facility:university of calgary

Arctic sea ice may be declining faster than expected: study
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-arctic-research/arctic-sea-ice-may-be-declining-faster-than-expected-study-idUSKBN1CT2JD

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Arctic sea ice may be thinning faster than predicted because salty snow on the surface of the ice skews the accuracy of satellite measurements, a new study from the University of Calgary said on Tuesday.

The report from the Canadian university’s Cryosphere Climate Research Group published in the academic journal Geophysical Research Letters found satellite estimates for the thickness of seasonal sea ice have been overestimated by up to 25 percent.

That means the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free much sooner than some scientific predictions, which forecast sea ice will first disappear completely during summer months between 2040 and 2050, according to lead author Vishnu Nandan.

Ingenious : Julie Sedivy - Issue 47 : Consciousness
▻http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/ingenious-julie-sedivy

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The purpose of language is to reveal the contents of our minds, says Julie Sedivy. It’s a simple and profound insight. We are social animals and language is what springs us from our isolated selves and unites us with others. Sedivy has taught linguistics and psychology at Brown University and the University of Calgary. She specializes in psycholinguistics, the psychology of the mind, notably the psychological pressures that give birth to language and comprehension. More recently Sedivy has been writing about language in her own life. She was born in Czechoslovakia, spent time as a kid in Austria and Italy, and came of age in Canada. She speaks Czech, French, and English, and gets by in Spanish, Italian, and German.In “The Strange Persistence of First Languages,” published in Nautilus (...)

Supersonic plasma jets discovered / Swarm / Observing the Earth / Our Activities / ESA
▻http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Swarm/Supersonic_plasma_jets_discovered

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Information from ESA’s magnetic field Swarm mission has led to the discovery of supersonic plasma jets high up in our atmosphere that can push temperatures up to almost 10 000°C.

Presenting these findings at this week’s Swarm Science Meeting in Canada, scientists from the University of Calgary explained how they used measurements from the trio of Swarm satellites to build on what was known about vast sheets of electric current in the upper atmosphere.

The theory that there are huge electric currents, powered by solar wind and guided through the ionosphere by Earth’s magnetic field, was postulated more than a century ago by Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland.

It wasn’t until the 1970s, after the advent of satellites, however, that these ‘Birkeland currents’ were confirmed by direct measurements in space.

These currents carry up to 1 TW of electric power to the upper atmosphere – about 30 times the energy consumed in New York during a heatwave.

An “Infinitely Rich” Mathematician Turns 100 - Facts So Romantic
▻http://nautil.us/blog/an-infinitely-rich-mathematician-turns-100

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At the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rome, in September of 1973, the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős approached his friend Richard Guy with a request. He said, “Guy, veel you have a coffee?” It cost a dollar, a small fortune to a professor of mathematics at the hinterland University of Calgary who was not much of a coffee drinker. Yet, as Guy later recalled—during a memorial talk following Erdős’s death at age 83 two decades ago—he was curious why the great man had sought him out. Guy and Erdős were in the Eternal City for an international colloquium on combinatorial theory, so Erdős—who sustained himself with espresso and other stimulants, worked on math problems 19 hours a day, and in his lifetime published in excess of 1,500 papers with more than 500 collaborators—most likely had another (...)

Convicting Zika | The BMJ
▻http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1847

Maintenant que les pseudo-liens avec les OGM et les produits chimiques se sont dégonflés, on ne parle plus beaucoup ici de #Zika, qui continue pourtant de provoquer des ravages au Brésil et dans un bassin de plus en plus large. Le consensus scientifique se renforce sur le rôle prééminent du virus dans l’épidémie de microcéphalie et autres pathologies flippantes, et qui touchent très majoritairement les pauvres. Avec l’équation jamais démentie et toujours renouvelée #virus + #moustiques + #inégalités = catastrophe sanitaire.

The stream of new studies has even convinced some scientists who had been critical of the rush to judgment. In February, Glen Armstrong, professor of microbiology, immunology, and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, cautioned against rushing to blame Zika, noting the link was based entirely on “circumstantial evidence.”7 But in an interview with The BMJ, he explained that while Zika’s link to microcephaly and other neurological disorders was still only a correlation, “I think the evidence is getting stronger and stronger in favour of the conclusion that the Zika virus is, if not the only major player, the major player.”

#santé #recherche

Arctic countries prohibit commercial fishing in North Pole
▻http://news.mongabay.com/2015/08/arctic-countries-prohibit-commercial-fishing-in-north-pole

On July 16, all five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean — the United States, Norway, Canada, Denmark, and Russia — signed an agreement that prohibits commercial fishing in the international waters of the central Arctic Ocean.

This 2.8 million square kilometer high seas region surrounds the North Pole, lies beyond the five coastal countries’ exclusive economic zones, and is not owned by any country.

The Declaration Concerning the Prevention of Unregulated High Seas Fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean, also known as the Arctic Fisheries Declaration, was signed in Oslo. It restricts commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean until there is an increased science-based understanding of the region’s ecosystem, and appropriate international standards of fishing are established.

The agreement and its measures are not legally binding on the five Arctic countries that signed it, according to a post on the University of Calgary Faculty of Law blog. But it declares the intent of the countries to conform to the measures in the declaration.

Given how the Arctic ecosystem is changing rapidly, experts are welcoming this agreement.

#pêche #arctique #pêche_commerciale

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How “Meaning Withdrawal,” aka Boredom, Can Boost Creativity - Facts So Romantic
▻http://nautil.us/blog/how-meaning-withdrawal-aka-boredom-can-boost-creativity

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Two Ironing WomenEdward Degas In his book Boredom: A Lively History, an oxymoronic title if ever there was one, Peter Toohey argues that the eponymous feeling has plagued our species since ancient times. “Boredom is a universal experience, and it’s been felt in most eras,” says Toohey, a professor of Greek and Roman studies at the University of Calgary. As an example he cites medieval artwork and passages by the early Christian hermit Evagrius Ponticus, who lived ascetically in the desert and wrote extensively on boredom, though the word for his discontent had not yet been coined. It seems perfectly reasonable that even early hominids may have grown restless and impatient while waiting for their prey to wander within range of a well-thrown spear. The vulnerability to tedium may be stitched (...)