“What people are looking for is someone to explain life tothem. But there is no explanation and nothing to explain.”Marty Rubin 03EXPLAINER

NAMES, PLACES & TERMS

Where there’s water, there’s life,the thinking loosely goes. Newevidence suggests starkly oth-

erwise – or at least identifies someharsh new parameters on where lifeand water may (or may not) be able toco-exist. To find these limits, scientiststravelled to one of the most extremeand inhospitable environments onEarth: the Dallol geothermal springsin ETHIOPIA’S DANAKIL DEPRESSION.

This hellish, salty waterworld isgenerally considered the hottest in-habited place on the planet. The Dallollandscape is punctuated by crateredlakes of hyperacidic, hypersaline wa-ter coloured in a vibrant palette ofgreens, yellows, oranges, and browns.

1 SCIENTISTS SAY THEY’VE FOUND A PLACEON EARTH WHERE NO LIFE CAN THRIVE

The Danakil Depression, includingthe Dallol volcanic area, is one ofthe most remote, inhospitableareas in the world. They are foundin the Afar Region of Ethiopia andare part of the East African RiftSystem – an active tectonic plateboundary that’s splitting apartplates at a rate of 7 mm per year. It’s an extreme place for research.

WHY SCIENTISTS AREINTERESTED IN DANAKIL

FEATURES

➤ It is also one of the lowest places onthe planet (100 m below sea level), andwithout rain for most of the year. ➤ Here, the Awash river dries up in achain of salt lakes such as Lake Afrera,

never reaching the Indian Ocean.➤ Mount Ayalu is the westernmost andolder of the two volcanoes here. ➤ The other active volcano, Erta Ale, isone of several crater lakes of lava bub-bling from the Earth's mantle. The areacontains the Dallol sulphur springs.

IN THE NEWS FOR: In October 2019, scientistsreported that terrestrial life forms, includingextreme forms of archaea micro organisms, were notfound to exist in the very hot, acidic and salty condi-tions present in parts of the Danakil Depression.

HOW WAS THIS HARSH ENVIRONMENT CREATED?This harsh environment was created bythe splitting apart of the old African Plateinto two plates — the Somali and NubianPlates. In millions of years, these twoplates will be separated and a new ocean

basin will form,claim scientists. TheDallol volcano, in thenorthern part of the DanakilDepression, was formed in 1926 by aphreatic eruption. This is whengroundwater is heated by magma —essentially, a steam eruptionwithout the lava ejection.

WHAT RESEARCH HAPPENS HERE?These wet environments at theDanakil Depression are being investi-gated to help understand how lifemight arise on other planets andmoons. Many micro organisms supposedlyliving here are extremophilic microbes ofmajor interest to astrobiologists.

You know the news,but did some terms puzzle

you? On this page, we explain theterms used in news or by our

newsmakers. Figure out why thenames, places and terms became

the actual newsmakers this week.

A CAMEL’S FAIR: One of the world’slargest camel fairs begins in No-vember in Pushkar, Rajasthan, everyyear. While PUSHKAR has been at-tracting more tourists, it is slowly los-ing charm as a cattle fair as the num-ber of animals brought to thePushkar fair has declined drastical-ly. The fair, among the 10 animal fairsorganised in Rajasthan every year, isfamous for camels, horses and cattle.

WHERE ARE THEY? There has been adecline in the overall camel popula-tion as the utility of the animals tohumans has reduced. India, which

had the 7th largest camel populationin the world in 1991 with more than10 lakh animals, is now ranked out-side the top 20 with just 2.5 lakhcamels left. In Rajasthan, which has the highestnumber of camels in India, the num-bers have declined by 35%.

FALL IN BUSINESS: Ironically, a reasonfor the decline in trade in camels is itsstatus as Rajasthan’s state animal. In2014, that status came with protocols.For next year, the state passed a lawbanning unauthorised transportationof camels and brought in restrictions.

2 WHY ARE CAMELS GIVING PUSHKAR A MISS?

Epics say that Pushkar float-ed to the surface whenBrahma dropped a lotus

flower on Earth. ❚ Pushkar is one of the five dhamsor sacred places that are highlyrevered by Hindus. The four otherdhams being Puri, Badrinath,Dwarka, and Rameswaram. ❚ It is believed that in a war, LordBrahma had slainedVajra Nabh, thedemon, with a

lotus

flower, whose petals drifted downto Earth and were spread in threeareas in and around Pushkar wherelakes were created. ❚ Following thelegends, it is said that the PushkarLake was bounded by 52 palacesand 500 temples. ❚ Pushkar wasmentioned in Mahabharata, the2000-year-old epic of India, as theoldest religious hub in India.

❚ It is mentioned that"Maharaja

(Yudhishthir) afterentering the

Jungles of Sind andcrossing

rivers onthe way

bathed inPushkara”.

WHY IS PUSHKAR A HOT DESTINATION?

3 A TALE OF THREE CITIES ANDMETHODS TO CURB POLLUTION

LONDON

1Thick smog wouldfrequently blanket

London in the 19thand 20th centuries,when people burnedcoal to warm homes,and heavy industry inthe city centrepumped chemicalsinto the air. Referredto as “pea-soupers”,the most famous of these events was the so-called GreatSmog of London in 1952. It was recently dramatisedin the first series of the Netflix drama, The Crown.

BEIJING2China’s rapid in-

dustrialisationbrought a huge rise inair pollution.Coal-burning powerstations and a boomin car ownershipfrom the 1980s on-wards filled Beijing’sair with hazardouschemicals.In 2014, a report bythe Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences said the citywas nearly “uninhabitable for human beings” becauseof the pollution.

MEXICO CITY

3Mexico’s capitalwas infamous in

the 1970s and 1980sfor its poor air. Justbreathing was theequivalent of smok-ing dozens of ciga-rettes a day. Thecity's position with-in a high-altitudevalley means thepoor air is oftentrapped by a ring of mountains. In 1992 the UN gaveit the dubious honour of being “the most polluted cityon the planet”.

WHAT THE CITY DIDIn 1956 the UK passed theClean Air Act. It regulatedsmoke, imposing “smoke con-trol areas” where onlysmokeless fuels could beburned. According to BBC, theact was extended in 1968, andair quality improved.

WHAT THE CITY DIDBeijing hasn’t entirely fixedits problem. But China hasbeen trying to cut vehicleemissions, govt incentives forprivate businesses, datatransparency, and diversifyingeconomy away from heavyindustry to cut pollutants.

WHAT THE CITY DIDIn 1989, the city became thefirst in the world to imposecurbs on car usage. It cutthe number of cars on cityroads by 20% from Mondayto Friday, depending on theirnumber plates. It immediate-ly helped lower pollutants.

QIs air pollution in Delhi caused purelyby stubble burning?

A: Stubble burn-ing in Punjab andHaryana accountfor 17-44% ofDelhi’s pollution.Other factorssuch as industrialpollution, con-struction waste and weather patterns alsoplay a role.

QWhy do they burn residue? A: Earlier,farmers used to harvest their crops manu-

ally, which meant the crop residue— stalk leftbehind on the ground— was low in height.However, with the advent of har-vesting machines in the 1980s,the height of the crop residueincreased as machines cut thecrop at a much higher level thanmanual harvesting. Also, in 2009,Punjab and Haryana pushed back thedates of sowing, which resulted in delayed har-vest. This left the farmers little time betweenharvesting paddy and sowing the next crop,mainly wheat. Hence, crop burning emerged ascheap method of clearing stubble.

QWhy are the farmers not usingmachines despite subsidy?

A: Most farmers say even after govt subsidy,the machines are beyond their means. Ahappy seeder machine sold by a govt empan-elled manufacturer costs `1,70,000. Post sub-sidy, the cost is `65-70,000.

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TIM E S NI E

Happy birthday to the kingof Bollywood Shah RukhKhan, a signage illumi-

nated on Burj Khalifa, was fol-lowed by a spectacular fountainshow as fans in Dubai capturedthe moment on their phones.

Humbled by the grand ges-ture, Khan took to Twitter to ex-press his gratitude. “Thanks formaking me shine so bright. Your

love and

kindness is unsurpassable. Wow!This is really the Tallest I have

ever been,” Khan tweeted.

FOR INDIA FEB 2018: The BurjKhalifa was lit upin the colours ofthe Tricolour tomark NarendraModi's second visitto the country. OCT 2019: On the oc-casion of the 150 birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Gandhi, the

Burj Khalifa lit up in Indiancolours with an image of

‘Bapu’ appearing onthe walls of the

world’s tallestbuilding.

SREESANTH TOO JOINS INCricketer S Sreesanth is set to star in aTamil film opposite Hansika Motwani.The film is a horror comedy. The pacerhad previously acted in movies likeAksar 2, Cabaret, Team 5 andKempagowda 2.

Two Indian cricketers,Irfan Pathan andHarbhajan Singh, are

all set to make their actingdebut in Tamil cinema.

Pathan will be seen es-saying a prominent role inthe Tamil film, ‘Vikram 58’,

directed by Ajay Gnana-muthu. The seam bowlershared a video announcinghis debut on Twitter.

On the other hand, Harb-hajan will make his debut ina Tamil movie titled‘Dikkiloona’, and it will bedirected by Karthik Yogi.

5 IRFAN PATHAN, HARBHAJANSINGH TO MAKE ACTING DEBUT

INNINGSPathan has not played an interna-tional match since 2012. Pathanplayed 29 Test matches and man-aged to take 100 wickets. He alsoplayed 102 ODIs for the side in whichhe scalped 173 wickets.Harbhajan last played a match forIndia in 2016. The spinner has played236 ODIs, 103 Tests and 28 T20Is.

4 BURJ KHALIFA LIT UP FOR SRK & INDIA!

Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images