The Union Cabinet on Saturday (August 24, 2024) cleared a proposal to bolster biotechnology-based manufacturing, called BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy for Fostering High Performance Biomanufacturing. To be steered by the Department of Biotechnology, the aim is to have it catalyse a technology revolution “just as the IT industry revolutionised life in the 1990s”, an internal note viewed by The Hindu said.

A financial outlay wasn’t specified for the programme. High performance biomanufacturing is the ability to produce products from medicine to materials, address farming and food challenges, and promote manufacturing of bio-based products through integration of advanced biotechnological processes.

Assam has recorded the mithun (Bos frontalis) for the first time, generations after the semi-wild gaur-like animal began to be reared by tribals in the state’s hill district of Dima Hasao.

During past livestock censuses, the enumerators recorded the animal in the column of “others” and the government had no idea about its presence.

Mithun is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and found also in the hills of Mizoram and Manipur. It is primarily reared for its meat.

Bhairab K Kakati, Additional Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department (Hills), told The New Indian Express that a team had spotted the animal during a visit to the three remote villages of Laisong, Langting and Thaijuwari in Dima Hasao on August 21.

Flour, chocolate, cocoa powder, eggs, and butter are all the ingredients to make a sweet treat you crave.

The only thing you need right now is a step-by-step recipe to help you turn the ingredients into a yummy brownie.

Nature also has the ingredients it needs to ‘make’ living organisms, using a genetic instruction manual called the genome. A small change in the genome’s composition can determine whether the living thing being made is a flower that exhibits two petal colours, a cat that has big or small ears or if the coriander leaves will taste like soap to some people.

South India’s first adivasi library, ‘Kaanu’, will be inaugurated at BR Hills in Chamarajanagar district on August 25.‘Kaanu’ means evergreen forest in Soliga language. It will be the first South Indian Adivasi Knowledge Centre.

There is no institution dedicated for research on various aspects related to adivasis in South India.

Scholars from tribal communities held talks with Prashanth N Srinivas, a medical doctor and public health researcher at BR Hills, and Wraner from Germany last year and decided to set up this exclusive library to showcase works and promote research on Jenu Kuruba, Kadu Kuruba, Betta Kuruba, Soliga and other forest-based tribes.

‘Kaanu’ has been set up at the Institute of Public Health building with 1,200 books, research papers and contemporary works on South Indian forest tribes by adivasis and non-adivasis.

The ‘home of cricket’ Lord’s will host its first-ever women’s Test to be played between India and England in 2026, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Thursday.

The ECB said on its website that after a three-match ODI series between India and England in July 2025, the former will return in 2026 for a one-off Test.

“I’m also delighted we can confirm that India Women will return in 2026 to take on England Women in the first-ever women’s Test match at Lord’s. It will be a truly special occasion, and one of real significance,” ECB CEO Richard Gould said.

A new way to probe deeper into the Sun’s secrets has been found by studying the magnetic field at different layers of the solar atmosphere using data from the Kodaikanal Tower Tunnel Telescope. The solar atmosphere is composed of various layers interconnected through magnetic fields. The magnetic field acts as a conduit to transfer energy and mass from the inner layers to the outer layers, commonly known as the “coronal heating problem,” and is also the prime driver of the solar wind. To understand the physical mechanisms behind these processes, measurements of magnetic fields at different heights of the solar atmosphere are important. The strength of the magnetic field can be inferred by precise measurements of the spectral line intensities across the Sun in full polarization. Simultaneous multiline spectropolarimetry is an observational technique that captures this magnetic field at different layers of the solar atmosphere. Recent studies have demonstrated the technique's capability to detail the magnetic structure of sunspots, umbral flashes, and chromospheric variations during solar flares.

A study led by astronomers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), examined an active region (sunspot) with complex features, including multiple umbrae and a penumbra, through simultaneous observations in the Hydrogen-alpha and Calcium II 8662 Å lines from the Kodaikanal Tower Tunnel telescope.

The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO), operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, is known for the discovery of the Evershed Effect in 1909. The study used data from multiple spectral lines acquired simultaneously, especially the Hydrogen-alpha line, at 6562.8 Angstroms (Å), to infer the magnetic field's stratification at various heights of the solar atmosphere, taken from the Tunnel Telescope at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, which is operated by IIA.

India and Denmark have joined hands to establish a ‘smart laboratory on clean rivers’ (SLCR) in Varanasi to bring excellence in small river rejuvenation and management. To begin with, the lab aims to leverage the expertise of both nations to rejuvenate Varuna, a tributary of Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, using sustainable approaches within 2-3 years.

The alliance is a tripartite initiative between the Government of India, the Indian Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU), and the Govt of Denmark.

The SLCR secretariat will receive initial funding of Rs 16.8 crore from the Jal Shakti (water resources) ministry and an additional Rs 5 crore grant from Denmark to support long-term sustainability and project development.

“Its objectives include creating a collaborative platform for govt bodies, knowledge institutions and local communities to share insights and develop solutions for clean river water. The initiative features a hybrid lab model at the IIT-BHU and an on-field living lab at the Varuna river to test and scale solutions in real-world settings,” said the Jal Shakti ministry in a statement.

In a rare move the government has promoted and appointed a non-IPS Sanjeev Raina, a 1987-batch Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) cadre officer, as Additional Director General (ADG) in the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) guarding force, only the second time in the history of the force.

In an order, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, “Raina, serving as an Inspector General (IG) at the ITBP central sector headquartered in Bhopal, is being elevated to the ADG rank apart from another officer, IG Jaspal Singh, for the panel year 2024.”

It is to be noted here that Raina, 59, will serve in the new post for just over a month as he is scheduled to retire next month, but the decision has a huge symbolic importance for the Force’s cadre officers, who are recruited at the level of Assistant Commandant.

A 2,492-carat raw diamond discovered in Botswana is believed to be the world’s second-largest gem-quality sample ever unearthed, behind only the famed Cullinan diamond.

The gigantic gemstone was found in Botswana’s Karowe diamond mine, which is wholly owned by Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp.

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara’s president, William Lamb, said in a statement.

Lucara did not disclose details of the diamond's quality or its value. However, the Financial Times quoted unnamed sources close to Lucara estimating that it could fetch upwards of $40 million.

After his bilateral talks with President Volodymr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted four BHISHM cubes — compact, mobile medical units aimed at providing emergency care — to his government.

“Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri (BHISHM) is a unique effort which will ensure medical facilities in a rapidly deployable manner. It consists of cubes which contain medicines and equipment for medical care. Today, presented BHISHM cubes to President @ZelenskyyUa,” Modi said in a post on X.

A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said President Zelenskyy thanked Prime Minister Modi for the cubes, a critical tool that will help expedite the treatment of the injured and save precious lives amid the war with Russia.