Latest Scientific Topics

8/8/2019 Latest Scientific Topics

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INCOIS TO ISSUE INDIAN OCEAN CURRENT FORECASTSIn a first initiative of its kind in the country, scientists would start issuingforecasts for surface currents of the Indian Ocean from next year.Thegovernment has identified the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre forOcean Information Services (INCOIS), which runs the tsunami warning system,for the purpose. A knowledge of surface ocean currents is essential for shipping,fishery and related sectors, and accurate information could help reduce fuelcosts.A high computing system is being installed at INCOIS to enable scientists toprocess data from various earth observation systems, INCOIS would start issuingocean current forecasts for the entire Indian Ocean next year.

______________________________________________________________________________THE SPACE APPLICATIONS CENTRE (SAC)

The Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution of research inAhmedabad, India under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO). It is one of the major centres of ISRO that is engaged in the research,development and demonstration of applications of space technology in the field

of telecommunications, remote sensing, meteorology and satellite navigation(Sat Nav). This includes research and development of onboard systems, groundsystems and end user equipment hardware and software.Some of the achievements of the Space Applications Centre includedevelopment of communication and meteorological payloads for INSAT satellites,optical and microwave payloads for IRS satellites. SAC provides its infrastructureto conduct training courses to the students of the Center for Space Scienceand Technology Education in Asia and The Pacific (CSSTEAP).SAC has three campuses, two of which are located at Ahmedabad and one atDelhi.

CELESTIAL TREAT FOR STAR-GAZERSA celestial treat is in store for star-gazers who can look forward to fireworks inthe skies in the form of Perseids meteor shower between August 8 and 14.Perseids, a prolific meteor shower is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, saidScience Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE)Director C.B. Devgun.

METEOROIDA meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System.The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's (or another body's)atmosphere is called a meteor. If a meteoroid reaches the ground, it is then

called a meteorite. Many meteors are part of a meteor shower. The root wordmeteor comes from the Greek meteros, meaning "high in the air." It is alsocommonly although erroneously called a shooting star.

The earth is expected to pass through a denser-than-usual filament of dustfrom Perseids parent comet Swift-Tuttle.Perseids, better known as earth gazersat its peak, is visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity in thesecond week of August. During the peak period, the rate of meteors reaches 60or more per hour.The meteor is named Perseids because the point it appears tocome from, lies in the constellation Perseus.


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The meteors can be seen all across the sky, but because of the path of Swift-Tuttles orbit, Perseids is primarily visible in the northern hemisphere.Astronomers have been observing Perseid meteor shower for about last 2,000years, with the first known information coming from the Far East, Mr. Devgunsaid. In early medieval Europe, the Perseids came to be known as the tears ofSt. Lawrence.

In 1839, Eduard Heis was the first observer to take a meteor count anddiscovered the Perseids had a maximum rate of around 160 per hour.Meteors arealso called shooting stars, startling streaks of light that suddenly appear in thesky when a dust particle from the outer space evaporates high in the earthsatmosphere.

To watch the meteor shower go to an area where pollution is at its minimum.The best time would be around midnight, by then Perseus constellation will befairly high above the horizon. The hour or two before dawn will be best of all.

______________________________________________________________________________ISRO LAUNCHED BHUVAN - A WEB BASED 3D MAPPING TOOL

Bhuvan, the new web-based 3D mapping tool uses images taken over a yearago by ISROs seven remote sensing satellites, including Cartosat-1 andCartosat-2. The satellites can capture images of objects as small as a car on aroad. This would provide a sharper picture of Indian terrain barring sensitivelocations such as military and nuclear installations.

The degree of resolution showcased is based on the level of popularity of aplace or an area. Most of the terrain is covered up to a resolution of at least sixmetres. The least spatial resolution is 55 metres.

Like Google Earth, the geo-portal, http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in, allows users toview cities and other places of interest looking perpendicularly down or at anoblique angle, with different perspectives. The site, among other things, offers

tools to measure horizontal, vertical and aerial distances.

______________________________________________________________________________STEM CELLSStem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They arecharacterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division anddifferentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Till in the 1960s.Thetwo broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that areisolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells that arefound in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate intoall of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and

progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specializedcells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such asblood, skin or intestinal tissues.

ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY OF INDIAThe Astronautical Society of India (ASI) was set up in 1990 to foster thedevelopment of astronautics in the country. ASI is engaged in the disseminationof technical and other information related to astronautics by conductingtechnical meetings, bringing out technical publications and organisingexhibitions. The society is also playing an active role to promote the interests ofother developing countries in the field of astronautics through the International


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Astronautical Federation, Paris, in which the ASI is a voting member.

WIKIPEDIA

Wikipedia web-based and collaborative multilingual encyclopedia projectsupported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.Wikipedia's 13 million articles (3 million in English) have been writtencollaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles canbe edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website.

Launched in 2001 byJimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it is currently thelargest and most popular general reference work on the Internet.

within the next week or so to hit the mark of three million articles in English.______________________________________________________________________________BAR-CODING PLANTS

The Plant Working Group of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL)recently reached a consensus on the portions of the genes that would be used asthe plant DNA bar-code. This came after four years of work by 52 scientists from

10 countries. It may soon be possible to classify a majority of the more than400,000 species of land plants in the world on the basis of genetic variability.The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is an internationalinitiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as a global standard forthe identification of biological species.

DNA bar-coding, a technique proposed by the University of Guelph, Ontario,Canada, uses a short genetic sequence from a standard part of the genome toquickly identify different plant species. To become usable the chosen geneticsequences of the bar-code must vary with species but must also be conservedenough in plants for identifying most of them. Bar-coding has been used since2003 to identify animal species, and a bar-code library of nearly 60,000 animal

species has been created.

______________________________________________________________________________AMINO ACID DISCOVERED ON A COMET

NASA Astronomers claim to have found an amino acid on a comet. Thediscovery confirms that some of lifes building blocks were delivered to the earlyearth from space.A team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has analysed the samples fromthe agencys Stardust mission and traced the amino acid called glycine to an icycomet for the first time

STARDUSTStardust is an American interplanetary mission of the NASA Jet PropulsionLaboratory, whose primary purpose was to investigate the makeup of the cometWild 2 and its coma. It was launched on February 7, 1999 by NASA, travellednearly 3 billion miles (5109 km), and returned to Earth on January 15, 2006 torelease a sample material capsule. It is the first sample return mission to collectcosmic dust and return the sample to Earth. On July 3, 2007 a second missionwas approved to revisit the comet Tempel 1.

3G


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3G or 3rd Generation, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunicationsdefined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSMEDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobileenvironment. Compared to 2G and 2.5G services, 3G allows simultaneous use ofspeech and data services and higher data rates. Thus, 3G networks enablenetwork operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services whileachieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency.

EDGEEnhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also known as Enhanced GPRS(EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC)) is a backward-compatible digital mobilephone technology that allows improved data transmission rates, as an extensionon top of standard GSM. EDGE is considered a 3G radio technology and is part ofITU's 3G definition.[


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INDIA TO TAP NAMIBIAN URANIUM RESERVES

India and Namibia will sign an agreement on mineral resources during the five-day visit of Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba.Under the pact, India willbe able to access the African countrys abundant uranium reserves.

Through this agreement, India will also be looking at Namibias healthyreserves of diamond, copper, gold and zinc. The cooperation over uranium will becovered under an umbrella framework for development of mineral resources andpromote investments in geology and mines in both countries.

Namibia is south African regions biggest producer of uranium and the sixthlargest in the world. India has already signed Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) in the civilian uclear sector with Russia, France and the US. It isnegotiating similar pacts with Kazakhstan and Canada.

______________________________________________________________________________CHANDRAYAAN-1 MISSION TERMINATEDThe spacecraft was launched on October 22

The Chandrayaan-1 moon mission has been formally called off, as the IndianSpace Research Organisation (ISRO) has lost radio contact with the craft. Therewas no possibility of retrieving it, ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said.A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of ISRO put Chandrayaan-1 in its initialorbit. The spacecraft carried 11 instruments on board. One of them named theMoon Impact Probe (MIP) impacted on the lunar surface on November 14,2008, signalling Indias success in reaching the moon.

However, the Chandrayaan-II mission would be on the track as per schedule(2012\13), albeit with valuable lessons learnt in the Chandrayaan-1 expedition,Due to very high radiation in the atmosphere, power-supply units controllingboth the computer systems on board failed, snapping the communicationconnectivity. Some devices were more susceptible to radiation and temperature

fluctuations, which resulted in the computer power supply being cut. The kind ofradiation problem faced was not anticipated,

Mr. Nair considered the moon mission a success; 95 per cent of its objectivewas met. We could collect a large volume of data, including more than 70,000images of the moon. In that sense, 95 per cent of the objective was completed.Indias Chandrayaan-1 mission, the countrys first effort at deep spaceexploration, has come to a premature end. Radio contact with the lunar probewas lost 312 days after it travelled into space aboard the Polar Satellite LaunchVehicle. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), data werereceived from the probe till shortly after midnight on August 29. About an hourlater, all communications ceased abruptly.

______________________________________________________________________________FIZZLE CLAIM FOR THERMONUCLEAR TEST REFUTEDPOKHARAN-IIPokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May andtwo on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. Thesenuclear tests resulted in avariety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. On 18 May 1974India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha. After abouta quarter century, on Buddha Jayanti, 11 May 1998, Operation Shaktiwas


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carried out. Shakti was the codename for Pokhran-II.The government strongly refuted claims that the 1998 test of a thermonucleardevice had been a failure, with Principal Scientific Adviser R. Chidambaramtelling that those questioning the tests yield had an obligation to back up theircharge with scientific evidence.He was responding to the recent statement by a former defence scientist, K.Santhanam, that the yield in the thermonuclear device test was much lowerthan what was claimed. Mr. Santhanam, who cited only unspecified seismic

measurements and expert opinion from world over, went on to say that this wasthe reason India should not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).The stated success of the second generation nuclear device tested on May 11,1998, was questioned at the time by a number of Western seismologists whosaid the seismic signatures detected by them were at variance with the claimedyield of 45 kilotons. Although the controversy subsided somewhat once scientistsfrom the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre which designed the weapon published their scientific evidence, it is likely to be reignited once again since Mr.Santhanam represented the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) team at the Pokhran-II tests and is the first member of that group toecho the arguments of those who say the thermonuclear device failed to work

properly.______________________________________________________________________________GALILEOS TELESCOPE; 400 TH ANNIVERSARY.On August 25,1609 Galileo demonstrated his first telescope.Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, andphilosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. Hisachievements include improvements to the telescope and consequentastronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has beencalled the "father of modern observational astronomy," the "father of modernphysics," the "father of science," and "the Father of Modern Science." StephenHawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, wasresponsible for the birth of modern science."______________________________________________________________________________

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