Leptobrachium aryatium Latest News

New Frog Species ‘Leptobrachium aryatium’ Discovered in Assam

Why in the News?

• A new species of frog, named Leptobrachium aryatium, has been officially identified after a 21-year-long study.
• The frog was first studied in 2004 but was originally misidentified as Leptobrachium smithi.
• This species was found in the Garbhanga Reserve Forest, located on the southwestern edge of Guwahati, Assam, bordering Meghalaya.
• It lies adjacent to Deepor Beel, a Ramsar site, and forms a crucial part of the Garbhanga-Rani-Deepar Beel elephant corridor, highlighting its importance in regional wildlife movement.
• The frog has been named after Arya Vidyapeeth College, a prominent educational institution in Guwahati, in recognition of its role in transforming the local area from a liquor brewing hub to an educationally respected zone.

Key Biological Features of Leptobrachium aryatium

• Leptobrachium aryatium belongs to the Leptobrachium genus, which includes stocky frogs with broad heads, short hind limbs, and distinctively coloured eyes.
• This new species is notable for its fiery orange-and-black eyes, a reticulated throat pattern, and a rhythmic dusk-time call.
• Scientific confirmation of its status as a new species was done through morphological examination, DNA analysis, and bioacoustic studies (study of call patterns).

Leptobrachium aryatium FAQs

Q1. What is Leptobrachium aryatium?
Ans. Leptobrachium aryatium is a newly discovered species of frog belonging to the family Megophryidae, known for their distinctive broad heads and camouflaged appearance.

Q2. Where was Leptobrachium aryatium discovered?
Ans. This frog species was discovered in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, India, highlighting the rich amphibian biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas.

Q3. Why is Leptobrachium aryatium ecologically significant?
Ans. Amphibians like Leptobrachium aryatium serve as bioindicators, meaning their health reflects the health of their ecosystems.

Source: TH

Hampi Latest News

Recently, a mantapa at Virupaksha Temple collapsed due to heavy rain, sparking concerns over neglect.

About Hampi

• Hampi was the capital city of the Vijayanagara Empire, established in 1336 CE by Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama Dynasty.
• Location: Traditionally known as Pampakshetra of Kishkindha, Hampi is located in central Karnataka on the banks of the Tungabhadra River.
• Foreign travellers like Domingo Paes described Vijayanagara as “as large and beautiful as Rome”, highlighting its architectural grandeur and prosperity.
• The empire fell in 1565 CE after the Battle of Talikota, where the Deccan Sultanates defeated Rama Raya, leading to mass destruction. The city reportedly burned for six months.
• Hampi remained forgotten until the late 18th century when British antiquarian Colin Mackenzie mapped it in 1799, creating the first cartographic records.
• Early photographs and restoration attempts were made by British officials like Alexander Greenlaw, showcasing colonial-era interest in Indian heritage.
• The first major conservation initiative, the Hampi National Project, was launched in 1976.
• Excavations revealed key sites such as the Vitthala Temple bazaar, Pushkarini (stepped tank), and Paan-supari bazaar.
  • Prominent landmarks include the Virupaksha Temple, Lotus Mahal, Queen's Bath, and Elephant Stables.
• Hampi was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, recognising it as one of India’s largest archaeological zones, covering 250 sq. km and housing over 1,600 monuments.

Hampi FAQs

Q1. Why is Hampi famous in Indian history?
Ans. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its rich Dravidian architecture and historic significance.

Q2. Where is Hampi located?
Ans. Hampi is located in the Ballari district of Karnataka, India, along the banks of the Tungabhadra River.

Q3. Which dynasty is associated with Hampi?
Ans. The Vijayanagara dynasty ruled from Hampi, making it a key cultural and political center between the 14th and 16th centuries.

Source: IE

Clinidium lalitae Latest News

Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) recently identified a new species of beetle named, Clinidium lalitae, from the northeast.

About Clinidium lalitae

• It is a newly found species of beetle.
• It was discovered in the Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh.
• It has been named 'Clinidium lalitae', in tribute to the late Dr. Lalita Ray Chaudhury, a respected coleopterologist and former scientist at Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) .
• The 'Clinidium lalitae' beetle is characterised by its unique morphology and belongs to a rare group of ground beetles that inhabit forest floors.
• These beetles play a significant ecological role in nutrient cycling and soil health.

Key Facts about Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary 

• It is located in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Situated at an elevation range of 1,200 to 3,000 meters above sea level, it spans an area of approximately 337 sq.km.
• It contains 20 percent of the floral and faunal species in India.
• Rivers like Pange, Sipu, Karing, and Subansiri flow through the sanctuary.
• The sanctuary is home to the Apatani tribe, known for their unique customs, traditions, and handicrafts.
• Flora:
  • It has a stunning spectrum of subtropical and alpine forests like silver fir trees, ferns, orchids, bamboo, and rhododendron.
  • Pleioblastus simone is a bamboo variety only found in Talley Valley.
  • It is also home to several medicinal plants and herbs used by the local tribes for traditional medicine.
• Fauna: It is home to a variety of animal species such as elephants, barking deer, giant squirrels, porcupines, leopards, clouded leopards, wild boars, etc.

Clinidium lalitae FAQs

Q1. Where was the beetle species Clinidium lalitae discovered?

Ans. Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Q2. What type of beetle is Clinidium lalitae classified as?

Ans. Ground beetle

Q3. The species Clinidium lalitae is named in tribute to which scientist?

Ans. Dr. Lalita Ray Chaudhury

Source: AT

Miniature Laser Grown on Silicon Chip Latest News

Scientists from the US and Europe have successfully fabricated miniature lasers directly on silicon wafers, as published in a recent study in Nature.

About Miniature Laser Grown on Silicon Chip 

• This is a major advancement in the field of silicon photonics, as integrating a light source (laser) directly on the chip has long been a technological challenge.
• Traditionally, lasers are manufactured separately and then attached to chips, which results in slower operation, higher costs, and manufacturing mismatches.
• The new research resolves this issue by growing the laser directly on a silicon chip using a scalable process and compatible with standard CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) technology, which is the backbone of current semiconductor manufacturing.
• Initially, electrons carried data within silicon chips. However, modern advancements are replacing electrons with photons, leading to the rise of silicon photonics.
• Photons carry information faster, with higher bandwidth and lower energy loss than electrons, making them ideal for next-generation computing, especially in data centres, sensors, and quantum computing.

Photonic Chip Components and Laser Physics

• A photonic silicon chip consists of four key parts:
  • A light source (laser),
  • Waveguides to channel the photons,
  • Modulators to encode or decode data onto light signals, and
  • Photodetectors convert light into electrical signals.
• The laser functions on the principle of stimulated emission, where electrons drop to a lower energy level, releasing coherent photons to form a laser beam.
• However, silicon has an indirect bandgap, making it inefficient at light emission. Therefore, materials like gallium arsenide (GaAs) with a direct bandgap are preferred for laser construction.
• The setup was completed with a protective layer of indium gallium phosphide and electrical contacts to power the laser.

Miniature Laser Grown on Silicon Chip FAQs

Q1. What is the significance of a Miniature Laser grown on a Silicon Chip?
Ans. It represents a breakthrough in integrated photonics, enabling faster and more efficient optical communication on microchips.

Q2. How does a Miniature Laser benefit electronic devices?
Ans. It allows data to be transferred using light instead of electrical signals, reducing power consumption and increasing speed in computing systems.

Q3. Which field benefits most from this technology?
Ans. Industries involving telecommunications, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence benefit from this innovation.

Source: TH

AI Basics: CPU, GPU and TPU Latest News

How TPU is Different from CPU and GPU

About Processing Units

• Processing units are the core hardware components that act as the brain of a computer. They perform tasks such as calculations, processing images, and transmitting data, similar to how the human brain executes complex tasks.

What is a CPU (Central Processing Unit)?

• The CPU is a general-purpose processor that was developed in the 1950s and can handle a wide variety of tasks.
• It functions like a conductor in an orchestra, coordinating the operations of all other computer parts like GPUs, disk drives, and memory units.
• A CPU contains cores — individual units that execute instructions. Early CPUs had only one core, but modern CPUs may contain 2 to 16 cores.
• Each core can handle one task at a time, so a CPU’s multitasking capacity depends on the number of cores.
• For everyday users, 2 to 8 cores are usually sufficient, and CPUs are so efficient that users rarely notice that tasks are completed sequentially, not simultaneously.

What is a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)?

• A GPU is a specialised processor designed to perform many tasks simultaneously, using a technique called parallel processing.
• Unlike CPUs, which process tasks sequentially, GPUs break down complex tasks into thousands or millions of smaller problems, solving them in parallel.
• Modern GPUs contain thousands of cores, making them far more suitable for intensive computational tasks.
• Initially developed for rendering graphics in gaming and animation, GPUs are now widely used in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• GPUs have evolved into general-purpose parallel processors, making them a key tool in running AI models and handling large data operations.
• However, GPUs have not replaced CPUs, because certain operations are better handled sequentially, which is the strength of CPUs.

What is a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit)?

• A TPU is also a type of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), meaning it is built for a specific function — in this case, AI tasks.
• First introduced by Google in 2015, TPUs are specially designed hardware units built from the ground up to handle machine learning operations.
• TPUs focus on processing tensors — the multidimensional data arrays used in AI model computations.
• They are optimised to run neural networks efficiently, enabling faster training and execution of AI models than GPUs or CPUs.
• For example, training an AI model that may take weeks on a GPU can often be completed in hours using a TPU.
• TPUs are used at the core of Google's major AI services, such as Search, YouTube, and DeepMind's large language models, illustrating their real-world application in high-scale AI infrastructure.

AI Basics: CPU, GPU and TPU FAQs

Q1. What is the role of a CPU in Artificial Intelligence?
Ans. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) handles general-purpose computations and task scheduling but is less optimized for large-scale AI training.

Q2. What makes a GPU important for AI tasks?
Ans. A GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) excels at parallel processing, making it ideal for training deep learning models.

Q3. What is a TPU in AI computing?
Ans. A TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) is an AI-specific processor developed by Google designed to accelerate machine learning workloads.

Source: IE

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Latest News

Two people are believed to have died from a rare and incurable brain disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) within just a few months of each other in the United States.

About Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

• It is a rare brain disorder that leads to dementia. 
• It belongs to a group of human and animal diseases known as prion disorders, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). .
• Symptoms of CJD can be similar to those of Alzheimer's disease. 
• But CJD usually gets worse much faster and leads to death.
• All types of CJD are serious but are very rare. 
• About 1 to 2 cases of CJD are diagnosed per million people around the world each year. 
• The disease most often affects older adults.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Cause

• CJD and other prion diseases are caused by abnormal forms of proteins called prions. 
• Healthy and harmless prion proteins are found throughout the body but mostly in the nervous system. Their overall role isn’t fully understood. 
• When abnormal prions form, they can transmit their incorrect and damaging form to nearby healthy prion proteins and cause the healthy prions to change into abnormal prions. 
• Once they’re formed, prions can clump together and build up in brain tissue, which may lead to the nerve cell loss and other brain damage seen in CJD and other prion diseases.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Symptoms

• The main symptoms of CJD are cognitive decline leading to dementia, involuntary muscle jerks (myoclonus), and lack of coordination of movements.
• Most people with CJD will die within a year of the symptoms starting, usually from infection.
• This is because the immobility caused by CJD can make people with the condition vulnerable to infection.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Treatment

• There's currently no cure for CJD, so treatment aims to relieve symptoms and make the affected person feel as comfortable as possible.
• This can include using medicine such as antidepressants to help with anxiety and depression, and painkillers to relieve pain.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease FAQs

Q1. What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)?

Ans. It is a rare brain disorder that leads to dementia. 

Q2. What is the main cause of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?

Ans. CJD appears to be caused by an abnormal infectious protein called a prion. 

Q3. Is CJD disease curable?

Ans. There's currently no cure for CJD.

Source: FP

Thangjing Hills Latest News

Tension prevailed near the buffer zone in Manipur's Thangjing Hill range, which separates Kuki and Meitei inhabited areas in Churachandpur district, recently.

About Thangjing Hills

• Thangjing Hill (also called Thangching Hill and Thangting Hill), is a mountain peak in the Indian state of Manipur. 
• It is in the Churachandpur district, to the west of Moirang.
• The north-south-running mountain range on which it sits is also called Thangjing range or Thangjing Hills. 
• The range forms part of the western border of the Imphal Valley.
• It is believed by Manipuris to be the abode of Thangching, the ancestral deity of Moirang.
• It is considered a sacred site by the Meitei community, who traditionally visit it throughout the Manipur month of 'Sajibu' which generally falls in April.
• In the Meitei cosmology, the "body" of Manipur is represented with various natural features of the land, including the Thangjing hill as its right leg.

Thangjing Hills FAQs

Q1. In which Indian state is Thangjing Hill located?

Ans. Manipur

Q2. Which town lies to the east of Thangjing Hill?

Ans. Moirang

Q3. The Thangjing Hills form part of the western border of which valley?

Ans. Imphal Valley

Source: TOI

Tuti Island Latest News

Since the outbreak of civil war on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Tuti Island has been devastated by violence and occupation.

About Tuti Island

• Tuti Island, located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers in Khartoum, Sudan, is one of the city’s oldest settlements, known for its lush greenery and agriculture.
• The island spans 8 square kilometres and was traditionally dependent on farming and fishing, earning the nickname “Khartoum’s garden.”
• It holds deep cultural significance for the Mahas community, who settled there in the 15th century, making the island a symbol of indigenous identity and sustainability in the region.
• As per UN estimates, the war has displaced 13 million people, killed tens of thousands, and pushed 100,000 into famine conditions in Khartoum alone.
• Climate change has worsened Tuti Island’s vulnerability by disrupting the Nile’s natural flooding cycle, causing flooding, droughts, and desertification.
• Due to the dual threats of conflict and climate change, the HEART Project (Heritage Empowered Action for Risk in Tuti) was initiated to preserve the Taya system and document community knowledge.

Tuti Island FAQs

Q1. Where is Tuti Island located?
Ans. Tuti Island is situated at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile Rivers in Khartoum, Sudan.

Q2. Why is Tuti Island geopolitically significant?
Ans. Tuti Island holds importance as a strategic agricultural and urban area within the capital city Khartoum, especially during conflicts.

Q3. How is Tuti Island connected to Khartoum?
Ans. The island is connected via the Tuti Bridge, the first suspension bridge in Sudan, linking it to central Khartoum.

Source: F24

PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme Latest News

Amid a slow uptake of the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme, public sector banks (PSBs) recently raised several concerns regarding its implementation.

About PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme

• It is a Central Sector Scheme to provide financial support to meritorious students in their pursuit of higher education.
• Eligibility: 
  • The scheme targets students who have secured admission to any of India’s top 860 Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs), both private and government, as ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
  • Students who receive any other Central/State Government Scholarship, interest subvention plan, or fee reimbursement are not eligible for benefits under the PM Vidyalakshmi scheme. 
  • Students who stop their studies in between or are dismissed from the institution on disciplinary or academic grounds are not eligible for interest subvention or credit guarantee under this scheme.
  • Students can apply for the loans through the PM-Vidyalakshmi portal, which integrates with multiple banks for a seamless and digital application experience.
• How much loan can you avail under the PM Vidyalakshmi scheme?
  • There is no upper limit on the amount of education loan you can get under the PM Vidyalakshmi scheme. 
  • It will depend on course fees and other fees charged by the QHEI and other associated expenses like mess, hostel fees, other refundable and non-refundable fees of the institution, the cost of a reasonable-quality laptop, and a reasonable amount of living expenses required by the student during the course period.
• Interest subvention:
  • A student whose annual family income is up to Rs 8 lakhs and who is pursuing any course from QHEIs will be eligible to get 3% interest subvention for education loans up to Rs 10 lakhs. 
  • If the education loan amount is more than Rs 10 lakhs, interest subvention will be provided for the disbursed total principal amount of loan up to Rs 10 lakhs.
• Credit Guarantee: When the education loan sanction amount is up to Rs 7.5 lakhs, irrespective of family income, the student will be eligible for a credit guarantee where 75% of outstanding default will be covered by the government.

PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme FAQs

Q1. What is the primary objective of the PM Vidyalakshmi Scheme?

Ans. To provide financial support to meritorious students for higher education

Q2. Who is eligible for the 3% interest subvention benefit under PM Vidyalakshmi Scheme? 

Ans. Students with annual family income up to ₹8 lakhs

Q3. What is the credit guarantee coverage under the PM Vidyalakshmi Scheme for loans up to ₹7.5 lakhs?

Ans. 75% of the outstanding default

Source: BS

Etalin Hydroelectric Project Latest News

The Arunachal Pradesh government recently allocated Rs 269.97 Crore for the construction of the Etalin Hydroelectric Project in Dibang Valley. 

About Etalin Hydroelectric Project

• It is a 3,097 MW hydropower project planned in the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh. 
• It is one of the largest hydropower projects proposed in the country in terms of installed capacity.
• EHEP is proposed to be developed as a combination of two run-of-the-river schemes.
• The project proposes the construction of two concrete gravity dams, 101.5 metres and 80 metres high, on the Dri and Tangon rivers, which are tributaries of the Dibang river.
• The project area falls under the “richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone” and “one of the mega biodiversity hotspots of the world”.
• The project area is dominated by indigenous populations belonging to Idu-Mishmi tribes.
• The project is being executed through the Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Limited, a JV company of Jindal Power Limited and Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Limited (A Govt of Arunachal Pradesh Undertaking) with an ownership stake of 74% and 26%, respectively.

Etalin Hydroelectric Project FAQs

Q1. On which river is the Etalin hydroelectric project?

Ans. It is proposed to be built on the Dibang River, specifically its tributaries, the Dri and Tangon rivers.

Q2. What is the capacity of etalin hydroelectric project?

Ans. 3,097 MW

Q3. Which rivers will have dams constructed under the Etalin Project?

Ans. Dri and Tangon

Source: NET