Prelim Bits 22-06-2018

National Health Resource Registry (NHRR)

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched NHRR, which is the first ever registry for health resource in the country.
It contains registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the project technology partner for providing data security.
It shall enable advanced research towards ongoing and forthcoming healthcare challenges.
It shall also enhance the coordination between central and state government for optimisation of health resources.
The Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) has involved key stakeholders, including leading associations, allied ministries, and several private healthcare service providers.

Centre for Humanitarian Forensics

Gujarat is set to come up with the world's first International Centre for Humanitarian Forensics (ICHF).
It will facilitate better management of bodies during emergencies such as disasters.
It was inaugurated at the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU).
It is a joint venture of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for India, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives, and GFSU.

Legalisation of Marijuana

Canada is to become the second country in the world to fully legalise marijuana after Uruguay.
It paves the way for recreational cannabis to be legally bought and sold within the next two or three months.
Medical marijuana is already legal in Canada.
Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used for medical, recreational & religious purposes.
Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporization, within food, or as an extract.
It creates mental and physical effects, such as a "high" or "stoned" feeling, a general change in perception, and an increase in appetite.
Short term side effects may include a decrease in short-term memory, dry mouth, impaired motor skills, red eyes, and feelings of paranoia or anxiety.
Long term side effects may include addiction, decreased mental ability and behavioural problems in children whose mothers used cannabis during pregnancy.

Sub-Saturn like Planet

A team of Scientists from India has discovered a sub-Saturn or super-neputune size planet around a sun-like star.
It has mass of about 27 Earth Mass and size of 6 Earth Radii.
The planet will be known as EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b.
With this discovery, India has joined a handful of countries, which have discovered planets around stars beyond our solar system.
The discovery was made by measuring the mass of the planet using the indigenously designed “PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search” (PARAS) spectrograph.
PARAS is the first of its kind spectrograph in Asia, which can measure the mass of a planet going around a star.
The spectrograph is integrated with telescope at PRL's Gurushikhar Observatory in Mount Abu, India.
Very few spectrographs exist around the world that can do such precise measurements.

Longer Daylight – Summer Solstice

June 21^st had longer daylight hours (Summer Solstice) than any other day in a year.
The reason behind is Earth’s tilt - the axis of rotation of earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5⁰.
It is combined with factors such as Earth’s spin and orbit leads to variations in the duration of sunlight on any location on different days of the year.
Solstice - On the Equator, day and night are equal every day.
At latitudes of 23.5° (from the equator) are the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, north and south of the Equator.
On each Tropic, the sun is directly overhead at noon once a year.
When this happens on the Tropic of Cancer, it is summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.
When on the Tropic of Capricorn, it is winter solstice in the northern Hemisphere.
At 66.5° (from the equator) are the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, north and south.
It is at latitudes higher than 66.5° (in either direction) that days of constant darkness or light occur.

Source: The Hindu, PIB