Current Affairs (Sci & Tech)

India successfully test-fires Dhanush, Prithvi-II missiles  In an exercise to further sharpen its missile teeth, India on Friday successfully test-fired two indigenously developed, nuclear capable ballistic missiles, both having a strike range of 350 kms, from separate locations off the Orissa coast. US Shuttle Discovery makes historic last landing The oldest and most travelled space shuttle, Discovery, on Wednesday landed back on Earth after its final space flight and will now end its days as a museum piece to delight the crowds. India successfully test-fires Interceptor missile India successfully test-fired indigenously developed interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile on Sunday from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island off Orissa coast. DRDO develops technology to detect life trapped under debris Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has developed a special technology to detect human beings trapped under the debris of buildings after earth quakes or land slides. India to have own satellite navigation system by 2015 India will launch seven satellites in the next four to six years to develop its own version of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for enhancing surveillance capabilities and improving accuracy of its weapon systems. US removes ISRO and DRDO from entities list The US has removed nine Indian space and defense related companies including those from ISRO and DRDO from its export control 'Entity List' in an attempt to expand high technology trade and strategic cooperation with India. Solar energy use in cell towers can reduce CO2 emission: Study Use of diesel generators in cellphone towers leads to a staggering five million tonnes of annual carbon emissions in India and there is a need to replace them with solar panels, says a new study. IAF inducts India's first Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' Inching closer to modernisation with self sufficiency, India's first homegrown supersonic fighter jet, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas', was handed over to the IAF by Defence minister, A K Antony after the Initial Operational Clearance.

Russia launched Glonass satellite Russia has successfully launched a next-generation navigation satellite for its Glonass global communication system. The Glonass-K satellite was hauled into orbit from the northern Plesetsk space centre by the upgraded Soyuz 2-1b launcher, featuring advanced digital avionics and a more powerful Fregat upper stage. The new satellite has a longer design life, more navigation channels and is smaller than previous Glonass-M spacecraft. Australia's biggest cyclone in a century named Yasi shattered entire towns, terrifying locals but causing no confirmed fatalities hit mainly in the Queensland State. China launches its first ocean economic zone To expand its resource base from the land to the bottom of the ocean, China has launched its first USD 38.6 billion ocean economic zone The Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone, (SPBEZ) is to be set up at coastal province of Shandong. The economic zone covers all the offshore waters of Shandong Province with an area of 159,500 square kilometers. The programs covered agricultural technology, new energy utilisation, international logistics, tourism and culture, said Fei Yunliang, head of the construction office of the economic zone. International Summit on Water A two-day International Summit on Water organised by Indian Water Works Association, Bangalore Centre, jointly with MECON Ltd., a Government of India enterprise, will commence here on February 11. MGNREGS to get biometric database The Centre proposes to create a biometric database of all workers covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It will be used to authenticate work applications, work-site attendance and wage payments The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near Tiruchi,Tamil Nadu. The Gigantic Industrial exhibition 'win-2011' organised at Istanbul from feb 3-6. India been named as "Partner Country" for the exhibition over 44,000 firms and 60 other countries took part in the show.

Nutritional Requirements

Nutritional Requirements

India to host 4th Environment Friendly Vehicles Conference 2009

India will host the 4th Environmentally Friendly Vehicle (EFV) Conference in New Delhi from November 23-24th this year. This is for the first time that such a prestigious and international event on automobile sector is being organized in a developing country. The EFV conference aims at promotion of environmental friendly vehicles to ensure sustainable road transport. Reduction of greenhouse gases, improvement of air quality, reduction in traffic noise, protection of resources and prevention of the release of harmful substances are the main objectives of the Conference. It will also pave the way in achieving the ambitious targets on human health at a cost effective and sustainable manner. The Conference offers a platform for senior government officials, industry leaders, academicians and key decision makers, to discuss environment friendly mode of public transport and development. As a part of WP-29 initiative, Environmentally Friendly Vehicle (EFV) Conferences are being organized biennially. The first such Conference was held in Tokyo, Japan in 2003, second in Birmingham, UK in 2005 and the third conference in Dresden, Germany in 2007. The 2009 Delhi Conference will deal with issues such as – • Mobility and Environment - Role of EFVs • Future of EFVs & electric vehicles, • Gaseous Fuels Technology, Alternative fuels and Drives – Technology of Future • Regulatory and Legislative Framework for EFVs. The Conference is being jointly hosted by Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and other stakeholders viz. Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as well as Industry association i.e. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Auto Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA).

J&J medical to launch insulin pumps in India by 2009 end

Johnson and Johnson Medical India, plans to introduce its ‘insulin pump’ for diabetes patients in the country by end of this year, a top company official said. 

“We are planning to launch insulin pumps in India by this December,” Johnson and Johnson Medical India, Managing Director, A Vaidheesh, told PTI here.

The company will be initially launching 3,000 insulin pumps and then would up it to 4,000 units next year, Mr. Vaidheesh said.

Priced at between Rs 50,000-75,000 per pump,

The device will be imported from the US, where the device is being manufactured and where it has proved efficient for users,

The device to be attached to the patient’s body for 24-hours, helps monitor and regulate insulin levels while delivering the drug at a steady rate suited to an individual’s needs.

The pump also needs a catridge which is priced at Rs 50 and needs to be refilled every day.

The company is aggressively concentrating on diabetics control in India as there was an immense potential in this segment,

The number of diabetics was growing in the country, he added, adding initially the company expected around 5 per cent of the total diabetic population in the country to use the company’s product.

India, Russia to develop new hypersonic cruise missile

India and Russia have agreed to develop and induct a new hypersonic version of their joint venture 290-kilometre-range BrahMos cruise missile by 2015.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the two sides last month, in which they agreed on the final parameters for the new version of the cruise missile, Defence Ministry sources said.

The new missile, they said, will be known as ‘BrahMos-2’ and will have a speed of over 6 Mach (around 6,000 kilometres per hour) with a striking-range of 290 kilometres.

The range of the missile will not be extended as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), to which Russia is a signatory, does not allow it to help other countries to develop missiles with ranges above 300 kilometres, they said.

Under the agreement, the two sides have decided to retain the physical parameters of the missile so that after the induction of the missiles there is no need to replace the launchers and other ground infrastructure for using new missiles.

The missiles will be “picked and put” in the old launchers for usage by armed forces in the two countries, the sources added.

BrahMos is the only operational supersonic cruise missile with a speed of 2.8 Mach and is three-and-a-half times faster than the American Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The missile has already been inducted into the Navy and the Indian Army, and the IAF is also working on integrating it on its frontline air superiority fighter SU-30MKI.

A number of Naval ships have been armed with the BrahMos and the under-construction Talwar Class frigates in Russia will also have it as their main weapon.

The Army, till now has raised one regiment of the BrahMos and is expected to induct two more regiments of an upgraded version of the missile by the end of the current fiscal.

NASA discovers giant ring around Saturn

The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced on late Tuesday. 

The thin array of ice and dust particles lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet’s main ring plane, the laboratory said.

JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin said the ring is very diffuse and doesn’t reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it.

Although the ring dust is very cold - minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit - it shines with thermal radiation. No one had looked at its location with an infrared instrument until now, Clavin said. 

The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles (5.95 million kilometers) from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles (11.9 million kilometers). 

The newly found ring is so huge it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it, JPL said.

Before the discovery Saturn was known to have seven main rings named A through E and several faint unnamed rings. 

A paper on the discovery was to be published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.

“This is one supersized ring,” said one of the authors, Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Her co-authors are Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Michael Skrutskie, also of the University of Virginia.

Saturn’s moon Phoebe orbits within the ring and is believed to be the source of the material.

The ring also may answer the riddle of another moon, Iapetus, which has a bright side and a very dark side.

The ring circles in the same direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn’s other moons go the opposite way. Scientists think material from the outer ring moves inward and slams into Iapetus.

“Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn’s outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus,” said Hamilton. “This new ring provides convincing evidence of that relationship.”

The Spitzer mission, launched in 2003, is managed by JPL in Pasadena. Spitzer is 66 million miles (106.2 million kilometers) from Earth in orbit around the sun.

Blackburn, 2 others share Nobel Medicine

STOCKHOLM: Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak on Monday won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer. 

It was the first time two women have been among the winners of the Prize. The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide. The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes — features called telomeres that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unravelling.

Dr. Blackburn and Dr. Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres — telomerase — and the mechanism by which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away.

The prize-winners’ work, done in the late 1970s and 1980s, set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth

Habitable moons 'could to be spotted by 2014

British astronomers have claimed that thousands of moons capable of supporting life, like those shown in the popular Star Wars' flicks, could be scattered all over our galaxy, and are likely to be spotted by 2014.
 
A team at University College London hopes to track the habitable moons within the next five years, using a telescope launched by US space agency Nasa earlier this year to hunt out other planets.

According to lead astronomer Dr David Kipping, there are more than 12,500 stars within sight of Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope that have the potential for moons orbiting in areas of space where conditions could be favourable to life.

In fact, they have devised a new method for detecting moons in other solar systems -- known as exomoons.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2009 announced

Eleven scientist were selected for 2009 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology on the occasion of CSIR Foundation Day celebration here today at Vigyan Bhawan. Their names discipline-wise are as under:

Biological Sciences

1.       Dr Amitabh Joshi, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Banglore.

2.       Dr Bhaskar Saha, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune.

Chemical Sciences

1.       Dr Charusita chakravarty, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi.

2.       Dr Narayanaswamy Jayaraman, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences

1.       Dr S K Satheesh, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Engineering Sciences

1.     Dr Giridhar Madras, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

2.     Dr Jayant Ramaswamy Haritsa, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Mathematical Sciences

1.     Dr Venapally Suresh, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

Medical Sciences

1.     Dr Santosh Gajanan Honavar, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad

Physical Sciences

1.     Dr Rajesh Gopakumar, Harish-Chandra research Institute, Allahabad

2.     Dr Abhishek Dhar, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore

The Bhatnagar Prizes are given to scientists below 45 years of age, for their outstanding scientific contributions made primarily in India during the last 5 years preceding the year of the Prize. The SSB Prize comprises a citation, a plaque and a cash award of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakh only), and are given to the recipients by the Prime Minister of India.

भारत ने बनाया नया परमाणु संयंत्र

भारतीय परमाणु ऊर्जा आयोग के प्रमुख अनिल काकोदकर ने अंतरराष्ट्रीय परमाणु ऊर्जा संघ के सम्मेलन में घोषणा की है कि भारत ने एक नया परमाणु उर्जा संयंत्र बनाया है.

अनील काकोदकर ने कहा है कि भारत ने 300 मेगावाट की क्षमता वाला एडवांस हेवीवॉटर रिएक्टर बनाया है जो ईंधन के लिए कम दर्जे के साथ थोरियम का इस्तेमाल करता है.

जहां तक थोरियम टेक्नॉलॉजी का सवाल है भारत में इसके विकास के लिए पिछले लगभग पचास वर्षों से काम चल रहा है और वो इसमें दुनिया में सबसे आगे गिना जाता है.

दुनिया के ज़्यादातर परमाणु रिएक्टर ईंधन के लिए यूरेनियम या प्लूटोनियम का इस्तेमाल करते हैं जबकि भारत के नए रिएक्टर का मुख्य ईँधन थोरियम है.

थोरियम भारत में बड़ी मात्रा में उपलब्ध है जबकि यूरेनियम के लिए भारत कई दूसरे देशों पर निर्भर है.
ज़ाहिर सी बात है कि एडवांस हेवी वॉटर रिएक्टर के विकास से भारत को अपनी ऊर्जा ज़रूरतों को पूरा करने में तो मदद मिलेगी ही लेकिन वो यह तकनीक अन्य विकासशील देशों को भी बेच सकता है.

थोरियम आधारित संयंत्र

भारत पहले ही 220 मैगावाट की क्षमता वाला थोरियम ईंधन पर आधारित रिएक्टर बना चुका है.
साइंस पत्रिका के भारत में पत्रकार और विज्ञान संबंधी मामलों के जानकार पल्लव बागला का कहना है, ''आने वाले दस वर्षों में भारत दुनिया के छोटे देशों को यह परमाणु संयत्र बेचने का इरादा रखता है.''

220 मेगावाट वाले रिएक्टरों के संबंध में कज़ाकस्तान और वियतनाम जैसे देशों को रूचि है लेकिन 300 मेगावाट वाले जिस रिएक्टर की घोषणा अनिल काकोडकर ने की है वो ज्यादा आधुनिक है और उसके निर्यात से पहले देखना होगा कि वो भारत में कितना सफल होता है.

पिछले साल भारत में अमरीका के साथ की गई परमाणु संधि को लेकर विवाद इस कदर बढ गया था कि यूपीए सरकार के बने रहने पर ही संकट छा गया था.

सवाल यह है कि जब भारत थोरियम पर आधारित परमाणु रिएक्टर विकसित कर चुका है तो फिर भारत को यूरेनियम पर आधारित रिएक्टर टेक्नोलॉजी पाने के लिए यह विवाद मोल लेने की क्या ज़रूरत थी.

1998 में भारत के परमाणु परीक्षणों में शामिल रहे वैज्ञानिक के संथनम कहते हैं, '' भारत इस मामले में दूरदर्शिता से काम ले रहा है और यह अच्छा कार्यक्रम है. भारत दो दिशाओं में इसलिए काम कर रहा है क्योंकि भारत को नज़दीकी भविष्य में अपनी ऊर्जा की ज़रूरत के लिए यूरेनियम आधारित रिएक्टरों की आवश्यकता है. लेकिन दूरगामी हितों को देखें तो भारत को परमाणु उर्जा में आत्म निर्भरता के लिए थोरियम पर आधारित रिएक्टर बनाने और उस टेक्नॉलॉजी का विकास करने की ज़रूरत है.''

के संथनम परमाणु ऊर्जा आयोग के प्रमुख अनिल काकोदकर की इस दलील से भी सहमत हैं कि एडवांस हेवी वॉटर रिएक्टर में इस्तेमाल किए गए यूरेनियम सामग्री से हथियार बनाना भी मुश्किल होगा. अगर यह सही साबित होता है तो परमाणु अप्रसार के लिए कोशिश कर रहे देशों की चिंताएं भी कम होंगी.

एड्स के ख़िलाफ़ अहम सफलता

वैज्ञानिकों का कहना है कि उन्होंने एक ऐसा टीका बना लिया है जो एड्स फैलानेवाले वायरस एचआईवी के ख़तरे को तीस प्रतिशत कम कर देगा.

थाईलैंड में अपनी इच्छा से आगे आए सोलह हज़ार लोगों पर इस टीके का परीक्षण किया गया है और इस पूरे कार्यक्रम के लिए पैसा अमरीकी सेना की तरफ़ से दिया गया.

एड्स के क्षेत्र में काम करनेवाले कई जानकारों ने इसे एक ऐतिहासिक मील का पत्थर बताया है.

वैसे तो ये टीका फ़ौरन ही दुकानों या अस्पतालों में पहुंच जाएगा ऐसा होता हुआ नहीं दिख रहा लेकिन इतने ज़्यादा लोगों पर पहली बार इस तरह का परीक्षण हुआ है और पहली बार सही मायने में उम्मीद जगी है कि एड्स का एक संपूर्ण टीका बनाया जा सकता है.

पूरी दुनिया में तीन करोड़ तीस लाख लोग एचआईवी से ग्रस्त हैं.

अबतक दवाओं से लोगों को कुछ राहत मिली है लेकिन पहली बार एक टीका बना है जो इसे रोक सके.
यहां तक पहुंचने में भी वैज्ञानिकों को सात साल लगे हैं.
वैसे तो इसकी शब्दावली काफ़ी जटिल है लेकिन आसान ज़ुबान में यही कहा जा सकता है कि ये टीका एचआईवी के संक्रमण के ख़तरे को कम करने में 31.2 प्रतिशत कारगर है.
थाईलैंड में हुए एक संवाददाता सम्मेलन में कहा गया कि ये टीका पूरी तरह कारगर तो नहीं है लेकिन सही दिशा में उठाया गया एक महत्वपूर्ण कदम है.
लैंसेट मेडिकल जरनल के संपादक डॉ रिचर्ड हर्टन कि इस टीके की खोज काफ़ी उत्साहजनक है और इससे कुछ शंकाओं के साथ ही सही लेकिन उम्मीद बढ़ती है.
इस टीके से दुनिया भर में चल रहे उन शोधों को भी मदद मिलेगी जहां कोशिशें चल रही हैं एक पूरी तरह से कारगर टीका बनाने की.

7 In One Go

Three days after its 16th birthday, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Wednesday roared its way to success from the Sriharikota spaceport and put in orbit India’s Oceansat-2 and six foreign nano satellites. 


This was the 15th successful flight of the launch vehicle in a row. The first PSLV flight took place on September 20, 1993.

Spectacular mission It was a spectacular mission. Everything went all right for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the countdown was smooth and the lift-off perfect at the appointed time of 11.51 a.m.
Then the first stage of the PSLV-C14 came alive and the vehicle galvanised itself as it climbed into the sky. The three other stages too ignited and separated on time and the satellites were precisely injected into orbit.
18-minute flight At the end of 18 minutes of flight, the PSLV’s fourth stage injected Oceansat-2 into orbit at a velocity of 25,000 km an hour at an altitude of about 728 km. Thereafter, spring-loaded action mechanisms catapulted four nano satellites called Cubesat 1, 2, 3 and 4 into orbit one after the other. The other two nano satellites, Rubinsat 9.1 and 9.2, remained attached to the fourth stage. It implies that the fourth stage went into orbit.
“The PSLV is like a wine. With age, it only improves,” said ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair. He called the launch mission “a fantastic achievement” and “a thrilling moment for the ISRO team.”

Leak rectified 
 
During the countdown, there was a leak in the vehicle’s reaction control package. A team led by M.Y.S. Prasad, Range Operations Director, immediately rectified the anomaly, Mr. Nair said.
Recalling the PSLV’s first flight, Mr. Nair said: “Unfortunately, we failed [on that day]. Since then, we have not looked back. The next 15 launches have been successful…which gives us the greatest joy.”

Solar panels 
 
Director of ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore T.K. Alex said the satellite’s solar panels had been deployed. A ground station at Antarctica had tracked it. The spacecraft, which was built at the centre, was pointing towards the earth in the right direction. The satellite was in normal health.
While two of Oceansat-2’s three payloads were designed and developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, the third one came from Italy.

SAC Director R.R. Navalgund said the satellite would provide data about plant life in the oceans. It would help in locating schools of fish and monitoring algal blooms that were harmful to fish life. It would also help in forecasting weather and providing information on cyclones.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari witnessed the launch.

Scientists devise wire-free heart pump

 

Scientists have created what they claim is a wireless heart pump, thereby avoiding the need for infectionprone power cables running through the chest and eventually offering an alternative to heart transplants.

Previous heart pumps needed wires through the chest to get their power which was a source of serious infection in as many as 40 per cent of patients. Now, an international team has come up with a technology to power a wireless heart pump.

According to the scientists, the wireless heart pump uses magnetic fields to transfer power through a person's skin rather than using wire cables. The pump can be powered this way 24 hours a day for a person's lifetime. The scientists, led by Auckland University, have now floated a new company, TETCor, to take the technology to market for powering a wide range of devices implanted in human body.

According to TETCor CEO, Dr Simon Malpas, heart pumps need a huge amount of power. And the only way to power current artificial heart pumps is through a wire cable that goes via a patient's stomach and chest.
He said these wires cause serious infections, often leading to death in about 40 per cent of patients.

"This new wireless heart pump weights only 92 grams and measures just seven centimetres by three centimetres. It uses a coil outside a person's body to generate a magnetic field. A second coil placed inside a person's body, near the collar bone, picks up the signal from this field and creates power for the pump," Dr Malpas said. Dr Malpas said previous attempts at making wireless heart pumps produced too much heat. These earlier pumps would have ended up "cooking a person from the inside".

"The secret of this new technology is to deliver exactly the right amount of power, thereby eliminating the heating problem."

1ST ROCKY EXTRASOLAR PLANET FOUND

Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there's a firm place to stand -- if only it weren't so broiling hot.

As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid.

Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet. Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal.
"We basically live on a rock ourselves," said co-discoverer Artie Hartzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany. "It's as close to something like the earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun."

So close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.

"It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet," Mr Hartzes said. This is a major discovery in the field of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe, said outside expert Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution.

U.S. approves four vaccines for Influenza A(H1N1)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved four vaccines against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. The initial lots of the vaccines are expected to become available in a month’s time. 

The four vaccines approved are made by CSL Limited, MedImmune LLC, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, and Sanofi Pasteur Inc. 

It was only a few days ago that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced the preliminary data from two vaccine trials involving 2,800 participants above the age of 18. The vaccines were well tolerated, and produced robust immune response in 8-10 days after vaccination. The robust immune response was seen with just one dose of 15 microgram-vaccine.

एन्टीबायटिक प्रतिरोधक एन्ज़ाइम मिला

अमरीकी वैज्ञानिकों ने बैक्टीरिया के भीतर एक ऐसी प्रतिरक्षात्मक प्रणाली की खोज की है जिससे वह एन्टीबायटिक दवाओं से लड़ पाता है.

 ‘साइंस’ नामक पत्रिका में प्रकाशित हुए इस अध्ययन ने पाया कि बैक्टीरिया नाइट्रिक ऑक्साइड पैदा करता है जो बहुत तरह की एन्टीबायटिक दवाओं के असर को ख़त्म कर देता है.

ब्रिटन के एक विशेषज्ञ का कहना है कि अगर नाइट्रिक ऑक्साइड को रोका जा सके तो ख़तरनाक संक्रमणों से जूझना आसान हो जाएगा. एन्टीबायटिक दवाओं के प्रति जीवाणुओं की प्रतिरोधक शक्ति बढ़ती जा रही है और विशेषज्ञ नए इलाज विकसित करने पर ज़ोर दे रहे हैं.

नया शोध
यह शोध न्यूयॉर्क के एक विश्वविद्यालय में किया गया है. बैक्टीरिया एक सूक्ष्म अणु पैदा करता है जो नाइट्रोजन और ऑक्सीजन के एक-एक अणु से मिलकर बना होता है. और इसी से बैक्टीरिया में एन्टीबायटिक दवाओं से लड़ने की क्षमता पैदा हो जाती है.

डॉ येवगैनी नुडलर, शोध दल के प्रमुख शोधकर्ताओं ने पाया कि जैसे ही शरीर में एन्टीबॉयटिक दवा पहुंचती है बैक्टीरिया उससे लड़ने के लिए नाइट्रिक ऑक्साइड पैदा करने लगता है. उन्होने यह भी देखा कि अगर नाइट्रिक ऑक्साइड पैदा न होने दिया जाए तो हल्की एन्टीबायटिक दवाएं भी काम करने लगती हैं.

कम मात्रा में अधिक असर

इस शोध का नेतृत्व डॉ येवगैनी नुडलर ने किया है. उनका कहना है कि ऐसी नई दवाएं विकसित करना बड़ा मुश्किल है जो ऐन्टीबायटिक प्रतिरोध से लड़ सकें.
डॉ नुडलर ने कहा, “हमारे पास इसका एक आसान रास्ता है. हमें नई एन्टीबायटिक दवाएं खोजने की ज़रूरत नहीं. इसके स्थान पर हम पहले से मौजूद एन्टीबायटिक दवाओं की गतिविधि बढ़ा सकते हैं जिससे वो कम मात्रा में अधिक प्रभावी हो सकें”.

ब्रिटन के रॉयल हैम्पशायर काउंटी हॉस्पिटल में सूक्ष्म जैविकी और संक्रमित रोगों के विशेषज्ञ डॉ मैथ्यू ड्राइडन कहते हैं, “अगर नाइट्रिक ऑक्साइड पैदा करने वाले ऐन्ज़ाइम को रोका जा सके तो चिकित्सा के क्षेत्र में यह एक बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण प्रगति होगी. विशेषकर इसलिए क्योंकि हम नई तरह की एन्टीबायटिक दवाएं नहीं बना पा रहे हैं”.

भारत में मिला घोंसले बनाने वाला मेंढक

भारत के एक वैज्ञानिक ने मेंढकों की तीन ऐसी दुर्लभ प्रजातियाँ ढूँढने का दावा किया है जो अपने अंडे देने के लिए घोंसले बनाते हैं.

मेंढक की ये प्रजातियां केरल और कर्नाटक की पश्चिमी पहाड़ी श्रंखलाओं के जंगलों में पाई जाती है जहाँ ख़ूब बारिश होती है.

दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के डॉक्टर एसडी बीजू का कहना है कि ये छोटे-छोटे मेंढक 12 सेंटीमीटर तक लंबे होते हैं. ये मेंढक अंडे देने के बाद उन्हें गर्मी, शिकारी पक्षियों और कीड़ों से बचाने के लिए घोंसले बनाते हैं.

ये मेंढक पत्तियों को ऊपर से नीचे तक इस तरह से मोड़ते हैं कि उससे अंडे रखने के लिए एक घोंसला बन जाता है और किसी चिपचिपे पदार्थ से उसे मज़बूत भी बना देते हैं ताकि अंडे बाहर ना निकल सकें.

डॉक्टर बीजू का कहना था, "ये दुर्लभ प्रजाति के मेंढक हैं और एशिया भर में सिर्फ़ यहीं पाए जाते हैं."

वैज्ञानिक को दुर्लभ प्रजाति के इन मेंढकों का पता 20 वर्ष के शोध के बाद चला है. यह शोध उन्होंने केरल के वायनाड क्षेत्रों और कर्नाटक के कूर्ग क्षेत्र में किया.

डॉक्टर बीजू का कहना था कि मेंढकों की यह प्रजाति अमरीका और अफ्रीका में पाई जाने वाली उस प्रजाति से भिन्न हैं जो पत्तियों का घोंसला बनाती है क्योंकि उस प्रजाति के मेंढक तब घोंसले बनाते हैं जब उनकी मादाएँ अंडे देती हैं.

डॉक्टर बीजू के अनुसार अमरीका और अफ्रीका में पाई जाने वाली प्रजातियों के मेंढक अंडे देते समय ही घोंसले बनाते हैं जबकि यह काम नर और मादा दोनों साथ मिलकर करते हैं जबकि कॉफ़ी और अन्य तरह के वृक्षों की भरमार होने से इस भारतीय प्रजाति के मेंढकों पर लुप्त होने का ख़तरा मंडराने लगा है.

डॉक्टर बीजू कहते हैं, "आठ वर्ष पहले जब मैंने उस क्षेत्र का दौरा किया था तो ऐसे मेंढकों को रात में ढूँढ पाना आसान था लेकिन हाल के समय में तो नाटकीय बदलाव आया है और अब इस प्रजाति के मेंढकों को ढूँढ पाना बेहद मुश्किल है."

World record benchmark in solar energy by Australian university

A team of researchers from University of New South Wales have managed to covert 43 per cent of solar power into energy in an experiment that approaches the renewable energy solution in an unique way.

Solar cell researchers have established a new benchmark in converting 43 percent of solar power into energy, the highest ever by any group globally, thanks to a new approach.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) team, led by Martin Green, a professor, combined with two US groups to demonstrate a multi-cell combination setting a new benchmark for converting sunlight into energy.

“Because sunlight is made up of many colours of different energy, ranging from the high energy ultraviolet to the low energy infrared, a combination of solar cells of different materials can convert sunlight more efficiently than any single cell,” Green said.

Green, with colleague Anita Ho-Baillie, led the team that developed a silicon cell optimised to capture light at the red and near-infrared end of the spectrum. That cell was able to convert up to 46 percent of light into electricity, said a UNSW release.

When combined with four other cells, each optimised for different parts of the solar spectrum, the five-cell combination converted 43 percent of the sunlight into electricity.

ISRO, NASA team up to locate water-ice on Moon

Joint experiment focusses on unexplored North Pole

The Moon’s relatively unexplored North Pole became the subject of a unique joint experiment by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in their quest to locate water-ice on the floor of its permanently shadowed craters.

During the “Bi-Static” experiment, instruments on board Chandrayaan-I and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) trained their radars to a specific point on the Erlanger Crater to capture images from different angles and gain better insights into the lunar terrain.

The Mini-SAR (Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar) on board Chandrayaan-I and the Mini-RF (Miniature Radio Frequency) on the LRO, both developed by NASA, are designed specifically to detect water-ice on the Moon’s poles.

At 12.30 a.m. on Friday the two spacecraft, travelling at 1.6 km per second, passed close enough to each other so that they could share information.

The LRO executed a minor manoeuvre to adjust its orbit to Chandrayaan’s. The data was collected for about 4 minutes over the lunar North Pole.

Chandrayaan’s operations were executed from the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at the ISROISTRAC) at Peenya in Bangalore. Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ( Science data was immediately downloaded over the United States’ Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the ground station that had the visibility.

Later, on Friday morning, data from Chandrayaan-1 was received by giant antennae at the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore.

Observations from the experiment are now being analysed by scientists from the ISRO and the NASA.

The possibility of discovering ice deposits on the Moon is viewed as an important resource that can be used for future space exploration.

Scientists have suggested that ice could be trapped in the permanently dark regions of the lunar poles, and possibly brought in by meteorites containing water-bearing minerals.