SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS JUNE 2016

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS JUNE 2016

• CSIR launches anti diabetic ayurvedic drug BGR -34
  Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched BGR-34, an anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug designed for type 2 Diabetes mellitus. BGR-34 is developed jointly by National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP).
  
  BGR-34 has been economically priced at 5 rupees per tablet as compared to latest DPP4 inhibitors globally. It said the modern diabetes drugs are known for side-effects and toxicity while BGR-34 works by controlling blood sugar and limiting the harmful effects of other drugs.
  
• India successfully test-fires surface-to-air missile
  India on 30th June successfully test fired a new surface-to-air missile, from a mobile launcher in the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur at around. The medium range missile, a product of joint venture between India and Israel, was successfully test launched.
  
  Earlier, Indian Navy had successfully test launched the long range surface-to-air missile. These missiles would be inducted in all three services after user's trial is completed. The local administration had temporarily displaced more than 3500 people residing within 2.5 kms radius of the ITR for security reasons ahead of the test.
  
• ISRO launched 20 satellites in single mission
   Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched a record 20 satellites in a single mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on 22nd June.
  
  Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-34, carrying India’s latest earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 along with 19 co-passengers, lifted off at 9:26 AM.
  
  These satellites include those from US, Germany, Canada and Indonesia. With 20 satellites, the ISRO has beaten its previous record of placing 10 satellites into orbit in a single mission in 2008.
  
  The primary satellite in this mission is Cartosat-2. The images sent by satellite will be used for drawing maps, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring and water distribution.
  
  PSLV is proving its ultimate reliability with the success of its 36th flight on 22nd June which is 35th continuously successful one. It is a historic double record for the ISRO’s proven workhorse PSLV C34. It has inserted a record number of 20 satellites into space and also proved to be reliable for double ignition while in space to take multiple satellites into different orbital heights in a single mission. Earlier, ISRO used to have an exclusive launch mission for putting satellites in the same orbital height.
  
  For varying orbital heights, different launch missions were needed. But present success with the re-ignition experiment has given confidence to launch payloads into different heights in a single launch.
  
  The PSLV in its category thus proves to be one of the most sophisticated and highly versatile launch vehicles in the world in its class and set to garner a large pie of the global launch market, apart from boosting the image of the nation.
  
• Most distant galaxy with oxygen ever detected
  Scientist have found the most distant galaxy with oxygen ever to be detected, seen just 700 million years after the Big Bang, which provides a glimpse into the early history of the universe
  
  Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, astronomers detected glowing oxygen in a distant galaxy.
  
  The galaxy SXDF-NB1006-2 lies at a red shift of 7.2, meaning that we see it only 700 million years after the Big Bang
  
  The team was hoping to find out about the heavy chemical elements present in the galaxy, as they can tell us about the level of star formation, and hence provide clues about the period in the early universe known as cosmic reionisation.
  
  Researchers carried out high-sensitivity observations with ALMA and found light from ionized oxygen in SXDF-NB1006-2, making this the most distant unambiguous detection of oxygen ever obtained. It is firm evidence for the presence of oxygen in the early Universe, only 700 million years after the Big Bang.
  
  Oxygen in SXDF-NB1006-2 was found to be ten times less abundant than it is in the Sun. "The small abundance is expected because the universe was still young and had a short history of star formation at that time," said Naoki Yoshida at the University of Tokyo.
  
• NASA Curiosity rover discovers unexpected mineral on Mars
  NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample on Mars, a finding that suggests the red planet hosted explosive volcanoes during its evolution.
  
  The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale Crater since landing in August 2012. In July last year, on Sol 1060 (the number of Martian days since landing), the rover collected powder drilled from rock at a location named "Buckskin."
  
  Analysing data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover that identifies minerals, scientists detected significant amounts of a silica mineral called tridymite.
  
  Tridymite is generally associated with silicic volcanism, which is known on Earth but was not thought to be important or even present on Mars, researchers said.
  
  The discovery of tridymite might induce scientists to rethink the volcanic history of Mars, suggesting that the planet once had explosive volcanoes that led to the presence of the mineral.
  
  Researchers examined terrestrial evidence that tridymite could form at low temperatures from geologically reasonable processes and not imply silicic volcanism. They found none. They will need to look for ways that it could form at lower temperatures. The study was published in the journal PNAS.
  
• NASA, ISRO join hands to develop data satellite
  NASA and ISRO are working together to develop a synthetic aperture radar satellite to observe and measure ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapses and natural hazards. The data gathered from this mission will help build climate resilience and potentially save lives, said U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma.
  
  The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, is also working with the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop high resolution seasonal and long-term climate forecasts to prepare for the monsoons.
  
• First flight of BrahMos air to ground missile from Sukhoi-30 aircraft successful
  BrahMos Aerospace on 25th June successfully demonstrated the integration of the world's most formidable supersonic cruise missile system BRAHMOS on the frontline strike fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30.
  
  With successful flight, the Brahmos air version programme now inches closer towards actual test firing when a 2.5-ton BRAHMOS air-to-ground missile will be fired from the Sukhoi-30 in the coming months. This technological feat will go down in the history as first in the World combination of supersonic cruise missile with a long range fighter aircraft.
  
  The powerful missile will enable the IAF to penetrate deep inside the enemy territory to deliver a deadly blow to their vital installations from stand-off ranges. The Sukhoi-BRAHMOS combination will carry out air combat operations within and beyond visibility range and will provide the IAF with the capability of attacking targets protected by powerful air defence assets.
  
• World’s first vaccine developed against "tampon disease”
  Scientists have developed what they say is the world’s first safe and effective vaccine against Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) that often occurs in young women who use "super tampons" during their periods.
  
  TSS -- known as tampon disease -- is a severe circulatory and organ failure caused by bacterial toxins, usually triggered by bacteria from the Staphylococcus group.
  
  Researchers from MedUni Vienna, in collaboration with the company Biomedizinische Forschungsgesellschaft mbH in Vienna, have now developed the world’s first safe and effective vaccine against this disease and successfully tested it in a Phase I trial.
  
  This syndrome was first described in the 1980s. General symptoms of sepsis or blood poisoning occurred in young women who had used so-called "super tampons" during their periods. This is why the syndrome was also known as "tampon disease." This subsequently led to the absorption capacity of tampons being regulated.
  
  Staphylococci colonise nearly all of us, especially on our skin and mucous membranes. They are totally harmless to most people.
  
• Gravitational waves detected for second time
  For the second time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves created by the collision of two black holes 1.4 billion light years away, which once again confirms Einstein's theory of general relativity.
  
  The scientists detected the gravitational waves - ripples through the fabric of the space-time continuum - using the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) interferometers in the US.
  
  On December 26 last year both detectors, situated more than 3,000 kilometres apart, picked up a very faint signal amid the surrounding noise. While LIGO's first detection, reported on February 11 this year, produced a clear peak in the data, this second signal was far subtler, generating a shallower waveform that was almost buried in the data Using advanced data analysis techniques, the team determined that indeed, the waveform signaled a gravitational wave.
  
  The researchers calculated that the gravitational wave arose from the collision of two black holes, 14.2 and 7.5 times the mass of the Sun. The signal picked up by LIGO's detectors encompasses the final moments before the black holes merged.
  
  For roughly the final second, while the signal was detectable, the black holes spun around each other 55 times, approaching half the speed of light, before merging in a collision that released a huge amount of energy in the form of gravitational waves, equivalent to the mass of the Sun.
  
  This cataclysm, occurring 1.4 billion years ago, produced a more massive spinning black hole that is 20.8 times the mass of the Sun.
  
• NASA Unveils Plans for Electric-Powered Plane
  A new experimental airplane being built by NASA could help push electric-powered aviation from a technical curiosity and pipe dream into something that might become commercially viable for small aircraft.
  
  According to American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Washington, plans for an all-electric airplane designated as X-57, part of the agency’s efforts to make aviation more efficient and less of a polluter.
  
  The steps taken by NASA will not translate into all-electric cross-country jetliners. But the agency hopes the technology can be incorporated into smaller, general aviation and commuter aircraft some years from now.
  
  The X-57 will look more like a Cessna, unlike some of NASA’s earlier sleek, futuristic X-planes. Its cruising speed might hit 175 miles per hour. Its wings, however, will be unique — far skinnier than usual and embedded with 14 motors.
  
• Indian scientists develop Oral Vaccine for Hepatitis B
  Scientists at AIIMS have got initial success in developing oral vaccine for Hepatitis B and they have got positive results while testing it on mice. In a breakthrough, Indian scientists have developed tiny spheres loaded with viral protein segments that show promise for oral vaccine against the hepatitis-B virus that may eliminate the need for injections and booster doses.
  
  The researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, have through studies on mice shown that a single oral dose of the nano-size spheres called nanoparticles can stimulate the immune system into protecting the body from the hepatitis-B virus for over eight weeks in the animals.
  
  Over the past decade, several researchers elsewhere in the world proposed similar oral vaccines for hepatitis-B. But none has panned out into commercial vaccine.
  
  While the new concept has yet to be demonstrated in humans, researchers at AIIMS believe their nanoparticle has some unique features that make it an attractive candidate as an oral vaccine delivery system.
  
• Scientists turn carbon dioxide into stone to combat global warming
  Researchers have developed a way to capture and store carbon dioxide by turning it into stone. Their technique, it could provide a safer, faster way to sequester CO2 and limit global warming.
  
  Scientists have long seen carbon capture and sequester, or CCS, as a potentially significant way to combat climate change. The idea is that storing CO2 emissions underground would prevent the greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere, but previous efforts have made little progress.
  
  Most experiments involve pumping CO2 into sandstone or deep aquifers, though there are concerns that the gas could eventually escape and reenter the atmosphere — whether through human error or seismic activity
  
  The approach aims to reduce this risk by dissolving CO2 with water and pumping the mixture into volcanic rocks called basalts. Once that happens, the CO2 turns into a solid mineral (calcite), which can then be stored.