Current Affairs - Aug 30, 2018

Central Government has constituted 21-member advisory panel on science, technology and innovation called PM-STIAC or Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council.
PM-STIAC is headed by K Vijay Raghavan (scientific advisor); other members includes VK Saraswat, AS Kiran Kumar, Madhuri Kanitkar, Manjul Bhargava, Shubhas Kak, Baba Kalyani, Ajay Sood, 11 Secretaries and 10 Ministers etc.
Mandated to advice PM on science and technology as well as to coordinate implementation of his scientific vision.

Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has issued an advisory to states and union territories to ban manufacturing, advertisement, and sale of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems including e-cigarettes.
Many states have already banned these devices including UP, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Mizoram.
As per WHO report as many as 30 countries have banned these devices ex. Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Srilanka, Mexico etc.
ENDS are considered as a great health risk to the public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women

India's first ever biofuel test flight was conducted by SpiceJet on its turboprop Q-400 plane from Dehradun to Delhi.
Developed countries like Canada, Australia and the US have already conducted these test flights. India will be the first developing nation to experiment biofuel test flight.
Use of biofuel has the potential to reduce aviation carbon emissions by up to 80%.

The third edition of Indian Ocean Conference was held in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam from 27-28 August 2018.
It has been initiated by Delhi based think tank India Foundation along with its partners from Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

European Space Agency has successfully launched Aeolus into orbit using Vega rocket from French Guiana.
Aeolus is world's first wind sensing satellite dedicated to map earth's wind on global scale. It is equipped with single instrument Doppler wind lidar (Aladin).

India inaugurated its first genetic resource bank for wildlife conservation - National Genetic Resource Bank in Hyderabad.
It is located in Laboratory of Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) facility of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology’s (CCMB) Hyderabad.
It will cryopreserve living cell lines, gametes, and embryos of endangered wild animal species in India

Iran unveiled its next next-generation short-range ballistic missile Fateh Mobin.
It is 100 percent domestically developed in Iran, capable of strike target on land and in the sea.
Its range is believed to be 300 to 500 kilometers.
This missile was test-fired by Iran during naval exercises in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in August 2018

Indian Army and Royal Thai Army are conducting the joint military exercise Maitree-2018 in Thailand between 6th - 19th Aug 2018.
Platoon level exercise comprising of infantry aimed at honing tactical and technical skills in joint counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations in the rural and urban scenario under United Nations (UN) mandate.

China has successfully tested its first hypersonic aircraft Xingkong-2 (Starry Sky-2).
It is using curring edge Waverider flight vehicle technology, in which vehicle that flies in atmosphere uses shock waves generated by its own hypersonic flight with air to glide at high speed.
China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) in collaboration with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation built this aircraft.
Apart from China only the USA and Russia are researching in Waverider technology.
Waverider flight vehicles are capable to penetrate modern anti-missile shields and also works well in defending against ballistic and cruise missiles.

Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Exam Preparation