All posts tagged: zones

Scotland’s Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Rum Igneous Complex and Barrow Zones join list of world’s top geology locations | UK News

Scotland’s Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Rum Igneous Complex and Barrow Zones join list of world’s top geology locations | UK News

Published by skeptic

Three Scottish sites have been included in a new list of internationally important geological locations. The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, the Rum Igneous Complex, and the Barrow Zones have been selected for the International Union of Geological Sciences’ second list of 100 geological heritage sites. As with the first 100, these sites are deemed to be of high scientific value and are the world’s best demonstrations of geological features and processes. “They are the sites of fabulous discoveries of the Earth and its history,” NatureScot explained. Image: Glen Roy National Nature Reserve. Pic: NatureScot The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy can be found within NatureScot’s Glen Roy National Nature Reserve. It is home to a suite of glacial lake shorelines that informed the development of glacial theory in the 19th century. Three shorelines, or ‘parallel roads’, are evidence that glaciers were once in an area where none exist today. Image: The Rum Cuillin. Pic: Lorne Gill/NatureScot The Rum Igneous Complex is within NatureScot’s Rum National Nature Reserve. It is regarded as the “internal plumbing” …

A short story by The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling is published for the first time

A short story by The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling is published for the first time

Published by skeptic

Rod Serling enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating high school. He trained to be a paratrooper and was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division’s 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment Courtesy of Anne Serling hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of Anne Serling Rod Serling enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating high school. He trained to be a paratrooper and was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division’s 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment Courtesy of Anne Serling There’s a reason Rod Serling is considered one of scripted television’s most daring and incisive storytellers and much of it comes from his experiences in WWII. The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning creator of The Twilight Zone spent three years as a paratrooper during WWII. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery and a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds he suffered to his wrist and knee. Serling enlisted to fight the Nazis the day after he graduated from Binghamton Central High School in New York. Even though he was a slight 5’4, he completed his training as a paratrooper and …

The gray zones around defense cooperation

The gray zones around defense cooperation

Published by skeptic

French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, January 22, 2024. GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP French-Israeli defense cooperation is under pressure. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, there has been a steady stream of criticism against countries that continue to export arms to Israel, whose operations in the Gaza Strip have been widely criticized. On April 5, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for an “embargo” on all arms destined for Israel. France abstained from voting, but the resolution cast a new shadow over bilateral defense cooperation, already on a narrow path. When it comes to armaments, equipment transfers from France to Israel represent only a tiny percentage of French defense exports: 0.2%, out of a total of €27 billion in 2022, or around €15 million for armaments deliveries, and €34 million, out of a total of €8.8 billion, for so-called “dual-use” goods, according to the latest figures available. These export licenses concern “essentially transfers of spare …

Astronaut Recalls Spacecrafts Flying Through Deadly “Black Zones”

Astronaut Recalls Spacecrafts Flying Through Deadly “Black Zones”

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“You would not survive if you had certain failures.” Drop Dead In a matter of days, NASA astronauts Suni Wiliams and Butch Wilmore will launch on board the first-ever crewed Boeing Starliner to travel to the International Space Station. The pair have been in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center since April 22 for the daring journey. Boeing’s much-maligned Starliner has faced years of setbacks and major technical issues. Fortunately, the brave astronauts say the trip should be smoother than previous journeys into space. The spacecraft allows the two astronauts to avoid “black zones,” as Fox Weather reports, which are areas where a crew would not survive in case of failure. That’s a big upgrade over their previous trips onboard NASA’s space shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. “There were many what we call the term ‘black zones,’ where if you had specific failures in certain parts of the trajectory as you’re getting into orbit, you could not survive,” Wilmore told Fox Weather, recalling his previous trips into orbit. “You would not survive if you had …

Belgian insurer urges politicians to strengthen low emission zones | Low emission zones

Belgian insurer urges politicians to strengthen low emission zones | Low emission zones

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One of Belgium’s mutual health insurers has been taking a closer look at the country’s three low emission zones. Dr Luk Bruyneel, a health and economics expert at Mutualités Libres, explained: “As a health insurance fund, we have to protect the health of our members. As air pollution is a major health risk, we want to contribute evidence to the debate. Health insurance data for our 2.3 million members allows us to produce high-quality studies on health risks from air pollution.” Antwerp was the first city to set up a zone in 2017. This was followed by Brussels, and then Ghent. Like London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), and more than 320 schemes across Europe, the Belgian zones are designed to improve air pollution by deterring the most polluting vehicles from driving on city streets (generally the oldest diesels). As a key player in Belgium’s public health care, Mutualités Libres wanted to understand if the three zones had changed the air breathed by its members. It was not possible to make measurements at each person’s home, …

Our Cities Turn Into War Zones Every Night

Our Cities Turn Into War Zones Every Night

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From coast to coast, radical prosecutors and progressive politicians have been pushing illogical criminal justice policies that not only have backfired but transformed many once-safe Democrat-controlled cities into crime-ridden hellholes. Go down the list of cities. Whether it’s New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Chicago, or San Francisco, and the list goes on and on – these metros are plagued with violent crime, out-of-control youth, carjackings, murders, drug crises, the homelessness crisis, theft waves, and unvetted migrants. The latest sign some of the bluest American cities continue their transformation into ‘war zone’-like conditions while progressive lawmakers ignore law and order is an illegal “teen takeover” event in Democratic-controlled Memphis, Tennessee.  On Saturday evening, Memphis police initially reported 16 people were shot during a block party in the 2400 block of Carnes Avenue in the Orange Mound neighborhood. It was later reported that five victims had gunshot wounds – two males were pronounced dead at the scene, and three others were taken to the hospital in critical condition.  X video shows the moment when a …

Can green hydrogen production help bring oceanic dead zones back to life?

Can green hydrogen production help bring oceanic dead zones back to life?

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This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. Douglas Wallace was on a research ship in the middle of Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence when he heard the news: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had met with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, in nearby Stephenville, Newfoundland. At their meeting in August 2022, the two leaders locked in Canada’s commitment to supply Germany with hydrogen gas. They chose to declare the “Canada-Germany hydrogen alliance” in Stephenville because the town is the site of the proposed World Energy GH2 project, a facility that will use wind power to produce hydrogen gas. The announcement allowed the world leaders to demonstrate the shared goals of increasing the availability of so-called green hydrogen and of reducing Germany’s reliance on Russian oil. But for Wallace, the news triggered a different idea. At sea, Wallace, an oceanographer at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, was tracking how dissolved oxygen moves from the Atlantic Ocean through the gulf into the St. Lawrence …

Humanists UK welcome Labour’s commitment for protest buffer zones around schools

Humanists UK welcome Labour’s commitment for protest buffer zones around schools

Published by Sam

Pictured: Keir Starmer – Leader of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor (CC BY-NC 2.0) Flickr Humanists UK has welcomed a commitment from Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, that a Labour government would introduce 150 metre protest buffer zones outside schools. Sir Keir’s promise comes after the release of Dame Sara Khan’s Social Cohesion Review, to which Humanists UK submitted evidence. Among the many recommendations was one for a 150m buffer zone around primary and secondary schools to block intimidating or  ‘freedom-restricting’ activists from demonstrating outside school gates and subjecting families and teachers to harassment. In recent years schools have been subjected to protests from religious parents and groups in response to LGBT-inclusive Relationships and Sex Education and the portrayal of Muhammad in teaching resources about ‘blasphemy’. Speaking to the press in support of the proposal late last week Sir Keir said schools ‘should not be a place for protest’. Previously, Muslim-led protests in Birmingham over LGBT content in lessons became so disruptive to learning that the …

Climate change is shifting the zones where plants grow

Climate change is shifting the zones where plants grow

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This article was originally featured on The Conversation. With the arrival of spring in North America, many people are gravitating to the gardening and landscaping section of home improvement stores, where displays are overstocked with eye-catching seed packs and benches are filled with potted annuals and perennials. But some plants that once thrived in your yard may not flourish there now. To understand why, look to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent update of its plant hardiness zone map, which has long helped gardeners and growers figure out which plants are most likely to thrive in a given location. The 2023 USDA plant hardiness zone map shows the areas where plants can be expected to grow, based on extreme winter temperatures. Darker shades (purple to blue) denote colder zones, phasing southward into temperate (green) and warm zones (yellow and orange). Credit: USDA Comparing the 2023 map to the previous version from 2012 clearly shows that as climate change warms the Earth, plant hardiness zones are shifting northward. On average, the coldest days of winter in our current climate, …

Flexible, resilient origami-inspired bridges could help navigate disaster zones

Flexible, resilient origami-inspired bridges could help navigate disaster zones

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Origami traditionally involves the creation of extremely delicate paper structures, but the art form’s underlying principles could soon be adapted to help navigate tough construction situations. That’s the theory behind a new series of collapsible components designed by a team of University of Michigan engineering professors. When unfolded and assembled using hinges and locks, the researchers’ pieces combine to become extremely sturdy modular structures. Given their design’s impressive durability and spatial economy, the new origami-inspired constructions could be deployed across natural disaster zones, or even in outer space. The collaborators have detailed their work in a new study published on March 15 in Nature Communications. While the creators used mid-density fiberboard frames alongside aluminum hinges and locking mechanisms in their first tests, they believe materials such as plastic, encased glass, or metal could all work in future iterations. In one lab example, engineers utilized a single square-foot’s worth of their lattice-like, repeating triangular fiberboard pieces and metal hinges. Despite altogether weighing barely 16-pounds, the parts could combine into a 3.3-foot-tall column capable of supporting over …