Google Doodle celebrates Anna Mani's 104th birthday



A new Google Doodle is celebrating the birthday of renowned Indian meteorologist Anna Mani. Photo courtesy of Google

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A new Google Doodle released Tuesday celebrated the birthday of renowned Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani, who would've turned 104 years old.

The Doodle depicts Mani in front of a number of different climates, including a rainstorm and a beating sun. The physicist is also shown working on some calculations alongside a weather balloon, all of which work to make up the Google logo.

Mani would rise through the ranks of her nation's upper-class to become one of the most consequential scientists in Indian history.

Born on Aug. 23, 1918 in the village of Peermade in British India, Mani had read almost every book in her local library at the age of just 12, according to Google.

Following high school, Mani completed her undergraduate studies, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry from Pachaiyappa's College in Madras. She would then go onto post-graduate studies, learning spectroscopy under Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman.

Mani eventually earned her Ph.D. and began a graduate program at London's prestigious Imperial College.

In 1948, Mani returned to her native India to begin working for the country's Meteorological Department, helping a team of scientists design and manufacture weather-gauging instruments.

Despite meteorology being a male-dominated field at the time, Mani would end up leading the department by 1953, where over 100 different weather instrument designs were standardized under her watch.

Later in life, Mani would become the Deputy Director General of the India Meteorological Department and also hold multiple positions within the United Nations.

Beyond her contributions to meteorology, Mani was also an advocate for alternative energy. In the 1950s, she "established a network of solar radiation monitoring stations and published several papers on sustainable energy measurement."

Mani died in 2001 at the age of 83, but her influence on Indian science remains strong, with Google saying, " [Her] work inspired brighter days for this world."

Mani is not the only physicist to be honored with a Google Doodle in recent weeks.

A July 18 Doodle celebrated the life of German physicist and composer Oskar Sala, who would've been 112.

Sala studied physics at school and helped to develop a new system for composing electronic music.

Baby southern white rhino born at San Diego Zoo

By Justin Klawans

A baby southern white rhino was born at the San Diego Zoo in early 

August, marking another milestone for the subspecies. 

Photo courtesy of San Diego Zoo

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A California zoo is heralding the birth of a baby southern white rhinoceros in early August.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomed the male rhino on Aug. 6, born to first-time mom Livia and father J. Gregory, according to a press release from the zoo.

The calf, which does not yet have a name, was conceived naturally, and is reported to be "healthy, confident and full of energy." The zoo added that Livia was "very attentive and protective of her offspring."

The zoo also tweeted a video of the young calf exploring his enclosure with his mom.

"Seeing this energetic little rhino running around, wallowing in the mud and just being generally curious is very rewarding," said Jonnie Capiro, the San Diego Zoo's lead wildlife care specialist. "While this is the first time Livia has given birth, we expected she would be a great mother -- and she proves this every day."

While Livia had not previously given birth, she had cared for an orphaned rhino named Arthur in 2020, and the zoo reported that she had shown strong maternal instincts with the baby.

"All rhino births are significant, and this calf's birth represents an essential step in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's Northern White Rhino Initiative, showing Livia can carry a calf to term and care for her offspring," added Barbara Durrant, the San Diego Zoo's director of reproductive sciences. "This is vitally important, as Livia is now among the female rhinos at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center who could potentially serve in the future as a surrogate mother to a northern white embryo."

The Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center is a portion of the zoo dedicated to rhino conservation, working with southern white rhinos in an effort to save its sister subspecies, the northern white rhino.

Southern white rhinos have seen dwindling populations due to poaching, but, despite being listed as endangered, there are still an estimated 18,000 in the wild.

The northern white rhino, however, is one of the most critically endangered animals on Earth.

The subspecies is believed to be extinct in the wild, and the last two remaining northern white rhinos on the planet live at a conservancy in Kenya.

Both of these rhinos, though, are female, and are unable to reproduce naturally. The last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018.

Facilities like the Nikita Kahn Center are using the southern white rhino in an attempt to repopulate the northern white subspecies artificially.

This includes technologies such as "artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer."

"An interdisciplinary team -- including wildlife care and health teams, reproductive physiologists and geneticists -- are working with southern white rhinos as a model for developing these advanced reproductive technologies," the zoo said. "The ultimate goal [is] to establish a sustainable population of northern white rhinos using banked genetic material.

At least two of the southern white rhinos at the San Diego Zoo were born via artificial insemination.

While both subspecies remain officially endangered, there have been some strides made in recent years.

In 2019, researchers in Europe were able to successfully fertilize a pair of northern white rhino eggs, marking a breakthrough in the fight to save the animal.

Life expectancy in Hawaii is 9 years longer than in Mississippi

By HealthDay News

A new report found that Americans living in Hawaii, the Northwest, California and the Northeast had the longest life expectancy. People living in the Southeast typically had the shortest expected lifespans. 

Photo by Bettina Nørgaard/Pixabay

Differences in lifestyles and other factors are linked to big gaps in life expectancy between residents of various U.S. states, 2020 data shows.

That could mean almost a decade more or less of life, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

"Among the 50 states and D.C., Hawaii had the highest life expectancy at birth, 80.7 years in 2020, and Mississippi had the lowest, 71.9 years," concluded a team led by Elizabeth Arias, of the CDC's Division of Vital Statistics.

For the report, the researchers pored over data from each state on mortality rates, as well as 2010 census data and Medicare data, to tally up life expectancy at birth per state.

Much of the differences fell along regional lines, with Americans living in Hawaii, the Northwest, California and the Northeast living the longest. People living in the Southeast typically had the shortest expected lifespans.

The top 10 longest-lived states, by average life expectancy in years, are:

Hawaii -- 80.7
Washington -- 79.2
Minnesota -- 79.1
California -- 79
Massachusetts -- 79
New Hampshire -- 79
Vermont -- 78.8
Oregon -- 78.8
Utah -- 78.6
Connecticut -- 78.4

The states ranking in the bottom 10, by average life expectancy in years, are:

Mississippi -- 71.9
West Virginia -- 72.8
Louisiana -- 73.1
Alabama -- 73.2
Kentucky -- 73.5
Tennessee -- 73.8
Arkansas -- 73.8
Oklahoma -- 74.1
New Mexico -- 74.5
South Carolina -- 74.8

As seen in other tallies of national life expectancy data, the pandemic played a big role in shrinking American life spans.

"From 2019 to 2020, life expectancy at birth declined for all states and D.C," the CDC team noted.

Some states were hit harder than others: For example, in New York life spans fell by three years during the pandemic, and in Louisiana life expectancy declined by 2.6 years.

RELATED Optimism associated with longer lifespan in women

On the other hand, Hawaii seemed relatively spared: In the Aloha State, life expectancy fell by just 0.2 years between 2019 and 2020. In New Hampshire, the decline was just 0.4 years, the report found.

Women still tend to outlive men, living an average of 5.7 years longer than their male peers in 2020, the researchers noted.

The study was published Tuesday in National Vital Statistics Reports.

More information

Hopkins Medicine has tips to help you lead a long, healthy life.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Germany and Canada sign hydrogen deal

Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Trudeau signed the agreement in Newfoundland, the future home of a green hydrogen plant. German energy companies have already agreed to import Canadian hydrogen.

Trudeau hailed Scholz as an 'important progressive voice' on the world stage

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a deal on Tuesday for Germany to import green hydrogen from Canada.

The two leaders signed the deal in the port town of Stephenville, Newfoundland.

The first deliveries are expected in just three years.

Earlier on Tuesday, the two heads of government attended an economic conference in Toronto.

Germany seeks options as it tries to move away from Russian gas

The trip to Canada, Scholz's first as chancellor, comes as Germany looks for ways to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.

At a press briefing in Toronto Tuesday, Scholz said Canada was the partner of choice, as Germany moves away from Russian energy imports at "warp speed."

"Your country has almost boundless potential to become a superpower in sustainable energy and sustainable resource production," he said.

The pair also said they would discuss the possibility of Germany buying Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

To that end, Trudeau said on Monday that "we are looking at every possible different way to help out the German people and Europeans in the short term as they face a real challenge this coming winter."

"Canada will play a very, very central role in the development of green hydrogen," Scholz said at the same joint press conference. "That's why we're very happy that we can also take this opportunity to expand our partnership in this field."

How does hydrogen work as a source of energy?

Both LNG and green hydrogen are seen as medium-term solutions and will not be able to help Germany in the next few months. Canada does not yet have the means to export LNG internationally, and the production of green hydrogen is still in its infancy.

The use of hydrogen does not produce greenhouse gases. To create it, water has to be split into hydrogen and oxygen, electrolysis that is only climate-friendly if sustainably produced energy is used.

In principle, hydrogen can serve as a basis for fuels to replace coal, oil, and natural gas in industry and transport. Because its production is very energy-intensive, hydrogen is currently still significantly more expensive than fossil fuels.

Sparsely populated windy areas such as Newfoundland are considered ideal for the production of green hydrogen.

German energy companies Eon and Uniper said on Tuesday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada's Everwind on the sidelines of the German-Canadian talks with the aim of importing hydrogen on a large scale from 2025.

Scholz called the agreement "an important step, not only for strengthening our bilateral economic relations but also for a sustainable energy supply for the future."

Trudeau and Scholz were also scheduled to take part in an online conference on Tuesday organized by the Ukrainian government. The aim of the summit is to mobilize international support for the return to Ukraine of Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Both leaders spoke on Monday of their continued dedication to helping Kyiv fight Russian aggression.

es/rt (AP, dpa, Reuters)

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Volkswagen signs agreement to bring battery manufacturing to Canada


Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and Canadian minister Francois-Philippe Champagne sit in the foreground with German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau standing during the memorandum signing Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Volkswagen

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Volkswagen on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government to bring some of its electric vehicle battery manufacturing to the country.

The European auto giant signed the deal in Toronto in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The deal is being viewed as an effort by Volkswagen to make sure it qualifies for electric vehicle tax credits in the United States. The U.S. government recently created new guidelines under the Inflation Reduction Act requiring electric batteries to be manufactured in North America to qualify for EV tax credits.

"Volkswagen has been vigorously pushing the transformation to e-mobility, recognizing the industry's responsibility in the global battle against climate change," Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen Group, said in a statement. He signed the agreement with Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, Francois-Philippe Champagne.

"The group today not only offers the broadest range of electric models to customers but is also rolling out an ambitious battery and charging strategy. Working hand in hand with governments around the world is an absolute prerequisite to meet our climate goals and I want to thank the Canadian government for their support," Diess said.

Volkswagen said the PowerCo, its newly founded battery company, will play a central role in future planned cooperation efforts in the fields of battery value creation, raw materials supply chains and cathode material production in the North American region.

"As an automaker, we see compliance with stringent sustainability criteria as a top priority," Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Board of Management member for Technology, said in a statement.

"For us, the availability of power from renewable sources and a raw materials sector with mines supplying materials conforming to the globally recognized environmental and social standards are crucially important. That is why Canada is an ideal partner for our e-mobility and battery strategy."

Art Meets Science
Doppelgängers Don’t Just Look Alike—They Also Share DNA

New research finds genetic and lifestyle similarities between unrelated pairs of “virtual twins”

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent

August 24, 2022 

Four pairs of "human doubles" included in the study Courtesy of François Brunelle

Doppelgängers share strikingly similar physical characteristics—they look so alike that, at times, these two unrelated people could easily pass for twins (or, at least, siblings).

Now, new research suggests that doppelgängers have more in common than meets the eye. People with very similar faces also share many of the same genes and lifestyle traits, according to a new paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports.

It may seem obvious that people with similar facial features would also have some of the same DNA, but no one had scientifically proven this, until now. Thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever for researchers to track down and study doppelgängers.

.

To understand what was going on at the genetic level among look-alikes, scientists collaborated with the Canadian photographer François Brunelle. Since 1999, Brunelle has been traveling around the world to capture intimate portraits of strangers who look nearly identical to one another for his “I’m not a look-alike!” project.

Researchers asked 32 pairs of Brunelle’s models to answer questions about their lifestyles and submit samples of their DNA.

Using facial recognition software, the scientists analyzed headshots of the so-called “human doubles” and computed a score to quantify similarities among their faces. They compared the scores to those of identical twins and found that the software had awarded twin-like scores to exactly half of the doppelgänger pairs.

To find out whether the similarities ran more than skin deep, the researchers next studied the participants’ DNA. They found that nine of the 16 very similar-looking pairs shared many common genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms. These pairs are “therefore like virtual twins,” says Manel Esteller, a geneticist who leads Spain’s Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, to Gizmodo’s Ed Cara.

In terms of their lifestyles, the "human doubles" were also more likely than non-doppelgängers to have characteristics in common, such as their weight, height, smoking history and education levels.

But though they had similar genetics and traits, the look-alikes had very different microbiomes, or communities of helpful and harmful microbes that live on and in the human body, and different epigenomes, or variations in expressed traits influenced by the experiences of past generations. From a nature vs. nurture perspective, this suggests that it’s DNA, not environmental factors or shared life experiences, that is primarily responsible for how similar doppelgängers look.

In a growing population, there’s bound to be some genetic overlap just by happenstance. “Because the human population is now 7.9 billion, these look-alike repetitions are increasingly likely to occur,”

Esteller says in a statement.

Aside from pulling back the curtain on one of life’s great curiosities, the research could have important medical implications in the future. People with similar DNA may be equally susceptible to certain genetic illnesses, so doctors could use facial analysis as a quick and easy pre-screening tool, reports the Telegraph’s Sarah Knapton.

Researchers say the findings may also someday help police investigators conjure up the faces of suspects from their DNA samples. But that potential application wades into murky ethical territory, says Daphne Martschenko, a biomedical ethicist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study, to the New York Times’ Kate Golembiewski.

“We’ve already seen plenty of examples of how existing facial algorithms have been used to reinforce existing racial bias in things like housing and job hiring and criminal profiling,” Martschenko says to the Times.



Sarah Kuta | READ MORE
Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

Finland PM Sanna Marin apologizes for 'inappropriate' party photo
By Matt Bernardini

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has been criticized for a photo depicting a party that was held in July, leading some critics to say she may have an excessive party lifestyle. Photo courtesy of Government of FInland


Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin apologized on Tuesday for an "inappropriate" photo that was taken by her friends and posted on social media this week.

Marin, who's faced criticism for the image, explained that it was taken at her home following a music festival in early July.

It shows two women kissing and covering their bare chest with a sign that says, "Finland."

Marin, 36, has been criticized for having an excessive party lifestyle.

"In my opinion that photo is not appropriate, I apologize for that," Marin said, according to YLE News. "That photo shouldn't have been taken."

Marin does not appear in the photo and she's said that her friends were using sauna facilities and were not inside of her residence.

The photo was taken after the Ruisrock music festival in Finland in July, but were posted to social media only recently.

Many women who support Marin have been posting videos of themselves dancing on social media, with the tag #SolidarityWithSanna.

The dancing supporters are showing solidarity to call out what they see as unfair and sexist treatment of Marin, who became Finland's prime minister in 2019. She is the youngest prime minister in Finland's history and the third-youngest leader in the world.

"It seems like certain people still today have a hard time comprehending the fact that you can be both a young woman ... and a competent politician at the same time," supporter Rikke Dal Stottrup told The Washington Post.

Carpenter's message in a bottle found in school spire 86 years later



Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Workers restoring a school in Australia discovered a message in a bottle stashed in the school's spire by one of the carpenters who originally constructed the structure in 1935.

Junction Park State School in Annerley, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, said Queensland Heritage Restorations workers found the bottle while working on restoring the spire.

The note, dated Oct. 12, 1935, was authored by then-16-year-old apprentice carpenter Gordon Benson.

Benson wrote he hoped the note would find its way to his children or grandchildren.

The school hosted a ceremony Tuesday where Transport Minister Mark Bailey presented the note to Geoffrey Benson and Marilyn Blundell, two of Benson's five children.

"Once realizing it was written by my father, it wasn't a surprise," Geoffrey Benson told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "Dad always thought about his family, and his children, and the future of his children.

Kia, Hyundai owners told to park outside over fire risk


Thousands of Hyundai Palisade (2020 model pictured) owners are now being advised to park their vehicles outside because of a risk of fire while driving or parked, the U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed on Tuesday. Photo by Kevauto/Wikimedia

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Some Kia and Hyundai owners are now being advised to park their vehicles outside because of a risk of fire, the U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed on Tuesday.

The two manufacturers recalled thousands of Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride vehicles last week over the risk of fire while parked or driving because of a problem with the trailer hitch.

The affected models were produced between 2020 and 2022.

"Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short, which can result in a fire," states the Department of Transportation's recall notice for the Palisade.

"Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete."

The Kia notice is identical and applies to more than 36,000 vehicles, while the Hyundai recall covers up to 245,000 of the sport utility vehicles.

Affected vehicles can be repaired at dealerships without cost, Hyundai does have a temporary fix for the Palisade but neither manufacturer has a permanent fix at this time.

"As an interim repair, dealers will inspect the tow hitch module and remove the fuse, as necessary, free of charge," reads the Hyundai recall notice.

"The remedy is currently under development," both notices advise. The companies say they expect to contact owners in mid-October with the final fix. Until then, owners are advised to park outside because of the fire risk.

Headquartered in South Korea, Hyundai is the parent company of Kia but the two operate independently.

Dozens of U.S. tree species threatened with extinction, study says


New research finds as many as 100 tree species in the United States are threatened with extinction due to the impact of climate change and stress from drought, wildfires and severe weather. 

File photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Dozens of tree species in the United States are facing extinction from invasive insects and disease caused by climate change stresses that include drought, wildfires and extreme weather, according to a new report.

As many as 100 native tree species, including 17 species of oaks, 29 species of hawthorns, redwoods, American chestnuts, black ash, and white bark pine, in the lower 48 states are in danger of dying out, according to the study published Tuesday in Plants People Planet.

Researchers found out of the 881 tree species assessed, between 11% and 16% are threatened with extinction. Florida has 45 threatened tree species and California has 44, the largest numbers of any other state.

The research, conducted over five years by the Morton Arboretum, Botanic Gardens Conservation International and NatureServe, found most of the health assessments were outdated and many trees species in the United States had never been studied.

"It's easy to feel that gloom and doom because ... the scope of the crisis is really, really great right now," said Murphy Westwood, lead author of the study and vice president for science and conservation at the Morton Arboretum. "We're losing species before they even get described."

It's this big swath of life that's totally unstudied or understudied," Westwood said calling it "plant blindness," the tendency to overlook plants and focus more on animals. Currently, only eight tree species are federally recognized as endangered or threatened.

"Trees form the foundation upon which most of the world's terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity depends. They provide food and habitat for countless plant, animal and fungal species," the study says. "They sequester carbon, regulate hydrological cycles, clean pollutants from the air and support people's mental and physical health. Trees provide timber, food, fiber and medicine to humans and hold great cultural and spiritual value."

The researchers point to climate change for the rise in threatened trees saying trees stressed by drought, wildfire, pollution, floods or other extreme conditions open the door for invasive insects or fungi.

"There are trees that have been living in locations for hundreds and hundreds of years and suddenly they're dying now," said Stephanie Adams, in charge of plant health care at Morton Arboretum.

Botanical gardens and arboreta will play an important role in conserving threatened tree species. But researchers say at least 17 threatened species are not currently conserved in any botanical settings.

"Growing living trees in botanical collections is a critically important conservation tool, in the absence of seed banking as an insurance policy against extinction," the study said.

Planting native tree species in our gardens will also help, Westwood said. "We have a narrow and rapidly closing window to take action."