Flying Boats

The Pioneer of Belfast glides above the water, quiet and smooth, leaving little wake behind it.


"Even in big waves and wind, we can see the benefits of flying above the waves," says Katrina Thompson, programme director at Artemis Technologies.


The Pioneer, developed by Artemis Technologies, is the world's first electric foiling workboat to be brought to market.


The foil, a wing-like structure underneath the boat, lifts the hull out of the water, greatly reducing drag.


Combine with an electric motor and you have, according to Artemis, a vessel which reduces fuel costs by 90% and is emission-free.


"It's such a transformative technology," says Dr Thompson.


Dr Thompson grew up in Sailortown, Belfast, in amongst the bustle of heavy industry. She spent her childhood playing on the docks while her parents worked on the boats.


She left Belfast to become an aeronautical engineer, designing aircraft for Rolls-Royce and Bombardier. Then, she went back to her roots - taking her expertise with her.  READ MORE...

Reading Abilities

 

Tech Trends for 2023

At 1:03am on Monday 5 December, the most powerful laser on the planet flashed into life at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, in an experiment that sent shockwaves through the world of physics and beyond.


The laser targeted a fuel capsule, the size of a peppercorn, creating temperatures and pressures which sparked a fusion reaction - the reaction which powers the sun.


The National Ignition Facility (NIF) had done such experiments before, but this time the energy that came out of the reaction, was more than the laser power used to trigger it.


It was a landmark moment for fusion researchers and, while fusion reactors are still a long way from making electricity that we can use, it shows that the physics works.


"We have taken the first tentative steps towards a clean energy source that could revolutionise the world," said LLNL Director Kim Budil.  READ MORE...

Cats in Snow

 

97% ARE STRAIGHT

LONDON – Around 3% of people in England and Wales aged 16 or over identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to 2021 census data released on Friday.

The census in 2021 was the first in Britain to ask about people’s sexual orientation, and the results are broadly in line with previous, smaller-scale surveys.

The census, conducted by Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), also asked about people’s gender identity for the first time. About 262,000 people – 0.5% of those aged 16 or over – replied that the gender they identified with was different from their sex registered at birth, the ONS said.

The questions about sexual orientation and gender identity were voluntary, and 7.5% of people declined to answer about their sexual orientation, while 6.0% did not answer the question on gender identity.

Overall, 43.4 million people in England and Wales said they were “straight or heterosexual”, while 1.5 million – 3.2% of the population aged 16 or over – identified as gay or lesbian, bisexual, or other.

Some 1.5% of people said they were gay or lesbian and 1.3% were bisexual. Another 0.3% ticked a box for “other sexual orientation”, two thirds of whom called themselves pansexual.

On gender identity, 262,000 people aged 16 or over answered that they were a different gender to the sex they were registered as at birth, the ONS said.

Of those, 48,000 said they now identified as a trans man, 48,000 identified as a trans woman, 30,000 said they were non-binary and 18,000 said they had another gender identity, the ONS added.

The ONS defines a trans man as someone who identifies as a man but was registered female at birth, while trans women were registered as male at birth, but now identify as women.

Census figures for Britain as a whole are not yet available, as Scotland delayed carrying out its census for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A previous, annual UK-wide survey conducted by the ONS showed that in 2020 3.8% of people identified as gay or lesbian, bisexual or other, up from 1.9% in 2014 when same-sex marriage was first allowed in England and Wales.

That survey also gave breakdowns of sexual orientation by age, gender and ethnicity – showing, among other things, that younger people are much more likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Sex between men aged 21 or over was legalised in England and Wales in 1967. The age of consent was lowered to 18 in 1994 and reduced to 16 – the same as for heterosexual relationships – in 2000.

Census data on sexual orientation by age will be published on Jan. 25, and further details will come later in the year.

Let's Play

 

Wild Dogs

Crowded Tokyo

Japan is upping the ante on its cash incentives to get people to move out of its overcrowded capital, Tokyo, which is home to about 37 million people. For scale, Canada’s population in 2021 was just over 38 million.


Starting in April, families in the greater Tokyo area will be eligible to receive 1 million yen, or just under $10,200, per child if they move to the countryside, in an effort to revitalize less-populated areas, according to reports from CNN and the Guardian.

Previous incentives saw the Japanese government offering 300,000 yen, about $3,000, per child if families relocated. This new measure certainly sweetens the pot, tripling their previous offer.

Tokyo is host to many of Japan’s largest companies and is the centre of its economy, meaning it’s an attractive place to move, especially for young people living in rural areas. This migration pattern has left small towns with fewer and older residents, and millions of unoccupied homes.

According to 2021 government statistics, the number of people moving into Tokyo outnumbered those leaving the city by around 80,000.

The concentration of the Japanese population in Tokyo also poses a problem for the country’s demographic crisis, marked by declining birth rates and an aging population. 

Experts say that the high cost of living in Tokyo, limited space and lack of access to child care makes it difficult to raise children in the dense metropolis. As such, people are having less kids.  Out of Japan’s 47 prefectures, Tokyo has the lowest fertility rate.  READ MORE...

Strictly Political

 

Saving the Rain Forest

Francisco Elle is haunted by the faces of children he could not save.

It's what drives him deep into the dense rainforests of the vast Sierra Madre mountain range day after day, carrying a heavy wicker bag full of fresh saplings on his shoulders.

His lean figure ducks under a thick ceiling of leaves. Even with his glasses falling to the end of his nose, he manages to avoid being tripped by exposed tree roots as he hurries along a faint trail to his latest tree planting site.

Following him is tough going, especially as clouds roll down the hillside brushing the tips of the branches with a fresh mist of rain.

He once made a living chopping down these trees which had taken centuries to grow. Now in his 50s, he has turned from illegal logger to forest ranger after witnessing what he describes as "nature's revenge".

More than 1,000 people were killed when Francisco's village, along with several others, was washed away by a landslide in December 2004.

"I saw lifeless children all lined up on the street while the houses were all destroyed. There weren't any houses left, even ours was gone. When I remember the things we did, I feel helpless," he said during one of the few breaks he was willing to take that day.

Does he feel guilty about his past?  He turns away in tears. After several minutes, he answers: "I blame myself. Maybe if I didn't cut trees, maybe it wouldn't have happened."  READ MORE...

Female Bodybuilders

 

Europe's Most Misunderstood Country

Stretching 192km, the Peak of the Balkans Trail bridges three previously war-torn nations and crosses through some of the continent's least-explored landscapes.

Hiking through the green valleys and wildflower-strewn meadows under blazing sunshine, with the gunmetal-grey Albanian Alps towering overhead, I was struck by the utter remoteness of this landscape. Unlike Europe's more famous alpine resorts, there were no hotels or ski lifts in sight. 

Instead, the sweeping setting evoked a startling sense of isolation, and I couldn't help but feel I'd entered a back-of-the-wardrobe secret land that had somehow evaded the attention of the outside world.

Stretching from Northern Albania into southern Kosovo and north-eastern Montenegro, the Albanian Alps are better known by their local Albanian (Bjeshkët e Nëmuna) and Serbo-Croatian (Prokletije) names – both of which mean "The Accursed Mountains". 

Yet, the question of how these serrated limestone slopes got their unusual moniker remains something of a mystery.

According to local legend, the devil escaped from hell and created the jagged glacial karsts in a single day of mischief. Some say the alps' name stems from a woman who cursed the mountains when she was trekking through them with her children on a scorching-hot day and couldn't find any water. 

Others claim Slavic soldiers gave the mountains their name as they struggled to march through them. In a way, the peaks' puzzling origin story is something of a metaphor for Albania as a whole.  READ MORE...

Raccoons

 

Pen & Ink Artist

 

French Baguettes At Risk

Recently described as "250 grams of magic and perfection" by President Emmanuel Macron, the French baguette is at risk from surging energy prices, with some bakers warning they can no longer afford to fire up their ovens.

Already struggling with sharp hikes in the price of butter, flour and sugar over the last year and a half, the prized industry is now alarmed by astronomical electricity bills looming in 2023.

"It was absolutely inconceivable to me that a power bill could make me close my shop and stop my life here," Julien Bernard-Regnard, a distraught baker in the village of Bourgaltroff in eastern France, told AFP by phone.

He is still coming to terms with closing his doors for the final time in early December having decided that continuing his business, built up over the last five years, was impossible given the cost of electricity.

"I had to renew my contract at the beginning of September and it increased by three and half times," he said.

His monthly power costs rose from around 400 euros ($420) a month to nearly 1,500, while shopping around for an alternative supplier brought no relief.

"I'm in lots of online groups with other bakers and on social media. There are bakeries closing every day. Some have bills that are multiplied by 10 or 12. There's someone else 40 kilometres (25 miles) from me who's just shut down," he added.

In a country where the availability of crusty daily bread is a political issue fraught with danger for any government, Macron's cabinet is keen to show it is doing everything possible to safeguard the nation's 35,000 bread and croissant makers.  READ MORE...

Female Led Marriages Work

 

Pakistan Closes Due To Market Crisis

Pakistan’s government has ordered measures to conserve energy, including closing all malls and markets by 8:30pm (15:30 GMT), as the country grapples with a crippling power and economic crisis.

The cabinet-approved measures are expected to save the country about 62 billion Pakistani rupees ($273m), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told journalists on Tuesday.

Pakistan finds itself strapped for cash as money expected to come in under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme has been delayed. Its foreign exchange reserves now barely cover a month of imports, most of which are for energy purchases.

The defence minister said additional measures that will take immediate effect include shutting restaurants and wedding halls by 10pm (17:00 GMT). He said some market representatives had pushed for longer hours, but the government decided that an earlier closure was needed.

Asif also said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered all government departments to reduce electricity consumption by 30 percent.

The measures are being implemented as Pakistan struggles to quell fears of a default after the $1.1bn in IMF funding was delayed. Islamabad has differences with the IMF over a review the agency is conducting of policy and reforms it is requiring in Pakistan. The review should have been completed in November.  READ MORE...

Words of Wisdom

 

England's Biggest Wind Turbine

Work to build England's biggest wind turbine will start in February.

The 150-metre structure will dwarf the other turbines already in Avonmouth, Bristol, when it is finished.  Around 100 tonnes of steel and 1,000 tonnes of concrete will be needed to build it.

Project development manager David Tudgey said the turbine would be a "real testament of hope for the future".  It is hoped it will be up and running by spring, providing low-carbon electricity to 3,500 homes and saving 1,965 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The turbine is owned by community group Ambition Community Energy and planning permission was granted by Bristol City Council in 2020.

It is one of only a handful of onshore wind turbines to be approved since new planning laws came into effect in 2016 which made it much harder to build them.

The government vowed to relax these rules earlier in the month, after backbenchers threatened to rebel.  Charles Gamble, from Ambition Community Energy, said it was "quite a difficult site" because of the turbine's size.  READ MORE...