Monthly Archives: September 2012

Kien Giang’s rocking beaches

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A beach at HonSon Island, Kien Hai District, the southern province of Kien Giang

Think beaches in Vietnam, and chances are Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, or Da Nang will spring to mind. Not many people in fact know that down south, in Kien Giang Province, are some remote beautiful beaches.

Kien Hai District, some 30 kilometers from the provinces capital Rach Gia, has 23 islands with beaches that are famous locally like Nha (house), Chen (bowl), Bang, and Bac.

Chen Beach in Hon Tre Island, the districts capital, is the most famous.

Only over 100 meters of its two-kilometer length is sandy. The rest is covered with rocks that look uncannily like overturned bowls when the tide is high. One can go hundreds of meters into the sea without getting the feet wet by walking on the rocks.

With a small rented boat and a fishing rod, tourists can start a leisurely day of fishing 300 meters from shore. Another recommended activity is buying seafood directly from fishermen, usually for cheap, having them cooked, and enjoying them right on the beach.

Not far from Chen is Dong Dua (coconut cavern), which is actually a little bay covered by coconut trees and rocks.

While the island is usually compared to a floating turtle, its tail is Duoi Ha Ba Beach, whose name, translated literally, means sea gods tail. The beach, also known as Dua (pineapple), gets narrower and narrower until it disappears under water.

It is full of rocks, some high enough for climbing. It is also a favorite fishing location for locals since its fish stocks are said to be plentiful because of submerged caves. People often catch groupers weighing a couple of kilograms here.

HOW TO GET THERE

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Kien Giang’s rocking beaches

Study: Gingko biloba does not improve cognition in MS patients

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Public release date: 13-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Todd Murphy murphyt@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University

PORTLAND, Ore. Many people with multiple sclerosis for years have taken the natural supplement Gingko biloba, believing it helps them with cognitive problems associated with the disease.

But the science now says otherwise. A new study published in the journal Neurology says Gingko biloba does not improve cognitive performance in people with multiple sclerosis. The research was published in the Sept. 5, 2012, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The current study was a more extensive look at the question after a smaller 2005 pilot study suggested there might have been some cognitive benefits in MS patients using the supplement. That study found that Gingko seemed to improve attention in MS patients with cognitive impairment.

But the larger follow-up study, conducted with patients at the Portland and Seattle Veterans Affairs medical centers, found no cognitive benefits to using Gingko.

"It's important for scientists to continue to analyze what might help people with cognitive issues relating to their MS," said Jesus Lovera, M.D, the study's lead author, a former fellow at the Portland VA Medical Center and former instructor in Oregon Health & Science University's Department of Neurology, where he did much of the work on the study. Lovera is now with the Department of Neurology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

"We wanted to follow up on the earlier findings that suggested there may be some benefit. But we believe this larger study settles the question: Gingko simply doesn't improve cognitive performance with MS patients," said Lovera.

About one-half of people with MS will develop cognitive problems, and those cognitive problems can be debilitating in some people, said Dennis Bourdette, M.D., a co-author of the study, co-director of the VA MS Center of Excellence-West at the Portland VA Medical Center and chairman of the OHSU Department of Neurology. The most common problems relate to memory, attention and concentration, and information processing.

There is no known treatment that can improve cognition with MS patients which is partly why MS patients and researchers had hoped that Gingko biloba could help.

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Study: Gingko biloba does not improve cognition in MS patients

School: Boston doctor was disciplined for viewing adult pornography

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From Chris Boyette, CNN

updated 10:44 PM EDT, Fri September 14, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- The Boston Children's Hospital pediatric doctor charged with receipt of child pornography was disciplined for using a school computer to access adult pornography when he was medical director at Phillips Academy boarding school, school officials said Friday.

Richard Keller, 56, who is also a pediatrics clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, was the medical director at Philips Academy for 19 years, according to John Palfrey, the head of the school.

In an e-mail to faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents on Friday, Palfrey said Keller was reprimanded in 1999 for using an academy computer to access pornography that featured adult subjects, and in 2002 was reprimanded for showing an inappropriate cartoon to students.

According to Palfrey, Keller was cited for "poor management and poor judgment," leading the Andover, Massachusetts, school to place him on administrative probation in 2009.

Palfrey went on to say that as recently as 2010, Keller sent an inappropriate voice-mail message to a colleague at the school. A claim by Keller that the school had discriminated against him was determined to be "groundless," according to Palfrey.

In April 2011, the academy informed Keller that his contract would not be renewed. The doctor resigned that month, the school said.

"We have no reason to believe that any of our students were involved in, or affected by, Dr. Keller's alleged criminal behavior," Palfrey said, adding the federal case made Thursday against Keller is unrelated to alleged misconduct at Phillips.

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School: Boston doctor was disciplined for viewing adult pornography

School: Doctor was disciplined for viewing adult pornography

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From Chris Boyette, CNN

updated 10:44 PM EDT, Fri September 14, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- The Boston Children's Hospital pediatric doctor charged with receipt of child pornography was disciplined for using a school computer to access adult pornography when he was medical director at Phillips Academy boarding school, school officials said Friday.

Richard Keller, 56, who is also a pediatrics clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, was the medical director at Philips Academy for 19 years, according to John Palfrey, the head of the school.

In an e-mail to faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents on Friday, Palfrey said Keller was reprimanded in 1999 for using an academy computer to access pornography that featured adult subjects, and in 2002 was reprimanded for showing an inappropriate cartoon to students.

According to Palfrey, Keller was cited for "poor management and poor judgment," leading the Andover, Massachusetts, school to place him on administrative probation in 2009.

Palfrey went on to say that as recently as 2010, Keller sent an inappropriate voice-mail message to a colleague at the school. A claim by Keller that the school had discriminated against him was determined to be "groundless," according to Palfrey.

In April 2011, the academy informed Keller that his contract would not be renewed. The doctor resigned that month, the school said.

"We have no reason to believe that any of our students were involved in, or affected by, Dr. Keller's alleged criminal behavior," Palfrey said, adding the federal case made Thursday against Keller is unrelated to alleged misconduct at Phillips.

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School: Doctor was disciplined for viewing adult pornography

Chemistry comes alive at the Botanic Garden

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Chemistry comes alive at the Botanic Garden

5:50pm Friday 14th September 2012 in News

VISITORS to the Botanic Garden in Oxford are being invited to listen and learn about the chemistry giving plants flavours, colours and medicinal properties.

A new audio tour features recordings of students and chemistry lecturers at Oxford University who reveal what fascinates them about plants.

As visitors walk around the garden, off High Street, they can use a hand-held device to trigger recordings about the plants around them.

Senior curator Dr Alison Foster said: This audio trail is a fantastic way for research scientists to engage with the public about chemistry.

This trail will show everyone how important chemistry is and how relevant it is to all aspects of our daily lives.

Visitors can discover the way that lotus leaves use microscopic cushions of air to repel raindrops, how ginger gets its many distinctive flavour from a cocktail of molecules, and how the snowdrop is used to treat Alzheimers disease.

Chairman of the Department of Chemistry Prof Tim Softley said: Chemistry is all around us, and we see it as our responsibility, as leading scientists, to make the subject exciting, relevant, approachable and fun.

In March, an audio guide was created at the garden featuring a recording by author Philip Pullman about a bench which featured in the His Dark Materials trilogy.

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Chemistry comes alive at the Botanic Garden

Love Hurts: Brain Chemistry Explains the Pangs of Separation [Excerpt]

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Larry Young and Brian Alexander explain how heartache begins in the brain in The Chemistry Between Us

By Larry Young and Brian Alexander

Image: Current, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Editor's Note: Neurobiologist Larry Young studies a monogamous species of rodent, the prairie vole, to understand the behavior and chemistry behind relationships. In The Chemistry Between Us, Young teams up with science journalist Brian Alexander to describe science's progress in illuminating the neurochemistry behind our experience of love. In this excerpt, the authors describe the work of neurobiologist Oliver Bosch, a specialist in maternal behavior, who worked with Young's prairie voles to study the bitter price of bonding.

Excerpted from The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction, by Larry Young, PhD, and Brian Alexander, by arrangement with Current, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc., Copyright Larry J. Young and Brian Alexander, 2012.

To investigate the rodent version of getting hugs, and what happens in the absence of hugs from a bonded partner, Bosch took virgin males and set them up in vole apartments with roommateseither a brother they hadn't seen in a long time or an unfamiliar virgin female. As males and females are wont to do, the boy-girl roommates mated and formed a bond. After five days, he split up half the brother pairs, and half the male-female pairs, creating what amounted to involuntary vole divorce. Then he put the voles through a series of behavioral tests.

The first is called the forced-swim test. Bosch likens it to an old Bavarian proverb about two mice who fall into a bucket of milk. One mouse does nothing and drowns. The other tries to swim so furiously the milk turns into butter and the mouse escapes. Paddling is typically what rodents will do if they find themselves in water; they'll swim like crazy because they think they'll drown if they don't. (Actually, they'll float but apparently no rodent floaters have ever returned to fill in the rest of the tribe.)

The voles that were separated from their brothers paddled manically. So did the voles who stayed with their brothers and the voles who stayed with their female mates. Only the males who'd gone through vole divorce floated listlessly as if they didn't care whether they drowned.

"It was amazing," Bosch recalls. "For minutes, they would just float. You can watch the video and without knowing which group they were in, you can easily tell if it's an animal separated from their partner, or still with their partner." Watching the videos of them bob limply, it's easy to imagine them moaning out "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" with their tiny vole voices.

Next Bosch subjected the voles to a tail-suspension test. This test uses the highly sophisticated technique of duct taping the end of an animal's tail to a stick and suspending it. As in the swim test, a rodent thus suspended will usually flail and spin his legs like a cartoon character who's run off the edge of a cliff. Once again, though, while the other males did just that, the divorced males hung like wet laundry.

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Love Hurts: Brain Chemistry Explains the Pangs of Separation [Excerpt]

Top Biotechnology Stock Picks from Oppenheimer & Company Research Analyst

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67 WALL STREET, New York - September 14, 2012 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Valuations - Oncology Drug Development - Orphan Drugs - FDA Approval Process - Reimbursement Trends

Companies include: Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Celgene Corporation (CELG), Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (CLDX), Immunogen Inc. (IMGN), Curis Inc. (CRIS), Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc. (PSTI) and many others.

In the following excerpt from the Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Report, an expert analyst discusses the outlook for the sector:

TWST: What are some of the most exciting or promising new drugs, treatments or technologies coming out of your companies right now that investors should be aware of?

Mr. Peaker: The oncology space is actually very rapidly evolving, so let's start with oncology first - I think that will be interesting. So oncology, and sometimes I guess in the same field people include immunology, is certainly a rapidly evolving space, where new data is presented quite frequently, and studies often don't take a very long period of time compared to some other indications, like figuring cholesterol and things like that.

So in the oncology space, some of the interesting new developments are Celldex (CLDX) as a new drug in breast cancer, which is targeting a completely novel target, which is certainly exciting with some of the early stages of development, but the initial data is very encouraging. Speaking of breast cancer, ImmunoGen (IMGN) with their partner Roche (ROG.VX) - I don't cover Roche, I cover ImmunoGen, but I follow certainly this space. Also, it's a very interesting breast cancer drug that shows very, very promising data. Furthermore, in cancer, Curis (CRIS) with its partner Genentech, recently launched a basal cell carcinoma drug, which is very exciting, and while it still needs a little time to figure out how to best use it, the efficacy is very, very encouraging.

On the cell therapy space, which is another area that I cover, there is a company, Pluristem (PSTI), a small company out there. It's an Israeli-based company that has shown very interesting, certainly initial data, cell therapy treatments that may have broad applications. Let's say Coronado Biosciences (CNDO) is another one that's developing potentially breakthrough treatments, which is more in the immunology space, but it's in Crohn's, which is a broad indication where there are a lot of drugs that are being tested and are certainly approved. But their approach is very novel, and potentially could change the paradigm of treatment if successful. I don't know if you want me to bring up more examples, but this is kind of a good start.

Prolor Biotech (PBTH) is another one that I might want to include there. It is a company that I initiated on just today, so I can speak about it already as developing. This is, as I mentioned, I have oncology and some orphan diseases, but a few companies out there that are, don't fit into any particular category, and so what they're developing, Prolor is developing a delayed-release growth hormone. So as you may know, growth hormone is used in a wide range of indications, some labeled and some are not labeled. And typically, every growth hormone that's available out there requires daily injection. Prolor's technology shows that their version of growth hormone is effective and may be given once a week, maybe every two weeks, but for now at least once a week. And we think it could be a game changer for the growth hormone market, which is well established at this point.

For more from this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

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Top Biotechnology Stock Picks from Oppenheimer & Company Research Analyst

Allele Biotechnology Announces New Advance in Production of Human Stem Cells

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SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

This week in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group), scientists from Allele Biotechnology describe an important advance in the generation of stem cells capable of producing all the different tissues of the human body. In an article entitled Feeder-Free Derivation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Messenger RNA, Alleles scientists present the fastest and safest method yet for converting ordinary human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

The scientific efforts were led by Dr. Luigi Warren, whose pioneering work on footprint-free reprogramming using messenger RNA was the foundation for Alleles breakthrough. Through the united efforts of Dr. Warren and the scientists at Allele Biotechnology, his technique was re-engineered to increase cell conversion efficiency and eliminate any use of potentially unsafe reagents, while substantially reducing the time and effort needed to make stem cells. Dr. Warren believes that because of its advantages this technology should become the method of choice for iPSC cell banking.

According to Dr. Jiwu Wang, corresponding author on the paper and CEO of Allele Biotechnology, This advance in stem cell derivation will enable both fundamental scientific research and clinical applications which has been the mission of Allele Biotechnology from its inception.

Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a San Diego-based biotechnology company that was established in 1999 by Dr. Jiwu Wang and colleagues. A research based company specializing in the fields of RNAi, stem cells, viral expression, camelid antibodies and fluorescent proteins; Allele Biotechnology has always striven to offer products and services at the cutting edge of research.

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Allele Biotechnology Announces New Advance in Production of Human Stem Cells

Free Webinar: What are the Technical Barriers to the Adoption of Digital Pathology

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September 19, 2012 | 11:00AM - 12:00PM EST


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This webinar is the second in the DPA, Association of Pathology Informatics (API), and CAP Today's series of one-hour webinars focusing on the barriers to adoption of digital pathology. Technical Barriers to the Adoption of Digital Pathology will feature Sean Costello, Head of Product Management - Digital Pathology at Leica Microsystems, and Kim Dickinson, Senior Medical Director - Integrated Oncology at US Labs. The webinar will be moderated by Robert McGonnagle, publisher of CAP Today.

All of the webinars in this series serve as a bridge between the recent, comprehensive article about regulatory aspects of digital pathology that appeared in CAP Today (see: Regulators Scanning the Digital Scanners) and the two most important, national conferences focusing on digital pathology, Pathology Visions 2012, the annual conference of the DPA, to be held October 28-31, 2012 and Pathology Informatics 2012 to be held October 9 – 12, 2012 in Chicago.

There is no charge to participate in the webinar, however advance registration is required.


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ARE YOU A MEMBER OF API, CAP, OR ANOTHER ASSOCIATION?

Members of AACR, ACVP, API, APF, ASCO, ASCAP, CAP, CSP, NSH, STP, and USCAP receive registration discount for Pathology Visions 2012.

DPA members aren’t the only association members that will have the opportunity to receive a discounted registration for Pathology Visions 2012. A special affiliate rate has been negotiated for members of the following organizations: AACR, ACVP, API, APF, ASCO, ASCAP, CAP, CSP, NSH, STP, and USCAP. The Affiliated Association & Society registration is all-inclusive.

If you are a member of any of these associations look for an e-mail from your association with registration instructions and a discount code or contact the DPA staff for more information.

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Police hope DNA will help solve cold cases

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For 30 years, Peggy Sue Houser was listed as a missing person. For nearly the same time, the Piqua womans unidentified corpse lay buried in Hillsborough County, Fla.

Last year, DNA brought the two cases together, something that may happen more frequently as local detectives submit genetic samples to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Funded by a National Institute of Justice grant, the Center is taking DNA samples from law enforcement agencies and coroners offices across the country, in an effort to match missing persons cases with unidentified remains.

Dayton Detective Patricia Tackett, who is assigned to cold cases, said she has collected DNA from the family members of nearly all of the eight open missing person cases she has, even the ones where the missing person has been declared dead.

Just because theyre declared dead doesnt mean weve recovered their bodies, and there are plenty of bodies out there, said Tackett.

Cold cases, by nature, are tough if they were easy cases, they would have been solved, police said. But missing persons cases offer a unique set of challenges. There is no body, no crime scene. Sometimes its not exactly clear when the person disappeared. Often police cant even prove a crime has been committed.

But in recent years, the federal government has taken steps to help match the cases of unidentified bodies estimated at more than 40,000 nationwide to those missing persons.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), an online tool administered by the National Institute of Justice, is now fully searchable by the public with databases of information from both missing person cases and those of human remains. NamUS is also administrated at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, like the DNA collection program.

Under the DNA program, law enforcement officials are given free collection kits to obtain the DNA from the close relatives of missing people. The kits are processed at the Center for Human Identification, also for free. The samples are then uploaded into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), so that it can be compared to those of unidentified remains. If relatives are not available, then police sometimes can get a genetic profile from the missing persons property, such as a hairbrush or toothbrush.

The Center claims to have assisted with more than 180 identifications made from Hawaii to New York.

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Police hope DNA will help solve cold cases

Posted in DNA

DNA may help solve cold cases

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For 30 years, Peggy Sue Houser was listed as a missing person. For nearly the same time, the Ohio womans unidentified corpse lay buried in Hillsborough County, Fla.

Last year, DNA brought the two cases together, something that may happen more frequently as local detectives submit genetic samples to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Funded by a National Institute of Justice grant, the Center is taking DNA samples from law enforcement agencies and coroners offices across the country, in an effort to match missing persons cases with unidentified remains.

Cold cases, by nature, are tough if they were easy cases, they would have been solved, police said. But missing persons cases offer a unique set of challenges. There is no body, no crime scene. Sometimes its not exactly clear when the person disappeared. Often police cant even prove a crime has been committed.

In Butler County, missing cases involving Alana Laney Gwinner of Fairfield, Katelyn Markham of Fairfield, Ronald Tammen Jr. of Oxford and William DiSilvestro of Hamilton have went unsolved for years.

But in recent years, the federal government has taken steps to help match the cases of unidentified bodies estimated at more than 40,000 nationwide to those missing persons.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), an online tool administered by the National Institute of Justice, is now fully searchable by the public with databases of information from both missing person cases and those of human remains. NamUS is also administrated at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, like the DNA collection program.

Under the DNA program, law enforcement officials are given free collection kits to obtain the DNA from the close relatives of missing people. The kits are processed at the Center for Human Identification, also for free. The samples are then uploaded into the FBIs Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), so that it can be compared to those of unidentified remains. If relatives are not available, then police sometimes can get a genetic profile from the missing persons property, such as a hairbrush or toothbrush.

Bill Hagmaier, Executive Director of the International Homicide Investigators Association and a former FBI crime profiler, said the recent changes are long overdue. His group helped develop the DNA initiative a few years back, which he said he wanted to do 20 years ago.

He said the military has long done a far better job of matching bodies to those reported missing in action, just so much more than what were doing for our civilians here.

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DNA may help solve cold cases

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Regents set to confirm executive director

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Regents set to confirm executive director

Center for Teaching Excellence: a program whose goal is to assist faculty with implementing technology-driven course enhancements and advanced features of the electronic course management system.

Source: OU Public Affairs

A new director has been appointed to a program at OU designed to help faculty improve courses with new technology.

Teaching strategies expert Mark Morvant, a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, will be appointed Oct. 1 as the executive director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, as long as the OU Board of Regents approves his appointment at its September meeting, according to an OU press release.

Morvant will work with Michele Eodice, associate provost for academic engagement, to embed writing strategies within disciplines across the campus and increase the use of other high-impact instructional techniques, according to the press release.

I think the future for the University of Oklahoma is very bright I think theres an excitement among the faculty about improving the educational experience for our students, and Im honored to lead our faculty in improving the students education, Morvant said.

In 2006, Morvant began teaching at OU as a chemistry professor and was named assistant chairman of the chemistry and biochemistry department in 2011, according to the press release.

He will step down from teaching for a few years to build the Center for Teaching Excellence program but plans on eventually returning to limited teaching on a routine basis, Morvant said.

Morvant also will be stepping down from his position as assistant chairman of the chemistry and biochemistry department but will continue to have a faculty appointment in the department, he said.

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Regents set to confirm executive director

Tourism in China contributes more to GDP than automotive manufacturing

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14 September 2012

The Travel & Tourism industry in China is substantially bigger than automotive manufacturing and supports almost as many jobs as the mining sector.

This is according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sponsored by American Express, released today during a speech by WTTC's President & CEO, David Scowsill, at the 'International Tourism Industry Expo' in Guangdong, China.

The research, undertaken by Oxford Economics, shows that the sector's direct contribution to China's GDP is CNY1.2 trillion which is 13% more than the contribution to the GDP of automotive manufacturing and larger than communications services and the education sector.

Travel & Tourism's total contribution to GDP in China was around 9% of total GDP. This compares to 8% for automotive manufacturing, 7% for education and 5% for communications services.

With 62 million direct, indirect and induced jobs in China, Travel & Tourism supports more jobs than the financial service sector's 48.5 million.

The new research also showed that Travel & Tourism's contribution to GDP is growing faster than most other sectors in China. It will grow by more than 9% over the next ten years, a faster growth rate than the total economy (7.6%).

It highlights that Travel & Tourism is a significant source of exports for revenue for China. In 2011, visitor exports totalled over CNY 300 billion, which was 27% of all service exports and 2% of all exports (including goods and services).

The study also compared the effect of Travel & Tourism spending on GDP and the wider economy.

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Tourism in China contributes more to GDP than automotive manufacturing

Space History Photo: Skylab Concept by George Mueller

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In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, a sketch of Skylab, as drawn by George E. Mueller, NASA associate administrator for Manned Space Flight, is pictured. This concept drawing was created at a meeting at the Marshall Space Flight Center on August 19, 1966.

[Far Out Space Station Concepts by NASA (Gallery )]

The image details the station's major elements. In 1970, the station became known as Skylab. Three manned Skylab missions (Skylab 2 in May 1973; Skylab 3 in July 1973; and Skylab 4 in November 1973) were flown on which experiments were conducted in: space science, earth resources, life sciences, space technology, and student projects.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).

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Space History Photo: Skylab Concept by George Mueller

Making music in outer space

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Most astronauts are engineers, fighter pilots or scientists, but the next Canadian in space will bring an artists sensibility to his command of the International Space Station.

Chris Hadfield is scheduled to rocket off Dec. 5 for six months in the claustrophobic confines of the space station from a launch pad on a barren plateau in Kazakhstan, along with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn. Where some might see a long stint of isolation, the veteran Canadian astronaut sees precious time to create music and visual art.

Video: Mars rover beams back audio recording

A man on the moon

Mr. Hadfield has collaborated with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies to write a song he will record in the space station, using the guitar, keyboard and ukulele on board, along with the clings and clangs of the machinery that scrubs carbon dioxide from the air and runs systems. The space-themed song is already being rearranged for distribution across Canada for use by childrens choirs, school bands and anyone who wants to pay homage to space travel.

Mr. Hadfield, 53, a retired Canadian air force colonel, tried out the untitled track with his band, Bandella, in a Houston club on Wednesday night. We had a big crowd and everybody loved it. Ed is a great songwriter, and hes rightfully proud of his little ditty, Mr. Hadfield said in an interview.

Mr. Hadfield is also working with a Japanese artist named Takahiro Ando to take images of the Earth using a watery lens to refract and reflect them. The process plays on a Japanese tradition of admiring the moon through liquid reflections, whether from a pond, a pan or cup of sake.

The experiment module, as it is called, is a plastic drum with a clear end that will allow Mr. Hadfield to place it against the space stations windows. He will inject water droplets into the drum while a super high-definition camera rolls and captures fine-resolution still photographs. I will try to be Andosans hands and eyes, Mr. Hadfield said from Houston.

Mr. Hadfield, who learned Russian so he can co-pilot the Soyuz spacecraft that will deliver the crew to the space station, has been training for more than two years to run the various systems and experiments under his command.

In a 20-year career in the space program, Mr. Hadfield has spent 20 days in space. Hes also ventured out on spacewalks twice, where he was struck by how it more than goes into your eyes. It fills your entire mind. Its just an overwhelming beauty.

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Space Station Spin-Off Could Protect Mars-Bound Astronauts From Radiation

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It's hard to think of many spinoffs from the $100 billion project to build and launch the International Space Station. In fact, there is precious little done on the ISS that isn't focused on just keeping the thing in orbit.

One exception is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is designed, among other things, to determine whether cosmic ray particles are made of matter or antimatter.

The spectrometer consists of a giant magnet that deflects charged particles and a number of detectors that characterise the mass and energy of these particles. It was bolted to the ISS last year and is currently bombarded by about 1000 cosmic rays per second.

Today, Roberto Battiston at the University of Perugia in Italy and a few pals say that the technology developed for the spectrometer could be used for protecting astronauts from radiation during the long duration spaceflights in future.

The journey to the asteroids, Mars or beyond is plagued with technological problems. Among the most challenging is finding a way to protect humans from the high energy particles that would otherwise raise radiation levels to unacceptable levels.

On Earth, humans are protected by the atmosphere, the mass of the Earth itself and the Earth's magnetic field. In low earth orbit, astronauts loose the protection of the atmosphere and radiation levels are consequently higher by two orders of magnitude.

In deep space, astronauts loose the protecting effect of the Earth's mass and its magnetic field, raising levels a further five times and beyond the acceptable limits that humans can withstand over the 18 months or so it would take to get to Mars or the asteroids.

An obvious way to protect astronauts is with an artificial magnetic field that would steer charged particles away. But previous studies have concluded that ordinary magnets would be too big and heavy to be practical on a space mission.

However, superconducting magnets are more powerful, more efficient and less massive. They are much better candidates for protecting humans.

The only problem is that nobody has built and tested a superconducting magnet in space.

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Space Station Spin-Off Could Protect Mars-Bound Astronauts From Radiation

Masten Space Systems Loses Rocket After Record Flight

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Masten Space Systems has lost one of its research rockets after a mostly successful test flight this week. Company spokesman Colin Ake told Wired the flight was designed to expand the flight envelope of its Xaero rocket when the incident occurred.

One of the primary goals was to test how the vehicle would handle at higher wind loads and at higher altitudes, Ake said.

Xaero is part of Mastens development program to build a reusable, sub-orbital rocket that is capable of precision landings. The 12-foot-tall rocket had made 110 flights before this weeks accident. The flight at the Mojave Air and Space Port was supposed to fly to an altitude of one kilometer while testing the flight controls at higher ascent and descent velocities and then return to a precise landing point.

With about two-thirds of the flight complete, Xaero was in the descent stage when control was lost.

As we were throttling up for landing, we had a throttle valve failure, it was essentially stuck, Ake said. We are entirely dependent on high-precision throttling, thats the core of the handling in the descent stage. The flight was terminated and the vehicle was destroyed.

Ake says the safety systems worked as they were designed, but could not say whether the on-board system terminated the flight or if the flight was terminated by a person on the ground.

No one was hurt, thats the most important thing, he added. Hardware failures happen. Rocket science is a cliche because rocket science is not easy.

Indeed, after more than 220 successful vertical take-off and landing test flights over the past two years, Masten was beginning to make the development of precision-landing rockets look routine. This weeks accident is a reminder of the dangers of flight-testing new rocket vehicles.

Xaero flew to an altitude of 444 meters on July 4. Masten is focused on the precision landings that will allow its rockets to fly into space and return to a specific landing spot on the ground, rather than a ballistic reentry with a splashdown in the ocean.

The company already has an updated, larger version of the Xaero standing in its facility in Mojave. Ake would not say when the first flight of the new version was expected to happen.

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Masten Space Systems Loses Rocket After Record Flight