'May cause serious side-effects': How medical school admissions can perpetuate inequality and reward privilege

Story by Janelle S. Taylor, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto and Claire Wendland, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Yesterday - THE CONVERSATION

Would-be physicians are often told that a winning medical school application requires stories about observing clinical care. Applicants’ quests to get clinical experiences — through, for example, physician shadowing, global health experiences or medical scribe work — can have harmful unintended consequences.


Volunteering for global health experience is a common way of gaining clinical observation experiences for medical school applicants. This, and other opportunities to get close to the practice of medicine, also have unintended consequences. 

Such activities can perpetuate inequality when they disguise privilege as merit, reinforce damaging narratives or even hurt patients in poorer countries, and contribute to exploiting a vulnerable labour force.

We are medical anthropologists who have researched social and cultural dimensions of medical education. As teachers, we have worked with thousands of undergraduate pre-meds. We recently published, together with two co-authors, an article that we believe is the first to draw attention to how medical-school applications can cause broader harms.

Aspiring physicians encounter many sources of advice, from the admissions websites of medical schools to pre-health advising centres to paid coaches. All of these advisors recommend experiences that put medical-school applicants adjacent to medical care.

The advice may seem sensible. Watching medical professionals at work could serve as an occupational test drive. Applicants might better understand the profession before starting a long and gruelling training period — and possibly taking on a heavy burden of student debt. Admissions committees may also hope that such activities can provide evidence of personal qualities desirable in a physician, such as determination, altruism and a commitment to service.

It’s hard to say whether such experiences actually make for better doctors; the evidence is limited. The quest for such experiences does have other effects, however — and as anthropologists, those interest us. In particular, we want to shine a bright light on the effects that these activities have, in the broader social world:

How do applicants’ social backgrounds affect their access to clinical observation experiences?

Which potentially great doctors get lost along the way, discouraged even from applying?
And how might pre-med students’ presence as observers matter, for practising clinicians and their patients?

Three common pathways to gaining clinical observation experiences are physician shadowing, global health experiences and medical scribe work. Each offers opportunities to get close to the practice of medicine, but each also brings unintended consequences that run counter to the values of the medical profession.

Physician shadowing

Physician shadowing involves following doctors during their day-to-day working routines.


Physician shadowing is strongly recommended or even required by medical schools, but it is increasingly difficult to arrange without family or social connections to physicians.

What a student is invited to observe varies considerably, depending upon policies around patient privacy and the idiosyncrasies of individual physicians. What patients are told about this “member of the team” may vary too.

The ethics of shadowing can be troubling, and the implications for equity are problematic. Though strongly recommended or even required by medical schools, shadowing is increasingly difficult to arrange without family or social connections to physicians. Studies show that students from less privileged backgrounds struggle to find shadowing opportunities and may become discouraged and give up.

Shadowing launders social privilege into individual merit, preserving medicine as a field for elites that masquerades as a meritocracy.

Global health experiences

Global health experiences are short-term volunteer stints in low-income countries. These opportunities have expanded dramatically in the last two decades.

Some are university led, others are run by for-profit groups and packaged as (expensive) tours. They bring students from wealthier countries to communities in poorer parts of the world to observe health problems and medical care, often across stark racialized divides. Without historical context for the differences they encounter, students can easily fall into regarding poverty and illness as somehow natural or inevitable, rather than recognizing them as outcomes of colonial relations and their contemporary legacies.


Global health experiences bring North American students to communities in poorer parts of the world to observe health problems and medical care.© (Shutterstock)

Placement organizations often market these experiences as helpful for strengthening one’s medical school application. Some of our own students feel caught between a distaste for what they call “poverty porn,” and the worry that such experiences are critical. For some, the cost is also prohibitive. We see additional reasons for concern: undergraduate global health tours can also reinforce colonial or “white saviour” narratives, slotting students and those they encounter into rescuer and victim roles.

Read more: How white saviourism harms international development

When inexperienced students actually participate in delivering treatment, such as extracting teeth or delivering babies, they can also cause medical harm.

Medical scribes

Medical scribe work involves clerical labour created by the adoption of electronic health records.

A scribe is present in the clinic, typing notes into a computerized record in real time while a physician speaks with or examines patients. The work is not well paid, and offers few opportunities for advancement, but companies that employ scribes advertise it as “the ultimate clinical experience that you can get before medical school.”


Medical scribe work: pathway to a physician career or poorly paid dead-end job?

© (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

And, indeed, young people with excellent college training in biology or other science fields compete fiercely for these otherwise unpromising jobs, in hopes that they will strengthen applications to medical school, although there is little evidence that they do.

Much as the slim hope of playing in the NFL helps fill the ranks of student-athletes on U.S. college football teams, the slim hope of gaining admittance to medical school helps staff low-ranking clerical positions within medicine. In this way, the competition for medical school admissions may contribute to exploitative labour conditions.

All three of these pathways to clinical experience worsen the inequalities that trouble medicine as a profession. None of them has been demonstrated to make better doctors. Some of them cause harms far afield. All of them are likely to put excellent applicants from less privileged backgrounds at a disadvantage.

It is time to apply “first, do no harm” to the medical-school application process.

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

Read more:
Equitable medical education can be achieved with efforts toward real change

Five strategies to improve medical training – to reduce stress and boost expertise

EPA proposes new regulations on toxic gas used to sterilize spices and medical equipment

Story by Brenda Goodman • CNN

The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed a set of new restrictions on facilities that use the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide, a colorless, odorless gas that is used to sterilize medical devices and spices.

The agency said the new rules, which have not been finalized, would help to reduce ethylene oxide gas that these facilities release by 80%, bringing emissions below a Clean Air Act standard for elevated cancer risk.

Communities exposed to ethylene oxide gas had lobbied the EPA to put tighter controls on plants that use ethylene oxide gas.

In 2018, an EPA report found that dozens of communities across the nation faced elevated cancer risks because of trace of amounts of ethylene oxide released into air as part of the sterilization process.

The EPA issued the report on the new risks without issuing a news release, as it had done for the same report in years past. Some affected communities learned of the risk through health assessments conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and media reports. A report from the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General found that some communities weren’t alerted to their risk by EPA at all.

The elevated risk became apparent after a two-decade long review of the toxicity of ethylene oxide by scientists in EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program.

While the EPA acknowledged that ethylene oxide was more dangerous that had been previously understood, it continued to use an older set of rules to regulate facilities that released ethylene oxide as well as companies that manufacture it.

The proposed rules aim to better align regulations on the producers and users of ethylene oxide with the cancer risk posed by the chemical.

In this September 2018 photo, protesters chant in front of the Illinois headquarters of Sterigenics, a facility that sterilized medical equipment using the chemical ethylene oxide. - Mark Black/The Chicago Tribune/Getty Images

In issuing the proposed rules, the EPA said it aimed to strike a balance between lowing cancer risks for impacted communities and workers who use ethylene oxide while preserving “critical sterilization capabilities.”

The proposed rules would apply to 86 commercial sterilization facilities in the United States that use ethylene oxide gas to fumigate spices and medical devices.

The EPA says 20 billion medical devices – mostly single-use, disposable items used in health care such as catheters, gloves and surgical gowns – are sterilized using ethylene oxide.

The US Food and Drug Administration is actively exploring alternatives to the use of the gas, the EPA said on Tuesday, but some devices still can’t be sterilized any other way.

In proposing the new rules, EPA said its new analysis found that exposure to ethylene oxide, or EtO, on the job significantly increased cancer risks for workers in sterilization facilities and those who apply ethylene oxide in health care facilities.

“Now, a new EPA analysis shows that there may also be significant risks to workers who handle [ethylene oxide] and people who live, work or go to school near places where EtO is used in sterilization. And failing to take action to address these risks is simply unacceptable,” EPA Administrator Janet McCabe said on a call with reporters.

The additional lifetime cancer risk for a worker exposed to ethylene oxide for eight hours a day, 240 days a year for 35 years was between 1 in 10 and 1 in 36 for workers in sterilization facilities; and between 1 in 12 and 1 in 25 for workers exposed to ethylene oxide in health care facilities.

To help lower those risks, the proposed rules require greater use of personal protective equipment for workers and new controls to decrease the amount of ethylene oxide in indoor air.

They will also be required to use new real-time monitoring methods to confirm that these pollution controls are working inside facilities.

These controls can measure ethylene oxide in indoor air down to 10 parts per billion.

They will also lower the amount of ethylene oxide that can be used for each sterilization cycle.

If the rules go into effect, sterilizers would have 18 months to make the changes, which the EPA said is an accelerated time frame under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA is now taking public comment on the new rules.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

More than 200 pharmaceutical executives sign open letter calling for reversal of Texas abortion pill ruling

Story by Annika Kim Constantino • Yesterday 

More than 200 pharmaceutical executives signed on to an open letter calling for the reversal of a federal judge's decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was among the corporate leaders who signed the letter after U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's controversial ruling Friday.

 
The executives expressed support for the FDA's authority to regulate drugs and said Kacsmaryk's decision "ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent."


Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla attends a conversation during the World Economic Forum WEF 2022 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, May 25, 2022.© Provided by CNBC

More than 200 pharmaceutical executives signed on to an open letter calling for the reversal of a federal judge's decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Albert Bourla, the CEO of pharma titan Pfizer, was among the corporate leaders who joined the letter after U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's controversial ruling Friday.

"We call for the reversal of this decision to disregard science, and the appropriate restitution of the mandate for the safety and efficacy of medicines for all with the FDA, the agency entrusted to do so in the first place," the letter said.

The executives said Kacsmaryk's decision "ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent." They also raised concerns that the ruling will "set a precedent" for diminishing the FDA's authority over drug approvals, which would create uncertainty for the entire industry.

"If courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone," the executives wrote in the letter.

They added that regulatory uncertainty will likely reduce incentives for investing in new drugs, which would endanger the "innovation that characterizes our industry."

Pfizer is one of the first major pharmaceutical companies to publicly react to the ruling. Among the other executives who signed the letter are Biogen President Alisha Alaimo and Cristal Downing, Merck's chief communications and public affairs officer.

The letter included a link to a Google form for other executives and employees to add their names.

Moderna, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the letter.

On Monday, the primary lobbying arm of the pharmaceutical industry, PhRMA, issued a separate statement saying Kacsmaryk's ruling undermines the regulatory process.

"The FDA is the gold standard for determining whether a medicine is safe and effective for people to use," said Priscilla VanderVeer, PhRMA's vice president of public affairs. "While PhRMA and our members are not a party to this litigation, our focus is on ensuring a policy environment that supports the agency's ability to regulate and provides access to FDA-approved medicines."

Kacsmaryk sided with an anti-abortion group, arguing the FDA rushed its approval process and violated federal standards. He suggested the agency ignored mifepristone's serious safety risks due to "political pressure."

"The Court does not second-guess FDA's decision-making lightly," Kacsmaryk wrote in his decision. "But here, FDA acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns — in violation of its statutory duty — based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions."

In the open letter, executives acknowledged that the FDA's drug development and approval process is not perfect. But they defended the agency's longstanding determination that mifepristone is a safe and effective method to terminate an early pregnancy.

The abortion pill "has been proven by decades of data to be safer than Tylenol, nearly all antibiotics and insulin," the executives wrote in the letter.

The FDA declined to comment on the letter, directing CNBC to the agency's statement on Saturday.

"[Mifepristone's] approval was based on the best available science and done in accordance with the laws that govern our work," that statement said.

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000. Medication abortion has become the most accessible and preferred method for terminating a pregnancy in the U.S. since then, accounting for more than half of all abortions nationwide.

Mifepristone will be available in the short term, because Kacsmaryk delayed his order for a week to give the Biden administration time to appeal.

Kacsmaryk's decision conflicts with a ruling by a federal judge in Washington state. Less than an hour after the Texas ruling, the Washington state judge issued a preliminary injunction that could protect access to mifepristone in the 17 states and Washington, D.C., that brought a lawsuit arguing that too many regulations exist on the drug.

The dueling orders by two federal judges create a complicated legal standoff that could potentially escalate to the Supreme Court.

— CNBC's Meg Tirrell and Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.

RIP
Al Jaffee, longtime Mad magazine cartoonist, dead at 102

NEW YORK (AP) — Al Jaffee, Mad magazine's award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," has died. He was 102.


Al Jaffee, longtime Mad magazine cartoonist, dead at 102© Provided by The Canadian Press

Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99.

Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected "Fold-Ins," taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.

Readers savored his Fold-Ins like dessert, turning to them on the inside back cover after looking through such other favorites as Antonio Prohías' "Spy vs. Spy" and Dave Berg's "The Lighter Side." The premise, originally a spoof of the old Sports Illustrated and Playboy magazine foldouts, was that you started with a full-page drawing and question on top, folded two designated points toward the middle and produced a new and surprising image, along with the answer.

The Fold-In was supposed to be a onetime gag, tried out in 1964 when Jaffee satirized the biggest celebrity news of the time: Elizabeth Taylor dumping her husband, Eddie Fisher, in favor of "Cleopatra" co-star Richard Burton. Jaffee first showed Taylor and Burton arm in arm on one side of the picture, and on the opposite side a young, handsome man being held back by a policeman.

Fold the picture in and Taylor and the young man are kissing.

The idea was so popular that Mad editor Al Feldstein wanted a follow-up. Jaffee devised a picture of 1964 GOP presidential contenders Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon.

"That one really set the tone for what the cleverness of the Fold-Ins has to be," Jaffee told the Boston Phoenix in 2010. "It couldn't just be bringing someone from the left to kiss someone on the right.”

Jaffee was also known for "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," which delivered exactly what the title promised. A comic from 1980 showed a man on a fishing boat with a noticeably bent reel. “Are you going to reel in the fish?” his wife asks. “No,” he says, “I’m going to jump into the water and marry the gorgeous thing.”

Jaffee didn’t just satirize the culture; he helped change it. His parodies of advertisements included such future real-life products as automatic redialing for a telephone, a computer spell checker and graffiti-proof surfaces. He also anticipated peelable stamps, multiblade razors and self-extinguishing cigarettes.

Jaffee's admirers ranged from Charles M. Schulz of "Peanuts" fame and “Far Side" creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by featuring a Fold-In cake on “The Colbert Report.” When Stewart and "The Daily Show" writers put together the best-selling "America (The Book)," they asked Jaffee to contribute a Fold-In.

"When I was done, I called up the producer who'd contacted me, and I said, 'I've finished the Fold-In, where shall I send it?' And he said — and this was a great compliment — 'Oh, please Mr. Jaffee, could you deliver it in person? The whole crew wants to meet you,'" he told The Boston Phoenix.

Jaffee received numerous awards, and in 2013 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the ceremony taking place at San Diego Comic-Con International. In 2010, he contributed illustrations to Mary-Lou Weisman's "Al Jaffee's Mad Life: A Biography." The following year, Chronicle Books published "The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010."

Art was the saving presence of his childhood, which left him with permanent distrust of adults and authority. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but for years was torn between the U.S., where his father (a department store manager) preferred to live, and Lithuania, where his mother (a religious Jew) longed to return. In Lithuania, Jaffee endured poverty and bullying, but also developed his craft. With paper scarce and no school to attend, he learned to read and write through the comic strips mailed by his father.

By his teens, he was settled in New York City and so obviously gifted that he was accepted into the High School of Music & Art. His schoolmates included Will Elder, a future Mad illustrator, and Harvey Kurtzmann, a future Mad editor. (His mother, meanwhile, remained in Lithuania and was apparently killed during the war).

He had a long career before Mad. He drew for Timely Comics, which became Marvel Comics; and for several years sketched the "Tall Tales" panel for the New York Herald Tribune. Jaffee first contributed to Mad in the mid-1950s. He left when Kurtzmann quit the magazine, but came back in 1964.

Mad lost much of its readership and edge after the 1970s, and Jaffee outlived virtually all of the magazine's stars. But he rarely lacked for ideas even as his method, drawing by hand, remained mostly unchanged in the digital era.

“I’m so used to being involved in drawing and knowing so many people that do it, that I don’t see the magic of it,” Jaffee told the publication Graphic NYC in 2009. “If you reflect and think about it, I’m sitting down and suddenly there’s a whole big illustration of people that appears. I’m astounded when I see magicians work; even though I know they’re all tricks. You can imagine what someone thinks when they see someone drawing freehand and it’s not a trick. It’s very impressive."

___

This story has been corrected to show that Antonio Prohías was the creator of the “Spy vs. Spy” comic strip.

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press

Sweet little lies: Maple syrup fraud undermines the authenticity of Canada's 'liquid gold'

Story by Robert Hanner, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 

Maria G. Corradini, Associate Professor - Arrell Chair in Food Quality, University of Guelph,

 Maleeka Singh, PhD Candidate, Food Science, University of Guelph, 

Sujani Rathnayake, Research assistant, Hanner Lab, University of Guelph

 • Yesterday 
THE CONVERSATION


Ensuring that maple syrup products are not mixed or substituted with other sugar syrups protects the reputation of Canadian products.© (Shutterstock)

Maple syrup, Canada’s “liquid gold,” is among the 10 most adulterated foods globally.

Maple syrup’s desirability has made it a target for delinquent activities, including food fraud and theft. In 2011 and 2012, almost 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup were stolen from the Strategic Reserve in Québec.

The Great Maple Syrup Heist reflects the food’s status as a highly valuable commodity and the target of delinquent activities.

In addition to the threat posed to maple syrup by thieves and smugglers, unreliable production yields due to climate events have required establishing production quotas to stabilize pricing and supply.

As a consequence, there have been reports of prohibition-style smuggling and sugar syrups labelled as maple syrup permeating the market. These actions cheat consumers and introduce food safety risks into the supply chain.

Consumers pay more for a lower value product. In addition, the introduction of other sugars or sugar syrups may pose risks to individuals with sugar sensitivities, as maple syrup has a lower glycemic index than white sugar or corn syrups.

Fingerprinting maple syrup glow

As such, there is a need for the development of more accurate and rapid testing tools to monitor maple syrup fraud.

Our research team at the University of Guelph has been developing methods to detect maple syrup fraud. We use fluorescence fingerprinting, which analyzes how certain molecules in maple syrup glow when exposed to UV and visible light, to see if there is any potential maple syrup adulteration.

In UV light, maple syrup naturally glows. Fluorescence fingerprinting maps the intensity of the light emitted by these specific fluorescent (glowing) compounds, and can provide a unique 3D rendering of a sample’s composition while also reporting on its quality, safety and identity.

Using key features found in the fluorescence fingerprints, we explored ways to better detect maple syrup adulteration even when the levels are as low as one per cent.

Our study examines the adulteration of dark and amber maple syrups with common maple syrup adulterants, at percentages ranging from one to 50 per cent.

Distinct fluorescence fingerprints were found for each tested syrup and mixture, revealing features that can be used to distinguish pure from adulterated samples.

Machine learning and identification


Maple syrup glows under UV light.© (M. Singh)

The fluorescence fingerprints obtained when the samples were exposed to UV and visible light show several features (or peaks) that gradually changed in samples tampered with adulterants. We were able to correctly detect adulteration in 70 to 100 per cent of samples, depending on how the features were quantified and analyzed, by creating a fluorescence index or by using machine learning techniques.

To fully validate this approach, we will need to use larger datasets that will help us control for other factors — like the environments maple trees grow in — that may affect the content of the syrups.

Other common fingerprinting techniques, such as DNA barcoding that examines short DNA fragments, can detect adulteration in other foods, like fish or sausages.

These methods don’t work well for maple syrup because the extensive processing required to transform sap into syrup potentially degrades the DNA.

In contrast, fluorescence fingerprints rely on a food’s chemical composition, so identifying the presence of adulterants can happen even in highly processed samples. Most foods naturally contain intrinsic fluorescent compounds, which means they glow under UV and visible light — the amount of and type of glow represent distinguishing characteristics.

Quality control

Since using fluorescent fingerprinting only requires the use of light, it is a non-invasive, efficient and affordable strategy for checking whether maple syrup contains any other sugar syrups. It is also fast, providing information about a sample within minutes.

This approach can be applied at different points in the supply chain as part of quality assurance and control. This would ensure that consumers receive safe, high-quality foods, and that they are not cheated financially. Confirming the quality of maple syrup would also protect the brand reputation of Canadian products.

Maia Zhang, research assistant at the University of Guelph, co-authored this article.

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

Read more:
Unlocking the secrets of maple syrup, one molecule at a time

How technology will help fight food fraud

Maleeka Singh receives funding from the Arrell Food Institute.

Maria G. Corradini receives funding from NSERC

Robert Hanner has received funding from the Arrell Food Institute, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Oceana (US & Canada).

Sujani Rathnayake received funding from the Arrell Food Institute of the University of Guelph from 2019-2022.

After the last coal mine closed, this Alberta hamlet set on becoming a tourist destination
Story by Liam Harrap • Yesterday 8:00 a.m.


When the Cardinal River Mine closed in 2020, it was the end of more than a century of coal mining near Cadomin, Alta.

Coal extraction in the Cadomin area began more than 100 years ago. 

Coal was one of the main economic drivers in the area, helping fuel the steel-making industry.

The community thrived for decades. By the 1930s, almost 2,000 people lived in Cadomin. By 2021, the population had dwindled to 54, according to Statistics Canada.

But instead of becoming a ghost town, the community is building a new business base: tourism.

"It's definitely going to become, without a doubt, a resort centre," said Curtis Way, president of the Cadomin Community Society.

The society is behind the push for a new $4-million community hall, which was recently approved by the Yellowhead County.

About three years ago, the mining company Teck Resources donated $400,000 toward the project. The province provided $950,000 and Yellowhead County has committed $2.25 million. Local property and business owners have also donated toward the new hall.

"We're still short a couple hundred thousand but we're very close to getting across the goal line," said Way.

Cadomin is roughly 50 kilometres south of Hinton, after the paved road becomes gravel.

The hamlet has been making do with the old Legion as its community hall. The building is more than 80 years old and at the end of its life, said Way.

The new hall would be a focal point for the community, he said, providing a space for music concerts, pig roasts and pot lucks.

Although the community has 54 year-round residents, the population explodes to more than 200 during a long weekend, according to Way.

"We're a hopping kind of place."

Related video: Controversial Alberta coal mine could soon get a green energy makeover (Global News)
Duration 2:05  View on Watch

The aim is for shovels to be in the ground by June, he said. The hall could be built by December, just in time for a Christmas party.

Cadomin is a popular area for ATVing, hiking and hunting, particularly big horn sheep.

"We're really seeing a lot of the older properties being knocked down and people are building new houses," said Way.

"We're kind of the best kept secret in Alberta right now when it comes to mountain living."

So far, the hamlet's rising popularity has been limited to summer visitation.

When local resident Leah Vallee arrived in Cadomin in the 1970s, there were about 20 kids. Now, there's none.

The new community hall would not only be a good location for weddings and celebrations, she said, but could help attract more year-round families.

As the owner of the hamlet's only motel for more than 30 years, she said her phone is ringing more than ever before from prospective visitors.

"I get so many calls from people wanting to come here," said Vallee.

"It will be the next Canmore."

Similar to Cadomin, Canmore also has an industrial history as its last coal mine closed in 1979.

Vallee, along with her husband, bought the Cadomin's only store last year, which sells items like chips and pop. The couple plan to open a cafe this month.

The community hall could also attract different kinds of businesses, said Way, including an ultra marathon event.

Edmonton's Monty McNeice, who also organizes the Klondike Ultra Marathon in Fort Assiniboine, has been visiting Cadomin for more than 20 years and running many of its trails.

His kids particularly like to play with basketballs from the unlocked sports shed.

"It's that kind of small town."

His race idea is inspired by history. In the 1930s, coal miners used to race up to the summit of a nearby mountain. The winner got $75, which was equivalent to nearly 15 days of wages.

"There's a few other old mining communities where ultramarathons were introduced and the community thrived, it definitely strengthens the community," said McNeice.

He's aiming for the new race to launch in 2024, noting that the new community hall could serve as the race's meeting point.

Could white-tailed deer hold the key to treating Lyme disease?

Story by Kim MacDonald • Yesterday


The Weather Network
Could white-tailed deer be the answer to Lyme disease?
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Progress has been made in the fight against Lyme disease. Researchers at the New England Center of Excellence for Vector Borne Disease (NEWVEC) at the University of Massachusetts have discovered that white-tailed deer are immune to Lyme disease, offering hope for potential cures or prevention strategies. Scientists confirmed what they had already suspected, something in the deer's blood kills the bacteria that causes Lyme. The next step is investigating what the exact substance is. Knowing this could inform ways to protect humans and pets in the future.

Microbiology Professor Stephen Rich, director of the NEWVEC, tells me that "we can learn something about the pharmacology of it, like the drugs that work to ... mimic that thing that's happening inside the white-tailed deer. And if we get that, we're off to the races to having possibly another cure or prevention for Lyme disease."

Currently, antibiotics remain the best option for treating Lyme disease, with early detection and treatment being crucial for favorable outcomes.

The findings were published in the journal Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases.

Thumbnail: file photo: National Park Service.

Jury holds key to fate of $1 billion transmission project

Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A battle over a $1 billion transmission line that won all regulatory approvals only to be rebuked by state residents in a referendum now comes down to nine regular folks.



In a rare move, a jury is being asked to decide a complicated constitutional matter — whether developers have a vested right to complete the 145-mile (233-kilometer) project, which would supply Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid.

The constitutionality of the statewide referendum on the project depends on the jury’s decision on the narrow vested-rights issue. And the case could turn on a simple majority of jurors.

“We’re not aware of a similar instance in which the fate of a large energy asset rests in the hands of a jury. This is an unusual circumstance,” Timothy Fox, vice president of Clear View Partners, an energy research firm in Washington, D.C., said before the trial began Monday.

The courtroom was packed Monday.

Attorneys for groups opposed to the project and the state attorney general’s office, which is charged with upholding the referendum, suggested to jurors on Monday that developers rushed construction with a goal of winning vested rights and nullifying the referendum.

But John Aromando, the lawyer for the developers, said the construction schedule was put in place years earlier, and that the case is “about fundamental fairness, about vested rights, about protection of property rights against retroactive laws.”

Last year, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court breathed new life into the stalled project when it ruled the retroactive nature of the statewide vote to stop the project would violate the developers’ constitutional rights if substantial construction already had begun in good faith before the referendum. Construction started in January 2021, about 10 months before the referendum in which 59% of voters rejected the project.

Justice Michael A. Duddy could have made the fact-finding determination himself. But he ruled in favor of project opponents, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who asked for a jury to make the determination. The judge seated nine jurors and two alternates.

Central Maine Power’s parent company and Hydro Quebec teamed up on New England Clean Energy Connect, which was unveiled in 2017 with a goal of supplying up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That is enough electricity for 1 million homes.

It’s one of two proposed large-scale transmission projects aimed at tapping hydropower from Quebec. The other would provide electricity to New York City.

Early on, developers envisioned smooth sailing because the transmission path would mostly follow existing corridors, with only a new 53-mile (85-kilometer) section crossing sparely populated woods to reach the Canadian border.

But the project encountered opposition each step of the way even as it received all necessary regulatory approvals. Developers already had begun cutting trees and setting poles for months when the governor asked for work to be suspended after voters rejected the project in November 2021.

Supporters say bold projects such as this one, funded by ratepayers in Massachusetts, are necessary to battle climate change and introduce additional electricity into a region that is heavily reliant on natural gas, which can cause spikes in energy costs.

Critics say the project’s environmental benefits are overstated — and that it would harm the woodlands in western Maine.

In Maine, two lawsuits over the project went before the Supreme Judicial Court, which ultimately upheld a lease for a 1-mile portion of the proposed power line that crossed state land.

The constitutional issue will likely end up back before the Supreme Judicial Court regardless of the outcome of the judge's decision after the jury trial.

___

David Sharp, The Associated Press

Newly Discovered Ghostly Marine Worms Look Straight Out of Japanese Folklore

Story by Jess Cockerill • Yesterday 

An ethereal blue glimmer just below the waterline has lured scientists like wisps from folklore to three new glowing species of marine bristle worm (polychaetes).


Pale marine worm with fuzzy head pale in black waters© Provided by ScienceAlert

Their genus name, Polycirrus, means 'many tendrils' in Latin. Looking at these otherworldly worms, you can immediately understand why.

Until now, we knew of only four species of Polycirrus with the ability to bioluminesce. In addition, there were only two species of Polycirrus described in Japan. This new discovery, led by marine worm expert Naoto Jimi, adds three new species to each tally.

Two of these worms have been named after supernatural entities from Japanese folklore, yokai. The third species' name pays tribute to former director of the Notojima Aquarium, Shinichi Ikeguchi, since this worm was found in waters near the aquarium, as well as off the Shirawara coast.

Polycirrus onibi, discovered in Notojima and Sugashima, is named after yokai not unlike the will-o-wisps of Western folklore. Onibi are spirits of the dead which appear as a floating ball of usually blue flame, and tend to inhabit damp areas in nature.

Illustration of an Onibi spirit. 

( Sekien Toriyama/ Public Domain )© Provided by ScienceAlert

Polycirrus aoandon, found in Sugashima, is named after the yokai Aoandon, a ghost-like creature with blue skin, long hair, horns and sharp teeth, who wears a white kimono and carries a blue lantern. A sort of Bloody Mary figure, it's said Aoandon is invoked by those who've spent the night sharing supernatural stories.


Artist Sekien Toriyama popularized the legend of Aoandon.

 ( Public domain )© Provided by ScienceAlert

"The hazy violet-blue bioluminescence emitted by the Polycirrus species is strikingly similar to the descriptions of these creatures found in folklore," Jimi said.

This color of light has a relatively short wavelength, so it is absorbed less quickly by water than other colors and therefore travels farther underwater. That's why this kind of bioluminescence is usually associated with creatures of the deep. The color of these worms' glow is unusual, given their coastal habitats.

The worms were examined in the wild ocean, thoguh some specimens were also brought to the lab for further study.

Japan Underwater Films Corporation helped record the action. In the sea, researchers found the bubbles from the SCUBA gear could set off the worm's hypnotic light show. They saw similar results in the lab by nudging the worms' tentacles with tweezers.



P. ikeguchii is more orange than the other two species. (Naoto Jimi/Nagoya University)© Provided by ScienceAlert

The pattern in which these glimmering lights flickered was near identical in all three species.

When stimulated, the tentacles flashed for about 0.3 to 1.1 seconds, with each flash lasting about 0.15 seconds. The scientists also noticed that disturbing one area of tentacles didn't trigger flashing in neighboring tentacles, nor did the flashing synchronize in an individual.

The lights' intensity waned after about 30 seconds of stimulation, like a glow stick at the end of a rave. But after the worms were given a few minutes' break from scientific tickling, their bioluminescent response was able to recharge, returning to full brightness.

"The discovery that all three new species are luminescent has allowed us to link taxonomic and ecological findings and establish research that others can readily apply to the study of luminescent organisms," Jimi said.

The flashing lights might be a kind of warning system, to scare off predators, not unlike the motion-sensor security lights in our homes. Since these worms are known to spend a lot of time buried in mud, rock crevasses or the nooks and crannies of sponges, the researchers think this bioluminescence is used mostly for "emergency situations", when the worm's body is exposed. The fact that the scientists' poking, prodding and bubbling was the main trigger for the worms' bioluminescence in this study certainly supports this theory.

"Bioluminescence is a treasure trove of interesting and unusual chemistry," Jimi said.

"We intend to use our findings to deepen our understanding of the molecular nature of this phenomenon and apply this knowledge to the development of new life sciences technologies."

This study is published in Royal Society Open Science.

Russian volcano erupts, spewing out a vast cloud of ash

Story by By REUTERS • 

One of Russia's most active volcanoes erupted on Tuesday shooting a vast cloud of ash far up into the sky and smothering villages in drifts of grey volcanic dust, triggering an aviation warning around Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

Photo of the Shiveluch volcano from the International Space Station.© (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight reaching a crescendo about six hours later, spewing out an ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometers, according to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Survey.

Lava flows tumbled from the volcano, melting snow and prompting a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway while villages were carpeted in drifts of grey ash as deep as 8.5 centimeters, the deepest in 60 years.


"The ash reached 20 kilometers high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages."Danila Chebrov

"The ash reached 20 kilometers high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages," said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey.

"The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year... and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now," Chebrov said.


 A satellite image shows the Shiveluch volcano on the Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, November 26, 2022. (credit: Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)

He said the volcano would probably calm now, but that further major ash clouds could not be excluded. He said lava flows should not reach local villages

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The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) issued a red notice for aviation, saying "ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft."

Volcano eruption leaves Russia's Kamchatka region in chaos

Some schools in the Kamchatka peninsula, about 6,800 km east of Moscow, were closed and residents were ordered to stay indoors, head of the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal region Oleg Bondarenko said in a Telegram post.

"Because what I have just seen here with my own eyes, it will be impossible for children to go to school, and in general, the presence of children here is questionable," Bondarenko said.

He said residents' power had been restored and that drinking water was being supplied.

One of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanoes, Shiveluch has had an estimated 60 substantial eruptions in the past 10,000 years, the last major one being in 2007.

It has two main parts, the smaller of which – Young Shiveluch – scientists have reported as being extremely active in recent months, with a peak of 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) that protrudes out of the 3,283 meter-high Old Shiveluch.

Scientists posted pictures of the ash cloud billowing swiftly over the forests and rivers of the far east and of villages covered in ash. One posted a picture of the depth of the ash fall – more than 8 centimeters deep.