UpFront
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In a world let loose, video game-makers are 'doubling down'
Video game companies are among the pandemic winners that are declaring they still plan to go full steam ahead, even as the coronavirus lockdowns that powered their businesses over the past 15 months have largely been lifted
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How 'Friends' helps people around the world learn English
Seventeen years after the final "Friends" episode, students and educators say that the show, still seen widely in syndication around the world, works well as a learning resource
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World No Tobacco Day 2021: 2/3rd of world's smoking population lives in 10 countries, India ranks second
The World Health Organisation's (WHO) theme this year is 'Commit to Quit'. Nearly 60% of tobacco users around the world want to quit smoking, but only 30% of the global population have access to quality tobacco cessation services. This smoking population is concentrated in 10 countries and India ranks second behind China
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India's pharma companies are readying 900 million doses of Sputnik V. Can it pull the country out of its Covid-19 mess?
Amid concerns surrounding Sputnik V and the launch of a single-dose vaccine, Indian companies, including Hetero, Stelis, Biopharma and Gland Pharma are on track to make millions of doses of the Russian vaccine in a bid to alleviate the country's supply constraints
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World No Tobacco Day: 780 million people want to quit smoking but only 30% have access to tools to kick the habit
Grim global data reveals 90 percent new smokers are under 25, and two-thirds of smokers live in only 10 countries, including India
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Activists crashed Exxon's board, but forcing change will be hard
Getting Exxon, a behemoth company with $265 billion in revenue in 2019 and oil and gas fields around the world, to switch to cleaner energy will be a yearslong and difficult process
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Why Apple and Google's virus alert apps had limited success
Unlike virus-tracing apps that continuously track users' whereabouts, the Apple and Google software relies on Bluetooth signals, which can estimate the distance between smartphones without needing to know people's locations
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Ten interesting things we read this week
Some of the most fascinating topics covered this week are: Business (Embracing Jeff Bezos' 'Scope'; Electric-car lesson that China is serving up for America), Technology (Using AI to catch online defamation; International phishing expedition looking to hook India's big fish), Covid (Did people or nature open Pandora's box at Wuhan?; BMC Commissioner on tackling oxygen shortage, vaccination tsunami and more), and Extreme Sports (The toughest, weirdest race you've never heard of).
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HCQ to Ivermectin: Why India has got it wrong in Covid-19 treatment
There are drugs that continue to be on the health ministry's treatment protocol despite evidence not inspiring confidence, while the regulator is approving medicines without following due scientific process, experts say
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A temporary US-China trade truce starts to look durable
The prospects for a far-reaching new deal this year are slim, with the Biden administration drafting a comprehensive strategy toward China, a complex interagency procedure that could last into early next year
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US is said to have unexamined intel to pore over on virus's origin
In addition to marshalling scientific resources, Biden's push is intended to prod American allies and intelligence agencies to mine existing information as well as hunt for new intelligence to determine whether the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak