Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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The Government of United Kingdom has recently launched a 4 million pound – ‘Innovation Challenge Fund’ in India. The fund focusses on two major tech clusters in two Indian states, which are Artificial intelligence and Big data in Karnataka and Future mobility in Maharashtra.
The initiative, which comes under the UK-India Tech Partnership announced in 2018, is aimed to encourage collaborative research by industry and academia for developing technological solutions for various economic, social and environmental challenges in India. The successful bidders with the required proposals can collaborate with international partners.

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As a part of the USD 10 million commitment of Google to media literacy, the tech-major recently announced a $1 million grant for a non-profit news literacy organisation called Internews. The fund has been launched by Google News Initiative (GNI), to counter fake news and misinformation in India by building a strong network of senior reporters and journalists. The initiative aims to conduct workshops and camps in Indian cities to inculcate news literacy and avoid fake online information.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced that it has discovered a new natural gas field with 80 trillion standard cubic feet of shallow gas resources. The new gas field was named ‘Jebel Ali gas field’.
The field is located between the territories of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and reported to span around 5,000 square kilometres. This discovery would help the country become more energy independent, and self-sufficient. As of now, the UAE imports natural gas from its neighbouring country Qatar for electricity. The National Oil companies of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are set to further explore the field.

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We Think Digital is a global digital literacy program of the technology major Facebook. The program was launched in 2019 with an aim to overcome gender imbalance on the internet space.
Recently, Facebook launched ‘We Think Digital’ program in Uttar Pradesh, in association with National Commission for Women (NCW) and Cyber Peace Foundation. The program aims to provide digital literacy to nearly 1,00,000 women across seven Indian states.

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The Chinese smart-phone manufacturer Realme recently introduced India’s first 5G-enabled smartphone, which is named as ‘Realme X50 Pro’.
The flagship smartphone was also simultaneously launched in Spain. The phone can switch to 5G when is outside India via ‘Smart 5G’, as 5G is not completely available in India, yet. It can be still used in 4G mode, till it is introduced.

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The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) recently collaborated with NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) based module for Indian school students.
The AI-Base Module is to be implemented in nearly 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and is expected to reach as many as 2.5 million students. The module with activities and videos on AI concepts is to be introduced from 27 February.

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The United States has begun the first phase of clinical trial of a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus disease.
The initiative is supported by a global coalition founded by India and Norway. It is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The first participant received the investigatory vaccine in the trial, which is to enrol 45 healthy adult volunteers for approximately six weeks.

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America-based Private space agency owned by Elon Musk, SpaceX will send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time in May.
This was announced by NASA, which also revealed that the first crewed launch from the United States to the ISS platform since 2011 is to be sent through SpaceX. The space company will launch a Falcon 9 rocket to transport NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the station.

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The national task force for COVID-19 constituted by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended hydroxy-chloroquine as a preventive drug for high-risk cases, who are infected by coronavirus.
The medication should be given to the asymptomatic healthcare workers, who are under high risk by serving the infected patients. It is also recommended to asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases. The protocol recommended by the National Task Force is approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for use in emergency situations.

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Under the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, those drugs classified under Schedule H1 should not be sold over the counter. The schedule was introduced in the year 2013.
Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended the drug for front line medical workers and high risk-people who were in contact with the coronavirus infected patient. As common people rushed to buy this medicine in large numbers, there were reports of hoarding and shortage of this medicine.