BETTER PASSENGERS THAN ANTI-VAXXERS

30 South African white rhino relocated to Rwanda in a Boeing 747


Two female nothern white rhinos graze at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Rhinos have few predators in the wild due to their size but have been devastated by poaching for their horns (AFP/TONY KARUMBA)

Mon, November 29, 2021

Thirty endangered white rhinos arrived in Rwanda on Monday after a long journey from South Africa in a Boeing 747, conservationists said, hailing it as the largest single transfer of the species ever undertaken.

The majestic animals, which can weigh up to two tonnes, travelled some 3,400 kilometres (2,100 miles) from South Africa's Phinda Private Game Reserve as part of a programme to replenish the species' population, decimated by poaching since the 1970s.

Once plentiful across sub-Saharan Africa, white rhino suffered first from hunting by European settlers, and later a poaching epidemic which largely wiped them out.

The rhinos began their 40-hour journey to the new home in Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda following months of preparation, said African Parks, a charity headed by Britain's Prince Harry which is involved in the exercise.

"We had to tranquillize them to reduce their stress, which is itself risky, and monitor them," said African Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead, calling the project a success.

The animals were transported in a chartered Boeing 747 and were placed in two grassy enclosures -- each the size of a football stadium -- after arriving in the park.

Later they will be allowed to roam the expansive park, authorities said.

"This will provide an opportunity for them to grow in a safe environment from South Africa where three are killed per day by poachers," said the park's regional manager Jes Gruner.

Wildlife transfers are not without risks. In 2018, four out of six relocated black rhinos died a few months after arriving in Chad.

The southern white rhino, one of two subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

It is classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

- Breeding programme -

The northern white rhino has all but vanished, with only two females left alive.

Scientists are attempting to save the species from extinction by harvesting eggs from the younger of the two animals, Fatu, and using sperm from two deceased males to create embryos in an unprecedented breeding programme, which is their last chance at survival.

Rwanda, which is positioning itself as a top Big Five safari destination, received five eastern black rhinos in 2019 from the Czech Republic and 17 from South Africa in 2017.

Not a single eastern black rhino has been poached at the Akagera park since their re-introduction in 2017, according to its regional manager Gruner.

Rhinos have few predators in the wild due to their size but have been devastated by poaching for their horns -- used in traditional Chinese medicine.

According to the IUCN, there are around 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild, compared to more than a million in the mid-19th century.

str-ho/amu/tgb

Endangered gazelles spring back in Jerusalem park

by Delphine Matthieussent

A mountain gazelle surrounded by common myna birds at the Gazelle Valley, an urban 

nature reserve in the heart of Jerusalem.

A few years ago, only three mountain gazelles were left in Jerusalem's shrinking green spaces, the rest having fallen victim to predators, road kills and urban development.

Today the endangered species has bounced back and a herd of about 80 of the graceful animals roam a small nature reserve within Israel's biggest city, the Gazelle Valley Park.

Created six years ago by Jerusalem City Council and the Society for the Protection of Nature (SPN), the green oasis sits inside one of the city's most dense urban development areas.

Today the park, which can be visited free of charge, is the only one in Israel where gazelles live protected—a sanctuary badly needed by a species under intense pressure.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature placed the mountain gazelle on its Red List in 2017, saying its population was declining due to poaching, road kills and habitat degradation.

"We place the gazelles in as natural an environment as possible, so that we don't make them dependent on humans and so that we can release some of them into the wild in the future," said park diector Yael Hammerman-Solar.

Urban 'green lung'

Endemic to the Levant, the population of mountain gazelles in Israel is now estimated at about 5,000, but falling due to urbanisation and other pressures, said a recent study by Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University and Uri Roll of Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

In Jerusalem several years ago, the construction of a ring road suddenly "blocked the corridor that allowed the gazelles to reach other open spaces outside Jerusalem," said Hammerman-Solar.

"The animals, stuck in the valley, were decimated by stray dogs and jackals or were run over by cars on the ring road."

The SPN then fenced off the about 25 hectare (60 acre) green space and reintroduced a dozen animals, a breeding herd that has since grown to more than 80 individuals.

The park is bordered to the east by a future tramway line, and to the west by a clifftop real estate complex called Holyland.

The Gazelle Valley Park, with a series of ponds, brings other benefits too to the Holy City, said Amir Balaban, head of urban flora and fauna at SPN.

Home to diverse native plants and rich birdlife, it acts like a green lung and recreational space "by regulating temperature, producing oxygen ... and offering residents a place to connect with nature".

Israel studies new forest home for endangered mountain gazelle

© 2021 AFP

WHO calls for treaty to shield against next pandemic



Nations are meeting in Geneva from Monday to Wednesday to discuss an international agreement setting out how to handle the next pandemic -- which experts fear is only a matter of time. (AFP/Guillem Sartorio)

Robin MILLARD
Mon, November 29, 2021

The world must study the wreckage of Covid-19 and say "never again" by striking a pandemic preparedness treaty, the WHO said Monday as countries gathered to build the foundations of a new accord.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said another disastrous pandemic was bound to happen unless countries showed the resolve to strengthen global defences.

Nations are meeting in Geneva from Monday to Wednesday to discuss an international agreement setting out how to handle the next pandemic -- which experts fear is only a matter of time.


The gathering comes with the planet still besieged by Covid-19, nearly two years on from the first cases recorded in China, and now shaken by Omicron, the new Covid variant of concern.

WHO member states reached a consensus Sunday on kick-starting the process towards a pandemic treaty.

The draft decision was secured after countries agreed to compromise -- notably the United States, which is luke-warm on whether the outcome needs to be a legally-binding treaty.

The decision is expected to be formalised on Wednesday.

- Shadow of Omicron -

"The emergence of the highly-mutated Omicron variant underlines just how perilous and precarious our situation is," Tedros told world leaders at the start of the three-day gathering.

"Omicron demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics.

"Omicron's very emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we're done with Covid-19, it's not done with us.

"It will all happen again unless you, the nations of the world, can come together to say with one voice: never again."

This meeting of the World Health Assembly -- the WHO's decision-making body comprising all 194 member states -- is an unprecedented special session on how to handle the next pandemic.

It should thrash out how far countries are prepared to go towards legally-binding commitments on issues like equitable vaccine distribution, knowledge-sharing, financing and oversight structures, with any final deal due to come into force in 2024.

A key issue down the line could be whether countries want beefed-up powers for the WHO to investigate the sources of outbreaks. Tedros said the lack of data-sharing early in the Covid pandemic had been a hindrance.

"One of the expectations of this treaty is to be able to improve the WHO's capacity to monitor and assess the situation in countries: the investigative power of WHO," a French diplomatic source said.

- 'Make history' -

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said the world was unprepared for Covid-19 and "for that weakness, we all paid a great price."

"Steps must be taken to ensure that this will not happen again, that when the next pandemic comes, and it will come, it will find us better prepared," he said.

Under the draft decision, WHO member states agree to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body "to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response".

The body's first meeting must be no later than March 1 next year to elect two co-chairs and four vice-chairs.

A progress report will be presented at the regular World Health Assembly annual gathering in 2023, with the final outcome presented for consideration at the 2024 WHA.

European Council President Charles Michel, who first got the ball rolling on a pandemic treaty, said: "I hope we will make history. The situation in the world demands it.

"Yesterday's informal agreement is a huge step, and now it's time to capitalise on this momentum to make the world a safer place."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for reform of how countries fund the WHO so it can react more flexibly to crises.

"Measures for better prevention and response to pandemics should be laid down in a pandemic treaty, binding under international law," she said.

Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset said the world needed to take immediate, bold action, as he called for a legally-binding instrument.

"The issues at stake are too important. We don't have the right to fail," he said.

rjm-bur/nl/dl

NAFTA CHOO CHOO

Is A Railroad Linking Mexico, Canada And US On The Way? Mexican Regulators Approve $31B Move


By Maggie Valenti
11/29/21 AT 12:15 PM

A railroad that would link Mexico, Canada and the U.S. has been approved by Mexican regulators. The project would operate about 20,000 miles of rail through North America and has the potential for about $8.7 billion in sales, while also helping transition to a greener economy.

The regulators in Mexico approved Canada Pacific’s $31 billion deal to merge with Kansas City Southern, with a plan to link the railroads to Mexico. U.S. regulators have not approved major railroad mergers since the 1990s, the Associated Press noted.

The rail line to Mexico will come from Kansas City Southern, which already has a line from the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas to Texas. Canadian Pacific’s network meets with Kansas City Southern’s line in Kansas City. Canadian Pacific Kansas City would be the name of the new rail line.

The two companies are waiting on key shareholders to approve Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern, and U.S. and Canadian regulatory approval.

Canadian Pacific shareholders will vote on the acquisition on Dec. 8 while Kansas City Southern’s shareholders will vote on Dec. 10, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. The transaction, if approved by shareholders, will close on Dec. 14.

On Friday, the companies said the review of the deal could continue into the fourth quarter of 2022. It would take a while for the railroad to be built, considering the current timeline.

“This historic combination will add capacity to the U.S. rail network, create new competitive transportation options, support North American economic growth, and deliver important benefits to customers, employees and the environment,” said Keith Creel, CEO of Canadian Pacific.

El Salvador Could Make Or Break Bitcoin

By Panos Mourdoukoutas
11/24/21 

El Salvador is going all-in on Bitcoin. This week, the tiny Central American country upped the game by announcing that it will issue Bitcoin-denominate bonds. A couple of months ago, El Salvador made Bitcoin a legal tender, the first country to turn the digital currency into national currency, next to the mighty U.S. dollar. At least in theory.

Will it work in practice? Bitcoin enthusiasts think so.

"Bitcoin is cementing itself as a true store of value, especially with countries like El Salvador going all-in," said Michal Cymbalisty, the founder of Domination Finance, a non-custodial, decentralized exchange.

To cement itself as a store of value, Bitcoin must pass the acceptability test and the international test.

The acceptability test

National currencies cannot become real currencies by legislative mandates or executive orders alone. In addition, the general public must use them as a medium of exchange and store of value. These are critical attributes of real national currencies, from the U.S. dollar to the euro and yuan.

Does Bitcoin have these attributes? A couple of months ago, Chinese authorities provided a clear and loud answer to this question. "A cryptocurrency is a specific virtual product that is not issued by monetary authorities and does not have the attributes of fiat money as legal tender and, therefore, it is not real currency," a Global Times editorial read. That's why it banned crypto. This week, India followed suit.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is on the same page with Chinese monetary authorities: digital currency doesn't have what it takes to be real money. It isn't a suitable medium of exchange, and it isn't a good store of value either.

A Bitcoin token. Photo: Executium / Unsplash

It isn't a suitable medium of exchange because its value is highly volatile. And it isn't a good store of value because it isn't backed by anything, as is the case with all cryptocurrencies.

RELATED STORIES

What Is Bitcoin? The World’s First Cryptocurrency

IMF Urges El Salvador Against Using Bitcoin As Official Currency

"They're highly volatile and, therefore, not useful stores of value, and they're not backed by anything," Chairman Powell said during a virtual panel discussion on digital banking hosted by the Bank for International Settlements.

Powell's comments were in line with the comments made by European Central Bank governing council member Gabriel Makhlouf last January. He warned Bitcoin investors that they might end up losing all their money. "Our role is to make sure that consumers are protected," Makhlouf told Bloomberg TV. That leads the discussion to the next test.

The international test

To survive and thrive in the international market system, national currencies must be accepted or at least tolerated by major financial institutions. But that's very unlikely to happen with Bitcoin.

The world's central bankers wouldn't like to see El Salvador create a precedent for Bitcoin to become a national currency. That will undermine their monopoly on issuing money and collecting seigniorage income — the acquisition of commodities and assets by printing money.

Already, the pressure is on El Salvador to reconsider its decision to adopt Bitcoin as its national currency. International credit rating agencies like Moody's downgraded the country's debt rating, making it more expensive for El Salvador to borrow money in global capital markets. Meanwhile, the IMF is holding off lending money to El Salvador, claiming that Bitcoin could exacerbate price instability and undermine the country's financial system.

El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin has placed the digital currency to two tests, the acceptability test and the international test. The outcome of these tests will determine whether the digital currency will join national currencies or remain the currency for a small group of tech-savvy individuals.

The El Salvador experiment will make or break Bitcoin.

Peru Quake Injures 12, Leaves More Than 2,400 Homeless


By AFP News
11/29/21 

A 7.5-magnitude earthquake in northern Peru injured 12 people and destroyed 117 homes, leaving more than 2,400 people without a roof over their heads, authorities said Monday.

The quake, which struck in the early hours of Sunday and sent shock waves across the region, also leveled five churches and damaged a clinic and some 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) of roads.

The tremor was felt in nearly half of the country, including coastal and Andean regions and the capital Lima. It also caused damage in neighboring Ecuador.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo (L) visited residents hit by an earthquake in the Amazonas department of northeast Peru 

Photo: Peruvian Presidency via AFP

The epicenter was 98 kilometers east of the small Peruvian town of Santa Maria de Nieva in the Peruvian Amazon -- a sparsely populated area inhabited by indigenous people, many of whom live in wood and mud houses, which collapsed.

The 14-meter (45-foot) tower of a colonial-era church collapsed in the La Jalca district, also in the Amazon.

Widespread power outages were reported, and roads were cut off by rocks unearthed by the tremor.

Authorities said 117 homes were destroyed by the earthquake in northern Peru 

Photo: Peruvian Presidency via AFP

"We have all taken to the streets, we are very scared," a listener called Lucia told RPP radio from the northern town of Chota.

"All my solidarity with the people of Amazonas in the face of the strong earthquake," Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who was at the scene of the tremor Monday, said on Twitter.

Map of Peru locating the quakes which struck on November 28, 2021 Photo: AFP / Gustavo IZUS


"You are not alone, brothers."

The president said there were "people waiting to be rescued" in remote jungle villages, and promised the government would provide food and tents.

Castillo said he had ordered all relevant ministries "to take immediate actions."

The president indicated that in jungle villages there are still "people who are waiting to be rescued."

In Lima, more than 1,000 kilometers south of the epicenter, the quake was felt with less intensity, but it lasted long enough to prompt some people to seek refuge on the street outside.

The Peruvian capital, with a population of 10 million, had been shaken hours before by a 5.2-magnitude earthquake.

No tsunami warning was issued by US monitors.

Peru experiences at least 400 perceptible earthquakes every year.

It is located in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire -- an area of ample seismic activity that extends along the west coast of the American continent.

A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Peru's central coast on August 15, 2007, causing more than 500 deaths.

Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

WHERE ARE THE UN PEACEKEEPERS

In Haiti, Rise Of Gangs Leads To Another Horror: Gang Rape


By Amelie BARON
11/28/21 

Haitians Protest In Titanyen Streets Demanding Release Of Kidnapped U.S. Missionaries

As the rising power of criminal gangs plunges Haiti deeper into chaos, health care workers are getting overwhelmed by the number of women being raped by these violent groups, and by the sheer horror of the victims' ordeals.

"Some of the kidnapped women don't even know how many men raped them," said Doctor Judith Fadois, who has worked for the past six years at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinic in Port-au-Prince for victims of sexual violence.

"In some cases, I would speak of mutilation, they were treated like objects so much," the doctor said of the awful things she has seen and heard at the clinic in recent months.

A woman who suffered from sexual violence stands in the MSF clinic in Port-au-Prince 

Photo: AFP / Valerie Baeriswyl

There is already a taboo surrounding sex crimes in this society widely seen as chauvinist, and that makes it hard enough to talk about rape. But the heightened cruelty of Haitian gangs has stunned some of the medical teams beyond words.

In the past two months, as gangs virtually took control of the capital in the wake of the president's assassination and a years-long social and economic crisis, the staff at the clinic have heard things that the doctor says she "never thought a human being could do to another human being."

An office in the MSF clinic for victims of sexual violence in Haiti 

Photo: AFP / Valerie Baeriswyl

Hearing the endless tales of "pure torture" that the victims recount when they come to the clinic has also taken its toll on the health care workers who provide assistance to the women, Fadois said.

One of the first people the victims interact with when they call the clinic is Djynie Sonia Dieujuste. She and three colleagues run the emergency hotline, a free and confidential service.

"We are humans, we are women, and there are situations that really affect us," said the nurse, who answers two or three calls a day.

"Some have suicidal thoughts, which is why we have psychologists available 24 hours a day who take over if it exceeds our ability to deal with it" as nurses, she said.

Doctor Judith Fadois, head of the Doctors Without Borders clinic

 "Pran men'm" ("Take My Hand") for victims of sexual violence in Port-au-Prince

 Photo: AFP / Valerie Baeriswyl

In early November, a woman calling herself Sophonie -- not her real name -- was among those who called. The 24-year-old was raped by two men who broke into her home in a working class district of the capital.

"I was asleep and I felt the door open. I thought it was my aunt coming back. They rushed at me, they gagged me and then I passed out," she said in a small voice.

An emergency accommodation room at the Doctors Without Borders'

 "Pran men'm" clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti 

Photo: AFP / Valerie Baeriswyl

"When I came to, I was totally naked and my clothes were torn," she recalled.

After the attack, Sophonie wanted to go to the police. But she had not been able to make out the faces of her assailants, so she gave up on the idea.

Getting treatment and counseling at the MSF center helped, but she still refuses to talk about the rape to those around her, including her college teachers and classmates.

After a week of skipping classes, she simply said she had been ill.

"In the neighborhoods, a person who has suffered rape suffers from stigma," said Fadois. "So women internalize not talking about it, if it ever happens to them."

To tackle this taboo, and because no other medical institution was taking on this aspect of public health in Haiti, MSF opened a center called "Pran men'm" ("Take my hand" in Creole) in May 2015.

The clinic is also moving to combat certain customs that hinder the fight against sexual violence.

"In the provinces especially, the tradition is that either we force the girl to marry her attacker, or the family of the victim is financially compensated," said Fadois.

To extend medical care for sexual violence, MSF has organized training for health professionals from all the hospitals in Haiti.

That has given Fadois a chance to observe up close that the notion of consent was not obvious to her male colleagues, steeped in the macho culture of the country.

"Male doctors were yelling at me, asking me, 'But where do you come out with this stuff? It's not something for our culture, for here,'" the doctor recalled.

In six years, she can draw satisfaction from a slow but steady change in attitudes towards rape. On the other hand, the recent rise of gangs in Port-au-Prince is jeopardizing the assistance offered to victims.

"Some say they can't even leave the place where they are because of the insecurity there: it's like they're in prison," the doctor said helplessly.

FASCISM

Egyptian rights activist fined over 'insulting' online posts

An Egyptian court fined prominent human rights activist Hossam Bahgat on Monday for "insulting" the country's electoral commission on social media, a judicial source said.

© MOHAMED EL-SHAHED 

Egyptian human rights activist Hossam Bahgat pictured at a Cairo court on April 20, 2016

Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was fined 10,000 pounds ($635) after he alleged incidents of electoral fraud during last year's parliamentary elections, in tweets and Facebook posts.

Parliament is mostly comprised of loyalists of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and critics view the chamber as a "rubber-stamp" body.

Since Sisi became president in 2014 following the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the year before, he has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent with estimates of 60,000 political prisoners jailed.

In July, the US State Department expressed its concern over the indictment of Bahgat, saying dissidents "should not be targeted for expressing their views peacefully".

Bahgat was charged with "spreading false news", a common accusation levelled against Egyptian dissidents in recent years.

The verdict can be appealed, the judicial source said.

Bahgat, who is also a journalist, is already banned from travelling and his assets have been frozen because of a separate case in which he remains indicted.

Authorities have in recent years particularly targeted the group Bahgat founded.

Three EIPR staff were jailed last year, sparking an international campaign supported by celebrities including Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson that resulted in their release.

Another EIPR researcher, Patrick Zaki, has been detained since February 2020 and faces charges of "spreading false news" after he returned to Egypt from Italy, where he was studying at Bologna University.

Last week, 46 human rights groups signed a statement calling on Egyptian authorities to drop the charges against Bahgat, describing them as "a clear reprisal".

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WELL SAID

COVID changed the way teens at this high school have gym class. It shouldn't change back

Clare Socolow
Fri, November 26, 2021,

Physical education at Moorestown High School had to undergo serious changes to comply with the new COVID-19 requirement of social distancing.

Before the pandemic, gym class had units which focused on playing a sport. Throughout the year we had soccer units, volleyball units, badminton units, hockey units, and others which were also covered in all of our previous grades in Moorestown public schools.

In more recent years, in an effort to spread out students in a more socially distanced manner, students were able to choose if we want to play basketball, volleyball, badminton, or some other activity offered in the gym. Walking is also an option if a student does not want to participate in a game, and on sunny days, we can walk outside or play outdoor activities like frisbee.

Compared to how it used to be, I prefer the more recent modifications to gym class.


Moorestown freshman coach Steph Allocco sends a group of senior off during a 'beep test' at a preseason practice. Soccer is part of the high school gym curriculum, but Teen Takes panelist Clare Socolow wishes gym class could stay more fitness, rather than sports, focused.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I didn’t have much of an issue with the way gym class was run. Though I was never a fan of some of the units like soccer and hockey, I found that I really enjoyed tennis, badminton, and other games. It was a good experience for me to be exposed to games and sports I’d never played before at a young age.

But once I had reached high school, my attitude changed. By the time students are in high school, we have already been exposed to all the different sports that were offered through middle and elementary school. I am 16 years old, and I don’t need another unit of soccer to confirm that I don’t like playing the sport.

For students who do like soccer, by the time they have reached high school they most likely already joined the school’s soccer team, a club team outside of school, or a team they created with their friends. What's the point in making gym students continue to play games that we already tried out before high school and found we dislike?

Instead of forcing students to replay sports we know we don’t like, some of the time we spend in gym class could instead be dedicated to learning how to use workout equipment, and how to make healthy and sustainable workout routines in our future.

Figuring out a workout routine that is a good fit for you is a very hard task. In middle school I remember briefly spending time in the weight room, where we would rotate after two minutes at stations with different equipment. I was only taught how to turn on and speed up the treadmill, not how to use all the other available functions that I could have applied to my workout routine early on.

We have four years of high school gym class and I believe part of that time should be spent preparing us for physical activity in college and adulthood. Isn’t that what high school is supposed to be about?

In today’s redesigned gym class, we have the freedom to choose to do whatever we want as long as we are active. Almost every gym period, two of my friends and I walk outside on the track and talk. It’s nice to have some time to just decompress while staying active, and I get to go outside. Going outside has been proven to be better for mental health, and for the first time since elementary school, I find myself looking forward to gym class.

The athletes who play volleyball and basketball on teams and actually enjoy it get to play those games in gym class, if that’s what they choose.

This new approach not only makes gym periods much more laid-back and fun, but also allows students to still be active while getting more fresh air. If these revisions to high school gym class remain after the pandemic has ended, not only would many more students enjoy their time in physical education, but they would also feel confident in their ability to be healthy as they go on to college and beyond.

Clare Socolow

Clare Socolow is a junior at Moorestown High School. She plays violin, is a longtime Girl Scout and in her free time enjoys writing, reading, drawing and painting.
This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: At Moorestown High School, gym class shifts from sports to fitness

Want to help teens' body image? Change the way we do gym class

Jacob Woodruff
Fri, November 26, 2021

Everyone rightfully is outraged over the recent acknowledgement that Facebook and Instagram know they are hurting teens through unrealistic body images. Yet there is another method of body imaging shaming that continues.

In just about every high school across the nation, gym classes are in session, dividing teens into groups. While physical activity does the body good, are the methods in which gym classes are developed a possible gateway to body issues?

Admittedly, I am a very thin male who stands five feet, five inches tall, and unless the sport is attached to a computer or gaming system, I’m typically bad at it.

Countless days I spend standing, waiting to be called for a team in gym class, only to be chosen last. I am lucky that my school offers choices for physical activity including a “walk the track,” yet I am usually walking as the only male on the track. No matter the day, I typically leave gym class defeated, wondering why I’m not the athlete other males in my class are.


High school gym class can be just as bad as social media in enforcing negative body image.

I know I can’t be alone in this feeling.

For decades, movies and television shows have presented stories of the weak nerds that are no match for the muscle-ridden athletes. While the ending is usually a merge of the two groups playing off each others’ superior abilities, it still shows how divided the mindset can be with regards to physical appearances.

Yes, there are differences in this world, making a truly beautifully diverse planet, but why must some teens endure a gym class that shows how unathletic their body is? Why must we continue to subject teens to a gym locker room where body judgment is around every corner?

How can we accept the possible body image issues that occur in gym classes, but go after social media for doing the same thing?

I am in full support of getting physical activity, cheering on the great athletes at my school, and learning more about living a healthy life. I just want to know if there is a better way of doing gym classes, creating inclusivity that helps teens accept and love their bodies and physical abilities.

Until this day happens, I will continue to walk the track, attempt to play team sports in gym class, and increase my proteins and carbs, hoping that I will someday be the inner athlete gym class tells me I am.

Jacob Woodruff

Jacob Woodruff is a sophomore at Paul VI High School in Haddonfield. He joined the student newspaper as a freshman, and hopes to explore the South Jersey region from the teen perspective.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: High school gym class can reinforce negative body images among teens

Strange signals on Venus may be coming from an erupting volcano


Venus, Earth’s hellish doppleganger. NASA/JPL-Caltech


A new study adds to a growing pile of evidence that Venus may be volcanically active — a finding that, if true, would help explain how volcanoes impact planetary evolution and habitability across the cosmos. The research, which focuses on strange signals coming from a Venusian volcano called Idunn Mons, is fueling excitement about future missions to Earth’s nearest neighbor that will settle the matter once and for all.

It’s long been known that Venus is covered in some seriously surreal volcanoes. But it is impossible to tell from Earth whether they are still oozing lava today, because Venus’s thick and hazy atmosphere obscures whatever may be happening on the ground.

Now, using archival observations from old orbiter missions and the results of experimental work conducted on Earth, a team of scientists is making the case that the 1.5-mile high, 125-mile wide Idunn Mons has been active within the past few thousand years, and is likely still erupting today. They won’t have to wait long to confirm their hunch: Within the next decade, a small squadron of missions capable of detecting volcanic activity on the surface will begin their journeys to Venus.

Justin Filiberto, the branch chief in Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Research Office at NASA Johnson Space Center and co-author of the study published last month in The Planetary Science Journal, says that at this point he doesn’t think “anyone would be surprised that, when we got to Venus, we’d find evidence of volcanic activity.”

Still, confirming that suspicion would have major implications. Like Earth, Venus once had an ocean’s worth of water, but today it’s an arid wasteland with a dense, acid-laden atmosphere and a surface hot enough to melt lead. A leading explanation for Venus’s hellish transformation is epic volcanic eruptions that kickstarted irreversible climate change. Studying Venus’s volcanoes up close, then, will help us better understand why Earth has not (yet) undergone a similar eruptive apocalypse. And while dead volcanoes would offer some clues, volcanoes are a lot easier to comprehend if you can observe them in action.

“THE LIKELIHOOD OF THERE BEING NO ACTIVE VOLCANISM ON VENUS MUST BE FUNCTIONALLY ZERO”

While there’s no direct evidence of active volcanism on Venus, there are several indirect clues. The high concentration of sulfur dioxide, a common volcanic gas, in Venus’s atmosphere makes much more sense if volcanoes are still belching it out today. Venus’s surface features tectonic rift zones – hotspots of volcanic activity on Earth – as well as cauldron-like volcanic features which are sometimes shaped in a way that suggests they are being transformed by underlying heat. More straightforwardly, it would be bizarre if Venus was volcanically dead because of its size. “Venus is basically the same size as Earth. Earth isn’t volcanically dead, so why would we expect Venus to be?” says Lauren Jozwiak, a planetary volcanologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physical Laboratory.

The new study brings an array of evidence together to suggest that the magmatic heart of Idunn Mons is still beating today.

Europe’s Venus Express orbiter, which circled the planet from 2006 to 2014, found lava flow deposits all over —including at Idunn Mons — that were glowing in infrared. Venus’s corrosive atmosphere quickly chews up volcanic minerals, dimming their infrared glow. So these intense thermal emissions were thought to represent lavas that had erupted as recently as 250,000 years ago. But recent experimental work, in which volcanic minerals were baked under Venusian atmospheric conditions and degraded faster than previously thought, implies the lavas may have erupted within the last 1,000 years. And at Idunn Mons specifically, winds are being disrupted more than would be expected based on the volcano’s topography. The authors suggest heat from molten rocks may be adding to the turbulence above the volcano.

Jozwiak, who wasn’t involved with the study, says it represents “really compelling case work.” But ultimately, future spacecraft missions to Venus, including NASA’s VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions, and Europe’s EnVision probe, which are slated to launch toward the end of this decade, will be the ones to confirm its suspicions.

VERITAS (the Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission) is kitted out with a state-of-the-art radar system that will be able to identify fresh lava unambiguously. It will make multiple passes of the same areas mapped by an earlier radar-equipped orbiter known as Magellan. If a lava flow pops up that wasn’t there when Magellan visited Venus in the early 1990s, VERITAS will find it. NASA’s intrepid orbiter may even spot new lava flows that pop up during its tenure around the planet. VERITAS’s infrared camera will also make youthful lava flows that are still emitting heat easy to spot.

THESE THREE FUTURE MISSIONS WILL SOON UNEARTH THE ANSWER

While VERITAS will study giant patches of the planet, Europe’s EnVision orbiter will conduct surgical scientific strikes. Its radar system will examine the ground for recent signs of volcanic or tectonic terraforming, and its infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers will look for curious chemical concoctions on the land and in the sky. If the spacecraft focuses on a volcano that’s spewing lava or noxious gases, or or a quiet one whose magma is radiating heat from beneath the surface, it will know.

DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus) is going to drop a probe through Venus’s atmosphere that will document its chemistry as it plunges to its death on the surface. With DAVINCI+ providing a profile of the volcanic gases present at that moment in time, scientists working with VERITAS and EnVision will be able to more easily identify spikes in the concentrations of those gases—indications than a recent eruption has topped them up.

To many planetary scientists, confirming that Venus is volcanically active is a mere formality at this point. “It would be truly astonishing if it wasn’t,” says Richard Ghail, a planetary geologist at the Royal Holloway University of London and EnVision’s lead scientist. Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, agrees. “The likelihood of there being no active volcanism on Venus must be functionally zero,” says Byrne.

For Ghail and others, the exciting thing about future missions to Venus is what they will be able to tell us about how active it is. Is it more like Earth, where dozens of eruptions occur every day, or like Mars, a volcanically comatose world where giant cascades of molten rock might flood the surface every few million years? Some suspect Venus will erupt to its own beat; others believe its rhythm will hew closer to our planet’s own. These three future missions will soon unearth the answer, putting decades of volcanic speculation to rest.

“I think we’re going to be writing brand new textbooks about Venus once all of these missions get there,” says Filiberto. “It’s going to change how we think about planetary evolution.”