Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award for 2019 was conferred upon Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017, Shri Bhupen Hazarika, and Shri Nanaji Deshmukh, Social Activist, and a member of RSS. Padma Awards 2019, one of the highest civilian awards were also distributed on 25th Jan 2019, on the eve of Republic day by the President of India at ceremonial functions which were held at Rashtrapati Bhawan. These Padma awards are conferred in 3 categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri For the year 2019, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind
Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and UAE Central Bank announced the launch of common digital currency ‘Aber’ to forge closer financial ties. On 29th Jan 2019, both the apex monetary bodies released a joint statement mentioning that the new digital currency will be used in financial statements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies. This new digital currency also serves as an additional medium for financial remittances between the two countries. In the initial stages, this pilot project concentrates on the technical aspects and focuses on the
A team of scientists from Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover, Curiosity, has detected the largest amount of methane on Mars. According to Nasa, the rover has found about 21 parts per billion units (ppbv) by volume of methane, the largest amount of gas ever measured. The finding came from the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars tunable laser spectrometer that measured that 21 billionths of the volume of air is methane. According to Ashwin R. Vasavada, the project scientist for the mission, a new set of instructions were sent to the rover to follow up on the readings through mission contro
According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter that is currently orbiting the Moon has detected Argon 40, a noble gas, in the Lunar Exosphere. The orbiter’s payload, Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2) found Argon 40 from an altitude of 100 kilometers. The payload is a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMA) with an ability to scan the lunar neutral exosphere in the mass range of 1 to 300 amu and is meant to carry out an in-situ study of the composition and distribution of the lunar neutral exosphere and its variability. It is an isotope of the noble gas Argon, which is the t
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new way of removing carbon dioxide from the air. The new technology will be able to work at virtually any concentration level. This will also introduce new strategies to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. According to MIT researchers, the new method can remove the gas even when it is present in very low concentrations as compared to previously available methods that require high concentration levels such as those found in the fossil fuel emissions from power plants. As per the research published in Energy an
Facebook, the online social media and social networking service company has announced a new digital currency called Libra, for simplifying payments. This new digital currency is based on the blockchain technology and allows billions of users to make financial transactions across the globe. It’s a simple digital currency and financial infrastructure that is developed to create a more inclusive financial system. Its three most promising features are: • It is created on a completely secure, scalable and reliable blockchain. • It’s backed by a reserve of real assets that are meant for bu
A team of scientists from Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover, Curiosity, has detected the largest amount of methane on Mars. According to Nasa, the rover has found about 21 parts per billion units (ppbv) by volume of methane, the largest amount of gas ever measured. The finding came from the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars tunable laser spectrometer that measured that 21 billionths of the volume of air is methane. According to Ashwin R. Vasavada, the project scientist for the mission, a new set of instructions were sent to the rover to follow up on the readings through mission controlle
The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged the initiative of the Government of Malawi at the launch of the world’s first and only malaria vaccine through a part of a landmark pilot program. After the combined efforts of over 30 years Malawi has made the vaccine available to children in Africa. In the coming weeks, Ghana and Kenya will also introduce the vaccine. WHO coordinated the pilot program with a collective effort from health ministries of Malawi, Ghana, and Kenya and other partners including non-profit organizations, and GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine developer. The vaccine, kno
Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and UAE Central Bank announced the launch of common digital currency ‘Aber’ to forge closer financial ties. On 29th Jan 2019, both the apex monetary bodies released a joint statement mentioning that the new digital currency will be used in financial statements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies. This new digital currency also serves as an additional medium for financial remittances between the two countries. In the initial stages, this pilot project concentrates on the technical aspects and focuses on the pr
Offering India’s first-ever Platinum 4G service, Reliance Jio is becoming the spearhead of the telecommunications industry as the best 4G network with the lowest data rate. It is offering nationwide free voice calls to any network without any roaming charges. In addition to its several feats, Reliance Jio has also become the Indian ‘4G-only’ network which is witnessing data usage of 16,000TB per day which is by far the largest data usage any carrier handles on a typical day at a global level. The company has an extensive network of 250,000 km of fiber optic cables across India and aims