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Why Is Canada Limiting Foreign Students? Canada recently announced a two-year limit on the number of foreign students given permission to study in the country. The move is partly to ease a growing housing shortage.
Reuters news agency recently reported on some of the details of the plan:
What are the details?
Marc Miller is Canada’s immigration minister. Miller said the government led by the Liberal Party of Canada will introduce a temporary, two-year limit on student visas. That will result in about 364,000 student visas in 2024. The government said that is a cut of 35 percent from the year before.
The new proposals will also set limits on postgraduate work permits issued to foreign students. The new limits will likely cause many postgraduate students to return to their home countries.
The permits were formerly seen as an easy path to securing permanent residency. People in master’s or post-doctoral programs will be eligible for a three-year work permit.
However, people who are married to foreign students in undergraduate and lower-level college programs will no longer be able to receive work permits. The acceptance of new study permit requests in 2025 will be reconsidered at the end of the current year, Miller said.
Why has the government changed its policy?
Canada has become a popular place for international students. It has been easy to receive work permits after finishing study programs in the country. But the increase in international students has led to a shortage of rental homes. This has caused the price of rent to go up. In December, the cost of rent nationwide rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier, government data shows.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity has decreased partly because of increasing living costs. Opposition Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has taken a lead over Trudeau in public opinion studies. Elections are expected to be held next year.
The government has also been concerned about the quality of education offered by some schools.
Who will this affect?
Canada’s government says international students bring in about $16.4 billion to the nation’s economy. The new policy will hurt many colleges and universities.
Ontario, the most populous area, or province, has the biggest share of international students. Some businesses, including restaurants and retail industries, have warned that a limit on foreign students will create a shortage of temporary workers.
For example, restaurants across Canada are dealing with a worker shortage. It is estimated there are nearly 100,000 available jobs. International students made up 4.6 percent of the 1.1 million workers in the food service industry in 2023, an unnamed industry group told Reuters.
Canadian banks will gain from the new rules for international students. Each student will be required to have a Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GIC) of more than $15,000. The amount is required for international students to be able to cover living costs. The new GIC is more than double the amount from the earlier policy.
Many of Canada’s foreign students, about 40 percent, come from India. China coming in second with about 12 percent, official data from 2022 shows.
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Announces First Human Implant Elon Musk says his company Neuralink has placed an experimental brain device in a person in the first human test of the technology.
Neuralink describes the coin-sized device as a “brain-computer interface.” It is designed to be implanted inside the brain through a medical operation.
Musk announced the news on the social media service he owns, X. The billionaire businessman is also the owner of Tesla and SpaceX. His company Neuralink aims to establish direct communication links between the brain and computers.
“The first human received an implant from @Neuralink (Sunday) and is recovering well,” Musk wrote. He added that first results of the implanted device showed “promising neuron spike” activity.
A spike is a term for a method neurons use to communicate with each other. The Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary defines a neuron as “a nerve cell that carries messages between your brain and other parts of your body.”
The device includes an extremely small computer and extremely thin wires that connect to a part of the brain that controls intent of movement.
Neuralink says the implant is designed to treat brain disorders and help serious back injury victims regain body movement. Company officials also say it might be used one day to help blind people see again.
The company has said an early goal of the brain-computer interface will be to give people the ability to control basic computer tasks using thoughts alone. Musk says that in the future, the device might also be used to improve human intelligence in an effort to keep up with supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved human testing of the Neuralink device last May.
Neuralink reposted Musk's statement about the implant in a message on X.
In another message on X, Musk wrote that the first Neuralink product is called “Telepathy.” He said the goal of the product is to permit users to control smartphones or computers “just by thinking.” Musk also noted the first users would be people who have lost the use of their arms or legs.
It remains unclear how well the brain-computer interface system or similar devices will work in humans. FDA-approved trials, like the one permitted for Neuralink, aim to collect data on the safety and effectiveness of proposed products.
Neuralink is not alone in developing systems designed to link the human nervous system to computers. The website clinicaltrials.gov reports there are currently more than 40 brain computer interface trials going on in places around the world.
Reuters reported that in the past, Neuralink was fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation for violating rules covering the movement of dangerous substances. The fines against Neuralink totaled $2,480 and the company agreed to fix its problems concerning the violations, the news agency said.
Neuralink carried out earlier trials of the implant using monkeys, pigs and sheep. Reuters has also reported on the company’s animal experiments in the past.
Some Neuralink employees told Reuters in 2022 the company had made mistakes in its animal testing. They said the mistakes came because the process was hurried. This led to more animal deaths than necessary, the employees said.
In one 2021 case, Reuters reported that Neuralink implanted 25 out of 60 pigs with the wrong-sized devices. All the pigs were later killed. Employees told the news agency such mistakes could have been easily avoided with more preparation.
Last September, Musk wrote in a social media message that "no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant." He added that the company chose "terminal" monkeys to limit risks to healthy animals.
I’m Bryan Lynn.View -
Renewed Interest in Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight An unclear sonar image recorded by a private pilot has renewed interest in a past mystery: What happened to Amelia Earhart, the pilot who disappeared in 1937 with her plane?
Many searches have found nothing. But Tony Romeo now believes his new South Carolina-based sea exploration company captured a partial image of Earhart’s famous plane.
Researchers and explorers are hopeful. But whether Earhart’s plane lies at about 4,800 meters beneath the ocean remains to be seen.
How was the object found?
Romeo said he had long held interest in the Earhart mystery. So, he bought a $9 million underwater drone from a Norwegian company. The drone is called the Hugin 6000. It includes the newest technology. It can dive down to 6,000 meters.
A 16-person crew began a search in the western Pacific Ocean in September 2023. They searched over 13,400 square kilometers of seafloor. The crew searched around Howland Island between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii.
But it was not until the team looked at the sonar data in December that they saw the unclear yellow outline of what looked like a plane.
“In the end, we came out with an image of a target that we believe very strongly is Amelia’s aircraft,” Romeo told the Associated Press.
The next step is taking a camera underwater to better examine the unidentified object. If camera images confirm the explorers’ hopes, Romeo said the goal would be to raise Earhart’s airplane.
Romeo said his team undertook the trip to “solve aviation’s greatest unsolved mystery.” Depending on what they find, they might answer if Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, escaped after hitting the ocean, or learn more about what went wrong.
The mystery of Earhart
Earhart and Noonan disappeared while flying from New Guinea to Howland Island. That trip was part of her attempt to become the first female pilot to fly around the world. She had radioed that she was running low on fuel.
The Navy searched but found nothing. The U.S. government’s official position has been that Earhart and Noonan went down with their plane.
Since then, there have been many theories. They include that Earhart was taken by aliens, lived in New Jersey under another name, she was killed by the Japanese, or died on an island.
“Amelia is America’s favorite missing person,” Romeo said.
‘We need to see more’
Sea archaeologist James Delgado said Romeo’s possible find would change the story, but “we need to see more.”
“Let’s drop some cameras down there and take a look,” said Delgado. He is senior vice president of the archaeological company SEARCH.
Delgado said Romeo’s search used the newest technologies that were once only available to the government.
But he said Romeo’s team must provide detailed documentation to prove it is Earhart’s plane.
If the object really is the historic aircraft, the question for the team is if it is safe to raise. How much of the plane is left would be decided by how smoothly Earhart landed," said Dorothy Cochrane of the National Air and Space Museum.
“That’s where you have to really look at this image and say, ‘What have we got here?’” said Cochrane.
What if Earhart’s plane has been found?
If the discovery turns out to be her plane, international rules for underwater archaeology would suggest that the aircraft remain where it is, said Ole Varmer. He is a retired lawyer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and an advisor at The Ocean Foundation, an environmental group based in Washington, D.C.
Less damaging research can still be carried out to find why the plane crashed, Varmer said.
Varmer added, “You preserve as much of the story as you can.” And he said, “When you salvage it, you’re destroying part of the site, which can provide information.”
Raising the plane and showing it to the public would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Varmer said. And while Romeo could possibly make a salvage claim in a court, the plane’s owner has the right to deny it.
Earhart bought the plane with money raised, at least in part, by the Purdue Research Foundation, Purdue University in Indiana said in a blog. She planned to return the aircraft to the school.
Romeo said the team believes the plane belongs in the Smithsonian. He said the issue likely presents a new kind of legal case. He said his exploration company will “deal with those as they come up.”
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
It Has Never Been More Costly to See the Super Bowl Tickets for the American football Super Bowl game are among the hardest to get in all of sports. Because of that, some websites that buy and re-sell tickets have set prices for the upcoming game in Las Vegas, Nevada at almost $10,000.
The National Football League championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers is on Sunday, February 11.
The Chiefs won last year’s Super Bowl. They feature star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, the boyfriend of singer Taylor Swift. Many people believe Swift will fly to the game after performing in Japan only one day earlier.
The 49ers are one of the most popular teams in the western part of the U.S. Las Vegas is a busy, tourist city known for its hotels and casinos. It is the first-ever Super Bowl in Las Vegas. For many years, the league did not want to have games in Las Vegas because the city permits sports gambling. That changed when the Oakland Raiders moved to Las Vegas to play in a new stadium before the 2020 season.
The combination of two well-known teams plus a city that many people like to visit means tickets on a website called TickPick are in high demand. They are re-selling for almost double last year’s cost. The Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl last year near Phoenix, Arizona.
Before this year, the Super Bowl with the highest re-sale ticket price was in 2021 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs in Tampa, Florida. That year, however, tickets were limited because of restrictions connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.
TickPick said the highest prices for a non-COVID Super Bowl came in 2020 when the Chiefs and 49ers played in Miami, Florida. The average ticket that year was over $6,000. TickPick, however, noted that prices for this year might go down as the game gets closer.
Brett Goldberg is the co-CEO for TickPick. In a message to the Associated Press, he wrote: “Location has always impacted demand for a Super Bowl, but Vegas takes things to a whole other level.” He said Las Vegas is already “the entertainment capital of the world.”
Sometimes, Goldberg wrote, two successful teams push down demand, because the average fan is tired of seeing them play again. However, he noted prices are high this year because “fans want to experience their team winning a Super Bowl in Vegas.”
StubHub is another ticket-selling website. Prices on that site were over $9,000. StubHub said tickets are selling faster this year than in recent years.
“The demand has far surpassed the last time Kansas City and San Francisco met in Miami,” said a spokesperson from StubHub.
I’m Dan Friedell.View -
Part-time Detectives Find Problems in Medical, Scientific Research A major cancer hospital and research center recently announced it is asking for withdrawals or corrections to at least 37 research papers.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston is taking action after its research included false images.
The cancer hospital is connected with Harvard University’s medical school. Harvard’s last president, Claudine Gay, recently left her position after being accused of plagiarism. Plagiarism is when a person claims someone else’s work as their own.
In the Dana-Farber case, a blogger from Wales in Britain, said the cancer center published documents that had manipulated images. Sholto David is a 32-year-old blogger who investigates scientific reports in his free time.
On January 2, David wrote on his blog that he found suspicious images in 30 papers published by four Dana-Farber scientists, including top leaders Laurie Glimcher and William Hahn. He said some of the images made the research look stronger. The papers discussed how cells work. Another documented samples of bone marrow from human volunteers.
When did the problem surface?
Similar investigators found problems with some of the Dana-Farber papers and pointed them out on a website called PubPeer. Reporters from Harvard’s student newspaper started writing about the problems on January 12.
Dana-Farber answered the news coverage by saying it had already been looking into the problems. On January 22, the center said it asked for six of the papers to be retracted, or withdrawn from publication, because of problems. It also asked for corrections in 31 other papers.
Dr. Barrett Rollins is the research integrity officer at Dana-Farber. He said the center and its scientists took “prompt and decisive action in (most) cases” that David pointed out.
Community of “sleuths”
David is not the only person who studies scientific research and looks for errors. Elisabeth Bik is a microbiologist in California. She has been looking at journals and papers for 10 years. Based on her work over 1,000 articles have been pulled back. Over 1,000 have been corrected and 153 times journals have printed their concerns about previously published work.
She has seen manipulated images of bacteria, cells and more.
Bik wrote about her work in a paper published by the American Society for Microbiology in 2016. “Science should be about finding the truth,” she said.
Bik does get some money for her work. Some people who like her work subscribe to a journal she writes. She earns about $2,300 per month for the work she does. David said he earns just over $200 a month for his work.
Why do they do it?
Ivan Oransky is an expert on the science sleuths. He teaches medical journalism at Columbia University in New York City. He said some of the detectives use software tools to look for problems in scientific writing. Many do not use their names when they write about their findings.
Oransky said the sleuths “want science to do and be better.” He said they are upset that people in publishing and at universities do not seem interested in correcting mistakes. Some of the bloggers are worried that the number of people who trust science is falling.
Bik said the problem that leads to false research is that many doctors and scientists feel pressure to get published. And they make mistakes because they are in a hurry.
Oransky, the journalism teacher at Columbia, said pressure to publish means: if the images do not match the story the paper is trying to tell, “you beautify them.”
What next?
Scientific journals look at errors brought to their attention but do not often do a public investigation. They keep the process quiet and then release their decision. Usually, they will ask for a correction or withdraw the paper.
Some journals told The Associated Press they were looking into the issues that David raised.
I’m Dan Friedell.View