About Summer solstice: 

• In Latin, "Solstice" means "sun stands still".
• It is an annual astronomical phenomenon that brings the longest day of the year.
• On the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, receiving the full glare of the sun's rays.
• During the solstice, the Earth’s axis — around which the planet spins, is tilted in a way that the North Pole is tipped towards the Sun and the South Pole is away from it.
• Typically, this imaginary axis passes right through the middle of the Earth from top to bottom and is always tilted at 23.5 degrees with respect to the Sun.
• What happens during the solstice?
  • This day sees the Earth receiving a greater amount of energy from the Sun.
  • Each year, the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere falls on one of two days: June 20 or June 21. In the Southern Hemisphere, the summer solstice happens on Dec. 21 or Dec. 22.
  • The date varies because the Gregorian calendar has 365 days, with an extra leap day added in February every four years. 
  • The amount of light received by a specific area in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer solstice depends on the latitudinal location of the place.
  • The further north one moves from the equator, the more light one receives during the summer solstice. At the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set during the solstice.

Q1: What is solar flare?

A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system's largest explosive events. They are seen as bright areas on the sun, and they can last from minutes to hours.

Source: Summer solstice 2024: When is the solstice, why does it happen, and how do cultures celebrate?

About Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ):

• CCPCJ is a commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
• It acts as the principal policy making body of the United Nations (UN) in the fields of crime prevention and criminal justice. 
• Membership: The CCPCJ has 40 member states that are elected by ECOSOC and is chaired by a Bureau.
• ECOSOC provided for CCPCJ mandates and priorities in resolution 1992/22, which includes the following:
  • International action to combat national and transnational crime, such as organized crime, economic crime, and money-laundering
  • Promoting the role of criminal law in protecting the environment
  • Crime prevention in urban areas, including juvenile crime and violence
  • Improving the efficiency and fairness of criminal justice administration systems
• CCPCJ also offers Member States a forum for exchanging expertise, experience, and information in order to develop nationaland international strategies and to identify priorities for combating crime.
• It also acts as preparatory bodyand as implementing body for the quinquennial United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
• In 2006, the General Assembly adopted resolution 61/252, which further expanded the mandates of CCPCJ to enable it to function as a governing body of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and to approve the budget of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund, which provides resources for technical assistance in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice worldwide.
• The Commission maintains close linkswith the research institutes belonging to the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network (PNI).

The network has been developed to assist the international community in strengthening cooperation in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice.

Q1: What is the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)?

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), responsible for the direction and coordination of the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities carried out by the UN. It is the UN’s largest and most complex subsidiary body.

Source: Strengthening global cooperation in crime prevention and enhancing criminal justice systems: highlights from the 33rd Crime Commission

About Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): 

• It was instituted in 1971 under the aegis of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
• It is a voluntary trade measure implemented by developed countries that provides an advantageous, or “preferential”, tariff treatment to imports from developing countries.
• The preferences are in the form of either elimination or reduction in customs duty when the list of eligible products from the beneficiary developing country (BDC) is exported to the developed country.
• However, an exporter under the GSP is required to fulfil the rules of origin under the GSP scheme. The rules of origin are the criteria required to ensure that the product exported originates from the country of export and is not being diverted from another country.
• The GSP is a unilateral customs duty preference scheme i.e. there is no need for India or other BDCs to provide reciprocal customs duty preferences for the developed country.
• The major countries who grant GSP preferences to developing countries are Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, European Union (EU), Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and Uzbekistan.
• Each of these developed countries has its own regulatory frame work under which it provides the GSP tariff preferences.
• The GSP provided also varies in terms of the products on which preferences are provided and the developing countries exports to which the tariff preferences are granted.
• In terms of trade volumes, the GSPs granted by the EU and the US are the most comprehensive and, hence, the most important for developing countries.
• Some of the GSP schemes also provide additional tariff preferences to a specified class of developing countries, with most providing the largest coverage of GSP customs duty preferences to exports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

India is one of the primary beneficiaries in terms of export volume realized under the GSP. Around 40% of India’s exports to the EU are under the EU GSP, while prior to the USGSP withdrawal, around 10% of India’s total exports to the US were under the GSP.

Q1: What is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)?

It is the UN’s leading institution dealing with trade and development. It is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. Its objective is to assist developing countries, especially the least developed countries, and countries with economies in transition, to integrate beneficially into the global economy. It also seeks to help the international community promote a global partnership for development, increase coherence in global economic policy making, and assure development gains for all from trade.

Source: Renew the generalised system of preferences

About Project Astra: 

• It is a new multimodal AI agent developed by Google.
• It is capable of answering real-time questions fed to it through text, video, images, and speech by pulling up the relevant information.
• It can see the world, remember where one has left a thing and even answer if a computer code is correct by looking at it through the phone’s camera.
• It even answers if a computer code is correct by looking at it through the phone’s camera.
• It is more straight-forward, there is no range of emotional diversity in its voice.
• It is not limited to smartphones. Google also showed it being used with a pair of smart glasses.
• Project Astra can learn about the world, making it as close as possible to a human-assistant-like experience. 

What is multimodal model AI?

• A multimodal model is a ML (machine learning) model that is capable of processing information from different modalities, including images, videos, and text.
  • For example, Google's multimodal model, Gemini, can receive a photo of a plate of cookies and generate a written recipe as a response and vice versa.
• This model expands on generative capabilities, processing information from multiple modalities, including images, videos, and text. Multimodality can be thought of as giving AI the ability to process and understand different sensory modes.

Q1: What is Generative AI?

Generative AI, or generative artificial intelligence, is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) in which algorithms automatically produce content in the form of text, images, audio, and video.

Source: AI’s ‘Her’ moment: OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Project Astra make real-life strides

About Synuclein alpha (SNCA) proteins:

• It is a mysterious protein which is present in healthy cells.
• It is notorious for its involvement in age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
• Features of SNCA
  • It is abundant in neurons, especially in dopaminergic neurons. It is found near the nuclei of these cells and at the junctions between two neurons.
  • It’s capable of misfolding as well as forming filamentous structures.
  • So unlike most other proteins, which take up predictable three-dimensional structures, SNCA can fold in multiple ways. Misfolded proteins don’t function correctly.
  • SNCA is present in 2 ways as aggregates in cells: one that interferes with the structural integrity of cells’ nuclei and another that allows the cell to degrade misfolded proteins.
  • In these two the former are related to diseased states while the latter is important for healthy cells.
  • Over time, these two SNCA populations in the cells: one was around the nuclei, shapes like filaments tens of micrometres long, much like Lewy bodies.
  • The other population was also around the nuclei but as much smaller clumps called aggresomes. Such aggresomes are formed when cells localise misfolded proteins into a small bunch (like collecting the trash in a corner) for further processing.

Q1: What is Parkinson?

Parkinson is a progressive neurological disorder that affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves. It is a condition in which a patient holds limited or no control over his movements and body balance.

Source: Balancing two forms of SNCA protein could help manage Parkinson’s, study finds

About Bacterial Pathogens Priority List:

• It is an important tool in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.
• Background
  • In 2017, WHO developed the first BPPL to guide investment into the R&D of new antibacterials and it listed 13 bacterial pathogens (phenotypes).
  • It was developed with the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method (15).
  • MCDA is a decision-making scientific method that mounts and evaluates alternatives based on multiple criteria, facilitating systematic and transparent decision-making in complex options
• The 2024 WHO BPPL covers 24 pathogens, spanning 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. 
• The 2024 list categorizes these pathogens into critical, high, and medium priority groups to inform research and development (R&D) and public health interventions.
• Significance
  • The WHO BPPL acts as a guide for prioritizing R&D and investments in AMR, emphasizing the need for regionally tailored strategies to effectively combat resistance.
  • It targets developers of antibacterial medicines, academic and public research institutions, research funders, and public–private partnerships investing in AMR R&D, as well as policy-makers responsible for developing and implementing AMR policies and programs.

What is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)?

• It occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness and deaths.
• It is driven in large part by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.

Q1: What is a parasite?

A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.

Source: WHO updates Bacterial Pathogens Priority List as critical priority pathogens continue to present major global threat