Author Archives: Danzig

A New Study Finds the Limits of Humans’ Ability to Control AI – HYPEBEAST

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Humans could not stop an artificially intelligent machine from making its own decisions or predict what decisions it might make, according to a recent study out of the Max-Planck Institute for Humans and Machines. Study co-author and research group leader Manuel Cebrian understands that the concept of a human-built machine humans do not understand may sound absurd to some, but he explains that such technology is already in existence.

There are already machines that perform certain important tasks independently without programmers fully understanding how they learned it. The question therefore arises whether this could at some point become uncontrollable and dangerous for humanity, says study co-author Manuel Cebrian, per Business Insider.

Superintelligence poses different barriers than most subjects of robot ethics given their ability to adapt beyond the original scope of their programming. So, to study the problem, the research group conceived of a theoretical calculation called a containment algorithm to see whether an artificial intelligence could be controlled by programming it not to harm humans under any circumstances and to halt if the action is considered harmful. However, the researchers found that within the current bounds of computing, an air-tight algorithm to this effect could not be created; as the research group states the containment problem is incomputable.

If you break the problem down to basic rules from theoretical computer science, it turns out that an algorithm that would command an AI not to destroy the world could inadvertently halt its own operations. If this happened, you would not know whether the containment algorithm is still analyzing the threat, or whether it has stopped to contain the harmful AI. In effect, this makes the containment algorithm unusable, explains Director of the Center for Humans and Machines Iyad Rahwan.

And to extend this line of reasoning, we therefore also may not be able to predict when super-intelligent machines will evolve or even known we theyve arrived. Scientists, including at times controversial figures like Elon Musk have warned in recent years about the more nefarious potentials of powerful AI, and these questions and fears are hardly new among casual followers of tech news. Innovation in the sphere nonetheless continues, with recent project like Mercedes-Benzs 56-inch artificial intelligence hub.

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A New Study Finds the Limits of Humans' Ability to Control AI - HYPEBEAST

The Atlantic The Great Free-Speech Reversal – The Atlantic

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These efforts to justify Trumps deplatforming by reference to social-media companies internal speech policiesand in particular, Facebooks willingness to have that decision reviewed by an independent, quasi-judicial Oversight Boardsuggest that the project of platform self-regulation is gaining traction. The important question facing internet users in the United States and around the world is whether the platforms self-regulation will be sufficient to protect the important democratic and expressive freedoms that the American free-speech tradition cares about.

There are reasons to be skeptical that self-regulation will be enough. Perhaps the primary reason is the fact that, notwithstanding their presumably sincere commitment to freedom of speech, social-media companies are, in the end, for-profit entities that offer a forum for speech in order to make money. Will they protect expressive freedom even when it conflicts with corporate profits? Conversely, outside the extraordinary circumstances of the Capitol invasion, will they take down genuinely harmful speech that brings readers to their platforms? Past history suggests that the answer to both of these questions will be no. Certainly the oftenad hoc and inconsistent decision making that the platforms demonstrated during the 2020 election campaign is alone concerning.

Given all of this, it is worth considering a third option that has been used in the past, and could once again be used, to protect expressive freedom from private power: laws requiring that the private media companies governing the mass public sphere abide by basic nondiscrimination and, often, due-process obligations. Even when the First Amendment intruded further into the private sphere than it does today, statutory nondiscrimination and due-process requirements were lawmakers primary tools to ensure that the private companies that controlled the telegraph and telephone wires, the radio and television airwaves, and the cable networks did not use their power to discriminate in favor of certain political viewpoints, or otherwise undermine the vitality of public debate. The most famous, and controversial, example of these laws was the Fairness Doctrine, which imposed extensive, if vague, nondiscrimination duties on radio and television broadcasters, and to an extent, cable-television companies, from the 1930s until the late 80s, when Ronald Reagans FCC repealed it. But the Fairness Doctrine is only one example of a much wider array of media nondiscrimination laws, many of which continue to ensure, to this day, that, as one senator put it in 1926, the few men who control the great publicity vehicles of radio and television do not limit the range of ideas and viewpoints that the public can hear.

In this context as well, a significant shift in political attitudes has occurred. For much of the 20th century, conservatives were the ones who railed against the constraints that federal laws like the Fairness Doctrine imposed on private media companies, and liberals and progressives defended these policies against attack. Today, however, many conservatives argue for the need to impose statutory nondiscrimination duties on social-media companies, while many liberals express alarm about the constraints such bills would impose on the freedom of private companies.

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The Atlantic The Great Free-Speech Reversal - The Atlantic

CNN proves the left doesnt believe in freedom of speech, only freedom of reach as media targeted in wake of Capitol riot – RT

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Numerous lawmakers and media talking heads have called for more control over speech under the facade of combating misinformation since the US Capitol riot on January 6, and a new CNN segment has taken things even further.

After noting that words like censorship were spewed on right-wing news networks like Fox News and Newsmax hundreds of times during the month of January, CNNs Brian Stelter ironically the host of a show called Reliable Sources launched into one of the most offensive, unintelligent, and blatantly anti-free speech diatribes ever aired on the network.

While some cry, cancel culture, let me suggest a different way to think about this: a harm reduction model, he told his audience.

He went on to note that most people want accurate news and rational views.

In that healthy environment...then we can have great fights about taxes, and regulation, and healthcare, and all the rest, he said.

Stelter seemed to praise tech companies targeting and suppressing what they deem to be disinformation about topics like the Covid-19 pandemic and election fraud, and he then launched into a further rebranding of cancel culture.

Reducing a liars reach is not the same as censoring freedom of speech; freedom of speech is different than freedom of reach, Stelter noted.

If freedom of reach sounds like a fancy way to excuse suppressing someones freedom to express their views while never quite fully admitting youre stopping their freedom of speech specifically, thats because it is. This is word vomit that was luckily called out by many who noted Stelters arguments fly in the face of legal precedents and the Constitution, but sadly, this is only the latest call from a liberal public figure for more censorship in the wake of the US Capitol riot, which is being blown up and used as an excuse to target freedoms.

The Washington Posts Max Boot recently called for the deplatforming of influencers found to be spreading disinformation in a column.

We need to shut down the influencers who radicalize people and set them on the path toward violence and sedition, he wrote, an argument that suggests some sort of policing body needs to keep journalists accountable to incredibly vague standards all in the name of public health.

Even worse, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has suggested a government solution to the problem, arguing in the wake of the riot during which she claims she feared fellow conservative lawmakers would turn her over to protesters that we're going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation. She said a truth and reconciliation committee is being discussed to push media literacy.

Those are very open-ended, but frightening words from someone holding elected office.

Cancel culture is nothing new. Mostly conservatives have argued for years about the tactics used in both politics and Hollywood to suppress voices that dont toe the liberal narrative line, but we have reached a dangerous point where liberals are not even denying its existence as they used to. They are now using the Capitol riot as an inciting incident for them to kick off a brand new chapter in their crusade to silence voices that disagree with them.

They have a new strategy now, one that is centralized around the supposed dangers of misinformation and disinformation and they will always point to the riot as proof of their wildest fears, using it to justify the suppression of freedoms, just as defenders of the war on terror and the surveillance state will always point to 9/11 to justify their blind eye toward the Constitution and individual freedoms.

We have given up rights and power before to loud talking heads and lawmakers spewing fear-mongering rhetoric, and such compromises never work. Lost freedoms are rarely, if ever, returned. We must be careful now as we are entering a dangerous ground where the table is so clearly being set for serious censorship pushed by the mainstream media and implemented by the government or big tech, and liberals are hungrier now more than ever since they can exploit Januarys riot to justify their single-minded authoritarianism.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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CNN proves the left doesnt believe in freedom of speech, only freedom of reach as media targeted in wake of Capitol riot - RT

Reggie Jackson blasts Curt Schilling over Hall controversy: Freedom of speech got you freed out of the Hall of Fame – The Boston Globe

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Former Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson said that when it comes to Curt Schilling falling short of the Hall of Fame, he only has himself to blame.

Jackson, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993, told NJ.com Schilling shouldnt blame anyone but himself when it comes to him not reaching Cooperstown.

I would say to Curt, Look at what you did. You took yourself out of the Hall of Fame because of what you say and how to express yourself and how you think, he said. Freedom of speech is great, but we cant have a country with white supremacy, Nazis, Black Panthers, racist stuff and anti-Semitics. We cant have people wearing swastikas because its a freedom of expression. Come on!

Freedom of speech got you freed out of the Hall of Fame. Freedom of speech got your [expletive] out of Cooperstown, bro!

Schilling has been an outspoken conservative on social media, and has used his platforms to promote the QAnon conspiracy theory. Earlier this month, he expressed support for the insurgent attack on the US Capitol.

I dont care if Schilling is conservative or not conservative, Jackson said. That doesnt have anything to do with the fact that hes stepping out on the balcony and yelling out something to defame Jews or Muslims or any other ethnicity or gender. Curt, get away from here with that.

Earlier this month, Schilling drew 285 of the 401 votes cast, 71.1 percent 16 votes short of election. In an open letter to the Hall of Fame, he asked to be taken off the ballot in 2022.

Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at cpriceglobe.

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Reggie Jackson blasts Curt Schilling over Hall controversy: Freedom of speech got you freed out of the Hall of Fame - The Boston Globe

Does Freedom of Speech Exist in Cryptocurrency Communities? – hackernoon.com

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"A statement may be both true and dangerous. The previous sentence is such a statement." - David Friedman

Freedom of speech is a topic that many internet communities have struggled with over the last two decades. Cryptocurrency and blockchain communities, a major part of their raison d'etre being censorship resistance, are especially poised to value free speech very highly, and yet, over the last few years, the extremely rapid growth of these communities and the very high financial and social stakes involved have repeatedly tested the application and the limits of the concept.

In this post, I aim to disentangle some of the contradictions, and make a case what the norm of "free speech" really stands for.

A common, and in my own view frustrating, argument that I often hear is that "freedom of speech" is exclusively a legal restriction on what governments can act against, and has nothing to say regarding the actions of private entities such as corporations, privately-owned platforms, internet forums and conferences.

One of the larger examples of "private censorship" in cryptocurrency communities was the decision of Theymos, the moderator of the /r/bitcoin subreddit, to start heavily moderating the subreddit, forbidding arguments in favor of increasing the Bitcoin blockchain's transaction capacity via a hard fork.

Here is a timeline of the censorship as catalogued by John Blocke: https://medium.com/johnblocke/a-brief-and-incomplete-history-of-censorship-in-r-bitcoin-c85a290fe43

Here is Theymos's post defending his policies: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3h9cq4/its_time_for_a_break_about_the_recent_mess/, including the now infamous line "If 90% of /r/Bitcoin users find these policies to be intolerable, then I want these 90% of /r/Bitcoin users to leave".

A common strategy used by defenders of Theymos's censorship was to say that heavy-handed moderation is okay because /r/bitcoin is "a private forum" owned by Theymos, and so he has the right to do whatever he wants in it; those who dislike it should move to other forums:

And it's true that Theymos has not broken any laws by moderating his forum in this way. But to most people, it's clear that there is still some kind of free speech violation going on. So what gives? First of all, it's crucially important to recognize that freedom of speech is not just a law in some countries. It's also a social principle.

And the underlying goal of the social principle is the same as the underlying goal of the law: to foster an environment where the ideas that win are ideas that are good, rather than just ideas that happen to be favored by people in a position of power. And governmental power is not the only kind of power that we need to protect from; there is also a corporation's power to fire someone, an internet forum moderator's power to delete almost every post in a discussion thread, and many other kinds of power hard and soft.

So what is the underlying social principle here? Quoting Eliezer Yudkowsky:

Slatestarcodex elaborates:

That said, sometimes there is a rationale for "safe spaces" where people who, for whatever reason, just don't want to deal with arguments of a particular type, can congregate and where those arguments actually do get silenced. Perhaps the most innocuous of all is spaces like ethresear.ch where posts get silenced just for being "off topic" to keep the discussion focused. But there's also a dark side to the concept of "safe spaces"; as Ken White writes:

Aha. So making your own safe space off in a corner is totally fine, but there is also this concept of a "public space", and trying to turn a public space into a safe space for one particular special interest is wrong. So what is a "public space"? It's definitely clear that a public space is not just "a space owned and/or run by a government"; the concept of privately owned public spaces is a well-established one.

This is true even informally: it's a common moral intuition, for example, that it's less bad for a private individual to commit violations such as discriminating against races and genders than it is for, say, a shopping mall to do the same. In the case or the /r/bitcoin subreddit, one can make the case, regardless of who technically owns the top moderator position in the subreddit, that the subreddit very much is a public space. A few arguments particularly stand out:

If, instead, Theymos had created a subreddit called /r/bitcoinsmallblockers, and explicitly said that it was a curated space for small block proponents and attempting to instigate controversial hard forks was not welcome, then it seems likely that very few people would have seen anything wrong about this.

They would have opposed his ideology, but few (at least in blockchain communities) would try to claim that it's improper for people with ideologies opposed to their own to have spaces for internal discussion. But back in reality, Theymos tried to "annex a public space and demand that people within the space confirm to his private norms", and so we have the Bitcoin community block size schism, a highly acrimonious fork and chain split, and now a cold peace between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

About a year ago at Deconomy I publicly shouted down Craig Wright, a scammer claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, finishing my explanation of why the things he says make no sense with the question "why is this fraud allowed to speak at this conference?"

Of course, Craig Wright's partisans replied back with.... accusations of censorship:

Did I try to "silence" Craig Wright? I would argue, no. One could argue that this is because "Deconomy is not a public space", but I think the much better argument is that a conference is fundamentally different from an internet forum.

An internet forum can actually try to be a fully neutral medium for discussion where anything goes; a conference, on the other hand, is by its very nature a highly curated list of presentations, allocating a limited number of speaking slots and actively channeling a large amount of attention to those lucky enough to get a chance to speak. A conference is an editorial act by the organizers, saying "here are some ideas and views that we think people really should be exposed to and hear".

Every conference "censors" almost every viewpoint because there's not enough space to give them all a chance to speak, and this is inherent to the format; so raising an objection to a conference's judgement in making its selections is absolutely a legitimate act.

This extends to other kinds of selective platforms. Online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube already engage in active selection through algorithms that influence what people are more likely to be recommended. Typically, they do this for selfish reasons, setting up their algorithms to maximize "engagement" with their platform, often with unintended byproducts like promoting flat earth conspiracy theories.

So given that these platforms are already engaging in (automated) selective presentation, it seems eminently reasonable to criticize them for not directing these same levers toward more pro-social objectives, or at the least pro-social objectives that all major reasonable political tribes agree on (eg. quality intellectual discourse).

Additionally, the "censorship" doesn't seriously block anyone's ability to learn Craig Wright's side of the story; you can just go visit their website, here you go: https://coingeek.com/. If someone is already operating a platform that makes editorial decisions, asking them to make such decisions with the same magnitude but with more pro-social criteria seems like a very reasonable thing to do.

A more recent example of this principle at work is the #DelistBSV ampaign, where some cryptocurrency exchanges, most famously Binance, removed support for trading BSV (the Bitcoin fork promoted by Craig Weight). Once again, many people, even reasonable people, accused this campaign of being an exercise in censorship, raising parallels to credit card companies blocking Wikileaks:

I personally have been a critic of the power wielded by centralized exchanges. Should I oppose #DelistBSV on free speech grounds? I would argue no, it's ok to support it, but this is definitely a much closer call.

Many #DelistBSV participants like Kraken are definitely not "anything-goes" platforms; they already make many editorial decisions about which currencies they accept and refuse. Kraken only accepts about a dozen currencies, so they are passively "censoring" almost everyone. Shapeshift supports more currencies but it does not support SPANK, or even KNC. So in these two cases, delisting BSV is more like reallocation of a scarce resource (attention/legitimacy) than it is censorship.

Binance is a bit different; it does accept a very large array of cryptocurrencies, adopting a philosophy much closer to anything-goes, and it does have a unique position as market leader with a lot of liquidity.

That said, one can argue two things in Binance's favor. First of all, censorship is retaliating against a truly malicious exercise of censorship on the part of core BSV community members when they threatened critics like Peter McCormack with legal letters (see Peter's response); in "anarchic" environments with large disagreements on what the norms are, "an eye for an eye" in-kind retaliation is one of the better social norms to have because it ensures that people only face punishments that they in some sense have through their own actions demonstrated they believe are legitimate.

Furthermore, the delistings won't make it that hard for people to buy or sell BSV; Coinex has said that they will not delist (and I would actually oppose second-tier "anything-goes" exchanges delisting). But the delistings do send a strong message of social condemnation of BSV, which is useful and needed. So there's a case to support all delistings so far, though on reflection, Binance refusing to delist "because freedom" would have also been not as unreasonable as it seems at first glance.

It's in general absolutely potentially reasonable to oppose the existence of a concentration of power, but support that concentration of power being used for purposes that you consider prosocial as long as that concentration exists; see Bryan Caplan's exposition on reconciling supporting open borders and also supporting anti-ebola restrictions for an example in a different field.

Opposing concentrations of power only requires that one believe those concentrations of power to be on balance harmful and abusive; it does not mean that one must oppose all things that those concentrations of power do.

If someone manages to make a completely permissionless cross-chain decentralized exchange that facilitates trade between any asset and any other asset, then being "listed" on the exchange would not send a social signal, because everyone is listed; and I would support such an exchange existing even if it supports trading BSV. The thing that I do support is BSV being removed from already exclusive positions that confer higher tiers of legitimacy than simple existence.

So to conclude: censorship in public spaces bad, even if the public spaces are non-governmental; censorship in genuinely private spaces (especially spaces that are not "defaults" for a broader community) can be okay; ostracizing projects with the goal and effect of denying access to them, bad; ostracizing projects with the goal and effect of denying them scarce legitimacy can be okay.

Originally published as On Free Speech with the WTFPL license

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Does Freedom of Speech Exist in Cryptocurrency Communities? - hackernoon.com

JADES will go deeper than the Hubble Deep Fields – EarthSky

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The Hubble Ultra Deep Field (in its eXtreme version) is the deepest view of the universe yet obtained and will be, until JADES takes over. It stretches approximately 13 billion light-years and includes approximately 10,000 galaxies. It took 11.3 days for the Hubble Space Telescope to collect these ancient photons. Try downloading the largest version and zoom in on different sections. Were seeing these galaxies as they were billions of years ago. How might they look today? Image via NASA/ ESA/ S. Beckwith (STSci)/ HUDF team.

Astronomers announced a new deeper-than-ever sky survey this month (January 15, 2021), to be conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble telescopes successor, scheduled for launch in October of this year. The new survey is abbreviated JADES, which is short for James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey. The survey will be like the Hubble Deep Fields, but deeper still. Its main goal is to see far away in space and thus far back into the very young universe and image it just at the end of the so-called Cosmic Dark Ages, that is, at the time when gas in the universe went from being opaque to transparent. This is also the time when the very first stars were forming very large, massive and bright stars in a veritable firestorm of star birth when the young universe was less than 5% of its current age.

The 2021 lunar calendars are here. Order yours before theyre gone!

The Webb telescope will be located near the second Lagrange point a relatively stable region of space, gravitationally speaking, known as L2 some 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth. To conduct the new survey, the Webb telescope will be staring at a small point of space for nearly 800 hours (approximately 33 days) to be able to see fainter objects than those ever seen before and thus to find the first generation of galaxies. Astronomers want to know, among other things, how fast did these galaxies form, and how fast did their stars form? They also want to look for the very first supermassive black holes, which are thought to lie at the hearts of nearly all large galaxies, including our Milky Way.

The long-anticipated launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has been postponed a number of times for a variety of reasons, most recently because of effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the formal successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, but is equipped with instrumentation able to image further into the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum than Hubble could.

This capability also makes it a worthy successor to the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope which recently went into retirement.

What makes the infrared part of the spectrum so important for surveys like JADES? If you look really deep, you will also look back in time, and the farther back in time you look, the more redshifted the galaxies are (the farther away they are, the faster they move away from us, and the more their light has been shifted towards the red part of the spectrum). This means that the light we want to observe, originally in the optical (visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum, might not even show much in the optical part anymore. Instead, its been shifted to longer wavelengths, into the infrared regime.

In other words, the use of infrared cameras is necessary to be able to see the light from the first generation of galaxies. Daniel Eisenstein, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University, said:

Galaxies, we think, begin building up in the first billion years after the Big Bang, and sort of reach adolescence at 1 to 2 billion years. Were trying to investigate those early periods. We must do this with an infrared-optimized telescope because the expansion of the universe causes light to increase in wavelength as it traverses the vast distance to reach us. So even though the stars are emitting light primarily in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, that light is shifted quite relentlessly out into the infrared. Only Webb can get to the depth and sensitivity thats needed to study these early galaxies.

In fact, the James Webb Space Telescope was built specifically for this purpose. Up to now, infrared images are much less resolved less clear than optical images, because of their longer wavelength. With its much larger collecting area, the Webb will be able to image, in infrared, at the same resolution detail that Hubble could obtain in the optical part of the spectrum.

Get ready for a whole new set of mind-blowing images of the universe, this time in the infrared, from Webb!

After having successfully deployed its solar panels precisely as its supposed to do once its in space the Webb telescope is shown here ready for the final tests on December 17, 2020, at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. Then it will be packed up and transported to French Guyana, to be launched on October 31, 2021, via an Ariane V rocket. Image via NASA/ Chris Gunn.

The use of deep field surveys is a young science, for two reasons. First, astronomers didnt have the right instrumentation before Hubble to do them. Second, its also because no one initially knew the result of staring into a piece of empty space for a long time. Such a long stare into the unknown would require valuable observation time, and if this long observation didnt produce any results, it would be considered a waste.

But in 1995, Robert Williams, then the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSci), which administrates the Hubble telescope, decided to use his directors discretionary time to point the Hubble toward a very small and absolutely empty-looking part of the sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear. There were no stars visible from our Milky Way (or extremely few), no nearby galaxies visible in the field, and no visible gas clouds. Hubble collected photons for 10 consecutive days, and the result, the Hubble Deep Field, was a success and a paradigm changer: A patch of sky about as small as the eye of George Washington on an American quarter (25-cent coin) held out at arms length, showed a 10 billion-light-years-long tunnel back in time with a plethora of galaxies around 3,000 of them at different evolutionary stages along the way. The field of observational cosmology was born.

This was done again in 1998 with the Hubble telescope pointed to the southern sky (Hubble Deep Field South), and the result was the same. Thus we learned that the universe is uniform over large scales.

Next was the installation of a new, powerful camera on Hubble (the Advanced Camera for Surveys) in 2002. The incredible Hubble Ultra Deep Field was acquired in 2004, in a similarly small patch of sky near the constellation Orion, about 1/10 of a full moon diameter (2.4 x 3.4 arc minutes, in contrast to the original Hubble Deep Fields north and south, which were 2.6 x 2.6 arc minutes). And so our reach was extended even deeper into space, and even further back in time, showing light from 10 thousand galaxies along a 13-billion-light-years-long tunnel of space. If youll remember that the universe is about 13.77 billion years old, youll see this is getting us really close to the beginning!

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field was the most sensitive astronomical image ever made at wavelengths of visible (optical) light until 2012, when an even more refined version was released, called the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, which reached even farther: 13.2 billion years back in time.

The JADES survey will be observed in two batches, one on the northern sky and one on the southern in two famous fields called GOODS North and South (abbreviated from Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey).

Marcia Rieke, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona who co-leads the JADES Team with Pierre Ferruit of the European Space Agency (ESA), explained:

We chose these fields because they have such a great wealth of supporting information. Theyve been studied at many other wavelengths, so they were the logical ones to do.

View larger. | Look closely. Every single speck of light in this image is a distant galaxy (except for the very few ones with spikes which are foreground stars). This telescopic field of view is part of the GOODS South field. Its one of the directions in space thatll be observed in JADES, a new survey that aims to study the very first galaxies to appear in the infancy of the universe. Image via NASA/ Hubble Space Telescope/ James Webb Space Telescope site.

The GOODS fields have been observed with several of the most famous telescopes, covering a great wavelength range from infrared through optical to X-ray. They are not fully as deep (the observations dont reach as far back) as the Ultra Deep Field, but cover a larger area of the sky (4-5 times larger) and are the most data-rich areas of the sky in terms of depth combined with wavelength coverage. By the way, the first deep field, HDF-N, is located in the GOODS north image, and the Ultra deep field/eXtreme (dont you love these names?) is located in the GOODS south field.

There are a large number of ambitious science goals for the JADES program pertaining to the composition of the first galaxies, including the first generation of supermassive black holes. How these came about at such an early time is a mystery. As well, the transition of gas from neutral and opaque to transparent and ionized, something astronomers call the epoch of reionization, is not well understood. JADES team member Andrew Bunker, professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who is also part of the ESA team behind the Webb telescope, said:

This transition is a fundamental phase change in the nature of the universe. We want to understand what caused it. It could be that its the light from very early galaxies and the first burst of star formation It is kind of one of the Holy Grails, to find the so-called Population III stars that formed from the hydrogen and helium of the Big Bang.

People have been trying to do this for many decades and results have been inconclusive so far.

But, hopefully, not for much longer!

Bottom line: JADES is an ambitious new deep sky survey to be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope, once launched. It will reach further back in time and space than any survey before, to study the very first generation of galaxies after the universe transitioned from opaque to transparent.

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Space-themed decor brings heavens indoors – Jacksonville Journal-Courier

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Kim Cook Associated Press

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color

Photo: Dustin Walker Photography | Fernish (via AP)

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, says she picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project. Base your color

Space-themed decor brings heavens indoors

It was a tough year here on Earth, but 2020 was a bright spot for space exploration. SpaceX sent its futuristic Starship to new heights, three countries launched Mars missions, and robots grabbed debris from the moon and an asteroid.

Next year promises more, including a planned launch of the Hubble Space Telescopes successor.

Perhaps its no surprise then that space themes are having a moment in home decor. When so many of us Earthlings are stuck at home because of the pandemic, space imagery can add a sense of adventure or whimsy to rooms, walls and ceilings.

Ive done outer space, and starry skies, says New York interior designer Patrice Hoban. My clients love using stars as a backdrop in nurseries. Ive also worked with glow-paint to add an extra pop to kids rooms and home theaters.

She sticks tiny glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling; the light can last for hours. Its the closest thing Ive found to being in a planetarium, she says.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project.

Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red, she says.

Or create your own galaxy wall, she says. Paint a blue wall, then use some watered-down white paint to splatter it with fine droplets. You may just create some new constellations.

She suggests adding fun, space-agey lamps, and vintage NASA posters.

Outer space has inspired designers for decades. In the 1960s, the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along with the development of space age-y, synthetic materials, led to a surge in futuristic furniture like molded plastic chairs and Sputnik-shaped lighting.

These days, you can download artwork directly from NASA at solarsystem.nasa.gov, or find it at retailers like Red Bubble, Etsy and Zazzle.

Magana also suggests making a letter board with a space-themed quote like Neil Armstrongs famous One small step for man phrase.

Much of the astronomy-themed art in the marketplace would be striking in any room. There are lunar graphics on canvas at Target. Tempapers got constellation wallpapers, but if you cant do wallpaper, consider Kenna Sato Designs constellation decals for walls or ceilings.

Galaxy Lamps has a sphere that looks like a planetoid. Charge it up with the included USB and cycle through 16 colors with three lighting modes. Theres a moon version, too. And at Beautiful Halo, find a collection of rocket-ship ceiling fixtures.

German designer Jan Kath has created a rug collection called Spacecrafted inspired by imagery of gas clouds and asteroid nebulae from the Hubble telescope.

Studio Greytak, in Missoula, Montana, has designed a Jupiter lamp out of the mineral aragonite, depicting the whirling, turbulent gases of the planet. And theres the Impact table, where a chunk of desert rose crystals is embedded with cast glass, as though a piece of asteroid had plunged into a pool.

Zodiac wall decals and a Milky Way throw rug can be found at Project Nursery. There are hanging mobiles of the planets and of stars and clouds, at both Crate & Kids and Pottery Barn Kids.

A glow-in-the-dark duvet cover printed with the solar system is also at PBK, but if youre ready to really head to the stars, check out Snurk Livings duvet set. The studio, owned by Dutch designers Peggy van Neer and Erik van Loo, has designed the set photoprinted with a life-size astronaut suit.

Creating a night sky on the ceiling of a home theater seems to be popular; Houzz has hundreds of examples for inspiration.

Maydan Architects in Palo Alto, California, designed one for a recent project.

Our clients grandfather was the owner of multiple movie theaters, says Mary Maydan. One of them had a retractable ceiling that enabled guests to experience the starry sky at night. When our client decided to build their home theater, this installation was actually fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The ceiling isnt retractable, but has an eight-paneled fixture depicting the Milky Way and a shooting star.

It provides very soft light and was intended to be kept on during the screening of the movie and create a magical experience, says Maydan.

More:

Space-themed decor brings heavens indoors - Jacksonville Journal-Courier

Space-themed decor brings the heavens indoors – The Columbian

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It was a tough year here on Earth, but 2020 was a bright spot for space exploration. SpaceX sent its futuristic Starship to new heights, three countries launched Mars missions, and robots grabbed debris from the moon and an asteroid.

This year promises more, including a planned launch of the Hubble Space Telescopes successor.

Perhaps its no surprise then that space themes are having a moment in home decor. When so many of us Earthlings are stuck at home because of the pandemic, space imagery can add a sense of adventure or whimsy to rooms, walls and ceilings.

Ive done outer space, and starry skies, says New York interior designer Patrice Hoban. My clients love using stars as a backdrop in nurseries. Ive also worked with glow-paint to add an extra pop to kids rooms and home theaters.

She sticks tiny glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling. Its the closest thing Ive found to being in a planetarium, she says.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleagues recent nursery project.

Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red, she says.

Or create your own galaxy wall, she says. Paint a blue wall, then use some watered-down white paint to splatter it with fine droplets. You may just create some new constellations.

She suggests adding fun, space-aged lamps, and vintage NASA posters.

Outer space has inspired designers for decades. In the 1960s, the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along with the development of space age-y, synthetic materials, led to a surge in futuristic furniture like molded plastic chairs and Sputnik-shaped lighting.

These days, you can download artwork directly from NASA: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov, or find it at retailers like Red Bubble, Etsy and Zazzle.

Magana also suggests making a letter board with a space-themed quote like Neil Armstrongs famous One small step for man phrase.

Much of the astronomy-themed art in the marketplace would be striking in any room. There are lunar graphics on canvas at Target. Tempapers got constellation wallpapers, but if you cant do wallpaper, consider Kenna Sato Designs constellation decals for walls or ceilings.

Galaxy Lamps has a sphere that looks like a planetoid. Charge it up with the included USB and cycle through 16 colors with three lighting modes. Theres a moon version, too. And at Beautiful Halo, find a collection of rocket-ship ceiling fixtures.

German designer Jan Kath has created a rug collection called Spacecrafted inspired by imagery of gas clouds and asteroid nebulae from the Hubble telescope.

Studio Greytak, in Missoula, Mont., has designed a Jupiter lamp out of the mineral aragonite, depicting the whirling, turbulent gases of the planet. And theres the Impact table, where a chunk of desert rose crystals is embedded with cast glass, as though a piece of asteroid had plunged into a pool.

Zodiac wall decals and a Milky Way throw rug can be found at Project Nursery. There are hanging mobiles of the planets and of stars and clouds, at both Crate & Kids and Pottery Barn Kids.

A glow-in-the-dark duvet cover printed with the solar system is also at PBK, but if youre ready to really head to the stars, check out Snurk Livings duvet set. The studio, owned by Dutch designers Peggy van Neer and Erik van Loo, has designed the set photoprinted with a life-size astronaut suit.

Creating a night sky on the ceiling of a home theater seems to be popular; Houzz has hundreds of examples for inspiration.

Read the original here:

Space-themed decor brings the heavens indoors - The Columbian

Good morning, Starshine! Scroll through the universe with the most iconic images of space – Hindustan Times

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Its a big year for astrophysicists. In October, NASA will launch the worlds largest, most powerful observatory into space. The James Webb Space Telescope, much delayed, much redesigned, has already cost $9 billion. But when its been installed just beyond the Moons orbit, its infrared sensors will peer through interstellar gas and dust, to see deeper into space than mankind has ever been able to.

The Moon, at the speed of light, is just over a second away. The Sun is eight minutes away. As you look further into space, youre essentially looking further back in time, seeing objects not as they are, but as they were when the light that youre seeing first left them.

Just as, theoretically, you could be looking at stars in the sky that have long since died, NASA says the new telescope can look far enough to see what stars, galaxies and solar systems looked like in the first billion years after the Big Bang (which occurred over 13 billion years ago). Crucially, a specially developed on-board camera will beam images back in high resolution. Pics or it didnt happen, right?

If youve been paying attention to the heavens, or at least astronomy news, youll have noticed how much clearer our views of space have become in the last few years. Until the 1990s, images of the cosmos looked like the inside of a discotheque random pinpoints of bright light, bright blurry patches, mists of pinks, blues and purples.

Since then, space agencies and observatories have zoomed in on multicolour nebulas, starbursts, black holes, the Sun in close-up and the moons on Mars. The Hubble Telescope, launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990, has revealed the depths of the universe with better and better clarity. The New Horizons spacecraft flying by Pluto, 3 billion miles away, revealed in 2015 that the dwarf planet has a heart-shaped feature on its side.

Varun Bhalerao, assistant professor with the department of physics at IIT-Bombay and a scientist who worked on Indias first robotic telescope in 2018, says visuals are integral to the field. Astronomy, because of its nature and scale, has no control over its experiments we cant fast-forward to see how the Sun might evolve. So observation is everything.

No ones looking through telescopes to make those observations, anymore. Complex machines, often working in tandem with dozens of others, do the peering, measuring and data-collecting instead. And as theyve improved, so has the view. The visualised data bridges the gap between academic knowledge and what one would see in space. Its not unlike discovering a work of art like the Mona Lisa, and seeing a whole new world, Bhalerao says.

Those pictures have a history of changing life on Earth. Copernicuss sketches indicating that it was the Sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the universe, shook the foundations of 16th-century Europe and brought about a scientific revolution. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, didnt pack a camera in his Vostok capsule in 1961. But the Apollo 8 crew, headed to the Moon in 1968, did. Their photo, Earthrise, depicting Earth peeking over the desolate lunar surface, showed us for the first time just how fragile this planet is, reminded us that it is all we have, and helped popularise the environmental movement.

SPECKS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Taking a photo in space isnt quite a point-and-shoot affair. Even on the International Space Station, orbiting only 408 km above Earths surface, the Suns too bright, shadows too stark, and everything goes by too fast theres a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes. But visiting astronauts now get mandatory training on how to operate the dozens of on-board, always-on cameras to take the best shots of a changing Earth. As a result, theyve captured erupting volcanoes, Australias wildfires, snow melting off the Himalayas and coastlines as theyve changed over time.

For objects far, far away, such as the nearest black hole a dark something in a sea of dark nothing its a waiting game. Eight telescopes across Earth collaborated to create the 2019 image of the supermassive black hole and its shadow (the dark space in the centre, the point of no return) in the centre of the galaxy, M87. And even after the pictures were taken, it took two years to collect and process them the data was too large to transfer online.

Because everything is moving in space rotating, revolving, exploding, expanding or collapsing even familiar objects take time to capture. To shoot the icy, gritty rings on Saturn, our solar systems most photogenic inhabitant, the spacecraft Cassini spent at least a decade examining them more closely. It needed to find an angle that looked straight through the rings, and take enough shots to piece together the composite of translucent arcs that we finally saw in 2018.

For scientists like Bhalerao, the images are a way to see the world outside the numbers and calibrations that typically fill an astronomers day. For us, usually, seeing the data is enough to fill us with wonder kind of like a composer who can hear the aria in their mind using only the sheet music, he says. But its quite something to see how vast the Andromeda galaxy is, or how brightly the young stars shine in the Pillars of Creation nebula. Its a breath-taking side-effect. And it makes you wonder who we are and our relationship with the cosmos.

SEEING HEAVEN IN YOUR VIEWFINDER

1. What on Earth is a Magnetar? Its not on Earth; its in space. The little purple dot right in the centre is a dense star with the most powerful magnetic field in the universe. How magnetic? About 100 million times stronger than the most powerful magnets made by humans. We only know of 31 of these, and discovered this Magnetar, known as J1818.0-1607, last year. Its 500 years old, so probably among the youngest out there. It pulses bright and spins furiously, about 21,000 light years away. Scientists combined X-rays from the Chandra satellite telescope and infrared data from other observatories to create this composite, the first high-resolution image of J18, released on January 8, 2021.

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2. Who knew that our sun was a glowing mosaic up close? The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, the worlds most powerful tool for observing the sun, started sending out test images only in January 2020. This is its best work, the highest-resolution image ever taken of the Sun from Earth. Those yellow bits (each as vast as the Indo-Gangetic plain), are hot plasma cells turbulently rising from inside the star. The dark borders indicate where plasma is cooling and sinking. The original image, if you printed it, would cover an area of 36,500 sq km you could literally look at it for days.

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3. A swirly side to Mars: This image was acquired a week before Christmas 2020. It looked like the red planet was getting into the festive mood too. The European Space Agencys Mars Express probe used a high-resolution stereo camera to capture what looks like a haloed angel sinking into cappuccino foam at Marss watery south pole. Notice the heart on her side? Its a dark mineral field. Mars Express has been orbiting our neighbour since 2003. This image, along with thousands of others, has helped us understand its geography better.

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4. Star trails of a local kind: What are we looking at? Earth, in fast forward. NASA astronaut Christina Koch, on board the International Space Station, took over 200 photos in a span of six minutes in October 2019, as the ISS travelled over Namibia towards the Red Sea. This resulting time-lapse composite features both natural and artificial lights. See the thin tread marks? The yellow-and-white dotted streaks are city lights. The dark orange strips are from fires in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. White splotches are lightning storms. And the arcs are from stars in space, with a few travelling satellites thrown in.

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5. A smorgasbord of sky: With the human eye, youll see, at best, only half the sky, a hemisphere oriented to where youre standing. But in December 2020, scientists compiled data from more than 1.8 billion stars to plot a 360-degree-view map of the sky. The European Space Agencys Gaia satellite drew on the colour and brightness of stars it has observed since 2013. Its a lot to take in at once. Bright areas indicate dense star clusters, dark patches occur where the stars are fewer and fainter. The bright strip is our Milky Way. Were somewhere in there.

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6. By Jove, hes stormy! Weve been looking at Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, since at least the 7th century BCE. By 1610 CE, Galileo had used a telescope to discover four of its largest moons; weve since counted 79. Then sharper telescopes spotted the storm larger than Earth that forms its Great Red Spot. Weve been flying past and sneaking peeks since 1973, but its only in August 2020 that the Hubble Space Telescope offered this detailed look at its atmosphere. The weather report: A new storm brewing under the Great Red Spot. Researchers are calling it Red Spot Jr. The new image also features the Jupiter moon Europa. Therell be even better views soon. The European Space Agencys Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer is due to launch in 2022, and NASAs Europa Clipper mission will follow two years later.

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7. All the space you need: In many ways, this is the image that started it all. In January 2015, NASA released to the public its highest-quality picture, an image of our neighbouring spiral galaxy, Andromeda, 2.5 million light years away. It is massive, made up of 1.5 billion pixels. To view it without zooming out, youd need 600 HD TV screens. The composite draws on photographs taken by the Hubble Telescope over three years, from more than 411 points, and has been helping scientists make precision studies of large spiral galaxies. There are 100 million stars in the image, any one of which could harbour planets that support life.

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8. One of our own: Finally, beautiful images of space from an Indian programme. When ISRO launched its Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013, there was trepidation. Only the Soviet Union, the United States and the European Space Agency had sent voyagers to Mars none had succeeded on their first attempt. But in 2014, our spacecraft entered the Red Planets orbit, making us blush with pride. On board was the Mars Colour Camera, designed to closely study the planets morphological features and atmospheric phenomena. It went to work immediately, beaming back these gorgeous shots in its first year. Over the years, the orbiter has set back some 1,000 images, enough for ISRO to fill an atlas. Weve had rare glimpses of Marss clouds and dust; the dark side of its moon, Deimos; and as recently as July 2020, its other moon Phobos. Not bad for a mission that was expected to last only six months.

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VIEW A SLIDESHOW OF MORE IMAGES HERE

9. How a star explodes and dies: The elements that make up life on Earth come from inside the furnaces of stars and the explosions that mark their deaths. Which is why researchers are fascinated by supernovas and their remnants, and are so interested in Cassiopeia A, the debris of a starburst 11,000 light years away, which possibly exploded in 1680. Because a supernova is millions of degrees hot, their glow needs X-ray vision that Earth-based telescopes cant manage. Thankfully, NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory has been orbiting Earth since 1999. Its mirrors pick up X-rays 100 times better. Chandra made 16 pointings at Cas A between 2000 and 2010. In 2017 it released this image capturing the volume and locations of silicon (red), sulphur (yellow), calcium (green) and iron (purple). The blue veins show high-energy X-ray emission. That blue outer ring is an expanding blast wave. Hows that for spectacle?

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10. Black holes are really donuts: Black holes are not things, but places; collapsed stars or star groups with such strong gravity that they suck in everything around them, including light. Albert Einstein theorised on their existence in 1916, but astronomers only identified one in 1971. Then, in 2017, came visuals. The Event Horizon Telescope, eight radio telescopes working across international borders, observed something unusual in the centre of the galaxy Messier87, which is 55 million light years away. It looked like a bright ring, a shape that could only be formed when light itself was being bent. A black hole. It turned out to be huge about 6.5 billion times bigger than our sun. The telescopes next planned target is the centre of our own galaxy, a suspiciously dark corner long said to hold a black hole too. Who knows what well see.

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Good morning, Starshine! Scroll through the universe with the most iconic images of space - Hindustan Times

Right At Home: Space-themed dcor brings the heavens indoors – The Providence Journal

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By Kim Cook| The Associated Press

It was a tough year here on Earth, but 2020 was a bright spot for space exploration. SpaceX sent its futuristic Starship to new heights, three countries launched Mars missions, and robots grabbed debris from the moon and an asteroid.

This year promises more, including theplanned launch of the Hubble Space Telescope's successor in October.

Perhaps it's no surprise then that space themes are having a moment in home decor. When so many of us Earthlings are stuck at home because of the pandemic, space imagery can add a sense of adventure or whimsy to rooms, walls and ceilings.

"I've done outer space, and starry skies," says New York interior designer Patrice Hoban. "My clients love using stars as a backdrop in nurseries. I've also worked with glow-paint to add an extra pop to kids' rooms and home theaters."

She sticks tiny glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling; the light can last for hours. "It's the closest thing I've found to being in a planetarium," she says.

Rachel Magana, senior visual designer at the sustainable furniture-rental company Fernish, picked up some cosmological decorating ideas from a colleague's recent nursery project.

"Base your color palette around deep blue tones, then splash in bits of color like yellow, white or red," she says.

"Or create your own galaxy wall," she says. "Paint a blue wall, then use some watered-down white paint to splatter it with fine droplets. You may just create some new constellations."

She suggests adding fun, space-agey lampsand vintage NASA posters.

Outer space has inspired designers for decades. In the 1960s, the "space race" between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along with the development of space age-y, synthetic materials, led to a surge in futuristic furniture like molded plastic chairs and Sputnik-shaped lighting.

These days, you can download artwork directly from NASA at solarsystem.nasa.gov, or find it at retailers like Red Bubble, Etsy and Zazzle.

Magana also suggests making a letter board with a space-themed quote, like Neil Armstrong's famous "One small step for man" phrase.

Much of the astronomy-themed art in the marketplace would be striking in any room. There are lunar graphics on canvas at Target. Tempaper's got constellation wallpapers, but if you can't do wallpaper, consider Kenna Sato Designs' constellation decals for walls or ceilings.

Galaxy Lamps has a sphere that looks like a planetoid. Charge it up with the included USB and cycle through 16 colors with three lighting modes. There's a moon version, too. And at Beautiful Halo, find a collection of rocket-ship ceiling fixtures.

German designer Jan Kath has created a rug collection called Spacecrafted inspired by imagery of gas clouds and asteroid nebulae from the Hubble telescope.

Studio Greytak, in Missoula, Montana, has designed a Jupiter lamp out of the mineral aragonite, depicting the whirling, turbulent gases of the planet. And there's the Impact table, where a chunk of desert rose crystals is embedded in cast glass, as though a piece of asteroid had plunged into a pool.

Zodiac wall decals and a Milky Way throw rug can be found at Project Nursery. There are hanging mobiles of the planets and of stars and clouds, at both Crate & Kids and Pottery Barn Kids.

A glow-in-the-dark duvet cover printed with the solar system is also at PBK, but if you're ready to really head to the stars, check out Snurk Living's duvet set. The studio, owned by Dutch designers Peggy van Neer and Erik van Loo, has designed the set photoprinted with a life-size astronaut suit.

Creating a night sky on the ceiling of a home theater seems to be popular; Houzz has hundreds of examples for inspiration.

Maydan Architects in Palo Alto, California, designed one for a recent project.

"Our client's grandfather was the owner of multiple movie theaters," says Mary Maydan. "One of them had a retractable ceiling that enabled guests to experience the starry sky at night. When our client decided to build their home theater, this installation was actually fulfilling a lifelong dream."

The ceiling isn't retractable, but it has an eight-paneled fixture depicting the Milky Way and a shooting star.

"It provides very soft light and was intended to be kept on during the screening of the movie and create a magical experience," says Maydan.

Kim Cook writes AP's Right at Home column, which looks at themes in home dcor and home products. Follow her at: http://www.kimcookhome.com

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Right At Home: Space-themed dcor brings the heavens indoors - The Providence Journal

Falcon 9 rocket arrives on pad 39A for sunrise Starlink launch this weekend Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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A Falcon 9 rocket rolls out to pad 39A Thursday for the next launch of SpaceX Starlink satellites. Credit: Spaceflight Now

SpaceX plans to deploy the next group of Starlink internet relay spacecraft Sunday with a liftoff on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center, the companys fourth satellite launch of the month.

The two-stage Falcon 9 launcher emerged from its hangar at the Florida spaceport Thursday and rolled up the ramp to pad 39A, where SpaceX will raise the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket vertical for a test-firing as soon as Friday.

The hold-down firing of the rockets nine Merlin 1D main engines will last several seconds.

The test, which SpaceX calls a static fire, was part of every Falcon 9 launch campaign for nearly a decade. But SpaceX did not perform a static fire before its last four missions as teams try to cut the time required between Falcon 9 flights from SpaceXs two launch pads on Floridas Space Coast.

Assuming a good test-firing Friday, SpaceX is expected to press ahead with launch of the Falcon 9 rocket Sunday. There is an instantaneous launch opportunity at 7:02 a.m. EST (1202 GMT), about 10 minutes before sunrise Sunday.

The Falcon 9 will launch with the next batch of approximately 60 Starlink satellites, adding more capacity and coverage to SpaceXs burgeoning broadband network.

Warning notices to pilots and mariners previously indicated the launch was scheduled Saturday morning, but sources said Thursday the flight was delayed to Sunday.

Forecasters from the U.S. Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron predict an 80% chance of good weather Sunday. The primary weather concern Sunday will be with the possibility of violating the cumulus cloud rule.

A high pressure ridge is forecast to begin moving away from Central Florida this weekend, allowing a low pressure system and a cold front to move into the Mid-Atlantic states north of Florida.

The spaceport will be within the warm, prefrontal regime during the launch window, the weather team wrote Thursday. Clouds will be thicker and more abundant than Saturday, but the vast majority will be too low-topped to create lightning launch commit criteria concerns. Southwesterly winds will increase to 15-20 miles per hour (up to 200 feet) in response to the tightening pressure gradient. The primary concern during the backup window will be the cumulus cloud rule.

If the Starlink mission takes off Sunday, SpaceX will close out January with four Falcon 9 launches, keeping pace with the companys goal of launching more than 40 Falcon flights in 2021.

A Falcon 9 rocket took off Jan. 7 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the Turkish-owned Turksat 5A communications satellite. SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites Jan. 20 from pad 39A, then launched a rideshare mission Sunday on a Falcon 9 with a record-setting payload of 143 small satellites from U.S. and international customers.

SpaceX, founded and led by billionaire Elon Musk, will have more than 1,000 Starlink nodes in orbit with the roughly 60 more Starlink spacecraft set to launch Sunday. The company has launched 1,025 Starlink satellites to date, but some of the spacecraft were either prototypes or failed after launch, and are no longer in orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomerat theHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.

SpaceX says the Starlink network is providing preliminary low-latency internet service to users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom through a beta testing program. Commercial service will begin after SpaceX has its initial network of around 1,584 satellites in orbit, including spares.

The quarter-ton Starlink satellites are built by SpaceX technicians and engineers in Redmond, Washington.

The initial block of Starlink satellites, including the 60 launching this weekend, fly in mid-inclination orbits tilted 53 degrees to the equator. They fly at an altitude of 341 miles, or 550 kilometers, to provide broadband coverage over nearly all of the populated world.

SpaceX plans to launch more Starlink satellites into polar orbit to enable global coverage for maritime and aviation customers, including the U.S. military. The company has regulatory approval to launch around 12,000 Starlink satellites.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Falcon 9 rocket arrives on pad 39A for sunrise Starlink launch this weekend Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX announces plans for first all-civilian space flight to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – CBS News

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Jared Isaacman, a wealthy businessman and pilot, is chartering a four-seat SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for what will be the first fully commercial, non-government piloted flight to orbit, SpaceX and the entrepreneur announced Monday. The mission will benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The flight, named Inspiration4, will be commanded by Isaacman, 37, who is reserving two seats for St. Jude and one for an entrepreneur who will be selected in an independently judged competition.

One of the St. Jude seats will be awarded to a frontline health care worker and the other to the winner of a national fundraising campaign that will attempt to raise $200 million for the famed research center. Isaacman promised diversity, indicating a female health care worker has already been selected.

"St. Jude's mission is not about rockets or space exploration, it's about treating some of the most heart wrenching conditions that any parent could imagine," Isaacman said during a teleconference with SpaceX founder Elon Musk. "And if we're going to continue making advances up there in space, then we have an obligation to do the same down here on Earth.

"So one seat will go to a frontline health care worker and the other will be awarded through a national fundraising campaign that begins today and runs through the month of February. Our goal is to raise over $200 million, and I'm contributing the first $100 million to this great effort."

He also said he will cover applicable tax obligations for the selected health care worker.

Said Musk: "This is a stepping stone on the way towards providing access to space for all."

"Things necessarily start off real expensive, because it's new technology at low volume, low production rates," he said. "And so we actually need people who are willing and able to pay the high prices initially, in order to make it affordable, long term, for everyone."

Asked if he ever intends to fly in space aboard a Crew Dragon himself at some point, he said "I will be on a flight one day, but not this one."

The Inspiration4 mission will be unveiled to the public during the SuperBowl with a first quarter television commercial calling attention to St. Jude and the fund-raising initiative.

Unlike a mission announced last week in which Houston-based Axiom Space plans to send four private citizens to the International Space Station during an eight-day mission, Isaacman's flight has no destination other than low-Earth orbit.

After circling the globe for several days, the capsule is expected to plunge back to Earth and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. All four crew members will undergo medical screening and receive extensive training in spacecraft procedures and emergency operations.

"SpaceX is targeting no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year for Falcon 9's launch of Inspiration4, the world's first all-commercial astronaut mission to orbit from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center," SpaceX said on its website.

"Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, is donating the three seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public who will be announced in the weeks ahead."

Isaacman said the three seats he is donating will be given to crew members selected to represent the "mission pillars" of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.

"The big focus is what we aim to raise for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, but look at every one of the crew members and what they represent in terms of the mission pillars," Isaacman said.

The front-line health care worker will represent hope while someone making a significant donation to St. June will be showing generosity. An entrepreneur selected in a national competition will represent prosperity.

"The three crew members we're selecting come from everyday walks of life, including a front-line health care worker who's committed to helping kids fight cancer," Isaacman said. "Someone who visits our mission website and makes a donation, and an aspiring entrepreneur building a business. And what they don't know is that 30 days from now they're going to get fitted for a spacesuit."

SpaceX's ability to launch private space missions is rooted in NASA's drive to encourage development of commercial spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, ending the agency's sole reliance on Russia for post-shuttle space transportation.

In 2014, after a series of competitions, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX would share $6.8 billion to develop independent space taxis, the first new U.S. crewed spacecraft since the 1970s.

Under a $2.6 billion contract, SpaceX built a crewed version of its Dragon cargo ship that rides into orbit atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket. Boeing's Starliner was developed under a $4.2 billion contract and relies on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.

SpaceX launched a piloted test flight to the space station last May and the first operational flight last October. Boeing's first piloted mission is expected later this year.

Unlike past piloted spacecraft that were built to NASA specifications and were owned and operated by the government, Boeing and SpaceX retained ownership of the new "commercial crew" ships and both companies are free to launch non-government missions.

The cost of a non-NASA seat aboard the Crew Dragon has not been revealed, but it is reportedly in the neighborhood of $55 million per "ticket."

The Axiom flight to the space station will be commanded by former astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria, now an Axiom vice president. His crewmates are American entrepreneur Larry Connor, Canadian businessman Mark Pathy and Israeli entrepreneur Eytan Stibbe.

Actor Tom Cruise is also rumored to be considering a space flight as part of a movie venture, but no details have emerged.

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SpaceX announces plans for first all-civilian space flight to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - CBS News

Virpil Controls review: Theres a new challenger in the world of flight sticks and throttles – Polygon

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You can blame Microsoft Flight Simulator for the flight stick shortage were experiencing. Logitech, Thrustmaster, and many of the big name manufacturers are out of stock everywhere you look. What little product is actually available even used equipment is going for wildly inflated prices. Still other manufacturers are taking pre-orders, and then banging out new units as quickly as they can. So whats a budding flight or space sim enthusiast to do?

My advice, of course, is to give the scalpers a wide berth. If youre stuck on Microsoft Flight Simulator especially the big commercial airliners give Honeycomb Aeronautical a try. If youre playing a more hardcore flight simulator, like something from the DCS World portfolio, you probably already know about VKB. Its high-end equipment is currently in stock. But, if youre looking to spend a relatively modest amount of money on a more general purpose device something that might work with terrestrial and space flight I recommend you take a look at Virpil Controls, a small European company that is doing some really remarkable work.

And, just like everyone else, Virpils stuff is on backorder as well. Nevertheless, late last year Virpil sent along a selection of its most popular flight gear. Ive been taking it for a test drive on my custom-built flight rig. So far Im extremely impressed.

My favorite set of kit is called the Virpil Constellation Alpha, which, when coupled with a throttle, does an admirable job of controlling commercial aircraft. It has plenty of hat switches, plus an assortment of triggers that are perfect for games in the IL-2 Sturmovik family or other high-end simulations. Its also mostly plastic, but in a good way. It feels more robust than the Logitech X-52 and X-56, but lighter than the all-metal Thrustmaster Warthog.

The Virpil Constellation Alpha also comes in a left-handed variant. That means you can easily arrange for a much more complex dual-stick set-up. Also known as a hand-on-stick-and-stick (HOSAS) setup, I found that it completely changed the flight experience in both Star Citizens Persistent Universe and Elite Dangerous.

Explaining the difference is difficult to do with words. Previously I had played spaceflight simulation games with a single stick and throttle, which is known as a hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) setup. Swapping out the throttle for another stick meant that I had to constantly hold the left-hand stick forward to maintain forward thrust. But, by pulling back on that stick I had easy access to reverse thrust, which makes slowing down and changing directions in space a lot snappier. The right-hand stick still has complete control of pitch and yaw, while rudder pedals handle roll. But now Im able to use the two sticks twist axes to handle strafing (right) and moving up and down (left). Previously, those functions sat on a tiny hat switch on my throttle.

After a few hours of HOSAS practice, I suddenly found myself with much more precise and immediate control over my virtual spaceships than ever before. Vectors which had previously been relegated to the keyboard or tiny hat switches were now integrated into the joysticks themselves. I could hit the gas on the main thruster to accelerate forward, rotate my ship in place, then roll left while also moving slightly down and sliding to the right all at the same time. The impact was especially prominent in Star Citizen, which has much faster ships and far more aggressive combat. HOSAS made me a harder target to hit, and helped to improve my own aim especially with fixed weapons.

Better still, the Constellations side-mounted thumbsticks mean that you can actually navigate on foot without ever taking your hands off the joysticks. That made the experience in Star Citizen, which features a surprising amount of walking, much more enjoyable. It will also likely have the same kind of impact when Elite Dangerous: Odyssey launches later this year, adding first-person, on-foot gameplay to that spacefaring game.

Another highlight for me were Virpils Ace Interceptor Rudder Pedals. Ive had a pretty good experience with the Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Rudder Pedals for the last few years, but they hang from a large central column that takes up a lot of space in my office. Virpil pedals are much, much lower to the floor and accommodate a wider stance which, as a 66 man, I greatly appreciate. Ace pedals also have a much better mounting solution, in my opinion, compared to the TPR pedals. Out of the box, Virpils large, grippy rubber feet stay put on most surfaces. You can also remove about an inch of height from the pedals, stripping off the rubber feet and the entire lower frame, to attach them directly to a custom flight seat.

While the input devices alone are excellent, Virpil also has a line of surprisingly affordable custom mounting solutions. For around $70 you can get the Virpil Desk Mount V3-S. It features a dead-simple clamp with an adjustable bite, which you can dial in to firmly grasp the edge of your desk surface and hold fast. They release quickly, making storage a breeze. Theyre also beautifully powder coated, and come with all the bolts you need to make the attachment to the Constellation. The V3-S also opens the door to additional customization options, including mounts that hang a keyboard, mouse pad, additional button boxes, and more all off of the same clamp.

Note that youll need two of the Desk Mount V3-S devices for a HOSAS solution using the Virpil Constellation sticks, which brings the price of accessories up to $140. If you go with a HOTAS solution instead, making use of one of Virpils fully-customizable throttle boxes, youll need a slightly larger version of the clamp and a special adapter plate. That brings the price for a full HOTAS mounting solution closer to $180.

Overall, Im smitten with these Virpil controls. They strike a good balance between price point and feature set, sitting comfortably in between classics like the Logitech X-52 and the Thrustmaster T16000, and higher end products from Thrustmaster and VKB. They also have just the right amount of heft to them, and feel like a substantial upgrade to the kinds of flight sticks Ive been using for the last decade.

There are a few caveats, however.

First, the documentation on these products ranges from awful to non-existent. Even basic assembly drove me out to YouTube where I spent hours freeze-framing foreign language unboxing videos to find out which screw goes where. When it comes to calibration and programming, you will similarly need to find your own way with the community of users on YouTube and on message boards as Virpil offers next to no help in getting things squared away.

Second, know that the current incarnation of the Virpil throttle box may simply be too much for most users. It has about twice as many buttons as Microsoft Windows recognizes on a game controller, which means youll need to take some extra time to get it tuned before you hop into a game. If youre going HOTAS, Id recommend getting something from Thrustmaster instead.

Also, I did notice some defective materials in the batch of products that I received. The non-marking pads on the mounting hardware, for instance, began to slide off after several weeks of continuous use. I also had several screw heads shatter as I attempted to remove them, either due to being made from weak metal or being gummed up with too much thread locking paste.

With those limitations in mind, I still cant help but recommend Virpil. After nearly a decade of watching modest, incremental improvements in the space its nice to see a manufacturer innovating with their flight sticks. Theres even a line of collective grips on the way, which will be perfect for the new helicopters coming to DCS World and Microsoft Flight Simulator in the not-to-distant future.

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Virpil Controls review: Theres a new challenger in the world of flight sticks and throttles - Polygon

OWF drops IWF election candidates from "unethical" role and rebuts criticism – Insidethegames.biz

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The Oceania Weightlifting Federation (OWF) has responded to claims of "unethical behaviour" by dropping a proposal to involve a candidate for the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) elections in voting procedures at regional level.

One official from Fiji said the Pacific island nations were being treated as "performing idiots" and, by being required to vote by email, "would be denied a secret ballot which is the cornerstone of a fair election".

Another from Samoa said there was a "risk of mistrust and questionable practices" at a time when "we all know about the IOCs [International Olympic Committee] concerns over issues of questionable governance and transparency".

Paul Coffa, general secretary of the OWF, denied accusations of poor governance and said there was no intention to give anybody from the IWF a platform.

"It is a pity that politics and mistrust is getting involved with the OWF," Coffa told insidethegames.

"Never before has this happened.

"The OWF has a brilliant record in promoting the sport, in anti-doping - 14 years without any violations - credibility, and transparency."

Coffa wrote to member federations last week to outline plans for OWF elections to be held by email, over three days.

The proposed date is "by the end of February", two months earlier than previously listed, and about a month before the IWF elections.

The alternative would be to delay the elections, which are already nearly a year overdue because of the coronavirus pandemic, "until such time as we can all meet and have the electoral congress face to face".

Coffa said an OWF Board meeting, which was also attended by the IWF general secretary Mohamed Jaloud and vice-president Nicu Vlad, decided unanimously to propose that the Oceania elections be conducted by email.

Delegates votes would be emailed directly to three scrutineers - Andrew Minogue, chief executive of the Pacific Games Council and vice-chair of the IWFs Independent Disciplinary and Ethics Commission, Jaloud, and Jose Quinones, an IWF Board member and president of the Pan American Weightlifting Federation.

Jaloud is a candidate in the IWF elections, which are due to be held on March 26-27, as is Vlad.

Quinones has an IWF Board seat as President of a continental federation.

Coffas brother, Sam, 85, who is President of the Australian Weightlifting Federation, sits on the IWF Board and is believed to be another election candidate.

The proposed involvement of IWF electoral candidates in Oceanias procedures was seen as unethical by several member federations.

Coffa said, "It was simply a recommendation.

"Obviously as we see there is quite a bit of non-trust in these individuals by some member countries, so we have reviewed this and will be recommending to the Executive Board that we utilise an independent company to conduct the elections.

"And we will investigate with them as to whether it can be done by both email and online in order to ensure that every Pacific country is given equal opportunity to cast their vote in a democratic and secure manner."

Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Marshall Islands have all opposed the plan to vote by email, and other federations among the OWFs 22 members are believed to be against the idea.

Coffa said, "So far we have received replies from more countries who are in favour to vote by email."

The elections could yet be delayed until whenever the Oceania Championships take place in Nauru, probably after the Olympic Games which are due to be in late July and early August.

The unhappy federations also complained of poor governance at the OWF, which has planned to hold the elections without first dealing with other business.

"The annual report and audited financial statements as well as other information as requested through properly filed motions for the Congress must be presented and be open to scrutiny by the delegates, before the elections," said Atma Maharaj of Weightlifting Fiji.

"The candidates for the incoming Executive Board, including those responsible for the affairs of the OWF for the past several years, must be fully scrutinised before the vote can take place.

"There is a considerable degree of anger in Oceania that our membership are being taken as the IWF and OWFs performing idiots, who can be brought out of our box when required to tick a ballot or two, and then returned.

"There is zero appetite for the OWF Congress and its elections to be allowed to be used as a platform, by any individual or groups for their own personal gain or advantage towards their own candidature for the IWF elections.

"A huge governance and integrity issue is confidentiality.

"Elections should be made by secret vote, but - according to the proposal - members shall send their votes by mail to IWF officials who might be candidates or political allies of Oceania officials, which is ridiculous."

Maharaj, life member and former President of Weightlifting Fiji, has been delegated to oversee governance matters relating to the IWF and OWF.

"There has been no explanation why this is happening," he added.

"Its not clear to us why the OWF would even have a meeting with IWF officials regarding an alternative proposal [to an online Congress]."

Coffa said, "The invitation to these IWF officials to attend the meeting was not for them to use it as a platform for their own personal gains."

Jaloud, Vlad and Sam Coffa had been invited to the past two OWF Board meetings "basically for the Board to get information first-hand in relation to the Olympic Games and qualification events, and pertaining to the Commonwealth Games, in order for the OWF to be updated as to exactly what is happening".

Vlad and Sam Coffa are joint technical delegates for weightlifting at Tokyo 2020.

Maharaj said any discussions on the format of the overdue Congress, which should have taken place last April, was a matter only for Oceanias member federations.

"It alarms me because there is the grave possibility that some of those attending may have major conflicts of interest."

Jerry Wallwork, President of the Samoa Weightlifting Federation, said in his reply to Coffas letter, "We all know about the IOCs concerns over issues of questionable governance and transparency.

"And yet, we are now proposing to bring in further risk of mistrust and questionable practices that would result in future discord and instability in our region.

"With all due respect, the panel you have recommended as scrutineers should have no affiliation or association with any office holders or members, that may taint or affect the carriage of justice and fairness."

He said the scrutineers "must be clear of any perceived conflict of interest".

Wallwork said the OWF Board was clearly "incompetent" as it had failed to organise an online Congress, as it was prompted to do by member federations over the past six months.

Michael Bloomfield, president of the Tonga Weightlifting Federation, said the proposed email election was neither transparent nor independent in fact or in appearance".

Coffas letter said that a virtual meeting would not work because of connectivity problems in some of the worlds most remote nations, a view countered by Terry Sasser, secretary general of the Marshall Islands Weightlifting Federation and its National Olympic Committee.

Sasser, who coached his daughter Mattie - now a United States lifter - at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, said virtual platforms had been used "with great success" for a three-day meeting of National Olympic Committees, and by a number of other sports.

He added, "The world needs to see that weightlifting is addressing its governance and transparency issues."

Sasser said the OWF should appoint independent scrutineers, which it will now do, and that the first step towards transparency should be giving national federations the chance to voice their opinion during a virtual meeting, not by email.

Della Shaw-Elder, President of Weightlifting Fiji, said that no votes should be taken until an annual report and audited financial statements had been circulated to all members.

"We must know if we are voting for credible candidates," she said.

Coffa, who has been elected unopposed as general secretary since he first took the role in 1992, said, "Especially in the last 12 months, so many new projects have been implemented in our region There has been more money injected in 2020 than ever before.

"And most important, Oceania has been praised by the IWF for having come up with so many initiatives - including praise from those same people who are complaining now.

"Annual reports and audited financial statements have always been presented and adopted.

"Today the OWF has never been in a better financial position since its inception back in 1980.

"And no-one has been a full-time paid employee of the OWF working in the office - everything has been done on a voluntary basis."

Coffa has coached hundreds of medallists in international competition since he set up the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Nauru in the 1990s.

"In 1994 when I moved to Nauru, there were only a few lifters scattered across the Pacific islands.

"And at no cost to them I spent 26 years of my life developing weightlifting in the Pacific and their lifters have won many, many medals.

"Now that the sport is booming and has very strong Pacific island contenders on the international platform, we are all of a sudden incompetent?"

On the subject of the format for voting, Coffa said, "Last year indeed one or two countries questioned whether the OWF should have its elections online, and we responded by saying that we know there are difficulties with some of the member federations and their access to good internet signals.

"The board is not arrogant and it does take notice of those member countries who experience these difficulties.

"Online virtual is very difficult, as quite a few countries will not be able to either link in or stay on.

"We have experienced this quite a few times, with our online tournaments and even our own executive board meetings."

Neither Marcus Stephen, President of the OWF and an IWF Board member, nor Minogue, who was not contactable until after the change of plan involving scrutineers, wished to comment.

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OWF drops IWF election candidates from "unethical" role and rebuts criticism - Insidethegames.biz

Best new hotels opening in Asia and Oceania in 2021 – The Week UK

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Some of the worlds most stylish hotels and resorts are opening in 2021 - theyre just waiting for guests to come and experience the plush surroundings.

From ryokans in Japan to paradise islands in the Maldives, we pick out the most luxurious new places you can stay in this year in Asia and Oceania.

1

Australia

From its upstart hipster roots in Portland, Oregon, the artsy Ace Hotel brand has now been reshaping the look of mid-range digs for 20 years, says Mark OFlaherty inThe Daily Telegraph. The brand arrives in Australia towards the end of this year, bringing the usual mix of artisanal coffee, seasonal cocktails and in-room turntables to a new 19-storey, 264-room tower in Sydney. The building is already a landmark in the Surry Hills neighbourhood of the city, which has gone from being a laid-back eastern suburb to a hub for food and design. As we have come to expect from the team behind the Ace Hotel brand, it is working with local designers to create something unique. The rooftop bar and restaurant promise to be quite the sun-drenched scene.

2

Japan

Azumi Setoda is the first hotel of a new brand inspired by traditional Japanese inns known as ryokan, says Claire Wrathall in the Financial Times. It is set to open in March on the island of Ikuchijima in Japans Seto Inland Sea, in a splendid 19th-century building that was once the home of a powerful shipping family. The building has been restored and converted to accommodate 18 suites and four duplexes, each with its own garden or balcony, by Kyoto-based Shiro Miura, an expert in sukiya, a style of architecture dating back to the 16th century that strives to balance the elements. Rather than focus on luxury, the concepts at the heart of Azumi Setoda are culture, community, arts and food. Hence the neighbouring yabune, or public bathhouse, is intended for locals as much as guests. Rates start from 560.

3

Maldives

This 100-villa resort on the beaches of the North Mal Atoll will welcome its first guests from Q2 2021. Villas are built across four paradise islands, all with ocean and lagoon views of the crystal-clear waters. Each villa will be cared for by a dedicated Aris Meeha, or personal host, to tailor guests journey and look after their every need. Guests will be able to dine at seven different restaurants, as well as enjoy treatments at The Ritz-Carlton Spa.

4

Maldives

Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi has unveiled the largest private island in the archipelagic state. The ultra exclusive destination spans 32,000sqm in the heart of the Indian Ocean and is only a 40-minute journey from Mal on the resorts Princess yachts or via a 15-minute seaplane flight. The sprawling estate accommodates 24 guests across two-, three- and four-bedroomed residences, placed across the islands private beach and overwater. The private island also comes with its own dedicated culinary team.

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Best new hotels opening in Asia and Oceania in 2021 - The Week UK

AIBA first virtual continental forum to be held in Africa – Insidethegames.biz

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The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has announced details of its first virtual continental forum of 2021, due to be held in Africa on February 7.

Although the AIBA Board of Directors and representatives of various National Federations will join the event virtually, AIBAs President Umar Kremlev will visit Nairobi in Kenya for the forum.

African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President Mohamed Moustahsane, who served as Interim President of AIBA before being beaten by Kremlev in the governing body's Presidential election in December 2020, described Kremlevs visit as a "unique opportunity" for the continent.

The 2021 African forum is scheduled to be the first of five AIBA forums this year - with the organisation hopeful of holding one on each continent.

"Unfortunately, last year, because of the pandemic situation we conducted only three [forums] - in America, Oceania, and Asia, and the other two, Europe and Africa were cancelled," said Kremlev.

"This year, because of the ongoing situation, we will organise everything virtually, so everybody can participate.

"We will come to Africa to know what we can improve on the continent, in every single country."

On the agenda for the African forum are presentations of the new AIBA committees and competition calendar, the AIBA development plan for national federations, the organisations communication strategy, anti-doping seminars, a legal team report and question and answer sessions.

"I will be very pleased to welcome President Umar Kremlev in African land," said Moustahsane.

"He will experience the African climate and our way of living and see the difficulties we are facing. I am sure that together we will find a way to solve it.

"This is the first time when AIBA President comes to Africa for a forum to discuss issues openly with African National Federations.

"It is very good that Mr. Kremlev will be present and will discuss directly with AIBA member countries his plans and projects, will listen to the continental challenges and will see the African particularities.

"This is the best way to work together, improving relationships and cooperation. Development always goes through dialogue.

"Im sure we will succeed in implementing our projects for the development of boxing on the continent and in a short time improve African boxing at all levels."

Last year AIBA held continental forums in Amman, Jordan for Asia, in Natadola, Fiji for Oceania and in Panama City, Panama for the Americas.

Due to the coronavirus situation scheduled continental forums in Assisi, Italy for Europe and Casablanca, Morocco for Africa did not take place in 2020.

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AIBA first virtual continental forum to be held in Africa - Insidethegames.biz

A New Army Task Force in Oceania – United States Army

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By SSG Solomon NavarroJanuary 28, 2021

Task Force Oceania (TF Oceania) consists of Soldiers from all components of the U.S. Army; active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard, with the purpose of engaging and cultivating meaningful and lasting relationships in Oceania. Oceania is an area of the Pacific that includes Australia and neighboring Pacific Island countries.TF Oceania is headquartered at the 9th Mission Support Command at Fort Shafter Flats, Hawaii, and consists of a company-sized headquarters element and two-Soldier country teams that provides consistent supporting presence throughout Oceania. The teams are comprised of a civil affairs trained officer and a non-commissioned officer having cultural or linguistic ties to Oceania country. At the moment, we have our Soldiers in three island countries, Timor-Leste, Palau, and Papua New Guinea, and in key liaison positions with our partners and allies across the Pacific theater said Lt. Col Igor Dubinsky, TF Oceania deputy commander.The original intent of having civil aairs and culturally related Soldiers deploy to these countries was to work with the civilian population to collaborate and develop solutions to the specific issues these nations are dealing with, said Dubinsky. However, from the time the task force was conceived to present-day, the world has been drastically changed due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. With this change, so has our engagement strategy.The countries that call Oceania home may be small, but hold significant strategic importance for the U.S. and its allies in the region, said Dubinsky.The two-soldier country teams are civil aairs trained and will work with the State Department and host-nation governments to execute senior leader engagements and facilitate exercises, conferences, humanitarian assistance and disaster response planning.U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is using a whole of government approach in designing, reviewing, and implementing Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid funded minimum cost projects. To date they have completed 204 projects worth $17.4M. These and future projects will provide medical supplies, hand washing stations, generators, tents to house medical supplies, portable toilets and cleaning supplies, said Dubinsky.For Col. Blaise Zandoli, TF Oceania commander, the reasons for being in Oceania are many but the most important is the human-to-human connection around shared values.The U.S. has strong historical ties with Oceania dating to at least WWII. These countries share fundamental values around democracy and a spiritual approach to human existence that embeds respect for the individual within a strong social context. Our shared values and mutually beneficial practical connections make the partnership between the U.S. and Pacific Island countries a natural fit, explained Zandoli.Task Force Oceania demonstrates how the Army remains committed to our global partners and ready for any challenge. Protective measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are being taken to operate in the region.

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A New Army Task Force in Oceania - United States Army

Stem Cell Therapy Market Size to Reach USD 5,040 Million by 2028 | Rising Public-Private Investments and Developing Regulatory Framework for Stem Cell…

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Jan. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stem Cell Therapy Market Size to Reach USD 5,040 Million by 2028 | Rising Public-Private Investments and Developing Regulatory Framework for Stem Cell Therapeutics will be the Key Factor Driving the Industry Growth, States Emergen Research

The global stem cell therapy market size was valued at USD 342.7 Million in 2019 and is anticipated to reach USD 3,693.6 Million by 2027 at a CAGR of 36.2%, over the forecast period, according to most recent analysis by Emergen Research.

Growing prevalence of chronic diseases will drive the growth of the stem cell therapy market. Increased investment in research activities, development of advanced genetic techniques, and rise in public-private partnership will contribute to the growth of the stem cell therapy market.

Stem cells are used to improve health and manage disease. The growing popularity of regenerative medicine has encouraged the growth of stem cell therapy market. Regenerative medicines are used to replace, repair, and regenerate tissues affected by disease, injury, and aging process. Regenerative medicines are used in research to find a cure for diabetes, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease.

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However, ethical concerns regarding embryonic stem cells and less developed research infrastructure will hinder the stem cell therapy market's growth.

Companies Profiled in Stem Cell Therapy Market Research Report:

Virgin Health Bank, Celgene Corporation, ReNeuron Group plc, Biovault Family, Precious Cells International Ltd., Mesoblast Ltd., Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., Caladrius, Neuralstem, Inc., and Pluristem.

Key Highlights of Report

Check Our Prices@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/select-license/83Emergen Research has segmented the global stem cell therapy market in terms of type, application, end-users, and region:

Click to access the Report Study, Read key highlights of the Report and Look at Projected Trends: https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/stem-cell-therapy-market

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ProgenCell – Stem Cell Therapies offers an updated Stem Cell Therapy for Anti Aging Protocol – PR Web

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SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) January 29, 2021

ProgenCell Stem Cell Therapies announced an updated stem cell therapy for anti aging or healthy aging protocol. A Comprehensive protocol developed by the more than 12 years of experience in the field of Regenerative Medicine and the most rigorous scientific protocols, and overseen by an Independent Review Board (IRB) composed by prominent figures in medicine and scientific research.

The Anti Aging Stem Cell Treatment Protocol is performed administering stem cells intravenously with a previous and strict regimen of multivitamins, minerals and hormones and a subsequent nutritional and vitamin support.

This updated protocol has been developed thanks to the information we have been able to compile, analyze and research, allowing us to determine the dosage of the vitamins. Hormones and nutrients administered according to each patients context, added Dr. Jorge Luis Gavio ProgenCells Medical Director. ProgenCells stem cell research center has an in-house laboratory and adjacent medical facility, which not only sets us apart as an institution, it also gives us the scientific platform to upgrade our protocols, he continued.

To date, ProgenCell Stem Cell Therapies has been offering stem cell therapy in Mexico successfully with a wide range of protocolos designed specifically for many conditions including Parkinsons Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Retinitis Pigmentosa, and arthritis just to name a few.

Stem cell therapy for anti aging at ProgenCell Stem Cell Therapies is offered by board certified and fully licensed doctors, and every case is overseed by an Independent Review Board, with a scientific and Ethics Committee.

The treatments at ProgenCell Stem Cells comply with quality assurance standards that exceed those recommended by the FDA (Federal Drug Administration), and all protocols are registered and audited by COFEPRIS (the mexican government agency with jurisdiction).

The process of becoming a ProgenCell Patient for Anti Aging Stem Cell Therapy Protocol starts with a free virtual consultation with a Regenerative Medicine Scientific Liaison who will guide you through the process and establish a health route map. After the treatment is booked, a patient concierge works with each international patient on travel logistics, to live the full ProgenCel Experience.

For more information on stem cell therapy for anti aging and to obtain a free consultation, call (888) 443-6235 or visit http://www.progencell.com to learn more.

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ProgenCell - Stem Cell Therapies offers an updated Stem Cell Therapy for Anti Aging Protocol - PR Web

Stem Cell Therapy Market 2021: Global Key Players, Trends, Share, Industry Size, Segmentation, Forecast To 2027 KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper – KSU |…

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Stem Cell Therapy Market is valued at USD 9.32 Billion in 2018 and expected to reach USD 16.51 Billion by 2025 with the CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period.

Rising prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing spend on research & development and increasing collaboration between industry and academia driving the growth of stem cell therapy market.

Scope of Stem Cell Therapy Market-

Stem cells therapy also known as regenerative medicine therapy, stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to prevent or treat the condition or disease. Stem cell are the special type of cells those differentiated from other type of cell into two defining characteristics including the ability to differentiate into a specialized adult cell type and perpetual self-renewal. Under the appropriate conditions in the body or a laboratory stem cells are capable to build every tissue called daughter cells in the human body; hence these cells have great potential for future therapeutic uses in tissue regeneration and repair. Among stem cell pluripotent are the type of cell that can become any cell in the adult body, and multipotent type of cell are restricted to becoming a more limited population of cells.

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The stem cell therapy has been used to treat people with conditions including leukemia and lymphoma, however this is the only form of stem-cell therapy which is widely practiced. Prochymal are another stem-cell therapy was conditionally approved in Canada in 2012 for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease in children those are not responding to steroids. Nevertheless, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only established therapy using stem cells. This therapy involves the bone marrow transplantation.

Stem cell therapy market report is segmented based on type, therapeutic application, cell source and by regional & country level. Based upon type, stem cell therapy market is classified into allogeneic stem cell therapy market and autologous market.

Stem Cell Therapy Companies:

Stem cell therapy market report covers prominent players like,

Based upon therapeutic application, stem cell therapy market is classified into musculoskeletal disorders, wounds and injuries, cardiovascular diseases, surgeries, gastrointestinal diseases and other applications. Based upon cell source, stem cell therapy market is classified into adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, cord blood/embryonic stem cells and other cell sources

The regions covered in this stem cell therapy market report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. On the basis of country level, market of stem cell therapy is sub divided into U.S., Mexico, Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, India, South East Asia, GCC, Africa, etc.

Stem Cell Therapy Market Segmentation

By Type

Allogeneic Stem Cell Therapy Market, By Application

Autologous Market, By Application

By Therapeutic Application

By Cell Source

Stem Cell Therapy Market Dynamics

Rising spend on research and development activities in the research institutes and biotech industries driving the growth of the stem cell therapy market during the forecast period. For instance, in January 2010, U. S. based Augusta University initiated Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a single, autologous cord blood stem infusion for treatment of cerebral palsy in children. The study is estimated to complete in July 2020. Additionally, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases creating the demand of stem cell therapy. For instance, as per the international diabetes federation, in 2019, around 463 million population across the world were living with diabetes; by 2045 it is expected to rise around 700 million. Among all 79% of population with diabetes were living in low- and middle-income countries. These all factors are fuelling the growth of market over the forecast period. On the other flip, probabilities of getting success is less in the therapeutics by stem cell may restrain the growth of market. Nevertheless, Advancement of technologies and government initiative to encourage research in stem cell therapy expected to create lucrative opportunity in stem cell therapy market over the forecast period.

Stem Cell Therapy Market Regional Analysis

North America is dominating the stem cell therapy market due increasing adoption rate of novel stem cell therapies fueling the growth of market in the region. Additionally, favorable government initiatives have encouraging the regional market growth. For instance, government of Canada has initiated Strategic Innovation Fund Program, in which gov will invests in research activities carried out for stem cell therapies. In addition, good reimbursing scheme in the region helping patient to spend more on health. Above mentioned factors are expected to drive the North America over the forecast period.

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Stem Cell Therapy Market 2021: Global Key Players, Trends, Share, Industry Size, Segmentation, Forecast To 2027 KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - KSU |...