Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sep 27, 2016

ANSWER: Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope

Explanation:
China on 25th September officially launched the 500m Aperture Spherical Telescope/ FAST in the mountainous region of Guizhou province.

• Telescope has been launched to hunt for extraterrestrial life and explore space
• FAST is a radio telescope located in Dawodang depression, a natural basin in Pinging County, Guizhou Province, SW China
• It comprises a fixed 500m dish constructed in a natural depression in the landscape
• This is the world’s largest filled single dish or aperture radio telescope
• It is the second largest radio telescope after Russian RATAN-600
• The final cost of the project is USD 180 million
• Construction on the FAST project began in 2011 and was completed in July 2016
• Chief scientist of this project is Nan Rendong
• It has a fixed primary reflector located in a natural hollow in the landscape, focusing radio waves on a receiver suspended 140m above it
• Reflector is composed of perforated aluminium panels supported by steel cables hanging from the rim
• Surface constitutes 4450 trinagular panels, 11 m on a side in the form of a geodesic dome
• It can point anywhere within +- 40 degrees from the zenith.

ANSWER: Druzhba-2016

Explanation:
The first Druzhba (Friendship) 2016 joint military exercise between Pakistan and Russia started on Sept 24, 2016 in Cherat in Pakistan.

• The exercise will conclude on 10th October 2016
• The drills are being conducted at a High Altitude School of the Pak army in Gilgit- Baltistan and special training forces centre in Cherat, Khyber Pakhtunwa
• Close to 200 soldiers from both the nations are taking part in this two week exercise
• Drill involves experiences sharing and aims at developing coordination in carrying out practice combat tasks in a mountainous environment including operations against illegal armed groups
• They are conducting their first ever joint military exercise
• This is a mark of shifting alliances in South Asia
• At the time of the Cold War, Pakistan spent a decade helping the United States funnel arms and fighters into neighbouring Afghanistan to help Mujahideen groups fight Soviet forces following the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan
• Druzhba-2016 is a high altitude drill which demonstrates closer defence ties between Islamabad and Moscow
• Russia and Pakistan also signed a military cooperation pact in 2014

ANSWER: Porichthys Notatus

Explanation:
At San Francisco Bat, residents in houseboats are enchanted by the humming of the Porichthys Notatus, fish that sing.

• The strange singing is from male midshipman fishes while the female of the species only gruts
• What makes these noises are the swim bidders that seem like a kazoo chorus or a swarm of droning bees
• These fish only sing at night
• Researchers at Cornell University found that a possible reason why these fish sing at that time is because of the hormone melatonin
• Melatonin secretion is thought to help regulate body clocks, and also regulate the output of the neural networks in the brain to control distinct components of behaviour
• Depending on whether the species are nocturnal or diurnal, the hormone affects differently
• Scientists tested that midshipman fish sang at night and hen there was light, they never sang at all
• The scientists then fed them melatonin and this caused the singing to happen even during sunlight

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
In a first for Indian cricket, former captain Kapil Dev will run the Eden Gardens bell for signalling the commencement of the second Cricket Test between India and New Zealand on 30th September.

Cricket Association of Bengal has confirmed this.

• The ringing of a 5 minute bell at Lords by international cricketers, administrators or sports enthusiasts is a well known tradition which commenced in 2007
• CAB has followed suit and decided to have their own tradition; the silver coated giant bell will be placed near the Eden block
• Bell will be rung by different personalities every morning during the five days to signal the start of the play
• BCCI has meanwhile written to CAB confirming the Eden Test will be India’s 250th on home soil
• Board president Anurag Thakur has confirmed that both teams will be felicitated with specially minted 100gram silver coins
• CAB has also arranged for special gold coin for the toss
• India has taken a lead over New Zealand in the three match series

ANSWER: Blue

Explanation:
Niti Aayog has started a consultation process for the integration of defence and internal security with a 15 year vision.

• The planning body has initiated a discussion to leverage India’s status as a major maritime nation with a long coastline and a potential to become a key blue economy
• BJP government, for the first time, has taken the decision to include these subjects in the plan process to create long term planning element for better preparation
• India has a naturally maritime strength with:
• coastline of 7500 km
• Above 2 million square km of EEZ
• More than 1300 islands and networks of the river
• India has a natural and strategic benefit
• Maritime trade accounts for 75 percent of the value of total trade and more than 90 percent of the volume of Indian trade
• Indian ship building industry is 17th in the world with South Korea, Japan and China way ahead
• It currently faces constraints such as inefficient tax structure and access related restrictions
• Deep sea fishing is another area where growth is possible.

ANSWER: Rafflesia arnoldii

Explanation:
The world’s largest flower Rafflesia arnoldii has been found blooming in two different locations in Indonesian rainforest in Sumatra

• The giant red flower which smells of rotting flesh has no stems.
• It also does not have leaves or roots
• It blooms only for a few days.
• Flower recently appeared in the following two locations:Taba Penanjung Forest and the Tebat Monok Forest.
• Plant is named after Singapore founder Sir Stamford Raffles and British Botanist Joseph Arnold
• It is an endemic plant to Sumatra
• It has become a symbol of therein, appearing in everything from postage stamps to tourist brochures for the region
• Indonesia is known for richness in plant diversity- it has 25,000 different flowering plant species with 40 percent of these not being found anywhere else on earth