1. Free national mock test for NEET
Eduwhere, an online test preparation platform is going to start conducting national mock tests for all the NEET aspirants for free, from 1st May 8 am to 2nd May 8 pm. As per time convenience, candidates can take these tests any time between this window. The platform will use Artificial Intelligence to produce accurate assessment to the students of their test preparation.
2. Promote students of class 10 & 12: Delhi Deputy CM urges HRD Minister
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia requested Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to promote the CBSE students of class 10 and 12 based on their internal marks as the board exams cannot be conducted in the times of lockdown. A video conference meeting was held by the HRD Minister with the state education ministers in which the minister also asked the states to begin the evaluation of students’ answer sheets of board examinations and facilitate the CBSE. He further added that the mid-day meals will be provided to students even during summer vacations amid lockdown.
3. Tesla cars respond to traffic lights
Tesla vehicles can now respond to traffic signals and stop signs, a feature that is for now only available to owners of Tesla Vehicles with the third version of the onboard computer that powers Autopilot, commonly called as “Hardware 3”. When this feature gets activated the car will slow down to stop for traffic lights. The driver then will have to pull down once on the accelerator pedal to continue through the intersections after that even if the light later turns green.
4. Facebook to stream virtual graduation ceremony for the class of 2020 in US
On May 15, Facebook is going to be streaming a virtual graduation ceremony for the graduation class of 2020. The event will be commenced by Oprah Winfrey through her address to the batch of 2020. The high schools and colleges of the US will be addressed by name, state by state. This Facebook streaming will also include videos and pictures of the class of 2020. Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X, and Simone Biles will also be addressing the class of 2020 by offering them a few words of wisdom in this Facebook streaming.
5. Voice and video call limit of Whatsapp raised to 8 participants for all users
Whatsapp has officially rolled out its new feature of raising the limit of participants in a voice and video call from four to 8 for all the iPhone users. This feature, however yet to come to the service of Android users and is said that will be made available to them soon. The new feature, apart from being available for the iOS users, is also now available to Android beta users.
6. NASA sees an interstellar comet
NASA, for the first time ever has tracked the loss of water from an interstellar comet as it approached and rotated around the Sun. 2I/Borisov comet passed through the solar system sometime in 2019 and shed 30 litres of water per second, dropping 230 million litres of water in total during its trip; an amount that is enough to fill about 92 Olympic-size swimming pools.
7. Kids with Kawasaki disease
Paediatrics specialists from the UK have cautioned the world that, though small but a rising number of children are falling ill with a rare children’s syndrome named Kawasaki that might be linked to COVID-19. The Kawasaki syndrome in children is observed to cause walls of the blood vessels in the body to become inflamed. Its symptoms include high temperatures lasting for 5 days or more, rashes, swollen glands in the neck, dry cracked lips, red fingers or toes, and red eyes.
8. MIT team develops pilot drones via arm gestures
A team of researchers at MIT have developed a drone that can be controlled by the lifting and moving of your forearms. This is made possible by attaching various wearable sensors on the biceps triceps and forearms. After this, based on the signals received from the sensors, algorithms are formed that direct navigational gestures for the drone. The goal of developing something like this and other devices is to make controlling devices as natural as possible by harnessing human intuition.
9. IMD released details of upcoming cyclones in 13 countries
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued the names of cyclones that are likely to occur in 13 countries which include Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UAE, and Yemen. It has also released the names of these cyclones that might India. These names include Gati, Tej, Murasu, Aag, Vyom, Jhar, Probaho, Neer, Prabhanjan, Ghurni, Ambud, Jaladhi, and Vega. In all, a total of 169 cyclones are estimated to occur in the coming year.
10. Hillary Clinton endorses Joe Biden for 2020 US Presidential race
Joe Biden a US presidential candidate from the Democratic Party on Tuesday won the endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Former US Secretary of State for the 2020 presidential elections. Hillary had also stood for 2016’s presidential election ut lost against Donald Trump. Had she won, she would have become the first woman president of the United States. “I am thrilled to be part of your campaign, to not only endorse you but to help highlight a lot of the issues that are at stake in this presidential election,” said Clinton.
11. Lobby groups from across the globe urge India to delay new digital tax
9 lobby groups from across the globe including the U.S Chambers of Commerce have urged India to delay its new digital tax amid the Coronavirus Pandemic that has hit firms like Google and Facebook. As mentioned in Routers, “From April 1 India imposed a new 2% tax on foreign billings or transactions where companies take payment abroad for digital services provided in India. The tax also applies to foreign e-commerce transactions on sites such as Amazon.com (AMZN.O)”
12. UN Study states COVID-19 lockdown may lead to 7 mn unintended pregnancies
Extended lockdowns and disruption in the health care sector will lead to 7 million unintended pregnancies, a new UN study has said. Dure to the pandemic, around 47 million women belonging to low and middle-income countries, due to the lack of use of modern contraceptives, will be undergoing unintended pregnancies in the coming months. This was released in a report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
