Science & Technology - Current Affairs for November, 2016

A massive rise in drones will lead to dronejackings by cybercriminals, according to security experts.

Report by Intel has said hackers are expected to start targeting drones used for deliveries, law enforcement or camera crews, in addition to hobbyists.

Drones are a major tool for shippers, law enforcement agencies and farmers as well as news media.

Researchers have shown how someone could easily take control of a drone and that increase in drone usage triggers potential problems.

Many consumer drones lack adequate security making it easier to target for outside hackers. Companies like Amazon and UPS aim to use drones for delivery.

"Someone looking to 'dronejack' deliveries could find a location with regular drone traffic and wait for the targets to appear," the report said. Once a package delivery drone is overhead, the drone could be sent to the ground, allowing the criminal to steal the package.
Expensive equipment carried by drones can be used to knockout surveillance cameras used by law enforcement.

Scientists have developed a new technology that uses nuclear waste to generate clean electricity in a nuclear-powered battery.

Scientists have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, is able to generate a small electrical current.

The development could solve some of the problems of nuclear waste, clean electricity generation and battery life, researchers said.

Man-made diamond is able to produce a charge simply by being placed in close proximity to a radioactive source.

There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation.

Long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy has been solved using the prototype 'diamond battery' using Nickel-63 as the radiation source.

Efficiency is improved by utilising carbon-14, a radioactive version of carbon, which is generated in graphite blocks used to moderate the reaction in nuclear power plants

Radioactive carbon-14 is concentrated at the surface of these blocks, making it possible to process it to remove the majority of the radioactive material.

The extracted carbon-14 is then incorporated into a diamond to produce a nuclear-powered battery.

Using carbon-14 the battery would take 5,730 years to reach 50% power, which is about as long as human civilisation has existed.

When can Nuclear Batteries Be used?

These can be used when not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries.

Applications:

• Pacemakers
• Satellites
• High altitude drones
• Spacecraft

Death toll linked to Australia’s thunderstorm asthma has risen to six and three others are in critical condition.

Four victims were linked to the unusual weather phenomenon where a thunderstorm coincides with high pollen count and sent more than 8500 patients to hospital emergency departments.

The rare event in Australia’s southern state of Victoria has triggered respiratory problems for asthma and hay fever patients.

This phenomenon occurs when rye grass pollen gets wet, breaks into smaller pieces and enters into people’s lungs, causing them breathing issues.

It is only occurring in Australia.

Asthma

• This is a chronic disease involving airways in the lungs. These airways or bronchial tubes permit air to inhale and exhale out of the lungs.
• Exercise induced bronchoconstriction or exercise induced asthma is a type of asthma
• Others include allergic asthma and occupational asthma
• Childhood asthma is another type of asthma

Scientists have identified a drug that limits the death of brain cells due to stroke and helps in repairing the damage caused by birth of neurons.

A reduction in blood flow to the brain caused by stroke is a major cause of death and disability.

There are few effective treatments; an exception to this is drug IL-1Ra.

Scientists found that a potential new stroke drug not only limits the death of existing brain cells but also promotes the birth of new neurones (so-called neurogenesis).

Finding provides further support for the development of anti inflammatory drug, interluekin-1 receptor antagonist or IL-1Ra as a new treatment for stroke.

Drug is licensed for use in humans for some conditions including rheumatoid arthritis.

Several early stage clinical trials in stroke with IL-1Ra have already been completed in Manchester though not yet licensed for the condition.

Use of IL-1RNa might be better than other failed drugs in stroke as it limits the initial damage of the brain cells but also repairs itself long term through the generation of new brain cells.

New cells are thought to help restore function to areas of the brain damaged by stroke.

Results lend further strong support to the use of the IL-1Ra in the treatment of stroke- further large trials are needed.

Stroke

• Also called a cerebrovascular accident
• Occurs due to problems in blood supply to the brain. The blood supply is blocked or the blood vessel within the brain ruptures

Three main kinds of strokes are:


• Ischemic strokes
• Hemorrhagic strokes
• Transient ischemic attacks/mini-strokes

Following the Tesla-SolarCity merger, the two energy companies have celebrated yet another success- the solar energy project on the island of T’au.

The island in American Samoa runs a 100% solar energy thanks to 5300 plus solar panels and 60 Tesla power packs.

The Ta’u microgrid- an energy system with distributed sources namely solar and battery- is powered by a 1.4 MW solar array coupled with a six megawatt energy storage system of 60 Tesla power packs.

Ta’u originally depended on diesel generators for electricity and these on an average consumed more than 100,00 gallons of fuel every year to provide electricity to around 600 residents

With the microgram funded by American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the EPA and the Department of Interior, Ta’u expects to save on energy costs in the next coming years.

Tesla-SolarCity Merger

• Elon Musk owns Tesla Motors Inc
• It became a clean energy company as shareholders approved acquisition of SolarCity Corp. Deal is valued at USD 2 billion.
• Musk is the largest shareholder of both companies

Archaeologists have unearthed new items at the Terracotta warriors site in Xi’an China.

Stone helmets, armour and remains of animals and relics of animals were found

Different animal species were unearthed in Emperor Qinshihuang's mausoleum, including real animals and those made of pottery or iron.

This makes the mausoleum with the most animal species so far in China .

Most unearthed animal was horse; others were water fowl and birds.

The site is the Emperor Qinshihuang's mausoleum in Shaanxi province.

Terracotta warriors are thousands of detailed life size models .

These represent the army that triumphed over Chinese armies in the period which united imperial China 2,200 years ago.

They were buried with China’s first emperor Qinshihuang.

Emperor Qinshihuang is the Chinese monarch after whom the country is reportedly named.

Scientists believe it took 700,000 workers to build the terracotta army.

An ant species living in Ethiopian forests– Lepisiota canescens– is ready to take over the whole world, according to scientists. Ant species are moving out of the forests into agricultural land and construction sites.

Super colonies spanning as much as 38 km in distance have been found.

Scientists hold that this ant species has the potential of spreading all over the world and posing a threat to other ants.

According to researchers, the super colony formation in ants is rare with documented cases of only 20 species worldwide

Other species in the same genus have been invasive- one in South Africa and the other in Australia

What is a Super Colony?

Super colonies are colonies that extend beyond a single nest. These colonies are sometimes thousands of miles in area.

Scientists in the third week of Nov 2016 developed a new smart cane to help transform the lives of the blind and visually impaired by enabling them to sense obstacles beyond the physical length of their walking stick

Smart cane is named “mySmartCane”.

Inventor: Vasileios Tsormpatzoudis.

It works as a common car parking sensor.

The ultrasonic ball in the cane wirelessly measures the distance towards the approaching objects. It converts this data into an audio signal.

Visually impaired users can assess the distance of the object from the frequency of the sound before the cane reaches an object.

It is fixed with 3D printing and cheap sensors.

An ultrasonic sensory ball is attached to the bottom of the most existing white canes.

In a massive milestone for the military aviation sector, upgraded Jaguar DARIN III twin seat aircraft has received initial operational clearance.

The aircraft is equipped with world class avionics system.

Total design and development covering systems requirement capture, specification preparation, software, hardware, electrical and mechanical design and development were carried out indigenously at HAL’s Mission and Combat System Research and Design Centre (MCSRDC) and aircraft modification was done at Overhaul Division.

DARIN III upgrade is the best in terms of data handling and overall capabilities

China on 22^nd Nov 2016 successfully launched the Tianlian I-04 satellite from Niching Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Data satellite was launched on the Long March 3C carrier rocket.

The launch of Tianlian I-04 marks the 241^st mission of the China Long March series of rockets.

This satellite was developed by China Academy of Space Technology/CAST under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

It will join its three predecessors to attain global network operation

It is based on the DFH-3 or Dongfangghon-3 platform, a medium capacity telecommunications satellite designed and developed by CAST.

The network aims at data relay, measurement and control services for China’s manned spacecraft , space and lab stations .

It will offer data relay services for China’s medium and low earth orbiting resources satellites

It will also provide measurement and control support for spacecraft launches

Know All About Tianlian I satellites

• Tianlian-I-01 was launched in April 2008- it is currently positioned at 77 degree E
• Second satellite Tianlian I-02 was launched in July 2011
• With the launch of Tianlian I-03 in July 2012, the country managed full global coverage for tracking and data relay system
• These satellites provide real time communication between ground and spacecraft
• China’s first experimental satellite was launched in 1984
• It has sent more than 100 spacecrafts in recent decades. This includes 20 BeiDou navigation satellites
• China has also launched its first lunar probe Chang’e-1

Organised jointly by the NCSM under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture and the India STEM Foundation from 25-27 Nov 2016, the 13th World Robot Olympiad will be held in India for the first time. The venue of the olympiad is at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida.

More than 2000 students from 54 nations will participate in the event to find innovative ways using robotic technology for reducing, managing and recycling waste.

The theme for the 13th World Robot Olympiad is “Rap The Scrap”. The theme is in congruence with the Swachch Bharat Mission of the Indian government.

Theme asks students to talk about waste management and come up with innovative ideas to reduce, manage and recycle or rap the scrap.

The World Robot Olympiad is a global robotics commission held for youngsters. It uses LEGO windstorms manufactured by LEGO education.

The 12th World Robot Olympiad was held in Doha, Qatar in Nov 2015- the theme for this year was “Robot Explorers”.

In 2017, the Olympiad will be held in Costa Rica.

World Robot Olympiad - Know More!

• First held in Singapore in 2004
• Formally established in 2003
• Founders: China, Singapore, Japan and Korea
• Categories: Regular, Open, College and Soccer

India has successfully test fired indigenously built nuclear capable Agni-1 ballistic missile which can hit a target 700 km away.

It is part of the user trial by the Army from a test range of Odisha coast.

The surface-to-surface missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island), defence officials said.

This is a missile with a detailed navigation system making sure it can hit the target with high degree of accuracy and precision.

Weighing 15 tonnes, the missile is 15m long and can carry a payload of more than 1 ton.

Strike range can be increased by reducing the payload.

The missile was developed by DRDO in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.

Scientists have discovered how to make a smartphone charge in seconds, by developing new flexible super capacitors that can be recharged more than 30,000 times without degradation.

After 18 months or so, smartphones hold charge for less time as battery begins to degrade.

Novel method could revolutionise technology as varied as mobile phones and electric vehicles.

Researchers experimented with applying newly discovered 2D materials only a few atoms thick to super-capacitors.

Other researchers have also tried formulations with graphene and other 2D materials, but with limited success.

There have been problems in ways people incorporate two dimensional materials into existing systems.

Scientists have developed a simple, chemical synthesis approach so we can nicely integrate the existing materials with the 2D materials.

Researchers have developed super capacitors composed of millions of nanometer thick wires coated with shells of 2D materials.

A highly conducive core facilitates fast electron transfer for rapid charging and discharging.

Uniformly coated shells of 2D material yield high energy and power densities.

Recent formulations of super-capacitors with 2D materials can be recharged a few thousand times.

In contrast, the new process yields a super-capacitor that does not degrade even after it has been recharged 30,000 times.

Super capacitors use new materials that could make phones, electronic gadgets, electric vehicles benefit from power and speed
As these are flexible, it could mean an advancement in wearable technologies as well, researchers have said.

As these are flexible, it could mean an advancement in wearable technologies as well, researchers have said.

A team of scientists have discovered a Super Earth orbiting around a red dwarf star located 32.7 light years away.

The exoplanet is named GJ536b. It is around 5.4 times the mass of the earth.

Planets up to 15 times the mass of the earth are classified as Super Earths.

While the exoplanet is not located within the habitable zone of star GJ536, it has a short orbit period of just 8.7 days.

The exoplanet is rocky and orbits a star much smaller and cooler than the Sun. The star is sufficiently nearby and bright though.

The planet can be detected from the north as well as southern hemispheres.

It was detected by IAC and the Geneva Observatory and was detected by measuring the velocity of the star with the accuracy of the order of a metre per second.

Research was carried out using the HARPS ( High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Seeker) spectrograph in La Silla in Chile.
It was on a 3.6M ESO telescope. HARPS North was also used on the Telescopio Nacional Galileo at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Garafia in Spain.

Asteroid that ended the age of dinosaurs 65 million years ago may have punctured the earth’s crust and caused the surface of the planet to behave like slow moving fluid, as per a new study

• Finding may reveal how such impact can reshape the face of the planet and generate new habitats for life
• Major craters sometimes possess rings of rocky hills on their centre known as peak rings
• Many of these rings exist on ET rocky bodies such as Earth and Venus and are tough to analyse
• To learn more about peak rings, scientists studied the Chicxulub crater in Mexico which measures more than 180 km across
• It is the only crater with the intact peak ring on earth
• Crater resulted from the crash of an object 10 km wide 65 million years ago believed to have ended the age of the dinosaurs
• The researchers discovered that granite likely was deeply buried for 500 million years
• Following the impact, the earth behaved like a slow moving fluid - the asteroid may also have impacted the thickness of the earth’s crust
• It would have opened up a hole in the crust almost 30 km deep and 80 to 100 km wide.

China has launched a 712 km quantum communication line

• This is said to be the world’s longest secure telecommunications network which boasts of ultra high security making it impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through them
• The new quantum communication line links Hefei capital of Anhui province to Shanghai the country’s financial hub
• It is part of the 2000 km quantum communication line connecting Beijing to Shanghai according to the chief engineer of the line Chen Yu’ao
• The 712 km line has 11 stations and took three years of construction
• It is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack information transmitted through this ultra high security quantum communication line
• The Beijing Shanghai quantum communication line will be completed by the close of 2016
• In August, China launched the world’s first quantum satellite nicknamed "Micius", after 5th century BC philosopher and scientist
• The communication line will be connected to this satellite through the Beijing station, enabling space to earth quantum communication network.

The most advanced weather satellite ever built rocketed into space on 19^th Nov as part of the USD 11 billion effort to revolutionise forecasting and save lives

• The new GOES-R spacecraft will track US weather including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, volcanic ash clouds, wildfires, lightning storms, even solar flares.
• The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral at Florida and represents a quantum leap in NOAA satellites
• Faster, more accurate weather forecasts and warnings will result in more lives saved and better environmental intelligence
• Airline passengers will benefit as will rocket launch teams
• Improved forecasting will avoid bad weather for fliers
• This is the first in the series of four high tech satellites
• GOES-R was on unarmed Atlas V rocket
• NOAA teamed up with NASA for this mission
• Satellite is valued by NOAA at USD 1 billion and aims for a 22,3000 mile high equatorial orbit
• It will join three spacecraft with 40 year technology and known as GOES-16
• The second satellite in the series will follow in 2018
• All together the series should stretch to 2036
• GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.
• The first one was launched in 1975.
• The premier imager of GOES-R will offer three times as many channels as existing systems, four times the resolution and five times the scan speed
• It will churn out full images of the Western Hemisphere every 15 minutes and continental US every 5 minutes

A bright radio burst detected by Australia’s Parkes telescope could help to determine what lies between galaxies in the universe, according to scientists on 18th Nov.

• Scientists from CSIRO witnessed a brief, ultra bright cosmic flash of radio waves last year and released details about the phenomenon
• The flash most likely came from VHS7 a galaxy seen a billion light years away
• It is one of the top 10 brightest sources in the entire sky
• Data suggests cosmic web has weaker magnetic fields than the Milky Way while there is a less turbulent gas within the far flung galaxy
• This is the first time scientists have found evidence for this hypothesis

Sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic were at record lows this time of the year, in 2016 the first time since scientists began keeping track

• The NASA scientists have announced that this is the first time both sea ice are running at record low levels, with sea ice tracking going back to 1979
• Though record low sea ice is not new in the Arctic, it is new in the Antarctic
• Even the sea ice in the Arctic has seen a rapid and consistent decline in the past decade
• Temperatures in the Arctic have soared recently and air temperatures have been running more than 20 degree C above average
• Water temperature in the Arctic Ocean was several degrees above average which is the result of having less sea ice

The Indian Navy on 18^th Nov 2016 inducted 4 types of indigenously developed SONAR systems which can boost the underwater surveillance capabilities

• The four sonars have been designed and developed by NPOL/ Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory, a Kochi based lab of the DRDO

The four Sonar system are as follows.

1. Abhay is an advanced active cum passive integrated SONAR system which is designed and developed for smaller platforms such as shallow water crafts and coastal surveillance/patrol vessels, It can detect, localise, classify and track sub surface and surface targets in active and passive modes of operation
2. Humsa UG is designed for upgrading the existing HUMSA Sonar system of the Indian Naval platforms. The system will be installed in seven ships of three different classes of ships
3. NACS assesses the in-situ performance of the SONAR systems which is used to find frequency dependent 3-D transmission and reception characteristic of the sensor. It also measures the magnitude and phase characteristics of the Sonar transmission and reception electronics and the transducers
4. AIDSS stands for Near Field Acoustic Characterisation System which is a distress SONAR. It is an Emergency Sound Signalling Device used to indicate the submarine in distress and ensure quick rescue and salvage

China’s Sunway TaihuLight was recently declared the world’s fastest supercomputer.

• It was revealed in the latest edition of the semi-yearly TOP500 Supercomputer list released on 14th Nov 2016
• This marks the 8^th time in the row that a Chinese made computer has gained the first place in the list
• This also marks the first time a Chinese-made supercomputer has won without the use of US processors or technology
• TOP500 is considered an authoritative ranking of the supercomputers in the world; it is compiled on the basis of the machine’s performance on the Linpack benchmark by experts from US and Germany
• An Intel based Chinese Tianhe-2 supercomputer is on the second position in the list and can perform calculations with processing speed of 33.86 Pflops
• Currently US DOE/Department of Energy supercomputer Titan is in third place with a performance of 17.59 Pflops
• IBM’s Sequoia supercomputer system installed at the US DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory grabbed the fourth position in the list
• The Cori supercomputer is on the fifth position in the list
• It is a new system installed at US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with a performance of 14.0 Pflops
• Sunway TaihuLight is ranked as the third most energy efficient supercomputer in TOP500 with an efficiency of 6051.30 MFLOPS/W
• The machine designed by the National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology is located at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi in Jiangsu province China
• It is capable of performing 93 million billion calculations per second which is three times as fast as Tianhe-2 the second fastest supercomputer

The World Health Organisation on 18th Nov 2016 announced that the Zika virus outbreak linked to deformities in babies’ heads and brains no longer poses an international public health emergency

• However, the epidemic remains a big challenge
• Brazil is the epicentre of the outbreak and it has refused to downgrade the risk
• Experts have also opposed the world body’s decision
• Zika causes mild symptoms in most people, but pregnant women with virus risk were giving birth to babies with microcephaly- a deformation leading to abnormalities of small brains and heads
• It can also cause a rare adult onset neurological problems such as Guillain Barre Syndrome which can result in paralysis and death
• In the outbreak that began in 2015, more than 1.5 million people have been infected by Zika, mainly in Brazil according to the WHO
• The UN global health agency had declared Zika an international public health emergency in February 2016
• Researchers had warned that at least 2.6 billion people over a third of the global population lived in parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific where Zika could gain a new foothold with 1.2 billion Indians at risk
• Brazil on 18th Nov said that it would continue to treat the outbreak as an emergency
• Zika has been detected in 73 nations worldwide, namely in Latin America and the Caribbean

Search engine major Google has launched the scanning app Google PhotoScan on 16th November 2016 to scan and digitise physical photographs.

• The app is maintained by Google PhotosIt detects edges of the picture, straightens the image and rotates it to the correct orientation
• It ensures old photos are clear and glare-free
• It also uses AR to create 4 points near the frame and uses the 4 photos to create composite image without glare
• The set up of the app is effortless as it directs users on how to try out the app; users can adjust corners and rotate scanned pictures as per their preferences
• Once photos have been scanned, one tap enables them to be saved to Google Photos
• Saved photos can be stored, searched and shared
• The App can be used on Android and iOS devices both
• This app makes it easy to preserve memories in old printed photos
• The app lets users adjust the crop to remove the hint of background surface peeking into the photo
• Once the scanning is complete the app saves your photo
• There are also a host of new photo-editing options on board
• Auto enhance feature tweaks brightness, contrast, saturation and other characteristics of the photo
• It recognises what a photo editor might need to enhance the image

Scientists have developed new super paramagnetic crystals which can deliver drugs through the body in a precise, accurate way.

• It revolutionises drug delivery to tumours and other sites in the body
• This was initially thought to be impossible because crystals which have special magnetic properties could not be controlled as they were too small in size
• A new team of researchers however, developed a technique for making the crystals bigger, saving many lives and revolutionising treatment
• Larger crystals also do not aggregate when those fields are removed, which will make them more useful in practical applications including drug delivery
• These can also serve an important function in engineering projects that need smart fluids to change their properties when the magnetic field is applied
• They can also be used to develop prosthetic limbs.

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private bank, is set to launch intelligent banking chat bots to make mobile banking services more conversational

• The bank tied up with Active Intelligence Pte or Active. ai , a Singapore based Fintech platform to launch the bots which will enable customers to chat through its mobile banking app and messaging platform such as Facebook messenger
• New digital technologies will make it easier for customers to engage with clients
• Conversation will be held in the sphere of banking in a personal and contextual manner in digital space
• This marks a new era of personalised banking
• In the future, customers will walk into micro branches with voice enabled IoT devices to engage with banks for services
• Chat bots will also reduce cost of operations for the bank

After some delay, Rustom 2 (TAPAS 201) a medium long altitude endurance UCAV has completed its first flight early in Chitradurga about 200-250 km from Bengaluru

• The UCAV is a medium-altitude, long endurance MALE category of vehicles which met all expectations during the first flight
• DRDO is an agency of India charged with military research and development, in New Delhi India
• It was formed from the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation in 1958.
• With a network of 52 labs, which are engaged in developing defence technologies covering numerous fields such as aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, material, naval systems and mussels
• The flight accomplished the main objectives of providing the flying platform such as take off, bank level flight and landing
• TAPAS 2015 has been designed by ADE/Aeronautical Development Establishment, with HAL-BEL as production partner
• ADE is a Bangalore based lab of DRDO
• UCAV weighs two tonnes; it is the first R&D prototype which has been certified and qualified for the first flight from the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance
• A multi mission UAV, TAPAS 201 is designed to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for three armed forces with endurance of 24 hours
• It can carry out combination of different payloads
• This is a Make in India initiative as many critical systems have been developed in India with the partnership with private industries

A controversial and puzzling engine design that could make space travel cheaper and faster may work, according to a new NASA study

• Experimental propulsion system called the EmDrive seems to violate the laws of physics yet generates thrust in a lab test
• The EmDrive has been developed by British researcher Roger Shawyer over a decade ago and generates thrust by bouncing microwaves around inside a cone shaped chamber
• As per Newton’s third law of motion- for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction- this should not work, because no exhaust is expelled out of the EmDrive system
• Researchers from NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston did measure some thrust
• EmDrive variant produced 1.2 milli newtons of force per kilowatt of energy
• This is about 100 times the thrust of a solar sailing spacecraft which harnesses the momentum of the photons streaming from the Sun
• Much like solar sails, the EmDrive requires no propellant
• This is a spacecraft equipped with a propulsion system to generate microwaves it needs using solar panels
• EmDrive could make space travel cheaper and faster, opening up the heavens to greater exploration
• Further testing is needed to rule out experimental errors

Consortium Unicode has approved emojis such as a woman wearing a hijab, a woman breastfeeding a baby and a person performing yoga

• New emojis are likely to arrive on smart phone next year after International Consortium Unicode has proposed 51 icons
• It will take the total number of cartoon images used to replace words in text messages to 1724
• Among the list of introductions are 'person with headscarf', 'breastfeeding', 'bearded person', 'older adult', reflecting the current lack of grandparent icons.
• New list Unicode 10 aims to make emojis diverse
• Google recently called for emojis that reflect when in the workplace while Apple added male and female versions of emojis
• The other new emojis proposed include a zombie, a vampire, a person holding their finger to their mouth, and a T-Rex.
• Unicode represents the major technology firms

Researchers have discovered a smart material that can be applied to any surface to repel ice and outperform all others currently in use

• Icy conditions can really create a problem especially during flying
• To prevent this, one side of the surface of the material known as MAGSS or magnetic slipper surface is coated with a magnetic material, while a thin layer of magnetic fluid is deposited on the other side
• The magnetic fluid is the mixture of fluid and iron oxide nanoparticles.
• The magnetic fluid faces outside
• When the water droplets hit the surface, the magnetic fluid acts as a barrier stopping the droplet from reaching the solid surface
• No adhesion of the ice to the solid surface basically ensures that it slides off the surface

Scientists have discovered a way to regenerate human eggs using the mother’s genetic material that normally goes waste

• This breakthrough has helped women of advanced maternal age struggling with infertility
• The waste DNA is from small cells called polar bodies that form off eggs and contain the same genetic material found in the egg nucleus of the woman
• Till now, polar bodies have never been seen as useful for generation of human eggs for fertility treatments
• Scientists successfully transplanted a polar body from the woman’s developing oocyte which is the cellular beginning of the embryo into the cytoplasm of the donor oocyte stripped off its nucleus
• By rescuing the polar bodies that would otherwise bud off the developing oocyte, researchers were able to form additional oocytes genetically related to the mother via nuclear transfer
• When fertilised with the sperm, these oocytes grow into viable embryos
• None of the embryos were implanted to carry out actual pregnancy
• Normally, polar bodies disintegrate and disappear through egg development
• The aim is to recycle them by doubling the number of patient eggs available for in-vitro fertilisation

Mars is the basic target for scientists searching for life outside planet earth. Liquid water is the most important and critical prerequisite for life.

• But global scientists have found that the Red Planet is incredibly dry and has been so for millions of years
• More than 3 billion years ago, Mars was wet and habitable
• Latest research reaffirms just how dry the environment is currently
• Life is therefore not possible in Mars
• Scientists examined a cluster of meteorites at Meridiani Planum- just south of the equator and at a same latitude to Gale crater
• Researchers calculated the chemical weathering rate for Mars and how long it takes for rust to form from metallic iron present in the meteorites
• Chemical weathering process depends on the presence of water
• It takes 10 to 10,000 times longer on Mars to reach the same levels of rust formation on dries deserts on earth
• President day aridity has prevailed in the Red Planet for millions of years

On 14^th Nov, one should be prepared for the largest and brightest super-moon in nearly 7 decades

• The upcoming super-moon will be the closest full moon to earth since 1948 and people will not see another super-moon of this intensity till 2034
• The NASA has said the moon’s orbit around earth is slightly elliptical so it is closer sometimes and farther way others
• When the moon is full as it passes closest to the earth, it is called the super-moon
• The perigee or point at which the moon is closest to the earth can be as much as 14 percent closer to the earth than the apogee where the moon is farthest from the planet
• On 14th Nov, the moon will be at perigee just after dusk in India
• Full moon appears larger in diameter as it shines 30 percent more moonlight on to the Earth
• Difference in distance from one night to another will be subtle
• This is the second of the three super-moons in a row so you may also get a chance to see it on Dec 14, 2016

China on 10th Nov 2016 has launched a pulsar test satellite XPNAV-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in NW China

• Satellite was carried by Long March 11 rocket
• It was the 239th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket
• The satellite and rocket were designed by academies affiliated with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp
• The x-ray pulsar navigation satellite weighs more than 200 kg
• It operates in a Sun synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to showcase new technology
• When it is in orbit, the satellite will undergo tests on detector functions and space environment adaptability
• The periodic x-ray signals emitted from pulsars will be used to determine the location of the spacecraft within deep space
• The pulsar navigation will reduce the reliance of the spacecraft on ground based navigation methods and is expected to lead to autonomous spacecraft navigation within the future

In a massive breakthrough, a team of scientists has identified two chemicals that can develop heart cells that beat harder, faster and stronger bringing technology one step closer to regenerating damaged hearts

• Scientists tested 5,500 chemicals and identified two that can transform a scar tissue into a healthy beating heart muscle- which improves treatments for heart failures.
• The two chemicals increased eightfold the number of heart cells created as well as sped up the process of cell conversion, attaining in one week what takes 6-8 weeks
• After suffering a heart attack, the connective tissues develop scar tissue, which then contribute to heart failure
• When the heart muscle gets damaged, the body is unable to repair dead or injured cells
• As per the researchers, the first chemical inhibits a growth factor that helps cells grow and divide and is important for repairing tissues after injury
• The second chemical inhibits an important pathway that regulates heart development
By combining the two chemicals with the current method of reprogramming connective tissue cells into heart muscle cells through certain proteins, the researchers have generated heart muscle and improved heart function.

Endearing, interactive and excellent with data, India’s first banking robot Lakshmi has made her debut on 10th Nov in Chennai

• Launched by Kumbakonam based City Union Bank, the artificial intelligence powered robot will be the first on-site bank helper
• Top private lender HDFC Bank which is also experimenting with robots to answer customer queries is testing its humanoid at its innovation lab.
• Lakshmi who took more than six months to develop can answer queries on more than 125 subjects
• Sensitive financial information such as account details are discreetly on the robot’s screen and not voiced
• City Union will aim at programming the humanoid to greet customers in Tamil

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on 10th Nov 2016 inaugurated Smart India Hackathon 2017, world’s largest digital national building initiative

• Government of India has also launched the first set of 250 problem statements that students will be required to solve during the Hackathon which will take place in early 2017
• Smart India Hackathon 2017 aims at reaching out to the technology institutions in India and challenge students to offer innovative solutions for problems faced by the nation
• All India Council for Technical Education, University Grants Commission 14c, MyGov, NASSCOM , Rambhau Mhlagi Prabhodini and Persistent Systems have organised the initiative under the Ministry of HRD
• The Hackathon will have nearly 500 problem statements, all of which will be published on innovate.mygov.in
• An all India 36-hour nonstop digital programming competition, it will take place in more than 20 centres simultaneously
• Each participating college will nominate up to three teams, each having six team members that can belong to different courses or semesters within the same college
• The team will also need to have one female team member, to encourage women coders
• Some ministries and departments participating in the Hackathon include Railways, External Affairs, Defence, Civil Aviation, ISRO, DAE etc
• It will help to find digital solutions to problems in areas of power, education, finance, health, water, agriculture, energy, urban and rural development, aviation, transport, sanitation, sports, law and justice
• It will help to institutionalise a model for harnessing creativity and skills of the youth for nation building

In 2015, the IB issued an alert of drone attacks in Delhi.

• Mumbai airport was put on high alert after the pilot spotted an unmanned aerial vehicle popularly called the drone.
• IISc and NIAS scientists have developed means to counter the same developing a system using that could remotely identify the flying objects using electromagnetic waves– UAVs piloted remotely using radio waves, invisible electromagnetic waves for control and either disabling them or safe landing them.
• Drones are rising in number and becoming a serious concern; despite this the punishment for flying a drone without permission is only a negligible fine.
• Another scientist posited that once there is regulation of drone usage, all manufacturers need to use a radio frequency identification chip and register them with security agencies.

China on 10th Nov launched a navigation satellite to conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to showcase new technologies.

• X-ray pulsar navigation satellite weighing more than 200 kilograms was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwest part of the country.
• It was carried by Long March-11 rocket the 239th Flight Mission by the Long March carrier rocket series.
• When in orbit, the satellite will undergo tests on detector functions and space environment adaptability.
• The satellite and the rocket were designed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation academies.
• X-ray pulsar navigation will help reduce the spacecraft’s reliance on ground based navigation methods and is expected to lead to autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future.

Scientists have discovered the presence of water on Psyche the largest metallic asteroid within the solar system and the target of the proposed NASA mission.

• Earlier observations of the asteroid showed no such evidence of water rich minerals on the surface.
• New observations from NASA infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii show evidence of water or hydroxyl on the surface.
• Though the source of these molecules on Psyche are a mystery, scientists propose few possible mechanisms for formation.
• Water rich minerals detected on Psyche may have been delivered by carbonaceous asteroids of impacted metallic asteroid in the not so recent past.
• Psyche is 300 m across and is made of pure nickel iron metal.
• Located in the asteroid belt, it is the core of the budding planet destroyed by impact billions of years ago.

World’s first hydrogen powered and zero emission passenger train was unveiled in Germany.

• The Coradia iLint was developed by French rail company Alstom.
• It only emits excess steam and condensed water into the atmosphere.
• It is powered by a hydrogen fuel tank on the roof while the fuel cell is supplied with H and O2 from the air where it converts into electric power.
• The system operates on lithium batteries that store excess power to later supply the train when needed.
• The train is completely carbon free making it a suitable alternative to diesel engines.
• It has onboard hydrogen storage to power an 800 km journey with speeds topping at 87mph.
• Testing of the train will be carried out by the end of 2016.
• Trains will service the Buxtehude-Bremervörde-Bremerhaven-Cuxhaven line in the German state of Lower Saxony by December 2017.
• Alstom was formed by a merger between Compagnie Francaise Thomas Houston and Society Alsacienne de Cnstructions Mecaniques in 1928.
• Merger with parts of the GE company formed GEC-Alstom in 1989 the company changed to Alstom in 1998.

Researchers from Mumbai in Nov 2016 identified two biomarkers in serum samples to aid TB diagnosis and TB disease prognosis.

• Identified microRNA biomarkers could be used for drug sensitive pulmonary TB and multi-drug resistant TB(MDR-TB) patients.
• Research covers measuring of 4 levels of miRNAs, miR-16, miR-29a, miR-125b and miR-155 in 30 newly diagnosed TB patients.
• This includes 10 MDR TB patients and 10 patients who were cured of the disease. A control group was also selected.
• The research had levels of miRNA estimated by qRT-PCR( Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) is used in molecular biology to detect RNA expression.
• Among the 4 miRNAs, levels of miR-16 were shown to be significantly higher and miR-155 lower in serum of TB patients in comparison to healthy individuals.
• Levels of both these biomarkers were different in those with MDR-TB.
• Research has also indicated miR-16 shows a better predictive value than miR155 in drug sensitive pulmonary TB and yet higher than the normal level.
• Both levels returned to normal once treatment was completed.

Scientists have discovered a safer gene therapy to reduce the risk of cancer which can be used for many blood diseases.

• Researchers have identified a means to reduce the development of cancer cells that are as infrequent, but a dangerous byproduct of gene therapy.
• The findings in stem cell gene therapy aims to target a life threatening immunodeficiency in newborns called SCID-XI also known as the "Boy in the Bubble Syndrome".
• The vector being used by the researchers was developed from foamy retrovirus so named as it foams in certain situations.
• Unlike retroviruses, it does not infect humans.
• The retrovirus is also prone to activate nearby genes, including genes causing cancer.
• Retroviruses are a natural option for gene therapy as they insert the genes into the genome of the host.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission has set the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude fix of a GPS signal at 70,000 km above Earth’s surface.

• Working in a highly elliptical orbit around the earth, this spacecraft incorporates GPS measurements into tracking systems.
• This requires sensitivity position and orbit calculations to guide tight flying formations.
• MMS has achieved the closest flying separation of multi-spacecraft formation with 7.2 km between the 4 satellites.
• With closest satellites moving at 35, 405 km per hour, this makes them the fastest known operational use of a GPS receiver.
• MMS is providing scientists insight into Earth’s magnetosphere.
• Mission uses 4 individual satellites that fly in pyramid formation to map magnetic reconnection through the interaction between the magnetic fields of the sun and the Earth.

Disney Research has developed a 360 degree VR application using a chair to provide bodily sensations enabling users to add customisable feel effects.

• This includes the falling rain or the beating heart.
• VR has seen a renaissance in recent years as advancements in computer graphics, computing platforms and seamless flow of information between hardware and software in an effective way.
• Current VR systems provide buzz-like haptic sensations through hand controllers.
• Technology also exists for richer sensations and users can select from a wide range of sensations.
• The haptic playback and authoring plug-in developed by researchers connects the VR game engine to custom haptic devices.
• This allows users to create, customise and associate haptic feedback to events triggered in a VR video game engine.
• Haptic definition called VR360HD was developed and tested using a consumer headset and Disney Research’s haptic chair.
• The chair features a grid of six vibrotactile actuators in the back and two subwoofers or shakers in the seat and back.
• The grid produces localising moving sensations in the back, while the subwoofers shake two different regions of the body and create a sensation of motion.
• Users can select from a library of feel effects,assembled and tested by Disney Research.
• Feel effects are identified with rain, pulsing or rumbling, and can be adjusted to anywhere from light to heavy rainfall.

The first titanium project of India is being established by Saraf Group in Odisha’s Ganjam district.

• The project has started its test production.
• 1 of 4 functional furnaces of this project became operational and the plant is the first of its kind and the only one in the country.
• The plant is expected to produce 36,000 tons of titanium slag and 20,000 tons of pig iron each year.
• During the first phase, Saraf group has invested INR 350 crore in the project.
• It will produce titanium slag and the raw material called ilmenite will be proceeder from OSCOM.
• The company has also appointed those who lost their land in this project.
• The project was proposed in 2005.
• In 2007, Russian premier Viktor Ubkov had evinced interest in the project.
• Saraf Group has entered into an MoU with Odisha government in 2008, to take up a project of its own.
• The export based industry is expected to export around 75 percent of its produce to countries such as China and Japan.

NASA has successfully completed building its largest space telescope, 100 times more powerful than the Hubble probe.

• This may find galaxies formed in the early universe.
• The James Webb Space Telescope will be succeeding NASA’s 26 year old Hubble Space Telescope.
• The Webb Telescope’s infrared cameras are so sensitive that it will have to be shielded from the rays of the Sun.
• A 5-layer sunshield of the size of a tennis court will prevent the background heat from the Sun from interfering with the infrared sensors of the telescope.
• Five sunshield membrane layers are each as thin as human hair.
• Layers work together to reduce the temperature between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by 298 degree C.
• Each successive layer of the sunshield made of kapton is cooler than the one below.
• Webb has been designed to withstand the launch environment - it must be tested to verify it will indeed survive and not change in ways least expected.
• This is one test of the entire mirror where the same equipment can be used during, before and after the test.
• The telescope is a joint project of NASA, ESA and Canadian Space Agency.

The world’s largest and most sensitive cosmic ray monitor located in India has recorded a burst of galactic cosmic ray indicating a crack in the magnetic shield of the earth.

• The burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona struck the earth at very high speeds.
• This caused massive compression of the earth’s magnetosphere.
• It triggered a severe geomagnetic storm.
• GRAPES-3 muon telescope located at TIFR’s Cosmic Ray lab in Ooty in TN recorded a burst of galactic cosmic rays of 20 GeV in 2015 lasting for two hours.
• The burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona moving with the speed of 2.5 million kmh struck our planet, causing severe compression of earth’s magnetosphere from 11 to 4 times the radius of the Earth.
• A severe geomagnetic storm that generated the aurora borealis and radio signal blackouts in many high latitude countries.
• Earth’s magnetosphere extends over a radius of a million km acting as the first line of defence.
• It shields planet earth from solar and galactic cosmic rays thus protecting life on the planet from high intensity energetic radiations.
• The crack is temporary only.
• It occurred due to the magnetic reconnection allowing lower energy galactic cosmic ray particles to enter the atmosphere.
• Earth’s magnetic field bent these particles by 180 degrees from the day side to the night side of the earth, when it was found by the GRAPES-3 muon telescope in June 2015.
• Solar storms cause major disruption to human civilisation by crippling large electrical power grids, GPS and satellite operations and communications.

Humans may be more aligned with the universe than previously thought according to scientists who found the structure of the cell cytoplasm and neutron stars to be similar representing helical multi-storey parking garages.

• Researchers explored the biophysics of shapes-helices that connect stacks of evenly spaced sheet in endoplasmic reticulum. ER is the cellular organelle.
• Structures named Terasaki ramps were thought to be like soft matter (the interior of the cells) till scientists chanced upon the work of nuclear physicist Charles Horowitz at Indiana University in the United States.
• Using computer simulations, the same shapes were found deep in the crust of neutron stars.
• Nuclear physicists have a terminology for the entire class of shapes in high performance computer simulations of neutron stars- nuclear pasta.
• These include tubes/spaghetti and parallel sheets/lasagna connected by helical shapes that resemble Terasaki ramps.
• "For neutron stars, the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force create what is fundamentally a quantum-mechanical problem," said Greg Huber, a physicist who documented these discoveries.
• "In the interior of cells, the forces that hold together membranes are fundamentally entropic and have to do with the minimisation of the overall free energy of the system. At first glance, these could not be more different," said the scientist.
• Another difference is in the scale.

Scientists have turned CO2 into a fuel, rather than methanol which they had set out to do

• The United States researchers have used complex nanotechnology methods to turn the dissolved gas into ethanol.
• As the materials used are relatively cheap, the process could be used in industrial processes to store excess electricity generated by wind and solar energy.
• The technique may turn CO2 into methanol, but instead ethanol was generated.
• CO2, a waste product of combustion was used to push the reaction backwards with high selectivity to a useful fuel.
• Ethanol can be used in the vehicles without any modifications.
• The team used a catalyst made from carbon, copper and nitrogen and an electric current was then used to trigger the reaction.
• The process is expected to be much more complicated.
• The scientists discovered by accident that this material worked.
• The solution of CO2 dissolved in water turned to ethanol with a yield of 63-70 percent.
• All of the CO2 and electricity goes into it – a majority of the CO2 gets changed to ethanol.
• Researchers are currently trying to find more ways to improve the efficiency of the process and find out more about the catalyst’s properties.

The first case of the mosquito borne virus in the SE Asian country, state owned Myanmar, a pregnant woman in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon has been diagnosed with Zika.

• The WHO has warned that Zika was likely to spread throughout Asia after being detected in 70 countries including at least 19 in the Asia Pacific region.
• Zika has spread to over 60 nations and territories since the present outbreak was identified in the previous year in Brazil, raising alarm over rare birth defects microcephaly and other neurological disorders that can be caused in infants and adults.
• This is the first Zika case confirmed in Myanmar.
• Two Myanmar students were identified with the virus in Sept 2016.
• Brazil has been hardest hit with 1900 cases of microcephaly, a condition associated with small heads leading to developmental problems.
• Singapore and Thailand are the most affected nations of SE Asia.
• There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.
• Companies and scientists are racing to develop vaccines that are safe and effective for Zika.

Plants know when to start growing leaves or flowers after winter, thanks to a thermometer molecule that enables plants to develop as per seasonal temperature changes.

• As nights get warmer, sensors throw genetic switches that kick off growth.
• University of Cambridge researchers have found that molecules called phytochrome are used by plants to detect light at the time of the day.
• They change their functioning in the darkness to become temperature gauges that measure the heat of the night.
• At night, the molecules change states and the pace at which they change is proportional to temperature according to scientists who compare phytochrome to mercury in a thermometer.
• The warmer it is, the faster the molecular change-stimulating plant growth.
• Farmers and gardeners have been aware of how responsive plants are to the temperature and warm winters cause many trees and flowers to blossom early.
• This is something humans have been used to predict weather and harvest times for the coming year.
• The most recent research indicates that the molecular mechanisms in plants react to temperature often triggering the spring.
• Some species such as daffodils have massive temperature sensitivity and can flower months in advance during the warm winter.
• With weather and temperatures set to become unpredictable due to climate change, the discovery that this light sensing molecule moon lights as an internal thermometer in plant cells could help in breeding tougher crops.
• The work was done in a model system, a mustard plant called Arabidopsis.
• Phytochrome genes ensure temperature sensing are found in crop plants as well.
• In their active state, phytochrome molecules bind themselves to DNA to restrict plant growth.
• During the day, the sunlight activates the molecules, slowing down growth.
• If the plant finds itself in a shade, phytochromes are inactivated enabling it to grow faster to find sunlight again.
• This ensures that the plants compete to escape each other’s shade.
• Light driven changes to phytochrome activity occur fast in less than a second.
• Molecules change from active to inactive state called dark reversion.
• Warmer temperatures speed up dark reversion so that phytochrome rapidly reaches an inactive state and detaches themselves from DNA permitting genes to be expressed and plant growth to resume.