All posts tagged: tectonic

High Court ruling on Telegram marks tectonic shift in digital law

High Court ruling on Telegram marks tectonic shift in digital law

Published by Parlour News

Recently, the Government of India temporarily blocked Telegram after the messaging app was used to leak questions and organise cheating in a public examination taken by millions of students. Telegram challenged the move in the Delhi High Court. It argued that the law only allowed blocking specific illegal content and did not permit blocking the entire platform used by millions of users. The High Court disagreed, in a ruling that changes how technology companies operating in India should think about the architecture of their apps. This change brings to focus the obligation on platforms to prevent recurring harm. The Court confirmed the government’s long-held position that it had legal authority to block an entire app, not merely specific content published on it. Such a block can be ordered overnight, with the company allowed to argue its case to the government only afterwards. What matters is not the power itself but what it makes possible: A design flaw that once might have been a customer-service headache can now be the reason an app disappears from a …

Iran’s Folded Rocks Reveal Ancient Tectonic Power at Asia-Europe Boundary

Iran’s Folded Rocks Reveal Ancient Tectonic Power at Asia-Europe Boundary

Published by Webster

The deformed rocks of Iran are formed due to strong mountain ridges and valleys in the Greater Caucasus mountain range, southwest of the Caspian Sea. Between 10 million and 50 million years ago, its growth was marked by sedimentary layers crushed during the first impact between the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The vividly coloured rocks produced by the sedimentary layers gathered over millennia range in tone from terracotta to greenish to bluish. Using satellite pictures, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Earth Observatory have shown how the landscape tended to cluster over time. One image depicts the different strata layers, vegetation, and the Zanjan-Tabriz freeway linking Tehran and Poznan. Interestingly, another image is of the Qezel Ozan River, which provides agricultural water in the region. The region is still converging, and fresh research suggests that a slab of oceanic crust is being shredded beneath Iraq and Iran. Iran’s Folded Rocks Expose Arabia-Eurasia Tectonic Collision According to reported NASA experts, a tectonic clash between the continents — known as Eurasia and Arabia — crunched these vividly hued strata of …

Tracing the Origins of Oaks: How Climate and Tectonic Changes Shaped Modern Trees

Tracing the Origins of Oaks: How Climate and Tectonic Changes Shaped Modern Trees

Published by Webster

Rising global temperatures and shifting tectonic plates are believed to have shaped the development of one of Earth’s most iconic trees, the oak (Quercus). According to reports, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a significant climatic event approximately 56 million years ago, created extreme conditions that influenced the evolution of diverse plant species, including the ancestors of modern oaks. This event occurred during a time of volcanic activity that released massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, leading to an average temperature increase of 8 degrees Celsius globally. The Impact of the PETM on Early Ecosystems It has been documented that the PETM caused dramatic changes in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. According to sources, tropical forests expanded across South America, while plant and animal species migrated vast distances in response to rising temperatures. The fossil record suggests that during this period, the ancestors of today’s oaks began to emerge, though evidence such as acorns and pollen remains sparse. First Oak Fossils Discovered in Austria Fossilised oak pollen was first identified in Oberndorf, Austria, near the …

Why India Is Disappearing Under China In Tectonic Tug-Of-War

Why India Is Disappearing Under China In Tectonic Tug-Of-War

Published by Webster

Dr Sridevi Jade, Director, CSIR Fourth Paradigm Institute (CSIR-4PI), at GPS site in Ladakh’s Hanle Hanle, Ladakh: The military stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) found an amicable solution recently. However, another kind of tug-of-war between India and China – a continuous and ancient tectonic one – has been going on with the Indian tectonic plate constantly losing land by sliding under the Tibetan plate. The Indian landmass has been shrinking as its tectonic plate has been sliding under the Eurasian or Tibetan plate. This correspondent experienced the war of continents first-hand high in the Himalayas at Hanle in Ladakh, where in the last 25 years or so Hanle may have risen by about 2.5 centimetres since this correspondent’s last visit almost a quarter century ago to the same locations. In a quirk of geological history, the Indian landmass is subducting or slipping under the Tibetan of the Asian landmass mainly comprising the current geographical area of China. This is also the reason the Himalayas – considered the ever-growing …

Gukesh’s Candidates title marks tectonic shift in chess world: Garry Kasparov

Published by Webster

Garry Kasparov of Russia, a six-time world chess champion and an icon of the sport, said D Gukesh’s FIDE Candidates title-winning performance in Toronto marked a new tectonic shift in the chess world. “The Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world as the 17-year-old Gukesh D will face the Chinese champion Ding Liren for the highest title,” Kasparov wrote on X “Look at the names of many of the top junior players in the USA and England to see that the Chinese and Indian diaspora are just as passionate to achieve at chess,” he added. Kasparov also said “The ‘children’ of Vishy Anand are on the loose”, as three of WestBridge Anand Chess Academy’s (WACA) players marked their presence at this year’s Candidates. Alongside Gukesh, his fellow Indian grandmaster from Chennai, Praggnanandhaa in the open category and Vaishali in the women’s section were part of the Candidates. The trio trains at Anand’s WACA Chess Academy in Chennai. Gukesh, on Tuesday, became only the second Indian to …