QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC , 5 May 2021 – Science and Technology

Solution: d)

With the depletion of ozone layer, more UV radiation filters into troposphere. UV radiations lead to ageing of skin, cataract, sunburn and skin cancer in humans.

Many phytoplankton cannot tolerate the bright, unfiltered solar radiation at the ocean’s surface and are impaired especially by the high-energy, short-wavelength radiation in the UV range of the spectrum.

UV-B impairs photosynthesis in many species. Overexposure to UV-B reduces size, productivity, and quality in many of the crop plant species. UV-B increases plants’ susceptibility to disease by sometimes causing mutations or damaging plant proteins.

Solution: a)

Agricultural lime, also called aglime, is a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk.

The primary active component is calcium carbonate.

The effects of agricultural lime on soil are:

• it increases the pH of acidic soil (the lower the pH the more acidic the soil); in other words, soil acidity is reduced and alkalinity increased
• it provides a source of calcium and magnesium for plants
• it permits improved water penetration for acidic soils
• it improves the uptake of major plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) of plants growing on acid soils

Solution: b)

Cholera would not be possible without osmosis. The choleric bacteria populate in our intestines and begin to reverse the intestinal cells’ ionic orientation. In other words, it changes the way ions and, subsequently, water is transported in our intestines.

when our ions’ orientations are switched, the intestinal cells are no longer able to absorb water into the body. It actually flows out. Now osmosis happens in the other direction and water moves from our intestinal cells into our intestines. This is what causes cholera’s deadly watery diarrhoea.

This is why cholera can kill you so quickly, because it does not rely on how much water you consume.

Solution: c)

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint NASA-ESA-CSA space telescope that is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission.

The JWST has four key goals:

• to search for light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the Universe after the Big Bang
• to study the formation and evolution of galaxies
• to understand the formation of stars and planetary systems
• to study planetary systems and the origins of life

Solution: d)

A blockchain is, in the simplest of terms, a time-stamped series of immutable record of data that is managed by cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e. block) are secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles (i.e. chain).

The blockchain network has no central authority — it is the very definition of a democratized system. Since it is a shared and immutable ledger, the information in it is open for anyone and everyone to see.

A blockchain carries no transaction cost. (An infrastructure cost yes, but no transaction cost.)