Polity and Governance
Global Liveability Index 2023
![](https://basix.in//stadmin/uploads/images//Global_Liveability.png)
|
Recently, the Global Liveability Index 2023 has been released.
About:
- The Global Liveability Index assesses which locations around the world provide the best and worst living conditions.
- The Economist's Global Liveability Index for 2023 is based on data analyzed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
- EIU’s index ranks 173 cities across five categories: stability, healthcare, education, culture and the environment, and infrastructure.
- Vienna has retained its position at the top, ahead of Copenhagen, while the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney have bounced back up the rankings to third and fourth place.
- Asia-Pacific cities have made some of the biggest gains, accounting for eight of the top ten movers up the rankings as economies recovered from the pandemic.
|
Environment
World Hydrography Day
![](https://basix.in//stadmin/uploads/images//World_Hydrography.png)
|
On June 21 every year, the International Hydrographic Organisation (HO) observes ‘World Hydrography Day’.
About:
- World Hydrography Day is designed to raise awareness about hydrography and how it plays a role in improved knowledge of the seas and oceans.
- The theme this year is "Hydrography - Underpinning the Digital Twin of the Ocean".
- In India, the Indian Naval Hydrographic Department (INHD) functions under the Indian Navy as the nodal agency for hydrographic surveys and nautical charting.
- The department has the mandate to undertake hydrographic surveys and publish navigation charts and has thus far published 650 Electronic and paper navigation charts covering Indian and International waters.
- These charts are in use by merchant mariners and Navies of the world.
|
Science and Technology
What is OceanGate?
![](https://basix.in//stadmin/uploads/images//What_is_OceanGate.png)
|
A small submersible vessel named ‘Titan’, carrying five people nearly 4,000 metres down the Atlantic Ocean to view the 1912 wreckage of the Titanic, lost contact with those at the surface.
- The trip was organised by the company OceanGate Inc, which mentions private “crewed submersible exploration” as part of its offerings.
About:
- OceanGate Inc is a US-based company founded in 2009.
- Its website describes itself as “an ocean exploration venture focused on providing crewed submersible services to enable researchers and explorers to access the oceans’ vast resources’.
- Apart from the use of submersibles for exploration purposes, such as scientific research, allowing people to carry out “real-time sampling, collecting and experimentation”, deep-sea testing, and for underwater filming.
|
Science and Technology
Regenerative medicine
![](https://basix.in//stadmin/uploads/images//Regenerative.png)
|
Recently, an increase has been seen in ‘cord blood preservation’.
- Private cord blood banking is not a ‘biological insurance’ and its role in regenerative medicine is still hypothetical.
About:
- Regenerative Medicine refers to a group of biomedical approaches to clinical therapies that may involve the use of stem cells.
- Regenerative medicine may be defined as the process of replacing or "regenerating" human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function.
- The goal of regenerative medicine is to replace or reboot tissues or organs damaged because of disease, injury, age, or other issues instead of treating symptoms with medication and procedures.
- Regeneration in humans happens at three levels:
- Molecular: this includes small molecules that are the building blocks of your body, like DNA, fats, and carbohydrates.
- Cellular: This includes cell structures like neurons or axons that are responsible for cell growth and reproduction in your body.
- Tissue: This includes blood, skin, bone, or muscle.
- Examples include cell therapies (the injection of stem cells or progenitor cells); immunomodulation therapy (regeneration by biologically active molecules administered alone or as secretions by infused cells); and tissue engineering (transplantation of laboratory grown organs and tissues).
|