Latest developments in science and technology

Science and technology is an important part of Prelims syllabus. It covers not only the static portion but dynamic as well. In recent years, UPSC is emphasising on dynamic-cum analytical aspect of science and technology

Jade Rabbit / Yutu – LUNAR ROVER
YUTU is an unmanned lunar rover that formed part of the Chinese Chang'e 3 mission to the Moon. It was launched at 17:30 UTC on 1 December 2013, and reached the Moon's surface on 14 December 2013. The mission marks the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 and the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2 ceased operations on 11 May 1973.

The rover encountered operational difficulties after the first 14-day lunar night (after about a month on the Moon), and was unable to move after the end of the second lunar night, though it continued to gather useful information for some months afterward. In October 2015, Yutu set the record for the longest operational period for a rover on the Moon.

Biopolymer Water Purification
Scientists at Institute of Advance Study in Science & Technology (IASST) have developed an eco-friendly biopolymer using nanotechnology for water-softening and water purification applications. It was developed by the team of scientists from Guwahati (Assam) based Institute of Advance Study in Science & Technology (IASST)

The eco-friendly biopolymer has been created using a naturally occurring substance, called chitosan. The chitosan has been obtained naturally from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish including crab, lobster, and shrimp as a backbone for the carbon nanoparticles to sit on.

In this biopolymer, nanoparticles are the functional parts of the technology as they remove calcium and magnesium components of water through ion exchange. Thus, it shows the same process that is used by common water purifiers.

This natural material is the first of its kind with potential to act as a biodegradable and green material for water-softening applications. This eco-friendly biodegradable biopolymer can be used in civic water treatment plants for generating potable water. It will reduce dependency on conventional water-softening techniques that uses synthetic resins as they do not have very effective water-softening methods and produced very crude treated water.

Human DNA profiling bill 2015
Human DNA Profiling Bill is a proposed legislation in India. The bill will allow the government to establish a National DNA Data Bank and a DNA Profiling Board, and use the data for various specified forensic purposes. The bill has raised concerns of privacy among citizen rights groups.The bill was expected to be presented in the parliament in the monsoon session of 2015.

The bill was originally proposed in 2007 and in 2012 drafting of the bill began. The draft bill was prepared by the Department of Biotechnology. The bill proposes to form a National DNA Data Bank and a DNA Profiling Board, and use the data for various specified purposes.

The proposed DNA Profiling Board will consist of molecular biology, human genetics, population biology, bioethics, social sciences, and law and criminal justice experts. The Board will define standards and controls for DNA profiling. It will also certify labs and handle access of the data by law enforcement agencies. There will be similar bodies at state levels.

The bill will also create a National DNA Data Bank, which will collect data from offenders, suspects, missing persons, unidentified dead bodies and volunteers. It will profile and store DNA data in criminal cases like homicide, sexual assault, adultery and other crimes.

The data will be restricted and will be available only to the accused or the suspect. A person facing imprisonment or death sentence can send a request for DNA profiling of related evidence to the court that convicted him.
The bill has the provision that any misuse of data will carry a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and also fine.

Hybrid Vaccum toilet
The Indian Railways has come up with an eco-friendly sanitation project, under which, this new kind of toilet has been set up to save water on trains. A prototype of the new hybrid vacuum toilet has been made that comprises a modified vacuum toilet that is used in aircraft and a biodigester tank,

which converts the excreta into water and gas with the help of anaerobic bacteria. The filth will get reduced and the dumping of solid waste on the tracks, a practice that has faced criticism for all sectors, will also stop.
Here's how it works:

1.A water pressurising unit is attached with the fresh water tank above the toilet pot. This unit passes the water through spray nozzles into the pot.
2. An vacuum-creating ejector sucks out the waste from the pot to the bio-digester tank.
3.A push button and a control unit is in place for the flush switch on the wall of the toilet.

This initiative aims at conserving water and reducing its waste. An average bio-toilet, which are commonly found in trains, use 10 to 15 litres of water per flush. The vacuum toilet, on the other hand, consumes around 500 ml of water per flush. This step will certainly take the Indian Railways closer to being at par with those in foreign countries.

Project Sunrise
The Union government has launched a new initiative “Project Sunrise” to tackle the increasing HIV prevalence in the North-Eastern states. The AIDS prevention special project aims to diagnose 90 per cent of such drug addicts with HIV and put them under treatment by 2020.

North Eastern States like Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram account for highest adult (15-49 years) HIV prevalence in the country. National average for prevalence of HIV/AIDS among drug addicts is 7.14 per cent, whereas in Manipur it is 12.9 per cent and in Mizoram it is 12 per cent.

Project Sunrise aims at bringing the people living with HIV/AIDS into the national mainstream and create more awareness about the disease in these N-E states. It will be implemented in the North East in addition to the existing projects of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).

The project has been sponsored by US based Centre for Disease Control and would be implemented by Family Health International 360. It will cover one lakh people living with HIV/AIDS by giving them treatment and care facilities free of cost.

Other initiatives to be covered it include enhancing capacity of state-level institutions in high burden areas, community mobilization, intervention among females injecting drugs. Duration The project is a five-year programme (2015-2020) aimed at complementing the ongoing National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).

Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool
M/s General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC-Re), along with several other Indian Insurance Companies, have launched the India Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP) with a capacity of Rs.1500 crore on 12th June, 2015, to provide insurance to cover the liability as prescribed under Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act 2010.

The INIP will address liability related concerns of suppliers under the CLND Act 2010 and will pave the way for Indian as well as foreign suppliers to participate in the Indian Nuclear Power Projects. This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space.

Pentaquark
A pentaquark is a subatomic particle consisting of four quarks and one antiquark bound together. The first claim of pentaquark discovery was recorded at LEPS in Japan in 2003, and several experiments in the mid-2000s also reported discoveries of other pentaquark states.

Others were not able to replicate the LEPS results, however, and the other pentaquark discoveries were not accepted because of poor data and statistical analysis. On 13 July 2015, the LHCb collaboration at CERN reported results consistent with pentaquark states in the decay of bottom Lambda baryons (Λ0b).

Outside of particle physics laboratories pentaquarks also could be produced naturally by supernovae as part of the process of forming a neutron star. The scientific study of pentaquarks might offer insights into how these stars form, as well as allowing more thorough study of particle interactions and the strong force.

By: Balalatha Mallavarapu