Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4000 million years ago – well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2500m years ago.

Scientists from Oxford University investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's 'Spirit' rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars. The fact that the surface rocks are five times richer in nickel than the meteorites was puzzling and had cast doubt on whether the meteorites are typical volcanic products of the red planet.

'What we have shown is that both meteorites and surface volcanic rocks are consistent with similar origins in the deep interior of Mars but that the surface rocks come from a more oxygen-rich environment, probably caused by recycling of oxygen-rich materials into the interior,' said Professor Bernard Wood, of Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences, who led the research reported in this week's Nature.

'This result is surprising because while the meteorites are geologically 'young', around 180 million to 1400 million years old, the Spirit rover was analysing a very old part of Mars, more than 3700 million years old.'

Whilst it is possible that the geological composition of Mars varies immensely from region to region the researchers believe that it is more likely that the differences arise through a process known as subduction – in which material is recycled into the interior. They suggest that the Martian surface was oxidised very early in the history of the planet and that, through subduction, this oxygen-rich material was drawn into the shallow interior and recycled back to the surface during eruptions 4000 million years ago. The meteorites, by contrast, are much younger volcanic rocks that emerged from deeper within the planet and so were less influenced by this process.

Professor Wood said: 'The implication is that Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere at a time, about 4000 million years ago, well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on earth around 2500 million years ago. As oxidation is what gives Mars its distinctive colour it is likely that the 'red planet' was wet, warm and rusty billions of years before Earth's atmosphere became oxygen rich.'

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Canada's ministers responsible for the Status of Women ended a two-day conference Wednesday in northern P.E.I. expressing concerns about internet luring, cyber bullying and child sexual exploitation.

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Rae has represented Toronto Centre as a Liberal since 2008, when he won a by-election to succeed retiring Liberal MP Bill Graham. He twice had hopes to win the federal party leadership dashed, in 2006 and again in 2008, following the resignation of Stéphane Dion and the installation of Michael Ignatieff as leader. He helmed the Liberal Party after Ignatieff lost his own seat in the 2011 election until Justin Trudeau was elected party leader this April.

Despite huge growth in the NDP vote in 2011, Toronto Centre has been considered one of the few safe Liberal seats remaining in the country, and party activists are saying they will fight hard to keep it in the fold.

Many Liberals are saying that the nomination battle is George Smitherman’s to lose. Smitherman, who is openly gay, represented the riding provincially from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to launch his failed bid for mayor of Toronto. Smitherman says he is considering running but hasn’t made a firm decision yet.

“It’s certainly been the case that Christopher [Peloso, his husband] and I have been thinking of a return to politics at a national level, and the implications on our family,” Smitherman says. “It’s a lot like the opportunity when I began to run in 1998, to play a role in chasing Mike Harris out of Ontario. I look forward to the opportunity to chase Stephen Harper out of Ottawa.”

Other names being mentioned as possible candidates for the nomination include Pascal Dessureault, who is chair of the 519 Church Street Community Centre and a former member of the board of the Liberal Party’s Quebec wing, and political columnist Zach Paikin. Both acknowledge that they’ve considered running at some time, but neither would confirm that they’re interested in Rae’s seat.

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New Brunswick

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Rated: 14 Accompaniment (Coarse Language)
Runs: 85 minutes
Director: James Genn
Country: Canada
Released: 2013
Starring: Noah Reid, Melanie Leishman, Meghan Heffern

“A surprisingly charming movie. Stock is twenty years old, a temporary tour guide and full time resident of the Golden Seasons Retirement Home, along with his grandfather. At first it is unclear why Stock is living there, but it is very clear that he enjoys it and has no intention of leaving. But then one day Patti arrives to teach dance to the seniors and change Stock’s life. It’s not long before we find out these characters have a few dark skeletons in their closets. The question is, will Stock ever be able to give up his Little Rascal scooter, clean out his closet, and learn to be a young man with a life ahead of him?... It’s a sweet film with more substance than you would expect.” - Popcorn and Vodka. “ Well made, heart warming, and damn fine funny film.” - Phil’s Film Adventures. “Another successful comedy from the Canadians in this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival... a feel good movie that will have anybody laughing.” - SBBC Film reviews.

Advance Tickets ~ IMDB on Film ~

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Bob Rae, who served as interim Liberal leader following the party's disastrous showing in the 2011 election, is stepping down as an MP, CBC News has learned.

Rae told his Liberal colleagues of his decision during Wednesday's party caucus meeting, an announcement that was met with tears and applause, according to sources.

Rae recently accepted the role of chief negotiator for First Nations in talks with the Ontario government about development of the Ring of Fire, and is to tour the nine Matawa communities in the mining and resource-rich area of Northern Ontario this summer. Rae is a former NDP premier of the province.

At a news conference with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in the foyer of the House of Commons, Rae said that work as a lawyer and mediator was taking more and more of his time and he felt he needed to focus on his role with the First Nations. He didn't say when his resignation would be effective.

"This is not about money, this is about time. I'm not being paid for my work in the North," Rae said, adding that his decision was about, "How can I effectively serve the interests of the people I've been asked to serve?

"The passion and the enthusiasm that I feel for the First Nations of Canada, the need for a different kind of partnership between Canada's first people and those of us who've come later on, is absolutely necessary," he continued.

Rae thanked his caucus colleagues and said "above all, I want to thank my leader," saying he has enjoyed his time working with Trudeau. He added that he and Trudeau had been discussing his departure.

He continued, "I'm quite confident that Mr. Trudeau will become the prime minister of Canada," Rae said.

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Saeda Sidin Hersi woke to what sounded like gunshots.

When police arrived at the Dixon Rd. complex where she lives early morning on June 13, the woman told a news conference she was startled awake.

“It was like a loud, repetitive thunder. It reminded me of gunshots,” the 65-year-old woman said, her story told through a written translation. “I was pinned against a wall, rubber handcuffs holding my hands behind my back and I was pushed onto the floor by what looked like a soldier.”

[. . .]

Later, the woman tells her story inside the apartment where she says police officers in tactical gear broke down her door, threw in a flash bang and tried to handcuff both her and her 96-year-old mother while they arrested her son as part of the sweep — a year-long operation that culminated with the raids last week targeting guns, drugs and alleged gang members.

Her apartment at 340 Dixon Rd. is part of a complex of six buildings known as Dixon City that was the focus of the raid and where police say the alleged gang members of the Dixon City Bloods are based.

But the complex in Little Mogadishu has also been the subject of much controversy after it was linked to a video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

Sources have told the Star police became aware of the existence of the video during surveillance for Project Traveller.

And after reports of the video shown to two Star reporters were published, sources said that during a meeting with staff, the mayor blurted out two units at Dixon Rd. where the video could be located.

Another address on Windsor Rd., which was also subject to a search warrant, was the setting of a now infamous photo taken of Ford and three men — one who was shot and killed in March, and two others who were arrested as part of the sweep.

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There’s no official city count, but scientists with the Ministry of Natural Resources estimate that there could be as many as 100 raccoons per square kilometre living in the city—so many that Toronto has been unofficially dubbed the raccoon capital of the world.

In 2012, Toronto Animal Services responded to 8,529 calls from the public about raccoons—mostly about dead animals that people wanted city workers to remove, the rest being sick or injured. The highest concentration of raccoons exists in the old City of Toronto, where higher densities of humans mean more garbage to scavenge.

[. . .]

So, why Toronto?

Well, technically, they were here first. “This is the raccoon ecosystem,” says Suzanne MacDonald, a psychology professor at York University who specializes in animal behaviour. MacDonald studies raccoon psychology and is currently researching their problem-solving abilities to figure out how they break into our garbage and birdfeeders. “The urban environment we constructed suits them just fine,” she says.

Unlike cities such as Montreal, Edmonton, and Ottawa, Toronto winters are milder and we typically don’t get buried by the kind of snow that makes it hard for raccoons to forage. The city’s network of ravines also connects neighbourhoods, MacDonald says, which offers raccoons a safe place to retreat, if necessary. And unlike Vancouver (where, historically, there have been more condo buildings in the downtown), Toronto has residential neighbourhoods with leafy backyards, garages, and easy access to garbage. Urban raccoons have flourished here because of their ability to adapt to our environment, forage in our waste, and find shelter in easy-to-break-into older downtown homes.

MacDonald says that, while we think we frequently come into contact with raccoons, we’re mostly unaware of their movements. She recently set up night-vision webcams in a friend’s backyard, near High Park. In one night, she documented more than 50 individual raccoons travelling through his property.

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The PEI 2014 fund grant recipients for eastern Prince Edward Island were announced Wednesday morning in Murray Harbour.

The Belfast Historical Society has been awarded a two grants.

One worth $22,500 to present a lecture series about the history, heritage and culture of the area starting in September 2014, the other a grant of $2000 for Tartan Day next April.

Hazel Davies, President of the Historical Society, was there to hear the announcement.

“It feels wonderful, we’re very lucky to get that (grant),” she said. “We’ll be having six lectures, probably at the Church in Belfast.”

“We hope to get someone from Scotland down for the lecture. We haven’t got anyone in mind yet but we’ve got a little bit of time to think about it,” Ms Davies said.

read more

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The former head of the Roman Catholic church in Charlottetown has died.

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A Charlottetown teacher is in jail and facing charges of assault, sexual assault, and breaching a court order.

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• Centauri Dreams notes a new project to look for planets around near stars, starting with relatively massive worlds in torch orbits.


• Daniel Drezner argues that the limited support likely to be given to the Syrian rebels by the United States reflects a certain realpolitik on the part of the Obama administration. Neither Assad nor the rebels will be able to win.


• The Dragon's Tales notes the discovery of two planetary candidates orbiting the star GJ 221, a star with fewer heavy elements in its composition than the Sun. This seems to confirm a trend: a star doesn't need to have many heavy elements to form relatively massive planets.


• Eastern Approaches reports on the Czech political scandal that has just claimed the prime minister.


• At A Fistful of Euros and his own blog, Alex Harrowell talks about how the Turkey protests were triggered in part by the decline in Istanbul's public space, like parks. A common urbanity works to make everyone happy.


• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Robert Farley notes that the Sino-American summit hasn't gotten much coverage compared to (say) the Soviet-American summits a couple of decades ago.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer has a few posts regarding the unlikelihood of a Nicaragua Canal (1, 2, 3).


• Normblog's Norman Geras links to a few different people with their own views on what should be done with Syria.


• At the Planetary Society blog, Emily Lakdawalla notes that Lego will be putting out a model of the Curiosity Mars rover.


• Supernova Condensate discusses the prospects of an ammonia-dominated world. What would its seas, or its biochemistry, look like? (There's a picture.)


• Window on Eurasia reports the speculations of a Russian analyst who thinks--absurdly, IMHO--that Central Asia's most likely fates include state failure and conquest by China.

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Farmers on P.E.I. are being offered lessons on the province's tight crop rotation rules.

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The Daily Specials at Casa Mia Restaurant for Wednesday, June 19, 2013 are:

• Roasted Butternut Squash Soup 4.99
• Pulled Pork in a Wrap with Caramelized Onion and Roasted Red Pepper 10.99

Casa Mia Restaurant
131 Queen Street
Charlottetown, PE
Telephone: (902) 367-4440
Email:

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Charlottetown council has been presented with three main options for the future of the Simmons Sports complex.

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