Ripples In A Teacup

  Geologists say that Africa is progressively splitting in two, a process that will eventually take entire nations away from the continent and result in the birth of a new ocean. The slow separation of the continent is linked to a 35-mile-long crack that formed in Ethiopia’s desert after an earthquake in 2005, and will eventually become a completely new sea. The world witnessed dramatic evidence of this back in March 2018 , when an enormous crack opened in the ground in southwestern Kenya. The tear, which appeared suddenly after heavy rains, measured several kilometres in length and swallowed a section of the Nairobi-Narok highway. The Nubian African Plate, the Somalian African Plate, andthe Arabian Plate are separating at varying rates. The Arabian Plate is separating from Africa at a rate of around an inch per year, while the two African plates are separating at a rate of half an inch to 0.2 inch per year. This geological process will inevitably divide the continent, resulting in c

  A report published by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water says that decades of destructive land use and water mismanagement have collided with the human-caused climate crisis to put “unprecedented stress” on the global water cycle. The global water cycle is off balance “for the firsttime in human history,” fueling a growing water disaster that will wreak havocon economies, food production and lives, according to this report. The water cycle is a global common good (as should be governed as such) since there is interdependence and interconnectedness of communities, countries, and regions across local and transboundary water systems. Some of the key findings of the Report are that: High-population density hotspots such as Northwestern India are particularly vulnerable to challenges associated with water. Poorest 10% of global population obtain over 70% of their annual precipitation from land-based sources. GDP losses from climate change, total water storage, and redu

Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the diversified Tata Group and one of the leading lights among India’s corporate tycoons, passed away at the age of 86 on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. Born on December 28, 1937, in Navsari, Gujarat, Ratan Tata was the great-grandson of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group . Ratan Tata took over the helm at Tata Group in 1991  when India had just started to liberalise its economy.  Under his leadership, the Tata Group made a string of high-profile acquisitions including that of Tetley Tea, Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, Brunner Mond, General Chemical Industrial Products and Daewoo. All of this took place before I hit my teens and so I don’t remember even reading of them, till today. However, three things about Ratan Tata have impressed the hell out of me. One, his love for pets, especially dogs. In 2018, Ratan Tata decreed that any stray outside the Tata Group's headquarters in downtown Mumbai be allowed shelter. Entry for stray animals at Mumbai

  Scientists using ice-breaking ships and underwater robotshave found the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting at an acceleratingrate and could be on an irreversible path to collapse, spelling catastrophe forglobal sea level rise. A six-year investigation into the vast Thwaites glacier in Antarctica has concluded with a grim outlook on its future. Often dubbed the “doomsday glacier”, this huge mass of ice is comparable in size to Britain or Florida and its collapse alone would raise sea levels by 65 centimetres. Worse still, this is expected to trigger a more widespread loss of the ice sheet covering West Antarctica, causing a calamitous sea level rise of 3.3 metres and threatening cities like New York, Kolkata and Shanghai. Though the glacier is in anextremely remote and difficult area, the International Thwaites GlacierCollaboration (ITGC), a joint UK-US research programme, has deployed 100scientists there over the past six years, using planes, ships and underwaterrobots to

I just finished the first term of my last year at school. As usual, we had a set of exams before a short break kicked in. I had drastically cut down on my news reading for the last three weeks and couldn’t wait to catch up as soon I got home yesterday after my physics exam. Horrible news from Sweden , a country which I visited once when I was three (I don’t remember a thing) and which I hope to re-visit one day. Apparently Sweden plans to cull 20% of its brown bear population. Licenses have been issued to kill 486 bears. We are told that culling is necessary for sustaining the rest of the bear population and at some level, it does make sense. However, I am very sad to hear this news. The summer of 2024 has been the warmest ever in the Northern Hemisphere, the EU Climate Change monitor has said. This is yet another portent of the disaster we are walking into. In India, thanks to climate change, monsoons have become extremely unpredictable. This year, monsoon rains have continued

On August 14, 2024, WHO called the latest mpox outbreak an ‘emergency of international concern’. A UNICEF press release states that children are among those at great risk of contracting Mpox in Congo , one of the most affected countries. Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a self-limiting viral infection caused by mpox virus (MPXV). At least 99,176 cases and 208 deaths due to mpox have been reported from 116 countries since 2022, according to data from the WHO. This is the second time the infection has received the designation in as many years — the outbreak between July 2022 and May 2023 was also declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Mpox was discovered in 1958 (in captive monkeys, hence the original misnomer “monkeypox”) and the first human case was identified in 1970. Then for decades it was largely neglected by the scientific and public health communities, regarded as an uncommon infection in remote rural areas in tropical Africa without releva

  A few weeks ago, I read this interesting piece in the NewYork Times about the possibility of the US, Russia and China resuming nuclear testing. "From 1945 to 2017, nuclear nations carried out more than 2,000 explosive tests in the atmosphere, underground and underwater, mostly in remote places. Some of the atmospheric tests were magnitudes more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan, sickening and displacing thousands." Seven decades after Castle Bravo, the United States’ most devastating nuclear test, the people of Bikini Atoll are yet to  receive fair compensation . The Soviets do not have a better record.  Hundreds of tests were carried out between 1949 and 1989 on the barren steppe near the city of Semey, formerly known as Semipalatinsk, close to the Kazakh-Russian border. The effect of radiation had a devastating impact on the environment and local people's health, and continues to affect lives there today. Scary! Hope this does not come to pass!

I’ve been to Maldives once, on holiday, sometime in 2019, much before the Covid-19 pandemic hit India. I distinctly remember feeling very sad when I left, thinking that the low-lying islands would soon be under water, swallowed by rising sea-levels , brought on by climate change and global warming. So, when I came across a news paper article which said that as many as 1,000 low-lying tropical islands in Maldives, which were once considered doomed to disappear, are now actually growing in size. According to researchers who analysed decades of aerial photos and satellite imagery , most islands have either remained stable or even grown in size. The secret apparently lies in the power of waves and currents. As sea levels rose, waves transported more sand and sediment to the shores, replenishing the land that had eroded. Although the islands' shapes and positions may have changed, they did not diminish in size. This gives me hope. We earthlings can survive climate change. However, some

When I hold a test tube over a flame, the chemical reaction accelerates. The same happens in our atmosphere when there is a heat wave. Ground-level ozone is made more efficiently in sunny, hot weather since the reactions that create harmful ozone in our atmosphere require sunlight. Therefore, in summer and during heat waves, ozone often reaches dangerous levels, especially in cities.  This New York Times article discusses this phenomenon in detail. In northern India, cold weather worsens the smog . That’s because pollution in cities mixes vertically in the atmosphere. In winter, the height at which this mixing happens shrinks by more than half, raising the concentration of pollution. Heads you win, tails I lose!

  On June 10 2024, OpenAI and Apple announced a partnership at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference 2024, to integrate ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. This collaboration will allow users to leverage ChatGPT’s advanced capabilities, such as image and document understanding, directly within Apple's ecosystem. Siri will also utilize ChatGPT for enhanced responses, ensuring user consent and privacy protections. Additionally, ChatGPT will be embedded in Apple's system-wide writing tools, aiding in content generation and image creation. This integration, powered by GPT-4o, will be available for free later this year, with premium features accessible to ChatGPT subscribers. Elon Musk wasn’t very happy with this news. "If Apple integrates OpenAl at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation ... And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.&

As someone who studied French in high school and as a wanna-be computer scientist, I’ve been fascinated by how science terms and phrases translate into French. For starters: Math is “les mathématiques” – feminine and plural too Physics is “la physique” – feminine, singular Chemistry is “la chimie” – feminine, singular Biology is “la biologie” – feminine, singular Botany – “la botanique” – feminine, singular Zoology – “la zoologie” – feminine, singular Physics terms, when translated into French, have a beauty of their own. La chaleur - Heat La force - Force L’accélération - Acceleration La gravité/le pesanteur - Gravity La température - Temperature Radiation électromagnétique - Electromagnetic radiation Le magnétisme - Magnetism Le champ magnétique - Magnetic field La loi de Faraday - Faraday’s law Le courant continu - DC power La physique nucléaire - Nuclear physics La fission - Fission La physique appliquée - Applied physics La physique moléculaire - Molecular physics La science natu

Indian movie-maker Payal Kapadia won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival for her film "All We Imagine as Light". The Grand Prix is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival, the first being the Palme d'Or, which this year went to American director Sean Baker for “Anora" "All We Imagine as Light" is the first Indian film in 30 years and first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition. Kapadia said that "this film is about friendship, about three very different women. Oftentimes, women are pitted against each other. This is the way our society is designed and it is really unfortunate. But for me, friendship is a very important relationship because it can lead to greater solidarity, inclusivity and empathy". All We Imagine as Light is a Malayalam-Hindi film which follows Prabha, a Mumbai nurse (played by Malayalam Actor Kani Kusurthi) whose life is thrown in disarray when she receives a rice cooke

A couple of days ago, I chanced about this CNN News Article titled “‘Blast-furnace heat every day’: Record temperatures cancel classes, widening learning gaps across Southeast Asia” and my heart sank (as it usually does when I read anything about climate change and global warming). An 11-year-old student studying in Phnom Penh is quoted as saying: “ My classroom does not have air conditioning. It’s very unpleasant and uncomfortable. On some days, it can even get so hot that it feels like your skin is burning ." I can so relate to that. My own school did not have air conditioning till now, but A/Cs are now being installed. My school is situated very close to the sea. On the other side of the road, lies a park and beyond the park, is the sea. One would assume that a building so close to the sea would get enough breeze to avoid air conditioning, but no, it’s sweltering hot inside our classrooms, not all of which have perfect ventilation and voila, A/Cs are here. Fortunately, my scho

I read Merchant of Venice in High School for my ICSE board exams and now as an Higher Secondary (ISC Board) student, I am reading Macbeth. I enjoyed reading both these plays and couldn’t resist writing some fiction based on these plays, in modern, Mumbai settings. Here goes: Macbhai (adapted from Macbeth ) in three parts: Part 1: https://kitaab.org/2024/03/31/short-story-macbhai-by-anika-joseph-part-1/ Part 2: https://kitaab.org/2024/04/07/short-story-macbhai-by-anika-joseph-part-2/ Part 3:   https://kitaab.org/ 2024/04/14/short-story- macbhai-by-anika-joseph-part- 3-final/   Merchant of Vetaverse (Adapted from Merchant of Venice ) https://www. weeklyyarnsthewiseowl.art/ january-yarns (Please scroll down a bit, around 1/4 th of this page, to read Act I which was published on January 15,2023. There are four Acts, all on this page, one below the other.)

I read this headline on CNN and my heart stopped for a moment. Various factors cause Earth’s rotation to slow down. The friction of the tides on the ocean floor is one such factor. The melting of polar ice (driven by humans burning planet-heating fossil fuels) causing meltwater to move from the poles toward the equator, further slows the speed of the Earth’s rotation. Our planet’s liquid core spins independently of its solidouter shell. If the core slows down, the solid shell speeds up to maintainmomentum. So, despite polar ice melt exerting a slowing influence, overall theEarth’s rotation is speeding up. As a result, we will soon need to subtract a second for the first time. Though a second doesn’t sound like much, it is significant since computing systems are set up for activities such as stock exchange transactions and need to be accurate to a thousandth of a second. Apparently, manycomputer systems have software enabling them to add a second, but few have thecapability to s

Yesterday night, I returned to Mumbai after a week in Switzerland. We had spent four snow-full days in Zermatt before we went to Geneva to spend the rest of our holiday. I love snow and can’t have enough of it. Two years ago, we had gone to Kashmir and I still remember that holiday with nostalgia. Switzerland was even better, mainly because of its better infrastructure. Why did we choose Zermatt? Mainly because it gets more snow than most other places in Switzerland and towards the end of winter, we didn’t want to go to Switzerland and not find any snow. This CNN article on an Italian mountain resort facing a snow crunch drives home the problem. There are so many people in this world, especially in Europe, who are dependant on snow for their livelihood. There are so many animals, especially polar bears, which need snow to thrive. As climate change and global warming reduce the amount of snow that we get every year and as winters turn milder and milder, this problem will become mor

  Electric vehicles have grown in popularity over the years. As the planet gasps for ways to end pollution, electric vehicles seem to be a partial answer to this problem. Or is it really? In the 1800s when automobiles started to replace horse-drawn carriages, inventors experimented with different fuels. Initially, steam-powered vehicles came to the forefront, but soon gasoline powered vehicles started to dominate. Now, advancements in technology and concern about fossil fuels have put electric vehicles on the map. The global electric vehicle (EV) sector is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9% between 2023 and 2035, according to new report from data and analytics company GlobalData,  Power Technology ’s parent company. Broken down by vehicle type, the  report  finds that the passenger EV market is expected to register a CAGR of 26.1% during this period, while the commercial EV sector is predicted to grow 15% during the same time frame. The sale of

  I visited Kashmir in 2021, just after Christmas. We went to Srinagar first and then to Sonamarg. There were many things that I loved about Kashmir, but the best was the snow. There was some snow in Srinagar and a lot of it in Sonamarg. My brother and I made snowmen and threw snowballs at each other. Sonamarg was a snowy wonderland and I was so sad when it was time for us to leave. This winter, I read the news that the Kashmir valley got no snow until late January . The Himalayas had turned brown! The temperature in Kashmir valley was higher than in Delhi! Not just Kashmir, all the Himalayan regions in India faced a similar sitation. In Himachal Pradesh, the Kangra valley is experiencing drought after 17 years. Snow is missing from the Dhauladhar mountain range and in Shimla. In Uttarakhand, Mussoorie and Auli didn’t have any snow. Experts say the lack of snowfall is due to   the prevalence of El Niño and other meteorological conditions . According to a study titled ‘Western Dist

Lots of promises are being made with regard to AI Chatbots , setting up sky-high expectations. Last November, when Sam Altman was asked what surprises the field would bring in 2024, he said that online chatbots like OpenAI’s  ChatGPT  will take “a leap forward that no one expected.” It is expected that A.I.-powered image generators  like DALL-E  and Midjourney will soon be able to instantly deliver videos as well as still images. These players will gradually merge with chatbots like ChatGPT. Chatbots will expand well beyond digital text by handling photos, videos, diagrams, charts and other media. They will exhibit behavior that looks more like human reasoning, tackling increasingly complex tasks in fields like math and science. As the AI technology moves into robots, chatbots will also help to solve problems beyond the digital world. AI is being advanced very quickly by tech companies like OpenAI, Google since AI technology relies on  neural networks , mathematical systems that

We have three air conditioners in our flat. We don’t use them very often. No, let me clarify further. We use ACs a lot less than my friends and our neighbours do. However, as global warming gets worse, ACs are an easy solution which actually worsens the problem in the long run. By 2050, India will be among the first places where temperatures will cross survivability limits, according to climate experts. And within that time frame, the demand for air conditioners (AC) in the country is also expected to rise nine-fold, outpacing all other appliances, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Apparently, Singapore’s founding father thought air conditioning was the secret to his country’s success. My parents tell me that when they were young, in the 1970s and 1980s, air conditioning was a rarity in India, especially among the middle-classes, mainly because it was unaffordable. Now the prices of AC units are a lot more affordable and in India, middle-class