Philippines recently revoked biosafety permits for commercial propagation of genetically modified golden rice.

About Golden Rice

• Golden Rice is designed to handle a specific nutrition issue, without any additional cost or difference in taste.
• Golden rice contain higher levels of the micronutrients iron and zinc in the grains while also producing beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A.
  • Beta carotene give yellow or golden colour.

A fresh look at 30-year-old radar images captured by the Magellan spacecraft suggests the planet Venus may currently be volcanically active.

About Magellan Mission

• Launched by NASA in 1989.
• It was the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus.
• It was designed to use a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to map the Venusian surface.
  • SAR is a technique for producing fine-resolution images from a resolution-limited radar system.
• The Venusian terrain images reveal signs of volcanism, tectonic activity, and turbulent surface winds among other features

Researchers discovered unknown nidoviruses in various vertebrates.

About Nidoviruses

• Positive-sense Ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses that infect a broad range of animals including terrestrial and marine mammals, fish, etc. 
• Share a similar genome organization and expression strategy but vary in the size of genomic RNA. 
• Belongs to order Nidovirales. 
• Out of the large group of nidoviruses, only coronaviruses have been so far associated with disease in humans.

The researchers also found that when host animals are infected with different viruses at the same time, a new virus may emerge altogether as a result of a recombination of viral genes.

Banks fundraising through CDs rises amid liquidity deficit

About CD

• A negotiable money market instrument 
• Issued in dematerialised form or Promissory Note against funds deposited.
• Issued by Scheduled Commercial banks including Regional Rural banks and Small finance banks. Also, by certain All India Financial Institutions (FIs).  
• Can be issued to individuals, corporations, companies, etc.
• Issued in minimum denomination of ₹5 lakh
• Issued for a duration of not less than 7 days and up to 1 year 
  • FIs can issue CD for not less than 1 year and not more than 3 years.

Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has launched Pharma Research in AyurGyan And Techno Innovation (PRAGATI-2024).

About PRAGATI-2024

• Offers opportunity for collaborative research between CCRAS and the industry in the field of Ayurveda.
  • Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of medicine.
• Also, it will showcase the vast potential of the Ayurveda and herbal industry. 

About CCRAS

• CCRAS is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Ayush
•  Apex body for the formulation, coordination, development and promotion of research on scientific lines in Ayurveda and Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine.

New plant species (Stellaria mcclintockiae) from Kerala has been named after Barbara McClintock who won the Nobel Prize for her discovery of Jumping Genes.

About Jumping genes

• Jumping genes, aka transposable elements, are DNA sequences that can move or "jump" from one location to another within the genome, causing nearby genes to become active or inactive.
• They can replicate themselves and insert copies at new locations.
• Their movement can cause genetic mutations and contribute to genome evolution. 

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released the report for the Asia-Pacific region.

Key Highlights

• The Employment to Population Ratio (EPR) improved in the region to 58.2% (2023) from 57.4% (2022) mainly due to growth of employment among Indian women.
• In India, the old age dependency ratio is projected to increase from 0.10 to 0.22 by 2050.
• Major acceleration of productivity growth is needed in India to achieve high income status by 2050.
• Around 76% of manufacturers in India reported skilled labour shortages.

This new algal species was discovered in Kerala, Western Ghats

About Oedocladium sahyadricum

• It is algal species which is dioecious (having the male and female organs in separate and distinct individuals) and terrestrial innature.
• The alga was found like filmy mat of elongated strands on wet soil. 
• It exists in habitat of loamy, acidic in nature.
• Applications: in medicine, agriculture and in the production of a natural pigment.