Context : U.S. surgeons have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig in a 57-year-old man, a medical first that could one day help solve the chronic shortage of organ donations. About Xenotransplantation Xenotransplantation is any procedure that involves transplanting cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Xenotransplants were largely abandoned after … Read more
About Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) The EPCA a statutory body was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The EPCA was constituted with the objective of ‘protecting and improving’ the quality of the environment and ‘controlling environmental pollution’ in the National Capital Region. The EPCA also assists the apex court in various environment-related matters … Read more
About CRISPR Unusual but repeated DNA structures that scientists had been observing were given a name — Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats or CRISPR. In 2012, scientists discovered that CRISPR is a key part of the “immune system”. For instance, when a virus enters a bacterium, it fights back by cutting up the virus’s DNA. This … Read more
Context : ASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) jointly released a consensus statement announcing the commencement of solar cycle 25. As the star governing our solar system, Sun’s activities impact Earth and the overall space weather. The Indian Express explains how solar cycles are determined, and how they sometimes indicate a ‘quiet’ Sun. What … Read more