Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2019

Notes:
In Mumbai, EsselWorld launched India’s first foreign interactive and exotic world park at the Essel World Bird Park in Gorai. The rain forest themed park is spread across 1.5 acres and is home to over 500 birds belonging to 60 different exotic species. Hence, this is the first bird park in India to host three different varieties of birds – aquatic, terrestrial and free flying birds – across terrains, ranging from rainforests, deserts, rocky decks and lakes, all located within EsselWorld in Gorai. It is equipped with small ponds for aquatic birds, dense cover of trees for birds to incubate their eggs and a water stream that offers drinking water to birds. It also houses a special bird’s kitchen and healthcare centre. Some of the key attractions in the park are Ostriches, African grey parrots, Blue gold macaws, Toucans, Black swan and Rainbow lorikeet among others.

Notes:
Researchers at the IIT Roorkee have identified a new method to detect two of the worst forms of cancer in women – breast and ovarian cancer. The research published in the journal, ‘FASEB Bioadvances’ details the use of whole saliva as a body fluid for early detection of breast and ovarian cancers, as opposed to the traditional method of using blood samples. The research team, led by Professor Kiran Ambatipudi from the institute’s biotechnology department, identified certain proteins present in the saliva which act as potential biomarkers indicative of breast and ovarian cancer metastasis.

Notes:
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has set up an Indo-Pacific division in the foreign office to integrate the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), ASEAN region and the Quad. The new division is a brainchild of foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and is intended to give a coherent architecture to the Indo-Pacific policy. It is a big step by the Government and it is expected to give thrust to the Indo-Pacific centred policymaking. The Indo-Pacific Wing is currently headed by joint secretary Vikram Doraiswami.

Notes:
Three Indian student teams won awards in NASA’s 25th edition of Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2019 at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama on April 12-13. The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad won the “AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award” in the college/university division. The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai won the “Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award” in the college/university division. Lovely Professional University from Phagwara, Punjab, won the STEM Engagement Award. Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition, hailing from 23 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as a record number of countries, including Bangladesh, Germany, India, Mexico, Morocco and Peru. The competition challenges high school and college teams to design, build and test human-powered roving vehicles inspired by the Apollo lunar missions and future exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Notes:
Sri Lanka has launched its first satellite ‘Raavana-1’ into space from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s East Shore. It weights around 1.05 kg and the lifespan of the satellite is around one and a half years. The launch marks Sri Lanka’s entry into the global space age. Under BIRDS project, the satellite was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan by two Sri Lankan research engineers. Its camera mission is to capture images of Sri Lanka and its neighbouring countries.

Notes:
The critically endangered ‘Kakapos’ – the world’s fattest species of parrot – have enjoyed a record breaking breeding season, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC). This year, 76 chicks have been hatched under the DOC’s conservation scheme, with 60 expected to reach adulthood. This will significantly boost the population which has grown to 147 adults since a small number of the plump green, yellow and black birds were discovered in 1970. The kakapo is an “unusual” parrot as the females control the breeding process and only mate every two to four years when their favourite fruit grows in New Zealand’s Rimu trees – the period is known as a “mast year”. New Zealand’s kakapo recovery programme is so tightly monitored that although they remain in the wild, each one has a radio transmitter attached to its body and there are monitoring systems embedded in their nests. It is claimed that kakapo is probably one of the most intensively managed species in the world.

Notes:
Ace cricketer Mithali Raj has been named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian team for the Street Child Cricket World Cup (SCCWC-2019. She joined former captain Saurav Ganguly and IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals in supporting the team. The Street Child Cricket World Cup (SCCWC-2019) is the first cricket world cup for street-connected children. The tournament is being organised by Street Child United (SCU), a UK based organisation, which has a legacy of holding street child tournaments around major sporting festivals like FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Olympics in Brazil, FIFA World Cup Russia and more.

Notes:
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission of NASA has discovered its first Earth-size planet – HD 21749c. The newly-discovered planet is about 89% Earth’s diameter. The planet is likely very hot, with surface temperatures perhaps as high as 800 degrees F (427 degrees C). It orbits HD 21749, a K-type dwarf star located 53 light-years away in the southern constellation. It is likely a rocky as it circles its parent star in just 7.8 days. This is the 10th confirmed planet discovered by TESS, and hundreds of additional candidates are now being studied.

Notes:
Richard Powers has been honoured with the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in fiction category for his innovative novel ‘The Overstory’, which shows us the world through the perspective of nature.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia will host the 15th edition of G20 summit in its capital Riyadh, which is scheduled to be held on November 21-22, 2020. This would be the first G20 summit to be hosted by an Arab country. The summit’s agenda will include financial, economic and social issues including energy, the environment, climate, the digital economy, trade, agriculture, healthcare, education and labour. The G20 consists of Germany, the US, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, France, South Africa, South Korea, India, the UK, Italy, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the European Union.