'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
Not only is Earth in the middle of its next mass extinction event, but it may be too late to undo the harm inflicted upon the planet’s species. This is according to a new study assessing evidence of what it calls an “ongoing extinction event.”
The study was published in Biological Reviews, and conducted by biologists from the University of Hawaii and the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. While researchers say that conservation initiatives have been put in place to combat the crisis and protect certain species, the study suggests that the damage has already been done.
“These initiatives cannot target all species, and they cannot reverse the overall trend of species extinction,” reads a press release that accompanied the study.
Robert Cowie is the lead author of the study and a research professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center. He and the study’s co-authors estimate that since the year 1500, as many as 7.5 to 13 per cent of Earth’s two million known species have already gone extinct. That translates to between 150,000 and 260,000 species. These numbers were extrapolated from estimates obtained for land snails and slugs.
“Including invertebrates was key to confirming that we are indeed witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth’s history,” said Cowie in the press release.
According to experts, there have been five mass biodiversity extinction events in Earth’s history, each wiping out between 70 and 95 per cent of plant, animal and microorganism species. The most recent one was 66 million years ago and resulted in the disappearance of dinosaurs. Each was caused by natural phenomena.
The idea that the world is confronting yet another mass extinction event isn’t new, with previous studies showing that the rate at which the world’s species are dying out has accelerated in recent decades. Research also suggests this latest crisis is caused entirely by human activities.
Based on the study, extinction appears to affect different populations of species in different ways depending on their habitat.
“Although marine species face significant threats, there is no evidence that the crisis is affecting the oceans to the same extent as the land,” said the press release.
Additionally, island species, such as those inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands, are more impacted by extinction events than continental species, and the rate of extinction for plant species appears to be lower than that of terrestrial animals.
The study analyzes many other investigations into plant extinctions across different regions of the world, noting that such research has generally produced low figures. About 0.55 per cent of the overall flora in Mediterranean Europe has gone extinct, for example, while 2 per cent of the native flora of Europe and Israel has been lost. Researchers also note that while examining studies comparing local extinction rates among taxonomic groups, it appears as though “plants usually have lower extinction rates than invertebrates.”
While this has yet to be demonstrated on a global level, researchers said it’s possible that plants may indeed have a lower rate of extinction than animals.
A mass extinction event generally involves the loss of at least 75 per cent of species. While the study noted that the current ongoing extinction crisis has not yet hit such a high rate of extinction, there is still potential for this to happen in the future, and scientists argue it’s in the process of happening right now.
Going forward, the study’s researchers state that conservation efforts should be maintained in order to prevent further damage to species, and that more research on existing species must be prioritized.
“The biodiversity that makes our world so fascinating, beautiful and functional is vanishing unnoticed at an unprecedented rate,” the study reads. “In the face of a mounting crisis, scientists must adopt the practices of preventive archaeology, and collect and document as many species as possible before they disappear.
“Denying the crisis, simply accepting it and doing nothing, or even embracing it for the ostensible benefit of humanity, are not appropriate options and pave the way for the Earth to continue on its sad trajectory towards a Sixth Mass Extinction.”
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
There is currently a whooping cough epidemic in Europe, with 10 times as many cases compared to the previous two years. While an outbreak has not been declared nationwide in Canada, whooping cough is regularly detected in the country.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
British Columbia's human rights tribunal has awarded a neurodigergent actor, who was diagnosed with sensory and learning disorders, more than $55,000 after finding that a Kelowna theatre company discriminated against him because of his disabilities.
It's not quite clear who is supposed to be regulating so-called sovereign cannabis stores or even ensure they're benefiting Indigenous communities.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.