Author: Rounak Banerjee

A surge in solar activity has recently been noticed in the past few months. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has attributed this phenomenon to the solar cycle, which entered its 25th cycle in 2019 and is expected to hit its peak in July 2025. Solar storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and other solar phenomena will continue to bombard Earth as a result of gradually increasing solar activity. Due to the sun’s distance from our planet, this solar activity may appear harmless, but it can seriously harm infrastructure. The blue planet will thus have to tough it out until the…

The overwhelmingly calm sight of the starry night sky has led many of us to ponder our existence as a standalone species, alone in the entire galaxy or universe. Aliens have always held a special place in our collective consciousness as both heralds of a great new future and harbingers of planetary doom. As the search for extraterrestrial life continues, the Laboratory of Statistical Biophysics at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland recently carried out new research, recently published in the Astronomical Journal, coming up with an explanation for the stark silence humanity has received in spite…

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that it was well nigh impossible to hold meaningful talks after the bilateral spat with Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. S. Jaishankar at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Council for Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM) meeting in Goa. Bhutto was called out as a “promoter, justifier, and spokesperson” of terrorism by Mr. Jaishankar, the chairman of the meeting. While advocating for the restoration of the Union Territory to statehood according to the resolution of the Indian Government passed in 2019, Zardari also added that Pakistan PM Shebaz Shareefs’ travel to India in July to attend the…

Police reports on Thursday confirmed the deaths of two LeT terrorists (Lashkar-e-Taiba) in the Baramulla District of Jammu and Kashmir. The clash occurred on Thursday morning in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of Baramulla after security forces launched a search and cordon operation based on specific intelligence about the presence of hostile militants. One AK-47 rifle and one pistol, along with other potentially incriminating items, arms, and ammunition, were found by the police. Lashkar-e-Taiba: A Summary of Terrorism The terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was founded in 1987 when Pakistan was in the midst of an Islamic uprising. However, it was…

A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience demonstrated how AI can now be used to take the first step toward “mind reading.” Scientists have developed a technique to use brain scans and GPT modeling to transcribe thoughts inside a person’s mind summarily. The Path to Mind Reading Scientists have essentially built a language decoder based on GPT models (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer). A deep learning model called GPT that has been pre-trained on a sizable dataset can be used to carry out a variety of tasks involving natural language processing. The most famous example is ChatGPT by Open AI.Previous research has…

Geoffrey Hinton, 75, the man hailed as the “Godfather” of artificial intelligence, announced his departure from Google. A part of him, according to sources, regrets his life’s work on deep learning and neural networks.According to him, the dangers of AI chatbots were “quite scary.” He also noted that soon, digital intelligence might overshadow human intelligence completely. The pioneering research of the Godfather The development of new A.I. systems, according to industry leaders, could be as significant as the invention of the web browser in the early 1990s and could result in breakthroughs in fields like drug research and education. However,…

India has taken swift steps to block 14 mobile messenger applications largely used by terrorists. After gaining input from intelligence agencies, the central government of India launched a major crackdown on terrorist activities and banned 14 such applications that were being allegedly used by terror groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. According to sources, the apps were used to communicate with the supporters of the terrorist groups and Over-Ground Workers (OGW), as well as receive commands from Pakistan. Terrorism and communication: a symbiotic growth Criminals and terrorists must communicate in ways similar to how civilians do, and they must seek…

Indian ed-tech unicorn Byjus’ three offices in Bengaluru, Karnataka, were raided by India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) officials over alleged forex law violations on Saturday. Under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), ED raided two business premises linked to the company Byju’s and one residential property linked to the founder, Raveendran Byju. The Fall of the Ed-Tech Goliath Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, Byju’s is a global technology company with headquarters in Bangalore. It uses a freemium business model. After four years of development, the ed-tech company launched its app in 2015, providing…

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a fresh alert on Tuesday about a sub-standard drug manufactured in Punjab and marketed by Haryana. This guaifenesin syrup was sold in the distant islands of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. The alleged contaminated drug India has already been flagged for substandard drug usage in the past. In October 2022 and early January 2024, respectively, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued specific warnings regarding cough syrups produced by two Indian companies, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, and Marion Biotech. Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol were allegedly present in the syrups.…

Snapchat rolled out the My AI chatbot for all users last week. In spite of a bunch of new features, many users have voiced their demand to delete the bot altogether. Snapchat has maintained its status quo as the most popular social app for US teens for quite some time. In late February, embracing the latest trends in generative AI and chatbots, Snapchat unveiled its version of the My AI chatbot. Powered by ChatGPT, the latest addition to Snapchat’s plethora of features was rolled out for its global user base last week. ChatGPT, Generative AI, and Snapchat Summer Conference ChatGPT…