Project Mariana
Project Mariana successfully completes cross-border settlement of wholesale CBDCs.
- Jointly developed by – BIS Innovation Hub centres (the Swiss, Singapore and Eurosystem Hub Centres) together with Bank of France, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Swiss National Bank.
- The project tested the cross-border trading and settlement of wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs) between financial institutions, using new decentralised finance (DeFi) technology concepts on a public blockchain.
- Wholesale CBDC refers to the settlement of interbank transfers and related wholesale transactions in central bank reserves.
Project Udbhav
Army’s Project Udbhav to rediscover ‘Indic heritage of statecraft’ from ancient texts
- Initiative by – Indian Army (partnership with the United Service Institution of India)
- Aim – To delve into the profound Indic legacy of strategic thinking derived from ancient Indian texts, bridging the gap between history and contemporary military strategy.
- Goal is to understand the profound depths of indigenous military systems, their evolution, and the strategic thought processes that have governed the land.
Whoosh
Indonesia set to launch China-funded high-speed rail.
- Chinese-made bullet train
- Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway.
- A part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
Kármán Line
Article “Kármán Line (established by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)): Where space begins” in The Hindu.
- It is an imaginary line that demarcates the earth’s atmosphere from space located at 100 km above sea level
- Though not all scientists and spacefarers accept it, a majority of countries and space organisations recognise this boundary.
- Any individual who crosses theKármán Line qualifies as an astronaut.
- Any aircraft flying beyond it needs a propulsion system to pull away from the earth’s tug.
Microplastics
Japanese scientists find microplastics are present in clouds
- When microplastics reach the upper atmosphere and are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they degrade, contributing to greenhouse gasses
- Previously, microplastics were discovered in fresh Antarctic snow
Read more about microplastics