”UPSC Prelims Bits Today” is every day published in the morning between 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and contains selective current affairs articles. ”UPSC Prelims Bits Today” covers various topics from UPSC Prelims Syllabus and is very helpful and time managing for UPSC Aspirants. The framing of this daily current affairs compilation article is easy to read and understandable also.
In the ”UPSC Prelims Bits Today” article, we focus on UPSC Preliminary exam-oriented current affairs covering various sections from leading National Newspapers, PIB, and other various official sources.
MOXIE Experiment
Why in news?
NASA made enough oxygen on Mars to last an astronaut for.
What is the MOXIE experiment?
- The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) is a small oxygen-generating device that landed on the Red Planet atop the Perseverance rover in February 2021.
- In day or night, at different extreme temperatures and in the wake of a dust storm, MOXIE continued producing high-purity oxygen.
- The NASA team is now looking to create a bigger version of the device, which would produce not only enough life support for a crewed Mars mission, but also enough oxygen to propel a return rocket to Earth.
- MOXIE requires pumps and compressors to suck in carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere as well as heaters that can raise the air’s temperature to 800°C (1470°F).
White Nose Syndrome
Why in news?
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a proposal to list the tricoloured bat as endangered.
Key Points
- One of the smallest native species in North America, the tricolored bats spend the majority of the year in forest habitats. However, when winter rolls around, they seek shelter in caves and mines to hibernate, which is when they are susceptible to disease.
- While Nose Syndrome is a fungal disease that attacks while bats are hibernating has brought the tricolored bat to the brink of extinction.
- The fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, can resemble white fuzz on a bat’s wings and snout, attacking bare skin while the animal is hibernating. The fungus causes the bats to become more active when they should be hibernating, burning off the little energy they have to survive the winter.
- Bats are essential for healthy ecosystems and contribute hugely to the agriculture economy through pest control and pollination.
CRISPR Technology
Why in news?
The genome editing technology called CRISPR has begun to deliver the near unlimited potential to improve the quality of human life.
What is CRISPR Technology?
- CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
- CRISPR-Cas9 is the most prominent technology that enables to edit parts of the genome by removing, adding or altering sections of the DNA sequence.
- The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that introduce a change mutation into the DNA –
Cas9 and Guide RNA (gRNA) - The technology replicates a natural defence mechanism in some bacteria that uses a similar method to protect itself from virus attacks.