Science and Technology Current Affairs – April 2019

2019-05-04

Science and Technology Current Affairs – April 2019

In this we have given, April Month Science and Technology Current Affairs and their other details. This is very important for all Competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, RRB, and all PSC Examinations.

Download Monthly Current Affairs PDF April 2019

Download Monthly Current Affairs Quiz PDF April 2019

To Get Topic Wise Monthly Current Affairs PDF Join Our Whatsapp Group….

Whatsapp Group Click Here

South Korea launches 5G networks early to secure world first

South Korea is become the first providers of the super-fast wireless technology by launched the world’s first nationwide 5G mobile networks on April 03, 11PM. Three top telecom providers—SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus—began their 5G services at South Korea.

Micromax Introduced AI-based electric motorcycle

Rahul Sharma, one of the co-founders of Micromax, has introduced an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based electric motorcycle that will hit the roads in June this year.

ICGEB’s novel yeast strain increases ethanol production

Compared with currently available strains, a robust yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae NGY10) that can produce up to 15.5% more ethanol when glucose or lignocellulose biomass is fermented has been isolated by researchers from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, DBT-ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, Delhi.

Cases of measles show alarming rise – WHO

The number of cases of measles, one of the world’s most contagious diseases is climbing, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO), stating that preliminary global data shows that reported cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.

IIT graduates convert diesel smoke to black ink

IIT graduates build a machine that could trap the particulate matter in the exhaust from diesel generators and ensure clean air is emitted by the engine. These carbonised emissions, so extracted, are then turned into ink that can be used as paint or ink for printers.
Their device, Chakr Shield, a retrofit emission control device for diesel generators, captures particulate matters, which is used to produce POink — the POllution INK.

IIT Madras team develops easy OCR system for nine Indian languages

Srinivasa Chakravathy’s team at IIT Madras has, developed a unified script for nine Indian languages, named the Bharati script. It has developed a method for reading documents in Bharati script using a multi-lingual optical character recognition (OCR) scheme.
The team has also created a finger-spelling method that can be used to generate a sign language for hearing-impaired persons. The scripts that have been integrated include Devnagari, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil.

Inventions / Discover

IIT Bombay’s bacteria preferentially degrade aromatic compounds

Using a unique strain of bacterium isolated from soil contaminated with petroleum products, IIT Bombay researchers can selectively remove from the environment toxic, aromatic pollutants such as benzoate (sodium benzoate is used as a food preservative), benzyl alcohol and naphthalene.

Record 17 foot long python captured in Florida

Scientists have caught a female python in the US state of Florida that was more than 17-feet-long, weighed 140 pounds and contained 73 developing eggs, and the snake is the largest python ever removed from Big Cypress National Preserve.

Researchers discover new organism which produce chlorophyll without engage in photosynthesis

For the first time researchers in a recent study, have discovered a organism named “corallicolid”, because it is found 70% of corals, which produce chlorophyll but does not engage in photosynthesis.

Universe’s first molecule detected in space

Helium hydride ion, the first molecule that formed almost 14 billion years ago, was detected by NASA’s flying observatory SOFIA towards a planetary nebula. Scientists have detected the most ancient type of molecule in our universe in space for the first time ever.

‘First’ 3D printed heart has human cells, vessels

Scientists in Israel unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels, calling it a first and a “major medical breakthrough” that advances possibilities for transplants.

Oil consuming bacteria found at sea bottom

Scientists have discovered a unique oil eating bacteria in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the earth’s oceans, In an expedition, organised by marine explorer and film director James Cameron, researchers collected samples from the trench. In the samples, they found microorganisms that eat compounds similar to those in oil and then use it for fuel.

A coil in the stomach for better TB treatment

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S., have developed a coil made of a nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol) loaded with antibiotics that can stay in the stomach for up to a month and release the necessary drugs in the required doses.

Kerala is home to two new plant species

Researchers at the University of Calicut’s Department of Botany discovered the new species of ironwood, Memecylon idukkianum, from the borders of a shola forest (a high-altitude evergreen forest) in Idukki’s Mathikettan Shola National Park.

Enzyme to arrest bacteria cell growth is discovered by CCMB Scientists

Scientists at the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) have discovered a new enzyme which helps in breaking cell walls of bacteria and hence, offers a potential for a new drug delivery route to arrest the anti-bacterial resistance through existing antibiotic drugs.

Kerala forests home to new spider species

A group of jumping spiders that mostly occurs in Eurasia and Africa, has been spotted for the first time in Ernakulam’s Illithodu forests by arachnologists from Kochi’s Sacred Heart College, Thevara. The team also found that the spider belonging to the genus (a taxonomic classification above species) Habrocestum is a species new to science.

World’s first malaria vaccine launched in Africa

The world’s first malaria vaccine has been launched in Malawi after concerted efforts of over 30 years to protect children from the deadly disease that claims over 435,000 lives globally every year.

South Korean company makes drinking straws from rice

Yeonjigonji, Seoul, South Korea based company, has developed the world’s first drinking straws made from rice. Yeonjigonji’s rice straws are harder than typical plastic straws. They are made of seven parts rice flour and three parts tapioca powder.

IISc team directly delivers protein into cells

Researchers at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have used a novel strategy to directly deliver proteins into mammalian cells. Proteins are big molecules and so cannot enter the cells on their own. So a team led by Govindasamy Mugesh substituted a hydrogen atom of the protein with an iodine atom to achieve a nearly sixfold increase in protein uptake by cells.

Jamia team develops ultrasensitive quantum thermometer

Researchers at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, have developed an ultrasensitive quantum thermometer using graphene quantum dots. The thermometer can precisely measure a wide range of temperature: 27 degree C to –196 degree C.

Genes of climate-resistant chickpea varieties identified

An international team led by the Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has identified in chickpea four important genes for heat tolerance and three important genes for drought tolerance.

Space Science

ISRO launches EMISAT Successfully

EMISAT, a satellite meant to provide intelligence to the armed forces, was launched from the Sriharikota spaceport by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). PSLV-C45 successfully injected EMISAT in a 748-km orbit and 28 other satellites in a 504-km orbit.

ISRO has planned to launch a string of ‘defence’ satellites from May 2019- early 2020

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to send up at least eight earth observation (EO) defence satellites between the span of may 2019 to early 2020.

Satellite Name	Planned Launch
RISAT-2B	May – 2019
Cartosat-3	June – 2019
RISAT-2BR1	July – 2019
GISAT -1 (New Series)	September – 2019
RISAT-2BR2	October – 2019
GISAT-2	November – 2019
RISAT-1A	November – 2019
GSAT-32	February – 2020

NASA’s Mars helicopter completes flight tests

NASA’s Mars Helicopter, designed to fly in thin atmosphere and low gravity, has successfully completed flight tests and is prepared for its journey to the Red Planet scheduled to take off in 2020. The helicopter is scheduled to reach the surface of the Red Planet in February 2021.

First ever image of a black hole revealed

Astronomers from National Science Foundation unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity.

Israel’s Moon Mission Fails As Spacecraft Crashes Right Before Landing

Israel’s Beresheet, the first privately-funded mission to the moon, crashed in the last part of its journey, moments before it was supposed to land.
The spacecraft aimed to perform a soft landing on the moon and would have made Israel the fourth country to do so and by far the smallest. Only the US, the former Soviet Union and China have done it before.

NASA’s ‘twins study’ highlights effects of spaceflight on body

A NASA study of a U.S. astronaut who spent a year in space while his twin brother remained on the earth is providing insights into the effects of spaceflight on the human body.
S. astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year on the International Space Station while his identical twin Mark Kelly, also a former NASA astronaut, stayed on the ground.

Lakes filled with liquid methane spotted on Saturn’s moon Titan

Using data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft before that mission ended in 2017 with a deliberate plunge into Saturn, the scientists found that some of frigid Titan’s lakes of liquid hydrocarbons in this region are surprisingly deep while others may be shallow and seasonal.

NASA records first likely ‘quake’ on Mars

NASA’s robotic Mars InSight lander has recorded a likely “marsquake” for the first time ever, the U.S. space agency said. The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander’s 128th Martian day.

UAE’s Hope Probe project bound for Mars is 85% complete

The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) have announced that 85% of the Hope Probe project has been completed. Hope Probe is an ambitious dream project of UAE to send a mission to Mars. Hope Probe is scheduled to be launched in July 2020.

App/ Web Portal/ Toll Free

WhatsApp introduced ‘tipline’

Whatsapp launched a ‘tipline’ in India using which citizens can submit possible rumours and misinformation for verification, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

TikTok vanishes from Google, Apple app stores after ban

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had asked the Tamil Nadu government to ban TikTok. As a Result, The Chinese video app TikTok is no longer available in Google and Apple app stores in India after the Madras High Court prohibited its downloads.

India becomes YouTube’s largest and fastest growing market

With substantial growth in India’s internet coverage and data growth, the country has become YouTube’s largest and fastest growing market with 265 million Indians watching the video-sharing website every month. In the last one year, the video-sharing website’s consumption on mobile phones has increased to 85%.

FB spent $20mn on Zuckerberg’s security in 2018

Facebook spent $20 million on its CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security last year — four times more than what he received for security in 2016.