1) AlphaFold: Recently, DeepMind, a company based in London, announced that it had predicted the three-dimensional structures of more than 200 million proteins using AlphaFold.
- AlphaFold is an Artificial Intelligence-based protein structure prediction tool.
- It is based on a computer system called Deep Neural Network.
- Neural networks use a large amount of input data and provide the desired output exactly like how a human brain would.
- The real work is done by the black box between the input and the output layers, called the Hidden Networks.
- AlphaFold is fed with protein sequences as input. When protein sequences enter through one end, the predicted three-dimensional structures come out through the other.
2) African Swine Fever: It is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.
- The mortality is close to 95% – 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
- ASF is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
3) Pyrene Remediation: Researchers at the CSIR-IIP, Dehradun have identified white-rot fungus Trametes maxima IIPLC-32 to be capable of pyrene remediation.
- Pyrene Remediation is the action of remedying the environment by removing pyrene from the environment.
- The fungus Trametes maxima IIPLC-32 has the potential to cause microbial degradation of pyrene using special enzymes.
- Growing on dead plants, this fungus can remove pyrene from the environment.
4) Pyrene: possessing four fused benzene rings, is a parent class of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).
- Pyrene is a highly toxic, recalcitrant, and carcinogenic PAHs found in the environment.
- Rapid pace of economic development and industrialisation has resulted in the release of several PAHs into the environment.
- The PAHs are ubiquitous environmental pollutants originating from multiple sources, including combustion of petrogenic fossil fuels, and incomplete incineration of municipal wastes and biomass.
- It gets lodged into the environmental matrices like soil, water and atmosphere.
- This results in widespread environmental pollution, necessitating adequate remediation of contaminated environmental matrices.
5) Uniform Civil Code: Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
- Article 44, a directive principle of the Constitution says that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
- Goa is the only state in India that has a uniform civil code regardless of religion, gender and caste. It inherited the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867 even after it joined the Indian Union in 1961.
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