Physicists Discover a Strange New Form of Magnetism Within 'Magnetic Graphene'


From childhood, we are taught that the world exists in three physical dimensions. That's true, for the most part, but it skips over something quite fascinating: the strange two-dimensional world of nanoscale materials, like the 'wonder material' graphene.

© LAGUNA DESIGN/Getty Images

Graphene and its engineered, single-layer counterparts do in fact exist in three dimensions, albeit just barely – sitting right on the fringe, atomically speaking. That's because these so-called 2D materials are only one atom thick, embodying an incredible structural thinness that lends them all sorts of weird powers.

We see this in graphene's formidable strength, and in the way it approaches superconductivity.

Things get even stranger when graphene makes friends: stack sheets of this two-dimensional material into a three-layer, three-atom-high sandwich, and a rare form of magnetism stands revealed.

Now, in a new study led by physicists from the University of Cambridge, scientists have pulled off the same kind of magnetic feat with a different two-dimensional material called iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3).




010 magnetic graphene 1
(University of Cambridge)

Above: Illustration of the magnetic structure of iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3), a two-dimensional material which undergoes a transition from an insulator to a metal when compressed.

FePS3 isn't the same thing as graphene – which is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms – but it's often dubbed 'magnetic graphene', due to its mysterious capabilities at ultra-thin, layered dimensions.

In a previous study by some of the same researchers, the team found that when squashed layers of FePS3 were subjected to high levels of pressure, the material transitioned from being an insulator, impeding the flow of electrons, to a metallic state where it became a conductor.

But researchers still didn't fully understand what underlies the magnetic behavior of this 'magnetic graphene' under pressure, as it was expected that FePS3 would cease to be magnetic when it enters the metallic state.

"The missing piece has remained however, the magnetism," says quantum physicist Matthew Coak.

"With no experimental techniques able to probe the signatures of magnetism in this material at pressures this high, our international team had to develop and test our own new techniques to make it possible."

According to the new research, FePS3 retains its magnetism under extremely high pressure due to a newly discovered kind of magnetism that still exists during the metallic phase.

"To our surprise, we found that the magnetism survives and is in some ways strengthened," explains senior researcher and physicist Siddharth Saxena, group leader at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory.

"This is unexpected, as the newly-freely-roaming electrons in a newly conducting material can no longer be locked to their parent iron atoms, generating magnetic moments there - unless the conduction is coming from an unexpected source."

While we don't yet have all the answers as to what's happening here, during compression the 'spin' of the electrons in the material seems to be a source of magnetism – and the phenomenon can be tuned depending on how much pressure FePS3 is subjected to.

While the results contradict previous observations of how this material should behave, the surprises found here suggest we might be able to tweak magnetic graphene and its ilk even further – potentially finding materials that support superconductivity due to these exotic forms of magnetism we don't yet fully comprehend.

"We don't know exactly what's happening at the quantum level, but at the same time, we can manipulate it," Saxena says.

"It's like those famous 'unknown unknowns': we've opened up a new door to properties of quantum information, but we don't yet know what those properties might be."

The findings are reported in Physical Review X.

Maradona's psychologist and two nurses under investigation over death

A psychologist and two nurses have been added to the investigation to determine if there was any malpractice in the death of soccer star Diego Maradona, a source with direct access to the legal file told CNN

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© Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images 

Maradona died in November after suffering heart failure.

There have been no charges filed in the wrongful death investigation of the legendary Argentinian forward, who died in November after suffering heart failure.

The psychologist named in the file, Carlos Díaz, told CNN, "My job was for Diego to quit addictions and in the middle he died. I would have loved to continue working with him. I don't blame myself for anything."

Gisela Madrid, one of the nurses being investigated for potential malpractice by the Prosecutor's Office, also denied wrongdoing. Her lawyer Rodolfo Baqué maintained that his defendant "has no responsibility."

The other nurse under investigation was named as Ricardo Almirón, who did not respond to CNN en Español's requests for comment.

The three join neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who were already under investigation into the cause of Maradona's death. The investigation is being undertaken by the Attorney General's Office of San Isidro, the Buenos Aires suburb where Maradona lived.

Luque told the investigation that he does not believe "to have acted in a negligent or reckless manner, neither with lack of expertise nor with lack of observation" of his duties as a doctor.

Luque's lawyer, Julio Rivas, admitted the neurosurgeon had in his possession documents with forged Maradona signatures, although he did not explain why. The documents with the forged signatures allowed Luque to withdraw Maradona's medical records from the hospital where he underwent head surgery before he died, the same source with direct access to the file confirmed to CNN.

Cosachov also rejected the allegations of wrongful death. Her attorney Vadim Mischanchuk told CNN that "from a medical point of view she acted with her best judgment."

Cosachov was also notified that she is being investigated for possibly committing another crime, ideological falsehood. As a source who knows the case explained to CNN, Cosachov would have signed a document that assured that Maradona was in good health on October 20, a month before his death. The source said the psychiatrist did not show up to Maradona's home that day. The doctor's lawyer said that she "did not issue any false documents."

The prosecutor's office plans to order the holding of an interdisciplinary medical meeting in the next 15 days for experts to evaluate whether the death of the soccer star was the result of malpractice.

Maradona, who died at age 60, was regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He became a household name after inspiring his country to World Cup glory in 1986.

After his death, Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez announced three days of national mourning, and his body lay in honor for public viewing at Argentina's presidential palace, Casa Rosada.

'Rude and insolent': fraught talks preceded Myanmar's army seizing power

By Poppy McPherson  

© Reuters/STRINGER FILE PHOTO: Rally against military coup in Yangon

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Late on Jan. 28, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi destroyed her phone to prevent it falling into the hands of the military, according to two people close to her. Some of her friends and colleagues started to pack their bags, either preparing to flee or in expectation of being arrested.

© Reuters/SOE ZEYA TUN FILE PHOTO: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's commander-in-chief, shakes hands with National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi before their meeting in Hlaing's office at Naypyitaw

Talks had been held that day in the capital Naypyitaw between representatives of Suu Kyi and army leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing over the legitimacy of Suu Kyi’s party’s sweeping victory in November’s general election. The meeting had ended badly, with no agreement.

Reuters spoke to nine people, including government advisers and others who worked closely with Suu Kyi, to reconstruct the events that led to her arrest and the toppling of her civilian government by the military on Feb. 1. The people spoke on condition of anonymity; the army has been jailing opponents of the coup. Most of the details have not previously been reported.

The coup ended a brief, decade-long experiment in democracy in the Southeast Asian nation of 53 million, shattering hopes that it would emerge from more than half a century of military rule that kept the country isolated and impoverished. It is the latest example of democracy in retreat in Asia, as Thailand’s military-backed monarchy resists calls for change and China is stamping out dissent in Hong Kong.

 

© Reuters/SOE ZEYA TUN FILE PHOTO: Myanmar Commander in Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing salutes as he attends an event marking the anniversary of Martyrs' Day at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon

Jan. 28 was the low point of several days of fraught discussions between the two sides, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The army’s two representatives twice demanded a response from Suu Kyi’s representatives to the army’s request to examine the results of the election, according to the people familiar with the talks.

 

Reuters/STRINGER FILE PHOTO: Protest against the military coup in Myanmar

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, whose five years in power ended half a century of rule directly by the military or by governments backed by it, stood firm against the army’s demand, the people said.

During the talks, Min Aung Hlaing’s representatives rebuked the civilian government side, saying “you people are going too far, rude and insolent,” according to a person briefed on the matter. From the head of the army, it was a jarring admonishment in a formal setting.

Another two people briefed on the talks told Reuters that the army's representatives said the military was insulted.

After the meeting Kyaw Tint Swe, Suu Kyi’s right-hand man and one of her representatives in the talks, appeared shaken, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Kyaw Tint Swe could not be contacted for comment by Reuters.

“The civilian government couldn’t do anything,” said one of the people with knowledge of the failed talks. “They have no armed forces, they have no power.”

Neither Suu Kyi nor the army could be reached for comment. Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, now Myanmar’s de facto leader, could not be reached for comment.

As talks were breaking down, armoured vehicles were already moving around Yangon, the commercial capital, and other cities across Myanmar. Hundreds of army supporters rallied outside the country’s holiest Buddhist site, Shwedagon Pagoda in downtown Yangon, threatening reporters who tried to interview them.

In Naypyitaw, the grandiose and sparsely populated capital built by army generals, trucks filled with raucous pro-army demonstrators drove through empty city streets.

On Jan. 30, the army quieted concerns it was on the verge of carrying out a coup by saying it would protect the constitution and act according to the law. The 2008 constitution, drafted by the military, enshrines democratic elections but allows the army to take power in a state of emergency.

It was a hollow promise. At 3 a.m. the following Monday, Feb. 1, the army began sweeping up government ministers, lawmakers, writers, filmmakers, and activists. Later that morning, it announced a return to military rule.

Suu Kyi, one of the world’s most famous political prisoners during more than 15 years of house arrest, was once again imprisoned in her home. She was later charged with the obscure crime of illegally importing walkie-talkies.

Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has said the charges the army pressed against her are politically motivated and has called for her release. On Feb. 1, the NLD issued a statement on behalf of Suu Kyi, protesting against the coup.

“The actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship,” said the statement, which carried Suu Kyi’s name but not her signature.

The following day, state media said Min Aung Hlaing told the first meeting of his new government that the army had to take power after its protests over alleged election fraud were ignored. Independent international poll watchers have said there were no major irregularities in the election.

FRAUGHT TALKS

A succession of military and military-backed governments ruled Myanmar from 1962 to 2015, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won the first free and fair elections. Nevertheless, the army-drafted constitution assigns significant powers to the military, including control over the security forces and key ministries.

The build-up to this month’s military coup started on Nov. 8, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won more than 80% of contested seats in the general election, trouncing the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Before, during and after the election, the military cast doubts over the vote and made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. In mid-January, Min Aung Hlaing called on the election commission to consider its complaint that as many as a third of the 30 million or so votes cast were potentially fraudulent.

The election commission said it is investigating some errors in voter lists but the outcome would not be enough to change the result of the election. It has not publicly released the final list of eligible voters as the military has demanded. The military has said it wants to check the list to verify voters’ eligibility. Representatives of the election commission could not be reached for comment.

Fears of a possible coup spiked on Jan. 26, when military spokesman Zaw Min Tun refused to rule it out. The following day, army chief Min Aung Hlaing said the constitution should be revoked if it was not observed.

Suu Kyi, 75, and Min Aung Hlaing, a 64-year-old career army officer who was set to take compulsory retirement in July, had a testy relationship and had not spoken directly for months, according to one person close to Suu Kyi.

Instead, representatives of each sat down in Naypyitaw for hurriedly arranged talks, six people said. There were also talks in Yangon, the former capital and Myanmar’s largest city, one of those people said.

In Naypyitaw, Suu Kyi was represented by Kyaw Tint Swe, her right-hand man and formerly a stout defender of the military, according to six people with knowledge of the talks. In Yangon, Suu Kyi’s representative was her long-time friend and personal doctor Tin Myo Win, according to one of the people. Tin Myo Win could not be reached for comment.

Senior army negotiator Lieutenant General Yar Pyae was one of the two military representatives in the Naypyitaw talks, two of the people said. Reuters could not determine the other. Yar Pyae could not be reached for comment.

The talks, and other exchanges between the two sides, extended over at least four days, to Jan. 31, the people familiar with the talks said.

The army representatives made at least three demands, according to three of the six people familiar with the talks: reschedule the Feb. 1 opening of parliament, disband the election commission, and re-examine the vote under military supervision. The army set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Jan. 29.

Reuters was not able to establish what, if any, terms were offered by Suu Kyi’s representatives to the military. An announcement in state media later on Jan. 29 said the opening of one of the two houses of parliament - scheduled for Feb. 1 - would be delayed by one day.

But even before the Jan. 29 afternoon deadline, it became clear that the talks were effectively over. The two sides’ representatives “could not establish good personal rapport,” said one of the people familiar with the talks. “We had a long period of misperception, mistrust, before everything started,” the person said, referring to the dispute over the election. The military and the NLD have been at loggerheads since the party was founded in the late 1980s.

Suu Kyi “seemed resolute” not to bend to the military, one person close to her told Reuters.

Another person close to Suu Kyi said the military was trying to create a narrative that there was civil unrest and popular support for the military, “hence justify a takeover, in some twisted logic.”

Win Htein, one of Suu Kyi’s close aides and a senior member of the NLD, told Reuters by phone on Jan. 29 that his bags were packed and he was waiting to be arrested because he feared a coup was imminent.

NO COMPROMISE

By Jan. 30, some of the tension eased after the army released its conciliatory statement vowing to protect the 2008 constitution. It accused the media of misinterpreting the comments made earlier in the week by Min Aung Hlaing.

Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a clause the army put in the constitution stipulating that people with foreign relatives cannot serve. She has two British sons with her late British husband. As a result, she governed as state counselor, a position crafted for her that was equivalent to head of state. After her party won the election, she was due to appoint a president, as she did when her party won the last election in 2015.

Some people close to the government expected Suu Kyi to appoint Min Aung Hlaing or one of his allies as president, as a compromise to keep the army onside.

“I think people were, myself included, expecting to see a slightly depressing line-up of presidential candidates, thinking that might be the place that both sides could find some common ground,” another adviser to the civilian government said.

The Jan. 29 deadline set by the military came and went without any agreement. On Jan. 30, the military said it would honor the constitution, but the next day, fears of a military takeover were rising again.

Early on Jan. 31 there were sightings of troops moving through Naypyitaw. One of the people familiar with the talks told Reuters that on that day one of the government’s representatives in the talks told them negotiations had collapsed and warned of a coup.

The warning was accurate. Starting about 3 a.m., while most of Myanmar’s 53 million inhabitants slept, soldiers fanned out across the country to the homes of ministers, lawmakers, prominent activists and even Buddhist monks known for their opposition to the army. The targets were either arrested or forced to stay in their homes.

According to one person who worked with the former civilian government, soldiers turned up at telecommunications companies’ facilities to cut off access to the internet. By 3 a.m., the companies had lost about half of their connectivity to the internet, according to independent cybersecurity monitoring group NetBlocks. None of Myanmar’s four telecoms companies responded to requests for comment.

The military could not be reached for comment on the internet outage.

The time and date of the move, that person and two others suggested, may have been chosen on purpose by Myanmar’s numerology-obsessed generals. The digits of 3 a.m. on Feb. 1 – or 0300 on 2/1/21 – add up to nine. The number is traditionally considered auspicious in Myanmar.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Bill Rigby)

#ABOLISHTHEMONARCHY

The Queen, Prince Charles vetted 1,062 laws before passage in parliament: The Guardian

More than 1,000 U.K. laws were secretly vetted by the Queen or Prince Charles before they were approved by the U.K. members of the parliament, The Guardian reports.

© Provided by National Post Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) sits with Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (R) on the Sovereign's throne ahead of delivering the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in the Houses of Parliament in London on October 14, 2019.In some cases, the Queen used her powers to lobby for changes to draft laws affecting her own personal interests, the report added, such as persuading government ministers to change a 1970s transparency law in order to hide her private wealth from the public.

The Guardian found that 1,062 laws ranging from matters of justice, food policy and social security to smaller rules on road safety and hovercraft, as part of an investigation into the powers of the Queen’s consent — an old parliamentary formality whereby the Queen is privately told of draft parliamentary bills affecting the Crown’s interests and asked for consent to debate them.

Her refusal to give consent can deny the parliament the ability to debate the law in question.

The procedure had been based on a long-standing assumption that the Queen does not interfere with parliament proceedings. However documents from the U.K. National Archives revealed the the Queen has, in several instances, exercised her powers within the procedure to a larger extent than publicly known.

The Queen’s representatives would not tell The Guardian how often she exercised her right to consent to ask for alterations to legislation since ascending the throne in 1952. Multiple statements from Buckingham Palace to the Guardian have emphasized that the role of sovereign in giving consent is a “longstanding convention and requirement of the parliamentary process.”

“Consent is routinely sought by the government and agreed by the monarch as a matter of course,” the statement reads.

“Queen’s consent is a parliamentary process, with the role of sovereign purely formal. Consent is always granted by the monarch where requested by government. Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect,” it adds.

In one instance, the Queen initially did not immediately give her consent to a formal request in 1982 to debate a parliamentary bill on the preservation of Britain’s national monuments. The bill included a proposal to create an organization to preserve England’s ancient monuments and historic buildings. The Queen’s private secretary objected to certain clauses of the bill, which would allow the organization to subsume an existing royal commission. Members of the parliament did not receive consent until six months later. The royal commission in turn, survived for another 17 years.



Video: Enforcement agencies responsible for carrying out public health orders, not government officials: Kenney (Global News)



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Another instance in 1986 saw the monarch object to an update in road safety legislation that would apply to all roads to which the public had access, including the crown estates. When the Queen gave her consent, it was on the condition that the clause did not include her estates and that “objections which … have been raised by the crown estate and the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are satisfactorily resolved.”

Some of the bills reviewed by the Queen also related to wealth or taxation. According to The Guardian, members of the Windsor family are allowed to keep their will sealed from the public, unlike anyone else in Britain. No one has publicly confirmed how rich the family is, although some estimates say they hold in excess of hundreds of millions of pounds.

The government, The Guardian reported, exempted the Queen from a 2006 act to prevent the mistreatment of animals, stopping inspectors from entering her private estates.

Certain bills vetted by the Queen such as a 1986 bill on salmon, and a 2019 parking (code of practice) bill did not have much relevance to the monarchy’s interests, which raised questions by experts on why the Royal members were asked to review them.
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“A lot of these bills are not distinctively about the crown, or mainly about the crown, or obviously about the crown in any way,” Dr. Adam Tucker, a U.K. constitutional law specialist told The Guardian. “And yet they obviously still have some content which drags them into the process,” he said.

“Seeing the sheer range, in this relentless list form, really drives home the sheer breadth of things that the procedure captures,” he added.

The Queen also reviewed and gave consent to the U.K. coronavirus act in March 2020.

A 2013 bill published in The Guardian’s database included a proposal to abolish “the mechanism of the Queen and prince’s consent.” The Queen and Prince Charles consented to the bill. However, Parliament did not ultimately pass the bill, for unclear reasons.

Robert Finch, a spokesperson for the Monarchist League of Canada, told The National Post that the investigation is “blowing things way out of proportion.”

He acknowledged that he has only read “snippets” of the investigation so far. “But from what I gather, the power of consent is always there. Any laws that have passed, she does have to consent to them, sometimes as a courtesy,” he said.

“The queen is not sitting in the palace going through the legislation and changing (them), that’s not happening,” he added. “Her position is to reign, not rule. Politicians make all the decisions, she simply gives the authority for the legislation.”

Who funded the Capitol riot? Why America's dark money crusade is so important

As former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial kicks off, Americans will likely learn plenty about the events leading up to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. We're likely to learn, for instance, more about communications between Trump's team and mob organizers. We may even learn more about Trump's actions during the assault itself.

© Provided by NBC News

However, we're unlikely to learn much more about one key element that fanned the flames of insurrection: who funded the rally.

Thanks in part to a raft of loopholes and legislation, we don't know exactly who bankrolled the rally that turned into the deadly attack. We do know that Trump's network worked closely behind the scenes to hype the rally, with plenty of Trump's current or former campaign staffers — such as Maggie Mulvaney, the campaign's director of finance operations, and Megan Powers, a campaign operations manager — directly involved.

And Anna Massoglia of OpenSecrets reports that the Trump campaign had previously directed nearly $3 million to people who helped organize the rally — though the money wasn't for the rally specifically. Beyond that, however, little is known about the financial links between Trump's network and those who descended on the Capitol. As Massoglia noted, "The full extent of the Trump campaign's ties to the protests may not be fully known due to its use of shell companies that hide details of its financial dealings and the central role 'dark money' played in the protests."

She's exactly right. Thanks to a lattice of financial secrecy vehicles — all of which are perfectly legal — we may never have a complete financial picture of those who provided the money to organize a rally that descended into chaos and that shook the underpinnings of American democracy.

This is just one example of a much bigger problem. The U.S. remains the biggest offshore and financial secrecy haven in the world. Thanks to a wide range of financial tools, from anonymous hedge funds to anonymous trusts to anonymous real estate purchases, there are few jurisdictions easier to hide money in than the U.S. Financial anonymity is as American as apple pie — and illicit finance has raced to the U.S. over the past few decades.

Much of that anonymous money has, unsurprisingly, found its way into the American political sector. As another estimate from OpenSecrets found, $750 million from untraceable "dark money" groups barreled into the 2020 election, adding to the staggering totals we've seen in just the past decade. These "dark money" conduits include organizations like the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose Rule of Law Defense Fund helped direct people to the Jan. 6 protest — all without having to disclose its donors. (The group later denied that it helped organize the protest, even though it made robocalls pointing audiences to the rally.)

Another nonprofit shielded from disclosing its donors, dubbed Women for America First, helped take the lead in organizing the rally-turned-insurrection — and often "feature[d] members of the president's campaign and family," ABC News reported.

Of course, it doesn't have to be that way. And there are signs that the days of financial opacity may be coming to an end.

First, there's the historic precedent. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, spurred a military debacle and years of civil liberties abuses, but they also led to long-overdue anti-money laundering reforms in the American banking sector. The USA Patriot Act is rightly disparaged for its surveillance overreach, but it also included the most progressive anti-money laundering reforms the U.S. — and potentially the world — had ever seen. It forced American banks to eliminate an entire range of tools used for money laundering and financial secrecy. Two decades later, the Patriot Act's financial transparency provisions still stand, and they are still some of the most sweeping anti-money laundering measures the country and the world have ever enacted.

But something more recent offers reason for optimism, as well. Completely buried by news of the insurrection, the U.S. finally moved this year to ban anonymous shell companies, a huge move toward financial transparency. For years, thanks to states like Delaware and Wyoming, the U.S. acted as the primary provider of these anonymous shells, open to any and all. Time and again, these shells provided the perfect tool to hide financial links, especially when it came to political financing.

The new legislation isn't a panacea, and information about shell company ownership remains private for the time being, accessible only to American authorities. But the fact that the legislation passed is a testament to the fact that the U.S. can still take significant steps to tackle this kind of financial anonymity — with bipartisan support.

While the new legislation will take some time to roll out, it is already having an impact. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., one of the key figures behind the passage of anti-shell company legislation, recently submitted the Insurrection Financing Transparency Act, which would give American authorities immediate access to the identities of those behind the Jan. 6 riot. The bill hasn't yet passed, but with nearly 30 co-sponsors, it demonstrates that there's clearly a wide appetite in Congress to determine who financed the assault.

Nor should legislators stop there. For instance, passing a bill like H.R. 1 would force nonprofits involved in political financing to reveal their funders. The Biden administration alone could (and should) take a range of steps, from forcing anonymous real estate and hedge fund investors to reveal their true identities to pushing greater requirements for publicly traded companies to reveal details of their political spending. With these new disclosures in place, potential funders would think twice before bankrolling any of those pushing insurrectionist rhetoric.

Likewise, such reforms might well prevent the rise of a future Trumpian figure. Trump, after all, rose to prominence saturated in dirty and dark money; as one estimate found, Trump's buildings made billions from sales to anonymous figures, all of whom matched money laundering profiles. Preventing the rise of another figure drenched in financial anonymity — and who incited an insurrection propelled in part by opaque funding — is a clear necessity, not only to make sure there is no reprise of the Jan. 6 assault, but also for the future of American democracy writ large.

Queer online series meets eager Russian LGBTQ audience

MOSCOW — Russian film director Andrei Fenochka says his online series about queer young people is important for LGBTQ people in a country that bans gay “propaganda” among minors

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Fenochka's “Here I Come” series that debuted last fall is marked as only available to people older than 18 in accordance with Russian law.

Fenochka said Tuesday that the Russian audience has welcomed the series, which he described as a romantic story that mixes “mystics, dreams and everyday life.”

“We have met with a very positive, supportive reaction from young viewers because they finally see the presentation of this part of society not only in English or in Korean, but also in Russian,” he said. “It is important for them to feel that they are not alone, they are not in isolation, they are not banned. Therefore, the interest is very large.”

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains widespread. In 2013, Russia adopted a federal law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.” The law has been widely criticized as effectively blocking any public discussions of homosexuality while authorities have argued it’s intended to protect the interests of children.

And in the predominantly Muslim Russian province of Chechnya, scores of men were arrested and tortured and some were killed on the mere suspicion of being gay in recent years, according to human rights groups. Chechnya's Kremlin-backed regional strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed there are no gays in Chechnya and a government probe found no proof of abuses.

Asked if he fears reprisals, Fenochka said that he and members of his crew were concerned about the safety of their actors while they were filming romantic scenes in open locations. He emphasized that all his actors were adults.

He noted that the sense of danger has given him a flow of adrenaline and argued that it's not a reason to be afraid.

“If you feel a free person and continue to live in Russia and you want to talk about any topics in your art, you need to be ready for any consequences,” he said.

The Associated Press

Fossil fuel air pollution causes almost 1 in 5 deaths globally each year

More than 8 million people around the world die each year as a result of breathing polluted air that contains particles from fossil fuels, a new study has found.

People walk along Rajpath near India Gate under heavy smog

 conditions in New Delhi on November 9, 2020.

(Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil produces greenhouse gases that trap solar radiation in the atmosphere and cause climate change. But it also releases tiny poisonous particles known as PM2.5. Small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, these particles can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma and can lead to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and early death.

Research has also found a link between higher levels of long-term pollution and more deaths from Covid-19.

In a study published in the journal Environmental Research on Tuesday, researchers from Harvard University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, found that exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18% of total global deaths -- almost one in five -- in 2018.

The figure is much higher than previously thought. As recently as in 2019, scientists were estimating that 4.2 million people die each year from outdoor airborne particulate matter pollution, a figure that included people who die because of pollution from dust and smoke from wildfires and agricultural fires.

The new study shows that in 2018, estimated 8.7 million deaths were linked to fossil fuel emissions alone.

Eloise Marais, an associate professor in physical geography at UCL and a co-author of the study, said the research adds to the "mounting evidence" that air pollution from fossil fuels is detrimental to global health.

"We can't in good conscience continue to rely on fossil fuels, when we know that there are such severe effects on health and viable, cleaner alternatives," she said in a statement.

The scientists used a global 3D model of atmospheric chemistry developed at Harvard to get a better picture of pollution at a more local level.

Traditionally, satellite and surface observations were used to estimate the average global annual concentrations of PM2.5 particles in the air. By using the 3D model, the scientists were able to divide the globe into a grid with boxes as small as 50 kilometers by 60 kilometers (31 miles by 37 miles) and look at pollution levels in each box individually.

This allowed them to assess the impact of the pollution in places where people live and to distinguish between different sources of pollution.

They found that China, India, parts of the eastern US, Europe and Southeast Asia were the worst impacted. According to the data, as many as 30.7% of deaths in Eastern Asia, 16.8% in Europe and 13.1% in the US can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution.

To model the pollution, the researchers used real emissions and meteorology data, mostly from 2012. The year was picked to eliminate the influence of the El Niño phenomenon, which can worsen or improve pollution depending on the region. They then updated the data to reflect a 44% fall in fossil fuel pollution in China between 2012 and 2018.

The researchers estimate that China's move to cut its fossil fuels emissions saved 2.4 million lives worldwide, including 1.5 million in China.

Millions of lives could be saved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions

In a separate modeling study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal on Tuesday, researchers found that millions of deaths could be averted by 2040 if countries fully align their policies with their commitments made under the 2015 Paris Agreement to hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The world remains woefully short of achieving the emissions cuts needed to meet the goals of Paris and is currently on track to warm by more than 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, according to a report released last December by the UN.

The authors found that policies in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement could save 6.4 million lives by improving diets, 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air, and 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise. However, because people would experience crossover benefits from cutting air pollution, eating healthier and breathing cleaner air, the authors say it is difficult to estimate the total number of lives that would be saved by meeting the Paris goals.

The study looked at Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. Together, those countries make up 50% of the world's population, but produce 70% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

"The message is stark. Not only does delivering on Paris prevent millions dying prematurely each year, the quality of life for millions more will be improved through better health. We have an opportunity now to place health in the forefront of climate change policies to save even more lives," said lead author Ian Hamilton, executive director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

The authors of the study call for countries to strengthen their commitments to the Paris Agreement ahead of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. Several have done so already, including the UK and the European Union, as well as China, which announced a commitment last year to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

In Glasgow, all eyes will be on the US and President Joe Biden's new administration. In one of his first acts as President, Biden sent notice to the UN that the US will reenter the Paris Agreement, and he is expected to reveal more ambitious plans to reduce US emissions in the coming months.

© Ioana Epure/Bloomberg/Getty Images Fumes pump from the exhaust of a combustion engine automobile idling in traffic in Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020.

The new green paper sector doesn't need trees

For Nicole Rycroft, the first modern, tree-free commercial-scale pulp mill in North America was a “lightbulb moment” about the climate crisis.

The new mill in eastern Washington state, called Columbia Pulp, runs entirely without woodchips.

Instead, it makes pulp, for paper products like tissues and food containers, out of some of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of wheat straw that is left over after farmers harvest their grain.

Rycroft, as the founder and executive director of Vancouver non-profit Canopy, has been advocating for new technologies that take advantage of agricultural residues, food waste or old clothing, and turns them into everyday products, without the need for trees.

Her pitch is straightforward: climate scientists say conserving the world’s forests is key to slowing climate change, yet three billion trees per year currently go into paper packaging and another 200 million into clothing.

Meanwhile, there are tonnes of alternative fibre sources destined for landfills or the burn pile that can be made useful again, even accounting for some left over to ensure the organic integrity of the soil.

But convincing investors hasn’t been easy. For one, there is a lack of awareness of these technologies, said Rycroft. There is also a reluctance to jump into something that’s seen as new and risky.

Mills need large, upfront capital investments, while many investors are used to the high-tech world, where they can come in with smaller amounts and enjoy quick turnarounds.

For Columbia Pulp, the company had engineering plans, marketing and permits in place. But “it took them four years to find their equity,” said Rycroft.

That means knocking on hundreds of doors before being able to access the debt package needed to move forward on construction, she said.

Rycroft realized the same drawn-out process couldn’t be repeated for all the other promising technologies, one by one.

“We’re in this turnaround decade for our planet. We need to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and keep forests standing,” she said.

“So bringing on these alternative solution technologies that help alleviate the stress on forest ecosystems — we can’t wait another four years.”

Rycroft will be able to pursue this vision further as one recipient of this year's Climate Breakthrough Award, a three-year, US$3-million grant and support package from the Climate Breakthrough Project.

The award is meant to give winners the resources, time and space to put in place new strategies to deal with climate change.

Rycroft said her work and part of Canopy’s work over the next three years will be looking at ways to compress the four-year timeline she said Columbia Pulp experienced.

She believes the technological solutions are there, they just need to be scaled up and investment needs to be mobilized towards them.

“It’s a new green resource sector. There are a pipeline of innovators,” she said, in Australia, North America, Europe and China that have viable, low-carbon and low-water technologies to take advantage of alternative fibre. Canopy is working with about 25 of them at the moment, she said.

Canopy’s strategy document, unveiled January 2020, has done the math to reach its goal of eliminating 70 per cent of the pulp fibres that come from virgin forests and 30 per cent from plantations.

The strategy lays out where new infrastructure needs to be built in the coming years, like textile mills near large amounts of waste textile, or agricultural residue mills near where farmers end up with lots of wheat straw, for example.

The organization says there will need to be 200 new agricultural fibre pulp mills constructed at an estimated cost of US$40 billion — as well as 107 new recycled paper pulp mills, at US$21.4 billion, and 17 new recycled cotton or microbial-cellulose dissolving pulp mills, at US$3.4 billion.

These three technologies are then projected to combine with another US$4.2 billion to plant 7.5 million hectares of new trees on lands that are not currently prioritized for either food production, carbon storage or habitat restoration. The grand total would be a US$69-billion investment over a 10-year period.

Rycroft said getting over an initial hump of 15 to 20 new mills being built, and operating, will allow the movement to get beyond the perception held by conservative-minded investors of alternative fibres being a new or risky undertaking. Then, she said, more of the conventional and institutional money might be able to be tapped.

“This concept that we’ve had about things being waste, and no longer of any use, is completely artificial,” she said.

“Those hundreds of millions of tonnes of old clothing, and straw — and even food waste — they come with a much lower carbon footprint ... and have excellent qualities for making the next generation of packaging, or next season’s clothing.”

Carl Meyer / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Carl Meyer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

Why the US must support the electric vehicle supply chain

General Motors' announcement last month that the company will phase out all gas-powered vehicles by 2035, coupled with Ford's plan to double its electrification investments, are yet another sign that the global transition toward electric vehicles is well underway. Worldwide sales of EVs are anticipated to reach tens of millions per year by 2030, which means we will need just as many lithium-ion EV batteries.

© Greg Nash Why the US must support the electric vehicle supply chain

Who will produce these batteries? And how can we ensure the supply chain will be sustainable?

If the U.S. is not careful, that supply chain will continue to be dominated by foreign sources of manufacturing, exacerbating a current bottleneck of supplies in East Asia. And without greater transparency and adherence to existing responsible mining standards, communities in major mineral-producing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile may continue to experience harmful local impacts. These range from child labor abuses in artisanal cobalt mines and water supply depletion from lithium extraction to corruption and revenue loss at multiple levels of government.

These impacts worsen global inequalities and provide fodder for EV critics, who conveniently gloss over the similar - and often worse - problems plaguing oil and gas production, detracting from the clear environmental benefits of EVs.

But the economic opportunity for countries - and companies - that can advance a sustainable supply chain is massive. By some estimates, production of graphite, lithium, and cobalt will need to grow by over 450 percent by 2050 to meet global EV targets. The U.S. has a strong interest in ensuring that as much of this supply chain as possible is based domestically. A more geographically diversified supply chain will guard against the supply and price shocks we've seen in the oil and gas context over the decades, while more domestic production will ensure greater adherence to environmental and human rights standards, given the U.S.'s relatively strong history of regulation and enforcement.

Although the battery supply chain will likely lean heavily on imported minerals for the foreseeable future, the U.S. has opportunities to bolster domestic production and reduce its dependence on foreign production. Mineral supplies for EV batteries in the U.S. are ample. Lithium deposits are present in states like Nevada and potentially in great quantities in Southern California's Salton Sea. While battery manufacturers are scrambling to phase out cobalt, energy-dense lithium is not likely to be replaced anytime soon.

Furthermore, the U.S. has the manufacturing capability not only to mine the raw materials but refine and process them for use in battery packs. That local production can mean good jobs in the parts of our country that need them most, along with reduced shipping emissions from delivering these supplies to vehicle production facilities in places like California and Nevada (Tesla), Tennessee (Nissan), and Michigan and Ohio (General Motors).

But beyond boosting the domestic supply chain, automakers and EV advocates have an incentive to ensure that battery production is more sustainable worldwide. That means addressing all risks associated with EV batteries, including those related to human rights, governance, equity, local environmental impacts, and supply reliability. Without greater sustainability, the EV transition could be plagued by shortages, price fluctuations and negative consumer perceptions.

Fortunately, advocates and industry have worked hard to develop responsible mining standards, such as guidance from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Responsible Minerals Initiative and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Yet these admirable initiatives can suffer from a lack of coordination, limiting adherence and international oversight. The industry will need stronger mechanisms for neutral and reliable information sharing, leveraging automakers' experience and capacity in traceability and sustainability, and new incentives for compliance with agreed-upon standards. Meanwhile, enhanced U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid can bolster the capacity of governments and observers in mineral producing countries and promote strong standards for transparency and accountability.

Beyond improving existing standards, the U.S. needs to begin planning for a massive battery reuse and recycling deployment. As batteries begin to degrade in vehicles, consumers can swap them out for newer ones, leading to a potential tidal wave of still-serviceable, inexpensive used batteries that can be repurposed for utility-scale grid storage, stationary backup power and myriad other applications. Eventually, they can be recycled, leading to downward demand for newly mined supplies and potentially creating local jobs in the process. But this process will require careful planning and community outreach, incentives and ultimately supportive legislation and regulation, as we've seen with successful recycling efforts launched for other products.

Electric vehicles are here to stay, which is good news for the economy and the environment. They are a much cleaner option than internal combustion engines - even factoring in electricity emissions (which are decreasing with renewables), they represent significant savings on greenhouse gases per mile compared to gas engines.

But the gains will be much greater if U.S. and state policy makers seize the opportunity to plan for a more sustainable, domestic supply chain for the batteries that will soon be powering most of our transportation needs.

Ethan Elkind is the director of the Climate Program at UC Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and co-author of the report, "Sustainable Drive, Sustainable Supply: Priorities to Improve the Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain."

Saskatchewan judge rules university must give professor oil and gas research info

REGINA — A judge has ruled that the University of Regina must provide information to one of its professors about who is funding research into the oil and gas industry.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"Ultimately, requiring that funding identity information be disclosed is in keeping with promoting transparency, openness and accountability in public institutions, such as the university," Justice Meghan McCreary wrote in her decision released Tuesday.

Emily Eaton, who teaches in the university's geography and environmental studies department, is researching the influence of the fossil fuel industry on education in Saskatchewan.

Under freedom-of-information legislation, she requested that the school disclose who is funding research related to oil and gas, coal, carbon capture and climate change, as well as which departments receive the money.

Eaton was denied her request and turned to the courts.

The university used a "discretionary class exemption" in the province's freedom-of-information laws that allowed it refuse to provide details of the academic research.

But McCreary ruled that the types of records Eaton requested did not fall within the exemption.

"This is because disclosing the amount of funding does not reveal the particulars of the research — the questions, methodology, results and conclusions of the research, itself," the judge wrote.

She said she agrees with the university that "there may be harms in disclosing funding identity information," but that it did not provide enough evidence that it would be the case in this situation.

"The university is entitled to consider whether disclosing funding identity information for any specific research may result in harm prohibited by other provisions of (the act)," she said.

"However, I reiterate that the effect of my decision is that the university cannot rely on (this section of the act) as a blanket exemption to refuse to provide funding identity information."

She added that if the university does not find proper reasoning, "the research files in question must be disclosed."

"If this information is publicly available it provides community members with information that may be relevant to the context of the academic research, thereby providing the public with the ability to consider, analyze and debate the funding choices made by a public institution."

Eaton applauded McCreary's decision on Twitter, calling it a "positive precedent" for transparency of fossil fuel funding in university research.

A lawyer representing the university in the case declined to comment.

University of Regina officials were not immediately available for comment.

— By Daniela Germano in Edmonton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press