India has opposed the inclusion of a hazardous insecticide Chlorpyrifos, listed as POP for global phase out in 2021, under the Stockholm Convention. 

About the Convention

• Genesis: Adopted in 2001 and enforced in 2004. 
• Objective: Protect human health and environment from POPs. 
  • POPs are carbon-based organic chemical substances which remain persistent for a long time, accumulate and magnify in living organisms and are toxic to both humans and wildlife.
• Features: Lists chemicals in three annexes. 
  • Annex A (for Elimination), Annex B and C (Restriction)
• India has signed and ratified it.

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by the biologist Gregor Johann Mendel.

• Gregor Mendel, cross-bred around 28,000 garden pea plants and studied features such as shape and color of the pods and seeds to make discoveries about genetic inheritance.
• Aim: To understand and identify how the traits were inherited by future generations of the pea plants.

About Mendelian Inheritance

• It is an approach that explains the traits or characters inherited from one generation to another by the discrete units or genes.
• To explain the theory of inheritance, he introduced three approaches, namely the law of dominance, law of segregation, and law of independent assortment.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by PM approved the FRP of sugarcane for Sugar Season 2024-25 

About FRP 

• Price declared by the central government, at which mills are bound to procure sugarcane from farmers.
• The Sugarcane (Control) Order 1966 gives powers to the central government to fix FRP of sugarcane.
• Decided on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• Some States (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana & Uttarakhand) determine their own State Advised Price (SAP) which is generally higher than FRP. 

A rare inscription dating back to the time of Vikramaditya I of the Badami Chalukya dynasty has been unearthed at Madapura Lake in Davangere district.

About Vikramaditya I

• Timeline: 644 CE - 681 CE
• Ascended the throne after the defeat of his father Pulakeshin II at the hands of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I.
• Military Conquest: Vikramaditya I’s most significant achievement was the recapture of Vatapi, the Chalukya capital, from the Pallavas.
• Architectural patronage: He contributed to the development of freestanding temples, which became a hallmark of Chalukya architecture.

Latest research suggests that the fundamental nature of the universe could be determined by finding out how clumpy it is using S8. 

About S8

• It is a measure of inhomogeneity of the Universe. 
• It is calculated by counting the number of galaxies, and other cosmic structures to assess the distribution of matter, in various regions of the universe. 
• Higher value for S8​ indicates more clustering (clumping of matter), while a lower value indicates its uniform distribution. 
• S8 Tension occurs when different ways to measure the value of S8 yields different estimates. 

A recent study found that a daily exposure to phthalates, which is commonly used in making household plastic items, is linked to 3.5 lakh, or 13 per cent, deaths in the world due to heart disease.

About Phthalates

• Ortho-phthalates, often referred to as “phthalates,” are chemicals used in plastic products (most commonly in the specific type of plastic named polyvinyl chloride) to make the material soft and less brittle.
• These colorless, odorless, oily liquids are also referred to as “Plasticizers”. 
• They do not permanently bind to plastic surfaces to which they are applied. 
• Applications: Pharmaceuticals, and medical devices (e.g., medical tubing), Food packaging, etc.

UK-based Encephalitis International launched a global campaign to promote the importance of vaccination against the rising threat of encephalitis and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

About Encephalitis

• It is inflammation of the active tissues of the brain caused by an infection (viral, bacterial, etc.) or an autoimmune response causing the brain to swell leading to headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, mental confusion and seizures.
• Some pathogens that cause encephalitis: Japanese encephalitis Virus (JEV), Influenza, West Nile Virus, etc.
• India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), provides free vaccination against 12 diseases, including Japanese Encephalitis.

A ground-breaking project to suck carbon out of the sea has started operating on England's south coast.

About Project SeaCURE

• It is funded by the UK government.
• It is a small-scale pilot project exploring whether extracting carbon directly from seawater could offer a cost-effective and scalable solution to reducing atmospheric CO₂ levels.
• Unlike traditional carbon capture methods that target emissions at their source or draw CO₂ directly from the air, SeaCURE targets the ocean, where carbon is present in concentrations up to 150 times higher than in the atmosphere.