Science and technology January, 2015 1. Coral Bleaching ---Coral Bleaching is the loss of intracellular endosymbionts (Symbiodinium, also known as Zooxanthellae) through either expulsion or loss of algal pigmentation. ---When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues causing them to turn completely white ---A number of biotic and abiotic factors that leads to coral bleaching can be listed as follows Increased(most commonly) or reduced water temperatures—the warm water prompts the algae inside the coral to leave, which starves the coral and turns them white Oxygen starvation caused by an increase in the zooplankton levels as a result of over fishing Increased Solar Irradiance (Photosynthetically active Radiation and UV band light) Increased sedimentation, due to silt reun-off Bacterial infections Changes in salinity 2. CO2 Fertilization ---The enhancement of the growth of plants as a result of increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 ---Depending on their mechanism of photosynthesis, certain types of plants are more sensitive to changes in atmospheric carbon-di-oxide concentration ---CO2 absorption Tropical forests absorb 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 out of a total global absorption of 2.5 billion more than what is absorbed by the forests of Canada, Siberia and other northern regions, known as Boreal forests Forests and other vegetative cover currently move up to 70% of human CO2 emissions form the atmosphere during photosynthesis A new NASA led study has proved that tropical forests may be absorbing far more CO2 in response to its rising atmospheric levels than many scientist would have thought 3. India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO) ----Charge-less and almost massless; second most abundant particle in the Universe after photon ----The India Based Neutrino Observatory project (INO) is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world- class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approx. 1200 m for non-accelarator based high energy and nuclear physics in India ----the INO is set to come near the hills near Thevarum in Theni district and will have a 50,000tonne magnetic detector to study neutrinos ---In the 1960s, a Neutrino observatory located at the Kolar Gold fields in Karnataka became the world‘s FIRST experiments to observe neutrinos in the Earth‘s atmosphere; produced as a by-product of Cosmic rays colliding with its upper strata. However, the laboratories were shut in the 1990s because the mines were closed ---Objectives . Determination of Neutrino masses in the most significant open problem in particle physics today as well as the key goal of INO ---Benefits of the Project . According to government, INO will be the agent of transforming physics of this kind in India and will make it a global impact. The outcome of this investment will be extraordinary as well as long-term . Understanding the particles will help scientists to pick the correct theory beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics and address the matter of matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe . Research on Neutrinos would be path breaking in the field of science and will help in knowing more about the Universe . An important outcome of the project will be training youth researchers in large-scale experimental science Related Updates— 1. GOI has approved India based Neutrino Observatory project: With an estimated cost of around Rs. 1583.05 crore. This is proposed to be located in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu. This includes the construction of an underground lab and associated surface facilities at Pottipuram, Bodu West Hills, Theni Tamil Nadu. Construction of a 50 kilo ton magnetized iron calorimeter detector to study the fundamental particle called neutrino and setting up inters Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai. The environmental impact of the project is also taken into account before commissioning the project. Related Update Dated 25/03/2015 India based Neutrino Observatory faces new hurdle (environmental)---Just months after receiving the green light from the GOI, India Based NO dealt with a new blow by politicians and environmentalists who protested saying the site is in a seismic and highly bio diverse area, and that tunneling required for the project could affect nearby aquifers. Originally scheduled to be complete in 2012, the INO finally received the go-ahead in January this year when it received Rs 15bn Site was inside a mountain near Pottipuram – 110 km from the temple town of Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Pottipuram was selected after environmentalists protested in 2010 that the original choice – Singara village in Tamil Nadu – was near an elephant corridor. The INO is to be built some 1.3 km beneath the mountain peak, accessible via a 2 km-long tunnel. The lab will comprise three caverns – the largest, being 132 m long, 26 m wide and 30 m high, will house the 50,000 tonne Iron Calorimeter neutrino detector. According to physicists, the site is a barren land and not any forests or green land, and stated the hue n cry raised is pointless. That view is backed by a 2011 report from the ministry of environment and forests, which states that the forest clearance would be "notional" as "no forest land is expected to be occupied, since both the tunnels and laboratories are underground". The tunneling zone for the observatory is a "charnockite" zone – one that contains feldspar and quartz rocks – with no groundwater—this has also been confirmed by a study conducted by GSI last year. But according to environmentalists, the site is located very near to the border with Kerala, which is rich in biodiversity and groundwater sources. June17th, 2015 Hindu Editorial Writer: APJ Abdul Kalam The Possibilities of the Neutrino Search by India --- ----The project in discussion was initially planned to have located in the Nilgiris, but the proximity of a Tiger reserve in the nearby area made it to shift cavern under a rocky mountain in the Bodi West Hills region of Theni district, about 110 kilometres west of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Position of India in Neutrino Research India has been among the pioneers of neutrino research, the first of such laboratories having been established in the 1960 The world‘s FIRST deepest Underground Laboratory was established near a gold mine in the Kolar district in Karnataka an d known as ―Kolar Gold Field Lab‖/ 1965: it enabled researchers to detect atmospheric neutrinos. 1992: when the mine became uneconomical, the laboratory was shut down. ----With this we lost our advantage in understanding the most mysterious particle in the universe. Most of the advanced nations across the globe are working pretty dedicated to the neutrino search: among them United States, Russia, France, Italy, China, Japan and South Korea. Deserve special mention ---India not only is joining this league very soon, but also become a key player in global efforts in neutrino science. --- The Magnetized Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) being set up at INO will be among the largest ever in the world, weighing over 50,000 tonnes. *example: the FERMI lab‘s Neutrino study Centre at Chicago --- Neutrinos, first proposed by Swiss scientist Wolfgang Pauli in 1930, are the second most widely occurring particle in the universe, only second to photons, the particle which makes up light. --- This is the reason why INO needs to be built deep into the earth — 1,300 metres into the earth. At this depth, it would be able to keep itself away from all the trillions of neutrinos produced in the atmosphere and which would otherwise choke an over-the-ground neutrino detector. ---The Major Challenge of the INO: Neutrinos occur in three different types, or flavours – ve, vμ and vτ. These are separated in terms of different masses. From experiments so far, we know that neutrinos have a tiny mass, but the ordering of the neutrino mass states is not known and is one of the key questions that remain unanswered till today. This is a major challenge INO will set to resolve, thus completing our picture of the neutrino. The Importance of Neutrino in solving mysteries of Particle Physics . Neutrinos are very important in modern research because of the following reasons—they are abundant; they have a feeble mass and no charge at all; hence they can travel throughout the Universe at any corner without any interactions; thye could open up new vistas in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, communication and even in medical imaging, through the detector spin-offs. Nuclear Proliferation reactions/ Remote Sensing/ Defence and Security---Neutrinos can play a role in this by the remote monitoring of the nuclear reactors; The plutonium-239 which is made via nuclear transmutation in the reactor from uranium-238 can potentially be used in nuclear devices by terrorist groups. Using appropriate neutrino detectors, the plutonium content can be monitored remotely and used to detect any pilferage. Neutrino research can be our answer to ensure that no terror group ever acquires nuclear weapons. Detection of mineral and oil elements-- Can help us detect mineral and oil deposits deep in the earth. Neutrinos tend to change their ―flavour‖ depending on how far they have travelled and how much matter they have passed through in this way. ---Furthermore this property can also help us to detect early Geological defects deep inside the Earth.This might be our answer towards an early warning system against earthquakes. ----this is where Geoneutrinos are applicable. First found in 2005, they are produced by the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium in the Earth‘s crust and just below it. Rapid analysis of these Geoneutrinos by neutrino monitoring stations — a process called Neutrino Tomography — could provide us vital seismological data which can detect early disturbances and vibrations produced by earthquakes.