Science & Technology - Current Affairs for April, 2016

ISRO has made plans to launch 22 satellites abroad PSLV-C34. Satellites include an earth observation satellite from India as a primary payload. 19 satellites are from 4 foreign countries namely US, Canada, Indonesia and Germany.

• Swayam and Satyabamasat were the two satellites developed by College of Engineering Pune and Sathyabama University
• Swayam satellite has payload mass of 1 kg and Satyamabasat has payload of 1.5 kg

Indian Space Research Organisation on 28th April 2016 launched the seventh navigation satellite
Indian Space Research Organisation on 28th April 2016 launched the seventh navigation satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS 1G into sub geosynchronous transfer orbit on board the PSLV-C33

• Satellite was launched from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota
• Following this launch, India successfully joined the elite group of countries with their own navigation system technology 90 kms from Chennai
• Following this launch, India joined the elite group of countries who have their own navigation system technology for meeting requirements
• IRNSS-1G is the seventh navigation satellite following series 1A to F launched by PSLVs
• Previous six launches of IRNSS satellite used XL version of PSLV
• Much like the previous IRNSS satellites, IRNSS-1G has a lift off mass of 1425 kgs.

Russia on 28th April 2016 has successfully launched the first rocket from the new space from its new space facility following a delay a day before. The Soyuz 2.1 a booster blasted off from the new space facility following a last minute delay the day prior to this.

• Soyuz 2.1a successfully launched off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russian Far East in the early hours of Moscow time. Roscosmos space agency indicated in a statement that satellites the rocket was carrying orbited considerably later

Scientists have created the world’s tiniest thermometer that is 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, using DNA structures that can fold and unfold at specifically defined temperatures.

• “Inspired by those natural nanothermometers, which are typically 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, we have created various DNA structures that can fold and unfold at specifically defined temperatures,” said the scientists
• One of the main advantages of using DNA to engineer molecular thermometers is that DNA chemistry is relatively simple and programmable.
• DNA is made from four different monomer molecules called nucleotides - nucleotide A binds weakly to nucleotide T, whereas nucleotide C binds strongly to nucleotide G and scientists created DNA structures that fold and unfold at a specifically desired temperature

Nasa's Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn and its moons since 2004, has confirmed that a huge sea on Saturn's moon Titan is composed mostly of pure liquid methane.

• The sea, called Ligeia Mare, has a surface area of about 126,000 sq. kms.
• Cassini also found that the seabed may be covered in a sludge of carbon- and nitrogen-rich material, and its shores may be surrounded by wetlands.

Prions are proteins that are usually referred to in relation to the spread of neuro diseases. But a study authored by an Indian scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests prion-like proteins could hold the key to understanding what gives plants memory and aids in their decision-making.

• Sohini Chakrabortee, a researcher at MIT's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (WIBR), conducted studies that identified three proteins that played a role in the flowering of a plant of the Arabidopsis family.
• Prions have so far been identified primarily for their role in the spread of some neurodegenerative diseases.
• The role of the prion-like protein - Luminidependence - is being studied as plants decide each spring whether to bloom or not.

According to the BRICS Cooperation, space agencies of respective nations such as India are pursuing technical discussions for realising the virtual constellation in a manner which is phased. Space agencies can provide data from existing remote sensing satellites. This virtual constellation will deal with challenges from mankind such as global climate change, environmental protection and natural disasters.

• Thirty meter Telescope is a joint responsibility of DST and DAE
• TMT is an international project funded by scientific organisations of India, USA, Canada China and Japan.

India plans to launch GSAT 11 spacecraft during 2016 end or the beginning of 2017. This is the first generation high throughput communication satellite with a lift off mass of 5600 kgs operating in Ka-Ku bands

• It is a multi beam satellite with 32 user beams and 8 hub beams over India
• in Orbit testing of the satellite will be conducted from MCF in Hassan and other suitable locations
• GSAT-11 will be released to announce procured launch services- currently the indigenous capability to launch weight class of satellite is not present.

Earth is getting greener on account of higher CO₂ levels in the atmosphere according to new research.

• NASA satellite observations indicate there has been a steady rise in leaves on plants and trees as a result of higher CO₂ levels.
• Leaves absorb CO₂ and combine this with water to produce food for plants.
• Greening is largely on account of the fertilising rise of atmospheric CO₂ concentration through computer models to replicate plant growth in the satellite data.
• Close to 85 percent of ice free lands on earth are covered by vegetation

Scientists including an Indian origin researcher have unveiled unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules not matched by known gas, liquid or solid states.

• A new tunnelling state of water molecules confined in hexagonal ultra small channels- 5 angstrom across- of the mineral beryl
• Agostrom is 110 billionth of a metre and individual atoms are associated with one angstrom in diameter
• This demonstrates features of water under ultra confinement in rocks, cell walls and soil.
• The neutron scattering and computation chemistry experiments showed that in the tunnelling state, water molecules are delocalised along a ring so double top like shape is assumed.
• First principle stimulation show that tunnelling behaviour is coupled to the vibrational dynamics of the beryl structure
• Kinetic energy of water protons obtained from the neutron experiment is a measure of their motion at absolute zero temperature and around 30 percent less than in built liquid or solid water.

All phones sold in the country in 2017 will have provision for panic key that will help users to raise an alarm about emergency situations. Measure associated with women safety will also observe a provision for installation of the GPS navigation system from January 1, 2018 to track location of person in crisis with accuracy.

• Move has been ordered by the government through official notification date d April 22nd
• No mobile handset company in India is permitted to sell feature phones without a panic button to involve in emergency call
• Moreover, no smartphone should be sold in India without the facility of an emergency call button.

Japan on 22nd April 2016 successfully tested the first stealth fighter jet. With this, the country joins a select group of world military powers wielding the radar-dodging technology.

• The domestically developed single-pilot prototype X-2 jet took off from Nagoya airport in central Japan on its maiden test flight.
• It safely landed at Gifu air base, north of Nagoya airport, after a 25-minute flight with no particular problems.
• USA, Russia and China have been internationally recognised as having successfully developed and flown manned stealth jets.
• X2 was developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 200 remaining firms

The world’s first cafe using small domestic unmanned aircraft as servers has opened in a Dutch university called Eindhoven University of Technology. Pop up drone cafe will be marking the 60th anniversary of the university. This can serve as a useful tool for human beings and the drone nicknamed Blue Jay is the first innovation of its kind in the hospitality industry.

NASA scientists have made preparations to put in the sky an array of new X-planes or experimental aircraft -including a quiet supersonic jet -to demonstrate advanced technologies that will push back the frontiers of aviation.

• Goals include showcasing how airliners can burn half the fuel and generate 75% less pollution during each flight as compared to now, while also being much quieter than today's jets -perhaps even when flying supersonic.
• NASA’s renewed emphasis on X-planes is called "New Aviation Horizons”.
• The plan is to design, build and fly the series of X-planes during the next 10 years as a means to accelerate the adoption of advanced green aviation technologies by industry.

The USD 100 million revolutionary space programme Breakthrough StarShot will be sending ultralight nano crafts to the closet star system

• Alpha Centauri is 25 trillion miles away will seek the participation of India
• The interstellar probe initiative hopes that India as a space exploration with recent MoM

For the first time, researchers have found a method to map and track the function of brain circuits affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder in boys though brain imaging, which will help in definitive diagnosis and effective treatment of the disorder.

• Doctors would be able to quantify how the brain circuit is working in patients and assess effectiveness of intervention
• Functional biomarkers can be used to find out which treatments would be suitable for individual cases and measure progress
• New research has the potential to enhance treatment for ASD through measurement of changes in social perception brain circuit in response to differential interventions

A new primate species in India has been discovered by biologists and wildlife photographers at the time of the bird watching trip to Ajnaw district in Arunachal Pradesh. A team of ornithologists and associate professors discovered this during the birdwatching trip.

• The White Cheeked Macaque has been differentiated from other macaque species such as Rhesus Macaque, Arunachal Macaque, Assamese macaque and Tibetan macaque.
• The White Cheeked Macaque was discovered in Tibet in 2015 and the species is new to science.

The Hubble was launched into the earth orbit by the STS-31 space shuttle crew on April 24, 1980. Astronomers have unveiled an image of the bubble blown into space by a massive hot star 7100 light years from earth.

• The Hubble is currently making its 26th revolution around the home star
• Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is 7 light years across and one and a half times the distance from the Sun to the nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri
• It is located in the constellation Cassiopeia.
• The seething star forms this Nebula which is 45 times more massive than the Sun
• Gas on the star gets hot and escapes into space as a stellar wind moving at over 4 million miles per hour

Following soaring temperatures in Kerala, scientists have striven to create one of the coolest places in Asia known as the new Cold Atom Lab at ISRO inertial systems unit which will be the first of its kind in Asia. This was inaugurated by ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar. It also marks the silver jubilee year or completion of 25 years at IISU.

• Scientists at this facility use laser beams to cool fundamental particles or rubidium atoms
• The laser beams split into two with the laser interferometer, one of which moves clockwise and the other anti-clockwise and meet at a point.
• The wave nature of the atoms leads to an interference pattern where tow waves carrying energy meet up and overlap
• Atom is then magnetically trapped and radio waves are used to cool the atoms 100 times lower
• Radiofrequency radiation slices away the hottest atoms from the trap; only the coldest remain
• It was Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein who predicated the existence of such atoms at extremely cold temperatures.

The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and the China Great Wall Industry Cooperation (CGWIC) signed an agreement for the development and launch of the "Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1) System”

• Cooperation between the ountries in space domain would open new vistas of socio-economic and scientific cooperation, giving boost to the historic bilateral cordial relations in other fields.
• The minister said that the agreement would also transfer space technology to Pakistan and the PRSS-1 is yet another flagship project between China-Pakistan relations after CPEC. It would go a long way to redefine the bilateral relations, he said.

In a major initiative to get administration of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry closer to people and changing the paradigm of Governance, the Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (I/C) Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman launched the “Twitter Seva” on April 21.

• Through this Twitter Seva, queries on matters relating to Department of Commerce(DoC) and Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion(DIPP) will be answered.
• Under this Seva, anyone who is desirous of assistance from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry can use the hashtag #mociseva .
• An institutionalized mechanism with a special Twitter cell has been created in the Ministry manned by a set of dedicated officers who will monitor and direct all the tweets to the concerned officers of the Department, keeping in line with government dictum of minimum government, maximum governance.

The Union minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, launched the Twinning Network Programme on Chemical Ecology of North Eastern Region (NER) at the Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC), Kohima.

• This programme is the first of its kind in the country and is expected to bring about huge impact for the North-East researchers.
• It is a Twinning Network Programme that would link institutes from the North-East with Bangalore-based scientists.
• The programme is envisaged for human capacity building for the North-East region, especially in Chemical ecology.
• It is expected to produce at least 15 PhDs from the North-East region at the end of the 5 year programme.

Union Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, launched the "CSIR-NBRI Herbarium Online" on the CSIR-NBRI website (www.nbri.res.in), thus making One Hundred Thousand Herbarium collections accessible worldwide.

• He also released a flyer "CSIR-NBRI HERBARIUM ONLINE" on the occasion.
• The Minister took keen interest in reviewing the detailed features of the new website like Mechanism to enter specimen label data, taxonomic upgradation data, descriptors, GPS Data & Specimen Images & Video Images and Link to Genomics Data and GIS Maps.
• Digitization of One Lakh specimens of higher plants has been completed thus making it a unique database of India in terms of Data Profile. This database has a future potential of linking the other 95 Herbaria of India.

A team of Swiss scientists has developed a novel prediction approach that can forecast Indian monsoon's yearly onset and withdrawal significantly earlier than from previously available methods.

• Based on a network analysis of regional weather data, the team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the University of Zurich has come up with the approach
• The summer rains are of vital importance for millions of farmers feeding the subcontinent's population.
• North Pakistan and the Eastern Ghats, a mountain range close to the Indian Ocean, changes of temperatures and humidity mark a critical transition to monsoon though conventionally the focus had been on Kerala
• In addition, the new scheme notably improves the forecasting of monsoon timing during years affected by the global weather phenomenon El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), particularly in its La Nina phase.

Scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram indigenously manufactured the world's lightest synthetic material called ‘silica aerogel’ or ‘blue air’ or ‘frozen smoke’.

• The material is so light it can be placed on a flower’s head
• It has excellent thermal resistance
• The matrix of aerogel is made up of 99 per cent air. The material is likely to be used on moon rover in Chandryaan-2 mission of India.

Europe is set to launch two satellites on Friday with very important missions: one will track environmental damage to Earth, while the other will test a mainstay of physics theory.

• Setting off on a Russian Soyuz rocket will be Sentinel-1B with its Earth surveillance radar, and Microscope, a French-built orbiter seeking to poke a hole in Einstein's theory of general relativity.
• They will be hoisted from Europe's launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, at 2102 GMT on April 22.
• The Soyuz will also boost into orbit three so-called "CubeSats", tiny orbiters built by European science students.

Seven little monkey teeth 21 million years old found during work on the Panama Canal are ripping up scientific theories on simian migration.

• The fossils, found by US and Latin American researchers suggest that so-called New World monkeys -- ones that made it across the Atlantic from Africa to South America -- made it to North America 18 million years earlier than previously thought.
• They are the first evidence of a monkey on the North American continent before the isthmus of Panama connected it to South America 3.5 million years ago.
• The team identified the teeth as belonging to a previously unknown species of monkey dubbed Panamacebus transitus, believed to be related to capuchin and squirrel monkeys found today in South and Central America.

Google has introduced the latest version of media streaming device Chromecast and also launched the new Chromecast Audio. Both devices were priced at INR 3399.

• Chromecast is available in 31 countries and has 20 million users globally
• Chromecast Audio allows users to stream audio from the smartphone on to the speaker

Scientists placed college students into an MRI machine and showed more than 1000 photos of facial expressions of people. The area on the right side of the brain is associated with the posterior superior temporal sulcus is directly responsible for facial recognition.

• This part of the brain activated when test subjects looked at people making facial expressions
• Neural patterns within this brain area are specialised for recognition of movement in specific parts of the face.
• Grains decode facial expressions through setting up of key muscle movements in the face of the person one is looking at
• Humans use numerous facial expressions to convey emotions and non-verbal communication signals and language

An Indian-American scientist has engineered T-cells - a type of immune cells - to break the pancreatic cancer's physical and immunological walls using immunotherapy.

• Dr Sunil Hingorani, member of the clinical research and public health sciences unit at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre created T-cells with a high affinity to a relatively tumour-specific antigen.
• Hingorani looked for proteins expressed in massive amounts in tumour cells and minimally expressed elsewhere- T-cells were then engineered to attack it.

A species of genetically engineered mushrooms has been freed of regulation by USDA and it can be sold and grown without prior permission. There are about 30 genetically modified organisms that have been freed by the USDA

• This marks the first time USDA has given approval for tool CRISPR-Cas9 edited mushroom species
• Known as the common white button mushroom, this fungus species (Agaricus bisporus) was genetically engineered by Yinong Yang of Pennsylvania State University using CRISPR-Cas9.
• The engineered mushrooms do not brown easily when sliced. This can improve their shelf-life, thereby rendering them valuable commercially.
• The browning of the mushroom is caused by the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and scientists got rid of one of the six PPO genes which reduced the enzyme’s activity by 30 per cent.

Scientists have found three new species of mouse lemurs in Madagascar. This takes the total number of known mouse lemur species to 24. Just 20 years ago, only 2 species of this nocturnal primate were known

• Newly identified species like in South and East Madagascar
• Mouse lemurs are only found in Madagascar
• One of the species was named Ganzhorn’s mouse lemur (Microcebus ganzhorni), after Jorg Ganzhorn from Hamburg University
• The second species was named Microcebus manitatra, symbolising the expansion of the range of a subgroup from western Madagascar.
• The third member, Microcebus boraha, is named after its location on the Island of Sainte Marie in Malagasy Nosy Boraha.
• Red List of the IUCN says more than 100 species of lemurs are threatened by extinction currently.

IT major Dell has ranked Delhi 44th on the list topped by San Jose.

National capital Delhi has been recognised as one of 50 future ready cities across the world embracing technology to change and adapt in a globalised future. IT major Dell has reappeared the report. Delhi is 44th on the list topped by San Jose. San Francisco is at number two position. Centre has launched ambitious initiatives in the creation of a digitally enabled nation.

7th and last regional spacecraft will be launched on April 28th putting 21 small and mostly foreign commercial satellites along with a larger Indian spacecraft.

• Primary passenger on PSLV- C33 launcher will be an earth observing, high resolution Cartosat-2C weighing close to 700 kgs.
• With a resolution of 60 cm, Cartosat-2C is the best Indian eye in the sky catering to military requirements
• Its object scanning camera can spot objects 60 cm wide or longer from an orbit of 600 km.
• NASA has the highest 2013 record for putting largest number of small customer satellites (29) in orbit on the Minotaur launcher.

Scientists have confirmed the supernova explosion in the neighbourhood of the solar system even as physicists at Technical University of Munich in Germany and colleagues have found supernova iron on the surface of the moon. Samples were gathered between 1969 and 1972. During the Apollo Lunar Missions 12, 15 and 16, lunar material was brought back to earth.

• This discovery makes it possible to provide an inference of a distance to the supernova event.
• Measured 60 Fe-flow matches supernova at distance of 300 light years away
• The supernova hypothesis was first put together in 1999 by TUM researchers finding initial evidence in the deep sea crust.

Mosquito borne Zika virus causes birth defects including a syndrome where babies are born with exceptionally small heads called microcephaly. Scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have found Zika virus is the cause of microcephaly and other severe detail brain defects.

• Study marks a turning point in the Zika virus because till now there was no single piece of evidence that offered conclusive proof
• Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947
• Symptoms have been mild including fever, joint pain and rashes.
• Zika was first identified in Brazil in early 2015; the country confirmed 907 cases of microcephaly.

Scientists from the University of Western Australia have identified gravitational waves through the observable universe instead of detecting the same a billion light years away. This could lead to numerous gravity wave events being recorded every day.

• This cutting-edge technology involved tiny new devices known as "cat-flap" pendulums less than a millimetre in size which would be fitted to existing gravitational wave detectors.
• Scientists announced in February 2015 that they had observed ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves, arriving at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe.
• The finding confirmed Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opened a new window to the cosmos.

Tech giant IBM will partner Reliance Communications to provide complete portfolio of cloud services to customers. There will be highly secure and scalable infrastructure as a service running on the IBM cloud.

• RCom has a base of 115 million including 39,000 large enterprises and SMBs across industries

SpaceX has created the world’s first inflatable room for astronauts. The SpaceX Dragon cargo ship holds 7000 pounds of freight including soft sided compartment or pioneering pod which is like an inflatable room.

• This innovation will be attached to the space station soon.
• Technology could change the manner in which astronauts live in space
• BEAM or Bigelow Expendable Activity Module will remain within the access of only certain personnel
• This is the first SpaceX delivery for NASA in the year.

A global team of scientists have found a new state of matter causing electrons (nature’s indivisible building blocks) to break into pieces.

• State called quantum spin liquid is found in 2 dimensional material with structure similar to graphene
• This state of matter was first predicted 40 years ago and is the new quantum state of matter which has been predicted, but not seen before
• Magnetic properties of this state of matter have been studied as well.

Kelly’s memoir is entitled “My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars” as announced on April 6, 2016. Book will be published by Alfred A. Knopf and offer a journey of the glimpse into his journey to space and life aboard the International Space Station.

• Book will be published in November 2017
• He has been an engineer, retired astronaut and retired US Navy captain.

US researchers have found a new set of genes called FOXF2 which may be responsible for stroke and dementia. The new gene called FOXF2 increases the risk of having a stroke due to a small vessel disease in the brain. Small vessel disease causes stroke and also leads to dementia and is associated with problems of gait and mental health issues like depression.

Nuclear Fuel Complex under Department of Atomic Energy has developed a material to be used in ISRO planned moon mission called Inconel 718. This can be used in high temperature applications and titanium alloy tubes face been developed for a nuclear submarine. Additionally, at least a dozen materials have been developed by NFC for use in defence and other sectors. Aluminium magnesium alloy has been developed for the manufacture of tubes for the Indo Russian Brahmos missiles. Missiles were also developed for the Bofors gun barrel as well as Trishul and Nag missiles. NFC has produced 1503 metric tonnes of pressurised heavy water reactor fuelling bundles during the year 2015-2016, surpassing 1252 metric tonnes produced the year before.

• India is the world’s largest producer of nuclear fuel
• Country has more quantity of fuel bundles than needed for immediate use.

Following 4 failed bids, SpaceX finally stuck the landing 9th April, powering the first stage of the Flacon 9 rocket into the ocean platform where it touched downright after launching cargo to space. The rocket has successfully landed just minutes after Falcon 9 propels the unmanned Dragon cargo craft to orbit carrying supplies for astronauts at International Space Station. Ocean attempts had previously failed.

Central arctic was completely ice free during summers 6 to 10 million years ago and sea surface temperature reached 4 to 9 degree celsius, according to a new study. In spring, autumn and winter, ocean was covered by sea ice of variable extent, according to researchers. In spring, winter and autumn however, large undersea mountain range in central arctic, were covered by sea ice of variable extent along with the oceans.

The 2016 report was released to mark World Health Day on April7th 2016 with the theme Beat Diabetes. Report has emphasised the massive scale of diabetes problems across the world and measures to reverse current trends. The report underscored an enormous burden of diabetes confronting people across the world and came up with various measures to reverse trends.

• Internationally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014 compared to 108 million in the 1980s
• Over the previous decade, diabetes prevalence has risen fast and wide in low and middle income countries as against high income countries
• Diabetes causes 1.5 million deaths in 2012 and higher than optimal blood glucose causing additional 2.2 million deaths, increasing the risk of cardiovascular and other disorders.
• Majority of people are affected by type 2 diabetes and this now occurs in people of all ages.

A series of massive supernovae explosions near our solar system have showered the earth with radioactive debris between 3.2 to 1.7 million years ago, according to a new study. Scientists have also found radioactive iron-60 in sediment and crust samples from the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans.

• Supernova refers to a massive explosion of a star as it runs out of fuel and collapses
• Scientists hold that supernovae in this case were less than 300 light years away comparable to the brightness of the moon.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) developed the world's smallest diode, the size of a single molecule.

• The breakthrough could impact the development of molecular electronic devices.
• Study was published in journal Nature Chemistry on 4 April 2016.
• The nanoscale diode or molecular rectifier operates like a valve to facilitate electronic current flow in a single direction.

This mini retina mimics the organ’s tissue organisation from mouse or human stem cells, offering new viewpoints on growth, injury and repair of the retina

• The retina is the part of the eye that is sensitive to light
• Stem cell technologies such as these can develop therapies for age related blindness

Astronomers will gain major insights into the evolution of stars after the discovery of the first dead star in the universe not concealed by hydrogen and helium. This will enable the scientists to study the exposed core of the star and provide knowledge about the evolution of stars and what happens when these stellar objects die.

• When stars run out of fuel and die, they collapse inwards and boil away leaving huge quantities of gases and a hot dense core of the star called the white dwarf.
• Generally, the atmosphere is dominated by helium and hydrogen; these are lighter than heavier elements such as oxygen and carbon
• They therefore flow to the top of the atmosphere of the star and block it from the view of astronomers
• This has been averted by the discovery of this special dead star which will provide rare observational test of the evolutionary path towards white drawrfs
• The star is called Dox
• It is 1200 light years away in constellation Draco
• It has an atmosphere that is 99.9% oxygen

Scientists have discovered the fourth new triple star system with gas giant planets similar in size to Jupiter. Binary system once thought to be a single star was actually a pair of stars orbiting one another and part of a triple star system

• Known planets with three stars appearing in the sky are rare
• Main star is also brighter in the new system called KELT-A
• Other two stars named KELT C and B are farther away
• The stars taken 4000 years to orbit around KELT-A

Jeff Bezos space transportation company Blue Origin has launched and landed a suborbital rocket capable of carrying six passengers taking a step towards developing reusable boosters. The rocket called New Shepard landed after being blasted off from a West Texas site.

• Blue Origin and SpaceX are in the process of developing rockets that can fly themselves back to Earth so they can be refurbished and flown again, potentially slashing launch costs.
• For now, Blue Origin is flying suborbital rockets, which lack the speed to put spacecraft into orbit around Earth.

The user can key-in the 12-digit Aadhaar number or swipe the card at an automated teller machine (ATM) to start a transaction, but at the stage of confirming the identity, it requires biometric details rather than the PIN. The bank account must have the Aadhaar number in it.

• Enrolments under Aadhaar are set to cross the 100 crore mark soon.
• The data is being used for a slew of purposes like opening bank accounts and the government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

Kannan Soundararajan and Robert Lemke Oliver of Stanford University found a pattern in the last digits of successive prime numbers, by analysing numerically the first 100 million numbers.

• The study is the key to understanding the blend of random distribution and patterns in prime numbers.
• Though prime numbers occupy definite positions on the number line, thereby are not random at all, studying distributions of numbers comes in useful to predict properties which haven’t been proved yet.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy launched mobile app Vidyut Pravah- Electricity, Price Availability and Highlights

• Mobile application provides highlights of power availability in the country on real time basis
• Web/Mobile application provides a wealth of information relating to current demand met, surplus power available and prices in the Power Exchange
• UI ensures that visualisation of power availability and prices at overall country level and at State/UT level is facilitated.
• The Web application can be accessed through vidyutpravah.in.

Startup India portal http://startupindia.gov.in has been launched by Secretary DIPP and the mobile app has been launched. Key features of the portal and app are as follows:

• information availability
• startup India hub
• application for startup recognition

A massive study of ancient DNA retrieved from 100 mummies and skeletons of indigenous Americans has confirmed the European conquest of the 14th century finished off original inhabitants across the continent. Researchers reconstructed a genetic history of indigenous American population by observing the DNA of 92 pre Columbian mummies and skeletons between 500 to 8600 years.

Ancient genetic signals also provide more precise timing of first people entering the Americas.

This creates insights essential for the development of effective antivirus treatments and vaccines for the disease.

Researchers from Purdue University in the US have studied a strain of the virus isolated from a patient infected at the time of the French Polynesia epidemic and assessed the structure of the virus.

Structure details vital difference within a key protein explaining why Zika attacks nerve cells infected, while others viruses in the same family do not. Structure of the virus provides a map showing potential regions of the virus targeted by therapeutic treatment for creating an effective vaccine to enhance the ability to diagnose and distinguish Zika from other related viruses.

Lead researcher Richard Kuhn from Purdue University found the structure to be very akin to that of other flaviruses including dengue, West Nile, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis not to mention tick borne encephalitic viruses, with RNA genome surrounded by lipid or fatty membrane inside an icosahedral protein shell.

• Zika is different from other flavi-viruses as it invades the nervous system of the developing foetus
• Zika is a mosquito borne disease reported in 33 countries.
• Zika has been associated with a birth defect known as microcephaly causing brain damage and a small head in babies borne to mothers infected at the time of pregnancy.

India will sign a MoU for building a state-of-the-art LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational - wave Observatory) project in the country, almost a month after the discovery of gravitational waves with the US.

• The MoU will be signed between the National Science Foundation USA and India's Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology.