HI TECH CHEATING

New research finds advanced shoe technology reduces top race times for elite athletes 

IF PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS ARE BANNED WHY NOT BAN HI TECH PERFORMANCE ENHANCERS

FRONTIERS

Research News

 

For elite runners competing in long-distance races, every second counts. So when Nike introduced "advanced shoe technology" in 2017, questions arose about whether the new design would significantly affect performances in professional sports. A new paper published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living found that the new footwear indeed reduced running times for both elite male and female competitors.

The study analyzed seasonal best times for elite male and female runners in three race categories - 10 kilometers, half marathon and marathon races - between 2012 and 2019. The researchers found a statistically significant decrease in race times after 2017, which coincided with the premiere of the Nike Vaporfly 4%.

Female elite athletes appeared to gain the most benefit from the design improvement, which features a thicker, lighter foam and rigid plate along the midsole. Their seasonal best times between 2016 and 2019 decreased anywhere from 1.7 to 2.3 percent, versus 0.6 to 1.5 percent for the men. For example, the new shoe technology improved female marathon time by about 2 minutes and 10 seconds, a 1.7 percent boost in performance.

"As far as chronometric performance is concerned, it is in our opinion a major advancement," said Dr. Stéphane Bermon, lead author of the paper and director of the World Athletics Health and Science Department.

The mechanics behind the improvements in performance remain somewhat of a mystery. One advantage of the new shoe technology is that it uses the latest generation of lightweight foam in the midsole, which provides the runner with a higher energy return. The embedded stiff plate in the midsole also contributes to maximizing energy return in each step. In effect, the shoe works to propel the runner forward with a little less effort.

The statistical gap between genders was unexpected, according to Bermon. One advantage could come down to weight between the sexes.

"Women are lighter and could possibly benefit more from the enhanced rebound effect achieved by the foam/stiff plate combination," he said. "Their slightly different running pattern, compared to men, could represent a more favorable condition for this footwear technology to play its ergogenic role."

A previous 2018 statistical analysis had already suggested a 3 to 4 percent decrease in half marathon and marathon race times based on hundreds of thousands of self-reported results. However, the present study was the first to look at the top seasonal best times for elite athletes.

While the research included a majority of results from East African runners, like Ethiopian and Kenyan, who have come to dominate the sport, the paper noted that non-East-African elite runners experienced similar improvements in performance.

"These results confirm that advanced footwear technology has benefits to the elite male and female distance runners," Bermon said. "Whether this technology will be banned or simply controlled, as it is currently, is still to be decided by World Athletics."

No immediate follow-up studies are planned, though Bermon said additional research is needed to understand whether mass adoption of the new footwear by both recreational and elite runners causes more or fewer injuries, especially in light of all the different types of running styles.

THEY STILL GET BEAT BY 

BAREFOOT RUNNERS FROM ETHIOPIA

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BUISNESS AS USUAL

Exclusive: Texas energy fund shuts, founder says millions squandered

By Shariq Khan 
4/23/2021

© Reuters/ANGUS MORDANT FILE PHOTO: The sun sets behind a crude oil pump jack on a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County

(Reuters) - The founder of a Texas oil and gas investment firm that raised about $31 million shut the business this month and acknowledged in a Reuters interview that he had squandered investors' cash on "bad" and "non-arm's-length" deals.

Christopher Bentley, who founded Bellatorum Resources LLC in 2016 and raised funds from about 150 wealthy individuals, closed its doors on April 9 and contacted U.S. prosecutors. His firm bought mineral rights in Texas shale fields, betting on appreciation as oil and gas drilling rose.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are reviewing the company's records, Bentley said in the interview on Tuesday. Bentley has not been charged.

The FBI said it does not confirm or deny the existence of any investigations and referred questions on Bentley to the U.S. Attorney's office. A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery of the Southern District of Texas did not reply to several requests for comment.

Alongside this year's spectacular investment busts, Bellatorum's is small. This year's failure of highly leveraged equity investor Archegos Capital saddled investors with billions of dollars in losses. But Bellatorum stands out for its founder's mea culpa email to investors and decision to turn himself into authorities.

'I WAS OVERLY CONFIDENT'

At times contrite about his failings, the 40-year-old former energy worker and U.S. Marine admitted to acquiring "bad" and "non-arm's-length" deals, overspending on corporate overheads, and failing to hire professionals to advise him. He said he lost some of his own money in the venture.

"I was overly confident that if I can hit even one home run that’ll make everything right," Bentley said of his hiding the fund's financial troubles from investors and employees. "I kept digging the hole. I turned myself in because I couldn't live the lie any longer."

The buying and selling of mineral rights, an about $2.1 billion-a-year business in the United States, took off in the shale patch around 2016 as drilling activity jumped, said Enverus M&A analyst Andrew Dittmar. But the business slumped last year as deals dried up with oil demand.

Bentley had borrowed money using fund assets in a last-ditch effort to generate enough cash to pay investor distributions. Instead, he used some of the cash to finance Bellatorum's daily operations and cover distributions to early fund investors, he told Reuters.

"I have made serious mistakes in an effort to keep the operation going," he told investors in the email dated April 9 and seen by Reuters. The company's two largest funds have almost no assets left, he said, after he borrowed $6.6 million against the assets and the lender foreclosed earlier this year.

'TIME WILL TELL'

Jeff Voelkel, an investor in Bellatorum's third and smallest fund who has reviewed its records, said less than half the $2.6 million that 40 investors put into the fund was used to buy assets, with the rest apparently consumed by expenses.

Voelkel described Bentley as "open and forthcoming with information" since the April 9 email, but added: "Only time will tell if he siphoned anything off for himself."

Bentley stressed to Reuters he had not diverted funds, saying he had sold his own assets and put money into the company. But he admitted working nights and weekends to keep the losses hidden from his employees and investors. Bellatorum staff, 21 employees at its peak, were unaware of his actions, he said.

"I didn’t let them have access to information. That's why they didn’t end up working for me for long," he said.

(Additional reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Writing by Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Howard Goller)

Biden plans 'real money' for jobs training, unions, economic adviser says
By Jarrett Renshaw 

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden wants to put "real money" toward helping laid-off workers get new jobs in growth industries like green energy and healthcare as part of his $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure package, a top economic adviser said.

Biden is attempting a delicate balancing act as he calls for a reshaping of the nation's energy industry by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and coal-powered electric plants to meet aggressive climate emission goals.

Those industries offer high-paying, union jobs that Biden promised to replace while courting the blue-collar vote on the campaign trail.

"What we're trying to do here is put some real money where our mouths are," Jared Bernstein, who serves on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told Reuters. "You don't just train somebody for a job that might or might not exist. Instead, you look around the corner and see where labor demand is going to be next year."

A $40 billion job-training plan in the infrastructure proposal would help workers who lost jobs through no fault of their own land a new job in a growth industry, and direct income to help them pay the bills while training and utilize case managers to navigate the system, he said.

The training funding is part of a package of measures included in Biden's plan that seeks to boost unions. The Democratic president has promised to build union jobs in the United States, which he sees as key to building back a stronger middle class.

In 2020, some 35 percent of public-sector employees could collectively bargain for wages and benefits, while just 6.3 percent of the private sector was unionized. But roughly half of U.S. states block public employees from collective bargaining.

That "is by far the biggest barrier," said a senior White House official.

The White House wants to guarantee public workers across the country the right to collective bargaining, expand apprentice programs and ensure that all federally funded construction projects use union labor.



Biden is seeking a further $38 billion in funding to expand union apprentice programs, a gateway to a union job, which the White House says will create 1 million to 2 million registered apprenticeship slots, to fill the demand created by the spending on new construction projects.

Biden and Democrats delivered on a high-priority item for unions when they included an $83 billion pension bailout in the COVID relief bill passed in March. Labor leaders, facing declining enrollment that is crushing their self-funded retirement systems, say the money will shore up to 200 plans.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Peter Cooney)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

The ex-convict's tale: Germany's role in Wirecard scandal under microscope
By John O'Donnell and Tom Sims 6 hrs ago

© Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke 

FILE PHOTO: Investigative committee on Wirecard accounting scandal in Berlin

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - In February 2019, after a steep drop in Wirecard's share price, German authorities launched criminal probes into short-sellers and journalists who had accused the company of fraud, and banned investors from betting against the company.

Documents seen by Reuters show for the first time that the only independent information - beyond Wirecard's representations - received by Munich prosecutors who launched the criminal probes was a third-hand account of events from a convicted money launderer, Daniel James Harris.

The rationale that led to the decisions of prosecutors and regulators to launch the criminal probes and short-selling ban, and whether they were overzealous in supporting Wirecard, are central issues being investigated by a parliamentary inquiry into the company's collapse in Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal.

The criminal probes and short-selling ban were launched by authorities after Wirecard complained it was being targeted by unidentified speculators who it said were in cahoots with two Financial Times journalists and had advance knowledge of a negative report that it said baselessly alleged accounting manipulations.

Some Wirecard executives were in fact engaged in a sophisticated global fraud at that time, the German government, prosecutors and regulators said last year after the payment company filed for insolvency, owing creditors almost $4 billion.

The trove seen by Reuters includes thousands of pages of emails, chat messages and memos provided by German authorities to the parliamentary inquiry, which reaches a climax this week with testimony from Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

The witness testimony from Harris was provided by Wirecard, with a lawyer for the company delivering the two-page written statement in person to a prosecutor on Feb. 14, 2019, according to the documents.

In the statement, Harris identified himself as an equities trader in Essex, southern England, and said he met his broker, whom he didn't identify, on Jan. 30, 2019, the day Wirecard's share price plunged up to 22%.

The broker said he had been told that investors were trading in anticipation of a negative FT report about the company, which was published in the afternoon of that day, according to the statement seen by Reuters.

"He told me he had spoken with a friend of his," Harris said. "My broker said that this friend had told him that an article was about to be published about Wirecard."

In his statement, Harris said he didn't act on the information. However Wirecard argued that market talk of a negative article ahead of publication was proof that investors were trading on inside information, and perhaps in collusion with journalists. At the time, the FT denied this, characterising Wirecard's claims as a "smokescreen".

Reuters was unable to contact Harris or his lawyers for comment.

Harris was sentenced to a two-year jail term in February 2017 for money laundering for drug dealers who ran a moped delivery service in London and Essex, according to Britain's National Crime Agency.

A spokeswoman for the Munich state prosecutors said Harris' statement corroborated Wirecard's claims that it was unfairly targeted by speculators.

"The statement under oath was used by legal representatives of Wirecard to substantiate the legal complaint," she added.

In February this year, the state prosecutor told the parliamentary inquiry that he did not speak to Harris, without elaborating.

Munich prosecutors dropped the inquiry into the journalists last year, concluding there was no evidence of any collusion with investors, while no action has yet been taken against the several short-sellers investigated.

'VERY CONCRETE INFORMATION'

The documents seen by Reuters include correspondence by executives and officials from Wirecard, prosecutors and financial regulator BaFin provided to lawmakers.

The prosecutors' office emailed Harris' statement to BaFin on Feb. 15, 2019, a Friday, the documents show, and the following Monday BaFin announced the first short-selling ban on a single stock in German history.

BaFin's ban was a watershed in the saga, according to lawmakers who have said it implicitly vouched for the company's credibility, while halting investors that doubted it.

A BaFin spokeswoman said the Harris witness statement played "no role" in the short-sale ban, but that it did fit into its examination of market manipulation.

Yet Sebastian Kimmer, a member of BaFin's staff who corresponded with Munich prosecutors, testified before lawmakers in February this year that the Harris statement provided "very concrete information" that supported Wirecard's complaint.

Kimmer said the information from prosecutors was deemed serious and credible by the regulator. He added that Harris' statement, along with the allegations from Wirecard relayed by prosecutors, were escalated to his superiors.

No details about Harris' statement have been publicly disclosed.

Munich prosecutors have previously defended their role, saying they acted impartially in alerting BaFin to Wirecard's fears that it was going to be targeted by short-sellers.

Felix Hufeld, then president of BaFin but who has since resigned in the wake of the scandal, had defended the short-selling ban as a means to maintain confidence in Germany's stock market.

But three lawmakers on the parliamentary inquiry said that the prosecutors' and BaFin's actions in February 2019 showed their readiness to side with Wirecard against critics, even in the face of what they characterised as flimsy evidence.

Florian Toncar, one of the lawmakers, said the Munich prosecutors had shown a tendency to take a "one-sided view on the Wirecard case".

"They held the unsigned draft of a vague testimony ... as a plausible story," he added.

(Reporting by John O'Donnell and Tom Sims; Editing by Pravin Char)

ONTARIO

Advocates want “atrocities” committed at Pine Ridge to be remembered

It is often said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, and local advocates are working to make sure the “atrocities” committed behind the brown-brick walls of Pine Ridge, now a Provincial government building at Yonge and Bloomington, are never forgotten.

Originally built as a De La Salle College, Pine Ridge served as a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities between 1963 and 1984. In 2016, surviving residents of Pine Ridge and 11 other similar facilities across Ontario were part of a class action lawsuit that resulted in a settlement of $36 million to those who were harmed.

It stands as a mute testament to what went on behind its walls, and recent reports leading up to its heritage designation did not touch fully upon the realities that building represents to survivors.

But that could soon change thanks to local residents who took the matter to this month’s meeting of the Town’s Heritage Advisory Committee (HAC).

Len Bulmer and Kathy Kantel came together this month to bring these realities to the table.

It is not the first time they have done so; Mr. Bulmer said they have presented survivors’ accounts to Mayor and Council but were largely “met with silence.”

“We know it is not easy to acknowledge difficult history,” said Mr. Bulmer, “but we also know that not acknowledging this difficult history means repeating it. We have survivors of that institution living right here still in the community. They are among the most vulnerable among us. Not acknowledging what happened to them erases their experience. We believe in cultural and heritage preservation, not historical erasure.

“What are we asking for? An acknowledgement of what happened in that building, a reconsideration of that designation with all of the facts on the table. We are not necessarily calling for the designation to be revoked, but we want acknowledgement and sensitivity. As part of the reconsideration of that designation and if the designation is retained, the Town could perhaps work with the survivor and advocate communities to have a display in the Town Hall entryway, perhaps the Historical Society could arrange for speakers on the topic. Perhaps Town Staff and elected officials would be willing to have a more-depth acknowledgement in June during National Accessibility Week.”

The Province, he added, “may be open” to an acknowledgement on site.

To underscore the importance of acknowledging what took place behind the walls of Pine Ridge, Ms. Kantel read an account of survivor Martin Levine:

“They stripped me, took all my clothes off. They led you down on a stretcher, tied your body down tight across your chest, so you couldn’t move. Tight across your legs. Then they rolled you down the hall, you were all tied down and they would take you right into the shower. Then, while you’re all tied down, not able to move or get away, you would suddenly have the freezing cold water come down on you. You were freezing and you couldn’t move. Cold. Naked. Soaking wet and restrained on the bed. Then they’d yell, ‘what do you think of this now? Do you want to apologize to us now?’ After that, then they put you in the side room in isolation. They would leave you just shivering. Everyone could look to the window at you all naked lying on the floor. You didn’t even get fed when you were in the side room like that. That is what they did to you there. One day, staff came in. He was slurring, I could see he was drunk by the time he was talking. The Head Supervisor was the same. He was angry, he grabbed me, had me undressed and put me in the side room. It wasn’t good. Some things I just don’t talk about too much. I think I’ll stop that part there. That’s enough for now.”

HAC member Neil Asselin, who was on the Committee at the time of Pine Ridge’s initial designation said he was “shocked” in hindsight there was no mention of this at the time and agreed that there needs to be acknowledgement of Pine Ridge’s sad legacy.

“I don’t believe in running from the truth and I don’t believe our history is clean,” he said. “If ten people were murdered by their parents in a house, I don’t care if they built this town, I want to know that something happened there too and I want to honour the people who have suffered to build this town just as much as the ones who have done great things.”

Added Councillor Sandra Humfryes: “History should be included with the building. I’m aware of the atrocities that have happened there and I think it is very important to have that story told as it was.”

Brock Weir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Auroran

Mexico's drought reaches critical levels as lakes dry up

MEXICO CITY — Drought conditions now cover 85% of Mexico, and residents of the nation's central region said Thursday that lakes and reservoirs are simply drying up, including the country’s second-largest body of fresh water

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The mayor of Mexico City said the drought was the worst in 30 years, and the problem can be seen at the reservoirs that store water from other states to supply the capital.

Some of them, like the Villa Victoria reservoir west of the capital, are at one-third of their normal capacity, with a month and a half to go before any significant rain is expected.

Isaías Salgado, 60, was trying to fill his water tank truck at Villa Victoria, a task that normally takes him just half an hour. On Thursday he estimated it was taking 3 1/2 hours to pump water into his 10,000-litre tanker.

“The reservoir is drying up,” said Salgado. “If they keep pumping water out, by May it will be completely dry, and the fish will die.”

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that as the drought worsened, more people have tended to water their lawns and gardens, which worsens the problem.

The capital's 9 million inhabitants rely on reservoirs like Villa Victoria and two others — which together are at about 44% capacity — for a quarter of their water; most of the rest comes from wells within city limits. But the city’s own water table is dropping and leaky pipes waste much of what is brought into the city.

Rogelio Angeles Hernandez, 61, has been fishing the waters of Villa Victoria for the last 30 years. He isn’t so much worried about his own catch; in dry seasons of the past, residents were able to cart fish off in wheelbarrows as water levels receded.

But tourism at reservoirs, like Valle de Bravo further to the west, has been hit by falling water levels.

In the end, it is the capital that is really going to suffer.

“Fishing is the same, but the real impact will be on the people in Mexico City, who are going to get less water,” Angeles Hernandez said.

Farther to the west, in Michoacan state, the country is at risk of losing its second-largest lake, Lake Cuitzeo. About 75% of the lake bed is now dry, said Alberto Gómez-Tagle, a biologist and researcher who chairs the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Michoacán.

Gómez-Tagle said that deforestation, roads built across the shallow lake and diversion of water for human use have played a role, but three extremely dry years have left the lake a dusty plain.

“2019, 2020 and so far 2021 have been drier than average, and that has had a cumulative effect on the lake,” he said.

Michoacan Gov. Silvano Aureoles said so much of the lake has dried up that shoreline communities now suffer dust storms. He said communities might have to start planting vegetation on the lake bed to prevent the storms.

In a petition to the government, residents of communities around the lake said only six of 19 fish species once present in Cuitzeo now remain. They said the dust storms had caused tens of thousands of respiratory and intestinal infections among local residents.

Fernando Llano, The Associated Press

Alberta didn't consider impact of mountain coal mining on tourism: official


EDMONTON — Alberta revoked a long-standing policy that protected its mountains and foothills from open-pit coal mines without considering how that might affect its most popular tourist attraction, a government official has acknowledged. 

MOUNTAIN TOP STRIP MINING COAL ON BC SIDE OF THE ROCKIES

"There was no analysis around the implications of the coal policy on the 10-year tourism strategy," Kate White, deputy minister of jobs, economy and innovation, told a legislature committee this week in response to a question from NDP environment critic Marlin Schmidt.

Alberta's 10-year tourism plan, announced in October 2019 by then-minister Tanya Fir, was to double the industry's revenue to $20 billion by 2030.

A letter from Fir dated about the same time suggests the government was already planning to expand the province's coal industry.

"I look to hearing from you on the progress of your project," Fir wrote to the head of Valory Resources, which plans an open-pit mine in the Rockies west of Red Deer, Alta.

"Do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do to help in the completion of your mining project."

In May 2020, the United Conservative government quietly revoked a 44-year-old policy that had protected the eastern slopes and summits of the Rocky Mountains from coal mines. The change led to a rush of exploration leases. At least six companies secured dibs on tens of thousands of hectares along the mountains.

The government reinstated the policy earlier this year and stopped new lease sales. But drilling and road-building on leases already sold is expected to continue this summer.

Alberta's national parks are top tourism draws and are not threatened by mining.

But parks officials are already concerned about the number of visitors to popular sites such as Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Tourism operators have been hoping to expand into areas such as Bighorn Country west of Rocky Mountain House.

Municipal officials there have already expressed concern about how coal-mining could affect their tourism plans.

"We have given no policy advice in (2019-20) with reference to coal policy," White told the committee. "The issue of coal development was not a prominent file for the department."

In an interview Thursday, Schmidt pointed out Fir's ministry — then called Economic Development, Trade and Tourism — was in charge of the industry.

"It seems to me a significant oversight," he said.

"I would think developing coal mines in our most popular tourist areas might have some impacts. The fact the department didn't give that potential any serious thought is extremely concerning."

Justin Brattinga, spokesman for current minister Doug Schweitzer, said the tourism strategy is being completely revised due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The development of the strategy will require extensive consultation with the tourism industry, that will cover a range of topics, including Alberta’s world-leading resource extraction industries.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2021.

— Follow @row1960 on Twitter

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Miners seek gold under the desert sands after Egypt changes rules

By Nadine Awadalla 

© Reuters/Amr Dalsh FILE PHOTO: An old abandoned mine is pictured in the eastern desert near the southern province of Luxor

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mining companies awarded blocks in Egypt's Eastern Desert are set to start exploring for gold under a legislative overhaul that seeks eventually to unlock vast untapped mineral resources.

Despite plentiful reserves and a rich mining history that gave rise to elaborate Pharaonic gold jewellery, Egypt has just one commercial gold mine in operation. Foreign investment in oil and gas has grown, but mining has languished.

Now, the country is banking on high gold prices and amended mining laws that scrap red tape and a profit-sharing rule, unpopular in the industry, to lure interest.

One year after launching its first bid round under the new rules, it has so far clinched five gold exploration contracts in a first bidding round and kept the tendering system rolling as it tries to build momentum.

The government is looking to attract $1 billion in annual investments in mining, a target industry sources say could be within reach.

"Success is ultimately going to be measured by how many mines are going to be discovered and advanced to production," said Patrick Barnes, Head of Metals & Mining Consulting EMEARC at Wood Mackenzie, which advised Egypt's government on its mining law reforms.

"Early indicators show us that this bid round was much better than the ones held previously."

'HEALTHY MIX'

In its initial tender, Egypt in November awarded 82 exploration blocks to what metals analysts say is a healthy mix of 11 companies, ranging from junior explorers to industry giants such as Barrick Gold.

The blocks on offer are in the Arabian-Nubian shield geological formation, which flanks the Red Sea and is believed to be one of the most mineral rich areas in the world.

Egypt's mining drive is still at an early stage.

UK-based Altus Strategies told Reuters it was looking to build up its technical team and conduct remote sensing and mapping operations on the 1,500 square kilometres of land it has been awarded before starting exploration.

It expects to invest several million dollars in the short term but that could rise above $100-$200 million if a economic discovery is made.

A spokeswoman for Canada-based B2Gold, which also won concessions, said the company was looking forward to starting exploration soon "given the relative under-investment in modern exploration, and therefore untapped potential in the historically prospective Arabian-Nubian Shield".

Mining firms welcomed the elimination of a requirement to form joint ventures with the Egyptian government, and the capping of state royalties at 20%.

However, the retention of a tendering process for exploration blocks limits the chances of any gold boom, said Sami El Raghy, Chairman of Australia-based Nordana Pty Ltd.

"No other successful mining countries use this process. They all have a clear transparent mining laws stipulating the qualification, obligations and the rights of investors. (They) work on the principle first come, first served," said El Raghy, who was also a founder of Egypt's first and only commercial gold mine, Sukari.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources declined to comment.

GOLD PRICE

On average, a mining project goes from discovery to production in 10-15 years. While gold prices have eased after reaching a record in 2020, economists expect they will remain high by historical standards over coming years.

"If you get to a point where several discoveries are made, Egypt could be one of the largest gold producers in Africa... It had top-tier potential," said Steven Poulton, CEO of Altus Strategies.

Environmental campaigners, however, say there is no justification for gold mining. It generates emissions, can add to water-stress and in contrast to copper and battery minerals is not in demand from technologies that can bring about a low carbon economy.

The government has said it is open to other minerals, but gold is the focus for now.

"Gold is absolutely the best thing for them to start with, because there's a known amount of it," said Wood Mackenzie's Barnes.

"Egypt has immense potential for mining copper and gold and other commodities. The biggest concern in the industry is lack of supply for copper, places like Egypt which are considered underexplored and high potential are going to get a lot of attention if they can maintain investment conditions," he added.

(Reporting by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Barbara Lewis)

Scientists hope genetic engineering can revive the American chestnut tree

(Reuters) - A day before Earth Day, retired forester Rex Mann watched as scientists signed an agreement with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to allow for the eventual planting of genetically engineered American chestnut trees on tribal land.

Scientists hope genetic engineering can revive the American chestnut tree

Mann, who has heard countless stories about the American chestnut tree that once dominated the Appalachia region, was emotional as he witnessed the signing.

"My dad loved the tree... and he understood what it meant to the way of life of these people in the mountains," the 76-year-old from Kentucky said. "That way of life died with the tree."

In the early 20th century, a blight is believed to have wiped out some four billion chestnut trees that once grew across the eastern United States, from Maine to Georgia. Now, American chestnut advocates, like Mann, and a small network of scientists are hoping to restore the trees by genetically engineering a blight-resistant tree.

Several experiments have been tried over the years, but so far scientists believe the greatest promise comes from a transgenic tree – engineered with a gene from wheat – known as Darling 58. They also hope that this initiative will encourage similar projects for other species.

"There's a number of species where invasive insects and pathogens have been imported into this country," said Jared Westbrook, director of science at the American Chestnut Foundation.

"All the tools that we're using – the breeding, the biotechnology, the genomics... could be used as a kind of a model for these other tree species."

Currently scientists are not allowed to grow transgenic trees outside of private greenhouses. The U.S. government is reviewing the researchers' request for deregulation status, which would allow the scientists to plant the trees in forests.

The project is not without opponents. Several organizations have signed on to the Campaign to Stop GE (Genetically Engineered) Trees.

They argue that introducing such trees into the ecosystem could have unintended consequences for other plant and animal species.

But Mann thinks it is a way of giving back to the Earth.

"The stark choice we face is either embrace this cutting-edge science and use it wisely or bid our native forests goodbye, and for the sake of our grandkids, we can't afford to do that," he said.

(Reporting by Vanessa Johnston; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Teaching pupils to 'think like Da Vinci' will help them to take on climate change

Curriculum reforms which mix the arts and sciences will better prepare young people for the real-world challenges that will define their adult lives, researchers argue

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Research News

 

A radically reformed approach to education, in which different subjects teach connected themes, like climate change or food security, is being proposed by researchers, who argue that it would better prepare children for future crises.

In a newly-published study, education researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh argue that there is a compelling case for a drastic shake-up of the school curriculum, so that subjects are no longer taught independently of one another. Instead, they argue that the arts and sciences should 'teach together' around real-world problems, and in a manner rooted in pupils' lived experiences.

The model draws inspiration from Renaissance polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, who worked across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of deeper knowledge. Similar, 'trans-disciplinary' approaches are already used in well-regarded education systems such as Finland's. The idea also echoes recent calls by the youth campaign, Teach the Future, to break down subject silos to teach climate change.

The academic paper, in the journal Curriculum Perspectives, also presents evidence from two recent projects in which pupils appeared to benefit from an approach to teaching which blurred subject boundaries.

One, which invited South African teenagers from disadvantaged settings to create 'math-artworks', produced evidence that as well as increasing their familiarity with key mathematical principles, the project also enabled pupils to understand more about the relevance of maths in their own lives. In the second case study, primary school children in Aberdeen showed a deeper understanding of food security and environmental protection issues after learning to grow food in their school grounds.

Pam Burnard, Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge, said: "If we look at the amazing designs that Da Vinci produced, it's clear he was combining different disciplines to advance knowledge and solve problems. We need to encourage children to think in a similar way because tomorrow's adults will have to problem-solve differently due to the existential crises they will face: especially those of climate, sustainability, and the precarity of life on Earth."

Dr Laura Colucci-Gray, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Education and Sport, said: "The nature of these problems calls for a radically different approach to knowledge. We are proposing a move from the idea of a curriculum as something children are just 'given' to a curriculum 'in-the-making', in response to transformations that will define their lives."

The paper contributes to an emerging field called 'STEAM' education. This seeks to reinsert the 'A' of arts into national attempts to encourage the uptake of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), in response to a critical skills gap in related areas of the economy.

Some educationists argue that the emphasis on STEM is devaluing other subjects, and that arts disciplines are also powerful tools for delivering the problem-solving skills society needs. "For education to reflect that requires a major shift away from linear conceptions where subjects are taught separately, and towards a situation where they are inseparable," Burnard said.

In their alternative model, the researchers suggest giving schools greater freedom to determine how to meet general study targets set by the curriculum. Teachers and leadership teams would make collective decisions and share practices about how to engage pupils with unifying, cross-curricular themes, such as environmental sustainability.

They add that this might also involve the imaginative use of space and resources, and closer links between schools and their communities to connect learning to pupils' lived experiences beyond the classroom.

Evidence is also emerging that a transdisciplinary approach enhances pupils' acquisition of key skills. In the math-artwork project cited in the study, students in South Africa were asked to create art which showed the links between maths and the world around them. Subsequent analysis of the 113 submissions showed that pupils had applied principles such as measurement, ratio and proportion, and geometry in their creations.

The researchers also found, however, that participants had engaged deeply with the meaning of maths at a level rarely seen in conventional lessons. One especially powerful example, by a 16-year-old male student, was entitled The Stressed Vitruvian Man, inspired by Da Vinci's The Vitruvian Man. Like Da Vinci, the young artist's work was partly a study of the proportions of the human body, but at the same time, the student used it to comment on both the potential, and dangers, of creating a society built on mathematical principles alone.

Similarly, the primary school pupils in Aberdeen showed a deepened understanding of issues like food production and natural resource management when they were given the opportunity to take responsibility for a small piece of land in their school. Researchers found that the survival of plants became personal to the pupils, rather than just an abstract concept that they had learned about in science lessons. It also introduced them to other, related ethical challenges which those lessons rarely address: such as how to produce enough food when space is limited.

Any attempted reimagining of education along transdisciplinary lines would require children's attainment to be measured differently, the researchers add. "It would require a system of testing which measures how children are internalising ideas and what they are expressing - not just what they know," Burnard said. "That may be an uncomfortable idea for some, but it is the sort of radical thinking we need if education is going to prepare young people for the future."