Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 August 2013

U.K wants ‘all necessary measures’ authorised at U.N.

• Prime Minister David Cameron on spelt out a series of measures to show that he is putting his money where his mouth is insofar as his stand on the Syria crisis is concerned.
• The Cameron government does not want to wait till the United Nations forensic inspectors, currently in Damascas, submit their report.

• The U.K. is submitting a resolution to the Security Council of the United Nations to give it the opportunity to “live up to its responsibilities on Syria”, the Prime Minister’s office said in a press statement, “while condemning the attack by the Assad regime, and authorising all necessary measures under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter to protect civilians from chemical weapons”.

• The website Iraq Body Count said that the conflict has seen between 1.14 lakh and 1.25 lakh civilians killed to date.

Scientists grow miniature brains in test tubes

• Scientists have grown miniature human brains in test tubes, creating a “tool” that will allow them watch how the organs develop in the womb and, they hope, increase their understanding of neurological and mental problems.
• Just a few millimetres across, the “cerebral organoids” are built up of layers of brain cells with defined regions that resemble those seen in immature embryonic brains.
• The scientists say the organoids will be useful for biologists who want to analyse how conditions such as schizophrenia or autism occur in the brain; though these are usually diagnosed in older people some of the underlying defects occur during the brain’s early development.
• The organoids are expected also to be useful in the development and testing of drugs. At present this is done using laboratory animals or isolated human cells; the new organoids could allow pharmacologists to test drugs in more human—like settings.
• Scientists have previously made models of other human organs in the lab, including eyes, pituitary glands and livers.
• In the latest work, researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, in Vienna, Austria, started with stem cells encouraged to grow into brain cells in a nourishing gel-like matrix, which recreated conditions similar to those inside the human womb.
• After several months the cells had formed spheres measuring about 3-4mm in diameter.
• “The cerebral organoids display discrete regions that resemble different areas of the early developing human brain.
• These include the dorsal cortex identity — the dorsal cortex is the largest part of the human brain — they also include regions representing the ventral forebrain and even the immature retina
• Juergen Knoblich, who was part of the team that created the organoids, said that tests on the brain cells in the structures showed that they were functional.
• At the moment the structures did not grow larger than a few millimetres in the culture dishes because nutrients and oxygen could not reach into the centre of the organoids as they grew.
• To grow much bigger the organoids would need to be equipped with a blood supply of some kind that could feed their centres.

Holcim, Cemex to swap assets in Europe

• Holcim, the world’s largest cement maker by market value, said that it would swap some assets with Mexican peer Cemex in Europe, with the aim of boosting operating profit by at least 20 million euro ($26.8 million).
• As part of a reorganisation, Holcim will acquire Cemex’s operations in Western Germany, while Cemex will take over Holcim’s operations in the Czech Republic.
• The two companies will also combine their operations in Spain, with Holcim taking a 25 per cent stake in the combined entity.
• Holcim said it would pay Cemex 70 million euro in cash for the interlinked transactions.
• Cemex, one of the world's biggest cement companies, has struggled amid the global economic downturn and a heavy debt load from costly acquisitions. —
• CO {-2} effect: focus on marine fauna
• Three studies, published in Nature Climate Change on August 25, have highlighted the need for more research on how oceans, and ocean fauna, are responding to anthropogenic climate change.
• The oceans absorb more than a quarter of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which dissolves in the water to form carbonic acid.

• This way, the oceans act as a carbon dioxide sink. However, as the amount of greenhouse gas increases in the atmosphere, so does the amount of carbonic acid in the waters, leading to ocean acidification (OA).

• The studies have found varying levels of adaptability among different organisms. Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research have found that corals and echinoderms (like starfish) face endangerment and extinction, respectively, by 2100.

• Their findings are more pertinent because they are based on the same emission scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to prepare its Fifth Assessment Report, due out in September.
• These organisms also secrete calcium carbonate to create the most productive ecosystems known: coral reefs. Higher OA and warmer climes could interfere with the formation of reefs, with the scientists believing they could face extinction by the end of the century.
• This implies that, through evolution, the DNA of the nereid family of polychaete worms has been altered to give the worm a trait – increased physiological plasticity – to help tackle higher OA. However,.
• This is the first time that this kind of genetic adaptation has been showed by a complex animal species (a metazoan invertebrate) in response to climate change.

Sources: Various News Paper