Hello and welcome to a fresh new episode of science monitor our weekly update on all that is happening in the field of science and technology in and around the country from the high-level brics ministerial meeting to the theme of this year's world food day and the contributions of nobel laureates of 2016 we have many exciting stories in store for you today but before we step into the details let's take a look at the headlines first fourth ministerial meeting of brics science technology and innovation successful in jaipur commercial launch of gm mustard state court orders public opinion changing climate and change in agriculture the special theme of world food day and in our in focus segment today we will discuss about the contributions of nobel prize winners this year and now the news in detail following the first brics young scientists conclave in bangalore the fourth science technology and innovation ministerial meeting was conducted on 8th of october at jaipur the meeting was aimed at as strengthening the scientific collaboration between the brics nations the meeting was chaired by minister of science and technology and earth sciences dr harshwathan who discussed various issues besides highlighting india's achievements in science and technology the nation is all set to fuel the scientific activities of the brics nation immediately following the first brics young scientists conclave in bangalore the fourth science technology and innovation ministerial meeting was conducted in jaipur recently the meeting which aimed at strengthening the collaboration between the brics nations was held on 6th to 8th october the delegates dr harshwathan described the five-pronged approach being adopted to improve brics cooperation the new strategy involves building implementation integration innovation and continuity i can tell you with a lot of satisfaction and pleasure that the progress that has been made in the science and technology area mutual cooperation and implementation of the various plans has been extraordinarily satisfying the jaipur declaration was unanimously adopted by all the brics countries the members have resolved to intensify diversify and institutionalize scientific and technological cooperation through the brics research and innovation initiative according to reports till date india's chairmanship has facilitated significant progress in many fields including photonics material science and nanotechnology biotechnology and biomedical sciences energy geospatial technology astronomy prevention and mitigation of natural disaster water and solid state lighting in order to harness the innovativeness of the youth india's proposal to establish a brics science and technology driven entrepreneurship and innovation partnership program was also ratified by all the member countries in a dramatic turn of events the supreme court of india has stayed the commercial launch of the newly developed genetically modified mustard in the country the stay on adhara mustard hybrid 11 or dmh 11 comes after a petition that alleges that gm crops to be harmful for the environment and human health what is interesting is while the researchers of delhi university behind the development of the gm mustard claim that the hybrid crop is completely safe the court has ordered seeking a public opinion before the introduction of dmh 11.

The debate on genetically modified crops has been an ongoing controversy for a while now the latest in this episode is the ban on the dmh 11 developed by the researchers of delhi university despite the government technical clearance on the gm mustard supreme court has stayed the launch of gm mustard in the country campaigner arunar rodriguez has alleged that the new herbicide tolerant gm mustard might cause a remediable and irreversible damage to human health and environment according to petitioners dmh11 contains the bar gene from bacteria that confers herbicide tolerance making the plants resistant to a class of vedasite containing glucosinate glucosinate is alleged to be toxic and makes farmers dependent on certain frugality the stay comes at a time when the gm mustard was inching towards a possible commercial launch as the government committee had cleared the seeds to be safe for food feed and environment while it was alleged that center was sowing the seeds on various fields and without releasing the biosafety dossier the gm crop team has refuted the allegations following the stay the supreme court has asked the center to take public opinion on such speeds before releasing them for cultivation changing climate has a direct and dreadful impact on agriculture thus affecting food security hence it is crucial that with the changing climatic patterns we make necessary changes in agricultural practices to increase the yield and save the crops this was the theme of the world food day 2016 while the theme aims to encourage awareness about crop protection and effective use of natural resources as the world population rises across the world so does the demand for food deaths have become common around the world and according to the global hunger index 2015 food security is a persistent and critical issue in many nations among which india holds the 25th position according to another report by 2050 the world population is predicted to be around 9.

6 billion and addressing the food and nutritional needs of this humongous population will be one of the greatest challenges on the other hand increasing temperature heavy rains drought and other changes in the climate has not only affected agriculture but also other means of food production like rearing cattle and fisheries under these circumstances it becomes necessary to make certain changes in agriculture which will help crop sustain climatic changes and ensure food security along these lines is the world food day to be celebrated on 16th october the food day this year is themed climate is changing food and agriculture must too as a major transformative step in agriculture we need to adopt methods which will yield more in less space and facilitate more sustainable use of natural resources this is possible only through creation of awareness among farmers regarding sustainable agriculture another plaguing issue of today is large-scale wastage of food which needs to be addressed at the earliest from harvest to the market food drains are wasted at every level reducing this wastage can play a huge role in ensuring food security also certain small steps like cooking only necessary quantities of food and reusing excess food along with maintaining the environmental balance can go a long way in ensuring food security well time to take a very short break here up next we have more science news keep watching science monitor welcome back after the break you're watching science monitor let us now have a look at some important science and technology activities happening in india and abroad in our next segment science express celebrating the world space week isro on 8th october organized an exhibition in vishakhapatnam city world space week is celebrated globally every year from october 4 to october 10.

Basic purpose is the real use of space for the mankind is not fully understood by the common man it is not spread across the world for this purpose united nation has declared that 4th to 10th october will be world specific and all the nations should celebrate the exhibition comprising several innovative demonstrations and various missions of isro and societal applications of indian space program was attended by students from various schools the exhibition focused on teaching students and public about the importance of space science the prestigious nasi sopas young scientist award in the area of chemistry for 2016 has been awarded to dr rajneesh kumar senior scientist from national chemical laboratory pune dr kumar was given the award for his outstanding work on developing technology and methods to recover methane trapped in natural gas hydrates the award given to encourage young researchers by national academy of sciences in collaboration with elsevier comprise a memento a certificate and a prize of rupees 75 000.

The researchers at the harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics have found that proxima centauri the closest star to our solar system undergoes a cycle of sun spots like our sun researchers also say that proxima b the exoplanet rotating around proxima centauri and predicted to be habitable like earth may be covered by a single liquid ocean and might have a thin gassy atmosphere computer simulations suggest that the amount of water on the surface of proxima b may be somewhere near the earth healing wounds would have been made easy as researchers at nasa have developed special electroactive bandages the specially designed bandage whose fibers are made of electroactive material called polyvinylidene fluoride are stimulated by the heat of the body and the pressure of cell growth and creates an electric charge to help promote the healing process of wounds if you look at this material it's in the form of a gauze like a bandage not only is it protecting your wound to reduce infection it's also helping you accelerate your healing process we think that this is a technology that although it was developed for aerospace applications might have huge societal impact the bandage also minimizes infection and related complications such as illness or amputation in an amazing new discovery a team of scientists from the academy of natural sciences of drexel university delaware valley university stanford university and the university of chicago has identified a new species of extinct armored fish the giant fish that has been identified from fossils unearthed more than 15 years ago measures five and a half feet long the fish belongs to the group of anti-archaea which are extinct fishes characterized by an external bony armored plates covering their heads shoulders and front fins the newly discovered fish species was named botro lepis rex nobel prize for outstanding contribution to various fields including science have been announced for the year 2016.

In the field of science and technology comprising medicine chemistry and physics seven researchers have been selected this year while the nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2016 was awarded to yoshinori osumi for his discoveries relating to a biological process called autophagy the nobel prize for chemistry was awarded jointly to three researchers for the design and synthesis of molecular machines and the nobel prize in physics was awarded to three researchers for discoveries pertaining to phase transitions so what are these discoveries and how will they change the world as we know it well this will be the topic of our discussion in our next segment in focus the long wait for the most prestigious awards in science is over the nobel prize for sciences for the year 2016 have been declared as always the nobel this year recognized the outstanding work of researchers working in the three major scientific areas firstly the nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2016 was awarded to the japan born scientist yoshinori ohusumi for his discoveries of mechanisms of auto fragile engineering eating hence autophagy literally translates to self-eating autophagy is a crucial mechanism in all biological systems autophagy involves natural regulated mechanism of the cell that destroys unnecessary or dysfunctional components and old cells the special recycling organelle involved in the process is called lysosome which is filled with an enzyme called lysozyme during the process of autophagy the damaged materials are transported to the lysosomes where they are degraded by the lysozyme yoshinori ohasumi undertook the studies on autophagy during the 1990s and deciphered the mechanism in yeast cells he also discovered the genes involved in yeast autophagy and showed that similar self-eating mechanisms occur inside human cells his discoveries led to a new understanding of how the cell recycles its contents secondly the nobel prize in chemistry 2016 was awarded jointly to jean-pierre savage sir j fraser stoddart and bernard l ferringa for the design and synthesis of molecular machines my work along with that of jean-pierre has been to find ways of making a new bond in chemistry called the mechanical bond and this new bond in chemistry now almost 25 years old but in chemical terms very new is more of a physical bond than a chemical bond and it allows component parts of molecules to move with respect to each other so either two rings moving with respect to each other or a ring moving along a long rod section of a dumbbell type component and this forms the basis for the construction of very small sub nanometer very very small molecular machines molecular machines also known as nanomachines are interesting inventions that mimic the functions of larger systems at molecular level essentially the systems consist of a complex combination of molecules that produce mechanical movements in response to an external stimulus some of the common molecular devices include molecular motors molecular propellers molecular switches etc thirdly the nobel prize in physics 2016 was divided with one half awarded to david j through less the other half jointly to f duncan m haldane and j michael costellitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter phase transition in simple words refers to the changes in states of matter between solid liquid and gaseous while topology refers to a branch of mathematics that describes the changing properties that occur step wise the studies led to the new understanding that beyond the commonly known solid liquid and gaseous states matter can exist in different and strange states the team analyzed ultra thin materials with two and one dimensions and using mathematics examined the unusual states of matter this includes super fluids which are substances that behave like liquids but have zero viscosity or resistance to flow vortexes that continue to spin without slowing down forever etc needless to say the studies by the nobel laureates have furthered the scientific knowledge to an unprecedented level well that is all for this episode of science monitor do tell us how to like our program well you can send your feedback and suggestions our email id is news at veganpassart.

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