(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | July + August: 2015

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

New treatment for diabetes in offing: study

  • Australian researchers have discovered a link between protein intake and improved control of blood glucose in mice, opening the way for potential new treatments for diabetes in human beings.

  • Lead researcher Stefan Broer of Australian National University (ANU) said the findings show mice, with a reduced capacity to digest and absorb protein, are highly efficient at removing glucose from blood after a meal. “This is precisely what individuals with diabetes fail to do. This research has significant potential for the design of new drugs to treat type 2 diabetes,” said Professor Broer, from the ANU Research School of Biology.

  • Prof. Broer said the mice lacked a so—called transporter in the intestine that moves amino acids, the breakdown products of protein digestion, from the lumen of the intestine into the blood. This reduces the intake of protein and indirectly improves their efficiency at removing glucose from the blood.

Military modernisation picks up pace

  • In one year of the Narendra Modi government, military modernisation has gathered pace, especially in the last couple of months, with some quick decisions taken by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). However, major policy formulations, in particular, revision of Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) and a separate policy for ‘Make in India’, are still awaited.

  • The government’s election pitch of ‘One Rank One Pension’ for armed forces personnel has been cleared in principle and the final sanction is expected shortly.

  • The biggest decision of the NDA government in the field of defence was the termination of the long-running Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract for 126 jets and the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets from France in a government-to-government deal.

  • Apart from that, in a move with long-term implications, the government rightfully downsized the new mountain strike corps meant for the eastern border from 90,000 to 35,000 troops due to finance obligations.

  • The DAC has cumulatively cleared defence deals worth over Rs. 1,00,000 crore. The recent decisions on Avro replacement programme and Kamov helicopters, which involve industry in a big way, will help develop aerospace ecosystem in the country.

  • While some are long-pending deals, others are approvals to initiate the procurement process which involves long timelines. The need is to take things to the logical conclusion minus the time and cost overruns typical of our procurement process.

Google help for NGOs working on child safety

  • Google India has announced support for three non-governmental agencies from India working on child safety.

  • The three organisations are ChildLine India Foundation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, and the Chennai-based Tulir - Centre for the Healing and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.

  • In a message, Rajan Anandan, vice-president and Managing Director, Google India, said they had picked organisations whose work was largely offline, “boots on the ground.” “Now, we’d like to see if smart applications of technology can help some of these initiatives reach more people more efficiently,” he added.

  • Google will help these organisations pilot smart new applications of technology with $ 5,00,000 in grants through Google.org to ensure that children in India remain safe.

  • While ChildLine provides a toll-free helpline service (1098) for children in distress, first launched in 1996, Bachpan Bachao Andolan sets itself a mission to protect and rescue children from slavery, trafficking and forced labour.

  • Tulir, on the other hand, works with the state and other education professionals to help children stay safe.

  • “We would like to optimally use technology to take child protection to a wider group, and online,” says Vidya Reddy of Tulir.

India’s eye on universe ready for tests

  • A fully assembled Astrosat, India’s first space observatory, is ready for intensive tests before its launch around October.

  • The Indian Space Research Organisation said on that the 1,650-kg spacecraft would orbit Earth equatorially at 650 km and study distant stars, galaxies, black holes and other cosmic objects.

  • The space-based observatory was built at the ISRO Satellite Centre here to operate for five years and will provide useful data for the country’s astronomy community. It will put India in an elite orbit with the U.S., Europe, Russia and Japan.

  • “Last week, the spacecraft was fully assembled and switched on. All the [six] payloads and sub-systems are integrated into the satellite. Mechanical fit checks of the satellite with the PSLV [polar satellite launch vehicle] payload adaptor were performed successfully,” the space agency said on its website.

  • One of ISRO directors said Astrosat would be the first such satellite to scan simultaneously the sky in most of the frequency spectra from ultraviolet to optical and low- and high-energy X-ray bands.

  • Although previous national satellites carried small astronomy-related devices, “Nothing on this scale, with a dedicated satellite, has been done before [at ISRO]. It should be of immense benefit to our scientists, who have depended on inputs from other agencies and sources like the Hubble [US-European space telescope],” the official said.

  • In the coming days, Astrosat will undergo a host of environmental tests — electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal vacuum, vibration and acoustics and so on.

  • Later, the satellite will be shipped to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, for launch.

  • ISRO developed the six payloads in partnership with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru; and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

  • Two payloads were developed with the Canadian Space Agency and the University of Leicester, U.K.

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