Bengaluru Sonic Boom, Data Sharing, App Development

It did rattle all of us on a hot afternoon on May 20. There was a loud sound, like a thunder, and the doors rattled. I was waiting it to repeat, but nothing happened after the first boom.

On checking, there were messages galore on Twitter. I was sceptical of posting a tweet, but then I retweeted one of them that reported the mysterious boom 16-20 km away.

It was later confirmed by IAF that there was a sonic boom. It was caused by a routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic aircarft, said NDTV. "The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude", said the NDTV report.

After months of political row, Kerala government cancelled the agreement with US-based firm Sprinklr for collection and analytics of Covid-19 patient data, including those quarantined in the state. According to a report, the state government, through an affidavit submitted to the Kerala high court, said that the state-run Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) would now manage the Covid-19 patient data. The state also said that data would be collected after obtaining the informed consent of citizens.

Meanwhile the affidavit did not quite answer many allegations the opposition had raised including the selection process, the privacy of the data already shared, and what exactly was the benefit of sharing this data with the company and in Covid-19 management. Later, the company informed the court that all 'backup data' has been destroyed, as per a report in The Hindu.

Another controversy erupted in the state when an app to buy liquor was yet to be released by the state government fuelling speculation. The New Indian Express reported the opposition had "alleged major corruption in developing the app, named BevQ, for sale of liquor, citing the contract was awarded to a CPM sympathiser."

The Left in India had always questioned violations of privacy and data sharing by various apps. But it looks like the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. 

Pangolins Never Mind Coronavirus

Pangolins tolerate and survive a coronavirs infection, as they lack two key genes that detect the entry of viruses and then activate a series of immune responses to such an attack. According to a recent study,  published in Frontiers in Immunology, Pangolins lack (IFIH1), also known as MDA5, which is a intracellular RNA sensor. It also lacks Z-DNA-binding protein (ZBP1),

This essentially means mammals like Pangolins can tolerate viral infections, instead of resisting or mounting a hyper immune response to such infections. At times. such responses affect the host's survival.

The way Pangolins can tolerate viral infections can also explain why mammals like bats can carry or host a number of viruses without themselves getting affected seriously. But these animals can pass on the infections to human beings.

The study concludes that "...pharmaceutical suppression of IFIH1/MDA5 and ZBP1-dependent signaling may be beneficial for human patients with overreactions to viral nucleic acids."