Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) developed an agriculture waste-based packaging material. It offers a sustainable alternative to plastic foams like Expanded Polystyrene (EPS). Fungi such as Ganoderma lucidum (medicinal mushroom) and Pleurotus ostreatus (edible mushroom) were grown on waste. Five substrates were used: cardboard, sawdust, paper, cocopith, and hay. Ganoderma on cardboard showed higher compressive strength than EPS. India generates over 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste annually. This innovation can help reduce four million tonnes of plastic waste produced in India.

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Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) certified Kenya as having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness. It is a parasitic disease spread by infected tsetse fly bites, endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It has two forms: Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (92% cases, chronic, found in West and Central Africa) and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (8% cases, acute, found in East and Southern Africa). Rural communities relying on farming, fishing, herding, or hunting face higher risk. WHO has validated the gambiense form’s elimination in Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Chad, Guinea, and now Kenya.

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Recently, concern was raised that despite the huge human and economic toll of Chagas disease, investment in research and development of diagnostics, medicines, and vaccines remains disproportionately low. Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It spreads mainly through blood-sucking triatomine bugs, also called reduviid or “kissing bugs,” which often bite the face. Infection occurs when parasite-containing feces of the bug enter the body. It can also spread from mother to child, contaminated food or drinks, blood transfusions, organ transplants, or lab accidents. The disease is common in South America, Central America, and Mexico.

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Researchers have identified Ideonella sakaiensis, a bacterium that can degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. It belongs to the genus Ideonella and family Comamonadaceae. It uses polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as both a carbon and energy source, breaking it into harmless building blocks. These by-products can be consumed by I. sakaiensis and other organisms. It is discovered by researchers in Japan from PET-contaminated soil. It is Gram-negative, rod-shaped, motile, non-sporing, non-pigment-producing, and monotrichous.

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India’s first government-backed Drone Forensic Laboratory has been set up at Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Science (UPSIFS), Lucknow. It was inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The lab is designed by Milind Raj, known as the “Drone Man of India,” who is now the forensic drone advisor to UPSIFS. The lab enables real-time tracking, decoding, and forensic examination of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It can identify launch sites, flight paths, payloads, and hazardous materials like explosives.

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Two Indian aquanauts recently conducted deep-sea dives in the Atlantic Ocean under Samudrayaan Project. They collected over 100 kg of cobalt-rich polymetallic nodules from 1,173 meters depth in the Andaman Sea. Deep Ocean Mission was launched by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) on 7 September 2021 with ₹4,077 crore for 5 years. The mission develops technologies for exploring and using deep ocean resources sustainably. It supports India’s Blue Economy with potential to push maritime economy beyond ₹100 billion. It aligns with United Nations Decade of Ocean Science (2021–2030).

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The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) was launched in April 2015 by the Government of India with a budget of Rs.4,500 crore. Its vision is to achieve self-reliance and global leadership in supercomputing and provide state-of-the-art facilities to researchers. It is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) through Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. As of August 2025, 37 supercomputers with 40 Petaflops capacity are installed across IITs, IISc, R&D labs and Tier-II/III cities. This information was submitted in the Lok Sabha today by Shri Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.

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Huntington’s Disease (HD) is not yet included in the rare disease category under the National Policy for Rare Diseases despite demands from patients and caregivers in 2024. It is a genetic condition that affects brain cells, causing them to slowly lose function and die. It is inherited, with a 50% chance of passing from an affected parent to a child. It impacts brain regions controlling voluntary movement, memory, thinking, and decision-making, including the basal ganglia and cortex.

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Israeli defense technology firm Elbit Systems recently launched its advanced JUPITER space camera aboard the National Advanced Optical System (NAOS) satellite. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. JUPITER supports military operations, environmental monitoring, scientific research, and wide-span observation missions. It features a large aperture, lightweight design, high-resolution panchromatic channel for black-and-white imaging, and a Near Infrared (NIR) channel for vegetation, water, and material analysis. The camera can capture continuous long image strips covering large areas efficiently.

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AIIMS New Delhi has become the first government medical college in India to offer training on the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. The advanced system was inaugurated at the Skills, E-Learning and Telemedicine (SET) Facility. AIIMS Delhi now becomes the only institution in India with two robotic systems for training—the da Vinci system and the Hugo robotic trainer by Medtronic. The initiative provides hands-on training for students, residents, nurses, and faculty. Training will cover urology, gynaecology, general surgery, surgical oncology, and head & neck surgery.