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- Scientists developed the first pangenome of Asian rice by combining essential genomic segments from 144 wild and cultivated rice varieties across Asia.
- This was achieved using 'PacBio high-fidelity' (HiFi) sequencing—a long-read, single-molecule technology known for its high accuracy.
- The research supports the idea that all cultivated Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.) originated from a wild ancestor called Or-IIIa, a variant of Oryza rufipogon.
- A pangenome is a comprehensive genomic collection representing multiple individuals of the same species.
- Unlike a traditional reference genome, which outlines standard genes of a species, a pangenome also includes genes unique to different varieties.
- This broader genomic insight is especially valuable in agriculture—helping introduce traits for disease resistance and climate resilience, and utilizing wild genetic resources to enhance crop productivity.
- In medicine, pangenomes help detect population-specific genetic markers for better diagnostics and treatments, as seen in the Human Pangenome Project.
- Sarvam AI, a homegrown startup, has launched Bulbul v2, its advanced text-to-speech (TTS) model.
- This latest version supports 11 Indian languages, aiming to make AI-generated voices sound more natural and lifelike, avoiding the robotic or mechanical tone typical of earlier models.
- Bulbul v2 also offers users the flexibility to customize voice characteristics, including pitch, pace, and loudness, enabling more personalized and expressive audio output.
- The launch reflects growing efforts to develop AI tools that cater to India’s linguistic diversity while enhancing user experience through more human-like and versatile speech synthesis.
- The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released the Global Methane Tracker 2025, highlighting key insights about methane emissions.
- Key Findings
- Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is responsible for approximately 30% of the global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution.
- Major sources of methane include the agriculture, energy, and waste sectors.
- The energy sector, which encompasses oil, natural gas, coal, and bioenergy, contributes over 35% of methane emissions from human activity.
- However, emissions could be reduced by 50% through improved methane capture in mines or the use of flaring and oxidation technologies, with gas flaring being the practice of burning off excess natural gas during oil extraction.