Thursday, January 5, 2006

According to the South African government’s Department of Transport, the number of fatalities on the country’s roads during December 2005 was 1,215. This is compared with 1,234 the previous year, where the total number of deaths in traffic accidents was 10,530.

Department of Transport spokeswoman, Collen Msibi, stated that 512 of the fatalities were pedestrians, 414 passengers, and 289 drivers. 2005 saw the number of vehicles on South Africa’s roads rise by nearly half a million to just under eight million with 779,000 new drivers adding to the dangers on the country’s roads.

“To deal with this high level of unsafety, traffic authorities will increase the number of patrol vehicles on the road, law enforcement officers and unmarked vehicles to do more spot checks and roadblocks,” Msibi said.

“Our analysis has revealed that most accidents are preceded by offences such as ignoring road signs, driving drunk, speeding, vehicles cutting in front of others, driving defective vehicles and fatigue.”

The road toll in South Africa is similar to that of South Korea, Mexico, Japan and Thailand. However, except for South Korea these countries have significantly larger populations.

The worst country in the world for deaths in road traffic accidents, is currently accepted to be China. Figures released for 2002 reveal that 250,007 people were killed in that year.

The South African government has acknowledged the problem since 2001. At that time they launched their “Arrive Alive” campaign, targeting vehicle condition, driver fitness, speeding and drunk driving.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

“Five singers, one drummer. No guitars, no bass, no keyboards but nevertheless an unbelievable melodic metal experience.”

That’s how the official website of van Canto describes the band. Hailing from Germany, van Canto are what is called an a capella metal band, the pioneers of this new genre.

The band released their debut, A Storm to Come, in December 2006. Exactly a year later, van Canto announced a global signing to Gun Records/Sony BMG, and their debut was released worldwide on December 14.

Van Canto are now experiencing considerable success. They recently provided support for Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish, as well as receiving a slot at the internationally famous Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. The prestigious event sees them sharing the bill with acts such as Hatebreed, Sonata Arctica, As I Lay Dying, Soilwork, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Lordi and headline act Iron Maiden.

Van Canto’s second album will be recorded across this month and next, with famed producer Charlie Bauerfeind, although no release date has yet been confirmed.

In light of recent events, van Canto member and founder Stefan Schmidt has given the band’s first interview in English, all previous interviews being in German or Italian. Wikinews now exclusively brings you that interview below.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Gordon Kubanek is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Nepean-Carleton riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Friday, December 25, 2020

In May, a study was published in journal Nature Astronomy, conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Dr Sara Seager and other researchers, showing single-celled organisms like Escherichia coli (E. coli) and yeast can thrive in both 100% hydrogen gas and helium atmospheres. Wikinews discussed the findings with Dr Seager to know more about her research.

Life has not been observed in any habitat other than Earth, which has an oxygen-rich environment. While Earth’s atmosphere is dominated by nitrogen gas, oxygen is essential for advanced living organisms. Some species of microorganisms do not require oxygen for metabolism, called anærobic organisms, such as methanogens which rely on carbon-dioxide while releasing methane.

Researchers used Escherichia coli strain K-12 and Saccharomyces cerevisiæ strain S288C for this experiment. The two microorganisms were kept in four different environments: one being 100% air, and the other three being anærobic environments: 100% H₂, 100% He, and 80%-20% N₂-CO₂. The environments were kept in at 28° Celsius. The researchers made sure the anaerobic experiment environments were anoxic, and had installed oxygen sensors to report fluctuation in the oxygen level. They monitored growth of E. coli using optical density measurement, and they used a hæmocytometer for yeast.

The study reported the organisms were reproducing normally in both 100% H₂ and 100% He environment. However, the sigmoid-shaped growth curve was not on par with 100% air. E. coli and yeast switch from ærobic respiration, which uses oxygen, to anærobic respiration and fermentation. Both processes are less efficient and do not produce as much energy as ærobic respiration.

E. coli in an 80%-20% N₂-CO₂ environment had slower growth rate as CO₂ dissolves and makes the liquid medium acidic. Such reduction in growth rate was not observed for yeast cultures, which can thrive in acidic environments. However, yeast’s growth rate in 100% air was far greater than in the other three media. The likely reason for this significant difference was lack of oxygen for non-respiratory purposes, the research reported. Oxygen is essential for synthesis of biochemicals such as heme and sterols, which are important for yeast. In atmospheres lacking oxygen to produce these chemicals, yeast fungi have stunted growth rate.

With this discovery, Dr Seager said scientists can now observe even more planets to study for habitable life.

“There’s a diversity of habitable worlds out there, and we have confirmed that Earth-based life can survive in hydrogen-rich atmospheres. We should definitely add those kinds of planets to the menu of options when thinking of life on other worlds, and actually trying to find it”, Professor Seager said.

A rocky planet with expanded hydrogen-rich atmosphere should be easy to detect using the emerging technologies. Hydrogen and helium gas have very low density. Dr Seager said, “It’s kind of hard to get your head around, but that light gas just makes the atmosphere more expansive […] And for telescopes, the bigger the atmosphere is compared to the backdrop of a planet’s star, the easier it is to detect.”

The research paper noted rocky planets which have radius below 1.7 times Earth’s radius (Earth’s radius is roughly 6360 km) can support a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, if water were to react with Iron.

The research paper reported E. coli releases a number of gases when it lives in hydrogen-based atmosphere including ammonia, methanethiol, dimethylsulfide, carbonyl sulfide, carbonyl disulfide and nitrous oxide. These gases can serve as biosignature gases which can help astronomers detect and study potential life on exoplanets.

Confirming life can thrive in atmospheres that do not have oxygen, Seager said “Astronomers should keep an open mind as to which planets are worth searching for life”.

With NASA’s James Webb Telescope scheduled to be deployed next year, the paper suggests researchers could observe smaller exoplanets that orbit small red-dwarf stars.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Russian chess grandmaster, Vladimir Kramnik lost the final match of his man versus machine match against the Deep Fritz chess program. The six game match in Bonn, Germany had a final result of 4-2 for the German-developed chess program which runs on readily available computer hardware.

The first match which concluded on November 25 was a draw, Kramnik lost the second game to the computer with some indications that he overlooked a mate in one win. Third through fifth matches were all draws.

Kramnik, whilst the current world chess champion, is actually ranked third in the world. A contributory factor in this is his health problems. The world champion suffers from a rare form of arthritis which makes sitting playing in tournaments extremely painful for him.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Two years after a skydiving plane crashed in New Zealand, killing all nine on board, a report has blamed overloading for what was the nation’s worst air accident for seventeen years. The modified aircraft was unable to handle a full complement of eight passengers.

Five locals and four foreign tourists died when the FU-24 crashed on takeoff at Fox Glacier. Eyewitness accounts said the plane took off earlier than normal, pitching up steeply before falling from a high of about 100m (330ft). It struck the ground nose-first.

The report by New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), after an investigation led by Ian McClelland, says the aircraft did not accumulate sufficient airspeed before it took off. It further notes that the plane’s centre of gravity was far to the rear. The plane had been converted three months prior from an agricultural aircraft and this had not been performed well, according to the TAIC.

TAIC go on to say the Civil Aviation Authority failed to spot paperwork discrepencies when approving the modified aircraft. “As a result the aeroplane was being flown outside its loading limits every time it carried a full load of eight parachutists,” said the report. It was “an accident waiting to happen”.

Graeme Harris, the nation’s head of civil aviation, described weight checks as “basic airmanship, taught to every student pilot” and noted all pilots are responsible for conducting them. “It is very sad that a critical element of pre-flight planning, which should be second nature to any pilot, appears to have been done so poorly. This is an accident that no pilot should ever forget.”

The local victims were Adam Bennett, 47, Michael Suter, 32, Christopher McDonald, 62, and Rodney Miller, 55, who were professional skydivers, and pilot Chaminda Senadhira, 33. The foreign victims were Irishman Patrick Byrne, 26, Australian Glen Bourke, 18, German Annita Kirsten, 23, and Briton Brad Coker, 24.

Chris Coker, Brad Coker’s father, has urged NZ Prime Minister John Key to increase regulation. The local Civil Aviation Authority has already decreed no FU-24 should carry more than six individually weighed passengers as a result of the crash, and last year introduced a law aimed at tightening up adventure flight regulation. The stricter rules came into effect earlier this month.

The TAIC report reminded pilots to calculate weights individually for each aircraft, as even two planes of the same model can differ. It further notes aircraft modification is “a safety-critical process that must be done in strict accordance with rules and guidelines and with appropriate regulatory oversight”.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Teräsbetoni means “steel-reinforced concrete”, and is also the name of a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 2002. Their music, which centres on an honourable warrior lifestyle or on metal itself, quickly became popular in 2003 on the Internet, resulting in a petition by fans being sent to several record labels demanding a recording deal. In late 2004 the band signed to Warner Music Finland, and the following year debut single Taivas lyö tulta rose to number one in the Finnish charts, and debut album Metallitotuus hit number two and went platinum, and has now sold about 47,000 copies.

The band, who sing exclusively in Finnish, have just released their third album, Myrskyntuoja. The lead single on this album is Missä miehet ratsastaa, which Teräsbetoni decided to enter in the Finnish selections for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, where it was selected to go on to the semi-final in Belgrade, Serbia as Finland’s representative this year. Although Finland has seen limited success in the contest, their only victory was with a comparable group. In 2006 hard rock band Lordi – whose monster costumes and pyrotechnic displays are famed – achieved a record 292 points in the final with Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Teräsbetoni’s frontman, vocalist and bass guitarist Jarkko Ahola’s fame extends beyond the band he heads. He also features in Finnish symphonic power metal cover supergroup Northern Kings, alongside Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto of Charon.

Wikinews was able to conduct an exclusive interview with Jarkko Ahola to discuss these various achievements. This interview is now published below for the first time.