Prelims Specific Notes for IAS/clevernotes

The Earth System has two primary components: the geosphere and the biosphere.
The geosphere has four subcomponents: lithosphere (solid Earth), atmosphere (gaseous envelope), hydrosphere (liquid water), and cryosphere (frozen water).
Each of these subcomponents can be further subdivided into elements: for example, the oceans are an element of the hydrosphere.
The Earth’s cryosphere consists of four elements: glaciers, snow cover, floating ice, and permafrost.
The biosphere (living organisms) is a relatively thin life-supporting stratum of Earth’s surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the ocean.
The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors from which they derive energy and nutrients.contains about 100 phyla organised into five kingdoms of life forms.

Albinism Vs Leucism
A white (leucistic) sambar deer was photographed in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary during a research study on leopards recently. Sambar deer are usually light brown or dark with a grayish or yellowish tinge.


Albinism and leucism are genetic mutations that result in loss of pigmentation in animals which leads to white patches or white colouration instead of the animal's natural colours.

Albinism is a genetic mutation that prevents the production of melanin (a pigment normally responsible for black or reddish-brown colour in animals) in the cells.

Any species of animal can be albino, including humans and reptiles, but not all albino animals are all white.

Specifically with reptiles and amphibians, melanin isn’t the only pigment these creatures create. Some species of reptiles produce carotenoids, or “red-orange pigments”.

Since these pigments are not affected by albinism, animals with high amounts of carotenoids will still appear brightly colored.

Because albinism affects all melanin production in an animal’s cells, this means that partial albinism cannot exist. This phenomenon is known as leucism, the partial loss of all types of pigmentation, including carotenoids.

Leucism causes white coloration, white patches, spots, or splotches on the skin or fur. Leucism is also discernible from albinism because leucism does not affect the pigment cells in the eyes.

All albino animals will have red or pink eyes because the lack of pigment allows blood vessels to be visible through the whites of the eye.

For the species itself, leucism is not a favourable attribute. This means that they lose their ability to camouflage, becoming easy targets for the predators. Also, among several species, males depend on bright colours to attract a potential mate. And most importantly, for animals that rely on sunlight to optimise their body temperatures (like crocodiles or reptiles), leucism can be a hindrance as the white colour reflects more light.

Ninetyeast Ridge (NER)
Located in the eastern Indian Ocean, the ∼5500 km long Ninetyeast Ridge (NER) is the longest linear feature on Earth. Together with the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, which is related to the Réunion hotspot, the NER is the main hotspot track used to define the motion of the Indian plate.
The origin of the NER is believed to be related to the northward movement of Indian plate over the Kerguelen hot spot.
In the northern part, the NER is covered by the younger sediments of Bengal Fan, also known as the Ganges Fan, which is the largest submarine fan on Earth. The fan resulted from the uplift and erosion of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau produced by the collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
The NER divides the Indian Ocean into the West Indian Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean and also separates the Nicobar Fan from the Bengal Fan.

What is Overview Effect?
Observing Earth from space can alter an astronauts' cosmic perspective, a mental shift known as the “Overview Effect.” First coined by space writer Frank White in 1987, the Overview Effect is described as a feeling of awe for our home planet and a sense of responsibility for taking care of it.

Phage-based therapies

Bacteriophages (or simply phages) are viruses that infect bacteria and single-celled microbes known as archaea while ignoring plants and animals.
They were projected, more than a century ago, to constitute an effective antimicrobial remedy and were widely used as such mainly in the former Soviet Republics.
However, with the emergence of antibiotics, the medical community mostly discarded them. Today, however, phage-based therapies are gaining traction as antibiotic resistance plays a role in the deaths of 5 million people each year worldwide.
Phages offer pinpoint targeting, since most phages evolved to infect one or a few strains of bacteria or archaea. Identifying the bacterium causing a patient’s illness and finding a phage that kills it could wipe out the troublemaker and leave beneficial bacteria unharmed.
Phages can break up biofilms, stubborn webs of bacteria and extracellular matrix that immune cells and antibiotics have difficulty penetrating.
Phages’ potential is vast, but finding the right ones isn’t easy. Each case requires combing through meagre phage libraries or sampling places where the bacterium lives, such as in sewage. Often, the hunt fails or yields phages that are difficult to work with.
Synthetic biologists are trying to prompt one type of phage to open multiple bacterial doors, but there’s limited space inside phage “bodies” to cram genetic keys.

The most important archaeological evidence associated with urbanism is the pottery called Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).

Most archaeological excavations at early historical cities have shown that the NBPW phase was coterminous with urbanization.

For example, excavations at Purana Qila in Delhi have revealed NBPW levels dating to 4th-3rd centuries BCE.

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Article 75(3) brings into existence what is usually called “Responsible Government.” The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.

Collective responsibility is assured by the enforcement of two principles: first, no person is nominated to the Council except on the advice of the Prime Minister, and
secondly, no person is retained as a member of the Council if the Prime Minister demands his dismissal.

Flipping

It has been observed that many Indian companies have been getting headquartered overseas, especially in destinations with favourable legal environments and taxation policies.

The technical jargon for this may be identified as ‘Flipping’, which is the process of transferring the entire ownership of an Indian company to an overseas entity,
accompanied by a transfer of all IP and all data hitherto owned by the Indian company.

It effectively transforms an Indian company into a 100 per cent subsidiary of a foreign entity, with the founders and investors retaining the same ownership via the foreign entity, having swapped all shares.

Blockchain has been heralded as the most significant innovation since the Internet itself. Blockchain technology is a novel data structure that is secure, cryptography-based, and stores transactional records (known as the block) in databases (known as chains) distributed across a network through peer-to-peer nodes, allowing the transfer of digital goods. It works on the principles of transparency, decentralisation, accountability, and immutability.

It initially emerged as the backbone of bitcoin and is an incorruptible digital public ledger of transactions. They find wide applications in Smart contracts, Supply chain management, Asset protection through an indisputable record of real-time ownership, Personal data management and Identification, Payment processing, Crowdfunding through cryptocurrencies, tracking drugs in pharmaceutical supply chains, verification of land records and certificates, etc.

The potential of blockchain technology to enable remote voting is also being explored by the election commission.

• The value of rupee against the dollar or for that matter any other currency depends on the market forces of demand and supply. If the demand for dollars increases, then the value of the rupee depreciates and vice-versa. There are a variety of methods by which RBI intervenes to stabilise the falling exchange rate of rupee.
• It can intervene directly in the currency market by buying and selling dollars. If RBI wishes to prop up rupee value, then it can sell dollars and when it needs to bring down rupee value, it can buy dollars.
• The central bank can also influence the value of the rupee by way of monetary policy. RBI can tweak the repo rate (the rate at which RBI lends to banks) and the liquidity ratio (the portion of money banks are required to invest in government bonds) to control rupee.
o The repo rate is the rate at which the central bank (Reserve Bank of India) lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds.
• When the RBI raises the repo rate, it leads to a rise in interest rates, bond yields and return on debt papers, drawing more investor money to chase better returns if the same is low in other markets.
o When the RBI increases the repo rate, banks need to pay more interest on their borrowings from RBI. Thus, banks also pay more on their loans.
o Also, higher interest rates stem money circulation in the economy, leaving more money in the hands of the RBI to manage the currency demand-supply situation.
• Higher interest rates in an economy tend to draw foreign investment, increasing the demand for and value of the home currency. Similarly, lower interest rates tend to decrease exchange rates.

Quantum nonlocality
Nonlocality describes the apparent ability of objects to instantaneously know about each other’s state, even when separated by large distances (potentially even billions of light years), almost as if the universe at large instantaneously arranges its particles in anticipation of future events.

Quantum contextuality
Contextuality in physics describes how or whether the details of an observation affect what is observed. We mean that the results of measurements can depend on how we made the measurement, or what combination of measurements we chose to do.

Quantum entanglement
The phenomenon in quantum theory whereby particles that interact with each other become permanently dependent on each other’s quantum states and properties, to the extent that they lose their individuality and in many ways behave as a single entity. At some level, entangled particles know each other’s states and properties.