Alberta cancelled estimated 15,000 surgeries to create fourth-wave capacity

It's the first time the United Conservative government has provided the number of surgeries that had to be postponed in recent months

Author of the article: Jason Herring
Publishing date: Nov 04, 2021 • 

NEW Health Minister Jason Copping provided an update on COVID-19 and the ongoing work to protect public health at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK/POSTMEDIA
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Alberta cancelled an estimated 15,000 surgeries as it scrambled to preserve health-care capacity during the fourth wave of COVID-19, the province’s health minister confirmed Thursday.

It’s the first time the United Conservative government has provided the number of surgeries that had to be postponed in recent months when the province took drastic steps to free up space in its health-care system. Those measures included cancelling all scheduled elective surgeries in the Calgary area near the beginning of September and closing 75 per cent of operating rooms at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“I indicated earlier today that we postponed, unfortunately, roughly 15,000 surgeries. To put that into context, in the first three waves, 30,000 surgeries were postponed,” Health Minister Jason Copping said in the legislature Thursday.

“It is incredibly unfortunate that we have had to cancel more surgeries to be able to deal with the fourth wave, but we are working on a plan not only to be able to get caught up at this point in time, but to be able to show Albertans how we can actually get caught up and then exceed moving forward.”

NDP health critic David Shepherd fired back, charging that the “unfortunate” circumstance was the result of decisions made by government as the fourth wave was ramping up.

“It is heartbreaking to think of 15,000 Albertans and their families and the stress they were forced to endure because of this government’s failure to act when it mattered most,” Shepherd said in a news release following the exchange in legislature.

NDP health critic David Shepherd during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. 

PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM/POSTMEDIA

On Wednesday, Copping announced Alberta’s surgeries had returned to about two-thirds of normal levels, with cancer surgeries fully resumed. He said the fourth wave “continues to take a toll” but triaging is ongoing to prioritize treatment for those who are sickest.

Pressures on Alberta’s hospitals and intensive-care units from COVID-19 continue to ease but remain high. The province reported Thursday there are now 677 Albertans in hospital with the virus, 146 of whom are in ICUs.

Elsewhere Thursday, Alberta reported an additional 516 cases of COVID-19, a three per cent decrease from the number of new infections tallied a week earlier. The new cases come from 12,388 tests, representing a 4.2 per cent positivity rate. There are now 6,515 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta, the fewest since Aug. 18.

Recovery from the fourth wave is progressing more slowly in Alberta’s rural health zones, which also have lower immunization rates against the novel coronavirus.

The Alberta Health Services Calgary and Edmonton zones have just under half of all active cases, despite representing 71 per cent of Alberta’s population. Conversely, the North zone, which only has 11 per cent of Alberta’s population, is home to 22 per cent of active cases.

Among Albertans aged 12 and older, the group currently eligible for vaccines, 87.3 per cent have received at least one dose and 80.7 per cent have both necessary shots.

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring

Woman's tumour shrank after taking CBD oil daily for more than two years: case study

Alexandra Mae Jones

CTVNews.ca writer
Thursday, November 4, 2021


In this Nov. 6, 2017, file photo, a syringe loaded with a dose of CBD oil is shown in a research laboratory at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

TORONTO -- A case study of a U.K. woman whose lung tumour shrunk without the aid of conventional treatments while she was taking a daily dose of cannabidiol (CBD) oil has scientists suggesting it may be worth studying the use of CBD oil further.

The report, published in BMJ Case Reports in October, describes how the woman’s tumour shrunk from 41 mm to 10 mm in roughly two and a half years.

Cannabinoids are similar to endocannabinoids, which are manufactured by the human body to help in various processes, such as nerve function, energy metabolism, pain and inflammation and immune function, among others.

While cannabinoids have been studied as a primary cancer treatment before, the results have been inconclusive and inconsistent, making it difficult to pinpoint if it actually had any impact.

In this case report, a woman in her 80s was diagnosed with “non-small cell” lung cancer in June 2018 after months of a suspicious cough. She was a life-long smoker, smoking roughly 68 packs a year, and had a background of “mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” the report stated.

When she was first diagnosed, even though she was a candidate for treatments aimed at curing her cancer, she declined surgery, radiotherapy and other treatments she was offered.

The report offered the patients’ perspective, in which she explained that she declined treatment because she had watched her late husband go through the struggle of radiotherapy.

So doctors decided to simply perform regular CT scans to check up on the patient every three to six months.

During these scans over the next couple years, doctors observed that her lung cancer was shrinking. By February 2021, it had reduced by approximately 76 per cent in diameter, which averaged to a 2.4 per cent reduction per month since diagnosis.

In 2019, the shrinking of the tumour piqued doctors’ interests, and the patient was brought in to discuss her results.

In this meeting, she revealed that she had been taking CBD oil “as an alternative self-treatment for her lung cancer” since August 2018, which she had sourced from outside of the U.K. She was taking 0.5 ml of the CBD oil, two-three times per day.

“The supplier advised that the main active ingredients of the ‘CBD oil’ used by this patient were Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at 19.5 [per cent], CBD at 20.05 [per cent] and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) at 23.8 [per cent],” the report stated.

She had noticed a reduced appetite since taking the CBD oil, but apart from that, she had no other changes to her prescribed medications, diet or lifestyle — she was even still smoking one pack of cigarettes a week still, despite being advised to quit.

The endocannabinoid system in humans, which was only identified in the 1990s, is still a mystery in many ways. Although we know it helps to regulate physiological and cognitive processes and manufactured endocannabinoids that “act as neuromodulators,” just how this system can be tapped into with medication and drugs is a growing research avenue.

Cannabis and cannabinoids in general do have proven therapeutic uses, such as assisting with chronic pain, anxiety and sleep disorders, but research into whether cannabinoids could be used as a direct cancer treatment has not yet come up with a clear answer.

If the CBD oil did play a part in the woman’s tumour shrinking, doctors aren’t sure how the active ingredients worked together to achieve this. Previous research into CBD and THC as treatments for cancer have had contradictory results at times, with THC having been shown in some studies to decrease tumour growth, but has been shown to increase cancer cells in other studies.

Doctors also acknowledged that they were unable to confirm the full list of ingredients in the CBD oil this particular patient took.

The patient certainly believe the CBD oil made the difference, and was quoted in the report as being “over the moon” and intending to continue taking the CBD oil “indefinitely.”

But one case report does not prove the treatment works — yet.

“Although there appears to be a relationship between the intake of ‘CBD oil’ and the observed tumour regression, we are unable to conclusively confirm that the tumour regression is due to the patient taking ‘CBD oil’,” the report stated.

“More research is needed to identify the actual mechanism of action, administration pathways, safe dosages, its effects on different types of cancer and any potential adverse side effects when using cannabinoids.”

Healthy buildings can help stop Covid-19 spread and boost worker productivity

PUBLISHED SAT, NOV 6 2021
Susan Caminiti@SUSANCAMINITI

KEY POINTS

Healthy buildings have become the latest enticement to bring employees back into the office, and the first step is to make sure ventilation systems are working the way they are supposed to.

Improving indoor air quality in offices could add as much as $20 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to estimates from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

“I don’t think business people realize the power of buildings to not only keep people safe from disease but to lead to better performance,” said Joseph G. Allen, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health associate professor.

VIDEO 4:33

Harvard’s Joseph Allen on indoor air quality, employee health and productivity

Any C-suite executive looking to lure workers back into the office has likely spent more time thinking about indoor air quality and ventilation over the past year-and-a-half than at any other point in their pre-pandemic life.

That’s because healthy buildings have become the latest enticement to bring employees back into the office. As people slowly return to in-person work, they’re naturally concerned with how safe they’ll be. Companies continue to reassure workers that desks, computer keyboards, elevator buttons, and every other public surface are being sufficiently sanitized.

But now they’re also paying closer attention to how healthy the air is inside those buildings — and the impact this can have not only on preventing the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory ailments but how air quality can affect cognitive function.

“I don’t think business people realize the power of buildings to not only keep people safe from disease but to lead to better performance,” said Joseph G. Allen, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health associate professor and director of the Harvard Healthy Buildings program at the CNBC Workforce Executive Council summit on Wednesday. “Greater ventilation leads to significantly better cognitive function performance of employees. It’s good for worker health and productivity.”

“Droplet dogma is over”

Allen said the increased interest in the air quality inside buildings stems from a better understanding of how Covid-19 spreads. Cleaning surfaces and obeying the six-foot distancing rule made sense when the belief was that the virus spread through droplets emitted when we coughed or sneezed and these droplets couldn’t travel further than six feet.

The reality is that Covid-19 is spread through respiratory aerosols that travel well beyond six feet, Allen said. “When we’re talking, coughing, sneezing, or just breathing, we’re constantly emitting respiratory aerosols of different sizes,” he added. “If we’re infected, those particles carry the virus and can travel across any room and stay aloft for hours. The droplet dogma is over.”

An under-ventilated room or building means these respiratory aerosols will build up and can infect someone well beyond that six-foot distance. “All of the big outbreaks we’ve seen have the same characteristics,” Allen said. “Time indoors in an under-ventilated space. It doesn’t matter if it’s spin class, choir practice, or a restaurant. It’s the same fundamental underlying factors that are driving transmission.”

Businesses can take action to counter this, Allen said. “Just like we’ve made great gains in public health around sanitation, water quality, and food safety, indoor air quality is going to be part of that conversation moving forward,” he said.

Employees wear protective masks at a JLL office in Menlo Park, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Giving buildings a tune-up

The first step is for building managers to determine what systems are in place and if they are operating as they were designed to do. “It seems obvious, but oftentimes we put equipment in and then leave it for 10 or 15 years and never give it a tune-up like we do our cars,” Allen explained.

Maximizing the amount of outdoor air coming into the building is another step to take. And finally, Allen said air filters should be upgraded to what’s called MERV 13. (MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value.) He explained that a typical building has a MERV 8 filter that captures about 20% of airborne particles. A MERV 13 filter will capture closer to 90% or more of those particles.

Not only will these higher-grade filters improve air quality to help reduce the spread of viruses, but they can also help workers improve their performance.

Allen’s team at Harvard recently released a study looking at workers from around the world for a year. Each had air quality sensors placed at their desks. A custom-designed smartphone app enabled these workers to take brief cognitive function tests. Allen found that the people with better air ventilation and lower particle levels performed significantly better on these tests than people working in areas where the air quality is worse.

“The beautiful thing about all this is that healthy building strategies help protect against infectious disease, but they’re also good for worker health, productivity, and performance,” Allen said.

In his 2020 book, “Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity” which he co-wrote with Harvard Business School lecturer John D. Macomber, Allen said they show how better air quality and ventilation can lead to bottom-line gains for businesses. His Harvard research and financial simulations found that the benefits of higher ventilation alone are estimated to be between $6,500 and $7,500 per person, per year. In an April 2020 Harvard Business Review article that he co-authored with Macomber, Allen cites researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimating that improving indoor air quality in offices could add as much as $20 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

“Since the late 1970s, in response to the global energy crisis, we started to tighten up our buildings and in the process choked off the air supply in an effort to conserve energy,” Allen said. In doing so, we ushered in the sick building era.

“It’s no surprise that we have high levels of indoor air pollution and sick buildings where people can’t concentrate in conference rooms and constantly feel sleepy at work,” he said.

And contrary to what many think, it’s not just new, modern buildings that can be health-focused. “Any building can be a healthy building and it’s not hard to do and it’s not that expensive,” he added. “In fact, I would argue that healthy buildings aren’t expensive. Sick buildings are what’s expensive.”

 

Portable MicroFactory From Shipping Containers Runs on Solar Power, Reduces Plastic Waste

\5 Nov 2021, 15:21 UTC · 

by Cristina Mircea 

The issue of plastic waste is a global one that can no longer be ignored, especially considering that plastic products are still being sold in massive quantities all over the world. This portable, off-grid MicroFactory made from shipping containers aims to make a difference.

 10 photos

Developed by New York-based company Circular Economy Manufacturing (CEM), the MicroFactory is solar-powered and uses post-consumer plastics to give them a new purpose. The company turns single-use plastic into new, well design products, harnessing just the power of the sun to do so. It is a harmless process that doesn’t produce any waste or polluting substances.

With a roof full of solar panels, the MicroFactory collects the solar energy and stores it in its batteries, which power the machinery used to process the plastic. CEM’s MicroFactory is equipped with a rotational molding machine and a plastic shredder, both powered by the aforementioned batteries. The factory comes with transparent walls that allow anyone to see what goes on inside.

Transforming the plastic into a new, eco-friendly product is a multi-step process. First, the plastic has to go through the shredder where it is turned into plastic flakes. Those flakes are then rinsed in a washer and placed into the rotational molding machine, which spins them and coats the interior of the mold with liquid plastic. The last step is for the mold to be left to cool and the plastic within to solidify.

Circular Economy Manufacturing buys the plastic locally, from a recycling plant in Brooklyn, but the great thing about its MicroFactory is that it is portable. The company plans to place such facilities all over the country, making CEM part of a circular economy instead of a linear one.

A linear economy is based on collecting the raw material, processing it, and turning it into a product that will eventually become waste, once it's no longer useful. On the other hand, a circular economy recycles the product and reuses it, minimizing waste and focusing on sustainability.

 

Honor’s new Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park is quite the modern marvel – Phandroid

It’s been quite an interesting couple of years for Honor, as the former Huawei sub-brand went through a period of turmoil following Huawei’s highly-publicized trade ban. Then, the company was spun off and separated from Huawei and has since released several new smartphones over the course of this year. The Honor 50 was the company’s first foray back into the smartphone market, which was then followed by the Honor Magic 3 flagship lineup.

This week, Honor announced its first “self-funded factory” which will help the company produce new phones at a much faster rate than previously. According to Honor, with the new Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park, it will be able to have a smartphone leave the production line every 28.5 seconds. 

We are proud to announce the opening of our new manufacturing facility which will be integral to assuring our wider range of premium products are of the highest quality. As a premium technology product provider, being able to ensure our standards of reliability and quality will be paramount as we continue our journey to become a leading global technology brand – George Zhao, Honor CEO

While that’s an impressive number, what may be even more impressive is how precise the facility will be able to manufacture new smartphones. Honor claims it will be able to achieve assembly precision of up to 75 microns, which is essentially the size of a single human hair.

Additionally, the company confirmed it will be using more than 600 different quality standards, across the entire array of the process, including development, manufacturing, and finally, the user experience. This includes performing almost 200 “stringent tests on all incoming materials” to ensure that everything meets the quality that Honor wants to achieve with its smartphone lineup.

The park itself is located in Shenzhen, China, and handles everything from the testing of materials to the actual creation of the devices and packaging. All of this is rather impressive, especially when you consider that the facility was self-funded. Things are definitely looking up for Honor, and it’s come a long way from where it was just a couple of years ago.

Are clothes made from recycled materials really more sustainable?

The majority of clothes are made from synthetic fabrics derived from fossil fuels. Photograph: Sergey Ryzhov/Alamy Stock Photo

A growing number of brands are switching to recycled fibers but experts worry people may believe their purchases are impact-free – when that’s far from true

Supported by


Emma Bryce
Sat 6 Nov 2021 

Woven into your clothes is a material that takes on many disguises. It may have the texture of wool, the lightness of linen or the sleekness of silk. It’s in two-thirds of our clothing – and yet most of us don’t even know that it’s there. It’s plastic, and it’s a big problem.

Today, about 69% of clothes are made up of synthetic fibres, including elastane, nylon and acrylic. Polyester is the most common, making up 52% of all fiber production. Plastic’s unique durability and versatility have made it indispensable to the fashion industry.

“It’s in the waistband of your jeans, your shoes, in practically everything you wear, because plastic is this miracle material,” said George Harding-Rolls, campaigns adviser at the Changing Markets Foundation, an organization that investigates corporate practices.

But there’s a climate cost: the raw material for these fibers is fossil fuels. Textile production consumes 1.35% of global oil production, more oil than Spain uses in a year, and significantly contributes to the fashion industry’s huge climate footprint. Synthetics also continue to have an impact long after production, shedding plastic microfibers into the environment when clothes are washed.

In response, a growing number of brands are switching to recycled versions of synthetic fibers like polyester, often advertising these clothes as the “more sustainable” or “conscious” choice.

This seems like an environmental win. But as brands weave more of these recycled yarns into their garments, some experts question whether they are just patching over fashion’s environmental harms. “We’ve been led to believe that recycled and sustainable are synonymous, when they are anything but,” said Maxine Bédat, executive director of the New Standard Institute, a non-profit pushing for a sustainable fashion industry.

The common recycled substitute for virgin synthetics are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, the most common type of plastic bottles, which are produced in the billions each year. A survey of nearly 50 fashion brands by the Changing Markets Foundation revealed that 85% of them aimed to source recycled polyester from plastic bottles. Estimates show that recycled polyester could reduce emissions by up to 32% compared to virgin polyester.

A coastal fishing community Accra, Ghana, is overwhelmed by fast fashion waste. Photograph: Muntaka Chasant/Rex/Shutterstock


The demand for recycled synthetics from industries including fashion is expected to accelerate. Nike uses “some recycled material” in 60% of its products, said Seana Hannah, Nike’s vice-president of sustainable innovation. Recycled polyester is a primary focus: “Nike is the highest industry user of recycled poly and we divert more than 1bn plastic bottles on average a year from landfills,” Hannah said.

Many big brands are setting targets. H&M, Madewell, J Crew and Gap Inc are among more than 70 brands that have committed to increase the share of recycled polyester to 45% by 2025 as part of a recycled polyester challenge set by the Textile Exchange, a non-profit working to increase uptake of lower-impact fibers across the textile industry.

Synthetics make up the second-largest share of fibers after cotton for Gap Inc, said Alice Hartley, director of product sustainability and circularity at the company. All four of its brands – Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Gap – have committed to the 2025 challenge, with Old Navy opting to increase its recycled polyester to 60%.

The company says that recycled synthetics are not a magic bullet. “We really try to stay away from the term ‘sustainable garment’, because that implies that we’ve reached the destination. We really haven’t, it’s a continuous journey,” Hartley said.

Yet this nuanced message may not be filtering through to consumers, especially as many other brands do describe recycled fabrics as sustainable. Experts worry that people may believe their purchases are impact-free – when that’s far from true.

“If you are recycling synthetics, that doesn’t get rid of the microplastics problem,” said Harding-Rolls. Fibers continue shedding from recycled plastic yarns just as much as from virgin yarns, he said.

PET bottles are also part of a well-established, closed-loop recycling system, where they can be efficiently recycled at least 10 times. The apparel industry is “taking from this closed-loop, and moving it into this linear system” because most of those clothes won’t be recycled, said Bédat. Converting plastic from bottles into clothes may actually accelerate its path to the landfill, especially for low-quality, fast-fashion garments which are often discarded after only a few uses.

“One of the hallmarks of greenwashing is taking one piece of the puzzle and extrapolating broad benefits from that,” said Ashley Gill, senior director of standards and stakeholder engagement Textile Exchange. “Sustainability in the apparel industry is a really complex issue.”

There are moves to use recycled textiles as feedstock for new clothes – less than 1% of clothes are currently recycled into new fibers – especially as projections from some markets suggest that cross-industry demand for recycled bottles will soon outstrip supply. But most clothes are made from a medley of fibers, and commercial-scale technology doesn’t yet exist to disentangle these. “A whole supply chain needs to be built up to really get to the commercial volumes that we need, to see more recycled fiber-to-fiber textiles,” Hartley said.

Hyping the lower emissions impact of recycled yarns, said Bédat, distracts from fashion’s larger emissions source: textile mills, which process fibers into yarn to make fabric as well as dyeing and finishing, an energy-guzzling process that accounts for about 76% of a garment’s lifecycle emissions. “Brands are focusing on what magical material they can create, rather than doing the less sexy work of improving energy efficiency in textile mills,” said Bédat. “I don’t want to pooh-pooh progress, but we really do have to start prioritizing where we’re going to be able to move the needle the most.”

Some innovators think the solution lies in finding viable alternatives to fossil fuel-derived synthetics that have the same performance traits. Materials science company Kintra Fibers has developed bio-based fibers made from corn and wheat designed to compost fully in nature. “That addresses the microfiber issue, and provides another pathway for textile circularity as well,” said Alissa Baier-Lentz, the company’s co-founder.

Spinning bio-based yarns at the Kintra Fibers lab in Brooklyn, New York. 

Photograph: Kintra Fibers

The fiber can also be returned to its base components through chemical recycling and used as a feedstock for circular yarn production, Baier-Lentz said. “It’s just on us to get the [recycling] system in place, and work with industry partners to make it happen,” she said. In 2020 Kintra partnered with clothing brand Pangaia to scale up production of the compostable yarn; the company will launch the first clothes made with Kintra fibers in 2022.

But no one innovation is going to solve the fashion industry’s complex plastics problem. Some think the real answer is moving the industry away from a model of excessive production and consumption. Brands churn out dozens of clothing collections a year and, in 2014, people bought 60% more clothing than in 2000 but kept it for half as long. Textile Exchange will focus some of its future industry challenges on “slowing down the growth rate” of clothing production, said Gill.

Legislation will be needed to drive real, systemic change, said Harding-Rolls: “[The apparel industry] is one of the most lightly regulated industries in the world. What we need now are mandatory measures. We see it working in the plastics space, and it’s time for the fashion sector to follow.”

There’s a role for us, too, said Bédat, and that involves people seeing themselves as citizens who can make ethical and political choices. “We’ve been trained to see ourselves primarily as consumers … that the way we solve these problems is by buying, which is the antithesis to the real solution.”

SCIENCE AS TAX WRITE OFF

Mimer Superyacht Explorer Is Perfect for the Adventurous, 

Eco-Friendly Millionaire

 Explorer yachts are no longer the brutish, unpolished and unwelcoming vessels of yesteryear. As demand for luxurious vessels with longer ranges and ice-class hulls soars, a new hybrid vessel has emerged: the superyacht explorer.

6 Nov 2021,

by Elena Gorgan 

Superyacht explorers were initially introduced as concepts, before the multi-millionaires of the world started to have them built. The trend is clearly here to stay, as this new type of vessel is able to blend the best of both worlds, offering multiple functionality, ruggedness and efficiency in a package just as luxurious as that of “regular” superyachts. Pricing is comparable, as well.

On that note, the latest design from Laurent Giles, in collaboration with Tillberg Design of Sweden (TDoS) is here to prove that a superyacht explorer can still be very stylish. It’s superficial to think of a boat’s functionality in terms of aesthetics, but when you pay $75 million for one, it’d better look good throughout. Mimer does all that, while sacrificing none of the ruggedness or high performance of a true explorer. And it’s got green credentials, to boot.

Mimer was introduced last September and is now being listed for sale through IYC, with an asking price of €65 million – just a hair over $75 million at the current exchange rate. It’s a superyacht and an explorer all rolled into one beautiful, Scandinavian-styled package, with a customizable layout and plenty of gear to suit the needs of the most adventurous explorer out there.

Measuring 60 meters (197 feet) in length and spanning several decks, Mimer offers accommodation for 12 guests in six suites, and 15 crew. Its highest selling point is that it can be anything the owner needs it to be, focusing either on luxurious amenities and gorgeous living spaces, or functioning merely as a (still very lavish) transport ship for all the exploring gear.

To that end, Mimer comes with three possible configurations. You have the World Traveler package, which includes a generously-sized beach club and more space for the guests, including the possibility of a full-size gym and spa area aft, without encroaching on the space dedicated to the two cavernous tender garages. Then, there’s the Adventure Explorer package, which replaces the beach club with a large, open, multi-purpose storage area under the helipad deck. The third configuration is basically a Plus version of the Adventure Explorer, adding a fully enclosed helicopter garage.

In the gear-focused configurations, Mimer becomes a virtual toy carrier, as renders in the gallery above will show. In addition to the two tender garages, it will be able to haul a variety of cars and off-road vehicles, jet skits, submarines, and other types of water toys.

The generous, 1600GT interior is just as impressive as the exterior. Mimer oozes Scandinavian minimalism and pure Zen, with soft, neutral furnishes and floor-to-ceiling glazing that allows in natural light and opens up otherwise cramped spaces. The owner’s suite, located on the main desk, is exactly like what you’d find on a superyacht: it has its own private terrace, a jacuzzi, an office and wardrobe, and ensuite bathroom with full-size bathtub.

Mimer would be eco-friendly in whichever was possible, too. TDoS says that locally-sourced or recycled materials will be used for the interiors, to minimize waste and the carbon footprint during production. Because this would be an ice-class vessel meant to go to remote locations, its own carbon footprint would be reduced by means of a hybrid propulsion system, “potentially combing battery fuel cells.” Onboard support system, such as water treatment and waste handling, are “selected to meet the latest and highest requirements regarding low energy consumption and the best possible sustainability solutions available today,” the design studio notes.

“We challenged ourselves to design an explorer yacht that would meet the most demanding requirements in Antarctica as well as looking beautiful in the port of Miami or Monaco. Function combined with beauty,” TDoS Partner & Yacht Director Daniel Nerhagen says in a statement.

Specifics on propulsion have not been published, but TDoS imagines Mimer would have a range of 6,000 nautical miles.

Editor's note:

This article was not sponsored or supported by a third-party.