News in Shorts: 27 February 2026

Ancient Carbon Leak from Lakes in Congo Basin

Context: Two major lakes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are releasing ancient carbon that had been stored in surrounding peatlands for thousands of years.

About the Congo Basin

• Carbon Storage: The Congo Basin peatlands and swamps cover only 0.3% of Earth’s land surface but store about one-third of all carbon in tropical peatlands worldwide.
• These ecosystems are among the planet’s largest and least-studied carbon reservoirs, acting as crucial regulators of global climate.
• Location: The Congo Basin spans across central Africa, covering parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and several neighboring countries. 
• Rainforest: It is the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon.
• Biodiversity: The basin is extraordinarily rich in wildlife, home to forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and thousands of plant and animal species.
• The Congo River: The Congo River, which runs through the basin, is the world’s deepest river and the second-largest by water discharge, after the Amazon. 

About the Lakes Involved: Mai Ndombe and Tumba

• Lake Mai Ndombe: Located in western DRC, within the Tumba–Ngiri–Mai Ndombe wetland complex.
• Lake Tumba: Located in northwestern DRC, also in the Tumba–Ngiri–Mai Ndombe wetland complex, near the Congo River.
• Features: The lakes are blackwater or humic lakes, darkened by dissolved organic matter from surrounding plant debris.

Key Highlights of the Study

• Researchers found that up to 40% of CO₂ emissions from these lakes originate from ancient peat deposits, some over 3,000 years old, rather than from recent plant material.
• Impact of Climate Change:  The climate change  could exacerbate this carbon release by making conditions drier overall. 
  • Warmer temperatures may revive microbial decomposition and accelerate the mobilization of ancient carbon into lakes and the atmosphere.
• Impact of Land-Use Changes: Converting forests into cropland can worsen the phenomenon by reducing water retention in the landscape, promoting drier conditions.

What Are Peatlands?

• Peatlands are a special type of wetland ecosystem where waterlogged conditions slow down or prevent the full decomposition of dead plant material. 
• Over thousands of years, this leads to the accumulation of a thick layer of partially decayed organic matter called peat.
• How Peatlands Form: Peat forms when:
  • Plants die in permanently wet, low-oxygen (anoxic) environments.
  • Decomposition by microbes and fungi is extremely slow due to waterlogging, high acidity, low temperatures (in cooler regions), or nutrient scarcity.
  • Dead plant remains pile up faster than they break down, building layers of peat inch by inch over centuries or millennia.
• Key Characteristics of Peatlands:
  • Waterlogged year-round: this is the defining feature that creates anaerobic (oxygen-poor) conditions.
  • Acidic and nutrient-poor: supports unique, specialized plants adapted to these harsh conditions.
  • Thick peat layers: often deeper than 30–40 cm, sometimes many meters thick.
• Carbon Release: When the peat dries out, microbes wake up, decompose the old plant material, and release the stored carbon back into the air as CO₂.

Shingles Disease

Context: A recent global survey has highlighted the significant impact of shingles on older adults in India, especially those with chronic health conditions.

About Shingles Disease

• Shingles (also called herpes zoster) is a viral infection that causes a painful rash with blisters.
• Causative Agent: Caused by the Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox.
• Reactivation Disease: After chickenpox heals, the virus stays dormant in nerve tissues and can reactivate later (often decades later).
• Mode of Spread: Not directly contagious like chickenpox, but a person with shingles can transmit VZV to someone who has never had chickenpox or vaccination.
• High-Risk Groups: 
  • Elderly (especially 50+ years)
  • Immunocompromised individuals (HIV, cancer patients, transplant recipients)
  • People under stress
• Prevention: Shingles vaccine (e.g., Shingrix) recommended for adults above 50 years.
• Treatment: Antiviral drugs (Acyclovir, Valacyclovir), pain management therapy.

Impact of Shingles on Daily Life

• 43% of Indian participants who had experienced shingles reported severe, day-disrupting pain.
• Over 1 in 3 said shingles stopped them from working or attending social events.
• Greatest physical disruption: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
• Highest emotional toll (stress/anxiety): Those with diabetes and CVD.

AI4Agri Summit 2026

Context: AI4Agri Summit 2026 was held in Mumbai as a satellite event of the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

About the AI4Agri Summit 2026

• It is a global conference and investor summit focused exclusively on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture.
• Location: Convened at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai. 
• Host: Hosted by the Government of Maharashtra and aligned with national AI strategies and global partnerships. 
• Primary Objectives: 
  • Catalyse investment into AI-powered agriculture technologies and solutions. 
  • Shape global discourse on AI adoption across the agricultural value chain — from farm advisory to climate resilience. 
  • Promote inclusive, responsible and scalable AI designed for smallholder and marginal farmers. 
• Major Announcements: The Summit positioned AI as the driver of India’s “next agricultural revolution”. 
• • Key proposals included a National Agri-AI Research Network and a federated Agri Data Commons.
• Economic Impact: AI in agriculture could add an estimated ₹70,000 crore annually to the economy. 
  • This is based on 140 million farmers potentially saving ₹5,000 each per year through better advisories .
• New AI Tools: The government highlighted “Agri Param,” an AI model available in 22 Indian languages, and announced the upcoming “Bharat-VISTAAR” multilingual advisory tool.

India’s First State Innovation Mission (SIM)

Context: The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), under NITI Aayog has launched the first-ever State Innovation Mission (SIM) in Tripura.

About the Tripura State Innovation Mission

• Tripura became the first state in India to launch a dedicated State Innovation Mission (SIM).
• Part of AIM: It was launched under Atal Innovation Mission 2.0, as part of NITI Aayog’s State Support Mission (SSM). 
• State Support Mission (SSM): SSM serves as a long-term institutional mechanism to help states/UTs build robust, inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
• Institutional Framework: SIM was institutionalized under the Tripura Institution for Transformation (TIFT).
• Objectives: Strengthen the state-led innovation ecosystem through capacity building, policy support, partnerships, peer learning. 
• Key Sectors Targeted: The State Innovation Mission will nurture enterprises solving problems in agriculture, green technology, digital services, tourism, healthcare, and beyond.

Major Components Launched

• T-NEST (Tripura: Nurturing Entrepreneurship and Startups): Inaugurated as Tripura’s first dedicated incubation and innovation facility to support startups.
• District-Level Innovation Ecosystem: To institutionalize innovation at the district level and support commercialization of local ideas into scalable startups.

Coronal Mass Ejection

Context: A team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) has made a significant discovery by capturing the closest-ever observations of shock waves produced by a coronal mass ejection (CME) near the Sun. 

What is a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)?

• A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) are massive bursts of solar plasma and magnetic fields that get explosively ejected from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona.
• These events release billions of tons of material into space, traveling at a very high speed. 
• Shock Waves: When fast-moving CMEs travel through space, they can generate shock waves that are similar to a sonic boom from a supersonic jet breaking the sound barrier.
• Impact of Shock Waves: These shocks compress Earth’s magnetosphere, triggering geomagnetic storms that can:
  • Disrupt satellites, GPS, radio communications, and power grids.
  • Intensify auroras (northern/southern lights).
  • Increase radiation risks for astronauts and high-altitude aircraft.

Highlights of the IIA Study on CME

• The study by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) provides the closest unambiguous detection of a shock wave driven by a coronal mass ejection (CME) near the Sun.
• Gauribidanur Radio Telescope (India’s only dedicated low-frequency solar radio observatory): Captured the intense Type II solar radio bursts generated by the shock.
• Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on Aditya-L1: Provided high-resolution visible-light imaging and data on the corona to identify the parent CME, measure its position/height, and correlate it precisely with the radio signatures.

Significance and Implications of News Study

• Understanding of Solar Storm Origins: Fast CMEs generate these shocks (like sonic booms), which accelerate particles and drive space weather effects when reaching Earth.
• Improves space weather forecasting: Better knowledge of early shock formation helps predict geomagnetic storms that can disrupt satellites, GPS, communications, power grids, and increase radiation.

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