News in Short

• China has developed a prototype miniature helicopter for surveillance work on future Mars missions, according to its space science agency.
• The prototype is similar in appearance to the robotic helicopter Ingenuity, developed by NASA for its Perseverance mission this year.
• The agency said the helicopter could be a tool for China’s follow-up exploration on Mars, but it did not give details.
• China landed a Mars rover in May in its first-ever mission to the planet, becoming the second country after the United States to do so.

• Norway’s $1.4-trillion wealth fund has excluded Oil and Natural Gas Corp. from its portfolio due to concerns over the firm’s business in South Sudan.
• The Council on Ethics’ concern was over ONGC’s participation in two joint ventures in South Sudan, a country where violent clashes continue even after the end of a civil war in 2018.
• Exclusions are based on advice from the fund’s ethics watchdog. ONGC has accepted a risk of contributing to serious abuse committed to enable oil production in the country.

• President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the declassification of certain documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
• The order is a significant moment in a years long tussle between the government and the families over what classified information about the run-up to the attacks could be made public.
• The order directs the Justice Department and other executive branch agencies to begin a declassification review and requires that declassified documents be released over the next six months.

• Footprints of three species of dinosaurs have been found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, proving the presence of the giant reptiles in the western part of the State.
• The footprints, made in the sediment or silt of the seashore, later become permanently stone-like. They belong to three species of dinosaurs.
• The footprints were 200 million years old. They were found near Jaisalmer’s Thaiat village. All the three species, belonging to the early Jurassic period, were carnivorous.
• The dinosaur species are considered to be of the theropod type, with the distinguishing features of hollow bones and feet with three digits.

• Long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution is strongly co-related to obesity, found a study of over 3,000 schoolchildren from Delhi, Kottayam, and Mysuru.
• This was a surprise finding by the researchers trying to understand the impact of air pollution on the lung health of children in Delhi.
• The study found 39.8% of the children in Delhi were obese or overweight as compared to 16.4% in Kottayam and Mysuru (which have better air quality).
• The researchers found the children, who are obese, or overweight, are at a 79% higher risk of developing asthma across all three cities as compared to their healthy weight counterparts.