UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

The second of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission successfully launched.  Both are Earth observation missions developed by the European Sp ace Agency (ESA) with it partnes.  The main mission objective of MTG-S1 mission  is to observe the concentration of air quality parameters in the atmosphere above Europe and North Africa, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, glyoxal, and formaldehyde. Sentinel-4 will focus on monitoring of trace gas concentrations and aerosols in the atmosphere to support air-quality near-real time applications, air-quality monitoring, and climate monitoring – specifically with a short revisit period over Europe. The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission is part of Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Space Programme. The European Space Agency  The European operational satellite agency World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Globally in 2023, there were an estimated 263 million malaria cases and 597 000 malaria deaths in 83 countries. The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2023, the WHO African Region was home to 94% of malaria cases (246 million) and 95% (569 000) of malaria deaths. Children under 5 accounted for about 76% of all malaria deaths in the Region. Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. It is mostly found in tropical countries. It is preventable and curable. The infection is caused by a parasite and does not spread from person to person. Symptoms can be mild or life-threatening. Mild symptoms are fever, chills and headache. Severe symptoms include fatigue, confusion, seizures, and difficulty breathing. Infants, children under 5 years, pregnant women and girls, travellers and people with HIV or AIDS are at higher risk of severe infection.  Malaria can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites ...

It was  jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. It is located in  Cerro Pachón in Chile. It’s named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who provided the first convincing evidence for the existence of dark matter. The 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope at Rubin Observatory is equipped with the LSST Camera — the largest digital camera ever built.  The telescope will take detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky for 10 years. About  Vera C. Rubin Observatory Relevance: BBC

  The  Caspian gull  ( Larus cachinnans ) is a large  gull  and a member of the  herring and lesser black-backed gull complex . The scientific name is from  Latin .  Larus  appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and  cachinnans  means 'laughing', from  cachinnare  'to laugh'. [ 2 ] The Caspian gull has a long, slender bill, accentuated by the sloping forehead. The legs, wings, and neck are longer than those of the herring gull and  yellow-legged gull . The eye is small and often dark, and the legs vary from pale pink to a pale yellowish colour. The back and wings are a slightly darker shade of grey than the herring gull, but slightly paler than the yellow-legged gull. The outermost  primary feather  has a large white tip and a white tongue running up the inner web. The Caspian gull breeds around the  Black  and  Caspian Seas , extending eastwards across  Central Asia ...

  The 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is awarded to co-authors of publications based on CERN’s Large Hadron Collider Run-2 data released between 2015 and July 15, 2024, at the experimental collaborations ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb. The $3 million prize is allocated to these four experiments at CERN and will be used by the collaborations to offer grants for doctoral students from member institutes to spend research time at CERN, giving the students experience working at the forefront of science and new expertise to bring back to their home countries and regions. 5,345 researchers were involved in ATLAS; while 4,550 researchers in CMS; 1,869 researchers in ALICE; and 1,744 researchers were involved in LHCb. Indian scientists and researchers have played a significant role in the international collaboration for the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) and the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiments. Several Indian institutes, universities, and scientists have contribu...

 Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution, which offers an information-theoretically secure solution to the key exchange problem. The advantage of quantum cryptography lies in the fact that it allows the completion of various cryptographic tasks that are proven or conjectured to be impossible using only classical (i.e. non-quantum) communication. For example, it is impossible to copy data encoded in a quantum state. If one attempts to read the encoded data, the quantum state will be changed due to wave function collapse (no-cloning theorem). This could be used to detect eavesdropping in quantum key distribution (QKD).+Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method that implements a cryptographic protocol involving components of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to t...

 Astronomers generally divide black holes into three categories according to their mass: stellar-mass, supermassive, and intermediate-mass. The mass ranges that define each group are approximate, and scientists are always reassessing where the boundaries should be set. Cosmologists suspect a fourth type, primordial black holes formed during the birth of the universe, may also lurk undetected in the cosmos. A swirling vortex of hot gas glows in this multiwavelength composite, marking the approximate location of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (pronounced ey-star) at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, STScI Stellar When a star with more than eight times the Sun’s mass runs out of fuel, its core collapses, rebounds, and explodes as a supernova. What’s left behind depends on the star’s mass before the explosion. If it was near the threshold, it creates a city-sized, superdense neutron star. If it had around 20 times the Sun’s mass or more, the star’s cor...

 It was unveiled by  China at research station in Antarctica. It was jointly developped by  Three Gorges University (CTGU) and Shanghai Normal University (SHNU). CGTN

Biomass is an Earth observing satellite planned for launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2025 from Kourou, French Guiana[1] on a Vega C launch vehicle. The mission will provide the first comprehensive measurements of global forest biomass. It is meant to last for five years, monitoring at least eight growth cycles in the world’s forests. The Biomass satellite is part of ESA's Living Planet Programme, which consists of Earth observation missions.[3][4] Its initial launch date was set to 2020, but that has since been delayed to 2025. The entire cost of the mission was placed at around 400 million euros. The main scientific instrument aboard Biomass will be a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operating at 435 MHz. The satellite will measure 10 x 12 x 20m, weigh around 1.2 tonnes and it is set to orbit the Earth at an altitude of 666 km. All devices for assembly of the satellite structure, including vertical transport equipment, assembly and disassembly of satellite panels, assemb...

On December 30, 2024, ISRO’s PSLV-C60 launched twin SPADEX satellites and after injecting satellites at 475 km altitude, the specially configured upper stage (PS4) of PSLV-C60 (called PSLV Orbital Experimental Module in short POEM-4) was also almost in the same orbit. Subsequently, POEM-4 was de-orbited by engine restarts to a nearly circular orbit at 350 km altitude with 55.2 o   inclination. PS4 was then passivated by venting the leftover fuel to minimise any potential risk for accidental break-up. During its mission life, POEM-4 hosted altogether 24 payloads (14 payloads from ISRO and 10 from various NGEs) and all payloads worked as expected yielding valuable science data. While the POEM-4 was in orbit, it was continuously tracked by ISRO’s Radar Facilities and United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) facilities as well. The tracking data was in turn utilised in the re-entry prediction process. It was observed that POEM-4’s orbit had decayed to 174 km x165 km and the platform wa...

  A new study has uncoded the mysteries of how the venom of Pope’s pit viper, a snake species native to northern and northeastern parts of India, works. The study can help establish the foundation for venom toxicity, pharmaceutical advancements, and enhanced antivenom compositions. The "Big Four" venomous snakes—Russell's Viper, Saw-Scaled Viper, Spectacled Cobra, and Common Krait—have undergone considerable research, but venom composition of Pope's Pit Viper ( Trimeresurus popeiorum ), an arboreal, nocturnal serpent indigenous to the dense forests of Northeast India, remains unexamined. Fig: Pope's Pit Viper Prof. Ashis K. Mukherjee, Director of the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) spearheaded a recent investigation along with Prof. B.G. Nair, Dr. M. Vanuopadath, Dr. Bhargab Kalita, and Dr. Aparup Patra from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, as well as Dr. H.T. Lalremsanga...

  Self-amplifying mRNA (saRNA) vaccines, which are   mRNA vaccines with the added capability of replicating themselves , are being developed as a promising approach for rapid vaccine development and potentially lower doses, with the CDC and other organizations like CEPI actively involved in their development and research.   Here's a more detailed explanation: What are saRNA vaccines? Self-amplifying mRNA vaccines leverage the inherent ability of mRNA to replicate within cells, meaning that once the mRNA is introduced, it not only instructs the cell to produce the antigen but also replicates itself, leading to a higher production of the antigen and potentially requiring lower doses of the vaccine.   Benefits of saRNA vaccines: Rapid development:   saRNA vaccines can be developed quickly, as they can be synthesized using a cell-free system, and the modular design allows for rapid adaptation to new threats.   Lower doses:   The self-replicative nature of ...

  The  Fourth edition of Exercise Tiger Triumph,  the bilateral Tri-Service India-US Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise, is scheduled on the Eastern Seaboard from  01 to 13 Apr 25 . The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations and for the formulation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to establish a Combined Coordination Center (CCC) that would enable rapid and smooth coordination between Indian and US Joint Task Forces (JTF) during exercises and crisis / contingencies. The Indian side would be represented by  Indian Naval Ships   Jalashwa ,  Gharial, Mumbai  and  Shakti  with integral helicopters and landing crafts embarked,  Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft P8I, Army Troops  from  91 Inf Brigade  and  12 Mech Infantry Battalion ,  Air Force C-130  Aircraft and  MI-17  Helicopters, along with the  Rapid Action Medica...

Relevance: The Hindu Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scorpions. The body of a horseshoe crab is divided into three main parts: the cephalothorax, abdomen, and telson. The largest of these, the cephalothorax, houses most of the animal's eyes, limbs, and internal organs. It is also where the animal gets its name, as its shape somewhat resembles that of a horseshoe. Horseshoe crabs have been described as "living fossils", having changed little since they first appeared in the Triassic. Only four species of horseshoe crab are extant today. Most are marine, though the mangrove horseshoe crab is often found in brackish water. Additionally, certain extinct species transitioned to living in freshwater. Horseshoe crabs primarily live at the water's bottom but they can swim i...