#gradepost

[anxiousfutures]

Scientists print 3D models of Great Barrier Reef in bid to save it

Researchers creating virtual maps of coral reefs to precisely model how structure altered by environmental change

Researchers from the University of Sydney established a ecological 3D modelling hub to precisely quantify the structure of the reef ecosystem. With the help from advanced photogrammetry (the science of making 3D reconstructions from photography), researchers are able to model the reefs and other marine ecosystems in three dimensions. Using theses models created by photogrammetry, researchers can print out real corals that can be planted on the reef to provide support as it recovers from adverse events such as bleaching and storms.

It is good to see scientists can come out with solutions that can save the Earth’s ecosystem. Although the cost of this technology is quite expensive so far, it still a breakthrough in ecology. Hopefully this can inspire more researches regarding to save the ecosystems using technology. 

[tiger-shanks-blog]

President Trump likes to move fast. The public isn’t thrilled.

Trump is making lots of moves. Fast. Bigly fast.

This article relates to our class because it discusses the relevant issue of the Trump Presidency and public support for his policies . This article outlines that people who support Donald Trump are more likely to rate his timing for enacting policies as appropriate, while those that do not support his policies are more likely to rate his pacing as too fast to address the issues in the united states effectively. 

This class involves analyzing the validity of sources, which include polls, and in this case the polling to indicate Trump’s pacing may be more indicative of public support for his policies as opposed to the speed in which he enacts said polices. And as the outcome of the election has showed us, polls should always be questioned and correlation should not be confused with causation. Keeping this in mind, we can better understand how the public will interact with the Trump administration and the policies he enacts. 

CCID: Shanks

[anxiousfutures]

This picture depicts how Dabba’s (Lunch Box) are delivered in present day Mumbai, India. A Dabbawala is a person in Indian metropolitan cities who carries dabba (tiffin) from either houses or central kitchens in the late morning to the offices. Dabba Delivery System is widely used in the city because Indian people prefer eating homemade food as it is hygienic and nutritious.The lunch is either prepared by their wives or work from home women. The Dabbahs are delivered on bikes, wooden carts and local trains. The Dabbawala’s being men of limited literacy use special marks to distinguish the Dabbahs. I posted this picture because it is mentioned in “Zero Hours” (a story about future London) where dabbahs are being delivered by drones in London! Delivery by drones actually makes sense in London as it would be cheaper whereas in India using man power is an economically wise choice with Dabbawalas costing only about US$ 4/day! But at the end  of the day Dabbawalas are still happy because something is better than nothing and they would never want to lose their jobs to drones!

-Karanvir Sangha (kssangha)

[anxiousfutures]

Renewables cut Europe's carbon emissions by 10% in 2015, says EEA

European Environment Agency reports solar and and wind is reducing fossil fuel dependency but clean energy capacity still not growing fast enough

In 2015, the use of renewable energy helped Europe cut its fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by about 10%. The use of renewable energy has been rose to 16.7% in Europe. Although the use of renewable energy is making progress, it still not fast enough to prevent the high fuel emission and the accelerating global warming. The European Environment Agency (EEA) suggests the EU should achieve 20% emission cut and 20% renewable energy usage by 2020, and bigger targets by 2030 and 2050.

The use of fossil fuel is a well-known reason of climate change, it is good to know the use of renewable energy is making progress and has replaced tons of oil usage. Nevertheless, people still need to work on making renewable energy economical in order to reduce more greenhouse gas emission.

[anxiousfutures]

The Big Short: is the next financial crisis on its way?

Steve Eisman saw the last crash coming and was portrayed in an Oscar-winning film. Now he believes Europe’s banks, especially Italy’s, are at risk

This article mentions about the next financial crisis will most possibly occur in Italy. The reason for that is the banks there are stuffed with “non-performing loans” (NPLs). Borrowers are barely paying the loans handed out to companies and households, and the Italian banks have not written down those loans. Instead, billions upon billions are still on the books, written down as worth about 45% to 50% of their original value. What Eisman found is that the NPLs should be valued at just 20% of their original price. If the Italian banks recognise their loans at their true value, it wipes out their capital, and they go bust overnight.

“What is very negative is that in every country in Europe, the largest owner of that country’s sovereign bonds are that country’s banks,” Eisman says. As the bonds decline in value, then the capital base of the banks deteriorates.

ccid: jnian

[anxiousfutures]

Zacharie Rabehi's ethereal photos document some of New Delhi's most polluted sites.

These pictures are of river Yamuna, which is considered to be one of the longest and the holiest rivers in India along with the river Ganga. It is the river on whose banks the ‘Taj Mahal’ exists.                                                                                                     At a first glance, someone might think that it is a layer of snow on the river but actually it is foam formed due to the untreated chemical sewage being dumped into the river from industries. The Hindus still bath and pray in the river Yamuna because they consider it to be sacred. These common people are too naive to understand the harms of taking bath and using water from an intoxicated river. For them their river is still holy and pure as it had been from centuries. But the present massive industrialization and urbanization has changed everything. Our land, our air and our rivers are not the same anymore. The domestic and industrial waste has polluted the river Yamuna to such an extent that now it is almost impossible to reverse it!

-Karanvir Sangha (kssangha)

[anxiousfutures]

The picture depicts the effects of American crisis on the rest of world as alluded to in the movie “The big short”.The bursting of the US’s housing economy in 2006 impacted not only Americans but had a domino effect on rest of the global economy. The effects resonated and resulted in the global financial crisis and recession. The crisis were a result of the fact that the mortgage debts exceeded the values of the house and for one sixth of the homes, the debt had risen 20% higher than the price of house. 

In Canada as a result of these crisis an economic slowdown was observed. As a result of America being Canada’s largest trading partner the trembling of american economy resulted in a weaker Canadian exports and further created problems for the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the economic slowdown also serves as a barricade in the advancement of the strong Canadian energy and natural resources sector and resulted in their sufferings. Thus, despite of feeling insulated towards the America’s worst financial crisis, the effects have resonated in our nation and continue to effect our economy even today. Although indirect, as a result of the American mortgage crisis, several of the Canadian factors slowed down and stumbled due to the resonating effects.

Globally the effects were felt in almost all of the major global economies. As a result of the mortgage crisis and stumbling of their major ally economies, the European nations especially suffered a big loses and crashes in their economies. The Greece economy was destroyed with majority of people losing their funds and other countries right behind.

CCID: smshah

[anxiousfutures]

MDMA approved for final trials to treat PTSD before possible legalization

FDA could make drug legal by 2021 if phase three tests involving controlled dosage and talk therapy are shown to alleviate post-traumatic stress disorder

This article gives us the information of MDMA is very useful to help patients with PTSD to conquer their symptoms. As the patients who are given the MDMA treatment said, they are very lucky to have this treatment, and over 85% of those patient do not have PSTD anymore. This means the MDMA would be definitely legalized in 2021. 

According to the lecture, people with PTSD are afraid to face the battle image again, and MDMA is just pills that help solving the debilitating mental condition that can be caused by witnessing or experiencing a life-threatening event. So the actual treatment is not only the pills, patients have to face their nightmare again under therapy, that is why they “come into a clinic and receive one MDMA pill from the doctor and take it right away for their therapy session” and not taking it home.