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Posted 05 Apr 2024

8 min read

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)

Centre plans to create a national digital database of organ donors for smooth transplants.
- As per the NOTTO data, India witnessed 16,041 organ transplants in 2022, as against the wait list of nearly 500,000 organ failure recipients.

About NOTTO
- National level organization set up under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- Functions:
  - All India activities of coordination and networking for procurement and distribution of Organs and Tissues.
  - Registry of Organs and Tissues Donation and Transplantation.

About NATO
- Founded in 1949
- Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
- Currently has 32 countries from Europe and North America.
  - Sweden is the latest to join.
- Founded on the principle of collective defense, meaning that if one NATO ally is attacked, then all NATO allies are attacked.
- Largest peacetime military alliance in the world.

In Phey village in Ladakh, farmers use mulching to grow organic watermelon.
- It is significant because Ladakh is a cold desert and watermelon is a hot climate plant.

About Mulching
- It is the process of covering the topsoil with plant material such as leaves, grass, twigs, crop residues, straw, etc.
- Helps create a soil structure with smaller and larger pores through which rainwater can easily infiltrate into soil, reducing surface runoff.
- Benefits: Prevents soil erosion, increases organic matter in the soil, etc.

The red color of Promenade beach in Puducherry last year was connected to plankton crash, an expert panel told National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Noctiluca scintillans, a type of phytoplankton, turn a red color when in large numbers experienced a crash, leading to the release of colored pigment from their cells.
- These pigments then stick to rocks and the sea floor, forming a biofilm-like layer and causing ‘red tides’.
Plankton crashes happen due to a lack of nutrients or lack of CO2 in the earlier part of the production cycle.
- Plankton may also die later in the cycle due to sudden change in water quality.

Hydroponics has emerged as a linchpin in the expansion of India’s sustainable food sector.

About Hydroponics
- It is a soil-less farming technique where plants are grown using a water-based nutrients.
- Can include an aggregate substrate, or growing media, such as vermiculite, coconut coir, perlite, etc.
- Significance: Can save water, land, and other resources, enhanced plant yields, etc.
- Challenges: Lack of technical knowledge, higher initial set-up cost, need to constant human intervention, etc.

NASA to create Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) for the moon and other celestial bodies.

Coordinated Lunar Time
- It aims to provide a consistent time-keeping benchmark for lunar missions and space activities.
- An Earth-based clock on the moon would lose an average of 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day due to time dilation.

Time Dilation refers to the fact that time passes at different rates for different observers, depending on their relative motion or positions in a gravitational field.

OpenAI has introduced a new AI model known as Voice Engine that can replicate any voice in any language.
It lets users upload brief audio samples and generate audio in the same voice and manner of speaking.
It is yet to be released for public use.

Application: Providing reading assistance, Translating content, helping patients recover their voice, etc.

Disadvantages: Misuse like cloning public figures’ voices, privacy-related issues, lack of regulations, etc.

Miscreants have damaged rock art paintings at the cave at Kumittipathi, Tamil Nadu.

About Kumittipathi rock painting:
- Believed to be 3000 years old, the artists have used an inorganic white pigment, along with natural gum, to paint the figures.
- They depict an elephant, ther (a chariot, some say it is a peacock), and the lives of early dwellers.
- While most of the rock painting sites in Tamil Nadu are found on rock shelters, those at Kumittipathi are drawn inside a cave.