8 October 2026
Dr Jitendra Singh spoke at the NaMo Book Fest in Varanasi on 8 October 2026; the fest ran on 7 and 8 October.
He said opening the space sector to private players has helped reduce brain drain and created opportunities for young talent, citing Skyroot.
The space economy is around USD 9 billion and could reach USD 45-46 billion over the next 8-10 years.
Gross expenditure on R&D rose from around ₹46,000-47,000 crore in 2013-14 to around ₹2-2.5 lakh crore.
He spoke of a target of 100 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2047.
Space economy:
around USD 9 billion
Projection in 8-10 years:
USD 45-46 billion
Nuclear capacity target by 2047:
100 GW
R&D spending now:
around ₹2-2.5 lakh crore
Why it matters for exams: Space-economy size, R&D spending and nuclear targets feature in science-policy and economy questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
GERD Gross Expenditure on Research and Development — The total national spending on research and development in a year.
Brain drain Brain drain — The departure of skilled people to work abroad.
8 October 2026
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence at The Oberoi, New Delhi, on 8 October 2026.
The event was organised by the IndiaAI Mission and MeitY with the World Bank Group.
The report says AI can widen access to expertise and raise productivity, but gains depend on electricity, connectivity, computing, data, skills and institutions.
It notes that only one of the world's 25 low-income countries has published a national AI strategy.
Vaishnaw cited a 35% rise in TB detection and a 40% rise in sugarcane yields at Baramati with 30% less water and fertiliser.
Report:
World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence
Low-income countries with a national AI strategy:
1 of 25
TB detection rise:
35%
Baramati sugarcane yield rise:
40%
Why it matters for exams: Flagship international reports and India's AI governance programmes are common in science-technology and reports-and-indices questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IndiaAI Mission IndiaAI Mission — The government mission built on seven pillars, including compute capacity and the AIKosh datasets platform.
World Development Report World Development Report — The World Bank's annual flagship report on a major development theme.
8 October 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 10th edition of the India Mobile Congress at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, on 8 October 2026.
He said 5G networks run from over 5.5 lakh base stations and have reached every district.
Over ₹50 lakh crore has gone directly to beneficiaries through mobile platforms, with ₹5 lakh crore of leakage prevented.
Commercial semiconductor production is live at five locations.
He called for a global framework against cyber fraud and deepfakes and asked the GSMA to help build fraud-prevention mechanisms.
The event coincided with India hosting the GSMA Board meeting.
Venue:
Yashobhoomi, New Delhi
5G base stations:
over 5.5 lakh
Transfers through mobile platforms:
over ₹50 lakh crore
Semiconductor production sites:
five
Why it matters for exams: Questions on telecom milestones, 5G reach and digital governance figures recur in current affairs papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
GSMA GSM Association — The global industry body of mobile network operators.
Deepfake Deepfake — Synthetic media that imitates a real person's face or voice using AI.
8 October 2026
The World Meteorological Organization published the outlook of the Fifteenth South-West Indian Ocean Climate Outlook Forum on 1 October 2026.
The forum was hosted by the Seychelles Meteorological Agency from 15 to 17 September and covers October to December 2026 and January to March 2027.
Participating Members were Comoros, La Reunion, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The drivers considered were a strengthening El Nino, an Indian Ocean Dipole moving from neutral towards positive, and a Subtropical Indian Ocean Dipole moving from positive towards neutral.
South Africa, southern and central Mozambique, Malawi and south-western Madagascar are more likely to be drier, with higher drought and food-security risk.
Tanzania, northern Malawi, Seychelles and parts of the Mascarene Islands are more likely to be wetter, with flood and landslide risk.
Temperatures are expected to be above normal across the region, while tropical cyclone activity is expected to be below normal basin-wide with tracks shifting south.
Forum:
SWIOCOF15
Host:
Seychelles Meteorological Agency, 15-17 September
Participating Members:
9
Cyclone outlook:
below-normal activity basin-wide
Why it matters for exams: El Nino, the Indian Ocean Dipole and WMO regional climate outlook forums are standard geography and environment topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
El Nino El Nino — The warm phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, marked by unusually warm water in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.
IOD Indian Ocean Dipole — The difference in sea surface temperature between the western and eastern tropical Indian Ocean.
WMO World Meteorological Organization — The UN agency for weather, climate and water, based in Geneva.
8 October 2026
The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment is organising the 39th Kerala Science Congress.
It will be held from 28 to 31 January 2027 at Devagiri St. Joseph's College, Kozhikode.
The Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, the Malabar Botanical Garden and Research Institute and St. Joseph's College are joint organisers.
The main theme is 'Harvesting the Potential of Space Science and Technology for Resilient Kerala'.
Registration has opened for those presenting papers and posters, with 20 November as the deadline.
The Congress is meant to bring scientists, researchers, teachers, students, industry representatives and policymakers together on climate change, agriculture, disaster management and environmental monitoring.
Edition:
39th
Dates:
28 to 31 January 2027
Venue:
Devagiri St. Joseph's College, Kozhikode
Registration deadline:
20 November
Why it matters for exams: KSCSTE and the Kerala Science Congress recur in Kerala PSC general knowledge and science questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
KSCSTE Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment — The state council that funds and coordinates science and technology research in Kerala.
CWRDM Centre for Water Resources Development and Management — A KSCSTE institution at Kozhikode that works on water resources.
Background
XPoSat, the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is India's first dedicated polarimetry mission to study the dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
The spacecraft carries two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit.
The primary payload POLIX, the Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays, measures the degree and the angle of polarization in the medium X-ray energy range of 8-30 keV.
POLIX is made of a collimator, a scatterer and four X-ray proportional counter detectors surrounding the scatterer, and the collimator restricts the field of view to 3 degree x 3 degree so that only one bright source falls in the field.
The second payload XSPECT, X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing, gives spectroscopic information in the energy range of 0.8-15 keV.
The sources studied include black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebulae, X-ray pulsars and magnetars.
POLIX is expected to observe about 40 bright astronomical sources of different categories during a planned mission lifetime of about 5 years.
The satellite was flown as the PSLV-C58 mission.
Primary payload and its band:
POLIX, 8-30 keV
Second payload and its band:
XSPECT, 0.8-15 keV
POLIX field of view:
3 degree x 3 degree
Launch vehicle mission:
PSLV-C58
Why it matters for exams: The two payload names with their energy bands are the whole question on this mission, and the energy bands are what separate the two.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
POLIX Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays — The primary payload, the first in the medium X-ray band dedicated to polarimetry measurements.
XSPECT X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing — The payload that provides fast timing and spectroscopic resolution in soft X-rays.
Background
Aditya-L1 is the first space based Indian mission to study the Sun.
The spacecraft is placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.
A satellite in a halo orbit around L1 has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses, which allows solar activity and its effect on space weather to be observed in real time.
The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona using electromagnetic, particle and magnetic field detectors.
Four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.
The remote sensing payloads are the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph, the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, the Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer and the High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer.
The in-situ payloads are the Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment, the Plasma Analyser Package For Aditya and a set of advanced tri-axial high resolution digital magnetometers.
The satellite was placed in its intended orbit by the PSLV-C57 mission.
Orbit:
Halo orbit around Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1
Distance from the Earth:
About 1.5 million km
Payloads:
7, of which 4 remote sensing and 3 in-situ
Launch vehicle mission:
PSLV-C57
Why it matters for exams: The Lagrange point, the distance from the Earth, the count of payloads and the launch vehicle are the four facts an examiner extracts from this mission.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
L1 Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system — A point about 1.5 million km from the Earth where a spacecraft can hold station and view the Sun without interruption.
VELC Visible Emission Line Coronagraph — The remote sensing payload for imaging and spectroscopy of the corona.
ASPEX Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment — An in-situ payload that analyses solar wind protons and heavier ions with their directions.
Background
The ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology was set up in 1957 and started functioning at Cochin in the same year.
It is the only national centre in the country where research in all disciplines relating to fishing and fish processing is undertaken.
Research centres of the institute function at Veraval in Gujarat, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai in Maharashtra.
Its mandate covers basic and strategic research in fishing and processing, the design of energy efficient fishing systems for responsible fishing, and the development of implements and machinery for fishing and fish processing.
Human resource development through training, education and extension is also part of the mandate.
The institute is headed by a Director in whom all administrative and financial powers are vested.
Its research divisions include Fishing Technology, Fish Processing, Biochemistry and Nutrition, Quality Assurance and Management, Microbiology, Fermentation and Biotechnology, Engineering, and Extension, Information and Statistics.
Set up in:
1957
Headquarters:
Cochin
Research centres:
Veraval, Visakhapatnam and Mumbai
Why it matters for exams: Kerala PSC and UPSC both ask which national research institutes are located in the State and which council they work under.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ICAR Indian Council of Agricultural Research — The national council under which CIFT functions.
CIFT Central Institute of Fisheries Technology — Set up at Cochin for research on fishing and fish processing.
Background
The institute's own history states that the Indian School of Mines was formally opened on 9th December 1926, by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India, to address the need for trained manpower related to mining activities in the country, with disciplines of Mining and Applied Geology.
The same account traces the demand back to a resolution of the Indian National Congress in December 1901 calling for a Government College of Mining Engineering in India on the model of the Royal School of Mines in England.
The McPherson Committee formed by the Government of British India submitted its report recommending the establishment of an institution for imparting education in the fields of mining and geology, and the institute records Dr. David Penman as its first founder-principal.
In 1967 it was granted the status of a deemed to be university under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956.
The institute records that the long run of Indian School of Mines came to an end when it was awarded the tag of an Indian Institute of Technology on 6th September 2016.
The institute sits at Dhanbad, in the coalfield belt of Jharkhand, and the same history notes that its name had earlier changed to Indian School of Mines when Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics courses began.
Location:
Dhanbad, Jharkhand
Formally opened:
9th December 1926
Opened by:
Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India
Founding disciplines:
Mining and Applied Geology
Deemed university:
1967, under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956
Awarded IIT status:
6th September 2016
Why it matters for exams: Questions on India's older technical institutions turn on three things: where they are, who opened them and when they became IITs; Dhanbad supplies all three from its own record.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Deemed to be university — A status conferred under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, which Dhanbad held from 1967 until it became an IIT.
Background
ITER ("The Way" in Latin) is a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars. It is being built at Saint Paul-lez-Durance, southern France, and the ITER Organization says 34 nations are collaborating on it. The ITER Members - China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States - are engaged in a decades-long collaboration to build and operate the device. The primary objective of ITER is the investigation and demonstration of burning plasmas, in which the energy of the helium nuclei produced by the fusion reactions is enough to maintain the temperature of the plasma, reducing or eliminating the need for external heating. With five times the plasma volume of the largest machine operating today, the machine is designed to generate 500 MW of fusion power in its plasma: a ten-fold return on power (Q=10), or 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input heating power. By comparison, in 1997, JET produced 16 MW of fusion power from a total input heating power of 24 MW (Q=0.67). ITER will not convert the heating power it produces as electricity. A later mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing tritium from lithium within the vacuum vessel, because the world supply of tritium is not sufficient to cover the needs of future power plants. The ITER Organization was licensed as a nuclear operator in France, and the idea for an international joint experiment in fusion was first launched in 1985.
Site:
Saint Paul-lez-Durance, southern France
ITER Members:
China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States
Design fusion power:
500 MW
Input heating power:
50 MW
Power gain target:
Q=10
Earlier JET record:
16 MW from 24 MW, Q=0.67
Why it matters for exams: ITER's seven Members, its 500 MW design target and the Q value are asked directly, and the project is the standard example of nuclear fusion in science and technology papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Tokamak — A doughnut-shaped machine that confines a hot plasma with magnetic fields.
Burning plasma — A plasma kept hot mainly by the heat of its own fusion reactions.
Q value — The ratio of fusion power produced to the heating power put in.
Tritium — A heavy, radioactive form of hydrogen used with deuterium to fuel the fusion reaction.
Background
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) describes itself as the United Nations agency that serves innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas travel safely to the market. It was established in 1967 and its headquarters is at Geneva, Switzerland. Its 194 member states approve its strategic direction and activities in the annual meetings of the Assemblies, while its staff form the Secretariat that implements those decisions. Some 250 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have official observer status at WIPO meetings. The international filing and registration systems WIPO lists are PCT, the International Patent System; Budapest, the International Microorganism Deposit System; Madrid, the International Trademark System; Hague, the International Design System; and Lisbon, the International System of Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. It also maintains WIPO Lex for intellectual property laws, treaties and judgments, lists the WIPO-Administered Treaties, and publishes the Global Innovation Index. Its external offices are at Algiers, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Tokyo, Abuja, Moscow and Singapore.
Established:
1967
Member states:
194
Headquarters:
Geneva, Switzerland
Accredited observers:
Some 250 NGOs and IGOs
Why it matters for exams: Which WIPO system covers which right is a standard prelims trap, and the founding year and Geneva headquarters are routinely asked alongside it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty — WIPO's international patent system, through which one application can be pursued in many countries.
Appellation of origin — A product name whose protection rests on the product coming from a particular place.
Background
NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), incorporated on 6 March 2019 (under the Companies Act, 2013) is a wholly owned Government of India company, under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS). It is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Its primary stated responsibility is enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities, and it is also responsible for the promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the Indian space programme.
The company's major business areas are the production of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) through industry; the production and marketing of space-based services, including launch services and applications such as transponder leasing, remote sensing and mission support; the building of satellites, both communication and earth observation, as per user requirements; the transfer of technology developed by ISRO centres and units; the marketing of spin-off technologies; and consultancy services.
ISRO's own listing of its centres and units groups two central public sector enterprises under the Department of Space, Antrix Corporation Limited and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), separately from IN-SPACe and from the autonomous bodies such as the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology and the Physical Research Laboratory.
The company's registered address is at the ISRO HQ Campus, New BEL Road, Bengaluru.
Incorporated on:
6 March 2019
Incorporated under:
Companies Act, 2013
Administrative control:
Department of Space (DOS)
Launch vehicles produced through industry:
PSLV and SSLV
Why it matters for exams: Candidates routinely mix up the three space bodies set up outside ISRO's own centres. NSIL is a government company that sells and builds, Antrix is the older marketing company, and IN-SPACe is the authorising and supervising body, so knowing which is a company and which is not decides the answer.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NSIL NewSpace India Limited — A wholly government-owned company under the Department of Space that commercialises ISRO's products and services.
Transponder leasing Renting out capacity on a satellite's communication relay — A broadcaster or telecom operator pays to use part of a satellite already in orbit.
Background
The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) describes itself on its own page as a contemporary research and development organisation with a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres and units with a pan-India presence.
Its expertise is embodied in about 3476 active Scientists supported by about 4000 technical and support personnel as of 31st March 2022.
The Council's subject spread runs from oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology.
On intellectual property, the page states that CSIR filed about 250 Indian patents and 213 foreign patents during 2022-23, and that it holds a patent portfolio of 1,132 unique patents in force, out of which 140 patents have been commercialized. CSIR also has 2,587 in force patents granted abroad in multiple countries, and the page calls the Council a pioneer of India's intellectual property movement.
On publications, the page records that in 2022 CSIR published around 5800 papers in SCI Journals with an average impact factor per paper of 4.9.
Its stated vision, named CSIR@2030, is to enhance the quality of life of the citizens of India through innovative science and technology and globally competitive research and development.
National laboratories:
37
Outreach centres:
39
Active scientists as of 31st March 2022:
about 3476
Unique patents in force:
1,132
Of those, commercialized:
140
Why it matters for exams: The size of the CSIR laboratory network, the breadth of its subjects and its patent and publication figures are frequently asked, and the Council is the standard example of a multi-disciplinary national research body as against a single-subject agency.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CSIR Council of Scientific & Industrial Research — A national research body whose laboratories cover subjects from oceanography to aeronautics.
Impact factor A measure of how often papers in a journal are cited — Used to indicate the standing of the journal a paper appeared in, rather than the paper's own merit.
Background
ISRO describes the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram as the lead centre of ISRO responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology. Its research and development fields include aeronautics, avionics, materials, mechanisms, vehicle integration, chemicals, propulsion, stage separation systems, structures, space physics and systems reliability. The centre has extension centres at Valiamala, which houses major facilities of mechanisms, vehicle integration and testing, and at Vattiyoorkavu, for the development of composites. The Ammonium Perchlorate Experimental Plant has been set up by VSSC at Aluva near Kochi. Its major programmes include the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and Rohini Sounding Rockets, along with reusable launch vehicles, advanced technology vehicles, air-breathing propulsion and critical technologies towards human spaceflight.
Lead responsibility:
Design and development of launch vehicle technology
Extension centres:
Valiamala and Vattiyoorkavu
Plant near Kochi:
Ammonium Perchlorate Experimental Plant, Aluva
Why it matters for exams: Both Kerala PSC and UPSC ask which ISRO centre carries which mandate, and the launch vehicle centre with its Valiamala, Vattiyoorkavu and Aluva facilities is the Kerala half of that map.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
VSSC Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre — The ISRO centre at Thiruvananthapuram that leads launch vehicle technology.
APEP Ammonium Perchlorate Experimental Plant — A VSSC plant set up at Aluva near Kochi.
PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — One of the major launch vehicle programmes run from the centre.
7 October 2026
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Henri Kagan of the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Kenso Soai of Tokyo University of Science. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced it in Stockholm on 7 October 2026. The prize recognises their solving of a puzzle about how one mirror-image form of a molecule can come to dominate. Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said they solved a century-old mystery of how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. The prize of 12 million Swedish kronor is shared.
Laureates:
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai
Prize amount:
12 million Swedish kronor
Announced:
7 October 2026
Why it matters for exams: Each Nobel laureate and the discovery honoured is a standard question in science and current-affairs papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Homochirality Dominance of one mirror-image form of a molecule — The puzzle of how one handed form can emerge spontaneously.
7 October 2026
Dr. Soai Kenso, Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said in a comment that the award recognises his discoveries and research on non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
The Prime Minister telephoned Soai on 7 October 2026 to congratulate him.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize on 7 October 2026.
Soai, 76, shares it with Henri Kagan of France, 95, for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
The work shows how a chemical reaction can be driven to favour one mirror-image form of a molecule, which matters for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Japanese laureate:
Soai Kenso, 76
Institution:
Tokyo University of Science
Co-laureate:
Henri Kagan, France, 95
Announced:
7 October 2026
Why it matters for exams: Nobel laureates and their fields are asked directly every year, and Japan's science prizes are a standing Country Focus topic.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Autocatalysis Autocatalysis — A reaction in which the product itself speeds up the reaction that makes it.
Chirality Chirality — The property by which a molecule and its mirror image cannot be superimposed.
7 October 2026
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai.
The citation is "for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis".
Many molecules of life exist in two mirror-image forms, like a left and a right hand. Living organisms use almost only one of them, a puzzle known as homochirality.
Kagan and Soai showed how a chemical reaction can be driven to favour one mirror image over the other.
The work matters for making medicines, because the two mirror forms of a drug can act differently in the body.
Nobel Committee chair Heiner Linke called it a solution to a chemical mystery more than a century old.
Kagan is French and Soai is Japanese. The prize of 12 million Swedish kronor is shared equally.
Laureates:
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai
Prize amount:
12 million Swedish kronor
Announced by:
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
Why it matters for exams: Chemistry Nobel citations are asked directly, and chirality, enantiomers and asymmetric synthesis are core organic chemistry concepts in the science papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Homochirality Homochirality — The fact that living things use almost exclusively one of the two mirror-image forms of a molecule.
Autocatalysis Autocatalysis — A reaction in which a product of the reaction itself speeds up that same reaction.
7 October 2026
A Nature paper published on 7 October 2026 links Australia's current wildfire crisis to colonial land-use change.
A team with corresponding author Michael-Shawn Fletcher of the University of Melbourne reconstructed 1,000 years of vegetation and fire history from a lake-sediment record in a temperate eucalypt forest in southeastern Australia.
Before British colonisation in 1788, the Gunaikurnai people's frequent, low-temperature cultural burning kept woodlands open and stable.
After colonial disruption, fire temperatures rose and eucalypt cover roughly quadrupled.
The authors describe a "catastrophic wildfire loop" and say integrating Indigenous knowledge into fire management is essential.
Record length:
1,000 years
Colonisation year used:
1788
Change in eucalypt cover:
Roughly quadrupled
Why it matters for exams: Wildfire, Indigenous knowledge and land-use change link environment and geography current affairs.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Cultural burning Indigenous fire management — Frequent, low-temperature burning practised by Indigenous peoples to manage land.
7 October 2026
A Nature paper published on 7 October 2026 compared gut microbiomes of the Tsimane of Bolivia and the Hadza of Tanzania.
The two populations share 1,231 microbial species, most of which are rare in or absent from industrialised populations.
Analysis of 636 shared species shows divergence and gene flow patterns consistent with prehistoric co-migration with humans.
About 60 per cent (848) of shared species are rare in or absent from industrialised populations; the estimated median split time is about 17,090 years.
The corresponding authors are Benjamin H. Good and Justin L. Sonnenburg; Sonnenburg is at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Shared microbial species:
1,231
Shared species analysed:
636
Estimated median split time:
About 17,090 years
Why it matters for exams: Human microbiome research and population genetics findings appear in science and health current-affairs questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Microbiome Community of microorganisms in a habitat — The community of microbes living in the gut.
7 October 2026
A Nature paper published online on 7 October 2026 reports gas chromatography of seaborgium (Sg, Z = 106) hexacarbonyl, Sg(CO)6, one atom at a time.
The first bond dissociation energy of Sg(CO)6 is 188(9) kJ/mol, about 4(2) kJ/mol lower than for W(CO)6, its lighter group 6 homologue.
This reverses the trend of increasing energy across group 6 hexacarbonyls from W to Sg.
The result agrees with relativistic theory, which attributes the weakening to relativistic destabilisation of the 6d atomic orbitals in Sg.
The corresponding author, Alexander Yakushev, is at GSI Helmholtzzentrum, Darmstadt; only three of 75 registered Sg decay chains were assigned to Sg(CO)6.
Element:
Seaborgium (Sg), Z = 106
First bond dissociation energy:
188(9) kJ/mol
Decay chains assigned to Sg(CO)6:
Three (of 75 registered Sg decay chains)
Why it matters for exams: Superheavy elements and relativistic effects on periodic trends are tested in science current-affairs sections.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Group 6 homologue Lighter element in the same group — Tungsten (W) is the lighter group 6 homologue of seaborgium.