Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Ban imposed on new borewells in 67 villages

News

• Srikakulam district administration in Andhra Pradesh imposed a ban on new borewells in 67 villages which come under five mandals of Laveru, Ranasthalam, Etcherla, Pondu and G.Sigadam where groundwater was exploited indiscriminately in the last few years.

Beyond News

• Farmers and others will not be given permission for new borewells with the implementation of ban under the Water, Land and Tree Act-2002.
• Several major panchayats were affected in Ranasthalam mandal. The ban assumed significance in Pydibhimavaram which is the hub for industries in Srikakulam.
• Other prominent villages have also come up in red zone where water levels have fallen below 100 feet.
• Srikakulam Groundwater Department, which conducted a detailed survey recently, has observed that the situation was very bad in Laveru and Ranasthalam mandals where the groundwater table depleted significantly.
• Many industries located in the mandal are also reportedly exploiting the water beyond the stipulated limit, according to sources.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Mangrove cover registers healthy growth

News

• The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017, released by the Forest Survey of India , shows that there has been a net increase of 37 sq. km of mangrove cover across Andhra Pradesh since 2015.

Beyond News:

• The increase between 2013-15 was 17 sq.km.
• The highest net increase of 18 sq. km has been recorded in Guntur district and in the case of Krishna, it is 11 sq.km.
• West Godavari district witnessed a negative growth (-1) between 2015 and 2017.
• The figure was arrived at with the help of satellite imagery.
• State Chief Wildlife Warden said that, protection measures being taken in the sanctuaries, afforestation taken up in the past few years are the very immediate reasons for the increase in mangrove cover. Those planted a few years ago could only be traced in the satellite imagery.

Regeneration

• The ISFR has concluded that ‘plantation and regeneration’ were the prime reasons for the increase in mangrove cover in the State, which has 404 sq.km of total over, including 213 sq. km of moderate dense forest.

Scientists grow sheep embryos containing human cells

News

• In a breakthrough, scientists have successfully grown sheep embryos containing human cells, bringing the ability to grow human organs inside other animals closer to reality.

 ‘Important step’

• Researchers had recently been able to introduce human stem cells into early pig embryos, producing embryos for which about one in every 100,000 cells were human.
• Growing human organs inside animals may not only increase supply, but also offer the possibility of genetically tailoring the organs to be compatible with the immune system of the patient receiving them.
• These were only allowed to develop for 28 days.
• The team has now achieved a similar feat with sheep embryos, with an even higher ratio of human to animal cells.
• About one in 10,000 cells in these sheep embryos are human.

Asteroid ‘time capsules’ help decode how life started on Earth

News

• Asteroids play the role of time capsules showing what molecules originally existed in our solar system, and may help explain how life started on Earth, a study suggests.

Beyond News

• Finding complex molecules in asteroids provides the strongest evidence that such compounds were present on the Earth before life formed.
• Knowing what molecules were present helps establish the initial conditions that led to the formation of amino acids and related compounds that, in turn, came together to form peptides, small protein-like molecules that may have kicked off life on our planet. .

Studying meteorites

• Study materials from asteroids and meteorites, the smaller versions of asteroids that fall to Earth, to test the validity of our models for how molecules in them could have helped give rise to life.
• NASA scientists have been analysing compounds found in asteroids and meteorites for decades, and their work provides a solid understanding for what might have been present when the Earth itself was formed.

Molecules and life

• Life could have gotten started with molecules that are less sophisticated and less efficient than what we see today. Like life itself, these molecules could have evolved over time.
• The overall structure can be very similar and would be easier to make, though it does not have the ability to fold into as complex structures as modern proteins.
• There is a tradeoff between the simplicity of forming these molecules and how close these molecules are to those found in contemporary life.

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