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1) Malnutrition’s effects on the body don’t end when food arrives By Tina Hesman Saey

Inflammation and gut problems can torment survivors. New treatments may repair some damage Denise Potvin, a nurse currently working in Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza, has been seeing something new recently: Malnutrition among young children. Before the current Israel-Hamas war, “this was not something that would have [been] treated,” Potvin says. “Now we are seeing cases.”

As of May 18, 31 people, including at least 28 children, have died of malnutrition. In southern Gaza, up to 9 percent of children under 5 are malnourished, according to the World Health Organization. In northern Gaza, the fraction is greater — up to a quarter of children are malnourished and up to 4 percent are severely malnourished, an earlier agency report estimated. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification partnership warned in a report in March that famine is imminent in the northern part of Gaza, and the rest of Gaza is also at risk.The children of Gaza are not alone. Kids in Afghanistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Haiti, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries are experiencing malnutrition as a result of conflict, poverty, natural disasters and other factors that leave them suddenly without food (SN: 1/8/20). Those abrupt disruptions can lead to acute malnutrition and wasting, and — if the situation becomes prolonged — chronic malnutrition, stunting and sometimes death.

Last year, an estimated 36.4 million children worldwide were acutely malnourished, with 9.8 million of them suffering severe malnutrition, according to the Food Security Information Network. The WHO estimates that in 2022, about 149 million children had stunting (they’re too short for their age) and 45 million had wasting (too thin for their height), with more than 13 million with severe wasting. Those numbers don’t include kids who are moderately malnourished. Nearly half of deaths of children under 5, especially of children in low- and middle-income countries, are caused by undernutrition, the WHO says.Even for the children who get treatment, malnutrition can lead to a lifetime of consequences. Those include a high chance of dying in the year after recovery, stunted growth and a reduced ability to achieve their full intellectual capacity, even as adults.

Malnutrition weakens the immune system

A body suffering from malnutrition must expend energy on essentials like keeping the heart and lungs functioning — and to do so, it will cut back in other important areas, says Indi Trehan, a pediatrician at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Some of the things that it’s not going to spend its energy on very much is growing taller, which is part of the jobs of kids’ bodies,” he says. “It’s not going to spend a lot of energy on developing neurons and brain connections,” healing cuts and scrapes, or keeping up body temperature.

One of the most serious cutbacks is in the immune system, Trehan says. “The immune system sort of falls apart,” leaving malnourished people susceptible to dying from infections that well-nourished people can more easily get over.

For instance, in a review of studies of malnutrition, researchers found that kids who were moderately underweight for their age were twice as likely to die of pneumonia compared with children at healthy weight. Similarly, malnourished children with HIV are four times more likely to die than malnourished HIV-negative children, another study found.The severity of malnutrition is gauged by measuring children’s height, weight and mid-upper arm circumference to determine how far off from average they are for their age or height, as this Doctors Without Borders worker is doing at a refugee camp in Adre, Chad, for people fleeing the ongoing civil war in Sudan. Malnourished children may have stunting (they’re too short for their age), wasting (too thin for their height), or both.

Kids with moderate malnutrition fall two to three standard deviations under the average weight-for-height score, while children with severe malnutrition fall more than three standard deviations below average. Children with severe acute malnutrition might also have swelling in the hands and feet known as nutritional edema or kwashiorkor and may be so sick they are unable to eat.

In Rafah, Potvin, who works with the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French abbreviation MSF, is watching the reinforcing dynamic between malnutrition and the immune system play out.

“You see everybody living in tents, overcrowded situations, situations with lack of access to proper water and hygiene and sanitation,” she says. Those conditions can increase the risk of malnourished children catching infectious diseases that can, in turn, make malnutrition worse. In the MSF clinics in Rafah, “we’re seeing a lot of respiratory tract infections, diarrheal illnesses and different skin conditions,” Potvin says.

Even after treatment, formerly malnourished children can die

Fixing malnutrition isn’t as simple as giving a child food. Globally, only 3 percent of children with severe acute malnutrition get life-saving treatment, MSF estimates. About 1 of every 5 children hospitalized for severe malnutrition will die before being discharged, says Gerard Bryan Gonzales, a public health nutritionist at Ghent University in Belgium.

Even after going home children are prone to dying. A 2018 review of multiple studies published in PLOS One found that up to 10 percent of severely malnourished children die in the year after leaving the hospital. Extrapolated to a global level that could mean hundreds of thousands to millions of severely malnourished children dying even after getting treatment for malnutrition. The true figure may be even higher, because up to 45 percent of kids dropped out of the study so their fates couldn’t be determined, researchers reported.In a study of severely malnourished children in Kenya, Gonzales and colleagues found that about 10 percent of kids, 177 out of 1,704, landed back in the hospital again after being discharged.It’s unclear why so many children die after being treated for malnutrition, says James Njunge, a biochemist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. What is known is that by the time children are malnourished, a complex cascade has started in their bodies that may not be completely reversible.

Njunge and his colleagues are studying the blood and waste of children who died from severe malnutrition after leaving the hospitals in multiple countries. The team hopes to learn whether certain proteins, hormones, nutrients, gut microbes or other factors can explain the children’s deaths.Both inflammation and damaged metabolism were associated with death in severely malnourished children in Kenya and Malawi, Njunge and colleagues reported in Science Advances in 2022. But there’s another conflicting factor. Some families may take their children home before they’re fully recovered, against medical advice, Njunge says, because the parents need to care for other children or return to work.

Inflammation persists long after recovery

Even when kids do recover and have caught up with their peers for weight, bouts of malnutrition can cause internal damage that may linger for years. Recent work suggests that some malnourished children have “very, very aggressive” inflammation against either active infections or bits of bacteria that may leak out of their guts, Njunge says.

“The inflammatory response is supposed to be a good thing to protect you from these pathogens,” he says, but when it is too strong, it can damage tissues and organs. In addition, inflammation can impair how the body absorbs and uses nutrients, he says. “All those factors can lead to organ damage and that’s what eventually leads to mortality.”

Compared with well-nourished children in their communities, 264 severely malnourished children in Zimbabwe and Zambia still had signs of high inflammation in their blood a year after being released from the hospital, Jonathan Sturgeon, a pediatrician at Queen Mary University of London, and his colleagues reported February 28 in Science Translational Medicine. “The fact that [inflammation] continued for at least a year after discharge was quite a surprise,” Sturgeon says.

And the inflammation isn’t just in the children’s blood. It’s also apparent in their guts, Sturgeon says. Usually, people’s intestinal walls have tiny, finger-like structures called villi. These little fingers increase the amount of surface area that can absorb nutrients. But in children with severe malnutrition, the villi “become quite blunted, quite flat, quite thin, quite friable,” Sturgeon says. Those changes “mirror some of the inflammatory bowel changes you see in children from the West with inflammatory bowel disease.”

That type of change to the villi could mean even after malnourishment ends, children may have lingering trouble absorbing nutrients that their bodies need to grow and develop properly, perhaps setting them up for a lifetime of health problems.Sturgeon and colleagues have been testing drugs that may repair the gut lining in malnourished children. The team found that a molecule called teduglutide reduced markers of inflammation in children being treated for severe malnutrition in Zambia and Zimbabwe. The compound, which is used to treat short bowel syndrome, also restored growth of villi, the researchers reported April 17 in Nature Communications.

New treatments are being developed for malnutrition

Other researchers are also developing new treatments to help children with the lasting consequences of malnutrition.

For example, children with malnutrition often have underdeveloped gut microbiomes, says Jeffrey Gordon, a microbiome researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (SN: 2/18/16). In most children, the rise and fall of certain types of gut bacteria follows a predictable pattern. But that pattern is disturbed in kids with malnutrition. In those kids, “there are features of the microbial community that appear younger or more immature than you would expect based on the chronological age,” Gordon says.

Those disturbances can affect development of children’s guts and immune systems, perhaps causing kids to have lasting digestive issues and immune system problems, he says.

Gordon and his colleagues developed a therapeutic food that fosters gut microbe growth (SN: 6/7/21). It is a mix of chickpea and soybean flours, peanut paste and mashed green banana. The researchers tested the microbe-fostering food against a standard therapeutic food composed of rice, lentil and milk powder, and found that it helped children gain weight faster even though the experimental food has fewer calories, Gordon’s team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021.

The reason why the babies gained weight is because of two strains of Prevotella copri bacteria, which broke down molecules in the microbe-nourishing food, the researchers reported March 19 in Nature Microbiology. Knowing how microbes and specific molecules within the foods work together may help the researchers design even better therapeutic foods to treat or even prevent malnutrition in the future, Gordon says.

Malnutrition can follow children into adulthood

Because so many children die from malnutrition, few studies have been able to determine the longer-term consequences of childhood starvation on adults. What researchers do know is that severe malnutrition or exposure to famine in childhood is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic problems such as diabetes, Ghent University’s Gonzales and his colleagues reported in BMJ Global Health in 2021.

Part of the problem may be the high fat content of the diets that are traditionally used to treat malnutrition, Gonzales says. “It might stress the system too much [so] that the body has this long-term persistent dysregulation,” he says. Right now, treatment strategies are focused on keeping children from dying in the next year. “We’re trying ways now to really study whether we are giving children what they really need,” Gonzales says. “Are we treating them in a way that they don’t only survive, but they are also thriving?”

It’s a time-sensitive question, Trehan says. If young children don’t get proper nutrition while their brains are developing, “you’re not going to catch up no matter how good your schools and your rehab and things like that are after the fact.”

People who survive severe malnutrition in childhood may be a bit shorter than if they’d gotten enough food to grow to their genetic potential, Trehan says. That’s probably not a big deal. “We’re not trying to grow an army of basketball players,” he says. But stunting can also be an indicator of missed intellectual development (SN: 3/21/13). “We want an army of smart kids who can then do good in school and then get good jobs and then help their societies develop.” With malnutrition, “you’re really hitting a population for the long-term.”People who had been severely malnourished as children in Congo were less likely as adults to report doing well in school, had less education and lower self-esteem than peers in their communities who were never malnourished, researchers reported in 2020 in PLOS OneAnd it’s not just the people who suffered food shortages that pay the price, Gonzales says. When chronic adult health problems arise in formerly malnourished people, health systems around the world are stressed. Many people who survived malnutrition in low- or middle-income countries have since moved to wealthier nations where they may add to the disease burden, he says. “It is a global problem that requires global solutions.”

2) A built-in pocket protector keeps sawfish from ‘sword fighting’ in the womb By Natalie van Hoose

Smalltooth sawfish develop their signature, long, tooth-lined snout while still in the womb. The needle-sharp teeth are encased in a specialized sheath that prevents the rays from cutting up their mother and siblings during gestation and birth. Now, scientists have gotten their first close-up look at this built-in pocket protector.

“It’s a cool thing Mother Nature figured out to protect mom from those calcified teeth and protect siblings from sword fighting in the uterus,” says fish biologist Gregg Poulakis of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Charlotte Harbor.Observations of baby sawfish and laboratory analysis of tissue samples have revealed that the sheath is a tough, multilayered “second skin” that sheds within about four days after birth, Poulakis and colleagues report May 28 in Fishery Bulletin. The finding overturns a long-held assumption that the sheath was a fragile, gelatinous membrane.

“I think a lot of the descriptions historically are based on the fact that people have just seen them in pictures,” says Dean Grubbs, a fish ecologist at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory in St. Teresa who was not involved in the work. “It’s a significant structure … as you would expect it to be if it is going to essentially shield those really sharp points.”The species, Pristis pectinata, is found primarily in waters off South Florida and the western Bahamas. The ray is so rare that it took Poulakis and colleagues 18 years of near-monthly research trips to collect a handful of sheath tissue samples.

The sheath feels like paraffin wax, Poulakis says: firm, but with a slight give. “You can’t peel it off.”

A combination of histology, scanning electron microscopy, micro-CT and elemental analysis of the samples show the sheath has two tissue layers that resemble an epidermis and a dermis, as well as proteins that look like keratin, reticulin and collagen. This suggests the sheath is a second skin, but the researchers emphasize more work is needed to confirm that’s what they’re seeing.

The research provides more insight into the life history of the smalltooth sawfish, which is critically endangered due to habitat loss and accidental entanglement in fishing nets (SN: 6/5/15). Scientists had begun to be cautiously optimistic that smalltooth sawfish were on the brink of a comeback, Poulakis says. But that burgeoning recovery is now threatened by an ongoing, mysterious die-off in Florida’s Lower Keys. Dozens of sawfish have died, and Poulakis and others are racing to determine why.

“It’s discouraging when something like this happens and makes us take a step or two back,” Poulakis says. “We’re taking a lot of samples that will help us learn about the species beyond this mortality event.”

3) First pig-to-human liver transplant recipient 'doing very well' By Smriti Mallapaty

The transplant aims to prolong the life of the patient and provide important lessons for doctors. A 71-year-old man in China has become the first living person to receive a liver transplant from a genetically modified pig — and the fifth person reported to have received a pig organ. More than two weeks after the surgery, the man is “doing very well”, says Sun Beicheng, a surgeon at the First Affiliated hospital of Anhui Medical University who led the transplantation.

The surgeons have not released many details about the procedure, but researchers are encouraged by the apparent success. “It is very exciting news,” says Burcin Ekser, a transplant surgeon at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

The liver is the latest in a series of pig organs introduced to people. Since early 2022, surgeons have transplanted pig hearts, kidneys and a thyroid into four people. Three died in the months after receiving their transplants, and researchers say their pre-existing poor health, which contributed to their selection as transplant candidates, makes it difficult to determine whether the transplants were a factor. One person who was operated on in mid-April is still alive today.

The transplants have allowed researchers to gain valuable insights into the feasibility of xenotransplantation — the transfer of organs from one species to another. Clinicians hope the technology might one day supply organs for the thousands of people who die waiting for a donor organ each year.

Xenotransplantation of livers has experienced a surge this year. In January 2024, a US team connected a genetically modified pig liver outside the body of a clinically dead person. In March, Kefeng Dou, a transplant surgeon at Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University in Xi’an and his colleagues transplanted a genome-edited pig liver into a clinically dead individual for 10 days, as agreed with the man’s family, and saw no signs of rejection. And earlier in May, another team in China transplanted a pig kidney and liver into a clinically dead person.

Right lobe

In the most recent pig-organ transplant, the recipient had a large tumour on the right lobe of his liver, which had not yet spread to other parts of the body. The individual was not eligible to receive a human liver transplant because tests indicated that his liver was functioning too poorly to ensure a good outcome, and his left lobe alone would not be able to keep him alive, says Sun. The doctors didn’t know “when the tumour would rupture”, he says. The situation was “very dangerous”. With few other options, Sun says the patient and his family expressed interest in the xenotransplant. The surgery team say they obtained approval from their hospital’s ethics and transplantation committees on compassionate grounds.

On May 17, in an operation that lasted eight hours, surgeons removed the individual’s right lobe. They replaced it with a 514-gram liver from an 11-month-old miniature pig, weighing 32 kilograms.

The pig had ten genetic modifications to prevent its organs from being rejected soon after being transplanted, says Hong-Jiang Wei at Yunnan Agricultural University, in Kunming, whose team developed the pig. The team deactivated three genes that contribute to the production of sugars on the surface of pig cells, which the human immune system attacks, and introduced seven genes that express human proteins.Sun says that in tests of the pig liver, they did not detect the presence of porcine cytomegalovirus, which could have contributed to complications in a recipient of a pig heart, who died two months after the procedure.

Save or support

Once the surgeons had re-established blood flow to the transplanted pig liver, it instantly began to secrete bile. From 10 millilitres on the first day, bile production gradually increased to between 200–300 mL on day 13 (a healthy person secretes at least 400 mL of bile a day). Sun says that he has not seen signs of the organ being rejected, including from a biopsy conducted on day 12. “He has normal liver function,” says Sun.

“That is a very positive result,” says Jay Fishman, a specialist in transplant infectious disease at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “In general you don’t see those kinds of good signs if the organ is suffering rejection.”

Livers tend to experience less rejection and injury than a kidney, heart or lung, says Fishman. Although he cautions that signs of chronic rejection could appear later.

In addition to bile, Sun says the pig liver is producing pig versions of albumin and coagulation factors. From the way these essential proteins function, “we may learn a great deal”, says David Cooper, a xenotransplant immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. If the researchers identify that the pig versions of these proteins do not serve the needs of the recipient, future transplants might genetically manipulate the pigs to produce the human versions.At day 10, Sun says the team had not yet seen signs of liver growth, but that they remain optimistic. He says they hope that ultimately the person’s left lobe will grow large enough to provide full liver function and that the pig liver will serve as a bridge to get to that point.

4) Partial skeleton of a previously unknown medium-sized theropod dinosaur found in Siberia by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Study of a partial skeleton found embedded in a rock has resulted in the discovery of a new species of dinosaur. Using a variety of technology and techniques, researchers affiliated with several institutions in the Russian Federation found that the fossil once belonged to a previously unknown dinosaur they have named Kiyacursor longipes.The team has published the findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The rock was found to have recently fallen down a rocky cliffside in a part of western Siberia along the Kiya River due to natural erosion. The fossilized bones were sticking out of it, revealing its ancient history.

The researchers studied the fossils visually and through use of X-ray and computed tomography. The research team also collected samples from some of the fossils and studied them using a microscope. As part of their analysis, they found that the fossilized skeleton was approximately 113 to 121 million years old. They identified ribs, vertebrae, part of a shoulder, both feet and both legs.

The dinosaur was a noasaurid ceratosaur, a group of bipedal, non-avian swift runners with two small legs that would have been tucked up at the top. The finding, they note, extends the range of Ceratosauria in Asia by approximately 40 million years.In measuring the length of the bones, the researchers found the dinosaur had what they describe as "unique hind-limb proportions" as compared to its known relatives, a feature that would have given the dinosaur better cursorial ability. It also had what they describe as "ostrich-like" feet, with its third toe extended—a feature not seen in any of its relatives.

They estimate that their K. longipes specimen was approximately 2.5 meters long (from nose to tail) when alive. They also found evidence that the medullary cavity inside the fossils that had once held bone marrow had ceased expanding, suggesting it was a mature adult, though not likely more than 3 years old at the time of its death.

5) Large fossil discovery finally exposes origins of Welsh dragons by University of Bristol

A large fossil discovery has helped shed light on the history of dinosaurs in Wales. The find is reported in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.Until recently, the land of the dragon didn't have any dinosaurs. However, in the last 10 years, several dinosaurs have been reported, but their life conditions were not well known.

In a new study by a team from the University of Bristol, important details have been revealed for the first time. The researchers found that early Welsh dinosaurs, from more than 200 million years ago, lived on a tropical lowland beside the sea. Dinosaur trackways are known from Barry and other sites nearby, showing that dinosaurs had walked across the warm lowlands.The discovery was made at Lavernock Point, close to Cardiff and Penarth, where the cliffs of dark-colored shales and limestones document ancient shallow seas. At several levels, there are accumulations of bones, including the remains of fish, sharks, marine reptiles and occasionally, dinosaurs.Former student of the Bristol MSc in Paleobiology Owain Evans, who led the study, explained, "The bone bed paints the picture of a tropical archipelago, which was subjected to frequent storms, that washed material from around the surrounding area, both in land and out at sea, into a tidal zone.

"This means that from just one fossil horizon, we can reconstruct a complex ecological system, with a diverse array of marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and placodonts in the water, and dinosaurs on land."I had visited the coast at Penarth all my life, growing up in Cardiff, but never noticed the fossils. Then, the more I read, the more amazing it became. Local geologists had been collecting bones since the 1870s, and most of these are in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff."Cindy Howells, Curator of Paleontology at the National Museum of Wales, adds, "The collections from Lavernock go all the way back to the 19th century, with many sections of the bone bed being collected over the years. The presence of dinosaur fossils at the site ensure that it remains one of the most significant localities for paleontology in Wales."Two discoveries made by the team while conducting fieldwork at Lavernock were the fossilized remains of a placodont osteoderm, and a single coelacanth gular bone.

Supervisor Dr. Chris Duffin said, "The remains of coelacanths and placodonts are relatively rare in the U.K., which makes these finds even more remarkable. These two fossils alone help build a broader picture of what the Rhaetian in the U.K. would have looked like."

Professor Michael Benton from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, another project supervisor, adds, "The volume of dinosaur remains found at Lavernock is extremely exciting, and is a chance to study a complex, and often mysterious period in their evolutionary history. We have identified the remains of a large Plateosaurus like animal, along with several bones which likely belonged to a predatory theropod."

A significant section of the paper is dedicated to the abundant microfossils found at the site, which include fish teeth, scales and bone fragments. By examining thousands of specimens, the team was able to identify the key species in the shallow seas and work out the relative importance of each.

The origins of the Welsh dragons have been pinned down at last.

6) Astronomers find most distant galaxy using James Webb Space TelescopE by Peter Edmonds, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery of the two earliest and most distant galaxies ever seen, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang. These results, using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), mark a major milestone in the study of the early universe.The discoveries were made by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) team. Daniel Eisenstein from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) is one of the team leaders of JADES and Principal Investigator of the observing program that revealed these galaxies. Ben Johnson and Phillip Cargile, both Research Scientists at CfA, and Zihao Wu, a Harvard Ph.D. student at CfA, also played important roles.

Because of the expansion of the universe, the light from distant galaxies stretches to longer wavelengths as it travels. This effect is so extreme for these two galaxies that their ultraviolet light is shifted to infrared wavelengths where only JWST can see it. Because light takes time to travel, more distant galaxies are also seen as they were earlier in time.

The two record-breaking galaxies are called JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, the former being the more distant of the two. In addition to being the new distance record holder, ADES-GS-z14-0 is remarkable for how big and bright it is.

"The size of the galaxy clearly proves that most of the light is being produced by large numbers of young stars," said Eisenstein, a Harvard professor and chair of the astronomy department, "rather than material falling onto a supermassive black hole in the galaxy's center, which would appear much smaller."The combination of the extreme brightness and the fact that young stars are fueling this high luminosity makes JADES-GS-z14-0 the most striking evidence yet found for the rapid formation of large, massive galaxies in the early universe.

"JADES-GS-z14-0 now becomes the archetype of this phenomenon," says Dr. Stefano Carniani of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, lead author on the discovery paper. "It is stunning that the universe can make such a galaxy in only 300 million years."Evidence for surprisingly vigorous early galaxies appeared even in the first JWST images and has been mounting in the first two years of the mission. This trend runs counter to expectations that most astronomers had before the launch of JWST of theories of galaxy formation.

JADES-GS-z14-0 was a puzzle for the JADES team when they first spotted it over a year ago, as it appears close enough on the sky to a foreground galaxy that the team could not be sure that the two were not neighbors. But in October 2023, the JADES team conducted even deeper imaging—five full days with the JWST Near-Infrared Camera on just one field—and used filters designed to better isolate the earliest galaxies.

"We just couldn't see any plausible way to explain this galaxy as being merely a neighbor of the more nearby galaxy," says Dr. Kevin Hainline, research professor at the University of Arizona.The galaxy is located in a field where the JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument had conducted an ultra-deep observation. Its brightness at intermediate infrared wavelengths is a sign of emission from hydrogen and even oxygen atoms in the early universe.

"Despite being so young, the galaxy is already hard at work creating the elements familiar to us on Earth," said Zihao Wu, a co-author on a second paper about this finding, led by Jakob Helton, a graduate student at the University of Arizona.

Emboldened, the team then obtained a spectrum of each galaxy, and confirmed their hopes that JADES-GS-z14-0 was indeed a record-breaking galaxy and that the fainter candidate, JADES-GS-z14-1, was nearly as far away.

A third paper led by Brant Robertson, professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, and Ben Johnson, studies the evolution of this early population of galaxies.

"This amazing object shows that galaxy formation in the early universe is very rapid and intense," said Johnson, "and JWST will allow us to find more of these galaxies, perhaps when the universe was even younger. It is a marvelous opportunity to study how galaxies get started."

 

 

1) Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 6 Highlights: Over 60% voter turnout recorded on 58 seats

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Phase 6: The voting across 58 seats in phase 6 concluded at 6pm on Saturday. Voting was held on all 10 seats of Haryana, 7 seats of Delhi, 14 seats of UP, 8 seats each of Bihar and West Bengal, 6 seats in Odisha, 4 seats in Jharkhand and 1 seat of  Jammu and Kashmir. Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Phase 6: The 58 seats across six states and two Union Territories (UTs) in the 6th phase of Lok Sabha elections recorded over 60% voter turnout on Saturday. According to the Election Commission, till 10.30 pm, West Bengal recorded the highest turnout with 78.27% voter turnout, followed by 63.56 in Jharkhand and 61.84 in Odisha.Haryana recorded 59.43% voter turnout. While Delhi recorded 56.60% voter turnout, Bihar 55.25, UP recorded 54.3%, and Anantnag Rajouri seat of Jammu and Kashmir recorded 53.60 %.

Several politicians, and prominent personalities cast their votes in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, among others, cast their votes.

All 10 seats of Haryana and seven seats of Delhi went to polls in this round of voting. The voting was also held on 14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, eight seats each of Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, 4 seats in Jharkhand and one seat of Jammu and Kashmir.The 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha also voted along with the Lok Sabha elections today.

About 11.13 crore people were eligible to vote in this phase of polling held at 1.14 lakh polling stations across 58 seats, the Election Commission of India said.  This includes 5.84 crore men, 5.29 crore women and 5,120 third gender electors.

There were over 8.93 lakh registered 85+ years old voters, 23,659 voters above 100 years and 9.58 lakh PwD voters for Phase 6 who have been provided the option to vote from the comfort of their homes, the commission said.

Overall, 889 candidates were in the fray in this phase, the poll panel said.

The key candidates include Bhartiya Janata Party leaders (BJP) leaders Dharmendra Pradhan (Sambalpur), Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi), Maneka Gandhi (Sultanpur), Abhijit Gangopadhyay (Tamluk), Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra) and Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal), to name a few. The Congress party's prominent candidates in the fray today are Kanhaiya Kumar (North East Delhi) and Raj Babbar (Gurgaon). PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir.In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, among the 58 seats that went to polls on Saturday in the sixth phase, the BJP alone had won 40. And the Congress could not win any of these seats.

The voter turnout in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections held on May 20 was estimated to be 62.15 per cent, which is higher than the polling in the same seats in 2019 when it was 61.82 per cent. The fourth phase of polling held on May 13 recorded a turnout of 69.16 per cent while the third phase held on 7 recorded 65.68 per cent voter turnout. The second phase held on April 26 saw 66.71 per cent turnout and the first phase of polling held on April 19 saw 66.1 turnout, according to the Election Commission of India.

Elections to 486 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats is over by the end of phase 6 polling on Saturday. The remaining 57 seats will vote in the last phase on June 1. The results of seven phases will be declared on June 4.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), seeking a record third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set a target of winning 400 seats this election. The ruling alliance is challenged by the opposition parties led by the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc.

2) Prajwal Revanna arrested at Bengaluru airport

Revanna, the NDA candidate for the Hassan Lok Sabha seat, left for Germany on April 27 a day after polling was held and shortly after thousands of his videos emerged Suspended Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna was arrested at the Bengaluru airport upon his arrival from Germany in the early hours of Friday weeks after he was accused of mass sexual assault.

Revanna, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Hassan Lok Sabha seat, left for Germany on April 27 a day after polling was held and shortly after thousands of his videos emerged. Some women in the videos have since accused Prajwal of sexually assaulting them.A special investigation team (SIT) formed to probe the allegations took him into custody before his questioning. An SIT officer said Revanna, the member of Parliament from Hassan, would first undergo a medical examination at Bengaluru’s Bowring Hospital. He added that Revanna would later be presented before a magistrate for his custody. The SIT seized Revanna’s mobile phone and two suitcases.

Interpol informed SIT, Bengaluru Police, and immigration authorities about his return on Thursday afternoon.Revanna’s anticipatory bail plea in a Bengaluru session court was separately scheduled to be heard on Friday. In the plea, he denied all allegations, suggesting they were politically motivated. “The electronic evidence presented is fabricated to support a false case,” the plea said.

The plea said Revanna had a good relationship with his accuser, a political activist involved in his recent election campaign. “Prajwal is shocked by the wild allegations in the complaint,” it said. He blamed political rivalry and envy for the accusations.

Revanna maintained his travel abroad was pre-planned and unrelated to the charges. “Having participated in the election process on April 26, 2024, Prajwal left the country as scheduled. However, a smear campaign was orchestrated against Prajwal and his father, leading to the false accusations,” the plea said.JD(S) suspended Revanna, who issued a video statement this week saying he would present himself before the SIT at 10am on May 31, after allegations of sexual assault were made against him.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said Revanna will be arrested upon landing in India as reports indicated that the suspended JD(S) leader was due to arrive from Germany early on Friday. He added the government was aware of Revanna’s booking on a Munich-Bengaluru Lufthansa flight.

3) PM Narendra Modi meditates for 2nd day at Kanniyakumari amid Lok Sabha elections Phase 7 voting

PM Narendra Modi will finish his two-day meditation break in Kanniyakumari today, on the final phase of the Lok Sabha election.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 embarked on the second day of his meditation break at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanniyakumari. PM Modi will conclude his meditation today, as eight states and UT go to polls for the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha election 2024.

PM Modi commenced his second day of meditation in Tamil Nadu after performing the 'Surya Arghya' during sunrise at the Vivekananda Rock, where Swami Vivekananda once meditated before attaining enlightenment.The prime minister carried out 'Surya Arghya,' a ritual associated with spiritual practice involving salutations to the Almighty, manifested in the form of sun.

The PM poured little water from a traditional, beaker-like small vessel into the sea as an offering (Arghya) and prayed using his prayer beads (Japa mala). He was clad in saffron and also paid floral tributes to a statue of Swami Vivekananda, officials said.The prime minister carried out 'Surya Arghya,' a ritual associated with spiritual practice involving salutations to the Almighty, manifested in the form of sun.

The PM poured little water from a traditional, beaker-like small vessel into the sea as an offering (Arghya) and prayed using his prayer beads (Japa mala). He was clad in saffron and also paid floral tributes to a statue of Swami Vivekananda, officials said.The prime minister then walked around the mandapam with his 'japa mala' in his hands. After his two-day meditation comes to an end on Saturday evening, PM Modi will travel to Delhi after the Lok Sabha polls come to an end.Kanyakumari is famous for its sunrise and sunset and the memorial is located on a tiny islet near the shoreline. At the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, the PM embarked on meditation on the evening of May 30 and he is scheduled to complete it today.

PM Modi arrived at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial on Thursday. According to Hindu scriptures, Goddess Parvati also meditated at the same place on one foot as she waited for Lord Shiva.The prime minister travelled to Kanniyakumari on Thursday after ending the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) poll campaign in Punjab's Hoshiarpur. Eyeing a third term in office, PM Modi extensively campaigned nationwide for the Lok Sabha polls, the results for which will be announced on June 4.During the election season, PM Modi held around 206 election campaign events, including rallies and roadshows, in 75 days. He also did around 80 interviews with different news and media platforms.

4) Lok Sabha Elections 2024: INDIA bloc leaders to meet on June 1, last day of polling, says a report

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The meeting of INDIA bloc leaders has been called to review the elections and also discuss the coalition's future course of actions, according to reports. The results of Lok Sabha elections will be declared on June 4.Top leaders from parties in opposition's INDIA bloc will meet on June 1, the day when the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held, according to reports.The meeting has been called to review the elections and also discuss the coalition's future course of actions. The results of Lok Sabha elections will be declared on June 4.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), seeking a record third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set a target of winning 400 seats this election. The ruling alliance is challenged by the opposition parties led by the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc.

The meeting has been called just a day before Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal –  out on interim bail since May 10–  has to surrender himself in Tihar Jail in connection with now-scrapped Delhi government's liquor policy.

Kejriwal, along with other top leaders in INDIA bloc, are also expected to attend the meeting.

Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress party in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Chandigarh and Haryana. The two parties, however, are contesting the June 1 election for 13 seats of Punjab separately.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, is an opposition front announced by the leaders of 28 parties to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).The first meeting of the bloc was held in Patna, Bihar in June 2023. The Patna meeting was hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Later Kumar and his Janata Dal - United, however, switched sides to the NDA. Elections to 486 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats was over by the end of phase 6 polling on Saturday. 

5) Exit Poll 2024 today: Axis My India, Today's Chanakya, Ipsos or CNX—who best predicted the 2014 & 2019 election results?

Exit Poll 2024 today: At the end of voting today, all attention will turn to the exit poll predictions released by various political research agencies to offer insights into the likely outcomes for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections results. We take a look.Exit Polls 2024 today: The seventh and final phase of the 18th Lok Sabha Elections 2024 ends today, on June 1. After voting ends, exit poll results from the current General Elections will begin being debated on news channels post 6 pm today.

Notably, 57 constituencies in eight states and Union Territories (UTs) are voting today to decide their representatives. These states are Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Further, the state of Odisha is also having conducting Assembly Elections voting in its 42 constituencies today on June 1.

Lok Sabha Results Exit Polls 2024 Today

At the end of voting today, all attention will turn to the exit poll predictions released by various political research agencies. These exit polls are interview based surveys conducted by agencies after voters exercise their franschise. It aims to capture public sentiment and electoral trends before the results are declare

Exit Polls — Who Said What?

As anticipation towards the exit polls builds, we take a look at which research agencies have been close to accuracy in their past exit poll predictions.

India Today-Axis My India in 2019 predicted that the NDA would win 339 to 365 seats and UPA 77 to 108.

India Today–Axis My India in 2014 predicted 272 seats for the NDA, 115 seats for the UPA, and 156 seats for all other parties.

News24-Today’s Chanakya in 2019 predicted that the NDA would bag an estimated 350 seats (±14) and UPA around 95 (±9).

News 24-Today’s Chanakya in 2014 predicted 340 seats being won by the NDA, and by 70 seat wins for the UPA, while giving other parties 133 seats.News18-IPSOS in 2019 projected 336 seats for the NDA and 82 seats for the UPA, with 124 seats for other parties.

CNN-IBN-CSDS–Lokniti in 2014 forecasted 276 seats for the NDA, and 97 seats for the UPA, while giving 148 seats to other parties.

Times Now-VMR in 2019 forecasted around 306 seats for the NDA and 132 seats for UPA (±3).Times Now-ORG in 2014 forcast 249 seats for the NDA, and 148 seats for the UPA, followed by 146 seats for all other parties combined. India TV-CNX in 2019 estimated 300 seats (±10) for the NDA and 120 seats (±5) for the UPA.

CVoter in 2019 predicted 287 seats for the NDA, 128 for the UPA, and the rest for other parties.

ABP News-Nielsen in 2014 predicted 274 seats for the NDA, 97 seats for the UPA and 165 seats for other parties.

NDTV-Hansa Research in 2014 said NDA would win 279 seats, UPA would bag 103 seats and the other would get 161 seats. Actual Results in 2019 — NDA won 353 seats and the UPA secured 91 seats.

Accuracy Level in 2019 — Looking at the predicted vs actual numbers India Today-Axis My India and Today’s Chanakya were the most accurate, closest in range to the seats won. These were followed by the Times Now-VMR's prediction.

Actual Results in 2014 — The NDA won 336 seats, while the UPA got 66, and other parties secured 147. The BJP alone secured a majority of 282 seats.

Accuracy Level in 2014 — Most exit polls correctly indicated a strong performance for the NDA.

6) Exit polls 2024: Congress refrains from participating in Lok Sabha Elections-related debates. Here's why

Exit Polls 2024 for Lok Sabha elections will be released by television channels and news outlets on June 1 after 6.30 pm.The Congress said on Friday that its leaders will not participate in debates related to Lok Sabha elections exit polls on June 4. In a post on X, Congress leader Pawan Khera said, "Voters have cast their votes and their verdict has been secured. The results will be out on 4th June. Prior to that, we do not see any reason to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP."

He said the Indian National Congress would not participate in the debates on exit polls. "The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from 4th June onwards," he said, explaining the reasons for the grand old party's decision.In an interview with news agency ANI, Khera said, “What's the point of speculation? Why should we indulge in meaningless speculation just to increase the TRPs of channels or to there is some force?"

“There are some forces which are involved in betting. Why should we be a part of that? Everybody knows who he or she has voted for. Parties will get to know how many votes they got on the 4th of June. Why should we speculate?.. We are poised to win this election. INDIA alliance will be forming the government after June 4," the Congress leader added.The last phase of voting for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will take place on Saturday, June 1. After the voting ends at 6 pm, various media houses will release their exit poll results for the Lok Sabha elections, predicting the final results, which will be declared on June 4.According to Election Commission guidelines, television channels and news outlets will be able to run exit poll data and its results on June 1 after 6.30 pm. In the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections, polling will be held in 13 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh on June 1 between 7 am and 6 pm.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked his party workers, candidates and office-bearers to remain "vigilant" against the "lies" of the BJP and "its exit polls."

In an appeal in Hindi on X, Yadav wrote, “Today I am making an extremely important appeal to you. All of you should remain fully alert, vigilant and cautious during the voting tomorrow and also in the days after the voting, till the counting of votes is over and you receive the certificate of victory. Do not get misled by the BJP."The SP, an alliance partner of the INDIA bloc, is contesting 62 seats in UP. The Congress, on the other hand, has fielded its candidate for 17 seats, while the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded its candidate for one seat, Bhadohi.

 

1) KKR's IPL 2024 victory lights up Burj Khalifa; netizens call it, 'SRK effect'

Kolkata Knight Riders won IPL 2024 title after 10 years, celebrated at Burj Khalifa with purple and gold lights.Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday to clinch the IPL 2024 title, their first in 10 years. The Shreyas Iyer-led franchise set the tone for the season from the outset and carried the momentum right through to the final of the tournament. Their victory was commemorated at Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. In a 16-second video shared by KKR showed the building adorned in the team's signature colors of purple and gold. Additionally, the video displayed pictures of the team alongside its co-owner, SRK, with the message "Congratz KKR, Congrats SRK" prominently featured.

Some media reports earlier claimed that video of KKR's victory being celebrated on Burj Khalifa was old. However, the video posted on the official handle of the team proves its authencity. The video shared by the team last night received a considerable number of views and comments from fans. Some users also wrote that it was because of 'SRK effect' that the win was featured on Burj Khalifa. From celebrating the superstar's birthday to promoting his movies or trailers, SRK holds a special significance on the world's tallest building.

2) A chance to step onto the big stage: T20 World Cup 2024 has something in it for all

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will believe that the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will inspire an entire generation of Americans to take up the sport. Cricket in the USA - still a work in progress - could use the help.The 1994 FIFA World Cup was a watershed moment for football in the United States of America (USA). The sport was not popular in the country at this time, and questions were asked on why a mega event was assigned to a host who could not tell football from soccer.But by the end of the month-long festivities, the verdict was clear. An overall spectator attendance of 3,587,538, at an average of 68,991 per game, set a new record. The success of the tournament led to the launch of Major League Soccer (MLS), which now counts Lionel Messi among its players. The tournament also inspired an entire generation of Americans to take up football as a career.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will believe that the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will cause a similarly positive ripple effect. Cricket in the USA - still a work in progress - could use the help.

At a minimum, a new audience gets the chance to experience world-class action. For the thousands who live in the USA with roots in India, Pakistan and other cricket-playing nations, this can create memories for a lifetime. The financials are lucrative as well, as expats are willing to spend big bucks on tickets.

T20 World Cup 2024 Schedule

The new venues will test the players’ ability to adapt. Construction at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, for instance, was completed only recently. A drop-in pitch arrived a few days ago, and a sole warm-up match is the only indicator on how surface could behave.

Teams which assess conditions quickly have the best chance to succeed.

The business half - Super 8s, semifinals and the final - will be held entirely in the West Indies. A more familiar setting for cricket fans, the Caribbean islands last held a World Cup in 2007.India should have no trouble getting past Group ‘A’ and into Barbados - the venue for its first Super 8 outing. Even if the Pakistan clash does not go its way, Ireland, Canada and USA is unlikely to offer much resistance.Co-host West Indies, a two-time T20 World Cup champion, could go all the way. Home conditions and an eleven tailor-made for T20 will frighten opponents.

Reigning 50-over world champion Australia reserve its best for the big occasions. And if Travis Head throws the kitchen sink in the Powerplay like he did in the IPL, it is game over.

T20 World Cup 2024: Harmeet Singh - From prodigy to rising star in USA Cricket

Defending champion England depend on express pacers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to pummel batters into submission. Captain Jos Buttler, among the players who missed the latter stages of the IPL to play a four-match T20I series against Pakistan, is a menace with the bat.While the favourites put the blinders on in pursuit of victory, the expanded tournament field gives unheralded teams and cricketers the rare chance to step onto the big stage. We get to hear the story of Uganda’s Frank Nsubuga, who at 43 is the oldest player in the tournament. This is the crowning moment for Nsubuga, who has spent his 27-year cricket career in obscurity.The media will take the microphone to Canada’s leg-spinner Junaid ‘The X-Man’ Siddiqui, who grew up playing street cricket in Karachi before moving to Toronto at the age of 13.

3) Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers: Sachin enters semifinals, Amit through to quarters, Ankushita Boro, Sanjeet exit

India’s quest for booking a quota in the women’s 60kg ended with Ankushita Boro 2-3 defeat against Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers here on Friday.India’s quest for booking a quota in the women’s 60kg ended with Ankushita Boro 2-3 defeat against Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers here on Friday. action

India’s quest for booking a quota in the women’s 60kg ended with Ankushita Boro 2-3 defeat against Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Boxing World Olympic Qualifiers here on Friday.Amit Panghal defeated South Korea Kim In-Kyu 5-0 in the men’s 51kg category in the pre-quarterfinals and will need to win one more bout to secure a Paris 2024 ticket. Sachin Siwach is also one win away from an Olympic quota as he defeated Samuel Kistohurry of France by a 4-1 split decision in men’s 57kg category semifinals.

India’s Sanjeet suffered a 0-5 loss against Azerbaijan’s Loren Alfonso in the men’s 92 kg pre-quarters and thereby would not be able to secure an Olympic spot.

The 23-year-old Boro fought hard but her Swedish opponent, a former European Games bronze medallist, dug into her reservoir of experience to pip the Indian.Boro, a former youth world champion, was slow off the blocks, but managed to adapt toward the end of the first round, using straight jabs effectively. It was enough to convinced one judge.Down 1-4, Boro made a blistering start, using the combination of left jab and right cross. The Indian was electric and the 28-year Alexiusson was unable to keep up.

The two entered the third round on equal footing and Boro was able to make early gains but Alexiusson ended the bout stronger taking the split decision win.

Later in the day, Nishant Dev (71kg), Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) and Amit Panghal (51kg) will be in action.

4) Singapore Open 2024: Treesa-Gayatri through to semis

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand registered yet another upset win as they beat the sixth-seeded South Korean duo of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong to enter the semifinals of Singapore Open on Friday.Rising Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand registered yet another upset win as they beat the sixth-seeded South Korean duo of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in a tight contest to enter the semifinals of Singapore Open here on Friday.The unseeded Indian duo came back from behind to notch 18-21, 21-19, 24-22 win in the quarterfinal that lasted one hour and 19 minutes.

The world number 30 Indian duo thus made amends of their defeat to the same opponents at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. On Thursday, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist duo of Treesa and Gayatri had stunned world number two Korean pair of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee in the round of 16.Treesa and Gayatri will be up against fourth-seeded Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the semifinals on Saturday.

Treesa and Gayatri are the only Indians in the fray for a podium finish in the BWF World Tour Super 750 event.PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy had lost their respective women’s and men’s singles matches on Thursday.

5) Who is Nishant Dev, the first Indian male boxer to qualify for Paris Olympics?

Nishant Dev is a World Championships bronze medallist from the 2023 edition of the event held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.Nishant Dev booked his spot for Paris Olympics after beating Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari 5-0 in the men’s 71kg quarterfinals at the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok on Friday.

He is the fourth Indian pugilist to qualify for the Summer Games in the French capital after Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50kg), Preeti Pawar (women’s 54kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg).

The 23-year-old Nishant is a World Championships bronze medallist from the 2023 edition of the event held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His performance in that competition included a famous 5-0 win over Cuba’s Jorge Cuellar in the quarterfinals.

He burst onto the scene when he reached the quarterfinals of the Elite World Boxing Championship in 2021 in his debut International tournament.Hailing from Haryana’s Karnal district, Nishant started boxing in 2012, after getting inspired by his uncle who was a professional boxer. He used to train at Karan stadium under coach Surender Chauhan. Nishant’s father would wake him up at 4am and accompany him to training and do the same in the evening to ensure his son was coached well.

Representing Karnataka, he lost in the quarterfinals at his first Senior National Championships in Baddi in 2019, but impressed the then high-performance director of Indian boxing Santiago Nieva and joined the Indian camp to learn from the best in the business.

In 2021, he won gold at the National Championships and went on to represent India at the World Championships. It was the first International tournament of his career as before that, he had not even competed at Junior or Youth level internationally. He impressed everyone with his fearless boxing as he played without any pressure. He defeated Hungary’s nine-time National Champion Laszlo Kozak in the first round before outclassing two-time Olympian Merven Clair of Mauritius in the second round. High on confidence after defeating two big names, he went on to win against Mexico’s Marco Alvarez Verde before bowing out in the quarter-finals.Nishant dislocated his right shoulder in 2010 after falling down the stairs. This old injury came back to haunt him at the beginning of 2022 as the rod that was put in his shoulder in 2010 got infected. He underwent surgery in March and was in rehab for most of the year. During his rehabilitation period, he had a lot of doubts and insecurities regarding his comeback but working on his strength, power and conditioning. Despite limited training, he came back strong to retain his title at the National Boxing Championships in Hisar in January 2023.

Nishant had come close to clinching the quota for Paris Olympics during the first World Boxing Qualifiers Busto Arsizio, Italy in March this year where he lost 1-4 to USA’s Omari Jones in the quarterfinals.

6) Abhimanyu Mishra, Pranav Anand, Divya Deshmukh among top players at FIDE World Junior Chess C’ship

The 230 chess prodigies from 46 countries, including several GMs, will compete in the prestigious two-week tournament, which will conclude on June 14.The youngest Grandmaster ever Abhimanyu Mishra, representing the USA, Indian GM Pranav Anand and International Master Divya Deshmukh will be among the leading contenders who will be vying for honours when the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship commences here on Saturday.

The 230 chess prodigies from 46 countries, including several GMs, will compete in the prestigious two-week tournament, which will conclude on June 14.The championship, being organised by the Gujarat State Chess Association, aims to promote the sport and provide a platform for young talent to shine on the international stage.

Dev Patel, secretary, All India Chess Federation, said the event will showcase the wealth of talent in chess across the world.

“This event not only highlights the incredible talent of young chess players from around the globe but also underscores the growing importance of chess in fostering intellectual growth and strategic thinking,” said Patel.

 A PART OF YOU – NETFLIX

Netflix’s new offering, A Part of You, is a coming-of-the-age drama that follows Agnes, a teenager, whose entire life turns upside down after a shocking tragedy. As the story progresses, she reinvents herself in an attempt to fulfil her dreams, but life teaches her a lesson when she faces the consequences of her decisions. The series features Felicia Maxime, Edvin Ryding, and Zara Larsson in pivotal roles

DEDH BIGHA ZAMEEN – JIOCINEMA

The list of new OTT releases arriving this Friday includes a hard-hitting movie titled Dedh Bigha Zameen. Starring Pratik Gandhi and Khushali Kumar in lead roles, the movie tells the story of a man who decides to expose the corrupt system when a powerful official takes over his land.

CHHOTA BHEEM AND THE CURSE OF DAMYAAN – THEATRES

This is a live-action-animated movie that centres around Bheem and his friends who travel back in time to save Sonapur from the evil Damyaan. The ensemble cast of the film includes Anupam Kher, Makarand Deshpande, and Mukesh Chhabra, among others.

RAISING VOICES – NETFLIX

This is a gripping series that follows a 17-year-old girl who reports a sexual assault at her high school. The investigation upends her personal life and tests her relationships with everyone around her. The miniseries on the list of new OTT releases arriving this Friday is based on the novel by Miguel Sáez Carral, and stars Nicole Wallace, Clara Galle, and Aïcha Villaverde in pivotal roles.

MR. & MRS. MAHI – THEATRES

The leading duo of film Roohi, Janhvi Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao, has reunited for an entertaining family drama titled Mr. & Mrs. Mahi. The upcoming romantic sports flick delves into the life of a former cricketer who trains and encourages his wife to become a cricketer.

SAVI: A BLOODY HOUSEWIFE – THEATRES

Savi is a simple housewife, who comes up with a dangerous plan to help her husband escape from a high security prison in England. The upcoming theatrical release features Anil Kapoor, Divya Khossla, and Harshvardhan Rane in prominent roles.

BOOK OF THIS WEEK:

WOMEN IN THE WILD : Stories of India’s Most Brilliant Women Wildlife Biologists by Anita Mani (Author)

How many Indian wildlife biologists can you name?

How many Indian women wildlife biologists can you name?

There are several, and their lives and work have been extraordinary.

This is the story of these women and their journeys across the length and breadth of India’s wild spaces – forests, rivers, oceans, mountains – and, more importantly, through the glass ceiling.

Among them are ‘Turtle Girl’ J. Vijaya, one of India’s first female herpetologists whose research into the killing of olive ridley turtles led to Indira Gandhi banning the turtle trade; Jamal Ara, India’s mysterious ‘Birdwoman’; Divya Mudappa, a biologist rewilding fragments of the shola grasslands of the Western Ghats; and Uma Ramakrishnan, whose work is helping us understand the science behind tiger populations.

Anita Mani

Women in the Wild

Women In The Wild: Stories of India’s Most Brilliant Women Wildlife Biologists is a book that does something that no other book within the Indian publishing has achieved. It archives the stories of female wildlife specialists across the continent, and maps their journeys out through the length and breadth of India’s ecosystem—forests, rivers, oceans, mountains and more. It not only gives us an insight into their explorations, but also serves as an inspiration to young girls looking to break the gendered glass ceiling. We’re in conversation with Anita Mani, the curator of the book, who lets us in on her process of how she went about bringing these stories to the forefront.

What was the driving force behind the creation of this book?

To celebrate women in wildlife. Wildlife Biology is a unique field of scientific enquiry that demands a deep understanding of species/landscapes, long working hours far from creature comforts, the ability of problem-solving on your feet, the instinct to put together a team, raise funds for projects and work with government agencies. These women have accomplished so much and it triggered an interest in understanding the hows and whys of their journeys at a deeper level. The other thing was their unique stories. Take for instance, Jamal Ara, India’s long forgotten birdwoman, who taught herself a whole new language and boot-strapped a career in an era when there were few women in wildlife or the Turtle Girl Vijaya who carved out a fantastic legacy as one of India’s first herpetologists, (in the process of re-discovering a long lost turtle species) in the conservative Chennai of the 1980s.

What about the genre of nature writing piques your interest?

Its the ability to transport and transcend the reader from familiar planes and comfort zones. While working on the book, I tramped through the moist forests of north-eastern India, rode the waves on our coasts and tracked tigers and leopards in the central Indian landscapes!

What do you hope readers gauge from this novel?

I hope the book conveys a sense of the journeys each of these women took to get where they are today. For me, this was far more important than their accomplishments. It is also the reason that this book is a compilation of long form pieces.

What did the curatorial process for this book look like? How did you ensure diversity among the voices you were spotlighting? 

The book has been a year in the making. The idea was to feature women whose fieldwork had a substantial impact on species/landscape conservation or whose work had contributed to the resolution of environmental challenges confronting wildlife in India. The aim of the essays was not only to explore the impact of their work but what it took to get them there. Having said that, by no measure is this an exhaustive list of women who tick all the boxes. In terms of diversity, the book features women who have worked in diverse landscapes–from Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to Maharashtra and further south, from the Western Ghats to the high Himalayas. Some work on specific species of birds and mammals and reptiles, while others focus on the broader landscape arc.

You say your journey has been similar to that of a migrating bird—how so?

I started my career with a newspaper—The Hindu Business Line in Chennai, and later briefly the Business Standard, before moving to the corporate sector. I worked with an investment bank and later in a communication software company, before coming back to writing and editing. This was my circle of migration.