Current Affair 1:

Country's first Dimethyl Ether fuelled tractor

 

News:

India’s first 100% Dimethyl Ether (DME) -fuelled tractor/ vehicle for on- and off-road applications has been developed.

The country imports most of its crude oil requirements to energise various sectors of the domestic economy. Dimethyl ether (DME) is a suitable alternative since it is renewable. It can be produced indigenously, and several countries, like Japan, USA, China, Sweden, Denmark, and Korea, are already using DME to power their vehicles.

To bring the country up to speed in renewable energy sector, researchers at IIT Kanpur developed a 100% DME-fuelled engine with a mechanical fuel injection system. It exhibited higher thermal efficiency and lower emissions than the baseline diesel engine.

The DME-fuelled engine emitted extremely low particulate and soot emissions and almost no smoke without using expensive exhaust gas after-treatment devices and advanced engine technologies, making it a viable alternative fuel and engine technology to adapt to conventional diesel engines used in our economy’s agricultural and transport sectors.

The DME-fuelled engine exhibited higher brake thermal efficiency. It produced negligible soot while significantly reducing HC, CO, and CO2 emissions.

The results are published in journals such as ‘Energy Conversion and Management’ and ‘Fuel’.

Current Affair 2:

Effects of microgravity on culinary methods like frying: European Space Agency

 

News:

Cooking food in space presents unique challenges due to the absence of gravity. The process of frying, in particular, was uncertain, as it was unclear if bubbles created during the cooking process would cling to the surface of a potato, creating a protective layer of steam and potentially leaving it undercooked.

Experiments conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) have revealed that frying works even in the microgravity experienced in space. The research could help determine what cooking processes and food will be available to astronauts as they explore alien worlds.

To investigate the impact of microgravity on frying: Not needed to read how it is done.

Current Affair 3:

Birds have inbuilt GPS in their brains which they turn on and off: Study

 

In a new study, researchers have discovered that migratory birds have the ability to ignore or process magnetic information, similar to how humans do tune in or tune out.

“Unlike Mercury, Venus, and Mars, Earth is surrounded by an immense magnetic field called the magnetosphere. Generated by powerful, dynamic forces at the center of our world, our magnetosphere shields us from erosion of our atmosphere by the solar wind (charged particles our Sun continually spews at us), erosion and particle radiation from coronal mass ejections (massive clouds of energetic and magnetized solar plasma and radiation), and cosmic rays from deep space”.

However, some animals use this magnetic field (mentioned above by earth) innovatively for navigating, just like a GPS, and also carry the capacity to turn it on and off.

Researchers discovered a region of the brain which is called cluster N that is used by birds to detect and process the magnetic field of the Earth. The researchers stated that Cluster N gets activated only when the birds wish to migrate and probably engage in their magnetic compass.

Current Affair 4:

Developing Nation Status Act

 

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has recently approved bipartisan legislation known as the Developing Nation Status Act, which seeks to remove China’s “developing country” status.

(Generally, international organizations provide developing nations certain rights and beneficial treatment. For example, the World Trade Organization provides developing nations with so-called special and differential treatment, which includes measures that aim to increase trading opportunities for those nations.)

 

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