Published on: October 9, 2024
Snippets : 9 OCTBER 2024
Snippets : 9 OCTBER 2024
- The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has launched a pilot project, ‘SaveMom,’ developed by JioVio Healthcare, which uses artificial intelligence to provide continuous care for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and infants. The project covers a comprehensive 1,000-day monitoring period, tracking health indicators and identifying high-risk pregnancies through AI analysis. The centralized platform allows healthcare data to be accessed by ASHA workers and doctors, ensuring seamless care across locations. Wearable devices will monitor vital signs in high-risk pregnancies, while digital records ensure post-pregnancy support, including infant vaccinations. Privacy concerns are being addressed during the 6-9 month pilot phase.
- According to the 10th Wild Ass Population Estimation (WAPE) conducted in 2024, the population of wild asses in Gujarat has risen to 7,672, marking a 26.14% increase from the 2020 estimate of 6,082. Wild asses are listed as an “endangered species” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act in India. Once found in North-West India, Pakistan, and Central Asia, their current habitat is restricted to the Little Rann and Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The survey, which covered a 15,510 sq. km area using the Direct Count Method, utilized both conventional and modern techniques, including drones, camera traps, and forest modules, to ensure accuracy. The population of wild asses has shown significant growth since 1976, when only 720 were recorded, due to ongoing conservation efforts by the Gujarat government. Additionally, the survey documented populations of other species, including 2,734 Asian antelope, 915 wild boars, 222 Indian hares, 214 Indian gazelles, and 153 Indian jackals.
- On September 30, 2023, delegates at the UN Conference in Bonn, Germany, adopted a new global framework aimed at reducing environmental risks from chemicals and waste during the 5th International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5). This framework includes 28 targets that guide the responsible management of chemicals throughout their lifecycle and align with global agendas such as climate change, biodiversity, human rights, and health. National governments committed to formulating policies to reduce chemical pollution by 2030 and promote safer alternatives, while industries pledged to manage chemicals responsibly to minimize pollution and its adverse impacts. Notably, the framework seeks to phase out highly hazardous pesticides in agriculture by 2035 and includes the Bonn Declaration, which encourages preventing harmful chemical exposure and phasing out the most dangerous chemicals. The objectives of the Bonn Declaration focus on enhancing safe management of chemicals, supporting the transition to circular economies, and improving recycling efforts to safeguard health and the environment. To aid in the implementation of this new framework, a Global Framework on Chemicals Fund was established at ICCM5, providing $300,000 to $800,000 USD for project implementation over three years, particularly to support developing nations, Small Island Developing States, and transitioning economies. The framework emphasizes the sound management of chemicals and waste, aiming to prevent illegal trade, strengthen national legal frameworks, and eliminate hazardous pesticides by 2035.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized India’s significant achievement in eliminating trachoma as a public health problem, marking a crucial milestone in the fight against this eye infection that affects millions worldwide. Trachoma is a bacterial infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, recognized as the leading infectious cause of blindness globally, impacting approximately 1.9 million individuals and rendering blindness irreversible once it occurs. The infection spreads through personal contact, such as via hands, clothes, or bedding contaminated with the discharge from an infected person’s eyes or nose, as well as through flies that have come into contact with the discharge. Continuous infections can lead to painful complications, including trichiasis, where the eyelashes turn inward and damage the cornea. To combat this, the WHO recommends the SAFE strategy, which includes surgical interventions to correct trichiasis, administering antibiotics like azithromycin to clear infections, promoting facial cleanliness to reduce transmission, and improving access to clean water and sanitation. Besides India, 17 other countries have successfully eliminated trachoma as a public health issue, including several in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania, showcasing a global effort to combat this neglected tropical disease
- The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their groundbreaking contributions to artificial intelligence (AI), marking a significant recognition of their influence on modern technology. Hopfield, an American scientist known for his work in biological physics, developed a network of nodes that mimics human associative memory, allowing the system to recreate stored patterns from partial or distorted information; this “Hopfield network,” initially created in the 1980s, has been continually refined. On the other hand, Geoffrey Hinton, a British-Canadian regarded as the ‘godfather of AI,’ built upon Hopfield’s ideas to create the Boltzmann machine, which learns from examples and recognizes familiar patterns in new data, similar to how humans can identify faces or objects they haven’t seen before. Both researchers have laid the foundation for modern machine learning and neural networks, enabling AI to perform complex tasks, such as detecting cancer-affected cells by recognizing patterns akin to how children learn to identify cats they have never encountered. However, Hinton has also raised concerns regarding AI, particularly the proliferation of misinformation and potential job displacement, cautioning that these technologies may blur the lines between truth and fabricated content.
- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released its State of Global Water Resources Report, highlighting alarming trends in water availability and climate change impacts. Notably, 2023 was recorded as the driest year for global rivers in over three decades, reflecting a critical shift amidst increasing global demand for water. Additionally, glaciers faced the largest mass loss in the past 50 years, marking the second consecutive year of global ice loss across all regions. The report emphasizes that human-induced climate change has made the hydrological cycle more erratic, leading to extreme weather patterns characterized by both prolonged droughts and floods. The transition from La Niña to El Niño further exacerbated these conditions, with 2023 also being the hottest year on record. In response to these challenges, the WMO calls for improved monitoring and forecasting of water-related hazards, urging the implementation of early warning systems globally by 2027 through its Early Warnings for All initiative
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reported that the upper stage of the PSLV-C37 rocket successfully re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on October 6, 2024, and impacted in the North Atlantic Ocean. This historic mission initially launched 104 satellites, including Cartosat-2D, with a single vehicle on February 15, 2017. Notably, the re-entry occurred within eight years of its launch, aligning with international debris mitigation guidelines that recommend limiting post-mission orbital life to 25 years . ISRO achieved this by designing a passivation sequence that lowered the orbit of the upper stage after payload injection. This accomplishment highlights ISRO’s commitment to safe and sustainable space operations, with plans to further reduce residual orbital lifetime to five years or less in future missions
- SELCO Foundation and Rotary Club of Bangalore are teaming up to bring solar energy to 100 primary health centers in Karnataka, improving healthcare access for over 2 million people in rural areas. This initiative is part of SELCO’s Energy for Health program, which aims to power 25,000 healthcare facilities across 12 states by 2026. In Karnataka alone, SELCO has already installed solar energy systems in over 1,150 public health centers in partnership with the National Health Mission. By equipping these centers with reliable, renewable energy, the initiative will enhance essential services, particularly in maternal and child health, creating a scalable model for sustainable energy interventions that promote improved healthcare outcomes and climate resilience.
- The Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Observatory has been inaugurated by Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary DAE & Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, at Hanle, Ladakh, on 4th October 2024. MACE is the largest imaging Cherenkov telescope in Asia. Located at an altitude of ~4,300 m, it is also the highest of its kind in the world. The telescope is indigenously built by BARC with support from ECIL and other Indian industry partners
- Indian Air Force Day, observed on October 8th, commemorates the establishment of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1932. The theme for Indian Air Force Day 2024 is “Bhartiya Vayu
