Beef sustainability defended by farmers

Canadian cattle producers are working to make beef a more sustainable food source, say farmers in the wake of a study that shows beef production is far more environmentally damaging than other food production.

Are you concerned about the environmental sustainability of beef?

The study, published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said raising beef does more damage to the environment than producing dairy, poultry, pork or eggs, producing more greenhouse gases, using more water, and taking up more land.

The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef was established a year ago to address some of those issues. Its aim is to both find better ways of raising beef cattle, and point out ways in which cattle farmers are working more sustainably.

P.E.I. cattle farmer Ivan Johnson is on the roundtable. He is using social media to inform consumers about the beef industry.

"If I was doing some certain practice on my farm, I take a selfie of myself, send it to the advocacy and that would be out to millions of people within a matter of time," said Johnson.

Beef producers point out cattle help preserve pasture land, which is a critical habitat for many species. That includes burrowing owls, swift fox, greater prairie chicken, sage grouse, and black-tailed prairie dogs, all of which are species at risk.

For mobile device users: Are you concerned about the environmental sustainability of beef?

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Octopus mom waits record 4.5 years for eggs to hatch

Human mothers spend nine long months watching what they eat and lugging around a growing belly as they wait for babies to be born, but that's nothing compared to what a mother deep-sea octopus endures.

At 4½ years, an octopus has claimed the record for the longest known egg-brooding period or pregnancy in the animal kingdom.

A deep-sea octopus observed by researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California sat with her arms wrapped around her eggs for 53 months, apparently without eating the entire time.

'How the mother survives that long is still the biggest mystery.'- Brad Seibel, University of Rhode Island

"We were just amazed," said Brad Seibel, an associate professor of biology at the University of Rhode Island who co-authored the study, published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

"How the mother survives that long is still the biggest mystery."

It's particularly amazing, because most octopuses rarely live more than about two years.

The mother octopus, who could be easily identified by her unique scars, was first spotted in April 2007 by a remote-controlled sub run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, where lead author Bruce Robison is chair of the research division. The octopus was in the Monterey Canyon off the coast of central California, about 1,400 metres below the surface, and at that time, she didn't have any eggs.

She was identified as belonging to a species called Graneledone boreopacitfica, which lives as far north as 50 degrees latitude, reaching B.C.'s southernmost waters, said Seibel. Fully grown, it has an arm span of about half a metre, although it looks about "football sized" when curled up.

When the sub next returned in May 2007, the octopus was curled over a clutch of about 160 teardrop-shaped, olive-sized eggs that were attached to a rock.

Protection from predators

Octopuses are cold-blooded animals, so they can't keep their eggs warm the way birds do, but they do protect their eggs from predators such as crabs and fish — and sometimes even scarier threats. Seibel said if a remote controlled sub tries to pick up a rock with octopus eggs attached, the mother octopus "definitely puts up a fight."

The mother octopus was curled over a clutch of about 160 teardrop-shaped, olive-sized eggs, visible on the upper left, that were attached to a rock from May 2007 to September 2011. (Robison et al./PLOS ONE)

The mother also prevents the eggs from getting buried by sediment and suffocated, and may also clean them and keep parasitic organisms from growing on them, Seibel added.

There was no evidence that the mother octopus ate anything while caring for her eggs — the researchers noted that there were crabs and shrimp nearby, but the octopus simply pushed them away if they got too close. She ignored pieces of crab offered by the robot sub.

"We could see that her condition deteriorated over the four and a half years or so  — she was clearly wasting away, using her own body as energy," Seibel said.

The sub visited the octopus 18 times over the course of the 4.5 years. The mother octopus was still caring for her eggs in September 2011, but she was gone and the egg cases were empty when the sub returned a month later.

"The ultimate fate of the brooding female is death," the paper said. But it noted that the extremely long brooding period also appeared to extend the life of the mother far beyond what might be expected for an octopus.

The baby octopuses of this species hatch as well-developed, four centimetre-long mini versions of the adults.

Cold water, slower growth

That was one reason why they take so long to develop, the researchers wrote. The other reason is that development of cold-blooded animals is drastically slowed down by cold temperatures, and it was a nippy 2.8 to 3.4 C in the part of the deep sea where the eggs were laid.

Scientists had previously studied the parental behaviour of octopuses and squids that live in warmer, shallower waters, which generally take months rather than years to hatch their eggs.

Based on that data, they had predicted that deep-sea octopus eggs might take years to hatch, Seibel said, but "didn't have a lot of confidence" in the prediction, since most octopuses didn't live that long.

"While the discovery of a 53-month brooding period is remarkable, this reproductive strategy is not unusual, it is common and is clearly successful because G. boreopacifica is one of the most abundant deep-living octopods in the eastern North Pacific," the researchers wrote. "The results only seem extraordinary when compared with well-studied shallow-water species; which indicates how little we really know about the deep sea."

The study was funded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, which is in turn funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

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Extreme prenatal care

Here are some other records held by devoted parents of the animal kingdom, as cited in the study:

• Longest brooding period, bird: 2 months (Emperor penguin)
• Longest brooding period, fish: 5 months (Magellan Plunder fish)
• Longest pregnancy, mammal: 21 months (Elephant)
• Longest pregnancy, fish: 42 months (Frilled shark)
• Longest pregnancy, amphibian: 48 months (Alpine salamander)

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Can whales be healthy and happy in an aquarium? Scientists weigh in

Should whales and dolphins be allowed to live and breed in captivity in zoos such as the Vancouver Aquarium? It's a hot-button question that has become very political, but it's not just politicians that have opinions — marine mammal scientists also have lots to add to the debate.

Vancouver's park board, which licenses the Vancouver Aquarium, is currently reviewing the facility's whale and dolphin program. It is holding a third public meeting on Thursday following the release of a staff report on the aquarium's operations.

The report was commissioned amid a growing debate about the program, which includes two beluga whales, two Pacific white-sided dolphins and two harbour porpoises.

Since 1996, the board and the aquarium have agreed not to keep wild-caught whales and dolphins except for those that were rehabilitated and could not be released. But the breeding of captive animals is still allowed.

The debate heated up in May, when a prominent scientist (albeit one who is not an expert in whales and dolphins) called for an end to the aquarium's breeding programs.

In May, chimpanzee researcher and animal rights activist Jane Goodall called captive beluga breeding programs "no longer defensible by science" and asked the board to phase them out.

Here are some questions that have come up in the debate, from Goodall and others, and what some B.C. marine mammal scientists have to say about them.

How healthy and long-lived are whales and dolphins in captivity at places like the Vancouver Aquarium?

Andrew Trites, director of the marine mammal research unit at the University of British Columbia and a research associate at the Vancouver Aquarium, told CBC Radio that the welfare of whales and dolphins "is equivalent, in terms of life expectancy, to what we find in the wild."

However, Dave Duffus, professor at the Whale Research Lab at the University of Victoria's department of geography, says he doesn't think life expectancy is a good measure of well-being for whales and dolphins.

"It's just a numbers game," he said, adding that the animals' quality of life is more important.

Duffus added that when it comes to physical health, whales and dolphins in aquariums are more likely to have problems with their digestion, teeth and behaviour than their wild counterparts.

He added that physical ailments are a particular problem for orcas or killer whales (which the Vancouver Aquarium no longer keeps) because they're huge animals that travel long distances in the wild and are "built to move."

"No matter how big your aquaria are, how well set up it is, it's still significantly different than their natural setting. It causes lots of problems."

Trites agrees that orcas should not be kept in captivity, primarily because of their unique social behaviour.

How happy are whales and dolphins in captivity?

Trites, whose own research specialty is seals and sea lions, says that the animals at the Vancouver Aquarium appear happy.

"Certainly by measuring stress levels, they seem to be very laid-back, relaxed, co-operative, stimulated," he said, "and I think that in many respects, they are living very fulfilling lives."

Duffus said that from a scientific viewpoint, the mental state of a dolphin or whale is a "black box."

"We interpret things about them, but we have no way of verifying what's going on in the brain."

He said there is some evidence that whales and dolphins can become "depressive" in a sensory-deprived environment such as an aquarium.

Is it possible to build suitable tanks for whales and dolphins?

Trites acknowledges that some marine mammals are too big to keep in captivity, but called beluga whales "fairly small" and said they tend to live in a smaller amount of space, even in the wild.

However, other researchers expressed concerns about the acoustic environment in tanks at places like the Vancouver Aquarium.

Paul Spong, co-director of the Orca Lab on Hansen Island, said whales and dolphins "live in a world of sound." They use sound to communicate and in some cases, use a form of echolocation or sonar to "see" and hunt for food, as bats do.

"When you put them in a concrete tank, you deprive them of that sensory experience, and it's very, very important to them," he told CBC Radio's B.C. Almanac.

Duffus had a similar opinion about the acoustic environment in aquarium tanks for whales, saying, "It's fairly cruel and unusual for the animals to be in that situation."

Do captive-bred whales and dolphins do better in captivity than those bred in the wild?

Trites said there isn't much research about whether captive-bred animals do better in captivity, but scientists suspect that is the case, since captivity is all they've ever known.

Captive breeding also has the advantage that it doesn't affect wild whales and dolphins the way capturing a member of their pod might.

Trites added that it's not easy to prevent captive animals from breeding.

Duffus said there is some evidence from Sea World, which keeps both captive and wild-caught whales, that captive-bred whales do better in captivity. However, he said, breeding programs often lead to problems such as premature births and inbreeding. In his view, those disadvantages outweigh the possible benefits.

Do baby whales die more often in captivity?

In Goodall's letter, she alleged that there are "high mortality rates" in beluga whale breeding programs at the Vancouver Aquarium and at Sea World.

While Duffus is opposed to breeding belugas in captivity, he said beluga calves can die from many causes both in the wild and in captivity, so it may be impossible to tell what role captivity might play.

How important is research on captive whales and dolphins for the science and the conservation of wild whales and dolphins?

Trites says the research is very important. In the controlled conditions at the aquarium, he said, scientists can do things such as:

• Measure an animal's metabolic rate to find out how much food it needs.
• Develop ways to reconstruct what wild whales and dolphins are eating from their fecal samples.
• Develop technologies such as tracking technologies to study wild whales and dolphins.

"I think a lot of people don't fully appreciate that it isn't possible for biologists to simply to sit on a beach and look at an animal out in the wild, or following it on a boat to learn the sorts of things we need to know in order to help further their conservation," he said. "The foundation of science is conducting studies under controlled conditions and that's what the animals we have here in Vancouver allow us to do."

He added that the alternative for many of the studies would be capturing animals and holding them in pens, but the data wouldn't be as good because the animals are stressed.

Duffus, who studies whales in the wild, disagrees that research in aquarium conditions is crucial.

"All research is valuable at some point in some situations," he said, "but the kind of research that we need on marine mammals in Canadian waters,  if you made a priority list of stuff — [what] comes out of aquaria in captive settings is at the bottom."

If breeding whales and dolphins is banned, should aquariums maintain the ability to rehabilitate wild whales and dolphins that have been injured?

Spong says he has no problem with an aquarium having tanks to allow the rehabilitation of injured animals with the idea of releasing them to the ocean. "To me, that's fine."

But Duffus is uncomfortable with even that idea.

"Like anyone, I hate to see an animal in distress or injured, especially when it's caused by a human activity," he said. But he added, "I'd prefer to see animals live their lives and die in the natural ecosystems that they're part of."

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New energy storage technology to be tested in Nova Scotia

Hundreds of wind turbines are delivering power to Nova Scotia's energy grid these days, but one of the challenges they face is how to store surplus energy for when the wind is not blowing.

A company co-founded by Danielle Fong, a 26-year-old Nova Scotia scientist, is trying to solve that challenge — and it has some big backers in its corner, including Bill Gates.

In the community of Brooklyn in Queens County, a wind developer called Watts Wind Energy has been approved to put up three 10-storey turbines close to the former Bowater Mersey Paper mill.

Fong, who is the co-founder and chief scientist of LightSail Energy, is hoping to use those turbines to test her energy storage technology, which involves storing energy in compressed air.

"It could be the start of something truly great. It's one of the few technologies that are in the running to enable renewables to power the electrical grids across the world," said Fong.

LightSail Energy's method involves using the heat energy created by compressed air. The idea is to capture that heat with a water spray and store it for later use.

Stan Mason's company has been approved to put up three 10-storey turbines close to the former Bowater Mersey Paper mill. (CBC)

"When you compress air it gives off heat. If you pump up your bicycle tire, you'll feel the heat from your pump," said Stan Mason, the president of Watts Wind Energy.

"What she has done is found out a way to capture that heat and store it."

LightSail Energy's technology hasn't been proven yet, but $43 million has been invested in the company. The Nova Scotia government has invested $2 million through Innovacorp and even Bill Gates has invested cash.

Fong grew up in Dartmouth, went to Dalhousie University at age 12 and studied nuclear fusion at Princeton University, before coming back to Nova Scotia for Tuesday's announcement.

It will be another two years before the technology is up and running. The project is expected to create 10 full-time jobs in Brooklyn.

If the project is successful, it could lead to exporting the technology and more solar and wind generation in Nova Scotia.

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Minuum's tiny virtual keyboards solve the fat finger problem

Typing on a smartphone is hard enough – imagine doing it on a smartwatch or other wearable device.               

A Toronto startup called Minuum is trying to solve that problem with a tiny virtual keyboard.

It's a downloadable app costing $3.99 that combines a tiny keyboard with a powerful autocorrect that helps you get the message out, no matter how you punch it.                   

"Right now the keyboard act you can download on your smartphone is a virtual keyboard," CEO Will Walmsley said in an interview with CBC's The Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

"It's just like any other keyboard you use, except the autocorrect is taken to the next level. So this means we're able to take the keyboard and shrink it down to very, very small, even if you have big fingers," Walmsley said.

One-line keyboard

The ultimate concept for Toronto-based Minuum is a one-line keyboard that can be installed on the smallest of devices.

"What really drives us to work on this technology is the future potential it has. The core concept is a keyboard that is just one line of characters, which means if you can imagine typing on a line anywhere, that can be a keyboard," he said.

Walmsley is just 24 and started developing keyboard alternatives for his masters degree in engineering physics and engineering psychology at University of Toronto.

His team at Minuum is developing keyboards that responds to movementsof the head, wrist or eyes, even one that senses typing motion on a separate surface. The key is the autocorrect algorithm which can adapt no matter how strangely you type.

Looks to wearable devices

It's a market with huge potential, Walmsley said.

"If you look towards wearable devices like a smartwatch or Google glass or whatever else the future has in store, it's really all about typing using any kind of sensor," he said.

Walmsley got his start through the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Business, before going to Indiegogo. Minuum was looking for $10,000 on the crowd-funding website, but ended up raising more than $87,000. It also tapped some U.S. funding.

The Minuum app so far is only available for Android phones, but users like it because it allows them to shrink down their keyboard and have more space on their smartphone screens. People love having more room on their screens, Walmsley said, and reducing the size of the keyboard allows them more options.

The app has been downloaded 300,000 times so far. An iOS version is coming in the fall, now that Apple has opened app development to third parties.

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Opera uses Google Glass to share onstage views

Ever wonder what an opera looks and sounds like from the stage?

You can find out this afternoon, when an Italian opera company shares a new perspective of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot through a special pair of opera glasses – Google Glass.

On Wednesday night, the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari on the Italian Island of Sardinia will debut its "Glass Opera Interactive" performance of Turandot. Performers and crew will wear Google's internet-connected, computer-equipped glasses to stream video and images to the public from their own points of view – "from the soprano's to the stagehand's," the opera house announced in a news release.

The performance begins at 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET, noon PT) and the streams will be available in real time on the Teatro Lirico's Facebook page and Twitter feed.

The show, considered by the company to be an experiment, will run until Aug. 16. 

Mauro Meli, general manager of the opera house. told the Wall Street Journal that the performance aims to attract younger audiences that have not been traditionally interested in going to the opera.

Since Google Glass became available to some users last year, it has been used in a number of other different performances, including:

• Cornell University classical conductor Cynthia Turner has used music displayed on the screen to replace music stands, and to project a conductor's eye view of the performance onto a screen above the orchestra.
• The U.S. a capella group Pentatonix has used it to share their perspective from the stage.

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Chinese cyberattack hits Canada's National Research Council

A "highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor" recently managed to hack into the computer systems at Canada's National Research Council, confirms the country's chief information officer, Corinne Charette.

The attack was discovered by Communications Security Establishment Canada.

In a statement released Tuesday, Charette confirms that while the NRC's computers operate outside those of the government of Canada as a whole, the council's IT system has been "isolated" to ensure no other departments are compromised.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is in Beijing, and was scheduled to hold a press conference on his visit Tuesday, but that briefing was abruptly cancelled. No reason was immediately given.

For its part, the NRC says in a statement released Tuesday morning that it is now attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure and this could take as much a year.

The National Research Council says it is attempting to rebuild its computer infrastructure, which could take up to a year. Canada's information officer said Tuesday that a 'highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor' recently hacked into the computer systems at the NRC. (CBC)

The NRC works with private businesses to advance and develop technological innovations through science and research.

The NRC says it has already been in contact with many of its "clients and stakeholders," but it could take as long as a year to secure the system.

This is not the first time the Canadian government has fallen victim to a cyberattack that originated in China.

In January 2011, the federal government was forced to take the Finance Department and Treasury Board — the federal government's two main economic nerve centres — off the internet after foreign hackers gained access to highly classified federal information.

The attack also targeted Defence Research and Development Canada, a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence that assists in the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces.

The attacks were traced back to China.

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You can dim this light bulb with a regular light switch

An ultra-efficient light bulb that you can dim with a regular light switch has been invented by a trio of engineers from Toronto.

Gimmy Chu, Tom Rodinger and Christian Yan of Nanoleaf, now based in San Diego, are in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for the Nanoleaf Bloom.

The LED-studded "bulb," billed as "the most energy efficient light bulb on the market," fits in a regular light bulb socket. It gives off a warm light that can vary from the brightness of a night light (120 lumens) to that of a 75-watt incandescent bulb (1200 lumens) using just 10 watts of power.

The Nanoleaf Bloom takes three seconds to ramp up to its full brightness. As it's ramping up, you can lock it into a lower brightness by flipping the light switch quickly off and back on. (Courtesy Gimmy Chu/Nanoleaf)

When someone switches it on, it takes three seconds to ramp up to full brightness. As it's doing that, you can lock it into a lower brightness by flipping the switch quickly off and back on, thanks to a microprocessor built into the bulb.

Chu said a dimmable light has a couple of advantages.

"It allows you to save significantly on energy costs," Chu said.

At 50 per cent brightness, it uses just 25 per cent of the electricity that it uses at full brightness.

"It also allows you to set any mood with the adjustable brightness."

In order to take advantage of those features, however, most dimmable bulbs require a dimmer switch, and most light switches are not dimmer switches, Chu said. Buying and wiring a dimmer switch is not always easy, he added: "You might have to hire an electrician."

The Nanoleaf Bloom, which aims to make dimming the lights more convenient, follows up on the trio's previous invention, the Nanolight. The similar, but non-dimmable bulb, was previously billed as the "world's most energy efficient light bulb." That project raised $273,278 on Kickstarter last year and delivered over 7,000 bulbs to 5,746 backers.

The Nanoleaf Bloom can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter for $40 or $10 more than the Nanoleaf.

Chu acknowledged it's a hefty price for a light bulb, but he says it's because the device uses the best custom components.

"Our hope is that with volume, we'll be able to bring down the pricing," he said, adding that his team's dream is to get the bulb into stores such as Canadian Tire.

As of this week, the project had already raised more than $100,000 and blown past its goal of $30,000. The Kickstarter campaign runs until Sept. 12.

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New ultra-thin film may protect pilots from laser beams

A University of Moncton physicist is hoping a new ultra-thin film, that can be applied to the windshield of commercial airplanes, may keep the skies safer by blocking laser beams that are being aimed at cockpits.

According to the FBI, incidents of people aiming their lasers into airplane cockpits has risen by more than 1,000 per cent since 2005.

Pandurang Ashrit, a physicist and the director of the Thin Films and Photonics Research Group at the University of Moncton, specializes in working with super-thin materials.

He said his latest project could keep airline pilots and their passengers safer in the future.

"Problems that we have with people just shining lasers at the cockpit, it's just for fun," Ashrit said.

Pandurang Ashrit, a physicist at the University of Moncton, is developing an ultra-thin film that could protect pilots from laser beams being pointed into cockpits. (CBC)

"But it can be very dangerous because it actually blinds the pilots, momentarily."

The film that is being developed by Ashrit and his research group would coat the windshield of the cockpit, and it would protect the eyes of the pilots from lasers.

The challenge is to create a film that blocks out the wavelengths of light that a laser would use, while keeping the windshield clear.

"This is a thin film that blocks the green laser," Ashrit said, holding his product.

"There is a slight colour to it because the green light needs to be reflected, but at the same time you can see that it is clear to the eyes. So that the pilots or whoever is using it can see through it."

The thin film being developed by Ashrit's research group is still in early stages of commercial development (CBC)

The thin film is still in the early stages of commercial development.

Ashrit's research group is partnering with a private company to market the product, and then plans are to test the thin film on an actual airliner.

The problem of people pointing lasers at airplanes is a growing concern.

The problem has become so serious, in the past few years, that the FBI launched a campaign in the spring against laser attacks on airplanes and offered $10,000 rewards.

Dan Adamus, a pilot, said he has heard the stories about what can happen if a laser gets pointed into a cockpit.

Dan Adamus, a pilot, said there were 461 laser beam attacks on aircraft in Canada last year. He said they happened at critical moments for pilots during landing and taking off. (CBC)

"All of a sudden this laser's in your eye and it's certainly the startle effect," he said.

"And if it's a really strong laser flash, blindness could take effect and even temporary blindness and possible eye damage as well."

According to Adamus, there were 461 laser beam attacks on aircraft in Canada last year. The beams were being flashed into cockpits at the critical moments when pilots were trying to take off or land.

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'We're not the Jetsons yet': Volvo's 'world first' safety features next step in a smarter car

A drowsy driver is about to drift off the road when suddenly the seat belt tightens, or extra torque is applied to the steering wheel and the vehicle pulls itself back on track.

Or maybe a driver is turning in front of an unseen oncoming car when on-board radar and a tiny camera prompt the brakes to kick in automatically, avoiding a collision.

As futuristic as such scenarios seem, Swedish auto giant Volvo is turning these possibilities into reality when it reveals its new XC90 luxury SUV next month, complete with two safety features it's touting as "world-firsts": auto braking when turning in front of an oncoming vehicle and run-off-road protection.

Volvo's new XC90 will have run off road protection, a feature that includes seatbelt tightening if an accidental road departure is detected. (Volvo Cars of Canada)

"It all has to do with our vision," says Volvo Canada CEO Marc Engelen, alluding to the automaker's goal that no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car by 2020.

"This is the first step. In every new car which we launch after XC90, you will see some more safety … features, which will go to that vision."

The new features on the XC90, which will be available at Canadian Volvo dealerships next April, are high-tech developments in an automotive safety landscape that has evolved considerably from the 1950s and '60s when vehicles didn't even have seat belts.

But as much as such developments hold the potential for boosting safety, observers caution that they aren't the last word when it comes to reducing serious and fatal collisions.

No help if you're drinking and driving

"We're still not in the world of the autonomous vehicle where all cars are driving themselves," says Kristine D'Arbelles, manager of public affairs for the Canadian Automobile Association. "Drivers still have to be good drivers.

"You can have a tonne of technology on your vehicle that is meant to try to keep you safe, but if you're texting and driving, or if you're drinking and driving, some of those safety features aren't going to help you."

Driver Alert Control, which is standard in the new Volvo XC90, detects and warns tired or inattentive drivers and now has a rest stop guidance feature that directs a tired driver to the nearest rest area. (Volvo Cars of Canada)

In other words, "We're not the Jetsons yet," she says, and the driver remains "the most important safety feature" on any vehicle.

Still, the idea of a car knowing when a drowsy driver is about to hit the soft shoulder, or if a turn can't be made safely, has considerable allure.

"Any sort of advancement in technology that can potentially save a driver in a collision, or reduce collision fatalities or injuries, is obviously a good thing," says D'Arbelles. "We'd never be against something like that."

Engelen has driven in a vehicle equipped with run-off-road protection and says it's "pretty amazing."

"It will detect that actually you are going off the concrete or going off the normal road … and then the car will automatically turn back to the road."

Master in your own car

But the company long known for its focus on safety is not engineering a world where drivers don't exist, even for the autonomous vehicles it is testing in Sweden.

'You are the master in your car.'- Marc Engelen

"That is very important for Volvo," Engelen says.

In the auto-braking feature, for example, if it engages but drivers want to get out of it, they could push the pedal.

"You are the master in your car," Engelen says.

Automotive safety engineering also holds the potential for features that could tell drivers they're not fit to get behind the wheel at that moment.

"Maybe one day in the future there will be a vehicle where you touch the steering wheel and the steering wheel will be able to sense … your heart rate, the temperature of your skin, [and] it'll say: 'Look, maybe you're not in the best condition to drive right now,' " says William Altenhof, a professor of mechanical, automotive and materials engineering at the University of Windsor.

"I think that will happen one day. I don't know if it will be in my time."

Fewer fatal crashes

Fatal collisions have been on a relatively steady decline in Canada and other developed countries for a few decades. Numbers from Transport Canada show a downward trend in motor vehicle crash fatalities from 3,501 in 1992 to 2,006 in 2011.

There's no one reason behind that decline, says Transport Canada. While improved vehicle safety features are part of it, the department says other contributing factors include:

• Better road infrastructure, engineering and investment;
• regulations related to speed, occupant restraints, impaired driving and distracted driving, as well as targeted enforcement of these regulations;
• improved trauma treatment;
• changing public attitudes about the importance of road safety.

Societal trends are also important, says Peter Frise, scientific director and CEO of AUTO21, an auto-related research network based out of the University of Windsor.

"The state of the economy affects how many kilometres per year people are driving. The price of fuel is somewhat correlated with how much people are driving" he says.

"If people are driving less, it follows that they'll have fewer road crashes."

Frise thinks Volvo's new features are great, and are "certainly in accord with what's going on throughout the automotive world," where much emphasis is being placed on collision avoidance, in addition to protection of occupants in vehicles.

But none of that matters if drivers ignore features in their cars or trucks.

"You can have the best headlights in the world, but if you're not paying attention out the windshield, then … those headlights don't do anything for you," says Frise.

No instant impact

But even if all drivers were taking advantage of every safety feature offered in their vehicles, and paying close attention to their surroundings, there's still a sense it will be some time before technological advances can make a full impact on road safety.

"It's not enough to say we'll all be safer once Volvo puts this stuff in their cars," says Frise. "We'll all be safer when everybody has it."

A front-facing camera and radar in Volvo's new XC90 are located in the upper part of the windscreen and integrated behind the rear-view mirror. (Volvo Cars of Canada)

And that could take a while.

"The average age of a car in North America is 11 years, so it's going to take a long time" before some of these aids are everywhere, says Frise.

"Just because one model of one car has got a certain technology, that doesn't mean all the other ones do as well. In fact, they don't, and some of these new technologies really only function well if everybody's using them at once."

Still, there is no good reason not to try to enhance auto safety, he says.

And from Volvo's perspective, the ultimate goal, beyond 2020, is "no more crashes," says Engelen.

He knows that's a longer-term prospect, and one that combines a host of better driver training and regulation. "We can't do it alone."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mustard to battle against wireworms

As wireworms spread across P.E.I., costing potato growers millions of dollars by damaging crops, farmers are turning to a new rotation crop for the fight.

Wireworms, the larval form of the click beetle, have become a serious agricultural pest on the Island in the last couple of years.

Wireworms are a serious threat, says Brian Beaton, potato coordinator with P.E.I. Department of Agriculture. (CBC)

"It's the population increase. That's what really shocked me, is how fast they have increased in number," said Christine Noronha, a pest control specialist with Agriculture Canada.

"The numbers has gone up tremendously. And how fast they've spread, because they used to be in just pockets on the Island."

Wireworms live in the ground, beyond the reach of insecticides sprayed on the surface. The insects dig holes in potatoes as they grow, making them unfit for sale. The pest cost the industry on the Island $6 million last year.

Brian Beaton, potato coordinator with P.E.I. Department of Agriculture, said the problem is spreading to other crops as well.

"We're seeing it this year in strawberries and grain crops and root crops like potatoes and carrots for sure," said Beaton.

"It is a serious threat."

Wireworms cause scarring on potatoes that make them unmarketable. (R. S. Vernon courtesy of Agriculture Canada)

Beaton said thousands of hectares of brown mustard have been planted this year as part of the battle against wireworm. Last year just a few hundred hectares were planted.

The plants are toxic to wireworms and studies have shown brown mustard and buckwheat are effective as natural fumigants, especially when planted two years in a row.

"The brown mustard produces a bio-fumigant in its roots," said Beaton.

"As you mulch up the whole plant and the plant gets broken down, there's a reaction that takes place and gives off the bio-fumigant into the soil to basically help to control and kill any disease and insects that may be present in the soil."

Noronha said there are multiple studies going on this year into controlling wireworm, including more research into brown mustard and the best way to use the crop to keep wireworm populations in check.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ross Lockwood returns to Earth after 4 months on (simulated) Mars

A B.C.-born scientist is enjoying fresh air and real food again for the first time in four months.

Starting at the end of March, Ross Lockwood had been living with five other researchers in a NASA-built Mars simulator environment on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.

On Friday, he finally stepped out of the dome without his survival suit, and came "back" to life on Earth.

Ross Lockwood, a B.C.-born and Edmonton-based PhD candidate in Condensed Matter Physics, spent 120 days isolated with five others at the HI-SEAS site. (hi-seas.org)

"We didn't get to smell fresh air, or feel wind on our face or sun on our skin, and it's all just overwhelming right now," he told CBC News.

Lockwood, originally from Winfield in the Okanagan, says the study — the second in the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog & Simulation (HI-SEAS) project — is intended to simulate life at a colony on the red planet.

For 120 days, the six researchers lived and worked together in cramped conditions with little contact with the outside world.

Lockwood, now an Edmonton-based PhD candidate, spent much of his time in the dome testing 3D-printed surgical tools. He says working in close quarters with the rest of the team was sometimes challenging.

"Overall it went really well, but confinement was one of the main factors driving psychological distress, and crew cohesion issues as well."

Now that the mission is over, Lockwood is happy he can eat something other than dehydrated food.

"The consistency left a lot to be desired," he said Friday. "So this morning for breakfast I requested a big rack of ribs."

Sending a manned mission to Mars is one of NASA's long-term goals.

Lockwood says he would sign up, as long as there's a flight home.

The HI-SEAS dome is at an elevation of 8,000 ft at an abandoned quarry site on the northern slope of Mauna Loa. (@rosslockwood/Twitter)

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dinosaurs of a feather? New fossil dispels idea that most were scaly

Fossil feathers have been found on an early plant-eating dinosaur for the first time, raising the possibility that all dinosaurs were downy, not scaly.

The Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus belonged to a group of plant-eating dinosaurs called ornithiscians, which included the duck-billed hadrosaurs, and armoured stegosaurs and ankylosaurs.

Previously, the only dinosaurs known to have feathers were the theropods, a group of meat-eating dinosaurs thought to be the direct ancestors of birds.

A closeup shows fossil feathers on the leg of the dinosaur Kulindadromeus. According to the researchers, they 'resemble the down feathers of some modern chicken breeds.' (Pascal Godefroit/Royal Belgian Institute of Natural History)

According to Pascal Godefroit, lead author of a study describing the newly discovered dinosaur, ornisthischian dinosaurs had previously been found with simple bristles or quills, but scientists weren't sure if those were really feathers.

"Our new find clinches it: All dinosaurs had feathers, or at least the potential to sprout feathers," said Godefroit, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institue of Natural History, in a news release.

In the study published this week in the journal Science, Godefroit and his colleagues in Russia, France, Ireland and the U.K. reported that Kulindadromeus was found in Eastern Siberia and lived about 160 million years ago It was about 1.5 metres long, and its proportions suggest it was about the size of turkey. It had scales on its tail and shins and short bristles on its head and back.

But its most exciting parts of its attire were the feathers on its arms and legs. Each was up to 1.5 centimetres long and made of up of six or seven filaments joined together. They "resemble the down feathers of some modern chicken breeds, such as the Silkie," the researchers wrote.

Kulindadromeus fossils were found in a bonebed in southeastern Siberia. (Th. Hubin/RBINS)

They added that the discovery bolsters the evidence that the bristles and quills found in other ornisthicians really were early feathers, and they likely arose for insulation and communication.

"In any case, it indicates that those protofeather-like structures were probably widespread in Dinosauria, possibly even in the earliest members of the clade," they said.

In a news release, they added that smaller dinosaurs were probably covered in feathers that "may have been lost as dinosaurs grew up" and no longer needed the extra insulation.

Not all paleontologists are convinced that the structures found on Kulindadromeus's body were feathers.

Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum in London told BBC News that they looked like "little streamers coming from a central plate."

Barrett appeared to disagree with the study authors' opinion that the structures looked like Silkie chicken down feathers.

He added, "No bird has that structure in any part of its plumage and none of the developmental models that biologists use to understand the evolution of feathers includes a stage that has anything like that kind of anatomy."

According to Maria McNamara, a University College Cork researcher who worked on the new study, feathers and hair are rarely preserved in fossils because they tend to be removed from the body by scavengers after an animal dies. In this case, a rare stroke of luck meant the body was washed away by a river before this could happen, and promptly buried in mud with very little oxygen, preserving the feathers.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arctic oil spills likely to spread across borders: study

A major oil spill in Canada's western Arctic would likely spread quickly and foul oceans around Alaska, and possibly as far west as Russia. 

The research, funded by the World Wildlife Fund, comes as the National Energy Board prepares to consider blowout prevention plans in two separate proposals for offshore energy drilling.

Dan Slavik, who works with the WWF in Inuvik, says oil is much harder to clean up when it's trapped in sea ice.

"Its fate and trajectory will largely end up where it melts," he said. "You could see spills moving from the Canadian Beaufort to the coast of Alaska, and even as far away as Russia."

An interactive website lets users see for themselves what might happen in the event of an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea. (WWF Canada)

The study used computer modelling to predict the behaviour of oil spills in the Arctic region. The authors considered 22 different oil-spill scenarios in the Beaufort Sea, off the northwest coast of the Northwest Territories.

They found that in all cases, there would be at least an up to 50 per cent chance that an oily slick would spread into Alaska.

In the case of a blowout, it's almost certain that oil would spread across international boundaries, with an up to a 25 per cent chance of affecting Russia.

Subsurface oil contamination from a blowout would also be highly likely to spread into Alaska.

"For every scenario run, results showed the possibility of hundreds of kilometres of shoreline oiling," the report reads.

"We're definitely concerned," says Frank Pokiak, chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council in Inuvik.

He says all Inuvialuit communities in the N.W.T. would be affected by a spill.

"The majority of our food comes from the ocean, so if there's an oil spill that happens out there, it's going to affect us quite drastically."

Pokiak says not everyone in the region is against oil and gas exploration, but he hopes the study provides some perspective on the risks of development.

The energy board is considering proposals from Imperial Oil and Chevron Canada for offshore drilling in the Arctic.

Current rules require them to have a second drill rig nearby to promptly sink a pressure-relieving well in the case of a blowout, which would make capping it much easier.

Both companies are proposing methods they say would be equally effective and much cheaper.

The board has agreed to consider their alternatives.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

New exoskeleton could help paraplegics walk

A robotic exoskeleton that allows some people with spinal cord injuries to walk upright has been approved for use by Health Canada and the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.

The ReWalk was designed by a paraplegic inventor, Dr. Amit Goffer, who was seeking a better solution to life in a wheelchair, says Larry Jasinski, CEO of ReWalk Robotics.

Dr. Goffer's invention was an exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion to enable individuals with a spinal cord injury to stand upright and walk, Jasinski explained in an interview with CBC's The Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

"Given that he was paralyzed himself, I think his understanding of what he was creating was greater than any of us would have developed independently," he said.

Improvements in motion sensing technology and the advent of improved computers and batteries helped create a more natural form of motion that is not so difficult to learn for paraplegic users, Jasinski said.

A man in Germany demonstrates walking with a ReWalk robotic exoskeleton. (Argo Technologies)

"What Dr. Goffer did, he took the concept of using a motion sensor where the person can use their own body to tell this thing how to walk," he said.

"It's the combination of the sensor which communicates to the very elaborate software program that mimics human walking., When you take a step it's heel to toe, just like you and I walk down the hallway and this natural motion is important because it is efficient ...and it is also better for your body to use your joints in natural motion."

The ReWalk is already approved for use in Asia and Europe, received Health Canada approval for home use at the beginning of the year and FDA approval in May.

It sells for about $69,500 US, a cost ReWalk Robotics hopes both public and private sector insurers will eventually agree to shoulder.

"We believe the reduction in medications, as users and patients get healthier and reduced complications for someone who might be confined to a wheelchair will allow this system to pay for itself," Jasinski said.

ReWalk, based in Massachusetts and a unit of Argo Technologies, has competitors in creating robotics for paraplegics, among them Ekso Bionics.

The next step for the company is to establish training centres in Canada and the U.S. where potential users can try the device and train on it if they believe it is a good fit for them.

There are some limitations – people aren't able to walk on snow, ice or soft sand – but they can take on stairs and uneven ground.

"Right now the primary limitations are people learning to use it properly and we have enough users now in the U.S. and starting in Canada, Europe and Asia.  The rewalkers as we call them, they learn from each other about how to use it better," Jasinski said.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dinosaurs of a feather? New fossil dispels idea that most were scaly

Fossil feathers have been found on an early plant-eating dinosaur for the first time, raising the possibility that all dinosaurs were downy, not scaly.

The Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus belonged to a group of plant-eating dinosaurs called ornithiscians, which included the duck-billed hadrosaurs, and armoured stegosaurs and ankylosaurs.

Previously, the only dinosaurs known to have feathers were the theropods, a group of meat-eating dinosaurs thought to be the direct ancestors of birds.

A closeup shows fossil feathers on the leg of the dinosaur Kulindadromeus. According to the researchers, they 'resemble the down feathers of some modern chicken breeds.' (Pascal Godefroit/Royal Belgian Institute of Natural History)

According to Pascal Godefroit, lead author of a study describing the newly discovered dinosaur, ornisthischian dinosaurs had previously been found with simple bristles or quills, but scientists weren't sure if those were really feathers.

"Our new find clinches it: All dinosaurs had feathers, or at least the potential to sprout feathers," said Godefroit, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institue of Natural History, in a news release.

In the study published this week in the journal Science, Godefroit and his colleagues in Russia, France, Ireland and the U.K. reported that Kulindadromeus was found in Eastern Siberia and lived about 160 million years ago It was about 1.5 metres long, and its proportions suggest it was about the size of turkey. It had scales on its tail and shins and short bristles on its head and back.

But its most exciting parts of its attire were the feathers on its arms and legs. Each was up to 1.5 centimetres long and made of up of six or seven filaments joined together. They "resemble the down feathers of some modern chicken breeds, such as the Silkie," the researchers wrote.

Kulindadromeus fossils were found in a bonebed in southeastern Siberia. (Th. Hubin/RBINS)

They added that the discovery bolsters the evidence that the bristles and quills found in other ornisthicians really were early feathers, and they likely arose for insulation and communication.

"In any case, it indicates that those protofeather-like structures were probably widespread in Dinosauria, possibly even in the earliest members of the clade," they said.

In a news release, they added that smaller dinosaurs were probably covered in feathers that "may have been lost as dinosaurs grew up" and no longer needed the extra insulation.

Not all paleontologists are convinced that the structures found on Kulindadromeus's body were feathers.

Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum in London told BBC News that they looked like "little streamers coming from a central plate."

Barrett appeared to disagree with the study authors' opinion that the structures looked like Silkie chicken down feathers.

He added, "No bird has that structure in any part of its plumage and none of the developmental models that biologists use to understand the evolution of feathers includes a stage that has anything like that kind of anatomy."

According to Maria McNamara, a University College Cork researcher who worked on the new study, feathers and hair are rarely preserved in fossils because they tend to be removed from the body by scavengers after an animal dies. In this case, a rare stroke of luck meant the body was washed away by a river before this could happen, and promptly buried in mud with very little oxygen, preserving the feathers.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arctic oil spills likely to spread across borders: study

A major oil spill in Canada's western Arctic would likely spread quickly and foul oceans around Alaska, and possibly as far west as Russia. 

The research, funded by the World Wildlife Fund, comes as the National Energy Board prepares to consider blowout prevention plans in two separate proposals for offshore energy drilling.

Dan Slavik, who works with the WWF in Inuvik, says oil is much harder to clean up when it's trapped in sea ice.

"Its fate and trajectory will largely end up where it melts," he said. "You could see spills moving from the Canadian Beaufort to the coast of Alaska, and even as far away as Russia."

An interactive website lets users see for themselves what might happen in the event of an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea. (WWF Canada)

The study used computer modelling to predict the behaviour of oil spills in the Arctic region. The authors considered 22 different oil-spill scenarios in the Beaufort Sea, off the northwest coast of the Northwest Territories.

They found that in all cases, there would be at least an up to 50 per cent chance that an oily slick would spread into Alaska.

In the case of a blowout, it's almost certain that oil would spread across international boundaries, with an up to a 25 per cent chance of affecting Russia.

Subsurface oil contamination from a blowout would also be highly likely to spread into Alaska.

"For every scenario run, results showed the possibility of hundreds of kilometres of shoreline oiling," the report reads.

"We're definitely concerned," says Frank Pokiak, chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council in Inuvik.

He says all Inuvialuit communities in the N.W.T. would be affected by a spill.

"The majority of our food comes from the ocean, so if there's an oil spill that happens out there, it's going to affect us quite drastically."

Pokiak says not everyone in the region is against oil and gas exploration, but he hopes the study provides some perspective on the risks of development.

The energy board is considering proposals from Imperial Oil and Chevron Canada for offshore drilling in the Arctic.

Current rules require them to have a second drill rig nearby to promptly sink a pressure-relieving well in the case of a blowout, which would make capping it much easier.

Both companies are proposing methods they say would be equally effective and much cheaper.

The board has agreed to consider their alternatives.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

New exoskeleton could help paraplegics walk

A robotic exoskeleton that allows some people with spinal cord injuries to walk upright has been approved for use by Health Canada and the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.

The ReWalk was designed by a paraplegic inventor, Dr. Amit Goffer, who was seeking a better solution to life in a wheelchair, says Larry Jasinski, CEO of ReWalk Robotics.

Dr. Goffer's invention was an exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion to enable individuals with a spinal cord injury to stand upright and walk, Jasinski explained in an interview with CBC's The Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

"Given that he was paralyzed himself, I think his understanding of what he was creating was greater than any of us would have developed independently," he said.

Improvements in motion sensing technology and the advent of improved computers and batteries helped create a more natural form of motion that is not so difficult to learn for paraplegic users, Jasinski said.

A man in Germany demonstrates walking with a ReWalk robotic exoskeleton. (Argo Technologies)

"What Dr. Goffer did, he took the concept of using a motion sensor where the person can use their own body to tell this thing how to walk," he said.

"It's the combination of the sensor which communicates to the very elaborate software program that mimics human walking., When you take a step it's heel to toe, just like you and I walk down the hallway and this natural motion is important because it is efficient ...and it is also better for your body to use your joints in natural motion."

The ReWalk is already approved for use in Asia and Europe, received Health Canada approval for home use at the beginning of the year and FDA approval in May.

It sells for about $69,500 US, a cost ReWalk Robotics hopes both public and private sector insurers will eventually agree to shoulder.

"We believe the reduction in medications, as users and patients get healthier and reduced complications for someone who might be confined to a wheelchair will allow this system to pay for itself," Jasinski said.

ReWalk, based in Massachusetts and a unit of Argo Technologies, has competitors in creating robotics for paraplegics, among them Ekso Bionics.

The next step for the company is to establish training centres in Canada and the U.S. where potential users can try the device and train on it if they believe it is a good fit for them.

There are some limitations – people aren't able to walk on snow, ice or soft sand – but they can take on stairs and uneven ground.

"Right now the primary limitations are people learning to use it properly and we have enough users now in the U.S. and starting in Canada, Europe and Asia.  The rewalkers as we call them, they learn from each other about how to use it better," Jasinski said.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Huge aquatic insect with giant jaws found in China

An insect with huge horn-like jaws and a wingspan similar to a sparrow's has been reported by Chinese media as a record-breaking find.

"With its wingspan measured as 21 centimetres, the insect won the title of the largest aquatic insect in the world," reported Ecns.cn, the official English-language service of the state-run China News Service.

The website posted photos of the insect, which was found in the mountains near Chengdu, in Sichuan province. One shows the insect's lacy, patterned dragonfly-like wings stretched far wider than the palm of the person holding it, and in another, a modest-looking chicken egg sits nearby for scale.

The website says the photos were taken on July 17 and that the insect belongs to the taxonomic group or order Megaloptera (a name that means large, folded wings). The group includes large insects called dobsonflies or fishflies, along with smaller alderflies.

While the insect is claimed as the largest "aquatic" insect, dobsonflies and alderflies only live in the water as a larvae or juvenile – adults live on land. On the other hand, they spend only a few days as adults. While the larvae are ferocious underwater predators, the adults either don't eat or sip only nectar and fruit juice.

The elephant beetle is one of many insects that are likely far heavier than the new 'largest aquatic insect.' (Udo Schmidt/Wikimedia Commons)

It also is nowhere near the biggest insect in the world in any dimension. According to the University of Florida Book of Insect Records, the record for biggest wingspan — 30 centimetres —  is held by the white witch moth; and several giant beetles and grasshopper-like creatures called giant wetas  — all of which are huge and have far stockier builds than the new dobsonfly — are the heaviest.

However, an insect quite similar, and not that much smaller than the new Chinese insect, lives right here in Canada. The Eastern dobsonfly Corydalus cornutus has a wing span of 14 centimetres and males have "sickle-shaped and tusk-like mandibles" that are about four centimetres long, according to entomologists Rob Cannings and Geoff Scudder of the Royal B.C. Museum.

"Such males have been seen to 'duel' with each other and to prod the female during courtship," the two wrote in a scientific article about the Megaloptera species in Canada.

Overall, there are 17 species of dobsonflies and alderflies in Canada.

The Eastern dobsonfly has a wingspan of up to 14 centimetres, and males have 'sickle-shaped and tusk-like mandibles.' While it can be found in Quebec, this specimen was collected in Ecuador. (Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons)

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vegetarian or flexitarian: How much meat do you really want to give up?

When the vegetarian "butcher shop" YamChops started offering customers burgers made from black beans and lox crafted from carrots, the owners were hoping their plant-based fare would find favour among their anticipated clientele, the vegetarians and vegans who came into the store in Toronto's Little Italy neighbourhood.

YamChops owner Michael Abramson assembles lox made from carrots cured in a marinade. (Bruce Reeve/CBC)

They say it has. But in an evolving food world where health-conscious consumers are increasingly more discerning — some would say picky — about how their food is produced and exactly what's in it, YamChops has also found an unexpected following.

"About half of our customers are not vegetarians and vegans at all," says Jess Abramson, a partner in the College Street business that recently opened in a former gelateria. "We were surprised."

Enter the "flexitarians," who Abramson says "are basically wondering what a vegetarian butcher is, and coming in because they're looking to reduce their meat consumption."

It would be hard to say with any certainty how many people are flexitarians — or flexible vegetarians, a term that has been added to the dictionary and has been estimated by at least one U.S. source to represent up to 40 per cent of the American population.

"It's always difficult to ask consumers whether or not they are vegetarian because people actually see vegetarianism in different ways," says Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at the University of Guelph in southern Ontario.

Not on weekends

Flexitarians, for example, he says, may favour a vegetarian diet for specific periods of time, such as weekends when they might not eat meat.

And sometimes people who are vegetarian — estimated by various sources to be about four to 10 per cent of the population — abandon the concept and go back to eating meat for all sorts of reasons, he says. (Maybe their iron levels were low, for example.)

'It's becoming easier and easier to actually be a vegan or a vegetarian in our society.'- Sylvain Charlebois

But restaurants and food service outlets are becoming more accommodating, says Charlebois.

"It's becoming easier and easier to actually be a vegan or a vegetarian in our society."

At the Toronto Vegetarian Association, executive director David Alexander says there are now more than 100 vegetarian restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area.

"It's grown quite dramatically. When I talk to people who have been vegetarian since the '80s, at that time there were just one or two."

Alexander chalks the increase up to a couple of things, among them: "We've seen more interest in healthy eating, more interest in sustainable foods." 

Compassion for cows

Indeed, a study published this week that garnered much discussion among CBCNews.ca readers suggested that the environmental costs of producing beef are high.

'We are seeing a lot of interest and compassion for animals.'- David Alexander

"We are seeing a lot of interest and compassion for animals as well," says Alexander.

While such motivating factors may inspire specific food choices, they won't matter much if there aren't appealing food alternatives.

In the case of vegetarian food, it hasn't always had a good rap — especially for those who remember eating tasteless tofu floating in grease at a university dining hall in the not-that-distant past.

Such memories are common, says YamChops' Abramson.

"That's been part of our fun. We get to take stuff like that that is so understood as bland or flavourless or mushy … and reinvent it in a way that people love."

YamChops' prime example of that might be its tuna-less tuna, which is really mashed chickpeas seasoned with vegan mayonnaise, pickles, capers, dill and a bit of seaweed.

"We just can't keep it in stock," says Abramson.

Food science has also contributed to the potential of a wider vegetarian palate.

Pea and soy protein that has a texture similar to meat forms the base for YamChops' Mongolian 'beef.' (Bruce Reeve/CBC)

"There's a lot of excellent base proteins that are coming out now, and a lot of them are in the meat analogue or meat imitation realm," says Abramson.

"We have everything up to and including vegan calamari and scallops and pizza on our shelves. Many of those ingredients become the basis for our butcher shop items…. If those didn't exist, we probably wouldn't exist."

But some vegetarian fare has had a much longer following.

In Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood, the Naam restaurant, which describes itself as the city's "oldest natural food restaurant," has been serving meals for more than three decades.

"The best eating is the simplest eating," says general manager Glen Delukas.

"That's the thing here. We've never really gone to the zone of any food being too complicated. The base of everything here [is] basically rice, beans, organic pressed tofu."

That's not so say Naam has been oblivious to trends. Its menu revisions try to offer more options while preserving favourites like the dragon bowls that keep bringing diners back.

"There's a lot of demanding people out there that want what they want, and I feel we're able to accommodate them each time something happens," says Delukas, "except for the quinoa thing," where Naam didn't follow the trend.

"We're busy every day," says Delukas. "We kind of scratch our heads. There's so many restaurants in Vancouver, yet we still have lineups every night here."

Money to be made 

Changing options at the grocery store also favour those who might wish to opt for something other than meat — at least sometimes.

"The PC brand has a number of really good alternatives … like vegetarian chicken, vegetarian ground beef, things that people can take and just substitute right into the meals they're used to cooking," says Alexander, of the Toronto Vegetarian Association.

"Those didn't exist 10 years ago when I became vegetarian and now they're in pretty much in every grocery store so that would be one example, and I don't think Loblaws would be doing it if there wasn't money to be made."

Loblaw Companies Ltd. doesn't divulge sales information as that information is competitively sensitive, a spokeswoman said in an email.

'There's a lot of health concerns and so eating less meat, eating lighter meat, is definitely part of that whole trend.'- Maureen Atkinson

But retail analyst Maureen Atkinson, senior partner at the J.C. Williams Group, says there are a lot of consumers who are interested in vegetarian food, even if they aren't vegetarian.

"There's a lot of health concerns, and so eating less meat, eating lighter meat, is definitely part of that whole trend."

Groceries are a low-margin business, she says, and stores will try to experiment with trends to ensure they can get full margin, because once something takes off, it can become quite price-competitive.

Atkinson doesn't see interest in vegetarian fare as a passing phase.

"I think that the industry has grown up to be very sophisticated, so if you go to a place like Whole Foods, and you see what they have as a vegetarian offering, it certainly would stack up well with pretty much all grocery items, maybe even better."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arctic oil spills likely to spread across borders: study

A major oil spill in Canada's western Arctic would likely spread quickly and foul oceans around Alaska, and possibly as far west as Russia. 

The research, funded by the World Wildlife Fund, comes as the National Energy Board prepares to consider blowout prevention plans in two separate proposals for offshore energy drilling.

Dan Slavik, who works with the WWF in Inuvik, says oil is much harder to clean up when it's trapped in sea ice.

"Its fate and trajectory will largely end up where it melts," he said. "You could see spills moving from the Canadian Beaufort to the coast of Alaska, and even as far away as Russia."

An interactive website lets users see for themselves what might happen in the event of an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea. (WWF Canada)

The study used computer modelling to predict the behaviour of oil spills in the Arctic region. The authors considered 22 different oil-spill scenarios in the Beaufort Sea, off the northwest coast of the Northwest Territories.

They found that in all cases, there would be at least an up to 50 per cent chance that an oily slick would spread into Alaska.

In the case of a blowout, it's almost certain that oil would spread across international boundaries, with an up to a 25 per cent chance of affecting Russia.

Subsurface oil contamination from a blowout would also be highly likely to spread into Alaska.

"For every scenario run, results showed the possibility of hundreds of kilometres of shoreline oiling," the report reads.

"We're definitely concerned," says Frank Pokiak, chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council in Inuvik.

He says all Inuvialuit communities in the N.W.T. would be affected by a spill.

"The majority of our food comes from the ocean, so if there's an oil spill that happens out there, it's going to affect us quite drastically."

Pokiak says not everyone in the region is against oil and gas exploration, but he hopes the study provides some perspective on the risks of development.

The energy board is considering proposals from Imperial Oil and Chevron Canada for offshore drilling in the Arctic.

Current rules require them to have a second drill rig nearby to promptly sink a pressure-relieving well in the case of a blowout, which would make capping it much easier.

Both companies are proposing methods they say would be equally effective and much cheaper.

The board has agreed to consider their alternatives.

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HitchBot the hitchhiking robot to travel across Canada

A hitchhiking robot is set to start off on a whirlwind adventure, attempting to hitchhike from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, and relying on the kindness of strangers to get to its final destination. 

Hitchbot is more of a collaborative art project and social experiment than a marvel of modern technology.

The little traveller is about the size of a six-year-old child that was made using pool noodles, an old bucket, Wellington boots, rubber gloves, solar panels and a computerized "brain."

David Harris Smith is an assistant professor at Hamilton's McMaster University who first came up with the idea of creating a collaborative art project centred around a hitchhiking robot.

"Hitchbot is travelling across the country, and it's collecting stories as it goes, too. So it will ask if they have a story that they'd like to tell about travelling or hitchhiking," he said.

"We would love for Hitchbot to have some adventures. Of course, I've hitchhiked across the country several times and for young people it used to be almost a rite of passage."

'Yard sale esthetic'

Smith said Hitchbot is also an experiment that looks at the interaction between people and increasingly ubiquitous technology. 

"As we move into a world where we are going to be interacting with robots on a regular basis and we're going to find ourselves in areas of our social life, assisting our [aging] parents, for instance … These robots, in their design, they need to be respectful of social customs, of cultural attitudes etcetera.," he said.

Smith calls Hitchbot's look "yard sale esthetic."

"It's made of things you might be pitching out of your garage on a Saturday morning to sell to your neighbours," he said.

The robot also has a child booster seat built into its buttocks.

"We wanted people to intuitively be able to understand, 'Oh yes, I can buckle this thing in to my car seat,' because, you know, safety first. We want it to be secure in the car," he said. 

Hitchbot will be powered with solar panels covering the beer cooler bucket that makes up its torso, and can also be recharged from car cigarette lighters or a regular outlet. But if Hitchbot's power runs out as it is waiting for its next ride, written instructions on its body will tell people how to strap it into the car and plug it in, and direct people to a help website.

The little robot will try to bum its first ride from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design on July 27 by signalling with the only part of its body it can move — one arm. The researchers expect it to charm its way into enough rides to make it all the way to Victoria.

Robot to share adventure via social media

Along the way, Hitchbot will be sharing its adventures via social media — something that those who pick it up should be aware of, Smith told CBC News.

Hitchbot was being built by communications researchers at Ryerson University in Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton. It will try to hitch its first ride from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design on July 27. (Submitted by David Harris Smith)

"It'll be sort of like having an out-of-control teenager in your car, taking pictures of you and posting them to Facebook."

Like most teens, Hitchbot has a habit of talking back. It's programmed to recognize speech and has text to speech software installed. It even has access to Wikipedia where it can draw on conversation topics.

"These dialogue models, like [Apple's] Siri, they listen for key words and try to develop appropriate responses," said Smith.

Hitchbot is also equipped with a GPS and 3G wireless connectivity that will allow it to post frequent updates of its position on the internet.

Smith admits privacy could be a concern, so they've built privacy settings into Hitchbot. It will ask permission before taking a picture, or ask those in the car to take a selfie with it. There will also be flesh and blood moderators sifting through the data collected.

"We still have human eyes looking at pictures and looking at stories before they get posted," he said.

Smith said since the tablet that acts as Hitchbot's electronic brain has been reprogrammed specifically for this purpose, there's not a whole lot in the contraption worth stealing.

"I think anyone who steals it, might have some second thoughts … look at how annoying it is," joked Smith during an interview with CBC Radio's Information Morning, where Hitchbot kept interrupting.

"You may have an interesting conversation piece, but you've really subtracted all the fun out of the project."

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B.C. tyrannosaur tracks show the predators prowled in packs

It would have been terrifying to run into a tyrannosaur like Albertosaurus. The massive creature that roamed western North America about 70 million years ago was as long as a bus, with a wide smile of razor-sharp teeth and claws to match. But here's the worst part — it probably wasn't alone.

Tyrannosaurs, it seemed, travelled in packs.

Scientists came to that conclusion after carefully analyzing an extremely rare find — three sets of tyrannosaur tracks found in northeastern B.C.

A technician in Australia cleans a full-sized replica of an Albertosaurus dinosaur at an exhibition in Sydney. The new trackways were probably left by Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus or Daspletosaurus. (Reuters)

Tyrannosaur tracks are so rare that this is the first time more than a single print has ever been found in one place.

That made the discovery exciting to begin with, since it allows paleontologists to see how the animal walked, said Richard McCrea, lead author of a new study in the journal PLOS ONE describing the tracks. 

Moose hunting trip

The fossil tracks were discovered in the fall of 2011 by Aaron Fredlund, a hunting guide in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. He was guiding a group of moose hunters and looking for a place to cross a river when he spied a promising looking rock ledge.

Fredlund said he spends all day looking for animal tracks as part of his job. He had never seen dinosaur tracks himself, but knew others had been found in the region.

The tyrannosaur footprints discovered by hunting guide Aaron Fredlund were each more than 60 centimetres long. (Aaron Fredlund)

"We just walked along, and I thought, 'This looks kind of like the pictures where they find dinosaur tracks.' And I didn't even take four steps, and I was like, 'Look, there's a dinosaur track!'" Fredlund recalled in a phone interview.

The print was enormous — made by a three-toed foot more than 60 centimetres long.

Fredlund's find was a stroke of luck, as McCrea thinks most people walking by wouldn't have noticed the tracks.

"If they had noticed them, they probably talked themselves out of identifying them as dinosaur tracks," added McCrea, curator of palaeontology at the Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre.

Predictably, Fredlund's companions didn't believe him at first. But he poked around and eventually found additional prints, some from the same dinosaur and some from different dinosaur species.

"They're so clear you can actually see the little contours in their foot," he said. "They're pretty amazing tracks."

A few days later, his wife, Jessica, found the photos he'd taken and asked about them.

"I said, 'Oh, we saw some dinosaur tracks.' She said, 'You've got to tell somebody about those!'"

Fredlund phoned around and eventually reached someone at the Tumbler Ridge Museum. He shared with them photos of his boots next to the tracks. The museum passed them on to McCrea, who was studying fossil tracks in Australia at the time.

"As soon as I saw them, I wished that I wasn't in Australia," said McCrea.

Dinos in their 20s

After he returned to Canada, he and his team rushed to the site to make casts of the prints before the first snowfall. The next year, they did more excavating and found additional tracks.

This is the first time a series of tyrannosaur tracks has ever been found. Previously, only single tyrannosaur tracks have been discovered. (Richard McCrea)

The three tyrannosaurs that made them had feet of slightly different sizes. Based on the size of their feet, the animals would have stood about 2.5 metres tall at the hip (about the height of a very tall doorway). They would have been 10 to 12 metres long from head to tail, about as long as a bus. McCrea said they would have walked with their spine and tail parallel to the ground.

Based on their size, they likely belonged to one of three tyrannosaurs that lived in B.C. and Alberta at the time — Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.

Since tyrannosaurs grow their whole lives, the researchers estimated the animals were all in their late 20s. Fossil evidence suggests that tyrannosaurs lived into their 30s.

4-metre stride

An analysis of the tracks showed the animals had a stride of about four metres, from right footfall to right footfall or left footfall to left footfall.

"And this is at a walk!" said McCrea, who estimated the tyrannosaurs would have been walking at well over eight km/h.

The foot imprints showed that tyrannosaurs retracted their feet up and back like modern birds do between footfalls, but they did not turn their feet inward as much as many birds do as they walked. Tyrannosaurs belong to a group of dinosaurs called theropods that are thought to be closely related to birds.

But the most exciting discovery of all was the confirmation that tyrannosaurs moved in packs. That was something that paleontologists had suggested in the past based on groups of skeletons found together. But they could never be sure that the bones had not been originally scattered and then carried by water to a single location.

With the new trackways, the similar depth and condition of the footprints suggested they were left at the same time — prints left later, as the mud dried, would have been shallower.

Further evidence that the tyrannosaurs were travelling together was that they were all moving in the same direction, and their paths never crossed, unlike those of other dinosaurs found at the side, which moved in random directions.

"It's about as strong evidence as you can get without going back in a time machine and observing them," McCrea said.

Fredlund said the discovery of the tracks and what happened to them has been a cool learning experience, and he feels fortunate.

"I've told my friends I'm not going to buy any lottery tickets, because finding a dinosaur tracks — one of the only trackways that they've ever found — I've used up all my luck on that one."

The map shows the three sets of tyrannosaur tracks found near Tumbler Ridge, B.C., which reveal that the animals had a four-metre-long stride. (Richard McCrea)

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Dogs feel jealousy, science confirms

Emotion researcher Christine Harris, professor of psychology at UC San Diego, poses with Samwise, one of three border collies to inspire the study on dog jealousy. (Steve Harris)

Dogs are a man's best friend, and new research says canines want to keep it that way.

Dogs are capable of feeling a basic form of jealousy, according to a study published in the PLOS ONE scientific journal Wednesday.

The research, said to be the first experiment on canine jealousy, could redefine the view that the complex emotion of envy is a human construct, said Christine Harris, University of California, San Diego psychologist and an author of the study.

'It looks as though they were motivated to protect an important social relationship.'- Christine Harris, University of California, San Diego

The owners of 36 small dogs were asked to do three things in the test — shower affection on a plush animatronic dog, shower affection on a plastic jack-o-lantern pail and read a children's book aloud — while ignoring their pet.

Researchers then watched how the dogs reacted.

Roughly 80 per cent of the dogs pushed or touched their owner when they were coddling the toy, almost twice as often as when the owner played with the pail and about four times as often as when the owner was reading.

A quarter of the dogs even snapped at the toy, which barked, whined and wagged its tail, while the owner was playing with it. Only one dog snapped at the pail and the book.

"We can't really speak to the dog's subjective experiences, of course, but it looks as though they were motivated to protect an important social relationship," Harris said in a statement accompanying the study.

A quarter of the dogs snapped at the toy, which barked, whined and wagged its tail, while the owner was playing with it. Only one dog snapped at the pail and the book. (Caroline Prouvost/UC San Diego)

The research, based on a similar study to gauge jealousy in infants, suggests dogs and possibly other animals exhibit a primordial form of the emotion, the study said.

Researchers said jealousy may have evolved as a way for paired animals to protect their sexual relationships or for baby animals to compete for food and affection from their parents.

They said it also may have developed in dogs during their long domestication by humans.

"Humans, after all, have been rich resource providers over our coevolution," they wrote in the study.

Understanding jealousy is an important scientific task, they wrote, noting that jealousy is often considered a cause of homicides across cultures.

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Alberta family gets beavers to do its landscaping

After years of trying unsuccessfully to build a pond in on their property, an Alberta family decided to call in some experts – beavers.

Pierre Bolduc and Sara Wiesenberg moved their family to an acreage in Bragg Creek, about 40 kilometres southwest of Calgary, because Wiesenberg wanted space to ride horses and be close to nature.

Bolduc wanted to build a pond on the property, in part so he and his sons could play hockey on the ice in the winter. He spent four or five years trying.

"It actually was met with terrible fiascos," he told CBC's Danielle Nerman. "Any time it rained, it would wash all the pebbles away and we couldn't keep any water."

Finally, he decided he needed help.

He hired a trapper to move beavers onto his property, and has been pleased with the work of the family of six.

"It's fantastic," he said.

Bolduc coaxes the beavers to build according to his plans by offering them already-cut logs and by using speakers to blast the sound of running water, something beavers are compelled to stop.

Now, he has a new project that he wants the beavers to undertake – a new dam that will allow him to access the water directly from his backyard with a canoe.

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Asteroid named after CBC science journalist Bob McDonald

Bob McDonald is now flying through space, between Mars and Jupiter.

That's right. A kilometre-wide asteroid has been named after CBC's Bob McDonald.

McDonald hosts CBC Radio's weekly science show Quirks & Quarks, writes a blog for CBCNews.ca and is the national science commentator for CBC-TV, where he often uses low-tech props such as coffee cups to explain complicated concepts about astronomy.

He has already won lots of awards for the work he's done to communicate science to the public, including the Order of Canada, and learned of this latest honour while sailing around Vancouver Island during his vacation.

"I almost fell overboard," he recalled in an interview Tuesday. "It's huge for me. As a little kid, I dreamed about going into space, being out there. That hasn't quite happened yet, so having an object named after me is almost as good."

Bob McDonald is the host of CBC's Quirks & Quarks and the national science commentator for CBC-TV. (CBC)

The asteroid was discovered in 2006 by David Balam, a professional observer at the National Research Council of Canada and the University of Victoria, using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.

While surveying part of the sky for supernovas, he also tracked debris closer to Earth in the same area.

"It's like watching a school of fish in a way," he said.

The newly named space rock, which went by the number 332324 and the designation 2006 XN67, didn't get its official moniker until two weeks ago.

According to astronomical tradition, the person who discovers an asteroid can suggest a name, which becomes official when it is sanctioned by the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union. Balam has so far discovered and named about four dozen space rocks, and has also had an asteroid named after himself.

He said he usually names new asteroids for Canadian astronomers, science educators and people who popularize astronomy. In this case, he said, he couldn't think of anyone more deserving of the honour than McDonald for his work popularizing astronomy and science in general in Canada.

Generally, Balam prefers to break the news to his asteroids' namesakes in person, surprising them with a framed certificate and sometimes an asteroid-shaped cake.

"I call it 'rocking' them," he said with a laugh, adding that asteroid cakes are not hard to make since the space rocks have pretty irregular shapes.

However, he said, given the internet it's hard to keep a secret, so he had to send McDonald an email before the news spread.

The asteroid has now been added to a list of 432 asteroids with Canadian connections, maintained by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Among those added to the list with asteroid Bob McDonald was asteroid Glenn Hawley, named after the society's most recent past president. It too was discovered by Balam, in 2003, and named by him.

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'Optical fibre' made out of thin air

Scientists say they have turned thin air into an "optical fibre" that can transmit and amplify light signals without the need for any cables.

In a proof-of-principle experiment they created an "air waveguide" that could one day be used as an instantaneous optical fibre to any point on earth, or even into space.

The findings, reported in the journal Optica, have applications in long range laser communications, high-resolution topographic mapping, air pollution and climate change research, and could also be used by the military to make laser weapons.

"People have been thinking about making air waveguides for a while, but this is the first time it's been realized," said Howard Milchberg of the University of Maryland, who led the research, which was funded by the U.S. military and National Science Foundation.

Lasers lose intensity and focus with increasing distance as photons naturally spread apart and interact with atoms and molecules in the air.

Fibre optics solves this problem by beaming the light through glass cores with a high refractive index, which is good for transmitting light.

The core is surrounded by material with a lower refractive index that reflects light back in to the core, preventing the beam from losing focus or intensity.

Fibre optics, however, are limited in the amount of power they can carry and the need for a physical structure to support them.

Light and air

Milchberg and colleagues' made the equivalent of an optical fibre out of thin air by generating a laser with its light split into a ring of multiple beams forming a pipe.

They used very short and powerful pulses from the laser to heat the air molecules along the beam extremely quickly.

Such rapid heating produced sound waves that took about a microsecond to converge to the centre of the pipe, creating a high-density area surrounded by a low-density area left behind in the wake of the laser beams.

"A microsecond is a long time compared to how far light propagates, so the light is gone and a microsecond later those sound waves collide in the centre, enhancing the air density there," says Milchberg.

The lower density region of air surrounding the centre of the air waveguide had a lower refractive index, keeping the light focused.

"Any structure [even air] which has a higher density will have a higher index of refraction and thereby act like an optical fibre," says Milchberg.

Amplified signal

Once Milchberg and colleagues created their air waveguide, they used a second laser to spark the air at one end of the waveguide turning it into plasma.

An optical signal from the spark was transmitted along the air waveguide, over a distance of a metre to a detector at the other end.

The signal collected by the detector was strong enough to allow Milchberg and colleagues to analyze the chemical composition of the air that produced the spark.

The researchers found the signal was 50 per cent stronger than a signal obtained without an air waveguide.

The findings show the air waveguide can be used as a "remote collection optic," says Milchberg.

"This is an optical fibre cable that you can reel out at the speed of light and place next to [something] that you want to measure remotely, and have the signal come all the way back to where you are."

Australian expert Ben Eggleton of the University of Sydney says this is potentially an important advance for the field of optics.

"It's sort of like you have an optical fibre that you can shine into the sky, connecting your laser to the top of the atmosphere," says Eggleton.

"You don't need big lenses and optics, it's already guided along this channel in the atmosphere."

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