• CSIR-National Physical Laboratory has developed a bi-luminescent security ink which glows in red and green colours when illuminated by two different excitation sources at 254 nano meters (nm) and 365 nm, respectively.
• The ink was prepared in a batch of 1kg and given to Bank Note Press (BNP), Dewas, a unit of Security Printing Minting Corporation of India Ltd. (SPMCIL), New Delhi.
• The ink is found comparable to the standards that are in use.
• The formulation can be used to check the authenticity of passports, Government documents, tamper evident labels, identity cards, etc.

• CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) is the custodian of Indian Standard Time (IST) and has the responsibility for realization, establishment, maintenance and dissemination of IST through an act of Parliament.
• CSIR-NPL is the custodian of “National Standards” with a responsibility of realization, establishment, up gradation, maintenance and dissemination of standards at par to international level through R and D and latest technology.
• CSIR-NPL’s National Metrology has not only championed in its primary mandate as the custodian of Measurement Standards for the nation but also served the Indian industry, academia and strategic sectors to excel in their endeavors.

• Lalit Kala Akademi, the National Academy of Art, was set up by the Government of India on 5 August, 1954, and was registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, on 11 March, 1957.
• In pursuance of the objectives set out in the Constitution, the organisation functions through its General Council, Executive Board and other Committees.
• Lalit Kala Akademi is the Government’s apex cultural body in the field of visual arts in India.
• It is an autonomous body, which is fully funded by the Ministry of Culture.
• It has substantial independence in making decisions related to national and international exhibitions, events and providing financial assistance to artists and art organisations.

• China has taken over as President of the UN Security Council for the month of March 2020, pledging to promote solidarity and cooperation in this capacity.
• The Security Council was established by the UN Charter.
• Its primary responsibility is to work to maintain international peace and security.
• The council has 15 members: the five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
• The council's presidency is a capacity that rotates every month alphabetically among its 15 members.

• Researchers have recently reported that the swamp wallaby, a marsupial related to the kangaroo, is pregnant throughout its adult life.
• It typically conceives a new embryo days before delivering the newborn from its previous pregnancy.
• The swamp wallaby is likely the only mammal pregnant and lactating all life long.

Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)

• This species is endemic to eastern Australia, where it ranges from Cape York, Queensland in the north, to Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.

How is it possible? 

• Female wallabies and kangaroos have two uteri and two separate ovaries.
• At the end of a pregnancy in one uterus, a new embryo develops in the other uterus.
• Kangaroos and wallabies regularly have an embryo in the uterus, a young joey in the pouch, and a third semi-dependent young at foot, still drinking its mother’s milk.

Difference between Kangaroo and Swamp Wallaby:

• In kangaroos, the new embryo is conceived a day or two after the previous birth.
• In the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor), the new conception happens one or two days before the previous joey is delivered.

What happens after?

• As soon as the mature foetus is born and settles in the pouch, the swamp wallaby arrests the development of the new embryo.
• This is called embryonic diapause, which happens in many animals to pause reproduction until the conditions are right — season, climate, food availability.
• For wallabies, this is also to ensure that the new one is born only when the pouch is free again.
• If this did not happen, the swamp wallaby would be birthing new young every 30 days — it has a short gestation period — and its pouch could not support that.

European brown hare

• There is only one other mammal, the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus), that conceives additional embryos before giving birth.
• There are, however, two key differences:
• In the hare, the new embryos are conceived in the same uterus that is already supporting foetuses in late stages — which, the researchers note, may be all the more remarkable.
• The other difference is that only the swamp wallaby is pregnant all its life.
• The hare is only pregnant with the possibility of conceiving new embryos during distinct breeding seasons over about 5-6 months of the year.
• The rest of the time it is not pregnant or lactating at all.

Psyche Asteroid Mission

• NASA and SpaceX are coming together for a space mission that involves a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid called Psyche, which is orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Psyche Asteroid

• The Psyche asteroid is considered unique because it appears to largely be made of the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet.
• Metallic cores are believed to be present deep within rocky, terrestrial planets like our Earth.
• However, since these lie unreachable far below the planet’s rocky mantles and crusts, we are unable to reach there.
• So, while we cannot see or measure Earth’s core directly, the mission to Psyche asteroid offers a unique window to scientists.
• It may even reveal the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets in the first place.
• NASA said that the launch of Psyche will include two secondary payloads– Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) and Janus.
• While EscaPADE will study the Martian atmosphere, the Janus will study binary asteroids.
• The mission is led by Arizona State University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration, testing and mission operations.

• Moderates supported the empire in the war as a matter of duty.
• The extremists including Tilak supported the war and belief that Britain would repay India’s loyality and gratitude in the form of self government.
• The revolutionaries decided to utilise the opportunity to wage a war on British rule and liberate the country.

• The asthenosphere is the highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductilely deforming region of the upper mantle of the Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at depths between approximately 80 and 200 km (50 and 120 miles) below the surface.
• The Lithosphere is part of the earth’s crust and lies above the Astheosphere. It is more solid than the Asthenosphere and the mid-oceanic ridges are part of the lithosphere.