Largest Paleolithic Cave Art Site Is Discovered in Eastern Iberia

Paleolithic Period

• It was the period ranging from 2.6 million years ago to 10,000 years ago.
• The name Paleolithic was coined by the famous archeologist John Lubbock in the year 1865.
• It began with the first use of stone tools by hominins (human-like creatures) and ended with the onset of the Mesolithic Period around 11,650 years ago.
• It has been classified into upper, middle, and lower Paleolithic periods due to the growth that was experienced by the human species over time.
  • Lower or Early Palaeolithic: From 2.6 million-250,000 years ago, simple pebble tools and crude stone choppers were made by the earliest humans.
  • Middle Palaeolithic: From 250,000 years ago, with a new focus on flake-tools, which continued to be popular in certain areas until as late as c. 30,000 years ago.
  • Upper or Late Palaeolithic (40,000–10,000 BC): It saw a huge proliferation with regard to both tool shapes and source materials (now also a lot of bone, antler, and ivory).
• Social Organisation:
  • The human societies of the Paleolithic age are recorded to have lived without any form of organized state or government.
  • Palaeolithic is also more generally associated with the cultures and lifestyles of the hunter-gatherers.
  • Middle and upper Paleolithic human societies lived together in groups of 25-100 members, and they were nomads.
  • At the end of the Paleolithic age, families started to settle down to cultivate land and trade with neighbors.
• Religions and Beliefs:
  • The development of any form of spiritual or religious belief in human evolution started during the Paleolithic age.
  • The middle Paleolithic human species created burial sites, and defleshing rituals led anthropologists and archaeologists to conclude that they believed in an afterlife.

Mesolithic Period

• It is also called the Middle Stone Age which existed between the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic (New Stone Age).
• Timeframe: This period is generally considered to have occurred between approximately 12,000-10,000 years ago.
• Lifestyle: During the Mesolithic period, human societies were predominantly hunter-gatherer communities.
• People relied on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant resources for their sustenance.
• Stone tools found during this period are generally tiny, and are called microliths.
• Microliths were probably stuck onto handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles.
• At the same time, older varieties of tools continued to be in use.

Countries pledge to raise $12 billion to fund coral reef protection

International Coral Reef Initiative

• It was launched in 1994 by Australia, France, Japan, Jamaica, the Philippines, Sweden, Britain and the United States.
• Its members now include 45 countries that represent three quarters of the world’s coral reefs.
• India is also a member country of this initiative.
• It is a global partnership between Nations and organizations which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world.
• Its decisions are not binding on its members.
• The work of ICRI is regularly acknowledged in United Nations documents, highlighting the Initiative’s important cooperation, collaboration and advocacy role within the international arena.
• Objectives
  • Encourage the adoption of best practice in sustainable management of coral reefs and associated ecosystems
  • Build capacity
  • Raise awareness at all levels on the plight of coral reefs around the world.

Corals

• Corals are marine invertebrates or animals which do not possess a spine. They are the largest living structures on the planet.
• Each coral is called a polyp and thousands of such polyps live together to form a colony, which grows when polyps multiply to make copies of themselves.
• They live in a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae called zooxanthellae (which live within the coral tissue).
• The zooxanthellae convert sunlight into food, providing corals with up to 90 per cent of their energy needs.

India expresses commitment towards combating organised crimes at UNTOC

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime

• It is a multinational treaty against transnational organized crime that was established by the United Nations in 2000.
• It is often known as the Palermo Convention.
• The UNTOC has a total of 147 signatories and 190 parties to the convention.
• The Convention is further supplemented by three Protocols
  • The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;
  • The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; and
  • The Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition.
• India signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and its three Protocols on December 12, 2002.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the nodal agency for all dealings with UNTOC.

Jammu and Kashmir''s famed Pashmina gets geographical recognition with GI tag

Basohli Pashmina

• It is a hand-spun product known for extreme softness, fineness and light-weight, has insulating properties and extended life.
• Pashmina products include shawls for both men and women, mufflers, blankets and basket.
• Pashmina refers to a fine variant of spun cashmere (the animal-hair fibre), that is derived from the downy undercoat of the Changthangi.
• It is obtained from a breed of mountain goats (Capra hircus) found on the Changthang Plateau in Tibet and parts of Ladakh.
• A traditional producer of pashmina wool in the Ladakh region are a people known as the Changpa (nomadic people inhabit the Changthang plateau of Tibet).

Geographical Indication Tag

• It is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical originand possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• This is typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts and industrial products.
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999seeks to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical indications relating to goods in India.
• This GI tag is valid for 10 years following which it can be renewed.

Swamp Deer population sees a rise at Manas Tiger Reserve

Swamp deer

• The swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) also called as barasingha is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent.
• It belongs to the family Cervidae (order Artiodactyla), found in open forests and grasslands of India and Nepal.
• It eats predominantly wetland plants and herbaceous plants which are common in this deer’s natural habitat.
• Its population is now restricted to isolated and scattered locations in Nepal, Assam and the northern areas of India.
• It is now extinct in both Bangladesh, and in Pakistan
• There are three subspecies of swamp deer found in the Indian Subcontinent.
  • The western swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) found in Nepal,
  • Southern swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) found in central and north India and
  • Eastern swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi) found in the Kaziranga and Dudhwa National Parks.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • **The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972:**Schedule I

SAMPRITI-XI: Indian Army and Bangladesh Army commence joint military exercise

Exercise SAMPRITI

• It is an annual joint military exercise between India and Bangladesh.
• It was started in Jorhat, Assam in 2009, the exercise has witnessed ten successful editions till 2022.
• This exercise, alternatingly organised by both countries, signifies strong bilateral defence cooperation initiatives.
• SAMPRITI-XI, scheduled for 14 days, will engage approximately 350 personnel from both sides.
• The exercise underscores the importance of enhancing interoperability between the two armies, sharing tactical drills, and promoting best practices.
• The exercise will also witness participation by personnel from diverse units such as artillery, engineers and other supporting arms and services from both sides.
• Centered on the conduct of Sub-Conventional Operations as per Chapter VII of the UN mandate, SAMPRITI-XI will include a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field Training Exercise (FTX), culminating in a Validation Exercise.
• This exercise promises to further enhance defence cooperation between India and Bangladesh, fostering deeper bilateral relations, cultural understanding, and mutual benefits from shared experiences in Sub Conventional Operations.

Physicists who built ultrafast ''attosecond'' lasers win Nobel Prize

Attosecond

• An attosecond is an astonishingly short unit of time, equivalent to one quintillionth of a second (1×10−18 of a second) or one-billionth of a nanosecond.
• To put this into perspective, if a second were stretched to cover the entire age of the universe, which is approximately 13.8 billion years, an attosecond would be just a fraction of a second.
• The fundamental significance of attoseconds in physics lies in their ability to shed light on phenomena that were previously hidden from our view.
• These extremely short time intervals are relevant in the fields of ultrafast optics and laser physics, particularly when studying the behavior of electrons within atoms and molecules.
• Applications:
  • Attosecond physics allows scientists to look at the very smallest particles at the very shortest timescales.
  • At this timescale, researchers can now capture the dynamics of electrons within atoms and molecules, allowing them to witness the incredibly fast processes that govern chemical reactions and electronic behavior.
  • Attosecond pulses:
    • One of the most groundbreaking applications of attosecond science is the ability to create and manipulate extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray pulses, which are vital for imaging ultrafast processes at the atomic and molecular scale.
    • These pulses are produced using high-intensity laser systems that generate attosecond bursts of light.
    • With these attosecond pulses, scientists can "freeze" the motion of electrons within atoms and molecules, providing a real-time view of electron movement during chemical reactions.
    • The Attosecond pulses can be used to test the internal processes of matter and to identify different events.

Cell biologists identify new organelle present in mammalian cells made of rings of DNA

Exclusome

• It is a newly discovered organelle in mammalian cells.
• It is made up of DNA rings known as plasmids.
• It is located within the cell plasma.
• This is peculiar because eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei) usually keep most of their DNA in the cell nucleus, where it is organized into chromosomes.
• Instead, in the exclusome, it is organized into plasmids -small, circular DNA strands that can replicate independently of chromosomes and are usually found in bacteria and other microscopic organisms.
• What has the discovery revealed?
  • Some of the plasmids that end up in the exclusome originate from outside the cell, while others—known as telomeric rings—come from the capped ends of chromosomes, the telomeres.
  • Particularly in certain cancer cells, the ones from the telomeres are regularly pinched off and joined together to form rings.
  • The cell nucleus weeds out such DNA rings and deposits them, together with the plasmids coming from outside the cell, in the cell plasma.
  • This proves that cells are capable of differentiating between DNA that is their own and still needed and DNA that is foreign or presumably no longer required, which they then eject from the nucleus.
  • In this way, the exclusome may have a protective function, guarding the cell’s genetic integrity.

Organelle

• Organelles are small, specialized structures in cells that operate like organs by carrying out specific tasks.
• Among the more important cell organelles are the nuclei, which store genetic information; mitochondria, which produce chemical energy; and ribosomes, which assemble proteins.

Chromosome

• A chromosome is a long, thread-like structure found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, including the cells of animals, plants, and fungi.
• Each chromosome is made up of DNA tightly coiled many times around proteins called histones that support its structure.
• Chromosomes help ensure that DNA is replicated and distributed appropriately during cell division.
• It plays a fundamental role in the transmission of hereditary traits from one generation to the next.

Iron Atoms Discovered on the Move in Earth''s Solid Inner Core

Earth’s Inner Core

• It is the innermost layer of the Earth.
• Structure:
  • It is a solid metallic ball primarily composed of iron and nickel.
  • The inner core is solid due to the pressure caused by the weight put on it by the Earth’s other top layers.
  • It is distinct from the outer core, which is a liquid.
• Depth:
  • The inner core is located at the Earth''s center, approximately 5,150 kilometers (3,219 miles) beneath the Earth''s surface.
  • The boundary between the inner and outer cores is called the Lehman Seismic Discontinuity.
• Radius: The inner core has an average radius of 1220 km.
• Temperature:
  • Inner core temperatures reach extraordinary levels, estimated to be between 7,200–8,500ºF (4,000–4,700ºC).
  • The primary contributors to the inner core''s heat are the decay of radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium, and potassium in Earth''s crust and mantle, residual heat from planetary formation, and heat emitted by the solidification of the outer core.
• Other Features:
  • It is predicted to have very high thermal and electrical conductivity.
  • The inner core generates its own magnetic field.
  • Despite its small volume (less than 1% of the Earth''s volume), the Earth''s inner core contains about 10% of the total magnetic field energy.
  • It plays a crucial role in outer core liquid motions and the geodynamo, which generates the Earth''s magnetic field.
  • It rotates in the same direction as the surface of the planet but a bit faster than the rest of the planet.

Different layers of the Earth

• The earth is made up of three different layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core.
• The crust: This is the outside layer of the earth and is made of solid rock, mostly basalt and granite.
• The mantle:
  • It lies below the crust and is up to 2900 km thick.
  • It consists of hot, dense, iron and magnesium-rich solid rock.
• The core:
  • It is the center of the earth and is made up of two parts: the liquid outer core and solid inner core.
  • The outer core is made of nickel, iron, and molten rock.

Butterfly Survey Reveals Two Rare Species At Ralamandal

Ralamandal Wildlife Sanctuary

• Location: It is located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
• Earlier, it was the hunting ground for the royal family members of Holkars, as it had a huge population of tigers, leopards, and deer.
• Established in 1989, this sanctuary is spread over an area of 5 square kilometres.
• Landscape: Rolling hills, lush green forests, and sparkling streams.
• The River Narmada graces the sanctuary with its presence.
• At the top of it is an ancient palace built by the Holkars in 1905, which was primarily used as a hunting hut, also known as shikargah (hunting lodge).
• Flora: Among the many prominent plant species present in the sanctuary are Teak, Rinjha, Khair, Palash, Ghatbor, Saaja, Aster, Ber, Babool, Samal, Chirol, Neem, Khajoor, Bekal, Bamboo, etc.
• Fauna:
  • Major animal species found here include Black Buck, Cheetals, Chinkara, Blue Bull, Striped Hyena, Wild Boars, Porcupine, Fox, Jackal, and Bhedki (Barking deer).
  • It is famous for its many avifauna species, most of which migrate here during the winter season.