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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Explained: One Health Concept

     

    The concept of ‘One Health’ is gaining importance as most of the contagious diseases affecting humans are zoonotic (animal to man origin) in nature. It can be effectively implemented for reducing incidence of emerging zoonotic threats like COVID-19.

    The One Health concept

    • The World Organization of Animal Health, commonly known as OIE (an abbreviation of its French title), summarizes the One Health concept.
    • It says that as “human health and animal health are interdependent and bound to the health of the ecosystems in which they exist”.
    • Circa 400 BC, Hippocrates in his treatise On Airs, Waters and Places had urged physicians that all aspects of patients’ lives need to be considered including their environment; disease was a result of imbalance between man and environment.
    • So One Health is not a new concept, though it is of late that it has been formalized in health governance systems.

    Why accept this model?

    • Of the contagious diseases affecting humans, more than 65% are of zoonotic or animal to man origin.
    • One Health model is a globally accepted model for research on epidemiology, diagnosis and control of zoonotic diseases.
    • One Health model facilitates interdisciplinary approach in disease control so as to control emerging and existing zoonotic threats.
    • Increasing stress on animals due to loss of their habitat would increase scope of zoonotic diseases.

    Why corona is so deadly?

    • Current outbreak of COVID-19 still could not find out the actual source of virus.
    • Even though genomics of the virus has been published ambiguity still exists whether it was from bats, snakes, pangolin, etc.

    Frequent Outbreaks of Zoonotic Diseases

    • Not so long ago, the widespread prevalence of avian influenza in poultry, or bird flu as it commonly became known, created nationwide panic resulting in the culling of millions of poultry birds.
    • It was concern for human health that prompted the extreme reaction and subsequent establishment of protocols; containment of avian influenza is managed quite effectively now.
    • Similarly in 2003, SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome emanated suddenly in China and vanished soon.

    Followed by hues and panic

    • These outbreaks culminated emergency response that included extreme measures like travel bans and restrictions.
    • In both cases, panic spread much faster than the virus.
    • Besides drawing a response from governments, these events also brought forth the hitherto forgotten philosophy of One Health.
    • This idea recognizes inter-connectivity among human health, the health of animals, and the environment.

    Why rise in zoonotic outbreaks?

    • As human populations expand, it results in greater contact with domestic and wild animals, providing more opportunities for diseases to pass from one to the other.
    • Climate change, deforestation and intensive farming further disrupt environment characteristics, while increased trade and travel result in closer and more frequent interaction, thus increasing the possibility of transmission of diseases.

    Need for a robust animal health system

    • Private sector presence in veterinary services is close to being nonexistent.
    • Unlike a physician, a veterinarian is always on a house call on account of the logistic challenge of transporting livestock to the hospital, unless they are domestic pets.
    • There could not be a stronger case for reinventing the entire animal husbandry sector to be able to reach every livestock farmer, not only for disease treatment but for prevention and surveillance to minimize the threat to human health.
    • Early detection at animal source can prevent disease transmission to humans and introduction of pathogens into the food chain. So a robust animal health system is the first and a crucial step in human health.

    Conclusion

    • Developing countries like India have a much greater stake in strong One Health systems on account of agricultural systems resulting in uncomfortably close proximity of animals and humans.
    • This builds a strong case for strengthening veterinary institutions and services.
    • Further delay may pave way for emergence of new communicable diseases.

    Way Forward

    • The most effective and economical approach is to control zoonotic pathogens at their animal source.
    • It calls not only for close collaboration at local, regional and global levels among veterinary, health and environmental governance, but also for greater investment in animal health infrastructure.
    • Need of the hour is to scale up such a model across the country and to establish meaningful research collaborations across the world.
    • Health, veterinary, agriculture and life science research institutions and universities can play a lead role.

  • Aditya L1 Mission

     

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched on August 12, 2018 has completed its fourth close approach — called perihelion very recently, whizzing past at about 3.93 lakh km/h, at a distance of only 18.6 million km from the Sun’s surface.

    Aditya L1: Exciting ahead

    • The ISRO is preparing to send its first scientific expedition to study the Sun.
    • Named Aditya-L1, the mission, expected to be launched early next year, will observe the Sun from a close distance, and try to obtain information about its atmosphere and magnetic field.
    • ISRO categorizes Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration.
    • The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
    • Aditya L1 will be ISRO’s second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat, which was launched in September 2015.

    What is L1?

    • L1 refers to Lagrangian/Lagrange Point 1, one of five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
    • Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange, are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system (like the Sun and the Earth) produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
    • These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
    • The L1 point is home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO), an international collaboration project of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
    • The L1 point is about 1.5 million km from Earth, or about one-hundredth of the way to the Sun.

    But why is studying the Sun important?

    • Every planet, including Earth and the exoplanets beyond the Solar System, evolves — and this evolution is governed by its parent star.
    • The solar weather and environment, which is determined by the processes taking place inside and around the sun, affects the weather of the entire system.
    • Variations in this weather can change the orbits of satellites or shorten their lives, interfere with or damage onboard electronics, and cause power blackouts and other disturbances on Earth.
    • Knowledge of solar events is key to understanding space weather.
    • To learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed.
    • Every storm that emerges from the Sun and heads towards Earth passes through L1, and a satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.

    Why are solar missions challenging?

    • What makes a solar mission challenging is the distance of the Sun from Earth (about 149 million km on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh km to the Moon).
    • More importantly the super hot temperatures and radiations in the solar atmosphere make it difficult to study.
    • NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has already gone far closer — but it will be looking away from the Sun.
    • The earlier Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and space agency of erstwhile West Germany, went within 43 million km of the Sun’s surface in 1976.

    Problem of Heat

    • The Parker Solar Probe’s January 29 flyby was the closest the spacecraft has gone to the Sun in its planned seven-year journey so far.
    • Computer modelling estimates show that the temperature on the Sun-facing side of the probe’s heat shield, the Thermal Protection System, reached 612 degrees Celsius, even as the spacecraft and instruments behind the shield remained at about 30°C, NASA said.
    • During the spacecraft’s three closest perihelia in 2024-25, the TPS will see temperatures around 1370°C.

    Hurdles for Aditya L1

    • It will stay much farther away, and the heat is not expected to be a major concern for the instruments on board. But there are other challenges.
    • Many of the instruments and their components for this mission are being manufactured for the first time in the country, presenting as much of a challenge as an opportunity for India’s scientific, engineering, and space communities.
    • One such component is the highly polished mirrors which would be mounted on the space-based telescope.
    • Due to the risks involved, payloads in earlier ISRO missions have largely remained stationary in space; however, Aditya L1 will have some moving components, scientists said.

  • Supergiant star ‘Betelgeuse’

     

    Using the European Space Organization’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have noticed the unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse.

     Betelgeuse

    • It is a red supergiant star (over 20 times bigger than the Sun) in the constellation Orion.
    • Along with the dimming, the star’s shape has been changing as well, as per recent photographs of the star taken using the VISIR instrument on the VLT.
    • Instead of appearing round, the star now appears to be “squashed into an ova”.

    Why is it significant?

    • Betelgeuse was born as a supermassive star millions of years ago and has been “dramatically” and “mysteriously” dimming for the last six months.
    • While Betelgeuse’s behaviour is out of the ordinary, it doesn’t mean that an eruption is imminent since astronomers predict the star to blast sometime (supernova explosion, which is the largest explosion to take place in space) in the next 100,000 years or so.

  • India’s Scientific Expedition to the Southern Ocean

     

    A South African oceanographic research vessel SA Agulhas set off from Port Louise in Mauritius, on a two-month Indian Scientific Expedition to the Southern Ocean 2020. Recently the vessel was at Prydz Bay, in the coastal waters of “Bharati”, India’s third station in Antarctica.

    India’s polar mission

    • This is the 11th expedition of an Indian mission to the Southern Ocean, or Antarctic Ocean.
    • The first mission took place between January and March 2004.

    About the Southern Ocean expedition

    • The researchers from IITM Pune are collecting air and water samples from around 60 stations along the cruise track.
    • These will give valuable information on the state of the ocean and atmosphere in this remote environment and will help to understand its impacts on the climate.
    • A key objective of the mission is to quantify changes that are occurring and the impact of these changes on large-scale weather phenomenon, like the Indian monsoon, through tele-connection.

    Why study Southern Ocean?

    • We know that carbon dioxide is getting emitted into the atmosphere, and through atmospheric circulation goes to the Antarctic and Polar Regions.
    • Since the temperature is very low there, these gases are getting absorbed and converted into dissolved inorganic carbon or organic carbon, and through water masses and circulation it is coming back to tropical regions.
    • All oceans around the world are connected through the Southern Ocean, which acts as a transport agent for things like heat across all these oceans.
    • The conveyor belt that circulates heat around the world is connected through the Southern Ocean and can have a large impact on how climate is going to change due to anthropogenic forces.

    Core projects of the expedition

    • Study hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry of the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean; involves sampling seawater at different depths. This will help understand the formation of Antarctic bottom water.
    • Observations of trace gases in the atmosphere, such as halogens and dimethyl sulphur from the ocean to the atmosphere. This will help improve parameterizations that are used in global models.
    • Study of organisms called coccolithophores that have existed in the oceans for several million years; their concentrations in sediments will create a picture of past climate
    • Investigate atmospheric aerosols and their optical and radiative properties. Continuous measurements will quantify the impact on Earth’s climate.
    • Study the Southern Ocean’s impact on Indian monsoons. Look for signs in a sediment core taken from the bottom of the ocean
    • Dynamics of the food web in the Southern Ocean; important for safeguarding catch and planning sustainable fishing

  • Discovery Program investigations by NASA

    NASA announced it has selected four Discovery Program investigations to develop concept studies for possible new missions.

    What are the new missions?

    • Two proposals are for trips to Venus, and one each is for Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s moon Triton.
    • After the concept studies are completed in nine months, some missions ultimately may not be chosen to move forward.

    DAVINCI+

    • DAVINCI+ stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus.
    • This will analyse Venus’s atmosphere to understand how it was formed and evolved, and if it ever had an ocean.
    • This will advance understanding of the formation of terrestrial planets.

    IVO

    • Io Volcano Observer is a proposal to explore Jupiter’s moon Io, which is extremely volcanically active.
    • This will try to find out how tidal forces shape planetary bodies.
    • The findings could further knowledge about the formation and evolution of rocky, terrestrial bodies and icy ocean worlds in the Solar System.

    TRIDENT

    This aims to explore Neptune’s icy moon, Triton, so that scientists can understand the development of habitable worlds in the Solar System.

    VERITAS

    Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy will aim to map Venus’s surface to find out why Venus developed so differently from Earth.

  • The ‘Pale Blue Dot’

     

    The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the NASA published a new version of the image of Pale Blue Dot.

    Pale Blue Dot

    • The ‘Pale Blue Dot’ is one of the most iconic images in the history of astronomy.
    • It shows Earth as a single bright blue pixel in empty space within a strand of sun rays, some of which are scattering from and enlightening the planet.
    • The original image was taken by the Voyager 1 mission spacecraft on February 14, 1990 when it was just beyond Saturn.
    • At the behest of astronomer Carl Sagan, the cameras were turned towards Earth one final time to capture the image.
    • After this, the cameras and other instruments on the craft were turned off to ensure its longevity.

    About Voyager 1

    • Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977.
    • Having operated for more than 42 years, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth.
    • At a distance of 148.67 AU (22.2 billion km) from Earth as of January 19, 2020 it is the most distant man-made object from Earth.
    • The probe’s objectives included flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

    The Family Portrait of the Solar System

    • The Pale blue dot image was a part of series of 60 images designed to produce what the mission called the ‘Family Portrait of the Solar System’.
    • This sequence of camera-pointing commands returned images of six of the solar system’s planets, as well as the Sun.

  • Conservation plan for Konark Sun Temple

    A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun Temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon. Among the potential choices before the government would be to fill in more sand or to remove all the sand andput in place alternate support.

    Konark Sun Temple

    • Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 36 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India.
    • The temple is attributed to king Narasinga Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.
    • Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone.
    • Once over 200 feet (61 m) high, much of the temple is now in ruins, in particular the large shikara tower over the sanctuary; at one time this rose much higher than the mandapa that remains.
    • The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes.
    • Also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.
    • Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 it remains a major pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the Chandrabhaga Mela around the month of February.

    Earlier restoration efforts

    • It had been filled with sand and sealed by the British authorities in 1903 in order to stabilize the structure, a/c to ASI.
    • A scientific study was carried out by the Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute from 2013 till 2018 to ascertain the temple’s structural stability as well as the status of the filled-in sand.
    • The sand filled in over 100 years ago had settled, leading to a gap of about 17 feet.  However the structure was found to be stable.

  • In news: Yaravirus

    In a lake in Brazil, researchers have discovered a virus that they find unusual and intriguing.

    Yaravirus

    • The Yaravirus infects amoeba and has genes that have not been described before, something that could challenge how DNA viruses are classified.
    • It has a puzzling origin and phylogeny (evolutionary relationship).
    • Because of the Yaravirus’s small size, it was unlike other viruses that infect amoeba and they named it as a tribute to Yara, the “mother of waters” in the mythological stories of the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes.
    • The virus does not infect human cells, according to the researchers.

  • SuperCam on Mars Rover 2020

     

    In its mission to Mars this summer, NASA is sending a new laser-toting robot called SuperCam as one of seven instruments aboard the Mars 2020 rover.

    SuperCam

    • Called SuperCam, the robot is used for studying mineralogy and chemistry from up to about 7 metres away.
    • It might help scientists find signs of fossilized microbial life on Mars.
    • SuperCam packs what would typically require several sizable pieces of equipment into something no bigger than a cereal box.
    • It fires a pulsed laser beam out of the rover’s mast to vaporise small portions of rock from a distance, providing information that will be essential to the mission’s success.

    NASA lists five things to know

    • From more than 7 m away, SuperCam can fire a laser to study rock targets smaller than a pencil point. That lets the rover study spots it can’t reach with its arm.
    • SuperCam looks at rock textures and chemicals to find those that formed or changed in water on Mars long ago.
    • SuperCam looks at different rock and “soil” types to find ones that could preserve signs of past microbial life on Mars — if any ever existed.
    • For the benefit of future explorers, SuperCam identifies which elements in the Martian dust may be harmful to humans.
    • Scientists can learn about how atmospheric molecules, water ice, and dust absorb or reflect solar radiation. This helps predict Martian weather better.

  • Solar Orbiter (SolO) Probe

     

    Yesterday, the Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA to study the Sun, took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

    What is the Solar Orbiter?

    • Carrying four in situ instruments and six remote-sensing imagers, the Solar Orbiter (called SolO) will face the sun at approximately 42 million kilometres from its surface.
    • Before SolO, all solar imaging instruments have been within the ecliptic plane, in which all planets orbit and which is aligned with the sun’s equator.
    • The new spacecraft will use the gravity of Venus and Earth to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane, passing inside the orbit of Mercury, and will be able to get a bird’s eye view of the sun’s poles for the first time.

    Objectives of the mission

    • The Orbiter will take pictures using telescopes through a heat shield that is partly made of baked animal bones, to help it withstand temperatures of up to 600 degree Celsius.
    • By understanding the behaviour of the sun, the Orbiter aims to provide information on how the former would affect technology such as satellites, navigation systems, power grids, and telecommunication services.
    • The Orbiter will help scientists understand the sun’s dynamic behaviour, and solve mysteries such as the sunspot cycle, or why the star spews out high velocity charged particles through the solar system.
    • With more data on the global magnetic field of the star, scientists would be able to forecast space weather events.

    Earlier missions

    • In 1990, NASA and ESA had sent the Ulysses mission, which also passed over the sun’s poles but at much farther distances, and did not carry a camera.