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www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs July 13, 2017 (13/07/2017)
Topic : Science and Technology, New inventions on Science & Health
DNA is the new hard drive
Scientists have successfully encoded a movie in the DNA of a living cell, where it can be retrieved at will and multiplied indefinitely as the host divides and grows.
It is the latest and perhaps most astonishing example of the genome’s potential as a vast storage device.
How was the movie encoded in the cell?
The geneticists ended up with a sequence of DNA molecules that represented the entirety of the film.
Then they used a powerful new gene editing technique, Crispr, to slip this sequence into the genome of a common gut bacteria, E. coli.
Despite the modification, the bacteria thrived and multiplied.
The film stored in the genome was preserved intact with each new generation of progeny.
What is CRISPR?
CRISPR, short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, was named “2015 Breakthrough of the Year” by the U.S. journal Science.
It allows scientists to selectively edit genome parts and replace them with new DNA stretches.
CRISPR is a collection of DNA sequences that direct Cas9 where to cut and paste.
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Topic : Space technology, Geographical Landmarks
Saraswati – a new supercluster of galaxies
A team of Indian scientists have discovered a previously unknown ‘supercluster’ of galaxies, some four billion light years away from Earth.
These superclusters are named as “Saraswati”.
Key facts:
This is one of the largest known structures in the neighbourhood of the universe, 4,000 million light-years away from Earth and roughly more than 10 billion years old.
Superclusters, a group of clusters of galaxies, are the largest structures of stars, planets and other heavenly bodies in the universe, and very few of them are known.
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Topic : Latest Diary of Events, World Organizations, Reports and Summits
India ranks 116 out of 157 nations on SDG index
The SDG index, that assesses the performance of countries towards achieving the ambitious sustainable development goals (SDGs), has been released for the year 2017.
Key facts on SDG index:
The SDG Index and Dashboards Report produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
This index shows that world leaders need to strengthen their joint efforts to realise the 17 global goals.
The SDG Index ranks countries based on their performance across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Performance of countries:
Sweden leads the list, followed by Denmark and Finland.
The United States ranks 42nd on the Index, while Russia and China rank 62nd and 71st respectively.
India is ranked 116th on the index with a score of 58.1, behind countries such as Nepal, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and China.
SDGs:
The SDGs are a set of 17 goals and 169 targets aimed at resolving global social, economic and environmental problems.
SDGs replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were adopted in 2000.
The main themes of the SDGs are ending poverty, tackling inequality and combating climate change.
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