India Celebrated 75

24 Austin South Asian | September 2022 India Celebrated 75 Years Since Independence

By Annabelle Timsit

India celebrated 75 years since its independence from British colonial rule. Cities across the country held parades and events Monday featuring soldiers, elephants and dancers. Buildings lit up in the saffron, white and green of India’s national flag, and a government campaign urged families to fly the flag at home.

And that was just what was happening on Earth. American astronaut Raja Chari, whose father immigrated to the United States from Hyderabad in southern India, posted photos of Indian and American flags from the International Space Station, from which he returned a few months ago.

Speaking from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi, the capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would work to turn India into a developed nation by the time it celebrates 100 years of independence. Modi criticized corruption and the mistreatment of women in India but said the country is entering a new phase of global importance and has “a lot to offer to the world.” The celebrations both masked and highlighted the deep political and religious tensions that plague modern-day India, whose status as the world’s largest democracy is increasingly under threat amid a rise in far-right, Hindu nationalism there.

Modi, in his Independence Day speech, said he was committed to fulfilling Gandhi’s “vision of inclusion.”

“The United States joins the people of India to honor its democratic journey, guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s enduring message of truth and non-violence,” President Biden said in a statement. The U.S. president called for Washington and New Delhi to “continue to stand together to defend the rulesbased order; foster greater peace, prosperity and security for our people; advance a free and open Indo-Pacific; and together address the challenges we face around the world.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited India in April, congratulated “the people of India on 75 years of independence” from his own country. “During my recent visit to Gujarat and New Delhi I saw for myself the thriving Living Bridge between our countries,” Johnson said. “I look forward to seeing these bonds go from strength to strength in the next 75 years.” French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing Modi and the people of India, said, “As you proudly celebrate India’s stunning achievements in the past 75 years, you can count on France to always stand by your side.” (Courtesy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/)

What Happens To Our Brain When It Sees Images Of Food?

The new study published in the journal Current Biology is significant because it reveals the special influence food have on our human culture.

Ever marvelled why restaurants emphasise on the dressing and presentation of food served, at times much more than its taste? Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found out that not only the taste of food sways our taste buds, but the visual appearance too elicits response in a particular part of our brain, reports MIT News.

The new study published in the journal Current Biology finds that when we look at foods, a specialised part of our visual cortex lights up because of food sensitive nerve cells.

The ventral visual stream, where the visual information is processed for visual perception, spots these food-responsive neurons. They lie near other neuron groups that respond specifically to faces, bodies, places, and words. pated discovery may reveal the special influence of food on human culture. Nancy Kanwisher, a professor at MIT, told MIT News that food is core to so many elements of human activity. It has a major influence on our cultural identity, religious practice, and social interactions. nance,” Kanwisher adds.

For this research, a publicly available database of human brain responses to a set of 10,000 images was analysed. Neuroscientists are perplexed about the development of this neural population.

They further hope to study how people’s feedback to certain foods might vary depending on their likes and dislikes, or their closeness with certain types of food.

There are still many unanswered questions looming ahead for the researchers. MIT News says that the researchers also hope to study when and how this region becomes specialized during early childhood, and what other parts of the brain it interacts with.

They will further try to find an answer to whether this food-selective population is unique to humans or is also found in other animals such as monkeys, who do not add the cultural relevance to food that humans do.

(Courtesy: https://www.hindustantimes. com/)