Category: Uncategorized

In schools nationwide, educators are hoping to empower students with knowledge and inspire them to dream up ways to ensure a better climate future. At a high school in Bloomington, Indiana, students pitched their ideas to scientists this past spring. WFYI investigative education reporter Lee Gaines reports.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 finale.

Since 2018, and across five seasons of the flagship Yellowstone series and multiple prequel shows, fans have embraced the Dutton family saga created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson. But as much as viewers love the Duttons, they’re not all good people. This family has been willing to kill to protect their secrets and their land, as well as brutally pursuing vengeance out side of the law. That’s how it went down again in the Yellowstone series finale. Before the final credits rolled, the show revealed what happened to most of the major characters, and what might come next.

The fate of the Yellowstone ranch

As teased in the penultimate episode, Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) had a plan to save the Yellowstone ranch. It just wouldn’t be possible for the Duttons to save it themselves. The family didn’t have the money to pay the inheritance tax on the land, and rather than sell some of the land to cover those expenses, Kayce decided to essentially give the land to Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock for pennies on the dollar. Rainwater and the tribes couldn’t afford to pay market rates, and the only ones who could would have redeveloped the land and turned it into something unrecognizable.

Kayce’s conditions for the sale included a carve out for the small 5,000 acre home that he built for himself and his family on the land, as well as guarantees to never sell or develop the land. He also requested that Rainwater look after the generations of Duttons who were buried on the land, which was almost immediately betrayed by the young children of the tribes who started pushing down the Dutton family’s grave markers. Rainwater’s right-hand man, Mo (Moses Brings Plenty), caught the children in the act and chided them before shouting a reminder that the Duttons protected the land and died for it. And the first gravestone Mo put back upright belonged to Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), the tragic heroine from the prequel series 1883.

May made a vocal guest appearance as Elsa narrated the end of this chapter and noted that the fate of the Yellowstone ranch was foreshadowed in 1883 when the tribes said they would reclaim the land in seven generations. Almost like clockwork, that’s exactly what happened.

The funeral of John Dutton

Kevin Costner didn’t appear in the second half of Yellowstone season 5 over a very public falling out with Sheridan and Paramount Network. His character, John Dutton, was killed off in the midseason premiere, and he was finally laid to rest in the finale. The decision was made to bury John next to his late wife in the graveyard on the Yellowstone property. It was an emotional gathering, especially for the Duttons and their extended family of ranch hands. Kayce took the opportunity to tell his late father that he forgave him, while his former enemy, Rainwater, vowed to protect the land.

Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) took it upon himself to bury John’s coffin and promise to keep loving his wife — and John’s daughter — Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly). Beth had a different promise for John, as she vowed to avenge his death… and then took off right after the funeral to do just that.

Beth vs. Jamie: The final battle

Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), the black sheep of the family, wasn’t kept in the loop about John’s funeral in part because everyone else in the family knew he had a role in John’s death. To keep the press and the public off of his trail, Jamie practiced and delivered a speech where he denied that he was sleeping with Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) and vowed to pursue his father’s murderers from his office as the Attorney General of Montana. Jamie probably even thought that the speech might land him in the governor’s mansion someday.

First, Jamie had to endure a vicious assault from his sister, Beth, and a face full of bear mace that briefly left him blinded. Regardless, Jamie turned the tables on Beth and nearly beat her to death until he realized that he could use her attack to frame her for John’s murder. He was only stopped in his tracks when Beth revealed that the family had already sold the ranch to the tribes, and Jamie’s dreams of earning riches from the redevelopment died a hard death. Before Beth could follow those dreams into the afterlife, Rip arrived and got in a few shots at Jamie before Beth took the killing blow for herself.

Beth’s plan seemed to hinge upon Rip’s later arrival, although she nearly got herself murdered in the process. While Rip disposed of Jamie’s body and car, Beth called the police and told the arriving officers that Jamie had beaten her after she accused him of being involved with killing their father. She also provided enough ammunition for the police to begin investigating Jamie as a fugitive rather than the victim of murder himself. By the end of the episode, a warrant is out for Jamie’s arrest, but his body may never be found.

Justice for John Dutton?

Jamie’s death closes the book on Beth’s quest for revenge, but the men who attacked her father and staged his death as a suicide seemingly escape capture and justice. The show doesn’t even seem to be all that interested in determining who the assassins were, as it spends a good deal of time with the characters saying goodbye to the ranch and to the Duttons. Of course, this finale wouldn’t be complete without one more appearance by Sheridan’s character, Travis Wheatley, which plays like an out-of-control ego trip. Travis really comes off like a real jerk when one of Yellowstone’s ranch hands, Teeter (Jennifer Landon), approaches him for work and he berates her command of the English language as “hillbilly” and orders her to listen to a book on tape about how to speak English.

Nevertheless, most of the characters get their happy endings as Kayce and his family put together their own brand of cattle, while Rip and Beth put down roots in a much smaller ranch.

How does the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 finale set up the spinoff shows?

It kind of doesn’t. There’s nothing in this episode that points to The Madison, which will star Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams, and Beau Garrett. None of those actors appear in this episode. The only direct link to the next spinoff series is through Rip and Beth, since both Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly recently signed on for an entirely different Yellowstone sequel series.

The irony of any potential spinoff for Beth and Rip is that they seem happy in their new home, and there doesn’t appear to be much drama in their relationship or the town near their ranch. So there’s no obvious hook for the next series, unless Sheridan is going to spring some fresh problems on the couple when the new show inevitably premieres some time in the future.

Peacock will eventually stream Yellowstone season 5, part 2, but hasn’t currently set a date for when the episodes will be available.

The world’s first wooden satellite has been deployed to Earth orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS Research X account posted footage of a trio of cubesats, including Japan’s LignoSat, recently emerging from the orbital outpost into the vacuum of space.

Wood you look at that! LignoSat recently deployed from @Space_Station. @JAXA_en‘s wooden satellite investigates how wood survives in the space environment and transmits data. Findings could offer a more sustainable alternative to conventional satellites. https://t.co/jD6OmunG4w pic.twitter.com/voK3DBKb5i

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) December 13, 2024

The wooden satellite arrived at the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in early November. The LignoSat will remain in orbit for six months and help researchers to learn about the effectiveness of wooden satellites in space as scientists look for more sustainable designs.

The satellite was developed jointly by Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry. To build the satellite, the team used hinoki — a type of magnolia tree native to Japan — after it was found to have impressive resistance against cracking, thermal stress, cosmic rays, and solar radiation. The LignoSat was constructed with 10-centimeter-long wooden panels using traditional Japanese techniques that do without screws or glue.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Sensors aboard the cubesat will gather data that will enable the researchers to monitor the LignoSat’s performance and find out how well it can handle the harsh conditions of space.

Currently, when a metal satellite is decommissioned in low-Earth orbit, operators attempt to dispose of it by sending it into Earth’s atmosphere whereupon most of it burns up during a high-speed descent. The problem is with the parts that don’t burn up. Some pieces can reach the surface of Earth, while the resulting aluminum oxide particles end up polluting the environment. Beside some traces of biodegradable ash, satellites made of wood will completely disintegrate and help to reduce the amount of space junk in near-Earth orbit.

“Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood,” Kyoto University forest science professor and LignoSat team member Koji Murata told Reuters last month. “A wooden satellite should be feasible, too.”

Murata added that wood is more durable in space than on Earth because there’s no water or oxygen to rot or inflame it, and also noted its minimal environmental impact at the end of its life. The researchers have even said that if a way can be found to grow trees on the moon or Mars, wood could also become a vital construction material for colonies in space.

In a major distress to the people in Australia, the Queensland government on Monday, 9th December revealed that samples of hundreds of deadly viruses had gone missing from a laboratory in Australia. Following this, the government directed Queensland Health, Australia’s public health department, to launch an investigation into the case and trace evidence revolving around the major historical breach of biosecurity protocols.

As per the initial reports, around 323 vials of multiple infectious viruses consisting of the Hendra virus, Lyssavirus, and Hantavirus have gone missing from Queensland’s Public Health Virology Laboratory. The govt Virology Laboratory provides state-wide specialist diagnostic services, surveillance and research for viruses and mosquito and tick-borne pathogens. Notably, the samples have been missing since August 2023, but the investigation into the case was launched this week.

The state released an official statement on the case and said that a Part 9 investigation in the case has been lodged to know whether the infectious samples were stolen or destroyed deliberately, adding that there is no evidence of risk to the community.

“With such a serious breach of biosecurity protocols and infectious virus samples potentially missing, Queensland Health must investigate what occurred and how to prevent it from happening again. The Part 9 investigation will ensure nothing has been overlooked in responding to this incident and examine the current policies and procedures in operation today at the laboratory. This investigation will also consider regulatory compliance and staff conduct,” Minister Timothy Nicholls said in the release.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention commented on the lost viruses and said that Hendra is a zoonotic (animal-to-human) virus that has only been found in Australia while Lyssavirus is a group of viruses that can cause rabies.

Nicholls meanwhile also added that Queensland Health has since then taken serious measures including retraining staff on required regulations and conducting audits to ensure correct storage of materials.

The investigating officials further revealed that the samples are supposed to have gone missing sometime after a freezer used to store them broke down. “It’s not known whether the samples were moved elsewhere and then lost, or if they were destroyed without being recorded as such. It’s this part of the transfer of those materials that is causing concern,” Nicholls said.

“As it stands, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for major concern. There haven’t been any recorded cases of Hendra or lyssavirus in the area over the past five years, and no recorded cases of hantavirus ever. And if the samples were misplaced and left out in the open, they would likely cease being a danger to anyone very quickly,” the officials added.

They also added that the viruses become non-infectious once taken out of the freezer. They reiterated that there’s at present no risk to the community.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, an organisation named Muslim Consumer Rights Council held a rally in Bangshal area seeking a boycott of restaurants that do not serve beef. The protestors said that beef dishes should be mandatory in the menu of all restaurants and the restaurants that fail to comply should be shut down.

They indicated that the restaurants that do not serve beef are against Islamic ideologies.

Dhaka Tribune quoted Muhammad Arif Al Khabir, the convener of the council, saying that beef is a symbol of Islamic identity and Western nations that do not have halal food in their restaurants are displaying a double standard.

‘No-beef restaurants are agents of India and Hindutva. Boycott such establishments’

Details:https://t.co/ZwpI9Ib4IY#DhakaTribune #BeefInRestaurants #MuslimRights #BangladeshProtest #Hindutva #ConsumerRights pic.twitter.com/TBqoSIyLqe

— Dhaka Tribune (@DhakaTribune) December 11, 2024

Dhaka Tribune reported that the protestors had gathered in front of Hotel Al Razzaque in Old Dhaka’s Bangshal area, chanting slogans such as, “No-beef restaurants are agents of India and Hindutva. Boycott such establishments” and “Cow dung or beef? Beef! Beef!”

Muhammad Arif Al Khabir argued that eating camel meat is not obligatory, but it became a duty for Muslims to eat camel because they had to establish their allegiance to Islam over Jewish dietary rules. In a similar way, eating beef is not mandatory but it is necessary for Muslims to show their allegiance to Islam over Hindu beliefs.

He quoted verse 208 from Surah Al-Baqarah of the Quran, explaining, “Although eating camel meat is not obligatory, it became essential for a Muslim due to its connection to Jewish dietary laws. Similarly, in the context of Hindu beliefs, consuming beef becomes a declaration of faith for Muslims.”

Arif Al Khabir also stated that Western nations should also include Halal foods in their restaurants because they want to alienate Muslims. Jews and Christians in Western nations do not have Halal food in their restaurants, because they do not want to accomodate Muslims. Muslims have no other options but to open their separate Halal eateries.

Arif Al Khabir added that all restaurants should declare their support for Muslims by adding at least one beef dish in their menu. If they are not doing so, they must be agents of India and Hindutva. They should face a nationwide boycott, he added.