What’s the Difference Between a Comet, Asteroid and Meteor?
Where asteroids are located? Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Not everything in the main belt is an asteroid, for instance, comets have recently been discovered there, and Ceres, once thought of only as an asteroid, is now also considered a dwarf planet. Many asteroids lie outside the main belt. For instance, a […]
SUNSPOT CYCLE
Sunspot cycle: The amount of magnetic flux that rises up to the Sun’s surface varies with time in a cycle called the solar cycle. This cycle lasts 11 years on average. This cycle is sometimes referred to as the sunspot cycle. Near the minimum of the solar cycle, it is rare to see sunspots on the Sun, and the […]
Goldilocks Zone
NASA has reported the discovery of an Earth-size planet, named TOI 700 d, orbiting its star in the “habitable zone”. Details: A habitable zone, also called the “Goldilocks zone”, is the area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding […]
What is Planet?
Three conditions for a celestial object to be called a ‘planet’ – it must orbit the Sun it should be massive enough to acquire an approximately spherical shape it has to ‘clear its orbit’ i.e. be the object that exerts the maximum gravitational pull within its orbit ‘Dwarf planets’, on the other hand, need to […]
30th April – Editorials/Opinions Analyses
Contents Afghan peace and India’s elbow room Limitations of online learning COVID-19 A greater impact on women Strategic Shift – Reserving Healthcare for those who need it most AFGHAN PEACE AND INDIA’S ELBOW ROOM Focus: GS-II International Relations Why in news? Earlier in April, the United Nations Secretariat held a meeting of what it calls […]
VACCINE HESITANCY
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) in a report held that Vaccine hesitancy is among the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. WHO defines Vaccine hesitancy as a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite the availability of vaccination services. Vaccine hesitancy has been reported in more than 90% of countries in the world. Instances of Vaccine […]
microRNA
A team from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, has found that the rich colour in fruits and leaves of plants are indirectly controlled by specific micro RNAs, miR828 and miR858. What is microRNA? A microRNA, also known as miRNA is a small non-coding Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule containing about 22 nucleotides. It […]
MUKTOSHRI ARSENIC-RESISTANT RICE
West Bengal government’s rice research centre has come up with a new variety of rice called Muktoshri that can be grown in arsenic prone areas. It was developed jointly by the Rice Research Station at Chinsurah, coming under West Bengal’s Agriculture Department and the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow. Background: West Bengal has a high concentration of arsenic in groundwater, with 83 blocks […]
FOOD IRRADIATION
Food irradiation is a technology in which food products are subjected to a low dosage of radiation to treat them for germs and insects, increasing their longevity and shelf life. It is the application of ionizing radiation to food in which energy is transmitted without direct contact in the targeted food. The radiation can be […]
POLYCRACK TECHNOLOGY
It is world’s first patented heterogeneous catalytic process which converts multiple feed stocks into hydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas, carbon and water. The process is a closed-loop system and does not emit any hazardous pollutants into the atmosphere. Feeders Polycrack Plant can be fed with all types of plastic, petroleum sludge, un-segregated MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) […]