Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Spinning Faster

The Hubble Space Telescope has recorded higher wind speeds in the famous Jovian storms in recent years.

By Isaac Schultz

Jupiter as seen on August 25, 2020. Image: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope keeps an eye on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a 10,000-mile-wide storm system that has been swirling for at least 190 years and possibly much longer. Recent data from the telescope indicates that the spot’s outer winds have picked up speed in the past decade.

The storm has an “outer lane” and an “inner lane” of winds, both of which rotate counterclockwise. While the outer lane has sped up recently, the winds closer to the center of the spot were actually moving much slower in 2020 than they were back in 2009. The research exploring these wind trends was published last month in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“Since we don’t have a storm chaser plane at Jupiter, we can’t continuously measure the winds on site,” said Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a NASA press release. “Hubble is the only telescope that has the kind of temporal coverage and spatial resolution that can capture Jupiter’s winds in this detail.”

The pickup in wind speed was steady: less than a 2-mile-per-hour change per Earth year from 2009 to 2020. It’s only because the team had 11 years of Hubble data, and that Hubble can see Jupiter with such precision, that they could pick out the trend. The winds are blowing at around 400 miles per hour, slightly slower than the cruising speed of a commercial airliner.

The counterclockwise winds of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, shown in visible light (left) and in a velocity map (right). Image: NASA, ESA, Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley)

Though Jupiter appears serene in images—a big marble in space—the planet is a turbid ball of gas that is constantly moving. Just last year, an entire new spot popped up on the planet. And for all its fame, even the Great Red Spot is something of an enigma; our modern instruments can’t probe much of the storm besides what happens on the surface.

“Hubble can’t see the bottom of the storm very well. Anything below the cloud tops is invisible in the data,” said Michael Wong, a planetary scientist specializing in atmospheres at the University of California at Berkeley, and the paper’s lead author, in the same release. Wong added that the recent trend is “an interesting piece of data that can help us understand what’s fueling the Great Red Spot and how it’s maintaining energy.”

The Great Red Spot, as imaged by Voyager 1 in 1979.Image: NASA

Planetary scientists do know some things about the spot. It has a tiered structure in which the storm’s higher clouds are toward the center, and the outer edges of the storm are deeper in the planet. The storm is slowly becoming more circular compared to the oval it’s long been.

The storm has been observed for nearly 200 years—maybe even 350 years, as it’s hard to say whether spots described by earlier astronomers were one and the same as the Great Red Spot—but it’ll likely take more time and better instruments to dig deeper into the tempestuous mystery at Jupiter’s heart.

More: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is About to Reveal Its Mysteries

Hubble shows winds in Jupiter's great red spot are speeding up

by Space Telescope Science Institute

By analyzing images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope from 2009 to 2020, 

researchers found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the

 Great Red Spot, set off by the outer green circle, have increased by up to 8 percent 

from 2009 to 2020 and exceed 400 miles per hour. In contrast, the winds near the

 storm's innermost region, set off by a smaller green ring, are moving significantly

 more slowly. Both move counterclockwise. 

Credit: NASA, ESA, Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley)

Like the speed of an advancing race car driver, the winds in the outermost "lane" of Jupiter's Great Red Spot are accelerating – a discovery only made possible by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which has monitored the planet for more than a decade.

Researchers analyzing Hubble's regular "storm reports" found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the storm, known as a high-speed ring, has increased by up to 8 percent from 2009 to 2020. In contrast, the winds near the red spot's innermost region are moving significantly more slowly, like someone cruising lazily on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The massive storm's crimson-colored clouds spin counterclockwise at speeds that exceed 400 miles per hour – and the vortex is bigger than Earth itself. The red spot is legendary in part because humans have observed it for more than 150 years.

"When I initially saw the results, I asked 'Does this make sense?' No one has ever seen this before," said Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the analysis published today in Geophysical Research Letters. "But this is something only Hubble can do. Hubble's longevity and ongoing observations make this revelation possible."

We use Earth-orbiting satellites and airplanes to track major storms on Earth closely in real time. "Since we don't have a storm chaser plane at Jupiter, we can't continuously measure the winds on site," explained Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who contributed to the research. "Hubble is the only telescope that has the kind of temporal coverage and spatial resolution that can capture Jupiter's winds in this detail." 

Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute

The change in wind speeds they have measured with Hubble amount to less than 1.6 miles per hour per Earth year. "We're talking about such a small change that if you didn't have eleven years of Hubble data, we wouldn't know it happened," said Simon. "With Hubble we have the precision we need to spot a trend." Hubble's ongoing monitoring allows researchers to revisit and analyze its data very precisely as they keep adding to it. The smallest features Hubble can reveal in the storm are a mere 105 miles across, about twice the length of the state of Rhode Island.

"We find that the average wind speed in the Great Red Spot has been slightly increasing over the past decade," Wong added. "We have one example where our analysis of the two-dimensional wind map found abrupt changes in 2017 when there was a major convective storm nearby."

To better analyze Hubble's bounty of data, Wong took a new approach to his data analysis. He used software to track tens to hundreds of thousands of wind vectors (directions and speeds) each time Jupiter was observed by Hubble. "It gave me a much more consistent set of velocity measurements," Wong explained. "I also ran a battery of statistical tests to confirm if it was justified to call this an increase in wind speed. It is."

What does the increase in speed mean? "That's hard to diagnose, since Hubble can't see the bottom of the storm very well. Anything below the cloud tops is invisible in the data," explained Wong. "But it's an interesting piece of data that can help us understand what's fueling the Great Red Spot and how it's maintaining energy." There's still a lot of work to do to fully understand it.

Each loop in this video represents approximately 10 Earth hours or one Jupiter day, approximating what it would look like if the Great Red Spot were constantly illuminated. By analyzing this set of data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were able to simulate what the wind flow looks like around Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: Just south of the Great Red Spot is an eastward jet and at the southern border is a westward jet. Credit: NASA, ESA, Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley)

Astronomers have pursued ongoing studies of the "king" of solar system storms since the 1870s. The Great Red Spot is an upwelling of material from Jupiter's interior. If seen from the side, the storm would have a tiered wedding cake structure with high clouds at the center cascading down to its outer layers. Astronomers have noted that it is shrinking in size and becoming more circular than oval in observations spanning more than a century. The current diameter is 10,000 miles across, meaning that Earth could still fit inside it.

In addition to observing this legendary, long-lived storm, researchers have observed storms on other planets, including Neptune, where they tend to travel across the planet's surface and disappear over only a few years. Research like this helps scientists not only learn about the individual planets, but also draw conclusions about the underlying physics that drive and maintain planets' storms.

Hubble captures crisp new portrait of Jupiter's storms

More information: Michael H. Wong et al, Evolution of the Horizontal Winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot from One Jovian Year of HST/WFC3 Maps, Geophysical Research Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021GL093982

Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters 

Provided by Space Telescope Science Institute

'MAYBE' TECH

The World’s First Polypropylene Made From Waste CO2

by Luana SteffenSeptember 27, 2021

Biotechnology company LanzaTech and carbon transformation company Twelve have joined forces to convert CO2 emissions into polypropylene, a primary polymer used in medical equipment such as syringes and IV bags. The polymer is also used for large-scale furniture, textiles, automotive, and other everyday products like bottle caps. This novel approach will significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

The partnership will combine two platform technologies – the carbon transformation technology and Pollution To Products™ technology – to enable additional product development from CO2 streams, representing one of many ways to scale carbon transformation solutions.

The carbon transformation technology created by Twelve transforms CO2 into materials that are usually made from fossil fuels. Twelve helps brands remove emissions by replacing the petrochemicals in their products and supply chains with carbon-neutral fuels and CO2Made® carbon-negative chemicals and materials.

Meanwhile, LanzaTech’s carbon recycling Pollution To Products™ technology uses nature-based solutions to create ethanol and other materials from waste CO2.

Dr. Etosha Cave, the Chief Science Officer at Twelve, said:

POLYPROPYLENE IS A CRUCIAL MATERIAL FOR ESSENTIAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND FOR MANY PRODUCTS WE RELY ON IN OUR DAILY LIVES. TODAY, 100% OF NEW POLYPROPYLENE IN USE WORLDWIDE IS MADE FROM PETROCHEMICALS. WE NOW HAVE A WAY TO PRODUCE THIS CRITICAL MATERIAL FROM CO2 AND WATER INSTEAD OF FOSSIL FUELS, WITH NO TRADE-OFFS IN QUALITY, EFFICACY, OR PERFORMANCE.

 

REPLACING ALL OF THE WORLD’S FOSSIL POLYPROPYLENE PRODUCTION WITH CO2MADE POLYPROPYLENE WOULD REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS BY AN ESTIMATED 700 MILLION TONS PER YEAR OR MORE.

Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, the CEO of LanzaTech, explained:

BY HARNESSING BIOLOGY, WE CAN LEVERAGE THE POWER OF NATURE TO SOLVE A VERY MODERN PROBLEM. THE OVERABUNDANCE OF CO2 IN OUR ATMOSPHERE HAS PUSHED OUR PLANET INTO A STATE OF EMERGENCY. WE NEED ALL CARBON TRANSFORMATION SOLUTIONS TO TURN THIS LIABILITY INTO AN OPPORTUNITY, KEEPING FOSSIL RESOURCES IN THE GROUND AND OUR CLIMATE SAFE FOR EVERYONE.

Twelve and LanzaTech were awarded a $200,000 grant from Impact Squared to continue their partnership. The Impact Squared grant is a $1.1 million fund designed and launched by the Barclays and Unreasonable Group, a platform for entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. The partners plan to use the Impact Squared grant to reduce the fossil fuel impact of essential products.

Last year, we saw some exciting carbon transformation solutions in the works. For example, engineers from the University of New South Wales were developing a technique that converts CO2 emissions into chemical Lego-like building blocks to make synthetic fuel and plastics. Also, a team of NASA-funded chemists was developing a biohybrid system that would allow mars settlers to transform CO2, water, and sunlight to make drugs, food, and plastic. CO2 and water are abundant on Mars; about 96% of the atmosphere is CO2.

(Credit: Pixabay. Photo edit: Luana Steffen)

OF COURSE HE DOES

Matt Gaetz Defends Tucker Carlson – By Pushing Replacement Theory

Antoinette Siu 

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz is defending Tucker Carlson and replacement theory — the racist and xenophobic notion that Caucasians are being replaced by migrants being brought into the United States

.

© TheWrap matt gaetz, newsmax

Fox News conservative host Tucker Carlson has been touting replacement theory in recent months. In an interview with Megyn Kelly last week, Carlson said the Biden administration was trying "to change the racial mix of the country." He added: "In political terms, this policy is called 'the great replacement,' the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far-away countries."

"The great replacement" is a term commonly used by white nationalists and other racist organizations.

Gaetz's tweeted that Carlson is "correct" about replacement theory as an explanation for "what is happening in America." While Gaetz did not explain further, it's implied he is talking

about the resettlement of Afghans who fled their country after the Taliban took over. He added that the Anti-Defamation League — a non-governmental organization whose mission it "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all" — is a "racist organization."

The organization previously called for Carlson to be fired for accusing Biden with the replacement theory. "'The Great Replacement' theory and its racist and xenophobic roots have served as the inspiration for multiple mass shootings and deadly attacks," the ADL tweeted last Friday.

In response, media mogul and CEO of Fox Lachlan Murdoch came to Carlson's defense, saying that Carlson decried and rejected the theory.

 

Asteroid sample brought back to Earth gets close-up look

by Brown University

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft shot this image of the asteroid Ryugu at a distance of 40 kilometers as it approached the asteroid in 2018. Credit: JAXA

In December 2020, Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft swung by Earth to drop off a cache of rock samples taken from a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu. Asteroids like Ryugu are thought to represent the ancient building blocks of the solar system, and scientists have been eager to get a closer look at the returned samples.

Last week, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency shipped one of the samples—a millimeter-sized fragment from the asteroid's surface—to the laboratory of Brown University planetary scientist Ralph Milliken for analysis. Milliken's lab is one of the first in the U.S. to examine a Ryugu sample so far.

Milliken and Takahiro Hiroi, a senior research scientist at Brown, are members of the Hayabusa2 mission's science team. They're interested in investigating evidence of water-bearing minerals on the asteroid, and they've already published research on the topic based on the spacecraft's remote sensing equipment. Now that they have a returned sample, Milliken and Hiroi are eager to compare their remote measurements with the close-up observations in the lab.

Milliken discussed the ongoing work in an interview.

Q: Why was Brown selected as one of the labs to analyze a Ryugu sample?

First of all, we're really excited to be a part of what is an amazing international mission, and it's a great honor to be able to analyze this sample so early in the process. I think there are a couple of reasons why we were chosen. One is the presence of our colleague, Takahiro Hiroi, who is an expert in working with meteorite samples and asteroid science in general, and he also worked on the first Hayabusa mission. There are other Brown connections on the mission as well, including professor Seiji Sugita at the University of Tokyo, a Brown Ph.D. graduate who is the lead scientist on the spacecraft's main camera.

Another reason is that Brown operates a NASA facility called RELAB, the Reflectance Experiment Laboratory. RELAB has a long history—going on 30 years now—of working with extraterrestrial samples dating back to the Apollo missions to the Moon, as well as the Soviet Luna missions. So we have a lot of expertise in making high-precision measurements, working with colleagues to interpret those data and then combining those findings with other observations to get a clear understanding of these samples and what they mean for processes happening beyond Earth.

Ralph Milliken eyes a tiny piece of the asteroid Ryugu. Credit: Brown University

Q: Can you describe the sample itself in a bit more detail?

It's quite small—only about 1 millimeter by 0.5 millimeters. It comes from Ryugu's outer surface. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft made two touchdowns on Ryugu. On the first, it touched down on the undisturbed surface and grabbed some of that material. Then for the second touchdown, the spacecraft sampled a location where an artificial impact crater had been made on the surface in the hopes that it would churn up some deeper material. The idea is to compare that surface material with the "fresher" material underneath that has been shielded a bit more from space weathering effects that can modify the uppermost undisturbed surface. The sample we looked at was from the first touchdown on the surface.

Q: What in particular are you looking for in your analysis?

The Hayabusa2 mission has a big science team, and each of those experts has a different question they're pursuing. Our group is really interested in minerals formed by water and organic compounds. Are they present in these samples, and if so, what is their chemistry and what do they tell us about the role of water in the first few million years of our solar system? Our initial data from the remote sensing instruments on the spacecraft suggested that maybe Ryugu wasn't quite as water-rich as we expected it might be. One hypothesis is that the original asteroid was altered by water, leading to the formation of water-bearing clay and perhaps other minerals, but at some point the asteroid was then heated up to the point where it partially dehydrated. Now that we have the samples in hand, we can take a closer look and see if that hypothesis was right.

Credit: Brown University

Q: What form does the analysis take?

To start, we're doing what's known as near and mid-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, which analyzes the light reflected by the sample at wavelengths longer than what the human eye can see but which tells us about the minerals present. There are similar instruments on the spacecraft that analyzed the asteroid surface on the scale of many meters to centimeters. But in the lab we're looking at the micrometer scale. So we can look at the individual little grains, the complexities of the minerals and their chemistry, and understand if and how water-bearing minerals are present in the sample. Once we have that detailed information, we can go back and look at our larger-scale spacecraft data and ask: Were the hypotheses we made based on those data correct or do we need to revise our interpretations? Being able to have remotely sensed spacecraft data and then samples in hand to do detailed lab analyses really helps us learn how to bridge those spatial scales.

Q: Why is it important to study asteroids like Ryugu?

We think that asteroids like Ryugu represent the primordial building blocks of the solar system. So by learning more about Ryugu, we might be able to learn more about how the solar system formed and how it evolved to be as it is today.

In addition, both Takahiro and I are co-investigators on NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission which is currently on its way back to Earth to return samples from the asteroid Bennu and which the spacecraft data have shown is home to water-bearing minerals and organic compounds. We're looking forward to measuring samples from that mission as well, so this analysis of the Ryugu samples will also help us prepare for those future measurements.

Remote sensing data sheds light on when and how asteroid Ryugu lost its water

More information: K. Kitazato et al, Thermally altered subsurface material of asteroid (162173) Ryugu, Nature Astronomy (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01271-2

Journal information: Nature Astronomy 

Provided by Brown University 

INSIDER TRADING BY ANYONE ELSE IS A CRIME

Boston Fed president announces early retirement amid trading backlash

Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, announced Monday he would retire early due to health concerns, but the move comes amid scrutiny over financial trades he made in 2020.

© Greg Nash Boston Fed president announces early retirement amid trading backlash

Rosengren said in a statement that he would retire Sept. 30, nine months earlier than required by law, to focus on treating a kidney condition. He had been president of the Boston Fed since July 2007 and joined the bank in 1985.

While Rosengren would have been able to serve until June 2022, when he would have hit the mandatory retirement age of 65 years old, he said he would step down at the end of the week to focus on his health.

"It has been an honor to serve at the Federal Reserve System, in a job where one can be constantly engaged in pursuing the economic and financial well-being of the country and New England," Rosengren said in a statement.

"I know that my colleagues will build on our progress, and continue making a difference for the public we serve."

Rosengren revealed that he qualifies for a kidney transplant after his renal health deteriorated during the pandemic, and hopes to delay the need for dialysis by retiring.

His sudden departure also comes after backlash to a series of recently disclosed investments he made while the Fed was scrambling to prop up markets during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rosengren owned stakes in several real estate investment trusts and traded several other stocks in 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan also traded millions of dollars in securities last year, according to Journal, as the Fed was taking unprecedented steps to dampen the blow of the pandemic.

While Rosengren's activity was of a smaller scale than Kaplan's, his investments in commercial real estate were notable given his frequent warnings about the challenges facing the sector.

Both asserted that they followed the Fed's rules for financial trades, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced last week that the bank would review those standards after intense criticism.

In a Monday statement, Powell nonetheless praised Rosengren and highlighted his work spearheading the Fed's Main Street Lending Program for mid-sized businesses.

"Eric has distinguished himself time and again during more than three decades of dedicated public service in the Federal Reserve System," Powell said.

"In addition to his monetary policy insights, Eric brought a relentless focus on how best to ensure the stability of the financial system. My colleagues and I will miss him.

Jagged Little Pill Star Antonio Cipriano Exits Show After Producers Were Accused of Transphobia

Antonio Cipriano is the latest star of Broadway's Jagged Little Pill to speak out against the alleged "harm" inflicted by the show's producers against the trans and non-binary community.

© Matthew Murphy "Broadway should be a safe space for everyone," Antonio Cipriano wrote as he announced that his performance with the cast at Sunday's 74th Tony Awards would be his last

The actor, 21, announced that he is exiting the jukebox musical following his performance with the cast at Sunday's 74th Tony Awards, where the show is up for 15 awards, including best musical. "After four years of being with Jagged Little Pill, the Tony's tonight will be my final performance with the show," he began his statement posted to Twitter.

"Your love and support over the years means more to me than I could explain, and I will always hold that close to my heart," Cipriano continued. "With that, I have to acknowledge the harm that many trans + non-binary, and all marginalized folks, on-stage cast members and off have endured through the years. "

RELATED: Jagged Little Pill Broadway Stars Accuse Producers of Harm 'to the Trans and Non-Binary Community'

"Broadway should be a safe space for everyone to create and experience art. All artists deserve to exist fully and authentically. As a member of the community, I recognize my privilege and take responsibility for being part of the harm caused. Representation, mental and physical health are extremely important. I'm hopeful for a more equitable future where the right changes and protection are put into action. I am lucky and grateful to be a part of this community and I am hopeful to see what change we as a collective can make going forward. I love y'all from the bottom of my heart," the actor concluded.

Cipriano plays Phoenix in Jagged Little Pill, which opened on Broadway in December 2019, using songs from Alanis Morissette's 1995 album of the same name. The show tells the story of the Healys, a suburban Connecticut family hiding a well of issues behind their picture-perfect façade.

Celia Rose Gooding, who will also retire her run as Mary Frances "Frankie" Healy after the performance at Sunday's awards show, bid farewell to the musical on Twitter on Friday while calling out the producers' alleged behavior (the show has a total of 42 producers, according to its website).

"While performing at the Tonys has been a lifelong dream of mine, I do not want my performance to act as a distraction from the fact that Broadway has a lot more work to do to be the safe, equitable space that artists of all walks of life deserve," Gooding, 21, wrote.

RELATED: Tony Awards 2021 — a Complete List of Winners

"That being said, I cannot ignore the harm Jagged has done to the trans and non-binary community, including cast members on stage, off stage, and behind the scenes in the production-making process. They are owed a space to exist and perform free of transphobia, and the opportunity to tell their own stories, just as I have over the years," she shared.

"Action statements have been released, and I look forward to witnessing these changes; but I believe it will be in my best personal interest to focus more on work that I can align myself with emotionally and morally, just as Frankie would," Gooding continued.

Gooding's exit was previously announced, after she was cast as Nyota Uhura in the upcoming Paramount+ prequel series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Nora Schell, a non-binary actor who made their Broadway debut in the chorus and other roles on Jagged Little Pill, wrote that they were "heavily pressured and eventually asked to wait to get NECESSARY surgery to remove polyps from my vagina."

After being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in 2019, Schell wrote that they communicated their condition to the show's management, also letting them know that they were struggling with anemia due to the subsequent blood loss from their PCOS. Schell said they were told that the information would be relayed to the creative team, but allegedly, that never happened.

Schell recounted losing consciousness due to their anemia during a dress rehearsal and wrote that a "higher up" told them to "push through."

The inaction that followed their complaints "allowed me to be intimidated into staying and performing when I was clearly not well," Schell wrote, adding that a costar ultimately advocated for them and they were allowed to go home.

RELATED: Moulin Rouge! Tony Winner Karen Olivo on Why They Left Show: 'Something Really Shifted in Me'

"After surgery I was intimidated by company management. The validity of my recovery period was diminished and dismissed. I was told 'I need to work to get paid' and that 'I can't expect to be paid when taking personal days,'" they wrote. "When I relayed the possibility of these growths returning/needing surgery again in the future, I was met with exasperation and told that if I had to take off it wouldn't be considered paid medical leave."

RELATED VIDEO: Alanis Morissette Is Coming to Broadway! 'Jagged Little Pill' Musical to Premiere in the Fall

Additionally, Schell wrote that their gynecologist said she "could not ethically continue to operate" on them if they remained in a work environment that ignores their medical needs.

"I've been vaguely referencing mistreatment for years, and this is certainly not an exhaustive account of my experiences, but it is certainly the most alarming, fundamentally wrong and DANGEROUS incident I experienced. I'm still dealing with the consequences of waiting to get this surgery," Schell concluded.

The lead producers issued a social media statement ensuring a "comprehensive investigation" on Saturday.

"We are deeply troubled by the recent claims that have been made by a former cast member. We met with our cast and members of our core creative team today to let them know we take this matter very seriously, and to share with them the actions we are taking in response," the statement read in part. "Broadway shows are by their very nature collaborative human efforts, so there is nothing more important to us than our people. We are committed to continuing to nurture a work environment where everyone feels valued and respected."

The show also previously faced controversy over the character Jo Taylor, who was originally written and played as non-binary during a run in Boston. However, when the show went to Broadway, the role was depicted as a cisgender gay female.

Lauren Patten, the actress who plays Jo, shared a conversation she had with transgender actress and activist Shakina Nayfack last week, discussing her role in the character's development.

"I am profoundly sorry for the harm I caused, and I am thankful to Shakina, as well as the friends and colleagues with whom I have spoken privately, for holding me accountable," Patten, 29, wrote with the video. "It is my deepest hope for Jo to be a character that can be claimed and owned by folks of many queer identities — butch and masc women, nonbinary and genderqueer folks, trans men, and many more. Theatre has the power and the potential to be expansive, and I hope that Jo can be a representation of that moving forward."

RELATED: All the Broadway Shows Opening or Returning as N.Y.C. Theaters Reopen Their Doors

Producers also addressed the "reasonable and deeply felt upset around the issues of transparency and accountability and the character of Jo" in a statement released last weekend, outlining several actions they're taking in response.

"As leaders of this very special enterprise, we should have done better and recognize our failure and its consequences," the statement read. "We put our cast and our fans in a difficult position. Torn between their love for the show we created and their hurt and disappointment around this issue and with our words (and then with our silence)."

CIBC hires former Liberal innovation minister Navdeep Bains

TORONTO — CIBC has hired former Liberal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains as vice-chair, global investment banking.

Provided by The Canadian Press

Bains stepped down as innovation minister in January and did not run in the recent federal election.

He officially joins the bank Oct. 4.

CIBC says Bains will focus on developing and fostering senior level client relationships and business development globally as part of its capital markets team.

Bains joins former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt who was hired by CIBC in January 2020 as vice-chair, global investment banking.

CIBC says together with Raitt that the bank's senior advisory team will offer unparalleled insights into public and industrial policy issues.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CM)

The Canadian Press

CANADA

3D printing could help build homes with unique designs more cheaply, advocates say

Manjula Selvarajah 

© Twente Additive Manufacturing Fibonacci House, near Procter, B.C., is Canada's first 3D-printed home.

The Fibonacci House in Procter, B.C., boasts spectacular views of the nearby mountains — but that's not what makes the tiny home a one-of-a-kind vacation rental.

It is Canada's first 3D printed house — a spiral structure with a standout feature: Curved walls. (It was inspired by — and named after — the mathematical Fibonacci sequence.)

Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a process where an object is built using layers of materials as directed by a digital design.

While 3D-printed construction is still considered to be in its infancy, advocates say that in the future, the technology could be used to build houses with unique designs quickly and more cheaply, with less of a need for scarce skilled labour.

Ian Comishin is the president of Twente Additive Manufacturing, the company behind the Fibonacci House, which is listed on Airbnb. He said 3D printing allows builders to construct complex, curved walls for the same price as a straight wall.

"So now, architectural features that are exciting or adding aesthetics can be done for virtually no cost comparison," he said.
How it works

To construct such a home, the building is first designed digitally. Designers determine which aspects of the house can be 3D printed; typically, it's parts like foundations and walls made of concrete — a material that lends itself well to 3D printing. The instructions are then sent to a robotic printer, which can either build the elements at the construction site or elsewhere, like in a factory.

The walls of the Fibonacci House were printed off-site in 11 days, then brought to the build location for workers to assemble.

"The robot itself has a hose and a nozzle," Comishin said.

A mortar-concrete mix is pumped out of the hose, and it's formulated so each layer can be stacked on the next, building up the structure layer by layer. It's much like a baker's nozzle piping icing onto a cake.

There's a cottage industry of people who use much smaller 3D printers at home, making and sometimes selling various knick-knacks. Some libraries and maker spaces also offer members access to 3D printers at their facilities.

But the real promise of the technology is how it will change the creation of bigger products, from planes to buildings.
A solution for homelessness?

Don McQuaid is the managing director of World Housing, an international agency focused on solving homelessness, which helped fund a 3D-printed community of 50 homes in Tabasco, Mexico.

"Our belief is that technology is going to be the solution for homelessness, and we believe that everyone deserves a home," he said.

Now the non-profit is partnering with Trente Additive Manufacturing on an ambitious project here in Canada. Called Sakura Place, it will be a community of five 3D-printed homes in Nelson, B.C., for families struggling to afford housing. Each house will be 700 square feet with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

The community could one day be a proof of concept for using 3D-printing technology to build affordable housing elsewhere in Canada, as many continue to voice frustration with the country's expensive real estate market.

In September, the average home price in Canada was $604,000, up more than 17 per cent from one year earlier. And according to a report by Scotiabank, Canada has the lowest supply of housing per 1,000 residents among the G7 countries.

3D printing could also address some of the challenges posed by the short building season in some of Canada's remote communities, McQuaid said.

"It could be a solution for us to be able to come in, fly the [3D-printing] machine and use local materials and local people to assist and build in a tight window," he said.
How it cuts costs — but not that dramatically

Comishin also sees the technology addressing a shortage of skilled labour in the construction industry.

"This type of technology is something that's very easily adapted to somebody who … comes from just about any sort of computer background," he said. "It allows for job sites to have access to precision and repeatability that is sometimes unachievable just through human processes."

That predictability can reduce costs, he said, before cautioning that although 3D-printed homes are cheaper than traditional builds, it's a reduced cost — not a fraction of the cost.

"People get really excited with the technology. And then they call us up, and they think that they can build a house for $6,000, or $10,000," he said.

Many parts of the house, including windows, toilets and fixtures, can't be 3D printed, Comshin said.

"The cost on those things don't change," he said. "So from that perspective, we can still do affordable housing, but there's pretty unrealistic expectations [around] what this technology can do from a cost perspective."

A number of studies and projects have estimated cost savings to range from 10 to 50 per cent, compared to conventional construction.

Another challenge is that while a 3D printer can build concrete structures relatively cheaply, that doesn't include the cost of the 3D printer itself, which can range from $49,000 for the small, basic models, to upwards of $125,000 for the larger models, according to 3Drific, an internet publication focused on 3D printing.

Still, at least one jurisdiction is aiming to sharply ramp up 3D construction. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is aiming to have 30 per cent of new construction in the city-state be 3D printed by 2030.

STATE CAPITALI$T STALINIST PURGE

HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng and CEO Tan Xiangdong have been detained by Chinese police, according to the company

By Steven Jiang and Michelle Toh, CNN Business

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HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng making a speech in December 2018 in Haikou, Hainan, China.

In a brief statement on Friday, the embattled conglomerate said that the two executives had been "placed under compulsory measures" by Hainan provincial police for suspected criminal offenses.

It did not specify which laws were suspected to have been broken. In China's legal system, "compulsory measures" by the police usually precede formal arrests.

The HNA CEO, also known as Adam Tan, was listed as a US citizen in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2018. The US Embassy in Beijing declined to comment.

Once known for its aggressive deal-making, HNA Group went bankrupt earlier this year. The news marked a dramatic fall for one of the most important players in China's private sector.

In the statement posted on social media Friday, HNA said that the firm and its subsidiaries were "operating in a stable and orderly manner, with restructuring work moving forward in accordance with the law."

"Business operations have not been affected in any way," it added.

News of Tan's detention came the same day it was announced that Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou had reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice and was allowed to return home from Canada, where she had spent almost three years under house arrest.

Asked about the HNA executive at a media briefing on Monday, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said she wasn't aware of either Tan or his case.

HNA began as an airline more than two decades ago, but grew rapidly into other lines of business over the years through overseas acquisitions, as well as investments in real estate and finance.

Starting in 2015, the group embarked on a $40 billion shopping spree that included investments in Hilton and Deutsche Bank. By the end of 2017, HNA's assets topped 1.2 trillion yuan ($186 billion).

But those acquisitions were built on a mountain of debt, which hit 707 billion yuan ($110 billion) by June 2019. The company's woes were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, and in February 2020, government officials in Hainan took control.

At the request of the company, authorities in the province established a "working group" with other agencies in a bid to solve the company's financial crisis.

News of the executives' troubles this week comes as another major Chinese business is facing the spotlight for its own debt crisis.

For weeks, investors have been waiting to find out what will happen to Chinese conglomerate Evergrande, with global markets swayed by fears of contagion.

The property developer is facing a massive cash crunch, which is seen as a major test for Beijing. Some analysts fear it could even turn into China's Lehman Brothers moment, sending shockwaves across the world's second biggest economy.

China is also in the midst of a sweeping crackdown on its private sector, with targets ranging from tech to finance.

However, even state-owned entities have not been immune. Those behemoths, along with other government entities, appear to be the latest targets in Beijing's growing scrutiny of the financial sector.

On Sunday, the country's top anti-graft official called for "thorough disciplinary inspection of financial institutions," according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

The outlet said that Zhao Leji, a top politician and member of the Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, had urged financial institutions to take action to better meet the needs of ordinary people, and avoid systemic financial risks.

A new round of inspection has been approved by the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog, which will conduct checks of party organizations in 25 financial institutions, according to the report by Xinhua, which was also posted on a government website.

In China, it is common for major companies to form internal organizations to ensure their companies are staying in line with the Party.

The institutions facing scrutiny include the country's central bank, top financial regulators, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the so-called "Big Four" state banks.

— CNN's Beijing bureau, Laura He and Jill Disis contributed to this report.

 HNA Group CEO Tan Xiangdong attending a conference in Beijing in November 2017.

The 2 Michaels are home. But what about the 115 Canadians still detained in China?
Emerald Bensadoun 

© Provided by Global News Woman hand gripping the jail bars.

All eyes were on Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on Saturday as the two returned home following nearly three years spent in apparent arbitrary detention in China.

Heartwarming images and video surfaced of the two reuniting with their families. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called their homecoming "good news for all of us," noting that they had both gone through an "unbelievably difficult ordeal."

But as of Sunday at least 115 Canadians remain in custody in Chinese prisons, Global Affairs Canada said in an emailed statement to Global News. Not all Canadians imprisoned in China are in arbitrary detainment, but the agency said at least four of those jailed are on death row.

Read more: ‘Two Michaels’ welcomed home by friends, family after years in Chinese detention

"Canada opposes the death penalty in all cases, everywhere," Global Affairs Canada said.

"We have raised our firm opposition to the death penalty with China and continue to call on China to grant clemency for all Canadians sentenced to death."

Video: “Two Michaels” and Meng Wanzhou return home

The agency said it reviews each detention on a case-by-case basis, as consular officials often require a "tailored approach" that can adapt to different local contexts and circumstances.

Here's a look at the four Canadians currently on death row.

Robert Schellenberg

Of those sentenced to death, the most recent is Canadian Robert Schellenberg of Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Liaoning High Court upheld his death sentence on Aug. 10 following an appeal made over the summer.

Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in China in 2014 and was formally charged with drug smuggling in January 2015. Initially, a Chinese court had sentenced him to 15 years in prison. But four years later, his verdict was overturned following a retrial and he was sentenced to death.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said in August that Canada "strongly" condemned the court's decision to uphold the death penalty for Schellenberg.

Read more: Chinese court upholds death sentence for Robert Schellenberg in drug smuggling case

“We have repeatedly expressed to China our firm opposition to this cruel and inhumane punishment and will continue to engage with Chinese officials at the highest levels to grant clemency to Mr. Schellenberg,” he said, shortly after the ruling was delivered.

“We oppose the death penalty in all cases, and condemn the arbitrary nature of Mr. Schellenberg’s sentence.”

In an emailed statement to Global News, Global Affairs Canada reiterated that the federal government remains "strongly opposed" to the decision to arbitrarily impose and uphold the death penalty for Schellenberg.

The agency added it "will continue to engage with Chinese officials at the highest levels to seek clemency for Mr. Schellenberg."

Video: Chinese court upholds death sentence against B.C. man

Xu Weihong

Canadian Xu Weihong was sentenced to death by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate Court over drug manufacturing charges on Aug. 6, 2020. They also handed down a life sentence to Wen Guanxiong, whom they claim helped Xu make ketamine.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin justified Xu's death sentence during a briefing last year, saying that death penalties would help "deter and prevent" similar crimes in the future.

“I would like to stress that China’s judicial authorities handle the relevant case independently in strict accordance with Chinese law and legal procedures,” Wang had said.

He added that “this case should not inflict any impact on China-Canada relations.”

Video: China defends death sentence for Canadian convicted of making illegal drugs

Ye Jianhui

Ye Jianhui is the fourth Canadian to receive the death penalty in China.

His sentence was handed down in August of last year over charges to manufacture and transport drugs by the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court, just one day after Xu's.

Ye and co-defendant Lu Hanchang conspired with others to manufacture and transport drugs between May 2015 and January 2016, the Associated Press reported last year.

Asked last year if the sentencing of the Canadian drug offenders was linked to Meng’s case, Wang said China’s judicial organs “handle cases independently,” while also adding that “the Canadian side knows the root cause” of difficulties in China-Canadian relations.

Read more: China sentences another Canadian to death over drug charges

Fan Wei

Fan Wei was given the death penalty on April 30, 2019 along with 11 others over his involvement in an international methamphetamine operation.

Speaking to Global News the day of his sentencing, Global Affairs Canada said officials attended the sentencing and reading of the verdict. They called on China to grant clemency, adding the decision to apply the "cruel and inhumane" death penalty to Fan's case was of "extreme concern" to their government.

"Obtaining clemency for Xu Weihong, Ye Jianhui and Fan Wei is also of primary importance given China's decision to impose the death penalty in these cases," Global Affairs Canada said, in an emailed statement to Global News on Sunday.

"Canada will continue to provide consular services to Robert Schellenberg, Xu Weihong, Ye Jianhui and Fan Wei, as well as to their families."

-- With files from Global News' Saba Aziz and Aaron D'Andrea, as well as the Canadian Press, Associated Press and Reuters.