Latest news with #000LeaguesUndertheSea
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chengdu: Empower Dreams with the Wings of Sci-Fi
CHENGDU, China, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Once upon a time, sci-fi was synonymous with classic works from Europe and America such as Star Wars, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. However, Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin made history when the first installment of his trilogy The Three-Body Problem won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, becoming the first Asian to receive this honor. The achievement marked the first time the world truly began to pay attention to Chinese sci-fi. Furthermore, Chengdu hosted the 81st World Science Fiction Convention in 2023, the first time the event was held in China and second time in Asia. Today, The Three-Body Problem has been translated into over 30 languages and has captivated global audiences through its novels and screen adaptations. Yet few know that the first book of the trilogy was originally serialized in Chengdu's sci-fi magazine Science Fiction World. To further promote Chengdu's sci-fi industry and strengthen international collaboration in the field, the Chengdu International Sci-Fi Industry Salon, organized by National Business Daily and hosted by NBD Think Tank, was held in Chengdu on May 28, 2025. The event brought together leading global sci-fi companies and experts to discuss the future of the industry. Attendees included representatives from France's Hachette Publishing Group (the world's second-largest publishing group), Japan's D'Art Shtajio Animation Studio (the first major anime studio led by African American creators). During the presentation, Hachette and D'Art Shtajio shared insights on sci-fi IP development, copyright management, and animation production, while delivering speeches on topics such as "ideal environments for sci-fi innovation" and "enhancing cross-border industry collaboration." The event also featured prominent international experts, including Brigitte Leblanc, Editor-in-Chief of Le Rayon imaginaire, Hachette Heroes, Hachette Livre (responsible for publishing the French edition of The Three-Body Problem comic), American animation director Dalton Grant (known for Cars and Shrek), etc. During roundtable discussions, Grant emphasized sci-fi's role in sparking unexpected creativity and overcoming perceived limits, while Leblanc cited The Three-Body Problem's global success as a model for international IP cooperation. The organizers stated that such platforms aim to drive Chengdu's sci-fi industry toward greater diversity, depth, and global integration, while amplifying the reach of Chinese sci-fi works abroad and fostering cultural exchange between China and the world. SOURCE National Business Daily Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
22-04-2025
- The Guardian
Show us your mussels! A mouthwatering trip to Vigo, Spain's seafood capital
Rocks thrashed by Atlantic waves have famously bestowed names such as 'end of the world' and 'coast of death' on Galicia, Spain's north-western region. But there is a calmer, more intimate side to this coastline, that of the many rias (inlets). Legend has it that they resulted from the imprint of God's hand when he made the world, and, temptingly, they nurture superlative shellfish. This lures me to Vigo, the largest fishing port in the EU, which spills down a hillside into a sheltered estuary lined with marinas, industrial docks, jetties, a fishing port and a cruise terminal. The magic formula is the combination of fresh river water and salty seawater, which creates a nutrient-rich paradise for succulent crustaceans and cephalopods. I soon learn, too, that Vigueses are joined at the hip to the sea – and have been for centuries. Passion for el mar rules: 'We are all men of the sea,' as one local tells me, and trawler-loads of ocean fish join shellfish on the plates of Vigo's many taverns, tapas bars and restaurants. As I stroll along the quay, I suddenly meet a lifesize statue of a bearded man incongruously seated on four giant octopus tentacles. If you know Jules Verne's epic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, featuring Captain Nemo and his ingenious submarine Nautilus, this might ring a bell. Inspired by tales of Vigo, which he later visited, the author conjured up Nemo's fictional search for treasure in the sunken galleons of the seabed. Some were possibly scuttled by Francis Drake, who had raided Vigo three centuries earlier. Other pirates and invaders followed, but the prosperous fishing port survived. I set off to investigate the farmed mussels of the estuary. Pablo Mariño, of marine tourism specialist Bluscus, is my knowledgable guide, steering me in his traditional bateeiro boat over the calm, plankton-rich water towards what looks like a wooden shack on stilts. It is one of more than 600 bateas (floating rafts) in this ria alone – part of Galicia's marine industry that exports worldwide and employs about 15% of Vigo's population. Jorge, the cheerful boss of this raft, explains the magical, complex process of producing top-notch mussels (some of which I later devour): plump, juicy and never more than 48 hours old. Long ropes suspended above and hanging into the water are their nurturing ground from spawn to shell, where they mature in up to 18 months. Despite falling production, Jorge's enthusiasm sparkles as he shows off a hefty cluster of the inky black shells, though he admits, 'My only problem is that I'm allergic to eating them!' Near where we dock, I meet softly spoken Severino Casal, a former fisher who runs trips along the coast in his 1970s wooden boat Nuevo Migueliño. 'I fell in love with the sea in my teens: fresh air, the landscape, the varieties of fish. But the industry is changing now due to stricter regulations, also overfishing, rising water temperature and pollution in the rias. There are so many factors.' It's time to sample some of Vigo's sea creatures, so I head for the famous Calle de las Ostras (oyster street) to indulge in half a dozen succulent molluscs shucked in front of me for €13 (£11). The city was once known for female 'shuckers', but it is now men who monopolise the stands. I sit down at a table in front of Bar Cocedero La Piedra, am served the mandatory glass of chilled albariño, and rapidly consume the slippery bivalves. Uphill from here starts the picturesque Casco Vello, the old town, an endurance test of steps and slopes winding past sober granite houses, little squares and a slew of tempting bars and restaurants. At night, uplighters illuminate the facades, making it even dreamier. This is where to find the appealing old classic Taberna A Pedra, which is usually packed, and order silky grilled navajas (razor clams, €16), berberechos (cockles, €14), almejas (clams) swimming in garlic, chilli and olive oil, chipirones (cuttlefish, €9) and padron peppers. Like everywhere else, the basket of bread is crustily perfect for mopping up juice. Nearby is funky Valdevez, hidden down a tight alley and a darling of Vigo's football team. It's spacious, with a great value €15 set lunch menu, creative dishes, top wines and a lineup of vintage radios. Their tender pulpo a feira (Galician-style octopus) is crowned with smashed potato and paprika, their scallops are perfectly grilled, and you can even sample aged beef tenderloin from the hills. It's nothing if not eclectic. Suddenly it's architecturally all change when I arrive at Praza do Porta do Sol, a square at the city's centre. Here begins the elegant Ensanche district, a relic of the Catalan entrepreneurs who developed Galicia's profitable canning industry in the late 19th century. Along with factories churning out tins of sardines and mussels, they brought modernista (Catalan culture's equivalent of art nouveau) architecture, often Parisian in style, as well as banks and luxury commerce that lined the avenues. Vigo boomed. This part of town is now the centre of nightlife, shopping and culture, and the place to break away from traditional eateries. Go raw at Restaurante Crudeza, the place for divine ceviche, with sea bass, scallop, or salmon tartare (€20-€30), and superbly prepared by a Venezuelan team and very affordable. To digest, there is a steep walk up to the El Castro fortress, built in 1665 to fend off English attacks, and now surrounded by beautiful parkland. Sweeping views take in the blissful Islas Ciés, as well as fishing villages and pristine beaches across the luminous water. The islands, which you need a permit to visit, and villages of Moaña and Cangas, can be reached by ferry or the immense Rande bridge. Off the Gran Via, where I am spirited uphill by moving walkways – a welcome innovation – I seek out Enxebre, a sharply modern restaurant expertly run by a young couple breaking new ground with surreal twists on Galician classics. Their €35 tasting menu is a steal, and you can sit at the kitchen counter to watch the action. Back towards the estuary, I catch my breath on a bench in the Alameda da Praza de Compostela, where gardens of magnolias and tree ferns are rimmed by stately facades. Although most surrounding bars and restaurants are mediocre, an exception lurks around the corner: La Mar Salada. This chic little restaurant is renowned for perfectly baked Atlantic fish (seabream, sea bass), cod in pil pil sauce and creamy rice with red prawns and monkfish. Plenty more seafood restaurants lie in wait, but I decide to spend my last evening investigating a unique 300-year-old Galician tradition – a furancho. This takes me into the hilly wine-country of Rías Baixas in the company of Juan Vidal and Lorena Cancelas, two of the founders of Guía Furanchín, an online guide to dozens of small-scale wineries which open for three months between December and June to offload their surplus. Whether seated convivially in a garden, a garage, a lean-to or in the family living-room, punters come to enjoy young wine together with homemade tapas. We order jugs of both red (the densest I've ever seen) and white to wash down empanadas, croquetas, jamón, tortilla and pork fillet – simple but tasty food. As I watch the ruddy faces of our dining companions, many still in working clothes and enjoying a cheap night out (our bill came to €12 each and we were sated), I realise that this institution, unique to Galicia, reflects the region's rural soul, if not exactly the 'men of the sea'. For anyone with two or four wheels, or simply two legs, Vigo also offers a seductive range of coastal side trips, from Cambados (the capital of albariño wine), where at low tide shellfishers rake the sand for razor clams, to the nature park of Corrubedo, a birders' haven where boardwalks vanish into undulating sand dunes. In Corrubedo itself, search out authentic seafood at the very cool Bar do Porto, owned by the British architect Sir David Chipperfield and his family. As Galician aficionados for more than 30 years, they prove how this region gets under your skin. Townies can head south to discover charming Baiona with its peninsula fort, now a parador, or north to the architectural treasures, vibrancy and culture of Pontevedra. The world of Vigo is your ostra – or is it mussel? The trip was facilitated by the Spanish tourist office and Turismo de Vigo. She stayed at Bahia de Vigo Hotel, doubles from €95 (£82) B&B, which has a very 70s facade but glorious views
National Geographic
09-04-2025
- Science
- National Geographic
These glowing seas have baffled sailors for centuries. Science may finally have answers.
'It looked as if we were sailing over a boundless plain of snow, or a sea of quicksilver,' writes Captain Kempthorne in his ship's log. Sailing a ship called Moozuffer through the Arabian Sea in January 1849, he witnessed something so rare that there are under 400 known records in 400 years and just one photo. This ghostly phenomenon, called milky seas, has puzzled sailors and scientists for centuries. After delving into centuries of ship logs like Kempthorne's, eyewitness accounts, newspapers, and satellite imagery, Justin Hudson, PhD candidate at Colorado State University (CSU) and Steven Miller, an atmospheric scientist also at CSU, have published the world's largest database of milky sea observations in the journal Earth and Space Science. In it, they write that 'throughout history, this topic has teetered on the edge between myth and scientific knowledge.' But now their database could help to illuminate the centuries-long mystery. A sample taken from a milky seas incident showed the presence of bacteria called Vibrio harveyi, which scientists think could be responsible for this glow. Photograph by Dr. Steve Haddock, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Rare bioluminescence Milky seas are a rare form of bioluminescence: the light they emit is thought to come from bacteria. Witnesses have described them as 'the most fantastical thing they've ever observed,' Hudson says. They recall night-time seas turning to 'thick milk or cream' and glowing 'as though green neon lights were alight just under the surface of the sea.' According to these eyewitness accounts, it can cause the whole surface of the ocean to shine for months at a time, bright enough to be seen from space. In daylight or moonlight, it vanishes. In the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne suggests this 'lactified' ocean is caused by a 'diminutive glowworm that's colorless and gelatinous in appearance, as thick as a strand of hair, and no longer than one-fifth of a millimeter.' These NOAA satellite images, taken just two weeks apart in 2019 show an outbreak of bioluminescence in the seas just south of Java, Indonesia. A research vessel that happened upon this phenomenon in 1985 collected water samples that contained a bacteria called Vibrio harveyi, which they hypothesized might be the source of the glow. Like other bacterial bioluminescence, milky seas have a steady, even gleam 'like the glow-in-the-dark plastic stars you can buy your kids,' according to a 1980 U.S. Navy sighting. Accounts indicate that this glow is different from the transient sparkles that occur when plankton create bioluminescence, but the two can happen together. Sailors in 1974 noted that 'bright speckles of marine bioluminescence continued to appear in the water' as they sailed through a milky sea. Among those who witness milky seas, they tend to report the ocean as appearing strangely calm. One captain describes how the unbroken waters 'seemed so dense and solid' that his ship looked like 'she was forcing her way through molten lead.' This might be an optical illusion, or there could be some truth in it. The research vessel that sampled a milky sea in 1985 found bioluminescent bacteria and a type of algae that 'emits this mucus that calms the ocean's surface,' Hudson says. This could account for the eerily flat seas. How the database was compiled People without scientific training 'capture the information completely differently,' says Abigail McQuatters-Gollop a plankton ecologist at University of Plymouth in England, who wasn't involved in the study. 'They never thought it would be used for any ecological study.' Some descriptions found in old documents are too matter-of-fact and vague to know if they're useful. Does 'white water' indicate a milky sea or rough currents? 'I think they did the best job they could do with the kind of data they had available…400 samples over 400 years is really not that much,' says McQuatters-Gollop. 'But I was just intrigued by the whole thing.' Hudson spent around nine months combing through records. Although the descriptions were taken by mariners, this qualitative data is valuable for scientists like the team at CSU. They can pinpoint times and locations that allow scientists to know where to look for more clues. Their rarity makes studying these events almost impossible. Scientists can't 'have a boat permanently sit out there and hope and pray and wait,' Hudson says. The only known photograph was taken by a private yacht sailing just south of Indonesia in 2019. The crew only realized what they'd seen after reading Miller's 2021 Scientific Reports paper. 'There's so much luck involved in witnessing this,' McQuatters-Gollop says. New science emerges from old records These events can span enormous distances, scientists have found. 'Milky seas can exceed [over 38,000 square miles],' Hudson says—that's larger than the state of Indiana—'and last for up to months at a time.' The new database suggests they typically cover around 3,800 square miles, although the data might be skewed because larger milky seas are more noticeable for both satellites and humans. 'The bigger the event, the more likely [people] are to sail to it,' he says. This new database shows that milky seas occur primarily in the Northwest Indian Ocean and in the Maritime Continent—a tropical region between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The study authors also learned that global climate patterns may play a role in their formation. In summer, 'following a La Niña there are more milky sea events than expected,' Hudson says. In winter, more occur at the peak of the positive Indian Ocean Dipole—when the alternating temperatures on either side of the Indian Ocean are warmer in the west. They may be linked to stronger monsoons. These can cause upwellings, which bring nutrient-rich waters up from the deep, resulting in 'an explosion' in the food chain, he says. By revealing patterns among the complex interactions between these phenomena, this database could help researchers predict and even sample milky seas. For now, milky seas remain enigmatic. 'We don't even know enough about them to know how important they are,' Hudson says. Glimpsing the ghostly spectacle more often might even indicate poor ocean health. 'The bacteria we suspect is causing milky seas is a known pest species that can kill off fish,' Hudson says. If this is the case, fisheries and economies around the world could suffer if these events increase. Says Hudson: 'The ocean is giving a very visible warning sign.'
South China Morning Post
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Your perfect week: what to do in Hong Kong, February 16-22
Published: 6:15am, 17 Feb 2025 Ser Wong Fun's time-honoured dishes are popping up at Holt's Cafe at Rosewood Hong Kong for two nights only. Photo: Courtesy of Rosewood Hong Kong On February 26 and 27, Rosewood Hong Kong's all-day cafe-restaurant will slither into the Year of the Snake with a collaboration with Ser Wong Fun. The restaurant, which specialises in snake dishes, is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year. Expect warming, time-honoured dishes such as assorted snake soup with fish maw, deep-fried snake with abalone congee and sautéed Qingyuan chicken. Rosewood Hong Kong, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Try this 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Tung Chung Coastal Eco-Tour Tung Chung's mangroves are the focus of an eco-tour organised by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo: Courtesy of Hong Kong Arts Festival In the run-up to the Mandarin stage production of the submarine Jules Verne sci-fi classic on March 20, the Hong Kong Arts Festival has partnered with sustainability education outfit V'air to lead a tour of the Tung Chung coastline for insights into the biodiversity of mangroves and mudflats, along with a primer on the history and culture of the area. Captain Nemo would be proud. To sign up, go to See this Re:Connect Soluna Fine Art is showcasing the artworks of frequent collaborators in its latest exhibition. Photo: Courtesy of Soluna Fine Art
