AB Carl Jesus.

Today we're taking you to Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean about 1000 miles off the eastern coast of Africa.

The nation has declared a state of environmental emergency because oil from a shipwreck has been spilling into the waters off Mauritius's east coast as it sailed from China to Brazil, a Japanese oil tanker reportedly ran into a reef near Mauritius in late July.

Since then, the cracks in the vessel structure have been expanding and workers have been racing to remove oil from it, too.

Small tankers have been pumping oil from the ship, its owners say helicopters have also been helping.

This week, the Mauritian prime minister said almost all the oil that was in the ship had been removed.

But what about the oil that's leaked out?

The environmental group Greenpeace says 1000 metric tons of oil have found their way into the ocean, and the spill is close to two protected marine ecosystems.

That's the reason for the environmental emergency.

Thousands of Mauritian locals have volunteered to clean up whatever oil they can, and a number of charities have been working to save wildlife and plants in the area.

Mauritius has a relatively strong economy, with one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa.

But it's asked for help from France, a major trading partner, in part because Mauritius says it doesn't have the skills and expertise to refloat a stranded ship.

And because a big segment of Mauritius is economy is based on tourism that's already taken a hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

12th trivia in U.

S ELECTIONS If there's a tie in the Electoral College whose elects the president, voters in a run off the House of Representatives and the Senate or the secretary of state in the unlikely event of a tie, the House select the president and the Senate, the vice president.

In recent presidential elections, more than 120 million Americans have cast their votes, but ultimately, the person who sits in the Oval Office is chosen by 538 Americans.

These folks are the electors of the Electoral College, a system established by America's founding fathers.

Americans do not vote directly for their president.

I'm not talking about a government conspiracy.

I'm talking about the Electoral College, a system that has been around since the birth of our nation.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is not a building or institution.

It's just the name given to a designated group of people who cast each state's official votes for president.

This group is made up of 538 people.

Each state has a different number of electors based on their representatives in Congress.

So states like California and Texas have more votes than states like North and South Dakota.

The only exception.

The District of Columbia, which has three electors despite not having any voting members in Congress.

How does it work?

Each party selects their own group of electors.

Each state that empowers the electors who represent the candidate who won the most votes except Nebraska and Maine will award electors based on a combination of statewide results and District's won.

The candidate who receives at least 270 Electoral College votes becomes the next president.

What if there's a tie?

If there is a tie or if somebody doesn't get to 270?

The House of Representatives appoints the president and the Senate chooses the vice president.

Why does this system exist?

In short, the Electoral College was created as a compromise of several different proposals by the nation's founders.

Critics say the system allows candidates to become president without necessarily securing a majority of voters.

Support advocates argue it ensures less populated states aren't completely ignored.

How are these people selected?

The electors are chosen by their political parties in each state.

The only rule is that they cannot currently hold office.

Can an elector ignore the popular vote?

Yes, it's called a faithless elector, but it's rare, and it has never affected the outcome of an election.

Some states require formal pledges enforced by fines and possible jail time, but historically speaking members rarely depart from the will of the people.

Uh huh.

We've been working on a Siri's off vertebrae from the Isle of Wight, which we believe belongs to a new genus and species of therapy.

Dinosaur.

Yeah, yeah, it looks like.

And another piece your bone.

Not too sure.

You pick it up and have a look not far from the last piece on.

Once I got him in the and did a little bit of a jig, you know, because I knew very was something special.

We called it the Airfield Hunter, the unexpected airfield hunter from the Isle of Weight.

A thing that's unusual about the deposit that they were found in is it's a marine deposit on dinosaurs are terrestrial animals.

So somehow a dinosaur died and ended up in unexpected deposit from the past to the future.

Space tourism, in which ordinary people will be able to pay for a ride into orbit, has been the goal of companies like Virgin Galactic for years.

Though the technology has been moving forward, the launch date has been delayed repeatedly.

The first trip, which was expected to take place in the middle of this year, was pushed back to at least 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic and the new safety measures it requires.

Once more test flights air completed, space tourism could finally get off the ground, at least for those who have the money for a ticket.

Welcome to Space Scotland.

Tell us about the process of designing the cabin, you know, what are some of the unique elements that you guys had to keep in mind?

You know, we start with three basic proposition.

Safety, comfort and the space experience.

Right, so you have super safe seats that also provide tremendous comfort.

But then we fill the space with, you know, a dozen windows and customized lighting on a huge mirror, our space mirror in the back of the vehicle so people can see themselves in space.

And I think something like 16 different cameras all over the cabin to capture it all.

And other, any specific design elements that you're particularly proud of, anything that was particularly hard to solve for, you know, placing that number of cameras in the environment in a way that's non obtrusive and safe.

But also that captures every single thing that's happening in that experience because that's what our customers want.

Want to capture that whole experience?

It was really a challenging, but really, I think effectively done design problem now.

Michael you recently joined Virgin Galactic as the new CEO of the company, and before that you worked at Disney as the president of Disney Parks International.

What does this design reveal mean for the company?

It's such an important part of the experience as our customers or future astronauts, make it to space.

And I think it shows the attention to detail that Virgin Galactic will be putting in thio each and every part of this experience from the time you find on with us all the way through your preparation up to this amazing perspective and flight.

And then afterwards, aesthetically, what is your favorite part of the cabin it's designed for when you're wait list and having this unbelievable perspective of our planet.

And so everything about that gets out of the way so that you can kind of take that moment in the seats, come down, you open up the space, the windows actually work is your groups from wherever you are.

But it's recognizing that you are going to be in angles that you've never been in in your life.

As you capture this moment that, you know in some logistics, if you sports car fans were to close your eyes and envision something called the Hyperion Zip one, this is probably close to what you'd imagine.

It's a prototype for a supercar that would go from 0 to 60 in just over two seconds and travel up to 1000 miles on a single tank of fuel that fuel would be hydrogen.

The car maker hopes to fuel interest in it.

It's on Lee.

Emission is water, but hydrogen gas is more expensive and harder to find than gasoline.

But could it fuel a new hydro generation of vehicles?

Anything with 1000 horses powering it would be a gas to drive.

And for racing, hydrogen is already atomic number one.

Y'all, I'm Carla Zeus.

Today's show goes out to the Tennessee School for the Blind.

It's in Nashville, Tennessee.

We hope you and everyone in our audience worldwide has a wonderful weekend ahead.