UPSC Prelims Facts – 12-13 May 2024

UPSC Prelims Facts

Indian Army and Navy will receive Hermes-900, also known as Drishti-10 drones, to boost their surveillance capabilities.

  • Next generation multi-role, Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial system.
  • Features over-the-horizon, persistent multi-mission, multipayload capabilities with class leading payload carrying capacity of 350 kgs. 
  • Capable of performing missions for area dominance, persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, Target acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR). 
  • Can also perform ground support and maritime patrol missions, and offers the capability for integrated multi-platform, multisensor operation.

Malaysia plans to gift Orangutans to major palm oil-importing nations with aim to boost its credentials as a conserver of biodiversity.

  • Great apes native to Sumatra (Pongo abelii, Pongo tapanuliensis) and Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus) in Southeast Asia.
  • Only great ape found outside of Africa.
  • Habitat – Live in tropical forests and prefer forest in river valleys and floodplains of their respective islands. Reproductive rate is extremely low which makes their populations highly vulnerable.
  • Protection Status – All 3 species are Critically Endangered in IUCN Red List. 

Kerala banned the use of oleander flowers in temple offerings after death of two women due to accidental poisoning from the flower. 

  • Rapidly growing evergreen, rounded shrub or small tree native to Europe and Asia
  • Also known as – Arali and kanaveeram in Kerala.
  • All parts of the plant are highly toxic as it contains cardiac glycosides (a type of chemical) including nerioside and oleandroside.

Global Tech-giant Apple has unveiled M4 chip which is a 16-core Neural Engine, termed as NPU.

  • It is a dedicated processor designed specifically for accelerating neural network processes
  • Neural network – A type of machine learning algorithm that mimics human brain for data processing.
  • NPUs are optimized for handling complex mathematical computations integral to artificial neural networks.

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