Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Abutilon ranadei
Mains level: NA
Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune have come up with plant data of the Northern Western Ghats which indicates that plateaus, in addition to the forests, should be prioritized for the conservation of the Northern Western Ghats.
Last year one species from our newscard : Species in news: Hump-backed Mahseer made it into the CSP 2019. The ‘Abutilon ranadei’ flower in the newscard creates such a vibe yet again.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time often find their way into the prelims. Make a special note here.
Why conserve Plateaus?
- The Western Ghats of India is one of the global biodiversity hotspots owing to the endemism that is sheltered by a chain of mountains.
- The northern part of this along with the Konkan region is considerably different from its southern and central counterparts on account of lesser precipitation and extended dry season.
- It is the plateaus and the cliffs that harbour most of the endemic species.
What did the study find?
- The study found that the Northern Western Ghats has 181 local endemic plant species, including four monospecific genera.
- They have found that a majority of the endemic species are therophytes, which complete their life cycle in a short period during monsoon.
- A notable geographical feature of the Northern Western Ghats is the presence of plateaus and cliffs that display maximum endemic species, unlike forests.
- It is the region of rapid diversification of specific herbaceous endemic genera like Ceropegia, Glyphochloa, Dipcadi, and Eriocaulon.
One such specie is-
Abutilon ranadei
- Abutilon ranadei is a shrub, measuring 2.5-3.5 m high and bears star-shaped hairs.
- It is a Critically Endangered endemic species from the northern Western Ghats.
Bonus:
Consider the following pairs:
| Wildlife |
Naturally found in |
| 1. Blue-finned Mahseer |
Cauvery River |
| 2. Irrawaddy Dolphin |
Chambal River |
| 3. Rusty-spotted Cat |
Eastern Ghats |
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu Missions
Mains level: Indian migrants and associated issues
India is all geared to operate flights and naval vessels to repatriate Indian nationals stranded abroad.
The name Samudra Setu typically sound like a combatant naval exercise whereas Vande Bharat reminds us of Train-18. Both ideas have opposite context and meaning. One must keep this in mind.
What is the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ mission about?
- ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ will see the operation of 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad.
- Once completed, it may turn out to be the largest evacuation operation ever since the 1990 airlift of 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait.
- Approximately, 2,000 people from abroad will fly back to India daily.
What is Indian Navy’s ‘Operation Samudra Setu’?
- The Indian Navy launched ‘Operation Samudra Setu’ (Sea Bridge) as a part of national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas.
- Indian Naval Ships Jalashwa and Magar are presently enroute to the port of Malè, Republic of Maldives to commence evacuation operations from 08 May 2020 as part of Phase-1.
- INS Jalashwa is the largest amphibious platform in the Navy and is based at the Eastern Naval Command headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
- It can normally accommodate 1,000 people but will take about 800.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: The Long March 5B
Mains level: Not Much
China has successfully launched a new rocket and prototype spacecraft in a major test of the country’s ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.
Can you recall the historical link between the name “The Long March” and China’s History.
The Long March 5B
- Long March 5 or Chang Zheng 5 is a Chinese heavy-lift launch system developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).
- It is the first Chinese launch vehicle designed from the ground up to focus on non-hypergolic liquid rocket propellants.
- The maximum payload capacities of the base variant are ~25,000 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit and ~14,000 kilograms to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
- The spaceship is expected to transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to complete by 2022 — and eventually to the Moon. It will have a capacity for a crew of six.
Back2Basics: Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
- About 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, satellites are in geostationary orbit. From the center of the Earth, this is approximately 42,164 kilometers. This distance puts it in the high Earth orbit category.
- At any inclination, a geosynchronous orbit synchronizes with the rotation of the Earth.
- While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference to geostationary orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator.
- GTO is a an elliptical orbit used to transfer between two circular orbits of different radiuses in the same plane—used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit using high-thrust chemical engines.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Remdesivir
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
A new research has found how Remdesivir treats coronavirus and described the exact mechanism of interaction between the virus and the drug. Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral made by American pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences that was first developed to treat Ebola.
DNA/RNA related terminologies, Genes and Genomes, etc. always find their way in UPSC Prelims. Most recent one was-
With reference to the recent developments in science, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2019)
(a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.
(b) Pieces of artificial functional DNA can be created in Iaboratories.
(c) A piece of DNA taken out from an animal cell can be made to replicate outside a living cell in a laboratory.
(d) Cells taken out from plants and animals can be made to undergo cell division in laboratory petri dishes.
How Remdesivir kills coronavirus?
- Remdesivir is designed to obstruct the stage of replication, when the virus creates copies of itself, followed endlessly by the copies creating copies of themselves.
How does replication take place?
- Once the virus enters the human cell, it releases its genetic material, which is then copied using the body’s existing mechanism.
- At every stage of infection, various human proteins, virus proteins, and their interactions come into play.
- At the replication stage, the key viral protein at play is an enzyme called RdRp (an enzyme is a kind of protein that speeds up chemical reactions within a cell).
- It is RdRp that makes the copies, by processing components of the RNA of the virus.
- University of Alberta researchers called it the “engine” of the virus in a paper last week, in which they described the action of Remdesivir against this “engine”.
- In scientific literature, such an enzyme is called a polymerase (the p is RdRp stands for polymerase) or a replica.
- In any case, this is the enzyme that is targeted by Remdesivir.
And how exactly does Remdesivir target this enzyme?
- In order to replicate, the virus processes raw material from the virus RNA, broken down by another enzyme with that specific function.
- When a patient is given Remdesivir — the inhibitor — it mimics some of this material and gets incorporated in the replication site.
- With Remdesivir replacing the material it needs, the virus fails to replicate further.
- These coronavirus polymerases are sloppy and they get fooled, so the inhibitor gets incorporated many times and the virus can no longer replicate.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BharatMarket
Mains level: Not Much
Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that it will soon launch a national e-commerce marketplace ‘BharatMarket’ for all retail traders in collaboration with several technology partners.
A prelims question with tricky options to throw you off track-
The BharatMarket initiative recently seen in news is-
A. Trade of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
B. Platform for farmer to sell their produce
C. Initiative in power sector
D. e-commerce platform
Here you have to play safe…..
BharatMarket
- The marketplace will integrate the capabilities of various technology companies to provide end-to-end services in the logistics and supply chains from manufacturers to end consumers, including deliveries at home.
- It will include nationwide participation by retailers and aims to bring 95 per cent of retail traders onboard the platform, who would exclusively run the portal.
- It has been already started as a pilot project, initially with a limited number of essential commodities, in six cities — Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bengaluru.
- This will be an effective way to get essential commodities to consumers during the lockdown period and within containment zones.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: e-RMB
Mains level: Cryptocurrency and its feasiblity
China in a significant move has launched a trial of digital yuan in four urban centres of the country for specific services even as the world grapples with the containment of Covid.
What is a cryptocurrency? Discuss how a vibrant cryptocurrency segment could add value to India’s financial sector. (250 W)
Prelims Perspective:-
1. Subtle differences btn digital and virtual currency – e.g. Regulatory issues
2. Which countries have official virtual currency – e.g. Petro of Venezuela
e-RMB
- It will be the electronic form of the renminbi, with a value equivalent to the paper notes and coins in circulation.
- The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, will be the sole issuer of the digital yuan, initially offering the digital money to commercial banks and other operators.
- It will be launched in major cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou and Chengdu, as well as the Xiong’an New Area.
- It aims to change the financial system in big ways — by cutting costs and making transactions easier, more convenient and more transparent.
- The public would be able to convert money in their bank accounts to the digital version and make deposits via electronic wallets.
Back2Basics: Cryptocurrency
- A Cryptocurrency is an internet-based medium of exchange which uses cryptographical functions to conduct financial transactions.
- It leverages blockchain technology to gain decentralization, transparency, and immutability.
- The most important feature of a cryptocurrency is that it is not controlled by any central authority: the decentralized nature of the blockchain makes cryptocurrencies theoretically immune to the old ways of government control and interference.
- It can be sent directly between two parties via the use of private and public keys.
- Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that allow users to transfer value with no central authority or third party involved, the government-backed digital currency is preferred.
What are Blockchains?
- Blockchain, sometimes referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), makes the history of any digital asset unalterable and transparent through the use of decentralization and cryptographic hashing.
- Blockchain consists of three important concepts: blocks, nodes and miners.
- Nodes can be any kind of electronic device that maintains copies of the blockchain and keeps the network functioning.
- Miners create new blocks on the chain through a process called mining.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India in Labour Party (UK) manifestos
Mains level: Not Much
The UK Labour party’s newly appointed leader Keir Starmer said Kashmir was a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully. These remarks were seen as an attempt to re-position his party’s stance on Kashmir and reach out to the Indian community in Britain.
What was the Labour party’s stance before?
- The party’s relations with the Indian diaspora have been strained, especially after its delegates passed an emergency policy motion in September 2019 criticizing India’s decision to revoke Article 370.
- It maintained that the people of Kashmir should have self-determination rights.
Why is the Labour Party’s relationship with the Indian diaspora important?
- Indians are the largest ethnic community in the UK, numbering over 1.5 million people or accounting for over 2.3 per cent of the country’s population.
- Therefore, they form a significant vote share for any party.
- In the 2017 general elections, 50 per cent of the Indians living in the UK had voted for Labour.
India in Labour Party (UK) manifestos
Over the years, issues relating to India have found various mention in many election manifestos in the UK:
- 1945: India’s freedom had been a campaign promise of the Labour party, its manifesto pledging “the advancement of India to responsible self-government”.
- 1947: The Indian Independence Act, 1947, was passed when Attlee was Prime Minister.
- 1949: all the Commonwealth Prime Ministers welcomed the free choice of India, Pakistan and Ceylon to join the Commonwealth as full and equal members.
- 2019: Issue a formal apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Whaling Commission (IWC)
Mains level: Not Much
Iceland will not be hunting any whales in 2020. Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, has frequently broken the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium, which indefinitely “paused” commercial whaling.
Regarding IWC, we can expect a statement based prelim question asking-
1) If IWC has a UN or any other parent organization
2) If India is a member/observer etc.
About International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- The IWC is an Inter-Governmental Organisation set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) signed in Washington, D.C in 1946.
- It aims to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
- The main duty of the IWC is to keep under review and revise as necessary the measures laid down in the Schedule to the Convention which governs the conduct of whaling throughout the world.
- The body is the first piece of International Environmental Legislation established in 1946.
- Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were almost driven to extinction.
- 89 countries have the membership of in IWC and all the member countries are signatories to this convention.
- India is a member state of the IWC.
Earlier reference
- Japan has last year withdrawn from the IWC citing domestic reasons.
- Thus, it resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of its traditionalists.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GI mentioned in the news
Mains level: Not Much
Chak-Hao, the black rice of Manipur and the Gorakhpur terracotta and the Kovilpatti kadalai mittai of Tamil Nadu have bagged the Geogrphical Indication (GI) tag.
Must read: GI Tags in news for 2020 Prelims
Chak-Hao
- Chak-Hao, the scented glutinous rice which has been in cultivation in Manipur over centuries.
- It is characterized by its special aroma. It is normally eaten during community feasts and is served as Chak-Hao kheer.
- The application for Chak-Hao was filed by the Consortium of Producers of Chak-Hao (Black Rice), Manipur and was facilitated by the Department of Agriculture.
- Chak-Hao has also been used by traditional medical practitioners as part of traditional medicine.
- According to the GI application filed, this rice takes the longest cooking time of 40-45 minutes due to the presence of a fibrous bran layer and higher crude fibre content.
- At present, the traditional system of Chak-Hao cultivation is practised in some pockets of Manipur.
- Direct sowing of pre-soaked seeds and also transplantation of rice seedlings raised in nurseries in puddled fields are widely practised in the State’s wetlands.
Gorakhpur terracotta
- The terracotta work of Gorakhpur is a centuries-old traditional art form, where the potters make various animal figures like, horses, elephants, camel, goat, ox, etc. with hand-applied ornamentation.
- The application was filed by Laxmi Terracotta Murtikala Kendra in Uttar Pradesh.
- Some of the major products of craftsmanship include the Hauda elephants, Mahawatdar horse, deer, camel, five-faced Ganesha, singled-faced Ganesha, elephant table, chandeliers, hanging bells etc.
- The entire work is done with bare hands and artisans use natural colour, which stays fast for a long time.
- There are more than 1,000 varieties of terracotta work designed by the local craftsmen.
- The craftsmen are mainly spread over the villages of Aurangabad, Bharwalia, Langadi Gularia, Budhadih, Amawa, Ekla etc. in Bhathat and Padri Bazar, Belwa Raipur, Jungle Ekla No-1, Jungle Ekla No-2 in Chargawan block of Gorakhpur.
Kovilpatti kadalai mittai
- It is a candy made of peanuts held together with glistening syrup, and topped with wisps of grated coconut dyed pink, green and yellow.
- It is made using all natural ingredients such as the traditional and special ‘vellam’ (jaggery) and groundnuts and water from the river Thamirabarani is used in the production, which enhances the taste naturally.
- It is manufactured in Kovilpatti and adjacent towns and villages in Thoothukudi district.
- It is produced by using both groundnuts and jaggery (organic jaggery), in carefully selected quantities from selected specific locations in Tamil Nadu.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India
- A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
- Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
- The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
- The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for protection of GI in India.
- India, as a member of the WTO enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
- Geographical Indications protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chithirai Festival
Mains level: Not Much
For the first time, in place of Madurai’s Chithirai Festival, a simple celestial union is set to take place that will be streamed online.
Match the pair based question can be asked from festivals as such. Recently, the following festivals were in the news: Ambubachi Mela, Thrisoor Puram, Meru Jatara, Nagoba Jatara etc.
Chithirai Festival
- Chithirai Festival or Chithirai Thiruvizha is an annual celebration celebrated in the city of Madurai during the month of April.
- It is celebrated during the Tamil month of Chithirai.
- It lasts for one month of which the first 15 days mark the celebrations of the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi and the Marriage of Lord Sundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi.
- The next 15 days mark the celebrations of the Journey of Lord Alagar from Kallazhagar temple in Alagar Koyil to Madurai.
About Meenakshi Temple
- The ancient city of Madurai, more than 2,500 years old, was built by the Pandyan king, Kulashekarar, in the 6th century B.C.
- But the reign of the Nayaks marks the golden period of Madurai when art, architecture and learning flourished expansively.
- The most beautiful buildings in the city including its most famous landmark, the Meenakshi temple, were built during the Nayak rule.
- Located in the heart of the city, the Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar temple is dedicated to goddess Meenakshi, the consort of lord Shiva.
- The sculpted pillars are adorned with the exquisite murals that celebrate the ethereal beauty of princess Meenakshi and the scenes of her wedding with Lord Shiva.
- The pillars depict scenes from the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. There are 985 richly carved pillars here and each one surpasses the other in beauty.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Europeanized school of painting in India
Mains level: NA
April 29 is the birth anniversary of the famed Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), remembered for giving Indians their western, classical representations of Hindu gods and goddesses.
Raja Ravi Varma
- Varma was born into aristocracy at Kilimanoor in the erstwhile Travancore state of present-day Kerala and was closely related to its royal family.
- At the age of 14, Varma was patronised by Ayilyam Thirunal, the then ruler of Travancore, and went on to receive training in watercolours from Ramaswamy Naidu, the royal painter.
- Later, Varma studied oil painting with the British painter Theodore Jensen.
- Apart from Travancore, Varma also worked for other wealthy patrons such as the Gaekwad of Baroda.
Major works
- A prolific artist, Varma is believed to have made around 7,000 paintings before his death.
- Varma worked on both portrait and landscape paintings and is considered among the first Indian artists to use oil paints.
- Apart from painting Hindu mythological figures, Varma also made portraits of many Indians as well as Europeans.
- His most famous works include Damayanti Talking to a Swan, Shakuntala Looking for Dushyanta, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, and Shantanu and Matsyagandha.
His legacy
- He continues to be regarded as the most important representative of the Europeanized school of painting in India.
- His 1873 painting, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, won Varma prestigious awards including Governor’s Gold Medal when it was presented in the Madras Presidency and Certificate of Merit at an exhibition in Vienna.
- In 1904, the British colonial government awarded Varma with the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal.
- In 2013, a crater on the planet Mercury was named in his honour.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: General Relativity, Black Holes, Black Holes merger
For the first time since it started functioning, the gravitational wave observatories at LIGO scientific collaboration have detected a merger of two unequal-mass black holes.
This newscard contains few basic terms that one must know-
Gravitational waves
General Relativity
Black Holes
GW190412
- The event, dubbed GW190412, was detected nearly a year ago, and this is almost five years after the first-ever detection of gravitational-wave signals by these powerful detectors.
- Subsequent analysis of the signal coming from the violent merger showed that it involved two black holes of unequal masses coalescing.
- One of them was some 30 times the mass of the Sun and the other which had a mass nearly 8 times the solar mass.
- The actual merger took place at a distance of 2.5 billion light-years away.
Significant feature observed
- The detected signal’s waveform has special extra features in it when it corresponds to the merger of two unequal-sized black holes as compared with a merger of equal-sized black holes.
- These features make it possible to infer many more things about the characters such as- a more accurate determination of the distance from the event, the spin or angular momentum of the more massive black hole and the orientation of the whole event with respect to viewers on Earth.
- While the mass of the black hole bends the space-time close to it, the spin or angular momentum of this inscrutable object drags the nearby space-time, causing it to swirl around, along with it.
- Hence both these properties are important to estimate.
Confirmed General Relativity
- An Indian team consisting of researchers verified the consistency of the signal with the prediction of General Relativity.
- The existence of higher harmonics was itself a prediction of General Relativity.
Must refer for an easy and illustrated understanding of General Relativity-
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Radioactivity
Mains level: NA
This newscard is inspired by an article published in the DTE which talks about a family which has received a total of four Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family.
Last year in 2019 CSP, there was a question on pure Biology about Hepatitis and its variants. With such news trending, we can expect a core chemistry or physics based question coupled with a slight Current Affairs blend.
The ‘Nobel’ family
- On April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from pitchblende, a mineral, in a laboratory in Paris, France.
- They were inspired by French physicist Henri Becquerel’s 1896 experiment on phosphorescence or the phenomenon that allows certain objects to glow in the dark.
- They were able to find traces of two radioactive elements—polonium (Element 84) and radium (Element 88).
- Curie shared the 1903 Nobel with her fellow researcher Pierre Currie and Becquerel for their combined work on radioactivity.
Important facts
- In 1903, Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics making her the world’s first woman to win the prize.
- In 1911, she created history again by becoming the first woman to have won two Nobel awards.
- The 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Marie after she managed to produce radium as a pure metal. This proved the new element’s existence beyond doubt.
- However, this was not the last Nobel for the Curie family.
- The 1935 Nobel in Chemistry went to Irène Curie and her husband and co-researcher Frédéric Joliot for their joint work on the artificial creation of new radioactive elements.
- The Curies have received a total of four of Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family. They also have the unique distinction of having three Nobel-prize winning members in the family.
Birth of Radioactivity
- While delivering a lecture at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden in 1911, Curie shared some critical details about “radioactive elements” and the phenomenon called “radioactivity”.
- She also spoke about the chemical properties of radium, the new element that was about a million times more radioactive than uranium.
- Radium in solid salts was about 5 million times more radioactive than an equal weight of uranium.
Back2Basics: Radioactivity
- Radioactivity refers to the particles which are emitted from nuclei as a result of nuclear instability.
- It is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation.
- The most common types of radiation are called alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, but there are several other varieties of radioactive decay.
- Radioactive decay rates are normally stated in terms of their half-lives, and the half-life of a given nuclear species is related to its radiation risk.
- Examining the amounts of decay products makes possible radioactive dating.
Its applications
- Medical use: Many diseases such as cancer are cured by radiotherapy. Sterilization of medical instruments and food is another common application of radiation.
- Scientific use: Alpha particles emitted from the radioisotopes are used for nuclear reactions.
- Industrial use: Radioisotopes are used as fuel for atomic energy reactors. Also used in Carbon dating.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various passes in news, BRO
Mains level: NA
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has opened the Rohtang Pass, three weeks in advance, for transporting essential supplies and relief materials to Lahaul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Rohtang Pass
- It is a high mountain pass (elevation 3,980 m) on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km from Manali.
- It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
- The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins.
- On the southern side of this pass, the Beas River emerges from underground and flows southward and on its northern side, the Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab, flows westward.
Another pass in new:
Sela Pass Tunnel Project
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Pitch Black 2020
Mains level: NA
Australia has informed India that their premier multilateral air combat training exercise Pitch Black 2020 scheduled in July has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.
All-time generic question seeking ‘match the pairs’ can be asked from the news as such. Click here for more exercises.
Ex Pitch Black 2020
- Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial warfare exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
- The aim of the exercise is to practice Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive Counter Air (DCA) combat, in a simulated war environment.
- In the last edition of Pitch Black in 2018, the IAF for the first time participated with its Su-30MKI fighters, one C-130 and one C-17 transport aircraft.
- It provided a unique opportunity for an exchange of knowledge and experience with these nations in a dynamic warfare environment.
- The next edition of Pitch Black is scheduled in 2022.
India’s defence relation with Australia
- The defence and strategic engagement with Australia have steadily gone up in recent years especially on the bilateral front with naval cooperation at the forefront.
- The bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX early last year saw the participation of the largest Australian contingent ever to India with over 1,000 personnel.
- The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has been long pending and is expected to be concluded soon as well as a broader maritime cooperation agreement including the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to elevate the existing strategic partnership.
- Australia recently made a pitch for trilateral cooperation among India, Australia and Indonesia to identify new ways that our three countries can collaborate to be the best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
Mains level: Studying topography of the moon
The first-ever digital, unified, global, geological map of the moon was released virtually by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute.
Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
- The UGM will serve as a blueprint for future human missions and a source of research and analysis for the educators and the general public interested in lunar geology.
- The map is a ‘seamless, globally consistent, 1:5,000,000-scale geologic map’.
- The mapped surface features of the moon included crater rim crests, buried crater rim crests, fissures, grabens, scarps, mare wrinkle ridges, faults, troughs, rilles, and lineaments.
How it was prepared?
- The researchers built on the original digital renovation of the six maps comprising of the near, central far, east, west, north and south sides that was released in 2013.
- The final map consists of 43 geologic units across the entire lunar surface, broken down into groups based on characteristics like materials of craters, basins, terra, plains and volcanic units.
- Data from NASA’s Apollo Missions were used to come up with the map.
Its’ significance
- The moon’s South Pole is especially interesting because the area is much larger than the North Pole and there could be a possibility of the presence of water in these permanently shadowed areas.
- Further, the South Pole region also contains the fossil record of the early Solar System.
- These present and future moon missions’ success can be further helped by the digital map of the moon.
- The Chandrayaan 2, an active mission also targets the Lunar South Pole for exploration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Reverse Vaccinology
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University has developed a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 through ‘reverse vaccinology’.
A definition based prelims question can be expected on Reverse Vaccinology. Ex. Which of the following statements best describes ‘Reverse Vaccinology’?
Reverse Vaccinology
- Reverse vaccinology is an improvement on vaccinology that employs applied bioinformatics.
- The basic idea behind it is that an entire pathogenic genome can be screened using bioinformatics approaches to find genes.
- Some traits that the genes are monitored for may indicate antigenicity.
- Those genes are filtered for desirable attributes that would make good vaccine targets such as outer membrane proteins.
- Once the candidates are identified, they are produced synthetically and are screened in animal models of the infection.
- Since then, it has been used on several other bacterial vaccines.
Benefits
- Earlier researchers had to do a viral culture in the laboratory to develop a vaccine, and this was time-consuming.
- The major advantage for reverse vaccinology is finding vaccine targets quickly and efficiently.
- Traditional methods took decades to unravel pathogens and antigens, diseases and immunity
- With ‘reverse vaccinology’ scientists know what molecules make the genomic sequence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BSL ratings
Mains level: Not Much
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a mobile virology research lab.
We can expect a prelim question on BSL ratings as the term is widely appearing in news these days.
About the MVRDL
- The MVRDL is the combination of a bio-safety level (BSL)-3 lab and a BSL-2 lab and was set up in a record time of 15 days.
- It can process 1,000-2,000 samples a day.
- The mobile lab will be helpful in carrying out a diagnosis of COVID-19 and in virus-culturing for drug screening, convalescent plasma-derived therapy, comprehensive immune profiling of patients towards vaccine etc.
What are Biosafety Level (BSL) Ratings?
- A BSL is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility.
- The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4).
- BSL-1 is suitable for work with well-characterized agents which do not cause disease in healthy humans.
- BSL- 2 is suitable for work involving agents of the moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment.
- BSL-3 is appropriate for work involving microbes which can cause serious and potentially lethal disease via the inhalation route.
- BSL-4 is the highest level of biosafety precautions and is appropriate for work with agents that could easily be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which there are no available vaccines or treatments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NanoBlitz 3D
Mains level: NA
Indian scientists have developed an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
Nanotechnology is a pathbreaking technology which can create many new materials and devices with a wide range of applications, such as in nanomedicine, nanoelectronics etc. NanoBlitz 3D is another distinct development. We can expect a prelims question asking what the NanoBlitz 3D is , with confusing options like 3d printing tool etc.
NanoBlitz 3D
- Scientists from Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) an autonomous institute under the Dept. of S&T have developed this tool.
- It is an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
- The tool has been useful to yield excellent results on a wide range of material systems, including glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites, dual-phase steels, softwood and shale.
- An important aspect of this technique is its high-throughput, with just a few hours of testing required for generating more than 10,000 data points that can be processed using machine learning (ML) algorithms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ambubachi Mela
Mains level: NA
The Ambubachi Mela at Guwahati’s Kamakhya Temple has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
Many festivals this year have been cancelled for the first time in their recorded history. Few of them were – Thrisur Pooram Festival, Pandharpur Jatara and now, the Ambubachi Mela. Do read about the Medaram Jatara (held in February) as well. Take note of each of them and their speciality along with the respective state of celebration.
Ambubachi Mela
- Ambubachi Mela, a four-day fair to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati has begun.
- Legends say the temple atop the Nilachal Hills, whose northern face slopes down to the Brahmaputra River, was built by the demon king Narakasura.
- But records are available only from 1565 when Koch king Naranarayana had the temple rebuilt.
- Kamakhya is one of 51 shaktipeeths or holy sites for the followers of the Shakti cult, each representing a body part of the Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion.
- The temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni – female genital – symbolised by a rock.
Significance
- Temple priests said the ritualistic fair celebrating the Goddess’ period is one of the reasons why taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared to other parts of India.
- The attainment of womanhood of girls in Assam is celebrated with a ritual called Tuloni Biya, meaning small wedding.
Similar place
- A similar custom is followed at the Devi Temple at Chengannur town in Alleppey district of Kerala.
- The temple is shut for the days the Goddess there is believed to undergo her period.
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