Advancing environmental stewardship and infrastructure at YVR - UBC Applied Science

I was delighted to recently learn that Pope Leo had just authorized the publication of a substantial new study by the International Theological Commission (ITC) on a subject close to my own heart: Caring for Our Common Home: A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Trinitarian God. While ITC texts don’t themselves constitute acts of the Church’s magisterium, I came away convinced that this one deserves serious attention. And I’m not saying this just because the Vatican’s vision closely parallels themes I develop in a book of my own that, by a lovely coincidence, was released at virtually the same time. But, given the seemingly constant drama surrounding ecclesial documents these days, I can understand if some readers reasonably ask what use there is in paying attention to yet another Vatican document. In particular, you may wonder what one on ecology has to add. After all, several popes in a row have spoken extensively about our Christian responsibility toward creation.

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has added another international accolade to its sterling resume. The honour comes from Condé Nast Traveller’s latest look at the best airports in the world, part of the 39th annual Readers’ Choice Awards.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Isaiah Santistevan led the development of three-dimensional simulations exploring how a nuclear device could deflect or disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. Credit: Blaise Douros/LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth.

Milky Way’s first microblazar candidate sits 12,000 light-years away, offering a rare ground-level lab for studying relativistic jetsA black hole 12,000 light-years away is firing a jet of plasma almost directly toward Earth. At that distance, no known or expected danger to Earth has been identified by the researchers or the institutions involved. What astronomers have actually found is rarer and more interesting than a threat. Researchers have identified IRAS 18293-0941 as a compelling candidate for the Milky Way’s first microblazar, a class of object that gives astrophysicists a close-up laboratory for studying some of the most violent physics in the galaxy. What Astronomers FoundThe discovery centers on a binary system whose black hole expels plasma jets at close to three-quarters the speed of light, pointed almost directly toward Earth. The system pairs a hot, massive star with a black hole that completes a full orbit roughly every 11.38 days. Material drawn from the companion star feeds the black hole, and some of that matter gets expelled outward as opposing jets traveling at approximately three-quarters the speed of light. Terminology matters here.