THE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2015 15TIMES TRENDSXIIXI

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Claire Cain Miller

Silicon Valley is begin-ning to admit it isn’t justfor young people anymo-

re. The Valley’s un-family-fri-endly culture has long beenalmost a point of pride, withemployers openly preferringyounger, childless employeeswho were presumed to be mo-re productive.

“Young people just havesimpler lives,” Mark Zucker-berg, Facebook’s co-founderand chief executive, said in2007, when he was 23. “Simp-

licity in life allows you to fo-cus on what’s important.”

Recently, though, a gro-

wing number of tech executi-ves have been speaking outabout the struggle to balance

work and family, particularlyas Silicon Valley faces pres-sure to become more diverse.

In an informal poll lastmonth by CB Insights, a pri-vate company data firm, 63%of the 4,040 respondents —mostly startup founders whoare also parents — said theystruggled with balancing the-ir startup and parental dutiesdaily or all the time. Only 10%said they never did. “I knowpeople struggle with this — Icertainly do as a parent andfounder — but over 60%struggling with it every day

or all the time even surprisedme,” said Anand Sanwal, chi-ef executive of CB Insights.There are signs the culturecould be changing.

Last week, for example,Zuckerberg sounded a diffe-rent note when he said he wo-uld take two months of pater-nity leave after his daughteris born. (Facebook offersemployees four months of pa-id parental leave.) On Thurs-day, Spotify said it would givefull-time employees sixmonths of paid parental lea-ve and one month of trans-

ition in which they can workflexible or shorter hours.

Many parents who work atsmall startups report thatthey were the first person atthe company to have a child,and often there was no exis-ting parental leave policy. Onereason this has recently beco-me an issue could be that Sili-con Valley is aging. There are,of course, many establishedcompanies with older employ-ees, but many people whowork at the hot companies ofthe web era are now also beco-ming parents. NYT NEWS SERVICE

Un-Family-Friendly Culture Changing As Many Tech Co Founders Age And Have Children

Silicon Valley’s growing up, giving parents a break

WINDS OF CHANGE

© Rick Gomez/CORBIS

iTOONS SUNIL AGARWAL & AJIT NINAN

Washington: Scientists ha-ve for the first time witnes-sed a black hole swallowinga star in a galaxy 300 millionlight years away and ejec-ting a flare of matter movingat nearly the speed of light.

The finding tracks thestar — about the size of ourSun — as it shifts from itscustomary path, slips intothe gravitational pull of asuper massive black holeand is sucked in, said Sjoertvan Velzen, a Hubble fellowat the Johns Hopkins Uni-versity in US.

“It’s the first time we seeeverything from the stellardestruction followed by thelaunch of a conical outflow,also called a jet, and we wat-ched it unfold over severalmonths,” van Velzen said.

The first observation ofthe star being destroyed wasmade in December last year.Researchers used radio tele-

scopes to follow up as fast aspossible. They were just intime to catch the action.

By the time it was done,the team had data from satel-lites and ground-based tele-scopes that gathered X-ray,radio and optical signals,providing a stunning “mul-ti-wavelength” portrait ofthis event.

It helped that the galaxyin question is closer to Earththan those studied previous-ly in hopes of tracking a jetemerging after the destruc-tion of a star. PTI

Witnessed: Black holeswallowing a star

300m light years away

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/Corbis

Cocoa, found in chocolate, and green teacontain substances that may help prevent

and treat renal complications or diabetic reti-nopathy, a new study has claimed. The study byresearchers at the State University of Campinasin Brazil suggests that cacao and green tea helpdiminish death of podocytes, cells that restrictthe passing of proteins into urine. Scientists saythat polyphenols and themobromine found incacao and green tea can diminish the impact ofdiabetes, Xinhua news agency reported.

High-potency cannabis can damage brain:Smoking high potency ‘skunk-like’ cannabis candamage a crucial part of the brain responsiblefor communication between the two brainhemispheres, a new study by researchers atKing’s College, London has found. In experi-mental studies THC has been shown to inducepsychotic symptoms and ‘skunk-like’ productshigh in THC are now thought to be the mostcommonly used form of cannabis in the UK.

SHORT CUTS

Cocoa, green tea may helpcombat diabetes symptoms

Reuters

A 500-metre aperture spherical telescope is underconstruction among the mountains in Pingtangcounty in China. The telescope, which will be thelargest in the world, will be put in use bySeptember 2016, according to local media

Andrew Griffin

The maker of a new chip claims that itcould reduce the charging times ofphones to a few minutes, and could

prevent dangerous explosions. The tinychip could be embedded into batteries of allsizes and monitor how healthy and chargedthey are. That in turn would mean that thebatteries would become much safer and qu-icker to charge, according to the scientistthat developed it.

“Although the risk of a battery failingand catching fire is very low, with the bil-lions of lithium-ion batteries being produ-ced yearly, even a one-in-a-million chancewould mean over a thousand failures,” saidRachid Yazami from the Nanyang Technolo-gical University in Singapore. “In additionto knowing the degradation of batteries,our technology can also tell the exact state ofcharge of the battery, and thus optimise thecharging so the battery can be maintainedin its best condition while being charged fas-ter,” said Yazami. Those behind the batteryhope that it will be available for licensing be-fore the end of 2016. THE INDEPENDENT

This chip lets phonescharge in minutes

THANKSGIVING PARADE ON US STREETSReuters

FESTIVE CHEER: (Clockwise from top) The ‘Skylanders Eruptor’ balloon in New York; a couple dressed asSanta Claus and Mrs Claus in Philadelphia; members of Spirit of America group in Manhattan and people incostumes ride during Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday

Washington: Scientists have de-veloped new funky-looking cupscrafted from a 3D printed trans-parent polymer that could allowastronauts on the InternationalSpace Station (ISS) to enjoy anaromatic cup of coffee.

Astronauts are accustomedto drinking beverages from bagsdue to safety concerns over spillage.

Their responses when testingout the cups ranged from “Hey, you

can smell the coffee,” to “This is ee-rily like drinking on Earth.” Thecups, six in number, elicit happyeruptions of laughter because theastronauts readily confess theyhad not expected it to work.

Last year, Italy sent an espressomachine up to the ISS which inspi-red the researchers to study the re-lated strange fluids phenomena inlow gravity — such as espresso cre-ma formation and settling, capilla-ry interfaces, and containment of

potentially hazardous drinks wit-hin a spacecraft. To do this, the re-searchers designed a cup that ex-ploits surface tension as opposedto gravity.

“Wetting conditions and thecup’s special geometry create acapillary pressure gradient thatdrives the liquid forward towardthe face of the drinker,” saidMark Weislogel, a professor ofmechanical engineering at Port-land State University in US. PTI

3D printed cups help astronauts ‘drink’ coffee© NASA/Corbis

EASY SIPS ONBOARD ISS

Andrew Griffin

A company claims thatit is developing tech-nology to bring peo-

ple back from the dead. Hu-mai says it is developingtechnology that would allowbrains to be frozen and havetheir information stored,bringing people back usingartificial intelligence. The

technology could be availab-le to the public within thenext 30 years, it claims.

Before the person dies, thecompany would use AI to stu-dy the conversational styleand behaviour of their custo-mers. This data will be codedinto multiple sensor techno-logies built into an artificialbody with the brain of a decea-sed human. THE INDEPENDENT

New AI tech could bringback the dead, claims firm

Times of India, Pune, November 28, 2015 Pp.15