Himachal Pradesh Fire, Oldest Galaxy, ‘Green Beard’ genes

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software named Parallel RANS Solver for Aerospace Vehicle Aero-thermo-dynamic Analysis (PraVaHa).
• This software was developed in ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
• It can simulate external and internal flows on launch vehicles, winged and non-winged re-entry vehicles.
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a tool to predict the aerodynamic and aerothermal loads which solve numerically the equations of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy along with the equation of state.
• PraVaHa has been used extensively in the Gaganyaan program for aerodynamic analysis of human-rated launch vehicles, viz, HLVM3, Crew Escape System (CES), and Crew Module.
• Currently, the PraVaHa code is operational to simulate airflow for Perfect Gas and  Real Gas conditions.

Aerodynamics involved in Aerospace Vehicle

• Any aerospace vehicle while moving through the Earth’s atmosphere during launch or re-entry is subjected to severe aerodynamic and aerothermal loads in terms of external pressure and heat flux.
• Understanding the airflow around aircraft, rocket bodies, or Crew Module (CM) during earth re-entry is essential to design the shape, structure, and Thermal Protection System (TPS) required for these bodies.
• The unsteady part of aerodynamics contributes to serious flow issues around such rocket bodies and creates significant acoustic noise during the mission.

Dig Deeper: Read about India’s Gaganyan mission and Which countries have successfully sent human missions to space?

• A prolonged dry spell and unusually high temperatures across Himachal Pradesh have triggered several wildfires.
• The government data show as many as 1,318 forest fire outbreaks this year in a state.
• The average maximum and minimum temperatures have been hovering appreciably above normal in Himachal Pradesh since May.
• The government data show that forest fires were reported in areas falling under the forest circles of Shimla, Chamba, Bilaspur, Dharamshala, Hamirpur, Kullu Mandi, Rampur, Nahan, Solan, and the Great Himalayan National Park at Shamshi in the Kullu region, affecting 12,718 hectares of land, including 2,789 hectares of plantation.
• As the forest fires rage, relief is expected as a fresh western disturbance is expected to approach the State by June 4.
• In May, the average maximum temperature was around 4 degrees Celsius above normal, while the average minimum temperature was 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal at many places in the State.

The state government was contemplating several steps like-

• Forming a dedicated battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) specially equipped and trained for firefighting to reduce losses in forest areas.
• Strengthening of fire services in 374 forest beats that are highly vulnerable to forest fires. The a need to diversify the conifer plant regions with specific plant species to help retain moisture and reduce the number of fire outbreaks.
• To conduct a study to look into the causes of fires and recommend necessary action.

Dig Deeper: Read about the nature of conifer forests in sustaining forest fires in the Himalayan belt.

• The FSSAI has issued a directive mandating all food business operators to remove any claim of “100% fruit juice” from the labels and advertisements of reconstituted fruit juices with immediate effect.
• Instructed to exhaust all existing pre-printed packaging materials before 1^st September.
• According to the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, There is no provision for making a “100%“ claim.
• Such claims are misleading, particularly under conditions where the major ingredient of the product is water and the primary ingredients present only in limited concentrations.
• There have been various Label literacy campaigns in India going on. Social Media has also created pressure in recent times.

Dig Deeper: Read about the differential use of sugar and salt by international brands in India.

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seeks Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the joint development and commercialization of a low-dose or paediatric oral formulation of hydroxyurea to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) in India.
• India has the highest prevalence of SCD in South Asia, with over 20 million affected individuals.
• Current pharmaceutical options in India include 500-mg capsules or 200-mg tablets of hydroxyurea.
• There is no suspension form available for effective paediatric use.
• Hydroxyurea is a medication used to treat various conditions such as chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), sickle cell anaemia, and certain types of skin cancers.
• It works by inhibiting DNA synthesis, which helps to slow the growth of cancer cells and reduces the frequency of sickle cell crises.

ICMR’s Statement

• A paediatric formulation is essential due to the high number of SCD cases and the National Mission to eliminate SCD by 2047.
• Hydroxyurea therapy for symptomatic children is challenging due to the lack of paediatric doses and toxicity concerns.
• The prescribed dose for children is 10-15 mg per kilogram of body weight after two years of age, but current methods are inaccurate and pose risks.

Dig Deeper: Read about the increased burden of Noncommunicable diseases in India.

• NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the earliest-known galaxy, one that is surprisingly bright and big considering it formed during the universe’s infancy — at only 2% of its current age.
• JWST is observing the galaxy as it existed about 290 million years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe roughly 13.8 billion years ago.
• This period spanning the universe’s first few hundred million years is called cosmic dawn.
• The discovery was made by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) research team. This galaxy, called JADES-GS-z14-0, measures about 1,700 lightyears across.
• It has a mass equivalent to 500 million stars the size of our Sun and is rapidly forming new stars, about 20 every year.
• Before JWST’s observations, scientists didn’t know galaxies could exist so early, and certainly not luminous ones like this.
• JWST is showing that galaxies in the early universe were much more luminous than we had anticipated.
• Until now, the earliest-known galaxy dated to about 320 million years after the Big Bang, as announced by the JADES team last year.
• It is quite big for such an early galaxy, it is dwarfed by some present-day galaxies.

Early Universe

• Star formation in the early universe was more violent than today, with massive hot stars forming and dying quickly, and releasing tremendous amounts of energy through ultraviolet light, stellar winds and supernova explosions.
• The luminosity of early galaxies was widely attributed to supermassive black holes in these galaxies gobbling up material.
• That appears to have been ruled out by the new findings because the light observed is spread over an area wider than would be expected from black hole gluttony.
• Our Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across, with the mass equivalent to about 10 billion Sun-sized stars.

Dig Deeper: Read about the Big Bang Theory and Supernova explosions.

• Green beard genes could explain altruism in nature. Some examples of Altruism-
• Honey Bees: Worker bees devote their lives to foraging and caring for the queen and her offspring without reproducing themselves.
• Widow Spiders: Males allow themselves to be eaten by fertilized females to nourish them and their offspring.
• Meerkats: Act as sentinels, alerting the clan to predators instead of foraging for food.
• Dictyostelium discoideum, a social amoeba that exhibits altruistic behaviour when forming multicellular aggregates. About 20% of the amoebae sacrifice themselves to form the stalk, while the rest become spores.
• Green-beard genes enable recognition and preferential cooperation among individuals carrying the same gene.
• This could also lead to harmful behaviour towards those with different gene versions.

Dig Deeper: Read gene editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas9.