A Nobel prize for a black hole
Three astrophysicists—Roger Penrose, an Englishman, Reinhard Genzel, a German, and Andrea Ghez, an American—won the prize for physics for their work on the “gateways to eternity.” The India angle: Penrose’s work was based on a mathematical formulation by a young Calcutta teacher named Amalkumar Raychaudhuri. The Telegraph has a lovely little piece that lays out the connection. The Hindu offers a handy explainer on the prize-winning research.
The great pandemic: A quick update
- Numbers continue to drop in India. Our positivity rate—the percentage of total number of tests that are positive—has dropped to 6.8%. Yup, it’s still too early to celebrate.
- New research shows that four out of five patients who are hospitalized suffer from neurological symptoms—such as muscle pain, headaches, confusion, dizziness and loss of smell or taste. The worst of the lot: encephalopathy, "characterized by altered mental function ranging from mild confusion to coma."
- A new study shows that while both dogs and cats can become infected, only cats spread the disease… but to other cats in the same home. The good news: none of the animals showed clinical symptoms like coughing, sneezing or fever. Also: This means cats may be used to develop a vaccine for animals.
- Covid has triggered a skilling crisis in India. Around 30% of the 15,000 blue-collar training centres in India may close down due to lack of funds. This is potentially catastrophic for millions of Indians hoping to train as sewing machine operators and LED light repair technicians to plumbers and retail sales associates. Mint has more.
- Also from Bloomberg News: How Covid has transformed Singapore—once a thriving magnet for expat talent and money—into a protectionist state.
CBI draws a blank in Rajput case
The agency’s audit of the actor’s bank accounts has “not thrown up anything ‘suspicious’ to suggest that his friend Rhea Chakraborty could have pushed Rajput to suicide for financial gain.” But officials promise to valiantly dig away for other dirt:
“So the CBI, sources said, is now focusing on the gamut of reasons that could have led to the actor taking his own life: any role played by Chakraborty; professional rivalry and nepotism in Bollywood; effect of drug abuse and Rajput’s mental health.”
Truly dangerous celebrities: are the kind you search for online—and end up with malware on your laptop. At the top of McAfee’s list of the most khatarnak is Cristiano Ronaldo, followed by a host of Indian women actors (?!)—Tabu, Taapsee Pannu, Anushka Sharma and Sonakshi Sharma.
Four new tech things for you
Google: In less developed parts of the world, many buildings and residences do not have a proper address—or it is often not accurate. To help solve this problem, Google is introducing ‘plus codes’—“which use latitude and longitude to produce a short, easy-to-share digital address that can represent any location on the planet.” Sounds like an excellent tool—especially for many Indians—but Inc. warns that there are serious privacy concerns.
Netflix: The more choices we have, the harder it is for us to find something to watch. To put an end to endless scrolling, Netflix is creating two new categories. New & Popular will club together picks that are currently displayed as ‘New on Netflix’, ‘Coming Soon’, and ‘Top 10’—but only on your television. Also: a new row called ‘Worth the Wait’ that offers previews of upcoming shows. You can save and set reminders for anything that catches your eye. It also makes you less likely to cancel your sub in a fit of frustration—which is really the point.
Instagram: is celebrating its 10th birthday by going retro. You can soon change your home screen icon to five-year old polaroid versions. Bonus: The upcoming update also includes a private map and archive of your stories from the last three years. The Verge has more.
Swiggy: is teaming up with street food vendors to deliver those golgappas right at your front door. The pilot program will be rolled out soon in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi. Entrackr has more.
Nuclear energy is a waste of time & money
New research shows that nuclear energy doesn’t help reduce our carbon footprint. It looked at global data from 1990-2014 and found that countries that embraced nuclear energy did not actually reduce their emissions—unlike others who invested in clean alternatives like wind and solar power. More importantly: the ‘do everything’ approach—i.e. investing in both alternative and nuclear power doesn’t work—since they require very different infrastructure. Ergo: “Spending money on a new nuclear program might effectively block subsequent renewables programs from working and, as a result, continue to emit too much carbon into the air.” (Futurism)
In related news: Leaked documents show that the oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil plans to increase its carbon emissions by 17% over the next five years. This is in stark contrast to its rivals—Royal Dutch and BP—that plan to hit zero emissions by 2050. A pledge that Exxon has never made. Bloomberg News has the exclusive.
Two good trailers
One: Season two of ‘Mirzapur’ is out! And Ali Fazal aka Guddu is looking for revenge. It will drop on October 23. NDTV has more details.
Two: Think Charlie's Angels meets Jason Bourne—except far darker and with a more diverse, kickass cast. That’s why we’re excited about ‘The 355’ which stars Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz and Fan Bingbing.
A happy football story
Arsenal star Mesut Ozil has stepped in to save the team’s lovable mascot Gunnersaurus—or rather Jerry Quy, the man inside that giant dino costume. Management had planned to lay him off after 27 years as a pandemic cost-cutting measure (because football teams be so broke). Well, Ozil has now offered to pay his salary for an entire year. Al Jazeera has more.
