Bathing ban at seven Cork beaches

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irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Sunday, August 19, 2012, 12:41

OLIVIA KELLEHER

A number of Corks best known beaches remain closed to bathers today after dangerous levels of E.coli were found in the water.

Due to the heavy rainfall over the last two months, Cork County Council have advised that levels of E.coli at a number of Cork beaches have breached EU mandatory permitted values.

The Local Authority has banned swimming in blue flag beaches at Garretstown, Redbarn, and Garryvoe. Other impacted beaches include The Front Strand and Claycastle in Youghal, Coolmaine near Kilbrittain, and Oysterhaven.

The closures are a precautionary measure until the quality has been restored. The HSE and the Environmental Protection Agency have been contacted.

Youghal Councillor and County Mayor Barbara Murray says the system of water sampling needs to be changed.

You dont just do this on a Monday and decide you are not going to do it again until the following Monday, she said.

So I would be suggesting that it would be done on a more regular basis and that the results be brought in as soon as possible. This is the livelihoods for a lot of people. Tourism is what it is all about here in Youghal. We need to get our beach up and going as soon as possible.

Further inspections are to be carried out on the beaches tomorrow. Public notices are in place asking bathers not to swim in the effected beaches until further notice.

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Bathing ban at seven Cork beaches

How To Use Microbiology To Enhance Cannabis Plants – Video

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17-08-2012 15:28 For more information, visit: In this video, I will show you how to enrich a water with beneficial bacteria using aeration and adding sugars to the water. This will allow the bacteria to thrive and help your Marijuana plant grow healthier. Some may use only a few bacteria strains for this while I use a lot to benefit the weed more. Just be sure to do this in a well-ventilated room to and avoid inhaling those bacteria.

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Communicating with Aliens through DNA

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DNA encodes the information for all the proteins inside the cell, their amino acid sequence, when and where to turn them on, and a whole lot of other things that we probably dont fully understand yet. With the ability to write DNA, to synthesize our own arbitrary stretches of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs, we can create our own instructions for cellular proteins or we can encode sequences that would be junk to a cell but that we could read as a message. This week, George Church, Yuan Gao, and Sri Kosuri published a short paper demonstrating that not only could we encode a few phrases here and there, but write a whole book in DNA. The book, Churchs Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves, which will be published using more traditional means this fall, includes 53,426 words, 11 jpgs, and one JavaScript program. The text and images were converted to html format and then read as bits, 1s and 0s that can be easily encoded into DNA: A or C for 0 and T or G for 1. Having two possible letters for each bit means that the sequence wont end up with long stretches of any single letter, a challenge for chemical DNA synthesis. The perl code they used to covert bits to DNA is available in the papers supplementary information (PDF).

This is by far the largest amount of non-biological information synthesized and stored in DNAa total of 5.27 megabits, way beyond the 7,920 bit record previously held by the Venter Institutes watermarks in their chemically synthesized genome (written using an undisclosed code for each letter and punctuation mark).

The sequence of Watermark 4 in the Venter Institute's synthetic genome

While news reports about the DNA book often acknowledge this previous DNA message, as well as a 1999 paper encoding the World War II spy message JUNE 6 INVASION: NORMANDY in DNA (PDF), they dont mention the very first synthetic DNA message cited in the paper. In 1988, Joe Davis, an artist collaborating with molecular biologist Dana Boyd in Jon Beckwiths lab at Harvard Medical School (and currently a research affiliate in George Churchs lab), designed and synthesized an 18 base-pair message encoding the image of the ancient Germanic rune representing life and the female earth. The Microvenus message was then pasted into a vector and transformed into E. coli, creating a living work of art.

Microvenus--The first non-biological message encoded in DNA, by Joe Davis

The Arecibo Message

The coding scheme for Microvenus was inspired by the binary message sent by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake from the Arecibo radio telescope in 1974, an attempt to open up communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (as well as demonstrate the capabilities of the newly remodeled telescope). The image is a 2373 rectangle (having the dimensions be two prime numbers makes it easier to decode the single stream of binary digits) showing pictures of the telescope, a person, and information about our solar system and our DNA. Microvenus is coded with a similar principle, the lines of the image translated to ones and zeros in a 57 grid, converted to DNA with phase-change values rather than numerical values. The DNA bases are arranged by size C= 1, T=2, A =3, G=4 and represent the number of bits needed before you switch to the opposite bit. For example, 10101 translates to CCCCC because each digit occurs once before it switches, and 00011 would be AG because there are three 0 before it switches to two ones.

Despite its tendency to mutate and evolve as cells divide, DNA is a remarkably inert and stable chemical on its own, lasting long enough for archeologists to be able to sequence strands of DNA many thousands of years old. In a microbial spore hurtling through space, DNA could theoretically last long enough to be found by an extraterrestrial civilization that could sequence it and decode the message inside. In the late 1970s, some scientists even hypothesized the inverse possibilitythat viruses on Earth could have been sent as messages from extraterrestrials. Attempts to decode the X174 viral genome sequence into two dimensional images of course didnt yield any striking alien messages, but did open up the possibility of sending out different kinds of messages of our own.

For Davis, the messages that we send to aliens arent just about sending out a friendly description of life, art, and science on Earth, but of better understanding those things ourselves. He writes in his paper describing the Microvenus project:

By sending messages to extraterrestrial intelligence, human beings are importantly engaged in a search for themselves. They must first reveal themselves to themselves before they can reveal themselves to anyone else. This has not only been a central dilemmain the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but it has also been an essential element of art, history, psychology, and classical philosophy.

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QualityStocks News – International Stem Cell Corp. Highlighted by Seeking Alpha Article

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Featured as Biotech with Strong Lead in Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson’sScottsdale, Arizona (PRWEB) August 18, 2012 QualityStocks would like to highlight International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB: ISCO), focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO's ...

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A new space race: Companies vie to haul cargo, passengers

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Private companies developing spacecraft

More than a dozen private companies are developing spacecraft to transport cargo or people to space. Here are few of them:

SpaceX: Its seven-seat Dragon capsule in May became the first commercial spacecraft to fly to the International Space Station and return to Earth intact. Founded by PayPal co-founder and billionaire Elon Musk, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company has won two NASA awards to carry cargo and people into orbit. Last year, it won $75 million in the second round of awards. This month, NASA promised an additional $440 million. A first test flight with people will take place in 2015.

Sierra Nevada: Sierra Nevada's Space Systems received $117.6 million from NASA in the first two rounds of awards for transport to the Space Station. This month, NASA pledged an additional $212.5 million for the Colorado-based space company to develop the Dream Chaser, which looks like a miniature version of NASA's space shuttle. The seven-seat spacecraft will launch vertically on an Atlas V rocket and land horizontally on a runway just like a plane. A first test flight is expected in 2016.

Blue Origin: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos backs this secretive Kent, Wash.-company that's trying to develop vehicles for suborbital and orbital flights. For suborbital flights above the planet's surface without reaching orbit, the company is working on the New Shepard, a capsule that can carry three or more astronauts atop a separate rocket-powered propulsion module. To transport up to seven astronauts to the Space Station, the company is developing the Space Vehicle, a capsule that launches vertically and re-enters horizontally. The company has received $20.1 million from NASA.

Boeing: The Chicago-based aerospace giant won NASA's largest award, $460 million, to build a seven-person Crew Space Transportation-100 capsule that will fly atop an Atlas V rocket. Boeing anticipates a test flight by 2016. It has received $125.2 million in NASA funding in previous rounds.

Virgin Galactic: British airline mogul Richard Branson's U.S.-based Virgin Galactic plans suborbital flights by the end of 2013. SpaceShipTwo will carry six passengers and two pilots. The WhiteKnightTwo, a cargo aircraft, will launch SpaceShipTwo up to 50,000 feet. So far, VirginGalactic has collected more than $65 million in deposits from 535 customers. Tickets cost $200,000 each. The company is funded largely by Branson's Virgin Group and the Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments.

XCOR Aerospace: The Mojave, Calif.-based company is developing a Lynx suborbital and reusable launch vehicle that can accommodate two people. Flights could begin as early as the end of next year. The company says it has spent about $50 million to $60 million developing the Lynx. A ticket will cost $95,000.

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School notes: Students to have radio contact with space station

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FFA students from Flagler Palm Coast High School recently returned from a retreat. Pictured in the front row from left are Kerry Norberg, Austin Davis and Tara Norberg; second row from left are Hannah Welch and Katie Young. Along the back row are Jessica DiMaria and Madison Worley. (Provided by Johanna Davis)

Indian Trails Middle School is preparing for an event that will allow students to contact an astronaut aboard the International Space Station via amateur radio.

The event, scheduled for the week of Nov. 12, is being made possible through Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, NASA, international space agencies and worldwide amateur radio groups that coordinate scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the space station and schools. The 10-minute live forum will bounce between students and astronauts as the astronauts orbit 250 miles above Earth.

The event also will include guest speakers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautic University along with an array of space-replated exhibits designed by students.

More information is available at http://www.nasa.gov/education/tfs and http://flaglerschools.com/space. District contacts include Jose Nunez at nunezj@flaglerschools.com and Sabrina Crosby, event coordinator, at crosbys@flaglerschools.com.

Information about the Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club is available at fpcamateurradioclub.com.

Reading Pals volunteers needed

Flagler County Public Schools and Flagler Volunteer Services are seeking 100 volunteers to read to preschool-aged children twice a week for 25 weeks.

Each mentoring volunteer will be partnered with a selected child for a 30-minute session during class time. Each session will include reading a book, completing an activity and a discussion period.

Each volunteer can mentor up to three children. Volunteers must pass background screenings and attend a training session.

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School notes: Students to have radio contact with space station

Libertarians Look to Make Waves

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Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson almost certainly can't win the presidential election this year. But his supporters claim he could determine who does.

Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who briefly and unsuccessfully competed for the Republican presidential nomination before joining the Libertarians, is polling barely above 5 percent nationwide. Yet his numbers in key battleground states suggest he could make a difference in what is shaping up to be a tight contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

He was rating at 13 percent in New Mexico and 9 percent in Arizona in recent polling -- not enough to win, but certainly enough to disadvantage whichever major-party candidate he's drawing votes away from.

The Libertarian Party is now touting that possibility. An emailed statement from the organization earlier this week carried a rather sensational subject line: "Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gov. Gary Johnson Could Deprive Mitt Romney of 5 battleground states, 74 Electoral Votes, 27% of the Electoral Votes needed to win in 2012."

Libertarians reasoned Johnson, then, "could determine the winner" of the election.

It's impossible to gauge at this point what effect Johnson could have, but of course it's not unprecedented for a third-party candidate to tilt the scales.

In 1992, third-party candidate Ross Perot won roughly 19 percent of the popular vote, which many people think cut into GOP incumbent George H.W. Bush's take and put Democratic candidate Bill Clinton in the Oval Office with just 43 percent of the vote.

Though Johnson is polling barely above 5 percent nationwide, Romney and Obama are separated by single digits in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia.

The Libertarian Party is pointing to those states as among the places where Johnson's presence could make a difference. All five states voted for Obama in 2008. But they largely voted Republican in prior modern-day elections, and could be a toss-up this year.

As for which candidate Johnson benefits, it's unclear. The Libertarians think he mostly takes away from Romney's numbers. And they say Johnson will likely have the biggest impact in Colorado, based on a recent statewide poll that shows him with 7 percent of the vote.

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Libertarians Look to Make Waves

China protests Japanese visit to disputed islands

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A diplomatic row is heating up between China and Japan over a few uninhabited islands in the waters north of Taiwan, which both countries lay claim to.

China lodged a formal protest ahead of this weekends visit by a group of Japanese nationalists, including several politicians, to the disputed islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan in the East China Sea.

The Japanese group, numbering more than 100, headed to islands early Saturday morning and is expected to arrive on Sunday.

They are planning a ceremony to commemorate the countrys dead from the Second World War. Boats will circle the islands as the group holds the event.

The Japanese protest flotilla is a response to a similar action by 14 Chinese activists this week, who reached the islands on Wednesday. A handful of the activists swam to land, planting Chinese flags and declaring the islands part of China.

Ownership of the islands would provide exclusive mineral, oil and fishing rights in surrounding waters.

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Limbless Frenchman swims between US, Russian islands

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Quadruple amputee Philippe Croizon swam between islands in the icy Bering Strait Friday to cross from America to Asia in the final part of a quest to link all continents.

The Frenchman braved strong currents and near-freezing temperatures in a roughly four kilometre (2.5 mile) swim between the US island of Little Diomede and Big Diomede in Russia that he said took about one hour and 20 minutes.

"This was the hardest swim of my life, with a water temperature of four degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong currents," the deeply moved Croizon told AFP after reaching the Russian island.

"We made it," said the 44-year-old, who was accompanied by long-distance swimmer Arnaud Chassery, 35.

Since May the pair have swum across three other straits separating the continents and Friday's was the last.

They plunged through the ocean up to the limit of the territorial waters separating Russia and the United States, and then continued a few hundred metres (yards) into Russian waters to enter Asia.

The men arrived on Alaska's Little Diomede island in a fishing boat last Sunday but their swim was held up for four days because of a powerful storm with winds of up to 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour.

Over the past three months, they have swum from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia, crossing from Oceania to Asia; across the Red Sea from Egypt to Jordan between Africa and Asia; and from Spain to Morocco, between Europe to Africa.

Croizon had all four limbs amputated in 1994 after being struck by an electric shock of more than 20,000 volts as he tried to remove a TV antenna from a roof. He uses flippers attached to prosthetic limbs to swim.

He said his accomplishment was a message of encouragement to other disabled people.

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Limbless Frenchman swims between US, Russian islands

Defiant Japanese head for islands

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18 August 2012 Last updated at 12:11 ET

Japanese politicians have set sail for a group of disputed islands, in the teeth of protests by China which claims them for its own.

A flotilla of some 20 Japanese boats set out for the Senkaku islands, called Diaoyu in China, and is expected to anchor off them early on Sunday.

The politicians plan to commemorate Japanese dead in World War II, when Japan occupied eastern China.

But Japan's government has denied them permission to land on the islands.

China says the event will undermine its "territorial sovereignty" and this is the latest move in an escalating dispute over the islands.

On Friday, Japan deported several Chinese activists who had landed there this week.

The islands, also claimed by Taiwan, are close to strategically important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain oil deposits.

Emotions have been running high since the commemoration on Wednesday of Japan's surrender in World War II, when China and South Korea both protested against a visit to a Tokyo war shrine by two Japanese cabinet members.

Just before 21:00 (12:00 GMT), the 150-strong party sailed out of the Japanese port of Ishigaki.

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Enact Right to Health Care law; Dr Shetty

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Narayana Hrudalaya Hospitals Group Chairman Devi Shetty today urged the state government to formulate and enact the Right to Health Care Act to ensure medical treatment to every needy patient.

Talking to the reporters here Dr Shetty said much needed medical care at affordable cost was still out of reach of millions of people in this country due to financial reasons and he had seen even government employees praying for concession or free treatment.

The celebrated cardiac surgeon, also a recipient of Padma Bhushan, said the country had already brought reformist progressive laws like Right to Information, Right to Education Right to Employment(NREGA). The tenactment of Right to Health Care would be very appropriate result yielding step that would also ensure better transparency in the system.

Dr Shetty said, this is a viable and workable suggestion which could be implemented without putting unbearable burden on anyone.

In this direction he had showered praises for steps and actions being taken in Rajasthan and said the state government here was progressive which had done a lot of innovative work in health care sector during past two-three years. "They have done a great job,"he complimented.

Dr Shetty was in the town to celebrate the Joint Commission International(JCI) accreditation accorded to the Group's hospital in Jaipur.

Hailing the feat which symolises high quality and ethical treatment and health/hospital management at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital here, Dr Shetty said, "This makes our Jaipur hospital the first institution in the state to have this highest accreditation for health care/services of international standards." (UNI)

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Drumheller News, Drumheller Weather, Drumheller Sports

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Details Published on Saturday, 18 August 2012 10:39 Written by DrumhellerMail.com

On Tuesday, August 14, Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey hosted a public conversation about health care for the Drumheller and area community at the Badlands Community Facility. Edmonton-Riverview MLA Steve Young and Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman were also in attendance.

The whole focus of the meeting was for the provincial government to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly of the health care system from the bottom up.

We need to hear issues from those utilizing the system, those working in the system, and just from people on the street, said Ron Casey, MLA for Banff-Cochrane.

He said these sessions are to gather information about whats working in health care and whats not.

There were some really good ideas that came out here today about some things that can make [the health care system] work better, said Casey.

Many issues were discussed during two and a half hours of the meeting.

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Drumheller News, Drumheller Weather, Drumheller Sports

Freedom runs for two second-half scores but can't overcome big hole

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Credit: Charles Wingate | The News Herald

Freedom senior wide receiver Marcus Davis (5) hauls in a pass that helped set up his team's first touchdown on Friday in Sawmills.

Freedom Highs football opener was a tale of two halves.

South Caldwell raced to a three-touchdown advantage in the opening half then held off a vicious second-half rally by the visiting Patriots to claim a 21-12 non-conference football contest Friday at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans dominated the first quarter in all aspects of the game. They received the opening kickoff then drove 70 yards on 11 plays all rushes to hit paydirt on a 2-yard run off tackle by senior running back Tyler Barber.

Freedoms Khris Gardin returned the ensuing kickoff 43 yards to the Spartan 42. After an illegal motion penalty, senior quarterback Shawn Fairchild hit Gardin with a 9-yard completion. On second down, Fairchild scampered for a 4-yard gain but was stripped of the ball, which was recovered by SCs Andrew Tilghman.

I think if we would have scored there, it would have been a different game, said Freedom coach Mike Helms.

The Spartans wing-T ground attack went back to work in fine fashion, piling up 66 yards on eight attempts as Zac Pollard converted the final 2-yard scoring run for a 14-0 lead with 1:44 left in the opening quarter.

Freedom junior Kwan Hall scooped up a squib kick and returned it 11 yards to put the Pats in good field position at their own 42.

The Patriots could not convert as a dropped pass, a 3-yard rush by David Burgess and an incompletion forced a punt, which only traveled five yards to put SC at midfield.

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Freedom runs for two second-half scores but can't overcome big hole

Fight Picks: Rousey Vs Kaufman, Tate Vs Kedzie, Yamanaka Vs De Randamie

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I sincerely hope that 145er, Hiroko Yamanaka, currently ranked first on the "Top 10" list of female MMA fighters, gets knocked out by Dutch kickboxer, Germaine de Randamie. I'd like it to happen even faster than the 16 seconds it took for Cris "Cyborg" Santos to finish her at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal in December of 2011. That match was ruled no contest (NC) because Cyborg tested positive for banned substances.

Cyborg didn't need steroids to break the will of Yamanaka. She just needed 16 seconds to TKO the lanky fighter.

Sherdog has both Germaine and Yamanaka listed as 5'11".

Germaine's last visit to the Strikeforce cage ended in a loss by unanimous decision to Julia Budd. Here's the fight, Germaine de Randamie (2-2) vs Julia Budd (3-2) in June 2011 on video

Predicting Yamanaka vs de Randamie is a "don't blink" fight

Germaine has had a year and a half to practice and improve her ground game skills. Fans should expect to see some good technique demonstrated against Yamanaka--if the fight goes longer than a minute.

Veronica from Women's MMARoundUp interviewed Germaine in January of 2011. Germaine's accent sounds like a cross between Bas Rutten and Marloes Coenen.

Veronica asked Germaine (46-0 kickboxing record) how striking in MMA differs from striking in kickboxing. "We like boxing, finishing with a kick. You can not do it exactly the same as you do that in a stand up fight. You can throw combinations, but it can't be a combination of eight punches. You have to be careful for the takedown...somebody grabs your leg. You have to be careful...Now I train wrestling and jiu jitsu, and a different kind of stand up for boxing."

Women's 145 division

The second thing I'd like to see is Germaine drop to 135 after this fight and join the rest of the women building their skills and their fight experience at that level. Seems to me if you want to fight in the 145 division, then the best place right now is Invicta Fighting Championships.

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Fight Picks: Rousey Vs Kaufman, Tate Vs Kedzie, Yamanaka Vs De Randamie

Leading Pet Insurance Provider Protect Your Bubble Announces Top Dog Friendly Beaches

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US Pet Owners Can Choose from the Nation’s Top Beaches.Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) August 18, 2012 Before summer comes to an end, Protect Your Bubble announces its picks for top dog friendly beaches helping pet owners find the best beaches to enjoy the sun, surf and sand with their four legged friends. These beaches were chosen for their beautiful scenery, nearby pet activities and amenities and relaxed ...

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Leading Pet Insurance Provider Protect Your Bubble Announces Top Dog Friendly Beaches

Anglers find action casting into bait fish schools along Treasure Coast beaches

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The beaches of Martin and St. Lucie counties have been the place to be this month for anglers interested casting into bait schools to catch drag-taxing jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel and even tarpon.

Its all about finding the black streaks in the water just off the beach clouds of bait fish that have included glass minnows and pilchards in recent weeks and probably will include finger mullet in the weeks ahead.

Jim Cargill of Hobe Sound Bait & Tackle said he found jacks, Spanish mackerel, blue runners and tarpon (along with dozens of pelicans) feeding on one of those big black clouds of bait fish near the Hole in the Wall just inside St. Lucie Inlet recently.

During a walk on Hobe Sound Beach last weekend, I found the dark streak of bait just out of casting distance for my light spinning rod holding a chrome 7/8-ounce Gotcha lure on 30-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. Tarpon were rolling near the bait.

Schools of bait fish were holding tighter to the beach at Hobe Sound the weekend of Aug. 4, when beach anglers were happily fighting jacks and Spanish mackerel for much of the day, said Steve Barron, a Hobe Sound angler who enjoys walking the beach with his spinning rod.

On the north side of St. Lucie Inlet, anglers are finding plenty of action when they find the bait along the beaches of Hutchinson Island.

Theres a black line running up and down the beach, said Henry Caimotto of the Snook Nook in Jensen Beach, who recommends looking for the bait schools from Bathtub Beach at the south end of Hutchinson Island to Walton Rocks Beach farther north.

Caimotto rattled off a list of fish following the bait schools along Hutchinson Island: snook, tarpon, bonitos, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, whiting and croakers. He recommends casting from the beach with a 7-foot spinning rod holding a D.O.A. Bait Buster or shiny chrome casting spoon. A fly rod will work when the conditions are right.

The along-the-beach bait run is a precursor to the fall mullet run, when the fish feeding frenzy typically shifts into high gear along the beaches.

When the mullet will begin to run is an age-old question, but they usually start sometime in September, depending on the weather.

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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' lander passes test

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NASA's "Mighty Eagle" a robotic prototype for new landers to explore the moon and beyond has passed a major test with its first successful free flight, the space agency announced this week.

Without using a tether (a first for the vehicle), the lander took off, hovered at about 33 feet (10 meters), flew sideways, and landed safely on its prescribed target, video of the the Aug. 8 test flight shows. The entire flight lasted 34 seconds and took place at NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

NASA plans to use the Mighty Eagle to develop new robotic landers to send to the moon, near-Earth asteroids and other airless celestial bodies

The three-legged spacecraft is 4 feet (1.2 m) tall and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter. It weighs 700 pounds (317 kilograms) when filled with its fuel, which is made up of 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide, according to NASA.

After the lander's previous round of testing in 2011, engineers upgraded the guidance controls on the lander's camera, improving its autonomous capabilities, NASA officials said. In tests scheduled through September, engineers plan to get the lander flying and hovering autonomously at up to 100 feet (30 m).

"These lander tests provide the data necessary to expand our capabilities to go to other destinations," Greg Chavers, engineering manager at the Marshall Center, said in an Aug. 13 statement. "It also furthers our knowledge of the engineering components needed for future human and robotic missions."

The Mighty Eagle's successful untethered flight came one day before another NASA lander prototype's fiery test failure at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In that Aug. 9 test flight, engineers with NASA's Project Morpheus based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston attempted to make the first untethered flight of the Morpheus lander over a mock moonscape.

A failure caused the Morpheus lander to flip over and explode shortly after liftoff. Project Morpheus officials are studying the failure and plan to upgrade a second Morpheus lander for future tests.

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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' lander passes test

RAHC Impact: ‘Path’ to Valley medical school announcement expected

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EDINBURG University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa today is expected to announce plans to expand medical education as a path to establishing a free-standing medical school in the Rio Grande Valley, a press release said.

The announcement is expected to affect all Regional Academic Health Centers in the Valley, which includes Harlingen, said Louie Sanchez, a spokesman for state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville.

Officials on Thursday declined to disclose details of plans set to be announced at 10:30 a.m. at the Regional Academic Health Centers Medical Research Division in Edinburg.

However, Randy Whittington, a former Harlingen mayor who serves as president of the South Texas Medical Foundation, said the announcement will include plans to turn the RAHC which includes branches in Harlingen, Edinburg and Brownsville into a four-year medical school.

Hes going to announce plans to convert the RAHC into a four-year medical school in the Valley, Whittington said. Hes going to lay out steps to get there and a timetable. I think everybody will be surprised about how quick it can be done.

The plans will impact the entire RAHC system, which includes the Harlingen branch, the Edinburg research division and a public health school in Brownsville, Sanchez said. Its about the entire program, Lucio said.

Officials continue to work to develop a four-year medical school in Harlingen, Lucio said. The goal we have always had is to go from a two-year operation to a four-year institution, Lucio said.

About 1,000 third- and fourth-year medical students have trained at the RAHC since it opened in 2002, said Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell, who has called the RAHC one of the citys hallmarks.

It has built up, Boswell said. A huge investment has been made.

The Regional Academic Health Center lays the foundation to a proposed South Texas health science center, Sanchez said.

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RAHC Impact: ‘Path’ to Valley medical school announcement expected