Canadian Space Agency to Announce New Astronauts
CBC News: Technology report that the two newest members of the Canadian astronauts will be revealed to the public in the next four weeks, according to the Canadian Space Agency. The fourth recruitment campaign for the Canadian Space Agency got thousands of applicants for the positions. These were then whittled down to twelve men and five women. Twelve astronauts chosen by three prior campaigns have taken part in sixteen space missions.
The space roster for Canada was at its peak in 1992 with a total of ten active astronauts in the Canadian Space Agency. The current roster for the Canadian Space Agency is only two, who are David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen. Saint-Jacque and Hansen will be launching to the International Space Agency in November of 2018.
Canada’s nature album to be taken for Canada 150
CTV News said that ten thousand volunteers will be taking photographs of Canadian biodiversity along with expert naturalists in 2017. These people are working together for BioBlitz Canada 150, which is the Canadian “real-world Pokémon Go for Canadian plant and animal life.”
Elizabeth Gammell, BioBlitz Canada 150 manager, said, “It’s about making a listed inventory of all living species in a particular area?Everybody is doing actual real science that is going to help future wildlife, and aid future decisions about our environment.”
35 BioBlitzes, in a series, are scheduled throughout the country. The aim is to photograph as many species as possible from one end of Canada to another. There will be five flagship events between June 9th and September 17th in Toronto, Vancouver, Regina, and Quebec City, ending with an event in Halifax.
Government of Canada Invests in Advanced Technologies
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, part of the Government of Canada issued a press release on an investment in Canadian researchers to tackle some of the emergent international issues, and to take advantage of some of the potential benefits of modern high technology.
The investment amounted to $744,000 with an emphasis on the areas of advanced technologies, rural and urban resilience, and social innovation. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, the minister of science, announced the federal investment into thirty “knowledge synthesis research projects funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).”
Two grant recipients announced earlier this week included “Dr. Sami Aoun of Université de Sherbrooke whose research will focus on knowledge of terrorism and how to address radicalization” and “Dr. Stephanie Ben-Ishai of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University will look at millennials, the labour market challenges they face, as well as their levels of financial literacy and indebtedness.”
Massive Craters in Arctic Sea Floor from Methane Gas
“Giant craters on the Arctic sea floor were formed when methane gas previously trapped in ice was released with such force it blew through bedrock, Norwegian researchers say,” CBC News: Technology and Science reported.
In the most recent edition of the prestigious journal Science, the research article reported that during the prior ice age a two-kilometre thick sheet of ice on the floor of the Barents Sea off Norway held massive amounts of methane in a hydrate form, which is a mixture of gas and water.
Karen Adnreassen, a professor in the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at the Arctic University of Norway, said, “To disturb the bedrock that much, we feel pretty certain that It’s not something that can be done by gas bubbles just seeping up. It must have been a catastrophic event.”
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the AUSU VPFA. He works with various organizations, and runs In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, and In-Sight Publishing.