chakravarthy

(1). Who is the world's youngest king ? (1). Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk of Bhutan is, at 28, the world's youngest king. This Oxford-educated monarch took over from his father Jigme Singye Wangchuk on 06th November, 2008. His coronation took place at the Golden Throne Room at Tashichhodzong, a fortress and the power centre of Bhutan. (2). Why are the people of Japan also known as Nipponese ? (2). Nippon is the Japanese name for Japan. It literally means 'the sun's origin', which is often translated as the land of the rising sun. The Japanese name Nippon is used mostly for official purposes, including on the currency, in the constitution, on postage stamps and at many international sporting events. Nippon first apeared in history only at the end of the seventh century in the Old Book of Tang which said that the Japanese envoy disliked his country's then name Woguo and changed it to Nippon. Another eighth century chronicle, True Meaning of Shiji states...

[ Based on an article written by Shankar Roy Chowdhury,  a fomer Chief of Army Staff and a former Member of Parliament, published in Deccan Chronicle dated 19th November, 2016 (Saturday) ] I had the privilege of knowing Lt. Gen. Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM (Retired), but not his full name until quiet recently. He was an "officer and a gentleman" of the old school whose character and moral values sprang from his undoubtedly privileged family background from an established landowning Bhumihar family of Bihar which was politically influential and well connected. Lt. Gen. Sinha was very much an old-world aristocrat in the truest sense of the word, calm and collected under all circumstances, just, fair, at the same time strict and even handed in all matters. He was endowed with a personal sense of honour and the most impeccable integrity. I was aware of his advanced age, and I knew the end had to come sometime, but nevertheless I was indeed sad when the news arrived of his pass...

By now  (25-12-2016), it must have become apparent to the meanest intelligence that India is in turmoil. A running economy has ground to almost a halt and there is no saying when things will get back to 'normal' again, normal in this case being the ability of the common citizen to work, earn and then spend that money for his/her daily needs. To be cut off from legitimately earned money, lying within arm's reach but yet inaccessible, and going through tiresome and humiliating moments to get it, has understandably frustrated millions of innocent citizens. Fervid supporters of the present BJP government and specially of Prime Minister Narendra Modi still persist in hailing this 'masterstroke'. His political colleagues have now begun to admit that there is pain, but say it's all future gain. Economists are not so sure that it was a good idea at all, because the costs - economic and human - far outweigh the benefits. What will social scientists make of the afterm...

Dutch scientists have developed an artificial leaf that can act as a mini-factory for producing drugs, an advance that could allow medicines to be produced anywhere there is sunlight. The work taps into the ability of plants to use sunlight to feed themselves through photosynthesis, something industrial chemists have struggled to replicate because sunshine usually generates too little energy to fuel chemical reactions. The leaf-inspired micro factory mimics nature's efficiency at harvesting solar radiation by using new materials called luminiscent solar concentrators with very thin channels through which liquid is pumped, exposing molecules to sunlight. "Theoretically, you could use this device to make drug compounds with solar energy anywhere you want", said lead researcher Timothy Noel at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. By doing away with the need for a power grid, it may be possible one day to make malaria drugs in the jungle or even medicine...

The closure of lads'mags has hit the glamour model industry hard. Several ceased to exist over the past couple of years, as young men increasingly turned to their phones and social media. As a result, glamour models have had to diversify their work - some now have thousands of fans enjoying their sexy selfies on Snap-chat (for a premier price), while others have turned to Amazon to keep them in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed. Glamour models - including well-known lad mag names - are increasingly making their Amazon wish lists public so their fans can buy them presents. "I will usually receive two or three items a week. My list ranged from 2,500 Pounds (Rs. 2.08 lakh, for shoes) down to about 20 Pounds (approximately Rs. 1,700)", Sophie (name changed), a published glamour model, said, "Most things come from the lower end of the list, but I have had some really expensive gifts arrive out of the blue". The models share links to their wish lists on t...

Scientists studying a dinosaur called the limusaurus have made a surprising discovery - it developed sharp teeth for eating meat soon after it was born, but lost them as it grew up and became a vegetarian. By comparing thirteen different fossils, researchers were able to observe the growth stages of the slnder-bodied, short-legged dinosaur that live in what is now East-asia. They found the limusaurus, whose name means "mud lizard", had teeth in its early years, suggesting it had an omnivorous diet, including meat. These gradually disappeared to make way for a beak instead as it transitioned to a plant-based diet in adulthood, making it the first known reptile to loose teeth during its development. Shuo Wang, a paleontologist at Capital Norman University in Beijing, said he and his team had discovered "a very rare, very interesting phenomenon". "Toothed jaws in juvenile individuals transition to a completely toothless beaked jaw in more mature individuals du...

Over fifty percent of women aged 18 - 39 years in Brazil are avoiding pregnancy due to the Zika epidemic, according to a new study published on 23rd December, 2016 that suggests the country must urgently re-evaluate its reproductive health policies. Since the outbreak of Zika in Brazil, there have been 1,845 confirmed cases of congenital Zika syndrome in babies, researchers said. There is an urgent need to reconsider abortion criminalisation, and also to improve reproductive health policies to ensure women have access to safe and effective contraceptives, they said. Researchers feom University of Brasilia in Brazil wanted to undestand how the epidemic had impacted reproductive health practices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If mothers-to-be smoke during pregnancy, it may cause damage to their child's kidneys, a new study has warned. Researchers from Kyoto University in Japan have found that young children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were more likely to show signs of kidney damage comapred to those born of non-smoking mothers. The researchers conducted a population-based retrospective study using a database of health check-ups in Japan from pregnancy to three years of age. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

China launched on 23rd December, 2016 a satellite that will monitor global carbon dioxide emissions to understand climate change. The launch came hours after Beijing lifted a nearly week-long red alert for China's worst episode of smog that engulfed about forty cities. The 620-kg TanSat was put into orbit by the Long March-2D rocket, which took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in North-West China's Gobi Desert early on 23rd December, 2016 morning, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. China will be the third country after Japan and the US to monitor greenhouse gases through its own satellite. On a three-year mission, TanSat will "thoroughly examine global carbon dioxide levels every sixteen days, accurate to at least 4 ppm (parts per million), the Xinhua report said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet and novelist who abandoned a promising literary career to become one of the foremost songwriters of the contemporary era, has died. He was 82. Adam Cohen, his son and producer, said: "My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records". More than 200 recordings of his songs have been made, initially by the folk-pop singers, like Judy Collins and Tim Hardin, and later by performers from across the spectrum of popular music like U2, Aretha Franklin, REM, Jeff Buckley, Trisha Yearwood and Elton John. Cohen's best known song may well be "Hallelujah", a majestic, meditative ballad infused with both religiosity and earthiness. It was written for a 1984 album that his record company rejected as insufficiently commercial and popularised a decade later by Jeff Buckley. Since then some 200 artists, from Bob Dylan to Justin Timberlake, have su...

Using your device just before sleep may lead to a condition called transient smartphone blindness, say doctors who reported a case of two women in the United Kingdom suffering from temporary vision impairment in one eye after looking at a bright cell phone screen in a dark room.  In the first case, a 22 year old woman had trouble seeing with her right eye at night while in bed. This happened multiple times a week for a year. However, her vision was fine in her left eye, and in both eyes the following day. In another case, a 40 year old woman reported not being able to see with one eye when she woke up before sunrise. The vision problem lasted about fifteen minutes, and happened on and off for six months. In both cases, doctors later found that the vision problems occurrred only after the women had viewed their smartphone for several minutes, while lying on their side in bed, the 'Live Science' reported. These problems happened because the patients were looking at their ...

Wearable technologies that allow users to keep track of the number of bites they take during a meal help them lose weight by reducing overall food intake. Researchers at Clemson University in the United States wanted to analyse how providing bite count feedback might influence eaters in different situations and determine its efficacy in the presence of environmetal cues linked to overeating. They found that people who received bite count feedback ate less and reduced their overall intake during a meal. Researchers recruited young adults to consume a meal. Some were outfitted with bite count feedback devices and given either a small or large plate. The group that received bite count feedback significantly reduced their intake regardless of plate size. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having diabetes increases the risk of dying from the effects of a heart attack by around fifty percent, a new study has warned. Researchers from University of Leeds in the UK tracked 7,00,000 people who had been admitted to hospital with a heart attack between January, 2003 and June, 2013. Of these, 1,21,000 had diabetes. After stripping out the effects of age, sex, any other illnesses and differences in the emergency medical treatment received, researchers found stark differences in survival rates. People with diabetes were fifty-six percent more likely to have died if they had experienced a ST elevation myocardial infraction (STEMI) heart attack than those without the condition, researchers said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Men, take note! Cigarette smoking may significantly damage the DNA of your sperm and affect fertility as compared to non-smokers, a new study has warned.  Researchers also assessed 422 proteins in participants' sperm. One protein was absent, 27 proteins were under-represented, and 6 proteins were over-represented in smokers. Analaysis of these proteins suggest that cigarette smoking may promote an inflammatory response in the male reproductive tract. "More and more studies are demonstrating a harmful effect of smoking on male fertility", said Dr. Ricardo Pimenta Bertolla, senior author of the syudy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, is not perfectly built, says cientists who found that the structure's base is slightly lopsided. Researchers surveyed the oldest and biggest of the three pyramids at the Giza pyramid complex, and discovered  that the pyramid's west side is longer than the east side. The discrepancy is just a few inches but the difference was enough for the researchers to detect. The pyramid was originally clad in hard, white casing, but much of the casing stones are now gone. Without them, researchers have had difficulty getting the precise measurements of the pyramid. In an atempt to know the original lengths of the pyramid's sides, researchers from the Glen Dash Research Foundation and Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) in the United States looked for marks that indicate the original casing baseline of the pyramid or points where the casing stones once touched the platform. A statistical analysis showed that t...

Through the eye of my mind I longingly await The delicious moment when I can finally rest my tired aching feet On your soft velvet sands And feel the bubbling drift of frothy cool waters. I love to rest my searching eyes on distant ships Black specks on a blue canvas The azure sky meeting your greay waters Drinking your pleasant sights soaking in the mixed scents Of endless shores and tales untold. My mind a riot of colours  Your's is the music I long to hear  The traveeler's tale told crystal clear I journey with you to distant lands and  stand transfixed on your golden shore. I gaze and gaze at your beauty raw Your myriad moods and sentiments And filled with awe I stand amazed  at your vastness and splendour Mighty Sea...how beautiful your are! [ Written by Debdutta Saha and published in Times of India dated 17th November, 2016 (Thursday) ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's no fighting it - humans are innately social creatures. But while it's widely accepted that socialising makes us happier, this might not be strictly true if you are highly intelligent. Evolutionary psychologists from Singapore Management University and the London School of Economics and Political Science found exactly this when they studied more than 15,000 young adults. They concluded  that, while people generally feel happier when they spend time with others, very smart people are an exception to this rule.  The study said this could be because of evolution. Smarter people can more easily adapt to their surroundings in the modern world, so they don't need close relationships to help them with food and shelter, like our ancestors did. Or, in the modern equivalent, the Wi-Fi password and a spare phone charger. Their other theory is that smarter people are more aspirational, and want to spend more time working towards their goals, rather than socialising. The stud...

Avoiding harm to animals is a big factor behind the lifestyle choices of many vegans. But this could actually be harming animals, according to some. In his article, titled   The Vegan Confusion ,  naturalist Claudio Bertonatti argues that vegans kill animals by eating rice, grains and vegetables. Vegans (and vegetarians) promote a culture where vegetables and grains are protected at the expense of animals, according to Bertonatti, through deforestation to make more room for crops, and poisoning and shooting animals to keep them away. He said in an interview with Playground , "In Argentina, I encounter many people who claim to be defenders of nature because they don't eat meat or wear leather. They think that by being vegan or vegetarian they are preventing animals from dying. It's not true". Dr. Christian Dunn, environment and agriculture scientist, says that if you care about biodiversity and the environment, being vegan is not necessarily the best way forward. ...

The commndment, 'Love thy neighbour as thyself', is the strongest defence against human aggressiveness and an excellent example of the unpsychological (expectations) of the cultural super-ego. The commandment is impossible to fulfil; such an enormous inflation of love can only lower its value. Civilisation pays no attention to all this; it merely admonishes us that the harder it is to obey the precept in present-day puts himslef at a disadvantage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slow transit constipation is a cause for concern among patients who are older than forty-five years as it affects the large intestine and makes bowel movements very difficult. Experts said that ten percent of the people suffer from this problem but it is not identified in time for them to get it treated. Stress, long use of antibiotics due to infections and recurrent diarhoea are some reasons which affect the gut flora and causes the situation. Dr. Ramesh Kumar, Head of Gastroenterology Department in Osmania University Hospital said, "The problem is very high but cases come to hospitals when it has advanced to colonic cancer. Often the cancer has spread to liver and other organs of the body and at advanced stage it becomes inoperable. Patients often go to the general physicians who give them laxatives and the problem is solved for the time being. After that the patients depend on it for too long thereby advancing the disease inside".  Gatroenterologists state that the i...

Emotions are increasingly becoming important in politics. The economy is gradually being replaced by 'emotonomy' in the global political discourse. Unsurprisingly, India is not outlier to this shift. The banning of high-value currency notes has predominantly been an emotional plank, having real economic consequences, both good and bad, in the short as well as long term, on diverse stakeholder groups. The government suddenly took out more than eighty percent  of the currency in circulation on 08th November, 2016. The move appears to have struck an emotional chord with the public, which was ready to bear 'short-term' incovenience in the hope of long-term benfits. The poor chuckled at the notion of the rich being taken to task. However, when the 'short-term' slowly started to border on the medium and, perhaps, long term, government pundits spurred into action and started working towards building a parallel narrative. Consequently, what started as a measure to c...

Patients suffering from diabetes who have been putting off doing daily exercise should rethink as they can have multiple health benefits from doing yoga regularly. A study published recently shows that yoga can significantly reduce fasting and post prandial sugar levels, body weight, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. Dr. Mohammed Riyaz, an endocrinologist and faculty at the MNR Medical College, Medak, three others, conducted a research on 50 diabetes patients for a period of four months, in which 25 were in study group while the remaining 25 were in control group. While the study group patients did yoga for one hour daily, the control group did not. There was no change in the treatment and dietary habits of either group during the study period with the patients in both groups continuing their medications. The results of the study group were compared with those of the control group and a change was observed. The study group who did yoga daily showed a drop in fas...

Cho Ramaswamy was an interesting person, a man of many parts. Certainly, part Vidhushak, part Chanakya. Political in the world of art and artful and artistic in the world of politics. He is therefore a difficult and complex subject to write about. It would seem very inapprorpiate to eulogise him as he himself was quiet averse to it. And, banish the thought of singing uncritical paeans about the man who swore by critical analysis and contrarian positions. He would have liked a bit of satire and humour but only a man of his talent could pull it off in a tribute. If the Dravidian movement thrived by mixing performing arts with politics, it is no wonder that one of its trenchant critics would pay back in the same coin.  Cho was passionate about theatre and used his plays to, among other things, criticise the Dravidian movement and its politics. His searing criticism and deep insights were often couched in wit and satire. In cinema too, he excelled as a comedian. He earned the freed...

In the fable, the emperor wants a robe so fine that the royal tailor stitches him a garment that is not made from any cloth. The courtiers all rush to praise the non-existent royal robe as being of the finest cloth with the best weave. The emperor proudly parades in public until a little boy exclaims: "The emperor has no clothes". What we are witnessing is similar: Narendra Modi unveils a step to unearth black money, all his ministers and BJP MPs rush to praise the gambit as a wonderful step, ignoring the suffering of hundreds of millions of peasants, workers and others. And even while the Opposition shouts itself hoarse to point out the callousness of the step, the emperor and his courtiers deny the reality. Their denial is part of the gameplan, for to acknowledge the reality the emperor would have to step down, leaving the courtiers leaderless. There are several features of the ongoing crisis that merit attention: the financial crisis will go on longer than anticipated;...

Never go to bed angry, the old saying goes, or bad feeling will harden into resentment. Now scientists have found evidence to support the idea that negative emotional memories are harder to reverse after a night's sleep. The study published in the journal Nature Communications , suggests that during sleep, the brain reporganises the way negative memories are stored, making these associations harder to suppress in the future. "In our opinion, yes, there is certain merit in this age-old advice", said Yunzee Liu, who led the research at Beijing Normal University and is now based at University College London. "We would suggest to first resolve argument before going to bed; don't sleep on your anger". The findings could also have implications for the treatment of conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the authors said. The study, conducted over two days, used a psychological technique known as the "think/no-think" task to test how s...

A refereeing decision in a soccer match between Argentina and Peru in 1964 led to a riot in which 300 fans were killed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You might think the worst possible thing you could admit on a date is that you have been single for the past ten years. But there's a lot of research suggesting that long-term singletons are great catches - they tend to be happier and healthier than their loved-up counterparts. So, here are seven reasons to shout about your single status next time you find yourself in a restaurant sharing desert with a stranger. Not literally, of course - inside voice at all times. Single people have closer social ties : A study in 2015 found that people who are single are often closer to their parents, siblings, friends, neighbours and colleagues. This was the case for both women and men. They are more successful : Analysis of data found that single people have more personal growth than those in couples, and they are less likely to give up on making improvements to their lives. And they are more likely to think for themselves : The same research also found that single people are less influ...

The high level meeting of the World Meterological Organisation (WMO) and the  United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in 2000 was path breaking as far as the northern Indian Ocean and South Asian countries were concerned. A formula was unanimously decided and agreed upon in 2004. What was the decision? - Naming the Cyclone. Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. There was something peculiar about the names. They craeted new phonetic alphabets of names from A to W, leaving out Q, U, X, Y and Z. A few protests changed the procedure of naming and in 1979, a new 'thing' was added. What was it? - Men's names were introduced (it previously featured only women's names) . In October, 2016, a natural depiction over the seas distracted the terrible impact of this hurricane on the ground in Haiti. An infrared satellite image captured an eerie site when this hurricane ...

In a grim prognosis, reknowned British theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking has warned that the human race today is facing the 'most dangerous' time in its history. Noting that the planet is in crises, the 74-year-old Cambridge Professor said the world is facing huge environmental and technological challenges and needs to unite and work together to protect the humanity. "We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, over-population...they are a reminder taht we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity", he said. "We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it. Perhaps in a few hundred years, we will have established human colonies amid the stars, but right now we only have one planet, and we need to work together to protect it", Hawking wrote in a recent op-ed for The Guardian . -----------------------------------------------------...

Exposure to family violence and lack of affectionate behaviour towards children make them violent, a study reveals. "On occasions, adolescents assault their parents because the parents themselves have been violent towards the children or among themselves", Esther Calvete, lead author from the University of Duesto in Spain said, while analysing the factors that lead to violence from children to parents. "On other times, it is the lack of affectionate and positive communication between parents and their children, the lack of quality time that is dedicated to the children, or permissive parenting styles that do not impose limits", Calvete added. The study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology , involved 591 adolescents from Spain's Vizcaya district over the course of three years, allowing for analysis of the relationship between narcissism and aggression directed at parents by their children.  The results demonstrated that exposure to violenc...

Yet another prime ministerial visit is being accompanied by big-ticket defence purchases. This time it is in the deep winter of Moscow, and deals worth over $10 billion are expected to be finalised, bringing Russia back on the list of top defence suppliers after a break of several years. Earlier  a few hours before the Prime Minister took off for the US in September, 2015, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared deals worth over $3 billion, approving the long pending  purchase of Apache and Chinook helicopters. The story was not very different in April in Paris, when Narendra Modi surprised many by announcing a decision to buy 36 Rafale fighters from Dassault through a government-to-government deal, overriding years of ongoing negotiations with the same company to buy 126 fighters under the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) open tender. While the big-ticket defence purchases help improve atmospherics of the Prime Minister's high-decibel visits and military prepar...