Category Archives: Evolution

Aoron Eipa Emmanuel, 31, is a natural teacher. Talkative and eager to connect, he has worked for years as an educator and is now completing graduate studies. But his path nearly took a different turn.

Born into a family of nomads in northwest Kenya, Eipa is a member of the Turkana Indigenous community that lives in the region of the same name. Like most of his male relatives, Eipa would likely have grown up a goatherd. But he was a sickly child, and at age 5, his aunt took him to live in an urban center where he received medical care and schooling.

Eipa found he had a talent for learning. I was really good in sciences and maths, he says. The discovery propelled an educational journey his family never anticipated for him. This December, Eipa is set to graduate with a masters in human evolutionary biology. The degree comes from a novel paleoanthropology program, one that could be a model for others in Africa.

While the arid landscape of Turkana is a fossil hunters dream, drawing researchers from around the globe and yielding significant discoveries into our species evolution, studying these anthropological treasures has long been out of reach for most Turkanans. The program in which Eipa is enrolled is rare in its effort to harness international interest in the region to help increase diversity, especially of Black students in Africa who obtain training from leaders in the field.

The degree is the brainchild of paleoanthropologist Isaiah Nengo, the director of science for the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI). Its really difficult for Black people in Africa to get training in paleontology and paleoanthropology, he says. Nengo, who is himself Black and Kenyan, hopes this program can help address longstanding disparities in research by supporting homegrown, African scholars.

Eipa, for example, hopes to become the first Turkanan to take up a scientific career studying human evolution. As a teenager, he recalls, I thought the people who came here to dig for old bones did it for the purpose of selling themwhy else would they spend hours in the hot sun? Now he wants to help others understand why those remains are important to all of humanity.

Its dangerous to generalize about Africaa continent of 54 countries whose roughly 1.4 billion inhabitants speak more than 2,000 languages. But data from the United Nations show that disparities in education are worse here than anywhere else in the world.

In sub-Saharan countries, the U.N. estimates that just four in 100 children will reach graduate or postgraduate instruction. This number is low compared with 36-in-100 in Latin America or 14-in-100 in South and West Asia. And lower still when compared with regions with greater wealth and economic power, like the European Union, where in 2020 more than 40 percent of 2534 year olds had completed tertiary education.

Inequality in who receives training is built into paleoscience from the very beginning, explains archaeologist Rebecca Ackermann, who co-heads the Human Evolution Research Institute at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. For example, field schools give scholars essential on-the-ground training. But throughout Africa, she notes, they are often run by non-African institutions and only take a handful of African students.

The lions share of pupils come from the U.S. and Europe. Frankly, [many] Africans cant afford the fees that are charged for these international field schools, Ackermann says. And, while North American and European students attending the field schools can count what they learn toward their degree credits, most African students cant, she adds.

Seeing a Black Kenyan hold a prominent research role really motivated me, says masters student Aoron Eipa Emmanuel.

Often, Nengo explains, Africans have had to rely on the goodwill of international researchers taking a liking to them to train and gain a degree overseas. These degrees may well involve field experience in Africa. But that state of affairs always seemed absurd to Nengo, who studied for his doctorate at Harvard University. Kenya is where the evidence is, he says, so youd think wed be leading the way in training people.

The new program he helped conceive of is co-led by TBI and Turkana University College, which was established in 2017. The masters course piggybacks on the global connections of these institutions to give students access to leaders in the field. For instance, TBI is a permanent paleontology and paleoanthropology research station funded by several international institutions, including Stony Brook University in the U.S.

Already, the programs students have received support from grants outside of Kenya, including one from a French government agency. The new degree draws on courses taught to TBIs field school students. In addition, Nengo hopes that, like the field school, the masters program will eventually include pupils from around the world, whose tuition fees will help sustain the course and support scholarships for deserving but cash-strapped African students.

Finding money to pay school fees was a perennial struggle for Eipa. After he demonstrated strong academic performance as a child, he appealed to his extended family for support and applied for small scholarships to continue his education. He finished high school and then an undergraduate degree that qualified him as a science teacher.

His first teaching job was in a refugee camp. This work was fulfilling, Eipa says, and he remains in touch with some of his students. But when he heard that Turkana University College was being established in Lodwar, Turkanas largest town, he took a job nearby, hoping to study biology while teaching full-time to support extended family with his salaried position. Many young Africans have similar responsibilities, which limits their capacity to pursue postgraduate degrees.

Though the university did not yet offer biology courses, Eipa learned about the new masters degree in human evolution studies. When he met Nengo in person in 2018, it was a revelation to Eipa. In my mind, I thought I was going to meet a White person, he says.

Hed imagined Nengo to look a bit like Richard Leakey, a White Kenyan who founded TBI and is one of the pioneers of paleoanthropology in the country. Seeing a Black Kenyan hold a prominent research role and hearing him talk about his background really motivated me, Eipa says.

Nengo invited Eipa to join a field expedition happening later that month as a volunteer to see how he might enjoy it. Eipa wrangled three weeks leave from his job to attend. Though hed never seen a fossil before, by the end of his experience he had found two fossilized animal teeth.

That same year, he joined TBI as a lab technician, and the following year, he started the masters program. Eipas place on the course is sponsored, and he also earns money as a research assistant on the institutes ever-growing fossil collection.

So far, the masters course is unable to sustain the throughput of students that would rectify the imbalance in study opportunities for Africans. Eipa is one of two students in the courses inaugural class. A further six students have since begun studies.

Nonetheless, the program is an important first step. That the degree is Kenyanwhile drawing top researchers from around the globe as instructorsmakes a big difference to Nengo personally. It gives African scholars access to a homegrown program that can be tailored to their needs, and to which they feel entitled.

In addition, involving more African scholars in paleoscience and archaeology could be crucial for both fields to produce accurate research. Freda Nkirote MMbogori, a Kenyan archaeologist who studies Bantu migration, has found that her understanding of Kenyan culture and histories as a member of a Bantu-speaking community helps her spot inconsistencies in the way that the archaeological record has been interpreted so far.

For instance, archaeologists often identify Bantu societies by the presence of crop farming and iron working. Yet MMbogori notes that oral traditions contradict these claims, emphasizing livestock herding. Furthermore, iron smelting has been found in some but not all Bantu sites to date. This makes me feel that this story and others need to be revisited and retold if Africas past is to be presented factually, she says.

Eipa, too, sees value in his position as both part of the scientific and Turkanan communities. For his degree, Eipa is studying primate specimens from the Oligocene, an epoch of evolutionary history stretching between 34 million and 23 million years ago.

He also acts as a liaison, communicating about evolutionary research to local Turkanans and other Kenyans. In a video news clip from April this year, he quashes a persistent rumor that Turkana boyone of the regions most famous fossilswas permanently removed from Kenya by international scientists. (In fact, it is currently in Nairobi.) In the video, which he says was shared widely in Kenya, he speaks a mixture of English and Kiswahili, a language widely spoken and understood in East Africa.

As a Turkanan working in Turkana, Eipa feels he can build bridgesand others who graduate from the program could be in a similar position. After all, he says, the fossils in that region are a unifying factor for all human beings, as they speak to our common ancestry. If you talk about these fossils, you talk about Kenyans, he says, you talk about Europeans, you talk about anyone.

Originally posted here:

East Africa's New Generation of Human Evolution Researchers - Atlas Obscura

In response to targeting by trophy hunters, wild populations of bighorn sheep are now growing 10 per cent smaller horns than they did less than 20 years ago as a way to adapt and minimize the risk to their species.

That rapid evolutionary interplay between hunter and hunted is an example described in a recently accepted paper in the Journal of Molecular Ecology entitled The Pace of Modern Life, Revisited, co-authored by a research team at Brock University.

Such adaptations can be measured as phenotypic rates of change and allow scientists to predict patterns of contemporary evolutionary change.

The research by the papers co-senior author, Brock University Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Kiyoko Gotanda, along with colleagues at 10 institutions around the world, shows evolution can be seen within a lifetime.

In some species, anywhere from two to 200 generations is enough to exhibit change, Gotanda said, pointing out that for fruit flies, 200 generations is approximately six years.

We have come a long way from the old view of evolution as a slow process to the point where we are now realizing that everything is evolving all around us all the time, said co-senior author Andrew Hendry, Professor of Biology at McGill University.

Lead author Sarah Sanderson, a PhD candidate in Biology at McGill, says the big question now is how this rapid phenotypic change matters for populations, communities, ecosystems and natures contribution to people.

Gotandas team compiled many individual studies that have shown this type of evolution. They used the data to answer long-standing questions about how contemporary evolution works and provide a massive dataset of these changes so other investigators can answer related questions.

The team is responsible for adding 5,676 new estimates of phenotypic change to the list, representing a 77 per cent increase.

Key to their findings are how human disturbances such as trophy hunting influence change.

We focused on human disturbances and found a small absolute difference in rates of change exists between human disturbed and natural populations, Gotanda said.

Analyses of the expanded dataset also confirms previous studies showing: harvesting by humans results in larger rates of change than non-human disturbances; introduced populations have increased rates of change; and body size does not increase through time.

Overall, findings from earlier published analyses have largely held-up in analyses of our new dataset that encompass a much larger breadth of species, traits and human disturbances, Gotanda said.

The team believes the database will serve as a stepping stone for further analyses to understand patterns of contemporary evolution. For example, postdoctoral researcher Lucas Gorn in Gotandas research group and supported through a fellowship from the Faculty of Mathematics and Science is continuing to work with the database to answer more questions about rapid phenotypic change.

Im most interested in in whether disturbances are generating confounding or synergistic effects, said Gotanda.

The research is cautious to infer evolution from phenotypic rates of change as more research is needed to discover whether the traits exhibited are truly heritable (coming from parental genes) or plastic (generated by phenotypic changes in the environment within a lifespan).

A common garden experiment involving the comparison of genetically distinct strains, families or populations under identical environmental conditions would help to uncover the extent that the rates of change we observe can be attributed to contemporary evolution, Gotanda said.

Brock Faculty of Mathematics and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed said he is looking forward to the discoveries Gotandas research supports.

They are now the caretakers of an invaluable list, allowing exploration and expansion for future scientists to build upon, he said.

Read more:

Brock research finds pace of evolution faster than previously thought - Brock University

Heres a fun fact to start with - the electric car was invented before the internal combustion engined car. If Ive got your attention then you might want to read further.

The first electric car was more of an electrically operated carriage.

You see, back in the early 1800s, inventors and their inventions were as cool as Instagram and its invented social life. Electricity made way for batteries and it was only a matter of time till electric motors were invented. The technological progress, although overshadowed by todays standards, was so rapid at the time that adding a cart with wheels to these electric motors powered by batteries happened right after the middle of the 19th century.

Adverts of the Waverley Electric Coupe from 1910.

A British inventor, Robert Anderson built the first contraption which was classified as an electric carriage but another Brit, Thomas Parker, is credited for the first production electric car in 1884, just about a couple of years ahead of Karl Benz and his petrol-powered Motorwagen. Across the pond, the Americans werent far behind. William Morrision, an American chemist from Iowa, made a six-seater electric vehicle, capable of 23kmph. This was 1890. Ten years later, New York City had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis with electric cars accounting for a third of all vehicles on the road at that time. Such rapid acceptance of a new technology for the time is staggering.

The high point in EV deployment has to be the 1971 Lunar Rover.

The rest of the vehicles back then were either powered by steam or gasoline. Steam had its issues. Long starting times for the engine and their constant requirement for water limited their range. Gasoline had its own set of complications. They had to be hand cranked to start, selecting gears was a difficult process in itself, they were noisy and produced nauseating fumes. Operating cars had a learning curve and required a set of expertise. Electric cars and carriages on the other hand were silent, they were far easier to operate, making people prefer them for short distances. So what really happened to the more preferred and clearly likable electric car?

The Renault Dauphine electric car or Henney Kilowatt for America from the late 50s.

As the century flipped a page, a new chapter was beginning. By 1908, America was introduced to the Ford Model T and also to the concept of affordability. USD 650 could get you a gasoline car while an electric one would set you back by USD 1,750 and you didnt need a calculator to make the choice. 1912, the electric starter eliminated the need to hand crank a gasoline car and discovering more natural oil reserves laid the roads to the future for these vehicles. The developments on electric technology for cars took a back seat as the electric car entered a dark tunnel. It wasnt until the early 70s when the gasoline car hit its first real roadblock. Oil shortage, dependencies on a few countries for it and of course, its rising prices.

The Fisker Karma brought celebrity status to hybrid cars along with the Toyota Prius which became flagbearers of the movement towards electric vehicles.

1990s and the new transportation emissions regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board saw a movement towards addressing environmental concerns. In the early 2000s, leading actors of the time in sunny California became flag bearers of the movement and cars like the Toyota Prius and Fisker Karma represented two ends of the hybrid-car spectrum. One fairly affordable while the other was aspirational but both signalled of things to come and changes to happen. Hybrids however, presented their own set of limitations. High cost of production as both series and parallel hybrids made use of an internal combustion engine in conjunction with electric motors and batteries. The result was a fairly heavy car with underwhelming performance. It did save the earth but by just a little, beyond which, even its low fuel consumption and emission figures didnt quite appeal to its prospective buyers.

Tesla and Nissan took charge of innovation and accessibility for EVs at the turn of the century.

A couple of decades go by and battery technology has picked up. Electric cars still hadnt gotten their redemption but in the late 2000s, a Silicon Valley startup made global headlines. Tesla was aiming to change the misfortunes of the electric car. Claims of the Tesla Roadster, a sportscar no less, going nearly 400km on a single charge caught everyones attention. Mainstream manufacturers were suddenly forced to devote their attention towards EVs and Nissan came forward with the Leaf, simply ditching the hybrid powertrain and offering a purely battery operated electric vehicle. To think of it, if you had to plug-in the car to charge the batteries in a hybrid then why not charge more batteries instead and scratch the engine in the picture entirely? This made perfect sense, the world seemed to have taken notice and thought the same. There was however, an issue that needed to be addressed. An issue that was faced by consumers back in the 1880s too. Charging.

Back when the electric car was invented and first used, batteries would need to be replaced frequently. By 1910, charging was made possible as more people could access electricity but in the modern world where most have access to it, charging was needed to cover distances. And this gave birth to the electric cars biggest nemesis - range anxiety. An infrastructure issue, the solution to which has come slow but steadily as EV charging stations start cropping up even in developing countries.

The hatchback and crossover body styles like the Kia Soul EV became the preferred choice of shape for modern EVs.

Think about it. The sheer joy of driving a car can be instantaneously taken away when the reserve fuel light comes on with that dreaded chime. That ding has now become so ingrained in our sensory system that our eyes subconsciously keep a lookout for the next fuel station. Chances are that even in remote areas, youll probably find one. Could you find a fast charger for your phone at the same time? Sure, as long as you find a charging socket but one for your electric car? Now thats an uphill task that we havent crested yet. At least not entirely. A household charging socket for even modern day EVs isnt much help with a standard charger thatll, at the very least, take in excess of four hours to get you a double digit range and if that isnt enough to get you to your destination then more time may not be something you might have in hand.

Another example of evolution of the electric cars shape is the beautiful yet quirky BMW i3.

The solution was to strategically solve range issues addressing it from the very environment that these new breed of EVs would operate in - the urban jungle. Metropolitan city dwellers were quick to adopt electric vehicles. Some in an attempt to do their bit for the environment, others for the pure convenience of operating an EV. No cold starting to worry about, no fear of grinding gears, no overheating in hotter climates and lesser moving parts meant lesser chances of a breakdown. The very same aspects that people even a century and a half ago were able to reason in favour of the electric car.

Modern EVs are gaining more range from evolving battery technology and can comfortably serve a weeks worth of average commuting.

Recent studies show that a 250km range is more than sufficient for a weeks commuting in the city. This means that a consumer can choose to charge their EV at their homes or in their offices while they can better utilise the long hours taken to top up drained batteries. This also means charging just once a week with fast chargers now guarantee 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 45 minutes making intercity travel a fair possibility with a little planning in advance. With ever improving battery technology, charging times will keep coming down and charging infrastructure will only get better. Wall chargers fitted by the manufacturer make charging all the more convenient but overall convenience was bettered by the shape of the modern-day electric vehicle.

The Audi etron is a great example of a modern luxury SUV with the conventional shape and look of SUVs were used to looking at.

Hatchbacks gained popularity for a number of reasons. Practicality with a rear hatch, ability to haul urban luggage and people, the short wheelbase made for nimble handling and smaller dimensions needed lesser parking real estate, there was absolutely everything to love about a hatchback than loathe. Crossovers and hatchbacks for EV manufacturers meant packaging the batteries on the floor of the chassis, without compromising cabin space. The electric motor sat low in the bonnet, closer to the centre thus improving the centre of gravity and handling of the already fun to drive hatchback. A successful formula birthed by the internal combustion engine, it was only natural for EVs to follow in the same footsteps. The American Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model X, the South Korean Kia Soul EV, the European Volkswagen ID.3 are prime examples of the crossover hatchback EV being successful in various parts of the globe in the last decade.

The original Hummer is still fresh in our memories but as the viability of its conventional powertrain became increasingly difficult, the new Hummer was re-born as an all-electric SUV.

The current decade though, saw the most substantial involvement in the wider adoption of the electric car. As more manufacturers joined the party, the electric car saw more premium badges on its grille. BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and many more are now focusing on dedicated platforms thanks to scalable architectures. The hatchback and compact SUV shapes remain popular but one can even opt for the Mercedes EQS - the all-electric equivalent to the S-Class or the more recently revealed BMW i4 sedan. Come 2021 and innovations like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 seem worth mentioning. 305bhp, 605Nm, 0-100 in 5.2 seconds, all-wheel drive, 481km of claimed range, 10-80 per cent charge in 18 minutes through a 220kW ultra-fast charger - the very definition of a hot hatch has been altered and the sheer pace of its development as an electric car far surpasses that of a 2021 petrol alternative. But what if you didnt want to settle for a modern hatchback or a sedan? What if your idea of aesthetics still put an older design at the top of the list?

Still want to retain your 911 from the 90s? Electric conversion kits are making it possible to carry on the iconic designs of yesteryears, into the electric future.

Chop shops have always made the process of reimagining an older automotive design in the new age, possible and accessible. These usually are small outfits and as necessitated by developing technology as well as business trends, they too have identified an open opportunity waiting to be capitalised upon. Take for example Everrati, a UK-based firm reimagining classics with an electric powertrain to future-proof them and have their legacy live on for years to come. From the iconic Mercedes-Benz SL W113 of the 60s to their flagship release, the 90s Porsche 911 964, both reimagined in electric guises boasting admirable power and range numbers that helps enthusiasts retain a part of automotive history and drive them without worry, well into the future. Mass manufacturers seem to have picked up on this trend too as more retro-themed concepts come to fore. These would in all probability, gauge public interest and move into production at a later time. The Hyundai Pony put the South Korean company on the global map and the reimagined electric concept is a superb recreation. Opel brings back the Manta with an electric platform underneath and a properly retro cabin to induce as much nostalgia as youd wish to get from your grandfathers old faithful.

Even the luxurious Mercedes-Benz S-Class can be had as a futuristic EQS today, all-electric and with more luxury features than ever.

A marked shift in the automotive industry for electric cars is happening right now as youre reading these lines and the evidence of it is already out on the showroom floors in various parts of the globe. Oil-burning, soot-spewing, all-American trucks can now be bought in all-electric versions. Icons of the Wild West have realised and embraced the harsh realities of diminishing fossil-fuel reserves and increasing climate change to take this bold step and defy their own long-standing legacies. Fords F-150 truck is one such example and so is the Chevrolet Silverado. The latter is still a couple of years away while the former is now also available as the F-150 Lightning. Specifications aside, the truck is even capable of powering your house in the event of an outage. The Hummer or Humvee if you recall, could alone be held responsible for inducing a fair percentage of global warming and being ridiculously inefficient outside of a war zone. In its latest all-electric iteration though, itll look just as good as a World Environment Day mascot in a field of daffodils as much as it belonged in the middle-eastern landscape.

All-electric hypercars have evolved at such a fast rate that cars like the Rimac Nevara are setting new boundaries in automotive performance.

Electric cars are now at a point where theyre changing the performance landscape of hypercars as well as motorsport. Still in its nascent stages, these new breeds of hypercars have straight away pushed the envelope of engineering to a degree where internal combustion engines have started running out of steam, figuratively speaking. Take for instance the Hennessy Venom F5 and the Bugatti Chiron, sitting at the top steps of the top-speed supremacy and managing so without electric assist. It has taken a good part of a century and a half for combustion engines to achieve these feats. Yet there are all-electric hypercars like the Lotus Evija and the Rimac Nevera which have been developed within the past few years and easily make the Venoms and Chirons power figures seem ordinary. The Evija tips the horsepower scales at a mega 2,001bhp while the Nevera will clock 97kmph from a standstill in 1.8 seconds! You probably took more time to read that sentence. Sure top-speed achievements for these electric hypercars arent anywhere close to the near 500kmph capabilities of the Venom and Chiron but not even their owners have easily accessible tracks to possibly ever achieve their top-speeds. Neither is the current tyre technology capable of withstanding the forces at those speeds.

The VW ID. R has already broken many lap records including the annual Pikes Peak hill climb.

The yet to be launched new Tesla Roadster claims phenomenal figures like a 0-97kmph time of 1.9, a 400kmph plus top-speed and a whopping 997km range. Aerodynamics can be better utilised in an electric car as their need for cooling the battery and electrical systems is far lesser than a combustion engine while air density makes negligible difference in their performance. Partly why the VW ID. R obliterated lap records at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Nurburgring and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, each of them with times never seen before. Further development comes from racing series like Formula E and off-road rallies like the Xtreme E.

Future development of electric cars and battery technology with inevitably come from motorsports and series like Formula E where tech can be tested to its limits.

Electric cars are here to stay. The very foreseeable future will see the departure of the internal combustion engine and thatll be as early as 2030 when major mass manufacturers like Honda have announced to go all-electric. Their simplicity and outright power and performance capabilities will enthrall you the moment you take your first test drive and theres a fair chance that you may not ever turn back and look at the internal combustion

Read more here:

Regenerative EVolution - The history about electric cars - India Today

In the midst of an expensive, empty-hearted Tuscan wedding during Sunday nights Season 3 finale of Succession, Tom Wambsgans makes a rich proposition to the only person whom he believes is truly there for him, for better and for worse. You could be heading away from the endless middle, he tells his cousin-in-law, Greg Hirsch, seeking his loyalty in an uncertain time, and towards the bottom of the top. If theres anyone familiar with that trajectory, its Tom. Two season finales ago, during his own wedding, Succession made it clear that Tom sprung from a different realm altogether than the one he was marrying into, that he was just a middling Midwestern boy as seen from the penthouse heights of Manhattan.

His parents wouldnt shut up about having chipped in for the wine; his powerful new father-in-law almost didnt even arrive. Tom didnt seem to dwell on the chasm between status, but he surely had given thought to it. A few episodes earlier, Logan Roy had told his only daughter, Siobhan, that he saw right through her chosen relationship: Youre marrying a man fathoms beneath you, Logan yelled to Shiv at the time, because you dont want to risk being betrayed. Still, Tom has kept climbing, albeit shamelessly and on shaky ladders. Rung by rung, he has seen firsthand that the scenery doesnt change much: unless youre at the tippy-top, theres always gonna be a bunch of assholes overhead.

I admire you, man, Kendall Roy tells Tom in the sixth episode of this season as he tries to get him to join in cahoots against Logan. Youre a long way from home. Youre far from the tree. Youve played your hand well, and youre sitting at the top table. (The top table, apparently, is a diner booth.) Tom replies that he fell in love with Shiv, simple as that. Sure, man, Kendall says. The country mouse and the hot tamale. All this negging fails to work on Tom, though, who is accustomed to being put down, including and especially by his wife. He tells Kendall he cant take his side. I dont mean to be insulting, Tom says, but having been around a bit, my hunch is that youre going to get fucked. Because Ive seen you get fucked a lot, and Ive never seen Logan get fucked once.

In Successions Season 3 finale, that streak seemingly continues, and it is heavily implied that Tom is the reason. After learning that their father intends to sell Waystar Roycoand, crucially, the familys control of the conglomeratethree-quarters of Logans children band together and rush to blindside him with their intention to block the supermajority required for the deal. Instead, they learn that Logan is already in the midst of revising a divorce agreement with their withholding mother that would obviate their power altogether. Who told him we were coming? Shiv seethes, and moments later the apparent answer gets a shoulder-squeeze from Logan, walks through the door, and innocently asks a stricken Shiv how shes feeling. It is Tom, lowering himself to ascension, and it is about time.

Over three seasons, Tom has been a subject of ridicule and an object of pityin turn inflicting the same damage onto Greg. Like so many bullies, Toms treatment of those he perceives to be beneath him is reflective of the way he feels treated by others; he is a grownup who struggles to move past the I endured it, so you must too frat-hazy mindset. It isnt just his wifes family members who demean him to his face and behind his back, its the hot tamale herself.

She tells him on their wedding night, in the Season 1 finale, that she wants to experiment with an open relationship. In Season 2, she makes fun of Tom so hard during a dinner party that he finally snaps and speaks the Roy family language, telling her to fuck off. In that seasons finale, during a miserable cove-hop in which Shiv vacillates on whether she, like, loves her husband, Tom wonders aloud whether the sad Id be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you. During that same conversation, when he brings up Shivs proposed wedding-night arrangement as being something that nags at him, she scoffs. So youve been stewin on that? she says.

As depicted through Matthew Macfadyens once-optimistic, now-glum performance, Tom has been marinating so long in that hurt that hes beginning to pickle. Like his and Shivs marital wine, he is corked. (Or, to be more precise, unscrewed: Watching Tom go from happily opening that biodynamic bottle in Episode 6 to declaring You kind of have to meet it halfway, right? to admitting it was not very nice, is it? was a heartbreaker, both at the time and even more so in retrospect.) His wifes idea of pillow talk is to tell him she doesnt love him; her version of starting a family includes hitting pause for, oh, maybe a decade; her form of professional mentorship revolves around prison time as a skill set. Tom becomes known as the family and company Christmas tree, someone upon which to hang crimes like ornaments. But Christmas trees arent only ornamental, theyre also highly flammable, and when Tom realizes that Shivs sibling mission doesnt involve much thought as to his future at the company, he is lit up anew.

While it isnt as explicitly shown as Romans dick pic, it seems apparent that Tom tipped off Logan. (Throughout this season, fans have wondered whether Tom might turn against the familywas he wearing a wire, perhaps?but instead he directs his intel inwards. Also, were those donuts his doing?!) He tells Greg that things may be in motion, asks if he wants to come with him to points unknown, and references the name Sporus for the second time this season. The first time was back in Episode 4, when Tom, facing the prospect of time in the slammer, corners Greg in his not-exactly-corner office. (LackeySlack HQ, you might say.) Greg, what do you know about, um, Nero and Sporus? he asks, and Greg responds that he isnt familiar with that particular IP. Well, Nero pushed his wife down the stairs, says Tom, and then he had Sporus castrated and he married him instead [] Id castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat.

In a New Yorker profile of Succession creator Jesse Armstrong that was released at the beginning of this season, the story of Nero is mentioned as one of several random details that inspired the writers and show runners while they brainstormed. Others included chats with the writer Gary Shteyngart, whose research for the novel Lake Success included a lot of chats with watch-obsessed masters of the universe; a close look at Crime and Punishment; and other stories of antiquity like Caligula and other dissolute Roman leaders. Caligulas reign, which included an obsession with a horse, ended when he was assassinated by his guard and succeeded, as the story goes, by a total oddball uncle named Claudius, who was installed in large part because he was such a longtime family punch line that no one thought he would ever actually be much of a threat.

Exactly what Tom hopes his personal outcome is here remains a little unclear: Does he think his shows of loyalty have earned him entry into the echelon of a Frank or a Karl? Will we hear him call Logan Roy papa again? Is he just hoping for the simpler life, atop fat stacks of cash, with a version of Shiv who isnt singularly focused on, and increasingly damaged by, her family succession struggle? (Some observers have noted that the Nero of yore doesnt just kill his wife, he kills his pregnant wife, and that in the shows closing scenes, a gut-punched Shiv is touching her abdomen.) Would such a life even be possible, anymore or ever? Tom is likely about to find out what the hypothetical sad hed be without Shiv will be like.

Shiv says aloud that Mom fucked us, but it seems to be dawning on her that maybe Tom fucked them, too. Perhaps he was fathoms beneath her, but Tom has now upended the yacht. He has risen from the endless middle to the bottom of the topbut plenty of people can and have managed that. Tom also did something far trickier, and far thornier: He went from country mouse to rat, and in doing so hes potentially shaken up the very premise of the shows title. Once a total outsider, Tom may now be the call coming from inside the house. And whats more unsettling than that?

Excerpt from:

The Remarkable Evolution of Tom Wambsgans in Succession - The Ringer

Ransomware is rampant in the business world. Over the past year, ransomware attacks and related cyber insurance claims have surged in both frequency and severity. One factor driving this concerning trend is the evolution of extortion tactics.

Sophisticated threat actors are increasingly deploying additional layers of extortion beyond the initial installation of malware and data encryption, making it harder for businesses and their cyber insurers to shake off attacks unscathed.

A year ago, a ransomware claim would come in, and when we would determine that the insured had secure data backups, wed be happy because the threat actor did not encrypt that data. Our initial thinking would be: We dont have to pay a ransom because we can re-create everything from the backups, said Tamara Ashjian (pictured), Director of Claims, Tokio Marine HCC Cyber & Professional Lines Group.

But lo and behold, thats becoming irrelevant now, because even if the [threat actors] are unable to encrypt the insureds backups, theyre threatening to exfiltrate their data and post it on data leaks websites if the demand is not paid. Weve been so concentrated on the deployment of the ransomware that shuts everything down, but we started seeing this trend in the last six months where there is no encryption of data, but hackers have threatened to publish sensitive information.

Read next: The benefits of a strong cyber threat intelligence program

While ransomware attack victims can use the services of forensic investigators to monitor data leak sites and the dark web for illegally exposed data, this does not eliminate the double extortion threat. Hackers will typically show their victims a sample of the files they have exfiltrated, so the insureds know their data is in the wrong hands and theyll have to negotiate if they want to remediate any potential damages.

Ashjian commented: Now ransomware events are more dangerous because the hackers are threatening to leak sensitive information to the public, and its more likely that the insured is faced with the difficult decision of paying the ransom demand or not, even when their data is not encrypted, since there is a possibility of having their clients and/or employees information out there. Its a different way to attack, but were definitely seeing more of it.

Traditionally, one of the first lines of defense against cyberattacks of any kind was to have secure data backups stored offsite and offline. While that may mitigate the encryption component of ransomware attacks in some circumstances, it does not always prevent such attacks, and it doesnt protect against data exfiltration or resultant business interruption. One of the reasons businesses should buy cyber insurance is for financial security, Ashjian stressed, because even with the right backups, the most secure systems and the best end-point monitoring, some hackers have become so sophisticated that theyre able to penetrate into systems and do irrevocable damage, such as bankruptcy.

Beyond data encryption and exfiltration (the first two methods performed during a ransomware attack), there is also a risk of hackers initiating distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, especially if victims refuse to negotiate and pay. These DDoS attacks, which disrupt the corporate network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic, would cause additional business interruption to a business thats already rallying to recover from the initial ransomware event.

Read more: Cyber insurance claims explode in severity

Weve also seen harassment of c-suite executives, where the CEO [of the victim organization] has received calls from the threat actors, and suddenly, the incident becomes very personal and the insured panics even more, Ashjian told Insurance Business. Our stance has always been: Weve hired experts, lets see what we can do. You dont want to give in right away and pay the first demand you get. But that becomes very hard for insureds to comprehend when the CEO is getting calls or theyre being threatened.

Sometimes it depends on who the insureds clientele is. If theyre a business with celebrity clients, for example, then a data leak in that instance is going to be a lot more problematic than it would be for businesses with other types of clients. That makes our job more difficult, because you really want to negotiate the best deal in a situation, but sometimes, because of the circumstances and the high potential of impending litigation, theres a lot of pressure from the insured to resolve the matter at any cost.

One thing that Ashjian has noticed is that threat actors are using more sophisticated strategies to ensure their attacks generate as much financial gain as possible. In contrast to three or four-years-ago, when many hackers made random hits without really knowing their targets, they now know exactly who theyre attacking and what information they can threaten to leak.

Another thing were noticing is, once theyre in the insureds system, theyre immediately looking for insurance policies, Ashjian added. When our experts are negotiating with them, and they take the stance of: Well, the insured cant pay that, the threat actors come back and say: Yes, they can, they have a $10 million policy. This is what were dealing with. Its become very complex, and theres something new every few weeks.

Tamara Ashjian is a Director in the Cyber & Professional Lines Group Claims Department at Tokio Marine HCC. Tamara oversees and manages the Claims team, which focuses on the handling of litigation and claims resulting from cyber and technology liability incidents.

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The evolution of extortion tactics in ransomware attacks - Insurance Business

The Fruit of Evolution Episode 12 release date and countdown available below.

Shinka no Mi: Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei or The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made is a light novel serialized in Shosetsuka ni Naro which eventually moved to Monster Bunko imprint after it was acquired by Futabasha. With its popularity, the novel was adapted into a manga using the art of Sorano and was serialized in Web Comic Action. Hotline decided to adapt it into an anime that aired in October 2021.

It follows the story of Seiichi Hiiragi who was once outcasted and bullied by his classmates because of his physical attributes. One day, their class received an announcement from a voice who claims to be God saying that they will be transported into a world where skills and stats matter. In this world, Seiichi ate the Fruit of Evolution that changed his life forever.

Entitled, Before I Knew It, Its The Final Episode, episode 12 of The Fruit of Evolution will be released on December 21, 2021. From the title itself, fans will get the idea that this is the last episode of the series first season. There is still no news if another season will be made but fans are hopeful as the manga and light novel are still ongoing.

The episode will be available at 10:00 PM JST for those residing in Japan while international fans can expect the episode on Tuesday at 2:20 AM PST on Crunchyroll. The streaming giant acquired a license over the series to release it for western audiences. Those who are members of Crunchyroll can simulcast the episode one hour after Japan and enjoy other perks like ad-free shows, access to the sites website, and offline viewing.

Non-members, on the other hand, should not be worried as the streaming site has a free trial period. This will give viewers a chance to watch The Fruit of Evolution for free. Just take note that after the trial, viewers must register to continue watching. Crunchyroll requires interested members to sign up and pay $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, depending on their payment preference.

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The Fruit of Evolution Anime Episode 12 Release Date and Time, COUNTDOWN, Where to Watch, News and Everything You Need to Know - Epicstream

It was the fall of 1976 and Pete Doolittle, a skinny, long-haired kidnot long out of the machining and tooling program at H.C. Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, CTmade his way to Hobson & Motzer looking for a job. As Pete tells it, his interest in Hobson & Motzer was piqued by his tool and die instructor, Norm Wheeler, who often talked to his students about what a good company Hobson & Motzer was. Wheeler was close with Hobson & Motzerhe worked there in the summers when he wasnt teaching. At the time, Hobson & Motzer was a roughly 25-man shop with an opening. Doolittle was hired as a pressroom technician; and the rest, they say, is history. In the 70s, the company was transitioning from a tool and die shop to more of a production shop and in its first decade of establishing itself as a metal stamping company, while making inroads with the medical device industry.

Over the years, the company grew, and as it did, Doolittle worked his way up, ultimately becoming Production Manager. From there, and for the past 15 years, Doolittle has been Director of Sales and Marketing. It is a little unusual to make a leap from operations to sales, but like all of his prior roles, he took to it welland Hobson & Motzers customers took to him. Doolittle has been on the front line of Hobson & Motzers growth and expansion in the medical device sector over a successful 45-year career with the company. The company now operates two plants and employs nearly 370 people. Slated to retire at the end of this year, we thought it fitting to sit down with him to take a look through his lens at the evolution of the medical device industry and Hobson & Motzer.

Question: Can you give us four words that describe manufacturing when you first started in it; and then four words that best describe it today?

Doolittle: When I started, Id say: evolving, manual, unorganized, challenging.

Today, the words are: innovation, technology, automation, efficientstill challenging, but we have better tools to handle them.

Question: What are the major factors that contributed to the most notable changes you have seen over the years?

Doolittle: The need to continually add value and stay competitive while maintaining high-quality and high-service levels. This has driven much of our focus and performance over the years. There is no margin for error when providing components to the medical device sector, so quite simply, there is no compromise on quality, performance, or delivery. It remains a constant focus across the company. What has helped us stay competitive and add value as a supplier is the way we have embraced and invested in advancements in technology throughout the years. The company is committed to continued investment, in both workforce talent and technology. Its impact has been deepit affects how tooling is fabricated and how we scale into volume production. For tooling specifically, it went from traditional milling, grinding, and jig grinding shapes to wire EDM, and high-precision CNC machining of all the tooling components. The advent of wire EDM was a gamechanger for us; it changed the entire process for designing and building tools. It allowed the tooling to be shorter because you could combine features that couldnt be done in the past, which paved the way to greater precision, faster production, and more flexibility in the way you could design a tool. It still requires highly skilled talent, which we attract and nurture internally through a longstanding apprenticeship program. All these elements combined have allowed us to grow in step with the med device industry over the years. Its been a great ride.

Question: How has Hobson & Motzer navigated the changes, specifically?

Doolittle: Hobson & Motzer has always been an early adopter of new technology: wire EDM, press safety and monitoring, and inspection equipment. As I mentioned, part of our business model is to invest in the latest technologyto stay ahead of, and in some cases, jump the curve. Often, we are able to measure parts more accurately than our customers; and customers commonly take our results and accept themwith no function concerns for their end use. Our inspection process uses the most advanced metrology equipment, and the innovative ways we use it produces these reliable results.

Question: Was there ever a time Hobson & Motzer had to stop an intended plan of action and take on a new business approach due to shifts in direction of the metal stamping and/or medical industry?

Doolittle: There was a high-volume customer that made a significant change in the design of their product, which made the product more robust. In doing so, the new design involved significant process flow changes on the production floor. The legacy part was stamped and required a basic machining operation and assembly. The new product required stamping and multiple, complex machining operations, then assembly. To meet this demand and ensure we would deliver precise parts to this customer, we brought in more CNC equipment. This helped spark our next evolution into CNC machining and assembly, along with the stamping work we originally performed.

Question: Talk to us about the innovative mindset at Hobson & Motzer and how it has influenced your success in the med device market?

Doolittle: Our preference is to control as much of the manufacturing process as possible to ensure high-quality and high-service levels. Our solution in achieving that is to be as vertically integrated as possible. This mindset led us to invest in laser welding, laser engraving, PTFE coating, pad printing, and CNC machining, among other value-added processes completed entirely inhouse. The example with the biggest impact that comes to mind was an early assembly that required laser welding, which at that point was still an outside process. We had quality issues with the vendor we were using, and could not control the processthe vendor didnt have strong tooling capabilities. So, we brought the process inhouse and became experts in laser welding. Combine that with our tooling expertise, and overall, its an elevated process. We now have 14 laser welding workstations at Hobson & Motzer. We like to own the process, because ultimately, we own the quality. Vertical integration of these capabilities allows us to deliver the top-quality products, performance, and service that our med dev customers require.

Question: You are retiring at the end of this yearcongratulations on that. Is there a career milestone that stands out to you?

Doolittle: Thank you. Ive been fortunate to work with a team of professionals who recognize peoples strengths, and nurture them, with the ultimate goal of allowing them to apply them where they can shine. For me, transitioning from operations management to sales and marketing gave me the opportunity to have a significant career change without a whole lot of risk. I always enjoyed interacting with customers, so this move gave me the opportunity to be the primary contact. I had established great rapport with customersI was already effectively communicating with them. In a company of engineers, being the extrovert really helped! I had no sales experience; it hadnt even occurred to me to make a move to sales. We work very much as a team at Hobson & Motzer, and one day, the conversation turned to me with regard to this position in sales, with the sentiment, We think you would do a good job. The company helped train me, sending me, quietly, to sales and sales management training for a period of time. For my first 10 years or so at Hobson & Motzer, there was no sales and marketing team; it has evolved, much like the company itself has. I have been in the sales and marketing position for about 15 years, and we were able to experience significant growthsomething I am proud of as part of this deeply talented team. We truly work together in all facets of the companyfrom the production floor to upper managementand it makes all the difference in what and how we deliver to our customers.

Question: What are you personally most proud of? What should Hobson & Motzer, as a company, be most proud of?

Doolittle: In line with my answer abovepersonally, I am proud of the growth we have achieved, which has been significant. Ive seen the company go from 25 employees to 370 and two plants, totaling 125,000 square feet between them. Being part of the team that enabled this growth is a point of personal pride. Its always a team effort herefrom the president to the shop floor team. Everyone works together to succeed. We have an ideas program that solicits input from everyone at any time in the company. Weve created great processes and solutions from people who do the work here every day. Hobson & Motzer has such a fine-tuned organization that we often say we are able to apply our large company resources with a small company ability to respond nimbly. I am impressed with how we successfully pivot when needed, and how well we have anticipated market needs.

Question: Your decision to retire was not made lightly, and Hobson & Motzer constructed a very deliberate succession plan to ease the transition for colleagues and customers. Tell us about that.

Doolittle: We are good at looking forward. Hobson & Motzer has formal succession planning meetings twice a year. We look at key functions, assess them from all angles, and strategize the best moves forward. When I told my team over three years ago that I plan on retiring, we worked on finding my successor. We had time to find the right person and bring him up to speed; similar to how they took the time to train me. Anthony Bracale has been with us for three years now as our New Business Development Manager and has done a great job, particularly with marketing side of the position. Bracale brought in the professional marketing presence that we were lackingdoing that while learning all things Hobson & Motzer. For the last several weeks, he has taken over the day-to-day management of the sales and marketing function. He has gotten to know our customers and their products and has been a big part of our growth the last few years. He is ready to go.

Question: What advice would you give to someone starting in manufacturing?

Doolittle: There are so many opportunities in manufacturing. Contrary to what people may believe, it isnt just running a machine; there is so much you can do. My advice to people thinking of a career is to get involvedfind an area that interests you and learn as much as you can. It will open doors. I came here practically right out of technical school, and throughout my career Ive amassed plenty of college credits, but I dont hold a degree. Every time I needed to learn something new, I took the courses and got the education I needed. If you really want to succeed and put in the work, opportunities will find you. If you have the drive, become the person people go to. The go-to person gets ahead. And we have many go-to people at Hobson & Motzer who enjoy very satisfying careers here.

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Pete Doolittle reflects on a fruitful career in manufacturing: The half-century evolution of the industry and Hobson & Motzer - Mass Device

2022 Channel Predictions: The 6 Paradigm Shifts that Will Force MSP Evolution

The "New Year predictions" article has always been my favorite to write because it's totally forward-looking and filled with enthusiasm for the future. Traditionally, on RCP, it has been titled "Marching Orders." I'm glad we're changing it this year because I have always felt the old title reflected a very Microsoft-like attitude toward partners, basically telling them what they need to be doing at any time.

The most successful partners have traditionally ignored that attitude and determined their own futures.

Everything else I'll talk about in this post will be based on a very specific definition of the seriously overused term, "digital transformation." What I've seen over the past several years has been gradual but tremendous change in the ways people use technology to improve their work and their lives. The people have transformed. How they approach life has transformed. Much of technology has adapted to accommodate them. In my 40 years as a citizen of the channel community, this is the most exciting, fulfilling development I've ever seen in tech. This makes it critical that we approach the future with eyes, and possibilities, wide open.

Going forward, the most competitive posture anyone can adopt is one of continuous digital transformation.

The Critical Role of the MSP as Transformation GuideYour role as the technology thought leader for your clients could not be more important. To be in a constant state of transformation requires always being current on emerging technologies -- including the value and advantages they can deliver -- and innovating ways that you can deploy them to your own benefit.

For most clients, this is an enormous ask. Most lack the time to keep up with the continuous flow of new developments, new applications, new technologies and new techniques our industry produces. They have their own jobs to do. Think about how much time you yourself invest in keeping current with emerging tech. It's a full-time occupation!

But that's the whole point, isn't it? You spend a major proportion of your time learning about what's coming down the road. You fulfill your role in the lives and businesses of your clients when you take that new knowledge and apply it to each client's business challenges. You do the innovating and propose the next transformation (and the transformation after that) to each of them. As transforming becomes your clients' constant state, they absolutely need you to keep feeding the momentum with new ideas, new applications and new ways to improve their operations and increase their profits.

Shifting ParadigmsThe fundamental way you look at technologies and how they integrate into businesses will evolve this year. Here are a few ways in which changes we've already seen begin happening will flourish in 2022 with your help.

1. Augmented ThinkingThere's that famous old story about Einstein's teacher's thinking he was simple because he never remembered things. When then the teacher asked Einstein why, he explained that he didn't see the point in memorizing anything he could easily look up. As mobile devices and the SaaS that serves them become ever more sophisticated, and AI improves its ability to anticipate, we see mobile devices coming closer and closer to Alan Kay's original vision of the Dynabook, the personal digital assistant that could bring its user any information they needed at any time from anywhere, all transacted in natural language.

Bill Gates' original vision for Microsoft was "information at your fingertips." Please remember, that was 1975. In 2022, that's table stakes. "Google" has become a verb. When just about anybody needs to know something, they google it. That's Kay's and Gates' visions fulfilled. It also changes who we are and how we interact with our world, profoundly.

2. PlacelessnessThe COVID pandemic forced many transformations to kick into overdrive. A quarter-century ago, the CEO of Novell told us, "Work is now an activity, not a destination." Since March 2020, that has become overwhelmingly true.

The word "workplace" is already on its way to being completely redefined. In 2022, more people will come to realize they don't know where the person they're working with is physically located. And they don't really care! The entire nature of employment will change as hiring decisions are made without regard to physical proximity to any given office location. Technologies will emerge to make the work-from-home experience effortless and pleasant. Collaboration will expand to include AI participants. The content of our thoughts will become "king."

Nobody will know exactly where you're at. And they won't care!

3. Cloud UbiquityUp until now it's been a safe bet that everything is hybrid, mainly because everything has been in transition from on-premises to public and private cloud. For some, 2022 will be the year in which they achieve complete migration and find themselves fully in the cloud. In fact, many companies credit their sudden migration to WFH to the pandemic, with the switch being significantly easier thanks to their previous migration to the cloud. It also accelerated the completion of many such migrations.

The operational and financial possibilities are exciting. Cloud ubiquity -- the point at which cloud is a utility computing platform similar to gas, electric, telephone and water -- may not arrive in 2022 but we'll see significant progress toward it.

4. Automation EverywhereThere are still those who fear automation will replace humans and put many out of their jobs. Others are finding that the automation of things that really should be automated -- repetitive tasks or those requiring little thinking or decision-making -- is relieving them of many burdens and freeing them to do more meaningful work. Their satisfaction with their working lives is improving as a result. As more managers find more low-level work to automate, we're seeing a dramatic expansion of technologies and techniques.

Especially when all compute operations are executed in the cloud, the need for automation skyrockets. I anticipate seeing more and more MSPs also become automators of their clients' IT environments, applying sophisticated scripting and technologies to make more operations work by themselves. People get to focus on their work and not on the tools they do their work with.

5. DIY Low-Code/No-Code AppsPutting more capability back in the hands of users, an astounding number of new platforms have emerged enabling anyone who knows their business processes to map them into applications without writing a stitch of code. Most of these are point-drag-click solutions that take a "building-block" approach to give users great flexibility and, again, much more power. Coding is becoming outmoded.

6. A Subscription EconomyEven now, you can subscribe to several different brands of automobile rather than own one. You can subscribe to a robot floor sweeper that will request replenishment of its consumable supplies as needed without your involvement. Computer ink-jet printers will re-order ink in a similar fashion. Ownership may start become an unwanted burden in 2022, or it might take a bit longer, but the potential for a more agile customer experience is breathtaking. That which you do not own is far more easily replaced when necessary, or desired.

This is totally consistent with the evolution of computing. The goal for so many of our newest technologies is to keep everything loosely coupled. That is, the failure of any one component should not cause cascade failure of everything else. We are living in a time of literal dis-integration, keeping the hardware, the software, the data, the transport, the storage, everything completely divorced from everything else. This makes everything instantly swappable and removes all the dependencies that have caused so much trouble in the past.

There is so much more transforming all around us, but let's focus down on what I suggest you enter 2022 doing.

Think DifferentlyNot a new concept, but totally necessary as our transformational velocity accelerates. One of my favorite quotations comes from legendary sales coach Zig Ziglar: "If you're doing what you've always done, you're probably getting what you always got."

Actually, I submit that you're getting less. For 2022, do new stuff.

Posted by Howard M. Cohen on December 13, 2021 at 3:59 PM

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2022 Channel Predictions: The 6 Paradigm Shifts that Will Force MSP Evolution - Redmond Channel Partner

To return from the U.S., as I did last week, is to see the federal governments Omicron-blocking efforts unmasked as borderline incompetence.

The Canadian customs area was a super-spreader event jammed with a thousand bleary-eyed passengers in multiple zig-zagging lineups less than a jabbed elbow apart.

Clearly overwhelmed border officers were not checking vaccinations, PCR tests or ArriveCAN apps, none of which had been examined at the U.S. departure gate either, with some travellers being directed into the unfortunately-named triage line for further questioning.

And there was no sign not even a room where it could be done - of any government-ordered testing of arrivals from beyond the United States. One Ottawa man I talked to had flown for 26 hours from Kenya via Paris having only had his boarding pass and passport checked.

Now, its possible my arrival was just a freak rush hour and not a much-quieter more vigilant norm.

But to watch the multi-levelled goings-on Wednesday, as the Omicron noose was tightened symbolically by the federal government with Ontario going aggressive on boosters, large crowd bans and rapid testing, was to see signs of hope for a common sense evolution in coping with COVID-19 in Canada.

While harsher responses were reportedly on the table in the prime ministers conference call with premiers, the feds opted for a travel advisory instead, putting a series of discouraging nouns and verbs to international travel plans for the next four weeks.

With that action, the feds clearly realized Canada cannot test every arrival by air without causing total airport paralysis. They seem to sense they cant reverse the Christmas travel frenzy, which is already throttling up. And they surely know to mothball the airlines again would trigger bankruptcies requiring a massive bailout to fix.

But, it will be seen for what it is advice. And for passengers with non-refundable getaways booked or destination weddings to attend, it will be ignored.

Still, beyond this flailing-about, optics-only federal response to the many unknowns about the Omicron variant, there were dangled hints that Canadians may soon be treated as self-reliant adults instead of rule-breaking children forced to behave under big brothers unblinking stare.

For starters, public health officials admitted a complete travel ban would be pointless given how the rapid escalation of cases is occurring inside Canadian borders.

Both chief public health officer Theresa Tam and deputy Howard Njoo repeatedly shrugged off reporter questions over why the drawbridge wasnt being raised to all travel, preferring to focus on why the Omicron spread will only be broken with proven prevention methods.

That means getting back to basics, which worked best through the first four waves, they said. You know them by now: masking, hand washing, social distancing, smaller gatherings, rapid testing, good ventilation and an all-out effort to get boosters into adults and two doses into kids.

It was some recognition that, subject to change without notice if this variant mutates into a killer, Canadians might rebel against another round of total lockdowns, restaurant closures, family reunion vetoes and ridiculous park shutdowns. The 2020 era when bylaw enforcement officers wielded supreme power to ticket parents for taking their kids to the closed playground is long gone.

In other words, were mercifully pivoting back to the initial goal when the rallying cry was to "flatten the curve" in order to keep empty beds in ICUs instead of chasing rainbow fantasies that this insidious virus can be exterminated by washing your vegetables.

So heres hoping the feds embrace realistic responsibilities in this fourth - or is it fifth? - COVID-19 wave: Secure the kid doses and adult boosters, get millions of rapid testing kits into provincial hands and keep the economy flowing through a border as immune as possible to variant invasions.

While Im hearing whispers of more border controls coming on Friday, one hopes theyre just tinkering with existing testing rules rather than launching a radical lurch into sovereign self-isolation, which would do nothing to detour the virus from its avalanche sweep into every corner of Canada.

Its time vaccinated Canadians were allowed to chart their common sense prevention path through this never-ending pandemic, leaving anti-vaxxers to decide the right time to call an ambulance if Omicron fills up their lungs.

Thats the bottom line...

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Don Martin: Borderline incompetence gives way to a common sense evolution in the fight against Omicron - CTV News

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope snapped this picture of the Centaur LD2 as it orbited near Jupiter. NASA / ESA / J. Olmsted / STScI

In the far reaches of the solar system, between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, a multitude of city-sized chunks of rock and ice, known as Centaurs, circle the sun. Occasionally Jupiters gravitational tug flings one of these Centaurs into a new orbit that takes it into the inner solar system. As it approaches the sun it heats up and various gases, including water vapor from ice locked in the objects interior, are released. As solar wind pushes this material away from the object, it can form a distinctive tailand a comet is born.

And while more than a dozen robotic missions have studied comets and asteroids in our solar system over the last two decades, weve thus far never observed a comet at its moment of birth. But if an ambitious project goes ahead, that will change. The idea, put forward by University of Chicago physicist Darryl Seligman and his colleagues in a study accepted for publication in Planetary Science Journal, would see a spacecraft parked near Jupiter; when a Centaur is flung toward Earth, the spacecraft would follow along, effectively hitching a ride on the inbound object.

If you could ride along with a comet as different ices turned on, then you could see that entire process happen, in real time. Youd see not only the comets start, but its evolution, says Seligman. Scientifically, it would be incredibly useful to watch H2O turn on for the first time, and to see what that looks like, as a function of the objects distance to the sun.

Seligman even has his eye on a particular targeta Centaur known as P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS), or LD2 for short. (The objects are likened to the mythical half-human, half-horse creatures because of their hybrid nature: theyre a bit like asteroids, which are generally inert chunks of rock; and theyre a bit like comets, which are more active due to the emission of gases as various frozen ices vaporize, in a process known as sublimation.) LD2 is estimated to be about eight miles acrossabout the size of Staten Islandand is currently orbiting the sun with a period of about 12 years, in an orbit that keeps it close to Jupiter.

Preliminary data suggests that LD2 will have a particularly close encounter with Jupiter in 2063a brush which, according to computer simulations, will likely send the object toward the inner solar system. Once its on its new path, it will be a Jupiter-family comet, a particular class of short-period comets that pass near the sun every few years. However, because these calculations involve a certain margin of error, the exact inward trajectory that LD2 will take cant be pinned down precisely.

Seligmans studyexamines the characteristics and orbital dynamics of Centaurs, and predicts that many more such objects likely remain to be discovered; it also details how a spacecraft could be sent to LD2 at relatively low cost. They suggest a launch date of 2061, with the spacecraft rendezvousing with LD2 shortly after its 2063 encounter with Jupiter.

Its a very exciting idea, says Laura Woodney, a planetary scientist at California State University, Santa Barbara, who was not involved with the current study, but has worked on similar investigations for possible Centaur missions. The proposed target, LD2, is one of these pristine, outer-solar-system objects that would be really fascinating to follow, to study, to see what its composed of.

When the solar system was forming4.5 billion years ago, give or takeit was likely awash in countless rocky and icy bodies constantly smashing into one another. The largest chunks of material coalesced into the eight major planetsplus the sun, of coursewhile the smaller bits became the minor bodies, mostly asteroids and comets, that account for the remainder of the solar systems mass. Because LD2 has not yet ventured close to the sun, astronomers see it as an undisturbed relic, its composition closely mirroring that of the early solar system. Studying it can shed light on the building blocks from which the Earth and the other planets formed.

Although the first Centaur was discovered a century ago, it was only in the 1970s that astronomers came to think of them as a distinct collection of objects. Theyre believed to originate beyond the orbit of Neptune, migrating inward as a result of the gravitational effects of the giant planets. Once they arrive at Jupiters orbit, however, theyre in a gravitational shooting gallery, says Jordan Steckloff, an astronomer at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. Jupiters powerful gravity typically flings Centaurs either outward or inward after a few million yearswhich sounds like a long time, but is pretty quick in astronomical terms; it means that Centaurs should be thought of as objects in transition. Orbital changes that normally take a few billion years suddenly happen much faster, says Steckloff. And in the case of LD2, the transition is expected to happen on a human time scalewhich is what makes this so exciting.

Most of the ice in comets is frozen water, but they can also contain carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, along with trace amounts of other frozen gases. Because carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are more volatile than water, theyre the first to vaporize as a comet approaches the sun. LD2 already shows small amounts of activity, due to the sublimation of these more volatile gases.

The sublimation process is important because it can affect a comets trajectory: if gases spew out of one side of an object more than the other side, it will be nudged in the opposite direction. Since ice is a key component of a comet, when water starts to sublimate, the comet is also in danger of breaking apart. Comets eventually run out of steam and disintegrate after a handful of close approaches to the sun, Seligman says, to the point where theres nothing left. (Exceptions exist to this break-up rulesome, like Halleys Comet, have proven relatively stable; Halley, which is believed to have originated from further out than the Centaurs, returns to the inner solar system about every 75 years and has survived at least 30 orbits.)

A better grasp of the mechanics of cometary break-ups can help astronomers understand the population dynamics of the Centaurs themselves. For example, the faster that comets fall apart, the higher the rate at which new, more remote objects must be migrating into the Centaur region to replace them. Understanding these processes should also help researchers predict how many more objects like LD2 they might expect to see kicked into the inner solar system in coming decades.

When LD2 eventually becomes a short-period comet, it could display a bright tail that would make it visible to the unaided eye.

While the mission that Seligman envisions sounds complex, it could be realized with previously tested technology, he says. For example, NASAs Juno mission reached Jupiter in just five years; and the OSIRIS-Rex mission and also Japans Hayabusa 2 spacecraft have shown that its possible to follow a moving target through space, with both craft successfully collecting samples from an asteroids surface. NASAs Lucy mission, meanwhile, has just been launched on a 12-year journey that will see it rendezvousing with eight different asteroids.

Seligman stresses that the idea that he describes in the paper is just a demonstration of the feasibility of a concept, a fairly common practice for astronomers and physicists at the first stages of dreaming up a possible space mission. A full-fledged mission concept study, involving dozens of scientists and engineers examining every possible thing that could go wrong with a mission, may follow sometime in the future, he says; that would be followed by a pitch to a space agency and to funding agencies. (By comparison, he notes, a journal article is relatively cheap.)

Aside from learning about the early history of the solar system, studying these small worlds is also vital for understanding the danger presented by objects in Earth-crossing orbits. Astronomers believe that most such objects originate in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, not from the more remote realm of the Centaursbut its impossible to rule out the possibility that a comet might one day pose a threat to Earth, Seligman says. Thats also a good reason to study the break-up of comets: If an object that splits into, say, a dozen pieces as it passes near the sun, and those pieces in turn break apart on subsequent orbits, that would create a greater flux of potentially hazardous debris. So although comets dont top of the list of likely hazards for our planet, the more we understand about their composition and motion, the better, says Seligman.

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The Ambitious Idea to Study the Evolution of a Comet - Smithsonian