GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated on second Saturday in May and in October.

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD):

• World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.
• It has a global outreach and is an effective tool to help raise global awareness of the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.
• Every year people around the world take action and organize public events such as bird festivals, education programmes, exhibitions and bird-watching excursions to celebrate WMBD.
• History:
• The day began in 2006 when the United Nations (UN) decided to raise awareness of migratory birds’ connections between regions worldwide.
• Since then, the event has been held and attended by a total of 118 countries.
• The United Nations Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Water birds inspired the creation of World Migratory Bird Day.
• However, the idea of World Migratory Bird Day was conceived in the United States in 1993 when several agencies and organisations started celebrating the day.
• Main days for the international celebrations are on the second Saturday in May and in October.
• World Migratory Bird Day 2022 Theme: Focus on Light Pollution.
• Artificial light is increasing globally by at least 2 per cent per year and it is known to adversely affect many bird species.
• Light pollution is a significant threat to migratory birds, causing disorientation when they fly at night, leading to collisions with buildings, perturbing their internal clocks, or interfering with their ability to undertake long-distance migrations.
  

Recent findings about migratory birds in India:

• Arctic migrants such as the Pacific Golden Plover and Curlew Sandpiper have seen major declines in the past three decades, potentially due to pronounced effects of climate change in the Arctic.
• The Pacific Golden Plover declined by almost 85-90 per cent in the last 25 years according to the State of India’s Birds report.
• Unforeseen event have a direct impact on migratory birds:
• Last year, the shoreline of wetlands in Andhra Pradesh got inundated with water due to heavy winter rain.
• This led to non-availability of space and food for shorebirds.
• So untimely rainfall, early or late onset of winters have a direct impact on the migration of birds in India.

National Museum New Delhi would be celebrating International Museum Day 2022 for five day from 16^th May to 20^th May.

What is International Museum Day?

• International Museum day is an event run by the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
• Although it began officially in 1977, it can be traced back to 1951 to a meeting called the Crusade for Museums. The ICOM state their mission as:
• "The research, conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible."
• The participating museums plan events and exhibitions in accordance with a different theme each year. The theme in 2022 is 'The Power of Museums'.
• The event is a yearly celebration of the role of museums in our society and aims to engage the public with lots of interesting and creative activities.
• It also provides a platform to raise awareness of any topics or issues that the museums feel are important. 
• In 2021, the celebration amplified its impact by the development of hybrid activities all around the world, reaching 89 million Internet users through social media, news articles, blog posts, podcasts and more!

What is a museum?

• A museum is a place that displays collections of documents and historical artefacts of all different kinds from cultures, societies and nature around the world.
• Different museums may focus on different things.
• Famous museums around the world:
  • British Museum, London
  • Guggenheim Museum, New York
  • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
  • Museo Larco, Lima
  • The Acropolis Museum, Athens
    

ICOM – International Council of Museums:

• The International Council of Museums is the only global museum association in the world.
• It provides museums and museum professionals with national, regional and international platforms of dialogue and exchange of ethical standards and innovative practices.
• Since its creation in 1946, ICOM is committed to the protection and promotion of museums and the heritage with which they are entrusted; natural and cultural, present and future, tangible and intangible.
• It also advocates the crucial role they play in the sustainable development of societies as unique sources of information, inspiration and insight.

National Museum in Delhi:

• The blueprint for establishing the National Museum in Delhi was prepared by the Maurice Gwyer Committee in May 1946.
• An Exhibition of Indian Art, consisting of selected artefacts from various museums of India was organized by the Royal Academy, London with the cooperation of Government of India and Britain.
• The Exhibition went on display in the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48.
• It was decided to display the same collection in Delhi, before the return of exhibits to their respective museums.
• An exhibition was organized in the the Rashtrapati Bhawan (President's residence), New Delhi in 1949, which turned out to be a great success. This event proved responsible for the creation of the National Museum.
• The National Museum was initially looked after by the Director General of Archaeology until 1957, when the Ministry of Education, Government of India, declared it a separate institution and placed it under its own direct control.
• At present, the National Museum is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) recently revealed the first photograph of Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole about 26,000 light years from Earth and situated at the centre of the Milky Way.

• In April 2019, astronomers captured the first ever photograph of a black hole M87, which was located in a distant galaxy called Messier 87.

What are black holes?

• A black hole is formed when stars collapse, leading to a space in the universe with an escape velocity — the speed at which an object must travel to override a planet or an object’s gravitational force.
• For instance, for a spacecraft to leave the surface of the Earth, it needs to be travelling at a speed of about 40,000 km per hour which is so great that even light cannot escape it.
• Because light cannot get out, black holes are invisible and can only be tracked with the help of spatial telescopes and special tools.
• The light cannot go out because the gravity inside a black hole is very strong as a result of a lot of matter being squeezed into a small space.
• In 2020, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award one half of the year’s Nobel Prize in physics to Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for furthering the understanding of black holes, the most “enigmatic” objects in the universe.
  

Why and how was the blackhole photographed?

• The photograph provides evidence that the object at the centre of the Milky Way, which has been a subject of speculation for decades, is indeed a black hole.
• To take its photograph, the team created a powerful Event Horizon Telescope after which Sagittarius A was observed on multiple nights and data was collected for hours in a row, an exercise similar to using a long exposure time on a camera.
• A statement released by EHT said that scientists are excited about having images of two black holes that are of very different sizes, “which offers the opportunity to understand how they compare and contrast.”

Event Horizon Telescope:

• The EHT is an international collaboration that has formed to continue the steady long-term progress on improving the capability of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at short wavelengths in pursuit of this goal. 
• This technique of linking radio dishes across the globe to create an Earth-sized interferometer.
• It has been used to measure the size of the emission regions of the two supermassive black holes with the largest apparent event horizons: SgrA* at the center of the Milky Way and M87 in the center of the Virgo A galaxy. 
  

Researchers at IISC Bangalore have identified a protein in yeast cells that dissolves RNA-protein complexes, also known as RNA granules.

Messenger RNA (mRNA):

• mRNA fate decisions play a crucial role in regulating variety of cellular processes including development and differentiation, synaptic plasticity, ageing and diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and cystic fibrosis.
• The proteins associated with mRNA control its individual fate in the cytosol by promoting certain functional transitions and inhibiting others. 
• Unlike other structures in the cell (such as mitochondria), the RNA granules are not covered and confined by a membrane.
• This makes them highly dynamic in nature, thereby allowing them to constantly exchange components with the surrounding.
• RNA granules are present in the cytoplasm at low numbers under normal conditions but increase in number and size under stressful conditions including diseases.
• Important feature of RNA granule protein components is the presence of stretches containing repeats of certain amino acids.
• Such stretches are referred to as low complexity regions. Repeats of arginine (R), glycine (G) and glycine (G) — known as RGG — are an example of low complexity sequence.

Protein synthesis:

• Messenger RNAs are converted to proteins (building blocks of the cell) by the process of
• RNA granules determine messenger RNA (mRNA) fate by deciding when and how much protein would be produced from mRNA.
• Protein synthesis is a multi-step and energy expensive process.
• Therefore, a common strategy used by cells when it encounters unfavorable conditions is to shut down protein production and conserve energy to deal with the stressful situation.
• RNA granules help in the process of shutting down protein production.
• Some RNA granule types (such as Processing bodies or P-bodies) not only regulate protein production but also accomplish degradation and elimination of the mRNAs, which in turn helps in reducing protein production.

Key findings:

• In recent years, a strong link has emerged between RNA granules and neurodegenerative disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
• The proteins implicated in these diseases such as ewing sarcoma breakpoint region 1 (EWSR1) and fused in sarcoma (FUS) are RNA binding proteins that can reside in RNA granules.
• These above-mentioned proteins also contain low complexity sequences (repeats of amino acids) that are important for their movement into RNA granules.
• In fact, these proteins are deposited as insoluble granules/aggregates in the neurons of ALS and FTD patients which are believed to contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases.

Messenger RNA (mRNA):

• mRNA fate decisions play a crucial role in regulating variety of cellular processes including development and differentiation, synaptic plasticity, ageing and diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and cystic fibrosis.
• The proteins associated with mRNA control its individual fate in the cytosol by promoting certain functional transitions and inhibiting others. 
• Unlike other structures in the cell (such as mitochondria), the RNA granules are not covered and confined by a membrane.
• This makes them highly dynamic in nature, thereby allowing them to constantly exchange components with the surrounding.
• RNA granules are present in the cytoplasm at low numbers under normal conditions but increase in number and size under stressful conditions including diseases.
• Important feature of RNA granule protein components is the presence of stretches containing repeats of certain amino acids.
• Such stretches are referred to as low complexity regions. Repeats of arginine (R), glycine (G) and glycine (G) — known as RGG — are an example of low complexity sequence.
  

Protein synthesis:

• Messenger RNAs are converted to proteins (building blocks of the cell) by the process of
• RNA granules determine messenger RNA (mRNA) fate by deciding when and how much protein would be produced from mRNA.
• Protein synthesis is a multi-step and energy expensive process.
• Therefore, a common strategy used by cells when it encounters unfavorable conditions is to shut down protein production and conserve energy to deal with the stressful situation.
• RNA granules help in the process of shutting down protein production.
• Some RNA granule types (such as Processing bodies or P-bodies) not only regulate protein production but also accomplish degradation and elimination of the mRNAs, which in turn helps in reducing protein production.

Key findings:

• In recent years, a strong link has emerged between RNA granules and neurodegenerative disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
• The proteins implicated in these diseases such as ewing sarcoma breakpoint region 1 (EWSR1) and fused in sarcoma (FUS) are RNA binding proteins that can reside in RNA granules.
• These above-mentioned proteins also contain low complexity sequences (repeats of amino acids) that are important for their movement into RNA granules.
• In fact, these proteins are deposited as insoluble granules/aggregates in the neurons of ALS and FTD patients which are believed to contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases.

Scientists have developed a new biomaterial that can be used to disinfect wounds and hastens the process of healing.

About Pullulan Polymer:

• The biomaterial is derived from the polymer pullulan which is secreted by the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans.
• It is an exopolysaccharide, that is, this polymer is secreted by the fungus itself into the medium on which it is growing.
• Pullulan as a biomaterial is already successful and widely used commercially. It is exploited in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry because of its non-toxic, non-mutagenic and non-immunogenic properties.
• Pullulan is basically a polymeric chain of glucose. 
• Scientists processed the polymer to get a powder which is water-soluble.
• This solution can be applied on the wound surface and then covered with a sterile gauze.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the construction of the ‘India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage’ recently during a visit to Lumbini in Nepal.

• Modi will participate in the foundation stone laying ceremony for the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage.
• He will offer prayers at the Mayadevi temple that is dedicated to the mother of the Buddha.
• He will also deliver an address at a Buddha Jayanti event organised by the Lumbini Development Trust of the government of Nepal.

Buddha:

• “Buddha” means “one who is awake.” Gautama Buddha was a contemporary of Mahavira. Gautama Buddha’s royal name was Siddhartha.
• He was the son of Suddhodhana, the Chief of Sakya clan of Kapilvastu in the Nepal Tarai area. He was born in 566 B.C. in the village of Lumbini a few miles from Kapilvastu.
• The Buddha who lived 2,600 years ago was not a god. He was an ordinary person.
• Facts also suggest that a young Siddhartha Gautam left his father’s palace before settling at a site where he attained enlightenment. The place is now in present-day India, and is known as Bodh Gaya.
• He discovered four noble truths and the Eightfold Path to Nirvana, or ultimate bliss.
• Noble Truths: The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:
• existence is suffering
• the cause of suffering is craving and attachment
• suffering ceases at some point and turns to Nirvana (liberation or total bliss)
• there is a path to Nirvana which is made up of eight steps, sometimes called the Eightfold Path
• The Eightfold Path to Nirvana is to be "right" in all these areas: concentration, views, speech, resolve, action, livelihood, effort, and mindfulness.
• Major Schools: There are two major schools of Buddhism: Mahayana and Theravada or Hinayana. There is a third school, the Vajrayana, but it only has a small following.

International Buddhist Confederation (IBC):

• In November 2011, New Delhi was host to Global Buddhist Congregation (GBC) that was attended by over 800 delegates and observers from Buddhist organizations and institutions from around the world, who came together to address common issues facing the modern world from the perspective of the Holy Dhamma.
• Under the banner: Collective Wisdom: United Voice, the attendees of the GBC unanimously adopted a resolution to form an international umbrella body – the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC).
• The purpose of this body is to create a role for Buddhism on the global stage so as to help to preserve our heritage, share our knowledge, and promote our values and to represent a united front for Buddhism to enjoy meaningful participation in the global discourse.
• Regardless of the doctrinal differences within the rich and varied Buddhist traditions, there is far more that unites us than divides, and the IBC provides the foundation for the growth and development of this common ground.
• The IBC is blessed to include the Holy Sangha and eminent representatives of Buddhist lineages, organizations, institutions, and monastic bodies worldwide as Founding Members and Signatories to its Charter.