Tracks of the Week #113 – God Is In The TV

Who? Jerry Joseph

What? Sugar Smacks

Where? Portland, Oregon

What they say? Jerry Joseph releases his new single, the politically charged, Sugar Smacks, from his upcoming album, The Beautiful Madness. Produced by Patterson Hood with Drive-By Truckers as his band, the album will be released August 21, 2020 on Dcor Records.

Why we love it? Informed, partially at least you might suspect, by Jerry Josephs last trip to Northern Iraq/Kurdistan, Sugar Smacks sees the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist looking at the modern world through the prism of oppression, hate and violence, be it domestic, national or global. The song can barely contain Josephs rage, fear, guilt and indignation and makes for what is this years most powerful and rightly uncomfortable of listens. Make no mistake, this is absolute dynamite. (Simon Godley)

FFO: Drive-By Truckers, Steve Earle & the Dukes, Jason Isbell, Son Volt.

Who? Wolf Solent

What? Shades of Mind

Where? York, England

What they say? Shades of Mind reflects three years in solitude for Wolf Solent since 2017 Sea Records release EP // 4. The track is taken from a forthcoming collection of songs about loss. A hazy Herman Hesse smoked out Spiritualized cacophony it was written, recorded and performed in his home studio Spiral Attic in Feb 2020.

Why we love it? Danny Trew is Wolf Solent and in between his other musical commitments with Cowgirl, The Illness and more besides he continues to drive this project forward. The journey is one where Trew distils despair and delight into an often blissed-out exposition of life as he knows it. Shades of Mind continues that cosmic expedition into future space. (Simon Godley)

FFO: Spiritualized, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Warlocks, Spacemen 3

Who? Davy Boi

What? do myself better

Where? LA

What they say? Do Myself Better is a pledge to take self-care more seriously. Its about looking at Imposter Syndrome in the face and confronting daily anxiety in a tongue & cheek manner. I know other people are experiencing feelings of not being the best versions of themselves, so I wanted to give a voice to that and say, Hey, youre not alone. Same here.

Why we love it? A positive, motivating anthem about self-care that acknowledges our inner-saboteur but looks beyond it into the future and begins a process of healing. Perfectly crafted with a mixture of classic soul, a vibe of old Hollywood, and alternative R&B. The track subverts your expectations in all the right ways with attention to detail in the production that adds layers to the listening experience. I say this without a doubt in my mind: this is Davy Bois best offering to date and the future is bright for this rising star. (Lloyd Best)

FFO: Jill Scott, Kali Uchis, Khalid

Who? Body Double

What? The Floating Hand

Where? Oakland

What they say? The Floating Hand is generally about competition and your options for reacting to it. I grew up in a few different countries because my dad was a Marine, and each move felt interplanetary: the language changed, what was good and bad changed, even the bugs crawling on the ground changed. I felt at odds with conservative military culture and run-of-the-mill high school viciousness and fantasized about one day finding a safe haven in punk and underground music. It turns out that even amongst weirdos youll still see people undercut each other, and you might be a maladjusted alien regardless of scenery. I wrote this song about a musician I thought was particularly nasty, and it ended up being about myself, which is what happens whenever I try to write a dis track.

Why we love it? Ghostly new wave delivered with dollops of menace by front lady Candace Lazarou and her accomplices. The taught baselines and nagging guitars slither through the divides of post-punk and gothic paranoia, feeding into an unsettling feeling of being out of place. A seriously impressive slab of artful noise, a glimpse of whats to come from the Body Doubles debut album Milk Fed. (Bill Cummings)

FFO: Roxy Music, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Breeders

https://bodydoubleusa.bandcamp.com/track/the-floating-hand

Who? 0171

What? Photograph

Where? East London

What they say? Photograph is inspired by looking at a photo of an ex, the band said. A photo that records a moment when everything seemed perfect, but now its a lie, and it makes you feel strange like you cant really remember who you were in that photo when you loved that person. Like a life that never happened. Weve all picked up old photos like that we find in our bedroom, that make you sit down and feel sad for a time that is lost, even if you dont regret the relationship ending. Im (Joe) definitely someone who spends a lot of time thinking about my past, and the feelings that Ill never get back. Georgies there in this song to tell me to get over it ffs.

Why we love it? Experimental alternative pop with unusual synths, samples and beats juxtaposed with a soft vocal tinged with sadness that yearns for resolve. 0171 takes us on a journey through heartache and personal exploration to a soundtrack of electronic excellence. (Lloyd Best)

FFO: No Rome, Easy Life, Georgia

Who? Wuh Oh

What? Softstyle

Where? Glasgow

What they say? What would the ultimateWuhOh video game look like? This has been the question permeating many of our discussions for months. Turns out it looks less like real video games and more like the games of our dreams. Combining an eclectic mix of our favourite pop culture, film, and anime influences, Softstyle is untethered by stylistic limitations, representing a reality where anything is possible and where goblins run riot.

Why we love it? High energy and delightfully motivating. This relentless barrage of synths, beats, and attitude-filled vocals is a marvel for the ears and is an instant mood-lifter if you need it, as many of us do these days. Hands down, the best song Wuh Oh has released thus far and a fantastic showcase of their talents and their dynamic, progressive art. (Lloyd Best)

FFO: SONIKKU, SOPHIE, Zedd

Who? Tired Runner

Who? Port Song

Where? England

What they say? The shipping forecast issued by Tired Runner, on behalf of a fractured heart, at every hour and minute of the day and for the period now until never again on this day and every day here after.

The general synopsis at midnight and beyond midnight, into the smallest hours, is:

Low emotive atmospheres west of Rockall expected many miles west of a song sung by midnight tonight. Low Fair Isle glacially moving away rapidly northwards and losing its identity.

Why we love it? Slow motion majestic isolation, as the ship pulls away from the shore. Dont save yourself dont think of anyone elsesings the mysterious singer amidst mournful organs and minimal electronic textures. A moment of wistful departure. (Bill Cummings)

FFO: James Blake, Bon Iver, Olafur Arnalds

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Tracks of the Week #113 - God Is In The TV

Cyborg (comics) – Wikipedia

DC comics character

Cyborg is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Prez and first appears in a special insert in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980).[1] Originally known as a member of the Teen Titans,[2] Cyborg was established as a founding member of the Justice League in DC's 2011 reboot of its comic book titles.

Lee Thompson Young portrayed Cyborg in the television series Smallville. Ray Fisher portrays the character in the DC Extended Universe films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017). Joivan Wade also portrays Cyborg in the Doom Patrol television series on DC Universe and HBO Max.

Victor Stone is the son of Silas Stone and Elinore Stone, scientists who use him as a test subject for various intelligence enhancement projects. While these treatments are ultimately successful and Victor's IQ subsequently grows to genius levels, he grows to resent his treatment.

Victor strikes up a friendship with Ron Evers, a young miscreant who leads him into trouble with the law. This is the beginning of a struggle in which Victor strives for independence, engaging in pursuits of which his parents disapprove, such as athletics and abandoning his studies. Victor's association with underage criminals leads him down a dark path in which he is often injured, but he still lives a "normal" life in which he is able to make his own decisions. However, this rebellious path does not bury Victor's conscience considering that he refuses to participate in Evers' grandiose plans of racially motivated terrorism.

Victor's situation changes radically when he visits his parents' lab where experiments in inter-dimensional access are done. At that moment of his entry, an aggressive gelatinous creature was accidentally pulled through and Victor's mother is killed by it. It then turned on Victor and he was severely injured by its attack before his father was able to send it back to its native dimension.

With his wife dead and his son mutilated, unconscious and near death from the incident, Silas is driven to take advantage of prototype medical prosthetic research he has access to in order to treat Victor. Unfortunately, Victor only regains consciousness after the extensive artificial limbs and implants were installed in his body without his consent. Victor was horrified at the discovery of the metallic components, which involve most of the left side of his head and face, and raged that he would rather have died than be such a victim of his father's manipulations.

Although his bitterness remained for some time, Victor eventually calmed down enough to successfully adjust to his implants physically. He found himself rejected by the public because of his implants, including his girlfriend, who would later thoughtlessly blurt out that she would prefer he had died instead of being in that state. However, Victor's conscience was unbowed, as evidenced by the fact that when Evers tried to manipulate him into participating in a terrorist attack on the United Nations, Victor decided to equip himself with his weaponized attachments and stop him on the top of United Nations Headquarters.

When Raven assembles the Teen Titans, Victor joins initially for the benefit of a support group of kindred spirits and freaks, and has remained with that group ever since.[2] Fortunately, Victor eventually finds additional new civilian friends of better character such as a group of juveniles who are adjusting to their own prosthetics and idolize him because of his fancy parts and his exciting adventures. It also turns out that their beautiful teacher Sarah Simms, who has often assisted Cyborg and the Titans, admires him as well.

Another person who sees past the cybernetic shell is Dr. Sarah Charles, a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who helps him to recuperate after having his cybernetic parts replaced. Cyborg and Dr. Charles date for some time and she, along with Changeling, keeps trying to reach him when he is seemingly mindless following the severe injuries he incurs during the "Titans Hunt" storyline.

Although Cyborg's body was repaired by a team of Russian scientists after the missile crash he had been in, albeit with more mechanical parts than previously, his mind was not. Eventually, his mind was restored by an alien race of computer intelligences called the Technis, created from the sexual union of Swamp Thing and a machine-planet when Swamp Thing was travelling through space. Cyborg, however, had to remain with the Technis both to maintain his mind and because, in return for restoring him, he had to teach them about humanity. He took the name Cyberion, and gradually started becoming less human in outlook, connecting entirely to the Technis planet.

Eventually, Cyberion returned to Earth, establishing a Technis construct on the moon and a smaller base on Earth. With Vic's consciousness dormant, but his desire for companionship controlling the actions of the Technis' planet, it began kidnapping former Titans members, his conscious mind so suppressed that he was not only searching for deceased Titans, but even sent one probe looking for himself as Cyborg. He ended up plugging them into virtual reality scenarios, representing what he believed to be their "perfect worlds"; for example, Beast Boy was back with the Doom Patrol, Damage was spending time being congratulated by the Justice Society as a true hero, and Nightwing was confronted by a Batman who actually smiled and offered to talk about their relationship. Although the Titans were freed, there was a strong disagreement between them and the Justice League over what action to take; the League believed that there was nothing left of Victor to save, whereas the Titans were willing to try, culminating in a brief battle, where the Atom and Catwoman (who had followed the Justice League to investigate) sided with the League while the Flash fought with the Titans. While Vic was distracted trying to aid his friends, a Titans team consisting of Changeling and the original five Titans were sent by Raven to try making contact with Vic's human side, while Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, Captain Marvel, and Mary Marvel moved the moon back to its proper place. Eventually, thanks primarily to Changeling's encouragement, and Omen and Raven holding Vic together long enough to come up with a plan, Vic's consciousness was restored, and "downloaded" into the Omegadrome, a morphing war-suit belonging to former Titan Minion. In the wake of this event, the Titans reformed and Vic was part of the new group.[2] However, he felt less human than ever before.

Shortly after this, Nightwing revealed he had cloned Vic's body, and by flowing the Omegadrome through the clone, Vic regained his human form, but still had the abilities of the Omegadrome. He often used the Omegadrome to recreate his original look in battle. With his newfound humanity, Vic took a leave of absence, moving first to L.A. with Beast Boy and then to Central City. While in Central City, Vic was involved in one of the Thinker's schemes, helping Wally hack the Thinker's attempt to plug himself into the minds of Central City's population so that Wally could outthink his opponent, though Vic lost the abilities of the Omegadrome in the process.

Vic mentored the new incarnation of the Teen Titans, consisting mainly of sidekicks, most of whom have taken over the identities of former members (i.e. Tim Drake, the third Robin, instead of Dick Grayson, the original Robin and Titans leader), as well as stalwarts such as Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, where they have fought enemies such as Deathstroke, Brother Blood, Doctor Light, The Titans Tomorrow, and a brainwashed Superboy and Indigo during a team up with the Outsiders in the Insiders storyline. In the end, Cyborg was the only one capable of standing up to Dr. Light, thanks to his solar shields, although he makes it clear that he only won the fight because the rest of the Titans had softened Light up first.

During the 20052006 storyline "Infinite Crisis", Cyborg joined Donna's New Cronus team that went to investigate a hole in the universe that was found during the Rann-Thanagar War. He left Beast Boy in charge of the Titans while he was gone. They arrived at the reset center of the universe and with the help of assorted heroes aided in the defeat of Alexander Luthor, who was attempting to recreate the multiverse and build a perfect Earth from it.

According to 52 Week 5, Cyborg was fused together with Firestorm after returning to Earth. This was caused by the energy ripples caused by Alexander Luthor Jr. which altered the Zeta Ray Beams the heroes were going to use to return home.

After being severely damaged during the events of "Infinite Crisis", Cyborg was rebuilt over time in thanks to Tower caretakers Wendy and Marvin. He awoke a year later to find a wholly different Teen Titans being led by Robin, the only member from the team he formed prior to going into space. He is still a member of the team, but feels that Kid Devil and Ravager are hardly worthy Titans, and thus is attempting to find a way to reform "the real Titans".

After the team along with the Doom Patrol defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, Cyborg asked Beast Boy to rejoin the Titans, but Gar refused, saying that his skills were needed with the Doom Patrol. After returning to Titans Tower, Cyborg began reviewing the security tapes during the last year, in which it appears that he was looked to by all the Titans of the past year for a shoulder to lean on, despite being in a coma-like state.

It appears that although Cyborg has returned to the team, the role of leader is now in the hands of Robin. He does however retain the position of statesman amongst the team and occasionally plays second-in-command.

In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #3, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman agree that Cyborg should be offered membership in the new Justice League. However, following a battle against Amazo, Green Lantern and Black Canary take over the formation of the JLA, and Cyborg is not amongst the roster.

In the Teen Titans East one-shot, Cyborg gathered together a new team of Titans. During a training exercise, the group was attacked by Trigon, and Cyborg was blasted by a giant energy beam. He was last seen in a crater, with only his head and torso remaining.

In the aftermath of Trigon's assault in the Titans East one shot, Cyborg has been placed into a special hoverchair while he recuperates. Cyborg's body is completely repaired in Titans #5. Soon after, the resurrected and unbalanced Jericho enters Cyborg's body, using him to manipulate the defenses at Titans Tower to kill the Teen Titans. Jericho's plans are foiled when Static, the newest Teen Titan, uses his electrical powers to overload the Tower's systems, causing feedback that knocks Jericho out of Cyborg.[3] After recovering, Cyborg pretends to still have Jericho inside of him, in order to draw out Vigilante, who was currently targeting Jericho. The plot works too well when Vigilante appears and shoots Cyborg in the head.[4]

In an unspecified time during the Teen Titans comics, a man with enhancements similar to Cyborg's attacks Dr. Sarah Charles on the day of her wedding to Deshaun, a young scientist. Cyborg rushes in for the save, discovering how Deshaun, connected to Project M, has sold the technology used to turn Stone into Cyborg to the military. He also finds that the enhanced man was Ron Evers, once Vic's best friend now turned terrorist, who was seeking vengeance for the soldiers used as test subjects. After Cyborg manages to calm down his friend and discovers the truth: Mr. Orr, revealed as the mastermind behind Project M's cyborg research, brings his Stone-derived best subjects: the current Equus, an armored form of the Wildebeest, and a cyberized man sporting enhancements even more powerful than Stone's current ones called Cyborg 2.0.

Cyborg 2.0 turns out to be the Titans Tomorrow Cyborg 2.0, snatched from his proper timeline and cajoled by Orr into fighting his younger self for the possession of their shared technology and Orr's permission to use it in the battlefield. Cyborg is soon forced to fight simultaneously against the Phantom Limbs, an elite force of soldiers crippled in the Middle East and restored by his tech, and the Cyborg Revenge Squad, a broader formation composed of the Fearsome Five, Magenta, Girder, the Thinker, and Cyborgirl. Although the Cyborg Revenge Squad soon gains the upper hand, with the help of his fellow Titans Cyborg is able to hold his own in combat, reverse engineer on the fly some of the future technology used by Cyborg 2.0, and enhance his own body enough to win against Mr. Orr. He later decides to get a new lease in life, forgiving Deshaun and Sarah Charles on their wedding day for abusing his technology, resuming dating Sarah Simms and having the Phantom Limbs fitted with new, non-military, prosthetics. It is however implied the Phantom Limbs, unwilling to see Stone's offer as a sign of good will, are trying to get back their weaponized prosthetics and wait for a rematch.

During the events of Blackest Night, Cyborg joins with Starfire, Beast Boy, and several other heroes to form an emergency team to fight off the army of dead Titans who have been reanimated as Black Lanterns. He later joins in the final battle at Coast City.

Following the dissolution of the current JLA after Justice League: Cry for Justice, Cyborg is invited by Donna to join Kimiyo Hoshi's new Justice League.[5] He befriends Red Tornado, and claims that he has come up with a plan to make him indestructible.[6]

After a battle with Doctor Impossible's gang, Cyborg is forced to take a leave of absence from the team in order to not only help rebuild Red Tornado, but also help Roy Harper, who had his arm severed by Prometheus.[7] During this time, Victor leads Superboy and Kid Flash to the city of Dakota to rescue the Teen Titans, who had been defeated and captured by Holocaust.[8] The Titans emerge victorious from the battle after Kid Flash uses his powers to send Holocaust plummeting into the Earth's inner core.[9]

Despite apparently being written off the team, writer James Robinson explained that Cyborg will continue to have a presence on the JLA, and will even be given a co-feature in the back of the book for Justice League of America #4850.[10] In the co-feature, Cyborg battles Red Tornado after he has been driven insane by the power of the Starheart. In the midst of the battle, a flashback reveals that Victor had rebuilt Red Tornado using self-replicating nanites similar to the ones that Prometheus infected Roy with after cutting off his arm, thus making the android indestructible.[11] Cyborg manages to free Red Tornado his power matrix.[12]

Cyborg briefly appears in Justice League: Generation Lost, where he is shown helping Wonder Woman and Starfire search for Maxwell Lord after his resurrection.[13]

Following an adventure in another dimension, Static is left powerless, and Miss Martian is rendered comatose. Cyborg stops the powerless Static from returning to Dakota, and instead tells him that he and a scientist named Rochelle Barnes will be taking him to Cadmus Labs to find a way to get his powers back and awaken Miss Martian. As Static packs up his belongings, Cyborg and Rochelle have a conversation which reveals that they are lying to Static, and have an ulterior motive for taking the two Titans to Cadmus.[14]

He later appears in the final two issues of The Return of Bruce Wayne, where he helps his former teammate Red Robin in his attempt to stop Bruce Wayne from inadvertently unleashing an apocalyptic explosion of Omega Energy.

Cyborg and Red Tornado later travel to the moon alongside Doctor Light, Animal Man, Congorilla, Zauriel, Tasmanian Devil and Bulleteer as part of an emergency group of heroes gathered to assist the Justice League in their battle against Eclipso. Shortly into the battle, Cyborg and the others are taken over by Eclipso and are turned against their JLA comrades.[15] The reserve JLA members are all freed after Eclipso is defeated.[16]

As of August 2011, Cyborg is featured as one of the main characters in a new Justice League ongoing series written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee as part of DC's The New 52 relaunch. Johns has said of Cyborg, "He represents all of us in a lot of ways. If we have a cellphone and we're texting on it, we are a cyborgthat's what a cyborg is, using technology as an extension of ourselves."[17]

The first storyline takes place five years in the past and details the revised origin of the original Justice League. Victor Stone appears as a high school football star who is heavily sought after by a number of college scouts, but apparently has a distant relationship with his father, Silas. After winning a big game, Victor is shown calling his father and angrily telling him that he broke his promise and missed yet another one of his son's games.[18] Later Victor appears at S.T.A.R. Labs where his father works. The scientists appear to be working on the Mother Box that Superman came in contact with from the Parademon. Victor engages in another argument with his father and tells him that the scouts were there to give him full scholarships to college. When asking if his father will ever appear at any of his games, his father replies "No." Just then the Mother Box explodes, killing the other scientists and destroying most of Victor's body while Victor's father looks on in horror.[19] Silas does everything he can for Victor's survival. He along with Sarah Charles, and T. O. Morrow go in "The Red Room" in S.T.A.R. labs which contains every piece of technology from around the world. Silas attempts to treat Victor with something that has never been attempted before and he is seen injecting Victor with some type of nanites and having Dr. Morrow put the robotic pieces on Victor (devices such as: a Promethean skin graft, Doctor William Magnus' responsometer, Anthony Ivo's A-maze operating system, The classified and prototypical B-maze operating system and Ryan Choi's White Dwarf Stabilizer). Vic's life is saved and the energies from the Mother Box are incorporated into his new form as Cyborg. This allows Victor to access the vast New Gods data library and discover Darkseid's true invasion plans.[20]

In the following issue we see Victor as Cyborg. As the issue opens Victor cannot feel his hands or legs. He sees himself for the first time with his robotic parts and is panicked by his new body. Suddenly, Parademons burst into the red room and leap toward Sarah Charles. However, Cyborg's defense systems react, automatically weaponizing his arm into a sound cannon from which he fires his powerful white noise cannon, disintegrating the two Parademons and blasting a gigantic hole in the Star Labs building. After saving Sarah's life Victor asks his father what has happened to him, his father tells him that he couldn't let him die. Cyborg obviously distraught exclaims, "You did this to me." and flees, despite Silas' plea for him to wait. Later in the street Cyborg sees a woman being set upon by a group of Parademons. He leaps to the woman's aid, punching the parademon. However, in ensuing scuffle Cyborg inadvertently absorbs some of the Parademon's components giving him access to Boom Tube technology. This new ability automatically transports or teleports Victor to where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman are fighting the Parademons, moments before Darkseid arrives. Cyborg fights alongside the other heroes against Darkseid and his Parademons, but despite their best efforts Darkseid proves to be too strong. Cyborg is able to reverse engineer the alien boom tube technology and with a considerable amount of stress on his systems he is able to teleport all the invading aliens including Darkseid off the planet, saving the Earth. After sending Darkseid back where he came from, Cyborg helps to found the Justice League.

Victor has not begun any process of reconciliation with his father, who is primarily concerned with Victor's mechanics rather than his humanity. Cyborg primarily focuses on his super-heroics, aiding Batman and others when he can and monitoring crime through his cybernetics. After the villain David Graves makes an attack against the Justice League, Cyborg and his teammates travel to the Valley of Souls. There he learns that he walks the line between life and death. He sees a false apparition of his human self that tries to convince him that Victor Stone is dead and Cyborg is just an imitation. Victor quickly sees past this ruse, and he and the rest of the Justice League defeat Graves. We learn through a conversation with Flash, that Cyborg questions his humanity now that he is part machine and that he lives on the Watch Tower, the Justice League's headquarters.[21] Flash cracks a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood and assure Cyborg he is still human. During the Throne of Atlantis storyline, Cyborg at first rejects an upgrade his father has that would allow him to operate underwater at the price of his remaining lung which to him would mean sacrificing more of his humanity.[22] However following the capture of the rest of the Justice League by Orm who sentenced them to the bottom of the ocean, Cyborgas he calls in reserves to hold off Orm's forcesreluctantly accepts the upgrade.[23] This allows him and Mera to rescue the others.[24]

During the "Trinity War" storyline, Cyborg gets a visual of Shazam heading to Kahndaq, to which Batman assembles the Justice League with the help from Zatanna to meet in Kahndaq to stop Shazam.[25] Following the supposed death of Doctor Light in Kahndaq, Batman tells Superman that Cyborg and Martian Manhunter are doing an autopsy to prove his death was not Superman's fault.[26] As Wonder Woman leads the Justice League Dark to go look for Pandora, Cyborg is among the superheroes that remain at A.R.G.U.S. while Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Shazam, Steve Trevor, the Justice League of America, Zatanna, and Phantom Stranger go to stop Wonder Woman.[27] Cyborg was present when Atom tells him, Superman, Element Woman and Firestorm the true purpose of the creation of the Justice League of America and that she was spying on the Justice League which is how the Justice League of America ended up in Kahndaq.[28] When the Crime Syndicate arrives on Prime Earth, Cyborg's old prosthetic parts combine to form a robot called Grid (who is operated by a sentient computer virus).[29] During the Forever Evil event, after Batman and Catwoman drop Cyborg off to his father in Detroit,[30] he makes the choice to willingly receive a new cybernetic body and helps his father and Dr. Morrow create one that is slimmer in appearance so Cyborg could look more human.[31] Working together with the Metal Men created by Doc Magus, Cyborg succeeds in shutting down Grid.[32]

Afterwards Cyborg helped newcomer to the group Shazam fit in with the league as the rest set out to find Power ring's missing accessory which flew off after the death of the former wearer.[33] While on monitor duty he and Shazam experiment with some of his magical powers to aid in finding the ring after joking of having an Xbox in his left shoulder; only for the young ward to conjure up a ping pong table, which they play while having spare time on their hands.[34] Eventually the call goes out and everyone in the league mobilizes to secure the new rampaging Power Ring before the Doom Patrol does.[35] After coaxing Billy into action against Jessica Cruis, Victor moves in to interface with the ring itself, finding out a great deal about the ring of Volthoom and his current host, only to be forcefully thrown out after the ring entity rejects him by causing his systems to short circuit, removing him from the battle.[36] He is last seen recovering at S.T.A.R. Labs, after Shazam rushed him to the med bay, following the power ring crisis. Cyborg wondered what he saw within the ring, after his dad warned him interfacing with it again could trap him in it forever.[37]

An incident involving Batman's son, Damian Wayne, during the "Robin Rises Alpha & Omega" story arc in Batman, led up to most of the justice League battling against Glorious Godfrey and a Parademon horde from Apokolips when they captured the chaos shard and the sarcophagus of Damian, before retreating back home.[38] All the league members present, Cyborg included, state to an adamant Bruce Wayne that running headlong into unmarked X-factor territory for a suicide mission was less than ideal, considering the consequences that could befall earth. This eventually culminates with Batman hijacking Cyborg's teleportation systems, to zip up to the Watchtower in an attempt to retrieve an experimental and highly dangerous combat suit, in order to mete out his agenda; But Cyborg manages to block his administrative access so that he, Shazam, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Lex and Cold could physically restrain him, causing Batman to begrudgingly give up and retire to the batcave.[39]

After the Bat left, the rest of the Bat Family turned up asking Victor for help with some digitized doppelgangers of baddies that Bruce initially set up in order to distract the League, destabilize watchtower security to secure the Hellbat, and eventually use a personal Mother Box (secured from a Parademon kept in cold storage) to vacate to Apokolips.[40] After making his way to the Batcave to meet with them, he's directed over to a console which enabled him to directly access the Batcomputer's more sophisticated systems. However, it was all a ruse utilizing a preemptive countermeasure devised by Batman tailored to Cyborg's specific weaknesses. Cyborg was temporarily incapacitated and was set into a VR simulation where he relived his more peaceful days in college, while Batgirl went to work on his Mother Box in order to secure a path towards Apokolips and chase after their father. But Victor eventually snapped out of his dream haze and followed them through, angered that they used him in such a way.[40] Cyborg traveled along with Titus, who hitched a ride on his leg, to catch up with the rest of the Batman Family. They all then have a run in with the scavengers of Armegeddo who quickly vacate after some Apokoliptian Hunger Dogs make their way onto the scene. They eventually catch up with the armor-clad Dark Knight ripping his way through a sizable chunk of Apokolips's forces singlehandedly. Jason Tim and Barbara show Batman the Robin Medals Alfred gave them in order to remind him of his purpose, causing him to snap out of his berserker rage and note that Cyborg had reluctantly accompanied them to Hell itself. Having made their way into Darkseid's citadel where Kalibak was readying his Chaos Cannon to fire again, the caped crusaders kept Darkseid's forces occupied while Cyborg made short work of the massive war engine, literally tearing it in half. But when he went to set a timed self-destruct sequence within the Apokoliptian computers, Vic suffered a catastrophic feedback that fried most of his internal systems leaving him inoperable just as Darkseid himself made his appearance.[41]

While Batman fought and held Darkseid off, Cyborg ran Batgirl through a crash course on how to hot wire his own Mother Box. Since Darkseid smashed Batman's Boom Tube generator, Cyborg was their only chance off Apokolips. After successfully jury-rigging his internal systems, Cyborg and the rest of the Bat rogues made a hasty exit stage left as Bruce powered his recovered fragment of the Chaos Shard with Darkseid's Omega Effect, blasting Darkseid against a wall to cover their escape.[42] In the aftermath, Cyborg, who is still unable to facilitate himself, wonders what is going on as Damian Wayne is successfully revived, however a second anomaly cranks out of the Boom Tube that was opened and Kalibak comes charging through it. With Kalibak occupied by the rest of the gang, Vic tries his best to reestablish his downed systems. He is successful and gains control over the still-open tube as Batman readies the Batplane. As Batman rams his jet into the evil New God sending him careening back to Apokolips, Cyborg closes the portal banishing Darksied's first born for good. With the threat over, Cyborg heads back topside to inform the rest of the league of what all transpired and stating he has JL business to attend to.[43]

An eponymous ongoing series, by writer David F. Walker and artist Ivan Reis, debuted in July 2015.[44]

This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2017)

As of Rebirth, he is a part of the relaunched Justice League bi-monthly series as well as his own solo monthly series. It is unclear whether he has the ability of flight in Rebirth.

During Dark Nights: Metal, he is captured by the alternate Batmen of the Dark Multiverse, who attempt to hack him in order to learn the secrets of his teammates. As the crisis escalates, Cyborg is confronted by the controlling consciousness of other Mother Boxes, who claim that he will only gain the power to overcome the Dark Batmen if he fully surrenders to the Mother Box that powers his body at the cost of the transformation deleting his old personality. He is nearly tempted to give in to this transformation, but the appearance of Raven's soul-self convinces him to hold on to himself while partially succumbing to the transformation. This allows him to free his teammates and 'hack' the multiverse as they travel to find new allies in the battle against the Dark Batmen.

Following this and the Justice League: No Justice miniseries, the Justice League series was cancelled after 43 issues and was relaunched into a new monthly series and Cyborg will also be featured as part of a separate Justice League faction that is part of the new Justice League Odyssey series. In addition, Cyborg's own solo monthly series was also cancelled and ended in June 2018 with the release of Issue 23.[45]

Large portions of Victor Stone's body have been replaced by advanced mechanical parts (hence the name Cyborg) granting him superhuman strength, speed, stamina and flight. His mechanically-enhanced body, much of which is metallic, is far more durable than a normal human body. Cyborg's internal computer system can interface with external computers. Other features include an electronic "eye" which replicates vision, but at a superhuman level. His mechanical parts contain a wide variety of tools and weapons, such as a grappling hook/line and a finger-mounted laser. Perhaps his most frequently-used weapon is his sound amplifier (often referred to as his "white sound blaster" in the comic books; the Teen Titans animated series calls it a "sonic cannon") which can be employed at various settings either to stun the ears of his foes or to deliver concentrated blasts of sound potent enough to shatter rock or deform steel.[46]

Cyborg is consistently depicted as tinkering over time with his cybernetic parts, enhancing his functions and abilities to levels beyond those set by his father, which has allowed writers flexibility in adding new powers that suit the needs of a given story over time. Following DC's New 52 reboot in 2011, Cyborg's origin story was changed so that his enhancements were the product of alien technology, specifically that of a Mother Box from planet New Genesis. His cybernetics are now seen as a living extension of his body, and a host of new skills such as EMP blasts, technology absorption, and underwater adaptation were added to his powerset. Most significantly, he was given the ability to generate boom tubes powerful teleportation tunnels that are used by the New Gods to travel across infinite distances due to this Mother Box connection. Elements of Victor's original backstory were re-established following DC's Trinity War storyline, when his father rebuilds systems following extensive damage to them.

In addition to his mechanical enhancements, Stone possesses an "exceptionally gifted" level of intelligence; his IQ has been measured at 170.[47]

In the Flashpoint event, the timeline is greatly altered. In this alternate version of events, Cyborg is America's greatest superhero (occupying the role held by Superman in DC's standard timeline). He attempts to put together a group to stop the war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman's forces. However, the heroes he approaches all refuse, after Batman declines.[48] Cyborg connects the resistance member Lois Lane to spy on the Amazons for any information.[49] Cyborg rescues people in the subway station from arsonist Heat Wave.[50] Abin Sur crashes on Earth; he is subsequently taken into custody by Cyborg and the US government to be questioned about his reasons for being on Earth. When Abin Sur is recovering, he is on a mission to retrieve the Entity, however Cyborg convinces him to join with Earth's heroes.[51] Afterwards, Cyborg is seen talking with the President in his headquarters in Detroit. The President states that Steve Trevor sent a signal to the resistance but was intercepted by a traitor among the heroes that Cyborg tried to recruit and suspicion leads to the Outsider. For Cyborg's failure, he is relieved of duty as the Element Woman sneaks into the headquarters. Later, Cyborg is called by Batman and the Flash for help in tracking down "Project: Superman", the government branch responsible for 'raising' Kal-El after his rocket destroyed Metropolis upon its arrival. Cyborg and them agree to join the cause to stop Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but only if Batman gets to choose whom to recruit, and Cyborg agrees as long as he comes with them. The three sneak into the government underground bunkers, and the group comes across a giant vault door bearing the Superman logo. Cyborg opens the door and sees a weakened Kal-El, with the arrival of guards. Forced to escape, Kal-El's powers begin to manifest and flies off leaving them at the hands of the guards.[52] While they are fending off the guards, they are rescued by Element Woman. Later, Cyborg and other heroes arrive at the Marvel Family's place helping the Flash from drastically forgetting his memories. After the Flash is recovering, he asked to stop the Atlantean/Amazon war from casualty, although Cyborg and the heroes are not willing unless Batman wants to join them, because Cyborg explains to him that they believe Batman was invincible. However, the Flash convinces him that no one is invincible and the group of heroes are agreeing to join the Flash. The heroes arrive at New Themyscira to stop the Atlantean/Amazon war, and the Flash tells Cyborg to find Aquaman's ultimate bomb to dispose of it.[53]

In the Titans Tomorrow storyline, a future version of Victor Stone called Cyborg 2.0 is a member of Titans East. He is shown having similar plating as the animated Cyborg from the Teen Titans animated series.[54]

An alternate version of Cyborg appears as part of the Justice League of Earth-23 in the DC Multiverse.[55]

Cyborg appears as the third Robotman as part of Superman's Justice League. Robotman is now completely liquid metal. He is petrified by the nuclear blast.

Cyborg appears as a character in the prequel comic to the game, where he joins Superman's Regime to force peace on the world. He serves as Superman's eyes and ears over the world, offering insight on any activity deemed disruptive. At the end of Year Two he discovers someone is trying to hack into the Regime's system during a war with the Green Lantern Corps (Oracle) and goes to the Watchtower to locate her. Jim Gordon follows and corners him, managing to rip Cyborg's metallic face plate off and knock him unconscious, stopping the locating sequence. Cyborg spends most of the next year a prisoner of the Insurgency until he is released when the two groups collide in a battle that nearly destroys them when Trigon and Mr. Mxyzptlk get involved. In Year Four he and the Regime are confronted by the Greek Gods, who want Superman to step down as ruler. While the Regime is forced to go underground, they come together to defeat the gods once and for all. During Year Five tension grows among the Regime because of Superman's growing hostility and controversial decisions, such as enlisting the aid of villains to help the Regime. Cyborg is especially disgusted when he discovers that during a rally with supporters of the Joker who reject Superman, the Man of Steel killed over two hundred defenseless protesters in anger. Batman and Batwoman later go to the Hall of Justice to kidnap Cyborg because he is the only one aware of this and has the information stored in his data. He is incapacitated and taken underground to the ruins of Metropolis where Batgirl works to find the data and reveal to the world. While they succeed in finding it, Raven casts a massive blackout over the world to prevent the video from being seen, and the Insurgency is forced to retreat before Flash comes to get Cyborg. Superman has Cyborg erase any data containing information on his killings so the incident will not repeat itself.

Cyborg appears in a prequel comic to the sequel game. He remained in prison with Superman, even after the League of Assassins and impostor Batman's Suicide Squad raid the Ryker's Island to free only Damian Wayne/the current Nightwing.

Cyborg appears in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), played by Ray Fisher. He first appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in a brief sequence of footage that is viewed by Wonder Woman. The footage depicts Cyborg's origin story. Cyborg, played by Fisher, makes a full appearance as one of the main characters in Justice League, released on November 17, 2017. Fisher is scheduled to reprise the role in upcoming DCEU films a stand-alone Flash film and a sequel to Justice League. A stand-alone Cyborg film was initially scheduled for a release date of April 3, 2020, but it has since been delayed.[61][62] In the films, the effects for his cybernetic parts are achieved using CGI.[63] Cyborg, played by Ray Fisher, will appear in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).[64]

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Cyborg (comics) - Wikipedia

Victor Stone (New Earth) | DC Database | Fandom

Gallery

Victor Stone is a Cyborg. Kept alive by Prometheum plating and cybernetic enhancements, he feared of becoming an outcast, until he found a new family - the Teen Titans.

Victor Stone was the son of a pair of scientists, Silas and Elinore Stone, who decided to use him as a test subject for various intelligence enhancement projects. However, Victor grew to resent this treatment and fell in with a young miscreant named Ron Evers who led him into trouble with the law.[1] This was the beginning of a struggle where Victor strove for his own life engaging in pursuits his parents disapproved of such as athletics. In addition, Victor still kept bad company that led him into incidents such as when he was talked into participating in a street gang fight in which he was wounded. For the most part however, Victor still had a largely normal life under the circumstances where he also refused to follow his best friend's grandiose plans of racially motivated terrorism.

All that changed one day when he visited his parents at work at S.T.A.R. Labs. Coincidentally, an experiment in dimensional travel went horribly awry when a massive gelatinous monster crossed over an experimental portal and killed Victor's mother. The creature then turned on Victor and severely mutilated him before his father managed to force the creature back through the portal. To save his son, who was unconscious at this time, Victor's father outfitted him with experimental prostheses of his own design. However, the equipment could not be worn inconspicuously, and thus Victor was horrified upon regaining consciousness to see much of his body, including part of his face, replaced with sheer metallic limbs and implants. Although Victor wanted to die at this shock, he adjusted enough through his resulting physical therapy to control his implants with suitable skill.

Upon release from medical care, he found his life was seriously inconvenienced with the fearful reactions of the public at his implants; even his girlfriend rejected him. In addition, he was also disallowed his participation in athletics not only for his implants but for his poor grades which were further exacerbated by his long convalescence. However, when his old friend attempted to use Victor's troubles to manipulate him into attempting a terrorist attack on the United Nations, Victor found a new purpose as he equipped his weapons attachments and stopped his friend in a pitched battle on the UN building.

He joined the Teen Titans, initially for the benefit of a support group of kindred spirits and freaks and has remained with that group ever since. In addition, Victor found new friends who saw past his disfigurements to his own nobility such as a group of children who were adjusting to their own prostheses and idolized Victor with his fancy parts and exciting adventures as well as their beautiful therapist who took a shine to him herself.

Throughout his association with the Titans, Victor has been destroyed, reconstructed, assimilated by an alien race, and had his humanity restored. He later went on to mentor a new Teen Titans group, consisting mainly of sidekicks, most of whom have taken over the secret identities of former members (i.e. Tim Drake, the third Robin, instead of Dick Grayson, the original Robin and Titans leader), as well as stalwarts such as Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, where they have fought enemies such as Deathstroke, Doctor Light, The Titans of Tomorrow and Superboy and Indigo during the Insiders storyline with a team up with the Outsiders.

Cyborg always had a problem with his humanity. Since he had lost most of his body in that horrible accident which turned him into a hero; he had always been challenged to maintain his human-side along side living with his robotic body. After a while Cyborg began to upgrade his body with new powers, weapons, and abilities. He became more of a robot; his voice changed and his mannerisms were more technical. Although he maintained he was still human not much was left. Eventually during the event of the Technis Imperative a robotic life form named Technis came to earth during it's universal search for knowledge and cataloging. When it tried to assimilate Earth the Titans stopped it, but Technis singled out Cyborg as he was practically a walking computer. Cyborg's one main crave was his humanity back to it's original level so he could be the athlete he always wanted to and Technis sought to serve this purpose. Technis was not one single being he was a mass of hundreds of them; beings who had a linked minded aptitude to collecting. So Cyborg joined their group in exchange for his soul, essentially. He became Cyberion and Technis became his family, but in the search and cataloging that spanned the universe Cyborg decided to ask Beast Boy to help him on his journey. Beast Boy accepted and Cyborg, now called Cyberion Technis, travelled around the universe until the day Technis was destroyed in a battle. This utterly changed Cyborg as he now lost his second family which shook loose his humanity again and he began to remember his old self and longed for it's return.[2]

After this entire event Beast Boy lost faith momentarily in his best friend and fled back to earth. Now entirely alone, Victor Stone, lost all sense of humanity in a matter of days. Without a team of Teen Titans on earth and with members spread across the globe Cyborg eventually came back to earth in a big way. He became Planet Cyberion and on his cascading trip back to earth he began assimilating and collect everything in his way until he became as big as the moon and when he returned to earth he overcame the moon and with it the JLA Watchtower. The Justice League was angered at this hostile takeover and attacked Cyborg not knowing the man within. Cyborg began to take every single Titan ever on the roster at all (including Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and Atom Ray Palmer. But since the Justice League attacked Cyborg his actions started to affect the Earth and it's atmosphere (he was riding on the moon). Horrible natural disasters and terrible technological threats and shut downs afflicted the earth plant-wide. All the Titans were brought in pods to Titan's Island in New York City. Once all of the Justice League, Young Justice, JLA Reserves, Titans and Teen Titans were brought together a massive fight broke out over the destruction of Cyborg vs. the savior of the world. This fight distracted Cyborg's programming and allowed a team of Leaguers and Titans to break off and head towards the moon where the main central power core of Cyborg's being as held. The Titans (mostly Beast Boy) succeeded in bringing the human out of Cyborg by manipulating his virtual reality environmental programming and using it on Cyborg himself; this produced an image of Victor's father that said only pleasant things to Victor. Victor's soul was finally free and Raven herself brought his soul to try and upload it into the Titan's mainframe computer. However Victor's soul rejected the computer programming and Beast Boy suggested putting his soul in the Omegadrome Suit and she did. Cyborg then became Omegadrome; the golden suit, shape shifting Cyborg.[3]

During Infinite Crisis, Cyborg joined Donna's New Cronus Team that went to investigate a hole in the universe that was discovered during the Rann-Thanagar War. He left Beast Boy in charge of the Titans while he was gone. They arrived at the re-set center of the universe and with the help of assorted heroes, aided in the defeat of Alexander Luthor, who was attempting to re-create the Multiverse and build a perfect Earth from it.

Cyborg was fused together with Firestorm after returning to Earth. This was caused by the energy ripples caused by Alexander Luthor Jr. which altered the Zeta Ray Beams the heroes were going to use to return home.[4]

After being severely damaged during the events of Infinite Crisis, Cyborg was rebuilt over time in thanks to Tower caretakers Wendy and Marvin. He awoke one year later to find a wholly different group of Titans led by Robin, the only member from the team he formed prior to going into space. Cyborg felt that members such as Kid Devil and Ravager were hardly worthy of being Titans, and thus was attempting to find a way to re-form "the real Titans".

After the team along with the Doom Patrol defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, Cyborg asked Beast Boy to rejoin the Titans, but Gar refused saying that his skills were needed with the Patrol. After returning to Titans Tower, Cyborg began reviewing the security tapes during the last year, in which it appears that he was looked to by all the Titans of the past year for a shoulder to lean on, despite being in a coma-like state.

Although Cyborg did retain the position of statesman amongst the Teen Titans and occasionally played second-in-command to Robin's lead, he no longer operated as a Titan in any official capacity.

Shortly thereafter, Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman agreed that Cyborg should be offered membership in the new Justice League. However, following a battle against Amazo, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Black Canary took over the formation of the JLA, and Cyborg was not included among the roster.[5]

Cyborg began putting together a new branch of Titans East which consisted of Anima, Dove, Hawk, Lagoon Boy, Little Barda and Power Boy. During a training exercise, the team was attacked by an unknown foe and Cyborg was severely injured.[6] This incident inspires the original members of the "New" Teen Titans to regroup and investigate the situation.[7]

Cyborg's new team didn't work out and when the new Teen Titans formed after his Titan's East's destruction he played second in command again. Although not officially on the roster he helped them on their investigations; he later joined officially and headed the new team of Teen Titans. They had many adventures together when their numbers started to grow and the founding members started to move on to bigger things. Wonder Girl began to lead this new team and they moved to Titans Tower in San Francisco, California. Soon the old founding members joined an unofficial team called the Titans to work as a family and a place to relax from their all overwhelming lives. But the peace didn't last when lives started to overlap and intersect and fewer members started showing up.

When the Titans fell apart again, Cyborg joined the JLA alongside Dick (as Batman) and Donna Troy. Officially on the team, he did not enter the field of battle much. Instead, he devoted his time to helping improve the Red Tornado's android body.

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Victor Stone (New Earth) | DC Database | Fandom

‘A Late Chrysanthemum’: A short story collection full of pathos and maturity – The Japan Times

There is something discernibly old-school about this anthology of short stories. In this solid introduction to Japanese literature of the 20th century, translator Lane Dunlop includes the work of literary giants such as Osamu Dazai and Yasunari Kawabata, and there are none of the felons, sociopaths, shut-ins or cyborgs that stalk the pages of most contemporary literature. The dialogue is muted but expressive, the inner emotions of characters are held in check and inference prevails over explicit description. When there are shocks and revelations, they are released in the fullness of time, like depth charges.

A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-One Stories from the Japanese, by various authorsTranslated by Lane Dunlop178 pagesTUTTLE PUBLISHING

In the aptly named Infatuation, Naoya Shiga traces the course of a mans extramarital affair. The spouse compares his partners drab and pathetic appearance to that of his young lover, a woman whose flesh was like the pure white meat of a crab caught in northern seas. While showing that he has no affection for her, he derives pleasure from the torment he inflicts on his long-suffering wife. Shiga gives little indication of his own position on infidelity, but hints at the psychological damage wreaked on marriages by male narcissism.

We remain in the morally dubious world of sexual fixation with The Wagtails Nest by Shiro Ozaki. Here, a man enjoying a long sojourn at a country inn begins to take an interest in an orphaned adolescent living in a nearby temple. Again, the imagery draws analogies between the delectably edible and the human body, descriptions that are likely to make many contemporary readers flinch. The narrator, in this instance, compares changes to the girls complexion to conditions during the rainy season when a loquat takes on the color of ripeness day by day. Any reservations we might have to read or, in an act of unconscious complicity, allow such retrogressive attitudes to women, are moderated by the craft demonstrated by these masters of the short story form. Even with the hapless characters that appear in Kobo Abes surrealist entries, the entire collection reminds us of the Japanese sensitivity for revealing details.

Toward the latter half of the collection, an intimation of twilight, of the denouement of life and beauty, settles on the book. In the title story, A Late Chrysanthemum, Fumiko Hayashi, the only female writer in the book, gives us a poignant and meticulously detailed portrait of a woman in her late 50s waiting for the arrival of an ex-lover she has not seen for many years. The character, who believes her retreating beauty can still be saved with a thorough regimen that involves the application of expensive creams to her face and thighs and a drop of sake to flush the cheeks, resolves that she must look even more youthful than she had that time when they parted. It would be a defeat if she let him feel her age.

Its a poignant ending to an anthology that resonates with pathos and resigned maturity.

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'A Late Chrysanthemum': A short story collection full of pathos and maturity - The Japan Times

Getting gene therapy to the brain | Penn Today – Penn Today

A lone genetic mutation can cause a life-changing disorder with effects on multiple body systems. Lysosomal storage diseases, for example, of which there are dozens, arise due to single mutations that affect production of critical enzymes required to metabolize large molecules in cells. These disorders affect multiple organs including, notably, the brain, causing intellectual disability of varying degrees.

Gene therapy holds promise to address these conditions, but the brains own protective mechanismthe blood-brain barrierhas been a formidable challenge for researchers working to develop one.

In a new study published in the journal Brain, a team led by John H. Wolfe, a researcher with Penns School of Veterinary Medicine and Perelman School of Medicine and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, successfully applied a gene therapy platform to completely correct brain defects in a large animal model of a human genetic disease.

This is the first example of a large-brain mammal with a bona fide human genetic disease that has intellectual disability as part of the human syndrome where weve been able to correct the biochemistry and pathologic lesions in the whole brain, says Wolfe.

Wolfe has worked on models of human genetic diseases that impact the brain for many years. With gene therapy, a delivery vehicletypically a viral vectoris used to provide the normal version of a mutated gene to correct a condition. Wolfe and other scientists working in this area have made steady progress to treat neurogenetic diseases in rodents. However, applying the same treatment to the much larger brain of higher mammals has only been able to produce partial corrections.

Theres been a lot of excitement for the last 10 years or so that specific vectors can be injected into the blood and enter the brain, says Wolfe. They do cross the blood-brain barrier. One such treatment with restricted distribution has been effective in treating a disease that primarily affects the spinal cord.

And while scientists have shown these therapies can reverse the pathology throughout the brains of mice, its been hard to judge what effect it would have in patients, as the rodent brains have a much smaller cerebral cortex than larger mammals, like humans.

In the current study, the team used an animal model with a brain more similar to humans, cats, to assess the effectiveness of a gene-correcting therapy for one type of lysosomal storage disease: a condition called alpha-mannosidosis, which naturally occurs in cats and results from a mutated copy of the alpha-mannosidase gene.

Having refined the gene-delivery technique during many years of work, the researchers selected a specific vector that they showed, in mice, was capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to reach sites throughout the brain.

They next delivered the vector, containing a reporter gene, to normal cats. Several weeks later, they were able to find evidence that the corrected gene had distributed to various parts of the brain, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and mid-brain.

Finally the research team assessed the therapy in cats with alpha-mannosidosis, using either a low or high dose of the vector. They injected the therapy into the carotid artery, so that it would go directly to the brain before traveling to other parts of the body. Compared to untreated cats, treated animals had a significant delayed onset of certain neurological symptoms and a longer lifespan; those that received the higher dose of the vector delivered through the carotid artery lived the longest.

Its a big advance, says Wolfe. Nobody has been able to treat the whole brain of a large-brained animal before. Were hopeful that this will translate into clinical use in humans.

Wolfe cautions, however, the findings dont amount to a cure.

These were significant improvements, but they were only just improvements on a serious condition, Wolfe says. The cats werent cured, and we dont know what impact this has on mental ability. However, since the pathology is found throughout the brain, it is thought that complete correction will be necessary.

As alpha-mannosidosis is a childhood-onset disease with no cure, however, any improvements that lessen the severity of symptoms are welcome. The approach the researchers developed may potentially be employed to treat many other diseases that affect the whole central nervous system.

In future work, Wolfe and his collaborators hope to refine their methods to achieve the same outcomes with a lower dose, making an effective treatment safer as well as more affordable. And they will continue to work to understand the details of why their treatment works, including precisely how the vector travels through the brain, a line of investigation that could shed light on additional strategies to address these serious disorders.

John H. Wolfe is a Stokes Investigator of the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, director of the Walter Flato Goodman Center for Comparative Medicine Genetics at the School of Veterinary Medicine, and a professor of pathology and medical genetics in Penn Vets Department of Pathobiology and in the Perelman School of Medicines Department of Pediatrics.

Wolfes coauthors on the work were Sea Young Yoon, Jacqueline E. Hunter, Sanjeev Chawla, Dana L. Clarke, Caitlyn Molony, Patricia A. ODonnell, Jessica H. Bagel, Manoj Kumar, Harish Poptani, and Charles H. Vite.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants DK063973, OD010939, TR001878, and NS007180).

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Getting gene therapy to the brain | Penn Today - Penn Today

Ocugen Granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation for OCU400 (AAV-hNR2E3) Gene Therapy for the Treatment of RHO Mutation-Associated Retinal Degenerative…

MALVERN, Pa., July 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ocugen, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCGN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing transformative therapies to cure blindness diseases, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the third Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for OCU400 in the treatment of RHO mutation-associated retinal degeneration. The RHO mutation is part of the Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) group of rare, genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina and can lead to visual impairment and blindness. This is one of the larger mutations within the RP class, representing about 12% of RP patients in the US.

A novel gene therapy product candidate, OCU400 has the potential to be broadly effective in restoring retinal integrity and function across a range of genetically diverse inherited retinal diseases. It consists of a functional copy of a nuclear hormone receptor (NHR) gene, NR2E3, delivered to target cells in the retina using an adeno-associated viral vector. As a potent modifier gene, expression of NR2E3 within the retina may help reset retinal homeostasis and potentially offer longer benefit, stabilizing cells and rescuing photoreceptor degeneration and vision loss.

Adding to ODDs for OCU400 for NR2E3 and CEP290 mutation-associated retinal degeneration, RHO gene mutation-associated retinal degeneration further supports Ocugens breakthrough modifier gene therapy platforms potential to treat multiple blindness diseases with a single product. RP is a group of heterogenic inherited retinal diseases associated with over 150 gene mutations, affecting over 1.5 million individuals worldwide. In addition, ~40% of RP patients cannot be genetically diagnosed, confounding the ability to develop personalized RP therapies. Traditional gene therapy or gene editing approaches may require more than 150 products to rescue these patients from vision loss. OCU400, a single product candidate, has potential to address broad-spectrum RP.

OCU400, comprising the nuclear hormone receptor geneNR2E3, has the potential to help modulate numerous biological pathways that function in maintaining the health of the retina. A recent preclinical study published in Nature Gene Therapy demonstrated the potency of NR2E3 to elicit broad-spectrum therapeutic benefits in early and intermediate stages of RP in five unique mouse models, said Dr. Mohamed Genead, acting Chief Medical Officer of Ocugen and Chair of Ocugens Retina Scientific Advisory Board. We believe OCU400 has the potential to address multiple genetic mutations associated with RP and, therefore, help a broader pool of patients, Dr. Genead continued.

Our third ODD for OCU400 from the FDA is an important step towards developing a broad-spectrum treatment for RP and getting a therapy faster to patients who are in desperate need of rescue, said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Ocugen. Orphan designation for this indication supports the goal of our Modifier Gene Therapy Platform to treat a variety of inherited retinal diseases with a single gene therapy product. There are currently no approved treatments which slow or stop the progression of multiple forms of RP, which is why were excited to have a platform that can potentially address multiple mutations, including mutations in the Rhodopsin gene, with one therapy.

The FDA Office of Orphan Products Development grants orphan designation for novel drugs or biologics that treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 patients in the U.S. Orphan designation qualifies the sponsor of the drug for various development incentives of the Orphan Drug Act, including a seven-year period of U.S. marketing exclusivity, tax credits for clinical research costs, clinical research trial design assistance, the ability to apply for annual grant funding and waiver of Prescription Drug User Fee Act filing fees.

About OCU400OCU400 (AAV-hNR2E3) is a novel gene therapy product candidate with the potential to be broadly effective in restoring retinal integrity and function across a range of genetically diverse inherited retinal diseases. It consists of a functional copy of a nuclear hormone receptor gene, NR2E3, delivered to target cells in the retina using an adeno-associated viral vector. As a potent modifier gene, expression of NR2E3 within the retina may help reset retinal homeostasis, potentially stabilizing cells and rescuing photoreceptor degeneration and vision loss.

About Ocugen, Inc.Ocugen, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing transformative therapies to cure blindness diseases. Our breakthrough modifier gene therapy platform has the potential to treat multiple retinal diseases with one drug one to many and our novel biologic product candidate aims to offer better therapy to patients with underserved diseases such as wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy. For more information, please visithttps://ocugen.com/

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. We may, in some cases, use terms such as predicts, believes, potential, proposed, continue, estimates, anticipates, expects, plans, intends, may, could, might, will, should or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from our current expectations. These and other risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including the risk factors described in the section entitled Risk Factors in the quarterly and annual reports that we file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

Corporate Contact:Ocugen, Inc.Sanjay SubramanianChief Financial OfficerIR@Ocugen.com

Media Contact: LaVoieHealthScienceEmmie Twomblyetwombly@lavoiehealthscience.com+1 857-389-6042

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Ocugen Granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation for OCU400 (AAV-hNR2E3) Gene Therapy for the Treatment of RHO Mutation-Associated Retinal Degenerative...

Axovant Signs Three-Year Clinical Supply Agreement With Oxford Biomedica for Manufacturing and Supply of AXO-Lenti-PD – BioSpace

NEW YORK and BASEL, Switzerland, July 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd (NASDAQ: AXGT), a clinical-stage company developing innovative gene therapies for neurological diseases, announced today that its subsidiary has signed a three-year Clinical Supply Agreement (CSA) with Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE:OXB), a leading gene and cell therapy group. The CSA builds on the worldwide license agreement signed between the two companies in June 2018 for the Parkinsons disease gene therapy program OXB-102, now called AXO-Lenti-PD.

Under the terms of the CSA, Oxford Biomedica will manufacture GMP batches for Axovant to support the ongoing and future clinical development of AXO-Lenti-PD, a clinical-stage gene therapy product to treat moderate to severe Parkinsons Disease based on Oxford Biomedicas LentiVector platform. Axovant is currently conducting the Phase 2 SUNRISE-PD trial with AXO-Lenti-PD. Dosing of all patients in the second cohort has been completed with 6-month safety and efficacy data expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. Oxford Biomedica expects to manufacture AXO-Lenti-PD in its commercial-scale GMP manufacturing facilities including Oxbox in the UK, and additionally in other OXB GMP facilities as required to ensure security of supply.

This Agreement with Oxford Biomedica means that together we can continue to advance the development of AXO-Lenti-PD in Parkinsons disease, said Pavan Cheruvu, Axovant Chief Executive Officer. We are pleased to extend our partnership with Oxford Biomedica, a world leader in lentiviral vector development and manufacturing, as we scale-up AXO-Lenti-PD production to support our Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical studies and enable commercialization of the product. This marks another mutual accomplishment for our Parkinsons disease program where we expect to enroll the first subject in a randomized, sham-controlled trial in 2021.

John Dawson, CEO of Oxford Biomedica, added, This new Agreement builds upon our existing worldwide licensing agreement with Axovant and highlights the strengths of Oxford Biomedica's commercial GMP manufacturing capabilities. We are pleased with how the partnership is progressing and excited by the clinical progress to date. The agreement today signals our commitment to the efficient ongoing development of this much needed product for patients with Parkinsons disease. We are now at a stage in the partnership where we can determine the manufacturing activities and infrastructure required to support the mid and late-stage development of AXO-Lenti-PD in a way which is compatible with later commercialization and we look forward to this next phase of our partnership.

About Axovant Gene Therapies

Axovant Gene Therapies is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing a pipeline of innovative product candidates for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. Our current pipeline of gene therapy candidates target GM1 gangliosidosis, GM2 gangliosidosis (also known as Tay-Sachs disease and Sandhoff disease), and Parkinsons disease. Axovant is focused on accelerating product candidates into and through clinical trials with a team of experts in gene therapy development and through external partnerships with leading gene therapy organizations. For more information, visit http://www.axovant.com.

About AXO-Lenti-PDAXO-Lenti-PD is an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinsons disease that is designed to deliver three genes (tyrosine hydroxylase, cyclohydrolase 1, and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase) via a single lentiviral vector to encode a set of critical enzymes required for dopamine synthesis, with the goal of reducing variability and restoring steady levels of dopamine in the brain. The investigational gene therapy aims to provide patient benefit for years following a single administration. The SUNRISE-PD Phase 2 trial is ongoing with dosing completed for all patients in cohort 2, with 6-month safety and efficacy data expected in Q4 2020. Axovant expects to dose the first patient in the Part B randomized, sham controlled study in 2021.

About Oxford BiomedicaOxford Biomedica (LSE:OXB) is a leading, fully integrated, gene and cell therapy group focused on developing life changing treatments for serious diseases. Oxford Biomedica and its subsidiaries (the "Group") have built a sector leading lentiviral vector delivery platform (LentiVector), which the Group leverages to develop in vivo and ex vivo products both in-house and with partners. The Group has created a valuable proprietary portfolio of gene and cell therapy product candidates in the areas of oncology, ophthalmology, CNS disorders, liver diseases and respiratory disease. The Group has also entered into a number of partnerships, including with Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Axovant Gene Therapies, Orchard Therapeutics, Santen, Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Imperial Innovations, through which it has long-term economic interests in other potential gene and cell therapy products. Additionally the group has signed a Clinical and Commercial Supply Agreement with AstraZeneca for manufacture of the adeno based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZN1222. Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations in Oxfordshire, UK and employs more than 550 people. Further information is available at http://www.oxb.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. The use of words such as "may," "might," "will," "would," "should," "expect," "believe," "estimate," and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, all statements Axovant makes regarding costs associated with its operating activities are forward-looking. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by Axovants management that, although Axovant believes to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that Axovant expected. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our operations, the initiation and conduct of preclinical studies and clinical trials; the availability of data from clinical trials; the scaling up of manufacturing, the expectations for regulatory submissions and approvals; the continued development of its gene therapy product candidates and platforms; Axovants scientific approach and general development progress; and the availability or commercial potential of Axovants product candidates. These statements are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties that are described in Axovants most recent Annual Report on Form 10- K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 10, 2020, as updated by its subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Axovant undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Media & Investors

Parag MeswaniAxovant Gene Therapies Ltd.(212) 547-2523media@axovant.cominvestors@axovant.com

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Axovant Signs Three-Year Clinical Supply Agreement With Oxford Biomedica for Manufacturing and Supply of AXO-Lenti-PD - BioSpace

Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders Market size in terms of volume and value 2019-2025 – Market Research Correspondent

Global Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market- Report defines the vital growth factors, opportunities and market segment of top players during the forecast period from 2019 to 2025. The report Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders offers a complete market outlook and development rate during the past, present, and the forecast period, with concise study, Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market effectively defines the market value, volume, price trend, and development opportunities. The comprehensive, versatile and up-to-date information on Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market is provided in this report.

The latest research report on Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market encompasses a detailed compilation of this industry, and a creditable overview of its segmentation. In short, the study incorporates a generic overview of the Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market based on its current status and market size, in terms of volume and returns. The study also comprises a summary of important data considering the geographical terrain of the industry as well as the industry players that seem to have achieved a powerful status across the Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market.

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The key players covered in this studyBioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.bluebird bio Inc.Novartis AGOrchard Therapeutics PlcSpark Therapeutics Inc.

Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoEye DisordersHematological DisordersCentral Nervous System DisordersMuscular DisordersOthersMarket segment by Application, split intoHospitalClinicResearch InstituteOthers

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South America

The study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders are as follows:History Year: 2015-2019Base Year: 2019Estimated Year: 2020Forecast Year 2020 to 2026For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2019 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

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Comprehensive assessable analysis of the industry is provided for the period of 2019-2025 to help investors to capitalize on the essential market opportunities.

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To analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders by categorizing the high-growth segments of the market

The numerous opportunities in the Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market are also given.

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Furthermore, Global Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders Market following points are involved along with a detailed study of each point:

Generation of this Global Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders Industry is tested about applications, types, and regions with price analysis of players that are covered.

Revenue, sales are planned for this Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market, including with various essentials along yet another facet is assessed in this section for foremost regions.

In continuation using earnings, this section studies consumption, and global Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market. This area also sheds light on the variance between ingestion and distribution. Export and Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders significance data are provided in this part.

In this section, key players have been studied depending on product portfolio, their Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market company profile, volume, price, price, and earnings.

Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders market analysis aside from business, the information, and supply, contact information from manufacturers, consumers and providers can also be presented. Additionally, a feasibility study to asset and SWOT analysis for endeavors have been contained.

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Gene Therapy for Inherited Genetic Disorders Market size in terms of volume and value 2019-2025 - Market Research Correspondent

Greenwich swimmers take the plunge to fight cancer – Greenwich Time

By David Fierro and Matthew Brown

Meghan Lynch participates in the "Buoy-to-Buoy" swim at Rocky Point Club in Old Greenwich, Connecticut on August 1, 2020. The Swim Across America Event organized by Team Julian, honoring the legacy of Greenwich's own Julian Fraser, who lost his life battling a rare form of cancer, raised over $45,000 for cancer research. Over 50 swimmers from Rocky Point Club and Greenwich High School's Swim and Water Pola teams participated in the 1-mile swim in the Long Island Sound. Several volunteers in kayaks and on paddle boards, Including Julian mother, Cristy Fraser, kept watch over the group during the benefit swim.

Meghan Lynch participates in the "Buoy-to-Buoy" swim at Rocky Point Club in Old Greenwich, Connecticut on August 1, 2020. The Swim Across America Event organized by Team Julian, honoring the legacy of

Photo: Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media

Meghan Lynch participates in the "Buoy-to-Buoy" swim at Rocky Point Club in Old Greenwich, Connecticut on August 1, 2020. The Swim Across America Event organized by Team Julian, honoring the legacy of Greenwich's own Julian Fraser, who lost his life battling a rare form of cancer, raised over $45,000 for cancer research. Over 50 swimmers from Rocky Point Club and Greenwich High School's Swim and Water Pola teams participated in the 1-mile swim in the Long Island Sound. Several volunteers in kayaks and on paddle boards, Including Julian mother, Cristy Fraser, kept watch over the group during the benefit swim.

Meghan Lynch participates in the "Buoy-to-Buoy" swim at Rocky Point Club in Old Greenwich, Connecticut on August 1, 2020. The Swim Across America Event organized by Team Julian, honoring the legacy of

Greenwich swimmers take the plunge to fight cancer

GREENWICH A team of over 50 swimmers and 15 volunteers joined forces to raise more than $45,000 in the fight against cancer and to honor a 2014 Greenwich High graduate and standout swimmer who died of osteosarcoma.

The group known as Team Julian team gathered Saturday at Rocky Point Club in Old Greenwich for the endurance swim on Long Island Sound to benefit Swim Across America Fairfield County.

The event honored the legacy of Julian Fraser, who lost his battle with a rare form of bone cancer in 2017 at the age of 20.

The swimmers from Rocky Point Club and Greenwich High School's Swim and Water Pola teams participated in the 1-mile swim in the Long Island Sound. Several volunteers in kayaks and on paddle boards, including Julian Frasers mother, Cristy Fraser, kept watch over the group during the long benefit swim.

Julian Fraser earned All-America honors as a swimmer and water polo player. He competed on numerous championship teams for GHS coach Terry Lowe, then excelled on the Santa Clara University water polo team.

We are united to raise money for the fight against cancer and to honor Julian, said Lowe, who is one of the organizers of Team Julian.

Proceeds from the event supports the Stamford-based Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, the nations only foundation dedicated exclusively to funding cancer gene therapy research.

To learn more about Swim Across America Fairfield County or make a donation, visit swimacrossamerica.org/fc.

dfierro@greenwichtime.com

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Greenwich swimmers take the plunge to fight cancer - Greenwich Time

Gene Therapy Market Professional Industry Overview 2020 Segmentation and Development Analysis BY 2027 – Science Examiner

Impact Analysis of Covid-19

The complete version of the Report will include the impact of the COVID-19, and anticipated change on the future outlook of the industry, by taking into the account the political, economic, social, and technological parameters.

Get Sample PDF Including COVID19 Impact Analysis Of Gene Therapy, https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1774

The Gene Therapy Market is expected to have a highly positive outlook for the next five years 2020-2027 according to a recently released Gene Therapy Market research report. The report has been added to his large database by Coherent Market Insights. This report is a guide that covers key strategic developments of the market including acquisitions & mergers, new technology launch, agreements, partnerships, collaborations & joint ventures, research & development, technology, and regional expansion of major participants involved in the market on the global and regional basis.

It also going to elaborate the opportunities out there in micro niches for stakeholders to take a position, step by step investigation of the competitive landscape and even commodity professional services of famous players which include GlaxoSmithKline plc, Bluebird Bio, Inc., Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, Celgene Corporation, Shanghai Sunway Biotech Co. Ltd., Merck KGaA, Transgene SA, and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The key features of the Gene Therapy Market report 2020-2027 are the organization, extensive amount of analysis, and data from previous and current years as well as forecast data for the next five years. Most of the report is made up of tables, charts, and figures that give our clients a clear picture of the market.

The comprehensive value chain analysis of the Gene Therapy market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with a detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report measures the potential value of the Gene Therapy providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.

Questions have been answered at Gene Therapy Market report:

Economy Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, along with Strategies) The length of the global Gene Therapy market opportunity? How share promote Gene Therapy their worth from different manufacturing brands? Which will be the niches at which players profiling with thorough plans, financials, and also recent advancements should set a presence? Which will be the anticipated growth rates for your own Gene Therapy economy altogether and also for every segment inside? Which will be the Gene Therapy application and types and forecast accompanied closely by producers?

The research report on the Gene Therapy market evaluates the growth trends of the industry through historical study and estimates future prospects based on comprehensive research. The report extensively provides market share, growth, trends, and forecasts for the period 2020-2027. The market size in terms of revenue (USD MN) is calculated for the study period along with the details of the factors affecting the market growth (drivers and restraints).

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive SummaryPart 02: Scope Of The ReportPart 03: Research MethodologyPart 04: Market Landscape Market Ecosystem Market Characteristics Market Segmentation Analysis

Part 05: Market Sizing Market Definition Market Sizing 2020 Market Size And Forecast 2020-2027

Part 06: Five Forces Analysis Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining Power of Suppliers Threat of New Entrants Threat of Substitutes Threat of Rivalry Market Condition

Part 07: Customer LandscapePart 08: Regional Landscape Geographical Segmentation Regional Comparison Americas Market Size And Forecast 2020-2027 EMEA Market Size And Forecast 2020-2027 APAC Market Size And Forecast 2020-2027

Part 09: Decision FrameworkPart 10: Drivers And Challenges Market Drivers Market Challenges

Part 11: Market TrendsPart 12: Vendor Landscape Overview Landscape Disruption Vendors Covered Vendor Classification Market Positioning Of Vendors

About Us:

Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 150 countries worldwide. We pride ourselves in catering to clients across the length and width of the horizon, from Fortune 500 enlisted companies, to not-for-profit organization, and startups looking to establish a foothold in the market. We excel in offering unmatched actionable market intelligence across various industry verticals, including chemicals and materials, healthcare, and food & beverages, consumer goods, packaging, semiconductors, software and services, Telecom, and Automotive. We offer syndicated market intelligence reports, customized research solutions, and consulting services.

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Contact us:

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Gene Therapy Market Professional Industry Overview 2020 Segmentation and Development Analysis BY 2027 - Science Examiner

Cell and Gene Therapy Market Overview, Growth & Advancement to (2020-2025) – Owned

Worldwide Cell and Gene Therapy Market report gives an in-depth review of the dynamics of the industries, which impacts on the increase of companies. The observe contains a mix of various segments inclusive of drivers, restraints, and possibilities. Special scenarios are examined on this document at the side of the highest driving elements which offers the approaches for enterprise growth. The effective strategies are implemented via the varied pinnacle-degree key gamers to shape the companies .

A comprehensive and elaborate primary analysis report highlights numerous facts like development factors, business improvement policies, analytical growth, economic profit or loss to assist readers and clients to know the market on a worldwide scale. Cell and Gene Therapy Market report gives details about the highest key players and makes that are driving the market. The report is completed after careful analysis of the collected information in various categories of the market that necessities innovative thoughts, hypothetical investigation, and its importance. The team of researchers and analysts presents the readers accurate statistics and analytical data within the report during a simple manner by means of graphs, diagrams, pie charts, and other pictorial illustrations.

Impact of Covid-19 in Cell and Gene Therapy Market

[We Have Included a part On The Impact Of Covid-19, which might Provide you ways The Covid-19 Pandemic affects the worldwide Cell and Gene Therapy Market]

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The global Cell and Gene Therapy Market report evaluates various factors related to growth, including pricing structure, production capabilities, demand-supply scenarios and profit margins. The whole research intelligence is predicated on an exhaustive primary industry research and in-depth proactive secondary research that aim to extract valued data points about Cell and Gene Therapy Market. The resultant data enables report readers to position themselves as potential market entrants and devise growth strategies to satisfy short- and long-term business goals.

Amgen Inc., bluebird bio, Inc., Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC., Fibrocell Science, Inc., Human Stem Cells Institute, Kite Pharma, Inc., Kolon TissueGene, Inc., Novartis AG, Orchard Therapeutics plc., Organogenesis Holdings Inc., Pfizer, Inc., RENOVA THERAPEUTICS

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Table of Contents:

Global Cell and Gene Therapy Market Research Report 2020

Chapter 1 About the Cell and Gene Therapy Market Industry

Chapter 2 World market Competition Landscape

Chapter 3 World Cell and Gene Therapy Market share

Chapter 4 Supply Chain Analysis

Chapter 5 Company Profiles

Chapter 6 Globalisation & Trade

Chapter 7 Distributors and Customers

Chapter 8 Import, Export, Consumption and Consumption Value by Major Countries

Chapter 9 World Cell and Gene Therapy market Forecast through during years

Chapter 10 Key success factors and market Overview REPORT HIGHLIGHTS :

KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THE REPORT:

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Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwide. We take pride in curating a database covering virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories. We are one of the premier sources for such reports & report customization services.

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Cell and Gene Therapy Market Overview, Growth & Advancement to (2020-2025) - Owned

Movers & Shakers, July 31 | BioSpace – BioSpace

ASCO-Jonathan W. Friedberg has been appointed as the next editor-in-chief of theJournal of Clinical Oncology(JCO), the flagship journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).JCOpublishes cutting-edge research on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer and is one of the most highly cited oncology journals in the world. A hematologic oncologist for more than 20 years, Friedberg is currently director of the Wilmot Cancer Institute and Samuel Durand Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. Friedbergs five-year term asJCOeditor-in-chief will begin in June 2021. He will succeed Stephen A. Cannistra, who will be completing his 10th year as the journals editor-in-chief.

Apic Bio Cambridge, Mass.-based Apic Bio formed a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) which includes internationally recognized gene therapy experts. TheSAB will provide clinical and scientific expertise to help the company advance its pipeline and leverage its proprietary silence and replace THRIVE platform. The appointments to Apics Scientific Advisory Board include Robert H. Brown Jr., Leo P. and Theresa M. LaChance Chair in Medical Research, Professor of Neurology, Director of the Program in Neurotherapeutics, University of Massachusetts Medical School; R. Jude Samulski, president and chief scientific officer at AskBio; Barry Byrne, director of the Powell Gene Therapy Center at the University of Florida and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics & Microbiology; Rob Kotin, adjunct professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School; Kevin Flanigan, Robert F. and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation Endowed Chair in Neuromuscular Research and Director of the Center for Gene Therapy in The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital, and professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine; Mark Kay, Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics and Professor of Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine.

I-Mab Shanghai-based I-Mab named Ivan Yifei Zhuas its chief commercial officer effectiveAug. 10. In this role, Zhu will focus on building and developing I-Mab's commercialization infrastructure and strategies and preparing the company for upcoming product launches. Before joining I-Mab, he served as vice president and General Manager of the sales division of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group where he managed the company's sales and marketing team. Zhu also served as the CCO of BeiGene where he played an instrumental role in the expansion of BeiGene's commercialization team and the implementation of its commercialization strategies.

Caladrius Biosciences Michael H. Davidson was named to the board of directors of Caladrius Biosciences. Davidson is the founder and chief scientific officer of Corvidia Therapeutics, which recently announced its sale to Novo-Nordisk for $2.1 billion. Davidson also serves as clinical professor and director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

Cidara Therapeutics-Cidara Therapeutics announced the formation of a scientific advisory board (SAB) and the appointment of four leading experts in viral and fungal infections and hematology. TheSABwill work closely with the Cidara management team to help guide the direction and design of the companys development programs with an emphasis on the continued development and expansion of the companys Cloudbreak Antiviral Conjugate (AVC) program.Cidara TherapeuticsSABincludes Frederick G. Hayden,Stuart S. Richardson Professor Emeritus of Clinical Virology atUniversity of Virginia School of Medicine; Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Virginia; Michael G. Ison, professor, Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Organ Transplantation atNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Medical Director, Transplant & Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases Service at Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center,Chicago; Johan A Maertens,professor of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Acute Leukemia and Transplantation Unit at University Hospitals Leuven;Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantationat KULeuven, Leuven,Belgium; Kieren Marr, Professor of Medicine and Oncology Director, Transplant and Oncology Infectious Diseases Program and Vice-Chair for Innovation in Healthcare Implementation,Department of MedicineatJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Alydia Health Following a $13.9 million Series C financing round, Alydia Health announced Rob Binney as its new chief executive officer. Binney joins the company from Intersect ENT where he served as chief commercial officer. Prior to Intersect ENT, Binney worked in leadership roles with both startups and large medical device companies, including Boston Scientific and AccessClosure, now part of Cardinal Health. Binney succeeds Anne Morrissey, who recently stepped down as the companys CEO. Colby Holtshouse, previously Alydias interim CEO and head of Marketing, will assume the role of chief operating officer. In association with the financing round, Zina Affas Besse, managing partner at Global Health Funds will join the companys board of directors.

Synlogic, Inc. Antoine Tony Awad was named chief operating officer of Synlogic. As COO, Awad will drive Synlogic's end to end development & manufacturing organization and supply chain as well as have broader corporate operations responsibilities, inclusive of laboratory operations, IT infrastructure, and the quality organization. Awad joined Synlogic in December 2018 as head of Technical Operations. Prior to joining Synlogic, he served as senior vice president of CMC and Operations at Abpro Therapeutics and L.E.A.F. Pharmaceuticals and served in roles of increasing responsibility at Ipsen Biosciences and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. In addition to Awad, Synlogic also named Andrew March as head of Development Operations. Prior to joining Synlogic March served as Ra Pharmaceuticals' head of Clinical Development.

Engrail Therapeutics San Diego-based Engrail announced two key executive appointments. Kimberly Vanover has been named chief scientific officer, leading the building and advancement of the companys pipeline. Eve Taylor has been named vice president of clinical development, overseeing all facets of Engrails clinical development programs and operations. Stephen Cunningham, previously executive vice president, development and CSO, will assume the role of chief development officer. Vanover most recently served as senior vice president, early-stage clinical development and translational medicine at Intra-Cellular Therapies. Taylor most recently helped lead early-stage clinical development at Intra-Cellular Therapies. Previously, Taylor led clinical development activities at Cytori Therapeutics, Ceregene and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. The company also expanded its board of directors to five members. Tony Ho was appointed to Engrails board of directors effective immediately. Ho served as CRISPR Therapeutics executive vice president, research and development since August 2017. Prior to joining CRISPR, Tony held a number of roles at AstraZeneca, most recently senior vice president and head of oncology integration and innovation.

CressetU.K.-based Cresset announced its SAB. The Cresset Scientific Advisory Board members are Stevan W Djuric, chairman of Discovery Chemistry and Technology Consulting LLC, USA;Richard Lewis of Novartis Pharma AG; Alexander Hillisch of Bayer; AstraZenecas Andreas Bender; Julien Michel of the University of Edinburgh; Paul Czodrowski of TU Dortmund University in Germany; and Kazuyoshi Ikeda of Keio University in Japan.

NeuBase Therapeutics William Mann was named chief operating officer of NeuBase Therapeutics. Mann will leverage his decades of experience in the biopharma industry to manage NeuBase operations and advance its strategic goals. Mann most recently served as the president and CEO of Helsinn Therapeutics. Before joining Helsinn, he held multiple positions at Sapphire Therapeutics, Inc.

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Movers & Shakers, July 31 | BioSpace - BioSpace

REGENXBIO To Host Conference Call on August 6 to Discuss Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Recent Operational Highlights – Herald-Mail Media

ROCKVILLE, Md., July 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAVTechnology Platform, today announced that it will host a conference call on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, and recent operational highlights.

To access the live call by phone, dial (800) 708-4539 (domestic) or (800) 619-6396 (international) and enter the passcode 49857700. To access a live or recorded webcast of the call, please visit the Investors section of the REGENXBIO website at http://www.regenxbio.com. The recorded webcast will be available for approximately 30 days following the call.

AboutREGENXBIO Inc.

REGENXBIO is a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy. REGENXBIO's NAV Technology Platform, a proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene delivery platform, consists of exclusive rights to more than 100 novel AAV vectors, including AAV7, AAV8, AAV9 and AAVrh10. REGENXBIO and its third-party NAV Technology Platform Licensees are applying the NAV Technology Platform in the development of a broad pipeline of candidates in multiple therapeutic areas.

Contacts:

Tricia TruehartInvestor Relations and Corporate Communications347-926-7709ttruehart@regenxbio.com

Investors:Eleanor Barisser, 212-600-1902eleanor@argotpartners.com

Media:David Rosen, 212-600-1902david.rosen@argotpartners.com

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REGENXBIO To Host Conference Call on August 6 to Discuss Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Recent Operational Highlights - Herald-Mail Media

Catharpin mom helps raise national awareness for her young sons disease – WDVM 25

Neimann-Pick disease type C1 is a rare genetic condition that only has 500 known cases world wide.

by: Christy Matino

CATHARPIN, Va. (WDVM) Catharpin resident Meghann Ferguson is trying to bring national awareness to Neimann-Pick disease type C1, a rare genetic condition that only has 500 known cases world wide.

The disease affects the bodys ability to metabolize fat. This collection of fat can lead to enlargement of the liver and spleen and can cause difficulties with fine motor skills and cognitive impairment.

These are the symptoms that Meghann noticed when her son Liam was born, just 24 hours after his birth. Liam was also in liver failure, and the Fergusons were looking into a liver transplant.

We heard the words that we were being told genetic, degenerative, fatal those types of words, and they really hit hard, she said.

Since Liams diagnosis, Meghann has been an advocate for Niemann-Pick disease nationally. She joined the board of the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation and has had multiple speaking engagements.

One was at the Georgetown University Hospital, and then we also spoke at a gene therapy company in North Carolina. I was also able to present his story at the NNPDF Conference, which is the national organization for this disease, Ferguson said.

The goal is to bring more awareness to the disease, since it is so easily misdiagnosed and difficult to recognize.

The more that people are aware that this condition exists, then I think that doctors, when they see it, will think about it as a possibility, she said.

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Catharpin mom helps raise national awareness for her young sons disease - WDVM 25

Circularity or safety in second life products? Here’s how to achieve both – GreenBiz

This article is sponsored by UL.

Circularity is a life-cycle approach to sustainability in product design that is gaining momentum worldwide. Circular business models maximize the use of limited natural resources, reduce reliance on the take/make/waste economy and, in many cases, reap cost savings for businesses.

However, in the race to achieve the critically important attribute of circularity, companies run the risk of sidelining other important criteria such as safety and performance.

As we enter new territory for circularity with the expansion of second-life products and materials, its important to keep a watchful eye on safety. For example, does recycled plastic maintain integrity and performance in an end product? Do refurbished electronics meet fire and shock risk requirements the same as new electronics? Do reconditioned medical devices or molded-case circuit breakers offer the same performance as new?

Harmonization of circularity, safety and performance standards is critical to achieving a more sustainable and safe economy. Evaluating circular products for all of these criteria helps ensure long-term viability of new circular approaches, protects consumers and other end users, and reduces risk associated with achieving circularity. Whats more, validations of the performance, quality and circularity attributes of products and materials can provide the evidence needed to confront myths and misunderstandings about these products and encourage widespread adoption of remanufactured or other second life or "like new" products.

While single-attribute sustainability claims such as recycled content are helpful in creating the ecosystem in which recycling markets can operate more effectively, circularity is broader and aims to optimize resources by circulating products and/or components in a way that ensures materials are used at their highest value for the longest time possible.

Several business models support circularity, but of particular focus in this article are product life extensions, by which companies extend the life of products through remanufacturing, upgrade, technical assessment or remarketing. This method is highly effective for maximizing the value and life of products and reduces the need for virgin materials as well as carbon emissions associated with production and distribution of new products.

For example, according to a study titled "The Remanufacturing Industry" by Robert T. Lund, funded by the Argonne National Laboratory, remanufactured products conservethe equivalent to 400 trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) of energy annually, which translates into the energy used to power 6 million passenger cars each year. It also represents a significant revenue stream for many companies, with some estimates that $60 billion of remanufactured goods are sold each year in the U.S. alone.

However, some risks are inherent with this type of product life extension.

But its also important to consider the lived life of that product. The Guide Information for Electrical Equipment for Use in Ordinary Locations (Category AALZ), found on productiq.ul.com, summarizes UL's position that "when a product bearing a UL Mark is modified or rebuilt (including being refurbished, remanufactured, reconditioned or renovated) after it leaves the factory where the UL Mark was applied, UL does not know if the product continues to meet the applicable requirements unless the modification or rebuilding has been specifically investigated by UL." (Registration for Product iQ is free; register today at Productiq.ul.com.)The key question is: does this product perform as well and operate as safely as a new product?

While circularity is becoming embedded into business practices of sustainability-minded companies, there is often a lack of awareness of the possible safety risks described above. Depending on the type of product, regulations may call for testing and assessment. However, for items such as electrical equipment, automobiles, building products and furniture, there is often little awareness among manufacturers and end users of potential risks.

For companies in any industry, here are some steps toward achieving both circularity and safety.

In an effort to promote confidence in the safety of refurbished products and to increase transparency, UL has established programs for the safe and sustainable rebuilding of many categories of products. We are committed to supporting circularity on a secure foundation of safety.

As an example, consider the growing number of wind turbine farms installed over the last two decades.

These wind turbines have an average lifespan of 20 years. As the equipment nears end of life, many parties become interested in assessing continued safe and reliable operation.

UL developed a standard to determine if it would be possible to safely extend the life of turbines. UL 4134, the Standard for Safety for Lifetime Extension of Wind Turbines, employs a science-based approach to test and validate the safety and performance of equipment to extend the life of these large, costly assets. The requirements take into account the external conditions of use for the specific turbine, operational characteristics and turbine information. This data is used to calculate the remaining useful life and set the stage for physical inspections and risk analysis, allowing the turbines to continue to operate rather than being decommissioned and replaced with new turbines. This allows for extension of life through reasonable repair.

As we continue to shift from a take/make/waste to circular business models, we will need to make a number of shifts across business, government, investors and society at large. Among the lessons learned during the pandemic, we know that human health and safety remain a priority and should be top of mind as we investigate new methods for bringing circular products to market. Second life products have the potential to dramatically reduce use of precious natural resources and divert waste from the landfill; ensuring their safety and like new performance is one of the new safety imperatives of our time, and in turn will help encourage adoption.

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Circularity or safety in second life products? Here's how to achieve both - GreenBiz

Can Our Life Insurance Pay For Life-Extending Care? – American Council on Science and Health

I've written previously about the new generation of pharmaceuticals. No longer small compounds, medications are increasingly biologicals, with greater precision, efficacy, and expense. Bio-similars, the biologic version of generics, may have a role, but co-pay expenses increase disparity along the lines of income and shift resources from other family concerns. A new paper from the Social Service Research Network offers an alternative payment approach using life insurance.

Life and Health Insurance

Life insurance, on the face of it, is a strange business where I pay a monthly premium only to see a return when I die. My highest profit comes if I die immediately, my least if I live a long life. The keen observer will note that I said long, rather than long and happy; that is because life insurance is about the quantity of my life, not it's quality. If you are looking to ensure quality, you need health insurance.

At first blush, life insurance seems like a Ponzi scheme. I pay say $1,000 annually for 25 years, and if I die, at that point, my family gets $500,000. In reality, that $1,000 is invested and growing during the interval. Insurance companies need only pay out when someone dies so they could and can use other people's premiums to offset their expenses. But many of those terms policies, which by the way is the most common "financial instrument" Americans own, lapse, meaning they end without a death payment. Hence, all those premiums accrue to the insurers.

Last bit of context. Since 2010, health insurers can not adjust premiums based on your pre-conditions the cost is the same if you are healthy or if you are taking five medications and see physicians every week. Life insurance premiums can adjust for your current and expected health. Buying at age 20 reduces your premiums compared to purchasing term life insurance at age 40 when you have hypertension and are a bit overweight.

"The main insight is that life insurers benefit from these life-extensions, especially immune-oncology." [1]

The benefit of medication extending your life is clear you get more quality time. But how do life insurers benefit? First, they continue to get premiums. If you lapse, all the benefit is lost, but it is doubtful that a person in these circumstances would end their policy. During the period of your now extended life, those premiums continue to be invested by the insurance company. Meanwhile, your payment is delayed into the future; a future where the dollar, because of inflation, is worth less. In short, life insurers realize more revenue and a reduced payout.

"Several key parameters determine the benefit to life insurers of a patient diagnosed with a life-threatening disease: the increase in survival probability resulting from treatment, patient demographics, age of diagnosis, and the life insurance premium."

The most crucial variable is the efficacy of treatment, which creates an interesting alignment of interests, both you and your insurance benefit from you receiving life-extending care. There is no similar alignment with health insurance because those treatments cost health insurers more; you are the only one profiting. To curb this "bad" behavior on your part, termed moral hazard, health insurance employs co-pays and deductibles that increase your costs, decreasing theirs.

While life-extension is always beneficial to you, it is never beneficial to a health insurer, but can be to a life insurer.

The economic model

The researchers modeled healthcare costs and life insurance premiums. Using the National Cancer Institute and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data, they noted that immunotherapies for cancer have rapidly expanded in numbers and cancers treated. They have become first-line or parts of combination therapy while remaining very expensive. They are efficacious, demonstrating significant increases in long term survival. Based upon their model's formula, considering the roughly 400,000 individuals who own life and health insurance and are receiving immunotherapy

"the $9.78 billion benefit to the life insurance sector well exceeds the out-of-pocket costs to consumers of $4.83 billion."

Perhaps only an actuary and the authors can fully understand the math, but bottom line, life insurance could cover those out-of-pocket costs and still turn a significant profit. There are several ways to cover out-of-pocket expenses. For example, the out-of-pocket costs could be paid by the life insurer, and the death benefit reduced by a comparable amount. They note that a policy with a death benefit of only $46,000 could cover $20,000 in co-pays and deductables. Or a patient might borrow the money from the death benefit, kind of like a reverse mortgage all the past premiums helping to secure the "loan."

Life insurance is a very common "financial instrument" across most of the at-risk economic demographics. Even individuals earning thirty-five to fifty thousand dollars buy term life, and these are the very same individuals most at risk for economic catastrophe in the face of high co-pays and deductibles. And while the paper does an in-depth analysis involving immunotherapy, the concepts could apply equally as well to other chronic conditions such as heart failure, AIDS/HIV, and Hepatitis C.

Limitations

All models have limitations; this one is no different. First, there are the "frictions," an excellent term describing regulatory frameworks that would need to be adjusted. And of course, there would be a shifting decline in profitability as the monies were redistributed. There would have to be some re-jiggering of life insurance rates to account for those profitability changes. And there would be a "moral hazard" in this case, the tendency of pharmaceutical companies to further raise their prices to take advantage of this newly found source of out-of-pocket expenses.

For those so inclined to "free-market" solutions, this may be an alternative or adjunct to finding means to fund healthcare for all.

[1] Immuno-oncology medications are the poster children of expensive biologicals that extend life. You've seen the ads for drugs for heart failure, metastatic breast, and lung cancer.

Source "Combining Life and Health Insurance"SSRN

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Can Our Life Insurance Pay For Life-Extending Care? - American Council on Science and Health

Sen. Mitt Romney says he will propose extension of unemployment benefit – Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY As federal lawmakers grapple with what kind of help to extend to people struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Mitt Romney said he plans to propose an extension of supplemental unemployment benefits on Thursday.

Romney was participating in a virtual town hall with NAACP President Derek Johnson Wednesday night when he made the announcement during a discussion of why helping people adversely impacted by economic shutdowns has become a political issue.

One thing I will note, and I will introduce this tomorrow, which is that the unemployment insurance supplement, which people have been receiving and been counting on, should not disappear while were in the middle of this debate between Republicans and Democrats, Romney said.

And so Im going to propose an ... unemployment insurance continuation through the end of the year. ... Well see if that gets accepted or not, by people on my side of the aisle, and across the aisle. But Id like to make sure that the unemployment supplemental program continues so that people can pay their rent, put food on the table and have confidence, at least through the end of this year.

Moderator April Ryan asked the senator if he could get buy in from other Republicans, especially from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

My plan would say, look, a state can either go to a program where people receive 80% of what they were making while they were employed, he said. Or for the next month, they can get a $500 supplement on top of the regular state unemployment insurance, the month after that it goes down to $400 supplement, the month after that goes down to a $300 supplement on top of the regular state unemployment program.

So thats my proposal. I dont know where my colleagues will stand. My guess is theyre going to say Look, thats pretty good compromise, Mitt, and Ill get some support. The bigger question for me is where will the Democrats stand on that? But well probably find out relatively soon.

Romney said his will be only one proposal that the Senate could discuss Thursday. He said there is deep concern for those struggling with unemployment because of the public health decisions to shut down businesses.

I think theres a real belief, certainly on my side of the aisle, that we cant hold off the unemployment supplemental benefit while were negotiating a very, very broad next phase of a release relief package, Romney said.

The hourlong town hall included questions from around the country, including one from Utah, and the topics ranged from protecting voting rights, including vote by mail, to racial inequalities, to whether or not Romney should have run for president in 2016 instead of 2012.

Ryan started with praise for Romneys decision to march with Black Lives Matter advocates in Washington, D.C, and then asked how the protests translate into policy initiatives that address systemic racism.

I think the entire country has turned its focus on the fact that there is systemic, structural disadvantage associated with being African American, or for that matter, other peoples of color, he said. Its been something weve been aware of. But, you know, after the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and 70s, many people sort of let that fall from their consciousness, at least from the front burner of their consciousness, and I think, with the tragic death of George Floyd and the other events that have occurred in the past several weeks, I think Americans on both sides of the aisle, white America, Black America, brown America and so forth, are saying this continues to be a real problem. We have not resolved it; we have not solved this problem. And its unacceptable.

He said there may be genuine differences in the way people want to address these problems, but the fact remains, they need to be addressed immediately.

We are all children of the same God, Romney said. He loves us all. He loves us all, and to treat people differently and to have in place procedures or structures or policies that make it unfair or unequal, is simply wrong. And I think America recognizes thats got to change.

All three praised the late Rep. John Lewis, who will be eulogized Thursday by former President Barack Obama, and said he showed people how to bring about change simply by being persistent.

We should not deify him, Johnson said, but we should use his life example to show that we all have the capacity to do good, to get in good trouble.

Ryan asked Romney about Trumps tweets saying he was going to rescind Obama-era regulations meant to eliminate housing discrimination.

Well, I think its unfortunate, Romney said when asked his thoughts on the tweets that said Trump wanted to prevent low-income housing from being built in suburban neighborhoods. Because like you, I think the Fair Housing Act has not been fulfilled yet.

He pointed out that his father George Romney was secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Richard Nixon.

One of the things he fought for was open communities, was to take the Fair Housing Act and implement it fully, Romney said. Now, when President Nixon found out about that, he tried to shut it down. But my dad kept on battling, recognizing the only way youre going to see a reduction in racism and discrimination in our country is if people of different ethnic backgrounds and races get to know each other, and go to the same schools, and go to the same churches, and have the same opportunities.

And when that happens, why youll reduce the fear and the anxiety and that was part of what the Fair Housing Act was designed to do. So you know, Im dismayed by the presidents tweet. Well see what actually happens. This is political season. Some things that are said are not actually done. I hope thats one of those.

Romney said it wasnt just what Lewis accomplished as a congressman that is worth admiring, but the way he lived his life should be an example to those hoping to change the country and the world for the better.

Its true, in the case of John Lewis, this is a man who not only did things that are notable and should be recognized, but he by his personal character, and his vision, his fundamental goodness, and his willingness to make good trouble, make us uncomfortable, he changed many of us who watched him, Romney said.

And thats a legacy which goes on and on. And I say this, not just to extol John Lewis, but to suggest to all of us who are listening tonight, that we also influence others. And its critical, if we want to change America that we make sure that our hearts are changed, and we communicate our love and care for others, regardless of our differences and separations.

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Sen. Mitt Romney says he will propose extension of unemployment benefit - Deseret News

Capstone Reports Strong Second Quarter 2020 Results Growth on Schedule – Business Wire

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capstone Mining Corp. (Capstone or the Company) (TSX:CS) announces its production and financial results for the three (Q2 2020) and six months ended June 30, 2020. Strong copper production totaled 38.5 million pounds of copper despite COVID-19 related production limitations at Cozamin, at consolidated C1 cash costs1 of $1.87 per payable pound produced, 9% lower than Q1 2020. Link HERE for Capstones Q2 2020 managements discussion and analysis (MD&A) and financial statements and HERE for the Q2 webcast presentation.

Q2 results were outstanding and I am proud of everyone for working safely, achieving our planned operational targets and advancing our growth initiatives, despite pandemic-related restrictions, said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. Our commitment to growth is evident on multiple fronts, which all comes at an opportune time in line with rising copper and silver prices. Helped by a balance sheet that remains strong, we were able to keep the expansion at Cozamin on track for Q4 2020 completion, and at Pinto Valley the first of two new secondary crushers and ball mill shells were installed last week. Also, we just announced exciting news that we are ramping up cathode operations at Pinto Valley, which will add approximately 300-350 million pounds of low-cost copper cathode production over the next two decades from historic waste dumps and ongoing high-grade waste.

During Q2, we took a number of actions and capitalized on attractive foreign exchange, diesel prices and interest rates to strengthen our balance sheet and improve the Companys liquidity, said Raman Randhawa, SVP and CFO of Capstone. I am happy with Capstones financial position as we are ready to reap the rewards of 20% production growth and 10% lower costs next year, with improving copper and silver prices serving as upside.

HIGHLIGHTS AND SIGNIFICANT ITEMS

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

2020 Production and Cost Guidance Reinstated

Capstone is reinstating its original 2020 production and cost guidance as COVID-19 has not to date significantly adversely affected production and costs at our operations. We caution that the global effects and risks of COVID-19 are still evolving. Given the uncertainty of the duration and magnitude of the impact, our production and cash cost estimates are subject to a higher than normal degree of uncertainty. The guidance below does not reflect any potential for additional suspensions or other significant disruption to operations or increased costs due to COVID-19. Refer to the Risk section of the MD&A for further details on COVID-19 related risks.

2020 Guidance

Total

2020 Year-to-date (YTD)

Copper production (million pounds)

140 - 155

74.0

C1 cash costs1

$1.85 - $2.00

$1.96

Capstones capital expenditures are forecasted to be $70 to $80 million and exploration costs to be $7 million for 2020, which positions the Company for expected improvements of 20% production growth and 10% lower costs in 2021.

Balance Sheet Position of Strength

The Companys available liquidity1 improved from $112 million at March 31, 2020 to $136.3 million at June 30, 2020, with cash and short-term investments of $86.2 million and a net debt balance of $163.7 million, and $50.1 million undrawn on the revolving credit facility. Capstones net debt/EBITDA improved during the quarter to 2.54x.

During the quarter amidst COVID-19, Capstone undertook a series of management actions to further strengthen liquidity and manage compliance with banking covenants including the following:

Resilient Growth on Track

Pinto Valley PV3 Optimization Phase 1 and Phase 2 Update

Phase 1 is focused on achieving reliable capacity at 57k tonnes per day (tpd) without major investments in new comminution equipment. In mid-July, Pinto Valley successfully completed over half of Phase 1 work by installing the first of two secondary crushers, three secondary screen decks, as well as the first of two new ball mill shells. The balance of work is on track for completion in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 with the second secondary crusher and six tertiary screen decks scheduled to arrive later this year and the second ball mill shell scheduled for early 2021.

Phase 2 looks to identify additional opportunities to debottleneck throughput while optimizing flotation plant performance. The target is to secure daily rates of up to 70k tpd along with 85% or higher copper recovery. Some of the scope for Flotation Plant performance will be implemented across the second half of 2020. This includes flotation bank controls, flotation operator training and right-sized rougher concentrate pumps. Additional studies include enhancements to regrind capacity, concentrate dewatering and handling and at the tailings thickener area.

The PV3 Optimization Study is scheduled for release in Q4 2020.

Pinto Valley to Expand Copper Cathode Production

As an extension to the PV3 Optimization strategy, the Company announced on July 27, 2020, that Pinto Valley has successfully demonstrated positive economics from increased dump leach performance using a novel patented catalytic technology developed by Jetti Resources, LLC. In 2019, Jetti started deploying its technology at Pinto Valleys leach operation, and one year later, cathode production per area irrigated has doubled. A plan to increase cathode production is being implemented, with the goal of generating high margin from material that would have been waste at Pinto Valleys underutilized 25 million pound per year electrowinning plant, currently operating at only ~20% of capacity. The plan is to increase cathode production to 300-350 million pounds from residual and high-grade waste over the next two decades, creating 30 new jobs. An updated NI 43-101 Technical Report is expected in 2021.

Cozamin Expansion: 50% Increase to Copper and Silver Production in 2021+

The temporary COVID-19 related ramp down in Q2 2020 did not delay the development of Cozamins one-way ramp, which continues to be on schedule and on budget, expected to be completed in December 2020 and ready for 2021. Production in 2021 and beyond, is expected to increase to a new life of mine annual run rate of approximately 50-55 million pounds of copper and 1.5 million ounces of silver.

During the temporary six-week ramp down, minimal operations safely continued and mining was focused on copper-rich areas, rather than the San Rafael zinc zone, which proved to be a successful trial for our 2021+ production profile. The ore mined during this period is the same type of feed we expect to transition to in 2021. The mill averaged 3,800-3,900 tpd during the days it operated and realized copper recoveries of approximately 96% and silver recoveries of 83%.

Cozamin Expands Resource Estimate by 66%

In June 2020, the Company announced the results of an updated Mineral Resource estimate for Cozamin. The total Measured & Indicated (M&I) Mineral Resource Estimate tonnes increased by 66%, with an 83% increase to contained copper metal to 949 million pounds and a 71% increase to contained silver metal to 39 million ounces of silver. M&I Mineral Resource for Vein 20, the principal zone in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone (MNFWZ), increased by 118% to 13,086 kt at 2.35% Cu and 52 g/t Ag. The Company is currently updating Mineral Reserves and the results of an updated technical report is expected to be announced in Q3 2020.

Cozamin Resumes Exploration Drilling

Exploration drilling at Cozamin was suspended during the six-week ramp down period and has since resumed to execute on an exciting catalogue of exploration targets. Three drills are currently working to infill high grade areas of future reserve target within the new Mineral Resource and trim up open areas immediately on the periphery of the Mineral Resource, to step out up-dip from the high grade Mineral Resource into untested territory and to step out to the southeast across an inferred fault testing a transition from zinc to copper-silver at depth.

The exploration team is currently evaluating a step-out target list for 2021 beyond the MNFWZ system to test our large land package surrounding the current mine. An easy target in 2021 will be Vein 10, located in the hanging wall to the main ore zone, Vein 20. Every hole targeting Vein 20 must first cut Vein 10 in areas of Pb-Zn-Ag-Au mineralization.

Santo Domingo Fulfils Environmental Permit Early Works Requirements

During Q2 2020, Santo Domingo started a limited series of early works, including flora and fauna rescue and site entrance and access roads, in order to preserve the existing Environmental Impact Permit (RCA). These opening works are included in our 2020 budget and are prescribed in the environmental permit and serve to maintain the validity of the permit and are scheduled for completion in Q4 2020.

Activity and interest in participating in the project via the strategic sales process have increased in Q2 2020. In addition, we have received substantial interest in sharing or mutually developing off-site infrastructure that is delineated in the NI 43-101 Technical Report and valued at approximately $500 million. Ongoing discussions and negotiations are progressing with the objective of substantially reducing the project capital costs and operational risk, while maintaining the Life of Mine profitability.

OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

Operational Overview

Refer to Capstones Q2 2020 MD&A and Financial Statements for detailed operating results.

Q2 2020

Q2 2019

2020 YTD

2019 YTD

Copper production (million pounds)

Pinto Valley

30.2

29.0

57.0

61.7

Cozamin

8.3

8.7

17.0

17.4

Total copper production (million pounds)

38.5

37.7

74.0

79.1

Copper sales

Total copper sales (from continuing operations)2 (million pounds)

37.8

45.5

68.3

80.9

Realized copper price ($/lb.)

2.72

2.56

2.53

2.75

C1 cash costs1 ($/lb.) produced

Pinto Valley

2.12

2.00

2.25

1.89

Cozamin

0.98

1.06

0.97

0.88

Consolidated C1 cash costs1 ($/lb.) produced

1.87

1.78

1.96

1.67

2 Sales from continuing operations has been utilized due to the Minto mine being classified as a discontinued operation in the comparative period until the point of its sale on June 3, 2019.

Consolidated

When compared to the same period last year, Q2 2020 production of 38.5 million pounds was 2% higher primarily due to increased production at Pinto Valley as a result of the increased focus on maximizing mill throughput in 2020 (53,864 tpd vs. 49,121 tpd in H1 2019). This increase was slightly offset by a decrease in production at Cozamin due to a temporary reduction of operations to comply with a Mexican government decree in response to COVID-19.

2020 YTD total production is lower than the same period last year primarily due to a lower planned head grade (0.30% vs. 0.34%) at Pinto Valley.

In Q2 2019 and 2019 YTD, sales were higher than production due to a drawdown of inventory at Pinto Valley. Inventory levels were higher in early 2019 to benefit from improved expected sales terms.

Pinto Valley Mine

C1 cash costs1 of $2.12 per pound in Q2 2020 were higher than Q2 2019, primarily due to lower capitalized stripping ($0.7 million vs. $6.7 million in 2019), partially offset by higher copper production.

Property cost per tonne milled1 of $10.86 in Q2 2020 was $0.31/tonne lower (-3%) versus the average cost per tonne milled in 2019 and $0.77/tonne (-6%) lower than in 2018.

Cozamin Mine

C1 cash costs1 were lower in Q2 2020 vs. Q2 2019. Costs were lower from reduced operating development meters and utility cost savings realized during the ramp down of operations in Q2 2020. The mine safely ramped up to full production levels by June 1st after the Mexican government declared mining as an essential service.

Financial Overview

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Capstone Reports Strong Second Quarter 2020 Results Growth on Schedule - Business Wire

The Tesla of Biotech Stocks – Energy & Capital

Elon Musk

The super-rich super genius responsible for mainstreaming electric cars and sending reusable rockets into space has been getting a lot of flack lately.

And not from the folks whove been shitting all over him and his electric car company before it even went public.

Most of those folks just hated on Musk because the thought of an environmentally-friendlier vehicle that didnt rely on oil was somehow equated with being a socialist treehugger determined to send us into some kind of communist vortex of bread lines and gulags.

Im exaggerating for effect, obviously.

Although there is some truth to what I say.

And the legacy carmakers and Big Oil machine certainly stoked the coals of hostility toward electric cars because, well, the acceptance of such things would not be good for business.

But today, most of those folks have relented.

The major car companies are now making their own electric cars.

The major oil companies have other things to worry about these days. And at this point, theres no stopping the transition to electric vehicles anyway.

And the hard-line, ultra-stubborn shorts? Well, they still like to take to Twitter to attack Tesla, but theyve lost so much money betting against Musk at this point, their numbers are rapidly dwindling.

So whos hating on Musk these days?

Mostly the people who once built altars to him.

Elon Musk has been on quite a roll lately.

And many of those on the left who once idolized him are now having second thoughts after the CEO criticized pronoun labels, questioned the severity of COVID, and most recently suggested that another government stimulus package would be a bad idea.

Check it out

A lot of folks melted down after seeing that one.

Especially considering that Tesla got its own form of a stimulus package many years ago in the form of a taxpayer-backed loan.

That loan helped Tesla get to where it is today.

And while the company paid back that loan early, and with interest it was still made possible by taxpayers. Taxpayers, by the way, who wouldve been on the hook had he defaulted.

Of course, Big Oil and the legacy automobile industry have long enjoyed generous taxpayer-backed loans and subsidies too. So its not as if Tesla was given special treatment in the world of crony capitalism.

But a lot of folks are annoyed that Musk is denouncing government assistance now that he no longer needs government assistance.

Truth is, Tesla is one of the most successful automakers on the planet. And investors who got in early have certainly cleaned up too.

Take a look at this chart ..

I actually remember telling folks to buy Tesla right before it went public.

Oh, the hate mail I got from that one!

Of course, this was back when mass-produced electric cars were still little more than an idea.

But if you find the right idea and the right management team to turn that idea into reality, you can make a lot of money.

And really, isnt that why we invest?

I always thought it was odd that so many folks were opposed to buying Tesla stock when it first went public because they thought the idea of electric cars was absurd.

But is it really so absurd to believe that given todays modern technology, the transition away from internal combustion is inevitable?

I dont think so.

The internal combustion engine is an outdated technology that will eventually go the way of the horse and buggy.

I dont say this to be critical of the internal combustion engine, by the way.

Its that engine that helped bring us out of the dark ages.

Many of the modern conveniences we enjoy today are only possible because of internal combustion. But that doesnt change the fact that all technology changes and evolves.

Today, we dont use carrier pigeons. We use cellphones.

We no longer have to buy giant chunks of ice to keep our food cold in an icebox. We have modern refrigeration.

And when we get sick, our doctors dont perform blood-letting sessions. They prescribe pharmaceuticals.

Change happens.

And while change can be hard for some folks to accept, it shouldnt be hard to profit from.

Even if youre not happy about change, wouldnt you still be happy to profit from it?

This has long been a major part of my investment strategy: investing in industries and companies that are changing the world by taking us out of the past and fast-forwarding us into the future.

I did this with renewable energy back in 2006 and 2007 and helped investors make millions.

I did this with the legal cannabis industry, getting in early on some of todays biggest cannabis players and riding them to the top. Those plays actually delivered some of my biggest gains to date, including:

I started investing in the psychedelics space about two years ago, and thats already starting to pay off too.

One of my early picks thats now producing psychedelic mushrooms in Mexico has already delivered a gain in excess of 221%. And here are a few more psychedelics companies Im bullish on.

Im also investing in some of the most groundbreaking biotechs that are creating new medications and therapies that could actually eliminate age-related chronic diseases while extending our life spans by as much as 40 years.

Im completely serious.

I know this may sound like science fiction, but so did Tesla when I first told investors to buy it.

I can't tell you how many times I heard folks refer to Teslas as glorified electric golf carts.

They said the idea was absurd and Tesla would never make it.

Now, they're all over the nation's highways, racking up all kinds of automotive and safety awards every year.

And this ain't no golf cart!

So when I tell you theres a company you can invest in right now thats actively testing these new life-extension drugs with the FDA, dont think its so far-fetched.

Certainly Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos doesnt think so. Hes already invested millions in this company.

And full disclosure I've got some skin in this game too.

Id be a fool not to.

Because if this thing hits the way Im expecting it to hit, those Tesla gains will look like peanuts.

And if you dont believe me, just look at it for yourself.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth...

Jeff Siegel

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Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, a private investment community that capitalizes on opportunities in alternative energy, organic food markets, legal cannabis, and socially responsible investing. He has been a featured guest on Fox, CNBC, and Bloomberg Asia, and is the author of the best-selling book, Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor's page.

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Rethinking Manhattan Project Spies and the Cold War, MAD and the 75 years of no nuclear war that their efforts gifted us – ThisCantBeHappening!

The Aug. 9, 1945 nuclear bombing of Nagasaki

75 years ago before dawn on July 16, 1945, a cataclysmic explosion shook the New Mexico desert as scientists from the top-secret Manhattan Project tested their nightmarish creation: the first atom bomb, called the Gadget.

This birth of the Nuclear Age, was quickly followed a few weeks later, first on August 6 by the dropping of a U-235 atom bomb on Hiroshima, a non-military city of 225,000, and then, three days after that on Aug. 9, by the dropping of a somewhat more powerful Plutonium atom bomb on Nagasaki, another non-military city of 195,000. The resulting slaughter of some 200,000 mostly civilian Japanese men, women and children naturally leads to talk of the horrors of those weapons and to discussions about whether they should have been used on Japan instead of being demonstrated on an uninhabited target.

What goes unmentioned, however, as we mark each important anniversary of these horrific events the initial Trinity test in Alamogordo, the Little Boy bombing of Hiroshima and the Fat Man plutonium bombing of Nagasaki is that, incredibly, in a world where nine nations possess a total of nearly 14,000 nuclear weapons, not one has been used in war to kill human beings since the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

And thats not all. Over those same 75 years, despite seven and a half decades of intense hostility and rivalry, as well as some major proxy wars, between great powers like the US and USSR, and the US and China, no two superpower nations have gone to war against each other.

The reason for this phenomenal and almost incomprehensible absence of catastrophic conflict of the type so common throughout human history is the same in both cases: No country dares to risk the use a nuclear weapon because of the fear it could lead other nuclear nations use theirs, and no major power dares to go to war against another major power because it is obvious that any war between two such nations would very quickly go nuclear.

Things could have gone very differently, however, with the dawn of the nuclear age.

At the end of WWII, the US was the worlds unchallenged superpower. It had emerged from war with its industrial base undamaged while Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan and much of China and were all smoking ruins, their dead numbering in the tens of millions. The US also had a monopoly on a new super weapon the atom bomb a weapon capable of vaporizing a city. And the this country had demonstrated that it had no moral compunction about using its terrible new weapon of mass destruction.

Some important scientists involved in the creation of the bomb urged the sharing of its construction secrets with Americas ally in the war against the Axis powers, the Soviet Union. These scientists, many of them Nobel-winning physicists, said negotiations should begin immediately at that point to eliminate nuclear weapons for all time, just as germ and chemical weapons had already been banned (successfully as the history of WWII showed).

But military and civilian leaders in Washington balked at the idea of sharing the bombs secrets. In fact, after Bohrs visit, President Roosevelt reportedly had the FBI monitor Nobelist Nils Bohr, one of the Los Alamos scientists who directly pleaded with him to bring the Russians into the bomb project, and even considered barring him from leaving the US. The Truman administration considered deporting Leo Szilard, and after Robert Oppenheimer proposed to Truman the sharing of the bomb with the Russians, his top-secret security clearance was revoked.

Instead of sharing the bomb with the USSR, which, remember, was Americas ally in World War II, and then working for its being banned, the US began producing dozens and eventually hundreds of Nagasaki-sized atom bombs, moving quickly from hand-made devices to mass produced ones. The US also quickly started pursuing the development of a vastly more powerful bomb the thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb a weapon that theoretically has no limits to how great its destructive power could be. (A one-megaton bomb typical of some of the larger warheads in the US arsenal today is 30 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.)

Why this obsession with creating a stockpile of atomic bombs big enough to destroy not just a country but the whole earth at such a time as the end of WWII? The war was over and American scientists and intelligence analysts were predicting that the war-ravaged Soviet Union would need years and perhaps a decade to produce its own bomb, yet the US was going full tilt building an explosive arsenal that quickly dwarfed all the explosives used in the last two world wars combined.

What was the purpose of building so many bombs? One hint comes from the fact that the US also, right after the war, began mass producing the B-29 Super Fortress planes like the Enola Gay that delivered the first atomic bomb to Hiroshima and de-mothballing and refurbishing hundreds that had been built and declared surplussed right at the wars end. A B-29 could only carry one plutonium or two uranium bombs for any significant distance. But the US was building several thousand of them in peacetime. Why?

The answer, according to a 1987 book, To Win a Nuclear War authored by nuclear physicists Michio Kaku and Daniel Axelrod, is that the US was planning to launch a devastating nuclear first strike blitz on the Soviet Union as soon as it could build and deliver the 300 nuclear bombs that Pentagon strategists believed would be needed to destroy the Soviet Union as an industrial society and its Red Army as well, eliminating any possibility of the USSR responding by sweeping over war-ravaged western Europe. And the B-29 was at the time the only plane it had which could deliver the bombs.

This genocidal nightmare envisioned by Truman and the Pentagons nuclear madmen never happened because the initial slow pace of constructing the bombs meant that the 300 weapons and the planes to deliver them would not be ready until early 1950. Meanwhile, Russias first bomb, a plutonium device that was a virtual carbon copy of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, was successfully exploded on August 29, 1949, in a test that caught the US by complete surprise. At that point the idea of a deadly first strike was dropped (or at least deferred indefinitely) by Truman and Pentagon strategists.

A new era of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) had arrived, and according to Kaku and Axelrod, just in time.

For that bit of good fortune, I suggest, we have to thank the spies who, for whatever their individual motives, successfully obtained and delivered the secrets of the atomic bomb and its construction to the scientists in the Soviet Union who were struggling, with limited success, to quickly come up with their own atomic bomb.

To most Americans, those spies, especially the US citizens among them like Julius Rosenberg and notably Ted Hall, the youngest scientist at the Manhattan Project, hired out of Harvard as a junior physics major at 18, were modern day Benedict Arnolds. The truth is quite different.

Hall, who was never caught, and who was not recruited to be a spy but volunteered plans for the plutonium bomb on his own initiative after searching for and finally locating a Soviet agent, and another spy, the young German Communist physicist, Klaus Fuchs, working independently of each other, both delivering critical plans for the US plutonium bomb to Moscow, clearly prevented the US from launching a nuclear holocaust.

By decisively helping the USSR develop and test its own bomb quickly by mid-1949, half a year before the US could attain a stockpile of 300 bombs, they forced the US to have to consider the unacceptable risk of retaliation. Had the Soviets taken longer to create their own atomic bomb, the US could have gone through with its criminal plans, which would have dwarfed Hitlers slaughter of the six million Jewish and Roma people. (Pentagon experts estimated that over 30-40 million Russians would be killed by a US nuclear blitz.)

Hall, in public statements made in the mid-1990s after de-encrypted Soviet spy codes became public and his name was identified in them, explained that he had acted to share the plans for the plutonium bomb because he felt that the US, coming out of WWII with a nuclear monopoly, would have been a danger to not just the Soviet Union, but to the entire world. (The Russian bomb exploded in August, 1949 was a virtual carbon copy of the Nagasaki plutonium bomb Hall had worked on in his two years at Los Alamos.)

Looking back to the US decision to use its first nuclear weapon not as a demonstration on an empty island or military base, but on two undefended civilian cities, and to catastrophic US carpet bombings using non-nuclear bombs, of North Korea and later Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, its hard disagree with Halls thinking. His concern about US nuclear intentions is further borne out by how close the US came to using its nuclear bombs in crisis after crisis during the late 40s and early 50s against China and North Korea during the Korean War, in support of the French expeditionary force trapped at Dien Bien Phu, by JFK in the 1961 in the Berlin crisis, in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. and later when US Marines were trapped by Vietnamese troops in Khe Sanh. Each time, it was fear of the Soviets responding with their own bomb that saved the day and largely kept American bombs on the ground (actually in the Khe San case in 1968 atom bombs were actually delivered close to the Indochina front, but President Johnson called a halt to the militarys plans).

The truth is, if the Soviets had not had their own bomb during any of the above listed crises, it is hard to imagine that the US, with a monopoly on the bomb, would not have used it to full advantage. If were honest, The MAD reality enabled by Russias Los Alamos spies proved to be a lifesaver for tens or perhaps millions of people around the world.

Americans may (and should!) decry the hundreds of billions of dollars (trillions in todays dollars) that have been poured into a massively wasteful arms race with the Soviet Union and later Russia and China money that could have done incalculable good if spent on schools, health care, environmental issues etc. need to consider what the alternative would have been to Cold War and MAD. With MAD (and considerable good luck) we have had no world wars, and no nuclear bombs dropped on human beings. Without it, with the US having a monopoly on the bomb for perhaps as long as a decade following WWII, this country would have nuked cities all over the world, almost certainly destroying the Soviet Union entirely, and the US would today be known today as the ultimate genocidal monster of history, rather than having Germany left holding that eternal badge of shame.

In reconsidering the work of Soviet atomic spies, Americans also need to know the truth about the goal of the Manhattan Project. While the push to develop the bomb began with a letter from Albert Einstein to Roosevelt warning that the Germans might develop such a weapon, by the time the program got underway, it was clear that the real target was Americas Ally in the fight against the Nazis: The USSR.

Of course we must work to ban nuclear weapons and war. Such weapons are incomparably evil and if the world agrees that germ warfare and poison gas weapons should not exist, certainly nuclear weapons a million times worse should not! But we should nonetheless, as we look back at the grim 75th anniversary of those three first nuclear bombs exploded by the US, admit a debt of gratitude to those spies at Los Alamos who kept the US from committing an atrocity that humanity would have never forgiven, and for giving us this amazing three-quarters of a century of no nuclear or world war.

Dave Lindorff is a 2019 winner of an Izzy Award for Outstanding Independent Journalism from the Park Center for Independent Media. He is a founder of the collectively owned journalism site ThisCantBeHappening.net

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Rethinking Manhattan Project Spies and the Cold War, MAD and the 75 years of no nuclear war that their efforts gifted us - ThisCantBeHappening!