The Watch
LATITUDE
FUND ANNOUNCED WILL HELP FORTIFY CANADIAN COMMUNITIES AGAINST NATURAL DISASTERS The Government of Canada has launched a fund to support large projects meant to help communities withstand natural disasters like floods, wildfires, and droughts. The Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund is a 10-year, $2-billion national program supporting wetland restorations, setback levees, wildlife barriers, diversion channels, and similar projects. A qualifying project must cost at least $20 million.
KEEPING WETLANDS WET AND CITIES LESS WET Water doesn’t always go where humans want it to go, and that was certainly the case in 2013. This photo shows one of many flooded areas in southern Alberta, the Calgary Stampede grounds. -file photo courtesy City of Calgary
SCIENTISTS SEEK DNA SECRETS FROM THE DEPTHS OF LOCH NESS If there is a Loch Ness Monster, research this summer might turn up actual evidence, Reuters reports. But since the mythical creature in the famous Scottish lake is widely considered exactly that—a mythical creature—we’re not holding our breath.
Scottish scientists are scouring the depths of the lake for any environmental DNA that’s down there. Sources will include urine, shells, and feathers. Analysis of the samples will provide information about the types of animal life in the body of water, which is unusually cold and deep. Enlisted for the mission is a robot dubbed MUNIN. The name, by the way, is especially clunky when it’s spelled out—maritime unmanned navigation through intelligence in networks.
MYTH MEETS MUNIN? A deep-diving robot known as MUNIN sheds light on the mysterious, murky waters of Loch Ness, Scotland. The news release spin is that the project might even find evidence of the Loch Ness Monster.
62 | PEG SUMMER 2018
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