Current Affair 1:

World Monuments Fund

 

About:

It is the leading independent organization devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places to enrich people’s lives and build mutual understanding across cultures and communities.

It draws on heritage to address some of today’s most pressing challenges: climate change, underrepresentation, imbalanced tourism, and post-crisis recovery.

Headquarter: New York City

In 2015, WMF India became the most recent entry to the World Monuments Fund family of affiliates, established under India's Companies Act, following the country's policy to include heritage conservation in corporate social responsibility programs.

What is the World Monuments Watch?

Launched in 1996, the Watch is announced every two years and includes sites nominated by individuals and community-based organizations that span the globe.

The Watch provides a critical platform to raise awareness of and support for heritage places of global significance.

Among the criteria considered are the site’s cultural significance, the need for timely action, and the feasibility of the proposed approach.

There are 40 sites recognized under WMW. No need to remember the names. I will show you few examples:

Current Affair 2:

IceCube Neutrino Observatory

 

News:

Scientists using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica believe they have potentially found the first evidence for astrophysical tau neutrinos, called "ghost particles".

About IceCube Neutrino Observatory:

1. It is a device at the earth’s South Pole that detects subatomic particles called neutrinos. It was built and is maintained by the IceCube Collaboration, which consists of many universities worldwide led by the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
2. It consists of thousands of sensors buried more than 1.4 km beneath the ice plus multiple detectors above the surface. It is the world’s biggest ‘neutrino telescope’.

Working:

1. When a neutrino interacts with the ice surrounding the sensors, it may produce some charged particles and some radiation.
2. The sensors detect the radiation to infer the detection of a neutrino and use the radiation’s properties to understand more about the particle.
3. Neutrinos come in different types. IceCube can identify some of them in real-time.

Current Affair 3:

International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy

 

News:

The formation of IPHE was facilitated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2003 to foster international cooperation on hydrogen and fuel cell R&D, common codes and standards, and information sharing on infrastructure development.

Originally organized as "The International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy," the organization changed its official title to "The International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy" in December 2009 (still abbreviated as IPHE).

Current Affair 4:

ETHANOL 100

 

News:

Ethanol 100 stands as a cleaner, greener alternative to gasoline, boasting lower emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants, thus aiding in combating climate change and enhancing air quality in our communities.

E100 fuel is not 100 percent ethanol. Previously, the specifications for E100 fuel in India mandated using 100 percent ethanol as fuel. However, due to safety concerns, the specifications were revised to mandate blending of ethanol with some amount of petrol. In accordance with the new specifications, E100 fuel includes 93-93.5 percent ethanol blended with 5 percent petrol and 1.5 percent co-solvent, which is a binder.

India’s Ethanol Blending Program aims to promote the blending of ethanol with gasoline to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and mitigate environmental impact. The program incentivizes ethanol production and blending, with a target of achieving 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26 (as per National Policy on Biofuel-2018)

Which vehicles can apply on E100?

E100 can be used as fuel in any flex fuel engine car. A flex fuel engine car is designed to run on a variety of fuels. It comes equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE) which can run on petrol or ethanol or methanol, giving consumers choice at the point of sale of the fuel.

 

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