SCI-TECH JAN 2015

WEEK 1
1. Bombay Blood: how the rare blood type was discovered

blood is not O, A, B, or AB, but a special type called (hh)- a rare one first
discovered in Bombay in 1952, and hence christened as Bombay Blood.

People who carry this rare blood type, about 1 in 10, 000 Indians, can accept
blood only from another Bombay Blood type individual, and not from anyone
who is O, A, B or AB type.

Why is it called Bombay Blood, and how was it discovered?

-It was in 1952 that Drs. Y.M. Bhende, C.K. Deshpande and H.M. Bhatia of the
Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Mumbai published a note in The
Lancet (pp. 903-4, May 3, 1952) about two patients (X, a railway worker and Y, a
stab wound victim) who needed blood transfusion. None of the blood types
known until then worked for them. The moment their blood samples were mixed
with any of the above types, the blood coagulated or clumped up. The doctor trio
tried the blood of over 160 donors and found at last that one from Mr. Z, a
resident of Bombay, suited the type of both patients X and Y. This donor blood
type was then named by Dr. Bhende and others as the Bombay Blood Type.
Technically it is now termed the (hh) type of blood.

WHAT is biology behind this exceptional blood type?

-Blood contains red blood cells (and other cells that are not relevant for us here,
floating in a fluid called plasma. Red blood cells carry on their surface a set of
markers with which the plasma interacts. This compatibility or cross-talk
between the cell and the plasma is what makes each blood type special.
-The markers on the cell are determined by a master type called H, out of which
are generated types A, B, AB and AO. When blood transfusion occurs, the
compatibility between the donor blood cell type and the plasma of the recipient
becomes vital, else the blood may coagulate or clump up, causing serious danger.

-the Bombay doctors found that the hh type (Bombay type people) can accept
only from other hh type, and also can receive only from the hh types. This makes
the Bombay Blood types a very special and rare category of people

How did this happen and why are these people so rare?
-It is largely because of extensive inbreeding within the same lineage or closecommunity marriages, often consanguineous, such that the blood type or the
gene pool is greatly restricted

2.

ISRO prepares to launch IRNSS-1D.

IRNSS will have 7 saetellites, this is the 4th one to be launched after A,B and C.

3. Comet Lovejoy

Named Lovejoy (after the name of Australian comet-hunter Terry Lovejoy who discovered it)
the comet C/2014 Q2

How does it appear: As a tiny fuzzy ball. Australian comet-hunter Terry

Lovejoy found this comet just before dawn on August 17, 2014 on CCD
camera images, while using a Celestron C-8 telescope. Lovejoy was
observing the sky in Birkdale, Queensland, Australia. Its his fifth comet
discovery since 2007.
Sakthivel says comets hold the key to understand the origin of the solar system. They are said
to be remnants of planet formation in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago. They look
like dirty snowballs, and are composed of frozen gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and
ammonia, as well as water, and ice, in which dust particles and rocky material are embedded.
Comet Lovejoy has a greenish glow to it which is possibly because of the presence of
oxygen, he says

WEEK 2

4. NASA building Volcanobot to explore extra-terrestrial volcanos

The US space agency has developed a robot that is enabling researchers to put together a
3D map of a fissure a crack that erupts magma that is now inactive on Hawaiis
Kilauea volcano.
On both Earth and Mars, fissures are the most common physical features from which
magma erupts.
VolcanoBot 1 was able to descend to depths of 82 feet in two locations on the fissure,
although it could have gone deeper with a longer tether, as the bottom was not reached
on either descent.
In order to eventually understand how to predict eruptions and conduct hazard
assessments, we need to understand how the magma is coming out of the ground. This is
the first time we have been able to measure it directly, from the inside, to centimetrescale accuracy, Ms. Parcheta pointed out.

5. ISROs fire-retardant compound CASPOL

ISRO has come out with a low-cost and path-breaking technology to protect buildings,
automobiles, and auditoriums from fire.
It could even have potential use in the Railways, which is frequently impacted by incidents of
coaches getting gutted.
An ISRO spokesman here said its new compound, christened Caspol, is a water-based readyto-coat and easy-to-use flame-proof coating. claimed it has excellent flame retardant,
waterproofing, and thermal-control properties. It can be applied on walls, clothes, paper,
thatched roofs, and wood.
Caspol contains no toxic materials and is eco-friendly. The emulsion can be sprayed or
spread using a brush on surfaces that need fire protection.
A litre of Caspol can coat 1.5 sq meter of surface with a thickness of 500 micron, which is
practically adequate for fire protection and thermal insulation.

6. Insecticide resistant Super mosquito

Interbreeding of two malaria mosquito species in the West African country of Mali has
resulted in a super mosquito hybrid that is resistant to insecticide-treated bed nets.
Anopheles gambiae, a major malaria vector, is interbreeding with isolated pockets of another
malaria mosquito, A coluzzii.
The World Health Organisations World Malaria Report indicates that deaths from malaria
worldwide have decreased by 47 per cent since 2000. Much of that is attributed to the
insecticide-treated bed nets, researchers said. However, it was just a matter of time for
insecticide resistance to emerge, experts say. Now there is an urgent need to develop new
and effective malaria vector control strategies, Lanzaro said.

7. MenAfriVac: a vaccine against Meningitis

A meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac) manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Pune was

approved by WHO a few days ago for use in infants in sub-Saharan African populations.
The Serum Institute had successfully made the vaccine heat stable so that it can remain
outside the cold chain at temperatures less than 40 degree C for up to four days without the
potency getting affected. The vaccine was made heat stable by freeze-drying it.

WEEK 3
8. DRDOs Agni-V test (on Jan 31st) (P+M)

India's strategic missile, Agni-V, will be test-fired from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha
coast, on January 31.
(DRDO), which has developed the missile, will launch it from a canister mounted on a roadmobile launcher, which is a TATRA truck.
A gas generator at the bottom of the canister will push the 17-metre long, 50-tonne Agni-V
out of the canister.
The missile, which can take out targets situated more than 5,000 km away, can carry a
nuclear warhead weighing 1.1 tonnes.
It is significant that the missile will lift off now on January 31 because it is the day that
Avinash Chander, the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and DRDO Director-General,
will be demitting office. Mr. Chander is the key architect of Agni series of missiles,
all of which can carry nuclear warheads.

9. New technology to watch 3d effects without 3d glasses

Austrian researchers have developed a new kind of display that creates 3D effects without the
need for 3D glasses.
Scientists used a sophisticated laser system that sends laser beams into different directions.
Therefore, different pictures are visible from different angles.
he angular resolution is so fine that the left eye is presented a different picture than the right
one, creating a 3D effect, researchers said.
To experience the 3D effect, the viewer must be positioned in a certain distance range from
the screen. If the distance is too large, both eyes receive the same image and only a normal
2D picture can be seen.

10. Countries affected by ebola =>

-Guinea.
-Liberia.
-Sierra Leone.

11. Stemrad belt to protect you against Radiation

People living in the vicinity of a nuclear facility live under a constant threat of leakage and
exposure to radiation.

the Stemrad belt was created to protect people from life threatening radiation exposure.
The belt has been created for the first people to respond to nuclear disasters and it claims to
shield the wearers from the effects of gamma radiation by protecting the bone marrow.

Normal clothing can repel alpha and beta radiation, but gamma radiation causes severe
damage to the bone marrow stem cells. The body cannot produce white and red blood cells,
and platelets without stem cells.

his can result in severe anaemia, leukaemia, or acute radiation syndrome. These conditions
require bone marrow transplants, or else the patient is likely to die

This belt shields the pelvic area that contains 50 percent of all bone marrow with a leaden
harness. The 15 kilograms belt is made of differently shaped lead plates that have been
layered on top of each other, with Teflon tissue in between them to allow for flexibility. The
frame is covered with a fire resistant Kevlar fabric that ensures full protection against every
factor involved in a nuclear disaster.

The belt has a Geiger counter built in that works as a gamma radiation monitor, thus keeping
the wearer aware of potential dangers through a chirping sound. It also has a cumulative
dose decimetre card that displays a scale of rads a person was exposed to.