Latest news with #UniversityofRhodeIsland
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Rhody the robot helps Lake Ontario expedition to make a splash
May 30—OSWEGO — The National The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deepwater Shipwreck Expedition at Lake Ontario wraps up today, and the two-week mission has created stunning results with the help of a remotely operated vehicle making its inaugural dives. "This has been a first of its kind expedition in a sanctuary," said Holly D. Pettus, deputy expedition leader. "We've used the University of Rhode Island's brand new ROV, Rhody, to document shipwrecks in order to construct awesome 3-D models." The ROV was developed by the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. The expedition set out on May 18 from Oswego aboard the 180-foot research vessel Lake Guardian, owned by the EPA. NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the University of Rhode Island's Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute collaborated on the project. "It's been so cool to take Rhody on its maiden voyage and to see it in action for the first time," said expedition photographer and videographer Marley Parker. "I've been impressed by how reliable Rhody has been in this expedition and it's been amazing seeing it get in the water and doing its thing all day, every day." A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary, managed by NOAA, is a zone where the marine environment enjoys special protection. The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, designated last year, acts as an educational and cultural gateway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean and protects culturally significant places, resources and artifacts integral to American history and the heritage of indigenous peoples. The sanctuary features a collection of 63 known shipwrecks and one known submerged aircraft, among the best preserved in the world, discovered over decades by local recreational scuba divers and shipwreck explorers. It ends just past Tibbetts Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent, where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence River. Pettus and Parker, both from OCEI, spoke Wednesday during a live-streamed video of expedition highlights. They said 12 shipwrecks had been documented in the expedition, with a goal of 14. They were confident they would reach the goal by the end of the expedition today. "I've been so amazed by this team," Parker said. "When I first looked at the expedition plan and saw that it had 14 shipwrecks in two weeks, I thought there was no way we could do that. I've worked on a lot of ships and rarely worked on a team as tenacious as this one — getting after it every day." The expedition is a 24-hour operation, Parker added. "During the day, our ROV team is up early and getting the ROV in the water, first thing. We often do multiple dives in one day. They close up shop in the evening and then our mapping team comes online. The team has been imperative to making this expedition as successful as it's been. They have identified many new, previously undiscovered wrecks within this sanctuary and we've been able to pinpoint their locations with survey maps." Pettus said that with a team of skilled divers, it could take more than five days to explore and document a shipwreck. "Yesterday, we completed four dives," she said. "We are all systematic and have gotten into a great rhythm, and that's allowed us to move pretty quickly." The expedition targeted shipwrecks not accessible to most SCUBA divers. "The typical recreational SCUBA diver can only go to about 120 feet," Pettus said. "A lot of the wrecks we've been going to are over 200 or 300 feet and sometimes much deeper." "Not to mention how much more efficient and quickly Rhody can make these maps and imagery happen, compared to humans," Parker said. Expedition technology, Pettus said, has rapidly advanced in the past two decades. Software developments have allowed the creation of 3-D models of shipwrecks with stunning accuracy. Another promising element is the ability to have Rhody remotely operated. For example, during it's Lake Ontario mission, it was controlled at one point by Jake Bonney at the University of Rhode Island. "In the future, it's going to look a lot different in another 10 or 20 years from now," Pettus said. "We're going to see a massive increase in remote piloting. That opens up all kinds of opportunities." Pettus said Rhody could be used for emergency response or to simply check out underwater architecture. "It's an instrument that can easily mobilize," Parker said. "I'm excited to look back years from now after Rhody has done multiple projects and maybe even some emergency response work and to look back and think, 'I remember when Rhody was brand new and on its first expedition.'" The Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute team will return home to Rhode Island after today. "Meanwhile, the marine archaeologists will spend hundreds and hundreds of hours reviewing and closely examining all of the data we've captured, because they are basically hunting for clues in the footage of what and where to find artifacts within these vessels that could help them to glean information about the exact identifications of some of these wrecks," Parker said. "This baseline information will help protect and preserve these artifacts on the bottom of the (lake) floor," Pettus said. "The small but mighty team at NOAA's office of Marine Sanctuaries are working hard to make sure all of these wrecks are protected, preserved and the ones that can be accessed will be properly buoyed, so the public can come out and enjoy these things as well."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
How to protect yourself during peak tick season
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — It's officially peak tick season in Rhode Island, which means everyone should remain vigilant while spending time outside. Thomas Mather, director of the University of Rhode Island's Center for Vector-Borne Disease and the TickEncounter Resource Center, told 12 News the population of ticks across New England is the highest and most diverse it's ever been. There are four different species of ticks currently in Rhode Island, according to Mather, including black-legged deer ticks, American dog ticks, Lone Star ticks and Asian longhorned ticks. He said the most popular species are black-legged deer ticks and American dog ticks. Mather offered a series of precautions everyone can take as tick season ramps up: Mather has a new mantra for tick prevention: 'tuck, treat, tight.' He said it's important to tuck clothes in, treat clothes and shoes to repel them, and wear tight clothing to prevent them from getting underneath. Specifically, Mather recommends everyone tuck their shirts into their pants and their pants into their socks to limit skin exposure. He also suggested spraying clothing with a repellant that contains 20-30% DEET or permethrin. Those hiking in the woods or tall grass should stick to the middle of the trail if possible, he added. Mather urged everyone to carefully check themselves, their children and their pets for ticks before heading inside. He said it's important to have tweezers and a resealable bag ready to remove and collect the tick. Mather also warned against attempting to squish ticks, especially while they're still attached to their host. Even though it can be tempting to flush the tick away after removing it, Mather is asking everyone to submit a photograph of it to URI's TickSpotters. Mather said knowing the species of tick can make a big difference, since only black-legged deer ticks can carry the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease. To submit a tick for identification, Mather requests the photograph be taken of the topside of the tick and provide as much information as possible about the encounter. 'We don't expect everyone to be a tick biologist,' Mather said. 'But that's why we're here.' Mather said TickSpotters will identify the tick and respond to the submission with a risk assessment and easy-to-follow tick bite prevention tips. Even though the diseases that ticks carry varies by species, Mather stressed that 'all ticks need to be protected against.' There's also an easy way for Rhode Islanders to evaluate tick risks before heading outside, according to Mather. He said everyone can simply look out the window and assess their yard conditions to determine whether ticks will be out and about. 'Ticks don't like dry weather,' he said. 'If you have to water your lawn … that's actually not good for ticks.' Mather said wet weather provides the climate ticks need to reproduce. That's actually why clothes should be thrown into the dryer instead of the washer after spending time outside. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
I Got My Clothes Coated With Insect Shield Tick Killer
Wirecutter's resident bug expert, Doug Mahoney, has written that he uses permethrin spray on his family's socks and shoes. In that article, he cites one study's finding that people who wore treated footwear were 74 times less likely to get a bite from a tick nymph than those who did not. 'I take the hint from that study and concentrate on the feet because it's impractical to treat the entire summer wardrobes of the six people in my immediate family,' Doug writes, adding that they spray the rest of their clothes and skin with picaridin as needed. That's a perfectly good approach. Personally, though, I get some peace of mind from knowing that my family has a few outfits that are as tick-proofed as any clothes can be — including socks, pants, T-shirts, and hoodies. These are the clothes we'll wear when we're in prime tick territory, pulling up weeds around the unkempt edges of the yard, say, or going hiking with the dog. I'll spend less time second-guessing whether we have enough protection. Insect Shield stitches or stamps an info label onto each item you send in for treatment. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter Thomas Mather, PhD, a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island and a co-author of the study referenced above, says that fully grown ticks are more likely to hitch a ride above shoe level. 'The adult ones tend to climb up vegetation a little bit' in search of a large host, he says. 'Then you would want to have your socks and pants treated.' (Mather's TickEncounter program at URI has received funding from Insect Shield.) Ticks can also crawl around. I found one on my daughter's scalp this March, and that seemed like a good reason to treat a few shirts, just in case the shoes or pants didn't kill the ticks first. The same study that found the benefits of treated footwear also found that a treated T-shirt can reduce the likelihood of a tick nymph bite by about half. It's a nice bonus that our pesticidal shirts might stop some mosquito bites, too. Cost-wise, the Insect Shield mail-in treatment can be a solid deal compared to manually spraying a set of clothes. If you follow the directions on the Sawyer spray bottle, you use about $3 worth of permethrin spray to treat an outfit at home; you'll need to reapply the spray at least a handful of times throughout tick season, probably to the tune of $15 to $25 per outfit per year. I managed to fit roughly four outfits (four pants, three T-shirts, and three long-sleeves, with enough room leftover for a couple of pairs of socks) into the Insect Shield Your Clothes Easy Pack envelope, which cost $102 with an on-site discount code. (Without the code, it's $120.) So that's about $25 per outfit, in a price range similar to that of spraying clothes yourself across a full tick season, without any of the manual labor. I'm not convinced that the treatment will last as long as Insect Shield claims, but even if I get only one good year of protection (and I think I'll get more than that), it's a solid deal. Mather says that he sends clothes in annually for re-treatment, and Griffin of Insect Shield says that, as far as he knows, reapplication works well. Whereas I used Insect Shield's flat-rate, all-you-can-fit option, the company will also treat individual items for $9 each, or $13.50 for coveralls. That rate doesn't include shipping, as the Easy Pack does, but if you're sending a bunch of bulky items like adult-size pants or long-sleeved shirts made of heavy fabric, you might get more for your money with the per-piece rate. If you're treating a load of socks or kids' clothes, then the Easy Pack is probably the better value. Griffin says that every year Insect Shield treats upward of 50,000 items at the company's facility in North Carolina through its Insect Shield Your Clothes service, and it runs the gamut. 'We see shirts, pants, shorts, T-shirts, hats,' and of course lots of socks, he said. But the company doesn't treat underwear or shoes. It also doesn't treat clothes that can be only dry-cleaned or line-dried, or otherwise not tumble-dried. It can't effectively treat waterproof or water-resistant gear, either. 'It's just really hard to get the permethrin to bond well to those garments,' he said.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Historic Shipwrecks Come to Light in the Great Lakes
Last week, the Lake Guardian left the port of Oswego, N.Y., preparing to sail into the nation's past. The research vessel, which belongs to the Environmental Protection Agency, is exploring the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, a 1,722-square-mile expanse that stretches from the shoreline of New York State to the (watery) border with Canada. There, 63 ships rest beneath hundreds of feet of cold, clear water. Many had sailed in the service of nation-building some time during the 19th century, only to succumb to bad weather, rough seas, the vagaries of fate. Now, the maritime archaeologists aboard the Lake Guardian — experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, students from the University of Rhode Island — aim to create detailed three-dimensional computer models of the wrecks, starting with about a dozen ships. They will do so with the help of Rhody, a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, outfitted with a high-definition camera that has provided astonishing images on which those models will be based. (On Friday morning, the team began a YouTube livestream, accessible in the link below, of a vessel marked on a previous survey. In an early morning email, the researchers said they were 'blown away and stunned by what we have found.') 'There's lifetimes worth of research potential here,' Benjamin Ioset, a NOAA maritime archaeologist, said as the expedition commenced. A native of central New York, he began diving in these waters when he was 14. 'I've always been in love with this region,' Dr. Ioset said. Now, he is a conduit to that region's prosperous, industrial past. When the Lake Guardian returned briefly to port on Thursday in order to host a visit from Oswego High School students, he was inspired by the teenagers' curiosity, their amazement at the secrets buried in the familiar lake. Shipwrecks, after all, belong in the Mediterranean or the Arctic … don't they? In fact, the Great Lakes make for a world-class shipwreck museum, albeit one that can be reached only by competent SCUBA divers or ROVs like Rhody, depending on the wreck's depth. 'These are very clear waters — you have great visibility of some of the most intact and preserved shipwrecks in the entire world, and some of the oldest,' said Michael R. Pittavino, curator of the H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego. 'The deep, cool water of the Great Lakes really slows down the degradation of these vessels.' In fact, just three days into the trip, the Lake Guardian's sonar system discovered a new shipwreck, the marine sanctuary's 64th: probably a commercial vessel from the early 19th century, though Dr. Ioset said it would take 'a little bit of detective work' to nail down the craft's identity. For the most part, the goal of the trip is not to find new ships but to use Rhody's powerful cameras to capture clear images of ones already known: the Farmer's Daughter, possibly the oldest ship in the sanctuary; the steam-powered tugboat Philip Becker; the Roberval, a steamer whose steel hull proved no match for an enormous wave that sank it in 1916. Distance and weather, among other factors, provide challenges of their own. The expedition's second day was devoted to fixing a technical issue. Then, it took longer than expected to get into position to investigate the Philip Becker, which sank on Nov. 17, 1879. Along with several other ships, it had made its way down the St. Lawrence River, only to be caught in a blizzard on the way to Oswego. Rhody's dives last four to six hours and produce images of exceptional clarity and detail. It doesn't hurt that the ships are well preserved, save for the quagga mussels that seem to cling to every surface. The pilot house and ship's wheel on the Philip Becker's deck were clearly visible. Lit by Rhody's cameras, the ship emerged from the darkness with haunting immediacy. The compact contours of Rhody, designed by the Norwegian firm JM Robotics, allow for unique vantage points. It managed to peer inside the hold of the Farmer's Daughter, where Dr. Ioset said he could make out ceramics, farm tools and barrels that appeared 'intact.' 'It feels like the team onboard is hitting our stride,' Jason Fahy, an ocean engineer at the University of Rhode Island and the expedition lead, wrote in an update on the expedition's fifth day, shortly after the survey of the Farmer's Daughter. 'From the vessel crew to our most junior undergraduate, everyone has been caught in a state of wonder watching the ROV feed.' The project is the culmination of an effort by local officials to gain recognition for their stretch of the Great Lakes. A year ago, the Biden administration designated a large stretch of eastern Lake Ontario a national marine sanctuary, which confers certain protections — and a measure of clout. Local and state officials hope that the mostly commercial ships now submerged in hundreds of feet of freshwater spur interest from history buffs and recreational divers. They point to Thunder Bay, a marine sanctuary in northern Michigan whose shipwrecks attract thousands of diving enthusiasts each year to the tiny town of Alpena. Lake Champlain, which straddles New York and Vermont, has also become a diving destination. (Unsurprisingly, shipwreck exploration makes for compelling YouTube videos). 'The sanctuary holds enormous potential to elevate Oswego as a premier destination for history enthusiasts, divers and visitors eager to explore the rich heritage of the Great Lakes region,' Oswego's mayor, Robert A. Corradino, wrote in an email. Oswego was once the nation's main hub for lumber. 'Shipping on the Great Lakes was a huge thing,' said Lisa M. Glidden, director of the Great Lakes Institute at SUNY Oswego. That was especially the case as the population of American cities on the East Coast exploded in the 19th century and demand for raw materials like lumber surged. 'But coming across that lake can be really dangerous,' Dr. Glidden said. 'Even today, people mostly stay close to the shore.' Waves on the lake are shorter than those on the ocean but more frequent, Mr. Pittavino, the Oswego curator, explained. 'You have a much more condensed wave pattern that has much more of an ability to destroy a vessel,' he said. Nor could a ship 'outrun a storm on Lake Ontario like you could on an ocean,' he added. 'There's really nowhere to go.' Technological advances and renewed public interest have led to what some have called a 'golden age' of sea-wreck exploration. At the same time, the warmer waters and more turbulent storms caused by climate change could cause sunken ships to deteriorate at a more rapid pace. And the relative accessibility of SCUBA diving could lead to vandalism and looting. 'These will eventually deteriorate,' Dr. Ioset said. 'We may have better tools in the future,' but waiting too long may leave little to explore. 'Now is really the time to try to preserve them, because once these are damaged, we can't get them back.' The expedition comes as scientific budgets, including at NOAA, are facing severe cuts. Mr. Fahy, who is also a retired Navy commander, argued that shipwreck exploration of the kind he and Dr. Ioset were conducting remained a sound investment, since it was 'refining' technology that could have applications across a variety of sectors, including the military. And the wrecks speak to the parts of American history that President Trump seems to favor: commerce, manufacturing, expansion, trade. 'These provide irreplaceable, tangible connections to our history,' Dr. Ioset said. He did lament that 'we don't make shipwrecks like we used to.' But that's for the best, he quickly added.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
R.I. State Crime Lab passes accreditation review. Its director remains under scrutiny.
Rhode Island Crime Laboratory Director Dennis Hilliard sits before the commission that monitors what happens at his lab during its quarterly meeting on Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island State Crime Lab Director Dennis Hilliard says he is still struggling to fill three open positions for firearms examiners, nine months after an investigation found discrepancies in testing conducted at the troubled lab. But the State Crime Laboratory Commission put Hilliard's job performance under the microscope during a 90-minute closed-door meeting Thursday at the Cranston office of the Rhode Island Attorney General. Hilliard, who earns $143,628-a-year as lab director, a position he's held since 1992, waited in the lobby while four of the five commissioners met in a conference room. 'Just to let you know, the person they're going to discuss is me,' Hilliard, 70, told reporters. The lab in Fogarty Hall on the University of Rhode Island's (URI) Kingston campus temporarily suspended toolmark testing last August after discrepancies were found in lab results for casings from a Glock pistol seized as evidence in a 2021 Pawtucket murder case. The casings were flagged as matching a different firearm in possession of the Boston Police Department. That led to delays in nearly two dozen criminal cases, which underwent re-testing at labs in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Hilliard told the commission that all those cases have since been verified. Commissioners had copies of a report by an assessment team from the ANSI National Accreditation Board, which visited the lab in March. The report found 'no issues with the competency of the examiners' who now handle evidence for firearms, trace evidence, and latent prints at the lab. But it did find the lab did not conform with 15 of 172 professional standards or 91.3%. Hilliard said the issues were mostly paperwork-related and that staff were working to address them in order to maintain accreditation. The executive session took up half the commission's quarterly meeting. Deputy Attorney General Adi Goldstein, who chairs the panel as a designee of the AG's office, announced that no action was taken following the commission's return to open session. Hilliard moved up the lab's accreditation review two years sooner than required in its standard accreditation cycle after it had to halt how examiners determine if a cartridge or shell is fired from a specific gun last August. What will it take to exonerate the R.I. State Crime Lab? The lab in Fogarty Hall on the University of Rhode Island's (URI) Kingston campus temporarily suspended toolmark testing after casings to a Glock pistol seized as evidence in a 2021 Pawtucket murder case matched a different firearm in possession of the Boston Police Department. The suspension prompted delays in nearly two dozen criminal cases, which underwent re-testing at labs in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Hilliard told the commission that all those cases have since been verified. A report published last October by California-based consultant Ronald Nichols, who formerly worked for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), found there was a lack of diligence and confirmation bias on the part of three forensic examiners who performed toolmark analysis at the state lab. The three firearms examiners have since left the lab. Nine months later, Hilliard said it's been nearly impossible to find replacements. Most experienced examiners, he said, can work as consultants where they can make far more money in a shorter amount of time compared to what they'd receive at URI. 'We've got a really limited pool,' Hilliard told the commission. Hilliard said only one serious candidate had applied to be a lead examiner position when the position was first up between November and early 2025. That applicant had toured the facility and passed a competency test, but turned down a job offer, saying the salary was too low. At the time, URI offered a salary range of $70,971 to $107,830 for the lead examiner's position. The new job listing posted on URI's website May 16 lists a salary range between $82,082 to $125,379. No applications have been received as of Thursday, Hilliard told the commission. Goldstein questioned why the lab has only recently updated the salary range when Hilliard told the commission in January that a pay bump would likely be needed to attract applicants. Hilliard explained that it took that long for URI to reclassify the job's pay grade. 'It wasn't until last Wednesday that I was informed that they would accept, recruit, and update,' he told the commission. A similar pay update will be required for the position of a standard examiner, which initially had a salary range of $65,980 to $100,314. A technician from Baltimore had been offered a job, but Hilliard said the candidate declined due to family issues. He told Rhode Island Current the new salary will likely range between $76,159 and $116,529. Of the two standard toolmark examiners, Hilliard told the commission one will be filled by an in-house candidate being trained by the ATF. He is expected to begin work early next year, Hilliard told reporters. In the meantime, new toolmark exams will continue to be handled by two former New York City police examiners from Stria Consulting Group contracted by the lab. Any toolmark case still requires final verification by examiners at SCL Forensics in Texas and FoCoSS Forensics in New Hampshire. Additional verification was deemed necessary by the commission to minimize the risk of confirmation bias — the principle that if you know what you're looking for, you're more likely to find it. But Hilliard said third-party labs have slow turnaround times. He told the commission it often takes six to eight weeks to receive the external verification since the labs handle other cases from their own states as well. Hilliard asked the commission to allow the lab to reduce the number of cases verified out of state. Goldstein denied that request, telling Hilliard to come up with a formal proposal for a 'statistically valid sample of cases' for the commission to consider at a future meeting. 'Until that is proposed,we proceed with the current process,' she said. After the meeting ended, Hilliard said he's proud of what he's done for the lab. 'I've done everything in my power to expand this lab,' he said in an interview. 'This was a dream job up until this issue.' 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