11th october 2020
Shorts:
News at a glance
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Trump's blatant refusal (Not the first)
In an alarming and controversial statement, President Donald Trump refused to participate in the virtual Presidential Debate scheduled to happen on the 15th of October. Citing the reasons as ‘a waste of time’, President Trump outright refused to attend the virtual debate.
Earlier scheduled to occur in Cleveland, Ohio, the debate was shifted to a virtual environment following the President getting diagnosed positive for the coronavirus. Before his declaration to withdraw from the debate, the Trump campaign proposed the postponement of the debates by pushing the last two by a week.
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Due to the President’s diagnosis, the Trump family made an alarming move of cancelling their evening ritual of getting into a hot-tub together. Yes, you heard me right, people with the surname of Trump are actually undertaking measures to control the spread of the pandemic.
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Now back to the debate. In response to the Trump campaign’s proposal to postpone the debate, Biden’s spokeswoman responded “Donald Trump can show up, or he can decline again. That’s his choice”. For now amidst the battle between Trump and Biden, the scales seem to be tipping in favour of the Democrat.
Sources: NPR, CNN, Wall Street Journal
What is the future for the second Presidential debate?
Source: Alaska's News Source
Does Saving Our species justify killing others?
Is killing sharks for our survival ethical?
Source: India.com
Sharks and vaccines seem an unlikely duo, but the current state of the world has provided a reason for these two to be unusually linked together. 17 possible vaccine candidates for COVID-19 immunization require squalene, a substance that heightens immune response in humans (medically referred to as an ‘adjuvant’).
However, the only attainable source of squalene is in shark liver. Squalene is required by sharks to maintain their buoyancy underwater. Approximately 3 million sharks are killed every year by the squalene industry alone, as it is widely used in vaccines and cosmetics. However, overfishing and shark fin trade wreak havoc and lead to 100 million deaths of sharks alone.
Companies forecast that half a million sharks may need to be killed for the squalene required to produce approximately two vaccine doses per person. But as future populations grow, more and more sharks will be killed to provide squalene. Organizations such as Shark Allies strive to protect the dwindling numbers of hammerheads, great whites and whale sharks that are targeted by companies, and fear that the pandemic might prove their work worthless.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Deccan Herald
Kamala Vs Pence
-Akshaj Balaji
This past week saw Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris go head-to-head in the Vice Presidential debate leading up to the November 3rd election. Unlike the first Presidential debate, thankfully, decorum was maintained by both candidates during the duration of the debate, and it went relatively smoothly with both parties responding to questions without interrupting for the most part.
After the spreading of COVID-19 around the White House, which infected thirty-four people including President Trump, Kamala Harris and her team insisted that there be plexiglass barriers between her and Mike pence even though Pence had tested negative earlier. So the debate took place at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City with 12 feet social distancing and plexiglass barriers.
The candidates spoke on multiple topics, the first of which was a discussion on the pandemic. Both candidates expressed their empathy to the families of the people who lost their lives due to the virus. In addition to this, Senator Harris elaborated upon her concern that the vaccine was being rushed to have it ready by Election Day and to this, Pence claimed that she was “politicising the virus”.
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During the duration of the debate, Kamala’s biggest gaffe was not knowing the age of her stepchildren when asked about it. Other than this, she answered all the questions and did quite well in keeping
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence faced off in a battle of wits and patience in the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday.
Source: CNN
Pence on the defensive side. Mike Pence, on the other hand deflected several items on the topics of climate change and the fact that President Trump said that he would not provide a peaceful transfer of power.
Overall, Mike Pence’s most humiliating moment was when a fly landed on his head and didn’t leave it for a whole two minutes. This hilarious incident spawned several internet memes telling people to vote for the fly. So to conclude, it is quite clear that Kamala has the upper hand coming out of the debate as she kept her calm and answered most of the questions she was asked.
Sources: ABC News, CNN, NY Times
The Nobel prize 2020
-devansh mishra
“If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.” - Alfred Nobel
Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel established five prizes in 1895. First commemorated in 1901 after him, the prizes were awarded in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Medicine and Physiology, Literature and Peace. In 1968, a prize in Economic Sciences was also put into play, taking the tally up to six prizes. Every year since 1901, a handful of people are bestowed upon with these prizes for recognition of their hard work. These prizes are commonly known as the Nobel Prizes.
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and Trump running for reelection, the 2020 Nobel Prizes have been one of the only spots of sunshine in recent times. The Nobel Physics laureates for this year have been Roger Penrose, Richard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, a rare event of the prize being shared among three people. Dr Penrose definitively proved the existence of black holes with Einstein’s general relativity as an axiom a couple of decades ago. He was also the mastermind behind Penrose diagrams, revolutionising the way we visually understand black holes. On the other hand, Dr Genzel and Dr Ghez in separate teams confirmed the existence of a supermassive black hole at the centre of a massive galaxy and getting their deserved credit.
In the field of Physiology and Medicine, it was the team of Dr Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice who walked away with fame. It was the groundbreaking discovery for a cure of the hepatitis-C virus which earned them the prestigious award.
On the Chemistry side of things, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna who stole the show. This achievement was because of their inspired work for the development of a new method of genome editing termed CRISPR/Cas9.
Top: The visionary, Alfred Nobel
Bottom: The Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Physiology
Source: NY Times
The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Louise Glück on Thursday. She is known as one of America’s most celebrated poets for some of her famous works like Triumph of Achilles (1985) and The Wild Iris (1992). She was known “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”
In a hard-fought battle, Sweden awarded the World Food Program (WFP) with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. This organisation was instrumental in decreasing world hunger and helping out millions of people in more than 88 countries, earning their spot among the top honours in the prize.
The Nobel Prize is a symbol of hope and achievement in life, and that is what we need in these testing times.
Sources: NY Times