1) Stunning
trilobite fossils include soft tissues never seen before By Lucas Van Wyk Joel
The discovery helps
reveal the weird way trilobites ate and perhaps why they went extinct
Paleontologists studying rocks from Morocco have unearthed the most exquisitely
preserved trilobite fossils yet discovered. The new lifelike fossils update our
understanding of the evolution and biology of these extinct ocean-dwelling
arthropods.
The details are so great
that soft tissue parts of the trilobites, including the mouth and digestive
tract, are clearly visible, researchers report June 27 in Science. Such parts
are typically lost as the animals turn into fossils.
“These trilobite fossils
represent the most complete specimens found to date, not only preserving the
hard exoskeleton but also the soft parts in 3-D, such as the antennae, walking
legs and the digestive system,” says paleontologist John Paterson of the
University of New England in Armidale, Australia.After dinosaurs, trilobites
are perhaps the most recognizable fossil animals (SN: 9/27/23). They
proliferated in the ocean for about 270 million years before going extinct at
the end of the Paleozoic era, some 252 million years ago.
Trilobite fossils are
extremely common because their hard exoskeletons make it relatively easy for
the animals to become fossils. But just as it’s rare to discover any trace of
soft-tissue preservation in dinosaurs, so it is with trilobites.To uncover how
these trilobites and their tissues became so well preserved, Paterson and his
team enlisted Robert Gaines, a geologist at Pomona College in Claremont,
Calif., and an expert in how the soft parts of animals become fossils.
It happened like this:
First a volcano exploded, and superheated ash flowed from the eruption into
nearby coastal waters. The ash dissolved and then remineralized out of the
water, covering the exposed trilobites and entombing them in a matter of hours
to days.
The key step in this
process, Gaines says, is that the ash hit water before hardening around the
trilobites; without the cooling effects of ocean water, the hot ash would have
burned the trilobites away.Gaines studies similar fossil preservation in other,
older fossils, such as an arthropod called Aegirocassis, an alien-like animal
with what appears to be a strange baleen-style feeding apparatus (SN: 3/11/15).
“I recognized the similarities immediately,” Gaines says. “They pointed to the
same process operating more than 20 million years earlier.”
Besides being ready for
a museum showcase, the fossils open new windows onto trilobite biology and
evolutionary history.“The clarity of the preservation is astonishing and is of
fundamental importance,” says Nigel Hughes, a paleontologist at the University
of California, Riverside who was not involved in the new work. “It provides a
level of preservation detail that unequivocally confirms a number of
conjectures made based on less well-preserved material, which demonstrates the
power and importance of exceptional preservation.”The fossils confirm, for
instance, that trilobites ate using the many pairs of legs stretching from
their head to their torso. They chewed food along a central groove while
passing food particles toward a tiny mouth.“Food processing took place along
the entire length of the animal,” Hughes says.This differs from other
arthropods, such as crustaceans, which have more specialized limbs along their
body lengths, used for tasks from self-defense to swimming.
“We don’t yet know for
sure, but it seems likely that this basic limb style endured throughout the
history of trilobites, and the lack of limb specialization may be part of the
reason for their ultimate demise,” Hughes says.Discovering more well-preserved
trilobites could only help clarify the evolutionary story of these fossil
icons.Volcanos, including ones near coasts, erupted relatively often over the
vast stretches of geologic time, Paterson says. That means this kind of
pristine preservation may be more common than scientists think.“Geology and
paleontology students at universities are often told that fossils are found
only in sedimentary rocks,” Paterson says. “But our new study completely contradicts
that notion. I hope that our work will encourage others to reprogram their
search image in the hunt for amazing fossils.”
2) The last woolly
mammoths offer new clues to why the species went extinct By Claire Yuan
Four thousand years ago,
on an island off the coast of what is now Siberia, the world’s last woolly
mammoth took its final breath.
Living on that island,
isolated from other mammoths, could have led to fatal levels of inbreeding and
catastrophic population drops, leading to extinction, scientists have said. A
new study confirms that the woolly mammoth population on Wrangel Island was
inbred but suggests they were not doomed to die. The mammoth population
gradually lost harmful genetic mutations that would affect survival, indicating
that some other random event — such as disease or environmental changes —
sealed the mammoths’ fate, researchers report June 27 in Cell.“This paper does
a remarkable job,” says Joshua Miller, a paleontologist at the University of
Cincinnati who was not involved in the study. The research, Miller says, both
offers valuable insight into the end of the Wrangel Island mammoths and
suggests how genetics should be monitored in modern endangered animal
conservation efforts.
Until around 10,000
years ago, the woolly mammoths lived on mainland Siberia, but rising global sea
levels left the populations stranded on disparate islands, potentially limiting
genetic mixing among the mammoths (SN: 11/30/22).
“Genetic variation is
the general toolbox that animals have in order to adapt to changes in the
environment,” says study coauthor Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist at the
Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm. Previous research on mammoth extinction
theorized that population isolation increased the level of inbreeding, decreased
genetic variation and made the mammoths more vulnerable to harmful genetic
mutations, diseases and death.
But Dalén and colleagues
reject this idea — and have for more than a decade. Over the years, the
researchers have collected woolly mammoth bone shards, tusks and teeth in
Siberia, and from them extracted woolly mammoth genomes. In the new study, the
team analyzed 21 genomes, including eight that had already been previously
published. The genome data cover the last 50,000 years of woolly mammoths’
existence, including when the animals became isolated on Wrangel Island.Using
computer modeling software, the team compared the woolly mammoths’ genomes with
the genomes of elephants, the closest modern-day relation, and humans to
predict how harmful genetic mutations were to the mammoth and whether they were
purged from the population over time.
The analysis showed that
though Wrangel Island’s mammoth population started with at most eight
individuals, it jumped to about 200 to 300 individuals and stayed level until
the mammoths went extinct. The most harmful genetic mutations in the mammoth
population also became less frequent over time, likely because animals with
those mutations couldn’t or didn’t reproduce, the researchers say. Minor
genetic mutations likely would not have caused the Wrangel Island mammoths to
die out completely, Dalén says.
“It is really good
evidence against the meltdown model, but it doesn’t completely exclude that
model,” says Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist at the University at
Buffalo in New York. Though the island isolation and drop in genetic variation
might not have been the final nail in the mammoth coffin, even the accumulation
of minor genetic mutations could have made the woolly mammoths more vulnerable
to other environmental changes like disease, climate shifts and the arrival of
humans (SN: 8/13/20; SN: 1/11/22).
Due to challenges
obtaining high-quality DNA, the team was not able to analyze the genetic
condition of the Wrangel Island population during their final 300 years,
roughly five generations, says study coauthor Marianne Dehasque, also of the
Centre for Palaeogenetics. In the future, with rapidly improving sequencing
technologies, the researchers are looking to complete their analysis of the
Wrangel Island mammoths’ genetic trajectory.
As scientists continue
to study the woolly mammoth, the animal’s final moments remain a mystery.
“Maybe they were just unlucky,” Dalén says. If some disaster had not struck
Wrangel Island, perhaps “we would have had mammoths walking around still
today.”
3) We may finally
know the source of mysterious high-energy neutrinos By Mara Johnson-Groh
Supermassive black holes
at the hearts of active galaxies may be churning out a lot of the universe’s
high-energy neutrinos.
Two teams using data
from IceCube, the world’s premier neutrino observatory located in Antarctica,
have independently identified a common type of these active galaxies, called
Seyfert galaxies, as likely neutrino producers. These findings, reported in
Physical Review Letters and arXiv.org, bolster some astronomers’ view that the
cores of such active galaxies could churn out the majority of the cosmic
neutrinos seen streaming across the universe.“I would say that they can be the
major contributor,” says astronomer Andrii Neronov of the Astroparticle and
Cosmology Laboratory in Paris, who is a coauthor of the study in Physical
Review Letters. “I would put a reasonable bet on them now with the information
that I know.”
This wasn’t the case
just a few years ago. When astronomers first identified Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068
as the likely origin of high-energy neutrinos in 2022, it came as a surprise to
some. Many astronomers at the time didn’t think this type of galaxy could
produce neutrinos. Now, with compelling evidence that neutrinos are coming not
only from NGC 1068 but from two other galaxies like it, NGC 4151 and NGC 3079,
there’s little doubt that active galaxies — defined as those with supermassive
black hole cores belching immense amounts of energy, called active galactic
nuclei, can be capable neutrino producers.
“It is exciting to see
active galactic nuclei emerging as a class of neutrino sources, especially the
ones obscured by a surrounding layer of dust and gas as a source of high-energy
neutrinos,” says astrophysicist Sreetama Goswami of the University of Nevada at
Las Vegas, and a coauthor on the new results in the June 10 arXiv.org preprint
submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The new findings add to
a flurry of recently published theoretical research that has made headway in
tracking down the exact origins of cosmic neutrinos. Several studies, including
a paper accepted to Nature Astronomy and published as a preprint at arXiv.org
on May 30, have pinpointed the region around the central supermassive black hole
in NGC 1068 as the only place in the galaxy where the neutrinos could be
produced. If NGC 4151 and NGC 3079 are confirmed as neutrino factories, their
high-energy particles would likely also be produced near their central black
holes.Previously, scientists have only confidently identified one other
significant extragalactic neutrino emitter: a blazar (SN:07/12/18). These
cosmic giants are also active galaxies, but they have enormous jets of
supercharged material where the neutrinos are thought to be produced. Now,
however, some astronomers think that maybe it’s the blazar’s black hole that is
ultimately responsible.
“I think that dense
cores, not jets, produce neutrinos,” says Francis Halzen, principal
investigator of IceCube and a coauthor on the June 10 arXiv.org paper. “These
can be in Seyferts, flat-spectrum radio quasars [types of blazars], or anything
else with an obscured black hole.”
Kohta Murase, a
theoretical physicist at Penn State University, who has done extensive research
to identify the source of NGC 1068’s neutrinos, has long thought the black hole
hearts of these galaxies are probable neutrino mills. “One of the promising
sites for neutrino production is the corona, which is a very hot region
surrounding the black hole,” he says. “If this is established, it might give us
a clue to understanding the physical properties of the corona.”
Along with discussing
where neutrinos are produced in active galaxies, astronomers are also debating
what types of active galaxies are the most important neutrino producers. Some
scientists assert jetless active galactic nuclei galaxies, like Seyferts, could
produce nearly all extragalactic neutrinos. Other researchers maintain blazars
are necessary to explain particularly high-energy neutrinos. Or perhaps there are
more unidentified neutrino-spewing objects yet to be discovered.The consensus
among astronomers is that active galaxies with supermassive black holes are
probably a big source of high-energy neutrinos, but exactly how big is still
unknown.
4) How blockbuster
obesity drugs create a full feeling — even before one bite of food By Mariana
Lenharo
Scientists identify
brain area that holds two groups of neurons: one for pre-meal sensations of
fullness and one for post-meal satiety. People taking Ozempic and similar
weight-loss drugs often feel full even when they sit down to a meal and haven’t
taken a single bite. Now scientists have found a brain region that is involved
in this effect — and that also helps to cause the same sensation without the
use of weight-loss drugs.
In a paper published
today in Science1, scientists describe two distinct groups of neurons
associated with feeling full: one for pre-meal fullness and one for post-meal
fullness. The study also shows that the blockbuster obesity drugs act on those
‘fullness’ neurons, but more research is needed to determine the drug’s exact
mechanism, the authors say.
The identification of
these two populations of neurons is the paper’s key contribution, says Allison
Shapiro, a specialist in neurodevelopment at the University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora who was not involved in the resarch. It fits
in with the anecdotal idea that there are two types of fullness: one that is
anticipatory and another that arises in response to eating. “Based on what
they've found, it appears that this specific region of the hypothalamus is
responsible for both, which is pretty cool.”
Fullness without
food
The latest blockbuster
medications for obesity mimic a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1),
which controls blood-sugar levels and also acts on the brain to curb appetite.
The GLP-1 drugs include semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, and liraglutide,
sold as Saxenda and Victoza.
Hyung Jin Choi, a
neuroscientist at Seoul National University and one of the authors of the
study, experienced the effects of liraglutide firsthand when he took the drug
for obesity. “I felt a huge increase in fullness when I saw and smelled food,
even before I started eating,” he says. This motivated him to dig into this
feeling of pre-meal fullness.He and his colleagues recruited people with
obesity and asked them to report their level of satiation before exposure to food;
while seeing a delicious plate of Korean fried chicken but before eating it;
and after eating. People taking liraglutide had a feeling of fullness even
before exposure to food, but this feeling grew when they were shown food and
grew again after they’d eaten. The findings demonstrate that Choi isn’t the
only one on this drug who feels full at the mere sight of food — a feeling that
the team named ‘preingestion satiation.’
In contrast, for
participants who weren’t taking the drug, satiation decreased at the sight of
the fried chicken and didn’t rise again until after they’d eaten.
To identify the exact
region in the brain responsible for these sensations, researchers homed in on
an area called the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH). Its neurons have GLP-1 receptors,
allowing GLP-1 to act directly on this brain region.
The researchers
artificially stimulated DMH neurons in mice that were in the middle of a meal
and found that the animals immediately stopped eating. When these neurons were
chronically activated, mice ate less; when these neurons were chronically
inhibited, mice ate more. The results suggest that the region plays a central
part in satiation.
Neurons that signal ‘I’m stuffed’
With that established,
the authors investigated the activity of individual neurons in the mouse DMH.
They identified two distinct populations of neurons: one that was consistently
active from the moment mice started seeking food to the moment they started
eating and another that was consistently active only as the mice ate.
The authors also showed
that GLP-1 drugs act on this specific brain region. In mice that received
liraglutide, neural activity in the DMH area was higher before and during meals
than in mice that hadn’t received the drug. The team deleted GLP-1 receptors in
some animals’ DMH neurons, curbing the ability of liraglutide to act on this
brain area. These mice ate more than those that didn’t have their GLP-1
receptors deleted, signalling that liraglutide’s ability to suppress appetite
had been weakened.Karolina Skibicka, a neuroscientist at Penn State in
University Park and at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, notes that
other studies have found no such changes in feeding behavior after manipulation
of GLP-1 receptors in this brain area. One possible explanation might be
related to the discovery reported in the paper of two distinct neuron
populations in the DMH. “We tend to think of GLP-1-receptor-expressing neurons
in a given brain area as this homogeneous population playing the same role,”
she says. “This paper is showing that that's clearly not true. It’s just one
brain area, but GLP-1 receptors on neurons are doing different things there.”
The study showed a
congruence between what was seen in humans and in mice, says Amber Alhadeff, a
neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She notes it's becoming increasingly important to use clinical
observations to inform the basic science studies on GLP-1 drugs. “But then it’s
also important to go back and subsequently confirm the existence of these
mechanisms in humans. This paper was a nice example of taking that in both
directions.”
5) No CRISPR:
oddball ‘jumping gene’ enzyme edits genomes without breaking DNA By Heidi
Ledford
A programmable RNA that
bridges a genetic donor and a target could herald a safer and more flexible
approach to large-scale chromosome changes.
A molecular oddity found
in bacteria could hold the key to redesigning genomes at will, allowing
researchers to insert, delete or flip large segments of DNA.
The technique, described
in three papers published this month in Nature1,2 and Nature Communications3,
harnesses the natural ability of mobile genetic sequences, called jumping
genes, to insert themselves into genomes.
Guided by an RNA
molecule called a ‘bridge’ RNA or ‘seekRNA’, the system has been shown to edit
genes in a bacterium and in test-tube reactions, but it is still unclear
whether it can be adapted to work in human cells. If it can, it could be
revolutionary, owing to its small size and its ability to make genetic changes
that are thousands of bases long — much larger than is practical with the
CRISPR–Cas9 genome-editing system — without breaking DNA.
“If this works in other
cells, it will be game-changing,” says Sandro Fernandes Ataide, a structural
biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, and an author on the Nature
Communications paper. “It’s opening a new field in gene editing.”
Transposable treasures
Like many celebrities,
CRISPR–Cas9’s rise to fame has been plagued by misleading headlines. Although
the method can be used to rewrite small segments of genomes, it is not the
fully versatile cut-and-paste system that some news stories have made it out to
be. The technique is most often used to change just one or a few DNA bases —
and that typically requires first breaking the DNA and then relying on the
cell’s innate DNA repair systems to generate the desired change. However, this
opens the door to unintended collateral genetic damage as the cell implements
the repair.
As CRISPR moves into
human medicine, researchers are eager to expand their genome-editing toolkit so
that they can insert entire or even multiple genes into a location of their
choosing. Doing so would allow them to develop a therapy that treats people who
have several mutations in a single gene, rather than targeting each mutation
with a bespoke approach. And the ability to edit several genes could allow
researchers to engineer immune cells to attack cancer in multiple ways, all
while maintaining control over where those genes are inserted into the genome.
“What you really want to
do in the future is to be able to design entire sections of your genome, not
individual bases,” says Patrick Hsu, a bioengineer at the non-profit Arc
Institute in Palo Alto, California, and an author of both of the Nature papers.
To look for tools, Hsu
and his colleagues sifted through a diverse class of enzymes that allow mobile
DNA elements in bacteria to hop from one location to another. They homed in on
a family of transposable elements called IS110.
Enzymes in the IS110
family use a complex and unusual RNA-based targeting system, the team found.
One end of the RNA binds to a piece of the DNA that will be inserted into the
genome and the other end binds to a DNA snippet at the site in the genome where
the cargo will go. Because the RNA bridges the two DNA segments, the team
dubbed these molecules ‘bridge RNAs’.By changing the sequences at either end of
this bridge, the researchers were able to program IS110 enzymes to insert a
cargo of their choosing where they wanted in the genome. They used the system
to precisely insert a piece of DNA that was nearly 5,000 bases long into the
genome of the bacterium Escherichia coli, and to excise and invert another
piece of DNA from the E. coli genome.
Working independently of
Hsu, Ataide and his colleagues characterized the biochemistry of IS110
molecules as well as those of another family, called IS1111, which uses a
similar mechanism and is also programmable. They call their RNA intermediaries
‘seekRNA’.
Working out and
exploiting these mechanisms is a remarkable achievement, says Elizabeth
Kellogg, who studies mobile DNA elements called transposons at St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. “Everybody loves that
transposons can insert large DNA cargoes,” she says, “but getting them to be
programmable and site-specific is extremely difficult”.
Other transposition
systems that researchers have explored for genome editing are more complex, she
notes, and often consist of multiple proteins. In another paper published in
Nature this month, researchers determined how key components of some of these
elaborate machines form a complex structure known as a transpososome, which
works together with an enzyme called transposase to allow mobile genetic elements
to hop around in the genome4.
Size matters
Similarly, efforts to
engineer CRISPR-based systems to make large manipulations in the genome often
also require multiple proteins, or a fusion of a Cas enzyme with another
protein. For example, a paper published on 26 June in Cell describes a method
for duplicating chunks of the genome up to 100 million bases — larger than some
human chromosomes — using a Cas9 protein joined to an enzyme that can copy the
donor sequence5.The IS110 and IS1111 systems, by contrast, require only a
single protein, and this is less than half the size of many of the Cas enzymes
used in CRISPR genome-editing systems. That size difference is important for
medical applications: the viruses often used to ferry genome-editing components
into human cells have limited cargo capacity.
But CRISPR systems also
have the advantage of versatility, says Chengzu Long, a bioengineer at New York
University Langone Health in New York City. Some Cas enzymes work in nearly
every cell type studied.
The work on IS110 and
IS1111 is “beautiful”, Long says. “But I really hope that in a few months,
they’ll say it’s working in mice,” he adds. “Then, let’s have a cup of coffee.”
So far, IS110 family
members do not seem to work well in mammalian cells, says Hiroshi Nishimasu, a
structural biologist at the University of Tokyo who worked with Hsu to
determine the mechanism by which an IS110 enzyme targets DNA. The team is now
trying to engineer them to work better in the mammalian cells. Regardless of
their success there, the IS110 mechanism stands out as a novel and “elegant”
way by which mobile DNA elements can hitchhike around the genome, says Nancy Craig,
a senior vice-president at SalioGen Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in
Lexington, Massachusetts, that aims to develop genome-editing tools using
mammalian transposons.
“Mother Nature has found
many solutions for this,” she says. “We’ve found some, but there are many more
out there waiting for us.”
6) NASA's Mars
Odyssey orbiter captures huge volcano, nears 100,000 orbits by NASA
NASA's longest-lived
Mars robot is about to mark a new milestone on June 30: 100,000 trips around
the Red Planet since launching 23 years ago. During that time, the 2001 Mars
Odyssey orbiter has been mapping minerals and ice across the Martian surface,
identifying landing sites for future missions, and relaying data to Earth from
NASA's rovers and landers.Scientists recently used the orbiter's camera to take
a stunning new image of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system.
The image is part of a continuing effort by the Odyssey team to provide
high-altitude views of the planet's horizon. (The first of these views was
published in late 2023.) Similar to the perspective of Earth astronauts get
aboard the International Space Station, the view enables scientists to learn
more about clouds and airborne dust on Mars.
Taken on March 11, the
most recent horizon image captures Olympus Mons in all its glory. With a base
that sprawls across 373 miles (600 kilometers), the shield volcano rises to a
height of 17 miles (27 kilometers)."Normally we see Olympus Mons in narrow
strips from above, but by turning the spacecraft toward the horizon we can see
in a single image how large it looms over the landscape," said Odyssey's
project scientist, Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Southern California, which manages the mission. "Not only is the image spectacular,
it also provides us with unique science data."
In addition to offering
a freeze frame of clouds and dust, such images, when taken across many seasons,
can give scientists a more detailed understanding of the Martian atmosphere.
A bluish-white band at
the bottom of the atmosphere hints at how much dust was present at this
location during early fall, a period when dust storms typically start kicking
up. The purplish layer above that was likely due to a mixture of the planet's
red dust with some bluish water-ice clouds. Finally, toward the top of the
image, a blue-green layer can be seen where water-ice clouds reach up about 31
miles (50 kilometers) into the sky.How they took the picture
Named after Arthur C.
Clarke's classic science-fiction novel "2001: A Space Odyssey," the
orbiter captured the scene with a heat-sensitive camera called the Thermal
Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, which Arizona State University in Tempe
built and operates. But because the camera is meant to look down at the
surface, getting a horizon shot takes extra planning.By firing thrusters
located around the spacecraft, Odyssey can point THEMIS at different parts of
the surface or even slowly roll over to view Mars' tiny moons, Phobos and
Deimos.
The recent horizon
imaging was conceived as an experiment many years ago during the landings of
NASA's Phoenix mission in 2008 and Curiosity rover in 2012. As with other Mars
landings before and after those missions touched down, Odyssey played an
important role relaying data as the spacecraft barreled toward the surface.
To relay their vital
engineering data to Earth, Odyssey's antenna had to be aimed toward the newly
arriving spacecraft and their landing ellipses. Scientists were intrigued when
they noticed that positioning Odyssey's antenna for the task meant that THEMIS
would be pointed at the planet's horizon.
"We just decided to
turn the camera on and see how it looked," said Odyssey's mission
operations spacecraft engineer, Steve Sanders of Lockheed Martin Space in
Denver. Lockheed Martin built Odyssey and helps conduct day-to-day operations
alongside the mission leads at JPL. "Based on those experiments, we
designed a sequence that keeps THEMIS's field-of-view centered on the horizon
as we go around the planet."
The secret to a long space odyssey
What's Odyssey's secret
to being the longest continually active mission in orbit around a planet other
than Earth?
"Physics does a lot
of the hard work for us," Sanders said. "But it's the subtleties we
have to manage again and again."
These variables include
fuel, solar power, and temperature. To ensure Odyssey uses its fuel (hydrazine
gas) sparingly, engineers have to calculate how much is left since the
spacecraft doesn't have a fuel gauge. Odyssey relies on solar power to operate
its instruments and electronics. This power varies when the spacecraft
disappears behind Mars for about 15 minutes per orbit. And temperatures need to
stay balanced for all of Odyssey's instruments to work properly.
"It takes careful
monitoring to keep a mission going this long while maintaining a historical
timeline of scientific planning and execution—and innovative engineering
practices," said Odyssey's project manager, Joseph Hunt of JPL.
"We're looking forward to collecting more great science in the years ahead."
1) Jharkhand high
court grants bail to Hemant Soren in land scam case
Hemant Soren is
currently lodged in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi.The Jharkhand High Court has
granted bail to former chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case
linked to the land scam. His lawyer, Arunabh Chowdhury, has claimed that the
court found him not guilty of the offence. The high court had on June 13
reserved its decision on Soren's bail plea.Bail has been granted to Soren. The
court has held that prima facie he is not guilty of the offence and there is no
likelihood of the petitioner committing an offence when on bail," he told
PTI.Hemant Soren is currently lodged in the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi.He is
the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
Soren was arrested by
the Enforcement Directorate on January 31.His lawyer, senior advocate Meenakshi
Arora, had argued that Soren was being unfairly targeted in what she described
as a politically motivated and fabricated case.
The Enforcement
Directorate had told the court that he misused his position to acquire 8.86
acres of land in the state capital.
ED counsel SV Raju
claimed that witnesses had confirmed Hemant Soren's involvement in the illegal
land deal Soren's media consultant Abhishek Prasad admitted that the former CM
instructed him to manipulate official records to change the ownership details
of the land, he added.
ED had summoned Hemant
Soren several times before arresting him on January 31.His lawyer, Kapil Sibal,
had argued before the court that the alleged land grabbing wasn't an offence
under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)/He further argued that even
if the allegations were true, they would be a matter of civil dispute over
property rights, not criminal activity.
Sibal alleged that the
criminal proceedings were driven by ulterior motives aimed at keeping Soren
incarcerated.Hemant Soren had to resign as the chief minister of Jharkhand
before being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. His loyalist, Champai
Soren, became the chief minister of the state.The bail comes days after Delhi
chief minister Arvind Kejriwal got bail in the Delhi excise policy case.
However, the Enforcement Directorate later secured a stay on the bail order
from the Delhi high court. Later, the CBI arrested him in connection with the
same case.
2) Petition in
Supreme Court seeking stay of 3 new criminal laws
The PIL has sought to
stay the operation and implementation of 3 new criminal laws Bharatiya Nyaya
Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya
Adhiniyam 2023 A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme
Court seeking stay on the newly amended criminal laws Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,
2023, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second)
Sanhita, 2023.
The petition was filed
on Wednesday by two Delhi residents Anjale Patel and Chhaya objected to the
titles of the three laws calling them ambiguous and not accurate as the names
of the three laws do not speak about the statute or its motive.Demanding stay
of the three laws, the petition also alleged “irregularity” in the passage of
bills in Parliament in December 2023.To be sure, the top court had on May 20
refused to entertain a petition filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari challenging the
three laws claiming such a challenge to be premature as the laws are yet to come
into operation.
3) INDIA vs NDA
over NEET in Lok Sabha; Congress MP claims Rahul Gandhi's mic switched off
Congress MP Deepender
Hooda, meanwhile, claimed the ruckus erupted after Leader of Opposition Rahul
Gandhi's mic was switched off.The Congress-led INDIA bloc and the BJP-led
National Democratic Alliance came at loggerheads with each other in the
Parliament on Friday, over the former's insistence on holding a debate on the
raging NEET row after suspending all other legislative businesses. Amid ruckus by
the Opposition over their demand, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the
House till Monday.
Congress MP Deepender
Hooda, meanwhile, claimed the ruckus erupted after Leader of Opposition Rahul
Gandhi's mic was switched off."The future of the youth has been spoiled
due to the continuous paper leaks in the country. The maximum number of paper
leak cases have been seen in Haryana. The paper was leaked in the NEET exam and
the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan is running away from
responsibility. We had brought up a discussion on this and when it was raised
in the House, the mike was switched off. If the mike of the Leader of the
Opposition is switched off, then there will be anger among other Opposition MPs
and the same happened in the House... We demand that this issue be
discussed," he said.
On Friday morning,
Congress moved adjournment motions in both Houses, seeking the suspension of
other businesses. They wanted an immediate discussion on the NEET issues.
However, Speaker Om Birla refused to admit it, saying the House was scheduled
to discuss the Motion of Thanks on President Draupadi Murmu's address to the
Parliament, prompting an uproar.
Birla, whose election
had become the first bone of contention in the 18th Lok Sabha session, later
adjourned the House.After the adjournment, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren
Rijiju said the Congress didn't want the House to function."On behalf of
the government, we have made it clear that we will give detailed information on
whatever issue is raised. We assure the members once again that the government
is always ready for discussion. But by halting the proceedings of the House,
the tendency adopted by the Congress party - of not letting the House function
- is not right...I condemn this. I appeal that those should not happen
again," he said. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul
Gandhi, earlier demanded a discussion on NEET in Parliament, adding that the
discussion must happen "respectfully."
"Yesterday, all the
leaders of the opposition parties had a meeting and it was unanimous that
today, we want a discussion on the NEET issue. There should be a discussion on
NEET here in the House. I request the Prime Minister that this is an issue of
the youth and it should be discussed properly and it should be a respectful
discussion. We will do it respectfully. You should also join the discussion,
you should also participate because this is a matter for the youth. A message
should go from the Parliament that the Indian government and the Opposition are
talking about the students together," Rahul Gandhi told ANI before
entering the Parliament.The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the
alleged paper leaks in NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams.
4) Delhi airport
roof collapse: DGCA to examine structure, submit report to aviation minister
Union civil aviation
minister Ram Mohan Naidu, along with aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam,
visited the site of the incident, and ordered the airport operator to inspect
the terminal building The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took
note of the roof collapse incident at Delhi airport’s terminal 1 and said it
will get the structure examined after the incident left one person dead and
several others injured, two civil aviation ministry officials said on Friday.Torrential
rainfall earlier in the day allegedly caused the roof to collapse, crushing
several vehicles at the Indira Gandhi International airport around 5am.
Union civil aviation
minister Ram Mohan Naidu, along with aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam and
other ministry officials, visited the site of the incident, and ordered the
airport operator to inspect the terminal building.
Speaking to media
persons, Naidu said the terminal has been temporarily shut for operations till
tomorrow.
“All arrival and departure
of SpiceJet flights from Terminal 1 have been shifted to T3 and all arrival and
departure of IndiGo from T1 are being distributed between Terminal 2 and
Terminal 3,” a Delhi Airport International Ltd (DIAL) spokesperson said.
The portion of the roof
that collapsed in the morning was constructed in 2009. The expanded terminal 1
is currently undergoing mandatory checks after which it is expected to be
operational in the coming month. Currently, only IndiGo and SpiceJet operate
from T1.“This structure that collapsed is not a part of the expanded terminal
that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March. We have asked
DIAL to conduct a verification from their side. But we are not leaving it to
them, the DGCA will also supervise the inspection and give us a report,” Naidu
said.
“Since it is monsoon
season, all the airports with civil structures will be looked at again and we
will do thorough checks at such airports,” the minister said.
Naidu has announced a
compensation of ₹20 lakh to the kin of the deceased, while the injured will be
given ₹3 lakh each
5) Roof of Ram
Temple in Ayodhya leaks during rainfall, chief priest urges attention
The Ram Temple in
Ayodhya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22.Six
months after the grand opening of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the temple's chief
priest said water has been leaking from the ceiling during rainfall.“In the
first rain, the roof of the sanctum sanctorum where the idol of Ram Lalla was
installed has started to leak,” Acharya Satyendra Das told ANI. “Attention
should be paid to the matter and to find out what was missing. It is very
important. There is no space to drain water out of the temple.”
He added: “If the rain
intensifies, it would be difficult to offer prayers at the temple.”The chief
priest also expressed surprise, saying so many engineers are present at the
temple and still water is leaking from the roof.
“It is very surprising.
So many engineers are here, and the Pran Pratishtha was held on January 22, but
water is leaking from the roof,” Das told PTI. "Nobody would've thought
this."Nripendra Mishra, the chairperson of the Sri Ram Mandir Construction
Committee, also confirmed that rainwater has been leaking from the first floor.
He also gave instructions for repairing and waterproofing the roof.
He, however, clarified
that this was expected as the ‘Guru Mandap’ is exposed.
“I am in Ayodhya. I saw
the rainwater dropping from the first floor. This is expected because Guru
Mandap is exposed to the sky as the second floor and completion of Shikhar will
cover this opening,” Mishra told ANI in a statement. “I also saw some seepage from
the conduit as this work on the first floor is in progress. On completion, the
conduit will be closed. There is no drainage in the Sanctum Santorum because
all the Mandaps have measured slope for clearance of water, and the water in
Sanctum Santorum is manually absorbed.”He added: "Moreover, the devotees
are not performing Abhishek on the deity. There is no design or construction
issue. The Mandaps which are open may get rainwater drops which was debated but
the decision was to keep them open as per Nagar architectural norms."The
Ram Temple in Ayodhya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
January 22.
Modi had presided over
the consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram temple in the presence of Uttar
Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, governor Anandiben Patel and Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.
The prime minister
performed the last rituals of the ceremony by symbolically opening the eyes of
the Ram Lalla idol with a golden stick, and ending the rites with aarti and shashtang
pranam (prostration) to the deity.
Since its opening, the
Ram temple has witnessed a massive influx of devotees from various parts of
India and the world who continue to arrive in the temple town.
Water logging in Ayodhya
The Monsoon showers also
caused severe waterlogging in Ayodhya, making patches of the newly built
Rampath road cave in.Since Sunday morning, all 13 streets connected to Rampath
have been waterlogged after overnight rain. Sewage water has also entered many
houses on the connected streets.
"The work was done
by the PWD (Public Works Department), and they will be able to answer it.”
Ayodhya district magistrate Nitish Kumar said.
Ayodhya mayor Girish
Pati Tripathi said that efforts to flush out the rainwater were launched soon.
"We immediately
launched operations to flush out the water. We deployed various teams of the
municipality to pump out water from the flooded houses," he said.
6) Om Birla
re-elected as Lok Sabha Speaker: All about Speaker’s role, appointment process,
and more
Om Birla, a Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan's Kota constituency, has been re-elected
as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha through a voice vote. Explore the full
list of Lok Sabha speakers till date (1952-2024).
All you need to know
about Lok Sabha Speaker: On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the ruling BJP-led NDA
nominee, Om Birla, was elected as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha for a
second consecutive term by a voice vote. This is a rare occurrence, as the
position of Lok Sabha Speaker is typically filled through consensus between the
ruling party and the opposition.
However, this year, the
Lok Sabha witnessed contested election for Lok Sabha Speaker post between Om
Birla, a three-time BJP MP from Rajasthan’s Kota, and the INDIA bloc’s nominee,
Kodikunnil Suresh, the eight-time Congress MP from Kerala’s Mavelikara, after
the Narendra Modi-led NDA government and the Opposition failed to reach a
consensus.
1) India vs
Australia highlights, T20 World Cup 2024: IND qualifies for semifinals, beats
AUS by 24 runs
IND vs AUS: Catch the
highlights from the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match between India and
Australia at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia.
India beat Australia by
24 runs in a T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight match at the Daren Sammy National
Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St. Lucia on Monday to book a spot in the
semifinals of the tournament.
Hardik to bowl the last
over. Double on the first ball towards long on. Cummins pulls towards deep
midwicket, Jadeja dives but can’t grab the ball. Just a single. Off-cutter and
Starc is beaten. Another cutter and another dot ball. Three balls, all same
with same result. Single on the last ball. India wins quite comfortably in the
end.Bumrah. He’s bowling the cutter brilliantly. Another cutter but Cummins
times his pull well and gets a SIX. Bumrah follows it up with a yorker. 10 runs
from the over.
Australia
Australia
181 / 7 (20 OV)
India
India
205 / 5 (20 OV)
India win by 24 runs
2) IND vs ENG:
India records second biggest win in T20 World Cup knockouts
With this win, India
qualified for the final and will be playing against South Africa on June 29,
Saturday in Barbados India recorded the second biggest win in T20 World Cup
knockout matches (by margin of runs), beating England by 68 runs in the second
semifinal played at Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday.
India recorded the
second biggest win in T20 World Cup knockout matches (by margin of runs),
beating England by 68 runs in the second semifinal played at Providence Stadium
in Guyana on Thursday.
With this win, India
qualified for the final and will be playing against South Africa on June 29,
Saturday in Barbados.
3) Euro 2024:
Newcomer Georgia shocks Portugal 2-0 to get round of 16 spot
Georgia outshines
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the final match of Euro 2024 Group F match to
qualify for round of 16 in its first outing in a major international
tournament.
Georgia stunned Portugal
to reach the knockouts at Euro 2024 - its first ever major tournament - with a
2-0 win over the former European champion on Wednesday, settled by an early
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia strike and a Georges Mikautadze penalty.
The win, albeit against
a largely second-string Portugal who had already made it into the next round,
represented the greatest result for Georgia since the country gained
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Having come a
disappointing fourth in its Euro qualifying group, Georgia had to take a
circuitous route to Germany, first by winning its group in the less glamorous
Euro Nations tournament and then defeating Greece in a play-off.
But there was nothing
undeserved about the way Coach Willy Sagnol, the former Bayern Munich and
France defender, and his side claimed a third-place finish in the tournament’s
Group F and set up a last-16 meeting with three-time Euro winners Spain.
Georgia’s win also means
that England will line up against Slovakia, Romania take on Netherlands and
Portugal face Slovenia in the round of 16. Hungary, who had been in contention
for a spot in the next round, were edged out.The tournament debutant took the
lead in the second minute when Kvaratskhelia, the Napoli winger, raced away
after a careless pass by Antonio Silva and powered a low shot past Diogo Costa
in Portugal’s goal.Cristiano Ronaldo - one of only three starters for Portugal
who also played in its 3-0 win over Turkey on Saturday - stretched and strained
for every ball as he sought to become the oldest goal scorer at a Euro
tournament at the age of 39.But Georgia defended as if its lives depended upon it
and sought to catch Portugal on the break. In the 53rd minute, Silva compounded
his earlier error by committing a foul in the box that was awarded a penalty
after a VAR check.
Mikautadze, who had
provided the pass for Kvaratskhelia to open the scoring early on, steered his
spot kick past Costa, making him the top scorer at Euro 2024 so far with three
goals.Ronaldo was booked in the first half for arguing and cut a frustrated
figure when he was substituted after the break, kicking out at a water bottle.
Georgia goalkeeper
Giorgi Mamardashvili made late saves to keep Portugal at bay in the final
minutes, and at full time Georgia’s squad and coaching staff sprinted on to the
field to celebrate in front of thousands of its fans.
4) Czechia vs
Turkiye, Euro 2024: Fight breaks out after final whistle, referee gives red
card to Chory
A fight broke out
between the players of Czechia and Turkey after the Turks won the Euro 2024
Group F match 2-1 at the Volksparkstadion Hamburg in Germany on Wednesday.A
fight broke out between the players of Czechia and Turkey after the Turks won
the Euro 2024 Group F match 2-1 at the Volksparkstadion Hamburg in Germany on
Wednesday.
After full-time, both
teams got into a heated argument with Turkish youngster Arda Guler as part of
it and the referee booked him immediately, while Tomas Soucek, the captain of
Czechia was also cautioned.
For Czechia, which was
eliminated after Georgia’s win over Portugal, the night went from bad to worse
when Czech forward Tomas Chory was shown the red card by referee Istvan
Kovacs.Earlier, Czechia had another disciplinary error wherein its striker
Patrik Schick was shown a yellow card while he was on the bench.
Hakan Calhanoglou opened
the scoring for Turkey, keeping Czechia’s chances of qualification further
bleak, after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had struck early in the other Group F game
between Georgia and Portugal, and the Czechs reduces to 10-men in the 20th
minute.
Soucek tries to restore
parity with a goal after the hour mark, but Cenk Tosun’s stoppage time goal put
the competition to bed. Turkey will play Group D topper Austria on July 2.
5) Copa America
2024: Uruguay routs Bolivia 5-0 as Núñez scores in 7th straight game
With no points and a
minus-seven goal difference, Bolivia has almost no chance of advancing going
into Monday’s match against Panama at Orlando, Florida.Darwin Núñez scored in
his seventh straight international match, and Uruguay routed Bolivia 5-0 on
Thursday night to move to verge of a quarterfinal berth in the Copa America.
Facundo Pellistri put
the Uruguayans ahead in the eighth minute and Núñez doubled the lead in the
21st with his 10th goal in his last seven games for Uruguay and 13th in 25
matches overall.Maximiliano Araújo scored his second goal of the tournament in
the 77th, and Federico Valverde (81st) and Rodrigo Bentancur (89th) added goals
as Uruguay romped through a ragged Bolivian defense.
Uruguay, seeking its
record 16th Copa America title, is 2-0 for six points with a plus-seven goal
difference and would advance with at least a draw on Monday against the U.S. at
Kansas City, Missouri, or perhaps even a loss.
The U.S. has three
points and plus-one goal difference and Panama three points and minus-one
difference.
Bolivia has lost 14
consecutive Copa America matches dating to 2015 and has one win in its last 32.
With no points and a minus-seven goal difference, it has almost no chance of
advancing going into Monday’s match against Panama at Orlando, Florida.
Bolivia is likely to be
eliminated in the group stage for fourth straight time.
MetLife Stadium’s upper
deck was nearly empty and the site of the 2026 World Cup final appeared to be
half full. Two years early, Lionel Messi and Argentina drew a sellout crowd of
81,106 for a 1-0 win over Chile.Bolivia made six changes from its opening 2-0
loss to the U.S. and Uruguay quickly went ahead.
Nicolás de la Cruz
played a long free kick down a flank and Ronald Araújo outjumped Luis Haquin to
center a header. Mathías Olivera couldn’t reach it and the ball bounced before
Pellistri nodded it in for his second international goal.
Núñez, who took seven
shots in the first half, scored off a perfect weighed pass from Maximiliano
Araújo on a quick counterattack. Maximiliano Araújo got his goal after Bolivia
turned over the ball in midfield, fed by de la Cruz.
6) Panama vs USA
Highlights, PAN 2-1 USA, Copa America 2024: Goals from Fajardo, Blackman give
Los Canaleros the win at FT
Panama left the USA’s
hopes of qualifying for the Copa America knockout rounds hanging by a thread on
Thursday after scoring a shock 2-1 victory over the host nation.A stormy Group
C battle in Atlanta saw both sides finish with 10 men as Panama came from
behind to snatch a victory which reignites its campaign after an opening loss
to Uruguay.
The game turned on a
moment of madness in the 18th minute, when US winger Timothy Weah was sent off
for striking Panama defender Roderick Miller in the face in an off-the-ball
incident spotted by VAR.
Although Folarin Balogun
fired the US into the lead with a screamer from the edge of the area after 22
minutes, Panama got back on level terms only minutes later after Cesar
Blackman’s strike.As the game wore on, however, Panama’s one-man advantage
began to take its toll on the weary US side.With seven minutes remaining, Jose
Fajardo swept in an emphatic finish to put Panama 2-1 ahead.A fractious finale
saw Adalberto Carrasquilla sent off after a cynical hack on US captain
Christian Pulisic in the dying minutes as Panama hung on for the win.The win
means the USA may well need to beat South American heavyweights Uruguay in its
final group game next Monday to qualify for the quarter-finals.
KALKI 2898 AD –
THEATRES
Made on a budget of Rs
600 crore, Kalki 2898 AD is an entertaining sci-fi action movie that centres
around a bounty hunter who saves people from the dark forces of Supreme Yaskin,
the self-proclaimed god of the Complex. The movie features Prabhas, Deepika Padukone,
Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, and Disha Patani, among others.
SHARMAJEE KI BETI –
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
Sharmajee Ki Beti is a
heartwarming coming-of-age movie that delves into the lives of three women, all
with the same surname, who deal with societal pressures and gender expectations
in their respective lives. Directed by Tahira Khurrana, the movie also sheds
light on the challenges faced by two young girls who are going through puberty.
AAVESHAM – DISNEY+ HOTSTAR
Fahadh Faasil starrer
Aavesham has finally arrived on OTT (Disney+ Hotstar). The movie revolves
around three teenagers who move from Kerala to Bangalore to pursue a degree in
aeronautical engineering. The plot takes an unexpected twist when a local goon
enters their lives and helps them in a fight against their seniors. What ensues
next will keep you hooked to the screen.
RAUTU KA RAAZ – ZEE5
ZEE5’s new offering,
Rautu Ka Raaz, is an engaging crime thriller that follows an inspector named
Deepak Negi (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who is assigned the complex case of
a school warden’s murder. Will Negi and his team succeed in catching the real
culprit.
WONDLA – APPLE TV+
WondLa is a sci-fi
fantasy series that delves into the life of a young girl named Eva, who moves
to the surface of the Earth when her bunker is attacked. As she adapts to her
new life, she befriends an alien and tardigrade, who help her search for other
humans on the planet.
JATT & JULIET 3
– THEATRES
Jatt & Juliet 3 is a
romantic comedy movie that revolves around two police officers who travel to
Canada to solve a case. However, the arrival of an unexpected person derails
their investigation. Written and directed by Jagdeep Sidhu, the recently
released movie features Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa in lead roles.
SUPACELL – NETFLIX
This is a superhero
action drama that focuses on five ordinary people who mysteriously develop
superpowers. As their newly gained powers start affecting their day-to-day
lives, they turn to a man who brings them together to save the woman he loves.
The series stars Tosin Cole, Nadine Mills, and Eric Kofi-Abrefa in pivotal
roles.
BOOK OF THIS WEEK:
The Naga Warriors
1: Battle of Gokul Vol 1 by Akshat Gupta (Author)
To prepare for the
future, our ancestors created the Naga sadhus―a clan of warriors for the
protection of Dharma, as proclaimed by Adi Guru Shankaracharya in the eighth
century. This sect of Shiva devotees has stood firm, living selflessly and
fighting fearlessly. For centuries, they have died the death of heroes, serving
and saving Dharma and the temples.
In the year 1757, 111
Naga sadhus borrowed the majestic weapons of the idols of their gods. Fueled by
their belief in Lord Shiva, they gathered an invincible courage to protect the
temples of Gokul. They stood as an indestructible wall, led by Ajaa, a fearless
Naga warrior, against the Afghan army of 4000 men, a cavalry of 200 horses and
100 camels, and 20 cannons. The brutal Afghan army was led by Sardar Khan, the
most ruthless commander of Emperor Ahmed Shah Abdali, ill-famed for the
demolition of temples and building a history of genocide in Bharat.
The fight continues.
This is the Naga warrior’s commitment to courage and determination. This is the
clash of Shiva devotees against the devils that lie under men’s skin. This is
the Battle of Gokul.
Akshat Gupta
Akshat has the credit of
successfully running a restaurant chain. Nevertheless, his penchant for writing
grew with the passage of time. The Hidden Hindu is the product of sheer
dedication and research for continuous two years. He is working on the second
and third parts of this fiction trilogy which is a blend of Hindu mythology and
Indian history. Akshat is currently working on few scripts for known production
houses in Mumbai.