General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

May 04, 2021

Lightest Form of Uranium

The scientists have created the lightest form of Uranium. It is called the Uranium-214. The discovery reveals more information about an alpha particle. The alpha particles are those particles that get ejected from radioactive elements as they decay.
This isotope of Uranium has a greater number of neutrons than protons. The neutrons have mass. However, Uranium-214 found recently is much lighter than the other common Uranium isotopes. This includes Uranium-235 as well. Uranium-235 is the most commonly used isotope. It has 51 extra neutrons.
Uranium-214 was created at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou, China.
It had a half-life of just half a milli-second. The half life of a radioactive sample is the time taken for half of the radioactive sample to decay. The half life of Uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years. This is the almost equal to the age of the earth.

May 03, 2021

NASA's Crew-1 Astronauts Safely Splash Down

NASA's Space X Crew-1 astronauts truly deserve a big hand as after surviving 167 days in space, the longest duration mission for a U.S. spacecraft since the final Skylab mission in 1974, Dragon and the Crew-1 astronauts returned safely to Earth.
The four Crew-1 astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico right on schedule, returning to Earth after a six-month stay on the International Space Station.
The astronauts — three Americans and one from Japan — had undocked from the station, flew through the atmosphere and then touched down in the Gulf of Mexico under four massive parachutes.

Vodafone Joins Google Cloud on Data Analytics

Vodafone Group PLC and the cloud division of Alphabet Inc.'s Google are planning to jointly develop data services, citing interviews with representatives from both companies. As per reports, about 1,000 workers in the U.K., Spain and the U.S. will be asked to create "Nucleus," the new cloud-based storage and analytics portal, which will host Vodafone's data. Nucleus will be able to process around 50 terabytes of data a day within the cloud.
As part of the six-year agreement Vodafone will transfer data from its own servers to Google Cloud.
Vodafone and Google will also invent a system, called Dynamo, that will extract and transport data across different countries where the telecoms company operates.
The two companies will also in the future seek to sell consultancy services to other multinational businesses seeking to move huge amounts of data to the cloud.

May 01, 2021

NASA Astronaut Harvests Two Plants in Space

NASA's Expedition 64 crew member Michael Hopkins harvested two crops in space -- amara mustard, and a previously grown crop, extra dwarf pak choi.
They were grown for 64 days, the longest leafy greens have grown on station, the US space agency said. The pak choi grew for so long that it began to flower as part of its reproduction cycle. Hopkins' efforts in eclipsing the mark included using a small paintbrush to pollinate plant flowers. A VEG-05 experiment with dwarf tomatoes is planned for next year.

Apr 30, 2021

China Launches Robot Prototype Capable of Catching Space Debris

A Chinese space mining start-up launched into low Earth orbit a robot prototype that can scoop up debris left behind by other spacecraft with a big net.
The 30kg robot developed by Shenzhen-based Origin Space will pave the way for future technologies capable of mining on asteroids.
Since the establishment of the world's first asteroid mining company Planetary Resources in 2009, more than a dozen firms across the world have entered the fledging sector, including 3D Systems of the United States and Japan's Astroscale.
Unlike Astroscale's technology, which uses magnets to gather up space junk, NEO-01 will use a net to capture debris and then burn it with its electric propulsion system, according to a report on the company's website.
Thousands of satellites have been launched globally. As they outlive their use, many end up as junk, posing danger to other operating satellites.

OptraSCAN Unveils OS-Ultra 320, First-ever High-speed Scanner

OptraSCAN, the leading end-to-end digital pathology solution provider, launched OS-Ultra 320 the world's first-ever affordable high-speed digital pathology scanner. The OS-Ultra 320 scans tissues/cells of size 15x15 mm area at 40x magnification in less than 60 seconds and features no-touch continuous loading operation. The OS-Ultra 320 is designed to reduce workflow errors and scale-up pathology laboratory operations.
OS-Ultra 320 represents a significant development in reducing technician time while maintaining perfect image quality for the healthcare professionals.

Apr 29, 2021

China Launches First Module of New Space Station

China has launched a key module of a new permanent space station, the latest in Beijing's increasingly ambitious space program.
The Tianhe module - which contains living quarters for crew members - was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on a Long March-5B rocket.
China hopes to have the new station operational by 2022.
The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station, from which China is excluded.
China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. It was only in 2003 that it sent its first astronaut into orbit, making it the third country to do so, after the Soviet Union and the US.

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