No country has ever successfully sent a microphone to Mars. As a result, weve never heard the eerie sounds of the surface of Red Planet.

Even if only a few minutes of Martian sounds are recorded from this first experiment, the public interest will be high and the opportunity for scientific exploration real, famed astronomer Carl Sagan wrote in a 1996 letter to NASA, as quoted by the Planetary Society, a nonprofit space exploration advocacy group.

But with NASAs Perseverance mission launching in just a single week if the weather plays along that all may change. The agencys next-gen Mars rover is outfitted with not just one but two microphones.

Afterthe crafts six month journey through the solar system, the two microphones attached to NASAs Perseverance rover could finally offer us a tantalizing first: a chance to listen to what Mars actually sounds like.

One microphone, on Perseverances Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) system, was designed to make sure the rover makes it down to Mars unharmed. Thanks to accompanying video, we could soon, for the first time ever, get to watch and listen to a Mars landing.

The second is part of the rovers SuperCam instrument, which builds on Curiositys ChemCam, a laser beam that heats and vaporizes rocks to determine what chemicals theyre made of.

The microphones could also tell us about the rovers health.

Hearing how the mast swivels, the wheels turn, or hearing how other instruments sound can also be an important engineering diagnostic tool, said Greg Delory, the CEO and co-founder of space hardware company Heliospace and an advisor to the SuperCam team, in the statement.

Previous attempts at recording the sounds of Mars with a microphone quickly turned into an uphill battle with plenty of setbacks.

The Planetary Society, co-founded by Sagan in 1980, jumped into action in the mid-1990s to finally bring a microphone to Mars. Initially, the team was hoping to attach one to NASAs Mars Polar Lander mission, set to launch in 1990.

They got to work and after raising $100,000, they came up with the Mars Microphone, the first crowdfunded scientific instrument to fly to another planet, according to the Society.

The original Mars microphone we built was a smart little box, about 5 centimeters on each side, weighing 50 grams, Delory said. The microphone was built for extreme environments, and we tested it enough to know how robust it was.

Unfortunately, a NASA committee dismissed the idea. A second chance to have it attached to Frances Netlander mission in 2007 cropped up, but the mission was canceled in 2004.

Several years later, a different microphone made its way all the way to Mars mounted to NASAs Phoenix lander in 2008. In yet another unfortunate turn of events, the microphone had to be deactivated prior to the launch due to a technical glitch.

The closest the Earth has come to hearing the sounds of Mars was in December 2018, when NASAused InSights seismometer and air pressure sensorto capture something approximating sound. However, recordings had to be pitched and sped up to hear.

Lets hope Perseverance makes it to Mars in one piece. Only then will be able to get to hear the sounds of an alien planet.

READ MORE: Perseverance microphones fulfill long Planetary Society campaign to hear sounds from Mars [Planetary Society]

More on Mars rovers:NASAs Mars Rover Spent the Weekend Shooting a Weird-Looking Rock With a Laser

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NASA's Next Rover Will Bring First-Ever Microphone to Mars - Futurism

The world constantly shifts its technology. From the newest iPhone hitting the shelves to graphics in video games getting just a little bit better every year, its hard to keep up with how much the world has changed from technological advances. Now, as time marches on, and during a global pandemic, the entertainment industry is reckoning with how it will move technology into the future and what that will mean for the world.

At this years San Diego Comic Con, which was held entirely virtually and called Comic-Con@Home, panelists in tech and entertainment gathered to talk about these rapid changes. The panel called The Future of Entertainment, included thought leaders from Paramount Pictures, The Masked Singer,CAA andSteinberg Sports. It was moderated byTravis Cloyd, futurist at FIU, and co-founder, Worldwide XR.

Speakers highlighted the pandemics immense impact on the entertainment industrybut not in the way many may think. In fact, some of the innovations that executives have come up with have ended up being a net positive livestreaming events being one of the most positive with digital concert experiences seen as a growing market.

[Livestreaming] is a big thing that will carry on even past the pandemic, says Phil Quist, music agent, CAA. One of our clients, Super M, a K-pop band, did a livestream from Korea and streamed it to the whole world. 75,000 people tuned in and they grossed over 2 million dollars which is more than they would for a regular show. BTS did one this past weekend and sold almost one billion tickets. Well see virtual beings, avatars, virtual worlds entirely where you can go to a virtual festival for example and interact with other virtual avatars that are tied to real people.

Augmented and virtual reality are set to become a valuable tool in film and television production as entertainment businesses, like set designers, have converted to a digital model for the time being.

We have a lot of experience building physical sets and now were building virtual and augmented sets and at the end of the day, my design studio has turned completely into a virtual design studio, says James Pearce Connelly, production designer, The Masked Singer. Now were getting calls from all sorts of different places [to build] worlds for them, already in 3D that can impose right into the camera.

Ted Schilowitz, futurist, Paramount, also expanded upon Connellys new experiences with set design.

Everything is dynamic, and we can actually bring that technology literally to the production set, says Schilowitz. We can feed virtual backgrounds into high resolution LED walls and use that as the lighting source for the characters and as the background which fundamentally looks real to the viewers. A director could say hmm those mountains dont look quite right. Could we bring in some other mountains? A technician could click a couple of buttons, grab a couple of files, 10 seconds later, theres the new mountains. The world of effects is starting to become the world of set design.

Schilowitz also says that certain technological advances in gaming and media, such as a fully-rendered avatars, much like social media phenomenon Little Miquela, are set to be commercialized within the next five to seven years and could be a huge niche in the consumer product market.

The panelists also discussed just how much entertainment will change technologically and how that will have an eventual impact on society as a whole. From diversity to city maintenance, increased student participation and more, entertainment technology is set to change the world.

Leslie Shannon, ecosystem and trend scouting head, Nokia, discussed a recent experience in Wellington, New Zealand, where she saw the city council begin to use a digital twin to render 3D model of the city they built ten years ago to mark what was going on within the city.

I think well really start seeing a union of the real and the virtual. [Wellington] started using that as the central point where all the different departments of the city council put their information into the digital twin, reports Shannon. Wellington is a city that is prone to earthquakes and flooding, so they were able to see okay, if the water rises due to global warming, what parts of the city will be hit first? Where do we maybe need to build sea walls? Thats the power of moving from data in a bunch of spreadsheets to putting it into something you can touch and feel. You no longer have to have a big sell; you can just show people.

Cathy Hackl, futurist, touched on the importance of keeping this technology in check in order to use it for good.

When were thinking tech, we dont only [think about] technology, adds Hackl. Were think also about the behavioral, the economic and the societal impacts that this technology is going to have.

Regardless of technological advances, human connection will still reign supreme, as nothing can be sold to a consumer without it. Whether its sports, entertainment, consumer products or something else entirely, that humanity will need to walk hand in hand with technology.

Reading and getting as much information as you can about whats going on in the world allows you to visualize what the next steps are and imagine a future thats not there [yet], says Leigh Steinberg, sports agent, Steinberg Sports. If youre willing to create enough space with another human being and as you move forward with the integration of this technology, youll have to integrate a lot of thoughts of bright people, but knowing how to get them to open up and express those is a real talent [that will still be needed].

In order to utilize entertainment technology for commercial growth, businesses will need to use the pandemic and its aftermath to create a happy medium of the in-person experiences we know and love with the virtual experiences we are growing accustomed to. Not only will this create the futuristic products that will bring in revenue, but it can change the world for the better in the long run, just as long as the humanity of the consumer is always put first

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The Future of Entertainment: How Technological Advances in Entertainment Will Change Everything - License Global

Make It Rain

A major ATM sales and services company is warning that thieves have found a new way of jackpotting ATM machines causing them to spit out massive wads of cash, Ars Technica reports.

Jackpotting involves attaching rogue devices called black boxes to open up programming interfaces inside the ATM machines software and issue commands, forcing it to, proverbially, make it rain.

According to a statement issued by multinational banking solutions corporation Diebold Nixdorf, thieves have worked out a new way to get their hands of copious amounts of cash.

The hacks typically involve a combination of brute force and cyberattack savvy.

In the recent incidents, attackers are focusing on outdoor systems and are destroying parts of the fascia in order to gain physical access to the head compartment, reads the security alert. After getting inside of the ATM, the thieves hook up special USB devices, in order to trigger the banking machine to dispense money.

According to Diebold Nixdorf, the new scheme is mostly occurring in certain European countries, and appears to largely affect one common type of ATM machine.

Previous jackpotting approaches involved the use of black boxes that were even able to change the maximum amount a given ATM was authorized to spit out.

There is a silver lining to the latest hack, as Ars Technica points out. The thieves new approach doesnt seem to target the retrieval of personal banking information, as has been the case with previous schemes.

READ MORE: Crooks have acquired proprietary Diebold software to jackpot ATMs [Ars Technica]

More on ATMs: This Malware Makes ATMs Spit Out All Their Money

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Clever Hackers Are Making ATMs Spit Out All Their Money - Futurism

New Matrix

After two decades of work, a giant team of astronomers unveiled their pice de rsistance: the most comprehensive map of the universe ever assembled.

The map spans back over 12 billion years into the history of the universe, CNET reports. To build it, astronomers relied on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and analyzed more than 4 million galaxies and quasars. And in doing so, they may help settle a major debate in the astronomy community over how fast the universe is growing.

Will Percival, a researcher from Canadas University of Waterloo who worked on the map, called the project the complete story of the expansion of the universe in an SDSS press release.

A key part of that story happened about six billion years ago, according to the projects data. The map suggests that right around that point in time, the rate at which the universe was expanding accelerated rapidly.

The rate of the universes expansion, the Hubble Constant, is a touchy subject among astronomers: Theoretical calculations for the value have long disagreed with actual observations, puzzling experts. With this new map, the SDSS team believes they may have resolved that mismatch by determining that the universe actually sped up at a specific moment rather than expanding constantly.

Only with maps like ours, University of Oxford researcher Eva-Maria Mueller said in the release, can you actually say for sure that there is a mismatch in the Hubble Constant.

READ MORE: Scientists reveal biggest 3D map ever of the universe [CNET]

More on space maps: This X-Ray Map of the Entire Sky Is a Psychedelic Dreamworld

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Astronomers Release Largest Map of the Universe in History - Futurism

What will homes look like in 2030? According to a new survey by the International Furnishings and Design Association, they will be smaller, smarter and healthier. The organizations Vision for the Future of Home survey came up with a number of predictions as to what trends will influence the way people live in the next decade.

The survey was last done in 2010, when IFDA members were asked to make predictions about the houses of 2020. The trends toward fewer rooms and the waning of the formal living and dining rooms, predicted 10 years ago, were highlighted again this year as hallmarks of the homes of 2030. Taken by 111 IFDA members, the questions for the survey were devised and sent out before COVID-19 took hold of the world, so the results dont address issues like whether the public health crisis will lead to a migration away from cities or other ways the pandemic might reshape the American home. But the survey respondents did predict a continued importance on indoor/outdoor spaces, which seems to have been hastened in the age of social distancing.

The 2010 survey also forecasted the domination of the smart home, something that hasnt quite taken holdat least, not in the way respondents predicted a decade ago. Looking forward, new respondents said that they expect the popularity of sensor- and voice-activated technology to continue to grow, but cited concerns over hacking and privacy. A similar observation was given to BOH this spring when we asked three futurists to predict what the homes of the 2030s would look like. I occasionally visit the home of an ultrawealthy person, and they absolutely dont want to live in Tony Starks homepartly because of data concerns and privacy, innovation consultant Piers Fawkes, founder and president of consumer research agency PSFK, told BOH. People now buy old Sonos speakers that dont have Alexa in them, just for privacy.

Survey respondents also indicated that wellness and aging-in-place are priorities. Ninety-six percent agreed that aging-in-place would be considered in any design plan of the future, though its a topic that many designers say is difficult and often awkward to bring up. In 2019, Erik Listou and Louie Delaware, the founders of the Living in Place Institute, which offers education and certification to design industry professionals, told BOH that the best approach to conversations around aging-in-place can be to not have them at all. They dont ask you whether or not you want safety features in your car, they just put them in, said Listou. Its not important to spend time trying to educate consumers. Lets just do it. Lets just make better, safer homes. Listou points out that considerations like the width of a door frame (which are often not built to the standard set by the Americans With Disabilities Act in residential settings) or how high to place outlets are easy but impactful choices designers and architects can make without consulting the client. Most houses in the country dont have the basic components of safety [that we need], he says. So, the simplest approach becomes, lets just make everything we do safe.

In the wellness category, respondents see the most likely growth in the bathroomsomething that Beatriz Sandoval, director of brand marketing for kitchen appliance brand Thermador, also predicts. Now more than ever, designers are looking to create customized rooms for focus and self-care for their clients, she told BOH. Whether thats a space to apply a face mask while enjoying a glass of wine, or stretching after a difficult day, a relaxing room to retreat to is essential. In recent years, product manufacturers have debuted bath fixtures that incorporate everything from aromatherapy and chromotherapy to a zero-gravity bathtub that relieves joint stress.

For the industry at large, the survey predicts an increase in the demand for virtual reality presentations and the number of clients ordering home goods online. But notably, the respondents did not foresee a growing demand for interior designers. Instead, they indicated that they thought the numbers would stay similar to what they are nowanother topic that could potentially be altered by the amount of time people are now spending in their homes.

Ultimately, the survey predicts that the home of 2030 will be largely similar to the home of 2020something that Brian David Johnson, the futurist-in-residence at Arizona State Universitys Center for Science and the Imagination, agrees with. The dirty secret is that in 10 years, homes are going to look a lot like they do today, he told BOH. Thats not a bad thing. Thats understanding that we as humans like things that are comfortable and have history. I tell my students that if you walk out your front door and it looks like it did on The Jetsons, thats a nightmare. We dont want our homes to change all that much.

Homepage photo: Adobe Stock | (c) Kit8

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A new industry survey predicts homes that are smaller, smarter and healthier - Business of Home

HOPE VALLEY, R.I. (AP) News articles dont carry Hollywood-style viewer ratings or trigger warnings. Maybe this one should.

But consider this: What if THESE are the good old days?

Depressing as that might seem after the coronavirus pandemic has claimed well over 630,000 lives worldwide, cost tens of millions their jobs and inflicted untold misery across the planet, it's entirely possible increasingly likely, some say that things will get worse before they get better.

Americans in particular have been optimists by nature for the better part of four centuries. But even here, a bleak dystopian vision is emerging in some corners. It's not pretty.

It imagines a not-too-distant future where we'll all look back with nostalgia at 2020 as a time when most of us had plenty of food and wine, could get many of the goods and services we needed, and could work from home at jobs that still paid us.

"This could be as good as it gets, so lets take pleasure in what we have now, Katherine Tallman, the CEO of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, an indie cinema in Brookline, Mass., told a recent Zoom roundtable.

The pandemic continues to buffet the planet economically, dashing hopes that the worst of the joblessness might be behind us.

For 18 consecutive weeks now, more than a million Americans have sought unemployment benefits. New infections have been surging in states like Florida and California that power the economy, threatening people's health and livelihoods for the foreseeable future.

That's bad. But in online forums and on social media, futurists see the potential for worse. Much worse. Their musings aren't for the faint of heart.

Its likely that few, if any, of their forecasts will come to pass. This time next year, we may well marvel at how swiftly this existential threat was vanquished. But with the numbers going in the wrong direction, and collective confidence badly shaken, those given to ruinous thoughts can be forgiven for thinking the worst:

What if humanitys frantic efforts to produce a viable vaccine take longer than envisioned, allowing the virus to kill indiscriminately in the interim?

What if that coincides with a climate calamity that ruins crops and shatters supply chains, stripping supermarket shelves bare of much more than hand sanitizer and toilet paper?

For all our kvetching about masks, could we one day find ourselves having to don hazmat suits just to leave the house?

Is it such a stretch to imagine the economic fallout moving beyond jobs and 401(k)s and wiping out entire industries setting off a global Great Depression, Part Two?

The pandemic is "going to get worse and worse and worse, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters this past week. There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future.

Even President Donald Trump, in a notable departure from his generally insistent stance that the U.S. has the outbreak under control, said the nasty horrible virus will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better.

Margaret Hetherman, a New York City-based writer and futurist, thinks some of our darker pandemic experiences things like fighting over canned goods and hoarding toilet paper could foreshadow more dire years ahead if global warming continues unabated.

Were getting a taste of what could be ahead if we dont get control of ourselves here. The empty shelves could be just the beginning, she said. Its hard to imagine, but the climate crisis upon us is probably going to render this a piece of cake by comparison.

The Rhode Island village of Hope Valley mirrors the new COVID-19 landscape. More is closed than is open, including the local Grange community center, usually a beehive of activity and human connection.

NO YOGA, reads a plastic sign out front. BE HEALTHY BE HAPPY BE SAFE, it adds, though the hamlet like thousands of other small towns nationwide is powerless to help its people accomplish any of those things.

For businesses and consumers alike, a new order appears to be dawning one in which the risk of viral outbreaks increasingly is seen as perpetual, not a one-off.

These times were in right now perilous as they are will soon be looked back on fondly as the good old days. Prepare accordingly, tweeted Columbia University philosopher Rory Varrato.

The website Quartz.com asked experts in business, technology, food, the arts and other sectors how the world will be different in five years because of the coronavirus. Their responses? Largely grim.

My bet is that movie theaters wont exist, said one, University of Pennsylvania psychologist Adam Grant.

The pandemic has pummeled airlines and the hospitality industry. The American Hotel and Lodging Association warns that more than 8,000 U.S. hotels could close for good as early as September. Restaurants also are imperiled: Without government intervention, Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts cautioned this month, there could be an extinction experience.

Politics, too, cloud the horizon and moods. For some, a dystopian future includes four more years of Trump's chaotic presidency; for others, the election of Joe Biden and a sudden lurch back to the left.

As if all that isn't enough to bring down the room, people love to share word of random supposed signs of the apocalypse things that certainly aren't, like the North American invasion of murder hornets and that squirrel in Colorado that was found to have been infected with bubonic plague.

That stuff we mostly shrug off. But the future, writ large, is serious business. It is, after all, where we pin our hopes and dreams.

If these do turn out to be the good old days, at least there are things for which we legitimately can be thankful: more time and meals together with loved ones; an extended reprieve from soul-sapping commutes; and for some of us a greater emotional investment in our children, if only because we're seeing a lot more of each other.

Even now, we can find joy in a day, said Hetherman, the futurist. Even if were in a hazmat suit, God help us, well have to find what joy we can.

------

William J. Kole is AP's New England editor.

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Pondering the pandemic: What if things get worse? - theday.com

The most popular Afrofuturist authors write deftly at this margin, where they are just as future-obsessed as their peers, but with different takes on questions about who gets to play which roles in these futures. For example, Jemisins Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010) is a story about empire and slavery that plays out in a supernatural realm of deities and monsters. Butlers 1979 classic Kindred famously features an African-American writer who travels between modern Los Angeles and a Maryland plantation during the antebellum period.

In music, acts like Sun Ra and Parliament Funkadelic built their looks and sounds on a marriage between Black culture and futuristic iconography. For Afrofuturist artists, technology is an essential part of the sound. Play Parliament's acid-infused take on the Motown sound in "I Bet You" and feel the future course through your veins. These are masters of craft, originators of new sonic (and therefore social) worlds, says Nelson. They all break, deform, and remake standard uses of music technology, genre and even expectations of race, gender, and sexuality.

Afrofuturisms importance also transcends the arts, and insofar as it can be described as a political identity or ideology (Nelson and other scholars leave open this possibility), then it provides a lens through which we can view the present and future.

We could have asked the Afrofuturist of 1985 what they thought about the War on Drugs. We could ask those in 1995 about Sub-Saharan Africas experience with the HIV pandemic, and in 2005 about the War on Terror.

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Why do we care about what the Afrofuturist has to say? And why would we suspect that their answers would differ from that of an average futurist? It is because the Black experience is defined by a historical struggle for existence, the right to live, to be considered a person, to be afforded basic rights, in pursuit of (political, social, economic) equality. Because of this, the Afrofuturist can see the parts of the present and future that reside in the status quos blind spots.

Futurists ask what tomorrows hoverboards and flying cars are made of. Afrofuturists ask who will build them? And does their commercial use fall out of their utility in military or law enforcement?

Futurists labor over questions about the nature of Android consciousness and empathy. Afrofuturists ask how race might be wired into Android consciousness, whether the android world might be as divided as ours is.

These are simple but nontrivial questions. Their answers contain the necessary details for building science fiction worlds that are truly convincing (which is one of the sole charges of good science fiction), or real worlds that science fiction makes us aspire to.

We can ask analogous questions of modern society, speculating what our world will look like after experiencing a triad of world-changing current events: the largest pandemic in a century, a social movement that challenges the institutions of policing and criminal justice, and an upcoming presidential election that almost certainly serves as a referendum on democracy in the United States (and the legitimacy of white nationalism-driven fascism globally).

We should ask Afrofuturism what it thinks of these events. While the specific answers might enlighten, real insights are found in the act of answering, as it forces us to reconsider and augment our predictions with layers that were missing.

The Covid-19 Comet

Covid-19 is the curse that keeps on cursing, already taking more than half a million lives globally and nearly 140,000 in the US. The curves dark bend, however, is not simply in how the virus continues to spread and kill, but in how the pandemic slithers along an insidious path, feeding on misinformation rich in credentialism, charlatanism, pseudoscience, conspiracy, and political propaganda.

The resulting cosmic slop looks more grotesque in July than it was in March. The world is so full of bad messages that make-believe conspiracies go to war with each other on our social media timelines; carpetbaggers storm in with reckless abandon, attacking the publics basic trust in science and information; epidemiologists debate with Silicon Valley technologists, or other scientists, about whether things are getting better or worse; the science of mask-wearing regresses into hapless debates about the definition of freedom. Amid the torrent, fact-makers and science-defenders struggle to climb from the rubble and stay motivated and engaged.

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How Afrofuturism Can Help the World Mend - WIRED

ATCG Drive

The intricate arrangement of base pairs in our DNA encodes just about everything about us. Now, DNA contains the entirety of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as well.

A team of University of Texas Austin scientists just vastly improved the storage capacity of DNA and managed to encode the entire novel translated into the geek-friendly language of Esperanto in a double strand of DNA far more efficiently than has been done before. DNA storage isnt new, but this work could help finally make it practical.

Big tech companies like Microsoft are already exploring DNA-storage technology, as the biomolecule can encode several orders of magnitude more information per unit volume than a hard drive. But DNA is particularly error-prone. It can easily be damaged and erase whatevers stored on it.

The key breakthrough is an encoding algorithm that allows accurate retrieval of the information even when the DNA strands are partially damaged during storage, molecular biologist Ilya Finkelstein said in a UT Austin press release.

In the past, scientists had to encode the same information over and over so that the built-in redundancies would serve as a backup. But in the new research, set to be published in the journal PNAS, backups are no longer needed. Now, each bit of information strengthens the others around it.

We found a way to build the information more like a lattice, UT Austin researcher Stephen Jones said in the release. Each piece of information reinforces other pieces of information. That way, it only needs to be read once.

READ MORE: Power of DNA to store information gets an upgrade [UT Austin]

More on DNA: Scientists Just Stored The Hottest Album From 1998 In Literal DNA

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Scientists Stored "The Wizard of Oz" on a Strand of DNA - Futurism

Not Interested

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, has nothing nice to say about NASAs efforts to return astronauts to the Moon, Ars Technica reports.

In an interview with Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda a former mouthpiece of the USSR Rogozin said Russia had no interest in working with NASA on its Artemis Moon program.

Frankly speaking, we are not interested in participating in such a project, he said.

The news comes after Rogozin took aim at SpaceX for mocking Russias space efforts in a lengthy column for Forbes Russia last month.

Its more of a political project for the US now, Rogozin said, addressing NASAs Moon missions. With the lunar project, we are seeing our US partners move away from the principles of cooperation and mutual support that have developed with cooperation on the ISS. They see their program not as international but as similar to NATO.

Despite the dismissal, Rogozin still sees US-Russia relations as an important bridge of interaction, noting that hes hoping cooperation between Roscosmos and NASA will continue despite the bad political situation that, unfortunately, is coming from Washington today.

Russia may not be interested in collaborating with NASA on future missions to the Moon, but the American space agency has already built partnerships with other countries, including Japan, Canada, and several EU members.

Russias goals are establishing a closer relationship with China instead.

We respect their results, Rogozin said,adding that China is definitely our partner and that relations between the countries are very good.

READ MORE: Russian space chief questions NASA plans, praises partnership with China [Ars Technica]

More on Rogozin: Russia Is Furious, Saying the US is Mocking Its Space Program

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Russian Space Chief "Not Interested" in Working With NASA on Missions to the Moon - Futurism

The coronavirus pandemic has created a paradigm shift in imaging. Not only have imaging centers faced the need for rapid implementation of strict protocols for patient management, decontamination of equipment and social distancing, these centers have also experienced steep declines in the number of studies being performed.

The decrease in imaging studies across the U.S. is estimated to have reached 63.6% in April 2020.1 But, some areas have been hit harder. In New York City, for example, the combined volume of CT and MRI cases declined by an average of 65% (range, 51%-80.9%) across five major academic centers as compared to prior year.2

Overall, the largest decreases in imaging studies have occurred in the elective, outpatient setting (70%), given the risk to patients, technologists and staff. However, inpatient and emergency room imaging studies have also declined by about 50%.3

As healthcare providers in many states are gaining some control over the COVID-19 crisis, the demand for most imaging services should rebound as postponed, but necessary imaging studies are rescheduled. Outpatient imaging centers are reopening to a new normal where enhanced decontamination and hygiene protocols, as well as personal protective equipment, will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

The backlog of studies will require imaging centers to be nimble in how they make up for lost time and revenue, which may include adding hours to fit more patients per day. However, this comes at a price to the radiologists who will feel the burden of longer hours, added workload and strain on cognitive functions. More than ever, radiologists will need solutions that alleviate their workload while maintaining the highest levels of precision in imaging interpretation.

To ensure imaging centers are well positioned for the coming transition and well beyond, digital solutions with artificial intelligence are a must-have. AI-powered digital solutions can aid imaging centers in managing workload via automation, enabling image interpretation and improving efficiency. These solutions can seamlessly integrate into the clinical workflow to alleviate the burden of repetitive tasks and amount of correction steps, which in turn help the radiologists improve their diagnostic accuracy.

All these capabilities enable the individual radiologists within the radiology practice to work more efficiently to drive workload and revenue potential. But, more importantly, the AI-powered algorithms and automation enable the radiologists to spend the needed time and focus on the clinically complex cases, as well as help to increase diagnostic precision for interpreting medical images.

The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for some time. But, whether in the short or long term, imaging centers will benefit from solutions that enable automation and workflow efficiencies, reduce variability and improve precision. These solutions will ensure the new normal holds a bright future.

For more information on how AI can help imaging centers, go to Siemens Healthineers Digital Health Solutions.

About the Author

Liana Romero, PhD, MBA, MT (ASCP), is the Head of Global Marketing, Clinical Decision Solutions, Digital Health, for Siemens Healthineers GmbH.

References

About Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers to increase value by expanding precision medicine, transforming care delivery, and improving patient experience, enabled by digitalizing healthcare. A leader in medical technology for more than 120 years, the >48,000 dedicated colleagues at Siemens Healthineers will continue to innovate and shape the future of healthcare.

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Digital Health: Enabling the post-COVID-19 transition in imaging - Healthcare IT News

Posted on Jul 19, 2020 in Astronomy, Science

Science fiction writer and futurist, Arthur C Clarke once observed that our blue planet would have been more appropriately named Ocean rather than Earth. One of the unresolved mysteries of the planet is the origin of water the driving force of all nature. A new study suggests that interstellar organic matter could produce an abundant supply of water by heating challenging recent research that terrestrial water was delivered by comets or meteorites from outside the snow line or ice line the distance from the Sun where it is cold enough for compounds such as water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide to condense into solid ice.

Until now, much less attention has been paid to organic matter, comparing to ices and silicates, even though there is an abundance inside the snow line says planetary scientist Akira Kouchi at Hokkaido University. This new research offers an alternative to studies done, for example, by the Institute of Space Science in early 2019, indicating that, coinciding with the Heavy Bombardment 3.8 billion years ago produced by the gravitational destabilization of the main asteroid belt, when billions of tons of carbonaceous chondrites reached Earth transporting in their fine matrices water and other volatile elements in form of hydrated minerals. Carbonaceous chondrites come from comets and asteroids that due to their size up to a hundred kilometers, never melted, or suffered internal chemical differentiation as planets did.

Origin of Earths H2O Billions of Tons of Water-Packed Asteroids

Heating of Interstellar Organic MatterThe Source?

In the current study published in Scientific Reports, a group of scientists led by Akira Kouchi demonstrates that heating of the interstellar organic matter at high temperature could yield abundant water and oil. This suggests that water could be produced inside the snow line, without any contribution of comets or meteorites delivered from outside the snow line.

As a first step, the researchers made an analog of organic matter in interstellar molecular clouds using chemical reagents. To make the analog, they referred to analytical data of interstellar organics made by irradiating UV on a mixture containing H2O, CO, and NH3, which mimicked its natural synthetic process. Then, they gradually heated the organic matter analog from 24 to 400 under a pressured condition in a diamond anvil cell. The sample was uniform until 100 , but was separated into two phases at 200 . At approximately 350 , the formation of water droplets became evident and the sizes of the droplets increased as the temperature rose. At 400 , in addition to water droplets, black oil was produced.

The Ocean Galaxy Many of Milky Ways 4,000 Known Exoplanets May Be Water Worlds

Petroleum of Ancient Earth

Our results show that the interstellar organic matter inside the snow line is a potential source of water on the earth. Moreover, the abiotic oil formation we observed suggests more extensive sources of petroleum for the ancient Earth than previously thought, says Kouchi. Future analyses of organic matter in samples from the asteroid Ryugu, which the Japans asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 will bring back later this year, should advance our understanding of the origin of terrestrial water.

Source: Hideyuki Nakano et al. Precometary organic matter: A hidden reservoir of water inside the snow line, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64815-6

The Daily Galaxy, Sam Cabot, via Hokkaido University and Nature

Read more:

The Ocean Planet Mystery of the Origin of Earths Water - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

Just A Kid

According to a sophisticated new model, the Moon is far younger than scientists previously thought to the tune of some 85 million years.

Its not such a drastic shift when you consider how long the Moons been around. The research, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, adjusts the age of the Moon from 4.51 billion years old to 4.425 billion, with 25-million-year-long error bars on either side. But it does clarify some of the mysteries surrounding how it formed in the first place.

The prevailing theory is that a Mars-sized rock crashed into the Earth and the debris eventually consolidated to form the Moon. The still-forming Earth may have been covered by an ocean of magma and this new research posits that the Moon had a magma ocean over 1,000 kilometers deep as well.

The main disagreement, however, is over how long it took that ocean to cool: Existing models said the Moon solidified after 35 million years.

The results from the model show that the moons magma ocean was long-lived and took almost 200 million years to completely solidify into mantle rock, lead author Maxime Maurice, a planetary geophysicist at the German Aerospace Center, said in a press release.

By modeling how the composition of the Moon rocks formed by that ocean changed over time, the team was able to arrive at its new age for the Moon.

The new timeline ties neatly to the Earths history as well,meaning the Moon formed at about the same time as the Earths core.

READ MORE: Researchers find younger age for Earths moon [German Aerospace Center]

More on the Moon: New Theory: the Moon Formed From Magma Blasted Away From Earth

View post:

Scientists Say the Moon Is Way Younger than We Thought - Futurism

Micro Time

One of the fundamental mysteries surrounding the concept of time is whether its continuous and our chronological measurements are just a way of making the sense of the world, or if it actually breaks down into discrete ticks at the teeniest scales.

Assuming the latter is true Live Science reports that our technology isnt yet nearly sensitive enough to find out for sure a team of physicists from Penn State has now theorized the absolute maximum amount of time that a universal oscillation could take.

The number is bafflingly small. The largest possible value this fundamental unit of time could be is one thousandth of a quectosecond, according to research published last month in the journal Physical Review Letters. Thats ten to the -33rd power or, as Live Science helpfully put it, just one millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second.

And thats just the upper limit, based on the performance of the best atomic clocks we have. In the abstract world of mathematical theory, Live Science reports the absolute smallest unit of time could be yet another 100 billion times shorter.

The best atomic clocks can measure down to a tenth of a billionth of a billionth of a second, or ten to the -19th power, Live Science reports. If the fundamental unit of time were any larger, it would eventually make our atomic clocks fall out of sync.

But this is all theory. As atomic clocks improve, scientists may find themselves exploring smaller and smaller units of time before they ever hit a wall and time may be truly continuous, rather than discrete.

READ MORE: The universes clock might have bigger ticks than we imagine [Live Science]

More on time: Astrophysicist Says He Knows How to Build a Time Machine

View original post here:

Physicists Say This Is the Smallest Unit of Time That Could Exist - Futurism

Galloways business-school colleague Hans Taparia, an expert on the food industry, opines that online classes will soon replace campus learning now that we have had the pandemic experience of taking courses while confined to quarters. When the worry about the virus disappears, he assures us, the benefits of asynchronous learning will remain.

Maybe soand its likely the pandemic really will shake something up about our higher-education establishment. There will be changes. There will be schools that go bankrupt. And the pandemic has unquestionably revealed some deep inequity issues with higher education, which the crisis gives us the opportunity and the incentive to get right.

When it comes to the end of college as we know it, however, weve seen this movie beforeand college has survived it. The last time America was swept by this particular combination of economic collapse and technophilia was in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, and that too brought predictions of massive change to higher education. The book titles reflected the mood of the moment: Academically Adrift, College Unbound, The End of College, Higher Education in Crisis?

Following the model of disruptive innovation laid out by Clayton Christensen in the late 1990s, authors were confident that economic, social and technological factors would disintermediate traditional campuses. Christensen himself made this case in a 2011 book, The Innovative University. Technology was creating the future of learning, and one either got on board or went extinct. Education writers often made the pilgrimage to Silicon Valley, where all that money, all those gizmos and all that talk of the future made the inefficiencies of campus life seem at best quaint, and at worst pernicious. The mania of the moment was MOOCs, or massive online open courses, which looked set to displace college itself.

Theres a critique of college underlying all these promises, and the critics have a point. Theres no question colleges and universities in the United States are unusual institutions; their business models evolved in economies very different from our own. No other country has anything quite like Americas higher-education system. Elite schools are superexpensive (for those able to pay full fare); the great public institutions continue to serve hundreds of thousands of students from all walks of life while also sponsoring the most advanced research on the planet. In a culture and economy increasingly customizable so as to facilitate the most efficient transactions, universities bundle many different functions together, with high overhead, high personnel costs and long-standing rules and traditions. When colleges add technology to their operations, they dont reduce costs; they just increase expectations. And so, we are told, these are enterprises ripe for disruption.

But one persons inefficiencies are another persons opportunities. Colleges and universities dont just bundle different functions; they bundle different kinds of people together, too. On a university campus, classics majors sit next to economics majors in a neuroscience class or at a basketball game. This lived experience of diversity is unlike the rest of our very segregated society. And it offers the kind of serendipitous encounters that lead to transformative learning. Campuses arent just a collection of climbing walls and parties; theyre a rare venue for bringing together people open to discoveries about themselves and the world. Despite the warnings from Silicon Valley, students and their families want that campus experience, and see it as a critical part of ones life. Theres a reason why the best residential college campuses havent just survived over the past several decades, but have grown. Theres a reason why families today talk about the trauma of being sent home from school without finishing the semester.

Many colleges and universities have long been managing disruption, and even growing from it, rather than being victimized by it. This is especially true in regard to higher educations relationship to technology. Large tech companies have been heavily involved with higher education for years. Apple developed iTunes University in 2007, and many schools shared their content on its platform; the schools are still there, though iTunes U is being discontinued. Harvard-MITs EdX has been producing classes seen by millions of learners without putting any notable dents in Harvard or MIT. Stanford professors started Udacity and Coursera, and both companies have found a spot, if not quite sustainability, in the higher ed marketplace. Georgia Tech, Southern New Hampshire University, Berklee College of Music and Arizona State, to name just a sampling of schools, have developed powerful platforms for remote learning, often in some combination with in-person classes. Ive been teaching humanities classes on Coursera for several years, and have had more than 100,000 students in my classes. During the pandemic, more than a thousand people have joined the courses each week. But there is no sign that this appetite for online learning diminishes the interest in studying on campus. Universities learned this when they made classes available for free on the internet and applications still kept pouring in.

Right now, students who have been sheltering at home these past few months are clamoring to get back to campus. Many have reported that if their schools are fully online in the fall, they will take a break from education and find something else to do. The pandemic has demonstrated that faculty can deliver their courses online and students can grasp the materialbut its also abundantly clear that critical parts of the experience are lost when the learning community is dispersed.

The fact that tech wont be the disruptor doesnt mean that no disruption is needed right now. And the pandemic is helping clarify just how colleges should change. A popular phrase in this pandemic period is were all in this together, but its increasingly clear that the disease is having a disproportionate impact on poor and marginalized populations. Inequality, whether in terms of disparities in health care, underlying conditions or job security, is everywhere evident. And in America, equality is profoundly racialized, as Black Lives Matter activists and their allies have highlighted this summer, and will likely press as an issue as the semester gets underway.

Inequality remains the great problem facing higher education in the United States, and it is suddenly very visible on our screens for those who normally teach on campus. Displaced onto Zoom, teachers long accustomed to the equalizing environment of the classroom have been disconcerted by the disparities they see among homebound students. Their better-off students check in with new laptops, great Wi-Fi, and seem to study in posh surroundings; the less well-off struggle for access and privacyand any time to read while juggling the responsibilities they carry in their families.

Higher education can reinforce privilege and divisions, or it can be a vehicle for social mobility and cohesion. As we think about the return to campus, we can learn some lessons from the past few months. Colleges large and small have decided not to require standardized tests for admissions this year because of the challenges of testing during a pandemic. But some students, especially those from low income families, have long known that SATs and ACTs favor those with money for tutors and time for organized test prep. Nobody should go back to requiring these pseudo-objective exams.

As was the case in the summer of 2016, likewise in this election year, well hear again and again that progressive puritans (or illiberal liberals) are destroying free speech. Cancel culture has replaced political correctness as a label to affix to those one finds too radical, too weird or just too rude. Of course, there are examples of people unjustly fired or attacked for a perceived departure from campus orthodoxy, and university leaders must resist calls to punish divergent points of view. But underneath the argumentboth the callouts from the left, and the anxiety from conservatives and traditional liberalsis a real reminder that maintaining civil intellectual diversity takes work, and that a campus is exactly where we can build the habit of listening to those with views different from ones own.

Higher education should also have learned from this pandemic that the bubble of campus life is an illusion. Rather than seeing eight semesters away from home as a break from real life, colleges and universities should find more ways to connect their students to the towns they live in and to a country that needs their participation in public life. If students are attending their college from their hometown, they have even more opportunities to knit education and citizenship together. This can take the form of encouraging political participation at the local or national level as a part of a students education. During the pandemic, more than 300 schools have joined Wesleyan in E2020, a program to develop civic preparedness among our students so that they can participate more thoughtfully in the nations political institutions. This will be good for the students, their schools and the country.

Today, more academics can see the promise of hybrid or low-residency models that combine technology and in-person educational experiences; programs that reduce the time to degree can make good use of online classes to help students and their families save money. There should be nothing sacred about the academic calendar. When universities reopen their gates, they can complement the amplification of learning that campus provides with remote educational offerings and work experiences. Programs through which students work in business, the professions and not-for-profits can help ensure that ones education better prepares one for life beyond the university.

Such paths have already been charted by organizations like AmeriCorps, which has integrated national service with education. President Donald Trumps proposals to cut the Corporation for National and Community Service are exactly the wrong way to go. Instead, we need the federal government to incentivize more states to create their own programs to integrate education, job training and public service. Colleges and universities can support their states efforts to develop programs that incentivize teamwork, innovation, and civic preparedness beyond borders of campus. This isnt unbundling; its the construction of more paths for people eager to learn.

The closure of campuses over the past few months has forced us to confront what is most valuable about a college experience, and it would be a missed opportunity if the greatest thing we learned in this pandemic is how to better wash our hands. To the extent we can profit from this dismal experience, we should use it to build greater access to a broad, pragmatic education in which students learn deeply not only from the delivery of course material but from one another as well.

Weve had enough attempts at smug disruption, whether by anti-intellectual populists or technophilic prognosticators. No, the pandemic does not have to lead to an impoverished educational experience in the name of efficiency. If anything, the lived experience of social isolation is reinforcing the importance of interacting with others in physical proximityeven if you have to wear a mask.

Read more:

Will the Pandemic Blow Up College in America? - POLITICO

After an unpredictable first half of 2020, Americans can all agree that theyre itching to travel. Road trips have been a huge summer trend in the current climate mainly because many find it safer than flying. Youre in complete control of your adventuretheres no waiting in airport security lines, sitting in crowded spaces, or fees for missing your departure. Theres a sense of adventure thats so satisfying, discovering all that this beautiful country has to offer...right in your backyard.

Based on a recent survey we conducted, we found that people are really looking to reconnect with friends, family and the great outdoors in their travels this summer. More than a third of our respondents ranked wanting to visit family or friends who live within driving distance as their top reason for taking a road trip over safety, says Sheryl Connelly, chief futurist at Ford Motor Company. Considering the impact of social distancing and restrictions on being able to travel or visit loved ones, this makes sense. What we also found is that people are really looking to slow down and make the most of their time away from home. More than 20% wanted to take a road trip just so they could explore and see the sights along the way to their destination.

Planning a road trip has endless opportunities from camping under the stars, checking out National Parks, or even going solo and taking some time for well-deserved self care. Youre not restricted to flying on a schedule, renting a car, and getting a hotel like regular vacations. And its okay if it doesnt go as plannedit might actually make it more fun. Veering off of the itinerary will make for a great adventure. Not sure what type of road trip to take? Here are different types of road trips to see whats best for you.

A solo road trip can be for anyone, but especially for those who are feeling stuck in their life or in search of an adventure. Theres something magical about being on the road exploring American gems, music blasting with the thoughts in your head as your copilot.

Harley Davidson

Youll feel a level of power, confidence, and freedom on a solo road trip that feels so good. I took a solo road trip down Highway 1 in California along the coast to Big Sur, and I just felt so free. I couldnt imagine doing that trip with anyone. Youre completely in control for all decisions from music to where to stop for lunch to where youre sleeping for the night. Even though youre alone, youll make a lot of friends along the wayI still keep in touch with some people I met on hiking trails and during nights out.

Yes, we all know the Grand Canyon (its beautiful and breathtaking), but did you know that there are over 400 National Parks in our Land of the Free? Planning a road trip to visit National Parks is for the history buff and outdoorsy type who enjoys camping.

Josh Carter

The National Park Service has a great website to easily learn and find hidden gems like Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Explore Yosemite, plan a camping adventure along the way. Chances are, there are lesser-known National Parks within a few hours of your home that you've never visited.

No matter how close you are with your family, you will definitely learn something new about them after spending so much time together in close quarters on the road. With any road trip, its all about communicating with one another and setting boundaries. Give each other space when neededyou dont need to be on top of each other 24/7.

For me, when Im traveling Im always thinking about what stories Im going to tell my parents. But with a family road trip, we all get to experience it together. I dont need to try explaining these underwhelming stories that usually become a "you had to be there" moment. Its something well be able to reminisce about for years to come.

Best friends are the family we get to choose. They know us better than anyone else, no matter how far life takes us, theyll always be there to pick up your call. Road tripping with your besties can be an awesome time, but its important to assign roles and responsibilities before the trip to avoid conflict during the trip.

A lot goes into researching and planning the itinerary. It wouldnt be fair for just one person in the group to do all of the planning when the rest of your friends just come along without putting in any effort. Your friends each have different interests, which should be discussed ahead of time so the stops on the trip are things that everyone wants to do. With a little teamwork, it will be smooth sailing.

As much as tourists want to see the sights, they also want to taste the local food. For the foodies out there, thats what their trips revolve around. Theyre known for finding the best restaurants, seeking out underground spots, and trying cuisine that they cant get back at home.

Creating a road trip around food can literally go anywhere. Definitely make some stops down south for some true southern hospitality. Along with food, add some brewery tour stops to explore local beer and spirits too.

The road trip that could make or break a relationship. Your relationship is your business, but I wouldnt recommend traveling hours in a car together at a time until your relationship is pretty rock solid. Some bickering is bound to happen, but shouldnt be the reason for a breakup.

A road trip with someone you love is a great way to get to know them better and see them in a way that maybe you didnt see before. Traveling to beautiful sights and camping is always more fun when you have someone to share it with.

No matter which way you road trip, youll get to see America through a lens that perhaps you didnt experience before. After being kept home for months with previous trips cancelled, its a journey of self discovery and learning more about those who join you. It taught me that I didnt need to get on a plane and fly across the Atlantic Ocean to seek adventure. Who knows where the road will take you, but Im sure itll make for a great story.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

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See the rest here:

6 Types of Road Trips - How to Plan a Road Trip - Country Living

After an unpredictable first half of 2020, Americans can all agree that theyre itching to travel. Road trips have been a huge summer trend in the current climate mainly because many find it safer than flying. Youre in complete control of your adventuretheres no waiting in airport security lines, sitting in crowded spaces, or fees for missing your departure. Theres a sense of adventure thats so satisfying, discovering all that this beautiful country has to offer...right in your backyard.

Based on a recent survey we conducted, we found that people are really looking to reconnect with friends, family and the great outdoors in their travels this summer. More than a third of our respondents ranked wanting to visit family or friends who live within driving distance as their top reason for taking a road trip over safety, says Sheryl Connelly, chief futurist at Ford Motor Company. Considering the impact of social distancing and restrictions on being able to travel or visit loved ones, this makes sense. What we also found is that people are really looking to slow down and make the most of their time away from home. More than 20% wanted to take a road trip just so they could explore and see the sights along the way to their destination.

Planning a road trip has endless opportunities from camping under the stars, checking out National Parks, or even going solo and taking some time for well-deserved self care. Youre not restricted to flying on a schedule, renting a car, and getting a hotel like regular vacations. And its okay if it doesnt go as plannedit might actually make it more fun. Veering off of the itinerary will make for a great adventure. Not sure what type of road trip to take? Here are different types of road trips to see whats best for you.

A solo road trip can be for anyone, but especially for those who are feeling stuck in their life or in search of an adventure. Theres something magical about being on the road exploring American gems, music blasting with the thoughts in your head as your copilot.

Harley Davidson

Youll feel a level of power, confidence, and freedom on a solo road trip that feels so good. I took a solo road trip down Highway 1 in California along the coast to Big Sur, and I just felt so free. I couldnt imagine doing that trip with anyone. Youre completely in control for all decisions from music to where to stop for lunch to where youre sleeping for the night. Even though youre alone, youll make a lot of friends along the wayI still keep in touch with some people I met on hiking trails and during nights out.

Yes, we all know the Grand Canyon (its beautiful and breathtaking), but did you know that there are over 400 National Parks in our Land of the Free? Planning a road trip to visit National Parks is for the history buff and outdoorsy type who enjoys camping.

Josh Carter

The National Park Service has a great website to easily learn and find hidden gems like Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Explore Yosemite, plan a camping adventure along the way. Chances are, there are lesser-known National Parks within a few hours of your home that you've never visited.

No matter how close you are with your family, you will definitely learn something new about them after spending so much time together in close quarters on the road. With any road trip, its all about communicating with one another and setting boundaries. Give each other space when neededyou dont need to be on top of each other 24/7.

For me, when Im traveling Im always thinking about what stories Im going to tell my parents. But with a family road trip, we all get to experience it together. I dont need to try explaining these underwhelming stories that usually become a "you had to be there" moment. Its something well be able to reminisce about for years to come.

Best friends are the family we get to choose. They know us better than anyone else, no matter how far life takes us, theyll always be there to pick up your call. Road tripping with your besties can be an awesome time, but its important to assign roles and responsibilities before the trip to avoid conflict during the trip.

A lot goes into researching and planning the itinerary. It wouldnt be fair for just one person in the group to do all of the planning when the rest of your friends just come along without putting in any effort. Your friends each have different interests, which should be discussed ahead of time so the stops on the trip are things that everyone wants to do. With a little teamwork, it will be smooth sailing.

As much as tourists want to see the sights, they also want to taste the local food. For the foodies out there, thats what their trips revolve around. Theyre known for finding the best restaurants, seeking out underground spots, and trying cuisine that they cant get back at home.

Creating a road trip around food can literally go anywhere. Definitely make some stops down south for some true southern hospitality. Along with food, add some brewery tour stops to explore local beer and spirits too.

The road trip that could make or break a relationship. Your relationship is your business, but I wouldnt recommend traveling hours in a car together at a time until your relationship is pretty rock solid. Some bickering is bound to happen, but shouldnt be the reason for a breakup.

A road trip with someone you love is a great way to get to know them better and see them in a way that maybe you didnt see before. Traveling to beautiful sights and camping is always more fun when you have someone to share it with.

No matter which way you road trip, youll get to see America through a lens that perhaps you didnt experience before. After being kept home for months with previous trips cancelled, its a journey of self discovery and learning more about those who join you. It taught me that I didnt need to get on a plane and fly across the Atlantic Ocean to seek adventure. Who knows where the road will take you, but Im sure itll make for a great story.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site.

Follow this link:

6 Types of Road Trips - How to Plan a Road Trip - countryliving.com

Comet C/2020 F3 better known as NEOWISE, for the Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope that first discovered it has came so close to Earth over the weekendthat its visible to the naked eye, blazing brightly over Northern skies. The rare event was captured on camera by amateurs and professionals alike from around the globe and the results are dazzling.

For instance, just check out this short video from the International Space Station.

The space rock was about 194 million miles from the Sun when first discovered in March, making it far too faint to see with the naked eye. But over the last few months, the comet has become far brighter as its approached.

On July 3, it was only 27.3 million miles (44 million km) from the Sun. To put that into perspective, the closest flyby of the Sun by an artificial object was NASAs Parker Solar Probe back in January, passing by our star at a mere 18.7 million kilometers.

In fact, the solar probe was able to get its own look at the comet on July 5, according to NASA.

Astronomers were concerned the comet would not survive such a close encounter, but as evidenced by this weekends sightings, it seems to be doing fine.

Its tail or coma is extremely visible, making it stand out against its predecessors, ATLAS and SWAN, as Space.com reports, which only had very faint paths of condensed heat following their paths.

While astronomers discover hundreds of comets every single year, every once in a while a great comet passes by our planet and appears considerably brighter. According to Space.com, the last comet that was of a comparable brightness was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997.

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What an awe inspiring experience. A celestial visitor that has been around since the beginning of our universe. What stories it could tell, what sights it has beheld. How this cosmic being has brought humankind together. Regardless of race, color, sex, creed, age, profession, or any other distinguishing characteristics, we cannot help but gaze towards the heavens and become lost in its beauty. Take a minute to forget everything else going on right now. Just breathe, feel, love. We are all one world, never forget that. . . . Shot on the @sonyalpha A7RIV with the @sigmaphoto 105mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.4 Art lenses. . . #lestertsaiphotography #neowise #cometneowise #discoverwithalpha #sonyalpha #sonya7riv #sigmaart #mykgw #bbcearth #nationalgeographic #koin6news #fox12news #pnwphotographer #mthoodterritory #oregonexplored #pnwisbeautiful #pnwonderland #pnwadventurers #mthood #pnwphotography #portlandphotographer #pdxphotographer #pdxphotography #portlandphotography #comet #nightsky #myplanetdaily #earthfocus #keepportlandweird

A post shared by (@lestertsaiphotography) on Jul 11, 2020 at 1:44pm PDT

READ MORE: Comet NEOWISE could give skywatchers a dazzling show this month. Heres what to know. [Space.com]

More on comets: NASA: Something Is Off About This Interstellar Comet

Original post:

Here Are The Most Amazing Shots of the NEOWISE Comet - Futurism

Interview with Robert Landau, Founder and Strategist, Two Roads Education

Landau is an education consultant and leader and the former executive director of the Hawaii Association for Independent Schools.

What do you envision for education in the future?

This is the million-dollar question! I think of students sitting at the feet of Socrates or Confucius and draw a straight line to the creator of experiential education, John Dewey, who eloquently stated that If we teach todays students as we taught yesterdays, we rob them of tomorrow.

So why are we still using the factory model from the 1800s to educate our children in 2020? Just think, a child born at the turn of the 21st century will be 21 in a few months. Our first 21st century teachers will be in schools in a few years.

I am a futurist through and through and I believe that educators must be aligned to other sectors like technology, scientific research, medicine and law. These sectors change daily. Change is the only constant. No one in education should ever be complacent.

We need to prepare our children to be competitive in the global economy as the world shifts, automates and disrupts; to that end, I envision a future where colleges will accept students based on the content of their character accomplishments, not their grades or test scores.

I am currently involved in a project where students will work in cohorts focusing on the major problems and challenges of our time. Covid-19 has presented the education sector with tremendous challenges. I look at these challenges and I see an opportunity for major disruption in the education sector that ultimately will benefit students by radically transforming our systems, structures and priorities.

What is the role of Hawaiis business community in helping make such schools a reality at scale?

Collaboration! For too long schools have built a barrier between graduation requirements and relevance in the real world. For years now we have been hearing that 50% of jobs of the future have not yet been created. We know that many college graduates lack the critical thinking and innovation skills needed to work in these environments. We know that internships and apprenticeships expedite the learning process.

As mentioned above, I am currently working on a project that will give students unprecedented amounts of time to join the business community via extended internships and apprenticeships to gain exactly this type of experience and exposure.

Classic work study programs already exist but do so with insufficient amounts of time to make these experiences relevant and transformative. Why? Because students are bound by schedules, courses, credits and lots of extraneous work.

So much time is devoted to unreasonable and unrealistic courses and credit work. Educators need to leverage the business community to create a streamlined link to higher education.

Students spend 13 years in a regimented credit-based program, only to enter college for more credits. From my direct experience in transformational schools, students are ready for more intense work-based experience as early as 4th grade. Just last year, 3rd-5th graders in my former school started a reef-safe sunscreen company that reimbursed investors within three months!

What do Hawaiis education and business leaders need to do together to ensure that our kids succeed in this 21st century?

As progressive educators we love to tell the stories of former students who were hired by tech companies out of high school. We share anecdotes about students who started their own businesses and those who developed their own patents. In fact, at one of my former schools, two high school students invented a portable incubator for premature babies that ran on a chemical reaction that produced heat. These are the true success stories in education!

With the proliferation of technology and the emergence of self-taught entrepreneurs and inventors, why do we continue to think traditional K-12 schools are better than real-world opportunities that young people experience while doing internships and apprenticeships?

I lived in Switzerland for 22 years and a majority of 16-year-olds left formal school to start apprenticeships. They worked in banks, factories, businesses, garages and shops. They moved up the ladder within a real-world environment and enjoyed successful careers. We need to completely blur the lines between schools, businesses and nonprofits. We have early college programs lets create more early career programs as well.

What advice do you have for local working parents?

Right now, our working parents have the same options theyve had for decades: public, public-charter and private schools. During these unprecedented times, many parents are turning to home school networks or forming cooperatives. Before this global pandemic parents assumed their children would be supervised by these institutions, Monday through Friday. Most schools even offer early morning and after school programs. On those unusual days when the child is ill and cannot go to school, working parents faced a dilemma they have now experienced for months and for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, the primary focus to get kids back to school is a square peg in a round hole. The numbers dont add up so older students will continue the hybrid models that will keep children home for parts of every week. The much-used phrase, new normal will continue to be abnormal for working parents. Its time to be innovative, creative, and strategic about the way we educate our young people. My advice for working parents is to seek out ideators and futurists who are thinking about alternative models of education.

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Teaching Today Requires Transformation and Innovation - Hawaii Business Magazine

The future. This is the topic of choice for Jason Schenker economist, entrepreneur, and author of The Future After Covid: futurist expectations for changes, challenges, and opportunities after the Covid-19 pandemic. In his latest book, the American discusses some fifteen themes, ranging from the economic difficulties of certain sectors to the consequences of the crisis on the upcoming American presidential election. He gives us his vision of the world beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Futurism and preparing for the future

The crisis has forced society to adapt and some new habits will become permanent, says Jason Schenker. How does he know this? Hes a futurist! A futurist looks at past data and trends, and then applies the observed trends and patterns to current data in order to develop a vision or scenario of what the future might look like, he explains before quoting Mark Twain: History doesnt repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. He goes on to say, Being futuristic is a logical extension of economics, because you look at long-term trends by taking into account the probabilities of outcomes and human behavior. This graduate of history and applied economics is certain of one thing: Our ways of working and consuming are the cornerstones of change.

New lifestyles

For a lot of people, the days of working in an office are over predicts Jason Schenker. Teleworking will become more widespread, especially in low-density urban areas. The size of the home will become more important than proximity to the office. A distant descendant of French immigrants in Quebec and a Europhile who studied German and French at university, Jason Schenker compares his country to the Old Continent. In America, people will eventually leave cities where real estate is expensive, like New York or San Francisco. The United States, with a territory three times larger than Europe, does not have the same public transport infrastructure. People like convenience, says the economist, they are abandoning supermarkets in favor of e-commerce. Supply chains will change: warehouses are set to grow and department stores will disappear. On the other hand, shopping areas with European-style shops will remain, as they are still a full-fledged experience. And what about the role of the environment in the world to come?Jason Schenker is betting on a decrease in automobile transport, which would have a double advantage: The reduction of fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and the saving of time, which by its essence is a non-renewable resource.

Feeding the economic recovery

Companies need to get back to basics, generate cash and ensure a positive return on every expense. He advises contractors to tighten their belts, spend only what they need, and consider what contracts they might feasibly terminate, including overheads such as office space. On a broader level, there are three immutable ingredients of economic recovery, the economist argues: Fiscal policy, monetary policy central banks have taken steps to encourage investment and time. It will take time, because the recovery will be slow.Schenker is based in Texas, one of the first US states to lift the lockdown, and speaks of the growing number of Covid cases and the possibility of a further shutdown of activities.We dont know how long the pandemic will last. The longer it lasts, the more people will get used to the changes, he says. And the longer-term impact of the changes will be more noticeable.

By Anne-Gabrielle Mangeret

The Future After Covid (Prestige Professional Publishing) is out now in paperback and e-book.

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Jason Schenker: For a lot of people, the days of working in an office are over - Leaders League

Update: Kazakh officials are now pushing back against Chinas claims though questions remain. Heres our latest story.

Chinas embassy inthe former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan has put out a statement warning of an unknown pneumonia that is reportedly even deadlier than the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the South China Morning Post reports.

The death rate of this disease is much higher than the novel coronavirus, read the warning to Chinese citizens in Kazakhstan, as quoted by the SCMP. The countrys health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify the virus.

Pneumonia is an infection of either one or both lungs and is caused by either bacteria, viruses or fungi. The inflammation can make it difficult to breathe and in some extreme cases can be life-threatening.

The statement doesnt include any details and doesnt elaborate on the nature of the virus. COVID-19 has also been shown to cause severe pneumonia in both lungs for some patients.

Local media have been reporting a worrying uptick in pneumonia cases in a number of Kazakh cities since mid-June, as the SCMP reports, with as many as 500 reported patients across three locations, 30 of whom are in critical condition. Officials and the media in Kazakhstan, according to the SCMP, are saying the cases are just regular pneumonia.

Reported pneumonia deaths in June account for over a third of pneumonia deaths in the country since the beginning of the year, according to the embassys statement.

Kazakhstan hasnt been immune to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A state of emergency was declared in mid-March, with lockdowns lifted in mid-May. Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned of a second wave this week on a televised address.

There have been over 250 COVID-19 deaths in the country of roughly 18 million residents so far, with just shy of 50,000 reported cases.

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China Says There's a New Disease That's Even Deadlier Than COVID [UPDATED] - Futurism