Superconductivity
Category: Sc/tech
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc) researchers have presented further evidence of possible superconductivity in gold-silver nanostructures.
- Two of the most important properties of superconductivity are diamagnetism and zero resistance.
- The material becomes superconducting below a certain temperature (286 K or 13 degree C). And it can go up to 70 degree C.
- A superconductor is one which conducts electricity with zero resistance to the flow of electrons.
Global map for ground water
Category: Geography
- Scientists have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans — the first such analysis of its kind that may help protect both drinking water and the seas.
- The study showed that nearly one-half of fresh submarine groundwater discharge flows into the ocean near the tropics.
- They also found that regions near active fault lines send greater volumes of groundwater into the ocean than regions that are tectonically stable.
- They found that dry, arid regions have very little groundwater discharge, opening the limited groundwater supplies in those parts of the world to saltwater intrusion.
- The study found that in some parts of the world, groundwater could be polluting oceans and lakes with nutrients and other chemicals. Groundwater, for example, can carry higher concentrations of nitrates — a key contributor of the types of harmful algal blooms — as well as high concentrations of mercury.
- Understanding how and where groundwater gets to surface water could help policy-makers create better plans to improve those bodies of water.
- The study also found that climate heavily influences groundwater flow, and that cities in dry areas are especially vulnerable to salt water contamination of aquifers.
Pandas
Category: Environment
- It is a puzzle why pandas have jaws and teeth characteristic of herbivores but resemble carnivores in their gut and digestive enzymes.
- A study published in Current Biology shows that they consume the bamboo at a stage when it has the highest protein content.
- This puts them on the same bracket as carnivores that obtain 70% of their food from animals.
Bees
Category: Environment
- Bees that get dusty with pollen from the flowers they visit for nectar many times eat the protein-rich pollen. This defeats the interests of the plant, which would like the pollen spread to other flowers.
- Teasel (Dipsacus species) has evolved a distasteful saponin with their pollen. Bees when visiting teasel flowers simply gather the nectar and ignore the pollen.
Golden langur
Category: Environment
For the first time since it became law in 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will have non-human beneficiaries — the rare golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in a reserve forest in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district.
Maritime Museum
Category: International
- India and Portugal will cooperate in the setting up of a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal in Gujarat.
- The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme, with the involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State government and other stakeholders.
