1) The first CRISPR
therapy approved in the U.S. will treat sickle cell disease:By Erin Garcia de
Jesús
On December 8, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration approved the gene-editing therapy for use in
patients age 12 years and older. In addition to offering hope of relief for
people with severe forms of the painful blood disorder, the treatment, called
Casgevy, is the world’s first to genetically tweak cells using the Nobel Prize–winning
molecular scissors CRISPR/Cas9 (SN: 10/7/20).Another gene therapy for sickle
cell disease, called Lyfgenia and developed by biotech company bluebird bio,
based in Somerville, Mass., was also approved December 8.
Getting a green light
for the first CRISPR-based medicine is exciting, says David Altshuler, chief
scientific officer at Boston-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which developed the
drug in a joint venture with CRISPR Therapeutics, a company in Cambridge, Mass.
But the fact that the drug fills an unmet need for underserved patients is
“more compelling to me, personally, than the fact that it’s CRISPR.”
Approximately 100,000
people in the United States, most of them Black or Latino, have sickle cell disease. It is caused by a genetic
defect in hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells. Unlike
typical blood cells that are bendy enough to slip through blood vessels,
sickled blood cells are inflexible and get stuck, restricting blood flow and
causing debilitating pain (SN: 2/1/22). People with severe forms of the disease
can be hospitalized multiple times a year.
Having a new treatment
option for sickle cell disease can give patients a “new lease on life,” says
Kerry Morrone, a pediatric hematologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
in New York City. People with the disease often miss school, work or special
events due to excruciating pain. “The potential that this therapy could
alleviate symptoms for patients is very exciting.”
At an FDA advisory
committee meeting on October 31, several clinical trial participants given
Casgevy recounted how it changed their lives, including Victoria Gray, the
first sickle cell patient to enroll in the trial.Gray has previously described
bouts of pain that felt like being struck by lightning and getting hit by a
train at the same time (SN: 10/20/23). Now pain-free, she is able to enjoy time
with her family, Gray said at the meeting.
Jimi Olaghere, another
participant in the trial, told a similar tale. Before the treatment, “sickle
cell disease dominated every facet of my life,” he said. “Hospital admissions
were so regular that they even had a bed reserved for me.” Now, Olaghere is
free of pain and able to be present for his children. “Gene therapy has given
me the ability to take full control of my life,” he said. “I can chase to the
proverbial sunset and write novels and even dance in the rain without a care in
the world.”
There are few existing
therapies for sickle cell disease, which include taking drugs like hydroxyurea
or undergoing bone marrow transplants (SN: 12/17/20). But hydroxyurea doesn’t
work for everyone, and transplants require a genetically matched donor, usually
a sibling. Less than 20 percent of people with sickle cell disease have a
matched sibling.
Casgevy is like a transplant,
but instead relies on a patient’s own cells. Using CRISPR, the treatment alters
the genetic blueprint of bone marrow cells that give rise to blood cells. The
edited cells make fetal hemoglobin, a type normally made by fetuses and young
babies that doesn’t make red blood cells sickle and gum up vessels (SN:
8/14/19).
Patients first receive
chemotherapy to wipe out existing bone marrow cells so the new ones, which are
edited in a lab, have a chance to thrive in the body. After editing, the cells
are given back to the patient through an IV. Both steps require
hospitalization.
In a clinical trial, 29
out of 30 patients given Casgevy and followed for at least 16 months didn’t
have pain crises for at least a year, Vertex vice president of clinical development
William Hobbs said at the FDA advisory committee meeting.
The treatment isn’t
without risks. Chemotherapy, for instance, can raise the risk of blood cancer
and cause infertility. And in the short-term, chemotherapy kills immune cells,
putting patients at higher risk dying from infections.
For some patients those
risks may pale in comparison to the prospect of a year without immense pain,
says Morrone, who is also director of the Sickle Cell Program at the Children’s
Hospital at Montefiore. Others may want to wait and see what the outcomes are.
“I think that’s fair, because it’s not without any risk.”
At the Oct. 31 meeting,
advisors to the FDA also discussed the potential for unintended edits, or
“off-target effects.” An analysis by Vertex found no evidence of such unwanted
changes in treated patients, although researchers have identified a rare
variation in the DNA of some people that could, in theory, be an accidental
target.
It’s unknown whether
changing that accidental target would have consequences for patients, but
researchers say it’s unlikely because that stretch of DNA isn’t involved in a
protein’s structure or function. Nor is the protein made from that genetic code
found in blood cells. Overall, the 14-member committee agreed that the benefits
of the treatment were clear and the off-target risk is small, but that
additional research would be helpful.
Another concern is that
the therapy is expensive, perhaps as much as $2 million per patient. But health
care costs for sickle cell patients are also high over their lifetime, Morrone
says. The health care community needs to consider ways to ensure equity for
patients — including in Africa, where the highest burden of disease is — who
have long not had the same resources as patients with other conditions with far
more treatment options. “There’s not a value on suffering,” she says.
On November 16,
officials in the United Kingdom became the first to sign off on Casgevy’s use
in sickle cell patients as well as people with beta-thalassemia, a blood
disorder in which the body doesn’t make enough hemoglobin. The FDA will decide
by March 30 whether the CRISPR therapy can also be used to treat
beta-thalassemia by March 30.
“Sickle cell disease is
a chronic, debilitating condition,” says Dr. Monica Bhatia, a pediatric
hematologist-oncologist and director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant
Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “Today’s
approvals mean that many more patients will have an option to treat pain
episodes and other symptoms of this disease.” Dr. Bhatia led the Columbia team
that treated adolescent sickle cell patients with Casgevy during its
multi-center clinical trials.
2) A maverick
physicist is building a case for scrapping quantum gravity:By Emily Conover
All known forces except
gravity are formulated in terms of quantum physics. The prevailing view is that
gravity will need to assimilate with its quantum colleagues. But gravity is
different, Oppenheim argues. While other forces evolve within a landscape of
spacetime, gravity is the warping of spacetime itself. So, Oppenheim says, “it
is pretty unclear that it should have a quantum nature, in my view.”
Physicists have devised
several “no-go” theorems that seemingly forbid a classical theory of gravity.
Such theorems highlight inconsistencies, apparently fatal to the idea, that
arise when classical gravity is applied to quantum particles. But it’s possible
to get around those prohibitions by adding some randomness to the way that
spacetime bends in response to quantum particles, Oppenheim reports December 4
in Physical Review X.
Consider the famous
double-slit experiment of quantum physics (SN: 5/3/19). Particles are sent
toward a detector, separated by a barrier with two slits in it. When those
particles arrive at the detector, they create a stripy pattern called an
interference pattern. That pattern arises because, in quantum physics, the
particle isn’t constrained to pass through one slit or the other. Instead, it
can exist in a superposition, taking a quantum combination of both possible
routes. If a scientist makes a measurement to determine which slit the particle
passed through, that pattern disappears. If a standard classical picture of
gravity were correct, it would be possible to measure the gravitational field
of that particle so precisely that you could determine which slit the particle
went through. This possibility would destroy the interference pattern, even
without actually doing the measurement. Because scientists do observe
interference patterns in the lab, that’s a big blow for a standard classical
theory of gravity.
But the randomness baked
into Oppenheim’s theory means that, instead of a particle having a determined
gravitational field, the field fluctuates. That means, unlike for the standard
version of classical gravity, it’s not possible to determine which slit a
particle went through by precisely measuring its gravitational field. Particles
can pass through the slits in a superposition, and the interference pattern is
saved, restoring the possibility gravity could be classical.
Experiments can test
this theory by searching for evidence of those random gravitational
fluctuations, Oppenheim and colleagues report December 4 in Nature
Communications. “Essentially, you very precisely measure the response of a mass
to a gravitational field,” says study coauthor Zach Weller-Davies, who
completed the work at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in
Waterloo, Canada.
This is not the first
time scientists have proposed a way to make classical gravity comport with
quantum physics. But Oppenheim has been “leading a renaissance,” says physicist
Vivishek Sudhir of MIT. Sudhir hopes to test the theory with another type of
experiment, measuring the correlations between the motions of two masses that
interact gravitationally, he and a colleague report September 16 at
arXiv.org.However, the theory has features some physicists might find
unsatisfying. For example, the randomness involved means that the theory is not
reversible: Unlike other theories, there’s no way to start from the endpoint of
an interaction and trace its steps backward.
Still, even some quantum
gravity believers think that the work has merit.
“The reason why this
work is interesting for me is not really because I would believe that gravity
is classical,” says Flaminia Giacomini of ETH Zurich. The result, she says, is
interesting regardless of whether gravity is found to be classical or quantum.
That’s because, in order for an experiment to confidently proclaim that gravity
is quantum, scientists need to understand the possibilities for classical
gravity. “Only in that way will we be able to prove in a strong way that
gravity is not compatible with a classical description.”
3) New enzyme
allows CRISPR technologies to accurately target almost all human genes :by
Michaela Kane, Duke University
NEWCRISPERENZ.jpg)
Credit Nature Chemical Biology (2023)NEWCRISPERENZ
A team of engineers at
Duke University have developed a method to broaden the reach of CRISPR
technologies. While the original CRISPR system could only target 12.5% of the
human genome, the new method expands access to nearly every gene to potentially
target and treat a broader range of diseases through genome engineering.The
research involved collaborators at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Zurich
and McMaster University.
This work was published
on October 4 in the journal Nature Communications.
CRISPR-Cas is a
bacterial immune system that allows bacteria to use RNA molecules and
CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins to target and destroy the DNA of invading
viruses. Since its discovery, researchers have raced to develop an arsenal of
new CRISPR systems for applications in gene therapy and genome engineering.
To make edits to the
genome, Cas proteins utilize both an RNA molecule, which guides the enzyme to a
targeted stretch of DNA, and a protospacer adjacent motif, or PAM, which is a
short DNA sequence that immediately follows the targeted DNA sequence and is
required for the Cas protein to bind.
Once a guide RNA finds
its complementary DNA sequence and the Cas enzyme binds the adjacent PAM, the
enzyme acts like scissors to make a cut in the DNA, triggering the desired
changes to the genome. The most common CRISPR-Cas system is the Cas9 from
Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria (SpCas9), which requires a PAM sequence of two
guanine bases (GG) in a row.
In previous work,
Chatterjee and his team used bioinformatics tools to discover and engineer new
Cas9 proteins, including Sc++, which only requires a single guanine base PAM to
make a cut. This change made it possible for researchers to edit nearly 50% of
all DNA sequences.At the same time, Chatterjee's collaborators at Harvard, led
by Benjamin Kleinstiver, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School,
engineered a separate variant called SpRY. While SpRY could bind to any one of
the four DNA bases that could form the PAM, it had a much stronger affinity for
adenine and guanine.Because both systems had drawbacks, the group decided to
put the best of both together into a new variant called SpRyc."CRISPR is a
great tool for editing specific DNA, but we're still restricted on which genes
we can edit. The original CRISPR tool could only edit about 12.5% of all DNA
sequences based on where that specific spacer was located. If you happen to
have a mutation in the other 87.5%, you'd be out of luck. With this new tool,
we can target nearly 100% of the genome with far more precision," said
Chatterjee.While SpRYc was slower than its counterparts at cutting target DNA
sequences, it was more effective than both the traditional enzymes at editing
specific sections of DNA. Despite SpRYc's broadness, it was also more accurate
than SpRY.After establishing SpRYc's editing capabilities, the team
investigated the tool's potential therapeutic uses for genetic diseases that
were untreatable with the standard CRISPR system. Their first test was Rett
syndrome, a progressive neurological disorder that predominantly affects young
females and is caused by one of eight mutations to a specific gene.The second
was Huntington's disease, a rare, inherited neurological disorder that causes
the degeneration of neurons in the brain. The team found that SpRYc was able to
alter previously inaccessible mutations, providing potential therapeutic
opportunities for both diseases."There is a lot of potential with SpRYc,
whether it's exploring how to translate it into the clinic or finding ways to
make it even more efficient," said Chatterjee. "We look forward to
exploring the full capabilities of our tool."
4) Researchers
crack the cellular code on protein folding, offering hope for many new
therapeutic avenues :by University of Massachusetts Amherst
While we often think of diseases as caused by foreign bodies—bacteria or viruses—there are hundreds of diseases affecting humans that result from errors in cellular production of proteins.A team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst leveraged the power of cutting-edge technology, including an innovative technique called glycoproteomics, to unlock the carbohydrate-based code that governs how certain classes of proteins form themselves into the complex shapes necessary to keep us healthy.
The research, published
in the journal Molecular Cell, explores members of a family of proteins called
serpins, which are implicated in a number of diseases. The research is the first
to investigate how the location and composition of carbohydrates attached to
the serpins ensure that they fold correctly.
 |
| protein-folding |
Serious diseases—ranging
from emphysema and cystic fibrosis to Alzheimer's disease—can result when the
cellular oversight of protein folding goes awry. Identifying the glyco-code
responsible for high-fidelity folding and quality control could be a promising
way for drug therapies to target many diseases.Scientists once thought that the
single code governing life was DNA, and that everything was governed by how
DNA's four building blocks—A, C, G and T—combined and recombined. But in recent
decades, it has become clear that there are other codes at work, and especially
in building the intricately folded, secreted proteins that are created in the
human cell's protein factory, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a
membrane-enclosed compartment where protein folding begins.
Approximately 7,000
different proteins—one-third of all the proteins in the human body—mature in
the ER. The secreted proteins—collectively known as the
"secretome"—are responsible for everything from our body's enzymes to
its immune and digestive systems and must be formed correctly for the human
body to function normally.Special molecules called "chaperones," help
fold the protein into its final shape. They also help to identify proteins that
haven't folded quite correctly, lending them additional help in refolding, or,
if they're hopelessly misfolded, targeting them for destruction before they
cause damage. However, the chaperone system itself, which comprises a part of
the cell's quality control department, sometimes fails, and when it does, the
results can be catastrophic for our health.The discovery of the
carbohydrate-based chaperone system in the ER was due to the pioneering work
that Daniel Hebert, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UMass
Amherst and one of the paper's senior authors, initiated as a postdoctoral
fellow in the 1990s."The tools we have now, including glycoproteomics and
mass spectrometry at UMass Amherst's Institute for Applied Life Sciences, are
allowing us to answer questions that have remained open for over 25
years," says Hebert. "The lead author of this new paper, Kevin Guay,
is doing things I could only dream of when I first started."Among the most
pressing of these unanswered questions is: how do chaperones know when 7,000
different origami-like proteins are correctly folded?We know now that the
answer involves an "ER gatekeeper" enzyme known as UGGT, and a host
of carbohydrate tags, called N-glycans, which are linked to specific sites in
the protein's amino acid sequence.
Guay, who is completing
his Ph.D. in the molecular cellular biology program at UMass Amherst, focused
on two specific mammalian proteins, known as alpha-1 antitrypsin and
antithrombin.
Using CRISPR-edited
cells, he and his co-authors modified the ER chaperone network to determine how
the presence and location of N-glycans affected protein folding.They watched as
the disease variants were recognized by the ER gatekeeper UGGT and, in order to
peer more closely, developed a number of innovative glycoproteomics techniques
using mass spectrometry to understand what happens to the glycans that stud the
surface of the proteins.What they discovered is that the enzyme UGGT "tags"
misfolded proteins with sugars placed in specific positions. It's a sort of
code that the chaperones can then read to determine exactly where the folding
process went wrong and how to fix it.
"This is the first
time that we've been able to see where UGGT puts sugars on proteins made in
human cells for quality control," says Guay. "We now have a platform
for extending our understanding of how sugar tags can send proteins for further
quality control steps and our work suggests that UGGT is a promising avenue for
targeted drug therapy research.""What's so exciting about this
research," says Lila Gierasch, distinguished professor of biochemistry and
molecular biology at UMass Amherst and one of the paper's co-authors, "is
the discovery that glycans act as a code for protein folding in the ER. The
discovery of the role that UGGT plays opens the door to future advancement in
understanding and eventually treating the hundreds of diseases that result from
misfolded proteins."
5) Study reveals
genes that set humans apart from other primates in cognitive ability :by Anika
Hazra, University of Toronto
An international team
led by researchers at the University of Toronto has uncovered over 100 genes
that are common to primate brains but have undergone evolutionary divergence
only in humans—and which could be a source of our unique cognitive ability.
The researchers, led by
Associate Professor Jesse Gillis from the Donnelly Center for Cellular and
Biomolecular Research and the department of physiology at U of T's Temerty Faculty
of Medicine, found the genes are expressed differently in the brains of humans
compared to four of our relatives—chimpanzees, gorillas, macaques and
marmosets.
The findings, published
in Nature Ecology & Evolution, suggest that reduced selective pressure, or
tolerance to loss-of-function mutations, may have allowed the genes to take on
higher-level cognitive capacity. The study is part of the Human Cell Atlas, a
global initiative to map all human cells to better understand health and
disease.
"This research
contributes to our understanding of differences in the brain between humans and
other primates at the cellular level, but it has also resulted in a database
that can be used to further characterize genetic similarities and differences
across primates," said Gillis.
The team, which includes
researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Allen Institute for
Brain Science in the U.S, created a brain map for each primate species based on
single-cell analysis, a relatively new technique that enables more specific
genetic sequencing than standard methods. They used a BRAIN Initiative Cell
Census Network (BICCN) dataset created from samples taken from the middle
temporal gyrus of the brain.
In all, the team found
139 genes that are common across the primate groups but highly divergent in
their expression in human brains. These genes displayed a stronger ability to
withstand mutations without impacting their function, suggesting they may have
evolved under more relaxed selective pressure.
"The genes that
have diverged in humans must be tolerant to change," said Hamsini Suresh,
first author on the study and a research associate at the Donnelly Center.
"This manifests as tolerance to loss-of-function mutations, and seems to
allow for rapid evolutionary change in the human brain."
Our higher cognitive
function may have resulted from the adaptive evolution of human brain cells to
a multitude of less threatening mutations over time. It's also worth noting
that around a quarter of the human-divergent genes identified in the study are
associated with various brain disorders.The divergent genes the researchers
identified are found in 57 brain cell types, grouped by inhibitory neurons,
excitatory neurons and non-neurons. A quarter of the genes were only expressed
differently in neuronal cells, also known as gray matter, and half were only
expressed differently in glial cells, which are white matter.
Gray matter in the brain
consists of neurons, while white matter consists of other cell types, including
those responsible for vasculature and immune function.
This study is part of
the BICCN initiative to identify and catalogue the diverse cell types in the
brains of humans and other species. In 2021, the consortium published a
comprehensive census of cell types in the mouse, monkey and human primary motor
cortex in the journal Nature. The initiative is shedding light on the evolution
of the brain by studying neurotransmission and communication at the finest
resolution.
"There are around
570,000 cells in the cross-primate single cell atlas of the middle temporal
gyrus," said Suresh. "Defining a catalogue of shared cell types in
this area of the brain provides a framework for exploring the conservation and
divergence of cellular architecture across primate evolution. We can use the
resulting information to study evolution and disease in a more targeted
manner."
6) New genes found
that can arise 'from nothing':by University of Helsinki
Researchers studied an error mechanism in DNA replication, and noticed that some errors create palindromes that can fold into hairpin structures
The complexity of living
organisms is encoded within their genes, but where do these genes come from?
Researchers at the University of Helsinki resolved outstanding questions around
the origin of small regulatory genes, and described a mechanism that creates
their DNA palindromes. Under suitable circumstances, these palindromes evolve
into microRNA genes The human genome contains ca. 20,000 genes that are used
for the construction of proteins. Actions of these classical genes are
coordinated by thousands of regulatory genes, the smallest of which encode
microRNA molecules that are 22 base pairs in length. While the number of genes
remains relatively constant, occasionally, new genes emerge during evolution.
Similar to the genesis of biological life, the origin of new genes has
continued to fascinate scientists.
All RNA molecules
require palindromic runs of bases that lock the molecule into its functional
conformation. Importantly, the chances of random base mutations gradually
forming such palindromic runs are extremely small, even for the simple microRNA
genes.
Hence, the origin of
these palindromic sequences has puzzled researchers. Experts at the Institute
of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Finland, resolved this mystery,
describing a mechanism that can instantaneously generate complete DNA
palindromes and thus create new microRNA genes from previously noncoding DNA
sequences.
In their project, the
researchers studied errors in DNA replication. Ari Löytynoja, the project
leader, compares DNA replication to typing of text.
"DNA is copied one
base at a time, and typically mutations are erroneous single bases, like
mis-punches on a laptop keyboard. We studied a mechanism creating larger
errors, like copy-pasting text from another context. We were especially
interested in cases that copied the text backward so that it creates a
palindrome."
Researchers recognized
that DNA replication errors could sometimes be beneficial. They described these
findings to Mikko Frilander, an expert in RNA biology. He immediately saw the
connection to the structure of RNA molecules.
"In an RNA
molecule, the bases of adjacent palindromes can pair and form structures
resembling a hairpin. Such structures are crucial for the function of the RNA
molecules," he explains.Researchers decided to focus on microRNA genes due
to their simple structure: the genes are very short—just a few tens of
bases—and they have to fold into a hairpin structure to function correctly.A
central insight was to model the gene history using a custom computer
algorithm. According to postdoctoral researcher Heli Mönttinen, this enables
the closest inspection of the origin of genes thus far."The whole genome
of tens of primates and mammals is known. A comparison of their genomes reveals
which species have the microRNA palindrome pair and which lack it. With a
detailed modeling of the history, we could see that whole palindromes are
created by single mutation events," says Mönttinen.By focusing on humans
and other primates, researchers in Helsinki demonstrated that the newly found
mechanism can explain at least a quarter of the novel microRNA genes. As
similar cases were found in other evolutionary lineages, the origin mechanism
appears universal.In principle, the rise of microRNA genes is so easy that
novel genes could affect human health. Heli Mönttinen sees the significance of
the work more broadly, for example, in understanding the basic principles of
biological life.
"The emergence of
new genes from nothing has fascinated researchers. We now have an elegant model
for the evolution of RNA genes," she highlights.
Although the results are
based on small regulatory genes, researchers believe that the findings can be
generalized to other RNA genes and molecules. For example, by using the raw
materials generated by the newly found mechanism, natural selection may create
much more complex RNA structures and functions.
7) Study reshapes
understanding of mass extinction in Late Devonian era :by Indiana University
IMAGE DESCRIPTION :Geographic distribution of Late Devonian phosphorus records. Marine records (B–E) are shown in relation to the Heintzbjerg study site (A), indicated as red stars. Marine records include: (B) Steinbruch Schmidt, Germany; (C) Kowala, Poland; (D) Coumiac, France; and (E) H-32 Core, Iowa, USA. The Viluy large igneous province (LIP) is indicated by the orange triangle. Credit: Communications Earth & Environment (2023)
Diverse and full of sea
life, the Earth's Devonian era—taking place more than 370 million years ago—saw
the emergence of the first seed-bearing plants, which spread as large forests
across the continents of Gondwana and Laurussia.However, a mass extinction
event near the end of this era has long been the subject of debate. Some
scientists argue the Late Devonian mass extinction was caused by large-scale
volcanic eruptions, causing global cooling. Others argue a mass deoxygenation
event caused by the expansion of land plants was to blame.
A recently published
study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment led by researchers
at IUPUI now posits that both factors played a role—and draws attention to the
environmental tipping points the planet faces today.The study is co-authored by
School of Science at IUPUI faculty Gabriel Filippelli and William Gilhooly III.
The lead author is Matthew Smart, an assistant professor of oceanography at the
U.S. Naval Academy who was a graduate student in Filippelli's lab at the time
of the study.
The work is the first to
unify two competing Late Devonian extinction theories into a comprehensive
cause-and-effect scenario. Essentially, the group concluded that both
events—mass volcanism and deoxygenation caused by land plants flushing excess
nutrients into oceans—needed to occur for the mass extinction to take place.
"The key to
resolving this puzzle was identifying and integrating the timing and magnitude
of the geochemical signals we determined using a sophisticated global
model," Filippelli said. "This modeling effort revealed that the
magnitude of nutrient events we were seeing based on the geochemical records
could drive substantial marine extinction events, but the duration of the
events required both factors—tree root evolution and volcanism—to sustain the
marine conditions that were toxic to organisms."
With experts in
sedimentology, paleontology, geochemistry, biogeochemistry and mathematical
modeling, the group literally dug deep to geochemically analyze hundreds of
samples scattered across different continents. These include samples from Ymer
Island in eastern Greenland, home of some of the oldest rock samples on the
planet.
"The process was
highly interdisciplinary," Gilhooly said. "This combined expertise
created a rigorous approach to collecting the samples, correlating sequences in
time, acquiring the chemical data and using geochemical models to test working
hypotheses about the relative influences of biotically—plants—and
chemically—volcanoes—driven triggers of mass extinction. Our analyses
demonstrate that the influences are much more mixed than an either-or
scenario."
Filippelli and Gilhooly
said the study's conclusion gives researchers a lot to consider. During the
Devonian era, new biological outcomes on land produced negative effects for
life in the ocean. In the present day, Gilhooly noted, activity like fertilizer
runoff emptying into the ocean, combined with heating from fossil fuel
combustion, are reducing oceans' oxygen levels. The previous outcome of this
similar scenario in the Late Devonian had catastrophic outcomes, he said.
"Throughout Earth's
history, there have been a series of biological innovations and geological
events that have completely reshaped biological diversity and environmental
conditions in the ocean and on land," Gilhooly said.
"In the Devonian
era, a new biological strategy on land produced a negative impact for life in
the ocean. This is a sobering observation when put in the context of modern
global and climatic change driven by human activities. We have a lot to learn
from Earth history that can help us think of strategies and actions to avoid
future tipping points."
1) Amid Congress'
lead in Telangana, party leader says 'It's a fair reward’; hints BRS leaders
are ‘in touch’:
Congress leader said
today's politics is in line with nicking off leaders from opposition parties. “Sometimes
they take away ours, sometimes theirs come here”.As Congress shows a
comfortable lead in at least 60 seats out of the 199-member Telangana assembly,
party leader Renuka Chowdhury mulled “it is a fair reward” for the grand old
party as they have been “praying” for a victory in the state for the last 10
years.
The Congress leader
further said leaders of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) “are in touch
with us”, adding that “today's politics is like that”. "Sometimes they
take away ours (MLAs), and sometimes theirs come here," she said.As per
the latest trends, Congress has crossed the halfway mark at 63 seats, whereas
BRS is trailing with 43. BJP managed to bag 9 seats and others including CPI on
4.
"I had been saying
for more than a year because we tapped into the pulse of the public. We
understood that a big change is going to come and that is what is happening.
Victory is ours, I am very confident. People were tired of BRS. BJP and BRS are
one - everyone understood it. They also understand the dangerous role that
AIMIM played. I think AIMIM, Owaisi has suffered the biggest loss in this game.
People understood the truth behind the wrong step he took at the national
level. It is unfortunate because I had always considered him to be an intelligent
man. When Congress contests unitedly, no force in the country can stand against
us," she said.
2) India’s BJP wins
three of four state polls months before national election
The Hindu nationalist
party wrests control of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the Congress and wins
record fifth term in Madhya Pradesh.India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party has
won three out of four key state elections, according to the election
commission’s website.
The crucial polls pitted
India’s opposition against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the vital national vote, scheduled in less than
six months.Ballot counting on Sunday showed the BJP wrested control of the
heartland states of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the Indian National
Congress, India’s main opposition party.
Of 90 assembly
constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the Congress won 35. In
Rajasthan, the BJP got 115 of 199 seats.
The right-wing party was
also likely to be re-elected in Madhya Pradesh for a record fifth term by
winning 163 of 230 seats.The Congress comfortably won Telangana state, which
was ruled by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi party, formerly known as the Telangana
Rashtra Samithi. Of 119 seats in the southern state, the Congress won 64, while
the BRS got 39. The BJP won an impressive eight seats in the state.Vote
counting in a fifth state, Mizoram, is set for Monday where BJP’s regional
ally, the Mizo National Front, is in power.Elections in the five states were
held last month and more than 160 million people, or a sixth of India’s
electorate, were eligible to vote. Polling in India is generally done in phases
owing to the large population.
Historic and unprecedented’
The election results
indicate the voter mood ahead of the national elections in May in which Modi is
eyeing a third consecutive term.
At the BJP headquarters
in New Delhi on Sunday evening, party members and supporters lined up on the
two sides and Modi walked between them, waving. The activists showered him with
flower petals, chanting “Long live Mother India” and other slogans.Later, Modi
in a speech said the results were “historic and unprecedented” and “a victory
for honesty, transparency and good governance”.
“The results in
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate that the people of India
are firmly with politics of good governance and development, which the
@BJP4India stands for,” Modi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
New opposition alliance
Modi and his BJP remain
popular on a national level after nearly a decade in power and surveys suggest
he is expected to win a third term.However, a new alliance of 28 opposition
parties, called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA,
is set to challenge the BJP nationally. It is led by the the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi, the
Congress leader, conceded defeat in the three states where his party was
trailing.
“The battle of ideology
will continue,” he wrote on X, and thanked the people of Telangana where his
party was winning.The charged-up voting campaigns witnessed both leaders
promising voters subsidies, loan waivers and employment guarantees.
The elections came at a
time when India is facing multiple challenges – rising unemployment, attacks
and “hate speech” by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities,
particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.Although
Congress won Telangana, its second victory in the south this year, Sunday’s
outcome was seen as a setback to the party and its leader, Gandhi, as it was
wiped out of the politically critical heartland.
“We always said we will
win the heartland states,” BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda said. “The results
are the outcome of our finest political strategy and work on the ground.”
3) Election results
highlights: 3 Hindi heartland states turn saffron, Congress wins Telangana
The election commision
trends has poised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a win in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while in Telanagna, the Congress is leading over
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's BRS. The assembly elections 2023 results
will be declared by the evening. What you need to know about Rajasthan
elections
Elections for 199 of the
total 200 seats of the Rajasthan Assembly were held on November 25. The BJP was
cruising to victory in Rajasthan with its candidates winning from eight seats
and leading in 106, while the Congress won from one constituency and was
leading in 69, according to Election Commission trends.What you need to know
about Chhattisgarh elections
The elections in
Chhattisgarh were held on
November 7 for 20 seats and on November 17 for the remaining 90. As per the
latest trends by the ECI, the BJP has crossed the halfway mark of 46 in the
90-member assembly of Chhattisgarh with the party leading in 54 seats while
Congress is leading in 33 seats. What you need to know about Madhya Pradesh
elections
According to the ECI
trends, the BJP was leading on 161 seats, the Congress on 66 seats and Bahujan
Samaj Party on two seat while the Bharat Adivasi Party had bagged one seat.
What you need to
know about Telangana elections
Voting for 119 seats in
Telangana was held on November 30. Congress dethroned Chandrasekhar Rao-led
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), who has been in power since 2014, when Telangana
was granted statehood, by crossing the halfway mark. As per the trends from the
ECI, the Congress crossed the majority mark, leading on 65 seats in 119-member
Telangana Assembly.The BRS is leading on 39 seats, BJP on 9, AIMIM on 5 and CPI
on 1.
4) How is it
possible?’: Kamal Nath claims ex-MLAs didn't even get 50 votes in assembly
polls
Kamal Nath's claim was
in line with Digvijaya Singh's earlier remark on possible tampering with
electronic voting machines (EVM).Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Tuesday
expressed his surprise over the results of the Madhya Pradesh assembly election
after he claimed that some former MLAs complained to him that they got not more
than 50 votes in their seats. His claim resonates with his party colleague and
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh's remark on possible electoral malpractices
during this election.
"We are holding
discussions with the elected and non-elected MLAs and analysing the result.
Some MLAs have met me, and one of them told me that he got only 50 votes in his
own village. How is this possible?...Exit polls are done only to create an
atmosphere," Kamal Nath told reporters earlier.Kamal Nath's claim was in
line with Digvijaya Singh's earlier remark on possible tampering with
electronic voting machines (EVM). “Any machine with a chip can be hacked,”
Singh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
BJP and Congress among
other Opposition parties are at loggerheads over the election result following
Singh's remark which was also backed by leaders from the parties including
National Conference and Shiv Sena (UBT).
“The poll results are
unexpected and surprising but we respect the democratic process. When the
mandate goes against your party, one has to accept it. However, the results of
Madhya Pradesh are not only surprising but also shocking for us. The poll
results in three of four states should be considered as the EVM mandate and it
has to be accepted in that way only,” Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut said earlier.
However, while asked if
EVM was hacked, Kamal Nath said, “It would not be right to conclude without
holding discussions. I will talk to everyone first,” while expressing surprise
at the poll results. "Even you know what the mood was. Why are you asking
me? Ask the people," he added.
The BJP won 163 seats in
the 230-member assembly, pushing the Congress far behind with 66
seats.Meanwhile, speculations of Kamal Nath's resignation as state Congress
chief were rife following the party's defeat. He is likely to meet party
president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday and may tender his resignation from the
post, as per sources cited by PTI.
4) Mahua Moitra
expelled from Lok Sabha: What next for TMC leader? Options before her
Mahua Moitra expelled:
Former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary said Mahua Moitra has the option
of challenging the expulsion in the Supreme Court.Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool
Congress was expelled on Friday from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted the
report of its ethics committee that found her guilty of accepting gifts and
illegal gratification from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to further his
interest.
The committee report
found Moitra guilty of "unethical conduct" and contempt of the House
by sharing her Lok Sabha credentials – user ID and password of Lok Sabha Member's
Portal, with unauthorised persons which had an irrepressible impact on national
security, Joshi said.“The serious misdemeanours on the part of Smt Mahua Moitra
calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Smt Mahua
Moitra, MP may be expelled from the membership of the 17th Lok Sabha. In view
of highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Smt. Mahua
Moitra, the Committee recommend for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by
the Government of India in a time-bound manner,” the panel report said.It said
that a “threadbare examination” had established, beyond doubt, that Moitra had
“deliberately” shared her Lok Sabha login credentials with businessman Darshan
Hiranandani. “Therefore, Smt Mahua Moitra is guilty of unethical conduct,
breach of her privileges available to members of Parliament and contempt of the
House.”
Former Lok Sabha
secretary general PDT Achary said Moitra has the option of challenging the
expulsion in the Supreme Court. “Normally, House proceedings cannot be
challenged on the ground of procedural irregularity. Article 122 of the
Constitution is clear. It gives immunity to the proceedings from a challenge
from court,” Achary told The Indian Express.According to Article 122, “the
validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called (into) question
on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure”. It states that “no
officer or Member of Parliament in whom powers are vested by or under this
Constitution for regulating procedure or the conduct of business, or for
maintaining order, in Parliament shall be subject to the jurisdiction of any
court in respect of the exercise by him of those powers”.Achary, however, said
the Supreme Court said in the 2007 Raja Ram Pal case that “those restrictions
are only for procedural irregularities. There may be other cases where judicial
review may be necessary.”
India Today reported
that Moitra can file an appeal against the committee's decision in the Supreme
Court or the high court based on the grounds of natural justice and principles
of fair hearing.
Moitra could also
challenge the jurisdiction and conduct of the ethics committee, it reported.
She could argue that the panel overstepped its mandate, that the proceedings
were irregular.
The expelled TMC MP
could also approach senior Parliament or government officials through her party
or independent avenues, alleging bias, prejudice or any sort of malfeasance in
the committee's proceedings, India Today added.The motion moved by Joshi said
that Moitra’s "conduct has further been found to be unbecoming as a member
of parliament for accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman
to further his interest which is a serious misdemeanour and highly deplorable
conduct" on her part.
Om Birla cites 2005
case
Parliamentary affairs
minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel Moitra for "unethical
conduct", which was adopted by a voice vote.
Joshi urged the House to
accept the recommendation and finding of the panel and "resolve that
continuance of Mahua Moitra as member of Lok Sabha is untenable and she may be
expelled from the membership of the Lok Sabha".
Trinamool Congress and
other opposition members demanded that Moitra be allowed to put her views in
the House, which was turned down by Speaker Om Birla citing past
precedence.Birla observed that in 2005, the then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had
in a directive disallowed 10 Lok Sabha members, who were involved in a 'cash
for questions' scam, to speak in the House.
Joshi said in 2005 the
then Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee had moved a motion to expel 10
members on the same day the report was introduced in the Lok Sabha
Earlier, ethics
committee chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar tabled the first report of the Committee
on the complaint filed by BJP member Nishikant Dubey against Moitra.
5) The ballot
revolution led by women voters:
The emergence of the
woman voter has meant that there are new deals to be made between parties and
potential voters Let’s count what we do know. The first is that more women are
voting, in some cases in larger numbers than men. There is evidence also that
women are exercising their ballot independently, unmindful of family
consideration or which way their husbands instruct them to vote. The second
fact. Despite the near unanimous passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam
bill that will set aside 33% of seats in Parliament and the state assemblies
for women, political parties without exception remain plagued by an old
problem: A reluctance to share power with women. These elections have been no
different. Analysis by this newspaper finds that women accounted for less than
12% of the candidates fielded by the two major national parties, the BJP and
the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram.
For 200 seats in the
Rajasthan assembly, the BJP fielded just 20 women and the Congress 28. Women
comprise a paltry 10% of the new assembly. In Barmer, Priyanka Chowdhary, a BJP
rebel stood as an independent and won. “Male politicians don’t want women to
succeed or come forward,” she told The Indian Express. “They find a dedicated,
hard-working and strong woman politician a threat.” The Congress loss in the
state is being attributed at least partly to rising crime against women with
more women voting for the BJP than the Congress.
Yet, because the data
tell us that more women are voting independently than ever before, political
parties can no longer ignore the woman voter, and this is the third fact. From
free bus fares to subsidised LPG cylinders, from cash handouts to fixed
deposits, parties, otherwise so stingy about fielding women candidates, are
extremely generous when it comes to these sort of promises.
Four-time incumbent
chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s stunning victory in Madhya Pradesh is
being put down to his women-oriented schemes including the Ladli Behna and
Ladli Lakshmi yojana that makes direct cash transfers to woman. The Axis My
India exit poll found a gender gap of 10 percentage points with more women
backing the BJP, writes senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research,
Neelanjan Sircar in this paper. But analysis by Lokniti-CSDS finds that women’s
turnout surpassed that of men in only 34 of 230 assembly constituencies and
that more men than women voted for the BJP.
In Telangana, with 1.63
crore women voters compared to 1.62 crore men, the Congress repeated some of
the promises it had made in the run up to its Karnataka victory. These included
free bus travel for women, subsidised LPG cylinders and monthly financial
assistance to poor women. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi promised a higher amount
and shaved off another ₹100 from the subsidized LPG cylinders, yet lost.
In Chhattisgarh, the
Congress lost despite its promise of ₹15,000 a year to unmarried women being
more than the BJP’s promise of ₹12,000. The bright spot is of course Mizoram
that has elected three women—the most ever—in a region that has traditionally
opposed the participation of women in politics.
Women can swing
elections, which is why every party now offers sops. But since nobody knows
quite what works, the results are varied. What works in one state, won’t in
another. What works for one election, doesn’t become the template for all. The
simple truth is there is no formula. Nor is there a monolithic “woman vote”. Women
vote not just as women but as minorities, as Dalits, as farmers, as housewives.
And this is the fourth evident fact. Nobody knows what women want.
But this much is clear.
Voters in India have proved to be extremely canny and women voters are able to
spot genuine commitment. In the end, there are no short cuts and it cannot be a
coincidence that among metro cities, Kolkata with Mamata Banerjee as West
Bengal chief minister records the lowest crime against women.
The assiduous
cultivation of women’s self-help groups (SHG) has led to the growth of powerful
collectives. Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, Nitish Kumar has found not
just a loyal vote bank. He’s returned the favour by keeping his promise of
state-wide prohibition made to SHGs. His track record in fielding women
candidates is as bad as any other party, but his government was the first to
give free cycles to middle school girls so that they remain in school.“Parties
think of voters through a very transactional lens,” says Akshi Chawla, curator
of #WomenLead, a platform that tracks the political representation of women
globally. The emergence of the woman voter has meant that there are new deals
to be made between parties and potential voters.
Meanwhile, Telangana’s
new chief minister Revanth Reddy had promised to set aside four ministerial
berths to women if voted to power. It was, said Chawla, “a refreshing change
from the pure transactional nature of poll promises.” But at the swearing in,
only two in the 12-member cabinet are women. It's early days yet, but nobody is
holding their breath.
1) India vs
Australia 5th T20I Highlights: IND beat AUS by six runs, win series 4-1:
India (160/8) beat Australia (154/8) by 6 runs
in Bengaluru to win series 4-1
India vs Australia 5th
T20I Highlights: A superb bowling effort combined with Shreyas Iyer's gritty
batting helped India beat Australia by six runs in the fifth and final T20I
against Australia in Bengaluru. India, who were asked to bat first, piled 160/8
in 20 overs and Australia could only manage 154/8 in response.
Iyer smashed 53 off 37
balls and found some support from Jitesh Sharma and Axar Patel in the middle
overs. Jitesh chipped in with 16-ball 24, while Axar scored 31 in 21
deliveries.
Mukesh Kumar and Ravi
Bishnoi then made early injections as Australia lost both openers Travis Head
and Josh Phillipe in the powerplay overs. Mukesh removed Phillipe for run a
ball four, while Bishnoi cleaned up Head for 28(18). Australia, who are chasing
161, accumulated 50/2 at the end of powerplay. Bishnoi then removed Aaron
Hardie for 6(10) in his next over.
Tim David and Ben
McDermott then added 47 runs for the fourth wicket before Axar broke the stand.
He removed David for run a ball 17. McDermott, on the other hand, completed his
half-century before falling against Arshdeep Singh for 54(36). Mukesh Kumar
then removed Matthew Short (16 off 11) and Ben Dwarshuis (0) in consecutive
deliveries.
Matthew Wade kept
Australia in hunt before getting out to Arshdeep Singh for 22(15) in the final
over.Earlier, India got off to a brisk start before Australia crashed the party
and removed openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad inside powerplay
overs. Jaiswal was removed by Jason Behrendorff for 21(15), while Gaikwad fell
for 10(12) against Ben Dwarshuis. Dwarshuis then got rid of Suryakumar Yadav in
the next over, packing the Indian skipper for 5(7).
Australia continued to
make inroads as Tanveer Sangha removed Rinku Singh for 6(8), reducing India to
55/4 in 9.1 overs.Both teams have made one change each in their playing XIs.
Nathan Ellis got some game time and replaced Chris Green. Deepak Chahar, on the
other hand, has flown back home due to medical emergency and is replaced by
Arshdeep Singh.
2) Delayed
wrestling federation polls to be held on Dec 21
The one-day process is
expected to end months-long delay after protests by top wrestlers over alleged
sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh After a long delay due to court
injunctions, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) election is finally
scheduled to be held on December 21.Returning officer Justice (retd) MM Kumar
on Saturday issued a fresh notification drawing up a revised schedule.
According to it, the polling (during the WFI special general body meeting), counting
and declaration of results will all be done in a single day. The election was
originally scheduled on August 12. The nomination process was completed and the
final list of candidates drawn up when the Punjab and Haryana high court stayed
the election on a writ petition by the de-recognised Haryana federation.
The Supreme Court
vacated the stay on November 28, paving the way for the process to resume. The
court directed the returning officer to issue a revised election programme. The
apex court order though stipulates that the results will be subject to the
outcome of the plea pending before the high court.“The Hon’ble Supreme Court of
India vide its order dated 28.11.2023 has vacated the stay orders and therefore
the remaining steps like polling, etc. will now recommence on 21.12.2023 as per
the following revised schedule,” said the notification, adding that as per WFI
constitution 10 days’ notice has been given.
Outgoing WFI president
and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused by six women
wrestlers of sexual harassment and is facing trial in a Delhi lower court,
still enjoys huge clout within the federation having governed WFI for 12 years.
His supporters have filed nominations for all 15 posts. Singh’s close associate
Sanjay Kumar Singh of Uttar Pradesh is standing for the president’s post.
A second group which has
the support of wrestlers who protested against Singh is also in the fray for
the top posts. Former wrestler and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist,
Anita Sheoran, who is with the Haryana Police official and is a witness in the
sexual harassment case, is standing against Sanjay Singh. Railways Sports
Promotion Board (RSPB) secretary Prem Chand Lochab – a key mediator between the
protesting wrestlers and the government – is in the fray for the secretary
general’s post, while former wrestler and senior superintendent with the Jammu
and Kashmir Police, Dushyant Sharma, has pitched himself for the treasurer’s
post.While Singh’s faction enjoys majority support, the possibility of a
compromise on some of the key posts cannot be ruled out, according to people
aware of the developments.
On Friday, the ad-hoc
committee announced that the senior nationals will be hosted by RSPB in Jaipur
from January 2-5. It will be the first domestic event to be organised after
a
The elections are
important for the world body – United World Wrestling (UWW) -- to remove its
suspension of WFI. Indian wrestlers currently can’t compete under the India
flag because of the suspension. They took part as neutral athletes at the
September world championships in Serbia. Antim Panghal won bronze and India’s
first quota for the Paris Olympics.The wrestling fraternity will hope the
elections to go off smoothly as it has already faced several delays due to the
barred state associations petitioning the courts.
Last week, the Haryana
Amateur Wrestling Association (HAWA) president Rohtas Singh appealed to the
ad-hoc committee to go through the entire election process again, alleging that
the final list of the electoral college and candidates flouted the government’s
National Sports Code. He said some states need to be heard again with a “fresh
schedule of election”.
3) Time running out
for pistol shooters to book flight to Paris
Out of eight quotas for
pistol events at the Paris Olympics, the Indian shooters have managed to grab
just three so far A mind-boggling 1200 shooters participated in men’s air
pistol event at the Senior National Championships in Bhopal culminating in the
final on Thursday after 11 days of competition in just one event. The scores in
the qualification round and final were world class — as high as the World
Championships in Baku this year. Encouraging it might seem just seven months
before the Paris Olympics, but the reality is different. There is still an
Olympic quota to be won from the event and there is no guarantee that such high
scores will be replicated in the next international competition, which will be
a Paris Olympic qualifier in Jakarta in January.
Going into the Tokyo
Olympics, India had all four quotas in their kitty and it was the air pistol
team, including the mixed
4) India slip to
third in pool after going down 1-4 to Spain in their Junior World Cup hockey
match in Kuala Lumpur:
Spain thrashed India 4-1
in their group match ongoing Junior World Cup to go top of the table in Pool C,
in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Both India and Spain were coming off convincing wins
in the previous encounters — India had beaten South Korea 4-2 on Tuesday while
Spain blanked Canada 7-0 — but Spain, led by braces from skipper Rafi Andreas
and Cabre Verdiell Pol, proved too hot to handle for India.
Spain got off the blocks
early and found the opening goal in the first minute itself through an unmarked
Pol who beat goalkeeper Shashikumar Honnenahalli with a lovely deflection.
Rohit drew level for India in the 33rd minute through a penalty corner but a
tactically superior Spain were significantly better than the Indians who
appeared jaded on the pitch.
Spain were superb on the
wings and played a close-knit game, allowing little room to the Indian
forwards. Andreas restored the lead for Spain in the 18th minute through a PC
before Pol converted another PC in the 41st minute. Andreas then put the result
beyond doubt with a penalty stroke in the last minute of regulation time to
unwittingly underscore his team's domination from the first minute to the last.
Spain goalkeeper
Capellades Jan stood out for his pluck and anticipation, saving a handful of
sure-shot strikes from Indian forwards.
India earned three
penalty corners between the 55th and 57th minutes but Capellades put his body
on the line to deny them success.
Overall, India had more
circle penetrations (18 to Spain's 16) and penalty corners (six to Spain's
seven) but Spain had more shots on goal (13 as compared to India's 10) and,
eventually, goals. Spain pressed with pace and scored in each quarter while the
2016 champions were left chasing the game. India will next play Canada on
Saturday while Spain will square off against South Korea. India and Korea are currently
level on points but the latter occupy the second spot in Pool C owing to better
goal difference. Canada, with two losses in as many outings, occupy the fourth
spot.
5) Squash's
Olympics tag adds wheels to Anahat's go pro drive
The 15-year-old, fresh
from her twin medals in Hangzhou Asian Games, is happy to take a step-by-step
approach to the Olympics
Moments after squash was
included as one of the new sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics at
October's IOC Session in Mumbai, Saurav Ghosal, India's top squash professional
aged 37, chuckled that he wished he was 10 years younger.Moments after squash
was included as one of the new sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics at
October's IOC Session in Mumbai, Saurav Ghosal, India's top squash professional
aged 37, chuckled that he wished he was 10 years younger.Anahat Singh, the
reigning women’s national champion, is 15. This year's U-17 Asian junior gold
medallist, she grabbed a couple of medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games — a
bronze each in the women's team and mixed doubles with Abhay Singh. By far the
brightest young talent in the country’s squash circuit, the soft-spoken teen
from Delhi felt the timing of the belated Olympics tag couldn’t have been
better from an Indian perspective, having come days after the squash
contingent’s creditable five-medal Asian Games show.
“It was almost like a
miracle. Really exciting," said Anahat, the glee on her face while talking
about it truly bringing out her age. What follows, however, is another reminder
of her being unlike many other 15-year-olds. “I was always somewhat sure that I
would want to go pro. I really love playing this sport. But yes, this (Olympics
inclusion) does give me a definite direction. It's going to be a target which
I'm going to be working towards for the next five years," said Anahat
sitting by the squash courts of Cricket Club of India here on Thursday.
"I know for the
next five years that I'm going to be 100% serious about squash because the
Olympics will be the next big goal. So, it does change my approach quite a bit
— in terms of the amount of training and the amount of work that I'm going to
put in. Because it is an athlete's dream to win a medal at the Olympics.”
At 15, Anahat has
already been to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, richer with experience
from the former and medals from the latter. She has pocketed age-group medals
at the prestigious British Junior Open (U-11 in 2019 and U-17 in 2023) and US
Junior Open (U-15 in 2021), ticking off boxes that the stars of Indian squash —
Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik — did in their junior days.
For her age, it’s about those little steps, although Anahat isn’t shying away
from drawing out a five-year plan.
“I mean, I do have to
look at it from the long-term view. I'm still playing the juniors for the next
three years, so it has to be step by step and tournament by tournament. At the
same time, that is going to be the long-term goal: to win a medal at the
Olympics. But before that there are other things as well, like winning PSA
(Professional Squash Association) tournaments and some top junior events,” she
said.won the 2023 title after Tanvi Khanna retired in the final and lost the
2022 final to Joshana), one of Anahat’s goals for next year is to start
competing in more PSA world tour events to climb up the world rankings. “I'm
going to start playing more of the senior tournaments and less junior
events," she said.
Juggling both this year
has meant her “tournaments have almost doubled”. Right after the Asian Games,
she turned up for the senior nationals last month. Currently in Mumbai for the
CCI-Western India Slam Squash Championship, she will head out for another
junior tournament later this month. The difference in level from the juniors to
seniors is evident for Anahat, who believes playing the latter has helped her
while competing in the top junior world events.“Seniors is a lot more physical.
There, your whole career is squash, you're working towards it day and night and
everyone wants to just win no matter what," she said. “The amount of
training that the seniors do, the precision of their shots and their fitness
overall is much better than the junior level.”
THE ARCHIES Netflix, December 7:
Drawing inspiration from
Archie Comics, Zoya Akhtar's forthcoming musical drama, ‘The Archies’, tells
the story of Archie Andrews and his tight-knit group of friends as they embark
on a mission to rescue a park in Riverdale.
Set to debut exclusively
on Netflix this December, the film stars Agastya Nanda, Suhana Khan, Khushi
Kapoor, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Saigal, and Yuvraj Menda in key roles.
Kadak Singh (8
Decemnber)
Kadak Singh is one of
the most anticipated OTT releases this week. It is a film that boasts an
impressive IMDB rating of 8.6 stars out of 10 and has been said to be a “difficult
film to make” by the lead actor Pankaj Tripathi. Coming up on Zee5 this week,
Kadak Singh is a drama, thriller film revolving around AK Srivastava, an
officer who despite being in hospital & given amnesia solves a complex case
of a Chit Fund Scam. Watch out for this new OTT movie this week on Zee5 by the
director of the famous movie, Pink released in 2016.
Platform: Zee5
Release Date: 8 December
Cast: Pankaj Tripathi,
Parvathy Thiruvothu, Dilip Shankar & others
Vadhuvu (8 December)
Vadhuvu is one of the
most anticipated OTT releases this week. It is a remake of a much-appreciated
Bengali TV Series, Indu (2021 - 2023). Vadhuvu starring Avika Gor as a bride
who sets on a mysterious journey when she marries a family with a mansion full
of secrets. It is a drama, mystery, thriller OTT release this week on Disney+
Hotstar.
OTT Platform: Disney+
Hotstar
OTT Release Date: 8
December
Cast: Avika, Nandu, Ali
Reza, Mounika, Madhavi Prasad
Chamak Series (7
December)
Chamak streaming on
SonyLiv from 7 December is a new musical thriller web series. A Punjabi rapper
singer returns from Canada to avenge his father’s death who was apparently also
a legendary singer. Bajao released on August 25th on jioCinema also had a plot
revolving around the singing industry. Stream Chamak on SonyLiv starting 7
December, Tuesday.
OTT Platform: SonyLiv
OTT Release Date: 7
December
Cast: Manoj Pahwa, Mohit
Malik, Isha Talwar, Mukesh Chhabra
Leave the World Behind (8 December)
The recently released
film in theaters, Leave the World Behind is making its debut on OTT this week
on Netflix. So grab your popcorn & enjoy this crackling of an upcoming OTT
release this week. The story revolves around a family who sets on a luxurious
getaway but somehow enters into a strange & difficult situation where their
devices have turned dead and two strangers appear at their house door.
OTT Platform: Netflix
OTT Release Date: 8
December
Cast: Julia Roberts,
Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke
BOOK OF THIS WEEK:
THE FUTURE OF THE
MIND:by Michio Kaku (Author),
Throughout human history
– Scientists have sought to unlock the secrets of the human mind and Dr. Michio
Kaku, noted theoretical physics, bestselling author and the co-founder of
string field theory, says thanks to new breakthroughs in neural mapping,we’re on
the fron
tier of a new era in
understanding the human brain.
“We can now put a chip
right on top of the brain of a person who is totally paralyzed and have them
control the cursor on a laptop, so that person who starts the soccer tournament
in Brazil may be a paraplegic.”
In his book, THE FUTURE
OF THE MIND, Kaku investigates multiple breakthrough ideas in
neuroscience, many of which were once
considered sheer fantasy or even science fiction. Ideas like telepathy,
telekinesis, mind reading, uploading our memories… and even shooting human
consciousness into space.
Dr. Kaku says many of
these ideas, which were once considered impossible have now been achieved in
the laboratory. One of the most fascinating new technologies has allowed
scientists to record something never recorded before…a persons dream.
“What happens is, you
have to fall asleep in an MRI machine, and then it scans your brain and creates
a picture and these pictures are remarkable. They’re fuzzy of course, but you
can actually see eyes, noses, you can see an elephant is an elephant and a
human is a human. But the very fact that you can even do this is astounding and
it means that in the future when you wake up in the morning you can hit the
play button on your computer and watch the dream you had last night.”
Watch video footage of a recorded dream
Dr. Kaku says last year
for the first time in world history, the first memory of a mouse was recorded
on tape. You could actually play the memory back.The memory was sipping water
from a container. It wasn’t a very complex memory, but the fact you could do it
at all means that one day we might have something like the Matrix, whereby you
could become a Karate master simply by hitting a play button.”This leads to the
question of privacy. Are people going to be able to read our minds and record
or dreams against our will?“That’s not going to happen. Brain waves dampen
extremely rapidly outside the skull, so don’t think the CIA is going to be able
to tap into your thoughts from the outside. That’s not going to happen.”
So, what can we do with
all these recorded dreams and memories? Another seemingly impossible new
technology in Dr Kaku’s book may allow scientists
to upload the data in
our brains and shoot it on a laser beam across space.“Then we wouldn’t need
expensive booster rockets. We would go literally at the speed of light on a
laser beam containing all this vast amount of information, and go to a relay
station, whereby you construct a robot which then springs to life. ”Sounds like
pure science fiction, but Dr. Kaku insist it could become scientific fact.“So
many of the themes of science fiction are still science fiction of course, but
the fact we can talk about some of them in a scientific way is amazing.”
Dr Michio Kaku says all
these new breakthroughs in neuroscience will not only help us explore new
horizons in outer space, but also more
internal problems right here on earth. Problems like the many mental
disabilities that plague society today,
depression, autism, schizophrenia, all of which remain largely unsolved
mysteries. Dr. Kaku hopes making headway
in
these areas will help
create a world where peoples innate talents and abilities“So many times we have
hopes and dreams that are dashed by illness, by poverty, by disease, and we
don’t live up to our full potential. What we’re capable of being and becoming.
So why do we have to be victims of this, when one day science may be able to
unleash us, so that we fulfill our destiny.
Michio Kaku:
Michio Kaku is the
co-founder of String Field Theory and is the author of international
best-selling books such as Hyperspace, Visions, and Beyond Einstein. Michio
Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor in Theoretical Physics at the City University
of New York.
Nature Magazine
National Geographic
Cartoon Games
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