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Subject: Science and Technology

  • E20 Fuel to Cut Vehicular Emissions

    The government has proposed the adoption of E20 fuel — a blend of 20% of ethanol and gasoline — as an automobile fuel in order to reduce vehicular emissions as well as the country’s oil import bill.

    E20 Fuel

    • E20 is a blend of 20% ethanol with gasoline (petrol) and can be used as an alternative to the fuels currently available.
    • The government is looking at the adoption of mass emission standards for this fuel for transport application.
    • Additionally, it also wishes to facilitate the development of E20 compliant vehicles.
    • The government believes that the E20 blend will not only curb vehicle emissions but help reduce the country’s oil import bill.

    Ethanol – Pros and Cons

    • Ethanol is a common by-product that comes from agricultural feedstock like corn, hemp, potato, etc. It can be used as a bio-fuel in Flexi-fuel vehicles.
    • It is greener than gasoline because the corn and crop plantations absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
    • While the fuel still releases CO2 when you burn it, the net increase is comparatively lower.
    • However, ethanol is less efficient as a fuel. It has lower energy content than energy-rich gasoline and diesel.
    • The rule delivers less power when burned, which in return results in more fuel consumption and lower mileage.
    • Additionally, blends over E20 (20% ethanol) is highly corrosive for older vehicles as the alcohol can break down old rubber seals and can damage engines.

    Vehicle compatibility

    • It added the compatibility of vehicles with the percentage of ethanol in the blend would be defined by the vehicle manufacturer, which would have to be displayed on the vehicle with a sticker.
    • Ethanol is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.

  • What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?

    (a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

    (b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

    (c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

    (d) A herbicidal sub

    What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    • Intentional genomic alteration in animals’ means making specific changes to the genome of the organism using modern molecular technologies.
    • These are popularly referred to as “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”. However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
    • Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
    • One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.

    What does FDA’s recent approval mean?

    • The FDA made the announcement this week and allowed IGA in GalSafe pigs to eliminate a type of sugar found in mammals called alpha-gal.
    • This sugar is present on the surface of these pigs’ cells and when they are used for products such as medicines or food.
    • The sugar is found in red meats such as beef, pork and lamb, the sugar makes some people with Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) more susceptible to developing mild to severe allergic reactions.
    • IGA will help eventually free these products from detectable alpha-gal sugar, thereby protecting their human consumers from potential allergies.

  • Christmas-Star Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter

    After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter – the two largest planets in our solar system – will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” and popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is a coma, in the context of Astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

    What are the Conjunctions?

    • A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth.
    • In June 2005 for instance, as a result of the “spectacular” conjunction, Mercury, Venus and Saturn appeared so close together in the sky that the patch of sky where the three planets were could be covered by a thumb.
    • Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.

    The “Great Conjunction”

    • It happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets takes to orbit around the Sun.
    • Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years.
    • This is because Saturn has a larger orbit and moves more slowly because it is not as strongly influenced by the Sun’s gravitational force as planets that are closer to the Sun.
    • As the two planets move along their orbits, every two decades, Jupiter catches up with Saturn resulting in what astronomers call the great conjunction.

    A ‘rare alignment’

    • Jupiter and Saturn are bright planets and can be typically seen with the naked eye even from cities.
    • But during conjunction, they appear to be close to each other, which is what makes the event noteworthy.
    • The event will coincide with the winter solstice (shortest day of the year in terms of hours of sunlight received) in the Northern Hemisphere and summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
    • This year, however, the event is rare because the planets will come the closest to each other in nearly four centuries; in what astronomer Henry Throop described is a result of a “rare alignment” of the planets.

  • Koothambalam of Guruvayur Temple

    The renovated Koothambalam of the Sreekrishna temple, Guruvayur, has been selected for the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for cultural heritage conservation.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Building ‘Kalyana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-
    (a) Chalukya
    (b) Chandela
    (c) Rashtrakuta
    (d) Vijayanagara

    What is Koothambalam?

    • Koothambalam meaning temple theatre is a closed hall for staging Koothu, Nangiar koothu and Koodiyattam, the ancient ritualistic art forms of Kerala.
    • Koothambalams are said to be constructed according to the guidelines given in chapter 2 of Nātyasāstra of Bharata Muni.
    • The stage within the hall is considered to be as sacred as the temple sanctum.

    Its’ construction

    • It is constructed within the cloister of the Temple; more precisely within the pancaprakaras of the temple. The prescribe location is between the prakaras of bahyahara and maryada.
    • In Kerala tradition, it is considered as one among the panchaprasadas of a temple complex.
    • Its dimension varies from temple to temple.
    • A square platform with a separate pyramidal roof supported by pillars in the centre called natyamandapam is constructed as s separate structure within the large hall of Koothampalam.
    • The floor of the hall is divided into two equal halves and one part is for performance (including stage, instruments, green room etc.) and another half for seating audience.

    About Guruvayur Temple

    • It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu lord, Guruvayurappan (a four-armed form of the Lord Vishnu), located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala.
    • It is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus in Kerala and is often referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta (Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth).

  • CMS-01 Satellite launched by ISRO

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into a transfer orbit India’s 42nd communications satellite, CMS-01, carried onboard the PSLV-C50.

    CMS-01

    • It is a communications satellite envisaged for providing services in extended C Band of the frequency spectrum and its coverage will include the Indian mainland and the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, the ISRO.
    • The satellite is expected to have a life of over seven years.
    • It was injected precisely into its pre-defined sub- geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
    • CMS-01 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satellite GSAT-12. It provides services like tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster management support and Satellite Internet access.

    What is GTO?

    • A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit.
    • Satellites which are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit.
    • A GTO is highly elliptic.
    • Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit.

  • [pib] Metal CO2 Battery

    India’s planetary missions like Mars Mission may soon be able to reduce payload mass and launch costs with the help of an indigenously developed Metal- CO2 battery with CO2 as an Energy Carrier.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce one of the following as “exhaust”:

    (a) NH3

    (b) CH4

    (c) H2O

    (d) H2O2

    Metal CO2 Battery

    • An IIT professor recently demonstrated the technical feasibility of Lithium- CO2 battery in simulated Mars atmosphere for the first time.
    • The development of Metal-CO2 batteries will provide highly specific energy density with the reduction in mass and volume, which will reduce payload mass and launch cost of planetary missions.
    • Metal-CO2 batteries have a great potential to offer significantly high energy density than the currently used Li-ion batteries.
    • They provide a useful solution to fix CO2 emissions, which is better than energy-intensive traditional CO2 fixation methods.

    It’s working

    • A primary Li-CO2 battery uses pure carbon dioxide as a cathode.
    • According to chemical knowledge, Lithium metal can react with CO2 to form lithium oxalate at room temperature.
    • While at high temperatures, lithium oxalate decomposes to form lithium carbonate and carbon monoxide gas.

  • Chang’e 5 returns to Earth carrying moon rocks

    A Chinese lunar capsule has returned to Earth with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What do you understand by the term Aitken basin:

    (a) It is a desert in the southern Chile which is known to be the only location on earth where no rainfall takes place

    (b) It is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon

    (c) It is a Pacific coast basin, which is known to house large amounts of oil and gas

    (d) It is a deep hyper saline anoxic basin where no aquatic animals are found

    Chang’e-5 Probe

    • The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, aims to shovel up lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.
    • The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long.
    • It will collect 2 kg of surface material from a previously unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — which consist of vast lava plain.
    • The original mission, planned for 2017, was delayed due to an engine failure in China’s Long March 5 launch rocket.

    A big achievement

    • The successful mission was the latest breakthrough for China’s increasingly ambitious space programme that includes a robotic mission to Mars and plans for a permanent orbiting space station.
    • This return marked China’s third successful lunar landing but the only one to lift off again from the moon.
    • It also marked the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.

    Significance of the mission

    • Rocks found on the Moon are older than any that have been found on Earth and therefore they are valuable in providing information about the Earth and the Moon’s shared history.
    • Lunar samples can help to unravel some important questions in lunar science and astronomy, including the Moon’s age, its formation, the similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon’s geologic features.
    • For instance, the shape, size, arrangement and composition of individual grains and crystals in a rock can tell scientists about its history, while the radioactive clock can tell them the rock’s age.
    • Further, tiny cracks in rocks can tell them about the radiation history of the Sun in the last 100,000 years.

  • Galaxy NGC 6240

    NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shared the images of Galaxy NGC 6240 that contains two supermassive Black Holes in the process of merging.

    From astronomers to general space enthusiasts, black holes are a topic of interest for many. If you’re someone who spends a lot of their time researching facts about this region of space-time or watching videos on the same, then you must check out this news.

    Galaxy NGC 6240

    • The black holes, located in Galaxy NGC 6240 are 3,000 light-years apart and they will drift together to form a larger black hole millions of years from now.
    • As per a blog post by the observatory, the merging process began some 30 million years ago
    • The pairs of massive black holes in the process of merging are expected to be the most powerful sources of gravitational waves in the Universe.
    • Seen as the bright ‘dots’ near the centre of this image, the black holes are just 3,000 light-years apart.

    About Chandra X-ray Observatory

    • It is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes.
    • Orbiting at 139,000 km in space, the telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-93 by NASA in 1999.

  • Hydroponics: the art of soil-less farming

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

    Many questions related to agricultural techniques are being asked in the Prelims. UPSC has done away with traditional crop-related questions for the past two years. 

    For example, see this question from CSP 2020:

    Q.What are the advantages of fertigation in agriculture?

    1. Controlling the alkalinity of irrigation water is possible.
      2. Efficient application of Rock Phosphate and all other phosphatic fertilizers is possible.
      3. Increased availability of nutrients to plants is possible.
      4. Reduction in the leaching of chemical nutrients is possible.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:
    (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

    (b) 1,2 and 4 only

    (c) 1,3 and 4 only

    (d) 2, 3 and 4 only

    What is hydroponics?

    Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants without using soil.

    • Hydroponic flowers, herbs, and vegetables are planted in inert growing media and supplied with nutrient-rich solutions, oxygen, and water.
    • This system fosters rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality.
    • When a plant is grown in soil, its roots are perpetually searching for the necessary nutrition to support the plant.
    • If a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy in sustaining itself.
    • The energy the roots would have expended acquiring food and water can be redirected into the plant’s maturation. As a result, leaf growth flourishes as does the blooming of fruits and flowers.

    Why Hydroponics?

    • Plants sustain themselves by a process called photosynthesis. But they do not need soil to photosynthesize.
    • They need the soil to supply them with water and nutrients.
    • When nutrients are dissolved in water they can be applied directly to the plant’s root system by flooding, misting, or immersion.
    • Hydroponic innovations have proven direct exposure to nutrient-filled water can be a more effective and versatile method of growth than traditional irrigation.

    How does hydroponics work?

    • Hydroponic systems work by allowing minute control over environmental conditions like temperature and pH balance and maximized exposure to nutrients and water.
    • It administers nutrient solutions tailored to the needs of the particular plant being grown.
    • They allow you to control exactly how much light the plants receive and for how long.
    • pH levels can be monitored and adjusted. In a highly customized and controlled environment, plant growth accelerates.

    Components of Hydroponics

    To maintain a flourishing hydroponic system, we need to become acquainted with a few components that make it run efficiently.

    (1) Growing media

    • Hydroponic plants are often grown in inert media that support the plant’s weight and anchor its root structure.
    • Growing media is the substitute for soil, however, it does not provide any independent nutrition to the plant.
    • Instead, this porous media retains moisture and nutrients from the nutrient solution which it then delivers to the plant.

    (2) Air stones and air pumps

    • Plants that are submerged in water can quickly drown if the water is not sufficiently aerated. Air stones disperse tiny bubbles of dissolved oxygen throughout your nutrient solution reservoir.
    • These bubbles also help evenly distribute the dissolved nutrients in the solution. Air stones do not generate oxygen on their own.
    • They need to be attached to an external air pump via opaque food grade plastic tubing

    (3) Net pots

    • Net pots are mesh planters that hold hydroponic plants. The latticed material allows roots to grow out of the sides and bottom of the pot, giving greater exposure to oxygen and nutrients.
    • Net pots also provide superior drainage compared to traditional clay or plastic pots.

    Benefits

    By controlling the environment of the plant in hydroponics, many risk factors are reduced:

    • Plants grown in gardens and fields are introduced to a host of variables that negatively impact their health and growth. Fungus in the soil can spread diseases to plants.
    • Wildlife like rabbits can plunder ripening vegetables from your garden.
    • Pests like locusts can descend on crops and obliterate them in an afternoon. Hydroponic systems end the unpredictability of growing plants outdoors and in the earth.
    • Without the mechanical resistance of the soil, seedlings can mature much faster.
    • By eliminating pesticides, hydroponics produces much healthier and high-quality fruits and vegetables. Without obstacles, plants are free to grow vigorously and rapidly.

    Various limitations

    • A hydroponic system isn’t cheap
    • Constant monitoring is required
    • Micro-organisms that are water-based can creep in rather easily
    • Growing a hydroponic garden demands an expertise
    • Production is limited compared to field conditions
    • If a disease appears, all plants in the system will be affected
    • Without soil to serve as a buffer if the system fails plant death will occur rapidly

  • How epigenetics alters inherited genetics’ message

    Researchers have found the cause of vision impairment due to ageing as the accumulation of “epigenetic noise” that disrupts gene expression patterns leading to changes in inherent DNA function

    Genetics is an all-time favourite of UPSC. Every year you can find a question in prelims. Try this one from CSP 2020:

     

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    1. Genetic changes can be introduced in the cells that produce eggs or sperms of a prospective parent
    2. A person’s genome can be edited before birth at the early embryonic stage.
    3. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells can be injected into the embryo of a pig.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    What is Epigenetics?

    • Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
    • Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.
    • Environmental stimuli can cause genes to be turned off or turned on.
    • This determines a cell’s specialization (e.g., skin cell, blood cell, hair cell, liver cells, etc.) as a fetus develops into a baby through gene expression (active) or silencing (dormant); and nurture.
    • This normal epigenetic control on our genes can get altered during normal ageing, stress and disease conditions.

    Cellular regulators

    • The functioning of cells and tissues in our body are controlled by thousands of proteins that regulate various cellular functions.
    • These proteins are in turn encoded by the respective genes which are a part of our genome or the cellular DNA.
    • Any minor or major changes to our inherited DNA (addition or mutation) can result in altered protein production, which in turn leads to defective cellular functions.
    • This forms the basis for many heritable genetic disorders affecting mankind.

    A trigger for various inactivities

    • Apart from DNA or protein sequence level alterations, there are other biochemical changes that influence and dictate if a gene should be active or inactive in a given cell type.
    • For example, the gene that encodes for the insulin protein is present in the exact form, in every cell of the body.
    • However, it is allowed to express only in the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas and is kept inactive in the rest of the cells of the body.
    • This phenomenon is tightly regulated by a combination of regulatory proteins that changes the expressivity of the gene.
    • Also, the histone proteins that bind the DNA and help to compactly wrap it inside the chromosomes can undergo chemical modifications such as methylations and acetylations on different lysine amino acids within the protein.
    • These modifications both on the DNA and its associated proteins alter the chromosomal conformations and regulate gene expression.
    • These changes can either unwind the DNA and allow gene expression or can compact the DNA and render the genes in the region inactive or silent.

    Epigenetics and the human eye

    • The human (and mammalian) eye is a remarkable organ in the course of evolution which has allowed us to “see” the external world clearly and in colour.
    • Earlier forms, such as microbes and plants, reacted to light in other ways (for absorption and use, such as photosynthesis).
    • The front part of the human eye (cornea, lens and the vitreous humour gel) is transparent, colourless and helps focus the incoming light into the retina, helping us see colour.
    • It is the retina that sends the message to the brain.
    • Its main component, called the retinal ganglion cells (RGC) are the ones that help in this process of sending the message in the form of electrical signals, called neurons or nerve cells.
    • Thus, RGCs are the ones that convert optics into electronics.