Monthly Archives: August 2017

Young Astronaut Hopeful Gets NASA Tour Of His (Space) Dreams … – NPR

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Sixteen-year-old Murad Rahimov peered down into a gigantic space he had only dreamed about before: the world's largest clean room, kept scrupulously free of any dust or contamination, where NASA assembles and tests spacecraft before launch.

Murad's eyes gleamed and a smile played on his face as he took it all in the scientists encased in sterile white suits; the replica of the massive new space telescope, the most powerful ever built, that will study the first galaxies born after the Big Bang.

Murad is obsessed with space. He has been ever since he was three, back in his home country Uzbekistan. His young imagination was sparked when his aunt gave him a picture book about space, and he couldn't stop looking at the images of the solar system. Soon after, he told his parents his dream: He wanted to become an astronaut and work for NASA.

On this recent day, he was getting a private tour of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., thanks to an NPR listener who heard about Murad's passion for space in a story that aired earlier this year. In January, NPR profiled the Rahimov family on the day they became naturalized as U.S. citizens. The Rahimovs immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010, when Murad was nine. When they first landed in Kansas City, Murad spoke no English. Now, heading into his junior year of high school, he's on an accelerated track, taking extra classes in the summer and packing his schedule with AP courses.

Listener Aaron Schnittman heard that story on the radio, and his ears perked up when he heard that Murad's goal is to work for NASA. He emailed NPR that same day, that his brother is a research astronomer working for NASA at Goddard. "I think it would be a cool follow up to connect the son to my brother and help him make the connections needed to pursue studies in astronomy," he wrote.

Cool, indeed. The connection was made, emails were exchanged, and last week, at the invitation of Jeremy Schnittman, Murad and his mother, Limara Rahimova, made the trip to Goddard outside Washington, D.C. Schnittman, an astrophysicist who specializes in black holes, spent several hours showing the Rahimovs the inner workings of the space flight center and sharing his enthusiasm for space science.

Murad was clearly in his element, sporting a t-shirt with a picture of the Millennium Falcon spaceship from Star Wars, and a line from the movie: "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy."

He and his mother got to see the giant cryo-vac chamber where spacecraft are tested to find out if they'll withstand the extreme temperatures of space. They walked inside the acoustic chamber that blasts spacecraft with earsplitting sound to simulate the vibration of launch. They toured the laser lab where scientists are fine-tuning measurements to detect gravitational waves. "Amazing," Murad marveled.

Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist who specializes in black holes, spent several hours with Murad and his mother. Melissa Block/NPR hide caption

Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist who specializes in black holes, spent several hours with Murad and his mother.

Back in his office, ("black hole central," as he calls it) Schnittman talked with Murad about his research into how light gets bent around black holes. Naturally, they both share a hero in Albert Einstein, whose photo Schnittman keeps pinned above his desk. "It's remarkable," Schnittman said. "It's over 100 years since Einstein did all of this stuff, and still, everything is Einstein. Einstein, Einstein, Einstein."

When Murad mused about the possibilities of time travel, Schnittman sounded optimistic. "It's really not that much of a stretch to say that we're one step closer to time travel," he told Murad. "This is something that Einstein predicted 100 years ago. According to the theory, the equations, time travel should be possible. The trick is just building it and getting it to work, but as far as we can tell, there's no rule against it."

The astrophysicist and the would-be astronaut parted ways with the promise to stay in touch.

Murad touring NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center with astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman. Melissa Block/NPR hide caption

Murad touring NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center with astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman.

Later Murad said he loves science because it shows "the sheer awesomeness, the sheer scale of how insignificant and alone we are in the universe. All these petty fights that people have between themselves, they are just insignificant. When you start thinking about space, you get lost in the vastness of it. That's what captivates me the most."

Now that he's a U.S. citizen, he believes his dream of becoming an astronaut is more within reach. He and his brother automatically became citizens when their parents did. Murad was at school the day they took the oath: "I came home and looked at my parents, and felt all this pride," he said. "You could sense that something has changed. They were smiling from ear to ear."

For his mother, Limara, becoming a U.S. citizen has grounded her in a new way. "I felt before like I'm between countries," she said. "But now I feel like I'm staying ...both my feet here in this land."

Limara works at a school, and each morning they all stand for the pledge of allegiance. Before, she said, "it didn't touch me. But now, yes! And I know what each word in the pledge of allegiance means. And it means, for me, a lot."

As for Murad? The rising high school junior has his sights set on going to Cal Tech, and on the Mars mission he dreams of one day leading. "Some people, they tell me to try to get a real job," he said, "of maybe not shooting so high. But nah. I'm shooting for it. I'm gonna chase my dreams."

Meantime, there's a celestial show about to happen, one he's been excited about for years: the total solar eclipse.

Murad's hometown, Kansas City, is a perfect spot to see it: right in the path of totality.

Next Monday he will be outside, watching in awe as the moon slides over the sun, and dreaming big dreams of space.

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Young Astronaut Hopeful Gets NASA Tour Of His (Space) Dreams ... - NPR

NASA’s Cassini probe dives into Saturn’s atmosphere – CNN

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The spacecraft embarked on the first orbit on Sunday evening, marking a turning point in planetary exploration as Saturn's upper atmosphere has never previously been explored.

The probe's instruments are expected to collect rich scientific data as it makes the dives, potentially revealing how the planet is arranged internally and how much material is contained in its icy rings.

With the first pass still in progress, Cassini will go where no craft has gone before -- reaching as close as 1,010 and 1,060 miles (1,630 and 1,710 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops.

"It's long been a goal in planetary exploration to send a dedicated probe into the atmosphere of Saturn, and we're laying the groundwork for future exploration with this first foray," Spilker said.

Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004. The craft revolutionized scientists' knowledge of Saturn, with its first close-up survey of the gas giant.

The craft is now locked into a terminal collision course with the atmosphere of the planet, where it is expected to burn up like a meteor on September 15 at 9:45 a.m. GMT (6:45 a.m. ET).

At this point, contact will be permanently lost and the spacecraft will burn up.

Experts say that allowing Cassini to be destroyed reduces the risk of the probe damaging one of Saturn's moons and impacting future scientific work.

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NASA's Cassini probe dives into Saturn's atmosphere - CNN

NASA Is Finally Going to Wake up the New Horizons Spacecraft – Futurism

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In Brief After five months of rest, New Horizons is being woken up by NASA so it can investigate a mysterious ancient object in the Kuiper Belt. The object, MU69, is located 4 billion miles from Earth and could teach us about the formation of our solar system. Well Rested

After five months of beauty sleep, New Horizons is about to be woken up. The craft was powered down whileit made its way through the Kuiper Belt, and on September 11, NASA plans to revive the spacecraft so it can investigate an ancient object thats located some 6.5 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth.

New Horizons was put to sleep in April 2017 following a mammoth two-and-a-half year stretch spent observing Pluto. A lengthy hibernation like this is one way to cut down on wear and tear, which can be an issuefor a spacecraft that has now spent more than a decade off-world since launching in January 2006.

The purpose of New Horizons is to investigate the bodies on the very edge of our solar system. When it launched, Pluto was still considered a planet, and the best images we had of it were blurry snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

New Horizons offered up some truly breathtaking photos of Pluto, packed with details that had previously gone unseen. Now, the spacecraft is gearing up for the most distant flyby in the history of space exploration in an attempt to answer questions about the ancient history of our solar system.

The Kuiper Belt otherwise known as the Third Zone is home to a space rock known as MU69. Hubbles latest images suggest that its probably two binary objects or a pair of rocks that are stuck together, each of which measures around 19 kilometers (12 miles) across. New Horizons is about to clear up the confusion.

NASA was given some important data to help plan the flyby when MU69 passed in front of a starin July 2017. By capturing its shadow using a set of telescopes set up in Patagonia, Argentina, astronomers were given reason to believe that the object could be either a binary pair or a skinny, football-shaped body.

It may even be a swarm of smaller bodies left from the time when the planets in our solar system formed, Alan Stern, NASAs principal investigator for New Horizons, told The Telegraph. New exploration awaits us. It promises a scientific bonanza for the flyby.

MU69 could providesome important insight into how our solar system came to be. The object is thought to be 4 billion years old, and itcould offer cluesabout the formation ofcelestial bodies situated on the edge of our solar system.

New Horizons still has a bit of a journey before it can start sending us images of MU69, however the spacecraft isnt scheduled to pass by the object until January 1, 2019.

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NASA Is Finally Going to Wake up the New Horizons Spacecraft - Futurism

See fruit punch attack a NASA astronaut’s face in space – CNET

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Liquids behave very differently in microgravity than they do down on Earth. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer demonstrated a particularly odd and entertaining property of tropical punch in a video showing how to make a wet mess while floating around the International Space Station.

Fischer used a repurposed condiment bottle with a makeshift "NASA rocks" label. He filled it with tropical punch, placed a straw into the opening and blew air in to displace the liquid.

On Earth, the punch would have spewed out and dropped down under the power of gravity. In space, it turns into what looks like a giant gum bubble, clinging to Fischer's face and covering his mouth, nose and eyes. Fischer finally pops the bubble with a towel and it explodes into small floating punch globules.

The video, which Fischer posted on Friday, is fun, but's also a fascinating lesson about how liquids react without the pull of gravity to keep them in line.

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See one astronaut's wild pictures from space

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See fruit punch attack a NASA astronaut's face in space - CNET

An Exclusive Look Inside The Secretive Building Where NASA Makes Rockets – Futurism

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Have you ever considered the logistics that go into assembling NASAs gargantuan rockets? Well, it all happens in theVehicle Assembly Building (VAB)at the Kennedy Space Center.

The VAB is the only building in existencethat assembled rockets that carried humans to the surface of another world. It was completed just three years before we set foot on the Moon.

The 2,664,883 cubic meter (129,428,000 cubic feet) buildingis one of the worlds largest buildings by volume, and it is the worlds largestone-story building. It was built in the early 1960s to house Saturn V rockets of the Apollo Program, and later it was used for Space Shuttle launch configuration. Now, its being prepped to support the SLSthe rocket that may carry the first humans to Mars.

Ultimately, this building is a critical part of NASAs plans to launch humans (and equipment) into the far reaches of our solar system. But dont start packing your bags to visit; no tours are open to the public. Since 2014, it has been referred to as one of therestricted areas of Americas Spaceport

Recently though, Futurism got a peek into the VAB, and some inside information from NASA experts on what the future holds for the historic site.

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An Exclusive Look Inside The Secretive Building Where NASA Makes Rockets - Futurism

NASA mobilizes citizen-scientists to capture total eclipse – Christian Science Monitor

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August 14, 2017 The sun is about to spill some of its secrets, maybe even reveal a few hidden truths of the cosmos. And you can get in on the act next week if you are in the right place for the best solar eclipse in the United States in nearly a century.

Astronomers are going full blast to pry even more science from the mysterious ball of gas that's vital to Earth. They'll look from the ground, using telescopes, cameras, binoculars and whatever else works. They'll look from the International Space Station and a fleet of 11 satellites in space. And in between, they'll fly three planes and launch more than 70 high-altitude balloons.

"We expect a boatload of science from this one," said Jay Pasachoff, a Williams College astronomer who has traveled to 65 eclipses of all kinds.

Scientists will focus on the sun, but they will also examine what happens to Earth's weather, to space weather, and to animals and plants on Earth as the moon totally blocks out the sun. The moon's shadow will sweep along a narrow path, from Oregon to South Carolina.

Between NASA and the National Science Foundation, the federal government is spending about $7.7 million on next Monday's eclipse. One of the NASA projects has students launching the high-altitude balloons to provide "live footage from the edge of space" during the eclipse.

But it's not just the professionals or students. NASA has a list of various experiments everyday people can do.

"Millions of people can walk out on their porch in their slippers and collect world-class data," said Matt Penn, an astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Ariz.

Dr. Penn is chief scientist for a National Science Foundation-funded movie project nicknamed Citizen CATE. More than 200 volunteers have been trained and given special small telescopes and tripods to observe the sun at 68 locations in the exact same way. The thousands of images from the citizen-scientists will be combined for a movie of the usually hard-to-see sun's edge.

Mike Conley, a Salem, Ore., stock trader whose backyard is studded with telescopes, jumped at the chance to be part of the science team.

"Who knows? Maybe a great secret will come of this, the mysteries of the sun will be revealed, because we're doing something that's never been done before and we're getting data that's never been seen before," he said. "A big discovery will come and everybody will say, 'Hey, we were part of that!' "

You don't need to have telescopes to help out. You can use the iNaturalist app via the California Academy of Sciences and note the reaction of animals and plants around you. You can go to a zoo, like the Nashville Zoo, where they are asking people to keep track of what the animals are doing. The University of California, Berkeley, is seeking photos and video for its Eclipse Megamovie 2017, hoping to get more than 1,000 volunteers.

Even with all the high-tech, high-flying instruments now available, when it comes to understanding much of the sun's mysteries, nothing beats an eclipse, said Williams College's Dr. Pasachoff. That's because the sun is so bright that even satellites and special probes can't gaze straight at the sun just to glimpse the outer crown, or corona. Satellites create artificial eclipses to blot out the sun, but they can't do it as well as the moon, he said.

The corona is what astronomers really focus on during an eclipse. It's the sun's outer atmosphere where space weather originates, where jutting loops of red glowing plasma lash out and where the magnetic field shows fluctuations. The temperature in the outer atmosphere is more than 1 million degrees hotter than it is on the surface of the sun and scientists want to figure out why.

"It's ironic that we've learned most about the sun when its disk is hidden from view," said Fred "Mr. Eclipse " Espenak, a retired NASA astronomer who specialized in eclipses for the space agency.

And they learn other things, too. Helium the second most abundant element in the universe wasn't discovered on Earth until its chemical spectrum was spotted during an eclipse in 1868, Dr. Espenak said.

But that discovery is eclipsed by what an eclipse did for Albert Einstein and physics.

Einstein was a little known scientist in 1915 when he proposed his general theory of relativity, a milestone in physics that says what we perceive as the force of gravity is actually from the curvature of space and time. It explains the motion of planets, black holes and the bending of light from distant galaxies.

Einstein couldn't prove it but said one way to do so was to show that light from a distant star bends during an eclipse. During a 1919 eclipse, Arthur Eddington observed the right amount of bending, something that couldn't be done without the moon's shadow eclipsing the sun.

"It marked a complete change in the understanding of the universe," said Mark Littmann of the University of Tennessee, a former planetarium director. "Bang. Right there."

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

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NASA mobilizes citizen-scientists to capture total eclipse - Christian Science Monitor

A nanotechnology overnight sensation 30 years in the making! – BetaNews

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One of my favorite mad scientists sent me a link recently to a very important IEEE paper from Stanford. Scientists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) have managed to observe in real time the growth of nanocrystalline superlattices and report that they can grow impressively in only a few seconds rather than the days or weeks they were formerly thought to take. What this means for you and me is future manufacturing on an atomic scale with whole new types of materials we cant even imagine today.

Whats strange about this is not that these developments are happening but that they took so long to be discovered because my mad scientist has been telling me for over a decade that it was coming.

You see the effect just noticed by SLAC was first observed in the late 1980s by Soviet scientists coating optics for spy satellites. The main scientist involved then is no longer alive but his work lives quietly on and my somewhat smug buddy has been using it to build sheets of cheap graphene in his microwave oven ever since.

No, I dont know why my friend hasnt chosen to exploit this commercially but I swear he first mentioned it to me at least a decade ago and maybe longer. Hes been waiting decades for someone else to figure it out.

Whats important now is that this effect is real and will allow vast quantities of nano materials to be quickly manufactured. In his graphene experiment, which involved vacuum deposition controlled by an audio oscillator, my friend could lay down billions of precisely positioned carbon atoms per second.

This means a major change in the way well actually use nano materials. When I first wrote about nano technology in the early 1990s we were talking mainly about tiny machines that would eat cholesterol plaque out of your arteries. Another possibility I wrote about was using little machines in an elemental aqueous soup to toil away eventually producing a replica 1957 Studebaker Gold Hawk complete with a full tank of gasoline. This was totally possible but an expert at the time warned me the actual additive manufacturing process for the car would probably take at least a thousand years.

But now the future is a lot closer and it looks more like well be building things pretty much the old way but from superior (absolutely perfect) materials. Imagine practical room temperature superconductors because they are coming.

Heres what my friend predicts for 2027:

Remember you heard it here third!

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A nanotechnology overnight sensation 30 years in the making! - BetaNews

Female UT students in ‘TWINS Project’ will promote science at local children’s museum – UT The Daily Texan

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UT students will help kids become interested about science this fall in the new TWINS Project, a collaboration between the Thinkery childrens museum and UTs Women in Natural Sciences program.

Students in the WINS program will have the opportunity to train in science education and outreach with Thinkery staff at the start of the fall semester. Trained students will then volunteer at Thinkerys community events, such as Chemistry Week, Engineers Day, Nano Day and summer camp for children.

I think its very important for kids to see women role models in the STEM field and for (students) to interact more with the community, WINS coordinator Elizabeth Morgan said. Having young kids connect to college students and especially women in science is really important.

Morgan said students previously volunteered at workshops during Thinkerys 2016 summer camp and helped children learn about outer space and space exploration by making solar systems.

We have found that WINS students are excited to share their knowledge and that, in turn, helps spread more excitement about learning and discovering, said Katie Kizziar, associate director of research and innovation at Thinkery.

This past July, the Association of American University Women awarded the WINS program a Community Action Grant to fund the collaboration. Sumaya Saati, an associate director of corporate and foundation relations for the College of Natural Sciences, said the association has not announced the total grant amount, but the funding will help pay for volunteer trainings and activity supplies.

With the nature of volunteerism, we think its free, but theres a lot behind the scenes that goes into it, Saati said. So supporting those types of roles is really important.

Kizziar said working with children at Thinkery will help UT students improve their confidence in public speaking and communicating science with the public.

Sharing sciences with the public is also a great way to inspire future scientists, Kizziar said. When we connect visitors with individuals who work in science, engineering, or art, they have a chance to put a human face to the topic.

Morgan said the collaboration will further the programs mission to recruit and support more women in science by helping current WINS students and inspiring young girls to study science.

Maybe one of the young girls at one of the community nights or events that we do will be really motivated about science, Morgan said. Maybe shell apply for WINS one day or move forward with something in science, engineering, or math.

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Female UT students in 'TWINS Project' will promote science at local children's museum - UT The Daily Texan

CST Global leads 1.1M project to slash cost of FTTP lasers – Fibre Systems

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Semiconductor foundry CST Global is leading a UK government-funded project that could substantially reduce the cost of manufacturing high-speed laser diodes for next-generation fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks.

The market for passive optical networks (PON) is expanding rapidly as consumers upgrade their broadband connections to higher speeds. Indeed, this summer, CST Global said it had shipped more than 25million lasers into PON markets worldwide. To meet the insatiable demand for bandwidth, the next generation of PON lasers will need to be both higher speed and lower cost.

The 1.1million project, Diode Laser manufacturing process using Nano-imprint lithography (DiLaN), aims to establish a high-volume, commercially viable process for making distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers capable of 25Gb/s operation.

Our project addresses the replacement of a high-cost, nanometre-scale lithography step in the laser manufacturing process with a low-cost, high-throughput nano-imprint process to realise a cost saving of 20 to 30 per cent in the cost of manufacture of the laser chip, explained Andrew McKee, director of engineering at CST Global.

DFB lasers contain an integrated grating structure as the wavelength-selective element. The ultra-fine features in the gratings are usually created using electron-beam lithography, by directly writing the pattern into a photosensitive material that can be used as a mask for an etch process.

Nano-imprint lithography is an alternative method that can be used to pattern photoresist at 100nm feature sizes. The process is simple, according to McKee. A patterned stamp is pressed against the wafer to create patterns in the photosensitive resist, which are then transferred into the wafer.

This simplicity means that nano-imprint lithography tools are less expensive and the process is rapid. E-beam machines cost millions of dollars and the writing process can take hours; the large depreciation cost of the machinery results in high costs in the region of $2000 per wafer. In contrast, nano-imprint lithography costs could be as low as $200 per wafer, McKee claims.

Nano-imprint lithography is widely recognised as the most credible method of producing high throughput, high-resolution, singlemode semiconductor lasers at low cost, according to the project description. However, to our knowledge, the nano-imprint lithography technique has not been implemented in volume semiconductor laser manufacturing, and so there is significant de-risking activity required to establish, qualify and yield engineer a new process to unlock the productivity gains.

The UK industrial partners in this project are already significant materials and chip-scale suppliers to this market. CST Global is the project leader, supported by academic partners Cardiff and Swansea Universities and commercial partner Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC) in Cardiff.

Now open for business, the CSC is a joint venture between IQE, a leading supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and Cardiff University (see Cardiff cluster to commercialise compound semiconductor research). The CSC is intended to be Europe's first prototyping facility, creating a more rapid route to market for compound semiconductor based technologies.

The DiLaN project grant is valued at 821,319. Funding is provided by Innovate UK, a UK government research funding agency for engineering and the physical sciences. The DiLaN project runs from February 2017 to January 2019.

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CST Global leads 1.1M project to slash cost of FTTP lasers - Fibre Systems

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the Accounting Profession – CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

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The relentless advance of technology. You are aware of it. Whether you are boomer, a millennial, or even Gen Z (some call them the iGeneration). We cant deny it. We live in a time of technological marvels. And the velocity of development related to technology is only accelerating.

Moores Law, first predicted in 1965, historically noted that chip performance would double every 18 months. In 2015, Scientific American reported that the prediction was celebrating 50 years because it has held true with uncanny accuracyfor the past 50 years. (Annie Sneed on May 19, 2015). Of course, many have heard of the comparison of Apollo 11 technology to the smart phones on the market today. There is more computing power on your smartphone then there was on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

You may vaguely recall a chess match between Garry Kasparov (then World Chess Champion) and the IBM 1997 Deep Blue supercomputer. Was that an early demonstration of artificial intelligence (AI)? No matter. If you have an iPhone today, you have more computing power in your hand than Deep Blue had in 1997. Now a believer in AI, Garry Kasparov says that AI is capable of providing us with endless opportunities to extend our capabilities and improve our lives.

So, what is the future of AI? What does it possibly mean for the CPA profession? Most simply it means that the profession will evolve. The role of the CPA will change. While there are many skeptics, I dont buy it. Historically, advances in technology have changed jobs. To be fair, some jobs have simply vanished (there arent a lot of blacksmiths these days).

CPA will be redefined. Some tasks that have bogged down the ability of CPAs to add true value will be taken over by smart machines. Efficiency and accuracy will be improved. In fact, AI may be a driver of new services that are not even thought of today. The CPA of the not too distant future will be able to focus on true value adding services. Much less focus on compliance.

Since the ongoing development of AI is inevitable, CPAs should not focus on job elimination, but transformation of the profession. What might the implications be for training new members of the profession? Staff accountant jobs will likely change the most. Learning and the statutory requirements embedded in state laws and regulations for learning must evolve quickly.

Keep in mind that CPA is defined in state law. It is also quite likely that the overall regulatory framework for the profession will need to evolve. If that is that case, we better get ahead of that because the legislative and regulatory process is so dreadfully slow. While it is very hard to predict what language should be in state law to define the profession in the future, we need to start talking about it.

In the final analysis, AI is not a threat to the CPA profession. It is not a threat to those CPAs who embrace not only technology, but embrace change. With the proper perspective and an innovative mindset, AI is beginning to present a world of opportunity to a profession that has successfully evolved since Luca Pacioli "The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping" invented double entry book-keeping in 1494.

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Gary Bolinger, CAE, is President & CEO of the Indiana Society of CPAs.

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Micron, Everspin: Memory Taking Prominence from Processors … – Barron’s

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Barron's
Micron, Everspin: Memory Taking Prominence from Processors ...
Barron's
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kevin Cassidy writes that trends in memory chips such as NAND flash and non-volatile memory show the parts are gaining greater and ...
The Ironic And Fleeting Volatility In NVM StorageThe Next Platform

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Micron, Everspin: Memory Taking Prominence from Processors ... - Barron's

A New Gene Editing Technique Could Finally Allow Us to Treat ALS – Futurism

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In BriefResearchers from UC San Diego's School of Medicine have testeda modified CRISPR-Cas9 technique designed to target RNA instead ofDNA. Rcas9 could potentially improve the lives of patients withALS, Huntington's disease, or myotonic dystrophy by delaying theprogression of their disorders. Editing RNA

The most efficient and effective gene-editing tool in use today is CRISPR-Cas9. Just this year, researchers have successfully used it fora wide variety of experiments, from modifying garden vegetables to encoding a GIF in bacterial DNA. Most recently, the tool was used to remove a genetic disease from a human embryo.

Although undeniably powerful, CRISPR-Cas9 does have its limitations; it can only target DNA. To extend its capabilities to includeRNA editing, researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicinedeveloped amodification of CRISPR, and theyre calling their toolRNA-targeting Cas9 (RCas9).

In a study published in Cell, the UCSD team tested their technique by correcting the kinds of molecular mistakes that cause people to develop microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, such ashereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)and Huntingtons disease.

During standard CRISPR-CAs9 gene editing, a guide RNA is instructed to deliver a Cas9 enzyme to a specific DNA molecule. The researchers from UCSD instead instructed it to target an RNA molecule.

Tests conducted in the laboratory showed that RCas9 removed 95 percent ofproblem-causing RNA for myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2, Huntingtons disease, and one type of ALS. The technique also reversed 93 percent of the dysfunctional RNA targets in the muscle cells of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1, resulting in healthier cells.

This is exciting because were not only targeting the root cause of diseases for which there are no current therapies to delay progression, but weve re-engineered the CRISPR-Cas9 system in a way thats feasible to deliver it to specific tissues via a viral vector, senior author Gene Yeo, a cellular and molecular medicine professor at UCSD School of Medicine, explained in a press release.

Across the globe, an estimated 450,000 patients are said to be living with ALS. Roughly 30,000 of those are from the U.S. where 5,600 people are diagnosed with the diseases every year. The exact number of Huntingtons disease cases, however, isnt quite as easy to pin down. One estimate says that around 30,000 Americans display symptoms of it, while more than 200,000 are at risk.

Regardless of the exact numbers, these two neurological diseases clearly affect a significant number of people. This prevalence and the absence of a known curemakes the UCSD teams research all the more relevant. Even more exciting is the fact that the same kinds of RNA mutations targeted by this study are known to cause more than 20 other genetic diseases.

Our ability to program the RCas9 system to target different repeats, combined with low risk of off-target effects, is its major strength, co-first author of the study Ranjan Batra said in the UCSD press release.

However, the researchers do know that what theyve accomplished is just a first step. While RCas9 works in a lab, they still have to figure out how it will fare when tested in actual patients.

The main thing we dont know yet is whether or not the viral vectors that deliver RCas9 to cells would elicit an immune response, explained Yeo. Before this could be tested in humans, we would need to test it in animal models, determine potential toxicities, and evaluate long-term exposure.

Ultimately, while RCas9 couldnt exactly deliver a cure, it could potentially extend patients healthy years. For disease like ALS and Huntingtons, thats a good place to start.

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Georgia colleges gear up for new semester – AJC.com – Atlanta Journal Constitution

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More than 300,000 students return to college and university campuses this month in Georgia.

The biggest changes include a newcampus carry law that allows students with licensed weapons permits to carry firearms on portions of campuses, additional credit to studentswho take approved STEM courses to keep their HOPE scholarships and the repurposing of Turner Field into Georgia States new football stadium.

Heres a look at some changes at some of metro Atlantas largest campuses and the University of Georgia.

The renovation of Rebekah Scott Hall. The $16.5 million project will house a new welcome center, updated offices for admissions and financial aid and residential space for students who will live on the upper two floors.

Atlanta Metropolitan State College

An online Bachelor of Science degree in organizational leadership. It includes a choice of concentration in public service, healthcare administration or office administration and technology.

Its createdthe Department of Cyber-Physical Systems. It will include new bachelor of science programs in cybersecurity, robotics, and data analytics.

The first-two floors of a new $400 million hospital tower opened on July 31, bringing the total number of licensed beds at Emory University Hospital to 733. Patient floors begin opening in late August, and the hospital tower will be fully operational by the end of October.

Awidening of a portion of Clifton Road and its sidewalks, a bike lane, new landscaping and improved visibility of intersections along Clifton Road.

The campus West Village, which includes five micro-restaurants, Panera Bread and Starbucks, music classrooms, and shared meeting rooms.

Georgia Techs West Village, which will include shops, restaurants, classrooms and meeting rooms. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

The new football stadium, which will have its first game on Aug. 31 against Tennessee State.

A new College of the Arts that offers 20 top undergraduate, graduate and non-degree programs in art, design, music, film, digital media, theater, etc.

New building for its growing Creative Media Industries Initiative.

Kennesaw State University

Students applying to KSU for fall 2018 can choose to apply through a non-binding, early action application or through a regular decision application, a process used by most competitive universities in the state. Meeting the minimum requirements will no longer guarantee a spot at the university.

New degree programs in computer engineering and cybersecurity.

The college is expanding its health science classes. For the first time, classes in human anatomy, microbiology and ethnobotany will be offered this fall to attract more students interested in pursuing careers as dentists, pharmacists, and medical doctors.

Interim president Harold Martin, a former valedictorian. The college is conducting a search process for a permanent president.

The university is breaking ground on the I.W.Ike Cousins for Science and Innovation. The center will have laboratory-classrooms, independent study labs, open study rooms and faculty offices.

The college has a new documentary filmmaking and photography majors beginning this fall. Both new majors are part of the Department of Art & Visual Culture, formerly the Department of Art & Art History.

In September, theyll open a facility to support the Center for Molecular Medicine. The state provided $17 million to support the project. The faculty for this center are working on cures and therapies for diseases such as diabetes, cancer and dementia.

Best quality of life: Emory University (No. 3), Agnes Scott College (No. 20) Great financial aid: Emory University (No. 15) Most conservative students: Berry College (No. 20) Most liberal students: Agnes Scott College (No. 12) Most LGBTQ-friendly: Agnes Scott College (No. 7) Lots of race/class interaction: Agnes Scott College (No. 20) Most beautiful campus: Berry College (No. 9) Most active student government: Agnes Scott College (No. 9) Best college dorms: Emory University (No. 8) Most religious students

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Georgia colleges gear up for new semester - AJC.com - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Change in protein production essential to muscle function – Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

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The researchers discovered that the genetic activity of mouse skeletal muscles is particularly intense during the first two weeks after birth; a number of genes alter the amount of proteins produced, while other genes go through alternative splicing and produce different proteins.

Among the genes going through alternative splicing, those involved in calcium-handling functions predominated. Calcium is very important for skeletal and heart muscle because the influx of calcium into the cell stimulates contraction and other functions.

First author Dr. Amy Brinegar, who was a graduate student in the Cooper lab while she was working on this project and recently graduated from the doctoral program in molecular and cellular biology at Baylor, selected three calcineurin A genes, which are involved in calcium-handling functions, and reversed their natural process of alternative splicing in adult mouse muscles. Then, Dr. George Rodney, associate professor of molecular physiology at Baylor, and a graduate student in his lab, James Loehr, who are co-authors on this paper, determined the effect of switching back alternative splicing on functions of isolated adult mouse skeletal muscle in the lab.

They discovered that muscles in which the adult forms of the calcineurin A genes had been switched back to the newborn forms showed a change in calcium flow and were less strong than muscles that retained the adult forms of calcineurin A.

We showed that just by changing three of about 11,000 genes that are estimated to be expressed in adult mouse muscle, we were able to change physiological parameters of those muscles, said Brinegar. This work supports the growing evidence in favor of a physiological role of alternative splicing.

Importantly, about 50 percent of the genes we discovered to undergo alternative splicing are conserved, meaning that the genes go through the same changes both in mice and humans, which opens the possibility of modeling human muscle disorders in the mouse, Cooper said.

Other contributors top this work include Zheng Xia and Wei Li, both from Baylor.

Financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health grants R01AR045653, R01HL045565, R01AR060733, T32 HL007676, R01HG007538, R01CA193466 and R01AR061370. Further support was provided by the Muscular Dystrophy Association grant RG4205.

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Change in protein production essential to muscle function - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

The Political Spectrum, book review: How wireless deregulation gave us the iPhone – ZDNet

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The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone By Thomas Winslow Hazlett Yale University Press 401 pages 978-0-300-21050-7 $35

Fred (Alfred E) Kahn kept fretting about the size of his fake nose. It was the 1973 Cornell Savoyards production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe, and he was playing the Lord Chancellor -- the little man who prances around and sings the 'Nightmare Song'. A few years later, he championed airline industry deregulation as part of the Carter administration.

In The Political Spectrum, Thomas Winslow Hazlett -- a professor at Clemson University and a frequent contributor to the libertarian magazine Reason -- reminds us that the job Kahn really wanted was chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). If he'd gotten that job rather than one on the Civil Aeronautics Board, Hazlett says, we'd have cheaper and better wireless service -- but airfares on the "government-protected cartel of carriers" would be really expensive. One could retort: Dr David Dao. However.

This particular 'what-if' is a vignette in Hazlett's history of wireless spectrum regulation, which covers American telecommunications regulation from the Radio Act of 1912 to the present. Hazlett's basic argument is that government-regulated spectrum rights are slowly allocated (over six to 13 years) and endemically and wastefully underused.

The focus is mainly on the US, although Hazlett regards the story as having broader applicability. As he told an audience at the Adam Smith Institute in June: "Every country has its own story, but they tend to have patterns." One of these, and the one that perhaps annoys Hazlett the most, is 'technical reasons' -- the excuse that's always given for not changing how things are done.

Deregulation, Hazlett argues, gave us FM radio, HBO, wi-fi, and the iPhone. Regulation was meant to provide TV services in the public interest -- news, education, and so on. Instead, it gave us a TV landscape that FCC chair Newton N Minow, in a famous 1961 speech to broadcasters in Las Vegas, called a "vast wasteland". Anyone in Britain might say: 'But the BBC!' Hazlett mentions it three times: once as a censor, once as a public utility studied by the economist Ronald Coase, and once (as BBC America) as one of the diverse news and information sources enabled by deregulating cable and ending the "artificial scarcity" of TV channels.

If the book has a hero, it may be Coase. In 1960, he proposed an idea, now known as the Coase theorem, that regulating the airwaves to avoid interference was unnecessary, because as long as property rights in the frequencies were well-defined, the broadcaster to whom the rights were most valuable would pay competitors not to interfere. The market, in other words, would find the most efficient frequency allocation for itself.

Coase, then 50, was much derided for this idea at the time, but lived long enough to receive the Nobel Prize in economics in 1991 and enjoy two decades of vindication before he died in 2013 at the age of 102.

Obviously this is a book that anyone involved with spectrum policy would want as a reference. What's unexpected is that, whether or not you agree with Hazlett's conclusions, it's also reasonably entertaining to read -- no small feat with a subject as esoteric as this.

Risk, film review: Access all Assange areas, to incoherent effectOver six years of filming, Laura Poitras follows the elusive and distant Wikileaks founder from a friend's Norfolk estate to his Ecuadorian Embassy bolt-hole.

Move Fast and Break Things, book review: Where did the internet go wrong?Jonathan Taplin's book examines how a handful of Silicon Valley libertarians came to dominate the internet via giant companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

To Be a Machine, book review: Disrupting life itselfMark O'Connell explores the drive to transcend biology using technology, examining ideas like the Singularity, mind uploading, cryonics, whole-brain emulation and cyborgs.

Thinking Machines, book review: AI, past, present and futureAdvances in recent decades have seen artificial intelligence develop apace, and AI now pervades our lives. Yet, as this book explains, true machine intelligence is still a work in progress.

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The Political Spectrum, book review: How wireless deregulation gave us the iPhone - ZDNet

Ashes to ashes, dust to … interactive biodegradable funerary urns? – Minnesota Public Radio News

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Earlier this summer, a modest little startup in Barcelona, Spain, unveiled its newest product a biodegradable, internet-connected funeral urn that turns the ashes of departed loved ones into an indoor tree. Just mix the cremains with soil and seedlings, and the digital-age urn will automatically water and care for your memorial sapling, sending constant updates to an app on your smartphone.

At first glance, the concept seems gimmicky evidently, we're running out of ideas for smart appliances. But the Bios Incube system can also be seen as the latest example of a gradual transformation in modern culture.

Technology is fundamentally changing how we deal with death and its attendant issues of funerals, memorials and human remains. Much of this change is for the good. Some developments are a little spooky. But one thing is for sure: You can do a lot of cool things with ashes these days.

The Bios Incube system, which went on sale in June after a successful crowdfunding campaign, is the latest iteration of a much older idea in which ashes are essentially used as compost for a memorial tree or plant. But the Incube system adds some high-tech twists. The biodegradable urn is placed within a 5-gallon planter with an elegant, off-white, minimalist design vibe call it the iUrn.

Actually, that's the Incube. Fill it with water and an internal irrigation system kicks in while separate sensors monitor the progress of your plant, taking constant readings on temperature, humidity and soil conditions. This information is wirelessly beamed to the included smartphone app, allowing the bereaved user to better care for and nurture the seedling as it grows into a tree.

Roger Moline, co-founder of Bios Urn, says the company offers two versions of its system. One provides the basic biodegradable urn and planter at $145. The more expensive version if you want all the high-tech bells, whistles, atmosphere sensors and smartphone apps tops out at $695.

"Interestingly enough, we have found so far that most have opted voluntarily for the high-tech option," Moline says.

He has a theory on that.

"Most of us are connected to the digital world, and we have become used to it," he says. "Perhaps by tying together this process with technology, there can be a sense of comfort that comes from using a familiar process with a new experience. We hope that it will push people in a new direction and perhaps make this process easier for those experiencing loss."

The Bios Urn concept is indeed part of a larger transformation in which technology is changing how we think about death and dying, says Candi Cann, author of the book "Virtual Afterlives: Grieving the Dead in the Twenty-first Century."

"Their approach implies a different sort of afterlife than the religious one an afterlife that theoretically we can partake in," says Cann, who teaches religion and world culture at Baylor University.

"Recent theories on mourning reveal that having continued bonds with the deceased allow us to navigate everyday life while renegotiating our relationships with loved ones who are no longer present," she says. "So in this way, the Bios Urn might actually foster a healthy type of mourning that allows us to look after the dead in an active, daily way."

Caring for the dead via a smartphone app may seem strange, Cann says, but it makes perfect sense for those of us living in a perpetually connected world: "The generation today has grown up with online spaces and smartphones, so this is their medium."

Cann has done extensive research on modern mourning rituals around the planet, and the various ways that technology is impacting how we deal with death and dying. The Internet has certainly changed the way we do things. Obituaries are posted online, funeral arrangements are sent by email or text, and social media platforms like Facebook now offer a range of memorial pages and legacy contact options.

In general, this is all good healthy progress, Cann says. "Smartphones and social media spaces have forced a decline in the importance of a controlled obituary narrative, as more people can contribute to the communal memory of a person and the meaning of their life," she says.

A recurring theme in Cann's work concerns an odd and abiding reticence in mainstream Western attitudes toward death: In short, we just don't like to talk about it. Our aversion leads to a lot of unhealthy sublimation in the culture. "I would argue that the reason we see so much death in the media and in video games is precisely because we are not having real conversations about death," Cann says.

Technology is helping in that arena, too. Cann points to online communities like Death Cafe, which use internet forums to arrange local meetups for the recently bereaved.

Then there is the issue of what to do with the remains. We humans have been navigating this dilemma since the dawn of civilization, but recent technological advances have opened up some options. You can have ashes incorporated into jewelry, blended into oil paintings, mixed into tattoo ink, submerged into coral reefs or even pressed into vinyl records. And don't forget about the festive fireworks option.

While developing the Bios Urn system, Moline explored how other cultures are processing cremains, like Tokyo's unique Ruriden columbarium, which utilizes LED Buddha statues and digital smart cards.

"I've seen some interesting things in China and Japan," he says. "Both have run of out burial space in larger cities and have created interesting ways of commemorating those who have passed."

Cann says that these new modern rituals, facilitated by various technologies, can help us get a little friendlier with death.

"In Brazil, I went to a public crematorium that cremates a body every 15 minutes, and is an actively used public park and picnic space," he says. "Families were playing and picnicking among the ashes. If we see deathscapes as friendly places, rather than where the dead are banished, we might be able to utilize them in healthier and more creative ways."

Looking to the future, however, Cann addresses more worrisome technologies.

"One of the areas I'm thinking more about is the use of artificial intelligence and digital avatars," Cann said. "These are people intending to upload themselves, via AI, into digital avatars."

Proponents of this idea contend that uploading the mind into a computer is entirely plausible. But science fiction has some cautionary tales in this area any technology that promises to defy death is usually nothing but trouble. Ask Dr. Frankenstein. Even speculating on this sci-fi scenario can get a bit dodgy, Cann says.

"Whenever people focus more on extending life rather than examining its quality, death loses its importance," Cann says. "If we are spending more time trying to deny death or prolong dying, then I think we are not living well."

In this light, the Bios Urn seems like a fairly gentle step forward. Technology can't yet provide us with digital immortality, but it can help us grow a memorial tree in our living room. What's not to like?

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Ashes to ashes, dust to ... interactive biodegradable funerary urns? - Minnesota Public Radio News

How do you run Photon OS on vSphere or platforms like Google? – TechTarget

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VMware Photon OS is available in several packages and allows the user to deploy Photon efficiently. Consider, for...

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example, Photon under vSphere: Photon requires vSphere 5.5 or later; an ESXi host with 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of disk space; and the Photon OS package downloaded in ISO format. If you'd prefer a minimal installation, you can use the open virtualization appliance format package instead. Once the Photon package is downloaded to a data store, create a new VM, and stipulate Other 3.x Linux (64-bit) under Guest OS Family.

As a rule, configure the new VM with two virtual CPUs, 1,024 MB of memory and 20 GB of thin provisioned disk space and opt for the latest version of hardware compatibility, such as ESXi 6.0 and later (VM version 11). You can always adjust the resource allocation later. Mount the Photon ISO, and opt to connect at power on. The Photon installation process will start once the VM powers on and will allow the user to launch the remote console to work with the installer. Proceed with the installation.

Select the disk volume created for the VM, and allow the installer to erase the disk and continue. If you opt to use the ISO, you can select from minimal, full, OSTree Host or OSTree Server runtimes. Choose a meaningful hostname and suitable system root password. The installation will continue, and the VM will reboot into the Photon OS. This prepares Photon and allows the user to work with the container runtime environment.

Although Photon runs primarily on vSphere, you can obtain and use suitable packages for VMware Fusion, vCloud Air, Google Compute Engine (GCE) and Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) instances. The overall installation process is similar, but in order to deploy Photon on a public cloud platform, like GCE, you need a valid GCE account, access to the Google Cloud software development kit and a Photon OS image file for GCE downloaded in the corresponding format. Keep in mind that Google charges a fee to store the Photon package in Google cloud storage and deploy Photon in a GCE instance.

Create a bucket in GCE to store the Photon OS image, and then upload the image file to your bucket in the cloud. The uploaded file should appear in the file list for that bucket. Next, use the uploaded image to create a new image, and use a meaningful name to designate the new image; the new image should appear in the Images catalog. Now, select the new image, and opt to create a new instance. Select a meaningful name, and define the zone to use for deployment. Also, be sure to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic if necessary in the new instance's firewall rules. At this point, you can see the new VM instance and Secure Shell into the Photon environment. You can now start to use Docker Engine and run containers.

If you have any additional questions about specific steps or advice for deploying Photon on platforms like vCloud Air, Amazon Web Services and so on, refer to the official VMware Photon documentation.

How does Photon OS bring container benefits to VMware?

Compare and contrast VMware container platforms

VMware Integrated Containers faces setbacks

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How do you run Photon OS on vSphere or platforms like Google? - TechTarget

Want a scale that tells more than your weight? Smart scales are it – Atlanta Journal Constitution

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It used to be that your bathroom scale told you what you weighed, and you had to wait for your doctor to tell you the details.

Thenew wave of smart scales, though, are able to provide a lot more information about your body. Some even give advice on reaching health and weight goals. Many of the most popular scales calculate BMI, while some also calculate measurements from muscle mass to water weight and bone mass.

Several scales add the ability to upload all that information to a smart phone or computer to track body measurements and even share results with your friends.

If youre in the market for a smart scale, weve gathered some intel on the most important things to know about the types and prices of smart scales.

When you consider whether you want a scale that tells you more than your weight, keep in mind that these scales are either Bluetooth-enabled, or both Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled,according to Jill Duffy, a contributing editor who ranked smart scales for PC mag.

She noted that Wi-Fi scales tend to cost more but are also more convenient. "To get your daily weigh-ins off of a Bluetooth scale and into the app where they'll be tracked, you need a Bluetooth device by your side," Duffy commented. "If you leave your companion smartphone, fitness tracker, or running watch in the other room, you're out of luck until it's within Bluetooth range."

Duffy also gave Wi-Fi enabled scales a thumbs up because their syncing is more reliable.

Other considerations range from the scale's appearance to price to whether you want to commit to a scale that will make recommendations on your approach to healthy living.Among scales with "smart" options, here are six to consider:

Contributed by Weight Gurus/For the AJC

Withings Body Cardio Ranked first on theMen's Fitness compilationof the Top 5 Smart Scales 2017, this Withings model measures full-body composition, body fat, water percentage, muscle and bone mass. Men's Fitness deemed it perfect for fitness and health fiends, because it is calibrated for athletes and is the only one currently on the market that measures pulse wave velocity. Other pluses included its accuracy and compatibility with the most third-party apps and devices of current smart scales.

Price: $180/withings.com

Withings Smart Body Analyzer Decribed as a "one-stop health tracking scale," the Smart Body Analyzer measures your body's stats and then gives you an idea of how healthy your living environment is. It automatically syncs weight, body fat composition, heart rate and environmental data to a personalized dashboard on the company's free app. It also allows automatic uploads of measurements in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This is the No. 2 among smart scales onBestOffers.com, with a 97 percent approval rate (second only to the Body Cardio scale, which scored 99).

Price: $100/withings.com

Weight Gurus Bluetooth Smart Connected Body Fat Scale

Also top-ranked at Best Offers, this smart scale measures BMI, body fat, muscle mass, water weight and bone mass. Its auto user detect function allows as many as eight separate people to use the functions. Another plus: it has a substantial getting started guide and video for those who find setups challenging. Price:$100/greatergoods.com

QardioBase The No. 2 pick from Men's Fitness, QardioBase measures BMI, water and bone mass, muscle and BMI. It's the model for those who want reminders to weigh themselves, with an alarm and "Smart Feedback" mode. It also notes progress (or not) toward weight-loss and strength goals.

Fitbit Aria Fitbit users will segue right into using this smart scale, which measures BMI, weight and lean mass, and body-fat percentage over time. It also includes a way to set fitness goals and use Calorie Coaching to achieve them.

Wahoo Balance According to Men's Fitness, this is the no-frills smart scale for Apple users and anyone else who's seeking a bargain. It measures BMI and weight and tracks weight trends. It's built for accuracy on its minimal functions and so easy to set up even a weight-conscious caveman could do it.

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Want a scale that tells more than your weight? Smart scales are it - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Dermio’s photo app knows what’s itching down there – The Memo

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David Soleymani founder, Dermio.

Launched last year,Dermio isnt just for those with sexual health concerns.

The online platform aims to provide on-demand dermatology diagnoses to anyone whos too busy to get into a clinic, or who finds themselves under-insured.

Soleymani was working at Northwestern Universityin Chicago, Illinois, when he decided to diagnose skin ailments remotely, he tells The Memo:

Patients would often comment that since a lot of skin conditions, such as acne, were so easy to diagnose, why couldnt they just send me a photo and save them from having to wait for an appointment, skip work, pay for parking, sit in a waiting room, etc.

With this in mind, he developed the Dermio smartphone app and website: you simply upload a picture of your skin, a brief description, and answer to a few questions to receive a response within 24 hours.

The whole shebang sets you back $40 (around 30).

If Dermio are unable to help, then youre not charged. However if the team doesnt diagnose but still gives helpful advice (eg dont worry, its benign, or this is suspicious and requires a real-life consultation), you are still charged.

Around 98% of cases, however, are easily solved with your smartphone alone, says Soleymani.

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Dermio's photo app knows what's itching down there - The Memo

Alternative Medicine Doesn’t Work for Cancer Treatments – Gizmodo

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You have, as of today, a one hundred percent chance of dying. But a lot of people would like a little more time to do things, like eat interestingly-shaped pastas, or play catch with their grandchildren. That makes sense. Id also like to do those things. But sometimes, our pursuit to eat lots of pasta or die trying leads some of us to make decisions that dont actually helplike taking alternative, instead of conventional, cancer treatments.

A team of Yale researchers had seen data about folks who opted for alternative medicine in lieu of the peer-reviewed stuff, but noticed there wasnt much research to actually compare the outcomes. The researchers found data on 280 patients who made the choice, and compared them to 560 relying on the usual treatments. Overall, those taking conventional treatments were more likely to survive the five years after treatment.

Improved communication between patients and caregivers and greater scrutiny of the use of [alternative medicine] for the initial treatment of cancer is needed, the studys authors wrote in the paper published last week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The researchers sifted through the United States National Cancer Database to find folks who opted for at-home cancer treatments from non-medical professionals and refused the conventional treatment for four cancers: breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal. They also found matching cases to compare, based on diagnosis, race, insurance type, cancer type, and when they were diagnosed. After crunching the numbers, the researchers found that those who opted for alternative medicine treatments alone were more than twice as likely to be dead before the end of the follow-up period.

These results held for colorectal, lung, and especially breast cancer, where over 75 percent of patients receiving standard medical treatment were alive after 5 years, but more like a third of those who opted solely for alternative treatments made it that far. The results were unclear for prostate cancer, which was unsurprising as the disease tends to progress more slowly, write the study authors.

This study isnt perfect, of coursethe whole thing is based on observational data, not patients recruited and closely watched. The team didnt know exactly what alternative treatments the folks took, and there were several other sources of bias. The survival rates of those taking alternative treatments could be too high, since those turning away from conventional medicine tended to skew younger and wealthier.

Before you get upset, please realize that this study is only focusing on those who opted solely for alternative treatments, not those who supplemented their cancer treatment with other things. Of course, there are problems with the way cancer is treated today, cancer is terrible, no one wants to die. We all want to try anything that will help. Theres no problem with that.

Foregoing the actual treatment for a disease in favor of a treatment not proven to work, though, will only lead to heartbreak.

[JNCI]

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Alternative Medicine Doesn't Work for Cancer Treatments - Gizmodo