1. 100 million year old damselfly species, discovered in Myanmar has been named as Mesosticta davidattenboroughi, after __________ naturalist David Attenborough. There has been a long list of animals that are named after David Attenborough - a carnivorous plant, a butterfly, a tiny spider, a Peruvian frog and a Namibian lizard ?
2. 2 new species of Cycas Tree discovered by researchers in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden (__________), taking Total number of Cycas species found in India to 14. Cycas are among most ancient plants whose fossils date to the Jurassic period ?
3. A Group of ______________ Scientists has developed an artificial womb that can be used to save extremely premature human babies. Research showed that preterm lambs were successfully maintained in a healthy condition with significant growth for upto a week, using ex-vivo uterine environment (EVE) therapy?
4. According to ______________ scientists, delicate mosses found on rocks and trees in cities can be used as low-cost bioindicator to monitor urban pollution and to measure impact of atmospheric change. Mosses respond to pollution or drought-stress by changing its shape, density or disappearing.
- Mosses are a common flowerless plant found in all cities especially in damp (humid) or shady locations. It generally absorb water and nutrients from their immediate environments, so it can reflect changes to ecosystems.
5. According to study by a Group of Indian Scientists, ____________ ejeculated by aeroplanes is affecting monsoon, depleting ozone layer and quickening glacier melt.
- Earlier it was believed that airborne BC is unlikely to travel upward of 4 km and dissipate and settle down in few months under influence of wind and rain. However, this study shows that such particles exist up to 18 km into the stratosphere, a stable region of the atmosphere.
6. After successful launch of India’s first indigenously developed robot BRABO, TATA Motors Owned TAL Manufacturing launched _______________. It will provide students hands-on experience and help develop skills needed for effective use and management of Robotics and Automation Technology ?
7. An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) ______________ team developed a new drug delivery platform using nanoparticles, with ability to boost efficacy of antibiotics at the cellular level and improve chances of recovery from cancer-related bacterial infections ?
8. An unusual breed of fruit bat (discovered in _________________) is now officially recognised as a new species. This bat was previously nicknamed 'Yoda and has now been renamed happy (Hamamas) tube-nosed fruit bat ?
9. _________________ researchers discovered fossils of a new species of arrow-shaped marine animals that have translucent bodies making them difficult to spot. These 51 crore year old fossils are much bigger than their modern counterparts, largest being 10 cm long ?
10. Chilesaurus (Dinosaur species recently discovered in southern ____________ has been reported to be missing link that fills gap between 2 of major dinosaur groups - plant-eating herbivores and carnivores ?
11. European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Researchers discovered that Sun’s core is rotating ____________ times faster than its surface, using 16 years of observations from an instrument called GOLF (Global Oscillations at Low Frequency) on a spacecraft called Solar and Heliospheric bservatory (SOHO) ?
12. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) __________________ researchers developed a highly sensitive and low cost nanometre-scale carbon monoxide (CO) sensor, with potential applications in environmental pollution monitoring. Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas and is harmful when inhaled in large amounts ?
13. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a niche Earth observation (EO) satellite - HySIS (___________________) , with critical chip called optical imaging detector array. Its will allow ISRO to enter operational hyperspectral imaging from earth orbit.
- Hyperspectral imaging or hyspex imaging combines power of digital imaging and spectroscopy. It collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. It enables distinct identification of objects, materials or processes on Earth by reading spectrum for each pixel of a scene from space.
- HySIS satellite of ISRO can see in 55 spectral or colour bands from 630 km above ground. It can be used for a range of applications from monitoring environment, crops, looking for oil and minerals, military surveillance.
14. Indian scientists discovered Nasikabatrachus bhupathi, a new species of frog with a snout-shaped nose like a pig, near Srivilliputhur Grizzled Giant Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in __________________. It has been named after the Indian herpetologist S. Bhupathy ?
15. India’s first calf delivered by a surrogate cow through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technology carried out in a mobile laboratory in Pune (_____________). Purpose of producing surrogate calf was to protect indigenous cow breeds in its original form that have been destroyed due to cross-breeding ?
16. ________________ Anthropologists discovered 1.3 crore year old baby ape skull, revealing what common ancestor of all living humans and apes would have looked like. The skull belongs to a newly identified species of early ape named Nyanzapithecusalesi, that existed in Africa for over 1 crore years ?
17. Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) launched ______________ Programme, as an initiative of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to prepare a physical Health and Fitness Profile Card for more than 12 lakhs of Kendriya Vidyalaya students ?
18. NASA rocket named WINDY (__________________) will form night-time white artificial clouds visible by residents of Republic of Marshall Islands. It will study a phenomenon that occurs in Ionosphere (Layer of charged particles in upper atmosphere) ?
19. NASA's ______________ spacecraft started its final mission - five ultra-close orbits around Saturn. It would be spacecraft’s last mission of its 20-year-long journey, before plunging into atmosphere of Saturn ?
20. NASA’s Curiosity rover completed 5 years of Its __________ Exploration Mission. ?
21. NASA’s ______________ Space Telescope has discovered strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, WASP-121b. Stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes ?
22. Purdue University (__________________) Researchers designed a micropropulsion system called a Film-Evaporation MEMS Tunable Array (FEMTA) thruster that uses liquid water as the propellant for orbital maneuvering of tiny satellites called CubeSats.
- CubeSats are miniature satellites weighing under 2 KGs and have potential to carry out tasks like imaging and remote-sensing currently performed by heavier satellites.
- CubeSats at present cannot totally replace larger satellites as they are incapable of changing orbit or performing complex manoeuvres as they do not have a propulsion system.
- CubeSats having such system would allow such tiny satellites to correct their orbit or maintain their altitude, thereby prolonging their operating life in space before becoming space debris.
23. Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) ____________ created an implantable bioartificial pancreas model grown within 3D silk scaffold, that encapsulates insulin-producing beta cells and is capable of naturally producing insulin in sustained manner. After Trials, it can be used for treating people with Type 1 diabetes that arises when body’s immune system kills insulin-producing beta cells ?
24. Researchers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) _____________ jointly developed a biosensor that makes it possible to detect kidney disorders in under 8 minutes. It can accurately measure pH and urea concentration with a single drop of urine.?
25. Researchers from ______________ based Rice University have found new tectonic mircoplate off Ecuador’s coast in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It has been named Malpelo plate, after a Colombian island and an oceanic ridge it contains. It is overall 57th tectonic mircoplate to be discovered so far and the first in nearly a decade. Microplates are tectonic plates with an area less than 1 million km2?
26. Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) _________ developed a 3D cardiac tissue patch using silk protein membranes seeded with heart muscle cells. The patch can be used for regenerating damaged heart tissues and sealing holes in heart ?
27. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (__________) discovered a potential new state of matter that may help explain phenomena like superconductivity. It was discovered in the high-magnetic-field state of the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5.
- In new state, material’s electrons are aligned in such a way that they reduce symmetry of original crystal. This electronic alignment in a prototypical heavy-fermion superconductor is called nematic behaviour, common among superconducting materials in high magnetic fields.
- Superconductivity is ability of certain materials to conduct electric current with zero resistance. For a material to behave as a superconductor, critically low temperatures are required. Superconductivity was first observed in 1911 by H. K. Onnes (Dutch physicist).
28. Scientists at Stanford University (_____________) developed a cost-effective and highly sensitive blood test to detect cancer, Called single colour digital PCR.It can detect genetic mutations in minute amounts of DNA released from cancer cells into blood ?
29. Scientists discovered 2 new species of earthworm belonging to primitive family Moniligastridae in Western Ghats ranges of ____________, named as Drawida polydiverticulata and Drawida thomasi. There are about 200 species of earthworm known in genus Drawida. ?
30. Scientists from CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (___________) developed new technique to produce bioethanol from discarded cotton-stalks. It will help produce bioethanol (a clean fuel) from cotton stalk wastes.
- It is vital as India has about 9.4 million hectares under cotton cultivation and every hectare generates 2 million tonnes of cotton stalk wastes.
31. Scientists from Edinburgh University (________) uncovered largest volcanic region (91 Volcanoes) discovered on earth so far, under west Antarctica. Largest volcano stands at almost 4000 metres. ?
32. Scientists from ___________ developed the world’s first plant-based mosquito-borne Zika virus, using proteins derived from Tobacco plant ?
33. Scientists from USA found that curcumin (bioactive component of ______________) that is widely used in Indian cuisine can treat cancer in children. They found that nanoparticles loaded with curcumin can target and destroy neuroblastoma tumour cells, which commonly affects children aged under 5 ?
34. Scientists from _____________ have discovered an inexpensive prevention therapy against sepsis in new born babies, led by US-based Indian doctor Pinaki Panigrahi. Globally, over 600000 infants die of sepsis annually (mostly in developing countries).
35. Scientists from University of Toronto (____________) developed an injectable tissue bandage dubbed as AngioChip, that can repair damaged hearts. AngioChip is a tiny patch of heart tissue with its own blood vessels and heart cells beating with a regular rhythm.
- It is useful as Repairing heart tissue destroyed by a heart attack or medical condition with regenerative cells usually requires invasive open-heart surgery which usually poses more risks.
36. Scientists in ___________ have developed world’s smallest surgical robot called Versius, that can mimic human arm and can be used to carry out a wide range of surgical procedures. It can make series of small incisions that will circumvent the need for traditional open surgery ?
37. _____________ based student Dacharla Panduranga Rohith has been recognised by World Records of India for developing a nano missile for Army and Local Police. This 1 cm nano missile can fly by burining red phosphorus and hit target of upto 3 metres distance ?
38. Vizag's Rayichapalu is declared one of the rarest fish in world by Marine Living Resources Department of ________________. Rayichapalu will have the scientific name ‘Pseudathias Vizagensis’, after the city where it was first discovered.
