1. Gravitational Waves: Hundred years ago, in 1915, Albert Einstein drafted his paper on the General theory of relativity. With continuum of four dimensional space-time in which gravity is geometric distortion, it also predicted gravitational waves moving through the space-time fabric.
On 11 February 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced the first direct detection of a gravitational wave predicted by the general relativity theory of Albert Einstein.
The gravitational wave itself had originated from a mega-celestial event of two black holes merging. That event has been named as GW150914 and happened at a distance of 1.4±0.6 billion light years from earth. In other words, even as a very young planet, when the Earth was tentatively forming some gelly like phenomenon called life in its primordial oceans, the gravitational wave started leaving its place of origin.
As the waves took 1.4 billion years to reach and then carry on its travel, that slimy phenomenon has branched into the vast tree of life in which the humans would develop the awareness, intelligence and technology to wait for the signal that the gravitational wave would produce. Surely that is one monumental event for science and humanity at large to celebrate.
2.Chimpanzees’ Sense of Wonder?: In March 2016 Nature magazine published a paper reporting ‘newly discovered stone tool-use behaviour and stone accumulation sites in wild chimpanzees reminiscent of human cairns‘. This is the ‘first record of repeated observations of individual chimpanzees exhibiting stone tool use for a purpose other than extractive foraging at what appear to be targeted trees‘.
Laura Kehoe, one of the discoverers of this phenomenon, had earlier pointed out that we cannot claim that chimpanzees have developed a ‘religion’ at this stage. In a cautious statement she stated that ‘we simply don’t know yet since we have not settled on one theory of what the chimps are doing’.
Kehoe pointed out that the many traits ‘we arrogantly assumed were uniquely human have been found in other species.’ Kehoe explained: “We are not alone in our ability to feel joy or sorrow, mourn the loss of a loved one, act in altruistic ways, solve complex problems or hold unique personalities. But are we the only species with a sense of the sacred? The spiritual?“
She further recalled that Jane Goodall had in 2005 speculated in the so-called ‘waterfall’ dance of Chimpanzee, which she discovered in 1960s, there might be an inner state of ‘related awe and wonder‘. Surely the discovery can be considered a giant leap in understanding our own closest evolutionary cousin.
3.Of New Satellites and Hammers of Gods: ‘Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the sun, we refer to it as a quasi-satellite of Earth‘, with these words Paul Chodas of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, announced a minor second satellite for planet Earth.
While an addition of a minor moon to Earth may look even romantic, we were all reminded how dangerously close we are always to the hammers of Gods in August. That month an asteroid was discovered in the night of August 27-28.
Named 2016 QA2, this asteroid was twice the size of the Chelyabinsk meteor, that entered the atmosphere over Russia in 2013. What makes this very common space rocks discovery and naming sensationally interesting is that this reached its closest approach to Earth on August 28 itself, just hours after its discovery. Even more disturbing is the fact that it passed over Earth at distance closer than the moon, which is just 84,619 km. This is almost a hairline distance in terms of celestial dimensions.
4. Science breaks human-non-human barriers in acts of cognition: This year, the scientific journal Current Biology published a paper by plant researchers from Israel and England who detected similar context-sensitive “risk-taking” abilities in pea plants.
In the experiment, pea plants had their root systems split and put in two pots. The soil in one pot supplied the plants with the necessary amount of nutrients constantly. In the other pot, the nutrient supply was inconsistent. It was observed that the plants developed more roots in the pot with the regular supply of nutrients.
Then, in a variation of this test, the scientists decreased the nutrient availability in the nutrient-rich pot to levels lower than the quantity necessary for plant growth. The nutrient supply was then consistent in the pot but lesser than the minimum required quantity for plant life processes. The other pot was still inconsistent; the nutrient levels fluctuated, so there was no guarantee that the nutrient levels would always be sufficient, but there was a possibility. In this case, it was seen that plants started developing roots in the pot with fluctuating nutrient availability. In other words, plants seem to exhibit the same “risk-taking ability” which has been hitherto explained only in “higher animals.”
This year, another paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that a study by biologist Andrew B Barron and philosopher Colin Klein of Macquarie University, Australia, declared that insects have “a capacity for the most basic aspect of consciousness: subjective experience”.
In yet another paper published this year by psychologists from New Zealand and Germany, the authors discovered that pigeons have the ability to process the relationship between letters in allowable or unallowable sequences. The study concluded saying, “findings demonstrate that visual systems neither genetically nor organizationally similar to humans can be recycled to represent the orthographic code that defines words.”
5. The year witnessed new climate change records: The year 2016 saw the ascendancy of a soon-to-be United States administration which seems determined to wage a war on the science of climate change. The year also saw the world pass in an irreversible manner the 400 parts per million threshold of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. According to scientists, it is unlikely that the CO2 levels would dip from the current level in the time frame of our generation.
Additionally, August 2016 got the reputation of being the hottest month in the last 136 years. Solar energy technology is growing fast. The new Adani Group-funded solar power plant in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu, which has a capacity of 648MW and covers an area of 10 sq km, has become the “largest solar power plant at a single location taking the title from the Topaz Solar Farm in California, which has a capacity of 550 MW”, according to a report. The future is certainly looking upwards.
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.