TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Advanced Virology Lab 2. Covaxin 3. Ministry reconstitutes Central Zoo Authority 4. New swine flu with pandemic potential 5. India’s ‘first’ lichen park 6. Two more species added to India’s list of butterflies 7. Globba Andersonii 8. Diana Award 9. Red Coral Kukri 10. Four new fungi species 11. Botswana Reports Mysterious Deaths of Hundreds of Elephants 12. Most Vulnerable To Climate Risk 13. Mugger Crocodile 14. WHO nod for Truenat rapid molecular assays for TB 15. DNA Linked to Covid-19 Was Inherited From Neanderthals 16. Genetics Could Help Diagnose Type-1 Diabetes in Indians 17. Non-Caloric Natural Sweetener 18. PULSE 19. Shivalik forest 20. ISRO captures image of Mars’ elusive moon Phobos 21. Natanz- Iranian Nuclear Enrichment Facility 22. Hagia Sophia 23. Asia’s Largest Solar Plant 24. China Bubonic Plague 25. Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary 26. Winter Diesel 27. Algae Turns Italian Alps Pink 28. Lithium (Li) Increase in the Universe 29. Covid’s Kawasaki Symptoms 30. Ground Orchid (Eulophia Obtusa) 31. Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary 32. Balloon-Powered Internet in Africa 33. Golden Birdwing 34. AirBridge 35. Airborne Coronavirus 36. European Hamster and Caterpillar Fungus on Brink of Extinction 37. Apstar-6D 38. Amazonia-1 Satellite 39. Hope (or Amal in Arabic) 40. Ypthima Watsoni 41. India’s Tiger Census sets a New Guinness Record http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter 42. Nanoparticle to reduce severity of rheumatoid arthritis 43. Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise 44. Flood-resistant Paddy 45. e Flowering ‘Tigers’ 46. Himalayan viagra 47. Tangams 48. SHUDDH 49. Low-cost supercapacitor 50. An Earthquake’s Toll in an Organism’s DNA 51. World's Most Affordable COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit 52. Dolphin number dips in Chambal River 53. 'Cloud-brightening' trial on Great Barrier Reef 54. ZyCoV-D 55. Human Growth Hormone (hGH) 56. Woolly Whitefly 57. Tiny Campfire Flares 58. 2020ND 59. Ebola cases in DRC province continue to rise 60. AstraZeneca 61. 5G 62. European Bison 63. Pangolin 64. Migrations of Pied Cuckoo 65. NASA Delays James Webb Telescope Launch Date 66. Raksasa cockroach 67. KURMA App 68. BlackRock Malware 69. UAE has successfully launched the Arab world's first Mars mission 70. Space Exploration Day 2020 - 20th July 71. Largest Artificial highland 72. Adenovirus type-5-vectored (Ad5-vectored) 73. Likely active volcanoes found on Venus 74. KAPP-3 reactor 75. Active respirator mask & nano-sanitiser 76. Rare yellow turtle discovered in India 77. ANASIS-II 78. China launches first Mars mission 79. Haloarchaea 80. Indian Bullfrog 81. Coronavirus Protein Redesigned In Lab 82. India among Top 10 Countries Gaining Forest Area in the World 83. Centre removes Bander coal mine from auction list 84. Nagarhole National Park http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter 85. Delhi govt. to set up plasma bank for COVID-19 treatment 86. Meta-analysis does not support continued use of point-of-care serological tests for COVID-19 87. A sponge-like single-cell ancestor 88. Detecting RNA Virus is Saliva Sample Using Raman Spectroscopy 89. How a Fungus goes inside a bug 90. Bhasan Char 91. Understanding Forest Fires and their effects on Carbon Emission 92. Unexposed people may have COVID-19 specific memory T-cell 93. Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine 94. Direct seeding of rice 95. Vertical Transmission of Coronavirus across placenta 96. Previously unknown faults at the foot of the Himalaya Discovered 97. Arming India's poor against the pandemic 98. Assam Gas Leak, Baghjan 5 well in Tinsukia district 99. Maguri Motapung 100. Why are re-purposed medicines expensive? 101. Seismicity study of Arunachal Himalaya 102. IIT-Kharagpur develops technology for rapid COVID-19 testing 103. ASTHROS mission 104. French refinery leaks toxic chemical into marine life area 105. African Swine Fever 106. GI registration for Saffron 107. ‘Green Banana’ Off Florida’s Coast 108. Tiny Bug Slayer 109. National Biopharma Mission 110. Three new high-throughput ICMR labs 111. How ‘corona’ of the virus changes into a hairpin shape 112. Heatwaves, floods, droughts: projections 113. Coronavirus tricks immune system with camouflage 114. COVID-19 risk doesn’t depend (much) on blood type 115. Hurricane Hanna 116. Mausam 117. Nag River 118. INTERNATIONAL TIGER DAY- 29th July 119. VPM1002 120. World Hepatitis Day - 28 July 121. What New Research on Smallpox Tells Us about Its Origins 122. India likely to miss target of eradicating AIDS by 2030 123. World Nature Conservation Day 2020- July 28 124. UK, India to collaborate in anti-microbial resistance research 125. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) 126. Scientists solve mystery behind body odour http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter 127. Almost 3 billion animals affected by Australian bushfires 128. 3 Spacecraft Heading to Mars 129. “No-touch” & “Painless” device 130. Immunoprotein found to impair coronavirus-cell interaction 131. Aerial seeding to increase green cover in Aravallis 132. Small crustacean can fragment microplastics in four days 133. 1 in 3 children worldwide threatened by unacceptably high lead levels in blood http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter Advanced Virology Lab The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, has established an “Advanced Virology Lab” for testing COVID-19. It is a Bio Safety Level (BSL) 3 level facility. “Biosafety levels are assigned to a facility depending on the pathogen it deals with. According to ICMR guidelines, BSL2 level facility is recommended for COVID-19 but this is an advanced version,” This advanced version has a “Negative Pressure”, which means it has a suction facility that can suck any aerosol and pass it through filters. It can filter virus or bacteria to make it a safe COVID-19 testing facility. It reduces the possibilities of infections at culturing facilities. Covaxin The Central Drug Standard Control Organisation, the National regulatory body for Indian Pharmaceuticals and medical devices, has granted approval to Bharat Biotech India to conduct human clinical trials for Corona Vaccine called ‘Covaxin’. It is the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine to receive the approval. The Covaxin has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated in NIV, Pune and transferred to Bharat Biotech. The indigenous, inactivated vaccine developed and manufactured at the Bio-safety level 3 lab of the Bharat Biotech located in Genome Valley in Hyderabad. Ministry reconstitutes Central Zoo Authority The CZA is a statutory body chaired by the Environment Minister and tasked with regulating zoos across the country. The Environment Ministry has reconstituted the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to include an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a molecular biologist. 1 http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter The authority lays down guidelines and prescribes rules under which animals may be transferred among zoos nationally and internationally. Apart from the chairman, it consists of 10 members and a member-secretary. New swine flu with pandemic potential Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic. Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses do. Tests also showed that any immunity human’s gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4. The tests also showed that as many as 4.4% of the general population also appeared to have been exposed. The virus has therefore already passed from animals to humans but there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human. A zoonotic infection is caused by a pathogen that has jumped from a non-human animal into a human. Waste to Energy plant in Delhi A MoU was signed on Waste to Energy plant at Okhla, Delhi, between Indian Oil, NTPC Ltd and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). Under the MoU, IndianOil, SDMC and NTPC shall come together to develop a demonstration Waste-to- energy Plant at Okhla landfill site in Delhi, using Gasification technology. This Plant shall process 17500 tons per annum of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) produced from combustible components of Municipal Waste to generate syngas which shall in turn be used to generate electricity. 2 http://www.gesreporter.com/ © GES Reporter There is an existing model of providing offtake guarantee, under the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation, SATAT scheme for compressed biogas production plants. Gas generation from waste will also help in cutting imports of petroleum products and saving precious foreign exchange. ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ To provide a single platform for research internships, capacity building programs, and workshops across the country. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched a new scheme called ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ (AV). AV has already called for applications under its ‘ABHYAAS’ component for the Winter Season. This inter-ministerial scheme gives more thrust on encouraging high-end scientific research and preparing scientific manpower, which can lead to research careers and knowledge-based economy. The vision is to expand the research base, with three broad goals, namely, ○ Consolidation / aggregation of all scientific programs, ○ Initiating high-end orientation workshops, and ○ Creating opportunities for research internships for those who do not have access to such resources / facilities. The institution is also planning to launch an app for this in the coming two months. India’s ‘first’ lichen park Uttarakhand Forest Department has developed India's 'first' lichen park in Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district of the state. The state has over 600 species of lichens of which around 150 are found in Munsiyari. On June 5, the state forest department opened the state's biggest biodiversity park in Haldwani.