General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - September 2018

Sep 2018

Jun 21, 2019

First Song Recorded from Rare Whale

For the first time, scientists have recorded singing by one of the rarest whales on Earth, and it just might be looking for a date.
The crooning comes from a possibly lovelorn North Pacific right whale and its song was documented by researchers in the Bering Sea off Alaska's coast.
The song may not be a greatest hit, but is classified by marine biologists as an underwater call using a distinct pattern of sounds.
And it is the scientists' best guess that this serenade of the seas is a mating call from a lonely aquatic mammal.

Jun 20, 2019

Two Earth-like Planets Discovered

Scientists have discovered two new Earth-like planets around one of the closest stars within our galactic neighbourhood.
The planets are located only 12.5 light years away orbiting the Teegarden star, a red dwarf in the direction of the constellation of Aries.
Both the planets are similar to the planets in the inner part of the Solar System.
According to researchers, they are just a little bigger than the Earth and are situated in the habitable zone where water can exist as a liquid.
As per Stefan Dreizler, a researcher at the University of Gottingen, it is possible that the two planets are part of a larger system.

Jun 19, 2019

Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft

The mother orbiter spacecraft of Mission Chandrayaan-2 reached the launch port of Sriharikota from Bengaluru and would soon be joined by its lander and rover companions.
Their epic journey of 3.84 lakh km to Moon, to land on it and explore its surface would begin on July 15, 2019.

Jun 18, 2019

Zebra Stripes Keep them Cool

In a first, scientists have found that zebras can manipulate their black stripes to control their body temperature.
The research, published in the Journal of Natural History, shows that it is the special way zebras sweat to cool down and the smallscale convection currents created between the stripes which aid evaporation.
They also found that zebras can erect their black stripes — further aiding heat loss. These three elements are key to understanding how the zebras' unique patterning helps them manage their temperature in the heat.
The researchers propose that the differential temperatures and air activity on the black and white stripes set up small-scale convective air movements within and just above the stripes, which destabilise the air and the water vapour at the tips of the hairs.

'Virtual biopsy' Device to Detect Cancerous Skin Tumour

Scientists have developed a 'virtual biopsy' device that can quickly and non-invasively determine whether a skin tumour is cancerous and needs to be removed surgically.
The device can determine a skin lesion's depth and potential malignancy without using a scalpel, according to the researchers from Rutgers University. The device could make biopsies much less risky and distressing for patients.
Currently, physicians who perform surgical biopsies often do not know the extent of a lesion until surgery has already begun.
The first-ofits-kind experimental procedure, called vibrational optical coherence tomography, creates a 3D map of the legion's width and depth under the skin with a tiny laser diode.

Gold and Platinum Rare Supernova's Gift to Earth

An overlooked star explosion far away in space may have given the Earth the gift of precious heavy elements such as gold and platinum, a study claims.
The research, conducted by University of Guelph in Canada and Columbia University, overturns our understanding of how heavy elements appeared on our planet.
According to the research published in the journal Nature, some 80% of the heavy elements in the universe likely formed in collapsars.
Collapsars are a rare but heavy element-rich form of supernova explosion from the gravitational collapse of old, massive stars typically 30 times as weighty as our sun. Using supercomputers, the researchers simulated the dynamics of collapsars, or old stars whose gravity causes them to implode and form black holes.
Under their model, massive, rapidly spinning collapsars eject heavy elements whose amounts and distribution are astonishingly similar to what we observe in our solar system.
Most elements were created in nuclear reactions in stars and ultimately expelled in huge stellar explosions.
Heavy elements found on Earth from long-ago explosions range from gold and platinum, to uranium and plutonium.

Fingerprint Messages to Ensure Traceability

India has asked WhatsApp to digitally fingerprint every message sent on its platform without breaking the encryption, in a move aimed at ensuring traceability of all content shared on the Facebook-owned messaging app.
WhatsApp should be able to identify where a message originated and how many people have read and forwarded it without having to read the message.
The government has been insistent in its demand for traceability of WhatsApp messages after misinformation and rumours around child kidnappings on the platform led to a spate of lynchings across India in 2018.
WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging applications in India, has maintained that its end-to-end encryption does not allow for traceability.
Law enforcement officials seeking to identify the origin of messages that cause public unrest or spread sexual abuse videos have long complained that the metadata (name, display image and number of people on chat groups) provided by WhatsApp is not sufficient to apprehend perpetrators.
Draft amendments to intermediary guidelines of the Information Technology Act released in December 2018 require all internet platforms to ensure traceability of the origin of all content shared through them.
India is the largest market for WhatsApp with 350-400 million people using the messaging application.
The company is running a pilot for its payments business based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) but is yet to receive government approval for a full-fledged such business.
WhatsApp currently does not store data on messages. However, if it accedes to India's demand, it will need to redesign its entire architecture.
In December, Australia brought in a law that enables the police to bypass encryption, despite criticism from technology companies that it could undermine public safety and privacy.
In Singapore, the anti-fake news law gives authorities sweeping powers to police online platforms and even private chat groups.

Jun 16, 2019

Indian Innovators to Make AI Diagnosis Foolproof

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are driving growth in medical imaging, with deep-learning applications being integrated with radiology for faster and higher-precision diagnosis.
Algorithms mine raw data sets within seconds to classify and detect aberrations by reading images at efficiencies that humans can't match.
Even so, errors do happen in AI diagnoses. Now, a clutch of innovators in India are developing solutions that are making AI-based image diagnostics more accurate and helping resolve complex cases in a fraction of the time taken by clinicians.
Dr Vidur Mahajan, who heads a team of young scientists is working with global partners — research, academia and industry — to help modify machines to always get it right.
The team's latest project ready for market pending FDA 510(k) approval is GE Healthcare's Critical Care Suite, which has an AI that screens X-rays for pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and sends automated notification to the technologist/radiologist when there is a suspected critical finding.
This new technology assists clinicians to prioritise results that need immediate review, so that the patient gets immediate treatment faster, resulting in better outcomes, reduced costs and improved patient experience.
The global market for machine learning in medical imaging, comprising software for automated detection, quantification, decision support and diagnosis, is expected to cross $2 billion by 2023.
Apart from image processing and interpretation, AI applications include image acquisition and processing to aided reporting, follow-up planning, data storage, and data mining, among many others.

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