7. Science Final Flashcards
Homi Bhabha contributions
- Worked alongside neihl bohr and pauli- electron positron scattering, cascade theory of electron showers
- Tata Institute of fundamental research
- Atomic energy commission 1948
- President of UN Conference on peaceful use of atomic energy
- Started space prog - gave it to sarabhai
- Science policy 1958
Nuclear energy benefits
- Next 400 years
- Half a million job in USA
- 75% in France. Lowest per unit cost
- Zero emissions
- Import dependency
- Less land compared to solar and wind
- Radio isotopes- eg caesium 137 cancer, iodine 131 thyroid radio mapping
- Defence - arihant submarine
- RTGS technology - radio isotope thermoelectric generator ( heat from plutonium to generate electricity) used in space exploration
Disadvantages of nuclear energy
- Radioactive waste
- Chernobyl, fukshima
- Thermal shock in water bodies
- Land acquisition and public apprehension- ex : Kudankulam, kovvada AP
- DAE is responsible for both operations and safety
- India not yet in NPT
- Highly skilled workforce
Nuclear vs renewable
- Continuous 24*7
- Location and power evacuation- wind mostly in coastal areas
- Ne requires less land
- Nuclear power plants can operate for 40-60 years, solar max 30, wind turbines- 25
- Ecological impact - birds death on hitting wind turbine
Intro to TKDL
Database of Indian traditional knowledge developed by ministry of AYUSH along with CSIR. info available in 5 international language and is restricted to patent examiners of 14 patent offices world wide
Enables preservation, protection and promotion of India’s traditional knowledge
Govt approves widening access to TKDL beyond patent offices. Positive
- Social benefits to humanity - ex: immunity boosting and symptom relief during Covid
- Ensures continued relevance of India’s traditional medicine system. Ex: WHO establishing global center for traditional medicine in india
- Innovation - allows to gainfully build new enterprises on valuable knowledge heritage
- Students, educational institutions, better research
- Will be through a paid subscription model- revenue for government
- Public scrutiny will legitimise the info in the database
Issues with making TKDL public
- Wrong usage
- MNCs - huge advertisement budget , overshadow
- Lifestyle approach vs piecemeal approach
Uses of nano other than agri and health
- Nano electronics - carbon nanotubes and nano wires - faster, smaller and lighter electronics
- Nanomolecular structure in construction - lighter, durable
- Nano silicon dioxide in paints - abrasion , scratch and weather resistant
- Nano generators - mechanical energy into electric energy using trio electric effect
- Space- carbon nanotubes - reduce weight of space vehicles
Six v of big data
- Volume
- Variety
- Velocity
- Veracity- degree to which it can be trusted
- Value
- Variability- used and formatted
Concerns of gene editing
- Commercialization- designer babies
- Gene discrimination - a common pill might cost 1000s of dollar
- Creation of a superior race, unconventional warfare
- Unregulated
- Off target edits
- Destruction of food webs
- More dangerous microbes ( like what happened to BT cotton)
- Extinct species against law of nature
- Patient privacy - decipher human genome
Other
- Bioweapon
- Bioterrorism - anthrax
- Long gestation period.
Socioeconomic contributions of isro
- Remote sensing - RESOURCESAT - urban planning, water resource ( fish stock)
- Communication - (INSAT) - telemedicine
- Village resource center - watershed development, panchayat planning
- navigations - irnss, gagan ( air traffic management), BHUVAN ( Geoportal of ISRO - thematic map display)
- Agriculture - weather modelling, land use assessment. CAPE and FASAL applications – both help in better crop production forecast
- Disaster management- covid 19 – national level covid tracker
- Edusat (GSAT 3) – distant classroom education
Issues with quantum computing
- Quantum physics - programmers will have to learn quantum particles
- Quantum decoherence - lose q state easily
- If fall on wrong hands - can decrypt everything in cyber space
- Not suitable for simple tasks like email, word processing
Challenges of blockchain
- Infrastructure- high power computer, high speed internet
- Lack of scalability- visa 2000 transactions / sec, bitcoin block chain 3 to 7 per second
- Security - by a group of miners controlling more than 50%
- Lack of skilled manpower
- No regulation
Adv of crypto
- No middle man
- Minimal transaction fees - service charge, processing fee
- Can facilitate cross border trade
- Security - underlying blockchain system
- Wallet - public key and pvt key. Pvt key known only to the owner of wallet
- Indian startups - unocoin, zebpay
- Good for countries with unstable economy and poor institutional strength
- bitcoin legal tender in elsalvador
Decentralized, security, anonymity, speed, ease of transfer, cross border trade
Disadvantage of crypto
- Mt gox bankruptcy case - thousands of bitcoins lost after cyber attack
- Money laundering, terrorist financing
- Scarcity- bitcoins less than 1.5 million remaining to be mined - each passing day instability
- Frauds and scams - squid cryptocurrency
- lack of underlying asset and soverign guarantee- no investor protection
- Ransomware virus
Benefits of 5g
- Greater speed. Intensify use of cloud
- Low latency - control machinery, surgical opertaions remotely. Doctors in China
- Millimetre wave spectrum - more connection density
- Network slicing - subnets in order to provide connectivity more adjusted to specific needs
- Internet of things - smart cities , agriculture - smart farming using smart rfid sensors
- Entertainment and multimedia - AR, VR, Metaverse
- Employment generation - need new device manufacturing
- Security - high quality real time monitoring via Closed circuit network
- Industry growth - smart automated factories
- Good governance via last mile digital connectivity - Ex: gigamesh project