Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers

Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers (AndriiKoval/Shutterstock)

People are increasingly aware of the harm plastic waste causes to wildlife, and many would avoid buying single-use plastics if they could help it. But are the alternatives to plastic much better?

Let’s look at one example – fizzy drinks. You might assume that plastic bottles are the least green option, but is that always the case?

To find out, we compared five different types of pressurised drinks containers. We tested their environmental impact according to a range of criteria, including how each contributes to climate change and the pollution each produces during manufacture, use and disposal.

Here they are, ranked from worst to best.

Fifth place: glass bottles

It might come as a surprise, but glass bottles actually ranked last in our analysis. You might instinctively reach for a glass bottle to avoid buying a plastic alternative, but glass takes more resources and energy to produce. Glass making involves mining raw materials such as silica sand and dolomite, and that can release pollution which, when inhaled, can cause the lung condition silicosis.

High temperatures are also needed to melt these materials, a process overwhelmingly powered by fossil fuels. During production, the glass itself releases carbon dioxide.

Our analysis found that glass bottle production used the most natural resources, due to the sheer amount of material used. A one-litre glass bottle can weigh up to 800g, while a similar plastic bottle weighs around 40g. That extra weight means vehicles transporting glass bottles consume more fossil fuels to deliver the same amount of liquid. For these reasons, we found that glass bottles have about a 95% bigger contribution to global warming than aluminium cans.

More weight means more emissions. (Makushin Alexey/Shutterstock)

Fourth place: recycled glass bottles

If a regular glass bottle is the worst, then surely those made from 100% recycled glass are much better, right? Unfortunately, no.

Some energy is saved in recycling rather than extracting, processing and transporting raw materials. But recycling glass still uses a lot of energy because of the high temperatures needed to melt it. More energy means more greenhouse gas emissions, and during the process, the glass may release carbon dioxide again.

In the UK, the recycling rate for glass is 67.6%. This would need to improve for glass bottle production to be self-sufficient by recycling alone.

Third place: plastic bottles

In third place is the plastic bottle. Plastic has ideal qualities for containing drinks. It’s strong, resistant to chemicals (so the ingredients in your drink don’t degrade the plastic), and it’s lightweight, meaning more can be transported on less emissions. That gave plastic a significantly lower impact on global warming than glass in our analysis.

But the effects of plastic waste globally are well documented. Glass and aluminium don’t break up into harmful microparticles like plastic does.

Plastic recycling requires less energy due to the lower temperatures involved in melting the raw material. But plastic, unlike glass or aluminium, cannot be endlessly recycled. Each time it’s recycled, the chains of molecules that make up plastics are shortened. All plastic reaches a point when it can no longer be recycled and so becomes destined either for landfill, incineration or the environment.

Second place: aluminium cans

In second place are aluminium cans. We found that they contribute less to global warming than glass and plastic because making them consumes less energy and resources. Cans are lighter than glass and aren’t made from fossil fuels either, like plastic.

Because of the processes involved in making them, cans also contribute less to environmental problems like acid rain and oxygen-free zones in the ocean. That’s because creating glass and plastic requires more electricity, and so it generates more sulphur dioxide pollution on average – a leading cause of acid rain. Making glass and plastic, and extracting the materials to make them (particularly soda ash for glass production), also releases more phosphates into the environment, which can overload rivers and coastal seas and deplete oxygen from the water.

But aluminium has its own environmental impacts. Making it involves refining bauxite ore, and mining bauxite can pollute water in the countries it’s sourced, including Australia, Malaysia and India. Rivers and sediment contaminated with heavy metals threaten the health of people and wildlife near mines.

Bauxite exists in the topsoil of some tropical and subtropical countries. (Alexey Rezvykh/Shutterstock)

First place: recycled aluminium cans

Recycled aluminium cans were the least environmentally damaging single-use container we looked at. Aluminium can be constantly recycled with no change in properties. Recycling an aluminium can saves 95% of the energy used to make a new can and no new material needs to be mined or transported.

But aluminium isn’t always recycled. The UK’s recycling rate for aluminium packaging is just 52%. This must be drastically improved to make recycling the main supply of new cans.

Even if some of these containers are better than others, all of them have an environmental impact. The best option would be to phase out single-use packaging entirely, and introduce a system of reusing containers. Think self-serve drinks machines in local shops, where you could fill a bottle that you bring from home, or bottle return and reuse schemes.

Reducing waste and reusing materials, where possible, should come before recycling something. By reusing bottles, we reduce the amount of single-use packaging that needs to be created, reducing waste and a whole host of global environmental problems.

About Today's Contributors:

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton and Alice Brock, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, University of Southampton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

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• World Oceans Day is a Reason to Celebrate and Reflect
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Assassin's Creed TV Series: Why It's So Hard To Adapt Video Games For The Screen

Michael Fassbender in the Assassin’s Creed film. (20th Century Fox/Youtube)

The Assassin’s Creed franchise is leaping forward (off the top of a building, presumably) with the release of the 12th game in the series – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – and the recent announcement of an upcoming Netflix show.

While the games are hugely popular, we will have to hope this new show is an improvement on the 2016 film. It had great actors playing bland characters, and perfectly adequate action scenes but no discernible narrative content. Indeed, Assassin’s Creed provides a classic lesson on the difficulties of turning even an expansive, multi-dimensional gaming world into a story that’s suitable for other formats.

The Assassin’s Creed games use the framing device of a present-day conflict and the dramatically recreated memories of the characters’ ancestors in historical periods. These memories form the main action of the game and its main appeal. If anything, the present-day plot elements seem rather odd and superfluous by comparison.

For instance, in the first game (2007), the player controls a 12th-century Levantine assassin named Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad during the Third Crusade. His 21st-century descendant, Desmond Miles, is forced to experience Altaïr’s life so that the present-day Templars can find prehuman artefacts known as Pieces of Eden. If that doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, well, it doesn’t.

This is no Shakespearean play-within-a-play device with two separate narratives that merely reflect and comment on each other. Rather, the stories directly affect one another – you must go into the past to uncover the secret locations of present-day artefacts.

Incoherent narrative

Assassin’s Creed never really attempts the moral depth and world-shaking decisions of, say, the critically-acclaimed Deus Ex videogame franchise. Deus Ex’s background of warring conspiracies is nuanced enough that the player feels that real choices are being made.

The 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie was bad partly because the entire franchise – despite its many genuinely brilliant qualities of gameplay, atmosphere, and graphics – is narratively incoherent. This might be forgivable in a game built around atmosphere, cool weaponry and stylish moves, but it’s not enough for a viable film.

There are great examples of transmedia storytelling across multiple formats, such as the Marvel cinematic universe, Tolkein’s Middle-Earth or, indeed, Deus Ex. In these cases, each new book, film or game builds on the narrative of the previous ones while maintaining a sense of wonder and the unknown. But the Assassin’s Creed franchise doesn’t bother making the effort, as though its creators Ubisoft believe the occasional media studies experts who suggest that videogames should stay in their lane and not even try to tell stories.

It seems snobbish to assume that video games are just no good at narrative, but it’s almost as reductive to believe they should emulate filmic storytelling instead of embracing videogames’ unique strengths. Interactivity, agency, emotional engagement and immersion combine to provide players with experiences that would be impossible to achieve in purely linear stories.

The structure of games is inherently different from that of films, and this is most apparent when it comes to endings. Writing a narratively satisfying ending for a novel or film is notoriously tough – and even tougher if you also have to give your audience the choice of how to finish the story.

Every time you let the player make a significant yes or no decision in gameplay, you double the number of possible endings. No storyteller wants to have to come up with hundreds of satisfactory endings.

Game designers have a variety of tricks available to reduce that number, giving the illusion of choice while gradually steering the player back onto the main plot. Still, most players will be happier if the series of interesting decisions include more than just selecting tactical options to overcome challenges. They need ethically weighty choices that empower them to playfully explore their value systems.

From winging it to fixing it?

The Assassin’s Creed franchise seems to have been winging it with its worldbuilding since the start, each story building haphazardly on the previous ones. I see three ways forward.

They could continue to ignore concerns about coherence, concentrate on cool stunts and environments, and hope that fans will accept new instalments as merely each new creative team’s take. But the narrative threads sprawl so much that it’s going to be a tough sell.

A still from the very first Assassin’s Creed (2007). (Ubisoft/IGDB)

If the new series is going to be any good, it would be better to bring in a good universe runner. Someone who can work out how most of the universe hangs together and cut out the bits that don’t.

Alternatively, they could start again, with a worldbuilding process not just a story idea. Videogames can tell amazing stories, despite what their detractors may think, but they do need a consistent background in which to set those stories. Creating a believable world first, would only make the next franchise stronger.

About Today's Contributor:

Ian Sturrock, Senior Lecturer in Game Design and Games Studies, Teesside University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom

Why Lockdowns Don't Necessarily Infringe On Freedom (Image by Tumisu)

Europe is dealing with its “second wave” of COVID-19. And governments seem powerless to stem the tide. Dutch political leaders find it difficult to convince their citizens to wear face masks. A large majority of French voters think that Emmanuel Macron’s government has handled the pandemic badly. And Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, is facing anger from all sides about the circumstances that led to a new English lockdown.

According to these leaders, the arrival of a second wave has nothing to do with their own policy failures, or poor communication. No, the numbers are rising because Europeans are freedom-loving people and it’s hard to make them follow rules. “It is very difficult to ask the British population, uniformly, to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary,” said Johnson for example, in response to criticism of his government’s testing policy. Similarly, in the Netherlands some were quick to attribute soaring infection rates to the fact that the Dutch are famously averse to being “patronised”.

The same explanation is often invoked to account for why Europe is doing significantly worse than countries in East Asia, where the disease seems more under control. According to some commentators, the authoritarian, top-down political culture of countries like China and Singapore makes it far easier to implement strict measures than in liberal Europe.

Singapore’s “effective crisis management”, for instance, was supposedly made possible by the fact that its government “has always wielded absolute control over the state, with an iron fist and a whip in it.” Conversely, many believe that a devotion to “individual liberty” doomed the west to its ongoing crisis.

A coronavirus screening centre in Singapore. (EPA-EFE)

Is this true? Is a poorly functioning government indeed the price that must be paid for freedom? If that is the case, then perhaps we had better give up on liberty. After all, anyone who is dead or seriously ill does not benefit much from being free.

Collective freedom

Fortunately, that’s a conclusion we needn’t draw. As history shows, freedom is quite compatible with effective government. Western political thinkers ranging from Herodotus to Algernon Sidney did not think that a free society is a society without rules, but that those rules should be decided collectively. In their view, freedom was a public good rather than a purely individual condition. A free people, Sidney wrote for instance, was a people living “under laws of their own making”.

Even philosophers such as John Locke, it is worth noting, agreed with this view. Locke is often portrayed as a thinker who believed that freedom coincided with individual rights, rights that should be protected at all costs against state interference. But Locke explicitly denied that freedom was harmed by government regulation – as long as those rules were made “with the consent of society”.

“Freedom then is not … a liberty for every one to do what he lists, to live as he pleases, and not to be tied by any law,” he wrote in his famous Second Treatise. “But freedom of men under government, is, to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power erected in it.”

It was only in the early 19th century that some began to reject this collective ideal in favour of a more individualistic conception of liberty.

A new liberty

In the wake of the French Revolution, democracy slowly expanded across Europe. But this was not universally welcomed. The extension of the right to vote, many feared, would give political power to the poor and uneducated, who would no doubt use it to make dumb decisions or to redistribute wealth. 

Storming of The Bastile, Jean-Pierre Houël, 1789. (Wikimedia Commons)

Hence, liberal elites embarked on a campaign against democracy – and they did so in the name of freedom. Democracy, liberal thinkers ranging from Benjamin Constant to Herbert Spencer argued, was not the mainstay of liberty but a potential threat to freedom properly understood – the private enjoyment of one’s life and goods.

Throughout the 19th century, this liberal, individualistic conception of freedom continued to be contested by radical democrats and socialists alike. Suffragettes such as Emmeline Pankhurst profoundly disagreed with Spencer’s view that the best way to protect liberty was to limit the sphere of government as much as possible. At the same time, socialist politicians such as Jean Jaurès claimed that they, and not the liberals, were the party of freedom, since socialism’s goal was “to organise the sovereignty of all in both the economic and political spheres”.

The ‘free’ West

Only after 1945 did the liberal concept of freedom prevail over the older, collective conception of freedom. In the context of cold war rivalry between the “free West” and the Soviet Union, distrust of state power grew - even democratic state power. In 1958, liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin, in a one-sided reading of the history of European political thought, stated that “Western” freedom was a purely “negative” concept. Every law, Berlin stated bluntly, had to be seen as an encroachment on freedom.

The cold war is of course since long over. Now that we are entering the third decade of the 21st century, we might want to dust off the older, collective concept of freedom. If the coronavirus crisis has made one thing clear, it is that collective threats such as a pandemic demand decisive, effective action from government.

This does not mean giving up our freedom in exchange for the protection of a nanny state. As Sidney and Locke remind us, as long as even the strictest lockdown can count on broad democratic support, and the rules remain subject to scrutiny by our representatives and the press, they do not infringe on our freedom.

About Today's Contributor:

Annelien de Dijn, Professor of History, Utrecht University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives – And The Earlier You Start, The Better [Video Included]

A New Data-Driven Model Shows That Wearing Masks Saves Lives – And The Earlier You Start, The Better (screengrab)

Dr. Biplav Srivastava, professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, and his team have developed a data-driven tool that helps demonstrate the effect of wearing masks on COVID-19 cases and deaths. His model utilizes a variety of data sources to create alternate scenarios that can tell us “What could have happened?” if a county in the U.S. had a higher or lower rate of mask adherence. In this interview, he explains how the model works, its limitations and what conclusions we can draw from it.

What does this computer model do?

This is a nationwide tool which can show the effect that wearing masks can have. If it’s a county where people wear masks regularly, it will show you how many COVID-19 cases and deaths they avoided. If you pick a county where people don’t wear masks, it will show you how many cases and deaths could have been prevented there.

How does it do it?

We need a lot of data to do this. The New York Times surveyed almost every county in the U.S. over the summer and assigned a mask-wearing score of 0-5 to each of them, so this is at the heart of the model. We also use New York Times and Johns Hopkins data for real-time case numbers; census data for demographics such as population size, median age and more; and geographic data to measure the distance between counties.

It is based on a mathematical technique called robust synthetic control, which is often used in drug research, where there is a control group and there is a treatment group.

For example, let’s look at Wyandotte County, Kansas. It has a relatively high mask-wearing score of about 3.4. Because the model is designed to tell us the “what if?” scenario, it will look at what would have happened if the mask-wearing score was reduced to 3.0, which is our cutoff for “low mask-wearing,” but the user can experiment with other values too just to see what happens. We arrived at 3.0 based on analysis of nationwide mask-wearing habits. The actual values ranged between 1.4 and 3.85, with a national average of 2.98.

We can set a date at which the mask-wearing score changes to 3.0. If we set it to run from June 1 to Oct 1, it tells us that Wyandotte County would have had 101.5% more cases and 150 more deaths in that period. It tells the user how many deaths have occurred or been prevented based on a mortality rate parameter that the user can set. In this example, it was set at 2%.

How does the model create the “what if?” scenario if it didn’t actually happen? It does this by looking at other counties that are close by and have similar demographics and case count but a lower mask-wearing threshold. It tries to come up with a weighted average to form a synthetic control group which is similar to our county of interest (treatment group). The model then looks at how much the two groups have diverged in terms of the case counts. The difference in case counts between the two groups is converted to a difference in deaths using the mortality rate parameter.

Computer scientist Biplav Srivastava provides a demo of the simulation to show that earlier policies to recommend mask-wearing make a bigger difference on the spread of the coronavirus.(screengrab)

What does this tell us about the impact of mask-wearing policies?

Keeping up mask-wearing or implementing a mask policy at any time can be helpful. But its impact is highest when you do it early. When you run this model multiple times using different dates, you see that the impact reduces as you delay implementing a mask-wearing policy. So if a county implemented a mask policy on June 1, it would have prevented many cases. If it acted on July 1, it would have a smaller impact. If it acted in August, it would still have prevented cases, but a very small number.

What are the limitations of this model?

This tool works better for some counties than others. In general, it works best with counties that are closer to the average, because it will have closer matches to compare against. There is also a limitation in the sense that The New York Times mask adherence survey was done in the summer, and things keep changing. So if other researchers use this tool, they will have to account for the changes.

But what you see is that when you implement a mask policy or the population regularly wears masks, it makes a positive impact. And the earlier you do it, the more effective it is.

I would like to acknowledge the work of my team, Sparsh Johri, Kartikaya Srivastava, Chinmayi Appajigowda and Lokesh Johri, in developing this program.

The Video:

About Today's Contributor:

Biplav Srivastava, Professor of Computer Science, University of South Carolina

The computer model simulates how many COVID-19 cases could have been prevented in a particular county in the U.S. (Leontura/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

The Knight Bros. Slay COVID-19 [Video Included]

Wee Beasties - Written and Illustrated by Dr. David Knight, Music by Bradford Knight (The Knight Bros.) - a handwashing book and song for kids

Amid ongoing pressure from COVID-19 to keep kids and communities healthy, The Knight Bros. have created an illustrated children's book and song called Wee Beasties, that uses humor, art and rhyming verse to encourage good handwashing habits for early learners age 2 – 8, releasing November 16, 2020.

Wee Beasties is the first in a series of new illustrated books and songs by two brothers. Author and illustrator, Dr. David Knight, is a professor from Colorado State University who was en route to help lead an international program in Wuhan, China when the coronavirus effectively changed the world and put everyone on lockdown. His brother, Bradford Knight, is a singer-songwriter-musician living in southern California. 

• In an unexpected twist of fate, the brothers found themselves quarantined together for five-months, giving rise to a steady stream of creativity and the launch of The Knight Bros. Their works now include more than two dozen titles.

The Knight Bros. (image via theknightbros.com)

Commenting on Wee Beasties, Colleen Fracisco, a veteran nurse of 25 years' experience, said, "This book and song are great tools for parents and teachers to make handwashing meaningful for children. The book takes a hilarious look at germs and how they need to be washed away. It will help build quality hand hygiene skills that will last!" 

Preschool teacher, Kelly Gross, who has two decades of teaching experience at Los Angeles Unified School District, said, "Wee Beasties is an adorable picture book bound to inspire my preschoolers to wash their hands. The author's peppy and engaging rhyming text, combined with the bright and vibrant illustrations, and a creative song, lead to a fun reading and singing experience."

The Video:

Five more titles from The Knight Bros. collection will be released November 23 and December 12, building on safe, clean themes that both entertain and educate. 

• BONNIE McBOWER is about a girl who has an insatiable showering experience 
• BRUSHING brings attention to oral hygiene 
• SMELLY FEET focuses on cleaning relentlessly stinky feet
• BALLOON and ROLLER COASTER promote safety

Imparting important life lessons in a humorous way is the common thread woven through The Knight Bros. stories. While the primary audience is younger, the big kid in many of us will also enjoy it. 

SOURCE: The Knight Bros.

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Nov 17: Next-Generation Honda Civic Prototype To Be Revealed On Twitch! [Teaser Included]

Honda is giving gaming and automotive enthusiasts a first glimpse of what's in store for America’s best-selling car with the world debut of the all-new 11th-generation Civic, in prototype form, Tuesday, Nov. 17 live on Honda’s Head2Head Twitch channel.

Honda is giving gaming and automotive enthusiasts a first glimpse of what's in store for America's best-selling car with the world debut of the all-new 11th-generation Civic, in prototype form, Tuesday, Nov. 17 live on Honda's Head2Head Twitch channel. 

• This special edition episode of Honda Head2Head on Twitch will begin live at 5 p.m. PST, with the Civic reveal set to start at 6:45 p.m. PST. 

• The reveal also will feature an exclusive live performance by Grammy-nominated ART@WAR/Atlantic Records recording artist, Cordae.

Honda's iconic Civic, the No. 1 vehicle for young, first-time and multicultural consumers, will undergo a full redesign that once again raises the bar for style, performance, safety and advanced technology in the compact car market. 

Nov 17: Next-Generation Honda Civic Prototype To Be Revealed On Twitch! (screengrab)

A teaser image and video released today give viewers a glimpse of the all-new Honda Civic through a geometric looking glass, which will all take shape to fully reveal the new Civic on Nov. 17.

Since it was first introduced in America in 1973, Civic has brought nearly 12 million U.S. customers into the Honda family. The all-new Civic Sedan will launch in late Spring 2021 as a 2022 model-year vehicle.

Honda and Esports:

Honda has a significant presence in gaming and esports, as the exclusive automotive partner of Team Liquid and the Riot Games League of Legends Championship Series. In addition, Honda's gaming strategy includes a partnership with Twitch, where the Honda Head2Head gaming channel, now in its third season, is the exclusive auto-branded channel on the platform.

With Twitch's average daily visitors reaching 17.5 million, Honda aims to grab the attention of the audience behind the explosive growth of esports. These deeply enthusiastic fans share a similar passion for Civic, making the nameplate America's most popular among all vehicles with Millennial, Gen Z and multicultural consumers. Honda's integration of the all-new Civic on its Head2Head Twitch channel one-ups the brand's commitment in the gaming space.

The Civic reveal on Honda's Head2Head Twitch channel will be hosted by Rachel Seltzer and MonsterDface. The hosts will be joined by eight participants: Four top Fortnite players and four top Twitch streamers, including Benjyfishy, SypherPK, Jordan Fisher, Dakotaz, and more. The two teams will battle it out in Fortnite, the world's most popular battle royale game, ranking second on Twitch's most streamed games. Honda also will have presence on endemic gaming communities, including Twitter and Reddit, to support the reveal of the new Civic.

The Teaser:

More Information:

Consumers can get details about the Civic reveal and sign up for additional information about the all-new Civic at honda.com/civicreveal. More information, plus photos and video will be added after the reveal..

SOURCE: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

[Blog Tour] 'The Brittle Sea' (The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1) By Tom Kane #HistoricalFiction

Blog Tour: 'The Brittle Sea (The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1)' By Tom Kane

The Book:

The Brittle Sea

(The Brittle Saga Trilogy Book 1) 
By Tom Kane 

• Publication Date: 19th June 2020 
• Publisher: TigerBites 
• Print Length: 295 pages 
• Genre: Historical Fiction 

The Blurb:

The Titanic disaster is the catalyst that sparks a bloody feud between two families in early 20th century America. 

Magda Asparov is travelling from her home in the Ukraine to be the chosen bride of American businessman Matthew Turner III. But the ill-fated voyage of the unsinkable ship has far reaching consequences for her and her savior. 

Magda has lost her memory and a new personality, Maggie, has taken hold. The Captain of her rescue ship, Richard Blackmore, has fallen for Maggie. 

A mental illness, betrayal, murder, and corruption destroy Blackmore's life until all that remains is for him to seek revenge. 

Buy Links: Amazon (Kindle) • Amazon (Paperback) 

'The Brittle Sea' - front cover

The Brittle Sea – Excerpt :

Copyright © Tom Kane 2020

Magda’s Journey – April 1912

She was born Magda and her name became synonymous with early 20th Century American history. But in ways that nobody understood, Magda will be lost, and Maggie will replace her. But, for now, in this brief fraction of time that is being played out before us, we will call her by her given name, Magda.

In the here and now of her young life, Magda, with almost a girlish inquisitiveness, stole a sneak view of the mighty ship, though in reality all she could see was the side of the immense black hull through the gap between a row of buildings. She stood, looking through the window of the White Star Line’s ticket office, dockside in Southampton. The view between the rows of buildings was small, as was the view of the ship’s funnels, showing just above the same buildings.

“I’m not sure I can do this, Miss, not without proper authority.”

The girl in Magda soon dissolved and her face turned a grim shade of distaste as a small sneer crept up onto her lip. She turned and gave the ticket clerk full vent of her fury.

“I don’t care about what you think,” she shouted, the words echoing about the large but empty office.

The ticket clerk was taken aback and literally stood back at the force of the beautiful young woman’s angry outburst.

Magda didn’t wait for an answer and opened her daytime bag, retrieved her purse, opened it, and pulled out a large five-pound note. Magda slapped the money on the desk between her and the clerk. “This will pay for the changes I want,” she said in a much lower and sweeter tone.

Her anger turned to sweetness so quickly the clerk was confused, but he quickly laid his trembling hand on the large white fiver and slipped the money across the desk and into his pocket. It took a few minutes to issue new tickets, but in the end Miss Magda Asparov became Mrs Magda Turner. In just two days’ time she would be boarding the magnificent new ship on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York, and this name change signified a new start to Magda. No more would she be a common peasant girl in Ukraine. Now she was a woman of substance, a woman with a place in society and a first-class cabin on the most magnificent Ocean-going liner of the day.

As Magda left the office, she breathed in the crisp sea air, ignoring the smell of oil and other unknown smells. She would soon be boarding, and the day felt superb… indeed the day felt the same as the name of the ship, Titanic.

The great day had arrived, and Magda was agog at the sheer mass of people, horses, and carts massing on the quayside. Even automobiles, unheard of where she came from in the Ukraine, a form of transport that didn’t need a horse or ox to pull it. It was something she had only heard tell of and never seen up close, a miracle of the modern world she now found herself immersed in. It was overwhelming.

Many people were forming orderly queues, awaiting their turn to embark. They were in the same situation as Magda, wide eyed and awed by the sight of the mighty ship. At the other end of the scale, and literally at the other end of the great ship, were the rich, the famous and some from Britain’s landed gentry, who were boarding with their families. Their staff and other servants embarked with the riffraff further down the quayside.

When Magda boarded, she followed a steward down the corridors to her cabin, all the time admiring the elegance of the surroundings. Placing Magda’s luggage in the room, the steward stood back, close to the open door, and coughed, once, very discretely. “Will there be anything else, Miss?”

Magda turned and looked the steward in the eyes. “No. You may go.”

The steward looked surprised but said nothing and closed the heavy door behind him as he left.

Magda had no intention of tipping anyone, not because her funds were low, which they were, but because she saw no reason to help anyone along the way if they were doing a job they were paid for. It would be several hours before the great ship was due to set sail, so Magda took the chance to go up onto the promenade deck for a stroll. On the way up she was passed by multiple stewards carrying large cases and more trunks of clothing than Magda had ever seen. The stewards all smiled at her, not quite out of politeness, more out of lust, being young men with mostly hot Irish blood flowing through their veins.

“Can I help you, miss?”

The man’s voice was rich and had a lovely lilt to it. Magda turned to see a handsome young officer, looking concerned. “No, I’m fine, she said. Thank you.”

“I can tell by your accent you’re from the south,” he said with a beaming smile.

“South?” Magda’s brow furrowed.

“Cork, at a guess.”

Suddenly Magda realised he thought she was Irish. “No,” she said with a small laugh, “I’m from a small village in Ukraine.”

“But your accent…”

“It was my father’s wish that I should not sound like a peasant when I was taught English. This really is the first opportunity I have had to test my language skills out. I must say, I am disappointed. I thought my accent was neutral.”

The officer’s smile broadened. “I think it’s a lovely accent, Miss. Now how can I be of service?”

“Can you point me towards the promenade deck, I wish to look over this lovely liner of yours.”

“Of course,” he said, turning. “Just follow me, Miss.”

Magda did as the officer bid and trailed in his footsteps, all the while marvelling at the magnificence of the Titanic. Once the officer had led her to the promenade deck he bowed slightly, raised his hat, and bid her a safe journey. As it turned out, Magda enjoyed her walk and in the coming days would spend as much time as possible on this deck, until in the early hours of one morning, fate took a hand in Magda’s life.

Tom Kane

Author Bio: 

As a child, Tom Kane's family always insisted he was born in the corner of the living room, behind the TV. That strange assertion, true or false, seems to have set the tone for the rest of his life. Kane's mother inspired him to write. Doctor Who and Isaac Asimov inspired his love of science fiction. Monty Python inspired him to be silly and he continues to blame Billy Connolly for his infrequent bursts of bad language In the corner or behind the TV, what is officially known about Tom Kane's birth is that it took place in England many moons ago.

• Connect with Tom: Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram 

'The Brittle Sea' - Blog Tour Schedule

An Anthem for Our Times: "Calm Down Karen" by Latin Country Artist Dianña

Karens whose bad behavior became TikTok-famous have their own song, “Calm Down Karen” by Latin Country Artist Dianña

Dianña has captured the social phenomenon that is the 'Karen' and put it into her new single "Calm Down Karen", now released to all major streaming platforms. 

Whether you have experienced a 'Karen' in real life, or seen any of the numerous 'Karen' videos on TikTok or YouTube, you will enjoy this catchy, tongue-in-cheek song about the 'Karen' experience.

"Calm Down Karen" is sprinkled with 'Karen-isms' like "Can I speak to a manager?" along with lyrical observations we can all relate to like "You're gonna lose your mind over really stupid stuff." It has a country flavor consistent with Dianña's position as the first true Latin Country artist.

Dianña · Calm Down Karen

"Calm Down Karen" follows only a few weeks after Dianña's latest Latin Country song release "Rubberneck Cumbia", which is a Cumbia style adaptation of her song "Rubberneck". Cumbia is a popular up-tempo genre throughout Latin America, and that energy was captured beautifully in a live video of its recording at the famous Sonic Studios in Texas, which can be seen on Dianña's YouTube channel.

Said Dianña, "I had seen many 'Karen' videos on TikTok before I witnessed a 'Karen' myself at a COSTCO store. I knew then I had to write a funny song about it.".

Country Storytelling with a Latin 'Cumbia' Flavor

• Check out "Calm Down Karen" on Spotify
• Check out "Calm Down Karen" on Soundcloud
• Check out "Rubberneck Cumbia" video
• Connect with Dianña on Instagram:
• Connect with Dianña on other social media

SOURCE:: Billeegee Productions

90% Efficacy for Pfizer's COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine is Striking. But We Need to Wait for The Full Data

 90% Efficacy for Pfizer's COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine is Striking. But We Need to Wait for The Full Data (University of Maryland School of Medicine/AP/AAP)

German biotech company BioNTech and US pharmaceutical Pfizer announced on Monday promising early results from their phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

These early results are what is known as an “interim analysis”. It’s an early look at the data before a study is complete, to understand if there is any indication of whether the vaccine might work.

Currently, this trial has enrolled 43,538 volunteers, giving half the volunteers two doses of the vaccine and the other half two doses of a placebo. These volunteers then continued their normal lives, but they were monitored for any symptoms that could be COVID-19, with testing to confirm.

Analysis of 94 volunteers with confirmed COVID-19 suggests the vaccine has an efficacy of over 90%.

This means that if you took ten people who were going to get sick from COVID-19 and vaccinated them, only one out of ten would now get sick.

Can we get excited yet?

There is more data to come. This is a press release and the data have not undergone “peer-review” through scientific publication, although it has been assessed by an independent monitoring board. The study also won’t be complete until 164 volunteers have confirmed COVID-19, and the estimate of efficacy may therefore change. Finally, the volunteers must be monitored for a defined period of time after vaccination for any side effects and this must be completed.

Important questions also remain. It’s unclear how long protection will last, as this study has only been underway for three months. It’s unclear if this vaccine protects against severe disease or if this vaccine will work equally well in everyone. For example, a phase 1 clinical trial with this vaccine showed that immune responses were lower in older people.

90% efficacy would be far higher than the FDA’s threshold of 50%, and greater than that of many flu vaccines, which tend to provide around 60%. (Virginia Mayo/AP/AAP)

But 90% efficacy is striking. To give some context, the US Food and Drug Administration indicated they would licence a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with 50% efficacy. The flu vaccine often provides around 60% efficacy and the mumps vaccine, which is currently the fastest vaccine ever made at four years, provides around 88% efficacy.

The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine could outstrip that, after just nine months of development. This level of efficacy means virus transmission could be very effectively controlled.

That has the research community excited. It bodes well for other vaccines currently being tested for SARS-CoV-2 and we could end up with multiple successful vaccines. This would be great because some might work better in certain populations, like older people.

Multiple vaccines could also be manufactured using a broad range of established infrastructure, which would accelerate vaccine distribution.

Producing mRNA on a commercial scale

The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine is what’s called an mRNA vaccine.

As this article by Associate Professor Archa Fox, an expert on molecular cell biology from the University of Western Australia, explains:

mRNA vaccines are coated molecules of mRNA, similar to DNA, that carry the instructions for making a viral protein.

After injection into muscle, the mRNA is taken up by cells. Ribosomes, the cell’s protein factories, read the mRNA instructions and make the viral protein. These new proteins are exported from cells and the rest of the immunisation process is identical to other vaccines: our immune system mounts a response by recognising the proteins as foreign and developing antibodies against them.

A problem for Australia is that it can’t make mRNA vaccines onshore yet.

The Australian government has an agreement for ten million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. Since this vaccine requires two doses, this agreement is sufficient for five million Australians. It’s unclear how long it will take until any vaccine is widely available, but we may hear more about this in the coming weeks and months.

The vaccine requires storage at a temperature below -60℃. This will certainly be a challenge for shipping to Australia and local distribution, although not impossible. One solution to this problem is to form vaccination centres to roll out the vaccine once it becomes available. In a briefing by Pfizer, the company said it will use ultra-low temperature shipment strategies and the vaccine can then be distributed on “dry-ice”.

Currently, Australia has no capacity to produce mRNA on a commercial scale given the technology’s novelty. But we (the authors) and others have been working to coordinate and build the manufacturing capacity in Australia for future mRNA vaccine and therapeutics. With financial support aimed at private-public mRNA manufacturing collaboration, Australia can equip itself with this vital technological asset.

About Today's Contributors:

Harry Al-Wassiti, Bioengineer and Research Fellow, Monash University; Colin Pouton, Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology, Monash University, and Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

#WeWillHugAgain: Zalando Champions Positivity And Optimism With Their New Holiday Campaign [Video Included]

A selection of 'Hug Portraits' captured by photographer Sarah Blais in Berlin as part of the Zalando "We Will Hug Again" Holiday Campaign.

This holiday season, Zalando, Europe's leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, is celebrating the ultimate expression of human connection and solidarity: the hug. Against the backdrop of a challenging year of uncertainty and separation, human connection has never felt more important and the new Holiday Campaign, "We Will Hug Again", seeks to convey the feeling of optimism and hope across Europe.

The campaign is brought to life through a series of Hug Portraits, intimate and emotive images captured by documentary and portrait photographer Sarah Blais. Complementing this is a heart-warming film, "100 Years of Hugs", overseen and directed by globally renowned visual storyteller, Vincent Haycock, and set to the track 'Godspeed' by legendary singer-songwriter, Frank Ocean.

The simplicity and emotional impact of the hug can be felt throughout the campaign. Whether it's friends walking arm in arm, a daughter hugging her elderly father, or couples of all ages, genders and orientations embracing – the protagonists throughout are real and relatable people, taking the focus away from staging, models and fashion and placing it on the message of hope for the future when we will be able to hug our loved ones again.

Sisters, Coleen and Bene for Zalando’s ‘Hug Portraits’ series, part of the brand’s “We Will Hug Again” Holiday Campaign, captured by photographer Sarah Blais in Berlin.

"The central idea of our holiday campaign, human connection, is echoed in the way we engage with our customers. Our strategy is to be social first, allowing us to connect and engage with consumers through relevant and relatable stories." Barbara Daliri, Zalando's Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, comments, "It was important for us to address the exceptional circumstances and uncertainty of this holiday season and at the same time share with our community the feeling of hope for the time when we will be able to reconnect with our loved ones." 

The campaign launched on 1st November and takes place across two months. It kicked off with an initial tease phase designed to drive intrigue and conversation. This first phase featured the Hug Portraits appearing as huge unbranded murals in highly visible urban locations across Europe. They show two figures in an embrace, where the second person is missing and the question "Will We Hug Again?" is posed.

From 8th November, Zalando reveals ownership and releases the campaign's core optimistic message: "We Will Hug Again". This message of hope will be depicted across numerous formats: from the completion of the murals with the second figure through all advertising, digital and social channels, including the moving film "100 Years of Hugs" shot by Haycock, still photography by Blais, OOH, DOOH and owned social channels by the large and diverse cast of this campaign. The 360°campaign was created in collaboration with creative agency, Anomaly Berlin and will be rolled out across Europe, in all 17 of Zalando's markets.

Veit Moeller, Anomaly Berlin Executive Creative Director, adds: "This simple but powerful campaign is a promise for our future. The goal was to peel off all those outer layers associated with the Holiday season and identify the rawest and most iconic symbol of human connection: the hug. Shooting a campaign around the globe, totally remotely, during a global pandemic has been a beautiful challenge and we are excited to bring Zalando's message to the world."

The film was shot across Nigeria, Vietnam, Italy, Mexico, Sweden and Germany by four directors, beautifully curated by Haycock. Each film tells the story of one hug, united by a central look and feel, enabling all films to be cut individually or together. Further adding to its moving nature, Frank Ocean's 'Godspeed' is a track that epitomises the feeling of human connection and togetherness. 

The Video:

• :All images and video content have been shot in accordance with government guidelines on COVID-19, specific to each country at the time of capture. All safety measures were put in place on all shoot locations throughout the world to ensure every single person featured was respecting COVID safety measures. All models are real family members, couples or friends who live together and are permitted to hug and be in close proximity.

SOURCE: Zalando