Test driving the smart electric 'carbike'

Two students from the University of Toronto have developed a prototype electric vehicle for use within city areas.

The car/bike hybrid is connected to a smartphone and can reach speeds of up to 20mph (32km/h).

It’s a car! It’s a bike! No … it’s a plug-free electric hybrid prototype!

OK, so they need to work on the name, but it’s a smart concept: a team of PhD candidates from the University of Toronto has created an electric pedal-powered car-bike that could help beat the traffic snarls that plague our city’s streets.

“The project was inspired by my experiences commuting from Union Station,” co-creator Phil Lam says with a laugh. “But everybody’s experience is bad, right? Drivers get stuck in traffic. People who take public transit never get anywhere on time. Walking is pleasant, but it doesn’t take you very far ... Cycling, if not outright dangerous, is certainly uncomfortable for a lot of reasons. Everybody’s suffering in their own way. The answer is reinterpreting how we get around.”

Fitted with wires, bike parts and a few Tupperware containers, the prototype looks like a cross between a recumbent bicycle and a homemade sci-fi space pod. Within the lightweight aluminum chassis, however, are the seeds of a vision for healthier, happier, and more sustainable urban transport in increasingly dense cities.

You charge the vehicle’s battery by pedalling. The intensity of pedalling controls its 500-watt engine’s throttle. The engine itself is fully programmable, which means that you can easily adjust the pedal-to-engine-power ratio. Rushing to an important meeting? Let the engine do most of the work, so you don’t show up sweaty. In need of a little exercise? Pedal the roughly 45-kilogram vehicle until you feel the burn.

The three-wheeled vehicle is tall enough to be seen by other traffic, yet narrow enough to manoeuvre through congested streets. It even has a windshield to protect you from the elements and a small trunk for parcels and groceries.

Phil Lam, left, and Jonathan Lung have created a startup, Sojourn Labs, supported by U of T's Impact Centre. It took them 18 months to design and build the prototype of their electric pedal-powered car-bike.

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From: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/10/13/is_this_electric_carbike_the_answer_to_our_transit_woes.html

Animals rescued from overcrowded Mexico zoo

More than 100 animals have been rescued from an overcrowded private zoo in Mexico, after complaints from visitors.

Mexican environmental officials who raided the property found animals in cramped cages piled on top of each other.

Animals such as lions, bears and tigers, bears were being kept in terrible conditions at the zoo.

Officials who seized the creatures said they would try to find suitable new homes for the animals.

The zoo is owned by a senior Mexican politician, Sergio 

From CBBC newsround

Inspectors also found irregularities with the zoo's master plan and other paperwork, along with deficiencies in feeding, veterinary care and staff levels for a collection of such size.

The cramped conditions were said to have provoked aggressive behavior, fights and injuries to some animals.

A total of 101 were seized: 92 as a result of "serious breaches of proper treatment," and nine whose legal provenance could not be established.

They included more than 40 big cats, a half-dozen monkeys, two grizzly bears, antelope, bison and birds.

From Yahoo News

Gomez

US sea level north of New York City 'jumped by 128mm'

Sea levels along the northeast coast of the US rose to record levels during 2009-2010, a study has found.

Sea levels north of New York City rose by 128mm in two years, according to a report in the journal, NatureCommunications.

Coastal areas will need to prepare for short term and extreme sea level events, say US scientists.

Climate models suggest extreme sea level rises will become more common this century.

"The extreme sea level rise event during 2009-10 along the northeast coast of North America is unprecedented during the past century," Prof Jianjun Yin of the University of Arizona told BBC News.

"Statistical analysis indicates that it is a 1-in-850 year event."

They identified what they call an extreme sea-level rise during 2009-10, when the coastal sea level north of New York City jumped by 128mm.

"When coastal storms occur, extreme sea levels can lead to elevated storm surge," said Prof Jianjun Yin.

"In addition to long-term and gradual sea level rise, coastal communities will need to prepare for short and extreme sea level rise events."

Commenting on the study, Prof Rowan Sutton, a climate scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, said climate models suggest an increase in such events.

"This study identifies a record breaking high sea level event that occurred along part of the US east coast in 2009-10.

"There is strong evidence that the likelihood of such events has been increased by climate change, and that we should expect more such events in the future.

Tidal records

Scientists at the University of Arizona and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in New Jersey studied records of tidal levels along the east coast of the US and Canada.

They divided the coastline into three areas: north of New York City, New York City to Cape Hatteras on the coast of North Carolina, and south of Cape Hatteras.

"This example illustrates how individual extreme events are influenced by multiple factors - in this case the global rise in sea levels, regional changes in ocean circulation and wind patterns."

Dr Dan Hodson, also from the University of Reading, said the analysis underlined the importance of understanding the connections between surges in sea levels and ocean currents.

"Sea level change is a complex phenomenon, especially on the regional scale, where changes to the global ocean circulation can play a major role," he said.

"The east coast of North America is quite close to an area of active, fast ocean currents, and so is quite sensitive to changing ocean circulation."

He said the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a major current in the Atlantic Ocean, had implications for Europe and Africa as well as the US.

Research at the University of Reading has shown how it could make British summers wetter and may influence rainfall patterns in parts of Africa.

From BBC News

Dubai: 'Cigarette sandcastle' built in anti-litter drive

Officials in Dubai have built a giant sandcastle and covered it in cigarette butts to raise awareness about littering, it's reported.

The 3m-high sandcastle is designed to draw attention to the environmental damage cigarettes can do when washed out to sea, and the risks they pose to children, officials say. The scale of the problem was evident during a clean-up at one beach in 2014, when volunteers collected 50,000 cigarette butts in one hour, the Emirates 247 website reports. Authorities hope the cigarette sandcastle will hit home with beach-goers. "The volunteers working on this installation collected thousands of cigarette butts from beaches and other public spaces," says Ismail Abdulrahman Al Banna, marketing director at Dubai Municipality. "Our goal is to give people food for thought on how pollution on this scale can affect the future of our children, as well as the environment in the UAE."

Volunteers carry out regular beach clean-ups in Dubai, but littering continues despite the risk of fines. In 2014, the municipality announced litter bugs would be slapped with a penalty of 500 dirham ($136; £88), which would be doubled, then tripled, if the same person was caught more than once. Keeping the emirate clean and tidy is a priority for authorities - it also has fines for chewing gum on public transport andhanging washing on private balconies.

From BBC News- Also in the news