BYJU’s IAS

Science & Tech and Environment Current Affairs (May 2019)

1. Barcoding of Medicines
 The government plans to make barcoding mandatory on all medicines sold locally in a bid to
offset India’s growing reputation as a source of counterfeit medicines.
 While the system is already in place for medical devices and export of medicines to ensure their
authenticity and traceability, the Union health ministry plans to take a tough stance for the
domestic market as well despite resistance from drug companies.
 Currently, this remains voluntary. About top 300 pharmaceutical brands are voluntarily using
barcoding and other international standards for authentication.
 The industry has been arguing over challenges in adopting the authentication techniques such
as cost of equipment and infrastructure for adoption of barcoding.
 Globally, there are stringent regulations against fake drugs and medical devices, which could
cause injury or fatality to patients.
 These rules also stipulate implementation of traceability by all stakeholders in healthcare supply
chains from point of manufacture to their sale and consumption.
 Health experts say it is imperative for the government to mandate drug makers to adopt and
implement authentication, track and trace system using global standards and best practices with
the country being identified as a source of counterfeit drugs by various bodies including the
United States Trade Representative (USTR).
 The slow adoption of barcoding for domestic sales of drugs impacts the authenticity of
medicines, ability to monitor their ready availability, expiration, track and trace their recalls
when needed.
 This is also one of the causes of avoidable medication errors, injuries or fatalities and
proliferation of counterfeits.
 The office of the USTR recently highlighted that India has a growing problem of counterfeit
medicines, in its annual ‘Special 301 Report’ on intellectual property protection and review of
‘notorious markets’ for piracy and counterfeiting released in April. The USTR report said almost
20% of all pharmaceutical goods sold in the Indian market are counterfeit.
2. Superconductivity

What’s in the news?

 Recently, a team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru led by Prof. Anshu Pandey
has confirmed that the material they tested exhibits major properties of superconductivity at
ambient temperature and pressure.
 As a matter of fact, superconductivity at ambient temperature has been the holy grail in physics
for about a century now.
 It is important to note that a material is said to be a superconductor if it conducts electricity
with nil resistance to the flow of electrons.
How can Superconductors help?

 Superconductors will help build very high efficiency devices leading to huge energy savings.
 Until now, scientists have been able to make materials superconduct only at temperature much
below zero degree C and hence making practical utility very difficult.
 This is where the IISc’s work becomes particularly important.
 The material that exhibited superconductivity is in the form of nanosized films and pellets made
of silver nanoparticles embedded in a gold matrix.
 Interestingly, silver and gold independently do not exhibit superconductivity.
 The team examined 125 samples, of which 10 showed a drop in resistance, signalling the onset
of superconductivity.
 The remaining samples were exposed to oxygen at the time of sample preparation leading to
unsuccessful results.
 It is important to note that reproducibility and repeatability are the cornerstones of science, and
the IISc team was able to achieve it.
The Significance of the work done: What do Scientists Say?

 “If this result is correct, it would be the greatest work done in India since the discovery of Raman
effect,” said Professor T.V. Ramakrishnan from the Department of Physics at IISc. “They have
found a sharp drop in resistivity [in their material]. This is potentially amazing.”
 “This looks like a case where granular superconductors play a role. I am excited that the key first
step in this challenging field has been brought about by a systematic and detailed effort,” says
Professor G. Baskaran from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai.
3. Depleting Groundwater

Context:

Haryana government has planned to discourage planting of rice crop in a bid to save depleting
groundwater.

Details:

 Water depletion in Haryana over the years has led to 60 dark zones in the State, which include
21 critical ones in 10 districts.
 Staring at an imminent groundwater crisis, the State government has decided to discourage rice
sowing from the upcoming season.
 As the Haryana government plans to discourage planting of paddy, which threatens to deplete
the State’s groundwater, farmers have asked the government to first come out with a
mechanism to procure alternative crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
 Previously, the farmers had faced great difficulties in selling their maize produce.
 There is hardly any dependable mechanism of government procurement for crops on MSP in the
State.
 Problems like delay in setting up of procurement centres, exploitation at the hands of
commission agents who most of the times buy the produce from farmers below MSP, on one
pretext or the other defeats the purpose of MSP.
 Unless farmers are given an assured market and assured price for their produce, they would
continue to suffer.

Pilot Project:

 The Haryana government has decided to start a pilot project where sowing of maize and ‘’tuar’
pulse would be promoted by giving incentives to farmers. The government intends to diversify
from non-basmati paddy to maize and pulse.
 In Haryana, under the new scheme, identified farmers will be provided seed free of cost and
given a financial assistance for ₹2000 per acre in two parts.
 The maize crop insurance premium will be borne by the government.
 Also, maize produce will be procured by government agencies at MSP.
 Likewise, seeds of ‘tuar’ will also be provided free of cost to farmers and incentives will also be
provided on a similar pattern.
4. Akash Missile

Context:

The DRDO successfully test-fired the new version of the Akash surface-to-air defence missile system
with a new indigenously-developed seeker.

Details:

 This is the second successful test of the missile.

 Several variants of the missile Akash MK1, Akash-MK2 with improved accuracy and higher
ranges are under development by the DRDO.
 India is slowly plugging the holes in its air defence elements by developing the advanced
surface-to-air missile named MRSAM — Medium Range Surface to Air Missile in collaboration
with Israel.
 Besides that, five regiments of the renowned S-400 air defence system are under procurement
from Russia. The delivery is slated to begin in 2020.
Akash Missile:

 It is a medium range multi-target engagement capable missile.

 It was developed as part of the Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme (IGMDP)
other than Nag, Agni, Trishul, and Prithvi missiles.
 The supersonic missile has a range of around 25 km and up to the altitude of 18,000 metres.
 The missile uses high-energy solid propellant for the booster and ramjet-rocket propulsion for
the sustainer phase.

5. Brahmos Missile
Context

Today, IAF successfully fired the BrahMos air version missile from its frontline Su-30 MKI fighter
aircraft.

Details of the launch

 The launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory before
directly hitting the land target.
 The air launched BrahMos missile is a 2.5 ton supersonic air to surface cruise missile with ranges
of close to 300 km, designed and developed by BAPL.
 The IAF became the first Air Force in the world to have successfully fired an air launched 2.8
Mach surface attack missile of this category on a sea target.

6. Risat-2B
Context:

In a predawn launch, a PSLV rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) placed RISAT-
2B, an X-band microwave Earth observation satellite, into orbit 556 km above earth.

Details:

 The PSLV-C46 launcher carrying the 615-kg RISAT-2B blasted off at 5.30 a.m. The satellite
reached its designated position and started orbiting in space with an inclination of 37°.
 After the satellite separated from the launcher, its solar arrays deployed automatically.
 the RISAT-2B is built to operate for at least five years.
 Two important secondary or piggyback trial payloads that would revolutionise its future
missions were also included in the launch.
 They are the new Vikram processor from Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh, that will
control future launchers, and a low-cost micro-electronic inertial navigation system from the
ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram.
 This is the third Indian RISAT in 10 years, and follows the Israeli-built RISAT-2 in 2009 and the
ISRO-built RISAT-1 in 2012. The older RISATs have reached the end of their lives.
 ISRO has planned a series of radar imagers in the coming months to enhance its space based
observation of Earth and the Indian region.

Significance:

 Its X-band synthetic aperture radar can give added details such as the size of objects on earth,
structures and movement.
 Information from RISAT-2B will complement data from normal optical remote sensing satellites.
 Such data are useful for agencies that need ground images during cloud, rain and in the dark.
 “The new satellite will enhance India’s all-weather [space-based] capabilities in agriculture,
forestry and disaster management,” ISRO said.
 Data from the satellite would be vital for the Armed Forces, agriculture forecasters and disaster
relief agencies.
 ISRO chairman described RISAT-2B as “an advanced Earth Observation satellite with an
advanced technology of 3.6-metre radial rib [unfurlable] antenna”.

7. Starlink satellites
Context:

SpaceX has launched the first 60 satellites of its “Starlink” constellation, which is intended to provide
Internet from space in an array that could one day contain over 12,000 transponders.

Details:

 The launch was on a Falcon 9 rocket.

 The 60 satellites mark the beginning of SpaceX’s deployment of a global internet
megaconstellation intended to generate more revenue to fuel the company’s interplanetary
ambitions.
 The final orbit of the satellites is slightly higher than the International Space Station, but well
below terrestrial satellites.

8. Ultima Thule
Context:

NASA has found evidence of a unique mixture of methanol, water ice, and organic molecules on
Ultima Thule’s surface — the farthest world ever explored by mankind.

Ultima Thule:

 Ultima Thule is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt.

 It is a contact binary, with two distinctly differently shaped lobes.
 The lobes likely once orbited each other until some process brought them together in what
scientists have shown to be a “gentle” merger.
 At about 36 kilometers long, Ultima Thule consists of a large, strangely flat lobe — nicknamed
“Ultima” — connected to a smaller, somewhat rounder lobe — dubbed “Thule” — at a juncture.
Details:

 The U.S. space agency has published the first profile of Ultima Thule — an ancient relic from the
era of planet formation — revealing details about the complex space object.
 Researchers are also investigating a range of surface features on Ultima Thule, such as bright
spots and patches, hills and troughs, and craters and pits.
 The largest depression is a 8-kilometer-wide feature the team has nicknamed Maryland crater
— which likely formed from an impact.
 Some smaller pits on the Kuiper Belt object, however, may have been created by material falling
into underground spaces, or due to exotic ices going from a solid to a gas and leaving pits in its
place.
 In colour and composition, Ultima Thule resembles many other objects found in its area of the
Kuiper Belt. Its reddish hue is believed to be caused by modification of the organic materials on
its surface.
 New Horizons continues to carry out new observations of additional Kuiper Belt objects it passes
in the distance.

9. Seawater from Iceage Discovered

Context:

In a first, scientists have discovered the remnants of seawater dating back to the Ice Age, tucked
inside rock formations in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Details:

 Researchers from the University of Chicago have made the discovery during a scientific mission
exploring the limestone deposits that form the Maldives.
 The ship, the JOIDES Resolution, is specifically built for ocean science and is equipped with a drill
that can extract cores of rock over a mile long from up to three miles beneath the seafloor.
 The extracted water, in their preliminary tests were coming back salty much saltier than normal
seawater.
 Further studies showed that the water was not from today’s ocean, but from the last remnants
of a previous era that had migrated slowly through the rock.
Significance of the study:

 Scientists are interested in reconstructing the last Ice Age because the patterns that drove its
circulation, climate and weather were very different from today’s.
 Understanding these patterns could shed light on how the planet’s climate will react in the
future.

10. Arctic icebreaker

What’s in the news?

 Russia launched a nuclear-powered icebreaker recently, part of an ambitious programme to

renew and expand its fleet of the vessels in order to improve its ability to tap the Arctic’s
commercial potential.
 The ship, dubbed the Ural and which was floated out from a dockyard in St Petersburg, is one of
a trio that when completed will be the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world.
 It is important to note that Russia is building new infrastructure and overhauling its ports as,
amid warmer climate cycles, it readies for more traffic via what it calls the Northern Sea Route
(NSR) which it envisages being navigable year-round.
 The Ural is due to be handed over to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom
in 2022 after the two other icebreakers in the same series, Arktika (Arctic) and Sibir (Siberia),
enter service.
A Look at Specifics:

 The Ural together with its sisters are central to Russia’s strategic project of opening the NSR to
all-year activity.
 President Vladimir Putin said in April 2019 that Russia was stepping up construction of
icebreakers with the aim of significantly boosting freight traffic along its Arctic coast.
 The drive is part of a push to strengthen Moscow’s hand in the High North as it vies for
dominance with traditional rivals Canada, the United States and Norway, as well as newcomer
China.
 By 2035, Mr. Putin said Russia’s Arctic fleet would operate at least 13 heavy-duty icebreakers,
nine of which would be powered by nuclear reactors.
 It is important to note that the Arctic holds oil and gas reserves equivalent to 412 billion barrels
of oil, about 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.
 Moscow hopes the route which runs from Murmansk to the Bering Strait near Alaska could take
off as it cuts sea transport times from Asia to Europe.
11. New species of Wasp discovered

 A new species of wasp from the genus Kudakrumia has been recently identified by scientists in
Goa.
 The wasp, Kudakrumia rangnekari , has been named after Goa-based researcher Parag
Rangnekar.
 In India, the wasp is found in Goa and Kerala and outside the country it is also found in
neighbouring Sri Lanka.
 The types of the new species and specimens of known species are deposited in the ‘National
Zoological Collections’ of the Western Ghat Regional Centre of Zoological Survey of India located
at Kozhikode

12. Hornbills among top seed dispensers

What’s in the news?

 Researchers from Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, have mapped the different
frugivore (fruit eater) birds and their interactions that are important for the forest ecosystem.
 The study carried out in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh noted that hornbills, one
among the large-sized frugivores, are the top seed dispersers.
 However, unfortunately, they are also the most threatened.
 This is because they are hunted for meat, and the tribal communities use their feathers for head
dresses.
 The study looked at 43 tree species, 48 frugivore bird species that were seen visiting them.
 A single bird species could visit different tree species, and a single tree species would be visited
by different bird species.
 Thus, a complex network of over 400 interactions was created and studied.
 The trees were classified into small-, medium- and large-seeded. The large-seeded trees mainly
depended on hornbills and imperial pigeons for their dispersal. The medium-size seeded trees
were visited by bulbuls, barbets along with hornbills and imperial pigeons. Though the
frequency of visits was similar for all four bird species, the number of fruits removed from trees
was high for hornbills.
 Among the different bird species, hornbills were found to be the most effective seed
dispersers. They were found to swallow and disperse most of the fruits they handled. They also
removed maximum number of fruits — and therefore seeds — in every visit to a fruiting tree.
 They swallow the fruit as a whole causing no damage to the seed. They are known to disperse
seeds far away from the parent plant – as a matter of fact, studies have shown that they can
disperse up to 13 km.
Concluding Remarks:

 Previous studies by the team also noted that when the number of hornbills decreased in an
area, the regeneration of large-seeded plants that were primarily dispersed from them was
also affected.
 It is important to note that seeds that fall under the parent tree face heavy competition,
predation by rodents and insects and fungal infections. So their chances of survival are very low.
 Plants depend on frugivore birds to disperse the seeds at favourable sites, which have low
competition and predation pressures, to expand their geographic range.
 And so the decline of frugivores could severely affect the ecosystem.

13. New Orchid recorded

Context:

The Japanese Journal of Botany has published as a “new record for the flora in India” in its latest
issue called Lecanorchis taiwaniana.

Details:

 An Assam forest officer’s chance discovery has given India one of its smallest orchids in terms of
size and duration of bloom to be recorded botanically.
 The parasitic bloom, found by forest officer is a variant of a Japanese orchid.
 It is a mycoheterotroph, one of two types of parasitic plants that have abandoned
photosynthesis.
 It bears 90% similarity with the taiwaniana species named after Taiwan.
 It derives its energy and nutrients from fungus, hence could be of herbal importance.
 Lecanorchis taiwaniana adds to the orchid wealth of northeast India, which has 800 of some
1,300 species in the country.
 About 300 species are found in the Western Ghats and 200 in the northwestern Himalayas.
14. New microscope for diseases

What’s in the news?

 Recently, scientists have developed a specialised microscope with the potential to diagnose
diseases like skin cancer as well as perform precise surgery without making any incisions in the
skin.
A look at specifics:

 According to the study published in the journal Science Advances, the microscope allows
medical professionals to pinpoint the exact location of an abnormality, diagnose it and treat it
instantly.
 The technology being used allows scientists to scan tissue quickly, and when they see a
suspicious or abnormal cell structure, they can perform ultra-precise surgery and selectively
treat the unwanted or diseased structure within the tissue — without cutting into the skin.
 It could be used to treat any structure of the body that can be reached by light and requires
extremely precise treatment, including nerves or blood vessels in the skin, eye, brain or other
vital structures.
 Experts opine that for diagnosing and scanning diseases like skin cancer, this could be
revolutionary.
 The study shows that the device allows imaging of living tissue up to about one millimetre in
depth using an ultrafast infrared laser beam. It can not only digitally scan living tissue, but also
treat the tissue by intensifying the heat produced by the laser.
 The researchers aim to make multiphoton microscope technology more versatile while
increasing its precision.