Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2023

GS Paper - 3 (Science and Technology)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2023 has gone to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for “the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”. These smallest components of nanotechnology now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and can also guide surgeons when they remove tumour tissue, among many other things

What are quantum dots?

• The properties of any element depend on how many electrons it has. However, when matter is really tiny, of nano-dimensions, its properties depend on its size.
• The smaller a particle, the more its electrons are squeezed together, and that affects its properties. Such particles, whose size determines their behaviour, are called quantum dots.
• While in theory, scientists had known for long that such particles could exist, the three Nobel laureates, through their work over decades — Bawendi did his postdoctoral research under Brus — succeeded in creating quantum dots of a high quality, which could be put to practical use.

What can quantum dots be used in?

• The luminous properties of quantum dots are utilised in computer and television screens based on QLED technology, where the Q stands for quantum dot.
• Similarly, quantum dots are used in some LED lamps to adjust the cold light of the diodes. The light can then become as energising as daylight or as calming as the warm glow from a dimmed bulb.”
• The light from quantum dots can also be used in biochemistry and medicine. “Biochemists attach quantum dots to biomolecules to map cells and organs.
• Doctors have begun investigating the potential use of quantum dots to track tumour tissue in the body. Chemists instead use the catalytic properties of quantum dots to drive chemical reactions.

UAPA sections invoked against NewsClick

GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

The Delhi Police has sealed the office of news portal NewsClick, alleging it received money for pro-China propaganda. The FIR against the portal invokes the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the stringent anti-terror law. The main allegation in the FIR against NewsClick is that the newsportal allegedly received illegal funding from China routed through the United States.

Which section of UAPA was invoked?

• The FIR has been registered under various Sections of the UAPA. Among the key provisions invoked is Section 16, which prescribes punishment for terrorist acts.
• Section 15 of the UAPA defines “terrorist act” and is punishable with imprisonment for a term of at least five years to life.
• In case the terrorist act results in death, the punishment is death or imprisonment for life. This is an offence that describes violent acts that are serious in nature.
• The provision reads: “Whoever does any act with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, [economic security], or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country,…”
• The other provisions invoked against NewsClick include Section 13 (unlawful activities), 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist acts), 18 (conspiracy), and 22 (C) (offences by companies, trusts) of the UAPA, along with IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different group) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

What is the UAPA framework?

• UAPA presents an alternate criminal law framework where the general principles of criminal law are reversed.
• By relaxing timelines for the state to file chargesheets and its stringent conditions for bail, the UAPA gives the state more powers compared with the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Enacted in 1967, the test for denying bail under the UAPA is that the court must be satisfied that a “prima facie” case exists against the accused.
• In 2019, the SC defined prima facie narrowly to mean that the courts must not analyse evidence or circumstances, but look at the “totality of the case” presented by the state.
• In NIA v Zahoor Ahmed Watali, the SC read the bail provisions strictly, holding that courts must only be satisfied that a prima facie case can be made out to deny bail, and not consider the merit or the admissibility of the evidence.

New Horizons mission explores Kuiper belt

GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

NASA’s New Horizons mission was an interplanetary probe launched in 2006. The mission was originally scheduled to end in 2024 but now, the American space agency is deciding to extend the mission’s life span till it exits the Kuiper, which could happen in 2028 or 2029.

More about the Mission

• The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide extraordinary opportunities for multidisciplinary science for NASA and the scientific community.
• The agency decided that it was best to extend operations for New Horizons until the spacecraft exits the Kuiper Belt, which is expected in 2028 through 2029.
• The New Horizon spacecraft was launched in 2006 and its primary mission was to explore the dwarf planet Pluto.
• But the spacecraft continued to venture further out and conducted a flyby of the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth.
• Both Pluto and Arrokoth are in the Kuiper belt, which is a donut-shaped region that consists of icy bodies.
• The belt could contain millions of frozen leftovers from the solar system. Starting 2025, New Horizons will focus on obtaining heliophysics data, which can be easily gathered when the spacecraft is in its extended low-activity mode of operations
• The future of the mission was in doubt after the space agency decided to extend the mission to 2024, proposing to transfer it to the NASA heliophysics division after that.