orderlyrandomness

221108 09:40 – have you voted?

My ballot got wet. But I was able to vote in person. I just turned in my soggy ballot that was mailed and they gave me a new ticket number and new ballot. Please VOTE today if you have not already.

221107 09:14 – Election Day Tomorrow!

It’s not too late to get your vote on and get your vote in. I’m the one that’s dropping it in the box on election day usually. You can still mail yours too – just make sure its postmarked no later than tomorrow.

All registered voters were mailed a ballot on October 10. Voters have three ways to return their ballots:

• By mail (no stamp needed)
• At an official ballot drop box (list of dropbox locations)
• At a vote center (list of vote center locations)

221105 11:05 – the sea pangolin

For all you Did You Know fans, I have one for you today.

Did You Know? In the Indian Ocean, deep beneath, about 1.5 miles and under crushing pressure and temperatures up in the 750 degree F range, there is a deep-sea scaly footed snail called the sea pangolin (Chrysomallon squamiferum). It lives around four hydrothermal vents, within a tiny space of about 0.1 square miles.

It is very rare, and very unique in that its shell is made up of iron sulfide, the only animal known to man that has created its own iron suit of armor. It is also believed it doesn’t really eat anything. It relies on energy produced from bacteria it hosts within a large gland.

Unfortunately, two of the hydrothermal vents where this little creature live have mining exploration licenses attached to them. While sea mining is not yet viable, mining companies are gearing up to extract metals and minerals from the vents, as they can have concentrations of gold, zinc, cobalt and lithium. That last item is a big component of EV batteries. About 500,000 square miles of seafloor have been contracted for mining exploration. Later this summer, miners will begin testing a prototype nodule collector in the Mediterranean. There are polymetallic nodules peppered all over the ocean floor – rocks – made up of things like copper, nickel and manganese.

Julia Sigwart and other concerned scientists are campaigning to have the species protected. Twenty-eight specialists have written to the International Seabed Authority over their concern of sulfide mineral exploration in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

“These are fragile areas under threat, and it’s not like we researchers can start a breeding program for deep-sea-vent creatures, … We can only try to protect what’s there.”

Marine Biologist Julia Sigwart

Sigwart says that marine biologists are now assessing the status of other deep-ocean creatures living at hydrothermal vent habitats throughout the world. “Endangered status for hydrothermal vent species only found in areas under license for mining exploration, could be compared to a species that only lives in a patch of rainforest scheduled for logging,” Sigwart writes at The Conversation.

The hope is that the ISA will protect sensitive areas and even make active hydrothermal vents off limits to mining. The unique habitat in which they live means deep-sea creatures, even those with suits of iron, are particularly vulnerable.

source