Scientists confirm existence of a fifth layer in Earth’s core

Why In News

·         Scientists have excavated a new secret from the Earth’s inner world. The researchers, in a new study, have confirmed the existence of a fifth new layer.

Key Points

·         Researchers trying to uncover the secrets of Earth’s geology have revealed the fifth layer of the planet. Seismic waves generated by earthquakes have revealed new insights about the deepest parts of Earth’s inner core.

·         The fifth layer is made of iron and nickel, the same materials that comprise the rest of the inner core.

·         The team of researchers from the Australian National University measured the speeds at which these seismic waves penetrate and pass through the Earth’s inner core.

·         The team believes that this has presented evidence of a distinct layer inside Earth known as the innermost inner core.

·         The existence of an internal metallic ball within the inner core, the innermost inner core, was hypothesised about 20 years ago.

·         This layer is a solid ‘metallic ball’ that sits within the center of the inner core. The findings of the study have been published in the journal Nature Communications, which states that probing the Earth’s center is critical for understanding planetary formation and evolution.

·         So far, four layers of Earth’s structure had been identified. This includes – the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. The new findings indicate a fifth layer beneath that.

About This Research:

·         The team assessed the seismic waves that travel directly through the Earth’s center and ‘spit out’ at the opposite side of the globe to where the earthquake was triggered. The waves then travel back to the source of the quake. The team studied the earthquake, which originated in Alaska. The waves bounced off somewhere in the south Atlantic Ocean, before traveling back to Alaska.

·         The researchers studied the anisotropy of the iron-nickel alloy that comprises the inside of the Earth’s inner core.

·         Anisotropy is used to describe how seismic waves speed up or slow down through the material of the Earth’s inner core, depending on the direction in which they travel.

·         They found that bouncing seismic waves repeatedly probed spots near the Earth’s center from different angles.

International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness 2023

Why In News

·         The International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness seeks to promote better awareness and understanding of disarmament issues among the public, especially young people.

Key Points

·         Observed on 5 March, the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness plays a role in deepening the global public’s understanding about how disarmament efforts contribute to enhancing peace and security, preventing and ending armed conflicts, and curbing human suffering caused by weapons.

·         The International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness seeks to promote better awareness and understanding of disarmament issues among the public, especially young people.

·         Weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, continue to be of primary concern, owing to their destructive power and the threat that they pose to humanity.

·         The excessive accumulation in conventional weapons and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons jeopardizes international peace and security and sustainable development, while the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is seriously endangering civilians.

·         New and emerging weapon technologies, such as autonomous weapons, pose a challenge to global security and have received increased attention from the international community in recent years.

·         Through resolution A/RES/77/51, the General Assembly invites all Member States, the organizations of the United Nations system, civil society, academia, the media and individuals to commemorate the International Day, including through all means of educational and public awareness-raising activities.

Writer Vinod Kumar Shukla wins 2023 PEN/Nabokov Lifetime Achievement Award

Why In News

·         Vinod Kumar Shukla has won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature for lifetime achievement in literature.

Key Points

·         Vinod Kumar Shukla has won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature for lifetime achievement in literature, one of the most coveted literary prizes worldwide, after decades of composing acclaimed novels like Naukar Ki Kameez (1979) and poetry collections like Sab Kuch Hona Bacha Rahega (1992). The award is conferred annually by PEN America.

·         The award was founded in 2016 by Pen America in collaboration with the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation to honour a living author whose work, written in or translated into English, represents the highest level of achievement in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and/or drama, and is of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship. The award carries a cash prize of USD 50,000.

About Vinod Kumar Shukla:

·         Vinod Kumar Shukla, born on 1st January 1937 in Chhattisgarh, is the celebrated author of novels, poetry, and short stories in Hindi and in translation.

·         Shukla also has an MSc in agriculture from Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya in Jabalpur and has lectured in the same. His works frequently tackle issues of class and wealth and the lives of the poor navigating a capitalist world.

·         One of his latest story collections, Blue is like Blue (2019), translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai, explores characters who live in one-room apartments and fear being swindled by electric companies.

·         Mahavidyalaya (2022) is a collection which discusses the conflicts between nature and humanity and how literature can rescue both.

·         The novel A Silent Place (2021), translated by Satti Khanna, narrates a forest silenced by exploitation, and the journey of a few kids within who seek to enliven it again.

·         His first published work was a poetry collection Lagbhag Jai Hind (1971), followed by Vah Aadmi Chala Gaya Naya Garam Coat Pehankar Vichar Ki Tarah (1981).

·         Naukar Ki Kameez was his first novel, adapted into a 1999 Hindi film by Mani Kaul, telling the story of a clerk in a government office who is found to fit into the shirt of a domestic help who runs away from his employer’s house.

Awards:

·         Shukla, whose works incorporate magic-realist elements and have won the Sahitya Akademi award and the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize, was born on January 1, 1937 in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh (then Madhya Pradesh).

·         He also received the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize in 2019 for “Blue Is Like Blue: Stories”, and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award in 2020 for the same.