World’s first hydrogen train comes to France

The world’s first hydrogen passenger train made its debut on the French railways on Monday, September 6, with the country’s transport minister hailing it as the future of green public transport. Built by French firm Alstom and already in service in Germany, the train uses a fuel cell to convert hydrogen stored in its roof into electricity, with the only emissions produced coming in the form of steam and water.

D.R Congo raise awareness about pollution through art

 An art festival higlighting the damage done by a throwaway culture has just wrapped up in kinshasa. The kinact festival made its return after having to be cancelled last year because of the pandemic. Artists use materials that others have thrown away to create works that raise awareness about the dangers of pollution.

French firm Lafarge loses bid to dismiss 'crimes against humanity' case in Syria

THERE IS A LAFARGE CEMENT PLANT A COUPLE OF BLOCKS AWAY FROM MY HOUSE

Issued on: 07/09/2021 - 

The Lafarge Cement Syria plant in Jalabiya, in the north of the country, 

on February 19, 2018. 

© AFP (file photo)

Text by: NEWS WIRES|

Video by: Claire RUSH

France's top court on Tuesday overturned a decision by a lower court to dismiss charges brought against cement giant Lafarge for complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria's civil war.

The ruling by the Court of Cassation marks a major setback for Lafarge, which is accused of paying nearly 13 million euros ($15.3 million) to jihadist groups including the Islamic State (IS) to keep its cement factory in northern Syria running through the early years of the country's war.

Lafarge's lawyer refused AFP's request for comment.

Lafarge, which merged in 2015 with Swiss group Holcim, has acknowledged that its Syrian subsidiary paid middlemen to negotiate with armed groups to allow the movement of staff and goods inside the war zone.

But it denies any responsibility for the money winding up in the hands of terrorist groups and has fought to have the case dropped.

The Paris Court of Appeal had in 2019 dismissed the crimes against humanity charge, saying it accepted that the payments were not aimed at abetting IS's gruesome agenda of executions and torture.

It however ruled that the company be prosecuted on three other charges -- financing terrorism, violating an EU embargo and endangering the lives of others.

Eleven former employees of Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) challenged the decision at the Court of Cassation, with the backing of NGOs.

Quashing the lower court's finding on complicity, France's highest court of appeal ruled Tuesday that "one can be complicit in crimes against humanity even if one doesn't have the intention of being associated with the crimes committed."

"Knowingly paying several million dollars to an organisation whose sole purpose was exclusively criminal suffices to constitute complicity, regardless of whether the party concerned was acting to pursue a commercial activity," it added.

Analysis: Link between ruling on Lafarge and opening of Paris terror attacks trial


The judges added that "numerous acts of complicity" would go unpunished if courts adopted a more lenient interpretation.

The ruling does not mean however that Lafarge will automatically face trial on the most serious accusations laid against a French company over its actions in a foreign country in recent years.

The court instead referred the matter back to investigating magistrates to reconsider the complicity charge.

It also quashed the lower court's decision to maintain the charge of endangering others, saying that it was not clear that French labour law applied in the case and also referring that question back to investigators.

Shell precedent

The court did however uphold the charge of financing terrorism, which Lafarge had fought to have dismissed.

Apart from the company, eight Lafarge executives, including former CEO Bruno Laffont, are also charged with financing a terrorist group and/or endangering the lives of others.

Lafarge eventually left Syria in September 2014 after IS seized its plant in Jalabiya, around 150 kilometres (95 miles) northeast of the regional capital Aleppo.

The company is not the first multinational to be accused of complicity in crimes against humanity over its activity in a country where people suffered serious rights abuses.

But such cases have rarely been brought to trial.

Twelve Nigerians took Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell to court in the US, accusing it of abetting extra-judicial killings, torture, rape and crimes against humanity in the Niger Delta in the 1990s.

The US Supreme Court in 2013 dismissed the case, saying US courts did not have jurisdiction in the matter.

(AFP)

U.S. Navy looks to South Korea's free-diving women for hypothermia remedy


The haenyeo population has been in decline for years and now most are now in their 70s. Photo courtesy of Jeju Tourism Organization

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- As the once inaccessible Arctic grows as a region of military concern under the effects of global warming, the U.S. military is confronted with the problem of protecting its soldiers from the stresses of cold water and the threat of hypothermia. Researchers have turned to a peculiar place for potential answers: South Korean grandmothers who harvest seafood from the ocean floor.

Off the coast of South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju, about 280 miles south of the capital Seoul, these elderly women known as haenyeo dot the ocean as they dive year-round for abalone, turban shells, sea mustard and agar.

They've been free diving for generations, with the profession generally inherited from mother to daughter. It has also changed little over the years, with the main difference being the discarding of white cotton bathing suits in the early 1970s for the black rubber wetsuits they wear today.

Their numbers have been dropping for decades, with most now well into their 70s or older. But they live as icons of the island's culture and a symbol of the femininity and strength of its women who have been the breadwinners for their families upon a volcanic island where farming is limited and against a backdrop of political strife and oppression.

RELATED Jeju, South Korea's island paradise, also is a high-tech testbed

To Tae Seok Moon, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, these women were the inspiration behind a research project that aims to combat hypothermia.

"This is probably the most craziest idea I ever imagined," he told UPI in an interview over Zoom.

Moon has been awarded a three-year grant worth more than $500,000 from the Office of Naval Research, which conducts science and technology programs for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, to study how the human microbiota, which are microorganisms that live on our skin and in our guts, may contribute to heat generation in cold environments, such as underwater.

RELATED Exonerated Jeju Massacre prisoners fight to right Korean history

His so-called crazy idea is to eventually engineer these microorganisms that maintain a symbiotic relationship with their host humans to generate heat when the environmental temperature drops.

"Basically, what we want to develop is a genetic circuit -- we call it a genetic circuit -- that is basically in the bacteria that allow microbes to increase heat production in response to temperature downshift," he said.

The microbes, he said, would also be able to reduce heat generation if exposed to a warm environment to maintain homeostasis of the human body.

The human body consists of 10 times as many microbial cells as human cells, and Moon said that for a healthy 154-pound adult, these cells could increase one's body temperature by 1 degree Celsius per hour.

Arctic divers

Sandra Chapman, program officer at the ONR, told UPI its interest in Moon's project has to do with Navy divers.

"Expanding future Naval operation in Arctic regions will place a greater demand for better thermal protection for our warfighters," she said in an email. "Therefore, ONR seeks a smart-technology approach that can sense and respond to changes in temperature exposures, and the microbiome represent a promising solution to serve as our bodies' own thermostat."

Global warming is reshaping the world, and the Arctic has grown as a region of military concern with countries jockeying not only for influence over newly melted trade routes and access to vast untapped reservoirs of natural resources but to protect their northern borders and national interests from adversaries.

The United States has been ramping up its presence in the region, as have Russia and China, and the various branches of the U.S. military have been announcing their strategic blueprints for the region, which despite having the smallest of the five oceans could potentially connect 75% of the world's population.

According to the U.S. Navy, it is also home to an estimated 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas reserves, 13% of global conventional oil reserves and rare earth minerals valued at $1 trillion.

To optimize the capabilities of Navy divers in wartime demands a seamless transition between environments, Chapman said, a difficult task due to static technologies such as wetsuits, which cannot adapt to their environment and lose their thermal protection at depth and if ripped or torn.

"If we are able to use our resident microbiota to adapt to changing temperatures, we would be free from the current reliance on the different thermal protection needed for each different environment," she said.

Adapting to cold

Moon, an engineer of microbes, told UPI the haenyeo of his native South Korea were the inspiration behind the project because he wondered if their microbiota had adapted over generations to combat the cold water.

"Haenyeo is one strong example of who basically stand cold temperatures. So right now they have some nice wetsuits, and that kind of protects their body from the heat [loss], but think about 100 years ago and 200 years ago and then haenyeo is descended from those haenyeo," he said. "Normally, the kids become haenyeo and their kids become haenyeo, and that means genetically the haenyeo are strong people."

He mentioned the work of Melissa Ilardo, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Utah, who studied Indonesia's Bajau or Sea Nomads, finding that these divers have spleens 50% larger than their land-living counterparts. He wondered whether similar adaptations might be found in haenyeo.

Chapman said they have sponsored Ilardo through a grant to study the thermal resilience of haenyeo with two objectives: to investigate the genetics and physiology underlying previously identified adaptations; and to probe novel genetic and physiological adaptations.

"This is really just the start of many questions about this population, especially depending upon the results that we get" from these investigations, Ilardo told UPI in a video call from Salt Lake City. "No one has really looked at the genetics of the haenyeo before, so this is going to be a really unique look into their genetic history and from that, there will be many more questions that we can ask."

Illardo said the Navy is "very interested" in the island's indigenous divers due to their ability to work for up to eight hours a day in cold water -- water "much, much colder" than other indigenous divers are generally exposed to.

According to seatemperature.info, Jeju's water temperature can drop to below 53 degrees F during the winter months.

"I don't personally know of any other population diving in waters as cold as the haenyeo," she said.

Navy divers have told her their greatest challenge is the cold.

"Given that that's kind of the number one obstacle to their ability to complete tasks underwater, more so than equipment, more so than gas mixes -- a lot of those things are really well dialed at this point -- but once they get cold to a certain point, they say they can't use their hands, they can't stay underwater any more, and so the haenyeo being able to stay in that cold water for so long was really exciting to everyone as a possibility to pursue," she said.

Genetic factors

Ilardo was in Jeju the Thanksgiving before the pandemic hit to conduct measurements and experiments with the haenyeo with plans to publish her findings by the year's end.

Without getting into specifics, she said at times the phenotypes of haenyeo, or their observable physical properties, appear similar to non-divers in Jeju, but then there's other instances where they look completely different.

This could be the result of a mixture of environmental and genetic factors that she said she will now "tease apart" to see which might be genetic and which might be the result of their environment.

Studies have shown that the haenyeo's ability to withstand cold water has diminished somewhat following the switch from cotton to rubber diving suits in the 1970s, with a study published in 2017 asserting that "their overall cold-adaptive traits have disappeared."

Ilardo said the decrease in their thermal tolerance makes sense but that produced by their genetic adaptation, if one exists, would still persist. That is a question that current data cannot answer.

"I think they've been doing it for so long and hypothermia is so dangerous and particularly if you were carrying a child -- I can't imagine the strain that would put on a fetus -- I would lean toward genetics," she said, "but I'll have an answer soon."

One reason why she is optimistic that a genetic signal within the haenyeo will be discovered is that they dive while pregnant.

"If you have some kind of adaptation that kind of buffers that strain then your child is more likely to survive to birth," she said.

The Haenyeo Museum, located near Jeju City, confirmed that haenyeo did dive while pregnant but the number who did may not be as many as the widely reported claim suggests.

In an email to UPI, the museum said only "a small percentage and not all haenyeo" dived while pregnant and the fact they did "is proof that Jeju women had a strong sense of responsibility" to take care of their family.

Disappearing profession

The issue the haenyeo seemingly present to researchers is that the profession's future is uncertain.

Once a prominent and financially important profession for the island, haenyeo have been decreasing for decades.

The museum said the government began collecting data on the haenyeo in 1965, with the 24,268 counted in 1966 being the highest on record, though prior to the 1960s, the number of divers would have been much higher.

At that time, more than 9,000 were between the ages of 15 and 20 while another 7,200 were 21 to 30 years old, it said.

Last year, there were 3,613 haenyeo remaining, 97.8% of whom were over age 50, according to the museum. Only four, it said, were younger than 30.

Illardo explained that the death of the profession does not mean that the future descendants of haenyeo will lose the ability to withstand cold water if that ability is derived from a genetic mutation.

"Like the Bajau who have this large spleen, if they're farming, it's not going to make it harder for them to survive," she said. "It adapted to diving but it's not harmful so they're going to have just as many children and they're going to survive just as long as anyone else or maybe even longer if it's advantageous in some other way. That won't decrease its frequency, but mixing with other cultures will."

What the military and researchers can learn from this population who test the limits of human physiology is what the limits of the human physiology really are.

"It's really through how it can be stretched and how it can be exceeded that we understand how it's working in the first place," she said.

Moon said his project right now is "completely fundamental" but that once the three-year investigation into the heat-generation mechanism has been completed, the Department of Defense may want to expand it further.

"Once this is successfully done, my future project will be visiting haenyeo and collecting some samples from skin," he said.

The end goal, he said, is to create something akin to a sunblock one smears on their skin or a pill one swallows containing the engineered microbiota that will generate heat when the user is exposed to a cold environment to prevent their body's temperature from dropping too low and ward off deadly hypothermia.

He said he may infuse it with the smell of Jeju's famed tangerines of green tea as a reminder from where his crazy idea first came from.

Asked if there was interest in studying the specific microbiome of the haenyeo, Chapman said no such project was currently supported by the Office of Naval Research but that it "may form an objective for future studies." 

MORE PICTURES U.S. Navy looks to South Korea's free-diving women for hypothermia remedy - UPI.com

Participatory science: a meteorite over Brittany, and hundreds of testimonies

September 6, 2021 

 

Maria Gill

The general public describes them as “meteors”. As long as they have not touched the mainland, scientists prefer the term “meteorites” or “meteorites” over them. To the naked eye and to the noise it’s a big pebble that crossed the sky over Brittany Point just before 10 p.m., on Sunday, September 5. The star followed a course from south to north, from Dornese, past the highest peak of Morlix, then over Pyrrhus-Guerik, before disappearing over the Channel not far from the British coast: the Channel Islands air rescue body also indicated its presence. Notice the meteor in the Jersey sky, exactly at 9:47 p.m. “Because of its extreme luminosity, the weight of the polyide should be on the order of one kilogram and we estimate its velocity at about 70 kilometers per second, identifies François Colas, of the Observatory from Paris (OBSPM). It followed an almost linear trajectory and went so fast that it ended up disintegrating about 40 kilometers above sea level. From the channel.” By finishing off the dust scattered in the sea, this rocky body cannot therefore be classified as… a meteorite. Therefore it is ranked among the 95% of the luminous events that occur every year in our sky that give no terrestrial impact.

popular madness

However, this rather rare phenomenon by its brilliance is confirmed by hundreds of testimonies multiplied on social networks. “ Our FRIPON / Vigie-Ciel Site More than 250 declarations have been registered, which means that our network is gradually establishing itself as a benchmark,” enthuses Brigitte Zanda of the National Museum of Natural History (MNHM) who works with Sylvain Bouly of the GéoSciences Laboratory at the University of Paris-Sud and François Colas created this monitoring system in 2015. The researcher continues: “For us, this dimension of participatory science is central to research development, and as we see, people want to help us in our process.”

It’s hard to find meteors when they hit Earth

For this “pebble” that flew over northwest France and was seen as far as Normandy, the descriptions are always the same: a luminous flicker at a very high speed is visible for a few seconds, and after a few more minutes, a thud corresponding to the shock wave. A “thumping” sound would, in Brest, make the windows of houses vibrate. Some even believed in an earthquake. “The disintegration was inevitable due to the speed of the body, continues François Colas. It was about ten times faster than the Crew Dragon capsule that would bring Thomas Bisquet back to Earth.” It happens that meteorites develop more slowly. It all depends on their orbital speed and Earth’s speed. “The two forces can conflict with each other, which is very rare, but it is estimated that a vehicle would have to evolve at less than 20 kilometers per second to get through the atmosphere and end up in one piece. And again, like a large part of the Earth’s surface is made up of oceans. , which reduces the probability of these small celestial bodies landing on land .5 to 25 times in meteorites annually.

In addition to its participatory dimension, the Fripon Network (Fireball Recovery InterPlanetary and Observation Network, Editor’s Note.) now has a good hundred wide-field (360°) cameras whose installation has been state funded via the National Research Agency (ANR).” ), explains Brigitte Zanda. Most of them are separated by about 70 to 100 kilometers.” A sufficient network to observe the various natural celestial events over France. This was the case last night in Brittany even if one of the cameras (in Brest) was disturbed by a thick layer of clouds. “I am currently working on refining the track by doing the calculations manually. We will achieve greater accuracy thanks to the testimonies collected, welcomes François Colas. Here again, citizen participation will be essential. The Paris Observatory is also preparing to help them track the meteorites from next weekend. “We are organizing a fishing expedition near the Maisontiers in Deux-Sèvres to try and find one that fell on July 13.” Dozens of enthusiasts are expected on the site. Amazing than in Brittany, the harvest may be much more expensive for scientists.

Massive NASA Deep Space Antenna Just Caught Its 1,000th Near-Earth Asteroid

As part of its Planetary Defense Program, NASA’s Deep Space Network has spotted its thousandth Near-Earth Asteroid after opening the account in 1968

BY NADEEM SARWAR

PUBLISHED 9 HOURS AGO



NASA’s Deep Space Network has achieved a historic milestone by spotting its 1,000th Near-Earth Object (NEO) in the form of an asteroid that recently passed Earth at a distance of about one million miles. The DSN is a network of on-ground spacecraft communication facilities located across three continents to support NASA’s interplanetary missions and is also involved in radio and radar-based observations for exploring the solar system. What is now the DSN was first established back in 1968 alongside NASA, and today it is thought to be at the vanguard of developing deep space communications and navigation tech

Even though the DSN’s primary roles are telemetry, serving as a space command site, and managing radio contact between spacecraft and Earth, it is also home to advanced radio astronomy and mapping tech to study passing asteroids. The latter is accomplished using planetary radar that made its first discovery — an asteroid named 1556 Icarus — all the way back in 1968. These radar examinations are done as part of NASA’s NEO Observations Program, which itself is a part of the Planetary Defense Program. And if that name sounds important, that’s because it is responsible for studying and warning about potentially hazardous bodies like the Bennu asteroid.

Now, the latest discovery by the massive 70-meter deep space antenna is not as exciting or frightening, but it is a great achievement for another reason. The Deep Space Station 14 antenna at the California-based Goldstone Deep Space Complex spotted the project’s 1,000th Near-Earth object in just over fifty years since its establishment. The object in question is a small asteroid with a width of between 65 and 100 feet, passing Earth at a distance of about a million miles. However, more details regarding a possible infernal state or ice-cold nature are yet to be discovered.

A Milestone Discovery For A Critical Planetary Defense System

As for the discovery process, the DSS-14 antenna was used to send radio waves to the asteroid, whose echoes (or radar reflections) were then recorded to study it. On the basis of an asteroid’s size and distance, these radio techniques can be used to create an image of the celestial body’s surface with great detail, calculate its spin rate, determine its shape, and check whether it has any natural moon. The end goal of the Planetary Defense Program is to perform such analyses in order to detect potentially hazardous objects such as NEOs by studying their size and orbit, and assessing if they pose a threat to Earth.

Once an object is classified as a threat, it is continuously tracked, and if its chances of colliding with the Earth exceed the 1 percent mark in the next 50 years, mitigation strategies are set into motion. The space agency is already developing multiple defense methods if an asteroid is set on a collision course with the Earth. NASA notes that its huge radar system is fundamental to planetary defense efforts as it monitors potentially hazardous bodies and performs in-depth studies to make sure that the Earth is prepared if there are any chances of impact in the near future.

The ISS could be gone by 2024 — what does it mean the future of space travel?

The future of space stations is uncertain once the International Space Station ends its mission — China and private industry could fill the void.




STORY BY
The Cosmic Companion

Retiring the International Space Station in the coming years presents a big void “ what will be the future of space stations once the International Space Station meets its fiery death in the coming years? And SHOULD the ISS be decommissioned, or might the mission lifetime be extended?

Construction of the International Space Station (ISS), started in 1998, was completed in 2011. Since that time, the ISS has housed travelers in space from 19 countries. Possessing the only laboratory for long-duration microgravity research, discoveries aboard the orbiting outpost have led to a bevy of new discoveries.

Now, its mission could be over as early as 2024, as that is the time agreements between NASA and international partners comes to an end. However, on the 25 August, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated his support for extending the mission of the space station until the year 2030.

“We expect to expand the space station as a government project all the way to 2030. And we hope it will be followed by commercial stations,” Nelson stated.

Although Nelson has long supported extending the lifetime of the ISS to 2030, the U.S. Congress has, so far, failed to continue funding past 2024. Such an agreement would need the approval of Canada, Russia, Europe, and Japan.

Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, strongly supports an extension, as does Walther Pelzer, head of the German space agency DLR.
The Yangs and Kohms

The future of space stations could be private, as the ability to reach space becomes more common among non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

One company developing private space stations, Axiom Space, seeks to begin with expanding out the ISS while constructing their own orbiting outpost. Their egg-shaped modules are designed to provide a 360-degree view of space, and the Earth turning far below.

“Once fully assembled, Axiom Station will nearly double the useable volume of the International Space Station,” the team reports.

Credit: Axiom Station

An artist concept of the Axiom station deployed on the International Space Station.

An artist concept of the Axiom station deployed on the International Space Station. Image credit: Axiom Space
Sierra Space also has its own design for long-term habitation in low-Earth orbit.

“Sierra Space’s space station leverages its transportation and destination technologies including the Dream Chaser space-plane and LIFE Habitat. The station is a configuration of multiple expandable LIFE habitats that can be serviced by both cargo- and crew-carrying Dream Chaser spaceplanes,” the company describes.

Nations including China are now investing in space exploration in an effort to further science, encourage minds, and discover technologies needed to face global climate change in a post-oil world.

On 16 June, China successfully launched the first module in its own space station, Tiangong, into orbit around Earth.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) also plans to launch aHubble-class space telescope to accompany their spaceborne laboratory.

During his talk, Nelson called out for cooperation with China building the future of space stations. However, he also stated the he believed the United States is now in a space race with The Middle Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Russia and China have agreed to work together building a base on the Moon, and they have extended an offer to Europe to join their project. In the United States, NASA continues with their goal of returning to the Moon (hopefully in 2024) with the Artemis program.

Home… home in orbit… where the rocks and the space debris play…

Credit: NASA The ISS photographed from a Soyuz spacecraft

Over time, the space station is slowly losing its orbit, and must be continually adjusted. Much of the fuel needed to carry out this task comes from leftover resupply ships launched from Earth.

The space station is also under constant threat from micrometeorites and space debris. Eventually, the laws of probability state the ISS will “ one day “ suffer catastrophic damage from such an impact.

Letting this massive craft enter the Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled re-entry could prove hazardous to those on the ground. The safest option is a planned re-entry over the sparsely-populated South Pacific.

One challenge facing those planning to eventually de-orbit the ISS is that it is big “ really big. Nearly 100 meters long, the facility offers living space as large as a six-story house. Were it on our home world, the ISS would weigh 420,000 kilograms (900,000 pounds) “ more than the weight of four average blue whales “ the largest animals ever to live on Earth.

When the time comes to end the mission of the ISS, thrusters (likely provided by Russian Progress spacecraft) will direct the orbiting outpost to an incendiary re-entry over the southern Pacific Ocean.

Before that time comes, try to see the ISS flying overhead (several apps are available telling you when to look) “ it’s quite a remarkable sight.


This article was originally published on The Cosmic Companion by James Maynard, the founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion. He is a New England native turned desert rat in Tucson, where he lives with his lovely wife, Nicole, and Max the Cat. You can read the original article here.

Justin Trudeau hit by stones on campaign trail

Justin Trudeau has been campaigning ahead of the 20 September vote

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been hit by gravel thrown by protesters during a campaign stop.

He was returning to his bus after visiting a brewery when he was pelted by gravel. He was not injured.

Mr Trudeau called a snap election in mid-August, in the hope of gaining a majority government for his left-of-centre Liberal party.

But his campaign has been disrupted by demonstrations against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions.

Just over a week ago, the prime minister was forced to cancel an election rally after a crowd of angry protesters ambushed the event.

Speaking to journalists on his campaign plane after the incident in London, Ontario, Mr Trudeau said he may have been hit on the shoulder.

According to a reporter with Canada's CTV National News, two people travelling on a media bus were also hit by the gravel, although they were not injured.

Erin O'Toole, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, described the incident as "disgusting".

"Political violence is never justified and our media must be free from intimidation, harassment, and violence," he tweeted.

Mr Trudeau's plans for vaccine mandates have become a a key issue ahead of the 20 September election.

Last month, the government announced that all civil servants - including workers in federally regulated sectors, like rail - must be vaccinated by the end of October or risk losing their jobs.

Commercial air, cruise and interprovincial train passengers must also be vaccinated to travel.

Canada has one of the highest Covid vaccination rates in the world.

Protests dogging Canadian prime ministers is not a new phenomenon - and many prime ministers, including Mr Trudeau, have faced security threats.

Still, journalists covering the Liberal campaign say the anti-vaccine protest mobs following Mr Trudeau are more chaotic and sustained than they've seen in the past.

For his part, the Liberal leader says he won't back down against what he calls a "small fringe element" of Canadian society.

He also brushed off the latest altercation, comparing it to an incident a few years ago where a woman hurled pumpkin seeds his way.

Other politicians on the campaign trail have condemned the protesters' behaviour and, in some cases, have spoken out about the vitriol they have personally experienced both online and in-person.

Anti-vaccination protestors aren't only targeting politicians.

Sometimes raucous protests have been taking place outside Canadian hospitals as provinces including Quebec and Ontario move to implement vaccine passports which limit access to places like restaurants, sports venues, and gyms to those who have been vaccinated.

Seal population a barometer of River Thames's health

The River Thames is healthier than people might think as shown by seal numbers, conservationists have said.

Marine biologists use the seal population as a barometer of river health and say despite a dip in numbers the river is thriving.

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) found the river was home to 2,866 grey seals and 797 harbour seals after pupping season.

The seals have been counted every year since 2013, apart from 2020.

The river's seals have been counted every year since 2013, apart from 2020

In 2019, 932 harbour seals and 3,243 grey seals - identifiable by their longer snouts - were counted.

Marine biologists say the relatively stable numbers of seals indicate good water quality and reliable stocks of fish.

Conservation biologist Thea Cox said: "As top predators, (seals) are a great indicator of ecological health, so they tell us how the Thames is doing."

During the 1950s the river was declared "biologically dead" and researchers say the wildlife shows how far its recovery has come.

Despite a dip in numbers the seal population in the Thames is healthy, researchers say

"People think the Thames is dead because it is brown, but the Thames is full of life - the water quality has improved so much," Ms Cox said.

Although they are a protected species, seals face a number of threats, including disease, marine litter, becoming entangled in "ghost nets" - abandoned fishing gear - and being hit by ship traffic.

The seals are also vulnerable to disturbance when they are having their pups, particularly from curious members of the public, loose dogs and other water users like canoeists and kayakers.

To monitor the population, researchers compare the seals from photographs taken from a light aircraft of different haul-out spots in the Thames Estuary over a period of three days.

The numbers are totted up and the final figure adjusted to account for the fact that a number of seals will always be out at sea.

Despite the fall in numbers, the research team said it was not definitive proof that the two populations of seals were facing difficulties.

University of Glasgow robots may be used in construction

SEP 06, 2021

Worm-like robots developed by engineers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland may be used in hard-to-reach places on construction sites


Engineers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed “worm-like” robots which could potentially be used on construction sites. The team believes that the idea may spawn more robots with the capability to work in hard-to-reach places.
Roboworms

Nicknamed “Roboworms”, the robots are able to extend up to nine times their own body length and are able proprioception, a method that allows greater spatial awareness in organisms such as worms. Professor Ravinder Dahiya, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering and leader of the BEST group, said, “Proprioception is a vital characteristic of many forms of biological life, and scientists have long been inspired to try and develop engineered systems which mimic this ability.

“Our bioinspired robots are a step towards creating soft, flexible robot systems capable of the infinite directions of movement that nature has created in inchworms and earthworms. The ability of soft robots like these to adapt to their surroundings through seamlessly embedded stretchable sensors could help autonomous robots more effectively navigate through even the most challenging environments,” he said.

The breakthrough is based on previous research conducted by the learning institution’s institution’s Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) group, which has found novel ways to embed flexible electronics into deformable surfaces. The robotic technology has also allowed for the construction of intrinsic strain sensors into the worm-like robots. Each roboworm measures around 4.5cm in length.

A Roboworm. Image: University of Glasgow


\
They also have a layer of ‘skin’ made from Ecoflex, a type of stretchable plastic, and a graphite paste. To help them manoeuvre, Roboworms have small, permanent magnets attached at either end of their tubular bodies, whilst sensors in their skin allow them to ‘sense’ their in relation to their bodies.

The University of Glasgow published a paper on their breakthrough with the title: ‘Bioinspired Inchworm and Earthworm like Soft Robots with Intrinsic Strain Sensing’. The paper appeared in Advanced Intelligent Systems and the research was backed by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the European Commission.

Other uses for Roboworms

In addition to their potential usage on a construction site, the University of Glasgow said the robots could also be applied to the mining industry as well as situations including disaster relief in which they could help look for victims trapped under rubble.