Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
The Chandra X-ray Observatory, previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, was launched by NASA, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Recently, an image from this observatory was released by NASA. It shows threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields weaving around each other, at the center of our Mily Way Galaxy. These new observations stretch above and below our galaxy’s plane, where most of the stars are found.

Notes:
A team of Australian scientists has discovered a new species of a tree frog from the rainforests of New Guinea.
Also called as the “chocolate frog” due to its chocolate colour, it belongs to the Australasian tree frog genus Litoria. Hence the new species was named as ‘Litoria mira’. The closest known relative of this new species is the Australian green tree frog.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar (IIT Ropar) has developed India’s first IoT-based temperature logger named AmbiTag. It records real-time ambient temperature during the transportation of perishable products, vaccines as well as body organs and blood.
The device is shaped as USB device and it continuously records the temperature of its immediate surroundings from -40 to +80 degrees in any time zone. Presently available devices record data only for 30-60 days while this device can record for 90 days in a single charge.

Notes:
The Norwegian Refugee Council released its annual index of the 10 most neglected displacement crises in the world.
Two million people were displaced last year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and it has the world’s most neglected number of displaced people. African Countries dominated this year’s list, wherein DRC is followed by Cameroon, Burundi and Venezuela.

Notes:
Sinovac vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd has been granted emergency use approval by the World Health Organisation.
WHO has recommended the vaccine to be used by people who are 18 years and above. The vaccine needs to be administered in two doses with a gap of two to four weeks.

Notes:
The Singapore based vessel MV X-Press Pearl carrying chemicals sank off the coast of Sri Lanka recently. The 12-day long efforts to put of the ship’s fire and tow it into deep waters went vain after the ship’s stern became submerged and rested on the seabed.
This has posed a great environmental threat to the coast of Sri Lanka.

Notes:
The Government of Japan has announced to find an additional USD 800 million towards the COVAX programme.
COVAX programme is promoted by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO. It is a platform that aims to achieve equal access to vaccines by all countries, regardless of their income levels.

Notes:
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad has developed nano-fibre based oral tablets of Amphotericin B, called as AmB.
This was the first-ever attempt to fabricate nanofibrous oral tablets of Amphotericin B for curing Kala Azar. As Kala-Azar treatment is being currently used as a treatment for Mucormycosis, this can be used to treat fungal infections post COVID treatment.

Notes:
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities including cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.
According to the recent index, food prices in May were 4.8% higher than April. This is registered as the biggest monthly rise since October 2010. The prices was also 39.7% higher than this time last year, May 2020.

Notes:
The Pakistani Army has conducted a military exercise named ‘Taskheer-e-Jabal’ near Kotli in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region. Under this exercise, the troops rehearsed various defensive and offensive manoeuvres in mountain terrains.
The exercise was overseen by its Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. It was aimed to enhance the operational preparedness, defensive and offensive formations of various contingencies.