Biodegradable Supercapacitor: Recently, scientists at Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) have developed the thinnest, lightweight and biodegradable paper-based supercapacitor. A supercapacitor is an electrochemical charge storage device with a fast charging/discharging cycle, high power density and a longer lifecycle.Â
Features This supercapacitor which can fully charge a device within 10 seconds, has been developed from seaweed (marine macroalgae).
The device is of high tensile strength and performance, as well as cost-effective, according to the researchers. The product can be used in electronics, memory backup systems, airbags, heavy machines, electric vehicles, etc.; hence, it holds a huge business prospect.Â
Global Gender Gap Index: India was ranked 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity — an improvement of eight places from last year, according to the recently published annual Gender Gap Report, 2023. The Report is released annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2006. It measures gender parity in 146 countries and across four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.
Highlights of Global Gender Gap Report 2023: India was ranked 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity, an improvement of eight places from last year. According to the report, India had attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education. India had closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap.  However, it underlined that India had reached only 36.7 % parity on economic participation and opportunity. On political empowerment, India has registered 25.3% parity, with women representing 15.1% of parliamentarians — the highest for the country since the inaugural report in 2006.
The index ranked India’s neighbours Pakistan at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103. Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 14th consecutive year and the only one to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap. Overall, the Southern Asian region has achieved 63.4% gender parity, the second-lowest of the eight regions.
Sarmat Missile: The RS-28 Sarmat is Russia’s new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It is named after the Sarmatian people of the fourth and fifth centuries BC. It has also been referred to in the West as the “Satan II”.It is capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads. It is designed and built by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, in Russia.
Features: It has a range of about 18,000 kilometres. It can travel at a maximum speed of 25,500kph. Propulsion: Three-stage, liquid-fuelled
Launch weight: 208,100 kg can carry a 10-ton payload and can load a wide variety of warhead options. Sarmat can reportedly load up to 10 large warheads, 16 smaller ones, a combination of warheads and countermeasures, or hypersonic boost-glide vehicles. While the  Sarmat can be launched much like a regular ICBM, it is thought to be also capable of what is called fractional orbital bombardment. A fractional orbital bombardment means firing an ICBM into a low orbit of the Earth – much lower than a conventional firing – potentially in the opposite direction to the target.
