(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | February: 2015

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

World’s oldest computer is even older than scientists thought

  • Antikythera Mechanism, the world’s oldest computer, is even 100 years older than scientists previously thought, say Argentinian researchers.
  • Discovered from a Roman cargo shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, the bronze device was used to track the movements of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
  • The device provides a wealth of astronomical information and offers practically the only possibility for a close astronomical dating of the mechanism, the New York Times reported.
  • The device was discovered in a wooden box and consists of bronze dials, gears and cogs.
  • The complex device, made up of up to 40 bronze cogs and gears, was used in ancient times to track the cycles of the solar system. On the back were two further dials displaying information about lunar cycles and eclipses.

Delay in NASA’s Orion spaceship test flight

  • The launch of NASA’s deep-space capsule Orion for a test flight around Earth was delayed due to gusty winds at the launch site.
  • Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket and Orion capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida had been targeted for 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT).
  • “There is high optimism that we’ll be able to launch today,” said NASA launch commentator Michael Curie.
  • Launch was delayed first by a boat that wandered in the restricted zone beneath the rocket’s intended flight path and then by gusty winds at the seaside spaceport.

Google launches a new application for SMBs

  • In a move to create easier online presence for the small and medium businesses (SMBs), Google has launched a new application, Google My Business.

  • The new product is designed to work across desktop and mobile devices, and will enable SMBs to create and update their business info on various Google products such as search, maps and Google plus from one place for free. The users can use the service in Hindi and English.

  • Commenting on the new initiative, Google India Head (SMB sales) Suryanarayana Kodukulla said: “India is a strategic market for Google, and we are committed to invest in solutions that cater to the needs of SMBs in India.”

  • “As part of our Digitising India mission, we are introducing this new mobile-based product Google My Business that will help Indian SMBs create and manage their Internet presence and help them connect with potential customers online,’’ he added.

  • According to the company, globally over two million businesses use Google’s advertising platform to find potential buyers on Internet. On growth of Internet in the country, he said, “India is the third largest Internet market.

  • To get the first hundred million Internet users it took us ten years, but the second hundred million came in a span of two years that was pretty fast, more interesting thing is in the next one one-and-half years we will get the next hundred million users.”

Benefits from music for the autistic: study

  • Paired with an impaired language development, children with autism can have a profound sensitivity to music: a good melodic memory, a superior ability at timbre processing, and a distinctive emotional response to song.
  • Taking this cue, neuroscientists at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) in Gurgaon set out to see if music can “rescue” speech deficits in children with autism.
  • The results of neuroimaging revealed that music — and the sung word — lights up parts of the right hemisphere of their brain just as much as it do for a child without autism.
  • Predictably, however, there was a diminished response to the spoken word, the researchers report in the journal Autism Research.
  • For the study scientists mapped the brain activities of 22 children with autism as they heard spoken words, sung words and piano notes. They then compared these responses to “typical” children.
  • When typical children listen to spoken words they primarily activate two regions in the left hemisphere — the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) and the Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG) — that are involved in language perception and understanding.

Ability of HIV to cause AIDS slowing found study

  • A research study has found that HIV – and as a consequence AIDS — is slowly becoming less aggressive in parts of Africa.
  • These are the significant findings of a study conducted by Professor Philip Goulder and his team at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford University that have been published in the journal Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.
  • Based on a study of about 2,000 pregnant women in Botswana and South Africa, the team has demonstrated that the weakening of the immunodeficiency virus is due to its rapid evolution and ability to mutate over time.
  • In Botswana the epidemic took off in the 1980s, a decade before it hit South Africa. “Overall we are bringing down the ability of HIV to cause AIDS so quickly,” Prof. Goulder told Reuters.
  • Scientists were aware that a gene known as HLA-B*57 in a person acted as a protection against the HIV virus. The new study finds that the virus has adapted to the gene, which therefore no longer offers protection.

Artificial intelligence could eliminate human race: Hawking

  • Efforts to develop artificial intelligence to create thinking machines pose a threat to the very existence of human race, famed British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned.

  • “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” the 72-year-old cosmologist and author said when asked about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of artificial intelligence (AI).

  • Hawking, who has a motor neuron disease, is using a new system developed by Intel to speak.

  • Machine learning experts from the British company Swiftkey were also involved in its creation. Their technology learns how the professor thinks and suggests the words he might want to use next.

  • Hawking says the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have already proved very useful, but he fears the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.

Hayabusa2 launched to explore how earth was formed

  • A Japanese space explorer was launched on a six-year roundtrip journey to blow a crater in a remote asteroid and collect samples from inside in hopes of gathering clues to the origin of earth.
  • The explorer is expected to reach the asteroid in 2018 and spend about 18 months studying it before returning in 2020.
  • The research includes shooting a projectile into the asteroid to blast open a crater so the explorer can collect rock samples from inside.
  • Asteroids can provide evidence not available on earth about the birth of the solar system and its evolution. Japan’s space agency said Hayabusa2 will explore the origin of seawater and how the planet earth was formed.

Slimmer & sleeker Google Glass soon: report

  • The new version of Intel-powered Google Glass may look slimmer and sleeker than its earlier version.
  • The exteriors of the new device also add a textured area to the touch-sensitive side panel where non-voice interactions are performed, according to media reports.
  • The new Google Glass is expected to be unveiled next year. The Google patent describes a sleeker version of Google Glass that should still draw plenty of public attention.
  • Google Glass is presently available for $1,500, though it is speculated that the final retail version will sell for a lot less.

Shela River route closed after Sundarbans oil spill

  • The Bangladesh government has closed Shela River route to allvessels after the sinking of an oil tanker that led to a massive oil spill in the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
  • Carrying 357,664 l of furnace oil, the tanker ‘OT Southern Star 7’ went down after being hit by another vessel on the Shela at Mrigmari in the Sundarbans Chandpai range three days ago.
  • The massive oil spill from the sunken tanker has put the biodiversity and ecology of the world’s biggest mangrove forest, a world heritage site since 1997, at risk.
  • Forest officials suspect that all of the furnace oil in the sunken tanker has already spread into the rivers and canals of the Sundarbans.

Mosquito coils, incense sticks contain carcinogens: expert

  • Inhaling smoke emitted by mosquito coils and incense sticks is not only harmful to the lungs, but can also cause cancer, said Sundeep Salvi, director of Chest Research Foundation, Pune.

  • Dr. Salvi, who spoke on ‘Indoor pollution and asthma’ at the 48th National Conference of Indian College of Allergy, Asthma and Applied Immunology at JSS Hospital, claimed that research by the foundation had shown that mosquito coils and incense sticks contain carcinogens, while studies in Taiwan and China had established their link with lung cancer.

  • “Burning one mosquito coil in a closed room amounts to smoking roughly 100 cigarettes,” Dr. Salvi said. 

  • While the emission from the burning of incense sticks, used commonly during religious occasions in India, is toxic as it contains lead, iron and manganese, he said the pesticide ‘pyrethrin’ in mosquito coils is harmful for the lungs.

  • The no-smoke coils, marketed by the companies, may have less particulate matter, but they emit a high level of carbon monoxide, which is unsafe for the lungs, he added.

  • Though studies are yet to be conducted on mosquito repellent mats and liquidators, he said the gaseous pollution they cause are ‘a strong irritant for the lungs’.

  • Dr. Salvi said the foundation had recently conducted research in 22 villages near Pune, which showed that 65 per cent of the households keep both the doors and windows closed while using mosquito coils, which accentuates the effect of inhaling toxic fumes.

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