NewsBytes

Nobel economics prize goes to 3 researchers for explaining innovation-driven economic growth

Three researchers who probed the process of business innovation won the Nobel memorial prize in economics on October 13 for explaining how new products and inventions promote economic growth and human welfare, even as they leave older companies in the dust. Their work was credited with helping economists better understand how ideas and technology succeed by disrupting established ways — a process as old as steam locomotives replacing horse-drawn wagons and as contemporary as e-commerce shuttering shopping malls. The award was shared by Dutch-born Joel Mokyr, 79, who is at Northwestern University; Philippe Aghion, 69, who works at the Collège de France and the London School of Economics; and Canadian-born Peter Howitt, 79, who is at Brown University.

India's wild elephant numbers drop by 18%, first DNA-based count shows

India's wild elephant population has been estimated at 22,446, lower than the 2017 figure of 27,312, according to the country's first-ever DNA-based count. The All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025 puts India's elephant population between 18,255 and 26,645, with an average of 22,446. The government released the long-delayed report on Tuesday, nearly four years after the survey began in 2021. Officials said the delay was due to the complex genetic analysis and data validation involved in the exercise. Scientists collected 21,056 dung samples from across elephant landscapes and used DNA fingerprinting to identify individual animals, much like identifying humans through their genetic code. The total field effort covered nearly 6.7 lakh km of forest trails and included over 3.1 lakh dung plots. Region-wise, the Western Ghats remain the biggest stronghold with 11,934 elephants, followed by the North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains with 6,559.

Andhra mountaineer becomes first Indian to summit 9 of world's highest 8,000-metre peaks

Bharath Thammineni, a 36-year old mountaineer from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, on Tuesday became the first Indian to summit all nine of the world's 14 highest peaks, after successfully climbing Mt Cho Oyu (8,188m), the sixth-highest mountain, sources close to the climber claimed. Prior to this latest achievement, Thammineni had summited Mt Everest in May 2017, Mt Manaslu in September 2018, Mt Lhotse in May 2019, Mt Annapurna in March 2022, Mt Kanchenjunga in April 2022, Mt Makalu in May 2023, Mt Shishapangma in October 2024 and Mt Dhaulagiri in April 2025 – all 8,000 plus metre peaks, they said. Five of the remaining top peaks — Mt K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II and Broad Peak — are in Pakistan and are currently out of bounds for Indian climbers.

Google to invest $10 bn in data centre, AI project in India

Alphabet Inc's Google will invest $10 billion to set up a massive data centre and artificial intelligence hub in Andhra Pradesh, officials from the southern Indian state said, marking its biggest such investment in the South Asian nation. Google will build a 1-gigawatt data centre campus in the port city of Visakhapatnam, combining AI infrastructure, large-scale energy sources and an expanded fibre-optic network, according to a statement from the state government. A formal agreement is expected to be signed on Tuesday.