Special General Awareness for IBPS, Bank Exams (Science & Technology) - 2015

:: Science & Technology ::

ASA’s engine for
Next-generation rocket test-fired

Nasa has performed a nearly 9-minute-long test of the engine at the heart of the US space agency’s next-generation megarocket that will take astronauts to asteroids, Mars and other deep-space missions.
The agency successfully tested an RS-25 engine at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Four RS-25s will power the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket that will launch astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on missions to deep space and eventually on the journey to Mars.
The RS-25 blazed on the test stand for 535 seconds - the same amount of time the core engines will fire during an actual SLS launch.
The seven-test series is “designed to put the upgraded former space shuttle main engines through the rigorous temperature and pressure conditions they will experience during a launch,”
SLS and Orion are scheduled to blast off together for the first time in 2018, on a flight known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). The seven-day EM-1 will send an unmanned Orion on a journey around the Moon, to test out many of the capsule’s key systems.

Genes help fish cope with warming oceans

In a first, the genetic mystery of why some fish are able to adjust to warming oceans has been unlocked.
Higher levels of certain stress and immune genes help fish cope with warming temperature in water over the years, the findings showed.
Researchers examined how the fish’s genes responded after several generations living at higher temperatures predicted under climate change.
Using cutting-edge molecular methods the research team identified 53 key genes that are involved in long-term, multi-generational acclimation to higher temperatures. The findings appeared in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The project involved rearing coral reef fish at different temperatures for more than four years, and then testing their metabolic performance

New Technique Can
Reveal Age of Moon Rocks

Researchers are developing instruments and methods for measuring the age of rocks encountered during space missions to the Moon and planets.
Many of the techniques used to date rocks on Earth are not practical in spaceflight, but a technique called laser ablation resonance ionisation mass spectrometry can avoid the need for sophisticated sample preparation.
A team led by Dr F Scott Anderson from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, US, has now demonstrated that this technique can successfully date an Earth rock - the Duluth Gabbro - that is analogous to the rocks that cover one-third of the lunar nearside.
Their results imply that events from Solar System history that are recorded on much of the visible face of the Moon can one day be dated directly by instruments aboard a lunar lander.
Dating the Duluth Gabbro was approximately 30 times more analytically challenging than our revious experiment, dating the Martian meteorite Zagami, noted co-author Dr Jonathan Levine from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York.

Archaeologists discovered two human bones about 100,000 years old in China

Archaeologists announced that they have discovered two human bones about 100,000 years old in Central China’s Henan province.
The limb bones were unearthed in May at the Lingjing historical site in Xuchang, said Li Zhanyang, a researcher at the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who led the excavation.
Li said the two fossils were discovered not far from each other. Both belong to a young person, maybe even the same person, Li said.
There are several bite marks on the fossils.
So far, bone fossils from at least nine people have been discovered at the Lingjing historical site, including old and young, making it the largest site of discovered human fossils since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Fossils from “Xuchang Man” were unearthed at the site, and two almost complete human skulls were dated back 100,000 years.
The Xuchang Man fossil consisted of 16 pieces of skull with protruding eyebrows and a small forehead. More astonishing than the completeness of the skull was that it still had a fossilized membrane on the inner side, so that scientists could track the nerves of the Paleolithic ancestor.
In addition to the bone fossils, more than 1,000 fossilized animals and stone implements have been found at the site.

Humans can be able to live on
moon in next decade: NASA

According to a NASA-funded study, humans may be able to live on the moon in a little more than a decade from now. The study outlines a plan to again take human missions to the moon, media reported.
The announcement was made on July 20 — the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew’s first steps on the lunar surface — The Verge (an American news and technology media network) reported.
The, study, undertaken by NexGen Space LLC, lays out a detailed roadmap for when and how to take the next step for a landing.
A robotic return to the moon could happen as soon as 2017, if NASA were to adopt the plan right away. Rovers would scout the lunar poles for hydrogen in 2018 and prospecting could begin by 2019 or 2020.
Robotic construction of a permanent base would begin in 2021 in anticipation of landing humans on the moon later that year, it said.
The study said the space agency can do it all within the existing budget for human spaceflights. The way for NASA to do this is to adopt the same method that it is using for re-supplying the International Space Station - a public-private partnership with companies like SpaceX, Orbital ATK or the United Launch Alliance.
SpaceX currently charges NASA about $4,750 for every kilogram of supplies sent to orbit aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, far less than the cost by the Apollo-era Saturn V ($46,000 per kilogram) or even the space shuttle ($60,000 per kilogram).
While the study does use SpaceX’s next generation rocket, the Falcon Heavy, as an example in its plans to get to the moon, SpaceX claims the Falcon Heavy will be as cheap as or cheaper per kilogram than the Falcon 9.
NASA is already planning to go back to the moon with its next generation rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), but there are no plans to land.
By using commercial partners, NASA could reduce the number of planned SLS launches from 12 to around three, reducing the cost of the programme while still developing the technologies necessary to support it, the study said.
The study was vetted by a 21-person independent review team made up of former members of NASA’s administration, members of the commercial spaceflight community and four former NASA astronauts.

Sleepless night can cost your body

Scientists have shown that not sleeping for a night can alter the genes that control the biological clocks in cells throughout our body
Jonathan Cedernaes, lead author on the study and a researcher at Uppsala University, said that previous research had shown that our metabolism was negatively affected by sleep loss, and sleep loss has been linked to an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Since ablation of clock genes in animals can cause the disease states, their current results indicate that changes of clock genes may be linked to such negative effects caused by sleep loss, he added.
Molecular analyses of the collected tissue samples showed that the regulation and activity of clock genes was altered after one night of sleep loss. The activity of genes is regulated by a mechanism called epigenetics.
This involves chemical alterations to the DNA molecule such as methyl groups - a process called methylation - which regulates how the genes are switched on or off.
The researchers found that clock genes had increased numbers of such DNA marks after sleep loss.
They also found that the expression of the genes, which is indicative of how much of the genes’ product is made, was altered.
Cedernaes claimed that their research was the first to directly show that epigenetic changes could occur after sleep loss in humans, but also in the important tissues.
It was interesting that the methylation of these genes could be altered so quickly, and that it could occur for these metabolically important clock genes, he continued.

NASA mission’s discovery makes
Kepler-452b 12th possible Earth twin

A planet believed to be remarkably similar to Earth has been discovered orbiting a distant sun-like star, bolstering hopes of finding life elsewhere in the universe, US scientists said on Thursday.
]The planet, which is about 60% percent bigger than Earth, is located 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus. It was discovered by astronomers using NASA’s Kepler space telescope and circles a star that is similar in size and temperature to the sun, but older.
The planet, dubbed Kepler-452b, orbits a star that is about 6 billion years old, compared to the 4.6 billion year age of thesun. “It’s simply awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star,”Jenkins said. “That’s considerable time and opportunity for life to arise somewhere on its surface or in its oceans should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet,” he said.
Kepler-452b is positioned about as far from its parent star as Earth is from the sun, completing an orbit in 385 days, compared to Earth’s 365-day orbit. At that distance, surface temperatures would be suitable for liquid water, a condition believed to be critical for life.
NASA launched the Kepler telescope in 2009 to survey a sampling of nearby stars in an attempt to learn if planets like Earth were common in the galaxy. “This is great progress in finding a planet like Earth that is similar in size and temperature around a sun-like star,” said Kepler scientist Jeff Coughlin, with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Based on its size, scientists believe Kepler-452b should be rocky, like the Earth, though that theory is based on statistical analysis and computer modeling, not direct evidence. “
With a radius 60% larger than the Earth, this planet has a somewhat better than even chance of being rocky,” Jenkins said.
If so, Kepler-452b could be about five times as massive as Earth and have gravity that is twice as strong as what exists on Earth’s surface. The planet also could have a thick atmosphere, cloudy skies and active volcanoes, Jenkins said.
With the discovery of Kepler-452b, the telescope has found 1,030 confirmed planets and identified about 4,700 candidate planets. The list of potential planets includes 11 other near-Earth twins, nine of which circle sun-like stars.

New findings about Stem cell transplantation

A group of medical researchers have recently claimed that using stem celltransplantation to treat patients with a serious but a very rare form of chronicblood cancer Juvenile MyelomonocyticLeukemia (JMML) has shown improved results. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), led by Dr Hisham Abdel-Azim, looked at the children with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML) who underwent cell transplantation at the hospital and noticed that all of them were alive and in clinical remission.
Abdel-Azim said that the lack of transplant-related mortality in the group of children we studied at the Children’s Centre for Cancer and Blood Diseases at the hospital suggested that BUMEL (Intravenous Busulfan and Melphalan) may represent a successful cell transplantation high-dose chemotherapy regimen.

CNG-run vehicles emit dangerous nanocarbon, can cause cancer: CSIR study

The compressed natural gas (CNG)-run buses are harmful for humans as they emit “nanocarbon” particles which can cause cancer, according to a study conducted by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Though the study was conducted on a very limited sample size in Delhi, CSIR took the findings seriously owing to the health hazard it poses to humans and alerted the central government for further follow up,

No Study Supports Global Warming Affecting Himalayas

No study has so far supported the theory that global warming was causing natural calamities in the Himalayan region, parliament was told on Thursday.
“There is no study reported so far, which supports the fact that many type of instances similar to natural calamities are occurring in the Himalayan region due to global warming,” Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
“However, for monitoring and prediction of extreme weather events over the Himalayan region, India Meteorological Department has established state meteorological sentres at Srinagar, Shimla, Dehradun, Gangtok, Guwahati and Agartala for forecast of natural calamities like very heavy rainfall,

The World Wide Web turns 24

There is a fine line between the Internet and World Wide Web. Today, in 1991, the World Wide Web was born! And to understand it more closely, we need to take a closer look at the origin of a project at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
In the 1980s, CERN was undertaking research that involved scientists and researchers distributed across geographies.
There was a need to share files, and collaborate over very critical data. But there was a problem.
They didn’t have common systems, or presentation software. Computing was nascent and evolving.
Despite the challenges, a contractor at CERN named Tim Berners-Lee saw opportunity. The solution was supposed to be text.
That was 1980. And he was just a contract employee. Four years later in 1984, Lee returned to the CERN as a permanent employee and decided to take a look at the problem faced by CERN – information management.

The genesis of the Internet

On March 12, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for a distributed information system at CERN. He created the following concept.
It was a means to exchange information across computers spread geographically, and was aimed to solved the vital problem that needed to be solved at CERN.

The world’s first website

On December 20, 1990, the world’s first website went live at CERN. It was Christmas of 1990, and Lee had defined most of the common terminologies as we know them today, including URL, http and HTML.

Donald trumps rivals in
presidential debate line-up

Property mogul Donald Trump, a wildcard entrant into the race for the presidential nomination for 2016, has seen a surge in popularity at the polls and this has given him the pole position in Thursday night’s Republican Party primary debate in Cleveland, Ohio
On the eve of the Republican debate, CNN news channel announced that it would host the first Democratic presidential debate in Nevada on October 13.
The main debate, which will be hosted by right-leaning television channel Fox News and will begin at 9 p.m. (EDT), saw the prime slot given to the top 10 Republican candidates as ranked by five polls including Bloomberg, CBS News, Fox News, Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University
A lower-tier debate, likely organised to accommodate the raft of eclectic candidates who have thus far entered the race, will include Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal and former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Mr. Trump, who topped the polls and is seen by some as a controversial candidate for, among other things, his strong views on immigration control and his off-the-cuff remarks on the Hispanic community, will literally be positioned front and centre for the evening’s main event.

The competitors

He will be flanked by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
In the polls, Mr. Trump’s closest competitor was Mr. Bush, who trailed him by more than 10 points, making Mr. Trump the “default king the other Republicans will have to uncrown.”
In addition to Mr. Jindal and Mr. Perry, those who did not make the cut and had to be satisfied with the “undercard debate” at 5 p.m. (EDT) were former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, sole woman candidate and former Hewlett Packard head Carly Fiorina, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, former New York Governor George Pataki, and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.
Similar to previous years’ debates, the candidates will be given one minute to answer questions posed to them, following which the moderators will select other candidates for 30 seconds for rebuttals.
As the co-host of the debate, Facebook will be given the opportunity to introduce a question at 15-minute intervals, possibly based on user inputs.

New treatment for diabetes in offing: study

Australian researchers have discovered a link between protein intake and improved control of blood glucose in mice, opening the way for potential new treatments for diabetes in human beings.
Lead researcher Stefan Broer of Australian National University (ANU) said the findings show mice, with a reduced capacity to digest and absorb protein, are highly efficient at removing glucose from blood after a meal. “This is precisely what individuals with diabetes fail to do. This research has significant potential for the design of new drugs to treat type 2 diabetes,” said Professor Broer, from the ANU Research School of Biology.
Prof. Broer said the mice lacked a so—called transporter in the intestine that moves amino acids, the breakdown products of protein digestion, from the lumen of the intestine into the blood. This reduces the intake of protein and indirectly improves their efficiency at removing glucose from the blood.

Military modernisation picks up pace

In one year of the Narendra Modi government, military modernisation has gathered pace, especially in the last couple of months, with some quick decisions taken by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). However, major policy formulations, in particular, revision of Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) and a separate policy for ‘Make in India’, are still awaited.
The government’s election pitch of ‘One Rank One Pension’ for armed forces personnel has been cleared in principle and the final sanction is expected shortly.
The biggest decision of the NDA government in the field of defence was the termination of the long-running Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract for 126 jets and the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets from France in a government-to-government deal.
Apart from that, in a move with long-term implications, the government rightfully downsized the new mountain strike corps meant for the eastern border from 90,000 to 35,000 troops due to finance obligations.
The DAC has cumulatively cleared defence deals worth over Rs. 1, 00,000 crore. The recent decisions on Avro replacement programme and Kamov helicopters, which involve industry in a big way, will help develop aerospace ecosystem in the country.
While some are long-pending deals, others are approvals to initiate the procurement process which involves long timelines. The need is to take things to the logical conclusion minus the time and cost overruns typical of our procurement process.

Google help for
NGOs working on child safety

Google India has announced support for three non-governmental agencies from India working on child safety.
The three organisations are ChildLine India Foundation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, and the Chennai-based Tulir - Centre for the Healing and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.
In a message, Rajan Anandan, vice-president and Managing Director, Google India, said they had picked organisations whose work was largely offline, “boots on the ground.” “Now, we’d like to see if smart applications of technology can help some of these initiatives reach more people more efficiently,” he added.
Google will help these organisations pilot smart new applications of technology with $ 5, 00,000 in grants through Google.org to ensure that children in India remain safe.
While ChildLine provides a toll-free helpline service (1098) for children in distress, first launched in 1996, Bachpan Bachao Andolan sets itself a mission to protect and rescue children from slavery, trafficking and forced labour.
Tulir, on the other hand, works with the state and other education professionals to help children stay safe.
“We would like to optimally use technology to take child protection to a wider group, and online,” says Vidya Reddy of Tulir.

India’s eye on universe ready for tests

A fully assembled Astrosat, India’s first space observatory is ready for intensive tests before its launch around October.
The Indian Space Research Organisation said on that the 1,650-kg spacecraft would orbit Earth equatorially at 650 km and study distant stars, galaxies, black holes and other cosmic objects.
The space-based observatory was built at the ISRO Satellite Centre here to operate for five years and will provide useful data for the country’s astronomy community. It will put India in an elite orbit with the U.S., Europe, Russia and Japan.
“Last week, the spacecraft was fully assembled and switched on. All the [six] payloads and sub-systems are integrated into the satellite. Mechanical fit checks of the satellite with the PSLV [polar satellite launch vehicle] payload adaptor were performed successfully,” the space agency said on its website.
One of ISRO directors said Astrosat would be the first such satellite to scan simultaneously the sky in most of the frequency spectra from ultraviolet to optical and low- and high-energy X-ray bands.
Although previous national satellites carried small astronomy-related devices, “Nothing on this scale, with a dedicated satellite, has been done before [at ISRO]. It should be of immense benefit to our scientists, who have depended on inputs from other agencies and sources like the Hubble [US-European space telescope],” the official said.
In the coming days, Astrosat will undergo a host of environmental tests — electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal vacuum, vibration and acoustics and so on.
Later, the satellite will be shipped to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, for launch.
ISRO developed the six payloads in partnership with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru; and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.
Two payloads were developed with the Canadian Space Agency and the University of Leicester, U.K.

Indian Ocean warms as Pacific cools

Though surface heat of Earth has stabilised since 1999, studies have found that atmospheric heat continues to rise unabated with the oceans absorbing a large amount of this heat and warming in the past decade (2000-2012).
However, a new study by Sang-Ki Lee of the University of Miami, U.S., and others has found that the Indian Ocean has been warming the most rapidly while the adjoining Pacific Ocean has been getting cooled during the past decade. The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
In fact the Indian Ocean accounts for 70 per cent of all the global oceans heat gain up to 700 metres depth during the past decade.
The analysis shows that the abrupt increase of the Indian Ocean Heat Content at 700 metres depth (OHC{-7}{-0}{-0}) during 2003-2012 was not due to surface heating, but rather due almost entirely to horizontal advective heat convergence (caused by winds and resulting currents). Further heat budget analysis indicates that inter-ocean heat transport from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean via the Indonesian passages was the main cause of the increased Indian OHC{-7}{-0}{-0}; it greatly increased during 2003-2012, overcompensating for the slightly increased southward heat transport from the Indian Ocean to the Southern Ocean.
The study found that the La Nina-like conditions in the Pacific Ocean, caused by a number of La Nina events in the last decade have caused the cooling of the Pacific ocean by transfer of heat to the Indian Ocean, warming the latter.
The La Nina conditions cause strong easterly winds to blow from the western Pacific Ocean and these winds cause currents to flow westward conveying the heat of the Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean through what is known as the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF).
The easterlies are formed due to a pressure gradient between the Pacific and Indian Oceans caused by cold conditions in the east and warm wet conditions in the west during a La Nina. Also during a La Nina, the walker circulation — an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon of the Indian Ocean — is strengthened.
The walker circulation leads to abnormally high sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean which in turn leads to copious rainfall in the western Indian Ocean at the cost of the Indian subcontinent and results in a weak monsoon. In contrast to this, as there were relatively much fewer La Ninas in the previous decade (1990-99) there was much less warming in the Indian Ocean.

80 % Indian diets are
protein deficient: Survey

Ninety per cent Delhiites registered a protein deficiency in their meal plan, says a recent survey, which has also indicated that over 80 per cent of Indian diets are protein deficient. This implies that most people are not getting the right amount of proteins required.
The Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) conducted a consumer survey across seven major cities titled ‘The protein consumption in diet of adult Indians’ by interviewing 1,260 respondents, which included males and females (non-pregnant and lactating) between the ages of 30-55 years. Fifty-nine per cent of the sample size was non-vegetarian.
Dr. Ritika Samaddar, dietician at Max Healthcare, said: “The protein requirement of an average adult per day is 1 gram per kg of the body weight. An intake less than this will lead to difficulty in performing simple tasks and processing sensory signals by the brain. One of the key symptoms of lack of proteins is weakness and fatigue.”
Based on preference, the food items that were regarded as the best sources of protein by vegetarians were milk, green leafy vegetables and pulses, while eggs, fish and chicken found favour among the non-vegetarians.
The survey also found that 91 per cent of the vegetarians surveyed were found to have a higher protein deficiency as compared to 85 per cent of their non-vegetarian counterparts.
It was also found that in the north zone, 98 per cent of the respondents were not aware of the ideal protein requirement for an average adult, which is the highest when compared to other parts of India.
“All of them believed that their protein intake was adequate,” the survey noted.
The study also found that 80 per cent of the respondents were aware of the health benefits associated with proteins, which includes strengthening muscles, building immunity, overcoming fatigue and for healthy nails and hair,” said the investigators.
Dr. Samaddar added: “People fail to understand the importance of protein supplements in the daily diet. They tend to associate protein supplements as being ideal for body builders or malnourished people only. It is high time they start incorporating protein rich food in their diet otherwise it can lead to serious repercussions in generations to come.”

Maruti to bring in new
green technologies to cut emissions

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki is planning to bring new green technologies, which could include parent Suzuki’s mild hybrid system and downsized direct-injection turbo petrol engine to cut emissions by enhancing fuel efficiency.
The company said fleet emissions of carbon dioxide had been down by over 11.6 per cent in the last five years and it would continue to work to bring it further down to promote clean air benefits. “This has been possible through fuel efficiency improvements, reduction of exhaust emissions and development of alternate fuel products during this period, the company said in a statement.
Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO, Kenichi Ayukawa said: “Going forward, we will continue our focus on investing in new technologies and strengthen our capability to bring down emissions per vehicle by enhancing fuel efficiency of our cars.”
“The recent new models, product upgrades and even minor changes have been substantially more fuel efficient than the outgoing ones. With Auto Gear Shift technology the company is able to offer the convenience of an automatic without the need to emit more,” he added.
“These future technologies will bring down emissions while raising vehicle performance. These technologies could find relevance in India and the company may explore these options as per customer requirements,” the company said.

Stempeutics gets Japanese
process patent for stem cell drug

Stempeutics Research has been granted a process patent from the Japan Patent Office for its novel stem-cell based drug Stempeucel.
Stempeutics is part of the Manipal Education and Medical Group and entered into a strategic alliance with pharma major, Cipla in 2009.
A statement from the company said the novelty covers the method of preparing master cell banks, working cell banks and the final therapeutic product ‘Stempeucel’ based on the novel pooling technology.
The product will initially be used for treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) and is considered a breakthrough treatment option as it addresses the root cause of the disease unlike other drugs which treat the symptoms, the company said. Stempeucel is derived from specific cells extracted from bone marrow of healthy, adult voluntary donors. The pooling approach allows an efficient manufacturing process with minimum wastage of resources in order to provide the product at an affordable cost to patients.
“The new patent strengthens our position in Japan, which has created an accelerated development path for stem cell therapies,” B.N. Manohar, CEO, Stempeutics, said in a statement.
“The regenerative medicine law implemented in Japan allows conditional approval of stem cell products thereby enabling more rapid entry into the Japanese market. We are actively evaluating the potential for accelerated development of Stempeucel product for CLI and Osteoarthritis indications in Japan with strategic collaborations.”
Earlier, Stempeucel received Orphan Drug Designation in the European Union to treat Thromoboangiitis Obliterans and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) classification from European Medicines Agency. In March, Stempeutics had received a process patent from the US Patent & Trademarks Office. The company’s application to sell the product in the domestic market is awaiting approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

INS Vikrant undocked at Cochin shipyard

India crossed a major milestone in defence shipbuilding when the maiden indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was undocked on completion of structural work at the State-owned Cochin shipyard.
The Navy is slated to take delivery of the carrier by 2018.
Senior officials and workers of the yard were present when tugs pulled the behemoth, weighing about 26,000 tonnes at the moment, out of the dry dock where it was undergoing construction for about a year-and-a-half after its launch in August, 2013.
The undocking was done after a series of postponements caused by a glitch with the dock gate operation and siltation at the dock mouth. The flooding of the dock and ballasting of the ship had begun on Monday itself.
Once the vessel was floated over eight metres of water pumped into the dock, the floodgate was overturned and the carrier was pulled by tugs into the Kochi channel. Sources said the carrier will now be outfitted for over a year-and-a-half before the basin trials begin, likely in 2017, succeeded by sea trials ahead of delivery.
“Almost 90 per cent of work below the fourth deck — all underwater works — is over. Cabling, piping, electrical works, and heat and ventilation works will take place now. Delivery of systems and components for the aviation complex designed by the Russian Nevoske design bureau is expected anytime now,” said an official.
The undocking is part of the second phase of work on the carrier, which is expected to be over by 2017.
The carrier was designed indigenously by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND). ‘‘It’s a rare feat. In fact, the Navy has a protracted history of indigenisation of vessels and the DND has done commendable work by developing over 18 designs, including that of the carrier,’’ said a shipyard official.

60-member team to
probe ‘Eastern Star’ sinking

China has assembled a team of 60 investigators to look into last week’s river cruise ship sinking following orders from President Xi Jinping to find the cause of the country’s worst maritime disaster in nearly seven decades.
Just 14 people survived the capsizing of the Eastern Star on the evening of June 1 as the ship was carrying 456 people, many of them elderly tourists, on a cruise to the Yangtze River port of Chongqing.
Authorities have attributed the sinking to a freak storm that generated tornado-like winds, but also have placed the surviving captain and his first engineer in police custody.
Extensive interviews have been conducted with surviving crew members, witnesses, those who designed and modified the ship and others, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday. It said 60 specialists have been gathered for the investigative team.
Video footage and other evidence have been obtained from the ship, and weather, radar and other data was being analysed for indications of what went wrong.
The disaster left 442 people dead or missing.

Smart cities scheme to take off on June 25

India has asked all the countries keen on partnering with it in the ‘smart cities’ initiative to ready the blueprints for the projects they want to undertake, to avoid delay in execution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce the scheme along with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation on June 25. So far, 14 countries have shown interest in sharing their expertise in building components that are prerequisites for a smart city.
Sources said each State will be given a month to draw up a list of cities eligible for works under the scheme. Each State will have at least one smart city, with the bigger States being eligible for 10.
The total number across the country will be 100. “Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have signed agreements with the U.S. for non-financial assistance; some agreements have been inked with Sweden and China, but work will pick up by end of July,” a government official told.
Denmark is the latest to join the list of countries that have offered know-how in building smart cities.

Global M&E Industry:
India leads digital drive

For a change, India is found leading the world in virtualisation of content in the Media and Entertainment (M&E) business thereby creating an edge in this domain.
India’s top M&E companies namely Star India, Zee Entertainment, Sony and Colors have already adopted the digital mode in key workflow processes across the supply chain, two years ahead their western counterparts thus sharply increasing the output of their executives engaged in content creation and saving 30 to 40 per cent on cost.
In this digital drive by moving their content to the cloud, these firms are now able to have real time collaboration in the areas of production and distribution, reach out to their overseas customers in a few hours of the local telecast, supply video on demand to customers and prevent piracy.
India went from paper to paperless in the 90s, the manufacturing sector embraced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) during the same time to transform its processes and the banking sector underwent drastic changes by adopting information technology in a big way but the M&E sector functioned the way it was.
Considering that M&E business never had a big craze for technology adoption, Indian M&E companies, which had skipped technology generations are now actually leading the revolution across the world, according experts.
While Star India adopted the digital process in all its workflow, the equivalent of ERP in manufacturing, in April 2011, others gradually followed and are now 18 to 24 months ahead of their global peers. To put things in prospective M&E companies from the U.K. and the U.S. are adopting media ERP only now.
With the change, M&E executives are now able to live in the physical world and work on several content forms in the virtual world available on digital devices without being actually present at every location, be it the place of shooting, studio or editing room. They are now able to access unedited or edited video anytime and place of their choice. This has been made possible by an Indian company called Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), a part of the world’s largest integrated media services company Prime Focus Ltd., which has aggregated the diverse stakeholders of the TV/advertising industry on a single virtual platform shared by broadcasters, production houses, ad creative and media agencies.
With the introduction of the digital media supply chain content creation, dissemination and distribution process has become more creatively enabled. Real time collaboration is helping in the creation of better content and instant interaction has enhanced the process of content creation.
This media ERP is driving efficiencies and is helping in reduction of cycle time. It has also enabled newer revenue streams apart from curbing piracy. It has led to contextual advertising and enabling internet platforms to intelligently engage users, said experts.
The benefits are so alluring that now 85 per cent of the scripted television in Hollywood is using PFT’s solutions.
In an era of the ‘death of appointment viewing’, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said, “The next phase of evolution is Digital Next Realities where content providers have to engage customers with a better experience anytime anyplace. The success of Hotstar app by Star India with 1.4 crore downloads shows that Indians are now ready to consume content whenever wherever they want so broadcasters will have to make it accessible in the relevant preferred devices.”

Ideas that make
life easy, on show at IIT-Bombay

From a portable, foldable boat to low-cost toilets, an array of interesting ideas and designs by students of the Industrial Design Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, have been showcased at the Design Degree Show on the campus.
The five-day show, which began on Saturday, showcases 190 degree projects by 56 students of the centre across the broad themes of Craft and Culture; Access and Transportation; Health and Well- Being; Society and Analysis; Communication and Learning; and Working and Living India.
The portable boat by Tonmoy Phukan, 24, a second year student of Mobility and Vehicle Design, can ferry 16 people to safety during floods. “I was strongly motivated by the catastrophic effect of the floods in Assam in 2014. There are very limited ways to rescue victims, and there is no boat specially designed for flood rescue,” Mr. Phukan says.
Passengers are protected from floating debris and side impact. A ladder on the boat will help reach people on the higher floors, he says.
Trivikram Annamalai, 24, Industrial Design student, has come up with a device to detect veins easily for injections. “The thought of getting injected traumatises many, and when you have to undergo multiple attempts of needle insertions, it’s nightmarish.” Mr. Annamalai says.
The low-cost vein detector helps nurses visualise a vein and puncture it with ease. A prototype has been developed, and pilot-testing is in progress, he says.
Keerti Chowdhry, 25, an Animation and Film Design student, designed an animated dictionary for dyslexic children.
“Spellings and comprehension have always been arch-enemies of children who have learning disabilities. My project aims to help them with spellings, reading and comprehension by combining sight words and phonic system and creating new ways to learn,” she says.
The designs on show include an interactive kiosk, which employs face detection and delivers personalised advertisement, a light-weight foldable electric bike, and a water-fetching aid, which can hold vessels of multiple sizes.
Amita Sharma, Senior Consultant in Educational Consultants India Ltd., Union Human Resource Development Ministry, inaugurated the show.

PSLV-C27 Successfully Launches India’s Fourth Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1D

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C27, successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1D, the fourth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the twenty eighth consecutively successful mission of the PSLV. The ‘XL’ configuration of PSLV was used for this mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was successfully used seven times.
IRNSS-1D is the fourth of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A, 1B and 1C, the first three satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014 and October 16, 2014 respectively. All the three satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated orbital positions.
IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.
In the coming months, the next satellite of this constellation, namely,IRNSS-1E, is scheduled to be launched by PSLV. The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2016.

Researchers Discovers Rare Huntsman and Jumping Spider in the Western Ghats

Researchers have discovered rare huntsman and jumping spider in the Western Ghats belong to the Sparassidae and Salticidae families. They were discovered by the research team of arachnologists led by Dr. P.A. Sebastian, Director of the Division of Arachnology in Sacred Heart College, Kochi in Kerala.
Huntsman spider- It was sighted at Ponmudi, Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. These spiders are known for their speed and unique hunting mode. Sometimes they hide in the ambush and surprise the prey. Some of these spiders make a substrate-borne sound when they detect a chemical left by a nearby female of their species.
Jumping spider- It was sighted at the Malayattoor and Bhoothathankettu reserve forest. These spiders jump from one place to another like a grasshopper. The jumping spider was given the name Stenaelurillus albus due to the presence of a unique whitish area on the copulatory organ of the male spider. The discovery is considered unique as only 17 species of jumping spider having mating plugs have been reported of the approximate 5,800 jumping spiders recorded.

Union Government
Give its nod to build AWACS

Union Government on 27 Mach 2015 gave its approval to build crore strategic project of next-generation Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS). Decision in this regard was taken by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. DAC gave its nod for two AWACS, which includes buying two Airbus A330s, worth 5,113 crore rupees. Airbus was the lone bidder for the programme.

Indian AEW&C System

The indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) is an effort to evolve a compact state-of-the-art airborne surveillance system for the Indian Airforce to mark a significant contribution to Defence preparedness by the DRDO with CABS (Bangalore) spearheading the programme as a nodal agency. The indigenous AEW&C is a multi-sensor system on a executive jet aircraft providing for all aspects of airborne surveillance.
The Capabilities, Operational Role & Functional Requirements: The Indian AEW&C system will detect, identify and classify threats present in the surveillance area and act as a Command and Control Centre to support Air Defence operations, like AWACS. The system with its multiple Communication and Data Links can alert and direct fighters against threats while providing? Recognizable Air Surveillance Picture? (RASP) to commanders at the Ground Exploitation Stations (GES) that are strategically located. The AEW&C system can thus support Air Force in offensive strike missions and assist Forces in the tactical battle area. Besides, the Electronic and Communication Support Measures of the system can intercept and gather ELINT/COMINT from radar transmissions and communication signals. The AEW&C is a multi-sensor surveillance system that can perform the following operational roles as defined by the IAF:
- Air Space management
- Detection of Air-Borne and Surface targets
- Electronic Intelligence
- Detection, Identification, Threat Assessment and Interception of Airborne threat

9th Edition of Earth Hour

To show their growing concern over climate change, people all over the globe observed the ninth edition of Earth Hour on (March 28, 2015) by switching off their lights.
All the electrical appliances were put off for one hour between 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm in order to increase awareness. Earth Hour is an annual campaign started by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund).
The campaign pushes for households and business establishments across the world to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for an hour at the selected time to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

About Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a worldwide grassroots movement uniting people to protect the planet, and is organised by WWF. Earth Hour was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.
Earth Hour aims to encourage an interconnected global community to share the opportunities and challenges of creating a sustainable world.
Earth Hour only asks people to turn off the non-essential lights for one hour - not lights that affect public safety. Earth Hour is also a celebration of the planet so it’s important to enjoy the moment in a safe environment.
Earth Hour event always held in late March, because last weekend of March is around the time of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively, which allows for near coincidental sunset times in both hemispheres, thereby ensuring the greatest visual impact for a global ‘lights out’ event.
Earth Hour came from a think tank initiated by Earth Hour CEO and Co-Founder, Andy Ridley, resulting in the formation of a partnership between WWF Australia, Leo Burnett and Fairfax Media to address the climate change issue.
The standard Earth Hour ‘60’ logo represents the 60 minutes of Earth Hour where we focus on the impact we are having on our planet and take positive action to address the environmental issues we face. For Earth Hour 2011 the ‘60+’ logo was introduced representing a commitment to add to Earth Hour a positive act for the planet that goes beyond the hour. Take up the ‘plus’ and get involved with Earth Hour Blue.
WWF Uganda started the world’s first Earth Hour Forest

India’s First Remotely Operated Vehicle Operationalises in Atlantic

After two months of successful trials, India’s Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe), indigenously built by National Institute of Ocean Technology, and was operationalised for research today in North Antarctica.
PROVe had been undergoing trial in Antarctica for the past two months since its deployment by the NIOT in “Priyadarshini Lake” on the Schirmacher Oasis, which is a source of water for “Mait India’s second base in the icy continent.
PROVe has been fitted with sensors to measure various parameters including temperature, conductivity, depth and dissolved oxygen. Apart from cameras, the vehicle has sonar (a meter that measures light penetration), water sampler and bottom corer to collect samples from the seabed. Scientists involved in the project said they would also study the flora and fauna in the ocean and measure the thickness of the ice shelf and other floating ice called ice floes. An ice corer will be used to collect samples of ice which could be millions of years old.

World Health Day-Vector Borne diseases

April 7, 2014 marks World Health Day and the 66th anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO). This year’s theme is vector-borne diseases.
Over half the world’s population is at risk from vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. Vectors like mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas transmit parasites, viruses, or bacteria between people or between animals and people. Each World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) selects a theme that highlights a global public health issue. This year’s theme is vector-borne diseases, with a first-time focus on dengue.
Vector-borne diseases account for 17% of the estimated global burden of all infectious diseases. Global trade, rapid international travel, and environmental changes such as climate change and urbanization are causing vectors and vector-borne diseases to spread beyond borders. Many neglected tropical diseases, including dengue, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis are vector-borne; other vector-borne diseases include typhus and spotted fevers.
Forty percent of the world’s population is at risk from dengue virus; there are an estimated 390 million dengue infections each year in over 100 countries. Dengue is the world’s fastest growing vector-borne disease, with a 30-fold increase in disease incidence over the last 50 years. Southeast Asia and Latin America are especially affected but dengue also occurs in Africa, where cases are less-often diagnosed.
Malaria is a vector-borne disease that is one of the most severe public health problems worldwide. It is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the groups most affected. The WHO estimates that in 2012, there were 207 million cases of malaria and 627,000 people died of malaria. Most deaths were among children in Africa.

ISRO Develop Flood Hazard Atlas

The Indian Space Research Organization has developed a Flood Hazard Atlas by mapping flood prone and vulnerable areas in Assam.
Atlas has been divided into 3 categories and accordingly district administrations will prepare action plan on relief and evacuation in advance.
Giving details on the Flood Hazard Atlas, Deputy Commissioner of Morigaon said that it will help people know the level of water flow through early warning system.
He said that concerned authority will get alert and places of evacuation and relief camps will be identified. Also, people of a particular area will be alerted based on rain and waterfall. Lakhs of people are rendered homeless in Assam due to flood almost every year.

UNCTAD e-Waste Report 2014

As per recently released Global E-Waste Monitor 2014 report by United Nations, India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world. The report was compiled by UN think tank United Nations University (UNU).

Key facts from report

Top 5 e-waste producing nations: US, China, Japan, Germany and India.
In case of wealthy nations top 5 e-waste producers are Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and United Kingdom.
US and China have produced the most e-waste in 2014. Both nations account for 32 percent of total e-waste produced in the world in 2014.
India has discarded around 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste in 2014.
In 2014, around 41.8 Mt of e-waste was produced all over world and it is expected to rise by 21 percent to 50 million Mt in 2018.
In terms of continent wise, Asia has produced most e-waste per inhabitant in year 2014 by producing 16 Mt i.e. 3.7 kg per inhabitant.
Top three Asian e-waste producing nations are- China (6.0Mt), Japan (2.2Mt) and India (1.7Mt). While, Africa has generated lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant by producing 9 Mt i.e. 1.7 kg per inhabitant.

About e-waste

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in developed as well as in developing countries. Due to the fact that the life span of computers has dropped in developed countries from six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005, and mobile phones have a lifespan of even less than two years, the amount of generated e-waste per year grows rapidly. This has a major impact on developing countries as loopholes in the current Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directives allow the export of e-waste from developed to developing countries (70% of the collected WEEE ends up in unreported and largely unknown destinations). Inappropriate methods like open burning, which are often used by the informal sector in developing countries to recover valuable materials, have heavy impacts on human health and the environment. Harmful emissions of hazardous substances mainly come from:

The product itself (if landfilled): Lead in circuit boards or cathode ray tube (CRT) glass, mercury in liquid crystal display (LCD) backlights.
Substandard processes: Dioxin formation during burning of halogenated plastics or use of smelting processes without suitable off-gas treatment
Reagents used in the recycling process: cyanide and other strong leaching acids, nitrogen oxides (NOx) gas from leaching processes and mercury from amalgamation

To mainstream and disseminate environmentally sound management of e-waste in developing countries, the work plan for the focal area on e-waste proposes to develop sustainable business plans which will include an effective take-back system, a manual dismantling facility, local pre-processing activities and sound end-processing activities. These activities will be undertaken in close cooperation with other partners working in this field. The focal area on e-waste is led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Newly Discovered Spices
Named After Telangana

A new species of crab spiders has been named after the Telangana state in India. Two taxonomy and wildlife scientists from the Zoology Division at Osmania University stumbled upon female crab spiders during a scientific expedition at Nagnur, located in the district of Karimnagar.
In the newly published copy of an international journal on taxonomy and conservation known as the Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT), junior researcher G.B. Pravalikha, together with Assistant Professor C. Srinivasulu, described how the Telangana crab spider is biologically different from other crab spiders by illustrating its female genital structure along with other distinguishing characters.
This type of spiders from the Thomisidae family, resemble crabs morphologically, and thus, they are commonly known as crab spiders. This Telangana species has an affinity to move sideways, similarly to crabs, but they had been also called flower crab spiders because these creatures hunt their prey on mostly flowering plants.
The species are closely related to Thomisus labefactus, crab spiders originating from Japan. Both scientists are dedicating this new line of species to honor all the students and people who had given up their own lives for Telangana’s cause.
The spiders of Thomisidae family are not known to be harmful to humans — at least the known ones. Both scientists prove that it is still a big, big world out there, and there are more species yet to be discovered, and hopefully, more governments and agencies will support their endeavor and research.
The researchers also noted that these crab spiders, as of the moment, had been found locally at Nagnur only.

INS Alleppey decommissioned

INS Alleppey, one of the six Ponchicherry class coastal minesweepers purchased from the erstwhile USSR in the 1970s, decommissioned at sunset after nearly 35 years of service under the Western Naval Command.
After INS Alleppey’s decommissioning, the Indian Navy will be left with six other operational minesweeper vessels.
The ship was decommissioned by Rear Admiral MS Pawar, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area at Mumbai Naval Dockyard.

ISRO’s launcher
assembly unit gets Rs. 120 crore

ISRO’s proposal for having a second facility to assemble launchers at Sriharikota has got a Rs. 120-crore Budget boost.
The amount is the first big allocation for additional infrastructure since it was approved in late 2013.
Estimated at Rs. 360 crore, the second Vehicle Assembly Building (SVAB) was conceived to increase the number of satellite launches from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota.
M.Y.S. Prasad, Director of SDSC, said the project was going through a multiple tendering process to choose agencies that would build it over the next two years.
The SDSC has got a separate allocation of Rs. 559 crores.

NASA launches
4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery

NASA has launched four identical spacecraft on a billion-dollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and sun’s magnetic fields.
The unmanned Atlas rocket, and NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, soared into a clear late-night sky, right on time. Within two hours, all four observatories were flying free.
The quartet of observatories is being placed into an oblong orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles into the magnetosphere, nearly halfway to the moon at one point. They will fly in pyramid formation, between 6 miles (10 kilometres) and 250 miles (402 kilometres) apart, to provide 3-D views of magnetic reconnection on the smallest of scales.
Magnetic reconnection is what happens when magnetic fields like those around Earth and the sun come together, break apart, then come together again, releasing vast energy.
This repeated process drives the aurora, as well as solar storms that can disrupt communications and power on Earth.
Data from this two-year mission should help scientists better understand so-called space weather.
Each observatory resembles a giant octagonal wheel, stretching more than 11 feet (3.35 meters) across and 4 feet (1.22 meters) high, and weighing 3,000 pounds (1,360.79 kilogrammes) apiece.
Numbered and stacked like tires on top of the rocket for launch, No 4 popped free first more than an hour after liftoff, followed every five minutes by another.
“They’re all healthy and turned on. Essentially, we’re all green and headed into our mission,” said NASA project manager Craig Tooley.
Once the long, sensor-laden booms are extended in a few days, each spacecraft could span a baseball field.
Principal investigator Jim Burch from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said measurements will be made down to the electron scale, significantly smaller than previous heliophysics missions.
In all, there are 100 science sensors. Primary science-gathering will begin this summer, following a five-month checkout.
The findings from the USD 1.1 billion mission will be useful in understanding magnetic reconnection throughout the universe.
Closer to home, space weather scientists along with everyone on Earth hopefully will benefit.

Malaria: people with blood group a more vulnerable to severe disease

A protein produced by some strains of the malaria parasite can cause red blood cells, especially in blood group a individuals, to form clumps, thereby increasing the severity of disease, according to research just published.
When certain strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the single-celled parasite that is responsible for the most dangerous forms of malaria, get into red blood cells, those cells start sticking to other red blood cells as well as to walls of blood vessels.
The resulting obstruction to blood flow can damage tissues and lead to severe malaria that is life-threatening.
Previous research had implicated the ‘P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1’ (PfEMP1) in red blood cells forming clumps. (Such clumps are called ‘rosettes’).
Once the parasite infects red blood cells, this protein that it produces appears on the outer surface of those cells. The protein then latches on to receptor molecules found on other red blood cells, creating rosettes.
However, when PfEMP1 was removed from red blood cell surfaces using enzymes, rosette-formation was reduced only in those of blood group O but not blood group A.
This indicated that PfEMP1 may not be the only molecule involved in rosette formation, noted a Scandinavian team of scientists in a Nature Medicine paper.
With a series of experiments, the team showed that another protein could have a hand too, principally affecting individuals of blood group A.
The RIFINs too are secreted by the parasite and then get to the surface of red blood cells. There are 150 Rif’s genes that carry the genetic information for RIFINs.
One P. falciparum parasite examined by the team carried 85 such genes, but with just one of those genes being responsible for much of the RIFINs it produced.
The RIFINs were thought to act as decoys, making it difficult for the human immune system to detect and destroy parasite-infected red blood cells, commented G. Padmanabhan of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, who has studied the malaria parasite over many decades but was not involved in the research that led to the Nature Medicine paper.
Those cells, with the RIFIN protein on their surface, “bound large numbers of group A RBCs [red blood cells],” the scientists noted in their paper.
The rosette formation with group O RBCs was “less pronounced.” Moreover, when molecular tags that marked RBCs as belonging to group A were removed, their binding to cells bearing RIFIN were similar to those of group O. Only RIFINs of sub-group A, which accounts for about 70 per cent of these proteins, led to rosettes being formed.
The protection offered by blood group O could “explain why the blood type is so common in the areas where malaria is common,” said Mats Wahlgren, the study’s principal investigator, in a press release.

Oldest primitive A
nimal fossil found in China

Scientists have discovered the “earliest and most credible” primitive animal fossil in 600-million-year-old rocks in southwest China, media reports say.
The research led by Chinese scientists described a well-preserved, rice grain-sized primitive sponge fossil in the Guizhou Province, a Xinhua report said.
“It’s the world’s earliest and most credible fossil record of primitive animal bodies,” said the lead author of the research, Maoyan Zhu, of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology.
“The discovery will help remove doubts whether animals have emerged on earth 600 million years ago,” Mr. Maoyan said.
The fossilised animal, slightly more than 1.2-mm wide and 1.1-mm tall, displays many characteristics of modern adult sponges, an analysis based on advanced imaging techniques found.
The specimen is composed of hundreds of thousands of cells, and has a structure consisting f three adjacent hollow tubes sharing a common base, the researchers said.

Natco to launch
Hepatitis C drug in India soon

Natco Pharma plans to launch the generic version of Sovaldi, the blockbuster drug used to treat chronic Hepatitis C in India soon.
Sovaldi is made by U.S. pharma major Gilead Sciences, and Natco recently entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead to make and sell generic versions of Sovaldi in 91 developing countries.
The company launched the generic version of Sovaldi in Nepal under the brand Hepcinat. The product is priced at Rs.19, 900 per bottle of 28 tablets in Nepal, and covers the treatment duration of three months for a patient.
Gilead’s compound sofosbuvir is a breakthrough treatment for Hepatitis C, a disease affecting the liver. If untreated, it can cause liver cirrhosis or liver cancer and has a high mortality rate.
Sovaldi with a 90 per cent cure rate for Hepatitis C, was introduced in the U.S. in November 2013 priced at $84,000 per patient.
In India Hepcinat will be priced as in Nepal, which is a fraction of the price Gilead prices it in developed markets. As per the agreement with Gilead, Natco will pay Gilead royalty at 7 per cent of billing price.
In an unrelated development, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a review of a federal circuit court which had ruled in favour of Natco Pharma in patent infringement litigation over Tamiflu, a drug used to treat swine flu. Natco has partnered with Alvogen in the U.S. to market the product. A statement from Natco said it was “pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny certiorari for the generic version of Tamiflu oral capsules (oseltamivir phosphate).”
Natco had received a tentative approval on March 14, 2014, for Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules USP, 30 mg, 45 mg and 75 mg on the Abbreviated New Drug Application containing a paragraph IV certification filed with the U.S. FDA.

India can shape the
future of Internet, says ICANN chief

With next billion people on the Internet likely to come from India, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) CEO Fadi Chehadé said the country had the power to shape the future of Internet.
ICANN, a non-profit organisation, is the global body that oversees operation and administration of the Internet domain name system.
He added since his last visit to the country in October 2013, India’s place at the global level “has taken a new energy that is remarkable”.
Mr. Chehadé said India plays an important role in making sure things are run in the right direction in digital economy. “Its shaping how digital economy would look like, not tomorrow, but 10 years form now because the next billion people who will share the Internet will come from here... you will shape the future of internet,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the future architecture of the Web should not be a prerogative of a few and should be open to all.
He added that Internet must be equitable, effective, open-for-all and no one should be able to claim early arrival benefit.
Google may jump into virtual reality race
A team of engineers at Google is reportedly working to build a version of the Android operating system to power virtual-reality applications.
The move comes on the heels of Facebook’s $2 billion purchase of Oculus VR. The Wall Street Journal quoted “two people familiar with the project” as saying that Google has “tens of engineers” and other staff working on the project.
Google plans to freely distribute the new operating system, they said, mimicking a strategy that has made Android the most popular OS for smartphones.
The project is speculative, because no virtual-reality devices are yet shipping in large numbers.

MH370 report: Air Traffic
Control supervisor was sleeping on duty

The Air Traffic Control (ATC) supervisor was asleep on duty during the crucial hours following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 last year, an interim report into the tragedy has said.
Released a year after the Boeing 777-200 went missing, transcripts of conversation between Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Controller and a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) official have showed that between 1.20 a.m. local time — when communications from the flight had ceased — and 5.20 a.m., the supervisor was asleep.
A controller started the four-minute-long conversation with the MAS official at 5.20 a.m. when he repeatedly pressed the former for details, especially whether there was any positive handover between Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre and Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control.
The MAS official’s persistent request for information led the controller to say that he would wake his supervisor up.
The controller replied he only took over tower operations after 3 a.m., and was not sure about the details, Star Online reported
The report said air traffic controllers in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control took 20 minutes to ask why the plane had not yet entered its airspace when international protocols demand this should take place within two minutes.
The report has also found that the battery powering the underwater locator beacon on the aircraft had expired in 2012.
The nearly 600-page interim report submitted yesterday on the anniversary of the flight’s disappearance, however, does not cast any suspicion on the crew.
Termed an “oversight” by investigators, the battery expiry could be key in legal action against Malaysia Airlines and in determining compensation, the paper said.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 last year while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. There were five Indians on the flight.
The plane is believed to have ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean.
A year-long, Australia-led search effort in the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft is believed to have crashed has so far yielded no sign of the plane.
Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) on January 29 had declared the plane’s disappearance an accident.

24×7 drug store in three months

Foundation stone was laid for the much-awaited 24x7 generic and other medicines store on the Government Wenlock hospital premises.
The new medical store, called Janasanjeevini Medical Centre, operated by Union government’s HLL Life Care Limited, will come up in the 700 square-foot space next to the dilapidated jail ward of the hospital.
The Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader Minister said the State government had fulfilled most of the promises made when the government was formed.
He said the government giving final shape to providing free treatment to the extent of Rs. 25,000 for road accident victims in the first 48 hours of admission to hospital.
The bike ambulance facility would also be launched soon.
MP and senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes earlier handed to the Wenlock Hospital Superintendent Rajeshwari Devi, the keys of a hearse van donated by SASVAT Foundation. U.T. Fareed Foundation will maintain and operate the vehicle.

Census records
increase in wildlife at Point Calimere

The dry deciduous evergreen forest, spread over an area of 35 sq. km. at Kodiyakkarai near Vedaranyam, has recorded an increase in wildlife census when compared to last year, thanks to the intensification of anti-poaching activities, proper water management, and conducive habitat for animals and birds by the Forest Department.
The department staff along with college students of AVC Engineering College at Mayiladuthurai and Government Arts and Science College at Poompuhar conducted one-day wildlife census at Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary at Kodiyakkarai on February 28.
Over 50 students and 20 forest officials undertook this census. They were divided into 18 groups and conducted the exercise in 18 transit lines.
The Forest Ranger of Vedaranyam, V. Gobinath, told The Hindu that the department has identified 948 bucks, 117 spotted deer, 172 horses, 77 monkeys, 82 wild boars, 12 black napped hares, 20 jackals, and 1,525 fruit-bearing bats.
The department has recorded an overall 10 per cent increase in the wildlife when compared to last year.
The Government has allocated Rs. 2.70 lakh for the construction of water troughs at Kathan Odai, Aruvankanni, S-curve, and a few other places to quench the thirst of animals and birds under Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Greening Project. Now, the sanctuary has 17 water troughs to provide water to animals and birds in the ensuing summer.

Lessons learnt as
hunt for MH370 marks one year

The hunt for Flight MH370 has failed to turn up any debris, but its unprecedented scale in one of the world’s remotest locations has provided valuable lessons for future search and rescue missions.
The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with mourning families and friends of the 239 people on board still waiting to hear what happened 12 months later.
There has been no trace of the Boeing airliner despite an extensive air and sea search.
Four ships, coordinated by Australia, continue to scour a huge underwater area at least 1,600 kilometres from the nearest piece of land in a stretch of the Indian Ocean previously only mapped by satellite.
The MH370 search — jointly funded by Australia and Malaysia with a budget of US$93 million — is focused on a 60,000 square kilometre priority area and is scheduled to end in May.
The search area is so remote that the four vessels involved — Fugro Supporter, Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and GO Phoenix — need up to six days to reach it from the Australian port of Fremantle, where they routinely refuel and restock.
While at sea, they frequently encounter conditions similar to the “Roaring Forties” north of Antarctica, winds that whip up mountainous seas.

Microsoft unveils Lumia 640, 640 XL

Microsoft unveiled two new smartphones — Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL — as it aim to strengthen its position in the affordable smart phone segment, especially in developing countries such as India.
While Lumia 640 XL will begin rolling out globally in March, Lumia 640 will be available starting April. Both devices will be available in single-SIM and dual-SIM (3G & 4G) variants.
“Pricing will vary by market and operator. Lumia 640 is estimated to be around 139 euro (about Rs.9, 700) for the 3G model and 159 euro (about Rs.11,000) for the LTE model, before taxes and subsidies.
“Lumia 640 XL will be around 189 euro (about Rs.13,000) for 3G and 219 euro (about Rs.15,200) for LTE, before taxes and subsidies,” Microsoft Devices Group Executive Vice President Stephen Elop said.
Both smartphones are upgradeable to Windows 10, which will be available later this year.
“The devices come with a one-year personal subscription to Office365, enabling the full Office experience on the Lumia as well as one tablet and one PC/Mac.
The Lumia 640 comes with 5-inch HD display, 1.2GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim operating system, 8 MP rears and 1 MP front facing cameras, 8GB internal memory (30 GB free OneDrive and micro SD support up to 128 GB) and 2,500 mAh battery.
The Lumia 640 XL has a 5.7-inch display, 13 MP rear and 5 MP front cameras and 3,000 mAh battery.

Air Force to get 38 more Pilatus basic trainers

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar cleared a follow-on order for 38 Pilatus basic trainer aircraft for the Air Force in addition to appointing Goa Shipyard Ltd. as the lead agency to build 12 Mine Counter-Measure Vessels (MCMV) for the Navy.
The Air Force has projected a requirement of 181 basic trainer aircraft. As many as 75 Pilatus aircraft were procured from Switzerland in 2012 and 38 cleared on Saturday. The remaining 68 will be supplied by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) by the indigenous development of HTT-40 aircraft.
Officials added that the progress of the project would be monitored by a committee that would periodically report to the DAC.
The earlier global tender for eight MCMVs was scrapped after allegations of corruption. The process would start from scratch now.
There would be a “Buy and Make” category under the procurement procedure and the GSL would build the ships under transfer of technology with a foreign vendor in a deal worth about Rs. 32,000 crore.
The GSL had already invested Rs. 500 crore to develop the required facilities, the officials informed.
One C-130 would be acquired for Rs. 533 crore from the U.S. to replace the one that crashed in 2014. The crash killed five personnel, including four officers.

Govt. staff barred from using private e-mail for official purposes

Government employees have been barred from using private e-mail services for official communications.
“Users shall refrain from using private e-mail servers from government network. E-mail service authorised by the government and implemented by the IA (Implementing Agency under this policy is NIC) shall only be used for all official correspondence,” said the policy on use of IT resources notified.
The new policy also bars officials from using forward option in e-mails to non-government e-mail services.
“The e-mail services provided by other service providers shall not be used for any official communication,” the notification said.
This policy is applicable to all employees of Central Government and employees of those State or Union Territories governments that use the e-mail services of provided by Central Government.
This policy idea was mooted by the Department of Electronics and IT after whistle blower Edward Snowden claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies secretly monitors Internet data to spy on various countries, including India with help of some of software and Internet companies.
As per new policy, government officials will be allocated two e-mail ids — one based on designation and other on name.

Russia plans its own space station

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has revealed plans to build an orbiting outpost and land cosmonauts on the moon once the International Space Station (ISS) is mothballed next decade.
In an official statement, Roscosmos pledged its support for the ISS until 2024 but outlined plans to disconnect its modules soon after, and use them to build a Russian space station in its place.
The creation of a national space station would ensure that Russia has a base to fly cosmonauts to until it has developed its more ambitious plans to send crews on orbiting missions around the moon and land them on its surface by 2030.
Since NASA, the U.S. space agency, retired its fleet of space shuttles, Russia has been the only nation able to ferry humans to and from the ISS aboard its Soyuz rockets
The Russians’ commitment to the ISS was welcomed by some experts, including Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who covered the David Bowie classic, Space Oddity, from the ISS.
Despite the enthusiasm over Moscow’s decision to extend its support, the plans outlined by Roscosmos for a national space station and human missions to the moon suggest that Russia is poised to break away from its international partners in space exploration

Too many waiting for
blood stem cell transplants: Study

Over a million people have received blood and marrow stem cell transplants for life-threatening diseases in the past 57 years, but too many are still waiting, a study said.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) often offers the only possibility of a cure for blood diseases and rare cancers like myeloma or leukaemia.
The procedure involves taking healthy stem cells from the blood or marrow of the patient or from a healthy donor, with which to boost the system of someone whose blood-manufacturing bone marrow or immune system is damaged or defective.
By 1985, 28 years after the first experimental marrow transplant, about 10,000 such procedures had been performed, rising to 500,000 by 1995, said a study in The Lancet Haematology journal.
By December 2012, that number had risen to almost a million at 1,516 transplant centres in 75 countries.

India’s own GPS soon

Scientists are eagerly awaiting the March 9 launch of IRNSS-1D, the fourth Indian regional navigation satellite.
The Rs. 1,400-crore-plus IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) has been called ‘India’s own GPS.’ It can do all that we do with GPS, a U.S. military system, but apparently much better and at a local level.
This satellite will complete more than half of the ambitious ‘Indian GPS’ ring over the subcontinent and allow ISRO’s sat-nav team to prove its usefulness in location-based applications.
Four satellites out of the constellation of seven are said to be the minimum the scientists need to check out signals and accuracy.
S.K. Shivakumar, Director of ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, told The Hindu that IRNSS-1D would finetune the details being provided by its earlier three siblings. The next three navigation satellites, he said, would take this to the targeted precision levels and make it easy to pinpoint required positions for many users.
IRNSS-1D is slated to be put on the PSLV launcher on February 28 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The first one, IRNSS-1A, was launched in July 2013.

Spacewalk on ISS completed

NASA astronauts at International Space Station (ISS) have successfully completed the first of three spacewalks to create parking spots for Boeing and SpaceX to deliver astronauts to the orbital laboratory.
The 6-hour, 41-minute-spacewalk by Expedition 42 astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts was meant to prepare the ISS for a pair of international docking adapters that will allow future commercial crew vehicles to dock.
The cable routing work is part of a reconfiguration of station systems and modules to accommodate the delivery of new docking adapters that commercial crew vehicles will use later this decade to deliver astronauts to the orbital laboratory.
The spacewalk was the first for Mr. Virts. Mr. Wilmore now has spent 13 hours and 15 minutes in the void of space during two spacewalks.
Astronauts have now spent a total of 1,159 hours and 8 minutes conducting space station assembly and maintenance during 185 spacewalks, NASA said.

Babies made from skin may be boon for same sex couples

In a breakthrough, researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist, have shown that stem cells from the skin of two adults of the same sex can be used to make human egg and sperm cells.
Scientists at Cambridge University collaborated with Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science and used stem cell lines from embryos as well as from the skin of five different adults.
Researchers have previously created live baby mice using engineered eggs and sperm, but until now have struggled to create a human version of these ‘primordial germ’ or stem cells.
Ten different donor sources have been used so far and new germ-cell lines have been created from all of them, researchers said.
The team has compared the engineered germ cells with natural human stem cells taken from aborted human foetuses to check that the artificially created versions of the cells had identical characteristics, The Times reported.
A gene called SOX17, previously considered to be unimportant in mice, has turned out to be critical in the process of ‘reprogramming’ human cells, researchers said.

A new weapon in the fight against malaria

A new family of bacteria that are common in malaria mosquitoes has been found
Scientists are trying to genetically modify them to produce substances that stop malaria parasite development.

Country’s highest zoo attempts to save high altitude herbivores

The initiative taken by Darjeeling’s Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in conserving high altitude herbivores that have been on the path of extinction, has served to stem the rapid decline in their numbers.
Some of the animals that have been included in the conservation programme of PNHZP, the countries highest altitude zoo located at over 7,000 ft, are the Blue Sheep, the Himalayan Tahr, the Himalayan Goral and the Markhor.
All the four herbivores have been placed in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which denotes that the species are ‘threatened’. The conservation of these animals is also crucial for the Himalayan ecosystem.
“All the four herbivores are the main prey of the much endangered Snow leopard. A decrease in their numbers will naturally affect the existence of the elusive mountain cat,” Upashna Rai, the biologist in the PNHZP told.
Conserving these herbivores serves the dual purpose of protecting the snow leopard as well. The PNHZP is also involved in the global conservation and breeding programme of the snow leopard.
The Darjeeling Zoo has taken the initiative of breeding these high altitude herbivores and is also involving the other high altitude zoos in breeding and conservation of the species.
It has provided to each of the main zoos of Sikkim and Nainital one pair of the Blue Sheep and the Himalayan Goral as a part of an exchange programme.

4th navigation satellite launch in March 2015

The fourth navigation satellite of the country is getting ready for launch in March, and it will be another step forward for India in evolving its own navigation satellite system and not depend on the Geographical Positioning System (GPS) service of the U.S
Cryogenic propulsion systems on board PSLV-C27 rocket that will launch the satellite are being developed by scientists of the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district.
S. Ingersol, group director of the complex, told, “Totally, seven satellites are required to be launched to complete the configuration under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) and already three had been launched.
Dr. Ingersol said launch of the remaining four satellites would be completed in one year and after that India’s dependency on the U.S. for GPS service would be significantly reduced. “This will trigger the much-needed development in geographic information systems.”
The Mahendragiri complex was developing the second and fourth liquid stages needed for the launch vehicle. “Advance research by ISRO scientists has made India go for launching heavier satellites of three to four tonnes from our own soil,” he said.

TB rate going down, but not
fast enough to meet WHO target

India is unlikely to reach the WHO target of elimination of tuberculosis (TB) by 2050 going by the rate at which incidence of the disease is declining in the country.
“Incidence of TB in India is declining at the rate of about 2 per cent per year. However, in order to reach the TB elimination target by 2050, the rate should be 19 to 20 per cent per year,” WHO Representative to India Nata Menabde told.
She, however, said that on using available strategies and technologies effectively, along with universal health coverage and social protection, the country could achieve a reduction of TB incidence rate of 10 per cent per year by 2025.
“To hasten the decline of TB incidence beyond that would require new tools such as new effective vaccines, new points of care, effective diagnostics and new effective shortened treatment regimens,” she suggested.
Additionally, social determinants of TB such as under-nutrition, overcrowding and poor ventilation in slums and clinical risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, smoking etc should be addressed simultaneously, she added.
Citing the WHO Global TB Report 2014, Ms. Menabde said that India has already met the Million Development Goals (MDG) target of 50 per cent reduction in the prevalence of TB by 2015 compared to 1990. “India is also well on track for reducing TB death by 50 per cent by 2015,” she stated.
Ms. Menabde, however, said there was a need to improve the quality of care provided to TB patients at private clinics and hospitals as most approached such facilities for treatment, especially in urban areas.
“At least one-half of the TB patients in India, especially in urban areas, approach private sector for TB care. But the quality of care in the private sector in most situations is not satisfactory.
“There is a need for wider dissemination of ‘standards for TB care’ to the private sector, targeted approaches to engagement with them and more stringent implementation of mandatory notification of TB cases.

Deficient southwest
monsoon hits Rabi sowing

A delayed and deficient southwest monsoon has shrunk rabi sowing from last year’s level. If sowing was taken up on 597.15 lakh hectares of land last year, the figure this time was 566.18 lakh hectares.
What is worrisome is the gap of 30.97 lakh hectares between the areas sown in the previous week and its corresponding week last year, higher than the deficit of 26.82 lakh hectares when making such a comparison for the week earlier.
The southwest monsoon was 12 per cent lower than the long period average in the country and 21 per cent in northwest India, hitting kharif crop production by 2-3 per cent. The rain deficit is affecting rabi sowing now.
A meeting in the Agriculture Ministry to review the crop and weather situation noted that wheat has been sown in 4.92 lakh hectares less this year because of lower moisture in the soil. Although the area under wheat will be made up in the next few weeks, the harvest will depend on the weather conditions.
Of particular concern is the lower acreage of pulses. The area under gram is lower this year by 14.8 lakh hectares from last year’s because of the lower minimum support price. Farmers have turned away from sowing gram as the price is low, sources said.
The area under coarse cereals is lower by 4.57 lakh hectares mainly because of reduced sowing of maize and jowar in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Almonds could
Reduce belly fat, Study Found

Snacking on almonds instead of carbs could reduce belly fat and lower the risk of heart disease, a new study has claimed.
The study found that a daily snack of 1.5 ounces of almonds instead of a high-carbohydrate muffin, eaten as part of an overall healthy diet, improved a number of heart disease risk factors in study participants.
In addition to significantly improving LDL and total cholesterol, snacking on almonds instead of muffins also reduced central adiposity (belly fat), a well-established heart disease risk factor.
Reducing abdominal fat is particularly beneficial given its connection to metabolic syndrome and increased risk for heart disease. The twelve-week, randomised, controlled clinical study, led by researchers at Penn State University, was conducted in 52 overweight, middle-aged adults who had high total and LDL cholesterol but were otherwise healthy.
Participants ate cholesterol-lowering diets that were identical except that one group was given a daily snack of 1.5 ounces (42g) of whole natural almonds, while the other group was given a banana muffin that provided the same number of calories.
Participants were provided all meals and snacks in amounts based on their calorie needs to maintain body weight, and followed each diet for six weeks. The diet containing the almond snack, compared to the muffin snack, decreased total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol non-HDL-cholesterol and remnant lipoproteins.
In addition, the diet with the muffin snack reduced HDL (good) cholesterol more than the almond diet. Despite no differences in body weight or total fat mass, the almond diet significantly reduced abdominal fat mass, waist circumference and leg fat mass compared to the diet with the muffin snack.

Common factors in divergent habitats of migratory birds, Studies found

To understand the diverse habitats of migratory birds and make comparison studies, the bird watchers’ team of Nature Society of Tirupur, that has been studying the arrival-departure patterns of such species in western region, travelled across the State where migratory birds flock in large numbers.
The assessment helped find the common factors that prompt certain bird species to visit areas such as Nanjarayan tank in Tirupur and the coastal lines of the State, though outwardly it looks as a divergent environment.
Disclosing the patterns of migrations and common factors that make respective species to seek abodes in different parts of the State, K. Ravindran, secretary of the Society, told that many of the species that flock the Nanjarayan irrigation tank area in Tirupur and its hinterland were also seen in coastal areas of the State, especially in Nagapattinam district.
The team found species like the Sandpipers, which come from Western Europe, the Northern Pintails, that migrates from Northern Europe and North America, and the Black-tailed Godwits, a bird species coming from Iceland area in Europe, among few others, which comes to western region of the State during winter season, in coastal areas too with some of them even noticed in smaller numbers around irrigation tanks in sanctuaries like Koonthankulam near Tirunelveli.

Indian vaccine
Meningitis will protect infants

A meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac) manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Pune was approved by WHO a few days ago for use in infants in sub-Saharan African populations. The vaccine will be introduced as part of the routine immunisation programme.
“In the four years since its introduction in Africa, MenAfriVac has had an immediate and dramatic impact in breaking the cycle of meningitis A epidemics,” a WHO release said. The vaccine has already been used in those aged 1-29 years.
But with the WHO’s approval, the vaccine can be given to infants thereby “protecting million more children at risk of the deadly disease.” bout 200,000 people suffer from meningitis every year in the region.
The disease kills 20,000 to 25,000 people in the region every year. “Like in the case of measles, not many meningitis cases are seen in children younger than one year,” said Dr. Suresh Jadhav, Executive Director of Serum Institute.
“A mother, who has had meningitis, transmits the meningitis antibodies to newborns and these antibodies protect them for one year.”
Every individual living in the meningitis belt (which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east) gets infected with meningitis before the age of 29 years and hence mothers invariably carry antibodies against the disease.
The WHO has approved the use of a 5 microgram dose of the vaccine for children, which will be administered when theyare nine months old.
Immunisation at nine months will help achieve sustainable disease control following mass campaigns that target people belonging to the 1-29 age groups.
Explaining the rationale for choosing to immunise at ninth month, Dr. Jadhav said: “It’s one opportunity to treat both measles and meningitis,” he said. Measles vaccination is also given to children at nine months of age.
A booster dose will be given when the child is 12-18 months old. According to Dr. Jadhav, the first meningitis dose will protect a child for five years and a booster dose will confer lifelong protection.
Though a single campaign has been carried outto cover a large population in 15 countries, those born after the campaign have not received the MenAfriVac vaccine and are hence vulnerable to meningitis infection. But with the introduction of the vaccine as part of the immunisation schedule, these children will also be protected.

New dolphin-like creature
identified near Scotland: scientists

A new dolphin-like species that lived around 170 million years ago has been identified from fossils found on the Isle of Skye off Scotland
The 14-feet long marine creature has been named Dearcmhara shawcrossi in honour of an amateur enthusiast, Brian Shawcross, who recovered the creature’s fossils from the island’s Bearreraig Bay in 1959.
It is a member of a group called ichthyosaurs that were among the dominant marine reptiles when dinosaurs ruled the land. “The dolphin-like creatures were as long as 14 feet from snout to tail, and inhabited warm, shallow seas around Scotland during the Jurassic Period,” Scientist reported.
Dearcmhara, a moderate-sized ichthyosaur, swam in warm, shallow seas during the Jurassic Period, preyed on fish and other reptiles.

Playing music benefits the brain: research

More than a decade ago, there was great buzz in the press and media on something that was tantalizingly referred to as “The Mozart Effect”. Some researchers claimed that school students performed better in tests as they were listening to music by the great European classical music composer Mozart.
Compared to them, another set of students (control group, same age, same background and so forth) who took the same tests, but with no Mozart in the background, did less well
This news spread like wildfire and parents began playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to their children with the hope of elevating their performance, and hopefully IQ values as well.
Several questions were raised about this Mozart effect, both in the professional and popular press. Is it reproducible (not always, low sample size)? Does listening to music only calm the mind and focus it to the task on hand? Why Mozart, why not Beethoven, Bach or Beatles? Why only western music, and not Carnatic, Hindustani, Japanese or even soothing chants? Is the effect temporary or long-lasting? Do lullabies make infants smarter, besides sleep-inducing?
Many of these questions were attempted to be answered by a variety of experiments — amateur and professional — and the overall consensus appears to be that music is good for you, but as far as the Mozart Effect goes, the jury is still out. A more scientifically challenging question here is whether music makes noticeable change in your cognitive abilities, and affect and alter the brain in perceptible ways.
Is listening to music as a passive recipient sufficient, or should one actively engage in music — singing solo or in groups, playing an instrument, and improvising more effectively? Note that in the latter case, you are actually exerting and exercising your brain. In other words, listening to Mozart, or to play Mozart — which would be a better or true “Mozart Effect”?

Researchers identified Mutations causing abnormal heart muscle protein

An international team of researchers have sought to identify genetic mutations that produce abnormal forms of a key heart muscle protein. As a result of the mutations, the heart muscles weaken and produce a condition known as ‘dilated cardiomyopathy.’
The increased strain that is then put on the heart can lead to heart failure where the organ is unable to pump the requisite quantities of blood.
Changes to titin, a protein that is part of the mechanism muscles use to contract and relax, have been implicated as a cause for dilated cardiomyopathy.
Titin is the largest human protein and is produced by a gene whose genetic information exists as 364 separate segments, known as exons. Variations in how the genetic data from these exons are assembled mean that the protein can exist in a variety of forms.
A 2012 study carried out in severe and familial cases of dilated cardiomyopathy found that disruptive mutations in the gene, resulting in truncated titin variants being produced, were the commonest genetic cause for the ailment.
Researchers who carried out that study have gone on to examine titin gene sequences from over 5,200 individuals, with and without the condition, as well as scrutinising 150 heart tissue samples collected from patients who underwent heart surgery.

Polar bear clusters migrate to
Northwest Passages for longer lasting ice

Some polar bear clusters have slowly moved to islands situated in north of Canada’s mainland that are retaining the Arctic ice for longer says a new scientific study. According to the study the migration is linked to climate change and would continue
The study published earlier this month in the journal PLOS ONE was based on DNA taken from nearly 2,800 polar bears in countries where the animals live - the United States, Russia, Canada, Greenland and Norway.
Bear clusters from Canada’s eastern Arctic area and a marine area off eastern Greenland and Siberia are journeying to the Canadian Archipelago, also known as the Arctic Archipelago, where ice is more abundant, the study found.
The channels through the islands, known as the Northwest Passages, have come to be seen as a potentially valuable shipping route as Arctic ice melts.
The region that has attracted a larger number of polar bears sits north of the Canadian mainland, close to Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It is comprised of more than 36,000 islands and covers more than 550,000 square miles (1.4 million square km).
The migration has occurred during the last one to three generations of the predators, or between 15 and 45 years, U.S. Geological Survey researcher Elizabeth Peacock, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.
The bears choose this area because that is “where the sea is more resilient to summer melt due to circulation patterns, complex geography and cooler northern latitudes,” Peacock said.
The Canadian Archipelago could serve as a future refuge for polar bears, which rely on Arctic ice to cross between land masses, to forage and to mate, according to the researchers.

Click Here to Join Online Coaching for IBPS, Bank Exams

Click Here to Buy Study kit

Go Back To Main Page

admin's blog

Special General Awareness for IBPS, Bank Exams (Science & Technology) - 2015

Special General Awareness for IBPS, Bank Exams (Science & Technology) - 2015

:: Science & Technology ::

ASA’s engine for Next-generation rocket test-fired

Genes help fish cope with warming oceans

New Technique Can Reveal Age of Moon Rocks

Archaeologists discovered two human bones about 100,000 years old in China

Humans can be able to live on moon in next decade: NASA

Sleepless night can cost your body

NASA mission’s discovery makes Kepler-452b 12th possible Earth twin

New findings about Stem cell transplantation

CNG-run vehicles emit dangerous nanocarbon, can cause cancer: CSIR study

No Study Supports Global Warming Affecting Himalayas

The World Wide Web turns 24

The genesis of the Internet

The world’s first website

Donald trumps rivals in presidential debate line-up

The competitors

New treatment for diabetes in offing: study

Military modernisation picks up pace

Google help for NGOs working on child safety

India’s eye on universe ready for tests

Indian Ocean warms as Pacific cools

80 % Indian diets are protein deficient: Survey

Maruti to bring in new green technologies to cut emissions

Stempeutics gets Japanese process patent for stem cell drug

INS Vikrant undocked at Cochin shipyard

60-member team to probe ‘Eastern Star’ sinking

Smart cities scheme to take off on June 25

Global M&E Industry: India leads digital drive

Ideas that make life easy, on show at IIT-Bombay

PSLV-C27 Successfully Launches India’s Fourth Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1D

Researchers Discovers Rare Huntsman and Jumping Spider in the Western Ghats

Union Government Give its nod to build AWACS

Indian AEW&C System

9th Edition of Earth Hour

About Earth Hour

India’s First Remotely Operated Vehicle Operationalises in Atlantic

World Health Day-Vector Borne diseases

ISRO Develop Flood Hazard Atlas

UNCTAD e-Waste Report 2014

Key facts from report

About e-waste

Newly Discovered Spices Named After Telangana

INS Alleppey decommissioned

ISRO’s launcher assembly unit gets Rs. 120 crore

NASA launches 4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery

Malaria: people with blood group a more vulnerable to severe disease

Oldest primitive A nimal fossil found in China

Natco to launch Hepatitis C drug in India soon

India can shape the future of Internet, says ICANN chief

MH370 report: Air Traffic Control supervisor was sleeping on duty

24×7 drug store in three months

Census records increase in wildlife at Point Calimere

Lessons learnt as hunt for MH370 marks one year

Microsoft unveils Lumia 640, 640 XL

Air Force to get 38 more Pilatus basic trainers

Govt. staff barred from using private e-mail for official purposes

Russia plans its own space station

Too many waiting for blood stem cell transplants: Study

India’s own GPS soon

Spacewalk on ISS completed

Babies made from skin may be boon for same sex couples

A new weapon in the fight against malaria

Country’s highest zoo attempts to save high altitude herbivores

4th navigation satellite launch in March 2015

TB rate going down, but not fast enough to meet WHO target

Deficient southwest monsoon hits Rabi sowing

Almonds could Reduce belly fat, Study Found

Common factors in divergent habitats of migratory birds, Studies found

Indian vaccine Meningitis will protect infants

New dolphin-like creature identified near Scotland: scientists

Playing music benefits the brain: research

Researchers identified Mutations causing abnormal heart muscle protein

Polar bear clusters migrate to Northwest Passages for longer lasting ice

Whats New!

ASA’s engine for
Next-generation rocket test-fired

New Technique Can
Reveal Age of Moon Rocks

Humans can be able to live on
moon in next decade: NASA

NASA mission’s discovery makes
Kepler-452b 12th possible Earth twin

Donald trumps rivals in
presidential debate line-up

Google help for
NGOs working on child safety

80 % Indian diets are
protein deficient: Survey

Maruti to bring in new
green technologies to cut emissions

Stempeutics gets Japanese
process patent for stem cell drug

60-member team to
probe ‘Eastern Star’ sinking

Global M&E Industry:
India leads digital drive

Ideas that make
life easy, on show at IIT-Bombay

Union Government
Give its nod to build AWACS

Newly Discovered Spices
Named After Telangana

ISRO’s launcher
assembly unit gets Rs. 120 crore

NASA launches
4 spacecraft to solve magnetic mystery

Oldest primitive A
nimal fossil found in China

Natco to launch
Hepatitis C drug in India soon

India can shape the
future of Internet, says ICANN chief

MH370 report: Air Traffic
Control supervisor was sleeping on duty

Census records
increase in wildlife at Point Calimere

Lessons learnt as
hunt for MH370 marks one year

Too many waiting for
blood stem cell transplants: Study

TB rate going down, but not
fast enough to meet WHO target

Deficient southwest
monsoon hits Rabi sowing

Almonds could
Reduce belly fat, Study Found

Indian vaccine
Meningitis will protect infants

New dolphin-like creature
identified near Scotland: scientists

Polar bear clusters migrate to
Northwest Passages for longer lasting ice