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

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

Peppermint oil, cinnamon could help treat chronic wounds

  • Scientists have found that peppermint oil and cinnamon could help treat chronic wounds.
  • The researchers have found a way to package antimicrobial compounds from peppermint and cinnamon in tiny capsules that can both kill biofilms and actively promote healing. The new material could be used as a topical antibacterial treatment and disinfectant.
  • Many bacteria clump together in sticky plaques in a way that makes them difficult to eliminate with traditional antibiotics.
  • Doctors sometimes recommend cutting out infected tissues. This approach is costly, however, and because it’s invasive, many patients opt out of treatment altogether.
  • Essential oils and other natural compounds have emerged recently as alternative substances that can get rid of pathogenic bacteria, but researchers have had a hard time translating their antibacterial activity into treatments. Vincent M Rotello and colleagues wanted to address this challenge.
  • The researchers packaged peppermint oil and cinnamaldehyde, the compound in cinnamon responsible for its flavour and aroma, into silica nanoparticles. The microcapsule treatment was effective against four different types of bacteria, including one antibiotic-resistant strain. It also promoted the growth of fibroblasts, a cell type that is important in wound healing.

Kalpakkam breeder reactor to go on stream

  • The 500-MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, near here, is getting ready to be commissioned in September. When the reactor goes critical, it will signal India’s triumphant entry into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear power programme.

  • The PFBR will use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel and 1,750 tonnes of liquid sodium as coolant. It is called a breeder reactor because it breeds more fuel than it consumes.

  • The PFBR construction had been completed and equipment energised. “We are awaiting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for sodium charging, fuel loading, reactor criticality and then stepping up power generation,” Dr. Chellapandi said.

  • The AERB had sent several safety committees to the PFBR for inspection of design compliance and component specifications.

  • “All heat transport systems, comprising the pipelines, the heat exchang er components and tanks, have been filled with pure argon to avoid any chemical reaction with sodium and oxygen. We have to melt the sodium and pump it into the reactor circuits.” After the sodium charging, engineers will perform thermal hydraulics experiments to check the functioning of the pumps and the heat exchanger.

  • Later, the AERB will give clearance for loading the fuel. In the first stage of the nuclear power programme, a fleet of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, running on natural uranium, had been built. In the second stage, a series of breeder reactors will come up. Reactors running on thorium will form the third stage.

Vitamin C cuts the risk of early death

  • A diet rich in fruits and vegetables packed with vitamin C will substantially cut the rick of heart attacks and early death, says a study.
  • Researchers examined 100,000 Danish people’s intake of fruit and vegetables as well as their DNA.
  • Vitamin C helps build connective tissue and is also a potent antioxidant that protects cells and biological molecules from the damage which causes many diseases, including cardiovascular disease. The human body is not able to produce vitamin C, which means that we must get the vitamin from our diet, said the study that appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Super symmetry may show up at the new run of LHC’

  • Edward Witten is an American physicist who specialises in String Theory, Quantum Gravity and Supersymmetric Field Theories. He is the only physicist who has so far received the Fields Medal, one of the highest honours given to mathematicians. In this interview, Prof. Witten, who was in Bengaluru to attend the conference Strings 2015 organised by the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences.

  • Twentieth century physics consisted of two great theories — quantum mechanics, which describes atoms, molecules, and subatomic particles, and Einstein’s theory of gravity (which he called General Relativity), which we use to understand stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.

  • These two theories are in conflict with each other. If one applies to Einstein’s theory the textbook recipes of “quantisation,” one runs into contradictions.

  • Since stars (for example) are ultimately made of atoms and subatomic particles, it does not make sense to have one theory for the stars and one theory for the subatomic particles. String theory is the framework in which physicists have succeeded in reconciling Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics.

Insight into how the brain forms memories

  • Researchers have finally found a specific region in the brain — medial temporal lobe — that plays a key role in rapidly forming memories about everyday events.

  • The medial temporal lobe is associated with episodic memory — the brain’s ability to recall situations like meeting a friend in, say, a mall. Episodic memory logs such happenings and very rapidly forms new associations in the brain.

  • People suffering from Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders have this type of memory affected. Hence, the results of a study published today (July 2) in the journal Neuron has great clinical significance.

  • The study also found that firing of a single neuron led to new memories being formed in the human brain. Till date, the role of a single neuron in memory formation has been studied only in animals. And only limited information of episodic memory formation in animals has come out owing to the nature of such studies. As a result, it has remained unclear how individual neurons enable the rapid encoding of new episodic memories in natural settings.

  • To study the single-neuron underpinnings of episodic memory formation, Matias J. Ison, the lead author from the University of Leicester, U.S., studied the activity of more than 600 neurons in the medial temporal lobe of 14 epileptic patients who had electrodes implanted in the brain region of interest.

Click Here for Science & Technology, Defense, Environment Full Issue

Click Here to Join Online Coaching for IAS (Pre.) Exam

<< Go Back To Science & Technology, Defence, Environment Main Page

Science and Technology
Current Affairs
Civil Services EXAM
Civil Services Preliminary
Civil Services Mains
UPSC