All posts tagged: pioneering

Pioneering Blue Planet and Planet Earth cameraman Doug Allan dies in Nepal

Pioneering Blue Planet and Planet Earth cameraman Doug Allan dies in Nepal

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Renowned wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, who worked on iconic BBC series including Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and The Blue Planet, has died at the age of 74 while trekking in Nepal. Often collaborating closely with Sir David Attenborough, Allan was widely celebrated as a “true pioneer” of wildlife filmmaking. His career saw him win multiple Bafta and Emmy awards, and in 2024, he was appointed an OBE for his significant contributions to broadcast media and environmental awareness. His management company, Jo Sarsby Management, confirmed his passing, noting he died “immersed in nature and surrounded by friends”. “A true pioneer of wildlife film-making, Doug captured some of the most breathtaking and intimate moments in the natural world,” the statement said. “Doug leaves behind a visual legacy that few could ever match. His work brought audiences closer to the wonders of our planet, …

It takes a village – the pioneering tourism project breathing new life into India’s mountain communities | India holidays

It takes a village – the pioneering tourism project breathing new life into India’s mountain communities | India holidays

Published by Sam Flores

Kathdhara village is a riot of colour as the early evening light turns the clouds the rosy hue of Himalayan salt. Bright red chillies lie drying in front of cornflower blue doorways. The pink of a sari and the orange of marigolds pop against a backdrop of verdant terraced fields, where cabbages grow in perfect rows like a picture from a Peter Rabbit book. Just 22 families live in this remote hamlet in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, north-east India. As we stroll with our guide, Deepak, taking in views of the layered hills and soaring, snow-capped Panchachuli peaks beyond, we are welcomed by villagers tending homes and gardens, strings of Diwali fairy lights adding extra sparkle to the scene. I’m here to explore the foothills of the Himalayas and sample village life on a walking holiday with Village Ways, a pioneer of responsible, community-based tourism in India, which is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. Dreamed up by Manisha and Himanshu Pande, the couple who run the Khali Estate, a …

Ireland Rolls Out Pioneering Basic Income Scheme for Artists

Ireland Rolls Out Pioneering Basic Income Scheme for Artists

Published by Sam Flores

DUBLIN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Ireland rolled ‌out ​a permanent basic income scheme ‌for the arts on Tuesday, pledging to pay 2,000 creative ​workers 325 euros ($387) per week following a trial that participants said eased financial strain and ‍allowed them to spend more ​time on projects. Ireland began the three-year trial in 2022 to help artists ​recover from ⁠COVID-19 shutdowns. While similar pilots have been tried in San Francisco and New York, Ireland’s Culture Minister Patrick O’Donovan said the scheme was the first permanent one of its kind in the world. The move will “set Ireland apart from other countries ‌with regard to how we value culture and creativity,” O’Donovan said, launching the ​scheme in ‌the James Joyce Room ‍at Bewley’s ⁠Cafe, a Dublin cultural institution which hosts lunch-time theatre performances. “This is a gigantic step forward that other countries are not doing.” The randomly selected applicants will receive the payments for three years, after which they would not be eligible for the next three-year cycle. O’Donovan said he would like to increase the …

Pioneering metabolomics research for healthier futures

Pioneering metabolomics research for healthier futures

Published by skeptic

Having been awarded the ERA Chair in Foodomics, the University of Ljubljana discusses its work in metabolomics research in food and nutrition, addressing challenges in the food industry while promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. The biotechnical faculty of the University of Ljubljana (UL BF) has been successful in the call for proposals of the European Research and Innovation Programme Horizon Europe and has been awarded the ERA Chair – Chair of Metabolomics in food and nutrition (Foodomics) project, which will establish a new interdisciplinary Centre for Metabolomics led by Prof Dr Urška Vrhovšek. The project is coordinated by Prof Dr Nataša Poklar Ulrih from UL BF, and in addition to researchers from UL BF, collaborators from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and Faculty of Medicine are also involved. Food systems are affected by climate change, the loss of agricultural land and biodiversity loss, and need to respond to all these changes. Not surprisingly, the food industry faces many challenges, including maintaining food sufficiency, safety and quality, reducing food waste, improving nutrition and health, responding …

The pioneering path of Augustus Tolton, the first Black Catholic priest in the US

The pioneering path of Augustus Tolton, the first Black Catholic priest in the US

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — The first publicly recognized Black priest in the United States, Augustus Tolton, may not be a household name. Yet I believe his story – from being born enslaved to becoming a college valedictorian – deserves to be a staple of Black History Month. “Good Father Gus” is now a candidate for sainthood. My forthcoming book, “The Wounded Church,” examines ways that the Catholic Church has excluded people during different chapters of its history, from women to African American people. One chapter of history that many Americans may not know about was how the U.S. church barred Black men from becoming priests – a chapter that ended with Tolton’s ordination in the late 19th century. Slavery to seminary Tolton was born on April 1, 1854 in Missouri, where he and his family were enslaved. He was baptized as Catholic as an infant. He escaped slavery in 1863 with his mother and siblings, eventually settling together in Quincy, Illinois. Life in Quincy was far from a dream come true. He attempted to attend an …

New Scientist recommends pioneering artist Ryoji Ikeda’s new work

New Scientist recommends pioneering artist Ryoji Ikeda’s new work

Published by skeptic

Ryoji Ikeda’s data-cosm [n°1] Alice Lubbock Thomas LewtonFeatures editor, London Since the mid-2000s, electronic musician and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda has transformed vast quantities of data into immersive installations that transport you inside invisible scientific realms. When visiting his new work data-cosm [n°1], which sets out to “chart the full spectrum of data on nature”, I laid back as my field of vision was enveloped by a vast LED screen that whirred to life with strobing flashes. But I soon settled into the pace of this rollercoaster as it careered around Earth, inside our minds and into outer space, all perfectly synchronised with glitching music. This is undoubtedly a slick production. Virtually flying through a DNA strand at high speed is thrilling, giving you a visceral reminder of how vast the human genome is. Yet there is so much to absorb that, at times, these data-worlds ring hollow, and it feels like you are being dazzled at the cost of interrogating our relationship to data. See the show yourself at 180 Studios in London until …

RIP Gladys Mae West, the Pioneering Black Mathematician Who Helped Lay the Foundation for GPS

RIP Gladys Mae West, the Pioneering Black Mathematician Who Helped Lay the Foundation for GPS

Published by José Betancourt

Gladys Mae West was born in rur­al Vir­ginia in 1930, grew up work­ing on a tobac­co farm, and died ear­li­er this month a cel­e­brat­ed math­e­mati­cian whose work made pos­si­ble the GPS tech­nol­o­gy most of us use each and every day. Hers was a dis­tinc­tive­ly Amer­i­can life, in more ways than one. Seek­ing an escape from the agri­cul­tur­al labor she’d already got­ten to know all too well, she won a schol­ar­ship to Vir­ginia State Col­lege by becom­ing her high school class vale­dic­to­ri­an; after earn­ing her bach­e­lor’s and mas­ter’s degrees in math­e­mat­ics, she taught for a time and then applied for a job at the naval base up in Dahlgren. She first dis­tin­guished her­self there by ver­i­fy­ing the accu­ra­cy of bomb­ing tables with a hand cal­cu­la­tor, and from there moved on up to the com­put­er pro­gram­ming team. This was the ear­ly nine­teen-six­ties, when pro­gram­ming a com­put­er meant not cod­ing, but labo­ri­ous­ly feed­ing punch cards into an enor­mous main­frame. West and her col­leagues used IBM’s first tran­sis­tor­ized machine, the 7030 (or “Stretch”), which was for a few years …

Sweden launches pioneering hydrogen valley project

Sweden launches pioneering hydrogen valley project

Published by skeptic

Sweden is taking a major step towards a climate-neutral future with the launch of the High Coast to West Coast Hydrogen Valley. This major EU-funded initiative is designed to build regional value chains for renewable hydrogen. The six-year project, coordinated by RISE, aims to transform Västernorrland and Western Sweden into a hub for sustainable hydrogen production, distribution, and usage. With a total budget of nearly €20m, the project unites 45 partners from industry, research, and public institutions. Magnus Hallberg, Head of the Bioeconomy Division at RISE, believes Sweden can spearhead Europe’s hydrogen boom: “Sweden has a unique opportunity to produce hydrogen at low cost, which can give us a real competitive advantage and strengthen Sweden’s and Europe’s energy independence.” Building a regional hydrogen ecosystem A hydrogen valley connects the entire hydrogen value chain within a region, linking production, storage, transport, and end-use across multiple sectors. By bringing together industrial, research, and public stakeholders, the project seeks to demonstrate hydrogen systems at a commercial scale. This collaborative approach is expected to drive technological maturity, reduce costs, …

Claudette Colvin, pioneering civil rights activist, dies at 86

Claudette Colvin, pioneering civil rights activist, dies at 86

Published by Sam Flores

Civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin has died at 86. Very nearly forgotten by history, Colvin was 15 years old in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. The act of bravery predated Rosa Park’s famous refusal by nine months. Black riders were  forced to sit in the back rows of the bus at the time. If the white section filled up, Black riders were made to move further back and clear rows so white passengers wouldn’t have to sit next to them. Colvin was asked to clear her row when a white woman came aboard. After she refused, police came to the scene and pulled her off the bus. “History had me glued to the seat,” she said in 2021 to the New York Times. At the end of 1955, Rosa Parks, the secretary of the NAACP, staged a similar protest and entered history. Parks’ was also arrested and her protest launched the Montgomery bus boycott led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Colvin said later in life …