    What is Suborbital Flight?

    • When an object travels at a horizontal speed of about 28,000 km/hr or more, it goes into orbit once it is above the atmosphere.
    • Satellites need to reach that threshold speed in order to orbit Earth.
    • Such a satellite would be accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity, but its horizontal movement is fast enough to offset the downward motion so that it moves along a circular path.
    • Any object travelling slower than 28,000 km/hr must eventually return to Earth.
    • These are suborbital flights, because they will not be travelling fast enough to orbit Earth once they reach there.
    • Such a trip allows space travellers to experience a few minutes of “weightlessness”.

    Analogical example

    • For an analogy, consider a cricket ball thrown into the air.
    • Given that no human hand can give it a speed of 28,000 km/hr (about 8 m/sec), the ball will fly in an arc until its entire kinetic energy is swapped with potential energy.
    • At that instant, it will lose its vertical motion momentarily, before returning to Earth under the influence of gravity.
    • A suborbital flight is like this cricket ball, but travelling fast enough to reach the “edge of space”, and yet without enough horizontal velocity to go into orbit.
    • If an object travels as fast as 40,000 km/hr, it will achieve escape velocity, and never return to Earth.

    Why the buzz?

    • With Branson and Jeff Bezos kicking off private space flight, several companies are looking for customers wanting to go on suborbital or even orbital journeys.
    • At Branson’s Virgin Galactic, around 600 people have already paid deposits for tickets that are priced up to $250,000 (Rs 1.86 crore).
    • However, Bezos’s Blue Origin, which uses the reusable New Shepard rocket, is yet to announce commercialization plans, according to the BBC.
    • There is also excitement among scientists who want to use suborbital flights for microgravity research.
    • Such flights would be far less expensive than carrying experiments and people to the International Space Station.
    • Suborbital flights could also be an alternative to parabolic flights in airplanes that space agencies currently use to simulate zero gravity.

    Safety concerns

    • The Branson flight comes seven years after his company’s first rocket, called Enterprise, crashed during a test flight, killing one of the pilots on board.
    • The other survived after parachuting out.
    • The current rocket is also not certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which is prohibited to do so by law until 2023.
    • This is because the US government does not want to burden companies like Virgin Atlantic with regulations during their “learning” period, when they can innovate by trying out different designs and procedures.
    • Passengers who go on such trips need to sign “informed consent” forms, similar to the ones before going for skydiving or bungee jumping.

  • What is a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet and how it works?

    Last week, Twitter CEO announced his payments firm Square would soon build a hardware wallet to store bitcoin.

    Bitcoin Hardware Wallet

    • The wallet will be a type of plug-in device, much like a USB pen drive that stores, manages and secures a user’s crypto assets.
    • Each digital asset is linked to a cryptographic password called a ‘private key’ to allow users to access it.
    • This key safeguards cryptocurrencies from theft and unauthorized access.
    • The asset owner, with the help of a secure hardware wallet, can access the private key to buy and sell crypto assets from anywhere.
    • Most hardware wallets allow users to manage multiple accounts; some even allow users to connect to their Google or Facebook accounts.
    • Popular hardware wallets include Trezor, Ledger, KeepKey and Prokey.

    How is it different from a software wallet?

    • Cryptocurrency keys can be stored in two kinds of wallets – software and hardware.
    • Software wallets are like smartphone apps that digitally store private keys.
    • Most software wallets don’t charge users to store private keys but may collect a commission for trading via the app.
    • These wallets can be vulnerable to malware.
    • Hardware wallets and physical devices act like cold storage for confidential keys. The passwords are protected by a PIN, making it difficult for hackers to extract private keys as the information is not exposed to the Internet.

    The upsides of a hardware wallet

    • Hardware wallets are said to be convenient as they can be connected to trading exchanges to complete transactions.
    • Hardware wallets are often stored in a protected microcontroller and cannot be transferred out of the device, making them secure.
    • Their isolation from the Internet also mitigates the risk of the assets being compromised. Moreover, it does not rely on any third-party app.

    Limitations

    • Since the wallet is in physical form, the device could be stolen or destroyed.
    • They could be used by malicious actors to steal confidential data.
    • The device can also be expensive as compared to software wallets.
    • Some hardware wallets can also have complex features, making it difficult for first-timers to understand.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.With reference to “Blockchain Technology”, consider the following statements:

    1. It is a public ledger that everyone can inspect but which no single user controls.
    2. The structure and design of block chain is such that all the data in it are about crypto currency only.
    3. Applications that depend on basic features of blockchain can be developed without anybody’s permission.

    Which of the statement given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3

    Back2Basics: Cryptocurrencies

    • A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database.
    • It uses strong cryptography to secure transaction records, control the creation of additional coins, and verify the transfer of coin ownership.
    • It typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority.
    • Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems.

  • 2020 Millennium Technology Prize  

    The 2020 Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded to Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman, for their development of revolutionary Next-generation DNA sequencing techniques.

    About Millennium Technology Prize

    • The Millennium Technology Prize is one of the world’s largest technology prizes.
    • It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent fund established by Finnish industry and the Finnish state in partnership.

    What is next-generation DNA sequencing?

    • Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a massively parallel sequencing technology that offers ultra-high throughput, scalability, and speed.
    • The technology is used to determine the order of nucleotides in entire genomes or targeted regions of DNA or RNA.
    • These technologies allow for sequencing of DNA and RNA much more quickly and cheaply than the previously used sequencing.
    • NGS has revolutionized the biological sciences, allowing labs to perform a wide variety of applications and study biological systems at a level never before possible.
    • More than a million base pairs can be sequenced, which translates to hundreds of genes or even the whole genome of an organism.
    • This is made possible by simultaneously sequencing hundreds of pieces of DNA at the same time.

    What is sequencing, btw?

    • DNA (or RNA, in some viruses), the genetic material of life forms, is made of four bases (A, T, G and C; with U replacing T in the case of RNA).
    • A chromosome is the duplex of a long linear chain of these – and in the DNA sequence is information – the blueprint of life.
    • Life famously can replicate, and DNA replicates when an enzyme, DNA polymerase, synthesises a complementary strand using an existing DNA strand as the template.
    • The breakthrough idea of Balasubramanian and Klenerman was to sequence DNA (or RNA) using this process of strand synthesis.
    • They cleverly modified their ATGC bases so that each shone with a different colour.
    • When copied, the “coloured” copy of DNA could be deciphered from the colours alone, using miniature optical and electronic devices.

    What about the cost of all this sequencing?

    • When the Human Genome Project delivered the first, near-complete sequence of our genome, the cost was estimated to have been 3 billion dollars.
    • As all our chromosomes together have 3 billion base pairs, it becomes an easy calculation – One dollar per sequenced base.
    • By the year 2020, NGS technologies has pushed the price for sequencing to a few thousands of rupees.

    Back2Basics:

    What is the Human Genome Project?