Anantharaman R MBBS,MD, DM(endo)🇮🇳👨‍⚕️⚕

Rare footage of a sperm whale giving birth has offered scientists a window into the behavior of these large, elusive mammals.

In Kerala, apparently you can now call a coconut harvester the same way you book a cab. A uniformed professional arrives on a cycle, equipped, trained, and ready to work. We often speak about India’s services economy in terms of IT exports or global capability centres. But we’re digitising even our most traditional, hyper-local services. There was another detail from this video that stayed with me. The young man who climbed those trees was from Chhattisgarh. When I began my career in our Group’s steel business, many of of our associates working in our furnace and foundry shops had come from states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, travelling far from home in search of opportunity. Today, it seems those same aspirations are finding avenues not just in heavy industry, as in the past, but in new-age, tech-enabled services. People moving, adapting and rising are a powerful economic force. And also a force for integration. As long as they’re welcomed by the host states!

Having been an orthopedic surgeon for 30 years...5 things I wish someone had told you before you walked into my office — in atraumatic joint and tendon pain. Most of you will present with atraumatic joint and tendon pain... traumatic injuries are far less common in adults. And no... you didn't "sleep wrong."

Screening before marriage is important. But some love stories strike differently. Linda has Holt-Oram syndrome, born with no arms and with heart defects. She married Rick. They knew their baby had a 50 percent chance of being born with the syndrome. They had the baby anyway. Linda Bannon was born with Holt-Oram syndrome, a rare genetic disorder (1 in 100,000) caused by a mutation in the TBX5 gene. It is autosomal dominant, leading to upper-limb abnormalities (in her case, complete absence of arms) and heart defects. From childhood, Linda adapted by mastering every task with her feet — eating, writing, sewing, applying makeup, swimming, and playing guitar. She ditched prosthetic arms at age 12 because they slowed her down. Despite stares and bullying, she stayed positive, viewing her difference as simply “special in God’s eyes.” At 24, Linda met Rick Bannon, a hospital porter, at their Chicago gym. They playfully competed in weight-lifting and sit-ups, instantly connecting. Rick was attracted to her independence and personality, never fazed by her disability. They dated, fell in love, and he proposed at the same restaurant as their first date. They married in 2004. Before engagement, they openly discussed children. Linda had always wanted to be a mum; Rick knew the 50% chance any child would inherit the syndrome. He told her, “Yes, there may be challenges — but we could rise to them.” They chose to have a family anyway, embracing the genetic risk with love and confidence. In 2005, son Timmy was born with the same condition — no arms — plus serious heart problems. He needed open-heart surgery at just five days old and spent two months in hospital. It was Linda’s hardest moment, but her own lifetime of adaptation gave her strength. The family overcame the genetic outcome through practical resilience and unwavering support. They live in a standard home with no modifications. Linda handles almost everything with her feet (Rick only drives for safety). She taught Timmy foot-use skills, encouraged his swimming and taekwondo, and fostered his laid-back confidence. Together, mother and son share an unbreakable bond: “Selfishly, I can see that he is someone else like me who understands me.” They now visit schools and colleges to raise awareness, proving people with disabilities are fully capable. Linda’s philosophy — adapt, stay adventurous, live life to the full — became the family’s guiding light. Rick’s calm acceptance and partnership turned a known genetic risk into a story of love, independence, and hope.

A wonderful medley by the Nandy sisters in different Indian languages. Very peppy and lively.

it hasn't sunk in for most people. we already live in a post-scarcity society. UBI is already here. basic package: disability, medicaid, food stamps etc bonus package: literally getting paid for staying at home and hanging out with your relatives extra bonus: if you are willing to commit fraud, pretend your kids are autistic and get paid for that. get paid for watching your neighbor's kid. pretend you are taking care of your grandma. fake hospice clinic. fake rehab clinic. fake therapy clinic. giga bonus: during a time of crisis take advantage of PPP or CARES and open a fake business and get paid for existing people are shocked when they learn that defense is the FIFTH largest line item in the budget. ahead of defense: social security ($1.6T), interest on debt ($1.1T) medicare ($1T), medicaid + ACA ($1T), AND THEN defense ($0.9T) complain about defense all you like, but healthcare fraud is a way bigger factor. hundreds of billions per year. this is only going to get worse, because the fraud is a structural part of the system – payouts to client groups in exchange for votes (normally D). in the US, only 47% of the population actually works (fully 14% of the population is working age and does not work). retirees are 18% and children 22%. the system I described above subsidizes 50m non-working people absolute minimum, but really it's far more because people that are paid to stay home and take care of their relatives are considered "workers" of that 47% of "actual workers" maybe one third does real work, the rest are shuffling papers around or doing fake email jobs. so you have, rough math, 50 million actual workers supporting 300 million dependents. that's the nature of the economy today. it will only accelerate. eventually you will have 10 million using AI tools to do all the work and 340 million dependents. the reason no one roots out the fraud is because it's the system that keeps our extremely fragile polity intact. the fraud is the UBI. the purpose of the system is what it does. of course, it's a deeply unfair system, because you are allowed to commit fraud if you are a politically protected client group of the democrats. DOGE was killed faster than any government program ever, because it attempted to root out the fraud. if you are honest and unwilling to commit fraud, you are a huge loser in this system. your neighbor will have their mortgage subsidized by some government program. they will get favorable SBA loans due to DEI. they will open a fake hospice or autism clinic. they will get paid for taking care of their neighbor's kid and vice versa. the primary skill in the labor market is learning how to extract money from state and federal government programs, not gaining skills or making yourself employable. if you are just trying to work an ordinary wagie job you are a huge sucker. you are paying 40-50% effective all in taxes to everyone else who is a net taker. the sad part is because AI is such a substantial productivity boost, it will actually keep this system going for a while longer, and maybe in perpetuity. AI boosts the 15% of the population that is actually productive so much that the remaining 85% can coast by. no one in charge will change this because they can't think of anything else. the political costs of a real UBI program are too great and we don't have the money for it anyway. so we will keep this covert fraud-based UBI program running indefinitely. unfortunately, if you are an honest wagie, you lose.

South Indian father, American daughter💖🤣🤣

We take a lot of things for granted in India! I had an unfortunate event where I went to a friend's place all excited for a house party and their pet dog bit me! Even though they assured me that the dog is vaccinated, I didn't want to take any risk. Thanks to a company named Clinikk that runs many healthcare centers in Bangalore where I got a walk-in rabies vaccine. The clinic was just 1km from my home at Koramangala, was affordable, vaccine was available and staff was caring. That's peak healthcare! On the other hand, one of my friends in San Francisco got bit by a homeless dog (yes, there are homeless dogs in USA!). My friend couldn't find rabies vaccine anywhere in 10 miles radius!

You can criticize the Indian healthcare system all you want but the truth is, the speed and relative affordability of essential care here is hard to find elsewhere. Same-day ultrasounds, quick emergency attention, and timely treatment are common in India. Abroad, even basic scans can take weeks, ER waits can stretch for hours, and specialist appointments often take months even for issues causing real discomfort. Yes, there are flaws overcrowding and infrastructure gaps but in terms of accessibility and speed, India’s healthcare system is seriously underrated. You only realize it when you experience the difference.

1 in 3 Americans now use AI chatbots for health information, which is almost doubled in a year. 64% do it weekly. 81% take action afterward: schedule a doctor's visit, change a medication, try a new behavior. The detail that should stop you: 74% are using ChatGPT or Gemini. Not a clinical tool. Not an FDA-cleared system. A general-purpose chatbot. I remember when chatGPT was first launched, the medical community had the most heated debate about "is AI ready for healthcare?" … now this debate has already been decided by users. They didn't wait for the system to be ready. They just started using it and acting on it. Meanwhile 71% of physicians say accuracy and reliability are their top concerns with AI. The reality: consumers acting on general-purpose AI, clinicians not trusting it, seems to be the defining tension in health AI right now. The question isn't whether people will use AI for health decisions. They already do. The question is whether anyone builds models actually calibrated for the stakes involved.