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Posted 26 Apr 2024

8 min read

Blue Whale

About Blue Whales
- Largest & loudest animal on the planet.
- Habitat: Found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean.
- Lifespan: Estimated at around 80 to 90 years.
- Key Behaviour aspect: Sometimes swim in small groups but are more often found alone or in pairs.
- Diet: Feeds almost exclusively on krill (marine crustaceans)
- Threats: Vessel Strikes, commercial whaling, etc.
- IUCN Status: Endangered

Cardamom prices are rising rapidly.
- It is because of lower production due to the absence of sufficient rainfall.

About Cardamom
- It is a dried ripe fruit (capsules) of the cardamom plant.
  - It is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Spices’ because of its very pleasant aroma and taste.
- It is a native of the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of southern India.
  - Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are major producer.
- Favourable Growing Conditions:
  - Soil: Loamy soil, which is usually acidic.
  - Rainfall: 1500-2500 mm
  - Temperature: 15°C to 35°C
  - Elevation: 800-1300 above mean sea level

About CTCN
- Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Established in 2014, it is the implementation arm of Technology Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  - Technology Mechanism was established in 2010 for accelerating and enhancing climate technology development and transfer.
- It is hosted by the UN Environment Programme.
- It promotes accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries.

UN Development Programme unveiled Climate Promise 2025, next stage of its Climate Promise Initiative.

About Climate Promise Initiative
- It is an initiative to support developing countries on their climate action.
- It is world’s largest offer of support to developing countries on NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) enhancement and implementation.
  - Each Party to Paris Agreement is required to establish an NDC, which includes targets for mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions and for adapting to climate impacts.

Climate Promise 2025 aims to align next generation of developing countries’ NDCs to the goals of 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

The Commissioner of Food Safety in Tamil Nadu has directed officials to monitor use of liquid nitrogen in food items.

About Liquid Nitrogen
- It is a colorless, odorless, non-flammable, non-corrosive and extremely cold element
- It is an inert cryogenic fluid with a temperature of −196 °C produced by compressing and cooling nitrogen gas below its evaporation point.
- Applications: Freezing and transporting of food products, Cryotherapy, etc.
Harmful Effects: It can rapidly freeze skin tissue and eye fluid, resulting in cold burns, frostbite, etc.

Recently, Bengaluru experienced a rare celestial phenomenon known as ‘Zero Shadow Day’.

About Zero Shadow Day
- It occurs when the sun aligns perfectly overhead, causing vertical objects to cast no shadows.
- This phenomenon occurs twice a year (once during Summer Solstice and once during Winter Solstice) in regions situated between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- The zero shadow days are different for different places.

Researchers found a biosphere of extreme microbes 13 feet below the Atacama Desert which could inform the search for life on Mars.

About Atacama Desert
- It is one of the driest coastal deserts and forms a continuous strip for nearly 1,000 km along the narrow coast of northern Chile.
- It is located between Andes Mountains and Pacific Ocean.
- It showcases unique combination of environmental extremes (extreme dryness, the highest UV radiation levels on Earth and highly saline and oxidizing soils)
  - Atacama Desert is often used as an analog for studying harsh conditions of Mars

The market for NaaS in India is expected to expand from $1.18 billion in 2024 to $7.32 billion by 2029.

About NaasS
- It is a cloud service model in which customers rent networking services from cloud providers.
  - It provides the flexibility to pay for services based on usage and to scale as business needs change.
- It allows customers to operate the networks without maintaining their own networking infrastructure.
  - The traditional network model requires capital expenses (CapEx) for physical networks with switches, routers, and licensing.