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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Species in news: Hypnea Indica

    Two new species of seaweed have been discovered by a group of marine biologists from the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

    What are the species?

    • Named Hypnea indica (after India) and Hypnea bullata (because of the blisterlike marks on its body – bullate), the seaweeds are part of the genus Hypnea or red seaweeds.
    • They grow in the intertidal regions of the coast, namely the area that is submerged during the high tide and exposed during low tides.

    Do you know?

    Red Algae have great ecological importance. They form a vital part of the food chain and are also involved in producing about 40 to 60 per cent of the total global oxygen for both terrestrial habitat and other aquatic habitats.

    Details of the genus

    • The genus Hypnea consists of calcareous, erect, branched red seaweeds.
    • While Hypnea indica was discovered Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, and Somnath Pathan and Sivrajpur in Gujarat, Hypnea bullata was discovered from Kanyakumari and Diu island of Daman and Diu.
    • There are 61 species of which 10 were reported in India.

    Significance for the food industry

    • Species of Hypnea contain the biomolecule carrageenan, which is widely used in the food industry.
    • As the two species have been found on the west and south-east coasts of India, it suggests good prospects for their cultivation which can be put to good use economically.
    • The extensive calcareous deposit on the body that has been observed also provides room for thought.

  • Space weather preparedness is in our national interest

    The article suggests the need for space weather preparedness to protect the satellite constellations in the future.

    Satellite constellations

    • By 2030, the global space industry could add almost 50,000 new commercial satellites to the existing 5,000.
    • These would include earth-observation satellites selling commercial imagery, telecom orbiters providing 5G and next-in-line 6G data services, and meteorological ones selling weather-forecasts and datasets.
    • The increasing dependence of the digital economy on satellite constellations is spurring investment in this area.

    Risks involved

    • The most important threat to the constellation of satellites will be the collisions between satellites.
    • Such collision could result in massive free-floating space debris.
    • A 2020 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report estimates that protecting satellites from space debris could cost 5-10% more per space mission.
    • Another threat to satellite constellations is that of extreme space weather events, and this cannot be addressed by space and digital players alone.
    • It demands the attention of governments.

    Improving space weather forecasting ability

    • Last October, the US Congress passed an Act that directs civilian and military agencies to reinforce national space weather forecasting abilities.
    • China transferred its meteorological, hydrological and space weather command from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general staff department to the PLA strategic support force, the latter being its new branch for cyber, space and e-warfare.

    Lessons for India

    • India’s economy is expected to become increasingly dependent on space- and ground-based commercial, civilian and military assets.
    • These will be vulnerable to extreme space weather events.
    • India is progressing with its capital-intensive planetary exploration and human space-flight projects.
    • we must deploy across-the-board space-weather monitoring, forecasting and response systems designed to safeguard deep-space assets and protect our gaganauts.
    • Consequently, it is imperative for the government to develop and adopt space weather forecasts before initiating outer space activities.
    • India, therefore, needs legislation like America’s to issues cross-ministerial directions.
    • The Indian scientific community operates numerous ground-based ‘sun observing’ telescopes across India, and is well connected with its international peers.
    • In the coming months India is expected to launch Aditya-L1, a space-based solar observatory, with assistance from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
    • The data generated by it will be crucial for India’s space weather monitoring ambitions.
    • But without a national policy backed by legislation, the scientific community would find it difficult to meet the strategic demands of the conjoined space and digital economies.

    Consider the question “The increasing dependence of the digital economy on satellite constellations is spurring investment in this area. But it is not risk-free. In light of this, examine the risks involved and suggest the measures to deal with the risks.” 

    Conclusion

    The enactment of a space weather law could help the country protect its digital and telecom systems that extend to outer space from destructive solar storms and intense solar and galactic radiation whiplashes.

  • Early bud-break genes and climate change

    Changing climate has transformed the time spring unfolds in front of us.

    Early bud-break

    • Bud-break — which is when trees leaf out — has undergone a change.
    • Several trees initiate bud-break too early or too late, which affects the harvest.
    • Spring, for example, arrived earlier than usual in Kashmir this year due to higher temperatures in February and March.
    • Gul-tour, a spring-flowering herb started blooming in mid-February in Kashmir. Its yellow flowers would usually blossom in March, heralding Spring.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Other than resistance to pests, what are the prospects for which genetically engineered plants have been created?

    1. To enable them to withstand drought
    2. To increase the nutritive value of the produce
    3. To enable them to grow and do photosynthesis in spaceships and space stations
    4. To increase their shelf life

    Select the correct answer using the code given below

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 and 4 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Answer: (d)

    What causes early bud-break?

    • This is why understanding the genetics of bud-break helps scientists modify or select crop varieties that can be more resilient to the climate threat.
    • The properties of transcription factors are genes that regulate other genes by binding to deoxyribonucleic acid and giving activation instructions.
    • It helps scientists determine what other genes might be involved in a process such as a bud-break.

    EBB genes

    • Researchers of the study had earlier identified transcription factors for early bud-break 1 (EBB1) and short vegetative phase (SVL), which directly interact to control bud-break.
    • EBB1 is a positive regulator of bud-break, whereas SVL is a negative regulator of bud-break.
    • Now, the research team has identified and characterized the early bud-break 3 (EBB3) gene.

    Identified mechanism of Bud-break

    • EBB3 is a temperature-responsive, positive regulator of bud-break that provides a direct link to activation of the cell cycle during bud-break.
    • EBB3 provides a direct link through the signalling pathway for how these cells divide.
    • The analysis reveals how particular genes activate through the season or in response to specific environmental factors.

    Significance of the study

    • New approaches for accelerated tree adaptation to climate change helps ensure bud-break happens at the right time each spring.
    • Using their understanding of the genetic pathways that control bud-break, scientists hope to genetically modify crops to adapt to warmer winters and unpredictable frosts.

  • Emerging crisis of obtaining Helium in India

    India imports helium for its needs and with the U.S. appearing set to cut off exports of helium since 2021, the Indian industry stands to lose out heavily.

    Helium is not just for balloons but it is the key ingredient for India’s high technology and the most sophisticated medical diagnosis.

    Helium on Earth

    • Helium is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2.
    • It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas, the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements.

    Its discovery

    • In 1906 a young Englishman by the name of Moris Travers arrived in Bangalore, to take up the position of the Director of Indian Institute of Science.
    • Travers extracted helium in small quantity by heating up monazite sand abundantly available in Kerala beach, in a pioneering effort.
    • Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes liquefied Helium by cooling the gas to -270 degrees Celsius.
    • It is known that Onnes collected helium gas from the springs of Bath in Baden Baden, Germany for his liquefaction experiment.

    Helium in India

    • India’s Rajmahal volcanic basin is the storehouse of helium trapped for billions of years, since the very birth of our Earth from the Sun.
    • At present, researchers are mapping the Rajmahal basin extensively for future exploration and harnessing of helium.

    Why India needs Helium?

    • Every year, India imports helium worth Rs 55,000 crores from the U.S. to meet its needs.
    • Helium is used in medicine, scientific research, for blimp inflation, party balloons as well as having welding applications.
    • It finds many applications, mainly in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, in rockets and in nuclear reactors.

    US monopoly in Helium

    • The U.S. became the most important exporter of helium across the world.
    • It was soon realized that the U.S. was also the biggest storehouse of helium.
    • The US is now planning to switch off the export of helium from 2021.
    • Qatar is a possible exporter but acute political and diplomatic wrangles have made Qatar unreliable.

  • Carbon footprint of Bitcoins

    At a time when investors around the world are scrambling to follow the newest financial trend, very few are bothered about the carbon footprint that the cryptocurrency is leaving behind.

    If Bitcoin were a country, it would consume more electricity than Austria or Bangladesh!

    Footprint of Bitcoins

    • T A recent study by Alex de Vries, a Dutch economist, has shown that Bitcoins leave behind a carbon footprint of 38.10 Mt a year.
    • The annual carbon footprint of Bitcoins is almost equivalent to that of Mumbai, or to put it to a global perspective, as high as the carbon footprint of Slovakia.
    • A recent study has shown that Bitcoins leave behind a carbon footprint of 38.10 Mt a year.
    • According to a study titled ‘CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion (Highlights) 2017’, Mumbai’s yearly carbon footprint stands at 32 Mt, while Bangalore’s is at 21.60 Mt.
    • Vries has been able to create a Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, one of the first systematic attempts to estimate the energy use of the bitcoin network.

    Relation between creating bitcoins and electricity required

    • Bitcoins are created by “mining” coins, for which high-tech computers are used for long hours to do complex calculations.
    • The more coins there are in the market, the longer it takes to “mine” a new one and in the process, more electricity is consumed.
    • As mining provides a solid source of revenue, people are willing to run power-hungry machines for hours to get a piece.
    • In 2017, the Bitcoin network consumed 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity a year.
    • As such, each bitcoin transaction roughly requires an average of 300kg of carbon dioxide – which is equivalent to the carbon footprint produced by 750,000 credit cards swiped.

    Calculating the carbon footprint

    • The major problem with mining Bitcoin is not its massive energy-consumption nature; it is the fact that most of the mining facilities are located in regions that rely heavily on coal-based power.
    • Earlier, determining the carbon impact of the Bitcoin network was difficult as tracking down miners was never easy.
    • As per the estimates of De Vries, roughly 60% of the costs of bitcoin mining is the price of the electricity used.
    • The price of a Bitcoin stood at $42,000 and at this rate; miners would be earning around $15 billion annually.

    Other impacts of Bitcoin mining

    • The effects of cryptocurrency mining often spill over to other parts of the economy.
    • With miners using high-tech computers for hours to formulate new blockchains, these machines do not last long.
    • Manufacturers of Bitcoin mining devices need a substantial number of chips to produce these machines and recently, during the Covid-19 crisis, the world had witnessed a shortage of these chips.
    • This shortage, now, in turn, started affecting the production of electric vehicles around the world.

    What can be done to control the carbon footprint?

    • The Dutch economist asks policymakers to follow the path shown by Québec in Canada, where a moratorium on new mining operations has been imposed.
    • Although Bitcoin might be a decentralized currency, many aspects of the ecosystem surrounding it are not.
    • Large-scale miners can easily be targeted with higher electricity rates, moratoria, or, in the most extreme case, confiscation of the equipment used.
    • Governments can also ban cryptocurrencies from digital asset marketplaces as it will affect the prices of a digital currency.

    India and the cryptocurrency

    • The country, at present, has around 75 lakh cryptocurrency investors who have together pooled over Rs 10,000 crore into Bitcoins and other such digital currencies.
    • The prices have surged by over 900%, courtesy of the worldwide boom – a single bitcoin that used to cost around Rs 4 lakh in 2020 now costs somewhere around Rs 41 lakh now.
    • FM Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Centre will take a “calibrated approach” and leave a window open for experiments with blockchain technology.

  • [pib] What is Artificial Photosynthesis?

    Scientists have found a method to mimic nature’s own process of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, namely photosynthesis, to capture excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

    Artificial Photosynthesis

    • Artificial photosynthesis (AP) is a chemical process that mimics the natural process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.
    • The term artificial photosynthesis is commonly used to refer to any scheme for capturing and storing the energy from sunlight in the chemical bonds of fuel (a solar fuel).
    • Photocatalytic water splitting converts water into hydrogen and oxygen and is a major research topic of artificial photosynthesis.
    • Light-driven carbon dioxide reduction is another process studied that replicates natural carbon fixation.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which of the following adds/add carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on the planet Earth?

    1. Volcanic action
    2. Respiration
    3. Photosynthesis
    4. Decay of organic matter

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Challenges in AP

    • Research on this topic includes the engineering of enzymes and photoautotrophic microorganisms for microbial biofuel and biohydrogen production from sunlight.
    • This AP harnesses solar energy and converts the captured carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide (CO), which can be used as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
    • In AP, scientists are essentially conducting the same fundamental process in natural photosynthesis but with simpler nanostructures.
    • However, there are plenty of hurdles to overcome as a successful catalyst to carry out AP.

    What have Indian researchers achieved?

    • Indian researchers have designed and fabricated an integrated catalytic system based on a metal-organic framework (MOF-808) comprising of a photosensitizer that can harness solar power and a catalytic centre that can eventually reduce CO2.
    • A photosensitizer is a molecule that absorbs light and transfers the electron from the incident light into another nearby molecule.
    • The scientists have immobilized a photosensitizer, which is a chemical called ruthenium bipyridyl complex ([Ru (bpy)2Cl2]) and a catalytic part which is another chemical called rhenium carbonyl complex ([Re(CO)5Cl]).
    • They have fabricated it inside the nano space of a metal-organic framework for artificial photosynthesis.

    Outcomes of the research

    • The developed catalyst exhibited excellent visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to CO with more than 99% selectivity.
    • The catalyst also oxidizes water to produce oxygen (O2).
    • The Photocatalytic assembly, when assessed for CO2 reduction under direct sunlight in a water medium without any additives, showed superior performance of CO production.
    • Being heterogeneous, the integrated catalytic assembly can be reused for several catalytic cycles without losing its activity.

    Back2Basics:  Photosynthesis

    • It is the process by which green plants and certain other organisms transform light energy into chemical energy.
    • It is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism’s metabolic activities.
    • This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis.

  • [pib] High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)

    Indian Scientists from Bangalore have developed a highly reliable, High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMTs) that is normally OFF the device and can switch currents up to 4A and operates at 600V.

    We cannot deny the possibility of a complex S&T based prelims question. This newscard seems very technical. However many of you might be aware of the p-n junction diodes and conventional transistors.

    What is HEMT?

    • A high electron mobility transistor or HEMT is a type of field-effect transistor (FET) that is used to produce a high performance at microwave frequencies.
    • The HEMT provides a fusion of low noise figure that comes combined with the unique ability to function at very high microwave frequencies.
    • These devices are commonly used in aspects of radiofrequency designs that require high performance at high-frequency levels.
    • They produce a high gain, which makes these transistors very useful as amplifiers. They can switch speeds very rapidly.
    • And finally, they produce very low noise values as the current variations in these transistors are comparatively low.

    Practical applications of HEMT

    • HEMTs are used in applications where microwave millimetre wave communications are conducted.
    • They are also used for radar, imaging, as well as radio astronomy.
    • They are also used in voltage converter applications.
    • These transistors are also ideal as digital on-off switches in integrated circuits, and to be used as amplifiers for huge amounts of current by using a small voltage as a control signal.

    What is the news?

    First-ever indigenous HEMT

    • This first-ever indigenous HEMT device made from gallium nitride (GaN) is useful in electric cars, locomotives, power transmission and other areas requiring high voltage and high-frequency switching.
    • It would reduce the cost of importing such stable and efficient transistors required in power electronics.

    How does it work?

    • Power electronic systems demand high blocking voltage in OFF-state and high current in ON-state for efficient switching performance.
    • Specific transistors called HEMTs made of aluminium gallium nitride/ gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) provides an edge over silicon-based transistors as they allow the systems to operate at very high voltages, switch ON and OFF faster, and occupy less space.
    • Commercially available AlGaN/GaN HEMTs use techniques to keep the transistor in a normally OFF state, which affects the stability, performance and reliability of the device.
    • Therefore, to meet this need, researchers have developed a new kind of HEMT, which is in the OFF state by default and works like any other commonly used power transistor.

  • Martian ‘Blueberries’

    In 2004, NASA’s Mars exploration rover ‘Opportunity’ found several small spheres on the planet, informally named Martian blueberries which find a resemblance to the similar formation in India’s Kutch region.

    There have been several missions to the red planet this year. Make a note of all of them.

    Martian blueberries

    • Opportunity’s mini spectrometers studied mineralogy and noted they were made of iron oxide compounds called haematites.
    • This caused excitement, as the presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars.
    • The widely accepted formation mechanism of hematite concretion [hard solid mass] is precipitation from aqueous fluids.
    • Hematite is known to form in oxidizing environments hence it can be inferred that water must have played a crucial role in the formation of grey hematite on Mars.

    What makes them so special?

    • Indian researchers have been studying hematite concretions in Kutch called the Jhuran formation.
    • These formations are 145 and 201 million years old.
    • Detailed geochemistry and spectroscopic investigations of the haematite concretions in this area revealed that they resemble the ones on Mars.
    • They have similar morphology – spherical, often doublet and triplet – and similar mineralogy – a mixture of haematite and goethite.
    • Hence, several types of research have shown that the Kutch area is a potential Martian analogue locality.

  • Raman Thermometry check on health of power lines

    Researchers at IIT Madras have demonstrated that by using Raman thermometry on fibre optic cables, they can achieve the monitoring of power transmission cables.

    What is Raman Thermometry?

    • Raman spectroscopy is well known as an analytical method for identifying chemical compounds and characterizing the chemical bonding and solid-state structure of materials.
    • Perhaps less well known is the fact that one can use Raman spectroscopy to determine the temperature of the material being analyzed.

    For that, we need to get familiarized with Raman Effect

    • India’s first and so far only Nobel laureate in physics, C.V. Raman, won the prize for his discovery of the Raman Effect.
    • This consisted of experimental observations on the scattering of light.
    • In the Raman Effect, when light is scattered off an object, say a molecule, two bands are observed, with a higher and lower frequency than the original light, called the Stokes and anti-Stokes bands, respectively.
    • By studying the relative intensity of the two bands, it is possible to estimate the temperature of the object that scattered the light.
    • The anti-Stokes component of Raman scattering is strongly dependent on the temperature that the material is subjected to.

    Thus, by measuring the intensity of the anti-Stokes scattered light we can estimate the temperature. This is Raman thermometry.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which Indian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate predicted rapidly rotating stars emit polarized light?

    (a) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

    (b) CV Raman

    (c) Ramanujan

    (d) Amartya Sen

    What has IITM achieved?

    • The temperature measurement was performed in not just one location, but in a distributed manner using an optical fibre.
    • To achieve this, a pulse of light was launched into the optical fibre and the backscattered radiation was observed.
    • The time of flight of the backscattered radiation provided an estimate of the distance from which the light is backscattered.
    • This can go up to tens of kilometres. This technique is married to Raman thermometry to get the results for actual measurements over tens of kilometres.

    What makes this experiment special?

    • The distribution Sector considered the weakest link in the entire power sector.
    • We are much aware of Transmission and Distribution loss that is incurred to our DISCOMS.
    • This IITM technology helps analyze transmission efficiencies in a better way.
    • The present method devised by the team is both economical and provides real-time information.

  • Genetics of Eye Color

    Researchers from London have found that eye colour in Asians with different shades of brown is genetically similar to eye colour in Europeans ranging from dark brown to light blue.

    Human Eye Colour

    • Human eye colour ranges from black, brown to blue, green, and even red.
    • Eye colour is primarily determined by melanin abundance within the iris pigment epithelium, which is greater in brown than in blue eyes.
    • There are two forms of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin – and the ratio of the two within the iris as well as light absorption and scattering by extracellular components are additional factors that give irises their colour.
    • Absolute melanin quantity and the eumelanin–pheomelanin ratio is higher in brown irises, while blue or green irises have very little of both pigments and relatively more pheomelanin.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently, LASIK (Lasser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) procedure is being made popular for vision correction. Which one of the following statements in this context is not correct?

    (a) LASIK procedure is used to correct refractive errors of the eye

    (b) It is a procedure that permanently changes the shapes of the cornea

    (c) It reduces a person’s dependence on glasses or contact lenses

    (d) It is a procedure that can be done on the person of any age

    What has the research found?

    • Previously a dozen genes (mainly HERC2 and OCA2) were found to influence eye colour.
    • The researchers have now identified 50 new genes for eye colour.
    • Genetic analysis of nearly 0.2 million people across Europe and Asia helped the researchers to identify the new genes.
    • The findings collectively explain over 53% of eye colour variation using common single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

    Outcome of the research

    • Overall, the study outcomes demonstrate that the genetic complexity of human eye colour considerably exceeds previous knowledge and expectations.
    • These findings will help improve our understanding of eye diseases such as pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism where pigment levels play a role.