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A man scouring Google Earth found a mysterious scar in the Australian outback – and now scientists know what caused it

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <p>By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matej-lipar-1372667">Matej Lipar</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a></em></p> <p>Earlier this year, a caver was poring over satellite images of the Nullarbor Plain when he came across something unexpected: an enormous, mysterious scar etched into the barren landscape.</p> <p>The find intrigued scientists, including my colleagues and I. Upon closer investigation, we realised the scar was created by a ferocious tornado that no-one knew had occurred. We outline the findings in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/ES24023">new research</a> published today.</p> <p>Tornadoes are a known threat in the United States and elsewhere. But they also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2016.03.011">happen in Australia</a>.</p> <p>Without the power of technology, this remarkable example of nature’s ferocity would have gone unnoticed. It’s important to study the tornado’s aftermath to help us predict and prepare for the next big twister.</p> <h2>Australia’s tornado history</h2> <p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05381-8">Tornadoes</a> are violent, spinning columns of air that drop from thunderstorms to the ground, bringing wind speeds often exceeding 200 kilometres an hour. They can cause massive destruction – uprooting trees, tearing apart buildings and throwing debris over large distances.</p> <p>Tornadoes have been reported on every continent except Antarctica. They most commonly occur in the Great Plains region of the United States, and in the north-east region of India–Bangladesh.</p> <p>The earliest tornado observed by settlers in Australia occurred in 1795 in the suburbs of Sydney. But a tornado was not confirmed here by Western scientists until the late 1800s.</p> <p>In recent decades, documented instances in Australia include a <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/tornado-murray-river-townships-victoria-2013/#:%7E:text=Tornado%20%2D%20Murray%20River%20townships%2C%202013&text=At%20approximately%208.00pm%20on,border%20of%20New%20South%20Wales.">2013 tornado</a> that crossed north-east Victoria and travelled up to the New South Wales border. It brought winds between 250–300 kilometres an hour and damaged Murray River townships.</p> <p>And in 2016, a severe storm produced <a href="https://theconversation.com/severe-thunderstorms-are-sweeping-through-southern-australia-but-what-makes-a-thunderstorm-severe-241555#:%7E:text=In%202016%2C%20huge%20rotating%20supercell,after%20taking%20down%20six%20towers.">at least seven tornadoes</a> in central and eastern parts of South Australia.</p> <p>It’s important for scientists to accurately predict tornadoes, so we can issue warnings to communities. That’s why the Nullarbor tornado scar was useful to study.</p> <h2>A whirlwind mystery</h2> <p>The Nullarbor Plain is a remote, dry, treeless stretch of land in southern Australia. The man who discovered the scar had been using Google Earth satellite imagery to search the Nullabor for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24267-0_11">caves</a> or other karst features.</p> <p>Karst is a landscape underlain by limestone featuring distinctive landforms. The discovery of the scar came to the attention of my colleagues and I through the collaborative network of researchers and explorers who study the Nullarbor karst.</p> <p>The scar stretches from Western Australia over the border to South Australia. It lies 20 kilometres north of the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/trans-australian-railway">Trans-Australian Railway</a> and 90 kilometres east-north-east of Forrest, a former railway settlement.</p> <p>We compared satellite imagery of the site over several years to determine that the tornado occurred between November 16 and 18, 2022. Blue circular patterns appeared alongside the scar, indicating pools of water associated with heavy rain.</p> <p>My colleagues and I then travelled to the site in May this year to examine and photograph the scar and the neighbouring landscape.</p> <p>Our results have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/ES24023">published today</a> in the Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/633465/original/file-20241121-17-bx4uhg.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="map of Australia's southwest coast with dots showing recorded tornadoes" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Map showing tornado events in Western Australia and South Australia between 1795 and 2014. The location of the tornado scar in the study is shown with a red dot.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: Severe Thunderstorm Archive/Australian Bureau of Meteorology</span></span></figcaption></figure> <h2>What we found</h2> <p>The scar is 11 kilometres long and between 160 and 250 metres wide. It bears striking patterns called “cycloidal marks”, formed by tornado suction vortexes. This suggests the tornado was no ordinary storm but in the strong <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19720008829">F2 or F3</a> category, spinning with destructive winds of more than 200 kilometres an hour.</p> <p>The tornado probably lasted between seven and 13 minutes. Features of the scar suggest the whirling wind within the tornado was moving in a clockwise direction. We also think the tornado moved from west to east – which is consistent with the direction of a strong cold front in the region at the time.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/622894/original/file-20241002-20-xzi4qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="spiralling masks in dry earth" /><figcaption><span class="caption">‘Cycloidal marks’ in the tornado scar, caused by multiple vortexes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Earth satellite imagery</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>Local weather observations also recorded intensive cloud cover and rainfall during that period in November 2022.</p> <p>Unlike tornadoes that hit populated areas, this one did not damage homes or towns. But it left its mark nonetheless, eroding soil and vegetation and reshaping the Earth’s surface.</p> <p>Remarkably, the scar was still clearly visible 18 months after the event, both in satellite images and on the ground. This is probably because vegetation grows slowly in this dry landscape, so hadn’t yet covered the erosion.</p> <h2>Predict and prepare</h2> <p>This fascinating discovery on the Nullarbor Plain shows how powerful and unpredictable nature can be – sometimes without us knowing.</p> <p>Only three tornadoes have previously been documented on the Nullarbor Plain. This is likely because the area is remote with few eye-witnesses, and because the events do not damage properties and infrastructure. Interestingly, those three tornadoes occurred in November, just like this one.</p> <p>Our research provides valuable insights into the tornadoes in this remote and little-studied region. It helps us understand when, and in what conditions, these types of tornadoes occur.</p> <p>It also emphasises the importance of satellite imagery in identifying and analysing weather phenomena in remote locations, and in helping us predict and prepare for the next big event.</p> <p>And finally, the results are a stark reminder that extreme weather can strike anywhere, anytime.</p> <hr /> <p><em>Hero Image: Author supplied/Google Earth</em></p> <p><em>This article has been amended to clarify that a reference to early tornado observations relates only to the period after British colonisation.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/239867/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matej-lipar-1372667">Matej Lipar</a>, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-man-scouring-google-earth-found-a-mysterious-scar-in-the-australian-outback-and-now-scientists-know-what-caused-it-239867">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Domestic Travel

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Aussie town becomes the hottest place on earth for one day

<p>A small town in regional South Australia has broken records amidst the relentless heatwave slamming Aussies, by being named the hottest place on earth for a whole day. </p> <p>Marree, located 589 kilometres north of Adelaide, is home to fewer than 100 residents, with the town acting as a service centre for the large sheep and cattle stations in the northeast of the state. </p> <p>Locals sweltered through record-breaking temperatures on Wednesday, with temperatures of 46.4ºC making the tiny town the hottest place on the planet for the whole day. </p> <p>According to online world temperatures site <a href="https://www.eldoradoweather.com/climate/world-extremes/world-temp-rainfall-extremes.php?extremes=World#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link-type="article-inline">El Dorado Weather</a>, Australia took out not just the Number 1 spot, but was also home to the top 15 hottest places in the world, with cities and towns in Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales also making the list. </p> <p>Five Aussie states cracked temperatures of over 44ºC according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the extreme weather to continue over the weekend. </p> <p>Other than Victoria and Tasmania, every state has been issued an official extreme weather warning, with senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury saying on Monday that heatwave conditions were not likely to start easing until “early next week”.</p> <p>With the worst of the heatwave expected to hit on Saturday, people are being urged to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, to wear sunscreen, sunglasses and hats and stay hydrated.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Google Maps</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Worrying news – ozone layer not recovering after all

<p>Alarming news from New Zealand scientists suggests the ozone layer might not be recovering after all, with the problem exacerbated by bushfires, volcanic eruptions and greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <div class="copy"> <p>The research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42637-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> in <em>Nature Communications</em> suggests the Antarctic ozone layer has reduced by 26% since 2004, contrary to previous reports of recovery by actions taken under an agreement called the Montreal Protocol. </p> <p>The authors say wildfire and volcanic aerosols together with greenhouse gas emissions probably explain recent setbacks with record large, long-lived ozone holes re-emerging over Antarctica during Spring since 2020.</p> <p>Climate change is influencing the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/weather-services/fire-weather-centre/bushfire-weather/index.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">severity and frequency</a> of bushfires.</p> <p>The ozone hole was previously thought to be under repair thanks to a global agreement signed in Montreal, Canada to limit ozone depleting substances. </p> <p>But the paper finds insignificant long-term change in the total ozone column since the early 2000s, “even where significant recovery has previously been reported”.</p> <p>The analysis of daily and monthly ozone changes between 2001 – 2022, show delays in the formation of the ozone hole. While early springtime shows signs of recovery in the ozone layer, this is followed by declines during late September.</p> <p>Researcher and author Hannah Kessenich from the University of Otago says: “by looking at detailed, daily ozone observations from the last 19 years, we find evidence of much less ozone in the centre of the Antarctic ozone hole compared to 19 years ago. This means that the hole has not only remained large in area, but it has also become deeper (i.e. has less ozone) throughout most of Antarctic spring.”</p> <p>But Atmospheric scientist, Dr Martin Jucker from the University of NSW is not convinced by the results of the study.</p> <p>He says: “Their results rely heavily on the large ozone holes we have seen in 2020-2022. However, existing literature has already found reasons for these large ozone holes: Smoke from the 2019 bushfires and a volcanic eruption (La Soufriere), as well as a general relationship between the polar stratosphere and El Niño Southern Oscillation […] The years 2020-22 have seen a rare triple La Niña, but this relationship is never mentioned in the study.”  </p> <p><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/earth-sciences/ozone-hole-among-largest-on-record/">This Spring</a>, the European Space Agency reported yet another large ozone hole had formed, among the biggest on record.</p> <p>The layer of ozone high in the atmosphere protects the Earth from ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. Ozone depletion exposes people, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, to a higher risk of skin cancer.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <div> <p align="center"><noscript data-spai="1"><em>&amp;lt;img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-198773" src="https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Cosmos-Catch-Up-embed_728x150-1.jpg" data-spai-egr="1" alt="Sign up to our weekly newsletter" width="600" height="154" title="worrying news - ozone layer not recovering after all 2"&amp;gt;</em></noscript></p> </div> <p><em><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=288486&amp;title=Worrying+news+%26%238211%3B+ozone+layer+not+recovering+after+all" width="1" height="1" loading="lazy" aria-label="Syndication Tracker" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></em><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/ozone-layer-not-recovering/">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/petra-stock/">Petra Stock</a>. </em></div>

Travel Trouble

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The "happiest place on Earth" heading Down Under

<p>Australia could be getting its first Disneyland theme park, after one state capital claim they have the "perfect spot for it". </p> <p>Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has thrown her support behind the idea of a Down Under Disney, while also pitching the perfect location. </p> <p>“As Australia’s capital city of fun, of course we should have a Disney theme park in Melbourne. We’ve even got the perfect spot for it – Fishermans Bend,” Ms Capp told the <em>Herald Sun</em>.</p> <p>“We saw with the Firefly Zipline just how much Melburnians love a thrilling ride. At Fishermans Bend, exhilarating roller-coasters could soar over the Yarra as part of a Disneyland, Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom."</p> <p>“Melbourne also offers visitors the best tourism experience available in Victoria, from world-class hotels, unbeatable retail offerings and some of the best food and drink in Australia."</p> <p>“I know a Disney theme park in our municipality would be a huge hit with residents — myself included — visitors, students and traders.”</p> <p>Another piece of land has been floated for the location, with a prime spot north of Geelong, 30 minutes from the CBD, seeming to be a more achievable spot for a theme park. </p> <p>A third site has also been proposed, with David Fox, the son of billionaire trucking magnate Lindsey Fox, confirming an entertainment precinct is already earmarked for the huge block of vacant land near Avalon Airport.</p> <p>“There’s an entertainment precinct that we’ve defined. I wouldn’t say (for a) Disneyland at this moment in time, but anything is possible,” Mr Fox said.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Domestic Travel

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15 facts you won’t believe are true

<p>Sometimes we become so jaded that we forget the world is an amazing place.</p> <p>In this list we’ve put together 15 facts you won’t believe are true.</p> <p><strong>To see the full list of amazing facts, scroll down.</strong></p> <p>1. Honey will <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life-1218690/?no-ist" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>never go off</strong></span></a>, no matter how long you store it.</p> <p>2. The Turritopsis Nutricula jellyfish is <a href="http://immortal-jellyfish.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>c</strong></span></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://immortal-jellyfish.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">onsidered biologically immortal</a></strong></span>.</p> <p>3. The heart of a blue whale is so big a human could potentially swim through its arteries (of course why you’d want to do so is another matter altogether).</p> <p>4. Yet the throat of a blue whale is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_whale#Description_and_behaviour" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>so small</strong></span></a> (comparatively speaking at least) it is physically incapable of swallowing anything bigger than a beach ball. </p> <p>5. For every person on Earth there are <a href="http://www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/dealing-household-guests/ants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>around 1.6 million ants</strong></span></a>.</p> <p>6. An octopus has <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/science-nature/ten-curious-facts-about-octopuses-7625828/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>three hearts</strong></span></a>.</p> <p>7. Feng shui was originally the art of choosing the <a href="http://www.awarenessmag.com/marapr07/ma07_feng_shui.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>best place for a grave</strong></span></a>.</p> <p>8. There are <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080603085914.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ten times more bacteria</a></strong></span> than cells in the human body.</p> <p>9. Believe it or not, this is what sand looks like under a microscope:</p> <p>10. Oxford University actually <a href="http://thetab.com/uk/oxford/2013/10/20/six-things-oxford-predates-11736" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>predates the Aztec Empire</strong></span></a>.</p> <p>11. No one has <a href="https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&amp;f=5&amp;t=1163790" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>successfully tamed</strong></span></a> an African elephant.</p> <p>12. Catfish have <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-07-09/ten-facts-about-fish-that-might-surprise-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>27,000 taste buds</strong></span></a> (four times as many as humans). </p> <p>13. Santa Claus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea#Commemorations_of_Basil" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>is called Basil</strong></span></a> in Cyprus.</p> <p>14. Scientists have suggested <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24477667" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>rain is made</strong></span></a> from diamonds on Saturn and Jupiter.</p> <p>15. The image on the left is a candle burning on Earth, and the image on the right is a candle burning in a zero gravity environment. What a difference! </p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="../news/news/2016/03/couple-give-60-million-lottery-away/"><strong>Couple gives $60 million lottery win away</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="../news/news/2016/03/find-letter-t-image-puzzle/"><strong>Can you find the letter “T” in this image?</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="../news/news/2016/03/stunning-images-antarctica-remote-beauty/"><strong>Stunning images of Antarctica’s remote beauty</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>

News

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“Rarest species of feline on Earth”: Unique cat mystifies the internet

<p dir="ltr">A photo of the “rarest species of feline on Earth”, a cat with black and neon yellow stripes, has mystified the internet.</p> <p dir="ltr">The incredible photo of the “Amazon snake cat” is truly unbelievable.</p> <p dir="ltr">The image of the so-called “Serpens Cattus”, a feline with black and neon-yellow stripes resembling a snake, made waves online, with social media posts claiming it was the “rarest species of feline on Earth”. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Serpens Cattus is the rarest species of feline on Earth. These Animals live in hard-to-reach regions of the Amazon rainforest, and therefore they are relatively poorly studied,” a Twitter user claimed. “The first images capturing the snake cat appeared only in 2020. Weighs up to 4 stone (25kgs).”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://t.co/rpeMQKCF4I">pic.twitter.com/rpeMQKCF4I</a></p> <p>— Jeff_kamara2 (@Kamara2R) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kamara2R/status/1635669633553367040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">A now-deleted Reddit post of the “Serpens Cattus” attracted several comments who flagged the feline as not being real. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Obvious fake. No known gene can produce natural hair or fur of those (navy and bright yellow) colours,” one commented.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Really rough attempt at a fake Latin name,” a second person chimed in. “One google about species naming would have made this a lot less obvious.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The post caught the eye of zoology experts to verify the authenticity of the photo.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, the colours and patterns on the female bare a strong resemblance to the reptilian boiga dendrophila, which is commonly referred to as the “gold-ringed cat snake”.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo &amp; Conservation Biology Institute, the snake is found in the same countries where the “Amazon snake cat” was rumoured to be found. </p> <p dir="ltr">The serpent-like feline slid over to TikTok, where one user claimed that the species lived in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He’s in the next fantastic beasts,” laughed one user referencing the Harry Potter spin-off franchise.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Use this s**t for good not to misinform,” another user wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Stop sharing bulls**t,” a third commented. </p> <p dir="ltr">It's clear to see the mysterious feline has certainly left some in hiss-belief.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-919797d4-7fff-89ab-2d2e-e88b391d041a"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credit: Twitter</em></p>

Family & Pets

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Humans are still hunting for aliens. Here’s how astronomers are looking for life beyond Earth

<p>We have long been fascinated with the idea of alien life. The earliest written record presenting the idea of “aliens” is seen in the satiric work of Assyrian writer <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-first-alien/">Lucian of Samosata</a> dated to 200 AD.</p> <p>In one novel, Lucian <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/inpar/lucian_true_tale.pdf">writes of a journey to the Moon</a> and the bizarre life he imagines living there – everything from three-headed vultures to fleas the size of elephants.</p> <p>Now, 2,000 years later, we still write stories of epic adventures beyond Earth to meet otherworldly beings (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy-novel-by-Adams">Hitchhiker’s Guide</a>, anyone?). Stories like these entertain and inspire, and we are forever trying to find out if science fiction will become science fact.</p> <h2>Not all alien life is the same</h2> <p>When looking for life beyond Earth, we are faced with two possibilities. We might find basic microbial life hiding somewhere in our Solar System; or we will identify signals from intelligent life somewhere far away.</p> <div data-id="17"> </div> <p>Unlike in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Star-Wars-film-series">Star Wars</a>, we’re not talking far, far away in another galaxy, but rather around other nearby stars. It is this second possibility which really excites me, and should excite you too. A detection of intelligent life would fundamentally change how we see ourselves in the Universe.</p> <p>In the last 80 years, programs dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have worked tirelessly searching for cosmic “hellos” in the form of radio signals.</p> <p>The reason we think any intelligent life would communicate via radio waves is due to the waves’ ability to travel vast distances through space, rarely interacting with the dust and gas in between stars. If anything out there is trying to communicate, it’s a pretty fair bet they would do it through radio waves.</p> <h2>Listening to the stars</h2> <p>One of the most exciting searches to date is <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/1">Breakthrough Listen</a>, the largest scientific research program dedicated to looking for evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth.</p> <p>This is one of many projects funded by US-based Israeli entrepreneurs Julia and Yuri Milner, with some serious dollars attached. Over a ten-year period a total amount of <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/1">US$100 million</a> will be invested in this effort, and they have a mighty big task at hand.</p> <p>Breakthrough Listen is currently targeting the closest one million stars in the hope of identifying any unnatural, alien-made radio signals. Using telescopes around the globe, from the 64-metre Murriyang Dish (Parkes) here in Australia, to the 64-antenna MeerKAT array in South Africa, the search is one of epic proportions. But it isn’t the only one.</p> <p>Hiding away in the Cascade Mountains north of San Francisco sits the <a href="https://www.seti.org/ata">Allen Telescope Array</a>, the first radio telescope built from the ground up specifically for SETI use.</p> <p>This unique facility is another exciting project, able to search for signals every day of the year. This project is currently upgrading the hardware and software on the original dish, including the ability to target several stars at once. This is a part of the non-profit research organisation, the SETI Institute.</p> <h2>Space lasers!</h2> <p>The SETI Institute is also looking for signals that would be best explained as “space lasers”.</p> <p>Some astronomers hypothesise that intelligent beings might use massive lasers to communicate or even to propel spacecraft. This is because even here on Earth we’re investigating <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/the-future-of-laser-communications/">laser communication</a> and laser-propelled <a href="https://www.insidescience.org/news/new-light-sail-design-would-use-laser-beam-ride-space">light sails</a>.</p> <p>To search for these mysterious flashes in the night sky, we need speciality instruments in locations around the globe, which are currently being developed and deployed. This is a research area I’m excited to watch progress and eagerly await results.</p> <p>As of writing this article, sadly no alien laser signals have been found yet.</p> <h2>Out there, somewhere</h2> <p>It’s always interesting to ponder who or what might be living out in the Universe, but there is one problem we must overcome to meet or communicate with aliens. It’s the speed of light.</p> <p>Everything we rely on to communicate via space requires light, and it can only travel so fast. This is where my optimism for finding intelligent life begins to fade. The Universe is big – really big.</p> <p>To put it in perspective, humans started using radio waves to communicate across large distances in 1901. That <a href="https://ethw.org/Milestones:Reception_of_Transatlantic_Radio_Signals,_1901">first transatlantic signal</a> has only travelled 122 light years, reaching just 0.0000015% of the stars in our Milky Way.</p> <p>Did your optimism just fade too? That is okay, because here is the wonderful thing… we don’t have to find life to know it is out there, somewhere.</p> <p>When we consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-stars-are-there-in-space-165370">trillions of galaxies</a>, septillion of stars, and likely many more planets just in the observable Universe, it feels near impossible that we are alone.</p> <p>We can’t fully constrain the parameters we need to estimate how many other lifeforms might be out there, as famously proposed by Frank Drake, but using our best estimates and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/numerical-testbed-for-hypotheses-of-extraterrestrial-life-and-intelligence/0C97E7803EEB69323C3728F02BA31AFA">simulations</a> the current best answer to this is tens of thousands of possible civilisations out there.</p> <p>The Universe <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-space-infinite-we-asked-5-experts-165742">might even be infinite</a>, but that is too much for my brain to comprehend on a weekday.</p> <h2>Don’t forget the tiny aliens</h2> <p>So, despite keenly listening for signals, we might not find intelligent life in our lifetimes. But there is hope for aliens yet.</p> <p>The ones hiding in plain sight, on the planetary bodies of our Solar System. In the coming decades we’ll explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn like never before, with missions hunting to find traces of basic life.</p> <p>Mars will continue to be explored – eventually by humans – which could allow us to uncover and retrieve samples from new and unexplored regions.</p> <p>Even if our future aliens are only tiny microbes, it would still be nice to know we have company in this Universe.</p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p> <p><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;">This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-are-still-hunting-for-aliens-heres-how-astronomers-are-looking-for-life-beyond-earth-197621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Technology

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“Luckiest person on earth”: John Blackman shares health update

<p>Australian TV personality John Blackman has opened up about the extreme surgery he underwent to remove a cancerous growth on his mouth and jaw.</p> <p>John, who is best known for his voice work on the variety TV show <em>Hey Hey It’s Saturday</em>, was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma in 2018. The cancer, which had formed on his chin, is classed as both a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer. </p> <p>John’s extensive surgery spanned 10 hours, and saw his jaw removed to be replaced with a bone from his leg. </p> <p>Speaking to the <em>You Cannot Be Serious</em> podcast, he shed some insight into the operation, and on his entire journey, from diagnosis to the present. </p> <p>“I had a little pimple under my skin, you scratch at it and it turned out it was a BCC,” he explained. “SCC (squamous cell carcinoma) is the most deadly thing you can get on your chin apart from a pimple. </p> <p>“Over time it rotted my chin and it was hideous. They said it was really aggressive and it was about to eat away the rest of my face and eventually get to my brain and I’d be brown bread.</p> <p>“Another aggressive SCC started growing in a crater that was created when they removed one minor one and it was heading towards my brain. There’s the skin, then there’s the scalp, then there’s your brain. What this was doing was very aggressive and it was starting to go through what’s left of my meniscus.”</p> <p>At one stage, he compared his surgery to John Farnham's - the singer underwent a similar surgery of 11 and a half hours to remove a cancerous mouth tumour last year. </p> <p>'I don't think his was as radical as mine,” John mused, “because I had all of my lower jaw removed along with the teeth.”</p> <p>“Hopefully John will get through this with as little angst as possible,” he said of Farnham’s experience, “and he’s going to need all the support he can get. I know his family is very loving and they’re all going to gather around him.”</p> <p>John has maintained a positive approach throughout his fight, as he demonstrated in 2020 after surgery when he tweeted his thanks, and that his “journey towards becoming George Clooney's stunt double for all his love scenes … continued today at Linacre Private Hospital.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">My journey towards becoming George Clooney's stunt double for all his love scenes (or the part of Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz) continued today at Linacre Private Hospital. Huge thanks to all the wonderful staff and my plastic surgeon Doctor Frank! <a href="https://t.co/9Xta5eDB3E">pic.twitter.com/9Xta5eDB3E</a></p> <p>— JohnBlackman (@johnblackmanhey) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnblackmanhey/status/1259757239964844045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2020</a></p></blockquote> <p>In another 2020 update posted to Facebook, John continued his good humour, writing, “sufficed to say, there’ll be more excavation work going on around my face tomorrow than the Westgate Tunnel Project!”</p> <p>While the nature of John’s cancer is aggressive, and the surgeries long and difficult, John has remained optimistic, and considers himself to be “the luckiest person on earth.” </p> <p>“Adversity,” as he told <em>You Cannot Be Serious </em>hosts Sam Newman and Don Scott, “doesn’t matter how important or smart you think you are, everyone has some sort of adversity in their life.”</p> <p><em>Images: Facebook</em></p> <p> </p>

Caring

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How satellites, radar and drones are tracking meteorites and aiding Earth’s asteroid defence

<p>On July 31 2013 a <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">constellation of US defence satellites</a> saw a streak of light over South Australia as a rock from outer space burned through Earth’s atmosphere on its way to crash into the ground below.</p> <p>The impact created an explosion equivalent to about 220 tonnes of TNT. More than 1,500km away, in Tasmania, the bang was heard by detectors normally used to listen for <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/security/asno/Pages/australian-ims-stations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extremely low-frequency sounds</a> from illegal tests of nuclear weapons.</p> <p>These were two excellent indications that there should be a patch of ground covered in meteorites somewhere north of Port Augusta. But how could we track them down?</p> <p>My colleagues and I who work on the <a href="https://dfn.gfo.rocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Desert Fireball Network (DFN)</a>, which tracks incoming asteroids and <a href="https://dfn.gfo.rocks/meteorites.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the resulting meteorites</a>, had a couple of ideas: weather radar and drones.</p> <p><strong>Eyes in space</strong></p> <p>Finding meteorites is not an easy task. There is a network of high-quality ground-based sensors called the <a href="https://gfo.rocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Fireball Observatory</a>, but it only covers about 1% of the planet.</p> <p>The <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US satellite data</a> published by NASA covers a much larger area than ground-based detectors, but it only picks up the biggest fireballs. What’s more, they <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/483/4/5166/5256650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don’t always give an accurate idea of the meteor’s trajectory</a>.</p> <p>So, to have any chance to find a meteorite from these data, you need a little outside help.</p> <p><strong>Weather radars</strong></p> <p>In 2019, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology started making its weather radar data <a href="https://www.openradar.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">openly available</a> to researchers and the public. I saw this as an opportunity to complete the puzzle.</p> <p>I combed through the record of events from the Desert Fireball Network and NASA, and cross-matched them with nearby weather radars. Then I looked for unusual radar signatures that could indicate the presence of falling meteorites.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=334&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=334&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=334&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=420&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="An annoyed aerial photo showing the locations of the Woomera radar station and the falling meteorites." /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">The Woomera weather radar station captured reflections from the falling meteorites.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Curtin University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>And bingo, the 2013 event was not too far from the Woomera radar station. The weather was clear, and the radar record showed some small reflections at about the right place and time.</p> <p>Next, I had to use the weather data to figure out how the wind would have pushed the meteorites around on their way down to Earth.</p> <p>If I got the calculations right, I would have a treasure map showing the location of a rich haul of meteorites. If I got them wrong, I would end up sending my team to wander around in the desert for two weeks for nothing.</p> <p><strong>The search</strong></p> <p>I gave what I hoped was an accurate treasure map to my colleague Andy Tomkins from Monash University. In September this year, he happened to be driving past the site on his way back from an expedition in the Nullarbor.</p> <p>Thankfully, Andy found the first meteorite within 10 minutes of looking. In the following two hours, his team found nine more.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Photo of several people walking through a desert field looking at the ground." /><figcaption><span class="caption">A field team from Monash University searched for meteorites in the strewn field.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monash University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>The technique of finding meteorites with weather radars <a href="https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/how-to-find-meteorites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was pioneered</a> by my colleague Marc Fries in the US. However, this is the first time it has been done outside the US NEXRAD radar network. (When it comes to monitoring airspace, the US has more powerful and more densely packed tech than anyone else.)</p> <p>This first search confirmed there were lots of meteorites on the ground. But how were we going to find them all?</p> <p>That’s where the drones come in. We used a method developed by my colleague Seamus Anderson to <a href="https://gfo.rocks/blog/2022/03/14/First_Meteorite_Found_with_Drone.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automatically detect meteorites from drone images</a>.</p> <p>In the end we collected 44 meteorites, weighing a bit over 4kg in total. Together they form what we call a “strewn field”.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="An aerial view of a desert field with a black dot (a meteorite) highlighted by a yellow square." /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">A machine-learning algorithm identified meteorites from drone photos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Curtin Uni</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure> <p>Strewn fields <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.13892" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tell us a lot</a> about how an asteroid fragments in our atmosphere.</p> <p>That’s quite important to know, because the energy of these things is comparable to that of nuclear weapons. For example, the 17-metre asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 produced an explosion 30 times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.</p> <p>So when the next big one is about to hit, it may be useful to predict how it will deposit its energy in our atmosphere.</p> <p>With new telescopes and better technology, we are starting to see some asteroids <a href="https://skymapper.anu.edu.au/news/great-balls-fire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before they hit Earth</a>. We will see even more when projects such as the <a href="https://www.lsst.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vera Rubin Observatory</a> and the <a href="https://atlas.fallingstar.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)</a> are up and running.</p> <p>These systems might give us as much as a few days’ notice that an asteroid is heading for Earth. This would be too late to make any effort to deflect it – but plenty of time for preparation and damage control on the ground.</p> <p><strong>The value of open data</strong></p> <p>This find was only made possible by the free availability of crucial data – and the people who made it available.</p> <p>The US satellites that detected the fireball are presumably there to detect missile and rocket launches. However, somebody (I don’t know who) must have figured out how to publish some of the satellite data without giving away too much about their capabilities, and then lobbied hard to get the data released.</p> <p>Likewise, the find would not have happened without the work of Joshua Soderholm at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, who worked to make low-level weather radar data openly accessible for other uses. Soderholm went to the trouble to make the radar data <a href="https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">readily available and easy to use</a>, which goes well beyond the vague formulations you can read at the bottom of scientific papers like “data available upon reasonable request”.</p> <p>There is no shortage of fireballs to track down. Right now, we’re on the hunt for a meteorite that was spotted in space last weekend before <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/science/fireball-asteroid-toronto-new-york.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blazing through the sky over Ontario, Canada</a>.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194997/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em>Writen by Hadrien Devillepoix. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-satellites-radar-and-drones-are-tracking-meteorites-and-aiding-earths-asteroid-defence-194997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: NASA</em></p>

Technology

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Volcano breath test helps scientists predict deadly eruptions

<p>Humanity has a long history of living in the shadows of active volcanoes.</p> <p>Prized for their rich, fertile soils – ideal for cultivating crops – and their local topography, it isn’t hard to see why living in active volcanic regions remains a worthwhile gamble.</p> <p>Volcanic eruptions, however, are notoriously difficult to predict but improving our diagnostic abilities is crucial for developing early warning procedures and evading disaster.</p> <p>External indicators such as earthquakes and deformation of the Earth’s crust are traditional methods of identifying an imminent eruption, however, not all eruptions give these early warning signs.</p> <p>But now a research team from the University of Tokyo has gained better insight into the relationship between changes in the magma composition and eruption, by studying the ratio of specific chemical isotopes in gas and steam emitted from fumaroles — holes and cracks in the earth’s surface.</p> <p>“When you compare a volcano with a human body, the conventional geophysical methods represented by observations of earthquakes and crustal deformation are similar to listening to the chest and taking body size measurements”, said Professor Hirochika Sumino from the Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, who led the study.</p> <p>“In these cases, it is difficult to know what health problem causes some noise in your chest or a sudden increase in your weight, without a detailed medical check. On the other hand, analysing the chemical and isotope composition of elements in fumarolic gases is like a breath or blood test. This means we are looking at actual material directly derived from magma to know precisely what is going on with the magma.”</p> <p>Previous research on gas associated with an eruption from a volcano in the Canary Islands in 2011 showed an increase in the ratio of heavier helium isotopes which are typical of mantle material.</p> <p>“We knew that the helium isotope ratio occasionally changes from a low value, similar to the helium found in the Earth’s crust, to a high value, like that in the Earth’s mantle, when the activity of magma increases,” said Sumino. “But we didn’t know why we had more mantle-derived helium during magmatic unrest.”</p> <p>Sumino and team sought the answers in fumerole gas around Kusatsu-Shirane, an active volcano 150 km northwest of Tokyo. Taking samples of the gas back to the lab every few months between 2014 and 2021, the researchers were able to ascertain precise measurements of the isotopic components, discovering a relationship between the ratio of argon-40 to helium-3 ( a ‘high value’ isotope of helium) and magmatic unrest.</p> <p>“Using computer models, we revealed that the ratio reflects how much the magma underground is foaming, making bubbles of volcanic gases which separate from the liquid magma,” explained Sumino.</p> <p>The extent to which the magma is foaming “controls how much magmatic gas is provided to the hydrothermal system beneath a volcano and how buoyant the magma is. The former is related to a risk of phreatic eruption, in which an increase in water pressure in the hydrothermal system causes the eruption. The latter would increase the rate of magma ascent, resulting in a magmatic eruption.”</p> <p>The research collaboration is now developing a portable type of mass spectrometer which could be used in the field for real time analysis, reducing the need to constantly collect and transport samples back to the lab – a challenging a time-consuming process.</p> <p>“Our next step is to establish a noble gas analysis protocol with this new instrument, to make it a reality that all active volcanoes — at least those which have the potential to cause disaster to local residents — are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Sumino.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on cosmosmagazine.com and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/volcano-breath-test-predict-eruptions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clare Kenyon</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

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740,000km of fishing line and 14 billion hooks: we reveal just how much fishing gear is lost at sea each year

<p>Two per cent of all fishing gear used worldwide ends up polluting the oceans, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0135" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new research</a> finds. To put that into perspective, the amount of longline fishing gear littering the ocean each year can circle the Earth more than 18 times.</p> <p>We interviewed 450 fishers from seven of the world’s biggest fishing countries including Peru, Indonesia, Morocco and the United States, to find out just how much gear enters the global ocean. We found at current loss rates, in 65 years there would be enough fishing nets littering the sea to cover the entire planet.</p> <p>This lost fishing equipment, known as ghost gear, can cause heavy social, economic and environmental damage. Hundreds of thousands of animals <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11160-018-9520-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are estimated to die</a> each year from unintentional capture in fishing nets. Derelict nets can continue to fish indiscriminately for decades.</p> <p>Our research findings help highlight where to focus efforts to stem the tide of fishing pollution. It can also help inform fisheries management and policy interventions from local to global scales.</p> <h2>14 billion longline hooks litter the sea each year</h2> <p>The data we collected came directly from fishers themselves. They experience this issue firsthand and are best poised to inform our understanding of fishing gear losses.</p> <p>We surveyed fishers using five major gear types: gillnets, longlines, purse seine nets, trawl nets, and pots and traps.</p> <p>We asked how much fishing gear they used and lost annually, and what gear and vessel characteristics could be making the problem worse. This included vessel and gear size, whether the gear contacts the seafloor, and the total amount of gear used by the vessel.</p> <p>We coupled these surveys with information on global fishing effort data from commercial fisheries.</p> <p>Fishers use different types of nets to catch different types of fish. Our research found the amount of nets littering the ocean each year include:</p> <ul> <li>740,000 kilometres of longline mainlines</li> <li>nearly 3,000 square kilometres of gill nets</li> <li>218 square kilometres of trawl nets</li> <li>75,000 square kilometres of purse seine nets</li> </ul> <p>In addition, fishers lose over 25 million pots and traps and nearly 14 billion longline hooks each year.</p> <p>These estimates cover only commercial fisheries, and don’t include <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-97758-4_15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the amount</a> of fishing line and other gear lost by recreational fishers.</p> <p>We also estimate that between 1.7% and 4.6% of all land-based plastic waste travels into the sea. This amount likely exceeds lost fishing gear.</p> <p>However, fishing gear is designed to catch animals and so is generally understood as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X15002985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most environmentally damaging</a> type of plastic pollution in research to date.</p> <h2>Harming fishers and marine life</h2> <p>Nearly 700 species of marine life <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X14008571?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are known to</a> interact with marine debris, many of which are near threatened. Australian and US <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X15002985#bib6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research in 2016</a> found fishing gear poses the biggest entanglement threats to marine fauna such as sea turtles, marine mammals, seabirds and whales.</p> <p>Other marine wildlife including sawfish, dugong, hammerhead sharks and crocodiles are also known to get <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2010.00525.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entangled in fishing gear</a>. Other <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12781" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key problematic items</a> include balloons and plastic bags.</p> <p>Lost fishing gear is not only an environmental risk, but it also has an economic impact for the fishers themselves. Every metre of lost net or line is a cost to the fisher – not only to replace the gear but also in its potential catch.</p> <p> </p> <p>Additionally, many fisheries have already gone through significant reforms to reduce their environmental impact and improve the sustainability of their operations.</p> <p>Some losses are attributable to how gear is operated. For instance, bottom trawl nets – which can get caught on reefs – are lost more often that nets that don’t make contact with the sea floor.</p> <p>The conditions of the ocean can also make a significant difference. For example, fishers commonly reported that bad weather and overcrowding contributes to gear losses. Conflicts between gears coming into contact can also result in gear losses, such as when towed nets cross drifting longlines or gillnets.</p> <p>Where fish are depleted, fishers must expend more effort, operate in worse conditions or locations, and are more likely to come in contact with others’ gear. All these features increase losses.</p> <h2>What do we do about it?</h2> <p>We actually found lower levels of fishing gear losses in our current study than in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/faf.12407" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a previous review</a> of the historical literature on the topic. Technological improvements, such as better weather forecasts and improved marking and tracking of fishing gear may be reducing loss rates.</p> <p>Incentives can further reduce losses resulting in ghost gear. This could include buyback programs for end-of-life fishing gear, reduced cost loans for net replacement, and waste receptacles in ports to encourage fishers to return used fishing gear.</p> <p>Technological improvements and management interventions could also make a difference, such as requirements to mark and track gear, as well as regular gear maintenance and repairs.</p> <p>Developing effective fishing management systems can improve food security, leave us with a healthier environment, and create more profitable businesses for the fishers who operate in it.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/740-000km-of-fishing-line-and-14-billion-hooks-we-reveal-just-how-much-fishing-gear-is-lost-at-sea-each-year-192024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </strong></p> <p><em>Image: CSIRO</em></p>

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Neanderthals died out 40,000 years ago, but there has never been more of their DNA on Earth

<p>Neanderthals have served as a reflection of our own humanity since they were first discovered in <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1856</a>. What we think we know about them has been shaped and moulded to fit our cultural trends, social norms and scientific standards. They have changed from diseased specimens to primitive sub-human lumbering cousins to <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rethinking-neanderthals-83341003/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advanced humans</a>.</p> <p>We now know Homo neanderthalensis were very similar to ourselves and we even met them and frequently interbred. But why did they go extinct, while we <a href="https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-cradle-of-humanity-9780198704539?cc=gb&amp;lang=en&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survived, flourished and ended up taking over the planet</a>?</p> <p>Neanderthals evolved over 400,000 years ago, most likely from an earlier ancestor <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-heidelbergensis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Homo heidelbergensis</a>. They were extremely successful and spread across an area from the Mediterranean to Siberia. They were highly intelligent, with brains on average <a href="https://www.livescience.com/60481-how-neanderthals-got-such-large-brains.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bigger than Homo sapiens‘s</a>.</p> <p>They hunted for <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-neanderthals-may-have-been-more-sophisticated-hunters-than-we-thought-new-study-98870" target="_blank" rel="noopener">big game</a>, collected plants, fungi, and seafood, controlled fire to cook, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1907828116" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made composite tools</a>, made <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1112261109" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clothes from animal skins</a>, made beads from shells, and were able to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1411529111" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carve symbols on to cave walls</a>. They took care of their young, old and weak, created shelters for protection, lived through harsh winters and warm summers, and they buried their dead.</p> <p>Neanderthals did meet our ancestors on several occasions over the course of tens of thousands of years and the two species shared the European continent for at least 14,000 years. They even <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03335-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mated with each other</a>.</p> <h2>Death of a species</h2> <p>The most significant difference between Neanderthals and ourselves is that they went extinct about 40,000 years ago. The precise cause of their demise still eludes us, but we think it was probably the result of a combination of factors.</p> <p>First the climate of the last ice age was very variable, shifting from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04600-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cold to warm and back again</a>, which put pressure on animal and plant food sources and meant Neanderthals constantly had to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jbi.12845" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adapt to environmental change</a>. Second there were never that many Neanderthals, with the overall population never exceeding the tens of thousands.</p> <p>They lived in groups of five to 15 individuals, compared with Homo Sapiens that had groups of up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-large-brains-evolved-thanks-to-an-ancient-arms-race-for-resources-and-mates-79183" target="_blank" rel="noopener">150 individuals</a>. These small isolated Neanderthal populations may have been increasingly genetically unsustainable.</p> <p>Third there was competition with other predators, particularly the <a href="https://theconversation.com/war-in-the-time-of-neanderthals-how-our-species-battled-for-supremacy-for-over-100-000-years-148205" target="_blank" rel="noopener">groups of modern humans</a> that emerged from Africa about 60,000 years ago. We speculate that many Neanderthals may have been assimilated into the larger bands of Homo sapiens.</p> <h2>Where’s the evidence?</h2> <p>Neanderthals left numerous traces for us to examine tens of thousands of years later, much of which can be seen at the special exhibition we have helped curate at the <a href="https://snm.ku.dk/english/exhibitions/neanderthal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Natural History Museum of Denmark</a>. Over the past 150 years we have collected fossil bones, stone and wooden tools, found trinkets and jewellery they left behind, uncovered burials, and now mapped their genome from ancient DNA. It seems that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03335-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99.7% of Neanderthal</a> and modern human DNA is identical and they are our closest extinct relatives.</p> <p>Perhaps the most surprising fact was evidence of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03335-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interbreeding</a> that has left traces of DNA in living humans today. Many Europeans and Asians have between 1% and 4% Neanderthal DNA while African people south of the Sahara have almost zero. Ironically, with a current world population of about 8 billion people, this means that there has never been more Neanderthal DNA on Earth.</p> <p>The Neanderthal genome also helps us understand more of what they looked like, as there is evidence that some Neanderthals evolved pale skin and red hair long before Homo sapiens. The many genes that are shared between Neanderthals and modern humans are linked to anything from the ability to taste bitter foods to the capacity to speak.</p> <p>We have also increased our knowledge of human health. For instance, some Neanderthal DNA that might have been beneficial to humans tens of thousands of years ago now seems to cause issues when combined with a modern western lifestyle.</p> <p>There are links to alcoholism, obesity, allergies, blood clotting, and <a href="https://institutions.newscientist.com/article/2077269-our-neanderthal-genes-linked-to-risk-of-depression-and-addiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">depression</a>. Recently, scientists suggested an ancient gene variant from Neanderthals might increase the risk of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2026309118" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serious complications from contracting COVID-19</a>.</p> <h2>Holding up a mirror</h2> <p>Like the dinosaurs, the Neanderthals didn’t know what was coming. The difference is that the dinosaurs disappeared suddenly following a giant meteorite hit from outer space. To the Neanderthals extinction happened gradually. They eventually lost their world, a comfortable home they had successfully occupied for hundreds of thousands of years that slowly turned against them, until existence itself was unsustainable.</p> <p>In that sense, Neanderthals now serve a different purpose. We see our reflection in them. They didn’t know what was happening to them and they had no choice but to continue down the road that eventually led to extinction. We on the other hand are painfully aware of our situation and the impact we have on this planet.</p> <p>Human activity is <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-how-bad-could-the-future-be-if-we-do-nothing-159665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changing the climate</a> and is leading straight into a sixth mass extinction. We can reflect on the mess we have landed ourselves in and we can do something about it.</p> <p>If we don’t want to end up like the Neanderthals, we better get our act together and collectively work for a more sustainable future. Neanderthal extinction reminds us that we should never take our existence for granted.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-died-out-40-000-years-ago-but-there-has-never-been-more-of-their-dna-on-earth-189021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Travelling around the globe might not have to cost the Earth

<p>The last time you booked a flight online, you may have been offered the chance to ‘offset’ the carbon produced by your travel. This is due in part to recognition that the aviation industry is responsible for around 5% of human-made emissions resulting in climate change.</p> <p>The efforts by this sector to respond to its environmental impact can range from switching fuels (from coal to biomass, for instance), more efficient combustion processes (by improving aircraft engines, for example), protecting forests or promoting sustainable development in local communities.</p> <p>Now, in a potentially ground-breaking innovation for long-haul flights, a team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürisch (ETH Zurich) have developed an all-in-one solar-powered tower that’s able to use energy from the Sun’s rays to convert water and carbon dioxide into synthetic fuels.</p> <p>Think: water + carbon dioxide = energy. Sound familiar? Well, it should. It’s what many plants do to make energy for themselves.</p> <p>The ETH Zurich process has a lot in common, really, explains Dr Jessica Allen, a chemical engineer and renewable energy technologies expert at the University of Newcastle. Although in this case, “industrial photosynthesis might be a better term as this particular process doesn’t involve any physiological mechanisms like plants and living material”, says Allen.</p> <p>The proof-of-concept solar tower consists of 169 Sun-tracking panels that reflect and concentrate sunlight into a tower-top solar reactor. Here, energy from the Sun’s rays meets a combination of water, carbon dioxide and a special structure made of ceria (cerium oxide), which is porous and “acts like a filter network, undergoing many reduction-oxidation (also known as redox) reactions”, says Allen.</p> <p>These reaction cycles produce syngas (synthesis gas), which is then converted to liquid fuels such as diesel and kerosene (which is used as jet fuel for long-haul flights) via a well-established process known as the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, which typically occurs in the presence of metal catalysts, temperatures of 150–300°C and pressures of several tens of atmospheres.</p> <p>Much work remains to translate the process to industrial scale. Currently, the energy efficiency of the process is only at 4%, meaning that out of 100 parts of energy available, only four parts are captured in the process. This is something the researchers are keen to push up towards around 15%.</p> <p>According to Allen, that’s still at the low end of the energy efficiency of current solar-to-electricity and solar-to-thermal energy generation. She says that efficiency is crucial when it comes to systems that use land area for solar collection (such as solar panels and the ETH Zurich tower’s reflectors): “A low efficiency will mean a large land area to generate the required fuel.”</p> <p>Where the CO2 comes from is also very important. At present, it’s injected into the system, but the next obvious step is to start capturing it directly from the air. At that point the fuel production process might be considered carbon neutral, as the amount of CO2 captured from the air is the same as the amount released during fuel combustion.</p> <p>Direct-from-air carbon dioxide capture comes at a cost, though. “There is a fairly major energy penalty for doing direct air capture, because it’s quite hard to filter out carbon dioxide from the rest of the gasses,” says Allen.</p> <p>Then there’s the carbon footprint related to the manufacture and production of equipment and materials, but Allen urges a long-term outlook: “In the system that we’re in at the moment there will be an emission penalty for the materials, however, in the long term, we’ll eventually be manufacturing these things using zero emission approaches.” This will make the whole process – and not just the fuel itself – carbon neutral.</p> <p>The average fuel consumption of a Boeing 747 (which are still used as long-haul cargo transport today) is around 4L per second. For a flight of 10 hours, this equates to 144,000L of fuel.</p> <p>In the future, EHT Zurich researchers will work to increase the system’s energy efficiency to 15%, capture more heat in the process and improve the ceria structures in the reactor in addition to capturing CO2 directly from the air. Their long-term aim is to scale the process to an industrial size – in which enough fuel can be produced to truly fly us into a carbon-neutral aviation future.</p> <p><em><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/carbon-neutral-travel-wont-cost-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Clare Kenyon.</strong></em></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Two nearby, newly discovered exoplanets mirror Earth

<p>Scientists have found two rocky exoplanets – not much larger than Earth – orbiting a star so close to us that they are practically in our solar system’s backyard.</p> <p>The star, HD 260655, is a low-mass M-class star, a type known as a red dwarf, about 33 light years away. The discovery was announced by Rafael Luque of the University of Chicago and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain, at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society in the US.</p> <p>To put that distance into perspective, 33 light years is so close that if you constructed a scale model of the galaxy, in which the Sun was in Pasadena (site of the meeting) and HD 260655 was in neighbouring Hollywood (18km away), then the centre of our galaxy (the Milky Way) would be somewhere around Nepal.</p> <p>That’s important because it puts the two new planets close enough to us to make them prime targets for the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope.</p> <p>The planets were first observed in late 2021, when NASA’s planet-hunting space telescope <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/tess-transiting-exoplanet-survey-satellite" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)</a> spotted them passing between us and their star, causing its light to dim as they eclipsed a portion of it.</p> <p>That was interesting enough, but when Luque’s team looked back at prior observations of the same star from telescopes on Earth, they found that its motion appeared to wobble as it was tugged alternately toward and away from us – exactly what would happen if it was being affected by the gravity of orbiting planets. That wobble hadn’t been strong enough to alert scientists to the presence of the planets at the time, but combined with the TESS observations, it was a smoking gun.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p195069-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/space/astrophysics/two-nearby-newly-discovered-exoplanets-mirror-earth/#wpcf7-f6-p195069-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <p style="display: none !important;"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap referer-page"><input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/" aria-invalid="false" /></span></p> <p><!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></form> </div> </div> <p>Better yet, Luque says, combining the TESS data (which gave the diameter of the two planets by the degree to which they blocked their sun’s light) with the wobble data (which revealed their masses), it was possible to calculate their density. “We found that these planets, despite being slightly larger than the Earth, have a density pretty similar to ours,” he says.</p> <p>This means they aren’t water worlds or gas-dominated worlds like those in our own outer solar system. “Both are consistent with having a composition consistent with rocks,” Luque says.</p> <p>Not that this means they are twins of Earth, let alone suggests that they can support life as we know it. The one nearest to its star might be nearly as hot as Venus, and the other might still have a surface temperature as high as 284°C.</p> <p>But even if they prove to be too hot for complex life, they are important targets for study because they might teach us more about a truly Earthlike world, once we find one at the right distance from its star. “Both are ranked among the ten best targets to look at,” Luque says.</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=195069&amp;title=Two+nearby%2C+newly+discovered+exoplanets+mirror+Earth" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astrophysics/two-nearby-newly-discovered-exoplanets-mirror-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/richard-a-lovett" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard A Lovett</a>. Richard A Lovett is a Portland, Oregon-based science writer and science fiction author. He is a frequent contributor to Cosmos.</em></p> <p><em>Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech</em></p> </div>

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20 of the most remote places on earth

<p>Ever feel like leaving your life behind and going off to the most remote region of the world where no one knows your name? If you’re looking for solitude, these places have it.</p><p>Check out these remote places from around the world below.</p><p><strong>Easter Island, Chile</strong></p><p>Known for its more than one thousand Moai statues, Easter Island may be famous, but it’s remote – more than 3,200km away from modern civilisation. The statues were sculpted by the Rapa Nui people from volcanic rock between 1250 and 1500 AD.</p><p>The island’s three peaks, Terevaka, Poike and Rano Kau, are comprised of the same ancient lava and create a visually stunning landscape. Flights to and from Easter Island are limited, as are conveniences like air conditioning – but anyone who’s been will tell you it’s worth the trip.</p><p><strong>Longyearbyen, Norway</strong></p><p>This is one of the northernmost decent-sized towns on earth. In 1950, Longyearbyen passed a law that prohibited burial in this frigid region, due to the fact that the frozen ground would mummify corpses indefinitely.</p><p>There’s a running joke that it’s illegal to die in Longyearbyen; there also happens to be a law requiring locals to carry a gun for protection against polar bears. On the archipelago of Svalbard, this unique town’s 2,100 residents hail from a variety of countries.</p><p>Popular outdoor activities include kayaking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and biking.</p><p><strong>Devon Island, Canada</strong></p><p>You know a place is desolate when NASA designates it for interstellar research. The space program has tested robots, spacesuits and vehicles here in preparation for a mission to Mars.</p><p>Part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Devon is the second largest in the group and is situated within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, closer to Greenland than the heart of Canada.</p><p>The barren landscape guarantees you solitude – it’s even devoid of most animal life!</p><p><strong>Crescent Lake, China</strong></p><p>Want a true desert oasis? Plan a trip to the 2,000 years old Crescent Lake, a moon-shaped body of water in the Sahara Gobi Desert fed by natural springs.</p><p>A small, isolated town sits on the edge of the water, but since shuttle buses can bring visitors to the area, it’s one of the few easily accessible remote wonders.</p><p><strong>Danakil Depression, Ethiopia</strong></p><p>Danakil Depression is a crater in northeastern Ethiopia, where surreal landscapes composed of salt, acid pools, and sulphur compound surround one of the few known lava lakes in the world.</p><p>With scorching temperatures, it is the hottest place on earth, often referred to as “The Gateway to Hell.”</p><p><strong>Barra Island, Scotland</strong></p><p>Barra is the southernmost inhabited island in the Outer Hebrides. With a population barely of just more than 1,000, the 16km-long island has generous space to roam and explore.</p><p>Getting there requires boarding a tiny propeller plane that lands on the sandy beach; Barra’s runway disappears with changing tides, which dictates when visitors can come and go.</p><p>Needless to say, the flight is breathtaking.</p><p><strong>Apolima, Samoa</strong></p><p>Samoa is comprised of four islands, and Apolima is the smallest. Don’t let its size fool you, though. Apolima is bursting with breathtaking jungle foliage and surrounded by pristine blue water.</p><p>Travellers must negotiate with local families to arrange a stay, however, and a boat ride is your only way there.</p><p><strong>Tristan da Cunha</strong></p><p>This group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic is a British overseas territory. While it rains a lot, the island is the perfect place to spot whales, dolphins, penguins and a diverse assortment of seabirds.</p><p>Intense isolation and beauty draw those in need of refuge from the world. Only 269 people reside on the island, making it the most remote island on earth – the nearest landmass is more than 2,414km away.</p><p><strong>Antarctica</strong></p><p>When you think of remote destinations, Antarctica has to be on the top of your list.</p><p>While the majority of tourism to Antarctica involves cruises to its periphery, there are opportunities for some intrepid explorers to visit the region, but strict guidelines must be followed to protect the environment and wildlife.</p><p><strong>The Kerguelen Islands, French Southern and Antarctic Lands</strong></p><p>Located in the super southern portion of the Indian Ocean, this freezing cluster of islands rarely get visitors, earning the main isle the title of Desolation Island.</p><p>If you have a thirst for arctic temperatures, you can get to this research station by ship.</p><p><strong>Siwa Oasis, Egypt</strong></p><p>North African culture is tightly preserved in Siwa, as it resides away from the rest of inhabited Egypt. Although it gets few visitors, the oasis is just five hours from Cairo in the Western Desert.</p><p>Two hundred springs feed the mud-brick village, and those who visit are in for a truly incredible experience of indigenous foods and ancient practices.</p><p><strong>Pitcairn Island, South Pacific</strong></p><p>There are just 50 people living on this gorgeous slice of paradise, despite the UK-territory offering free land to those who will become residents.</p><p>As a tropical destination, the island offers incredible snorkelling and sunbathing; however, there aren’t many jobs in Pitcairn for those looking to relocate.</p><p>At 4,828km from New Zealand, the island sits mostly empty. The clear surrounding ocean rivals the most beautiful island waters in the world.</p><p><strong>Tibetan Plateau, China</strong></p><p>Spreading over 2,500000 square kilometres, the Tibetan Plateau sits between the Kunlun Mountains and the Himalayas at an elevation of 3,960 to 4,570 metres.</p><p>Much of Asia’s water comes from this region, home to countless lakes and rivers. The plateau’s natives have continuously inhabited the area for more than 20,000 years, though only a small number remain.</p><p><strong>Socotra Island, Yemen</strong></p><p>Due to its peculiar landscape and oddly shaped foliage, Socotra is affectionately known as the “Alien island.”</p><p>It’s believed that the ocean once covered the land, resulting in its limestone foundation in which rare Dragon’s Blood trees have rooted. An unwritten language, known as Soqotri, is spoken among natives; immigrants of Arab, Somali, Greek, and South Asian descent also live in Socotra.</p><p>Though more people visit these days, the bizarre flora and fauna of the island will transport you to another world.</p><p><strong>Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile</strong></p><p>The largest island in the Chilean Juan Fernandez archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean is called Robinson Crusoe Island because of hundreds of years ago in 1704, sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned for more than four years with limited tools before he was rescued.</p><p>Writer Daniel Dafoe, inspired by Alexander Selkirk’s survival on the island about 640km west of South America, wrote the novel, Robinson Crusoe.</p><p>Then, in 1966, the Chilean government renamed the island Robinson Crusoe Island.</p><p><strong>Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland</strong></p><p>Greenland’s most remote town Ittoqqortoormiit has 450 residents and only one grocery store.</p><p>Located on the East Coast, Ittoqqortoormiit was founded by settlers from Tasiilaq and West Greenland in 1925. It’s a sight for the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights in winter.</p><p><strong>Oymyakon, Russia</strong></p><p>There are few places colder and more remote than Oymyakon in Russia. This town has about 500 residents and is the coldest inhabited place on earth, where temperatures are -58 degrees on average.</p><p>In case you’re wondering how these residents deal with the cold, photographer Amos Chapple documented his experience in a photo series by exploring Oymyakon and Yakutsk, the nearby city with also cold temperatures.</p><p>Chapple told the Weather Channel that to survive the cold residents drink “Russki chai, literally Russian tea, which is their word for vodka.”</p><p><strong>Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar</strong></p><p>The ancient baobab trees on this dirt road path that connects Belo Tsiribihina and Morondava on the west coast of Madagascar are a sight to behold.</p><p>According to Atlas Obscura, legend has it that the trees look the way they do because “when Arab seafarers first visited a bit over 1,000 years ago, they said the devil ripped them out of the ground and put them back upside down, for their canopies resemble roots.”</p><p>If you can believe it, there was once a forest full of these trees but because of construction and the encroachment of modern life, the trees were cut back, leaving these final trees striking in their isolation.</p><p><strong>Tórshavn, Faroe Islands</strong></p><p>Tórshavn, named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is the capital of the Faroe Islands located and has a population of 20,500 people, making it one of the smallest capitals in the world.</p><p>The North Atlantic archipelago, with European-style cafes and culture of rich traditional Faroese ballads, is a blend of modern and historical experiences amidst the stunning landscape.</p><p><strong>Outer Hebrides, Scotland</strong></p><p>Located on Scotland’s west coast, the Outer Hebrides consists of more than 100 islands while only a handful is inhabited, including Lewis and Harris North Uist, and Benbecula.</p><p>A part of Scotland rich in Gaelic island culture, ancient history, and stunning views of land and sea, the Outer Hebrides is accessible yet remote enough to feel like a world of your own.</p><p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p><p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/travel/destinations/20-of-the-most-remote-places-on-earth?pages=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>. </em></p>

International Travel

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The International Space Station to crash to Earth in 2030

<p dir="ltr">The International Space Station is expected to stay in operation until the end of 2030, after which time it will be crashed into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, <a href="https://7news.com.au/technology/space/nasa-to-retire-the-international-space-station-by-2031-by-crashing-it-into-the-pacific-ocean-c-5549714" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to newly published plans from NASA.</p><p dir="ltr">Since its launch in 2000, the ISS has orbited 227 nautical miles (420.4 kilometres) above Earth, during which time more than 200 astronauts from 19 countries enjoyed stints aboard.</p><p dir="ltr">After 2030, NASA said the ISS would be replaced by commercially operated space platforms as a venue for collaboration and scientific research.</p><p dir="ltr">“The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA’s assistance,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA, said in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-provides-updated-international-space-station-transition-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">“We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space.</p><p dir="ltr">“The report we have delivered to Congress describes, in detail, our comprehensive plan for ensuring a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030.”</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ddb56a6d-7fff-9f23-f423-5f64adf3a599"></span></p><p dir="ltr">In the International Space Station Transition Report produced by NASA, the organisation said the plan was for the ISS to fall to Earth and land in an area called the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area - also known as Point Nemo.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/space-iss1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em>The International Space Station has been the source of many scientific innovations and firsts, including the first chilli peppers to be grown in space (Pictured). Image: NASA</em></p><p dir="ltr">Named after the submarine operator in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Point Nemo is an area in the ocean that is the farthest from land.</p><p dir="ltr">The area is approximately 4800 kilometres from the eastern coast of New Zealand and 3200 kilometres north of Antarctica.</p><p dir="ltr">The ISS won’t be the first to make Point Nemo its final resting place, with estimates that more than 263 pieces of space debris have been sunk there by the US, Russia, Japan, and European countries since 1971.</p><p dir="ltr">According to the report, the ISS is expected to deorbit in January 2031 and perform thrusting manoeuvres to ensure a “safe atmospheric entry”.</p><p dir="ltr">Though an end date has been set, work will continue on the ISS until the very end, with NASA saying goals for the space lab include using it as an “analog for a Mars transit mission”.</p><p dir="ltr">“The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity,” Robyn Gatens, the director of the ISS at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.</p><p dir="ltr">“This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit.</p><p dir="ltr">“We look forward to maximising these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow.”</p><p dir="ltr">During its time in orbit, the ISS has been home to many scientific firsts in space, including the first items to be 3D-printed, the first sequencing of DNA, and growing of lettuces, radishes and chillies.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1cd41515-7fff-ce61-9732-a28d780a7c98"></span></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: NASA</em></p>

Technology

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Most welcoming regions on earth revealed

<p dir="ltr">As international travel is back on the cards, the most welcoming regions in the world have been announced for 2022, with both Australia and New Zealand nabbing spots in the top ten.</p><p dir="ltr">In a list compiled by <a href="https://www.booking.com/">booking.com</a> of over 232 million verified reviews, travellers have concluded the most hospitable places to add to your travel bucket list. </p><p dir="ltr">Melissa Ellison, the booking.com Area Manager for Australia, commented on the impressive results saying, "The travel industry has remained vigilant and flexible in light of the continued uncertainty and travel restrictions we've seen over the course of the past year."</p><p dir="ltr">Despite this she says, "The passion and dedication of our Australian partners to create safe and welcoming travel experiences for everyone across the nation has continued to shine through."</p><p dir="ltr">The state of Tasmania took out the third place on the list, while New Zealand’s region of Canterbury came in at number six. </p><p dir="ltr">There are many other stunning locations that have made the top ten list, which should be a must-see destination for keen travellers this year. </p><ol><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Gorenjska, Slovenia</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">Located in northwest of Slovenia, the number one winner is located in the picturesque eastern European mountains. </p><p dir="ltr">The stunning alpine valleys and charming mediaeval towns make the region the most hospitable place on earth for 2022 travellers. </p><ol start="2"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Taitung County, Taiwan</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">The stunning Asian region is located on the Beinan River and showcases an impressive landscape of coastal areas and vast mountain ranges. </p><p dir="ltr">The accommodating people and immersive culture make Taiwan a must-visit destination. </p><ol start="3"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Tasmania, Australia</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">The island state is known for its rich history and beautiful scenery. </p><p dir="ltr">Along with the welcoming residents, Tasmania is set to charm any visitors with its iconic museums and galleries, along with the stunning coastal waters. </p><ol start="4"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Burgenland, Austria</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">Otherwise known as “the vegetable garden of Vienna”, Burgenland is an unsuspecting agricultural province in Austria. </p><p dir="ltr">Mostly known for its stunning vineyards, visitors are sure to fall in love with the charming Austrian region. </p><ol start="5"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Seychelles, Africa</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">Located on the picturesque African coastline, Seychelles boasts mesmerising scenic nature reserves, coral reefs and crystal clear beaches. </p><p dir="ltr">The tropical destination is sure to win over any traveller with its unyielding beauty. </p><ol start="6"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Canterbury, New Zealand</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">Situated on New Zealand’s South island, Canterbury is surrounded by clear lakes, snow-capped mountains and grassy plains. </p><p dir="ltr">Filled with charming coastal towns, visitors to Canterbury are among the luckiest of travellers. </p><ol start="7"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Santa Cruz, Argentina</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">A province in Argentina’s Patagonia region, Santa Cruz boasts extraordinary glacial scenery for the most daring traveller. </p><p dir="ltr">Situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Andes mountains, a visit to Santa Cruz is a once in a lifetime experience.</p><ol start="8"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Nova Scotia, Canada</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">Surrounded by forests, lakes and farmland, this Canadian province is a hub for the arts. </p><p dir="ltr">Boasting countless music, art and theatre events throughout the year, this coastal town is a must-see for any lover of the arts. </p><p dir="ltr"><strong>    </strong>9.  <strong>Limón, Costa Rica</strong></p><p dir="ltr">This Caribbean province is surrounded by dense jungle, mountains and the beaches of Costa Rica. </p><p dir="ltr">This tropical paradise boasts unmatched beauty and a rich culture for all to enjoy. </p><ol start="10"><li><p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>La Rioja, Spain</strong></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr">This Spanish city is home to more than 500 wineries, making their scenic vineyards a must-see destination for any lovers of wine. </p><p dir="ltr">The charming city is rich with history, stunning architecture, and countless vineyard activities such as hot-air ballooning and horse-riding. </p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

International Travel

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How we can use the law to make the fashion industry fairer to women and the earth

<p>In March 1911, in a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-social-inquiry/article/abs/triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-of-1911-social-change-industrial-accidents-and-the-evolution-of-commonsense-causality/576CA665F1EC2DB1C246F9DA22AAD2BC">garment factory in Manhattan</a>, over 100 people, mostly Jewish and Italian women migrants, some as young as 14, were trapped inside and died as the factory burnt to the floor. Management had locked the doors.</p> <p>In the following years, women workers mobilised. Their protests catalysed major law reforms in the US which are still enjoyed today – social security, unemployment insurance, the abolition of child labour, minimum wages and the right to unionise.</p> <p>Yet the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is alarmingly reminiscent of the 2013 collapse of the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/geip/WCMS_614394/lang--en/index.htm">Rana Plaza</a> in the Savar Upazila district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, which saw the death of 1,134 people, mostly young women, and over 2,500 injured.</p> <p>Rana Plaza was home to factories manufacturing garments for <a href="https://archive.cleanclothes.org/safety/ranaplaza/who-needs-to-pay-up">renowned global brands</a>, but the spotlight on this tragedy is now dimming. Years on, accountability for the resulting safety accords remains insufficient and many factories continue to <a href="https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/five-years-after-rana-plaza-way-forward">escape scrutiny</a>.</p> <p>Consumers are increasingly looking for sustainable and ethical fashion. We believe these goals are inseparable from an industry which embraces gender justice. But gender justice cannot be achieved by consumer demand and boycotts alone. Instead, we need <a href="https://www.genderlawindex.org/">gender-responsive law reform</a>.</p> <p>Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-and-human-rights-journal/article/abs/fast-fashion-for-2030-using-the-pattern-of-the-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-to-cut-a-more-genderjust-fashion-sector/326A2604C7FB89EAAC2B931B98F4C6A0">new research</a> sets out six ways to cut a more gender-just and sustainable fashion sector.</p> <h2>1. Accountability</h2> <p>The fashion sector’s gendered hierarchy is ingrained. Workers on the floor are largely female, while floor managers, security and factory owners are largely male.</p> <p>Female workers are vulnerable to harassment, violence and exploitation. There is an absence of adequate complaint mechanisms and women often risk retaliation.</p> <p>Accountability is needed not only in the countries producing garments, but also in countries where the garments are sold, and through all stages of the supply chain.</p> <p>Modern Slavery Acts, including <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2018-030">Australia’s 2018 law</a>, establish reporting obligations for businesses, requiring them to report on the due diligence they have conducted with respect to potential risks of exploitation in their supply chains.</p> <p>But accountability has to go beyond the current <a href="https://law.adelaide.edu.au/ua/media/1410/ALR_40%283%29_11_Vijeyarasa_Web.pdf">“naming and shaming” provisions</a>.</p> <p>Penalties should be imposed and used to fund victim compensation, not just for workplace injuries but also for workers who suffer gender-based harms.</p> <h2>2. A living wage</h2> <p>Minimum wages rarely equate to a <a href="https://www.globallivingwage.org/about/what-is-a-living-wage/">living wage</a>, one that affords a decent standard of living for the worker and her family.</p> <p>The United Nations’ <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> call for full and productive employment and decent work for all.</p> <p>In factories, this would mean acknowledging a living wage is needed for workers to be able to afford food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing and other essential needs. This needs to be coupled with an appreciation of how workers are impacted when rental prices outpace annual increases in the minimum wage.</p> <p>Sustainable economic growth also requires financing the social security of workers including maternity leave, unemployment and disability insurance.</p> <h2>3. Community</h2> <p>Workers are often migrants who leave their children behind in the care of families.</p> <p>Many garment-producing countries lack sufficient gender-responsive public services needed by women workers: decent public housing, street lighting and healthcare in close proximity to factories.</p> <p>The Sustainable Development Goals ask for the recognition of the unequal share of unpaid care work borne by women. This impacts women workers’ lives outside the factory floor. Without this recognition, gendered labour will continue to sustain the global economy.</p> <p>Women also face <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C190">gender-based violence</a> on and off the factory floor. Legislation is needed to protect workers from such violence in all the spaces in which they move, including the commute to and from work.</p> <h2>4. Taxation</h2> <p>Potential tax revenue is lost by governments in garment-producing countries through regulatory loopholes.</p> <p>Rather than directly owning production factories, some companies claim to buy their products from “independent suppliers”. This arms-length principle eradicates the need for major retail brands to pay corporate tax in these countries.</p> <p>This lost revenue has a disproportionate impact on women, including undermining the provision of gender-responsive public services. Comprehensive social protection schemes remain underfunded.</p> <p>Reforms to eradicate these tax loopholes may see a notable increase in government revenue for garment-supply countries to fund these much needed services.</p> <h2>5. Representation and voice</h2> <p>Women make up the majority of garment workers, but their influence over corporate and government decision-making remains marginal.</p> <p>Trade unions have improved representation, but frequently their approach to gender equality is piecemeal. Many women fashion workers remain un-unionised. As a result, fundamental concerns of women workers are often given inadequate attention.</p> <p>The implementation of <a href="https://indicators.report/targets/8-8/">labour standards from the International Labour Organization</a> could see more spaces carved out for women worker’s interests to be voiced and heard.</p> <h2>6. Responsible consumption</h2> <p>Consumer choice is often presented as the key to transforming the fashion industry. Consumers need persuading to make human rights-based decisions, in the same way they are persuaded by brand, quality and price.</p> <p>Consumers may look for clothing labelled as “ethical fashion”, “organic” or “eco”, but shoppers are also wary of “<a href="https://jcsr.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40991-019-0044-9">greenwashing</a>”.</p> <p>While <a href="http://www.makethelabelcount.org/">imperfect</a>, the European Union’s proposal to make transparent the <a href="https://www.ecotextile.com/2021070828060/materials-production-news/consultation-opens-on-european-pef-proposals.html">environmental footprint of clothing</a> should enable stronger transparency on the environmental impact of fashion labels.</p> <p>This transparency must also extend to human rights issues looking at how the clothing is produced.</p> <p>Clearly law and fashion have much to gain from each other. But there has to be a more robust and effective solution than shifting accountability from corporations to the individual. A simple boycott may not be the best choice: instead contact your local MP and encourage them to care about and demand gender-responsive law reform.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173235/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-liu-291632">Mark Liu</a>, Visiting Scholar: School of Architecture and School of Engineering, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ramona-vijeyarasa-583428">Ramona Vijeyarasa</a>, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney and Women's Leadership Institute Australia Research Fellow</span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-can-use-the-law-to-make-the-fashion-industry-fairer-to-women-and-the-earth-173235">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: </em><em><span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/NEIL HALL</span></span></em></p>

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What risks do humans face in space?

<div> <div class="copy"> <p>It was quite the job ad when NASA <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/beanastronaut-nasa-seeks-applicants-to-explore-moon-mars" target="_blank">started looking for astronauts</a> for its Moon to Mars mission. They’re searching for the first woman and next man to walk on the Moon – and maybe send them onto the Red Planet.</p> <p>One of the first requirements for future space travellers is the ability to get along with crewmates, Dr Gordon Cable says. He’s an associate professor in aerospace medicine at the University of Tasmania, and his job is to look at the hazards and risks humans face in space.</p> <p>He says they’ll need to deal with the distance, the isolation, and the “Earth-dependence” – those already on the International Space Station at least can still see our <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/536/voyager-1s-pale-blue-dot/" target="_blank">pale blue dot</a>.</p> <p>So selection and training will be key, particularly for Mars, where a small group of humans will have to get along and work together for months.</p> <p>“You don’t want people who are overly gregarious all the time – but equally you don’t want people who are shy and retiring and can’t make any decisions,” Cable says.</p> <p>“We need that balanced personality and people who work well as a team.</p> <p>“I often say…going to Mars is like being trapped in a caravan with three of your best mates for three years. If you can make it through that, you can make it through anything.”</p> <p>Then there are the physical challenges. Being in microgravity or partial gravity affects how the cardiovascular system works and can leave bones weaker. Radiation is a “potential showstopper”, too.</p> <p>Once humans leave the “protective bunker” of the Earth’s atmosphere they’re out in the universe, which is bathed in cosmic radiation. That poses a cancer risk and a reproductive risk.</p> <p>It means anyone who gets on that interplanetary craft may only be able to go once. The “career exposure” to radiation is too great a risk.</p> <p>That’s just the start, Cable says. Once they return, they’ll need to be reconditioned, to “get their Earth legs back”.</p> <p>Australia, he says, is in a good position to contribute to the Moon to Mars mission. “We have an international reputation,” Cable notes, thanks to our experience in extreme environments and our achievements in medical research, including in radiation exposure.</p> <p>In a way, it’s the challenges that make the adventure worth it. What is learned about supporting astronauts will help Earthly healthcare more broadly, particularly for remote and Aboriginal communities, and even aged care.</p> <p>For example, researchers are looking at biomarkers, such as putting sensors under the skin to detect dehydration early – that’s important for astronauts in extreme environments, and in aged care where people can become dehydrated very quickly.</p> <p>“To have a wearable monitor that can feed data to a system that monitors hydration levels and warns that hydration isn’t adequate can lead to early diagnosis and intervention,” he says.</p> <p>“We always think of the duality between space and Earth, Earth and space…we make sure we get spinoffs to help the Earth population as well.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> </div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/what-risks-do-humans-face-in-space/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Tory Shepherd. </em></p> </div> </div>

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A successful COP26 is essential for Earth’s future. Here’s what needs to go right

<p>A week from Monday, a crucial round of United Nations climate change negotiations will begin in Glasgow and the stakes could not be higher. By the end, we’ll know how far nations are willing to go to address humanity’s biggest challenge.</p> <p>So is COP26 on track for success? There are reasons to be hopeful.</p> <p>More than 100 countries, including China, the United States and United Kingdom, have already pledged to reach net-zero emissions. Globally, renewable energy is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995849954/renewable-energy-capacity-jumped-45-worldwide-in-2020-iea-sees-new-normal">booming</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/asias-energy-pivot-is-a-warning-to-australia-clinging-to-coal-is-bad-for-the-economy-169541">the tide is turning</a> against fossil fuels, and the <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/markets-moving-economic-costs-australias-climate-inaction/">economic costs</a> of not acting on climate change are becoming ever more obvious.</p> <p>But if history has taught us anything, no country at the summit will agree to do more on climate change than it believes it can do at home. In other words, domestic politics is what drives international negotiations.</p> <h2>What will happen in Glasgow?</h2> <p>The first COP, or Conference of Parties, was held in Berlin in 1995. About a quarter of a century later, it will meet for the 26th time.</p> <p>COP26 will determine the direction of key aspects of the fight against global warming. Chief <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-cop26-heres-how-global-climate-negotiations-work-and-whats-expected-from-the-glasgow-summit-169434">among them</a> is how well nations have implemented their commitments under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2℃, and the extent to which they will increase that ambition.</p> <p>Other issues on the agenda include climate finance to developing nations, adaptation to climate change and carbon trading rules.</p> <p>Starting on October 31, hundreds of government delegates will attend for two weeks of complex and intense negotiations over the specific text of the agreement.</p> <p>Typically, what delegates can’t sort out is left to political leaders, who negotiate the thorniest issues. Historically, final agreement occurs in the wee hours of the final session.</p> <p>Outside the convention centre is the unofficial COP, which is more like a world climate expo. Thousands of representatives from business, civil society and elsewhere — from bankers and billionaires, to students and survivalists – gather for panel discussions, exhibitions and protests.</p> <h2>Progress is slow</h2> <p>Global climate talks involve people from all around the globe with different interests, preferences, and mandates (what negotiators sometimes call “red lines”). As you can imagine, progress can be slow.</p> <p>Almost 200 nations are signed up to the Paris Agreement, and agreement is by consensus. That means just one country can hold up progress for hours or even days.</p> <p>Cynics – more often than not, those wanting to <a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-fuel-misinformation-may-sideline-one-of-the-most-important-climate-change-reports-ever-released-165887">delay climate action</a> – claim the whole process is nothing more than a talk shop.</p> <p>It’s true, talk is slow. But it’s also much better than coercion, and without the negotiations countries would face much less pressure to act. It’s also true that over the last 25 years, these negotiations have redefined how the world thinks and acts on climate change.</p> <p>After all, it was the COP in Paris that tasked the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to provide a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/">special report</a> on the impacts of global warming of 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels. Its findings reverberated around the world.</p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/new-un-report-outlines-urgent-transformational-change-needed-to-hold-global-warming-to-1-5-c-103237">It found</a> if we’re to limit warming to 1.5℃, we must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030, reaching near-zero by around 2050.</p> <p>But since the Paris Agreement was struck, global emissions have continued to rise, even with the impacts of COVID-19. COP26 is a major test of whether the world can turn this around and avert runaway global warming.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427720/original/file-20211021-15-1xxiq11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427720/original/file-20211021-15-1xxiq11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a></p> <h2>Will Glasgow deliver?</h2> <p>For the Glasgow summit to be deemed a success, a few things need to go right. First of all, countries need to commit not simply to net-zero targets by 2050, but stronger targets for 2030. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06876-2">Without them</a>, there’s zero chance the world will hold the rise in global temperatures to 2℃.</p> <p>Major emitters will also need to support developing countries with the finance and technologies to enable them to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change impacts, including severe flooding and prolonged droughts.</p> <p>Other issues, such as rules around international carbon markets, will also be on the agenda, but even the most robust carbon markets are <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/16/8664">unlikely</a> to deliver emissions cuts at the speed scientists warn is necessary to avert disaster.</p> <p>There are signs of hope. The US has been, historically, the most important player in the international negotiations, and President Joe Biden has outlined <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-says-the-us-will-rejoin-the-paris-climate-agreement-in-77-days-then-australia-will-really-feel-the-heat-149533">the most ambition climate plans</a> in the nation’s history ahead of the Glasgow summit.</p> <p>The US, together with the UK, the European Union and a host of smaller countries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/glasgow-showdown-pacific-islands-demand-global-leaders-bring-action-not-excuses-to-un-summit-169649">including those in the Pacific</a>, comprise a strong and influential coalition of countries gunning to limit warming to 1.5℃.</p> <p>So what stands in their way? Well, what countries are willing to commit to in Glasgow is not so much a function of what happens in Glasgow, but of <a href="https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/the-politics-of-climate-change-negotiations-9781783472109.html">domestic politics</a> in their capitals.</p> <p>This is why Democrats in Washington are feverishly working to ensure <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/10/19/climate-reconciliation-biden-white-house/">Biden’s massive budget bill</a>, which includes measures such as a clean electricity program, makes its way through Congress. The bill is vital to the president’s commitment to halve emissions by 2030.</p> <p>It’s also why astute observers have been fixated on well-known climate laggards heavily reliant on fossil fuels, such Brazil, Russia, and Australia, to see whether any domestic political developments might lead these nations to commit to more ambitious targets by 2030.</p> <p>And it’s why lobbyists for industries that stand to lose from climate change – namely oil, gas and coal – know to kill off climate action in Glasgow, they need to kill off climate action at home.</p> <p>International negotiations are often referred to as a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706785">two-level game</a>. Changes at the domestic level can enable new and, hopefully, ambitious realignments at the international level.</p> <p>Will these realignments occur? We don’t have long to find out, but at the domestic level in many nations, there has never been a worse time to advocate for fossil fuels – and this should give us all hope that action on climate change is more likely than ever.</p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christian-downie-762">Christian Downie</a>, Associate Professor, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-successful-cop26-is-essential-for-earths-future-heres-what-needs-to-go-right-169542">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: AP Photo/David Cliff</em></p>

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