News Flash (23rd May 2020): Top Stories Of The Day

1. Rare Asiatic wild dog spotted after 50 years in Gujarat.

Surat: In Vansda National Park, spread over 24 square kilometres in the hilly region of Sahyadri range, the rare Asiatic wild dog or Dhole was spotted nearly after 50 years. According to officials, Dhole was last observed in 1970 by Late Maharaja Digveerandrasinhji of Dang. Dinesh Rabari, deputy conservator of forests said, ”presence of Dhole is an indicator of good forest quality, prey abundance and less human disturbance”. The department has set up more cameras to monitor their movement, behaviour, foraging habits, their number and retention time. After confirming the presence of 2 Dholes, the department added that all efforts were being made to ensure that the area experiences no human disturbance and Dhole stays there permanently and breeds.

2. National Test Abhyas app downloaded by 2 lakh JEE and NEET aspirants in 3 days.

National Test Abhyas app has been downloaded by over two lakh medical and engineering aspirants. The app which was launched by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, union HRD minister provides one free mock tests for JEE mains, advanced and NEET daily which have to be attempted within 3 hours and students can access them anytime of the day according to their convenience. “A large number of students appear for these competitive examinations and a lot of students could not study in private coaching institutes. Keeping in mind their needs, NTA has launched this app which will facilitate them in preparing for the exams,” the minister said in a video tweeted by him.

3. PAI airlines plane crashes in residential area in Karachi.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) with eight crew members and 90 passengers, crashed in a residential area near the Karachi Airport on 22^nd May.  Only two out of a total 98 people on board survived the deadly crash. PK 8303 took flight from Lahore for Karachi, was about to land when it crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony. Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan expressed shock and said,” the rescue and relief teams were on the ground and an immediate inquiry would be instituted”. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi also tweeted to express his condolences to victims of the unfortunate incident.

4. China reports no new Covid-19 case for the first time since January.

China on Saturday claimed to have no new cases of people getting infected by the Coronavirus. This is a big step towards containing the virus for a country where it first emerged in Wuhan late last year. Since then the rate of spreading of Covid-19 has strikingly increased to find its peak in mid-February and then it has dramatically dwindled to a point that China hasn’t registered any new infected patients today. The death count of the country stands at 4634 people in a huge population of 1.4 billion, well below the fatalities in much smaller countries. 

5. Scientists suspect formation of a planet in recent images of swirling gas and dust.

First time in the history of astronomy, scientists may have observed clear evidence of planet formation around a young star. A spiral disk of gas and dust surrounding the star AB Aurigae has been observed through recent pictures captured through infrared telescope astronomers. That twist “is the precise spot where a new planet must be forming,” says astrophysicist Emmanuel Di Folco of the University of Bordeaux in France. “It was amazing,” she adds “It was exactly as we were expecting from the theoretical predictions of planet formation.” The young star is so far as 520 light-years in the constellation Auriga and is just 4 million years old, only about one one-thousandth of the age of the sun. 

6. New artificial eyes may outperform human eyes.

Scientists don’t have the technology to build real-time bionic body parts but they have developed an artificial eye which is just as good or may even be better than actual human eyes. This device truly mimics the human eye. It is designed such that it has a faster reaction time than a real human eye, which is probably the most advanced light-sensing machinery in the world. “In the future, we can use this for better vision prostheses and humanoid robotics,” says engineer and materials scientist Zhiyong Fan of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 

7. AI develops new Pac-Man version only by viewing 50,000 episodes of gameplay.

Nvidia, a graphics card company, trained an AI model to design a new playable version of the Pac-man, on the 40^th anniversary of the game. AI built the game after being fed with 50k episodes of the game being played and was accompanying controller inputs. It recreated the game frame by frame from scratch without any game engine. The company has planned to release this new version online. 

8. Sikkim will reopen colleges and schools for class 9-12, June 15 onwards.

Sikkim’s education minister, Kunga Nima Lepcha announced on 21 May that taking into account the importance of higher classes and board exams, the government and private schools will start their classes for students from the 9th-12th standard on June 15. Colleges and universities will also reopen again where classes will be held in double shifts in accordance to the social distancing guidelines adopted by the state.

9. Ban on gatherings was lifted to allow 10 people to meet in New York.

On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order that lifted the state’s absolute ban on any kind of social gathering. The order stated that now, upto 10 people will be allowed to meet even for any nonessential gathering such as birthday parties or casual get-togethers provided people keep a distance of six feet and abide by the social distancing guidelines adopted at the time of this pandemic. 

10. Court to Anil Ambani: You gave personal guarantee, pay INR 5,400 crore to Chinese banks.

A judge in London has ordered Anil Ambani to pay INR 5,400 crores which translates to $717 million to three banks in China. This amount has been ordered to pay within 21 days following a dispute based on defaulted loans. Ambani has claimed that he never gave any guarantee tied to his personal assets and only signed guarantee on the banks’ loans on Reliance Communication in 2012.

11. Ways to prevent memory loss developed by IIT Guwahati for patients of Alzheimer’s.

Research teams at IIT Guwahati have reportedly claimed to have discovered ways to prevent or at least reduce the loss of memory experienced by patients of Alzheimer’s. They researched the neurochemical principles of the disease to prevent the accumulation of toxic chemicals in the brain responsible for interfering with memory. They prevented amyloid plaques from aggregating which causes memory loss by using low voltage electric fields.

12. Fastest internet speed of 44.2 Tbps, which can download 1k HD movies in 1 second has been recorded.

Australia’s RMIT, Monash University and Swinburne University researchers have recently recorded the highest internet data speed of 44.2 terabits per second (Tbsp). This speed is so high that people can download about 1000 HD movies in just a second. Researchers reported that they used a device which replaced 80 lasers which are found in current hardware of telecoms, with single equipment known as ‘micro-comb’. 

13. Quarantine centres for transgenders set up by Manipur.

Possibly India’s first quarantine centre for the transgender community was set up in Imphal. “The move was taken as certain instances showed the inconvenience being faced by the community of transgenders when accommodated with either male or female inmates”, stated Ngangom Uttam Singh, the director of the Social Welfare Department. Separate centres have been set up for members who come from green and red zones.