Delhi bans firecrackers
On its most polluted day this year—when the air quality index (AQI) was 460 on a scale of 500 and daily Covid cases reached a new peak—Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal finally said enough, on Twitter, of course:
“Reviewed corona situation in Delhi and preparedness with Chief Secy, Health officials and all DMs. Corona cases have increased due to festival season and pollution. It was decided to: 1. Ban crackers in Delhi, 2. Ramp up medical infra, Oxygen and ICU beds are being increased in Delhi govt hospitals.”
It remains to be seen if die-hard Delhites will listen.
In related Delhi news: The Delhi police has refused to hand over physical copies of the charge sheets filed against 15 students and activists—who are accused of inciting violence in Delhi in February. The reason: The chargesheets run into 18,325 pages and the police can’t afford to print so much paper. It has therefore challenged the order as “mechanical,” “ex-facie erroneous” and “devoid of any merits”—which some argue is an as-good description of those charge sheets themselves. (Huffington Post)
The great pandemic: A quick update
- A global survey of 18,000 adults across 15 countries found that Indians are the most willing to get a Covid vaccine. That’s even higher than China. At the bottom: United States and France.
- According to another survey, Indian employees are more worried about burnout than being laid off—55% compared to only 32%. That’s lower than China (44%), Mexico (41%), Canada (40%), and the US (37%).
- Doctors have finally figured out why some patients develop serious complications. The answer: blood clots. Time has that story.
- China has temporarily suspended air travel from India. The reason: 19 people tested positive on arrival on a flight from Delhi to Wuhan—even though Air India insists they had boarded the flight with Covid-negative reports from certified labs.
- The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on the use of disinfectant tunnels, fumigation, sprays, and ultraviolet rays on any person. These highly toxic measures have been used to “sanitise” workers.
- Government scientists say that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin may be ready to roll out in February.
- Denmark will cull all 15 million minks in its 1,200 fur forms. The reason: They carry a mutated version of the virus that could spread to humans.
US is world’s biggest plastic polluter
New research shows that the United States may be responsible for as much as five times more plastic pollution than previously estimated—making it the #1 source of plastic waste. A fresh look at 2016 data shows that it accounted for 42 million metric tons of waste—nearly twice as much as India. The average American produced 286 pounds in just that one year! (Smithsonian)
Vanishing WhatsApp messages
You can now ensure that your messages will simply ‘disappear’—from both your phone and that of the receiver—after seven days. The company says the feature—which will roll out at the end of the month—offers "peace of mind that conversations aren't permanent, while remaining practical so you don't forget what you were chatting about.” In other words, you will know that you were drunk-sexting the morning after, but don’t have to worry about your spicy messages being forever preserved for posterity. Mint has a detailed guide on how this works.
In related Whatsapp news: After several months of courtroom battles, Whatsapp Pay has been okayed by authorities. Likely reason for the sudden green light: its payment platform—which has been blocked for years—is key to Jio’s partnership with Facebook. Times of India has that story.
Your ears reveal your mental health
A new study found that a person’s stress levels can be scientifically determined by measuring the level of cortisol in their… ear wax! Why this matters: It could offer an "objective biological measure" for psychiatric conditions like depression etc. BBC News has more.
Prehistoric find upends sexist assumptions
Back in the old, old days, the men were hunters, and the women were gatherers. Right? Wrong! A team of archaeologists has found female remains of a big game hunter—and she isn’t the only one. They reviewed previously studied burials throughout the Americas—and found that between 30-50% of big game hunters could have been biologically female. So why did researchers make a mistake?
“‘With few exceptions, the researchers who study hunting and gathering groups—regardless of which continent they work on—presume that a sexual division of labor was universal and rigid,’ [archaeologist Pamela Geller] says. ‘And because it is commonsensical, they then have a hard time explaining why female-bodied individuals also bear the skeletal markers of hunting or have hunting tool kits as grave goods.’
When researchers have found signs of this discrepancy in the past, Geller says, ‘usually they don’t say anything, as if ignoring the evidence will make it go away.’”
