science reporter august-2017 - study iq · dr. ravi agraharis lasses (scientist in iit delhi,...

Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes (Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

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SCIENCE REPORTER AUGUST-2017

By

Dr. Ravi P. Agrahari - Scientist in IIT Delhi with the association of DST (GoI) - Author of McGraw Hill Publication of Science & Technology - More than 15 years teaching experiences - Faculty of Enroute IAS (Old rajendra Nagar, N.Delhi)


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AUGUST-2017 SCIENCE REPORTER

• Fruit wastes contain cocktail of Bioactive compound

• Lost species of jumping spider found in India

• Indian scientists create gel for wound healing

• Are There Habitable Worlds Out There? The quest for exoplanets

• Ecofriendly Idol immersions

• Premium fuels: fact vs fiction

• Wisdom of the North East

• Silenced Genes in Agriculture

• NEW MEMBERS TO THE PERIODIC TABLE

• A BANANA A DAY CAN KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY

• China’s coloured Layer-cake Mountains

• The Chit-World’s First Chemical Hard Drive to Store Information in Chemical

• Jeevan Bindi A life saving Dot

➢ Fruit wastes contain cocktail of Bioactive compounds • “Fruit processing industries contribute more than 0.5 billion tonnes of waste

worldwide”.

• Bioactive compounds such as pectins, lipids, flavonoids, and dietary fibres in the

peels and seed fractions of the fruit processing waste.

• The waste that remains after such recovery could also be a source for

production of biofuels.

• A wide range of bioactive compounds, mainly primary and secondary

metabolites of plants, such as phenolics, alkaloids, glycosides, volatile oils,

mucilage, gums, oleoresins, bioactive lipids & polyphenols, and diatary fibres

could be extracted gainfully from the fruit processing waste.

• Mango kernels, banana peels, etc. are rich in resistant starch, a class of dietary

fibre promoted as nutritional supplements for hypertension, obesity and anti-

diabetic formulations.

• Vicilin-like protein from watermelon seed, sleptin from jackfruit seed, and

proteolytic enzyme actinidin from kiwi fruit seeds can be extracted.

• Many seeds also contain amino acids like histidine and aromatic amino acids like

phenylalanine that act as antioxidants.


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• Fruit processing waste alone contributes more than 20 million tonnes of carbon

dioxide equivalent of global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly in the form of

methane and nitrous oxide due to decomposition inside landfills.

Instead of dumping the fruit discards and polluting the environment, biochar could

be produced just by heating the biomass in the absence of oxygen. Specially

designed pyrolysis equipment could produce biochar that improve the quality of

acidic soil by increasing the pH of the soil, habitat for microorganisms and act as

exchange sites for plant nutrient support’. As biochar acts as carbon sequestration

‘contrary to composting, it provides a significant reduction of greenhouse gas

emissions’.

• Novel idea of extracting bioactives “opens new avenues for food, chemical and

pharmaceutical industries, which have a tremendous potential, especially where

availability of fruit processing waste is abundant.”

➢ Lost species of jumping spider found in India • ONLY a single male specimen of a rare jumping spider, Brettus cingulatus, has

been described and recorded from Myanmar (earlier Burma) since 1895.

• More than a century later, a team of naturalists has sighted and reported a single

male specimen of this species from the Alibaug district in Maharashtra, India. In

fact, the specimen was sighted hidden under a teak leaf.

• The team then researched on this widely and found its presence in other regions

as well from the forests in Karnataka.

• This research spurred a new record for Bangladesh and Malaysia as well, as the

species was recognized in these countries too.

• All specimen collected and photographed have been deposited at the repository

of the forest Training institute, Chikhaldara, Amravati.

➢ Indian scientists create gel for wound healing • INDIAN scientists have come up with a new combination of polymers that used

as a hydrogen to make the process of wound healing faster.

• CSIR-central salt and Marine chemicals research institute (CSMCRI) at

Bhavnagar, Gujarat.

• The combination developed by the scientists consists of a modified version of

polyethylene glycol and a reactive block copolymer of poly [(2-dimethylamino)

ethyl methacrylate] and poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide). The two compounds

react and form a hydrogel in less than four minutes.


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• Hydrogels have a special property of absorbing water and becoming a semisolid

gel at body temperature.

• In a few minutes, the liquid becomes a gel that aggregates platelets and

prevents loss of blood. This aids wound closure. It also has the ability to

incorporate antibiotics and provides sustained release of the drug at the injury

site.

➢ Are There Habitable Worlds Out There? The quest for

exoplanets • Scientists call them exoplanets or extra-solar planets.

• Exoplanets by definition are planets beyond our solar system.

It all Began in 1992….

• It was in 1992, by using the Arecibo Observatory in Puetro Rico, discovered two

exoplanets orbiting a pulsar (PSR B1257+12) located in the constellation Virgo,

about 2,300 light-years away from Earth. [Pulsars are look like flickering stars)

• Since then, the last two decades have seen the identification of nearly 5,000

planet candidates with more than 3,000 being verified.

• When the Kepler mission was launched in 2009, more than 2,300 of the

exoplanets were confirmed.

An Exciting Discovery…. • In 2015, Michael Gillon and his team of Astrophysicists discovered an ultra-cool

dwarf star, just 39 light years away from Earth.

• Soon the presence of three exoplanets was discovered by the team from the La

Silla’s observatory in Chile using the 60-cm TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting planets and

Planetismal Small telescope), in 2016.

• This team continued observing the star, named TRAPPIST 1, this time with the

help of the Spitzer space telescope.

• TRAPPIST 1 is 500 million years old is an ultra-cool dwarf star which is nearly

2,000 times cooler than our sun; in size it is slightly larger than Jupiter. The

seven planets are bound to it in tight tidal lock orbits. This makes them show

only one surface at all times (like our moon).


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(Note: Tidal locking - Due to tidal locking, the inhabitants of the central

body will never be able to see the satellite's green area)

HOW DO THEY FIND AN EXOPLANET? Some common methods employed are:-

1. Radial velocity method

2. Transit method

3. Microlensing

Are they Habitable planets?, Despite tidal locking and proximity to the star, the TRAPPIST 1 system is found to be

very much in the habitable zone.

The TRAPPIST 1 family • This dwarf star consists of 7 exoplanets in tidal lock with its parent star - named

1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1g and 1h.

• Planet b and c are almost Earth-sized. Being the innermost in the system their

orbital days are short- 1.5 and 2.4 Earth days. Their mass too is close to that of

earth.

• Planets d is smaller in size and its mass is less than half that of the Earth with

orbital periods of just over four days.

• Planets e, f and g are again near Earth-sized and mass of half of Earth to 1.5

times. Their orbital periods are 6-12 days.

• Planet h, the farthest has approximate figures as it is still to be studied in detail.

With a size of 75% that or Earth, its mass is yet unknown and the orbital periods

are approximate to 20 days.

Mammoth Distances, but Astronomically close


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• TRAPPIST-1 touted as the closest star to house the highest number of habitable

planets, is just 39 light years away from us, or in more perceptible terms, at a

distance of 370 trillion km.

• This means that if one were to travel at the speed of light 3,00,000 km/s, it

would take a mere 39 years to reach this dwarf star in its current location.

Other potential habitable worlds Kelper 186f (nickname “Earth’s cousin”)

Kelper -22b

Kelper-452b

Gliese 667Cc

HD 40307g

HD 85512b

In the Offing….. • The coming years will see the launch of better and powerful telescopes to further

glance into the galaxy.

• Armed with better technology and cameras.

• NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is expected to be launched in 2018.

• In addition, ground based systems such as the European Extremely Large

Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescopes slated for use by 2020 will further

validate the discovery and give us a closer look at the planets.

• Detecting oxygen or methane on the surfaces of the planets will open a new

chapter in the discovery, as these are the principal gases produced by life forms.

➢ Ecofriendly Idol immersions • Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) has developed an ecofriendly process called ‘Jalabhishek’

for immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster-of-Paris. [NCL-National Chemical

Laboratory]

• The process dissolves the POP idol in 48 hours. The two end products of this

process can be separated easily and used as fertilizers for plants.

• With full support from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Mojj Engineering

systems (Mojj) and Cummins India (Cummins), the process was adopted whole-

heartedly by people in Pune in their homes, societies and mandals.

• Gypsum is the main ingredient responsible for water hardness and pollution of

water bodies.


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• Rivers where the idols are immersed are impacted with heavy metals, increase in

acid content and drop in oxygen levels.

• Non-biodegradable idols block the natural flow of water bodies leading to

stagnation.

• The colours and oil paints used for decorating POP idols are harmful and contain

heavy metals.

• The fluorescent colours used along with varnish and polish cause greater damage

with direct adverse impact on the aquatic marine life.

Impact of materials immersed along with the idols

S.No Material Impact on the aquatic body

1. Plaster of Paris Increases dissolved solids, contributes to metals

and sludge

2. Decoration material viz.

clothes, polish, paints,

ornaments, cosmetic

items, etc.

Contribute suspended matters, trace metals

(zinc, lead, iron, chromium, mercury, etc.)

arsenic, metalloids and various organic and

inorganic matter, oil & grease, etc.

3. Flowers garlands, oily

substance

Increase floating suspended matter organic

contamination, oil & grease and various organic

and inorganic matter

4. Bamboo sticks, beauty

articles

Big pieces get collected and recycled while small

pieces remain floating in water or settled at the

river bottom inhibiting river flow

5. Polythene bags/plastic

items

Add to the hazardous material and choke

aquatic life

6. Eatables, food items, etc. Contribute oil and grease, organic to water

bodies

• Cummins Research and Technology India Ltd. (CRTI) team had attempted to

dissolve POP idols in aqueous solutions of baking soda.

• CSIR-NCL’s technology worked successfully with ammonium bicarbonate (ABC).

Ammonium bicarbonate (ABC) is used as rising agent in bakery. The POP when

mixed with ABC formed ammonium sulphate along with calcium carbonate

residue. Ammonium sulphate is used as a fertilizer for plants. Its pH was found

to be almost neutral (pH-7). The aqueous solution of ammonium bicarbonate

could be utilized directly for plants as fertilizer and the sludge calcium carbonate

could be used as additive for building materials.


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• CSIR-NCL also set-up two tanks of 5000 litres capacity for immersion of the POP

Ganesh idols and approximately 5000 idols were immersed by individuals,

mandals as well as idols collected by PMC.

➢ Premium fuels: fact vs fiction • What do words like ‘premium’ or ‘speed’ mean with respect to petrol?

• Research Octane Number (RON) is a standard measure of the performance of a

gasoline engine fuel.

• Fuels with a higher RON are mostly used in high performance engines that have

higher compression ratios.

• In India most of the ordinary and premium petrol are 91 RON. The premium

petrol is generally ordinary petrol with additives; hence they don’t really change

the value of RON.

• However, in some places two variants-‘93 Octane’ and ’97 Octane’ are also

available with RON values of 93 and 97, respectively.

• In January 2017, 99 Octane was launched having RON 99 and it is the most

advanced automotive fuel for sale in India till date.

• Compression Ratio (CR) is simply the ratio of the volume inside the cylinder of

an engine, before and after compression. Therefore, a compression ratio of 10:1

means that an engine can compress the air and fuel mixture 10 times to that of

the initial volume.

• Generally, with a higher compression ratio you need a higher grade fuel to

withstand the extreme pressures generated in the engine as a result. A higher

grade fuel in this aspect means a fuel with a higher value of RON. A majority of

the petrol engines have a compression ratio between 8:1 and 12:1. However,

racing cars and bikes are exceptions as they operate at very high CRs like 13:1 or

even higher.

• In a normal petrol engine the air fuel mixture is heated due to being compressed

and then is ignited rapidly by the spark plug. If this mixture is heated (or

compressed) too much, it will self-ignite before the ignition system sparks. This

will lead to much higher stresses than what the engine components are designed

for, and can cause a “knocking” or “pinging” sound.

• Knocking can cause major engine damage or even seizure if severe. The

compression ratio is directly related to power and efficiency of an engine.

• Therefore, engines with higher compression ratios can extract more energy from

the same quantity of fuel as compared to engines with lower compression ratios.

• Sports cars and bikes have engines that are designed to operate at a

compression, and thus demand fuels of higher RON.


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Benefits of High Octane Fuel

• Increased power output

• Improved fuel efficiency

• Lesser engine maintenance

• Better engine life

HIGH VS LOW COMPRESSION RATIO

Higher compression ratio Lower compression ratio

• Increased power output • Lower power output

• Improved mileage • Reduced mileage

• Slightly shorter engine life • Slightly longer engine life

• Requires high octane fuel • Requires normal fuel

• Risk of engine knocking • Negligible risk of engine knock

➢ Wisdom of the North East

• North-East India is the transition zone between the Indian, Indo-Malayan and

Indo-Chinese biogeographic regions and a meeting place of the Himalayan

Mountain and Peninsular India.

• It is home for more than 166 tribes a large number of which still live on remote

forests and hills.

• The greatest contribution of the Indo-Mongoloid people is that brought into

North East (NE) India the technique of food production by plant cultivation and

domestication of animals.

• They are in all likelihood the first cultivators of rice in India. They introduced for

the first time in India the art of rearing silk worm as well as spinning and

weaving of silk cloths.

• Scientists have discovered evidence of iron being smelted in Khasi hills about

2,000 years ago. Even today, the Bodos, Karbis, Tiwas, Mishings, Lalung and

other tribes of Assam use traditional dyes for dyeing clothes and threads.

The Nagas possessed know-how of the traditional practice of salt manufacturing

from brine springs (A brine spring or salt spring is a saltwater spring)

• There were a large number of brine sprigs in different parts of the Naga Hills. This

kind of salt is said to possess medicinal values.

• Tribes of this region vast traditional knowledge on effective herbal medicines,

which was acquired through experience and usually passed on by oral traditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_(hydrology)


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• Long before the modern allopathic medicine quinine hit the market, the Mishimi

people in and around Mishimi hill of Arunachal Pradesh used a cure for malaria. It

is a small stem-less herb called Coptis not so far recorded from other parts of

the world. Its roots are medicinal and yield berberine, a bitter principle which is

one of the medicinal active ingredients also used in the modern system of

medicine for the formulation of anti-malarial drug.

Unique Cultivation methods

To counter soil-related problems, the farmers of North Eastern India practice many

excellent indigenous methods of soil conservation and soil management farming

systems. Other technologies such as of nitrogen-fixing plants and green manure,

construction of terrace riser, slicing, construction of soil erosion barriers and

diversion ditches, composting mulching, spreading ashes, contour tillage, soil traps,

drop structure, water harvesting, etc. are also applied by indigenous tribal farmers to

improve soil fertility in their farm. They also plant deep-rooted plant species to hold

land/soil on critical slopes. Bamboo is planted on the edge of the cleft to hold soil.

Nitrogen-fixing plants such as Alnus nepalensis, Albizia procera, etc. are planted to

enrich soil fertility.

Different types of farming system used in this area:-

- Bench Terrace Farming - Contour Tillage/planting Farming - Wet Terraced paddy cultivation - Bamboo drip irrigation system - Apatani water management system - Zabo farming system

➢ Silenced Genes in Agriculture • GENE Silencing is a unique phenomenon of switching off the expression of a

gene. Gene silencing is a technique that aims to reduce or eliminate the

production of a protein from its corresponding gene.

• Proteins are essential molecules that perform an array of functions including

signaling between cells, speeding u`p biochemical reactions, and providing

structural support for the cell. Each gene is responsible for producing a

corresponding protein in a two-step process.

• First, a copy of the information encoded in a gene is made in the form of

messenger RNA (mRNA), a process known as transcription. This occurs in the

nucleus of the cell, the cellular structure where all of the cell’s genetic material is

contained. The mRNA subsequently travels out of the nucleus, and the genetic


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information it carries is used to produce a specific protein, a process known as

translation.

• Gene silencing is often considered the same as gene knockout. When genes are

silenced, their expression is reduced, whereas when genes are knocked out,

they are completely erased from the organism’s genome and, thus, have no

expression.

• Methods using gene silencing are often considered better than gene knockouts

since they allow researchers to study essential genes that are required for the

animal models to survive and cannot be removed.

• There are many different transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes that

can lead to gene silencing. Generally, gene silencing can be of two types:

Transcriptional and post Transcriptional.

• There are various gene silencing methods currently employed in research and

being developed as potential disease therapeutics. Nearly all of them involve

disabling the function of mRNA by preventing it from being translated into a

protein.

• Post Transcriptional Gene silencing (PTGS) has a major role in plants as a

defense mechanism against viruses and viroids, for genome stability, and

regulation of endogenous gene expression.

• Some of the major applications of the PTGS mechanisms include the antisense

RNA approach for the development of Flavr tomato, the development of blue

roses by using iris gene, making cotton seeds edible by silencing the genes

involved in the production of toxin gossypol, shutting down of the lachrymatory

factor synthase gene in order to produce tearless onion, repression of

theobromine synthase coding gene to produce decaffeinated coffee.

• Post Transcriptional Gene silencing (PTSG) is one mechanism that degrades

specific messenger RNAs and thereby reduces the expression of a specific gene.

• Post-Transcriptional Gene silencing (PTGS) in plants is an RNA-degradation

mechanism.

PTGS mechanisms in Crops

Blue rose: Breeders have attempted to make true blue roses over many years. In

its first commercial application in plants, the CSIR-developed RNAi technology has

been used to remove the gene encoding the enzyme dihydroflavonol reductase

(DFR) in roses. The ‘blue’ was the delphinidin gene that was cloned from a pansy, to

direct pigment synthesis in the rose into the ‘blue’ pathway. The silencer gene

exploited a cellular phenomenon called RNA interference (RNAi), which switched


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off the DFR gene in a red rose, to block the cyaniding pathway, and then install the

delphidin gene- plus a new DFR gene to complete delphinidin synthesis.

Edible cottonseeds: To make cottonseed edible, researchers reduced its toxic

gossypol level by RNA interference (RNAi). Researchers at Texas A&M University

have selectively reduced the levels of a toxic chemical in cotton, making the seeds

edible and potentially transforming cotton into an important new food source.

Tearless onion: Gene-silencing technology, RNAi allows retargeting the plant’s

own natural regulation system without expression foreign proteins in the plant.

Through RNAi genes, lachrymatory factor synthase gene stop the synthesis of

sulphur compounds those converted to the tearing agent.

Decaffeinated coffee: The demand for decaffeinated coffee is increasing

because the stimulatory effects of caffeine can adversely affect sensitive individuals

by triggering palpitations, increased blood pressure and insomnia. Three N-

methyltransferase enzymes are involved in caffeine biosynthesis coffee plants-

CaXMT1, CaMXMTi (theobromine synthase) and CaDXMT1 (caffeine synthase)- which

successively add methyl groups to xanthosine converting it into caffeine. The coffee

plants were modified in which expression theobromine synthase (CaMXMT1) is

repressed by RNA interference (RNAi). The caffeine content of these plants is

reduced by up to 70%.

Opium poppy: Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is also an example in gene

silencing usage. The silencing of codeinone reductase (COR) gene in the opium

poppy using RNA interference (RNAi) is designed to silence all members of the

multigene COR family to cause the high-yield accumulation of the non-narcotic

alkaloid reticuline

Flavr savr tomato: The Flavr Savr tomato is a genetically altered tomato

developed by Calgene. It contains an antisense RNA which inhibits the expression of

a gene that normally causes fruit to soften, therefore, the fruit stays firm longer.

This allows producers a greater period of time for transportation and the opportunity

for mechanical harvesting with little bruising.


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➢ NEW MEMBERS TO THE PERIODIC TABLE Four new elements discovered in December 2015 have recently been named by the

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The names are:

Nihonium (113Nh), Moscovium (₁₁₅Mo), Tennessine (₁₁₇Te), and Oganesson (₁₁₈Og).

They complete the 7th period of the periodic table and constitute the heaviest

elements known today. With the discovery of total number of elements in the

periodic table was gone up to 118.

➢ A BANANA A DAY CAN KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY • Edible vaccines are based on the concept of sub-unit vaccines. In this process,

genes encoding antigenic proteins are extracted from the pathogen and

introduced into the desired crop.

Candidates for edible vaccines…. The choice crops for producing edible vaccines depends on a number of factors:

• It should be an edible crop and amenable to genetic transformation.

• Technique for the mass propagation of the transformed plant (tissue culture

protocol) should be established/capable of being established.

• It should possess high nutritive value.

• The crop should be easily cultivable in the specific geographical region (for

example, edible vaccines based on apples would not be relevant to a place

like Kerala).

Even though it is a non-edible crop, many of the edible vaccines have been

developed in tobacco, at least for preliminary studies, as it is one of the best tissue

culture models.

Another widely used but less preferred crop is potato because they need cooking

before consumption and heat can denature antigenic proteins.

Although banana and tomato are regarded to be the ideal choice as they can be

eaten raw, they have the disadvantage of getting spoiled quickly.

Crops like lettuce, corn, soybean, carrot and rice have also been experimented with.

Edible vaccines formation in brief:

• They are transgenic plant used as vaccine.

• Edible vaccines are mucosal targeted vaccines that have been created by

injecting antigenic protein into edible plants.

• Suitable gene that has antibody or has capability of stimulating immunity is

transferred to the plant by gene transfer method.

• If we eat the fruit or plant then it will work as vaccine.


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➢ China’s coloured Layer-cake Mountains The Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park is located in the Gansu province of

Northwest China within which lies the earth’s paint palette- The Rainbow

Mountains. These famous Chinese mountains, covering an area of about 200 square

miles, are a geological wonder of the world, known for their exquisite colours. The

site caught international attention after being declared as a UNESCO World Heritage

Site in 2010.

The mountains form a magnificently striated range of various minerals and rocks

that are densely packed into a layer cake of alluring shades of red, green and

lemon-coloured stones.

The lithology of Rainbow Mountains comprises conglomerates, sandstones and

siltstones dating back to the Mesozoic era that were deposited in China even

before the formation of the Himalaya Mountains.

The Chit-World’s First Chemical Hard Drive to Store

Information in Chemical RESEARCHERS at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of

Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw have innovated a way to store information like bits

and qubits in a one-bit chemical memory unit called the ‘chit’ with the help of

chemical droplets. The chit essentially allows ‘chemical computing’. In this chemical

hard drive, instead of traditional bits, the components are all chemical.

Jeevan Bindi: A life saving Dot • Iodine deficiency is linked to several disorders like goiter, impaired mental

development and thyroid problems which in turn, can lead to potentially fatal

conditions like breast cancer, brain damage and several pregnancy-related

complications.


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• Singapore-based advertising & marketing agency Grey group, in collaboration

with the Maharashtra-based NGO Neelvasant Medical foundation and Research

Centre, has now developed the innovative and revolutionary “Jeevan Bindi- A

life –Saving Dot.

• When stuck on the forehead, it delivers the daily-required amount of iodine

100-150 micrograms to the body by absorption through the skin. The bindi

needs to be worn every day for up to eight hours to be effective:

• Jeevan Bindi- is a patch embedded with iodine along with the adhesive base…

Women of child-bearing age are the prime targets for iodine supplementation

because they need twice the amount of iodine than usual requirements during

gestation, pregnancy and lactation period.

A Complete Solution for Science & Technology

Hindi & English medium both

Online classes available @ Study IQ

Offline classes available @ Enroute IAS


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(Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes)

For offline classes you can join me in Delhi @ Old

rajendra Nagar & Mukherjee Nagar,

New Delhi – 9650540359

Whatsap- 9911809808

science reporter august-2017 - study iq · dr. ravi agraharis lasses (scientist in iit delhi,...

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