The report released by the World Economic Forum delves into the economic potential of Earth Observation (EO) technologies across various sectors.

• EO refers to collecting information about activities and characteristics on Earth, both natural and artificial, including physical, chemical, biological and human systems. EO includes:
  • Remotely-sensed data which is collected from satellites, piloted aircraft, etc.
  • In-situ data is gathered from GPS-enabled devices, Internet-of- things sensors, etc.
• Economic opportunities of EO: It would contribute $3.8 trillion to global gross domestic product between 2023-2030. Industries that would gain most from EO–
  • Agriculture: facilitates practice of precision agriculture.
  • Electricity and utilities: to forecast the energy potential and operations management for new solar, wind and hydropower sites.
  • Mining: to search for rare Earth minerals in old mines and enhance lithium exploration.
• Climate opportunities of EO: EO applications have the potential to reduce over 2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030. Some applications:
  • Early warning: better characterize wildfire risk and to spot wildfires faster.
  • Environmental impact monitoring: Satellites and aircraft-borne EO sensors can monitor Greenhouse gases.
• Challenges: limited awareness of EO applications, shortage of specialized talent, fragmented standards and difficulty navigating the complex EO marketplace, etc.

A 30-year-long U.S. study found that consuming Ultra-processed food (UPF) is associated with a higher risk of early death. 

• The risk was especially associated with products like ready-to-eat meats, sugary drinks, dairy desserts, and processed breakfast foods.
• However, researchers also clarified that not all UPF should be universally restricted, but findings support limiting certain types for long-term health. 
• Researchers used the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI) score to assess overall dietary quality. 
  • AHEI, developed by Harvard School of Public Health, assigns ratings to foods and nutrients predictive of chronic disease.

About UPF

• UPFs are a category of food products that have undergone extensive processing and contain significant amounts of additives (like preservatives, artificial flavours, emulsifiers). 
• They are often High in fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) and low in Vitamins, protein, and fibre. For example, snacks, sodas, etc.
• Their increased consumptions may lead to various health issues including hypertension, renal failure, obesity, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, etc. 
• UPF food sector in India witnessed a compounded annual growth rate of 13.4% between 2011 and 2021 and is expected to grow further (WHO). 

Challenges in curbing UPF consumption in India

• Changing lifestyle and dietary pattern.
• Absence of a clear definition and coverage of HFSS food. 
• Lack of comprehensive advertisement and marketing regulations.

Developed by Japan’s pharma company Takeda, TAK-003 is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue. 

• It is the second dengue vaccine to receive WHO prequalification, following the CYD-TDV vaccine.
• WHO recommends the use of TAK-003 in children aged 6–16 years in settings with high dengue burden and transmission intensity. 

About WHO Vaccine Prequalification 

• It was created in 1987 to assure the quality of vaccines distributed by UN purchasing agencies.
• Vaccines showing positive outcomes after evaluation of relevant data, testing of samples and WHO inspection of relevant manufacturing sites are included in the list.
• However, inclusion in the list does not imply approval of vaccines and manufacturing sites by the WHO.
  • Such approval is a prerogative of the National Regulatory Authorities.
• Yet, pre-qualification is an important step in the expansion of global access to vaccines as it enables procurement by UN agencies including UNICEF and PAHO (Pan American Health Organization). 
• Other vector-borne disease for which vaccines are included in this list include malaria, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rabies, etc. 

WOAH released Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals.

About WOAH

• Genesis: founded in 1924 as the Office International des Epizooties and in 2003 adopted the common name WOAH.
• About: An intergovernmental organization focused on transparently disseminating information on animal diseases and improving animal health globally. 
• Members: It works with 183 Members (including India).
• Headquarter: Paris

AstraZeneca for the first time admitted that its COVID-19 vaccine (Covishield) had rare side effects including TTS.

About TTS

• Also referred to as Vaccine-induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT).
• It occurs when a person has blood clots (thrombosis) together with a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia).
• It is a rare condition in which blood clots form in unusual places in the body. 
• It can affect a person's brain, abdomen, lungs, arteries, etc.  
• Symptoms include difficulty in breathing, chest pain, abdominal pain, swelling in leg, etc.

A girl from Malappuram in Kerala has recently died of infection from Naegleria Fowleri. 

About Naegleria Fowleri

• It is an amoeba (a type of unicellular organism) that thrives in soil, warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and hot springs.
• If amoeba reaches the nose and brain, it can result in infection called Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM).
• It is often called the "brain-eating amoeba" because it can infect the brain and destroy brain tissue.
  • Brain infections caused by Naegleria Fowleri are rare but nearly always fatal.

Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks during early May each year. 

• Meteors are space rocks that enter Earth’s atmosphere burning and causing steak of light. 
• Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. 

About Eta Aquarid meteor shower

• It occurs when the Earth passes through orbital plane of Halley’s Comet, which takes about 76 years to orbit the Sun.
• Eta Aquarid meteors are known for their speed.
• Southern Hemisphere is preferable for viewing Eta Aquarids as its radiant – Aquarius Constellation – is higher up in Sky in Southern Hemisphere.

India-Japan joint moon mission Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) is likely to take flight in few years.

About LUPEX

• Aimed at exploring the Moon for water and other resources and gaining expertise in exploring the surface of the Moon.
• Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) will be responsible for the lunar rover and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will handle the lander.
  • Observation instruments from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will also be mounted on the rover.

China is planning to construct a High Energy Photon Source (HEPS).

• This will put China among the few countries that have fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.
• Currently around 70 synchrotrons are scattered across the world. But only a few countries have fourth-generation synchrotrons such as Sweden, Brazil, France etc.

About HEPS

• First Brightest Synchrotron X-Rays in Asia. 
  • Synchrotrons (a type of circular particle accelerator) use electricity to produce intense beams of light more than a million times brighter than the sun.
• Benefits:  Will help researchers' to understand matter in the dimensions of space, time, and energy, as well as at the level of molecules, atoms, electrons, and spin.
• Indus-1 was India’s first synchrotron. 
  • India is also an associate member of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) based in Grenoble, France.

Indian Air Force tested BHISHM portable cubes, a state-of the-art indigenous mobile hospital, at Agra for airdrops.

About BHISHM Portable Cubes

• These are a part of initiative named Project BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog, Hita and Maitri), designed to treat up to 200 casualties.
• Consists of 72 small cubes equipped with advanced medical equipment which are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-tagged.
• Integrates Artificial Intelligence and data analytics to facilitate effective coordination, real-time monitoring of medical services in field.
• These cubes are robust, waterproof, and light, designed for various configurations, making them ideal for diverse emergency scenarios.

Tamil Nadu is using Soil Nailing to ensure the stabilization of slopes around the Nilgiris’ major roads 

Soil Nailing 

• It is a geotechnical engineering technique that involves the insertion of reinforcing elements into the soil in a specified area to strengthen it.
• This is followed by ‘hydroseeding’ – a process of applying a mixture of seeds, fertilizer, organic materials and water onto the soil. 
  • It facilitates the growth of grass and plant life, that will help hold the topsoil together and prevent erosion.

Scientists have developed a sheet of Gold, called Goldene, which is just one-atom thick.

About Goldene

• Created by sandwiching silicon between titanium carbide layers, depositing gold, allowing gold atoms to replace silicon, forming monolayer.
• They are roughly 100 nanometres thick, approx. 400 times thinner than the thinnest commercially available gold leaf.
• Potential applications: Catalyst in the electronics industry, carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen generation, water purification, etc.

‘AI agents’ like GPT-4o by OpenAI and Project Astra by Google are believed to be far superior to conventional voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. 

AI agents

• Unlike conventional language models, which solely work on text-based inputs and outputs, AI agents can engage in real-time, multi-modal (text, image, or voice) interactions with humans.
• They perceive their environment via sensors, then process the information using algorithms or AI models, and subsequently, take actions.
• They can understand and learn from the context of interactions, allowing them to provide more relevant and personalised responses.

Recent research papers related to nitrogen fixation and nitroplast generated interest in the endosymbiotic theory.

About Endosymbiotic theory

• It posits that some eukaryotic cell organelles, such as mitochondria and plastids, evolved from free-living prokaryotes.
  • Eukaryotic cells have a membrane-bound nucleus which stores the genetic information.
  • In prokaryotes, DNA is bundled together in the nucleoid region, but it is not stored within a membrane-bound nucleus.
• Some of these organisms ingested prokaryotic cells that then survived within the organism and developed a symbiotic relationship.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry seeks public feedback on draft regulations for Doppler radar equipment used for measuring vehicle speeds.

• Doppler radar uses the Doppler effect to gather velocity data.

About Doppler effect

• It refers to the change in wave frequency during the relative motion between a wave source and its observer.
• First proposed by  Johann Christian Doppler in 1842.
• The phenomenon is observed in sound waves and electromagnetic waves.
• Application: Astrophysics, by police to check overspeeding of vehicles, etc.

India has initiated discussions with Sri Lanka to acquire graphite mines. 

• It is among 30 critical minerals declared by India.

Graphite

• Also known as plumbago or black lead.
• Stable form of naturally occurring Carbon.
• Properties:
  • Grey to black metallic lustre.
  • Extremely soft and cleaves (splits into layers) with very light pressure.
  • Good conductor of heat and electricity.
  • Resistant to attack by ordinary chemical agents.
• Applications: EV battery-making components, lubricants, pencils, foundry facings, paints crucibles etc.

Recently, Kerala researchers reported multiple cases linking regular fairness cream usage to Nephrotic syndrome. 

• Nephrotic syndrome is a group of symptoms that indicate kidneys are not working properly. These symptoms include
  • too much protein in urine, called proteinuria
  • low levels of a protein called albumin in blood, called hypoalbuminemia
  • swelling in parts of body, called edema
  • high levels of cholesterol and other lipids (fats) in blood, called hyperlipidemia
• Study found a link between the increasing use of fairness creams with high levels of mercury (beyond the safe limit of 1 ppm) and the development of membranous nephropathy.
• Membranous nephropathy is an organ-specific autoimmune disease and a leading cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults.
  • Autoimmune disease is a condition in which the body's immune system mistakes its own healthy tissues as foreign and attacks them.