SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS FEBRUARY 2016
- India to setup lab for studying gravitational waves: PM Modi in 'Mann Ki Baat
India has decided to establish a Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) where gravitational waves can be studied, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on 28th February.
In his monthly radio programme Mann ki Baat, Modi said Indian scientists were also in the research team that studied gravitational waves.
The laboratory will be third of its kind in the world after Hanford in Washington and Livingston in Louisiana, both in the US.
Recently the Gravitational Waves have been discovered by the scientific community of the world, which is indeed a major achievement.
LIGO is a national facility for gravitational-wave research, providing opportunities for the broader scientific community to participate in detector development, observation, and data analysis. The prime minister announced that within its limited resources India will also participate and contribute in the research through the LIGO. - Bees are vanishing: U.N. report
Many species of wild bees, butterflies and other insects that pollinate plants are shrinking toward extinction, and the world needs to do something about it before our food supply suffers, a new United Nations scientific mega-report warns.
The 20,000 or so species of pollinators are key to growing fruits, vegetables and cash crops. Yet two out of five species of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are on the path toward extinction, said the first-of-its-kind report. Pollinators with backbones, such as hummingbirds and bats, are only slightly better off, with 1 in 6 species facing extinction.
The trouble is the report can’t point to a single villain. Among the culprits — the way farming has changed so there’s not enough diversity and wild flowers for pollinators to use as food; pesticide use, habitat loss to cities; disease, parasites and pathogens; and global warming.
The report is the result of more than two years of work by scientists across the globe who got together under several different U.N. agencies to come up with an assessment of Earth’s biodiversity, starting with the pollinators. - Telangana State achieves 9.2% growth rate
Telangana has achieved significant growth rate of 9.2 per cent in the current fiscal and per capita income has reached Rs 1.43 lakh for the year 2015-16. Advanced estimates prepared by the State Planning department for this year has put the state's growth rate at 9.2 per cent as against an all-India growth rate of 7.6 per cent. Last year, Telangana's growth rate was 8.8 per cent.
The estimates pegged the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at Rs 5.83 lakh crore and the growth rate at current prices in Telangana would be 11.7 per cent, against an all-India growth rate of 8.6 per cent at current prices. State GSDP at constant prices is Rs 4.68 lakh crore.
Officials said, barring the agriculture sector, other sectors like industries and services have shown significant growth. The planning department in its report submitted to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao stated that the per capita income of Telangana for 2015-16 has been put at Rs 1,43,023 at current prices and it is way above the national average of Rs 93,231.
State per capita income at constant prices was Rs 1,14,212 as against an all-India per capita income of Rs 77,431. The state has seen rapid strides in the sectors of industries and services. The services sector grew by 14.6 per cent, followed by 12.9 per cent in the field of communications, 12.5 per cent in real estate, 12.5 per cent in hotels and restaurants, 9.6 per cent in debt servicing and 9.5 per cent in manufacturing.
Uncertain weather conditions have cast a shadow on the growth of the agricultural sector as more than 60 per cent of the population depends on agriculture. The sector recorded a negative growth rate of 1.9 per cent this year against a negative growth rate of 0.4 per cent last year.
The Department of Statistics reported that income on agriculture was down by 18 per cent this year. Though agricultural growth suffered a decline this year due to adverse seasonal conditions, allied sectors like fishing have shown positive growth rates of 17.8 per cent , livestock 12.2 per cent and mining 6.9 per cent. - Prithvi II test fired successfully
India successfully test-fires indigenously developed Prithvi II missile from Chandipur, off Odisha coast on 16th February. The medium range missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines.
As part of a user trial, the missile with a strike range of 350 km, the surface-to-surface Prithvi-II test was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at around 1030 hrs. The first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, Prithvi-II was inducted into India's armed forces in 2003. The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on November 26, 2015 from the same test range in Odisha. - Cabinet approves LIGO-India project for research on gravitational waves
The Union Cabinet on 17th February gave an in-principle approval to the LIGO-India mega science proposal for research on gravitational waves.
The proposal, piloted by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology, will establish a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory in India in collaboration with the LIGO Laboratory in the US run by Caltech and MIT.
The Cabinet also approved nomination of Chief Executive Officer of the NITI Aayog as part-time member of the Telecom Commission in place of Secretary of the erstwhile Planning Commission.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval for memoranda of understanding between India and various countries for cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. The pacts signed with 13 countries – The Netherlands, Nepal, Cyprus, Israel, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tanzania, Surinam, Zambia, Syria, Bhutan, Chile and Mauritius – are expected to help in capacity building and exchange of knowledge and genetic resources.
It also gave ex-post facto approval for and MoU between India and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, for cooperation in urban planning and governance. The pact was signed on November 24, 2015.
Following the exchange of 51 Bangladeshi enclaves and 111 Indian enclaves, the Union Cabinet also approved amendments to Section 11 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. - Japan launches satellite to study black holes
Japan on 17th February launched a space observation satellite to probe mysterious black holes. The ASTRO-H satellite, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in cooperation with NASA and others is set to orbit at an altitude of about 580 kilometres and observe X-rays emanating mainly from black holes and galaxy clusters.
An H2A rocket carrying the satellite lifted off at the Tanegashima Space Center. It can capture X-rays that cannot be detected on Earth because the planet's atmosphere absorbs them. Space researchers hope the satellite will help unravel the mysteries of the universe.
Black holes have never been directly observed, but the announcement on the first detection of gravitational waves earlier this month indirectly added to the evidence that black holes do actually exist. - ISRO successfully tested indigenous cryo engine
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) on 19th February successfully made hotbed test of the cryogenic engine for the upper stage of the GSLV Mark 3 rocket. The long-duration test at the ISRO Propulsion Research Centre at Mahendragiri lasted 640 seconds.
Using Liquid Hydrogen at -253 degrees C and Liquid Oxygen at -193 degrees C as propellants, the high-thrust cryogenic engine (CE20) generates power of approximately 2 MW.
Developed at the Liquid Propulsion System centre (LPSC) here, the engine had already undergone two short-duration tests for engine ignition and steady state performance.
Last year, the first developmental engine completed different hot tests in various operating regimes. The third engine identified for flight use will be vacuum tested in the high altitude test facility as part of the flight acceptance test.
According to the ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar preparations were under way for the first developmental flight of the GSLV Mark 3 in December 2016.
The biggest rocket made in India, the Mk3 will be capable of launching four-tonne satellites into geosynchronous orbit. - Birds of 11 rare species found in Jharkhand
Birds of 11 rare species thought to be extinct have been found during a survey of the water bodies in Jharkhand. The water bodies of Jharkhand managed to draw as many as 37,000 migratory birds belonging to 29 species last year, the survey carried out on behalf of the Jharkhand forest department found. As per the Asian Bird Survey 2015, the bird count around reservoirs and other water bodies, including 25 dams, in the state was 71,134.
The survey said most birds visited the Massanjore Dam in Dumka, where the number of winged visitors was put at 9,564, followed by Chandil at 7,896 and Udhav at 7,823 birds. The fourth and fifth spots were claimed by Tilaiya and Patratu dams with 6,460 and 5,821 bird populations respectively
The bird survey was carried out at the dams of Lotwa, Tilayia, Udhwa, Hatia, Getalsud, Patratu, Kanke, Khandoli, Topchanchi, Maithon, Panchet and Massanjore, apart from Tenughat, Konar, Budha, Gonda, Chandil, Dimna, Sitaram, Kansjore, Tapkara, Malay and dams located inside the Palamu Tiger Reserve.
The survey team also identified a couple of migratory birds from Mongolia, including Bar Headed Geese. The other species of migratory birds included White Necked Stork, Oriental White Ibis and Northern Shoveler. - Gravitational waves identified
Gravitational waves were the last prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. The first direct detection of gravitational waves was announced on 11 February by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
Using LIGO's twin giant detectors — one in Livingston, Louisiana, and the other in Hanford, Washington — researchers measured ripples in space-time produced by a collision between two black holes.
This is the first major detection by LIGO experiments after more than a decade in operation. The new discovery is truly incredible science and marks three milestones for physics:- Direct detection of gravitational waves.
- The first detection of a binary black hole system.
- The most convincing evidence to date that nature's black holes are the objects as predicted by Einstein's theory.
Importance of Gravitational- To understand about GW a brief backgrounder the concept of gravity is required.
- According to Newtonian physics gravity is a force which makes two bodies with mass attracts each other.
- Einstein in the year 1915, with his radical General theory of relativity, gave a complete new perspective of gravity.
- The concept is mathematical and quite sophisticated, but can be defined simply as "Matter curves space and objects responds to that curvature." i.e. Gravity is not a force as such, but a curvature caused in the space time fabric due to the presence of an object with mass.
- To visualize it, imagine a ball in a stretched rubber sheet, the presence of the ball causes a dip to form and the sheet curves depending on the weight of the ball, now another smaller ball, if rolled to the bigger ball follows the curved space. Roughly this is how earth revolves around the sun. Even though this analogy is not true cent percent, for visualization this will suffice.
- General theory of relativity makes prediction far beyond the familiar gravity. Few of them are; Time Dilation, in distinct but similar manner mass distorts the time too. Flow of time changes w.r.t the proximity of mass. The time that one experience near to sun is vastly different from that one do on earth. Deflection of light that we see - Gravitational Lensing.
- Dragging of space time by spinning objects- Frame Dragging. The beauty of Einstein's work lay on the fact that each one of his predictions are physically tested and verified. There was one last incredible prediction which was never directly observed, i.e. Gravitational waves.
- NASA, India join hands for astrobiology mission
A team of scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Mars Society Australia and the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, will mount an expedition to Ladakh this August to study the similarities of certain parts of the region’s topography and microbial life to Martian surroundings.
India’s second mission to Mars — scheduled to be in 2020 — will involve collaboration with France and may include a lander or rover — remote controlled vehicles — which can ostensibly better analyse a planet’s surface.
This is the first time that India is part of the Spaceward Bound programme. The Spaceward Bound is a NASA project that educates future space explorers and funds expeditions to places with extreme climate conditions. Before Ladakh, there have been expeditions to the deserts such in Atacama, Chile; Mojave, California; Arkaroola, Australia as well as the Arctic and Antarctica, organised since 2006.
The success of India’s low-cost mission to Mars, in 2014, has led to heightened international interest in collaborating with India’s upcoming space missions. India now has an orbiter that's still circling Mars and taking pictures — with five instruments on board — in hopes of finding methane, carbon dioxide and the effect of solar winds on its surface. - CSIR launches India's first ayurvedic anti-diabetic drug
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on 3rd February launched the country's first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug for type two Diabetes mellitus. Drug BGR-34 is developed jointly by National Botanical Research Institute and Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. BGR-34, stands for Blood Glucost Regulator and it contains 34 identified active phyto-constitutes from herbal resources. - Zika virus: Bharat Biotech claims breakthrough in developing vaccine
Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad city-based vaccines and bio-therapeutic manufacturer, claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the dreaded mosquito-borne Zika virus, which causes serious birth defects in children.
Bharat Biotech is home to some of the most brilliant minds in the world and began work on the Zika virus a year ago, Krishna Ella, CMD Bharat Biotech
Quoting a WHO report, he said Zika is now present in 23 countries and Brazil, the hardest-hit country, has reported around 3,530 cases of the devastating birth defect, called microcephaly, in 2015 that are strongly suspected to be related to Zika. Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, which can breed in a pool of water as small as a bottle cap and usually bite during the day. The mosquito-transmitted infection is related to Dengue, Yellow Fever and West Nile virus.
Currently, the vaccine maker is focusing towards scale up and characterization of the vaccine product, Ella further said.
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