The Pulse: Feb. 8, 2022

Space data startup Wyvern has secured $4 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to develop its hyperspectral imaging technology and tackle the environmental impact of the country's agriculture sector.

The funding from SDTC, a federal government foundation that was created to fund technologies working on economic and environmental challenges, is tied to a three-year project that works towards the launch of Wyvern's DragonEye satellite.

"Somebody needs to make this technology that can contribute to solving the climate crisis, and it's going to provide a big ... change in our ability to monitor what's going on on Earth," COO and co-founder Callie Lissinna told Taproot.

Hyperspectral is an advanced imaging technique that collects up to hundreds of different images in different wavelengths, she said, creating a "three-dimensional data block" that can help detect details that would otherwise be invisible.

The DragonEye satellite will be Wyvern's first equipped with its deployable optics technology, enabling it to collect enough light to take hyperspectral images. The satellite will be able to unfold a telescope in space, which is key to capturing affordable high-resolution hyperspectral imagery including 1m VNIR (visible and near-infrared) and 5m SWIR (shortwave infrared).

Wyvern is hoping its project will help reduce farming emissions by at least 5% across the country. One of the ways it will aim to do that is by figuring out how much fertilizer is on any given field throughout the growing season, which could reduce the amount used overall. Another is by building maps of pests and diseases affecting crops so that farmers can increase their yield.

It plans to use the 2,800-acre Olds College Smart Farm to determine if the factors being measured are correct, from moisture content to soil chemistry.

"Farming is this hugely complex problem. There's so many variables ... weather, the type of crops you grow, there's the soil. And the smart farm is one of the few areas where you can actually know a lot of those variables to a scientific degree of accuracy," said Kurtis Broda, co-founder and vice-president of product for Wyvern.

• With an 11-2 vote, city council has approved $18.3 million to support the conversion of the Coliseum Inn into 98 units of supportive housing. "This is preventative medicine," said Coun. Ashley Salvador, who represents the area. Councillors Jennifer Rice and Karen Principe were opposed.
• Transport Canada's Airport Critical Infrastructure Program is slated to provide $10.4 million in funding to the Edmonton International Airport to help it recover from the pandemic and to improve its IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.
• Wild swings in Edmonton's weather are causing issues for city streets, with chunks of ice blocking and subsequently flooding catchment basins. Andrew Grant, the city's general supervisor of infrastructure operations, said 1,003 of these have been cleared out of a total of 1,468 requests. "Crews are working 24 hours a day to clear these," he said.
• For Burn Awareness Week (Feb. 6-12), the city is reminding residents that the majority of home fires start in the kitchen and that Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responded to 150 such calls last year.
• Local intensive care physician Dr. Darren Markland says that it's too soon for the province to end the Restrictions Exemption Program, citing high hospitalization rates. Nearly half of the UCP caucus have released statements asking for the program to be removed or have expressed support for easing public health restrictions.
• The Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association is calling on the province to release more data about overdoses and overdose deaths. Alberta's substance use surveillance dashboard was last updated in January, but it only contains overdose death data until last October.
• Harm reduction organizations Moms Stop the Harm and EACH+EVERY have resigned from a provincial committee examining the potential of a safe supply of drugs to curb opioid deaths. On Friday, four opposition MLAs also resigned from the committee. "Instead of studying this important question of public health policy in good faith, UCP members are clearly intent on staging an extended political stunt. This is unconscionable," a letter from the NDP MLAs said.
• Aspiring Olympic skier Britt Richardson — who is ranked Alberta's fastest 18-year-old giant slalom skier — has strong ties to Edmonton. Her mother, also a skier, was born in the city and studied at the University of Alberta before ultimately settling in Canmore. Richardson is watching the Beijing Winter Olympics from home this week but has her sights set on representing Canada at the 2026 Italian Winter Olympics.
• Black hockey players in Alberta say that there needs to be more work done to combat racism and promote inclusion in the sport.
• Edify caught up with Hunter for a non-verbal interview, in which the Edmonton Oilers' mascot signed his answers, dabbed, and vogued.

Ritchie Community League, one of the most active and creative community leagues in Edmonton, has chosen a novel way to celebrate its 100th anniversary — it has launched a podcast.

A Little Bit Ritchie has ambitious goals: "We aspire to challenge and reassess notions of place, community, and public space, bridging a gap in historical knowledge of our neighbourhood." You can hear that in spades in Episode 1, a deeply researched introduction to the area's namesake and exploration of the effects of settlement on Indigenous people living in the area that would come to be covered by Treaty 6.

Funded by the Edmonton Heritage Council and City of Edmonton, the podcast has a formidable team behind it. It is hosted by Lydia Neufeld (whose voice you may know from CBC Radio), researched by Linnea Bell, and written by Elyse Colville, with production by Castria.

"We hope to address Indigenous history, women's labour rights, social and political activism, transit accessibility, housing security, and environmental activism," Colville wrote. "Understanding the evolution of our community will inform how we can better its future."

Before creating its own podcast, Ritchie had a bit of a history with the medium, as Let's Find Out recorded three episodes based on walking tours of the neighbourhood. It's also worth noting that Erin Fraser, co-chair of the centennial celebration committee, is a stalwart of the Edmonton podcasting scene as co-host of Trash, Art, and the Movies and Bollywood is For Lovers.

You can listen to this and other podcast picks from Taproot on Listen Notes.