Canada's students slipping in math and science, OECD finds

A new international study ranks Canadian students among the top of the class in key subject areas, but there has been a noticeable decline over the years in math and science scores among the country's pupils.

Canada was among 65 countries and economies participating in the assessment by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which takes place every three years. Findings of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment — or PISA — from 2012 were released Tuesday.

Canada released its own companion report, "Measuring Up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study."

More than 500,000 15-year-old students were tested on their knowledge and skills in three subject areas. The primary focus was on mathematics with a smaller proportion of students assessed in reading and science. Around 21,000 Canadians from about 900 schools across the country's 10 provinces took part. Canada's three territories elected not to participate.

Scores are taken from students assessed in each OECD country and pooled together and set at an average of 500 points, which is the baseline used for the study.

The average estimated score in math was 494. Canada had 518. Shanghai, China topped the list in math with an average of 613. Canada was also outperformed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Macau, Japan, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Canada had an average score of 523 in reading and 525 in science — well above the OECD averages of 496 and 501, respectively.

Shanghai topped the list in both reading and science with 570 and 580, respectively. Canada was outperformed in both subjects by Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea. Finland and Estonia also fared better than Canada in science.

While Canada was among the high-level achievers, performance of the country's 15-year-olds in math has declined, with a 14-point dip in the past nine years. While performance in reading has remained relatively stable, the decline in science performance was "statistically significant," dipping from an average of 534 in 2006 and 529 in 2009.

Along gender lines, boys continued to outperform girls in math across most participating countries — including Canada — while girls placed ahead of boys in Canada and internationally in reading. The performance was similar among boys and girls in science.

'Slowly trending down'

Looking at Canada's scores in the context of being in the top 10 or 15th percentile is "good news," said Alberta Education Minister Jeff Johnson, chair of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). But he acknowledged Canada has been "slowly trending down" as have a number of other nations who have been high performers, including New Zealand, Sweden and Finland.

Johnson said it's also important to keep in mind that among countries and economic regions tested, high-achieving students in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau came from one country — China.

"If you look at countries on the whole, more strictly speaking, our numbers would even be higher. Still, very respectable numbers. But the one that we're paying extra attention to is the math because it's such a fundamental skill for the 21st century and because that's the area that the results have been trending downward on."

Johnson said there are several schools of thought about potential reasons for the decline in math scores, adding that he doesn't think there's "any one single bullet." However, what should be the point of discussion and focus surrounds the money and efforts needed to bolster training for educators, he noted.

"It seems from the study … some of the jurisdictions from around the world that are doing well spend more resources on teacher quality, teacher training and making sure that their math teachers have more specialized training in math and that is paying on," he added. "We're looking at those best practices all over, and not only from outside Canada but from within Canada as well."

Results vary

At the provincial level, only students in Quebec exceeded the Canadian average. Recognition of Quebec's performance was one of the reasons the province presented and led discussions when CMEC met last July in Nunavut, said Johnson. The approach to numeracy math was one of the items of discussion among the country's education ministers, he noted.

"Every jurisdiction is going to tackle this potentially a little bit differently and not every jurisdiction in Canada has the same results, either," he said.

"It's an ongoing process, a process of continuing improvement."

Johnson said there "a couple of silver linings" in the report: first, that Canadian students are still performing well and second, that equity among the results remains "very high."

"In Canada, it matters less who your parents were and what neighbourhood you live in than it does in many of the other countries around the world."

PISA2012 CanadianReport en Web (PDF)
PISA2012 CanadianReport en Web (Text)

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Cheese cultured from human bacteria inspires disgust

A new art exhibit at the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin showcases cheese cultured from an usual source — bacteria from people's bodies.

UCLA microbiologist Christina Agapakis was asked to collaborate with artists in Europe to create the cheese, which is cultured using bacteria gathered from various sites on human bodies.

Sissel Tolaas (left) and Christina Agapakis check the aroma of some of the cheese they produced. (Courtesy Science Gallery)

"So we had donors give us cotton swabs from different parts of their bodies and then I, in the lab, grew those cultures on petri dishes and then took the bacteria from the petri dishes and put it in the milk," Agapakis explains.

She says cheese fans might not realize that many of the bacteria types prized in traditional cheese-making are the same as those found on the human body.

"Between the toes, that's where you have lot of similarities with cheese bacteria," Agapakis says. "Toes were a prime location for swabbing. Armpits were another source we were interested in."
    
The cheeses, which are named after their donors, are intended to spark discussion but not meant to be eaten. Despite that, the cheeses have made people more than a little squeamish.

She says that's part of the point — to figure out what disgusts people and why.

"I think our boundaries change a lot. And it's different in different cultures where you have different acceptance of stinky cheeses … or different levels of cleanliness that are 'normal,'" Agapakis says.

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MPs doing poor job of connecting with citizens online: Samara report

You probably have opinions about your Member of Parliament. But do you have an opinion about your MP's website?

According to new analysis from the non-partisan think tank Samara, most MPs are missing out on opportunities to connect and engage with citizens online.

During August and September, Samara staff visited the websites of 300 MPs (excluding those of party leaders and then-empty ridings), and scored each site on a 14-point scale.

"There were three major things we were looking at with all the MP websites," explains Samara's Alison Loat.

'They don't require huge legislative changes. They don't require expensive public consultation. Changes can be made this afternoon.'- Alison Loat, Samara

"First, do they provide the basic information - who they are, where their offices are, how you can contact them. Second, do they explain what kind of job they're doing, both in Ottawa as well as in the riding. Third, do they use digital tools to connect with citizens, gather their points of view, and help them connect better with politics and get involved with it more directly."

If an MP listed their office hours, they got a point. If they offered a newsletter, they got a point. If they linked to Facebook and Twitter, they got a point. Bonus points were award for things like having a smartphone or tablet-friendly website.

Not a single MP website received a perfect score.

The average was 7 out of 14.

Loat sees significant room for improvement.

"There has been a decline in Canadians' interest in, and respect for, elected leaders over time," she says.

"We've seen huge drops in voter turnout over the last couple of generations. We have a slow, declining citizen engagement with politics, which I think at one point will affect quite dramatically the quality of leadership we have."

Loat says improved MP websites could help. "They don't require huge legislative changes. They don't require expensive public consultation. Changes can be made this afternoon."

Indeed, there are quick wins to be had. For instance, Samara found that only 15 per cent of MP sites list office hours. That's an easy fix.

Boosting civic engagement

Could better websites really increase civic engagement? Mark Blevis thinks so.

Blevis is a digital public affairs strategist at Ottawa-based Full Duplex. His company recently released a survey of "engaged" Canadians - those "who were active within the #cdnpoli community on Twitter."

The survey found that "half of engaged Canadians (52 per cent) have contacted a politician through social media; 72 per cent of these reported receiving a response, with 62 per cent noting they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the response they received."

Blevis sees MPs' websites as their online "hub."

"I like to think of them as digital constituency offices," he explains. "It's really important that they deliver the same type of service to the public online as they would if somebody were to walk into their [physical] constituency office."

On his website, Blevis features a series of "Digital Makeovers" for politicians' websites, where he breaks down what works and what doesn't.

Like Loat, Blevis says many MP sites could be improved by adding information. However, he stresses the importance of making that information easy to find.

"If you go to a website and you have to dig to find the information, it's not being delivered. People won't spend the time to dig through and find stuff, and will find that a lot of MP websites are convoluted or, as Samara has identified, are missing core pieces of information."

Impetus for change

So, if Samara's right and many MP websites have room for improvement, where's the impetus for change?

"My belief is that it comes from the politician," Blevis says, noting that not every MP embraces social media tools.

He cites MP Peter Stoffer - who prefers to communicate with constituents by telephone - as an example.

"He's not engaged online," explains Blevis. "And I don't mean this pejoratively. Digitally, he doesn't have the social media accounts that everybody is clamouring for these days. And that's just the way he rolls. He's a very different type of politician.

"It's personality-driven communication. And if it's in your personality to communicate with people through your website, or to engage with them through Twitter or through a blog … it really is driven by the individual. It's an extension of who you are, rather than a replacement."

If you want to assess your own MP's website, Samara has a 14-point checklist, and a full list of MPs at its website.

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Cyber Monday: How Canadian consumers are changing online shopping

Sharon Ng Hayes has been shopping online long enough to see the e-commerce revolution come around to beating a path to her front door.

The avid online shopper and co-founder of The Backseat Stylers fashion blog was buying clothes, shoes and accessories without leaving the comfort of her Toronto couch long before most Canadians started becoming comfortable offering up their credit card details over the internet.

And long before today's Cyber Monday — the U.S. shopping phenomenon following hot on the heels of Black Friday — became an annual American Thanksgiving marketing blitz  to encourage consumers to go online for their bargains.

Sharon Ng Hayes turned to online shopping - particularly from websites of U.S. retailers - when she couldn't find pricing and selection she liked in Canada. (Backseat Stylers)

​

Ng Hayes had turned to U.S. retail websites when she couldn't find the selection or prices she wanted at home, but now she is discovering more options on this side of the border, where Canadians spent $18.9 billion online last year, up 24 per cent over 2010 .

"A lot of the products that we could only get from the States we can actually get here now," says Ng Hayes.

In fact, shopping Canadian online has become so matter of fact that Ng Hayes recently decided to give up the Buffalo postal box she and a friend shared for about seven years to collect their online purchases from American and international retailers.

"A lot of our Canadian retailers, they're getting online and they're investing in their e-shop and we as consumers are really benefiting from that."

Double-digit increases

If Canadian consumers are indeed benefiting from online shopping, it is undoubtedly because they are driving how retailers are adapting their e-business.

"The consumer has taken full control of the shopping experience," says Ryan Brain, a partner and computer expert with consulting giant Deloitte in Toronto.

In a survey for Deloitte's holiday shopping outlook, almost 28 per cent of Canadians said they prefer to shop online rather than to go to the mall.

"It's a trend that's absolutely accelerating at a very notable pace," says Brain, noting that "double-digit" increases in online sales are expected for the foreseeable future

"We are seeing many retailers experiencing all of their growth through the online channel."

'For sure, they want it to be easy.'- Kirsten Chapman

Sales in traditional bricks-and-mortar stores are "either flat or, in many ways, declining for certain retailers."

And Brain sees two reasons for this online trend: It is because of what consumers "are saying is important to them;" and because retailers are offering more in terms of products than they have in the past.

All about convenience

Retailers are also paying more attention to their websites and making them more attractive for consumers. Sign-up forms and "check out" processes are being simplified, more delivery options are being offered at cheaper prices and more product information — sometimes with video — is on display.

"It's become a lot easier, and a lot of U.S. companies now have warehouses in Canada so that it's not shipping across the border," says Cathie Mostowyk, founder of Shoestring Shopping, a website featuring bargains and warehouse sale shopping in the Toronto area.

Retailers have also been taking note of consumers' concerns.

"For sure, they want it to be easy," says Kirsten Chapman, executive vice-president for online and mobile at Indigo Books + Music. "It's all about convenience."

Indigo has just launched a single-page checkout, and has a new mobile app for its customers. Online shoppers can now pick up their purchases for free in a store.

Other changes on the website include product ratings from customers who have purchased those goods. Videos have been added.

A worker prepares an item for delivery at Amazon's distribution centre in Phoenix, Ariz., where the web-based retailer is preparing for Cyber Monday. (Ralph D. Freso/Reuters)

Those changes come as Indigo's online sales have been increasing, while sales in stores have been declining.

Indigo's annual reports show online revenue rose from $90.6 million for the year ending April 2, 2011 to $91.9 million for the year ending March 30, 2013. At the same time, revenue from superstores and smaller stores fell from nearly $817 million to $762.3 million.

Last year's Cyber Monday was the "biggest online day ever" for the company, says Chapman, and she'll be watching closely for today's results.

"I think for us we want to really be focused on where the customer is at. The customer is moving to mobile and making sure that that experience is as great as it can be, and as easy as it can be is where we're focusing our attention."

No hunt for a parking spot

Along with the increased ease some customers find in shopping from a screen, there is also the physical convenience of avoiding the car to get to the mall.

"I think it's because people are looking for shortcuts to getting what they want on their terms," says Will Giles, a senior vice-president at MasterCard.

'There isn't very much nowadays that you would want to buy that you can't buy online.'- Sharon Ng Hayes

"There are no lineups, no searching for parking, the pricing is generally very good and it doesn't have the same boundaries or borders as bricks and mortar does, so I can really shop around the world from my sofa."

A survey for MasterCard after the 2012 holiday shopping season found that online sales increased 26 per cent over the previous year.

But over the past couple of years, MasterCard had also identified a couple of factors holding people back from online shopping.

"Historically, people have always been a little untrusting of sites [where] they weren't familiar with the merchant," says Giles.

People also didn't like filling out long forms, which can be particularly difficult or frustrating on the smaller screen of a smartphone.

That led to MasterCard to the introduction of MasterPass, a product the lender hopes will offset such worries through a simplified way of completing purchases with retailers who have signed on with the service.

Room for improvement

As a shopper, Ng has seen online shopping opportunities getting better across the board in Canada.

"There isn't very much nowadays that you would want to buy that you can't buy online," she says. "Not that long ago, you couldn't say that, especially here in Canada."

Still there are some areas where she sees room for improvement: free shipping and delivery, for example.

"I think at this point that's pretty key when a customer is making a decision as to whether to purchase online."

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High Arctic space weather tracking grid expanded

New Brunswick researchers have returned from the Arctic frontier after installing gear that will allow them to explore high into the atmosphere.

The excursion successfully expanded the Canadian High Arctic Ionosphere Network. CHAIN is a space weather monitoring grid that maps radiation blooms coming from the sun and solar winds. That space weather impacts everything from cell phone signals, navigation systems to commercial plane routes on Earth.

Space physicist P.T. Jayachandran of the University of New Brunswick recently returned from the Arctic, where additional equipment was installed to help monitor space weather. (Shane Fowler)

"We installed eight more GPS systems to the network," says project head and space physicist P.T. Jayachandran. "So currently we have 18 up and running."

Those 18 stations monitor the ionosphere, a region 90 kilometres above the Earth's surface. It is there that particles charged by the sun start to bombard the planet. At times that interaction is visible as the Northern lights. But its weather has big implications because of today's reliance on technology.

Cell-phones, flight paths, and air-traffic are all things that suffer when that space weather turns nasty.

"We process all that data here UNB," says Jayachandran, a physics professor at the University of New Brunswick whose research focuses on solar wind, the magnetosphere and the ionosphere  "With it we can build a map in real time. That gets sent out all over the world.

"Airlines that use circumpolar routes use it to map their routes over the Arctic," says Jayachandran. "These routes are economical to operate and route diversion due to space weather events will add additional cost to their operation."

Because Earth's electromagnetic field offers little or no protection from radiation above its poles, it is there that electronic communication and signalling systems on aircraft are most vulnerable to inclement space weather. As air traffic increases, and the North continues to develop, a mapped forecast of that weather becomes increasingly valuable.

The recent expansion is just the latest in an effort to bolster the network to a total of 25 stations by next summer.

"By expanding to 25 we have increased the spacial and temporal resolution of the data we collect," says Jayachandran. "That means we can precisely pinpoint where the action is."

But the CHAIN network isn't stopping there. As the network grows, so does the resolution of the mapping. Just as with everyday weather forecasts there is a growing market for this information, so another 20 stations are slated to be built even after next year's expansion.

"That means we can basically look at things which we haven't looked at before so that we can understand this phenomenon at the fundamental level."

Once CHAIN grows to 45 Arctic outposts, Jayachandran hopes that researchers will start to be able to build somewhat predictive forecasts, although he admits it is difficult when this type of weather is generated 150 million miles away in the centre of the solar system.

"It's tough, but we're getting there," says Jayachandran.

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Amazon drones? CEO predicts deliveries from the sky in 5 years

Amazon.com Inc. is testing drones that it hopes will deliver packages to customers within the next five years, company CEO Jeff Bezos said.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS's 60 Minutes, Bezos said the small, unmanned aircraft could deliver packages that weigh up to 2.3 kilograms to homes within 16 kilometres of the company's distribution centres. 

The aim would be half-hour delivery.

A video from the Seattle-based company showed a drone labelled "Amazon PrimeAir" taking a package from a distribution centre to a customer's front yard. 

"In urban areas, you could actually cover very significant portions of the population," Bezos said. "It won't work for everything — we're not going to deliver kayaks or table saws this way. These are electric motors, so this is all electric. It's very green. It's better than driving trucks around."

The drones would be autonomous, flying to programmed GPS co-ordinates.

"The hard part here is putting in all the redundancy, all the reliability, all the systems you need to say — look, this thing can't land on somebody's head while they're walking around their neighbourhood."

Bezos said the drones couldn't be put in place until 2015 because it would take that long to work out regulations with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. He said he optimistically hopes the drones could be delivering packages in four or five years. 

"It will work and it will happen and it's going to be a lot of fun," he said.

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Comet ISON not dead yet

At least part of comet ISON likely survived the comet's graze past the sun Thursday, a new scientific analysis shows, despite initial widespread agreement that the comet had likely been fried to bits.

"Late-night analysis from scientists with NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign suggest that there is at least a small nucleus intact," NASA reported in a news release Friday morning, adding that the latest news was "continuing a history of surprising behaviour" for the comet.

The nucleus is the loosely packed ball of frozen gas, rock and dust that makes up the core of a comet. As a comet moves close to the sun, that material vapourizes and spews from the surface, creating a bright "coma" or atmosphere that can expand into a long tail.

On Thursday, numerous solar observatories were pointed at ISON as it passed within 1.6 million kilometres of the sun at 1:37 p.m. ET.

In the four hours afterward, it could not be seen on the other side of the sun by either NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft or by ground-based solar observatories, leading may scientists to suggest that the comet had likely been destroyed by the sun's heat during its close encounter.

The European Space Agency (ESA) officially declared the comet dead on Twitter.

However, a bright streak of material was seen on the other side of the sun in images captured by the ESA and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory "later in the evening," NASA reported.

Initially, NASA solar physicist Alex Young told The Associated Press that the streak was most likely just a trail of dust.

However, instead of fading, that trail appeared to get brighter Friday, suggesting "at least some small fraction of ISON has remained in one piece," U.S. navy solar researcher Karl Battams wrote on his blog.

The ESA also backtracked on its declaration, tweeting Friday morning, "Well well, it seems reports of comet #ison's demise have been greatly exaggerated!"

ESA comet expert Gerhard Schwehm later tweeted that from his initial look at the SOHO images, the comet's nucleus has "mostly disintegrated," but more analysis was needed.

Battams also cautioned on his blog that even if a solid nucleus remained, it might not survive for long.

Researchers were still not sure why many solar observatories were unable to see the comet after its close encounter with the sun. 

A post on the website of ESA's Proba 2 satellite Friday suggested it was possible that ISON:

• Didn't release enough material to be visible because it wasn't close enough to the sun to cause enough heat and evaporation.
• Wasn't made up of the right ingredients – for example, it didn't contain enough iron – to glow in the colours that the Proba 2 satellite could see.

Comet ISON is unique and has been of great scientific interest because it is the first sun-grazing comet ever observed from the Oort Cloud, a vast region of comets and debris near the edge of the solar system, far beyond the outermost planets. It is also one of the largest sun-grazing comets ever observed.

Another view from SOHO's C2 chronograph shows Comet ISON appearing bright as it streams toward the sun (right). it can be seen as a dim streak heading upward and out in the left image. The comet may still be intact. (ESA/NASA/SOHO/Jhelioviewer)

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Oldest Buddhist shrine found at Buddha's birthplace

A shrine consistent with the story of the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, has been uncovered within a later shrine long thought to be his possible birthplace.

The teachings on which Buddhism, a world religion with an estimated 500 million followers, is based are said to have originated with Buddha.

According to an inscription on a pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 249 BC, Buddha was born in 623 BC in Lumbini, Nepal, although his birth date varies from 800 BC to 400 BC in other accounts. Buddhists believe that his mother had been on her way to her parents' house to give birth, but that she stopped in Lumbini along the way, and ended up giving birth while clinging to a tree in the gardens.

Now, archaeologists at Lumbini have uncovered the oldest known Buddhist shrine, dating back to the 6th century BC. And evidence suggests that it was originally built around a tree.

"It can be no mere coincidence that what we have is one of the earliest known Buddhist shrines at Lumbini, which is focused around a tree," said Robin Coningham, an archaeologist who helped make the discovery, in an interview with CBC's Quirks & Quarks that airs Saturday.

"It's one of those rare occasions where actually you get belief, tradition, archaeology and science all beginning to come together."

Buddhist monasteries and shrines have long existed in Lumbini, the oldest known being Emperor Asoka's pillar, dating back to the 3rd century BC.

Lumbini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also home to the Mayadevi Temple, which is popular with Buddhist pilgrims and houses the archaeological remains of earlier temples inside it.

Coningham, a professor in the department of archeology at Durham University in England, was part of an archaeological team tasked with seeing how the infrastructure of the temple could be upgraded to accommodate the million pilgrims that visit every year without damaging the archaeological remains.

The team first worked on the visible remains of a brick temple inside the modern temple, and were puzzled by a void in the middle that had no brick or tile.

An idol of Buddha is silhouetted at the Tibetan Monastery in Lumbini, which is the birthplace of Buddha, according to an inscription on a 3rd century pillar at the site. (REUTERS)

Digging below that temple, they found the remains of an earlier brick temple, with the same void in the middle.

Finally, at the very bottom, they hit yellow clay with very visible post holes, along with burnt charcoal suggesting that the very oldest structure had been made of wood. It too had the void in the middle.

"The central area was open to the sky," Coningham told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald. "It had never been covered, even in the earliest occupation."

Sinuous patterns in the soil suggested that tree roots had once wound through.

"Then it began to be absolutely clear what we had found," Coningham said. "What we had were a series of shrines, all built around a tree… For many Buddhists, this will be a confirmation of their beliefs."

Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal suggested that the original wooden shrine was built in the 6th century BC.

For Coningham, that means a "very real" Buddhist cult existed at Lumbini even then.

The results of the research were published in the December issue of the journal Antiquity.

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St. Lawrence belugas threatened by pipeline plans

A beluga whale habitat near Rivière-du-Loup may be in jeopardy if plans go ahead for the Energy East pipeline.

TransCanada wants to build a pipeline to ship oil from Alberta to refineries in Eastern Canada and put a port in Cacouna, just northeast of Rivière-du-Loup, to help get it there.

But these plans put a port right in the middle of an at-risk beluga population.

More about belugas

The beluga is a small, toothed whale of the Monodontidae family, found in the northern hemisphere and adapted to Arctic and subarctic conditions. The species is characterized by the absence of a dorsal fin, a thick skin and tough dorsal ridge (used to break ice), and a rounded structure, called a melon, on the dorsal surface of the head, which is filled with lipids and facilitates echolocation.

Adults are distinguished by their white skin. An adult beluga can weigh up to 1,900 kg and grow to between 2.6 and 4.5 m in length, the female adult attaining only 80 per cent of the male's length, or up to 3.5 m.

Info taken from Species At Risk Public Registry

However, Le Devoir reported this week that TransCanada also foresees using the pipeline and port to export oil to other countries.

Meanwhile, the deepwater St. Lawrence Estuary beluga population is a species at risk of extinction and is protected under the Species At Risk Act. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the St. Lawrence is home to an estimated 1,000 belugas.

Because of the species' protected status, the federal government has to protect its habitat.

As the scientific director of Marine Mammals Research and Education Group (known by its French-language acronym, GREMM), Robert Michaud is concerned for the belugas' survival.

"The building of that deepwater wharf will bring a lot of noise and traffic," he says.

"If the sound is more distant, there will be some behavioural response. The heaviest response could be leaving the area," Michaud explains.

"It could mask their usable communication, their activity for finding food or for navigating. High sounds, very powerful sounds... they could have even physical damage."

Michaud says the area is not yet a protected zone because the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has yet to receive a decree from Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans biologist Hugues Bouchard says not having the decree doesn't change anything because protecting the belugas' habitat will be a priority once TransCanada presents its pipeline project for review.

Bouchard says the minister is expected to issue a decree protecting the habitat within months.

The St. Lawrence is home to about 1,000 belugas. The whales are at risk of extinction and their habitat may be destroyed if a port is built near Rivière-du-Loup. (GREMM)

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Comet ISON not dead yet

At least part of comet ISON likely survived the comet's graze past the sun Thursday, a new scientific analysis shows, despite initial widespread agreement that the comet had likely been fried to bits.

"Late-night analysis from scientists with NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign suggest that there is at least a small nucleus intact," NASA reported in a news release Friday morning, adding that the latest news was "continuing a history of surprising behaviour" for the comet.

The nucleus is the loosely packed ball of frozen gas, rock and dust that makes up the core of a comet. As a comet moves close to the sun, that material vapourizes and spews from the surface, creating a bright "coma" or atmosphere that can expand into a long tail.

On Thursday, numerous solar observatories were pointed at ISON as it passed within 1.6 million kilometres of the sun at 1:37 p.m. ET.

In the four hours afterward, it could not be seen on the other side of the sun by either NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft or by ground-based solar observatories, leading may scientists to suggest that the comet had likely been destroyed by the sun's heat during its close encounter.

The European Space Agency (ESA) officially declared the comet dead on Twitter.

However, a bright streak of material was seen on the other side of the sun in images captured by the ESA and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory "later in the evening," NASA reported.

Initially, NASA solar physicist Alex Young told The Associated Press that the streak was most likely just a trail of dust.

However, instead of fading, that trail appeared to get brighter Friday, suggesting "at least some small fraction of ISON has remained in one piece," U.S. navy solar researcher Karl Battams wrote on his blog.

The ESA also backtracked on its declaration, tweeting Friday morning, "Well well, it seems reports of comet #ison's demise have been greatly exaggerated!"

ESA comet expert Gerhard Schwehm later tweeted that from his initial look at the SOHO images, the comet's nucleus has "mostly disintegrated," but more analysis was needed.

Battams also cautioned on his blog that even if a solid nucleus remained, it might not survive for long.

Researchers were still not sure why many solar observatories were unable to see the comet after its close encounter with the sun. 

A post on the website of ESA's Proba 2 satellite Friday suggested it was possible that ISON:

• Didn't release enough material to be visible because it wasn't close enough to the sun to cause enough heat and evaporation.
• Wasn't made up of the right ingredients – for example, it didn't contain enough iron – to glow in the colours that the Proba 2 satellite could see.

Comet ISON is unique and has been of great scientific interest because it is the first sun-grazing comet ever observed from the Oort Cloud, a vast region of comets and debris near the edge of the solar system, far beyond the outermost planets. It is also one of the largest sun-grazing comets ever observed.

Another view from SOHO's C2 chronograph shows Comet ISON appearing bright as it streams toward the sun (right). it can be seen as a dim streak heading upward and out in the left image. The comet may still be intact. (ESA/NASA/SOHO/Jhelioviewer)

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