General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

Notes:
According to 11th Fiver Year Plan, the Second Green Revolution aims to meet the problems of small and marginal farmers for providing income security to a large section of rural households and treating them as partners of development instead of a mere beneficiary of some government schemes or programme.

Notes:
Haemoglobin is the iron-containing oxygen transporting metalloprotein in the red blood cells of all vertebrates. Similarly, Cytochromes are, in general, membrane-bound haemo-proteins containing heme groups and are primarily responsible for the generation of ATP via electron transport.

Notes:
A fossil is the naturally preserved remains or traces of organisms that lived in the geologic past. There are two main types of fossils; body and trace. Body fossils include the remains of organisms that were once living, and trace fossils are the signs that organisms were present (i.e. footprints, tracks, trails, and burrows).

Notes:
Cotton is the most popular of the BT crops. In BT cotton, BT gene was isolated and transferred from a bacterium Bacillus thurigiensis to American cotton. The American cotton was subsequently crossed with Indian cotton to introduce the gene into native varieties. The BT cotton variety contains a foreign gene obtained from Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterial gene, introduced genetically into the cotton seeds, protects the plants from bollworm (A. lepidoptora), a major pest of cotton.

Notes:
The cerebrum or cortex is the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action. Functions of the cerebrum include: initiation of movement, coordination of movement, temperature, touch, vision, hearing, judgment, reasoning, problem solving, emotions, and learning.

Notes:
Plants and photosynthetic organisms utilize this solar energy in fixing large amounts of CO2 while amounts consumed by human beings are relatively small representing only 10% of the energy converted during photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce organic compounds and oxygen.

Notes:
The eustachian tube is a canal that connects the middle ear to the nasopharynx. It controls the pressure within the middle ear, making it equal with the air pressure outside the body. The cochlear nerve is also known as the acoustic nerve. It transfers auditory information from the cochlea (auditory area of the inner ear) to the brain. The malleus transmits the sound vibrations from the eardrum to the incus, and then to the stapes.

Notes:
The word “protoplasm” comes from the Greek protos for first, and plasma for thing formed, and was originally used in religious contexts. It was first used for living cells by J. E. Purkinje, a Czech anatomist and physiologist, in 1839. He used protoplasm for the fluid substance of a cell.

Notes:
Oviparous is a zoological term that refers to animals that lay eggs which then hatch externally. Oviparous animals may fertilize their eggs either externally or internally. Frogs are oviparous since they lay eggs, which then develop outside of the mother. Ovoviviparous animals are relatively uncommon, sharks are most well-known.

Notes:
Outer Ear or Pinna is found only in terrestrial mammals. It is composed of a thin plate of yellow elastic cartilage, covered with integument, and connected to the surrounding parts by ligaments and muscles.