1. 6 new species of minute goblin spiders discovered in forests of __________________________, named after fictional characters described by English children’s writer Enid Blyton. Names given are - goblins Bom, Snooky and Tumpy and the brownies Chippy, Snippy and Tiggy.
2. _______________ launched bird-shaped drones fitted with a camera, GPS antenna, and satellite communication capability, to monitor citizens living in different parts of country, codenamed Dove.
3. Flower Impatiens dorjeekhanduii has been named after former ____________________ Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu. It was discovered at a forest in Zemithang area of Tawang in September 2017.
4. ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram (______________________) will transfer its own in-house lithium ion (Li ion) cell technology to successful Indian industries and start-ups on non-exclusive basis in automobiles for INR 1 crore. It aims to accelerate development of indigenous electric vehicle (EV) industry and reduce dependence of imported lithium ion cell technology.
- Transfer of ISRO’s technology will help in establishing production facilities in country that can produce cells of varying size, capacity, energy density and power density catering to entire spectrum of power storage requirements of electric vehicles (EVs).
5. India will start producing first indigenous Lithium Ion batteries, after an MoU for transfer of technology for India’s first Lithium Ion (Li-ion) Battery project was signed between CSIR CECRI (__________________________) and RAASI Solar Power Pvt Ltd. India imported Li-Ion batteries worth 150 million dollars in 2017 and is one of its largest importers in the world.
6. Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) launched EPS (_________________________), as a new system to generate more area specific forecast of extreme weather events.
- EPS system has been developed by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
- EPS is special for its high resolution short-medium range weather forecasts. Under it, area of spatial resolution (currently 23 km grid scale) will come down to 12 km.
- In its calculations, system will use a newly procured 8 petaflops high-power computing system.
- Forecasts of severe weather events at 12 km grid scale would greatly help in making better emergency response decisions.
7. NASA extended Juno’s science operations until July _______________, providing it additional 41 months in orbit around Jupiter. Larger orbits will also allow scientists to further explore far reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere, region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field.
8. NASA will launch world’s lightest satellite in August 2018, which is developed by engineering students from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science in _________________. It is 4cm ‘cube’ satellite named ‘Jaihind-1S’, with a 3D printed outer casing from polylactic acid (PLA) nylon material, making it weigh just 33.39 grams.
9. Researchers from University of Seville (______________________) identified absorbent materials that can help soak up pollutants found in urban waste water. Results show that material C18-Mica-4 is capable of eliminating majority of pollutants that were evaluated in urban waste water, as well as surface water and potable water.
10. ______________ researchers created a battery based on radioactive isotope nickel-63 that has a half-life of 100 years, which could help power deep space missions. The prototype packs about 3,300 kilowatt-hours of energy per gram, which is more than any other nuclear battery based on nickel-63 and 10 times more than commercial electrochemical cells.
11. Satellite named RemoveDEBRIS was successfully deployed from International Space Station (ISS), to clean up space debris orbiting Earth. It was transported to ISS via SpaceX CRS-14 launch in early April 2018. Satellite was built by consortium of space companies and research institutions led by Surrey Space Centre at University of Surrey (______________________).
- Satellite is aimed at performing key Active Debris Removal (ADR) technology demonstrations (e.g capture, deorbiting) representative of operational scenario during low-cost mission using novel key technologies for ADR.
12. Scientists at Ahmedabad Physical Research Laboratory have discovered an exoplanet, Taking India into a select group of countries which have found planets outside the solar system. The ‘super-Neptune’ is about 27 times mass of Earth and six times its radius. It is 600 light-years away from Earth. It is named as EPIC 211945201b (or K2-236b) and host star has been named EPIC 211945201 (or K2-236).
- Discovery was made by measuring mass using indigenously designed “__________________________” (PARAS) spectrograph integrated with 1.2m Telescope at PRL's Gurushikhar Observatory in Mount Abu (Rajasthan). PARAS is first of its kind spectrograph in Asia, which can measure the mass of a planet going around a star.
13. Scientists discovered peripheries of a 14th century Maori village in ___________________, containing tools and food items that can shed more light on the lifestyle of settlers. Obsidian (volcanic glass) was used by early Maori settlers as simple cutting tools.
14. Scientists from ______________'s University of Michigan developed world’s smallest computer, measuring just 0.3 milimeters.
15. Turtle fossil dating back to 150 million years (Jurassic period) has been discovered in Chongqing municipality of ____________.
16. Two new species of cricket frogs named Kalinga and Krishnan discovered in the _____________________ (Eastern Ghats) and Karnataka (Western Ghats) Respectively. The other species has been named Krishnan. Kalinga has been named after ancient kingdom of Kalinga. The other species from Karnataka has been named after eminent biologist, Dr. K Subramanian Krishnan.
17. World's 1st habitable 3D-printed houses will be built in Eindhoven (_________________), to be occupied by mid-2019. It would help reduce carbon footprint as less cement would be needed for their construction.
