Page 28 - aruba-today-20190112

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 12 January 2019

Inmates battling addiction get an unlikely ally: A puppy

By MICHAEL CASEY in which inmates raise and
Associated Press care for animals, typically
BOSCAWEN, N.H. (AP) dogs.
— Caitlin Hyland’s New NEADS World Class Service
Hampshire jail cell looks Dogs works with inmates
like those of many of her at seven facilities in Massa-
fellow inmates, featuring chusetts and Rhode Island
family photos, a few books to train service dogs, while
and a cot. But one thing Leader Dogs For the Blind
sets it apart: the cage on works with prisons in Minne-
the floor for a 10-week-old sota, Iowa and Michigan in
puppy. raising puppies that even-
Hyland, a 28-year-old from tually become guide dogs
Concord, New Hampshire, for people who are blind.
who is serving time for a At one program at the Erie
drug conviction, is one of County Correctional Fa-
four inmates at the Merri- cility in New York, inmates
mack County jail who are raise pheasant chicks that
training puppies. In a part- are then released into the
nership between a group wild.
called Hero Pups and the Supporters of the programs
jail, two male and two fe- say the puppies get a dedi-
male inmates, who are all cated trainer while the in-
in the jail’s drug treatment mates learn to be more
program, will raise the caring, compassionate
puppies for the next two In this Jan. 8, 2019, photo, inmate Caitlin Hyland gives a treat to a chocolate lab puppy that lives and enterprising — skills
months. They will eventually in her cell at Merrimack County Jail in Boscawen, N.H. that can help them once
be handed over to military Associated Press they are released. Several
veterans and first respond- day, walk it every two hours love yourself before you tin, 33, of Barnstead, New studies suggest that puppy
ers who are struggling with for 20 minutes and is giving can appreciate the love Hampshire. “With me and programs in prisons and jails
post-traumatic stress disor- it obedience training. The something else is giving my sobriety and recovery, have reduced anxiety and
der and other challenges. dog stays with her around you.” it’s just really a life-changer. depression among inmates
“It feels like a second the clock. Justin Martin, another in- He is really changing two and increased morale
chance,” Hyland said of “It’s just amazing to have mate, says his dog has giv- lives.” among staff. Some groups
being chosen to raise the that unconditional love,” en him a sense of purpose. The program is the first of say the programs have
chocolate Labrador re- she continued. “I am learn- “Knowing he is going on to its kind in New Hampshire lowered recidivism rates,
triever mix puppy. She must ing so much about finding help someone else is totally but mirrors similar pro- though it’s unclear what
feed the dog three times a the balance. You have to huge for me,” said Mar- grams around the country role the puppies played.q

China broadcasts spacecraft pictures from moon’s far side

Associated Press tional Space Administra- chief of the ground appli-
BEIJING (AP) — China on tion, said before engineers cation system of Chang’e
Friday broadcast pictures at the Beijing center. 4. “From the panorama,
taken by its rover and land- “Now I declare that the we can see the probe is
er on the moon’s far side, Chang’e 4 mission, as a surrounded by lots of small
in what its space program part of the Chang’e Lunar craters, which was really
hailed as another triumph Exploration Program, has thrilling,” Li was quoted as
for the groundbreaking mis- been a success,” Zhang saying.
sion to the less-understood said. The space administration
sector of the lunar surface. Pictures transmitted back also released a 12-minute
The pictures on state show a rocky surface with video of Chang’e 4’s land-
broadcaster CCTV showed the jagged edge of craters ing utilizing more than 4,700
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the screen at the Jade Rabbit 2 rover in the background, posing images taken by an on-
the Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows the lander of the
Chang’e-4 probe, right, and the rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2) and the Chang’e 4 space- a challenge for controllers board camera. The probe
taking photos of each other, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. craft that transported it on in plotting the rover’s future is shown adjusting its alti-
Associated Press the first-ever soft landing on travels, the official Xinhua tude, speed and pitch as it
the far side of the moon, News Agency said. seeks to avoid obstacles on
which always faces away Among the images is a the ground.
from Earth. 360-degree panorama Researchers hope that low-
“The lander, its rover, and stitched together from 80 frequency observations of
the relay satellite are all in a photos taken by a cam- the cosmos from the far
stable condition. They have era on the lander after it side of the moon, where
reached the predeter- released the rover onto the radio signals from Earth are
mined engineering goals, lunar surface, Xinhua said, blocked, will help scientists
right now they are getting citing Li Chunlai, deputy di- learn more about the ear-
into the stage of scientific rector of the National Astro- ly days of the solar system
searches,” Zhang Kejian, nomical Observatories of and birth of the universe’s
director of the China Na- China and commander-in- first stars. q