Tapovan tunnel tragedy continues

Rescue workers had to abandon their efforts when “a huge mass of black ice and water mixed with mud and sludge” came hurtling down the mountainside—raising water levels in the Rishi Ganga river. And the local villagers are very worried:

“We had never seen such a spectacle before… This is beyond our imagination... The water level goes up in the hilly rivers when there is rainfall but today was a sunny day. There must be some lakes on the top of the mountain and they are collapsing for some reason.”

It has also forced the rescue teams to change strategy:

“[T]he rescuers are now also focusing on drilling through the hardened debris in the choked tunnel in Chamoli district, rather than just shifting mounds of silt and sludge heaped there by the sudden flood. The aim for now is to set up a ‘life-saving system’, possibly to pump oxygen into the blocked tunnel.”

More worryingly: Some experts warn that rock and debris from the avalanche may have created a natural dam, blocking the Rishi Ganga river. One of them shared a video clip of the location, saying:

“It is clearly visible from here that because of the flooding, the Rishi Ganga has been dammed. I don’t know when, but at some point, this [natural dam] will be breached and could cause another flood, and so the workers downstream need to be warned and prepared.”

Streaming platforms rush to self-regulate

Even as the government readies to roll out a new set of regulations, 17 streaming platforms unveiled a ‘toolkit’ to monitor themselves. It essentially executes a self-regulation code all of them signed last year—and which was rejected by the government. So the likelihood that it will fob off the government clampdown is very low. FYI, the one big platform that isn’t part of this effort at self-restraint: Amazon. (The Hindu)

A breakthrough obesity drug

Trial data of Semaglutide—delivered as a weekly injection—shows that it is highly effective in suppressing appetite. The 2000 participants shed an average of 15 kilos during a 15-month period. It is typically used to treat type 2 diabetes, but researchers upped the dosage of the drug—which fools the body by mimicking a hormone called GLP1 that is released after eating a filling meal. Why this matters: Until now, doctors could only recommend bariatric surgery for people who need to lose large amounts of weight for medical reasons. Point to note: While the weight loss feels effortless, side-effects include nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, and constipation. (BBC News)

Munnar’s worrying weather

The Kerala hill station’s temperature hit a freezing -2°C—a bizarre occurrence that is one of the strongest indications of the effects of climate change. Munnar’s winter typically lasts between November and January, and it starts to warm up by February. Experts say:

“The temperatures in these places are beyond control and the weather is tough to forecast. The change in its formation is clear and distinct. In the past, there have been changes in the formation of the weather, but they were not regular.”

China bans the BBC

The government has banned the BBC World Service in retaliation for a similar move made by the UK—which stripped the state-run China global television network of its broadcast license. Point to note: The BBC was never allowed to broadcast directly into Chinese homes and was largely available via satellite in international hotels. (NPR)

Air travel is getting pricier

The government is easing price restrictions put in place during the pandemic by 10-30%. So you should expect to pay more until March 31. The price caps vary based on the duration of the flight. Indian Express has the details.

Mars is getting crowded

A day after a UAE spacecraft established orbit around the planet, it was joined by a Chinese mission—which has arrived to put a rover on the surface. The Mars trip is a first for both nations. Joining them soon: NASA. BBC News has more on the Chinese mission. Bonus: To mark its achievement, the government projected images of Mars’ two moons Phobos and Deimos over Dubai—causing some confusion among residents.

Faking their achievement: Two Indian mountain climbers who have been banned for six years by the Nepalese government. Their crime: pretending to have climbed Mount Everest back in 2016 by submitting doctored photos. One of them, Narender Singh Yadav, was slated to win the prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award—which has now been retracted. How they were caught:

“[V]eteran mountaineers said they saw a lie in the photographic details: An oxygen mask with no tube connecting it to an oxygen tank, no reflections of snow or mountains in a man’s sunglasses and limp flags in a place known for lacerating winds.”

Indians really like this flower

A photo of purple daisy on Wikimedia Commons receives 78 million hits a day. But no one could understand why. One clue revealed the traffic was likely coming from a mobile app. Another clue: The traffic shot up after TikTok was banned in India: “The evidence suggested that one of the TikTok replacements had inadvertently hot-linked to the flower image in their code.” Wikimedia has since confirmed the Indian origin of this mystery—but is yet to release the name. RestOfWorld has more. Also: behold the flower!

A Maori MP scores a victory

We think of Kiwis as very nice people, but they are no strangers to racist bias—especially toward indigenous culture. Rawiri Waititi was prevented by the speaker from asking questions in parliament, and eventually ordered to leave. The reason: He was wearing a taonga, a Maori greenstone pendant instead of a tie. So he went out and made this statement:

By the evening, the speaker had changed the rules and made ties optional. (Reuters) 

Pigs can be gamers

We’ve always known that pigs are very smart creatures—a lot smarter than we assume. Now researchers in the US have successfully trained four pigs to manipulate a joystick and control a cursor on a monitor—using tasty treats, of course. Ok, so they’re not as good at it as rhesus monkeys—but that may be because they have to move everything with their snouts. The Guardian has more on the experiment, but here’s what it showed us:

“That the pigs achieved the level of success they did on a task that was significantly outside their normal frame of reference is in itself remarkable, and indicative of their behavioural and cognitive flexibility.”