S&T Current Affairs

PBT (Proton Beam Therapy) uses protons instead of X rays is used to treat cancers, especially of the head and neck regions. It targets precise locations and tumors, reducing the toxic effects of conventional X-ray-based radiation treatments. PBT is typically delivered via a large, complex machine called a cyclotron, which accelerates protons to high speeds and delivers them to the tumor site. PBT is able to treat cancers just as effectively but delivers less radiation to other healthy parts of the body which surround the tumor.

Hepatitis itself is a general term that refers to inflammation of the liver. A, B, C, D, E are types of viral. Hep A causes acute. Hep b, C is chronic. Hep A, E are dirty water. Hep B, C blood transfusion. Hep D is a side effect of Hep B. Hep C, D has no vaccine. Others have. THese are viral strains. THere are also non virla strains of hepatitis.

Hepatitis B is dangerous because it is a “silent infection,” which means it can infect people without them knowing it for upto 30 years. Most people who are infected with hepatitis B are unaware of their infection for many years and can unknowingly spread the virus to others. Hep B is by far the most common form of hepatitis. Hepatitis is the second leading infectious cause of death globally after tuberculosis. Chronic viral hepatitis can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma, which accounts for 80 per cent of all liver cancer cases and is the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. In 2020, the most common causes of cancer death were: Lung: Colon and rectum: Liver: Stomach: Breast:

The government’s National Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases is gradually making an impact. It aims to address rare diseases prevalent in India, such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, lysosomal storage disorders, and sickle-cell anaemia. Rare diseases affect one in 10k people. And orphan diseases are those rare diseases which are neglected for funding because it is less profitavble, etc. The most common rare diseases include Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell Anaemia and Primary Immuno Deficiency in children, auto-immune diseases, Lysosomal storage disorders such as Pompe disease, Hirschsprung disease, Gaucher’s disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Hemangiomas and certain forms of muscular dystrophies.

DNA barcoding is a methodology for rapidly and accurately identifying species by sequencing a short segment of standardized gene regions and comparing individual sequences to a reference database. Some applications of DNA barcoding include: Identification of new species Safety assessment of food – Hence, 3 is correct. Identification and assessment of cryptic species.

Phytoremediation…. plants absorbing toxic metals, pollutants (hyperaccumulater/hypertolerance) eg. Poplar trees. Bioremediation is similar but microrganisms eg. pseudomonas in oil spills, borkholderia bacteria. There are five different bacterial strains called oil zapper . Releases Co2 & water as byproducts. Bioventing is a form of in situ bioremediation technology that encourages aerobic decomposition. By delivering oxygen into an unsaturated zone, it improves the innate capacity of indigenous microorganisms to break down organic pollutants adsorbed to soil. Biosparging is similar but However, biosparging is not confined to the unsaturated zone, but rather extends remediation to the saturated zone of the soil matrix eg saturated groundwater.

LIGO is an international network of laboratories that detect gravitational waves. LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The LIGO in the US first detected gravitational waves in 2015, which led to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. Besides the United States (in Hanford and Livingston), such gravitational wave observatories are currently operational in Italy (Virgo) and Japan (Kagra). To detect gravitational waves, four comparable detectors need to be operating simultaneously around the globe. Gravitational waves were first postulated (1916) in Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. LIGO India will be built in Hingoli, Maharashtra.

While LIGO is ground based with 2 arms of 4 km, LISA is a proposal by ESA (NASA is helping) for collection of 3 antennae/spacecrafts in equilateral triangle mode, each millions of km long to orbit the Sun around the same distance as Earth. Whilst LIGO is sensitive to G-waves of freq 10-1000 Hz, LISA will be sensitive to lower fre ones 0.1-1 Hz. LISA Pathfinder (2015-17) was a spacecraft in LEO of Earth to demonstrate key technologies of LISA. Because of funding/practical difficulties of length, ESA is planning on eLISA (Evolved LISA) which is almost same. Gravitational waves detectable by the LISA mission could also come from other distant systems including smaller stellar mass black holes (called Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals (EMRIs)) orbiting supermassive black holes . (Ref: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/physicsoutreach/gravitational-physics-tutorial/evolved-laser-interferometer-space-antenna-elisa/)

NASA’s Great Observatories program is a group of four space telescopes that study the universe’s electromagnetic spectrum. The four observatories are: Hubble Space Telescope (HST): Studies visible light and near-ultraviolet Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO): Studies X-rays Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO): Studies gamma rays Spitzer: Studies stars, planets, galaxies, and more

Chronological sequence of launch : Hubble, Compton, Chandra, Spitzer (Ref: https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01EVT0D84TN7MWYRDHSG3TKWPN.png)

JWST (launched from French Guina) is infrared…successor of Hubble….Webb studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang (its like a time machine), to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Webb launched on Dec. 25th 2021. It does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope, it orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. JWST has largest mirrors of all to capture more rays.

THe infrared range telescopes i.e. Spitzer and JWST orbit the sun…rest orbit the earth in LEO

Aditya L1 studies sun’s corona & chromosphere. Launched by PSLV (3rd gen has 4 stages solid liq solid liq) in Sept 2023.

L4 & L5 asteroids. (Ref https://i0.wp.com/iasnext.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/saw0122Gsci31_d.webp?w=900&ssl=1 and https://iasnext.com/lagrange-points-upsc/)

ISRO has confirmed that Chandrayaan 3 has detected the presence of sulphur and oxygen on the lunar surface. Moreover, aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, and silicon were also found.

Chandrayaan 3 : GTO to LTO to Moon… 3 stage pslv… payload has 3 modules… propulsion module, lander, rover PM has SHAPE (spectrometry) in orbit, lander has RAMBHA (plasma conc), ILSA (moonquakes), ChasTE (thermal properties), rover has APXS (alpha and x rays composition), LIBS (laser)…..libs found sulphur near south pole

The controlled descent of the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 made it one of the closest approaches of a lunar mission to the moon’s South Pole. However like most of the lunar-landing missions before, Vikram too landed on the near side, making the Chinese Chang’e 4 mission the only one to have landed on the far side.

What are the moon’s ‘near’ and ‘far sides’ and is there a ‘dark’ side? The near side refers to the portion of the moon — about 60% — that is visible to us. It is always the same side that is visible from Earth because the moon takes the same time to rotate about its axis as it does to circle around the Earth. However this doesn’t imply that the half the moon is in perpetual darkness.

Chandrayaan-3 landing site : station Shiv Shakti (Shiv Shakti Point)69.373°S 32.319°E (between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters)

The ‘new moon’ or when the moon is invisible from Earth is the time when the other ‘far side’ of the moon is bathed in sunlight and continues to receive light for nearly a fortnight. The ‘dark side’ is thus dark only in the sense that it was mysterious and its various topographical features hidden until the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 in 1959 photographed it and the Soviet Academy of Sciences released an atlas of these images. Astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 mission of 1968 were the first humans to see the far side of the moon.

Is the dark side very different from the near side? The major difference between the two sides is that the near side is relatively smoother and has many more ‘maria’ or large volcanic plains compared to the far side. On the far side however, there are huge craters, thousands of kilometres wide, which have likely resulted from collisions with asteroids. While both sides of the moon in its formative phase were similarly bombarded, the crust on the near side is thinner because of which, over millions of years, the volcanic lava in the lunar crust has flowed more extensively into the thinner side and filled up its craters. The resulting plains that have thus formed are far more conducive to space missions because they provide a relatively flat terrain for landers and rovers. Chandrayaan-3 identified an area 2.4 km wide and 4.8 km long that had spots of 150 m spaces that would be conducive to a safe descent. China’s Chang é-4 lander remains the only one to have successfully landed on the far side. This vehicle landed on the Von Karman crater situated within a larger 2,500 km wide crater called the South Pole Aitken basin.

Artemis .. launched from Florida.. SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft

Gaganyaaan … 1st phase uncrewed mission done… 2nd phase non crewed + robot vyom mitra… 3rd phase crewed (3 days)… gslv mkiii rocket… sakhi app to assist the crew

Guchhi mushroom is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae of the Ascomycota. They are pale yellow in colour. This cannot be cultivated commercially and grown in the foothills in Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and Jammu and Kashmir. Cordyceps militaris is a high value parasitic fungus, lab-grown. Wild Cordyceps mushroom are found in the eastern Himalayan belt….gold nanoparticles have been made from it called cordy

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, forming a two-dimensional structure. It has exceptional electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength. Graphene is known for its high surface area, transparency, and flexibility. (graphite is composed of multiple layers of graphene)

Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical structures made of rolled-up graphene sheets. But using them as artificial blood vessel can cause blood clots.

Buckminster fullerenes, also known as buckyballs, are spherical or nearly spherical hollow structures made of carbon atoms. The most common buckminster fullerene is C60, which has a soccer ball-like shape. Fullerenes have unique properties, including high stability and the ability to act as light-activated antimicrobial agents.

Attosecond pulses… https://theconversation.com/what-is-an-attosecond-a-physical-chemist-explains-the-tiny-time-scale-behind-nobel-prize-winning-research-214907

quantum dots…QDs are ARTIFICIAL small particles of semiconductors such as CdSe, CdS, etc.. These particles usually have diameters of < 10 nm, and each particle has on the order of 1,000-10,000 atoms. The ‘quantum’ in its name comes from the fact that the electrons in these atoms have very little space to move around, so the crystal as a whole displays the quirky effects of quantum mechanics — effects that otherwise would be hard to ‘see’ without more sophisticated instruments. Quantum dots have also been called ‘artificial atoms’ because the dot as a whole behaves like an atom in some circumstances. (Ref: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/significance-of-quantum-dots-in-nanotechnology-explained/article67393753.ece) Quantum dots lie somewhere in between and behave in ways that neither atoms nor bulk materials do. One particular behaviour distinguishes them: the properties of a quantum dot change based on how big it is. Just by tweaking its size. When light is shined on a quantum dot, it absorbs and then re-emits it at a different frequency. Smaller dots emit bluer light and larger dots, redder light. This happens because light shone on the dot energises some electrons to jump from one energy level to a higher one. What are quantum dots’ applications? An array of quantum dots can be a TV screen by receiving electric signals and emitting light of different colours. Scientists can control the path of a chemical reaction by placing some quantum dots in the mix and making them release electrons by shining light on them. If one of the energy levels an electron jumps between in a quantum-dot atom is the conduction band, the dot can operate like a semiconductor. Also, solar cells made with quantum dots are expected to have a thermodynamic efficiency as high as 66%. A quantum dot can also highlight a tumour that a surgeon needs to remove, hasten chemical reactions that extract hydrogen from water, and as a multiplexer in telecommunications.

mRNA vaccine …. Ref https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/06/editorial-analysis-the-trouble-with-a-nobel-for-mrna-covid-vaccines/ (Compare Covax & Corbevax) COVAX is short for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access. It is a global initiative co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The goal of COVAX is to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of their income levels.

TB drugs…. Isoniazid, Refampicin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol 50% of the people who are tested positive for TB through sputum culture do not have the typical symptoms…so chest xray is additionally reqd Globally, diagnosis continues to be the “weakest aspect of TB care MTBVAC is indeed a vaccine against tuberculosis that is currently in clinical trials. It is based on a genetically modified form of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is isolated from humans. Unlike the BCG vaccine, MTBVAC contains all the antigens present in strains that infect humans

Oral cholera vaccine starting…

Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite that causes an infection called toxoplasmosis. It is found worldwide and can infect a wide range of warm-blooded animals, including humans. In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than 40 million people may be infected with Toxoplasma gondii . Humans can catch it from farm animals

guinea worm disease was close to eradication.. a onemtere worm emerghes through skin…Guinea worm disease, also known as dracunculiasis, is a painful and debilitating parasitic disease caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis. It primarily affects poor communities in remote areas of Africa that lack access to safe drinking water. The disease is transmitted when people consume water contaminated with copepods (tiny crustaceans) that carry Guinea worm larvae. Once ingested, the larvae develop into adult worms within the human host. its eradication esp by carter centre..is through preventive measures without use of ANY vaccine

microplastics in artery plaque

Types of diabetes mellitus:

Type 1 Diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes, is typically diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood, but it can occur at any age. In Type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, leading to a lack of insulin production. People with Type 1 diabetes require daily insulin injections or the use of an insulin pump to survive. The exact cause of Type 1 diabetes is not known, but it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. There is currently no known way to prevent Type 1 diabetes .

Type 2 Diabetes:

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for about 95% of all diabetes cases. It is typically diagnosed in adulthood, but it can also occur in children and adolescents. In Type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, and the pancreas may not produce enough insulin to compensate for this resistance. Lifestyle factors, Unlike Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be prevented or delayed through lifestyle changes .

Shared Symptoms:

Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes share common symptoms, including frequent urination, excessive thirst, fatigue, blurry vision, and increased hunger

Most individuals infected with Toxoplasma gondii do not experience symptoms because their immune system keeps the parasite from causing illness. However, pregnant women who become newly infected with Toxoplasma during or shortly before pregnancy and individuals with compromised immune systems are at risk of severe consequences from toxoplasmosis

Capillary blood haemoglobin will be an underestimate of the true value as the red blood cell count in the capillary blood will be a little lower than venous blood due to a phenomenon called plasma-skimming. Also, tissue fluid gets mixed with capillary blood while drawing the blood sample leading to dilution and thus a reduction in haemoglobin value. The WHO has also recently recommended that anaemia be diagnosed from venous blood estimations of haemoglobin.

The prevalence of moderate anaemia was significantly higher in women (22%) (highest among adolescent girls) compared with men (7.6%). …only 1/3rda aneemic women have iron deficiency… rest are unkbown causes… assam has highest…meghalaya has least…Though anaemia is caused by multiple factors including vitamin B12 and folate deficiency, and inflammation, the focus has primarily been only on iron deficiency….provide iron supplementation for the entire population of India have to be reconsidered, particularly due to the dangers of excess iron intake. “It is not easy to excrete iron, and too much iron can cause oxidative stress on all organs,” he cautions. “There should be a change in focus from supplementing iron to a broader focus on all nutrients and the environment.” For instance, inflammation due to poor sanitation or air pollution can suppress the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow as well as reduce iron absorption, Dr. Kurpad says. “The focus should also be on reducing inflammation, which is best achieved naturally through increased consumption of fruits and diversity in diet to improve the intake of all nutrients,” he says. Currently the diet of a large percentage of the Indian population is mainly cereal-based with very little to zero coloured vegetables and fruits As per the study, mild anaemia prevalence was higher among those eating a vegetarian diet compared with those eating a non-vegetarian diet.

Azadirachtin is a chemical compound found in the seeds, leaves, and bark of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica). It is the primary insecticidal compound found in neem oil. Azadirachtin has strong biological activities against various pest insects and is used as a biopesticide in many commercial products.

The Western Pacific basin is the most active region for tropical cyclones and accounts for about a third of the world’s tropical cyclones. The North Indian basin accounts for only about 4% of the global total, although it is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the effects of such cyclones. The Saffir-Simpson (SS) hurricane wind scale, introduced in the early 1970s, is the most widely used metric for warning the public about the dangers of tropical cyclones. The SS hurricane wind scales are categorised by the maximum sustained wind speed at a height of 10 metres. Although most tropical cyclone-related deaths are caused by storm surge and heavy rainfall, wind hazard remains an important metric for communicating risk to the public and a critical metric for measuring the impact of these cyclones. There are five categories on the SS hurricane wind scale — category 1 to category 5 — with category 5 wind speed exceeding 252 km/hour. The combined effects of wind, storm surge, and rainfall in a category 5 impact would completely raze any structure.

Sandalwood (vulnerable) is a partial or hemiparasite that typically grows in deciduous forests. It requires the presence of four or five other trees growing around it to thrive. The roots of sandalwood form a haustorium, which is a specialized structure that attaches to the roots of the host tree. This haustorium acts like an octopus-like hold, allowing the sandalwood to extract water and nutrients from the host tree [[1]]. The haustorium of sandalwood establishes a connection with the host tree’s roots, enabling the sandalwood to obtain the necessary resources for its growth and survival. This parasitic relationship allows the sandalwood to benefit from the host tree’s nutrient supply while still carrying out some photosynthesis on its own [[2]]. It’s important to note that sandalwood is not a full parasite and can perform photosynthesis to some extent. However, it still relies on the host tree for certain nutrients and water, making it a partial or hemiparasite [[3]]. Sandalwood’s unique adaptation to its environment and its reliance on other trees for survival make it an interesting species in deciduous forests.

The sandalwood tree’s reliance on other trees in its early growth phase, as well as the short-lived and non-storable nature of its seeds, have contributed to the challenges faced by overexploited sandalwood trees. These factors have led to a significant decline in the number of sandalwood trees in the forests of South India. It is not surprising that Australia is now the world’s largest supplier of sandalwood and its oil.

The passage through the digestive system is good for the sandalwood seeds. The seeds now germinate very quickly and have better chances of maturing into trees. This is the reason why forests, and not plantations, are where we get to see a few mature sandalwood trees. Sadly, the thinning of forests has reduced bird populations, and therefore the chances of proper seed dispersal. (osmopriming: soaking seed in water to mimic this process) Statins are prescribed to people with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. They work by blocking the activity of an enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway that produces LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol. Statins are on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines and among the most sold drugs worldwide. However, many studies have found statins could increase the risk of developing diabetes.

SCD is an inherited haemoglobin disorder in which red blood cells (RBCs) become crescent- or sickle-shaped due to a genetic mutation. These RBCs are rigid and impair circulation, often leading to anaemia, organ damage, severe and episodic pain, and premature death. India has the third highest number of SCD births, after Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also one of the 21 “specified” disabilities listed in the Schedule of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016. An apposite example is the (un)availability of the drug hydroxyurea. It lessens the severity of pain, reduces hospitalisations, and improves survival rates by increasing the size and flexibility of RBCs and lowering their likelihood of becoming sickle-shaped.Blood transfusion is another important therapy for SCD, but its availability is limited to district-level facilities. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT), until recently the other cure for SCD, is out of reach for most SCD patients due to the difficulty in finding matched donors, the high cost of the treatment at private facilities, and long waiting times in public hospitals. Casgevy is the first CRISPR-based therapy to have received regulatory approval in the U.S. It entails collecting a patient’s blood stem-cells, modifying them, and administering high-dose chemotherapy to destroy the damaged cells in the bone marrow. The modified cells are then infused into the patient through a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The treatments are expected to take up to a year and require several hospital visits.

The National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 2017 prohibit the commercialisation of stem cell therapies and allow the use of stem cells only for clinical trials, except for autologous BMT for SCD and epithelial therapies for corneal disorders. Gene-editing stem cells is allowed only for in-vitro studies. The Guidelines also encourage (but don’t mandate) the sharing of financial benefits resulting from the commercialisation of stem cell products with the donor or community.

Neuromarketing…Skin conductance devices are probably the least expensive but also the least efficient. Eyeball trackers are more efficient whereas EEGs can have efficiencies of up to 75%. The more sophisticated an instrument is, the more expensive it is. EEGs were intended to measure health parameters such as detecting brain tumour and whether the medicine to treat them is working or not. Wearable EEG senses 21 points in the brain such as pleasure point, fear point, pain point and so on. It measures brain waves, typically beta waves while filtering alpha, gamma and others.

Arthur Ashkin — who, at 96, becomes the oldest scientist ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize — is credited with having invented what is famously known as “optical tweezers”. Actually a technology rather than a physical instrument, these “tweezers” are widely used for isolating and examining very small particles, such as individual atoms, DNA strands, or biological cells….use laser light

Security features in bank rupee note:

1. Optically variable ink
2. Intaglio
3. Microlettering
4. Security thread
5. Flat at eye level

The Kashmir Himalaya is known for the cultivation of mushk budiji, an indigenous rice variety distinguished for its rich aroma and unique taste. …has VOCs/fragrance rice blast disease…..fungus

Post-vaccination immunity develops in a complex process. In the fundamental immunological mechanism, our lymph nodes first produce the memory B cells that confer long-term protection against a disease. These cells ‘memorise’ the antigen the vaccine has delivered. In future, when a foreign object like a virus enters the body bearing the same antigen, the B cells will trigger the production of a large number of potent antibodies to destroy it, removing the infection. These memory B cells require T cell support, and only vaccines that stimulate T cells can also induce the body to produce them. Following the administration of the measles and the rubella vaccines, the level of memory B cells in the blood plasma remains constant. It corresponds well with antibody levels decades later. This is not the case with the chickenpox, tetanus, and diphtheria vaccines – suggesting that memory B-cell persistence may not ensure antibody durability and that another mechanism may be involved in sustaining antibody levels. Another essential immune cell, called long-lasting plasma cell (LLPC), migrates from the lymph node to the bone marrow and may endure for decades. LLPCs are the main immunological factor in vaccine-induced immunity. Every vaccine tries to create long-lasting plasma cells for lifelong protection, a.k.a. the immunology ‘holy grail’. The measles and rubella vaccines produce these cells in the bone marrow. However, some potent vaccines, such as the mRNA COVID-19 shots, fail to activate these cells in the bone marrow. To provide long-term protection, then, vaccines must generate memory B cells and LLPCs in the bone marrow. Different vaccines differ in their ability to produce these cells, explaining the disparity in their durabilities.

Newer platforms like ‘virus-like particle’ (VLP) also offer long-term protection like live virus. The HPV vaccines were developed using this platform. Adjuvants are substances added to vaccines to improve the immune response to an antigen. Adjuvants can help the body produce a strong immune response that protects against a disease. They can also reduce the amount of antigen per dose, reduce the number of vaccination sessions, and increase the stability of the antigen component

The durability of vaccine-induced protection also depends on the characteristics of the respective pathogens. Viruses that quickly infect the body (shorter incubation period) don’t give enough time for the immune system to respond effectively. Examples include the influenza and the SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Further, pathogens that cause only mucosal infections but minimal blood infection, like SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and the respiratory syncytial virus, pass from one person to another in a short span, before our immune system has had the time to launch an immune response. This is the reason why reinfections are frequent with these viruses. The genetic stability of the virus contained in a vaccine also influences the durability of immunity. We know RNA viruses are known for their high mutation rates. (Both measles and SARS-CoV-2 are single-stranded RNA viruses.) While we still use the same strain of measles vaccine isolated from the throat of David Edmonston in 1954, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been updated thrice in the last four years.

A mycorrhiza forms a symbiotic alliance between fungi and plants. This association results in the growth and development of plants and its root by supply them with water through its mycellia. Mycorrhiza fungi act as a bio-fertilizer and help in maintaining soil biology and chemistry. A lichen is a peculiar combination of an alga and a fungus–the two live deriving mutual benefit. They are group of greyish green plants which grow on rocks, tree-trunks, dead wood, etc. The algae manufactures food which becomes available to the fungus, and the absorbs and retains water and thus keeps the algal cells moist. A example of symbiosis. They are most common in wetlands, rare in rivers and streams and are not found in ground water.

The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans has beenused to de toxify toluene and ionic mercury which are released from radioactive nuclear waste.

Like a faucet can be used to control the flow of water, semiconductors can be used to control the flow of electric currents, and with exquisite precision.

C3 plants use a simple way to make food. It’s like using a basic recipe to cook. Where They Grow: They are found in cooler climates where it’s not too hot. C4 plants have a more advanced way of making food. It’s like using a special recipe to cook that works better in hot places. Where They Grow: They are found in hot climates, like in tropical areas. C4 plants are like the high-efficiency models of plants when it comes to making food (sugar) through photosynthesis. They are about twice as efficient as C3 plants in fixing carbon, which means they are really good at turning carbon dioxide into sugar. But they consume more energy too. But here’s the cool part: even though C4 plants are super efficient at making sugar, and at high energy, they are also really good at saving water. In fact, for the same amount of carbon dioxide they use to make sugar, a C4 plant loses only half as much water as a C3 plant. This helps them in hot climate.

PLant growth factors:

Auxins:stimulate cell elongation Cytokinins: cell division Gibberellins:elongates dwarf plants, breaks seed dormancy, induces parthenocarpy Abscisic Acid (ABA): induces dormancy Ethylene: Fruit ripening, abscission and flower senescence.

NaviC: 7 satellites (4 geosynch, 3 geostationery) GPS: 31 satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (owned by US air force)

MDR-TB is caused by an organism that is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, which are the two most potent TB drugs. XDR-TB is a rare type of MDR-TB that is resistant to isoniazid, rifampin, a fluoroquinolone, and bedaquiline.

Vaccination against childhood tuberculosis (BCG), polio (OPV) and maternally transmitted Hepatitis B (Hep B vaccine) are given to a child immediately after birth. After this, specific vaccines are given at recommended ages and routes as outlined in National Immunization Schedule.

The ability of dsRNA to interfere with the translation of mRNA that has a similar sequence provides a means for knocking down gene expression in RNAi process. dsRNA discovery and RNAi tech. earned 2006 nobel prize. The broad occurrence of RNAi across diverse eukaryotic organisms underscores the fundamental nature of RNA interference as a method of cellular defense.

Transposons (sometimes called junk DNA) are small pieces of DNA that can move around a genome. They are also known as “jumping genes” because they can move to different locations within the genome. Transposons are a group of mobile genetic elements that are defined as a DNA sequence. Transposons can jump into different places of the genome; for this reason, they are called jumping genes. However, some transposons are always kept at the insertion site in the genome. Transposons are powerful forces of genetic change and have played a significant role in evolution. They can create or reverse mutations and alter the cell’s genetic identity and genome size. Transposition often results in duplication of the same genetic material. Transposons are present in all organisms. For example, TEs make up approximately 50% of the human genome and up to 90% of the maize genome. Transposons can also contribute to the creation of new genes. This occurs when proteins or protein domains encoded by TEs become co-opted into functional host proteins. Transposons were first identified more than 50 years ago by geneticist Barbara McClintock. Her experiments with maize breeding provided the first detailed descriptions of transposable element.

Glass annealing is a controlled process of slowly cooling glass.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was signed in Cop 15 to cbd, 2022. The framework aims to stop and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Biocredit….cop28 2023 dubai

Phenolphthalein is an organic compound used as an indicator to differentiate between acidic and basic mediums. It’s a weak acid that turns colorless in acidic solutions and pink in basic solutions. Luminol…to detect blood at crime scenes

Silk Board comes under Textiles Ministry, Coir board under msme ministry, and ………………. , all others under Commerce ministry

A rainbow is formed when a raindrop cause the light to have total internal reflection, this means the light is reflected back in the direction it originally came from. Hence, we can only see a rainbow if our back is facing the sun.

Wheat … Rust diseases, Powdery mildew Rice …. Tungro virus, sheath blight, blast diseases Potato … late blight Sugarcane … Red rot

engagement farming, a practice involving the use of fake accounts or automated tools to inflate metrics (The word of the day on Twitter is “Engagement Farming.” For those who don’t know, it’s when someone posts obnoxious/generic things to get replies or likes.)

Enamel and dentin are both found in teeth. Enamel is the hardest substance in the human body and covers the visible part of the tooth. Dentin is the second hardest tissue in teeth and makes up most of the tooth.

IBD is a significant problem. It comprises Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease and is characterised by inflammation. It is different from Irritable Bowel Syndrome which is predominantly non-inflammatory. Nearly 50% of IBD were Crohn’s Disease and 40% were Ulcerative Colitis. Changes in lifestyle, a Westernised diet with high fat and high sugar, processed and packaged food cause an insult to the gut epithelium, precipitating inflammation.

Sierra Madre, a USA-phillipnes World War II-era ship. In the 1990s, the Philippines decided to bring this ship to the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef located in the South China Sea. The placement of the ship was deliberate, in order to further its territorial claims. cresecnt, amphrite, triton…paracel islands thitu, ardasier, union, thomas shoal…spratly (philip, malaysia, china claim) scarborough

Pakistan’s latest Hangor class is a direct rival of India’s Kalavari class (project 75) of diesel-electric attack submarines, based on the French Scorpene-class. The Pakistani Hangor class is an export variant of the Chinese Yuan Class (Type 39A) submarine.

submarine..max 600 mtr depth…submarines use ballast “Diesel-electric” refers to the mode of propulsion — diesel engines power the submarine when surfaced or snorkelling (as they need air to operate), while a battery, charged by the diesel engine, allows the vessel to operate while submerged.Conventional diesel-electric submarines need to surface to recharge their batteries after a few days (2-5, depending on the battery used), making them detectable to enemy radar and exhaust fumes sensors. An AIP system can increase submarines’ underwater endurance manifold (upwards of 15-20 days). The Indian Navy is currently in the process . Both submarines do not have vertical launch systems (like the ones in India’s nuclear Arihant class), which would allow it to carry bigger cruise missiles like the Brahmos-NG

AIP be sea proven, which is not the case for us yet since the French Navy does not use such a propulsion system.” AIP refers to Air-Independent Propulsion, a technology for conventional — that is, non-nuclear — submarines This will be India’s first project under the Strategic Partnership Model — the government will give the contract to an Indian Strategic Partner (SP), which will partner with a foreign OEM to build AIP-powered submarines in the country. MDL and Larsen and Toubro are the two selected SP; the five selected OEMs are Naval Group (France), ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), ROE (Russia), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (South Korea), and Navantia (Spain). AIP is a mechanism that allows the batteries to be charged even while the boat is submerged. However, even with AIP, the submarine needs to surface every three weeks or so. installing AIP increases the length and weight of the boats, requires pressurised liquid oxygen (LOX) storage on-board and supply for all three technologies.

other submarines in this class: kalvari..tiger shark, vagir..a Sand Fish, a predatory marine species. Khanderi has been named after an Island Fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji, which played a key role in his Navy. Karanj has also been named after an Island located South of Mumbai.,

India currently operates one submarine each in nuclear powered Classes of Chakra and Arihant and in addition to 14 submarines belonging to three classes of Diesel Electric category — Kalvari, Shishumar and Sindhughosh, some of which are ageing. MDL builds them.

The forest fire season in India lasts between November to June. more in dry deciduous cf evergreen forests According to experts, three factors cause the spread of forest fires — fuel load, oxygen and temperature. Dry leaves are fuel for forest fires. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) website states that nearly 36 per cent of India’s forests are prone to frequent fires. Higher fire incidents are reported in March, April and May due to ample availability of dry biomass following the end of winter and amid the prevailing summer season. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) website, two types of fire lines are in practice – Kachha or covered fire lines and Pucca or open fire lines. In Kaccha fire lines, the undergrowth and shrubs are removed while trees are retained to decrease the fuel load. The Pucca fire lines are clear felled areas separating a forest/compartment/block from another to control the spread of potential fires.

biomass bricketing…biomass densification

“synthetic opioid precursors”, specifically the drug fentanyl.

What is the scale of the United States’ opioid epidemic? Opioids are a class of drugs that “derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the opium poppy plant”, according to the website of US-based Johns Hopkins Medicine. They produce a variety of effects, including pain relief and euphoria, and are highly addictive. Some common opioids include oxycodone, morphine, codeine, heroin, and fentanyl. ADVERTISEMENT According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic [for pain relief] and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.” But overdoses can cause “stupor, changes in pupil size, clammy skin, cyanosis [blue skin], coma, and respiratory failure leading to death”. morphine..natural opiod fentanyl..synthetic opiod

Bambi Bucket (helicopter bucket) is a specialised aerial firefighting tool which has been in use since the 1980s. It is essentially a lightweight collapsible container that releases water from underneath a helicopter to targeted areas. The water is released by using a pilot-controlled valve. One of its key features is that it can be quickly and easily filled. The bucket can be filled from various sources, including lakes and swimming pools, which allows firefighters to swiftly refill it and return to the target area.

While rejecting the plea for 100% verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips against the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count, the Supreme Court on Friday (April 26) directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to “seal and secure” the Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) for 45 days after the declaration of election results. Currently, only the three components of the EVM — the ballot unit, control unit, and VVPAT — are stored for 45 days after the results. This is the first time that SLUs, used to load candidate symbols onto the VVPATs, will also be available for examination along with the EVMs if a candidate challenges the results by filing an election petition in court. ADVERTISEMENT What is a Symbol Loading Unit (SLU) and how does it work? Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) were introduced around the same time as VVPATs — a little over a decade ago. VVPATs help voters verify their votes — they see a slip with a printed image of the party symbol they voted for.

economic damage of storm…highest deaths in flood…highest Asia has gotten more warm in recent decades than other regions except Europe.

In the early 1980s, the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, conceived and led by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, started developing a range of indigenous missiles including Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag, with a wide spectrum of capabilities and ranges Use of cruise missiles i gulf war 1991 led to the formation of BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between DRDO and Russian Space company NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), the Indian side holding 50.5% and the Russians 49.5%. It was named after two rivers in India and Russia respectively – the Brahmaputra and the Moskva.

BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine. Its first stage brings the missile to supersonic speed (meaning faster than sound) and then gets separated. The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to three times the speed of sound in cruise phase. The missile has a very low radar signature, making it stealthy, and can achieve a variety of trajectories. The ‘fire and forget’ type missile can achieve a cruising altitude of 15 km and a terminal altitude as low as 10 m to hit the target. Cruise missiles such as BrahMos, called “standoff range weapons”, are fired from a range far enough to allow the attacker to evade defensive counter-fire. These are in the arsenal of most major militaries in the world.

The A&N islands are located 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) southeast of the Indian mainland. The Malacca Strait, the main waterway that connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, is less than a day’s steaming from Port Blair. Sabang in Indonesia is 90 nautical miles southeast of Indira Point (on Great Nicobar island), and Coco Island (Myanmar) is barely 18 nautical miles from the northernmost tip of the Andamans. Should Thailand build the Kra Canal connecting the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, its mouth would be about 350 nautical miles east of Port Blair. he islands share four of India’s international maritime zone delimitations with Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. They also give India substantial ocean space under the United Nations Conference on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) in terms of exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. In the foreseeable future, a serious challenge could emanate from a build-up of Chinese maritime forces at the eastern choke points of the Indo-Pacific, namely the Malacca (between Sumatra and the Malay peninsula), Sunda (between Java and Sumatra), Lombok (between Bali and Lombok), and Ombai-Wetar (off East Timor) straits. Work on the Galathea Bay (Great Nicobar Island) transhipment port must be expedited

Mount Etna, sometimes referred to simply as Etna, is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, lying just off the toe of the Italian “boot”. Etna’s peak is the highest in Italy south of the Alps, and it is Europe’s largest and one of the most active volcanoes. Etna’s summit has five craters, which are responsible for most of the volcano’s eruptions; there are also “flank” eruptions that occur out of 300-odd vents of varying sizes along the slopes of the mountain. Vortex rings are generated when gas, predominantly water vapour, is released rapidly through a vent in the crater. The vent that has opened up in Etna’s crater is almost perfectly circular, so the rings that have been seen above the mountain since April 2 are also circular.

The discovery of the Higgs boson completed what is known as the Standard Model of Particle Physics Of course, there are still-unexplained bits like dark matter or dark energy that are outside the realm of Standard Model. Boson is the name given to a family of elementary particles that are known to be carriers of fundamental forces like electromagnetism. Photon, which carries the electromagnetic force, is a boson. On the other hand, the matter particles, like electron or protons, belong to the class called fermions. The big significance of Higgs boson is that it is the particle that is supposed to account for the mass of every other fundamental particle. Strange as it appears, mass is not something that is intrinsic to matter. Fundamental particles of matter like electrons or protons do not have mass within themselves. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the Standard Model was still being developed, scientists realised that the equations did not work if these particles had inherent mass.

As it became clear later, it is the interaction of the particles with this Higgs field — the way they change the field or get changed by them — that lends them the mass. Greater the interaction, larger is the mass. Different particles interact with this field in different ways, and that is what gives them different masses. A photon, which is a light particle, does not interact with this field at all, and is thus massless. There are other particles that are massless as well. But particles like electrons and protons, do interact, and have masses. The Higgs boson itself interacts with this field, and thus has mass.

Bosons include photons (light), gluons (particles that act as force carriers in the nucleus), the Higgs boson, and the W and Z bosons. Fermions include protons, neutrons, electrons, neutrinos, and quarks.

Just three countries – the United States, Russia and China – have executed human spaceflight missions till now.

India has joined some of the biggest international scientific projects like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Square Kilometer Array, which would involve building several facilities within the country.

The implementation of the AI compute infrastructure will be done through a public-private partnership model with 50% viability gap funding

Stratigraphy is a branch of geology that deals with the study of rock layers (or strata). Chronostratigraphy (“chrono”: relating to time) is an aspect of stratigraphy that deals with the relation between rock strata and the measurement of geological time. Currently, we are living in the Phanerozoic aeon, during the Cenozoic era, in the Quaternary period, the Holocene epoch, and the Meghalayan age. The Holocene epoch (from the Greek “holos”, meaning ‘whole’, and “kainos”, meaning “new”) began some 11,700 years ago, at the end of the Last Glacial Period (LGP). During the LGP, up to 25% of the Earth’s land surface was covered by glaciers, the mean sea level was up to 400 feet lower, and the average temperature fell to 8 degree Celsius. The Holocene saw the warming of the Earth, which closely corresponded with the rise and proliferation of human beings. While Homo sapiens as a species had evolved well before the Holocene began, all of humanity’s recorded history falls in this epoch. Explained | How do we know humans are causing global warming? Since the year 2000, when the Dutch meteorologist Paul Crutzen and American botanist Eugene Stoermer coined the term Anthropocene, the idea of a separate ‘human’ epoch (“Anthropo”: relating to humankind) has excited many geoscientists. Proponents of Anthropocene argue that humans have changed the Earth to such an extent that a new geological epoch has begun. ADVERTISEMENT The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), a 37-member research group, began deliberations in 2009 to come up with a starting point for the epoch and, after years of deliberation, decided on the year 1952. The period after World War II is seen as the “Great Acceleration”, during which the human population skyrocketed, the burning of fossil fuels surged, the fallout of nuclear tests spread across the planet, the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers became rampant, and plastics became ubiquitous. The IUGS committee determined that adding an Anthropocene epoch — and terminating the Holocene — was not supported by the standards used to define epochs according to chronostratigraphy

The Raman Effect is when the change in the energy of the light is affected by the vibrations of the molecule or material under observation, leading to a change in its wavelength and hence color.

The meaning of LLMs can be understood with its three primary features. Firstly, the ‘Large’ indicates two meanings — the enormous size of training data; and the parameter count. In Machine Learning, parameters, also known as hyperparameters, are essentially the memories and knowledge that a machine learned during its model training. Parameters define the skill of the model in solving a specific problem. Also in Explained | Google introduces Gemma open source AI models: What does it mean for responsible AI? The second most important thing to understand about LLM is the General Purpose. This means the model is sufficient to solve general problems that are based on the commonality of human language regardless of specific tasks, and resource restrictions.

On the basis of architecture, there are three types of LLMs — autoregressive, transformer-based, and encoder-decoder. GPT-3 is an example of an autoregressive model as they predict the next word in a sequence based on previous words. Similarly, LaMDA or Gemini (formerly Bard) are transformer-based as they use a specific type of neural network architecture for language processing. Then there are the encoder-decoder models that encode input text into a representation and then decode it into another language or format. They can also be categorised as open-source and closed-source based on availability as some are freely available while some are proprietary. LLaMA2, BlOOM, Google BERT, Falcon 180B, OPT-175 B are some open-source LLMs, while Claude 2, Bard, GPT-4, are some proprietary LLMs. At the core of it is a technique known as “deep learning”. It involves the training of artificial neural networks, which are mathematical models which are believed to be inspired by the structure and functions of the human brain.

haps..like drones…in stratosphere

What is the Square Kilometer Array project (S.Afr. or Australia compete)?

The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project is an international scientific collaboration working to build the world’s largest radio telescope. It will not be a single large telescope but a collection of thousands of dish antennas operating as a single unit. The goal is to create one square kilometer of effective area for collecting radio waves by installing thousands of smaller antennas in a specific array design that will make them function like a single radio telescope. The project is estimated to cost about 1.5 billion Euros and is expected to be completed in 2024 India’s participation in the SKA project is being led by the Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), with collaboration from 22 institutions across the country, including research institutions, IITs, IISERs, universities, colleges, and private companies. The Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune is one of the most advanced — and sought-after — facilities in the world, which has been producing remarkable scientific results.

The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is India’s first dedicated mission for analyzing the polarization of X-rays emitted by bright celestial sources in the medium frequency band. It is the world’s second satellite-based mission dedicated to making X-ray polarimetry measurements XPoSat’s launch is also noteworthy as it complements the efforts of NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, which was launched in 2021 and focuses on X-ray polarimetry measurements within the soft X-ray band (2 to 8 keV). XPoSat’s POLIX payload offers an expanded observational energy band, operating in the medium X-ray band (8 to 30 keV) The observations will be done when the magnetars or neutron stars (they are highly magnetic and display a wide array of X-ray activity) are in transit through the Earth’s shadow, for instance, during the eclipse period. Indian astronomers, using AstroSat – India’s first astronomy-based space missions launched in September 2015 — performed timing and broadband spectroscopy of X-ray sources but no polarisation studies were performed.

What is Tantalum?

Tantalum is a rare metal with the atomic number 73. It was first discovered in 1802 by Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekenberg in minerals obtained from Ytterby, Sweden. Initially, it was thought to be a different form of niobium, an element that is chemically similar to tantalum. However, in 1866, Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac proved that tantalum and niobium were two distinct elements Tantalum is a grey, heavy, and very hard metal. It is one of the most corrosion-resistant metals in use today. When exposed to air, tantalum forms an oxide layer that is extremely difficult to remove, even when it interacts with strong and hot acid environments. This high corrosion resistance is due to the formation of the oxide layer Tantalum is ductile, meaning it can be stretched, pulled, or drawn into a thin wire or thread without breaking. It is almost completely immune to chemical attack at temperatures below 150°C and is attacked only by hydrofluoric acid, acidic solutions containing the fluoride ion, and free sulphur trioxide. Tantalum also has an extremely high melting point, exceeded only by tungsten and rhenium. Tantalum is most prominently used in the electronics sector. Capacitors made from tantalum are capable of storing more electricity in smaller sizes without much leakage compared to other types of capacitors. This makes them ideal for use in portable electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, and digital cameras Due to its high melting point, tantalum is also used as a substitute for platinum in various applications. It is used to make components for chemical plants, nuclear power plants, airplanes, and missiles. Tantalum is biocompatible, meaning it does not react with bodily fluids, and is used to make surgical equipment and implants, such as artificial joints. Additionally, a composite consisting of tantalum carbide (TaC) and graphite is one of the hardest materials known and is used on the cutting edges of high-speed machine tools.

The recent discovery of tantalum in the Sutlej River sand in Punjab, India, is significant for the country as it could potentially reduce its dependence on imports and increase domestic production of this valuable metal

What are Quasicrystals?

Quasicrystals are crystal-like substances that have a unique atomic arrangement. Unlike regular crystals, where atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern, quasicrystals have atoms that are arranged in a pattern that does not repeat itself regularly . This discovery challenged the long-held belief that all crystalline arrangements must have a repeating pattern Quasicrystals were first discovered in 1982 by material scientist Dan Shechtman, who found crystal structures that were mathematically regular but did not repeat themselves . This breakthrough led to a paradigm shift in chemistry and earned Shechtman the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011.

Recent Discovery of a Quasicrystal in Nebraska

Scientists have recently discovered a new type of quasicrystal with 12-fold symmetry in the Sand Hills of north central Nebraska, USA . This quasicrystal was formed during an accidental electrical discharge, possibly caused by a lightning strike or a downed power line in a dune.

This discovery is significant because it is the first time researchers have found a naturally occurring quasicrystal outside of meteorites or debris from nuclear blasts. Quasicrystals are typically produced in laboratories, making it rare to discover them in nature The quasicrystal found in Nebraska has a dodecagonal or 12-sided atomic structure, which is unusual compared to the previously found quasicrystals that have five-fold symmetric patterns. This finding opens up new possibilities for searching for quasicrystals on Earth and in space, as well as synthesizing them in the laboratory.

Properties and Applications of Quasicrystals

Quasicrystals possess unique properties that make them attractive to materials scientists. They exhibit novel electrical, photonic, and mechanical properties that are not found in other materials . As a result, quasicrystals have been used in various applications, including manufacturing non-stick frying pans, acupuncture and surgery needles, dental instruments, and razor blades.

Most atoms on Earth are stable due to an equilibrated composition of neutrons and protons in their nucleus. However, in some unstable atoms, the composition of the number of protons and neutrons is such that it does not allow the nucleus to hold itself together.

Such atoms are known to be radioactive, and they tend to break apart or fission into two lighter elements. This is the basis of most nuclear weapons and atomic energy. Uranium-235, an extremely rare isotope of the heavy metal uranium, is the most commonly used nuclear fuel, Approximately 99.3% of naturally occurring uranium is of the isotope U-238, which is not fissionable. Naturally occurring uranium, therefore, cannot be used in a weapon, or for that matter, in nuclear power plants. Scientists need to make sure that the bomb does not reach critical mass earlier than intended — this is necessary to prevent an accidental explosion. Critical mass is the minimum mass of fissionable material required to sustain a nuclear fission. ADVERTISEMENT Thus, in a fission bomb, the fuel is kept in separate subcritical masses and then brought together when the explosion is intended. eg Hiroshima bomb

The second way to create a supercritical mass is to compress the subcritical masses together by means of an implosion. This is the kind of device required for plutonium bombs, which cannot be triggered by a simple gun mechanism.In 1941, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley discovered plutonium as a fissionable material. Plutonium implosion bombs are more complex to make but the fissionable isotope of plutonium, Pu-239, is easier and cheaper to obtain in critical mass quantities. If produced correctly, these bombs can also be more efficient than their U-235 counterparts. The Trinity Test at Los Alamos and the bomb triggered over Nagasaki used plutonium as fuel. So, Little Boy, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was a gun-assembly fission bomb using uranium, whereas Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, was an implosion fission bomb utilizing plutonium.

For fusion bombs, the nuclei of two extremely rare isotopes of hydrogen — deuterium and tritium — are fused together under extremely high temperatures and pressure, thus giving these bombs the moniker of hydrogen bombs or H-bombs. While being way more destructive, fusion bombs pose some major challenges, the first of which is obtaining adequate fusionable material itself. Moreover, the amount of energy that is required to create conditions of a fusion reaction is immense. Thus all H-bombs are basically two bombs in one — a fission bomb which produces adequate heat and pressure, to trigger the fusion reaction.

The first material to have been discovered to show super conductive properties was Mercury, which becomes a superconductor at close to 270 degree Celsius below zero. Most of the other materials commonly used as superconductors – Lead, Aluminum, Tin, Niobium, and several others – also become superconducting at comparable temperatures, called critical temperature.

Akira, a ransomware CERT-In has flagged

Ambergris, which means grey amber in French, is a waxy substance that originates from the digestive system of protected sperm whales.

Spyder, Iron dome, Arrow, David’s Sling ….4 Air defence system of israel

“TTS, or thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, involves blood clots in the brain or other parts of the body, along with a low platelet count. It’s a rare occurrence following specific types of vaccines and other causes

Koodankulam is much more modern and safe with advanced safety features. They are two different types of reactors. At Kalpakkam, we have PHW (Pressurised Heavy Water) reactors but at Koodankulam, it is a light water reactor. Heavy water reactors have some inherent safety features while light water reactors need extra safety features. But in light water reactors, water itself is a moderator. Out of the three major nuclear accidents – Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima – in Three Mile Island and Fukushima, the reactors were safely shut down when the mishap occurred. We reactor people call Chernobyl the real accident where there was a power surge and an explosion. In Koodankulam’s case, there are many extra safety features compared to Fukushima or Three Mile Island.

Deep-seated and critical minerals are often found in vast seafloor abyssal plains in international waters, such as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1945102

“Three cases of trisomy 21 [Down syndrome], and the case of trisomy 18 [Edwards syndrome]…..not genetic disease

haemophilia — a disorder in which patients lack a coagulation factor and cannot properly form blood clots leading to spontaneous bleeding

Under the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana programme,Rs 500 per month is credited into the account of a person with TB for the duration of treatment

Risk factor arising from adolescent pregnancies was highest in Tripura (10.3%), while advanced maternal age of over 35 years risk factor was most seen in Ladakh (14.3%), short stature (height below 140 cm) was highest in Puducherry (4.8%), and BMI over 30 was seen in Goa (17.4%). Women with more than Women with more than ve children (higher birth order) were seen in Meghalaya (10.7%), whereas short birth spacing of less than 18 months was highest in Andhra Pradesh (48.1%), and caesarean delivery was highest in Ladakh and Puducherry (50% each). Women in Chandigarh had the highest adverse birth outcomes (40%) as well as preterm births (37.5%). “The short birth spacing was the primary factor contributing to the high prevalence of high-risk pregnancies across the country. The major problem of short birth spacing was that half of the Indian women were not using contraception to delay their next pregnancy,” the authors write. “The under ve-mortality rate for shorter birth intervals was reported to be twice as high as the rate for birth intervals of three or more years.” According to the study, high-risk factors were more commonly seen during the third trimester (51%) than in the rst (48.8%) and second trimester (48.6%). The proportion of multiple high risks was higher among women with no educational category (22.5%) compared with educated women.

Multiple myeloma is the second most common type of blood cancer in adults

CPR was dened as the interval between the start of chest compression and the rst return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or termination of resuscitation.

(67%) achieved return of spontaneous circulation with an average CPR duration of seven minutes,

Probability of survival decreases with increased duration of CPR

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare have initiated the weather information network and data system (WINDS) to generate long-term, hyperlocal weather data….ground sensors will be installed

“For HPV vaccines, the principal target group is young adolescents who have not yet become sexually active

The Cervavac vaccine is a quadrivalent vaccine that targets four HPV subtypes — 6, 11, 16, and 18, and was compared with Gardasil vaccine which contains the same four HPV subtypes

The 15-km-long magma dike that formed beneath Grindavík, Iceland

Bulqizë chromium mine in Albania have revealed large quantities of outgassing natural hydrogen

Around 5160% of anthropogenic ammonia emissions can be traced back to crop cultivation, and about half of these emissions are associated with three main staple crops: rice, wheat and maize.

Currently, there are two conjugated typhoid vaccines — the Typbar TCV typhoid vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech that received WHO prequalification in 2017, and Biological E’s ViCRM197 conjugated typhoid vaccine, which received WHO prequalification in 2020.

RobustaArabica hybrid, known as the Timor Hybrid

Western Equine Encephalitis is a mosquitoborne infection caused by the WEEV, which belongs to the Togaviridae family of viruses. The virus has an approximately 11.5 kilobases long singlestranded RNA genome and is a recombinant of the eastern equine encephalitis virus and a Sindbislike virus. Passerine birds are thought to be the reservoir and equine species as intermediate hosts. The primary mode of transmission of the infection to humans is through mosquitoes which act as vectors for the virus. While most of the infections are asymptomatic, the infection may lead to severe consequences in rare cases

Athabasca oil sands in Canada

Bothrops…viper

There is a substantial gap between the masses of the heaviest measured neutron star and the lightest measured black hole — the most massive neutron stars generally range between 2.2 to 2.5 solar masses, while black holes of less than 5 solar masses are rare.

simianhuman immunodeficiency virus (SHIV), a chimera of SIV and HIV.

Gigantopithecus blacki was a species of great ape found in China between 2 million and 330 thousand years ago, after which the species became extinct.

The cause of tiredness was identified as muscle cells not receiving sufficient energy from mitochondria. This is somewhat like using an old mobile phone with a weak battery and low charge, where even a brief conversation triggers a complete shutdown. Similarly, even a slight exertion led to excessive fatigue in the muscle cells.

low platelet count….cytopeniathrombo

In the case of dengue, virus shedding by humans is low. This makes it difficult to detect dengue viral RNA in wastewater at levels similar to SARSCoV2 RNA. “Using wastewater surveillance to detect malaria or dengue pathogens and find the actual burden of the disease in the community in a setting like ours is a challenge,”

With the usefulness of wastewater surveillance during the pandemic established, researchers in developed countries have used it for tracking other diseases such as monkeypox, influenza and cholera.

While sugar currently attracts 18% GST, sugar sweetened beverages attract 28% GST and a 12% additional cess, while high fat, salt and sugar products only attract 12% GST

In humans, the main effect of light on the internal clock and sleep is probably mediated via the lightsensitive ganglion cells.

They found no evidence that the variation of light colour along a blueyellow dimension plays a relevant role in the human internal clock or sleep

The reindeer’s EEG readings during rumination resembled brainwave patterns that are indicative of nonREM sleep

Several subtypes of the influenza virus are assigned according to combinations of mutations in the proteins on the surface of the virus hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). The former binds to sialic acid receptors in the host. New influenza viruses can emerge through a process called reassortment where the coinfecting viruses could swap genomic fragments.

The whitebellied pangolin is the world’s most trafficked mammal

Sea turtles are potentially particularly susceptible, as the sex of their offspring is dependent on incubation temperature.

sleeping removes neurotoxic wastes (such as plaques called betaamyloids which disturb communication between various brain cells)

Electroporation uses an electric field to create temporary pores in the cell membrane. This lets molecules, like DNA or proteins, enter the target cell…eels…amazon river

Planets with radii between that of the Earth and Neptune (referred to as ‘subNeptunes… common size of expolanets

Angiogenesis, the development of new blood vessels,

diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MRI technique, at the time of enrolment and two years later. DTI characterises the microstructure of the brain by tracking the microscopic movement of water molecules through the tissue.

Compared to the baseline test results, the highheading group demonstrated an increase of diffusivity in frontal white matter regions and a decrease in orientation dispersion index (a measure of brain organisation) in certain brain regions after two years of football heading exposure.

mesosphere (the atmospheric layer above the stratosphere and the ozone layer).

However, the past three years (20202022) have witnessed the reemergence of large and longlived ozone holes over Antarctica in mid spring

The BPaL regimen uses only three drugs — bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid — and the treatment lasts only for 26 weeks, in contrast to eight-nine tablets each day for 18 months in the conventional treatment for DR-TB

Reading disorders Dyslexia is a disorder marked by difficulty in reading. This neurological problem is associated with reduced languageprocessing activity in the brain. Aphasia, another language disorder, is caused by brain damage, such as after a stroke. It reduces the ability to express and understand language. The damage can also cause alexia — an inability to comprehend written language, or agraphia — the inability to write coherently. Eventual recovery from aphasia is quite common. Individuals who speak multiple languages and are suffering from aphasia usually struggle in all their languages, but at different levels of severity.

Even when the chickenpox disease clears, the virus stays dormant in the body and can get reactivated to cause herpes zoster (shingles), especially in adults. Exposure to the virus through children with chickenpox was expected to boost the immunity in adults and thus reduce the risk of shingles. It was theorised that vaccination of children will lead to loss of natural immunity boosting in adults, thus leading to significant increase in shingles cases. This was one of the reasons why routine administration of the vaccine in children did not begin in the U.K. earlier.

India is yet to include varicella vaccine in the universal immunisation programme.

Amphotericin B (AmB) is an antifungal agent produced by bacteria and has been used as a last line of defence against severe fungal infections for many decades. It achieves this by forming spongelike aggregates that bind to a molecule known as ergosterol (which is found in bacterial and fungal cells and performs a similar function to mammalian cholesterol). This binding results in the extraction of ergosterol from the membrane, which leads to fungal cell death. Despite being effective, AmB is highly toxic in humans — particularly in renal cells. However, it is unknown whether this toxicity is due to the same mechanism that causes fungal cell death

The dissipated energy of the white hole was studied by Stephen Hawking; it is his great contribution to physics. Black holes emit heat or ‘Hawking radiation’ and this information isn’t lost but can come out from a ‘white hole.’

Cytoplasmic lattices seem to be storage sites for many proteins that are essential for the development of the early embryo. They enrich maternally provided proteins to prevent their premature degradation and cellular activity. The discovery could explain why people whose eggs lack the fibres entirely are infertile. When researchers disabled the genes in mice that encode the proteins that make up the fibres, the resulting embryos were non viable.

hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for spatial memory.

mass burial site in a shallow cave in the Rioja Alavesa region of northern Spain, radiocarbon dated to between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago

H. pylori infections affect 6070% of the population. H. pylori infection is often acquired during childhood and remains in the stomach throughout life if not treated with antibiotics effectively. clarithromycin used

Epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation and histone modifications can influence gene expression. Methylation basically is chemical modification of DNA molecule used by cells to regulate gene expression. It can be influenced by environmental factors such as diet, drugs, stress, exposure to chemicals and toxins.

The FLAMINGO project by Virgo Consortium is an initiative aimed at understanding the distribution of matter in the universe. It utilizes computer simulations to study the clumping or clustering of matter, including both dark matter and ordinary matter. The project’s simulations take into account the complex interactions between dark matter and visible matter, such as stars and gas, to provide insights into the structure of the universe However, despite its comprehensive approach, the FLAMINGO project’s simulations have not been able to fully explain a phenomenon known as the S8 tension. The S8 tension refers to a discrepancy between theoretical predictions and actual observations regarding the weak clumping of matter in the present-day universe. While the project’s simulations have made significant progress in understanding the complexities of matter distribution, they have not provided a definitive solution to the S8 tension

Solar energy constitutes 16% of India’s installed generation capacity, while coal comprises 49%. Nuclear energy currently comprises only 1.6% of India’s energy mix

One of the key features of the PFBR is its ability to breed more fuel. It utilizes a fast neutron spectrum to convert non-fissile uranium-238 into fissile plutonium-239, which can then be used as fuel in the reactor . This breeding process allows for the efficient utilization of nuclear fuel resources and reduces the need for additional mining and enrichment of uranium. BHAVINI, the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) are all involved in the building and operation of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a type of nuclear reactor that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as both its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs often use natural uranium as fuel, although they can also use very low enriched uranium. The heavy water coolant is kept under pressure to prevent boiling, allowing it to reach higher temperatures without forming steam bubbles, similar to a pressurized water reactor (PWR)

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The use of heavy water as the moderator is a key feature of the PHWR system, as it enables the use of natural uranium as fuel. This means that PHWRs can operate without the need for expensive uranium enrichment .

PHWRs have been in operation since the early 2000s, with a total capacity of 16.5 GW(e) as of 2001

IAEA was established in 1957 as an autonomous agency under the UN is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It plays a crucial role in safeguarding the principles outlined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1970. Despite its independent treaty, the IAEA remains accountable to both the UN General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors with a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit. They are designed to be smaller, simpler, and more flexible than traditional nuclear reactors. SMRs rely on passive safety systems and have a range of applications, including power generation, process heat, and desalination. While there are numerous SMR designs and concepts globally, many are still in various stages of development.

Liquid high-level waste is vitrified to form a stable glass for long-term storage.

Reprocessing: Reprocessing separates fissile material from non-fissile elements in spent fuel, allowing for the reuse of valuable materials. Ex.: India operates reprocessing plants in Trombay, Tarapur, and Kalpakkam.

Germany has recently shut down its last nuclear power plant, and France, the nuclear powerhouse of the world, is struggling to replenish its stock of aging reactors

Uranium	Thorium Atomic number	92	90 Natural isotopes	U-238, U-235, U-234	Th-232 Radioactivity	Highly radioactive	Weakly radioactive Fissile	U-235 is fissile	Not fissile Nuclear weapons	Can be used to create nuclear weapons	Cannot be used to create nuclear weapons Nuclear power	Widely used for nuclear power	Not commonly used for nuclear power Decay products	Produces many long-lived and dangerous decay products	Produces fewer and less dangerous decay products Availability	Limited reserves	Abundant reserves Waste disposal	Radioactive waste remains dangerous for thousands of years	Radioactive waste decays faster and becomes less dangerous Environmental impact	Can have significant environmental impact	Considered less environmentally damaging than uranium mining Health effects	Exposure can cause serious health effects, including cancer	Less harmful to human health than uranium

PHWRs produce more energy per kilogram of mined uranium than traditional reactor designs. However, they also produce a larger amount of used fuel per unit output.

Solar sails typically consist of lightweight, reflective materials such as Mylar or aluminized Kapton, which are deployed in space to capture sunlight. The sail is often configured as a large, thin membrane with a large surface area to maximize the amount of sunlight it can intercept. When sunlight reflects off a shiny solar sail, some of its momentum is transferred, giving the sail a small push. dvanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) Project The spacecraft is slated to orbit 1,000 kilometers above Earth, deploying an 80-square-meter solar sail approximately 25 minutes after liftoff. It harnesses sunlight as a renewable propulsion source, marking a novel advancement in space exploration. It uses a compact CubeSat, similar in size to an oven, which facilitates propulsion by capturing solar particle energy.

The Moon has its own day and night cycle, which lasts about 29.5 Earth days. Currently, the time on the Moon is measured using Coordinated Universal Time (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. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) UTC is a time standard introduced on January 1, 1960. It 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. It 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.). It 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.

Earth’s time standard is primarily based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), set by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, France. UTC is determined by a weighted average of over 400 atomic clocks worldwide, providing a universally agreed-upon standard for time measurement. Challenges with Earth’s Time Standard on the Moon: Time on the Moon differs from Earth due to factors like gravity and the Moon’s rotation. Time on the Moon ticks slightly faster due to lower gravity (about 56 microseconds every day) as per Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. Establishing a Lunar Time Standard: Technical Considerations: LTC cannot be based on UTC due to the time differences between Earth and the Moon.

On Earth, atomic clocks placed at different latitudes experience variations in time due to differences in rotational speed of Earth. Earth rotates faster at the Equator compared to the poles, resulting in different time measurements.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a space observatory that was launched on December 2, 1995, as a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA . Its mission was initially scheduled to run until 1998, but it has continued collecting data and making new discoveries about the Sun .

SOHO is stationed 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth at L1 and constantly observes the Sun, providing valuable information about its interior, visible surface, stormy atmosphere, and the solar wind . It carries 12 scientific instruments that study various aspects of the Sun, including helioseismology, the solar atmosphere, and the solar wind .

One of the notable achievements of SOHO is its role as the most prolific discoverer of comets in astronomical history, with over 5,000 comets discovered . It has also contributed to scientists’ understanding of the Sun’s internal structure and dynamics, the chromosphere, the corona, and solar particles

Cavum clouds, also known as fallstreak holes, hole punch clouds, cloud cavities, skypunch clouds, and cloud canals, are formed when an aircraft passes through a thin layer of cumuliform clouds. The air around the aircraft’s wings and propellers expands adiabatically, cooling the water droplets in the clouds and sometimes causing them to freeze into ice crystals. These ice crystals eventually become too heavy and fall out of the cloud, creating a gap or hole in the cloud layer

Circumstellar discs, also known as protoplanetary discs, are structures of gas and dust that surround young stars. These discs play a crucial role in the formation of planets and other celestial bodies.

Helium stars, also known as helium-burning stars, are a stage in the evolution of certain types of stars. These stars are typically more massive than the Sun and have exhausted the hydrogen fuel in their cores, leading to a contraction and subsequent heating of the core. As a result, helium fusion begins in the core, where helium nuclei fuse to form heavier elements such as carbon and oxygen. This fusion process releases energy, causing the star to expand and become more luminous. Helium stars represent an intermediate stage in stellar evolution between main-sequence stars and later stages such as red giants or supernovae.

Scientists analyzed Mimas’s orbital motion using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, concluding that the moon’s oscillations indicate the presence of either an elongated silicate core or a global ocean. Known for its large Herschel Crater, Called as “Death Star” from the Star Wars films. Discovered by William Herschel on September 17, 1789. Characteristics Smallest and innermost of Saturn’s major moons.

Deimos and Phobos are the two moons of Mars. Micrometeorites, tiny yet potent dust particles, bombard Mars’s moons, creating ephemeral clouds of dust upon impact due to the absence of atmospheres. Escape into Space: Deimos and Phobos, characterized by low gravity, facilitate the escape of dust particles into space, contributing to the formation of a dusty ring around Mars. Analysis suggested Mars’s moons, Deimos and Phobos, as potential sources of interplanetary dust, offering tantalizing clues to unraveling the enigmatic origins of these celestial particles.

Neutron stars are born from the remnants of massive stars that didn’t become black holes. They are incredibly dense and primarily made up of neutrons. Behind the Radiation: Lighthouse Effect Radiation Beams: Pulsars emit focused beams of radio waves from their poles, similar to a lighthouse’s rotating light. Rotation Slowdown: Neutron stars gradually slow down their rotation, and this process generates the pulsar’s radio signals. The Mystery of Glitches Sudden Speed-Ups: In 1969, scientists noticed unexpected and brief increases in the rotation speed of pulsars, known as “glitches.”

Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny, is an autonomous NASA helicopter that operated on Mars from 2021 to 2024 as part of the Mars 2020 mission

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is an international project to build a next-generation optical-infrared telescope with a 30-meter aperture. It will be located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and will be the largest visible-light telescope on the mountain. The TMT is a collaboration between Japan, the United States, Canada, China, and India

Amaterasu is a cosmic ray that was discovered by Japanese scientist Toshihiro Fujii in May 2021. It is named after the sun goddess in Japanese mythology. Amaterasu is the second-highest-energy cosmic ray ever detected, with an energy of 240 exa-electron-volt (EeV). This is about 40 million times more powerful than the Large Hadron Collider’s protons. Amaterasu’s origin is a mystery, and some possible explanations include an unidentified source, interaction with a strong magnetic field, or the need for new physics models.

What is nuclear medicine? Nuclear medicine is a specialized area of radiology. It uses very small amounts of a radioactive substance (radionuclide or radio-tracer) for health research, diagnosis, and treatment of various conditions, including cancer. Nuclear medicine imaging is a mix of many different disciplines. These include chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer technology, and medicine. Soft tissue, such as intestines, muscles, and blood vessels, is hard to see on a standard X-ray unless a contrast agent is used. This agent allows the tissue to be seen more clearly. Nuclear imaging shows organ and tissue structure as well as function. The extent to which a radionuclide is absorbed, or “taken up,” by a certain organ or tissue may even show how well the organ or tissue is working. So, while diagnostic X-rays are used mainly to study anatomy, nuclear imaging is used to study organ and tissue function. A tiny amount of the radionuclide is used during the procedure. The radionuclide is also known as a radiopharmaceutical or radioactive tracer. It is absorbed by body tissue. There are several different types of radionuclides. These include forms of the elements technetium, thallium, gallium, iodine, and xenon. The type of radionuclide used will depend on the type of study and the body part being checked. After the radionuclide has been given and has collected in the body tissue under study, radiation will be given off. A radiation detector can pick up this radiation. The most common type of detector is the gamma camera. Digital signals are made and stored by a computer when the gamma camera detects the radiation. With a nuclear scan, the healthcare provider can assess and diagnose many conditions, such as tumors, infections, or organ enlargement. A nuclear scan may also be used to check organ function and blood circulation. The areas where the radionuclide collects in greater amounts are called “hot spots.” The areas that don’t absorb the radionuclide are called “cold spots.” These look less bright on the scan image.

Artemis is named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, Artemis, who is also the goddess of the Moon.

OSIRIS-REx was launched on September 8, 2016. It flew past Earth on September 22, 2017. The spacecraft rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid Bennu on December 3, 2018 On October 20, 2020, OSIRIS-REx briefly touched down on the surface of Bennu to collect a sample The spacecraft departed Bennu and returned to Earth on September 24, 2023, to drop off the collected material After the sample delivery, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer) and continued on to study asteroid Apophis The sample returned by OSIRIS-REx is the largest sample collected from space since the Apollo moon landings in the 1960s and 70s

NASA’s Europa Clipper aims to explore Europa, one of Jupiter’s largest moons, known for its icy surface and potential subsurface saltwater ocean

After a 25 day orbiting around moon of Artemis 1 mission, the Orion spacecraft returned and reentered the Earth’s atmosphere with the protection of its heat shield, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.[20] The mission aims to certify Orion and the Space Launch System for crewed flights beginning with Artemis 2, which is scheduled to perform a crewed lunar flyby no earlier than September 2025. After Artemis 2, Artemis 3 will involve a crewed lunar landing, the first in five decades since Apollo 17. SLS has two main stages (1st is liquid and 2nd is cryogenic)

VIPER, a golf cart-sized rover, will explore the moon’s south pole to search for water and other volatiles in Dec 2024

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1: Water Mapping and Drilling

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission tested the kinetic impact technique for planetary defense on September 26, 2022. The DART spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, a small moonlet 530 feet in diameter, at an estimated velocity of 6 kilometers per second. The impact changed Dimorphos’ orbit around its binary companion Didymos, demonstrating that a kinetic impactor mission can be effective in altering an asteroid’s trajectory. ESA’s Hera will follow up on NASA’s DART mission

Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) moon lander has revived after death twice, first in January 2024 and again in March 2024. SLIM landed on the moon’s rim on January 19, 2024 at an angle that caused its solar panels to face away from the sun. This caused the mission to shut down shortly after landing, but SLIM reactivated almost 10 days later when the sun’s angle shifted. SLIM operated for a couple of days, conducting scientific observations of a crater, before powering off again. SLIM was not designed to survive the extreme lunar nights, when temperatures drop to minus 133 degrees. However, in March 2024, SLIM surprised scientists by waking up again after enduring a two-week lunar night. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent a command to the lander, which responded, confirming that it had survived the night and was still able to communicate. SLIM took some blurry photos of the moon’s scenery with its navigation camera. SLIM’s primary mission goals were to make a precise landing, deploy two rovers, and conduct scientific work. The mission was initially considered a “minimum success” because SLIM landed upside down, preventing it from achieving all of its intended goals. Unlike Chandrayaan 3’s Hohmann transfer orbit, SLIM followed a longer, fuel-efficient path based on weak-stability boundary theory, taking four months to reach the moon. Chandrayaan 4, a joint Indian-Japanese mission (LUPEX), aims to explore regions closer to the moon’s south pole, requiring precise landing technologies.

Enceledas….a Saturn’s moon

NASA is gearing up for the launch of PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission in 2024. The mission’s objective is to enhance the understanding of Earth’s atmosphere using Ocean Colour Instrument (OCI) for measuring ocean color across a spectrum from ultraviolet to shortwave infrared.

Red Sprite: a Transient Luminous Event (TLE). Red coloration due to the excitation of nitrogen molecules; lower parts can appear blue

“Teenage galaxies” are galaxies that formed two to three billion years after the Big Bang and are unusually hot. They went through intense star formation during the universe’s youth, similar to growth spurts and changes

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) is a laser communication system that NASA uses to demonstrate optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system. DSOC uses a narrow laser beam to transmit data between spacecrafts, and can improve communication performance 10–100 times over radio frequency technology without increasing mass, volume, or power. DSOC will allow for the communication of high-quality images and video streaming between spacecrafts and the Earth. Scientists will use this data to continue exploring space, and people who can’t go into deep space, except astronauts, will be able to see more DSOC’s laser communication technology is comparable to how fiber optics revolutionized Earth-based telecommunications.

The ISS orbits Earth every 90 minutes at 8 kilometers per second. Launched in 1998 and involving the U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan, and the participating countries of the European Space Agency each partner responsible for managing and controlling the hardware it provides No one partner currently has the capability to function without the other The space station was not designed to be disassembled, and current interdependencies between each segment of the station prevent the U.S. Orbital Segment and Russian Segment from operating independently. Attempts to detach the U.S. Orbital Segment and the Russian Segment would encounter major logistical and safety challenges given the multitude of external and internal connections, the need to control spacecraft attitude and altitude, and software interdependency. The International Space Station orbits with an inclination of 51.6 degrees. This means that, as it orbits, the farthest north and south of the Equator it will ever go is 51.6 degrees latitude spacecraft can dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at its eight docking and berthing ports. helps in incoming and outgoing of astronauts ISS is the largest single structure ever put in space

Currently, two space stations are operational in the Earth’s orbit — the ISS, launched in 2000 as a collaboration between five space agencies in the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and Russia, and the Tiangong Space Station, which China launched in 2021.

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched the first-ever space station, Salyut (salute), and followed that up by launching six more improved space stations, up to Salyut 7. Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut to go to space in 1984, spent eight days on board Salyut 7 in a joint operation between ISRO and the Soviet Interkosmos space agency. Salyut 7 finally left orbit in 1991. Experience gained from the Salyut stations helped the Soviet Union launch the Mir Space Station in 1986. The Mir station remained in orbit till 2001, spending 15 years in space. Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 438 days on the Mir station, holds the record for the longest human space mission till now. A Salyut-derived module remains in orbit at the core of the Russian segment of the ISS.

India’s space station programme plans to allow astronauts to stay in orbit for 15-20 days. It is currently in the conceptualisation stage.

Gaganyaan, a 3-member human spaceflight mission, will take off by next year. After that India will lauch Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) .

Mesospheric gravity waves (GWs) are an important part of the mesosphere’s dynamics and energetics. They are thought to originate in the troposphere and propagate into the upper atmosphere. GWs are essential for transporting energy away from the disturbances that generate them. The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) is a NASA instrument that was installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2023. The AWE is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying the properties of mesospheric gravity waves (GWs) in the Earth’s atmosphere. The AWE’s mission is to understand the forces that drive space weather and how terrestrial weather may impact it. AWE will analyze airglow in the mesopause region (about 85-87 km above Earth) to understand AGW behavior and its influence on Space weather.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short-lived, high-energy explosions that are the most powerful events in the known universe. They are bursts of gamma-ray light, the most energetic form of light, that can last from milliseconds to minutes. GRBs are hundreds of times brighter than a supernova and a million trillion times brighter than the sun. GRBs are thought to mark the birth of new black holes.They usually happen when massive stars collapse into neutron stars or black holes, or during the merger of neutron stars. These cosmic catastrophes release a tremendous amount of energy.

Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible form of matter that doesn’t emit, absorb, or reflect electromagnetic radiation, making it difficult to detect directly. However, scientists know that dark matter exists because its gravity affects the motion of objects around it. For example, astronomers have observed that the outer edges of spiral galaxies rotate at the same speed as parts closer to the center, which can only be explained if there is more matter in the galaxy than they can see. Dark matter is believed to make up about 27% of the universe’s total mass-energy content, while ordinary matter (the matter we can see and interact with) comprises only about 5%. The remaining 68% is attributed to dark energy, which is a different component of the universe that causes repulsion on matter. Dark energy is the component of the universe that is least known about, but Hubble’s observation in 1997 showed that it exists

he Euclid mission is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to create a 3D map of the universe. The mission launched on July 1, 2023 and is designed to provide new insights into the composition and evolution of the dark universe. It orbits orbit jwst L2.

To nail down the Moon’s age, scientists studied tiny mineral specks called “zircon” found in moon samples collected in 1972 by the final Apollo mission. Zircon crystals, formed during the moon’s early molten stage, are believed to be among the first solids that emerged after the Moon’s creation, offering clues about its age. Scientists determined the sample’s age by measuring the quantity of uranium and lead atoms it contained. As zircons grow, they absorb uranium but not lead, so geologists can use their chemical makeup to determine their age. Zircon is a mineral that can provide information about Earth’s past because it’s resilient and can survive harsh conditions. The oldest zircon crystals found in rocks date back to 4.4 billion years ago, which is shortly after the Earth’s crust cooled. These crystals indicate that water was present on Earth when it formed, and their oxygen isotopic composition suggests that water was already on the surface of the planet over 4.4 billion years ago. Tiny zircons found in ancient stream deposits also suggest that Earth developed continents and water, possibly oceans, around 4.3–4.4 billion years ago. In 2017, scientists identified hints of a biosphere in 4.1-billion-year-old zircons.

The researchers propose the giant impact hypothesis, suggesting that a celestial body named Theia, possibly Mars-sized, collided with Earth during its formation. This collision ejected debris, which coalesced to form the moon.

watermeal, the world’s smallest flowering plant, as a possible source of nutrition and oxygen for astronauts

NASA’s Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission studies how Earth’s upper atmosphere changes when the moon blocks the sun during a solar eclipse. The mission involves launching rockets into the moon’s shadow during a total solar eclipse to measure changes in the ionosphere’s temperature, particle density, and electric and magnetic fields They use sounding rocket. A sounding rocket, also known as a research rocket or suborbital rocket, is a rocket that carries instruments and performs scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. Sounding rockets are used to study the upper atmosphere, test new components for launch vehicles and satellites, and provide information about the Sun, stars, galaxies, and Earth’s atmosphere and radiation. Suborbital flights are different from orbital flights, which circle the Earth at least once in a stable way. Suborbital flights may go into space, but their path carries them back to Earth. Suborbital flights can reach altitudes higher than 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, but they don’t have the power to achieve orbit. Instead, they fly up to a certain height and then come back down once their engines are shut off

Auroras happen above Karman line.

A recent revelation from the Solar Orbiter Aircraft, a collaborative endeavour between the European Space Agency and NASA, has illuminated the Picoflare jets erupting from the sun’s outer atmosphere

Picoflare jets are small-scale, high-speed emissions of charged particles from the sun’s outer atmosphere that release a large amount of energy in a short period of time. The term “picoflare” comes from the fact that these jets carry energy equivalent to one trillionth of the sun’s largest flares. Picoflare jets originate from coronal holes, which are small, dark regions in the sun’s corona where the sun’s magnetic field stretches into space. Coronal holes are primary sources of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles from the sun

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft (ESA+NASA) is in an elliptical orbit around the sun, with its closest point to the sun, known as the perihelion, at about 25 million miles (40 million kilometers) away. This is closer than the orbit of Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet.

The Kuiper Belt, also known as the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a flat ring of small icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune’s orbit.

The Hubble constant is usually expressed in kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc), or per second. This means that for each megaparsec of distance, a galaxy’s recession velocity from Earth adds 70 km/s. For example, the Hubble constant is about 70 (km/s)/Mpc

The basis of microLED technology are sapphires. A sapphire can shine on its own forever. A microLED screen is filled with such small but strong light. The picture in a microLED screen is generated by several individual light-emitting diodes. MicroLED technology indeed holds significant promise due to its unique characteristics, which make it highly scalable and versatile. Here’s a breakdown of these key attributes:

Resolution-Free: MicroLED displays can achieve very high resolutions because each pixel is an individual LED. This means that as the display size increases, additional LEDs can be added to maintain or even increase the resolution, unlike traditional displays where increasing size often means a reduction in pixel density.

Bezel-Free: MicroLED technology allows for seamless tiling of multiple panels to create a larger display without noticeable bezels. This capability is due to the tiny size of the LEDs and the precise control over their placement, which enables the creation of virtually borderless displays.

Ratio-Free: Displays using MicroLEDs are not constrained by traditional aspect ratios (such as 16:9 or 4:3). They can be custom-built to any desired aspect ratio, making them ideal for a variety of applications, from ultra-wide monitors to unconventional display shapes.

Size-Free: MicroLED displays can be scaled to virtually any size, from small wearable devices to large-scale digital billboards. The modular nature of MicroLED panels means that larger displays can be created by combining smaller units without sacrificing image quality or consistency.