Why growing babies outside the womb raises ethical concerns – TNW

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

The idea of growing babies outside the body has inspired novels and movies for decades.

Now, research groups around the world are exploring the possibility of artificial gestation. For instance, one group successfully grew a lamb in an artificial womb for four weeks. Australian researchers have also experimented with artificial gestation for lambs and sharks.

And in recent weeks, researchers in The Netherlands have received 2.9m ($4.66m) to develop a prototype for gestating premature babies.

So its important to consider some of the ethical issues this technology might bring.

Growing a baby outside the womb is known as ectogenesis (or exogenesis). And were already using a form of it. When premature infants are transferred to humidicribs to continue their development in a neonatal unit, thats partial ectogenesis.

When premature infants are transferred to humidicribs to continue their development in a neonatal unit, thats partial ectogenesis. from http://www.shutterstock.com

But an artificial womb could extend the period a fetus could be gestated outside the body. Eventually, we might be able to do away with human wombs altogether.

This may sound far-fetched, but many scientists working in reproductive biotechnology believe that with the necessary scientific and legal support, full ectogenesis is a real possibility for the future.

An artificial womb would need an outer shell or chamber. Thats somewhere to implant the embryo and protect it as it grows. So far, animal experiments have used acrylic tanks, plastics bags and uterine tissues removed from an organism and artificially kept alive.

An artificial womb would also need a synthetic replacement for amniotic fluid, a shock absorber in the womb during natural pregnancy.

Finally, there would have to be a way to exchange oxygen and nutrients (so oxygen and nutrients in and carbon dioxide and waste products out). In other words, researchers would have to build an artificial placenta.

Animal experiments have used a complex catheter and pump systems. But there are plans to use a mini version of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a technique that allows blood to be oxygenated outside the body.

Once these are in place, artificial gestation could one day become as common as IVF is today, a technique considered revolutionary a few decades ago.

And just as in the case of IVF, there are many who are concerned about what this new realm of reproductive medicine might mean for the future of creating a family.

So what are some of the ethical considerations?

The main discussion about artificial wombs has focused on their potential benefit in increasing the survival rate of extremely premature babies.

Currently, those born earlier than 22 weeks gestation have little-to-no hope of survival. And those born at 23 weeks are likely to suffer a range of disabilities.

Using a sealed biobag, which mimics the maternal womb might help extremely premature babies survive and improve their quality of life.

A biobag provides oxygen, a type of substitute amniotic fluid, umbilical cord access and all necessary water and nutrients (and medicine, if required). This could potentially allow the gestational period to be prolonged outside the womb until the baby has developed sufficiently to live independently and with good health prospects.

An artificial womb might provide an optimum environment for the fetus to grow, providing it with the appropriate balance of hormones and nutrients. It would also avoid exposing the growing fetus to external harms such as infectious diseases.

The technology might also make it easier to perform surgery on the fetus if needed.

And it could see the end of long-term hospital stays for premature infants, saving health care dollars in the process. This is particularly noteworthy considering some of the largest private insurance payments are currently for neonatal intensive care unit expenses.

This emerging reproductive technology may allow women who are infertile, either due to physiological or social reasons, with the chance of having a child. It may also offer opportunities for transgender women and other women born without a uterus, or those who have lost their uterus due to cancer, injury or medical conditions, to have children.

Similarly, it could allow single men and gay male couples to become parents without needing a surrogate.

Artificial wombs could allow gay men to become parents without needing a surrogate. from http://www.shutterstock.com

Will this lead to a broader discussion about gender roles and equality in reproduction? Will it remove potential risks and expectations of pregnancy and childbirth currently only affecting women? Will this eliminate commercial surrogacy?

Equally, artificial wombs could help fertile women who for health or personal reasons choose not to be pregnant. It would allow those whose career choices, medication or lifestyle might otherwise expose a developing fetus to malformation or abnormality.

The prospect of artificial wombs might offer hope for many, but it also highlights a number of potential hazards.

For some women, using an artificial womb for gestation to continue might seem like a welcome alternative to terminating a pregnancy. But there are fears that other women thinking aboutabortion might be compelled to use an artificial womb to continue gestation.

Whether artificial wombs should be allowed to influence a womans right to choose is already under debate.

Artificial wombs might also further increase the gap between rich and poor. Wealthy prospective parents may opt to pay for artificial wombs, while poorer people will rely on womens bodies to gestate their babies. Existing disparities in nutrition and exposure to pathogens between pregnancies across socio-economic divides could also be exacerbated.

Artificial wombs might further increase the gap between rich and poor. from http://www.shutterstock.com

This raises issues of distribution of access. Will artificial wombs receive government funding? If it does, who should decide who gets subsidized access? Will there be a threshold to meet?

Other issues concern potential discrimination individuals born via an artificial womb may face. How do we prevent discrimination or invasive publicity and ensure individuals origin stories are not subject to negative public curiosity or ridicule?

Others might consider artificial wombs to be deeply repugnant and fundamentally against the natural reproductive order.

Currently, there is no prototype of an artificial womb for humans. And the technology is very much in its infancy. Yet we do need to consider ethical and legal issues before rushing headlong into this reproductive technology.

Not only do we need to ensure the technology is safe and works, but we alsoneed to consider whether its the right path to take for different circumstances.

It might be easier to defend using artificial wombs in emergency situations, such as saving the lives of extremely premature neonates. However, using them in other circumstances might need broader social and policy considerations.

Without first establishing clear regulatory and ethico-legal frameworks, the development and release of artificial wombs could be problematic. We need to clearly outline pregnancy termination rights, parenthood and guardianship issues, limitations to experimentation, and other issues before the technology is fully realized and available. We need to do this soon rather than allowing the law to lag behind the science.

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It is easy to get carried away with visions of utopian or dystopian societies. As radical and futuristic as artificial wombs might sound, it is important to pause and reflect on the present.

While this technology may solve some existing problems concerning inequality in reproduction, there are many other issues that demand our immediate attention.

Improving maternal health services, equal opportunity in the workplace, and reducing the impact of poor social determinants of health on fetal outcomes are all pressing concerns we must address now before we can consider what the future of reproductive biotechnology might hold.

This article is republished from The ConversationbyNeera Bhatia, Associate Professor in Law, Deakin University and Evie Kendal, Lecturer in Bioethics and Health Humanities, Deakin Universityunder a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Why growing babies outside the womb raises ethical concerns - TNW

The challenge of getting family planning right: Professor Amy O. Tsui on sexual and reproductive health in India – Hyderus Cyf

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

I am a social demographer interested in population and fertility trends. As I am a faculty member based in a school of public health, I have an interest in social interventions that influence fertility levels, including marriage, abortion, and contraception. Most of my recent work has been based in Sub-Saharan African countries but I have an enduring interest in the population and fertility dynamics of South Asian countries as well. I largely collect and analyse survey data, whether of women of reproductive age, health facilities or clients.

Getting family planning care right at the societal level is a challenge for many countries, including the United States. Globally sexual and reproductive rights are often politicised and remain contentious even as contraceptive use becomes widespread. India faces several major challenges in family planning, the first of which is the prominence of female sterilisation as the most used contraceptive method and one promoted by the government. Although other methods are available (condoms, pills, IUDs [intrauterine devices, or the coil] and recently injectables), female sterilisation accounts for three quarters of contraceptive use. As a result, a second challenge is expanding contraceptive method choice, including vasectomy. Even though India has a history of providing the latter in the late 1970s, today while slightly over one third of married women are using female sterilisation, fewer than 0.5 percent report their spouses having a vasectomy. Other than condoms, there is relatively little use of other methods, especially for spacing births. A third family planning challenge for India is ensuring equity in couples having informed choice for all family planning decisions, whether to prevent unintended pregnancies or to achieve desired ones. Presently the more privileged segments of society enjoy access to such information and means.

Two areas come to mind, firstly Indias progressive record in legislation on elective termination of pregnancy since 1971, amended further in 2002 and, secondly, the transition in norms around family size to where the average women of childbearing age now has just over two births (2.2) and wants just under two births (1.8). Given there are nearly 370 million Indian women of reproductive age today and each has a mother who likely had two or more times that number of births, this transformation of fertility across just two generations is quite profound. Womens capacity to manage their reproduction has definitely improved. Regarding access to safe abortion, there is still progress to be made but the MTP [Medical Termination of Pregnancy] Act in 1971 preceded the legalisation of abortion in the US by two years. It is easier today for low-income couples to obtain medical abortion pills discreetly from private health providers in India than in the US. I suspect that with more constrained choice of contraceptive methods in Indialargely condoms and female sterilisationsome women have felt it necessary to seek out abortions to end unintended pregnancies as a consequence.

Certainly the Government of Indias national family welfare program, which is the oldest in the world, and implemented through the states has had a major impact on couples fertility levels, through the promotion of female contraceptive sterilisation use. While by no means perfect, the governments universal primary education scheme, along with parents own investments in private schooling for their children, has led to a dramatic reduction in the proportion of women under age twenty with no schooling. In 2015, the National Family Health Survey of nearly 700,000 households found 31.0 percent of females with no schooling compared to 41.5 percent ten years before. For female welfare, education and access to birth control are powerful drivers of empowerment.

I have brought in two colleagues into this conversation. We are collaborating on analyses of the National Family Health Survey data from 1992-93 to 2015-16 Dr. Abhishek Singh and Dr. Kaushalendra Kumar from the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai. They note several government programmes, such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sukanya Samridhi Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana which have particularly targeted the girl child and women. BBBP focuses on states and districts in northern India where the child sex ratio at birth is very imbalanced (in favour of males) and seeks to raise awareness of gender equity. SSY encourages parents savings for young daughters education and marriage expenses. PMJDY has helped open bank accounts with no minimum deposits required to enable females and males to access modern-day financial services more readily. While these are all relatively recent initiatives under Prime Minister Modi, they have the potential to significantly improve educational opportunities for girls and women (and thus their employability) and transform their resource base. It will take time before the full impact of these schemes can be appreciated but they are steps in the right direction.

Imbalanced sex ratios, in the sense of more boys than girls being born over what is naturally expected, is a problem in China, South Korea, Taiwan and other places in Asia, although not to the extent as is observed in India. Social norms around male roles in society sustain the desire of couples to ensure a male heir among their offspring. Patriarchal customs can protect land ownership with only males having property rights. At the same time social norms evolve around female roles, such as high dowries commanded to marry daughters off, which lowers the value of females and enhance that of males.

Paradoxically, as Indias fertility rates reach replacement level (2.1 births per woman on average), the demand for sons appears to be increasing. It also appears to be strongest for first births and among the better educated females and wealthier couples. The challenge here is to reduce felt pressures by couples to bear sons and also expand opportunities to females to achieve economically and politically on par with males.

This is a very difficult situation to enforce because private conversations of couples around foetal sex are impossible to monitor and health providers are not permitted to facilitate any type of prenatal sex selection decisions of clients. While authorities will need to persist in enforcement where possible, the eventual solution requires a social re-valuation of sons and daughters until parity in gender value is achieved. The norms around son preference are changing and vary geographically across India; but private decisions can still aggregate up to revealing concentrated imbalances in sex ratios at birth at the national level.

I suspect the public is quite aware of gender preferences and discriminations against females. It will be important for social influencers, whether in government or civil society, to promote gender equality and neutralise longstanding opinions about the lesser rights and value of females. One transformative source of influence on public beliefs and opinions is mass media, particularly television and film and their associated celebrities. Positive modelling of the value of females and their lifelong contributions can gradually and permanently alter peoples beliefs and behaviors. India has tremendously talented actors, actresses and film producers who could appeal to the social conscience with strong visuals, story lines and re-balance gender preferences. This and continuing education of each generation can correct misguided thinking and actions.

It is very difficult to estimate the number of abortions, both unsafe and safe, in most countries. A recent study estimates nearly sixteen million abortions in 2015 with only one-fourth happening in public health facilities. Another study in nine Indian states suggests that as many as two thirds of induced abortions are unsafe. There are a number of reasons why unsafe abortions appear commonplace the sheer number of them given unplanned pregnancies resulting from unprotected sex, the legal status of abortions and relatively easy access to abortion means outside of the public sector, and the modest levels of contraceptive use for birth spacing, driven primarily by use of condoms, which have high failure rates. If a woman is not ready for permanent contraception and has limited knowledge of and access to other birth control methods, she is likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy and seek resolution with an abortion. Medical abortion pills are readily available from pharmacies and other private retailers. However, unless proper counselling and monitoring of the use of pills are provided, which often are not, such access is considered unsafe.

Lastly, even though a legal procedure, induced abortion often carries social stigma. Females are embarrassed to report seeking and terminating a pregnancy which means they often resort to informal abortion care or unsafe means.

I think the apparent rise needs to be first examined in terms of whether it is voluntary or involuntary childlessness that is increasing. Possibly it is both. Infertility has as its causes both male and female factorssemen quality, uterine structural issues from pelvic inflammatory disease, exposure to environmental chemicals and toxins and stress for example. A first challenge is to properly measure the prevalence of these conditions in males and females by which careful analyses can be conducted to determine the patterns and causes.

I am not knowledgeable enough about the Indian governments approaches but certainly a comprehensive national family planning program will address couples reproductive intentions, whether to space, limit or have desired births. This includes addressing infertility issues. Denmarks public health system, for example, supports assisted reproduction services (in vitro fertilisation) for women irrespective of marital status and sexual orientation and the proportion of births assisted with IVF is rising.

I would say yes. One finds few countries in the world, particularly with populations as large as Indias, where permanent contraception occupies such a prominent role as a means of birth control. Female sterilisation is favoured in Central America and China, but women there also use other methods. While female sterilisation is a terminal use status for many Indian women, they appear not to access other contraceptive choices as readily if they wish to space births. Striking is the extent to which female sterilisation has become the birth control option for less educated and low-income women.

The governments Family Welfare program has recently introduced two spacing methods Chayya, a once a week oral contraceptive pill, and Antara, a three-month injectable contraceptive. These offer protection against unplanned pregnancies to breastfeeding women and require minimal attention to use. These help complement the other government-sponsored methods. In addition, the government has been promoting immediate postpartum IUD insertions so that women can leave the birth facility protected with a highly effective method. With major surveys such as the National Family Health Survey conducted every few years, it will be possible to monitor the uptake of the new methods and observe how the family planning intentions of couples are being realised.

Nearly one in every five women on this planet is Indian (seventeen percent). Each of them deserves to be born a wanted daughter, be educated, live a healthy productive life and be a contributing member of society. India should not squander this human resource, which can potentially help accelerate the countrys future economic growth.

Amy O. Tsui, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a senior scholar of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health.

Her research interests include family planning, fertility, and related health issues in developing countries and her current research is on the effects of various family planning and health service delivery models on contraceptive, fertility, and sexual health outcomes in sub-Saharan African and other low-income countries. She obtained an MA degree from the University of Hawaii in 1972 and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1977. Among her honours are the Champion of Public Health award from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2005; the AMTRA Award, JHSPH, 2006-07; the Golden Apple Award, JHSPH, 2009; and the Carl S. Schulz Lifetime Achievement Award, Population, Reproductive and Sexual Health Section from the American Public Health Association, November 2010.

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Genetically Modified Babies Are Ethically OK – Reason

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Outrage was the general researcher and media response to the Chinese bioengineer He Jiankui's announcement last November that he had used CRISPR gene-editing technology to modify the genomes of several human embryos with the goal of making them resistant to HIV infection. The result was the birth of twin girls; one with the genetic modification in all of her body's cells and another whose body is a mosaic of modified and unmodified cells. He did certainly cut both scientific and ethical corners in applying CRISPR technology to human embryos. Happily, a preliminary study in June that suggested the He's modifications might shorten the twins' lifespans appears to be wrong.

Setting aside He's moral shortcomings, is it ever ethical to use CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies to modify the genomes of human embryos? Yes, argues Abertay University bioethicist Kevin Smith in the journal Bioethics. Smith addresses the question using a rigorously applied utilitarian ethics approach. He details recent advances in CRISPR gene-editing safety and concludes that the benefits of preventing heritable diseases already outweigh the risks of using the technology.

In his article, Smith deals with "several wellrehearsed positions and arguments" against permitting parents to use CRISPR gene-editing to fix genetic flaws in their prospective offspring. These include "claims of unnaturalness, the alleged interests of embryos, questions of identity, fears of eugenics, and simply the 'yuck factor.'" Smith points out that critics once denounced in vitro fertilization (IVF) on the grounds of that it was "unnatural." Millions of parents have freely chosen unnatural IVF techniques to overcome their natural infertility. Some 8 million children have been born via assisted reproduction since the first IVF baby was born in 1979.

Some opponents argue using CRISPR would be unethical because embryos can't give their consent to being genetically modified. A requirement for prenatal consent is obvious ethical nonsense. No one has ever given their consent to be born much less to be born the specific complement of genes they bear. In addition, it's hard to imagine that a child will later feel morally aggrieved that his or her parents had prevented them from suffering a debilitating genetic disease. Providing parents with the ability to choose to prevent heritable disease and disability in their progeny using biotechnology is not to be equated with morally pernicious state-imposed eugenics. And lots of biomedical treatments and reproductive technologies have gone from yuck to yippeeas their significant benefits became evident. CRISPR gene-editing will do the same.

Smith persuasively argues that not only would the early application of the technology improve the welfare of prospective parents and their progeny now, it will usher in a human germline genetic modification (HGGM) revolution that will greatly benefit future generations. As Smith explains, "The longer we wait until commencing the HGGM revolution and moving towards a world of increased utility, the greater will be the quantity of suffering accrued meantime through genetically influenced disease."

When should CRISPR and even better gene-editing technologies be made available to parents seeking to prevent genetic diseases in their offspring? Given that some folks are still spooked by He's announcement last November, Smith prudentially suggests that "wekickstart the next biomedical revolution by proceeding not immediately but within around 12 years to intervene in the human germline."

The revolution, however, may start sooner than that. Russian researcher Denis Rebrikov says that he hopes to gain permission in the near future from the appropriate authorities to gene-edit embryos to repair a gene that causes congenital deafness.

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Genetically Modified Babies Are Ethically OK - Reason

NASAs giant Super Guppy plane delivers the agencys spacecraft to Ohio – The Verge

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Transporting a large space capsule around Earth can be a daunting process, but NASA has its own various equipment for such jobs one of which is a very big plane with a very big belly. Known as the Super Guppy, NASAs cavernous plane is capable of carrying large loads from point A to point B, and the aircraft just transported the space agencys next-generation passenger spacecraft to Ohio for a round of testing.

The Super Guppys precious cargo was NASAs Orion spacecraft, a new crew capsule thats designed to take future astronauts into deep space and eventually to the vicinity of the Moon. Orion is gearing up for its first flight on top of NASAs future monster rocket, the Space Launch System a mission, without a crew, thats supposed to take place in the early 2020s. The flight will send Orion around the Moon on a three-week trip before the capsule heads back to Earth.

Engineers are preparing Orion for the mission, known as Artemis 1, by putting the capsule through a series of tests to see if its ready to take on space. Over the next two months at NASAs Plum Brook Station, Orion will be subjected to extreme temperatures in the largest vacuum chamber in the world. The vehicle will experience temperatures from -250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit to simulate the wide range of environments it will experience off of Earth. Orions electronics systems will also be tested to make sure they all function as they should at the same time.

Once all of this is done, the Super Guppy will take Orion back to Florida where it will be mounted on top of its future ride, the SLS. However, the SLS is still in development for its debut flight, and its unclear exactly when itll be ready to launch. A recent government audit suggested it wouldnt fly until 2021 at the earliest, and one NASA official also indicated that was likely. But if all goes well with testing, at least Orion will be ready once the rocket is finally finished.

Now there are two NASA flying Astrobee robots working on the ISS – SlashGear

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

NASA has deployed a second Astrobee free-flying robot called Honey on the International Space Station. As with the initial Astrobee, the new addition is designed to help astronauts on the space station get their routine work done, freeing humans to spend their time working on more pressing tasks. An Astrobee system can support up to three free-flying robots that utilize a docking station for recharging.

Astronauts on the International Space Station are busy with scientific experiments, but that work has to be interrupted so that they can regularly complete chores and other rote activities. NASA developed the Astrobee robot system to aid the humans on the ISS with completing these important tasks so that they can spend more hours on research.

Late last week, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano wrapped up the initial tests on the second Astrobee robot named Honey, according to NASA. The robot was connected to the main Astrobee docking system, the space agency explains, which prompted it to wake up for work.

Honey joins the first Astrobee on the ISS, Bumble, and it will eventually work alongside a third robot to complete the system. The robots are all identical, so NASA gave Honey a different color than Bumble, enabling astronauts to tell the two machines apart (Honey is yellow, in case you were wondering).

It wont take as long to get Honey in operation as it did Bumble because the first robot already worked to map the entire interior of the ISS, NASA explains. This map is used by the Astrobee robots to navigate. Queen, the third and final robot for the Astrobee system already on the ISS, is expected to launch to the space station in July 2020.

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Now there are two NASA flying Astrobee robots working on the ISS - SlashGear

NASA astronaut lets go of shield as terrifying video shows it hurtling towards Earth – Express.co.uk

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

There are a reported 170 million pieces of junk floating in Earths upper atmosphere, but only 22,000 are being tracked. Some 7,000 tonnes of space junk circle our planet, as defunct satellites, collateral from rockets and other metals and rocks build up close to Earth. Experts have previously warned that as space debris increases, it will make it harder for rockets to escape Earths orbit out of fear of colliding with an object, known as the Klesser syndrome.

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano, an astronaut from the European Space Agency, needed to remove this debris shield during a spacewalk.

NASA wrote on Instagram: "Did this debris shield spark joy?"Sometimes you need to let go of what no longer serves you!"On the first spacewalk to repair the International Space Station's cosmic particle detector,@AstroDrewMorganand@europeanspaceagencyastronaut Luca Parmitano removed a debris shield to access the worksite."

READ MORE:NASA news: Orion spacecraft arrives for vacuum chamber test in Ohio

Last month NASAreleased a video showing the extent of space junk in the Earths atmosphere amid fears humans are trapping themselves on the planet.

There are fears the space junk could crash into each other causing a breakdown in systems such as mobile phones, television, GPS and weather-related services which rely on the satellites.

It comes as Ralph Dinsley, founder and executive director of Northern Space and Security LTD believes we are approaching a point where it could be too late.

Mr Dinsley told Express.co.uk: At the far end of the spectrum, worst-case scenario, it will wipe it out.

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NASA astronaut lets go of shield as terrifying video shows it hurtling towards Earth - Express.co.uk

NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Is Finding Hundreds of Exoplanetsand Is Poised to Find Thousands More – Singularity Hub

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Within just 50 light-years from Earth, there are about 1,560 stars, likely orbited by several thousand planets. About a thousand of these extrasolar planets, known as exoplanets, may be rocky and have a composition similar to Earths. Some may even harbor life. Over 99 percent of these alien worlds remain undiscoveredbut this is about to change.

With NASAs new exoplanet-hunter space telescope TESS, the all-sky search is on for possibly habitable planets close to our solar system. TESSorbiting Earth every 13.7 days and ground-based telescopes are poised to find hundreds of planets over the next few years. This could transform astronomers understanding of alien worlds around us and provide targets to scan with next-generation telescopes for signatures of life. In just over a year, TESS has identified more than 1,200 planetary candidates, 29 of which astronomers have already confirmed as planets. Given TESSs unique ability to simultaneously search tens of thousands of stars for planets, the mission is expected to yield over 10,000 new worlds.

These are exciting times for astronomers and, especially, for those of us exploring exoplanets. We are members of the planet-hunting Project EDEN, which also supports TESSs work. We use telescopes on the ground and in space to find exoplanets to understand their properties and potential for harboring life.

Worlds around us await discovery. Take, for example, Proxima Centauri, an unassuming, faint red star, invisible without a telescope. It is one of over a hundred billion or so such stars within our galaxy, unremarkable except for its status as our next-door neighbor. Orbiting Proxima is a fascinating but mysterious world, called Proxima b, discovered only in 2016.

Scientists know surprisingly little about Proxima b. Astronomers name the first planet discovered in a system b. This planet has never been seen with human eyes or by a telescope. But we know it exists due to its gravitational pull on its host star, which makes the star wobble ever so slightly. This slight wobble was found in measurements collected by a large, international group of astronomers from data taken with multiple ground-based telescopes. Proxima b very likely has a rocky composition similar to Earths, but higher mass. It receives about the same amount of heat as Earth receives from the sun.

And that is what makes this planet so exciting: It lies in the habitable zone and just might have properties similar to Earths, like a surface, liquid water, andwho knows? maybe even an atmosphere bearing the telltale chemical signs of life.

NASAs TESS mission launched in April 2018 to hunt for other broadly Earth-sized planets, but with a different method. TESS is looking for rare dimming events that happen when planets pass in front of their host stars, blocking some starlight. These transit events indicate not only the presence of the planets, but also their sizes and orbits.

Finding a new transiting exoplanet is a big deal for astronomers like us because, unlike those found through stellar wobbles, worlds seen transiting can be studied further to determine their densities and atmospheric compositions.

By measuring the depth of the dip in brightness and knowing the size of the star, scientists can determine the size or radius of the planet. NASA Ames

For us, the most exciting exoplanets are the smallest ones, which TESS can detect when they orbit small stars called red dwarfs (stars with masses less than half the mass of our sun).

Each of these systems is unique. For example, LP 791-18 is a red dwarf star 86 light-years from Earth around which TESS found two worlds. The first is a super-Earth, a planet larger than Earth but probably still mostly rocky, and the second is a mini-Neptune, a planet smaller than Neptune but gas- and ice-rich. Neither of these planets have counterparts in our solar system.

Among astronomers current favorites of the new broadly Earth-sized planets is LHS 3884b, a scorching hot Earth that orbits its sun so quickly that on it you could celebrate your birthday every 11 hours.

But how Earth-like are Earth-sized planets? The promise of finding nearby worlds for detailed studies is already paying off. A team of astronomers observed the hot super-Earth LHS 3884b with the Hubble Space Telescope and found the planet to be a horrible vacation spot, without even an atmosphere. It is just a bare rock with temperatures ranging from over 700 C (1300 Fahrenheit) at noon to near absolute zero (-460 Fahrenheit) at midnight.

The TESS mission was initially funded for two years. But the spacecraft is in excellent shape and NASA recently extended the mission through 2022, doubling the time TESS will have to scan nearby, bright stars for transits.

However, finding exoplanets around the coolest starsthose with temperatures less than about 2700 C (4900 F)will still be a challenge due to their extreme faintness. Since ultracool dwarfs provide our best opportunity to find and study exoplanets with sizes and temperatures similar to Earths, other focused planet searches are picking up where TESS leaves off.

Illustration of TESS, NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

In May 2016, a Belgian-led group announced the discovery of a planetary system around the ultracool dwarf they christened TRAPPIST-1. The discovery of the seven transiting Earth-sized exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 system was groundbreaking.

It also demonstrated how small telescopesrelative to the powerful behemoths of our age can still make transformational discoveries. With patience and persistence, the TRAPPIST telescope scanned nearby faint, red dwarf stars from its high-mountain perch in the Atacama desert for small, telltale dips in their brightnesses. Eventually, it spotted transits in the data for the red dwarf TRAPPIST-1, whichalthough just 41 light-years awayis too faint for TESSs four 10-cm (4-inch) diameter lenses. Its Earth-sized worlds would have remained undiscovered had the TRAPPIST teams larger telescope not found them.

Two projects have upped the game in the search for exo-Earth candidates around nearby red dwarfs. The SPECULOOS team installed four robotic telescopesalso in the Atacama desertand one in the Northern Hemisphere. Our Exoearth Discovery and Exploration NetworkProject EDENuses nine telescopes in Arizona, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan to observe red dwarf stars continuously.

The SPECULOOS and EDEN telescopes are much larger than TESSs small lenses and can find planets around stars too faint for TESS to study, including some of the transiting Earth-sized planets closest to us.

This artists concept shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets diameters, masses and distances from the host star, as of February 2018. NASA/JPL-Caltech

The next decade is likely to be remembered as the time when we opened our eyes to the incredible diversity of other worlds. TESS is likely to find between 10,000 and 15,000 exoplanet candidates by 2025. By 2030, the European Space Agencys GAIA and PLATO missions are expected to find another 20,000-35,000 planets. GAIA will look for stellar wobbles introduced by planets, while PLATO will search for planetary transits as TESS does.

However, even among the thousands of planets that will soon be found, the exoplanets closest to our solar system will remain special. Many of these worlds can be studied in great detail, including the search for signs of life. Discoveries of the nearest worlds also represent major steps in humanitys progress in exploring the universe we live in. After mapping our own planet and then the solar system, we now turn to nearby planetary systems. Perhaps one day Proxima b or another nearby world astronomers have yet to find will be the target for interstellar probes, like Project Starshot, or even crewed starships. But first weve got to put these worlds on the map.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: Image by JAKO5D from Pixabay

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NASA's TESS Spacecraft Is Finding Hundreds of Exoplanetsand Is Poised to Find Thousands More - Singularity Hub

Texas A&M To Aid NASA In The Development Of Shape-Shifting Metals – Texas A&M University

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Patrick Walgren, current aerospace engineering Ph.D. student at Texas A&M, working on a morphing radiator prototype in the Multifunctional Materials and Aerospace Structures Optimization (MAESTRO) Lab.

Texas A&M Engineering

Like the weather in Texas, the moons temperature varies drastically over the course of its day and night cycle. The moons surface can reach scorching temperatures as high as 250 degrees F during the day and a frigid 208 degrees below zero at night.

These dramatic fluctuations in temperature create a challenge during lunar missions keeping payload, whether thats astronauts aboard a spacecraft or an experimental device on a rover, from becoming too hot or too cold.

With lunar explorations on the horizon, including putting astronauts back on the moon by 2024, NASA is investing $2 million in cutting-edge thermal technology to make regulating temperatures during missions possible.

This technology will be developed by a team of researchers from Texas A&M University, the Boeing Company and Paragon Space Development Corporation. The team is focused on creating shape-shifting technology to adjust thermal control systems automatically.

Our proposed solutions incorporate shape-shifting metals that adjust their own heat rejection based on how hot or cold they are, so it solves the problem for us, said Dr. Darren Hartl, assistant professor in aerospace engineering and head of the Multifunctional Material and Aerospace Structures Optimization (M2AESTRO) Lab at Texas A&M.

Hartl and his team have a successful history partnering with both Boeing and Paragon on shape memory alloy (SMA) technology. Most recently, Hartl and Dr. John Whitcomb, professor in aerospace engineering, have worked on an idea with Paragon to create amorphing radiator composed of SMAs.

Prototypes of the morphing radiator were developed by former graduate students Christopher Bertagne, now at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Patrick Walgren, current Ph.D. student. They successfully tested the prototypes in a small thermal vacuum chamber at NASAs Johnson Space Center.

The recent funding from NASA, awarded through theTipping Point initiative, will launch the SMA-based thermal control technology into its next phase.

Its incredibly rewarding to be a part of the team that advanced this technology to its current state and to learn that NASA is committed to further maturing the concept, said Walgren.

Texas A&M researchers will begin their part of the project in the spring, which includes further development of the morphing radiator as well as the modeling and optimization of an accompanying thermal switch, also composed of SMAs. These thermally sensitive technologies represent uncharted territory, yet are critical to the operations of future space expeditions.

It will be another successful example of morphing structures enabling something that couldnt have been done before, said Hartl. It will be another example to the aerospace industry that you can have a structure adapt itself to its environment.

Heather Stearns of Tallahassee, Florida, Has Recently Been Appointed President of LIBERTY Dental Plan of Florida, Inc. – Business Wire

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LIBERTY Dental Plan of Florida has proudly served Floridians concerning their dental benefits for the past 10 years, and currently serves approximately 1 million Medicaid members as one of three dental plans directly administering the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Dental Program. LIBERTY Dental Plan of Floridas operational center is in Tampa and administrative office in Tallahassee. LIBERTY of Florida employs approximately 250 individuals throughout the State.

Heather Stearns joined LIBERTY in February 2018, as Vice President of Government Relations. Prior to joining LIBERTY, Heather worked in Florida Governor Rick Scotts Administration, most recently as the Chief of Staff for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Previously, Heather worked for the Executive Office of the Governor. There, she served as Special Counsel to the Chief Inspector General, Deputy General Counsel to the Governor, and General Counsel to the Division of Emergency Management. Prior to her time in state government, Heather practiced law in the private sector. Heather earned her bachelors degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Miami, and her Juris Doctorate from Florida State University College of Law. Heather serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission as one of nine commissioners, who interview and nominate applicants for appointment by the Governor to the Florida Supreme Court. She lives in Tallahassee with her husband and their daughters.

I am pleased and proud that Heather has agreed to serve and accept the appointment as President of our Florida company and programs, said Dr. Amir Neshat, Founder and CEO of the LIBERTY Dental Plan companies. I know based on her prior service that she brings unique perspective and valuable experience to this role, which includes the administration of our Medicaid Dental Program throughout the State of Florida.

You may contact Heather at: hstearns@libertydentalplan.com

ABOUT LIBERTY

LIBERTY Dental Plan was founded and is led by a dentist and provides full dental administrative services to over 4.5 million members in public and commercial programs in 50 states including approximately 3 million Medicaid members in Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York.

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Heather Stearns of Tallahassee, Florida, Has Recently Been Appointed President of LIBERTY Dental Plan of Florida, Inc. - Business Wire

Games to Watch This Weekend for Liberty’s Bowl Hopes (11/26 edition) – A Sea of Red

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

In Libertys current predicament as an FBS Independent and only one secondary bowl agreement with the Cure Bowl, not only do the Flames need to get to the necessary six FBS wins to become bowl eligible, Liberty also needs help.

Here are the top games to keep an eye on this weekend, in addition to Liberty against New Mexico State, to help the Flames bowl chances.

Both the AAC and the Sun Belt have enough bowl eligible teams to fill their respective bowl slots, including the Cure Bowl. There still is a chance one spot will open up if the champion from either the AAC or the Sun Belt is the top ranked champion from the Group of Five conferences and gets a spot in the New Years Six. The AAC champ is currently holding this title with Memphis and Cincinnati.

Can both teams win? We need the AAC champion to stay ranked ahead of Boise State, currently both the Bearcats and Tigers fit that bill, but one must lose this week. Cincy has already clinched a spot in next weeks AAC Championship game while Memphis is tied with Navy. A Memphis win is probably best, but we probably need whoever wins this game to also win the AAC Championship game to stay ahead of Boise State.

A Boise State loss would greatly help the Americans chances at getting their champion into a New Years Six bowl game.

A Troy loss would eliminate them and the win by Appalachian State would keep them in the hunt for a New Years Six slot which would also help Libertys chances.

This year there are 39 bowl games resulting in 78 bowl spots. If Liberty does not get into the Cure Bowl, but there is an empty spot elsewhere from not having enough bowl eligible teams, the Flames will get the nod.

There are currently 72 bowl eligible teams and 13 teams that are 1 win away from becoming bowl eligible, not counting Liberty. Here are those 13 teams and their games this week:

Its very unlikely, but a loss by the Bearcats would eliminate them.

This is a huge game for Libertys chances. The Flames need to pull for Coach Hugh Freezes former team, Ole Miss, to eliminate Mississippi State.

Eastern Michigan is already bowl eligible. Kent State needs one more win. We need Eastern Michigan to win to eliminate the Golden Flashes.

We need to pull for Iowa to knock off the Cornhuskers and eliminate them.

Missouri is an interesting case. They have been given a bowl ban but can qualify for the postseason by defeating Arkansas while the school fights the bowl ban with an ongoing appeal. Hopefully, they lose to the Razorbacks and we dont have to worry about it.

Go Mountaineers!

We need Boston College to lose which will eliminate them.

We need Maryland to pull off the big upset to eliminate the Spartans.

We need the Ducks to eliminate their in-state rival.

We need the Wolfpack to knock off the Tar Heels and eliminate them from bowl contention.

Utah should win and that would eliminate Colorado.

Louisiana has had a terrific season, and we need them to pull off a win against their rival to eliminate UL Monroe.

The AAC making a New Years Six Bowl and the Flames sliding into the AACs Cure Bowl slot is most likely, but theres still a chance Liberty could slide into another spot. 13 teams are fighting for the final six spots. It should make for a fun week. We will update this throughout the week as the games are played.

Originally posted here:

Games to Watch This Weekend for Liberty's Bowl Hopes (11/26 edition) - A Sea of Red

PHOTOS: Umbrellas, Tables, and Seating Appear at Liberty Square… – wdwnt.com

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

This post may contain affiliate links; please read the disclosure for more information.

Hold on to your mop hats and powdered wigs, because the colonial construction project in Liberty Square appears to be preparing to open. As we noted from the last time we stopped by Magic Kingdom, the cobblestones had been laid and workers were starting to clean up around the site. We now know why they were tidying up! The dining areas umbrellas, tables, and chairs have arrived!

The top of the umbrellas were easy to spot poking out over the top of the green construction fencing. The brand new maroon umbrellas were wrapped in plastic.

The new tables and chairs are brown and match the other outdoor seating in Liberty Square at Sleepy Hollow.

The poor tree in the middle of the square seems to have lost a bunch of its leaves. We hope that it will be alright.

Once completed, this area will offer more of the much needed dining area for Liberty Square Square Market. Well be the first to let you know when this area finally opens. Check WDWNT for all of the latest Disney construction news!

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PHOTOS: Umbrellas, Tables, and Seating Appear at Liberty Square... - wdwnt.com

Liberty vs. Morgan State odds: 2019 The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase picks, predictions from proven model – CBS Sports

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

The Liberty Flames look to stay perfect on the season when they take on the Morgan State Bears in the opening game of the 2019 The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase. The Flames (5-0), who tied with Lipscomb for the Atlantic Sun Conference championship at 14-2 and were 29-7 overall in 2018-19, were 2-3 on neutral courts a year ago, while the Bears (3-2), who finished 11th in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at 4-12 and were 9-21 overall last season, were 1-1 on neutral courts in 2018-19. Friday's tip-off from Baha Mar Convention Center in Nassau, The Bahamas, is set for 11 a.m. ET. Morgan State leads the all-time series 3-1, winning the last meeting 51-50 on Nov. 26, 2014. The Flames are 14-point favorites in the latest Liberty vs. Morgan State odds, while the over-under for total points scored is set at 125.5.Before making any Liberty vs. Morgan State picks, check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model and see what it has to say.

This model, which simulates every game 10,000 times, has crushed its top-rated college basketball picks against-the-spread the past three years, returning $2,770 to $100 players. Anybody who has followed it has seen huge returns.

Now, the model has set its sights on Liberty vs. Morgan State. We can tell you that the model is leaning over, and has generated an extremely strong against the spread pick that is hitting in well over 70 percent of simulations.You can head to SportsLine to see it. Now, here are the betting lines and trends for Liberty vs. Morgan State:

Liberty is off to its best start since 1991 and is one of 12 teams in Division I with a record of 5-0 or better. Of the 200 minutes played this season, the Flames have trailed a total of just five minutes, 46 seconds. Through five games, Liberty, which is fifth in the country in scoring defense, has allowed 259 points (51.8 average), the fewest during the school's Division I history and fewest since they allowed 242 in 1984.

Offensively, the Flames have been led by senior guard Caleb Homesley, who is averaging a team-high 14 points per game to go along with 6.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists. In his last game, Homesley poured in 25 points, while grabbing nine rebounds and adding four assists against East Carolina. He missed the game against Navy with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for Friday's contest.

But just because the Flames are playing well, does not guarantee they will win or cover the Liberty vs. Morgan State spread on Friday.

That's because Morgan State has won two in a row and is coming off a big 88-52 win over Regent. The Bears are led by senior guard Stanley Davis, who is averaging 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds and is shooting 59 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the free throw line. Morgan State is 4-0 against the spread in its last four games following a straight-up win of more than 20 points.

Junior forward Troy Baxter is a force inside and already has 13 blocked shots, tied for 36th in the country and leads the Bears with 6.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Sherwyn Devonish has scored in double figures in all five games and is averaging 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds. He scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win over George Washington last week.

So who wins Morgan State vs. Liberty? And which side of the spread can you bank on in well over 70 percent of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Morgan State vs. Liberty spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that is up more than $2,700 on its college basketball picks the last three years, and find out.

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Liberty vs. Morgan State odds: 2019 The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase picks, predictions from proven model - CBS Sports

Newark Liberty International Airport is Actually in Elizabeth, NJ- (County of Union) Now the Destination is Visible to Passengers – Yahoo Finance

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Just in time for busiest travel day of the year, the city of Elizabeth, New Jersey, marketing campaign is showcased in Terminal A; information now shares the destination's highlights with passengers of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

ELIZABETH, N.J., Nov. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Just before the busiest travel day of the year, Elizabeth, New Jersey, is taking advantage of the holiday rush in conjunction with Port Authority's increasing efforts to enhance traveler's experience during the busy holiday season. With the growing support and partnership from Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the Elizabeth Destination Marketing Organization [EDMO] has successfully built out a strategic marketing campaign that illuminates one of New Jersey's Newest Destination's: The City of Elizabeth located in Union County, New Jersey.

"The City of Elizabeth is proud to be showcased on the new marketing initiative in Terminal A," said Mayor J. Christian Bollwage. "Elizabeth has so much to offer its visitors and anyone walking through this section of the airport will be able to see that on display. From our numerous historical sites to our diverse dining and shopping, there's something for everyone."

"The Freeholder Board is very proud to work with the City on projects that enhance economic growth in Elizabeth and throughout the county and region," said Union County Freeholder Chair Bette Jane Kowalski. "The Welcome to the City of Elizabeth campaign effectively highlights the city's position as a true gateway to the State of New Jersey. Now visitors as well as residents have informational resources at their fingertips showing all Elizabeth has to offer, easily giving them the opportunity to experience the history, tourist attractions and shopping opportunities available."

The City of Elizabeth's new renderings at EWR airport showcases different attributes that the city of Elizabeth has to offer for arriving passengers. The "Rest. Refresh. Revive" rendering represents the nine different hotels that are in Elizabeth, which serve as exquisite relaxation stops for passengers after a long flight. "Your Shopping Paradise" outlines the city's high-end outlet shopping mall, the Mills at Jersey Gardens (0% tax on clothes and shoes)- making Elizabeth, NJ one of top shopping destinations in America. Lastly, "History's Best kept Secret" represents the city's various historical sites- after all, Elizabeth holds the title of the original capital of the State of New Jersey, established in 1664. Elizabeth, New Jersey has been recognized an emerging tourist destination that welcomes art, culture, and diversity, as an alternative just minute from the Big Apple.

"Newark Liberty International Airport has many strong assets, one of which being its convenience to some of New Jersey's amazing cities and towns, which many travelers may not be aware of," said Jeffrey Vasser, Executive Director of New Jersey Travel & Tourism. "The work that the Elizabeth Tourism office is doing to not only showcase its offerings, but also educate the EWR staff is going to have great rewards for enhancing the travelers experience, providing great experiences that are just minutes away."

In addition to the airport's new renderings of the city of Elizabeth, the Elizabeth Destination Marketing Organization has been working closely with Port Authority to personally train the EWR ACES (Airport Customer Experience Specialist) and EWR's Traveler's Aid Staff on all things in Elizabeth that can enhance their traveler's experiences just outside the airport terminals. With this training, the airport staff now has the GoElizabethNJ mobile app accessible on their tablets, to guide all passengers in real-time with daily updated events/activities throughout the city of Elizabeth (whether this is recommending a restaurant, event, or hotel). The "Layover Survival Guide" is also available to airport passengers, who might need an idea on what to do during a three to seven hour layover.

"Our host cities are important to us," said Jenny Davis Port Authority Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs. "This airport welcomes more than 46 million passengers a year, and we are happy to help promote Elizabeth as an exciting travel destination."

Story continues

New Jersey's newest tourist destination, just minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport, with easy access by bus, car, train or plane, groups can plan their destination adventure by booking an overnight stay, just minutes from New York City, at any of Elizabeth's nine franchised hotels ranging from full service to limited service properties. Through EDMO's website and mobile app, the local community and visiting tourists are able to stay "in the know" learning about all there is to do around town in real-time with daily updates on the City's hottest events, historical tours and sites, as well as featuring its diverse culinary cuisine establishments and trending nightlife venues. Definitely not forgetting to mention, what's made Elizabeth one of top shopping destinations in America, it's high-end indoor outlet shopping mall The Mills at Jersey Gardens. A SIMON property with 200+ stores and 0% tax on clothes and shoes. For more on Elizabeth's hotels and tourism information, please visit https://www.goelizabethnj.com/

SOURCE Elizabeth Destination Marketing Organization

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Newark Liberty International Airport is Actually in Elizabeth, NJ- (County of Union) Now the Destination is Visible to Passengers - Yahoo Finance

Liberty defeats UMKC to win the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase – A Sea of Red

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

On Sunday night, the Liberty Flames defeated the Kansas City Kangaroos, 62-49, in the Championship Game of the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase in Nassua. With the win, the Flames continue to improve upon its program best start, moving to 8-0 on the season.

It was a dominating performance in the Bahamas for the Flames as Liberty won all three games 22 average margin of victory in the three games. Kyle Rode was named the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase Tournament MVP.

Once again playing without the injured Caleb Homesley, who played just 6 minutes in the three game tournament, Liberty got off to a strong start for the third consecutive game in the Bahamas. Scottie James scored the first 5 points of the game and Kyle Rode knocked down his 7th three-pointer of the tournament to give the Flames an early 8-0 lead by the first media timeout. The Flames wouldnt look back as they maintained the lead for the entire game.

The lead would grow to 10-0 on a Rode acrobatic putback before the Kangaroos finally got on the board. The Liberty defense frustrated the Roos in the opening minutes of the game, but they would settle in and string together a few quality possessions.

The Flames would maintain the lead thanks to a Darius Mcghee three-pointer, that came from beyond NBA range, and 4 quick points off the bench from Myo Baxter-Bell. Liberty led 17-8 at the under 12 media timeout of the first half.

Nothing came easy for Kansas City on the offensive end of the floor as this packline defense has reached a different level this season under Ritchie McKay. The Roos were thankful to bank in a three pointer as Liberty pushed its lead to 26-15 thanks in part to Rodes second triple of the evening as he led all scorers with 8.

UMKC was able to cut the lead to 6, as close as they had been since the opening minutes of the game, thanks to a quick 5-0 sport out of the timeout. The run was ended by a couple of Shiloh Robinson free throws as he got into the paint and drew a foul.

Liberty would close out the half strong as the Kangaroos did not score in the final 3:19 of the half as the Flames pushed its lead to 32-22 at the break. Kyle Rode led all scorers with 8 points, as he connected on 2 of his 3 three point attempts in the first half. Scottie James chipped in 7 points and 6 rebounds while Myo Baxter-Bell added 6 points and 3 rebounds.

Out of halftime, UMKC was again able to cut it to 6, the third time theyve gotten that close since the beginning of the game. A couple of buckets by Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz and one by Baxter-Bell would spurt a 6-0 Liberty run as the lead grew to 12 once again at 38-26 with 14:49 left in the game.

The run would balloon to 10-0 off a couple of turnovers by the Roos. Elijah Cuffee and Shiloh Robinson with the buckets to continue the spurt as the Kangaroos have gone over 5 minutes without a point. Robinsons bucket came on a beautiful post move, as the true freshman from Kearney, Nebraska continues to showcase more from his game. The Flames forced 7 UMKC turnovers during the scoreless stretch.

The run would end at 12-0, but the game was all but wrapped up at that point as the lead swelled to 20 points. Scottie James, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, and Darius McGhee were the offensive firepower for Liberty during the stretch of play.

The Flames were paced by a balanced attack as has become the norm under McKay. Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz finished with a team-high 14 points while Scottie James added 12 and Darius McGhee had 10.

McKay has guided the Flames to an astounding 27-3 record over the teams previous 30 games dating back to Libertys win at UCLA.

Liberty returns to action on Friday in the Vines Center against Kentucky Christian with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m.

Liberty defeats UMKC to win the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase - A Sea of Red

The Liberty Foundation Awards $422,000 to 18 Nonprofit Organizations | Business Gallery – The Weekly Journal

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

The Liberty Foundation closed the 22nd edition of the Liberty Foundation Golf Invitational Tournament awarding an unprecedented donation of $422,000 for 18 nonprofit organizations on the island. The donation was presented on Thursday, November 21 during the Tournaments Driving Dreams Gala Dinner, held at the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Ro Grande.

The 18 organizations that received donations this year were Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico, Casa Familiar Virgilio Dvila, Casa de Nios Manuel Fernndez Juncos, Centro Espibi, Centros Sor Isolina Ferr, Felisa Rincn Gautier Foundation, Fundacin A-Mar, Fundacin CAP, Hogar Santa Teresita del Nio Jess, Hogares Teresa Toda, Instituto Nueva Escuela, Jvenes de Puerto Rico en Riesgo, Make Music Happen (Berklee in Puerto Rico), Movimiento para el Alcance de Vida Independiente (MAVI), Nios de Nueva Esperanza, Para La Naturaleza, Ponce Childrens Choir and the San Juan Childrens Choir.

As the foundation grows, so does our commitment to empower the organizations we support so they can continue helping underserved communities and individuals in Puerto Rico, said Naji Khoury, president and CEO of Liberty Puerto Rico and Liberty Foundations president. We are grateful for the support of our friends and partners, who have made it possible for us to make this record donation, the highest in the history of our tournament. With it, they validate the work that the Liberty Foundation is doing in favor of Puerto Ricos socio-economic development and future.

In a moving celebration, all of the guests had the chance to nominate one of the 18 beneficiaries for a raffle that awarded an additional $5,000 to the grants they had received originally. The raffles lucky NPOs were San Juan Childrens Choir, Casa de Nios Manuel Fernndez Juncos, Fundacin CAP, and Para la Naturaleza. In addition, the San Juan Childrens Choir delighted guests with a sample of their repertoire, while a band made of participants from the Berklee in Puerto Rico program closed the evening with a set of Latin Jazz, Latin American folklore, Puerto Rican standards and numbers from the 80s.

Khoury also thanked the dozens of Liberty Puerto Rico employees who donated their time and talents to ensure the tournaments success. He added that their contribution was vital in each step of the process, from the fundraising to the organization and execution of the tournaments logistics, which involved the coordination of over 300 guests and events in two separate venues.

Being able to make this historic donation to a higher number of beneficiaries is a dream come true for us. We are inspired by the courageous work these organizations do every day and these funds enable them to carry on despite Puerto Ricos challenging situation, said Yadira Valdivia, Liberty Foundations executive director. We hope to continue expanding our scope of work so many other organizations can also make dreams come true for communities and individuals in need.

As the Foundations key fundraising event, the 22nd Liberty Foundation Golf Invitational raised a net amount of $650,000. The remaining funds will be used to continue the Foundations philanthropic program throughout the entire year. The tournament has been raising funds for community organizations in Puerto Rico since 1996, when it raised $19,000 for the Hogar San Jos in Luquillo. Since then, the event has raised over $2.8 million for over 20 nonprofit organizations throughout the island, including this years donation.

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The Liberty Foundation Awards $422,000 to 18 Nonprofit Organizations | Business Gallery - The Weekly Journal

Liberty Science Center’s Inaugural Genius of New Jersey to Honor Innovators Who Make the State a World Leader in Cutting-Edge Applied Science -…

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

JERSEY CITY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Jersey is home to some of the worlds most accomplished innovators in applied science. Three of them who are pioneering research and solutions in antibacterial therapies, genetics, human life extension, and food production are being honored by Liberty Science Center at its inaugural The Genius of NJ celebration on Monday, December 2.

The celebration starts at 5:30 pm with cocktails and unique technology demonstrations: a full-body 3D scanner from Lenscloud that can scan a person in half a second with 120 cameras and create a realistic 3D avatar; bomb-disposing robots and an autonomous fighting robot from Picatinny Arsenal; and Flyer, a personal aerial vehicle from Kitty Hawk, headquartered in Mountain View, CA.

The New Jersey honorees are Bonnie Bassler, Chair of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, who is developing novel antimicrobial therapies to render pathogenic bacteria harmless; Dr. Robert J. Hariri, Chairman, Founder & CEO of Celularity, Inc. who is pioneering the use of stem cells to cure disease and slow aging; and David Rosenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of AeroFarms, the worlds leader in mass-scale vertical indoor farming.

Our inaugural Genius of NJ Award Winners represent the best this state and the world have to offer in harnessing science for the betterment of humanity, said Liberty Science Center President and CEO Paul Hoffman. Each is using his or her exceptional intellect and creative abilities to disrupt and innovate both in their respective fields and in their commitment to making the world healthier and safer.

Bonnie Bassler is the Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Professor Bassler deciphered the chemical language bacteria cells use to communicate by studying a harmless marine bacterium called Vibrio fischeri, known to bioluminesce, or make light, like fireflies do. She is a winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant and is now developing therapies that disrupt communication among harmful bacteria and strengthen communication among helpful bacteria. At a time when an increasing number of bacteria are resistant to traditional kinds of antibiotics, Dr. Bassler offers a promising new approach to antimicrobial therapy.

The Chairman, Founder and CEO of Celularity, Inc., in Warren, NJ, and Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Human Longevity, Inc., Dr. Robert Hariri is the quintessential renaissance man. Hes a neurosurgeon, a medical researcher, and a serial entrepreneur in two technology sectors: aerospace and biomedicine. Dr. Hariri has advised the Vatican on genetics, and in 2018, Pope Francis bestowed on him the Pontifical Key Award for Innovation. Dr. Hariris path to discovering that the placenta, a temporary organ discarded after birth, was a potent source of stem cells began in the 80s when he viewed a first trimester ultrasound of his oldest daughter and wondered why the placenta was so large. Today Dr. Hariri is working to use placental stem cells to cure disease, slow aging, and augment healthy human lifespan.

Prominent entrepreneur David Rosenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of AeroFarms, set out to reinvent one of the most basic aspects of food production, farming. AeroFarms has grown 800 species of plants indoors and can grow them 365 days a year without sun or soil, achieving yields 130 times greater than conventional farming. His system uses 95 percent less water than field farming and no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. Rosenbergs adoption of cutting-edge technology has been a cornerstone of AeroFarms, which set up its first indoor vertical farms in abandoned warehouses in Newark. He employs plant biologists, microbiologists, geneticists, systems engineers, and data scientists. AeroFarms innovations in indoor vertical farming have improved not just plant yields but also taste, texture, nutritional density, and shelf life.

Additionally, LSC will honor non-New Jersian Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Kitty Hawk, a company spun off from a Google moonshot effort to free the world from traffic. Kitty Hawk is developing all-electric, vertical take-off flying machines for everyday use. Known as the godfather of self-driving cars, as a Stanford professor in 2005, Thrun led a team that won the $2-million Defense Department Grand Challenge to build an autonomous vehicle which drove itself unassisted on a 132-mile course across the Mojave Desert. His winning entry, Stanley, is now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. While at Stanford, in 2011 he and colleague Peter Norvig offered their Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course online to anyone, for free. Over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled! The MOOC (which stands for Massive Open Online Course) was born, and Thrun founded the online education company Udacity, with the goal of democratizing education. Thrun relinquished his tenured Stanford professorship to join Google and founded the companys semi-secret R&D division called Google X (now called simply X) to develop breakthrough technologies, such as self-driving cars, that make the world a radically better place.

Ticket prices for The Genius of NJ start at $750 per guest with options for table sponsorship from $12,500 to $50,000. For more details, please visit The Genius of NJ online. All proceeds from this event will support LSCs mission to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

About Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot nonprofit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to learners of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. More than 250,000 students visit the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participate in the Centers off-site and online programs. Welcoming more than 750,000 visitors annually, LSC is the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.

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Liberty Science Center's Inaugural Genius of New Jersey to Honor Innovators Who Make the State a World Leader in Cutting-Edge Applied Science -...

What to Be Thankful For | Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Endless war. A $23 trillion national debt. Intrusive regulation. Criminal injustice. Presidents who don't think the Constitution limits their powers.It's easy to point to troubling aspects of modern America, and I spend a lot of time doing that. But whena journalist asked me what freedoms we take for granted in America, I found it a good opportunity to step back and consider how America is different from much of world history and why immigrants still flock here.

If we ask how life in the United States is different from life in most of the history of the world and still different from much of the world a few key elements come to mind.

Rule of law. Perhaps the greatest achievement in history is the subordination of power to law. That is, in modern America we have created structures that limit and control the arbitrary power of government. No longer can one man a king, a priest, a communist party boss take another persons life or property at the rulers whim. Citizens can go about their business, generally confident that they wont be dragged off the streets to disappear forever, and confident that their hard-earned property wont be confiscated without warning. We may take the rule of law for granted, but immigrants from China, Haiti, Syria, and other parts of the world know how rare it is.

Equality. For most of history people were firmly assigned to a particular status clergy, nobility, and peasants. Kings and lords and serfs. Brahmins, other castes, and untouchables in India. If your father was a noble or a peasant, so would you be. The American Revolution swept away such distinctions. In America all men were created equal -- or at least that was our promise and our aspiration. Thomas Jefferson declared that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. In America some people may be smarter, richer, stronger, or more beautiful than others, but Im as good as you is our national creed. We are all citizens, equal before the law, free to rise as far as our talents will take us.

Equality for women. Throughout much of history women were the property of their fathers or their husbands. They were often barred from owning property, testifying in court, signing contracts, or participating in government. Equality for women took longer than equality for men, but today in America and other civilized parts of the world women have the same legal rights as men.

Self-government. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that governments are instituted to secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that those governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Early governments were often formed in the conquest of one people by another, and the right of the rulers to rule was attributed to Gods will and passed along from father to son. In a few places Athens, Rome, medieval Germany there were fitful attempts to create a democratic government. Now, after Americas example, we take it for granted in civilized countries that governments stand or fall on popular consent.

Freedom of speech. In a world of Fox and MSNBC, Facebook and Twitter, its hard to imagine just how new and how rare free speech is. Lots of people died for the right to say what they believed. In China, Russia,Africa, and the Arab world, they still do. Fortunately, weve realized that while free speech may irritate each of us at some point, were all better off for it.

Freedom of religion. Church and state have been bound together since time immemorial. The state claimed divine sanction, the church got money and power, the combination left little room for freedom. As late as the 17th century, Europe was wracked by religious wars. England, Sweden, and other countries still have an established church, though their citizens are free to worship elsewhere. Many people used to think that a country could only survive if everyone worshipped the one true God in the one true way. The American Founders established religious freedom.

Property and contract. We owe our unprecedented standard of living to the capitalist freedoms of private property and free markets. When people are able to own property and make contracts, they create wealth. Free markets and the legal institutions to enforce contracts make possible vast economic undertakings from the design and construction of airplanes to Bitcoin and Venmo. But to appreciate the benefits of free markets, we dont have to marvel at skyscrapers while listening to music onour iPhones. We can just give thanks for enough food to live on, and central heating, and the medical care that has lowered the infant mortality rate from about 20 percent to less than 1 percent.

A Kenyan boy who managed to get to the United States told a reporter for Womans World magazine that America is heaven. Compared to countries that lack the rule of law, equality, property rights, free markets, and freedom of speech and worship, it certainly is. A good point to keep in mind this Thanksgiving Day.

A version of thisarticlewas publishedin 2004 and was included in my book The Politics of Freedom.

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What to Be Thankful For | Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute

Sixty minutes for 60 more: Liberty focuses on final chance to become bowl eligible – Lynchburg News and Advance

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Sixty minutes for 60 more.

Liberty football coach Hugh Freeze uttered those words Saturday to break the palpable disappointment in the Flames locker room at Scott Stadium. The four-touchdown loss to Virginia particularly stung for the players, and Freeze wanted to shift the focus to a bigger picture.

The Flames still control their destiny in becoming bowl eligible, and the regular-season finale at home Saturday against New Mexico State serves as the final opportunity to pick up the elusive seventh victory for a chance to play in a bowl game for the first time in program history.

Weve got 60 that are on the schedule and weve got a shot if we win those 60 to have 60 more to play together, Freeze said. It should would be fun to do, especially for these seniors.

Liberty is 6-5 and needs to defeat the Aggies to become bowl eligible in the programs first season as a full-fledged member of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Flames need to reach the seven-win mark because two victories have come against Football Championship Subdivision programs (Hampton and Maine), and only one triumph counts toward bowl eligibility.

Freeze laid out his goals for the program when he met with the media during his introductory press conference nearly one year ago, and the one at the top of the list was getting Liberty to its first bowl game.

When he reiterated the teams primary objective following Saturdays loss to UVa, the seniors understood the magnitude of what was in front of them and the need to quickly regain focus and prepare for the teams second meeting against NMSU this season.

This is the biggest game of the season, senior quarterback Buckshot Calvert said. ... Weve got to come out swinging and make big plays. Coach Freeze said it: Play 60 minutes for another 60 minutes. I think weve just got to have that mindset to play a whole 60 minutes, therefore we can reach our goal and play another 60 minutes after the regular season is over.

Liberty is one of 14 teams that can become bowl eligible with a victory this weekend.

Seventy-two teams have reached bowl eligibility with six spots available in the 39-bowl game schedule.

The Aggies (2-9) enter the important matchup for Liberty as winners of two straight over Incarnate Word and Texas-El Paso.

The Flames opened as 14-point favorites and won the seasons previous meeting 20-13.

If we dont win, its my last game ever in the collegiate ranks, redshirt senior running back Frankie Hickson said. This game means a lot to the seniors, and it means a lot to all the other guys, too, for the seniors who have looked out for them and tried to make sure they are starting in the right direction. The game means a lot.

Liberty has a secondary tie-in agreement with the Cure Bowl that will open the door to an invite for LU to the Dec. 21 game in Orlando, Florida, if the American Athletic and Sun Belt conferences can not fill their respective bowl slots.

Both conferences have enough bowl eligible teams to fill their slots (AAC with seven and Sun Belt with five), and if either Memphis or Cincinnati remains as the top Group of 5 team in the final College Football Playoff rankings, that would open the AACs slot for the Flames to go bowling.

Its definitely important to get another chance to play another football game, redshirt senior rover Elijah Benton said.

It really is bigger than me; its bigger than the seniors. Its what a win would do for the program to make it to the first bowl game. Its a legacy that will never be able to be erased. Its the first time that well be bowl eligible to make it to a bowl game. Thats really the biggest goal.

Damien Sordelett covers Liberty athletics for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5550.

Damien Sordelett covers Liberty University athletics and local golf for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5550.

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Sixty minutes for 60 more: Liberty focuses on final chance to become bowl eligible - Lynchburg News and Advance

Liberty’s John Malone sees HBO losing out in the streaming wars – CNBC

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

John Malone chairman of Liberty Media

Michael Kovac | Getty Images | Vanity Fair)

Liberty Media Chairman John Malone has some reservations about HBO's bid to enter an extremely crowded streaming market.

AT&T's WarnerMedia announced last month its HBO Max streaming service will launch in the U.S. in May of 2020. Starting with about 10,000 hours of content, the cable company is slated to compete with a slew of monthly subscription services including Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Lionsgate's Starz, Apple TV+, just to name a few.

"I don't see the growth for HBO in going this route," Malone spoke to CNBC's David Faber in an exclusive interview on Thursday. "I really have trouble seeing HBO being able to get the scale to be able to be at the top of the chart in terms of direct consumer subscribers."

Malone believes HBO would have a hard time attracting new subscribers and the company also doesn't have the capacity yet to become an international player.

"The way I look at it is in the U.S., if you wanted HBO, you already have HBO. So I don't see they gain a lot of new customers," Malone said.

"They certainly don't have the budget to defend and protect their content supply long-term, and they don't own the rights to international distribution and it will take them years to develop and hold onto enough content to be a real player internationally," he added.

AT&T aims to reach 75 to 90 million subscribers by 2025, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said previously. The company said it will spend $4 billion over the next three years building HBO Max.

CBS and Viacom have agreed to merge, planning to accelerate their streaming strategies and expand globally. Malone said the combined company, which will be called ViacomCBS, is "cheap at the moment."

"What they don't have is global presence. While they make a lot of their own content, a lot of it is bought," Malone said. "CBS is totally dependent in my opinion on sports right... I'm not sure about long-term profitability or whether or not CBShas the market power to carry all of those channels."

The combination reunites the two media companies controlled by Sumner Redstone's National Amusements. Viacom spun off CBS in 2006.

"I think Viacom underinvested in the content on their channels for a number of years while they were spending their money buying back stocks at high prices," Malone said. "I think that was kind of a tactical mistake."

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Liberty's John Malone sees HBO losing out in the streaming wars - CNBC

Liberty CEO sees Sirius well positioned in audio boom with exclusive content like Howard Stern – CNBC

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Danzig

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei believes the company is well positioned to capitalize on the growing popularity of podcasts and other audio content.

Maffei, who joined CNBC's David Faber from Liberty's investor day in New York on Thursday, said that while there is competition for audio content, exclusive agreements should prove lucrative over time.

"Exclusives are what you want to have. And there are different forms of that," the CEO said. "We have exclusives obviously in things like Howard Stern. We have exclusives in the fact that if you want to listen to CNBC in the car, we're the way to do it, ESPN and the like."

"We have an exclusive with Marvel, we have an exclusive now with Lebron James called 'Uninterrupted,'" he continued. "Lots of things that are unique just to us."

Under the leadership of Maffei and Chairman John Malone, Liberty originally acquired a 40% stake in Sirius XM Radio back in 2009, saving the satellite-radio company from bankruptcy. Four years later, Liberty took majority control of Sirius.

"Not only is there upside in listenership and the kinds of content, including podcasts, but they're under-monetized. I think there's an opportunity to see increases in how podcasts and other forms of audio content are monetized," Maffei said.

"Yes, there's a little bit of a bidding war for audio content, but you can't spend on audio. A great podcast might be $250,000 a year; an hour of one of these high-end shows could be $10 million," he added. "The numbers are so far apart and the war is way less."

SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer echoed Maffei's bullish outlook on the opportunity presented by podcasts.

"There are debates on what the slope of the line is going to be in podcasts, but there is no question where north is," Meyer told CNBC later on Thursday. "It's going to grow exponentially, because people have always loved talk content but younger people consume it differently than people from my generation."

To ensure SiriusXM is able to monetize on that exponential growth, Meyer said the company is focusing its efforts on improving its advertisement technology.

It's an area where SiriusXM which has been assimilating with Pandora since acquiring the music streaming service last fall has much room for growth, Meyer said.

"Advertising technology is crucial," he said. "We're great at it in music, we've got to transition that. Pandora never did it for spoken word. We've got to get that bridge in the next couple months."

Even so, the bridge doesn't necessarily lead to a crystal-clear future for audio revenue generation, Meyer cautioned. He said despite his confidence that future generations will always consume audio, "what I'm not positive of is what the revenue models will be five years from now, 10 years from now."

"So you have got to get really good at subscription. We are. You have to really get good at digital advertising. We now are," Meyer said. "And you have to get really good at cross promotion between, and that is the part we're going to have to work really hard at in the next 18 months."

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Liberty CEO sees Sirius well positioned in audio boom with exclusive content like Howard Stern - CNBC

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What to Be Thankful For | Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute

Sixty minutes for 60 more: Liberty focuses on final chance to become bowl eligible – Lynchburg News and Advance

Liberty’s John Malone sees HBO losing out in the streaming wars – CNBC

Liberty CEO sees Sirius well positioned in audio boom with exclusive content like Howard Stern – CNBC