The Science & Technology Weekly – 3 April – 17 April, 2016

Starting 4th April, 2016 we have a started a new initiative to post Science and Technology Compilation of all articles coming in leading newsdaily 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.
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1. How nuclear waste is disposed of in India?
2. Moon and the geodynamo
3. A new pattern in primes
4. Make GM mustard data public: CIC
5. A Friendly Force
6. A new state of matter detected
7. Stargazers meet, make plans for multi-messenger astronomy
8. On detecting and delaying diabetes
9. How Zika virus causes microcephaly
10. An early warning on the ocean state

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[1] How nuclear waste is disposed of in India?

• In India, nuclear power plants and spent fuel reprocessing facilities primarily generate nuclear waste in gaseous, liquid and solid form during their operation and maintenance activities.
• The plant management uses adsorption on activated charcoal and filtration by high efficiency particulate air filter to treat gaseous waste at the source of generation.
• They dilute the treated gases with exhaust air and discharge them through tall stack with monitoring.
• The liquid waste streams are treated by filtration, adsorption, chemical treatment, evaporation, ion exchange; reverse osmosis etc. as applicable depending upon the nature, volume & radioactivity content.
• They immobilize the concentrate generated in inert materials such as cement.
• The low and intermediate level radioactive wastes generated by the plants are segregated and their volume reduced by compaction and incineration.
• The waste is then packed in suitable containers and disposed off in specially constructed structures such as stone-lined trenches, reinforced concrete trenches and tile holes in the plant premises.
• During reprocessing, only about two to three percent of the spent fuel becomes waste and the rest is recycled.
• Scientists convert this high level waste (HLW) into glass through a process, called vitrification.
• India now produces about 4 tonnes of such waste per GW-year (1000 MW produced for one year).
• India has been operating vitrification plants at Trombay, Tarapur & Kalpakkam for more than two decades.
• Present arrangement is to store the vitrified waste in a solid storage surveillance facility for 30 to 40 years with natural cooling prior to its eventual emplacement in a geological disposal facility.

[2] Moon and the geodynamo

• To maintain its magnetic field, the Earth’s core must have cooled by around 3,000 degree C over the past 4.3 billion years but it has fallen by only 300 degree C.
• The Moon is thought to have compensated and kept the geodynamo active.

[3] A new pattern in primes

Prime numbers having identical last digits seem to avoid falling next to each other

• Prime numbers are divisible only by 1 and themselves, and large primes are used, among other things, in encrypting data.
• But perhaps, the best motivation for mathematicians to study them has been the aesthetics of seeing patterns among them.

A new and interesting pattern has emerged among prime numbers thanks to the work of Kannan Soundararajan and Robert Lemke Oliver of Stanford University.

• They have found a pattern in the last digits of successive prime numbers, by analysing numerically the first 100 million numbers.
• For example, they see that a prime number ending in 9 is much less likely to be followed by another prime number ending in 9; it is more likely to be followed by one ending in 1, and so on.
• This study is important because it is a hitherto unexplored idea in the quest of understanding the blend of random distribution and patterns in prime numbers.
• Though prime numbers occupy definite positions on the number line, thereby are not random at all, studying distributions of numbers comes in useful to predict properties which haven’t been proved yet.

Pearly nautilus may get extra protection

• Nautilus pompilinus,
• the pelagic marine mollusc with one of the oldest animal lineages on the planet, may get an extra global legal protection soon.
• The palm-sized adult animal, which could live up to 20 years in ocean depths, may soon be included in the Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna (CITES).

What is CITES?

• CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.

 

• The species is commonly known as pearly nautilus considering the pearly nacre on its external shell.
• The animal has a chambered shell with limited mobility.
• It’s commonly found in ocean depths of 700 metres, explained a scientific evaluation paper.
• low egg number, late maturity, long gestation and long life span of the Nautilus make the species vulnerable.
• The species has relatively small population and are vulnerable to fisheries and also anthropogenic activities.
• no scientific data is available on its population in India.
• The inclusion of the animal in the CITES list would ensure a global regulation in its trade.
• It would also extend the legal cover globally for the species, which is considered as rare link to the evolutionary history of animals, he said.

[4] Make GM mustard data public: CIC

• The Central Information Commission (CIC), asked the Environment Ministry to make public all the data pertaining to the safety of genetically-modified (GM) mustard.
• GM mustard is likely to be the first transgenic seed, to be available in farmer fields.
• It has had a tumultuous history in India with activist groups claiming that it will be a gateway to several other GM food crops — tomato, rice, brinjal, etc.
• these may pose health and ecological risks.
• The technology involves using a complex of genes, sourced from soil bacterium, which makes it easier for seed developers to easily develop hybrid varieties of mustard, generally a self pollinating plant.

Why hybrid variety?

• Hybrids varieties are generally known to produce greater yields but they necessitate farmers to keep going to seed companies every year to buy fresh seed.
• CIC — avers that the GM seeds so produced aren’t substantially better than existing mustard varieties
• seed developers and biotechnology regulators have colluded to “push” GM mustard.
• “The Commission directs the public authority to verify and provide such information…specifically the bio-safety dossier as submitted by the crop developer… and any other material submitted by them.
• The Commission also directs all biosafety data pertaining to all other GMOs in pipeline

[5] A Friendly Force

News

• Study says that trillions of bacteria that reside in our gut, and in other parts of our body, share a mutually dependent bond with us.
• The gut microbiome, linked to nutrition and immunity.
• specific composition of the microbiome varies from person to person and changes over life, associations of different microbiome profiles are now being associated with health or disease across populations.

Scientists compared the microbiomes of poorly nourished and well-nourished infants and young children.

• Gut microbiomes were isolated from fecal samples of malnourished and healthy children.
• The microbiome was “immature” and less diverse in malnourished children compared to the better developed “mature microbiome” found in healthy children of the same age.
• When the immature microbiome from malnourished children was introduced with food into specially bred “germ free” mice, they failed to thrive and had impaired growth.
• When similar mice received the mature microbiome from healthy children, while being fed an identical diet, they had good muscle and bone growth.
• When the malnourished mice subsequently received the mature microbiome from the healthy mice, good growth was restored in them.
• it appears that they may influence the activity of growth hormones produced in the human body.
• The growth of brain, liver, muscle and bones are thereby affected by changes in the microbiome.

How is the microbiome of the young infant shaped?

• Passage through the natural birth passage of the mother provides the first gift of protective bacteria, something which babies born through Caesarean section would not receive.
• mother’s milk seems to provide the stimulus for the growth and maturation of the infant’s microbiome.
• Chemical composition of mothers’ milk have shown the presence of a modified sugar (sialylated oligosaccharides).
• This is not utilised by the baby for its own nutrition.
• The bacteria constituting the infant’s microbiome thrive on this sugar which serves as their food.
• Malnourished mothers have low levels of this sugar in their milk.
• Consequently, the microbiomes of their infants fail to mature.
• That, in turn, leads to malnourished babies.

Malnutrition begets malnutrition, not just in one human baby but in trillions of living forms!

Mother Nature offers us some big lessons.

1. mother’s milk is highly protective,yet another reminder that there is really no substitute.
2. multiple life forms are highly interdependent; some of the lowly and much derided bacteria are essential allies for health throughout our life course.
3. malnutrition in children may have several causes but one preventable cause that must be addressed with urgency is the prevention of malnutrition in mothers. This must begin from the time the future mother is a girl child but particular attention must be paid to the period of pregnancy.

Conclusion

• As more of the mysteries of life are opened up by modern science, we must regard nature with both awe and humility.

[6] A new state of matter detected

New state of matter detected

• that causes breaking of electrons

What you will call this new state?

• Quantum spin liquid
• was found in a two-dimensional material with a structure similar to graphene.

40 years ago, quantum spin liquids were thought to be hiding in certain magnetic materials, but had not been conclusively sighted in nature.

How a typical magnetic material behave?

• Each electrons behaves like a tiny bar magnets.
• When a material is cooled to a low enough temperature, they will order themselves so that all the north magnetic poles point in the same direction.

How a material containing spin liquid will behave?

• But in a material containing a spin liquid state, even if cooled to absolute zero, the bar magnets would not align but form an entangled soup .

Experiment

• to look for evidence of fractionalisation in crystals of ruthenium chloride (RuCl3) to measure the first signatures of fractional particles known as Majorana fermions.
• What is Majorana fermions?
  • is a fermion that is its own antiparticle

 

• What is fermion ?

• is any particle characterized by Fermi–Dirac statistics. These particles obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions include all quarks and leptons, as well as any composite particle made of an odd number of these, such as all baryons and many atoms and nuclei. Fermions differ from bosons, which obey Bose–Einstein statistics.

 

• A fermion can be an elementary particle, such as the electron, or it can be a composite particle, such as the proton. According to the spin-statistics theorem in any reasonable relativistic quantum field theory, particles with integer spin are bosons, while particles with half-integer spin are fermions.
• Besides this spin characteristic, fermions have another specific property: they possess conserved baryon or lepton quantum numbers. Therefore, what is usually referred as the spin statistics relation is in fact a spin statistics-quantum number relation.
• As a consequence of the Pauli exclusion principle, only one fermion can occupy a particular quantum state at any given time. If multiple fermions have the same spatial probability distribution, then at least one property of each fermion, such as its spin, must be different.

• The researchers tested the magnetic properties of the RuCl3 crystals by illuminating them with neutrons, and observing the pattern of ripples that the neutrons produced on a screen.

• A regular magnet would create distinct sharp spots, but the patterns made by Majorana fermions in a spin liquid were yet to be understood.

[7] Stargazers meet, make plans for multi-messenger astronomy

first international conference on the subject of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy

at International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru.

Gravitational-wave astronomy is an emerging branch of observational astronomy which aims to use gravitational waves (minute distortions of spacetime predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity) to collect observational data about objects such as neutron stars and black holes, events such as supernovae, and processes including those of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.

• The idea of this conference was to bring together people from all over India, mainly gravitational wave physicists and also people from neighbouring areas, namely, astrophysics, cosmology and theoretical and experimental physics

• Detection of the gravitational wave called GW150914
• Now, the idea is to make detection of gravitational waves a tool of gravitational wave astronomy.
• Simultaneous observations of gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves, called multi-messenger astronomy.
• By combining these humans can learn a lot more about the stars

[8] On detecting and delaying diabetes

11.9 million to 64.5 million person in India is suffering from diabetes.

What is diabetes?

• Diabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly.
• This is because your pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin, or not enough insulin, to help glucose enter your body’s cells – or the insulin that is produced does not work properly (known as insulin resistance).
• Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells, where it is used as fuel for energy so we can work, play and generally live our lives. It is vital for life.
• Glucose comes from digesting carbohydrate and is also produced by the liver.
• If you have diabetes, your body cannot make proper use of this glucose so it builds up in the blood and can’t be used as fuel.
• There are two types of diabetes diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus.
• Diabetes mellitus where body is producing insulin but not in sufficient quantity
• It is not one condition- there are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes
• In type 1 Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system is activated to destroy the cells in the pancreas which produce insulin.
• Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition in which the body becomes resistant to the normal effects of insulin and/or gradually loses the capacity to produce enough insulin in the pancreas.
• Gestational diabetes mellitus (sometimes referred to as GDM) is a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy  
• Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a rare disease that causes frequent urination.

It will be difficult to meet the UN global target of halting adult prevalence of diabetes at 2010 levels by 2025 if the current rates of increase continue in China, India and other low- and middle-income countries.

Reasons

• Obesity is the most important risk factor for diabetes.
• Besides obesity, there are other factors that put Indians at greater risk of developing diabetes.
• Increased consumption of sugar-rich and refined food products,
• Central adiposity
• Sedentary lifestyles
• Genetic susceptibility make more Indians vulnerable to the disease
• In India, diabetes is one of the major causes of disability in adults.
• Economic burden of diabetes in India is considerable. And a substantial part of treatment costs is met by out-of-pocket expenditure.
• Concerted efforts must be directed at preventing and delaying the onset of the disease.
• Preventive measures is to diagnose and treat gestational diabetes — mostly through dietary changes and physical activity which is a national programme now.
• Early detection of pre-diabetes is not adequate in India
• The progression to full-blown diabetes can be effectively delayed and even prevented through dietary changes and increased physical activity.
• This is why public awareness is crucial.

[9] How Zika virus causes microcephaly +More clarity on Zika’s dangers

 

Zika Virus

• Zika virus disease (Zika) is a disease caused by Zika virus that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.
• It is spread by mosquitoes, and so is called an “arbovirus”, in the same family as West Nile and dengue fever.
• Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 and is named after the Zika forest in Uganda.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

Why in news?

• On Feb 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika virus a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
• Local transmission has been reported in many other countries and territories.
• Zika virus likely will continue to spread to new areas.

Transmission:-

Through mosquito bites

• Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (A. aegypti and A. albopictus).
• These are the same mosquitoes that spread dengue and chikungunya viruses.

Through sexual contact

• Zika virus can be spread by a man to his sex partners.
• The virus is present in semen longer than in blood.

From mother to child

• A mother already infected with Zika virus near the time of delivery can pass on the virus to her newborn around the time of birth.
• A pregnant woman can pass Zika virus to her fetus during pregnancy.

Zika virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus and has been linked to a serious birth defect of the brain called microcephaly in babies of mothers who had Zika virus while pregnant.

Zika and microcephaly

• Since May 2015, Brazil has experienced a significant outbreak of Zika virus.
• In recent months, Brazilian officials reported an increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly.  
• Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States confirmed on April 13 that Zika virus infection during pregnancy causes microcephaly and other severe foetal brain defects.

WHAT IS MICROCEPHALY?

• Microcephaly is a serious and uncommon birth defect which doctors believe is caused by below-normal brain development in utero.
• Microcephaly causes lifelong physical and developmental problems for babies born with it.
• Problems can be wide-ranging, from seizures, to difficulty walking and learning, to hearing loss and vision difficulties
• As the director of the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden, said, microcephaly could be the “tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects on the brain and other developmental problems”.

Road ahead

Besides understanding the entire range of abnormities, concerted efforts can now be directed at quantifying the relative and absolute risk among infants born to mothers who had the infection during pregnancy. They can see if other factors like confection with another virus and/or a pre-existing immune response to another flavivirus are responsible for some babies born to mother infected with Zika virus developing microcephaly.

Awareness

Confirming the causal relationship makes it easier to raise awareness both at the clinical and community levels and communicate the risks to women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant soon.

India and Zika

• The infection remains asymptomatic in a majority of people and not specific even when present.
• In medicine, a disease is considered asymptomatic if a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. A condition might be asymptomatic if it fails to show the noticeable symptoms with which it is usually associated.
• So, efforts have to be redoubled to develop diagnostic methods and vaccines even as measures to intensify mosquito population are undertaken.
• With Aedes mosquitoes present in the country and the peak mosquito season a few months away, India has much to do to prevent a Zika outbreak.

[10] An early warning on the ocean state

What

A team of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has won the National Geoscience Award – 2014 for  developing Ocean Forecast and Information System for India for maritime safety.

Information provided by Ocean State Forecast Services (OSFS)

• Wave height
• Direction and period (of both wind waves and swell waves)
• Sea surface currents
• Sea surface temperature
• Mixed layer depth (the well-mixed upper layer of the sea)
• Depth of the 20 degree isotherm (a measure of the depth of the thermocline)
• Astronomical tides
• Wind speed and direction
• Oil-spill trajectory.

How the forecasts are generated?

The forecasts are generated by numerical models, which are evaluated extensively using observations, using indigenously developed real-time observational systems, and are customized to simulate and predict the Indian Ocean features accurately.

Which areas areas are covered by forecasts?

The forecasts are available for Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Northern Indian Ocean, Southern Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and South China Sea. The forecast services have also been extended to Maldives, Sri Lanka and Seychelles in collaboration with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia.