India variant of Covid Concerns and Classification
Context: The World Health Organisation classified a coronavirus variant first identified in India as a “global variant of concern”. This variant called B.1.617 was classified as a variant…
U.S. to support IP waiver for COVID-19 vaccines
Context: The United States will support an initiative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) protection for COVID-19 vaccines. The news…
China on India’s 5G exclusion
Context: China expressed “concern and regret” at India’s move to not include Chinese telecommunication firms among the companies permitted to conduct trials for the use of 5G technology…
COVID-19 connection with Neanderthal Genomes
Context: Studies show that we, Human Beings (Homo Sapiens) have inherited regions of host genomes from Neanderthals, which are an extinct species of hominids that were the closest…
Oxygen Crisis: Oxygen Shortage in India explained for UPSC
Context: Oxygen Crisis in India – Oxygen Shortage for Covid-19 patients treatment There are serious calls to address the Oxygen Crisis in India due to shortage of Oxygen…
Antimicrobial resistance, the silent threat
Context: As serious as the current health and economic crisis is, COVID-19 may just be the harbinger of future crises – because Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) one of the…
China launches “Tianhe” module for its space station
Context: China launched an unmanned module containing what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent space station that it plans to complete by the end…
China to hold talks on building asteroid defence system
Context: China will hold discussion on building a defence system against near-earth asteroids – China is stepping up efforts towards realizing its longer term space ambitions. China has…
Russia plans its own space station in 2025
Context: As tensions simmer between Russia and a number of Western countries on the ground, the head of the Russian space agency has announced work has begun on…
‘Britcoin’ not bitcoin
Context: The British finance minister told the Bank of England (BoE) [Similar to RBI in India] to look at the case for a new “Britcoin”, or central bank-backed…