The Science & Technology Weekly – 15 May – 21 May, 2016

Starting 4th April, 2016 we have a started a new initiative to post Science and Technology Compilation of all articles coming in leading news daily on a weekly basis. We look forward to simplify the preparation of aspirants by easing out their task in one of the most vague topics in UPSC preparation. The compilation will make aspirants aware with day to day happenings in the field of science and technology as well list out basics in brief.
———————————————-

1. Ebola can persist nine months after recovery: study
2. Oligocene fossils explain anthropoid distribution
3. Early viral infection may have facilitated human evolution
4. Rare human disease found in dogs
5. A step closer to HIV vaccine?
6. An ingestible origami robot
7. Health Protection Scheme: Still more work needed
8. India successfully test-fires advanced interceptor missile
9. Hologram for better fraud protection
10. Research reveals genetic history of camels
11. ISRO’s Reusable Launch Vehicle to take off next week
12. Helium microscope helps to study samples without damaging them
13. Prithvi-II test-fired successfully
14. Hypersonic test flight promises to shrink world
15. A box that ‘reconditions’ donor lungs
16. Apple opens development centre for digital maps in Hyderabad
17. Now, more reasons for red wine-lovers to rejoice and say cheese
18. ISRO embarks on launching Indian space shuttle
19. NASA funding sleep-inducing, growable habitats
20. Sticky coating to glue pedestrians to cars if hit
21. Largest gene database of Indians soon
22. Trial balloon

---

[1] Ebola can persist nine months after recovery: study

A new study has confirmed that:

• Ebola virus can persist in the semen of survivors for up to nine months after their recovery.
• An international team of researchers including scientists from the Institute for Development Research in France monitored 450 patients, both men and women, for a year in Guinea.
• They took specimens of body fluids (tears, saliva, faeces, vaginal fluids and semen), on the first day of the study, and every three months thereafter.
• Researchers used molecular biology techniques employing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and detection of ribonucleic acid (RNA).
• Ebola virus was detected in 10 specimens taken from eight men, for up to 9 months after recovery.
• Researchers emphasised the need to recommend, at an international level, the use of condoms by survivors in the months following their recovery.
• They also insisted on the importance of developing survivor monitoring, or even making it systematic, in order to limit the risks of a recrudescence of the epidemic.

[2] Oligocene fossils explain anthropoid distribution

Report:

• The climate change that occurred about 34 million years ago may hold the reason as to why humans originated in Africa and not in Asia.
• More specifically, the deterioration of climate marking the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (which occurred about 34 million years ago) could have acted as an evolutionary filter, allowing different types of primates to evolve in Africa as compared to Asia.

Geological calendar

• The geological calendar relating to the evolution of primates and humans encompasses the so-called periods of which two are of interest here — the Paleogene and the Neogene.

Paleogene and the Neogene

• The Paleogene, which lasted over 43million years, beginning 66 million years ago (mya) and ending about 23 mya, was the time when mammals evolved from simpler forms. This was followed by the Neogene period (starting from the end of Paleogene to about 2.5 mya) during which time early humans evolved.

The Paleogene itself is divided into three epochs:

• The Paleocene
• The Eocene
• The Oligocene

Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

• Nearly 55 mya, the earth suffered a global increase in temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius. This is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
• During this, the primates, from a subset of which humans eventually evolved, being highly sensitive to temperature changes, migrated from their place of origin in lower latitudes, to the northern land regions.
• Subsequently, temperatures fell during the Eocene-Oligocene Transition.
• Marking this was a deterioration of climate which caused these primates to again retreat to lower latitudes.

Asian anthropoids

• Scientists study a recently discovered set of fossils of primates from the early Oligocene period found in the Yunnan province of southern China.
• These fossils point to an African origin of humans in the Neogene period, even though anthropoids originated in Asia.
• The global climate deterioration, which happened 34 million years ago, changed the fate of anthropoids. We suggest that this global climate deterioration is an evolutionary filter for primates,” says Xijun Ni in an email to this correspondent.

[3] Early viral infection may have facilitated human evolution

Study:

• More than 25 million years ago, a virus infected primates and left some genetic material behind. Many such viral genes were passed on to future generations and eventually some of them became a permanent feature of the human genome.
• About 8 per cent of human DNA is estimated to have come from viruses; many segments appear to be “junk,” but a number of them have been found to have important functions. Syncytin-1 is one such gene.

Syncytin-1

• In viruses, syncytin-1 produced a protein that helped it stick to host cells and fuse with them so that they could replicate without getting noticed by the host’s immune system.
• Syncytin-1 has been a gene of interest ever since it was discovered in human placenta, the organ that appears during pregnancy and mediates nutrient uptake by the foetus from the mother.
• It appeared that this gene was crucial for the formation of placenta and its altered expression was linked with conditions of abnormal placentation.
• Syncytin is known to be more abundant in the first trimester embryo than later stages.
• But scientists were surprised to see it was present on embryos before implantation.
• This indicated that syncytin may be playing a role in another hallmark of early embryonic development, implantation.

Stickiness matters

• Implantation is the stage at which the 5-7 day old embryo fixes itself on the wall of the uterus. Doctors found that most of the syncytin was on cells which stick the embryo to the womb at implantation, suggesting syncytin is important at this stage.
• The mechanism by which syncytin-1 facilitates implantation is still not entirely clear

Possible applications

• Understanding early embryonic development is required for refining current treatments of pregnancy-related issues.
• The scientists look forward to being able to develop blood tests based on their results to identify pregnancies that might be at risk and also develop appropriate therapies.
• But before this, more functional studies are needed.

[4] Rare human disease found in dogs

News:

• A rare, severe form of pulmonary hypertension, which up until now has only been classified as a human lung disease, has also been discovered in dogs according to a study.

Pulmonary hypertension:

• Pulmonary hypertension develops because of abnormal blood vessels in the lungs, which makes it harder for the heart to push blood through and provide oxygen to the rest of the body.
• In cases of pulmonary veno-occlusive disease or PVOD, the small veins in the lungs become blocked, increasing pressure in these blood vessels, and ultimately causing heart failure.
• The same process happens in canines.
• Symptoms include cough, increased rate of breathing, respiratory distress, loss of appetite and chronic fatigue.
• Fatal progression of the disease in humans can last up to two years.

[5] A step closer to HIV vaccine?

News:

• A team led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) USA has discovered a new vulnerable site on HIV for a vaccine to target, a broadly neutralising antibody that binds to that target site, and how the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell.
• The study was led by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH. The new target is a part of HIV called the fusion peptide, a string of eight amino acids that helps the virus fuse with a cell to infect it.
• The fusion peptide has a much simpler structure than other sites on the virus that HIV vaccine scientists have studied.
• The research team first examined the blood of an HIV-infected person to explore its ability to stop the virus from infecting cells.
• The blood was good at neutralising HIV but did not target any of the vulnerable spots on the virus where broadly neutralising HIV antibodies (bnAbs) were known to bind.

[6] An ingestible origami robot

News:

• In experiments involving a simulation of the human oesophagus and stomach, researchers have demonstrated a tiny origami robot that can unfold itself from a swallowed capsule and, steered by external magnetic fields, crawl across the stomach wall to remove a swallowed button battery or patch a wound.
• Every year, 3,500 cases of people having swallowed button batteries are reported in the United States alone.
• Frequently, the batteries are digested normally, but if they come into prolonged contact with the tissue of the oesophagus or stomach, they can cause an electric current that produces hydroxide, which burns the tissue.
• However, in the researcher’s’ project, there will be uses for such robots that go beyond buttons.

[7] Health Protection Scheme: Still more work needed

News:

 

• It is critical that the HPS is finalised after considering possible distortions in medical insurance schemes and looking at models that have worked.

 

The Health Protection Scheme (HPS)

• announced in the Union Budget 2016 is more generous than the earlier scheme, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Poor households now get an annual health cover of Rs.1 lakh; the limit under RSBY was Rs.30,000.
• In principle, the HPS benefits may be availed of in public and private health facilities, to help leverage the very large private health infrastructure that has spontaneously come up over the decades.
• However, the HPS needs careful design, as otherwise, well-recognised market failures in medical insurance schemes would effectively ensure that each entitled household runs up the full limit of Rs.1 lakh per year on benefits, with scant improvement in well-being.
• National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog is beginning to look at design issues, and that all MBBS doctors in the rural areas, trained as family physicians, would be contracted by the government and paid in accordance with the number of patients who avail their primary health-care services. At secondary health-care levels, public and private facilities would be “incentivised” to provide “efficient” treatment, that is, being more efficient = having more compensation. At the tertiary stage,
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like public hospitals and “low cost” private hospitals would be contracted.

There is a possibility that the proposals reportedly discussed at NITI Aayog could lead to a new inspector raj system, and may not be cost-effective. Why so?

• At each stage, each player would seek to maximise its compensation by providing unnecessary treatment, thereby inflating costs.
• Curtailing this would require intensive and honest monitoring, which is very difficult.
• The more likely result is collusion between providers and inspectors to mutual benefit and at the cost of the public exchequer.

The NHS model

• It is critical that the HPS is finalised after considering possible distortions in medical insurance schemes and looking at models that have worked.
• There are two main reasons why competitive markets — markets that minimise total costs, leading to the least prices (premiums) for users — do not form for health insurance.
  • The problem of “adverse selection”, or individuals who have better information about their personal health status, leading to the healthier persons opting out of insurance and the less healthy opting in. This will not arise in a group insurance scheme where all those who are eligible are mandatorily enrolled.
  • The problem of “moral hazard”, i.e. doctors have better information about a patient’s treatment needs than the patient, and also have a financial interest in providing excessive treatment.

• The NHS model can fit different models of financing, i.e. fully public, part public, and fully private, and also for scaling co-payments (if part privately funded) as per the economic status of the beneficiary. The range of conditions covered, as well as standard treatment protocols and normative costs, can be changed over time.

Conclusion:

• There may be good models in other countries. Let us do our homework now rather than repent later.

[8] India successfully test-fires advanced interceptor missile

• In its effort to have a full fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, India , successfully test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile.
• The interceptor is a 7.5-metre-long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator.
• The interceptor missile had its own mobile launcher, secure data link for interception, independent tracking and homing capabilities and sophisticated radars.

Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme

• The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect from ballistic missile attacks.
• Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from mainly Pakistan, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception. The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched 5,000 kilometres away.
• With the test of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an Anti-ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia and Israel.

[9] Hologram for better fraud protection

Researchers at the Harvard have programmed polarisation into compact holograms.

• These holograms use nanostructures that are sensitive to polarisation (the direction in which light vibrates) to produce different images depending on the polarisation of incident light.
• The novelty in this research is that by using nanotechnology, holograms have been made that are highly efficient, meaning that very little light is lost to create the image.

[10] Research reveals genetic history of camels

• Use by human societies in primordial trade routes has shaped the genetic diversity of the camel, famously known as the ‘ship of the desert,’ an interesting study of its ancient and modern DNA has found.

Findings of the research

• Researchers analysed genetic information from a sample of 1,083 living dromedaries from 21 countries across the world. The findings showed that they were genetically very similar, despite populations being hundreds of miles apart.
• Centuries of cross-continental trade caused this “blurring” of genetics, the researchers explained.
• Results point to extensive gene flow which affects all regions except East Africa where camel populations have remained relatively isolated.

Conclusion

• The genetic diversity which has been discovered underlines the animal’s potential to adapt sustainably to future challenges of expanding desert areas and global climate change.

[11] ISRO’s Reusable Launch Vehicle to take off next week

News:

 

• The technology demonstrator will take place from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
• The first technology demonstrator (TD) launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), or the spaceplane in popular parlance, will take place on May 23 at 9.30 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, according to ISRO officials.

• Visually, the RLV-TD is a rocket-aircraft combination measuring about 17 m, whose first stage is a solid propellant booster rocket and the second stage is a 6.5 m long aircraft-like winged structure sitting atop the rocket.

A misnomer

• However, the popular perception of the technology as a marriage between rocket and aircraft is a misnomer.
• In RLV-TD that is awaiting launch at SHAR, the first stage, weighing about 9 tonnes, is merely the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) flown in the 1980s.
• The vehicle will take off like a rocket and the RLV will be taken to a height of 70 km and where the booster will release the vehicle to carry out its manoeuvres.

Hypersonic Experiment 1

• According to Dr. K. Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvanathapuram, where the RLV was designed, assembled and where it underwent basic electrical, hydraulic and “sign check” tests, the objective is to achieve hypersonic speeds to basically test the hypersonic aero-thermodynamic characterisation of the winged body’s re-entry, its control and guidance systems, autonomous mission management to land at a specific location at sea and testing of “hot structures” that make up the structure of the RLV.
• The test is, therefore, termed as Hypersonic Experiment 1 (HEX-1).

Complex technology

• A conventional launch vehicle (LV), spends the lowest time of its flight in the atmosphere, whereas the RLV system spends all the time in the atmosphere. Also, while an aircraft experiences limited flight regime of say Mach 0 to Mach 2 or so, the RLV experiences a much wider range of flight regimes.
• Hence the technology of an RLV is much more complex basically arising from the design of the control and guidance systems.

[12] Helium microscope helps to study samples without damaging them

New Development:

• The first scanning helium microscope has been built by Australian researchers
• It could “open doors” for many new discoveries by allowing scientists to scrutinise materials without disturbing them.
• The new device would enable scientists to study human, animal and plant samples, as well as computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs, without damaging or changing them.
• The development means samples would be analysed in their true state for the first time ever and every time a new microscope was developed, there had been enormous scientific advances.

What will it open the doors to? We don’t know yet, but it will open doors,” Scientist said.

• Scientists would be able to see much smaller objects with a much higher resolution.
• He said the ground-breaking technology may help find ways of removing carbon monoxide from exhaust gases.
• It could also help with the clean-up of toxic or even radioactive spills, without harming the surrounding flora or fauna.
• Defence experts will be interested because it could lead to the development of stealth technology and new explosives.

[13] Prithvi-II test-fired successfully

Facts about Prithvi missile

• It is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile (SRBM)

• Inducted into the armed forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage, liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II is the first missile to be developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

• With a strike range of 350 km, the Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines.

• It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target.

[14] Hypersonic test flight promises to shrink world

Issue

• Scientists have said hypersonic technology could cut travelling time from Sydney to London to as little as two hours for the 17,000-km flight.
• A joint U.S.-Australian military research team is running a series of 10 trials at the world’s largest land testing range, Woomera, in South Australia, and at Norway’s Andoya Rocket Range.

What is hypersonic flight

• Hypersonic flight involves travelling at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).
• Scientists involved in the programme — called Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) — are developing an engine that can fly at Mach 7.

Fuel from atmosphere

• Scramjet was a supersonic combustion engine that uses oxygen from the atmosphere for fuel, making it lighter and faster than fuel-carrying rockets.

• The practical application of that is you could fly long distances over the Earth very, very quickly but also that it’s very useful as an alternative to a rocket for putting satellites into space.

[15] A box that ‘reconditions’ donor lungs

News:

• A machine that ‘reconditions’ a donor’s lungs outside the body before being transplanted into a recipient is undergoing tests in the United States in the hope that it can radically improve survival rates for people with chronic respiratory diseases.
• The XPS, manufactured by Swedish company XVIVO Perfusion , is in clinical trials at 16 U.S. medical centers. Known as “the box,” it ventilates the lungs after removal from the donor and infuses them with a fluid mix of drugs and steroids, effectively drying them out and getting them in better shape for use in a transplant operation.
• The technology aims to increase the donor pool by reconditioning marginal lungs not suitable for transplant.

[16] Apple opens development centre for digital maps in Hyderabad

News:

• The California-based company has teamed with Noida-based RMSI to provide development expertise and software for geo-spatial services.
• Apple Inc. opened its first development centre in India to work on Apple Maps, the company’s digital maps and navigation service.
• The company’s servers will be located in the U.S. but technical and support services would be provided in Hyderabad.
• It will work out of an existing software hub that is part of a special economic zone.

 

[17] Now, more reasons for red wine-lovers to rejoice and say cheese

• Researchers have found that a compound found in red wine could help counteract the negative impact of a high fat diet.
• Resveratrol is a naturally occurring compound found in blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, grape skins and consequently in red wine.

[18] ISRO embarks on launching Indian space shuttle

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to undertake the maiden launch of its ‘space shuttle’, a fully made-in-India effort. A sleek winged body, almost the weight and the size of sports utility vehicle (SUV), is being given final touches at Sriharikota where it awaiting final countdown.

Facts

• India’s space port at Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh will witness the launch of the indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). After the launch, it will be glide back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal.

• The RLV-TD is unlikely to be recovered from sea during this experiment as it is expected that the vehicle will disintegrate on impact with water since it is not designed to float.
• The purpose of the experiment is to help the shuttle glide over a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal, situated 500 km from the coast.
• India’s frugal engineers believe the solution to reducing cost of launching satellites into orbit is to recycle the rocket or make it reusable.
• Scientists at ISRO believe that they could reduce the cost by as much as 10 times if reusable technology succeeds, bringing it down to $2,000 per kg.
• K. Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, says, “These are just the first baby steps towards the big Hanuman leap.”
• The final version will take at least 10-15 years to get ready.
• The special booster or the first stage is powered using a solid fuel and it will hoist the RLV-TD prototype to about 70 km into the atmosphere from where the descent will begin.
• During the descent phase, small thrusters will help the vehicle navigate itself to the landing area.
• The making of the Indian space shuttle or RLV-TD has taken five years and the government has invested Rs. 95 crore in the project. This flight will test the capability of the vehicle to survive a re-entry at speeds higher than that of sound.

[19] NASA funding sleep-inducing, growable habitats

News:

• NASA has selected eight technology proposals for investment, including interplanetary habitats that can induce deep sleep for astronauts , and growable habitats that can be robotically assembled in space.
• The proposals have the potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems.

Facts:

• An interplanetary habitat proposed by Space Works Inc in the U.S., can induce deep sleep for astronauts on long-duration missions.
• A novel coating called ‘Solar White’ developed by Kennedy Space Centre is predicted to reflect more than 99.9 per cent of the Sun’s energy.
• The researchers said a sphere covered with a 10 mm thick coating of Solar White and located far from the Earth can achieve temperature below minus 223 degrees Celsius, the freezing point of oxygen.
• This method can cool fuel tanks in space down to minus 184 degrees Celsius, with no energy input needed.

[20] Sticky coating to glue pedestrians to cars if hit

News:

• Google has a U.S. patent for a sticky coating that could be applied to self-driving cars so pedestrians stick instead of bouncing off when hit.
• The patent describes a layer of adhesive on a car’s hood, front bumper and possibly front side panels sealed with a coating that, when broken, would bare a gluey surface akin to fly paper modified to catch humans.
• Google reasoned in the patent application that pedestrians hit by cars typically suffer further injury by being knocked or hurled to the pavement or other objects.

[21] Largest gene database of Indians soon

News:

• In a move to create one of the largest repositories of Indian genomes, Bangalore-based Medgenome has teamed up with a Southeast Asian consortium that has committed to sequence 100,000 Asian genomes.
• Consolidated storehouse of at least 30,000 Indian genomes and could help understand the wide genetic variety in India’s various ethnic groups and midwife customised medications for cancer and heart disease, as well as identify possible new genetic aberrations that cause untreatable diseases.

Collection of samples

• Ever since the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, that is the entire DNA pattern in the cell that lends people their unique identity was deciphered, several countries have announced initiatives to map genomes of their resident populations.
• The so-called 1000 Genomes project is a collection of gene samples from across the world to capture the variety of genes that are typical to different population groups.
• The United Kingdom announced a plan in 2014 to create a bank of 100,000 genomes in the nation and 100,000 Asia genomes project — called GenomeAsia 100K — echoes similar ambitions. “Indian populations are greatly neglected in such databases,” said Mahesh Pratapneni, Executive Director, Medgenome, and a top official with the GenomeAsia 100K. “It is glaring considering we’re one-sixth of humanity.”
• The project will develop in phases with an initial 1000 genomes, consisting of India and East Asian populations, sequenced within this year, and the entire database to be ready by 2020. Medgenome already has a bank of 200 Indian genomes.
• The project will cost $120 million (approx. Rs 800 crore), though only about half of that has been firmed up.
• Though human genome sequencing is a frontier area of biotechnology, it was prohibitively expensive.
• While many diseases are linked to genes going awry, afflictions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc., are usually the result of several genes malfunctioning, and often in a domino-like effect.
• Identifying such culprits is impossible without comparing genes, across individuals and population groups, in large numbers. Thus BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 — genes associated with breast cancer — are found in as many as one-third of women. Several of them go on to live without ever contracting the cancer.
• These genes come in several varieties that can vary on the level of families as well as ethnicities.
• Genome sequence studies are effective in studying such variations.

‘Good initiative’

• It’s a good initiative and could throw up valuable data provided there is a good study design in place.
• Nearly 30 trillion pages of text are expected to be churned out in this study

[22] Trial balloon

News:

• The Beijing firm Spacevision intends to create a balloon with a pressurised hull to take paying passengers 40 km up, to the edge of space.
• They will then drop back to earth in pressure suits with parachutes attached.
• This long, long free fall is going to be far, far scarier than anything.
• Chinese parachute cuts the passenger loose, like that scene in 2001 in which Hal 9000 turns into a homicidal lunatic.
• The parachute is part of a pressure chute, which is apparently ready to deploy.
• The balloon is now on the drawing board, and the Chinese can soon start selling tickets for sub-orbital tourism, which seems poised to become the sunrise sector of the industry.
• If the modern age is defined by the freedom to travel, the decades ahead will be characterised by the ability to travel anywhere — under the sea, to the rim of active volcanoes, and to the edge of space.