Which bird species is the most popular?
Here is a chart demonstrating which bird species is the most popular:
<iframe width="745" height="461" seamless frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQnyLIrMc-Miy5pIxAkPFcwMYiCumZ9DzqMv39vDdAAfmgeG56dD4Qv1mNehEc07r8I4ki8Ym7BeAwC/pubchart?oid=979151072&format=interactive"></iframe>Photoshop: A Starry Sea
Tech News Story One: How Whale Safe Protects our Finned Friends
On May 8th, 2024, a New York harbour was greeted with a sad sight: the body of a sei whale stuck to the front of the cruise ship MSC Meraviglia.
While shocking and grisly, this sight isn’t uncommon. Each year, around 20,000 whales die after being hit by boats.
Sometimes, the deaths aren’t from a lack of effort on the company’s part. In a quote from CBC, an ambassador for MSC Cruises says “we are deeply saddened by any loss of marine life,”, and explains how the company attempts to avoid hitting whales by slowing down in certain areas of the ocean. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to prevent the death of the whale.
One thing that’s certain is that the death is a major black eye for MSC Cruises. Consumers care now more than ever about the environment and sustainability, and this incident is exactly the kind of thing that turns people off. Whether it’s truly the company’s fault or not, their reputation will be marred, at least for the moment.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. In 2020, a digital map known as Whale Safe was released, hoping to slow the rise of whales being hit by boats. Developed in Santa Barbara and currently operational in California, Whale Safe provides an interesting solution to a growing problem.
The digital map works by compiling acoustic and visual data about where whales are situated on a day-to-day basis, as well as information about weather and water conditions, and distributing it to boats in the area. First, whale calls are detected by using microphones known as hydrophones. When a call is detected, we know that there are whales present. Next, whale sightings from tourist boats and aerial photographs provide exact information on where whales are and sometimes their species as well. Finally, Whale Safe looks at ocean conditions and determines where whales are most and least likely to be on a given day. With all of this information combined, Whale Safe provides a comprehensive picture of the marine life present in major shipping routes off the coast of California.
The last step in the the process that Whale Safe goes through is information distribution. Information about whale locations is made available to all commercial boats.
In areas where whales are prevalent, boats are advised to slow down to a speed of 10 knots, decreasing the chance of a fatal strike. Research has shown that just decreasing speed is enough to significantly reduce the risk of death for nearby whales.
However, not all companies choose to slow down. Because of this, Whale Safe assigns all shipping companies a letter grade, ranging from F to A+. These ratings are visible to consumers and shed light on companies that are not doing their part to avoid hitting whales. A bad grade can hurt a company’s reputation and decrease customer satisfaction, forcing them to adopt the safety policies.
Due to the revolutionary technology created by Whale Safe, our finned friends will be much safer in their home waters. Hopefully, in the near future, Whale Safe will expand its map to include shipping routes across the world. Whale Safe is one step towards a happier and healthier ocean, which benefits us all.
Sources:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cruise-ship-dead-whale-1.7198019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/whalesafe-marine-vessel-map-1.7172158
https://baleinesendirect.org/en/five-promising-initiatives-to-prevent-collisions-with-whales
https://whalesafe.com/about-us/
https://nautil.us/why-ships-kill-thousands-of-whales-every-year-381538/#:~:text=Yet%20an%20estimated%2020%2C000%20whales,even%20realize%20that%20it’s%20happening.
Adobe Illustrator Mallard
Tech News Story 2: How ShakeAlert Will Keep Us Safe When the “Big One” Comes
A massive fault line, known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone, stretches from British Columbia to parts of California, encompassing large areas of the western coast of North America. Every couple of hundred years, a massive earthquake occurs, and we’re due for one very soon. According to Oregon’s hazard preparation page, scientists expect that it’s not unlikely that an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 or more will occur within the next 50 years.
An earthquake of this size could destroy buildings and cause tsunamis across the world, resulting in major local and possibly global damage to coastal communities. In 2023, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Türkiye and made buildings crumble, resulting in 55,000 fatalities and 130,000 injuries. Because of this terrible event and the earthquake looming on the horizon, many North Americans are concerned about the effects that a strong earthquake would have on their lives, and are not sure how to prepare for such an event. Luckily, an earthquake alert system called ShakeAlert could help drastically reduce fatalities in the event of a large earthquake. Here’s how it works:
The ShakeAlert system is made up of sensors placed on land and in the ocean. These sensors detect the two different types of waves that earthquakes emit: P-waves and S-waves. P-waves, or pressure waves, are the first waves to form from an earthquake, and can travel long distances in a matter of seconds. Luckily, these waves don’t cause any damage, so they are used to trigger the warning system. Once the system detects the waves, it judges the expected size of the earthquake and sends alerts to every area considered to be in danger. Seconds after the alert is sent, or potentially at the same time as the alert, S-waves, or shock waves, start moving away from the centre of the earthquake. These waves are slower but much more powerful and destructive than the P- waves.
The effectiveness of the warning improves the farther away you go from the epicenter. Because s-waves move more slowly than P-waves, communities on the outskirts of the danger zone can have as much as 60 seconds warning before the S-waves come. With a minute’s warning, surgeons can stop delicate procedures, airports can halt incoming and outgoing traffic, and people can take cover before the earthquake hits.
Even though ShakeAlert doesn’t provide much notice before an earthquake hits, a couple of seconds of warning is enough to save lives. Additionally, the technology has been tested before and it has worked, so it is the best tool we currently have to combat the destruction that earthquakes bring. There’s no doubt that the system will continue to improve in the near future.
Because of this system, North Americans are equipped with the tools to take quick action to save themselves and other people in the event of an emergency. When Cascadia’s earthquake rocks our coastline, ShakeAlert will make sure that we’re ready for it.
Sources:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-earthquake-warning-1.7000886
https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/earthquakes/earthquake-early-warning-systems
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/5/20682517/earthquake-warning-system-shakealert-la-app-alert
https://www.oregon.gov/oem/hazardsprep/pages/cascadia-subduction-zone.aspx
https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2023-turkey-and-syria-earthquake-faqs#:~:text=%E2%80%9D%20says%20Baker*.-,How%20many%20people%20were%20affected%20by%20the%20earthquake%20in%20Turkey,were%20displaced%20from%20their%20homes.
Audio Mixtapes
SpongeBob Love Song
For this song, I combined Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and the theme song for SpongeBob SquarePants. I kept “Love Story” as is, but added SpongeBob vocals over top of “Love Story” so that it sounds like SpongeBob is Taylor Swift’s lover.
It’s The End Of The World And It’s Raining Tacos
I took the song “It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I feel fine)” and added “It’s Raining Tacos” vocals over top of the other song’s instrumentals. I ended up with a song that goes “It’s the end of the world, and it’s raining tacos”.
SpongeBob’s Bus
In this remix, I took the instrumentals from “Wheels On the Bus” and put SpongeBob SquarePants theme song vocals over top to create a song that sounded like a combination of the two.