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April 4th week 2015 current affairs
Category : Science & Technology Current
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1) Moon formed 4.47 billion years ago, says study

  • The cataclysmic collision between Earth and a Mars-size object that forged the Moon may have occurred about 4.47 billion years ago, suggests a study of meteorites with ancient fragments from that cosmic impact. This finding suggests that, one day, it may be possible to find samples of what the primordial Earth was like before the giant impact that formed the moon, or to uncover bits of the impacting rock itself.
  • Earth was born about 4.5 billion years ago, and scientists think the moon formed shortly afterward. The leading explanation for the moon`s origin, known as the giant impact hypothesis, suggests that the moon resulted from the collision of two protoplanets, or embryonic worlds. One of those was the young Earth, and the other was a potentially Mars-size object called Theia. The moon then coalesced from the rubble.


2) NFC achieves highest nuclear fuel production

 

  • The Hyderabad based Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) has achieved its highest ever production of nuclear fuel of 1252 Metric Tonnes during the year 2014-15. It is an all time record to register a quantum jump of 300 MTs that is 47% higher than that of previous year. Automation of production processes has yielded good results. All the three Zirconium, Fuel and Assembling plants have surpassed their rated capacities. NFC will supply fuel for 1600-1700 MW nuclear-power in next five years.



3) India test-fires Dhanush missile

 

  • India successfully test-fired nuclear weapons-capable Dhanush missile from a ship, off the Odisha coast on 9th April.
  • The ship-based missile was launched by personnel of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from an Offshore Patrolling Vessel (OPV), which was deep inside the sea, for its full range of 350 km, according to Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) missile scientists. Dhanush, a maneuvering missile is a naval variant of Prithvi-II, and can carry a nuclear payload of 500 kg.
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4) Anesthetic Gases Contribute to Climate Change, Say Atmospheric Chemists

 

  • The concentrations of modern inhalation anesthetics like Desflurane, Isoflurane and Sevoflurane in the global atmosphere is growing rapidly and the concentrations of these gases have been detected as far as Antarctica. This was revealed by a study titled Modern Inhalation Anesthetics: Potent greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere published on 13 March 2015 in the online journal Geophysical Research Letters.


5) Russia says it could cut its

  • greenhouse-gas emissions by 30%
  •  Russia, moving ahead of a deadline for submitting pledges to tackle climate change has said it could cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 30 per cent compared to 1990 levels, subject to conditions.
  • In a roster of commitments on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change website, Russia on 31st March announced that limiting man-made greenhouse gases in Russia to 70-75 per cent of 1990 levels by the year 2030 might be a long-term indicator.
  • March 31 was a rough deadline for the 195 countries in the UNFCCC process to submit the intended nationally determined contributions. The intended pact to tackle greenhouse gases would be sealed in Paris this December and take effect from 2020.


 

6) Rare spiders discovered

 

  • Researchers at the Division of Arachnology, Koch have recorded the sighting of a huntsman and jumping spider in the Western Ghats. The spiders belong to the Sparassidae and Salticidae families. The research team included Dr. Mathew M.J., Fr. Jobi Malamel and Pradeep Kumar M.S. and were led by Dr. P.A. Sebastian, director of the Division of Arachnology.
  • The huntsman spider was sighted at Ponmudi, while the researchers found the jumping spider at the Malayattoor and Bhoothathankettu reserve forest
  • It has been given the name Stenaelurillus albus owing to the presence of a unique whitish area on the copulatory organ of the male spider. The discovery is unique as it has the presence of mating plugs that have been reported in only 17 species of the approximate 5,800 jumping spiders recorded till now.



7) Minor planet named after Vishwanathan Anand

 

  • India’s first chess grandmaster, Vishwanathan Anand has been granted the honor of having a minor planet named after him. With this privilege, Anand joins former world chess champions Alexander Alekhine and Anatoly Karpov who have had a similar honour bestowed on them.
  • The minor planet, now known as Vishyanand, was previously identified as planet 4538 and is located somewhere between the planets of Mars and Jupiter.
  • It so happened that recently, Michael Rudenko of International Astronomical Union was invited to suggest a name for this minor planet. Michael Rudenko, a chess buff recommended Vishwanathan Anand`s name which the committee readily approved.
  • Minor planet 4538 Vishyanand was discovered by Kenzo Suzuki in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on 10 October 1988 but remained unnamed for almost 10 years, until now.
  • A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a dominant planet nor a comet, and thus includes the dwarf planets. The orbital categories of minor planets are the asteroids, trojans, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, and other trans-Neptunian objects.
  • The first minor planet discovered was Ceres in 1801. The orbits of more than 540,000 objects have been archived at the Minor Planet Center. The term “minor planet” has been used since the 19th century to describe these objects.