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Subject: Science and Technology

  • [op-ed of the day] The age of ubiquitous drones and the challenges overhead

    Context

    Increasing the use of drones in warfare and other areas has brought into focus the potential the use of drones hold and the other issues related to its misuse.

    Recent events featuring drones

    • A drone was used by the U.S. to fire the missile at Qassem Soleimani to assassinate him.
    • A few days before that, less-lethal drones monitored crowds of student protesters rocking India.

    A potential area of use of drones

    • Military and Policing: Drones are largely used for military or policing purposes, but they also have other uses.
    • Recreation and Sports: They are used for recreation and sports. The Chinese company DJI dominates this space.
    • Logistics: Logistics is another use, with Amazon developing last-mile drone delivery.
    • At scale, this delivery model can save money, energy and time.
    • Domino’s extended this logic to deliver its first pizza by drone in New Zealand and is experimenting with scaling this model up in many markets.
    • Botswana has had some successful trials where drones have delivered blood and life-saving drugs to villages out in the wilderness.
    • Agriculture: A startup called Terraview uses drones with advanced image processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality to increase the productivity of vineyards.
    • A drone can be used to measure the amount of grain that’s piled up after harvest.
    • Mining Output: Tata Steel has used drones quite effectively to measure mining output.
    • Access the inaccessible places: Drones can go where people cannot.
    • So, inspection and repair at remote wind farms on an island, or pipelines in the remote tundra, or equipment in a rainforest can be done more cheaply and precisely.
    • Drone surveillance is now widely used by the insurance industry in the aftermath of floods or pest inspections.
    • They can provide organizations a 360-degree view of the status of any construction project and its assets.
    • Explosive detection and defusing: In many places, it is just safer to send a drone, such as while using explosives in deep mines or defusing suspected bombs.
    • Wildlife protection and survey: drones are used to survey wildlife and detect poaching in the jungles of Africa.

    Drones as commodity

    • Drones will soon become a hardware commodity, much like personal computers.
    • It will be the software loaded on it that will be the real force-multiplier.
    • Industry 4.0 revolution: Business like “drones-as-a-service” will emerge, dramatically reducing the time taken for tasks and serving as a vital tool in the Industry 4.0 revolution.

    A potent tool for Swarm-attack by military

    • Perhaps the most fascinating developments will occur where drones originated, in
    • Drones will mutate into swarms, where multiple, intelligent, small drones act as one vast network, much like a swarm of birds or locusts.
    • Advanced militaries have drone swarms under trial that could revolutionize future conflicts.
    • These swarms could overwhelm enemy sensors with sheer numbers and precisely target enemy soldiers and assets using data fed into them.
    • They will be difficult to shoot down as there will be hundreds of small flying objects rather than one big ballistic missile.
    • The swarm will use real-time ground data to organize itself and operate in concert to achieve its goal.

    Issues with drones

    • It will be us humans who will decide whether we use drones for beneficial or malevolent ends.
    • National Security Issues: Drones have demonstrated the potentials for their threat to the security of a country. Drones are operated remotely and can strike where it want it to strike. Raising serious security issues.
    • Terrorism: Drones have been used by various terrorist organisations like ISIS in Syria and Iraq to hit their targets.
    • Aviation safety: Drones flying too close to commercial aircraft has called for regulations.
    • Privacy: Drones have been used by the paparazzi to take the images of individuals breaching their privacy.

    Conclusion

    Drones can indeed be a fantastic tool for good projects, from helping save the planet to identifying and nabbing criminals, and preventing the loss of human life. However, for that, we will have to change the DNA that they were born with, as lethal weapons of war. Otherwise, they will remain anonymous killers, wreaking death and destruction as they hover innocuously above.

     

  • Lithium-Sulfur Battery

    Researchers from Australia have claimed that they have developed the world’s most efficient lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, capable of powering a smartphone for five continuous days. With this equivalence, an electric car would be able to drive a distance of over 1,000 km in one charge.

    What are Lithium-Sulfur Batteries?

    • Researchers who have developed this new Li-S battery claim it has an “ultra-high capacity” and has better performance and less environmental impact.
    • This means that they may be able to outperform the Li-ion batteries by more than four times.
    • With Li-ion batteries, some disadvantages include their susceptibility to overheating and their being prone to damage at high voltages.
    • Such batteries also start losing their capacity over time — for instance, a laptop battery in use for a few years does not function as well as a new one.

    Construction

    While the materials used in the Li-S batteries are not different from those in Li-ion batteries, the researchers have reconfigured the design of the sulfur cathodes (a type of electrical conductor through which electrons move) to accommodate higher stress without a drop in overall capacity.

    Advantages of the Li-S batteries

    • Li-S batteries are generally considered to be the successors of the Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries because of their lower cost of production, energy efficiency and improved safety.
    • Their cost of production is lower because sulfur is abundantly available.
    • Even so, there have been some difficulties when it comes to commercialising these batteries, mainly due to their short life cycle and poor instantaneous power capabilities.

    Why is this development important?

    • As the market share of electric vehicles (EV) is increasing and people are becoming more aware and conscious of global warming and climate change.
    • There is a need for development in terms of the kind of batteries used in these vehicles.
    • The growth of the EV market is linked to the development of batteries that are cost-effective, more efficient and leave a smaller environmental burden.
    • Today, most EV use Li-ion batteries, but are slowly reaching their theoretical limits of being able to provide roughly up to 300-watt hour per kilogram of energy.
    • Thus arises the need for batteries that can store more energy to run these cars, and Li-S batteries are considered to be a good alternative.

  • Goldilocks Zone

    NASA has reported the discovery of an Earth-size planet, named TOI 700 d, orbiting its star in the “habitable zone”.

    Goldilocks Zone

    • A habitable zone, also called the “Goldilocks zone”, is the area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets.
    • Our Earth is in the Sun’s Goldilocks zone. If Earth were where the dwarf planet Pluto is, all its water would freeze; on the other hand, if Earth were where Mercury is, all its water would boil off.
    • Life on Earth started in water, and water is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it.
    • So, when scientists search for the possibility of alien life, any rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star is an exciting find.

    TOI 700 d

    • The newest such planet was found by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, which it launched in 2018.
    • The star, TOI 700, is an “M dwarf” located just over 100 light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado, is roughly 40% of our Sun’s mass and size, and has about half its surface temperature.
    • The find was confirmed by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which sharpened the measurements that TESS had made, such as orbital period and size.
    • TOI 700 d measures 20% larger than Earth. It orbits its star once every 37 days and receives an amount of energy that is equivalent to 86% of the energy that the Sun provides to Earth.

  • Epiphany festival

    The Epiphany festival was celebrated in parts of India, such as Goa and Kerala. In Goa, the celebration is known by its Portuguese name ‘Festa dos Reis’, and in parts of Kerala by its Syriac name ‘Denha’.

    Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day

    • Epiphany is among the three oldest and major festival days in Christianity, the two others being Christmas and Easter.
    • It is celebrated on January 6 by a number of Christian sects, including Roman Catholics, and on January 19 by some Eastern Orthodox churches.
    • In the West, the duration between December 25 and January 6 is known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.
    • Epiphany is a feast day, or a day of commemoration, which in Christianity marks the visit of the Magi (meaning the Three Wise Men or Three Kings) to the Infant Jesus (Christ from his nativity until age 12).
    • According to Christian belief, the Magi — Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (or Casper), the kings of Arabia, Persia, and India, respectively — followed a miraculous guiding star to Bethlehem to paid homage to the Infant Jesus.
    • The day also commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

    Celebrations in India

    • In Goa, the Magi or Three Kings are called ‘Reis Magos’ in Portuguese.
    • The Reis Magos fort, and church, in Bardez, and the Three Kings Chapel in Cansaulim, get their name from the belief.
    • Communities in Bardez, Chandor, Cansaulim, Arossim, and Cuelim are known to celebrate Epiphany.
    • In Kerala, at the St. Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Cathedral in Piravom, ‘Denha’ is an important annual celebration, in which a big congregation takes part.

  • Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS)

    India plans to ring in its own era of space-to-space tracking and communication of its space assets this year by putting up a new satellite series called the Indian Data Relay Satellite System.

    Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS)

    • The IDRSS is planned to track and be constantly in touch with Indian satellites, in particular those in low-earth orbits which have limited coverage of earth.
    • In the coming years, it will be vital to ISRO whose roadmap is dotted with advanced LEO missions such as space docking, space station, as well as distant expeditions to moon, Mars and Venus.
    • It will also be useful in monitoring launches.
    • The first beneficiary would be the prospective crew members of the Gaganyaan mission of 2022 who can be fully and continuously in touch with mission control throughout their travel.
    • IDRSS satellites of the 2,000 kg class would be launched on the GSLV launcher to geostationary orbits around 36,000 km away.

  • Places in news: Nankana Sahib

    Recently tension mounted in Pakistan after few goons vandalized the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara.

    Nankana Sahib

    • Nankana Sahib is a city of 80,000 in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where Gurdwara Janam Asthan (also called Nankana Sahib Gurdwara) is located.
    • The shrine is built over the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was believed to be born in 1469.
    • It was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after he visited Nankana Sahib in 1818-19 while returning from the Battle of Multan.
    • It is 75 kms to the west of Lahore, and is the capital of Nankana Sahib district.
    • The city was previously known as Talwandi, and was founded by Rai Bhoi, a wealthy landlord.
    • Rai Bhoi’s grandson, Rai Bular Bhatti, renamed the town ‘Nankana Sahib’ in honour of the Guru. ‘Sahib’ is an Arabic-origin epithet of respect.

    Historical significance

    • During British rule, the Gurdwara Janam Asthan was the site of a violent episode when in 1921, over 130 Akali Sikhs were killed after they were attacked by the Mahant of the shrine.
    • The incident is regarded as one of the key milestones in the Gurdwara Reform Movement, which led to the passing of the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1925 that ended the Mahant control of Gurdwaras.
    • In 2014, Pakistan had a memorial for the massacre built.

  • Drosophila

    Pune is set to host the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5) is being organised in the country for the first time by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).

    Drosophila

    • Drosophila is a genus of two-winged flies commonly known as fruit flies that are used in evolutionary and developmental studies.
    • It is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called “small fruit flies” or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit.
    • It is one of the most widely-used and preferred model organisms in biological research across the world for the last 100 years.
    • Several discoveries in biology have been made using this. Its genome is entirely sequenced and there is enormous information available about its biochemistry, physiology and behaviour.

  • WHO prequalifies Serum’s low-cost Pneumococcal Vaccine

    Pneumococcal vaccine developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    Pneumococcal Vaccine

    • Pneumococcal vaccination is a method of preventing a specific type of lung infection (pneumonia) that is caused by the pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumonia) bacterium.
    • There are more than 80 different types of pneumococcus bacteria – 23 of them covered by the vaccine.
    • The vaccine is injected into the body to stimulate the normal immune system to produce antibodies that are directed against pneumococcus bacteria.
    • This method of stimulating the normal immune system to be directed against a specific microbe is called immunization.
    • It does not protect against pneumonia caused by microbes other than pneumococcus bacteria, nor does it protect against pneumococcal bacterial strains not included in the vaccine.

    About the Vaccine

    • The pneumococcal vaccine PNEUMOSIL is a conjugate vaccine to help produce stronger immune response to a weak antigen.
    • Serum Institute had optimized an efficient conjugate vaccine manufacturing processes for its meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac).
    • It was used for manufacturing the pneumococcal vaccine. This helped the company reduce the manufacturing cost of pneumococcal vaccine.

    Why?

    • It pneumonia caused 1,27,000 deaths in India in 2018, the second highest number of child mortality under the age of five in the world.
    • In India, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause the most deaths in children under five years.
    • In 2017, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was included in the under India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
    • It has been introduced in a phased manner starting with Himachal Pradesh, parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
    • The efficacy of the Serum vaccine was tested against an already approved pneumococcal vaccine (Synflorix).

  • [op-ed of the day] Data and its discontents

    Context

    The Personal Data Protection Bill which was introduced in Lok Sabha contains a certain provision that might have implications for India’s digital economy. These provisions must be carefully considered as Parliament reviews the proposed legislation.

    What are the stated objectives of the bill?

    • The first purpose deals with privacy concerns.
    • Its purpose is to safeguard the constitutional guarantee of privacy for Indian citizens
    • The second purpose is to provide a just and equitable vision for the future of India’s digital economy

    What are the incongruent provisions?

    • One of the provision enables the central government to direct the regulated entity under the act to provide anonymised personal data.
    • The government wants to use this anonymised personal data to enable the targeted delivery of services or evidence-based policymaking
    • The above provisions could have certain implications that need to be carefully considered.

    Anonymised data and issues with it

    • Under the bill, anonymised data refers to data from which all the markers of identity have been irreversibly removed.
    • Recent research shows that the present methods of anonymisation are imperfect.
    • With the use of modern machine learning techniques, the data released as “anonymous” can be re-identified.
    • So, the approach to regulation of anonymised data must be contextual and sectoral- with a focus on finance and healthcare.

    Use of big data and AI in governance

    • The government also plans to use big data and artificial intelligence within governance and planning systems.
    • The use of these techniques has the potential to increase government capacity and transparency.
    • It can also help in making an informed decision about economic and social planning.
    • However, the provision ignores the multiplicity of existing and inchoate rights like IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights), copyrights and trade secret protections.

    Consequences of the conflicting provision

    • While the government wants the data to be open for acquisition similar to the power of “eminent domain” over land, but it comes in conflict with existing laws.
    • It comes in conflict with the copyright acts, intellectual property rights, and trade secret laws.
    • Databases are commercially significant for commercial companies.
    • Overlap of these existing rights within the government system can jeopardise accountability and transparency.

     Problems with Big data and AI in governance

    • Unregulated use of the database in governance could have consequences for the people and communities who are being made visible or being invisible by this data.
    • A shift from a qualitative method like census to the quantitative method like big data which is collected in a different context and used for a different purpose may not be smooth.
    • Such data will be incomplete for governance.
    • The data could also be replete with biases of the private entity collecting the data.
    • So, the use of this unregulated data for policymaking or targeting beneficiaries could be disastrous.

    Way forward

    The regulation of non-personal data must take into account both the potential harms to individual privacy as well as the wider social and political consequences of the use of data for governance.

     

     

  • Millimeter Spectrum

    The DoT plans to auction the 24.75 – 27.25 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum in the 5G band in March-April 2020.

    Millimeter Spectrum

    • The new spectrum under the 5G band called the ‘millimeter-wave bands’ is separate from the 8,300 megahertz (MHz).
    • The millimeter-wave band or extremely high-frequency frequency spectrum is mainly designed for usage in airport security scanners, closed-circuit television, scientific research, machine-to-machine communication, and military fire control.

    What’s so special with this MM spectrum?

    • As the wavelength becomes smaller, the cell size becomes less, which is the footprint of the relay station. This will be used more by the industry.
    • If we you already have fiber connection and want to reach houses, this will be through millimeter bands.