Priyanka Vora

Listen to the third episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast season 3 on the world’s favorite food: pasta.

As Russian forces continue their attack on Kyiv, Ukrainians have been forced to take cover; people young and old are streaming into underground bomb shelters. Among them are surrogate mothers, part of the country’s booming fertility industry.

The Winter Olympic Games continue to evolve. Some sports and disciplines have been discontinued and restarted, some have been added, while others date back to the first competitions in Chamonix, France in 1924. This year in Beijing there are 15 sports ranging from bobsled, to ice hockey, to snowboarding.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 99.5% of all covid-19 cases in the US are now omicron. The CDC tracks the proportion of variants circulating in the community, and while new covid-19 cases have dropped, the US  is averaging about 2,000 deaths per day.

One recent evening, the laughter of playing children filled the narrow lane leading to Kiran and Jagdish Sharma’s home in the Mumbai suburb of Govandi. But inside the four walls, the air of melancholia was immediately evident. Kiran Sharma, 23, and her husband Jagdish, 30, have been in mourning for exactly a year, ever since their newborn boy died of cardio-respiratory failure the day after prime minister Narendra Modi announced that Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes would no longer be considered legal tender. A nearby hospital had refused to admit their wheezing infant because the Sharmas had invalid currency notes in their wallets.

Even as several parts of India are in the grip of severe dengue outbreaks, a team of researchers has found clues to why the mosquito-borne disease might be spreading across the country faster than before. The answer lies in increased temperatures, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.

Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi suggested legalising marijuana for medical purposes at a meeting of a group of ministers examining the draft cabinet note on the National Policy for Drug Demand Reduction earlier this last week. However, several doctors working in palliative care say that they would rather see the government ensure a better supply of opioid drugs, the medical use of which is already permitted.

Psychiatrist Shyam Shastri (name changed) routinely visits general medical practitioners near his clinics in south Mumbai to hand them envelopes of cash. Shastri, who has been struggling to establish his medical practice for the past three years, has finally decided to offer “cuts” to his colleagues from the fees that his patients pay him. By handing over these cash envelopes, Shastri has ensured that the general practitioners will recommend and refer his services to their patients.

“You desire to look beautiful from the outside,” doctor Sejal Desai’s website tells potential clients. “Now you can choose to look beautiful from the inside too.”