Argentina, battling one of the world’s worst inflation rates, recently unveiled its largest ever banknote: a 10,000 peso note worth a mere $11.35 (USD) at current exchange rates.

The earlier top 2,000 peso bill is worth just over $2 at the official exchange rate, far less valuable than the largest note in countries around the region and beyond.

This drastic step reflects the staggering pace of price increases in Argentina. Annual inflation is estimated to be nearing 300%, rapidly eroding the purchasing power of Argentinian pesos. Basic necessities are becoming increasingly expensive, causing economic hardship and pushing nearly half the population towards poverty.

The hope behind the new banknote is to make daily transactions more manageable. People will need to carry fewer bills for everyday purchases. However, this is a temporary solution at best. The central bank has already announced plans for a 20,000 peso note later this year, hinting at no immediate end to the inflationary spiral.

Argentina has a history of high inflation, with instances like the 1980s when a 1 million peso note existed. The current situation, however, seems particularly dire. Even the largest existing bill, the 2,000 peso note issued just a year ago, is barely sufficient for a single restaurant meal today.

The issuance of the new banknote reflects the urgency of the situation in Argentina. While it offers some short-term relief, it is a stark reminder of the country’s ongoing economic struggles.

Javier Milei, the newly elected libertarian president who assumed office in December, is endeavouring to address an economic crisis inherited from years of governmental failures across the political spectrum. Despite efforts from both the left and right administrations, stabilising the financial situation of the grain-producing nation remains a significant challenge.

Argentina’s economic outlook for 2024 paints a challenging picture. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects a significant decline in economic growth of -2.8%, coupled with hyperinflation exceeding 249.8%. This economic hardship coincides with a large population of over 47 million and a substantial debt burden to the IMF of 32.45 billion SDRs. While Argentina has a long history of membership with the IMF dating back to 1956, the current economic climate suggests a need for significant intervention and potential additional support.

(With inputs from agencies)

“Announced the GenomeIndia Flagship Programme of 10,000 Genome Sequencing under #DBT, Union Ministry of Science & Technology. This will lead to genetic based remedies, besides giving a big boost to public healthcare system in the country,” Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh said in an X ost on February 27, 2024. Photo: X/@DrJitendraSingh

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) on Tuesday officially announced the completion of the ‘10,000 genome’ project — an attempt to create a reference database of whole-genome sequences out of India. While India first sequenced a complete human genome in 2006, creating a database that is representative of the diversity of India’s population, is seen as a key step to being able to learn about genetic variants that are unique to India’s population groups and use that to customise drugs and therapies. The United Kingdom, China, and the United States are among the countries that have programmes to sequence at least 1,00,000 of their genomes.

About 20 institutions across India are involved in the project with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad being the lead institutions coordinating the project.

Distinct variations

The Indian population of 1.3 billion consists of over 4,600 population groups, and many of them are endogamous. These factors have contributed to the genetic diversity of the current population. Thus, the Indian population harbours distinct variations and often many disease-causing mutations are amplified within some of these groups. “There are harmful mutations that are less prevalent in the world but located in endogamous groups at a high frequency [relative to their population] in India,” said Kumaraswamy Thangaraj of the CCMB and one of the leaders of the initiative. “This has been a revolutionary initiative but going ahead we will need to sample many more thousands of genomes to pick out more, rare mutations.”

Explained | What is genome sequencing and why does the Genome India Project matter?

The main outcomes of such an enterprise would be to gain deeper insight into India’s population diversity, improve diagnostic methods and medical counselling, find genetic predispositions to disease, develop personalised and customisable drugs, improve gene therapy and throw more light on individual susceptibility to infectious disease.

Dr. Y. Narahari of the IISc said the creation of a biobank housing 20,000 blood samples (from which genomes were sequenced) at the Centre for Brain Research, IISc, coupled with data archiving at the Indian Biological Data Centre “exemplified” the project’s commitment to transparency, collaboration, and future research endeavours. All the data are being stored at the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) set up by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad.

Heman Bekele, a 14-year-old school student, has achieved the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” by creating an innovative soap specifically formulated to address skin cancer.

1. Heman Bekele is a ninth-grade student at WT Woodson High School in Annandale, Virginia. He has achieved the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” by creating an innovative soap specifically formulated to address skin cancer.

2. According to The New York Times, Heman spent the last four months competing against nine other finalists, and he developed a compound-based bar of soap designed to treat melanoma. The bar of soap costs about less than $10 to make.

3. Heman hopes to refine his innovation and create a non-profit organisation to distribute the soap to communities in need over the next five years, according to 3M and Discovery Education.

4. According to The New York Times, Heman’s idea for the competition came from the early years of his life in Ethiopia. “There, I always saw people who were constantly working under the hot sun,” Heman said.

5. The soap could help fight skin cancer at a cost of less than $10 per bar. The soap would be made with compounds that could reactivate the cells that guard human skin, enabling them to fight cancer cells.

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