General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Oct 22, 2019

World's Oldest Known Natural Pearl Discovered On Abu Dhabi Island

The oldest known natural pearl in the world has been discovered by Abu Dhabi archaeologists working at a Neolithic site on Marawah Island, just off the coast of Abu Dhabi.
Dubbed the 'Abu Dhabi Pearl', it was found in layers that have been radiocarbon dated to 5,800-5,600 BCE, during the Neolithic period.
The discovery is a proof that pearls and oysters were being used in the UAE nearly 8,000 years ago, and represents the earliest known evidence for pearling yet discovered anywhere in the world.
Prior to the Abu Dhabi Pearl discovery, the earliest known pearl in the UAE came from a Neolithic site in Umm Al Qaiwain.
Ancient pearls have also been found at a Neolithic cemetery close to Jebel Buhais, in the Emirate of Sharjah.

Radio-Tagged Amur Falcon Heads For Northeast India From China

A radio-tagged female Amur falcon (Falcon amurensis) named Longleng which had reached her breeding area in northern China in May 2019 for the third time since in 2016, is on her way to her roosting sites in Northeast India.
As per Wildlife Institute of India(WII) scientists, Longleng was around Shanghai in China some five days ago (on way her way to Northeast).
Longleng, named after a Nagaland district, was radio-tagged in October 2016 by WII scientists as part of a project to study the flight route of these long-distance migratory birds and the environmental patterns along the route.

Oct 19, 2019

World's Fastest Ant Sprints The Equivalent Of a 1-Second 200-Meter Dash

The Saharan silver ant is officially the fastest of the world's 12,000 known ant species, clocking 855 millimeters per second.
The six-legged sprinter covers 108 times its body length per second, a feat topped only by two other creatures: the Australian tiger beetle and the California coastal mite.
To run 100 times his body length as quickly, the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, would need to sprint the 200-meter dash in less than a second.
Saharan silver ant hits top speed racing at midday across desert sands that reach 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), the researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Oct 17, 2019

NGT Directs Railways To Evolve Mechanism To Control Pollution

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed railways to evolve an appropriate mechanism to control pollution during loading and unloading of goods.
It expressed concern over the pollution caused during loading and unloading of goods such as cement at railway siding.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar was hearing a plea against pollution in and around railway godown in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Record Melting Sees Swiss Glaciers Shrink 10% In Five Years

Glaciers in Switzerland have shrunk 10% in the past five years, a rate that has never been seen before in over a century of observations.
The summer 2019 heatwave saw glacier melt rates break records, leading to huge losses in ice volume, reports the Cryospheric Commission (CC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
Glaciers around the world are melting due to climate change, and this latest research shows the extent of the problem in Switzerland.

Oct 13, 2019

Annual Ganges River Dolphin Census Begins

The annual Ganges river dolphin census, undertaken by World Wide Fund for Nature-India in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department along about 250-km-long riverine stretch of Upper Ganga between Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and Narora Ramsar site began in Bijnor.
Unlike previous years 2018, when direct counting method was used, in 2019 the tandem boat survey method is being used.

Oct 12, 2019

Garbage Cafe Inaugurated In Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo inaugurated a 'Garbage Cafe' in Ambikapur which will provide free food in exchange for plastic waste.
The cafe, situated in Ambikapur, which bagged the title of the second cleanest city in India, through the initiative, will provide impetus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'plastic-free' India resolve.
The concept of this cafe is that people can get their plastic waste weighed and enjoy a warm meal in return.
The tagline of the cafe says, 'More the waste better the taste'. The cafe has been set up by Ambikapur Municipal Corporation (AMC ).

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