Grimme

  Gene Editing is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is- inserted, deleted, modified, or substituted in the genome of a living organism. Unlike early genetic engineering techniques that randomly insert genetic material into a host genome, genome editing targets the insertions to site-specific locations. CRISPR is widely considered the most precise, cost-effective, and quickest way to edit genes. • Pros: Most uses of genome editing have been in scientific research –for example, to investigate models of human disease. Genome editing has the potential to alter any DNA sequence, whether in a bacterium, plant, animal, or human being. It is a powerful tool that can reshape the way society deals with many issues of healthcare, food scarcity, and the environment. Crops and livestock (e.g. increasing yield, introducing resistance to disease and pests, tolerance of different environmental conditions). Industrial biotechnology (e.g. developing ‘third generation’ biofuels and producin...

The Defence industry of India is a strategically important sector in India. India has one of the world’s largest military forces with a strength of over 14.4 lakh (1.44 million) active personnel. It has the world’s largest volunteer military of over 51 lakh (5.1 million) personnel.  The total budget sanctioned for the Indian military for the financial year 2021 is ₹4.78 lakh crore (US$67 billion).It has the third largest annual defence budget behind USA (US$732 b) and China (US$261 b).  It is the second largest defence importer behind Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms import. India has a domestic defence industry of which 80% is government owned.  The public sector includes DRDO and its 50 labs, 4 defence shipyards, 5 defence PSUs and 41 ordnance factories. India has a new defence procurement, acquisition and manufacturing policy to reduce imports and enhance domestic manufacturing. Post-independence, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was f...

India ventured on the path of nuclear weapons development after its face-off with China in the 1962 war, followed by China carrying out nuclear tests in 1964 and the subsequent years. In 1974, under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India executed its first nuclear test, Pokhran-I, dubbed a “peaceful nuclear explosion”.  Despite more than two decades of international arm-twisting that followed to make India relinquish its quest for nuclear weapons, India again carried out a test in May 1998, Pokhran-II, involving a fission device, a low-yield device, and a thermonuclear device. Its triumphant execution meant that - India could raise nuclear warheads in its fast-developing missile program.  A fortnight after the Pokhran-II tests, Pakistan also carried out similar tests, documenting progress with its nuclear weapons program; since then, its nuclear arsenal has expanded rapidly. In 1999, India came out with an explicit nuclear doctrine that perpetrated, among other things, to No firs...

From a crypto crash to the outbreak of a chip war, the year’s rumbles will be heard for a long time. The world of technology went through its internal skirmishes, and, sometimes, outright war. Here are the Top 5 Tech news of the year - • Happenings of 2022, in ascending order: Fifth is the Crypto Crash : Bitcoin and cryptos seem to collapse a few times every year, but this one seems different. It was 'A Lehman moment' for the sector. The total market capitalization crashed from $3 trillion in November 2021 to below $1 trillion. The implosion of "stablecoins"- Terra and Luna set this avalanche off, and everything culminated with the disgraceful tumble of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.There are some stalwarts still standing, like Coinbase and Binance, but the question here is - will there be a bounce, or is another crash or an Extinction Event awaiting in the future? Crypto will be resurrected, but in some different form soon, but for that, the industry needs to stop fighting...

 The beginnings of a renewable energy revolution rooted in agriculture are taking shape in India with the first bio-energy plant of a private company in Sangrur district of Punjab having commenced commercial operations recently. It will produce Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) from paddy straw, thus converting agricultural waste into wealth.   • About bioenergy: Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from organic materials derived from biological sources. It is the energy derived from biomass such as bagasse, cotton stalk, coconut shell and wood, plants, etc. Compressed Bio Gas (CBG): Bio-gas is produced naturally through process of anaerobic decomposition from waste and bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, municipal solid waste, sugarcane press mud, sewage treatment plant (STP) waste, etc. It is called CBG after biogas is purified and compressed, which has pure methane content of over 95%. CBG is exactly similar to commercially available natural gas in its co...

Astronomers have spotted three near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) hiding in the glare of the Sun. One of these asteroids is the largest ‘potentially hazardous’ object. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids or comets of sizes ranging from metres to tens of kilometres that orbit the Sun and whose orbits come close to that of Earth’s. Most of the asteroids in the solar system are in the ‘Asteroid belt’ between Mars and Jupiter. The 3 spotted near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are LJ4, 2021 PH27 and 2022 AP7. These NEAs are spotted between the orbits of Earth and Venus. Amongst the trio, one 1.5-kilometre-wide asteroid called 2022 AP7 is a Planet Killer.Any NEA over 1km in size is considered a Planet Killer. A Planet Killer could have a devastating impact on life and could also potentially lead to a mass extinction event. • Potentially Hazardous Asteroid: A potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) is one whose minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) with our planet is just 0.05 astronomical units. In o...