#003 - Best News of Last Week
On this week: happy whales, scientific papers free for all and half of americans are fully vaccinated.
During a normal summer, Glacier Bay and the surrounding area buzzes with traffic, as vessels of all sizes, from massive, 150,000-tonne cruise liners to smaller whale-watching boats, ply the waters as part of Southern Alaska's massive tourism industry.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought all of that to a sudden halt. In 2019, more than 1.3 million people visited Alaska on cruise ships. In 2020, there were 48.
Overall marine traffic in Glacier Bay declined roughly 40%.
Now, the humpbacks seem to be spreading out across larger swathes of the bay. Whales can hear each other over about 2.3km (1.4 miles), compared with pre-pandemic distances closer to 200m (650ft). That has allowed mothers to leave their calves to play while they swim out to feed. Some have been observed taking naps. And whale songs - the ghostly whoops and pops by which the creatures communicate - have become more varied.
“An 8-year-old girl who was born in America and grew up under ISIS rule has reportedly been rescued from a Syrian camp and is now waiting to hear whether she can return to the United States.”
“She has been living under ISIS rule since her parents joined the terrorist organization in 2014. After her parents' death, Aminah sent to a Kurdish-controlled detention camp for people with ties to the Islamic State.”
“Aminah was rescued from the facility on July 17. She is now being held at a secure location in northeast Syria and is waiting confirmation that she can return to the states.”
3. Major U.K. science funder to require grantees to make papers immediately free to all
"The United Kingdom currently has one of the highest rates of open-access publication in the world."
"Publishers won't be able to hang on to the copyright for UKRI-funded papers: The agency will require that the research it funds-with some minor exceptions-be published with a Creative Commons Attribution license that allows for free and liberal distribution of the work."
As it should be, for all published papers. We shouldn't need SciHub to download papers so we can read them.
Ten-year-old Orion Jean is on a mission to donate 500,000 books to children in hopes of inspiring others to spread kindness.
The United States is returning more than 17,000 ancient artefacts that were looted and smuggled out of Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, including a 3,500-year-old clay tablet that bears part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Iraq has said.
6. Julie Bowen of 'Modern Family' helped rescue a hiker who fainted in a Utah national park
"Actor Julie Bowen of "Modern Family" and her sister helped rescue a hiker when she fainted last week at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah, the hiker told CNN."
That’s such a Clair thing to do
7. US expands citizenship for children born abroad in win for same-sex couples
"To be eligible before, babies born overseas needed to be genetically related to the American parent. But now the US says children born abroad using assisted reproductive technology can now qualify for citizenship, in a move seen as a win for same-sex couples."
And to conclude this week with a bonus positive statistic, half of Americans are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 :) Keep going!