SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS DECEMBER 2016
- World’s oldest water may hold clues to alien life
Scientists have discovered the oldest water samples on Earth that date back to about two billion years. Scientists from University of Toronto in Canada have been working with mining companies to study deep water samples.
As miners go deeper, the researchers gain access to ever deeper sources of water. The researchers determined the age of the water samples by studying dissolved gasses, ‘Phys.org’ reported.
They discovered that sulphate in the water had come from interactions between the water and the rocks around it, rather than from another source, which suggests that the water was capable of sustaining life. If such microbial life does exist somewhere deep below the surface, it would represent a form of life that has evolved separately from all other life on Earth.
It would also suggest that space scientists might have to consider the possibility of similar forms of life living far beneath the surface of Mars or other planets. - China launches satellite to monitor global carbon emissions
China launched a carbon dioxide monitoring satellite on 22nd December that will trace sources of greenhouse gases. It will help to evaluate whether countries are fulfilling their commitments to reduce pollutants under environmental pacts. - Super cluster of galaxies near Milky Way found
An international team of astronomers has found one of the universe's biggest super clusters of galaxies near the Milky Way.
Researchers, including those from Australian National University (ANU), said the Vela super cluster, which had previously gone undetected as it was hidden by stars and dust in the Milky Way, was a huge mass that influenced the motion of our galaxy.
Researched used the Anglo-Australian Telescope to measure distances for many galaxies to confirm earlier predictions that Vela was a super cluster. - Newly discovered fish named after Obama
After a trapdoor spider, a speckled freshwater darter (fish), a parasitic hairworm and an extinct lizard, outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama now has a new species bearing his name.
Scientists have named pink-and-yellow coral-reef fish — found exclusively within the protected area in Hawaii — in honour of Mr. Obama. The fish now bears the formal scientific name Tosanoides obama.
The fish was discovered during a June 2016 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expedition to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Hawaiian Islands.
Mr. Obama had expanded the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. At 15,08,870 sq.km, it is the largest permanent marine protected area on Earth. It is special because it is the only known species of coral reef fish endemic to the Monument. - DRDO successfully flight tests Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon
The Defence Research and Development Organization has successfully flight tested the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon, SAAW, from an Indian Air Force aircraft. According to DRDO, the flight test was conducted at the integrated test range in Chandipur, Odisha on 23rd December.
SAAW is an indigenously designed and developed 120 kilogram class smart weapon, developed by DRDO. It is capable of engaging ground targets with high precision up to a range of 100 kilo metres. The light weight high precision guided bomb is one of the world class weapons systems. Over 100, 000 people challenge Albert Einstein in global experiment
More than 100,000 people from laboratories around the world for the first time have conducted a unique global experiment that verified the laws of quantum physics, thus refuting Albert Einstein's understanding of the microscopic world.
Twelve laboratories from around the world came together to put in motion various scientific tests. The experiment - coordinated by ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain - powered by human randomness is with the objective to demonstrate that the microscopic world is in fact as strange as quantum physics predicts.- China launches new generation weather satellite
China has successfully launched a new generation weather satellite which will significantly improve the country’s weather forecast capabilities. The Fengyun-4 satellite, the first of Chinas second-generation weather satellites in geostationary orbit to have been launched, is also the country’s first quantitative remote-sensing satellite in highest orbit.
The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province last night, was taken into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. The launch marked the 242nd mission of Chinas Long March series of rockets.
The satellite will make high time, spatial and spectral resolution observations of the atmosphere, clouds and space environment of China and surrounding regions, significantly improving capabilities of weather and climate forecasts, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. The China Meteorological Administration is the primary user of the satellite. - Quake-detection app captures nearly 400 earthquakes worldwide
A Smartphone app developed by scientists has successfully detected nearly 400 earthquakes since its launch earlier this year, paving the way for a warning system that can alert users before a disaster occurs.
The MyShake App, developed at University of California, Berkeley, harnesses a Smartphone’s motion detectors to measure earthquake ground motion, then sends that data back to the seismological laboratory for analysis. The objective is to send early-warning alerts. - Scientists developed new methods to detect Black Holes
Scientists have developed a new and rapid method that will detect roughly ten black holes per year, doubling the number currently known within two years, and unlock their history in a little more than a decade.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada came up with the method that has implications for the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy and the way in which we search for black holes and other dark objects in space.
The first direct proof of their existence was announced earlier this year by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US when it detected gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes merging into one. - India puts remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2A into orbit
India puts into orbit the remote sensing satellite Resource sat-2A successfully. The rocket took off at 10.25 am on 7th December as per the schedule from SHAR- ISRO.
According to the ISRO, Resourcesat-2A is a follow on mission to Resourcesat-1 and 2, which were launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively. The new satellite Resourcesat-2A intends to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by the earlier two.
The satellite also carries two Solid State Recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits each to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to ground stations. The mission life of Resourcesat-2A is five years. These cameras will send clear and specific pictures of areas where exactly the various resources are located at an in depth level. - Japan launches 'space junk' collector
Japan launched a cargo ship on 9th December bound for the International Space Station (ISS), carrying a 'space junk' collector that was made with the help of a fishnet company.
The capsule — called Kounotori, or white stork — contains nearly 5 tons of food, water and other supplies, including six new lithium-ion batteries for the station's solar power system. Astronauts will conduct spacewalks in January, 2017 to replace the old nickel-hydrogen batteries that store energy generated by the station's big solar panels.
This is Japan's sixth shipment to the 250-mile-high outpost, currently home to Pesquet, two Americans and three Russians. It launched from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are experimenting with a tether to pull junk out of orbit around Earth, clearing up tonnes of space clutter including cast-off equipment from old satellites and pieces of rocket. - MOM has completed a revolution around Mars, ISRO scientist says
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, has completed one revolution around the Red Planet, according to, Ritu Karidhal, deputy operation director of Bengaluru-based MOM ISRO Satellite Centre. Based on analysis of data being sent by the orbiter would soon answer different queries related to life on the planet.
The span of two years on Earth nearly equals to one year on Mars. The Mangalyaan, which entered into the orbit of Mars around two years ago, has completed one revolution. The data being sent by it over a period of last two years is being studied by ISRO for analysing atmospheric configuration. The ISRO scientist said the MOM could last in the space further for at least 5 to 10 years. - ISS astronaut captures stunning sunset that appears to show the horizon on fire
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station has captured a breathtaking image of Earth bathed in what appears to be a sheet of fire. The photo shows the many layers of the atmosphere in shades of blue over the south Atlantic, with the dramatic appearance of the setting sun stretching above the dark surface beneath.
It was taken on October 27 by a member of the Expedition 49 crew, and reveals just a glimpse of the remarkable views seen from the ISS every day.
The stunning image was captured using a Nikon D4 camera with a 240 millimetre lens, and was shared now by the ISS crew Earth Observations facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. - First 'water-wave laser' created
Scientists at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have created the first 'water-wave laser' that emits a beam through the interaction of light and water waves, and may be used in 'lab-on-a-chip' devices to study cell biology and test new drug therapies.
Light waves and water waves pass through each other many times (about one million times) inside the droplet, generating the energy that leaves the droplet as the emission of the water-wave laser. A typical laser can be created when the electrons in atoms become "excited" by energy absorbed from an outside source, causing them to emit radiation in the form of laser light.
Researchers, led by Professor Tal Carmon, showed for the first time that water wave oscillations within a liquid device can also generate laser radiation.
The possibility of creating a laser through the interaction of light with water waves has not been examined, mainly due to the huge difference between the low frequency of water waves on the surface of a liquid and the high frequency of light wave oscillations.
This frequency difference reduces the efficiency of the energy transfer between light and water waves, which is needed to produce the laser emission. To compensate for this low efficiency, the researchers created a device in which an optical fiber delivers light into a tiny droplet of octane and water.
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