Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma (SRCC) Latest News

Recently, a team of Indian scientists has developed novel analytical methods to study and potentially treat Rare Colorectal Cancer (SRCC) more effectively.

What is Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma (SRCC)?

• Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma (SRCC) is a rare and aggressive subtype of colorectal cancer (CRC) that originates in the colon or rectum.
• It is named for the signet ring-like appearance of its cells under a microscope, caused by mucus pushing the nucleus to one side.
• SRCC is known for its rapid spread, resistance to conventional therapies, and late-stage diagnosis, making it one of the deadliest colon cancer variants.

What Are the Innovative Methods Introduced?

• The researchers developed Patient-Derived Organoids (PDOs) and Patient-Derived Xenografts (PDXs):
  • PDOs are miniature 3D tumour models grown from human cancer tissues in lab dishes.
  • PDXs involve implanting human tumour cells into mice, enabling the tumour to grow in a living system.
• These lab-grown models closely mimic the molecular behaviour of actual human SRCC tumours.
• This method forms one of the first living biobanks of SRCC models, enabling researchers to study the disease more precisely and test treatments in a controlled environment.
• A major difficulty in treating SRCC is its tendency to spread to the peritoneum, the lining of the abdominal cavity, which worsens the prognosis and reduces treatment effectiveness.
• While SRCC makes up only 1% of all CRC cases globally, in India, it affects a disproportionately larger number of patients — nearly 10 times more, often in younger individuals.

Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma (SRCC) FAQs

Q1. What is Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma (SRCC)?
Ans. SRCC is an aggressive cancer subtype marked by cells resembling signet rings (cytoplasm pushed to periphery by mucin). It commonly affects the stomach, colon, or breast.

Q2. Why is SRCC clinically significant?
Ans. It has a poor prognosis due to late diagnosis, rapid metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy. Early detection via endoscopy/biopsy is critical.

Q3. What are the risk factors for SRCC?
Ans. Genetic predisposition (CDH1 mutations), chronic inflammation (e.g., H. pylori infection), and lifestyle factors like smoking.

Source: IE

ESA's Biomass Mission Latest News

The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch a landmark space mission called the Biomass Mission, which will provide the first-ever comprehensive global measurements of forest biomass.

About the Mission

• The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching a pioneering mission called the Biomass Mission, scheduled for April 29, 2025.
• The satellite will be launched aboard a Vega C rocket from Korou Spaceport in French Guiana.
• It will be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 666 km, ensuring the satellite observes the Earth under consistent lighting conditions.

Objective and Significance

• The Biomass Mission aims to generate the first-ever global measurements of forest biomass, providing data that is currently severely lacking at a planetary scale.
• The mission seeks to map the world’s forests and understand how they are changing over time, contributing to the study of the global carbon cycle.
• Forests are a vital component of the carbon cycle, acting as carbon sinks. They currently store 861 gigatonnes of carbon in vegetation and soils and absorb around 16 billion metric tonnes of CO₂ annually.
• By tracking changes in forest carbon content, the mission will improve our understanding of carbon emissions, deforestation, and climate change.
• The mission responds to urgent concerns: in 2023 alone, the planet lost 3.7 million hectares of tropical forests—equivalent to losing 10 football fields of forest per minute, contributing to about 6% of global CO₂ emissions.

Key Technologies Used

• The satellite is equipped with a 12-meter antenna and utilizes Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to map the Earth's surface.
• Notably, it is the first satellite in space to use a P-band SAR, which is a long-wavelength radar system capable of penetrating dense forest canopies.
• This advanced technology allows measurement of carbon stored both in the canopy and on the forest floor, offering insights into how much biomass and hence, carbon is present.
• Since longer wavelengths penetrate more deeply than shorter ones, the P-band SAR is uniquely suited for generating 3D images of forests, from the canopy down to the tree roots.

ESA's Biomass Mission FAQs

Q1. What is ESA’s Biomass Mission?
Ans. It is the Earth Explorer satellite mission to map global forest biomass using a P-band radar, aiding carbon cycle studies and climate change mitigation.

Q2. How does Biomass support climate action?
Ans. By measuring forest carbon stocks, it provides data for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation) initiatives and monitors illegal logging.

Q3. What makes Biomass’s technology unique?
Ans. Its P-band radar penetrates dense canopies to measure tree height/biomass, overcoming limitations of optical sensors in cloudy regions.

Source: IE

Electroreception Latest News

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that fruit fly larvae possess the ability to detect and respond to electric fields, a sensory ability known as electroreception.

About Electroreception

• Electroreception is the biological ability to detect weak electrostatic fields in the environment. It allows animals to sense electric fields generated by other living organisms or environmental factors.
• This ability is primarily found in certain vertebrate species, especially aquatic animals like sharks and electric fish, but is now also observed in invertebrates like fruit fly larvae.
• Electroreceptor organs were first discovered in the 1960s through physiological studies of weakly electric fish by Theodore H. Bullock, an American neuroscientist, and French scientists Thomas Szabo and Alfred Fessard.
• In some species, electroreception is also used for social communication, indicating its evolutionary importance beyond navigation or hunting.

Key Findings

• The researchers found that only a small cluster of sensory neurons located on either side of the larva’s head were involved in this electroreceptive behavior.
• Upon closer analysis under a microscope, it was confirmed that a single neuron in this head cluster was directly responsible for detecting the electric field.
• The neuron exhibited directional sensitivity—it was inhibited when the negative electrode was in front of the larva’s head and activated when the electrode was behind, which triggered the larva to reorient and move accordingly.
• By eliminating other possible stimuli (confounding factors), the scientists confirmed that the larval response was specifically due to the electric field itself, not other environmental cues.
• This makes fruit fly larvae one of the few organisms, along with sharks, bees, and the platypus, known to exhibit this rare sensory ability.
• In controlled experiments, larvae immersed in an electric field were observed to reorient their movement and navigate towards the negative electrode, indicating that they could detect and respond to the direction and strength of the electric field.

Electroreception FAQs

Q1. What is electroreception?
Ans. A sensory ability in some aquatic animals (e.g., sharks, platypus) to detect electric fields, aiding navigation, hunting, and communication.

Q2. How do sharks use electroreception?
Ans. Via ampullae of Lorenzini—gel-filled pores detecting prey’s muscle contractions, even in murky waters.

Q3. Are electroreceptive species found in India?
Ans. Yes! Gangetic dolphins use electroreception to navigate silt-laden rivers, while electric rays inhabit coastal waters.

Source: TH

Hudson River Latest News

Aviation experts have suggested that 'mast bumping' could be the reason behind the tragic helicopter crash into Manhattan's Hudson River recently.

About Hudson River

• It is a river in New York State, United States. 
• It flows almost entirely within the New York state, the exception being its final segment, where it forms the boundary between New York and New Jersey for 21 miles (34 km).
• It is named after English sea explorer Henry Hudson.
• It originates in several small postglacial lakes in the Adirondack Mountains near Mount Marcy (1,629 metres), the highest point in New York, and flows about 315 miles (507 km) through the eastern part of the state. 
• Lake Tear of the Clouds is regarded as the source of its main headstream, the Opalescent River.
• The water from the Hudson River flows into the Upper New York Bay.
• It drains an area of 34,628 sq.km.

What is Mast Bumping?

• Mast bumping is a helicopter issue where the rotor hub strikes the mast, often in two-bladed, teetering rotor systems like Bell models. 
• It happens during low-G maneuvers or abrupt control inputs, disrupting rotor balance.
• This can cause the hub to hit the mast, leading to loss of control or rotor separation, risking a crash.

Hudson River FAQs

Q1. In which U.S. state does the Hudson River primarily flow?

Ans. New York

Q2. What is the total length of the Hudson River?

Ans. 315 miles (507 km)

Q3. Where does the Hudson River empty its water?

Ans. Upper New York Bay

Source: N18

BatEchoMon Latest News

Recently, India’s First Automated Bat Monitoring and Detection System was created by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru.

What is BatEchoMon?

• BatEchoMon stands for “Bat Echolocation Monitoring”. It is India’s first automated, real-time bat monitoring and detection system.
• The system was developed by bat biologist Kadambari Deshpande and engineer Vedant Barje under the guidance of Jagdish Krishnaswamy.
• It was designed as part of the Long-Term Urban Ecological Observatory at the School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru.

What Does BatEchoMon Do?

• BatEchoMon autonomously detects, records, analyses, and classifies bat echolocation calls in real-time — something that previously took researchers months to do manually.
• It includes:
  • An ultrasonic microphone using a modified AudioMoth device.
  • A Raspberry Pi microprocessor to process and classify calls.
  • A solar-powered battery for power and a Wi-Fi unit for data transmission.
• The device activates automatically at sunset and continuously records audio through the night.
• It uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm to distinguish bat calls from other sounds and to classify them based on peak frequency and call structure.
• The output includes:
  • Spectrograms (visual frequency-time plots of bat calls),
  • Audio files of bat calls,
  • Species-specific statistical data showing call frequency and timing.

BatEchoMon FAQs

Q1. What is BatEchoMon?
Ans. A bioacoustic monitoring system using AI to detect and classify bat species via their echolocation calls, aiding conservation efforts.

Q2. How does BatEchoMon help biodiversity?
Ans. Tracks bat populations (key pollinators/pest controllers), identifies endangered species, and maps habitat changes due to urbanization/climate.

Q3. What tech does BatEchoMon use?
Ans. Combines ultrasonic sensors, machine learning algorithms, and GPS to create real-time bat activity databases.

Source: TH

Pakke Tiger Reserve Latest News

Camera traps installed at the Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh detected nine big cats at the park.

About Pakke Tiger Reserve

• It is located in the East Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is surrounded by the Tenga Reserve Forest to the north, Doimara Reserve Forest on the west, Nameri National Park and Tiger Reserve (Assam) on the south, and some agricultural land as well as Papum Reserve Forest on the east.
• It lies within the Eastern Himalayas foothills and is surrounded by the Kameng River in the west and north, and the Pakke River across the east. 
• It covers an area of 862 sq.km.
• Climate: It has a subtropical climate with cold winters.
• The Nyishi tribe inhibits the area and plays a great role in its conservation.
• This Tiger Reserve has also won the India Biodiversity Award 2016 in the category of 'Conservation of threatened species' for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.
• Vegetation: The habitat types in the park include lowland semi-evergreen, evergreen forest, and Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests.
• Flora: It consists of a wide variety of floral species such as Hoolock (a huge tree), giant bamboos, orchids, pine, oaks, walnuts, spruce, and rhododendrons.
• Fauna: Tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, jungle cat, wild dog, fishing cat, jackal, bison, elephant, sambar, hog deer, barking deer, wild boar, flying squirrel, and rhesus macaque.

Pakke Tiger Reserve FAQs

Q1. Where is the Pakke Tiger Reserve located?

Ans. It is located in the East Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh.

Q2. Which tribal community plays a major role in the conservation efforts in Pakke Tiger Reserve?

Ans. Nyishi Tribe

Q3. Pakke Tiger Reserve shares its southern boundary with which national park and tiger reserve in Assam?

Ans. Nameri National Park

Source: ETVB

Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) Latest News

Recently, the inaugural edition of the Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME), a large-scale multilateral maritime exercise, began in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

About Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME)

• AIKEYME is a large-scale multilateral maritime exercise between India and African nations, inaugurated in April 2025 at Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
• Co-hosting Nations: India and Tanzania jointly host the exercise, reflecting theirshared strategic interests in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• 11 nations are participating: India, Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa.
• The primary aim is to develop cooperative solutions to regional maritime challenges and to enhance naval interoperability and coordination between partner navies.
• Strategic vision: The exercise aligns with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) initiative, which PM unveiled in March 2025.
• Indian naval participation: INS Chennai (Destroyer), INS Kesari (Landing Ship Tank), and INS Sunayna are deployed as part of the engagement.
• IOS Sagar initiative: INS Sunayna is sailing under the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR mission, involving joint surveillance and goodwill port calls in Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, and the Maldives.
• Exercise duration: Conducted over six days (April 13–18, 2025), divided into harbour and sea phases.

Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) FAQs

Q1. What is AIKEYME?
Ans. Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) is a strategic initiative to enhance maritime cooperation between India and African nations, focusing on security, trade, blue economy, and combating piracy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Q2. How does AIKEYME align with India’s foreign policy?
Ans. It aligns with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision, promoting regional stability, sustainable development, and capacity-building in Africa’s coastal states.

Q3. What are the focus areas under AIKEYME?
Ans. Key areas include maritime surveillance, port infrastructure development, fisheries management, and joint naval exercises to ensure secure sea lanes.

Source: TH

Kyasanur Forest Disease Latest News

Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), or "monkey fever," is currently surging in Karnataka's Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru districts recently.

About Kyasanur Forest Disease

• KFD, also referred to as Monkey Fever, is a tick-borne viral haemorrhagic disease, which can be fatal to humans and other primates.
• It is mostly found in southern India. The disease was first reported from the Kyasanur Forest of Karnataka in India in 1957; hence, it is known as KFD.
• The causal agent, Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus), is a member of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) complex. 
• The epidemic period usually begins in October or November and peaks from January to April, then declines by May and June.
• Transmission:
  • Hard ticks (Hemaphysalis spinigera) spread the KFD virus to people and to animals, like monkeys and rodents.
  • No person-to-person transmission has been established yet.
• Symptoms: 
  • Most people with KFD have a sudden onset of chills, fever, and headache.
  • Severe muscle pain, vomiting, gastrointestinal symptoms, and bleeding can follow 3 or 4 days after symptoms begin.
  • Most patients recover one to two weeks after symptoms begin. 
  • About 10 to 20% of patients experience a second wave of symptoms, including severe headache, mental disturbances, tremors, and vision problems.
  • Between 5 and 10% of people who are known to be affected by KFD die.
• Treatment:
  • There is no cure for KFD.
  • Supportive care is crucial, including fluid balance, providing oxygen, managing blood pressure, and treating additional infections.
• Vaccine: A vaccine for KFD is available and recommended in the parts of India where KFD is found.

Kyasanur Forest Disease FAQs

Q1. What is the Kyasanur Forest disease?

Ans. It is a tick-borne viral hemorrhagic fever mostly found in southern India.

Q2. What is the vector of the Kyasanur Forest disease?

Ans. The main vector for Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) is the tick Haemaphysalis spinigera.

Q3. What is the mortality rate of KFD?

Ans. 5 to 10%

Source: TOI

Mk-II(A) Laser- Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) Latest News

India recently conducted a successful trial of the Mk-II(A) Laser- Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) that can disable fixed-wing and swarm drones, becoming one of the only four nations to have developed the technology.

About Mk-II(A) Laser- Directed Energy Weapon (DEW)

• It is a 30-kilowatt laser-based weapon system designed to take down helicopters, swarm drones, and radars.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), Hyderabad, developed the system along with several academic institutions and Indian industries.
• It is one of the most potent counter-drone systems in the world due to its lightning speed of engagement, precision, and lethal action within a few seconds.
• The laser system engages fixed-wing drones from a long range and can thwart multiple drone attacks at a time, destroying surveillance sensors and antennae.
• Once a target is identified by a radar or by its inbuilt Electro Optic (EO) system, it uses an intense beam of powerful light (laser beam) to cut through the target, causing structural failures or even more lethal damage.
• The development of this laser weapon can lower the risk of collateral damage and reduce reliance on expensive ammunition during conflict.
• With this, India has joined a list of selected countries, such as the US, China, and Russia, with such capabilities.

Mk-II(A) Laser- Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) FAQs

Q1. What is the primary benefit of using a laser weapon like the Mk-II(A) during conflict?

Ans. Reduced reliance on expensive ammunition and lower collateral damage

Q2. How does the Mk-II(A) DEW neutralize its target?

Ans. By cutting through the target with a powerful laser beam

Q3. The Mk-II(A) DEW is primarily designed to counter which of the following threats?

Ans. Helicopters, swarm drones, and radars

Source: HT

Mir Alam Tank Latest News

The Telangana state government will build a bridge spanning 2.5 km across the Mir Alam Tank in Hyderabad and develop three island zones there in the style of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.

About Mir Alam Tank

• It is a freshwater tank in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• It is located in the southern part of the Musi river.
• It covers an area of approximately 260 acres and has a capacity of 21 million cubic meters of water. 
• The tank is fed by several streams and springs that flow down from the nearby hills.
• It was the primary source of drinking water for Hyderabad before the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs were built by the last Nizam of Hyderabad between 1913-25.

Mir Alam Tank History

• The tank was named after Mir Alam Bahadur, then thePrime Minister of Hyderabad during Asaf Jah III’s reign, the third Nizam of Hyderabad state. 
• Mir Alam Bahadur is believed to have laid the foundation for the tank on July 20, 1804, which was then completed in a period of two years and declared open on June 8, 1806.
• It was built by a French engineering company comprising 21 semicircular arches for a total area of approximately one mile. 
• It was reportedly planned by Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, the Frenchman to whom Hyderabad’s Raymond Tomb has been dedicated.

Mir Alam Tank FAQs

Q1. Where is the Mir Alam Tank located?

Ans. Hyderabad, Telangana

Q2. Which river is the Mir Alam Tank located near?

Ans. Musi River

Q3. Who is believed to have originally planned the Mir Alam Tank?

Ans. It was reportedly planned by Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, the Frenchman to whom Hyderabad’s Raymond Tomb has been dedicated.

Source: NIE