New Strike Threats Loom in August Over Canada’s West Coast Ports and Rails

Labor disputes loom for August over Canada's West Coast ports and against the railroads (Vancouver file photo)

Published Jul 30, 2024 7:31 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

Labor disputes impacting both the operations of Canada’s West Coast ports and the two leading railroads are due to come to a head in August. Experts warn of the potential of more disruptions as Canada is already dealing with the impact of wildfires near the main rail line in Jasper in western Alberta province which is already causing problems and expectations of port and vessel delays.

The Canadian Industrial Relations Board is involved with both the dispute for the dockworkers in British Columbia and labor disputes impacting both CN Rail and Canadian Pacific Kansas City. The board is due to issue a ruling by August 9 on the rail labor issue which could open the window for a strike or possibly extend the cooling off period. Also, from August 6 to 9, the board is conducting a hearing on the ILWU dispute with DP World Canada which has threatened to spread into a strike for all West Coast port operations.

The ILWU Local 514 which represents 730 forepersons for the docks is increasing the pressure. After a meeting with the B.C. Maritime Employers Association and the CIRB last week, union lawyers notified the employers that they are conducting a new strike vote. They will not act before the CIRB hearing but said they expect to complete the vote on August 9.

The BCMEA asserts it previously offered a 19.2 percent wage increase and remains committed to achieving a fair settlement. The union cites the pressure by DP World to introduce automation at its Vancouver container terminal which they contend will take away union member jobs. The union proposed a new manning scale which BCMEA alleges is illegal and presented in bad faith.

The longshoremen’s foremen planned to go on strike on July 8 against DP World while the employers’ association said they would be locking out union members at all port facilities if the strike proceeded. At the last minute, CIRB ruled the strike notice was illegal. The union withdrew the strike notice delaying a strike till now.

For both the port foreman and the rail employees, the unions would have to serve a 72-hour notice before they took any actions. Business associations are already warning of the potential of crippling strikes in mid-August.

Last year, the port employees went on strike effectively closing down container and some break bulk operations on the West Coast. The government expressed dissatisfaction but initially did not intervene. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became involved by organizing ministers and that prompted the union to withdraw further strikes leading to a settlement.

Government and business leaders called for an investigation and taking steps to prevent future strikes. The Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters association estimated last year that the port strike disrupted C$500 million (US$380 million) a day in trade, with analysts saying a rail strike could be even more devastating for the Canadian economy.

Mediterranean heatwave 'virtually impossible' without climate change: scientists

Paris (AFP) – The punishing heat experienced around the Mediterranean in July would have been "virtually impossible" in a world without global warming, a group of climate scientists said Wednesday.

AFP
Issued on: 31/07/2024 -

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group say the heatwave that hit countries around the Mediterranean in July would have been up to 3.3 degrees Celsius cooler in a world without climate change 

© FADEL SENNA / AFP

A deadly heatwave brought temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to southern Europe and North Africa, where such extreme summer spells are becoming more frequent.

Scorching heat claimed more than 20 lives in a single day in Morocco, fanned wildfires in Greece and the Balkans, and strained athletes competing across France in the Summer Olympic Games.

World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists who have pioneered peer-reviewed methods for assessing the possible role of climate change in specific extreme events, said this case was clear.

"The extreme temperatures reached in July would have been virtually impossible if humans had not warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels," according to the WWA report by five researchers.

The analysis looked at the average July temperature and focused on a region that included Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece.

Scientists used this and other climate data to assess how the heat in July compared to similar periods in a world before humanity began rapidly burning oil, coal and gas.

They concluded the heat recorded in Europe was up to 3.3C hotter because of climate change.

Beyond the Mediterranean, intense heat reached Paris this week where athletes competing in the Olympic Games withered as temperatures hit the mid-30s this week.

"Extremely hot July months are no longer rare events," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, a co-author of the study.

"In today's climate... Julys with extreme heat can be expected about once a decade," she said.

Scientists have long established that climate change is driving extreme weather and making heatwaves longer, hotter and more frequent.

This latest episode came in a month when global temperatures soared to their highest levels on record, with the four hottest days ever observed by scientists etched into the history books in July.

The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, exceeding a 1.5C limit that scientists say must be kept intact over the long term to avoid catastrophic climate change.

© 2024 AFP

'Sci-fi assassin': S. Korean Olympic sharpshooter wins internet

Seoul (AFP) – A South Korean Olympic sharpshooter who took silver in the women's 10-metre air pistol exploded across the internet Wednesday, crowned the Paris Games' breakout style star.

Issued on: 31/07/2024 - 

Kim Ye-ji was almost preternaturally calm in videos showing her and her teammate locking up the two top shooting scores in Paris 

© Alain JOCARD / AFP

Wearing her black South Korea uniform zipped up to the neck, a baseball hat, and wire-rimmed shooting glasses, 31-year-old Kim Ye-ji was almost preternaturally calm in videos showing her and her teammate locking up the two top shooting scores in Paris Sunday.

After her win, a 27-second clip showing Kim, with the same ultra-calm manner, taking aim, shooting her weapon, and checking her record-breaking score, went viral.

The video, which appears to have been first shared in a Reddit thread, actually shows Kim at the Baku World Cup in May, not Paris.

But even as social media platform X flagged some posts for sharing the footage out of context, the video continued to spread online, alongside images of Kim from Paris.

Kim was quickly declared "the coldest style star of this year's Games" by style magazine GQ.

"The first-time Olympian took to the range at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre looking like an ultra-contemporary, sportswear-wearing sci-fi assassin," GQ said.

One post of the video, which declared Kim to have "the most main character energy" racked up more than 28 million views in a day.

Elon Musk, who owns X, called for Kim to be cast in an action movie.

"No acting required!" Musk wrote, in comments which appeared to further amplify the video.

The footage has spawned fan art of Kim, multiple edits setting the clip to K-pop music, and endless memes, including some discussing her unique "aura".

- 'Going to win gold' -

Kim, who is ranked first in the women's 10-metre air pistol and fourth in the 25-metre pistol, will be shooting again later this week in Paris.

For Kim, who lists her hobbies as "sleeping" on the International Shooting Sport Federation, the 25-metre event is actually her speciality -- and fans will get to watch her in preliminaries on Friday and the finals the following day.

"I am confident all the time... I, Kim Ye-ji, am going to win gold no matter what," she told reporters.

Kim told South Korean media that she was looking forward to speaking to her five-year-old daughter after all her events were over.

When asked what she would want to tell her, Kim said gleefully of her new online notoriety: "I think I have become a bit famous now."

South Korea dominates archery at the Olympics, with its women archers having won every gold since the sport was introduced to the games in 1988.

It also performs strongly in taekwondo -- its native martial art -- and has done reasonably well in shooting in the past, securing nine gold medals as of Wednesday since 1992, four of which were won by women shooters.

South Korean men who win medals at the Olympics are granted an exemption from military service, which is not mandatory for women.

© 2024 AFP

Study finds COVID-19 virus widespread in U.S. wildlife

By Dennis Thompson, 

HealthDay News
July 29, 2024 

The virus responsible for COVID-19 was detected in six common backyard species, including deer mice, opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, cottontail rabbits and red bats. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

The virus responsible for COVID-19 is widespread among wildlife, a new study finds.

SARS-CoV-2 was detected in six common backyard species, including deer mice, opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, cottontail rabbits and red bats, researchers reported Monday in the journal Nature Communications.

Further, antibodies indicating prior exposure to the coronavirus were found in five animal species, with rates of exposure ranging from 40% to 60% between species.

The highest exposure to the COVID virus was found in animals near hiking trails and high-traffic public areas, suggesting that the virus passed from humans to wildlife, researchers said.

There was no evidence of COVID passing from animals to humans, so people don't need to worry about getting the illness from any critters they come across while on a hike, researchers added.

"The virus can jump from humans to wildlife when we are in contact with them, like a hitchhiker switching rides to a new, more suitable host," said researcher Carla Finkielstein, a professor of biological sciences with Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

"The goal of the virus is to spread in order to survive. The virus aims to infect more humans, but vaccinations protect many humans," Finkielstein added in a Virginia Tech news release. "So, the virus turns to animals, adapting and mutating to thrive in the new hosts."

SARS-CoV-2 infections have previously been found in wildlife, primarily in white-tailed deer and feral mink, researchers noted.

The new study significantly expands the number of species in which the COVID virus has been found, and suggests that areas with high human activity can serve as points of contact for transmission between humans and animals.

For the study, researchers collected nearly 800 nasal and oral swabs in Virginia from animals either live-trapped in the field and released or receiving treatment in a wildlife rehabilitation center.

The team also obtained 126 blood samples from six different species.

On one day, researchers identified two mice at the same site with the exact same COVID variant, indicating that they either both got it from the same human or one infected the other.

In addition, COVID isolated from one opossum showed viral mutations that had not been seen before, which could potentially make the virus more dangerous to humans.

"I think the big take-home message is the virus is pretty ubiquitous," said lead researcher Amanda Goldberg, a former postdoctoral associate with the Virginia Tech College of Science. "We found positives in a large suite of common backyard animals."

Many of the species that tested positive in Virginia are common throughout North America, and it's likely they're being exposed in other areas as well, Finkielstein said.

"The virus is indifferent to whether its host walks on two legs or four. Its primary objective is survival," Finkielstein said. "Mutations that do not confer a survival or replication advantage to the virus will not persist and will eventually disappear."

Surveillance for COVID transmission in animals needs to continue, and new mutations taken seriously as a potential threat to human health, researchers said.

"This study highlights the potentially large host range SARS-CoV-2 can have in nature and really how widespread it might be," said researcher Joseph Hoyt, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech. "There is a lot of work to be done to understand which species of wildlife, if any, will be important in the long-term maintenance of SARS-CoV-2 in humans."

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about COVID-19.
Advertisement

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Legislation, donor influence among growing threats to academic freedom

By Isaac Kamola, Trinity College

Attacks on academic freedom seek to displace the voice of faculty experts with those of partisan legislatures, trustees and donors. Photo by Pixabay/Pexels

The ability to teach and conduct research free from political interference is the cornerstone of higher education and its contribution to the public good. Academic freedom, however, has become increasingly threatened.

V-Dem Institute, a global research organization that monitors indicators of democracy around the world, determined that academic freedom has "substantially worsened" in the United States in recent years. This is largely due to political and social polarization.

In recent months, professors across the country have sounded the alarm about infringements on academic freedom following crackdowns on pro-Palestine protesters on campus. The current conflict, however, is only the latest iteration of an intensifying decline in academic freedom.

As a researcher who examines the politics of higher education, I believe there are five distinct but mutually reinforcing ways that academic freedom has been threatened in the United States in recent years.

1. Legislation and academic gag orders

States across the country have passed educational gag orders that ban the teaching of critical race theory and other concepts. These are sometimes referred to as "divisive concepts" in the laws.

While most of these bills limit what can be said in K-12 classrooms, a report I authored found that 99 bills were introduced -- and 10 passed -- between 2021 and 2023 that affect higher education. For example, a North Dakota bill bans state universities from hosting discussions of ideas such as "meritocracy is inherently racist." A similar bill in Tennessee outlaws teaching the idea that someone could be "inherently privileged, racist, sexist or oppressive."

These bills misrepresent what discussions about race and gender identity actually look like in the college classroom. Rather than framing them as discussions about history and theory, bills like Florida's so-called "Stop Woke Act" insinuate that teaching students about race and racism is aimed at making them feel guilty. PEN America has described these bills as "designed to chill academic and educational discussions and impose government dictates on teaching and learning."

2. Activist governing boards

Issues of academic freedom also arise when those without scholarly expertise become involved in academic and curricular decisions. This usually happens through governing boards and trustees who overreach.

Colleges and universities should follow the principles of shared governance, according to the American Association of University Professors. Boards oversee the business of running the institution, and faculty oversee the content taught in classrooms. At some institutions, however, the boards have subverted this. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, boards at several schools made unilateral decisions such as revoking tenure without due process. They have also created academic centers without faculty oversight -- a core tenet of shared governance.

These decisions have serious consequences. The American Association of University Professors, for example, found that politically appointed board members at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill regularly "exercise their considerable power" to circumvent faculty autonomy. This includes the board of trustees' refusal to offer a tenured position to Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, a series of essays and articles in The New York Times Magazine about the impact of slavery on American history. The board also came under fire for establishing the School of Civic Life and Leadership on campus. The school appears designed to teach conservative content that the board prefers rather than to fulfill a curricular need identified by the faculty.

3. Donor influence

Donor influence is also a growing threat to academic freedom. Ideally, donors would view their gifts simply as donations to an institution they trust. In some cases, however, donors play an active role in determining how their money is used. This could mean dictating which speakers are brought to campus, what books are taught in the classroom and what courses are offered.

One of the most dramatic recent examples is the ousting of Harvard President Claudine Gay. Hedge fund billionaire and Harvard donor Bill Ackman played an active role in her forced resignation, threatening a "donor exodus if she stayed." I believe that if it can happen at Harvard, it could happen at other universities, too.

4. Erosion of tenure

The system of tenure was originally created to protect professors from external political interference. In recent decades, however, fewer and fewer professors have been awarded this privilege. Today, 68% of faculty are working off the tenure track, often in year-to-year contracts, compared with 47% in 1987. The economic precarity of contract positions creates incentives for faculty to censor the content they teach for fear of losing their jobs.

In some states, such as Florida and Texas, state legislators have passed bills weakening tenure protections through the creation of post-tenure review procedures. This gives administrators greater authority to fire tenured faculty. These bills make faculty increasingly vulnerable to external political influence.


5. Delegitimization of higher education

As I've demonstrated in my research, right-wing activists have built a political infrastructure of think tanks and media outlets that specialize in portraying higher education in a negative light. This includes bringing intentionally provocative speakers such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Charlie Kirk to campus and funding media outlets that specialize in ranting about "liberal bias" on college campuses.

Partisan political operatives, such as the Manhattan Institute's Christopher Rufo, have mainstreamed the claims that faculty regularly engage in political indoctrination and that professors teach content that is divisive and anti-American. For example, days after Hamas' invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Rufo posted on X that conservatives should "create a strong association" between Hamas, Black Lives Matter, the Democratic Socialists of America and "academic 'decolonization.'"

These narratives are designed to justify and legitimize the ongoing attacks on academic freedom. The implication is that faculty are the enemy and that legislatures, governors and governing boards can save higher education.

Fierce debates about what should be taught at colleges and universities is part of what academic freedom is all about. But attacks on academic freedom seek to displace the voice of faculty experts with those of partisan legislatures, trustees and donors. I believe this should be disconcerting for anyone who values free and critical thinking.

Isaac Kamola is an associate professor of political science at Trinity College. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

Activists celebrate LGBTQ Olympians in ‘city of all loves’


By AFP
July 30, 2024

DJ Tim Zouari gets the party started - 

Copyright AFP STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Toni Cerda and Zoe Dert-Chopin

On the shores of the River Seine, a fan zone dotted with rainbow-themed paraphernalia hopes to draw in the crowds to celebrate a record number of openly LGBTQ athletes at this year’s Olympics.

The event’s Pride House, which was first set up during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, opened on Monday in Paris.

“The idea is to welcome everybody,” organiser Jeremy Goupille told AFP.

“With a platform like the Olympics, we know we can change things.”

The Summer Games this year include 193 openly LGBTQ athletes, up from 186 in the 2020 Games and 53 in 2016, specialised website Outsports says.

They include openly gay British diver Tom Daley, who on Monday won silver with partner Noah Williams in the 10m synchronised platform to give him a fifth medal in five Olympics.

US basketball star and LGBTQ activist Brittney Griner is back on the court after spending a gruelling nine months in a Russian jail in 2022.

Her team won gold in the last two Olympics in Rio and Tokyo.

Brazilian judoka Rafaela Silva, who won a gold at the Rio Games in 2016, will also be competing.

– ‘Welcoming’ space –

Pride House has been a feature of most Games since Vancouver, excluding the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Organisers hope the LGBTQ athletes in Paris will provide inspiration for members of the community worldwide.

At least 67 countries criminalise same-sex relations between consenting adults, Human Rights Watch says.

Violence and harassment against LGBTQ people in Europe have reached a “new high” in the past few years, the European Union’s rights agency says.

“Paris is the city of love, of all loves,” exclaimed deputy mayor Jean-Luc Romero-Michel at the opening on Monday night.

In the crowd, 23-year-old Lucas and 26-year-old Remy, neither of whom wished to share their surname, had painted their cheeks with a French flag and were excited.

“After the backlash of the right and the far right, it’s important to have a space that is welcoming, whatever a person’s gender or sexual orientation,” said Lucas, a student.

Australian skateboarder Poppy Starr Olsen said she was not competing this year after taking part in the Tokyo Games, but was there to cheer on the initiative.

“Skateboarding itself is really queer. So it’s been a super awesome place for me to grow up as a queer person,” the 24-year-old said.

“But you definitely experience hate sometimes, even if the people don’t mean it… It’s still there, which is why it’s really important to have a Pride House.”

– ‘We are all equal’ –

French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said she too thought having the venue was key to “a message of inclusion”.

“It’s important for us to keep fighting against all types of discriminations,” she said.

“We are all equal and we all deserve to be respected,” she added.

She spoke after the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday sparked some controversy.

The sequence, a Greek mythology-inspired celebration including members of the LGBTQ community and a semi-naked singer painted in blue, had intended to promote diversity.

But Catholic groups and French bishops have accused it of being a disrespectful parody of the Last Supper between Jesus and his apostles.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has called the segment “a disgrace”.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the ceremony for “immorality against all Christians” and said he would report it to Pope Francis.

Oudea-Castera said the aim was not “to have any sort of provocation against any type of religion”.

“It was a message of inclusion, reconciliation and celebration of the Olympics god Dionysos,” who was father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine, she said.

Gallup: LGBTQ+ adults coming out younger as society becomes more accepting

By Ehren Wynder
July 26, 2024 

The Gallup survey found 70% of all LGBTQ+ adults agree societal treatment has gotten better in the past decade, but younger groups were more likely to report positive changes. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI | License Photo

July 26 (UPI) -- Young LGBTQ+ people are coming out nearly a decade earlier than their elder counterparts, coinciding with greater societal acceptance, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The new findings released Friday came from an online survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people and those who identify as something other than non-heterosexual or cisgender conducted from May 1-15.

Most respondents said they came out before they turned 30, with 57% saying they did so by age 22. Ten percent said they came out later in life, and 18% reported they have never come out to anyone.

Respondents aged 18 to 29 said they came out at a median age of 17, while those aged 30 to 49 and 50 to 65 said they came out in their early 20s. The oldest group, 65-plus, reported a median coming-out age in their late 20s.

Related

Michigan to no longer allow 'gay panic,' 'trans panic' legal defenses in murder cases
Report: LGBTQ+ protections improved greatly under Biden compared to Trump
South Korea's Supreme Court upholds same-sex ruling in historic LGBTQ victory

The report also found LGBTQ+ women are more than twice as likely as men to come out by age 14.

While most participants said they believe societal treatment of LGBTQ+ people has improved in the past 10 years, younger respondents were more likely to report positive changes than older groups.

Additionally, about one in four respondents said they were the victims of poor treatment or harassment in the past year.

Forty-five percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they received no ill treatment in the past year.

Bisexual adults were less likely to experience harassment, with 20% saying "yes" versus 36% of gay or lesbian adults.

Significantly more bisexual people (23%) than gay or lesbian people (5%) also said they have never came out to anybody.

Gallup did not report transgender responses, citing sample size limitations.

The Gallup poll coincides with another recent report from the Human Rights Campaign that noted federal LGBTQ+ protections increased greatly under President Joe Biden than under President Donald Trump.

Federal agencies under Trump lifted many regulations protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and stopped accepting civil rights complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Biden during his time in office reinstated those rules per the Supreme Court's decision that LGBTQ+ people are protected from discrimination under the same rules that prohibit discrimination based on sex.

Michigan on Wednesday also banned the "gay panic" or "trans panic" legal defenses, which have been used by defendants charged with killing a gay or trans person to argue they had reacted spontaneously and violently to unwanted sexual advances.
Advertisement

"Since I took office, we expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to cover the LGBTQ+ community, established the Michigan LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, and banned conversion therapy for minors," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. "Our work is not done as we continue to make progress and move Michigan forward."

Belgium flexes its new locally sourced mussels

By AFP
July 30, 2024

Supermarket group Colruyt has a mussel farm off the Belgian coast to harvest local mussels

 - Copyright AFP JULIEN DE ROSA

Kate Gillam, Matthieu Demeestere in Brussels

It is a popular tradition to eat mussels in Brussels but what may surprise many is that none of the molluscs visitors enjoy are locally sourced in Belgium.

That is, until now. A Belgian supermarket group has taken on the challenge of harvesting local mussels, already reaping rich rewards, with business booming.

Off the coast of Nieuwpoort, near the French border, a crane hoists mussel-clad ropes onto a boat.

They are part of the 12-kilometre (seven-mile) network the Colruyt chain established in 2023.

Such a sight had never been seen in Belgium before and Colruyt hopes it will grow, especially to challenge the dominance of Dutch mussels in the local market.

“We harvest a tonne in about four hours, with four people. We would like in the future to do three to four tonnes a day,” says Stijn Van Hoestenberghe, as he takes an AFP team to a mussel farm he manages.

This year Colruyt is counting on a harvest of 50 tonnes, up from six last year, and “maybe 200” in 2025, Van Hoestenberghe adds.

It’s not easy work, Van Hoestenberghe admits, because of the strong sea currents, storms and dense maritime traffic in the area.

A far cry from the wide and deep Scheldt estuary where the renowned Zeeland mussel grows in the south of the Netherlands, which supplies much of the European market.

“The Dutch part of the delta is a gigantic protected zone, which makes it easier to set up (mussel) farms than in the open sea,” explains Jerome Mallefet, marine biology expert at Belgium’s UCLouvain University.

Establishing more mussels farms off the Belgian coast — described by Mallefet as “a motorway for boats” — is more difficult because of offshore wind turbines and trawling activity, the expert adds.

Today, experts estimate that Belgium, one of the biggest consumers of mussels in Europe alongside Spain, France and Denmark, gets more than 90 percent of its mussels from Dutch farmers in Zeeland.

– Foreign mussels roped in –

Despite the progress, Colruyt has greater ambitions to muscle into the market since its supplies will at best meet one percent of the needs of Belgium, where around 20,000 tonnes of mussels are consumed a year.

“It’s clear that there’s room for growth,” the company says.

For now, Colruyt’s “100-percent Belgian” mussels are delivered to four of its stores and around 15 restaurants in Belgium.

One of its arguments for developing the market is that the mussels are “sustainably” farmed since the ropes used are made from recycled fishing nets.

Mussels are a seasonal foodstuff. The best time to eat them, say experts, is when the size and flesh have developed, usually from September to December.

On the historical Grand Place in Brussels, a major tourist destination in Belgium, a restaurant owner tells AFP he offers the highly popular traditional dish of mussels and fries on his menu all year round.

Like his customers, his mussels come from around Europe.

“We have many people eating mussels here… So we have Zeelandese mussels between June and February, and after that we have Danish mussels, or even German mussels, depending on demand,” says Jean-Philippe Bosman, owner of the Le Roy d’Espagne restaurant.

“Having a local producer is good but they would need to supply us with the quantities we want on time… and that is more complicated.”

SPACE

Solar storms could cause more auroras

By AFP
July 30, 2024

In May, the most powerful geomagnetic storm to strike Earth in more than two decades lit up night skies in many parts of the world 

- Copyright AFP Yuri CORTEZ

Daniel Lawler

Massive explosions on the Sun have triggered warnings of geomagnetic storms that could create dazzling auroras in the northern United States, Europe and southern Australia from Tuesday night.

In May, the most powerful geomagnetic storm to strike Earth in more than two decades lit up night skies with colourful displays in Hawaii, Spain, South Africa and other places far from the extreme latitudes where they are normally seen.

“We’ve seen several large coronal mass ejections — plasma and other material from the sun’s surface shooting out into space,” Mike Bettwy, operations chief of the US-based Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), told AFP on Tuesday.

“As a result, the potential for space weather has ramped up significantly,” he said.

The coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to arrive from Tuesday to Thursday, with “geomagnetic storm watches” declared on those days.

But “the brunt of the activity is most likely” to come on Tuesday, when there is a “strong” geomagnetic storm warning of G3 on the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scale, the SWPC said.

May’s record storms were classified as the most extreme level of G5. This means any potential auroras this week are unlikely to stray as far, or be as powerful, as those seen earlier this year.

But if the current forecast is correct, during the late evening hours in the United States on Tuesday, an “aurora could become visible as far south as the northeast US through the upper Midwest and across the rest of the northern states to include northern Oregon.”

The aurora borealis — also known as the northern lights — may become visible in Scotland over the next three nights, but could be “impeded by limited hours of darkness”, the UK’s Met Office said Tuesday.

“With a bit of luck,” auroras could also be spotted in northern Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, according to the website SpaceWeatherLive.

Aurora australis — the southern lights — could be visible in the south of the Australian state of Tasmania and similar latitudes, the Met Office said.

– ‘Cannibal CME’ –

For those living in the right latitudes, auroras would be most visible away from city lights, in the darkest skies possible, before the Moon rises, Bettwy said.

People should use their cameras or phones to look, because today’s digital imagery can often pick them up even when the naked eye cannot, he added.

When CMEs erupt, they shoot around a billion tons of plasma — with an accompanying magnetic field — from the Sun toward the Earth.

One of the CMEs coming towards Earth this week merged with another, forming what is called a “Cannibal CME”, according to spaceweather.com.

The NOAA warned that more CMEs are continuing to erupt, so more could be coming.

When the CMEs slam into Earth’s magnetosphere, they can create geomagnetic storms.

The storms can mess with satellites orbiting Earth and affect things like radio signals and GPS positioning systems.

They can also knock out electricity grids — the “Halloween Storms” of October 2003 sparked blackouts in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure in South Africa.

Astronauts on the International Space Station often shelter during extreme solar activity to avoid being exposed to radiation.

Numerous strong solar flares — huge explosions on the Sun’s surface which can cause CMEs — have also been emitted in recent days.

Most CMEs and flares come from sunspots, which are massive, darker areas of intense activity on the solar surface. The sunspot cluster that caused May’s storms was 17 times the size of Earth.

As of Tuesday, there are 11 sunspots on the disc of the Sun, according to the Met Office in Britain.

More geomagnetic storms could be yet to come, because solar activity is only just approaching the peak of its roughly 11-year cycle.

The peak, called “solar maximum”, is expected between late 2024 and early 2026.

Two meteor showers will flash across the sky around the same time in late July

by Christina Larson

Credit: Neale LaSalle from Pexels

Get ready for a meteor shower doubleheader.

The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks in late July. And this year, it will coincide with a second smaller meteor shower, the Alpha Capricornids.

The Delta Aquariids occur every year in North America's late summer. This year's peak activity happens early Tuesday morning, with an expected 15 to 20 meteors visible per hour in the Northern Hemisphere, under dark skies. Viewing should be even better in the Southern Hemisphere. The shower lasts through August 21, according to the American Meteor Society.

Around the same time, the Alpha Capricornid meteor shower should produce around five meteors per hour and lasts through August 15.

Here's what to know about the Delta Aquariids and other meteor showers.

What is a meteor shower?

Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don't need special equipment to see them.

Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets. The source of the Delta Aquariids is thought to be from the comet 96P/Machholz. The Alpha Capricornids originate from the comet 169P/NEAT.

When rocks from space enter Earth's atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them—the end of a "shooting star."

The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.

These two meteor showers are not high volume, but the Alpha Capricornids often produces very bright meteors, said University of Warwick astronomer Don Pollacco.

For skygazers, "one bright one is worth 20 faint ones," he said.

How to view a meteor shower

Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and predawn hours.

It's easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.

And your eyes will better adapted to seeing meteors if you aren't checking your phone. "It ruins your night vision," said NASA's Bill Cooke.

The Southern Hemisphere will have the best view of Delta Aquariids. Coinciding with a waning moon around 30% full means the clearest viewing will happen after midnight.

When is the next meteor shower?

The meteor society keeps an updated list of upcoming large meteor showers, including the peak viewing days and moonlight conditions.

The next major meteor shower will be the Perseids, peaking in mid-August.

© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, debris of Halley's comet, peaks this weekend. Here's how to see it

If we want to settle on other planets, we’ll have to use genome editing to alter human DNA

The Conversation
July 29, 2024

Humans on another Planet (Shutterstock)

When considering human settlements on the Moon, Mars and further afield, much attention is given to the travel times, food and radiation risk. We’ll undoubtedly face a harsh environment in deep space and some thinkers have been pointing to genome editing as a way to ensure that humans can tolerate the severe conditions as they venture further into the solar system.

In January, I was fortunate to attend a much-anticipated debate between astronomer royal Lord Martin Rees and Mars exploration advocate Dr Robert Zubrin. The event at the British Interplanetary Society took on the topic of whether the exploration of Mars should be human or robotic.

In a recent book called The End of Astronauts, Lord Rees and co-author Donald Goldsmith outline the benefits of exploration of the solar system using robotic spacecraft and vehicles, without the expense and risk of sending humans along for the ride. Dr Zubrin supports human exploration. Where there was some agreement was over Rees’s advocacy of using gene editing technology to enable humans to overcome the immense challenges of becoming an interplanetary species.
The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard

Our genome is all the DNA present in our cells. Since 2011, we have been able to easily and accurately edit genomes. First came a molecular tool called Crispr-Cas9, which today can be used in a high school lab for very little cost and has even been used on the International Space Station. Then came techniques called base and prime editing, through which miniscule changes can be made in the genome of any living organism.

The potential applications of gene editing for allowing us to travel further are almost limitless. One of the most problematic hazards astronauts will encounter in deep space is a higher dosage of radiation, which can cause havoc with many processes in the body and increase the longer-term risk of cancer.

Perhaps, using genome editing, we could insert genes into humans from plants and bacteria that are able to clean up radiation in the event of radioactive waste spills and nuclear fallout. It sounds like science fiction, but eminent thinkers such as Lord Rees believe this is key to our advancement across the solar system.

Identifying and then inserting genes into humans that slow down aging and counter cellular breakdown could also help. We could also engineer crops that resist the effects of exposure to radioactivity as crews will need to grow their own food. We could also personalise medicine to an astronaut’s needs based on their particular genetic makeup.

Imagine a future where the human genome is so well understood it has become pliable under this new, personalised medicine.


Kate Rubins was the first person to sequence DNA in space. NASA

Genes for extremes

Tardigrades are microscopic animals sometimes referred to as “water bears”. Experiments have shown that these tiny creatures can tolerate extreme temperatures, pressures, high radiation and starvation. They can even tolerate the vacuum of space.

Geneticists are eager to understand their genomes and a paper published in Nature sought to uncover the key genes and proteins that give the miniature creatures this extraordinary stress tolerance. If we could insert some of the genes involved into crops, could we make them tolerant to the highest levels of radiation and environmental stress? It’s worth exploring.

Even more intriguing is whether inserting tardigrade genes into our own genome could make us more resilient to the harsh conditions in space. Scientists have already shown that human cells in the lab developed increased tolerance to X-ray radiation when tardigrade genes were inserted into them.

Transferring genes from tardigrades is just one speculative example of how we might be able engineer humans and crops to be more suited to space travel.


Tardigrades are incredibly resilient organisms. Dotted Yeti

We’ll need much more research if scientists are ever to get to this stage. However, in the past, several governments have been keen to enforce tight restrictions on how genome editing is used, as well as on other technologies for inserting genes from one species into another.

Germany and Canada are among the most cautious, but elsewhere restrictions seem to be relaxing.

In November 2018, the Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced that he had created the first gene edited babies. He had introduced a gene into the unborn twins that confers resistance to HIV infection.

The scientist was subsequently jailed. But he has since been released and allowed to carry out research again.

In the new space race, certain countries may go to lengths with genome editing that other nations, especially in the west where restrictions are already tight, may not. Whoever wins would reap enormous scientific and economic benefits.

If Rees and the other futurists are right, this field has the potential to advance our expansion into the cosmos. But society will need to agree to it.

It’s likely there will be opposition, because of the deep-seated fears of altering the human species forever. And with base and prime editing now having advanced the precision of targeted gene editing, it’s clear that the technology is moving faster than the conversation.

One country or another is likely to take the leap where others pull back from the brink. Only then will we find out just how viable these ideas really are. Until then, we can only speculate with curiosity, and perhaps excitement too.

Sam McKee, Associate Tutor and PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Science, Manchester Metropolitan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

What lunar caves tell us about the shared origins of the Earth and the Moon

The Conversation
July 29, 2024 


Blue Moon

Using radar, a Nasa spacecraft, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), has confirmed the existence of caves beneath the lunar surface. Here’s why such geological features will be key for establishing a base on the Moon, and what they can tell us about Earth and our Moon’s shared cosmological origins.

Lunar orbiting satellites first spotted pits on the Moon’s surface decades ago. Many of these were thought to be openings that connected to substantial underground tunnels that form through volcanic processes, but only now has this been confirmed through the analysis of radar data.

Some of the tunnels thought to exist on the Moon are expected to be lava tubes, which are also found on Earth. When molten lava flows out of the ground, the lava stream eventually cools and hardens into a crust. The lava inside is still molten, and continues to flow. Once the lava has flowed away, it leaves an empty tunnel called a lava tube. These formation processes are thought to be be very similar on the Earth and the Moon.

The data used in the latest study was collected in 2010 by LRO but only recently analysed using state of the art signal processing techniques. Radar (electromagnetic waves of 12.6cm wavelength) fired at acute angles towards these lunar pits, partially illuminated the shadowed subterranean areas to generate measurable radar echo signals.


The pit in Mare Tranquillitatis leads to an underground cave system. Nasa

The timing and amplitude of the reflected signals allowed researchers to compare with simulations and build up a picture of the underground terrain. Data indicate that the largest “Mare Tranquillitatis” pit leads to a cave 80 metres long and 45 metres wide: an area equivalent to around half a football pitch.

It is likely that the lunar surface is home to hundreds of such caves. It is widely thought that around 4.5 billion years ago, a young Earth violently collided with a Mars-sized proto-planet, splitting our youthful planet into the Earth and Moon system we have today.

After this high energy impact, the Moon may have been molten. It is therefore hardly surprising that caves of seemingly volcanic origin, bearing striking similarities with volcanic caves here on Earth, are present on the Moon. However, we don’t need to worry about astronauts dealing with the dangers of a volcanic eruption; volcanic activity on the Moon petered out entirely around 50 million years ago.




The Moon is thought to have formed when a Mars-sized object slammed into Earth. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/T. PYLE.
A home from home?


On Earth, we live in an unusually fortuitous environment, which protects us from threats from outer space. For example, Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is well placed to gravitationally drag asteroids away from Earth. This minimises the frequency of cataclysmic asteroid collisions with our planet – such as the one that spelled the end of the dinosaurs.

One less obvious threat to life on Earth is ionizing radiation. The whole solar system is constantly bathed in a soup of charged particles called galactic cosmic rays, which are accelerated to huge speeds by distant supernova explosions, sending them on a collision course with Earth.

In addition, periodic events called coronal mass ejections from our own sun fling highly energetic particles in our direction in much larger numbers, but on a less frequent basis.


Lava tubes like this one may also exist on the Moon. NPS / B Michel

The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from this radiation to a large degree, by funneling the charged particles towards the north and south poles. This is the origin of aurora borealis and australis that light up the night sky at high latitudes. The Earth’s thick atmosphere also protects us, but we still get some exposure: a return transatlantic flight, where we are higher up in the atmosphere, gives the traveller a dose of radiation equivalent to five X-ray scans.


Now spare a thought for our Moon, which possesses neither an atmosphere nor notable magnetic field. Far from being a “sea of tranquility” (the name of the site of the first human landing on the Moon in 1969) the lunar surface is constantly bombarded by high energy radiation.

This poses a serious challenge for populating a Moon base with humans. Astronauts bouncing about on the lunar surface will soak up about 10 times more radiation than experienced on a transatlantic flight and about 200 times what we get on Earth’s surface.

Although our bodies can deal with the generally harmless low levels of background radiation we experience on Earth, exposure to high levels of ionising radiation can have serious health implications. When ionising radiation interacts with the body, it can ionise the atoms contained within cells, stripping them of electrons. This damage can sometimes prevent DNA from replicating properly, and in extreme cases, can cause cell death.

For these reasons, any Moon base must provide adequate radiation shielding to protect its inhabitants. However, radiation shielding is best provided by dense material, which is expensive to transport to the Moon from Earth.

Hence, naturally shielded areas, like the recently discovered caves, are being earmarked as possible locations for human habitation on the Moon. These caves would afford its residents a whopping 130 to 170 meters of solid rock shielding – enough to halt even the highest energy radiation.

Robin Smith, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Sheffield Hallam University


This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

US Senate passes first major child online safety bills in years

By AFP
July 30, 2024

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was "proud" the Senate had kept its promise to parents 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Kent Nishimura

Frankie TAGGART

The US Senate passed a sweeping social media safety package Tuesday that would force tech companies to do more to protect children — the first major legislation targeting Silicon Valley in a generation.

Social media giants like Meta and X have been confronting a torrent of political anger for not putting in guardrails to thwart online dangers for children, including from sexual predators and teen suicide.

A rare sign of cross-party unity in an increasingly rancorous election year, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) were passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote with just three dissenters.

But the bills face an uncertain path through the House of Representatives, where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken broadly in favor of the package but has not scheduled a vote.

“I’m proud to say today, the Senate keeps its promise to every parent who’s lost a child because of the risks of social media… KOSA and COPPA will be perhaps the most important updates to federal laws protecting kids on the internet in decades, and it’s a very good first step,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The legislation was drawn up in consultation with parents of teens who had been bullied or sexually exploited but has been opposed by some free speech groups worried that it could lead to censorship.

– ‘Duty of care’ –

While there is widespread agreement in a politically divided Congress on curbing the negative impacts of social media, there has never been a united path on how to go about doing so.

House members are on their summer recess and will almost certainly be focusing on averting a looming government shutdown when they return in September.

But Schumer called on the lower chamber to pass the bills immediately on its return, urging lawmakers to “seize the opportunity to send them to the president’s desk.”

The KOSA bill would establish a “duty of care” obligation on the online platforms that would demand that special provisions are in place to shield minors from toxic content.

Supported by Microsoft, X and Snap, the company that owns Snapchat, the legislation would require companies to give users a dedicated page to report harmful content — including sexual exploitation, online bullying, the promotion of suicide and eating disorders.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a public apology to the families of victims at the Senate Judiciary Committee in January as hostile lawmakers grilled tech CEOs over the dangers that children face on social media.

“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through,” he said. “No one should go through the things that your families have suffered.”

– Censorship fears –

Seven LGBTQ advocacy groups withdrew initial opposition based on updates to the bill they said mitigated concerns that teens would be limited in accessing information about gender identity, sexuality and reproductive health.

But free speech groups including the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that the definition of harm is too broad and that it could lead to censorship.

COPPA would beef up privacy standards for Americans aged under 17, and outlaw advertising targeted at children and teens — requiring companies to allow users to delete personal information.

“Too many kids experience relentless promotion of suicide or substance abuse material. Too many kids have their personal data collected and then used nefariously,” Schumer said.

“With studies showing that kids today spend more time on social media than ever before, now is the moment to pass KOSA, pass COPPA, and instill guardrails that protect kids from these risks.”

But Oregan Democrat Ron Wyden posted on X that the tweaks to KOSA “remain insufficient” and voiced fears that a hard-right future Republican administration could “still use this bill to pressure companies to censor gay, trans and reproductive health information.”