Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Evidence of Stone Age surgery discovered in skull of cow

News

• A hole in the skull of a Stone Age cow was likely made by humans about 5,000 years ago, probably by a primitive veterinarian or trainee surgeon, scientists said.

Beyond News

• The hole appears to have been painstakingly carved into the animal’s head, but whether it was an operation to save the cow or practice for surgery on humans, was not clear, a duo of anthropologists reported.
• Either way, the puncture does seem to represent the earliest known example of veterinary “trepanation” the boring of a hole into the skull, they said.
• There are many Neolithic (human) skulls in Europe which bear the marks of trepanation. But we have never seen it in animals.
• The cow skull comes from an archaeological site in western France, inhabited by a Stone Age community between 3,400 and 3,000 B.C. It was thought at first that the matchbox-sized hole was made when the cow was gored by a horned rival in a fight.
• But on closer inspection with high-definition scanners, the team found no splintering or fractures consistent with such a strong blow. Cuts and scrape marks were found around the hole, similar to those seen on Neolithic human skulls into which holes had been bored.

Archaeologists find bust of Roman emperor in Egypt

News

• Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry said archaeologists have discovered a bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the southern city of Aswan.

Beyond News

• The head was found in the Temple of Kom Ombo during work to protect the site from groundwater.
• The Ministry said artefacts belonging to a shrine for the God Osiris-Ptah-Neb was also unearthed inside the ancient temple of Karnak in Luxor.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Venkaiah Naidu rejects impeachment notice against CJI

##LATEST UPDATE

News

• Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu rejected the Opposition’s impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.

Beyond News

• In his 10-page order, Mr. Naidu has dealt with every charge mentioned and claimed that the Opposition MPs were “unsure” of their own case and was based on “suspicion and conjectures.”
• Page 1 of the petition uses phrases such as ‘the facts and circumstances of the Prasad Education Trust show prima facie evidence suggesting that the Chief Justice of India ‘may have been’ involved in a case of illegal gratification.
• The motion further stated with regard to the Chief Justice of India that “he too was likely to fall under the scope of investigation.
• It further states that ‘the Chief Justice of India appears to have ante-dated an administrative order.
• The same certainly does not constitute proof ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, which is required to make out a case of ‘proved misbehaviour’ under Article 124 of the Constitution.
• Naidu cited a Supreme Court order to reiterate that the CJI, as Master of Roster, was entitled to allocate cases as he deemed fit and referred it as an internal matter of the judiciary.”
• The decision comes just a day after Mr. Naidu consulted Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal and retired Supreme Court Judge Sudarshan Reddy, and before the Supreme Court opened for the week.
• Rajya Sabha sources said the Chairman took a quick decision to avoid an “uncomfortable” situation for the occupant of one of the highest constitutional authorities, the Chief Justice of India.
• Opposition parties, led by the Congress, met Mr. Naidu on April 20 and handed over a notice for impeachment of the CJI.
• The CPI, the CPI(M), the NCP, the SP, the BSP and the IUML were the parties that had agreed to the motion.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Vulnerable reefs of Japan

News

• Unusually cold water has devastated some of the world’s most northerly coral reefs, which lie off the coast of western Japan, an environment ministry official said.

Beyond News

• The ministry surveyed the reefs in recent months and found widespread bleaching, with between 90 to 100 per cent of each of the six spots surveyed affected.
• In four of the surveyed areas, researchers have reported between 85 percent and 95 percent of the bleached areas were now dead.
• The devastation is thought to be the result of unusually cold water temperatures in the area this year, partly produced by the meandering of the Kuroshio current.
• Coral bleaching and death is irreversible, but differs from similar events seen in other more southerly reefs.
• Campaigners have warned that environmental changes including warming water and pollution are causing significant bleaching of corals around the world.
• Corals make up less than one percent of Earth’s marine environment, but are home to more than 25 per cent of marine life.

Kuroshio

• The Kuroshio is a warm current in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and its unusual movement away from the area brought up cold water from the depths.
• Little is known about exactly why the Kuroshio current changes its flows, but scientists have observed the meandering phenomenon six times since 1965, most recently last summer.
• The phenomenon results in lower water temperatures, changes the locations of fishing grounds and even affects ship navigation, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Death, iceberg collision mark ‘difficult’ Antarctic expedition

News

• In February 2018, 30 Indian scientists on an expedition to one of India’s base stations in Antarctica had to be evacuated after their ship collided with an iceberg.

Beyond News

• The hired Russian ship, v. Ivan Papanin, was on its way to Maitri, India’s inland research base, from Bharati, another India station. The impact punctured a three – foot hole into the hull and led to water seeping in.
• While there were no reports of injury, and the scientists were flown back to the Bharati station, one of those scientists Subhajit Sen  was involved a month later in another, unrelated accident at India’s second research station, Maitri, and succumbed to his injuries.
• India’s scientific expeditions to Antarctica since 1981 have had their share of misadventures, this is the “first time”, according to an official, that v.Ivan Papanin, a 28-year-old ice-breaker owned by Murmansk Shipping and frequently commissioned by India, suffered from a breach of this kind.
• Normally, Indian scientists from several research institutions are selected every year to go in batches to Antarctica from November to March, the only clement months when ships and chartered flights can reach the continent — the ice being too thick other wise.
• Inspite of regular expeditions to Antarctica, India doesn’t yet have an ice-breaker ship of its own. India’s plans to acquire a ₹1,000-crore polar research vehicle (PRV) — a ship that can cut through ice sheets and glaciers — has been on the anvil since 2005.

 ‘Exploding’ ants discovered on Borneo

News

• A species of ant that “explodes” and gives off a toxic, sticky liquid to fight off foes and keep its colony safe has been discovered in the jungles of Borneo island, scientists said.

Beyond News

• The creatures, which have the scientific name Colobopsis explodens, were found by a team of researchers in the tiny state of Brunei, which inhabits a sliver of land in the north of the biodiverse island.
• When threatened by other insects, worker ants can rupture the wall of their body, which leads to their death and the release of a yellow toxin from their glands that either kills or holds off enemies, according to the study.
• The Colobopsis explodens was picked out as the model species of the group as it is particularly prone to self-sacrifice, they said.
• The ant “explodes” by contracting “its body until enough pressure is built up to tear the body wall, then the secretion exits with a small squirt or pop”.
• Such a phenomenon was “very rare in nature” and only a handful of “social” insects – such as ants and bees – were known to sacrifice themselves in such a fashion.

A call to end plastic pollution

News

• Cities and nations have been looking at banning plastic straws and stirrers in hopes of addressing the world’s plastic pollution problem.

Beyond News

• This also remained the main theme of the 48th annual Earth Day.
• Australian scientists Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox estimate, using trash collected on U.S. coastlines during cleanups over five years, that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying around America’s shorelines.
• They figure that means 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws are on the entire world’s coastlines.
• Each year more than 35 million tonnes of plastic pollution are produced around Earth and about a quarter of that ends up around the water.
• Organisers of Earth Day have proclaimed ending plastics pollution this year’s theme.
• And following in the footsteps of several U.S. cities such as Seattle and Miami Beach, British PM Theresa May in April called on the nations of the British commonwealth to consider banning plastic straws, coffee stirrers and plastic swabs with cotton on the end.
• McDonald’s will test paper straws in some U.K. locations next month and keep all straws behind the counter, so customers have to ask for them.
• Scientists say that a ban is a good start.

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