General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - September 2018

Sep 2018

Jan 18, 2019

AI helps find new human ancestor

An artificial intelligence system has identified a previously unknown human ancestor that roamed the planet tens of thousands of years ago and left a genomic footprint in Asian individuals.
By combining deep learning algorithms and statistical methods, researchers from the University of Tartu in Estonia, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Spain and found that the extinct species was a hybrid of Neanderthals and Denisovans and cross bred with modern humans in Asia.
The finding, published in 'Nature Communications', would explain that the hybrid found last year in the caves of Denisova — the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father — was not an isolated case, but rather was part of a more general introgression process.
Researchers used deep learning for the first time ever to account for human evolution, paving the way for the application of this technology in other questions in biology, genomics and evolution.

India To Train 45 Nations In Nano-Satellite Making

India will train 45 countries in nano-satellite making through a new capacity building programme.
The programme named Unispace Nanosatellite Assembly and Training(UNNATI) by Isro was flagged off by Isro chairman K.Sivan and junior minister of space Jitendra Singh at UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
The first batch course started this month and will be completed by March 2019.

India To First Send a Humanoid Into Space

India will not use animals to test systems for the Gaganyaan project. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will have a humanoid — robot resembling a human — conducting experiments in space twice before actually sending humans by 2022.
As per ISRO Chairman, K Sivan, the humanoid is almost ready. The mission should serve a purpose beyond displaying our ability to send humans and bring them back safely.
The robot will be able to do whatever a man can do, although not as extensively as them. Even the first flight will not go empty and utilise the opportunity to the maximum.

Jan 17, 2019

New super-Earth exoplanet may harbour alien life

The recently discovered cold super-Earth exoplanet orbiting around the red dwarf Barnard — the second closest star system to Earth — has the potential to harbour primitive life, says a study.
Barnard b (or GJ 699 b) is a super-Earth with a minimum of 3.2 Earth masses.
It orbits its red star every 233 days near the snow-line, a distance where water freezes. Although likely cold (-170 degrees centigrade), it could still have the potential to harbour primitive life if it has a large, hot iron or nickel core and enhanced geothermal activity.

ISRO Works on Tech to Reuse 1st & 2nd Rocket Stages

In a bid to cut the cost of satellite launchers, Isro is working on reusable launch technology for using the first and second stages of a rocket multiple times.
To master the technology, Isro is going to hold a test on the advanced version of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) in June-July.
The first rocket stage will be recovered on a vertical landing spot on the sea like Space X has been doing with Falcon rocket. Recovering the second stage is not easy.

Jan 16, 2019

Novel smart home robot may help older adults live independently

Scientists have created a robot that could help elderly people with dementia and other limitations live independently in smart homes.
The Robot Activity Support System uses sensors embedded in a smart home to determine where its residents are, what they are doing and when they need assistance with daily activities.
It navigates through rooms and around obstacles to find people on its own, provides video instructions on how to do simple tasks and can even lead its owner to objects like their medication or a snack in the kitchen.

Chinese seed sprouts on moon

A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander.
The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister since the Chang'e-4 lander set down earlier this month.
This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface.
Scientists from Chongqing University, who designed the "mini lunar biosphere" experiment, sent an 18-cm bucket-like container holding air, water and soil.

Jan 15, 2019

Braille Technology Firm Builds 'Kindle for the Blind'

A British company plans to launch a Braille e-reader for blind people this year that should greatly enhance their reading experience.
Bristol Braille Technology's new 'Kindle for the blind' - Canute 360 - which it says is the world's first multi-line Braille e-reader, displays nine lines of text at a time.
Any text that has been translated into Braille format can be downloaded into the Canute, potentially putting an endless supply of reading material at the user's fingertips.
The final prototype of Canute will enter mass production this year, priced similar to a high-end laptop.

DNA Tool lets you Trace Ancestry

Scientists have created a DNA tool that can accurately identify ancient populations, and may be used to test an individual's similarity to ancient people who once roamed the earth.
Currently the study of ancient DNA requires a lot of information to classify a skeleton to a population or find its biogeographical origins.
Scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK have defined a new concept called Ancient Ancestry Informative Markers (aAIMs) — a group of mutations that are sufficiently informative to identify and classify ancient populations.
The research, led by Eran Elhaik, from University of Sheffield in the UK, saw the identification of a small group of aAIMs that can be used to classify skeletons to ancient populations.
AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) have a long history in science and have been employed for the past decade by health and forensic experts.

Jan 14, 2019

Chang'e-4 to Record Lunar Freezing Night Temperature

China's Chang'e-4 lunar rover, which is exploring the dark side of the moon, will measure the freezing night temperature.
Chang'e-4 named after a Chinese moon goddess and comprising a lander and a rover, touched down on the dark side of the moon on January 3, the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon by any country.
Scientists estimate that the highest temperature during the day might reach 127 degree Celsius, while the lowest at night could fall to -183 degree Celsius.

Plant membrane adapted to extract hydrogen fuel from water

Scientists have used plant proteins to create a membrane that can split water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen using energy from the sun.
Researchers from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory adapted a chemical reaction pathway, central to plant biology, to form the backbone of the process to extract into hydrogen fuel from water.
They combined two membrane-bound protein complexes to perform a complete conversion of water molecules to hydrogen and oxygen.

India plans manned mission to Moon

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan has said India has planned a manned mission to the Moon.
The announcement comes when the world is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Sivan said the Gaganyaan project is not only about launching humans to space, but it will also continue with the "space station and humans to Moon".
Significantly, the announcement came nearly a week after China's Chang'e 4 achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2019.

Method to3D-print objects 100 times faster

Scientists have developed a 3D printing method that is up to 100 times faster than existing processes.
The approach lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid rather than building up plastic filaments layer by layer.
3D printing could change the game for relatively small manufacturing jobs, producing fewer than 10,000 identical items.

Russia loses control of radio telescope satellite

Russia's space agency says its specialists are attempting to fix problems that have blocked control of an orbiting radio telescope.
The Spektr-R satellite is continuing to transmit signals, but scientists have been unable to control the satellite.
The satellite was launched in 2011 and has exceeded its initially expected useful life of about three years. It is used to study radio sources within and outside Earth's galaxy.

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