A landslide in Himachal

Yesterday, a major landslide left at least 10 people dead—and 60 are still missing. One of the casualties included a bus which rolled down a gorge—with at least 28 passengers aboard. Rescue operations are currently underway. See a clip below (The Hindu)

Twitter locks out Rahul Gandhi

The Congress leader has been locked out of the platform for six days—ever since he tweeted a photo of his meeting with the parents of the Dalit child who was raped and killed in Delhi (explained here). This is potentially a violation of strict rules that protect the identity of a rape victim. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights asked Twitter to take action—but did not demand the same of a BJP MP and government commission that also posted images of her parents. Hence, there is much talk of double standards. But Twitter has no clear answer as to when it plans to restore Gandhi’s access. (The Telegraph)

A key link between the gut and aging

A new study shows that bacteria in your belly—otherwise known as gut microbes—have a huge effect on how you age. A study conducted on elderly mice showed that just introducing gut bacteria from baby mice had a huge impact on their brain function and behaviour. Sounds amazing though we must point out that it involved a “poo transplant”—i.e. transplanting fecal matter from younger mice into the intestine of the older ones. And these are mice—and such poop swaps may not work all that well in humans. So… there’s that. (Inverse)

In other odd scientific news: The European Space Agency has sent a visitor out into space: a single cell yellow-coloured slime called the ‘Blob’. It first appeared on Earth around 500 million years ago, and is every bit as bizarre as an extraterrestrial: “An alien on its own planet, the Blob is an unclassifiable organism -- neither fish nor fowl. Nor is it plant, animal or fungus.” Also, it has 720 types of sex and it grows without dividing. From what we can make out, there isn’t any pressing reason to send the Blob to the International Space Station—except as a super-nerdy school experiment just to see what it does in zero gravity. Also: it looks like this:

Two things in great jeopardy

Geronimo the Alpaca: The eight year old has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis—and many (including the UK government) believe he must be put down to ensure the disease doesn’t spread to humans. This isn’t an unusual decision as such: 28,356 animals were slaughtered due to a TB incident in England between March 2020 and March 2021. But Geronimo’s case has sparked huge outrage and controversy over TB tests that often throw up false positives. The upshot: The government has 24 days to put him down but it will now have to contend with an army of ‘Alpaca Angels’ who are standing guard over the Geronimo. New York Times has more on the protests and The Guardian explains bovine TB. Also, this is Geronimo:

Succulent plants: The exotic house plant craze on Instagram is threatening the future of rare species in Africa. Poachers from China and South Korea are encouraging locals to dig up these plants:

“There is a collecting mania. People want these wild plants which can grow for up to a hundred years. They are being taken out by local people, some of whom have lost jobs throughout lockdown. They are cleaning out the populations, including all the very, very old plants. This is the tragedy; they are not just picking off the seeds.”

Begone lactating nipple!

Instagram took down the poster for the Spanish flick ‘Madres Paralelas’ (Parallel Mothers)—directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starring Penélope Cruz. The reason: It showed a lactating nipple, like so: 

But the bizarre move of censorship—“for breaking our rules against nudity”—triggered an outcry. And Insta has since apologised:

“We do, however, make exceptions to allow nudity in certain circumstances, which includes when there’s clear artistic context. We’ve therefore restored posts sharing the Almodóvar movie poster to Instagram, and we’re really sorry for any confusion caused.”

Speaking of Instagram: The platform has launched two new anti-hate features called ‘Limits’ and ‘Hidden Words’. Limits will allow you to hide comments and DMs from people who either don’t follow you—or just started doing so. In essence: “Limits allows you to hear from your long-standing followers, while limiting contact from people who might only be coming to your account to target you.” The Hidden Words function will filter out certain offensive words in incoming DM requests—and dump them in a hidden folder. (EndGadget)

Speaking of movie-related offenses: Top women filmmakers in Spain are furious at the San Sebastian film festival’s decision to award Johnny Depp its highest honour. The reason: last year, in a court case involving his ex-wife Amber Heard, a UK court ruled that the allegations of domestic violence against Depp were “substantially correct.” One angry filmmaker said: “This speaks very badly of the festival and its leadership, and transmits a terrible message to the public: ‘It doesn’t matter if you are an abuser as long as you are a good actor’.” (The Hindu)

Also hitting ‘delete’: China is creating a blacklist of songs that contain “illegal content”—and will ban them in all karaoke venues. The aim: to promote “healthy and uplifting” music—which sounds like a lot of fun. What’s out: “banned content would include that which endangers national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, violates state religious policies by propagating cults or superstitions, or which encourages illegal activities such as gambling and drugs.” So absolutely no rap then? (The Guardian)

Sabyasachi X H&M collab

The most upmarket designer is teaming up with the mall staple brand H&M to launch a collection called ‘Wanderlust’. The 65-70 pieces of apparel will be available in India and other select countries:

“The collection… will present India's rich hand-crafted textile in modern as well as classic Indian silhouettes that echo the modern global nomad mindset. Packed with floral, light patterns and mint colours, Sabyasachi's designs will make everyday fashion not only more relaxing but also a tad bit stylish.”

Umm, okay. The sneak peek below doesn’t tell us very much about what to expect from this ‘odd couple’ pairing. Economic Times has more details and The Telegraph interviews Sabyasachi. 

Yes, Robin is bisexual

In a newly released DC comic, Batman’s sidekick comes out of the closet—going out on a date with a boy. But where does he fall on the LGBTQ+ spectrum? We don’t know that bit yet:

“You'll see some coverage declaring that Tim [aka Robin] has come out as bisexual, but that's not technically true. Yes, he's dated fellow hero Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) on and off. But his journey is just beginning, and Tim is still figuring himself out — he hasn't applied any specific labels to himself yet, and his creators haven't either.”

If you’re a comic nerd, NPR has all the deep analysis you need. Also: the big moment below: