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  • Sickle Cell Anaemia screening meets only 1% of target

    anaemia

    Central idea:  The Health Ministry of India set a target to scan one crore people for sickle cell disease in 2022-23. However, with only two weeks left in the fiscal year, the Ministry has completed only 1% of the target.

    What is Sickle Cell Anaemia?

    anaemia

    • Sickle Cell Anaemia is a genetic blood disorder that affects the haemoglobin molecule in red blood cells.
    • People with sickle cell anaemia have abnormal haemoglobin that causes their red blood cells to become sickle-shaped, rigid and sticky.
    • These abnormal cells can clog small blood vessels, leading to excruciating pain, organ damage, and a higher risk of infections.
    • Sickle cell anaemia is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means that a person must inherit two copies of the mutated gene, one from each parent, to develop the disease.
    • There is no cure for sickle cell anaemia, but treatments are available to manage its symptoms and complications.

    How widespread is it in India?

    • Sickle cell anaemia is prevalent in some parts of India, particularly in tribal and rural areas.
    • According to the ICMR, sickle cell trait is present in about 20-22% of the tribal population in central India, and the disease is present in about 3-5% of the same population.
    • It is estimated that there are about 30 million carriers of the sickle cell trait in India, and around 1.5-2 lakh sickle cell disease patients.
    • The disease is most commonly found in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Gujarat.

    Recent discussions

    • India aims to eradicate sickle cell anaemia by 2047, Finance Minister announced during her Budget 2023 speech.
    • Under the new scheme, 70 million people up to the age of 40 years in affected tribal areas will be screened for the disease.
    • The Health Ministry has assigned tentative State-wise screening targets to the States for timely completion of the exercise.
    • The Ministry is working to create and maintain a central registry for all screened persons to prevent patients from slipping through the cracks.

    Current status of screening

    • Only 1,05,954 people have been screened so far, out of which 5959 people, or 5.62% of those screened were found to be carrying sickle cell disease traits.
    • Regular and timely screening of the population is important, as in a previous screening exercise of over 1.13 crore people in 2016, up to 9,49,057 (8.75%) tested positive for the sickle cell trait, and up to 47,311 of these ended up with full-blown sickle cell disease.

    Way forward

    • Increased screening: Achieving the goal of eliminating sickle cell anaemia would involve screening at least seven crore people under the age of 40 years in multiple phases by 2025-26.
    • Creating awareness: The Health Ministry is working to create awareness amongst those who carry the sickle cell trait to refrain from marrying another person who also carries the trait.
    • Targeted assessment: Pregnant women are a priority group for immediate screening, and in the long-term, screening of targeted population of unmarried adolescents between 10 to 25 years will be undertaken.
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  • Scientists devise ‘Glowscope’ to bring fluorescent microscopy to schools

    microscope

    Central idea: Researchers at Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a rudimentary fluorescence microscope.

    Why in news?

    • The development can be put together at a cost of $30-50 (Rs 2,500-4,100) using products purchased on online marketplaces.
    • The device aims to democratize access to fluorescence microscopy.

    What is Fluorescence Microscopy?

    • An optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light.
    • A fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it reemits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces.
    • The object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength.
    • Particles in the object absorb this light and reemit it at a higher wavelength.
    • These particles are called fluorophores; the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.

    How does it work?

    • The setup consists of two plexiglass surfaces, an LED flashlight, three theatre stage-lighting filters, a clip-on macro lens, and a smartphone.
    • The smartphone (with the lens attached) is placed on one surface that is suspended at a height (say, a foot above).
    • The second sheet is placed below and holds the object.
    • One of the stage-lighting filters is held between the flashlight and the object and the other two were held between the object and the smartphone.
    • The sources of illumination were also LED flashlights emitting light of correspondingly different wavelengths.

    Key observations

    • With this setup, the researchers were able to image the creatures’ brain, spinal cord, heart, and head and jaw bones.
    • They were able to zoom in and out using the smartphone camera and the clip-on lens.

    How accessible is this?

    • Using a ‘glowscope’ still requires access to fluorophores, suitable biological samples, the know-how to combine the two, and some knowledge of physics to work out which LED flashlight to buy.
    • The Foldscope was truly remarkable because all its required components were simple to understand.
    • However, the fact that a simple fluorescent microscope can be set up with a few thousand rupees means researchers can prepare samples and take them to schools, where students can observe them.
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  • ISRO releases Landslide Atlas of India

    landslide

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently released the Landslide Atlas of India to identify landslide hotspots in the country.

    What are Landslides?

    • Landslides are natural disasters that occur in mountainous terrains where soil, rock, geology, and slope conditions are conducive.
    • A landslide is the sudden movement of rock, boulders, earth, or debris down a slope.
    • They can be triggered by natural causes such as heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snowmelting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding.
    • They are extremely hazardous, posing a threat to human and animal lives, damaging property, roads, and bridges, disrupting communication lines, and snapping power lines.
    • Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, the type of movement of the material, and the type of flow of the material.

    Why do they occur?

    • Landslides are natural disasters that occur mainly in mountainous terrains due to conducive conditions of soil, rock, geology, and slope.
    • Heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snow-melting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding can trigger landslides.
    • Anthropogenic activities such as excavation, cutting of hills and trees, excessive infrastructure development, and overgrazing by cattle can also cause landslides.

    Factors contributing

    • The main factors that influence landslides include lithology, geological structures like faults, hill slopes, drainage, geomorphology, land use and land cover, soil texture and depth, and weathering of rocks.
    • Rainfall variability pattern is the single biggest cause for landslides in India, with the Himalayas and the Western Ghats remaining highly vulnerable.

    India’s vulnerability to landslides

    • India is considered among the top five landslide-prone countries globally, where at least one death per 100 sq. km is reported in a year due to a landslide event.
    • Approximately 12.6% of the country’s geographical land area (0.42 million sq km) is prone to landslides, with 66.5% of landslides reported from the North-western Himalayas, 18.8% from the North-eastern Himalayas, and 14.7% from the Western Ghats.

    Risks in specific states          

    • Mizoram recorded the highest number of landslide events in the past 25 years, with 12,385 events, of which 8,926 were recorded in 2017 alone.
    • Nagaland and Manipur also reported a high number of landslide events during the 2017 monsoon season.
    • Uttarakhand and Kerala reported the highest number of landslides, with Uttarakhand experiencing 11,219 events since 1998, and Kerala making inhabitants significantly vulnerable to fatalities, despite fewer events.

    Classification and Mapping of Landslides

    • Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, type of movement, type of flow of the material, and whether they spread laterally.
    • The Landslide Atlas of India maps landslides mainly based on events and seasons.
    • The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) used a landslide database created from 1998 to 2022 using aerial and high-resolution satellite images.

     

  • In news: Megha Tropiques Satellite

    sat

    ISRO attempted a controlled re-entry of the Megha Tropiques-1 satellite with leftover fuel to lower the orbit and reduce space debris.

    Megha Tropiques Satellite

    • The weather satellite Megha Tropiques-1 was developed as a joint mission by Indian and French space agencies.
    • It was launched aboard a PSLV by the space agency in 2011.
    • And, although the planned mission life of the satellite was only three years, it continued providing data on water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics for nearly a decade.

    How was the satellite brought down?

    • With over 120kgs of fuel remaining in the satellite even after being decommissioned.
    • ISRO determined that there was enough to attempt a controlled re-entry.
    • When the satellites re-enter the atmosphere, the friction causes it to heat up to extreme high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius.
    • Without a heat shield, 99% of a satellite gets burnt up whether in a controlled re-entry or an uncontrolled one.

    Significance of the move

    • This was the first time that ISRO attempted such a manoeuvre to clear out space debris despite the satellite not being built to do so.
    • Usually, satellites are left in their orbit and because of the gravitational pull of the earth, they come down to the atmosphere over years and years.

    Why did ISRO attempt a controlled re-entry?

    • ISRO attempted the control re-entry to demonstrate and understand the process of doing so.
    • Keeping space clean is crucial with multiple spacefaring nations and private entities launching satellites.
    • Thousands of objects are flying around in low earth orbits, including old satellites, parts, and rocket stages.
    • Even small debris can destroy active satellites due to high speeds.
    • Kessler syndrome is a scary scenario where space debris collisions create more debris.

    What happens to satellites usually?

    • A controlled re-entry like the one attempted by Isro earlier this week is possible only for satellites in the low-earth orbit – at about 1,000 kms over the surface of the earth.
    • These manoeuvres, however, are not usually attempted because fuel reserves have to be maintained in the satellite after mission life is over.
    • And, this is impossible for satellites placed in geo-stationary or geosynchronous orbit – where time taken by the satellite to orbit the earth matches Earth’s rotation.
    • Such satellites are at altitudes of nearly 36,000 kms.
    • For attempting to bring down a satellite from such as orbit, a huge fuel reserve would be needed. This will only make the satellite heavier and costlier at launch.

    Also read-

    [Sansad TV] Perspective: Cluttered Space

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  • NASA’s IBEX spacecraft to study Edge of Solar System

    ibex

    NASA has announced that its Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft is fully operational after the mission team successfully reset it.

    Edge of Solar System: Heliopause

    ibex

    The edge of the Solar System, also known as the heliopause, is the point where the solar wind from the Sun meets the interstellar medium. Here are some key points about the edge of the Solar System:

    • The heliopause is the boundary where the Sun’s solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium.
    • The Voyager 1 spacecraft crossed the heliopause in 2012, becoming the first man-made object to leave the Solar System.
    • The exact location of the heliopause is not well defined and varies based on the strength of the solar wind and the density of the interstellar medium.
    • The interstellar medium beyond the heliopause is composed of plasma, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays from other stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
    • The edge of the Solar System is being studied by NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, which is mapping the boundary region where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium.

    Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)

    • IBEX is a small NASA spacecraft designed to map the boundary where winds from the Sun interact with winds from other stars.
    • The spacecraft is about the size of a bus tire and its instruments look towards the interstellar boundary while it is on its nine-day orbit around our planet.
    • It was launched in 2008 and has spent nearly 15 years in space already.

    Purpose

    • The purpose of IBEX is to study the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium and to map the boundary of the solar system.

    Technology

    • IBEX uses two neutral atom imaging cameras to detect energetic neutral atoms that are created at the boundary of the heliosphere.
    • The cameras are mounted on a spinning spacecraft, allowing them to scan the sky and build up a map of the boundary.

    Discoveries

    Since its launch, IBEX has made several important discoveries, including:

    • The first direct measurements of the interstellar wind, which flows into the solar system from the direction of the constellation Scorpius.
    • The discovery of a “ribbon” of energetic neutral atoms that stretches across the sky, which may be caused by the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.

    Current Status

    • IBEX is still in operation and continues to gather data about the interstellar boundary.
    • Its mission has been extended several times, with the most recent extension running until 2023.

    Significance

    • IBEX’s findings have increased our understanding of the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.
    • It has helped to refine models of the heliosphere and the solar system’s place in the galaxy.
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  • Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

    Kodaikanal

    The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century.

    Why in news?

    • Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century
    • KoSO has captured images of sunspots and recorded changes in the Sun’s behavior
    • Solar physicists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) have digitized 1.48 lakh solar images captured since 1904

    A Brief History of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

    • KoSO is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun.
    • Norman Pogson, astronomer and Government Astronomer of the Madras Observatory, proposed the idea of taking pictures of the Sun using a 20-inch telescope.
    • The Madras Observatory was set up as the private effort of an official of the British East India Company in 1786.
    • The decision to establish a solar observatory was taken in 1893, and Kodaikanal in present-day Tamil Nadu was chosen for its high altitude and dust-free environment.
    • The Solar Physics Observatory opened on April 1, 1899, and was later named KoSO.
    • The Bhavnagar Telescope, named after the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, was one of the more famous instruments at KoSO during the early decades of its operation.
    • A 15cm telescope was used to capture solar images onto a photographic film or plate.
    • Solar magnetic plages and prominences were recorded since 1911, taken on photographic films and plates.

    Solar Observations, One Every Day: How They Are Taken

    • White light images of the Sun have been captured every day since 1904 using a 6-inch telescope
    • Visible light images reveal sunspots on the surface of the Sun.
    • One image is taken daily around 8 am, which has been a fixed routine for over a century now
    • Each observation accompanies the corresponding date and time, which is key for calibration purposes later.
    • These plates or films are sent to the darkroom and developed either the same day or the next day
    • Once the film has been developed, the date and time of observation are written on the plate and entered in the logbook.
    • These plates or films are kept in an envelope with the handwritten date and time of observation and stored carefully in humidity-controlled rooms.

    Arrival of New Technology and the Process of Digitization

    • Between 1904 and 2017, all solar observations were traced onto photographic films and plates
    • A new telescope mounted with CCD cameras has taken over and, since 2017, continued to observe the Sun.
    • Digitization of the records was initiated in 1984 by Prof J C Bhattacharyya, and others continued the effort.
    • In 2018, digitized solar observations for the period 1921-2011 were made available to the scientific community.
    • Raw and calibrated data for the period of 1904 to 2017 were added, and the digitization process is nearly complete.
    • KoSO is now home to a digital repository of a whopping 1.48 lakh solar images adding up to 10 terabyte of data.
    • These include 33,500 white-light images (showing sunspots), 45,000 images of the Ca II K spectral line (which reveals plages), and 70,000 H-alpha photographic plates that show prominences.
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  • Yaoshang festival begins in Manipur

    yaoshang

    The Yaoshang festival, which is Manipur’s version of Holi, has begun.

    Yaoshang Festival

    • Yaoshang festival is celebrated every year on the full moon of Lamta (February-March) of the Meitei lunar calendar.
    • It begins just after sunset followed by Yaosang Mei thaba, also known as Burning of the Straw Hut.
    • Children visit neighbours to ask for monetary donations, called nakatheng.
    • Yaoshang, unlike Holi, is celebrated with a traditional twist in Manipur.
    • During these five days, Manipur comes alive with sporting events during the day and traditional “thabal chongba” dance in the night.

    Key feature: Thabal Chongba Dance

    • The thabal chongba is a traditional dance of the Meitei, where boys and girls gathered in an open ground and dance in a circle.
    • But these days thabal chongba is performed throughout the month of Lamta.

     

     

     

  • Meeting India’s ‘Carbon Sink’ target

    carbon-sink

    Central idea: India’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions and increase its carbon sink as part of the Paris Climate Agreement. The Agreement is a legally binding international treaty signed by 196 parties, including India, to limit global warming to well below 2°C.

    What is a carbon sink?

    • A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
    • It can be a natural ecosystem such as forests, oceans, or soil, or it can be an artificial system like carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
    • Carbon sinks help to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and mitigate the negative effects of climate change.

    Methods of Carbon Sinks

    There are two types of carbon sinks:

    (A) Natural Carbon Sinks: These are ecosystems that naturally absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere. The most common natural carbon sinks are:

    • Forests: Trees absorb CO2 through photosynthesis and store it in their trunks, branches, and roots.
    • Oceans: The Ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, where it dissolves and forms carbonic acid.
    • Soil: Carbon can be stored in soil in the form of organic matter, such as dead plant and animal material, which is broken down by microorganisms.

    (B) Artificial Carbon Sinks: These are human-made technologies that capture and store carbon from the atmosphere. The most common artificial carbon sinks are:

    • Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): CCS technology captures CO2 emissions from industrial processes, such as power plants, and stores it underground.
    • Direct Air Capture (DAC): DAC technology captures CO2 directly from the air and stores it underground or repurposes it for other uses.

    India’s carbon sink target

    • India has pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030.
    • This will be achieved through afforestation, reforestation, and other land-use changes.

    India’s progress towards its carbon sink target

    • India has already achieved 24.6% of its carbon sink target as of 2017.
    • This was primarily due to afforestation and tree plantation programs, such as the Green India Mission and the National Afforestation Programme.

    Challenges in meeting India’s carbon sink target

    • Unavailability of accurate data: There is a lack of accurate data on the extent and health of India’s forests, which makes it difficult to measure the effectiveness of afforestation and reforestation programs.
    • Conversion of natural forests: The conversion of natural forests to monoculture plantations that have lower carbon sequestration potential can reduce the effectiveness of carbon sinks.
    • Pressure on land: The pressure on land for agriculture and other forms of development can lead to deforestation and the loss of carbon sinks.
    • Lack of funding: Afforestation and reforestation programs require significant funding, which can be a challenge for India.
    • Lack of awareness: Lack of awareness among the public and policymakers about the importance of carbon sinks and the need for their conservation and restoration can hinder efforts to meet India’s carbon sink targets.

    Conclusion

    • India’s commitment to increasing its carbon sink is crucial in mitigating the impacts of climate change.
    • More efforts are needed to ensure the success of afforestation and reforestation programs and to address the challenges facing India’s forests.
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  • NASA hands over NISAR satellite to ISRO

    nisar

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) satellite.

    What is NISAR?

    • NISAR has been built by space agencies of the US and India under a partnership agreement signed in 2014.
    • The 2,800 kilograms satellite consists of both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments, which makes it a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite.
    • While NASA has provided the L-band radar, GPS, a high-capacity solid-state recorder to store data, and a payload data subsystem, ISRO has provided the S-band radar, the GSLV launch system and spacecraft.
    • Another important component of the satellite is its large 39-foot stationary antenna reflector.
    • Made of a gold-plated wire mesh, the reflector will be used to focus the radar signals emitted and received by the upward-facing feed on the instrument structure.

    Objectives of NISAR

    • Once launched into space, NISAR will observe subtle changes in Earth’s surfaces, helping researchers better understand the causes and consequences of such phenomena.
    • It will spot warning signs of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.
    • The satellite will also measure groundwater levels, track flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets, and monitor the planet’s forest and agricultural regions, which can improve our understanding of carbon exchange.
    • By using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), NISAR will produce high-resolution images.
    • SAR is capable of penetrating clouds and can collect data day and night regardless of the weather conditions.
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  • Moon to get its own Time Zone

    moon

    The European Space Agency is planning a universal timekeeping system for the moon.

    Timekeeping on the Moon

    • The Moon has its own day and night cycle, which lasts about 29.5 Earth days.
    • This means that if humans were to live on the Moon, they would need to develop their own timekeeping system.
    • Currently, the time on the Moon is measured using Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), which is the same timekeeping system used on the Earth.
    • However, because the Moon’s day is much longer than Earth’s day, it would be difficult to use UTC for day-to-day activities on the Moon.

     

    Universal Time Coordinated (UTC)

    • Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) is a time standard used to keep time consistent around the world.
    • UTC is based on International Atomic Time (TAI), which is maintained by atomic clocks around the world.
    • It is the primary time standard used by many countries, international organizations, and scientific research institutions.
    • UTC is expressed as a 24-hour clock and is used to indicate the time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+0).
    • Time zones are defined as an offset from UTC, with some time zones being ahead of UTC (UTC+1, UTC+2, etc.) and others being behind UTC (UTC-1, UTC-2, etc.).
    • UTC is adjusted periodically to account for changes in the Earth’s rotation, which can cause variations in the length of a day.
    • These adjustments are made through the addition of leap seconds to UTC, which help to keep the time standard synchronized with the Earth’s rotation.

     

    Why need lunar time zone?

    • The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite, and humans have been interested in exploring and colonizing it for many years.
    • With recent advancements in space technology, there is renewed interest in lunar exploration and settlement.

    Proposed Lunar Time Zone

    • To address this issue, scientists and researchers have proposed creating a lunar time zone that would be based on the Moon’s day and night cycle.
    • This would make it easier for lunar settlers to keep track of time and coordinate activities.

    Benefits offered

    • Having a lunar time zone would also make it easier for scientists and researchers to conduct experiments and collect data on the Moon.
    • It would also help to prevent confusion and errors that could arise from using different timekeeping systems on Earth and the Moon.

    Various challenges

    • Time on Earth is precisely tracked by atomic clocks, but synchronizing time on the moon is tricky because clocks run faster there, gaining around 56 microseconds, or millionths of a second, per day.
    • It would also be difficult to establish a consistent time zone for the entire Moon, given that the terrain and lighting conditions vary widely across its surface.
    • Additionally, any timekeeping system on the Moon would need to be able to account for the Moon’s irregular rotation and movement.

     

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