Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)

Recently the Union Minister of Science and Technology has inaugurated Asia’s first health research-related "Pre-clinical Network Facility" under the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

• CEPI is a global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats.
• Aim – To substantially reduce global epidemic and pandemic risk.
• CEPI’s priority diseases – It include Chikungunya, COVID-19, Ebola, Lassa Fever, MERS, Nipah, Rift Valley Fever, and novel viral threats with epidemic or pandemic potential (also known as “Disease X”).
• Founding members – Founded by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the World Economic Forum.
• Partners – It partners with vaccine developers, manufacturers, governments, philanthropies, civil society and global health organisations to achieve our goals.
• Launched – It was launched after the global response to the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic
• There was a consensus that a coordinated, international, and intergovernmental plan was needed to develop and deploy new vaccines to prevent future epidemics.
• CEPI Board – Is the primary governing body of CEPI.
• The Board has 12 voting members with four investors and eight independent members and five observers.
• The Board is advised on decisions, such as prioritising pathogens and selecting development partners, by our Scientific Advisory Committee.
• It supports enabling science activities to accelerate development of safe and effective epidemic or pandemic vaccines.
• Funding – It funds the development of vaccine candidates against our priority pathogens and vaccine platforms to enable rapid development of vaccines against Disease X.

e-mobility R&D Roadmap for India

The Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India has recently launched report on e-mobility R&D roadmap for India to achieve net-zero targets.

• e-Mobility in general and EVs in particular have started occupying significant mind space in India amongst Policy Makers, Industry and the Mobility Eco-System.
• The report e-mobility R&D Roadmap for India breaks down necessary steps to achieve advanced capabilities in developing the technological knowhow to get a lead in battery technology.
• It is launched by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India.
• It is prepared by the Automative Research Association of India.
• It categorizes research projects into 4 important areas
  1. Energy Storage Cells
  2. EV Aggregates
  3. Materials and Recycling
  4. Charging and Refuelling

• The report includes a projected cost for each of these components and they cumulatively add up to Rs 1,151 crore.
• It is a strategic roadmap that shows what specifically needs to be done so that we do not lose the race to be among the leaders in battery technology.

Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)

Two Indian space scientists, Prahlad Chandra Agrawal and Anil Bhardwaj, were honoured with prestigious awards by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) recently.

• Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), now the International Science Council (ISC) in 1957.
• COSPAR’s first Space Science Symposium was organized in Nice, France in January 1960.
• COSPAR Scientific Assembly as the premier forum for presenting the most important results in space research in all disciplines and as the focal point for truly international space science.
• It is the world’s first scientific body dedicated to space science research.
• COSPAR is as an interdisciplinary scientific organization, focused its objectives on the progress of all kinds of research carried out with the use of space means (including balloons).
• COSPAR has played a central role in the development of new space disciplines such as life sciences or fundamental physics.
• It objectives are to promote on an international level scientific research in space, with emphasis on the exchange of results, information and opinions.
• It aids to provide a forum, open to all scientists, for the discussion of problems that may affect scientific space research.
• The awards given by the COSPAR are:
  • Space Science Award
  • International Cooperation Medal
  • William Nordberg Medal
  • Massey Award
  • COSPAR Distinguished Service Medal
  • Vikram Sarabhai Medal
  • Jeoujang Jaw Award
  • Zeldovich Medals
  • COSPAR Outstanding Paper Award for Young Scientists
• The recipient of Massey Award, 2024 is Prahlad Chandra Agrawal, an Indian scientist.
• This Vikram Sarabhai Medal is awarded jointly by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and COSPAR in honor of Vikram Sarabhai.
• The recipient of Vikram Sarabhai Medal, 2024 is Anil Bhardwaj, an Indian scientist.

MV Sea Change

The world’s first commercial passenger ferry powered by 100% hydrogen fuel, the MV Sea Change was launched recently.

• MV Sea Change is the World’s first commercial passenger ferry powered by 100% hydrogen fuel that was launched in San Francisco.
• Unlike current diesel-powered ferries that emit pollutants, it produces only heat and water vapour as by-products.
• It can travel about 300 nautical miles and operate for 16 hours before needing to refuel.
• The hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity by combining oxygen and hydrogen in an electrochemical reaction.
• The project was financed and managed by SWITCH Maritime.

Maori iwi Tribes

World’s rarest whale may was washed up recently on New Zealand beach and the authorities will work up with Maori iwi (tribes) to quickly transport it.

• Maori iwi is a member of a Polynesian people of New Zealand.
• They define themselves as iwi (tribes), by descent from the crew of voyaging canoes or other illustrious ancestors.
• Over the centuries the tribes have adapted to new circumstances.
• Some have combined, while others have divided, and they have moved from place to place in response to changing conditions.
• New Zealand’s Indigenous people consider whales as ‘taonga’, a sacred treasure of cultural significance.
• In April 2024, Pacific Indigenous leaders signed a treaty recognizing whales as “legal persons,” although such a declaration is not reflected in the laws of participating nations.