Earth's Core Appears to Be Wrapped in an Unexpected, Ancient Structure

Story by David Nield • Yesterday 

Scientists have stitched together the most high-resolution map yet of the underlying geology beneath Earth's Southern Hemisphere, revealing something previously undiscovered: an ancient ocean floor that may wrap around the core.


Earth core and mantle© Provided by ScienceAlert

This thin but dense layer sits around 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the surface, where the molten, metallic outer core means the rocky mantle above it. This is the core-mantle boundary (CMB).

Understanding exactly what's beneath our feet – in as much detail as possible – is vital for studying everything from volcanic eruptions to the variations in Earth's magnetic field, which protects us from the solar radiation in space.

"Seismic investigations, such as ours, provide the highest resolution imaging of the interior structure of our planet, and we are finding that this structure is vastly more complicated than once thought," says geologist Samantha Hansen from the University of Alabama.



Seismic waves from earthquakes in the southern hemisphere were used to sample the ULVZ structure along the Earth's core-mantle boundary. (Edward Garnero and Mingming Li/Arizona State University)© Provided by ScienceAlert

Hansen and her colleagues used 15 monitoring stations buried in the ice of Antarctica to map seismic waves from earthquakes over three years. The way those waves move and bounce reveals the composition of the material inside Earth. Because the sound waves move slower in these areas, they're called ultralow velocity zones (ULVZs).

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"Analyzing [thousands] of seismic recordings from Antarctica, our high-definition imaging method found thin anomalous zones of material at the CMB everywhere we probed," says geophysicist Edward Garnero from Arizona State University.

"The material's thickness varies from a few kilometers to [tens] of kilometers. This suggests we are seeing mountains on the core, in some places up to five times taller than Mt. Everest."

According to the researchers, these ULVZs are most likely oceanic crust buried over millions of years.

While the sunken crust isn't close to recognized subduction zones on the surface – zones where shifting tectonic plates push the rock down into Earth's interior – simulations reported in the study show how convection currents could have shifted the ancient ocean floor to its current resting place.



Rock movements in the mantle. (Hansen et al., Science Advances , 2023)© Provided by ScienceAlert

It's tricky to make assumptions about rock types and movement based on seismic wave movement, and the researchers aren't ruling out other options. However, the ocean floor hypothesis seems the most likely explanation for these ULVZs right now.

There's also the suggestion that this ancient ocean crust could be wrapped around the entire core, though as it's so thin, it's hard to know for sure. Future seismic surveys should be able to add further to the overall picture.

One of the ways the discovery can help geologists is in figuring out how heat from the hotter and denser core escapes up into the mantle. The differences in composition between these two layers are greater than they are between the solid surface rock and the air above it in the part we live on.

"Our research provides important connections between shallow and deep Earth structure and the overall processes driving our planet," says Hansen.

The research has been published in Science Advances.

Alberta's ethics commissioner investigating whether premier interfered with administration of justice

Story by Joel Dryden • Yesterday 

Alberta's ethics commissioner is launching an investigation into whether Premier Danielle Smith interfered with the administration of justice tied to COVID-19 prosecutions, the premier's office says.

In a statement sent to media Monday, a spokesperson with the premier's office said Smith welcomes the investigation.

Smith "is fully co-operating with the commissioner, and is confident this examination will confirm there has been no such interference," wrote Rebecca Polak in an email.

The Opposition NDP has been calling for an independent investigation since a video was released of a phone call Smith had with Calgary street pastor Artur Pawlowski. During the call, they discussed his criminal case just weeks before his trial in Lethbridge on Feb. 2 on pandemic-related charges was set to begin.

The leaked phone conversation between Smith and Pawlowski happened in early January. On the call, Smith tells Pawlowski she was discussing COVID-19 charges with justice officials "almost weekly."

On her weekly phone-in radio show Your Province Your Premier, on Saturday, Smith delivered a new version of why she contacted Pawlowski, saying she took the call as she thought it would be in the context of his role as the leader of the Alberta Independence Party.


 NewsAlberta NDP allege corruption, conflict of interest in premier's office
1:31


Pawlowski faces charges of criminal mischief and an offence under Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act related to last year's Coutts border blockade over pandemic measures, and a judge is set to deliver a verdict in early May.

In a letter sent to the ethics commissioner on March 31, NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir wrote that the video formed the basis of his complaint, adding he was raising a potential violation of Section 3 of the Conflicts of Interest Act.

A member breaches the act if they use their office or powers to "influence or to seek to influence a decision to be made by or on behalf of the Crown to further a private interest of the member, a person directly associated with the member or the member's minor child, or to improperly further another person's private interest," the act reads.

During a media event Monday afternoon, Sabir said the NDP welcomes the investigation.

"But I want to stress this investigation does not go far enough. We continue to call for a fully independent judicial investigation as well," Sabir said.



Alberta NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir said the Opposition was continuing to call for an independent judicial investigation to conduct interviews concerning matters not covered in the Conflicts of Interest Act.© CBC

Smith threatened legal action against the CBC if the corporation didn't retract and apologize for stories tied to criminal cases related to last year's Coutts blockade.

Asked for comment last week, CBC's head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said in an email, "As we've said all along, we stand by our journalism on this story and, if necessary, will defend it in court."

Of the 85 requests for investigations sent to Alberta Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler in 2021-2022, she only conducted one probe, according to the commissioner's last annual report.

That investigation cleared Education Minister Adriana LaGrange of inappropriate conduct tied to a $150,000 contract for students' reusable masks granted by her ministry to a company in her Red Deer riding.

Some of Trussler's investigations have been completed within a month, but more commonly, the commissioner has taken between three and eight months. That means it's probable this investigation will wrap after the Alberta election on May 29.

Trussler's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBC News.

However, under the Conflicts of Interest Act, neither the commissioner nor any of the staff can disclose if an investigation is being conducted by the office.

Of the 12 complaints against MLAs that Trussler has investigated since taking office in 2014, the ethics commissioner has only found two politicians in breach of the act.

Alberta UCP candidate says people who have heart attacks should be held accountable

Story by The Canadian Press • 

EDMONTON — A United Conservative Party candidate in southern Alberta is being criticized for saying people who have heart failure should take accountability for their own health.



"Maybe the reason you had a heart attack was because you haven't taken care of yourself," said UCP Livingstone-Macleod candidate Chelsae Petrovic on a February episode of "The Canadian Story" podcast.

"You're extremely overweight, you haven't managed your congestive heart failure, you haven't managed your diabetes and there's no personal accountability.

"But they come into the hospital and all of a sudden it's everyone else's problem but their own."

Petrovic, who is mayor of Claresholm south of Calgary, has also been a licensed practical nurse for more than 12 years.

She issued a statement Monday saying her comment on the podcast was taken out of context.

"I was speaking for several minutes about the challenges our health-care system is currently facing," Petrovic said. "I understand my comment could be offensive when removed from the longer interview, and I should have chosen better language.

"I believe we should be a province that not only focuses on reactive health for those in need but also one that teaches our kids to practice healthy living, which includes taking care of our physical health."

On the podcast, Petrovic prefaced her comments saying, "This might be political suicide, what I'm about to say, which is fine with me, because it needs to be said."

Premier Danielle Smith was asked Tuesday during a news conference on health care in Sherwood Park, Alta., about her candidate's comment.

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"I'm pleased to see that (Petrovic) issued a statement yesterday clarifying that she could have used better language," Smith said.

"There are some times that I have had missteps," said Smith. "I think people are forgiving when you give an opportunity to explain what you meant and I want to extend the same opportunity to others."

Smith was criticized last year for saying that early-stage cancer is within a person's control during her own podcast.

"When you think everything that built up before you got to stage four and that diagnosis, that's completely within your control and there's something you can do about that that is different," Smith said.

She later said during a UCP leadership debate that her comment was "misunderstood," and she's a "proponent of early detection, early treatment, nutrition and holistic medicine."

In late March, UCP Lethbridge West candidate Torry Tanner resigned after claiming in a video that children are exposed to pornography in schools and teachers help them change their gender identity.

Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley took to Twitter to comment on Petrovic's statement, sharing that her grandfather had a heart attack and died while he was headed out to feed cows on their farm.

"No one saw it coming," tweeted Notley.

Kevin Van Tighem, the NDP candidate for Livingstone-Macleod, issued a statement demanding Petrovic and Smith apologize.

“Last year, Danielle Smith said Albertans are responsible for developing cancer. Now her candidate blames Albertans for having a heart attack. This is a pattern of cruel and hurtful language that kicks Albertans when they’re down. They must apologize today.”

"The Canadian Story" is a podcast hosted by Zach Gerber, owner of Skytrack Studios, and David Parker, who was a regional adviser to Stephen Harper while he was prime minister. The podcast covers a wide variety of topics under a politically conservative lens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2023.

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Angela Amato, The Canadian Press

UCP candidate calls out heart attack survivors in commentary bordering on ‘political suicide’

Story by The Canadian Press • 2h ago

Chelsae Petrovic, an ER nurse and United Conservative Party candidate for Livingstone-Macleod, is refusing media interviews after flirting with “political suicide” by suggesting that heart attack survivors should bear accountability for their poor health.

Petrovic offered her remarks, first reported by Global Edmonton’s Saif Kaisar, during her guest appearance on a podcast episode of The Canadian Story published to YouTube on Feb. 21, roughly three weeks before she swept the UCP’s nomination in Livingstone-Macleod.

Social media response to reports on this issue has been overwhelmingly negative.

Speaking as a hopeful nominee and the mayor of Claresholm, Petrovic also disparaged unions, including her own, and made it plain that she would rather be ejected from the UCP’s legislative caucus if she felt supporting the party line would go against the riding’s best interests.

Petrovic’s campaign responded to Shootin’ the Breeze’s request for comment with a statement saying her remarks about heart attack survivors had been “taken out of context.” A statement attributed to the candidate reads: “I understand my comment could be offensive when removed from the longer interview, and I should have chosen better language. I believe we should be a province that not only focuses on reactive health for those in need but also one that teaches our kids to practise healthy living, which includes taking care of our physical and mental health.”“No interviews or additional statements will be made regarding the situation,” her campaign team wrote.

Telling podcast hosts David Parker and Zach Gerber that she’d seen “a lot of similarities” between her roles as a nurse and a small-town mayor, Petrovic started talking about hospital patients.

“Everyone comes in with their problems, and how do you fix it? How do you go about being polite to them when you’re trying to save their lives in a high-stress environment?”

It’s a matter of “balancing saving their life and doing it with a smile on your face as they’re bleeding out,” she told Parker, who founded the right-wing populist movement Take Back Alberta, according to TBA’s website.

Asked where she saw “a lack of accountability and responsibility playing out in our Canadian society right now,” Petrovic told Parker that what she was about to say “might be political suicide … which is fine with me, because it needs to be said.”

Canadians have become “so dependent on being saved” by the government, they no longer take responsibility for themselves, she said.

“And I see it in health care,” she continued, dressing down a hypothetical patient.

“You know, I’m going to say it: Maybe the reason why you had a heart attack was because you haven’t taken care of yourself. You’re extremely overweight. You haven’t managed your congestive heart failure. You haven’t managed your diabetes and there’s no personal accountability.

“But they come into the hospital, and all of a sudden, it’s everyone else’s problem but their own.”

Petrovic went on to say that she wanted to rally behind one of her neighbours she said had recently suffered a heart attack.

“Well, let’s start shovelling his driveway,” she suggested.

Kevin Van Tighem, the NDP’s riding candidate, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Premier Danielle Smith and Petrovic to apologize for Petrovic’s comments “blaming Albertans for cardiac disease.”

“Last year, Danielle Smith said Albertans are responsible for developing cancer. Now her candidate blames Albertans for having a heart attack. This is a pattern of cruel and hurtful language that kicks Albertans when they’re down,” Van Tighem said.

Kevin Todd, the Alberta Party’s riding candidate, wrote in a prepared statement, “People of our constituency shouldn’t be made to feel as though their access to medical care is predicated on whether or not they ‘deserve’ help in one of life’s challenging moments.”

On the subject of front-line nursing, Petrovic said during the podcast, “We have the unions who butt in [to the nursing process]. Let’s be honest, the unions only have [their] best interests at heart and how they make money.”

“All the nurses are going to hate me for that,” she went on, adding, “Union reps are going to come after me for that one.”

Petrovic went on to say she’d represent the interests of Livingstone-Macleod if they conflicted with her party’s policy agenda.

“I promise that I’ll never cross the floor, but I can’t promise that I will always be a UCP representative,” she said, telling Parker and Gerber that she understood that the UCP, like most parties, would boot her out if she won her riding and then voted against the party as an MLA.

“If that means that … someone says, ‘You have to vote this way, otherwise you’re kicked out,’ and it’s not in Livingstone-Macleod’s best interest — well, I guess I’m no longer a UCP representative.”

Petrovic several times stressed that she valued Claresholm’s “very diverse” council, and that effective leadership meant honing the ability to change one’s mind.

The candidate will face the NDP’s Kevin Van Tighem and the Alberta Party’s Kevin Todd when Albertans head to the polls in May.

Laurie Tritschler, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Shootin' the Breeze

Over-emphasis on safety means kids are becoming more anxious and less resilient

Story by Simon Sherry, Clinical Psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University 

• Sunday - 

THE CONVERSATION

We are facing a mental health crisis. Teenagers and young adults are more depressed, suicidal, anxious and lonely than ever before.


Parents being over-protective can deny children the experiences they need to learn and grow

Depression rates among teens have been increasing since the early 2000s. A 2018 national survey found that 13.3 per cent of U.S. adolescents experienced a major depressive episode in the last year.

But it’s not just teens — young adults are suffering too. A 2016 international survey of university counselling centres revealed 50 per cent of university students sought help for feelings of anxiety and 41 per cent for depression. Suicide rates are also increasing. The number of teenage girls in the U.S. who died by suicide nearly doubled between 2000 and 2015.

The mental health statistics for Canadian youth are similarly grim. In 2003, 24 per cent of Canadians aged 15-30 self-reported that their mental health was either fair or poor (compared to very good or excellent). By 2019, that number had risen to 40 per cent.

The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the mental health of Canadian youths. In 2020, 58 per cent of Canadians aged 15-24 reported fair or poor mental health and nearly one in four hospitalizations for children and youth aged 5-24 were due to mental health conditions.

What has changed in the last decade to explain this rise in poor mental health among youth? Some psychologists point to the recent cultural emphasis on safety as a contributor.


Parental overprotection has been shown to foster unhealthy coping mechanisms in children.

Shift in children’s safety

In previous decades, American and Canadian children enjoyed more freedom, even though there were rising crime rates. The crime wave in Canada rose steeply from the 60s through the 80s until it peaked in the early 1990s. Cable TV became widespread during the same period, meaning that news of crimes spread farther and quicker than ever before.

This surge spurred safety initiatives like sharing pictures of missing children on milk cartons and crime shows like America’s Most Wanted. It’s no wonder parents became increasingly fearful and protective.

Crime rates began to come down in the 1990s, but fear among parents remained. This is where the problem of being over cautious begins. The concept of safety started to extend beyond children’s physical safety to emotional and psychological comfort. This denied children experiences they needed to learn and grow.

Parental overprotection has been shown to foster unhealthy coping mechanisms in children. Overprotected children are more likely to both internalize problems (as in anxiety and depression) and externalize them (as in delinquency, defiance or substance abuse).

Some psychologists propose that overprotection can morph into what they call “safetyism,” which teaches kids negative thought patterns similar to those experienced by the anxious and depressed. Safetyism can over-prioritize a young person’s safety to the exclusion of other practical and moral concerns.

It is natural to want to avoid problems, but avoiding things that bring us discomfort can reinforce a belief that we cannot handle certain issues and, over time, make us less capable.

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Unhelpful thought patterns

Here are three unhealthy thought patterns to monitor in yourself and your children:

Identify negative filtering. Do not underestimate the positives of experiences like unsupervised play (joy, independence, problem-solving, risk-assessment, resilience) when considering the potential negative consequences.

Be aware of dichotomous thinking. Do not fall into the good or bad trap. There’s a world of possibility between one or the other. Considering people, ideas, places or situations as either good or evil (but never both or somewhere in between) fosters a polarizing “us vs. them” attitude and eliminates nuance.

Recognize emotional reasoning. Feeling “unsafe” (uncomfortable or anxious), does not mean you are actually physically unsafe. If you avoid all stress, you will never learn to overcome stressors or understand your full potential. Avoiding hurdles can make us think we are more weak or fragile than we are.


Avoiding things that bring us discomfort can reinforce a belief that we cannot handle certain issues and, over time, make us less capable

Painting the world as a place with dangers at every turn has created anxious youths who avoid activities they previously would have experimented with. Rising rates of loneliness and anxiety mean some youth are delaying getting a job, driving a car, having sex, drinking alcohol and dating. Research supports that overprotective parenting (such as “helicopter parenting”) decreases adolescents’ well-being, motivation, independence and ability to deal with problems in a healthy way.

Generational trends show that across all social and economic demographics, American teens are putting off activities they deem “adult” and don’t crave adult freedom as previous generations did.

They spend less time unsupervised by parents because they’re worried about what’s out in the world, and they think they can’t handle it. They don’t date or have sex because they’re worried about broken hearts, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. They don’t drink alcohol because they’re worried about drunkenly making mistakes and what people will think of them afterwards. They don’t drive because they are happy to rely on their parents for transportation.

While some of these are rational consequences to avoid, they shouldn’t feel so overwhelming as to keep youths from transitioning into adulthood. Broken hearts teach you about what you want in a romantic partner, young people can be taught about safe sex, alcohol can be drunk in moderate amounts and mistakes are healthy, human and normal. Teens shouldn’t be so afraid of life that they no longer feel excited to live it.

Without opportunities to explore and learn their limits, youths risk internalizing a false sense of helplessness and becoming depressed and anxious.

Helpful thought patterns

Positive thought patterns must be developed within ourselves. That means giving ourselves, our teens and our children the opportunities needed to become independent, resilient and autonomous. And that means embracing negative experiences like frustration, conflict and boredom.

Here are some words of advice:

Mind your mind. Your thoughts are powerful. They dictate how you see the world, others and yourself, so foster positive, rational thought patterns.

Raise your voice. Encourage curiosity and productive disagreement. We will never learn to be open-minded or become well-rounded people if we do not challenge our own beliefs, listen to others’ perspectives and recognize our potential to be wrong. Every aspect of our lives, including our relationships and jobs, depends on our ability to argue in an effective, respectful and productive way without becoming overemotional.

Open your heart. Try to give others the benefit of the doubt because most people do not intend to do harm. Do not let fear dictate your thoughts and actions.

Trust yourself. Life will always throw curve balls and there will not always be an authority to defer to. Life is not safe or risk-free. The best protection is the knowledge that you can handle life’s challenges.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
How to help teen girls’ mental health struggles – 6 research-based strategies for parents, teachers and friends
A friend who’s more boss than BFF may be harmful for teens’ mental health

Simon Sherry receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He also owns CRUX Psychology, a private practice in psychology.

He was 18 when his hand was crushed on the job. Years later, he still wants answers

Story by Hadeel Ibrahim • CBC

On a January day in 2019, in the wake of a fierce ice storm that struck New Brunswick, Kody Thorne was called to the Poley Mountain ski hill to help clear machines of what the storm had wrought.


Kody Thorne's left hand was crushed while working on Poley Mountain ski hill in January 2019.© Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC

Before the day was through, the 18-year-old's life would be changed forever.

Three hours after his shift started, Thorne was in his friend's car, holding his crushed left hand as they rushed to hospital.

"I was like, 'Wow, this is death. This is how it's gonna end for me," he said.

Four years later, after months of physiotherapy and several surgeries, Thorne knows he will never regain the full use of his left hand.

But he is moving on with his life, and indeed has an eye on a career in occupational health and safety, to work in a field which — as a young injured worker — he can bring a lived experience.

He has also dedicated the last year to better understanding what happened that day, hoping to help other people avoid the pain he has had to endure.

A communication error

With the hill closed in the wake of the ice storm, Thorne and two colleagues were assigned to work on equipment that had frozen over.

Thorne was brushing ice from the gears of the carpet lift — a large conveyer belt that takes people up small hills — when his hand was caught and then pulled in. The lift stopped.



Last month, Kody Thorne took the licensing exam to become a registered safety technician.© Pat Richard/CBC

In a panic, trying to pull his hand out, Thorne yelled to a nearby worker, "don't start the lift." The person halfway up the hill relayed the message to the person in the control room at the top.

But hearing only the words "start the lift," the worker at the top engaged the machine.

Thorne's whole arm was pulled into the inner workings of the lift's machinery. A coworker got a hacksaw to free his arm.

The incident had consequences for his employer. In court the following year, Poley Mountain Resorts Ltd. pleaded guilty to not providing adequate supervision, and was fined $3,000. Judge Andrew Palmer said he found no flagrant disregard for safety.

Knowing more now than he did as a teenager, Thorne wonders if enough has changed to prevent such an incident from happening again.

"Looking at it from a health and safety perspective now," he said in an interview, "even if there was supervision there, that lift still would not have been locked out, I still would have been in the same position, I still wouldn't have had the training."

Filling the gaps

After the company's fine was handed down, Stephen Moffett, the director of Poley Mountain Resorts, told CBC News the injury brought gaps to their attention, including the lack of lockout procedures that would have disabled the machinery, reducing the risk of someone accidentally turning it on.

In response to questions from CBC News, Jamie Hare, current general manager of Poley Mountain, said since Thorne's injury the hill has done a full safety review of processes and training. In a written statement, he said the company has a new learning management system to keep track of what training each employee has received.

Thorne said he still knows people who work there and has seen a change at the hill.

But he said it's not clear to him if anything has changed about supervision from WorkSafeNB, the agency that enforces the Workplace Health and Safety Act.

"I'd like to see [the changes] checked up on," he said.

Laragh Dooley, executive director of corporate communications for WorksafeNB, said employers are not the only ones who need to keep workplaces safe.

"Everyone in the workplace is responsible for their own safety and for the safety of co-workers," she said.

WorkSafeNB conducts an average of 6,000 inspections a year. She said there are approximately 30,000 workplaces in New Brunswick.

She said the organization considers risk factors and incident records when deciding how frequently a workplace is inspected.

When asked what has changed since the Poley Mountain incident, she said WorkSafeNB worked with the company to ensure they had a proper training program for their employees who work around carpet lifts.

"Our investigation focused on the carpet lift, and no other similar equipment was identified as part of the investigation," she said.

Ski hills, she said, are generally not considered a high-risk industry.

Since 2020, though the organization conducted three inspections at the ski hill. In the three preceding years, she said the organization had conducted five inspections. Since 2017, WorkSafe has issued four orders: One to make the health and safety committee more balanced between employer and employee, one to provide proper PPE, one to revise the COVID-19 plan, and a stop-work order related to the machine that caused Thorne's injuries.

Recovery is a long road

Thorne said one way he's healing from the injury is to speak out. He said people don't often hear about what happens after a workplace injury.

The road to recovery so far has been long. He receives compensation benefits from WorkSafeNB. Soon, he may require another surgery to alleviate some pressure on his nerves.

The biggest challenge, he said, has been not being able to work and be productive.

"If I sit there so long then my brain will just run and run and run … I have a hard time sleeping," he said.

"Mentally, I do have healing to do. I don't have hate. I'm not mentally distressed, like, I'm not depressed from the whole situation. But it's just when to shut off."


Kody Thorne says his partner, friends and family have been helping him through the process of recovering from his injury.© Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC

To find a career, Thorne first considered becoming a truck driver, but that is not an option because of his injury. Interested in justice issues, he wanted to become a lawyer, but WorkSafeNB would not cover the cost of obtaining a degree because it does not match up with how much he earned at the ski hill.

He found his way to occupational health and safety. He said his personal experience is helping him find motivation. He took the licensing exam last month, he said, and he's now waiting for the results.

"If I pass this exam, I would happily stay in it and look for a more field job than office job," he said.

Meanwhile, Thorne said he's trying to find a mental health practitioner and is on a wait list. He said he has many friends and family who are supporting him while he makes sense of what happened.

"I rely on my support and network very heavily," he said.

"I'm very big on hosting my friends and family. I like stuff being proper, so when they come over, that gives me peace of mind."

NIMBY
Farmers push back against proposed De Havilland facility in Wheatland County

Story by Cami Kepke • Yesterday 

While some Albertans eagerly eye the return of spring weather, patio season and NHL playoffs, Christian Heckle's mind is on calving season. On the family farm just east of Strathmore, Alta., another calf arrived just before her interview with Global News.


Christian Heckle poses with Holstein heifer Martha May on her family farm in Wheatland County.© Tom Reynolds/Global News

And another arrival near her farm threatens her way of life.

"We have just over 180 cows and right now we're still calving. It's kind of nonstop work," Heckle said.

For five generations, her family has farmed a large plot of land in Wheatland County. Heckle and her two brothers are determined to continue the tradition.

"I'm very, very passionate about agriculture and the land is very meaningful to us," Heckle added. "It's very peaceful too, that's why we're happy out here."

That way of life could soon be disrupted as aviation manufacturer De Havilland plans to build a new facility on a neighbouring 1500-acre plot of land.

De Havilland Field is to be the site of final assembly for the DHC-515 Firefighter aircraft, DHC Twin Otter and the Dash 8-400 aircraft.

Video: De Havilland announces new airplane manufacturing plant east of Calgary

Its concept plan also includes facilities for ground tests, fueling and repair, educational space slated for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and a De Havilland Canada aircraft museum.

For Heckle and others in the area, the project raises concerns about negative impacts from noise, construction, traffic and the loss of agricultural lands.

"It's in the county name: Wheatland County. But they're quite literally taking the wheat out of it and not supporting their young farmers," Heckle said.

"In an average year that land could grow about 100,000 bushels of, let's say, wheat. One hundred thousand bushels of wheat could supply 9 million loaves of bread.

"So maybe to some people, it might not seem like that much land is being destroyed. But in reality, in a food crisis that is a lot of food being taken away."

"There's been fireworks set off at New Year's... and the entire herd has stampeded across the land," Heckle's mother, Leah Matheson, recalled. "They were quite pregnant at that time, and they can break legs in gopher holes. But a jet flying overhead?

"I understand it's providing jobs but it's also taking away precious agricultural land that cities are already encroaching on."

The family attended an open house hosted by De Havilland in the fall, but found there were few answers to be had with the project itself still waiting for zoning approval.

Video: What could a looming shortage of farm workers mean for Canada?

The airplane manufacturer said because the planned facility is not a commercial airport, there won't be many aircraft flying in and out.

"The site will be home to our manufacturing and distribution facilities, and will include a runway that will allow for manufactured aircraft and those in need of maintenance to arrive and depart from the site," De Havilland told Global News in a statement.

"We understand that there are impacts associated with both construction and operation, and are committed to working to minimize the impacts to neighbours by implementing noise and light-reducing techniques when construction is anticipated sometime next year."

The company is currently working with Wheatland County to rezone the site, with construction expected to start in 2024 and the first buildings operational by 2025. But the full buildout could take years.

In the meantime, families in the area still hold out hope that the plant could find a different home.

Heckle is still working to continue the family farm's legacy, but admits if the project goes ahead, there's little opportunity for her to expand operations.

"One in every 10 farms cease operation (annually), (mostly) due to urban and industrial expansion," Heckle said. "I'm terrified to become one of those stats."

Teck ramps up rhetoric against Glencore offer, pushes own plan to spilt company

Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday 

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd. has ramped up its rhetoric against a unsolicited takeover bid by Swiss mining giant Glencore while arguing for its own restructuring plan.


Teck ramps up rhetoric against Glencore offer, pushes own plan to spilt company© Provided by The Canadian Press

Glencore's proposal is a "non-starter for Teck," said chief executive Jonathan Price on a conference call Monday.

"This is not just about price. We also see serious structural flaws in the proposal that Glencore has put forward, and we believe that that proposal, looked at as a whole, would destroy value for Teck shareholders and that it has significant execution risk.”

Glencore came out last week with a proposed all-share merger that offered a 20 per cent premium to B class shares and would leave Teck investors holding about a quarter of the combined company. Glencore said it planned to split up the combined company into two divisions, with one focused more on metals and another on coal.

The proposition is similar to Teck's existing plan to split along the same lines, which goes to a vote at its annual meeting April 26. But Price said that Glencore's addition to the mix of significant thermal coal, oil trading, and risky countries, plus the regulatory challenges of getting the merger approved, means the entire proposal is highly uncertain and value-destructive.

“The value of Glencore’s rejected proposal is an illusion. In sharp contrast, the pending separation offers up something concrete," said Price.

Teck said its separation will give shareholders more choice and ways to maximize value because they will hold shares in both Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources.

Along with ESG risks, Price noted that merging with Glencore would also expose Teck shareholders to the risks of operating in countries like Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan and Russia.

"Glencore’s presence in these and other jurisdictions also creates a very real regulatory overhang,” he said.

Teck's presentation Monday also highlighted how Glencore was issued some US$1.75 billion in identifiable fines and penalties in 2022, which were linked to its guilty pleas to foreign bribery and market manipulation schemes.

In summarizing the case, the U.S. Department of Justice said Glencore engaged in a scheme for over a decade to pay more than $100 million to intermediaries with the intention that much of the money be used to pay bribes to officials in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Price said on the call that maintaining a social license to operate and grow is critical to maximizing shareholder value.

"We know our local partners and how to operate efficiently, sustainably and ethically in these geographies."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B, TSX:TECK.A)

The Canadian Press

New textile unravels warmth-trapping secrets of polar bear fur

Team of UMass Amherst engineers invents bilayered fabric, 30% lighter than cotton and far warmer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

 

IMAGE: INSPIRED BY POLAR BEARS, THIS NEW TEXTILE CREATES AN ON-BODY “GREENHOUSE” EFFECT TO KEEP YOU WARM. view more 

CREDIT: VIOLA ET AL., 10.1021/ACSAMI.2C23075

AMHERST, Mass. – Three engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have invented a fabric that concludes the 80-year quest to make a synthetic textile modeled on Polar bear fur. The results, published recently in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, are already being developed into commercially available products.

Polar bears live in some of the harshest conditions on earth, shrugging off Arctic temperatures as low as -50 Fahrenheit. While the bears have many adaptations that allow them to thrive when the temperature plummets, since the 1940s scientists have focused on one in particular: their fur. How, the scientific community has asked, does a polar bear’s fur keep them warm?

Typically, we think that the way to stay warm is to insulate ourselves from the weather. But there’s another way: One of the major discoveries of the last few decades is that many polar animals actively use the sunlight to maintain their temperature, and polar bear fur is a well-known case in point.

Scientists have known for decades that part of the bears’ secret is their white fur. One might think that black fur would be better at absorbing heat, but it turns out that the polar bears’ fur is extremely effective at transmitting solar radiation toward the bears’ skin.

“But the fur is only half the equation,” says the paper’s senior author,  Trisha L. Andrew, associate professor of chemistry and adjunct in chemical engineering at UMass Amherst. “The other half is the polar bears’ black skin.”

As Andrew explains it, polar bear fur is essentially a natural fiberoptic, conducting sunlight down to the bears’ skin, which absorbs the light, heating the bear. But the fur is also exceptionally good at preventing the now-warmed skin from radiating out all that hard-won warmth. When the sun shines, it’s like having a thick blanket that warms itself up, and then traps that warmth next to your skin.

What Andrew and her team have done is to engineer a bilayer fabric whose top layer is composed of threads that, like polar bear fur, conduct visible light down to the lower layer, which is made of nylon and coated with a dark material called PEDOT. PEDOT, like the polar bears’ skin, warms efficiently.

So efficiently, in fact, that a jacket made of such material is 30% lighter than the same jacket made of cotton yet will keep you comfortable at temperatures 10 degrees Celsius colder than the cotton jacket could handle, as long as the sun is shining or a room is well lit.

“Space heating consumes huge amounts of energy that is mostly fossil fuel-derived,” says Wesley Viola, the paper’s lead author, who completed his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at UMass and is now at Andrew’s startup, Soliyarn, LLC. “While our textile really shines as outerwear on sunny days, the light-heat trapping structure works efficiently enough to imagine using existing indoor lighting to directly heat the body. By focusing energy resources on the ‘personal climate’ around the body, this approach could be far more sustainable than the status quo.”

The research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, is already being applied, and  Soliyarn has begun production of the PEDOT-coated cloth.

Contacts: Trisha Andrew, tandrew@umass.edu

                 Daegan Miller, drmiller@umass.edu

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JOURNAL

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

DOI

10.1021/acsami.2c23075 

ARTICLE TITLE

Solar Thermal Textiles for On-Body Radiative Energy Collection Inspired by Polar Animals

Teachers who struggle to cope with stress report far lower job satisfaction, MU study finds

Findings can help identify coping mechanisms that alleviate teacher stress, which has implications for teacher shortages.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA

 

IMAGE: CLASSROOM view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- As teacher shortages continue to worsen across the United States, a new study at the University of Missouri gives insight into why so many stressed and burnt-out teachers are leaving the profession. The study found teachers who struggle to cope with the stress of their job report far lower job satisfaction compared to teachers who find ways to manage the pressure.

Seth Woods, a former doctoral student at MU, collaborated with Keith Herman, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor in the MU College of Education and Human Development, and others to analyze survey data of 2,300 teachers from Missouri and Oklahoma who were asked to rate how stressed they were at work, if they found ways to cope with work stress and how satisfied they were with their jobs.

Woods said while the findings were not particularly surprising, the study highlights how the ability — or inability — to cope with work stress can be a significant factor contributing to teacher burnout, which ultimately leads many teachers to leave the profession.

“In my 20 years as an educator, I’ve seen many great people leave the profession unfortunately, and this research confirms that we need to start devoting more time and resources into helping teachers identify and adopt healthy coping mechanisms,” said Woods, who is now principal at Beulah Ralph Elementary School in Columbia, Missouri. “Finding ways to mitigate teacher stress and investing in ways to help them cope with stress in positive manners will pay us back in not having to constantly hire and train new teachers all the time. In addition, retaining experienced teachers will likely benefit student achievement as well.”

The researchers explained that positive, healthy coping mechanisms can be quick, easy and free. One healthy coping mechanism Woods suggests for stressed teachers is writing and delivering a short letter of gratitude to a colleague they enjoy working with. Herman, who authored a book titled, “Stress Management for Teachers: A Proactive Guide,” said simple things like increasing positive interactions with students and peers, improving classroom management skills, and avoiding gossip at work can also help.

Herman added that while systematic issues, such as low teacher pay and overburdened teacher workloads remain critical topics to address, school principals, district superintendents and school administrators can all play in a role in supporting stressed teachers who may be struggling to cope.

“Communicating with teachers about their concerns, demonstrating empathy and checking in on their health and well-being shows that you care,” Herman said. “Our overall goal is to create school environments that allow teachers to thrive and give them the tools they need to be successful.”

“The relationship between teacher stress and job satisfaction as moderated by coping” was published in Psychology in the Schools. Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Justice.

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JOURNAL

Psychology in the Schools

DOI

10.1002/pits.22857 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The relationship between teacher stress and job satisfaction as moderated by coping

Twitter's role in combating vaccine misinformation: New study highlights importance of influential users

Study emphasizes the important role of influencers in promoting accurate health information on social media

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JMIR PUBLICATIONS

 

IMAGE: TWITTER'S ROLE IN COMBATING VACCINE MISINFORMATION: NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF INFLUENTIAL USERS MAGNETICVACCINECONSPIRACY. SOURCE: FREEPIK; COPYRIGHT: FREEPIK; LICENSE: LICENSED BY JMIR view more 

CREDIT: SOURCE: FREEPIK; COPYRIGHT: FREEPIK; LICENSE: LICENSED BY JMIR PUBLICATIONS

A new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research on March 31, 2023, sheds light on the role of Twitter in combating vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories. The study, titled “Twitter's Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Tweets,” was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr Wasim Ahmed and aimed to identify key opinion leaders and accounts sharing the conspiracy on Twitter.

The study examined Twitter posts related to the magnetic vaccine conspiracy theory—a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines can magnetize people, which has amplified vaccination skepticism globally. An approach called social network analysis was used to identify the top Twitter influencers who broadcasted against the conspiracy and helped shape the narrative for the wider community.

The study examined Twitter posts related to the magnetic vaccine conspiracy theory—a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines can magnetize people, which has amplified vaccination skepticism globally. An approach called social network analysis was used to identify top Twitter influencers who broadcasted against the conspiracy and helped shape the narrative for the wider community.

Dr Ahmed and team retrieved 18,706 tweets containing the keywords “vaccine magnetic” that were posted between June 1 and June 13, 2021. They also found a total of 22,762 “connections” (including mentions and replies) between Twitter users within their data set. Interestingly, the researchers found that the discussion revolved around only a handful of key influential Twitter users, including a North America–based news account reporting on the conspiracy, an epidemiologist,  a health economist, and a former sports athlete. These influencers had a wide reach beyond their own Twitter followers and were effective in countering the misinformation and promoting accurate information about vaccines. 

Social media influencers can use their social capital to challenge the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation. The researchers highlight the need for trust in influencers with regard to health information, particularly during times of social uncertainty, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings of this study have the potential to inform strategies for monitoring public health trends online and countering vaccine misinformation on social media.

 

If citing original research article, please cite as:

Ahmed W , Das R , Vidal-Alaball J , Hardey M , Fuster-Casanovas A
Twitter's Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Tweets
Journal of Medical Internet Research 2023;25:e43497
doi: 10.2196/43497

PMID: 36927550

 

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About JMIR Publications

JMIR Publications is a leading, born-digital, open access publisher of 30+ academic journals and other innovative scientific communication products that focus on the intersection of health, and technology. Its flagship journal, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is the leading digital health journal globally in content breadth and visibility, and is the largest journal in the medical informatics field.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Medical Internet Research

DOI

10.2196/43497 

ARTICLE TITLE

Twitter's Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Tweets