GS3

One zoonotic illness where spillover events appear to have increased, resulting in recurring outbreaks, is Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) or monkey fever. The illness is named after Kyasanur forest in the Western Ghats, where it originated. It is a haemorrhagic fever borne by the tick, Haemaphysalis spinigera. It has a fatality rate of 3-5 per cent. It causes acute febrile hemorrhagic illness in humans and monkeys especially …

Frequent reports of dogs attacking people to death have made the management of stray dogs an administrative and legal issue. Dog bites and poor waste management The carrying capacity, i.e. the ability of a city to support a species, is determined by the availability of food and shelter. Free-ranging dogs, in the absence of …

11 people died due to a gas leak in the Giaspura area of Ludhiana, Punjab, while four people fell ill and were hospitalised. Neurotoxins Neurotoxins are poisonous substances which can directly affect the nervous system. Neurotoxicity occurs when exposure to natural or man-made toxic substances alters the normal activity of the nervous system. These substances …

The Maharashtra government started conducting soil testing at Rajapur tehsil’s Barsu village in the coastal Ratnagiri district. To know if the site was suitable for the proposed multi-billion dollar Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited project which is touted as the world’s largest single location refinery complex. India’s oil refining capacity stood at 251.2 million metric tonnes per annum, making …

Psychedelic drugs, banned in India under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, are emerging in research as promising ways to treat treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder Psychedelics Psychedelics are a group of drugs that alter perception, mood, and thought-processing while a person is still clearly conscious. Psychedelics are non-addictive, non-toxic and compared to illicit drugs, they are less harmful to the …

Namibian experts warns that Cheetah project overestimated carrying capacity of Kuno Park. India declared Cheetah extinct in 1952. Project Cheeta aims to introduce Cheeta back to India and to establish a free-ranging population of cheetahs in India. The first batch of 8 Cheeta from Namibia were introduced to Kuno national park in Sept, 2022, and a second batch of twelve African cheetahs from South Africa were …

India’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) allocated 6% of their total investable wealth in the gold last year. In 2022, the average UHNI wealth allocation in gold was 3% globally and 4% in the Asia-Pacific region. Indian UHNIs have stepped up gold allocation from 4% in 2018. This is because gold has delivered returns of over 69 percent in the past …

Trial runs are underway on India’s first underwater transport tunnel. The 16.55-km East-West corridor is the second line of the Kolkata Metro network. The East-West Corridor of the metro was approved in 2009. The line, called the Green Line, will link Howrah station to Sealdah station, which is the hub of Kolkata’s suburban railway network. …

AI has been touted as a powerful tool to help tackle global crises, such as climate change. Saving trees with AI ‘guardians’ Deforestation and land use changes cause more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and store it for long periods of time, and when they’re cut down, much of …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is scheduled to launch the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C55 (PSLV-C55) mission, will carry out in-orbit scientific experiments by using the spent PS4 (fourth and final stage of PSLV) as an orbital platform. Key details: The PSLV-C55 will have Singapore’s TeLEOS-2 as primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as a co-passenger satellite. The TeLEOS-2 …

Assam Chief Minister and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over the long-standing border dispute between the two states. The dispute: The two states share a roughly 800-kilometre long border. The disputed areas the MoU deals with are 123 border villages, which span 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and 8 districts of Assam. Before North East Frontier Agency …

A recent working paper from Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) extends the earlier minerals assessment for 23 minerals by assessing the criticality levels of 43 select minerals for India based on their economic importance (demand-side factors) and supply risks (supply-side factors) which are determined through the evaluation of …

Union Minister says, India set to be major contributor to world’s “Circular Economy”. The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. The circular economy is based on three principles: Eliminate waste and pollution Circulate products and materials (at their highest value) Regenerate nature It …

A decentralised web that caters to the next generation of the Internet, leveraging blockchain technology to create a more open and transparent web called Web3 is in the talks. About Web3 Web3 is built on top of existing Internet infrastructure and not in competition with previous versions of the web platform. It allows for …

Context: Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from an exoplanet, YZ Ceti b, suggesting the presence of a magnetic field — one of the prerequisites for a habitable planet — around it. What is YZ Ceti B: YZ Ceti b is a terrestrial exoplanet that orbits an M-type star. Its mass is 0.7 Earths. It takes 2 …

Twitter has removed a policy that prohibited misgendering or deadnaming of transgender people on the social media platform. What is deadnaming? A deadname is essentially the name that a trans, non-binary, and/or gender-expansive person was called before they adopted a more self-affirming name. The act of calling a trans, non-binary, and/or gender-expansive person by the deadname is known …

A group of researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel reported that they had been able to pick up distress noises made by plants which was already shown by Jagadish Chandra Bose more than a century ago. A physicist-turned-biologist who lived between 1858 and 1937, made pioneering contributions in both the fields. He was the first …

Offsets have come under fire as a way for companies to compensate for carbon emissions through eco projects elsewhere. How does offsetting work? Buying offsets is a way to compensate for environmental damage. Companies make a financial contribution to projects that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and in exchange can keep polluting …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch Singapore’s TeLEOS-2 satellite. The launch will be carried out by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV. TeLEOS-2 is an Earth Observation Satellite. In 2015, ISRO launched TeLEOS-1, the first Singapore commercial Earth Observation Satellite. More about the satellite: TeLEOS 2 is a Singaporean SAR Earth Observation satellite. It is built …

Country’s first mangrove pitta bird census undertaken in Bhitarkanika, Odisha. Mangrove pitta birds are a nearly threatened species found in a few pockets of eastern India, including Bhitarkanika in Odisha and the Sundarbans in West Bengal. The census was carried out by point count method, either by walking in the forest or using country boats in the creeks. A …