1) Trees as old as
time: Using tree resin to reconstruct million-year old ecosystems:
Fossil tree resins open
a window into the deep past as their organic compounds, termed biomarkers, can
be used to identify the botanical provenance of these ancient trees, as well as
the paleoenvironmental conditions in which they grew. Amber, one such resin, is
a prized gemstone, but can also preserve plants and insects living on the tree
at the time of resin exudation in immaculate detail.
.jpg) |
| Resin extruding from a tree CreditEarth-Science Reviews (2023) |
Due to this exceptional preservation, resins have been given a special name to signify their paleontological and geological importance—Konservat Lagerstätten. Resins have a practical purpose for trees as they have antifungal and antibacterial properties, and they deter invasions of hostile organisms, such as insects, which ultimately are themselves preserved. They can additionally attract pollinators to aid in reproduction.Sedimentary rocks yield fossil resins at the scale of several centimeters down to a few millimeters and are often transported to coastal and nearshore environments, but may even extend to the deep sea. It is these sediments that scientists sample to obtain resins for chemical analyses to understand environmental and ecological changes through time.
Each of the preserved
resin biomarkers in these sediments have a distinct chemical pattern, which
matures over time as the resin is buried under more sediment, forming a
bioterpenoid. Researchers have used cutting-edge technology to study these
bioterpenoids in order to identify tree families from millions of years ago.
These methods include
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, whereby small samples of the resin are
crushed and react with chemicals while heating and evaporating, causing the
organic compounds to separate. The mass spectrometer equipment then displays a
visual image of these compounds, known as a chromatogram, which can be
analyzed. This allows the fossil resin to be categorized into one of five major
classes that are known to be associated with particular tree families,
therefore aiding in the reconstruction of past botanical communities.
At the largest scale,
the resin can be identified as belonging to either a gymnosperm (plants that
reproduce via exposed seeds and tend to be evergreen, such as pines, cedars and
ginko) or angiosperm (flowering and fruiting plants and trees that usually lose
their leaves in autumn, such as oaks and maples).
Summary research by
scientists at AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland, newly published
in Earth-Science Reviews identifies 25 key biomarkers in gymnosperms and 15 in
angiosperms that can be associated with particular environmental conditions,
collating a wealth of previous studies of ambers from different global
locations and ages. Interestingly, the reason that the resin was extruded
impacts which biomarkers are present, as lead researcher Jan Pańezak explains.
"The occurrence of some compounds can be indicative of paleoenvironment,
but not all compounds can provide direct information, for example, due to the
reasons of resin exudation, such as if this specific resin exudated because of
herbivore or microbial attack."These biomarkers include monoterpenes,
which occur in all resins initially, but transform over time and thus are
generally only found in more geologically recent tree resins, such as those
from the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene (3.6 to 0.77 million years ago)
found within ambers from East Himalaya. Today, they form part of the essential
oils in plants that attract pollinators.Sesquiterpenes are another group of
early biomarker that matures, possessing antimicrobial and defensive properties
in modern plants and trees. Examples include bicadinanes, which are indicative
of warm and humid climates, known from tropical zones of South-East Asia during
the Cenozoic (66 million years ago to the present day), while rosane suggests
an environment with high oxygen levels.
Conversely, more complex
biomarkers that fall under the categories of diterpenes and triterpenes include
sulfurized forms that indicate the presence of reducing bacteria that thrive in
oxygen-deficient conditions. Through the process of identifying the conditions
in which a particular biomarker forms, scientists have been able to locate
specific regions in which the trees would have originated and determined which
tree families were thriving under particular climatic conditions.
Furthermore, the
paleoclimate at the time of resin expulsion can be determined by the isotopic
composition of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, as these remain fixed through time
and can be important proxies for paleotemperature, therefore highlighting
climate change events. Given that these biomarkers still occur in extant plants
and trees, looking to the past is an important key to understanding how modern
plant communities may also fare during current and future climate change.
2) Evolutionary
fuel: Researchers study maintenance of an ancient chromosomal inversion:
Genetic variation is the
ultimate fuel for evolution, says Utah State University evolutionary geneticist
Zachariah Gompert. But, over centuries, that fuel reservoir gets depleted in
the course of natural selection and random genetic drift.
 |
| Stick insects, Timema knulli, on a Redwood tree branch. Utah State University evolutionary geneticist Zach Gompert and colleagues studied a chromosomal inversion in the species and report findings in the June 12, 2023, |
Whether, or how, genetic
variation can persist over the long haul remains a big question for scientists.
Gompert and colleagues from the University of Montpellier in France, the United
Kingdom's John Innes Center, the National Autonomous University of México,
Querétaro; the University of Nevada, Reno; and the University of Notre Dame,
publish their investigation of this question in the June 12, 2023, online
edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."We
examined how you maintain genetic variation in a species, and how such
variation impacts adaptation," says Gompert, associate professor in USU's
Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center.
For the study, the team
investigated stick insects (genus Timema), which feed on a wide variety of
plants."There are more than a dozen species of Timema in western North
America and they're generalists that can eat many types of plants,"
Gompert says. "But one species, Timema knulli, feeds and thrives on
Redwood trees, which one of the only plants that other Timema species can't
thrive on as well or at all."
It appears T. knulli has
this ability because of a chromosomal inversion—that is, a change in the
structure of its genome. Unlike a gene mutation, which is a change in the DNA
sequence, a chromosomal inversion occurs, Gompert says, when two breaks in the
chromosome are followed by a 180-degree turn of the segment and reinsertion at
the original breakpoints."With an inversion, big chunks—in this case, 30
million DNA bases—of the chromosome get flipped backwards," he says.
 |
| Chromosomal Inversion |
And this inversion in T.
knulli, the team determined, is ancient.
"We think it
occurred about 7.5 million years ago," Gompert says. "And the cool
thing is, T. Knulli populations still carry both versions of the alleles—the
one for feeding and thriving on Redwoods as a host plant, and the original one
that increases survival on the ancestral host plant—a flowering plant—and may
be especially favorable in the heterozygous form."
Environmental
heterogeneity and gene exchange among migrating populations of stick insects
contribute to the persistence of the new and ancestral chromosomal variants or
polymorphism, he says, which may give the organisms a leg up in a changing
world by allowing for ongoing evolution and adaptation."Rather than being
a detriment, the complexity of evolutionary processes affecting this inversion
provides resilience against the loss of genetic variation, and may foster
long-term survival," Gompert says.
3) Shrinking and
warming of Antarctic deep ocean waters has 'far reaching consequences' for
global climate:
 |
| mage Description : Pathways of water-mass circulation within the Weddell Sea and formation of WSBW on the shelf. The water masses within the Weddell Sea circulate around the cyclonic Weddell Gyre. WDW (red arrows) originating from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current enters the gyre from the northeast and flows towards the ice shelf. WSDW (yellow arrows) in the Weddell Sea is renewed from the input from the Indo-Pacific sector and is locally produced by the mixture of DSW and WDW. WSBW (dark blue arrows) in the Weddell Sea is sourced primarily from the southwestern continental shelf, where the HSSW (purple arrows) formed via sea-ice freezing is exported offshore from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf as well as spreading down to the FRIS, leading to Ice Shelf Water (light blue arrows) formation. DSW containing HSSW, Ice Shelf Water and a small portion of modified WDW descends into the Weddell basin while mixing with WDW to form WSBW. Three hydrographic transects—A12, SR4 and A23—are displayed in black lines, sitting on the Prime Meridian, across the gyre center and over the northern boundary of the gyre, respectively. I6S transect sits further east at 30° E, marking the eastern boundary of Weddell Gyre. Temperature and salinity measurements collected by conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profilers are used to compute water mass area (Methods) shown in this study. The geographic locations of the Weddell Sea and southern Weddell continental shelf are marked in the inset circumpolar map with blue and red boxes, respectively. Credit: Nature Climate Change |
Deep ocean water in Antarctica is warming and shrinking at an alarming rate with significant consequences for the global climate and the world's oceans, according to new research involving the University of Southampton.
Antarctic Bottom Water
is the coldest, densest water mass on the planet, and it plays a crucial role
in regulating the ocean's ability to store heat and capture carbon; 90 percent
of human-induced global heating and almost a third of the extra carbon released
since the start of the industrial revolution has been absorbed by the ocean.A
new study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, presents
observational evidence from the Weddell Sea in Antarctica showing that these
waters have shrunk by 20 percent over the past 30 years, while shallower waters
warmed at a rate five times higher than the rest of the global ocean.The
research from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of
Southampton is the first observational evidence that long-term changes to the
winds and sea ice are influencing bottom water production in the Weddell Sea—one
of the largest producers of dense bottom water.
Dr. Alessandro Silvano
from the University of Southampton, who is a co-author of the study, says,
"The shrinking of deep waters in Antarctica can have far reaching
consequences, from reducing the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon
associated with human activities to decreasing the oxygen supply to abyssal
waters, affecting deep ecosystems."
"We used to think
that changes in the deep ocean could only occur over centuries. But these key
observations from the Weddell Sea show that changes in the dark abyss can take
place over just a few decades."
Using decades of
ship-based observations, alongside satellite data, the team discovered that
these waters have been declining in volume over the past 30 years. The measurements
are a result of numerous scientific voyages to the Weddell Sea, measuring the
temperature and saltiness of the oceans from the surface to the seabed.
Dr. Povl Abrahamsen, a
physical oceanographer at BAS and co-author, says, "As part of our long-term
monitoring, we try to investigate these sections every one or two years. Annual
or biennial measurements are needed to disentangle short-term changes from the
long-term warming trends, and therefore better understand the causes of both.
Some of these sections were first visited as far back as 1989, making them some
of the most comprehensively sampled regions in the Weddell Sea."
Weakening winds and
slowing sea ice formation
The new study discovered
that the shrinking bottom waters are a result of a slowing sea ice
formation.Normally, strong winds push newly formed ice away from the shelf,
creating open areas for more ice to form. But weakening winds near the
Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in the Southern Weddell Sea have reduced the size of
these gaps in the sea ice cover, resulting in a slowdown in the formation of
new ice.
As new ice forms, it
leaves behind salt, contributing to the creation of the cold and salty
Antarctic Bottom Water. The shortage of these salty shelf waters has triggered
the shrinking of bottom waters.
Links to
large-scale atmospheric patterns
The researchers
uncovered an interplay between large-scale atmospheric patterns, connecting
responses in the tropical Pacific to the Southern Ocean. Changes in these
patterns have caused shifts in the winds across the Southern Ocean, resulting
in reduced northerly winds across the Weddell Sea, and in turn a reduction in
sea ice formation.The changes are a consequence of natural variability in the
system, although potentially stronger changes are predicted in the future.The
findings come as with other recent high-profile findings that show similar
reductions in bottom water coming from the Ross Sea , as well as modeled future
collapse in bottom waters; both due to the accelerated melting of Antarctic ice
shelves.
Dr. Shenjie Zhou, the
lead author of the study and physical oceanographer at BAS, says, "These
results show just how sensitive this region, specifically the Antarctic abyssal
overturning circulation which is a key regulator of global climate, is to the
climate changes happening both remotely and locally. It highlights the complex
interplay between atmosphere and sea ice which needs to be properly represented
in climate models in order for us to confidently predict how it may respond in
the future."
4) New flying gecko
species reveals hidden biodiversity of northern India:
 |
| While the Mizoram parachute gecko was first collected in 2001, it was misidentified as a member of another species, Gekko lionotum |
A new species of gliding
gecko has been uncovered in northern India. Bearing the name of the Indian state
it was discovered in, the Mizoram parachute gecko, or Gekko mizoramensis, is
one of 14 geckos known to take to the air. While one specimen of the new
species was collected more than 20 years ago, the differences from its
relatives have only now been appreciated. The researchers behind the study, now
published in the journal Salamandra, hope that the new species will highlight
the underappreciated biodiversity of northern India and encourage greater
efforts to document its wildlife.
Ph.D. student Zeeshan
Mirza, who co-authored the paper describing the new species, says, "The
wildlife of northeast India isn't as well known as it could be because of the
amount of dense forest. While recent development has opened up access, forest
clearance endangers its biodiversity.
"Most research in
the past has focused on charismatic fauna such as birds and mammals, leaving
reptile species underexplored. My own surveys of the region have uncovered
several new species, including Salazar's pit viper, which is named after a
character from Harry Potter.
"With additional
fieldwork, I am confident that more new reptile species will be discovered in
the region."
What's so special
about geckos?
 |
| Gliding geckos use skin flaps and webbed feet to control their descent |
Geckos are one of the
oldest reptile groups still alive today. They are believed to be among the
earliest evolving squamates, the group that contains all lizards, snakes and
their close relatives, with their ancestors first appearing in the fossil
record hundreds of millions of years ago.
In fact, early geckos
had already developed some of their key characteristics by 100 million years
ago. Genetic studies and preserved remains reveal that they had evolved the
adhesive pads on their feet which allow them to climb almost any surface using
a network of microscopic hairs.
Other adaptations, such
as the ability to discard and regrow their tails to distract predators, or see
well in the dark, have helped them to become one of the most successful lizard
groups. There are more than 1,200 species of gecko today, making up around a
fifth of all known lizards.
Flying geckos are an
even more specialized bunch. Originally classed in their own group, they've
recently been recognized as a very specialized part of the Gekko genus which
evolved at the same time as a group of rainforest trees known as the dipterocarps.
Unlike other gliding reptiles, which use bone to form their flying surfaces,
these geckos have flaps of skin. When the lizards leap off a tall structure,
air resistance pushes the flaps out to their full extent much like a parachute,
slowing the speed at which they fall.
Along with their webbed
feet and flattened tail, this allows the geckos to steer while traveling in the
air and land safely at their target. The skin flaps also help to break up their
shape, acting as a camouflage against predators.
Their specialized
camouflage and body shape is shared by multiple species, making it hard to tell
them apart from one another. Researchers only discovered that G. mizoramensis
was its own species based on genetic analysis, as well as slight differences in
size and coloration.
It's thought that the
species evolved as a result of being separated from its closest relative, G.
popaensis, by the Arakan Mountains. This region is known to be home to numerous
species of lizard, with the researchers suggesting that many more geckos may be
found not just in India, but also in areas bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.The
team recommend that more research on the species of this area is done to help
find out how many more species of gecko are hiding in the tropical forests.
5) Retooling the
ribosomal translation machine could expand chemical repertoire of cells :
%20are%20nanomachines%20that%20read%20mRNA%20(coming%20in%20from%20left)%20to%20assemble%20a%20chain%20of%20amino%20acids%20(magenta%20balls)%20that%20folds%20into%20a%20compact%203D%20protein%20(lower%20right,%20pink).jpg) |
| Ribosomes (blue, upper left) are nanomachines that read mRNA (coming in from left) to assemble a chain of amino acids (magenta balls) that folds into a compact 3D protein (lower right, pink) |
Synthetic biologists
have become increasingly creative in engineering yeast or bacteria to churn out
useful chemicals—from fuels to fabrics and drugs—beyond the normal repertoire
of microbes.
But a multi-university
group of chemists has a more ambitious goal: to retool the cell's polypeptide
manufacturing plants—the ribosomes that spin amino acids into protein—to
generate polymer chains that are more elaborate than what can now be made in a
cell or a test tube.The research enterprise centered at the University of
California, Berkeley, is now reporting significant progress toward that goal,
as evidenced by three new papers that tackle three major hurdles: how to reprogram
cells to supply the ribosome with building blocks other than the alpha-amino
acids that make up all proteins today; how to predict which building blocks
make the best substrates; and how to tweak the ribosome to incorporate these
novel building blocks into polymers.The ultimate goal of the National Science
Foundation Center for Genetically Encoded Materials (C-GEM) is to make the
translation system fully programmable, so that introducing mRNA instructions
into the cell along with new building blocks—not the alpha-amino acids found
today—will allow the ribosome to produce an unlimited variety of new molecular
chains. These chains could form the basis for new bio-materials, new enzymes,
even new drugs.
 |
| Image 2 Description: The researchers performed molecular dynamics simulations on a model system based on cryo-EM studies of the structure of the E. coli ribosome. The region of the ribosome shown here (blue ribbons and green squiggles) are involved in forming bonds between amino acids or other monomers. The tRNAs (red ribbons) are shown delivering novel monomers (gray spheres) to be incorporated into polymers. Water molecules (red) and ions (blue) surround the structure |
The papers, appearing in
the journals Nature Chemistry and ACS Central Science, are the beginning of a
playbook for reengineering the cellular synthetic machinery to produce
never-before-seen polymers, including bio-polymers and circular polymers, which
are called peptide macrocycles, with predetermined or completely unforeseen
applications.
"C-GEM is working
to biosynthesize molecules that have never before been made in a cell and that
are designed to have unique properties. The tools could be applied broadly by
polymer chemists, medicinal chemists and biomaterials scientists to generate
bespoke materials with new functions," said C-GEM director Alanna
Schepartz, the T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and
professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley. "The ultimate goal
is to expand the function and versatility of proteins and polypeptides, as both
materials and pharmaceuticals."
A powerful aspect of a
programmable ribosome machine that can synthesize polymers is that it allows
researchers to evolve the polymers to perfect their activity, just as proteins
have evolved over hundreds of millions of years to improve the fitness of cells
and organisms.
"We've had protein
polymers evolving on the planet for billions of years, but we've been
restricted in what those polymers are because the building blocks are the same
20 amino acids," said Jamie Cate, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and
of molecular and cell biology. "If we can develop a system where you can
actually apply evolution to these new polymers, then it's like a platform that
anybody who has a creative idea can use to evolve a polymer to something they
want."Such a system builds on the directed evolution of protein enzymes
for which Frances Arnold, a UC Berkeley alumna, received the 2018 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry."It's a step beyond what Frances Arnold did in developing
directed evolution," Cate said. "She developed directed evolution for
proteins. What we're trying to do is set up a way that you could do this for
polymers never before evolved in nature." Engineering an entirely new
ribosome
In all cells, proteins
are assembled by a nanomachine, the ribosome, that accepts instructions from an
RNA molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA)—mRNA is akin to a working copy of a
gene's DNA code—and reads those instructions to assemble a protein, amino acid
by amino acid. Amazingly, the linear protein chain almost always folds into a
well-defined 3D structure, ready to serve its evolved purpose: as an enzyme to
catalyze reactions in the cell, as a structural component of the cell, or as a
regulator of other cellular activities.
Ten years ago, retooling
this complex nanomachine seemed impossible. But Schepartz's tenacity in pushing
for a project to accomplish this goal resulted in C-GEM, which is three years
into its first five-year funding cycle.One of the center's goals is to supply
the ribosome with building blocks—so-called monomers—other than alpha-amino
acids. To achieve this goal, the C-GEM team focused on the enzymes that load
amino acid monomers onto transfer RNA (tRNA), the molecules that ferry amino
acids to the ribosome. Each tRNA is bar-coded to indicate which of the 20 amino
acids it carries.
As reported in a Nature
Chemistry paper published June 1 and co-authored by Schepartz and graduate
students Riley Fricke and Cameron Swenson, the team discovered that one family
of tRNA synthetases could load tRNA with four different non-alpha-amino acids.
One of these was a building block of various polyketide therapeutics, including
the antibiotics erythromycin and tetracycline.
"We identified
enzymes that load tRNAs with monomers that differ structurally from anything
that has been loaded on a tRNA before," Schepartz said. "One of the
monomers is a precursor that could be used to assemble polyketide-like
molecules. Scientists have been trying for decades to reengineer polyketide
synthase modules to generate libraries of natural products. These studies have
taught us a ton about the sophistication of these modules, but the engineering
part has been very hard."
The novel monomers were
willingly accepted by the native ribosome in the bacteria E. coli,
demonstrating that it's possible to incorporate different types of chemistries
into the normally all-amino acid protein polymer.
"Antibiotic
resistance is an enormous problem," she added. "If we could help
solve that problem by generating novel molecules whose functions encode unique
modes of action, that would be an enormous contribution."
In a second paper, which
appeared May 30 in ACS Central Science, lead author and postdoctoral fellow
Chandrima Mujumdar, along with Cate and Schepartz, used cryogenic electron
microscopy (cryo-EM) to obtain detailed structures of three related
monomers—none of them alpha-amino acids—bound to the E. coli ribosome. The
details show how these monomers bind—though much more poorly than do amino
acids—and provide hints on how to alter the monomers or the ribosome to improve
the ribosome's ability to use them to build novel polymers.
In a third paper, which
appeared June 12 in Nature Chemistry, Cate, Schepartz and lead author Zoe
Watson, a postdoctoral fellow, report the cryo-EM structure of the E. coli
ribosome while binding normal alpha-amino acids. For this paper, the team
collaborated with the company Schrödinger Inc. of San Diego, which uses
computers to model protein binding. Ara Abramyan of Schrodinger used the
cryo-EM structure as a starting point to run metadynamic simulations to help
understand which non-natural monomers will react in the ribosome's catalytic
center—the peptidyl transferase center (PTC)—and which will not.
Schepartz and Cate
emphasized that all of these tweaks to the ribosomal system must work inside a
living cell independently of the normal ribosomes so that the production of new
polymers does not interfere with the day-to-day protein production necessary
for life.
"We want
enzymes—synthetases—and ribosomes that could be used in a cell, because that's
how this work will be scalable," Schepartz said. "That goal requires
robust ribosomes, great enzymes and a lot of understanding about the chemistry
of how these complex molecular machines work. It's a hard problem, but lots of
fun. And we get to expose students and postdocs to some really great
science."
6) First hominin
muscle reconstruction shows 3.2 million-year-old 'Lucy' could stand as erect as
we do:
 |
| A cross-section of the polygonal muscle modeling approach, guided by muscle scarring and MRI data |
A Cambridge University
researcher has digitally reconstructed the missing soft tissue of an early
human ancestor—or hominin—for the first time, revealing a capability to stand
as erect as we do today. Dr. Ashleigh Wiseman has 3D-modeled the leg and pelvis
muscles of the hominin Australopithecus afarensis using scans of 'Lucy': the
famous fossil specimen discovered in Ethiopia in the mid-1970s.
 |
| A digitization of the muscle attachment areas used to build the model of Lucy’s muscles, next to the completed 3D muscle model. |
Australopithecus
afarensis was an early human species that lived in East Africa over three
million years ago. Shorter than us, with an ape-like face and smaller brain,
but able to walk on two legs, it adapted to both tree and savannah
dwelling—helping the species survive for almost a million years.
Named for the Beatles
classic 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,' Lucy is one of the most complete
examples to be unearthed of any type of Australopithecus—with 40% of her
skeleton recovered.Wiseman was able to use recently published open source data
on the Lucy fossil to create a digital model of the 3.2 million-year-old hominin's
lower body muscle structure. The study is published in the journal Royal
Society Open Science.
The research recreated
36 muscles in each leg, most of which were much larger in Lucy and occupied
greater space in the legs compared to modern humans.
For example, major muscles in Lucy's calves and thighs were over twice the size of those in modern humans, as we have a much higher fat to muscle ratio. Muscles made up 74% of the total mass in Lucy's thigh, compared to just 50% in humans.Paleoanthropologists agree that Lucy was bipedal, but disagree on how she walked. Some have argued that she moved in a crouching waddle, similar to chimpanzees—our common ancestor—when they walk on two legs. Others
 |
| in which 36 muscles were created per lower limb. The polygonal muscles of AL 288-1 are shown in comparison to 3D muscles of the human which were Completed views (ventral, dorsal, lateral and medial) |
7) Photosynthesis
starts with a single photon, study shows:
The discovery solidifies
our current understanding of photosynthesis and will help answer questions
about how life works on the smallest of scales, where quantum physics and
biology meet.
,%20photosynthesis%20is%20kicked%20off%20by%20an%20individual%20particle%20of%20light,%20new%20laboratory%20experiments%20have%20confirmed.jpg) |
| In photosynthetic bacteria like Rhodobacter sphaeroides (pictured), photosynthesis is kicked off by an individual particle of light, new laboratory experiments have confirmed |
"A huge amount of
work, theoretically and experimentally, has been done around the world trying
to understand what happens after a photon is absorbed. But we realized that
nobody was talking about the first step. That was still a question that needed
to be answered in detail," said co-lead author Graham Fleming, a senior
faculty scientist in the Biosciences Area at Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley.
In their study, Fleming,
co-lead author Birgitta Whaley, a senior faculty scientist in the Energy Sciences
Area at Berkeley Lab, and their research groups showed that a single photon can
indeed initiate the first step of photosynthesis in photosynthetic purple
bacteria. Because all photosynthetic organisms use similar processes and share
an evolutionary ancestor, the team is confident that photosynthesis in plants
and algae works the same way. "Nature invented a very clever trick,"
Fleming said.
 |
| A simplified diagram of the experimental procedure in the LH2 complex |
How living systems
use light
Based on how efficient
photosynthesis is at converting sunlight into energy-rich molecules, scientists
have long assumed that a single photon was all it took to initiate the
reaction, wherein photons pass energy to electrons that then trade places with
electrons in different molecules, eventually creating the precursor ingredients
for the production of sugars. After all, the sun doesn't provide that many
photons—only a thousand photons arrive at a single chlorophyll molecule per
second on a sunny day—yet the process occurs reliably across the planet.
However, "no one
had ever backed up that assumption with a demonstration," said first
author Quanwei Li, a joint postdoctoral researcher who develops new
experimental techniques with quantum light in the Fleming and Whaley
groups.And, further complicating matters, a great deal of the research that has
unraveled precise details about later steps of photosynthesis was performed by
triggering photosynthetic molecules with powerful, ultra-fast laser pulses.
"There's a huge
difference in intensity between a laser and sunlight—a typical focused laser
beam is a million times brighter than sunlight," said Li. Even if you
manage to produce a weak beam with an intensity matching that of sunlight, they
are still very different due to quantum properties of light called photon
statistics. Since no one has seen the photon get absorbed, we don't know what
difference it makes what kind of photon it is, he explained. "But just
like you need to understand each particle to build a quantum computer, we need
to study the quantum properties of living systems to truly understand them, and
to make efficient artificial systems that generate renewable fuels."
Photosynthesis, like other chemical reactions, was first understood in
bulk—meaning that we knew what the overall inputs and outputs were, and from
that we could infer what interactions between individual molecules might look
like. In the 1970s and 80s, advances in technology allowed scientists to
directly study individual chemicals during reactions. Now, scientists are
beginning to explore the next frontier, the individual atom and subatomic
particle scale, using even more advanced technologies.
From assumption to
fact
Designing an experiment
that would allow for observation of individual photons meant bringing together
a unique team of theorists and experimentalists who combined cutting-edge tools
from quantum optics and biology. "It was new for people who study photosynthesis,
because they don't normally use these tools, and it was new for people in
quantum optics because we don't normally think about applying these techniques
to complex biological systems," said Whaley, who is also a professor of
chemical physics at UC Berkeley.
The scientists set up a
photon source that generates a single pair of photons through a process called
spontaneous parametric down-conversion. During each pulse, the first
photon—"the herald"—was observed with a highly sensitive detector,
which confirmed that the second photon was on its way to the assembled sample
of light absorbing molecular structures taken from photosynthetic bacteria.
Another photon detector near the sample was set up to measure the lower-energy
photon that is emitted by the photosynthetic structure after it absorbed the
second "heralded" photon of the original pair.
The light absorbing
structure used in the experiment, called the LH2, has been studied extensively.
It is known that photons at the 800 nanometer (nm) wavelength get absorbed by a
ring of nine bacteriochlorophyll molecules in LH2, causing energy to be passed
to a second ring of 18 bacteriochlorophyll molecules which can emit fluorescent
photons at 850 nm. In the native bacteria, the energy from the photons would continue
transferring to subsequent molecules until it is used to initiate the chemistry
of photosynthesis. But in the experiment, when the LH2s had been separated from
other cellular machinery, the detection of the 850 nm photon served as
definitive sign that the process had been activated.
"If you've only got
one photon, it's awfully easy to lose it. So that was the fundamental
difficulty in this experiment and that's why we use the herald photon,"
said Fleming. The scientists analyzed more than 17.7 billion herald photon
detection events and 1.6 million heralded fluorescent photon detection events
to ensure that the observations could only be attributed to single-photon
absorption, and that no other factors were influencing the results.
 |
| rhodopsin-capture-microbes-captured-sunlight-proteins-hg |
"I think the first thing
is that this experiment has shown that you can actually do things with
individual photons. So that's a very, very important point," said Whaley.
"The next thing is, what else can we do? Our goal is to study the energy
transfer from individual photons through the photosynthetic complex at the
shortest possible temporal and spatial scales."
1) Delhi Police
file charge sheet against Brij Bhushan in sexual harassment case:
The Delhi Police have
charged former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) lawmaker Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh with assault, making sexually
coloured remarks, and stalking as they filed a 1,082-page charge sheet in a local
court against him and his aide Vinod Tomar.
Deputy police
commissioner (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal said Singh has been charged under Indian
Penal Code (IPC)’s Sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to
outrage modesty), 354A (making sexually coloured remarks) and 354D (stalking).
Tomar has been indicted under IPC’s sections 109 (abetment), 354, 354A, and 506
(criminal intimidation). Tayal said it is not mandatory to arrest the two.A
second police officer said investigators have found evidence against the
accused but since they face a maximum punishment of five years, it is not
mandatory to arrest them.
The officer added that
since the details sought from overseas wrestling federations have yet not been
received, they may file a supplementary chargesheet against the accused. “It is
a chargesheet; not a final report. So, whatever the investigators get after
filing the primary chargesheet, will certainly be included in the supplementary
chargesheet/s. Also, the forensic reports of digital evidence such as photos,
videos, and audio have not been obtained yet from the laboratories...we may
include their findings in the supplementary chargesheet,” said the second
officer, requesting anonymity.
The officer said the two
accused joined the investigation and cooperated and no recovery or discovery of
facts was to be made from them or at their instance. “Their addresses are
verified and there is no likelihood of them escaping,” he quoted the
chargesheet as saying.
The Delhi Police
separately told another local court on Thursday that no corroborative evidence
was found against Singh in the second case filed against him under the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The police’s 552-page
cancellation report filed in the court cites statements from a minor wrestler,
her father, the complainant, Singh, and other witnesses. A cancellation report
is filed in cases when no corroborative evidence is found. The court will hear
the matter next on July 4.
The minor was among the
women athletes who levelled sexual harassment charges against Singh, who headed
WFI for 12 years. Her father, as the complainant in the POCSO Act case,
withdrew the allegations and recorded a fresh statement before a
magistrate.Tayal said they filed the report requesting the cancellation of the
case based upon statements of the minor and her father after the completion of
the investigation.Police on Sunday said that four of the six women athletes
provided audio and visual evidence to corroborate their allegations.Wrestlers
seeking action against Singh suspended their protest until June 15 after Union
minister Anurag Thakur on June 7 met Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and
Sakshi Malik and assured them that the charge sheet in the case would be filed
by June 15.
In cases such as those
related to sexual harassment, the burden of proof lies on investigating
agencies. Police did not file a first information report (FIR) for weeks until
the Supreme Court directed them to do so.
On Friday last, a team
of Delhi Police visited the WFI office with one of the complainants for about
30 minutes to recreate the sequence of events even as Singh was in his house on
the same premises. Punia said the complainant went through “mental trauma”
after the visit.The protesting wrestlers camped at Jantar Mantar for 38 days
demanding Singh’s immediate arrest until the Delhi Police uprooted their tents
there on May 28. They were manhandled, stopped, and detained as they sought to
march to the new Parliament building during its inauguration that day.The wrestlers
later held off on immersing their medals in the Ganga as part of their protest
against Singh and broke down in a huddle played out on live television.A
Special Investigation Team probing the matter questioned over 180 people and
visited Singh’s residence in Gonda to record statements of his relatives,
colleagues, and associates.
2) Cyclone
Biparjoy: 2 killed, 23 injured, trees uprooted; power outages in nearly 950
Gujarat villages:
Cyclone Biparjoy lay
centred over the Saurashtra-Kutch region, 30 km north of Naliya till 2.30am. It
was expected to move northeastwards and weaken into a cyclonic storm by early
morning on Friday, and into a depression by the same evening over south
Rajasthan, the India Meteorological Department or IMD said.
Top updates on
Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat and Pakistan
1. Biparjoy made
landfall near Jakhau as a very severe cyclonic storm around 6.30 pm on Thursday
with wind speeds of 115 to 125 kmph gusting upto 140 kmph.
2. Strong winds broke
electric wires and poles, causing a power outage in 45 villages of Maliya
tehsil. Power has been restored in 11 villages. Over 300 electric poles have
been broken in the coastal rural and desert areas. The Paschim Gujarat Vij
Company Ltd. (PGVCL) is working to restore power to the rest of the rural areas
as soon as possible, J C Goswami, executive engineer, PGVCL in Morbi told news
agency ANI.
3. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi spoke to Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel over the phone and
took stock of the situation. PM Modi also asked about the details of the safety
arrangements for wild animals including lions in Gir Forest.
4. The cyclonic storm
crossed the coastline near Jakhau Port Thursday evening, but started losing
force several hours later and at 2:30am on Friday was packing 100 kilometres
per hour winds with gusts up to 110 km/hour, the IMD said.
5. Alok Singh, relief
commissioner of Gujarat, said 24 animals have been killed, 524 trees have
fallen, and electric poles have also fallen in some places due to which there
is no electricity in 940 villages.
6. A total power
blackout was witnessed in Mandvi town. Many trees were uprooted on
Jakhau-Mandvi road as well as in Mandvi town due to the strong winds. "No
casualties have been reported so far," district collector Amit Arora said.
7. Around 99 trains
running through, originating or terminating in Biparjoy-affected areas of
Gujarat, will remain cancelled or short-terminated, THE Western Railway said.
8. The Gujarat
government said around 1 lakh people had relocated from coastal and low-lying
areas to shelter.
9. Pakistan's climate
change minister Sherry Rehman said around 82,000 people had been moved from
southeastern coastal areas in the face of "a cyclone the likes of which
Pakistan has never experienced."
10. Storm surges were
expected to reach four metres, with flooding possible in Karachi - home to
about 20 million people
3) Why Bihar CM
Nitish Kumar thinks Lok Sabha election may be held before 2024:
Two days after Bihar
chief minister Nitish Kumar’s big claim that the Lok Sabha elections may be
held before its 2024 schedule, the Janata Dal (United) chief has revealed the
reason behind his prediction. He alleged that the ruling BJP can opt for early
LS polls to curtail the spread and strength of a united opposition.
"The central
government has the majority and can obviously prepone the Lok Sabha elections.
They (BJP) might think that the opposition unity may affect them in the coming
time, so it can get the (Lok Sabha) polls preponed,” he told reporters on
Friday. The general assembly elections are due in March-April next year
The statement comes days
ahead of the crucial Opposition meeting in Patna on June 23 to chart the
roadmap for 2024 polls. Kumar, a former ally of BJP, has been at the forefront
in stitching together a united front against the Centre.
“Therefore, all
opposition parties must come together to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha
polls. We must start preparations after the June 23 meeting,” he added. The
statement comes days ahead of the crucial Opposition meeting in Patna on June
23 to chart the roadmap for 2024 polls. Kumar, a former ally of BJP, has been
at the forefront in stitching together a united front against the Centre.
“Therefore, all
opposition parties must come together to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha
polls. We must start preparations after the June 23 meeting,” he added.
4) How RBI’s New
Rules Are Likely To Make Banks More Accountable For Willful Defaults & Frauds:
But finally, it seems
that India's central bank, i.e., the RBI, is planning to put thoughts into
action and introduce new rules that are expected to make banks in India more
accountable for willful defaults and fraud.
In order to ensure maximum
recovery from distressed assets, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to
go for compromise settlement of fraud accounts and willful defaults.
All regulated entities
(REs) will be required to put in place board-approved policies for undertaking
compromise settlements, with the borrowers as well as for technical write-offs,
laying down the process to be followed for all compromise settlements and
technical write-offs, with specific guidance on the necessary conditions
precedent, the RBI has said in a notification. Conditions would include minimum
ageing, deterioration in collateral value, etc., it said, as per the PTI
report. The policies would also put in place a graded framework for the
examination of staff accountability in such cases, with reasonable thresholds
and timelines as may be decided by the board.
Regulated entities may
undertake compromise settlements or technical write-offs in respect of accounts
categorised as willful defaulters or fraud without prejudice to the criminal
proceeding underway against such debtors.
"In respect of
compromise settlements, the policy shall inter alia contain provisions relating
to permissible sacrifice for various categories of exposures while arriving at
the settlement amount, after prudently reckoning the current realisable value
of security/collateral, where available," as per the notification.
The methodology for
arriving at the realisable value of the security shall also form part of the
policy. The objective would be to maximise the possible recovery from a
distressed borrower at minimum expense, in the best interest of the regulated
entity (RE), as mentioned in the report.
"The compromise
settlements and technical write-offs would be without prejudice to any mutually
agreed contractual provisions between the RE and the borrower relating to
future contingent realisations or recovery by the RE, subject to such claims
not being recognised in any manner on the balance sheet of REs at the time of
the settlement or subsequently till actual realisation of such
receivables," it said.
Any such claims
recognised on the balance sheet of the RE would render the arrangement to be
treated as restructured as per the extant guidelines, it added.
In respect of borrowers
subject to compromise settlements, the notification said there would be a
cooling period as determined by the respective board-approved policies before
the REs could assume fresh exposures to such borrowers. The cooling period with
respect to exposures other than farm credit exposures would be subject to a
floor of 12 months. However, it said, REs are reportedly free to stipulate
higher cooling periods in terms of their board-approved policies. The cooling
period for farm credit exposures would be determined by the REs as per their
respective board-approved policies. The Flip Side To This Decision
To understand why the
RBI circular could be counterproductive, attention must be paid to four sets of
critical data the RBI provides. One is the rise in write-offs. According to the
RBI data, the NPA write-offs in SCBs (including those of willful defaulters)
during FY05–FY14 were ₹63,000 crore, which skyrocketed to ₹12.3 lakh crore
during FY15–FY22 (FY23 data is missing from the RBI’s annual report of 2022–23
released recently). This is 19.4 times higher, as per the Fortune India
report.The spike during FY15–FY22 has a lot to do with exuberance in loan
sanctions and evergreening during the previous UPA years, but it also has a lot
to do with deteriorating economic growth (which nosedived from 8.3% in FY17 to
3.9% in the pre-pandemic FY20 and -5.8% in FY21 before recovering to 9.1% in
FY22). The "recovery" of NPAs written off (not under ‘compromise
settlement’ which is foregone) has been a mere 16.6% during FY18–FY22,
according to a Rajya Sabha reply of March 28, 2023.
Two, sudden spikes in
banking frauds, especially in FY18. It went up from Rs 34,993 crore during
FY05-FY14 to Rs 5.89 lakh crore during FY15–FY23—16.8 times more. The number of
fraud cases also went up by 1.4 times in comparison.
Three: a dramatic rise in
willful defaults. According to the credit information bureau Transunion Cibil
registered with the RBI, there was a 38.5%, or ₹94,000 crore, rise in willful
defaults, from 12,911 accounts for ₹245,888 crore in December 2020 to 14,206
accounts for ₹285,583 crore in December 2021 to 15,778 accounts for ₹340,570
crore in December 2022. This reflects the big "governance gap"—the
gap between loan appraisals and risk management, the report mentioned.
Four, high haircuts and
low recovery through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) of 2016.
According to the regulator IBBI’s data up to March 2023, the recovery is a mere
17.6% (combined for resolution and liquidation processes)—that is a haircut of
82.4%. Such low recovery points to the IBC’s many failures, but the ones
relevant in the present context are "asset stripping", gaming of the
system," and diminishing political will (allowing the dilution of the IBC
and RBI’s regulatory powers), which have worked to the disadvantage of lenders
(banks and other financial institutions), as Fortune India explained in
"Poor run for the IBC continues. What ails it?"All four sets of data
point to huge gaps in stressed asset management and call for more stringent
norms rather than more concessions and compromises.
The blame for the NPA
and banking crises of the recent past has been shifted to former RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan, who initiated the bank clean-up with his Asset Quality Review
(AQR) in 2015. The Economic Survey of 2020–21 held him responsible for
worsening the NPAs by stating that his AQR "led to a second round of
lending distortions" causing further NPAs and that the said AQR
"could not bring out all the hidden bad assets in the bank books and led
to an under-estimation of the capital requirements". More recently, on
June 9, 2023, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Rajan "wrecked the
entire banking system and the financial sector" as the Fortune India
report mentioned.
What such blame games
and statements reflect is the unwillingness to take responsibility for bad
governance in the banking system which led to multiple failures of banks and
NBFCs in 2018. Essentially, these banks and NBFCs were hobbled by banking
frauds: PMC Bank, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Lakshmi Vilas
Bank, IL&FS, HDIL, DHFL, etc. Besides, many corporate tycoons involved with
these banking frauds and others have fled the country, and some loan defaulters
have been found to have stashed their assets in tax havens while claiming
bankruptcy.
5) Eleven killed in
Manipur as new bout of ethnic violence grips India’s northeast:
Eleven people have been
shot dead and 14 injured in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence that has
gripped the northeast Indian state of Manipur.
The latest killings come
little more than a month after an earlier bout of unrest that saw entire
villages burned to the ground, killing dozens and leaving tens of thousands
homeless.
Since then nearly 3
million people in the state have been largely cut off from the rest of the
country, after the government blocked internet services and restricted travel
in an effort to contain the violence.
In the latest bout of
unrest, the violence has been so extreme that many bodies have been hard to
identify, doctors and senior management officials at the Jawaharlal Nehru
Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) and Raj Medicity Hospital in the state’s
capital Imphal told CNN.
“The bodies that have
come in have not been in a good state. There were many cuts, wounds, and
scratches all over,” the director of JNIMS, Dr. Deben, said. “We are still
conducting a post-mortem and trying to confirm the identity of the last victim,
but his face is badly mutilated.” Manipur, a lush, hilly state which borders
Myanmar, is home to an ethnically diverse group of Sino-Tibetan communities,
each with their own language, culture and religion.
Like Kashmir in the
north, it was once a princely state under British rule, and only incorporated
into India in 1949, two years after the country gained independence.
Many within the state
disagreed with that move and ever since then the region has grappled with
violent insurgencies and ethnic conflicts that have resulted in hundreds of
deaths and injuries over the decades.
The current unrest has
seen some of the worst violence in recent years and has sparked criticism of
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), which governs Manipur. Modi has yet to comment publicly on the violence
plaguing the state for weeks now while the home minister Amit Shah’s visit to
Imphal late last month has done little to quell the tensions.
Opposition politicians
have accused Modi and the BJP of showing a lack of urgency in tackling the
problem and of failing to stop the bloodshed.
“None of the actions
taken by the state government or the Union government have inspired confidence
in the people of Manipur,” the country’s main opposition party, the Indian
National Congress, said in a statement Monday, demanding Modi “break his
silence” and visit the state.
CNN has reached out to
the prime minister’s office and the BJP for a comment.
Tribal dispute
An earlier bout of
violence broke out in Imphal on May 3 after thousands of students, mostly from
the Kuki tribe, took part in a rally against the majority Meiti ethnic
community, who were demanding special tribal status that would allow them to
buy land in the hills and give them more opportunity for government jobs.
The Meitei community, a
largely Hindu ethnic group who account for about 50% of the state’s population,
have for years campaigned to be recognized as a scheduled tribe. If they are
given this status, other ethnic groups – many of whom are Christian – say they
fear they will not have a fair chance for jobs and other benefits. The Metei
community dominates positions within the state government, and have been privy
to more economic and infrastructural advancement than the other ethnic groups.
They mostly live in the
more developed but geographically smaller Imphal Valley, while Kuki groups live
predominantly in agriculturally rich and geographically larger protected hill
districts.The Kukis fear the change in status could result in their steady
removal from a protected area they have occupied for decades and leave them
vulnerable to exploitation.
6) Bengal panchayat
polls: Explosives hurled in Bhangar as violence continues to mar nomination
process:
 |
| Congress supporters raise slogans during a protest in front of West Bengal State Election Commission office against the alleged killing of their party's worker in Murshidabad district ahead of Panchayat polls. |
On Tuesday, the clash between ISF and TMC workers broke out at the mela ground in front of the BDO office of Block 2, Bhangar, near Bijayganj Bazar.
A violent clash broke
out between workers of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and the Trinamool
Congress (TMC) in front of the office of the block development officer at
Bhangar in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Tuesday morning, leading
to several vehicles being vandalised, explosives being hurled and stones being
pelted at the police. Both parties blamed each other and said several of their
members had been injured.
The violence took place
as ISF candidates sought to file their nomination papers for the July 8
panchayat elections. Ever since the nomination process started on June 9,
several incidents of violence have been reported from across West Bengal.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been in place since
Monday near the premises of nomination centres. However, this has not put a stop
to the violence.
On Tuesday, the clash
between ISF and TMC workers broke out at the mela ground in front of the BDO
office of Block 2, Bhangar, near Bijayganj Bazar. There was police presence at
the BDO office, and police officers were among those injured. Police resorted
to lobbing teargas shells and lathicharge in efforts to bring the situation
under control, officers said.Bhangar MLA Naushad Siddiqui of the ISF alleged
that TMC members attacked his party’s workers to prevent them from filling
nominations.“Since yesterday, TMC workers have been making efforts to stop us
from filing nominations. ISF believes in the language of democracy,” Siddique
said on Tuesday.
Canning East MLA Saokat
Mollah, the TMC leader in charge of Bhangar, alleged that it was the ISF that
had organised a planned attack. He said the ISF’s aim was to disrupt the TMC’s
planned ‘Nabjoar Yatra’ programme, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday from
Block No 1 of Bhangar. He also claimed that Siddiqui was behind the incident.
7) Defence ministry
approves $3bn drone deal with US for Modi visit. Here’s what India will get:
Deal is for purchase of 30 drones. With endurance of over 27 hours, Reaper comes with nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors & laser-guided bombs besides air-to-ground missiles. In addition to the much-awaited deal for jet engine technology, India and the US will also sign a whopping $3 billion deal for outright purchase of 30 MQ-9 Reaper or Predator B drones
Sources in the defence
and security establishment said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led Defence
Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the mega deal Thursday.
The procurement file
moved by the Indian Navy will now go through a bureaucratic process, which is
mainly approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security, before Modi leaves for
Washington next week. As reported by the Print in September 2021, the three
Services had finally come around to agreeing to go in for the drone deal, which
is a tri-service acquisition but is being led by the Navy.
The Reaper comes with
nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors and laser-guided bombs besides
air-to-ground missiles. It has an endurance of over 27 hours and can operate up
to 50,000 ft with a 3,850 pound (1,746 kg payload capacity that includes 3,000
pounds (1,361 kg) of external stores.
It is capable of
carrying multiple mission payloads to include Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR),
Lynx, Multi-mode Radar, multi-mode
maritime surveillance radar, Electronic Support Measures (ESM), laser
designators, and various weapons and payload packages.
As per the plan, the
Navy, which already operates two unarmed versions of drone — Sea Guardian — on
lease, will get the majority share of the pie while the Army and the Air Force
will get slightly lower numbers.
The erstwhile Trump
administration had expected the deal for 30 armed drones to be announced at the
two-plus-two ministerial dialogue in New Delhi on 27 October 2020. However,
India did not succumb to the hard American push to seal the deal then.India
wanted American manufacturing firm General Atomics to set up a regional
maintenance repair and overhaul facility in India for the drones.
Sources in the defence
establishment said that this was a deal that the Americans were very keen for
and that India bargained on multiple fronts before agreeing to this deal.
It was in 2018 that the
US had offered India the armed version of the Guardian drones, which were
originally authourised for sale as unarmed and for surveillance.India was
earlier eyeing both the unarmed Sea Guardian drones for the Navy and the armed
Predator B for attack options, but many within the defence and security
establishment felt that both operations can be done by one type only.
This was because of the
prohibitive price involving American drones. The Navy had initially planned for
22 Sea Guardians which were priced at over $2 billion, but then brought down
the number to just 12.
However, since all the
three services wanted weaponised drones, a decision was taken to jointly pursue
the deal.The Reaper has been acquired by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, NASA, the Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the French
Air Force and the Spanish Air Force.
8) Jack Dorsey:
India threatened to shut Twitter and raid employees:
In an interview with a
US-based YouTube channel, Mr Dorsey said India requested removal of several
tweets and accounts linked to the farmers' protest in 2020.
Twitter was also asked
to censor journalists critical of the government, he alleged.India has denied
the allegations and accused Twitter of violating laws. "This is an
outright lie... Perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of
Twitter's history," federal minister Rajeev Chandrashekar tweeted on
Tuesday.
"No one went to
jail nor was Twitter 'shutdown'. Dorsey's Twitter regime had a problem
accepting the sovereignty of Indian law. It behaved as if the laws of India did
not apply to it."
Mr Dorsey's comments -
made to the American news series Breaking Points - are the latest in an already
troubled relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) government and Twitter.
It also comes at a time
when the platform has been caught up in an intensifying debate on its role in
supporting principles of free speech amid demands in several countries to
control Twittter's influence.
The Indian
government's war with Twitter
Mr Dorsey quit as the
Twitter CEO in 2021 and the social media platform was purchased by billionaire
Elon Musk in 2022.
In the interview, which
was uploaded on YouTube on Monday, Mr Dorsey said "countries like India
and Turkey made many requests to us to take down journalists' accounts that
give tactile information and remove them from the platform".He added that
he was "surprised at the level of engagement and requests" by
governments of the world to censor content on the platform during his time.
"India, for
example, was a country that had many requests around the farmers' protests,
around particular journalists that were critical of the government," he
said."It manifested in ways such as: 'we will shut Twitter down in India'
- which is a very large market for us; 'we will raid the homes of your
employees,' which they did; 'we will shut down your offices if you don't follow
suit.' And this is India, a democratic country," Mr Dorsey told the show's
hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti.
At the height of the
farmers' protests against a series of agriculture reform laws, the government
had asked Twitter to remove tweets it believed that had used an incendiary
hashtag, and accounts it alleged were used by Pakistan-backed Sikh separatist
groups.
The request came after
the largely peaceful protest had been jolted by violence on 26 January 2021,
which left one person dead and hundreds of policemen injured.Twitter had first
blocked some 250 accounts, including those of a news magazine and activists and
organisations associated with supporting the year-long protests on the
outskirts of capital Delhi.
But six hours later,
Twitter restored the accounts, citing "insufficient justification"
for continuing the suspension.
The Indian government
immediately ordered Twitter to block the accounts again and told the company's
employees in India that legal action would be taken - which could be up to
seven years in prison - if they did not comply.
Twitter responded,
saying it would not block accounts belonging to media companies, journalists,
activists and politicians because that would "violate their fundamental
right to free expression under the Indian law".
Relations between
Twitter and Mr Modi's government have been downhill ever since.
Why India is the
world leader of internet shutdowns
Critics say that at the
heart of this is a new internet law that puts social media platforms like
Twitter and Facebook under the direct supervision of the government. The
government says the rules are meant to tackle misinformation and hate speech,
but experts worry it would lead to censorship.
Mr Musk, who succeeded
Mr Dorsey, said in April that "rules in India for what can appear on
social media are quite strict".
In Monday's interview,
Mr Dorsey compared India's actions to those by governments in Turkey and
Nigeria, which have briefly restricted the platform in the past.
"Turkey is very
similar [to India], we had so many requests from Turkey. We fought Turkey in
their courts and often won, but they threatened to shut us down
constantly," he said.
"Nigeria is another
example... The situation was such that we could not even put our employees on
the ground in the country out of fear of what the government might do to
them."
1) WTC final 2023 |
Australia crushes India by 209 runs to win World Test Championship title:
 |
| Pat Cummins of Australia lifts the ICC World Test Championship Mace during day five of the ICC World Test Championship Final between Australia and India at The Oval on June 11, 2023 in London, England |
Australia becomes the second team after New Zealand to win the Mace; second consecutive defeat for India in WTC finals India, for all its financial clout and hoo-ha around its cricket, lost yet again when it mattered the most, as its underwhelming record in ICC tournaments continued with a 209-run hammering by Australia in the WTC final here on Sunday. Australian pacer Scott Boland produced a bowling spell of rare quality to get rid of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the same over, effectively shutting the door on India, who were bowled out for 234 in their second innings on the final day at The Oval.
Australia were clearly
the better team on all fronts while India had only themselves to blame for yet
another loss in a global event. India’s last ICC title came way back in 2013
and it was their second successive defeat in the WTC final, having gone down
against New Zealand two years ago.
India lost seven wickets
for the addition of 70 runs on the final day.
While the non selection
of R Aswhin was the big talking point on the opening day, India lost the title
contest mainly due to the failure of their high-profile batting line-up.The top
four comprising Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli failed
to deliver in the high-stake game.
Chasing a record 444 at
The Oval, Indian fans went into day five high on hope with Kohli (49) and
Ajinkya Rahane (46) walking into the middle.
 |
| Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Travis Head and Alex Carey celebrate as Australia defeats India on the fifth day of the ICC World Test Championship final at The Oval cricket ground in London on June 11, 2023 |
However, Boland removing
Kohli and Jadeja (0) in the seventh over of the morning pretty much shut the
door on India, who resumed the day at 164 for three needing another 280 runs
for an improbable win.Kohli, who had looked in extremely good touch on day
four, had to make a big hundred if India had to get anywhere close to the
massive target.On a surface with variable bounce, there was always going to be
an odd ball that had your name on it, and that is what happened with both Kohli
and Jadeja.
Boland’s relentless
pursuit around the off-stump has added an extra dimension to the Australian
attack. Bowling from the pavilion end, the seamer pitched one wide and Kohli
went for the drive only to be caught by a flying Steve Smith at second slip.Two
balls later, he got one to seam away from round the wicket and Jadeja ended up
offering an easy catch to the wicketkeeper, leaving India at 179 for five.
K S Bharat then joined
Rahane who played a couple of beautiful straight drives off Mitchell Starc to
keep crowd going.Starc drew his length back soon after and Rahane went hard at
a ball that he could have left to be caught behind, sealing his team’s fate.
The experienced batter was left tapping his head in frustration knowing he went
for the wrong shot.
Shardul Thakur lasted
just five balls, lbw off Nathan Lyon, to make it 213 for seven. It seemed the
match would last till lunch but the Indian tail made the task easier for the
Australians and were bowled out in the extra half hour of play.
Scoreboard:
Australia 1st Innings:
469 all out; India 1st Innings: 296 all out; Australia 2nd Innings: 270/8
declared
India 2nd Innings
(overnight: 164/3): Rohit Sharma lbw Lyon 43 Shubman Gill c Green b Boland 18
Cheteshwar Pujara c Carey b Cummins 27 Virat Kohli c Smith b Boland 49 Ajinkya
Rahane c Carey b Starc 46 Ravindra Jadeja c Carey b Boland 0 KS Bharat c&b
Lyon 23 Shardul Thakur lbw Lyon 0 Umesh Yadav c Carey b Starc 1 Mohammed Shami
not out 13 Mohammed Siraj c Cummins b Lyon 1; Extras: (LB-2, W-6, NB-5) 13
Total: (all out in 63.3
overs) 234
Fall of wickets: 1-41,
2-92, 3-93, 4-179, 5-179, 6-212, 7-213, 8-220, 9-224, 10-234
Australia 2nd Innings
bowling: Pat Cummins 13-1-55-1, Scott Boland 16-2-46-3, Mitchell Starc
14-1-77-2, Cameron Green 5-0-13-0, Nathan Lyon 15.3-2-41-4.
2) Novak Djokovic
reaches record 23 grand slam titles after French Open final win:
Since his emergence at
the top level of professional tennis 18 years ago, Novak Djokovic has used the
dizzying bar set by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal before him as inspiration to
push himself to his limits, never doubting that he would one day rise above it.
What once seemed
impossible eventually became inevitable. On Sunday, Djokovic finally surpassed
his great rivals in the most significant category of all as he defeated Casper
Ruud 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 to clinch his 23rd grand slam title, breaking his tie of
22 with Nadal.
This historic victory
means that Djokovic is now the men’s sole grand slam record holder, alongside
countless other records. After years of being blocked by Nadal, the greatest
claycourter of all time, at the French Open, Djokovic also now has three titles
in Paris and he is the first man to win each grand slam tournament three times.
He will also return to No 1 for a record-extending 388th week as the best
player in the world. While he still covers the court with more flexibility and
ease than most athletes at their physical peak, these achievements at his age
have only added another layer to his greatness. Djokovic is now the oldest
Roland Garros singles champion in history at 36 years and 20 days. He has also
won the last three grand slam tournaments he has contested – he did not travel
to the US Open last year due to the United States banning unvaccinated visitors
– compiling a 21‑match grand slam winning run.
Few people gave Ruud,
the fourth seed, much of a realistic chance against the third seed Djokovic,
but after contesting the French and US Open finals last season against Nadal
and Carlos Alcaraz, Ruud knew what level it would take for him to match
Djokovic in a grand slam final. Ruud started the match vaporising his forehand
as he took an early break, while Djokovic started the match poorly. He played
passively while he sprayed forehands and missed overheads. The benefit of being
Djokovic, though, is that he always has options. He dug in and he relied on his
legs as he soaked up a series of stinging Ruud forehands before retrieving the
early break.
Still, the Norwegian
kept his head up. The decisive moment of the match came while he led 5-4 with
Djokovic serving. Ruud opened the game with some inspirational play, including
a successful tweener lob to lead 0-30. But at 5-4, 30-30, Ruud gifted a
forehand error on an easy second serve return. Sensing Ruud’s tension, Djokovic
pounced. He held serve, he forced a tiebreak and then he picked Ruud’s weaker
backhand apart to take the set. “He just steps up,” Ruud said. “Either he plays
ridiculous defence or he plays beautiful winners. Just doesn’t do any mistakes.
He either lets you go for too much or he plays a beautiful winner.” By the
second set, the Serb’s nerves had evaporated. He dictated from inside the
baseline, pulverising his forehand, and he continued to methodically break down
Ruud’s backhand as he neutralised his serve. Djokovic controlled the contest
until the end, patiently waiting for his moment to clinch the decisive break
late in the third set before closing out one of the greatest successes of his
career. After the final point, he collapsed to the ground before climbing up to
his player box.
3) French Open
winner: #1 Iga Świątek wins over Karolina Muchová in women’s singles final:
Iga Świątek has
won the 2023 women’s French Open final over Karolina Muchová. This marks her
second consecutive French Open championship and the third overall of her
career. We often call Rafael Nadal the “king of clay,” and it seems Świątek may
already be carving out “the queen of clay” moniker for herself. This is the
fourth career major win for the world’s #1 women’s tennis player.
Świątek was the
favorite heading into the tournament with -125 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Her odds only increased as she made her way through the tournament field. She
went into the finals as the -900 moneyline favorite over Muchová.
Iga Świątek’s
Path to Championship
1st: Cristina
Bucsa 6-4, 6-0
2nd: Claire Liu
6-4, 6-0
3rd: Xinyu Wang
6-4, 6-0
4th: Lesia
Tsurenko 5-1, Retired
QF: #6 Coco
Gauff 6-4, 6-2
SF: #14 Beatriz
Haddad Maia 6-2, 7-6 (9-7)
F: Karolina
Muchová 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
4) Kidambi
Srikanth exits from Indonesia Open, loses in quarterfinals to Li Shi Feng
 |
| The win enabled Feng to restore parity on head-to-head record against Srikanth, which stands at 1-1 now |
Srikanth lost 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes against world No.10 Feng to exit from the competition. Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned top seed Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in straight games to sail into the men’s doubles semifinals of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event here on Friday.
However, world
championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the men’s singles
competition after going down fighting to China’s Li Shi Feng in the
quarterfinals.
The first Indian
to take the court, Srikanth lost 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes
against world No. 10 Feng.
The win enabled
Feng to restore parity on head-to-head record against Srikanth, which stands at
1-1 now. The seventh seeded duo of Satwik and Chirag then displayed a flawless
game to outwit Indonesia’s Alfian and Adrianto 21-13 21-13 in 41 minutes.
Satwik and
Chirag will play the winner of the quarterfinal between Koreans Min Hyuk Kang
and Seung Jae Seo and Indonesia’s Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin.
In the battle
between Srikanth and Feng, the Chinese came out on top in the first game
despite taking more time to get off the blocks.
It was world No.
22 Srikanth, who opened up an early 2-0 lead before Feng bounced back with five
straight points, with the Indian guilty of committing too many unforced errors.
The initial lead was all Srikanth could manage as his Chinese opponent upped
his game as the match progressed to take a 11-7 lead at the game break.
Feng’s court
coverage and anticipation was way better that his opponent, who made a number
of mistakes near the net.
Barring a few
glimpses of his old self, Srikanth looked completely off colour as Feng continued
to increase his lead, executing drop shots with precision and body smashes to
easily pocket the first game. After a close contest initially in the second
game, it was Srikanth who bounced back in style with perfect smashes and wore
out his Chinese opponent by playing from front to back of the court to take a
11-6 lead.Srikanth relied on his aggressive play near the net to take points
and eventually closed out the second game in his favour to level the scores.
But Srikanth
failed to continue in the same vein in the decider as Feng raced to a five-
point lead at the mid-game interval, when the Chinese received medical
attention on his heavily strapped left foot.
5) Women’s
Junior Asia Cup 2023 hockey: India beat Korea 2-1 to win maiden crown
Annu and Neelam scored for the Indian hockey team. Japan won the bronze medal to qualify for the FIH Junior Women's World Cup 2023. The Indian hockey team clinched the Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 title in Kakamigahara, Japan, with a 2-1 win over the Republic of Korea in the final on Sunday.
This is the
first time India have won the Women's Junior Asia Cup. India had already
secured a spot in the FIH Women's Junior World Cup 2023 in Chile. Japan beat
China 2-1 to become the third team to qualify for the World Cup scheduled this
year.For India, Annu (21') and Neelam (40’) were on target while Seoyeon Park
(24’) scored the solitary goal for Korea.
India started
the game on an attacking note by winning a penalty corner in the opening minute
of the game but they failed to capitalise on it. However, Korea resorted to
counter-attacks and controlled the possession. Despite both teams playing
attacking hockey, the first quarter ended goalless.
Korea stuck to
their approach in the second quarter and pushed India on the back foot.
However, India took the lead through Annu who converted via a penalty stroke.
India’s lead,
however, didn’t last long as Seoyeon Park scored an equaliser for Korea via a
field goal. The second quarter didn’t witness any more goals as both teams went
into the half-time break with the scores levelled at 1-1.
The second half
of the match started with Korea maintaining possession while the Indian team
switched to counter-attacks and it paid off as Neelam converted a penalty
corner to put India in front as the third quarter ended with the score 2-1 in
favour of the Indian team.In order to protect their lead, India shifted their
focus on defending and controlled the tempo of the game by keeping possession
in the fourth quarter. On the other hand, Korea made forced errors and
misdirected passes in their desperation to find an equaliser. Ultimately, India
stood strong and stuck to their strategy to win the title clash 2-1.
Earlier this
month, India also won the Men’s Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament after beating
arch-rivals Pakistan in the final.
6)
Intercontinental Cup 2023 football: India beat Mongolia 2-0 in opener:
 |
| India beat mongolia |
The Indian
football team beat Mongolia 2-0 in its first match of the Intercontinental Cup
2023 football tournament at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on
Friday.
For India, Sahal
Abdul Samad (2’) and Lallianzuala Chhangte (15’) scored in the first-half. The
match was the Indian men’s football team’s first-ever match in a competitive
tournament in Odisha.
Intercontinental
Cup: Sunil Chhetri scores as India beat Vanuatu 1-0
 |
| Sunil Chhetri celebrates scoring the winning goal against Vanuatu in the Intercontinental Cup on Monday |
It had to be him. It's almost always been him. As he chested it down, swiveled and absolutely larruped his shot into the roof of the net, the average Indian fan would have felt that sense of familiarity sweep over them. They've seen it happen 86 times now... a Sunil Chhetri goal for India. And this one was enough for a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Vanuatu on matchday two of the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar.
Adipurush:
OTT Release:
Extraction 2:
After the grand success of Extraction Part 1, the Russo Brothers created a franchise, and they are all set with Extraction 2. The first part of the movie was shot in India. Now, this movie looks like a big-budget action movie that is all set to stream on Netflix on June 16th
I Love You: is an upcoming romantic thriller drama movie that is all
set to stream on JioCinema on June 16th, 2023, at 12 AM IST. This movie will be
available for free for all users. Starring Rakul Preet Singh and Pavail Gulati
in lead roles.
Kandahar is an upcoming American action thriller mystery drama
movie that is all set to stream on Amazon Prime Video on June 16th, 2023, at
4:30 AM IST. This movie is going to stream in English, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi
languages
After his mission is
exposed, an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in
Afghanistan must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an
extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and
foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.
BOOK OF THIS WEEK:
Kleptopia By Tom
Burgis
In this real-life
thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative
journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and
corruption.
Kleptopia follows the
dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators,
enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing,
Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are
uniting – and the terrible human cost.
A body in a burned-out
Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in
Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the
truth about the City of London – the world’s piggy bank for blood money.
Riveting, horrifying and
written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way,
all that we hold most dear is being stolen.
Glimpses of this shadowy
world have emerged over the years. In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He
follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening
dictators, and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to
Riyadh, Paris to the White House, the trail shows something even more sinister:
the thieves are uniting. And the human cost will be great.
Tom Burgis:
Tom Burgis is an investigative correspondent for the Financial Times and the author of “The Looting Machine,” a book that provides a global perspective on the exploitation of Africa. Prior to working on his book, Burgis was the West Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Lagos, Nigeria. He has also worked as the newspaper’s Johannesburg correspondent. Before joining the Financial Times, he was freelance and spent a year in South America, focusing mostly on Chile’s attempt to bring Augusto Pinochet to justice.
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