Russian officials claim to have developed a coronavirus vaccine thats 100 percent effective,and officials say theyre trying it out on themselves and their family but, worryingly, theres no publicly-available evidence to suggest that it actually works.

Russias state-operated research facility, the Gamaleya Research Institute, says its ready for a phase 3 clinical trial that it wants to conduct on doctors and teachers, Quartz reports. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) doesnt seem to have data suggesting the experimental vaccine is that far along.

The Gamaleya Research Institute filed a small phase 1 study, but never published any results. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates that the researchers want to begin a phase 3 trial in that country, but also that Russia wants to begin mass inoculation in September or October.

If the vaccine is approved for use something CNN reports that the Gamaleya Institute hopes will happen by mid-August Russia plans to distribute it to healthcare workers on the front lines.

Even if the vaccine flew through the earlier phases of clinical research, as Dmitriev claimed, a properly-conducted phase 3 clinical trial takes months.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Ann Harris told Quartz that the organization was aware that a Russian vaccine was entering phase 3, but didnt elaborate on previous results or safety concerns.

But the lack of publicly available safety and efficacy data hasnt stopped Russian officials from making extremely bold, questionable claims about the research.

Based on Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials, we also show that 100 percent of about 100 people generated a very high level of antibodies, Dmitriev told The National.

Dmitriev added that he and his parents already took the vaccine. Project director Alexander Ginsburg told CNN he injected himself with the vaccine as well.

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Russian Officials Are Injecting Themselves With an Experimental COVID Vaccine - Futurism

A coronavirus vaccine has long been described as the panacea for this pandemic. A magical shot in the arm triggers an immunity enough immunity among us, and over time, the virus will go away, the thinking goes.

But that couldnt be further from the truth, as the Washington Post reports. The harsh reality: even once weve found a vaccine, it could take months if not years for societies to return to some semblance of normality.

Dont expect a vaccine to be an off-switch or a reset button where we will go back to pre-pandemic times, Yonatan Grad, an assistant professor of infectious diseases and immunology at the Harvard, told the Post.

Things will not be done by Christmas, Jeremy Farrar, director of UK health advocacy group Wellcome Trust, told the House of Commons Health Committee last month, as quoted by the BBC. This infection is not going away, its now a human endemic infection.

Even when a vaccine is introduced, I think we will have several months of significant infection or at least risk of infection to look forward to, Jesse Goodman, the former chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, told The Atlantic late last month.

Experts have predicted early vaccines will likely only protect us from severe cases of COVID-19. And thats only if the US and the rest of the world find effective ways to scale up production and produce hundreds of millions of doses.

And then theres the issue of public trust in a vaccine. If you think the anti-vaxxer movement had gas in the tank before, imagine what happens in the midst of a public, global vaccination campaign. Suffice to say, theres already a significant group of people who wont trust any vaccines imagine how their ranks will grow for a new vaccine, rushed to market.

Were going to be in a situation where some people will be desperate to get the vaccine and some people will be afraid to get the vaccine, Michael Stoto, a public-health researcher at Georgetown University, told The Atlantic. And therell be probably a lot of people in between who are a little bit of both or not sure.

The realistic scenario is probably going to be more like what we saw with HIV/AIDS, Michael Kinch, an expert in drug development and research at Washington University, told the Post,adding that early HIV drugs were fairly mediocre.

Theres plenty of optimism surrounding the development of a coronavirus vaccine in the US with efforts by American pharmaceuticals taking over mainstream media headlines on almost a weekly basis.

The Trump administration even gave its public-private vaccine partnership a glitzy, but at the end of the day meaningless name: Operation Warp Speed a misplaced sense of optimism and perhaps even dangerous as assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida Natalie Dean argued in an opinion piece for The New York Times.

Waiting for a better vaccine to come along may feel like torture, but it is the right move, Dean argued. We cant afford to jeopardize the publics health and hard-earned trust by approving anything short of that.

Just last week, Americas preeminent pandemic response figurehead Dr. Anthony Fauci told a House committee that hes cautiously optimistic that a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the US in late fall or early winter.

One can never guarantee the safety or effectiveness unless you do the trial, but we are cautiously optimistic this will be successful, he added, referring to pharmaceutical company Modernas phase three trial of a vaccine.

The trial, which kicked off early last week, will include 30,000 adult volunteers across 89 US research sites.

Yet safe and effective could still translate to a future vaccine thats less than 100 percent effective. People in older age groups may remain vulnerable by having their immune systems react differently to a possible vaccine when compared to younger people.

In other words, an early vaccine will be more like the flu shot, seasonal vaccinations that give people a degree of protection against a variety of influenza viruses.

It is possible that some COVID-19 vaccines may not prevent infection entirely, but they could still prepare a persons immune system so that, if infected, they would experience milder symptoms, or even none at all, Dean argued in her NYT opinion piece. Thats similar to the flu vaccine: Its not perfect, but we advise people to get it because it reduces intensive care admissions and deaths.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration announced it will expect that a COVID-19 vaccine would prevent disease or decrease its severity in at least 50% of people who are vaccinated, according to a statement.

The higher the effectiveness, the higher the chances of herd immunity indirect protection when a threshold of the population has become immune.

Theres good news and bad news. Even with lower than 100 percent effectiveness, a vaccine will slow the spread. But that process will likely take a lot longer than one might think.

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Even With a Vaccine, It Will Take Months If Not Years to Beat the Coronavirus - Futurism

According to a new study by a group of Canadian researchers published in the journal Nature Geoscience today, a large number of ancient valleys on the Martian surface were formed by water melting below massive sheets of glacial ice not free-flowing rivers, as previous research suggests.

The new research challenges the warm and wet ancient Mars hypothesis, which posits that Mars was once covered in massive river systems, fed by rain and large oceans of liquid water.

The study also follows a recent analysis of high-resolution imagery collected by the HiRISE camera on board NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which concluded that large rivers likely once flowed on the surface of Mars billions of years ago.

For the last 40 years, since Marss valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys, Anna Grau Galofre, former PhD student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and lead author of the new study, said in a statement.

To come to their conclusion, Grau Galofre and her team compared over 10,000 Martian valleys to channels formed underneath glaciers of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. To their surprise, the channels were extremely similar.

But there are hundreds of valleys on Mars, and they look very different from each other, she added. If you look at Earth from a satellite you see a lot of valleys: some of them made by rivers, some made by glaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape.

These results are the first evidence for extensive subglacial erosion driven by channelized meltwater drainage beneath an ancient ice sheet on Mars, co-author Mark Jellinek, professor in UBCs department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences, said in the statement.

They found only a small number of channels were likely formed on the surface a big departure from previous research.

By examining climate models of ancient Mars, they also found that the Red Planet was also likely much colder than predicted during the time that the valleys were formed.

Interestingly, a thick sheets of ice could also improve the chances of ancient life on Mars surviving. The ice would have blocked solar radiation, especially during a time when Mars had no magnetic field.

READ MORE: Frozen Mars? Ancient valleys show planet may have been covered in ice [CNET]

More on Mars rivers: Scientists Find New Evidence of Ancient Rivers on Mars

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Study: Ancient Mars Was Covered in Ice Sheets, Not Rivers - Futurism

Rapid Fire

A distant galaxy cluster has been churning out new stars at a dizzying pace and now astronomers think they know why.

Turns out: The clusters supermassive black hole has been sleeping on the job, according to research published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. While the scientists arent exactly sure why the black hole is so quiet, they do know that its absence allows the cluster to make new stars 300 times faster than the Milky Way does.

One leading guess: The black hole is starving. The galaxy cluster, dubbed SpARCS1049, is made up of hundred to thousands of galaxies. But its central galaxy, where the supermassive black hole is located, is far away from its most densely-packed galaxy, suggesting that the black hole ran out of nearby food.

It reminds me of the old expression of when the cats away, the mice will play,' lead author Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo of the University of Montreal said in a press release. Here the cat, or black hole, is quiet and the mice, or stars, are very busy.

In a galaxy cluster like SpARCS1049, an active supermassive black hole blasts out energy as it feeds, bringing anything nearby to insanely high temperatures, which inhibits star formation.

Without the black hole actively pumping energy into its surroundings, the gas can cool enough so this impressive rate of star formation can happen, said University of Montreal scientist Carter Rhea. This kind of black hole shut down may be a crucial way for stars to form in the early Universe.

READ MORE: Black hole fails to do its job [Chandra X-ray Center]

More on galaxy clusters: Astrophysicists Warn That Entire Galaxies Are Being Killed

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This Galaxy Cluster Is Spewing a Surplus of Stars Because of a Lazy Black Hole - Futurism

Its 2020. But sometimes it feels like our futuristic dreams are stuck in the 1950s and 60s. And theres actually a good reason for that, reports Budget Direct Singapore, part of the Budget Direct insurance company that commissioned artwork based on bygone dreams.

The period between 1958 and 1963 might be described as a Golden Age of American Futurism, the insurance company continued. Bookended by the founding of NASA in 1958 and the end of The Jetsons in 1963, these few years were filled with some of the wildest techno-utopian dreams that American futurists had to offer.

Some of these futurists delved into the motoring and automotive design space and these types of retro-futuristic concepts were the ones that intrigued, the company continued in explaining the seven speculative blueprints of the past that were reimagined and set in a contemporary world with the following text:

Super-Cycle (1936)

The June 1936 cover of Modern Mechanix & Inventions Magazine promised two revolutionary technologies: television, and the 300 mph Super-Cycle. Sadly, the Super-Cycle and its unnamed inventor were quickly left behind by TV.

The Super-Cycle is capable of reaching record-breaking speeds on its spherical wheels. The driver is safely encased within the bikes aerodynamic shell. For added safety, there is a cushion attached to the front of the canopy windshield to lean your head on as you power forward.

And those twin motors? Two separate power plants are employed, one on each side of the powerful rigid chassis, explains the author, without even blushing.

Chrysler Heir (1941)

Gil Spear started as a specialist within the trade of car design: he mostly did the fronts. The 1939 Plymouth, 1939 New Yorker, and 1940 Saratoga front ends were his. And Chrysler adopted the wraparound grille on this unbuilt 1941 cruiser for their 1942 Royal (hence weve christened the 41 model the Chrysler Heir).

Spears proto-space-age Chrysler tapers to a point at the rear, encasing a maximum of two passengers in the bubble-like cockpit. We can imagine that the designer would have projected the speedometer onto the windscreen, since that was one of his proposals for Ford a few years later.

HobbyPop RoadShop (1958)

Nostalgic for woodwork, cheerful Partridge Family optimism, and casual sexism? Youll love this 1958 bus-length workshop on wheels. The elevated drivers cabin means Mum is far less likely to take a wrong turn. Plus, the entire lower deck is left free for Dad to use it as his carpentry workshop.

Okay, so Bruce McCall actually drew up the HobbyPop RoadShop in 2001 to parody vehicles like the others on our list. But its still an oddly plausible addition to the world of 20th century speculative vehicle design.

McLouth XV61 Concept (1961)

Syd Meads most famous vehicles are the Tron Light Cycle (which inspired Kanedas bike in Akira) and Blade Runners flying Spinner car. Meads military-funded design for a four-legged, gyro-balanced, walking cargo vehicle directly inspired the Star Wars AT-AT.

But if youre more of a Volvo sort of person, consider the XV61, which Mead designed for um the McLouth Steel Corporation. McLouth built the XV (Xperimental Vehicle) for the 61 New York International Automobile Show, boasting that the family car was both road safe and future safe because it would also run on the monorail. Minimal trim and simple geometric lines just about keep the XV61 down-to-Earth for the responsible family man with one eye on the future.

Singlets (1962)

Suddenly, the Singoletta doesnt seem far-fetched. Put a canopy on a Segway and you have the perfect social-distancing little vehicle.

A speed of no more than forty kilometers per hour. A minimum of protection from the weather. A minimum of space. A minimum of consumption. A minimum of cost.

The magazine artist Walter Molino illustrated the Singoletta for the Domenica del Corriere in 1962. But the actual inventor was the mysterious Cesare Armano, a pseudonym for the famous correspondent and science-fiction author Franco Bandini. Bandinis solution to the traffic pandemic would cost a quarter of the price of a Fiat 500, and 10 Singlets would fit in the space of one car. Plus, its electric motor would have been kind to the environment. Visionary!

The New Urban Car (1970)

In 1970, the average 4-seater carried just 1.2 humans (today, its 1.67), y, clogging the air and roads. Automotive writer Ken W. Purdy imagined the solution in a Playboy article illustrated by Syd Mead.

Tomorrows in-city car would be a two-seater with a cheap, quiet, slightly greener gas turbine in place of the internal combustion engine.

Space is maximized by combining the steering wheel and accelerator into a single fold-away lever. Swing it to steer, twist it to accelerate.

The rear unit including wheels, turbine, and transmission is detachable to make repairs easier.

A cheap but adequate two-way telephone comes as standard. Looking for the doors? The canopy simply flips open and is hinged at the bumper.

Anti-Gravity Car (1979)

Meads 1979 anti-gravity vehicle conjures worlds beyond us, being part Spinner and part TIE fighter with a hint of Batwing.

We dont really know what gravity is but were going to figure it out, Syd Mead told Car Magazine, shortly before his death. I think thats the next huge breakthrough in controlling the real world.

The Anti-Gravs wraparound windscreen gives the driver-pilot a clear view in all directions. But wherever youre going, you still need roads as this is a hovering vehicle rather than an all-out flying car.

Note to city planners: Meads illustration includes buffer walls at street level to stop the cars overhanging fins from knocking down pedestrians!

Any attempt to predict the future of vehicle technology is doomed to be a bit absurd, the Budget Direct team continues. But the future is much closer than it used to be, and the world around is starting to look distinctly Jetsons-like.

Self-driving cars cruise the streets, even if they can be outwitted by a mischief with a can of paint. Mercedes-Benz posits the Urbanetic (the name Urbmobile was already taken in 1968), a self-driving, fully electric auto with an interchangeable body. Yes, the whole body.

And Elon Musk says Teslas cartoonish Cybertruck was inspired by Syd Meads Spinner. The consumer pickup has the specs of a sports car, armored glass, an impenetrable exoskeleton, and the option to include a fold-out barbeque and picnic table at the back. Perhaps Musk has been studying some of historys sillier car designs, too.

A note on methodology and sources: The team started by gathering interesting concepts created by visionaries, artists, and inventors depicting what they thought vehicles in the future might look like. They then researched each image further: who created it, where it was originally published and when, as well as any interesting facts or important features. Finally, a team of specialist designers created new, realistic renders based on the original drawings bringing these vehicles that never were to life.

Sources:

Abrams, A. (2010). Retrofuture Transportation Showcase. darkroastedblend.com

Modern Mechanix. (2006). Super-Cycle to Smash All Speed Records. blog.modernmechanix.com

Novak, M. (2007). Cars Detroit Forgot To Build. paleofuture.gizmodo.com

Pittenger, D. (2012). Gil Spear and the 1942 Chrysler. artcontrarian.blogspot.com

Sabatini, R. (2020). Coronavirus, the prophetic cover of Domenica del Corriere in 1962: We will go around like this. ilmessaggero.it

Sand, C. (2017). Syd Mead Urban Car design study. retro-futurism.livejournal.com

Tate, R. (2017). Syd Mead and Stainless Steel in a Concept for the Future. motorcities.org

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Visions of an automotive future that hasn't come to fruition - The ClassicCars.com Journal

I dont believe in predicting the future. I believe in helping to create it. Pilati affirms.

He might be known as a trusted advisor to some of the wealthiest individuals in the world and a skillful power broker butDr. Patrick Pilatiis, at his core a humanist. His lifes work has been devoted to the creation of wealth not only financial, but intellectual, academic and motivational as well his unique leadership style is widely regarded as the secret ingredient behind countless large scale economic, technological and geopolitical agreements.

Dr. Pilati serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Luxury Horse (formerly Castro 17 Holding) an innovative and ambitious vehicle soon to be listed in the Luxembourg stock exchange to systematically monetize alternative entertainment industries such as horse racing on a global scale.

But beyond his countless business accolades, Patrick finds joy in philanthropy. Stemming from a lineage of noteworthy figures including Pilatis great grandfather who discovered Zanzibar his commitment to giving back is palpable. His latest humanitarian achievement is the UHURU Healthcare initiative, precisely in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

The1.5B state of the art medical center will have 400 beds and Pilati has secured a large scale partnership with IBM Healthcare which will further empower this heartfelt initiative.But Paticks vision expands far beyond the present, he is passionate about creating the future.

Through his strategic involvement in cutting edge ventures and thanks to his multiple advisory roles within leading companies across wealth management, artificial intelligence, electronic sports, alternative healthcare solutions and ultra high net worth consulting, Pilati has become a modern trendsetter amongst the global elite.

When executives and entrepreneurs approach me for guidance, I always keep in mind that their trust is priceless. As an advisor, board member and public speaker I have learned to empower people as a way to help them reach their utmost potential. Patrick affirms.

In the midst of far-reaching global economic turbulence,select global leaders turn to experts like Dr. Patrick Pilati for advice, and people like him have a reputation for delivering.

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Dr. Patrick Pilati: A Futurist at the Forefront of the New Global Economy - LatestLY

SCARBOROUGHs seafront observation wheel has been given the go-ahead to operate on thesite of the former Futurist Theatre for the next three summers.

Observation Wheel UK, which ran the 32-metre high wheel operated on the site throughout the summer of 2019, should have been operating the attraction from April before the coronavirus lockdown came into force.

The wheel is now up and running and Scarborough Councils planning committee has approved an application that will allow it to remain on the site until October 31, extending the season to make up for the time missed.

The operator was also given permission to use the wheel from April 1 to October 31 in both 2021 and 2022.

The wheel is the same one as used last year, capable of carrying a maximum of 144 passengers with six people seated in each of its 24 enclosed gondolas.

New for 2020 is Captain Jacks Adventure Golf, an 18-hole family golf course, next to the wheel.

The committee voted to allow the golf course to remain on-site all year round.

The plans were approved unanimously.

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Scarborough wheel given go-ahead to remain until 2022 - Gazette & Herald

Cosmic Acceptance

For cosmologist Katie Mack, understanding that the ways that the universe might die provides a sense of comfort and connection with everything around her.

Mack, a researcher at North Carolina State University, told BBC News that studying the ways the universe could theoretically end at any moment or the distant future gave her a strange sense of peace.

Theres something about acknowledging the impermanence of existence that is just a little bit freeing, Mack told BBC News.

Mack argues that many people may feel that the universe is happening elsewhere.To them, everyday life isnt really tethered to the goings-on of the cosmos.

It kind-of made it personal, this idea that the whole universe has these processes going on all the time, but in principle they could happen to me: Im in the universe, and I dont have any protection from this stuff, Mack told BBC News.

Mack added that with her new book, The End of Everything, shes trying to share that terror a little bit, which seems mean, but to help people have that more personal connection with whats going on in the universe.

Whether its heat death, vacuum decay, or any of the other theoretical ways that our universe could go bye-bye, Mack says that any of these scenarios are likely far into the future, if they happen at all.

Its probably not going to happen in the next, you know, trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of years and so on, Mack told BBC News. But, technically, it could happen at any time.

READ MORE: Katie Mack: Knowing how the universe will end is freeing [BBC News]

More on the universe: A Complete Timeline of the Future of Our Universe

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Physicist: Knowing How the Universe Will Die Comforts Me - Futurism

Sonic tandems are the in thing in the Nigerian music industry these days, with various groups challenging norms with their unions and sidelining the dictates of the mainstream. The dynamic duo consisting of singer, Chinar, and producer, Tesla out of Lagos, Nigeria, formally called AfroShop, brings a diverse combination of rich African sounds to birth a rare Afro-fusion perspective that makes them as unique as bands like them come. This perspective armed with an understanding of the creative process of Afro-futurism and its practice with inspiration from their indigenous roots, inspires their latest, Long Time Ago.

A cacophony of rousing sounds, Long Time Ago is an Afro-fusion gem that expresses intimacy and is inspired by real-life age-long convictions of unreciprocated love. The unique body of work rich in unconventional blends of African and urban storytelling creates a soundscape of nostalgic expressions of love and passion that mere words cannot do justice to.

Being the bands debut single, they aim to bring a magic touch to the way we perceive music, while on their journey to music evolution.

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Afroshop Debut Their Afro-futurism Clouded Identity On Long Time Ago - Culture Custodian

Metal Clouds

A bizarreclass of exoplanets called hot super-Earths can appear particularly bright on sky surveys.

Astronomers had previously assumed thatwas because the light was reflecting off vast oceans of lava and glass on their surface, but a team of MIT scientists thinks the brightness comes from a totally-different but equally-weird phenomenon. Their research, published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal, suggests instead that the planets are so bright thanks to reflective clouds formed in a metal-rich atmosphere.

The lava ocean hypothesis was fairly well-accepted, but there was no experimental evidence to back it up. So the MIT team tried it out: They built miniatures of the exoplanets by melting rocks in the lab and seeing how bright the lava and glass was. The verdict? Not enough.

We still have so much to understand about these lava-ocean planets, MIT graduate student Zahra Essack who worked on the research,said in a press release. We thought of them as just glowing balls of rock, but these planets may have complex systems of surface and atmospheric processes that are quite exotic, and not anything weve ever seen before.

The experiment didnt result in new proof for the metal-rich clouds. But it suggests that there has to be something else behind the exoplanets unusual luminosity, and the atmosphere seems like a good place to look.

Were not 100 percent sure what these planets are made of, Essack said in the release, so were narrowing the parameter space and guiding future studies toward all these other potential options.

READ MORE: Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths [MIT]

More on exoplanets: Stunning Images Appear to Show a Planet Being Born

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Super-Earth Exoplanets Could Have Bright-Shining Metallic Atmospheres - Futurism

Innovating Music Podcast

Listen to innovators, change agents, entrepreneurs, creators, and researchers who all are making big leaps, nudging change, creating differently, or watching what is happening from a unique POV. Dr. Gigi Johnson from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music explores with our guests how tech is transforming how we create, collaborate, and create communities around music in a connected age in our home towns and in communities across the globe.

This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we are joined by Ted Cohen, who shared tales of doing things for the right reasons and seeing decades ago the dimensions of our current music streaming playlists and challenges. He talks about genuineness of artists vs. overproduction in livestreaming and concerts, pricing the risks of new markets, scarcity, negotiations, how business challenges repeat, and how some people dont see or know the past launches in their very own businesses. He shares his search and joy for things that are effing amazing as a whole with elegant execution. And he shares the joy of paying it forward from those who got him started as mentors.

Known as part connector/part evangelist/always a futurist, Ted Cohen is Managing Partner of TAG Strategic, an LA-based digital entertainment consultancy. Additionally, Ted is Head of Corporate Development for Mediatech.Ventures, the Austin-based VC/incubator/accelerator. Previously, as SVP-Digital for EMI Music, Cohen led global digital business development. Prior to EMI, Ted led Consulting Adults, clients included Universal Studios, Amazon, Microsoft, and Napster. Cohen also held senior positions at both Warner Bros Records & Philips Electronics. A 40+ year digital entertainment industry veteran, Cohen created & chaired MidemNet and served on the Grammy National Trustee Board. Ted continually looks for the next innovative technology & his next challenge, he really loves his life.

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Everything Old is New Again...with Ted Cohen | Innovating Music Podcast - UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

AJ Paron

SANDOW has announced the appointment of AJ Paron (pictured at left) as executive vice president + design futurist of SANDOW Design Group. Paron is an extremely effective sales and marketing leader whose experience includes creating and leading a multimillion-dollar award-winning design/build firm, developing national programs for ASID, and developing design research programs for the University of Minnesota. She most recently served as national sales director at Design Public Group, a technology platform that streamlines the furniture procurement process in design. Prior to that, she held the national A&D director position at Allsteel/Gunlocke.

In her role as executive vice president + design futurist, Paron will work collaboratively with B2B partners to provide industry intelligence, develop solutions, foster connections, launch new products, and create brand building opportunities.

Interior Image Group

Brooke Traeger-Tumsaroch (pictured at right) has joined Interior Image Group as studio director and principal in the Indiana office. She will work closely alongside firm CEO and founder Patti Tritschler as well as Leslie Schultz, senior vice president of design, in assisting with the development and expansion of the IIG brand while ensuring each project achieves its full potential and profitability. Her client roster will include global brands such as Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide, in addition to other hotel companies.

Svigals + Partners

The architecture, art, and advisory firm Svigals + Partners has announced new leadership in its interior design studio. Katherine Berger, an associate at the firm, will assume the role of director of interior design.

Additionally, Lynn Brotman is retiring from her career as an interior designer to pursue personal interests and family time. Brotman merged her firm with Svigals + Partners in 2017 after 17 years as the head of Lynn Brotman Interior Design.

Gensler

Anne Bretaa has been promoted to co-managing director of Genslers Newport Beach office, leading collaboratively with Chip Williams and Jim Young.Bretaa is currently a principal serving as a workplace studio leader, people & strategy leader, and a financial service firms practice area leader. She leads a diverse range of projects across many industries including financial services, technology, professional services and corporate campuses.

IIDA NY

Erin Ruby has been inaugurated as Chapter President of the New York Chapter of the International Interior Design Association for the 2020-2021 term . She is the founder of her namesake New York City-based multidisciplinary firm, Erin Ruby Design, and co-founder of the nonprofit SolutionsNOW Foundation. During her term, she plans to emphasize the importance of community-related outreach and cultural diversity for design professionals in the state of New York. Rubys presidential term goes into effect in July 2020.

Ware Malcomb

Alicia Zaro (pictured at left) has been promoted to director, interior architecture & design in the firms Los Angeles office. She joined Ware Malcomb in 2014 and was promoted to Studio Manager in 2018. Her role has grown to include business development, managing the studio and project oversight. Zaro is a graduate of the highly selective NAIOP So Cal Young Professionals Group, an industry-leading professional development and leadership program.

Additionally, Samuel Bellomio, PE has joined Ware Malcombs Civil Engineering team as a project manager in the San Diego office, where he will oversee civil projects in the area. He will work closely with Luke Corsbie, Ware Malcomb director of civil engineering, who has responsibility for the overall growth and management of civil engineering services for the Southern California region.

KSI Kitchen & Bath

Michigan-based KSI Kitchen & Bath announced their new CEO, Tony Achatz (pictured at right). He is a 15-year veteran of the cabinets industry who joins KSI from Cabinetworks Group (formerly Masco Cabinetry) where he served as director of sales and led the dealer channel across the US. Additionally the brand is launching a relocation and remodel of its Birmingham, Michigan design space, expected to be complete by the end of the summer. In addition, their subsidiary, Cabinets Express has announced plans to expand.

Sagebrook Home

Home decor brand Sagebrook Home names Serena Martin (pictured at left) as Marketing Director. Martins role will encompass sales and marketing, advertising, content, engagement and community events. She brings honed industry knowledge from herrecent role in Houzzs Marketing Event & Trade show department for the U.S. and Canada as well as a proven track record of success running the marketing department for ZUO Modern.

To kick off her new role, Martin plans to dive into the brand's extensive 10,000 sku product assortment to better understand its entire product portfolio from accent furniture to accessories as well as wall decor and lighting. Followed by meetings with content, product, and sales teams to align sales strategies and forecasts for upcoming product launches and promotional campaigns.

HLW

Jonce Walker, LEED AP, certified sustainable building advisor and Fitwel ambassador, has officially joinedHLWas director of sustainability and wellness, operating out of the firm's New York City office. She brings a strong background in place-based urban design to the team with a portfolio that spans more than 14 years of high performance sustainability work across a wide array of project typologies including airports, institutional buildings, multi-family residential, commercial high-rise and interiors, master planned communities, and higher education facilities.

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On the Move: Recent Hires and Promotions - Interior Design

Wakey Wakey

After scientists gave them a little snack, some 101.5-million-year-old bacteria sprang back to life after an extremely long nap.

Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology dug up chunks of clay from 70 meters beneath the ocean floor. They injected it with sugar and ammonia and, to their surprise, Ars Technica reports that colonies of bacteria quickly chowed down on the meal. Its a bizarre discovery, and one that suggests that organisms can survive more inhospitable environments than scientists thought.

Most shocking even more shocking than ancient bacteria surviving this long is that the bacteria found in the clay were mostly aerobic.

According to the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, the bacteria needed oxygen to live. Without it, bacterial growth quickly stopped. But theres almost no oxygen to be found at the seafloor, especially under 70 meters of clay.

Its technically possible that younger, more modern bacteria could have seeped down into the clay, Ars Technica reports, but the scientists think it was too densely packed to allow that.

What we found was that life extends all the way from the seafloor to the underlying rocky basement, University of Rhode Island oceanographer and study co-author Steven DHondt said in an accompanying video. And what [lead author Yuki Moronos] paper now shows is that those organisms are not only alive in the deepest form of sediment, but theyre capable of growing and dividing.

READ MORE: Bacteria live despite burial in seafloor mud for 100 million years [Ars Technica]

More on ancient history: Scientists Say Ancient Earth Was Completely Covered in Water

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Scientists Revive 100-Million-Year-Old Lifeforms - Futurism

Holy Hack

State-backed Chinese hackers allegedly targeted both the Vatican and the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong in a months-long attack.

The attacks, first spotted by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, occurred as the Vatican and Chinese government prepare for a round of diplomatic negotiations, according to The Associated Press. China called the accusation groundless speculation, but Recorded Future suggests that state-backed hacker group RedDelta attempted to give China a leg up in the upcoming talks.

In September, the Vatican and Chinese government are slated to begin renegotiations of a 2018 diplomatic agreement about bishop appointments within the country, according to AP News. The deal is a key part of the two parties relationship.

The suspected intrusion into the Vatican would offer RedDelta insight into the negotiating position of the Holy See ahead of the deals September 2020 renewal, reads Recorded Futures report.

Catholicism has been a problem for the Chinese government: AP News reports that the countrys 12 million Catholics are split in half between a Chinese-backed sect and an underground church that remains loyal to the Pope.

The 2018 deal and the upcoming renewal was an attempt to unite the two factions. The original agreement recognized the status of seven state-appointed bishops who hadnt been approved by the Vatican, smoothing over relations between the two.

READ MORE: Vatican allegedly hacked by China ahead of key talks [The Associated Press]

More on the Vatican: Trolls Immediately Attack Vatican Minecraft Server

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China Allegedly Hacked the Vatican, Other Catholic Computer Systems - Futurism

An impressive scoop by the MIT Technology Review: Using simple lab tools, a ragtag group of scientists cobbled together their own grey-market COVID-19 vaccine and instead of jumping through the usual hoops for a clinical trial, theyre testing it on themselves.

The group calls itself the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative (Radvac.) Led by celebrity Harvard geneticist George Church, the team set out to find a simple formula that you could make with readily available materials, as Preston Estep, Churchs former graduate student at Harvard and leader of the project, told MIT Tech.

The group came up with a vaccine, which consists of bits of protein that match the coronavirus, but arent able to cause disease. They even posted a white paper detailing how to cook it up yourself. Similar approaches have been used to make other vaccines, as MIT Tech points out, including for hepatitis B and HPV.

The group quickly found several volunteers who were willing to squirt the makeshift vaccine up their noses using a pump, which they believe could create a local immunity in the tissues of the airway.

Despite not making any claims about the effectiveness of their vaccine, Radvac has now given materials to dozens of friends and colleagues. In fact, Estep told MIT Tech that hes lost track of how many people have taken it so far.

In sum, its an extremely deviant approach compared to the staid world of conventional pharmaceutical research. Unsurprisingly, thats alramed some skeptics.

Its not the best idea especially in this case, you could make things worse, George Siber, the former head of vaccines at Wyeth, a Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical company, told MIT Tech. You really need to know what you are doing here.

The project could run into trouble with the Food and Drug Administration, according to MIT Tech. Money may not be changing hands and each user has to sign extensive disclaimers, but regulators could still crack down on the group.

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These Scientists Are Testing an Experimental COVID Vaccine on Themselves - Futurism

Enhance!

A tiny military satellite may be able to take the sharpest picturesyet of extremely distant and difficult to spot objects out in space.

DARPA, the Pentagons research division, recently deployedwhat they call the Deformable Mirror (DeMi) CubeSat from the International Space Station, according to a press release. Over the next year, the toaster-sized satellite will use its camera to focus on the dim, distant objects in space that usually get washed out by nearby stars or other larger objects.

DeMi is drastically smaller than famous space cameras like the Hubble Space Telescope, but DARPA is counting on its ability to focus on overlooked celestial bodies to vastly improve the images scientists can capture.

Space telescopes currently in orbit are limited in ability to detect and distinguish small, dim objects next to large, bright objects for example, dim exoplanets next to bright stars, DeMI project manager Stacie Williams said in the press release. Our goal is to demonstrate the benefits of a [microelectromechanical systems] deformable mirror to actively correct the images of distant objects in space.

The CubeSat camera will also be treated as a test to see how the extreme temperatures, radiation, and other harsh conditions of space impact the camera, which relies on several small moving parts.

For instance, the mirror uses over 140 different actuators to adjust its shape and line up a shot so DARPA will be tracking how well it can adjust as pieces warp or fall out of alignment.

READ MORE: Miniature telescope demonstration focuses on sharpening view of distant objects in space [DARPA]

More on space cameras: NASA Says Hubble Observed a Flapping Shadow in Distant Space

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DARPA Deploys Tiny Satellite That Could Take Best Pictures of Space Ever - Futurism

Researchers have found evidence of gigantic waves of sand, often referred to as megaripples, slowly moving around on the surface of Mars, as Science reports.

Megaripples arent unique to Mars; they can be found in deserts back here on Earth as well. But the Red Planets colossal sand dunes, believed to have formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, could be a sign that winds on Mars are even stronger than previously believed.

In a paper published last month in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the team suggests that megaripples may be migrating thanks to small grains of sand knocking into larger grains, dragging them into motion.

The new research goes against current atmospheric models that largely suggest winds couldnt be strong on Mars enough to move these mega sand structures. In other words, a thin atmosphere may allow for surprisingly strong winds.

Using images taken by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the international team of scientists had a closer look. By focusing on two sites near the Martian equator, they analyzed a total of 1,100 megaripples.

Scientists previously believed that these megaripples on the Red Planet were first formed a long time ago, when a thicker atmosphere allowed for much heavier winds, and were now stationary.

But to their astonishment, they found that the megaripples do in fact appear to move albeit at the slow paceof roughly 10 centimeters per Earth year. According to Science, thats about as fast as megaripples in the Lut Desert in Iran.

The surprising takeaway: Winds could be strong enough after all, despite the thin Martian atmosphere. A past climate with a denser atmosphere is not necessary to explain their accumulation and migration, the team concluded in their paper.

And thats bad news for future astronauts visiting the Red Planet, as windy conditions could end up messing with habitats and solar panels.

Nonetheless, its an astonishing new discovery about our planetary neighbor.

We can now measure processes on the surface of another planet that are just a couple times faster than our hair grows, Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who was not involved in the study, told Science.

READ MORE: Giant waves of sand are moving on Mars [Science]

More on Mars: NASAs Next Rover Will Bring First-Ever Microphone to Mars

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Astronomers Say "Megaripples" Are Moving Across the Surface of Mars - Futurism

Homeward Bound

In a matter of days, NASA is set to launch its Perseverance rover to Mars.

One curiosity of the mission is that Perseverance will be bringing a rock back to the Red Planet that scientists believe originated on Marsroughly 600,000 to 700,000 years ago, as the BBC reports for a fascinating scientific reason.

The rock, first discovered in the deserts of Oman in 1999, is one of nine materials that NASAs rover will take with it. These materials, housed inside a device on the rover called Sherloc, will serve to calibrate Perseveranceslaser and spectroscopy instruments. In other words, itll be a control to make sure that if Perseverance finds evidence of ancient life, itll know for sure.

Well look at the calibration target in the first 60-90 days and perhaps not again for six months because we think the instrument is really very stable, Luther Beegle, principal investigator of Sherloc at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the BBC.

But if we start seeing interesting things on the surface of Mars that we cant explain in the spectra, then well look back to the calibration target to make sure that the instruments working correctly, he added.

The eventual goal is to collect interesting rocks, seal them in a small tube, and leave them behind on the Martian surface to be returned by later missions.

READ MORE: Nasa Mars rover: Meteorite to head home to Red Planet [BBC]

More on Perseverance: NASAs Next Rover Will Bring First-Ever Microphone to Mars

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Here's Why NASA's Next Rover is Bringing a Mars Rock Back to Mars - Futurism

Over the past year, SpaceX has been launching hundreds of small broadband internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of its Starlink constellation. The tally as of June: 540.

While the promise of reliable and fast satellite internet accessible from pretty much anywhere in the world sounds pretty promising, not everybody is happy. As it turns out, the tiny satellites are way brighter than anybody was expecting and thats bad news for astronomers.

Over the last couple of months, countless reports have emerged of frustrated astronomers having their observations ruined by Starlink satellites appearing as bright streaks of light.

In the latest instance, images taken of the spectacular NEOWISE comet by astrophotographer Daniel Lopez were completely photobombed by Elon Musks Starlink satellites, as Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer Julien Girard pointed out in a tweet.

If there are lots and lots of bright moving objects in the sky, it tremendously complicates our job, Smith College astronomer James Lowenthal told The New York Times last November. It potentially threatens the science of astronomy itself.

Theyre so bright, in fact, that some are visible to the naked eye. In fact, onlookers keep mistaking them for UFOs, according to news reports from December.

The brightness is due in part to the fact that the Starlink satellites are orbiting Earth at much closer distance than most an operational altitude of roughly 550 kilometers, rather than the usual medium-Earth orbit (at 20,000 km) or geostationary orbit (at 36,000 km) used by other kinds of satellites, like those that provide GPS and communication services.

SpaceX has also claimed that theyre bright early on because theyre still climbing in orbit after launch, and will eventually spread out and become dimmer over a period of several months.

Luckily, SpaceX claims its working on a number of solutions.

Early attempts to paint the underside of each satellite with an anti-reflective coat of paint seem to have only been partially successful.

SpaceX is now trying out a new method: launching satellites with a cool pair of sunglasses. The space company is planning to mount retractable sunshades,called VisorSat, to each of the satellites to block sunlight from hitting its reflective parts the main reason theyre so bright SpaceNews reported in May.

The companys latest batch of Starlink satellites,which launched back in June, included a just single unit with such a sunshade. Its still unclear if the solution will appease astronomers.

SpaceXs most recent Starlink launch, 57 satellites each equipped with a VisorSat sunshade, had to be delayed due to weather earlier this month. The launch is now planned for July 29.

If no solution is found, astronomers could be struggling with bright Starlink satellites ruining their observations for many years to come. SpaceX already has permission from the Federal Communications Commission to launch tens of thousands of Starlink satellites to bring global internet coverage to the world.

More on Starlink: SpaceX Is Now Taking Requests for Starlink Beta Testers

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SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Ruined This Photo of the NEOWISE Comet - Futurism

Space War

Last week, Russia tested what U.S. military officials believe to be a dangerous new anti-satellite weapon.

In short, the Russian satellite Cosmos 2543 demonstrated that its capable of approaching another satellite in orbit and shooting it down, C4ISRNET reports. And that demo, amidst international talks about demilitarizing space, has the Pentagon concerned.

The actual weapon worked sort of like a Russian nesting doll: Cosmos 2543 first deployed a sub-satellite that then launched a projectile at the relative speed of 250 kilometers per hour. There was no target, and the satellite was only near another Russian satellite for the demo, but U.S. military officials see the test as a show of force.

This is further evidence of Russias continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, General John Raymond, Space Force Chief of Space Operations, said in a statement provided to C4ISRNET, and consistent with the Kremlins published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk.

The U.S. State Department sees the weapons test as a sign that space warfare is a growing threat worthy of greater attention, C4ISRNET reports. And officials couldnt resist taking a jab at Russia along the way.

This event highlights Russias hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control, with which Moscow aims to restrict the capabilities of the United States while clearly having no intention of halting its own counterspace program, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Chris Ford said in the statement.

READ MORE: Russia conducted anti-satellite test in space, says U.S. Space Command [C4ISRNET]

More on space warfare: The Pentagon Wants Sentinel Satellites To Deter Space Warfare

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Russia Just Tested a Military Satellite That Kills Other Satellites - Futurism