Space station ‘farm’ successfully grows a variety of crops

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MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A variety of crops successfully grown and harvested on the International Space Station have been verified as safe to eat, a Russian scientist says.

Space-based agriculture has long been of interest, as plants not only scrub carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts but could be a renewable food source, scientists have said.

"The experiments with peas have been very promising," Margarita Levinskikh, a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Problems, told an annual space conference in Moscow in describing the ISS "farming."

Russian cosmonauts have grown Japanese leafy greens and a variety of dwarf wheat that has produced seeds of "just extraordinary quality," RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.

Russian cosmonauts will sow rice, tomatoes and bell peppers in the station's Lada greenhouse next year, she said, a cooperative effort between the institute and the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University.

Currently all food onboard the space station is flown there on periodic resupply missions. Long-duration deep space missions without agriculture would require many months' or years' worth of food, greatly adding to their launch weight, the institute said.

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Space station 'farm' successfully grows a variety of crops

AIP FYI: International Space Station to be Extended Until 2024; Asteroid Mission Reaffirmed

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We are pleased to announce that the Obama Administration has approved an extension of the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2024,wrote Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden earlier this month. This announcement extends the station for four additional years beyond its previous schedule.

In hisstatementand in a speech at the International Space Exploration Forum at the U.S. Department of State, Holdren outlined the benefits of research on the station and the four year extension. He said the station is critical as a research laboratory for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s. NASA has identified 32 human-health risks likely to be encountered on long-duration flights. Research conducted on the station is necessary to mitigate fully 21 of these risks, he said. Holdren also described medical and other societal benefits from station research. Extension of the ISS will require more commercial cargo and crew flights to the station. This should, to some extent, reduce doubts that some Members of Congress have expressed about whether commercial providers would be willing to undertake robust development of servicing hardware for only a few years. The extension will, Holdren predicted, reduce the per flight cost of servicing the station, and make this investment even more attractive. He also spoke of the stations importance to Earth science research and its role in fostering international cooperation.

Bolden reiterated Holdrens statements about the station in his comments to the forum:From a NASA perspective the ISS is absolutely essential to the goals of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s, developing and establishing a robust U.S. crew transportation capability to low Earth orbit, achieving a self-sustaining commercial use of space in LEO, and returning benefits to humanity through research and technology development.

The Ranking Member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), released the following statement regarding the station extension: I am pleased that the Administration is initiating an important dialogue with its international partners on the extension of ISS operations to at least 2024. The ISS has been a critical element of our nations human space exploration program, and it is important that a decision on its potential extended operations be made in a way that enables NASA and its partners to ensure its effective utilization and operation. I look forward to further details on the Administrations proposal and on the planned priorities and objectives for ISS activities during the proposed extension.

Holdren and Bolden both reiterated their support for the proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission to retrieve a near-Earth asteroid and put it into orbit at the L2 gravitational-equilibration point where it would be visited by astronauts. Holdren described this mission as one that will significantly raise the bar for what humans could accomplish in space.

Funding for the International Space Station is provided through NASAs Space Operations budget. The FY 2014 request was $3,882.9 million, of which $3,049.1 million or 79 percent was for the station (the remainder being for Space and Flight Support.) The FY 2014 appropriation for Space Operations is $3,778.0 million, approximately 97 percent of the request. The agreement maintains strong support for the ISS declared the Explanatory Statement accompanying the bill.

Congress has been much less enthusiastic about the asteroid mission. The FY 2014 Explanatory Statement included this passage:NASA has proposed a new mission known as the ARM that would engage both scientific and human exploration activities. While the ARM is still an emerging concept, NASA has not provided Congress with satisfactory justification materialssuch as detailed cost estimates or impacts to ongoing missions. The completion of significantpreliminary activities is needed to appropriately lay the groundwork for the ARM prior to NASAand Congress making a long-term commitment to this mission concept.

Richard M. Jones Government Relations Division American Institute of Physics rjones@aip.org 301-209-3095

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AIP FYI: International Space Station to be Extended Until 2024; Asteroid Mission Reaffirmed

NASA announces funding for space station physics research

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PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- NASA says it will fund seven proposals for physics research using its new microgravity laboratory, set to launch to the International Space Station in 2016.

The Cold Atom Laboratory will provide an opportunity to study ultra-cold quantum gases in the microgravity environment of the space station, a frontier in scientific research expected to reveal interesting and novel quantum phenomena, the space agency said Thursday.

Operating experiments in space makes it possible to conduct research in a way unachievable on Earth because atoms can be observed over a longer period and mixtures of different atoms can be studied free of the effects of gravity, where cold atoms can be trapped more easily by magnetic fields, it said.

The chosen proposals came from seven research teams, which include three Nobel laureates, in response to NASA's research announcement "Research Opportunities in Fundamental Physics." The proposals will receive a total of about $12.7 million over a four- to five-year period and development of selected experiments will begin immediately, the agency said.

The Cold Atom Laboratory is a joint partnership of three NASA branches; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the International Space Station Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Space Life and Physical Sciences Branch at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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NASA announces funding for space station physics research

Half A Million Pieces Of Debris Are Orbiting Earth — Here’s How We’re Going To Clean Them Up

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ESA

Debris lost in space.

A dramatic illustration of the dangers of space debris is given in the film Gravity. It may have taken someartistic license with scienceto craft a good story, but its main premise is plausible. What Gravity showed was the worst case scenario, known as the Kessler syndrome, where a collision between two objects generates a cloud of smaller debris, which triggers a chain reaction of further catastrophic collisions, thereby rapidly increasing the amount of debris. This could make the low Earth orbit unusable for spacecrafts.

Most of those are useless fragments of once-useful objects, which were created by explosions, collisions or missile tests. For instance, an accidental collision between the Iridium-33 and Kosmos-2251 satellites in 2009 caused them to shatter into 2,200 (recorded) fragments. Smaller space debris is much harder to track, but NASA estimates that up to 500,000 objects larger than 1cm, and 135 million particles over 1mm in size may now be orbiting the Earth.

NASA

Catalogued objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) larger than 10 cm.

Space debris is becoming a serious issue, and many space agencies have started working on solutions. One approach being taken by JAXA, Japans space agency, is to use a magnetically charged 700m-wide net made from aluminium and steel wires. If used at the right height it will attract floating space debris to it. When enough has been caught, the system can be ordered to fall out of its orbit back to Earth. During that process the debris, along with the net, will burn up as it enters Earths dense atmosphere. JAXA will be doing a test launch of the system next month.

The other approach is to remove existing inactive satellites from orbit. A prime target for this experiment would be the European ENVISAT satellite which stopped functioning in 2012 and now drifts uncontrolled in orbit. At an altitude of 800km and with mass of more than 8,000kg, the ENVISAT satellite would take more than 150 years to deorbit that is, drop out of its orbit naturally.

Throughout that time the satellite would be at risk of colliding with other objects and generating further debris. A more sustainable solution is to remove future satellites from orbit after they have served their purpose, thereby mitigating the growth of the amount of space debris. This is why international guidelines have been proposed which will restrict post-mission deorbiting time to 25 years for all new satellites.

Most satellites designed today take will take longer to deorbit, and new technical solutions are necessary to meet the guidelines. This is where Surrey Space Centre (SSC) working with the European Space Agency (ESA) have developed aGossamer Sail for Satellite Deorbiting. The idea is to attach a large and very light, or gossamer, sail to a satellite, which can be deployed after its mission is over.

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Half A Million Pieces Of Debris Are Orbiting Earth — Here's How We're Going To Clean Them Up

Huntsville looks at the past and future of space exploration

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DeKalb Co. Sheriff's Office reports major drug bust DeKalb Co. Sheriff's Office reports major drug bust

Updated: Friday, January 31 2014 8:40 PM EST2014-02-01 01:40:14 GMT

Updated: Friday, January 31 2014 8:39 PM EST2014-02-01 01:39:16 GMT

Updated: Friday, January 31 2014 8:29 PM EST2014-02-01 01:29:42 GMT

Updated: Friday, January 31 2014 7:05 PM EST2014-02-01 00:05:04 GMT

Updated: Friday, January 31 2014 6:59 PM EST2014-01-31 23:59:06 GMT

Many people in Huntsville spent some time looking back, and forward, in space exploration.

Space campers, local students, and the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center gathered at the US Space and Rocket Center Thursday morning to remember the astronauts killed in the Apollo, Challenger, and Columbia tragedies.

Organizers displayed a wreath and a candle lit in memory of the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews. Students from the very schools named for those crews and those missions said they know that they are the future for human space flight.

Remember, when breaking news happens, we break it first online, by email, and by text. If you want to receive our breaking news alerts by text, pull out your phone right now and text NEWS to 44848. Message and data rates may apply. You can text STOP at any time to cancel your subscription, text HELP for more information, or call 877-571-0774 for support.

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Huntsville looks at the past and future of space exploration

Mars Alien Dinosaur Femur Bone: NASA Curiosity Fossil 2014. ArtAlienTV – MARS ZOO 1080p Full – Video

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Mars Alien Dinosaur Femur Bone: NASA Curiosity Fossil 2014. ArtAlienTV - MARS ZOO 1080p Full
A large Mars Dinosaur femur bone: NASA Curiosity fossil specimen 2014. MARS ZOO. This bone is about 30 inches long and clearly looks like a femur bone very s...

By: JoeWhite - ArtAlienTV

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Mars Alien Dinosaur Femur Bone: NASA Curiosity Fossil 2014. ArtAlienTV - MARS ZOO 1080p Full - Video

NASA to let public help in hunt for distant planets

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GREENBELT, Md., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- NASA says the public is being invited to help search for embryonic planetary systems hidden among data from an agency spacecraft mission.

Through a new website, DiskDetective.org, citizen scientists can sift through data collected by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, the agency reported Thursday.

"Through Disk Detective, volunteers will help the astronomical community discover new planetary nurseries that will become future targets for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope," said James Garvin, the chief scientist for NASA Goddard's Sciences and Exploration Directorate.

WISE, designed to survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, completed two scans of the entire sky from its orbit around Earth between 2010 and 2011.

While there may be thousands of nascent solar systems in the WISE data, the only way to know for sure is to inspect each source by eye, a monumental challenge that led NASA turn to a crowdsourcing solution.

The space agency has teamed up with Zooniverse, a collaboration of scientists, software developers and educators who collectively develop and manage citizen science projects on the Internet.

Volunteers will be able to look at WISE images and classify objects based on simple criteria, such as whether the image is round or includes multiple objects. The information will help astronomers assess which sources should be explored in greater detail in the future.

"Disk Detective's simple and engaging interface allows volunteers from all over the world to participate in cutting-edge astronomy research that wouldn't even be possible without their efforts," said Laura Whyte, director of citizen science at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Ill., and a founding partner of the Zooniverse collaboration.

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NASA to let public help in hunt for distant planets

Researchers study new ways of treating breast cancer

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Published: 7:04AM Saturday February 01, 2014 Source: ONE News

Scientists are working on a cost-effective drug that targets only cancer tissue, leaving the rest of the body unscathed.

The Breast Cancer Foundation says it is excited by the Otago University research into finding new ways to treat breast cancer.

Breast cancer kills 650 New Zealand women a year and researcher DrRhonda Rosengren says the research findings so far are really good.

"We're seeing really nice suppression of tumour growth compared to the untreated control,"Dr Rosengren says.

Of the 3000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, about 20% had an aggressive form known as triple negative breast cancer and it is this form which is being targeted with "nano-medicine".

The treatment attacks only triple negative tumour tissue, reducing the need for costly and gruelling chemotherapy.

"Because of specific things that are different in the way a tumour is set up and healthy cells are set up, it goes specifically into that tumour and spares the rest of the body,"Dr Rosengren said, adding treatment can be targeted to individuals.

"Things we know about your tumour, we can give you more, give someone else less."

The Breast Cancer Foundation has committed $100,000 to the research.

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Researchers study new ways of treating breast cancer

4 of 5 popular small cars fail safety test

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NEW DELHI: Four out of five popular small cars Volkswagen Polo, Tata Nano, Alto 800 and Hyundai i10 have failed crash tests based on UN standards, even as the manufacturers maintained they were complying with Indian norms.

The five vehicles which underwent tests account for around 20% of cars sold in the country. They were driven at 56kmph and 64kmph (NCAP standard) against a static object. India is one of the signatories to the UN standard for safe vehicles (R94), which prescribes the 56kmph crash test, although the government has not mandated the tests.

At present, all cars in India have to be checked for front and rear impact when they are being driven at 48kmph. A government official said the bar would be raised to 56kmph in 2015. Road transport secretary Vijay Chhibber said India would have its own NCAP norms and vehicles would undergo a full body test, instead of front and rear, at a facility coming up near Chennai.

Car manufacturers said they were complying with the current Indian standards. In addition, the companies said they had variants with airbags and additional safety features.

"Safety is of paramount importance to Tata Motors. All our vehicles, including the Tata Nano, meet all Indian safety regulations, including the frontal barrier crash test at 48kmph, as mandated by the government. All our cars on Indian roads, including the Nano, are engineered for safety in view of Indian road and traffic conditions," said Tim Leverton, head of advanced and product engineering, engineering research centre of Tata Motors.

Similarly, a Hyundai spokesperson said, "Our vehicles consistently meet or exceed applicable industry safety standards. We are monitoring the progress of this review and will work with Indian authorities, GNCAP and the other relevant stake holders as appropriate."

Global NCAP chief David Ward countered this by saying that nothing prevents Indian car manufacturers from making cars with minimum safety standard, especially when India is emerging as a global hub for automobiles. "The same companies produce vehicles of very high standard when they export vehicles to other countries," he said.

IRTE president Rohit Baluja suggested that companies should be asked to disclose information about safety levels. "Let them get a shock but then they can make an informed decision," he said.

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4 of 5 popular small cars fail safety test

Chelsea v Man City – prepare for the Clash of the Titans

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Bridge Banter: Chelsea v Man City - prepare for the Clash of the Titans

3:27pm Friday 31st January 2014 in Sport By Tim Harrison

On paper it looks like a hopelessly unequal struggle, but its the kind of fixture that Jose Mourinho relishes.

Manchester City v Chelsea on Monday night could well give Manuel Pellegrinis free-scoring team the clear water they need to cruise to the Premier League title.

After all, City thrashed Spurs 5-1 at White Hart Lane in midweek, while the Blues could only manage a 0-0 draw against West Ham at Stamford Bridge.

Chelseas frustration at dropping two vital home points was given sharper focus by the statistics. No team has managed more shots 39 in a Premier League game in the past decade, and still failed to score.

Mourinho could not believe his eyes as the Irons repelled attack after attack on Wednesday night, grumbling that his side had fallen victim to 19th century football whatever that means.

But Sam Allardyces tactics worked. It wasnt pretty, but it was effective.

Now Chelsea have to regroup for the first part of an extraordinary double-header, with two visits to the Etihad stadium in the space of 12 days, in league and FA Cup.

The Blues are underdogs, bearing in mind Citys incredible home record, but Jose would do well to put himself through a few more uncomfortable viewings of the match tape from Wednesday night to study how Allardyce outwitted him.

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Chelsea v Man City - prepare for the Clash of the Titans

#AskWSJD: What Is the Cheapest, Lightest Device for Work on the Go?

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In this weeks#AskWSJDvideo, we answer reader Jane Carrolls question about finding a cheap and light computer that lets her access her corporate network while shes out and about.

If your company requires you to use Windows, our suggestion is to get a cheap Windows 8.1 device like the $350 Asus Transformer Book T100, which conveniently doubles as a laptop and a tablet. When it comes to other non-Windows options, we gave Jane a few more suggestions, which you can see in the video above.

Got a burning tech question for us? We want to hear from you, and nothing is too stupid to ask! Here are some ways you can send us yours:

1. Vine or Instagram Video. Record your question on video via Vine or Instagram and tag it#AskWSJD.

2. YouTube or other video sites. Upload your video to YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo or any other video service and tweet us the link at@WSJDor email the link to us at Joanna.Stern@wsj.com or Geoffrey.Fowler@wsj.com. Keep your video questions concise: 15 seconds or less, or you will be chopped!

3. Email. Email your video to us at one of the above addresses, and again, mind that 15-second rule.

4.Twitter. If you are really camera shy, you can just tweet us your questions (or email them to the addresses above). Just remember the#AskWSJDhashtag. Well be on the lookout.

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#AskWSJD: What Is the Cheapest, Lightest Device for Work on the Go?

I Visited a Chickasaw Healer

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As American alternative medicine grows in popularity, I decided to experience an even older style of nontraditional treatment.

Outside Oklahoma City, the day after Christmas, I found myself lying on a massage table draped in Native American quilts. No sooner had a bear blanket covered me than the Chickasaw medicine man began dusting my body with a feather covered in white sage powder.

Through my squinted eyes, I could make out a chalky nimbus surrounding my torso and, past it, the rabbit and raccoon pelts against the yellow walls, the horns and hides, the copious dream catchers. I was not in a teepee, as I half expected when I made the appointment, but instead a mansion with fine cabinetry and plush furniture. Once through the varnished front doors, I entered the healing mans therapeutic lair.

Perhaps it's no surprise that my surroundings were so luxe: alternative medicine has reached an all-time high among ailing Americans. And it's not just hippies on podunk ashramsthe government, too, has taken note. U.S. taxpayers have devoted $1.5 billion to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health, a center that researches techniques like acupuncture, yoga, and tai-chi. The University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Medicine has received $25 million from the NIH for research and offers a treatment in which a healer floats his hands over a patient's body, as my medicine man did.

But is this all pure snake oil? I wanted to find out if there's some truth to a therapy that doesnt rely on traditional biological mechanisms.

I sought the medicine mans healing touch therapy out of curiosity, and holiday time spent with my wifes parents in the Sooner State allowed me to make it a reality. I come from a New York Semitic provenance whereby a therapy session on the couch and healthy dose of SSRIs can solve most maladies.

Still, the experience lent itself to moments of extreme clarity, and as I alternated between mental states of hypnosis and Quaalude-like sedation there on the table, I learned to temper my skepticism and embrace some of the hocus-pocus.

Away from the waiting room, co-pay, tongue depressor, cough-cough form of a checkup Im used to, I was able to surrender myself to a kind of extreme magical healing of Southern comfort. If you were granted one wish from a medicine man regarding your physical health, what ailment would you get rid of, what would you enhance? For those of us who arent sick, per se, theres still that incessant bum knee, the insomnia, the migraines, the sinus congestion. Our bodies, our vesselsthey all have theirthings.

My one issue stemmed from my left ear, which frequent flying for reporting trips has rendered unpopped and cloudy. (In terms of severity, my complaint was about equal with paper cut, but I come from a nervous people and suffer from bouts of chronic hypochondria.)

Okay, we can send a little healing energy that way, said the shaman, who was chewing the heck out of some bear root.

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City announces downtown location for proposed IU Med School

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EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -

The City of Evansville says its proposed location for the new Indiana University Medical School is land covering six blocks in downtown Evansville - bounded by SE 4th Street, Cherry Street, SE 6th Street and Locust Street.

The area selected is directly next to the future downtown convention hotel.

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says the IU Medical School has a potential economic impact of $340 million by 2020.

Three businesses are currently located on the land for the proposed medical school location - Townsquare Media, D Patrick Ford and Deaconess Clinic.

Officials say they have secured the necessary options to demolish the Townsquare Media building and D Patrick Ford.

Deaconess says the proposed location will not affect their clinic. Their physicians offices and other clinic services will remain in their current location and be situated adjacent to the new medical campus.

Deaconess 14News they are "happy to participate in the planning process" for a inter-professional medical campus in the Tri-State.'

Proposals for the medical school were dueto Indiana University by 1:00 p.m. Evansville time onFriday.

Warrick County officials and The Martin Group have also laid out pitches for the medical school and are expected to submit official proposals.

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City announces downtown location for proposed IU Med School