(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | June: 2014

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

The link between tobacco and cancer in India

  • Every year nearly one million new cancer cases are diagnosed in India, the prevalence being 2.5 million. With mortalities of 6,00,000-7,00,000 a year, cancer causes six per cent of all adult deaths in the country.
  • The number of deaths per year is projected to shoot up to 1.2 million by 2035, according to a series of papers published in the Lancet Oncology journal.
  • Currently, people in the 30-69 age group account for over two-thirds of cancer deaths in India, with less than a thaird of the patients surviving more than five years after diagnosis.
  • The most common, nearly half of all, are cancers of the lung and oral cavity in men, and of the breast and cervix in women.
  • Tobacco use alone accounts for about 40 per cent of all cancers in India.
  • The geographical distribution of cancers is quite varied across the country. Based on the data from Chennai, cervical cancer was more prevalent (22.7 per 100,000) than breast cancer in Tamil Nadu, while oral cancer accounted for 243 per 100,000 men in Kerala.
  • With a rate of 215 per 100,000 women, Delhi had the highest incidence of gall bladder cancer in women in the world.

Plant growth chamber for space

  • Astronauts will now turn into cosmic gardeners and grow lettuce in space as United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is all set to send the largest ever plant growth chamber to the International Space Station (ISS).

  • It will launch the Vegetable Production System aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

  • The plant growth chamber will grow lettuce inside prototype flight pillows that will help the plants withstand zero gravity, The Verge reported. Red, blue, and green light emitting diodes (LEDs) will help sustain the vegetables, and the plant chamber itself can grow to 11.5 inches wide and 14.5 inches deep.

  • This will be “the largest plant growth chamber for space to date.

  • The chamber may even be used for more ambitious projects, like providing food for the average person back on Earth. After extensive testing on weightless horticulture, NASA is confident the lack of gravity will not impede growth.

  • However, space-borne microbes that may develop during growth are a cause of concern. Therefore, the lettuce will undergo extensive testing before astronauts chow down.

High manganese level in Selaulim reservoir

  • High manganese level has been detected in the Selaulim reservoir in Goa, which supplies drinking water to more than half of the coastal State. The government engineers have however said that there was “no reason” to worry.
  • The State Public Works Department has started monitoring the water content at the South Goa reservoir.
  • The manganese level in the water from the reservoir has risen up from 0.1 to 0.8 mg per litre.
  • The reservoir has an earth dam with concrete spillway and is on the Selaulim tributary of Zuari river.
  • The reservoir has production capacity of 214 MLD of water, which is supplied to entire South Goa and some parts of north district.

LADEE

  • NASA’s robotic moon explorer, LADEE, is no more.
  • Researchers believe LADEE likely vaporized when it hit because of its extreme orbiting speed of 3,600 mph (5,800 kph), possibly smacking into a mountain or side of a crater. No debris would have been left behind.
  • LADEE - short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer - was launched in September from Virginia. From the outset, NASA planned to crash the spacecraft into the back side of the moon, far from the Apollo artifacts left behind during the moonwalking days of 1969 to 1972.

Earth-like planet spotted

  • Astronomers have discovered what they say is the most Earth-like planet yet detected a distant, rocky world that’s similar in size to our planet and exists in the Goldilocks zone where it’s not too hot and not too cold for life.

  • The planet was detected by NASA’s orbiting Kepler telescope, which examines the heavens for subtle changes in brightness that indicate an orbiting planet is crossing in front of a star. From those changes, scientists can calculate a planet’s size and make certain inferences about its makeup.

  • The newfound object, dubbed Kepler-186f, circles a red dwarf star 500 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. A light year is about 9.5 trillion km.

  • The planet is about 10 per cent larger than Earth and may very well have liquid water a key ingredient for life on its surface. That is because it resides at the outer edge of the habitable temperature zone around its star the sweet spot where lakes, rivers or oceans may exist without freezing solid or boiling away.

15 endangered Indian birds

  • Fifteen Indian bird species are part of a list of avians which are evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Yale University has come out with a study of 100 Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species worldwide.

  • The study says Bengal Florican, Lesser Florican, Great Indian Bustard, Sociable Lapwing and Jerdon’s Courser are birds that are under threat due to the destruction of their habitat of grasslands and scrub forests. The survival of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Siberian Crane and White-bellied Heron greatly depend on the existence of their wetland habitat.

  • Forest Owlet’s survival is impossible if its habitat of deciduous forests in central India is destroyed, the study said. Officials of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), which works on the conservation of 12 of these threatened birds, said these species were threatened by human factors such as uncontrolled urbanisation, unsustainable industrialisation and rampant use of chemicals in agriculture.

Indian projects shortlisted for Green Oscars

  • IT giant Infosys leads five Indian clean energy projects that have been shortlisted for the annual Ashden Awards, referred to as the Green Oscars.

  • The awards recognise worldwide contributions towards green energy initiatives and a move away from fossil fuels.

  • Infosys has been nominated in the ‘Ashden Award for Sustainable Buildings’ category for the Bangalore-based company’s cutting edge design of new buildings which helps keep offices cooler and maximises natural light.

  • The other finalists include two projects from Maharashtra — Sakhi Unique Rural Enterprise (SURE) and Greenway Grameen — which have been nominated in the ‘Ashden Clean Energy for Women and Girls Award’ category.

  • SURE is a not-for-profit social enterprise in central Maharashtra that has selected, trained and supported more than 600 women micro-entrepreneurs to sell clean energy products like solar lanterns and cleaner cookstoves to other women.

  • Mumbai-based Greenway Grameen’s mission is to provide an affordable, desirable cookstove to improve quality of life for Indian women.

Climate Panel on Rising Emissions

  • The U.N.’s expert panel on climate change has highlighted the disconnect between international goals to fight global warming and what is being done to attain them.

  • Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must drop by 40—70 per cent by 2050 to keep the global temperature rise below the 2—degree C (3.6—degree F) cap set in U.N. climate talks, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.

  • The opposite is happening now. On average global emissions rose by 2.2 percent or 1 gigaton a year between 2000 and 2010, outpacing growth in previous decades to reach “unprecedented levels” despite some efforts to contain them, the IPCC said.

  • The graphics divided the world into four categories low, lower—middle, upper—middle and high income countries. Participants in the closed—door session said many developing countries objected to using such income categories.

  • Counting all emissions since the industrialized revolution in the 18th century, the U.S. is the top carbon polluter. China’s current emissions are greater than those of the U.S. and rising quickly. China’s historical emissions are expected to overtake those of the U.S. in the next decade.

  • Global temperatures have already risen about 0.8 C since record—keeping started in the 19th century. The IPCC said the goal of keeping the warming below 2 C by 2100 would require a significant shift in the energy system, away from oil and coal, which generate the highest emissions. That would mean a near—quadrupling of energy from zero— or low—carbon sources such as solar and wind power.

New spy satellite by Israel

  • Israel has successfully launched a new observation satellite into orbit, one which is expected to be used to observe Iran and hostile militant groups in the Middle East.

  • The Israeli-made “Ofek 10” satellite was launched in cooperation with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. The satellite has already begun transmitting data and visual material. It is expected to be operational within months.

  • Israel is expected to use the satellite to keep tabs on Iran and the region. It believes Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon a charge Iran denies and accuses it of arming militants across the region.

  • Unlike other countries that launch satellites eastward in the direction of the earth’s orbit, Israel launched the satellite westward, opposite the direction of the earth’s orbit, to prevent debris following the launch to land in enemy countries east of Israel. The satellite completes a full orbit around the earth every 90 minutes.

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