1) Cervavac: dev by Serum Institute of India (SII), it is India’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.
- The vaccine is based on VLP (virus like particles), similar to the hepatitis B vaccine, and provides protection by generating antibodies against the HPV virus’s L1 protein.
- Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type and the second most common cause of cancer death in women of reproductive age (15–44). India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden
2) Global Gender Gap index: “benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment)”.
- According to the WEF it is the longest-standing index, which tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.
- GGG index provides scores between 0 and 1, where 1 shows full gender parity and 0 is complete imparity.
- India also ranks poorly among its neighbours and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126). Only Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan (146) perform worse than India in south Asia.
- Although no country achieved full gender parity, the top 10 economies closed at least 80% of their gender gaps, with Iceland (90.8%) leading the global ranking. Iceland was the only economy to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
3) Gravitational Lensing: The phenomenon of gravitational lensing occurs when a huge amount of matter, such as a massive galaxy, cluster of galaxies or a black hole, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from objects behind it.
- Gravitational lensing is based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity (Mass bend light).
- The more massive the object, the stronger its gravitational field and hence the greater the bending of light rays. In effect, gravitational lenses act like natural cosmic telescopes.
- The effect allows researchers to study the details of early galaxies too far away to be seen otherwise with even the most powerful space telescopes.
4) WASP-96b: it is a gas giant exoplanet in the constellation Phoenix.
- Pictures released from the James webb telescope confirmed the presence of water, as well as providing evidence for “clouds and hazes” within the planet’s atmosphere. Prior to this discovery, WASP-96b was thought to be free of clouds.
- It was discovered in 2013 by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP).
5) National Emblem of India: On 26 January 1950, a representation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka placed above the motto, Satyameva Jayate, was adopted as the State Emblem of India.
- The emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, an ancient sculpture dating back to 280 BCE during the reign of the Maurya Empire.
- It was originally made of Chunar sandstone.
- The statue is a three-dimensional emblem showing four lions.
Leave a Comment