Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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Dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika virus are major health and economic issues in India. Traditional control methods have had limited success, highlighting the need for new strategies. Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes offer a promising alternative; Wolbachia is a common bacterium found in many insects but not in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti spreads viruses like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. Introducing Aedes mosquitoes with Wolbachia could help reduce the population of these virus-spreading mosquitoes. These Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes are not genetically modified.

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Solar Paraboloid technology is a promising advancement for improving solar energy efficiency. It is a type of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) that uses a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC). Parabolic mirrors focus sunlight onto a receiver tube at the focal line. This technology offers advantages over traditional photovoltaic (PV) systems, including higher operating temperatures, greater thermal efficiency, and reduced heat losses. However, it faces challenges like high upfront costs and significant infrastructure needs.

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India’s Prime Minister launched three Param Rudra Supercomputing Systems and a High-Performance Computing system for weather and climate research. These supercomputers were developed indigenously under the National Supercomputing Mission at a cost of Rs 130 crores. The supercomputers are deployed in Delhi, Pune, and Kolkata to enhance research across fields like physics, material science, and astronomy. Pune’s GMRT will use it for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) research, while Delhi’s IUAC and Kolkata’s S N Bose Centre will focus on material science and cosmology. The National Supercomputing Mission was launched in 2015 to meet growing computational needs.

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ESA will launch a satellite called DRACO (Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object) mission in 2027 to study satellite disintegration during reentry. DRACO aims to help reduce space debris by collecting data on how satellites break apart. The mission will also study the environmental impact of reentry, including material interactions with the atmosphere.Deimos, a European company, will build the 200-kilogram satellite. DRACO will carry a 40-centimetre capsule with cameras and sensors to record data during reentry. The capsule will parachute down after reentry, sending crucial information before being lost at sea.

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Swiss police arrested four people linked to the death of a 64-year-old American woman who used a “suicide pod” called Sarco on September 23, 2024. Euthanasia involves a doctor administering a lethal drug, while assisted dying allows individuals to self-administer a lethal substance with medical support. The Sarco Pod, euthanasia device, created by Dr. Philip Nitschke, is designed for peaceful and controlled assisted suicide. It promotes “death with dignity,” but its legal status varies by location. The pod is portable, enabling individuals to end their lives autonomously without medical help.

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Ceres was reclassified from an asteroid to a dwarf planet due to its mass, which allows it to maintain a round shape. Recent studies by Purdue University and NASA revealed that its crust is likely composed of 90% ice, suggesting a history as a watery world. The findings are based on data from NASA’s Dawn mission, which provided insights into Ceres’ cratered surface and icy composition, challenging previous assumptions about its geology.

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The northern lights, or aurora borealis, were recently visible in parts of the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and Ladakh, India. Auroras are natural light displays in high-latitude regions caused by solar wind particles interacting with Earth’s upper atmosphere. They form dynamic patterns like curtains, rays, or spirals in the sky. Aurora borealis, or northern lights, mainly occur near the Arctic Circle in countries like Norway, Canada, and Alaska. These lights, primarily green, red, and purple, are created by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s atmospheric gases.

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The Delhi High Court recently issued directions to improve access to “orphan drugs” for treating rare diseases. A rare disease is a health condition that affects a small number of people compared to more common diseases. There are between 7,000 and 8,000 classified rare diseases. Less than 5% of these rare diseases have available therapies. A disease is classified as rare if its prevalence is less than one case per 1,000 people.

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A new weapon known as “dragon drones” is being used in the Russia-Ukraine war. These drones release thermite, a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide originally developed for welding railroad tracks. When ignited, thermite causes a self-sustaining reaction that is difficult to extinguish. It can burn through various materials, including clothing, trees, and military vehicles, and causes severe burns and bone damage to humans. Dragon drones combine thermite with precision technology, making them highly effective and dangerous. While the use of thermite in war is legal, targeting civilians with incendiary weapons is prohibited under international law.

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India will launch the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission from Sriharikota next month. Proba-3 is ESA’s first mission focused on precision formation flying. It will demonstrate two satellites creating an artificial eclipse to study the Sun’s faint corona. The mission includes a Coronagraph satellite and an Occulter satellite flying 150 meters apart. The Occulter will block the Sun’s light, allowing the Coronagraph to image the corona. The mission aims to understand solar mass ejections and track solar energy changes impacting Earth’s climate.