General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - July 2019

Jul 2019

Apr 25, 2020

China Names Its First Mars Mission 'Tianwen-1'

China has named its first Mars exploration mission as 'Tianwen-1'. The announcement was made on April 24, 2020, the same day when the nation celebrated 'Space Day' to mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of its first-ever satellite 'Dong Fang Hong-1' in 1970.
China's Mars mission will include an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The mission is expected to be launched later this year. With the mission, China aims to catch up with the other nations that have launched successful mars missions including the United States, European Union, Russia and India.

Scientists Discover 19 Interstellar Asteroids Between Jupiter and Neptune

Nineteen asteroids that once belonged to a distant star system have been found orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune.
They have been circling the sun for more than 4.5 billion years, since the very inception of the solar system.
Astronomers believe the space rocks were ripped from their original location as the universe expanded and the sun grew rapidly, creating its own gravitational pull.
The enormous force of the burgeoning star sucked the rocks into the formative solar system and they have remained here ever since, astronomers believe.

Apr 24, 2020

Hubble Telescope Celebrates 30 Years Of Stunning Science

It's 30 years ago to the day that the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.
Famously blighted by blurred vision at the outset, the observatory was eventually repaired and upgraded.
The remarkable pictures it has taken of planets, stars, and galaxies have transformed our view of the cosmos.
Indeed, there are those who think Hubble is the most important scientific tool ever built.
The US space agency (NASA), which runs the observatory in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), says operations will be funded for as long as they remain productive.

Exploring 'Super-Luminous Supernovae Exploded Rapidly And Decayed Slowly'

Researchers at the Arayabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) Nainital an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Govt. of India found that SN 2010kd, a super-luminous supernova stands out with the amount of mass as well as Nickel ejected during explosion, which is much more than seen in case of normal core-collapse supernovae.
Supernovae are a kind of energetic explosions where the core of massive stars (a few times to that of mass of our Sun) go to a catastrophic phase of explosion liberating huge amounts of energy. These events are visible through very far away distances much beyond our own solar system. Super-luminous supernovae are a special type of stellar explosions having energy output 10 or more times higher than that of standard supernovae.

Apr 23, 2020

India's First Mobile Virology Diagnostics And Research Laboratory Inaugurated In Hyderabad

Unique and first of its kind facility in the country, a Mobile Virology Diagnostics and Research Laboratory has been inaugurated in Hyderabad at the ESI medical college. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Minister of state for Home Kishan Reddy and Telangana Industries Minister K Taraka Ramarao have attended the programme through video conference.
Developed by the DRDO, the Bio safety level-3 laboratory can test thousand samples for Corona virus daily and can scale up to 2000 in future. The laboratory also has a facility to trial drugs and conduct research on Corona virus.

Apr 22, 2020

Swiss Scientists Discovers Six-Planets System With Near 3:2 Resonance

A team of Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered a six-planet system (a 'super-Earth' & five 'mini-Neptunes') orbiting the star HD 158259 in the Draco constellation.
The discovery was done by using the SOPHIE spectrograph installed at the Haute-Provence Observatory in the South of France and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) exoplanet-hunting space telescope.
The star HD 158259, which is 88 light-years away from Earth, was observed by Astronomers for the last seven years. Every planet in the HD 158259 star has the same orbital resonance from its later planet and it is 3:2. This would be 1.5 according to Period Ratio. That is, when the inside planet makes three rounds, then immediately after that the planet makes two rounds.

Pune Municipal Corporation Develops 'Saiyam' App To Track Home-Quarantine

To track home quarantine people on a real-time basis, Pune Municipal Corporation has developed a mobile application named 'Saiyam'. The mobile application has GPS tracking so that whenever quarantined citizens leave their homes, city administration gets alerted and the local ward or the local police station gets informed, who then visit the family.
The municipal corporation has appointed dedicated teams for five zones of the city to monitor home quarantined citizens with technology in their hand.

Iran Says It Launched a Military Satellite Into Orbit

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran had launched a military satellite into orbit, after months of unsuccessful efforts that raised the specter of outside sabotage.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the announcement, which came amid wider tensions between Iran and the United States. This was the first military satellite ever launched by Iran.

Apr 21, 2020

Rajasthan Government Partners With Healthcare App 'Aayu' to Tackle Coronavirus Pandemic

Rajasthan government has exclusively partnered with healthcare startup MedCords to provide 24x7 online consultation and medicine delivery to the people of Rajasthan as the State battles to control cases of Coronavirus. Through its integrated solution -Aayu & Sehat Sathi app, MedCords will help over 68 Million of people in Rajasthan through this collaboration.
MedCords' solution is fully adopted in 7 districts of Rajasthan - Kota, Udaipur, Shri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Ajmer, Pali, Jaipur.

ARI Researchers Develop Bug Sniffer To Rapidly Detect Bacteria

Researchers at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune have developed 'bug sniffer,' a sensitive and low-cost sensor to rapidly detect bacteria.
The portable device can detect as low as ten bacterial cells from a sample size of 1 mm in just 30 minutes. The team is currently working on a method for simultaneous separation and detection of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium.
The bug sniffer is a biosensor that uses synthetic peptides, magnetic nanoparticles, and quantum dots to detect the presence of bacteria.

Fish Gills Used To Develop Efficient Low-Cost Electro-Catalysts For Energy Conversion Devices

Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, have recently come up with an efficient, low-cost electro-catalyst from fish gills that can help develop environmentally friendly energy conversion devices.
This bio-inspired carbon nanostructure can help overcome the bottleneck in the realization of several renewable energy conversion and storage technologies such as fuel cell, biofuel cell, and metal−air battery. It could be utilized as next-generation nonprecious carbon-based electrocatalyst for energy conversion and storage applications.

IIT-Mandi Team Develops Magnetic RAM

Data storage concerns will soon be history with researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, developing magnetic Random Access Memory (RAM) which is faster, more energy-efficient and capable of storing more information in a smaller volume than existing data storage technologies.
The team, which is in process of patenting the technology, claims that the Spin-transfer torque (STT) based nano spintronic devices will also put an end to computer data loss due to interruptions of power supply and hence will have the capability to transform next-generation computers, smartphones and other gadgets.

IIA Scientists Connect Lithium Abundance In Interstellar Space To New Lithium Rich Red Giants

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science &Technology, Govt. of India, have discovered hundreds of Li-rich giant stars indicating that Li is being produced in the stars and accounts for its abundance in the interstellar medium.
They have also associated such Li enhancement with central He-burning stars, also known as red clump giants, thereby opening up new vistas in the evolution of the red giant stars.

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