About Pseudocapritermes novus:

• It is a new species of soil-dwelling termite.
• It was discovered during an exploration of the Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal.
• It is different from the usual termites that are destructive in nature.
• These soil-feeding termites play a crucial role in enriching the earth by feeding on soil and humus, making them vital indicators of an ecosystem's soil health and fertility.
• This discovery brings the total number of Pseudocapritermes species found in India to five.
• Features:
  • The new termite stands out from its closest relatives in the unique shapes of its mouthparts and body armour.
  • Like others in its group, this insect belongs to a special club of termites known for their asymmetrical, snapping jaws, which they use to defend themselves or raise an alarm by producing a loud clicking sound.
  • However, compared to its closest known cousin, P. bhutanensis, the newly discovered species boasts a strongly bent left jaw with a slightly incurved tip, a more rounded swollen section below its beak, and a longer, wider postmentum (the lower part of its mouth).

About American Foulbrood (AFB):

• It is a fatal infectious disease of honey bee larvae, caused by a spore-forming bacterium called Paenibacillus larvae.
• While it only attacks larvae, AFB weakens the colony and can quickly lead to its death in only three weeks.
• Cause:
  • Paenibacillus larvae produce spores when subjected to stress such as lack of nutrients.
  • It's these spores that actually cause and are the source of the disease.
  • Spores enter the larva through feeding of contaminated food.
  • The bacteria kill the bee larva by completely consuming the body tissues.
  • The spores are highly resistant to extremes of temperature, chemical attack, and other adverse conditions and can remain viable for over 50 years
  • Once hardship has passed, for example, when nutrients become available again, the bacterium will germinate and reproduce.
  • The cycle will repeat if hardship occurs again. This means that it is difficult to eliminate the spores from colonies.
• Transmission:
  • Although AFB is not highly contagious, bacterial spores can easily be spread between hives and apiaries through beekeeping practices such as the exchange of equipment and movement of infected combs.
  • Though adult bees are not affected by AFB, they can spread spores within and between infected and clean hives through robbing and drifting.
• Treatment: The disease is not able to be cured, meaning that destruction of infected colonies and hives or irradiation of infected material is the only way to manage AFB.

About Dark Patterns:

• Dark patterns, also known as deceptive patterns, are deliberate design tactics that trick online users into making choices that aren’t always in their best interest.
• They are designed to mislead users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do.
• At their core, dark patterns exploit cognitive biases. They leverage the way our brains process information to nudge us toward specific decisions, often against our best interests.
• Dark patterns take many forms, and different sources may categorize them in various ways.
• Each is designed to manipulate users into making choices that benefit the company rather than the user.
• These deceptive design tactics can pop up across websites, forms, emails, and apps.
• The Central Consumer Protection Authority notified the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns in 2023 and specified 13 dark patterns, namely:
  • False urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm shaming, forced action, Subscription trap, Interface Interference, Bait and switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisements and Nagging, Trick Wording, Saas Billing and Rogue Malwares.
• For example, drip pricing is when extra costs appear after the user has started the purchase process.
• False urgency: Dark patterns sometimes invent deadlines or stock shortages, sometimes known as scarcity cues, to exploit a fear of missing out, pressuring users into quick decisions without taking the time to think through the purchase.
• Basket Sneaking: This is when extra products or services are added to a user’s shopping cart without their explicit consent.
• Subscription Trap: This dark pattern is the common case of making it substantially harder to cancel a subscription than it was to start the subscription in the first place.

About Zojila Tunnel:

• It is a major under-construction road tunnel that will connect Sonamarg in Jammu & Kashmir to Dras in Ladakh.
• It is situated under the Zoji La pass on the Srinagar-Leh Highway (NH-1).
• Upon completion, the tunnel will join the Ganderbal district of Jammu & Kashmir and the Kargil district of Ladakh, providing all-weather connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh.
• It is being constructed on the complex, rocky terrain at an elevation of 11,578 feet above sea level.
• It is the world’s longest single‑tube bi‑directional road tunnel at the highest altitude.
• Once completed, it will reduce travel time across the Zojila stretch from around 90 minutes to just 15 minutes.
• It is being constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), a method particularly suited to fragile Himalayan geology and variable rock conditions.

About Eechathalakenda incognita:

• It is a new species of fish belonging to the cyprinid subfamily Torinae.
• It was discovered from various streams inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala.
• The genus Eechathalakenda was originally established in 1999 for a solitary, enigmatic fish species first described in 1941 from the Pamba River in Kerala.
• This newly described species had been confused with Eechathalakenda ophicephala for the last 70 years.
  • However, it is visually and genetically distinct from Eechathalakenda ophicephala.
  • While ophicephala sports rhomboid-shaped scales, the new species features circular scales near its upper body, alongside a unique dark lateral stripe, a different count of fin rays, and a substantial 4.9%-5.3% genetic variation.
  • Their geographic distributions are exceptionally narrow; E. ophicephala is strictly confined to Pamba river headwaters, while E. incognita is isolated to specific fast-flowing, rocky streams inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
• incognita is the ninth point-endemic fish species (restricted to a single location in the world) to be identified within the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

About Gharials:

• It is a freshwater crocodile belonging to the Crocodylia Order and Crocodylidae Family.
• The name ‘gharial’ comes from the Hindi word ghara, meaning pot or vessel, referring to the bulbous snout tip of adult males, which resembles an inverted pot.
• Habitat Preference: Gharials inhabit deep, clear, freshwater rivers with sandy banks, primarily within Himalayan river systems.
• Distribution: It is mainly found in the rivers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
  • Their major population occurs in three tributaries of the Ganga River: the Chambal (Hosts the largest wild population) and Girwa Rivers in India and the Rapti-Naryani River in Nepal.
  • The Gharial reserves of India are located in three States: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
• Diet: Predominantly piscivorous, gharials play a key role in regulating fish diversity and maintaining riverine ecological balance.
• Features:
  • It is one of the largest crocodilian.
  • They have thick skin covered with smooth epidermal scales that do not overlap.
  • The snout of the gharial is uniquely the thinnest and most elongated among all the crocodilians.
  • In addition, the adult males sport a large bulb at the tip of their snout, called the ‘ghara’.
  • It is also the most aquatic of all crocodilians, for it never moves far from the water. Individuals typically only leave the water to bask and nest on sandbanks.
  • Reproduction: They mate during November–January and lay eggs March–May.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Critically endangered
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act 1972: Schedule I.

About Tezpur Litchi:

• It is one of Assam's most celebrated horticultural products.
• It is renowned for its exceptional sweetness, bright-red appearance, distinctive aroma and superior eating quality.
• The region cultivates several notable varieties, including Bombaya, Bilati, Elaichi, Piyaji and Sahi.
• It has received the geographical indication (GI) tag in 2013.

Key Facts about Litchi

• It is a tropical fruit belongs to Sapindaceae family.
• Required Climatic Conditions for Litchi:
  • Climate: It thrives best under moist sub-tropical climate.
  • It usually prefers low elevation and can be grown up to an altitude of 800 m.
  • Soil: Deep, well drained loamy soil, rich in organic matter and having pH in the range of 5.0 to 7.0 is ideal for the crop.
  • Temperature: The temperature should not go beyond 40.5 degree Celsius in summer and below freezing point in winter.
  • Rain: Prolonged rain may be harmful especially at the time of flowering, when it interferes with pollination.
  • The young trees require protection against frost and hot winds for several years till they are firmly established.
  • It is sensitive to frost during winter and dry heat in summer.
• Distribution of Litchis Cultivation:
  • India is the second largest producer of litchi in the World after China. Other major producing countries are Thailand, Australia, South Africa, Madagascar and Florida in the US.
  • It is widely cultivated in India, especially in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Assam.

About Sagittarius A*:

• It is a supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s Center. 
• It was discovered in the 1970s.
• It is mostly dormant and only occasionally absorbs gas or dust, but nonetheless has an estimated mass 4.3 million times that of the sun.
• It is located in the constellation Sagittarius.
• It is a strong source of radio waves. Most of the radio radiation is from a synchrotron mechanism, indicating the presence of free electrons and magnetic fields.
• The event horizon of the black hole has a radius of 12 million km (7 million miles).

What is a Black hole?

• A black hole is a region in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out.
• The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
• Because no light can get out, it is difficult to detect a black hole.
• The largest black holes are called “supermassive.” These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together.
• Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of black holes in 1916, with his general theory of relativity.