Science and Technology July 2019

Barcoding of Medicine

What is a barcode?

• A machine-readable code in the form of

numbers and a pattern of parallel lines of

varying widths, printed on and identifying a

product

• There are two types of barcodes - linear or

1D, and 2D

• A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode

that is readable by smartphones

Barcoding of Medicine

• Govt decided to make barcoding mandatory on

all medicines sold locally

Why this move?

• To offset India‟s growing reputation as a source

of counterfeit medicines

• Barcoding for domestic sales of drugs will

ascertain the authenticity of medicines, ability to

monitor their ready availability, expiration, track

and trace their recalls when needed

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee

• GEAC is a statutory body under the MoEFCC established through Rules 1989

notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

Its functions

• To appraise activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and

recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle

• To appraise proposals relating to release of genetically engineered organisms

and products into the environment including experimental field trials

• The committee or any persons authorized by it has powers to take punitive action

under the Environment Protection Act, 1986

Some background info

• 1st generation bt Cotton – cry1ab

gene (against pink bollworm)

• 2nd generation bt Cotton – cry1bc

gene (against pink bollworm)

• 3rd generation bt Cotton - cp4-

Epsps‟ gene (glyphosate tolerance)

Unapproved Sowing of Genetically Modified Crops

• A sowing of unapproved transgenic cotton and brinjal was attempted in Akola

district of Maharashtra

• It was organised by the Shetkari Sanghtana demanding introduction of Herbicide

Tolerant (Ht) Bt cotton and Bt brinjal

• The farmers termed it as the „civil disobedience‟ movement to protest the central

government‟s indecisiveness in approving the next generation of Genetically

Modified (GM) cotton

Transposons - Jumping Genes

• DNA sequences that move from one location on the

genome to another

• Do not contain any code for proteins

• Found in almost all organisms (both prokaryotes and

eukaryotes) and typically in large numbers. For

example, TEs make up approximately 50% of the

human genome

Importance

• Can cause mutations and potentially result in cancers

• can drive the evolution of genomes by facilitating the

translocation of genomic sequences

• Can regulate gene expression by silencing them

Transposons – why in the news?

• Jumping gene could effectively be

programmed with a guide, and it can

insert itself with incredible precision into

user-defined sites in the genome

• The researchers found the jumping

gene was capable of depositing

“genetic cargoes into the genome,”

delivering sequences up to 10,000

bases long

Superbugs and plants

• Superbug are disease pathogens that become

resistant to most commonly used antibiotics

• Often, superbugs are bacteria. They can also be fungi

Important reasons for their emergence

• Overuse of antibiotics

• Lack of discipling in treatment regimen

• Natural evolutionary mechanisms in the pathogens

Why in the news?

• Researchers at the University of Southern California

have found that antimicrobial resistant bacteria or

superbugs can be transmitted to humans through

plants

Lukoskin

• Leucoderma is a skin ailment characterized by the

depigmentation of the skin

• Lukoskin dual therapy is a scientifically developed,

innovative formulation which provides effective

approach in the management of Leucoderma

• This unique formulation is developed by Defence

Institute of Bio-Energy & research, a wing of DRDO

• Lukoskin dual therapy includes oral liquid & ointment,

together provide a comprehensive treatment for

depigmentation of skin

Moon's Aitken Crater

• Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)

detected an anomaly in the moon‟s gravitational field

Why this anomaly?

• because of heavy metal lodged in the mantle deep below

the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin

GRAIL mission

• A part of NASA's Discovery Program launched in 2011

and decommissioned in 2012

• It involves two small spacecraft GRAIL A (Ebb) and

GRAIL B (Flow)

• Designed to create the most accurate gravitational map

of the moon to date

Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma Telescope

• It is a joint team of German-Russian

scientists

• Aims to detect up to 3 mn supermassive

black holes from the Milky Way

• It will 3D X-ray map of the universe and

unveil unknown supermassive black holes,

dark energy and stars

• The four-year mission will survey the entire

sky eight times and track the evolution of the

universe and dark energy

• This is the first telescope which is sensitive to

high energy hard X-rays

Giant Metre wave Radio Telescope

• GMRT consists of 30 fully steerable gigantic

parabolic dishes of 45m diameter each spread

over distances of upto 25 km

• The metre wavelength part of the radio spectrum

has been particularly chosen for GMRT because

man-made radio interference is considerably

lower in this part of the spectrum in India

• GMRT is an indigenous project based on what is

being called the `SMART' concept - for Stretch

Mesh Attached to Rope Trusses‟

Giant Metre wave Radio Telescope

Objectives

• to detect the redshifted spectral line of neutral Hydrogen expected from protoclusters

• To search for and study rapidly-rotating Pulsars in our galaxy

Its contributions

• In 2018, the most distant galaxy ever known, located at a distance of 12 billion light years, was discovered by GMRT

• In 2020, it helped in the observation of the biggest explosion in the history of the universe, the Ophiuchus Supercluster explosion

Facebook‟s Cryptocurrency „Libra‟

• Will be launched in 2020

• The mission is to enable simple global currency and

financial infrastructure to empower billions of people

• A Libra is a unit of Libra cryptocurrency represented

by ≋

• It will let its user to send or receive money and buy

things at nearly zero fees

• Facebook is also launching its Subsidiary Co. called

Calibra that will handle its crypto dealings

Central Command Centre for Air Traffic Flow Management System

• It is established in New Delhi

• Primarily meant to balance capacity against demand

so as to achieve optimum utilization of airport,

airspace and aircraft

• It integrates flight data from various subsystems like

ATC (Air Traffic Control) Automation System, flight

updates and flight update messages so as to

provide safe and orderly flow of traffic

• ATFM system has connected all airports in India

Tri-Netra technology

• Terrain Imaging for Drivers Infrared, Enhanced,

Optical & Radar Assisted) technology for

detecting obstructions on tracks

• It comprises of infrared camera, optical camera

and radar assisted imaging system for assisting

loco pilots in identifying obstructions on tracks,

mainly in foggy conditions

• This device helps visually during fog via ultrasonic

waves to detect any obstruction on tracks

Fuel Cell Technology

• Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert

chemical energy from the reactants directly into

electricity and heat

• Hydrogen is the basic fuel, but fuel cells also require

oxygen

• In a hydrogen fuel cell, a catalyst at the anode

separates hydrogen molecules into protons and

electrons, which take different paths to the cathode

• Normally, fuel cells use expensive elements like

platinum. These expensive metal-based technologies

perform excellently for initial few cycles, but then get

degraded in performance

Why in the news?

• A multi-institutional team of scientists from India has developed a selenium-

graphene based catalyst which is more efficient in terms of cost and performance

• It also remains stable for longer than the usual platinum-based catalysts

Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle

• An indigenously project of DRDO and is intended to

serve multiple military and civil purposes

• to demonstrate the “performance of a scram-jet

engine at an altitude of 15 km to 20 km

• It was launched with the assisted take-off from

Agni-I missile

• It is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft

which can cruise at a speed of 6 mach and move

up to an altitude of 32.5 kilometres in 20 seconds

• Can be used for launching cruise missiles and

also for launching satellites at a low cost

• Therefore, it is a dual-use technology with

military and civilian applications

• It will also be available for long-range cruise

missiles of the future such as Brahmos 2

Current Affairs

• A new species of narrow mouthed frog, commonly called as paddy frogs was discovered in Assam

• It is named aishani, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘aishani’ (meaning north-east)

• It belongs to the genus Micryletta, or narrow-mouthed paddy frogs, which are primarily widely distributed in

Southeast Asia

• Currently, there are only four recognized species in this group

• Micryletta aishani is currently endemic to Northeast India but it is expected to be present in the neighboring

regions of Bangladesh and Myanmar

1. Micryletta aishani

Current Affairs

What are Color morphs?

• It is an occurrence of two or more discrete colour forms of the same species

within a population. Eg - black panther is a color morph of the common leopard

• It arises from random genetic mutations and stabilizes in the population

through natural selection

Why in the news?

• Indian scientists from the Zoological Society of London and University College

London have discovered six color morphs of the golden cat in Dibang Valley of

Arunachal Pradesh

• Dibang Valley hosts the world’s most diverse range of colour morphs of a wild

cat species ever reported in one site

2. Colour Morphs of Wild Cat

Current Affairs

Significance of the study

• Understanding the evolution of color morphs could help to understand

how quickly species can adapt and evolve to changing environments

• A better insight into the resilience capacity of the species to climate

change or habitat degradation and destruction

• Color Morphs could help in conservation of Asiatic Golden Cats, as it

provides ecological benefits to cats such as

1. Occupying different habitats at different elevations from wet

tropical lowland forests to alpine scrubs

2. Providing camouflage while preying on pheasants and rabbits

2. Colour Morphs of Wild Cat

Current Affairs

• Established in 1978 as an outcome of the 1st UN Conference on Human

Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat I) held in

Vancouver, Canada, in 1976

• Mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and

environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of

providing adequate shelter for all

3. UN Habitat

• It is a member of the United Nations

Development Group. The twin goals of

the Habitat Agenda are:

1. Adequate shelter for all

2. The development of sustainable human

settlements in an urbanizing world

Current Affairs

Why in the news?

• India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly (2019) at the Plenary Session of the Assembly that was held in Nairobi, Kenya

• 2019 Theme: "Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities“

Other important outcomes

• Contribution of more than $152 million toward making cities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by the member countries

First UN Habitat Assembly

Current Affairs

• Communities, cities or towns that improve their solid waste management and reduce their waste management expenditure will be publicly recognized as ‘Waste-Wise Cities’. The initiative asks communities, cities and towns around the world to “rethink, reduce, recycle, refuse and reuse waste”

• The strategic plan of the UN human settlements programme for the period 2020–2025 is presented. The plan aims to advance sustainable urbanization as a driver of development and peace, to improve living conditions for all

Outcomes of the 1st UN Habitat Assembly

• Participating nations also presented their statements on efforts to promote the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and sustainable urban development

Current Affairs

• MoEF&CC has asked UP forest department to propose Dhanauri in Greater Noida as

a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention

• If accepted by the Ramsar Convention, Dhanauri will get international recognition

and efforts to protect from land use change

Significance of Dhanauri site

• Dhanauri supports a large population of the vulnerable Sarus cranes

4. Proposal for Ramsar Site Tag for Dhanauri wetland

The wetland meets two criteria (out of nine) to be declared a Ramsar site:

• It has more than 1% of the biogeographic population of one species: the Sarus

crane

• The area supports congregation of more than 20,000 waterfowl and other

species

Current Affairs

1. Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary - fed by monsoon; habitat for the

endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and Pallas’s

fish eagle

2. Parvati Arga Bird Sanctuary – fed by Saryu river; home to the

critically endangered white-rumped vulture and Indian vulture and

the endangered Egyptian vulture

Existing wetlands of Uttar Pradesh

3. Saman Bird Sanctuary – monsoon fed; home to

sarus crane and greater spotted eagle

4. Samaspur Bird Sanctuary

5. Sandi Bird Sanctuary

6. Sarsai Nawar Jheel

7. Upper Ganga River (Brijghat to Narora Stretch)

Current Affairs

• The pilot trading program is a market-based system initiated by the Gujarat

in the city of Surat

• Through this, the government sets an emission limit and allows industries

to buy and sell permits to stay below the emission cap

5. India’s First Emissions Trading System for Particulate Pollution

• The scheme was designed by GPCB along with a

team of researchers from University of Chicago,

the Economic Growth Center at Yale University

and others from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty

Action Lab (J-PAL)

• This is the first of the kind scheme in India and

focusses exclusively on the Particulate matter

Current Affairs

• MoEF&CC declared an area of 1 km around the Asola Bhatti Wildlife

Sanctuary in Gurugram and Faridabad as Eco-sensitive zone

Asola Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is a part of Aravalli range located in the border region of Delhi and

Haryana

• It is characterized by the semi-arid forest and is a part of Leopard wildlife

corridor

• It is also the site for the relocation of captured monkeys from the urban

parts of Delhi

• Wildlife habitats inside the sanctuary act as water recharge zone for Delhi,

Faridabad and Gurugram

6. Asola Wildlife Sanctuary

Current Affairs

• In 2002, ‘a wildlife conservation strategy’ was adopted by National Board for Wildlife envisaging a 10 km eco-fragile zone around Protected Areas

• ESZ is intended as a shock absorber and a transition zone from higher to a lesser protected areas

• ESZs are notified by MoEFCC, Government of India under Environment Protection Act 1986

• The delineation of ESZ was meant to be site-specific and relate to regulation, rather than prohibition of specific activites

Eco-Sensitive Zones

Current Affairs

• Fumigants are gaseous pesticides that control pests in agricultural fields,

structures like buildings and apartments, storage houses and various other

sites

• Sulfuryl fluoride, formaldehyde, methyl bromide, chloropicrin and iodoform

are some of the most common examples of fumigants

Why in the news?

• Scientists from the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM)

and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have conducted

experiments in four different agro-climatic locations for the use of Phosphine

as replacement of methyl bromide

• Phosphine is normally produced using aluminium phosphate as substrate

7. Phosphine as Fumigant

Current Affairs

The need to replace methyl bromide

1. Methyl bromide is an ozone-depleting substance

2. India is a party to Montreal Protocol and is committed to phasing out methyl

bromide and other ozone-depleting substances by 2015

3. In India, its use is still permitted and often enforced during the export of food

products

Phosphine as Fumigant

Current Affairs

• India has banned the use of methyl bromide in domestic warehouses, phosphine

can be used in its place as a fumigant

• Methyl bromide is not good for repeated use as it leaves residues in the grains

• The grains stored in warehouses need to be fumigated every three months and

phosphine which has no residual build-up, should be preferred over methyl bromide

• Currently, methyl bromide is preferred as quarantine pest fumigant as it is fast-

acting and provides an advantage of time

• It is capable of killing pests like grain borers, beetles and weevils in less than 24

hours

• Phosphine, on the other hand, takes almost five days

Phosphine and methyl bromide

Current Affairs

• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals

that includes Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS),

GenX, and many other chemicals

• They are found in resistant fabrics used for cleaning, paints and food packaging

• Both chemicals are very persistent in the environment and in the human body

• PFAS are found in a wide range of consumer products that people use daily such

as cookware, pizza boxes and stain repellants

• The 2019 FDA report states that India joined as a party to the Stockholm

Convention in 2006 and in turn, the Convention included India’s name to the PFA

global restriction list in 2009. But, India has not accepted this amendment till now

• Fluorine-free alternatives include silicone-, ceramic- or enamel-based coatings

8. Polyfluoroalkyl substances

Current Affairs

• Heat stress can occur from high daytime temperatures, high

nighttime temperatures, or high soil temperatures, and is the

collective result of the intensity of the heat, the duration of

exposure, and the rate of increase in temperature

9. Mung bean and heat stress

• Mungbean is grown as a summer crop

between rice-wheat sequence. It has a short

duration (about 70 days), and faces high

temperatures up to 45 degrees during its

flowering and podding stage, causing serious

damage to flowers and pods in terms of

number and size

• Currently, there are no heat-tolerant

varieties of mungbean

Current Affairs

Why in the news?

• Gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA is a non-protein amino acid known to regulate carbon

metabolism, maintain pH and osmotic pressure inside cells, and protect cells from various stresses.

• The reproductive functions of mungbean plants were reduced upon heat stress and that this damage

could be reversed by application of GABA, a naturally occurring amino acid, to roots and leaves

• In Arabidopsis plants, it is known to accumulate in conditions of high heat

Mung bean and heat stress

Current Affairs

• Butterfly species Tamil yeoman (Cirrochroa thais) has

been officially declared as state butterfly of Tamil Nadu

• Tamil yeoman

• Is also commonly called as ‘canopy butterfly’ and

locally as Tamizh Maravan (which means warrior)

10. Tamil yeoman - Tamil Nadu’s State Butterfly

• Uniformly orange in colour with a dark brown outer ring

• Usually seen at the foothills and moist evergreen forests of the state’s

mountainous regions

• This butterfly species moves in groups in large numbers, but only in a few places

Current Affairs

• Wolbachia are extremely common bacteria that occur naturally in 60% of insect

species, including some mosquitoes, fruit flies, moths, dragonflies and butterflies

• When Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carry natural Wolbachia bacteria, the

transmission of viruses like dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever is reduced

• Wolbachia interrupts viral replication in mosquitoes. This results in low viral

concentration within mosquitoes, making them incapable of transmitting the

disease

• The release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes poses negligible risk to humans

and the environment

• The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the main transmitter of dengue, Zika, chikungunya

and yellow fever viruses

11. Wolbachia and mosquito

Current Affairs

• The world food day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018

• Accordingly, June 7 was celebrated as the first World Food Safety Day. The 2019 theme is ‘Food Safety,

everyone's business’

• The UN has designated two of its agencies — the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World

Health Organization (WHO) — to lead efforts in promoting food safety around the world

• The day aims to create awareness about the importance of maintaining safe food standards and also reduce

the burden of deaths due to foodborne diseases

12. First World Food Safety Day

Current Affairs

• A unique strategy adopted by Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) called ‘Plan Bee’ to keep wild elephants away

from train tracks has won the ‘Best Innovation Award’ in Indian Railways in 2019

• The prize is awarded by Indian Railways and comprises of a citation and a cash award of Rs.3 lakh

What is Plan Bee?

• It is an amplifying system that imitates the buzz of a swarm of honeybees audible from about 700-800 metres

to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks

13. Northeast Frontier Railway’s Plan Bee wins Best Innovation Award

• Many studies suggest that elephants are scared of swarming bees

• First such instrument was installed at a level crossing west of Guwahati in Assam

on a track adjoining Rani Reserve Forest, an elephant habitat.

• As per NFR officials, a mix of Plan Bee and other measures have helped them save

1,014 elephants from 2014 to June 2019.

Current Affairs

• A special force for aiding conservation efforts of one horned rhino in Kaziranga National Park (KNP)

• This Special Force has been raised by initiative of both central as well as state governments so as to control

rhino poaching in tiger reserve

• It consists of 82 personnel among whom eight are women

• The SRPF is basically a tiger protection force named after the rhino since the threat of poaching is more for

the one-horned herbivore

14. Special Rhino Protection Force

Current Affairs

• It is a World Heritage site that is well known for its flagship species, One Horned rhinoceros

• In addition, it is also a tiger reserve, an Important Bird Area (IBA) and forms part of North East Biodiversity

hotspot of India

• It is characterized by moist broadleaf forests and semi-evergreen forests

• Its other important species includes elephants, water buffalo, eastern swamp deer and hog deer

Kaziranga National Park