Prelims Focus-27th September 2023

1.Sarcophagus

In News: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip recently discovered dozens of ancient tombs, including two lead sarcophagi, in a cemetery dating back some 2,000 years to the time of the Roman Empire.

• • Sarcophagus is a ground stone container for a coffin or body, often decorated with art, writing and carvings. 
  • The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek words “sarx” meaning “flesh”  and “phagien” meaning “to eat”, so sarcophagus literally means “meat eater”. 
  • First used in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, the sarcophagus gradually became popular throughout the ancient world. 
  • It carried into later years of European society and was often used by high clergy, government or members of the aristocracy. 

• Functions: 

• • They vary in detail from culture to culture. 
  • They are almost always made of stone, the most popular being limestone, but sometimes granite, sandstone or marble.  
  • They were usually made by carving, decorating or decorating. 
  • Some were built to stand above ground as part of a complex tomb or tombs. 
  • Others were made for burial or placed in crypts.

2.Brent Crude

In News: Brent crude price recently increased to a 10-month high and breached $93/barrel.

• Brent crude oil is the most commonly used benchmark that determines the price of oil worldwide.
• The term “Brent” refers to the Brent oil field, which was discovered in the 1970s and became the main source of oil production. 
• About two-thirds of all crude oil inventories traded internationally are Brent, making it the most widely used benchmark. 
• It is a light sweet oil extracted from various oil fields in the North Sea.  
• Its unique properties, low density and low sulfur content make Brent crude easier to refine into products such as gasoline. 
• Because Brent crude oil is diluted with water, it is easy to transport to remote locations. 
• The price of Brent oil is affected by several factors such as supply and demand dynamics, geopolitical events, production interruptions and economic factors.

3.Ephemerals

In News: Scientists and environmental groups are documenting the flower species of the state of Maharashtra and making people aware of their existence through nature walks.

• Ephemerals are all short-lived plants, usually those that have one or more generations per year.  
• They grow only in favorable times (for example, when there is sufficient moisture), and in unfavorable periods they pass as seeds. 
• There are  two types of them – annual and perennial 
  • Annual ephemerals form new individuals every year and are seen for a very short time. They form seeds at the end of their life cycle and remain dormant until the following year. 
  • Perennial ephemerals have a source, like a tuber or bulb, in the soil, so it’s the same specimen, but the rest of the parts (stem, flowers) are newly formed.” 
• Monsoon ephemerals bloom at the end of May and during June, July, August and September.  Some other monsoon ephemerals only form leaves and small branches after a few rains. 
  • These leaves remain for a month or more, and then flowering begins, which lasts until July-August. 
• The onset of the monsoon brings flowers such as ground orchids (Nervilia and Eulophia), lilies (corolla lily, pancratiolily, meadow lily, stellili), villiyam (sour) and Indian squill.

4.Psyche mission

In News: NASA’s Psyche spacecraft begins a groundbreaking mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid named Psyche.

• The journey to the asteroid, also called Psyche, takes almost six years and covers about 3.6 billion kilometers. 
• The asteroid orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.  
• It is probably the remnant of a planetesimal consisting mostly of iron-nickel metal. 
• Studying it from orbit can provide valuable information about the composition of the Earth’s core. 
• In addition to its primary mission, the Psyche spacecraft is also conducting a ground-breaking technology demonstration known as NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.
• The purpose of this laser communication system is to test high-bandwidth optical communications back to Earth during the first two years of Psyche’s journey. 
• This experiment could revolutionize the transmission of data over great distances in space, potentially improving our ability to explore the most distant regions of the Solar System. 
• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission control, operations and navigation.

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