Coursera, a provider of online courses from universities, revealed the list of the ‘Most Popular Courses in India of 2016’ on 20 December, based on an analysis of enrollments by Indian users in online courses in 2016. It has 1.8 million learners from India out of 23 million registered learners globally.

The most popular courses include a healthy mix of courses that teach skills for some of today’s technology careers as well as skills that are broadly useful for life as well. The trends revealed showcased how India’s aspiring professionals are looking for new alternatives to learn skills throughout their careers in order to keep pace with the fast pace of change in business and technology.

Solution to hair restoration

Dr Paul’s, known for treating hair loss and number of scalp disorders, pioneered the first of its kind Density Improvement Programme (DIP) to increase hair volume and as an effective means of treating hair loss.

The course represents a unique combination of nutritional programme along with state of the art technology to form a powerfully integrated solution to hair restoration. The high level of advancement of this program ensures that results are visible within a short span of 90 days.

HGA (Hair Growth Accelerator) Follicular Unit Extraction is a process which is minimally invasive, highly effective and offers shortest recovery in terms of days instead of weeks as is in the case of other traditional hair transplant processes. While Cyclical Nutritional Programme for hair restoration treatment is customised as per individual need.

The Density Improvement Program (DIP) focuses on creating a personalised hair restoration regimen using specifically tailored products and topical solutions, including shampoos and styling products. This programme is available in all Dr Paul’s clinics across the country.

Representing India

FameLab, the science communications programme received an overwhelming response from East India. With entries from educational institutions from almost all states with large numbers from Odisha, West Bengal and Assam, 24 participants were shortlisted to compete at the East India Finals held at KIIT University on 7 December 2016.

Samriddhi Bhutani ECE student at Vellore Institute of Technology from Kolkata won the first prize. Second and third prize were awarded to Priyanka Talukdar – PhD in civil engineering from IIT Guwahati and Manishtha Bhattacharyya – student from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal respectively.

These regional winners will now compete at the India finals later, to be held at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune in January 2017. The India winners will represent the country at the FameLab International Grand Finale at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK in June 2017.

Through this programme, FameLab aimed to present scientific concepts in an interesting and innovative manner to the general public. The East India finals will have representation from institutions such as National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), IIT Guwahati, National Institute of Technology, Agartala, University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University, IIT Kharagpur, IISER Kolkata, Institute of Engineering and Management Kolkata and many more. The 24 finalists also participated in an exclusive masterclass, where they received training in science communication from eminent science communicator Dr Lewis Dartnell, astrobiology research scientist, University of Westminster.

For climate change

The combination of weather patterns which led to the 2013 New Zealand drought are more likely to occur again due to climate change, suggested Victoria University of Wellington’s research.

Led by Luke Harrington and Professor David Frame from the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, the research measured the likelihood of extreme weather patterns occurring in modern day New Zealand compared to weather patterns in the late nineteenth century.

The 2013 New Zealand drought affected the entire North Island and the west coast of the South Island, and is considered one of the most severe droughts to have affected these areas in at least 40 years.

This research, carried out in collaboration with researchers from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the University of New South Wales in Sydney and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, has been published online in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Gala time

Shemrock Group of Schools associated with the tenth Krackerjack Karnivalto celebrated its 25 years of excellence in school education on 12 December. The two day event started at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, was an extravaganza organised for the enjoyment of the children.

There were song and dance performances by young, enthusiastic kids. Various fun-filled, interactive activities and games were also organised exclusively for the parents. Thousands of children got the chance to meet their favourite cartoon character Chhota Bheem.

Filled with exciting offerings and pleasant surprises like joy rides, carnival games, contests, art and craft sessions, workshops, puppet and magic shows and fun performances, the fest registered a footfall of over 30,000 visitors including children of all ages, parents, parents-to-be and grandparents. The festival was a widely loved family experience and proved to be a phenomenal success.

Sports time

Skulpt with the motto to Get Fit came up with different health initiatives and an interesting workshop for kids. They organised a cricket workshop at Calcutta Cricket Coaching Centre on 3 December 2016.

Deep Dasgupta was present to run the show. He taught kids aged 7-12 the basics of playing cricket, with special focus on the posture and stance which is important, be it any sport. These days the most important thing is to get these kids out on the field and start playing the sport. With the majority players being boys, this workshop saw, the only girl 10 – year old Aleisha Bansal participating in this workshop, showing the growing interest of young girls in cricket as well.

Christmas food fun

To celebrate the holiday season, Emirates offers a new menu across all cabin classes featuring traditional festive meals. The special menu will be in addition to the wide variety of cuisine available on board and features holiday favourites such as roast turkey and yule log cakes.

For desserts, customers will be served Festive Chocolate Pudding with spiced ginger custard. Besides, a special kid’s festive menu is also available with roast turkey, sweet potato mash, carrots and peas, as well as a candy cane and Emirates’ Little Travellers chocolate buttons as an added treat.

A variety of desserts available on the different routes include Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate and Chestnut Torte and Yule log. Traditional sweets such as Basler Leckerli gingerbread cookies, Christmas cake and Stollen cake are also served.