National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 21st March 2020

New Clues on Earth

Topic: Science and Technology

In News:  Recent discovery of a little mollusk seventy million years ago gives new insights in to Earth’s then behavior.

More on the Topic:

• Analysing the the mollusk scientists were able to determine that Earth spun 372 times a year 70 million years ago, compared to the current 365.
• This means the day was 23½ hours long, compared to 24 today. This new measurement, in turn, informs models of how the Moon formed and how close it has been to Earth over their 4.5-billion-year gravitational relationship,
• It has long been known that Earth’s spin has slowed over time. Previous climate reconstructions, however, have typically described long-term changes over tens of thousands of years.

How the study was done?

• The new study looked at daily and annual variations in the mollusc shell.
• The ancient mollusc, Torreites sanchezi, belonged to an extinct group called rudist clams. At 70 million years ago, it belonged to the Late Cretaceous. (It was around the time this epoch ended, some 65 million years ago, that dinosaurs went extinct).
• Torreites sanchezi grew very fast, laying down daily growth rings. Using lasers on a single individual, scientists sampled tiny slices and counted the growth rings accurately. This allowed them to determine the number of days in a year 70 million years ago, and more accurately calculate the length of a day.

Comparison with Present:

• It is important to note that the period of Earth’s orbit has remained the same. In other words, one year 70 million years ago was as long as as one year today. However, if there were a calendar then, the year would have been 372 “days” long, with each “day” half-an-hour shorter than one day today.
• Today, Earth’s orbit is not exactly 365 days, but 365 days and a fraction, which is why our calendars have leap years, as a correction.

What Slowed Earth’s Rotation:

• Friction from ocean tides, caused by the Moon’s gravity, slows Earth’s rotation and leads to longer days. And as Earth’s spin slows, the Moon moves farther away, at 3.82 cm per year.
• If this rate is projected back in time, however, the Moon would be inside the Earth only 1.4 billion years ago. Which cannot be, for the Moon has been with us much longer. Which means the Moon’s rate of retreat has changed over time. The study helps reconstruct that history.

Source: Hindu

World Happiness Report

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: The United Nations has declared Finland as the world’s happiest nation for the third consecutive year.

More on the Topic:

• Researchers for the World Happiness Report asked people in 153 countries to evaluate their levels of happiness by taking into account factors such as GDP, social support, personal freedom, and levels of corruption in each nation.
• The happiest countries are those where people feel a sense of belonging, where they trust and enjoy each other and their shared institutions.
• There is also more resilience, because shared trust reduces the burden of hardships, and thereby lessens the inequality of well-being.
• The countries at the bottom of the list were those affected by violence and extreme poverty. Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Afghanistan were among those classified as the least happy countries.

 Statistics:

• India is ranked 144, way lower than its neighbours. Nepal is ranked 15, Pakistan is at the 29, Bangladesh at 107 and Sri Lanka at 130.
• Finland is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Austria. Luxembourg stepped in to the top 10 for the first time this year at the 10th spot. Canada is ranked 11, Australia at 12 and the United Kingom at 13. The US is in the 18th spot.

** The data for this year’s World Happiness Report was collected in 2018 and 2019, thus not impacted by the widespread restrictions imposed by many countries to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Source: Hindu

Enzyme SPRK1

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: According a study, the paternal genome undergoes an exchange of proteins histone with protamine for compaction into sperm. Upon fertilization, this process is reversed, which is how parental genome is reprogrammed and subsequently activated, SRPK-1 initiates this process. The discovery could help study infertility in certain cases.ecently RS has passed the National Commission for Homoeopathy bill.

More on the topic:

• A person’s genome is inherited from the parents — during fertilisation, half of the father’s genome is mixed with half of the mother’s.
• A sperm carries half as much genetic material as a regular cell and needs to be folded and packaged in a way that it fits in the egg.
• While the information was well-known, what led the first step in the process wasn’t.
• It is the enzyme SPRK1 that makes way for this first step by reorganizing paternal genome during the first moments of fertilization.
• The enzyme does it in a matter of few hours, according to scientists.

Significance of the Discovery:

• The discovery could help study infertility in certain cases.
• Until now, enzyme SPRK1 was studied for its ability to splice ribonucleic acid (RNA), an important step that enables translation of genes to proteins.
• But SRPK1 leads a double life swapping protamine for histones once the sperm meets egg.
• SPRK1 most likely started out playing this role in early embryogenesis, and later evolved the ability to splice RNA.

Source: Indian Express

LIDAR System

Topic: Disaster Management

In News: Apple’s new gadget has LIDAR system.

More on the Topic:

• In simple terms, LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging.
• It is basically a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure distances to the subject.
• These light pulses when combined with other data, generate accurate, high-resolution three-dimensional information of the object.
• This technology is mostly used for ground-based surveys.
• LiDAR was first used on a spacecraft during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, when astronauts mapped the surface of the moon.
• Apart from aerial surveys, the LiDAR sensor is the most important component in self-driving cars. The LiDAR sensor provides continuous 360 degrees of visibility and accurate depth information.

Challenges with LiDAR:

• LiDAR can measure the distance to surrounding objects up to 5 meters away, but won’t fare well in identifying objects in the vicinity.
• Also, it can’t perform well in fog, rain, snow and dusty weather.
• LiDAR also struggles to detect a glass wall or door, which is why smartphone manufacturers and self-driving cars makers use LiDAR along with secondary cameras and sensors.

Source: PIB

White Fly Resistant Cotton

Topic: Economy

In News: National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) Lucknow has developed a pest-resistant variety of cotton Field trials this year from April to October.

More on the Topic:

• Whiteflies are one of the top ten devastating pests in the world that damage more than 2000 plant species and also function as vectors for some 200-plant viruses. Cotton is one of the worst hit crops by these, in 2015 two third of the cotton crop was destroyed by the pest in Punjab.
• Bt cotton is resistant to two pests only it is not resistant against white flies. In 2007 we decided to work on one more insect pest- whiteflies.
• The leaf extract of an edible fern Tectariamacrodonta causes toxicity to the whitefly.
• This fern is known to be used as salad in Nepal and as a concoction for the gastric disorders in many regions of Asia also goes in favour for the possibility of the insecticidal protein that is found in the fern. It works against whiteflies but being safe for application on the crop plants and provides protection from them.
• When whiteflies feed on sub-lethal doses of insecticidal protein, it interferes with the life cycle of insect that in turn resulted with very poor egg laying, abnormal egg, nymph and larval development and extraordinary poor emergence of the fly. However, this protein was found to be un-effective on non-target insects.
• It does not cause any harmful effect on other beneficial insects like butterfly and honeybee.

Source: PIB

Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT)

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) informed Parliament about the Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT).

More on the Topic:

• It is an initiative for online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform SWAYAM.
• For implementing ARPIT, 75 discipline-specific institutions have been identified and notified as National Resource Centres (NRCs).
• NRCs prepare online training material with focus on latest developments in a discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.
• NRCs are located in a mixed range of institutions such as, Central Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, State Universities.
• The training materials are uploaded and made available through SWAYAM. NRC also publishes the list of the faculty who have been certified.

Source: PIB