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February 2021

Johnson & Johnson plans to test its coronavirus vaccine in infants and even in newborns, as well as in pregnant women and in people who have compromised immune systems. The bold plan for expanded clinical trials met with the approval of Dr Ofer Levy, director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Harvard’s Boston Children’s Hospital and a member of the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee that reviewed the company’s vaccine data. When Levy saw the outlines of the planned trials, “they turned my head,” he said. They were reported as part of the company’s application to the FDA for emergency use approval and discussed at the FDA meeting.

“They did not get into a lot of detail about it but did make it clear they will be pursuing pediatric and maternal coronavirus immunization studies,” Levy said. They referred committee members to their briefing materials where, on page 34, the company mentioned the planned studies.

A spokesperson for Janssen Biotech, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that is manufacturing the vaccine, confirmed that the company planned to extend clinical trials to children.

PfizerBioNTech and Moderna, whose coronavirus vaccines are now being given to adults, plan to gradually test them in younger and younger age groups. Those vaccines are now being tested in children 12 and older.

Johnson & Johnson will first test its vaccine in children older than 12 and under 18, but plans to immediately after begin a study that includes newborns and adolescents. The company then will test its vaccine in pregnant women, and finally in immunocompromised people. Like the other companies, Johnson & Johnson will analyze safety and immune responses.

Unlike the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use, which use a new technology involving messenger RNA, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine utilizes a method that has been widely tested for years. It relies on a disabled adenovirus, similar to viruses that cause the common cold, to deliver instructions to cells to briefly make copies of the virus’s spike protein. The recipient’s immune system then makes antibodies against the spike protein. The coronavirus needs its spike proteins to infect cells, so the antibodies can block a COVID infection before it starts.

Existing adenovirus vaccines include one for Ebola that has been safely administered to babies as young as age 1, and another for respiratory syncytial virus that was safely given to newborns. Nearly 200,000 people have received adenovirus vaccines, with no serious safety issues, Levy said. He said that Johnson & Johnson mentioned that safety record at the FDA meeting.

Most of the world’s vaccine market is for pediatric vaccines.

Levy added that in his opinion children need not be immunized in order for schools to open. But many parents are afraid to send their children to school without a vaccine. And, he noted, vaccinating children will help the country reach herd immunity.

Maruti Suzuki has updated the Maruti Suzuki Swift with a new engine, updated styling and more features. This is the first major update for the third-gen Swift since the hatchback was launched in February 2018. The updated Swift is now powered by the 1.2-litre DualJet petrol engine that first debuted with the refreshed Baleno. This unit puts out 7 hp more than the earlier engine, with 90 hp at 6,000 rpm and 113 Nm at 4,400 rpm. This engine features start/stop functionality and pairs with either a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic.

Other mechanical updates include an updated electronic power steering setup for better manoeuvrability and larger disc brakes at the front and bigger drum brakes at the rear. The manual has a fuel efficiency figure of 23.20 kpl while the AMT improves this to 23.76 kpl.

 Maruti Suzuki Swift facelift: A closer look at its variants, features and prices

The Maruti Suzuki Swift facelift is also available with three new dual-tone colour schemes. Image: Maruti Suzuki

The 2021 Swift now also comes with an updated list of features as well as more safety features like an electronic stability program in the AMT versions. There is also an optional contrast roof available in three combinations on the top ZXi+ variant: Pearl Arctic White/Pearl Midnight Black, Solid Fire Red/Pearl Midnight Black, and Pearl Metallic Midnight Blue/Pearl Arctic White.

Here’s how the Swift stacks up variant-to-variant in terms of features and prices.

2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift LXi

MT – Rs 5.73 Lakh

-LED taillights
-LED high-mounted stop lamp
-R14 steel wheels
-MID
-Front dome lamp
-Dual front airbags
-ABS with EBD
-Reverse parking sensor
-Front seatbelts with pre-tensioner
-ISOFIX child seat mounts
-Seatbelt reminder
-Engine immobiliser
-Speed warning system
-Manual AC with heater
-Tilt adjust steering
-Manually adjustable outer mirrors
-Gear shift indicator

2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift VXi

MT – Rs 6.36 Lakh
AMT – Rs 6.86 Lakh

All features of LXi+
-Full wheel covers
-Indicators on outer mirrors
-Body-coloured outer mirrors
-Body-coloured bumpers and door handles
-Outside temperature display (AMT only)
-Co-driver sun visor with vanity mirror
-Seat back pocket on co-driver side
-Instrument panel ornamentation
-Chrome tipped parking brake
-Piano black gear shift knob
-Chrome inside door handle
-Tachometer
-Security alarm system
-Speed-sensitive auto door lock
-Feather-touch audio system
-Steering mounted audio and phone controls
-Aux, USB and Bluetooth connectivity
-Four speakers
-Roof antenna
-Remote keyless entry
-Central locking
-Front and rear power windows with driver-side auto up
-Electrically adjustable outer mirrors
-Electromagnetic boot opener
-Adjustable front headrests
-Height adjustable driver’s seat
-Gear shift indicator (MT only)
-Gear position indicator (AMT only)
-Dead pedal (AMT only)
-Rear parcel shelf

2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift ZXi

MT – Rs 6.99 Lakh
AMT – Rs 7.49 Lakh

All features of VXi+
-R15 alloy wheels
-Leather-wrapped steering wheel
-Silver highlight on armrest
-Anti-pinch driver power window
-Front fog lamps
-7.0-inch SmartPlay Studio touchscreen infotainment with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
-Voice commands
-Navigation, remote control and AHA platform via Smartplay App
-6 speakers
-Push button start
-Auto climate control
-Auto up power windows
-Electrically foldable outer mirror
-Rear defogger
-Rear washer and wiper
-Adjustable rear headrest
-60:40 split rear seat
-Boot lamp

2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift ZXi+

MT – Rs 7.77 Lakh
AMT – Rs 8.27 Lakh
MT Dual Tone – Rs 7.91 Lakh
AMT Dual Tone- Rs 8.41 Lakh

All features of ZXi+
-Precision cut alloys
-Colour MID
-Reverse parking camera
-Cruise control
-Auto headlights
-Auto-folding outer mirrors

Muscular dystrophy is a group of inherited diseases that damage and weaken your muscles over time.

Any disease that affects a small percentage of the population is a rare disease. In many parts of the world, they also go by the term ‘orphan disease’, for the lack of a market large enough to capture the support and resources needed to develop treatments for them. Most rare diseases are genetic, and present throughout a person’s lifetime, even if symptoms do not immediately appear. Many rare diseases appear early on in life, and about 30 percent of children with rare diseases will die before reaching their fifth birthday.

The number of people in the world living with a rare disease is estimated to be between 300 and 350 million. This figure has often been used by the rare disease community to highlight that while individual diseases – though rare – add up to a huge population of people with rare diseases. With its sizeable population, India has an increased frequency of rare diseases when compared to the rest of the world. Due to the low prevalence of individual diseases, medical expertise is rare, knowledge is scarce, care offerings inadequate, and research limited. Despite the large overall estimate, patients with rare disease are the orphans of health systems, often denied diagnosis, treatment, and the benefits of research.

Relatively common symptoms can hide underlying rare diseases leading to misdiagnosis and delaying treatment. Typically a disabling or debilitating illness, the quality of life of a person living with a rare disease is affected by the absence of autonomy from any progressive, degenerative and occasionally life-threatening aspects of the disease.

It is estimated that every day in India, over 50 male babies are born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). We do not have any empirical epidemiological data of the DMD prevalence in India  from 2020, but it is estimated that there are between 4 and 5 lakh children suffering from DMD at any given time – roughly a fifth (20 percent) of the global DMD population. The burden in India is made greater than in Western countries by inadequate diagnostic facilities, management and rehabilitation facilities that cater to rare diseases.

Rare Diseases Day 2021 Orphans of the health system DMD patients are denied access to diagnosis timely treatment

Rare diseases, in numbers. Image Credit: Novartis/Pinterest

Genetic disorders get relatively little attention because of the mistaken perception (of health planners, clinicians and the general public) that inherited diseases are very rare – affecting only a small proportion of people and, even if diagnosed, is untreatable. But for the families concerned, they represent a substantial, continuing burden, unlike infectious diseases, which generally manifest only for a limited period.

The plight of those suffering from DMD is on multiple levels in India. The access to diagnostics and procedures is not available across all levels of society and in non-metro areas which make up the maximum amount of the country, there is almost no genetic diagnosis available at all.

Even in metro cities blood tests done in different diagnostic centres even prove to be inconclusive. Post-diagnosis, clinicians who knew about the disease and gave guidance on steps to take are extremely hard to come by. The number of paediatricians who are unable to diagnose DMD till a late stage of disease is alarmingly high. This can be put down to lack of awareness.

India has the second largest population in the world; yet, no comprehensive database for neuromuscular disorders is available. There are still families out there with no idea about the disease, much less how to manage it. In the rare event of the family having access to diagnostics and are able to get an understanding doctor the costs of treatment are sky-high. With the expense in foreign countries reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars per year it is close to impossible for a family to support the treatment here in India.

The Government of India’s identification of non-communicable diseases as a target for intervention is a welcome one, but extends to cancer, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease and stroke, but not genetic disorders. If real progress is to be made, genetic disorders needs to be brought in to the fold.


In August 2000, my wife and were euphoric as our son Karanveer came into this world, bawling his lungs out. Everything was new again, and every day a new adventure. As Karan became older, we grew content and happy in our small world. He would babble, crawl, want to play, sleep and eat much like any other child his age. Like his peers, he would fall down and play. We lovingly thought he was a bit clumsy when he fell often. There were subtle changes as he grew, like trouble climbing stairs, getting up from the floor or running. He would walk on his toes or the balls of his feet with a slightly waddling gait. We presumed he had a small problem in his feet, and doctor visits with the promise of butter chicken on the way back, didn’t bring us the speedy conclusion we had hoped for.

Rare Diseases Day 2021 Orphans of the health system DMD patients are denied access to diagnosis timely treatment

Karanveer, 18. Image Credit: Ajay Sukumaran

We traversed the length and breadth of the country looking for a cure or at the very least find out the cause of the problem. Faith healing, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Allopathy, Unani – we tried them all, to no avail. He was prescribed vitamins, exercise, changes in diet and a lot more. General practitioners, orthopedicians, paediatricians each giving their own opinions, asking for blood test after another, electromyography (EMG) and more, without a satisfactory answer. Tests in textbooks, treatments unheard of and renown – we tried them all, and with each new treatment that fairled, despaired of ever finding a cure.

We eventually met a renowned paediatric neurologist in Chennai. He put Karan at ease, was interactive, did a lot of poking and prodding and gradually grew contemplative towards the end. He recommended a blood test to aid in diagnosis and delivered a nasty shock. We were taken aback when we were told that Karan had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare disease where a protein called dystrophin – essential for proper muscle function – was lower than normal. In other words, he was wheelchair-bound for most of his life, after which he would become bedridden.

What would you do if your child was diagnosed with a condition that that most people haven’t heard of? One that progressively worsens and doesn’t yet, have a cure? For decades the health ministry has been focussed on more prominent diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, and tuberculosis. They seem to have left behind the 70 million who suffer from 7,000-odd rare diseases, that also need medical treatments and disease management.

Stumbling, falling and breaking in search of hope, we ultimately decided to do it ourselves. The Dystrophy Annihilation Research Trust (DART) was founded after scouring the country in search of help for Karan. We have recruited people qualified to run a research lab, places it could be set up, necessary equipment and chemicals, collaborations with researchers abroad, and more. Non-profits have limitations, with whopping costs for drug-development supported by donations. DART is the first lab in India focusing on muscular dystrophy (MD).

We are a group of skilled professionals working towards achieving a realistic treatment option to alleviate and reverse the dystrophy condition at the genetic level thereby enhancing the quality of life of existing patients. DART hopes to change the course of DMD and, ultimately, to find a cure. The hope and motivation fuelling the initiative is that someday, children with DMD will be free of wheelchairs and restrictions and can play, run and walk like children everywhere do. The long-term goal is to develop a cost-effective treatment, as quickly as possible, to relieve the suffering of DMD children and families alike.

DART also performs a common platform for counselling and support for patients with Muscular Dystrophy and their families, as well as to create awareness of the available treatments, and drug trials. Last but not least, DART also facilitate research into alleviating the scourge of muscular dystrophy. 

The author is President of the Dystrophy Annihilation Research Trust (DART).

For more than a century, our imagination has fuelled our search for aliens. We have envisioned them as giant robots, little green men, or slimy creatures. After the two World Wars, humanity’s technological progress sky-rocketed, quite literally, opening a new horizon for exploration: space. It was time to move beyond gazing upwards – our rockets could take orbiters, rovers and eventually, people, to worlds that could, or may be, harbouring life. The stage was set for our encounters with aliens to take place. Our machines have been landing on Mars, flying past all the planets in our solar system, and observing the stars and planets in deep space for over 45 years now. Even with all this progress, our guess as to whether aliens exist is as good as it was a century ago.

 We have telescopes in space, rovers on other worlds – our search for alien life continues

A signpost reads “Beware of aliens” at Space World in Kitakyusyu, Japan. Image Credit: Ai Takeda/Unsplash

In the 1950s, over a casual lunch conversation, a scientist called Fermi brought up the high likelihood for Earth-like life to exist in the Universe with the innumerable number of stars and planets in the Universe, and the simultaneous lack of evidence to support it. Coined the Fermi paradox, this inconsistency something that motivated (and demotivated) communicators to think about Aliens for the years to come. In 2017, a travelling piece of space rubble was spotted from 85 times the Earth-Moon distance away. For its unusual characteristics, the object known as ‘Oumuamua became a sensation. It’s size, wobble and acceleration were unusual for interstellar objects – hard to explain by conventional standards. A popular recent hypothesis regarding it being a product of an alien construct, led by Harvard professor Avi Loeb, was widely shared in the international media. It was generally shot down by the scientific community as “insufficient evidence to support such a premise”, since science demands hard, incontrovertible proof, even if the process to get to it is cumbersome.

An illustration of ‘Oumuamua, the first object we’ve ever seen pass through our own solar system that has interstellar origins. Image credit: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser

An illustration of ‘Oumuamua, the first object we’ve ever seen pass through our own solar system that has interstellar origins. Image credit: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser

So why are aliens so hard to find?

Space is vast. It takes years to build missions, launch them, and travel to worlds that appear promising. Space is also risky, and getting a spacecraft to enter the right orbit around a planet or land safely on its surface is a complex business to which tens of missions have been lost over the decades. On arriving, the search for ancient relics or by-products of simple microbial life is priority. The information at these nascent stages of exploration is hard to decipher, and often leaves plenty of room for speculation and doubt. We are getting better at unravelling these clues with experience, but reaching the limits of what is possible with the instruments at hand. Fitted on low-powered, small, automatic rovers that are millions of kilometers away from us, the scope of exploration is fairly limited. For the moment, our best bet is returning samples from these worlds back to us, to study on Earth.

With the Perseverance (Percy) rover, which made a safe landing on 18 February, NASA is aiming to inch us forward by returning samples from our near neighbour Mars. The SUV-sized rover packs a drill on its back and a helicopter under its belly, designed to drive around its landing site in Jezero Crater. The crater was once home to a lake that had dramatic streams filling up its floor – an exciting place to look for traces or deposits of biological activity. Shortly after the landing, we gorged on never-before-seen footage of a rover landing on the surface of Mars, kicking up dust in the process. As it settled, the panoramic photos of the surrounding environment show the arena that could perhaps finally ascertain if Mars once had life.

Also read: Stunning 360-degree panorama captured by Perseverance of its Mars landing site

We are still unsure what to expect. Would life on Mars be like that on Earth? Or are we about to uncover a completely new form of life? If we did, would it be a simple or complex life form? We know that the complexity of life on Earth arose from the long periods of habitable conditions on Earth. Was it the same on Mars? Does life evolve differently on different planets? Zoologist & astrobiologist Arik Kershenbaum at Cambridge University studies vocal communication of wolves and dolphins. He offers an interesting view on understanding the process of life, explaining that there is much to learn from animals on Earth, to help determine the different characteristics of extraterrestrial life motion, communication, socialising, intelligence, etc. Most studies of extraterrestrial life is based on simple microbial life – their cell structures, their metabolism, preferences for certain environments, etc.

“Problems like finding food, avoiding becoming someone else’s food, and reproducing. These Earthly problems are also problems that need to be solved on alien worlds,” Kershenbaum writes in a story for BBC’s Science Focus magazine.

So the search is on, both at the micro level, looking at how simple life on Earth deals with harsh environments, as well as macro, looking at giant suns in deep space and their planets where statistically-likely alien life awaits. Just in the last 50 years, we have discovered the wealth of life teeming on Earth in the most unexpected dark, deep, dry, wet, cold and toxic of places. This has motivated us to look far and wide – from clouds in the thick Venusian atmosphere, to subsurface water columns on Mars; from liquid methane rivers on Titan, to underwater hydrothermal vents on Europa or Enceladus.

The scientific community is divided on their understanding of the origin of life on Earth. Some talk about black smokers, or hydrothermal vents at the bottom of frigid cold oceans, teeming with simple and complex life. Recent evidence from the ancient outback of Australia points towards a more terrestrial origin, on beaches and terrestrial hot springs. Natural environments offer analogue scenarios for scientists to test their experiment plans and for engineers to train their instruments before they are packed up and flown to space. In India, Ladakh offers a unique cold, high altitude environment with glacial pools, salt-water lakes, hot springs and frozen soils – an excellent Mars analogue, only recently being recognized, after international expeditions since August 2016 to the region.

Astrobiology as a field attracts people from all walks of life, professions, ages, and regions: for many this is the crux of their excitement about space and its exploration. It humbles us, inspires us and awakens us from our usually monotonous Earthly troubles, makes us strain our short-sightedness and self-centred tendencies. So do we know when will we meet aliens? No. Does this excite us or bore us? Will we ever be able to find an answer? With the increasing popularity of the subject, more minds will hopefully get to task and help us answer this question for once and for all.

From 2021, a five-month Earth and Space Exploration Program, led by Amity University Mumbai for students, teachers and travellers that want to explore the terrain in Ladakh in an expedition led by leading astrobiologists and earth scientists. The program is a great pathway for students to pursue an exciting career in Earth and Space Sciences, and for space enthusiasts to get a taste of the not-so-distant future, when space exploration is open to civilians as the scientists and engineers in the space race. 

The author is the Head of Amity University’s Centre of Excellence in Astrobiology. He tweets at @siddharthpandey.

Realme seems to be working on the Realme 8 series as CEO Madhav Sheth has teased the upcoming lineup via Twitter. The Realme 8 series will be the successor to the Realme 7 series – Realme 7 and Realme 7 Pro – that was launched in September 2020. The lineup followed up with the Realme 7i and Realme 7 5G within the next few months. As of now, it’s not know when the Realme 8 series will make its debut in the Indian market.

The teaser shows a silhouette of the number 1, 0, and 8, which is likely a hint at the camera specifications of the smartphone. Which means, the Realme 8 series may feature a 108 MP camera. Although, it is possible that only the highest variant in the series may sport the 108 MP camera.

The Realme 8 series will be taking on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 series.

A Realme device with model number RMX3161 appeared on TENAA recently that was thought to be the Narzo 30 Pro 5G which later translated to be Realme Q2. That said, the phone with model number RMX3161 with a similar camera layout was teased by the company CEO and could be the Realme 8.

The company hasn’t confirmed anything till now but the information should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Madhav Sheth first teased the poster of the Realme 8 on Wednesday saying that the company was already working on the #InfiniteLeapWith8.

The information on the Realme 8 is very bleak for now, but a phone with model number RMX3092 was spotted last year on Geekbench that points to a Dimensity 720 processor, 8 GB RAM, Android 10 OS, and more.

Apple Inc always has a trick up its sleeves to surprise users with new technology. Now a new interesting patent concerning the future AR/VR headset by Apple, earlier rumoured as ‘Apple Glass’, suggests that a feature of the headset will potentially detect sounds and direct the user to their source. The purported Apple Glass would apparently use an array of sensitive microphones that would help detect audio and also locate the precise location, directing the user where to look, according to a report by AppleInsider.

 Apple Glass microphones to detect sound and direct users to its origin

Apple Glasses. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav

The Cupertino giant previously had applied for patents regarding sound quality in “Apple Glass,” and making 3D audio for it, but the new patent application filed by the company with US Patent and Trademark Office shows that Apple is also looking at what “Apple Glass” can do with the audio as its microphones hear.

A figure from the patent shows microphones in different directions.

A figure from the patent shows microphones in different directions.

The patent does not go into details on how the sound processing would be accomplished but marks a possibility to display a notification when a precise sound is detected.

The microphones will reportedly be able to detect sounds that the human ear can’t hear and will be situated in different positions on the device that will subsequently help the headset determine the position of the originating sound. The patent also suggests that the device can have a speaker for audio output as well.

As you know that granted patents normally don’t make it to production, so you should take this information with a grain of salt. It’s still quite early to determine whether Apple will be able to successfully implement this technology in Apple Glass or future AR/VR headsets.

Clubhouse’s key attribute is its medium: audio, which sets it apart from established social media and messaging services like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube that use text, photos, video or a mix.

By Damian Radcliffe

Google “What is Clubhouse?” and you’ll find a flurry of articles written in the past few weeks about this fast-growing social network. It’s not yet a year old, and much of the buzz stems from the fact that Clubhouse is invite-only, bringing with it an element of exclusivity.

Clubhouse’s key attribute is its medium: audio, which sets it apart from established social media and messaging services like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube that use text, photos, video or a mix. Clubhouse combines the structure of old-school text chatrooms with the immediacy and emotion of the human voice.

The social media service is tapping into the creativity, intimacy and authenticity that audio can deliver, a trend that lies at the heart of the current golden age of podcasting.

Amid the hype, Clubhouse faces privacy and harassment challenges that could make it difficult for the company to maintain a trajectory that has seen it grow from 1,500 users and a US$100 million valuation in May 2020 to 2 million weekly active users and a potential $1 billion valuation.

How it works

Once you’ve scored yourself an invite, the app is pretty easy to navigate. You can look in your calendar to find conversations based on your interests, which you identify at sign-up. Or you can browse “rooms” with discussions currently in progress. You can also set up your own event. Rooms can be public or private, you can listen quietly or join the conversation, and you can enter and leave rooms at will.

Activities typically range from interviews to panel events and wide-ranging discussions. Some efforts are even more ambitious; at the end of last year a group of Clubhouse members put on two performances of Lion King: The Musicalfeaturing actors, narrators and a choir.

 What’s the appeal?

Exclusivity, media buzz, engagement from Tesla founder Elon Musk and high-profile investment from venture capitalists have all helped pique interest in the app. As a scholar who studies storytelling, I’ve identified three other factors that may contribute to its ongoing appeal.

First, audio is an intimate medium. You can hear the inflections in people’s tone of voice, which convey emotion and personality in a way that text alone does not. If you make a joke or are sarcastic over a text or email, your attempt at humor can easily fall flat or be misinterpreted. That is less likely when people can hear you.

Moreover, hearing from people directly can generate empathy and understanding – on tough topics that listeners might have become desensitized to, such as bereavement, addiction and suicide – in a way that text alone cannot.

Second, there’s serendipity. Although events and structured conversations are increasingly held on Clubhouse, you can wander around, dropping into rooms on topics ranging from hip-hop to health tech.

Eavesdropping on random conversations brings with it a certain unpredictability. It’s hard to know where to look for quality conversations, which is why the network is proposing to develop a “Creators” programme designed to nurture “Clubhouse Influencers.” But sometimes frivolous and trivial is fine. After all, it would be exhausting to listen to TED Talks 24/7.

This unstructured approach has an appeal at a time when people’s media habits are increasingly governed by algorithms, making it hard to bump into something new.

Finally, there’s the fact that audio is a great background medium. I grew up in a household where public radio, the BBC in my case, was always playing in the kitchen. Audio is perfect for multitasking. People listen to it while commuting to work, sitting at their desks or walking the dog.

Clubhouse taps into these elements, and at a time when many people are deprived of pre-pandemic levels of human contact, it enables a plurality of voices and human experiences to babble away in the background.

Major growing pains

Clubhouse is expanding quickly, bringing with it increased scrutiny. The company is facing issues such as managing misinformation that are familiar to many other social networks.

In an unregulated space, people can say what they want. This has implications for fact-checking and content moderation, enabling conspiracy theories to potentially run rife. Journalists and users have reported issues of harassment, anti-Semitism, misogyny and racism, though these are against Clubhouse’s community guidelines.

Privacy and security concerns also abound. Chats have been rebroadcast online. Earlier in the month, the Stanford Internet Observatory revealed security flaws that meant user data was vulnerable and accessible to the Chinese government. The app may fall foul of data protection rules in Europe, known as GDPR.

Other commentators have expressed concern about the fact that users hand over the contact details of everyone in their phones when they sign up.

Meanwhile, closing an account also appears to be more problematic than it should be.

Riding the audio wave

Whether people will still be talking about Clubhouse six months from now remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the attention the app is getting is part of a wider reinvention and reinvigoration of the audio medium that’s been playing out over the past few years.

Podcasting has continued to expand. More than a million podcasts are already available, and for audio streaming services like Spotify, podcasts are at the heart of their strategy for growth.

Meanwhile, Audible – Amazon’s audiobook service – is expanding around the world, and smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home are among the fastest-growing technologies of all time, enabling users to listen to music, podcasts or the latest weather report on demand.

It’s not just Clubhouse that is seeking to harness this trend. Facebook is reported to be creating a Clubhouse clone, while Twitter Spaces is the microblogging network’s latest foray into the audio space. The tech industry analyst Jeremiah Owyang has identified more than 30 social audio efforts, calling it a “‘Goldilocks’ medium for the 2020s: text is not enough, and video is too much; social audio is just right.”

Humans have felt the need to connect and tell stories since time immemorial. This is audio’s secret sauce, driving much of the renewed interest in the medium. Clubhouse may be today’s digital campfire, but it’s highly unlikely to be the last.How audio chatrooms like Clubhouse are tapping anew into the ageold appeal of the human voice

Damian Radcliffe is Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, University of Oregon

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Xiaomi launches its latest smartphones in the Redmi K series called the Redmi K40, Redmi K40 Pro, and Redmi K40 Pro+ in China. The Redmi K40 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, while the Redmi K40 Pro and Redmi K40 Pro+ come with the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. All three phones get a hole-punch display, triple rear cameras and a gradient back design. Apart from the Redmi K40 series, Xiaomi launched the new RedmiBook Pro 14 and RedmiBook Pro 15 models along with Redmi AirDots 3 earbuds during the event.

 Redmi K40, Redmi K40 Pro, Redmi K40 Pro Plus with triple rear camera, 120 Hz refresh rate display launched in China

Redmi K40 series

Redmi K40

The Redmi K40 comes with a 6.67-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 360Hz touch sampling. The display features a 20:9 aspect ratio, a 2.76mm hole-punch design (smallest in the world) and includes an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Powering the phone is the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and runs on Android 11 with MIUI 12 on top.

The Redmi K40 gets a 48 MP Sony IMX582 primary lens along with an 8 MP secondary ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5 MP macro lens. The phone also sports a 20 MP camera sensor at the front for selfies and video chats.

Some connectivity options include 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, GPS/ A-GPS,  Bluetooth v5.1, USB Type-C port and Infrared (IR).

The K40 houses a 4,520mAh battery and gets 33W fast charging support. The phone gets Corning Gorilla Glass protection on both front and back, and measures 7.8mm in thickness.

Redmi K40 Pro

The Redmi K40 Pro gets a 6.67-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling. Powering the phone is the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, paired with 8GB of RAM. The Redmi K40 Pro gets a 64 MP Sony IMX686 primary sensor along with an 8 MP secondary ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5 MP macro lens. The phone also sports a 20 MP camera sensor at the front for selfies and video chats.

Apart from the processor, other specs remain identical to Redmi K40.

Redmi K40 Pro+

The Redmi K40 Pro+ also shares the same hardware as the Redmi K40 Pro but features a 108 MP Samsung HM2 primary sensor instead of the 64 MP camera seen on the Redmi K40 Pro. The rest specs are identical to the Redmi Pro model.

The Redmi K40 Pro+ will be available in just 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage configuration and will cost CNY 3,700 (approx Rs 42,000). The Redmi K40 Pro comes in three configurations of 6 GB RAM/128 GB priced at CNY 2,800(approx Rs 40,000), 8 GB RAM/128 GB priced at CNY 3,000 (approx Rs 34,000), 8 GB RAM/256 GB priced at CNY 3,300 (approx Rs 37,000). The Redmi K40 6 GB RAM/128 GB CNY 2,000 (approx Rs 22,800), 8 GB RAM/128 GB priced at CNY 2,200 (approx Rs 25,000) and 8 GB RAM/256 GB priced at CNY 2,500 (approx Rs 28,000).

Square Enix has announced two mobile games that are set in the Final Fantasy VII universe which includes a battle royale game aiming for a 2021 release, while the Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is a compilation of all the games and stories set in the Final Fantasy VII universe, including Before Crisis, Advent Children, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus. The Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis will also present cutesy versions of the FF7 cast in the overworld but in the battle, the character looks straight out of FF7 Remake.

 Square Enix announces Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis that compiles the entire FFVII timeline in one game

Final Fantasy

The Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis will be a chapter-structured single-player game that is set to launch sometime in 2022 for both iOS and Android.

A teaser trailer shows how players can use magical abilities, guns and swords to kill enemies from a third and first-person perspective.

According to the official statement, the game is a chapter-structured single-player experience that covers the entire timeline in one of the most popular installments of the gaming franchise. The compilation is set to feature all events from each game in addition to new story elements that focuses on the ‘origins of soldier’.

The director Tetsuya Nomura, in an interview strongly hints that the game will release in monthly installments and would have a material combat system, very much like the original game.

The YouTube trailer of the game shows great improvements in the visuals compared to the original version of Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation.
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The Parker Solar Probe designed and sent to space by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent back some new pictures of the planet Venus. These capture Earth’s near-neighbour during nighttime, a rarely witnessed sight. The Wide-field Imager (WISPR) on the probe took the pictures as it approached Venus on 11 July 2020, according to the NASA release. Though the probe’s main subject of study is the Sun, it is going to make seven fly-bys of Venus during its seven-year mission. To reach the Sun, the spacecraft is using the gravity of Venus to change its orbit. The images released were captured during the third such manoeuvre, in July 2020.

The WISPR camera caught an illuminated rim around Venus, which scientists think is nightglow, or the light emitted by oxygen atoms high up in the atmosphere as they recombine into molecules in the absence of sunlight. The picture also gave a clear look into Aphrodite Terra – the largest highland region on the Venusian surface, the dark feature at the centre of the picture. The dark spot visible on the lower portion of Venus is not an object but an artefact from the WISPR instrument.

 Rare glimpse of Venus in a new light captured by WISPR camera on NASAs Parker probe

When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR camera, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow. Bright streaks like the ones seen here are typically caused by a combination of charged particles (cosmic rays), sunlight reflected by space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. Image: NASA

In a blog post, NASA said that bright streaks in WISPR, like the ones seen here, usually are caused when many charged particles, reflected sunlight, and particles from the spacecraft as it strikes dust grains, come together. That said, experts are still studying the exact origin of the streaks in this particular case.

Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR project scientist from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), said that the image took the team by surprise. WISPR has been designed to take images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere in visible light but when it captured the Venusian surface, the scientists had expected to only find clouds. This means the instrument was able to capture near-infrared wavelengths of light, which can come in handy for studying the sun. Alternatively, the spacecraft may have found a previously unknown window of transparency through the Venusian atmosphere to capture the surface below.

After a month of unveiling the 1290 Adventure S, which is KTM’s interpretation of a sport-tourer, the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer has introduced an off-road biased version called the 1290 Super Adventure R. What it shares with the S trim are the underpinnings that include a shorter frame wherein the steering head has been shifted backwards by 15 mm. Also, to increase the weight bias on the front, the engine’s position has been tweaked. Further, the 1290 Adventure R comes with a 23-litre fuel tank which is split into three parts, again as a measure to keep the weight distribution to the optimum However, the area where the R differentiates itself from KTM’s tarmac-scorcher is the suspension setup.

KTM’s reveal video features Adventure bike guru Chris Birch pushing the 1290 Super Adventure R to its limits, jumping around on rocks and sliding on trails like no other large-capacity adventure motorcycle can. This is a result of the WP XPLOR kit, both in the front and rear with a 48 mm USD fork that features compression and rebound adjustability, which can be done manually with individual dials on each leg. KTM has also increased the suspension travel of the 1290 Super Adventure R to 220 mm from the S’ 200 mm. The seat height has been increased by 20 mm to 880 mm, which can be brought down to 869 mm and a further 849 mm. It has 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, as compared to the previous 19-inch front and 17-inch rear.

 Off-road-focused KTM 1290 Super Adventure R breaks cover, packs more suspension travel

The 1290 Super Adventure R is KTM’s flagship adventure motorcycle. Image: KTM

KTM has also plonked into a host of electronics on the Super Adventure R which mainly include a six-axis IMU controlling the stability control, traction control, slip regulation of the motor as well as off-road ABS. This one too (like the S) comes with multiple ride modes such as Street, Sport, Rain and Off-Road along with an optional Rally mode, all of which essentially alters the throttle response and wheel spin. The features list also includes keyless ignition and 7-inch TFT dash that provides information as well as display for music, phones and navigation, much like the one seen on the KTM 390 Adventure sold in India.

Powering the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R is a 1,301 cc LC8 twin that makes 160 hp of power and 9,000 rpm and generates 138 Nm of torque at 6,500 rpm. These figures are greater than the recently unveiled Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250. However, it falls short when compared to Ducati’s latest, the Multistrada V4, that makes 170 hp of power. The BS6-compliant engine in the Super Adventure R has been tweaked with a lighter crank case and updated pistons. KTM claims to have made changes to the exhaust and the transmission unit as well. However, KTM India is unlikely to bring the 1290 Super Adventure R to our shores anytime soon.

At CES earlier in January, LG showcased its latest TV operating system, webOS 6.0. Now, the company has announced that the proprietary webOS for LG smart TV will soon be available on other television platforms. This means that other TV manufacturers will now be able to use LG’s webOS UI on their own products. According to the company, there are over twenty global TV manufacturers that have entered partnerships with LG for the latest WebOS. Konka, Ayonz, and RCA will be amongst the first brands to use the operating system for their TVs. The new development will give strong competition to Google’s Android TV OS that is available on many TV models either in stock or in a tweaked form.

The company shared in a blog post that the decision to expand webOS to other manufacturers will potentially reshape the TV business for both content providers and technology that will aid LG’s presence and prominence in the market.

 LG opens up webOS 6.0 to over 20 smart TV makers, in competition with Android TV

A glimpse of the new homepage of webOS 6.0. Image: LG Newsroom

The company also adds that the new partners would get a variety of content options that include access to global streaming services like Amazon Prime Videos, Netflix, YouTube, sports streaming service DAZN, and LG Channels that will be the company’s free content streaming service, available in select regions. The compatible TVs will also get a dedicated LG Magic Motion remote control.

Speaking on the development, Park Hyoung-sei, president of the LG Home Entertainment Company said that the webOS platform will offer one of the simplest ways to access millions of hours of films and TV shows.

With other manufacturers joining LG’s webOS TV ecosystem, the company would embark on a new path that will allow new TV owners to experience the same UX features that are available on LG TVs.

With ‘Ms Rona’, better known as the coronavirus, celebrating her first birthday since she came into our lives, terms like the pandemic, PPE, antibodies, antigens, etc. have grown in demand and popularity, now a part of our daily vocabulary. Many of us may now understand the complex process of a vaccine being developed, the clinical trials it goes through, and the regulatory approvals it would need before it is rolled out. We have lived and we have learned.

With the SARS-CoV-2 virus rapidly ‘mutating’, new ‘variants’ of the virus have emerged in many parts of the world. In the pre-COVID-19 era, we might have used this new slice of information to impress friends or family over dinner or cocktails. But let’s be honest, the very variants in question are unlikely to let that happen anytime soon.

Let’s then deep dive and understand the basics…

What is a virus?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had vaguely heard of viruses causing diseases like Ebola in Guinea and in Congo, Swine flu or bird flu in India and Russia, AIDS, etc. We now know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes COVID-19 disease.

According to a report by Scientific American, the science community for many years have debated on the definition of a virus; first as a poison, then a life-form and then a biological chemical.

Today, viruses are considered to be somewhere in between a living and a non-living thing.

A virus is made up of a core of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat of protein. They can latch onto host cells and use the host cell’s machinery to multiply its genetic material. Once this process of replication is complete, the virus leaves the host by either budding or bursting out of the cell, destroying it in the process.

Viruses cannot replicate on their own, but once they attach to a host cell, they can thrive and affect the host cell’s behaviour in a way that damages the host and benefits the virus.

What is a strain?

A strain, according to a report in The Conversation, is a variant that is built differently, shows distinct physical properties and behaves differently than its parent virus. These behavioural differences can be subtle or obvious.

Coronaviruses, like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are studded with protein “spikes” that attach with receptors on the cells of their victims. The SARS-CoV-2 is now one among a handful of other well-known strains in the coronavirus family, including the SARS and MERS virus.

Experts believe the term strain is often misused.

“There is one strain of coronavirus. That is SARS-CoV-2. That is the single strain, and there are variants of that strain,” The Independent quoted Professor Tom Connor of the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University as saying.

What is a mutation?

A virus is made up of a sequence of either DNA or RNA, which are basically a string of nucleotide letters that code for genes in all living things. Any change in these letters is called a mutation, and it occurs when a virus sequence replicates itself. Mutations occur very randomly in a virus – a fact that could work for or against us in a pandemic scenario. A mutation can be beneficial for the virus and make it stronger, or it can be harmful and reduce its virulence.

SARS-COV-2, unlike the influenza virus, has a protein known as a proofreading enzyme. The enzyme is similar to what a copy editor does in a newspaper, which is, to check for spellings errors on a page. This enzyme will make corrections, based on the origin virus sequence. So, if there were any changes that have taken place due to a random mutation, it will try to correct them.

Just like a human copy editor, sometimes a mutation will slip pass the proofreading enzyme and remain. As the mutant virus particle replicates, its entire genome including the site of the mutation is duplicated and carried forward by future generations of the virus.

So, how does one know if the virus has mutated? That’s where a virologist comes in. The virologists have been tirelessly working to sequence all the variants that are infecting people. The original virus, found in Wuhan, is being used to compare to the mutating coronavirus variants.

What is a variant?

Simply put, “a variant is a version of the virus that has accumulated enough mutations to represent a separate branch on the family tree,” says infectious disease expert Dr Amesh Adalja senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Every mutation and strain of a virus is a variant, but every variant is not a strain.

Most variants aren’t a cause for concern. This is because the mutations have not made any drastic change to the virus in question. However, when a bunch of mutations have taken place, it can sometimes affect the way the virus behaves, spreads or infects people. That’s when a variant becomes a ‘variant of concern’. A classic example are the new variants that are spreading through parts of the UK, Africa and Brazil.

Scientists are keeping a close eye on SARS-CoV-2’s variants in order to understand how genetic changes to the virus might impact its infectiousness (and thus, its spread), the severity of illness, treatment, and the effectiveness of the vaccines available, says Dr Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York.

What are the new variants in circulation?

A variant of SARS-CoV-2 known as B.1.1.7 has been spreading throughout the United Kingdom since December 2020 and now cases cropping up all around the world. Scientists have found some evidence that this variant has an increased risk of death as compared to other variants.

 COVID-19 jargon: Variant, strain and mutation of SARS-CoV-2 all mean different things

An infographic that talks about all the latest SARS-CoV-2 variants that are spreading. Image credit: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

In South Africa, another variant of SARS-CoV-2 known as B.1.351 emerged. It has a few similarities with the UK variant and can also re-infect people who have recovered from other COVID-10 variants. There is also some evidence that the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccine is not as effective against this variant.

A variant known as P.1 has emerged in Brazil, and it was first discovered in people travelling from the South American country to Japan. There is some evidence that suggests this variant can affect the way antibodies react with the virus. The mutation of the P.1 variant stops the antibodies from recognising and neutralising the virus.

According to the CDC, all these three variants share one specific mutation called D614G that allows it to spread more quickly.

With new variants constantly emerging, it is important that we are on top of our genome sequencing game. By doing this, we will be able to find new variants that are of concern to public health (as they might be more infectious, cause more severe illness, develop a vaccine or immune resistance) and we can get ahead of it. However, ignoring these emerging new mutations will not make them go away and can be detrimental to us in the long run.

Facebook has announced that it has banned Myanmar military, military-controlled state and media entities from its platforms – Facebook and Instagram – as well as ads from military-linked commercial entities, with immediate effect. “Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban. We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great,” Facebook said in a blog post put up Thursday on “update on the Situation in Myanmar”.

This comes after the Myanmar military seized power on 1 February after alleging fraud in an 8 November that was won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining her and much of the party leadership. This was followed by violent rallies in where three protestors and a policeman are reported to have been killed.

 Full text: Facebook bans Myanmar military from its platform with immediate effect

Facebook app

Below is the full text published by Facebook on the “update on the Situation in Myanmar”:

Today, we are banning the remaining Myanmar military (“Tatmadaw”) and military-controlled state and media entities from Facebook and Instagram, as well as ads from military-linked commercial entities.

We’re continuing to treat the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and we remain focused on the safety of our community, and the people of Myanmar more broadly.

Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban. We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw on Facebook and Instagram are too great.

We’re also prohibiting Tatmadaw-linked commercial entities from advertising on the platform. We are using the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar’s 2019 report, on the economic interests of the Tatmadaw, as the basis to guide these efforts, along with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These bans will remain in effect indefinitely.

We’ve held the Tatmadaw to the same Community Standards as all of our users around the world and have removed content from military Pages and accounts that violated these policies. But we’ve reached this decision to ban them based on four guiding factors:

  1. The Tatmadaw’s history of exceptionally severe human rights abuses and the clear risk of future military-initiated violence in Myanmar, where the military is operating unchecked and with wide-ranging powers.
  2. The Tatmadaw’s history of on-platform content and behavior violations that led to us repeatedly enforcing our policies to protect our community.
  3. Ongoing violations by the military and military-linked accounts and Pages since the February 1 coup, including efforts to reconstitute networks of Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior that we previously removed, and content that violates our violence and incitement and coordinating harm policies, which we removed.
  4. The coup greatly increases the danger posed by the behaviors above, and the likelihood that online threats could lead to offline harm.

This action builds on the steps we have taken in recent years to prevent the Tatmadaw from abusing our platform. Among these are: banning 20 military-linked individuals and organisations in 2018, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, for their role in severe human rights violations; and removing at least six Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior networks run by the Tatmadaw from 2018 to 2020.

Since the coup, we have disabled the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page, and MRTV and MRTV Live Pages for continuing to violate our policies which prohibit coordinating harm and incitement to violence. We have also reduced the distribution of content on at least 23 pages and profiles controlled and/or operated by the Tatmadaw so fewer people see them.

This ban does not cover government ministries and agencies engaged in the provision of essential public services. This includes the Ministry of Health and Sport, and the Ministry of Education.

We are continuing to monitor the situation and will take additional measures if necessary to keep people safe.

Originally published February 11, 2021 at 6:00PM PT:

Following the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, the situation on the ground remains volatile and Facebook is adapting to meet these events.

Our focus is three-fold: First, do everything we can to prevent online content from being linked to offline harm and keep our community safe. Second, protect freedom of expression for the tens of millions of Myanmar citizens who rely on Facebook now more than ever. Third, ensure that Facebook, Messenger and our family of apps stay online as a source of information and means of communication.

Facebook is treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency. Our Integrity Operations Center has been running around the clock since the coup began. It brings together subject matter experts from across the company, including Myanmar nationals with native language skills, so we can monitor and respond to any threats in real time.

Beyond that, we’ve put several measures in place to support our community in Myanmar during this time.

Key among these is the decision to significantly reduce the distribution of all content on Facebook Pages and profiles run by the Myanmar Military (“Tatmadaw”) that have continued to spread misinformation. In line with our global policies on repeat offenders of misinformation, we will also no longer be recommending them to people. Among other military-run accounts, these measures apply to the Tatmadaw Information Team’s Facebook Page and to Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun’s Facebook account. This same action will be applied to any additional pages that the military controls that repeatedly violate our misinformation policies.

We have also indefinitely suspended the ability for Myanmar government agencies to send content removal requests to Facebook through our normal channels reserved for authorities around the world.

Simultaneously, we are protecting content, including political speech, that allows the people of Myanmar to express themselves and to show the world what is transpiring inside their country.

We’re also taking the following additional steps:

  1. Continuing to enforce our policies on Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) to combat influence operations when we find networks we previously removed try to re-establish a presence on Facebook. We’re doing this through a combination of automated and manual detection. This includes enforcement actions we’ve taken during the past week against accounts connected to our past takedowns associated with the Myanmar military.
  2. Enforcing our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy to remove groups and individuals who seek to incite violence.
  3. Providing extra protections for journalists, civil society activists, human rights defenders, and deposed political leaders to prevent online threats against them; and helping anyone who reasonably fears detention to secure their Facebook accounts and data from unauthorized access.
  4. Continuing to proactively remove content that violates our Community Standards, especially hate speech, incitement to violence, bullying and harassment, and misinformation that can lead to physical harm.
  5. Reducing the distribution of content in Myanmar that likely violates our hate speech and incitement policies, measures first taken during the November elections, as well as content that explicitly praises or supports the coup.
  6. Removing misinformation claiming that there was widespread fraud or foreign interference in Myanmar’s November election.
  7. Removing content that includes calls to bring weapons to any location across Myanmar.

These efforts build on our work since 2018 to keep people safe and reduce the risk of political violence in Myanmar. Last year, we worked to protect Myanmar’s 2020 election. We’ve also worked to reduce hate speech, ban certain individuals and organisations and partner with civil society to address challenges on the ground in Myanmar. While this work is never complete, we’ve made important progress. Between October and December last year, we took action on 350,000 pieces of content containing hate speech in Myanmar, of which 99% were detected and removed before anyone reported it to us.

We are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving situation in Myanmar, and are in close communication with governments, institutions and non-governmental organizations that care deeply about Myanmar’s future. We are also monitoring the impact of sanctions that are likely to be imposed in the coming days, and exploring additional measures that we will share soon.

We join with governments, the UN, and civil society around the world in calling for internet services in Myanmar to be restored immediately so that the people there can communicate with loved ones, express their political views, access important information, and run their businesses.

We remain vigilant to emerging trends and will not hesitate to take additional measures as appropriate.

While Indian tigers have the highest genetic variation compared to other subspecies of the feline across the world, their populations continue to be fragmented by loss of habitat, leading to inbreeding and potential loss of this diversity, says a new study that may inform conservation strategies. “As human population started expanding, so also their signatures on the land. We know that some of these signatures would result in disrupting the ability of tigers to move,” Uma Ramakrishnan, co-author of the research, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, told PTI.

According to Ramakrishnan, molecular ecologist and assistant professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, this habitat loss from human activities leads to tigers being “hemmed into their own protected area.”

“Now, they can only mate with the other tigers in their own population. Over time, this will result in inbreeding, they will end up mating with their relatives,” she explained. “Whether this inbreeding compromises their fitness, their ability to survive, we do not yet know,” the molecular ecologist added.

While genetic diversity across a population improves their chances of survival in the future, the study said population fragmentation of tigers can decrease this variation, and endanger them further.

Although tigers have received significant conservation attention, the scientists said very little is known about their evolutionary history and genomic variation, especially for Indian tigers.

With 70 percent of the world’s tigers living in India, the researchers said understanding the genetic diversity of tigers in the country is critical to the feline’s conservation worldwide.

The results of their three-year long study offer insights into genomic variation in tigers and the processes that have sculpted it.

Based on the results, the scientists believe there have been relatively recent divergences between subspecies, and intense population bottlenecks that may have contributed to inbred individuals.

According to the NCBS scientist, maintaining structural connectivity, enabling tigers to move between protected areas can help overcome these bottlenecks.

“This would require the right types of habitat between protected areas, for example having densely populated human settlements would not work. Further, there also needs to be functional connectivity, that tigers do actually move,” Ramakrishnan added.

In the study, the scientists sequenced whole genomes from 65 individual tigers from four subspecies of the feline, and conducted a variety of population genomic analyses that quantify genetic variability.

They investigated the partitioning of genetic variation, possible impacts of inbreeding, and demographic history, and possible signatures of local adaptation.

 Indian tigers losing their rich genetic variation, habitat loss and inbreeding to blame: Study

Tiger roaming grasslands in the Bandhavgarh National Park.

While the total genomic variation in Indian tigers was higher than in other subspecies, the study found that several individual tigers in the country had low variation, suggesting possible inbreeding.

According to the research, tigers from northeast India were the most different from other populations in India

“Given our results, it is important to understand why some Bengal tigers appear inbred and what the consequences of this are,” said Anubhab Khan, co-first author of the research.

The study showed recent divergences between tiger subspecies, within the last 20,000 years, which the scientists believe is concordant with increasing human impacts across Asia and a transition from glacial to interglacial climate change in the continent.

However, the scientists believe this finding needs to be investigated further with expanded data and analyses of more tiger genomes.

“Most studies focusing on species of conservation concern use limited numbers of specimens to try to gain understanding into how genomic variation is partitioned,” said Ellie Armstrong, co-first and co-corresponding author of the study from Stanford University in the US.

“It is clear from our work here, and a growing number of other studies, that it is crucial to increase our sampling efforts and use caution when interpreting results from limited sample sizes,” Armstrong added.

According to Ramakrishnan, the genomic variation of Indian tigers continues to be shaped by the ongoing loss of connectivity.

“Population management and conservation action must incorporate information on genetic variation. I hope doing so will help India maintain the gains in tiger conservation achieved so far,” Ramakrishnan added.

The all-new, 2021 Mercedes-Benz C-class has made its world premiere, marking the fifth generation of Mercedes’ popular luxury sedan. Despite the monumental market shift towards SUVs and crossovers, the C-Class has continued to be a key pillar for Mercedes-Benz globally. The fourth-gen C – which came out in 2014 – found over 2.5 million buyers worldwide, but now, seven years later, it is set to be replaced by the fifth-generation C-Class, which is bigger, more luxurious and draws heavily from its much bigger sibling, the new S-Class.

2021 Mercedes-Benz C-Class images reveal key design details

One look at the new C-class confirms Mercedes-Benz’s decision to bring it more in line with its bigger sedans, the E-class and S-class. There are several touches that lend the new C the air of a much larger sedan. The new C-Class’ LED headlights can be equipped with the brand’s advanced Digital Light tech (just like the new S-class), and the grille features several small three-pointed stars.

While its silhouette isn’t too far removed from that of the outgoing model, the new C has a flatter nose, a strong shoulder line, pull-type door handles and slim LED tail-lights that mirror the design of those seen on the new S-class. To help distance it from the A-class Limousine (which will be launched in India on March 25), the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class is 65mm longer than its predecessor, with 25mm going into the longer wheelbase.

It’s based on the same Modular Rear Architecture as the E-Class and S-Class, which means it also retains its rear-wheel-drive setup.

 All-new Mercedes-Benz C-class makes world premiere, follows in the S-class footsteps

The new Mercedes-Benz C-class has a 25mm longer wheelbase, and offers more interior space. Image: Mercedes-Benz

2021 Mercedes-Benz C-Class’ interior promises a mini-S-class experience

Apart from its design and styling, the new C-Class also aims to replicate the new S’ interior experience. It features a 12.3-inch digital instruments display, a head-up display, ambient lighting, five jet turbine-inspired AC vents, a tablet-style 11.9-inch central touchscreen and the second-generation MBUX infotainment system, which adds the Hey Mercedes voice assistant, compatibility for over-the-air updates and ‘augmented video’ software that projects a digital rendering of the car’s surroundings to ease navigation. Additionally, the new C-Class is more spacious for back seat passengers, offering 21mm of extra legroom and 13mm more headroom.

2021 Mercedes-Benz C-Class engine and gearbox options

The unique thing with the fifth-gen C-Class will be that all versions – including standard and performance – get four-cylinder engines. There is a range of 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines equipped with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, along with a plug-in hybrid versions with up to 100km of pure-electric range. The AMG versions, which will also be powered by a hybridised four-cylinder engine, will be unveiled later. A 9-speed automatic is standard, and select markets will also get versions with all-wheel-drive.

Expected 2021 Mercedes-Benz C-Class India launch and price

With Mercedes-Benz India having its hands full with launches that are overdue (think A-class Limousine and second-gen GLA), it’s unlikely that the new C-Class will arrive in India anytime soon. That said, Mercedes-Benz India has promised it has lined up a total of 15 launches for 2021 – including some we may not have seen coming – and the new C-Class will certainly make its way here in due course. When it does arrive, expect it to inch closer to the Rs 50 lakh mark, as Mercedes will try to create some breathing space between the A-class Limousine and the new C-class.

With video taking up more space on the internet than ever before, it’s becoming increasingly important to have a good video editor in your digital toolbox. Whether you want to improve the quality of casual videos of family and friends or move into having your own channel on YouTube, the right video editing software can make your work look professional, even if you’re not. One of the standout video editors in terms of its price-to-value proposition is Filmora by Wondershare. Not only does it have a truly impressive array of tools to help boost, edit and enhance your video clips, but it provides it all at a price that doesn’t require a Hollywood salary. 

Although you might never need it, Filmora allows you to work on up to 100 different layers – both audio and video – at one time. If you’re just starting out as a video editor, that might seem overwhelming, but as you grow in your skill, you’ll definitely appreciate the possibilities this opens up in terms of making pro-level clips. Applying the generous selection of built-in transitions, filters and effects on top of these different layers can help turn you into a junior Ken Burns. The most recent release of the software (Filmora 9.3) adds 50 new transitions. 

Filmora also allows you to insert and manipulate text on top of your scenes, as well as work with split-screen options that can create video-within-video effects. 

The smart features of the software add to your eventual film editing success. It can automatically detect scenes and split your video up into small clips that are easy to work with and, when you move clips around, the software automatically snaps them into place so that there are no gaps in your creation. A greenscreen feature lets you replace a boring green backdrop with myriad other scenes so you can look like you’re on the beach, even if you’re just in your mom’s basement. And one-click color correction gets your clips looking better fast. 

For those who want a truly easy solution, Filmora also has an “Easy Mode” that lets you choose from among a handful of themes that come with their own filters, transitions and overlays to add a boost to your video clips or turn a series of photos into a moving montage. Beyond that, the latest release of the software comes with 120 new animated title templates. 

Even though Filmora is known as video editing software, it’s equally handy for dealing with audio files. The software comes with 22 free-to-use audio files included that lets you alter a scene simply by what you play behind it – think creepy, tense tracks to add a chill to even the most innocent video. Beyond that, the software allows for you to add beat markers on audio clips that make it easier to time the right sound clip to the right video moment, plus you can reduce background noise and adjust volume independently of the position of the originating sound source.

For pretty much any casual creator of video, the base level of Filmora should do all you need and more. It’s available for $44.99 per year and comes with free updates and free tech support. The Lifetime Plan offers the same features as the Annual Plan, but  lets you own the software forever for a one-time fee of $69.99. Step up to the Annual Bundle Plan and you’ll add in unlimited downloads from the Filmstocks Standard Library – a media collection featuring audio tracks, special effects, and stock video clips. (Note that you can also add Filmstocks to either of the other plans for $9.99 per month). The Annual Bundle Plan also provides you with new effects every month. 

With an attractive and intuitive interface, and more tools than you could ask for in video-editing software Filmora certainly stands at the top of the list of attractive video editing tools. You can try it out for a week for free as well to see how well you take to it and how much it can improve your videos.

Download Filmora 9.3 Here

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