Science Current Affairs Quiz - May 2019

1. A species of new vine snake discovered in eastern ____________________, a century after last discovery made about vine snake in 1906. Researchers named it Ahaetulla laudankia or Laudankia vine snake. Scientists took 10 years for completing field and laboratory work to confirm about new species.

2. A team of herpetologists from Pune-based Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (specialized in study of reptiles and amphibians) discovered a new species of reddish-brown pit viper from ____________________, with scientific Name Trimeresurus arunachalensis. It makes Arunachal Pradesh only Indian state to have a pit viper named after it.

1. Viper discovered is never described before therefore this single known specimen of this species makes it currently rarest pit viper in world. Its a species of reddish-brown pit viper, a venomous snake. It has a unique heat-sensing system.
2. India is now home to fifth brown pit viper. Other four brown pit vipers are Hump-Nosed, Horseshoe, Malabar, and Himalayan.

3. An exoplanet smaller than Neptune with its own atmosphere has been discovered in Neptunian Desert, in a research led by University of Warwick (_________________).

1. Named NGTS-4b (also called 'The Forbidden Planet'), its a planet smaller than Neptune but three times the size of Earth. It is the first exoplanet of its kind to have been found in the Neptunian Desert.
2. Neptunian Desert is the region close to stars where no Neptune-sized planets are found. This area receives strong irradiation from star, meaning planets do not retain their gaseous atmosphere as they evaporate leaving just a rocky core. However NGTS-4b still has its atmosphere of gas.

4. Arizona State University (_______________) Researchers Incuding Indian-origin cosmochemist Maitrayee Bose found water in asteroid Itokawa, in samples collected by Japanese space probe Hayabusa. Itokawa is a peanut-shaped S-type asteroid about 1,800 feet long and 700 to 1,000 feet wide. It circles Sun every 18 months at an average distance of 1.3 times Earth-Sun distance.

5. As per a NASA Study, moon has been shrinking as its interior cools, getting more than about 150 feet skinnier over the last several hundred million years. NASA claims that shrinking is still active and producing moonquakes today as Moon continues to gradually cool.

1. Concerned statements are made on basis of images sent by Nasa's ____________________ (LRO).
2. NASA also stated that Mercury has shrank much more than Moon. NASA found that planet Mercury also has various thrust faults, it ranges up to 600 miles long and over a mile high, that are significantly larger relative to its size than those on Moon.
3. When planets heat up they expand their size and when they cool size of planet gets shrink. Mercury’s large faults reveal that is was likely hot enough to be completely molten after its formation.

6. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Researchers for the first time sequenced entire genome of Asiatic lion, an endangered species, with just 523 now left in Gir forests in _____________________.

1. Study of genomes noted that evaluation of genetic diversity (total number of genetic characteristics of a species which serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments) placed Asiatic lion in lowest bracket of genomic diversity index which highlights gravity of its conservation status.
2. Genome study which will help identifying characteristics that are specific to Asiatic lions and will enable better population and disease management of endangered this species.
3. Asiatic Lion are also known as Indian Lion, and Scientific Name is Panthera Leo Persica.
4. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) will also create DNA Profiles of all rhinos present in India, to be completed by 2021. Indian rhino will become India’s first wild animal species to have all its members DNA-sequenced. There are about 2,600 rhinos and over 90% of them in Kaziranga National Park (Assam).

7. Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched human tissue mapping project called ____________________, aimed at improving understanding on human physiology, by mapping every single tissue of human body. DBT issued funds of Rs 13 cr to two institutions in Pune, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) and National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS).

1. Through physiological and molecular mapping this programme involve in getting better biological insights, develop disease models through predictive computing and have a holistic examination and at last drug discovery.
2. The project can be signed up by students who are in their final year of graduation and above.

8. ____________ Researchers discovered a new bird-like Dinosaur in Bavaria, and named it as “Alcmonavis Poeschli”. It is described as the most bird-like bird discovered from the Jurassic.

9. ICMR National Institute of Immunohaematology (________________) developed cost-effective Point-of-Care (POC) rapid diagnostic test for severe genetic disorders Haemophilia A (also called factor VIII (FVIII)) and Von Willebrand Disease (VWD). This is World’s first Point-of-Care (POC) test for specific diagnosis of any common bleeding disorder.

10. ______________ Updates -

1. Announced its upcoming 7 missions over next 10 years -
   1. Among mentioned 7 Missions, ISRO defined XPoSat and Aditya-L1 missions only. Other four undefined missions are Mangalyaan-2, Venus mission, Lunar Polar Exploration and Exoworlds.
      1. XPoSat, or X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is a dedicated mission to study polarisation which is scheduled for launch in 2020. Xposat payload is developed by Raman Research Institute. It will carry Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX) payload which will study degree and angle of polarisation of bright X-ray sources in energy range 5-30 keV. It has mission life of 5 years.
      2. Aditya L1, the Sun mission, will study the solar corona. The launch may happen by mid-2020 and will be placed in  ‘libration orbit’, which is about 1.5 million km from Earth. 
         
      3. Xposat to study cosmic radiation in 2020, Aditya L1 to the Sun in 2021, Mars Orbiter Mission-2 in 2022, Lunar Polar Exploration or Chandrayaan-3 in 2024 and Exoworlds, an exploration outside the solar system in 2028.
   2. India’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, will be launched in July 2019.
2. Inaugurated its new commercial arm called NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), registered in March 2019 by Department of Space (DoS) as its second commercial entity called NSIL, under ISRO. First commercial venture of DoS was Antrix Corporation Limited, set up in 1992 to market ISRO products and services.
   1. NSIL was incorporated for commercially utilising research and development (R&D) activities carried out by ISRO, with authorised share capital worth Rs.100 crore and initial paid up capital of Rs.10 crore.
3. Will launch India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 in July 2019, which will touch down near Moon’s south pole on 6th September 2019.
   1. It would be launched using GSLV MK-III Rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
   2. It has three modules (a detachable self-contained unit of a spacecraft) namely namely Orbiter, Lander named Vikram and Rover named Pragyan.
   3. Orbiter and Lander will be put together inside GSLV MK-III a three stage launch vehicle equipped to lift heaviest satellites into orbit. The Rover is enclosed inside Lander. Once spacecraft is launched into earth bound orbit, integrated module will reach Moon orbit using Orbiter propulsion module. Then, Vikram Lander would separate from Orbiter and will make soft landing close to lunar South Pole.
   4. Chandrayan-2 would land on southern pole of the moon, which is still unexplored by any of the countries.
   5. Chandrayan-1 (launched Oct 2008) only orbited the moon, while Chandryaan 2 will attempt a soft landing close to lunar south pole.
4. Launched its radar imaging satellite RISAT-2B, as radar imaging earth observation satellite. It was launched using launch vehicle PSLV-C46 from Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh).
   1. This is fourth flight unit of the RISAT programme and it would be used for reconnaissance, strategic surveillance and disaster management.
   2. RISAT B satellite has mass of 615 kg and feature an X-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). Upcoming RISAT Satellites RISAT 2BR1 and RISAT 2BR2 will be launched in 2019.
5. Institute of Aerospace Medicine (Indian Air Force) and ________________ signed an agreement on the selection of crew and training for Gaganyaan Programme.
   1. Gaganyaan Programme was announced by PM Narendra Modi in August 2018, with 10,000 crores Budget. It is scheduled to be launched in December 2021. ISRO has set up Human Spaceflight Centre at its headquarters in Bengaluru in Jan 2019. Under this, a three-member crew will spend a minimum of seven days in space and a human-rated GSLV Mk-lll will be used to carry orbital module.

11. __________ Updates -

1. Found evidence of a unique mixture of water ice, methanol, and organic molecules on Ultima Thule’s surface, as very different from most icy objects explored previously by spacecraft till now.
2. ________________’s first mission to demonstrate a planetary defence technique, Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), will get one opportunity to hit small moonlet in binary asteroid system Didymos, in 2022.
   1. Asteroid, called Didymoon or Didymos B, is a moon asteroid around 150 meters tall orbiting a larger body Didymos A, the most accessible asteroid of its size from the Earth.
   2. DART is a planned space probe that will demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impact spacecraft into an asteroid moon for planetary defence purposes. The mission is intended to test whether a spacecraft impact could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
3. Announced that name for its Mission to Moon will be Artemis, to be achieved by 2024. This Mission is committed to take a female astronaut to surface of the moon for first time. After Artemis, NASA is planning to reach Mars by 2033.

12. Researchers at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) _______________________ found new function for stress buster Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), stating that it may help treat neurological diseases. So far, Serotonin’s newly identified function was only studied in mice and rats. If found to be true in humans, it may have important medical implications.

13. Researchers at University of Portsmouth (_______________________) and Natural History Museum stated that an extinct bird came back from dead after a process called ‘iterative evolution’ twice.

1. This bird is called white-throated rail (Dryolimnas cuvieri) which came from its native home in Madagascar to Seychelle Islands Aldabra atoll. On two occasions, separated by tens of thousands of years, this rail species was able to successfully colonise at Aldabra.
2. Dryolimnas cuvieri first disappeared from Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles 1,36,000 years ago. Since Aldabra was safest place for them, they had lost their ability to flight.
3. Iterative evolution is a repeated evolution of similar or parallel structures in development of same main line. There are many examples of iterative evolution in fossil record, spanning a wide range of groups.

14. Researchers discovered a new ‘rain loving’ snake species from __________________________, naming it Smithophis Atemporalis, as first such discovery after almost 150 years.

1. Species is non-venomous kind and strictly aquatic. Its maximum recorded size is about 655 mm or 2.5 feet.

15. Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) ______________________ developed a microprocessor named ‘AJIT’, as first indigenously conceptualised, designed, developed and manufactured Prosessor in India. Its Chip was developed at Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Chandigarh. It will cost around Rs 100, if about 10 lakh units are manufactured at a time.

16. Researchers from University of Basel (____________________) discovered that certain deep-sea fish have expanded their rhodopsin genes to detect various wavelengths in near-total darkness in deep sea, least habitat on Earth. The genes can cover exactly the wavelength range of light “produced” by light-emitting organs of deep-sea organisms, known as bioluminescence.

1. Some deep-sea fish have adapted to detect the tiny amount of residual light that makes it to the depths of the ocean using their highly sensitive telescope eyes.

17. Scientists found one billion-year-old fungi in ____________________'s Arctic. In Fossilized fungi, researchers found presence of chitin, a unique substance that is found on cell walls of fungi. Specimen was then age dated using precise measurements of radioactive isotope ratios within sample.

1. Previous oldest fossil fungi on record dated back to middle Paleozoic, about 460 million years old.
2. This changes our view on when plants and animals could have existed on Earth. Previous estimates are that first land plants existed around 470 million years ago and animals around 580 to 500 million years ago.

18. Scientists from Stanford University (________________) demonstrated for first time the possiblility of producing a measurable amount of electricity in an infrared photodiode from coldness of universe. Infrared semiconductor uses temperature difference between Space and Earth to produce electricity. New device generated about 64 nanowatts per square meter.

19. Scientists from University of Cambridge (___________________) created World’s Smallest Colour Pixels by trapping particles of light under the tiny rocks of gold. These pixels can be used for new types of large-scale flexible displays and are big enough to cover entire buildings. These are smallest pixels ever created and are smaller than the typical smart phone pixels.

20. Scientists identified a new species of wasp from genus Kudakrumia in ___________________. The wasp is dubbed as Kudakrumia rangnekari, named after researcher Parag Rangnekar. The Kudakrumia is a genus of primitive wasps that was previously known only from Sri Lanka.

21. ____________________ based Samsung launched world’s first highest resolution image sensor of 64 megapixels, to be used in upcoming smartphones of Samsung. Samsung has launched two new image sensors with 0.8 micrometer pixel - 64-megapixel ISOCELL Bright GW1 The 48-megapixel ISOCELL Bright GW2

22.________________ Department of Energy created a new 100% recyclable plastic named Polydiketoenamine (PDK), which can be broken down and used without loss of quality. Researchers discovered that new PDK material has wide range of thermal and mechanical properties.

23. ______________ Space Exploration Firm SpaceX launched  first batch of 60 small satellites into low-Earth orbit, as part of Starlink internet service venture by SpaceX Founder Eon Musk.

1. Each satellite weighs about 500 pounds (227 kg), making them heaviest payload carried by SpaceX to date, as Initial phase of a planned constellation capable of beaming signals for high-speed internet service from space to paying customers around globe.
2. Constellation will become operational once over 800 satellites will be activated, which will require at least 12 launches carrying similar payloads. These satellites are part of a planned 12,000 satellite megaconstellation with aim to provide high-speed internet service from space to customers around globe.
3. It also launched a Dragon cargo capsule, targeted to reach International Space Station. Cargo Dragon spacecraft was carrying 2,500 kilograms (5,500 pounds) of supplies for the astronauts on the ISS as part of the CRS-17 mission.

Score =

Correct answers: