Day-551 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | GENERAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Answer: A
Explanation
The birth control pill is a type of oral contraception that uses hormones to prevent pregnancy. The hormones in birth control pills prevent pregnancy by blocking conception when sperm fertilizes an egg. They also cause changes in the uterus so that it can’t support a pregnancy. Oral contraceptive pills are either combined estrogen-progesterone (also called combined oral contraceptive pill- COC) or progesterone-only pill (POP).
● Mechanism 1 is correct: One of the mechanisms targeted by oral contraceptives is to stop ovulation. Ovulation is the release of eggs from the ovaries of females. Thus, there is no egg for fertilization which prevents pregnancy.
● Mechanism 2 is incorrect: Thickening of cervical mucus is another mechanism. This creates a barrier that prevents sperm from entering the uterus and eventually reaching the egg.
● Mechanism 3 is incorrect: Thinning of uterus lining is also achieved through oral contraceptive pills. This prevents fertilized eggs from getting attached and growing into a fetus.

Answer: B
Explanation
A project called Worldcoin has been launched by OpenAI, an Artificial Intelligence company. The project claims to be building the world’s largest identity and financial public network.
● Statement 1 is correct: The project aims to introduce Worldcoin token as a new cryptocurrency that offers a new and unique method for identification to reduce the risk of fraud. Worldcoin token (WLD) can be used as a medium of purchases and transfers globally using digital assets and traditional currencies.
● Statement 2 is incorrect: Iris scan (eye) is essential to sign up to the network. It will be done through a ball-like object called an ‘orb’. Once the orb’s iris scan verifies the person is a real human, it creates a World ID for them. The biometric data would help differentiate between humans and Artificial Intelligence systems and prevent duplication of IDs from the same person. It can then be used as an ID in a variety of everyday applications – such as a cryptocurrency wallet – without revealing the user’s identity.
● Statement 3 is correct: The Worldcoin protocol is intended to be the world’s largest identity and financial public network, open to everyone regardless of their country, background, or economic status.

Answer: A
Explanation
● Statement 1 is incorrect: Formation water is water that appears during the drilling process for oil and gas extraction. It is very dense and viscous.
● Statement 2 is correct: The Formation water consists of oily components, brine solutions, and solvents that are used during various phases in the oil industry. It has a high salt content which includes sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium salts.
● Statement 3 is incorrect: There are ways and means to treat formation water. It depends on the usage of the treated product water.
Treatment of the formation water
The process can be summed up in four stages:
1. Separation: removing crude, oil and other contaminants in the water that can clog filters downstream.
2. Suspended Solid Removal: eliminating small size particles remaining.
3. Dissolved solid removal: using low- and high-pressure membranes.
4. Conditioning: depending on the quality of the water it may be a post treatment station for disinfection or activated carbon filtration.
More about formation water
● If formation water is released without treatment, it can lead to the degradation of water quality, posing a significant threat to aquatic life.
● The toxins in formation water can also bio-magnify into the human food chain, if fish and other aquatic products, harvested from the affected area, are consumed.

Answer: B
Explanation
● The Turing Test is used in artificial intelligence (AI) for determining whether a computer is capable of thinking like a human being. The test is named after Alan Turing, the founder of the Turing Test and an English computer scientist, cryptanalyst, mathematician, and theoretical biologist.
● The original Turing Test requires three terminals, each of which is physically separated from the other two. One terminal is operated by a computer, while the other two are operated by humans.
● During the test, one of the human being functions as the questioner, while the second human and the computer function as respondents. The questioner interrogates the respondents within a specific subject area, using a specified format and context. After a preset length of time or number of questions, the questioner is then asked to decide which respondent was human and which was a computer.

Answer: B
Explanation
● Meissner effect is the expulsion of a magnetic field from the interior of a material that is in the process of becoming a superconductor.

● A super conductor loses its resistance to the flow of electrical currents when cooled below a certain temperature called the critical temperature. It is close to absolute zero or zero kelvin.
● The Meissner Effect is used in magnetic levitation, which means a body is suspended with no support except a magnetic field. Modern high-speed bullet trains use the phenomenon of magnetic levitation.