General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - March 2018

Mar 2018

Nov 25, 2019

NASA's Alien Hunter Rover in Antarctica

NASA scientists are dropping an upside-down underwater rover into the icy oceans of Antarctica. The robot, Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration (BRUIE), is a prototype of the rover that could search for life in frozen alien oceans. It's part of NASA's plans to explore the secret oceans of two distant icy moons, Europa and Enceladus. NASA plans to launch the next spacecraft to Europa in 2025. NASA began testing an alien-hunting underwater rover in Antarctica. Instead of relying on its weight to keep it on the ground, BRUIE relies on buoyancy to keep it afloat.

Insta's 'Close Friends' on FB Soon

Facebook is going to add one of Instagram's favourite features, 'Close Friends', — to the main app. The feature was added as a built-in privacy tool that let users choose to share content to only a select few. The feature was first spotted inside Messenger by reverse engineering master and frequent tipster Jane Manchun Wong. Instagram made a single Close Friends list with a dedicated button for sharing.

Nov 24, 2019

NASA's Infrared Analysis Of Tropical Storm Sebastien Sees Wind Shear

Tropical Storm Sebastian continued to move in a northeasterly direction through the North Atlantic Ocean as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead. Infrared imagery from an instrument aboard Aqua revealed very high, powerful storms with very cold cloud top temperatures in the southwestern quadrant of the storm. It also revealed that the storm was being sheared apart by outside winds.
Tropical cyclones are made of up hundreds of thunderstorms and infrared data can show where the strongest storms are located. They can do that because infrared data provides temperature information, and the strongest thunderstorms that reach highest into the atmosphere have the coldest cloud top temperatures.

Nov 23, 2019

Ribose, a sugar needed for life, has been detected in meteorites

Space rocks that fell to Earth contain ribose, an essential molecule for life's genetic machinery, and other related sugars.
The finding, reported online November 18, 2019 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lends support to the idea that many of life's ingredients were delivered to Earth by interplanetary debris.
Many organic molecules have been found in space.
Comet Lovejoy, for example, carts around sugar and alcohol, the base ingredients for a decent interplanetary cocktail (SN: 10/23/15).
But until now, no one had confirmed an extraterrestrial source for ribose. This molecule forms part of the sugar-phosphate backbone of RNA, molecular workhorses within cells responsible for reading and carrying out instructions encoded in DNA.

Amazon Echo Flex Plug-In Smart Speaker Launched in India

Amazon has launched another device in its Echo lineup of smart speakers in India — Echo Flex Plug-in.
As the name suggests, the smart speaker is a simple plug-in device that can be directly put into a standard electrical outlet, avoiding the need for wires and chargers.
The device also doubles up as an adapter (7.5W) as it comes with a built-in USB-A port or other devices.
The Echo Flex Plug-in enables to use Alexa to control compatible smart home devices. The device offers pretty much all the controls that other Echo devices offer; one can also connect it to preferred speakers using Bluetooth or a 3.5 mm audio cable for higher audio output.

Nov 22, 2019

Kolkata Becomes First City To Install 'Third Umpire' RT-PCR Machines

In a major step towards upholding public health, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has installed first of its kind high-end reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines in India for quick detection of diseases like dengue, tuberculosis and swine flu.
These machines are to serve as a 'third umpire' in situations when medical reports and blood tests reveal contradictory results.
The purpose is to give accurate DNA report on blood tests in order to ascertain the exact cause of illness.

NASA Confirms Water Vapor Is Present Under The Ice Of Jupiter's Moon Europa

NASA has confirmed the presence of water vapor on one of Jupiter's 79 moons.
The American Space agency detected plume-like forms of water vapor above Europa's icy surface, which were detected as a wavelength of emitted infrared light.
The research showed the moon releases more than 5,000 pounds of water per second – enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in only a few minutes.
These findings have also reignited a longstanding theory that an ocean twice of the ones on Earth lays hidden under the frozen shell.
Given the suspected abundance of warm, liquid water under its mile-thick ice shell, the moon is considered a 'top candidate' by NASA for life on a solar system body other than Earth.

Nov 21, 2019

Railway Factory In Uttar Pradesh Gets 'Sona 1.5' Robots For Non-Technical Work

Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh) railway coach factory is set to be modernised with the introduction of humanoid robot 'Sona 1.5' to transport documents and greet visitors.
The humanoid robot was built by Club First Technologies, who also demonstrated the product on November 18, 2019.
Besides transporting documents, Sona 1.5 is also beneficial for welcoming visitors, technical interaction, other types of training. The company claims that Sona 1.5 is built with human-like spine technology, which helps them to balance.
In addition, the humanoid robot is based on navigation and mapping with the help of sensors and reach the target.
Founded by Bhuvanesh Mishra and Neelima Mishra in 2009, Club First is the manufacturer of SONA 1.5, which is primarily used to serve diners at restaurants. The product is designed and manufactured in Jaipur under the Make in India scheme.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

September GK, August GK, July GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26