New discovery of cracked mud on Mars has scientists hopeful for possible signs of life

Mars Curiosity Rover

• It is a S. robotic vehicle designed to explore the surface of Mars.
• It was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on Nov. 26, 2011, and landed on Aug. 5, 2012, after taking eight months and 10 days to reach the Red Planet.
• The rover is currently roaming Mars'' landscape looking for signs of life and learning about the Red Planet''s unique environment.
• The rover is part of NASA''s Mars Science Laboratory mission which tested a novel landing method that saw the spacecraft descend on a parachute before its landing system fired up its rockets and hovered as the rover was lowered down onto the surface.
• Features:
  • It is about 3 metres long and weighs about 900 kg.
  • It does not rely on solar cells for its energy needs but rather draws its electric power from a thermoelectric power generator, with the heat source being the radioactive decay of plutonium and the heat sink being Mars’s atmosphere.
• According to NASA, Curiosity has four main science goals in support of the agency''s Mars exploration program:
  • Determine whether life ever arose on Mars.
  • Characterize the climate of Mars.
  • Characterize the geology of Mars.
  • Prepare for human exploration.

NASA’s Perseverance rover

• It is a robotic explorer to land on Mars as part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
• The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet''s surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
• Launch: It was launched on July 30, 2020from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar''s Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
• Features:
  • It is about 3 metres long, 2.7 metres wide, and 2.2 metres tall.**
  • It is about the size of a car, but weighs only about 1,025 kilograms with all instruments on board.
  • Power source: Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). Converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.

Course Correction Keeps Parker Solar Probe on Track for Venus Flyby

Parker Solar Probe

• It is a NASA spacecraft designed to study the Sun and its atmosphere.
• It was launched on August 12, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and is currently orbiting the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit that takes it closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft.
• The mission objectives of the Parker Solar Probe are to study the structure and dynamics of the Sun''s corona, the Sun''s magnetic field, and the solar wind.
• To achieve this, the probe will make a total of 24 close approaches to the Sun over the course of its mission, getting as close as 3.83 million miles from the Sun''s surface, which is about 7 times closer than any previous spacecraft.
• In December 2021, the Parker Probe reached the atmosphere of the sun. Since then, it’s been looping around the sun, drawing closer each time, and sending back tons of data about everything it encounters.
• Features:
  • Mass: 685 kilograms at launch.
  • Scientific Instruments: Fields Experiment (FIELDS), Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISIS), Wide Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR), Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP).
  • Parker Solar Probe and its instruments are protected from the Sun by a 4.5-inch-thick (11.43 cm) carbon-composite shield, which can withstand temperatures reaching nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 Celsius).

REC doubles Market Cap in one year, figures in MSCI Global

MSCI Index

• It is owned by the multinational investment management and financial services company Morgan Stanley.
• It is an investment research firm that provides stock indexes, portfolio risk and performance analytics, and governance tools to institutional investors and hedge funds.
• It is a leading provider of critical decision support tools, including stock indexes, and services for the global investment community.
• MSCI indices facilitate the construction and monitoring of portfolios in a cohesive and complete manner, avoiding benchmark misfit**. It has over 160,000 indices in its portfolio.
• MSCI has indexes for countries, regions, emerging markets, developed markets, small cap, all cap and even Islamic indexes.
• It selects stocks for its equity indexes that are easily traded and have high liquidity, with companies having high free float getting more weightage.
• It prefers stocks that have active investor participation, and are without owner restrictions.

MSCI India Index

• The MSCI India Index is designed to measure the performance of the large and mid-cap segments of the Indian market.
• With 113 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the Indian equity universe.
• The index is reviewed quarterly.

Niger Crisis: India asks citizens to leave African country ''as soon as possible''

Niger

• Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked sub-Saharan country in western Africa.
• Bordering Countries: It is bounded on the northwest by Algeria, on the northeast by Libya, on the east by Chad, on the south by Nigeria and Benin, and on the west by Burkina Faso and Mali.
• The country takes its name from the Niger River, which flows through the southwestern part of its territory.
• Capital: Niamey
• Languages:
  • The official language of Niger is French, due to its colonial history.
  • The main national languages are Arabic, Djerma-Sonhraï, Gourmantchéma, Hausa, Kanouri, Fulfuldé, Tamacheq and Toubou.
• Relief: It tends to monotony in its features, is intersected by numerous depressions, and is dominated by arid highlands in the north.
• Independence:
  • Niger gained independence from French colonial rule on August 3, 1960.
  • Prior to independence, it was a part of French West Africa.
• Political System:
  • It is a semi-presidential republic with a multi-party system.
  • The President is the head of state and holds significant executive powers.
  • The Prime Minister is the head of government and is appointed by the president.

Seven-month-old female tiger cub found dead at Bandhavgarh Reserve in MP

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

• Location:
  • It is located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.
  • It is spread over the Vindhya hills.
• Bandhavgarh was declared a national park in 1968 and then became Tiger Reserve in 1993.
• It derives its name from the most prominent hillock in the area, which was said to be given by Hindu Lord Rama to his brother Lakshmana to keep a watch on Lanka. Hence the name Bandhavgarh (Sanskrit: Brother''s Fort).
• It is **known for the Royal Bengal Tigers.The density of the tiger population at Bandhavgarh is the highest known in India as well as in the world.
• Topography: Varies between steep ridges, undulating forests and open meadows.
• Flora:
  • The vegetation of Bandhavgarh is specially filled with Sal forestin the valleys, and Bamboo stretches on the lower slopes of the region.
  • Some of the most famous floral species include Saj (Terminaliatomentosa), Dhaora (Anogeissus latifolia), Tendu, Arjun (Terminalia arjuna), Amla (Emblica officinalis), Palas (Butea monosperma) etc.
• Fauna:
  • The important prey species consists of chital, sambhar, barking deer, nilgai, chinkara, wild pig, chowsingha, langur and rhesus macaque.
  • Dependent upon them are the major predators like tiger, leopard, wild dog, wolf and jackal.

Factory output growth dips to 3-month low of 3.7% in June

Index of Industrial Production

• It is one of the Prime indicators of economic development for the measurement of trends in the behavior of Industrial Production over a period of time with reference to a chosen base year.
• It indicates the relative change of physical production in the field of industries during a specified year as compared to the previous year.
• It is computed and published by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on a monthly basis.
• Base Year:
  • The base is always given a value of 100.
  • The current base year for the IIP series in India is 2011-12.
  • So, if the current IIP reads as 116, it means that there has been 16% growth compared to the base year.

Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI):

• ICI measures the collective and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Petroleum Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
• The objective of the ICI is to provide an advance indication of production performance of industries of ‘core’ nature before the release of IIP by the Central Statistics Office.
• These industries are likely to impact general economic activities as well as industrial activities.
• The Index is compiled and released by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

‘GI tag to Mushkbudji will transform farmers of Sagam into entrepreneurs’

Mushkbudji Rice

• It is short bold aromatic rice grown in higher reaches of Kashmir valley.
• The cooked rice is unique and possesses a harmonious blend of taste, aroma and rich organoleptic properties.
• It is mainly is grown in areas of Sagam, Panzgam and Soaf Shali of district Anantnag and Beerwah belt of district Budgam.
• The consumption of aromatic rice in Kashmir has now been limited to special occasions, marriages, and festivals.

Geographical Indication Tag

• It is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and 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, 1999 seeks 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.

IIA scientists discover star that challenges previous understanding of star formations

Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) star

• The researchers used high-resolution spectroscopic data acquired using High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) attached to SUBARU telescope (Japan) to analyze the star''s surface chemical composition.
• The team found that the iron content of the star is thousand times less than that of the sun and it is heavily enriched with neutron-capture elements.
• The star which defies previous classifications and challenges previous understanding of star formation processes shows signs of having been formed through the combination of two different neutron-capture processes - the slow (s-) and intermediate (i-) neutron-capture processes.
• It can help understand how different star formation processes influence the elemental composition of stars.
• Elements beyond iron are created due to reactions in nuclear astrophysics called neutron capture processes.
• The slow (s-) process is believed to occur in low-mass stars during the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase and the rapid (r-) process is believed to occur in Supernovae and Neutron Star mergers.
• One of the proposed sites for intermediate (i-) process is low-metallicity low-mass AGB stars.
• Understanding the relative contributions of these processes to the elemental composition of stars is important for understanding the chemical evolution of galaxies and the origins of the elements in the universe.

Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star:

• These stars are characterized by diverse heavy elements abundance patterns and are primarily classified into four groups, based on which groups of heavy elements are more abundant.
• These are mostly dwarf stars, sub-giant stars, or giant stars, and stars that belong to these evolutionary stages cannot produce elements heavier than iron.

IEPFA launches Investor Awareness Vans titled Niveshak Sarathi

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA)

• It was established in 2016 under the Companies Act, of 2013.
• The Authority is entrusted with
  • The responsibility of administration of the Investor Education Protection Fund (IEPF).
  • Make refunds of shares, unclaimed dividends, matured deposits/debentures etc. to investors and promote awareness among investors.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Investor Education Protection Fund  (IEPF).

• It has been established under Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 by way of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999.
• The following amounts that remained unpaid and unclaimed for a period of seven years from the date they became due for payment are credited to the Fund:
  • Amounts in the unpaid dividend accounts of the companies
  • The application money received by companies for allotment of any securities and due for refund
  • Matured deposits with companies
  • Matured debentures with companies
  • Grants and donations are given to the fund by the Central Government, State Governments, companies or any other institutions for the purposes of the Fund
  • The interest or other income received out of the investments made from the fund

Bunch of new Placenta in chip devices can help making pregnancies safe

Placenta on chip

• A bunch of devices mimicking the placenta at various stages of pregnancy can help in drug discovery, study of toxicity of chemicals like caffeine, and understanding the effects of conditions such as preeclampsia and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy.
• In pregnancy, the placenta shields the baby from harmful drugs and chemicals. But some can still cross this barrier and cause harm to the baby in the womb.
• Thus, pregnant women are not given most medications and they continue to suffer. Determining which medicines can be given during pregnancy that would not cross the placenta is a daunting task.
• Researchers have used microfluidic technology which can integrate processes, to create an environment that represents basic organ structure and functions of the placenta.
• The placenta in a lab dish developed by the team allows different cells to interact with each other, incorporate mechanical properties and mimic the blood flow, which closely resembles the in-vivo condition.
• Among various available POC models, these devices are more suitable for probing placental development as well as diseases caused due to defects in the placenta. Also, patient-specific sample screening will be possible for personalised medicine.

Advantage of placenta-on-chip

• It will enable early detection of adverse conditions and allows researchers and healthcare professionals to observe, study, and identify potential issues that may arise during pregnancy.
• It enables the study of placental function, detection of complications, personalized medicine, and the development of new therapies.