Current Affairs - Technology

Researchers discovered a new species of pollution-eating bacteria, Brachybacterium netajii, in the Hooghly River, West Bengal, on June 26, 2026. The discovery was made through a collaborative effort involving Netaji Mahavidyalaya, the University of Burdwan, IIT (BHU), and Hiroshima University, Japan. The bacterium can degrade p-nitrophenol (PNP), a toxic industrial pollutant, by using it as a source of carbon and energy. It also shows remarkable resistance to heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury and can tolerate high salinity. The species was named in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for his contributions to scientific and technological advancement.

India's first Satellite-Based Landing System (SLS) approach on a jet engine aircraft using the indigenous GAGAN system was successfully conducted by the DGCA on June 28, 2026, at Udaipur Airport. The precision landing was performed by an IndiGo Airbus A320 using the Localiser Performance with Vertical Guidance (LPV) approach. Developed jointly by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), GAGAN enables highly accurate satellite-based navigation and reduces dependence on conventional Instrument Landing Systems (ILS). This achievement marks a significant advancement in India's aviation technology and strengthens its indigenous Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) capabilities.

Chandigarh University developed a lightweight AI-powered Transformer Model designed to improve crop yield prediction through precision farming. The model uses imagery from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites along with climate variables such as rainfall, temperature, and soil moisture. It requires 40% fewer parameters than conventional AI models, enabling faster predictions with lower computational costs. The system was successfully evaluated on paddy, maize, moong, and sugarcane, outperforming traditional Random Forest and LSTM models. This innovation can support better farm management, agricultural planning, and efficient resource utilisation for farmers.

The ePlane Company is an electric aircraft startup incubated at IIT Madras. The company plans to begin commercial production of electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) air ambulances by 2028 after completing certification by the end of 2027. It has already started ground testing of its full-scale prototype, with flight tests scheduled for 2026. The startup has also secured a $1-billion order from ICATT to deploy air ambulances across India. Its focus on indigenous manufacturing, advanced aviation technology, and collaboration with NVIDIA reflects India's growing capabilities in next-generation aerospace innovation.

LineShine, based at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen, China, became the world's fastest supercomputer according to the TOP500 list announced in June 2026. It achieved a remarkable performance of 2.198 exaflops, capable of performing more than two quintillion calculations per second. LineShine is the first CPU-only supercomputer to surpass the 2-exaflop milestone and the first Chinese system to top the global rankings since Sunway TaihuLight in 2017. Its achievement highlights China's growing capabilities in high-performance computing and the increasing global focus on technological advancement and digital sovereignty.