STEAG
Army’s STEAG (Signals Technology Evaluation and Adaptation Group) unit to pioneer AI, 6G technology.
- STEAG – 1st of its kind unit to undertake research and evaluation in futuristic communication technologies such as AI and 6G
- Part of – Indian Army’s “On Path to Transformation” initiative, aimed at realising Atmanirbharatha in defense.
- Objective – To identify most suitable technologies to enhance Indian Army’s communication infrastructure
Arboriculture
Lack of tree census data a concern for Mumbai.
- Arboriculture – Branch of horticulture
- Focuses on – Care, growth, and management of individual trees, shrubs, or other perennial woody plants.
- Significance – Strong emphasis on the health and safety of trees and the people around them.
World Happiness Report
WHR 2024 released
- Released by – UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN).
- Objective – Evaluates levels of happiness across nations
- Key highlights of WHR 2024 –
- India has been ranked 126 out of 143 countries.
- Top 3 countries are Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, respectively.
- 6 key variables used – Healthy life expectancy; GDP per capita; Social support; Low corruption; Generosity and Freedom
Red Mud
Researchers from IIT Madras developed a method for treating bauxite residue (known as Red Mud) using phosphoric acid to extract valuable materials from it.
- Red Mud – Byproduct of aluminium production.
- Features –
- Contains toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, vanadium and mercury
- High alkaline content
- Extremely corrosive and damaging to soil and life forms
Project GR00T
NVIDIA announced Project GR00T at its annual GTC developer conference held recently.
- Project GR00T – A foundation model for humanoid robots that helps them learn through simulation and in the real world.
- Features –
- It is a general-purpose model that allows robots to function as “minds”.
- It takes multimodal instructions and past interactions as input and produces the next action for the robot to execute.