UPSC Prelims Current Affairs for 2 January 2026

Sirkeer Malkoha Latest News

The rare Sirkeer Malkoha (Taccocua leschenaultii), a bird species typically found in Uttarakhand's plains, has been recently recorded for the first time in the Uttarkashi district.

About Sirkeer Malkoha

• The sirkeer malkoha, or sirkeer cuckoo, is a special type of cuckoo bird.
• Scientific Name: Taccocua leschenaultii
• Unlike some cuckoos, it does not lay its eggs in other birds' nests.
• Distribution: This species is widespread across the sub-Himalayan Indian subcontinent, extending into Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and, more patchily, into Pakistan and Rajasthan.
• Habitat: It is typically found in scrub and thin forest habitats, often favoring hilly terrain but generally residing below an altitude of about 1500 meters above sea level.

Features of Sirkeer Malkoha

• It is about 42–44 centimetres long.
• It is notable for its long tail and the rich olive-brown plumage adorning its upper side.
• The underparts are typically a lighter shade, sometimes with a yellowish tinge.
• It has a unique curved red beak with a yellow tip.
• Its legs are grey.
• These birds are very quiet, and male and female sirkeer malkohas look exactly alike.
• These birds have special feet called zygodactyle feet. This means two toes point forward and two point backward. This helps them grip branches and move on the ground.
• They eat small lizards, insects, and sometimes berries and seeds.
• Conservation Status: IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Source: TOI

PathGennie Latest News

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology has developed new open-source software called PathGennie.

About PathGennie

• It is a novel computational framework developed by scientists that can significantly accelerate the simulation of rare molecular events.
• It is open source software developed for fast tracking of drug discovery.
• It is aimed at fast-tracking the drug discovery process by accurately tracking molecular unbinding pathways.
• It addresses a long-standing challenge in molecular simulations — accurately modelling how drug molecules detach from their target proteins.
  • This process, known as ligand unbinding, plays a key role in determining a drug’s “residence time”, which is often more relevant to therapeutic effectiveness than binding strength alone.
• It predicts the potential drugs unbind from their protein targets without the artificial distortions commonly used in standard methods.
• It mimics natural selection on a microscopic scale instead of forcing the molecule to move.

Features of PathGennie

• It captures rare molecular events without artificial acceleration.
• It generates multiple competitive unbinding pathways.
• It estimates residence time of drug molecules.
• It eliminates bias introduced by external force-based simulations

Potential Applications of PathGennie

• It addresses problems such as chemical reactions, catalytic processes, phase transitions, or self-assembly phenomena.
• It is also compatible with modern machine-learning techniques which ensures integration into diverse simulation pipelines.

Source: News On Air