📘 Daily General Science MCQs – Chapterwise Series 🧠
🔬 Chapter 4: Structural Organisation in Plants and Animals

Let’s try some questions on Morphology of Flowering Plants

NISAR Mission: A Landmark in Indo-US Space Collaboration 🤝

What is NISAR?

📌 NISAR stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar - the first Earth observation satellite jointly developed by ISRO and NASA.

📌 It uniquely carries dual-frequency radars: NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR), enabling unprecedented imaging capabilities.

Launch Details

Date: July 30, 2025

Launch Vehicle: ISRO’s GSLV-F16 Mk II, marking the GSLV’s first mission to a Sun-synchronous polar orbit

Launch Site: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota

Mission Highlights & Capabilities

1. Advanced Imaging: NISAR can detect sub-centimetre surface changes, regardless of weather or lighting conditions

2. Global Monitoring: It will scan Earth’s land and ice surfaces every 12 days, delivering high-resolution data across multiple domains

3. Key Applications: Vital for tracking climate change (glaciers, ice sheets), disaster response (earthquakes, landslides, floods, volcanic activity), ecosystems, agriculture, and water resource shifts

Strategic & Technical Significance

1. Cost & Scale: With a mission value of approximately USD 1.5 billion, it’s the most costly Earth-imaging satellite ever built

2. Engineering Feat: The satellite employs two radars that must operate in harmony without interference - a remarkable technical integration

3. Diplomatic & Institutional Symbol: NISAR underscores the depth of Indo-US scientific cooperation, demonstrating India’s growing maturity in space technology

Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

1. Climate & Disaster Management: NISAR’s high-resolution radar can monitor glaciers, forests, water bodies, and natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, and landslides - relevant for GS Paper-1 (Geography) and GS Paper-3 (Disaster Management)

2. Technological Advancement: Dual-frequency SAR (L-band by NASA + S-band by ISRO) marks a first-of-its-kind innovation, strengthening India’s space technology credentials under GS Paper-3 (Science& Tech)

3. Strategic Diplomacy: Symbolises Indo-US cooperation in advanced science - important for GS Paper-2 (International Relations) and Essay paper

4. Economic & Agricultural Relevance: Helps in crop monitoring, soil moisture mapping, and water resource management, linking to GS Paper-3 (Economy, Environment & Agriculture)

5. Environment & Climate Change: Direct applications in tracking deforestation, land-use changes, and polar ice melting - key for GS Paper-3 (Environment)

🦠 Rabies: A Fatal Yet Preventable Zoonotic Disease

What is Rabies?

🔹 A viral zoonotic disease caused by the Rabies virus (family Rhabdoviridae).
🔹 Affects the central nervous system (CNS), leading to progressive encephalitis.
🔹 Transmitted mainly through bites/scratches/saliva of infected animals (especially stray dogs, bats, cats).
🔹 Symptoms in dogs: aggression, excessive salivation (foaming), biting tendency, paralysis, and ultimately death.

Rabies in Humans: Is It Preventable?

🔹 YES — if treated immediately after exposure.
🔹 Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) includes:
✅ Immediate wound washing with soap and water or saline to reduce viral load at the source
✅ Rabies vaccine (series of doses) + Rabies Immunoglobulin (RIG) in severe cases (Category III bites) to neutralise the virus before it spreads
✅ Tetanus shot to prevent infection from soil-borne bacteria entering through the wound
⚠️ Once clinical symptoms appear (fever, tingling, hydrophobia, paralysis), rabies is almost always fatal.

🌍 Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

🔹 Public Health: Rabies causes ~59,000 deaths annually worldwide, with India contributing ~1/3rd of global deaths.
🔹 Policy Link: National Action Plan for Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) aims to make India rabies-free by 2030 through the One Health approach (human + animal health).
🔹 Ethics & Essay relevance: Links to stray dog management, vaccination drives, and preventive healthcare.

🚗⚡ India Achieves E20 Blending Target!

📅 2025 Milestone: India has successfully rolled out E20 petrol (20% ethanol + 80% petrol) at fuel stations across the country — 5 years ahead of the original 2030 target.

🔹 Benefits of E20 Blending

• Energy Security: Cuts oil import dependence, saving foreign exchange.
• Environmental Gains: Lowers CO₂ emissions and improves air quality.
• Farmer Welfare: Expands market for sugarcane & surplus grains, boosting rural income.
• Green Economy: Supports India’s commitment to net-zero by 2070.

🚗 Issues in Vehicles & Ethanol Blending

1. Engine Compatibility & Efficiency
• Most vehicles on Indian roads are calibrated for E10 petrol.
• Concerns when such vehicles run on E20:
a) Mileage reduction: Fuel economy falls by 2-5% compared to E10.
b) Engine wear & corrosion: Ethanol is hygroscopic (absorbs water) → corrodes metals, degrades rubber/plastic parts (hoses, gaskets, seals).
c) Performance issues: Higher ethanol blends may cause cold start troubles, rough idling, and faster deterioration in older engines.

2. Flex-Fuel Vehicle (FFV) Readiness
• FFVs are specially designed to run smoothly on E0-E85 blends.
• Challenges FFVs face in India:
a) Engineering redesign: Stronger fuel lines, corrosion-resistant parts, and upgraded calibration are needed.
b) Higher cost of production: Automakers are reluctant without clear incentives.
c) Consumer hesitation: If fuel prices remain high and mileage drops, demand for FFVs may stay limited.

3. Consumer Concerns
• Price paradox: Ethanol blending does not guarantee lower petrol prices → consumers may end up paying more per km due to lower mileage.
• Warranty & reliability: Car/bike manufacturers are hesitant to provide warranty cover for ethanol-related engine damage.
• Awareness gap: Many consumers are unaware of ethanol compatibility requirements, leading to misuse of fuels in non-compatible engines.

🌍 UPSC Relevance

• Directly linked to Energy Security, Climate Commitments (Net Zero 2070), Farmer Welfare, and Technological Adaptation in the auto sector.
• Illustrates the policy-industry-consumer triangle in energy transition debates.

🧠🔥 Brain-Eating Amoeba Surge in Kerala

🔹 What is Brain-Eating Amoeba?

• Caused by Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeba found in warm freshwater (e.g., ponds, lakes, wells, unchlorinated pools).
• Leads to Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) → rare but almost always fatal brain infection.
• Entry route: through the nose, when people swim/bathe or use contaminated water for nasal cleansing.
• ❌ Not spread by drinking water.

🔹 Treatment

• Miltefosine (an anti-parasitic drug) is being used in Kerala as part of a treatment cocktail along with other drugs like amphotericin B (an anti-fungal drug), early in the course of disease. This is helping improve survival significantly.

🔹 Symptoms in Humans

• Incubation: 1-12 days after exposure.
• Early: Headache, fever, nausea, vomiting.
• Progression: Neck stiffness, seizures, hallucinations, coma.
• Mortality: >95% once symptoms appear.

🔹 Prevention & Public Health Measures

✅ Avoid swimming/bathing in warm, stagnant/unclean water.
✅ Use boiled or sterilised water for nasal cleansing / ritual practices.
✅ Ensure proper chlorination of wells, tanks, and public baths.
✅ Early detection + rapid treatment is critical.

🌍 Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants

• Public Health: Highlights gaps in surveillance & water safety systems.
• One Health Approach: Links environment, water management, and human health.
• Climate Change Angle: Warming waters increase amoeba habitats → new health risks.
• Policy & Governance: Importance of awareness campaigns, water safety legislation, monitoring responsibilities, accountability.

🧪⚠️ Bromism & ChatGPT Health Advice — A Modern Cautionary Tale

🔹The Case: ChatGPT-Driven Bromide Poisoning

• A 60-year-old man replaced table salt with sodium bromide after ChatGPT suggested it as a “low-sodium alternative.”
• Result: Severe bromide toxicity and psychiatric symptoms.
• Doctors detected pseudohyperchloremia (false high chloride levels) — a diagnostic clue for bromism.

🔹 What is Bromism?

• Bromism is chronic bromide poisoning, caused by long-term intake of compounds like sodium bromide or potassium bromide.
• Historically used as sedatives & anticonvulsants, now discontinued due to neurotoxicity.
• Symptoms: Confusion, hallucinations, fatigue, tremors, paranoia, speech or coordination problems — due to central nervous system (CNS) depression.

🔹 Why This Matters for UPSC Aspirants

• Health & Technology: Illustrates risks when AI tools are used for self-medication without medical oversight.
• Ethics & Governance: Need for regulation and safe boundaries for AI in health sectors.
• Policy Link: Frameworks on telemedicine and digital health (e.g., Telemedicine Practice Guidelines of 2020 and Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act of 2018 (DISHA)), and AI ethics must address such misuse.