Posted on 10/06/2016 8:15:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A 30-year-old postdoctoral researcher at the University of California's plant biology department was killed in Ethiopia when the vehicle she was riding in was struck by rocks thrown by protesters.
The university said in a statement Wednesday that Sharon Gray was in the East African country for a meeting about her research when she was killed Tuesday while traveling in a car in the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. Her field of study was looking at the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on certain tomato roots.
There has been unrest in Ethiopa for months and is increasingly becoming a cause of international concern. But tensions came to a head on Sunday, two days before Gray was killed, when dozens of people were crushed in a stampede after police fired tear gas and rubber pellets to disperse an anti-government protest that grew out of a massive religious festival. The stampede occurred in Oromia, where demonstrators have been actively campaigning for wider freedoms.
During the Olympics, Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia crossed his wrists as he crossed the finish line in Rio to win a silver medal, showing his anti-government stance.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Ethiopia on Aug. 19, reminding tourists that "even demonstrations to be peaceful can can turn confrontational and escalate into violence." The university chose to focus on Gray, a young woman pictured with a wide smile and lots of friends.
“Even in tragedy, we hope that we all can find some comfort in the wonderful work Sharon was engaged in that will better the lives of so many around the world,” Ken Burtis, the university’s acting provost, said in a statement posted on the UC Davis Graduate Studies’ Facebook page.
Gray earned her PhD in 2013 from the school's Department of Plant biology, and did her undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She had been doing her postdoctoral work as a researcher at the UC Davis Brady lab.
The university said what happened was unclear but spokesman Andy Fell confirmed to the the Sacramento Bee that Gray was the American the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia confirmed was killed in an area that has seen months of deadly protests UC Davis says another member of the plant biology department who was traveling with Gray was not injured in is headed home.
This is the first foreigner killed in the massive anti-government protests that have claimed the lives of hundreds of protesters since November 2015.
We have excess emissions of that around here and I wish our government would pass laws making it illegal. It is causing aerosol formations in the sky which are blocking the sunlight. This is causing seasonal affective disorder which is propelling drug usage.
I don’t know what these people were thinking, driving into a violent protest that has been going on for months.
What did they say to the rock-throwing crowd, “we’re botanists and we’re here to save you?”
“Back off, man, I’m a scientist!”
I highly doubt that the rabid crowds raging about had the slightest clue as to what they were doing there, let alone knowing what a “botanist” is.
These people drove into a crowd that was in a frenzy and being driven by pure bloodlust. The mob was looking for any convenient victim to slaughter.
Maybe that’s how the eggplant that ate Chicago got its start.
Michael Crichton Analogy regarding CO2.
“If, says one of Crichton’s characters, the elements of our atmosphere were measured in terms of a football field, nitrogen would take us from the goal to the 78 yard line.
Oxygen would take us from there to the 99-yard line.
Most of the yard remaining consists of argon. Argon takes us to within 3 inches of the goal. Only one inch of the remaining three is made up of carbon dioxide. One inch in 100 yards.
“In the last 50 years, we’re told, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased. But in this analogy, it has increased only 3/8 inch, “less than the thickness of a pencil,” meaning that it is “a miniscule change in our total atmosphere.”
No kidding. Had two invites for seminars this year, didn’t go to either once I knew they were in Chicago.
Good one! Thanks!
Victim of her misguided good will. Would this be considered an old school chimp-out?
...until you know everything about nothing.
Mauna Loa? The NOAA measures atmospheric CO2 at an active volcano?
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