Science & Technology Magazine

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NOTES
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Contents
NOVEMBER 2014
DECEMBER 2014
JANUARY - 2015
21
FEBRUARY 2015
28
MARCH - 2015
39
APRIL 2015
50
MAY - 2015
JUNE - 2015
78
JULY 2015
86
AUGUST 2015
105
67
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November 2014
Agni-II test-fired for full 2,000-km strike range
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India test-fired the nuclear weapon-capable Agni-II ballistic missile for its full strike range of 2,000 km
from Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast .
Personnel of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) fired the surface-to-surface missile from a mobile
launcher.
Terming Agni-II a workhorse, the official said the overall mission objectives were met precisely. The
navigation, guidance and control aspects of this class of missile were proven once again.
New Research Reveals the Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation
A schematic illustration of the magnetic field and motions found in a massive star forming cluster. The core
(gray-filled ellipse) is a flattened, rotating cloud of gas and dust (blue and red arrows indicate the sense of the
rotation). It is fragmenting into new stars (evidenced by the three condensations/gray dots), and is threaded
by an hourglass magnetic field (B field green lines) largely aligned with a bipolar outflow indicated with the
arrows.
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USING THE SUB MILLIMETER ARRAY TO STUDY THE MAGNETIC FIELD IN A MASSIVE STAR
CLUSTER
ASTRONOMERS WERE ABLE TO DETERMINE THE PROPERTIES OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND THE
ROLE THEY PLAY IN STAR FORMATION.
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Massive stars tend to form in clusters as the gas and dust in molecular clouds collapses and
fragments under the influence of gravity.
In the classic picture of star formation, gravity must eventually compete against the thermal
pressure that develops in the collapsing core as the material heats up.
The scientists report detecting the clear signature of an hourglass-shaped magnetic field that is
remarkably consistent with theoretical predictions of the classic paradigm.
This is the first time that such an hourglass field, aligned with a well-defined outflow system, has
been seen in a high-mass region.
European Space agency releases first picture from comet
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The European Space Agency published the first image taken from the surface of a comet and said that
its Philae lander is still stable despite a failure to latch on properly to the rocky terrain.
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The lander scored a historic first on (14 November), touching down on comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko after a decade-long, 6.4 billion-kilometer (4 billion-mile) journey through space aboard
its mother ship Rosetta.
Scientists jubilation was slightly dampened because the harpoons which were meant to anchor the
lander to the surface failed to deploy.
Causing it to bounce twice before it came to rest on the comets 4 kilometer-wide body, or nucleus;
Now Philae is stable, sitting on the nucleus and is producing data.
Philae and Rosetta will use 21 instruments to analyze the comet over the coming months. Scientists
hope the 1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) project will help them better understand comets and other celestial
objects, as well as possibly answer questions about the origins of life on Earth.
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Role of El Nino in heat build-up in Indian Ocean
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The Indian Ocean has been warming at a rate faster than thought before (1.2 deg C during the past
century).
It is also the largest consistent contributor to the global ocean warming trends.
Recent studies show that a warm Indian Ocean can in turn modulate the Pacific conditions including
the El Nino events.
The western Indian Ocean traditionally thought to have cooler sea surface temperatures (SSTs) than
the central and eastern Indian Ocean.
But it is showing an even stronger summer warming trend over the whole of the 20th century than
the central and eastern Indian Ocean.
The warming is significantly so large that it may alter the monsoon circulation, monsoon rainfall over
the ocean and land, marine food webs and fisheries (western Indian Ocean is one of the most
productive oceans) and global climate including the El Nino.
The study found that the ocean atmospheric phenomenon the El Nino, and its influence on the
Walker Circulation were responsible for periodic weakening of monsoon westerlies .
Led to abnormally high summer sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean.
Walker Circulation represents the zonal (east-west) circulation over the tropics.
In the Pacific, the trade winds blow from east to west.
This is because of the low pressure in the west and high pressure in the east, which drives these
winds.
This is linked to the warm waters over the west Pacific and cool waters over the east Pacific.
In the upper atmosphere, this trade wind circulation is completed by winds blowing from west to
east.
During summer, this Pacific cell is linked to the monsoon westerlies in the Indian Ocean.
During an El Nino, due to warm waters in the east and cool waters in the west, the pressure systems
also change, reversing (shifting) the Walker circulation.
The wind direction reverses and the whole circulatory system shifts eastward leaving only weak
surface westerlies in the western Indian Ocean.
This results in ocean warming in the Western Indian Ocean.
NASA tests 3D-printed rocket engine parts

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NASA has successfully tested 3D manufactured copper parts for rocket engines and found they could
withstand the heat and pressure required for space launches.
Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) at NASAs Glenn Research Centre in partnership with NASA
Successfully completed the first hot-fire tests on an advanced rocket engine thrust chamber assembly
using copper alloy materials.
This was the first time a series of rigorous tests confirmed that 3D manufactured copper parts could
withstand the heat and pressure required of combustion engines used in space launches, NASA said.
In all, NASA and AR conducted 19 hot-fire tests on four injector and thrust chamber assembly
configurations.
Exploring various mixture ratios and injector operability points and were deemed fully successful
against the planned test programme.
The successful hot fire test of subscale engine components provides confidence in the additive
manufacturing process.
Milky Way black hole producing mysterious particles: NASA

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The giant black hole at the centre of the Milky Way may be producing the mysterious high-energy
neutrinos, NASA scientists have found.
This would be the first time that scientists have traced neutrinos back to a black hole.
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Neutrinos are tiny particles that carry no charge and interact very weakly with electrons and protons.
Unlike light or charged particles, neutrinos can emerge from deep within their cosmic sources and
travel across the universe without being absorbed by intervening matter .
The Earth is constantly bombarded with neutrinos from the sun. However, neutrinos from beyond the
solar system can be millions or billions of times more energetic.
Scientists have long been searching for the origin of ultra-high energy and very high-energy neutrinos.
Because neutrinos pass through material very easily, it is extremely difficult to build detectors that
show exactly where the neutrino came from.
Google joins fight against illegal fishing

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Technology giant Google has taken the battle against illegal fishing online
With the company unveiling a tool in Australia that harnesses satellite data to track thousands of
boats in real time.
A prototype interactive tool, which is developed in conjunction with environmental activists SkyTruth
and marine advocacy group Oceana.
The tool is the latest salvo from environmentalists against illegal fishing, which is currently estimated
by the Global Ocean Commission to cost the world economy up to $23.5 billion a year.
The tool uses data points from the Automatic Identification System network, which picks up GPS
broadcasts of a vessel's location to map movements.
The prototype has tracked just over 3,000 fishing vessels, with a public tool set to be released down
the track.
NASA installs first zero-gravity 3D printer on ISS

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NASA successfully installed the worlds first zero-gravity 3D printer on the International Space Station
(ISS)
To help out astronauts experiment with additive manufacturing in microgravity.
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NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore installed the 3D printer, designed and built by Made In Space, inside
the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the ISS.
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The printer was launched in September aboard the SpaceX 4 resupply mission to the ISS.
Two new subatomic particles discovered

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Two new subatomic particles that could widen our understanding of the universe have been
discovered.
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The collaboration for the LHCb experiment at CERNs Large Hadron Collider discovered the two new
particles belonging to the baryon family.
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The particles were predicted to exist by the quark model but had never been seen before. A related
particle was found by the CMS experiment at CERN in 2012.
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Like the well-known protons that the LHC accelerates, the new particles are baryons made from three
quarks bound together by the strong force.
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The types of quarks are different, though: the new particles both contain one beauty (b), one strange
(s), and one down (d) quark.
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The results match up with predictions based on the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), QCD
is part of the Standard Model of particle physics, the theory that describes the fundamental particles
of matter, how they interact and the forces between them.
Flash memory breaches nanoscales

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A team of scientists from Glasgow has proposed a way to harvest molecules and construct nano-sized
non-volatile (permanent) storage devices, also known as flash memory devices.
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It is a great challenge to reduce the size of conventional MOS flash memories to sizes below ten
nanometres.
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This poses a problem when one tries to build small flash memory devices.
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They have found a suitable candidate in the polyxometalate molecules.
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When such a molecule is doped with the selenium derivative [(Se(IV)O3)2] a new type of oxidisation
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state (5+) is observed for the selenium.

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This new oxidation state can be observed at the device level, and this can be used as a memory.
Akash missiles tested again

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Two Akash Surface-to-Air supersonic missiles were fired in quick succession by Indian Air Force
personnel.
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To destroy one fast moving Banshee unmanned aerial vehicles and a simulated electronic target at
the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, in Odisha.
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The current series of tests, which culminated on Friday, were conducted for acceptance of new
production lot of the missiles.
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In all, nine missiles were tested since November 17 as part of the training exercise for IAF personnel.
European Space Agency satellite uses gravity map to track ocean currents
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Using data from various satellites, particularly European Space Agencys GOCE, scientists have created
what they claim is the worlds most accurate space view of global ocean currents and the speeds of
their movement.
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The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, measured the minute changes
in Earth's gravitational pull which varies at different places due to the uneven distribution of mass
inside the planet.
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The GOCE geoid was subtracted from the mean sea-surface height measured over a 20-year period by
satellites, including ESAs veteran Envisat.
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The data is of great use in ocean monitoring and forecasting systems. The new ocean current speed
map is of particular interest to UNESCOs Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
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This supports the international cooperation and the understanding and management of oceans and
coastal areas.
Novel way to produce safer drinking water

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Making drinking water a lot safer by killing an overwhelming number of bacteria and most viruses is
now possible.
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In May 2013, the same team was able to achieve only 100 times reduction in bacterial load and
negligible reduction in viral load through sustained release of 50 parts per billion (ppb) of silver ions in
drinking water.
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In the latest study, the team was able to achieve 1,00,000 times reduction in bacterial load and 1,000
times reduction in viral load by synergistically combining silver with carbonate ions.
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The drastic improvement in antimicrobial performance was achieved despite the team using only 25
ppb of silver ions, half the amount used in the earlier work.
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A fundamental result that came out of our earlier study was that the antibacterial activity of silver can
be tuned by simple methods.
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Everybody was studying silver in isolation but the team looked at synergistically combining silver with
some other ions.
December 2014
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Star Cluster NGC 3532 A Colorful Gathering of Middle-Aged Stars
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NGC 3532 is a bright open cluster located some 1,300 light-years away in the constellation of Carina
(The Keel of the ship Argo).
It is informally known as the Wishing Well Cluster, as it resembles scattered silver coins which have
been dropped into a well.
This very bright star cluster is easily seen with the naked eye from the southern hemisphere.
It was discovered by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille whilst observing from South Africa in
1752 and was cataloged three years later in 1755.
It is one of the most spectacular open star clusters in the whole sky.
NGC 3532 covers an area of the sky that is almost twice the size of the full Moon.
This grouping of stars is about 300 million years old. This makes it middle-aged by open star cluster
standards.
The cluster stars that started off with moderate masses are still shining brightly with blue-white
colors, but the more massive ones have already exhausted their supplies of hydrogen fuel and have
become red giant stars.
Stars with masses many times greater than the Sun have lives of just a few million years; the Sun is
expected to live for about ten billion years.
New Biotech Innovation Reduces Unpredictability in Biological Circuits
Illustration: Christine Daniloff/MIT (yeast cell images from National Institutes of Health)
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A new biotech device from MIT reduces the unpredictability of biological components and could
ultimately allow such circuits to behave nearly as predictably as their electronic counterparts.
Researchers have made great progress in recent years in the design and creation of biological circuits
systems that, like electronic circuits.
It can take a number of different inputs and deliver a particular kind of output, but while individual
components of such biological circuits can have precise and predictable responses.
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One example: cells that could detect markers that indicate the presence of cancer cells, and then
trigger the release of molecules targeted to kill those cells.
It is important for such circuits to be able to discriminate accurately between cancerous and
noncancerous cells, so they dont unleash their killing power in the wrong places.
To date, that kind of robust predictability has not been feasible, in part because of feedback effects
when multiple stages of biological circuitry are introduced.
The problem arises because unlike in electronic circuits, where one component is physically
connected to the next by wires that ensure information is always flowing in a particular direction.
Biological circuits are made up of components that are all floating around together in the complex
fluid environment of a cells interior.
Earths most abundant mineral gets name

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American geologists have named the earths most abundant mineral Bridgmanite.
It had hitherto remained nameless as a large enough sample of the mineral, found in the earths
lower mantle, had not been recovered.
Under the rules of set down by the International Mineralogical Association, a mineral cannot be
given a formal name until a specimen has been found and examined first hand.
A group of American geologists were recently able to extract a sample large enough to analyse from a
meteorite.
The new name is in honour of Percy Bridgman, a pioneer in the use of high pressure experiments to
better understand how many geological formations come about.
Bridgmanite makes up about 70 percent of the earths lower mantle and 38 percent of the total
volume of the earth. It is made up of high-density magnesium iron silicate.
The lower mantle, which starts at 670 km under the crust, is difficult to access for samples.
The researchers looked at a meteorite that had fallen inside Australia in 1879 as a likely candidate for
samples, and found what they were looking for.
GSLV Mark III faces its first experimental flight

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Later this month, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III is expected to lift off
for the first time from Indias spaceport at Sriharikota on an experimental flight.
It will assess the rockets performance as it hurtles through the atmosphere to reach speeds many
times that of sound.
When operational, the GSLV Mark III will be the Indian Space Research Organisation's most powerful
rocket, capable of putting four-tonne communication satellites into orbit, almost double the capacity
of the current GSLV.
The Mark III will weigh about 640 tonnes at launch, about 50 per cent heavier than the GSLV.
It is perhaps appropriate that the forthcoming launch will also provide an early test of a crew module
that is being developed.
The GSLV Mark III has two huge solid propellants boosters, which are among the largest in the world,
flanking a big liquid propellant core stage.
Atop the core stage, sits a cryogenic upper stage that will provide half the velocity needed to put
communication satellites into the proper orbit.
For the experimental launch, the Mark III will be equipped with a dummy cryogenic engine and stage
that will simulate the weight and other characteristics of the flight version.
The GSLV Mark III is a totally new configuration, observed K. Radhakrishnan, the current ISRO
chairman, explaining the rationale for the experimental mission.
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Earth-based telescope detects super-earth transit
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Astronomers in Spain have detected the transit of a super-earth transiting across its star 55 Cancri
using only ground-based detection systems.
This detection is significant because it opens the door to ground-based remote sensing of
astronomical bodies.
The detection was through the 2.5 metre Nordic Optical Telescope, in La Palma, Spain.
Developing ground-based telescopes such as this is important because it paves the way to
interpreting the atmospheres of planets and detection of bio-signatures of Earth-like planets.
Super-earths are extrasolar planets that are bigger than the earth, but not as big as the gaseous giants
in the solar system, for example, Uranus, which is 17 times as big as the earth.
Its proximity to its star makes 55 Cancri es surface as hot as 1,700 degree C. Thus, it is hostile to life .
NASA tests Orionthe spacecraft that might carry people to Mars

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In what is another feat for NASA, the international space agency has launched its Orion spacecraft on
Friday
The spaceship that was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aims to send man to Mars someday.
Orion orbited the Earth twice on the inaugural flight and the entire mission lasted for just 4.5 hours,
culminating with a splashdown in the Pacific, to be collected by the US Navy.
The first Orion-SLS combo will fly around 2018, again without a crew. Astronauts are expected to
climb aboard in 2021.
NASA has been developing Orion since 2004 to carry astronauts to an asteroid, the moon, and even
Mars.
Orion most closely resembles the Apollo spacecraft used for missions to the moon in the 1960s and
1970s has some upgrades.
It is not only 50 per cent larger by volume but contains much more sophisticated computer systems.
India's GSAT-16 launched

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Indias communications satellite GSAT-16 was on Sunday, put on a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
(GTO) by the European launcher Ariane 5 VA221, from the Kourou space port in French Guiana.
GSAT-16's 48 transponders - 12 in the C band, 12 in the extended C and 24 in the Ku band - cover the
entire country and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) briefly said the 3,181 kg GSAT-16 was put in orbit.
It was delivered on an Ariane 5 rocket along with US broadcast satellite DIRECTV-14, launch company
Arianespace said.
GSAT-16 will be used by television, telephone, Internet, public and private operators. It replaces the
INSAT-3E which expired in April this year at 55 degrees East longitude.
The cost of the satellite, built by ISRO in Bengaluru, and Arianespace's launch fee are put at around
Rs. 880 crore.
Web inventor says Internet should be 'human right'

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The computer scientist credited with inventing the World Wide Web says affordable access to the
Internet should be recognized as a human right.
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Tim Berners-Lee said on Thursday the Internet can help tackle inequality but only if it comes with the
rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
The Briton, who launched the Web in 1990, made the remarks as he released his World Wide Web
Foundations latest report tracking the Internets global impact.
The Web Index found that laws preventing mass online surveillance are weak or nonexistent in more
than 84 percent of countries.
It also said that almost 40 percent of surveyed countries were blocking sensitive online content to a
moderate or extreme degree, and that half of all Web users live in countries that severely restrict
their rights online.
Almost 4.4 billion people most of them in developing countries still have no access to the Internet, the
Web Index said.
New battery generates power from waste heat

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Researchers have developed new ammoniabased battery system to convert lowgrade waste heat
into electricity.
The use of waste heat for power production would allow additional electricity generation without any
added consumption of fossil fuels.
Thermally regenerative batteries are a carbonneutral way to store and convert waste heat into
electricity with potentially lower cost than solidstate devices.
Lowgrade waste heat is an artifact of many energygenerating methods.
In automobiles, waste heat generated in winter is diverted to run the vehicle heating system, but in
the summer.
Using lowgrade waste heat from an outside source, the researchers distill ammonia from the
effluent left in the battery anolyte and then recharge it into the original cathode chamber of the
battery.
The researchers were able to increase power density by increasing the number of batteries, so that
this method is scalable to something that might be commercially attractive.
Unmanned crew module to be tested

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Thirty years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to venture into space, flying aboard a Soviet
Soyuz spacecraft.
An Indian crew capsule and rocket that could one day carry astronauts will get their first trial next
week.
The experimental flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, scheduled for
next Thursday (Dec. 18).
Will send the unmanned crew module on a suborbital trajectory, with the latter splashing down in the
Bay of Bengal about 21 minutes after the rocket lifts off from Sriharikota.
Skulls reveal the dawn of civilization

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When and how did we humans turn modern, and technologically and culturally adept?
This was the theme of a symposium held several weeks ago at the Salk Institute in California.
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The experts attending the meeting suggest that self- domestication turned humans into the
cooperative species we are today.
4. Many animal species have formed a collaborative and cooperating groups or herds long before we
humans even arrived on the scene.
5. Look at the hundreds of fish, birds, foxes, or even primates such as bonobos. In unity is strength is an
adage they discovered and found useful.
6. In forming societies of this kind, each member of the herd had to cut down aggression, understand
the value of tameness and the advantages of working as a team.
7. Humans started forming groups as early as about 68,000 years ago from Africa and began their long
migration across the globe.
8. In doing so, they formed groups or societies over millennia, settling down in various places across the
world.
9. Language, customs, social mores, culture, religions and technology began emerging.
10. The main thread that bound each such society has been tolerance, cooperation and levelling down of
aggression.
11. This, in turn, Cieri and others argue, led to the evolution of technology tools, taming and using fire,
navigation, fishing and birding, water harvesting and agriculture.
12. All over the millennia spanning the early middle and later stone ages (almost until 25,000 years ago)
Domestication of horse and cattle occurred. All this could happen because we self- domesticated.
Greening food transport

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Since antiquity, food items have been transported from place to place.
But never at the speed or in the variety or amounts seen in the past few decades.
Twenty-first century consumers expect food whenever they crave it, with no concession to season or
geography.
4. Catering to their demands are trucks with refrigeration units that carry perishable freight like
vegetables, fruits, meat, milk and fish at specific temperatures via roads.
5. But this comes at a huge cost: diesel, which powers the truck, emits greenhouses gases and
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), used as a coolant, have very high global warming potential.
6. While figures for the emissions released by refrigerator trucks are not known
7. The entire refrigeration and air-conditioning sector contributes to 8-10 per cent of total global green
house gas emissions.
8. A variety of options are thus being developed to reduce emissions from refrigerator trucks.
9. One such alternative is to use cryogenic fuels, which are gases liquidified at very low temperatures.
10. The fuel is typically used in spacecrafts and results in zero carbon emissions.
11. UK-based Dearman Engine Company is experimenting with two cryogenic fuelsliquid air and liquid
nitrogento power refrigerator trucks.
12. These trucks are expected to hit the UKs roads by 2016.
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13. A liquid air-fuelled transport refrigeration unit could not only reduce diesel consumption by up to 20
per cent
14. But also eliminate harmful nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from the refrigeration process.
15. Non-profits have given a red carpet welcome to the technology.
Dirty past of cryogenic fuels

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Emission factor for a fuel is the amount of CO2emitted while producing and burning one unit of fuel.
Though the emission factor for certain fuels, such as diesel and petrol, are pretty much constant
across the world.
Because of their standard extraction process, the factor varies quite a lot for electricity and depends
on whether it is generated from thermal power plants or by using renewable sources.
So every country has its own emission factor for electricity, based on the percentage of renewable
contribution to the countrys power need.
According to CSE, the new refrigeration technology that uses cryogenic fuels would be carbonefficient only if the electricity used to manufacture the fuels is renewable.
In the UK, where around one-third of the electricity is generated from coal, the technology could be
marginally better than conventional fuels.
Expensive for India

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Dearman is interested in selling the trucks to India. Although it has admitted that the technology is
not viable for Indian conditions.
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It says it is pinning its hopes on the future as it foresees economies moving towards renewable
energy.
3. Even then, Dearman may not find a lucrative market for its trucks in India.
4. Unlike the Western world, refrigeration for preservation of food is not a popular practice in India.
5. For instance, in the West, meat is processed, refrigerated and transported.
6. While in India, cattle are transported alive and then slaughtered to prepare meat for cooking.
Vegetables are mostly consumed locally.
7. The technology is also not economically feasible for India.
8. To power the refrigeration unit for one hour, 30 litres of cryogenic fuel would be needed.
9. With one litre costing Rs 25, an hour of refrigeration would cost Rs 750.
10. Powering a refrigeration unit for an hour with diesel would require 3 litres of it, which would cost
around Rs 180.
11. Instead of taking chances over cryogenic-based cooling technology, India must go for completely
green technologies like ammonia-based refrigeration systems.
12. India being a tropical country with abundant sunlight, exploring solar refrigeration systems would be
ideal as it is completely green.
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Launch rehearsal of ISROs LVM 3 successful
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Ahead of the countrys maiden experimental launch of latest generation vehicle GSLV Mk III
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Which would carry out the Crew module Atmospheric Re- entry Experiment (CARE) on a suborbital
mission on December 18.
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The nine hour 30 minutes launch rehearsal of ISRO LVM3 has just been successfully completed, ISRO
said in its social networking site.
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Confirming the success, a senior ISRO official said the countdown for the launch of GSLV Mk III/X CARE
Mission (also known as LMV 3) would commence around 8.30 a.m., on December 17 at Sriharikota.
How Mars lost its atmosphere decoded

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Early discoveries by NASAs newest Mars orbiter have unveiled key features about the loss of the Red
Planets atmosphere to space over time.
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The findings are among the first returns from NASAs Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution
(MAVEN) mission, which entered its science phase on November 16.
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The observations show a new process by which the solar wind can penetrate deep into a planetary
atmosphere.
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They include the first comprehensive measurements of the composition of Mars upper atmosphere
and electrically charged ionosphere.
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The results also offer an unprecedented view of ions as they gain the energy that will lead to their
escape from the atmosphere.
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Over the course of the full mission, well be able to fill in this picture and really understand the
processes by which the atmosphere changed over time.
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This layer serves as a kind of shield around the planet, deflecting the solar wind, an intense stream of
hot, high-energy particles from the Sun, researchers said.
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Scientists have long thought that measurements of the solar wind could be made only before these
particles hit the invisible boundary of the ionosphere.
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MAVENs Solar Wind Ion Analyser, however, has discovered a stream of solar-wind particles that are
not deflected but penetrate deep into Mars upper atmosphere and ionosphere.
10. New insight into how gases leave the atmosphere is being provided by the spacecrafts Supra-thermal
and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument.
11. Within hours after being turned on at Mars, STATIC detected the polar plume of ions escaping from
Mars. This measurement is important in determining the rate of atmospheric loss.
12. As the satellite dips down into the atmosphere, STATIC identifies the cold ionosphere at closest
approach and subsequently measures the heating of this charged gas to escape velocities as MAVEN
rises in altitude.
13. The energised ions ultimately break free of the planets gravity as they move along a plume that
extends behind Mars.
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NASAs Curiosity rover detects organic matter on Mars
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NASAs Mars rover Curiosity has made the first definitive detection of organic molecules, the building
blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life.
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The team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Curiosity found the
organic molecules in a drilled sample of the Sheepbed mudstone in Gale crater.
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Organic molecules consist of a wide variety of molecules made primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and
oxygen atoms.
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However, organic molecules can also be made by chemical reactions that dont involve life, and there
is not enough evidence to tell if the matter found by the team came from ancient Martian life or from
a non-biological process.
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Perchlorates (a chlorine atom bound to four oxygen atoms) are abundant on the surface of Mars.
6.
Its possible that as the sample was heated, chlorine from perchlorate combined with fragments from
precursor organic molecules in the mudstone to produce the chlorinated organic molecules detected
by SAM.
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As it happened: ISRO successfully launches GSLV Mark-III
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ISRO successfully carries out human crew module experiment; module safely splashes down into Bay
of Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Test flight sequence of LVM3X/CARE Mission. T 5 minutes and counting

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India launches GSLV Mark-III, its largest rocket
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The CREW module would be separated from the rocket about 325.52 seconds after the lift-off at
126.16 km altitude.
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The specially made parachutes would help the module soft-crash in the Bay of Bengal, some few
hundred km from Indira Point in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which would later be fetched by
Indian Coast Guard ships.
NASAs Kepler mission discovers super-Earth

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NASAs planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, which is carrying out a new mission has made its first
exoplanet discovery a super-Earth located 180 light-years from Earth.
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This led to the discovery of a planet, HIP 116454b, which is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth and
follows a close, nine-day orbit around a star that is smaller and cooler than our Sun, making the
planet too hot for life as we know it.
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HIP 116454b and its star are 180 light-years from Earth, toward the constellation Pisces.
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The discovery was confirmed with measurements taken by the HARPS-North spectrograph of the
Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands, which captured the wobble of the star caused by
the planets gravitational tug as it orbits.
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HARPS-N showed that the planet weighs almost 12 times as much as Earth. This makes HIP 116454b a
super-Earth, a class of planets that does not exist in our solar system.
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NASAs NuSTAR clicks first solar image
1. US Space agency NASAs Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its
first picture of the sun.
2. The telescope was launched into space in 2012. Originally, its purpose was to set its eyes on
black holes and other objects far from our solar system.
3. But now, it has been able to turn its gaze closer, to the sun and in the process, has taken the
most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy X-rays.
4. While the sun is too bright for other telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory,
NuSTAR can safely look at it without the risk of damaging its detectors.
5. The sun is not as bright in the higher-energy X-rays detected by NuSTAR, a factor that
depends on the temperature of the sun's atmosphere.
Tsunami 2004: scientists move closer to understanding triggers for tsunamis

1. Its been a decade since one of the largest ever recorded earthquakes struck off the coat of
Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami which devastated coastal regions around the Indian
Ocean and killed over 230,000 people.
2. The tsunami of 2004 was caused by a rupture in the 1,600 km stretch of the Sunda
megathrust fault between Aceh (Indonesia) and Andaman Islands.
3. It was an event waiting to happen, say scientists. For more than five centuries, the IndoAustralian tectonic plate was subducting under the Sunda plate.
4. But near the surface these plates had locked together, accumulating extremely high levels of
tension along a huge stretch of the Sunda megathrust. The earth struggled to maintain its
mounting pressure.
5. Then, in a decisive moment on December 26, 2004, the earth shrugged off its strain.
6. In a matter of seconds, 1,600 km of ocean floor broke free and lurched upward, like a
compressed spring released suddenly.
7. The displacement of the sea floor was later calculated to be as high as six metre.
8. It was the incredible force of this displacement that triggered the great tsunami of 2004.
9. The tsunami could not have been prevented, but it could have been anticipated, and the loss
might have been greatly reduced.
10. Despite the uncontrollable chaos we associate with natural disasters of this scale, there are
patterns and rules governing even the greatest earthquakes and tsunamis.
11. Over the past decade, much scientific research has taken place along the Sunda megathrust,
including the segment that ruptured in 2004.
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12. The term megathrust refers to an extremely large and active fault between convergent
tectonic plates.
13. These geological structures are responsible for all earthquakes of moment magnitude 9.0 or
higher.
14. Very few earthquakes are that powerfula grand total of five have occurred since 1900, and
the 2004 earthquake was, by far, the deadliest of these.
15. The 1,600 km stretch that ruptured during the 2004 earthquake was only one section of the
5,200 kilometer Sunda megathrust, which arcs all the way from Burma to Australia, hugging
the western coast of Sumatra.
NASA emails wrench to space station

1. NASA has for the first time emailed a new wrench as an emailed digital file for the
International Space Stations onboard 3D printer.
2. A request from ISS astronaut Barry Wilmore for a ratcheting socket wrench led the Made in
Space team.
3. To design the tool after which it sent the digital printing file to NASA which uploaded it to
the station.
4. For the first time hardware have been mailed to space, Because its a lot faster to send
digital data (which can travel at the speed of light) to space
5. Than it is to send physical objects (which involves waiting months to years for a rocket), it
makes more sense to 3Dprint things in space.
6. In November, the printer had manufactured the first 3-D printed object in space a
replacement part for itself.
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Scientists map water vapour in Martian atmosphere
1. Scientists, including NASA researchers, have created a map of the distribution of water
vapour in Mars atmosphere.
2. Researchers observed seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations in Mars using data
collected over ten years
3. It was collected by the Russian-French SPICAM (Spectroscopy for Investigation of
Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars) spectrometer aboard the Mars Express orbiter.
4. This is the longest period of observation and provides the largest volume of data about
water vapour on Mars.
5. Conditions on Mars like low temperatures and low atmospheric pressure do not allow water
to exist in liquid form in open reservoirs as it would on Earth.
6. However, on Mars, there is a powerful layer of permafrost with large reserves of frozen
water concentrated at the polar caps.
7. There is water vapour in the atmosphere, although at very low levels compared to the
quantities experienced here on Earth.
8. If the entire volume of water in the atmosphere was to be spread evenly over the surface of
the planet, the thickness of the water layer would not exceed 10-20 microns.
9. Data from the SPICAM experiment allowed scientists to create a picture of the annual cycle
of water vapour concentration variation in the atmosphere.
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January 2015
New half-light half-matter quantum particles discovered
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In a breakthrough, researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist have discovered half-light, half-matter

particles in atomically thin semiconductors made of a 2D layer of atoms.
The research improves the prospects of developing computing and communication technologies
based on quantum properties of light and matter.
The atomically thin semiconductors consisted of two-dimensional (2D) layer of molybdenum and
sulfur atoms arranged similar to graphene.
Researchers from City College of New York led by Dr Vinod Menon sandwiched the 2D material in a
light trapping structure to realise the composite quantum particles.
The study appears in the journal Nature Photonics.
Big Bang to be probed using Antarctica telescopes

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A set of six telescopes collectively known as Spider Sub-orbital Polarimeter for Inflation, Dust and
the Epoch of Re-ionization will circle Antarctica in a bid to observe a haze of faint, radio
microwaves that envelops space.
Such waves are thought to be the fading remnants of the primordial fireball in which it all started 13.8
billion years ago.
The exercise would help scientists understand the phenomenon of the Big Bang, the most plausible
theory explaining the origin of universe.
The telescopes are designed to detect faint curlicues (a decorative curl or design of an object) in
microwaves.
Spider will observe the microwaves in two wavelengths that would allow them to distinguish dust
from primordial space-time ripples.
The theory propounds that such curls would have been caused by violent disruptions of the spacetime continuum when the universe began expanding.
Spider is the sister experiment to a California Institute of Technology-based project known as Bicep,
whose investigators made headlines last spring when they announced that they had recorded
curlicues in a patch of the sky from a telescope at the South Pole.
First Chhattisgarh wild buffalo clone born in Haryana

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India's first cloning of Chhattisgarh's endangered wild buffalo met success with birth of healthy
female calf born on December 12 last at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) at Karnal in
Haryana.
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The clone of the only wild-buffalo in Chhattisgarh in semi-captivity was produced through the 'handguided cloning technique' at ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.
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The female calf was born by normal parturition, and was named "Deepasha".
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Its weight at the time of birth was 32 kg and is keeping good health," an ICAR spokesman said.
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Birds Evolved in 'Big Bang,' New Family Tree Reveals
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A new family tree of the world's bird species may be the most complete one ever made, and reveals
some surprising relationships.
More than 200 scientists at 80 institutions spent more than four years sequencing the genomes of
bird species and analyzing them using supercomputers as part of a massive effort to reconstruct how
birds evolved.
The new bird genealogy is the most comprehensive one to date in terms of the amount of genomic
data and the scientific approaches used.
In one finding, the analysis revealed that the common ancestor of a group called the core landbirds
which includes today's songbirds, parrots and woodpeckers was a top-level predator of its time.
Previous studies have tried to reconstruct the relationships between bird species using just a few
dozen genes.
More than 10,000 bird species are alive today, and from the colorful birds-of-paradise of New Guinea,
to the iconic blue-footed boobies of the west coast of the Americas, birds are some of the most varied
and fascinating creatures around.
ISRO gears up to launch IRNSS 1D

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After completing an eventful year, ISRO is gearing up for some satellite launches this year, with the
IRNSS 1D being the first.
Which would put in place Indias own navigation system on par with the Global Positioning System of
the U.S.
The launch campaign for IRNSS 1D has come, which starts on January 16.
Within two months, all components from other ISRO labs have to reach Sriharikota. The launch is
likely after March 15.
IRNSS 1D is the fourth in the series of seven satellites, the national space agency is planning to launch
to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
While four satellites would be sufficient to start operations of the system, the remaining three
satellites would make it more accurate and efficient.
IRNSS is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in the country as well as
the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
ISRO not only launched a GLSV rocket, a GSLV Mk III, besides two PSLVs during 2014 but also
successfully inserted its Mars orbiter into the Martian atmosphere and tested the re-entry of
unmanned crew module from space.
Hubble captures images of Eagle Nebula's 'Pillars of Creation'

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revisited the famous Eagle Nebula's Pillars of Creation and
has captured high-definition images.
The telescope had earlier captured the three impressive towers of gas and dust in 1995, which
revealed never-before-seen details in the giant columns.
Now the telescope is kickstarting its 25th year in orbit with an even clearer, and more stunning, image
of these beautiful structures.
The captured image is part of the Eagle Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 16 and although such
features are not uncommon in star-forming regions.
The Messier 16 structures are by far the most photogenic and evocative ever captured.
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6.
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The infrared image shows that the reason the pillars exist is because the very ends of them are dense,
and they shadow the gas below them.
Creating the long, pillar-like structures and the gas in between the pillars has long since been blown
away by the winds from a nearby star cluster.
8 new planets found in Goldilocks zone

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Astronomers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have discovered eight new
planets within the so-called Goldilocks or habitable zone of their stars.
To be considered habitable, exoplanets must orbit within a distance of their stars in which liquid
water can exist on the planets surface, receiving about as much sunlight as Earth.
Most of these planets have a good chance of being rocky, like Earth, lead author Guillermo Torres of
the CfA said in a release.
The discoveries of Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b are the latest in several advancements scientists have
made to find signs of possible life in the universe.
At a panel held last summer at NASA headquarters in Washington, astronomers said they were very
close in terms of technology and science to actually finding the other Earth.
Thats due in part to the Kepler Space Telescope. The planet-hunting Kepler probe, launched in 2009,
finds planets by looking for dips in the brightness of a star as a planet transits, or crosses, in front of
that star.
BCL11A: Novel cancer gene found

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A new study identifies the BCL11A gene is especially active in aggressive subtypes of breast cancer.
The research suggests that an overactive BCL11A gene drives triple-negative breast cancer
development and progression.
The research, which was done in human cells and in mice, provides new routes to explore targeted
treatments for this aggressive tumor type.
There are many types of breast cancers that respond differently to treatments and have different
prognoses.
Approximately one in five patients is affected by triple-negative breast cancer; these cancers lack
three receptor proteins that respond to hormone therapies used for other subtypes of breast cancer.
In recent years it has become apparent that the majority of triple-negative tumors are of the basallike subtype.
Although new treatments are being explored, the prognosis for triple-negative cancer is poorer than
for other types.
To date, only a handful of genomic aberrations in genes have been associated with the development
of triple-negative breast cancer.
When BCL11A was inactivated in an experimental system in mice, no mice developed tumors in the
mammary gland, whereas all untreated animals developed tumors.
The team also showed that BCL11A is required for normal development of breast stem cells and
progenitors, which are thought to be the cells that, when mutated, give rise to basal-like breast
cancer.
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NASA satellite to track droughts
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NASA is launching a new satellite this month that will improve drought monitoring and flood
warnings.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite will provide the best maps yet of soil moisture levels
from pole to pole, scientists said.
For the first time, scientists will get a birds-eye view of drought patterns; for instance, they will watch
where droughts begin and end, and how droughts spread across large area.
Scientists said the soil moisture maps will help farmers who depend on rain to irrigate crops.
The soil moisture maps could also help improve flood warnings because forecasters will know how
wet the ground is before an intense storm, Live Science reported.
Data from the satellite will track global soil moisture levels for the top 5 centimetres of Earths surface
every two to three days.
The mission is planned to last three years, at a cost of USD 916 million, but the instruments could last
several years longer, mission scientists said.
The SMAP satellite, which will be carried aloft by a Delta II rocket, is scheduled to launch on January
29 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
Insecticide-resistant super mosquito discovered

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A newly discovered super mosquito has the ability to survive the insecticides used to treat bed nets
which are key to preventing the spread of malaria in humans, scientists say.
Interbreeding of two malaria mosquito species in the West African country of Mali has resulted in a
super mosquito hybrid that is resistant to insecticide-treated bed nets.
Its super with respect to its ability to survive exposure to the insecticides on treated bed nets, said
medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro of University of California Davis, who led the research team.
The research provides convincing evidence indicating that a man-made change in the environment
the introduction of insecticides has altered the evolutionary relationship between two species, in
this case a breakdown in the reproductive isolation that separates them,
Anopheles gambiae, a major malaria vector, is interbreeding with isolated pockets of another malaria
mosquito, a coluzzii.
Entomologists initially considered them as the M and S forms of Anopheles gambiae. They are now
recognised as separate species. Growing resistance has been observed for some time
Recently it has reached a level at some localities in Africa where it is resulting in the failure of the nets
to provide meaningful control, and it is my opinion that this will increase.
The World Health Organisations World Malaria Report indicates that deaths from malaria worldwide
have decreased by 47 per cent since 2000.
A number of new strategies are in development, including new insecticides, biological agents
including mosquito-killing bacteria and fungi and genetic manipulation of mosquitoes aimed at
either killing them or altering their ability to transmit the malaria parasite.
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Cheap asphalt to trap carbon dioxide created
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Researchers have developed an inexpensive type of asphalt that can capture carbon dioxide from
natural gas wells and keep it out of the atmosphere.
The study from the laboratory of James Tour at Rice University found that a compound made cheaply
in a few steps from asphalt is even better than a green carbon capture material for wellhead
sequestration discovered last year.
The best version made by the Tour lab is a powder that holds 114 per cent of its weight in carbon
dioxide.
These new porous carbon materials capture carbon dioxide molecules at room temperature while
letting the desired methane natural gas flow through.
The basic compound known as asphalt-porous carbon (A-PC) captures carbon dioxide as it leaves a
wellhead under pressure supplied by the rising gas itself.
When the pressure is relieved, A-PC spontaneously releases the carbon dioxide, which can be piped
off to storage, pumped back down-hole or repurposed for such uses as enhanced oil recovery.
This provides an ultra-inexpensive route to a high-value material for the capture of carbon dioxide
from natural gas streams.
The material captured 93 per cent of its weight in carbon dioxide. Further experiments showed
processing A-PC with ammonia and then hydrogen increased its capacity to 114 per cent.
The research appears in the American Chemical Society journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Improved solar panels with new material discovery

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Researchers say discovery of highly sought-after 'nematic liquid crystals' can now lead to vastly
improved organic solar cell performance.
Lead author Dr David Jones of the University's School of Chemistry and Bio 21 Institute, said these
cells will be easier to manufacture, with the new crystals now able to work in cells that are double in
thickness on the previous limit of 200 nanometers.
We have improved the performance of this type of solar cell from around 8 per cent efficient to 9.3
per cent, finally approaching the international benchmark of 10 per cent.
It means that consumers can look forward to more competitive pricing in the solar energy sector, and
according to Dr Jones, the discovery is a shot-in-the-arm for the whole organic materials sector.
The discovery is a step forward for the wider commercialization of printed organic solar cells.
But more than this, could aid in the development of new materials with improved performance such
as LCD screens."
Uptake of the current generation of organic solar cells has lagged behind more widespread siliconbased models, due to their comparative lack of performance even with a simplified construction via
large printers.
This is despite the organic models providing an unparalleled degree of versatility in how they are
used; they can be shaped to fit nearly any surface area, as opposed to the traditional 'grid' formation
of silicon-based cells.
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New genetic clues found in fragile X syndrome
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Scientists have gained new insight into fragile X syndrome -- the most common cause of inherited
intellectual disability -- by studying the case of a person without the disorder, but with two of its
classic symptoms.
In patients with fragile X, a key gene is completely disabled, eliminating a protein that regulates
electrical signals in the brain and causing a host of behavioral, neurological and physical
symptoms.
This patient, in contrast, had only a single error in this gene and exhibited only two classic traits
of fragile X -- intellectual disability and seizures -- allowing the researchers to parse out a
previously unknown role for the gene.
"This individual case has allowed us to separate two independent functions of the fragile X
protein in the brain," said co-senior author Vitaly A. Klyachko.
By finding the mutation, even in just one patient, and linking it to a partial set of traits, we have
identified a distinct function that this gene is responsible for and that is likely impaired in all
people with fragile X."
The research, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Online
Early Edition, is by investigators at Washington University and Emory University School of
Medicine in Atlanta.
In studying fragile X, researchers' focus long has been on the problems that occur when brain
cells receive signals.
Like radio transmitters and receivers, brain cells send and receive transmissions in fine tuned
ways that separate the signals from the noise.
Until recently, most fragile X research has focused on problems with overly sensitive receivers,
those that allow in too much information. The new study suggests that fragile X likely also causes
overactive transmitters that send out too much information.
New species discovered beneath ocean crust

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Two miles below the surface of the ocean, researchers have discovered new microbes that
"breathe" sulfate.
The microbes, which have yet to be classified and named, exist in massive undersea aquifers -networks of channels in porous rock beneath the ocean where water continually churns. About
one-third of the Earth's biomass is thought to exist in this largely uncharted environment.
"It was surprising to find new bugs, but when we go to warmer, relatively old and isolated fluids,
we find a unique microbial community," said Alberto Robador, postdoctoral researcher at the
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and lead author of a paper on the new findings
published in Microbiology on Jan. 14.
Sulfate is a compound of sulfur and oxygen that occurs naturally in seawater. It is used
commercially in everything from car batteries to bath salts and can be aerosolized by the burning
of fossil fuels, increasing the acidity of the atmosphere.
Microbes that breathe sulfate -- that is, gain energy by reacting sulfate with organic (carboncontaining) compounds -- are thought to be some of the oldest types of organisms on Earth.
Other species of sulfate-breathing microbes can be found in marshes and hydrothermal vents.
Microbes beneath the ocean's crust, however, are incredibly tricky to sample.
Researchers from USC and the University of Hawaii took their samples from the Juan de Fuca
Ridge (off the coast of Washington state), where previous teams had placed underwater
laboratories, drilled into the ocean floor.
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To place the labs, they lowered a drill through two miles of ocean and bored through several
hundred feet of ocean sediment and into the rock where the aquifer flows.
"Trying to take a sample of aquifer water without contaminating it with regular ocean water
presented a huge challenge," said Jan Amend, professor at USC Dornsife and director of the
Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI), which helped fund the research.
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February - 2015
Google making artificial human skin
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Search giant Google is developing artificial human skin to test cancer-detecting nanoparticles that will
work with a smart wristband.
Last year Google announced that it was working on magnetic nanoparticles that would seek out
cancer cells in the bloodstream and report back to a wristband.
The technology will use light signals to talk to the wristband through the superficial veins on the
underside of the wrist.
Shining lights through the skin means factoring in a range of skin types and colours, and so Googles
scientists have built fake arms with the same autofluorescence and biochemical components of real
arms.
NASA launches Earth-observing satellite

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A Delta 2 rocket carrying Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite was launched early from
Vandenberg Air Force Base on Californias central coast.
The satellite is on a three-year mission to track the amount of water locked in soil, which may help
residents in low-lying regions brace for floods or farmers get ready for drought conditions.
Once the satellite reaches the desired orbit 430 miles or 692 kilometers high, engineers will spend
two weeks checking out the two instruments.
This will measure moisture in the soil every several days to produce high-resolution global maps.
Scientists hope data collected by the satellite, the latest to join NASAs Earthorbiting fleet, will
improve flood forecasts and drought monitoring.
New instrument can detect atmospheric mercury

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A new sensor can detect ambient levels of mercury in the atmosphere.

This new highly sensitive, laser-based instrument provides scientists with a method to more
accurately measure global human exposure to mercury.
The measurement approach is called sequential two-photon laser induced fluorescence (2P-LIF).
It uses two different laser beams to excite mercury atoms and monitor blue shifted atomic
fluorescence.
The 2P-LIF instrument measured ambient mercury at very minute levels within 10 seconds, whereas
its counterpart instrument requires at least 2.5 minutes.
It is not able to differentiate between elemental and oxidized mercury, where the mercury atom is
combined with another element or elements and becomes more efficiently deposited in the
environment.
Mercury is deposited on the ground (dry deposition) or via rainfall (wet deposition) where it
bioaccumulates and biomagnifies, ending up at much high concentrations in fish and mammals.
Direct exposure to mercury by humans is primarily through the ingestion of methyl mercury from fish
consumption.
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First gene responsible for familial scoliosis discovered
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The discovery of the first gene causing familial scoliosis was announced by an international FranceCanada research team today.
Mystery surrounds the cause of scoliosis, which is a three dimensional deformation of the vertebral
column.
Many researchers have been attempting to uncover the origins of this disease, particularly from a
genetic point of view," explained leading co-author Dr Florina Moldovan of the University of Montreal
and the CHU Sainte Justine research hospital.
"To date, many genes have been suspected of causing scoliosis amongst different populations, but
the gene that causes the familial form of the disease remained unknown.
Moon rich ground for mining: Experts

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Moon is a rich ground for mining, with an estimated 1.6 billion tonnes of water ice at its poles and an
abundance of rare-earth elements hidden below the lunar surface, experts say.
Private firms and space agencies are dreaming of tapping into these lucrative resources and turning
the Moons grey, barren landscape into a money-making conveyer belt, according to an article
published in the journal Physics World.
Since NASA disbanded its manned Apollo missions to the Moon over 40 years ago, unmanned
spaceflight has made giant strides and has identified a bountiful supply of water ice at the north and
south poles of the Moon.
With a near-monopoly on the dwindling terrestrial rare-earth elements, which are vital for everything
from mobile phones to computers and car batteries, it is no surprise that China may want to cast its
net wider, the article said.
Eight different types of schizophrenia identified

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Scientists have found that there is not a single type of schizophrenia, but that it consists of a group
made up of eight genetically different types of diseases.
Previous research has shown that approximately 80 per cent of the risk of suffering from
schizophrenia was hereditary.
The new research has for the first time identified the different gene networks that contribute to the
existence of eight different types of schizophrenia.
The study included 4,196 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 3,200 healthy patients
participated as control group.
In some patients with hallucinations or delirium, for instance, researchers agree that there are
different networks of genes related to their respective symptoms, which demonstrates that specific
genetic variations interact with each other.
In another group, they found that incongruent speech and disorganised behaviour are specifically
associated with a DNA variations network that leads to a 100 per cent risk of suffering schizophrenia.
In parallel, scientists classified the profiles of these symptoms into eight qualitative types of different
diseases according to the underlying genetic conditions.
Although individual genes only present weak, inconsistent associations with schizophrenia, the
interaction networks of gene groups pose a high risk of suffering from the disease, between 70 and
100 per cent.
Which makes it almost impossible that individuals with those genetic variation networks will avoid
schizophrenia, researchers said.
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10. Researchers found a total of 42 genes groups that influenced in a variety of ways the risk of suffering
schizophrenia.
Beneficial algal species discovered

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Two new bloom-forming algal species were discovered recently off the west coast of India.
These two species have excellent carbon capture properties ability to absorb carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and reduce global warming and are also promising candidates for use as bio fuels.
Currently, a number of research groups are working on using algae as a potential candidate for carbon
sequestration because they grow at very high rates and can absorb atmospheric CO.
As they are endemic, their cultivation is not going to cause any environmental harm; had it been a
species of Atlantic or Mediterranean origin, it might overgrow local flora and might wreak havoc on
the local habitats the so-called bio invasion.
Bloom forming indicates spontaneous growth. There is no need for fertilizers/pesticides or any
expensive cultivation systems such as photobioreactors for their cultivation.
Now make pure water from thin air

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In April 2012, at the height of summer, Mumbaikars were shocked to read about the death of a
woman in a Thane village who trudged several kilometres to fetch drinking water and died from
sunstroke.
The incident prompted an IITian to build a device that can convert humidity in the atmosphere into
water, right in our homes.
Anit Asthana, a chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Delhi and an MBA
from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
It was moved to do something about the problem of cheap drinking water, especially during the
summer months and in the drought-prone regions of the country.
After a lot of research and experiments, we have developed India's first Air-Water Generator which
can 'make' pure water from the humidity in the atmosphere.
It can be developed right into home Asthana, managing director of ElectroWater Technologies Pvt.
Ltd, Mumbai, told IANS.
SpaceX looks to launch space weather satellite, land rocket

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SpaceX, the California-based company led by billionaire Elon Musk, is aiming for both a launch and
landing within minutes of each other.
2.
The company is set to launch an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket at sunset from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
3.
On board is the Deep Space Climate Observatory, which will head to a destination 1 million miles
away. Its designed to monitor solar outbursts that could disrupt life here on Earth.
4.
NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Air Force have teamed up for the
$340-million mission.
5.
As soon as the main booster completes its lifting job, it will attempt to fly to a platform floating nearly
400 miles off the Florida coast.
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Rare triple-moon conjunction captured
1.
NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has captured the rare occurrence of three of Jupiters largest moons
racing across the face of the gas-giant planet.
2.
Europa, Callisto and Io complete orbits around Jupiter with durations ranging from 2 days to 17 days.
3.
They can commonly be seen transiting the face of Jupiter and casting shadows onto its cloud tops.
However, seeing three moons transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only
once or twice a decade, researchers said.
4.
The moons in the photos have distinctive colours. The ancient cratered surface of Callisto is brownish;
the smooth icy surface of Europa is yellow-white; and the volcanic, sulphur-dioxide surface of Io is
orange.
5.
The moon Ganymede is missing from the photos as it was outside Hubbles field of view and too far
from Jupiter in angular separation to be considered part of this conjunction.
6.
Jupiter has over 60 moons. The four large moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - are called the
Galilean moons after the 17th century scientist Galileo Galilei who discovered them.
India to explore mineral deposits off Mauritius coast

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India will soon start exploration of mineral deposits, mainly polymetallic sulphides, along the 10,000
sq km mid-ocean ridge off Mauritius following approval from the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
2. The exploration will actually begin after the Government of India signs a 15-year contract with the ISA
within a year.
3. National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research Director Dr. S. Rajan said on Monday while
addressing a plenary session at the ongoing World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC2015).
4. The congress is jointly organised by Swadeshi Science Movement of Vijnana Bharati here and the
Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.
5. An application for Deep Sea Mining Exploration License was lodged with the ISA by the Ministry of
Earth Sciences in April 2013 and approval for the plan of work for exploration was given in July 2014.
6. The project will be implemented in three continuous phases from the date of agreement.
7. The exploration is expected to lead to vast deposits of lead, zinc and copper ranging from several
thousands to about 100 million tonnes.
8. The hydrothermal fluids, when mixed with the cold surrounding seawater, are precipitated onto the
chimney vents leading to the formation of massive deposits of lead, zinc and copper.
9. The Ministry has given a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
seeking to extend the countrys Continental Shelf Limit to 350 nautical miles from the current 200
nautical miles.
10. This will allow the country to widen its area of exploration of large scale mineral deposits.
11. National Institute of Ocean Technology Director Dr M A Atmanand, addressing the session, said the
institute has taken up a number of projects for the benefit of society including beach restoration,
weather forecast, tsunami warning, desalination and generation of renewable energy.
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Parasitic wasps novel weapon
1.
A parasitic wasp employs a biological weapon a virus to paralyse a beetle, turning the creature
into a bodyguard for its larva, according to research just published.
2. Parasites are known to manipulate the behaviour of their hosts in a fashion that benefits them.
3. Rats infected with the single-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, for instance, stop fleeing from the
smell of cats and thereby readily fall prey to them.
4. That allows the parasite, which can sexually reproduce only in alimentary tract of cats, to complete its
lifecycle.
5. In the case of the parasitic wasp, Dinocampus coccinellae, a female wasp will attack a ladybeetle,
stinging it and then laying an egg inside its abdomen.
6. The developing larva feeds off its unfortunate hosts tissues and, after nearly three weeks, a proceeds
to squeeze its way out of the latters body.
7. The beetles travails do not end there. The wasp larva then spins a cocoon between the beetles legs.
8. While the larva undergoes further development inside the cocoon, the beetle becomes partially
paralysed, unable to move about properly and with its legs twitching occasionally.
9. By remaining perched on top of the cocoon, it acts as a bodyguard, its body protecting the larva from
predators.
10. After about a week, an adult wasp emerges from the cocoon and flies away. Some beetles survive this
traumatic experience and gradually recover.
11. In beetles that recover, their immune system returns to normal and gets rid of the virus, allowing the
nervous system to repair itself.
SpaceX rocket blasts off to put weather satellite into deep space
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A SpaceX rocket blasted off on Wednesday to put a U.S. satellite into deep space, where it will keep
tabs on solar storms and image Earth from nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) away.
Illuminated by the setting sun, the 22-story Falcon 9 rocket soared off its seaside launch pad at 6:03
p.m. EST (2303 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The launch was delayed on Sunday by a problem with a radar tracking system and on Tuesday by high
winds.
The rocket carries the Deep Space Climate Observatory, nicknamed DSCOVR, a $340 million mission
backed by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Air Force, which paid
for the launch.
DSCOVR replaces a 17-year-old satellite monitoring for potentially dangerous solar storms, which can
disrupt GPS signals, block radio communications and impact power grids on Earth.
It will take DSCOVR 110 days to reach its operational orbit around the sun, almost 1 million miles (1.6
million km) inward from Earth, where it will serve as a weather buoy, providing about an hour's
advance notice of threatening solar activity.
It also will take pictures of Earth every two hours that will be posted on the Internet, fulfilling in part
Gore's dream.
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NASA spacecraft captures giant filament on Sun
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A NASA spacecraft has captured a giant solar filament which appears as a dark line snaked across the
lower half of the Sun and is longer than 67 Earths lined up in a row.
An image captured by NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on February 10 shows the filament
of solar material hovering above the Suns surface.
SDO shows colder material as dark and hotter material as light, so the line is, in fact, an enormous
swatch of colder material hovering in the Suns atmosphere, the corona.
Stretched out, that line or solar filament as scientists call it would be more than 857,780 km
long. That is longer than 67 Earths lined up in a row, NASA said.
Sometimes they also erupt out into space, releasing solar material in a shower that either rains back
down or escapes out into space, becoming a moving cloud known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME.
India to explore mineral deposits off Mauritius coast

1.
India will soon start exploration of mineral deposits, mainly polymetallic sulphides, along the 10,000
sq km mid-ocean ridge off Mauritius following approval from the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
2. The exploration will actually begin after the Government of India signs a 15-year contract with the ISA
within a year.
3. National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research Director Dr. S. Rajan said on Monday while
addressing a plenary session at the ongoing World Ocean Science Congress (WOSC2015).
4. The congress is jointly organised by Swadeshi Science Movement of Vijnana Bharati here and the
Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.
5. An application for Deep Sea Mining Exploration License was lodged with the ISA by the Ministry of
Earth Sciences in April 2013 and approval for the plan of work for exploration was given in July 2014.
6. The project will be implemented in three continuous phases from the date of agreement.
7. The exploration is expected to lead to vast deposits of lead, zinc and copper ranging from several
thousands to about 100 million tonnes.
8. The hydrothermal fluids, when mixed with the cold surrounding seawater, are precipitated onto the
chimney vents leading to the formation of massive deposits of lead, zinc and copper.
9. The Ministry has given a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
seeking to extend the countrys Continental Shelf Limit to 350 nautical miles from the current 200
nautical miles.
10. This will allow the country to widen its area of exploration of large scale mineral deposits.
11. National Institute of Ocean Technology Director Dr M A Atmanand, addressing the session, said the
institute has taken up a number of projects for the benefit of society including beach restoration,
weather forecast, tsunami warning, desalination and generation of renewable energy.
Rare planet with extreme seasons discovered

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Researchers have discovered one of the most dense and massive planets known so far with
extreme seasons.
The teams, one led by Mauricio Ortiz of the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH)
and the other by Simona Ciceri of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg.
The shape and the size of its orbit are also unusual for the planet named Kepler-432b that is
revolving around a giant star.
The majority of known planets moving around giant stars have large and circular orbits. With its
small and highly elongated orbit, Kepler-432b is a real maverick among planets of this type.
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5.
Dr. Gandolfi explained that the star around which Kepler-432b is orbiting has already exhausted
the nuclear fuel in its core and is gradually expanding.
6. Its radius is already four times that of our Sun and it will get even larger in the future. As the star
is reddish in colour, astronomers call it a red giant.
7. The orbit brings Kepler-432b incredibly close to its host star at some times and much farther
away at others, thus creating enormous temperature differences over the course of the planets
year, which corresponds to 52 Earth days.
8. During the winter season, the temperature on Kepler-432b is roughly 500 degrees Celsius. In the
short summer season, it can increase to nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius, said astronomer Dr.
Sabine Reffert from the state observatory Konigstuhl.
9. Kepler-432b was previously identified as a transiting planet candidate by the NASA Kepler
satellite mission. From the vantage point of Earth, a transiting planet passes in front of its host
star, periodically dimming the received stellar light.
10. Both groups of researchers used the 2.2-metre telescope at Calar Alto Observatory in Andalucia,
Spain to collect data.
11. The group from the state observatory also observed Kepler-432b with the Nordic Optical
Telescope on La Palma.
Newton knew how water rise in plants defies gravity

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English physicist Isaac Newton very nearly uncovered the secret of how plants defy gravity by pulling
water up from roots, almost 200 years before the process was described by botanists, new research
has shown.
David Beerling from the University of Sheffield, UK, reviewed an old notebook filled with scrawlings by
Newton.
Beerling described in the journal Nature Plants that Newton kept a notebook during his college years
which he used for jotting down ideas and musings.
One of those was apparently an idea to help explain how it is that plants are able to pull water from
the ground via roots and transport it up through stalks and stems to their leaves - defying gravity in
the process, 'Phys.org' reported.
Newton suggested in his notebook that light pulled water particles from pores in plant leaves - as
"juices" beneath flowed in naturally to refill the pore, juices from below were pulled upward.
This idea is not far from what is the commonly excepted explanation for plant transpiration today where water is pulled up a plant from roots and evaporates out of leaves, causing tension due to
unequal pressure.
The current theory came about by botanists working in 1885, approximately 200 years after Newton
was writing in his notebook.
New laser technique to hunt for Earth-like planets

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The hunt for Earth-like planets around distant stars could soon become a lot easier, thanks to a new
laser technique developed by researchers in Germany.
2.
The technique will allow a spectral analysis of distant stars with unprecedented accuracy, as well as
advance research in other areas of astrophysics, such as detailed observations of the Sun and the
measurement of the accelerating universe by observing distant quasars, researchers said.
3.
Researchers successfully demonstrated how a solar telescope can be combined with laser frequency
comb (LFC) - a tool for measuring the colour or frequency of light.
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4.
LFC has been responsible for generating some of the most precise measurements ever made.
5.
An LFC is created by a laser that emits continuous pulses of light, containing millions of different
colours, often spanning almost the entire visible spectrum.
6.
When the different colours are separated based on their individual frequencies - the speed with
which that particular light wave oscillates - they form a comb-like graph with finely spaced lines, or
teeth, representing the individual frequencies.
7.
This comb can then be used as a ruler to precisely measure the frequency of light from a wide
range of sources, such as lasers, atoms or stars.
8.
When a planet orbits a star, the star does not stay completely stationary, but instead moves in a very
small circle or ellipse.
9.
When viewed from a distance, these slight changes in speed cause the stars light spectrum to change
- a process known as a Doppler shift.
10. The researchers believe that an LFC would allow them to measure these Doppler shifts much more
accurately and therefore increase the chances of spotting Earth-sized, habitable planets.
Displacement cuts life expectancy among tribal people

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Displacement does more than efface identities and disrupt livelihoods, it can reduce life expectancy,
finds a DNA study of a tribal community relocated from Madhya Pradeshs Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary.
2.
Around 8,000 Sahariya tribal people were moved out of their ancestral homes in Kuno in 1998-2002
to make space for Asiatic lions brought in from Gujarat.
3.
The families suffered acute stress as they coped with their radically changed life in unfamiliar, semiurbanized surroundings 10 km away.
4.
To find a possible link between these tumultuous life changes and lifespan, scientists studied their
subjects telomeres the protective caps on either end of a chromosome which are known to be
associated with aging and disease.
5.
Premature telomere shortening has for long been used as an indicator of psychosocial stress and
accelerated human aging.
6.
Researchers studied physical stress (cortisol), psychosomatic stress (through self-assessments) and
then conducted high resolution studies of telomere length among 24 individuals from the relocated
Maziran village in the forest core.
7.
They compared the results with identical tests on 22 individuals from Behruda village (in the
sanctuarys buffer) where no relocation took place (but the residents faced certain stressors such as
benign neglect from the Indian state).
8.
Those in the relocated Maziran, they found, have statistically significantly shorter telomeres
compared with those in Behruda. Consistent with expectations, we found significant associations
between each of our stress measures and telomere length, they conclude.
9.
Telomere shortening has already been associated with several stress-inducing situations.
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10. But most studies in these scenarios have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized and
rich societies, say the authors adding that this could, therefore, possibly be the first study to link
stress to telomere length in a developing country.
11. Telomere shortening among displaced tribal communities shows that these DNA stretches are clearly
a pan-cultural biomarker of compromised health and aging, says the paper.
12. During interactions, parents among the displaced Sahariya families expressed deep uncertainty
about the future, particularly with respect to the welfare of their children, and wished to return to
their predisplacement lives.
13. Sahariyas are among the most marginalised communities, steeped in poverty, with high illiteracy rates
and are geographically isolated.
NASA probe spots small moons orbiting Pluto

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Exactly 85 years after Plutos discovery, the NASA spacecraft set to encounter the icy dwarf planet this
summer has spotted small moons orbiting Pluto.
The moons, Nix and Hydra, are visible in a series of images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft at
distances ranging from about 201 million-186 million km.
The long-exposure images offer New Horizons best view yet of these two small moons circling Pluto
which professor Clyde Tombaugh discovered at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona Feb 18, 1930.
Tombaughs discovery of Pluto heralded the discovery of the Kuiper Belt and a new class of planet.
The New Horizons team salutes his historic accomplishment.
Assembled into a seven-frame movie, the new images provide the spacecrafts first extended look at
Hydra (identified by a yellow diamond) and its first-ever view of Nix (orange diamond).
The first good view of Nix and Hydra marks another major milestone and a perfect way to celebrate
the anniversary of Plutos discovery.
Nix and Hydra were discovered by New Horizons team members in Hubble Space Telescope images
taken in 2005.
Hydra, Plutos outermost known moon, orbits Pluto every 38 days at a distance of approximately
64,700 km while Nix orbits every 25 days at a distance of 48,700 km.
Indigenous sonar simulator inaugurated

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Indigenous sonar simulator Dhwani was inaugurated by Director Naval Physical and Oceanographic
Laboratory S Anantha Narayana at the Indian Navy Submarine training school INS Satvahana in
Visakhapatnam.
The state-of-the-art simulator Dhwani is a completely indigenous system developed for training
the submariners on operational aspects of Sonar.
It was executed by NPOL KochiThe inaugural function was attended by several senior submariners of
ENC including Flag Officer Submarines Rear Admiral SV Bhokare and Commanding Officer INS
Satavahana Commodore A Srinivas.
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Spacewalk on ISS completed
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NASA astronauts at International Space Station (ISS) have successfully completed the first of three
spacewalks to create parking spots for Boeing and SpaceX to deliver astronauts to the orbital
laboratory.
The 6-hour, 41-minute-spacewalk by Expedition 42 astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts was
meant to prepare the ISS for a pair of international docking adapters (IDAs) that will allow future
commercial crew vehicles to dock.
They rigged a series of power and data cables at the forward end of the Harmony module and
Pressurised Mating Adapter2 and routed 340 of 360 feet of cable.
The cable routing work is part of a reconfiguration of station systems and modules to accommodate
the delivery of new docking adapters that commercial crew vehicles will use later this decade to
deliver astronauts to the orbital laboratory.
The spacewalk was the first for Mr. Virts. Mr. Wilmore now has spent 13 hours and 15 minutes in the
void of space during two spacewalks.
Astronauts have now spent a total of 1,159 hours and 8 minutes conducting space station assembly
and maintenance during 185 spacewalks, NASA said.
Agreement in space technology for peaceful uses of outer space

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Government of India and its national space body, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
of Department of Space(DOS) has signed agreement with other developing/ developed countries
And their space bodies for peaceful uses of outer space including Research and Development (R&D) in
space science, technology and applications.
Currently, such cooperative arrangements are in place with Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, Syria, Thailand, The Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and
Venezuela. (No need to remember this)
What its all about?

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There is a committee of United Nations on peaceful uses of outer space

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was set up by the General Assembly in 1959
(resolution 1472 (XIV)) to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer
space.
Main functions are

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To devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage
continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters, and to study legal
problems arising from the exploration of outer space.
Right now there are 77 member states in committee; the committee has two standing subcommittees
of the whole, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee.
The Committee and its two Subcommittees meet annually to consider questions put before them by
the General Assembly, reports submitted to them and issues raised by the Member States.
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4.
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The Committee and the Subcommittees, working on the basis of consensus, make recommendations
to the General Assembly.
Detailed information on the work of the Committee and the Subcommittees are contained in their
annual reports.
The fifty-seventh session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was held from 11-20
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March 2015
Cern to test new particle model
1. The Higgs particle can disintegrate into particles of dark matter, according to a new model
that is being tested at the particle physics laboratory Cern.
2. Physicists describe the smallest constituents of nature - elementary particles and forces
acting between them using a set of theories known as "the Standard Model".
3. This model was developed in the 1970s and has been very successful, particularly in
predicting the existence of undiscovered particles.
4. The last in the series was the Higgs particle, or the 'Higgs Boson', the existence of which was
confirmed by the scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in 2012.
5. The problem is that there are several things the Standard Model is unable to explain, for
example dark matter that makes up a large part of the universe.
6. One of them is Christoffer Petersson, who carries out research in theoretical particle physics
at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the Universite Libre in Belgium.
SpaceX rocket blasts off with world's first all-electric satellites

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A Space Exploration Technologies rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sunday
to put the world's first all-electric communications satellites into orbit.
2.
The 22-storey tall booster soared off its seaside launch pad at 10:50 a.m. EST (0350 GMT), the third
flight in less than two months for SpaceX, as the privately owned, California-based company is known.
3.
Perched on top of the rocket were a pair of satellites built by Boeing and owned by Paris-based
Eutelsat Communications and Bermuda-based ABS, whose majority owner is the European private
equity firm Permira.
4.
Eutelsat and ABS shared satellite manufacturing and launch costs, a business arrangement spurred by
technological innovation.
5.
The satellites launched on Sunday are outfitted with lightweight, all-electric engines, rather than
conventional chemical propulsion systems, to reach and maintain orbit.
6.
The value of electrical propulsion is that it allows the satellite operator to need much less fuel than
when the satellite has chemical propulsion," Eutelsat chief executive Michel de Rosen said in an
interview before launch.
7.
SpaceX, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, turned the theoretical price
cuts into reality.
8.
Breaking what de Rosen calls "a quasi-monopoly" Europe's Arianespace had on the small satellite
launch market.
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9.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although SpaceX's website lists a Falcon 9 launch as costing $61
million.
10. The disadvantage of electric propulsion is that it will take the satellites months, rather than weeks, to
reach their operational orbits about 22,300 miles (35,800 km) above Earth.
11. High enough to appear virtually parked over a particular part of the globe.
12. The companies are partnering for a second pair of satellites that are due to launch aboard another
Falcon 9 rocket later this year.
13. SpaceX also flies cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA and is working on an
upgraded spaceship to fly astronauts as well.
Countdown to IRNSS 1D on March 7

1.
The 59-hour countdown for the launch of IRNSS 1D satellite, which will help India kick-start
functioning of indigenous navigation system on a par with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS),
will commence at 7.35 am on March 7.
2.
The launch is scheduled at the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 6.35
p.m. on March 9, a senior ISRO official told.
3.
IRNSS 1D is the fourth of the seven satellites to be launched to put in place Indias very own satellite
navigation system, which will be established at a cost of Rs. 1,400 crore.
4.
Though the launch would help the ISRO commence initial operations on the system, the formal
commencement of the IRNSS function would be announced a few months later, as the satellite would
have to take its final position.
5.
Following the IRNSS 1D, the ISRO is planning to launch a GSAT-6 communication satellite on board
GSLV D-6 rocket with indigenous cryogenic engine by July.
6.
A foreign satellite on a commercial launch is planned in May onboard a PSLV and we plan to launch
IRNSS 1E and Astrosat satellites before the end of this year.
Worlds first solar-powered aircraft to land in Gujarat

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Solar Impulse, claimed to be the worlds only solar-powered aircraft, will make a stopover in
Ahmedabad on Tuesday as a part of its maiden global journey.
Solar Impulse will take off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and land in Ahmedabad after
making a first stop over at Muscat in Oman.
It will make a pit-stop in Ahmedabad, a release issued by the aircraft projects PR firm said.
After making a landing here, the solar-powered aircrafts founders and pilots Bertrand Piccard and
Androrschberg are likely to stay in the city for two days before leaving for Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,
the release said.
The Swiss solar-powered aircrafts flight got delayed by a day due to bad weather conditions in the
UAE.
Piccard and Borschberg, during their stay in the city, will reach out to the government, NGOs,
universities and schools to spread the message of clean technologies.
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7.
8.
The aircraft is also likely to hover above river Ganga in Varanasi to spread the message of cleanliness
and clean energy, an official associated with the project said.
Solar Impulse is claimed to be the first aircraft to fly day and night without a drop of fuel, propelled
solely by the suns energy, as per the projects website.
Tech-savvy farmer saves wheat crop in Chandigarh

1.
Untimely rains accompanied with strong winds and hailstorm have farmers across north India worried
as it has led to lodging (flattening) of wheat crop.
2. However, one progressive farmer from Karnal managed to save his wheat from the vagaries of
weather as he had sown his crop using, the "Happy Seeder" machine unlike the broadcasting method
used by most farmers.
3. Harpreet Singh of Kalwehri village of Karnal, who had sown 10 acres of wheat, said, "Heavy rainfall
and strong winds flattened the wheat crop in our area on March 2 and 3.
4. Crops of many farmers in the adjoining fields got lodged due to inclement weather. However, my crop
remained unaffected by the torrential downpour and strong winds.
5. I had sown wheat with the Happy Seeder so that could be the reason that my crop remained
unaffected."
6. Harpreet said he has been sowing wheat with this machine since 2011. "I have sown HD-3086, HD2967, and WH-1105 and KRI-210 varieties of wheat.
7. I started using Happy Seeder for sowing about four years ago and the results have been encouraging."
8. Even farm scientists are taking keen interest in the growth of wheat sown by Harpreet.
9. Hisar also visited Harpreet's fields on March 5 to take a look at the crop, which remained unaffected
by strong gusts of wind and heavy downpour.
10. Scientists at the Karnal station of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) also inquired about
the crop condition from Harpreet after heavy rainfall in the region.
11. Many other progressive farmers in the region are also keen to use Happy Seeder now.
Advanced Technology to Check Infiltration

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The fencing is not feasible along the riverine stretches of the Indo-Pakistan and IndoBangladesh Border.
There is about 145.876 km of unfenced riverine stretches along the Indo-Pakistan Border which is
about 6.3% of the Indo-Pakistan Border.
Similarly, there is about 930.076 km of unfenced riverine stretches along the Indo- Bangladesh Border
which is about 22.7% of the border.
The riverine segment of the borders are being patrolled and dominated with the help of water crafts/
speed boats/ floating Border out Posts (BOPs) of the Border Security Force water wing.
The BSF, deployed on the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh Border, has developed its own technical
solutions like Farheen LASER walls which are very useful to guard reverine/ nullah gaps.
These LASER walls have been deployed along the Jammu International Border. The thermal sensors
like Hand-Held Thermal Imager are already installed along the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh
Border.
Further, at present, there is no proposal for installation of anti-tunnel ground sensors in the fenced
stretches of both the borders.
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Massive Ocean found on Jupiters largest moon Ganymede
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NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has found strong evidence of a massive saltwater ocean under the icy
crust of Jupiters largest moon Ganymede that could potentially support life.
2. The subterranean ocean is thought to have more water than all the water on Earths surface,
researchers said.
3. Identifying liquid water is crucial in the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth and for the search
for life.
4. This discovery marks a significant milestone, highlighting what only Hubble can accomplish, said John
Grunsfeld, assistant administrator of NASAs Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters,
Washington, DC.
5. A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond
Earth, said Grunsfeld.
6. Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and the only moon with its own magnetic field. The
magnetic field causes aurorae, which are ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas, in regions circling the
north and south poles of the moon.
7. Because Ganymede is close to Jupiter, it is also embedded in Jupiters magnetic field. When Jupiters
magnetic field changes, the aurorae on Ganymede also change, rocking back and forth.
8. By watching the rocking motion of the two aurorae, scientists were able to determine that a large
amount of saltwater exists beneath Ganymedes crust, affecting its magnetic field.
9. A team of scientists led by Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany came up with the
idea of using Hubble to learn more about the inside of the moon.
10. The new observations were done in ultraviolet light and could only be accomplished with a space
telescope high above Earths atmosphere, which blocks most ultraviolet light.
Nine dwarf galaxies found orbiting the Milky Way

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Astronomers from the University of Cambridge have discovered nine dwarf satellites orbiting the
Milky Way, the largest number ever discovered at once.
The findings may help unravel the mysteries behind dark matter, the invisible substance holding
galaxies together.
The results also mark the first discovery of dwarf galaxies small celestial objects that orbit larger
galaxies in a decade.
The objects are a billion times dimmer than the Milky Way, and a million times less massive.
The closest is about 95,000 light years away, while the most distant is more than a million light years
away.
The discovery of so many satellites in such a small area of the sky was completely unexpected, said
Sergey Koposov from the Cambridge Universitys Institute of Astronomy and the studys lead author.
The satellites were found in the southern hemisphere near the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud
the largest and most well-known dwarf galaxies in the Milky Ways orbit.
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Chitin molecule associated with allergy response identified
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Scientists at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) have made an unexpected discovery
that overturns a longstanding belief in the biological sciences.
Research, led by Chris Amemiya, PhD, a member at BRI, and primarily conducted by Joyce Tang, was
published online in today's issue of Current Biology.
The research demonstrates that chitin, a molecule that was previously thought to be absent in
vertebrates and that has been shown to trigger an allergy/immune reaction in mammals, is
endogenously produced in fishes and amphibians.
Based on our observations, it is clear that vertebrates probably use chitin in very different ways than
invertebrates or fungi," noted Dr. Amemiya.
Our hope is that by studying the biological roles of chitin in vertebrates, we will uncover broad
generalizable principles, thereby allowing us to extend its use in biomedical and practical applications.
Chitin is primarily known as a molecule that forms hard structures like fungal cell walls and the
exoskeletons of invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans.
. It is a polymer made up of many repeating units of a sugar called N-acetylglucosamine, is naturally
produced in many organisms, and forms a strong and pliable material that is made even stronger
when complexed with other materials (such as proteins and minerals) to form the protective outer
shells of insects and crustaceans.
The general belief that vertebrates lack chitin was largely based on the presumed absence within
vertebrate genomes of a gene called chitin synthase, whose activity is necessary to produce chitin.
However, upon closer examination of many vertebrate genomes, the Amemiya laboratory identified
fish and amphibian genes that strongly resembled chitin synthase genes found in insects.
Using multiple experimental approaches, including genomics, developmental biology, and chemical
purification and analysis, the authors have demonstrated that chitin synthase genes are active in
fishes and an amphibian and that they endogenously generate chitin.
"These findings seemingly flip the previously held assumptions about vertebrates and chitin on their
head," noted Steven Ziegler, PhD, Director of the Immunology Research Program at BRI.
Prior research from Dr. Ziegler and Richard Locksley, MD (UCSF), demonstrated that chitin produces
an allergic reaction in mice.
Taken together with Dr. Amemiya's findings identifying chitin in fishes and amphibians, this exposes a
paradox with regard to the role of chitin in vertebrates and the evolution of chitin synthase genes.
Chitin is expressed in fishes and amphibians, however, chitin synthase genes are no longer maintained
in the genomes of mammals and chitin exposure induces an immune response.
Chitin's current and potential uses across agriculture, industry and medicine are quite broad. Chitin,
which naturally induces anti-fungal defense responses in plants, has been used in agriculture to
protect against fungal infections and as a fertilizer.
In addition, due to the malleable nature of the chitin polymer, it has also been leveraged in
biomedical applications including surgical sutures, wound healing approaches, drug delivery vessels
and bioscaffolds for tissue engineering. Chitin has also been shown recently to be an excellent
material for biodegradable plastics.
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Darbha grass, a natural preservative
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Traditional tropical grass, Darbha, has been identified as an eco-friendly food preservative.
This finding was evolved in a research study undertaken jointly by the Centre for Nanotechnology and
Advanced Biomaterials (CeNTAB) and the Centre for Advanced Research in Indian System of Medicine
(CARISM) of the SASTRA University, Thanjavur, under the supervision of Dr. P. Meera and Dr. P.
Brindha respectively.
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Darbha (Desmotachya bipinnata) is a tropical grass considered a sacred material in Vedic scriptures
and is said to purify the offerings during such rituals.
4. At the time of eclipse, people place that grass in food items that could ferment and once the eclipse
ends the grass is removed.
5. A systematic research was conducted by the SASTRA University researchers, in which cows curd was
chosen as a food item that could ferment easily.
6. Five other tropical grass species, including lemon grass, Bermuda grass, and bamboo were chosen for
comparison based on different levels of antibiotic properties and hydro phobicity.
7. Electron microscopy of different grasses revealed stunning nano-patterns and hierarchical nano or
micro structures in darbha grass while they were absent in other grasses.
8. On studying the effect of various grasses on the microbial community of the curd, darbha grass alone
was found to attract enormous number of bacteria into the hierarchical surface features. These are
the bacteria responsible for fermentation of cows curd.
9. During eclipse, the wavelength and intensity of light radiations available on the earths surface is
altered.
10. Especially, the blue and ultraviolet radiations, which are known for their natural disinfecting property,
are not available in sufficient quantities during eclipse.
11. This leads to uncontrolled growth of micro-organisms in food products during eclipse and the food
products are not suitable for consumption.
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12. Darbha was thus used as a natural disinfectant on specific occasions, say researchers at SASTRA
University.
13. Further, the scientists say that darbha could be used as a natural food preservative in place of harmful
chemical preservatives and the artificial surfaces mimicking the hierarchical nano patterns on the
surface of darbha grass could find applications in health care where sterile conditions were required.
When cancer cells stop acting like cancer

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Cancer cells crowded tightly together suddenly surrender their desire to spread, and this change of
heart is related to a cellular pathway that controls organ size.
These two stunning observations are reported today by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi
Comprehensive Cancer Center in the journal Oncogene.
"What we really need in cancer treatment is a way to stop cancer from growing in the organ it has
spread to, and we have discovered a mechanism that seems to do that," says the study's senior
investigator, Anton Wellstein, MD, PhD, a professor of oncology and pharmacology at Georgetown
Lombardi.
Wellstein says the initial finding was made when Ghada M. Sharif, PhD, a member of the Wellstein
lab, noticed that cancer cells crowded back-to-back -- high density -- were less effective at invading
cancer-free tissue than cells grown in a low density -- less crowded -- environment.
Researchers noticed that cancer cells crowded back-to-back -- high density -- were less effective at
invading cancer-free tissue than cells grown in a low density -- less crowded -- environment. Credit:
Courtesy Ghada M. Sharif/Georgetown
It turns out that high-density cells activated the "Hippo" molecular pathway, an ancient biological
mechanism that limits the size of an organ. Low-density cancer cells do not engage Hippo, which
means the cells are free to grow unchecked within the organ. The trigger for activating Hippo is a
single molecule called YAP.
Moons most unusual volcano more massive than thought

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Scientists have produced a new map of the Moons most unusual volcano showing that its explosive
eruption 3.5 billion years ago spread debris over an area much greater than previously thought.
A team of astronomers and geologists, led by experts at Durham University, UK, studied an area of
the lunar surface in the Compton-Belkovich Volcanic Complex.
By mapping the radioactive element thorium which spewed out during the eruption they discovered
that, with the help of the Moons low gravity, debris from the unnamed volcano was able to cover an
area the size of Scotland, or around 70,000 square kilometres.
The eruption, which happened 3.5 billion years ago, threw rock five times further than the pyroclastic
flow of molten rock and hot gases that buried the Roman city of Pompeii, the researchers added.
The research used data from NASAs Lunar Prospector spacecraft which first spotted the volcanic site
in 1999 when it detected an isolated deposit of thorium on the Moons far-side between the Compton
and Belkovich impact craters.
Since its discovery, the deposit had been hard to study because it is hidden beneath debris from
meteorite impacts, but Lunar Prospector did detect gamma rays emitted by the thorium that can pass
through up to a metre of rock.
Based on this information, the team used a pixon image enhancement technique to sharpen the
map and reveal the enormous size of the thorium deposit from the volcanic eruption.
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Over million young stars found in nearby galaxy
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Astronomers have discovered more than a million young stars forming in a hot, dusty cloud of
molecular gases in a tiny galaxy near Milky Way.
The star cluster is buried within a supernebula in a dwarf galaxy known as NGC 5253, in the
constellation Centaurus.
The cluster has one billion times the luminosity of our Sun, but is invisible in ordinary light, hidden by
its own hot gases, researchers said.
We are stardust, and this cluster is a factory of stars and soot, said Jean Turner, a professor of
physics and astronomy in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) College and lead author of
the research.
We are seeing the dust that the stars have created. Normally when we look at a star cluster, the stars
long ago dispersed all their gas and dust, but in this cluster, we see the dust, Turner said.
The amount of dust surrounding the stars is extraordinary approximately 15,000 times the mass of
our Sun in elements such as carbon and oxygen.
The cluster is about 3 million years old, which in astronomical terms, is remarkably young. It is likely
to live for more than a billion years, Turner said.
The Milky Way has not formed gigantic star clusters for billions of years, Turner said. It is still forming
new stars, but not in nearly such large numbers, she said.
The Milky Way has gas clouds, but nothing comparable to this galaxys Cloud D which houses the
enormous star cluster enshrouded in thick gas and dust, Turner said.
How much of a gas cloud gets turned into stars varies in different parts of the universe. In the Milky
Way, the rate for gas clouds the size of Cloud D is less than 5 per cent. In Cloud D, the rate is at least
10 times higher and perhaps much more.
NGC 5253 has hundreds of large star clusters, including at least several that are young, the
astronomers report. The most spectacular is found within Cloud D.
Were catching this cluster at a special time. With a cluster this large, we would expect several
thousand stars that would have become supernovae and exploded by now. We found no evidence of
a supernova yet, Turner said.
The cluster contains more than 7,000 massive O stars the most luminous of all known stars, each
a million times brighter than our Sun.
NGC 5253 has approximately nine times as much dark matter as visible matter a much higher rate
than the inner parts of the Milky Way, Turner said.
Scientists discover shape-shifting frog in Ecuador cloud forest

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A frog in Ecuadors Andean cloud forests can rapidly change skin texture in minutes, appearing to
mimic the texture it sits on.
Katherine Krynak, a PhD student at the US Case Western Reserve University and her husband Tim
Krynak, project manager at Cleveland Metroparks Natural Resources Division, discovered the new
species, called the mutable rainfrog (Pristimantis mutabilis), in 2006 at nature preserve Reserva Las
Gralarias.
They nicknamed the amphibian the punk rocker frog for its thorn-like spines. It wasnt until three
years later that the couple discovered the species secret shape-shifting skills, which may help the
marble-size frog be better camouflaged in its mossy surroundings.
The couple, and colleagues from Universidad Indoamrica, Ecuador and Tropical Herping, an
organisation committed to discovering, and studying reptiles and amphibians, co-authored a paper
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describing the new animal and skin texture plasticity in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
this week.
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Juan M Guayasamin of Universidad Tecnolgica Indoamrica, Ecuador, and the lead author of the
paper performed morphological and genetic analyses showing that mutabilis was a unique and
undescribed species.
Carl R. Hutter, from the University of Kansas, studied the frog's calls, finding three songs the species
uses, which differentiate them from relatives.
The fifth author of the paper, Jamie Culebras, assisted with fieldwork and was able to locate a second
population of the species. Culebras is a member of Tropical Herping.
Countdown begins for launch of IRNSS-1D

1.
Countdown began on Thursday for the launch of Indias latest navigation satellite IRNSS-1D onboard
PSLV-C-27 on March 28 from Sriharikota that would take the country closer to setting up its own
navigation system on par with the GPS of the US.
2. The 59-and-half hour count down for PSLV-C27/IRNSS-1D Mission has started at 05.49 hours today,
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on its facebook page.
3. The countdown began after the Mission Readiness Review and the Launch Authorisation Board on
Wednesday cleared it.
4. The launch of IRNSS-1D, originally scheduled for launch on March 9, was deferred after an anomaly
was found in one of the telemetry transmitters.
5. The satellite is now scheduled to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota,
about 90 km from here, at 5.19 p.m. on March 28.
6. IRNSS 1D is the fourth in the series of seven satellites, the space agency is planning to launch to put in
place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
7. According to ISRO, while four satellites would be sufficient to start operations of the system, the
remaining three would make it more accurate and efficient.
8. The first three satellites in the IRNSS series were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013, April 4
and October 16 last year respectively.
9. The system would provide two types of services -- Standard Positioning Service, which is provided to
all the users, and Restricted Service that is an encrypted service provided only to authorised users.
10. The IRNSS system was targeted to be completed by this year at a total cost of Rs. 1,420 crore.
11. IRNSS is designed to provide accurate position information services to users in the country as well as
the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
Fixed nitrogen: Mars was once habitable

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The Mars rover Curiosity has for the first time found evidence of indigenous nitrogen in the form of
nitrate in aeolian deposits and in two mudstone deposits on the red planet.
This discovery has great implications for habitability and, specifically for the potential evolution of a
nitrogen cycle at some point in Martian history.
The results were published a few days ago in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS).
At first, Curiosity found indirect evidence of water that was once present on Mars, and then found
true indicators of water that existed as rivers and lakes.
The evidences unequivocally showed the presence of fresh water that was neither acidic nor salty.
In December last year, Curiosity detected wafts of methane in the Martian air. On Earth, methane is
largely produced by living organisms.
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The detections indicated that the gas is present at about 1 part per billion in the Martian atmosphere,
or 4,000 times less than in Earths.
The detection of nitrate in aeolian samples and two mudstone samples drilled from a relict lakebed
suggests widespread atmospheric deposition of nitrogen gas.
The detection of nitrate in samples of different kinds (aeolian deposits and mudstone) is quite likely
due to nitrogen fixation to nitrate as a result of thermal shock either from impact or volcanic plume
lightning.
Immaterial of the route in which the nitrogen fixation had taken place, the very presence of fixed
nitrogen would have facilitated the development of primitive nitrogen cycle on the Martian surface.
In turn, this would have provided a biochemically accessible source of nitrogen.
Much like water, nitrogen is essential for life. After all, it forms the building blocks of larger molecules
like DNA, RNA and protein.
But nitrogen has to be fixed for it to take part in chemical reactions essential for creation of life.
Both on Earth and Mars, atmospheric nitrogen is in the form of nitrogen gas (N), where two nitrogen
atoms combine and do not easily react with other molecules.
Earlier studies have found nitrogen gas to constitute around 2 per cent of the Martian atmosphere.
IRNSS-1D launch on Saturday, countdown progressing smoothly

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The stage is set for the launch of Indias satellite IRNSS-1D on Saturday from Sriharikota onboard
workhorse PSLV-C27 that would pave the way for the countrys own navigation system on par with
the GPS of U.S.
The 59.5-hour countdown for the launch scheduled at 5.19 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space
Centre at Sriharikota, about 90 km from here, is progressing smoothly, Indian Space Research
Organisation said today.
The countdown (which began at 5.49 a.m. on Thursday) is progressing smoothly.
The mixed oxides of nitrogen oxidiser filling operation of fourth stage have been completed, ISRO
sources said.
The launch originally scheduled for March 9 was deferred after an anomaly was found in a telemetry
transmitter.
IRNSS-1D is the fourth in the series of seven satellites, planned by ISRO to put in place the Indian
Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), currently under development.
The IRNSS system, targeted to be completed by this year at a total cost of Rs. 1,420 crore, will be
targeted at South Asia and is designed to provide accurate position information services to users in
the country as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary.
IRNSS applications include terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking
and fleet management, navigation aide for hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for
drivers.
While four satellites would be sufficient to start operations of the system, the remaining three would
make it more accurate and efficient, ISRO said.
The first three satellites in the IRNSS series were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013, April 4
and October 16 last year respectively.
Similar to the previous three launches, ISRO would use the XL version of the Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle (PSLV), its most reliable rocket, for IRNSS-1D which will have a mission life of 10 years.
This is the eighth time XL version is being used after Chandrayaan-I, GSAT-12, RISAT-1, IRNSS-1A, Mars
Orbiter Spacecraft, IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1C.
The 44.4 metre tall PSLV-C27 which has a lift off mass of 1,425 kg PSLV-C27 will put the satellite in
Geosynchronous orbit at 111.75 degree east longitude with 30.5 degree inclination.
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14. The system would provide two types of services -- Standard Positioning Service, which is provided to
all the users, and Restricted Service that is an encrypted service provided only to authorised users.
SpaceX rocket blasts off with world's first all-electric satellites

14. A Space Exploration Technologies rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sunday
to put the world's first all-electric communications satellites into orbit.
15. The 22-storey tall booster soared off its seaside launch pad at 10:50 a.m. EST (0350 GMT), the third
flight in less than two months for SpaceX, as the privately owned, California-based company is known.
16. Perched on top of the rocket were a pair of satellites built by Boeing and owned by Paris-based
Eutelsat Communications and Bermuda-based ABS, whose majority owner is the European private
equity firm Permira.
17. Eutelsat and ABS shared satellite manufacturing and launch costs, a business arrangement spurred by
technological innovation.
18. The satellites launched on Sunday are outfitted with lightweight, all-electric engines, rather than
conventional chemical propulsion systems, to reach and maintain orbit.
19. The value of electrical propulsion is that it allows the satellite operator to need much less fuel than
when the satellite has chemical propulsion," Eutelsat chief executive Michel de Rosen said in an
interview before launch.
20. SpaceX, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, turned the theoretical price
cuts into reality.
21. Breaking what de Rosen calls "a quasi-monopoly" Europe's Arianespace had on the small satellite
launch market.
22. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although SpaceX's website lists a Falcon 9 launch as costing $61
million.
23. The disadvantage of electric propulsion is that it will take the satellites months, rather than weeks, to
reach their operational orbits about 22,300 miles (35,800 km) above Earth.
24. High enough to appear virtually parked over a particular part of the globe.
25. The companies are partnering for a second pair of satellites that are due to launch aboard another
Falcon 9 rocket later this year.
26. SpaceX also flies cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA and is working on an
upgraded spaceship to fly astronauts as well.
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April, 2015
Unravelling the blood rain mystery
1. A recent study by Indian and Austrian scientists has led to the discovery of the cause of the
Blood Rain phenomenon to be dispersal of spores of micro algae.
2. Since 1896, reports have been coming in of sporadic instances of red coloured rain over
parts of Kerala and Sri Lanka. The latest one was in 2013 over Kerala.
3. The rain colours red even laundry left in the open to dry and reminds one of human blood.
Many reasons were attributed to this mysterious phenomenon some irrational like a
divine spell, and alien involvement. The Huffington Post reported in 2012 that this was
caused by extraterrestrial life (aliens).
4. The recent study, published in the journal Phylogenetics and Evolutionary Biology, confirmed
that the red colour in the rain was caused by the presence of spores of a European species of
green microalgae, Trentepohlia annulata that was reported previously only from Austria a
Central European country.
5. The study confirmed that the blood rain is nothing but a mechanism employed by this alga
to disperse its spores (similar to plant seeds) to a very large area at once, so that algae can
quickly colonize a large area.
6. The study revealed that DNA sequence of this species from Kerala and that from Austria had
very little differences and they evolve slowly, which suggests that the alga got introduced
from Europe not very long ago.
7. The research confirmed the likelihood that the introduction happened through clouds over
ocean a phenomenon of intercontinental species dispersal previously reported for
bacteria and fungi, but first time for alga said the lead author, Dr. Felix Bast who works at
the Central University of Punjab.
8. Clouds over ocean dispersal is analogous to the intercontinental flights that we take; spores
of this alga from Europe get transported to India via clouds that drift across the Arabian Sea.
9. But if the spores travelled across the Arabian Sea all the way to Kerala and Sri Lanka, why did
the phenomenon not occur in intermediate regions like Gujarat, MP?
10. Answering this query, Dr. Bast noted in an email to this Correspondent: We don't have any
proof for this "clouds over ocean" hypothesis, but probability is high because this is how
spores of Trentepohlia get transported.
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11. How exactly these lower stratospheric clouds got into Kerala remains unknown but aerial
route from Austria to Kerala won't pass through other states like Gujarat, MP etc.
12. It might be related to monsoon as well, as Kerala is the first state which the SW monsoon
strikes together with Sri Lanka.
13. On how the spores get into the clouds, Dr. Bast explains: I would presume these spores
might have got transported to the clouds by wind.
14. We are planning to work with atmospheric scientists to sample intercontinental clouds to
see what kind of organisms they transport.
15. Metagenetic analysis of air from clouds using High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters will be the
ultimate proof, for which I'll soon be applying for research grant from Ministry of Earth
Sciences.
16. He added that this microalga is absolutely harmless, and the blood rainwater is perfectly
potable, even for vegetarians.
17. The present study resulted in an nternational collaborative effort involving researchers from
India and Austria, supported in part by INSPIRE Faculty Award.
Brain differences in children with OCD

1. A new study demonstrates that communication between some of the brain's most
important centers is altered in children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
2. The study included youth with a diagnosis of OCD and a comparison group free of psychiatric
illness. The investigators used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to collect
brain responses while participants engaged in a basic working memory task.
3. Task difficulty was varied to evoke activity in a core brain sub-network responsible for
implementing complex processes such as cognitive control.
4. Then, using sophisticated network analyses, the investigators quantified differences in brain
network function between the two groups.
5. The research led by Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Neuroscience's David Rosenberg, M.D., and Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., sheds significant light
on our understanding of how brain networks contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder in
youth.
6. "Most fundamentally, we show that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, a key region of the
brain associated with cognitive control, exerts exaggerated brain network effects in OCD,"
said Diwadkar.
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7. "This result provides a putative scientific framework for what clinicians have noted about
OCD-related behaviours. These network-based effects have been suggested, but not
explicitly demonstrated before in brain imaging data in the disorder.
8. Our studies are perfectly aligned with the renewed emphasis of the National Institute of
Mental Health to discover mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease in the brain.
9. If you can discover a reliable mechanism underlying disease, you have the promise of
improved pathways toward treatment."
10. The results are highly consistent with observations in the clinic, said Dr. Rosenberg, who is a
professor and the department's chair. "Children with OCD are beset by preoccupations and
can't easily move on from certain tasks and behaviours.
11. As all complex behaviour arises from brain networks, being trapped in this mode must arise
from impaired brain network interactions in OCD.
12. In our previous studies we had focused on assessing the structure and the neurochemistry of
the anterior cingulated.
13. We had long suspected that brain network interactions originating in this region are
impaired in the disorder. But this is the first study to clearly demonstrate this."
Large Hadron Collider to start up after 2-year shutdown

1. The worlds biggest particle accelerator is about to start up again after a two-year shutdown
and upgrade.
2. Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, were preparing to
shoot the first particle beams on Sunday through the Large Hadron Colliders 27-km tunnel,
beneath the Swiss-French border near Geneva.
3. The collider was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that
had long been theorised but never confirmed until 2013. Scientists are promising nearly
twice the energy and more violent particle crashes this time around.
4. They hope the more powerful beam crashes expected to start as early as June will give them
a peek into the unseen dark universe.
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NASA reveals its most powerful rocket launcher ever
1. Armed with an asteroid hunter, lunar flashlight and DNA kit, NASA will launch the unmanned
Orion spacecraft using the Space Launch System (SLS) its largest, most powerful rocket
booster ever built in 2018.
2. The US space agency plans to use the SLSs massive lift capability to carry nearly a dozen
nano-satellites to conduct science experiments beyond low-Earth orbit and eventually, Mars.
3. The SLS will launch Orion on an uncrewed test flight to a distant retrograde orbit around the
moon.
4. Tucked inside the stage adapter the ring connecting Orion to the top propulsion stage of
the SLS will be 11 selfcontained small satellites, each about the size of a large shoebox.
5. NASA is taking advantage of a great opportunity to conduct more science beyond our
primary focus of this mission, said Jody Singer from the Marshall Space Flight Centre in
Huntsville, Alabama.
6. While this new vehicle will enable missions beyond Earth orbit, we are taking steps to
increase the scientific and exploration capability of SLS by accommodating small, CubeSat
class payloads, Singer said.
7. The secondary payloads are NearEarth Asteroid (NEA) Scout, Lunar Flashlight and
BioSentinel.
8. NEA Scout, using solar sail propulsion, will fly by a small asteroid, taking pictures and making
observations that will enhance the current understanding of an the asteroid environment
and will yield key information for future astronauts exploring an asteroid.
9. NASAs Lunar Flashlight will scout for locations on the lunar surface that are rich in resources
that, once broken down into their component molecules, could be used in future
exploration, such as building materials, propellant, oxygen and water.
10. The BioSentinel mission will be the first time living organisms have traveled to deep space in
over 40 years and the spacecraft will operate in the deep space radiation environment
throughout its 18month mission.
11. About 10 minutes after Orion and its service module escape the pull of Earths gravity, the
two will disconnect and Orion will proceed toward the moon.
12. Once Orion is a safe distance away, the small payloads will begin to be deployed, all at
various times during the flight depending on the particular missions, the space agency said in
a statement.
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After 12 days, IRNSS-1D reaches its space home
1.
Navigation satellite IRNSS-1D reached its space home on Wednesday, 12 days after it was launched
from Sriharikota.
2.
After tests and validations, it is expected to be put to work and beam signals from early May, joining
its three siblings IRNSS-1A, 1B and 1C that are already in orbit, according to senior officials of
Indian Space Research Organisation.
3.
IRNSS-1D is the fourth of the seven-satellite Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System; the
constellation was conceived to give location-related information across the country and is loosely
called the Indian version of the popular GPS which the U.S. military owns and operates.
4.
The satellite reached its home after four orbit manoeuvres were conducted since its launch on March
28. It is now slotted at about 36,000 km from Earth at 111 degrees East longitude.
Earths violent collision with Theia created Moon

1.
Scientists have generated a new isotopic fingerprint of the Moon, suggesting the collision of Theia
into early Earth was so violent that the debris from the impact mixed completely before settling and
forming the Moon.
2.
Within the first 150 million years after our solar system formed, a giant body roughly the size of Mars
struck and merged with Earth, blasting a huge cloud of rock and debris into space. This cloud would
eventually coalesce and form the Moon.
3.
For almost 30 years, planetary scientists have been quite happy with this explanation with one
major exception.
4.
Although this scenario makes sense when you look at the size of the Moon and the physics of its orbit
around Earth, things start to break down a little when you compare their isotopic compositions the
geological equivalent of a DNA fingerprint. Specifically, Earth and the Moon are too much alike.
5.
The expectation has long been that the Moon should carry the isotopic fingerprint of the foreign
body, which scientists have named Theia.
6.
Because Theia came from elsewhere in the solar system, it probably had a much different isotopic
fingerprint than early Earth.
7.
Now, a team of scientists at the University of Maryland has generated a new isotopic fingerprint of
the Moon that could provide the missing piece of the puzzle.
8.
By zeroing in on an isotope of Tungsten present in both the Moon and Earth, the UMD team is the
first to reconcile the accepted model of the Moons formation with the unexpectedly similar isotopic
fingerprints of both bodies.
9.
The results suggest that the impact of Theia into early Earth was so violent, the resulting debris cloud
mixed thoroughly before settling down and forming the Moon.
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Glaciers of frozen water found on Mars
1.
Scientists have discovered belts of glaciers consisting of frozen water equivalent to over 150 billion
cubic metres - enough to cover the entire surface of the Red Planet with more than one metre of ice.
2.
Using radar measurements from the NASA satellite and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and combining
those with ice flow modelling, researchers have been able to determine that it is water ice.
3.
We have looked at radar measurements spanning ten years back in time to see how thick the ice is
and how it behaves, said Dr. Nanna Bjornholt Karlsson, from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University
of Copenhagen.
4.
A glacier is after all a big chunk of ice and it flows and gets a form that tells us something about how
soft it is.
5.
We then compared this with how glaciers on Earth behave and from that we have been able to make
models for the ice flow, said Dr. Karlsson.
6.
The glaciers were located in belts around Mars between the latitudes 300-500. They were found on
both the northern and southern hemispheres.
7.
We have calculated that the ice in the glaciers is equivalent to over 150 billion cubic meters of ice that much ice could cover the entire surface of Mars with 1.1 meters of ice.
8.
The ice at the mid-latitudes is therefore an important part of Mars water reservoir, said Dr. Karlsson.
9.
That the ice has not evaporated out into space could actually mean that the thick layer of dust is
protecting the ice, researchers said.
10. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is so low that water ice simply evaporates and becomes water
vapour. But the glaciers are well protected under the thick layer of dust.
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Dhanush missile successfully test-fired
1.
India successfully test-fired nuclear weapons-capable Dhanush missile from a ship, off the Odisha
coast on Thursday.
2.
The ship-based missile was launched at 11.02 a.m. by personnel of the Strategic Forces Command
(SFC) from an Offshore Patrolling Vessel (OPV), which was deep inside the sea, for its full range of 350
km, according to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) missile scientists.
3.
It was a perfect mission and the missile splashed down near the target point with high degree of
accuracy, they said.
4.
Dhanush, a manoeuvring missile is a naval variant of Prithvi-II, and can carry a nuclear payload of 500
kg.
5.
It can target both land-based and sea-based targets. The missile has already been inducted into the
armed services and the SFC personnel randomly picked up the missile from the production lot for
Thursdays trial, which was carried out as part of regular user training.
6.
Dhanush was one of the five missiles developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme.
Acidic oceans led to Earths worst mass extinction

1.
Ocean acidification triggered Earth's greatest extinction of all time, wiping out more than 90% of
marine species and over two-thirds of land animals some 250 million years ago, a new study has
found.
2.
Researchers found that oceans absorbed huge amounts of carbon dioxide from volcanic eruptions
which changed their chemical composition making them more acidic with catastrophic
consequences for life on the planet.
3.
The amount of carbon added to the atmosphere that triggered the mass extinction was probably
greater than today's fossil fuel reserves, according to the study published in the journal Science.
4.
However, the carbon was released at a rate similar to modern emissions. This fast rate of release was
a critical factor driving ocean acidification, the study found.
5.
The researchers analysed rocks unearthed in the UAE which were on the ocean floor at the time
to develop a climate model to work out what drove the extinction.
6.
. "The Permian-Triassic Boundary extinction took place over a 60,000 year period. Acidification of the
oceans lasted for around 10,000 years," researchers said. Ocean acidification was the driving force
behind the deadliest phase of the extinction.
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Pediatric melanoma declines
1.
Melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, has been increasing in incidence in adults over the past
40 years.
2.
Pediatric melanoma is rare (5-6 children per million) but some studies indicate that incidence has
been increasing.
3.
In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found that the
incidence of pediatric melanoma in the United States actually has decreased from 2004-2010.
4.
Laura B. Campbell, MD, and colleagues from Case Western Reserve University and University
Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center in Cleveland, used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and
End Results cancer registries.
5.
Which represent approximately 28% of the US population, to identify new cases of pediatric
melanoma from 2000-2010.
6.
According to Dr. Campbell, "We took an in-depth look at whether or not the number of new cases of
melanoma per year in children and adolescents was increasing in the recent decade.
7.
They also studied how rates changed over time according to age, sex, type of melanoma, and its
location on the body.
8.
A total of 1,185 new cases of pediatric melanoma were identified. Overall, the number of new cases
each year decreased by 12% per year from 2004-2010.
9.
For boys, there was a decrease of almost 7% each year (2000-2010); in 15-19-year-olds, there was a
decrease of 11% each year (2003-2010).
10. Additionally, new cases of pediatric melanoma located on the trunk and upper extremities, as well as
cases with good prognostic indicators, both decreased significantly each year.
11. Reasons that pediatric melanoma incidence rates are decreasing could include effective public health
initiatives, a shift to youth participating in more indoor activities, and increased parental awareness to
use more sun protective measures with young children.
12. However, as noted by the senior author, Jeremy S. Bordeaux, MD, MPH, a dermatologist at UH Case
Medical Center and UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
13. "Although it is encouraging to observe decreasing melanoma incidence overall, it is concerning that
this decrease is occurring in those cases of melanoma with good prognostic indicators.
14. " Therefore, public health programs should continue to teach sun protective behavior (e.g., regular
use of sunscreen and protective clothing in the summer, decreased time spent outside, decreased
indoor tanning), because limiting exposure to ultraviolet radiation plays a key role in reducing
melanoma incidence.
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One of the most distant planets discovered
1.
A remote gas planet about 13,000 light-years away has been discovered by scientists using NASAs
Spitzer Space Telescope.
2.
The discovery demonstrates that Spitzer can be used to help solve the puzzle of how planets are
distributed throughout our flat, spiral-shaped Milky Way galaxy.
3.
We dont know if planets are more common in our galaxys central bulge or the disk of the galaxy,
which is why these observations are so important.
4.
Poland-based Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, or OGLEs Warsaw Telescope at the Las
Campanas Observatory in Chile scans the skies for planets using a method called microlensing.
5.
A microlensing event occurs when one star happens to pass in front of another, and its gravity acts as
a lens to magnify and brighten the more distant stars light.
6.
If that foreground star happens to be orbited by a planet, the planet might cause a blip in the
magnification.
7.
Astronomers are using these blips to find and characterise planets up to 27,000 light-years away in
the central bulge of our galaxy, where star crossings are more common.
8.
Our Sun is located in the suburbs of the galaxy, about two-thirds of the way out from the centre.
9.
The microlensing technique as a whole has yielded about 30 planet discoveries so far, with the
farthest residing about 25,000 light-years away.
10. In the case of the newfound planet, the duration of the microlensing event happened to be unusually
long, about 150 days.
11. OGLE detected the start of the event, and Spitzer began monitoring it. Both Spitzer and OGLEs
telescopes detected a telltale planetary blip in the magnification, with Spitzer seeing it occur 20 days
earlier.
12. This time delay between OGLEs and Spitzers viewing of the planetary event was used to calculate
the distance to the star and its planet.
13. Knowing the distance allowed the scientists also to determine the mass of the planet, which is about
half that of Jupiter.
Genetically engineered bacteria can treat cancer

1.
Genetically modified Salmonella bacteria that causes severe food poisoning can be used to kill
cancer cells, a new study has claimed.
2.
There has long been interest in using genetically engineered microbes to target and destroy cells
within solid tumours, said Roy Curtiss, from the Arizona State University.
3.
I think this study goes a significant way in developing some strategies that will help in the overall
means of using Salmonella as part of a cancer therapy.
4.
For years, researchers have known that certain strains of bacteria, including Salmonella enterica, can
kill cancer cells.
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5.
Specifically Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium has been shown to not only colonise solid
tumours, but also to exhibit an intrinsic anti-tumour effect.
6.
However, in order to use Salmonella as a weapon against cancer in humans, researchers must find a
balance between allowing it to kill the cancer and be safe for the patient.
7.
The bacteria, commonly known for causing severe food poisoning, can lead to sepsis and death in
humans.
8.
In the study, the researchers focused on modifying the lipopolysaccharide structure (LPS) of the
Salmonella strain to make the bug less toxic.
9.
LPS, found in the outer membrane of bacteria, is one of the major inducers of sepsis, a lifethreatening infection.
10. Researchers used genetic engineering to delete genes involved in the synthesis of the LPS, and then
tested various modified Salmonella strains to see how they performed in test tube studies with
human cancer cells and in tumour bearing mice.
11. They identified a particular mutant strain that was the most effective at killing cancer cells and
shrinking tumours, and also unable to cause disease.
12. However, this mutant strain was less able to colonise the tumours, although being most effective in
killing tumour cells when getting there.
13. To address this problem, the researchers then added another genetic modification, an inducible
arabinose promoter.
New LED technology boosts Wi-Fi bandwidth

1.
A new technology that can increase the bandwidth of Wi-Fi systems by 10 times, using LED lights to
transmit information, has been developed.
2.
The technology could be integrated with existing Wi-Fi systems to reduce bandwidth problems in
crowded locations, such as airport terminals or coffee shops, and in homes where several people
have multiple WiFi devices.
3.
Experts say that recent advances in LED technology have made it possible to modulate the LED light
more rapidly, opening the possibility of using light for wireless transmission in a free space optical
communication system.
4.
In addition to improving the experience for users, the two big advantages of this system are that it
uses inexpensive components, and it integrates with existing Wi-Fi systems.
5.
Nguyen worked with Alan Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, to
build the first prototype.
6.
The prototype, called WiFO, uses LEDs that are beyond the visual spectrum for humans and creates
an invisible cone of light about one meter square in which the data can be received.
7.
To address the issue of a small area of usability, the researchers created a hybrid system that can
switch between several LED transmitters installed on a ceiling, and the existing WiFi system.
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Hubble Space Telescope marking 25th anniversary in orbit
1.
One of NASAs crowning glories, the Hubble Space Telescope, marks its 25th anniversary this week.
2.
With 1 million-plus observations, including those of some of the farthest and oldest galaxies ever
beheld by humanity, no man-made satellite has touched as many minds or hearts as Hubble.
3.
NASA is celebrating Fridays anniversary with ceremonies this week at the Smithsonian Institution
and the Museum in Washington.
4.
Hubble has become part of our culture very much, said NASAs science mission chief, John
Grunsfeld, a former astronaut who flew on the final three Hubble repair missions.
5.
A full decade in the making, Hubble rocketed into orbit on April 24, 1990, aboard space shuttle
Discovery.
6.
NASA wanted an observatory free of the atmospheres distortion and, in some cases, absorption of
light. Stars, for example, do not appear to twinkle when seen from space.
7.
The telescope was named for American astronomer Edwin Hubble, who in the 1920s determined that
the universe is expanding.
8.
Sky-high excitement turned into bottomless agony when it quickly became apparent that the
telescopes primary mirror had been botched during manufacturing, resulting in blurry eyesight.
9.
Three years later, with NASAs reputation and entire future on the line, a team of astronauts
managed to restore Hubbles promised vision with replacement parts.
10. Shuttle astronauts visited Hubble five times, from 1993 to 2009, to make improvements and repairs
to the 13-metre-long observatory, about the size of a school bus.
11. That last mission almost didnt happen- NASA cancelled it for safety reasons in the wake of the 2003
shuttle Columbia disaster.
12. But public uproar and changing NASA administration, along with detailed crew-rescue plans just in
case, led to the flights reinstatement.
13. By the time Atlantis blasted off on the last servicing mission, NASA put the investment in Hubble at
$10 billion.
14. Three-time Hubble mechanic Grunsfeld was the last person to lay hands on the orbiting observatory.
He recalls giving Hubble a little pat and a salute, and telling it, Good travels, Hubble.
15. Early on, Hubble proved the existence of super-massive black holes and found theyre located at the
centre of most galaxies.
16. It also helped to pinpoint the age of the universe at 13.8 billion years old, by determining the current
rate of expansion of the universe with an uncertainty of just 3 per cent, according to the Mario Livio,
an astrophysicist at the space telescope institute.
17. Thanks to Hubble, he noted this week, astronomers now know that cosmic expansion is accelerating
because of mysterious dark energy.
18. The space telescope has shown that the birth rate of stars hit a peak in the universe about 10 billion
years ago and has been declining ever since, Livio said.
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19. Astronomers have published 12,800 scientific papers based on data from Hubble. Some of the
research on supernovas, or exploding stars, contributed to a Nobel Prize in physics in 2011.
Radiation Technology for Cleaner India

1.
India enters into a new era of utilizing advanced technology of Radiation Processing for Hygieniesing
Sewage Sludge by signing of MoU between Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation and Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre.
2.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre will provide all technical and scientific support for setting up 100
tons per day dry sewage sludge hygienisation Cobalt -60 Gamma Irradiation Plant at Ahmadabad.
3.
Largely, sludge is disposed in unorganised manner resulting in environmental pollution and spread of
diseases.
4.
The sludge produced carries a heavy microbiological load and therefore its disposal has been a
challenge to the urban development authorities.
5.
Bacterial counts including pathogens generally observed in sludge can vary between 105 to 109 per
gram.
6.
Sludge also contains worms, ova, viruses, helminthes, weeds etc. It also contains toxic heavy metals
and organic pollutants like pesticides, polyaramatic hydrocarbons, drugs and other persistent
pollutants.
7.
Sludge is a rich source of many macro (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium), micro nutrients (Zinc,
Iron, Copper, Manganese) and organic carbon essential for soil.
8.
If the sludge can be treated in effective and economic way to meet the prescribed norms, it can be
recycled by safely applying it on land for various applications including agricultural.
9.
High energy gamma radiation from Cobalt-60 can kill pathogens, reduce odours and degrade organic
chemival contaminants and thus making sludge safer for use or disposal.
10. With this initiative of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Bhabha Atomic Research centre, a
beginning is made to utilize advanced technology for hygienising sludge for cleaner India (Swachcha
and Swastha Bharat).
Artificial photosynthesis method turns waste CO2 into fuels

1.
In a breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis, researchers have developed a new system that uses
sunlight to convert waste carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products such as biodegradable
plastics, pharmaceuticals, and even liquid fuels.
2.
Scientists with the US Department of Energy (DOE)s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created a hybrid system of
semiconducting nanowires and bacteria that mimics the natural photosynthetic process by which
plants use the energy in sunlight to synthesise carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water.
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3.
However, this new artificial photosynthetic system synthesises the combination of carbon dioxide
and water into acetate, the most common building block today for biosynthesis.
4.
In natural photosynthesis, leaves harvest solar energy and carbon dioxide is reduced and combined
with water for the synthesis of molecular products that form biomass, said Christopher Chang, who
holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley.
5.
In our system, nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria, where carbon
dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added
chemical products
6.
By combining biocompatible light-capturing nanowire arrays with select bacterial populations, the
new artificial photosynthesis system offers a win/win situation for the environment: solar-powered
green chemistry using sequestered carbon dioxide.
7.
The system starts with an artificial forest of nanowire heterostructures, consisting of silicon and
titanium oxide nanowires, developed earlier by Yang and his research group.
8.
Once the forest of nanowire arrays is established, it is populated with microbial populations that
produce enzymes known to selectively catalyse the reduction of carbon dioxide.
9.
In the study published in the journal Nano Letters, the Berkeley team used Sporomusa ovata, an
anaerobic bacterium that readily accepts electrons directly from the surrounding environment and
uses them to reduce carbon dioxide.
10. Once the carbon dioxide has been reduced by S ovata to acetate (or some other biosynthetic
intermediate), genetically engineered E coli are used to synthesise targeted chemical products.
11. The team achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of up to 0.38 per cent for about 200 hours
under simulated sunlight, which is about the same as that of a leaf.
How earthquakes happen

1.
Most earthquakes originate from compressional or tensional stresses built up at the margins of the
huge moving plates that make up the earth's surface.
2.
The immediate cause of most shallow earthquakes like in Nepal now, occuring within 70 km of the
surface, is the sudden release of stress along a fault, or fracture in the earth's crust, resulting in
movement of the opposing blocks of rock past one another.
3.
Nepalese dig for quake survivors as toll exceeds 2,200, big aftershock hits.
4.
The focus of an earthquake is the point where it originates within the earth. The earthquake
epicentre is the point on the earth's surface directly above the focus.
5.
The size or magnitude of earthquakes is determined by measuring the amplitude of the seismic
waves, which depends on many factors such as the magnitude, distance from the epicentre, and
depth of focus, topography, and local ground conditions.
6.
The area of Saturday's earthquake in Nepal is the so-called Indus-Yarlung suture zone, where the
Indian subcontinent collided 40 million to 50 million years ago with the Eurasian plate, creating the
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Himalayan mountain ranges which are still rising by around one centimetre a year as an ongoing
consequence.
7.
In areas underlain by water-saturated sediments, large earthquakes, usually magnitude 6.0 or greater
may cause liquefaction.
8.
Beneath the Kathmandu Valley is a 300-metre deep layer of black clay, the remnants of a prehistoric
lake, which amplifies the damage caused by severe earthquakes.
9.
Studies have established that this region is prone to soil liquefaction in strong earthquakes, when
vibrations can cause solid ground to collapse, swallowing buildings in the process.
10. The Indian subcontinent has a history of devastating earthquakes. The earthquake zoning map of
India divides the country into four seismic zones - 2, 3, 4 and 5 - in which Zone 5 expects the highest
level of seismicity and is referred to as the Very High Damage Risk Zone. Kashmir, the western and
central Himalayas, the northeast region and the Rann of Kutch fall in this zone.
How our brain decodes sound

1.
In an interesting discovery, scientists have found that when we hear a sound, neurons fire in sync
with the rhythmic structure of the sound, exactly encoding its original structure in the timing of
spikes.
2.
When people hear the sound of footsteps or the drilling of a woodpecker, the rhythmic structure of
the sounds is striking.
3.
Even when the temporal structure of a sound is less obvious, as with human speech, the timing still
conveys a variety of important information.
4.
When a sound is heard, neurons in the lower subcortical region of the brain fire in sync with the
rhythmic structure of the sound, almost exactly encoding its original structure in the timing of spikes.
5.
As the information progresses towards the auditory cortex, however, the representation of sound
undergoes a transformation.
6.
There is a gradual shift towards neurons that use an entirely different system for encoding
information.
7.
For neurons in the auditory thalamus - the part of the brain that relays information from the ears to
the auditory cortex - this takes the form of temporal coding.
8.
Neurons fire in sync with the original sound, providing an exact replication of the sound's structure in
time.
9.
In the auditory cortex, however, about half the neurons use rate coding, which instead conveys the
structure of the sound through the density and rate of the neurons' spiking, rather than the exact
timing.
10. Neuroscientists previously have speculated that the transformation from temporal coding to rate
coding may explain the perceptual boundary experienced between rhythm and pitch.
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The BioSure HIV Self Test
1.
The first HIV self-testing kit that allows people to get a result in just 15 minutes at home has gone on
sale in the UK.
2.
The BioSure HIV Self Test, which claims to have a 99.7 per cent accuracy rate, works in a similar way
to a pregnancy test, measuring levels of antibodies in a person's blood.
3.
The test detects antibodies on a small drop of blood, taken from the finger-tip using a lancet. These
antibodies are often only detectable three months after the HIV infection is caught.
Two-way manned trips to Mars possible with electric solar sail

1.
Electric solar wind sail could make two-way manned Mars flights possible by making fuel available in
Mars orbit, researchers claim.
2.
In the heart of this scheme is the electric solar wind sail (E-sail) which provides propellant-less
transportation within the solar system, thus enabling economical asteroid mining.
3.
The E-sail, which was invented in Finland in 2006, utilises long, charged tethers to convert natural
solar wind momentum flux into spacecraft thrust.
4.
After finding a suitable water-bearing asteroid, a mining unit using the E-sail can be sent to extract
the water from asteroid soil.
5.
Water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen and liquefied, and the liquid hydrogen/oxygen
(LH2/LOX) mixture can be used as fuel.
6.
The E-sail vehicle can ferry the extracted water and fuel to the orbits of Earth or Mars to be used to
fill the tanks of manned vehicles travelling between Earth and Mars, researchers said.
7.
According to Pekka Janhunen, a researcher in the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and colleagues the
E-sail could provide essentially free logistics in the solar system outside of Earths magnetosphere.
8.
Due to the exponential nature of the rocket equation, intermediate fuelling reduces the launch mass
dramatically.
9.
During the trip, asteroid-mined water could also be used as radiation shielding of the manned
module to reduce the launch mass further.
10. With cheap propellant available in Mars orbit, there is also the option of fully propulsive landing on
Mars which eliminates the need of a massive and expensive heat shield.
11. The E-sail facilitated Manned Mars Initiative (EMMI), could provide a fundamentally new,
economically sustainable way to approach manned Mars flights, researchers said.
12. The running costs of the EMMI are not expected to much exceed those of maintaining the
International Space Station, they said.
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Mobile of 2020: The latest on the 5G era
1.
Automated organization, multi-RAT and multi-layer heterogeneous networks, those are what are
being requested in mobile of 2020, what will be the 5G era - the first meaningful unified wideband
mobile communication system.
2.
A recent systematic overview discussed progress on 5G research and highlighted the network
architecture and techniques which could be employed in the future 5G systems.
3.
4G LTE systems, supporting up to 100Mbps data rate, at least in laboratories, have been globally
deployed and are offering several multimedia services such as HD video, but with the mobile internet
and internet of things (IoT), current 4G systems may not satisfy the explosive growth of mobile data,
massive device connection, and a variety of emerging services and application scenarios.
4.
It is assumed that 5G systems would offer maximum 1Gbps user experienced data rate, tens of Gbps
peak data rate, tens of Tbps/km2 traffic volume density, millisecond level of end-to-end latency and
support 500+km/h mobility.
5.
5G would permeate every corner of our life and build a truly user-centralized information ecosystem.
6.
The world's major developed countries and regions have already launched the 5G research projects
in order to seize the leadership of the coming 5G era.
7.
The new paper presents an overview of potential network architecture and highlights several
promising techniques which could be employed in the future 5G systems by deeply analyzing 5G
requirements and current research.
8.
These techniques include non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), massive multiple input and
multiple output (MIMO), cooperative communications and network coding, full duplex (FD), deviceto-device (D2D) communications, millimeter wave communications, automated network organization,
cognitive radio (CR), and green communications etc.
9.
The state-of-art and implementation issue of these techniques are also addressed.
10. The quest to improve the spectral efficiency has been regarded as the most important but yet
challenging task in the design of future wireless communication systems.
11. Global wireless communications would suffer from the "Spectrum crisis" and radio spectrum
resource has gradually become the bottleneck of development of broadband wireless
communications.
12. There are two main ways to overcome this problem: one is to develop the rich millimeter wave
frequency spectrum, the other is to fully utilize current spectrum resource by the cognitive radio
technique.
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Scientists discover reset 'button' for body clock
1.
Scientists have found a molecular reset button for our internal body clock, a discovery that may allow
for new treatments of sleep disorders and cognitive and metabolic abnormalities, commonly
associated with jet lag and shift work.
2.
According to the study led by researchers at McGill and Concordia universities in Montreal, the
body's clock is reset when a phosphate combines with a key protein in the brain.
3.
In effect, light stimulates the synthesis of specific proteins called Period proteins that play a pivotal
role in clock resetting, thereby synchronising the clock's rhythm with daily environmental cycles.
4.
This study is the first to reveal a mechanism that explains how light regulates protein synthesis in the
brain, and how this affects the function of the circadian clock," said senior author Nahum Sonenberg,
a professor in McGill's Department of Biochemistry.
5.
In order to study the brain clock's mechanism, the researchers mutated the protein known as eIF4E in
the brain of a lab mouse so that it could not be phosphorylated.
6.
Since all mammals have similar brain clocks, experiments with the mice give an idea of what would
happen if the function of this protein were blocked in humans.
7.
The mice were housed in cages equipped with running wheels. By recording and analysing the
animals' running activity, the scientists were able to study the rhythms of the circadian clock in the
mutant mice.
8.
The clock of mutant mice responded less efficiently than normal mice to the resetting effect of light.
9.
The mutants were unable to synchronise their body clocks to a series of challenging light/dark cycles for example, 10.5 hours of light followed by 10.5 hours of dark, instead of the 12-hour cycles to which
laboratory mice are usually exposed.
10. While we can't predict a timeline for these findings to be translated into clinical use, our study opens
a new window to manipulate the functions of the circadian clock," said Ruifeng Cao, a postdoctoral
fellow in Sonenberg's research group and lead author of the study.
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May 2015
DNA repair map of the entire human genome created
1.
When the common chemotherapy drugs cisplatin or oxaliplatin hit cancer cells, they damage DNA so
that the cells can't replicate.
2.
But the cells have ways to repair the DNA. The cancer drugs aren't as effective as patients need.
3.
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have
developed a method for finding where this DNA repair happens throughout all of human DNA.
4.
The findings, published in the journal Genes & Development, offers scientists a potential way to find
and target the proteins cancer cells use to circumnavigate therapy.
5.
The benefit of this new method could be more effective and better tolerated classes of cancer
therapeutics.
6.
The research, led by Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, the Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and
Biophysics, marks the first time scientists have been able to map the repair of DNA damage over the
entire human genome.
7.
When DNA is damaged, cells use many enzymes to cut the strand of DNA and excise the damaged
fragment.
8.
Then, other enzymes repair the original DNA so that the cells can function properly.
9.
Previously, Sancar's lab used purified enzymes to discover how this process happens in DNA damaged
by UV irradiation and by chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin and oxaliplatin.
ISRO carries out series of cryogenic engine development tests

1.
After successful test of the high thrust cryogenic engine recently, a series of development tests on the
engine are being carried out to validate the performance and to prove its design, Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) has said.
2.
Successful long duration hot test (635 seconds) of high thrust cryogenic engine (CE20) was carried out
on April 28 at ISRO Propulsion Complex in Tamil Nadus Mahendragiri.
3.
The achievement is considered as a major milestone in the development of next generation launch
vehicle, GSLV MkIII, ISRO said.
4.
The CE20 cryogenic engine is being indigenously developed by ISRO to power the cryogenic stage of
GSLV MkIII launch vehicle, ISRO has posted on its Facebook page.
5.
The completion of successful long duration hot test has once again proved ISROs capability in
mastering the complex cryogenic technology, it said.
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How Stem cells get their identity
1.
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have identified one mechanism that explains how some
stem cells choose to become a given cell type: the cells combine specific sets of proteins at precise
positions along the DNA.
2.
When these particular groups of proteins are combined, the gates are opened so that certain groups
of genes can now be used, giving the cells a new identity.
3.
Scientists have now identified one of these combinations, which drive the cells along the path that
allow them to become organs such as liver and pancreas.
4.
Scientists have now identified one of these combinations, which drive the cells along the path that
allow them to become organs such as liver and pancreas.
5.
This latest research could lead scientists to a better understanding on how to generate insulinproducing cells in the laboratory to use as therapy for Type I diabetes.
New state of matter discovered

1.
Scientists have discovered a new state of matter that appears to be an insulator, superconductor,
metal and magnet all rolled into one.
2.
The research could help develop new molecular materials that are superconductors at even higher
temperatures, researchers said.
3.
An international team of researchers made the discovery by studying a superconductor made from
carbon-60 molecules or buck balls.
4.
The team found the new state after changing the distance between neighbouring buckyballs by
doping the material with rubidium, physicsworld.com reported.
5.
The study shows that the material has a rich combination of insulating, magnetic, metallic and
superconducting phases including the otherwise unknown state, which has been dubbed as
JahnTeller metal.
6.
The study, led by Kosmas Prassides of Tohoku University in Japan, provides important clues about
how the interplay between the electronic structure of the molecules and their spacing within the
lattice can strengthen interactions between electrons that cause superconductivity.
7.
Superconductors are a large and diverse group of materials that offer zero resistance to electrical
currents when cooled below a critical temperature (TC).
8.
Superconducting lattices of fullerides C60 plus three alkali-metal atoms have been studied for
more than two decades, and provide an interesting test bed.
9.
This is because the distance between fulleride molecules and hence the electronic properties of the
material can be adjusted by applying pressure to the material or doping it with different kinds of
atoms.
10. The research involves caesium fulleride (Cs3C60) in a face-centred-cubic lattice with a Cs3C60
molecule at each lattice site.
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Antarcticas research stations in icy grip
1.
More than 50 scientists are gathering in Hobart in Tasmania this week for a series of workshops on
techniques to more accurately forecast sea ice levels in the polar region, aiming to save millions of
dollars in shipping costs.
2.
They will also hope to avoid a repeat of the problems suffered by the Akademik Shokalskiy, the
research vessel caught in a sudden freeze in December 2013.
3.
Rod Wooding, from the Australian Antarctic Division, said last year ships couldnt get anywhere
near the Australian research site, Mawson station, requiring a years worth of supplies and fuel to be
flown in by helicopter.
4.
[That] is inadequate for the long-term sustainability of the station, Wooding said. Other national
programs have had similar problems, the French in particular, the Japanese also.
5.
Scientists were initially puzzled by the increasing sea ice around the continent, which reached record
levels in September 2014, but have concluded it is very largely driven by changes in wind.
6.
Those changes of wind are driven by the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and the increasing
greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
7.
The El Nino phenomenon, too, drives changes in pressure which drives changes in wind which drives
changes in sea ice.
8.
Antarctica is also surrounded by ocean, leaving sea ice completely free to expand however it wants
to, in contrast to the Arctic region, which is landlocked by Russia, Greenland and northern Canada.
9.
Australia is tendering to replace its icebreaking vessel, the 25-year-old Aurora Australis. Worby said
more accurate forecasts would help to understand what level of ice breaking capability would be
needed in the future.
10. Its quite hard to forecast but whatever effort we put in to improving our ability to forecast sea ice
will ultimately pay dividends in terms of savings for national programs.
Isro Nasa to jointly study global ecological changes

1.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Nasa are jointly working on the NISAR satellite
designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planets most complex processes,
including ecosystem disturbances and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and
landslides.
2.
Talking to HT, Isro chairman Dr Kiran Kumar said, Our target is 2020-21. The satellite will be built by
us and will be launched here. The payloads will be built by Nasa.
3.
The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project to co-develop and launch a
dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite.
4.
The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used
for remote sensing to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth.
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5.
Data collected from NISAR will reveal information about the evolution and state of the Earths crust,
help scientists better understand our planets processes and changing climate, and aid future
resource and hazard management.
Scientists identify active volcanism on Venus

1.
Scientists have discovered hot lava flows on Venus, providing evidence for active volcanism on Earths
neighbour planet.
2.
ESAs Venus Express, which completed its eight-year study of the planet last year, used a nearinfrared channel of the spacecrafts Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) to map thermal emission from
the surface through a transparent spectral window in the planets atmosphere, and spotted localised
changes in surface brightness between images taken only a few days apart.
3.
Lead author Eugene Shalygin from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in
Germany said that they had now witnessed several events where a spot on the surface suddenly gets
much hotter, and then cools down again.
4.
These four hotspots were located in what are known from radar imagery to be tectonic rift zones,
but this is the first time we have detected that they are hot and changing in temperature from day to
day. It has been the most tantalising evidence yet for active volcanism.
How galactic spiral arms form revealed

1.
A new study has provided a deeper insight into how galactic spiral arms are formed and how gas can
be funneled inward toward the galaxys center, which possibly hosts a black hole.
2.
Astronomers making a detailed, multi-telescope study of a nearby galaxy have discovered a magnetic
field coiled around the galaxys main spiral arm.
3.
The scientists studied a galaxy called IC 342, some 10 million light-years from Earth, using the National
Science Foundations Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the MPIfRs 100-meter Effelsberg
radio telescope in Germany. Data from both radio telescopes were merged to reveal the magnetic
structures of the galaxy.
4.
The surprising result showed a huge, helically-twisted loop coiled around the galaxys main spiral arm.
Such a feature, never before seen in a galaxy, was strong enough to affect the flow of gas around the
spiral arm.
5.
The new observations provided clues to another aspect of the galaxy, a bright central region that may
host a black hole and also is prolifically producing new stars. To maintain the high rate of star
production requires a steady inflow of gas from the galaxys outer regions into its center.
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Real-time identification of algal blooms
1.
The real-time assessment and species identification of algal blooms, which add colour to the oceanic
waters, has been made possible by using a satellite-based remote sensing technique.
2.
The new approach will help ocean researchers in quickly identifying algal blooms without venturing
into the water.
3.
The present analysis has been carried out by utilising species-specific response of phytoplankton
from remote sensing reflectance spectra obtained with a Satlantic underwater profiling radiometer.
4.
The capability of species identification in near real time can help in planning field campaigns for
guiding the ship to an appropriate location for in situ measurements.
What is algal bloom?

1.
Algae are photosynthetic microorganisms that are found in most habitats
2.
Algae vary from small, single-celled forms to complex multi-cellular forms.
3.
An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the density of algae in an aquatic system.
4.
Algal blooms sometimes are natural phenomena, but their frequency, duration and intensity are
increased by nutrient pollution.
5.
Algae can multiply quickly in waterways with an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorus,
particularly when the water is warm and the weather is calm.
Are algal blooms harmful?

1. Algae are a natural component of the aquatic food chain and are typically not harmful to people.
2.
However, the overabundance of algae in a bloom can be aesthetically unappealing and harmful to the
environment.
3.
If the types of algae that produce toxins reach high concentrations, then native aquatic organisms,
livestock, pets, and perhaps even people who come in contact with the toxins, can be affected.
4.
When algal blooms block vital sunlight from reaching beneficial underwater plants that provide food
and a place to live and grow for fish and other animals, the ecosystem can be negatively impacted.
5.
Algae become stressed and die when they deplete the nutrient supply or move from freshwater into
saltier waters.
6.
Decomposition of dying algae can reduce levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, which fish and other
aquatic animals breathe.
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India flooded with unsafe fixed dose combination (FDCs) drugs
Lets first discuss FDCs
1.
The development of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) is becoming increasingly important from a public
health perspective.
2.
Such combinations of drugs are being used in the treatment of a wide range of conditions and are
particularly useful in the management of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which are considered to
be the foremost infectious disease threats in the world today.
FDCs status in India

1.
Millions of unapproved formulations and products of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) available in India
in three therapeutic areas analgesia, anxiety/depression and psychosis are unsafe and at times
dangerous or even lethal, as in the case of anti-psychotic.
2.
In contrast, 98 per cent of metformin FDCs to treat diabetes has been approved by the Central Drugs
Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
3.
Approval by CDSCO has been made mandatory for FDCs since 1961. Several amendments to the rules,
particularly the last one in 2002, have only made it explicitly clear.
4.
Yet, the proportion of unapproved FDC formulations did not decrease overall after May 2002.
Why its not safe

1.
Multiple formulations [in the four therapeutic areas studied], most without CDSCO approval [for
efficacy and safety], included drugs banned, restricted, or never approved internationally owing to
adverse effects.
2.
Over 12 per cent of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) FDCs sales volume contain drugs
that have either been withdrawn from the market or have had their use restricted
3.
Also, many NSAID FDCs available in India contain muscle relaxants and enzymes that have been
approved as a single dosage form in the U.S. and UK but never as a fixed dose combination.
4.
Most of the FDC formulations available in India [in the four therapeutic areas studied] were
unavailable in either UK or the U.S.
5.
The researchers found that over 73 per cent of the 124 NSAIDs (analgesia) FDC formulations
marketed in India were unapproved.
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Net neutrality panel sees no progress
1.
The first meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT to discuss Net neutrality could make
little headway on Thursday after several members questioned the selective invitation to three private
service providers and presence of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey as a special invitee.
2.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterated that the government was committed to ensuring
non-discriminatory access to Internet for all citizens.
Lets discuss net neutrality in detail

What is net neutrality?
Net neutrality is a principle that says Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat all traffic and
content on their networks equally.
How does net neutrality affect you?
The internet is now a level-playing field. Anybody can start up a website, stream music or use social
media with the same amount of data that they have purchased with a particular ISP.
But in the absence of neutrality, your ISP might favour certain websites over others for which you
might have to pay extra.
Website A might load at a faster speed than Website B because your ISP has a deal with Website A
that Website B cannot afford.
Its like your electricity company charging you extra for using the washing machine, television and
microwave oven above and beyond what you are already paying.
What is an OTT?
OTT or over-the-top refers to applications and services which are accessible over the internet and ride
on operators' networks offering internet access services.
The best known examples of OTT are Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, e-commerce sites, Ola, Facebook
messenger.
The OTTs are not bound by any regulations. The Trai is of the view that the lack of regulations poses a
threat to security and theres a need for governments intervention to ensure a level playing field in
terms of regulatory compliance.
Why now?
Late last month, Trai released a draft consultation paper seeking views from the industry and the
general public on the need for regulations for over-the-top (OTT) players.
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The objective of this consultation paper, the regulator said, was to analyse the implications of the
growth of OTTs and consider whether or not changes were required in the current regulatory
framework.
India to have 70 super computers for high-level research

1.
The super computer will help India do research in different fields ranging from climate, defence and
other areas, which a normal computer is ill-equipped for.
2.
The computer would have a capacity (speed) of half petaflop to 20 petaflop, but by the time the
project reaches its full peak, the speed of the super computers can go up to 50 petaflop.
3.
A petaflop is a measure of a computers processing speed and can be expressed as a thousand trillion
floating point operations per second.
4.
The project, which costs around Rs 4,500 crore is in its nascent stage. It will come up with association
of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Information and
Technology (DIT).
5.
The government has formed modalities to discuss nitty- gritty of the project. However, sources
pointed out that it is expected to take seven years for the project to complete.
Micro rockets' to capture cancer cells

1.
A group of scientists from India and Germany claimed to have created "micro rockets" out of carbon
nanotubes to selectively capture tumour cells from a large population of blood cells.
2.
It is difficult for clinicians to trap the few nasty cancer cells swimming stealthily alongside billions of
healthy blood cells and diagnose cancer affirmatively.
3.
The researchers used a chemical 'fuel' to propel these rockets up or down in an artificial cell
suspension.
4.
Scientists earlier used microfluidic devices to capture and isolate tumours but the devices did not
serve the purpose efficiently.
5.
It is difficult to detect tumour cells in cancer patients as for every millilitre of blood, only 10-100
tumour cells appear in a sea of about a billion normal blood cells.
6.
The micro rockets could become a potential tool for non-invasive liquid biopsy at an early stage of
metastasis.
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TB: India study confirms Xpert diagnostic tests superiority
1.
For the first time in India, the superiority of Xpert MTB/RIF over smear microscopy for bacteriological
confirmation of pulmonary TB and in diagnosing MDR-TB (Multi Drug Resistant-TB) patients before
initiating any treatment has been proved in a large-scale study undertaken in 2012-2013.
2.
The latest study, the largest in the world, found that using Xpert molecular test as an initial diagnostic
test for TB in public health facilities increased the rate of TB case notification by 16 per cent and of
bacteriologically confirmed TB by 39 per cent.
3.
Also, the rifampicin-resistant TB case notification increased by fivefold, notes a paper published
recently in the journal PLOS ONE. Dr. K.S. Sachdeva, Additional Deputy Director General of the Central
TB Division, New Delhi is the first author.
4.
The study was undertaken in 18 TB programme units eight in rural areas (3.9 million population),
six in the urban areas (3.4 million population) and four in tribal and hilly areas that are difficult to
reach (1.5 million population).
5.
The study was implemented in two phases baseline and intervention. The baseline phase used
smear microscopy to diagnose TB in over 10,500 presumptive pulmonary TB patients; the
intervention phase used Xpert diagnostic testing on over 70,500 presumptive pulmonary TB patients.
6.
Unlike smear microscopy, Xpert has excellent sensitivity and specificity to TB and can return results in
less than two hours. Besides diagnosing TB, Xpert can tell if a subject has rifampicin drug resistance.
7.
The results strongly suggest that Xpert can substitute smear microscopy as an initial diagnostic test to
diagnose more number of TB cases and also for diagnosing rifampicin resistance.
8.
The fivefold increase in identifyingrifampicin resistant cases became possible only because Xpert was
used for testing drug resistance in all presumptive TB patients.
9.
Conventionally, drug susceptibility testing is offered rather selectively to patients who have already
been diagnosed as suffering from TB and who run a high risk of having drug resistance.
10. Also, almost one-third of rifampicin resistant TB cases were detected by using Xpert in treatment
nave cases.
11. In India, the prevalence of rifampicin resistance in new TB cases is estimated to be around three per
cent.
12. Generally, drug resistance comes up in those who have been irregular in taking TB medicines or in
those who have stopped medication midway through the treatment.
13. This finding demonstrates the potential impact of extending universal DST [drug susceptibility testing]
to all presumptive TB cases under routine programme conditions in improving case finding of TB as
well as rifampicin-resistant TB, particularly in areas where drug-resistance in treatment nave cases is
of substantial concern, the authors state.
14. The study has another important implication. Regardless of prior treatment history, treatment for
MDR-TB can be initiated immediately in those patients who are found to be rifampicin resistant
through Xpert diagnostic testing, they note.
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15. As per the WHO guidelines, there is no need for a repeat drug susceptibility testing for MDR-TB in the
previously treated TB patients.
16. In the case of those who have never been on anti-TB treatment earlier, the researchers say that there
is a strong case for initiating second-line treatment for TB when Xpert result is positive for
rifampicin resistance.
17. Though the WHO guideline requires a parallel confirmatory testing for drug susceptibility using liquid
culture for new cases, the question is whether it should be done away with based on the latest study
results.
18. The current WHO guideline for a confirmatory drug testing is based on a positive predictive value of
60-65 per cent. But for the first time, this study has had a high positive predictive value of 91.3 per
cent for new cases (treatment nave cases).
19. It is now for the RNTCP to decide whether more research is required before doing away with the need
for a confirmatory susceptibility testing in new cases or to issue fresh guidelines based on the results
of this study.
Cisco visual networking index (VNI)

1.
The Internet protocol (IP) traffic in India will quadruple between 2014 and 2019 at a pace of 33 per
cent annually, spurred by rising usage of mobile data and additional networked devices, among
others, Cisco said.
2.
According to the 10th annual Cisco visual networking index (VNI) forecast, the annual IP traffic will
grow 4-fold from 2014 to 2019, a compound annual growth rate of 33 per cent.
3.
In India, IP traffic will reach 4.0 exabytes per month in 2019, up from 967 petabytes per month in
2014.
4.
The US-based networking solutions firm sees the average fixed broadband speed in India growing 2.9fold to 12 Mbps in 2019 from 4.0 Mbps in 2014.
5.
The number of networked devices, it said, will increase to 1.6 billion from 1.1 billion in the same
period.
6.
The expected drivers are surging mobile data consumption, proliferation in networked devices, faster
broadband speed and higher usage of videos.
7.
Collectively, these variables are expected to help IP traffic in India grow at a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 33 per cent as against a corresponding global CAGR of 23 per cent.
8.
We are clearly headed towards a new era in Internet communications as the Internet of Everything
(IoE) gains momentum, with M2M connections predicted to triple, reaching 10.5 billion by 2019.
Cisco (India and SAARC) Managing Director (Global Service Provider Business) Sanjay Kaul said.
9.
Mobile data traffic is expected to grow 67 per cent and reach 1.1 exabytes per month in 2019, up
from 88 petabytes per month in 2014.
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10. We look forward to tracking the IoE economy in coming years and its impact on healthcare,
agriculture, manufacturing, retail, transportation and other key industries.
11. Smartphones will account for 40 per cent (651.4 million) of all networked devices in 2019 compared
with 13 per cent (139.8 million) in 2014, and 74 per cent of all networked devices will be mobileconnected in 2019, it added.
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First facial recognition ATM developed
1.
Chinese researchers have successfully developed the first automated teller machine (ATM) with facial
recognition technology to reduce the risk of theft.
2.
The developers include Tsinghua University and Tzekwan Technology, a Hangzhou firm in eastern
Chinas Zhejiang province that provides security protection for financial transactions.
3.
Tzekwan chairman Gu Zikun, an anti-counterfeit technology expert, believes the technology will curb
ATM-related crimes.
4.
China currently relied mostly on imported ATM technology, the report said, but the new machine,
which combines high-speed banknote handling, improved counterfeit-bill recognition and facial
recognition, was wholly Chinese.
Large Hadron Collider restarts experiments after two-year upgrade

1.
The hunt for dark matter moved a step closer as the Large Hadron Collider began experiments for the
first time in 27 months.
2.
The huge collider, which has undergone more than two years of upgrades, to give it double the
power, will now run non-stop for the next three years.
3.
Scientists are hoping the extra energy will reveal particles that have never been seen before and
discover super-symmetry, currently the best candidate for dark matter.
The Large Hadron Collider: Shedding light

1.
All particles can be divided into force or matter, but physicists now believe all particles come in pairs.
2.
Each matter particle should have a matching force particle and each force particle a matching matter
particle.
3.
It is these missing partners that scientists believe are most likely to be dark matter.
4.
Although nobody knows what dark matter is, it is thought to make up about 85 per cent of the
Universe's mass, keeping stars and planets in their galaxies.
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5.
Dark matter cannot be seen but its huge impact can be viewed through telescopes because it bends
light around galaxies creating a ring of star light known as gravitational lensing.
6.
"Now that we have found the Higgs Boson that means our standard model of the universe is
complete, but our description of the universe still has its flaws and holes, scientist said.
World's 'most precise' quantum thermometer designed

1.
Researchers from the UAB and the University of Nottingham, in an article, have fixed the limits of
thermometry, i.e., they have established the smallest possible fluctuation in temperature which can
be measured.
2.
The researchers have studied the sensitivity of thermometers created with a handful of atoms, small
enough to be capable of showing typical quantum-style behaviours.
3.
The researchers characterized these types of probes in detail, devices which could provide an
estimation of the temperature with a never before seen precision.
4.
To do so, they combined thermodynamic tools with quantum metrology, which deals with ultraprecise measures in quantum systems.
5.
The physicists searched to find the maximum precision which could be achieved in a real situation, in
which measuring time could be very brief given unavoidable experimental limitations.
6.
In the study, they also observed that these thermometers could maintain a constant sensitivity in a
wide range of temperatures by sacrificing some of their precision.
Connection between brain and lymphatic system discovered

1.
Textbooks of medicine say that there is no direct connection between the brain and the lymphatic
system.
2.
Yet, a paper published recently in the journal Nature refers to the discovery of exactly such a
connection.
3.
It is quite a startling discovery in itself, it gains significance because it could lead to a breakthrough in
the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimers disease, multiple sclerosis etc.
4.
The lymphatic system consists of vessels that carry a transparent fluid, the lymph, which helps rid the
body of toxins and other unwanted substances.
5.
It also forms an important part of the bodys immune system. Until now, it was believed that this
system is not connected to the brain.
6.
In a stunning discovery based on study of mouse brain, the researchers from University of Virginia
have identified connections between the lymphatic system of the mouse and its brain.
7.
The group has discovered a similar structure in human dura (tissue that covers the brain), but write in
the paper that further studies will be necessary to fully characterize the location and organization of
meningeal lymphatic vessels in the human central nervous system.
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Computer that operates on water droplets developed

1.
A computer that operates using the unique physics of moving water droplets has been developed by
an Indian-origin scientist and his team.
2.
The computer is nearly a decade in the making, incubated from an idea that struck Manu Prakash, an
assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, when he was a graduate student.
3.
The work combines his expertise in manipulating droplet fluid dynamics with a fundamental element
of computer science an operating clock.
4.
The droplet computer can theoretically perform any operation that a conventional electronic
computer can crunch, although at significantly slower rates.
5.
We already have digital computers to process information. Our goal is not to compete with
electronic computers or to operate word processors on this, Prakash said.
6.
Our goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control and manipulate
physical matter.
7.
The presence or absence of a droplet represents the 1s and 0s of binary code, and the clock ensures
that the entire droplets move in perfect synchrony, and thus the system can run virtually forever
without any errors.
8.
Prakash said the most immediate application might involve turning the computer into a highthroughput chemistry and biology laboratory.
9.
Instead of running reactions in bulk test tubes, each droplet can carry some chemicals and become its
own test tube, and the droplet computer offers unprecedented control over these interactions.
Lonely galaxy discovered on edge of the void by Hubble Telescope

1.
The Hubble Telescope has captured an astounding image of a lonely galaxy floating on the edge of a
grim abyss. Galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely
empty patch of space called the Local Void.
2.
NGC 6503 is 18 million light-years away from Earth in the northern circumpolar constellation of Draco.
It spans some 30,000 light-years, about a third of the size of the Milky Way.
3.
The Local Void is a huge stretch of space that is at least 150 million light-years across. It seems
completely empty of stars or galaxies.
4.
The galaxys odd location on the edge of this never-land led stargazer Stephen James OMeara to dub
it the Lost-In-Space galaxy in his 2007 book, Hidden Treasures.
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Methane in Mars rocks suggests possibility of life
1.
In a clue to possibility of life below the surface of Mars today, an international team of researchers
has discovered traces of methane in Martian meteorites.
2.
For the study, the researchers examined samples from six meteorites of volcanic rock that originated
on Mars.
3.
All six samples also contained methane, which was measured by crushing the rocks and running the
emerging gas through a mass spectrometer. The discovery hints at the possibility that methane could
be used as a food source by rudimentary forms of life beneath the Martian surface.
4.
Even if Martian methane does not directly feed microbes, it may signal the presence of a warm, wet,
chemically reactive environment where life could thrive.
5.
However, our research provides a strong indication that rocks on Mars contain a large reservoir of
methane, Parnell pointed out.
ISROs GAGAN to provide navigational support to Railways

1.
ISRO has said it will provide navigational support to the countrys Railways through GAGAN (GPSaided geo-augmented navigation) system.
2.
ISRO will provide satellite-generated information to the railways through space technology-based
tools that will provide safety at unmanned level crossings.
3.
GAGAN is an indigenous navigational guide system developed by ISRO on the lines of GPS system of
the U.S.
4.
GAGAN was jointly developed by the ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI) with a view to assist
aircraft in accurate landing.
5.
The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites GSAT8
and GSAT10.
6.
With the use of GAGAN software system, a tr ain would know the location of any unmanned level
crossing and soon a a warning signal can be given.
UN food agency launches digital platform on family farming

1.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a digital platform where people can access
valuable information, data and legislation on the contribution of family farmers worldwide.
2.
This is an important move on the part of the United Nations (UN) food agency, as family farmers
contribute immensely to food security and global poverty eradication.
3.
Globally, more than 90 per cent of farms are (either) operated by an individual or a family,
(producing) about 80 per cent of the worlds food (and) occupying around 70-80 per cent of farm
land.
4.
The underlying reason for the UN to launch the International Year of Family Farming (IYFP) last year
was to stress its importance in both developed as well as developing nations
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5.
By gathering vital information on family farming trends, the Family Farming Knowledge Platform will
allow governments to build stronger policies in favour of family farmers.
6.
It will also help in holding policy dialogues with farmers organisations.
7.
It was discussed and endorsed by the International Steering Committee of IYFF and the main
international networks of family farmers.
8.
They all expressed the need for sharing knowledge on family farming and gather together a huge
amount of information which is already available on the web, but is scattered.
Indias only double coconut tree artificially pollinated
1.
One of the rare and globally threatened species of palm, the double coconut (Lodoicea maldivica) tree
was planted at the botanical garden in 1894 and the artificial pollination is a result of decades of work
by scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
2.
The tree took almost a hundred years to mature and when it started flowering, we started looking
for this particular palm species in this part of world.
3.
We collected some pollen from palms from Sri Lanka but could not successfully pollinate it. Finally,
with the help of pollen from another tree in Thailand, the pollination process was successful.
4.
The Double Coconut tree not only bears the largest seed known to science weighing around 25 kg
but this unique species is also the longest surviving palm which can live for as long as 1,000 years.
5.
Successful pollination means that we can have another Lodoicea maldivica in the country.
6.
The palm tree is located in the large palm house of the Botanical Garden which has the largest
collection of palms in South East Asia with around 110 palm species.
7.
Legend bestows the seed with the power to bring good fortune to its owners. There has also been a
tradition of making kamandals [drinking vessels] from the double coconut by bisecting the shell.
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Brightest early galaxy named after Ronaldo
1.
Scientists have discovered the brightest galaxy in the early universe that contains the first generation
of stars, and have nicknamed it after popular Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo.
2.
These massive, brilliant, and previously purely theoretical objects were the creators of the first heavy
elements in history the elements necessary to forge the stars around us today, the planets that
orbit them, and life as we know it.
3.
The newly found galaxy, labelled CR7, is three times brighter than the brightest distant galaxy known
till now. The name was inspired by 30-year-old Ronaldo, who is known as CR7.
First electric plane gets wings

1.
The world's first electric passenger aircraft to gain an airworthiness certificate has been produced by
China.
2.
The BX1E has a 14.5-meter wingspan and a maximum payload of 230 kgs. It can fly at an altitude of
3,000 meters.
3.
The electric aircraft can charge fully within two hours, allowing a flight time of 45 minutes to one
hour, at a maximum speed of 160 km per hour.
4.
The plane was designed by Shenyang Aerospace University and Liaoning general aviation academy in
the northeastern Liaoning Province.
HAL delivers Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft body

1.
The orbiter spacecraft module structure of the proposed Chandrayaan-2 mission built by it has been
delivered to the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, according to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
2.
Chandrayaan-2, the countrys second lunar mission since 2008, is likely to come up in 2017 or 2018
and will have a lander and a rover to explore Moon's surface.
3.
HAL said the lunar spacecraft is a two-module configuration having the orbiter craft and the lander
craft.
4.
ISRO has said it will launch the mission using the more powerful rocket GSLV-MkII fitted with the
indigenous cryogenic engine.
5.
HAL has provided hardware for ISRO's communication satellites as well as operational PSLV rocket
and its higher siblings GSLV-MKII and MKIII (or LVM3).
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Mars orbiter scores 100 rounds
1.
The Indian Mars orbiter spacecraft completed its 100th orbit around Mars. It is also gradually coming
out of the blackout it had entered earlier this month.
2.
The payloads on the spacecraft are to be re-started in a few weeks. They were last operated on May
27 to put the spacecraft in an autonomous mode.
3.
MOM remains healthy and all its payloads are performing satisfactorily, ISRO said. The Mars Colour
Camera has taken 405 frames so far.
4.
The spacecraft's health data is now being received," ISRO said adding the orbiter now had an elliptical
orbit of 474 km and 71, 132 km from the red planet.
5.
Since early June, the Mars Orbiter and Mars were moving behind Sun as viewed from Earth. Two-way
signals were disrupted by solar activities.
Robot controlled by thoughts and brain signals developed

1.
A robot that can be controlled with your thoughts and brain signals has been developed, says new
research.
2.
The robot is developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL),
Switzerland.
3.
The robot can be controlled remotely through brain signals and can perform various tasks.
4.
Nine disabled people and 10 healthy people in Italy, Germany and Switzerland took part in the task of
piloting a robot with their thoughts.
5.
For several weeks, each of the subjects put on an electrode-studded hat capable of analysing their
brain signals.
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6.
The person at the controls, as if moving in place of the robot, was able to interact with whoever the
robot crossed paths with.
Rainwater could help Indians save money: NASA data
Enlarge view here

1.
Collecting rainwater for vegetable irrigation could reduce water bills, increase caloric intake and even
provide a second source of income for people in India, according to a new study by scientists looking
at NASA satellite data.
2.
The study is based on precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint
mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which provided observations of
rainfall over the tropics and subtropics from 1997 to 2015.
3.
Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept, but researchers said it is a largely untapped resource in
India.
4.
In the new study, the team examined the possibilities if Indians collected precipitation in cheap 200gallon tanks that they could easily engineer to fit in densely populated urban areas, such as many of
Indias growing cities.
5.
The team used data sets provided every three hours from 1997 to 2011 to determine how much
precipitation, on average, was available for collection and supplementation in each of the six test
cities: Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Srinagar.
6.
They estimated each person would require an average of about 35 gallons of water per day. For an
average household of five people, demand would be about 178 gallons daily.
7.
After a one-year payback period, rainwater harvesting for vegetable irrigation would provide a
profitof between 1,548 and 3,261 rupees per year and a total cost savings of between 2,605 and
4,522 rupees per year.
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July, 2015
Nearby black hole wakes up after 26 years
1.
A NASA satellite has detected a brief, super-bright, high-energy flare, an X-ray nova, erupting from a
star system 8,000 light-years away from Earth named V404 Cygni.
2.
This system is in the constellation Cygnus and includes a black hole and a star just slightly smaller than
the Sun. This black hole has been known to burp up an X-ray nova occasionally, but it had been
slumbering since 1989 until the detection by NASAs Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer on June 15.
3.
Relative to the lifetime of space observatories, these black-hole eruptions are quite rare and so, when
they see one of them flare up, they try to throw everything they have at it, monitoring across the
spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays.
4.
At the heart of this eruption is the V404 Cygni system, which astronomers classify as a low-mass X-ray
binary. In V404 Cygni, a star slightly smaller than the Sun orbits a black hole 10 times its mass in only
6.5 days.
5.
The close orbit and strong gravity of the black hole produce tidal forces that pull a stream of gas from
its Sun-size companion star.
6.
The gas travels to a storage disk around the black hole and heats up to millions of degrees, producing
a steady stream of X-rays as it falls inward.
7.
Flares erupt because this disk flips between two dramatically different conditions. In its cooler state,
the gas resists inward flow and just collects in the outer part of the disk like water behind a dam, but
inevitably, the build-up of gas overwhelms the dam, and a tsunami of hot bright gas rushes toward
the black hole.
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Gene therapy treatment for cystic fibrosis may be possible by 2020
1.
A treatment to help those with cystic fibrosis may be available within five years, say scientists who
have been working for decades to develop a gene therapy for the disease.
2.
Cystic fibrosis, the most common life-shortening inherited disease in the UK, was an early target for
scientists excited by the concept of gene therapy when the mutated gene that causes it was identified
some 25 years ago.
3.
It is estimated that one in every 2,500 babies born in the UK will be born with cystic fibrosis, with the
disease affecting about 10,000 people in the UK, and more than 90,000 worldwide.
4.
Those born with CF have a limited lifespan. Their body produces thick mucus, which affects the lungs
and digestive system in particular.
5.
Scientist developed a technique to enable patients to breathe in molecules of DNA, delivering a

normal copy of the defective gene to cells in the lung.
6.
A trial of 136 patients, aged 12 and over, showed better lung function in most of those given gene
therapy.
7.
It is the worlds first demonstration that repeated gene therapy can improve lung function.
8.
Gene therapy remains largely an experimental technique, with some treatments available mostly for
rare diseases.
9.
The aim has been to effect a cure, but the benefits have generally not been as long-lasting as hoped.
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Nanospiked bacteria are the brightest hard X-ray emitters
1.
In a scientific breakthrough, researchers have fashioned bacteria to emit intense, hard X-ray
radiation.
2.
They show that irradiating a glass slide coated with nanoparticle doped bacteria, turns the cellular
material into hot, dense plasma, making this a useful table top X-ray source with several potential
applications.
3.
In a step that overturns traditional assumptions and practice, researchers at the Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research, Mumbai and Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhi Nagar have fashioned
bacteria to emit intense, hard x-ray radiation.
Enzyme behind sweet scent of roses found
1.
Researchers have identified an enzyme which plays a key role in producing the sweet fragrances in
roses, a finding that can help restore a pleasing scent to rose varieties that have lost it.
2.
Roses, which provide essential oils for perfumes and cosmetics, have been bred mostly for their visual
traits, and their once-strong scents have faded over the generations.
3.
Restoring their fragrant odours will require a better understanding of the rose scent biosynthesis
pathway.
4.
Until now, most studies of rose fragrance have focused on a biosynthetic pathway that generates
pleasant-smelling alcohols, known as monoterpenes, using specific enzymes called terpene synthases.
5.
Some scientists have argued that terpene synthases are the sole route to the production of fragrant
monoterpenes in plants.
6.
They found that the RhNUDX1 enzyme, which acts in the cytoplasm of cells located in the flowers'
petals, generates the fragrant and well-known monoterpene geraniol, the primary part of rose oil.
7.
In the future, botanists might be able to exploit the RhNUDX1 gene in order to breed appealing scents
back into these iconic flowers.
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Vaccines against dengue in the offing
1.
In a finding that could lead to the first effective therapies and vaccines against dengue, scientists have
determined the structure of a human antibody which can fight the deadly virus.
2.
Researchers determined the structure of the human monoclonal antibody which, in an animal model,
strongly neutralises a type of the potentially lethal dengue virus.
3.
The finding could lead to the first effective therapies and vaccines against dengue, a complex of four
distinct but related mosquito-borne viruses.
4.
That infect about 390 million people a year and which are a leading cause of illness and death in the
tropics, researchers said.
ISRO to undertake biggest commercial launch on July 10
1.
In the heaviest ever commercial mission undertaken by ISRO and its commercial arm Antrix, the
country's workhorse the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will put in orbit five foreign satellites
from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 10.
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2.
With the overall lift-off mass of the five satellites amounting to about 1,440 kg, this mission becomes
the heaviest commercial mission ever undertaken by Antrix/ISRO.
3.
In its 13th flight, PSLV-C28 will launch three identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites built
by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), United Kingdom (UK).
4.
The three DMC3 satellites, each weighing 447 kg, will be launched into a 647 km Sun-Synchronous
Orbit (SSO) using the high-end version of PSLV (PSLV-XL).
5.
In addition, the rocket will also carry two auxiliary satellites from UK - CBNT-1, a technology
demonstrator earth observation micro satellite built by SSTL, and De-OrbitSail, a technology
demonstrator nano satellite built by Surrey Space Centre.
Nanoparticles Shut Down Cancer Growth
1.
In epithelial cancers cancers of the breast, ovaries, prostate, skin and bladder, which begin in the
organs lining these processes are controlled by a genetic program called epithelialmesenchymal
transition.
2.
Epithelialmesenchymal transition is regulated by a protein called Twist, which means that Twist
directly influences the development of cancer, its spread to other organs and its return after
remission.
3.
In a major step toward developing a novel therapy that targets epithelialmesenchymal transition,
scientists from UCLA and City of Hope have become the first to inhibit the mechanism of Twist using
nanoparticles to deliver a nucleic acid called small interfering RNA, or siRNA, into tumor cells.
4.
In mouse models, delivering siRNA into cancer cells inhibited the expression of Twist, which in turn
reduced epithelial-mesenchymal transition and dramatically reduced the size of tumors.
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5.
In previous studies, siRNA has been shown to effectively shut down gene expression in tumor cells
grown in the laboratory.
6.
But the technique had not been effective in living organisms because enzymes in the blood called
nucleases degrade siRNA before it can reach tumor cells.
Indian scientist helps find breakthrough malaria cure
1.
An Indian is among a group of top international scientists which has identified a key protein that if
targeted, stops malaria. This paves the way for new treatments.
2.
Dr. Mahmood Alam, from Lohardaga in Jharkhand, is among the authors of the new study published
in Nature Communications.
3.
Dr. Alam and others at the Medical Research Councils (MRC) Toxicology Unit based at the University
of Leicester and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine identified a key protein kinase that if targeted stops malaria.
4.
There has been a great deal of excitement among malaria scientists about the outcome of our
research. It not only tells us about the biochemical pathways that are essential for the parasite to
survive in our bodies but also allows us to design drugs that can spot these essential pathways and
thereby kill the parasite, Dr. Alam said.
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New laser device to sniff out several diseases
1.
Researchers are developing a new laser system for fast, non-invasive, onsite breath analysis that may
be used to screen people for a range of diseases including diabetes, infections and various cancers.
2.
Rather than sniffing out a variety of smells as a dog would, the laser system uses light to "sense" the
range of molecules that are present in the sample.
3.
Those molecules are by-products of metabolic processes in the body and their levels change when
things go wrong.
4.
There have been good studies undertaken around the world which show that diseases like lung and
esophageal cancer, asthma and diabetes can be detected in this way, even before external symptoms
are showing.
5.
The system being developed offers almost-instant results, high sensitivity and the ability to test for a
range of molecules at once - making it promising for broad scale health screening.
Genomics among the biggest of Big Data

1.
Each cell in the body contains a whole genome, yet the data packed into a few DNA molecules could
fill a hard drive. Each cell in the body contains a whole genome, yet the data packed into a few DNA
molecules could fill a hard drive.
2.
As more people have their DNA sequenced, that data will require massive computational and storage
capabilities beyond anything previously anticipated.
3.
The team of experts compared data needs of genomics with three of the biggest players in big data:
astronomy, Twitter and YouTube.
4.
They projected growth in each area through the year 2025 and found that genomics is poised to be a
leader in data acquisition, storage, distribution and analysis.
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5.
As genome-sequencing technologies improve and costs drop, we are expecting an explosion of

genome sequencing that will cause a huge flood of data.
6.
A professor of entomology and the director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the
U. of I. The only way to handle this data deluge will be to improve the computing infrastructure for
genomics.
7.
Astronomy, Twitter and YouTube represent three diverse domains that generate and use a huge
amount of data, albeit with huge differences in computing needs.
8.
The diversity of these three forms of Big Data provides an excellent framework for comparative
analyses with genomics.
9.
Like YouTube and Twitter, genomics data are highly distributed, coming from many different sources.
10. However, both Twitter and YouTube have standard formats for their entries, while genomic data can
assume many different formats, making sharing and storing more complex.
11. The authors estimate that the genomics information so far, from sequencing different organisms and
a number of humans, has produced data on the petabyte scale (a petabyte is a million gigabytes).
12. However, over the last decade, genomic sequencing data doubled about every seven months, and will
grow at an even faster rate as personal genome sequencing becomes more widespread.
13. The researchers estimate that by 2025, genomics data will explode to the exabyte scale billions of
gigabytes. This surpasses even YouTube, the current title holder among the domains studied for most
data stored.
India set to launch five British satellites
1.
The Indian space agency on Wednesday morning began the countdown for the July 10 rocket launch
that would carry five British satellites.
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2.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the 62 hours and 30 minutes countdown for
the July 10th night launch of rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL variant began at 7.28 a.m.
on Wednesday.
3.
The rocket is scheduled to blast off at 9.58 p.m. on July 10 from the first launch pad with five satellites
together weighing around 1,440 kg, for an undisclosed fee.
4.
Since 1999, India to date has launched 40 satellites of other countries and the successful launch of the
five British satellites would take the tally to 45.
5.
The 44.4 metre tall and 320 tonne PSLV is a four stage/engine rocket with six strap-on motors for
addition thrust during the initial phase of the flight.
6.
The first and third stages are powered by solid fuel and are cast ready while the second and fourth
stages are powered by liquid fuel which will be filled during the countdown.
7.
Apart from fuelling up the engines, all the systems would be checked and rechecked during the
countdown.
8.
Of the five British satellites, three are identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites weighing 447
kg. These will be put into a 647km sun-synchronous orbit.
9.
Of the other two satellites, CBNT-1 weighs 91 kg and also is an optical earth observation technology
demonstration microsatellite, while the remaining De-OrbitSail weighs 7 kg. This is an experimental
nano-satellite for demonstration of large thin membrane sail-and-drag deorbiting.
10. The three DMC3 and the CBNT-1 satellites were built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. The DeOrbitSail was built by Surrey Space Centre.
11. According to ISRO, accommodating the three DMC3 satellites (each with a height of about three
metres within the existing payload fairing or the heat shield of the PSLV) was a challenge.
12. Frances SPOT 7 satellite weighing 714 kg was the heaviest single foreign satellite carried by a PSLV
rocket untill now. It was launched on June 30, 2014.
Vitamin C cuts the risk of early death

1.
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables packed with vitamin C will substantially cut the rick of heart attacks
and early death.
2.
Researchers examined 100,000 Danish peoples intake of fruit and vegetables as well as their DNA.
3.
Those with the highest intake of fruit and vegetables have a 15 per cent lower risk of developing
cardiovascular disease and a 20 per cent lower risk of early death.
4.
Vitamin C helps build connective tissue and is also a potent antioxidant that protects cells and
biological molecules from the damage which causes many diseases, including cardiovascular disease.
5.
The human body is not able to produce vitamin C, which means that we must get the vitamin from
our diet, said the study that appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
6.
Eating a lot of fruit and vegetables is a natural way of increasing vitamin C blood levels. One can get
vitamin C supplements but it is a good idea to get your vitamin C by eating a healthy diet.
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Rashtriya Avishkar mission to inculcate scientific temper among children
launched
1.
Launching the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) on Thursday, former President A P J Abdul Kalam said
it can work if four qualities of uniqueness are preserved, namely, great aim, quest of knowledge, hard
work and perseverance.
2.
Kalam said innovation comes only if "we learn to live, we learn to think and we learn to learn."
3.
The primary aim of RAA, developed by HRD ministry, is to inculcate a spirit of inquiry, creativity and
love for science and mathematics in school children.
4.
HRD minister told the gathering through video conference that the idea behind RAA is to encourage
students to learn sciences beyond the classrooms.
5.
It is an effort to take forward the Prime Minister's vision of Digital India, 'Make in India' and 'Teach in
India.
6.
Under RAA government schools will be mentored by institutes like IITs/ IIMs/ IISERs and other central
universities and reputed organizations through innovative programmes, student exchanges,
demonstrations, student visits, etc to develop a sense of passion towards learning of science and
mathematics.
7.
Students were also addressed by scientists Tessy Thomas, project director AGNI IV and Nandani
Harinath, deputy operations director, Mars Orbiter Mission.
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Galaxy Discovered 5 Billion Light Years Away
1.
Scientists in Australia have discovered a galaxy as far as 5 billion light-years away by using a new hitech radio telescope.
2.
The galaxy was discovered in radio emissions travelling to earth using the Australian Square Kilometre
Array Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP).
3.
Six dishes of the telescope, located in a remote desert in Western Australia at the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO), have detected a weak signal emitted prior to the birth of the solar
system.
4.
"At many observatories, this dip would have been hidden by background radio noise, but our site is so
radio quiet it stood out clearly," said Allison, an affiliate of ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky
Astrophysics (CAASTRO).
5.
The telescope can pick up signals from galaxies in the distant universe that are sources of radio waves.
6.
The team used a special technique to detect a change in radio waves coming from within the bright
centre of the galaxy PKS B1740-517, located near the Ara constellation.
7.
This will help astronomers understand why star formation, which is fuelled by hydrogen gas, has
dropped off in the universe since its peak 10 billion years ago.
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Study finds surprisingly high geothermal heating beneath West Antarctic Ice
Sheet
1.
The amount of heat flowing toward the base of the West Antarctic ice sheet from geothermal sources
deep within the Earth is surprisingly high, according to a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers.
2.
The geothermal heating reported in this study does not explain the alarming loss of ice from West
Antarctica that has been documented by other researchers.
3.
"The ice sheet developed and evolved with the geothermal heat flux coming up from belowit's part
of the system.
4.
But this could help explain why the ice sheet is so unstable. When you add the effects of global
warming, things can start to change quickly.
5.
High heat flow below the West Antarctic ice sheet may also help explain the presence of lakes
beneath it and why parts of the ice sheet flow rapidly as ice streams.
6.
Water at the base of the ice streams is thought to provide the lubrication that speeds their motion,
carrying large volumes of ice out onto the floating ice shelves at the edges of the ice sheet.
7.
The geothermal measurement was from only one location, and heat flux is likely to vary from place to
place beneath the ice sheet.
8.
This is the first geothermal heat flux measurement made below the West Antarctic ice sheet.
9.
This is a region where there is volcanic activity, so this measurement may be due to a local heat
source in the crust.
10. The study was part of a large Antarctic drilling project funded by the National Science Foundation
called WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling), for which UC Santa Cruz is
one of three lead institutions.
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NASAs New Horizon spacecraft discovers Pluto as flyby nears
1.
NASAs piano sized spacecraft spotted heart shape on Plutos rusty red surface, which scientist are
seeing first time.
2.
The dwarf planet is also dotted with bright points which may be ice caps, and a mysterious dark shape
nicknamed "The Whale."
3.
Pluto once considered the farthest planet in the solar system before it was reclassified as a dwarf
planet in 2006.
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4.
That same year, the New Horizons mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a journey of
nearly 10 years and three billion miles, becoming the first spacecraft to explore this far-away frontier.
5.
Moving at a speed of 30,800 miles (49,570 kilometers) per hour, it is the fastest spacecraft ever
launched.
6.
The $700 million unmanned spacecraft has seven sophisticated science instruments and cameras that
are collecting data daily and sending it back to Earth.
7.
They include three optical instruments, two plasma instruments, a dust sensor and a radio science
receiver.
8.
New Horizons has enough power to continue traveling for 20 years, but will never catch up with
NASA's Voyager 1, which launched in 1977 and is the most distant man-made object in space.
9.
In 2013, Voyager 1 entered interstellar space, some 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from the
Sun.
Why don't magnets stick to plutonium? Scientists find out.
1.
Plutonium is a metal, but it won't stick to a magnet, puzzling scientists for decades. Now researchers
may have found this "missing magnetism."
2.
The hideout? Electrons that surround every atom of plutonium, finds the group, led by Marc
Janoschek of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Atomic basics
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1.
Electrons spin around atoms in shells, also known as orbitals. Each orbital has a certain maximum
number of electrons it can hold.
2.
In ordinary metals the number of electrons in the outermost orbital is fixed copper, for example,
has one electron, and iron has two in that outer shell.
Aerosolized vaccine protects primates against Ebola
1.
Previous studies with primates suggest that aerosols of most biothreat agents, which are particles
dispersed in the air, are infectious.
2.
Recent studies show that contact with the Ebola virus through the mucus membranes that line the
respiratory tract results in infection, suggesting that airway linings may be important portals of entry
for the virus.
3.
Aerosolized delivery has never before been tested for an Ebola vaccine or any other viral hemorrhagic
fever vaccine.
4.
"A needle-free, inhalable vaccine against Ebola presents certain advantages," said lead author
Michelle Meyer, UTMB postdoctoral fellow in the department of pathology. "Immunization will not
require trained medical personnel."
5.
The study characterized the immune responses generated by vaccination against Ebola delivered to
the respiratory tract as either an aerosol or liquid.
6.
Direct comparisons were made with an unrelated protective injectable Ebola vaccine.
7.
This included detailed comparisons between immune T cell responses in the lungs, spleen and blood.
8.
A single vaccination with the aerosol developed by the researchers protected non-human primates
against the severe disease and death caused by lethal Ebola infection.
9.
"This study demonstrates successful aerosol vaccination against a viral hemorrhagic fever for the first
time," said virologist Alex Bukreyev, UTMB professor and a senior author.
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10. "A single-dose aerosol vaccine would enable both prevention and containment of Ebola infections, in
a natural outbreak setting where healthcare infrastructure is lacking or during bioterrorism and
biological warfare scenarios."
11. The findings of this study provide the basis for advancing this experimental vaccine to an NIH phase I
clinical study. Pending approval through an Investigative New Drug Application, the aerosolized form
of the vaccine will be evaluated for replication, safety and immunity development in a study in adults.
Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover captures sunspots
1.
Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity has captured the images of large sunspots on the face of the Sun that is
turned away from Earth.
2.
Large sunspots are evident in views from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). Scientists temporarily
have no other resource providing views of the Sun from the opposite side of the solar system from
Earth.
3.
The Sun completes a rotation about once a month - faster near its equator than near its poles, Nasa
said.
4.
Information about sunspots that develop before they rotate into view of Earth and Earth-orbiting
spacecraft is helpful in predicting space-weather effects of solar emissions related to sunspots.
5.
One sunspot or cluster that rotated out of Curiosity's view over the July 4 weekend showed up by July
7 as a source area of a solar eruption observed by Nasa's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory.
6.
Nasa's STEREO-A spacecraft, which monitors the Sun, is currently almost exactly behind the Sun from
Earth's perspective, but for precisely that reason it is temporarily out of communication.
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7.
The Sun disrupts radio transmissions that pass too close to it. Communication with Curiosity was also
suspended last month when Mars passed nearly behind the Sun, but the rover resumed full
communication and operations in late June.
8.
"Tracking the sunspot activity on the far side of the Sun is useful for space-weather forecasting," said
Yihua Zheng, project leader for Nasa Space Weather Services at Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre,
Maryland.
9.
The main purpose for imaging of the Sun by Curiosity and other Mars rovers has been to monitor how
its apparent brightness is affected by dust in Mars' atmosphere above the rovers.
A new class of particles discovered by LHC
1.
The LHCb experiment at CERNs Large Hadson Collider has reported the discovery of a class of
particles known as pentaquarks.
2.
It represents a way to aggregate quarks, namely the fundamental constituents of ordinary protons
and neutrons, in a pattern that has never been observed before in over 50 years of experimental
searches.
3.
Studying its properties may allow to understand better how ordinary matter, the protons and
neutrons from which were all made.
4.
Understanding of the structure of matter was revolutionized in 1964 when American physicist Murray
Gell-Mann proposed that a category of particles known as baryons, which includes protons and
neutrons, are composed of three fractionally charged objects called quarks, and that another
category, mesons, are formed of quark-antiquark pairs.
5.
Antiquarks are quarks of antimatter. Gell-Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for this work
in 1969.
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6.
This quark model also allows the existence of other quark composite states, such as pentaquarks
composed of four quarks and an antiquark.
ISRO successfully test-fires GSLV-Mark III
ISRO successfully test-fires GSLV-Mark III
1.
Indias Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-Mark III project aimed at carrying four-tonne
payloads, including future manned missions, has got a boost with ISRO successfully test-firing the first
indigenous high-thrust cryogenic rocket engine for more than its full duration.
2.
Isro yesterday confirmed that the test was conducted at its Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in
southern Tamil Nadu for 800 seconds, which is 25 per cent more than the burn duration of the engine
during flight. India has so far used six of the seven cryogenic engines procured from Russia and needs
indigenous engines to fly GSLVs to propel its future space missions.
3.
Cryogenics, the science of very low temperatures, has remained a tricky affair for rockets scientists
across the world. A cryogenic engine uses hydrogen as fuel, stored at minus 253 degrees Celsius and
liquid oxygen as oxidizer at minus 183 degrees Celsius.
4.
Russia and the US were pioneers in this section of rocketry, later mastered by China, Japan and the
European Space Agency.
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NASA captures new full image of earth
1.
2.
A new, full snapshot of our planet has been captured by a Nasa satellite. Such images, which show the
Earth in its entirety, are known as Blue Marbles.
3.
The latest of these was captured by theUS Deep Space Climate Observatory
(DSCOVR) spacecraftDSCOVR, a joint effort of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force, launched in February.
4.
The spacecrafts primary task is monitoring the solar wind, which should help improve NOAA
researchers forecasts of geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power grids and other infrastructure
here on Earth.
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August 2015
What the Kepler-452b discovery means for religion
1.
Since the recent discovery of Kepler-452b more prosaically known as Earth 2.0 scientific and
non-scientific communities have been abuzz with excited speculation. The existence of another Earthlike planet in the so-called Goldilocks Zone the circumstellar habitable zone with the right
conditions to support liquid water has reignited interest in that perennial question: are we alone in
the universe?
2.
That same question has also been on many lips since last months launch of the Breakthrough Listen
project, at which the search for extra-terrestial life (SETI) received a US$100 million dollar boost from
the wealthy Russian Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Yuri Milner.
3.
Kepler-452bs discovery has raised the intriguing possibility that, if there are other habitable planets
out there, we may one day be able to relocate human civilisation to one of them. Those sorts of
possibilities, for so long relegated to science fiction, have suddenly become credible.
4.
In 2010, the director of NASAs Ames Research Center, Simon Worden, predicted the availability
within a few years of a starship that will take us between worlds.
Similarly, Stephen Hawking has long insisted that interplanetary relocation is the only viable option for
humanitys continuing existence. And while technological barriers are at present insurmountable, NASA
engineer Adam Steltzner believes according to a statement he made at the Smithsonian The Future is Here
Festival in May last year that he will see human footprints on Mars in his lifetime.
Whats in it for God?
1.
Earth 2.0 has also posed questions that go to the heart of religion rather than science.
2.
For Jeff Schweitzer, former presidential advisor on science and technology to Bill Clinton, Earth 2.0
represents the worst possible news for God and all who believe in him.
3.
Whenever we consider space and all its possibilities, its easy, of course, to be dazzled by the sheer
numbers involved. Some estimates put the total number of stars in the observable universe at a
septillion stars thats a one followed by 24 zeros.
4.
Surely, now that scientists have found one other potentially habitable planet, there must be others.
Schweitzer is quite right to say that:
5.
math wizardry is not necessary to conclude we did not by chance find the only other possibly
habitable planet among that huge population of stars.
6.
But for Schweitzer, the numbers are irrelevant it doesnt require billions, or even millions, of other
possibly habitable planets. There only needs to be one other to disprove religious myth. In other
words, even if Kepler-452b were the only other habitable planet besides Earth, it would by itself
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be sufficient to discredit the idea of a god. Not surprisingly, the announcement of its discovery is
therefore pregnant with both scientific and theological significance.
7.
But before we rush to abandon whatever faiths some of us still have, its worth considering the basis
on which Schweitzer proclaims the death of God.
8.
Unfortunately, he knows next to nothing about textual exegesis the critical examination of a text.
His argument that Kepler-452b definitively disproves God rests on the thinnest of exegetical wafers.
9.
It goes like this.
10. Schweitzer wants us to accept that, because the Genesis creation narratives speak of life in the Earthbound singular, any proof or even possibility of extra-terrestrial life falsifies the Bibles own claims
about the god who instructed its authors
11. If there were other lives or habitable planets apart from Earth, God would surely have told the biblical
writers to mention them. Because he didnt, the Bible is therefore false and its God non-existent.
12. Of course, at the most basic level, Schweitzer is right. The Bible does only concern itself with the
creation of life on this planet. For all its talk about the heavens, there is no mention of other
possible Earth-like worlds, nor do any of the writers enquire into the existence of alien lifeforms. But
is this really the fatal oversight that Schweitzer believes it to be?
13. Why should the texts, even those that speak of Gods astronomical creativity, necessarily go beyond
the horizon of this worldly experience? That is hardly their purpose. As Jewish rabbi and editor
Abraham Cohen once noted: natural science as a subject of study was not cultivated in the schools of
Palestine or Babylon.
14. The rabbis were aware of, but largely uninterested in, cosmology as such. Why? Because they were
sufficiently concerned with the problems of this world, without worrying about speculative
possibilities of any others.
15. That is to say that the Bible is simply uninterested in the maybes and what-ifs of astrophysical
abstraction. On the contrary, the Bible in its entirety provides a narrative framework for
understanding how this people (the community of Israel and then, later, the Church of Jews and
Gentiles) relates to this God.
16. There is something deeply grounded about Scriptures intention to not enquire abstractly into what
may be, but to ask instead, how then should we live, here and now, with ourselves and with one
another?
17. To require of the Bible that it also engage in cosmological speculation is as nonsensical as demanding
that we find a recipe for butterscotch duff in Newtons Arithmetica Universalis.
18. This is not, of course, to deny that the discovery of Earth 2.0 is freighted with theological significance.
No longer living in the time of Scriptures composition, we do not have the luxury of ignoring the
scientific realities that were, at one time, mere curiosities.
19. Theologians, religious leaders and people of faith should feel inwardly compelled by such realities to
ask probing questions about the nature of the God in whom we say we believe.
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20. What does it mean to say that God is pro nobis (for us)? Is he also for all other possible lifeforms?
Why not, we might ask? Is there still something unique about life made in Gods image that may not
of necessity be true of any other life-types? Can we, in good faith, confess that God is the maker of
heaven and the earths?
21. Perhaps particularly, is there anything in the Scriptures that would prevent us from making such a
confession?
22. These are just some of the questions that we should carefully ask. But in all honesty, such questions
are only in fact the natural extension of questions that have already been asked by the various ecotheologies
23. Ecotheology has intentionally sought to destabilise the anthropocentric, geocentric narrative of
normative doctrine; to ask now about the impact of extra-terrestrial habitation on our concepts of
God is different only by degree and not by kind.
24. But if we are to do so, we should be guided by a far more sophisticated exegetical grammar than that
employed by Jeff Schweitzer. We will need to learn how to read our foundational religious texts with
nuance, and with an eye to the discursive whole, rather than contenting ourselves with facile prooftexting.
25. Theology just as much as science needs to keep an open mind and an open heart. If it does so,
then that will be in fact good news for God.The Conversation
How white blood cells limit muscle regeneration

1.
Researchers have identified a protein produced by white blood cells that puts the brakes on muscle
repair after injury.
2.
By removing the protein CD163 from mice, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine could
boost muscle repair and recovery of blood flow after ischemic injury (damage caused by restriction of
blood flow).
3.
The findings point to a target for potential treatments aimed at enhancing muscle regeneration.
Muscle breakdown occurs in response to injury or inactivity -- during immobilization in a cast, for
example -- and in several diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
4.
The results are scheduled for publication online by Nature Communications on August 5.
5.
CD163 was known to scientists, mostly as a molecule involved in scavenging excess hemoglobin from
the body, but its role in regulating muscle repair was not, says senior author Aloke Finn, MD, assistant
professor of medicine (division of cardiology) at Emory University School of Medicine.
6.
Mice lacking CD163 showed increased blood flow and muscle repair, compared with controls, after an
injury coming from a restriction of blood flow in one leg. Examining the mice lacking CD163, Finn and
his colleagues were surprised to find that blood vessels and muscle fibers also grew substantially
(roughly 10 percent) in their uninjured legs.
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7.
"We were astonished," Finn says. "Why would something we did, which caused an injury to one leg,
help tissue in the other leg regenerate when it wasn't injured in the first place?"
8.
Potentially, researchers could try to achieve the effect of removing CD163 in humans by giving
patients an antibody against CD163, but more research is needed to know how this might work.
CD163 levels have been found to increase in aging humans in multiple studies.
9.
Finn and his colleagues found that macrophages, which are a type of white blood cell, appear to
release a soluble form of CD163 in response to injury. In the blood, CD163 soaks up and counteracts
another protein called TWEAK, which stimulates muscle cells to multiply.
10. In CD163's absence, TWEAK can have a greater effect, and can apparently stimulate muscle growth
distant from the site of injury. When infused into normal mice, TWEAK does not have any effect on
muscle growth, possibly because of circulating CD163.
11. Scientists that study muscle cells have been interested in TWEAK for several years, but some studies
have suggested that TWEAK negatively regulates muscle regeneration - the opposite of what Finn's
team observed. To prove that TWEAK was needed for the extra repair seen in mice lacking CD163, the
Emory researchers showed that if they injected an antibody against TWEAK, thus removing it from the
blood, it eliminated the extra repair activity.
12. "I think our results show a specific mechanism by which muscle regeneration takes place. TWEAK can
be a pro-regenerative factor," Finn says, "but its effects have to be transient and limited."
13. TWEAK is thought of as transmitting inflammatory signals because it activates a master regulator of
inflammation called NF-kB. While chronic inflammation is bad for muscle growth, in the mice lacking
CD163, the signals coming from increased TWEAK are helpful for regeneration.
14. "Ischemic injury is a situation in which TWEAK can stimulate muscle progenitor cells to proliferate,"
Finn says. "But if you have lots of TWEAK around all the time, the muscle cells don't know when it's
time to differentiate and mature. "
15. TWEAK has also been shown to be connected to liver regeneration and stroke. Finn says his team is
currently investigating CD163's effects on atherosclerosis.
US scientists grow replica of human brain

1.
Scientists in the United States have successfully grown a replica of a human brain in a laboratory dish.
2.
The brain, organoid, was created from reprogrammed skin cells and is about the size of a pencil
eraser. They hope it will prove to be an essential tool in the testing of new drugs and research into
brain disorders, such asAlzheimer.
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GSLV Successfully Launches Indias Latest Communication Satellite GSAT-6
1.
In its ninth flight (GSLV-D6) conducted today, Indias Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle,
equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched GSAT-6, the
countrys latest communication satellite, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
2.
The achieved orbit is very close to the intended one. The launch took place from the Second Launch
Pad at theSatish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. This
was the fifth developmental flight of GSLV and the third to carry the indigenous CUS.
3.
Todays flight of GSLV underscores the success of ISRO in mastering the highly complex cryogenic
rocket propulsion technology.
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