Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) has been selected by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to host South India’s first Infectious Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (IRDL). The lab will focus on research and diagnostics for bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections, enabling quicker and more accurate disease management. This is part of a nationwide initiative to enhance medical research infrastructure in India. The lab will also study antibiotic resistance, fungal infections, and tropical diseases.

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Silver nanowire-based conductive ink technology was transferred to two startups at NIT Warangal. The startups are M/s Chematico Technologies Private Limited (incubated at IIT Ropar) and M/s Vasanthbala Functional Materials Pvt Ltd (incubated at NIT Warangal). The technology was developed under a project funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It aims to reduce dependency on foreign countries and tap into the growing demand for advanced electronic materials. The ink is used in flexible electronics, wearable devices, solar panels, RFID tags, and more. The global market for this ink is expected to surpass $16.87B by 2032. India imports conductive ink worth $15,72,000 annually from countries like the US, China, and Taiwan.

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More than 30 dermatologists suggest renaming the fungus Trichophyton indotineae as its origin in India is unconfirmed despite reports from over 40 countries. Trichophyton indotineae is a fungal pathogen causing severe, treatment-resistant skin infections. It was named after India in 2020 based on isolates from India and Nepal. The fungus belongs to the dermatophyte group, causing dermatophytosis, which affects the skin, hair, and nails. It causes itchy, inflammatory infections on the groin, gluteal region, trunk, and face, affecting all ages and genders. It spreads via direct skin contact or contaminated objects and is resistant to terbinafine.

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The Union Cabinet approved a Third Launch Pad (TLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. TLP will support ISRO’s Next Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLV) and human spaceflight missions. It will serve as a backup for the Second Launch Pad (SLP) and support LVM3 vehicles with advanced stages. The project costs ₹3984.86 crore and is expected to be completed in four years. TLP will boost launch frequencies, enabling India’s space goals, including the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035 and crewed lunar landing by 2040. It enhances India’s capacity for heavier and advanced launch vehicles.

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The Prime Minister praised Indian space startup Digantara for the success of its Mission SCOT. SCOT (Space Camera for Object Tracking) is Digantara’s first mission for space surveillance and one of the world’s first commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites. It was launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission and deployed in a sun-synchronous orbit. SCOT is designed to track Resident Space Objects (RSOs) as small as 5 cm in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with high accuracy and revisit rates. It addresses gaps in existing systems limited by fields of view, weather, and geography.

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ISRO successfully demonstrated the restart of its Vikas liquid engine at the Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri. The test is a significant step towards developing reusable launch vehicle technologies to reduce future space mission costs. The Vikas engine, named after Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, was conceptualized and designed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). LPSC specializes in designing and developing liquid propulsion stages for ISRO’s launch vehicles. The Vikas engine powers the liquid stages of PSLV, GSLV, and GSLV Mk-III launch vehicles, enhancing their payload capacities.

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Swiss researchers have developed a gene editing technique to potentially treat Stargardt disease, also known as Stargardt macular degeneration. This rare genetic eye condition causes progressive vision loss in children and young adults, usually bilateral, involving both eyes. The disease is characterized by excessive lipofuscin buildup over the macula, responsible for clear central vision. The disease is more common in males and affects 1 in 8000 to 10,000 populations. Currently, there is no cure for the disease.

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South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope discovered a new giant radio galaxy (GRG) named ‘Inkathazo,’ meaning ‘trouble’ in Xhosa and Zulu. The galaxy spans 3.3 million light-years, 32 times the size of the Milky Way, and is 1.44 billion light-years from Earth. GRGs are massive structures that emit jets of hot plasma powered by supermassive black holes. These jets glow at radio frequencies and stretch millions of light-years into space. Once considered rare, GRGs are now being discovered frequently due to advanced radio telescopes like MeerKAT in South Africa’s Northern Cape.

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Camp Hill virus, a henipavirus related to Nipah, has been detected in North America, raising outbreak concerns. Henipaviruses are zoonotic RNA viruses from the Paramyxoviridae family, naturally hosted by fruit bats (Pteropus species). They can cross species barriers, infecting mammals, including humans, causing severe respiratory illness and encephalitis. Transmission occurs through infected animals, contaminated food/water, and human-to-human contact. Symptoms range from fever and headache to severe encephalitis, seizures, and coma. Henipaviruses block the innate immune response, aiding viral replication. No vaccine or antiviral drug is available; treatment is only symptomatic.

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China has successfully demonstrated artificial photosynthesis in space, with their astronauts on the Tiangong space station producing oxygen and rocket fuel using this technology. The astronauts used a process mimicking natural photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and rocket fuel components using solar energy. The experiment was conducted on China’s Tiangong space station. This breakthrough is considered a major step forward in space exploration, as it could enable future missions to generate necessary resources in space.