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There has been a burst of news on India in western media recently. Following the article by Roger Cohen of the New York Times which was included in my newsletter a couple of days back, this is one that was published in the NPR magazine yesterday.
"In many ways, Vehant embodies the new India. He's the first in his family to be born in a hospital. His parents married for love — a rarity in a country where matchmaking is a tradition. And their young family — now settled on the fast-growing edge of India's biggest city, Mumbai — is the product of a massive wave of migration out of India's countryside." He also may have been the baby that pushed India past China as the world's most populous country.
"China will achieve its peak population size [this year], whereas India will continue to experience momentum for several decades to come, before the population actually stabilizes," the UNFPA's Wojnar says. "This represents a great opportunity for India. With the largest number of young people anywhere in the world, there's a huge opportunity — a huge potential — to tap into, to enjoy greater economic growth and development." But the challenge, Wojnar and others say, is for India to create enough opportunities in education and employment for all of these young people streaming into India's big cities or being born in them.
2. Batteries are tiny chemical factories that we carry around to store energy and release it when we need it, over and over again? Batteries are set for a starring role in climate action, both in powering EVs and in storing electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels. There are significant challenges in making them cheaper and more efficient, but 2023 might be the year when some dramatically different approaches to batteries could see progress. Read the full story in MIT Technology Review.
3. A first trial of a space-based solar power plant is in orbit. On Earth, solar energy is cheap and clean, but intermittent. In space, the sun always shines. A Caltech team designed a lightweight satellite which unfolds to a wide solar array, with microwave transmitters that transfer the gathered energy. It won’t send any power to Earth yet, but will help determine the best photovoltaic cells to use, and demonstrate the project’s feasibility. The pathway to a 70%-renewable global energy system is pretty clear, Ars Technica reports, but the remaining 30% could be tricky: Space-based solar could help along the way.
4. Apple has launched a series of audiobooks narrated by AI, sparking an instant backlash from authors and voice actors.
"Apple has quietly launched a catalogue of books narrated by artificial intelligence in a move that may mark the beginning of the end for human narrators. The strategy marks an attempt to upend the lucrative and fast-growing audiobook market – but it also promises to intensify scrutiny over allegations of Apple’s anti-competitive behaviour."
"The popularity of the audiobook market has exploded in recent years, with technology companies scrambling to gain a foothold. Sales last year jumped 25%, bringing in more than $1.5bn. Industry insiders believe the global market could be worth more than $35bn by 2030. On the company’s Books app, searching for “AI narration” reveals the catalogue of works included in the scheme, which are described as being “narrated by digital voice based on a human narrator”.
