Sexual assault fears in the Antarctic

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Content warning: The following item contains references to sexual abuse that may be difficult to read.

Sexual assault fears in the Antarctic

The context: South Africa is the only African nation to operate a research station in Antarctica. Established in 1960, the station is known as Sanae IV and houses a team of scientists for 13 months at a time. The current batch—consisting of nine scientists—was dispatched to Sanae IV on February 1.

What happened next: On February 27, South Africa’s environment department received complaints of assault and sexual harassment against one of the scientists—who allegedly attacked the team leader. A team member’s email to the department said: “His behavior has escalated to a point that is deeply disturbing…I remain deeply concerned about my own safety, constantly wondering if I might become the next victim.”

What happened now: South African officials has acknowledged the complaint, but they won’t recall or remove the accused—or any other team member—from the station. The reason: “The alleged perpetrator has willingly participated in further psychological evaluation, has shown remorse, and is willingly cooperative to follow any interventions that are recommended.”

Point to note: Sexual harassment is a notorious problem at remote Antarctic research stations–where victims are essentially stuck with their team for months—which discourages reporting. The remote and harsh conditions also foster out-of-control behaviour. For example, In 2018, a Russian researcher stabbed a colleague in “an apparent emotional breakdown.”

But, but, but: This isn’t a case of South Africa simply refusing to call back an alleged abuser to protect them. There is a significant price tag attached to doing so:

Teams often rely on every member to keep a base functioning over the Antarctic winter.. It would likely not be possible for just one person to be removed from the base, Dr. [Dawn] Sumner said. If a base were left unattended, “it would not be functional when people could return in the spring or summer,” Dr. Sumner said. “That would be a huge infrastructure loss for the South African Antarctic program.”

The bottomline: The price instead will be paid by the team—which is stuck with this scientist for the harshest months of Antarctic winter—July and August—when the days give way to complete darkness. CNN and New York Times have more on the story.

Meanwhile, in Allahabad: The High Court has acquitted two men on charges of attempted rape because:

Grabbing a girl’s breasts, breaking her pyjama strings, and trying to drag her beneath the culvert is not enough to charge a perpetrator with the offence of rape, or an attempt to rape…

“It is also not stated by witnesses that due to this act of the accused the victim got naked or got undressed. There is no allegation that accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim,” the court said.

They now face lesser charges–which carry a lesser penalty. The only silver lining: The survivor was rescued by passersby before the men could rape her. (The Hindu)

A startling “tumor-to-pork” treatment for cancer

Chinese scientists have found an ingenious weapon to kill cancer cells with pork! It involves a clever sleight of hand:

Taking a relatively benign virus, Newcastle disease virus (NDV), which causes little harm to humans, [the scientists] injected a pig gene to create a mutated new NDV-GT virus... Infecting cancerous cells with this virus, the pig gene effectively alerted the body to a foreign entity that inspires total rejection, so they pulverized the cancer cell by disguising it.

Why it is notable: Cancer cells are notoriously difficult for your immune system to detect—because it is primarily designed to fight foreign bodies that invade the body. Cancer cells are the body’s own cells that have gone rogue. They hide among healthy cells–and often hijack immune cells to spread. This treatment could be a genius immunotherapy drug that plasters the proverbial scarlet letter on cancer cells.

Astonishing early results: Ninety percent of the 23 patients with “advanced, drug-resistant cancers—such as liver, ovarian and lung – achieved halted tumour growth or shrinkage, with one cervical cancer patient declared clinically cured.” Of course, far more extensive trials will be required before any such treatment hits the market. (South China Morning Post)

Global head count: Millions of extra humans?

Finnish researchers say governments around the world have been underestimating their national population. The reason:

The team suggests these counting errors occur because census data in rural areas is often incomplete or unreliable and population estimation methods have historically been designed for best accuracy in urban areas.

As a result, the overall population total may be off by 53% on average—and 84% at worst.

Data point to note: 43% of the world’s 8.2 billion people classified as rural—which suggests a massive undercount, perhaps by millions. Though the researchers refuse to offer an alternative estimate.

But but but: Not everyone is convinced of these claims:

“The study suggests that regional population counts of where people are living within countries have been estimated incorrectly, though it is less clear that this would necessarily imply that national estimates of the country are wrong,” says Martin Kolk at Stockholm University, Sweden.

New Scientist has more on the study and experts’ reactions to the study.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Italy's ‘Il Foglio’ has made history by publishing the world's first AI-generated newspaper edition—AI wrote the articles, headlines, quotes, and even added a dash of irony.
China is stalling BYD's Mexico plant over fears that its smart car tech could slip into US hands.
Trump is making his commercial real estate debut in India with the Trump World Center Pune—a massive two-tower office complex with luxe retail space and India’s first Trump Club.
Always one for the good stuffs, Trump's trade and immigration policies could trigger a deep recession and spike inflation, UCLA study warns.
Sticking with the Donald, his administration is taking anti-Tesla protesters to war, warning they’ll “go through hell” for targeting Musk’s company.

sports & entertainment

Indian Express has a good read on how the IPL, now an adult at 18, has become a wild mix of sports, entertainment, and business—blending free-market capitalism with a democratic talent-spotting machine.

health & environment

In what may be a death knell for the organisation, Greenpeace faces a massive payout of hundreds of millions to the Dakota Access Pipeline company after a North Dakota jury found it guilty of defamation and trespassing over decade-old protests. For context to the case, read our story here.
A California pet food maker recalled its raw chicken products after they were linked to bird flu infections in two NYC cats and suspected in a third, as the virus spreads through poultry, cattle, and even pets.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is at its highest in 800,000 years, with 2024 likely to have been the hottest year on record and the first to breach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the UN.
Europe logged its highest measles cases since 1997, with 127,350 infections in 2024—double the previous year—prompting WHO to warn that "measles is back."

meanwhile, in the world

Ukraine has agreed to a partial ceasefire with Russia, focusing on halting strikes on energy infrastructure, after talks with Trump and Zelenskyy. But, but, but, not so fast: Russia and Ukraine traded blame for overnight attacks on energy sites.
Canada is in talks to join the EU’s military buildup, aiming to boost its defense industry and reduce reliance on the US.
Israel first bombed Gaza and now it's launched a "limited ground invasion." Yup, it's happening all over again.
US’ latest threats of military strikes against Iran have reignited fears of Tehran ditching nuclear non-proliferation.
Protests have erupted in Turkey after authorities arrested Ekrem Imamoglu—Istanbul’s mayor and a major political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mexico City bans traditional bullfights, swapping blood for spectacle—in what is still being looked at as a partial win for animal rights activists.
A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from terminating $14 billion of ‘green bank’ grants awarded to three climate groups by the Biden administration.
The Donald sent his national security team into a 24-hour scramble, by promising the release of 80,000 pages of documents related to the assassination of JFK.

meanwhile, in India

Nagpur police have accused an unlikely suspect for the communal violence—a moderate Muslim leader who opposes Islamic extremism.
New York Times has a good read on how elected women in rural India are being sidelined by their husbands, who are sworn in and rule in their place—sparking a pushback against “boss husbands.”
The Madras High Court ruled that a wife watching porn and indulging in self-pleasure isn’t cruelty against her husband, tossing out his divorce plea.
Indian Express has a round-up of this year’s Ramnath Goenka Journalism Award winners—from Manipur conflict coverage to reporting allegations of sexual assault leveled by female wrestlers against Brij Bhushan Singh.
The government is upset that Grok is giving gaalis—and has reached out to X to complain. But it's likely more unhappy at the answers the AI chatbot offers when questioned on Indian politics. FYI: Grok picked Nehru as the bestest PM ever.
Sparrow numbers in north Chennai have jumped by 20% in four years, thanks to conservation efforts by Koodugal—a voluntary conservation effort—which is now rolling out an app to track the birds.
Citing staffing shortages amid worsening ties, India is dragging its feet on issuing the usual amount of medical visas to Bangladesh—down from over 5,000 to under 1,000.
Clashes have broken out between the Hmar and Zomi communities in Manipur—just days after their respective apex bodies had agreed on a peace deal.

Five things to see

One: Bill Gates is in India… again. This is his third visit to the country in three years. Yesterday, he visited Parliament to meet Union Health Minister J P Nadda—to “review” the collab between the government and his foundation. The “memorandum of cooperation” is up for renewal—hence, the dramatic photo-op of him entering the building. (Related read: this excerpt from 'The Bill Gates Problem’ on the foundation’s failures in India). (The Hindu)

Two: Yes yes, we know NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are back. They splashed down off Florida’s coast—along with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. It was such a joyous moment that even dolphins came out to greet them. (Space.com)

Three: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a super-cool collab with Google DeepMind. It’s called Newton—”a physics engine to simulate robotic movements in real-world settings”—starting with robots in Disney theme parks. One of them waddled on stage at the company’s developer conference. (Techcrunch)

Four: About 136 years ago, researchers found a volcanic rock with ancient vulture remains of a bird that lived probably 30,000 years ago. What was unique: “A feather fossil that is preserved down to the microscopic pigment structures in the fossil’s wing.” A new study has found the reason for its immaculate state—zeolite—i.e. a group of minerals. Gizmodo has more on why this matters, but we just wanted to show you the pretty feather.

Five: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal in a love triangle? We can’t wait! ‘Materialists’ is helmed by ‘Past Lives’ director Celine Song—and follows a matchmaker named Lucy—torn between a rich man (Pedro Pascal) and her ex (Evans). C’mon, it’s gotta be Pedro! It is slated to release on June 13. (Variety)