Scientists have recently developed novel lithium-ion batteries with components that prevent them from catching fire and causing injuries to users.
Lithium-ion batteries are all about the movement of lithium ions.
The ions move one way when the battery charges (when it's absorbing power); they move the opposite way when the battery discharges (when it's supplying power).
Lithium ion batteries are more reliable than older technologies such as nickel-cadmium.
Nickel batteries appear to become harder to charge unless they're discharged fully first, it is not the case with lithium ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries don't contain cadmium, a toxic, heavy metal.
It has high energy density i.e. it stores more energy per unit of weight when compare to other kind of batteries.
But it still stores a hundred times less energy dense than gasoline (which contains 12,700 Wh/kg by mass or 8760 Wh/L volume).
It is used in every modern cellphone, laptop, tablet, and most other rechargeable gadgets.
ICESAT-2
The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) satellite is scheduled to be launched by NASA in the month of September.
It is a laser-armed satellite which measures changes in the heights of Earth’s polar ice.
It will measure the average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland and Antarctica to within the width of a pencil, capturing 60,000 measurements per second.
Its Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) measures height by timing how long it takes individual light photons to travel from the spacecraft to Earth and back.
NASA started the ICESAT mission in the year 2003 and continued in 2009 with NASA’s Operation IceBridge.
ICESat-2 will also measure the height of ocean and land surfaces, including forests.
Poshan Maah
Poshan Maah (National Nutrition Month) is being celebrated in the month of September as part of Jan Andolan under POSHAN Abhiyaan.
PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyan strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies.
It targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
Mission 25 by 2022 – Although it targets to reduce stunting by 2%, Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022.
It may include the following nutrition strategies and interventions
supplementary nutrition,
IYCF(Infant and Young Child Feeding)immunisation,
food fortification,
adolescent nutrition,
dietary diversification
maternal health
Behaviour change communication is the key component of POSHAN Abhiyaan for converting it into Jan Andolan (People’s movement).
All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.
It will be funded 50% by the Government of India and 50% by World Bank or other Multinational Development Banks.
Genetic Disorders
The Centre has prepared a draft policy proposing compulsory genetic screening of all pregnant women to prevent inherited disorders such as thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia.
Thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia are variants of Haemoglobinopathies.
Hemoglobinopathy is a kind of genetic defect that results in abnormal structure of one of the globin chains of the hemoglobin molecule.
Thalassemia usually results in underproduction of normal globin proteins, often through mutations in regulatory genes.
The abnormality results in improper oxygen transport and destruction of red blood cells.
It has wide-ranging effects on the human body like iron overload, bone deformities and in severe cases can cause heart diseases.
The disease has no cure and people living with thalassemia require regular blood transfusions as an effective measure to prolong life.
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
India and Singapore have recently signed the Second Protocol amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
The CECA was the first comprehensive agreement covering trade in goods, services and investments, which India had signed with any of its trading partners.
CECA involve tariff reduction/elimination in a phased manner on listed or all items except the negative list and tariff rate quota (TRQ) items.
Singapore is the second largest trading partner of India within ASEAN and India is the largest trading partner of Singapore in South Asia.
