Ripples In A Teacup

NASA has now announced that Sunita Williams will return to earth only by late March or April in 2025. Williams   had flown to the International Space Station aboard a Boeing Starliner in June for what was originally meant to be a 7-to-10-day mission. The expected short stay has turned out to be a months-long ordeal when the Boeing Starliner developed safety glitches and was deemed unfit to return them to Earth. At first, Williams’ stay was initially extended until February 2025. Now, NASA has announced a further delay to late March or April next year . Williams   and Butch Willmore are to return to Earth along with astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who will form part of a four-member Crew-10 mission going to ISS. The Crew-10 mission is expected to take off in late March2025. Originally slated to launch in February, the Crew-10 mission’s launch has been delayed to late March since more time is needed to prepare the new (Dragon) spacecraf...

There has been a regime change in Syria. The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is not an ideal choice to lead the country , but they are in power now, whether we like it or not. It is unclear to me if they were supported by Turkiye or any other country. What’s even more unclear to me is the fate of the women in Syria. It was well-known that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was cruel and despotic and now the atrocities that have come to light make it very clear that Assad was even more cruel than what people outside Syria knew . However, the Assads, father and son, were relatively secular and did not deny women in Syria basic freedoms, such as the freedom to wear attire of their choice or to work outside their households. When the Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan a few years ago , women were suddenly in a very dark place. Will the same happen in Syria? Hopefully, No. Just a day after capturing Syria’s capital Dec. 8, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) felt compelle...

  Our planet has been warming up at an unprecedented rate . For the record, last year was the warmest. Ever. Scientists have been scrambling to understand exactly why. We know that the extraordinary heat is fueled by the burning of fossil fuels and El Niño . However, these are not sufficient to explain the unusually rapid temperature rise. Now a new study  published in the journal Science says it has identified one more culprit, namely, the absence of clouds. Clouds reflect sunlight back into space and the fewer clouds results in more sunlight reaching the earth. “Albedo” is the fraction of lightthat a surface reflects . If all the light is reflected, the albedo is equal to 1. If 30% is reflected, the albedo is 0.3. The albedo of Earth's surface (atmosphere, ocean, land surfaces) determines how much incoming solar energy, or light, is immediately reflected back to space. This can have an impact on climate.  Apparently, this recent rapid surge in warming is be...

Australia has banned children under sixteen from using social media. Australia is the first country in the world to have such a ban. The new legislation was passed in the House of Representatives with overwhelming support (102 votes to 13). The Senate too approved the ban by 34 votes to 19. The new law makes social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars if they fail to prevent children below sixteen from holding accounts. The ban, however, does not include YouTube. Social media platforms now have one year to work out how to implement the ban before penalties are enforced. Interestingly, neither underage users nor their parents will face punishment for violations. Mr. Albanese admits that he expects some kids to find workarounds, but he wants to send a message to social media companies to clean up their act. Implementing this ban will be tricky and social media companies are yet to come ...

That New Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world is well-known. Delhi is much more polluted than Beijing ever was. In the middle of November, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) was around 1,700. At the worst point of Beijing’s pollution crisis, the highest the AQI reached was 1,300. The maximum AQI deemed healthy by the World Health Organization is 50. The toxic smog engulfing Delhi was visible from space as satellite images captured the Indian national capital’s “severe” air pollution crisis continuing for two consecutive days . Schools had to shut down . The Indian government cannot deal with this issue the way the Chinese government did. Closing down factories en masse and stopping other pollution causing activities with a single diktak isn’t easy in democratic India. Also, the state government of Delhi is constantly at loggerheads with the Indian federal government and co-operation and coordination between Centre and State is something that is definitely missing. Each blam...

  Sometime in April, Riyadh was selected as the host of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals from 2024-2026. The 2024 season-ending Finals took place in Riyadh between November 2-9 and featured the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams. The Women’s Tennis Association apparently selected Riyadh following a comprehensive evaluation process over several months. The agreement between the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation offered a record prize money of $15.25 million at the WTA Finals in 2024 with further increases in 2025 and 2026. The partnership will also support broader investment in the future development and growth of women’s tennis, including the WTA’s plans to grow the global fanbase for women’s tennis through increased investment in marketing, digital and fan engagement. The decision to award the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia, has sparked a significant debate in the tennis world, especially among female tennis players. Players, former legends, and human rights organiz...