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Esben Østergaard, co-founder of Lifeline Robotics and Universal Robots, takes a swab in the World's First Automatic Swab Robot, developed with Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu, professor at the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute at The University of Southern Denmark. The University of Southern Denmark
By Richard Connor
The University of Southern Denmark on Wednesday announced that its researchers have developed the world's first fully automatic robot capable of carrying out throat swabs for COVID-19.
The equipment uses a 3D-printed disposable arm that is automatically swapped after each patient. The robot takes a swab with a specially designed disposable tool that hits the exact part of the throat from which the sample should be taken.
It then drops the swab into a jar and seals the sample by screwing the lid.
A team of ten researchers has been working around the clock to develop the prototype as quickly as possible.
"I was one of the first to be swabbed by the robot, project leader Professor Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu told the university website "It went really well. I'm still sitting here."
"I was surprised at how softly the robot managed to land the swab at the spot in the throat where it was supposed to hit, so it was a huge success."
A Danish robotics research team headed by Professor Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu from SDU Robotics have developed a… https://t.co/0QAgY3ARsr— Einar Petersen (@Einar Petersen)1590555814.0
The invention could help relieve healthcare workers from the monotonous work of testing. But crucially, it could also reduce their risk of exposure.
The team had found out about the demand for such equipment after speaking to research colleagues at Odense University Hospital.
Hospital medical director Kim Brixen said there was a great advantage in the fact that robots don't get tired and bored of monotonous work.
"Currently, healthcare professionals are carrying out throat swabs for Covid-19; but working conditions can be a challenge," said Brixen. "The task entails long working days of monotonous work. At the same time, the employees are in great demand in other functions."
A prototype to swab patients is expected by the end of June, with plans to have the robots ready for the market by autumn in the event of a second or third wave of the coronavirus.
It's also expected that the technology might be adapted to help with testing for other viruses, such as flu.
Reposted with permission from Deutsche Welle.
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Climate Coalition Pressures Biden to Reject 'Corporate Shill' Ernest Moniz as Energy Chief
7h
Politics
Former U.S. Sec. of Energy Ernest Moniz listens during the National Clean Energy Summit 9.0 on October 13, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Isaac Brekken / Getty Images for National Clean Energy Summit
By Jake Johnson
Amid reports that oil industry-friendly former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz remains under consideration to return to his old post in the incoming Biden administration, a diverse coalition of environmental groups is mobilizing for an "all-out push" to keep Moniz away from the White House and demand a cabinet willing to boldly confront the corporations responsible for the climate emergency.
<p>On Tuesday night, climate campaigners <a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/status/1331405987425685506" target="_blank">projected</a> onto the primary Department of Energy building messages urging President-elect Joe Biden to say "yes to a sustainable future" and no to Moniz, who currently serves on the board of the polluting utility giant Southern Company.</p>
<p>Following the demonstration, the coalition on Wednesday morning debuted <a href="https://nomoniz.org/" target="_blank">NoMoniz.org</a>, a website that warns the policies of Obama's former energy secretary "might be good for his friends in the coal, oil, and gas industries, but they're a death sentence for us and our planet."</p><p>"It's unacceptable that Ernest Moniz is being considered for a role in the Biden administration — his policies, his financial ties to fossil fuel companies, his contempt for youth climate activists, and his overall unwillingness to do what it takes to protect our future should disqualify him immediately," reads the site, which was launched by Oil Change U.S., Greenpeace USA, Sunrise Movement, the Climate Justice Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth U.S., and dozens of other groups.</p>
<div id="a6564" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d27a41c6b56d432ce974b11d22bbe6e6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331587846411603968" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It is absolutely imperative that @JoeBiden keep @ErnestMoniz out of his cabinet, and any of his protégée like Liz S… https://t.co/7x2WN6nxgs</div> — Evan Weber 🌅🔥 (@Evan Weber 🌅🔥)<a href="https://twitter.com/evanlweber/statuses/1331587846411603968">1606310256.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Previously an <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159357/ernie-moniz-biden-energy-gives-climate-nightmares" target="_blank">adviser to major companies</a> such as BP and General Electric, Moniz's tenure as head of Obama's energy department as well as his public statements since leaving office make clear that he is opposed to the kind of sweeping climate action that environmentalists and scientists say is necessary to avert planetary catastrophe.</p><p>Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year, Moniz endorsed what he <a href="https://www.axios.com/ernest-moniz-green-real-deal-climate-change-policy-4090206b-3f36-4747-9b3c-2655e15402d5.html" target="_blank">dubbed</a> a "Green Real Deal" that would welcome a "broad coalition" of supporters — including the fossil fuel industry. In an interview months earlier, Moniz — a proponent of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/30/gas-loser-and-its-time-move-report-debunks-big-oil-myth-natural-gas-can-help-fight" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas</a> as a bridge to a clean energy future — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/joe-biden-fight-climate-crisis-ernest-moniz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">denounced</a> what he described as "often completely unrealistic proposals for the pace at which we can decarbonize."</p><p>"With his deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and promotion of false solutions like carbon capture and sequestration, Ernest Moniz is not a forward-thinking choice for the cabinet," Anthony Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator for the Climate Justice Alliance, said in a statement Wednesday. "The Department of Energy must be led by someone open to concrete ideas for a fossil-free future, not continued dominance by a corrupt, heavily-subsidized industry whose existence hinges on maintaining an antiquated all-of-the-above strategy."</p><p>Janet Redman, climate campaign director at Greenpeace USA, warned that Moniz's fossil fuel connections "spell danger for the nation's efforts to mitigate the climate crisis" as atmospheric carbon dioxide <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/23/no-time-lose-climate-action-atmospheric-co2-continued-rise-2020-despite-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">continues to rise</a> in 2020 despite widespread coronavirus lockdowns.</p><p>"We need a true climate leader who understands that we must phase out fossil fuels, not a corporate shill with 'all of the above energy' policies who wants to prop up fracked gas and pipelines," said Redman. "The American people have given Joe Biden a mandate to take bold action in service of climate justice, public health, economic prosperity, and racial equity. Moniz would only be holding him back."</p><p>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/planet-stake-climate-coalition-pressures-biden-reject-corporate-shill-ernest-moniz" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </p>
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How To Talk To People About the Climate Crisis When Scary Facts Are Not Enough
7h
Insights + Opinion
Climate change can evoke intense feelings, but a conversational approach can help. Reed Kaestner / Getty Images
Anger, anxiety, overwhelm … climate change can evoke intense feelings.
"It's easy to feel dwarfed in the context of such a global systemic issue," says psychologist Renée Lertzman.
She says that when people experience these feelings, they often shut down and push information away. So to encourage climate action, she advises not bombarding people with frightening facts.
"When we lead with information, we are actually unwittingly walking right into a situation that is set up to undermine our efforts," she says.
She says if you want to engage people on the topic, take a compassionate approach. Ask people what they know and want to learn. Then have a conversation.
This conversational approach may seem at odds with the urgency of the issue, but Lertzman says it can get results faster.
"When we take a compassion-based approach, we are actively disarming defenses so that people are actually more willing and able to respond and engage quicker," she says. "And we don't have time right now to mess around, and so I do actually come to this topic with a sense of urgency… We do not have time to not take this approach."
Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media
Reposted with permission from Yale Climate Connections.
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A rare North Atlantic right whale is seen off Cape Cod Bay on April 14, 2019 near Provincetown, Massachusetts. Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images
An extremely rare North Atlantic right whale calf was found dead off the North Carolina coast on Friday.
<p>The male calf was also the first documented birth this calving season, a development the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called devastating.</p><p>"Each new right whale calf brings so much hope for this critically <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, and losses like this have a substantial impact on their recovery," NOAA wrote in a <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/first-known-north-atlantic-right-whale-calf-season-washes-dead-north-carolina" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>National Park Service workers discovered the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whale</a> on <a href="https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/north-carolina-national-parks/cape-lookout-national-seashore-park-at-a-glance/cape-lookout-national-seashore-the-islands/cape-lookout-national-seashore-north-core-banks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">North Core Banks</a>, the northernmost of three barrier islands that comprise the Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina. On Saturday, a team of biologists came to conduct a necroscopy on the animal and take a DNA sample in order to determine its mother, Cape Lookout National Seashore explained on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CapeLookoutNPS/posts/3608024915884969" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>.</p><p>"Right Whales are critically endangered and are one of the rarest marine mammals," the seashore wrote.</p>
Â
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="24c36ab7f041f96875677ba1e9dc1944"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/CapeLookoutNPS/posts/3608024915884969"></div></div><p>The cause of death is not yet known, but NOAA said that there was no evidence human activity was a factor, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/23/us/rare-right-whale-washed-ashore-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. Initial reports suggest the baby died either during birth or soon after.</p><p>The sad discovery comes little less than a month after a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-right-whale-population-2648532928.html" target="_self">grim NOAA report</a> found there are no more than 366 North Atlantic right whales left. The whales have been suffering from an "unusual mortality event" since 2017, NOAA said Monday. The agency has documented at least 32 deaths and 13 injuries during this event, more than 10 percent of the whales' remaining population. The leading causes of these deaths are vessel strikes and entanglements in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> gear.</p><p>The endangered whales also struggle to reproduce. Female whales give birth to only five or six calves per year, according to the Cape Lookout National Seashore. There are about 100 female whales left, CNN reported.</p>
<p>Female right whales usually reach maturity after 10 years and then give birth every three to five years. However, in recent years, the time between births has increased to six to 10 years. Scientists think that females are giving birth less often partly because of the stress of getting entangled in fishing gear. There have been just 22 births total during the past three calving seasons, about one-third of the previous annual average.</p><p>The right whale calving season extends from mid-November to mid-April. In winter, the whales migrate more than 1,000 miles from the waters of Canada and New England to warmer waters around South Carolina, Georgia and Florida's east coast, NOAA <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/news/watching-migrating-right-whales-more-important-ever" target="_blank">said</a>. This is also where they give birth and nurse their young. NOAA urged boaters and fishers to watch out for the whales as their migration begins.</p>"NOAA is cautioning all boaters to be vigilant, slow down, and give these endangered whales plenty of room," NOAA wrote. "This will avoid accidental collisions and disturbing the whales as they migrate south. The agency is also asking fishermen to remove their unused gear from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ocean" target="_self">ocean</a> to help avoid entanglements. Vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths are also required by law."
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Just 1% of Farms Control 70% of Global Farmland: Study Finds 'Shocking State of Land Inequality'
9h
Food
Sprinklers irrigate a field of onions near a Castilian village in Spain. According to a new study, the average farm size in the EU has almost doubled since the 1960s. miguelangelortega / Moment / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
A new report released Tuesday details the "shocking" state of global land equality, saying the problem is worse than thought, rising, and "cannot be ignored."
<p>Among the key findings is that the largest 1% of the world's farms operate 70% of farmland and "form the core of production for the corporate food system." What's more, "given the trends in the agriculture and food systems, land consolidation will inevitably increase further."</p><p>The warning is laid out in "<a href="https://www.landcoalition.org/en/uneven-ground/" target="_blank"><em>Uneven Ground: land inequality at the heart of unequal societies</em></a>." Released by the International Land Coalition in collaboration with Oxfam, the publication synthesizes new research and existing data and shows how land inequality is linked with other issues including poverty, intergenerational justice and migration, environmental degradation, and the climate crisis.</p><p>"These findings radically alter our understanding of the extent and far reaching consequences land inequality has, proving that not only is it a bigger problem than we thought but it's undermining the stability and development of sustainable societies," said Ward Anseeuw, a co-author of the report.</p>
<div id="79f64" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bd50807364597fe98806eb08bea91ecb"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331254927746883593" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The shocking reality of #LandInequality
Read more about rising land inequality 📈 on:
💻 https://t.co/uRxTpE4fm7… https://t.co/Q3OyiJ4hCV</div> — Land Coalition (@Land Coalition)<a href="https://twitter.com/landcoalition/statuses/1331254927746883593">1606230882.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>According to the analysis, the issue of land inequality should encompass a broader range of dimensions than typically used to capture not only differences in land ownership but other factors such as the size and quality of land and the ability to have real decision-making power over how the land is used.</p><p>The report lays out the scope of the issue:</p><blockquote>Land is a common good, providing water, food, and natural resources that sustain all life. It is the guarantor of biodiversity, health, resilience, and equitable and sustainable livelihoods. It is immovable, non-renewable, and inextricably connected to people and societies. How we manage and control land has shaped our economies, political structures, communities, cultures, and beliefs for thousands of years.</blockquote>
<p><br>Who gets that control is not decided by accident, says Giulia Baldinelli of ILC and co-author of the report.</p><p>"What we're seeing is that land inequality is fundamentally a product of elite control, corporate interests, and political choices. And although the importance of land inequality is widely accepted, the tools to address it remain weakly implemented and vested interests in existing land distribution patterns, hard to shift," Baldinelli <a href="https://www.landcoalition.org/en/newsroom/new-report-reveals-land-inequality-worse-we-thought-and-fueling-other-inequalities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> in a statement.</p><p>The impacts of the imbalance are far-reaching, with links stretching to the coronavirus pandemic. From the report:</p><blockquote>Covid-19 is the latest zoonotic disease to emerge from a combination of unsanitary animal farming and pressure on wildlife populations. While its main impact has been on urban populations, Covid-19 has further exposed inequalities faced by land-disadvantaged groups, such as indigenous peoples, lower castes, the elderly, women, youth, and migrants, as well as casual workers (common in agribusiness) and landless tenants (UNDP, 2020; FAO, 2020; ILC, 2020). Land inequality diminishes resilience to disease shocks and, at a household level, may lead to loss of shelter and lack of access to infrastructure and services, traditional community networks, and institutions of social reciprocity. Women's resilience and coping strategies are limited by weaker land rights, which puts them at even greater disadvantage in these situations, with a knock-on effect on children and youth in their households (FAO, 2020; FAO, IFAD and UNIDO, 2016). Land grabbing and forced evictions have been documented in the context of Covid-19 (ILC, 2020), exacerbating land and land rights inequalities, particularly in societies that are heavily policed.</blockquote>
<p>"As we move towards a post-Covid world, we will see increased pressure for fast economic gain at the expense of people and nature," warned Mike Taylor, director of the International Land Coalition Secretariat He added that "there is always, however, a more inclusive path to rebuilding our economies, that emphasizes sustainable use of natural resources, respects human rights, and addresses systemic causes of inequality."</p><p>While low-income countries have seen an "increasing number of mega-farms, each taking up thousands, even tens of thousands, of hectares," the issue of land inequality stretches globally. "After 1980, in all regions, land concentration has either been increasing significantly (North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific) or a decreasing trend is being reversed (Africa and Latin America)," the report finds.</p><p>In North America, for example, the report points to the decades between 1960 and 1990 when there was a "drastic increase in land and agricultural concentration" and the number of farms plummeted by 1.6 million, dropping to 2.1 million. The same time period also saw the average farm size swell from 122.6 hectares to 187 hectares.</p>
<p>Although there has been a more recent stabilization in the number of farms in North America, that doesn't capture the whole story:</p><blockquote>What the figures on farm size do not reveal, however, are the even more substantial increases in the concentration of large-scale production on a shrinking number of farms. Almost 1 million farms (980,000) in the USA have less than $5,000 in sales per annum, while the largest 7% of farms account for 80% of production value (MacDonald, 2016). This leaves a situation where some 1.3 million, or 60%, of the farms in the USA produce only 6.6% of the total production value (Gollin, 2019). These include farms of below five hectares, many of which are known as "retirement farms" or "off-farm occupation farms," with owners who do not depend on agricultural production for their livelihoods."</blockquote><p>So what is to be done?</p><p>The report outlines a number of possible steps: democratize land governance; strengthen land-related regulation; invest in well-functioning land registries; strengthen transparency and monitoring of land holdings; legally enforce responsible corporate practice; Protect common and customary rights; recognize and protect women's land rights; respect and strengthen civil society institutions and capacities; and build more sustainable and equitable production models and food systems.</p><p>"A transformative agenda of this magnitude is not optional," the report concludes. "It is urgent and is in the interests of all humanity, for more resilient, sustainable, and equitable societies."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/24/just-1-farms-controlling-70-global-farmland-study-reveals-shocking-level-land" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Members of the San Carlos Apache Nation protest to protect parts of Oak Flat from a copper mining company on July 22, 2015 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
In yet another attack on the environment before leaving office, the Trump administration is seeking to transfer ownership of San Carlos Apache holy ground in Oak Flat, Arizona, to a copper mining company.
<p>The administration pushed to finish the environmental review process, a necessary step to transfer ownership to copper mining company Resolution Copper, and its two parent companies Rio Tinto and BHP, to December 2020, almost a full year ahead of the planned completion. </p><p>"The Trump administration is cutting corners and doing a rushed job just to take care of Rio Tinto," Democratic Arizona representative Raúl Grijalva told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/24/trump-mining-arizona-holy-land-oak-flat-tribes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian</a>. Grijalva has been outspoken in his <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2020/11/16/rio-tinto-copper-mine-not-protect-oak-flat-look-australia/6245846002/" target="_blank">opposition</a> to the mine plans.<br></p><p>"And the fact they are doing it during Covid makes it even more disgusting. Trump and Rio Tinto know the tribes' reaction would be very strong and public under normal circumstances but the tribes are trying to save their people right now," Grijalva said.</p>
<p>Oak Flat is a high desert wonderland full of rock spires, choppy hills, ancient oaks, medicinal plants and long stretches of desert flatland. It contains many Indigenous archaeological sites dating back 1,500 years, and is near Tonto National Forest, the largest of six national forests in Arizona. For centuries, the Apache have considered the site holy, using the area for ceremonies. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><p>However, what is estimated to be one of the world's largest copper deposits resides 7,000 feet underneath the site. If mining proceeds, more than 11 miles of Indigenous sacred sites, burial grounds and petroglyphs would be destroyed, The Guardian reported. Not only that, but Resolution Copper intends to extract 1.4 metric tons of ore, which would create a crater stretching almost two miles wide and 1,000 feet deep. </p><p>Rio Tinto, the world's second largest mining company, is no stranger to controversy. The Anglo-Australian company was <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/top-rio-tinto-executive-says-iron-ore-boom-unravelled-indigenous-ties-20201125-p56hwk.html" target="_blank">recently involved</a> in destroying a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site in order to mine iron ore, against the wishes of the land's traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. </p>
<p>In 2014, a proposal called the Southeastern Arizona Land Exchange was tacked onto the end of a spending bill to exchange federal land for privately owned land for Resolution Copper. Several Arizona legislators supported it, despite<a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/bd432593-9e7c-4f18-8a61-4e74bc6edb34" target="_blank"> opposition from regional Arizona tribes</a>.<span></span></p><p>Currently there is no federal law that allows control of ancestral lands outside of Native reservation boundaries. </p><p>After the environmental review process is complete, the transfer must occur within 60 days, potentially before President-elect Joe Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration. </p>
<p>The move marks one of many attempts by the outgoing administration to keep pushing for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-environmental-rollbacks-election-2648378494.html" target="_blank">environmental rollbacks</a> as it leaves office, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-anwr-oil-leases-2648954756.html" target="_blank">opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge </a><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-anwr-oil-leases-2648954756.html"> the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge </a>for drilling and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-migratory-bird-killing-protection-2644987725.html" target="_blank">weakening migratory bird protections</a>.</p><p>"We are looking at the destruction of some of the Apache's most significant cultural and historic sites with this project," Kathryn Leonard, an Arizona state historic preservation officer, told The Guardian. </p><p>"Our preservation laws are not set up to prevent this level of loss. It weighs heavily on me."</p>
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