In a First, a Woman Issues a Thunderstorm Watch, Officials Say

Judson Jones
Sun, February 19, 2023

Elizabeth Leitman at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., Feb. 17, 2023. (Nick Oxford/The New York Times)

Warm, moist air and colder, dry air collided Wednesday to create the conditions necessary for hail, damaging winds and tornadoes across the southern Plains and into the Southeast, and it was the job of an elite meteorology group called the Storm Prediction Center to give people advance notice.

For Elizabeth Leitman, who has worked at the Norman, Oklahoma, center since 2010, it would be the day she would issue her first thunderstorm watch.

She would also become the first woman ever to do so in the 70-year history of the center and its previous iterations, according to center officials.

Leitman is one of only two women among the 22 full-time forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center. “As far as I know, there’s been five of us,” Leitman said, referring to female forecasters who have worked there.

None of her predecessors, though, reached the role of lead forecaster. On Wednesday, her first day training to become a lead forecaster, she did all the intricate work while someone supervised her every move.

“These are national experts,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the center and Leitman’s boss. “They are the best of the best.”

Leitman described these lead forecasters, of whom there are only five, as “the neurosurgeons of this severe weather world.”

“When people come to SPC, they don’t tend to leave,” she said. “We’re not that far removed from individuals who were here in the ’60s and ’70s. There’s, like, basically three generations of forecasters at SPC.”

By 1 p.m., she knew conditions were becoming favorable for severe storms. Looking at radar, satellite and observational data, and after talking to colleagues, she drew up her first draft of the watch.

The National Weather Service has issued these watches — for both thunderstorms and tornadoes — since 1966. Similar forecasts under a different name date back to 1952.

Watches highlight areas where conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms or tornadoes to develop. The Storm Prediction Center’s goal is to offer as much as a two-hour notice before storms form.

Lead forecasters oversee everything else others are doing during their shift but are also responsible for every tornado and thunderstorm watch issued nationwide. A lead forecaster averages about 13 years in the position and more than 23 years in total at the Storm Prediction Center.

From 1 to 3 p.m., Leitman refined the size and scope of the thunderstorm watch as conditions changed. Around 3:30 p.m., she led a conference call with other offices responsible for counties within the watch area.

After a quick conversation with other forecasters, a few counties were added to the watch, which included a region stretching from the outskirts of Oklahoma City to Dallas.

She took a second and then looked back at one of her colleagues and said: “Evan, take a picture. It’s my first watch.”

She then hit send — at that point, it really is just a matter of pressing a button — and put her hands in the air in an “I’m done” gesture.

It was 3:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the end of her shift.

Leitman tweeted about her first time issuing a watch. She happened to mention that it was the first time a woman had done it.

Accolades came flooding in, surprising and overwhelming her.

She said she felt honored to support women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields by setting an example for girls who are interested in weather and meteorology.

She was once one of those girls she now hopes to inspire. She always loved weather and became interested in the Storm Prediction Center when she was in middle and high school in St. Louis.

While others were coming home to computers in the late 1990s to open AOL and check Instant Messenger or download music on Napster, Leitman said she had been checking the latest information from forecasters in Norman on their webpage.

She started to notice their names at the bottom of the watches and outlooks. They became heroes to her.

In her high school years, she toured the University of Oklahoma and visited the Storm Prediction Center. Her parents took a picture of her out in front, and at that moment, she became determined to work there.

She went to the university, but after graduating, she first had to gain experience at local weather offices in Billings, Montana, and Louisville, Kentucky. It wasn’t until 2010 that she returned to Oklahoma to work in her dream job.

“I was stubborn,” she said. “I knew what I wanted.”

When she walked into a male-dominated room at the center on her first day, she said, she did not feel barriers other than those she set up for herself.

She works with some of the forecasters whom she had idolized after seeing their names on watches and outlooks in the late ’90s.

And now, watch No. 33 of 2023 — a bulletin created to predict the future and save lives — has her name on it.

© 2023 The New York Times Company

Arab states need new approach towards Syria, says Saudi foreign minister

Sun, February 19, 2023 

Arab Gulf Summit in Riyadh

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said consensus was building in the Arab world that isolating Syria was not working and that dialogue with Damascus was needed "at some point" to at least address humanitarian issues, including a return of refugees.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud's remarks at a Munich security forum on Saturday mark a shift from the early years of Syria's 12-year civil war when several Arab states including Saudi Arabia backed rebels that fought Bashar al-Assad.

"You will see not just among the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) but in the Arab world there is a consensus growing that the status quo is not workable," he said.

The minister said without a path towards "maximalist goals" for a political solution, another approach was "being formulated" to address the issue of Syrian refugees in neighbouring states and suffering of civilians, especially after the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey.

"So that's going to have to go through a dialogue with the government in Damascus at some point in a way that achieves at least the most important of the objectives especially as regards the humanitarian angle, the return of refugees, etc," he said.

Asked about reports that he would visit Damascus following visits by his Emirati and Jordanian counterparts after the earthquake, Prince Faisal said he would not comment on rumours.

Riyadh has sent aid planes to government-held territory in Syria as part of earthquake relief efforts after initially sending aid only to the country's opposition-held northwest.

Shunned by the West, Assad has been basking in an outpouring of support from Arab states that normalised ties with him in recent years, notably the United Arab Emirates which aims for Arab influence in Syria to counter that of Iran.

Other Arab states remain wary and U.S. sanctions on Syria remain a complicating factor.

Kuwait's foreign minister told Reuters in Munich his country was not dealing with Damascus and was providing aid through international organisations and Turkey.

Asked if this stance would change, Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah said: "We are not going to change at this point in time."

Assad has recovered control of most of Syria with support from Russia along with Iran and Iranian-backed Sh'ite Muslim groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.

(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai and John Irish in Munich; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Newfoundland and Labrador

The schooner Russell Lake was lost 94 years ago, but its traces can still be found in Burgeo

George T. Day is pictured in Fortune with three of his grandchildren. 

(Day Family photo) (Day family - image credit)

There were six in the crew, but only one man survived when the tern schooner Russell Lake was smashed to pieces while entering Burgeo harbour in a blinding snowstorm on March 17, 1929 — nearly 94 years ago.

A few days later George T. Day — the three-masted vessel's bosun, or the ship's officer in charge of crew — sat down with T.L. Banfield, the wireless operator in Burgeo, and related to him his terrible experience of clinging, along with the cook, to a piece of the hull of the wrecked vessel for seven hours and watching his captain and four shipmates being swept to their death.

The first-hand account of the 41-year-old seaman's survival was carried on the front page of a newspaper of the day, the Liberal Press, on March 30, 1929.

Under the command of Captain Frank Stoodley (my father's half-brother — they had the same father), the Russell Lake left Fortune to finish loading fish at Burgeo for Oporto, Portugal, stopping first at St. Pierre for supplies. The ship left the French island on March 16, and soon after the weather worsened, with winds increasing to gale force and snow squalls reducing visibility.

Stoodley family photo

"We passed New Harbour just as the light was being lit and I wondered if the captain would harbour there; but as the wind was fair and then it blew hard, he decided to continue on to Burgeo. It came thick with snow as we neared Burgeo — the first land we saw was Red Island Head and got a glimpse of Boar Island Light," Day explained in the interview. (Red Island Head is about three miles from anchorage in Burgeo Harbour.)

"It then shut in thick with glitter and the captain took the main sail down — the only sail we had up then — and told us to get the anchors ready. We slacked one down, ready to drop at the command. A few minutes after that we struck bow on — it was then about midnight," continued George.

As soon as the ship hit, he said, the captain rushed into the cabin and returned with a gun that he fired to alert the people on shore.

"There was a wonderful sea on and instantly the vessel careened over on her side, carrying the spars away and taking the captain and three men overboard. I don't know if they were struck by any of the wreckage, because in the dark it was difficult to know just how they went," said George.

Jack Keeping photo collection

"The cook and I hung onto a section of the stern as the vessel was smashing up in pieces. Fortunately that particular part did not give way until dawn — when it did begin to break up I suggested to the cook that we crawl forward thru the wreckage to a place I saw was suited better for holding on."

The interviewer asked him if they were in danger of being washed off by the sea. Day replied, "Yes, at times; but the spars peculiarly fell on the off side and broke the seas a great deal.… We reached the part I had in view and put our legs thru a hole in the bulwarks [mariners call these floodgates] and there we hung on with the cold spray going over us until some fishermen saw us and started out in a small boat."

It was about three in the morning — no electricity, only lanterns and row dories. Former Burgeo mayor Allister Hann told me his father James Hann, who was living on nearby Collier's Island heard the shouts for help. He got Hartley Kendall and then rowed to Small's Island to get an older, more experienced seaman: captain Jimmy Buckland. Kendall's son, Doug, told me recently that Buckland would "count the swells" and when the water in the gut would smooth out, he would shout the command to the other two rescuers to "row, row row."

Day continued, "I could see we were on the back of Small's Island in Burgeo. The rescue boat could not come near us for the sea and the wreckage consisting of spars, topmasts, rudder, ropes and wires twisted into all shapes separated us from the boat."

Walter Simms photo collection

A line was thrown to them, he went on.

"I tied the line around the cook first and tried to help him over the wreckage but he was all in and being exhausted myself I did not have the strength to help him. He succumbed and when he fell down among the mass of wreckage I untied the line from him and tied it around myself and started to get through the debris.

"Floundering down to my neck in water and pulling myself up I managed to reach one of the spars, which I jumped clear of in the water. A big sea was running then but the men in the boat hauled me in despite the danger of being swamped."

The men who risked their lives to carry out the rescue of George Day were captain James Buckland, James Hann and Hartley Kendall, all from Burgeo.

Melbourne family photo

As the news spread and the sea went down, men and more boats were soon on the scene to try to recover the bodies of the five seamen.

The Russell Lake did not have any auxiliary power — only the wind in its sails, with anchors to slow her down. Part of the cause for the vessel going to pieces so fast was due to the fact that she did not carry wet fish, only dry fish, resulting in her timbers being very dry.

All of the bodies were recovered, four on Sunday and the captain's body on Monday morning. They were taken to the Orange Hall, where the coffins were decorated nicely to await the arrival of the coastal boat S.S. Daisy, which transported them to Fortune and Grand Bank.

The deceased mariners were captain Frank Stoodley of Grand Bank, married with one child; mate Ronald Martin of Fortune, married, no children; cook William Spencer of Fortune, married, no children; sailor George Witherall of Fortune, married, no children; sailor Leo Foote of Lamaline, single. Sailor George T. Day of Fortune, the only survivor, was the father of seven children.

Allan Stoodley

The Russell Lake, built in Fortune in 1917 and registered in 1919 at St. John's, was a three-masted wooden vessel of 149.87 gross tonnage, measuring 96.6 feet long. She was built for the European trade and carried large and sundried salt fish to Portugal and Spain.

After the shipwreck, George T. Day bought his own dory and stage and went inshore fishing out of Fortune. His wife was Beatrice Thornhill of Fortune; they had nine children, but two died in infancy, and Day died in 1959 at the age of 70.

George T. Day's daughter, Sarah, finished teacher training in 1944, went to Otter's Point to teach, and then moved to Burgeo, where she married Gilbert Melbourne in 1950. They were the parents of five boys, two of them still living in Burgeo: Gus, 70, and Gilbert, 66.

Several years ago Gilbert took ownership of a shed that coincidentally had two blocks in it — pieces of block-and-tackle — which had been salvaged from the wreck of the Russell Lake. He gave them to his two sons as "a good luck charm" — a reminder for them of the ordeal their great-grandfather endured.

CBC 

Sun, February 19, 2023 

SASKATCHEWAN

Prisoner advocate calls for supports after two more people die while on remand

Sun, February 19, 2023 

A 19-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell at the Regina Correctional Centre on Feb. 10. (Kirk Fraser/CBC - image credit)

A prisoner advocate says more supports need to be put in place for inmates in provincial jails who are on remand after two more young men died while in custody this month.

A 19-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell at the Regina Correctional Centre on Feb. 10. Two days earlier, a 21-year-old man on remand died at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.

There have now been nine deaths in provincial jails since the start of last year.

Sherri Maier, with Beyond Prison Walls Canada, said people on remand don't get any supports when it comes to mental health and drugs.

"They don't get much mental health help," Maier said. "You can't go to any programming that they offer. So if you have an addiction, you're not going to get any addiction support until you actually are sentenced on a unit.

"So really, when they say it's dead time, that is what remand is. It's dead time. You just sit there and wait."

The Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety has provided few details on the recent deaths, only to say foul play is not suspected and the deaths are not related to COVID-19.

The ministry did say both men were on remand, which means they had been charged with an offence but had not been convicted.

Submitted by Sherri Maier

In an emailed statement to CBC, the ministry said it uses a number of measures to ensure the safety of inmates, staff and public.

"This includes the use of video cameras, hourly checks on inmates, ongoing case management services and in-facility healthcare assessments," the statement said. "All correctional centres have on-site medical staff, and all correctional staff are trained in first aid and have access to on-site first aid supplies, including Narcan [a drug used to treat overdoses]."

Maier said mental health issues and illicit drugs are a major problem in provincial jails and people on remand aren't getting the support they need, leading to terrible outcomes.

"This is just happening far too often," Maier said. "Whether they're sentenced or they're on remand, either way they should be getting the same support.

"They're in the care of the ministry and I don't see there is a difference as to being sentenced or on remand. You should still get the same sort of supports regardless."

Trevor Bothorel/CBC

The ministry said it "undertakes a work plan to make any necessary changes that are identified through the internal investigation into an in-custody death."

Section 20 of The Coroner's Act, 1999 states that any deaths in custody are subject to an inquest process.

The Saskatchewan Coroners Service makes the final decision on whether to hold an inquest into a death in custody.

For Maier, that's not enough.

"Most of these people are coming in [to jails] already with a mental health issue, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, and they're not getting the supports that they need."

The province is building a new remand centre in Saskatoon, at an estimated cost of $120 million, which is scheduled to open by the summer of 2025.

$49M VS $12 

US fighter jets may have downed $12 pico balloons and not UFO: Report

The pico balloons contain trackers, solar panels and antenna packages lighter than a small bird. The US military might have downed one of these balloons using missiles last week.

India Today Web Desk
New Delhi,

 Feb 18, 2023 

A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon recently shot down an object which was flying over Ontario. 

(File photo/AFP)

By India Today Web Desk: The mystery surrounding one of the unidentified objects brought down by the US military last week appears to have been solved by a group of amateur balloon enthusiasts in Illinois.

Balloon hobbyists from Illinois said one of its "hobby craft" went “missing in action” over Alaska on February 11, the same day a US fighter jet downed an unidentified airborne object, The Guardian reported.

The US military has shot down three objects after bringing down a suspected spy balloon from China.

If that is what happened, it would mean the US military fired a missile costing $439,000 to bring down an innocuous, tiny GPS-tracked hobby balloon worth about $12, the report said.

Amateur pico balloonists - please, please delay launching your floating balloons for a while, maybe a month. It looks like some of the things the US Air Force shot down may have been amateur pico balloons. Let's not add to the tensions that the existing picos may yet make. — Balloon Science by Dan (@BalloonSciDan) February 14, 2023

READ | Unidentified objects shot down: Senior US general does not rule out 'aliens'

The pico balloons contain trackers, solar panels and antenna packages lighter than a small bird, and the balloons are filled using less than a cubic foot of gas.

According to Aviation Week, they are small hobby balloons starting at about $12 that allow enthusiasts to combine their interests in high-altitude ballooning.

Scientific Balloon Solutions founder Ron Meadows, whose Silicon Valley company makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists, told the publication that he attempted to alert authorities but was knocked back.

Why balloons are now in public eye - and military crosshairs

Sat, February 18, 2023 



WASHINGTON (AP) — Wafting across the United States and into the attention of an alarmed national and global public, a giant Chinese balloon has changed Americans' awareness of all the stuff floating in the air and how defense officials watch for it and respond.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is updating its guidelines for monitoring and reacting to unknown aerial objects. That's after the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting the country triggered high-stakes drama, including the U.S. shootdowns of that balloon, and three smaller ones days later.

Biden said officials suspect the three subsequent balloons were ordinary ones. That could mean ones used for research, weather, recreational or commercial purposes. Officials have been unable to recover any of the remains of those three balloons, and late Friday the U.S. military announced it had ended the search for the objects that were shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 10 and 12.

In all, the episodes opened the eyes of the public to two realities.

One: China is operating a military-linked aerial surveillance program that has targeted more than 40 countries, according to the Biden administration. China denies it.

Two: There’s a whole lot of other junk floating up there, too.

A look at why there are so many balloons up there — launched for purposes of war, weather, science, business or just goofing around; why they're getting attention now; and how the U.S. is likely to watch for and respond to slow-moving flying objects going forward.

WHAT ARE ALL THOSE BALLOONS DOING UP THERE?

Some are up there for spying or fighting. Humans have hooked bombs to balloons since at least the 1840s, when winds blew some of the balloon-borne bombs launched against Venice back on the Austrian launchers. In the U.S. Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers floated up over front lines in balloons to assess enemy positions and direct fire.

And when it comes to peacetime uses, the cheapness of balloons makes them a favorite aerial platform for all kinds of uses, serious and idle. That includes everything down to "college fraternities with nothing better to do and $10,000,” joked Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Himes' role on the committee involved him in a congressionally mandated intelligence and military review of the most credible of sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs. That review also drove home to him and other lawmakers ”how much stuff there is floating around, in particular balloons," Himes said.

For the National Weather Service, balloons are the main means of above-ground forecasting. Forecasters launch balloons twice daily from nearly 900 locations around the world, including nearly 100 in the United States.

High-altitude balloons also help scientists peer out into space from near the edges of the Earth's atmosphere. NASA runs a national balloon program office, helping coordinate launches from east Texas and other sites for universities, foreign groups and other research programs. School science classes launch balloons, wildlife watchers launch balloons.

Commercial interests also send balloons up — such as Google's effort to provide internet service via giant balloons.

And $12 gets hobby balloonists — who use balloons for ham radio or just for the pleasure of launching and tracking — balloons capable of getting up to 40,000 feet and higher.

That's roughly around the altitude that the U.S. military says the three smaller balloons were at when U.S. missiles ended their flights.

Most pilots probably wouldn't even be aware of a collision with such a balloon, said Ron Meadows, who produces balloons — with transmitters the size of a popsicle stick — for middle schools and universities to use for science education.

All it “does is report its location and speed,” Meadows said. “It's not a threat to anyone.”

Among hobby balloonists, there are suspicions that a balloon declared missing by the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Brigade was one of the ones shot down, as the publication Aviation Week Network first reported. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday the administration was not able to confirm those reports

And it's not just the United States' Mylar, foil and plastic overhead. Wind patterns known as the Westerlies sweep airborne things ranging from Beijing's tailpipe soot and the charred chunks of Siberian forest fires swinging over the Arctic and into the United States. China says its big balloon was a meteorological and research one that got picked up by the Westerlies. The U.S. says the balloon was at least partly maneuverable.

WHY ARE WE JUST NOW SPOTTING ALL THESE BALLOONS?

Short answer: Because we are just now looking for them.

Balloons' rise to global prominence got a lift starting in the past few years. Congress directed the Director of National Intelligence to pull together everything the government has learned about unidentified aerial phenomena. That included creating a Defense Department UAP task force.

Last year, in the first congressional hearing on unidentified airborne objects in a half-century, Scott W. Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers that improved sensors, an increase in drones and other non-military unmanned aerial systems, and yes, “aerial clutter” including random balloons were leading to people noticing more unidentified airborne objects.

That awareness kicked into overdrive this month, after the U.S. military and then the U.S. public spotted the Chinese balloon floating down from the High North. While the U.S. says previous Chinese balloons have entered U.S. territory, this was the first one of them to slowly cross the United States in plain view of the public.

That balloon, and what had been growing official awareness of a Chinese military-linked balloon surveillance campaign that had targeted dozens of countries, led U.S. officials to change radar and other sensor settings, screening more closely for slow-moving objects in the air as well as fast ones.

SIDEWINDER MISSILES: A LONG-TERM BALLOON STRATEGY?

Post big Chinese balloon, U.S. defense officials are expected to keep up broader monitoring so that balloons remain on the radar, but fine-tune the response.

Biden's order to the Air Force to shoot down the three smaller airborne objects with Sidewinder missiles left him fending off Republican accusations he was too trigger-happy. Biden says all four shootdowns were warranted since the balloons could have posed dangers to civilian aircraft. Hobby balloons with payloads of only a few pounds are not covered by many FAA airspace rules.

Biden says the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects.

He directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an interagency team to review the procedures.

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Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed.

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Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press

The UFO shoot-downs show the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. 

Here's how NASA might break the news.

Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Feb 18, 2023

A time-lapse of the Milky Way Galaxy as seen from the International Space Station. NASA/Kjell Lindgren

UFOs (or UAPs) shot down over North America probably aren't aliens, but that hasn't stopped rumors.

Extraterrestrial life likely wouldn't show up as flying objects, but finding it could cause similar chaos.

NASA's greatest challenge could be explaining any alien discovery to the public, the agency's planetary-science chief said.

NASA isn't announcing the existence of extraterrestrial life. But if the last two weeks show anything, it's if the agency ever breaks such news, the world may have trouble understanding.

The latest UFO mania started with the "Chinese spy balloon" flying across the US. China's government has insisted it was just a weather balloon that blew off course. The US military shot it down off the coast of South Carolina, later saying the balloon was part of a global network Beijing uses to collect surveillance on other militaries.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Randall Hill/Reuters

Suddenly the US seemed to be spotting UFOs (which the Department of Defense now refers to as "unidentified anomalous phenomena," or UAPs) everywhere.

By Sunday, US fighter jets had gunned down three more mysterious "objects" in the skies over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron.


There's no evidence that these UFOs — sorry, UAPs — are alien technology from space. Still, speculation abounds.

Google searches for "extraterrestrial life" and "are aliens real" spiked. The Associated Press reported that online posts mentioning extraterrestrials increased by nearly 300% after the first balloon. Even Elon Musk weighed in with an alien joke.

A woman looks at a UFO display outside of the Little A'Le'Inn, in Rachel, Nevada.

 AP Photo/John Locher, File

"I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no — again, no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at a briefing on Monday, adding: "It was important for us to say that from here because we've been hearing a lot about it."

The breathless rumors are just a peek at what Lori Glaze, who leads NASA's planetary science division, might face should scientists ever discover true evidence of life beyond Earth.

An apparently unidentified object detected on a Navy plane’s infrared camera.

US Department of Defense/Navy Times

"You can't overstate just how important that discovery would be. How we're going to confirm that and announce it responsibly, I think is a really, really important question," Glaze told Insider at the American Geophysical Union's meeting in December.

"The biggest challenge is trying to keep that communication on an even keel, right? With an excitement, and yet also understanding that we need to set the expectations that we have to follow the scientific process."

How NASA scientists might explain any alien findings — gradually

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on September 10, 2021.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Maybe the James Webb Space Telescope detects a telltale molecule in the atmosphere of a distant Earth-like planet. Maybe Mars samples from the Perseverance rover reach Earth in a decade, and scientists find fossils of ancient microbes inside them.

Many astrobiologists (exactly what it sounds like — people who study the idea of biology beyond Earth) think that evidence of extraterrestrial life could turn up soon.


But it's unlikely that any evidence would be completely, irrefutably, obviously aliens. Scientists will probably disagree, and won't be 100% confident. That could be hard to explain to the public.

Two people dressed as extra-terrestrials with aluminum foil costumes walk in the streets near the Peak of Bugarach, in France. 

Jean-Philippe Arles/Reuters

"This is going to be a very, very hard thing to actually get the scientific community, I think, to agree upon — unless we actually see something moving around and waving at us, which is unlikely," Glaze told Insider.

That's why NASA has tried to develop a procedure for assessing and sharing such a monumental, sensitive discovery. The conversation is still ongoing, Glaze said, but in 2021, the agency published a framework as a starting point. It could help scientists, journalists, and NASA itself explain the science.

It's called the "confidence of life detection" (CoLD) scale, rating scientific confidence in any potential alien-life discovery on a scale of one to seven. A possible detection can climb to higher levels of confidence as evidence builds.

An illustration of the CoLD scale for determining confidence in a detection of alien life. NASA/Aaron Gronstal

For example, a level one detection might be the discovery of a molecule that could be related to life inside a Perseverance Mars sample. The evidence would graduate to level two once scientists confirm there was no contamination in the sample, or the instruments involved, that could have influenced their findings. By ruling out non-biological sources of the molecule, or by confirming that it came from an environment suitable for life, scientists could move it further up the scale.

Other scientific teams would have to measure the Mars sample themselves, with different methods, and confirm the initial finding to graduate to level six.

According to NASA, in this Mars molecule example, additional evidence from a different part of the red planet may be necessary to bring it up to level seven — where it's probably life.

Each new level of confidence could mean a new public announcement.

The discovery of extraterrestrial life is likely to be a slow build-up, rather than an explosive eureka moment.

"Until now, we have set the public up to think there are only two options: it's life or it's not life," Mary Voytek, head of NASA's Astrobiology Program, said in a press release when the new scale was published. "We need a better way to share the excitement of our discoveries, and demonstrate how each discovery builds on the next, so that we can bring the public and other scientists along on the journey."
The president or other countries could be involved in announcing extraterrestrial life exists

President Joe Biden speaks at Delaware State University. 

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Announcing the existence of alien life would be an "administration-level" affair, Glaze said, referring to the US presidency. It wouldn't just be NASA explaining itself at press conferences.

NASA might not even be the first entity to discover evidence of life on another planet. Another nation's space agency could find it first.

A Chinese Long March 5 Y-4 rocket lifts off, carrying a mission to Mars.

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

The discovery of intelligent alien life would be even more Earth-shattering. That would come with its own conundrums: How do we communicate with them? What do we say? And how might they respond?

Even beaming little hints of ourselves into the void has been controversial. In 1974, astronomers sent out radio signals containing the numbers one through 10, information about the composition and structure of DNA, a figure of a human and our global population, and a graphic of the solar system with Earth highlighted.

Critics like Stephen Hawking have said that contacting any extraterrestrial intelligence could pose an existential risk for humanity.

Needless to say, any discovery of alien life would likely lead to chaos — at least in public discourse.

Glaze said NASA's goal is to be a trusted, transparent source of clear scientific information. It could be the agency's biggest challenge yet.

"I'm not sure we even have words to describe it," she said. "The confirmation that we're not alone in the universe is, I think, going to be akin to realizing that the universe doesn't rotate around Earth. It's a very different way of thinking about who we are, where we came from."

TOO CHEAP TO PAY FOR THE VET X-RAY?
TSA: Too many travelers leaving pets in carry-ons to be X-rayed

Alexandra Weaver
Wed, February 15, 2023

(WBOY) — The Transportation Security Administration says too many passengers are putting their pets in their carry-on bags and sending them through the X-ray machines at airport security checkpoints.

Though pet travel restrictions vary by airport and airline, one thing is universal: Pets should never be screened through an X-ray unit, the TSA says.

On Tuesday, the TSA shared photos from recent incidents in which pets were found inside bags that were being X-rayed.

“Pets are often treated like family members and as such, sometimes travel with their humans,” said Robert Duffy, TSA Federal Security Director for LaGuardia Airport. “That’s why it’s valuable to become familiar with the security procedures for pets and how to go through the checkpoint security screening process quickly and easily.”

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The TSA said air travelers are allowed to bring small pets aboard planes, and they can be screened at security checkpoints along with their owners, but there is a right way to do it.

The TSA shared steps on how to correctly screen a pet:

Bring the animal to the checkpoint in a hand-held travel carrier.


Remove the pet from the carrier just before the screening process starts.


Put the empty travel carrier on the conveyor belt to be X-rayed.


Never send a pet through the X-ray tunnel.


If possible, carry the pet through the walk-through metal detector during screening. However, a leashed pet can walk through with its owner. When in doubt, seek guidance from a TSA officer.


After going through security, return the pet to its travel carrier away from the security checkpoint.

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Aside from screening, pets should always be kept in their carriers, the TSA says, unless they are certified service animals.

The TSA said other ways you can ease your pet through the security process include getting your pet used to the travel carrier ahead of time, watching out for “working” canines to avoid any interference in their work, and knowing where to find pet relief areas.

The Hill.

Prominent advocate for Black Nova Scotians, New Brunswickers recognized as historic figure

Sun, February 19, 2023 

Thomas Peters is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the West African nation of Sierra Leone. ( - image credit)

A prominent leader for Black people in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after the American Revolutionary War has been recognized by the federal government as a historic figure.

Thomas Peters has received the designation of national historic significance under Parks Canada's National Program of Historical Commemoration.

"I'm very pleased to hear that Thomas Peters is finally being officially recognized by the government," said David Peters, who is a descendant of Thomas.

Thomas Peters, who was born in what is now known as Nigeria to a noble Yoruba family in 1738, was captured and forced into slavery at a North Carolina plantation before escaping in 1776, according to information from Parks Canada.

Jennifer Sweet/CBC

He then joined the Black Pioneers in New York, rising to the rank of sergeant while fighting with the British during the American Revolutionary War. Afterwards, he and his family were evacuated to Nova Scotia, along with around 3,500 Black Loyalists.

Poor living conditions in Nova Scotia for Black people led Thomas Peters to petition the government for promised land and provisions. He would go on to do so twice more before being given 0.4 hectares of land in 1785.

The area wasn't enough for subsistence farming. He left with his family to go to New Brunswick, where he found that conditions were no better there.

David Peters, a Black history researcher, said his ancestor quickly learned how to speak English and French. He said that is why he was then put up as a representative to go seek an audience with King George III and describe the impoverished conditions Black people were living in after fighting for the Crown.

David Peters said Thomas Peters never did get to meet the king, but did learn that the Sierra Leone Company was aiming to establish a settlement of newly freed people of African descent from the Americas.

He served as a pivotal figure in recruiting Black people from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to go to Sierra Leone and begin the settlement of Freetown, now the country's capital.

"This [was] not going back home to Africa, because thousands of them didn't even know where Africa was. They were born into slavery. He wasn't, but this is what caught his ear: going back home," said David Peters. "He was never a man that was a slave, he was a man that was put in bondage."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

CBC

Black representation in schools is 'beneficial to everyone,' York board superintendent says

Sun, February 19, 2023 

Siobhan Wright was originally a student in the York Catholic District School Board. Today, she's the school board's superintendent and she champions Black representation in the education system. 

(Patrick Swadden/CBC - image credit)

Siobhan Wright spent years working her way up through York Region's Catholic school board system.

Starting as a student herself, then filling in as a teacher, vice-principal, and principal, she eventually earned her current position: superintendent of the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB).

But Wright told CBC Toronto it hasn't always been easy.

"As a student going through the system, there wasn't very many opportunities where I saw people who look like me," she said.

"There wasn't representation in curriculum and materials that were being used."

That's something Wright said she's working really hard to change. Part of that work is to interact with students as often as possible, something she always makes time for, despite the demands of her position.

WATCH | Superintendent wants students to see Black women 'can rise to a position of leadership':

Wright is also involved with Our Voice, an annual student conference that focuses on Black leadership and organizes programs that give Black students and educators a voice in the school board.

She was also recently named the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Ontario Catholic Supervisory Officers' Association. According to a YCDSB blog post, the accolade recognizes her "outstanding contributions to equity in the education system."

"Having the opportunity to show students, Black students, any students, that a Black female can rise to a position of leadership, I think it's just beneficial to everyone," Wright said.

In addition to everything else she does, she also mentors others who work in education, including Tracy Stuart, who now fills Wright's previous role as the principal at St. Brendan's Catholic Elementary School in Stouffville, Ont.

"Siobhan was the one who actually inspired me to take on this role," Stuart said.

"It's through those moments, those personal moments, in which she was able to encourage me, as well as guide me, help me along to where I am today."

Patrick Swadden/CBC

It's critical to recognize the importance of Black leaders like Wright who inspire others, she added.

"It is through her example, it is through who she is, not only on the outside but on the inside, of which we can carry on and strive and show what Black excellence looks like," Stuart said.

Wright herself said she still wants to see much more representation within the education system. She hopes being in such a visible position will inspire other young Black students to follow in her footsteps.

"The barriers still exist and that's part of the reason I chose to be in a role like this."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

CBC