Latest news with #CHRISTUniversity
The Hindu
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
The Hindu Huddle 2025: ‘Inter disciplinary liberal education is the way forward'
From the changing purpose of education to India's historical relationship with liberal education and the impact of technological advancements are the topics that took centre stage at the session, 'Well- Rounded World View: Finding a Place for Liberal Education,' at The Hindu Huddle 2025. Discussing the role of education in a world that is undergoing tremendous geopolitical change, accelerated technological change and a change in nature of work and employment, the panelists expressed that education should let students pursue knowledge through different perspectives and encourage them to ask questions to gain knowledge in a comprehensive manner. Also Read | The Hindu Huddle 2025 Day 1 LIVE updates 'When we say liberal education, we are looking at something that does not have any indoctrination. Learners presume that education should give them a degree which then leads them to a particular career. But, the education that one receives should be for the purpose of social being – a refinement of an individual and how they perceive the world around them,' said Bhavani. S., Dean of School of Humanities and Performing Arts, CHRIST University. Adding on to this, Jonathan Gil Harris, professor, Ashoka University emphasized on the focus of education moving away from 'training' to a 'means to lead oneself out'. 'For the longest time, education has largely meant training which is something that has been inherited from colonial times. It should be a means to problem solving which does not mean arriving at a final answer. It is about learning how to ask better questions.' He also recalled how the best liberal education he has received in India has been in the bazaars of the cities than in any universities. Making a reference to how liberal education has always been a part of India, he said, 'Even though liberal arts as a phrase might be a relative newcomer [in India], when we look at the early Buddhist educational institutions, there is an emphasis on knowledge procured through shastras, discussions and arguments. We have long been aware of the fact that education is not the reproduction of what teachers say, but questioning everything. We can try to implement the globally best practices while also tapping into the traditions here. The subcontinent can teach the world about the liberal arts.' Sudheesh Venkatesh, Managing Editor, Azim Premji Foundation highlighted that liberal education should be guided by the inter-disciplinarity of issues. 'In liberal arts education, you want dialogue and for people to appreciate another point of view and accept it. If people come in with a disciplinary loyalty, then it is a recipe for disaster. The problems of today are interdisciplinary in nature and inter-disciplinarity is the way of life and that was the idea behind the establishment of our institution.' The session was moderated by Srinath Raghavan, professor, Ashoka University who made the interesting observation of how the emergence of liberal arts programmes in India coincided with the rise of philanthropy. When he asked the panelists about the need for liberal arts education institutions to deal with many stakeholders, Prof. Harris spoke about the advantages that comes with the philanthropy model where multiple votes can create an ethos of discussion and conflict resolution. Mr. Venkatesh however, batted for the stability that comes with a single investor. Can AI be the undoing of liberal education? Ms. Bhavani noted how with the easy access to information, the ability to read, process and reproduce information has come down. 'When we read something, we have our own ways of reproducing it and expressing it. There is going to be a lack of this ability in the future as AI does the reading, puts information in different formats and essentially does not allow one to think. We might lose some cognitive abilities due to our dependence on technology. There is an existential angst and anxiety among students due to this gap in thinking as when we fail to think, we fail to produce new knowledge.' The educators agreed that there are no defined solutions as of now to the problems created by AI in the educational space. 'Initially, the concerns were how to control plagiarism and related things. Now, with AI being able to create almost everything, the teachers are facing challenges around how to assess students, how to set tests in the times of AI etc. We are still figuring it out,' Mr. Venkatesh said. The Hindu Huddle 2025 is presented by Sami-Sabinsa Group Co-powered by: Government of Karnataka, Government of Telangana Associate Partners: ONGC, Presidency University, TAFE, Akshayakalpa Organic Energy Partner : Indian Oil Corporation Limited Realty partner: Casagrand Knowledge partner: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham State partner: Meghalaya tourism and Haryana government Luxury car partner: Toyota Radio partner: Radio City Gift partner: Anand Prakash Broadcast partner: Times Now Outdoor media partner: Signpost India
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What would happen if the Milky Way's black hole erupted? This distant galaxy paints a terrifying picture
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A cosmic anomaly detected in a distant galaxy could portend a terrifying future for life in the Milky Way. The discovery suggests that our models of galactic evolution could be inaccurate. Astronomers have detected an erupting supermassive black hole producing some of the largest jets ever seen bursting from a galaxy with the same shape as our own. The galaxy in question also possesses vastly more dark matter than the Milky Way, hinting at a connection between active black holes and the abundance of the universe's most mysterious "stuff." The jets erupting from the massive spiral galaxy 2MASX J23453268−0449256 (J2345-0449), which is three times the size of the Milky Way and is located 947 million light-years away, are themselves 6 million light-years long. And if the supermassive black hole in J2345-0449, which has an estimated mass equivalent to 1.4 billion suns, can erupt so violently, could our galaxy's supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) also blow its top? And if so, what would this mean for life in the Milky Way? While larger jets have been observed in the past (most notably the jet named "Porphyrion," which stretches for 23 million light-years), such monstrous emissions have mainly been associated with elliptical galaxies, not with spiral galaxies. "This discovery is more than just an oddity – it forces us to rethink how galaxies evolve and how supermassive black holes grow in them and shape their environments," team leader Joydeep Bagchi of CHRIST University, Bangalore, said in a statement. "If a spiral galaxy can not only survive but thrive under such extreme conditions, what does this mean for the future of galaxies like our own Milky Way? "Could our galaxy one day experience similar high-energy phenomena that will have serious consequences for the survival of precious life in it?" The team detected this remarkable radio jet outburst using the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previously, scientists had thought that such a violent and titanic jet erupting from the supermassive black hole at the heart of a spiral galaxy would destroy the structure of that galaxy, particularly the distinctive spiral arms that give these galaxies their names. However, J2345-0449 appears to be tranquil, and it has managed to retain its morphology, including its spiral arms, its bright churning "nuclear bar" of stars, and a stellar ring — despite possessing one of the most violent supermassive black holes ever seen in a spiral galaxy. As if this wasn't odd enough, this distant galaxy is surrounded by a huge halo of gas. In many galaxies, this material would be cooling and condensing to produce new stars. However, in J2345-0449, the central black hole is acting as a cosmic furnace, heating this halo of gas, producing X-ray emissions, and preventing it from creating new stars. Cosmic rays, gamma rays, and X-rays, all associated with the massive jets emerging from the black hole at the heart of this galaxy, threaten any life that may have emerged in J2345-0449. As mentioned above, there are some major differences between J2345-0449 and the Milky Way, including the fact our galaxy is a third of the size of its distant cousin. The black holes at the hearts of both galaxies are also different, or as different as supermassive black holes get anyway. While the supermassive black hole in J2345-0449 is estimated to be between 250 million and 1.4 billion solar masses (there is a big uncertainty because J2345-0449 lacks a central bulge, making the mass of its black hole hard to measure), Sgr A* is much more diminutive with a mass of around 4.3 million suns. The black hole of J2345-0449 is so turbulent because it greedily feasts on abundant gas and dust swirling around it in a flattened cloud called an accretion disk. Material that the black hole doesn't devour is channeled to the poles of this cosmic titan, from where it is blasted out at near-light speeds as these extraordinary twin jets. Sgr A* doesn't currently have such powerful jets (there is debate about whether it has any jets at all) because it isn't feeding on much material. In fact, if our central supermassive black hole were a human, it would be as if it sustained itself on a grain of rice every one million years. However, this situation could change on very short notice if Sgr A* were to snag itself a large gas cloud or a star and begin devouring it. Such an occurrence is called a tidal disruption event (TDE), and while we've seen many such events in other galaxies, we've never seen one from Sgr A*. Were Sgr A* to rip apart a star in a TDE, the material from the star would fall around our black hole, forming an accretion disk. And that would result in the production of astrophysical jets. The impact of such jets would depend on their orientation, their strength, and the amount of energy they pump out. If a jet from Sgr A*, which is around 27,000 light-years away, was pointed directly at the solar system, it would be capable of stripping away planetary atmospheres and damaging the DNA of life here on Earth. The radiation associated with these jets could increase mutation rates. If Earth were to take a direct hit from such a jet, the high-energy particles within it could degrade our ozone layer and lead to a mass extinction. Even if such a jet isn't angled toward Earth, it could still have disastrous implications for the Milky Way on a larger scale. Were a jet to slam into the interstellar medium, the gas and dust between the stars in our galaxy, it could heat them and curtail star formation, just as it has done in J2345-0449. This would not be unprecedented in the Milky Way, which scientists believe was once ravaged by vast radio jets. However, predicting if and when such jets could erupt from Sgr A* again isn't as easy as spotting evidence of its historical is another enigma surrounding J2345-0449 that astronomers will be keen to investigate. During their study of J2345-0449, the team also found that this galaxy, three times the size of the Milky Way, appears to contain ten times the dark matter that our galaxy does. Dark matter is effectively invisible because, unlike the ordinary matter that composes stars, planets, moons, our bodies, and everything we see around us, it doesn't interact with light. Dark matter does interact with gravity, though, and this is important for J2345-0449. This distant, massive galaxy is spinning so rapidly that it takes a vast amount of dark matter to maintain its structure and prevent it from flying apart. This is the first time that astronomers have drawn the connection between the dark matter content of a galaxy, that galaxy's structure, and the activity of its central supermassive black hole. The team thinks that further establishing this connection could open up an entirely new frontier of scientific study. Related Stories: — Is our universe trapped inside a black hole? This James Webb Space Telescope discovery might blow your mind — Weird physics at the edges of black holes may help resolve lingering 'Hubble trouble' — Black holes may obey the laws of physics after all, new theory suggests "Understanding these rare galaxies could provide vital clues about the unseen forces governing the universe – including the nature of dark matter, the long-term fate of galaxies, and the origin of life," team member Shankar Ray, also from CHRIST University, Bangalore, said. "Ultimately, this study brings us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos, reminding us that the universe still holds surprises beyond our imagination." The team's research was published on Thursday (March 20) in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A terrifying fate may lurk inside the Milky Way
All good things come to an end—even the Milky Way. Our home galaxy's demise isn't estimated to occur for at least another 4 or 5 billion years, when astronomers believe it will start colliding with its neighbor Andromeda. However, a new analysis of a more distant galaxy is hinting at another dramatic outcome. Instead of being annihilated from without, the Milky Way's cosmic destruction could begin from within. The spiral galaxy 2MASX J23453268−0449256 is located nearly 1 billion light-years away from Earth, and measures about three times the size of the Milky Way. Like our own galaxy, a supermassive black hole lurks at its center. But while our Sagittarius A (Sgr A*) currently exists in very cosmically quiet, dormant conditions (for a black hole), the one inside J23453268−0449256 spews chaotic, 6 million light-year-long jets of energy. That's what an international team has discovered using data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Wave Array, and multi-wavelength analyses. According to their study published March 20 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, these findings are challenging conventional notions of how galaxies operate, and what forces they are capable of unleashing. Simply put, experts previously believed a galaxy like J23453268−0449256 couldn't survive under its own conditions. The roiling gamma, cosmic, and X-rays documented coming from its black hole are almost only seen in elliptical galaxies. Based on traditional theory, these powerful radio jets should be disrupting the spiral galaxy's comparatively delicate structure. However, that's not the case at all for J23453268−0449256. The galaxy appears pretty stable, with well-defined spiral arms, an untroubled stellar ring, and a bright nuclear bar. 'This discovery is more than just an oddity—it forces us to rethink how galaxies evolve, and how supermassive black holes grow in them and shape their environments,' Joydeep Bagchi, a study lead author and astronomy professor at India's CHRIST University, Bangalore, said in a statement. One difference appears to be its ability to form new stars. Although the galaxy is surrounded by a halo of X-ray-emitting gas needed to make them, the supermassive black hole's energy jets act like a deep space oven. This appears to prevent the halo from cooling enough to form new stars. Despite this stellar anomaly, J23453268−0449256 already hosts an untold number of stars. 'If a spiral galaxy can not only survive but thrive under such extreme conditions, what does this mean for the future of galaxies like our own Milky Way?' wondered Bagchi. This type of scenario could begin if the Milky Way's black hole Sgr A* ever begins devouring a star, gas cloud, or even a smaller dwarf galaxy. Previously documented in other galaxies, these Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) are as dramatic as they are powerful. But depending on their direction, there are scenarios in which any future life on Earth wouldn't survive the experience. If a hypothetical Milky Way TDE's cosmic rays lined up with the solar system, the effects would cause almost incomprehensible devastation. The energy beams could strip planetary atmospheres, irradiate DNA enough to cause genetic mutations, as well as destroy the Earth's ozone and kick off dinosaur-level mass extinctions. While astronomers believe that the Milky Way hosted those kinds of radio jets in the past, the chance of it occurring any time in the near future is pretty slim. Regardless of the Milky Way's ultimate celestial fate, discovering and studying unique neighboring galaxies like J23453268−0449256 allows astronomers to learn more about our surprising, complex universe. 'Understanding these rare galaxies could provide vital clues about the unseen forces governing the universe—including the nature of dark matter, the long-term fate of galaxies, and the origin of life,' said study co-author and PhD candidate Shankar Ray. 'Ultimately, this study brings us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos, reminding us that the universe still holds surprises beyond our imagination.'
