Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Pre-historic rock art site unearthed in Guntur

News

• A pre-historic rock art site discovered in the vast expanse of limestone blocks on the eastern banks of Naguleru near Dachepalli has thrown light on the Neolithic civilisation that flourished in Guntur during 1500-2000 BC.

Beyond News

• The site, unearthed has excited archaeologists and is expected to trigger further excavations.
• The rock art site on natural lime stone is the first of its kind in the country.
• The motifs in the form of engraving, pecking and brushing throw fascinating insights into the social and cultural practices of ancient civilisations.
• What has made archaeologists look up this latest discovery is the dexterity with which early human was able to engrave different animal motifs like fish, snake, peacock, eagle, bull and scorpion on limestone blocks.
• One petroglyph shows an anthropomorphic figure with its head in between the two hands.
• Another engraving shows a warrior holding a sword and a shield, indicating the practices during Iron Age.
• The region in later years was also synonymous with the flourishing of Buddhism.
• A stupa established on the pre-historic rock art site during during 1-2 BC, was unearthed during excavations by the Department of Archaeology and Museums in 1969.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India, Sweden agree upon ‘win-win’ joint action plan

News:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Swedish counterpart, Stefan Löfven,agreed upon a joint action plan (JAP) for both countries to take forward a wide range of initiatives in defence, trade and investment, counterterrorism, renewable energy, smart cities, women’s skill development, space and science and healthcare.

Beyond News:

• Characterising the JAP as a “win-win partnership” for New Delhi and Stockholm, Mr. Modi underscored the critical role of the defence sector and security initiatives as a pillar of the bilateral relationship.
• Sweden has been partner of India in the defence sector for a long time.
• The bilateral summit was additionally significant for the opportunity it afforded both sides to discuss Sweden’s interest in proposing the Saab Group’s Gripen-E single-engine jet fighter for the Indian Air Force, as a Request for Information had been issued earlier this month to Stockholm.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

GI tag for Allagadda stone carvings

News

• Allagadda, one of the important stone carving centres in Andhra Pradesh, has been issued Geographical Indication (GI) registration certificate by the GI Registry, Chennai.

 Geographical Indication (GI)

• A geographical indication(GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.

Beyond News

• The stone carving tradition in Andhra Pradesh dates back to 2nd Century BC when Amaravati was an important Buddhist centre under the Satavahanas. Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic architecture in the region stand testimony to this craft.
• Allagadda is famous for sculptures. Mythological figures and the stone carvings of gods and goddesses in the temples in this region are typical illustrations of the stone work.
• In Allagadda stone carvings, the sculptors widely use sand stone called isuka raiand Krishna Sila Stone or Black Stone, called pesara raiin local language.
• Both sand and black stones are widely available near Allagadda and both the stones have unique characteristics.
• The semi-hard nature of the stone makes the stone carvings finishing friendly, flexible and gives the sculptors the ease to craft products of different sizes and shapes with very fine structures.
• At present, more than 100 artisan families are making stone carvings in Allagadda and the number of artisans is more than 1,000.

Researchers engineer plastic-eating enzyme

News

• Scientists in Britain and the United States say they have engineered a plastic-eating enzyme that could in future help in the fight against pollution.

Beyond News

• The enzyme, which is biodegradable, is able to digest polyethylene terephthalate, or PET a form of plastic patented in the 1940s and now used in millions of tonnes of plastic bottles.
• PET plastics can persist for hundreds of years in the environment and currently pollute large areas of land and sea worldwide.
• Researchers from Britain’s University of Portsmouth and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory made the discovery while examining the structure of a natural enzyme thought to have evolved in a waste recycling centre in Japan.
• Finding that this enzyme was helping a bacteria to break down, or digest, PET plastic, the researchers decided to “tweak” its structure by adding some amino acids.
• This led to a serendipitous change in the enzyme’s actions, allowing its plastic-eating abilities to work faster.

Giant asteroid 2018 GE3 makes surprise fly-by past Earth

News

• A giant asteroid gave Earth a surprise close shave this week, flying by at a distance of 1,92,000 kilometres, just a day after astronomers discovered the object, scientists say.

Beyond News

• NASA estimated that the asteroid measures 48 to 110 meters wide 6 times the size of the one that levelled 2,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest when it exploded over Tunguska in 1908.
• The asteroid is three to six times as big as one that broke up over Russia in 2013, injuring over 1,200 people and damaging thousands of buildings up to 93 km away from the impact site.
• The asteroid 2018 GE3 was first spotted on April 14 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA programme based at the University of Arizona in the U.S.
• This first sighting occurred just 21 hours before the asteroid’s closest approach to Earth.

Over 100 genes that determine hair colour identified

News

• Scientists have identified 124 genes that play a major role in determining the colour of our hair, a finding that could help law enforcers predict the hair colour of a criminal from DNA evidence at the crime scene.

Beyond News

• The discovery sheds new light on our understanding of the genetic complexity underpinning variations in human pigmentation, and could advance our knowledge of conditions linked to pigmentation, such as skin, testicular, prostate and ovarian cancers.
• Although previous studies have found that a large percentage of hair colour variation is explained by heritable factors, they only identified a dozen or so hair colour genes.

Space hum may reveal hidden black holes

News

• Scientists have developed a new technology that can listen to background humming of deep space and unveil thousands of hidden black hole collisions missed by gravitational-wave detectors.

Beyond News

• The new technique is expected to reveal the presence of thousands of previously hidden black holes by teasing out their faint whoops from a sea of static.
• The gravitational waves from these mergers combine to create a gravitational-wave background.
• The researchers developed computer simulations of faint black hole signals, collecting masses of data until they were convinced that – within the simulated data – was faint, but unambiguous evidence of black hole mergers.
• The new method is estimated to be one thousand times more sensitive, which should bring the long-sought goal within reach.

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