Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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Recently, Jamaica declared an outbreak of leptospirosis after the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa. Leptospirosis is a fatal bacterial disease. It is caused by the bacterium Leptospira interrogans, also called Leptospira. The bacteria enter the human body through tiny cracks or wounds in the skin, especially on the feet. It is more common in warm and humid regions across both urban and rural areas. The disease is contagious in animals and occasionally infects humans under suitable environmental conditions.

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Russia successfully launched a new set of undisclosed military satellites. The launch vehicle used was the Angara-1.2 light rocket. It was conducted from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Plesetsk is the world’s northernmost spaceport. The exact number and purpose of the satellites were not disclosed. The mission was carried out for the Russian Defence Ministry. It was executed by a combat crew of the Aerospace Forces.

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover recently detected electrical activity in the Martian atmosphere for the first time, marking a major scientific breakthrough. Perseverance, also called “Percy”, is part of the Mars 2020 Mission. It landed in 2021 inside the ancient river delta of Jezero Crater. Its main goal is to search for signs of past life and collect rock and soil samples for future return to Earth. It can detect organic matter, study minerals, map chemical composition, and closely observe distant terrain. It is the first rover to record sounds on Mars and send them back to Earth.

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AvironiX Drones, a deep-tech company based in Chennai, has launched a new agricultural spraying drone called AviSpray-10c. The AviSpray-10c is a compact and smaller next-generation spraying drone, designed specifically for Indian farming needs. The drone was developed to reduce the cost, operational difficulty, and manpower requirements usually associated with drone-based crop spraying. Unlike many drones built only in laboratory settings, the AviSpray-10c has been tested and validated through extensive real-world field deployments.

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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have developed an ingestible device that can directly sample bacteria from the small intestine. The innovation helps overcome limitations of current methods like endoscopy or stool analysis, which do not accurately reflect upper gut conditions. The pill-sized device remains closed in the stomach and opens only in the intestine to collect bacterial samples, then reseals safely. It uses an enteric-coated gelatin cap that dissolves at intestinal pH, allowing fluid and microbes to enter sampling chambers. The study was conducted in collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi and funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

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BharatNet is an ambitious Government of India project approved in 2011 to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. It aims to offer open and unrestricted broadband access to telecom operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cable TV operators, and content providers to enable services such as e-health, e-education, and e-governance in rural areas. Phase I is complete and Phase II is ongoing and aims to connect 1.5 lakh additional Gram Panchayats. Phase III is ongoing and focuses on future-proofing the network by integrating 5G technology.

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Researchers from Bose Institute, Kolkata, in collaboration with L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, have developed a peptide therapy for fungal keratitis, a severe infection of the cornea. They designed a 15-residue peptide, SA-XV, derived from the host-defense peptide S100A12, previously known to inhibit fungal growth. SA-XV acts by interacting with fungal cell walls and membranes, translocating into the cytoplasm, binding nuclear DNA to halt the cell cycle, and targeting mitochondria to induce apoptosis.

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Recent re-analysis of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Cassini spacecraft data suggests that Saturn’s moon Titan may not have a subsurface ocean as earlier believed. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest in the solar system after Ganymede. It was discovered by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. Titan has a radius of about 2,575 kilometres and is much wider than Earth’s Moon. It is the only moon with a dense atmosphere, mainly nitrogen with some methane. Titan is the only world besides Earth with rivers, lakes, and seas of liquid on its surface. It has an Earth-like methane cycle with rain, flow, and evaporation.

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VoxelGrids, a Zoho-backed Indian start-up, has developed India’s first indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, marking a major milestone for Made-in-India medical technology. The MRI scanner has been deployed at Chandrapur Cancer Care Foundation near Nagpur, Maharashtra, after a 12-year development effort led by founder Arjun Arunachalam. It does not use liquid helium, making it around 40% cheaper to build and significantly reducing operating and power costs. VoxelGrids offers a pay-per-use model, helping smaller hospitals afford MRI services without high upfront costs.

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The Delhi government, in partnership with IIT Kanpur, is set to implement an Intelligent Grievance Monitoring System (IGMS) to enhance governance transparency and efficiency. IGMS is an AI-powered platform that will integrate Delhi’s key grievance redressal portals into a single unified dashboard, enabling faster resolutions, smarter analysis, and improved public service delivery. Currently, citizens lodge complaints through multiple disconnected platforms, including Public Grievance Management System (PGMS), which can cause delays, duplication, and limited oversight. The new system will integrate these portals using secure APIs, artificial intelligence, and machine learning tools for seamless operation.