Daily Archives: September 14, 2021

A new electric solar car project with a living extension and expandable solar panels is giving us a glimpse into what the future might hold for RV/van life.

Solar Team Eindhoven, a group of engineering students from theTechnical University of Eindhoven(Netherlands), is probably the most famous team that has competed in theWorld Solar Challenge, a competition to create super-efficient solar cars.

The people behind Lightyear came up from that team, and now they are trying to use the knowledge acquired through the creation of the original Stella and Stella Lux solar carsto bring to market a road-legal solar car.

Now the latest Solar Team Eindhoven has unveiled a new project called Stella Vita:

Stella Vita is a Self-sustaining House On Wheels. This means that the mobile house is self-sufficient in terms of energy. Through solar panels on the roof, it is independent of charging stations. The vehicle generates enough solar energy to drive, shower, watch TV, charge your laptop, and make coffee.

Like the previous Stella vehicles, theres a focus on efficiency and solar integration, but the new version is also a deployable mobile home.

When stationary, the roof can be raised to create an extension and deployable solar panels come out the sides.

The bigger surface enables for more solar power to charge the vehicle and power some appliances:

The solar house on wheels has a roof that slides up when stationary. This makes it easy to stand inside to cook, sleep or work. In addition, extra solar panels fold out when the roof is raised, doubling the solar surface to as much as 17.5 square metres. For daily use, a comfortable interior has been designed that is as light and efficient as possible. By using energy efficiently, Stella Vita can travel up to 730 km on a sunny day.

The team plans to take the prototype Stella Vita on a monthlong road trip from Eindhoven to the southernmost tip of Spain while only using energy from the sun.

Now obviously, like the previous student solar cars, the vehicle is not equipped with all the necessary safety features to be road legal.

But its still an interesting testbed for some technology that I could see become common in electric vehicles used for traveling and living, like electric RVs and vans the main one being the expandable solar system.

We know that solar on moving vehicles is not ideal, but a deployable system for when stationary is something that could be very valuable.

This solution looks pretty cool. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Electric car with extension and expandable solar offers a glimpse of future RV life - Electrek.co

The Canadian oil and gas industry recovery gained steam in Newfoundland Wednesday with a commitment to restart a mothballed Grand Banks production platform and the revival of an expansion for a second North Atlantic site.

Cenovus Energy Inc., Murphy Oil Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc. are planning an ownership overhaul to begin a 10-year asset life extension project for the dormant Terra Nova field. The field is around 250 kilometers (155 miles) offshore St. Johns.

The agreement also makes an ownership change in the neighboring White Rose field. The shuffle spreads partner risk to improve the outlook for rescuing a C$3.2 billion ($2.6 billion) addition called West White Rose that the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted.

The Terra Nova rebirth provides a superior value proposition for our shareholders compared with the alternative of abandoning and decommissioning, said Cenovus President Alex Pourbaix. While we are still evaluating whether to proceed with West White Rose, the capital risk in our portfolio will be reduced if we decide to move forward.

Suncor President Mark Little acknowledged deep collaboration and support from the provincial and federal governments, which has been crucial to helping us reach this important milestone.

The help, justified by the governments as job support for a province notoriously lacking in well paid employment, includes a grant of up to C$205 million ($164 million), plus a forecast C$300 million ($240 million) in future royalty reductions.

At Terra Nova, Suncor ownership increased by 10% to 48%. The share held by Cenovus, acquired with its takeover of Husky Energy Inc., jumped to 34% from 13%. Murphy raised its stake to 18% from 10%.

At White Rose, Cenovus cut its ownership of the original field to 60% from 72.5% and to 56.38% from 68.87% iin the planned new wells. Suncor picked up the shares dropped by Cenovus.

Asset prices paid for ownership rights that changed hands in the Canadian offshore oil overhaul were not disclosed. The deal eliminated the original minority partners in 19-year-old Terra Nova, which were Chevron Corp., Equinor ASA, ExxonMobil and Mosbacher Operating Ltd.

The restructured Terra Nova consortium predicted production would resume in 2023 at an initial rate of 29,000 b/dy, after maintenance in Newfoundland and a refit in Spain for the fields floating production, storage and offloading vessel.

Operational problems shut down 19-year-old Terra Nova in December 2019. The oil price slump inflicted soon afterwards by the coronavirus stalled repairs. At its height a decade ago, the field flowed 100,000-110,000 b/d.

Depleting wells tapped by the 16-year-old White Rose platform were down to about 14,500 b/d this summer, 88% below the fields youthful peak of 120,000 b/d.

The only other Canadian offshore oilfields, which are Hibernia and Hebron that are also on the Grand Banks, produced a combined total of about 270,400 b/d this summer, according to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board.

See the article here:

Cenovus, Murphy and Suncor Look to Revive Production Offshore Newfoundland - Natural Gas Intelligence

IMMORTALITY could be soon a scientific possibility - but it could only be avaliable for the world's super-rich.

Billionaires, tyrants and celebs are ploughing their immense wealth into incredible anti-aging technology and bizarre treatments that could one day allow humans to live forever.

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Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Steven Seagal, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other tech execs and entrepreneurs are linked to projects that aim to delay the causes of aging and even reverse the human biological clock.

Some experts have speculated that humans could achieve immortality by 2050.

Life-extending treatments can range from replacing blood or taking regenerative medicines.

But more other more outlandish ideas include being able to replace entire body parts with artificial mechanisms or potentially even downloading your mind into an immortal robot body.

Incredible advances in medicine and science have meant that our life expectancy has doubled in the last 200 years - with the UK's going from around 40 in the 1800s to now being about 80.

So with humans constantly living longer and living better later in life, who knows how old we could one day become?

Exclusive

Probably the strangest, but potentially groundbreaking method has involved rich people injecting blood from teenagers to stop the aging process.

More than 100 people have taken part in a clinical trial at a San Francisco startup offering blood transfusions for older patients.

The procedure costs 6,200 and sees the patient whose average age is about 60 injected with two and a half litres of plasma taken from (presumably clean-living) young people.

This is the liquid element of blood that remains after other cells have been removed.

Jesse Karmazin, a Stanford-trained scientist who founded the US clinic, told The Sunday Times initial results had been encouraging.

Mr Karmazin said: "It could help improve things such as appearance or diabetes or heart function or memory. These are all the aspects of ageing that have a common cause.

"Im not really in the camp of saying this will provide immortality but I think it comes pretty close, essentially."

"No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that," Dr Pearson said.

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Meanwhile, North Korea is reported to have had an interest in trying to ensure their glorious leaders - Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung - live forever.

Kim Il-sung is claimed have set up a "Longevity Center" that he ordered to help him live to 100.

Treatments included blood transfusions from young people who were fed with nutritious food before hand to ensure the "Eternal President" stayed eternal, reported CNN.

Esteemed futurologist Dr Ian Pearson told The Sun he believed humans are very close to achieving everlasting life as long as you can make it to the year 2050.

He reveals that one way to extend life would be to use biotechnologies and medicine to keep renewing the body, and rejuvenating it.

No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that, Dr Pearson said.

One way, he said, was genetic engineering that prevents (or reverses) the aging of cells.

Another method, you could replace vital body organs with new parts.

Many scientists around the world are working on creating human organs in labs or by using 3D printers loaded with living cells, which could one day make human organ donors redundant.

But Dr Pearson thinks it's much more likely that we'll extend our lives in a different way: robots.

He said: "A long time before we get to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we feel like, we'll be able to link our minds to the machine world so well, we'll effectively be living in the cloud.

If your biological self dies, you can upload into a new unit... Literally

Billionaire Elon Musks company Neuralink is already working towards a brain-machine interface that would fundamentally integrate us with our technology.

The Tesla boss believes such technology could eventually allow humans to develop a copy of themselves which will live even after their body dies.

He told CNBC: "If your biological self dies, you can upload into a new unit. Literally."

Meanwhile, fellow tech billionaire Jeff Bezos is backing research into ways to stop aging is being backed by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, according to a new report.

TAltos Labs is a Silicon Valley firm that's been offering scientists big salaries to do some anti-aging research and biological reprogramming.

According to a report by MIT Technology Review, Bezos is one of the company's big investors.

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Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner is also said to be financially backing the anti-aging company.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka will be joining the firm's advisory board.

Yamanaka won a Nobel Prize for research into reversing the age of cells.

The groundbreaking scientist told MIT Technology Review: "Although there are many hurdles to overcome, there is huge potential."

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has been linked to a Russian factory that is working on anti-aging pills.

The 68-year-old leader, who is famed for his poker face resulting from his excessive use of Botox, has revisited the Biocad plant in St Petersburg.

Here he reviewed the development of youth pills that would increase life to 130 years in just 20 or 30 years.

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Last year the Russian strongman won a vote that could pave the way for him to rule until the end of life.

This came after Putins pal, actor Steven Seagal, pleaded with him to back support of the "Russia 2045" which aims to make Russia the centre of immortality and artificial body research.

In an open letter to the leader, Seagal said: "I am appealing to you, hoping that we may have the opportunity for a mutually beneficial enterprise making the world a better place

"It seems as though now you are placing more emphasis on life expectancy and life extension issues.

"I can see that you are actively working hard on coming up with solutions that lead Russia into the future confidently."

The movement is the project of multi-millionaire media mogul Dmitry Itskov focusing on combining brain emulation and robotics to create forms of cyborgs.

This is a robotic copy of a human body with a brain-computer interface that will carry your head once your first body dies.

Another alternative that is being proposed is a "completely non-biological" body and brain onto which your consciousness can be uploaded.

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Inside super-richs quest to LIVE FOREVER with injected blood from teenagers, lab grown organs, & robot b... - The US Sun

Published 8 hours ago

Submitted by LG Electronics USA, Inc.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., September 14, 2021 /CSRwire/ LG Electronics USAs Lifes Good: Experience Happiness program, in collaboration with worldwide edtech leader Discovery Education, is launching Happiness in Action, a no-cost Virtual Field Trip (VFT) dedicated to teaching students how to put the Six Sustainable Happiness Skillsmindfulness, human connection, gratitude, positive outlook, purpose, and generosityinto action.

The VFT is the latest endeavor of Discover Your Happy, an extension of LGs award-winning Experience Happiness program in partnership with Discovery Education, the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Discover Your Happy strives to provide all students, educators, and families with hands-on resources and lifelong social-emotional skills for improved emotional wellness and to achieve sustainable happiness.

As many students face uncertainty and stress about what the back-to-school learning environment will look like this year, its a pivotal time for discourse around mental health and wellbeing, according to Laura Barbieri, corporate social responsibility manager at LG Electronics USA.

Premiering on Thursday, Sept. 16 at 1:00 p.m. ET, go behind-the-scenes with the Discover Your Happy: Happiness in Action Virtual Field Trip into the lives of real-life teens sharing how they prioritize their mental wellbeing. Using the Six Sustainable Happiness Skills, these teens show how each person can bring these skills to life daily while spreading happiness in local communities. Special guests will include industry leaders and experts in the science of happiness, social-emotional learning, and K-12 education. The virtual experience also features accompanying educator resources and student activities, making it easy for teachers to incorporate rich media into the learning experiences they design and deliver every day.

With the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on students mental health, discussions around how to build happiness are more important than ever, and were pleased to partner with Discovery Education again this fall to offer an interactive way for students to celebrate back-to-school while prioritizing their mental wellbeing, said Barbieri, who leads the Experience Happiness program.

As students and educators kick off another school year, this new virtual experience with LG introduces them to science-backed skills that will help them build lifelong happiness, said Beth Meyer, vice president of social impact at Discovery Education.

The Happiness in Action Virtual Field Trip is open to the public, and you can register to watch and access additional resources here. In addition, LG encourages viewers to celebrate the back-to-school season by watching the VFT live or throughout the month of September and posting photos of your classroom or at-home watch party using the hashtag #LGVFTWatchParty to share how you build happiness skills.

# # #

About Lifes Good: Experience Happiness

Aiming to enrich the lives of 5.5 million youth in the United States by 2022, LG Electronics USA launched a unique initiative called Lifes Good: Experience Happiness. Happiness skills can be learned, according to the Greater Good Science Center at University of California Berkeley, which has identified six skills that sustain ones ability to recognize that lifes good: mindfulness, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity and gratitude. LGs award-winning science-based platform is designed to engage leading non-profit and academic partners including Inner Explorer; Be Strong; the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, and Discovery Education that help equip American youth with the skills for sustainable happiness. LGExperienceHappiness.com

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education atwww.discoveryeducation.com.

Media Contacts:

LG Electronics USA

John I. Taylor201 816 2166john.taylor@lge.com

Jenna Wollin646 376 4201jwollin@mww.com

LG Electronics USA, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $55 billion global innovator in technology and manufacturing. In the United States, LG sells a wide range of innovative energy efficient home appliances, home entertainment products, mobile phones, commercial displays, air conditioning systems, solar energy solutions, LED lighting and vehicle components. LGs focus on environmental sustainability and its Lifes Good marketing theme encompass how LG is dedicated to peoples happiness by exceeding expectations today and tomorrow.LG is a 2018 ENERGY STARPartner of the Year-Sustained Excellence.www.LG.com.

More from LG Electronics USA, Inc.

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LG and Discovery Education to Launch 'Happiness in Action' V - CSRwire.com

RAF personnel operate aboard an E-3D Sentry aircraft. (Rui Vieira WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, the United Kingdom released its integrated defense review, a document laying out Londons military goals and modernization efforts for the future. But achieving the goals in that document will require the acquisition system to match policy decisions something Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute think tank warns is a long-standing challenge.

There is a chronic problem at the heart of the UK defense establishment, one that is the root cause of many procurement disasters, force design inconsistencies, and the fact that the country gets significantly less value from its defense spending than many of its allies and competitors. Put simply: political ambitions for capability and a global British role as a military power completely outstrip the funding made available for the Ministry of Defence.

Most, though by no means all, of the bad behaviors in procurement and program management within MoD and the Defence Equipment & Support Agency (DE&S) stem from this high-level mismatch between policy ambition and funding, one that forces defense planners to continually come up with new and often convoluted arrangements to theoretically render the various capabilities needed to meet policy requirements affordable.

Often this simply entails delaying badly needed upgrades or modernization programs because the cash cannot be found in each given year. Aggressive targets for efficiency savings for the services, as a means to free up extra cash for modernization, did initially create budget headroom and help reduce waste. However, once the more egregious examples of actual inefficiency had been eliminated, further large-scale savings quickly became difficult to find. With major equipment programs only affordable through continued efficiency savings, the hollowing out of important enabling and support capabilities, and the reduction of spares and munitions stockpiles has become commonplace hardly efficient in real terms.

Creating armed forces fit and capable for serious combat operations is an inherently inefficient activity by peacetime standards. Right sizing a force structure and enablers for peacetime assumptions on attrition, deployment tempo, ammunition consumption and spares requirements creates brittle capabilities which could quickly lose effectiveness if tested in serious conflict.

The implications of the funding/ambition mismatch are not confined to the armed forces themselves. The services desire to buy equipment and munitions from the US, to leverage cheaper unit costs and the latters massive R&D spending, is counterbalanced by national economic and political requirements to support domestic industry. However, small stockpiles of complex weapons and a force structure with an ever-smaller number of platforms also ensure that the domestic (and broader European) industrial base is generally optimized for low production rates, with long lead times.

This, in turn, means that the ability to rapidly surge domestic production of munitions and spares in a crisis is extremely limited. The real-world consequence for the British military is a near total dependence on the US for rapid resupply and logistics in conflict against a serious state adversary a policy outcome made riskier by the fact that most other European NATO members share the same dependency.

The RAF E-3D Sentry AWACS saga illustrates many of these processes in action.

During the late 2000s, as the US and French air forces began mid-life upgrade (MLU) programs needed to maintain their E-3 fleets to the intended out-of-service date in 2035, the RAF considered its options and took another path. With operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in full swing, and a wide range of upgrade programs and urgent operation requirement acquisitions underway to support those missions, the RAF quietly decided to indefinitely postpone the E-3D MLU to help balance the books a move which attracted little political scrutiny at the time.

By 2017, the repercussions of these cost savings were becoming clear, as the RAF E-3D fleet was increasingly beset by mechanical issues, mission system obsolescence and even flight safety concerns. 2 billion was allocated to a belated life extension program aimed at keeping a reduced E-3D fleet viable until 2035, when it could be replaced in cooperation with the US and France with whatever was chosen to replace their modernized E-3G and E-3F fleets. However, technology and the threat picture had significantly moved on from that which had informed the US and French upgrade programs. This made the 2 billion price tag difficult to justify in light of the limited capability offered in return for fixing the many problems generated by a decade of under-investment in the E-3D fleet.

Consequently, the RAF ordered five of the more modern E-7 Wedgetails as a replacement for the E-3D in the AWACS role in 2019. To pay for this, the E-3D was slated for rapid retirement from service in 2021, and the 2 billion previously allocated to the life extension program shifted to fund the E-7 acquisition. As so often happens within British defense, however, it soon became clear that the RAF had been over-optimistic in their calculations for the E-7 acquisition and all the associated set up costs.

There are many differences in opinion as to why and how the discrepancy arose, but it is certainly the case that the RAF, the broader MoD and then-Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson all faced strong incentives to find a way to make the numbers add up on paper at the time the E-7 deal was signed. The AWACS mission is one of the UKs core commitments to NATO, and the state of the E-3D fleet by 2019 was a source of significant potential embarrassment at both the operational and political level.

Nevertheless, the 2021 Integrated Review and accompanying Defence Command Paper process prompted a hard review of the E-7 cost figures against all the other modernization and sustainment costs facing the RAF and other services. In common with many other major programs, costs did not match the budget available or the figures initially agreed, and the result was that the RAF was told, once again, that budget constraints had to trump capability. Significant efficiencies were found by moving the E-7 fleet from RAF Waddington, where most of the ISTAR fleet is based, to RAF Lossiemouth to take advantage of support and infrastructure commonality with the P-8A Poseidon MPA fleet there. The RAF hoped that this would allow the program to continue with four out of the five original E-7 airframes still being acquired. However, the political side of the review process determined that only three airframes could be procured.

This outcome is symptomatic of the malaise afflicting so much of UK defense, so lets review. As a result of the budget being insufficient to meet the requirements of sustainment, operations and modernization, upgrades for the E-3D in the late 2000s were scrapped. A decade later, the E-3D was out of step with the versions operated by partner air forces, increasingly expensive to operate, with poor serviceability and obsolescent mission systems. The effort to acquire a replacement at short notice has rapidly fallen prey to the same combination of over-optimistic cost estimates to try and maintain a politically sensitive capability without additional funding, leading to further cuts.

The result: the RAF will still pay nearly 2 billion, but will receive only three E-7s to replace the six remaining E-3Ds. Despite the E-7 radar and mission systems being far more capable and flexible than the E-3D that it is replacing, three aircraft are not enough in the medium term to guarantee one on station as required. The iron laws of maintenance, serviceability and crew rotations place hard limits on the ability to endlessly do more with less in the air domain.

The cycle of deferred or cancelled upgrades leading to reduced availability, rapid obsolescence and the need for urgent modernization is endemic in British defense. As programs are delayed to balance the books in-year, the modernization bill increases and the gap between political rhetoric and reality widens. Acquisition programs are then penny-pinched, micro-managed and often spread over a decade or more to try and make the books balance an almost perfect mix to ensure maximum long-term cost and risk for minimal capability. British defense planners are forced into chronic bad behaviors because the force structure required to meet policy demands simply cannot be delivered and sustained within the budget available year on year.

Until the British government engages in a more honest discussion about the need to significantly reduce defense capability ambition or significantly increase spending, program outcomes like the E-3D/E-7 are likely to remain par for the course. A re-alignment of resources and ambitions will not solve all of defenses problems in itself, but it is an essential first step.

Justin Bronk is the research fellow for airpower and technology in the military sciences team at RUSI. He is also editor of the RUSI Defence Systems online journal.

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The Problem at the Heart of UK Defense - Breaking Defense

With the fast advancement of space tourism on the one hand, and satellite technology on the other, space businesses are booming and a new space economy keeps expanding. Among these sectors, space logistics is now taking a new turn, with the worlds first in-orbit gas stations.

The venture-backed startup has already achieved significant success: in 2019, it became the first private company to resupply the ISS with water, and earlier this year it launched the worlds first on-orbit fuel depot, called Tenzing. Now, it made another important step in its development, by securing a $10 million investment, which brings it to a total funding of $17 million.

Whats equally important is that the latest investors are two major names in the aerospace and defense industry, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman achieved the historic first docking of a Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) for life extension services, in early 2020, while Lockheed Martin has a history of investing in servicing technologies.

What Orbit Fab is bringing to the table is a system of tankers and fuel shuttles designed to operate in low Earth orbit (LEO), geostationary orbit (GEO) and cis-lunar space. The companys first product is the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI), a fueling port for the easy refueling of satellites, which can replace the existing satellite fill-and-drain valves. Back in June, the RAFTI had its first flight on the Tanker-001 Tenzing.

The major benefit of these innovative in-space gas stations is enabling satellites to get the required fuel when they need it and where they need it, so that they will no longer be limited to the fuel they were launched with. This, in turn, will open new possibilities for space economy.

Read more here:

Startup Secures $10 Million to Develop Groundbreaking Gas Stations in Space - autoevolution

A couple with 11 kids will soon grow their brood to 12 with the arrival of their newest child - due almost 12 years to the day they celebrated the birth of their eldest.

Courtney and Chris Rogers, whose kids' names all begin with the letter 'c', say their children begged mum and dad for "just one more" sibling so they could be like the Baker family in the Cheaper by the Dozen films.

The films follow Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt as Tom and Kate Baker, running around after their 12 kids who cause chaos at every turn.

Stay-at-home mum Courtney, 37, says she and her church pastor husband Chris can't wait to welcome their newest arrival in March.

The mum, from New Mexico in the US, said: "We're so excited as we had wanted 12.

"I'm very thankful that its happening, and the kids are still going to be close in age."

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She added the new baby will arrive around the time the eldest child, Clint, turns 12.

"One reason my kids wanted us to have 12 is because of the movie, Cheaper by the Dozen. Theyve been wanting me to have another one and kept asking for, Just one more, Mum, just one more'."

The couple are unsure if the youngest will be a boy or a girl - but one thing they know for sure is that the baby's name will begin with a 'c', just like the other kids: Clint, 11, Clay, 10, Cade, eight, Callie, eight, Cash, six, six-year-old twins Colt and Case, Calena, four, Caydie, three, Coralee, two, and Caris, nine months.

But for now, Courtney is keeping tight-lipped about potential baby names.

As well as taking care of the kids and home schooling them all, Courtney documents their busy lives on the 12-acre plot on her Instagram page, @littlehouseinthehighdesert.

The family owns 140 animals including pigs, sheep, dogs and chickens.

Supermum Courtney also admits she didn't start married life expecting to have so many kids.

She said: "When we got married, I was 24. Then we had an early pregnancy loss, so Clint wasn't born until just before I turned 26.

"At that point, I didnt think I was starting motherhood that early. I had no clue we'd have this many.

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"I did want to have a big family, but it was quite a surprise to get here and, so far, have everything working out as planned."

The couple are due to find out the sex of the baby in October - and Chris would like a girl to make their brood completely even with boys and girls.

While Courtney's excited to meet her youngest child, she has some concerns about the delivery after having three C-sections - meaning she can no longer opt for a vaginal birth.

She said: "My youngest, Caris, had a scary beginning, so we're a little bit nervous, but we also know we're going to have a different delivery plan this time around.

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"She was also nine days past her due date. We kept waiting and she just didn't want to come."

Courtney had to have an emergency C-section to deliver little Caris, when doctors realised she was in distress and wasn't getting enough oxygen.

After she was born she spent 15 days in the newborn intensive care unit, and medics warned she could face delays in her development.

Luckily, the tot is now happy and healthy despite a touch start to life.

Having spent the majority of the last 12 years pregnant, Courtney admits she enjoys the experience.

"I've always felt fine during my pregnancies," she said.

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"I don't get morning sickness, I don't have a lot of pain and I can keep up.

"It's different for everyone, but my body usually takes pregnancy very well. We probably wouldn't have had so many if not!"

The supermum doesn't even ask the older kids to help out with their younger siblings.

She said: Once you get to a certain number, the parenting doesn't really change.

"With the last few, we brought them home from the hospital and it was like they'd always been there."

However, the couple are hoping to get the older kids involved in distance learning or online school so Courtney can focus on home schooling the younger ones.

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The family travels around in a 15-seater van, but Courtney admits it can get crowded on long trips.

The last time we took a vacation, we rented a house, because we're just getting too big for even two hotel rooms and run out of space, she said.

They're also having an extension on their house - which was originally a three-bedroom property - to cater for their 12 strong brood.

My husband's been working on it and it should be done by Christmas, Courtney said. We'll have seven bedrooms, four bathrooms - so two kids to a room.

For the most part, Courtney's Instagram attracts positivity - but, as with everything, some people have nasty things to say.

"We get some rude comments, as there are always going to be people that don't like big families. But now we're used to it, it doesnt bother us," she said.

"There are always going to be people who have a different opinion to you."

The couple are making the most of this pregnancy, as Courtney thinks it'll be her last.

We wanted to get to 12 and I really don't want to go on having any more C-sections," she said.

Do you have a big family? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com with your stories

It's going to be as I turn 38, so physically, I don't know if I'll be able to have any more."

Although they're ready to stop having kids, Courtney knows she'll feel sad when she's done with being pregnant.

"But for now, were focused on welcoming baby number 12 and becoming the real life Cheaper by the Dozen family."

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'Cheaper by the Dozen inspired me to have 12 kids - we had to extend house and buy a van' - The Mirror

Demand for high purity alumina (HPA) a specialised product used in lithium-ion batteries, LED lights, and more is growing at a rapid rate.

When it comes to lithium-ion batteries, HPA is currently used as the coating on the separator between the anode and cathode.

The HPA coated separators improve battery chargeability (charging and discharging rates), performance (power density), safety and overall service and durability.

This LIB battery separator market valued at US$US6.2 billion in 2020 is expected to reach $US11.3 billion by 2026.

But thats not all. HPAs battery applications could grow significantly beyond this.

FYI Resources (ASX:FYI) calls HPA the hallelujah battery material with applications in the separator and anode and increasing potential candidate in cathode development.

The whole battery, basically.

FYI recently inked a deal with advanced battery graphite stock EcoGraf (ASX:EGR) to develop additional uses for FYIs HPA product.

Investors are also watching closely for an update on an MoU between FYI and global aluminium giant Alcoa, where commercial terms are being finalised for a full joint venture operation.

Stockhead chats with FYI managing director Roly Hill about EcoGraf, HPA demand, and that all important deal with Alcoa.

In simple terms it is a joint venture between two battery focussed commodity players, looking at doing something completely different, Hill says.

[This JV] is a very elegant way of adding a little bit of value to the downstream side of what FYI and EcoGraf are doing individually.

For us, it is all about expanding HPAs applications in the battery.

HPA is currently used as the coating on the separator between the anode and cathode.

But it is looking like the utility of HPA is increasing. Now it looks like it [could be used] in the anode, and the cathode as well.

The obvious benefits from the customer perspective are safety, performance, and possibly cost reduction, and life extension of the battery.

Pretty exciting stuff, and the key thing for us is the interest [we are getting] from some of the larger battery groups.

It just a matter of us adding a bit more value and cracking the code a little, to see where it can lead.

We would use Benchmark Mineral Intelligence as our guidance on that, Hill says.

They are suggesting that the anode growth graphite and the HPA could be +700% by 2025 from where it currently sits.

The HPA market, where it currently sits, has a standing rate of 17% to 18% year-on-year growth through battery applications and the more traditional markets LEDs, sapphire glass, those sorts of things. Big numbers.

Potential additional uses of HPA in the battery [mentioned above] are not included in all those numbers.

We had to defer the signing of the term sheets with Alcoa by a month, Hill says.

That is because, out of courtesy, we introduced this [deal with EcoGraf] to Alcoa, along with several other initiatives that we wanted to pursue.

They very much liked that, and the other things that we are wanting to do. We had to defer everything just so they could get involved.

It was originally outside the scope; now it is inside the scope.

No more than me, I can tell you, Hill says.

[But] both companies dont come this far time, money, and effort for it not to succeed.

We cant say signed sealed and delivered just yet, but its very close to the line. We are pretty much aligned on all the major terms, Hill says.

They are very bullish on the business, and the sector.

They have done their homework on us, and the flow sheet. They are prepared to back it by putting skin in the game.

I think the combination of their balance sheet and operational experience plus FYIs agility it will be strong and solid partnership.

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FYI Resources Roly Hill on HPA the hallelujah battery material and that Alcoa deal - Stockhead