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<ul><li>India's top court has instructed the state government of <keyword id="6355772" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="meghalaya">Meghalaya</keyword> to rescue the miners as soon as possible as 'every minute counts'.</li><li>The Indian Supreme Court has also directed the state government that the miners have to be rescued, regardless of whether they're dead of alive.</li><li>15 labourers have been stuck in a ‘rat hole’ mine in India for nearly a month despite multi-agency efforts to rescue them. </li></ul>15 miners have been stuck in a ‘rat hole’ mine in the eastern state of Meghalaya for nearly a month while all rescue efforts have proven unsuccessful. After hearing a petition regarding the matter, the Indian Supreme Court has instructed the state government to get the miners out — dead or alive. The judges stated, “Every minute counts”. They added, “No matter whether they are all dead, not dead or all alive — they should be taken out.” Expressing their dissatisfaction, they questioned the state government as to why the army hadn’t been asked to join to rescue operations. The government justified that they already had firefighters from Odisha, the <keyword id="6355100" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Navy">Indian Navy</keyword> and the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) on board. The court appropriately retorted, “Then, why were they not successful?” Getting the Supreme Court's attention After nearly a month of being trapped in a 320 feet deep mine in the eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, the country’s Supreme Court <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/top-court-to-hear-plea-seeking-urgent-steps-for-rescue-of-trapped-meghalaya-miners-1971352">agreed to hear a plea</a> that was seeking to increase the rescue efforts underway on Wednesday. The PIL filed by Aditya N Prasad, an Indian lawyer, was seeking adequate manpower as well as equipment to rescue the miners. The plea also included preparing a ‘Standard Operation Procedure’ (SOP) by the central government for how rescue operations should be implemented when it comes to mining rescue operations. Last week, search operations were been suspended altogether for the 15 miners that have trapped at the end of a ‘rat-hole’ after nearly a fortnight of searching. Right before the New Year, the Indian Navy and the Odisha Fire Service were also pulled in to help with the rescue efforts alongside the <keyword id="119446" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Disaster-Response-Force">National Disaster Response Force</keyword> (NDRF). The probability of finding survivors is thin considering the amount time that has lapsed, but rescuers assert that there is hope in case the miners were able to find an air pocket underground. Here’s a look at the rescue efforts underway:

Indian Supreme Court expresses dissatisfaction — Instructs government to get the miners out ‘dead or alive’

<ul><li>While the rescue of the 15 miners stuck in a ‘rat hole’ mine in the eastern state of Meghalaya in India since December 13, 2018, is still underway, two more incidents of <keyword id="6367140" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="illegal-mining">illegal mining</keyword> have come to light. </li><li>Two miners have lost their lives in one of the incidents, while three more are stuck in another ‘rat hole’ mine. </li><li>Government officials in Meghalaya have repeatedly denied any knowledge of illegal mining in the state after the ban implemented in 2014. </li><li>But the chief minister of the state quickly turned on his words after the first incident took place. </li><li>Data shows that administrative oversight is one of the primary reasons this problem was allowed to continue for so long.</li></ul>While the Indian government is still struggling to rescue the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-supreme-court-expresses-dissatisfaction-instructs-government-to-get-the-miners-out-dead-or-alive/articleshow/67257937.cms">15 rat hole miners</a> stuck in the eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, two more incidents of illegal mining in state paint a disturbing picture. The issue is not only about the prevalence of illegal mining but the resultant loss of life due to the risk involved and lax security regulations. The first incident is where two miners <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/2-dead-as-another-meghalaya-mine-collapses-rescue-stumbles-at-older-site-1973517">died</a> as a result of a ‘side cutting’ mine collapsing on top of them. The second is where three miners have been trapped in another ‘rat hole’ mine in the area for nearly nine days <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/boulders-fall-in-meghalaya-mine-kill-two/article25927321.ece">according</a> to the locals in the area. Questions for politicians Meghalaya has always maintained that the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2014 was effectively implemented. But after the mining incident of December 13, 2018, where 15 miners are still stuck in a ‘rat hole’ mine — their story seems to be changing. Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/north-east/dec-report-admits-to-illegal-mining-in-meghalaya/cid/1681055">admitted</a> to knowing about the illegal mining in Meghalaya only after the incident took place. Earlier that year, when there were allegations of illegal mining activity in Meghalaya, he denied all charges. 
 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="&quot;We are aware that illegal mining activities were on. Appropriate action will be taken against those who are involved in it. This is not acceptable to us.&quot;" auname="Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya"></div>




 Reports also show that over the past four years — despite the coal mining ban being in place — over 2,700 trucks have seized containing coal even though only about 1,100 cases were actually registered. Experts <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/meghalaya-rat-hole-mining-tragedy-politicians-have-a-lot-to-answer-for/story-eiALqenJkbeggHDatUsEfM.html">cite</a> the prevalence of mining in Meghalaya to three reasons. One, that these ‘risky’ mining practices are also cheaper than conventional methods lacking the usual safety requirements. Two, there is political support in place. And, three, the local community needs the job opportunity since they are mostly migrants from neighboring states. The fact that the mines are privately owned makes it even harder to keep track of where they are, who owns them or even of their exact number. So rather than illegal mining in Meghalaya being a surprise, it was more of administrative oversight that allowed the phenomenon to continue. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-supreme-court-expresses-dissatisfaction-instructs-government-to-get-the-miners-out-dead-or-alive/articleshow/67257937.cms">Photos that show the efforts to rescue 15 miners trapped in illegal 'rat hole’ mine in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/for-74-indian-activists-the-punishment-for-seeking-the-truth-has-been-death/articleshow/63425570.cms">For 74 Indian activists, the punishment for seeking the truth has been death</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-authorities-used-google-maps-to-expose-illegal-sand-mining-activities/articleshow/64945513.cms">Indian authorities used Google Maps to expose illegal sand mining activities</a>

More illegal mining in India — the state of Meghalaya has more questions than answers

Labour day isn’t only about recognition of hard work. It is also pushing for equality, work rights and the larger benefit of working men and women across the globe. As the world celebrates Labour Day, here is a look at its history and what it means for workers. It dates back to 1886 when workers in the US took to the streets protesting long work hours. They demanded that their work time be reduced from 16-10 hours to 8 hours a day. In India, the situation of labourers has been far from pleasant. Over the years, it has been marred with gender inequality, hazardous working conditions, job crises and unemployment. Indian labour laws leave much to be desired on<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-is-revamping-its-minimum-wage-laws-for-the-first-time-in-60-years/articleshow/64001419.cms"> minimum wage </a>and mandated work hours. Here’s a low-down of several fronts where Indian workers are fighting for basic rights, conducive work environment and a decent pay scale: <div type="Slideshow" msid="69129456" hostid="261" title="May Day 2019: India’s labour day comes at the cost of 570,000 job losses and 297 deaths" firstImageMsid="69129621" slideCount="6"></div>

May Day 2019: India’s labour day comes at the cost of 570,000 job losses and 297 deaths

<ul><li>After a month of searching, the search for the 15 miners in <keyword id="6355772" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="meghalaya">Meghalaya</keyword> finally seems to have yielded results. </li><li>The underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) spotted a body 160 feet into a ‘rat hole’ mine that was flooded by the Lytein River. </li><li>The body is being brought out under the supervision of doctors and the search continues for the 14 remaining miners.</li></ul>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-supreme-court-expresses-dissatisfaction-instructs-government-to-get-the-miners-out-dead-or-alive/articleshow/67257937.cms">Meghalaya mining crisis</a> in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> finally seems to have made progress after over a month of searching for the 15 miners trapped in an illegal rat-hole mine. The <keyword id="6355100" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Navy">Indian Navy</keyword> spotted a body 160 feet into mine using its underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). 
	
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="indiannavy" handlename="SpokespersonNavy" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/871053127205625856/pGhIGmLN_normal.jpg" favoritecount="49" retweetcount="28" status="#MeghalayaMineTragedy The depth is 160 feet (and not 60 feet) and the body has been pulled upto the mouth of Rat-ho… https://t.co/F5tH54k3Xa" createdat="1547696283000" id="1085743023957323777"></div>







 The body is being brought up to the mouth of the mine under the supervision of doctors — and the hunt is still on for the remaining 14 miners. The efforts to rescue the miners were halted altogether two weeks into the operation when the pumps available to the state government gave out under stress. It was only then that firefighters from Odisha and the Indian Navy were called in to help. Even <keyword id="45383" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coal-India">Coal India</keyword> Limited and Kirloskar Brother Limited stepped in to offer high-capacity submersible pumps to help with the process. The flooding from the Lytein river created a situation that even Indian Navy divers couldn’t go deep enough to access the rat holes until the water in the mine was taken out. Dangers of mining practices in this part of the country is exactly why the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned mining in Meghalaya in 2014. Despite the ban, mining practices have continued. In early January, two miners died in an illegal <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/more-illegal-mining-in-india-the-state-of-meghalaya-has-more-questions-than-answers/articleshow/67419109.cms">‘side cutting’ mine</a> in another part of the state. Here’s a quick look at the Meghalaya mining crisis:

India’s Meghalaya mining crisis finally makes progress in its search for 15 missing miners

New Delhi, Dec 16 () Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the mining industry should constantly endeavour to achieve the goal of 'zero harm' in operations in the country, especially when private players are being roped in the sector.
 "Our aim should be to constantly endeavour towards the goal of 'zero harm'," Naidu said here while addressing a gathering after presenting the National Safety Awards in Mines for 2015 and 2016. 
 The legislative approach towards safety regulations may not be the only way to deal with the issue, he said.
 "Experience shows us that creating a 'culture of prevention' across all employees of an organization is critical for progress of the mineral industry towards 'zero harm'," he said.
 Naidu said, "Many times these contractors adopt a risk taking attitude as they focus solely on maximizing the output. Consequently, investments in safety are often ignored purely for short-term gains. This is not acceptable. Every worker has a right to safe and decent work environment."
 He noted that mining sector has witnessed major policy interventions in the recent past to promote exploration and enhance private sector participation and it has aided the sector's growth.
 India is blessed with abundant mineral deposits. India produces as many as 95 minerals, which includes 4 fuel, 10 metallic, 23 non-metallic, 3 atomic and 55 minor minerals (including building stones and other materials), he said.
 The mining sector is an important segment of the economy, contributing around 2.6 per cent of national GDP. In 2018-19, the gross value addition by mining and quarrying sector was Rs 4.1 lakh crore. It also provides direct and indirect employment to over 10 million people.
 "Effective safety programmes will only be a reality when management at all levels fully integrate safety responsibility into the industry's mainstream. The concepts of 'self-supervision' and 'duty of care' should become the keyword for mining industry in place of the present system of 'external supervision'," the vice president said.
 Miners' job is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupations and is not easy, Naidu said, adding that no country can develop without the contribution of mining industry.
 India should further aspire to expand the value chains of its key minerals to leverage these resources for faster economic development, he added.
 He also reminded the gathering about the unfortunate incident where 15 miners died in an illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya, saying it is still fresh in memory.
 On the occasion, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar spoke about labour reforms and said that the government wants to codify 44 central laws into four codes.
 One of the four codes, Code on Wages, has already been approved by the Parliament, while other three on occupational safety, industrial relations and social security have been introduced in Lok Sabha for consideration and passage, he added. KKS RVK

Achieve 'zero harm' in mining operations in the country, says Venkaiah Naidu

A friend of mine recently started working a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-day-workweek-could-be-here-sooner-than-you-think-2024-3">four-day workweek</a>. Her job didn't implement it or anything — she just did it for herself. Her <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-vacations-work-trends-culture-pto-travel-job-stress-2024-6">bosses don't seem to notice</a>, she gets her work done, and while said work may not be of the most stellar quality, it's sufficient. Maybe she'll catch the ambition bug again at some point, but for now it feels good to coast.The coasting, she admitted, also feels a little weird. The laws of capitalism say we have to constantly be on the move — work hard, play hard, consume hard, rinse and repeat. We're supposed to want to be the best, the smartest, the richest, and to hold those who have achieved such status in high regard. We seek to optimize at every turn, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-perfect-instagram-photos-have-ruined-travel-2020-12">painstakingly crafting the perfect Instagrammable vacation</a> and spending hours debating over paint colors that, if we're honest, we can barely tell apart. Even the wealthy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-makes-six-figures-feels-financially-insecure-concerts-restaurants-austin-2024-6">feel like they don't have enough</a>. Instead of a sprint to the finish, modern-day life is a sprint with no end, going until we get too tired and throw in the towel."This is very much a reflection of mature capitalism, accelerated capitalism, whereby we've internalized the machine as being part of our own identity," said Thomas Curran, a professor of psychology at the London School of Economics who wrote the book "The Perfection Trap."It used to be that external forces, such as bosses and politicians, were prodding us into action, encouraging us to work more, buy more, strive for more. Now we're just doing it all on our own."It's not somebody else cracking the whip on us, but rather we are cracking the whip on ourselves," Curran said. "We are both the tyrant and the victim in the relationship, because we fully internalized the need to work more, consume more, as just part and parcel of a normal personality and identity."But here's a thought: What if everyone just relaxed, and instead of focusing on the best we can be, we just tried to be good enough? In an age where you're supposed to optimize everything, maybe it's fine to just be … fine. Your vacation, your clothes, your house, your kids, your retirement can be OK, even if none are perfect.I'm not suggesting we aspire to mediocrity; I'm saying we should aspire to medium.Not everyone in the world is dominated by the maximizing mindset, but even people who lean toward the chiller side of things still feel compelled to aim for more and better in at least some part of their lives. Why are we like this?There's a mixture of nature and nurture in play, said Avram Alpert, a scholar and writing lecturer who wrote "The Good-Enough Life," in an email. Most people want to be recognized as meaningful members of their communities, but our cultural values dictate what counts as meaningful. "In societies around the world where wealth, power, and social status are so highly valued, we feel incredible pressure to gain them," he said. This cultural pressure is reinforced by our economic system, Alpert said, which is organized in such a way that people aren't wrong to think they need to work endlessly to be able to pay for housing, childcare, healthcare, retirement, etc. "You really do need to work hard and earn a lot (or inherit a lot) to live in decent material conditions in these contexts," he said.This underlying social and economic pressure is made worse by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315658353-50/cognitive-affective-consequences-information-choice-overload-elena-reutskaja-sheena-iyengar-barbara-fasolo-raffaella-misuraca">choice overload</a> American consumers are constantly facing. Having too many options can make people feel bad and lead to frustration, regret, and dissatisfaction.Barry Schwartz, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Swarthmore College who's written several books on psychology and the economy, offered the example of shopping for jeans. Decades ago, consumers had just a couple of options and grabbed whatever was on the shelf, and that was that. Now there are hundreds of designs, and which one someone buys says more than "I would like to wear pants today." It says everything from "I am cool" to "I don't care how hot it is" to "I care about the environment" to "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-gen-z-socks-jeans-brands-aging-cash-advertising-2024-6">I am a millennial desperately trying to keep up with the times</a>.""Whether you like it or not, you are no longer just buying jeans, you are making a statement about your identity, and I think this is true almost across the board," said Schwartz, who has researched choice overload with Nathan Cheek at Purdue. "When there are lots of options, people think that the choice they make is a statement about who they are, and when they think this, they are more inclined to seek out the best."Social media exacerbates the problem because so much of our lives are public. We're constantly comparing ourselves to others and seeing what else is out there. "Keeping up with the Joneses" in the year 2024 doesn't just mean your next-door neighbors — it means a universe of Instagram influencers and YouTube hustlers and friends from high school whose lives seem curated to perfection.This fixation on choosing the best can show up in big areas, like picking where to live, but also in small ones, like deciding where to eat. You've probably had the experience of looking up endless Yelp reviews to find the perfect restaurant only to get there, have a mediocre experience, and wonder whether any of the 15 other restaurants you looked at or passed on the way would have been better. Or maybe you realize that just choosing the first place you saw would have saved you time and been a whole lot easier."There's a time investment, and time is a fixed quantity, and there are many other things you could be spending your time doing rather than looking for the best restaurant," Schwartz said.The collective hamster wheel many of us find ourselves on isn't entirely awful. It's understandable to want your children to be set up for success and to want to feel well compensated in your career. But the major beneficiary of America's propensity to strive is the machine itself rather than the individuals in it."It's good for the economy. It's very efficient," Curran said. "Less good for ourselves because we're constantly in a state of neurosis about how we're doing, how hard we're working."Working to climb the social ladder and achieve the best can cultivate creativity and innovation. That's why athletes are constantly breaking records, medical and technological innovations are emerging all the time, and <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/taylor-swifts-economic-impact-catches-attention-federal-reserve-hotel-revenue-2023-7">Taylor Swift is killing it on "The Eras Tour."</a> But there are plenty of downsides."This rush to the top also creates wildly unequal societies — not only in the sense of wealthy owners of technology companies but also in terms of social recognition," Alpert said. "If Taylor Swift is ubiquitous, there is less room for other performers to gain notice. We begin to live in a world of those who made it and those who missed out, and there is no necessary link between virtue and making it."A maximizing mindset can make us act in less-than-ideal ways. <a target="_blank" href="https://myscp.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jcpy.1017">A 2017 paper</a> suggests it activates our sense of scarcity and kicks off a competitive orientation where people want to advance their well-being and welfare, which, in turn, increases their likelihood of engaging in immoral behaviors for their benefit. That doesn't mean committing a felony; it means maybe cheating on a test or seeking out some shortcut to get to the front of the line."You can think about those people that always have to get into the best university, that always have to get into the best job — are they more likely to round up on their résumés to describe what they've done in the past?" said Kelly Goldsmith, a marketing professor at Vanderbilt University who focuses on consumer psychology and who was an author of the paper. "It makes you very likely to act in your own best interest."The rat race also makes us feel worse. A 2023 survey on work in America from the American Psychological Association found that 77% of workers reported experiencing work-related stress over the past month. Even when we get the thing we thought we wanted, the excitement doesn't last long — the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/hedonic-treadmill">hedonic treadmill</a> says our level of happiness reverts to baseline pretty quickly. The whole thing is exhausting.As the old saying goes, money doesn't equal happiness (though I have a hard time believing it doesn't help). As <a target="_blank" href="https://time.com/6314076/case-for-mediocrity/">Jamie Ducharme pointed out in Time</a>, research started in 1922 that tracked 1,500 people across several decades found that while people who described themselves as more ambitious achieved more lucrative careers, they weren't much happier and healthier than those who set more modest goals"As we've seen with anxiety, with depression, when you set that bar really high, it's almost like you're always fighting to just get to what we call the reference point," Goldsmith said. "You're always fighting to just get to that high level. And from there, all you can do is go down."If living medium and scaling back expectations were easy, more people would do it. People are right to believe they've got to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retirement-social-security-gen-z-millennials-uncertainty-fears-pensions-2024-4">scramble to save for retirement</a> or enroll their kids in a miserable number of extracurriculars so they have a shot at an Ivy League. Lower-income people and racial and ethnic minorities especially feel as if society demands they go above and beyond. Entertaining the thought of scaling back happens from a privileged position. And we don't want people to just completely drop out of society — having no goals or ambitions isn't great for anyone's financial or emotional health. Still, a lot of us could benefit from loosening up some more, or at least trying to, even if it's tough.Alpert said the goal shouldn't be to ignore our strengths but instead to stop thinking about them in terms of getting to the top of the pyramid. "Focusing on profit and power negates our talents because it makes so few of them matter," he said. "A good-enough life is about letting all of our talents — for compassion and care and creativity — flourish."It's important to recognize the cultural messaging about achieving more and to reflect on where that shows up in our lives and whether it's — to use some therapy-speak — serving us. Sacrificing nights and weekends isn't necessarily going to make you more successful or satisfied. Imperfection is unavoidable. Even Beyoncé has some bad days. Schwartz suggested practicing settling. You don't need to survey everyone in the city you're visiting to figure out which museum to hit up or spend 10 minutes in the grocery aisle agonizing over which dish soap is the best bang for your buck. It may be uncomfortable, but it also just isn't that deep."Nobody on earth needs the best with every decision," Schwartz said. "We've all had experience settling for good enough. We know how to do it."There are areas where perfectionism and maximizing are fine if you want to engage in them — it's not the end of the world if you spend a Sunday finishing a work project or fall down a YouTube rabbit hole on squeezing the most out of your credit-card rewards. But there are areas where they can do real damage. If you're so obsessed with having a perfect wedding or buying the biggest house on the block that you go into debt, that's a problem.Overall, however, it might be nice to take some comfort in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-slang-words-2024-4">embracing the mid</a>, to borrow a term from Gen Z. That perfectly choreographed vacation to Greece can be improvised, and everyone will survive. Maybe it doesn't even have to show up on Instagram."Most of us are average — like 70% of us are going to be within a standard deviation of the mean," Curran said. "There's a hell of a lot of people who are really going to be normal or average, ordinary. And as much as we celebrate and lionize the outliers, I think there is something quite comforting about recognizing actually we're where most people are, and that's OK."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emily-stewart">Emily Stewart</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

From OK vacations to so-so jobs, it's time to embrace being average

<ul class="summary-list"><li>World War II led to many successful innovations in technology — including weapons.</li><li>Some however were considered major flops.</li></ul>Unfortunately, war can drive innovation. During World War II, the world's major powers set their sights on advancing technology, medicine, and communications in order to be efficient and fearsome in battle. Some of the advancements made in WWII were fundamental to modern technology — others, not so much.Here is a look at some of the most bizarre, useless, and downright insane weapons developed on both sides during WWII.<h2>1. A ship-mounted aerial mine rocket launcher</h2><div type="image" title="7 inch_UP_projectiles_HMS_King_George_V_IW_A_9451" height="602" width="800" msid="96667281" hostid="261" sizebytes="19326"></div>The unrotated-projectile rocket launcher was an especially ill-conceived antiaircraft measure. Created to protect ships from enemy planes, the unrotated projectile was fired from a ship, and, upon reaching 1,000 feet in elevation, it would explode and disperse mines attached to parachutes via 400 feet of cable. The general idea was to create an aerial minefield wherein enemy planes would become ensnared in the mess of cables, pulling the mines into their fuselages and downing the plane. However, the mines, cables, and parachutes were all easily visible and enemy pilots had no trouble flying above or below the "aerial minefield".Here's what the weapon looked like when launched:<div type="image" title="unrotated" height="461" width="852" msid="96667283" hostid="261" sizebytes="7468"></div>The undetonated mines would then be at the mercy of the wind, and they would often float back down toward the British ships that fired them."There are no records of UPs bringing down any aircraft. It's entirely possible that this system injured or killed more Britons than enemies due to accidents, fires, etc," <a href="http://www.hmshood.com/ship/aaa.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a page dedicated to one of the battle cruisers that carried the weapon. <h2>2. Panjandrum</h2>To find a way to breach the German's concrete defenses in Normandy, the British military devised a large carriage-like contraption called the Panjandrum — a name from a nonsense term coined by an 18th-century British playwright, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/panjandrum#:~:text=Panjandrum%20looks%20like%20it%20might,playwright%20Samuel%20Foote%20around%201755.">according to Merriam-Webster</a>.The device was propelled by rockets attached along the rim of the two wheels. In the middle, a drum would be filled with explosives. <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/01/well-didnt-work-rolling-rocket-bomb-designed-kill-nazis-almost-killed-dog-instead/">According to Wired</a>, the hope was that the Panjandrum could speed toward a concrete wall and blow a hole big enough for a tank to pass through.But during testing, the device repeatedly lost control and veered off its intended path. In one testing incident, generals had to flee for cover and a cameraman was nearly moved down, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YSI7AwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA50&amp;lpg=PA50&amp;dq=panjandrum+Finch-Noyes&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=cO1S5LgjhP&amp;sig=OtHbnYthZx_2oVXqwB0ZbTm853Q&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=7OfHVJn2HMHZsAS7o4GYBA&amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=panjandrum%20Finch-Noyes&amp;f=false">according to </a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YSI7AwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA50&amp;lpg=PA50&amp;dq=panjandrum+Finch-Noyes&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=cO1S5LgjhP&amp;sig=OtHbnYthZx_2oVXqwB0ZbTm853Q&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=7OfHVJn2HMHZsAS7o4GYBA&amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=panjandrum%20Finch-Noyes&amp;f=false">"Pigeon Guided Missiles: And 49 Other Ideas that Never Took Off</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YSI7AwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA50&amp;lpg=PA50&amp;dq=panjandrum+Finch-Noyes&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=cO1S5LgjhP&amp;sig=OtHbnYthZx_2oVXqwB0ZbTm853Q&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=7OfHVJn2HMHZsAS7o4GYBA&amp;ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=panjandrum%20Finch-Noyes&amp;f=false">," a book co-authored by James Moore and Paul Nero.</a><div type="image" title="Карацупа_Н_Ф_1936 (1)" height="318" width="424" msid="96667284" hostid="261" sizebytes="12158"></div><h2>3. Suicide bomb dogs</h2>In 1942, Hitler's Nazi infantry invaded Soviet Russia with German "Panzer" tanks.The Russians, who had used military dogs <a href="https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/anti-tank-dogs-world-war-ii/">since 1924</a>, sought to turn their canine soldiers into antitank mines by strapping explosives around the dogs' bodies.During training, the dogs were starved and let loose on stationary Soviet tanks that had food hidden under them.Once the dogs were underneath the tank they were trained to <a href="http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/the-soviet-suicide-dogs-of-wwii">pull a detonator cord</a> with their teeth. However, most dogs were <a href="http://www.soviet-empire.com/1/military/anti-tank/dog_mine/">unable to comprehend or execute</a> the task while the sights, sounds, and smells of battle raged around them. The dogs would usually turn around and run toward their Russian handler, only to be shot and killed on sight.<h2>4. Explosive rats</h2><div type="image" title="Explosive dummy rat." height="3506" width="4675" msid="96667286" hostid="261" sizebytes="406072"></div>Dogs were not the only unfortunate animal victims of experimental war weapons.The Special Operations Executive branch of the British military also used dead rats that were filled with small explosives, <a href="https://www.military-history.org/weapons-technology/back-to-the-drawing-board-exploding-rats.htm">according to Military History</a>. The plan was to infest the German's coal supply with the rats, which would then detonate once they were unknowingly shoveled into a broiler at a military base or of a steam engine.The rats were not used as expected because the Germans discovered the device, but, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/oct/27/richardnortontaylor">according to The Guardian</a>, they did cause some disruption. Records from the Special Operations Executive branch showed that the German's discovery of the device prompted a massive search operation for more explosive rats, The Guardian reported.<h2>5. The largest gun ever used in battle</h2><div type="image" title="hitler gustav railway gun" height="1543" width="2000" msid="96667288" hostid="261" sizebytes="172586"></div>Eager to invade France, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler demanded a new weapon that could easily pierce the concrete fortifications of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-the-maginot-line-2015-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">French Maginot Line</a> — the only major physical barrier standing between him and the rest of Western Europe.In 1941, the year after France fell, German steelmaker and arms manufacturer Friedrich Krupp A.G. began constructing Hitler's Gustav gun, according to the documentary "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf3fgfHoTOc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Top Secret Weapons</a>."The four-story, 155-foot-long gun, which weighed 1,350 tons, shot 10,000-pound shells from its mammoth 98-foot barrel. The gun's size was not only its source of strength but also its downfall.The huge gun could only be transported via the rail system and was an easy target for Allied bombers flying overhead. The project was scrapped within a year.<h2>6. Dummy paratroopers</h2><div type="image" title="Dummy paratrooper" height="3888" width="5184" msid="96667290" hostid="261" sizebytes="426474"></div>As part of the Normandy landings in June 1944, the UK's Royal Air Force and Britain's Special Air Service carried out a deception operation to mislead the Germans away from the actual drop zones of Allied troops.To do so, about 400 stuffed burlap mannequins were released outside the drop zones in Normandy and north of France, <a href="http://airforcemuseum.co.nz/blog/operation-titanic-dummy-paratroopers-in-world-war-two/">according to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand</a>.These figures, codenamed "Rupert," were under half a meter tall, contained small explosives to destroy the dummy, and were attached with a noisemaker that mimicked the sound of a firing rile, according to the museum.Actual British soldiers who were dropped with the dummies were told to allow some German troops to escape so that they could report the sightings of a massive drop of paratroopers.The operation, codenamed "Titanic," appeared to be a success as German records revealed that troops were directed to the area of the dummy drop, according to the New Zealand museum.The US also had its own version of a dummy paratrooper, which can be seen in this declassified video:<h2>7. V-3 cannon</h2><div type="image" title="v3" height="1037" width="800" msid="96667292" hostid="261" sizebytes="121682"></div>The V-3 was the unnecessary younger sibling of the V-1 and V-2 rockets that pulverized London during the Blitzkrieg. Devised in the summer of 1944, the V-3 was designed to fire <a href="http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/v1v2.htm">300 nine-foot-long dart-shaped shells every hour</a>. A series of secondary charges positioned along the 416-foot barrel was meant to speed up the projectile, which would hypothetically be able to reach London from well over 100 miles away in the French town of Mimoyecques. But when the V-3 finally became operational, the velocity of the shell was a mere 3,280 feet per second, which <a href="http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-in-western-europe/the-v-revenge-weapons/v3/">was estimated</a> to be about half what was needed to reach London.Hitler had authorized the production of 50 of these weapons, but before the original plans for the V-3 could be implemented, Allied forces bombed and destroyed the gun, despite Germany's best efforts to <a href="http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-in-western-europe/the-v-revenge-weapons/v3/">hide the munitions under haystacks</a>.<div type="image" title="v3 rocket firing" height="824" width="1434" msid="96667294" hostid="261" sizebytes="21342"></div>In the end, only two miniature (if you can call 150-feet long miniature) versions of the gun became operational, with only a few shots ever fired to an <a href="http://www.astronautix.com/">unknown effect</a>.<h2>8. The Krummlauf curved barrel</h2>To solve the conundrum of shooting a rifle while taking cover, the Germans created a curved barrel attachment that would allow soldiers to shoot their weapons around corners.The device was called Krummlauf and gave a soldier the ability to shoot a weapon from within a tank, <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/second-world-war-weapons-that-failed">according to the Imperial War Museums</a>.But the attachment turned out to be highly impractical. The bullets often shattered in half before exiting the barrel and the attachment itself became distorted from the immense pressure after a few hundred rounds.<h2>9. A mini "tank-like" remote-controlled demolition vehicle</h2><div type="image" title="Mini tanks goliath" height="2480" width="3231" msid="96667296" hostid="261" sizebytes="495672"></div>The Nazis' Goliath tracked mine was anything but Goliath-like in stature. Known as the "<a href="https://archive.org/details/NPC5-5196" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doodlebug</a>" by American troops, the Goliath was run with a joystick operated by a controller. It had coiled within its compartments 2,145 feet of cable leading back to the controller. The mini-tank was <a href="http://www.historynet.com/goliath-tracked-mine-the-beetle-that-started-the-rov-craze.htm">powered by</a> two electric motors, later replaced by gas burners, and able to carry more than 100 pounds of high explosives.The Goliath was meant to slide under Allied tanks and deliver its explosive payload to their vulnerable undersides. However, it proved to be susceptible to cord-cutting, and later on, radio-controlled models were introduced. The Germans <a href="http://www.historynet.com/goliath-tracked-mine-the-beetle-that-started-the-rov-craze.htm">built 7,500</a> Goliaths during the war, which suggests that they met with some success. However, the real success of the Goliath was that it paved the way for radio-controlled weapons, which in our modern age are becoming the new mode of warfare.<h2>10. The "Fugo" balloon bomb</h2><div type="image" title="Japanese balloon bomb" height="1695" width="2261" msid="96667298" hostid="261" sizebytes="276900"></div>In November 1944, Japan released thousands of paper balloon bombs made out of the bark of the mulberry tree.The balloons were "33 feet in diameter and could lift approximately 1,000 pounds," <a href="https://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/forensic_geology/Japenese%20vengenance%20bombs%20new.htm">according to J. David Rodgers, a Missouri University of Science and Technology professor</a>."But the deadly portion of their cargo was a 33-lb anti-personnel fragmentation bomb, attached to a 64-foot long fuse that was intended to burn for 82 minutes before detonating," he wrote.The bombs were released into the Pacific jet stream, which would silently carry the large devices from Japan to the US without a pilot. The trip would take several days, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/01/20/375820191/beware-of-japanese-balloon-bombs">NPR reported</a>.Despite releasing thousands of these devices, the balloon bomb turned out to be ineffective, not to mention resource intensive. It took 30 minutes to an hour to prepare one balloon and required about 30 men to do so, <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/japanese-balloon-bombs-fu-go">according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation</a>.During the war, there were only six reported casualties from the balloons, Rodgers wrote — a minister's wife and five Sunday school students on a fishing trip who encountered one of the balloons near Bly, Oregon. Only a few hundred balloon bombs have been found.Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

The 10 most bizarre weapons of World War II

Hiya! <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a> in NYC, and as a frequent orderer of takeout, I'm enthralled by the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tipping-debate-trends-delivery-driver-ubereats-doordash-arguments-nyt-article-2023-4">recent debate over tipping etiquette for delivery drivers</a>. Today, we've got stories on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fintech-public-partnership-chris-evans-a-starting-point-2023-4">a fintech's partnership with a Marvel star</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/once-ironclad-apartments-buildings-could-now-see-defaults-2023-4">landlords are not having fun these days</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/move-from-new-york-city-buffalo-save-thousands-2023-4">a breakdown of how much you can really save moving out of NYC</a>. But first, is this a tax write-off?If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-on-wall-street">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffin-citadel-florida-desantis-politics-hedge-fund-2022-12"></a>1. Kenny Giving.Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin is back in the news, but this time it's for what he's giving, not taking (in). Griffin, who founded Wall Street giants Citadel and Citadel Securities, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/4/11/gsas-renamed-ken-griffin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated $300 million to Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)</a>. The gift to his alma mater — Griffin graduated in 1989 — is "unrestricted," meaning it can be used anywhere within the FAS, which includes the undergraduate program as well as the school's PhD programs.For his generosity (he's donated more than $500 million to the school over the years), Griffin will get his name on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I've <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffin-citadel-hedge-fund-manager-compensation-2023-3">written a lot</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffin-citadel-hedge-funds-donating-politics-2023-1">about Griffin</a> this year, and for good reason. His <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2022-hedge-fund-performance-figures-citadel-millennium-point72-2023-1">hedge fund had a monster 2022</a>, and his trading firm remains a key piece of how the markets operate. He's also starting to wield that power outside of Wall Street, most notably in politics by becoming a megadonor to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffin-citadel-florida-desantis-politics-hedge-fund-2022-12">Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis</a>. Griffin's philanthropic efforts have spanned a wide range of venues, from a <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/field-museum-announces-55-million-gift-kenneth-c-griffin-charitable-fund">traveling exhibition on Antarctic dinosaurs</a> to <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article273636975.html">building youth soccer fields in Miami</a>. However, it's interesting to see how two of his biggest contributions — DeSantis and Harvard — seem to operate on opposite ends of the spectrum. DeSantis, who holds degrees from Yale University and Harvard Law School, called his Ivy League education "political scarlet letters" as a GOP candidate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-bashes-his-ivy-league-harvard-yale-education-in-book-2023-2">in his new book</a>. (Griffin, for what it's worth, reportedly once privately complained about <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/11/10/citadels-ken-griffin-woke-ideology-is-soul-crushing/">"woke ideology" impacting kids in school</a>.)The pessimistic person might view this as Griffin paying for more influence at Harvard. Understand, though, that while $300 million might seem like a lot, it's still a drop in the bucket of <a href="https://finance.harvard.edu/files/fad/files/fy22_harvard_financial_report.pdf">the school's $50.9 billion endowment</a>.But maybe it's not as Machiavellian as that! After all, some of Griffin's donations previously went to funding research on stem cells, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-11/citadel-s-ken-griffin-gives-300-million-to-harvard-university?utm_content=business&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;sref=5xrDvJna" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per Bloomberg</a>. Maybe it's just his way of giving back to the place where he got his start. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffin-citadel-florida-desantis-politics-hedge-fund-2022-12">Click her to read our profile on Ken Griffin's rise to the top of Wall Street.</a>In other news:<a href="https://www.insider.com/tiny-house-new-zealand-tour-photos-2023-4"></a><div type="image" title="Fabian Low and his tiny house." height="1080" width="1920" msid="99438235" hostid="261"></div>2. A fintech and Captain America walk into a bar. Public.com and Chris Evans' civic-engagement company A Starting Point are teaming up to get the fintech users' up to speed on the latest public policies impacting their portfolios. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fintech-public-partnership-chris-evans-a-starting-point-2023-4">More on the deal here.</a>3. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2oEmPP5dTM">Let's call the whole thing off.</a> EY's ambitious plan to divide its audit and consulting businesses has gotten the kibosh after months of back and forth, the Financial Times reports. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e38afa0c-0ab3-452a-820c-9db88e24785d">Here's what led to the whole thing falling apart. </a>4. But what about the landlords?! Investors who bought up apartment buildings last year thought they had tapped into a gold mine. One year later, rents haven't budged but costs, including interest rates, have. (You just hate to see it.) <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/once-ironclad-apartments-buildings-could-now-see-defaults-2023-4">More on the plight of the landlord.</a>5. Wall Street is drying out wells to drive up returns in California. As the state battles a water crisis, some finance firms are exacerbating the problem by investing in growing high-value nuts that require more irrigation than seasonal crops, Bloomberg reports. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-wall-street-speeds-california-groundwater-depletion//?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTY4MTIyMDAyNiwiZXhwIjoxNjgxODI0ODI2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJSU1kxMTJUMVVNMTEwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyMjhFMzJEMkZCOTU0MjYyODNFMUY3NkY5MTM1REFDMyJ9.4WZPNoj0U9dptlBSG0bQWivnkQBCLu4DMAZ4GtOZD1w&amp;sref=5xrDvJna">Click here for more on the water woes created by Wall Street.</a>6. HSBC is the latest landing spot for some SVB bankers. The bank has scooped up some employees to focus on tech and healthcare, Reuters reports. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hsbc-hires-silicon-valley-bank-bankers-focus-tech-healthcare-2023-04-11/">More here.</a>7. To build good habits, you might need to get addicted to a bad one. Trying to eat better? Go to the gym more? Stop scrolling TikTok? (Good luck!) Whatever new habit you're trying to form, there might be an app to help you get there. You just might end up addicted to the app too. It's all very 2023. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthy-habits-productivity-hack-gamification-apps-streaks-personal-goals-2023-4">Read more here.</a>8. Citi's M&amp;A co-head departs. Veteran dealmaker Mark Shafir is retiring, The Wall Street Journal reports. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/citi-long-serving-m-a-chief-to-retire-8ff0eced">More on his 15-year tenure at the firm.</a>9. How much do you really save moving out of NYC? You've definitely thought about, and you might have already done it. So how much further does your dollar go outside this rat-infested hell hole. A 35-year-old plastic surgeon who moved to Buffalo, N.Y., breaks down how his finances have changed since getting out of the city. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/move-from-new-york-city-buffalo-save-thousands-2023-4">Here's how much his expenses have changed.</a>10. Tiny home. Good vibes. This guy spent $137,000 building his 330-square-foot home from shipping containers. (Is this the cause of the supply-chain issues?) <a href="https://www.insider.com/tiny-house-new-zealand-tour-photos-2023-4">Check out pics from his small, but beautiful, home.</a>Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:ddefrancesco@insider.com">ddefrancesco@insider.com</a>, tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">@dandefrancesco</a>, or <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=b83e78f6bb45aba7034c3baf1ec66d1b6c1d3afa26264bdb8604d5b9f2351262&amp;postID=6435605f507e5b122201c8c6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fdan-defrancesco-29b12449%2F">connect on LinkedIn</a>. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_cane">@jeffrey_cane</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Two of Ken Griffin's biggest donations sit on opposite sides of the spectrum

<ul><li>India accounts for only 0.25% of the 4,000 highly-cited scientists across the globe, according to <keyword id="4393714" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="clarivate-analytics">Clarivate Analytics</keyword>. </li><li>The number has doubled since 2017 but that’s only because the company added an additional category to include ‘cross field’ researchers. </li><li>India’s neighboring country, <keyword id="1334" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>, stands at the third position with nearly 482 scientists.</li></ul>With only 10 Indian scientists featuring in the list of 4,000 highly-cited researchers across the globe, the country lags far behind China in new contributions towards science and innovation,<a href="https://clarivate.com/blog/news/global-highly-cited-researchers-2018-list-reveals-influential-scientific-researchers-and-their-institutions/"> said a recent report by</a> Clarivate Analytics — a company that names people with multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year. Interestingly, most of the science experts listed do not come from highly ranked institutes in India that are always creating buzz for their scientific innovation. However, a professor from each IIT-Kanpur, IIT Madras, JNU, and NIT-Bhopal are on the global list. Meanwhile, China is among the top three countries with 482 science experts. India couldn’t even make it up to the top 10 countries. <keyword id="23050" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sweden">Sweden</keyword> (53%), Austria (53%), Singapore (47%), Denmark (47%), China (43%) and South Korea (42%) are among the nations that have 40% of their Highly Cited Researchers selected in the cross-field category. India and China used to be on the same page in terms of contribution about 15 years ago but now China accounts for nearly 16% This could be considered a victory for India since the number of scientists on the list has doubled since 2017. But Dinesh Mohan, one of the scientists on the list, says that’s only because the report includes an additional category of ‘cross field’ researchers. The list highlights the need to improve the research ecosystem in India and deal with <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06048-2">problems </a>like predatory journals. According to experts, Indian academicians lack focus on quality research. Ashok Pandey, a researcher featured on the list, claims that poor representation in science is a matter of national concern and need to be addressed by lawmakers, government and other respective stakeholders. Analysts add that India has a negligible representation in the world’s highly cited researchers primarily because the nature of research is theoretical. Here are the Indian figures featured on the list - Alok Mittal <ul><li>Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology </li><li>Specialisation: Environmental Science, Water Treatment and Chemistry. </li></ul>Ashok Pandey <ul><li>Council of Scientific &amp; Industrial Research (CSIR)</li><li>Specialisation: Microbial and Enzyme Technology, Food and Fermentation Technology Industrial Biotechnology </li></ul>Rajeev Varshney <ul><li>International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics</li><li>Specialisation: Applied Genomics, Molecular breeding, Crop Biotechnology. </li></ul>Jyoti Mittal <ul><li>Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology </li><li>Specialisation: Environmental Science, Water Treatment and Surface Chemistry. </li></ul>Dinesh Mohan <ul><li>Jawaharlal Nehru University</li><li>Specialisation: Water and wastewater monitoring, biofuels products. </li></ul><keyword id="3690833" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="avinash-kumar-agarwal">Avinash Kumar Agarwal</keyword> <ul><li>IIT-Kanpur</li><li>Specialisation: bio butanol, biodiesel development, Engine combustion investigation.</li></ul>Rajnish Kumar <ul><li>IIT-Madras</li><li>Specialisation: Carbon dioxide capture, methane and hydrogen storage, and Gas hydrates. </li></ul>Sanjeeb Sahbo <ul><li>Institute of Life Sciences,</li><li>Specialisation: Use of nanotechnology in cancer drug delivery, especially cancer cure</li></ul>CNR Rao: Is <keyword id="100256" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharat-Ratna">Bharat Ratna</keyword> <ul><li>Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research</li><li>Specialisation: Structural Chemistry, solid state, and material chemistry</li></ul>Sakthivel Rathinaswamy <ul><li>Bharathiar University</li><li>Specialisation: Applied Mathematics (control theory)</li></ul>See more- <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/latest/culture-of-fear-india-fifth-deadliest-country-for-journalists/articleshow/67178072.cms">Culture of fear — India fifth ‘deadliest’ country for journalists</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/miners-trapped-in-meghalaya-for-over-two-weeks/articleshow/67257937.cms">15 miners have been trapped in a rat hole mine for two weeks — Indian government at a loss for solutions</a>

Only 10 scientists from India featured in the world’s ‘highly-cited’ researchers list compared to 482 from China

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Caitlyn Kennedy, NOAA Climate.gov</div></div></div>Trump has said that he does not believe the planet is warming as a result of human activity - despite the research-backed consensus reached long ago by researchers across the globe.He even <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/">Tweeted publicly in 2012</a> that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive." More recently, Trump has pledged to roll back Obama's Clean Power Plan - a set of rules that requires states to substantially reduce their emissions over the next few decades.Right now, his transition website says, "America's environmental agenda will be guided by true specialists in conservation, not those with radical political agendas."The implication seems to be that researchers who accept climate <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> will <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-climate-change-danger-action-2016-11">have no place</a> in his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or perhaps his government. So what will Trump's actual environmental policies look like? Here's what we know.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Competitive Enterprise InstituteMyron Ebell</div></div></div>Trump has picked a man named Myron Ebell to oversee the EPA transition.Ebell is not a scientist, and has no degrees or qualifications in climate science. But he serves as Director of Global Warming and Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian advocacy group in Washington, DC.In practice, that means he spends his time rejecting and trying to discredit scientists who work to understand the global climate.<h2>Ebell believes that climate scientists are part of a coordinated 'global warming movement'</h2>In an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-clinton-climate-change-plan-2016-8">interview with Business Insider in August</a>, Ebell repeatedly referred to climate scientists as "global warming alarmists" and suggested that climate research is in fact an arm of a coordinated political movement."I think that the global warming movement has three parts," he said. "One is to exaggerate the rate of warming, one is to exaggerate the potential impacts of warming, and how soon they may occur, and the third is to underestimate wildly the costs of reducing our emissions by the magical amount that they have picked."Business Insider spoke with several climate scientists who described Ebell as a kind of gadfly - someone's whose views they must occasionally stoop to address in forums and debates where he's brought in to represent a discredited anti-climate change perspective, but not a particularly serious person."He doesn't really know anything about science," said <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/gavin_schmidt_the_emergent_patterns_of_climate_change">Gavin Schmidt</a>, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a top earth scientist at NASA who has faced off with Ebell in the past. "He uses science like a talisman." Ebell's technique, Schmidt said, is to point toward "some little fact" and use it to extrapolate some larger, irrelevant and scientifically incorrect point.Even if Ebell's scientific claims may not sit well with actual scientists, there are those who have found his perspective valuable.CEI used to rely significantly on funding from ExxonMobil. As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/11/meet-the-man-trump-is-relying-on-to-unravel-obamas-environmental-legacy/?utm_term=.acb2501aa1c4">reports</a>, it now receives funding from the Virginia-based Donors Trust."The Virginia-based organization," writes Post reporter Brady Dennis, "which is not required by law to disclose its contributors, is staffed largely by people who have worked for Koch Industries or nonprofit groups supported by the conservative Koch brothers."<h2>Good news for deniers, terrible news for environmentalists</h2>Speaking with Business Insider in August before his selection, Ebell outlined his views on the appropriate direction for the EPA."When economies get richer they not only make people wealthier, they generally provide immense environmental benefits," he said. "And so if you actually believe, if someone actually believes that global warming is a crisis that must be addressed... I think it would be much better to free up the economy and get rid of the EPA rules and a lot of the Department of Energy programs and let the economy boom forward."Ebell's fellow professional climate science skeptics seem cheered by his selection."Ebell is an old friend of mine who works on climate and energy issues at the Competitive Enterprise Institute," <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11/09/trump-left-just-lost-war-climate-change/">wrote</a> Breitbart's James Delingpole, who regularly publishes posts trying to discredit climate science, in a Nov 9 article declaring that "the left just lost the war on climate change.""The fact that he's an old friend of mine probably tells you all you need to know about where he stands on global warming," Delingpole wrote.He concluded, "Yup, greenies. That climate change gravy train you've been riding these last four decades looks like it's headed for a major, Atlas-Shrugged-style tunnel incident."Dan Lashof, COO of the environmental group NextGen Climate America, was as concerned as Delingpole was thrilled."Myron Ebell is a libertarian ideologue," he told Business Insider. "Having him lead the transition team at the EPA is literally putting a tobacco lobbyist in charge of America's lung protection agency. It's not normal."Lashof said he expects a Trump administration with a Ebell-staffed EPA to work hard to roll back environmental regulations - just as the President-elect's website promises.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Sean Gallup/AP ImagesA woman holds a sign at an anti-Trump rally of American immigrants and Germans in Berlin, Germany.</div></div></div>"You know, [Trump] said he was going to drain the swamp in Washington, and instead he's put Myron Ebell - a swamp rat, a DC insider lobbyist - in charge of the transition at the EPA," Lashof said.<h2>Death to 'politically correct technologies'</h2>You won't hear any disagreement from the right that Ebell will push for killing environmental regulations to benefit fossil fuel businesses.Patrick Michaels, who works for the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC - and, like Ebell, has made a reputation for rejecting the consensus on climate science - told Business Insider that Ebell's selection represents a victory for the idea that removing air pollution rules will in fact lead to cleaner air."Rich societies are cleaner," he said. "If you want efficient technologies to come online, the best way to do that is to have a vibrant economy. Because that capital will be directed toward producing things with less energy and producing things that use less energy to appeal to consumers."This position is intolerable to Lashof."This is putting somebody who just denies basic scientific facts in charge of a federal agency," Lashof said, adding, "We will lead a resistance against the federal government, we will work with state governments to push back and keep progress going based on state policy."He said he's confident there will be economic limits on Ebell and Trump's ability to fight clean energy."[Solar and wind] are actually cheaper than continuing to run existing coal in a lot of locations," he said. "That depends to some extent on a federal tax credit, which early indications suggest that Congress and the Trump administration are not likely to try to roll back."Both Ebell and Michaels scoff at the idea that either solar or wind power will play a significant role in the energy future of the country. (Michaels calls them "politically correct technologies.")"I think in particular I would say the emphasis that the global warming movement or alarmist community or whatever you want to call them on renewables, namely solar and wind, is really short-sighted," Ebell said. "I think that those two technologies, particularly wind, are dead ends."It's worth noting though that Ebell may have tweaked his public position on this issue in the last couple months. He <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/president-trump-global-climate-change-denial-environment/">told National Geographic</a> after the election that "we love wind and solar." But he clarified that he doesn't think the government should get involved in supporting either.Ebell argued that any reduction in US emissions in the Obama era is the result of a "stagnant economy," not policies designed to push renewable energies."We would like to get rid of all of this stuff," he added, "and we think that the use of energy will become more efficient just through the innovations that will occur in free markets when people are allowed to invest their money in things that can make money."<h2>How does climate denial even work?</h2>Asked to explain why someone would reject the scientific consensus that humans are dangerously warming the planet, Michaels simply denied that any such consensus exists.For evidence that climate change has been largely falsified, he pointed to an <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6311/401">October 28 article by the reporter Paul Voosen in the journal Science</a>.The argument he drew from the Voosen article is a good example of the approach professional climate deniers like himself and Ebell use to undermine science. So it's worth taking a minute to think about."Take a look at the Voosen piece and read between the lines," he said.He argued that it shows the many models researchers use to understand the climate have been rigged with "fudge factors" to produce incorrect results, and that "scientists are deciding a priori what the answer is."Here's what Voosen actually reported:For years, climate scientists had been mum in public about their 'secret sauce'; What happened in the models stayed in the models. The taboo reflected fears that climate contrarians would use the practice of tuning [models to real world results] to seed doubt about models - and, by extension, the reality of human driven warming. "The community became defensive," [scientist Bjorn] Stevens says. "It was afraid of talking about things that they thought could be unfairly used against them."...But modelers have come to realize that disclosure could reveal that some tunings [of models] are more deft or realistic than others. It's also vital for scientists who use the models in specific ways.Voosen's article does not state or suggest any evidence of rigging to falsify warming. Rather, he reports that there has been an effort to bring models in line with observed reality, and that a transparency movement is enabling scientists to more rigorously audit each others' models for quality.But Michaels finds a nearly opposite interpretation.With Ebell on the rise, the question than becomes: Are these sorts of denials valid?"It's complete bollocks. You can quote me on that. It's just rubbish," Schmidt said of Michaels's argument. Schmidt said there is "enormous consensus" among scientists about three points: That carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will warm the planet, that human activity is increasing their presence in the atmosphere, and that that activity is responsible for almost all or all of the warming the planet has seen since the 19th Century. This is <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-determine-the-scientific-consensus-on-global-warming/">true</a>.Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), said that there's no longer a serious question to ask about the validity of climate change."We understand the physics of what's happening pretty well now," he said. "If you load the atmosphere with a greenhouse gas it will induce a warming. It's all based on an understanding of how electromagnetic radiation and matter interact. It's a very mature science. If you are going to deny that somehow, you'd have to deny that your microwave oven works."He added that he invites people to come to the NSIDC to download snow and ice data and do their own analysis if they want, though deniers rarely take him up on it."People like Michaels and Ebell have been saying that climate modeling isn't science for decades," Schmidt said. "And what they really mean is 'We don't like the outputs from those climate models, and so therefore instead of trying to demonstrate why they're wrong we're just going to try to dismiss them out of hand.'""So it's basically a shoot the messenger strategy that they've been pursuing for decades, but most actual scientists have been ignoring them for about the same amount of time."<h2>'Nothing he does affects the science'</h2>Schmidt works for NASA, and Serreze works for the NSIDC. That means they rely on federal funds for their research. Trump has made clear that scientists who accept the consensus position that human activity is causing climate change <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-climate-change-danger-action-2016-11">will not be welcome in his government, or at least his EPA</a>. And his selection of Ebell only reinforces that point. But neither researcher said they expect to lose their ability to pursue science."I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't some level of concern. But the federal government is a very, very large place. And the number of appointees is very small," Schmidt said."During the [George W.] Bush administration we had climate skeptics rewriting reports and trying to control what's said to the media," he added. "But the planet kept warning. We kept reporting on it. We kept improving the science that underlies our understanding of why it's changing. And we will work to continue to do so."Serreze said, "I think we remain optimistic that wise heads are going to prevail here. There were concerns in the previous Republican administration under George W. Bush. We got through that. I'm confident we'll get through this."As for Ebell's newfound power to push his views onto scientists, Schmidt said he's not overly concerned - in part because the EPA has never done much research on its own, but also because Ebell lacks the wherewithal to do so."He's not a serious person when it comes to the science. Nothing he does affects the science."This is an editorial. The opinions and conclusions expressed above are those of the author. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solved-mystery-siberian-craters-climate-change-2016-3">Scientists may have discovered what caused these mysterious giant holes in Siberia</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="QzbWlmMjE6VV1N4hTeUK-RFoC5LmfCon" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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