Miscellaneous

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive brain condition that’s thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussion.
It’s particularly associated with contact sports, such as boxing or American football. CTE was previously known as “punch drunk” syndrome and dementia pugilistica. But these terms are no longer used because it’s now known that the condition is not limited to ex-boxers.
The symptoms of CTE vary between individuals, but tend to be similar to those of other types of degenerative brain conditions, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.

Statement 1 is correct. The leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by protozoan parasites from more than 20 Leishmania species. These parasites are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected female phlebotomine sandfly, a tiny – 2–3 mm long – insect vector.
The most common forms are cutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and visceral leishmaniasis, which affects several internal organs (usually spleen, liver, and bone marrow).
Some people have a silent infection, without any symptoms or signs. People who develop clinical evidence of infection usually have fever, weight loss, enlargement (swelling) of the spleen and liver, and abnormal blood tests.
Statement 2 is incorrect. If not treated, severe (advanced) cases of visceral leishmaniasis typically are fatal.
# To recognize the significant contributions towards defining the survival tactics of Leishmania donovani, Society of Biological Chemists (India) has chosen Dr Susanta Kar, Senior Scientist, CSIR-CDRI for this year’s Prof.A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award.

Statement 1 is correct. Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.
Cancer cells differ from normal cells in many ways that allow them to grow out of control and become invasive. One important difference is that cancer cells are less specialized than normal cells. That is, whereas normal cells mature into very distinct cell types with specific functions, cancer cells do not. This is one reason that, unlike normal cells, cancer cells continue to divide without stopping.
In addition, cancer cells are able to ignore signals that normally tell cells to stop dividing or that begin a process known as programmed cell death, or apoptosis, which the body uses to get rid of unneeded cells.
Statement 2 is incorrect. National pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) regulates the prices of all Drugs as per the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013.
It fixes the Ceiling Price of scheduled formulations as per the list of medicines specified in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) which are included in the First Schedule of Drug Pricing Control Order (DPCO), 2013.
First Schedule of DPCO, 2013 also includes select drugs used for the treatment of cancer. However, there has been a long standing felt need to further regulate the Non Scheduled segment also where high markups have led to arbitrary pricing practices.

: Tarballs are small light-absorbing, carbonaceous particles formed due to burning of biomass or fossil fuels that deposit on snow and ice. Tarballs are formed from brown carbon, emitted during the burning of fossil fuels.
They also form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface. Tarballs are formed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments.

HFCs or hydrofluorocarbons, are super greenhouse gases, manufactured for use in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam blowing, aerosols, fire protection and solvents.
HFCs unlike most other greenhouse gases are not waste products but are intentionally produced. HFCs were developed as alternatives to ozone depleting substances that are being phased-out under the Montreal Protocol. Unfortunately, HFCs have a global warming potential 1000 to 3000 times that of CO2.
The Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol entered into force in 2019. Under the amendment, countries commit to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years to avoid more than 70 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050 — and up to 0.5° C warming by the end of the century.

Both statements are correct.
Cytokine storm is a severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. Cytokines play an important role in normal immune responses, but having a large amount of them released in the body all at once can be harmful.
A cytokine storm can occur as a result of an infection, autoimmune condition, or other disease. It may also occur after treatment with some types of immunotherapy. Signs and symptoms include high fever, inflammation (redness and swelling), and severe fatigue and nausea. Sometimes, a cytokine storm may be severe or life threatening and lead to multiple organ failure.

Both statements are correct.
Blood contains red blood cells, for carrying oxygen to tissues and organs, and white or immune cells, for fighting infection. These white cells consist primarily of macrophages, B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes.
–Macrophages are white blood cells that swallow up and digest germs, plus dead or dying cells. The macrophages leave behind parts of the invading germs called antigens. The body identifies antigens as dangerous and stimulates antibodies to attack them.
–B-lymphocytes are defensive white blood cells. They produce antibodies that attack the antigens left behind by the macrophages.
–T-lymphocytes are another type of defensive white blood cell. They attack cells in the body that have already been infected.

Statement 1 is correct. The immune response to viral infection comprises innate and adaptive defenses. The innate response functions continuously in a normal host without exposure to any virus. Most viral infections are controlled by the innate immune system.
The adaptive defense consists of antibodies and lymphocytes, often called the humoral response and the cell mediated response. The cells of the adaptive immune system are lymphocytes – B cells and T cells.
Statement 2 is correct. T cells originate from haematopoietic stem cells which are produced in the bone marrow. Some of these multipotent cells will becomes progenitor cells that leave the bone marrow and travel to the thymus via the blood. In the thymus these cells mature: T cells are named after their thymus-dependent development.

Both statements are correct.
Chapare hemorrhagic fever (CHHF) is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by infection with Chapare virus. The Chapare virus is in the arenavirus family. Arenaviruses are usually spread to people through direct contact with infected rodents or indirectly through the urine or feces (droppings) of an infected rodent.
There have been two documented outbreaks of CHHF to date. The first occurred in 2003 in Chapare Province, Bolivia, which resulted in one fatal case. The second outbreak occurred in 2019 in Caranavi Province, Bolivia and resulted in five confirmed cases— three of which were fatal.
It has recently been reported that it can spread through human-to-human transmission.

Statement 1 is correct. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder in which body’s immune system attacks the nerves. It mainly affects the feet, hands and limbs, causing problems such as numbness, weakness and pain.
Statement 2 is correct. Guillain-Barré syndrome is thought to be caused by a problem with the immune system, the body’s natural defence against illness and infection.
The exact cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome is unknown. But two-thirds of patients report symptoms of an infection in the six weeks preceding. These include respiratory or a gastrointestinal infection or Zika virus.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A placebo is a medical treatment or procedure designed to deceive the participant of a clinical experiment. It does not contain any active ingredients but often still produces a physical effect on the individual.
The placebo effect refers to the impact of a placebo on an individual. Even inactive treatment has repeatedly demonstrated a measurable, positive health response. The power of the placebo effect is considered to be a psychological phenomenon.
Statement 2 is correct. Placebos are essential to the design of reliable clinical trials. Drug companies must show that their new drugs work better than a placebo before the drugs are approved.

Statement 1 is correct. GRIHA is an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. GRIHA is a rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain nationally acceptable benchmarks. It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
Statement 2 is correct. GRIHA Council is mandated to promote development of buildings and habitats in India through GRIHA. GRIHA Council an independent platform for the interaction on scientific and administrative issues related to sustainable habitats in the Indian subcontinent.
It was founded by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi) with support from MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India) along with a handful of experts in the sustainability of built environment from across the country.

Aplastic anemia is a condition that occurs when body stops producing enough new blood cells. The condition leaves person fatigued and more prone to infections and uncontrolled bleeding.
A rare and serious condition, aplastic anemia can develop at any age. It can occur suddenly, or it can come on slowly and worsen over time. It can be mild or severe.
Treatment for aplastic anemia might include medications, blood transfusions or a stem cell transplant, also known as a bone marrow transplant.

One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach—working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.
It has gained importance as many of the same microbes infect animals and humans, as they share the eco-systems, they live in. Efforts by just one sector cannot prevent or eliminate the problem.

Statement 1 is correct. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
# Coronaviruses are named for the crown-like spikes on their surface.
Statement 2 is correct. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans in China in 2002 and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. The SARS-CoV-2 is being claimed to have transmitted from bats to humans.

Statement 1 is correct. A desalination plant turns salt water into water that is fit to drink. The most commonly used technology used for the process is reverse osmosis where an external pressure is applied to push solvents from an area of high-solute concentration to an area of low-solute concentration through a membrane.

Statement 2 is incorrect. In India, Tamil Nadu has been the pioneer in using this technology, setting up two up in Chennai. The other states that have proposed these plants are Gujarat, which has announced to set up a 100 MLD RO plant at the Jodiya coast in Jamnagar district.
# Desalination has largely been limited to affluent countries in the Middle East and has recently started making inroads in parts of the United States and Australia

Maharashtra coasts have witnessed a fluorescent bluish glow when the waves hit the shoreline in recent days.
The ‘Blue tide’ appears when luminescent marine life makes the sea appear a deep shade of blue. This phenomenon occurs when microscopic marine plants known as dinoflagellates, produce light through chemical reactions in proteins. Waves disturb these unicellular microorganisms and make them release blue light.
# Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Bioluminescent creatures are found throughout marine habitats, from the ocean surface to the deep seafloor.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOS) also known as brain fingerprinting is a neuro psychological method of interrogation in which a suspect participation in a crime is detected by electing electro physiological impulses, it is also a tool which measures the changes in electrical activity of the brain associated with the presence of knowledge provoked by probe when the suspect does not have to offer an answer or response.
Statement 2 is correct. It works on EEG (Electro encephalograph machine). BEOS is a non-invasive technique with a great degree of sensitivity and a neuro-psychological method of interrogation which is referred to as brain fingerprinting or brain finger mapping. BEOS is used to identify individuals with experience of participating in a crime.

Particularly during a warm summery night, where the water is in motion, such as the surf, the sea can radiate light. The bluish light is caused by sea sparkle (Noctiluca Scintillans), a round one-celled organism. In turbulent water, a chemical reaction in sea sparkle causes it to emit light. It is meant to scare off enemies.
The bloom of Noctiluca Scintillans that the Karnataka coast has been witnessing since about a month has displaced microscopic algae called diatoms, which form the basis of the marine food chain. This has deprived food for the planktivorous fish as per scientists from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Mangaluru.

A Time Capsule is a container of any size or shape, which accommodates and preserves documents, photos and other artefacts typical of the current era or history and is buried underground, for future generations to unearth and study.
International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) estimates the number of time capsules in the world to around 10,000-15,000 times capsules worldwide.
A time capsule was placed underground outside the Red Fort in 1972 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it was dug out by the subsequent Janta Party government.

Little Boy and Fat Man are the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare.
Little Boy was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it was the first nuclear weapon used in a war. ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
Operation Gibraltar, 1965 was the codename given to the strategy of Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, and instigate the locals in starting a rebellion against India.

Both statements are correct.
Ice Stupa is a form of glacier grafting technique that creates artificial glaciers.
It is used for storing excess winter water in the form of conical shaped ice heaps. When water is scarce in the summer, the Ice Stupa melts.
These stupas store large reserves of water as ice through the winter and carry the potential to provide for irrigation and drinking water in summers.
Ice Stupa was invented by engineer, innovator and education reformist Sonam Wangchuk, who is the founder-director of the NGO Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL).

The Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), an initiative of the Indian Navy and supported by the Government of India launched in December 2018, has started functioning.
The IFC-IOR has been established at Gurugram along with the Information Management and Analysis Centre, jointly administered by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.

Khadi Oaxaca is a farm-to-garment collective which comprises around 400
families, which live and work on traditional farms and homesteads in the Oaxaca region of
southern Mexico.
# It was mentioned by the Prime Minister in Mann ki Baat address on Sunday (October 25).

Statement 1 is incorrect. In Ensemble Forecasting, instead of running just a single forecast, the computer model is run a number of times from slightly different starting conditions. The complete set of forecasts is referred to as the ensemble, and individual forecasts within it as ensemble members.
Statement 2 is correct. Various countries have migrated to ensemble weather forecasting for optimal results. A forecast is an estimate of the future state of the atmosphere. It is created by estimating the current state of the atmosphere using observations, and then calculating how this state will evolve in time using a numerical weather prediction computer model.
The ensemble forecasts give the forecaster a much better idea of what weather events may occur at a particular time. By comparing these different forecasts, the forecaster can decide how likely a particular weather event will be.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 has been awarded to American poet and
essayist Louise Glück “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes
individual existence universal”.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2019: Peter Handke “for an influential work that with
linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience”.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2018: Olga Tokarczuk “for a narrative imagination that with
encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life”.
Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2020 has been awarded to World Food Programme
(WFP) “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace
in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of
hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
The Nobel Peace Prize 2019: Abiy Ahmed Ali “for his efforts to achieve peace and
international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border
conflict with neighboring Eritrea”.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2018: Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “for their efforts to end the
use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2017: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
“for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of
nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of
such weapons”.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred
Nobel 2020 (generally regarded as the Nobel award for Economics) has been awarded
jointly to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and
inventions of new auction formats.”
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize 2019: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for
their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize 2018: William D. Nordhaus “for integrating climate change into
long-run macroeconomic analysis” and Paul M. Romer “for integrating technological
innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis”
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize 2017: Richard H. Thaler “for his contributions to behavioural
economics”

The credibility of the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, has come under a cloud after at least 130 papers published by the institute over the years have been listed on a website that monitors image manipulation and duplication.
• The authors and teams of these papers – published between 2004 and 2018 – vary.
• However, Yogeshwer Shukla, the IITR’s chief scientist of food, drug and chemical toxicology, is the common name in 49 of the articles that have been flagged by Pubpeer, the monitoring website.

Once an indispensable part of daily life in Japan, ultra-thin washi paper was used for everything from writing and painting to lampshades, umbrellas, and sliding doors, but demand has plunged as lifestyles have become more westernized.

 Despite its 1,300-year history and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status, washi paper is struggling to attract consumers and the market value has dropped by more than 50% in the past two decades.

 The world’s thinnest paper has helped save historical documents at major museums and libraries — including the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum and Washington’s Library of Congress — from decay.

 The traditional hand-made paper is manufactured from plants called kozo, or mulberry, which has fibres that are much longer than materials used for paper in the west such as wood and cotton

Methane hydrates consist of molecules of natural gas (the chief constituent

of natural gas; methane) enclosed within a solid lattice of water molecules. When brought to

the earth’s surface, one cubic meter of gas hydrate releases 164 cubic meters of natural

gas.

Gas hydrate deposits are found wherever methane occurs in the presence of water under

elevated pressures and at relatively low temperatures, such as beneath permafrost or in

shallow sediments along deepwater continental margins.

# In a recent study conducted by researchers at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an

autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have found that the

methane hydrate deposits are located in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin are of biogenic

origin.

: Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

Types of intellectual property:

Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings.

Patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Generally speaking, a patent provides the patent owner with the right to decide how – or whether – the invention can be used by others.

Trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises.

Industrial design constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. A design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or of two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color.

Geographical indications and appellations of origin are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication includes the name of the place of origin of the goods.

Trade secrets are IP rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed.

Statement 1 is correct. The Cancer Genome Atlas is a catalogue of genetic mutations responsible for cancer, developed using genome sequencing and bioinformatics.

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was a joint effort of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), which are both part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The project then molecularly characterized over 20,000 primary cancer and matched noral samples from 33 cancer types.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The establishment of an ‘Indian Cancer Genomics Atlas (ICGA)’ has been initiated by a consortium of key stakeholders in India led by CSIR, Government of India in which several government agencies, cancer hospitals, academic institutions and private sector partners.

Torrefaction is a thermal process to convert biomass into a coal-like material, which has better fuel characteristics than the original biomass. Torrefied biomass is more brittle, making grinding easier and less energy intensive. Compared to fresh biomass, storage of the torrefied material can be substantially simplified since biological degradation and water uptake is minimized.

Torrefaction involves the heating of biomass in the absence of oxygen to a temperature of typically 200 to 400°C. The structure of the biomass changes in such a way, that the material becomes brittle, and more hydrophobic. Although the weight loss is about 30%, the energy loss is only 10%. Main product is the solid, torrefied biomass.

The increasing air pollution due to the burning of stubble and agro-residue by local farmers has become a major concern for the country. Torrefaction offers a potential solution for it.

In late 2016, US diplomats and other employees stationed in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes. The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.

This mystery illness suffered by US diplomats in Cuba was most likely caused by directed microwave radiation, a US government report by the National Academies of Sciences has found.

TRIPs Plus are higher level of protection norms demanded by the developed countries that are not prescribed by the WTO’s TRIPs regime.

• Although they are named as ‘TRIPS-Plus,’ they are not formally related to TRIPs.

 Rather, the term is used to indicate that these requirements go beyond the minimum standards imposed by TRIPs.

 Many developing countries who are members of FTAs are under pressure to enact these tougher conditions in their patent laws.

 An example for advanced norms under TRIPs Plus is the protection demanded by developed countries for data exclusivity.

The Shahi Litchi, a speciality of the north Bihar district of Muzaffarpur which earned the Geographical Indication tag a couple of years ago, stands apart from other varieties by virtue of its unique fragrance, extra-juicy pulp and smaller-than-usual seed.

In 1951, a British explorer named Eric Shipton looking for an alternative route up Mt. Everest found a footprint that appeared to be hominoid.

 He took a picture, and the mystery of the Yeti—a Sherpa word for “wild man”—cast a spell over the world.

 Daniel Taylor, author of Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery has been searching for signs of this “Abominable Snowman” in the high Himalayas since he was a child.

While there are only claims of sightings of Yeti and giant footprints on snow, results from two studies based on samples collected from the Himalayas do not provide any evidence in support of Yeti. Both studies have indicated that samples belonged to bears.

 An August 2014 paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B studied two hair samples — one from Ladakh and the other from Bhutan. These had close genetic affinity to polar bears or a previously unrecognised bear species.

 A November 2017 study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B analysed 24 mitochondrial DNA samples of hair, tissue, bone, and faeces of Himalayan brown bears and purported Yeti collected from the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region.

 Eight of the nine purported Yeti samples matched regional bear populations, including the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus).

 The results “strongly suggest that the biological basis of the Yeti legend is local brown and black bears”, the researchers concluded

The discovery of Homo luzonensis, a small-bodied hominin on April 2019, from the island of Luzon in the Philippines was based on studies carried out on seven teeth and six small bones that were recovered

• The hominin lived at least 50,000-67,000 years ago in the island.

 The discovery of Denisovans, an extinct species of human, in 2008 was based on fragmentary remains.

 Genetic studies carried on a small finger sample suggested that they survived for thousands of years and died out just 40,000 years ago.

 Similarly, in the case of ‘hobbits’ (Homo floresiensis), which was discovered in 2004 in Flores, Indonesia and found to have survived till as recently as 12,000 years ago, the confirmation of its hominin nature came from studying a variety of bones.

 Fairly complete cranium and mandible, right leg, less complete bones of the left leg, hands and feet, and fragments of vertebral column, ribs, sacrum (triangular bone at the base of the spine) among others were recovered and studied.

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organisation established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, allots the ‘area’ for deep-sea mining.

 India was the first country to receive the status of a Pioneer Investor in 1987 and was given an area of about 1.5 lakh sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for nodule exploration.

 In 2002, India signed a contract with the ISA and after complete resource analysis of the seabed 50% was surrendered and the country retained an area of 75,000 sq km.

Genetic drift can have major effects when a population is sharply reduced in size by a natural disaster (bottleneck effect) or when a small group splits off from the main population to found a colony (founder effect).

 The founder effect is another extreme example of drift, one that occurs when a small group of individuals breaks off from a larger population to establish a colony.

 The new colony is isolated from the original population, and the founding individuals may not represent the full genetic diversity of the original population.

 That is, alleles in the founding population may be present at different frequencies than in the original population, and some alleles may be missing altogether.

 The founder effect is similar in concept to the bottleneck effect, but it occurs via a different mechanism (colonization rather than catastrophe).

 Genetic studies done on the people of the Lakshwadeep archipelago by a team, led by K. Thangaraj at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), for the first time have shown that a majority of human ancestry in Lakshadweep is largely derived from South Asia with minor influences from East and West Eurasia.

 And, there was no evidence of early human migration through the Lakshadweep islands.

 “We found a strong founder effect for both paternal and maternal lineages — a sign that the island population had limited genetic mixing”, said by scientists.

A meteorite that crashed into rural southeastern Australia in a fireball in 1969 contained the oldest material ever found on Earth, stardust that predated the formation of our solar system by billions of years, scientists said on January 13 – 2020.

 The oldest of 40 tiny dust grains trapped inside the meteorite fragments retrieved around the town of Murchison in Victoria state dated from about 7 billion years ago, about 2.5 billion years before the sun, Earth and rest of our solar system formed, the researchers said.

 Scientists previously had found a pre-solar grain in the Murchison meteorite that was about 5.5 billion years old, until now the oldest-known solid material on Earth.

 The oldest-known minerals that formed on Earth are found in rock from Australia’s Jack Hills that formed 4.4 billion years ago, 100 million years after the planet formed.

Gas hydrates.

• Gas hydrates are formed when a gas such as methane gets trapped in welldefined

cages of water molecules forming crystalline solids.

• In terrestrial conditions, gas hydrates are formed naturally under the sea bed

and glaciers under high pressure, low temperature conditions. Methane hydrate is

a potential source of natural gas.

• Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have experimentally

shown that methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) can exist as gas hydrates at

temperatures and pressures seen in interstellar atmosphere.

• The methane and CO2 hydrates were produced in the lab at very low pressures (ten

thousand billionth of atmospheric pressure) and temperature (as low as -263 degree

1. C) to simulate the conditions of deep space.

Gluten

• Gluten is a family of storage proteins — formally known as prolamins — that are

naturally found in certain cereal grains, such as wheat, barley, and rye.

• Gluten offers a variety of functional culinary benefits and is responsible for the soft,

chewy texture that is characteristic of many gluten-containing, grain-based foods.

• Because of these unique physical properties, gluten is also frequently used as an

additive to improve texture and promote moisture retention in a variety of processed

foods.

Gluten may be found in a variety of whole and processed foods, including:

• Grains: whole wheat, wheat bran, barley, rye, triticale, spelt, kamut, couscous,

farro, semolina, bulgur, farina, einkorn, durum, wheat germ, cracked wheat, matzo,

mir (a cross between wheat and rye)

• Processed grain-based products: crackers, bread, breadcrumbs, pasta, seitan,

wheat-containing soba noodles, some veggie burgers, cookies, pastries

• Other foods and beverages: barley malt, malt vinegar, soy sauce, certain salad

dressings, sauces or gravies thickened with flour, bouillon and some broths, certain

spice blends, flavored chips, beer, certain kinds of wine

Aerosols are minute particles suspended in the atmosphere. When these

particles are sufficiently large, we notice their presence as they scatter and absorb sunlight.

• Their scattering of sunlight can reduce visibility (haze) and redden sunrises and

sunsets. Aerosols interact both directly and indirectly with the Earth’s radiation

budget and climate.

• As a direct effect, the aerosols scatter sunlight directly back into space.
• As an indirect effect, aerosols in the lower atmosphere can modify the size of cloud

particles, changing how the clouds reflect and absorb sunlight, thereby affecting the

Earth’s energy budget

• Aerosols come from both natural and human sources—and sometimes both at once.

Dust, for example, is scoured from deserts, the dried-out edges of rivers, dry

lakebeds, and more.

• Its concentrations in the atmosphere rise and fall with climate; in cold, dry,

periods in the planet‘s history like the last ice age, more dust filled the

atmosphere than during warmer stretches of Earth‘s history.

In recent years, fundamental research has focused increasingly on the short

and long term effects of CO2 injection into reservoirs to assess the feasibility of CO2

storage on a commercial scale.

• Sequestration processes involve different trapping mechanisms according to the

hydrodynamic, physical and chemical conditions in the formation.

• It is common to divide these mechanisms into four different categories:

hydrodynamic trapping, residual trapping, solubility trapping, and mineral

trapping.

A composite material is a combination of two materials with different

physical and chemical properties.

• When they are combined they create a material which is specialised to do a certain

job, for instance to become stronger, lighter or resistant to electricity.

• They can also improve strength and stiffness.
• The reason for their use over traditional materials is because they improve the

properties of their base materials and are applicable in many situations.

• Use of composite materials in indigenously developed aircraft (Tejas), missiles

(Agni) and in defense and civilian sectors is poised for big growth, where Indian

companies are set to get into manufacturing mode.

The German icebreaker RV Polarstern, a hulking ship will set out for the Arctic packed with supplies and scientific equipment for a year-long mission to explore the planet’s frigid far north.

• The icebreaker will be the base for scientists from 17 nations studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world.

 Spearheaded by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, MOSAiC (multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate expedition), the largest ever Arctic expedition in history, will be the first to conduct a study of this scale at the North Pole for an entire year.

India began exploring the Antarctic with its first expedition in 1981 and since then has launched 37 expeditions.

 The country’s first Antarctic base ‘Dakshin Gangotri’ was established in 1983-84 in the ice shelf of East Antarctica.

 At present, India has two permanent research bases – ‘Maitri’ and ‘Bharati’.

 In addition, India has a research station called ‘Himadri’ in the Arctic and Himansh in the Himalaya.

 These high latitudes and cold desert regions are considered ideal for astronomical research as well.

CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency/Economy) norms aim at lowering fuel consumption (or improving fuel efficiency) of vehicles.

 CAFE is the average fuel efficiency of all vehicles produced by a manufacturer in a given period, taking into consideration the sales volume of each model.

 The government expects that a strict CAFE target will provide incentives to auto makers to produce and sell more EVs, to improve their average fuel efficiency.

Statement 1 is correct. When wave energy like sound or radio waves travels
from two objects, the wavelength can seem to be changed if one or both of them are moving.
This is called the Doppler effect.
The Doppler effect causes the received frequency of a source (how it is perceived when it
gets to its destination) to differ from the sent frequency if there is motion that is
increasing or decreasing the distance between the source and the receiver.
Statement 2 is incorrect. When the distance between the source and receiver of
electromagnetic waves remains constant, the frequency waves is the same in both places.
When the distance between the source and receiver of electromagnetic waves is increasing,
the frequency of the received wave forms is lower than the frequency of the source wave
form. When the distance is decreasing, the frequency of the received wave form will be
higher than the source wave form.