GS-III

Five years after he was paralysed in a snowmobile accident, a man in the U.S. has learned to walk again, aided by an electrical implant. A team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota said the man, using a front-wheeled walker, was able to cover the equivalent of the …

Scientists said on Monday they had succeeded for the first time in wiping out an entire population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the lab using a gene editing tool to programme their extinction. So-called gene drive technology works by forcing evolution’s hand, ensuring that an engineered trait is passed down to …

MitraClip, inserted into the heart, sharply reduces death rates in patients: study For people with severe heart failure, even mundane tasks can be extraordinarily difficult. With blood flow impeded throughout their bodies, patients may become breathless simply walking across a room or up stairs. Some must sleep sitting up to …

Tata Steel’s decision to acquire Usha Martin’s one million-tonne steel business for a cash consideration of up to Rs. 4,700 crore would lift the company’s volume of long products by 24% and expand its product mix, analysts say. Usha Martin’s alloy long steel products cater to higher value-added automotive and …

We can assure the government that all data we have stays in the country, says AWS’ Peter Moore The government has the right to ask that sensitive data be stored locally, a senior official of Amazon Web Services (AWS) has said. The statement comes amid opposition from experts and foreign …

In a first, scientists have successfully grown functional version of the human food pipe using stem cells, paving the way for new ways to study and test drugs against gut disorders. The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell , shows how human oesophageal tissue could be grown entirely …

U.S. restaurateur is hoping to use marijuana to get the crustaceans high before putting them into boiling water, but health inspectors and experts question its legality Your death is imminent. It will be painful. Minutes beforehand, your executioner hands you… a joint. “If somebody offered me that option and said, …

India successfully conducted an interceptor missile test from Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha on Sunday night, achieving a major milestone in developing a two-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system. The Prithvi Defence Vehicle mission is for engaging targets at an altitude of above 50 km of the earth’s atmosphere, a DRDO …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he would inaugurate the first airport in Sikkim at Paykong on Monday and that it will improve connectivity, benefitting the people of the State. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/pm-to-inaugurate-sikkims-first-airport-monday/article25024133.ece

Details process to flag complaints Under pressure to clamp down on fake messages, WhatsApp has appointed a grievance officer for India and has detailed out the process for users to flag concerns and complaints, including those around fake news. Meeting one of the key demands that India had put forward …

Data on the birdto be used to learn about its habitat A citizen science initiative of documenting Indian hornbills is providing valuable inputs for the conservation of the unique bird. The data on hornbill presence outside protected areas would be be crucial in identifying and protecting their habitats from possible …

Poll panel tells SC that it can’t be allowed as free speech Repeated publication of propaganda lauding the achievements of a candidate in an election is nothing but “paid news”, the Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court. Politicians cannot say that it is part of their fundamental …

Says his govt. wants to empower the poor people Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted previous governments, saying that they looked at poor people as a “vote-bank” while throwing freebies at them to win elections. “We have junked vote-bank politics as our motto has been Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas …

Rescue efforts on to get back Navy Commander who was part of the Golden Globe Race In a positive development in the massive global search and rescue effort for Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy, injured and stranded in his sailing vessel in the Golden Globe Race (GGR), a …

Calls scheme a global ‘game changer’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mega healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat, also known as the Pradhan Mantri-Jan Aarogya Yojana (PM-JAY), from Ranchi in Jharkhand on Sunday and declared the scheme would be a “game changer” globally in health insurance. Vote bank He also hit …

Using metal-organic framework (MOF) made of cadmium chloride and synthesised under ambient conditions, a research team has been able to detect organophosphorus pesticides such as azinphos-methyl, chlorpyrifos, and parathion both in water solution and in apples and tomatoes. The MOF is highly sensitive such that the presence of pesticides as …

Investors can safely ignore glimmers of hope in the trade war between the United States and China. The latest round of U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, and Beijing’s response, could have been worse, and that buoyed markets. The S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq …

Bangladesh readied a new law giving sweeping powers to the police to crack down on cyberoffences and arrest any potential offender without a warrant. The Digital Security Act, passed in Parliament on September 19, drew criticism from journalists and civil society leaders as they said that the law would muffle …

The court of second appeal in Milan found no conclusive evidence of corruption with a foreign public official in the 2010 sale of helicopters to India by AgustaWestland, according to a document released earlier this week, Reuters (Milan) has reported. The document, which explains the reasons given by the judges …

What is the problem? Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, in his report to Parliament recently, said that while non-performing assets stemming from corporate loans are a current problem, the government should focus on sources of the next crisis. In particular, he warned, the government should refrain from setting ambitious credit …