General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - January 2019

Jan 2019

Apr 02, 2021

Microsoft to End Support for Cortana on Android and iOS Devices

Microsoft has announced to end support for its visual assistant Cortana on both Android and iOS devices.
Microsoft has also removed the Cortana app from both the App Store and Google's Play Store, beginning March 31.
The company first launched Cortana for iOS and Android in December 2015.
The app was designed to connect Windows 10 PCs and mobile phones but failed to gain momentum as Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri won the race.

Mar 31, 2021

Scientists Detect World's Coldest Cloud Hovering over Pacific Ocean

According to a new, a severe thunderstorm cloud that formed over the Pacific Ocean in 2018 reached the coldest temperatures ever recorded.
The very top of the storm cloud reached a bone-chilling minus 167.8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 111 degrees Celsius), colder than any storm cloud measured before. Thunderstorms and tropical cyclones, a circular low-pressure storm, can reach very high altitudes — up to 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the ground — where the air is much cooler.
But this new temperature is on another level. The top of the storm cloud was about 86 F (30 C) colder than typical storm clouds, according to the statement. The beast of a storm loomed about 249 miles (400 km) south of Nauru in the Southwest Pacific on Dec. 29, 2018, and its clouds' temperature was picked up by an infrared sensor aboard the U.S.'s NOAA-20 satellite orbiting the planet.

Astronomers Find the 'Safest Place' to Live in the Milky Way

Astronomers have searched the entire Milky Way to identify the safest places to live. It turns out, we're in a pretty good spot.
But if the past year has made you feel ready to relocate to another planet, you might want to look toward the center of the galaxy, according to the new research.
The new findings were made by a group of Italian astronomers, who studied locations where powerful cosmic explosions may have killed off life. These explosions, such as supernovas and gamma-ray bursts, spew high-energy particles and radiation that can shred DNA and kill life. By this logic, regions that are more hospitable to life will be the ones without frequent explosions, the astronomers reasoned.

Mar 30, 2021

Facebook and Google Plan Undersea Cables to Connect Southeast Asia and America

Facebook and Google are planning two new undersea internet cables to connect South East Asia to North America.
The project with regional telecoms companies aims to supply faster internet to Singapore and Indonesia.
This comes after Facebook withdrew three projects to connect the US to Hong Kong with similar cables, following government concerns over spying.
The cables require regulatory approval from the national governments involved.
"Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea, and they will increase overall subsea capacity in the trans-Pacific by about 70%.
The cables will be the first to directly connect North America to the main parts of Indonesia.
Echo is due to be completed by 2023, in partnership with Google and Indonesian telecoms company XL Axiata. Bifrost is planned to be completed a year later.

Scientists Built a Perfectly Self-replicating Synthetic Cell

Scientists have crafted a single-celled synthetic organism that divides and multiplies just like the real thing. The advancement could someday help researchers to build miniscule computers and tiny drug-producing factories, all out of synthesised cells.
Of course, that future likely won't be realised for many years to come.
"There's just so many ways in which this coming century of biology could potentially change our daily lives for the better," said senior author Elizabeth Strychalski, leader of the Cellular Engineering Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For example, Strychalski and her colleagues plan to engineer living sensors that can take measurements from their surrounding environments, monitoring the acidity, temperature and oxygen levels nearby.
These sensor cells could also be manufactured to produce specific products — namely medicines — and could potentially be placed inside the human body itself.

Mar 29, 2021

NISAR: ISRO and NASA Joint Mission Satellite to Track Climate Change, Disaster

NISAR Project: A major earth satellite is all ready to help people know more about climate change and help with disaster management. In a release, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that the satellite will be equipped with the largest reflector antenna, space agency has ever launched. The project called NISAR, a joint mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has huge goals regarding studying climate change.
The SUV-size Earth satellite is expected to track subtle changes going on in the Earth's surface. The satellite will provide spot warning signs of volcanic eruptions along with monitoring groundwater supplies. It will also be tracking the melting rate of ice sheets and its impact on the sea level rise. The Earth satellite will also be observing shifts in the distribution of vegetation across countries. According to NASA, these kinds of changes have not been monitored for the entire globe and with NISAR, NASA is aiming to tap this field with the help of ISRO.

Mar 28, 2021

India likely to have Sky Eye GISAT-1 in Geostationary Orbit in April

The launch of India's first Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT-1) to be placed in geostationary orbit will happen sometime during the first or second week of April, said K. Sivan, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The GISAT-1 launch slated for March 28 got slightly delayed as some technical issues were observed in the satellite and the rocket. The issues observed issues have to be addressed even if they are minute ones. The GISAT-1 will be the country's first sky eye or earth observation satellite to be placed in geostationary orbit.
Originally the GISAT-1 was slated for launch on March 5, 2020 by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV-F10).

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