Keel Laid Two Next-Gen Offshore Patrol Vessels To Expand Coast Guard Fleet

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

On Tuesday the Indian Coast Guard completed a milestone in its expansion program in fleet with the keel laying of two new generation offshore patrol vessels at a shipyard in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.

The Yard 16402 and Yard 16403 ceremony, which is the second and third ships in a series of six, took place at a plant run by the partner yard of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, as part of an indigenous shipbuilding project under the push of the Indian government to be self-reliant in defence production.

The ships are designed under the government procurement route of Buy (Indian-IDDM), where the government procurement focus is on the local design, development and production. In December 2023, the contract of all six ships was signed.

The new offshore patrol vessels are strategized to have a long sea range as authorities claim that they can operate in the sea up to a distance of 5,000 nautical miles and at maximum speed of 23 knots. The length of every ship will be about 117 metres and will have 11 officers and 110 personnel.

AI-Based Predictive Maintenance

The sites will be prepared with modernized systems such as AI-based predictive maintenance, remotely operated drones, an Integrated Bridge System and an Integrated Platform Management System – systems that will promote efficiency at work and minimize downtimes.

Inspector General Sudhir Sahni, Deputy Director General (Materials and Maintenance), conducted the keel laying, an important occasion in the life of a ship that formally started the building of a vessel, in the company of top officials of the Coast Guard and the shipyard.

It is hoped that as the new vessels will be induced, the Coast Guard will be made more capable of carrying out surveillance, search and rescue, and law enforcement operations within the vast maritime areas of India. It is also introduced at the time of growing focus on coastal security and protection of maritime interests.

According to the officials, the project is part of continuing to modernise the fleet of the Coast Guard and assist in developing domestic shipbuilding capacities as part of the government initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

DNA Gaps: Why Most Neanderthal Men Preferred to Sleep With Modern Female Humans?

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

The latest genetic study indicates that initial interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans were uneven, with some indication that most of the Neanderthals were men who slept with female modern humans, which could be the reason behind long term gaps in human DNA.

The experiment conducted by researcher, Alexander Platt and other researchers, investigates the distribution of Neanderthal genetic material in current human beings. Although the majority of those not in Africa have some traces of Neanderthal ancestry, these have been distributed unevenly throughout the human genome.

A particularly interesting characteristic is the existence of so-called Neanderthal deserts – large areas of the DNA, in which the genetic material of Neanderthals is virtually nonexistent. These deletions are more pronounced in the X chromosome and this poses a question on how the ancient interbreeding process occurred.

There has been long speculation among scientists as to whether these deletions were due to natural selection (whereby the deleterious Neanderthal genes are becoming more and more extinct) or that the interbreeding itself is the cause.

The researchers reversed the question to investigate. They did not simply study the Neanderthal DNA of the contemporary human beings, but rather the remnants of the early modern human DNA in the Neanderthal genomes. The comparison of these with genetic data of the sub-Saharan African populations, most of which do not have Neanderthal ancestry, helped the team recreate ancient gene flow patterns between the two groups.

Great Imbalances in DNA

Their results showed a great imbalance: the proportion of the modern human DNA in the Neanderthal X chromosomes was much higher than anticipated- approximately 62 percent higher. Researchers believe that such an asymmetry can best be attributed to the possibility that the vast majority of the interbreeding took place between male Neanderthals and female modern humans.

This would limit the survival of Neanderthal X-linked DNA into the subsequent generations of human population because males can only transmit their X chromosome to the females. This would over time lead to the low concentration of Neanderthal genetic material on the human X chromosome today.

The paper also indicates that social or behavioural influences, including mate preferences, could have contributed to the development of such patterns, but demographic influence, such as the variation in number or migration cannot be disqualified.

Natural Selection Behind Imbalance?

Moreover, this imbalance was probably supported by natural selection. Dangerous or incompatible genes of Neanderthals especially those associated with significant biological functions might have been gradually eliminated in human gene pool across generations.

The results provide a new understanding of the complicated relationships between the early human groups and the ones closest to their evolutionary lineage not only regarding genetic inheritance but also on social process that might have influenced the evolution of humans.

Using the combination of genomic evidence and evolutionary modelling, researchers indicate that the study is leading scientists nearer to the realization of how ancient interbreeding events still impact the genetic landscape of modern humans.

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Organ Donations After Cardiac Death Soar in US, Expand Transplant Lifeline

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

One of the significant changes in the way people approach organ donation in the United States is the growing availability of transplantation organs, with almost half of all donors being patients whose heart has gone dead, according to latest studies.

According to the study by scientists at NYU Langone Health, it has been established that donation after circulatory death (DCD) has increased significantly in the last 25 years – marking an increase of 2 percent of all donors in 2000 to 49 percent in 2025. According to the findings published in Journal of the American Medicine, the development of medical technology is transforming transplant medicine.

The growth has been realized when demand is acute. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 individuals are already on transplant waiting lists in the U.S., and this fact requires finding new sources of viable organs.

Conventionally, organs donated have been infected out of patients who have been declared brain dead, those organs keep being oxygenated with the heart still beating. Conversely, DCD deals with patients who are not yet dead, but are on life support. In case life-sustaining treatment is withdrawn and the patient dies in a given period, then organs can be removed to be transplanted, though it must be otherwise previously agreed.

Drawbacks Overcome With Tech

In past, organs transplanted by such sources were less viable because of a short period of lack of oxygen following the cessation of the heart. Nevertheless, these drawbacks have been overcome with the recent technology advances.

Improved organ preservation has been achieved using techniques like normothermic regional perfusion in which blood flow to organs is resumed following cardiac death and machine perfusion systems in which oxygenated fluids are delivered extravascularly. These inventions have made innovations through which the surgeons can safely utilize organs that were not considered to be perfect.

According to researchers, this has expanded the pool of donors. The researchers discovered that current DCD donors are older individuals with higher probabilities of underlying diseases like diabetes or hypertension as compared to previous generation, which is more inclusive in the selection of the donor.

Syed Ali Husain, the lead author, indicated that the increase in circulatory-death donations is already producing a tangible impact, and thousands of patients were already getting transplants who otherwise would not have been able to survive the wait.

Regional Disparity Persists

The national data on transplants also indicated that there were disparities in the connections of the regions. DCD donors contributed up to 73 per cent of all donations in certain regions of the country and only 11 per cent in other regions indicating a lack of balance in the practice.

The researchers working on the study underlined the importance of developing uniform national standards and ongoing involvement of the population to protect the ethics and preserve a trusting attitude towards the process of donating.

Researchers believe that more papers are required to understand long-term outcomes and enhance protocols as the DCD is becoming more popular. Further research will aim to enhance the process of donor identification and understand the performance of organs of donors who died of a circulatory death as opposed to the performance of organs of those who died of a traditional brain-death.

The results represent an important development in the field of transplant medicine – one that may aid in reducing the disparity between supply and demand of organs, and also pose new challenges to clinical practice, ethics and popular opinion.

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Bull Sharks Form Social Bonds, Finds Study; Changes age-Old Perception of Predators

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

A recently published long-term study has been carried out in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji which has discovered that bull sharks have stable social connections, that they show preferences towards particular companions instead of associating with anyone randomly, which supports the old view of sharks as highly individualistic creatures.

The study conducted by the scientists at the University of Exeter, Lancaster University, Fiji Shark Lab and Beqa Adventure Divers monitored the behaviour of 184 bull sharks during six years. The analysis of people at three stages of life has been made sub-adults, adults and older, post-reproductive sharks, which provides one of the most comprehensive insights to date on shark social structure.

The researchers claim that the sharks showed what they refer to as active social preferences and the sharks often associate with specific individuals and shun certain individuals. These relationships were assessed using proximity of sharks which swam within one body length of one another and more complex relationships like parallel swimming and the pattern of the leader-follower movements.

According to lead researcher Natasha D. Marosi, the results indicate that there are similarities between the results and social behaviour in humans and other animals whereby people do not interact randomly but instead have a range of relationships.

In the study, the adult sharks constituted the center of these social networks and the most common and close interaction were among the sharks of the same size. Conversely, younger sub-adults and older sharks were not as socially bound meaning that there might be differences in social activity among life stages.

Males Prefer Larger Number of Social Contacts

It was also found by the researchers that both male and female sharks preferred associating with females. Nevertheless, males were determined to have a larger number of social contacts in general. The study hypothesizes one possible reason, which is that larger male sharks can reduce the threats of aggression by other large sharks through heightened social integration.

Professor Darren Croft of the University of Exeter stated that the research evidence suggests the degree of behavioural sophistication which is not normally associated with sharks, indicating that sociality can confer benefits such as foraging success, learning and mating opportunities and avoiding conflict.

The Shark Reef Marine Reserve, which is an enclosed zone where sharks flock throughout the year allowed tracking the same species over a period of time. This consistency enabled scholars to examine how social associations were changed with the passage of time as the sharks grew old.

The paper also emphasized the fact that younger sharks are more likely to be found in other habitats including nearshore, rivers and estuaries where evading predators, including adult bull sharks is their main survival strategy. Few sub-adults were seen coming into the reserve with some seemingly being able to establish relationships with older sharks, which could have helped them integrate and learn.

In the old sharks, however, the researcher found them to be less active socially, which they theorize might indicate a certain level of experience in hunting and survival, and therefore, experience no necessity of social interaction.

Researchers say that the findings may be used in conservation efforts. The improved knowledge of shark socialization can be used to inform the management policy, especially in the protection zones where human activity and ecotourism overlap with the marine ecosystems.

Fiji Shark Lab is currently collaborating with Fiji Ministry of Fisheries to integrate the behavioural perspectives of the study into the conservation process since scientists keep on trying to understand the social lifestyle of shark species, which have been severely misinterpreted over a long period of time.

Poor smoke does not equal poor risk: All solid fuels identified to produce ultrafine particles

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

University of Galway-led research has discovered that when low smoke manufactured fuels are burnt, they emit minute ultrafine particles which may be even more detrimental to human health.

The Ryan Institute at the University conducted several controlled burn experiments with peat, wood, “low-smoke” manufactured products, such as “low-smoke” coal – since 2022, banned in domestic stoves – and several domestic heating fuels to figure out precisely what various domestic fuels emit to the air.

The scientists quantified the smoke with sophisticated equipment that relies on monitoring the number of particles that are generated, their size, and their composition.

The team also took real-life measurements of air in Dublin and Birr, Co Offaly over a period of several years and thus they were able to compare lab results and what people actually breath in during periods of winter pollution.

With the help of these measurements and known statistical fingerprinting methods and proven lung-deposition models, the researchers were able to determine the most harmful contribution of fumes by different fuels and how deep these particles may enter the respiratory system.

The findings – the ones witnessed in a low smoke zone in Ireland and applicable in the rest of Europe and with immense implications on the regions that are in an extremely rapid transition like those in China and India – indicate that the EU, international and national regulatory frameworks must react quicker to the accumulating body of scientific evidence.

This study was published in Nature Geosciences.

This was a research conducted by the Centre of Climate and Air Pollution Studies, Ryan Institute, University of Galway, in conjunction with Irish, Chinese, Australian and USA partners.

Director of the Centre of Climate and Air Pollution Studies, Professor Jurgita Ovadnevaite at the Ryan Institute, University of Galway, stated: “In an attempt to reduce the amount of particulate mass, our research indicates that emissions of the smallest particles have been inadvertently increased and this could be even more detrimental to the human condition than the larger ones. These ultrafine particles of the low smoke fuels get to the deepest point of the lungs, then to the cardiovascular system and it even gets to the brain.

On this basis, we highlight why we should abandon residential solid fuel burning as one of the broader societal goals to decarbonise the economy by 2050.

The research also reveals that there is a serious necessity to revise EU and International air quality standards and cover ultrafine particles in the list of pollutants so that the mass concentration may be managed without an increase in the number of ultrafine particles.

In the study, it is shown that the substitution of smoky fuels with the low-smoke counterparts doubles and even triples the amount of ultrafines emissions.

Taking into account the fact that the smaller ultrafine particles are capable of penetrating more deeply into the lungs and settling there, the newly recorded trend can offset some of the benefits of the reduction in smoke emission. Rather than decreasing the total exposure of the human being to ultrafine particles by decreasing the total mass of the particulate matter (PM), it leads to a subsequent increase in the number of ultrafine particles and, possibly, health effects.

Air pollution/Photo:en.wikipedia.org

Literature indicates that the concentrations of the number of particles in the air are greatly (ten times) underrated in the existing air quality models.
Air pollution causes a number of several million premature deaths every year around the world. One of the greatest factors contributing to this frightening statistic is exposure to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5; less than 2.5 um in diameter). PM2.5 pollution is associated with over 1,700 premature deaths per year even in Ireland, which is commonly viewed to have clean air. Ultrafine particles (smaller than 100 nm in diameter), in comparison to PM2.5, cause more severe pulmonary inflammation and long-term lung retention because of their potential to penetrate deep to the respiratory tract even through the bloodbrain barrier. They become more toxic with diminishing size, greater specific surface area, constituents that are bound on the surface and their intrinsic physical characteristics.

Although the health impact of ultrafine particles continues to be identified as a health issue in the European policy, with the recent amendment of the Ambient Air Quality Directive (EU 2024/2881), the first time that includes the obligatory monitoring of ultrafine particles in the Member States. This research contributes to the literature that the directive should extend further and establish binding regulatory limit values of ultrafine particles.

The Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies, University of Galway, offers evidence to policymakers in the country and EU, aiding in the formulation of air-quality standards, emission-reduction policies and planning of climate actions. Its effort is the foundation of the ability of Ireland to comply with new regulatory standards, such as the new EU regulations on the ultrafine particle monitoring.

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Researchers Develop System with 99.96% Accuracy to Stem Real-Time Cyber Attack

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Srinivas Chakravarty

Researchers at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman have developed an advanced intrusion detection system (IDS) that can identify cyber attacks with near-perfect accuracy while dramatically reducing processing time, according to a paper published in The Journal of Engineering Research (TJER).

The proposed system, which combines a double feature selection method with a stacked ensemble machine learning approach, achieved accuracy levels of up to 99.96 percent on benchmark datasets, with false alarm rates as low as 0.007 percent and detection times under 13 seconds.

As cyber threats targeting IoT devices, cloud computing infrastructure, and high-speed networks grow increasingly sophisticated, the research addresses critical vulnerabilities in existing detection methods that struggle with redundant feature processing, lengthy training periods, and imbalanced datasets.

The system implements a two-phase feature reduction process designed to eliminate computational waste while preserving detection power. The Variance Threshold is first applied to remove low-variance features that contribute little to threat identification. This is followed by the Select-K-Best technique, which retains only the most relevant attributes for classification.

Through this rigorous filtration, the researchers successfully narrowed down datasets to as few as 13 or 19 significant features—a dramatic reduction that slashes processing time without compromising detection capability. This efficiency gain is critical for real-time cybersecurity applications where milliseconds matter.

At the heart of the system lies a stacking ensemble classification structure. Base learners consist of K-Nearest Neighbors and Gaussian Naive Bayes algorithms, which feed into a Random Forest classifier serving as the meta-classifier. The Random Forest model is optimized using Grid Search cross-validation to ensure peak performance.

This layered approach allows the system to leverage the strengths of multiple algorithms while compensating for individual weaknesses, resulting in more robust and reliable threat detection.

Rigorous Testing on Contemporary Threat Datasets

The model was validated using two benchmark datasets widely recognized in cybersecurity research: CIC-IDS2017 and CIC-DDoS2019. These datasets contain representations of current cyber attack types, including distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, brute force attempts, port scans, web application attacks, and bot activity.

The first stage involves feature selection, where a Double Feature Selection method is applied to identify the most relevant and influential features for training the model. In the second stage, the model is developed using an ensemble machine learning stacking approach by combining K-Nearest Neighbors and Gaussian Naive Bayes classifiers with a Random Forest classifier. A final classifier is then produced by selecting the optimal features for each classifier at each stage / THE JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH 2025;22:173–186

Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed system “outperforms various existing intrusion detection methods, effectively overcoming common shortcomings such as redundant feature processing, extended training times, and the challenges posed by imbalanced datasets where attack samples are significantly outnumbered by normal traffic.”

Real-World Applications

The authors emphasize that the method’s combination of efficient feature engineering and ensemble learning makes it suitable for practical, real-time cybersecurity deployments. As networks grow faster and more complex, the ability to detect threats quickly and accurately becomes increasingly critical for protecting infrastructure, data, and users.

Looking ahead, the researchers recommend “extending the approach to IoT environments, where resource constraints make lightweight yet accurate detection essential.” They also suggest integrating deep learning models with the current framework to further enhance detection capabilities against evolving threat landscapes.

The study adds to growing body of research exploring artificial intelligence applications in cybersecurity, a field racing to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated attack methods targeting everything from personal devices to critical national infrastructure.

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What are PM MITRA Parks and where are they set up?

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Srinivas Chakravarty

The Government has finalized setting up of PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks at 7 sites viz. Tamil Nadu (Virudhnagar), Telangana (Warangal), Gujarat (Navasari), Karnataka (Kalaburagi), Madhya Pradesh (Dhar), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) and Maharashtra (Amravati) with an outlay of Rs. 4,445 cr for a period of seven years upto 2027-28.

A total of 18 proposals were received from 13 State Governments. After evaluating proposals received from different State Governments via a transparent challenge matrix, the 7 sites as above were finalized for setting up of PM MITRA Parks.

The state-wise details of land acquired, current status of land development and trunk infrastructure are as under:-

State	Land acquired (in Acres)	Current status of land development of core and external infrastructure (Upto 31.01.2026)
Madhya Pradesh	2,158	Works Worth Rs. 817.19 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Tamil Nadu	1,052	Works Worth Rs. 577.8 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Gujarat	1,142	Works Worth Rs. 496.4 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Karnataka	1,000	Works Worth Rs. 50.9 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Uttar Pradesh	1,000	Works Worth Rs. 990.71 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Maharashtra	1,020	Works Worth Rs. 685.18 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure
Telangana	1,327	Works Worth Rs. 759.99 Cr. are under execution for development of core and/or External infrastructure

Under the component of Development Capital Support (DCS) of PM MITRA Park Scheme, a total of Rs 160 cr has been released to the States of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra. In addition, infrastructure works worth Rs 2,160.17 cr for providing external infrastructure till the park gates have been started by the state governments and an expenditure of Rs. 564.72 cr has been incurred so far.

In PM MITRA Park Madhya Pradesh, 1,130.28 acres of land has been allotted to investors with a proposed investment of Rs 21,436.91 cr. In Tamil Nadu, 190.44 acres of land have been allotted to investors with proposed investment of Rs 2,192.21 cr. In Telangana, an investment of Rs 3,862 cr has been grounded so far with 540.41 acres of land already allotted. The total investment interest received across all parks so far is Rs 63,177 Cr. Once completed, it is expected that each PM MITRA Park will generate 3 lakh (direct/indirect) employment across all elements of textiles value chain benefitting all segments of the population including local comminutes

The PM MITRA Parks Scheme was approved for a period of seven years till 2027-28.

In the Union Budget 2026-27, an announcement regarding setting up of Mega Textile Parks in challenge mode along with a focus on bringing value addition to technical textiles was made by the Hon’ble Finance Minister.

In order to ensure early sanction and quick implementation of the Scheme, the Ministry has initiated a process of stakeholder consultation with State Governments and other stakeholders. It has also constituted a Joint Working Group to discuss scheme guidelines, eligibility criteria, selection process and evaluation parameters.

This information was provided by textiles minister Giriraj Singh in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

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Sarvam AI Powering a Made-in-India Tech Revolution

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Bharath Panchajanya

India’s emergence as a global digital power now hinges on its ability to build artificial intelligence systems that are indigenous, inclusive, and aligned with national priorities.

As AI increasingly shapes governance, public services, industry, and citizen engagement, the need for homegrown foundational models has become important. These models must be trained on Indian languages, local data, and real-world contexts to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

Built with the vision of creating AI systems specifically for India, Sarvam AI is an organization that is developing artificial intelligence tailored to India’s needs by building foundational components and applying them to the country’s unique linguistic, enterprise, and governance requirements. The company has built a full-stack AI platform, with everything developed, deployed, and governed entirely in India. These enterprise grade platforms reflect the country’s linguistic diversity and are designed to support public service delivery. Its work directly addresses long-standing barriers in accessibility, multilingual communication, and dependence on foreign AI infrastructure.

At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that Sarvam AI exemplifies why the future belongs to India. He noted that the company “is ensuring technology reaches every citizen, advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat, where innovation serves as a trusted ally in empowering people and strengthening the nation.”

Driving Digital Self-Reliance through Indigenous AI Models

Strengthening indigenous AI infrastructure is central to India’s vision of technological sovereignty, digital self-reliance, and inclusive growth. In an era where artificial intelligence shapes governance, economic competitiveness, and citizen services, building AI systems rooted in local languages, datasets, and regulatory frameworks ensures that innovation aligns with national priorities and societal needs. Indigenous AI development not only safeguards strategic autonomy but also fosters economic resilience and equitable access to emerging technologies.

In this context, Sarvam AI stands out as one of the 12 organisations selected under the Innovation Centre pillar of the IndiaAI Mission to develop indigenous foundational models, with financial and compute support amounting to Rs.246.72 crore.

The company is building large language and speech models (LLMs) tailored for Indian languages and public service delivery, with capabilities such as voice-based interfaces, document processing, and citizen-centric applications that enhance accessibility and ease of use. By developing homegrown AI models aligned with national objectives, Sarvam AI is reducing reliance on foreign AI systems while strengthening the open-source ecosystem and enabling innovation across startups, academia, research institutions, and industry.

An AI model is a computer program trained on vast amounts of data to recognize patterns, make predictions, or generate new content, acting like a digital brain.

Sarvam AI’s models include:

Bulbul (Text-to-Speech): Available in 11 Indian languages with 39 distinct speaker voices.
Saaras (Speech-to-Text): Supports all 22 scheduled languages, 8kHz telephony audio, and code-mixed speech.
Vision (Document Understanding): Tailored for 22+ Indian languages, mixed scripts, and handwritten text

Through these foundational capabilities, Sarvam AI demonstrates how India-centric AI can evolve into scalable, resilient, and population-scale digital infrastructure, enhancing public service delivery, improving linguistic accessibility, and reinforcing India’s journey toward a globally competitive AI ecosystem.

Full-Stack Sovereign AI Ecosystem of Sarvam AI

Sarvam AI has built a comprehensive, full-stack sovereign AI ecosystem designed to serve enterprises, governments, developers, and creators across India. Developed end-to-end within the country spanning compute infrastructure, foundational models, platforms, and real-world applications. The ecosystem reflects commitment to technological self-reliance in artificial intelligence.

An AI stack is the complete set of tools and systems that work together to build and run AI applications. These applications range from everyday tools such as Siri and Alexa, to advanced systems used in healthcare diagnostics, financial fraud detection, and transportation.

What Sarvam AI ecosystem consists of?

Sarvam for Conversations: Enterprise-grade (high capacity) conversational AI delivering human-like, culturally fluent voices in 11 Indian languages. Handles over 100 million interactions with 500ms latency, deploys within 24 hours, and achieves up to 10x ROI.
Sarvam for Work: A unified enterprise AI platform that accelerates value creation through an AI-assisted build-debug-optimize cycle. Open and modular, it integrates seamlessly with any model, data source, or infrastructure.
Sarvam AI for Content: Enables multilingual video dubbing with voice cloning and precise audio-visual sync, along with document translation that preserves layout and tone, supported by built-in quality review and editing tools.
Sarvam AI for Edge Intelligence: Delivers compact, low-latency multimodal AI for real-world deployment, combining edge and cloud inference to power real-time assistants, on-device NLP, and high-speed translation and summarisation.

Through this integrated architecture, Sarvam AI is not merely building applications but establishing a scalable digital backbone for India’s AI future. By converging infrastructure, language intelligence, enterprise capability, and edge deployment into one sovereign ecosystem, it positions India to innovate independently, deploy responsibly, and compete globally, while ensuring that advanced AI remains accessible, secure, and aligned with national development priorities.

Strategic Partnerships For Public Service Delivery

Sarvam AI’s institutional collaborations are transforming indigenous innovation into measurable public value across India. By working closely with national and state governments, the company is embedding advanced AI capabilities into critical service delivery systems.

UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) partnered with Sarvam AI to enhance Aadhaar services using AI-driven voice interaction, real-time fraud detection, and multilingual support. A custom GenAI stack will operate within UIDAI’s secure, on-premise infrastructure, supporting 10 Indian languages with real-time enrolment feedback and fraud alerts.

The Government of Odisha in collaboration with Sarvam AI are establishing a 50MW AI-optimized Sovereign AI Capacity Hub to serve as a national compute backbone. It will support AI use cases in mining, industrial safety, and Odia-language skilling, contributing to the sovereign compute grid.

The Government of Tamil Nadu and IIT Madras, in collaboration with Sarvam, are developing Digital Sangam, India’s first Sovereign AI Research Park, anchored by a 20MW AI data center to integrate advanced compute, research, and startup incubation for large-scale AI applications. Collectively, these initiatives demonstrate how coordinated public partnerships can deploy homegrown AI infrastructure at massive scale.

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Middle East War Day 18: How Is Trump Trapped Between War and Campaign Promise? Choice Before Iran

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Sridhar P

US President Donald Trump is badly trapped between his campaign promises against war and the strategic quicksand he has walked into on February 28, 2026, joining Israeli attacks on Iran, killing its top leadership. As the escalated war enters Day 18, Trump has no good options, and his reaction will likely be driven by ego and legacy, not ideology.

Option 1: The “Splendid Little War” Exit
Trump could simply declare victory. He could point to the killing of Khamenei and the degradation of Iranian military assets and say “mission accomplished.” However, the article argues this is harder than it sounds. Iran will not stop attacking US assets just because Trump stops. A unilateral withdrawal would leave Israel exposed and Gulf states vulnerable, and it would signal to the world that American might has limits.

Option 2: Double Down (Boots on the Ground)
This is the nightmare scenario. Trump repeatedly promised never to put American boots on the ground in Iran. But the article suggests it may be the only way to ensure a regime amenable to his demands. Given his political base and his “no new wars” brand, this is highly unlikely unless Iran pulls off a massive, embarrassing attack on US soldiers.

Option 3: Outsource the War
Arming Kurdish or ethnic factions sounds tempting, but the analysis calls this a “recipe for disaster.” It would fragment the opposition, drive neutral Iranians toward the regime, and create regional instability. Trump likes quick fixes, and this is a messy, long-term quagmire. He will likely avoid it.

Option 4: Pressure Israel
Trump retains massive leverage over Netanyahu due to Israel’s dependence on US military aid. If Trump decides the war is bad for his legacy and bad for the economy, he will force Israel to accept constraints. He will trade future Israeli strike capabilities for a ceasefire that stabilizes oil markets.

US President Donald Trump /White House

Trump is likely to seek a ceasefire, even if it means wrestling a concession from Israel. He did not start this war to die in it. He started it to look strong, and now he needs to end it without looking weak. The tragedy, as the author notes, is that the silent majority of Iranians who just want a decent life will be the ones left holding the pieces.

Iran’s Choice Backed by 40-Year-Long Strategy

Iran’s options are limited, but its strategy is clear: it is choosing to bleed the clock rather than win the battle. Tehran knows it cannot defeat the US military in a conventional face-off. So, it is playing the long game.

Choice 1: Inflict Enough Pain to Force a Choice on Trump
Iran’s strategic objective is to make the war so costly for the US and global markets that Trump is forced to negotiate a ceasefire on terms that benefit Tehran. Specifically, Iran wants assurances that future Israeli strikes will be constrained. They are betting that Trump cares more about oil prices and his legacy than about permanently erasing the Islamic Republic.

Choice 2: Hold Back Capabilities
Iran is deliberately not unleashing its full arsenal. It has refrained from unleashing the Houthis fully, launching broad cyberattacks, or mounting terrorism against US interests abroad. This is a calculated choice to keep reserves in the bank, ensuring that the regime can survive a long war of attrition without triggering an immediate apocalyptic escalation.

Choice 3: Nuclear Option
While not explicitly stated, the consequence is that if the Islamic regime feels existential threat, racing toward a nuclear weapon remains a theoretical backstop. However, for now, they are choosing protracted pain over desperate measures.

India’s Silver Economy Emerges as ₹73,000 Crore Opportunity as Senior Citizens Double by 2050

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

India’s “silver economy”, the ecosystem of goods and services catering to the elderly, is rapidly transitioning from a niche social welfare concern into a formidable economic driver, currently valued at approximately ₹73,000 crore ($8.8 billion) and poised for explosive growth in the coming decades.

With the country’s senior population projected to surge from 153 million in 2020 to 347 million by 2050—more than doubling in three decades—the sector is expected to expand at an annual rate of 20 percent, potentially reaching $50 billion by 2030, according to government and industry data .

This demographic shift, which will see the elderly share of India’s population climb from 11 percent to 21 percent by mid-century, is reshaping everything from housing and healthcare to financial services and technology adoption. The old-age dependency ratio is forecast to move from 16 percent in 2020 to 34 percent by 2050, fundamentally altering family structures and caregiving dynamics across the nation .

Senior Living Market Gains Momentum

The most visible manifestation of this transition is the booming senior living housing market, which is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 17.4 percent. Industry research indicates the sector was valued at $3.55 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $14.14 billion by 2031, registering a remarkable CAGR of 25.92 percent during the forecast period .

Major players including Ashiana Housing, Antara Senior Care, and Columbia Pacific Communities are aggressively developing age-friendly “lifestyle” projects, expanding beyond traditional southern strongholds into northern and western metropolitan regions. This geographic diversification is being encouraged by state-level incentives that reduce transaction costs for older buyers.

Independent living currently dominates the market with a 64.50 percent share, where residents purchase or rent units resembling standard apartments but benefit from emergency call systems, housekeeping, and recreational programs. Assisted living, though smaller, carries a 27.35 percent CAGR, with developers now creating “continuum-of-care” campuses where independent, assisted, and memory-care wings sit side by side—allowing residents to shift care levels without leaving familiar surroundings .

However, adoption faces cultural headwinds. The Longitudinal Ageing Study of India reports that 26.7 percent of urban elders now live alone, yet the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 reinforces expectations of at-home care. Current penetration of senior living communities stands at merely 1 percent, compared to 11 percent in the United Kingdom, suggesting vast headroom for growth despite lingering stigma .

Healthcare Transformation and Government Initiatives

The healthcare dimension of the silver economy is equally transformative. With over 75 percent of Indian seniors living with chronic diseases, demand for home-based medical services, telemedicine, wearable health trackers, and remote monitoring is rising sharply. The Ayush sector—Ayurveda and Yoga—is seeing increased demand for preventive care among health-conscious older adults .

The Union government has responded with significant policy interventions. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the SAGE Portal, supporting startups developing elderly-care products with equity funding up to ₹1 crore, and the SACRED Portal, a digital platform helping citizens over 60 find re-employment opportunities .

Most significantly, the Union Cabinet recently approved expanding Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) to provide free health coverage of ₹5 lakh per year for all senior citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of income. This groundbreaking move aims to benefit approximately 4.5 crore families containing six crore senior citizens .

“The eligible senior citizens will be issued a new distinct card under AB PM-JAY,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced. Senior citizens aged 70 and above belonging to families already covered under the scheme will receive an additional top-up cover of up to ₹5 lakh per year exclusively for themselves, which they need not share with other family members below 70 .

President Droupadi Murmu, addressing a joint sitting of Parliament in January, highlighted that during the past year-and-a-half, Vay Vandana cards have been issued to approximately one crore senior citizens, with nearly eight lakh receiving free treatment as hospital in-patients .

Budget 2026: Building Care Infrastructure

The Union Budget 2026-27 has doubled down on elderly care infrastructure, announcing that approximately one lakh allied health professionals will be added across ten disciplines—including optometry, radiology, anaesthesia, and applied psychology—over the next five years. The Union Health Ministry has been allocated ₹1,000 crore for the Scheme for Allied Health Care Professionals for the first time .

Additionally, a focused programme will train 1.5 lakh geriatric caregivers, addressing the rapidly rising long-term care needs of India’s elderly population. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that programmes aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) will be developed to train multi-skilled caregivers combining core care skills with wellness, yoga, and operation of medical devices .

“A strong care ecosystem, covering geriatric and allied care services will be built,” Sitharaman said while presenting the Budget. “In the coming year, 1.5 lakh caregivers will be trained” .

This workforce expansion addresses critical shortages. According to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Health Workforce Accounts, India currently has about 12–13 lakh allied health professionals, while workforce assessments suggest the country requires at least 25–30 lakh to meet current and projected demand—implying a shortfall of over 10 lakh workers .

Financial Framework and Challenges

On the financial front, the Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme remains a primary tool for steady returns, while Atal Pension Yojana enrolments have reached over 8.27 crore by late 2025. Budget 2026 discussions have proposed increasing the standard deduction to ₹90,000 from ₹75,000 to ease the tax burden on retirees, alongside a ₹10,000 crore Biopharma Shakti initiative to boost domestic medicine manufacturing, aiming for long-term affordability of chronic disease drugs .

Yet significant challenges persist. India produces fewer than 80 geriatricians annually, creating a critical workforce gap. Limited digital literacy hinders many seniors from accessing online health and financial services, while accessible public transport and “barrier-free” urban design remain underdeveloped outside major urban centers .

Writing in The Times of India, public health professional Pratima Kishore and geriatrician Dr. Abhishek Shukla noted: “District hospitals should have dedicated geriatric outpatient services. Primary health centres must be equipped to manage chronic disease follow-ups and frailty screening. Referral systems should be streamlined so that older adults are not left navigating fragmented services” .

They emphasized that “a significant proportion of elderly health needs do not require hospitalisation. They require assistance with mobility, medication management, nutrition, physiotherapy and basic daily activities. Without formal systems, this responsibility continues to fall on families, particularly women, who shoulder a disproportionate burden of unpaid caregiving” .

Market Outlook

Industry analysts project that meeting anticipated demand will require roughly 2.4 million new units designed for older residents by 2030 . Competition is shifting from small local operators to integrated real-estate and healthcare alliances that bundle preventive care, telemedicine, and social engagement services.

Technology adoption, particularly wearables that transmit blood pressure and glucose readings, is improving risk management and reducing liability insurance premiums for operators. Partnerships with tertiary hospitals provide visiting specialists, while tele-diagnostics reduce response time during medical events .

The Elderline national toll-free helpline (14567) continues to provide information, guidance, and emotional support to seniors across the country, complementing the growing ecosystem of formal elderly care services .

As India ages while still strengthening its public health and social protection systems—unlike many high-income countries that aged after becoming wealthy—the window for strategic intervention remains open. How the nation responds to its demographic transition will shape not only health outcomes but economic stability, gender equity, and family resilience in the decades ahead.

Newer ground water is linked with increased risk of Parkinson disease

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

A new study has established that individuals whose drinking water was supplied by newer groundwater were at a greater risk of getting Parkinson disease as compared to those individuals whose drinking water was supplied by older ground water.

The study does not prove that newer groundwater causes Parkinson’s; it only shows an association.
Older groundwater would usually have less contaminants since it is mostly deeper and well covered.
It was discovered by the researchers that drinking water that was derived in carbonate aquifers was related to the 24 percent greater risk of Parkinson disease as compared to other varieties of aquifers.
It was also linked to increased 62 percent risks than when one uses water in glacial aquifers.
It has also been reported that newer ground water, less than 75 years, in carbonate systems was linked to increased risk of Parkinson by 11 per cent than older than 12,000 years of ice age ground water.

People whose drinking water was supplied by more recent groundwater were at a greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those whose drinking water was served by older groundwater as per a preliminary study published March 2, 2026, and will be presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology to be held April 18-22, 2026, in Chicago and online. The research does not demonstrate that newer groundwater is a cause of Parkinson disease but just indicates that there is a correlation.

The paper examined the age of ground water. It also examined aquifers which were the sources where groundwater was extracted. An aquifer refers to a layer of porous rock, sand or silt in the ground that contain and moves the ground water.

This study was carried out by a study author who at the time of conducting the research was a member of the American Academy of Neurology in Phoenix, Arizona, a researcher named Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD at the Atria Research Institute in New York City, and is considered to have conducted the research in one way or the other as she was studying our exposure to modern pollution through drinking water. More pollutants have been exposed to newer groundwater, which is formed by precipitation that has fallen during the last 70 to 75 years. The aged groundwater tends to have fewer contaminants due to the fact that most of them tend to be deep and have a better protection against surface contaminants. Our research established that the groundwater age and groundwater location is a possible environmental risk factor of Parkinson disease.

The researchers used 12,370 individuals with Parkinson’s disease and over 1.2 million individuals without the disease to derive the results after matching the individuals based on variables such as age, sex and race and ethnicity. All the participants were within 3 miles of 1,279 groundwater sampling locations in 21 large aquifers in the U.S.

The researchers sought to examine age of groundwater, type and source of drinking water (either municipal groundwater systems or personal wells) to be used as a possible indicator of exposure to neurotoxic contaminants.

The most common aquifer in the United States is carbonate aquifers which are mainly composed of limestone and the water is trapped in the fissures and cracks. They are usually quite vulnerable to the contamination of the surface water by groundwater flowing through fractures very fast.

The composition of glacial aquifers is made up of sand and gravel containing water in the cracks and they are formed when the glaciers had moved forward and back over 12, 000 years ago. Such aquifers are more likely to facilitate a more diffuse flow and natural filtration.

Carbonate aquifers are prevalent in U.S. in portions of Midwest, South and Florida whereas glacial aquifers are prevalent in Upper Midwest and Northeast.

Of all individuals with Parkinson 3,463 received their drinking water as a product of carbonate aquifers, 515 received it as a product of glacial aquifers and 8,392 received it as a product of other aquifers. Of non-Parkinson 300 264 obtained their drinking water through carbonate aquifers, 62 917 glacial aquifers, and 860 993 other aquifers.

It was found that when factors like age, sex, income, and air pollution were taken into consideration, individuals that received their drinking water in municipal ground water system or in private wells that worked off carbonate aquifers were at a greater risk of developing Parkinson disease by 24% compared to everyone who received their drinking water in all other aquifers. Their risk was also 62 times and compared to individuals who had glacial water aquifers.

The safety of older groundwater was discovered under the condition when water was obtained in carbonate aquifers. The risk of Parkinson disease decreased by about 6.5 per one-standard-deviation of groundwater age. It was also discovered that newer ground water (less than 75 years old) of carbonate systems had 11% more likelihood of causing Parkinson disease than ground water older than 12,000 years old of ice age.

Carbonate systems

Krzyzanowski postulated that the data on the apparent protective effect of older groundwater is observed predominantly in carbonate systems due to their ability to present a more distinct contrast between newer and older water. Newly recharged groundwater in such aquifers is more susceptible to surface contamination, whereas older groundwater can also be cleaner in case it is segregated by a confining layer.

According to Krzyzanowski, on the contrary, groundwater flow in glacial aquifers is slower, and contaminants are filtered in their natural course by groundwater as it flows through the ground. Consequently, the amount of contamination between new and old groundwater in these aquifers might not vary greatly and thus might be difficult to detect.

Krzyzanowski observed that the origin of the drinking water of individuals can typically be determined through the local water utility or, in the case of a personal well, through state or county groundwater sources.

According to Krzyzanowski, this study emphasized the fact that the origin of our water, groundwater age, and the nature of water source, may influence the long-term neurological health. Although further studies are required, the integration of knowledge on groundwater and brain health can be beneficial to enable communities to evaluate and mitigate environmental risks.

One of the weaknesses of the study was that, it assumed that all people within a 3-mile area around a point of sampling had the same aquifer characteristics and age of the groundwater at the point of sampling.

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Scared of spiders? A world without them is true nightmare tale: Study

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Naresh Kumar

The objects of revulsion, disgust and fear are frequently members of the arachnid class–think spiders, scorpions and harvestmen (daddy long legs). However, they are essential towards the prosperity of the ecosystems.

Considering the plummeting global biodiversity, and some even refer to it as the insect apocalypse, two ecologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst chose to see what is generally happening with insects and arachnids in the United States, only to find huge gaps in the data. Their study, which was recently published in PNAS, suggests that an imminent need to evaluate, preserve and appreciate insects and arachnids, which is a major support of planetary health.

The senior author of the paper is Laura Figueroa, an assistant professor of environmental conservation in the UMass Amherst, who writes that insects and arachnids are basic to human society. They are useful in the pollination and control of pests biologically; they may also be used as environmental indicators to monitor air and water quality, and have become so ingrained in various other cultures all over the world that we can think of Aragog in the Harry Potter books, as an example. Many humans are interested in popular charismatic animals on earth such as the lion and the panda which deserved the international conservation interest rightfully. Since insects and arachnids do not normally receive the same attention, we were interested in how they were doing.

To determine the health of our creepier crawlier neighbors, Figueroa and her graduate student, Wes Walsh, the lead author of the paper, compiled conservation assessments of the 99312 known insect and arachnids species in North America, north of Mexico.

Findings mind boggling

As Figueroa says, almost 90 percent of the species of insects and arachnids, or 88.5 percent to be exact, have none of the conservation status. “We do not even know how they are doing. Little is known concerning the conservation requirements of the majority of the insects and arachnids in North America.”

The small data available was skewed to aquatic species that are crucial to water quality surveillance (mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies), and more popular insect fauna such as butterflies and dragonflies got a disproportionate portion of protection.

Even the arachnids are not enjoying conservation; most states do not even protect one species of the spider group. More information and security to the insects, yet arachnids as well, says Walsh.

Another finding made by the team was that states that were most dependent on extractive industries, e.g., mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction, had lower chances to protect either insects or arachnids but those with more eco-centric views by the populace were protecting more species.

Comparatively, Figueroa refers to the conservation of birds, which has been much more successful in conservation and preservation of species. According to the research, it turns out that you will get the best conservation efforts when there is a broad and diverse coalition of people. In the example of the birds, they were the hunters, the bird watchers, the nonprofit organizations and many more constituencies that joined their hands in an effort to achieve a unified objective.

Insects and arachnids are not things to be feared, as Walsh ignores with a gorgeous spider tattoo on his arm. It is time to value them and recognize their ecological significance, and this should start with the gathering of more information and the recognition that they deserve conservation.

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Routine makes children adjust to school but harsh parenting may undo benefits

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Bharath Panchajanya

Entering elementary school is a big step and it may be a challenging one since a child may become anxious in separation or may not adjust to school life in terms of rules and organization. Nevertheless, according to a group of researchers at Penn State, frequent practices at home were able to lower the chances of a child having difficulty in the school transition.

The researchers discovered in a publication in Developmental Psychology that the stronger the routines of the rural, low-income families, i.e. bedtime, shared meals, the lower the behavior problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms of their children reported by their parents. But, the greater the levels of harsh or aggressive parenting, i.e., yelling and threatening by the mother or father, the less the advantages of household structure.

We need routines, and you can not be too strict with them, but that is what co-author Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, a professor and the head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, said. I have always said that the two most important things to have in parenting are consistency and flexibility. It can be viewed as a paradox, and such findings suggest the idea that balance actually matters.

Study on 999 Rural Income Families

The authors analyzed data of 999 rural low-income families in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that joined the Family Life Project, the long-lasting research partnership of Penn State, the University of North Carolina and New York University. The subjects in the Family Life Project were enlisted when a child was born in the family and the study ended when the group of children reached the age of 19 years.

The present research utilized data in three waves of statistical data collection, which started in 2007-08 when the research participants were about four years old. These measures were used to record the children in preschool, kindergarten and first grade to record the complete shift to primary school. During every annual evaluation, parents responded to questions concerning family practices, physical parenting, child behavior issues and child ADHD symptoms. The researchers also assessed the capacity of cognitive flexibility of the parents at the beginning of the study, the ability to change the way of thinking to a particular or dynamic situation.

The surveys given to parents to measure harsh parenting also comprised questions on whether they yelled, swore, threw things, stomped out of the room and had engaged in other aggressive behaviors; child behavior problems, which included aggressive, oppositional and rule-breaking behavior; and child ADHD symptoms, which included signs of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Questions concerning family routines on bedtime, frequent family meals and household habits were also answered by parents.

Parents, in families that had a high routine and low harsh parenting levels across the duration of the study, indicated that they had fewer child behavior problems and ADHD symptoms. Within the families in which harsh parenting was less every year, there were less symptoms of child ADHD when parents said that they practiced less harsh parenting.

The researchers attributed the effect of family routines to harsh parenting which neutralized the protective effect of family routines. The level of misbehavior portrayed by children in high levels of routine and harsh parenting households were the same as children in low levels of routine households.

Flexible parenting improves cognitive ability

According to Gatzke-Kopp, a faculty member of the newly formed Penn State Social Science Research Institute who works on the study on a co-funded basis, children are attempting to discover how the world functions. The more stable and encouraging the surrounding is, the less children will experience difficulties in being calm and seeing the way to act in a new environment, such as in school.

To the parents who are interested in introducing some order into a home Gatzke-Kopp suggested a regular bedtime schedule, which may include such relaxing methods as reading to a child. She also cited regular, low-demand, screen-free, family time and shared meals as excellent points to any parent to bring routine in their families.

All the factors that were found in the study had small effects; however, Gatzke-Kopp indicated that this was not surprising.

Gatzke-Kopp said that you cannot presume that in case you make good habits, your child will develop flawless behaviors. Routines and parenting style are not the only things that contribute to behavior problems in your child: there are a lot of factors.

There will be no family that will not encounter some amount of conflict, she said.

Gatzke-Kopp said: “All children are difficult! Negative behaviors should not cause parents to be alarmed that their child is having a problem. And it is not that the parents are not doing something wrong.

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Whar are “blue tears”? New AI algorithm allows scientific monitoring of this unique phenomenon

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Srinivas Chakravarty

Blue tears is a stunning, natural bioluminescent phenomenon where coastal waters glow with an ethereal blue light, primarily caused by massive blooms of microscopic marine plankton, such as Noctiluca scintillans or ostracod crustaceans, disturbed by wave motion. Often seen in China, Taiwan, and the Maldives, this glowing,, sometimes toxic, “sea of stars” usually occurs in warmer months.

The chasing of blue tears has emerged as a common tourism activity in the recent years along the coastlines in order to experience the natural spectacular. Nonetheless, algal blooms occurrences and movements are unpredictable, and this affects the quality of tourist experiences as well as introducing safety risks and ecological pressures.

A group of researchers headed by the professor of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Jianping, and the partners of the Ministry of Natural Resources came up with a novel algorithm to monitor videos in real-time called BT-YOLO in one of the studies published in the Ecological Informatics.

Bt-YOLO algorithm makes it possible to pixel-by-pixel segment the glowing parts of video footage and localize and analyze bloom strength and distribution in a quantitative manner. In contrast to the traditional approach of revealing the existence of the so-called blue tears, the given algorithm offers the scientific rationale to rate the blooms harshness and advance to the creation of a predicting algorithm.

(Courtesy: AGU–Advanced Earth and Space Sciences)

We have made scales and rulers to measure blue tears. It is after the implementation of the coastal surveillance camera network that this algorithm will enable us to carry out quick quantification and get closer to an operational forecasting system, as explained by Prof. LI. The algorithm can also be used to track other features in the seas like the red tide and marine debris, and there is a solution to smart coastal management.

The research forms a basis upon which the time, place, magnitude, and severity of the occurrence of blue tears can be predicted. The forecasting system will be further refined through the data of the coastal camera networks that will bring the system nearer to the real world which will allow balancing the ecological protection with the sustainable tourism.

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Market Failure? Samsung to Pull Plug on Galaxy Z TriFold After 3 Months of Launch

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Samsung may end Galaxy Z TriFold sales within months due to high costs and limited production
Strong demand was driven largely by scarcity rather than mass-market adoption
Device likely served as a proof-of-concept for future foldable innovations
Samsung expected to focus on mainstream foldables while refining next-gen designs

Samsung is preparing to discontinue sales of its ambitious Galaxy Z TriFold smartphone just months after its debut, according to fresh reports emerging from South Korea, raising questions about the commercial viability of next-generation foldable designs.

The premium device, priced at roughly $2,899, was launched initially in Samsung’s home market late last year before expanding to the United States and select regions earlier in 2026. Touted as a breakthrough in mobile hardware, the TriFold introduced a three-panel folding mechanism aimed at blending smartphone portability with tablet-scale usability.

However, industry reports now suggest that Samsung is planning to wind down sales in South Korea after one final round of inventory restocking. In the United States and other markets, availability is expected to continue only until existing production units are exhausted.

According to Korean media reports cited by SamMobile, initial batches were capped at around 3,000 units each, with only a couple of such releases in early phases. Broader industry estimates from Digitimes and Gadgets 360 suggest total production may have been in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 units globally, with some projections stretching to 40,000 units at most over the product’s lifecycle. By comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series has historically shipped over 2–3 million units annually, underscoring how marginal the TriFold’s scale was.

Sell Outs or Scarcity of Devices?

The much-publicised “sell-outs” were therefore a reflection of scarcity rather than widespread demand. TechBusinessNews reported that each batch sold out within minutes, but with supply running into only a few thousand units, the absolute number of buyers remained extremely small. In some markets, distribution was even narrower, and in regions like the UAE, it reportedly received as few as 500 units in early allocations.

Pricing further constrained adoption. The TriFold launched at approximately $2,899 in the United States, with global pricing ranging between $2,400 and $2,900, making it the most expensive smartphone in Samsung’s portfolio. At that level, the device sits far above even premium foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold lineup, effectively limiting its audience to early adopters and collectors rather than mainstream consumers.

Cost structures added to the challenge. Reports indicate that Samsung was making little to no profit per unit, largely due to the complex tri-fold hinge system and multi-display manufacturing process. Without scale efficiencies, the bill of materials remained high, leaving margins thin or negative. This is compounded by supply chain pressures, Gadgets 360 and TrendForce flagged ongoing RAM and storage component shortages, which further increased costs and constrained output.

From a business perspective, the device’s contribution was negligible. Digitimes analysts noted that the TriFold would account for only a “marginal” share of Samsung’s mobile revenue, while TrendForce estimates Samsung is targeting around 7 million foldable shipments in 2026 overall. Even at an optimistic 30,000 units, the TriFold would represent well under 1% of total foldable shipments, reinforcing its limited strategic weight.

Samsung is now expected to double down on its core foldable lineup, including the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip series, which have shown more consistent demand globally. At the same time, the company is likely to continue investing in advanced form factors behind the scenes, with industry watchers anticipating refined multi-fold or rollable prototypes in the coming years.

New strategy prevents pancreatic cancer removing microscopic lesions early

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Naresh Kumar

A recent preclinical trial using mice reveals that the precancerous cells of the pancreas can be disposed before they can develop into a tumor. Application of an experimental therapy to attack microscopic precancerous lesions in the pancreas was shown to increase survival in mouse models of a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) by nearly 2 times even when the same therapy was administered when the cancer was already present.

The study was carried out under the leadership of physician-scientists of the Perelman school of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania and Abramson cancer center of Penn medicine, which is released to date in Science.

It is also the first instance that scientists have demonstrated that a medical intervention could prevent growth of pre-cancerous lesions in the pancreas before it becomes pancreatic cancer and this is a good indication to the growing area of cancer interception.

I believe that the next age of cancer treatment will be interception, and I am confident that such an endeavor will be developed by cancer treatment experts like Robert Vonderheide, the director of the Abramson Cancer Center. Pancreatic cancer has had a stubborn poor prognosis, scarce treatment options as well as no tested screening and prevention measures. And should we be able to get a means of intercepting it–of detecting and counteracting abnormalities in their first beginnings of malignancy, it would be an issue game changer.

Cancer interception is different to cancer prevention.

Contrary to prevention approaches, like HPV vaccination or ceasing a smoking habit, which seek to ensure that the cancer never develops at all, cancer interception focuses on the first stages of a cell becoming malignant. Colonoscopy can be taken to illustrate an instance of a mechanical interception where the precancerous polyps are removed before they turn into colorectal cancer. Since the harder the malignancy is to treat, the larger it is, the idea of curing the malignant growths before they become cancer is quite a logical one in theory, yet challenging to be proven.

“The paper is a preclinical evidence-of-concept demonstrating that medical cancer interception is better than treatment of a diagnosis,” said the lead author, Minh Than, a clinical and research fellow in the field of Hematology-Oncology. “This research demonstrates the strength of using a proactive approach to cancer, as opposed to a reactive one. This will be interesting to test in our patients in the second stage of this work.”

RAS inhibition is an efficient way of intercepting cancer in mice.

In this research, the researchers employed two experimental inhibitors that are directed to the cancer causing gene, KRAS. KRAS mutations that cause more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancers are the most frequent cancer-causing gene mutation found in all cancers and has been traditionally thought to be undruggable.

The first KRAS inhibitor was approved in 2021 to treat non-small cell lung cancer and since that time, there have been additional KRAS inhibitors entering clinical trials treating various types of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer.

The majority of PDAC tumors are seen to be as a result of microscopic lesions referred to as PanINs (pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias), which are too small to be detected through scans, and nearly all the PanINs have KRAS mutations. PanINs are typical in adult pancreases, but the few who become cancer only rarely; researchers are yet to understand the reason behind this unusual malignant conversion. Though this study did not aim at learning the biology or at better detection of PanINs, the research team hypothesized that removing these early lesions with the help of KRAS inhibitors, regardless of their awareness of which have malignant potential, would be an effective approach to preventing their ever transition into PDAC.

The group evaluated the two compounds identified by Revolution Medicines whose scientists participated in the analysis.

Both the compounds are meant to block the RAS when it is in the active or ON form and mediate cancer growth. RMC-9945 is a preclinical tool compound a selective inhibitor of KRAS G12D, the most frequent type of KRAS mutation in pancreatic cancer and it is one of a class of oral RAS(ON) G12D-selective inhibitors, such as the investigational drug candidate zoldonrasib (RMC-9805). RMC-7977 is a compound of clinical tool that targets several variants of RAS(ON) and is an example of oral RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibitors that contains an investigational drug candidate daraxonrasib (RMC-6236).

The research team considered the gold standard in the preclinical assessment of potential therapies of PDAC using an immunocompatible mouse model that was developed by Penn and that had a healthy and functional immune system. They firstly laid a baseline of PanIN to PDAC progression development in a control group. Then they treated an intervention group to either RMC-9945 or RMC-7977, following PanIN development, but prior to tumor development. It was also found that the reduction of the precancerous lesions occurred after 10 days of treatment and further reduced upon 28 days of treatment. In this milestone, Tumors took longer to form, and the survival of the mice was higher than in those mice that were not given the intervention. The team then discovered that extended administration of RMC-7977 to PanIN-bearing mice increased median overall survival time threefold in comparison with untreated control group with PanINs. Lastly, the intervention group that was treated earlier before the development of tumors had almost twice the lifespan compared to the group of mice that was treated after tumor development.

Further clinical trial to target high-risk patients.

The direct analogy in this paper places PanINs on the map as the possible targets of intercepting cancer and opens the field to investigate KRAS inhibitors in a new context, co-corresponding author Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research and director of the Penn Pancreatic Cancer Research Center. Nevertheless, due to the fact that PanINs are not visible on imaging tests and we are dealing with the case of treating people who are not cancer-diagnosed, we should seriously consider how to transfer this preclinical study to the appropriate population so that human trials can be conducted.

The team seeks to apply the research to a clinical trial where it targets high-risk patients who are already under monitoring over growths that exceed PanINs in size but still at a low risk of cancer but are usually removed once they attain a specific size. Should such a strategy proceed, the research group believes that it would be most relevant to people with a genetic susceptibility to pancreatic cancer, such as BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 gene mutations, hereditary pancreatitis, precancerous cysts, or other high-risk factors. Eventually, the strategy could be considered for a broader range of individuals at intermediate risk.

What makes lithium-ion batteries fail? Microscopic metal thorns give leads to scientists

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

This is the first time that scientists have observed the growth of tiny metal thorns known as dendrites grow within lithium-ion batteries thus making the batteries short-circuit. Their results published Mar. 12 in the journal Science illuminate the hitherto unrecognized mechanical aspects of the lithium dendrites during their development.

Lithium dendrites have been the subject of study of scientists since a long time, yet their behavior within batteries has not been well understood. Dendrites are developed at the nanoscale; development is difficult to monitor in a closed system such as a working battery, but has been associated with battery degradation and failure.

The new work, an international alliance of scholars at the U.S. and Singapore universities, simulated and experimented and came up with the first view on how dendrites crystalize, according to co-lead author Xing Liu, an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology and head of the NJIT Computational Mechanics and Physics Lab.

He says that it is a result of a close collaboration between experimental and computational mechanics and possibly could be used to make batteries safer.

Co-author Qing Ai, a former research scientist at Rice University, says: “The basic nanomechanical behavior of lithium dendrites has been a riddle of decades.”

Customized platforms
Lithium dendrites (named after the Latin word for branch) are about 100 times narrower than the thickness of a human hair and they are spouting out of anodes, which are negative terminals in lithium-ion batteries. The branches of dendrites may extend into an electrolyte in a lithium cell; in case the dendrites run to the negatively charged anode, and extend to the positively charged cathode, they may short out the battery.

Lithium dendrites are commonly known to be one of the largest impediments to commercialization of lithium-metal batteries, Liu says. Under battery operation, it is possible to have lithium dendrites form, break and be electrically isolated to the lithium metal anode to form so-called dead lithium. This is what causes a progressive depletion of battery capacity with time. Moreover, the dendrites may tunnel through the separator, and form an internal short between the anode and cathode. Capacity loss and short-circuit dendrite risks tend to be common in laboratory experiments.

Better still, lithium dendrites become almost impossible to eliminate in a battery once they develop.

At this point in time, says Liu, “there is no empirical way to cleanse dendrites of a working battery cell.”

In the new study, scientists at the Rice University together with their counterparts in Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Houston and the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore extracted dendrites of working batteries to see whether they were mechanically strong or not.

“In order to make the quantitative study of lithium dendrites possible, we constructed specialized sample preparation and mechanical characterization stations of such delicate work,” says Boyu Zhang, a Rice doctoral graduate and a co-lead author on the work.

Rice Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Materials Science and Nanoengineering co-corresponding author Jun Lou headed a team at the Nanomaterials, Nanomechanics and Nanodevices lab in performing a direct probe into the mechanical behavior of dendrites as they grew in real batteries. The extremely delicate experiments were done by Ai and Zhang, former members of the lab of Lou with the help of study co-corresponding author Hua Guo and co-author Wenhua Guo of the Rice University Shared Equipment Authority.

In order to execute the experiments, they made air-tight platforms to prepare and study the samples since lithium is a highly reactive element that changes chemically and structurally due to the amount of air it is exposed to. The nature of the deformation of individual dendrites to controlled stresses was then exposed using high-resolution electron microscopy.

‘Like dry spaghetti’

Lithium bulk is soft and cushy; the dendrites of lithium, consequently, were supposed to be soft as well. The experiments however indicated otherwise. This observation of the failure of dendrites in real-time under the operation of a battery through the University of Houston team under the leadership of one of the co-corresponding authors Yan Yao, a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, supported the idea that dendrites are brittle in liquid as well as solid electrolyte systems.

Liu says that for long it has been thought that the lithium dendrites are soft and ductile, resembling Play-Doh. However, it seems to us that they can be tough and brittle, too, and break like dry spaghetti.

Data on the observations was then modeled and theoretically analyzed by teams of NJIT and Georgia Tech.

To answer the question, Liu says that they did scale-bridging simulations to understand the reason lithium dendrites act contrary to expectations.

They discovered that when dendrites are growing in a battery cell, they will be covered by a thin coating of solid electrolyte interphase, known as SEI. The SEI coating causes the dendrites to become rigid and needle like and are able to pierce battery cells separators and electrolytes and are likely to break under stress and accumulate in the battery cell as lithium dead time fragments and lead to battery failure.

Liu explains that by knowing about the physics behind it, soon it will be possible to develop methods of making dendrites less susceptible to brittle fracture, such as; utilizing lithium alloy anodes. To scholars in the field of computational mechanics, the mechanisms to be found in the experiment, like the way that structures defame, or the reasons why they break and break down, are like musical notes and can be added to a symphony of high-performance materials and high-energy storage systems.

“The strengthening mechanism we identified in lithium dendrites adds a new note to this composition,” Liu says.

The Sun is Just a Secret Earthquake Machine with switch: Reveals Japan Study

As a lifetime passes in front of our eyes, here’s the structure of how aging plays out

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

The daily habits of an animal may indicate their lifespan by the age of the midlife stage.

It is the disturbing end of a new study backed by the Knight Initiative of Brain Resilience at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute of Stanford where researchers placed scores of short-lived fish inside continuous, lifelong surveillance to investigate the connection between behavior and aging.

Growth of individual fish in the markedly different ways, although the genetics were similar and the environment was closely monitored. By the time the animals grew up to their youthfulness, those differences had already been shown in their swimming and resting habits–and were so great as to determine whether a fish would in the end live to a long or brief existence.

Although the study was in the case of fish, the results suggest that the ability to record minor, daily behaviors such as movement and sleep, which wearable devices now capture daily, might provide insights into the process of aging in humans.

It was published in Science on March 12, 2016, and was the result of a study headed by Neuro postdoctoral students Claire Bedbrook and Ravi Nath at Wu Tsai Neuro. The study was an extension of a Knight Initiative-funded project between the Stanford labs of geneticist Anne Brunet and bioengineer Karl Deisseroth, who were the senior authors of the study.

How to observe the process of aging?

In the majority of aging studies, the comparison is made between groups of young animals and groups of old ones. Though enlightening, those snapshots obscure the way ageing occurs in individuals over a period of time, and the way disparities among individuals occur.

Bedbrook and Nath were interested in what could be uncovered by observing aging throughout a lifespan in the entire adult lives. The aging trajectories of even animals of the same species, raised under comparable conditions, can be radically different, and they may greatly differ in length of life. The researchers posed the question whether in natural behavior the beginnings and the way of divergence of those individual paths can be found out.

The making of that question experimentally possible was done by the African turquoise killifish. Being one of the shortest-lived vertebrates examined in the lab with a typical lifespan of four to eight months, it still possesses certain important biological similarities with other longer-lived organisms, such as humans, such as a sophisticated brain.

This study is based on the Brunet lab pioneering the design of a killifish model to study aging, and the foundation of this research was the first to continuously follow individual vertebrates (day and night), and through their entire adult lives.

Bedbrook and Nath and their colleagues designed an automated apparatus where individual fish were kept in separate tanks which were monitored by a camera. Similar to a scientific version of The Truman Show, where the whole life of a man is filmed straight through, the installation filmed each and every moment of the animals lives. Overall, they trailed 81 fish and produced billions of video frames.

Based on those recordings the researchers extracted specific data concerning the posture, speed, rest and movement of the animals and were able to identify 100 different behavioral syllables or short recurrent actions that are the elementary building blocks of the movement and rest of a fish.

According to Brunet, the Michele and Timothy Barakett Professor of Genetics at Stanford Medicine, behavior is a marvelously coordinated display, a report on what is going on in the brain and in the body. Molecular markers are the crucial components, though they are mere slices of biology. Through behavior you observe the entire organism, incessantly and without any form of invasion.

Now having this life-long record of behavior, the researchers were able to start to ask another group of questions: When do animals begin to age differently? What is different about those paths at the beginning? And, can behavior in itself determine the length of lifespan of a person?

The indicators of an animal lifespan

The discovery of the early divergence in individual aging paths was indeed one of the most unexpected discoveries of the team. The researchers then tracked each fish throughout its lifespan and then clumped the animals according to the amount of time they eventually spent alive and then traced back to the point of behavioral distinction. They discovered at a young age (70 to 100 days of age) fish which would further survive shorter or longer lives were already acting differently.

Among the most obvious distinctions, there were sleep. Young adults had fish which lived shorter lives, were more likely to sleep at night, and more and more during the day. On the contrary, fish which survived longer in life tended to sleep at night.

But it was not sleep alone which signalled. Fish on paths to a longer life also swam more vigorously and faster when they ran about the tank–a gauge of spontaneous movement which, in other species, has also been found to be associated with longevity. Their nocturnal activities were also less.

Most importantly, such differences in behavior were not merely descriptive but predictive. The researchers demonstrated that only a few days of behavioral data of middle-aged fish were sufficient to predict lifetime with the aid of machine learning models. According to Bedbrook, behavioral changes at a very young age are informing us of future health, as well as, future lifespan.

Aging unfolds in steps

Their observations, also, showed that aging, at any rate in killifish, was not a gradual gradual drift. The majority of the fish passed through two or six fast behavior changes, with only a few days each, and then longer, more stable periods of several weeks. Notably, fish would develop in a certain sequence, as opposed to alternating between them.

“It was a slow process,” Bedbrook said, “of getting old. Rather animals are stable over a long period and then they change rapidly into a new level. The fact that this staged architecture can be seen as a result of unchanged behavior itself was among the most thrilling things we have discovered. This progressive trend follows the emerging evidence of human studies, such as the discovery that molecular characteristics of aging vary in waves, particularly in midlife and old age. The killifish results provide us with a behavioral perspective of the same thing.”

The scientists speculate that a life cycle of relative stability interrupted by short intervals of intense change might have been one of the processes of aging. It is more of a Jenga tower, where you can remove a lot of blocks without much impact, until you make one change that requires a re-organisation to take place, which will force a sudden re-organisation, than a gradual downhill slide.

The authors also compared the activity of genes in eight organs of adult fish at a time when behavior was predictive of future lifespan. Instead of studying specific genes, they sought concerted alterations between clusters of genes that collaborate in common biological activities.

The most distinguishable differences were in the liver, where those genes that played a role in protein synthesis and cellular homeostasis were more expressed in fish that took shorter aging pathways. These results provided a molecular clue that the internal biology of the animals in question is also being altered with the changing behavioral pattern during their growth.

Behavior reflects fresh perspective on old age

According to Nath, “behavior is a very sensitive measure of aging. One can observe two animals of the same chronological age and can know by the mere behavior of the animals that they are aging very differently.”

The sensitivity is manifested in most spheres of everyday life, and sleep became a significant indicator of the way the aging process was being experienced. Sleep quality and sleep-wake cycles tend to impair as an individual ages, and these alterations have been associated with age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease in human beings. Nath also wants to inquire if it is possible to manipulate sleep to achieve healthier aging, and whether it is possible to change the aging process of individuals by acting early before they start to decline.

Another goal of the team is to test the possibilities of modifying aging paths with the use of specific interventions, such as diet modification, and also, genetic alterations that can potentially affect the rate at which aging will occur.

In the case of Bedbrook, the killifish research presents the possibility of exploration further on the subject of what motivates changes in transition during the aging process and the possibility to delay, prevent, or reverse changes in aging. She further takes interest in taking the experimental system further towards more naturalistic environments where animals are given the opportunity to socialize and live in richer environments closer to the real world.

Now, she said, “we can map the process of aging in a vertebrate on a continuous basis. As wearables and long-term tracking become a reality in human beings, I am interested to learn whether the same principles, namely: early predictors, staged aging, divergent trajectories, will also apply in human beings.”

The other significant frontier is the brain itself. The lab created by Deisseroth works on equipment to record the neural activity during extended durations of time, and, as a result, one can trace the variations of neural activity and the aging trajectory of the same animals. Such experiments may show whether the brain reflects aging in the rest of the body or is more directly involved in determining the rate of the aging process.

Both Bedbrook and Nath will proceed with answering these questions as they start their individual laboratories at Princeton University this July, carrying the equipment and concepts that were created at Stanford to the next level in their studies.

Ultimately, it is hoped that such a resolution of aging will explain why aging is so diverse, and will guide to emerging strategies of healthy aging.

2,000-year-old Iron Age temple discovered in Denmark

Oscar 2026: Here is full list of nominees and winners of Academy Awards This Year

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Srinivas Chakravarty

This year, Paul Thomas Anderson took the best picture at the 98th Academy Awards with his drama of a faded away revolutionary fighting his old enemies to keep his daughter safe. Overall, it got six awards, among which it received the best supporting actor, best adapted screenplay and best director. It is also the first movie to win the Oscar award in the category of best casting.
But neither film really lost.

The period vampire thriller, Fruit of the Earth, by Ryan Coogler, the film that glorified the origins of the Blues music and the southern Black culture, won four awards including a historical first category award in the best cinematography categories and a highly praised best actor award in the same category to Michael B. Jordan. Both movies are also created and distributed by the same company, Warner Bros. Pictures, which is a part of CNN parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. here’s the full list:

Best picture

“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
“F1”
“Bugonia”
“Sentimental Value”
“The Secret Agent”

Best director

Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”

Best actress in a leading role

Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet” – *WINNER
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”

Best actor in a leading role

Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners” – *WINNER
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”

Best actress in a supporting role

Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan, “Weapons” – *WINNER
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”

Best actor in a supporting role

Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
Delroy Lindo, “Sinners”
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”

Best adapted screenplay

Will Tracy, “Bugonia”
Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein”
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, “Hamnet”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, “Train Dreams”

Best original screenplay

Robert Kaplow, “Blue Moon”
Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”
Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners” – *WINNER

Best casting

Nina Gold, “Hamnet”
Jennifer Venditti, “Marty Supreme”
Cassandra Kulukundis, “One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
Gabriel Domingues, “The Secret Agent”
Francine Maisler, “Sinners”

Best original song

Diane Warren for “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless”
EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park for “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” – *WINNER
Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson for “I Lied to You” from “Sinners”
Nicholas Pike for Sweet Dreams of Joy from “Viva Verdi!”
Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner for “Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams”

Best original score

Alexandre Desplat, “Frankenstein”
Jerskin Fendrix, “Bugonia”
Max Richter, “Hamnet”
Jonny Greenwood, “One Battle After Another”
Ludwig Göransson, “Sinners” – *WINNER

Best cinematography

Dan Laustsen, “Frankenstein”
Darius Khondji, “Marty Supreme”
Michael Bauman, “One Battle After Another”
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, “Sinners” – *WINNER
Adolpho Veloso, “Train Dreams”

Best editing

Stephen Mirrione, “F1”
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Andy Jurgensen, “One Battle After Another” – *WINNER
Olivier Bugge Coutté, “Sentimental Value”
Michael P. Shawver, “Sinners”

Best international feature film

“The Secret Agent”
“It Was Just an Accident”
“Sentimental Value” – *WINNER
“Sirât”
“The Voice of Hind Rajab”

Best animated feature film

“Arco”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters” – *WINNER
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”
“Zootopia 2”

Best documentary feature film

“The Alabama Solution”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cutting Through Rocks”
“Mr Nobody Against Putin” – *WINNER
“The Perfect Neighbor”

Best makeup and hairstyling

Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey, “Frankenstein” – *WINNER
Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu, “Kokuho”
Ken Diaz and Mike Fontaine, “Sinners”
Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein, “The Smashing Machine”
Thomas Foldberg and Cathrine Sauerberg, “The Ugly Stepsister”

Best sound

Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta, “F1” – *WINNER
Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern, “Frankenstein”
José Antonio Garcia, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor, “One Battle After Another”
Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker, “Sinners”
Amanda Villavieja, Iaia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas, “Sirât”

Best visual effects

Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” – *WINNER
Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson, “F1”
David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould, “Jurassic World Rebirth”
Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin, “The Lost Bus”
Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean, “Sinners”

Best costume design

Deborah L. Scott, “Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Kate Hawley, “Frankenstein” – *WINNER
Malgosia Turzanska, “Hamnet”
Miyako Bellizzi, “Marty Supreme”
Ruth E. Carter, “Sinners”

Best production design

Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, “Frankenstein” – *WINNER
Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton, “Hamnet”
Jack Fisk and Adam Willis, “Marty Supreme”
Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino, “One Battle After Another”
Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne, “Sinners”

Best documentary short

“All the Empty Rooms” – *WINNER
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Children No More: Were and Are Gone”
“The Devil is Busy”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”

Best live action short film

“Butcher’s Stain”
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“Jane Austen’s Period Drama”
“The Singers” – *WINNER (tie)
“Two People Exchanging Saliva” – *WINNER (tie)

Best animated short film

“Butterfly”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls” – *WINNER
“Retirement Plan”
“The Three Sisters”

The Oil Shock Lesson: Why Energy Diversification Is Back On The Global Agenda

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Energy crises have repeatedly reshaped the global economy, and the latest geopolitical tensions in the Gulf have revived concerns about the fragility of oil supply chains.

Nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime corridor connecting the Persian Gulf with international markets.

Any disruption to shipping through this route can have immediate consequences for energy prices and economic stability.

The International Energy Agency has long warned that global oil markets remain vulnerable to geopolitical shocks. Even brief disruptions in supply can trigger price volatility, inflation and financial uncertainty.

Countries heavily dependent on imported energy are particularly exposed.

China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, relies on overseas supplies for a large share of its consumption. India faces an even greater challenge, importing close to 90 percent of its oil needs.

Both countries have responded by diversifying supply sources and building strategic petroleum reserves.

In the United States, the shale revolution has significantly reduced reliance on foreign oil. Domestic production has surged over the past decade, transforming the country into one of the world’s largest energy producers.

Europe Pursuing Different Strategy

Following the disruption of Russian gas supplies after the invasion of Ukraine, European governments accelerated investments in renewable energy and alternative fuel sources.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly argued that the transition toward renewables is also a matter of geopolitical security.

The broader lesson, analysts say, is that energy diversification remains essential.

Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, has described energy security as “one of the central challenges of modern economies.”

Countries are now exploring multiple strategies, from expanding renewable energy capacity and nuclear power to investing in electric vehicles and hydrogen technology.

While oil will remain a crucial energy source for decades, the repeated shocks of the past half century have reinforced a consistent message: dependence on a single region or fuel source carries profound economic risks.