Latest news with #RobKnight
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Customers relieved, for now, as gas prices fall at B.C. pumps after death of the carbon tax
British Columbians got some relief at the gas pumps on Tuesday as prices tumbled overnight after the consumer carbon tax was eliminated in a marathon legislative session. Several Vancouver gas stations had the price for regular gasoline at $1.72 per litre on Tuesday morning, down about 20 cents from Monday, when prices were nearing $2. By midday, showed most gas stations in the city had regular gasoline at between $1.71 and $1.78 a litre. The cheapest gas in Metro was in Aldergrove, at $1.66. Josh Edwards had been biding his time, waiting for the end of the carbon tax before filling up his Volvo sedan at the Chevron station on Main Street and East 12th Avenue. He welcomed the end of the unpopular tax, even though he was skeptical whether the savings would last long. 'It's good if they actually gave the savings back to the people,' he said. 'I hope so.' He's noticed the steady rise of gas prices over the last week, jumping to about $1.96 on Monday and taking a bite of the savings that kicked in because of the repeal of the tax. 'Early last week, we were pretty close in price, and I saw it jump up until yesterday.' He doesn't know what accounted for those increases, but said, 'it's a little strange, if you ask me.' Several drivers at the gas station also commented on the run-up in price. 'I guess they have to make a few bucks,' said Rob Knight, who likes to fill up in Vancouver rather than Bowen Island, where he lives part-time, because gas there is more expensive. He didn't mind the carbon tax, even though he might not have got the same amount back in carbon tax rebates issued by the B.C. government. 'I don't think people understood it,' he said of the tax, which the Conservative parties in B.C. and Ottawa pledged to axe long before the B.C. NDP and federal Liberals acted to remove it. 'It's getting cancelled for political reasons.' The NDP government fast-tracked its legislation to kill the tax on Monday, in time to coincide with today's demise of the federal version of the tax. The B.C. law, introduced Monday morning, got final approval at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. The tax had been in place since 2008, when B.C. became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a broad-based carbon levy. Premier David Eby said Monday that the tax played an important role for many years, but it became 'toxic' as a result of campaigns by the B.C. and federal Conservative parties. He told reporters he expected British Columbians to save 17 cents a litre starting Tuesday, and warned oil and gas companies that the tax repeal should be reflected in the prices at the pump. 'Now is not a time to be playing games with essentials for British Columbians or Canadians as a whole,' said Eby on Monday. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at gas tracking site said Tuesday he expects relief in the order of 15 cents a litre at the pumps, accounting for other factors that affect the price. 'Gas prices move for many different reasons all at the same time,' he said, pointing to spring refinery maintenance, refineries switching to making summer grade fuel, and increased demand as the weather warms. A refinery fire in Northern California in February also pinched the market all along the west coasts of Canada and the U.S., said De Haan. 'Unfortunately there are some abnormal circumstances happening there preventing this 17.6 cent rollback from being visible' in B.C., he said. De Haan is expecting the cost of diesel to come down by more than 20 cents a litre, which should have positive ripple effects on the overall economy as it lowers costs for truck drivers, farmers and other users of that fuel. GasBuddy had the national average for a litre of regular unleaded gasoline at $1.52 a¢¢ litre, a drop of 3.1 cents, around midday Tuesday. But De Haan said that data tends to lag what stations are actually posting as price reports from volunteers come in. The GasBuddy system may also need time to validate such a big drop. One of Prime Minister Mark Carney's first actions when he took office last month was to do away with the federal consumer carbon charge, which had previously been set at $80 per tonne — an amount that has increased yearly since it was first imposed in 2019. For Vhea Balbin, who was filling up in Vancouver after school, the price at the pump — about $1.70 a litre for regular — came as a pleasant surprise. She wasn't aware of the carbon tax repeal, she said, but was happy to see the price drop. 'I'm glad it's cheaper today. I don't know if there's any cons to that.' chchan@ With files from The Canadian Press Cross-border travel from B.C. to Washington state plummets B.C. ends its carbon tax on consumers after marathon debate in legislature
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Space Station Is Too Clean and It's Making Astronauts Sick, Study Says
The International Space Station may be making astronauts sick, according to a new study. Astronauts inside the ISS are known for developing rashes, unusual allergies and fungal or bacterial infections. But why is that? A February study published in the journal Cell suggests it is because the station is too clean. Life on Earth is obviously very different than in space. The space station cultivates an environment that is devoid of the beneficial microbes found on Earth, according to the study. The lack of microbial exposure has been linked to chronic inflammatory diseases and can "exacerbate inflammatory responses to otherwise innocuous agents." The research involved collecting 803 samples from various surfaces of the orbiter, including "lockers, drawers, and structures." Related: Dolphins Surround SpaceX Capsule After Ocean Splashdown as NASA Astronauts Return to Earth: Watch! "By placing the ISS in the context of thousands of samples from various built and natural environments, we revealed a striking loss of microbial diversity, positioning the ISS at the extreme end of a gradient from open-air habitats like rainforests to controlled, enclosed environments dominated by human inputs," the study found. Ultimately, the study argued that space stations, and other built environments, could benefit from "intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities resembling Earth's natural exposures instead of relying on highly sanitized spaces." Rob Knight, co-author of the study and director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego, emphasized the importance of microbial diversity while speaking to The Wall Street Journal. "Your immune system needs exposure to a wide range of beneficial microbes from places like soil, healthy animals and healthy plants," he said. However, astronaut and microbiologist Kathleen Rubins, another co-author of the study, told the outlet that "we probably need to bring a little more of the outdoors inside," but it would have to be done "safely so we don't have fungal overgrowth or anything pathogenic." Related: Is Our Universe Inside a Black Hole? New Research Says It Could Be Possible Speaking to Australia's ABC News, Knight said the study noted that the space station had an influx of specific microbes associated with poor health. "Our data suggest that it has too few kinds of microbes overall and too many of the specific kinds that can be associated with poor health in humans," he said. In addition to the ailments detailed above, visitors to space are at higher risk for loss of bone density and strength in the hip and spine because of the lack of gravity, according to NASA. Astronauts can lose up to 1% to 2% of bone density every month, and they are then more at risk of bone fracture and risk of early-onset osteoporosis because of spaceflight. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The lack of gravity in space can also cause muscle waste, in areas like the arms, legs and even the heart because it doesn't have to pump blood against gravity, The Guardian reported. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How microbes from Earth can help astronauts adapt to long-term space missions
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronauts living in isolated, sanitized space habitats for long periods of time could stay healthier by being exposed to a greater variety of microbes from Earth, according to a new study. "Sterile environments are not in fact the safest environments," study co-author Rob Knight, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, told "Exposure to beneficial microbes in the environment is important for maintaining health — this is not surprising because, as humans, we have coevolved with those environmental microbes for millions of years." Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) face unique stressors that impact their bodily functions. These include exposure to microgravity and radiation that affect their immune responses; a human body with a healthy immune system needs to work harder in space to overcome the same infection that'd be relatively easier to fight off on Earth, according to NASA research. Previous studies have attributed persistent medical conditions astronauts on the ISS have reported, such as skin rashes, cold sores and some atypical allergies, to their altered immune systems. With this in mind, a new study produced by Knight and his colleagues suggests that it's possible to boost astronauts' immune systems and overall health — without compromising their hygiene — by intentionally introducing diverse communities of microbes from soil and water that have coexisted with humans for millennia. The team's findings are based on an analysis of 803 surface samples swabbed across the U.S. portion of the ISS, resulting in the largest dataset illustrating the habitat's microbial and chemical landscape. The results showed the presence of microbial communities were largely specific to their environments; for example, microbes from food were prevalent in dining and food storage areas, while fecal-associated microbes were more abundant in the Waste and Hygiene Compartment, aka the space toilet. Comparing those samples to thousands of samples collected here on Earth showed the ubiquity of chemicals throughout the ISS that come from cleaning products and disinfectants, similar to industrialized, isolated spaces on our planet like hospitals and urban homes. Overall, the survey reflects a loss of microbial diversity on the highly-sanitized ISS, which is a notable concern and marks the station suboptimal in supporting the astronauts' immune functions. "We hope the impact of this research will be to guide future studies that keep astronauts healthy during extended space travel and in colonizing space," Knight said. Related Stories: — Musk and Trump repeat false 'stranded' Starliner astronauts narrative, but they are not stranded — Paralympian John McFall could become 1st astronaut with a disability on ISS — NASA astronaut Suni Williams sets new record on 5.5-hour spacewalk outside ISS (video) Before introducing new microbes to the ISS environment — such as those from Earth's soil and water — scientists must assess whether microbes that are typically harmless to human health could become harmful in space. This potential risk may arise from reduced microbial diversity or increased mutation rates triggered by radiation, Knight noted: "These factors can be tested on Earth before proceeding to costly space experiments." The study was published on Wednesday (Feb. 27) in the journal Cell.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The International Space Station is too clean, scientists say
The International Space Station may be too sterile – and the astronauts on board could benefit from it being a little dirtier, according to a new study. When astronauts spend time on the ISS, they often experience immune problems, skin disorders and other conditions. That could be because the station has a much less diverse array of microbes than on Earth, a new study suggests. Those microbes that are around tend to have been carried there by humans. As such, there might be some benefit from astronauts 'dirtying' the space station with more microbes from nature, researchers suggest. They compared it to the benefits found in gardening, which has been well-demonstrated to boost the immune system of those people who do it. 'There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside,' said Rob Knight, from UC San Diego, in a statement. In the study, scientists worked with astronauts to swab 803 different surfaces on the space station. That is about 100 times more than the samples that have been taken in previous similar surveys. Researchers then created 3D maps that showed where the swabs were taken, what microbes they showed, and how they could be interacting with the chemicals found there. Most of the microbes came from human skin, they found. Cleaning chemicals were also found throughout the station. They found that the collection of microbes tended to be much less diverse than Earth, and were most similar to other highly sterile environments, such as hospitals. The work is described in a new paper, 'The International Space Station Has a Unique and Extreme Microbial and Chemical Environment Driven by Use Patterns', published in the journal Cell.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
International Space Station too clean, say scientists
The International Space Station (ISS) is too clean and should be made dirtier to keep astronauts healthy, scientists have advised. Space agencies have strict sterilisation protocols, with equipment and modules built in sealed-off clean rooms and astronauts forced to isolate before venturing into orbit. However, a new study by the University of California suggests that such extreme disinfection may be doing more harm than good. Astronauts often experience immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory conditions while travelling in space, which has largely been put down to the impact of microgravity. But researchers suspected it could also be due to a dearth of helpful microbes. To find out, they asked ISS astronauts to swab 803 different surfaces aboard the Space Station and bring the bacterial specimens back to be studied on Earth. Compared with most of the Earth samples, the ISS surfaces had far fewer microbes, and were particularly lacking in environmental bugs usually found in soil and water. Researchers say that intentionally incorporating more microbes into the ISS could improve astronaut health without sacrificing hygiene, similar to how gardening can boost the immune system. Prof Rob Knight, director of the Centre for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego, said: 'There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside.' Many clinicians and scientists now believe that modern cleanliness damages the immune system, and is driving the increase in allergies, a theory dubbed the hygiene hypothesis. But space travel is even more scrupulously clean, with agencies keen not to transport bugs into space where there are no medical teams on hand to help sick astronauts. Although the ISS is due for decommission by the end of the decade, new orbiting modules, including the Lunar Gateway, are expected to be built in the coming years. With Nasa's Artemis programme, astronauts will also be returning to the Moon to live on the lunar surface for extended periods. 'Future built environments, including space stations, could benefit from intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities that better mimic the natural microbial exposures experienced on Earth, rather than relying on highly sanitised spaces,' said Dr Rodolfo Salido, of the Knight Lab, at UC San Diego. 'If we really want life to thrive outside Earth, we can't just take a small branch of the tree of life and launch it into space and hope that it will work out. 'We need to start thinking about what other beneficial companions we should be sending with these astronauts to help them develop ecosystems that will be sustainable and beneficial for all.' The team found that overall, human skin was the main source of microbes throughout the ISS. They also found that different modules or rooms within the ISS hosted different microbial communities and chemical signatures, and these differences were determined by the module's use. For example, dining and food preparation areas contained more food-associated microbes, whereas the space toilet contained more urine- and faecal-associated microbes and metabolites. 'We noticed that the abundance of disinfectant on the surface of the International Space Station is highly correlated with the microbiome diversity at different locations on the space station,' said co-first author Dr Nina Zhao, of UC San Diego. In the future, the researchers hope to be able to detect potentially dangerous microbes and signals of human health from environmental samples. The research was published in the journal Cell. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
