of essential supplies

“There was also the fact that this map had already been presented by another cartographer decades ago,” Braun said, explaining the second problem.Scottish scientist James Gall indeed first published an identical projection in a science journal in 1855, but it went unnoticed. There is no proof, some researchers say, that Peters outrightly plagiarised Gall, but critics say his failure to credit the earlier researcher is still problematic.

In 2016, the debate resurfaced with renewed vigour after public schools in the US city of Boston switched to what many now refer to as the “Gall-Peters” projection. Officials said the move was part of a three-year effort to “decolonise the curriculum”. Teachers said they were amazed to see students questioning their view of the world after the switch.However, many experts and map enthusiasts were annoyed by the fact that Boston chose Peters, and as such, gave the projection renewed relevance.Al Jazeera reached out to the Boston Public Schools (BPS) for comment.

Amid the Boston schools’ drama, one group of researchers decided they’d had enough of Peters and set out to do something.Cartographer Bernard Jenny, who teaches immersive visualisation at Australia’s Monash University, said he was approached by Tom Patterson, a retired cartographer with the UN National Parks, for the task. Together with software engineer Bojan Savric, the team in 2018 created an equal area map they called the “Equal Earth” projection.

That version, which sees Africa expand impressively, is increasingly seen as the closest thing to a perfect area map. It’s the same one Ogundairo’s team is pushing for.

“But that’s maybe a slightly pretentious name,” Jenny laughed over a Zoom call, explaining that Equal Earth is still not a perfect representation of the Earth. “We were just tired of the Peters resurgence and wondered why people would go with that when it’s not even the best in terms of anything,” he said.“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” said Madhusudhan. “This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

Susie Wiles, an ally of President Donald Trump, was reportedly the target of an impersonation campaign using her voice.The United States government has opened an investigation into apparent efforts to impersonate White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in communications to politicians.

On Friday, a White House official confirmed to The Associated Press that a probe had been opened, following a report about the impersonation in The Wall Street Journal a day prior.Anonymous sources told The Journal that governors, business leaders and senators had received messages and phone calls from someone posing as Wiles, who is a