Science & Technology Current Affairs MCQs

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Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug Mounjaro became India’s top-selling drug by value in October 2025. It overtook GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Augmentin, a widely used antibiotic. Mounjaro earned ₹1 billion ($11.38 million) in October, while Augmentin made ₹800 million. By volume, Augmentin sold 5,784 units, whereas Mounjaro sold only 85 units due to its high price. Mounjaro helps control blood sugar and slow digestion and belongs to the GLP-1 receptor agonist class used for obesity and diabetes. It was launched in India in March 2025 and has earned ₹3.33 billion till October. Mounjaro’s consumption was 10 times higher than rival Wegovy by Novo Nordisk, launched in June 2025. Eli Lilly sold 262,000 units, while Novo Nordisk sold 26,000 units in October.

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Recently, Jamaica declared an outbreak of leptospirosis after the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa. Leptospirosis is a fatal bacterial disease. It is caused by the bacterium Leptospira interrogans, also called Leptospira. The bacteria enter the human body through tiny cracks or wounds in the skin, especially on the feet. It is more common in warm and humid regions across both urban and rural areas. The disease is contagious in animals and occasionally infects humans under suitable environmental conditions.

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Russia successfully launched a new set of undisclosed military satellites. The launch vehicle used was the Angara-1.2 light rocket. It was conducted from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Plesetsk is the world’s northernmost spaceport. The exact number and purpose of the satellites were not disclosed. The mission was carried out for the Russian Defence Ministry. It was executed by a combat crew of the Aerospace Forces.

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Telangana’s 1 Bio, India’s first single-use bioprocess design and scale-up facility, was inaugurated at Genome Valley, Hyderabad. It was created to solve the lack of affordable bioprocess scale-up infrastructure despite Telangana’s strong biotech talent. The facility supports start-ups and big companies with end-to-end process development and pilot validation. It was developed by the Government of Telangana, Telangana Lifesciences, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC). It has 500-litre bioreactors, advanced processing systems, and analytical labs.

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ISRO Chairman V Narayanan inaugurated Ananth Technologies’ Ananth Centre of Excellence for Navigation (ACEN) in Thiruvananthapuram. ACEN is India’s first private-sector navigation innovation hub. Ananth Technologies, founded in 1992, contributes to ISRO and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) missions with expertise in precision sensors, airworthiness, and system integration. Navigation is crucial for missiles, aircraft, ships, and satellites; reliance on foreign GPS revealed strategic vulnerabilities. ACEN will handle Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) of navigation systems domestically.

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The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is declared over after 42 days without new cases, confirmed by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO). Ebola, caused by orthoebolaviruses, first discovered in 1976 in DRC near the Ebola River, leads to severe hemorrhagic fever with internal bleeding. It spreads from wild animals like fruit bats and non-human primates, and among humans through direct contact with infected body fluids, not through air.

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Researchers from Bose Institute, Kolkata, in collaboration with L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, have developed a peptide therapy for fungal keratitis, a severe infection of the cornea. They designed a 15-residue peptide, SA-XV, derived from the host-defense peptide S100A12, previously known to inhibit fungal growth. SA-XV acts by interacting with fungal cell walls and membranes, translocating into the cytoplasm, binding nuclear DNA to halt the cell cycle, and targeting mitochondria to induce apoptosis.

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The Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying informed Rajya Sabha about white spot disease. It is a highly contagious viral infection affecting crustaceans like prawns, yabbies and crabs. It is caused by White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV). All decapod crustaceans (order Decapoda) from marine, brackish and freshwater environments are susceptible.

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Michaela Benthaus, a German engineer, became the first wheelchair user to travel to space. German engineer Michaela Benthaus became the first person with paraplegia to travel to space. The suborbital mission was conducted by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company. This was the company’s 16th crewed flight, using the New Shepard NS-37 rocket.

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The first Param Rudra supercomputer in Bihar was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna. The facility has been established under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) and was launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It is the first Param Rudra supercomputer set up in any institute or government office in Bihar. The supercomputer will enable students, faculty, and researchers to perform complex computing across multiple scientific fields.