Maya, worlds first cloned wild arctic wolf (GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- For the first time ever, a wild arctic wolf was successfully cloned by a China-based gene firm.
- The firm, Sinogene Biotechnology, released a video of Maya, the world's first cloned wild arctic wolf, 100 days after her birth in a Beijing lab.
Why it matters?
- The cloning of the Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, which is native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands, is considered a milestone achievement in conserving rare and endangered species through cloning technology.
How it was cloned?
- Maya's donor cell came from the skin sample of a wild female arctic wolf.
- Its oocyte was from a female dog and its surrogate mother was a beagle.
- The cloning of the arctic wolf was accomplished by constructing over 130 new embryos from enucleated oocytes of a female dog and somatic cells of a wild female arctic wolf.
- This was followed by the transfer of over 80 embryos to the uteri of seven beagles, of which one was born as a healthy wolf.
- The selection of a dog as the wolf's surrogate was made because dogs share genetic ancestry with ancient wolves and it is more likely to succeed through cloning technology.
Background:
- Cloning, the process of creating copies of living organisms, including cells, tissues, etc, was first used to create an animal in 1996 by a Scottish scientist.
- The animal, a sheep named Dolly, was made using an udder cell from an adult sheep.
What’s next?
- The cloned wolf Maya now lives with her surrogate beagle in a lab and later she will be delivered to the Harbin Polarland, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and displayed to the public.
- The cloning technology will help in breeding more rare and endangered animals.
UAE to launch maiden Moon mission Rashid
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- After successfully launching its mission to Mars, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is planning to launch its maiden moon mission in November 2022.
Details:
- Dubbed Rashid, the spacecraft will be launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida.
- The probe will be launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will be deposited into lunar orbit by a Japanese ispace lander in March.
Key Highlights:
- The lunar mission is part of the UAE’s broader strategy to become a major player in the field of space exploration.
- If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan would join the ranks of only the US, Russia, and China as nations that have put a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
- The Rashid rover is expected to study the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface, and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.
- The 10-kilogram (22-pound) rover will carry two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera, a thermal imagery camera, a probe, and other devices.
Hope Probe:
- This will be the second big mission for the Emirates space agency, which garnered global attention when it launched the Hope probe and managed to place it in the Martian orbit in a maiden mission.
- The probe has been beaming back images and data from the Mars, which has revealed unique auroras.
What’s next?
- Meanwhile, the UAE also has plans to develop the Middle East’s most advanced commercial satellite to produce high-resolution satellite imagery.
- It has also set the ambitious goal of building a human colony on Mars by 2117.
Google faces pressure in India to help curb illegal lending apps: Report
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Alphabet Inc's Google has been asked by the Indian government and the RBI to introduce more stringent checks to help curb the use of illegal digital lending applications in India.
Details:
- Even though Google doesn't fall under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) ambit, the U.S. tech giant has been called several times in the last few months to meetings by the central bank and the Indian government and urged to introduce tougher checks and balances that can help in weeding out such apps.
- Indian regulators have already asked lenders to step up checks against illegal lending apps, which became popular during the pandemic.
- Regulators seek to control the proliferation of such apps that engage in unscrupulous activities such as charging excessive interest rates and fees or in recovery practices which are not authorised by the central bank or violate money laundering and other government guidelines.
Key Highlights:
- Google dominates India's app market with 95% of smartphones using its Android platform.
- Google said that in 2021 it revised its Play Store developer program policy for financial services apps, including requiring additional requirements for personal loan apps in India effective September 2021.
- While RBI requires that any lending apps listed on app stores be backed by regulated entities, it is up to Google to enforce this and monitor compliance.
- Google has also been asked to look at curtailing the rise of such apps via other distribution channels such as websites and other means of downloads.
White List:
- The government and the RBI are in the process of preparing a white list of approved lending applications.
- The RBI has also laid down norms to ensure that a borrower must deal directly with a bank for lending and recovery which can help to keep the third-party recovery agents away.
New Advertising Policy:
- India's digital lending market has grown quickly and facilitated $2.2 billion in digital loans in 2021-22. These lenders often reach customers via advertisements on platforms like Facebook and Google.
- Starting from October, Google will roll out a new advertising policy for financial services in India, a blog post on its website shows.
- The policy says that in order to show financial services ads in India, advertisers need to be verified in the country. As part of the verification, advertisers must demonstrate that they are licensed with the relevant financial services regulator.
Awareness about snakebite prevention, treatment need to be raised: ICMR
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- International World Snakebite Awareness Day is observed on September 19 every year.
Snakebite envenoming (SBE):
- India has the dubious distinction of accounting for half the number of bites, approximately two million and 58,000 deaths annually.
- Over 70 per cent of SBE occurs in males, typically in the productive ages of between 20 and 60 years and therefore having a tremendous socio-economic impact especially in case of death of the sole earning member of the family.
Neglected Tropical Disease:
- Snakebite envenoming (SBE) was added to the list of Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2017 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which also estimates that there are 4.5-5.4 million snakebites worldwide resulting in 1.8-2.7 million envenoming, 81,000-138,000 deaths, and permanent disabilities in 400,000 annually.
Why it is neglected?
The reasons for the neglect are many, including
- general lack of awareness with regards to snakebite among healthcare workers, community, etc.;
- the available polyvalent anti-snake venom not having the neutralising effect against snake species of the northeast of India;
- victims in remote villages depending on traditional healers for treatment; and absence of a national protocol for treatment.
- All these factors alongside the general apathy shown towards SBE by health policy makers, pharmaceutical industry, funding agencies and the health system in general, in spite of the considerable social ramifications is contributory.
- The issues highlighted are more pronounced in the northeast as snake species here differ considerably from the rest of India and the effect of anti-snake venom against the common envenoming species like najakaouthia (monocellate cobra) and pit viper species is doubtful.
Taskforce:
- In order to address this neglect and inequity, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) constituted a national task force for the study of incidence, morbidity, mortality and the socio-economic burden of snakebite in India.
- They are currently conducting a field trip for situational analysis in the four northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
Future Roadmap:
- In order to be able to prevent death and complications awareness need be created in the community about snakebite, how it could be prevented, the first-aid measures and the value of anti-snake venom as the only available treatment for envenoming.
- The awareness campaign need percolate down into the community through schoolchildren, ASHA workers, etc.
- Doctors need be trained on the immediate first-aid measures, signs and symptoms of envenoming, dosage of anti-snake venom and the pre-medications and complications.
