Governments are beginning to use testing as a means of limiting the risks of COVID-19 importation when re-opening their borders to travelers without quarantine measures.

IATA calls for systematic COVID-19 testing of all international travelers

To re-open borders without quarantine and restart aviation governments need to be confident that they are effectively mitigating the risk of importing COVID-19. This means having accurate information on passengers’ COVID-19 health status.

IATA Travel Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories, and travellers, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) writes in a press release.

Elyse Fournier Portfolio

The Goddess of the Ocean, by Elyse Fournier. Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24in

Originally from Quebec, Canadian self-taught multidisciplinary artist and horticulturist Elyse Fournier creates fantastic worlds within worlds, using a combination of techniques from painting by brush to fluid acrylic pouring on canvas, bringing to life surreal and abstract underwater scenes mixing vivid color and wandering imagination.

Clam lived to be over 500 years old

This makes the otherwise unassuming Arctica islandica clam the longest lived animal species on record, though some corals are probably much older. The clam was initially named Ming by Sunday Times journalists, in reference to the Ming dynasty, during which it was born.

Researchers from Bangor University in North Wales – unaware of the animal’s impressive age – determined the age by drilling through and counting rings on its shell (a technique known as sclerochronology). In the process the clam died.