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Mother and baby camel thrive at Jasper farm after rare procedure – Beaumont Enterprise

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Dr. Ron McMurry MD shares some treats with some of his camels on his farm in Jasper County. They know he always has treats for them. Photo made on August 4, 2020. Fran Ruchalski/The Enterprise

Photo: Fran Ruchalski, The Enterprise / The Enterprise

Dr. Ron McMurry MD shares some treats with some of his camels on his farm in Jasper County. They know he always has treats for them. Photo made on August 4, 2020. Fran Ruchalski/The Enterprise

Mother and baby camel thrive at Jasper farm after rare procedure

Sybil and her new baby, Ivan, are enjoying life on their Jasper farm, grazing the hedgerows and pastures with their growing herd.

But that all seemed like a slim hope just months ago.

Now, thanks to a rare procedure performed at Texas A&M Universitys Large Animal Hospital, the camels not only have a new chance at life, but could one day impact the lives of others dealing with adversity.

Ivan was born in May at the Jasper farm of Joanna and Ron McMurry after his mother recovered from an extensive hip surgery last fall, but that wasnt always the plan.

Sybil was supposed to go back to (the LAH) for the birth, but that was before the pandemic started to ramp up, Ron, a Jasper physician, said.

Ivan now spends his days close to his mothers side or playing with his cousin thats about the same age; and Sybil seems to be getting along well despite the ordeal that first introduced her to the staff at Texas A&M University.

The 7-year-old dromedary camel, one of the first the McMurrys obtained in their herd of six, last summer developed a mysterious limp that concerned her owners. She was pregnant at the time and seemed to be in great discomfort.

X-rays at Texas A&M Universitys LAH revealed that Sybil had somehow dislocated a hip.

It was hard for us, Joanna said. We didnt really know what the chances were for her or the baby.

Ron said he knew an injury like Sybils typically ended in euthanasia, but he hoped for a chance to save the pair.

In September, LAH surgeon and assistant professor Kati Glass told The Bryan-College Station Eagle that she knew there would be challenges if they attempted the surgery.

We were very worried, and I spoke to a bunch of surgeons for a bit of advice while preparing for surgery, Glass said.

Those people were very doubtful. ... The challenge is the force it takes to get the (hip) back into socket with muscles so big, and then keeping that hip in the socket.

Ron was told most of the doctors who had experience with hip surgeries for camels did not have favorable results, even if the hip is reset.

Still, the McMurrys and the staff at the LAH persisted, and after some nerve-wracking attempts to set the hip in its proper place the surgery was a success.

Since the procedure, Ron said Sybil hasnt shown any issues related to her injury.

And while she wasnt able to make it to College Station for the birth, she has had a few visitors at her farm.

There were some students that had worked with her at (Texas A&M University LAH) that were interviewing for positions in Jasper and came to check in on her, he said.

While Sybil was at the hospital last fall, students learning at the LAH threw her a baby shower and celebrated her recovery.

Sybils current life may be carefree at the moment, even with a young one tagging along beside her, but that doesnt mean her and her herd arent living with purpose.

Ron said he was inspired to raise camels after he started learning about their unique physiology and hearing stories of how people rely on camels milk to treat chronic diseases.

Researchers and health advocates have been interested in two components of camels milk, lactoferrin and immunoglobulins, believed to be associated with benefits for the immune system. Homeopaths have credited its high zinc content with improving insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes.

Specifically, Ron was fascinated with testimonials from parents who reported great improvements for their children dealing with autism spectrum disorders after being introduced to regular servings of camels milk.

Some studies on children diagnosed with autism between the ages of 2 and 12 who used cows milk as a placebo reported improvements to behavior, but none of those claims have been validated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Until someone does a comprehensive study, Ron said, any benefits from camels milk will remain just an anecdotal story, which is why he decided to work toward having a producing camel farm that could one day facilitate the kind of controlled study that might help reveal some concrete answers.

There very well may be something to it; and, if there isnt, I want to know that, too, he said.

The McMurrys recently obtained another camel from a farm in Kansas. Bita soon will give birth to a new playmate for Ivan.

Camels can typically only be milked between 8 and 18 months after giving birth, but can sometimes produce milk for up to three years.

Ron said he would like to have 15 producing camels at the farm before he could consider conducting a study with a medical research school on the milks effects.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism

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Mother and baby camel thrive at Jasper farm after rare procedure - Beaumont Enterprise

Saving Lives Together | Opinion | chathamstartribune.com – Chatham Star-Tribune

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Not too long ago, county and city intake shelters were commonly known as the pound, and lifesaving for these animals in care was all too often not a priority. Thousands upon thousands adoptable animals were needlessly euthanized annually and shelters had a negative image of where animals went to be euthanized. Citizens and animal advocates recognized that this was not right, and things started to change for the better for these animals over the years.

Virginia has some of the best recording and tracking of animal shelter and rescue incoming and outgoing statistics as required by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). National organization like Best Friends and Petco have also emphasized how tracking this data can help direct resources and assistance to areas in need. Majority of the animal welfare organizations, shelters and rescues realized that by working together, and using the VDACS data, regions of the state that were struggling to save lives could be identified, and assistance / resources offered to improve outcomes. In 2019, the average save percentage for all Virginia animal shelters and rescues was 89%. While this is a great thing, many of us believe that we can do better, and as a state achieve an overall save percentage of over 90%. When asked, most would say that we should do everything possible to save these animals that are counting on us.

I have to believe that, like myself, people that work in the animal welfare field were drawn to it not for the great hours, or pay, but because they wanted to make a difference for animals in need. By this logic, every animal shelter should strive to save as many as possible and I would argue that if they arent, they are in the wrong line of work. So why have shelters that put a high emphasis on saving lives been vilified by some? Isnt saving lives of animals in need what we are here for? When I was hired as the Director of the Pittsylvania Pet Center I said that I thought through collaboration, hard work and community support, maintaining a save percentage of over 90% for our animals was completely achievable. I also said that we would not allow any animals to needlessly suffer, or adopt out animals that were identified as a danger to other animals or the public, and we have stuck by these core beliefs.

Critics of no kill shelters claim that no kill shelters are overcrowded, animals are needlessly suffering, dangerous animals are adopted out and the quality of care for the animals is substandard. This cannot be farther from the truth at the Pittsylvania Pet Center. I have also heard that we have a high save rate because we only take in highly adoptable animals and refuse animals in need of euthanasia by owners that cant afford to go to a veterinarian. The reality is that 50% of our animals received in 2019 were sick, or injured and we had several that needed surgery to save. We received over 30 puppies and dogs with Parvo, and over 100 cats/kittens with Panleukemia and Calici virus. We also received over 60 kittens in need of bottle feeding. While it is true that we lost several of these animals while being treated, none were left to suffer, and majority of the animals that were euthanized at the Pet center, were ones that were not responding to treatment, and we did not want them to suffer. Every life lost is mourned by our staff that gives their heart and soul to their job. Unfortunately, there are still shelters who will take animals like these in and immediately euthanize instead of trying to save them. We choose to take comfort in the fact that 95% of all of our animals received were live releases. As our outreach programs, foster families, transfer partners and community support has grown, despite the pandemic, our shelter population is actually lower than previous years and we are still seeing majority of our animals saved. We are your county shelter and we are committed to our life saving mission. The staff and volunteers of our shelter work so very hard to ensure that every animal received is treated as a member of our family, and we will never stop the fight to save every animal that we can. You can label us as no kill, but we are committed to helping the animals that need us and our community, and saving every life we can. Our citizens should expect nothing less from our shelter, and with your support, we will continue to make things better.

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Saving Lives Together | Opinion | chathamstartribune.com - Chatham Star-Tribune

Bat in county tests positive for rabies | Free – Ashland Daily Press

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

A bat in Washburn County tested positive for rabies this week, the county's public health department said on Thursday, Aug. 6.

Rabies is an infectious viral disease that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. In Wisconsin, skunks and bats are the most likely animals to carry the rabies virus, but it has also occurred in dogs, cats, foxes, raccoons, and livestock.

Rabies is contracted by exposure to a rabid animal. Most of the recent human rabies cases in the United States have been found through testing to have been caused by a bat variant of the rabies virus. Anyone who is bitten or scratched by a bat should wash the wound thoroughly with soap and warm water and seek medical advice immediately.

"Most people know when they have been bitten by a bat, but because bats have small teeth which may leave marks that are not easily seen, there are situations in which you should seek medical advice even in the absence of an obvious bite wound," the department said. "For example, if you awaken and find a bat in your room, see a bat in the room of an unattended child, or see a bat near a mentally incapacitated or intoxicated person, seek medical advice and have the bat tested."

Pets, particularly cats, may often catch bats. If a dead or injured bat is found near a pet, the bat should be sent in for testing and the pet quarantined until the results are known.

"Keep your pets current on their rabies vaccines," the health department advised.

The Health Department can assist with getting the bat tested. If a bat that just bit a person or pet is killed or captured, keep the dead bat in the refrigerator until it can be brought to the Health Department. Do not freeze it.

Animals can only be shipped to the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene for testing on weekdays, so if the bite occurs on the weekend, keep the bat refrigerated until the following Monday. If it is alive, keep it in a secure container and contact the Health Department to arrange for humane euthanasia.

Rabies Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (rabies vaccine series) should be started in most cases involving a bat bite and can be discontinued if the bat tests negative for rabies. Bats are more likely to carry rabies than other animals in Northwestern Wisconsin, and the method used to kill a bat that has just bitten someone often leaves the brain untestable for rabies.

If preventative treatment is obtained promptly following rabies exposure, virtually all cases of rabies will be prevented.

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Bat in county tests positive for rabies | Free - Ashland Daily Press

Catholic politician in the Netherlands seeks leadership of left-wing party – Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

More than a few eyebrows were raised in Dutch Catholic circles, when word came out of Sigrid Kaags candidacy to become the party leader of D66, a social-liberal party of The Netherlands known for its anti-religious attitude. Kaag, a big favorite for the leadership role, is a deliberate liberal and a practicing Catholic at the same time, and many were wondering if those two things can really go hand in hand?

On June 21, 2020, Kaag announced her candidacy to become the party leader ahead of the Dutch general elections scheduled for March 17, 2021. In her announcement, Kaag explicitly stated her wish to become the first female Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

The Dutch probably wont associate Kaags party with the Catholic faith, or with any faith for that matter. As the party writes on its own website: The party consciously sought and still seeks to break the power of traditional class and religious alignments. Still, its this party to which Sigrid Kaags heart has belonged for years. She has been an active politician since 2017 and is currently the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

However, Kaag, who is fluent in six languages and married to a Palestinian atheist, still thinks her choice for D66 in 2017 was a logical one.

I believe people have been given the knowledge and the power to express their own talents. People therefore are responsible themselves for doing the right thing and refusing to do the wrong thing, she said.

She has always been a person of faith, she told the Dutch Catholic weekly Katholiek Nieuwsblad in an interview on her way to Rome, where she also visited the Vatican.

I was born and raised a Catholic. My father studied at the conservatory, but also at the Catholic music school. As an organist he was often involved in the Latin High Mass and as a girl I gladly went along to help. I was often an altar girl for practical reasons: The robes fitted me. As a girl I was tall enough, while the boys were all too small. So, faith came to me in my youth. It has always stayed with me.

When her eyes were opened to all the suffering going on in the world, she said she did wonder where God was in all of this. Still, she kept the faith.

Like Mary. I cannot say that she is my example in this earthly 21st century, but I connect a lot to her suffering. As a human and a mother, she made the ultimate sacrifice. In Marys suffering, I recognize the suffering of people and the feeling of being forced to look on in pain, while still trusting God.

While studying Middle Eastern studies in Cairo, faith was always a resting point for her. And she still regularly lights a candle or prays, also to the saints. She admits she doesnt read the Bible much. In that sense, she thinks Protestants are better Catholics. They have better knowledge of the biblical texts. She says she uses the Bible la carte: I regularly look up something.

Back in Cairo, she was a member of a choir, which brought her into contact with the Coptic Christian community. The great thing about the Middle East, she notes, is that faith is a part of almost everyones identity.

If you live in a predominantly Islamic country, and I say this without any cultural prejudice or judgment, it is sometimes pleasant to go to church. Its something you recognize from your childhood. It gives a sense of security.

The severe persecution of the Coptic community in Egypt is therefore a matter close to her heart. Kaag says she supports the community, but she does so on a personal basis, and not as part of her current portfolio: That wouldnt be appropriate.

She separates her personal faith as much as possible from her work and her political decision making.

Ive had to negotiate all my life about complex issues. It doesnt help taking your personal emotions and feelings into the matter. That is a private matter, she said.

Nevertheless, the liberal Catholic hopes that her faith will resonate in her political choice for humanity.

Also, in the way I strive for equal opportunities for everyone. Those are core values, which I believe you can shape in a humanistic way, but at the same time can be inspired by faith, Kaag explained.

She recognizes the importance of religion in the fight against undesirable practices, such as persecution, female circumcision, and child marriage.

Faith can also be used to empower people to change things based on their own values. In other words, to have a positive effect, to bring about certain behavior, she said.

Kaag is convinced that things come to you for a reason, but she finds it disrespectful to see her political career as a secular calling.

Politics is not a sacred mission. It is too earthly for that. Especially the way politics are often practiced today. I mean that it is often too much about material things. A calling is about something bigger than yourself. A way of sacrificing yourself. I think politics is never like that.

When asked, she told Katholiek Nieuwsblad the secular nature of your party has never bothered her.

On the contrary. This is a party where all movements and beliefs are welcome. I have always found that very pleasant, and I have never felt my faith and my politics to be incompatible. So, I am not afraid to say that I am a Catholic. I dare not say if I have one with me now, but in most handbags, I have one or two rosaries, Kaag said.

In her youth, she said she learned not only to take responsibility, but also that things happen as they should.

Whoever you are, you need to keep an eye out for the other person. That is also what I have been told, that you take care as much as possible of people who are vulnerable. That is something thats important to me. And still you fail. Thats what happens in life. You have to dare to remind yourself that you are a person who makes mistakes, she said.

When the Dutch Catholic weekly asked her if that is because you learn something from your mistakes, Kaag answered in the affirmative.

Yes. Yet I dont know if people in general do. Just look at the hardening and roughening of society. When I look at the core of society, and how we are developing, then its important that we uphold those values. It determines who we are as humans.

When asked why many Christians denounce her political party because its views run counter to their beliefs, he reacted with a little surprise.

Perhaps it is because D66 has made some smaller proposals in the past that, when added together, may give the impression that everything related to faith should be banned from politics, she said.

Katholiek Nieuwsblad the pressed the politician on the D66s views on medical ethics, which include support for abortion and euthanasia.

We have made certain choices in the Netherlands in matters such as abortion and euthanasia. I support that. I believe in the self-determination of every person, but I do not impose it on others, Kaag replied.

No one should ever get the idea that coercion is behind it. Matters like assisted suicide for healthy people over 75, requires careful consideration for example. And my party does that.

She was referring to a bill submitted by a member of D66 in July that would allow healthy individuals over the age of 75 to request assisted suicide.

Everyone realizes that finesse and mutual understanding are paramount in such sensitive themes. Its about life and death, it doesnt get any bigger than that, she said.

D66 may be a secular party, but at the same time we all political parties must continue to realize that faith has a place in many peoples lives. I have seen this in all places in the world where I have lived and worked. In politics I hope to make my voice heard and to balance out the debate, Kaag added.

This article was originally published in the Dutch Catholic weekly Katholiek Nieuwsblad on July 17th, 2020. It was translated for Crux by Susanne Kurstjens van den Berk.

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Catholic politician in the Netherlands seeks leadership of left-wing party - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Pasco to end retail pet store sales of dogs and cats – Tampa Bay Times

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

DADE CITY Pasco County is poised to follow the lead of other Florida communities by banning pet stores from selling dogs and cats obtained from animal breeders.

On Tuesday, the commission gave its initial nod to an ordinance that would prohibit the retail pet sales but would encourage such shops to partner with animal rescue organizations and shelters which often are searching for ways to connect unwanted animals with those seeking pets.

The final hearing on the ordinance is set for September 8.

Pasco County has previously restricted the sale of dogs and cats in public areas such as flea markets and roadside stands, a first step in trying to protect both the animals and the buyers from the problems posed by unlicensed breeders, pet dealers and kennels.

There has been a growing concern throughout Florida and the country involving the sale of puppies and kittens from pet stores, which primarily source these pets from large puppy and kitten mills, according to the county staff materials provided commissioners. These facilities often house animals in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate veterinary care, food, water, and socialization, which allow for heritable and congenital disorders, the spread of infectious diseases, and environmental contamination any of which may be present immediately after a sale or not until several years later.

More than 50 cities and eight counties in Florida have already passed similar ordinances, including Hillsborough County, which took the same action earlier this year.

Pasco officials met with other nearby animal services staff and knew that once Hillsborough made that decision, Pasco would need to be thinking about a similar action, said Michael Shumate, Pascos animal services director. Officials began to hear that pet shops in Hillsborough, which could no longer operate there due to the change, were considering heading north with their operations.

Shumate said there is only one such business in Pasco county, and Pasco officials can inspect and follow up on any concerns there.

Shumate said big-box stores like PetSmart and Pet Supermarket already source their dogs and cats through local pet rescues and shelters, including Pasco County Animal Services. For those stores, the sale of pet supplies is the focus of their business.

We want them to be able to collaborate with our local rescues and our shelter. Theyre not receiving a dime but they will open up space which allows the rescues to come in and showcase their adoptable animals, Shumate said.

The ordinance proposed does not impact so-called pocket pets such as hamsters, birds and other small animals often offered for sale at pet shops. It also does not prevent those searching for a new pet to reach out directly to rescues that have animals up for adoption or to search out individual breeders.

Ordinances like the one under consideration also are designed to help reduce animal over population, overcrowding in animal shelters, increased costs for taxpayers and euthanasia of pets. In recent years, Shumate said, Pasco Animal Services has implemented a number of processes which have earned it the designation of a no-kill shelter by significantly reducing the number of animals it must euthanize.

Commissioners praised Shumates efforts to improve animal outcomes.

Commission Chairman Mike Moore said his family has adopted two special-needs dogs from area rescues in the last year and that the county shelter has so many great dogs out there that can be adopted.

The state of animal services has gone through a total reversal in recent years, Commissioner Ron Oakley told Shumate. Youve done a great job ... Were moving to a better time for pets and animals in Pasco County.

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Pasco to end retail pet store sales of dogs and cats - Tampa Bay Times

From the Archives, 1998: Northern Territory to get referendum on statehood – The Age

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Mr Howard said a referendum on statehood would be held in the NT in conjunction with the federal election.

He said the step would help revitalise and reinvigorate the Australian federation at its centenary.

The NT Premier, Mr Shane Stone, said the new state would probably be known as the State of the Northern Territory.

That, he said, would be no more contradictory than the name New South Wales.

Mr Howard said the new state would probably have three senators to start with and the number could increase with the population.

As a territory, the NT now has two senators while the six original states have 12 each.

Well need to talk about that, Mr Howard said.

Obviously you cant have 12 and I think that has been understood from the word go.

Mr Stone said he expected the adjustments could be made until the NTs population reached that of the least populous state, Tasmania.

That could take 30 years, he said.

Shane Stone, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 1998.Credit:Craig Golding

The NT is one of Australias fastest growing areas, with recent Australian Bureau of Statistics projections indicating that its population will more than double from 187,000 last year to between 344,000 and 476,000 in 2015.

The ABS also suggested Tasmanias population peaked at 473,500 and was like to fall to between 196,000 and 381,000 in 2051.

Mr Howard was dismissive of suggestion that the granting of statehood to the NT would invite the reintroduction of the active euthanasia law that was overridden by the Federal Parliament when it passed the Andrews bill.

I think its also fair to say that the composition of the Parliament of the NT has probably changed and attitudes on that issue may well have changed since it was last before the territory Parliament.

That is something that will come up.

Youve got to remember that once you go down the path of statehood, the ideal is that the territory should have essentially the same powers as the other states, otherwise theres no point in doing it.

You dont sort of give a state half the authority of the other states.

Mr Stone said the NT had been funded as a state for the past eight years, so the advent of statehood would cost the Australian taxpayer nothing.

The Federal Opposition said it supported the NT move to statehood but it should have involved much greater consultation.

On October 3, 1998, a referendum was held in the Northern Territory to decide whether the Territory would become a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. The referendum was narrowly defeated, 51.90% no to 48.10% yes.

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From the Archives, 1998: Northern Territory to get referendum on statehood - The Age

Panel Discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill Salient Magazine – Salient

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

On Wednesday the 5th August Salient attended a panel discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill. The Bill is a part of one of two referenda coinciding with this years General Election.'

The legislation according to the Act aims (a) to give persons who have a terminal illness and who meet certain criteria the option of lawfully requesting medical assistance to end their lives; and (b) to establish a lawful process for assisting eligible persons who exercise that option.

Three panelists participated in the discussion, including Dr Clive Aspin, a senior lecturer in health at Victoria University of Wellington, Paula Tesoriero MNZM, the Disability Human rights Commissioner, and Hon Ruth Dyson, veteran MP for the Labour party and a member of the Health Select Committee.

The panel, hosted by VUWSA along with VUWLSS and led by One News journalist Mei Heron, critically analysed the meaning and purpose behind this piece of legislation.

Tesoriero stated that in a poll conducted by Curia Market research during 2019, the results stated that 70-75% of people did not understand this legislation.

The same poll also stated how three quarters of participants also believed that the End of Life Choice Bill would enable patients to have life saving machines turned off as well as being able to refuse resuscitation.

However this is not the basis of the legislation as these things are already legal.

Renee Joubert, an executive Officer for Euthanasia-Free NZ said that the intent of the bill is to legalise assisted dying.

This includes patients from the age of 18 and according to the act itself does not require an eligible person to have tried any pain relief or palliative care before requesting a lethal dose.

For Aspin, it was the inequalities present within the current health system that was most concerning in relation to the bill.

We are dealing with a health system based on significant disparities.

Mori have a lower access to palliative care at the end of their lives in comparison with non-Mori, said Aspin.

Aspin said until such time as these disparities are eradicated, how fair is it to pose End of Life to the population.

Dyson questioned the complex criteria that patients had to meet in order to access assisted dying medication.

I want everyone to live their life the best they possibly can but also to die the best they possibly can.

In relation to the current bill Dyson believed that there would be people excluded which I personally would have liked to have been included as well.

A key area of discussion during the debate were concerns around safeguards to ensure that the implications of the bill were safe and knowledgeable.

Tesorieros main concern around this legislation was in regard to the adequate safeguards in order to protect against wrongful deaths.

Dyson said I believe there are much more rigorous safeguards than I would have had in.

I would like to be given the confidence that I as a Mori and anyone else in this country would have the same access as everybody else, said Aspin.

In retrospect, all of the panelists encouraged a familiarisation with the legislation.

The act has currently already been passed but in order to be introduced as a law, the outcome of the upcoming referendum will decide this.

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Panel Discussion on the End of Life Choice Bill Salient Magazine - Salient

Autonomy, coronavirus and the right to die – Newsroom

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

AUGUST 7, 2020 Updated August 7, 2020

Ideasroom

Dr Amanda Landers uses the examples ofthe pandemic and assisted dying to ask: when does your autonomy start and finish?

Autonomy is a double-edged sword.

It is defined as the right to self-govern, to be independent in thought or deed.It is highly valued by many New Zealanders, but it does have a darker side.Autonomy can only exist to the point where it starts to impinge on another persons rights.This is where it begins to get murky, clouded and blurred.Where does your autonomy start and finish?

This year we have witnessed a global pandemic, a tiny virus that has swept the world and caused sickness and death.It has hit the elderly hardest.The New Zealand Government asked us to become the "team of five million" and stay in our homes to protect one another.Many New Zealanders are fit and well, and had little to fear but we still gave up liberty, money, jobs, seeing family and travelling for each other and mainly because we value our elderly.We put their lives before our own and our Government chose life over economy.We gave up our autonomy in the blink of an eye for the good of our society.

It was difficult for many New Zealanders being in our homes under strict lockdown orders.It happened quickly with little warning.On a positive note, we were forced to slow down, spend time with familyand take advantage of opportunities that are not usually available to us.However, for many of our neighbours, life in lockdown was not pleasant, it may have been terrifying and debilitating.This is what facing the end of our lives can be like too.For most New Zealanders it is a slowing down, a time to spend with precious ones and a change of priorities.For others it is scary, with physical and emotional changes.The answer is better care, better understanding and a team around you, perhaps not of five million, but people who have the right skills, services that can support you at home and loved ones making the time as special as possible.

You see individual choice, the need to have rights sounds better than it actually is in practice, especially when your rights may harm others.Legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia may sound like a good idea.People will just choose for themselves wont they? There will be no pressure, they will feel well enough to make life and death decisions.The law will protect them because that is what laws do for our society?The problem is a law change applies to everyone, and may have unintended consequences for some.These consequences are risky, unable to be fully appreciated until too late and murky.

The work palliative simply means to cloak in Latin.Palliative care is not a death sentence, it is a lifeline to professionals and services who work with those facing life-limiting illness. It may be provided by your GP, the practice nurse, a carer who comes into your home or a specialist service. Palliative care can be shown to you by your neighbour, your friends, hairdresser, anyone with a kind smile and warm words.It is not complex, it is not judgmental, and it is care that meets your needs as best it can in whatever circumstance.No law can achieve that, especially one that is black and white with no room for error.

Since the time of writing, Amanda Landers has become a member on the committee of 'Risky Law',which is an incorporated society of Vote No. She did not hold this position when she wrote this piece.

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Autonomy, coronavirus and the right to die - Newsroom

Nick Cave surprises fans with launch of new online store, Cave Things – NME.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Nick Cave has surprised fans with the launch of a new online store today (August 6).

Called Cave Things, the shop contains lyric sheets, prints that Cave himself has designed as well as t-shirts, Warren Ellis plectrums and bags.

Other items on the site include a red hand keyring, a reference to his popular Red Hand Files website where Cave answers fan questions, a signed polaroid taken by Cave along with wallpaper and a Stranger Than Kindness bookmark.

You can see some of the items in the store below and access it here.

Mutiny! poster from Cave Things Credit: Cave Things

Red Hand Charm on Cave Things Credit: Cave Things

A polaroid on Cave Things Credit: Cave Things

One of the t-shirts on Cave Things Credit: Cave Things

Earlier this week, Cave opened up about how he deals with writers block in the latest instalment of his Red Hand Letters page.

Responding to a fan who was struggling to write lyrics, Cave said such writers block can feel extraordinarily desperate for a songwriter but that in time, they emerge, leaping free of the unknown.

Cave said:In my experience, lyrics are almost always seemingly just not coming. This is the tearful ground zero of song writing at least for some of us. This lack of motion, this sense of suspended powerlessness, can feel extraordinarily desperate for a songwriter.

But the thing you must hold on to through these difficult periods, as hard as it may be, is this when somethings not coming, its coming. It took me many years to learn this, and to this day I have trouble remembering it.

Last month, Cave performed a virtual gig at Londons Alexandra Palace.

In a five star review of the show,NMEsaid: Bearing a title bleak even for such a prince of darkness, new song Euthanasia slots in gracefully to the deeply emotive 21-song set.I look for you underneath the damp earth / I look for you in the night sky, croons Cave, grief-stricken. But there is hope here too and an eventual feeling of acceptance, of coming-to-terms with it all

Finishing with a stark but lovely Galleon Ship the only full song to be taken from 2019s harrowing Ghosteen tonight Cave stands and silently trots off towards a shaft of light coming in through an open door. He might still be alone, but after a performance like that, were with him all the way.

ACT’s David Seymour: ‘I dont really care what people think and Im still quite successful’ – The Guardian

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

He went viral in an awkward campaign video that featured him repeatedly saying hi with an emotionless, thousand-yard stare at famous spots in his constituency. He twerked merrily on Dancing with the Stars wearing neon Lycra. He once proclaimed with unintentional double entendre in a news interview about national flags, that the French, for instance, love the coq.

That was the old David Seymour. The New Zealand lawmaker is the leader and sole member of parliament for ACT a minor, libertarian party that has at times in its history been plagued by the inadvertent comedy of its eccentric members. The 37-year-old wears a sober suit and a quiet, serious demeanour when he meets the Guardian at his parliamentary office in Wellington.

The new David Seymour dialled down the antics two years ago, quit alcohol he lost 14kg (I was 18% beer! he says) and gained about an hour a day and emerged as the serious public policy nerd he claims to have been all along.

It could pay off: in the latest Colmar Brunton poll ahead of Septembers election, the ACT party polled at close to 5%, reaching the threshold that would allow five other members to join Seymour in parliament and make them a stronger prospect for a coalition deal with the main opposition, the centre-right National party (which is still lagging in the polls).

ACT has always had a much more expansive public policy agenda than usually voters were frankly interested in, he says. Ive always thought that theres too much politics and not enough policy out there.

His fortunes appear to have changed partly because Seymour took centre stage in his questioning of the Covid-19 strategy of the wildly popular Labour coalition government while National was in disarray over a leadership crisis. And he spearheaded a law change that will legalise voluntary euthanasia, if the majority of New Zealanders vote for it in a referendum in September.

But the change has also, he admits, meant some people dont know what to make of him.

Its the great irony, Seymour says. Until two other New Zealand lawmakers published autobiographies recently, he added, I was the only sitting politician who had written a book or twerked on TV. So theres a paradox there, right?

The earlier stunts were necessary because its really fucking hard to get people to know who you are, he says. Two months before the 2014 election, when he first stood in the wealthy Auckland constituency of Epsom, he had personally knocked on 7,000 doors, commissioned enormous billboards, and written to every home three times.

A focus group revealed that three in 20 people knew who he was. He won the seat because of a long-time deal between ACT and National.

Now, 77% of his electorate knows hes their MP, Seymour says.

He knows well the criticism from his detractors: he has the least to do of any lawmaker in parliament; he was handed his seat on a platter; he is a racist, or at least courts racists; his free market policies reveal an empathy deficit.

None of that, he says, is true, but the suggestion he was gifted a seat seems to gall him the most. Voters in his wealthy electorate among them captains of industry dont vote on command, he says, and if National pulled their support for him tomorrow, he would still win.

I work harder than most local MPs and people acknowledge that, he adds. Its so annoying.

Seymour has no life, he tells the Guardian. Years ago he built his own sports car, with which he once fatally hit a constituents cat (they are still angry at him about it, even though Seymour donated, in Jethros honour, to animal charity the SPCA), and rides an e-bike. But he cannot name a hobby beyond dinner with friends because he works every weekend.

The work has put paid to a series of relationships and he is currently single. There are two-and-a-half million women in this country and none of them are that desperate, he adds, with a flash of the old, quirkily-awkward Seymour.

In keeping with his libertarian principles, he opposes on free speech grounds the hate speech laws proposed by the government. A cartoonist once portrayed him being kissed by Hitler and David Duke.

But he does not relish an American-style polarisation of debate, he says, and worries the country is losing its local flavour to public disagreement. We are just importing so much of our narrative, he adds.

Seymour has sympathy for people who are minorities he says (he considers himself a minority because of his political position; he also has Mori heritage). Its not that I dont get it.

People who hate others for their race or religion are small-minded and stupid, he adds. But I do think the world is getting better.

When it comes to hate speech laws, however, adjudicators are always highly politicised, he says, and the remedy is worse than the cure.

Seymour enjoys a cult youth following online (some of it perhaps ironic, a hangover from his old persona); the televised twerking led to invitations to speak at schools about the importance of being yourself.

I am a bit quirky and I dont really care what people think and Im still quite successful, he says. Thats quite powerful for anxious kids.

The politician who grew up in the city of Whngarei, in New Zealands north, and studied electrical engineering after boarding school says he can retire from politics once the ACT party is bigger than just him.

At this election, he says, National is the only party he could conceivably support in power but the centre-right group and Labour are no different, he says, and he would like to build a consensus so the ACT could, in future, support either side in government.

Meanwhile, hes urging an open discussion about Covid-19; most people want to keep the country locked down but he favours travel bubbles for relatively safe countries. The government should partner with the private sector to augment the countrys public health response and exploit economic opportunities.

He also wants reduced debt, regulatory reform, and prizes his past achievements in support of charter schools. So far, so libertarian; he was the only MP out of 120 to vote against prime minister Jacinda Arderns gun reforms after the Christchurch terrorist attack.

But he is campaigning, too, on home ownership for lower-income people, and reducing the flights lawmakers make to parliament (he believes in change to avert the climate crisis if it can be done costlessly).

As for the empathy deficit, Seymour cites his work on the voluntary euthanasia law, and the connections he has built with the terminally ill, as proof to the contrary. All my friends are dying, he says.

I certainly want to be a good person and make people happy, he adds, but he doesnt always click as quickly with people as others do.

But lets face it, Im an electrical engineer. So all these people who are really empathic, why dont we do some maths and see how you go?

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ACT's David Seymour: 'I dont really care what people think and Im still quite successful' - The Guardian

Nick Cave opens up about writers block in new Red Hand Files letter – NME

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Nick Cave has opened up about how he deals with writers block in the latest instalment of his Red Hand Letters page.

In his latest letter, Cave explains how he deals with writers block when writing song lyrics.Cave explains that such block can feel extraordinarily desperate for a songwriter but that in time, they emerge, leaping free of the unknown.

Cave said: In my experience, lyrics are almost always seemingly just not coming. This is the tearful ground zero of song writing at least for some of us. This lack of motion, this sense of suspended powerlessness, can feel extraordinarily desperate for a songwriter.

Nick Cave (Picture: Getty)

He continued: The idea of lyrics not coming is basically a category error. What we are talking about is not a period of not coming but a period of not arriving. The lyrics are always coming. They are always pending. They are always on their way toward us.

But often they must journey a great distance and over vast stretches of time to get there. They advance through the rugged terrains of lived experience, battling to arrive at the end of our pen.

Cave went on to reassure his fan not to lose heart if the lyrics struggle to arrive.

He said: Our task is both simple and extremely difficult. Our task is to remain patient and vigilant and to not lose heart for we are the destination.

We are the portals from which the idea explodes, forced forth by its yearning to arrive. We are the revelators, the living instruments through which the idea announces itself the flourishing and the blooming but we are also the waiting and the wondering and the worrying. We are all of these things we are the songwriters.

You can see the full letter here.

Last month, Cave performed a virtual gig at Londons Alexandra Palace.

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Nick Cave opens up about writers block in new Red Hand Files letter - NME

Scientists peer inside Mars to measure layers of Red Planet – Space.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Marsquakes recorded by NASA's InSight mission offer the first direct evidence of key boundaries in the Martian interior, which could help planetary scientists understand how rocky planets are formed, a new study suggests.

The spacecraft landed at Elysium Planitia in November 2018 on a quest to probe the poorly understood interior of Mars. The thickness of the Red Planet crust and the depth of its core, for example, had only been estimated with models before. InSight allows researchers to check their models for the first time.

InSight probes the Martian interior with its seismometer, which rests directly on the ground, overcoming a problem a similar instrument encountered on Viking 2 in the 1970s; that seismometer was high on the spacecraft and swayed in the wind. (Viking 1's seismometer failed before it could take measurements, according to NASA.)

Related: InSight Mars lander snaps dusty selfie on Red Planet (photo)

InSight has measured more than 170 trembles between February and September 2019, marking the first definitive seismic measurements taken on Mars. InSight remains active today and more measurements will be integrated in future studies.

The InSight seismometer measures vibrations from seismic waves, which emanate from the source of disturbances such as marsquakes or meteor strikes. The shape and strength of the waves also allow scientists to estimate the composition of the Red Planet's interior, especially because these waves change slightly as they move through different rock types.

There are some unique challenges, however, associated with having only the single seismometer active on Mars, compared to the networks of such instruments on Earth. "Mars is much less tectonically active, which means it will have far fewer marsquake events compared with Earth," lead author Sizhuang Deng, a geophysics Ph.D. candidate at Rice University in Houston, said in a statement. "Moreover, with only one seismic station on Mars, we cannot employ methods that rely on seismic networks."

The research team examined InSight's seismology data using a technique called ambient noise autocorrelation, which is meant to extract the reflections produced at the boundaries of Martian zones beneath the crust.

The data indicated three main boundaries: between the Martian crust and mantle (at 22 miles or 35 kilometers under the lander), a transition zone between the minerals olivine and wadsleyite (at 690 to 727 miles or 1,110 to 1,170 km down), and the boundary between the mantle and the core (at 945 to 994 miles, or 1,520 km to 1,600 km down).

"The temperature at the olivine-wadsleyite transition is an important key to building thermal models of Mars. From the depth of the transition, we can easily calculate the pressure, and with that, we can derive the temperature," Deng said. The mantle-core boundary, he added, "can provide information about the planet's development from both a chemical and thermal point of view."

A study based on the research was published Aug. 4 in Geophysical Research Letters.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Scientists peer inside Mars to measure layers of Red Planet - Space.com

Mars may not have been the warm, wet planet we thought it was – MIT Technology Review

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Mars today is a cold, dry wastelandbut things were likely much different billions of years ago. Since we started launching robotic missions to Mars in the 1970s, scientists have collected evidence that points to a warmer, wetter past for the Red Planet, where the surface was teeming with lakes and oceans that could have been home to life of some kind. Its part of the reason NASA built and launched a new rover thatlaunched last week to look for signs of ancient aliens.

But theres no complete consensus on what Mars really looked like in the past. The argument over the climate of early Mars is an old one going back 40 years, says Anna Grau Galofre of Arizona State University. Shes the lead author of a new studypublished in Nature Geosciencethat upends those dreams of a watery Mars, presenting new findings that suggest the planets ancient landscape looked closer to Antarctica than the tropics. Many of the geological features thought to have been carved out by flowing rivers and waterways replenished by frequent rainfall, the research suggests, may have actually resulted from massive glaciers and ice sheets that melted over time.

The new study focuses on the history of valleys located in the southern highlands of Mars. Past work has pointed at rivers as the origin of the Martian valley networks, says Grau Galofre, but her study identifies for the first time a fraction of systems with characteristics typical of subglacial channels. That is, it was melting ice, not flowing water, that dug out these valleys nearly 3.8 billion years ago.

The research team examined 10,276 individual valleys found in 66 valley networks on Mars, using custom-built algorithms to group them and infer what kind of erosion processes formed them. This was then compared to terrestrial valleys that were shaped by subglacial channels in the Canadian Arctic.

The major difference between networks formed from rivers and ones formed by melted ice is a result of how water flows. Rivers can only carve out valleys if the water is running downhill. But subglacial channels are pressurized, so the melted water is able to flow uphill too. The researchers' models can spot and identify tell-tale signs of water direction and assess what the likely cause was.

The researchers found that 22 of the valley networks seemed to have been carved out by subglacial meltwater, 14 by river water, and the rest formed through other erosion processes. If the authors are correct, it would suggest that Mars was primarily cold early in its history, says Jay Dickson, a planetary scientist at Caltech who was not involved with the study.Some climate modelshave come to the same conclusion, he says, counter to the prevailing image of ancient Mars as a planet covered in oceans and lakes.

The new findings dont mean Mars was one giant ball of ice in the past, however. Joe Levy, a geologist at Colgate University who wasnt involved with the study, thinks the glacier research is thought provoking, but does point out it struggles to pin down a single process that is responsible for forming each valley.

That smeariness in the data could be because there isnt a single process that resulted in the carving of each Martian valley, he says. When youve got a few billion years to work with, its very possible that each valley experienced everything from glacial erosion to lava flows to surging floods under silver skies. Each of those processes changes the shape of the valley network, and leaves a series of overprinted features behind.

Thankfully, a cool Mars doesnt spell bad news for the possibility of ancient Martian life. The subglacial environment could have provided a stable settingwith readily available water, a temperature without large oscillations, and protection from solar energetic particles and radiation without need for a magnetic field, says Grau Galofre.

We already know life can survive cold environments like this, as evidenced by the organisms that live under Antarcticas ice sheet in a place like Lake Vostok. The same may have been possible on Mars, even in these subglacial channels.

Dickson thinks the new findings will prompt researchers to look at other parts of Mars to compare. Mars has hundreds of very large dried-up lakes that date from this era and hosted large volumes of meltwater from these valley networks, he says.

This includes the landing site for the NASA Perseverance rover arriving next February at the Jezero Crater, and that mission could possibly make some room to look for this sort of evidence.

It's an exciting challenge for the entire Mars science community, says Dickson.

Mars may not have been the warm, wet planet we thought it was - MIT Technology Review

Even a story about going to Mars can’t avoid COVID-19 – Concord Monitor

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Yesterday I woke up at 3 a.m. with a terrifying thought: What if COVID-19 is a sign that H.G. Wells got it backwards?

What if its not true that viruseswill save us (spoiler alert!)by killing the Martian invaders, as Wells wrote in War of the Worlds? What if viruses are being used by the Martians to weaken us in preparation for an invasion? How would we know?

By going to look, thats how. And fortunately, Earthlings are sending two new probes and a new orbiter to the Red Planet right now, including a NASA rover that, with any luck, will be partly controlled by some New Hampshire folks.

Weve all been very anxious, waiting to hear. Its very competitive should happen any time now, said Dr. Frances Rivera-Hernandez, a planetary geologist post-doc at Dartmouth College who has submitted an application to be part of the science team that will decide where the Perseverance rover will go and what it will do after it lands on Mars next February.

Dr. Marisa Palucis, an assistant professor at Dartmouth, is also on the waiting list. She has experience with the feeling: she been part of the science team for the Curiosity rover on Mars. She was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when NASAs Curiosity rover landed and recalls it with the wistfulness that accompanies many pre-pandemic memories: That was one of the top 10 days of my life.

Controlling a car-sized piece of mobile scientific equipment from at least 34 million miles away is a non-trivial task, whether youre looking for signs of imminent interplanetary assault or water levels a million years ago. Palucis described the process.

Every morning you get up and the rover has sent images from day before. You look at it and decide, Oh,this outcrop is really really interesting! Then the science team gets together and decides. It makes a science plan drive to this rock, sample chemistry, take pictures then they work the engineering team to put together the plan, which is beamed back to the rover, Palucis said.

COVID-19 will complicate the process for Perseverance because the science team cant get together in one room and work together on Mars time, in which each day is 24 hours long. Theyll brainstorm via video-conference, which as weve all learned is not the same thing as doing it over a shared box of Dunkin Munchkins, but even so, hopes are high for what will be discovered when Perseverance starts racing across Mars at its top speed of one-tenth of a mile per hour.

For scientists, the rovers biggest advantage is location. It will land at an alluvial fan, a delta of sediment deposited millennia ago by large amount of moving liquid of some kind.

Curiosity also landed near such a deposit but drove away from the alluvial fan, said Palucis. Perseverance is going to be driving up it.

Were going to be able to see from the sediment, layering of the sediment, how much water deposited and when ground-truthing satellite images, she said.

Rivera-Hernandez, who also studies such deposits on Earth, know what that means. Mud is really good at preserving biosignatures, evidence of past life. This is one of the best places to be hunting for past signs of life on Mars, she said. The instruments on the rover were picked specifically to look for past signs of life. That includes chemical analysis for organic molecules and cameras for very close-up pictures looking for texture that we commonly attribute to microbial life on earth.

But even if Perseverance doesnt find multi-cellular fossils, analysis of the dirt and silt and rocks left by flowing water can tell us how likely it was that past life existed.

If there was a river for 10,000 years, thats not enough time to evolve life. If you had an ocean for a billion years thats a different matter, said Palucis.

The Chinese are also sending a rover to Mars in their Tianwen-1 mission, which just launched. Theyre being a little tight-lipped about what exactly its going to do, but both Dartmouth researchers didnt sound too worried. More data is always a good thing to scientists.

Its quite possible that next spring there will be three different rovers doing science on the surface of the planet, if Curiosity continues to set endurance records. There will also be more Mars orbiters than I can count, including one just launched by the United Arab Emirates of all places, taking pictures and recording data.

This is amazing, considering that a century ago we still thought the planet had canals from a failed civilization. On the other hand, its also just a drop in a very large bucket.

If when we first startedto study the geology of Earth wed only had four geologists wed have only known so little, pointed out Palucis.

If you want more geek in your week, subscribe to David Brooks free weekly newsletterat GraniteGeek.org.You can also listen to him talk about his stories on the GraniteGeek podcast, granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/podcast, or talk with Chris Ryan on WKXLradio at soundcloud.com/wkxl/

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Even a story about going to Mars can't avoid COVID-19 - Concord Monitor

On its way to Mars, Chinese spacecraft spots Earth and moon, aces steering maneuver – Space.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft captured a stunning view of the Earth and moon before making its first trajectory correction maneuver on the long journey to Mars.

The mission consists of an orbiter, entry vehicle and rover. The spacecraft will begin orbiting the Red Planet in February 2021, and then prepare for the rover's landing attempt, which is expected in April or May.

Tianwen-1 launched on July 23 on a Long March 5 rocket and completed the final burn to send it on a trajectory to Mars 36 minutes later. On July 27, while the spacecraft was about 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) away from Earth, an optical navigation sensor imaged the crescent-shaped Earth and the smaller, more distant moon.

Related: NASA asteroid camera spots China's Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft speeding away from Earth

The black-and-white image reveals a few apparent features of Earth, against the stark background of an otherwise vast, black ocean.

At 7:00 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) on August 1, Tianwen-1 fired its engine for 20 seconds to optimize the spacecraft's trajectory. When the maneuver occured, Tianwen-1 was roughly 1,860,000 miles (3 million km) away from Earth after 230 hours of flight.

The burn was a vital test of the vehicle's propulsion system, which it will rely on to correct its trajectory and slow the spacecraft to allow it to enter Mars orbit.

The spacecraft will make four or five such adjustments before reaching Mars, Geng Yan, an official with the China National Space Administration, told Chinese media. The second such correction will be made before October.

Tianwen-1 is in good condition, communicating well with the ground, according to the update from the China Lunar Exploration Project.

The orbiter carries high- and medium-resolution cameras designed for studying and mapping Mars. The image of the Earth and moon, however, was taken by an optical navigation sensor that is normally pointing toward Mars.

In the days following launch, a NASA asteroid camera picked up the spacecraft moving against the star field.

Other Chinese spacecraft have imaged the Earth and moon together previously. Chang'e-5 T1, an experimental mission launched in 2014 to test lunar sample-return technologies, took a stunning image of the far side of the moon and a distant Earth.

The Queqiao relay satellite for the Chang'e-4 lunar far-side mission has also imaged the pair from the second Earth-moon Lagrange point beyond the moon, as did the Longjiang-2 microsatellite that launched with Queqiao. Fengyun-4A, a weather satellite in geostationary orbit, has also captured the pair in a single shot.

Tianwen-1, as well as the United Arab Emirates' Hope mission and NASA's Perseverance rover, are now all en route to Mars and will arrive in February.

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On its way to Mars, Chinese spacecraft spots Earth and moon, aces steering maneuver - Space.com

NASA’s Rover Is Taking a Tree-Like Device That Converts CO2 Into Oxygen to Mars – ScienceAlert

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

NASA's Perseverance Mars roverlaunchedfrom Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 30 July, carrying a host of cutting-edge technology including high-definition video equipment and thefirst interplanetary helicopter.

Many of the tools are designed as experimental steps toward human exploration of the red planet. Crucially, Perseverance is equipped with a device called theMars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE: an attempt to produce oxygen on a planet where it makes up less than 0.2 percent of the atmosphere.

Oxygen is a cumbersome payload on space missions. It takes up a lot of room, and it's very unlikely that astronauts could bring enough of it to Mars for humans to breathe there, let alone to fuel spaceships for the long journey home.

That's the problem MOXIE is looking to solve. The car-battery-sized robot is a roughly 1 percent scale model of the device scientists hope to one day send to Mars, perhaps in the 2030s.

Like a tree, MOXIE works by taking in carbon dioxide, though it's designed specifically for the thin Martian atmosphere. It then electrochemically splits the molecules into oxygen and carbon monoxide, and combines the oxygen molecules into O2.

It analyses the O2 for purity, shooting for about 99.6 percent O2. Then it releases both the breathable oxygen and the carbon monoxide back into the planet's atmosphere. Future scaled-up devices, however, would store the oxygen produced in tanks for eventual use by humans and rockets.

A breakdown of the components inside the MOXIE oxygen generator. (NASA/Wikimedia Commons)

The toxicity of the carbon monoxide produced isn't a worry, according to Michael Hecht, a principal investigator for MOXIE. The gas reenters the Martian atmosphere but won't alter it very much.

"If you release the carbon monoxide into the Mars atmosphere, eventually it will combine with a very small amount of residual oxygen that's there and turn back into carbon dioxide," Hechtpreviously told Business Insider.

For that reason, the carbon monoxide also wouldn't hinder a potential biosphere on Mars a closed, engineered environment where Earthly life could thrive.

Because MOXIE is a small proof-of-concept experiment, it won't produce much oxygen if all goes well, it should be producing about10 grams per hour, which is roughly the amount of oxygen in 1.2 cubic feet of Earth air. For context, humans need about 19 cubic feet of air per day.

MOXIE will test its capabilities by producing oxygen in one-hour increments intermittently throughout the duration of Perseverance's mission, according to NASA. The device should start working soon after the rover lands on 18 February 2021.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon in our August Sky – WAVY.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Its been awhile since I posted a video, I will start working on a new one soon, in the meantime, heres a look at what we can see in our night sky during August.

Heres a photo of the Mars and the Moon Saturday night.

That little speck at the top of the picture is Mars. With the clear skies we are having for the first half of the week ahead, it should be east to go out and stargaze.

After sunset, Saturn and Jupiter will be in the southeast sky. By midnight, Mars will rise in the sky, if you want to see 4 planets at once, then you will want to look at around 3 AM when Venus rises in the eastern sky.

Remember, later this year in December, Saturn and Jupiter will meet in our night sky. From our vantage point orbiting the sun, it will appear that these planets will collide! So over the next couple of months take note on where they are in relation to each other.

Happy Viewing!Meteorologist Jeff Edmondson

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Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the Moon in our August Sky - WAVY.com

Watch the trailer for Netflixs new family space drama about a mission to Mars – TechCrunch

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

As deep space missions and Mars colonies continue to shift from science fiction to potential near-future reality, its not surprising to see Hollywood think about different types of stories to tell about space exploration. Away, a new series from Netflix premiering on September 4, looks like that kind of story.

The show stars Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, and is created by the people behind Parenthood and Friday Night Lights. Its a show about an astronaut mission to Mars but its clearly also about the family drama and tensions that arise, both for those in space on a multi-year mission and for the families they left back home on Earth.

The show also looks to feature The Good Wifes Josh Charles in a key supporting role, which is awesome because hes fantastic. Given the level of talent, the pedigree of the showrunners and the space setting, this looks like a fantastic recipe for a great new show. The first season will be available to stream on September 4 on Netflix.

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Watch the trailer for Netflixs new family space drama about a mission to Mars - TechCrunch

See it! This weekends moon and Mars – EarthSky

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe, caught the waning moon, Mars, and a flock of whistling ducks at dawn on August 9, 2020. He wrote, the waning gibbous moon and Mars were close together high in the northern dawn sky. Several pictures of the pair were taken as daylight approached between 6 and 6:30 a.m. Just before it became too light for Mars to remain visible, a flock of whistling ducks passed by in bow and arrow formation! Thank you, Peter!

EarthSkys yearly crowd-funding campaign is in progress. In 2020, we are donating 8.5% to No Kids Hungry. Please donate to help us keep going, and help feed a kid!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Helio de Carvalho Vital wrote from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that he captured the occultation of Mars by the moon an event in which the moon temporarily covered Mars on August 9, 2020. He wrote, A Nikon CoolPix P900 camera on a tripod was the only equipment I used The photo shows the planet approaching the moon`s lighted limb some seconds before ingress. At that moment, relative to Mars, the moon was 224 times closer and about 7 thousand times brighter. Thank you, Helio!

April Singer in northern New Mexico caught the moon and Mars Saturday night around midnight, when the pair had just risen and was low in the eastern sky. Thanks, April!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Dennis Chabot in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, captured this image of Mars early Sunday morning, August 9, 2020. At that time, the moon and red planet were high in the dawn sky, not far from the famous tip of the V in the constellation Pisces the Fish. Dennis wrote: Fiery Mars above the moon this morning just before the fog rolled in to fill the skies with gray. Thank you, Dennis!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Aurelian Neacsu in Visina, Dambovita, Romania, captured this telescopic image of Mars on August 5, 2020. The white dot on the planet is its icy pole. Thank you, Aurelian!

Bottom line: Photos from the EarthSky community showing the August 2020 waning gibbous moon near the red planet Mars.

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See it! This weekends moon and Mars - EarthSky

Subglacial Runoff Helped Carve the Valley Networks on Early Mars – Planetary News

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Channels on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (left) are superimposed with channels in Mars Maumee Valles region (right) Credit: Cal-Tech CTX mosaic/ MAXAR/Esri/ UBC.

For the last 40 years, since the valleys of Mars were firstdiscovered, the assumption has been that precipitation and surface water runofffueled rivers that once flowed on Mars, eroding the landscape and forming allof these valleys. But there are dozens of valley networks on Mars and thousandsof valley systems, and they look very different from each other. If you look atEarth from a satellite, you see a lot of valleys as well: some of them made by rivers, some made byglaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape. Marsis similar, in that its valleys look very different from each other, suggestingthat different processes acted to carve them.

According to new research led by Anna Grau Galofre at the University of Brithish Columbia, a large number of the valley networks scarring Mars surface, especially in the southern highlands, were carved by water melting beneath glacial ice, not solely by free-flowing rivers as previously thought. The similarity between many martian valleys and the subglacial channels on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic motivated the authors to conduct their comparative study. They analyzed more than 10,000 martian valleys using a novel algorithm to infer the underlying erosion processes acting to form these valleys. Results of this analysis provide strong evidence for extensive subglacial erosion driven by channelized meltwater drainage beneath an ancient ice sheet on Mars. These findings help explain how the valleys could have formed 3.8 billion years ago on a planet that is further away from the Sun than Earth, during a time when the Sun was less intense. Climate modeling suggests that Mars ancient climate was much cooler during the time of valley network formation. Interestingly, these environments could also provide better survival conditions for possible ancient life on Mars. A sheet of ice would lend more protection and stability to underlying liquid water, as well as provide shelter from solar radiation. READ MORE

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Subglacial Runoff Helped Carve the Valley Networks on Early Mars - Planetary News

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