DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ 9 passenger airliners that have landed on Antarctica's rugged runways made out of blue ice
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

These planes land on rugged, unpaved runways mostly made of blue ice and compacted snow. PrivatAir's Boeing 737 and Smartwings' Boeing 737 MAXA Smartwings 737 MAX on Antarctica in January 2022. It was the first time the jet type landed on one of the continent's blue ice runways. Another Loftleider 757 is set to ferry Antarctic Ice Marathon runners to Union Glacier this December. Loftleider Icelandic Airlines' and Titan Airways Boeing 767Titan Airways' Boeing 767 on Antarctica.

Persons: —, George Hubert Wilkins, Glenn Jacobson, PrivatAir, NPI, Tim Hewette, Troll, Fang, Patrick Woodhead Organizations: Atlantic Airways, Boeing, Service, Lockheed Vega, Airbus, Australian Antarctic, Australian, Skytraders, Australian Antarctic Program, McMurdo, AAP, Norwegian Polar Institute, Swiss, NPI, Boeing's, Airlines, Titan Airways, Antarctic Logistics, Expeditions, Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, Antarctic Ice, Russian Antarctic, Titan Airways Boeing, Norse Atlantic Airways, Emirates, White Desert Locations: Antarctica, Skytraders, Christchurch , New Zealand, Hobart, Australia's, Tasmania, Cape Town , South Africa, Czech, Chile, Russian, NPI, Norway, Cape Town, Russia's

Canada Goose parkas, which can cost upwards of $1,900, are sported by Oscar winners, Olympians and Arctic explorers. "When you buy a Canada Goose jacket, you're buying a piece of Canada. Here's how Canada Goose began, grew to billion-dollar status and plans to survive consumer uncertainty. Canada Goose jackets, with their iconic shoulder patches, are such a status symbol that people who wear them are sometimes the target of robberies. "We realized that we could make jackets that are just as good without fur as with fur," Reiss says.

Persons: Dani Reiss, Oscar, Reiss, Goose, Sam Tick, Bean, Eddie Bauer, Reiss's, David Reiss, Canada Goose Organizations: Canada, CNBC, Metro Sportswear Ltd, Antarctica's, Lacoste, University of Toronto, Conservation Alliance, Bain Capital, New York Stock Exchange, People, Animals Locations: Wells, Canada, Poland, Snow, Europe, Asia, paychecks, Toronto, New York

The National Science Foundation declined to answer AP questions about why Bieneman was sent out into the field in a critical safety role while under investigation. The case raises further questions about decision-making in the U.S. Antarctic Program, which is already under scrutiny. Conway and the graduate students did not respond to AP requests for comment. In the complaint, Conway described Bieneman as initially being “domineering and critical” of the two female graduate students at the camp. He said the graduate students, fearing possible retaliation if they disclosed the story, felt they had to tiptoe around Bieneman.

Persons: Stephen Tyler Bieneman, Bieneman, ”, Birney Bervar, ” Marc Tunstall, icefield, Tyler, Howard Conway, Conway, ” Conway, Jennifer Farrar Organizations: The Associated Press, McMurdo, The National Science Foundation, U.S . Antarctic Program, AP, NSF, Prosecutors, Twin, University of Washington, Conway, Bieneman, Attorney's Locations: WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Antarctica, Honolulu, Allan, McMurdo, Bieneman, Hawaii, The U.S, New York

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The watchdog office overseeing the National Science Foundation is sending investigators to Antarctica's McMurdo Station after hearing concerns about the prevalence of sexual violence at the U.S. research base. It announced Friday it is appointing Renée Ferranti as a special assistant to the NSF director to focus on sexual assault and harassment prevention and response. The NSF told the AP the alcohol changes were related to morale and welfare, and were not aimed at preventing sexual harassment or assault. On Friday, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said he was delighted to welcome Ferranti, who had more than 25 years of experience in sexual assault prevention. Ferranti said in the release she hopes “to make a meaningful impact to advance NSF's progress in addressing sexual violence.”

Persons: Renée, Lisa Vonder Haar, Vonder Haar, they’d, Sethuraman Panchanathan, ” Panchanathan, Ferranti, “, ” Organizations: National Science Foundation, NSF, Renée Ferranti, Associated Press, McMurdo, AP, Ferranti Locations: WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Antarctica

☆ Long after Oppenheimer, the US is still paying benefits to people who were exposed to radiation from nuclear tests
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jake Epstein | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Decades after Oppenheimer, the US still pays benefits to people exposed to nuclear radiation. Civilians who contracted cancer or other diseases due to nuclear testing also receive benefits. Long after the creation and testing of that first nuclear weapon and the many more tests that followed, Washington is still paying benefits to veterans and civilians exposed to radiation from nuclear bomb tests and cleanups. It was over 40 years after the first nuclear test, codenamed "Trinity," before the risks and dangers were officially recognized. Jeff T. Green/Getty ImagesCurrent VA benefits related to nuclear radiation exposure include cleanups at the Marshall Islands and Palomares, Spain, from a 1966 US Air Force plutonium accident.

Persons: Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Clinton's, Eileen Welsome's, Markey, Ken Brownell, Francis Lincoln Grahlfs, Brownell, Jeff T Organizations: Manhattan, Service, Los Alamos Laboratory, Trinity, Universal Pictures, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MPI, Manhattan Project, Marshall, Air Force, McMurdo, Manhattan Project's Trinity Locations: Marshall, Wall, Silicon, Nazi Germany, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Washington, Japan, Nevada, Hanford, Palomares, Spain, McMurdo Antarctica, Ukraine

☆ Kissing a Fellow Janitor Amid the Trash
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Elizabeth Endicott | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mortified, I fished them from my pocket and began sifting through the trash more carefully. Mere weeks before, I had been tutoring the children of migrant agricultural workers around Flathead Lake in northern Montana, after graduating from the University of Montana. I emerged from the belly of the C-17 military plane into a powerful wind that pushed the temperature to 40 degrees below zero. Among my duties was organizing each building’s trash center, an initial step before solid waste technicians retrieved, palletized and shipped it all back to America. Trash centers consisted of eight cabinets: skua, glass, aluminum, mixed paper, plastic, food waste and the particularly unsavory sanitary waste.

Persons: Mortified Organizations: University of Montana, U.S, National Science Locations: Flathead, Montana, Antarctica, U.S ., America

☆ China ramps up construction on new Antarctic station, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A satellite view with overlays shows areas to be developed at the new Chinese station under construction, on Inexpressible Island, Antarctica, January 2, 2023. CSIS told Reuters that while the U.S. still maintains a larger research presence in Antarctica – including the biggest facility in its McMurdo station – China's footprint is growing faster. China's fifth station will be 200 miles (320 km) from the McMurdo station, it said. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, to which China is party, activities on the continent are restricted to "peaceful purposes." A 2022 Pentagon report said China's new Antarctic infrastructure was likely intended in part to strengthen its future claims to natural resources and maritime access and improve PLA capabilities.

☆ China ramps up construction on new Antarctic station –report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Michael Martina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

☆ A man was arrested after his female colleague said he was suffocating her at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica. Assault and harassment on the bases are considered a problem per a report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A man at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica was charged with assaulting a female colleague. Officials charged Stephen Tyler Bieneman with assault within the maritime and territorial jurisdiction, according to a criminal complaint filed on December 12. Assault, especially sexual assault against women, has been long documented in the remote base of Antarctica. Over 70% of female respondents and nearly 50% of male respondents said sexual harassment is a problem within the US Antarctic Program, while 47% of female respondents and 33% of male respondents said sexual assault is a problem. "Every woman I knew down there had an assault or harassment experience that had occurred on ice," one person said in the report.

☆ A U.S. Research Station in Antarctica Is Stopping Travel After Covid-19 Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The National Science Foundation is shutting down travel to McMurdo Station in Antarctica after 10% of the population tested positive for Covid-19. All travel to the U.S. outpost on Antarctica will be paused for the next two weeks due to the outbreak, the National Science Foundation said over the weekend. The halt on travel doesn’t apply to essential travel for health and safety reasons, the foundation said.

A Covid outbreak at an American scientific research station in Antarctica has forced U.S. officials to temporarily halt all travel to the remote outpost. The agency confirmed that 10% of the research station’s population have tested positive for Covid during this recent outbreak. There are 885 people currently living and working at McMurdo Station. Though the station operates year-round, many scientists typically travel to McMurdo in November for field research during Antarctica’s summer season. It’s not yet clear what, if any, impact the outbreak could have on research and operations at the outpost.

☆ At one of Earth's most remote research stations, Covid is still a problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

An outbreak of Covid at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica has disrupted life for researchers and support staffers at the southern end of the world. The research station has a population of 885, the statement said, meaning more than 8% of those have tested positive for the coronavirus so far. The outbreak is a reminder that Covid is still a threat to close-knit workplaces and that the virus is still roiling scientific research in remote sites. Because McMurdo is such a remote location, stringent measures were implemented during past field seasons to keep Covid from circulating. “As COVID cases and population at McMurdo Station continue to increase, individuals may be assigned to rooms with COVID positive roommates.”The email encouraged physical distancing and the use of masks.

☆ Fact Check-The Earth is not covered by a dome or ‘firmament’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Users on social media are saying people on Earth are living under a dome, also called a “firmament,” without providing evidence to support the claim. But the video’s examples offer no proof of humans living under a dome or firmament, while there is ample evidence that no dome exists. “Rocket hitting the flat earth dome”, reads the title of one of the YouTube clips. SIXTY YEARS OF SPACEFLIGHTExperts pointed out that if there were a dome that covered the Earth, astronauts would have encountered it by now. A video provides no evidence that the Earth is under a dome or “firmament”.

☆ Bad weather thwarts New Zealand PM Ardern's Antarctica trip
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Oct 25 (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's visit to her country's research station in Antarctica was upended by bad weather that forced the plane she was travelling in to turn back midflight on Tuesday. The C130 Hercules military aircraft carrying Ardern encountered poor weather at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica, the location of several international research stations, according to a government statement. The spokesperson did not say whether the trip would be attempted again once the weather clears. New Zealand is one of seven countries, including Australia, France and Chile, with a territorial claim to Antarctica. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Edmund KlamannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "McMurdo"

14 mentions found