General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Feb 28, 2020

China to Send 'Duck Army' to Fight Locusts

China is planning to dispatch a 100,000-strong army of ducks to help Pakistan combat a massive locust infestation. The legion of lotus-eating waterfowl will be sent from the eastern province of Zhejiang following the earlier dispatch of a team of Chinese experts to Pakistan to advice on a response to the infestation that is being called the worst in 20 years.

Feb 27, 2020

Animal that Can Live Without Oxygen

Scientists have discovered an animal that does not need oxygen to produce energy needed for its survival, a finding that changes one of science's assumptions about the animal world.
The tiny, less than 10-celled parasite Henneguya salminicola lives in salmon muscle.
As it evolved, the animal, which is a relative of jellyfish and corals, gave up breathing and consuming oxygen — or became anaerobic — to produce energy.
"Aerobic respiration was thought to be ubiquitous in animals, but now we confirmed that this is not the case," said Dorothee Huchon, a professor at Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel.
The researchers noted that the parasite's anaerobic nature was an accidental discovery.

India 5th most Polluted Country

In accordance with the "2019 World Air Quality Report-Region & City PM2.5 Ranking" compiled by IQAir AirVisual, India ranked 5^th as the most polluted country in the world and topped in an annual list of cities with the worst air quality in the world. The report has been prepared by monitoring the real time data to tackle the urgent issue of air pollution.
Bangladesh emerged as the most polluted country for PM2.5 exposure. It is followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and India at 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th place respectively.
Bahamas ranked 98th as the cleanest country with an average of 3 µg/m³.
World's most Polluted Countries 2019 (PM2.5): India – 5^th rank
World's most Polluted Cities 2019 (PM2.5): Ghaziabad, India – 1^st rank
World's Most Polluted Capital Cities 2019 (PM2.5): Delhi, India – 1^st rank

Feb 26, 2020

Scientists Find Oldest Plant Fossil

Scientists have spotted in rocks from northern China what may be the oldest fossils of a green plant ever found, tiny seaweed that carpeted areas of the seafloor roughly a billion years ago and were part of a primordial revolution among life on Earth. Researchers said that the plant, called Proterocladus antiquus, was about the size of a rice grain and boasted numerous thin branches, thriving in shallow water while attached to the seafloor with a root-like structure. It may seem small, but Proterocladus - a form of green algae - was one of the largest organisms of its time, sharing the seas mainly with bacteria and other microbes.

4,000-year-old Crafts Village Unearthed Near Varanasi

The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology Professor, Anil Kumar Dubey and his team discovered a 4000-year-old urban settlements, which is mentioned as crafts village as per Ancient texts, in Babhaniyav village, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
As per former Additional Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Dr Buddha Rashmi Mani, the settlements could have been a satellite settlement and feeding centre of the Varanasi- Sarnath region.
On the preliminary survey of the site, BHU found a temple which belongs to the 5th Century AD through 8th Century AD, potteries which are 4000-year-old and walls which are 2000-year-old.

Feb 23, 2020

World's Largest Cave Fish Species Found in Meghalaya

The world's largest species of cave fish measuring over 40 cm or around one and a half feet in length were found inside a remote cave in Meghalaya's Jaintia Hills.
The fish, related to the Golden Mahseer but has no eyes and is white due to lack of melanin pigmentation, was found in a cave located in a remote and densely forested area in Jaintia Hills region of Meghalaya by a team of international and local researchers in February 2019.
There are 250 known species of fish found under the earth's surface. As they live in a nutrient-limited environment most of these species are small—195 of them have a mean length of 8.5 cm. The only two species, which exceed 30 cm, are eel-like and have very thin bodies.

Feb 22, 2020

Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant, Bengal Florican Classified as 'Endangered Migratory Species'

Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican have been classified as "endangered migratory species" by a UN body, paving the way for trans-boundary conservation efforts.
India's proposal for inclusion of the three species in the global list for international protection under the UN's Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species was accepted unanimously on Thursday.
The proposal was accepted by 130 countries that are party to the convention at the ongoing 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS COP 13).
Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I of the Convention for which CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting them, conserving and restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.

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