First Nation says Hydro misuse of river diversion destroying sturgeon population

A northern First Nation is calling on Manitoba Hydro to alter its use of the Churchill River diversion to protect a lake sturgeon population allegedly decimated by hydroelectric operations.

Tataskweyak Cree Nation Chief Doreen Spence said the culturally significant species is facing extinction on the river system without immediate intervention, 50 years after Manitoba built the diversion to send water to large power generating stations.

“The diversion has artificially altered the flow of the water… so much that the river is barely able to sustain life as it once did,” Spence told reporters in Winnipeg Thursday.

“Manitoba Hydro must operate the diversion in sync with the natural flow regime of the river for the sturgeon to survive.”

Funding shortfall undermines Canada’s ability to track diseases threatening wildlife, human health

The head of a national network that tracks the spread of wildlife diseases says a persistent funding shortfall is undermining Canada’s ability to detect and respond to emerging threats to biodiversity, agriculture and human health.

Damien Joly is the chief executive officer of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, a network of Canada’s five veterinary schools and the B.C. government’s Animal Health Centre. The CWHC works with federal, provincial and territorial governments to monitor wildlife diseases across the country.

In an interview with The Narwhal, Joly said the organization is “cash strapped across the board.”

“We do not have the resources we need to effectively monitor these diseases,” he said.

Body’s cellular makeup leads to big, existential questions

French science journalist and author Lise Barnéoud’s first book Hidden Guests is a fascinating, well-researched, atmospheric book on micro-chimerism — the presence of genetically distinct cells from one person circulating in another person.

Talking cows? N.S. researchers think they are getting closer to understanding moos

HALIFAX - If a cow moos in a barn and no one is around to hear it, could you still understand what it’s trying to say?

Researchers at Dalhousie University are hoping to answer that question.

Led by Dr. Ghader Manafiazar, the team at Dalhousie’s agricultural campus in Truro, N.S., has been recording and analyzing cow noises to see whether the animals have different vocal patterns.

Humans can utter words using various inflections and meanings, said Manafiazar, a professor in the faculty of agriculture. His research is trying to determine whether the same holds true for animals. “When they say ‘moo,’ is it different from saying ‘moooooo’?”

Killer whales and dolphins may be helping each other hunt of B.C. coast: new report

HALIFAX - Scientists have found evidence that two unlikely collaborators — killer whales and dolphins — may be helping each other find and feast on salmon off the coast of British Columbia.

Sarah Fortune, an assistant professor in oceanography at Halifax’s Dalhousie University said it would appear the massive fish-eating whales may be working with Pacific white-sided dolphins, which have been spotted eating the salmon chunks the killer whales produce.

She is a co-author of a paper published Thursday in Scientific Reports that found the two species appear to be working together while they forage.

Recordings picked up "this audible crunch as the whale bites down, then you see these fragments of fish that are released,” and then dolphins swim in to eat the pieces, Fortune said.

Author goes far and wide on quest to document all plants native to Manitoba

When Diana Bizecki Robson was growing up in Saskatoon during the 1970s, she enjoyed riding her bike to parks and riverbanks where she spent hours studying the diversity of wild plants and their pollinators.

After deciding to become a biologist, Bizecki Robson worked for a few years as an environmental consultant which allowed her to conduct plant surveys. But it was when the opportunity to work at the Manitoba Museum came along — in October 2003 — that she could finally pursue the type of field work and research she loves.

Today, Bizecki Robson is the curator of botany at the Manitoba Museum. She oversees a herbarium which holds over 50,000 specimens.

“One of the things I discovered as part of a collection assessment project that I did when I first got here was that the museum did not have a specimen of every single species of plant or fungus or lichen (from this province) in its collection,” said Bizecki Robson.

Small changes, big impact

Are you a climate champion or climate destroyer? Ecological quizzes and carbon-footprint calculators can help you find out.

Will electric tractors gain traction? At a pilot event for farmers, researchers see possibilities

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — In the soft dirt of an indoor horseback riding ring last month, a group of farmers got ready to test drive a new piece of equipment: an electric tractor.

As they took turns climbing in — some surprised by its quick acceleration — they gave real-time feedback to the Michigan State University researchers who have been developing it for over two years.

The farmers remarked on the motor's quiet whir. Most were intrigued, or at least open to the idea. Some were concerned that the battery on the underside of the carriage would mean a lower clearance over the field, while others worried that it would simply be too expensive.

“What we hope to do when we retire is we want to get everything electric on the farm. The tractor is the last electric implement to get,” said Don Dunklee, one of the farmers to provide feedback. He runs a small organic vegetable farm that's relied on wind and solar for decades.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip implanted into two quadriplegic Canadian patients

TORONTO - Two Canadian patients with spinal cord injuries have received Neuralink brain implants that have allowed them to control a computer with their thoughts.

They are part of the first clinical trial outside of the United States to test the safety and effectiveness of Elon Musk's Neuralink wireless brain chip, which he introduced to the public in 2020, and was first implanted in a paralyzed American in 2024.

The Canadian men, both around 30 years old – one from Ontario, the other from Alberta – have limited or no ability to use their hands.

Dr. Andres Lozano, a neurosurgeon at University Health Network who led the surgical team at Toronto Western Hospital, said the patients could move a computer cursor almost immediately after the surgery. They were able to leave the hospital following their respective procedures on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 the next morning, he said.

Girls fell behind boys in math during the pandemic. Schools are trying to make up lost ground

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Crowded around a workshop table, four girls at de Zavala Middle School puzzled over a Lego machine they had built. As they flashed a purple card in front of a light sensor, nothing happened.

The teacher at the Dallas-area school had emphasized that in the building process, there is no such thing as mistakes. Only iterations. So the girls dug back into the box of blocks and pulled out an orange card. They held it over the sensor and the machine kicked into motion.

“Oh! Oh, it reacts differently to different colors,” said sixth grader Sofia Cruz.

In de Zavala’s first year as a choice school focused on science, technology, engineering and math, the school recruited a sixth grade class that’s half girls. School leaders are hoping the girls will stick with STEM fields. In de Zavala’s higher grades — whose students joined before it was a STEM school — some elective STEM classes have just one girl enrolled.

Gardening’s hidden benefits: How digging in the dirt could bolster mental wellbeing

If you spend any time gardening, you probably understand what I mean when I say it feels good — despite the lifting, sweating and straining involved. Yes, exercise is good for our bodies, but there’s something about digging in the dirt while listening to a bird soundtrack that lifts my spirits. Even the scent of the soil and mulch makes me happy.

As it turns out, there are scientific reasons for this.

In fact, there’s an entire field called horticultural therapy that’s dedicated to using “plant-based and garden-based activities to support people who have identified treatment needs,” according to Karen Haney, a horticultural therapy instructor at UCLA Extension in Long Beach, California.

“Research suggests 20-30 minutes (of gardening) a few times a week can reduce stress and lift mood, with benefits increasing the more regularly one gardens,” says Sarah Thompson, a professionally registered horticultural therapist in Boise, Idaho.

Jets centre Toews regains balance on, off NHL ice via Indian holistic system Ayurveda

For Jonathan Toews, the road back to the NHL didn’t just run through the hockey rink and weight room — it took a mysterious, life-altering detour halfway around the world, into the heart of India’s ancient healing traditions.

The result? An unexpected fan club thousands of kilometres away, rooting for the 37-year-old Winnipegger as he prepares to suit up with his hometown Jets this fall.

“I’m really happy that Jonathan Toews has finally recovered with Ayurvedic and Panchakarma treatment,” Dr. Rajni Jalota told the Free Press in an interview from India. “I wish him the very best and that he emerges more successful than before.”

Jalota admits she knows nothing about hockey — in her region, ice is for drinks and cricket reigns supreme — but like many of her medical colleagues, she’s intrigued by Toews’ comeback attempt.

McGill University team develops AI that can detect infection before symptoms appear

MONTRÉAL - Researchers at McGill University say they developed an artificial intelligence platform that can predict when someone is about to come down with a respiratory tract infection before they start to feel sick.

In what researchers are calling a "world first," the study involved participants who wore a ring, a watch and a T-shirt, all of which were equipped with censors that recorded their biometric data. By analyzing the data, researchers were able to accurately predict acute systemic inflammation — an early sign of a respiratory infection such as COVID-19.

Published in The Lancet Digital Health, the study says the AI platform can one day help doctors address health problems much earlier than they normally would, particularly in patients who are fragile and for whom a new infection could have serious consequences. It could also potentially reduce costs for the health-care system by preventing complications and hospitalizations.

"We were very interested to see if physiological data measured using wearable sensors … could be used to train an artificial intelligence system capable of detecting an infection or disease resulting from inflammation," explained the study's lead author, Prof. Dennis Jensen of McGill University's department of kinesiology and physical education.

CDC removes language that says healthy kids and pregnant women should get COVID shots

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's top public health agency posted new recommendations that say healthy children and pregnant women may get COVID-19 vaccinations, removing stronger language that those groups should get the shots.

The change comes days after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.

But the updated guidance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website sends a more nuanced message, saying shots “may” be given to those groups.

“The announcement from earlier this week sounded like CDC was going to fully withdraw any statement that could be construed as a recommendation for these vaccines in these populations,” said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy researcher. “It's not as bad as it could have been."

Alexander Zverev says lightning struck his flight to Paris for the French Open

PARIS (AP) — German tennis player Alexander Zverev said Friday his plane was hit lightning on the way to Paris for the French Open and had to turn around, delaying his arrival for the clay-court Grand Slam tournament.

He wound up getting in at about 3 a.m.

“We were supposed to fly yesterday evening at 6:45 p.m., and we took off from Hamburg,” said Zverev, last year's runner-up at Roland-Garros and seeded No. 3 this year. “We got struck by lightning. We had to do an emergency landing back in Hamburg.”

By the time he got on a different flight, his journey resumed at 1 a.m.

Anti-racism activist hopes to make our communities mutually respectful

Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman is a clinical and consulting psychologist at Clinic Psychology Manitoba. He has a consulting and coaching firm called Lead with Diversity, he is the assistant professor with the department of clinical health psychology at the University of Manitoba and he has just written his first book, Developing Anti-Racist Cultural Competence, which aims to help people develop practical skills, insight and better empathy when working with diverse groups.

'Cheering for the mammoth': Scientists retrace the steps of 17,000 year-old animal

More than 17,000 years ago, a woolly mammoth roamed enough of the Alaskan landscape to circle the Earth twice.

That's according to a new paper from an international team of researchers who retraced the lifetime of one of the extinct ancient Arctic creatures.

The mammoth's story is written in its tusk through tiny isotopes, which are tiny atoms, said Mat Wooller, a paleoecologist at the University of Alaska.

"Isotopes are like a little chemical GPS (global positioning system) recorder," Wooller said.

Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

Laura Baker has wanted a pit bull for 20 years, but hasn’t bought one because of the city’s ban.

“I just feel like the whole breed has been so misrepresented, misunderstood and given a raw deal in terms of being able to find loving homes,” the St. James resident said.

If proposed changes to a city bylaw pass, Baker will legally be able to own a pit bull, while it could become illegal to feed wildlife and to leave pets in vehicles at certain temperatures.

The city is looking for feedback on suggestions to its Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw. Winnipeg Public Service reviewed the rules this summer and came back with a number of ideas, including a removal of breed-specific bans.

Investors behaving badly

Finance professor Chi Liao’s background in mathematics often comes in handy in her line of work.

After all, both corporate and investment finance are built upon numbers. Yet financial reporting — balance sheets and cash-flow analysis — is not her area of interest.

In fact, her expertise has less to do with the numerical side of money and more to do with how our emotions affect how we manage our hard-earned cash.

“I’ve always been fascinated by people-watching and why it is we do what we do,” says Liao, who studied mathematics and finance before completing a PhD in behavioural finance from the University of Toronto in 2014.

Infrequent lunar eclipse performs Copper Side of the Moon early Tuesday morning

Stargazers in Manitoba have the chance Tuesday to watch the last total lunar eclipse on this side of the world until 2029.

A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red on Tuesday across several continents

NEW YORK (AP) — A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse — and there won't be another until late 2028.

The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and the western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia can catch it Tuesday night. Partial stages of the eclipse with small bites taken out of the moon can be seen from Central Asia and much of South America. Africa and Europe will be shut out.

Solar and lunar eclipses happen due to a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. There are between four and seven a year, according to NASA.

The eclipses tend to follow each other, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the celestial bodies' orbits. Tuesday's total eclipse of the moon comes two weeks after a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse that dazzled people and penguins in Antarctica.