Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 07 Jan, 2025 05:24 PM
Researchers have discovered sea sponges' ability to sneeze like people after a study off the B-C coast.
University of Alberta professor Sally Leys says a study into the behaviour of a sea sponge nicknamed Belinda over four years found the animal doing slow-motion sneeze-like contractions lasting about a day.
Leys says the motion was used to clear out debris accumulated while it was filter feeding.
Leys says hundreds of hours of video was collected during the study off Vancouver Island's coast between 2012 and 2015.
Janitors with Local 2 of the Service Employees International Union say they had planned to set up lawful picket lines at undisclosed areas of the airport during the busy travel day. The 233 cleaners at the airport had been striking at a designated area of the airport since Thursday.
Environment Canada says the first of a series of Christmas week storms forecast for British Columbia's coast is moving inland, after bringing 140 km/h winds to some exposed coastal areas. But there will be no respite for the south coast and Vancouver Island, with a second powerful storm expected to bring very strong winds and heavy rain on Christmas morning.
Mounties say a Chilliwack man has been charged with three criminal offences after a crash between a tractor and BC Highway Patrol vehicle during a 2023 protest. They say the 54-year-old was arrested on Dec. 18 and will appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 16, charged with fleeing police, dangerous operation of a vehicle and assaulting a police officer with a weapon.
A derailment has sent rail cars carrying grain plunging into the Fraser River, and CN Rail says it's working to restore the tracks near Boston Bar, B.C.
It says the incident involving about a dozen cars from a CPKC train on its mainline east of the Fraser Canyon community happened on Sunday due to a rockslide.
British Columbia's forests ministry says more than 280 million trees were planted in the province this year. It says 13 different native tree species were chosen in its effort to preserve ecosystems and prioritize characteristics including resilience to climate change.
In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, May — now in her 13th year as the B.C. MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands — spoke about the bombshell events on Parliament Hill, the parliamentary stalemate that has paralyzed the House of Commons for months and her thoughts on the fate of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal leadership.
