·       IOD, sometimes referred to as the Indian Nino, is similar to the El Nino phenomenon, occurring in the relatively smaller area of the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian and Malaysian coastline in the east and the African coastline near Somalia in the west.

·       The El Nino is the warmer-than-normal phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, during which there are generally warmer temperatures and less rainfall than normal in many regions of the world, including India.

·       One side of the ocean, along the equator, gets warmer than the other.

·       IOD is said to be positive when the western side of the Indian Ocean, near the Somalia coast, becomes warmer than the eastern Indian Ocean.

·       It is negative when the western Indian Ocean is cooler.

Negative IOD:

·       The air circulation in the Indian Ocean basin moves from west to east, that is from the African coast towards the Indonesian islands, near the surface, and in the opposite direction at the upper levels. That means the surface waters in the Indian Ocean get pushed from west to east.

·       In the years when the air circulation becomes stronger, more warm surface waters from the African coast are pushed towards the Indonesian islands, making that region warmer than usual. This causes hotter air to rise, and the cycle reinforces itself.

·       This is the state of negative IOD.

Positive IOD:

·       Air circulation becomes slightly weaker than normal. In some rare cases, the air circulation even reverses direction. The consequence is that the African coast becomes warmer while the Indonesian coastline gets cooler.

·       A positive IOD event is often seen developing at times of an El Nino, while a negative IOD is sometimes associated with La Nina.

·       During El Nino, the Pacific side of Indonesia is cooler than normal because of which the Indian Ocean side also gets cooler. That helps the development of a positive IOD.

·       By the end of 2032, Washington and Tokyo aim to achieve full operational capability for the system.

·       Hypersonic weapons or missiles pose a unique challenge due to their blinding speeds and relatively low altitudes (20 to 80 km) during the glide phase.

·       They can navigate around areas containing known missile defence sensors.

·       These characteristics make it particularly challenging for ground-based radar systems to track them efficiently.

·       The GPI Project aims to provide regional hypersonic missile defence.

·       It will achieve this by launching specially modified missiles from surface warships.

·       These missiles will engage and destroy incoming hypersonic missiles as they glide through the boundary between space and Earth’s atmosphere.

·       The “glide” phase of the missile’s trajectory provides the best opportunity to intercept it before it enters its last high-speed drop.

·       With a traditional Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), the warhead separates from its booster and continues on a parabolic, gravity driven trajectory to its target.

·       A hypersonic weapon, by contrast, separates from its booster after the peak of its trajectory and accelerates toward the Earth using gravity. It then performs a pitch manoeuvre to begin a flatter trajectory called the glide phase.

·       Unlike typical ballistic missiles, the hypersonic and glide vehicles travel at five times (or more) the speed of sound on an unpredictable trajectory.

·       The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 and established Antarctica as a region dedicated to peaceful purposes, scientific cooperation, and environmental protection.

·       Over the years, the Treaty has garnered widespread support, with 56 countries currently party to it.

·       India has been a Consultative Party to the Antarctic Treaty since 1983. In 2022, India enacted the Antarctic Act, reaffirming its commitment to the Antarctic Treaty.

·       From 1961 to 1994 the ATCM generally met once every two years, but since 1994 the meetings have occurred annually.

46th ATCM Agenda:

·       It covers strategic planning for sustainable management of Antarctica and its resources, policy, legal, biodiversity prospecting, inspections and exchange of information and data, research, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation, addressing climate change impacts, development of tourism framework, and promoting awareness.

·       It is a dedicated processor designed specifically for accelerating neural network processes.

·       A neural network is essentially a type of machine learning algorithm that mimics the human brain for processing data.

·       It is highly capable for handling machine learning operations that form the basis for AI-related tasks, such as speech recognition, natural language processing, photo or video editing processes like object detection, and more.

·       In most consumer-facing gadgets such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, the NPU is integrated within the main processor, adopting a System-on-Chip (SoC) configuration.

·       CPUs employ a sequential computing method, issuing one instruction at a time, with subsequent instructions awaiting the completion of their predecessors.

·       In contrast, NPU harnesses parallel computing to simultaneously execute numerous calculations. This parallel computing approach results in swifter and more efficient processing.

·       NPU is also able to learn based on accumulated data in order to deduce optimal solutions.

·       It is a new AI model developed by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs.

·       It is a revolutionary model that can predict the structure and interactions of all life’s molecules with unprecedented accuracy and even it mapped the behaviour for all of life’s molecules, including human DNA.

·       It can generate molecules’ joint 3D structure, revealing how they all fit together.

·       It models large biomolecules such as proteins, DNA and RNA, as well as small molecules, also known as ligands — a category encompassing many drugs.

·       Furthermore, AlphaFold 3 can model chemical modifications to these molecules which control the healthy functioning of cells, that when disrupted can lead to disease.

·       It assembles its predictions using a diffusion network, akin to those found in AI image generators.

Significance

·       It allows scientists to see cellular systems in all their complexity, across structures, interactions and modifications.

·       This new window on the molecules of life reveals how they’re all connected and helps understand how those connections affect biological functions — such as the actions of drugs, the production of hormones and the health-preserving process of DNA repair.