1. Pig’s heart in human
Tags: Science and Technology
Surgeons in the United States have transplanted a pig’s heart in a human patient that represents a remarkable first in the world of medical science, one whose success could potentially end the years-long backlog of people waiting to get a healthy organ and open up a new world of opportunities.
- The highly experimental surgery was performed on a 57 year old Maryland resident, David Bennett at the University of Maryland Medicine (UMM) on January 7, 2022.
- Surgeon Dr. Bartley P Griffith conducted the first-in-the-world surgery.
Gene editing by the United States biotech firm Revivicor:
- The transplanted heart was harvested from the pig that had undergone genetic editing.
- The scientists removed the three genes of the pig “that would have led to rejection of an animal's heart by the human body” along with the one that would have led to the excessive growth of pig’s heart tissues.
- Further six human genes that would have facilitated the organ’s acceptance by the human body were inserted into the pig genome, meaning that a total of 10 unique edits were carried out in the pig.
Xenotransplantation:
The process of transplanting or grafting of animal organs is known as Xenotransplantation.
Points to Know:
- The world’s first human-to-human heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa on 3 December 1967.
- In India the first heart transplant was done by Dr. Prafulla Sen on 16 February 1968 in Bombay now Mumbai, however the patient died on the same day
- The first successful heart transplant in India was done by a team of Doctors led by Dr. P. Venugopal at AIIMS, New Delhi on 3 August 1994.
2. India successfully tests advanced “Sea to Sea” variant of BrahMos Missile
Tags: Science and Technology
India on 11th January 2022 successfully tested an advanced sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from newly commissioned INS Visakhapatnam.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO said the missile hit the designated target precisely.
- Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh congratulated the team work of DRDO and Indian Navy.
- The Indian Navy tweeted, “Successful test-firing of the extended-range BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile from INS Visakhapatnam, Indian Navy’s newest indigenously-built guided missile destroyer, represents a twin achievement: Certifies the accuracy of the ship’s combat system and armament complex. Validates a new capability the missile provides the Navy and the Nation.”
Additional Information:
- The Indian Navy began deploying BrahMos, which has the capability to hit sea-based targets beyond radar horizon, on its frontline warships from 2005.
- The BrahMos from ship can be launched as a single unit or in a salvo up to eight in numbers separated by 2.5 second intervals. These salvos can hit and destroy a group of targets having modern missile defence systems. BrahMos as a ‘prime-strike weapon’ for the ships significantly increases their capability of engaging naval-surface targets at long ranges.
A combination of the names of Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, BrahMos missiles are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture company set up by the DRDO and the Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
3. Orang National Park may see return of Gharial
Tags: Science and Technology
The Assam government had on January 3 issued a preliminary notification for adding 200.32 sq. km to the 78.82 sq. km Orang National Park, the State’s oldest game reserve about 110 km northeast of Guwahati.
- The gharial, wiped out from the Brahmaputra River system in the 1950s, could be the prime beneficiary of a process to expand an Assam tiger reserve.
Orang National Park
- Orang National park is the oldest game reserve on the Northern bank of river Brahmaputra in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam with an area of 78.80 sq. kms and it is an important breeding ground for varieties of Fishes.
- It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a National Park on 13 April 1999. It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park.
The park has a rich flora and fauna, including Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros, pygmy hog, elephants, wild buffalo and tigers. It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river
4. A star with a heartbeat & without a magnetic field discovered
Tags: Science and Technology
A group of Indian and international scientists have spotted a peculiar binary star that shows heartbeat but no pulsations contrary to the norm of binary stars. This star is called HD73619 in Praesepe (M44), located in the Cancer constellation, one of the closest open star clusters to the Earth.
- A total of about 180 heartbeat stars are known to date. The name 'Heartbeat' stems from the resemblance of the path of the star to an electrocardiogram of the human heart.
- These are the binary star systems where each star travels in a highly elliptical orbit around the common centre of mass, and the distance between the two stars varies drastically as they orbit each other.
- This is carried out by a team of scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt of India.
- The discovery is of vital importance for the study of inhomogeneities due to spots in non-magnetic stars and to investigate the origin of the pulsational variability.
This joint work is supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, and the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO), Govt. of Belgium under the Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA), project.
5. New Variant of Corona virus identified in France
Tags: Science and Technology
The World Health Organization said that ‘IHU’, a coronavirus variant found in France, hasn't become much of a threat since it was first identified in November.
- The variant was identified in 12 people in the southern Alps around the same time that omicron was discovered in South Africa last year.
6. ISRO gearing up for multiple missions in the year 2022
Tags: Science and Technology National News
One of the most anticipated launches of ISRO in 2022 is that of its first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan to Lower Earth Orbit(LEO). GSLV Mk III will be used for this mission. Glavkosmos, which is a subsidiary of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos is supporting ISRO in this mission.
Other notable launches include-
- Earth Observation Satellites EOS4 and EOS6 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- Earth Observation Satellite EOS02 on board the maiden flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)
- Chandrayaan 03 - It will be India’s third planned lunar exploration mission. It will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2 but will not have an orbiter. GSLV Mk III will be used for this mission.
Aditya Ll - First Indian mission to study the Sun. It is a planned coronagraphy spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere. Aditya-L1 will be placed in a ‘libration orbit’, which is about 1.5 million km from Earth. It is about 1% of the distance between the Sun and the Earth, where the gravity of the two celestial objects equalizes. Placing it in such an orbit allows the spacecraft to circle along with the earth, thereby constantly facing the Sun.
- XpoSat - The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is a planned space observatory to study the polarization of cosmic X-rays. It will be launched on a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). It will be a five-year mission, carrying a polarimeter instrument made by Raman Research Institute to measure cosmic radiation. The spacecraft will be placed in a circular 500-700km orbit
- IRNSS - Indian regional navigation satellite system
Other notable future missions of ISRO are-
- Venus mission,
- DISHA (Disturbed and quiet-type System at High Altitude) –twin aeronomy (uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere) satellite mission at an altitude of 450km.
- TRISHNA (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment), an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d'études spatiales France] mission in 2024 for accurate mapping of land surface temperatures across the globe. It will be launched in sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 750km with a mission life of 5 years
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Headquarters - Bengaluru, Karnataka
Chairman - Kailasavadivoo Sivan
Nodal authority - Department of Space under Prime Minister of India
Main launchpad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
7. Iran launches a new rocket into space
Tags: Science and Technology
- The launch was carried out by the Iranian Space Agency.
- The rocket was launched from Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal located at Semnan space center, 300 km east of Tehran.
- The rocket or the Satellite launch vehicle used for this mission was Simorgh. It is also known as Phoenix or Safir-2 (Safir was Iran’s first space launch vehicle).
- Tehran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020.
- Iran always insists that its space program is for civilian and defense purposes only, and does not breach the nuclear deal or any other international agreement.
- Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
- Iranian Space Agency
- Established in 2004
- Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), which was set up on 13 December 1958.
- Iran became an orbital-launch-capable nation in 2009.
- Some of Iran’s satellite launch vehicles are Safir, Simorgh, Zuljanah, Qoqnoos, and Soroush.
- Iran’s main launch center is Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal located at Semnan.
- Omid is Iran’s first indigenously-launched satellite.
8. Two Covid vaccines and drugs got approval in India
Tags: Science and Technology
- Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) has approved two more COVID-19 vaccines, Corbevax and Covovax, and an anti-COVID pill Molnupiravir for restricted emergency use in India.
- CORBEVAX vaccine, made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E is India's first indigenously developed RBD (receptor-binding domain) protein subunit vaccine against COVID-19.
- The nanoparticle-based vaccine Covovex has been developed by Serum Institute of India, a pharma firm based in Pune.
- Molaupiravir is the first oral medicine approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
- After this approval, the number of vaccines that can be used in emergency situations in the country has now increased to 8.
Other approved Covid Vaccines in India are:
- Covishield
- Covaxin
- ZyCoV-D
- Sputnik V
- Moderna
- Johnson and Johnson
9. NASA launches world's most powerful James Webb telescope
Tags: Science and Technology
- World most powerful space telescope, the James Webb telescope was successfully launched on 25 December 2021. It is more powerful than the Hubble space telescope launched by NASA in 1990.
- The James Webb telescope mission was launched by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. in association with the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency.
Aim of the Mission
- The aim of the mission is to seek the light from the first galaxies in the early universe and to explore our own solar system to understand the origin of our universe, as well as planets orbiting other stars, called exoplanets.
- Its mirror measures 6.5 metres (21 feet) in diameter — three times the size of Hubble's mirror — and is made of 18 hexagonal sections.
From where it was launched
- The telescope was launched on board Ariane -5 rocket of the European Space Agency from its European Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana in South America.
Where it will be deployed
- The location of Webb’s orbit is called the Lagrange 2 point which is around 15 lakh kilometers from Earth and it was chosen in part because it will keep the Earth, the Sun and the Moon all on the same side of its sun shield.
- Webb is expected to officially enter service in June.
Why was it named Webb telescope
The telescope has been named after the NASA director James Webb who was an integral part of the Apollo mission from 1961-1966. The Apollo mission of NASA was to put man on the surface of the Moon.
10. Covishield Effect wanes after 3 months: Lancet Study
Tags: Science and Technology
- According to the study published in The Lancet Journal, the protection offered by the Oxford-AstraZeneca (known as Covishield in India) COVID-19 vaccine declines after three months of receiving two doses of the preventive.
- The findings drawn from datasets in Brazil (for 42 million people) and Scotland (for 2 million people) suggest that booster programmes are needed to help maintain protection from severe disease in those vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, an English surgeon who named it after the surgical instrument called a lancet.
