First Abort Mission of Gaganyaan
Context The Lok Sabha has been informed that the first of Gaganyaan, India’s first human spaceflight, will be aborted in May of this year. Relevance GS Paper-3: Awareness in the fields of Space Mains Question What is the Gaganyaan programme, and what are the possible effects of the Gaganyaan programme on India’s future in scientific research […]
What is Generative AI?
Context: Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, capturing the public’s fancy and sparking a rush among Microsoft and Alphabet to launch products with the technology they believe will change the nature of work. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: What is generative AI? What is it good for? […]
What Are Enzyme Laccase?
Context: Recently, researchers from S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS), Kolkata, tested the efficacy of the laccase enzyme in degrading some standard dye molecules. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: What are enzymes? Laccase Enzyme for Dye Effluent Treatment The laccase enzyme, produced by certain fungi, has the […]
Biological Risk Factors for Late-Life Depression
Context: Late-life depression (LLD) is caused by multiple factors working together. It has three broad risk factors — biological, psychological, and social. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: Biological Risk Factors for Late-Life Depression Late-life depression (LLD) is a complex mental health disorder that affects many elderly people. Although the causes […]
About GPT-4
Context: AI powerhouse OpenAI announced GPT-4, the next big update to the technology that powers ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing, the search engine using the tech, on Tuesday. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: About GPT-4 OpenAI has announced the launch of GPT-4, a new and improved language model that surpasses its […]
About Fluorescence Microscopy
Context: Researchers at the Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a ‘glowscope’, a device that could democratize access to fluorescence microscopy. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: About Fluorescence Microscopy: How it works? Applications: -Source: The Hindu
What are Space Debris?
Context: Since, United Nations agreed on a treaty to conserve and sustainably use the high seas beyond national boundaries, scientists are calling for a legally-binding agreement to protect the Earth’s orbit from space debris. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: What are Space Debris? Effective Strategies to Address the Challenge of […]
What Is The New Bio-Computer?
Context: Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called “organoid intelligence”, which aims to create “bio-computers”. Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: What is the new ‘bio-computer’? Bio-computers are not ready for commercial use What is the premise of this […]
NASA Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
Context: Recently, researchers studied a supernova explosion that occurred over 450 years ago using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Relevance: GS III: Science and Technology Dimensions of the Article: What is Tycho? What is the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and its significance? -Source: Down to Earth
ALMA Telescope
Context: The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) — a radio telescope comprising 66 antennas located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile — is set to get software and hardware upgrades that will help it collect much more data and produce sharper images than ever before, the journal Science reported recently. Relevance: GS III: Science […]