HL-2M TOKAMAK REACTOR
China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time, marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.
About:
- The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device, and scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.
- It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius, approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
- Located in Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.
- Chinese scientists have been working on developing smaller versions of the nuclear fusion reactor since 2006.
DINESHWAR SHARMA
Lakshwadweep’s Administrator and former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma passed away. He was 66.
About:
- Sharma, a 1979-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, hailed from Bihar.
- He served as IB Director from 2014 to 2016. He headed the bureau when the government announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016.
- After his retirement, he was appointed as an interlocutor for talks with the Assam-based insurgent groups and also headed a committee to restructure the Home Ministry.
- Sharma was appointed the Centre’s “Special Representative” to initiate and carry forward a dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir on October 23, 2017, and given the rank of Cabinet Secretary.
- After August 5, 2019, when Parliament revoked the special status of J&K and bifurcated the State into two Union Territories, Mr. Sharma was appointed the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshwadeep on October 25 last year.
JAPAN’S HAYABUSA2 MISSION
Six years after Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission was launched, it is set to return back to Earth on December 6 carrying with it samples from the one-kilometre wide Ryugu asteroid that orbits the Sun.
About:
- The Hayabasu2 mission was launched in December 2014 when the spacecraft was sent on a six-year-long voyage to study the asteroid Ryugu and collect samples that it is now bringing back to the Earth.
- The mission is similar to NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission that brought back samples from asteroid Bennu late in October.
- According to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), this is the first time that a probe has visited a celestial body that is under 100 metres in diameter.
LAB-GROWN MEAT
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) approved this week the sale of a lab-grown meat product. This is the first time cultured meat has been cleared for sale anywhere in the world. The product approved by the SFA is cultured chicken, produced by US-based East Just.
How is lab-grown or cultured meat different from plant-based meat?
- The latter is made from plant sources such as soy or pea protein, while cultured meat is grown directly from cells in a laboratory.
- Both have the same objective: to offer alternatives to traditional meat products that could feed a lot more people, reduce the threat of zoonotic diseases, and mitigate the environmental impact of meat consumption.
- In terms of cellular structure, cultured or cultivated meat is the same as conventional meat — except that cultured meat does not come directly from animals.
THE 2nd CANCER GENOME ATLAS (TCGA) 2020
The Minister of Science and Technology and Vice President of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated the 2nd TCGA 2020 conference in New Delhi.
About:
- TCGA is a landmark cancer genomics program that molecularly characterized over 20,000 primary cancer and matched normal samples spanning 33 cancer types.
- This joint effort between the US- National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute began in 2006, bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines and multiple institutions.
- Over the years, TCGA generated over 2.5 petabytes of genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data. The data, which has already led to improvements in the ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer, will remain publicly available for anyone in the research community to use.
- On similar lines, the establishment of an ‘Indian Cancer Genomics Atlas (ICGA)’ has been initiated by a consortium of key stakeholders in India led by CSIR, Government of India.
GITANJALI RAO
Gitanjali Rao, the 15-year-old inventor and scientist has become the first Kid of the Year on the Time magazine cover.
About:
- Gitanjali Rao (born 2005) is an American inventor, author, scientist and a STEM promoter.
- She won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2017.
- She was recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 for her innovations. She was named TIME Top young innovator in 2020 for her innovations and "innovation workshops" she conducts across the globe.
- On its December 4, 2020 cover, Time named Rao "Kid of the Year". Rao is the first person to receive TIME magazine's Kid of the Year designation.
HOUBARA BUSTARDS
Pakistan has issued special permits to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and two other members of the royal family to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustards during the hunting season 2020-21.
About:
- The houbara bustard, which lives in arid climates, comes in two distinct species as recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature,
- one residing in North Africa (Chlamydotis undulata) and
- the other in Asia (Chlamydotis macqueenii), commonly known as MacQueen's bustard.
- one residing in North Africa (Chlamydotis undulata) and
- The population of the Asian houbara bustards extends from northeast Asia, across central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula to reach the Sinai desert.
- According to the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC), roughly 33,000 Asian houbara bustards remain today.
- After breeding in the spring, the Asian bustards migrate south to spend the winter in Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula and nearby Southwest Asia. Some Asian houbara bustards live and breed in the southern part of their ranges including parts of Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.
- It is listed as Vulnerable under IUCN Red List Status.
IIT-BOMBAY URBAN QUALITY OF LIFE INDEX
IIT-Bombay researchers have come up with an urban quality of life index tailored to the reality of life in India.
About:
- Overall, Mumbai tops the list of 14, followed closely by Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.
- For the first time, they have factored in gender parity. Chennai, it turns out, is the most women-friendly and Patna the least.
- “Women experience cities differently; meeting women’s needs becomes essential in promoting sustainable urban development,” the paper, in press to be published in Elsevier journal ‘Transport Policy’, said. The study found that Jaipur has the highest crime rate against women, Chennai has the lowest .
- The gap in literacy rate between men and women is the widest in Jaipur (13.2%) and lowest in Kolkata (5.4%). Literacy was the highest in Pune (91%) and, surprisingly, the lowest in Hyderabad (83%).
- The unemployment rate for women is the highest in Patna — at 346, it is more than four times the urban average of 73.
- Another often overlooked factor are the basics — power, water, education. Only 36% urban households in Patna have access to treated tap water.
OPERATION TRIDENT
Every year, India celebrates December 4 as Navy Day to commemorate Operation Trident – a key offensive during the 1971 India-Pakistan War, when the Indian Navy inflicted heavy damage on Pakistani vessels in Karachi harbour.
About:
- The India-Pakistan War of 1971 had begun on December 3, when the Pakistan Air Force launched pre-emptive strikes on airfields in Western India. India responded by formally declaring war in the wee hours of December 4.
- On December 4, under Operation Trident, the Indian Navy sank three vessels near the Pakistani port city of Karachi. The stars of the mission were the then-recently acquired Soviet Osa missile boats, fitted with 4 SS-N-2 (P-15) Styx missiles.
- The Indian Air Force also played a crucial role during Operation Trident, when Karachi’s Kemari oil tanks were strafed by the IAF on the same day in an independent operation which it did not claim.
SINGHU
Farmers protesting at Singhu Border have called for a Bharat bandh on December 8, ahead of their fifth round of talks with the central government over farm bills.
About:
- Singhu border has become the focal point of the protests. The farmer unions have also called for more farmers to gather at Ghazipur and Tikri borders with UP and Haryana respectively in the days to come so they can build pressure on the Centre.
- Singhu village is widely known as "Singhu Border" in Delhi.
- Situated near National Highway No. 1 (GT Road), it is the first village in Delhi while entering from Haryana. Neighbouring villages are Singhola, Alipur,Kundli Sersa and Janti Kalan (the last three are in Haryana). It is situated near Narela in North-west of Delhi.
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