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MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020

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The fastest human computation is 28 sec-

onds, and was achieved by Shakuntala Devi by

successfully multiplying two randomly select-

ed 13-digit numbers at the Imperial College

London, UK, on June 18, 1980

MADE IN INDIASPACE

Mysterious cloud reappearson Mars

FACTOID

■ The number of children under the age of

five across the world, who could suffer from

wasting this year due to the socio-economic

impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UNICEF

has warned. According to the UNICEF, in

India, there are still around 20 million chil-

dren, under five years of age, who are suffer-

ing from wasting. According to the Global

Hunger Index 2019, wasting among children

in India rose from 16.5 per cent in 2008-2012

to 20.8 per cent in 2014-2018

6.7 MN

➤ Scientists say it seems to appeararound Mars's southern summer solstice– when the southern hemisphere is hitwith a large amount of daylight

➤However, experts are not clear why ithas formed, how long it will stay, orwhen it will disappear from the Martianatmosphere ➤According to Daily Mail,the summer solstice on Mars is similarto the event that occurs on December 21on the Earth – when the sun is in thesouthernmost position in the sky➤Researchers have observed that themysterious Mars cloud expands for threehours in the early morning, and disap-pears a few hours later

Scientists have claimed that a mys-terious giant cloud hanging overthe surface of Mars, which was

first spotted in 2018, has recently reap-peared on the Red Planet. Made of wa-ter ice, the elongated cloud sits 19.956km above the volcano Arsia Mons, andstretches some 1786.372 km in length.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS AWARDSCERTIFICATE TO SHAKUNTALA DEVIFOR 'FASTEST HUMAN COMPUTATION'

T he GuinnessWorld Recordshas honoured

math genius Shakunta-la Devi with the longoverdue record title forthe 'fastest human com-putation', four decadesafter she achieved thefeat. The certificationwas received by Anu-pama Banerji, thedaughter of the latemathematician. The honour came a day before‘Shakuntala Devi’, a biopic on Banerji's mother,started streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Thefilm was released on July 31. Directed by AnuMenon, the film stars Vidya Balan in the title role.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO TO DEVELOP UTOPIAN SERIES 'ISLAND'

A ctor LeonardoDiCaprio's pro-duction house,

Appian Way and InGood Company Films

are all set todevelop autopian se-

ries, 'Island', whichis based on AldousHuxley's novel ofthe same name.

I RECOMMEND

MAKING MATHS EASY

Aimed at improving the kids' mathfluency and speed in addition andmultiplication, the Sushi Monster haslevels (seven for addition, five formultiplication), which includes 14problems. Students can dedicate 10minutes a day to improve their mathfluency. Numbers appear on sushiplates, and are fed to a “sushi mon-ster.” Players are given a series ofproducts and sums.

Q

Tesla CEO Elon Musk hasclaimed that Artificial Intelli-gence (AI) will be ' smarter' thanany human, and would overtake

us by 2025. "We are headed towards a sit-uation, where AI will be smarter thanhumans, he said, adding that the timeframe is less than five years from now.However, it doesn't mean that everythinggoes to hell in five years. It just means thatthings get unstable, the Space X CEO said.

➤ He described AI as an 'existentialthreat' to humanity. "I think weshould be very careful about AI. If Iwere to guess like what our biggestexistential threat is, it's probablythat,'' he said.

➤ In 2016, Musk had said thathumans risk being treated likehouse pets by AI, unless a technolo-gy is developed that can connect

brains to computers

➥AI scientists at the Oxford, the UC Berkeley, luminaries, like StephenHawking, and many other researchers, agree with Musk that AI couldbe very dangerous. They are concerned that we’re eagerly work-ing towards deploying powerful AI systems, which we might do sounder conditions that are ripe for dangerous mistakes

➥Nick Bostrom, in his book, 'Superintelligence' has saidthat a badly-designed AI system will be impossible tocorrect, once deployed.“Once unfriendly superintelli-gence exists, it would prevent us from replacing itor changing its preferences. Our fate will besealed,” he warns

➥AI systems could rapidly develop unexpectedcapabilities — for example, an AI system that is asgood as a human at inventing new machine-learn-

ing algorithms, or automating the processof machine-learning work could quickly

become much better than a human, he adds

WHY MUSK FEARS AI

MUSK IS NOT ALONE IN SOUNDING THE ALARM

LET'S DEBATE

AI will beSMARTER THANHUMANS within5 years: MUSK

VIEWPOINT

toinie175@gmail.com/timesnie175@gmail.com

IS AI AN 'EXISTENTIAL THREAT' TO HUMANITY? Share your views at

Photo: Getty images

Photo: Getty images

NEP a major step toenhance access to qualityeducation: Vice President

Vice President MVenkaiah Nai-du has ex-pressed happi-

ness over the New Edu-cation Policy (NEP) 2020,and called it a major stepforward to enhance ac-

cess to quality educa-tion for children andthe youth. Welcoming

the emphasis on a ho-listic, learner-centric,

flexible system thatseeks to transform Indiainto a vibrant knowledgesociety, the VP said, it bal-ances the rootedness andpride in India as well asacceptance of the bestideas and practices in theworld of learning fromacross the globe.

➥The VP expressed happiness over theimportance given to the mother tongue at theprimary level in the policy

➥"Diversity and respect for the local contextas well as a recognition of the importance ofIndia's classical languages will undoubtedlygive learners a holistic world view. The focusof NEP-2020 on ethics and human andConstitutional values would go a long way inthe creation of an enlightened citizenshipessential for deepening our democraticroots," Naidu said

➥Calling the NEP-2020's vision as "trulyglobal and essentially Indian", Naidu said thatit exemplifies India's timeless quest for wel-coming noble thoughts from all over the world

WASTING IS A LIFE-THREATENING FORM OFMALNUTRITION, WHICH MAKES CHILDRENTOO THIN AND WEAK, AND PUTS THEM ATGREATER RISK OF DYING, POOR GROWTH,DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING

FACEBOOK IS SET TO FINALLYGET THE RIGHTS TO SHOWMUSIC VIDEOS

AT 18-FOOT, 8-INCH, AUSTRALIAZOO'S 'FOREST' IS THE WORLD'STALLEST GIRAFFE

F acebook Inc has completed a seriesof deals for the right to show mu-sic videos, according to sources,

vaulting the social network into a medi-um dominated byYouTube. Partnershipswith the three largestmusic companies — Universal MusicGroup, Sony Music Entertainment andWarner Music Group— are expected to beannounced soon, revealed the sources.

TECH BUZZ

➤Facebook has been looking for ways to increase the video con-sumption on its service, tapping intoa promising market.

➤Video advertising is often morelucrative than other types of ads, andvideo-based rival TikTok, owned byChina’s ByteDance Ltd., has been gain-ing users at a rapid clip. At the sametime, music video consumption hassoared on YouTube during the coron-avirus pandemic

Last month, Microsoft Corp hadannounced that it would shutter Mixer,its streaming service for gamers, andmoved existing partners on to theFacebook’s service, instead

IN THE RECORD BOOK

➤According to Variety, the writer's final book,published in 1962, revolves around the story ofa cynical journalist, shipwrecked on a fictionalutopian island, Pala, in the Indian Ocean

➤Originally tasked with exploiting Pala's natu-ral resources, he uncovers an independently-developed society, and embraces the people,their culture and traditions. His experience andadventures alter the course of his mission

According to the Guinness World Records,the process of measuring Forest's preciseheight was not straightforward. Theirwebsite mentions that the staff at the zoohad to create a 'specially-marked measur-ing pole', and rig it close to a hay dis-

penser close to thegiraffe's house

A 12-year-old gi-raffe at the Aus-tralian Zoo in

Queensland has set aGuinness World Recordas the world’s tallest,standing at 18-foot, 8-inches. Named, ‘Forest',the giraffe was born atthe Auckland Zoo in NewZealand in 2007, and wasmoved to his new home, just two years later. For-est is so tall that he stands head and shouldersover two other giraffes at the Australian Zoo.He is the only male in the herd.

ENTERTAINMENT

COULD BETHE SECRET

TO EATINGLESS

Listening to slow andsteady music whileeating, slows downthe food intake, a new

study suggests. According toresearchers, the presence of adownbeat tempo influenceshow much people scoff theirfood, because humans have atendency to subconsciously eatto the beat of the music. Whenthe music played is slow andlegato(smooth,flowing), thisamplifies the effect, and fur-ther reduces the food con-sumption. Scientists say thefindings could be used bythe schools or the restau-rants as a way to control theamount people consume.

For the study, the foodscientists recruited morethan 200 volunteers, and se-cretly recorded them eatingchocolate. They timed howlong it took for the partici-pants to get through five

pieces of chocolate. Wheneating in silence, the averageamount of time it took was 24seconds.

When upbeat music of 180beats per minute was played,the people took 10 secondslonger to eat all the snacks.However, when played slow

music, at just 45bpm, the eatingspeed wentdown again,this time tak-ing a furtherfour seconds todevour all thechocolates.

➤'The results from these experiments confirm that mmuussiiccccoouulldd bbee eemmppllooyyeedd aass aa ccoonntteexxttuuaall ccuuee ttoo mmoodduullaattee eeaattiinnggssppeeeedd,, ccoonnttrriibbuuttiinngg ttoo hheeaalltthhiieerr eeaattiinngg bbeehhaavviioouurrss, such aseating more slowly, and consuming less food'

➤'A longer eating duration could be due to an entertainmenteffect, where subjects (either consciously or not) align theirown chewing rhythm to the beat of the music, thusresulting in chewing slower, when listening to slowermusic and vice-versa

SUSHI MONSTER FREE

ANDROID

ANDROID

For kids aged 9 and up, this gami-fied, adaptive math app, lets kidsearn points, have battles, go onquests, and learn maths. Two bigselling points are that you can workat your level, and play with friends!

PRODIGY KIDS: MATHGAMES FREE +MEMBERSHIP UPGRADES

The Splash Math apps always pro-vide great games for each mathconcept. If you get somethingwrong, they tell you the correctanswer. That way you’re not doing itincorrectly over and over again.

SPLASH MATH 3RDGRADE FREE

Starting with addition and continu-ing through multiplication anddivision, this gives kids missionsand games, so that they can buildan island or a star base, filled with(cute) monsters and robots

Become a ninja and work your waythrough the times tables, fightingand learning from mistakes.

MATH NINJA TIMESTABLE FREE

ANDROID

Customise this fun math app tolearn anything— from grade onemath to grade five, including multi-plication and division.

MONSTER MATH FREE

MATHTANGO FREE

THE TEMPO OF MUSIC HAS LONG BEEN

LINKED TO THE LEVELS OF EXCITEMENT — A

QUICKER BEAT RAISES THE HEART RATE,

WHILE A SLOWER RHYTHM INDUCES RELAXATION

Photo: Getty images

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It’s not just a place where you get to learn Einstein’s Theory of

Relativity. It’s also a place where you can think beyond the class-

room. Hence we say, SCHOOL IS COOL!02

‘Be focussed on your goal’Times NIE in association with Vidyalankar, Mumbai conducted its first Webinar for winners of 'Student of the Year' award 2020-21 on July 31. Prof Hitesh Moghe,

IITian and Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, (IPS) former head of crime branch, Mumbai addressed over 500 students from across the city

JATIN YASHROY, FORMER STAR CORRESPONDENT,

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, MUMBAI

Be unconventional and daring inboth your thinking and your ac-tions." This was the commontheme running through the TimesNIE webinar on career guidancein science and mathematics which

took place on July 31st. The panelists includedHitesh Moghe, HOD of mathematics in the pres-tigious Vidyalankar institute, Mumbai and DrMeeran Chadha Borwankar, IPS officer andformer commissioner of police, Pune.

This webinar was conducted in collabora-tion with the Student Of The Year initiativehosted by Times NIE along with Vidyalankarinstitute. What set this apart was that there wasan interactive session towards the end, wherestudents could ask questions to the panelists.With over 500 students joining us on Facebooklive from all over Mumbai, the stage was set foran enthralling talk.

Moghe who has been teaching atVidyalankar for 16 years, opened the web ses-sion talking about his personal experience andnuances of the varied competitive exams. Hav-ing completed his B. Tech from IIT Bombay inmaterial science and Metallurgy, he articulat-ed the sheer rigour and determination it takesto pass exams such as JEE. Through a brilliantanalogy, he cleared the doubts of the scope thatone particular degree can have, "Just becauseyou like to fly, doesn't mean you have to be a pi-lot, one can want to be an aerospace engineeralso. These nuances can only be solved afterthe exploration of different avenues."

While reassuring students that nothing isimpossible with hard work and determination,he also laid down key statistics so that studentscould set a goal in their mind. For example, of

the 23 IIT's (Indian Institute of Technology) inIndia, there are only 12,000 seats. The processto qualify is to be in the top 2 lakh students outof nearly 12 lakhs in JEE to qualify for JEE ad-vanced, an exam prepared internally by the IITprofessors which serve as an entrance examfor IIT.

The top 12,000 students from the JEE ad-vanced exam earn a seat in IIT. Further, inthe medical sector, there are nearly 8-10 lakhaspirants for biology but only 70-80 studentsare admitted yearly for MBBS in AIIMS Del-hi, the top institute in Asia for many yearsrunning. These statistics show the importanceof getting good ranks in competitive examsas by doing so, you can get admission into theelite colleges of India and you can get your

preferred branch and choice of course.IPS and former head of Crime Branch,

Mumbai, Dr. Meeran Chadha Borwankar inthe next session shared an anecdote with stu-dents. When she was posted in Kolhapur asthe officer in charge in the late 1980s, therewas news about a huge gambling den oper-ating from Chandgad, a district nearly 100kilometres away. It involved high-level in-

dustrialists, so the police could not intervenedue to powerful individuals. Borwankar, stillrelatively new to the scene decided it was timeto act as the citizens were losing faith in thepolice. So, she planned a raid along with only7-8 other officers in order to avoid drawingattention. Furthermore, she instructed herofficers to wear civilian clothes and rent aprivate van to be discreet. They took all theseprecautionary measures as all her predeces-sors who planned to intervene failed as thelocals saw a police van incoming and alertedthe owners of the gambling den.

Late one evening, as her team approacheda thick forest shrouded in darkness, theyfound the door of the den and knocked. Theman who opened it instantly realized their

ploy and charged at them with a broken glassbottle in hand. Being in peak physical form,she easily sidestepped the danger and walkedon. Inside, she saw 18 people with huge bun-dles of cash on the tables. She instantly ar-rested them all and justice prevailed alongwith the resurgence of faith in the police.

The key lessons to be learned from thisshe stated was that i) Hard work pays off andextra effort such as analyzing past mistakesdoes too. ii) Teamwork and treating even yourjuniors as equal results in success. iii) Phys-ical fitness is important for any professionas it increases productivity.

All in all, the session was enriching interms of career guidance and in the broadersense, on how to approach life.

Prof Hitesh Moghe, HOD mathematics, Vidyalankar institute Mumbai and Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, retired IPS officer and former head of crime branch, Mumbai

'FITNESS, SELF DISCIPLINE, BALANCE AND

DETERMINATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS'

Q: What qualities make a good

leader?I believe a true leader should followthe 4 "S";n Sehat (fitness)- A leader shouldbe physically, emotionally, mentally,and spiritually sound.n Sanyam (Self-discipline)- A leadershould be able to practice restraint.n Santulan (Balance)- A leadermust be balanced in all aspects.n Sankalp (Determination)- Aleader must be determined toachieve their goals.

Q: What is your opinion on

politicians?I feel most politicians are not trueleaders as they are too self-cen-tered even though they may displayall the aforementioned attributes.However, one notable exception Imust point out is the former homeminister of Maharashtra RR Patil. Inall my interactions with him, he wasvery earnest and humble and moreimportantly gender-neutral andlooked past my gender and saw onlya uniformed officer.

Q: How do you feel gender dis-

crimination has evolved since

the first time you took office?I feel progress has been made inthe urban/middle-class segmentwith people being more forthcomingin that bracket. However, in themiddle class/rural segment, I feelprogress is lacking. About 20-30%of the population is progressive butit's a pity that nearly 20% of thepopulation feels that having a

daughter is a curse, it's an ongoingbattle.

Q: Having served as the Chiefof Maharashtra Prison depart-ment, what can you tell usabout some high-profile hang-ings such as Ajmal Kasab andYakub Memon?(Laughs) some police matters aresensitive and kept confidential fromthe public. Sadly, I cannot delveinto the subject of Kasab. Yakub'scase however was highly publicizedand open to the public and the maintakeaway from his case is that hewas convicted of crimes committedin 1993 but hung in 2015. More than20 years passed before he wasbrought to justice and this is anissue we have to address by stream-lining the process from the arrestto conviction. There is an urgentneed for more police officers andjudges. I want to make it clearthough that each citizen has ade-quate opportunities to appeal anddefend themselves in the court oflaw.

(Retd) Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, IPS

'TEACHING SHOULD BE A FUN AND

ENGAGING EXPERIENCE FOR STUDENTS'

Q: What made you take control

of Vidyalankar and make it into

what it is today?Vidyalankar was started by myfather-in-law, CS Deshpande, in theyear 1960. C S Deshpande hadalways been a brilliant student him-self, and after having stood first atthe Indian Engineering Servicesexam, he started working as a classone officer, with the railways. But hedid not enjoy that and decided tomake his passion for teachingPhysics and Mathematics, his profes-sion. That's how he started theVidyalankar Institute.

Q: How did the partnership

with Times NIE come about?Our association with Times NIE goesback a long way. Vidyalankarbelieves in nurturing and motivatingyoung students through initiativessuch as the Scholarships Programs,Quiz Contests, Webinars, etc., andNIE is a wonderful platform for suchstudent-centric activities, hence ourassociation with NIE.

Q: What are the different

avenues students can enter

into science and mathematics? There are several avenues open tostudents interested in Science andMathematics. But the most sought-after career options are pursuingEngineering, Medical and PureSciences from top-notch instituteslike the IITs, AIIMS, IISER, IISC.

Q: What advice do you have for

students who feel discouragedafter not performing well inone test? There is no need to feel discouragedif you don't do well in a particulartest. What is important is that youlearn from your mistakes and neverrepeat them.

Q: What is your philosophy

toward teaching? Teaching should be a fun and engag-ing experience for the studentsbecause only then do they trulylearn. So, as teachers, we have toconstantly innovate and reinventteaching techniques, which don'tjust impart knowledge to the stu-dents, but also make the learningprocess enjoyable.

Q: What values do you strive to

inculcate within students? Students should form good habits, ashabits always guide our actions. Asindividuals, we must strive to becompassionate, truthful, hardwork-ing and humble

Namrata Deshpande(Director, Vidyalankar Classes and Publications)

'I LOVE TEACHING AND SEEING STUDENTS

ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS'

Q: What motivated you to

teach in India and not go

abroad after graduating from

IIT?I have always had an interest in

mathematics and even while I was

doing my B Tech in material science,

I knew math was my calling. When I

first started teaching IIT aspirants, it

was a new experience and I was

instantly hooked. It's been 16 years

now and until today I find challeng-

ing questions that I love solving.

Q: You are known to be very

popular with students; what

techniques do you use to strike

a chord with them?It is no secret that IIT level mathe-

matics is particularly difficult and

hard to grasp most of the time. The

real challenge lies in making it easy

and learnable. I usually try to incor-

porate tricks that I have learnt over

the years and shortcuts to make the

work less tedious. I aim firstly to

clear the misconceptions rather than

the concepts themselves because I

feel no progress can be made with-

out a strong foundation. That's why

my first few lectures go in revising

basic concepts.

Q: What advice would you give

to a student in the preparation

of an exam? n Have a goal- Aim high and put in

the effort accordingly

n Have a plan

n Understand the enormity of the

task

n Identify the resources available

around you (books, coaching insti-

tutes, websites, etc.)

n Work hard- There is no substitute

for hard work

n Persevere- Keep working hard

regularly

n Have self-motivation- Believe in

yourself

Q: What gives you the mosthappiness in your profession?I feel I gain the most happiness from

the respect that I receive. When the

students and parents come to me

after the exam and thank me for

getting them the results, I feel elat-

ed. I feel equally ecstatic when stu-

dents remember me even after 10

years and still respect me.

Q: When do you advice stu-

dents to enter coaching insti-

tutes? Up until the 10th grade, once a week

foundation courses are enough. From

11th grade onwards, hard work of six

days a week for two years is

required.

Prof Hitesh Moghe, B Tech IIT Bombay

PROF HITESH MOGHE

Q: Do you feel some boards (CBSE,

ICSE, etc.) have an advantage over

others in competitive exams?

There is no specific advantage as suchin studying from a particular board ifone wants to pursue competitiveexams. The syllabus for Grade XI andXII, for the HSC, CBSE and ISC Board ismore or less similar. So, as such itdoes not matter if a student selectsany one of the three boards, it's theamount of dedication and hard work

one puts in.

Q: How can we determine our

strengths and weaknesses?

The best you can do is take aptitudetests and see what interests you. Afterthat, you should erase all forms ofdoubt from your mind and aim high, tobe the top student.

Q: Can aeronautical engineering help

you become an astronaut?

Not really because aeronautical engi-neering deals with parts and design ofthe craft meant to send the astronauts

in space. It can help but to an extent.

Q: Due to the recent successes of

ISRO on the global stage, a lot of the

youth is growing interested in astro-

physics. What are the top colleges

you recommend for pursuing astro-

physics?

Indian Institute of Space Science &Technology, Trivandrum and IndianInstitute of Science, Bangalore arerenowned institutes.

DR MEERAN CHADHABORWANKAR

Q: What kept you motivated

throughout all your years of service?

I feel the real-time touch I had withthe people is what kept me going.When citizens accused the police forceof being corrupt, this further motivat-ed me to raid big industrialists to showto the people we are with them. Evenduring the time where I returned 20

gold chains to their rightful owners inMumbai, what kept me going is seeingthe smile on people's faces.

Q: What can one do to strike a bal-

ance between academics and work

environment?

You can do so by doing an internshipand volunteering to work outside yourschool to get a dose of reality and beready for life outside your comfortzone.

Q: What message or advice do you

have to the young women in society

and students in general?

I feel for young women, you shouldn'thave mental barriers, and don't letsociety stop you. You shouldn't feelguilty for being ambitious. To the larg-er audience, I say that in this stage inlife, you should broaden your horizonsand your vision to not be confined by"streams." By doing so, by the timeyou're an adult, you are aware of thejoy of developing the responsibility tohelp others. You must think beyond theordinary and think beyond yourself.

W O R D S O F W I S D O M

Pics: Deepshika Rangraj