Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
More than 5,000 new species have been discovered at an expansive future deep-sea mining site in the Pacific Ocean.
Known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), the mineral-rich site stretches six million square kilometers from Mexico to Hawaii. About twice the size of India, the CCZ has already been carved up into mining claims for future exploitation, with companies eager to harvest abundant deposits of key battery materials like manganese and cobalt that are located 4,000 to 6,000 metres below the surface.
To better understand what could be at risk once mining begins, a team of biologists led by London's Natural History Museum sought to survey the region's biodiversity. Of the 5,578 species they identified, approximately 90 per cent were entirely new to science.
"We share this planet with all this amazing biodiversity, and we have a responsibility to understand it and protect it," lead author and Natural History Museum deep-sea ecologist Muriel Rabone said in a news release last week.
The team compiled a list of all species found in previous studies of the region, and also embarked on their own research expeditions to survey the ocean floor. Using techniques like remote-controlled vehicles and box core sampling, which is basically a box that scoops up material from the seafloor, they collected over 100,000 records of creatures of the deep from this largely untouched underwater wilderness.
“It's a big boat, but it feels tiny in the middle of the ocean,” Rabone said of the research cruises. “And it was amazing—in every single box core sample, we would see new species.”
The most common types of animals were arthropods, echinoderms, worms and sponges. Newly discovered species included what's known as the "gummy squirrel," a gelatinous-looking sea cucumber with a large tail-like protrusion. Only six species have been seen elsewhere in the ocean.
"Some of the sponges look like classic bath sponges, and some look like vases. They’re just beautiful," Rabone said. "One of my favorites is the glass sponges. They have these little spines, and under the microscope, they look like tiny chandeliers or little sculptures."
The peer-reviewed study, which includes images, was published in the journal Current Biology last week.
The UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority, which was created to regulate mining in international waters, begins accepting applications to exploit the CCZ in July. Commercial deep-sea mining, which is still in an exploratory phase, would collect potato-sized deposits known as "polymetallic nodules" that can be found on and just under the region's seabed.
"There are so many wonderful species in the CCZ, and with the possibility of mining looming, it’s doubly important that we know more about these really understudied habitats," Rabone said.
While companies and countries like China and the U.S. pursue deep-sea mining, others like France, Chile and Canada have called for moratoriums or bans in their waters over environmental concerns.
With files from Reuters
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.