Consider the following pairs:

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

1. 1 and 3 only
2. 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Explanation

Pair 1 is incorrect

• The Belle II experiment is a particle physics experiment conducted at the SuperKEKB accelerator in Tsukuba, Japan. This experiment was designed to study violations of the Standard Model and dark matter. Indian scientists have played a key role in the construction of the highly sensitive silicon vertex detector used in the experiment.

Pair 2 is correct

• Blockchain technology, while originally developed for digital cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, has evolved into a versatile technology with applications far beyond just financial transactions. It is a decentralised digital ledger that records data securely, transparently, and tamper-proof. Each transaction or piece of information is stored in a block, and blocks are linked together to form a chain, ensuring that any change in one block affects the entire chain, making it nearly impossible to alter data without detection.

  

Pair 3 is incorrect

• This is a gene-editing technology, not related to particle physics. It allows the modification, addition, or removal of specific DNA sequences, changing genome portions.
• The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that introduce a change in the DNA. These are
  • Cas9 enzyme: acts as a pair of ‘molecular scissors’ that can cut the two strands of DNA at a specific location in the genome so that bits of DNA can be added or removed.
  • Guide RNA (gRNA): A piece of pre-designed RNA sequence located within a longer RNA scaffold.

Answer: (b) 2 only; Difficulty Level: Medium