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February 2022

This year, the theme of the National Science Day is said to be ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future’

National Science Day 2022: Know history, significance, theme and how the day is celebrated

Image courtesy: BioCentrum Asia

National Science Day is celebrated in India every year on 28 February to recognise the contributions of the scientists towards the development of the nation.

The day commemorates eminent scientist CV Raman’s 1928 invention, ‘Raman Effect’. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for this historic discovery.

National Science Day 2022: Theme

This year, the theme of the National Science Day is said to be ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future’. The theme of the day changes each year in order to highlight a different facet of the society. In 2021, the theme of National Science Day was ‘The Future of STI’.

National Science Day 2022: History

In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication approached the government and urged to designate 28 February as the National Science Day. The government accepted NCSTC’s proposal and in 1987, the day was first celebrated in the country.

National Science Day 2022: Significance

National Science Day is celebrated with an aim to motivate students to take part in the field of science. On this day, youths across the country demonstrate various innovative science projects. The Government of India also facilitates scientists of the nation who have contributed immensely to the field of science.

National Science Day 2022: Celebrations

The day is marked with students from various schools, colleges and institutes presenting their most recent research findings. Science exhibitions, radio and TV discussion shows, scientific movie exhibitions, research demonstrations, science model displays among other events are also conducted across the country to celebrate the day.

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If you’ve been hesitant to dive into the world of photo editing beyond applying simple filters in Instagram, you might want to check out Pixlr. It’s a truly powerful online photo editing software program with loads of options that never overwhelm you with their complexity. The result is that even those new to the world of photo editing can get started fast, greatly improve or change their photos, and have fun doing so. Oh, and the best part? The program is completely free.

Getting started with Pixlr begins with choosing either Pixler X, which is a more basic and easy-to-use version of the software, or Pixler E, which provides more tools, but might be a bit much for those new to photo editing. Both versions are free.

Next, simply open a photo, which you can do by either navigating to one stored on your device, or by entering a URL for a web-based image. Alternatively, you can start from scratch by selecting from one of Pixlr’s many blank templates which include handy specs for items including Icon, Instagram, Facebook Cover, and more. As if that wasn’t enough, Pixlr also integrates with free photo site Unsplash, so you can import any of those images to work on with a simple search and click. 

Once you’ve got a project to work on, navigating your options is as easy as selecting one of the icons on the left. Hovering over each button pulls up a handy box with an illustration to tell you exactly which tools the icon will open. You have all of the usual photo editing tools here including resizing the canvas and photo, creating and working with layers, cropping, adding effects, and applying an impressive number of filters, which are combinable and controlled with slide bars. This all adds up to lots of creative freedom to get exactly the look you want. 

Of particular note is Pixlr’s “Liquify” tool that allows you to swirl, enlarge, or shrink small portions of a photo for an impressive degree of fine tuning. Other options include a cutout tool, that lets you extract elements from the photo into other layers or delete them altogether; a “Retouch” suite that lets you dodge/burn, clone and heal any area of a photo; text insertion; and doodle tools including a variety of brushes, pens, shapes and an eraser. 

Down the right side of the screen you’ll find your layers arranged in an easy-to-navigate strip.

When you’re done working with an image, you have the option to save or download your file in a variety of formats including JPG, PNG, and WEBP. A particularly appealing component of Pixlr is that the images you download are completely watermark free – so you don’t get roped into having to shell out cash after you get your creation just the way you want it.

That being said, Pixlr does offer two upgraded versions of the software – both of which eliminate the banner ads you’ll have to put up with if you use the free version. The Premium level costs $3.99 per month when paid on an annual basis and adds additional editing tools, including what the company calls “AI CutOut,” the ability to use the software’s “eye” to instantly remove backgrounds. On top of that, you get 3,000 additional overlays, 7,000 more stickers and icons, 5,000 decorative fonts and video tutorials. Stepping up to the Professional version, which costs $14.99/year based on an annual membership, increases the number of overlays to 28,000, and provides access to Pixlr’s own “Stock Content” which is a repository of over 10 million images, graphics, fonts, video clips and 3D files. 

Whether or not you’ll need to upgrade really depends on how deep you want to go with photo editing. But signing up for the free version is certainly a smart step, and you just might find that it has all you need to add professional flare to your images. 

When products die

Goldeneye (1995), Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as James Bond, features a climactic scene in a disused park in Moscow littered with fallen statues dating back to the erstwhile Soviet Union. Busts and statues of communist leaders and symbolic representations of worker-power (all with the proverbial hammer and sickle) are scattered around, as Bond confronts his nemesis. The previous Bond film, Licence to Kill had been released in 1989 before the momentous events of that year had signalled an end to the Soviet Empire. The statues in Goldeneye were a reminder to the viewer of the changing world where the ghosts of the past still lurked.

Picture then a similar such park populated by obsolete products. In your mind’s eye, which products do you see littered around? Audio cassette players and cassettes? Pagers? Telephone directories? Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)? The telegraph?

The imminent death of the vintage Blackberry

On 4 January, 2022, one more product joined the bandwagon. The imminent death of the Blackberry is not an exaggeration. True, it hasn’t yet kicked the bucket. But with the company announcing that it was turning off support for its operating system and associated services, many vintage Blackberrys are likely to have stopped functioning or will get there soon. The Blackberrys that will continue to run are the ones that use the Android operating system.

The history of Research in Motion, the company that birthed the Blackberry goes back to 1996 when they introduced a two-way pager, the Inter@ctive Pager 900. The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany. The name BlackBerry was coined by the marketing company Lexicon Branding. The name was chosen due to the resemblance of the keyboard’s buttons to the drupelets that compose the blackberry fruit.

In 2002, the Blackberry smartphone was released. Through that decade, as better and better versions of the phone hit the market, the Blackberry took the market by storm. By 2009, it commanded a 20 per centmarket share of the smartphone market. But with Apple and Samsung making a concerted bid for world domination, Blackberry’s offerings soon began to fall by the wayside. By 2013, the company was looking to be acquired. Its heydays were in the past. Corporate rejigs and other such acrobatics kept things going and the vintage Blackberry continued to enjoy a niche following … until 4 January!

The fabled telegraph

On July 14, 2013, the last telegram in the world was sent off from a telegraph station, somewhere in India. On May 24, 1844, the telegraph era had dawned with the transmission of the message, ‘What hath God wrought!’ between Washington DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. Developed by Samuel Morse, it soon revolutionized communication. By 1851, more than 50 telegraph companies were up and running in the USA.

In India, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour in 1850. The construction of telegraph lines that connected Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north; Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay), and Chennai (then Madras) in the south; Ootacamund (Ooty) and Bangalore, began in November 1853. William O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician, was instrumental in its development.

A few years later, it proved almost invaluable in saving the Empire. On May 11, 1857, a message sent from Delhi to Ambala and thereon to Lahore relayed news of the mutiny in Meerut. It was the beginning of what later came to be termed by the British as the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ and the Indians as the ‘First War of Indian Independence’. The telegram prompted the British to quickly move to retake Delhi and eventually crush the uprising.

Legend has it that a captured mutineer, being led to the gallows, pointed to a telegraph line and cried out, ‘There is the accursed string that strangles us!’

In memory of the events of that fateful May, a Telegraph Memorial was unveiled on 19 April, 1902, in front of the new British telegraph office in another part of Delhi ‘to commemorate the loyal and devoted services of the Delhi telegraph office staff on the eventful 11th May 1857’. A 20 feet-high grey granite obelisk, its inscription includes the words of Robert Montgomery, the lieutenant governor of Punjab: ‘The electric telegraph has saved India.’

A memorial to a product, no less! A signpost for posterity.

The disappearance of landmarks

Allow yourself to wander back to the ‘90s or even the noughties. Picture the streets back then. Three things that were ubiquitous in that time have all but disappeared now. The ‘one-hour photo lab’, the STD/ISD PCO and the video rental store.

The photo lab dates back to the time when cameras with film rolls were the order of the day. Photography was a deliberate, thought-through activity, the results of which one came to know only when the film roll was ‘developed’. Today, the smartphone has made photography an instant gratification activity. Posing, examining, reposing in a loop is de rigueur. The camera-phone killed the film roll, the analogue cameras that used them and the photo lab in one fell swoop.

The STD/ISD PCO began to crop up as the first telecom revolution, pioneered by Sam Pitroda and C-DoT, began to show visible results in the late ‘80s. As phone connections became easier to obtain, the ‘STD booth’ began to crop up all over the country. Often, these were adjuncts to grocery stores, photocopying stores and other neighbourhood landmarks. One popped in, made the call and then walked out. They were a godsend in a country where for decades, a personal telephone connection was a status symbol.

As the second telecom revolution unfolded and the mobile phone became an omnipresent commodity, the STD booth became an anomaly. The mobile phone is also largely responsible for the disappearance of telephone directories and Yellow Pages, which died silent, unheralded deaths.

As for the video rental store, the growth of cable TV and more recently, streaming platforms, did them in.

The odd STD booth or video store still survive, maybe — ghosts from the not-so-distant past!

On their way out?

Even as we speak, other products too are on their last legs. Consider the printed roadmaps that most car dashboards contained and that many used to navigate through the city. Digital maps have now taken over this function. Printed roadmaps are on the fast route to becoming historical relics.

The fax machine too is swiftly moving in the has-been direction. Email and scanners have largely eroded its use. Similarly, multi-volume encyclopaedia sets have been replaced by online versions.

All deaths and disappearances may not necessarily be for the better, though. The gradual disappearance of bookstores and neighbourhood libraries should concern everyone. Bookstores, libraries and their well-stocked bookshelves were once doorways to other worlds and possibilities. The joy that was sparked by the discovery of books and writers on store or library bookshelves is perhaps, unmatched. “Paradise is a library, not a garden,” the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges once said.

Correlation is not necessarily causation, of course. But still, consider that the gradual erosion of the reading habit over the last couple of decades has been accompanied by a growing illiberal streak throughout the world and the puzzling rise of strongmen (yes, mostly men!). Food for thought?

While products do pass on, their memories often survive, often in interesting ways. The telegraph as technology is well and truly dead, but the name lives on. Many newspapers around the world continue to use it. Why Telegram is even the name of a digital messaging app.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (the more things change, the more they stay the same). At least more or less.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is always on-point with its social media game, mesmerising users with the images it frequently uploads on its Instagram account. However, the latest photo posted by the space agency has left many intrigued.

In its recent post, NASA asked users to identify what they could see in the image. The picture featured black-and-white images of what looked like different geometrical shapes.
The space agency also gave out some possibilities about what the images could be in the caption of its post. “A mini NASA Webb telescope, or perhaps two starfighters from a galaxy far, far away?” were some of the options mentioned.

View the post here:

Later in the caption, the agency stated that the photo was actually of “few of the many snowflake images collected by NASA’s IMPACTS mission, which studies the snowstorms common to the Northeastern US.”
The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) mission of NASA uses ER-2 and P-3 aircraft to improve general understanding about how snowbands are formed, as well as their organisation and evolution, according to the official website of the agency. The mission also aims to advance predictive capabilities for future snowstorms.

In its post, NASA also explained that its mission collected these images by flying directly into snowstorms. The probes and instruments that are part of the P-3 aircraft can collect samples to measure atmospheric properties within storm clouds.

Calling these aircraft “stormtroopers”, NASA stated that each of these machines has specific data-collecting tools, which can sample over 30 million particles in one eight-hour flight itself. These tools include instruments which can take high-definition photos of ice-particles, sample shattered particles as well as measure their size.

NASA also stated these aircraft are assisted in their data collection by ground-based radars, computer simulations, satellite data and weather balloon launches to help IMPACTS understand the true impact of snowstorms.

The image has garnered over 3.9 lakh likes since it was first posted. Several users thought one of the images was similar to the fictional TIE fighter spaceship from the Star Wars franchise. Others thought that one of the snowflakes resembled Captain America’s shield.

What do you think the snowflakes resemble?

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Price: Rs 4,999

Rating: 4/5

The OnePlus Buds Z has been a fine pair of budget TWS earphones and one of the best options under Rs 3,000. A few months ago, OnePlus launched its flagship product in the segment, the Buds Pro for a Rupee short of 10K. Needless to say, there was a huge price gap between the two, and it was only a matter of time until the company introduced something in the middle to fill the gap. 

Say hello to the OnePlus Buds Z2 that looks quite similar to its predecessor but borrows some key features from its premium sibling like active noise cancellation (ANC). Let’s see how it performs and if it’s worth spending close to Rs 5,000 on.

Buds Z2 in case

Buds Z2 in case

OnePlus Buds Z2: Design and Comfort (8/10)

The OnePlus Buds Z2 looks almost identical to the Buds Z – the case as well as the earbuds. We got the black variant for review that has a glossy piano finish on the buds, and the same finish extends to its capsule shaped charging case too. You will have to wipe the product from time to time as it attracts smudge marks. The build quality is quite sturdy, and yet the buds weigh just 4.6 grams each. The case weighs about 42 grams and hosts a 520 mAh battery. You get a charge status LED at the front and a USB-C port at the back for charging.

There are circular zones at the back of the earbuds above the stems for touch gestures. Just like its predecessor, the Buds Z2 is IP55 rated dust and splash resistant, but now even the charging case has IPX4 moisture resistance. The earbuds have silicone tips that sit just right in the ear canals offering decent passive noise isolation, and the buds are comfortable to wear for long hours. They don’t pop out of the ear during a workout or a jog. Two more pairs of eartips are included in the bundle in case the preinstalled medium sized tips don’t fit well.

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OnePlus Buds Z2: Features and Specifications (8/10)

Each earbud has an 11 mm dynamic driver to handle all frequency ranges. They are fitted with three microphones each for calling and noise reduction. You also have wear detection sensors that pause the audio when you remove a bud from the ear and resume when you put it back in the ear. The sensitivity of touch inputs is spot on and you get a soft beep every time you tap it so that you know how many taps it registered (single, double, triple).

Unlike previous OnePlus TWS buds, you get far more flexibility with the touch controls here. You are allowed to reconfigure single tap, double tap and triple tap gestures for the left and right earbuds. You can assign play/pause, next/previous track, voice assistant or nothing for each of those gestures. However, you cannot assign volume control to any of them. Touch and hold for a second lets you cycle through ANC modes – Noise cancellation, Max noise cancellation, ANC off and Transparency. You can choose two or more options from those to toggle between.

The buds can be configured using the OnePlus Buds app on OnePlus phones (OnePlus 6 or newer) or HeyMelody app on non-OnePlus phones. HeyMelody is available on iOS too. While you can configure the controls, there is no way to alter the sound profile like in case of certain Realme or Soundcore products. The OnePlus Buds Z2 is Bluetooth 5.2 compliant, and supports SBC and AAC audio codecs but not Qualcomm’s aptX. Features like Dolby Atmos compliance and low latency modes work only with certain OnePlus phones.

OnePlus Buds Z2: Performance (7.5/10)

The wireless range is good and the connection stays strong for 10 metres with no obstruction between the source and the listener, and over half of that with a concrete wall in between. The OnePlus Buds Z2 can get sufficiently loud around 50% volume, and even outdoors, they are perfectly audible at 60% loudness. The sound profile here is distinctly V-shaped, meaning the lows and highs are boosted. While the audiophiles may cringe at that, such a profile is popular with the masses.

There is an abundance of bass here, and while it is reasonably tight, it does negatively impact the mids. There is noticeable auditory masking in bass-heavy tracks in the lower end of the midrange spectrum. The vocal clarity is generally good but can sound a tad blunted in such tracks. To balance the extra bass, the highs are boosted too. The highs are sharp with ample sparkle, but they could have been tempered better. On occasions they do sound a little sibilant and you can hear the extra hiss, but not to a point of causing listener fatigue.

The overall detail in sound is decent and the soundstage is reasonably broad for the segment. Even when not using a OnePlus phone, the latency is low enough when watching videos with no noticeable lag between the video and audio. All said and done, the OnePlus Buds Z2 produces an enjoyable sound output that works in most common genres of music like Pop, EDM or Bollywood where you do not have a complex medley of instruments.

The Buds Z2 has two ANC profiles – Normal and Max, and frankly, I could not spot any difference in performance between the two. Probably something for the company to look at in the next firmware update. Having said that, the ANC does a decent job of cutting down on several low frequency sounds like whirr of a fan or traffic noises when outdoors. It doesn’t raise the bar in the segment but is par for the course for a sub-5K pair of TWS earbuds. The Transparency mode here is quite good and sounds a lot more natural.

USB-C port

USB-C port

OnePlus Buds Z2: Call quality (8/10)

The call quality on the OnePlus Buds Z2 is good. The person on the line could hear me clearly for most parts when I was indoor as well as outdoor. The wind noise suppression here is actually better than that on the more expensive OnePlus Buds Pro. The traffic noises and other ambient sounds were suppressed reasonably well too, though not entirely. So not a bad option for calling this.

Lead

Lead

OnePlus Buds Z2: Battery life (8.5/10)

The battery backup on the OnePlus Buds Z2 is one of its strong suits. With ANC switched on full time, the buds lasted a little over four and a half hours at 50 to 60% loudness. And with ANC off half the time, I could push them closer to six hours. The case can recharge the buds four more times, thus taking the total battery backup between 23 to 30 hours depending on your use of ANC. That is excellent battery backup.

The Buds Z2 supports quick charging too, and 10 minutes of charge gives you close to 2 hours of play time for the buds with ANC turned on and about 5 hours with the buds and case combined. The case and buds can be charged fully in under an hour. The battery level of each earbud as well as that of the charging case is visible in the OnePlus Buds and HeyMelody apps.

OnePlus Buds Z2: Price and verdict

The OnePlus Buds Z2 is priced at Rs 4,999 with a one year warranty. For that price, you get a pair of TWS earbuds with enjoyable sound output, decent ANC and very good battery backup, making it a strong contender in the segment. As for competition around the 5K mark, you do get a couple of options like the Soundcore Liberty 2 and Lypertek Levi with comparable battery backup and better sound quality, but both lack features like ANC and touch controls.

Oppo Enco W51 is another option in the sub-5K segment with ANC and with a completely different sound profile (more bright and low on bass) for those who prefer it that way. But the battery backup is much lower and the limited controls on the buds can put off a few. All things considered, the OnePlus Buds Z2 is a worthy successor to the Buds Z and fairly easy to recommend under Rs 5,000.

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The list of phones under Rs 30,000 keeps getting better and better every quarter. Other than 5G compliance, you can expect some flagship grade features in most of the chosen handsets this month. That ranges from powerful processors to sleek design to vibrant high refresh rate displays, impressive cameras and more. Time to look at your best options under Rs 30,000 this February.

Best phones to buy under Rs 30,000 in India

Xiaomi Mi 11X 5G

Xiaomi’s Mi 11X 5G comfortably retains its place in our list. You can get its 8 GB RAM variant in this budget with a few bucks to space. It is powered by a flagship grade Snapdragon 870 SoC and has 128 GB internal storage. It has one of the finest displays around in terms of sharpness and colour accuracy. You get a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ screen with 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ compliance and 1300 nits peak (theoretical) brightness. The display as well as the glass back are protected against scratches by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Xiaomi’s Mi 11X 5G is powered by a flagship grade Snapdragon 870 SoC and has 128 GB internal storage.

Xiaomi’s Mi 11X 5G is powered by a flagship grade Snapdragon 870 SoC and has 128 GB internal storage.

It has an impressive design and is quite slim measuring less than 8 mm in thickness. Photography department is handled by a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a 5MP macro camera. You also get a 20MP front camera for selfies and video calls. It’s 4520 mAh battery lasts over a day of moderate use, and the bundled 33W fast charger juices it up fully in under an hour. Mi 11X 5G runs Android 11 with MIUI 12 on top.

Xiaomi Mi 11X 5G price in India: Rs 27,490 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

iQOO 7 5G

Thanks to a significant price drop, the iQOO 7 5G can now be purchased under Rs 30,000. It is another handset that is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 chip, and again, you get its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant in this budget. It has a 6.62-inch HDR10+ compliant Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps. Just like the Mi 11X, it flaunts a peak brightness of 1300 nits.

The iQOO 7 5G has a 6.62-inch HDR10+ compliant Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps.

The iQOO 7 5G has a 6.62-inch HDR10+ compliant Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps.

The rear camera department is quite versatile, featuring a 48MP primary camera with OIS. Giving it company are a 13MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP depth sensor. Its 4400 mAh battery lasts over a day of moderate use comfortably, and the company bundles a 66W fast charger that promises to charge it fully in less than 30 minutes. That’s correct! The iQOO 7 runs Android 11 with FunTouch OS 11, and one can expect two more major Android updates in the future for this device.

iQOO 7 5G price in India: Rs 28,990 for 8 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Motorola Edge 20

The Motorola Edge 20 has some truly interesting features that no other phone in this list can brag about. For starters, it is less than 7 mm thin; something incredibly rare in smartphones these days. Its 6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED display flaunts a 144 Hz refresh rate (another rarity in the segment) along with HDR10+ compliance and capability to display a billion colour shades. It is protected against scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

 The Motorola Edge 20 has some truly interesting features that no other phone in this list can brag about.

The Motorola Edge 20 has some truly interesting features that no other phone in this list can brag about.

If you thought that was all, the camera department is helmed by a 108MP primary camera. The support cast is impressive too with a 16MP ultra-wide shooter and an 8MP telephoto camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS) that provides 3X optical zoom. Not to forget the 32MP selfie camera that is bound to impress the selfie crowd. This Motorola phone is powered by a fairly potent Snapdragon 778G, and you get 8 GB RAM with 128 GB internal storage to go with it.

Its 4000 mAh battery suffices for a day of moderate use and supports 30W fast charging. It runs Android 11, and like most Motorola phones, you get a clean and near-stock user interface that still appeals to a lot of Android purists. All said and done, the Motorola Edge 20 is an impressive all-round package and one of the best options in this budget.

Motorola Edge 20 price in India: Rs 27,190 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

OnePlus Nord 2

Speaking of good UI, here’s OnePlus Nord 2. It is powered by a Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chip that was a sleeper hit of 2021 in terms of processing power and value. This 5G-ready phone has a sharp 6.43-inch Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ compliance. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and the protection extends to the phone’s glass back too. You get the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant in this budget. This phone runs OxygenOS 11.3 based on Android 11, and the Android 12 update has already started rolling out for this device.

This phone runs OxygenOS 11.3 based on Android 11, and the Android 12 update has already started rolling out for this device.

This phone runs OxygenOS 11.3 based on Android 11, and the Android 12 update has already started rolling out for this device.

The rear camera department comprises a 50MP main camera with OIS and Sony’s recent IMX766 sensor that does a good job in different lighting conditions. Support cast includes an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP monochrome camera. The 32MP front camera is good enough to keep the selfie enthusiasts happy. The OnePlus Nord 2 has a 4500 mAh battery that lasts close to a day and a half of moderate use, and the bundled 65W fast charger charges it insanely fast in a little over half an hour.

OnePlus Nord 2 price in India: Rs 29,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G

We had to choose between Samsung Galaxy A52s and M52 5G as they both have a similar feature set. The latter got our nod thanks to better pricing and availability in this budget. The Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is powered by a Snapdragon 778 SoC, and accompanied by 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal (expandable) storage. It has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps.

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps.

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps.

Despite the large display and a 5000 mAh battery, it weighs under 175 grams and is just 7.4 mm thick. Camera department here is quite stacked with a combination of 64MP primary camera, 12MP ultrawide snapper and a 5MP macro camera. The phone can capture some quality photos in various modes. This phone too has an impressive 32MP selfie camera embedded in a tiny punch hole at the top of the screen. The Samsung Galaxy M52 5G runs Android 11 with One UI 3.1.

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G price in India: Rs 26,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

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Analysts say Putin wants to create a Russian empire and Ukraine is a crucial part of his plan.

Why does Russia want Ukraine so badly? Here’s what a geography book tells us

A view of Ukraine’s national flag waves above the capital with the Motherland Monument on the right, in Kyiv. AP

One can accuse Vladimir Putin’s infamous ambition for Russia’s moves on Ukraine, but the real reason may be a lot more earthy and compelling: geography.

A 2016 edition of Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography takes a refreshing view of geopolitics. It explains how the rivers, seas, mountains, glaciers, forests and plains dictate international relations of Russia, China, the US, western European nations, Africa, the Middle East, Korea and Japan and Latin America.

It also describes how the geography of India and Pakistan — the watery arc of the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal, the Hindukush to the northwest and the Himalayas to the north, the plateau of the Balochistan desert, North West Frontier mountains, and the Karakoram range which leads back to the Himalayas — forms the bloodied rink of a tragic conflict.

The common perception (there is a fair bit of truth in it) among international policy experts is that Putin wants to be the person who, on his watch, puts Ukraine back into Russia’s arms. The Russian President has given himself 14 more years of power to do so.

Analysts say Putin wants to create a Russian empire. Ukraine is a crucial part of his plan. In a 2015 speech, Putin called Ukraine the “crown jewel of Russia”, triggering alarm among western agencies. It came a year after Russia annexed Crimea, then a slice of Ukraine.

In 2021, Putin wrote another impassioned piece.

“As the wall that has emerged in recent years between Russia and Ukraine, between the parts of what is essentially the same historical and spiritual space, to my mind is our great common misfortune and tragedy. These are, first and foremost, the consequences of our own mistakes made at different periods of time. But these are also the result of deliberate efforts by those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity,” wrote Putin. “Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of Ancient Rus, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes across the vast territory – from Ladoga, Novgorod, and Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov – were bound together by one language (which we now refer to as Old Russian), economic ties, the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, and – after the baptism of Rus – the Orthodox faith. The spiritual choice made by St Vladimir, who was both Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Kiev, still largely determines our affinity today. The throne of Kiev held a dominant position in Ancient Rus. This had been the custom since the late 9th century. The Tale of Bygone Years captured for posterity the words of Oleg the Prophet about Kiev, ‘Let it be the mother of all Russian cities.’”

But civilisational nostalgia or imperial design does not fully explain Russia’s need to invade Ukraine. When the USSR collapsed and split into 15 countries because of political overstretch, terrible economics, and a defeat in Afghanistan, part after part disintegrated and left it totally geographically exposed.

“Moscow’s dream of warm water open sea lanes has seeped away ever since, and is perhaps further now than it has been for 200 years. This lack of a warm-water port with direct access to the oceans has always been Russia’s Achilles heel, as strategically important to it as the North European Plain. Russia is at a geographical disadvantage, saved from being a much weaker power only because of its oil and gas,” write Tim Marshall in Prisoners of Geography. “Geography had its revenge on the ideology of the Soviets.”

He says as long as there was a pro-Russian government in Kiev, the Russians were confident that the buffer zone would remain and protect the North European Plain. Even a neutral Ukraine which keeps away from the European Union or NATO and keeps the leash on the warm-water port at Sevastopol in Crimea would be fine. Ukraine’s dependence on Russia for energy was seen as harmless.

“But a pro-western Ukraine with ambitions to join the two great western alliances and which threw into doubt Russia’s access to its Black Sea port? A Ukraine that one day might even host a NATO naval base? That could not stand,”

Sevastopol is Russia’s only major warm-water port. But access out of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean is clamped by the Montreux Convention of 1936, which gave NATO member Turkey control of the Bosporus. In a time of conflict, even that access could end.

Beyond Bosporus, the Aegean Sea, Mediterranean and the Gibraltar Straits impede Russia’s movement to the Atlantic Ocean or its route to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal. Its naval presence in Syria’s Tartus is strategic but limited.

In the event of a war, the Russian navy cannot get out to the Baltic Sea either because NATO controls the Skagerrak Strait, which connects to the North Strait. If Russia gets past the Skagerrak, the GIUK Gap (Greenland, Iceland, UK) in the North Sea stymies its advance to the Atlantic.

Clearly, Geography has not been kind to a great nation and civilisation. But will browbeating its way out of that handicap going to help Russia? Only history will tell.

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In the race to create and contain carbon-free nuclear fusion energy, Alphabet’s artificial intelligence lab DeepMind is the latest contributor.

In collaboration with the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL — a university in Lausanne, Switzerland — the DeepMind AI has applied its algorithms to control the plasma inside the nuclear fusion reactor, that’s hotter than the sun’s surface, and maintain its temperature long enough to take energy out of it. All of which has been near impossible so far.

Before going any further with the scientific lingo, let us break it down for you:

What is nuclear fusion

The best and easiest understandable example of nuclear fusion energy is the sun. The process of nuclear fusion generates heat in the sun.

Creating nuclear fusion energy in laboratories has proven difficult as it consumes far more energy than it produces, making it useless as an energy source at a large scale.

Existing nuclear power stations work on nuclear fission reactions that create energy by splitting atoms, a nuclear fusion reactor works exactly opposite of that, it releases energy by combining atoms.

Recently the Joint European Torus (JET), a fusion reactor based in the UK’s Oxfordshire, produced 59 megajoules of energy, equivalent to 11 megawatts of power, over a five-second period.

Also read: UK scientists make major nuclear fusion energy breakthrough: Everything you need to know

The scientists built a process that allowed for the self-heating of matter when it is in a plasma state, using nuclear fusion, which could represent a major step towards the use of nuclear fusion.

According to Independent, the scientists took the hydrogen isotopes deuterium – which can be found in seawater – and tritium which is made in a reactor. They used the hydrogen isotopes to create a burning plasma.

In short, the researchers were able to compress and heat a plasma, which will then be heated by the reactions themselves, allowing the energy to sustain itself.

Due to huge gravitational pressure in the core of the Sun, nuclear fusion is possible at around 10 million Celsius temperature. Since creating such pressures on earth is not possible, temperatures need to be much higher – above 100 million Celsius.

Since no material can withstand such temperature, fusion is achieved in a super-heated gas, or plasma, held inside a doughnut-shaped magnetic field.

The problems with harvesting nuclear fusion energy

Even though scientists have managed to create nuclear fusion energy, it still faces an engineering challenge – to heat up the plasma and hold it together to take energy out of it.

The process to confine and control the plasma can take up more energy than what is produced from it, thus making it a counterproductive process.

To put it into perspective, the recent experiment at the JET lab produced enough energy to boil 60 kettles of water, for five seconds. Yet it was considered a major breakthrough.

Researchers have tried to confine nuclear fusion reactions and nudge it into different shapes that may yield maximum output with the help of powerful magnetic coils.

However, while doing so they have to prevent the plasma from touching the walls, which would not only damage the walls but waste the heat as well. Thus, slowing down the nuclear fusion process.

What is DeepMind?

A division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, DeepMind is responsible for developing general-purpose artificial intelligence technology. The technology takes in input and learns about it from experience.

DeepMind claims that its system is not pre-programmed: it learns from experience, using only raw pixels as data input.

To put it simply, earlier it was used to learn and play games on its own. When tasked to beat the library of Atari games, it learned to understand the games and with time, the AI could play the games better and with more efficiency than humans.

The AI made headlines in 2016 when its AlphaGo program beat Lee Sedol, the world champion of game “Go”, in a five-game match.

After proving its might in playing video and board games, the AI has been used in healthcare identifying eye diseases and kidney injuries, creating computer programs and now making strides in nuclear fusion research.

DeepMind’s contribution to nuclear fusion research

As per a report by Business Insider, the artificial intelligence lab and its co-researchers trained an algorithm on the Swiss Center’s simulator to hypothesize by itself how best to control the magnetic coils, through the use of reinforcement learning.

This is where algorithms are effectively “rewarded” for achieving strong outcomes.

It developed an architecture to maintain the plasma, sculpt it into different shapes and maintain separate plasma at the same time.

The algorithm was then applied to the real-life tokamak – a doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber with metal coils and a huge magnet to create sun-like conditions on earth.

The report said that the AI managed to manipulate the magnetic field for over two seconds, just as it had done in the simulator.

“This work is a significant step in our understanding of how we might design new tokamaks that incorporate AI, and going forward we expect to see increasing sophistication in the use of reinforcement learning in the field,” said Ambrogio Fasoli, director of the Swiss Plasma Center, as quoted by Business Insider.

With inputs from agencies

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Our entire list of phones under Rs 25,000 this month is 5G ready. And the goodness doesn’t end there. We have phones with 108MP cameras, powerful processors, AMOLED screens with high refresh rate and more to appeal to a broader audience. Choose the one that ticks the most boxes for you. Time to meet the bunch.

Best phones to buy under Rs 25,000 in India

iQOO Z5 5G/ Z3 5G

The iQOO duo retains their spots on our list. The iQOO Z5 5G and Z3 5G aren’t very different from each other and offer impressive features and performance. The top variant of the iQOO Z3 5G with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage can be comfortably purchased in this budget, and Amazon India is currently offering a further Rs 1,500 discount on it. It is powered by Qualcomm’s midrange Snapdragon 768 SoC.

iqooz3 640

It has a sharp 6.58-inch Full HD+ LCD screen with HDR10 compliance and 120 Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling in compatible apps. Photography is handled by three cameras at the back comprising a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide snapper and a 2MP macro camera. A 16MP selfie camera is located in a drop notch at the top of the screen. A 4400 mAh battery keeps the phone powered for over a day of moderate use. You also get a 55W fast charger in the bundle to juice it up in quick time.

The iQOO Z5 5G offers small but significant upgrades over the Z3. It has a faster and more recent Snapdragon 778 SoC. Internal storage has been upgraded to a faster UFS 3.1 standard from version 2.2. It has a larger 6.67-inch Full HD+ LCD screen with 120 Hz refresh rate. Battery capacity has been bumped up to 5000 mAh, but you get a relatively slower 44W fast charger, which promises to charge 50% of the battery in 23 minutes.

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You generally get the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant in this budget, but because of a Rs 3,000 instant discount on Amazon India, you can also get the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage variant under 25K while the offer lasts. Each of the phones runs Android 11 with FunTouch UI, and the company promises two major Android updates on both devices. While the Z3 ships with FunTouch UI 11.1, the Z5 offers the newer version 12 out of the box. The camera department is identical on both phones.

iQOO Z3 5G price in India: Rs 21,490 to Rs 22,990 for 8 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage
iQOO Z5 5G price in India: Rs 21,990 to Rs 23,990 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage; Rs 23,990 (with discount) for 12 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G

Samsung, for a change, has a great option in this budget, and without going overboard with the thickness or weight. The Samsung Galaxy M52 5G too is powered by a Snapdragon 778 SoC, and accompanied by 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal (expandable) storage. It has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 120 Hz refresh rate. Despite the larger display and a 5000 mAh battery, it weighs under 175 grams and is quite slim at just 7.4 mm thickness.

Samsung-GalaxyM52-5G_Launched_in_India1 640

Camera department is quite versatile with a combination of 64MP primary camera, 12MP ultrawide shooter and a 5MP macro camera to capture some quality photos in various modes. The 32MP selfie camera embedded in a tiny punch hole at the top of the screen will have the selfie enthusiasts interested. The Samsung Galaxy M52 5G runs Android 11 with One UI 3.1.

Samsung Galaxy M52 5G price in India: Rs 24,999 for 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

Xiaomi 11i 5G

The fairly recent Xiaomi 11i 5G is something the photography enthusiasts would like to look at closely, courtesy of its 108MP camera. The support cast consists of an 8MP ultrawide camera and a 2MP macro camera. The 16MP front camera is good enough for selfies and video calls. This 5G phone is powered by a Mediatek Dimensity 920 SoC, and you get 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage that can be expanded further with a microSD card.

The Xiaomi 11i 5G has a 6.67-inch Full HD+ HDR10 compliant Super AMOLED display that can get up to 1200 nits bright. This too supports 120 Hz refresh rate for a flicker-free experience in compatible apps, and is protected against scratches by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. A 5160 mAh battery keeps it running for close to a day and a half of moderate use, and the bundled 67W turbo charger claims to take it from 0 to 50% in just 13 minutes. This Xiaomi phone runs Android 11 with MIUI 12.5.

Xiaomi 11i 5G price in India: Rs 24,999 for 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

Motorola Edge 20 Fusion

The Motorola Edge 20 Fusion is the second phone in this list to flaunt a 108MP camera, which is one of its key selling points. The support cast consists of an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP depth sensor. Not to forget the 32MP front camera that does a great job with selfies and video calls. This phone is powered by a modest Mediatek Dimensity 800U chip and you get a choice between 6 GB or 8 GB RAM along with 128 GB internal (expandable) storage.

Motorola-Edge-20-fusion- 640

This phone has a 6.7-inch Full HD+ HDR10+ compliant OLED screen that is capable of displaying over a billion colour shades. A 90 Hz refresh rate makes scrolling significantly smoother than standard 60 Hz displays. The Motorola Edge 20 Fusion has a 5000mAh battery that can go on for over a day and a half of moderate use and supports 30W fast charging. And given that this is a Motorola phone, it runs Android 11 with a clean and near-stock user interface, which is another plus.

Motorola Edge 20 Fusion price in India: Rs 21,499 for 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage; Rs 22,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

OnePlus Nord CE

And finally we have the most inexpensive OnePlus smartphone in this country, the Nord CE. We have included this phone in this list mainly for one reason – OxygenOS, which we believe is still one of the best Android UI around (prior to version 12). The OnePlus Nord CE runs Android 11 with OxygenOS 11. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 750G SoC, which may not be as powerful as some of the chips above, but is good enough to keep things smooth here.

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Speaking of smooth, this phone has a 6.43-inch Fluid AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate. You get 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant in this budget. Camera department is manned by a 64MP primary camera along with an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. Its 4500 mAh battery can keep the phone running for well over a day of moderate use, and the bundled 30W charger gets it back up quickly.

OnePlus Nord CE price in India: Rs 24,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

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For families of those with autism, lockdowns have led to a reversal of the therapy efforts be it speech, behavioural or sensory therapies

In April, Masarat, mother of 11-year-old Kamran, locked him inside a room for a day. She needed to go fetch medicine from the Srinagar market.

Kamran, who is autistic as well as differently-abled, spent the entire time banging on the door. He thought his father, who was in the next room, would let him out. But he didn’t.

His father, a government employee, had tested positive for COVID-19 and was in home quarantine.

“All I could do was cry. I did not want him to be infected too. He is more vulnerable than I am,” said Kamran’s father, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that mainly affects communication. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit repetitive and restricted patterns of behaviour.

Such children resist even minor changes in routine. For their families, lockdowns have led to a reversal of the therapy efforts, be it speech, behavioural or sensory therapies.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

Occupational therapy tools lie unused at a special school in Kashmir. Image courtesy Mudasir Rawloo

“If there is a halt in autism treatment, it causes a reversal of everything you taught the child. Some even forget how to speak,” said Kulsuma, mother of an autistic child from Srinagar.

Kulsuma runs Exceptional Minds, a centre for autism and early intervention in Kashmir, where over 20 autistic children were enrolled in 2019.

The centre has been shut for almost two years.

“Parents are afraid of letting their children join classes,” she said. Such children hardly adhere to social distancing norms or keep masks on faces, she added.

Experts say autistic children have increased levels of ‘sensory sensitivity.’ Keeping masks on their faces or restricting such students to a single bench is a very tough task for therapists.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

A therapist at a specialized treatment centre in Kashmir readying the props for a special class as schools gear up to open again. Image courtesy: Mudasir Rawloo

Making life predictable

As per United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which works for the development of children globally, it is imperative to introduce “new daily routines” for children with autism to relax during a lockdown.

It calls ‘roleplaying’ an effective tool to impart COVID education to such children.

It also suggests that rewarding a child once he imitates hygiene activity like hand washing will encourage them to repeat it.

“Every step of the daily routine should be predictable,” the UNICEF guideline reads.

Mona Rai, mother of an autistic child based in Hyderabad, seconds this. She said in her experience, autistic children and adults manage and cope well with a predictable routine.

“During lockdown, I ensured that my son’s breakfast and bath time was fixed and he would dress as he did for school,” Rai said. She added that she divided the day in a way that would task her son to help with household chores.

“Filling up bottles, putting clothes in the washing machine, assisting in hanging clothes, chopping vegetables, making beds, laying tables for meals, playtime with lego (plastic construction toys) besides watching TV as a group activity were some of the things we did at home,” Rai said.

Rai added there was also a fixed time for the entire family to take a walk in the evening. “We all then compared the steps we took,” she said, adding that this encourages many such children to walk more.

She said every such activity was rewarded with a cup of tea or cake. “This can be anything that’s a favourite of the child,” she added.

 Absence of institutional help

For over a decade, Rohit Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, has been treated and educated at the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH) in Telangana. In April 2020, he fell sick and tested COVID positive.

“It was a jolt,” his sister, who is studying medicine in the Philippines, said.  “The closing of his school immediate caused him more mental distress than the infection.” She said he did not touch food for three days.

She noted that Kumar regressed despite his food habits being drilled into him over the past two decades.

“I cannot imagine how things must be for autistic children who have never stepped foot in school or are barely trained,” she added.

Kumar’s mother then took it upon herself to feed him. “At times, she had to be harsh,” his sister said.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

Kumar stacking shapes at his home during the lockdown. Image courtesy: Kumar’s sister

Compared to other developing nations, India has fewer institutional facilities for autistic children. US has annual surveys to determine autism rates as well as world-class management infrastructure. In India, the government runs a few mental health schools.

As a child, Kumar was one of the “lucky few” to have attended a facility like NIMH.

“In most rural areas, there is no early intervention for such children. Autism cannot be cured but its ill effects can be reduced with early therapies. Guidance from the government for such parents is scarce,” said a government-employed psychologist from Delhi speaking on condition of anonymity.

She added that despite a dedicated Ministry for Social Justice and a special department for the differently-abled, no wide-scale disorder-oriented awareness campaigns are launched.

Queries directed to the Ministry for Social Justice went unanswered.

Increased aggression and drug abuse.

Back in Srinagar, children like Kamran – never enrolled in any schools –  have been homebound since the pandemic.

“He has become more aggressive lately. He would even hit me at times and cry later,” said Masarat.

Health experts say in most such cases, sedatives otherwise are seen as a last resort are being given to children to keep them calm. “Sadly, many parents think they are doing good but it harms them more. Therapies are much more effective,” a Delhi-based psychologist said.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

At Kamran’s home, puzzles and therapy lie on a shelf. His parents say, he barely uses them after his school closed

Home schooling and online therapies

Kusuma, who is also certified in the art and play-based therapy for autistic children, said parents should create a school-like environment in homes so children don’t feel disconnected.

“For my son, I have kept at home all the equipment to keep him engaged,” she said, adding that online schooling of severely autistic children is difficult.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

Colourful balls at the home of an autistic child in Kashmir. Image courtesy Mudasir Rawloo

She said people with ASD or autism spectrum disorder fall into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. “The severe are more hyperactive and are more susceptible to stress when introduced with a change,” she said.

She added that a school-like atmosphere at home reduces scope of confusion for them.

Most of the therapists spoken to for this piece said that only the mildly autistic children could be given therapies online. They said, moderate and severely autistic ones are ‘intolerant’ to staring at a screen for long consistently.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

Empty occupational therapy rooms at a special school in Jammu division. Image courtesy: Mudasir Rawloo

Dr Bhavna Barmi, a senior psychologist from Delhi, is the founder of Psycare mental health services. Dr Barmi said parents have a bigger role to play when it comes to home-schooling such children.

She said that the pandemic has mainly led to “anxiety, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and worsening of communication skills among autistic children”.

She attributed these ill effects not directly to COVID but the effect the pandemic has had on the parents and therapists.

“Emotional and physical health of parents, therapists, caregivers have worsened which manifested as anxiety, leading to increased use of alcohol and smoking.”

She added that this leads to behavioural changes and less attention for autistic children. “These children want happy faces around. If their parents appear depressed to them, it makes them anxious too,” she said.

Ahmed, a senior therapist from Learning Edge, a centre for early intervention in Central Kashmir, said not more than 10 per cent of students cooperate with online learning. “Parents themselves need to do crash courses and not just rely on experts,” he added/

Need for help and self-help

“Parents of such children whose special schools are closed should be allowed to work from home and their working hours minimised so they are able to take care of such children,” said the mother of Kamran.

Dr Barmi said that parents who themselves are educated about ASD are well able to handle the situation and have successfully sustained the progress of the child.

“Many parents opted for self-education about ASD which enhanced the progress of the child (more than therapists),” she said.

Barmi encouraged parents to do virtual crash courses and participate in discussions with parents of similar children in online forums.

She also stressed on therapists to inculcate ‘visual art depiction techniques’ to inform such children of COVID-appropriate behaviour.

Coping with autism in time of COVID Across India isolation and anxiety take toll on children and caretakers

Paintings and shapes drawn by autistic children lie scattered at a special school which remains closed since 2019. Photo by Mudasir Rawloo

“I think it is also very important for parents to have a proper schedule for these children during lockdowns. Even as normal beings, in a state of clampdown, we forget the basic etiquettes. How many of us tend to comb our hair daily while we are homebound?” asks Kulsuma.

“We forget and so do these children. Patience from parents is all that these children require,” she added.

Ahmed said an autistic child understands a situation when parents who can afford to do so hire a “shadow teacher” to take care of the child. “But there is a greater chance of abuse of these children too and parents need to be vigilant about it.”

He said expensive equipment for these children isn’t needed and equipment at home can be used for ADLs or activities of daily life. “Hundreds of ADLs are on YouTube. Parents can take help from them.”

He also says it is morally imperative for everyone to help families with autistic children.

“If you help such parents by simply sharing their smaller responsibilities, say by visiting a grocery store and picking up supplies, this can be of great help. Such small things for you can mean a lot for them,” Ahmed said.

(Names have been changed to protect identities)

Umar Sofi is a Delhi-based journalist. He writes on politics, health, and human rights

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The Infinix Zero 5G has been launched in India today, 14 February. The smartphone, which is valued at Rs 19,999, will be available for sale on e-commerce website Flipkart from 18 February.

Infinix has partnered with Reliance Jio for testing 5G technology. The Infinix Zero 5G is the first 5G smartphone from the brand.

The device comes with a  8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage. It also contains an option for an additional 5GB virtual RAM for storage, as per reports.

The phone also has 6nm MediaTek Density 900 processor and Arm Mali-G68 GPU. The Infinix Zero 5G also comes with Arm Cortex-A78 CPU cores and and Ultra-Fast (UFS) 3.1 storage as well as LPDDR5 RAM technology. The internal storage can be expanded up to 256GB via a microSD card, according to a report in NDTV.

The Infinix Zero 5G comes in two colours- Skylight Orange and Cosmic Black. The phone comes with a 6.78-inch display with full-HD+ IPS LTPS technology. It also features 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of peak brightness.

The Infinix Zero 5G comes with connectivity options such as 5G, Bluetooth v5,  Wi-Fi 6, GPS, OTG, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port. The phone is compatible with 13 5G bands, as per Infinix India CEO Anish Kapoor’s statement to Live Mint.

The phone also boasts of 5,000 mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.

The Infinix Zero 5G comes with a triple rear camera setup and a 16MP selfie lens. The rear camera setup includes a 2MP depth sensor, a 13MP portrait lens and 48MP primary camera. The portrait lens supports 30x digital zoom and 2x optical zoom.

The front camera comes with dual LED flash while the rear camera setup includes a quad-LED flash as well as Slow Motion and Super Night Mode features. The phone also has 4K video recording at 30fps.

The smartphone also comes with dual speakers with DTS surround sound support. The Infinix also comes with fingerprint sensor, ambient light sensor, barometer, g-sensor, light sensor and proximity sensor.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) recently shared unbelievable photos of a crater on Mars on their official Instagram page. ESA is known to often share such mesmerising photos on its handle.

This time, the agency gave people a peek into an ice-rich impact crater on Mars. The picture was captured on 13 June last year in the vast northern plains of Acidalia Planitia.

In the post shared, ESA mentioned that the crater could easily be mistaken for a tree stump but was in fact a birds-eye view into an ice-rich impact crater on the red planet. The crater’s interior is filled with water-ice rich deposits. “This crater got excited with its rings”, read the caption of ESA’s Instagram post.

It is thought that the deposits were of a time when the red planet’s spin axis allowed water-ice deposits to form at lower latitudes, unlike it does today. Mars also tilts just like the Earth and its tilt gives rise to seasons too. However, Mars has experienced dramatic change in its tilt over a long period of time.

Furthermore, ESA revealed that the crater deposits found on Mars have quasi-circular and polygonal patterns of fracture which reveal details of the red planet’s history. The feature of fractured patterns is said to have been produced due to seasonal changes in temperature which lead to expansion and contraction of ice-rich material.

Take a look at the incredible images here:

These images from ESA were shared as part of the European-led ExoMars programme. European Space Agency and Russian space agency Roscosmos collaborated to send a spacecraft called Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to Mars in 2016 and began its full science mission in 2018. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission aims to understand the presence of methane and other atmospheric gases that could be present on Mars and may be an evidence for possible biological or geological activity.

TGO is returning spectacular images from the red planet and is also mapping the planet’s surface for water-rich locations. The ExoMars mission also aims at understanding the history of water on Mars. Data provided through the ongoing mission will further help in the second ExoMars mission.

After the post was shared on social media, internet users were amazed by the spectacular pictures. The post gained nearly 17,740 likes on Instagram and prompted a number of comments from excited users.

An Instagram user wrote, “I love you European Space Agency”, while another loved the images so much that they put up a request to download them by writing, “Can we have it full resolution to download, please?”.

What are your thoughts on ESA’s incredible pictures from Mars?

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) often posts stunning pictures of the universe on its social media account. But this time, the agency has posted some images of divers “at the bottom of a very dark swimming pool”, training for NASA’s upcoming Moon mission.

The images, which take viewers behind the intense preparation involved in sending people to space, has left social media users intrigued.

The images were taken from a recent test held in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. The images show a group of divers moving about in almost pitch-black conditions. The images were shared three days ago, on 6 February.

View the photos here:

According to NASA, these tests aim to prepare astronauts for future missions by exposing them to conditions that mimic those on the Moon, such as lunar terrain, suit mobility and one-sixth gravity.

NASA also gave a detailed explanation of how it is creating an environment similar to the Moon’s South Pole, where the agency aims to send its upcoming Artemis mission. At the South Pole of the Moon, the Sun will only be a few degrees over the horizon, which will create long, dark shadows. To create a similar environment, divers “turned off the lights, put up black curtains on the pool walls to minimise reflection, and used powerful underwater lamps to simulate the environment astronauts might experience on lunar missions”.

The sand visible in the images is common pool filter sand, mixed with some other specialised materials, as per the agency. NASA also stated that the present test was with divers in scuba gear to get the lighting conditions accurate. The agency will soon conduct tests using space suits in the low-light environment.

Since being posted, the images have been liked over 984,000 times. Several social media users have called the pictures “spooky”, while others have praised the agency for the stunning images.

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Ola Electric has clocked around 1,766 total electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the country since 15 December, according to the government’s Vahan dashboard, as compared to 4,000 scooter shipments the company had claimed to have made in the month of December.

A majority of these registrations were done in Maharashtra and Karnataka, followed by Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

The company registered about 238 EVs in December, about 1,102 EVs in January and 424 EVs in the first week of February, data shows.

To be sure, Vahan dashboard does not capture data from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Lakshadweep, due to which the number of registered EVs in these states are not available.

An Ola Electric spokesperson told Moneycontrol that Vahan is not an accurate reflection of their dispatch and sales data, since there is a “long lag in data getting updated on the dashboard” and it only captures permanent registrations.

To put things in context, EV registrations for rival Ather were at 1,880 for the month of January according to the Vahan dashboard, while the company said it sold 2,825 units during the month.

This development comes on heels of Ola Electric raising over $200 million at a valuation of $5 billion from Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, and others.

Delayed deliveries

Ola Electric, which was spun out of the ride-hailing major Ola in 2019, had started deliveries of its electric scooters on 15 December, a significant delay from its initial plans of an October delivery timeline.

On 30 December, the firm had claimed to have shipped almost 4,000 scooters in December, of which it had claimed to have delivered more than a couple of thousands of vehicles across the country. But Vahan dashboard had showed less than 100 deliveries, Moneycontrol had reported.

Ola had told Moneycontrol at the time that the discrepancy in both the numbers was because different state RTOs upload their data on Vahan at a different pace, since some of them are on the older version of Vahan.

It’s worth noting that Ola has taken a direct-to-customer approach, wherein it is delivering the vehicles directly to the customers’ homes, instead of the traditional dealership model. On 31 December, Ola group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had said on Twitter that the registration took longer than anticipated since a fully digital process was new for all stakeholders.

“Lots of learnings for us on varied RTO systems, regulations across states. Will be faster with registration in future!” he said on Twitter.

In a communication to Ola Electric customers on 14 January, Ola Electric had stated that deliveries of scooters can take 10-20 days after they have been dispatched from manufacturing facility, depending on the customer’s location and the RTO process requirements in their city.

Deferred production of Ola S1 scooters

In the same communication, Ola also said that it was prioritising the production of its costlier variant S1 Pro (which costs Rs 1.3 lakh) since a “vast majority” of its customers have purchased this variant and it will be making the S1 variant (which costs Rs 1 lakh) only in late 2022.

All customers who had booked the S1 variant, were now being “automatically upgraded” to S1 Pro hardware. Users will be able to unlock the Pro features such as increased range, hyper mode, hill hold, cruise control and voice assistance, by paying an extra Rs 30,000.

The company noted that this software upgrade was optional and customers can also choose to exercise this choice at a later stage. An Ola spokesperson said those receiving the S1 Pro still benefit from a better range of 105 km, which is less than the 135 km real-world range of the software-activated S1 Pro, but more than that of the S1.

“If you still wish to buy our S1 variant, we will notify you as soon as we put that into production and you can make the final payment then,” Ola said in the communication on 14 January.

Hypercharger Rollout

Meanwhile, Ola group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently announced that they have begun the rollout of its charging network points called Hypercharger across cities, starting with residential complexes and key BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) petrol pumps.

“We’re installing across India and will make them operational in 6-8 weeks. Will be free for use till end June 2022 for all customers,” Aggarwal said.

The company plans to install over 4,000 charging points through next year, he said. In April 2021, Ola Electric had stated plans to invest $2 billion over the next five years along with its partners to set up more than one lakh charging stations across 400 cities.

Ola Electric is also among the 10 firms that have submitted bids under the Rs 18,100 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage, the government said on 15 January.

The Bengaluru-based mobility firm is gearing up for a public market debut later this year. On 16 December, it raised $500 million debt financing from marquee international institutional investors through a Term Loan B route, joining the likes of Byju’s and Oyo.

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The International Space Station (ISS) has orbited Earth for over two decades now, making possible scientific discoveries that wouldn’t have been possible without this lab in the sky with an international crew of astronauts onboard.

However, as all things good, its date of retirement has been decided. NASA last week announced that the spacecraft will cease operations in 2031 and plunge into the South Pacific Ocean.

As dramatic as it may sound, the decommissioning of the International Space Station will be a highly technical and calculated move from NASA that will provide opportunities for further deep space exploration.

Let’s take a look at the space station’s history, duties and the inevitable retirement:

What is ISS

A brainchild of former US president Ronald Reagan, the ISS was proposed in 1984 as a permanently inhabited spacecraft.

Starting from 1998 till 2000, the space station was built piece by piece that were carried on board several space shuttles. On 2 November, 2000, it welcomed the first crew.

In the last more than 20 years, there have been over 200 astronauts and cosmonauts from 19 different countries onboard the space station at different points of time.

In NASA’s words “the International Space Station is a unique laboratory that is returning enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit people on Earth and is enabling our ability to travel into deep space”.

To give it a more perceptible definition, the ISS is an artificial satellite in low Earth orbit where astronauts can stay for months and conduct scientific research.

The ISS is a multinational collaborative project that involves NASA (the USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment laboratory for research in multitudes of fields including astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology and physics.

The ISS weighs about a million pounds on Earth and is approximately the size of an American football field. The space station can house a crew of six people. It also has laboratory modules from the US, Russia, Japan, and Europe.

How will ISS retire

NASA has presented the ISS Transition Report, which consists of its plans for the space station in the coming decade including its retirement.

According to NASA’s budget estimates, the ISS’ re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere will take place in January 2031.

The ISS mission control will start by lowering its altitude, which will result in higher velocity overall. The spacecraft would be manoeuvred to line up to its final target on ground, the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA).

Near Point Nemo, which is considered a space cemetery, where most decommissioned space projects are directed to. It is located about 2,700km away from land and is named after a character in Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”.

The ISS was earlier meant to be operational for 15 years, but in 2014, NASA extended its time in space by another 10 years.

With NASA’s latest announcement, it will stay almost a decade longer than its earlier tenure.

What after ISS

Once ISS is retired, it will be replaced by “one or more commercially-owned and operated space platforms”.

Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA, said in a statement that the private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA’s assistance.

The space agency estimates to save $1.3 billion in 2031 alone by transitioning from ISS to renting space onboard private commercial platforms.

The money saved by this transition will be used in NASA’s deep space exploration initiatives.

With inputs from agencies

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