1. A swimming pool type research reactor Apsara-upgraded became operational in Trombay campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
- Apsara, first research reactor in Asia became operational in Trombay campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in August _____________. After providing more than five decades of dedicated service to the researchers, the reactor was shut down in 2009.
- The Upgraded version uses plate type dispersion fuel elements made of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU). By virtue of higher neutron flux, this reactor will increase indigenous production or radio-isotopes for medical application by 50 % and would also be extensively used for research in nuclear physics, material science and radiation shielding.
2. _________________ Pharmaceutical Company Abbott willintroduce a high-sensitive troponin-I blood test in India, that can predict chances of a heart attack or other cardiac event months to years in advance.
- Troponin-I test provides better predictive information for determining a person’s chances of developing future heart disease when added to current standard of care.
3. ____________________ has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system ‘Rosetta’ which can detect text from over a billion images like memes and videos in real time. It detects rectangular regions in images that contain text and then uses a neural network to recognise and transcribe what’s written.
4. ______________________ rolled out world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train, manufactured by French TGV-maker Alstom. These locomotives named iLint trains emit zero emissions, offering greener and quieter alternative to diesel on non-electrified railway lines.
- Hydrogen trains are equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen. This conversion process only emits steam and water, thus producing zero emissions.
- Excess energy produced is stored in ion-lithium batteries on board train. Hydrogen fuel cells have advantages over batteries. Instead of recharging, they can easily be refueled like gas or diesel engine.
- These trains can run for around 1,000 km on a single tank of hydrogen, similar to the range of diesel trains.
5. ____________________ developed a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to combat online spreading of contents involving child sexual abuse, using deep neural networks for image processing to help discover and detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. Quick identification of new images will lead to quicker identification of children, who are being sexually abused and will help protect them from further abuse.
6. ISRO will set up a satellite ground control station at the North Pole for a “14-orbit coverage” to efficiently download data from India’s Earth-observing satellites. ISRO already has two ground stations, IMAGES at _____________________ Shadnagar built in 2011, and AGEOS in Antarctica.
- Also, ISRO anounced to conduct 19 missions, including 10 satellites and nine launch vehicles, in next seven months between September and March. It will include the launch of India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in Jan 2019.
7. India and France have signed agreement to collaborate for ISRO’s first human space mission Gaganyaan to be launched in _______________. The announcement was made 6th edition of Bengaluru Space Expo (touted to be largest space conference in Asia and held in Bengaluru).
- ISRO and French space agency CNES will form working group to exchange expertise in fields of astronaut life support, radiation protection, space debris protection and personal hygiene systems among others.
- During same event, ISRO displayed a space suit developed for Gaganyaan Mission 2022. It is an orange-coloured prototype space suit developed at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. It can hold one oxygen cylinder, allowing an astronaut to breathe in space for 60 minutes.
- ISRO also displayed a crew model and crew escape model, with thermal shield and temperature inside maintained at 25 degree Celsius.
- Gaganyaan Mission astranauts will be living for five to seven days in a 400-km orbit from the Earth’s surface as they would conduct micro-gravity experiments.
- Theme for Bengaluru Space Expo 2018 was Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem.
8. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its PSLV-C42 rocket carrying two ___________________ Earth observation satellites - NovaSAR and S1-4, intended to improve disaster management capabilities.
9. India’s Mars mission Mangalyaan, successfully completed four years around Mars, despite being designed to last only six months. ISRO inserted Mangalyaan into Mars’ orbit in its first attempt on ____________________, 2014.
- Also, ASTROSAT, India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory will complete 3 years in Earth’s orbit (Launched on September 28, 2015). ASTROSAT has helped scientists confirm the presence of younger stars in globular clusters, earlier believed to contain only old stars.
10. India’s biggest cyclotron facility named Cyclone-30 became operational at Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)'s _____________________-based Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC).
- Cyclotron is used to produce radioisotopes for diagnostic and therapeutic use for cancer care. Radiations from these isotopes are used to destroy cancer cells.
- Cyclone-30 will produce radioisotopes vital for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. It will be only cyclotron facility in country to produce Germanium 68 radioisotopes, used in diagnosis of breast cancer.
- It will also produce Palladium 103 isotopes, which is used for the treatment of prostate cancer. In its future stages, it will also produce Iodine 123 isotopes, which can help detect thyroid cancer.
11. India’s first underwater robotic drone –__________________ handed over to Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) of DRDO, as first commercial Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) / underwater drone. It would be used by NPOL for research and development activities for defence purposes.
12. Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) developed India’s first indigenous medical kit for protection against nuclear warfare or radioactive leakage. It has ___________________________ items which include radioactive protectors which can absorb 80-90% of radiation, nerve gas agents, bandages that absorb radiation as well as tablets and ointments. Its important parts are -
- Prussian blue tablet - Highly effective in incorporating Radio Cesium (Cs-137) and Radio Thallium, among most feared radioisotopes in nuclear bombs that destroy human body cells.
- Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) injection - Traps uranium in the guts and blood of victims during a nuclear accident or warfare.
- Ca-EDTA Respiratory Fluid - Inhalation formula for chelation, or grabbing of heavy metals and radioactive elements deposited in lungs through inhalation at nuclear accident sites. It reduces the body burden of radioactivity by 30-40% in controlled conditions.
- Radioactive Blood Mopping Dressing - Special bandage that absorbs radiation to prevent spread of radiation from radioactive patients to others.
- Radioactive urine/biofluid collector - It can safely dispose of urine of person affected by radiation.
- Anti-gamma ray skin ointment - Heals radiation damage on skin.
- Amifostine injection - This conventional radiopharmaceutical that limits damage from gamma radiation.
- Indranil 150 mg tablet.
13. ________________ Updates -
- Launched its most advanced space laser, ICESat-2, a $1-billion mission that will shoot lasers towards Earth to track changes in Earth's ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and vegetation around the world. The preceding mission, ICESat, which lasted from 2003-2009 revealed that ice cover was disappearing from Greenland and Antarctica. The new laser will fire 10,000 times per second, whereas ICESat fired 40 times a second.
- ___________’s Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) took its third flight from the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico.
- It is first instrument built specially to image high-energy X-rays from Sun, that will capture nanoflares (miniature explosions invisible to naked eye).
- First FOXSI flight was in 2012, during which it successfully viewed a small solar flare in progress, and its second in 2014, when it detected best evidence at the time of X-ray emission from nanoflares.
- _______________’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, known as TESS, has spotted “hot Earth” and “super-Earth” planets in solar systems 49 and 60 light-years away, marking its first discovery since April launch. TESS is designed to build on the work of its predecessor, Kepler space telescope, which discovered over 2,500 confirmed exoplanets in 20 years and is now running out of fuel.
14. Researchers at Shizuoka University (__________________) developed a space elevator, a miniature version on satellites.
- 2 ultra-small cubic satellites will be used for demonstratiom, being released from International Space Station (ISS) and container acting like elevator car will be moved on cable connecting satellites using motor. The movement of motorised elevator box will be monitored with cameras in the satellites.
- Space elevator is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system. It will permit vehicles to travel along cable from planetary surface, such as Earth’s, directly into space or orbit, without use of large rockets. The idea of space elevator was first proposed in 1895 by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
15. Scientists discovered an ancient fossil of Dickinsonia, earliest animal on geological record. Dickinsonia is an oval shaped creature that lived 558 million years ago. It grew up to 1.4 m in length. The fossil was discovered by researchers from Australian National University (ANU) near the White Sea in ____________________________.
16. Scientists from University of Manchester (__________________), have developed a non-antibiotic drug that can treat tuberculosis (TB) in humans effectively. Results revealed that compound does not kill bacteria directly, but results in a significant reduction in bacterial burden.
17. ZSL (Zoological Society of ______________________) Institute of Zoology conferred title of ‘world’s largest bird’ to Coombe titan (meaning ‘big bird’ in Malagasy and Greek), believed to have weighed up to 800 kg and 3 metres tall.
