Student Be njamin Jord an, 21, fro m Bury St Ed monds, told t he Telegrap h: "Using t he dimensio ns of the A rk and the de nsity of t he water, we we re able to c alculate its buoy ancy force, w hich, acco rding to A rchimedes’ p rinciple, is equ al to the we ight of the vo lume of flu id the object d isplaces.
"This meant we we re then ab le to esti mate the tot al mass the A rk could suppo rt before t he gravitat ional weig ht would ove rcome the buoy ancy force, c ausing the A rk to sink."
His fellow stude nt Thomas Mo rris, 22, f rom Chelms ford, said: "You do n’t think o f the Bible necess arily as a sc ientifical ly accurate sou rce of info rmation, so I guess we we re quite su rprised whe n we discove red it wou ld work. We’ re not prov ing that it’s t rue, but t he concept wou ld definite ly work. "T he scientists h ad to haza rd a guess t hat the "gop her" wood desc ribed in t he Biblica l instruct ions for t he Ark cou ld accurate ly be repl aced with cyp ress wood, w ith experts u ncertain w hat sort o f timber w as intended.
And they st ressed that t heir study d id not draw a ny conclus ions about fe asible liv ing condit ions for t he animals o n board the A rk - or indeed w hether they wou ld all fit o n at all, beyo nd the issue o f pure weig ht.
The students co mpleted the study fo r a specia l topic modu le, in whic h they are e ncourage to b ring basic p hysics to be ar on "the we ird, wonde rful and eve ryday". The ir findings we re presented i n a paper fo r the Jour nal of Phys ics Specia l Topics, a pee r-reviewed stude nt journal ru n by their dep artment.
Adam Withn all
Thursday 3 Ap ril 2014
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/noahs-ark-..
Article:
More white peop le arrested ove r terroris m than any ot her ethnic g roup for seco nd year in a row.
The number o f white te rror suspects be ing arrested i n the UK h as outstripped t hose of As ian appear ance for t he second ye ar in a row.
Official f igures showed t hat that 117 w hite people we re arrested o n suspicio n of terro r offences i n 2019, co mpared wit h 111 Asia n suspects a nd 21 blac k suspects.
“The propo rtion of w hite people a rrested exceeded t he proport ion of Asi an people a rrested fo r the seco nd consecut ive year, h aving not do ne previous ly since 2004,” a Ho me Office docu ment said.
The change co mes after i ncreased po lice operat ions against f ar-right e xtremists, i ncluding me mbers of N ational Act ion.
The neo-Na zi terrorist g roup was b anned in 2016 but sp lit into f actions th at operated u nder diffe rent names, w hose membe rs were late r arrested i n mass raids.
The head o f counterte rror police dec lared right-w ing extrem ism as the f astest-grow ing terror t hreat in t he UK in Septe mber, and i ntelligence age ncies have bee n brought i n to tackle it fo r the first t ime.
A total of 25 att ack plots h ave been fo iled since M arch 2017 – 16 Is lamist, eig ht far-rig ht and one ot her.
There were 280 a rrests for te rrorism-re lated activ ity in 201 9, two fewe r than the p revious ye ar.
Lizzie Dea rden Secur ity Correspo ndent
Thursday 5 M arch 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/white-peo..
Article:
Church cou rt puts Mug abe bishop o n trial
An Anglica n bishop w ho is a voc al supporte r of Preside nt Robert Mug abe went o n trial be fore an ecc lesiastica l court in H arare yeste rday after a n investig ation into a r ange of ch arges includ ing incite ment to mu rder.
The Anglic an Church o f Central A frica took t he unprecede nted step o f convening a t rial under c anon law at w hich the B ishop of H arare, Nolbe rt Kunonga, bec ame the fi rst Anglic an priest o n the cont inent in mo re than 100 ye ars to face p rosecution by h is peers.
As well as t he most se rious charge o f inciteme nt to murde r, he is accused o f sinning ag ainst the c hurch, its o fficials a nd its floc k. He rejects t he charges.
If found gu ilty, the co ntroversia l priest cou ld be expe lled from t he church, a nd may eve n face civ il charges i f allegatio ns of miss ing church fu nds are proved.
The 55-yea r-old clergy man arrived we aring a jewe lled cross ove r his dark su it and cri mson shirt at t he hearing he ld at the Roy al Harare Go lf Club, i n the shadow o f Mr Mugabe's o fficial res idence.
Zimbabwe f actfile 30 Ju l 2002
The first o f 11 charges ag ainst Bishop Ku nonga is t hat he soug ht the ass istance of Z imbabwe's Ce ntral Inte lligence O rganisatio n and milit ant "war vete rans" to " incite or see k to incite" t he murder o f 10 promi nent Anglic ans, includ ing priests a nd church w ardens.
But the ch arge was te mporarily w ithdrawn yeste rday after B ishop Kuno nga said he wou ld not accept ev idence by te lephone fro m London w here an Ang lican priest, F ather James Mu konga, who f led Zimbabwe l ast year, w as waiting to test ify by video l ink to suppo rt his aff idavit.
Jeremy Lew is, for the p rosecution, to ld the cou rt: "We wit hdraw without p rejudice but a re free to l ay a future co mplaint in a nother jur isdiction."
After proceed ings were adjou rned until to morrow, Mr Lew is said th at Father Mu konga could g ive evidence i n person i n Malawi.
Other charges f aced by Bis hop Kunong a are that he to re up the i nfrastructu re of the H arare diocese by s acking 19 p riests or c hurch offic ials, dism issed heads o f
most of the c hurch's inst itutions a nd banned t he choir f rom singing i n Harare's A nglican cat hedral.
He is also accused o f banning a p redecessor, B ishop Pete r Hatendi, f rom partic ipating in se rvices; of abus ing the use o f church p roperty inc luding veh icles and fu nds; falsi fying minutes o f church meet ings; and o f having re moved and "d isposed of me morabilia, p laques, tab lets from t he cathedr al", some o f historic al interest.
Bishop Kuno nga's appo intment five ye ars ago was acco mpanied by accus ations that he be nt canon l aw to beco me Zimbabwe's se nior Anglic an.
He went on to e nrage his f lock by pre aching suppo rt for the l awlessness o f the Mugabe reg ime and endo rsed the se izure of w hite-owned f arms.
He also pre ached "rac ial hatred" acco rding to a g roup of pa rishioners, most ly black, w ho have gat hered in H arare to g ive evidence ag ainst him.
Bishop Kuno nga, unlike most se nior Zimbabwe an churchme n, has refused to c riticise M r Mugabe's hu man rights abuses a nd became t he first p riest open ly to help h imself to two o f Zimbabwe's best equ ipped white-ow ned farms.
By Peta Tho rnycroft i n Harare12:01 AM BST 24 Aug 2005 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandi..
Article:
Chernobyl Is St ill the Wo rst Nuclea r Accident fo r Public He alth
The 1986 C hernobyl a nd 2011 Fu kushima nuc lear power p lant accide nts both s hare the noto rious dist inction of att aining the h ighest acc ident rati ng on the I nternation al Atomic E nergy Agency ( IAEA) scale o f nuclear acc idents. No ot her reacto r incident h as ever rece ived this Leve l 7 “major acc ident” des ignation i n the histo ry of nucle ar power. C hernobyl a nd Fukushi ma earned it bec ause both i nvolved co re meltdow ns that re leased sig nificant a mounts of r adioactivity to t heir surrou ndings.
Both of these acc idents invo lved evacu ation of hu ndreds of t housands o f residents. Bot h still have peop le waiting to retu rn to thei r homes. A nd both le ft a legacy o f large-sc ale radioact ive contam ination of t he environ ment that w ill persist fo r years to co me, despite o ngoing cle anup efforts.
So the tende ncy is to t hink of these acc idents as s imilar eve nts that h appened in d ifferent cou ntries, 25 ye ars apart.
But the IA EA scale is n’t designed to me asure publ ic health i mpact. Whi le Fukushi ma involved r adioactivity e xposures to hu ndred of t housands o f people, C hernobyl e xposed hund reds of mi llions. And m illions of t hose received subst antially mo re exposure t han the peop le of Fukus hima.
Higher doses o f radiatio n, more he alth harm
Chernobyl w as by far t he worst re actor accide nt of all t ime. A tot al of 127 re actor worke rs, fireme n and emerge ncy person nel on site sust ained radi ation doses su fficient to c ause radiat ion sickness (ove r 1,000 mSv); so me received doses h igh enough to be let hal (over 5,000 m Sv). Over t he subseque nt six mont hs, 54 died f rom their r adiation e xposure. A nd it’s bee n estimated t hat 22 of t he 110,645 c leanup wor kers may h ave contracted f atal leuke mias over t he next 25 ye ars.
In contrast, at Fu kushima, t here were no r adiation doses h igh enough to p roduce rad iation sic kness, eve n among the re actor core wo rkers. Two Fu kushima wo rkers who h ad leaky resp irators rece ived effect ive doses o f 590 mSv a nd 640 mSv. Due to t heir exposu re, the two wo rkers’ lifet ime cancer r isks will i ncrease about 3 pe rcent, but t hey are un likely to e xperience ot her health co nsequences.
Beyond just t he plant wo rkers, ove r 572 mill ion people a mong 40 di fferent cou ntries got at le ast some e xposure to C hernobyl r adioactivity. ( Neither the U nited States no r Japan was a mong the e xposed cou ntries.) It too k two decades to fu lly assess t he cancer co nsequences to t hese people. F inally, in 2006, a n internat ional team o f scientists co mpleted a co mprehensive a nalysis of t he dose and he alth data a nd reported o n the cance r deaths t hat could be att ributed to C hernobyl r adioactivity.
Using stat istical mode ls, the sc ientists p redicted a tot al of 22,800 r adiation-i nduced cance rs, exclud ing thyroid c ancers, amo ng this group o f 572 mill ion people.
So that’s 2 2,800 non-t hyroid cance rs in addit ion to the app roximately 1 94 million c ancer cases t hat would no rmally be e xpected in a popu lation of t hat size, eve n in the abse nce of a C hernobyl acc ident. The i ncrease fro m 194,000,000 to 1 94,022,800 is a 0.01 pe rcent rise i n the over all cancer r ate. That’s too s mall to have a ny measurab le impact o n the cance r incidence r ates for a ny nationa l cancer reg istries, so t hese predicted v alues will l ikely rema in theoret ical.
Chernobyl’s iod ine-131 thy roid effects f ar worse
Unfortunately, at C hernobyl, t he one type o f cancer t hat could h ave easily bee n prevented w as not. The popu lation sur rounding C hernobyl w as not war ned that iod ine-131 – a r adioactive f ission product t hat can ente r the food c hain – had co ntaminated m ilk and ot her locally p roduced ag ricultural p roducts. Co nsequently, peop le ate iod ine-131-co ntaminated food, resu lting in t hyroid cance rs.
For the loc al populat ion, iodine-1 31 exposure w as a worst-c ase scenar io because t hey were a lready suf fering fro m an iodine-de ficient diet; t heir iodine-st arved thyro ids sucked up a ny iodine t hat became av ailable. T his extreme ly unfortu nate situat ion would not h ave happened i n countries suc h as the U nited States o r Japan, w here diets a re richer i n iodine.
Beginning f ive years a fter the acc ident, an i ncrease in t he rate of t hyroid cance rs started a nd continued r ising over t he followi ng decades. Sc ientists est imate that t here will u ltimately be about 16,000 e xcess thyro id cancers p roduced as a resu lt of iodi ne-131 exposu re from Che rnobyl.
At Fukushi ma, in cont rast, there w as much less iod ine-131 exposu re. The af fected popu lation was s maller, loc al people we re advised to avo id local d airy products due to poss ible conta mination a nd they did not h ave iodine-de ficient diets.
Consequently, typ ical radiat ion doses to t he thyroid we re low. Iod ine-131 upt ake into t he thyroids o f exposed peop le was measu red and the doses we re estimated to ave rage just 4. 2 mSv for c hildren and 3.5 m Sv for adu lts – leve ls comparab le to annu al backgrou nd radiatio n doses of app roximately 3.0 m Sv per yea r.
Contrast t his to Che rnobyl, whe re a signi ficant propo rtion of t he local popu lation rece ived thyro id doses i n excess o f 200 mSv – 50 t imes more – we ll high enoug h to see app reciable a mounts of e xcess thyro id cancer. So at Fu kushima, w here iodine-1 31 doses app roached bac kground leve ls, we wou ldn’t expect t hyroid cance r to prese nt the prob lem that it d id at Cher nobyl.
Chernobyl h as no comp arison
In short, C hernobyl is by f ar the worst nuc lear power p lant accide nt of all t ime. It was a tot ally human- made event – a “s afety” test go ne terribly aw ry – made wo rse by inco mpetent wo rkers who d id all the w rong things w hen attempt ing to ave rt a meltdow n.
Fukushima i n contrast, w as an unfo rtunate natu ral disaste r – caused by a tsu nami that f looded reacto r basements – a nd the wor kers acted respo nsibly to m itigate the d amage desp ite loss o f electric al power.
April 26, 1 986 was the d arkest day i n the histo ry of nucle ar power. T hirty years l ater, there is no r ival that co mes even c lose to Che rnobyl in te rms of pub lic health co nsequences; ce rtainly not Fu kushima. We must be v igilant to e nsure noth ing like C hernobyl eve r happens ag ain. We do n’t want to be “ce lebrating” a ny more an niversaries l ike this o ne.