General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - August 2015

Aug 2015

May 16, 2019

Solar Cell with Bacteria at its Core

A team led by an IndoCanadian scientist is giving Escherichia or E coli bacteria, commonly associated with stomach ailments, an image makeover: placing them at the core of a new system for producing solar power.
Developed by the team of Vikramaditya Yadav at the chemical and biological engineering department of University of British Columbia, the biogenic solar cells, called so as they comprise living organisms, can function in low light conditions.
A prototype for the cells generated a current stronger than any previously recorded from such a device, and worked as efficiently in dim light as in bright light.

Chandrayaan-2 will carry Nasa payload

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that India's second lunar mission will carry 13 Indian payloads and one from US space agency Nasa.
Isro is looking to launch Chandrayaan-2 between July 9 and July 16, with the Moon landing scheduled for September 6.

May 11, 2019

Chandrayaan-2 Will Carry 14 Payloads

According to ISRO, Chandrayaan-2, the lunar lander mission planned to be launched during July 9-16, will have 14 Indian payloads or study devices.
The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km; a five-legged lander called Vikram that will descend on the moon on or around September 6; and a robotic rover, Pragyan, that will probe the lunar terrain around it.
ISRO has chosen a landing area at the hitherto unexplored lunar south pole, making it the first agency to touch down at the south pole if it succeeds in its first landing attempt.
Chandrayaan-2 will be India's second outing to the moon. ISRO will send the mission on its heavy lift booster, the MkIII, from Sriharikota.

May 10, 2019

Rice Husks Can Remove Toxins

A study has observed that rice husk can effectively remove microcystin (a toxin released by harmful algal blooms) that are increasingly occurring in the great lakes and other freshwater lakes around the world.
According to the study, rice husks can effectively remove microcystin from water, a finding that could have far-reaching implications for communities along the great lakes and across the developing world.
An abundant and inexpensive agricultural by-product, rice husks have been investigated as a water purification solution in the past. However, this is the first time they have been shown to remove microcystin, the toxin released by harmful algal blooms.

May 08, 2019

Zinc Supplementation Suppresses Fat Deposition in The Liver

A research team led by Dr Prosenjit Mondal, Assistant Professor, School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, and Dr Debabrata Ghosh from CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow, has shown that zinc oxide nanoparticles can prevent fat accumulation in the liver and thereby prevent Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).
Their work has recently been published in the journal, Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine.
WHO reports that the number of deaths due to liver diseases in India was 259,749 in 2017.
Nearly 120 million Indians are estimated to suffer from NAFLD, with a higher incidence rate amongst obese and diabetic people.
The observations of the team may help in formulating therapeutic strategies to improve insulin sensitivity and ameliorate liver steatosis associated with type 2 diabetes.
Co-investigators on the study were research scholars, Surbhi Dogra, Khyati Girdhar, P. Vineeth Daniel, Swarup Chatterjee, Abhinav Choubey and faculty Dr Subrata Ghosh from IIT Mandi and Dr SatyakamPatnaik and Aditya K Kar from CSIR-IITR.

May 03, 2019

Tapping Fresh Water under the Ocean

The last place most people would expect to find fresh groundwater is tens to hundreds of kilometres offshore in the ocean. Yet not only is that exactly where freshwater can be found, in the ground of the continental shelf beneath the ocean, but simulations have shown that it could be a common occurrence across a range of geologic systems.
These offshore groundwater resources could be exploited for uses such as drinking, agriculture and oil recovery, but new research suggests that tapping into those resources could lead to adverse onshore impacts.

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