Rajasthan is a desert. Socially, in that state, girl child has not been treated well, as many parents have aborted the girl child. In such a social and ecological scenario, one village has started an interesting ritual and practice that intends to hit at both the issues in one go. The village is Piplantri village. The new ritual? For every girl born in the village, all the villagers get together to plant 111 trees (like neem, sheesham, mango, Amla etc) in... Read more
Full scale Skeletons and other parts are very expensive for students. Now, a new technique, which is still in its infancy, promises to provide cheaper alternative easily. “At Notre Dame, there are 100 kids in anatomy class and they have to share five skulls,” Matthew Leevy, the head of the Notre Dame lab where the technique was developed, told Wired. “For 10 to 20 bucks they could each have their own skull to take back to their dorm to study.”... Read more
Scientists have found that Summer ice is melting 10 times faster in the Antarctic than it was 600 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the past 50 years. Some of their findings are truly astonishing and point to a rather damning future for the planet. Experts found the most rapid melt occurred in the past 50 years Tests carried out on ice core on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula Temperatures up by 1.6 degrees Celsius over 600... Read more
With the new developments in the Arab world – the Arab spring and the new Islamization of the politics – how are the sexual mores and pressures bearing upon the women? Not well, avers Shereen El Feki, the author of the book – “Sex and the Citadel” The Arab Spring may be sputtering. They’re still in the streets of Cairo, but lately it’s been for sectarian standoffs and, too often, the abuse in the streets of women. Sexual abuse. Pay... Read more
Economic Times suggests in an article that Infosys is a very attractive acquisition target right now. Look at some of the facts: Infosys has Cash and cash equivalents (Rs 22,000 crore) equal to 17% of the company’s total market capitalisation of over Rs 1,34,000 crore – compared to TCS’ ratio (Cash/Market Cap) of 2.2% and Cognizant’s 12.5% With no debt burden and presence of cash reduces the enterprise value or the price that an acquirer would put on a going concern by an... Read more
University of Texas at Austin historian Brian Levack, writer of book, “The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West.” says that the heydays of Possessions, Demons and Exorcism may be back. He discussed it all with Tom Ashbrook on his program “On Point”. Demonic possession and exorcism can sound awfully medieval. But their heyday, says my guest today, was in the same age as Sir Isaac Newton and the dawn of the Age of Reason. On the one hand,... Read more
Yesterday I was watching this program on Canada’s Rawal TV from Toronto, where the gentleman Munir Sami, who is the guest on the program explains the depth, the breadth and the viciousness of the deep rooted ideology of violence and Jehad embedded in the Muslim community of Canada, specifically the Pakistanis. He cites his discussion with someone close to him, who clearly distinguishes between the Constitution of Canada and Islamic Sharia and how his allegiance is to the latter, despite... Read more
Despite circumstantial evidence to suggest this, the Indian Government and the “peaceniks” have been going on as if somehow there will be a change in the basic architecture of Pakistan’s inherent “software” and it will abandon its terrorist ways. Truth is that Pakistan has been inextricably linked to the ways of terrorism. New Wikileaks cables now show that Pakistan was instrumental in killing the moderate Kashmiri Separatist Fazal-ul-Qureshi. It used Hizbul Mujahideen to carry out the act for it. Fazal-ul-Qureshi... Read more
Bitcoin is a cryto-currency – not a real currency, but acting as one. It is the new rage these days. Bitcoin (BTC) is an online commodity that is based on an open-source, peer-to-peer encryption protocol first described in 2009 by a pseudonymous developer (or developers) Satoshi Nakamoto Its market is considered to be around $1-2 bn depending on the valuation. But there are competitors to Bitcoin already and their market is picking up as well. Some of these competing currencies... Read more
Myriad Genetics, is a Utah-based biotechnology company. It has discovered and isolated two extremely important genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer — BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Now, Myriad Genetics has patented its discovery which grants it a 20-year monopoly over use of the genes for research, diagnostics and treatment. A section of researchers, medical groups and patients are challenging the patent as invalid and have sued. It is a very important court case. The genes aren’t created... Read more
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