Science & Tech

Question 1

Space Technology

What are the types of satellites?

What are the other categorizations of orbits?

Answer 1

1. LEO - Low Earth Orbit
2. MEO - Middle Earth Obit
3. GEO - Geosynchornous Earth Orbit and Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit
   - the furthest distance away, and it covers earth in 24 hrs, the same time earth rotates around itself i.e. a GEO satellite returns to the same position in the sky after each day. 8 formation movement.
   - A geostationary satellite is a special form of a geosynchronous satellite.
4. Orbits can also be classified as Polar or equatorial and their movement would be as you would imagine.

Question 2

What is a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)?

What are some of the fundamentals of rocket propulsion?

Answer 2

1. A geostationary transfer orbit is an ellitical orbit with an apogee (high point) of 35k km and a perigee of a few 100km. Its inclination is roughly equal to the latitude of the launch site.
2. Newton’s 3rd Law of motion is what guides rocket egines i.e. for every action there is an wqual and opposite reaction. The mass of gas escaping through a rocket’s nozzle gives thrust to the rocket to fly in the opposite direction.

Question 3

What are the key launch vehicles in India?

PSLV, GSLV, SSLV?

Answer 3

1. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
   - It is the workhorse of ISRO since 1994 and is the first operational one. It is a launch system developed to launch remote sensing satellites into the sun synchronous orbits
   - PSLV is a 4-stag that uses alternate combination of liquid and solid fuelled rocket stages. The 2nd and 4th a propelled by liquid fuel and strap-on motors are used in the 1st stage of the PSLV to provide additional thrust.
   - PSLV can place small satellites into LEO and is key to the Indian global space business.
   - India has PSLV CA, XL- 6 strap, DL-2 strap and QL-4 strap.
2. ISRO, for the launch of EOS-01 has developed a new PSLV, who’s final stage sequence can make it acquire its own orbit and then be used as an orbital platform for other space experiments. Effectively the 4th stage of the rocket makes it its own satellite.
3. GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) was conceived and developed to launch the INSAT series of communication satellites in LEO. It is a 3 stage vehicle with a 3rd stage being cryogenic.
   - The GSLV’s indigenous crogenic engine makes it highly efficient and the GSLV MKIII is the most powerful Indian rocket.
   - It was designated to launch the vehicle for Chandrayaan 2
4. Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) has been designed recently by ISRO and it will be used for nanosats and cubesats. It is a 3 stage solid propulsion system and it can be assembled vertically and horizontally. SSL industry is blowing up and this could give India a huge edge.

Question 4

What is the Vikas Engine?

What is the LOX Methane Engine?

What are Ion Rockets?

Answer 4

1. The VIKAS engine is used in the 2nd stage of the light lifting PSLV and also in th e GSLV. Vikas uses Di-Methyl Hydrazine as a fuel and nitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer.
2. The LOX Methane Engine uses methane as a fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer and it s advantages is that it is non-toxic and easy to store.
3. ION rockets are the rockets of the future for deep space exploration.

Question 5

What are India’s various satellite programs?

What is the INSAT and GSAT?

Answer 5

1. India has the INSAT series which launched satellites into geosynchronous orbit and focuses on telecom, broadcasting, disaster warning etc.
2. The INSAT series has a c-band, Ku band and Ka band. The C band is used for voice and data comms, Ku band is used for consumer direct-to-hom teleeducation applications and KA band is used for military networks.
3. INSAT has more then 15 satellites that have been used.
4. Recently ISRO has also launched GSAT which is the high-powered communication satellite. It will replace the INSAT-4A in orbit and it will provide comm services through the Ku0band.
5. India has also launched the Angry Bird GSAT 7A military satellite solely for the Indian air force to improve UAV productivity as well as an Airforce link.
6. The GSAT 11 is India’s heaviest communication satellite that will work on a ky and ka band.

Question 6

What are India’s remote-sensing satellites?

Where are they usually deployed and whats the focus?

What is EOS-01?

What is RISAT?

Answer 6

1. These are usually polar, sun-synchronous satellites that move in LEO and they zip around the circumfrence of the earth in 1.5 hrs.
2. These remote-sensing satellites collect info about the earth through measurement of radiation of the sun.
3. Used in natural resource management, agriculture and meteorology i.e. RESOURCESAT, OCEANSAT, SCATSAT
4. EOS-01 is India’s latest earth observation satellite thfollow ISRO’s new thematic naming system at was launched on the PSLV-c59.
5. It will follow ISRO’s new thematic naming system.

note: Polar orbit is when the satellite passes above or nearly above both poles on each revolution and a sun-synchornous orbit is nearly a polar orbit with a focus on providing adequate lighting for the imaging tech onboard the satellites.
6. RISAT is the Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellites built by the ISRO to provide all weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars.
7. ISRO opened its 2021 space ccaelndar with a successful launch of Amazonia 1, Brazil’s optical earth satellite.

Question 7

What is the NISAR: Joint Earth Observing Mission of NASA and ISRO?

What is the Copernicus Eiropean Earth Observation Porgramme?

What is India’s CartoSAT 3 and GISAT?

What is India’ regional navigation system? What is EMISAT?

Answer 7

1. NASA and ISRO are collaborating on developing an SUV-sized satellite called NISAR (SAR=synthetic aperture radar) to track subtle changes in the earth’s surface, spot warning signs of volcanoes and monitor ground water supplies.
2. NASA will provide one of the radars for the satellite and NISAR will be equipped with the largest reflector antenna ever launched by NASA. ISRO will provide the S-Band radar and the launch vehicle.
3. The Copernicus program focuses on atmospheric monitoring, marine environment monitoring, land, CC, emegency and security and India joined in 2018, hence the EC will provide India with free, full and open access to Copernicus Sentinel Data.
4. Under the new theme-based naming, CARTOSAT is a 3rd gen earth observation satellite with the highest pan-chromatic resolution in the world and will be sued for urban planning, rural resource and infrastructure dev.
5. The GISAT is the eatth observation satellite in geo-synchronous orbit that will yield multi-spectal and multi-resolution images for landing mapping, useful for military and civilian. Normally EO satellites are put in LEO but GISAT is the first observation series in Geostationary Orbit.
6. HYSIS is India’s hyperspectral ijmaging satellite.
7. India’s regional nav system is called navIC and it is similar to GPS where IRNSS has a 7 satellite constellation that provides a poistion accuracy of 20 metres.
8. EMISAT is an electronic intelligence satellite launched jointly by ISRO and DRDO under project Kautilya in LEO.

Question 8

What are India’s various space exploration missions?

Answer 8

1. Astrostat is India’ multi-wavelength space observatory
2. Exposat is also the same but to study deep space as a sucessor to Astrosat
3. Mangalyaan is India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and India’s first interplanetary mission with a goal of exploring martian surface. It has a luman-alpha photometer, methane sensor and thermal infrarer imaging spectrometer as its important payloads.
   - ISRO is also planning a lander mission to Mars under Mangalyaan 2 by 2024.
4. The Chandrayaan series iinclude 1, 2 and a proposed 3.
   - 1 was India’s first mission to the moon and it is a lunar orbiter to discover evidence of water molecules on the moon. It orbited the moon for a year.
   - Chandrayaan 2 was the second lunar mission with a 1st lander and rover mission. The orbiter mission placed the payload into an orbit around the moon with all the payloads but the lander, Virkam and the Rover, Pragyan both crashed upon the moon site.
   - Chandrayaan 3 will be a soft landing mission on the southern hemisphere of the moon’s surface (first time ever) to study lunar soil and lunar poles that can be the source of rare earth metals.
5. Aditya l1 is India’s first mission to the sun to study the solar corona that has a higher temp than the sun itself and that is what Aditya L-1 is aiming to understand.
6. Ganganyaan is India’ human spaceflight programme to be launched in 2022 and will include 2 unmanned flights and then one humanspace flight to carry 3 astronauts to LEO on a GSLV Mark III vehicle for 3 days and it will be the 4th country in the world to do so.

Question 9

What is Project Netra?

What is NORAD? Does India depend on NORAD?

What is New Space India Limited?

Answer 9

1. Project Network for Space Object Tracking and ANalysis is ISRO’s early warning system to safeguard space assets. It includes a netowrk of observational facilities like connected radars, telescopes and data processing units and it can spot objects as small as 10cm up to 3400km range.
2. NORAD or the North American Aerospace Defence Command is used to track space debris and India relies on its data currently.
3. New Space India is the new commercial arm of the ISRO and the Indian Space Association is the single-window quasi-trade association launched by PM Modi to facilitate space sector business for private sector and startups.

Question 10

What are quarks, lepttons, fermions and bosons?

What are neutrinos?

Answer 10

1. Quarks join to form hadrons such as protons and neutrons and are the basic components of the nuceli of atoms.
2. Leptos are also like quarks however they do not have a fractional charge. Electron is a fundamental elementary particle i.e. lepton.
3. Fermion are particles which havea half-integer spin and these include electronics and prontons and neutrons.
4. Boson is a colelctive name given to a particle that carries forces.
5. The God Particle i.e. Higgs Boson. Peter Higgs suggested that particles did not have just after the big bang, and that only once particles interacted with the higgs field they gained mass. Higgs bosons have the capability to grant mass, the primary condition for the existence of matter. The BBT is the leading explanation about how the universe began and scientists at cern observed the higgs boson decaying to fundamental particles.
6. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are almost mass less and are emitted during nuclear decays. They move nearly at the speed of light. India is constructing a neutrino observatory in the Theni district of TN. Neutrino observatory also being set up below Lake Baikal.

Question 11

Nuclear Science:

What is the total number of protons and neutrons called?

What is the importance of atoms such as 1H and 2H whose nuclei contain the same number of protons but different number of neutrons?

What is a good nuclear fuel?

What are the types of fuel?

Answer 11

1. It is called the Atomic Mass Number (A)
2. These atoms are known as isotopes, and Uranium for example has three isotopes with different neutrons, 238U, 235U and 234U.
3. A good nuclear fuel is essential to the stability of a nuclear power plant and a good nuclear fuel generally sustains a chain reaction, has a high chance of fission when bombarded with neutrons under collision, and has a reasonable half-life. Uranium U235 is a suitable candidate for nuclear fuel although it is not abundant.
4. Fissionable fuel consists of isotopes that are capable of undergoing nuclear fission. Such as Thorium 232, Uranium 235, 233 and 238 and Plutonium 239, 240 and 241.

Question 12

What is nuclear enrichment?

What is the difference between Nuclear Fission and Fusion?

What are the components of Fission Reactors?

What are the key types?

Answer 12

1. Enrichment is done to ensure that a nuclear reaction is sustainable. The process of increasing the concentration of an isotope relative to another is called enrichment. Eg. naturally occurring Uranium has only 0/72% of the U-235 isotope, so the enrichment, which accounts for half the cost of the electricity generated helps enable a fissile reaction.
2. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a large atom into two smaller ones whereas fusion is the fusing of two smaller lighter atoms into a larger one. Fission is not naturally occuring whereas fusion occurs in starrs. Fusion takes very high energy and the energy released is 3-4x of a fission which is already million times more than a normal chemical reaction.
3. Hydrogen bombs are an example that use a fission reaction to trigger a fusion reaction. Hydrogen isotopes are the primary fuel used in fusion power plants.
4. Key components:
   - When a neutron hits the nucleus of a radioactive atom, it triggers the breakup into two large pieces called fission fragments. This sets of a chain reaction of fission that geenrates heat and then moves turbine to produce electricity
   - The moderator makes sure the chain reaction doesn’t move at an uncontrolled speed
   - The control rods help absorb neutrons not needed
   - Critical mass - the minimum amount of U235 atoms required to set up a chain reaction
5. The key types of fission reactors are light water reactors that use H20 as a moderator and coolant, there are heavy water reactors that use deuterium instead of hydrogen and fast breeder reactors that use inefficient moderators such as liquid sodium to keep high energy in neutrons.

Question 13

What is the promise of fusion reactors?

However what is the challenge?

What are some live examples? ITER?

Cold Fusion?

Answer 13

1. Fusion reactors are increasingly seen as the future of energy security due to:
   - abundance of hydrogen in oceans
   - Cleanliness of the energy due to no C02 release
   - elimination of nuclear waste risk
2. The big challenge for building a fusion reactor is that extreme high temperatures are needed to make sure the 2 hydrogen nuclei don’t repel. However this millions of degrees Celsius is what happens in a typical hydrogen bomb, placing risks of explosion.
3. To address this,

• scientists try to make hydrogen work at a low density, so pressure does not get high - tokamak approach
• let hydrogen explode but keep explosions small via laser method
• achieve fusion by keeping hydrogen cold aka cold fusion

4. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)
   - Is a fusion reactor working using tokamak approach. The tokamak approach here uses magnets to confine the hydrogen as long as the nuclei are in motion.
   - ItER is a joint collab of 35 countries including India, Russia, China, US.
5. Cold Fusion is a way to get fusion without the high temps needed to prevent hydrogen nuclei repulsion. This is done by making a particle with a negative charge stick to the hydrogen nucleus. By doing this, it cancels the proton charge, and the electrically neutral nucleus can then get close to another hydrogen nucleus without a fear of repulsion.
   - In order to do this, hydrogen or deuterium is made to react with pallaidum, zirconium and nickel at low temps.
   - Cold fusion is called a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR).
   - India is researching LENR at Homi Bhaba Atomic Research Centre.

Question 14

What is India’s 3-stage nuclear program?

What is the status of Indian Nuclear power relative to others?

Answer 14

1. India’s 3-stage programme is developed with the aim of utilizing the vast thorium reserves in India (25% of the world’s thorium is found here).
2. The 1st stage includes pressurized heavy water reactors based on natural uranium. The U235 being fissile sets up a chain reaction and U238 being non-fissile gets converted to PU239 as a spent fuel, which is then used in the fast breeder reactions in 2nd stage.
3. In the 2nd Stage, the Fast Breeder Reactors use plutonium, and the reactors mix PU239 with PU238 that is found abundantly on earth. There is no moderator used in these fast breeder reactors, and once PU239 is used, the Thorium is introduced in the reactor to conver it into U233 to be used in 3rd stage.
4. In the 3rd stage, the Thermal Breeder Reactors use Thorium 232 (also not radioactive and not fissle) and convert it into U233 which IS fissile. Kalappakam reactor has all three fuel isotopes used as fuel in reactors, which is rare. U235, PU239 and U233
5. Nuclear power in India contributes to 2.1% of the total energy basket, and India has 22 nuclear reactors operating in 7 plants generating 6780MW of power. India plans to build 48 new plants with a 63000MW goal by 2032.

Question 15

What are some of the key geopolitical points around Nuclear in India? Any key agreement cooperations?

What is India’s Civil Liability Law?

Has India ratified the Convention of Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC)?

Answer 15

1. India and the US signed a landmark Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008. The deal enabled the transfer of nuclear tech and fuel to India by US companies.
2. Despite the signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal, the nuclear liability regime in India was seen as a hurdle for foreign companies to invest in India’s nuclear sector.
3. Major hurdle was the Civil Liability for NUclear Damage Act 2020 which held suppliers of nuclear power projects liable for nuclear accidents.
4. This was solved in 2016 when India ratified the CSC to mark India’s willingness to accede to international nuclear liability regime that holds the operator liable to pay up for damages although there is a right to trocourse with the supplier.
5. The CSC once ratified by India established a worldwide civil liability regime, and India could ratify the CSC as even though it is not party to the Vienna or Paris conventions, its civil law now was in line with the CSC requirements.

Question 16

What is the regulatory status of nuclear in India?

What are the key organizations?

Answer 16

1. The Department of Atomic Energy is the apex body under direct charge of the PM working toward nuclear development and tech in India.
2. It is responsible for application of radioactivity in the fields of agri, medicine, industry and basic research.
3. DAE comprises of regulatory bodies, research centres, industrial organizations and 5 PSUs.
4. The Atomic Energy Commission is the governing body of the DAE and 5 research centres are under the AEC.
5. the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) is the regulatory authority responsible for safe operations of nuclear reactors in India and it derives its power from the Atomic Energy Act 1962.
6. The 5 PSUs are in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Singhbum (prospecting and mining uranium), Nuclear Power Corp in Mumbai and Baratiya Banhikiya Vidyut Nigam, operates stage II Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam.
7. The NPCIL is responsible for the design, construction, commissioning and operation of nuclear power reactions under the AEE 1962. In 2016 an AEE amendment act was passed to enable NPCIL to form joint ventures with other government companies to produce, develop, control and use atomic energy.

Question 17

What is the international organization layout of nuclear?

What is India’s history vis-a-vis key treaties such as NPT, CTBT et. al?

Answer 17

1. India is a membe r of the International NGO of nuclear scientists that certifies the safety of nuclear reactors.
2. India did NOT join the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty signed by 191 countries that restricts nuclear non-weapon states from developing/acquiring nuclear weapons.
3. Iran is a signatory to the NPT but was declared non-compliant by the IAEA in 2002 and Iran is being hit with sanctions. NK too signed NPT and then withdrew unilaterally.
4. India did, however, sign the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement of the IAEA and the Additional Protocol in 2009 to keep 20 of its 22 civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.
5. India also never signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) that prohibits nuclear tests in space, water and underground. India doesn’t care much for nuclear disarmament and even the treaty itself has not come into force due to the lack of ratification by Iran, Israel, China, USA.
6. Due to India’ successful smiling buddha operation at Pokrhan I with the NPT regime backdrop, there was a decision to form the Nuclear Suppliers Group to share benefits of peaceful use of nuclear energy and India was not invited. In 2008 though, after a special waiver by the NSG and the US-India Civil Deal, india became the first and only non-NPT signatory to have this privilege.
7. The Australian Group HQed in Paris aims at controlling exports of biological and chemical agents used in weapons and the Wassegnar arrangement is a multilateral export control treaty to regulate arms and minutions exports. India is a member.
8. Lastly the Missile Tech Control Regime is another export restriction on weapon delivery systems from signatories to non signatories and India became a signatory in 2018 which enabled it to increase the range of the BrahMos.
9. The Nuclear Free Zones are:
   - Antarctica, Space, Seabed, Tlatelolco, Bangkok, Pelindaba.
10. India and Bangaldesh recently signed a civil nuclear coop agreement called the Rooppur Nuclear Power project to allow Indian companies to participate in Nuclear abroad.

Question 18

What are the following?

Chinese Artificial Sun
Lithium Production in Stars
Extreme Helium Stars
Kakarapar 3

Answer 18

1. The Chinese Artificial Sun is China’s largest tokamak-based fusion reactor where the magnets used fuse hot plasma that reaches temperatures of over 150million degrees, approxx 10x hotter than the core of the sun. It tries to mimic what the sun does. The benefits are a very large scale continous energy production with zero green house gas emissions and no long-life radioactive waste.
2. Litihium Production in Stars was recognized by Indian Institute of Astrophysics. They found that lithium production is common among low mass sun-like stars. They identified He Flash i.e. the onset of He-Ignition at the star’s core via a violent eruption at the end of the star core’s hydrogen burning phase. The sun will reach this phase in 6-7 billion years.
3. Extreme Helium STars is another IIA study that detected the presence o f singly ionized fluorine for the first time in atmosphere of hot extreme heloum stars, making a case that the main formulation of these objects inolves a merger of Carbon-Oxygen and a Helium white dwarf.
4. Kakrapar 3 is the 3rd unit of the Kakrapar Atmoic Power Project in Gujarat that achieved its first criticality term that signifies the initiation of a controlled but sustained nuclear fission reaction. It is using an indigenously developed variant of the Pressurized heavy water reactor. 3rd Unit in Tarapur is also fully indigenous.

Question 19

Biotechnology

What are the basics of DNA, Chromosome, Gene and Genome?

What is RNA?

Answer 19

1. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is a molecule that all living organisms carry in every cell in their body. DNA is a code that holds the detailed instrutctions and is laid out in long linear strands of DNA in the nucleus.
2. Humans have 3 billion base pairs divided into two copies of 23 chromosomes (one from mom and one from dad).
3. What is RNA?

Ribonucleic Acid is a polumer of ribonucleotides and is involved in the susntehsis of proteins and carrying the messenger instructions from the DNA.

Question 20

What is DNA profiling?

What is genome sequencing?

What new techniques of gene sequencing?

What is the Indian ocean genome mapping projects?

Answer 20

1. DNA profiling or DNA fingerprinting is the creation of a biometric database comprising of DNA information of individuals.
2. While DNA is unique to humans, it is 99.99% similar between all individuals within the human species. The Variable Number of Tandem Repeats are the unique parts of an individual.
3. The application can be used to establish identity of persons.
4. Genes are in strands of DNA and are a storehouse of information, an instruction book. The genes affects the phenotype through transcription and translation. The gene’s base code is copied into the mRNA which carries it to build proteins.
5. Full set of GNA in a person is called a Genome. Genome sequencing is to map out a person’s entire genetic code. Methods, shotgun sequencing to randomly break it down, and next gen sequencing to reduce cost and time of human genome sequencing.
6. Plan in Indian Ocean is to gather samples for genome mapping of microorganisms in the Indian ocean.

Question 21

What is Gene therapy?

What is Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA?

What is a three parent baby?

Answer 21

1. Gene therapy involves removal of defective stem cells from the patients bone marrow. These defective cells are genetically modified and then replaced in the bone marrow using a virus vector.
2. Main types:

Gene Augmentation Therapy: to treat diseases caused by a mutation, the therapy adds DNA containing a functional version of the lost gene.

Gene inhibition therapy is used to treat infectious diseases, inherited diseases by introducing a gene whose product inhibits the expression of another gene.

3. Mitochondrial DNA and Nuclear DNA
   - DNA that is spoken about is usually nuclear DNA i.e. the DNA present in the nucleus. However there is also DNA present in the mitochondria and it has only one chromosome that is responsible for specific proteins that enable metabolism. MitoDNA is inherited only from the mother.
4. A three parent baby is made when the usual DNA taken from mother and father also includes a small amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA from the woman donor. This is done when the actual mother is suffering from an incurable mitochondrial disease.

Question 22

What is a stem cell?

Is it differentiated or undifferentiated?

What are the possibilities of stem cells?

Answer 22

1. Cell is the most basic unit of an organism. Differentiated cells are the building blocks of tissues and organs whereas undifferentiated cells are those that have the potential to develop into different types of cells like those in muscles, kidney, liver. Stem cells are these undifferentiated primitive cells. They can self-renew and also become a lifelong source of specialized functional cells of different human organs.
2. Stem cells can be embryonic i.e. derived from embryos and used to produce a clone of an entire organism.
3. Somatic stem cells are undifferentiated cells present in differentiated cells in a tissue or organ.
4. Significance: stem cell therapy provides avenues for parkinson’s disease treatment as well as developing functional mouse kidneys inside rats.
5. To do so, CRISPR/CAS9 technique was used to silence rat embruos so rats did not grow their own kidney, and then the genetically modified blastocysts of the rat were inserted into the mice stem cells and then implanted back into the rat wombs. This can be used as regenerative medicine in Humans soon.

Question 23

What is gene editing?

What is in-vivo gene editing?

What is CrispAR Cas9?

Answer 23

1. Gene editing is the process of disabling faulty genes to correct the harmful mutation, insert a missing gene or change the activity of specific genes.
2. Two types:
   - germline editing - changes genes in eggs, sperm or very early embryos. Passable to next generation.
   - somatic cell editing - targeting of cells/tissues/organs and not passed on to subsequent generations. This includes CRISPR-related technique.
3. CrispR Cas9 is a revolutionary gene editing technique that uses an enzyme called Cas9 to cut strands of DNA at precisely targeted locations to insert new genetic material into the gap. Scientists have wiped out an entire malaria-carrying mosquito population using CrisPR gene drive technology (changing it for a population of an entire species).

Question 24

What are GM crops?

Any recent developments on India GM crops?

What is Arka Shubha?

What is HTBT Cotton? DMH-11 Mustard? BT Brinjal?

Answer 24

1. Genetically modified crops are those that have been genetically modified using recombinant DNA technology. Done to increase crop yield, increase nutritional value of crop (fortified rice announced by PM Modi), develop resistance to abiotic factors or biotic factors such as insects. BT cotton is the only genetically modified crop that is commercially allowed in India from 2022.
2. ARKA Subha is a new variety of marigold that can be used for extraction of crude carotene even if spoiled after full bloom. India imports carotene from China right now.
3. There is an indefinite moratorium on commercial cultivation of BT brinjal and HTBT cotton.

Question 25

What is the national stem cell registry?

What is the MANAV (human atlas initiative)?

What is Indigen Initiative?

What is Human Microbiome project?

Answer 25

1. The national stem cell registry is being developed by India.
2. Goal is to manage a database of unrelated bone marrow donors.
3. Main aim is to find matching donors for treating patients with blood-related disorders such as blood cancers, thalassameia etc.
4. MANAV initiative is to map every tissue of the human body.
5. Genome India Project is to carry out whole-genome sequencing of Indians to study the diversity of Indians and its impact on lifestyle, environment, and genes that are inherited. Can be used to develop personalized medicines. It will be done jointly by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dept of Research, Dept of Biology
6. Indigen is the 1st of its kind whole genome sequencing of Indians. Carried out by CSIR to accelerate genomics in INdia. Indigen is precursor to the Genome India project.
7. Human Microbiome Project includes the collection of saliva, stool and skin of 20,00 Indians across ethnic groups to understand how core microbiome changes during disease.

Question 26

What is proteomics?

What is bionics?

What is artificial blood?

What is bio-computing?

What is DNA data storage and DNA of Things (DoT)?

Answer 26

1. Proteomics is the study of an entire set of proteins that is produced or modified by an organism or system.
2. Bionics is the development of technology inspired by biological methods i.e. bionic ear, silicon retina etc.
3. Artificial blood is a substitute for RBCs designed to transport oxygen and C02 throughout the body. RBC only, not WBC, Platelet and Plasma.
4. Biocomputing uses molecular biology to implement computational devices.
5. DNA Data storage is the storage of data in DNA by encoding binary data to and from synthesized strands of DNA.
6. DOT encodes digital data into DNA molecules which is then embedded into objects to foster IoT living across computing objects.

Question 27

What is the National Genomic Grid?

What is the earth bio-genome project?

Answer 27

1. The national genomic grid will collect samples from cancer patients through a network of pan-India collection centres. It will then carry out genome sequencing to study genomic factors influencing cancer to identify the right treatment modalities for the Indian populatoin. This will be formed along with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank set up at IIT Madras.
2. The Earth bio-genome project is an international collab to sequence and digitize genomes of every eukaryotic biodiversity on earth over a period of 10 years.

Question 28

In-Vitro Fertilization and Frozen Embyros - what does it entail?

Why is India important?

What are designer babies?

What is “genetic scissors”?

Answer 28

1. In case of sexual reproduction, the beginning of development of offspring is the fertilization of male and female gametes into a zygote (embryo). The embryo is then implanted into the uterus where it develops into a full-fledged organism.
2. IVF - fertilization of the egg occurs externally outside the body, and then implanted inside the uterus of the mother.
3. Frozen embryos are stored for future use.
4. India has emerged as a surrogacy HUB of the world since 2002. There has been a rampant misuse of frozen embryos leading to illegal surrogacy in India because of low IVF cost. Now, in 2016 a bill was passed to ban the import of embryos other than research.
5. Designer baby is a baby that has been given special traits through genetic engineering through alteration of the egg, sperm or embryo. Chinese did it via CrisPr to make them resistant to HIV.
6. Genetic Scissors - changing of DNA with extreme precision via CRISPR/CAS9 genetic scissors.

Question 29

What is AEG 12?

What is Transfat?

Answer 29

1. AEG12 is a mosquito protein that inhibits the family of viruses that cause yellow fever, dengue, west nile and ZIKA while also inhibiting coronaviruses.
2. Researchers have shown that AEG12 was most effective against flaviviruses.
3. AEG12 breaks RBCs so changes are needed so that the protein acts only against coronaviruses.
4. Transfat/Trans-fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acdis that come from natural or industrial sources.
5. transfat increases LDL “bad” cholestrol levels and Partially hydrogenated oils (carriers of immense transfat) are used for deep frying etc. FSSAI caps trans fatty acids to 2% in all oils and fats.