Current Affairs: Important Science & Technology Current Affairs in Last Two Months for Competitive Exams Preparation

Current Affairs: Important Science & Technology Current Affairs in Last Two Months

Science & Technology:

• India on 17 Oct 2014 successfully  test fired its first long range subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay with a strike range of over 1000 km from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 16 Oct 2014 repositioned its Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan as a precautionary step against the expected Comet Siding Spring that would fly by Mars, the red planet.

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 16 October 2014 successfully launched third navigation satellite Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) 1C. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C26 injected IRNSS 1C into the designated orbit from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. This was the 27th consecutive successful flight of PSLV.

• Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh launched the ingeniously manufactured Broad Spectrum Confocal Microscope that generates 3D images of objects. This 3D microscope was launched in New Delhi.

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)  on 21 Sep 2014 successfully installed and activated its first Earth-observing instrument ISS-RapidScat (ISS Rapid Scatterometer) on the International Space Station (ISS).  It was launched aboard during the SpaceX CRS-4 mission.

• Partha Mitra, an Indian neuroscientist in the United States, was awarded Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) to map the human brain on 19 August 2014 under President Barack Obama’s multi-year BRAIN Initiative. Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) is an Initiative by the US government to identify brain structures.

• Astronomers discovered a new planet that resembles Uranus of our solar system. It was discovered in a binary star system 25000 light-years away near the constellation Sagittarius.The Astronomers led by Radek Poleski of Ohio State University revealed this in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.

• Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) developed a rechargeable magnesium metal battery. The discovery was announced by the ICCT under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Hyderabad.

• Unit 5 of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station became the second longest running reactor in the world.The Unit 5 of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) is a 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). The power station is in uninterrupted operation from 2 August 2012 and it has been operating at full power with a capacity factor of 105 per cent. 

• A team of researchers from University of Colorado Cancer Center developed a new compound BQU57 to block protein Ral that aids in growth of cancers like pancreatic, prostate, lung, colon and bladder cancers.

• Scientists from Sweden detected 13 lactic acid bacteria in raw honey with potential to fight wound including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

• The first evidence of water ice clouds was found on an object Brown Dwarf outside the Solar System. The evidence was found by a team of scientists led by Jacqueline K. Faherty and the findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters dated 8 September 2014.

• The World Health Organization (WHO)  announced to use the Ebola survivors' blood to treat Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The announcement was done in Geneva. It is an experimental Ebola treatment as there is no licensed treatment.

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) sanctioned the use of experimental drug ZMapp to fight against Ebola as the death toll increased. The declaration of WHO came after a US company Mapp Biopharmaceutical supplied ZMapp to two US doctors Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebo who got affected with the Ebola disease while treating Ebola affected patients in Liberia. It showed some positive effects in saving the lives of Ebola-affected people. 

• Japan researchers at Nagasaki University developed a new method called RT-LAMP to detect the presence of the Ebola virus in 30 minutes. To develop the method Japan researchers headed by Prof Jiro Yasuda collaborated with Eiken Chemical.

• Rosetta of European Space Agency became first ever spacecraft to reach a Comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that was discovered in 1969. It reached the comet after a journey of 10 years, five months and four days through deep space.

• NASA scientists, including one of Indian-origin, developed Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite that can predict the severity of droughts worldwide and help farmers maximize the crop yield. The mission is scheduled to launch in November 2014 and will collect the local data of agricultural and water managers that are needed worldwide.

• NASA announced on 31 July 2014 at its headquarters in Washington, US, that it will send a new rover to Mars in 2020 named as Mars 2020 rover mission. Mars 2020 mission will attempt to determine the potential habitability of the Mars environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life. This attempt if successful will pave the way for future manned missions.

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