ISRO established GIRI Radar System at Tirupati

On 21 March 2016, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) established the Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer (GIRI) near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. It was set up at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) which is an autonomous research institute of the Department of Space.

Features:

Ø  It is a 30 MHz radar system that will be engaged in meteor and space weather research in a comprehensive way.

Ø  It consists of a rectangular antenna array of 160 two-element Yagi-antenna, arranged in a 20×8 matrix, 20 transmitter units, 6 digital receivers including data processing systems, a radar controller, and a host computer.

Ø  Its primary objective is to carry out unattended observations towards studying the forcing from the sun like variation in solar flux, solar flare and magnetic storm on the ionospheric irregularities.

Ø  It also seeks to study unattended observations from the underneath atmosphere (e.g., waves generated by weather phenomena) on the ionospheric irregularities.

Ø  It will provide important information on the angular location of plasma irregularities during the onset phase and its relationship to background ionospheric state parameters and sunset terminator. 

Snowflake Coral growth off Thiruvananthapuram poses threat to Marine Ecology

Scuba divers working for Friends of Marine Life (FML) in December 2015 recorded the presence of several colonies of the fast-growing alien species Snowflake Coral (Carijoa riisei) off the coast of Thiruvananthpuram and Kanyakumari. Friends of Marine Life (FML) is a local NGO. As per scientists colonies of the snowflake, an invasive species, could pose a serious threat to the marine ecology of the region. The species was found amid clusters of rocky reef off the coast of Kovalam at 10 meter depth in Thiruvananthapuram and Enayam at 18 meter depth in Kanyakumari. The species was documented as part of a research project harnessing the traditional knowledge of the fisherman community to access the marine biodiversity of the region. The project was coordinated by researcher Robert Panipilla.

Cow cartilage may help fight arthritis

Scientists have developed a new 3D-printing process that uses strands of cow cartilage as bioink, an innovation that may help create tissue patches for worn-out joints in arthritis patients. Cartilage is a good tissue to target for scale-up bioprinting because it is made up of only one cell type and has no blood vessels within the tissue. The tissue cannot repair itself.

                Previous attempts at growing cartilage began with cells embedded in a hydrogel – a substance composed of polymer chains and about 90% water – that is used as a scaffold to grow the tissue. “Hydrogels don’t allow cells to grow as normally,” said Ibrahim T Ozbolat, associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, US.

This leads to tissues that do not have sufficient mechanical integrity. The cartilage produced under the new experiment is very similar to native cow cartilage. The mechanical properties are inferior, but better than the one with hydrogel scaffolding.

Blood test to help predict risk of heart disease

Scientists have developed a new way to calculate a person’s risk for heart disease over a 10-year period by analyzing their blood, a method with greater precision than the identification of traditional risk factors alone. When someone visits their general practitioner, they can get their blood analysed for cholesterol and triglycerides to get an idea about the risk of cardio-vascular disease. With additional information about BMI, smoking habits and blood pressure, this can be used to calculate their risk over a 10-year period, according to researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

2016 to be a second longer: US naval observatory

On December 31 this year, a “leap second” will be added to the world’s clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time, the US Naval Observatory has announced. This corresponds to 4:29:59 am IST, on January 1, 2017 when the extra second will be inserted at the US Naval Observatory’s (USNO) Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC. Since 1972, 26 additional leap seconds have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years, with the most recent being inserted on June 30, 2015.