Subject : Science and tech Context : World Health Organization (WHO) made available interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial — a large-scale global trial studying the effectiveness of various repurposed therapies in Covid-19 treatment. The findings put a dampener on expectations from these therapies including remdesivir, once seen as promising. Concept : The Solidarity […]
Subject: Science and tech Context : New Shephard has been named after astronaut Alan Shephard, the first American to go to space, and offers flights to space over 100 km above the Earth and accommodation for payloads. Concept : Blue Origin( company which built new shephard) will eventually allow space tourists to experience microgravity by […]
Subject: Science and tech Context : Swedish-British drug giant AstraZeneca recently said it was moving an antibody combination developed for Covid-19 treatment into late-stage human trials. The firm has also received around $486 million from the US government. Concept : About: AZD7442, a similar class of the drug cocktail used to treat US President recently, […]
Subject: Science and tech Context :A Regional Raw Drug Repository (RRDR) for Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines for the southern plateau region is being set up at the National Institute of Siddha, Chennai. Concept: The repository will serve as a library-cum-museum and house database of raw drugs of Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in the southern […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: Union Health Ministry has said that the e-VIN network is going to be repurposed for the delivery of the COVID-19 Vaccine. Concept : It is an indigenously developed technology system that digitizes vaccine stocks and monitors the temperature of the cold chain through a smartphone application. eVIN aims to support […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: Leading Intelligence agencies has written to tech companies to seek a way around encryption. Concept: End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecom providers, Internet providers, and even the provider of the […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: The Department of Computer Science and Engineering of IIT-Madras recently announced that it had developed a microprocessor christened (named) ‘Moushik’. Concept: It is a processor-cum-system on a chip that can cater to the rapidly-growing IoT devices. It was conceptualised, designed and developed at Pratap Subrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and […]
Subject: Science and tech Context :The BCG vaccine joins a handful of drugs like remdesivir, favipiravir, dexamethasone that have been repurposed to treat Covid-19. Concept : Drug repurposing is using an approved drug for the treatment of a disease or medical condition other than what it is approved for. In surprise pandemics like COVID-19 that […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: Government has announced a new organisation, IN-SPACe, part of reforms to increase private participation in the space sector. IN-SPACe is the second space organisation created by the government in the last two years Concept: Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre(IN-SPACe) will act as a single-point interface between Indian Space […]
Subject : Science and tech How does hydrogen fuel cell work? A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen in the case of Hydrogen Fuel Cell) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. A Fuel Cell consists of an […]