Current Context : First photographic record of a spot-bellied eagle owl recently reported in the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) Maharashtra.

ABOUT SPOT BELLIED EAGLE OWL:

• The forest eagle-owl is also known as the spot-bellied eagle-owl.
• It is a large bird of prey with a formidable appearance.
• Scientific Name: Ketupa nipalensis
• It is a large species of owl.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN Status: Least Concern
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule IV
  • CITES: Appendix II.

ABOUT PENCH TIGER RESERVE :

• Location: Southern reaches of the Satpura hills in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts in Madhya Pradesh
• Named after the Pench River, which flows from north to south through the Reserve.
• Flora: Teak, saag, mahua, and various grasses and shrubs.
• Fauna: Chital, Sambar, Nilgai, Gaur (Indian Bison) and wild boar.

Current Context : Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to build canopy bridges across track  in Assam Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary.

Purpose: To facilitate the movement of Hoolock gibbons across a railway track that divides their prime habitat in Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary.

ABOUT SANCTUARY

• It is an isolated protected area of evergreen forest located in Jorhat district of Assam, India.
• Established in 1997.
• It contains India’s only gibbons – the hoolock gibbons and Northeastern India’s only nocturnal primate the Bengal slow loris.
• Upper canopy of the forest is dominated by the Hollong tree.
• Lower canopy consists of evergreen shrubs and herbs.

ABOUT HOOLOCK GIBBONS

• Gibbons are the smallest and fastest of all apes.
• Hoolock gibbons are known for their intelligence, distinct personalities, and strong family bonds.
• They inhabit tropical and subtropical forests in Southeast Asia.
• They are found in forested areas of Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Southern China.
• IUCN Status:
  • Western Hoolock Gibbon: Endangered
  • Eastern Hoolock Gibbon: Vulnerable

Current Context : Researchers at the Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science have devised an innovative method for producing recombinant proteins.

ABOUT RECOMBINANT PROTEINS

• They are proteins that are artificially produced by introducing specific genes(Recombinant DNA) into host organisms, such as bacteria or yeast. These genes instruct the host organisms to manufacture the desired protein.
• Various Types : Interferons, recombinant hormones, tumor necrosis factors, tumor necrosis factors, etc.
• Various examples : human insulin for diabetes, human growth factors for growth hormone deficiency, Factor VIII for hemophilia, and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for treating cancer and viral infections like SARS-CoV-2.

Current Context : James Webb Space Telescope spotted earliest-known galaxy called JADES-GS-z14-0.

• It is bright and big considering it formed during the universe’s infancy — at only 2% its current age.
• Discovery of galaxy was made by an international team of astronomers by using JWST to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES)
• The galaxy has a mass equivalent to 500 million stars the size of our Sun and is rapidly forming new stars — about 20 every year.
• Webb used its huge 5m-wide primary mirror and sensitive infrared instruments to make the discovery.

ABOUT TELESCOPE :

• James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021 as a joint venture of the US, European and Canadian space agencies.
• Objective : to see farther across the cosmos and further back in time , than any previous astronomical tool.
• JADES-GS-z14-0, Webb can see a significant amount of oxygen, which tells researchers the galaxy is already quite mature.

Current Context : Rakesh Ranjan has been appointed as Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).

• He is a 1992 batch IAS officer from Manipur Cadre.

ABOUT SSC :

• It is an organisation under the Government of India to recruit staff for various posts in the various ministries and departments of the government of India and in subordinate offices and agencies.
• It recruits personnel for Group C (Non-technical) and Group B (Non-Gazetted) posts.
• It is an executive body.
• Established on 4 November 1975.

Current Context : The Spanish football club Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund, the German football club, 2-0 in the final to win the 2024 UEFA Champions League for the 15th time.

• Union of European Football Association(UEFA) champions League final was played at Wembley, England, on 1 June 2024.

ABOUT CHAMPIONSHIP :

• It is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs.
• In the 1992-93 season, the trophy was renamed the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
• It was started as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in the 1955-56 season.

ABOUT UNION OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

• Established on 15 June 1954 as the governing body of football in Europe.
• It launched the European Championship, now known as the Euro Cup, for the European National teams and the European Champion Clubs’ Cup for the professional club teams.
• Members: 55 country’s National football association of Europe
• Headquarters: Nyon, Switzerland
• President: Aleksander Čeferi

Celebrated on 3^rd June.

• Theme : “Cycling for Health, Equity, and Sustainability.”
• Aim : Promote cycling for health and sustainability.
• Importance : to recognize the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the bicycle, which are affordable, environmentally friendly fit sustainable means of transportation.
• Established in 2018 by the UN General Assembly.

Current Context : A cryonics company has frozen its first client in Australia in the hope of bringing him back to life in the future.

ABOUT CRYONICS:

• Cryonics is the practice of freezing an individual who has died, with the object of reviving the individual sometime in the future.
• Objective : It is an effort to save lives by using temperatures so cold that a person beyond help by today’s medicine can be preserved for decades or centuries until a future medical technology can restore that person to full health.
• The word cryonics is derived from the Greek krýos, meaning “icy cold.” preparation for cryonic preservation.

A person that is held in such a state is called a “cryopreserved patient”, because Cryonicists (the advocates of cryonics) do not regard the cryopreserved person as really dead.

Current Context : Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared ‘Human Rabies’ as a ‘notifiable disease’

ABOUT RABIES :

• Rabies is an acute virus that affects all warm-blooded animals, including humans.
• It is caused by animal bites that have a high fatality rate.
• India accounts for 9 percent of rabies deaths in Asia and 35 percent of deaths globally.

Current Context : Koya tribe faces a cultural crisis as raids by the Special Enforcement Bureau threaten their cherished tradition of Mahua liquor consumption.

ABOUT KOYA TRIBE :

• Koya are one of the few multi-racial and multi-lingual tribal communities in India.
• They are indigenous tribes of Andhra Pradesh.
• They live in the forests, plains, and valleys on both sides of the Godavari River in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
• The Koya are migrated to central India from their original home in Bastar, northern India.
• They speak Koya language, also called Koyi, is a Dravidian language.
• Occupation : pastoralists and shifting cultivators.
• They grow Jowar, Ragi, Bajra, and other millets.

ABOUT MAHUA :

• The flowers of the Mahua tree are fermented to produce an alcoholic drink also called Mahua.
• Scientific name : Madhuca longifolia
• Tribal men and women in various parts of India traditionally make this liquor.