Science and Technology MCQ Set 50
Showing question 246 to 250 of total 301 MCQs
MCQ Set: 50
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Question No: 246
What is the name of the intercontinental ballistic missile launched in US amidst growing tensions in North Korea?
- Minuteman II
- Minuteman III
- Minuteman IV
- Minuteman V
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile was launched during an operational test from an air base in the state of California, amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a single test re-entry vehicle was launched on 26th April 2017 by a combined team of United States Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen.
According to US Air Force, the ICBM’s re-entry vehicle, which contained a telemetry package used for operational testing, travelled to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, approximately 4,200 miles away from the launch site.
The ICBM test launch program demonstrates the operational credibility of the Minuteman III.
It also ensures the US ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of national security and the security of allies and partners.
The Minuteman III is one of three legs of the US nuclear triad, which also comprises strategic bombers such as the B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit, as well as submarine launched ballistic missions, provided by Navy submarines.
Though US Air Force Global Strike Command routinely conducts ICBM test launches from Vandenberg, the latest is still a great concern amid heightened tensions between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Minuteman III: Know More
Unit cost : $7,000,000
Guidance system : Inertial
Warhead : Nuclear: W62, W78, or (from 2006) W87
Launch platform : Missile Silo (MLCC)
Question No: 247
MIT scientists have designed a robotic system for 3D printing the basic structure of _________.
- An entire building
- The human body
- Computer machine
- None of the above
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
MIT scientists have designed a new robotic system that can 3D print the basic structure of an entire building, an advance that would make building houses a faster, less expensive process.
The building could be completely customised to the needs of a particular site and the desires of its maker. Even the internal structure could be modified in new ways.
Different materials could be incorporated as the process goes along.
The material density could be varied for optimum combinations of strength, insulation, or other properties.
Ultimately, this approach could enable the design and construction of new kinds of buildings that would not be feasible with traditional building methods.
The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large, industrial robotic arm, which has a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at its end.
This highly controllable arm can then be used to direct any construction nozzle.
Question No: 248
What is microlensing?
- Technique that facilitates the discovery of distant objects
- Method of using background stars as flashlights to detect planet distance
- Technique which has found may exoplanets and low mass planets
- All of the above
Answer and Explanation
Answer: D
Explanation
Scientists have discovered a new planet with the mass of Earth, orbiting its star at the same distance that we orbit our sun.
The planet is likely far too cold to be habitable for life as we know it, however, because its star is so faint.
But the discovery adds to scientists' understanding of the types of planetary systems that exist beyond our own.
This 'iceball' planet is the lowest-mass planet ever found through microlensing.
The newly discovered planet, called OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, aids scientists in their quest to figure out the distribution of planets in our galaxy.
An open question is whether there is a difference in the frequency of planets in the Milky Way's central bulge compared to its disk, the pancake-like region surrounding the bulge.
OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is located in the disk, as are two planets previously detected through microlensing by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
For the new study, researchers were alerted to the initial microlensing event by the ground-based Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) survey, managed by the University of Warsaw in Poland.
KMTNet consists of three wide-field telescopes: one in Chile, one in Australia, and one in South Africa.
Although OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is about the same mass as Earth, and the same distance from its host star as our planet is from our sun, the similarities may end there.
OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is nearly 13,000 light-years away and orbits a star so small, scientists aren't sure if it's a star at all.
Alternatively, it could be a brown dwarf or ultra-cool dwarf star much like TRAPPIST-1, which Spitzer and ground-based telescopes recently revealed to host seven Earth-size planet
Ground-based telescopes available today are not able to find smaller planets than this one using the microlensing method.
A highly sensitive space telescope would be needed to spot smaller bodies in microlensing events.
NASA's upcoming Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), planned for launch in the mid-2020s, will have this capability.
What is Microlensing?
Microlensing is a technique that encourages the discovery of distant objects by using background stars as flashlights.
When a star crosses accurately in front of a bright star in the background, the gravity of the foreground star focuses the light of the background star, making it appear brighter.
A planet orbiting the foreground object may lead to an additional blip in the star’s brightness. In this case, the blip only lasted a few hours.
This technique has discovered the most distant known exoplanets from Earth, and can detect low-mass planets that are substantially farther from their stars than Earth is from our sun.
Question No: 249
Researchers have created an artificial _______ for the first time in April 2017.
- Womb
- Heart
- Lungs
- Pancreas
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
Researchers have created a fluid-filled transparent container called the Biobag to simulate how foetuses float in amniotic fluid inside the uterus of their mothers.
Researchers tested five lambs with a biological age corresponding to 23-week human premature babies in the artificially created womb like device.
The premature lambs were delivered by C-section and were immediately placed into the womb-like device.
To replicate a womb, researchers created a temperature-controlled bag filled with a substitute for amniotic fluid.
They used an electrolyte solution to mimic amniotic fluid that the lambs swallow and take into their lungs.
The researchers then attached the umbilical cord to the device that exchanges carbon dioxide in blood with oxygen.
After four weeks, the lambs were seen opening their eyes, started growing wool, breathe and swim
This womb can help in development of premature babies in a uterus-like environment.
The womb-like environment will offer them a better chance of healthy survival.
At present, the premature babies are hooked to ventilators and other machines inside incubator and are at risk for serious disabilities such as cerebral palsy.
Question No: 250
Scientists have discovered the world's oldest fungus in ________.
- Asia
- Africa
- South Africa
- South America
Answer and Explanation
Answer: C
Explanation
Scientists have discovered what maybe the world's oldest fungus in South African rocks dating back 2.4 billion years.
The fossils suggest that fungus may have evolved from under the deep sea rather than land.
Drilled from rocks that were once beneath the seafloor, the fossils resemble living fungi and could push back the date for the oldest fungi by one to two billion years.
If not a fungus, the organism could be from an extinct branch of life that has not been described before.
The deep biosphere where the fossils were found represents a significant portion of the Earth, but we know very little about its biology and even less about its evolutionary history.
The fossils closely resemble those found in similar conditions on land.
They are made up of jumbles of tangled threads some hundredths of a millimetre thick.
There is a "clear possibility" that they are the world's oldest fossil fungi - twice as old as generally accepted in the fossil record.
The fossils were collected by drilling into ancient rock formed from lava that was once beneath the sea bed in what is now South Africa
Known as the Ongeluk Formation, the location was underwater at the time the organisms would have been alive, researchers said. The fungi may have colonised cavities of rock deep beneath the sea floor.