DNA Presents organizes Farm Aid concert

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OTTAWA Ottawa music promoter DNA Presents isnt letting a little setback get in the way of helping out in the community.

DNA Presents is organizing Farm Aid, a country music benefit concert Sept. 16 at Ottawa Stadium featuring Michelle Wright and Paul Brandt, to aid Ottawa-area farmers struck by this summers drought. The benefit concert, organized in partnership with Ottawa Stadium officials, also features Gail Gavan, Jason Blaine, Emerson Drive and Ambush. Y101 will host the concert and Wayne Rostad is the guest MC.

One of many shows DNA is presenting this fall, it comes just months after one of the companys founding partners allegedly fled the country with the proceeds from the Escapade Music Festival. Nick Vachon, arrested in Aruba, is now in police custody in Ottawa awaiting another bail hearing on charges that he stole the money from the festivals coffers.

Despite that financial setback, the partners in DNA Presents are determined to carry on with a full slate of shows.

Were not going anywhere and we slowly want to get back to where we were. This is something that will help us get back on our feet, said Michael OFarrell, one of the four partners in the Ottawa company. It has a show with Swedish DJ and music producer Marcus Schossow Wednesday at Barrymores and it has announced a Sept. 22 show at the CE Centre with dadalife, one of the acts that appeared at the Escapade Music Festival.

He said the idea for Farm Aid came from Don Foley, chair of the Ottawa Stadium Group and a local farmer.

Its a great show, and with the summer that weve had with the drought its definitely a good thing for the community. Ottawa has a great agricultural community and were happy to help Ottawa farmers.

OFarrell said if Farm Aid attracts an average of 5,000 people the concert has the potential to raise about $100,000. The recent cancellation of the Capital Hoedown festival may mean that Ottawa fans are ready to support a different country music event, he added.

With the country acts that we got and the supporting acts its still a pretty significant lineup, he said. He said other acts are going to be named shortly.

OFarrell said a full-scale country music festival is not out of the question for next year and more discussions will be done after Farm Aid is over. He said DNA Presents has a good working relationship with Mark Monahan, head honcho at Bluesfest, and hed be interested in talking to Monahan about possibly staging a country music festival in Ottawa.

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DNA Presents organizes Farm Aid concert

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Nutrition tied to improved sperm DNA quality in older men: Healthy micronutrient intake linked to reduced DNA …

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) A new study led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that a healthy intake of micronutrients is strongly associated with improved sperm DNA quality in older men. In younger men, however, a higher intake of micronutrients didn't improve their sperm DNA.

In an analysis of 80 healthy male volunteers between 22 and 80 years of age, the scientists found that men older than 44 who consumed the most vitamin C had 20 percent less sperm DNA damage compared to men older than 44 who consumed the least vitamin C. The same was true for vitamin E, zinc, and folate.

"It appears that consuming more micronutrients such as vitamin C, E, folate and zinc helps turn back the clock for older men. We found that men 44 and older who consumed at least the recommended dietary allowance of certain micronutrients had sperm with a similar amount of DNA damage as the sperm of younger men," says Andy Wyrobek of Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division.

"This means that men who are at increased risk of sperm DNA damage because of advancing age can do something about it. They can make sure they get enough vitamins and micronutrients in their diets or through supplements," adds Wyrobek.

Wyrobek conducted the research with a team of researchers that includes Brenda Eskenazi of the University of California at Berkeley's School of Public Health and scientists from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. They report their findings in the August 27 online issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Their research comes as more men over 35 have children, which raises public health concerns. Previous research conducted in Wyrobek's lab found that the older a man is, the more he's likely to have increased sperm DNA fragmentation, chromosomal rearrangements, and DNA strand damage. Older men are also more likely to have increased frequencies of sperm carrying certain gene mutations, such as those leading to dwarfism. These findings help explain why aging men are less fertile and are predicted to have more chromosomally defective pregnancies and a higher proportion of offspring with genetic defects.

But until now, researchers haven't understood whether diet can protect against the detrimental effects of aging on the sperm genome.

The scientists studied a group of about 80 men between 20 and 80 years old with an average age of 44. They were recruited several years ago as part of the California Age and Genetic Effects on Sperm Study when Wyrobek was at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Each man who participated in the study filled out a 100-item questionnaire that estimated their average daily vitamin intake, both from food and supplements.

In addition, their sperm DNA quality was assessed via a lab analysis in which a voltage gradient pulls broken DNA strands from intact strands within the sperm nucleus.

Each volunteer's intake of a micronutrient was classified as low, moderate, or high based on how they compared to other participants. The median daily intake, both from diet and supplements, was 162 milligrams for vitamin C, 23.7 milligrams for vitamin E, 2,586 micrograms for -carotene, 475 grams for folate, and 12.3 milligrams for zinc. Many participants, even those who reported to be healthy, consumed much less than the recommended dietary allowance for many of the micronutrients.

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Tom Knight, Godfather Of Synthetic Biology, On How To Learn Something New

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It was partly frustration with designing silicon chips that led Tom Knight to the study of biology. A senior research scientist at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Knight started working in MITs AI Lab while he was in high school. As an MIT student and faculty member, in the 60s and 70s Knight was a co-engineer of ARPANET, a precursor of the Internet, and helped design the first commercial single-user computer workstations, eventually earning more than 30 patents for his work in computer science and electrical engineering. In the 1990s, Knight became fascinated with biology, went back to school, and set up a molecular biology lab within MITs computer science lab. There, Knight invented BioBricks--standardized DNA parts that make up a kind of free operating system for biotechnology. For his pioneering work merging concepts from engineering and biology, Knight is widely considered the godfather of the emerging science of synthetic biology. Here, this key player in the technological revolution of the last century talks about biology as this centurys defining technology, the need for scientific generalists, and the best way to learn something new.

FAST COMPANY: Internet legend has it that you started at MIT when you were 14? TOM KNIGHT: Well, that story has gotten a little overblown. I entered as a regular undergrad at the normal time. But I was a local boy--I grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts--and I spent a lot of my high school years at MIT, taking courses in computer programming and organic chemistry, and I spent my junior and senior summers working at the artificial intelligence lab there.

So, did you study computer engineering as an undergrad? You couldnt really study computer science then--it was the bastard child of electrical engineering. This was the dawn of the artificial intelligence world at that point, and people had only been working on it for five years or so.

Did you go directly into a grad school? I took a fair amount of time off, working as a research staff member at MIT from 1969 to 1978, partly because I could get a draft deferment. During that time, I did a lot of hardware and software work having to do with operating systems, hardware maintenance, and the construction of new computers. One of the important things I helped develop was a time-sharing system called ITS that now nobody knows about, which was oriented to making users as productive as possible. Its hard to remember how bad computers were at that time--we struggled mightily to get computers that had a megabyte of core storage. Another important thing we worked on in that period of the late '60s, early '70s, was interfacing with ARPANET, which later became the NSF Net, and later the Internet. We also designed one of the first bitmap-oriented printers, which was made obsolete when laser printers came along.

Were you making money from any of this? My masters thesis when I went back to grad school in 1978 was building a computer to more efficiently run the Lisp programming language, which I worked on with my MIT colleague Richard Greenblatt. That eventually resulted in the formation of spinout companies--unfortunately two instead of one. Greenblatt and I did not see eye to eye about how to commercialize the technology, so he started Lisp Machines, and I and a number of others started our own company called Symbolics [symbolics.com was the first registered .com domain name]. Both companies were successful--Symbolics went public and resulted in several thousand machines being distributed.

How did you get into biology from computing? In the 1980s, I learned how to engineer integrated circuits, and as part of my PhD thesis, I designed one of the first silicon retinas. Looking at Moores Law, which predicts the path of technology in silicon, by 1990 I could predict that at some point--which is right about now--you wouldnt be able to do the magical shrinking act anymore [of fitting more and more transistors on an integrated circuit]. The number of atoms across the transistor becomes too small. Were now down to the 22 nanometer range, and another shrink will bring that down to 10 nanometers. Thats only about 60 atoms across. If you shrink that another factor, you have 10 or 12 atoms. The way silicon manufacturing works, you put things in place statistically, randomly. At this size, chances are youre not going to be able to get things in the right place anymore. It was clear that we needed a different way of putting atoms in the right place. There is a technology for putting atoms where you want them--its called chemistry. You design a molecule, and that has the atoms where you want them. Whats the most sophisticated kind of chemistry? Its biochemistry. I imagined that you could use bio-molecules like proteins that have the ability to self-assemble and crystallize in the range you needed.

So, you were hoping that biology could help you better engineer silicon chips? Yes, that was part of what got me interested in biology. Something else that really changed my thinking was a proposal by a physicist-turned-biologist names Harold Morowitz called A Complete Understanding of Life. How can you not like something like that! His basic proposal was that we have all this advanced technology--if we put our minds to it and applied all this technology, we could actually understand how simple organisms work. My general bias toward biology at that point was, Oh my god, its so complicated, well never figure out whats going on--in contrast to something like computers where you can understand everything. It was really quite amazing to see somebody proposing what Id assumed was impossible. I got quite intrigued by the idea that I could go and do something with biology.

But you were no expert on biology--how did you get up to speed? Starting in 1990 or so, I started seriously looking at classical biology books, with a strong concentration on simple organisms. I started taking the graduate core courses in biology at MIT and basically became a student. It was challenging but very effective for educating myself. In 1995, along with one of my students, I took the sophomore undergraduate intro to molecular biology class--that was fun, learning how to pipette and work in the lab.

Do you have any study tips for other people who are trying to learn a new subject? I like to read books, three or four at a time. I rarely read books all the way through. Ill get a few books on a subject--you want single-author books, someone with a well-defined point of view--and read a section, and then switch to a different book and read about the same thing. I keep switching back and forth--its a great technique because you get to look at the same subject from many peoples perspective. That turns out to be actually really useful.

How did your outsider's perspective as a computer engineer inform your approach to biology? After setting up a molecular biology lab in the computer science department at MIT, it became clear to me that I didnt want to do plumbing in the way biology had been doing it for two decades. My basic realization was that every time I wanted to do one experiment, it was actually two experiments: 1. the experiment I wanted to do, and 2. building the piece of DNA I wanted. The second experiment was not that intellectually interesting, and it wasnt publishable. It just became annoying. The question was, how do you get rid of that?

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Tom Knight, Godfather Of Synthetic Biology, On How To Learn Something New

How ‘beige’ fat makes the pounds melt away

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2012) Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried have decoded a signal path that could boost the burning of body fat. Mice that are missing a signal switch called VASP are clearly leaner and have more of the coveted brown and beige-colored fat cells that convert energy into heat. This might point the way to a new method for fighting obesity.

The researchers presented their results in the current issue of the journal Science Signaling.

The numbers of obese people are climbing steeply all over the world-with obvious major consequences for their health. Due to excess food intake and a lack of physical activity, but also due to genetic factors, the risk for overweight people dying from diseases like coronary heart disease, diabetes and atherosclerosis increases. "The body's fat reserves are actually used as a place to store energy that allows surviving lean times," says Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer, Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Bonn. "But nowadays, hardly anyone in the industrialized nations is exposed to such hunger phases anymore."

A signal path boosts the burning of fat in the body

Since many people ingest more energy in their diet than they can burn, many harbor dreams of a magic pill that will simply make fat melt away. Now, scientists working with Prof. Pfeifer in collaboration with colleagues from Epileptology and from the PharmaCenter Bonn, together with the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried -- have discovered a signal path in the metabolism of mice that is indeed able to greatly boost combustion inside the rodents' bodies.

"Science distinguishes between three different types of fat," reports Prof. Pfeifer. White fat is used to store energy and is found in the "problem zones" of overweight people. "Brown fat cells, however, are used as a kind of heating unit," says the pharmacologist. "In babies, they make sure that they do not lose too much heat." Unfortunately, adults have hardly any brown fat cells left-except for small areas at the back of their necks and along their spines. The third category-the so-called "beige fat cells"-are the ones the researchers are betting on. "Just like brown fat cells, they are efficient at converting energy from food into heat, and they can form from the undesirable white fat cells," explains Prof. Pfeifer.

How can white fat cells be converted into brown or beige ones?

Consequently, the team's research focused on how to turn the white fat cells into as many beige ones as possible. "The issue was finding a way to brown white fat -- of course, not in a skillet, but directly inside the body," the University of Bonn pharmacologist summarized the problem. In a study published in 2009, the team around Prof. Pfeifer found that brown fat needs the neurotransmitter "cGMP." And according to the new findings, this is also true for beige fat. The researchers now studied in mice where cGMP comes from and how it is regulated.

These studies showed that vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) plays an essential role as a switch on a signal path that slows down the formation of brown and beige fat cells. "This is why mice in which the gene for forming VASP was switched off have the more active brown and beige fat," Prof. Pfeifer summarizes the study results. "These animals are lean and dissipate more energy." In developing a regulator for the VASP/cGMP signaling pathway, the researchers see a potential starting point for promoting the energy- and fat-burning brown fat cells.

Hope for new obesity therapies

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‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 8 deleted scene: ‘Use your words, Karev!’ — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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One of the great joys of Greys Anatomys last season was watching the relationship between Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) develop further, as the doctors worked together on the smallest patients inside Seattle Grace Mercy Wests neo-natal unit. The special kinship between the pair is on display in the upcoming, Sept. 4 DVD release of Greys Anatomy: The Complete Eighth Season in a fun little deleted scene that EW has here for you exclusively.

The never-before-seen scene comes from the January episode Suddenly and finds Karev and Robbins performing surgery on one of the hospitals newborns. Huh, Karev says unceremoniously, in the middle of operating. And thats what Robbins takes issue with: Huh? You dont Huh? when you have an open newborn baby on the table, the motherly/teacherly doctors scolds Karev. You know what? Im taking over. Karev continues his mumbling, and thats where the funny comes in between this pair: Hey! Use your words, Karev! Robbins implores him. Or youre not making another cut.

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Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky

Read more: Greys Anatomy recaps Greys Anatomy boss Shonda Rhimes explains Eric Danes exit, teases unique season opener Loretta Devine talks Greys Anatomy, her Emmy nod, the Waiting to Exhale sequel, and more

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‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 8 deleted scene: ‘Use your words, Karev!’ — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

Exclusive: Debbie Allen Returning to Grey's Anatomy as Jackson's Mother

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Debbie Allen

Debbie Allen is returning to Grey's Anatomy both in front of and behind the camera!

Allen will reprise her role as Catherine Avery, the mother of Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams), for at least one episode in the upcoming ninth season, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

Details on Catherine's return are scarce, though we know she'll pop up in the fourth episode. The last we saw of the Avery matriarch, she had quite the fling with Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) during the medical board exams, much to Jackson's chagrin.

Grey's Anatomy Exclusive: Debbie Allen to direct again in Season 9

As we first reported, Allen will also step behind the camera to direct this season's third episode. The ninth season picks up two to three months after the Stranded Six Five (RIP Lexie!) were rescued after the plane crash. The second episode will jump back in time to when they were rescued, while the Allen-directed episode will jump back to the present timeline, which will find some doctors outside of Seattle Grace with new jobs.

Grey's Anatomy returns Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9/8c on ABC.

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Exclusive: Debbie Allen Returning to Grey's Anatomy as Jackson's Mother

Three into one equals a sunny outlook for travel company

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The McNeill & Thriftway Travel Group is one of the largest independent travel operators based in Northern Ireland and as a subsidiary of Ireland's World Travel Centre, a private company, it is one of the biggest travel businesses in the whole of Ireland.

McNeill & Thriftway has been formed through the merger of three companies - Thriftway, McNeill Rigby Travel and Selective Travel. Thriftway was the family business of Mukesh Sharma, the enlarged group's managing director.

Thriftway was started in 1982 and is Ireland's largest long-haul specialist 'ticket consolidation' business - acting as a wholesaler to re-sell discounted tickets to travel agents. In 2009, Thriftway merged with McNeill Rigby Travel, a provider of corporate travel services with many large corporate clients. Last year, the group acquired Selective Travel, a provider of travel services in both the corporate and retail markets.

Selective is a significant operator in the niche business of providing travel arrangements for universities. It is the sole corporate travel services provider to Queen's University and recently won a contract worth about 35m for the provision of travel services to the Southern Universities' Purchasing Consortium in England. Winning further travel arrangement contracts with English universities is a priority for the Selective division.

While all three businesses are strong and growing impressively, Mukesh Sharma admits that they fail to optimise their marketing opportunities because of the various names used.

"I am currently involved in rebranding the Northern Ireland operation - it is just too messy, with too many names," says Mukesh. The aim is to launch a clearer branding with a single name and a new logo in September. This is likely to also involve some refinement of the product range.

"Our next step now is to amalgamate all these into one premises," continues Mukesh. "We now have almost 40 employees and we are moving into Murray's Exchange [behind Belfast's Europa Hotel]."

Existing services are not restricted to air and other travel tickets, but also include worldwide accommodation and car hire booking. These are arranged through the use of the latest and most sophisticated online booking systems and internal IT systems, including an online booking facility tailored to the needs of individual corporate clients.''

Investment in IT and staff training is central to the business's approach, says Mukesh. "We invest heavily in IT - we always have done so," he says. "We have four in-house IT developers. This is one of the reasons we are so successful with corporate clients."

A valued service to corporates is the Management Information System, MIS, which provides detailed data on business travel expenditure, enabling clients to improve cost control.

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Three into one equals a sunny outlook for travel company

2nd Year in a Row – World Travel Holdings Named One of the Achievers – 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ in the United States

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World Travel Holdings Awarded for Leadership and Innovation in Employee EngagementWilmington, Mass. (PRWEB) August 27, 2012 For the second year in a row, World Travel Holdings, the world's leading cruise agency including CruiseOne, Cruises Inc, CruisesOnly, Cruises.com and other leading brands, today announces its recognition as one of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ in the United ...

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2nd Year in a Row - World Travel Holdings Named One of the Achievers - 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ in the United States

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

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PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

Isang bihirang pagkakataon na nakausap uli ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) sa isang mahabang interview ang multi-awarded actress na si Lorna Tolentino.

Naganap ang panayam noong nakaraang Huwebes, August 23, sa faculty office ng Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), kung saan ginanap ang taping ng weekly supernatural mystery drama series naThird Eye ng TV5.

During dinner break, nabanggit ni Lorna ang tungkol sa pinsang si Zsa Zsa Padilla, who was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer of the kidney.

"Ka-text ko si Zsa Zsa. Four weeks daw siya doon, tapos saka babalik dito.

Four weeks after the operation, hindi pa siya puwedeng mag-work.

August 27 ang naiulat noon na schedule ng operasyon ni Zsa Zsa sa Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sa Los Angeles, California.

Sixteen hours and delay ng oras ng U.S. sa Pilipinas, kayat malamang na ngayong araw na ang operasyon ni Zsa Zsa.

Tatanggalin ang mala-golf ball sa laking namuong laman sa kanyang kidney.

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PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

Almost one third of Boroondara residents have no religion

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DOES Boroondara lack spirituality?

That is the question posed by Census figures released last week showing 44,588, or 28 per cent, of Boroondara residents do not follow a religion.

Neighbouring Yarra tops percentages with 39.7 per cent, but it has 15,000 fewer non-religious residents at just 29,742.

Does Boroondara lack spirituality? Have your say below.

Stonnington (27 per cent), Monash (23) and Darebin (25) all show greater faith figures.

Victoria's average for non-belief is 23 per cent.

Catholic and Anglican remain the top two religions in Boroondara, but Mandarin has climbed to third at 5 per cent, overtaking Eastern Orthodox.

Father Paul Rankin, from St Dominic's Catholic Church, in Camberwell, said in the past four years he had noticed dwindling congregations, but numbers at his church held up well. "I haven't seen the figures, but I'm mildly surprised to hear them," he said.

"As people become more prosperous, they rely more on money than they do God."

Canterbury Baptist Church senior pastor Gordon Wild said people had greater opportunity to think about their own life path.

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Almost one third of Boroondara residents have no religion

NASA: SpaceX Missions to Space Station to Resume in October

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NASA announced late last week that SpaceX, the private company that became the first non-governmental entity to fly to the International Space Station, will launch the first of its 12 planned resupply missions in October.

The announcement means NASA is comfortable with SpaceX using its Dragon vehicle for unmanned missions to the station. The agency said SpaceX's progress represents "progress toward a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next five years."

[If Curiosity FindsLife onMars, Then What?]

"We're working to open a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space and create job opportunities in Florida and across the United States," Charles Bolden, NASA's administrator, said in a statement.

Bolden said if SpaceX is successful, the company will bring manned space flights "back here to the U.S. where it belongs."

In a May test mission, SpaceX became the first company to successfully fly to the space station. It will fulfill its 12-flight contract with NASA over the next few years. This winter, another company, Orbital Sciences Corp., will make its first test flight.

Jason Koebler is a science and technology reporter for U.S. News &World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at jkoebler@usnews.com

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NASA: SpaceX Missions to Space Station to Resume in October

Astronauts discuss pets, prep from Space Station

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BOSTONAudience members sat ready for takeoff in their seats in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Mission Control in Houston appeared on a giant screen, followed by an image from inside the International Space Station.

"This is Houston. Are you ready for the event?" a voice asked.

"We are ready for the event," astronaut Joe Acaba replied from the station, circling 220 miles above Earth.

American astronauts Acaba and Suni Williams at the International Space Station answered live, pre-selected questions from the Boston audience via video chat Monday. Nearly 300 children and adults gathered at the library to talk with the astronauts.

In polo shirts and pants, Williams and Acaba floated centimeters off the floor and demonstrated zero-gravity flips from the station, which orbits Earth in 1 1/2 hours, 16 times a day.

When a young boy asked Williams why she couldn't bring her terrier, Gorby, aboard, she showed off a toy version of the dog and flipped him through the air.

"I miss him probably because he represents those cool things on Earth that you don't have up here, like wind in your face, walking on the beach," Williams said.

Both Williams and Acaba served in the military; Williams a helicopter commander in the Navy and Acaba in the Marine Corps Reserves.

Not all astronauts have military training, the two said, but Acaba reminded young audience members all astronauts have backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math.

"Your dreams can come true," Williams said. "Just do the best that you can at what you like. Somehow it seems to all line up, and you'll become what you want to become."

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NASA shows off first colour images from Mars

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NASA has shown off the first high-resolution, colour portrait images taken by the Mars rover, Curiosity.

They detail a mound of layered rock where scientists plan to focus their search for the chemical ingredients of life on the Red Planet.

The stunning images reveal distinct tiers near the base of the 5km-high mountain that rises from the floor of the ancient impact basin known as Gale Crater.

Curiosity landed there on 6 August to begin its two-year mission.

Scientists estimate it will be a year before the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover physically reaches the layers of interest at the foot of the mountain 10km away from the landing site.

From earlier orbital imagery, the layers appear to contain clays and other hydrated minerals that form in the presence of water.

Previous missions to Mars have uncovered strong evidence for vast amounts of water flowing over its surface in the past.

Curiosity was dispatched to hunt for organic materials and other chemistry thought necessary for microbial life.

The $2.5bn project is the first to bring all the tools of a state-of-the-art geochemistry laboratory to the surface of a distant planet.

But the latest images from Curiosity, taken at a distance from its primary target of exploration, already have given scientists a new view of the formation's structure.

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NASA shows off first colour images from Mars

NASA rover returns voice and telephoto views from Mars

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) NASA's Mars Curiosity has debuted the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back.

In spoken words radioed to the rover on Mars and back to NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden noted the difficulty of landing a rover on Mars, congratulated NASA employees and the agency's commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity earlier this month, and said curiosity is what drives humans to explore.

"The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future," Bolden said in the recorded message.

The voice playback was released along with new telephoto camera views of the varied Martian landscape during a news conference today at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"With this voice, another small step is taken in extending human presence beyond Earth, and the experience of exploring remote worlds is brought a little closer to us all," said Dave Lavery, NASA Curiosity program executive. "As Curiosity continues its mission, we hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars. And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration."

The telephoto images beamed back to Earth show a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed. The new views were taken by the 100-millimeter telephoto lens and the 34-milllimeter wide angle lens of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument. Mastcam has photographed the lower slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp.

"This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go," said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different color. The rocks in the foreground show diversity -- some rounded, some angular, with different histories. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through."

A drive early Monday placed Curiosity directly over a patch where one of the spacecraft's landing engines scoured away a few inches of gravelly soil and exposed underlying rock. Researchers plan to use a neutron-shooting instrument on the rover to check for water molecules bound into minerals at this partially excavated target.

During the news conference, the rover team reported the results of a test on Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which can measure the composition of samples of atmosphere, powdered rock or soil. The amount of air from Earth's atmosphere remaining in the instrument after Curiosity's launch was more than expected, so a difference in pressure on either side of tiny pumps led SAM operators to stop pumping out the remaining Earth air as a precaution. The pumps subsequently worked, and a chemical analysis was completed on a sample of Earth air.

"As a test of the instrument, the results are beautiful confirmation of the sensitivities for identifying the gases present," said SAM principal investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We're happy with this test and we're looking forward to the next run in a few days when we can get Mars data."

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NASA rover returns voice and telephoto views from Mars

NASA: Curiosity rover returns voice recording and telephoto views from Mars

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PASADENA, Ca. (NASA) NASAs Mars Curiosity has debuted the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back.

In spoken words radioed to the rover on Mars and back to NASAs Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden noted the difficulty of landing a rover on Mars, congratulated NASA employees and the agencys commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity earlier this month, and said curiosity is what drives humans to explore.

The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future, Bolden said in the recorded message.

The voice playback was released along with new telephoto camera views of the varied Martian landscape during a news conference today at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

With this voice, another small step is taken in extending human presence beyond Earth, and the experience of exploring remote worlds is brought a little closer to us all, said Dave Lavery, NASA Curiosity program executive. As Curiosity continues its mission, we hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars. And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration.

The telephoto images beamed back to Earth show a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed. The new views were taken by the 100-millimeter telephoto lens and the 34-milllimeter wide angle lens of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument. Mastcam has photographed the lower slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp.

A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASAs Curiosity rover. The image shows the base of Mount Sharp, the rovers eventual science destination. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go, said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different color. The rocks in the foreground show diversity some rounded, some angular, with different histories. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through.

A drive early Monday placed Curiosity directly over a patch where one of the spacecrafts landing engines scoured away a few inches of gravelly soil and exposed underlying rock. Researchers plan to use a neutron-shooting instrument on the rover to check for water molecules bound into minerals at this partially excavated target.

During the news conference, the rover team reported the results of a test on Curiositys Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which can measure the composition of samples of atmosphere, powdered rock or soil. The amount of air from Earths atmosphere remaining in the instrument after Curiositys launch was more than expected, so a difference in pressure on either side of tiny pumps led SAM operators to stop pumping out the remaining Earth air as a precaution. The pumps subsequently worked, and a chemical analysis was completed on a sample of Earth air.

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NASA: Curiosity rover returns voice recording and telephoto views from Mars

NASA Rover Returns Voice and Telephoto Views From Martian Surface

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PRESS RELEASE Date Released: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Rover Returns Voice and Telephoto Views From Martian Surface

NASA's Mars Curiosity has debuted the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back. In spoken words radioed to the rover on Mars and back to NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden noted the difficulty of landing a rover on Mars, congratulated NASA employees and the agency's commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity earlier this month, and said curiosity is what drives humans to explore.

"The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future," Bolden said in the recorded message.

The voice playback was released along with new telephoto camera views of the varied Martian landscape during a news conference today at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"With this voice, another small step is taken in extending human presence beyond Earth, and the experience of exploring remote worlds is brought a little closer to us all," said Dave Lavery, NASA Curiosity program executive. "As Curiosity continues its mission, we hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars. And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration."

The telephoto images beamed back to Earth show a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed. The new views were taken by the 100-millimeter telephoto lens and the 34-milllimeter wide angle lens of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument. Mastcam has photographed the lower slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp.

"This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go," said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different color. The rocks in the foreground show diversity -- some rounded, some angular, with different histories. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through."

A drive early Monday placed Curiosity directly over a patch where one of the spacecraft's landing engines scoured away a few inches of gravelly soil and exposed underlying rock. Researchers plan to use a neutron-shooting instrument on the rover to check for water molecules bound into minerals at this partially excavated target.

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NASA Rover Returns Voice and Telephoto Views From Martian Surface