Kristiine Silinja: "I love exploration, adventures, and freedom. All that comes with a six-string bass" – Guitar World

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"Im a solo artist, currently residing in Helsinki, Finland, originally from Tallinn, Estonia. I started my bass journey in my late teens in a local cover band focusing on progressive metal atough start for a beginner!

"I tried several metal and cover projects, but I always yearned to do something different to deviate, create something of my own, and find my place. Ive finally come to the point where I know I am a melodic bass player, asoloist, and that I can arrange everythingon basses.

"As a kid, I was told that I was musically deaf with absolutely no potential whatsoever, so I grew up with no musical instruments but music was always part of my life. I grew tired of hearing you cannot, and wanted to overcome that by trying to believe in myself not an easy task, I must say.

"At first, I played an acoustic guitar, but our relationship simply didnt work out. We were not meant for each other. I started to think that I really was hopeless, as everyone said, until one day I was invited to see a local band rehearse, and the boy I fancied at that time played a very peculiar instrument.

My six-string is my main bass and my muse. I love exploration, adventures, and freedom. All that comes perfectly with a six-string

"That instrument, the bass, spoke to me and never left my mind. I knew I had to try it. The boy is long forgotten. My true date was bass! The very first bass I bought was aYamaha RBX260 with Rotosound strings. It was light, blue and I loved it.

"Nowadays, I play a Marleaux Consat six-string. I also have a four-string Marleaux Soprano and a five-string Consat. My six-string is my main bass and my muse; it is the most suitable bass for me. I love exploration, adventures, and freedom. All that comesperfectly with a six-string.

"As I am a melodic bassist, having agreater range and more options is simply a must. I can play grooves and rhythmic parts in a low range, I can improvise solos in mid and high ranges, and let melodies flow on top of any of those. Its more physically challenging, but the challenge has always attracted me.

"I have small hands, but I feel comfortable playing the Consat six-string. The bass sings Im lucky to have found it! My Marleaux basses have Delano humbuckers, and IuseCurtMangan strings and an Ebow.

Dont focus on any negativity. Let it be about the bass, music, passion, and fun

"Two bassists that made my heart stop are Michael Manring and Zander Zon. Ihad the honour of meeting Michael, hes so inspiring. I also admire Geddy Lee, Les Claypool, Tony Levin and Andre Mueller.

"Recently, Ive been working on writing my own compositions, and this year I will be releasing an EP and an album. After that, Im looking forward to working on collaborative projects, as well as recording covers of my favorite video game and movie soundtracks.

"My advice? Bond with the instrument, believe in yourself, and enjoy every note and moment you play. Do what feels most right, play what makes your soul rejoice, and dont let anyone bring you down. Treasure the people who support you, embrace different points of view, and dont focus on any negativity. Let it be about the bass, music, passion, and fun. Enjoy every single note and moment."

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Kristiine Silinja: "I love exploration, adventures, and freedom. All that comes with a six-string bass" - Guitar World

A Black Alabama hero fights for America and freedom in new novel – AL.com

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By the time author Brett Davis gets the hero of his latest book beside Wernher von Braun at that famous 1969 Moon landing celebration in Huntsville, Ala., we wonder if Johnny Nicholas will really try to kill the rocket man.

The Moon Above is fiction, but it is historical fiction and, if anyone had a reason to hate von Braun at the time of his greatest triumph, its a Black World War II veteran, former Tuskegee Airman and former German P.O.W..

Nicholas has vowed revenge, for one thing, and his experience in the caves where slave labor built V-2 rockets for Hitler is plenty of fuel. Johnny Nicholas is a veteran of too much.

Author Davis, a former Alabama journalist, has written sci-fi and fantasy novels for years from his home in Washington, D.C. But hes had Nicholass story in mind since the 1980s when he reported on the trial of German rocket scientist Arthur Rudolph for The Huntsville Times.

Rudolph led V-2 development for Germany during the war, then came to America with von Brauns Paperclip team and led Saturn V development for America in Huntsville.

The trial was about whether Rudolph could re-enter America after a trip to Canada, and Rudolph lost. He had to leave the United States and return to Germany. As he reported on the trial, Davis came across a reference to the real Johnny Nicholas.

Legend had it that Nicholas was in the Dora camp where the V-2s were made. And he was rumored to be a Tuskegee Airman, one of the elite Black pilots who broke the color barrier in the sky.

What if he really was a Tuskegee Airman? Davis says he wondered. How did he get there? What happened to him afterward?

The Moon Above is the result. Its a coming-of-age story about a talented Black boy whose family flees Jim Crow Alabama for Chicago and some social justice, then returns South to a new world of change and danger.

The reader is immersed in Chicagos vibrant Black newspaper world, where Nicholas father worked; in Tuskegee, where only the best could represent Black people in flight; and in the post-war conflict among Blacks themselves over how to win true freedom in America.

Would they stay with the emerging Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his non-violent revolution or turn to Malcom X and his young followers ready to fight? At every step of the story, smart and passionate black women are making their own choices and teaching their own lessons.

Reading the book, it is tempting to think this much history couldnt have happened to one man. But Black men did everything depicted here and more. And when they came home from the war, some led a movement for civil rights and some joined Germans for the American Moon shot.

The reality of those years needs little embellishment. It just needs a good reporter and storyteller, and Davis is both.

The author, who is white, said that he learned his book would be published at the same time the white author of American Dirt was drawing protests for writing about Hispanic life on the U.S.-Mexico border. Davis said it certainly occurred to me that he might be criticized for writing a Black mans journey.

The differences are I didnt get paid a load of money that could have gone to other people, he said. I did a lot of research, both on the war time and the civil rights stuff and the history of what was going on.

He read The Defender, the black Chicago newspaper that employed the fictional Nicholas father, and he traveled to walk where his character would have walked and learned to fly.

The rest was just how would I react if that was my background and then all these things happened to me, Davis said. If you only write about what you know, then we have no fiction. Its only biography or autobiography.

I would welcome people to tell me what they think, Davis said. Whether good or bad. I learned some things in the writing of it, so hopefully people will learn some things about history when they read it and the human condition.

We know von Braun survived that night on Huntsvilles Courthouse Square, and the story of the Black Americans in The Moon Above is as compelling as the rocket mans.

The Moon Above is available in print from Amazon and will be out digitally in September. The author has family still living in Alabama and visits regularly. His next book will also be set in the state. Southern writers are always interested in writing about the South, Davis said. Its just taken me a little while to get around to it.

(Davis and the author of this review worked together at The Huntsville Times)

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A Black Alabama hero fights for America and freedom in new novel - AL.com

Gene Policinski: Our rights to speak, assembly and seek change have limits – The Phoenix

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This spring-now-summer of protest shows no signs of fading away, as demonstrators make their voices heard on issues as disparate as health regulations, gun violence, Confederate statues and institutionalized racism.

Through it all, the First Amendment both fuels those voices and protects those rights at times in collaboration with other amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Still, few of us are steeped in constitutional law and statutory regulations. Primers can provide any citizen with the basics on rights, responsibilities and potential entanglements with a patchwork quilt of federal, state and local laws.

Heres a First Amendment-friendly guide with links to those primers, classes and advisories about protest how the rights of free speech, assembly and petition work when you step outside or go online to be heard.

From the Freedom Forum:

Freedom of Assembly protects the right to peacefully gather with others, without regard to views and opinions when we take the streets in protest or in support of a causes.

Everything you need to know whether youre a student, parent, teacher, school administrator or lawyer about classroom walk-outs and school protests.

Social media platforms are private companies and since the First Amendment only applies to government, they can accept or reject what people post. But given their growing role in public discourse, what are their censorship policies? How do they compare to each other and to the First Amendments protections?

Im just speaking my mind, at work or in a public place how protected is what I say?

Pushing the limits of protected speech: When is disruptive too disruptive?

How it was done: (Video) Shirlene Mercer remembering the modern civil rights-era protests around lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C.

From other sources:

The experts at New York Universitys online First Amendment Watch have produced a detailed guide for citizens when recording police activity. Learn about federal and state laws, how your rights apply in different situations and the legal roots for this still-new tool in holding police accountable.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has a quick, to-the-point general guide to know your rights at a protest.

The online legal services site FindLaw has a guide to legal issues ranging from basic rights to a section titled somewhat ominously wartime policies. The same site also provides a guide to each states unique laws about protesting in public.

To all of that information, lets add a few additional items:

When protesting, there is no immunity under the First Amendment that allows you to disregard, without potential arrest and penalty, a direct order even one you believe is illegal from a police officer.

The First Amendment rights of petition and assembly do not give you permission to cross or occupy private property; thats still called trespassing. And as to occupying public property: Since the occupy movement a few years ago, many jurisdictions updated their policies regarding public squares, parks and such, with many outlawing overnight stays or blocking the space so that other, non-involved persons are unable to pass through it.

Blocking traffic on a public street, whether an individual effort or a mass protest, likely is illegal. Again, there is no First Amendment shield against arrest, though police action may well depend on balancing the taking of protesters into custody versus clearing the thoroughfare.

The rights of assembly and petition on National Park Service property have certain limitations, with permits required if a group of 25 or more, or pay attention to this the protest is likely to attract a combined audience of participants and those watching of more than 25. A court decision some years ago cleared the way for individuals to protest with no permit conditions, as long as the person was not blocking others from using the park.

Granted, a recitation of the rules, regulations and legal circumstances around exercising your free speech when assembling peaceably to petition for change may lack the passion of the real thing.

But its those freedoms that give legal protection for the passions that have changed the nations laws, policies and even attitudes, about womens rights, racial injustice, juvenile protection laws, labor regulations and rights and much more.

And thats a lot from a little: the simple but majestic 45 words of the First Amendment.

Gene Policinski is a senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum, and president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. He can be reached at gpolicinski@freedomforum.org, or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.

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Gene Policinski: Our rights to speak, assembly and seek change have limits - The Phoenix

Point: Religious liberty scores a win at the Supreme Court. Its about time – Houma Courier

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In a year beset by disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court, a trio of religious liberty cases decided this term provides constitutionalists with some hope.

Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania

The Little Sisters of the Poor need no introduction. This order of female Catholic religious has been serving the elderly in 30 countries for over 175 years. Though the Little Sisters seem like an unlikely target, the order has been in the cross-hairs of one government or another for nearly a decade.

This week, in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court held that the federal government had the authority to exempt the Little Sisters from its "birth control mandate."

Sadly, the legal battle may not be at an end for the Little Sisters. The case likely will go forward on other grounds, but the court strongly implied that the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act would operate to protect the conscience rights of the Little Sisters.

That statute, the court explained, "provide[s] very broad protection for religious liberty." It forbids the government from substantially burdening a persons exercise of religion unless the government can demonstrate that there is no less restrictive means by which it can further a compelling government interest.

The contraceptive mandate clearly fails Religious Freedom Acts test. Certainly, there are other ways the government can provide contraceptives without forcing nuns to do so.

Espinoza v. Montana

In Espinoza v. Montana, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the fundamental right of families to send their children to the school of their choice, including religious schools. By a vote of 5 to 4, the court held that a state program to help families cover the cost of private school may not discriminate against schools with religious missions.

At issue in the case was a modest Montana program that granted tax credits for donations to organizations that awarded private-school tuition scholarships. The Montana Supreme Court held that the states "Blaine Amendment" forbade Montana from providing the tax credits to parents who chose a religious school.

The Supreme Court reversed the decision. The court held that Montanas Blaine Amendment discriminated against religious schools and the families whose children attend them. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, the court held that the Free Exercise Clause "protects religious observers against unequal treatment."

Montana had discriminated on the basis of a schools religious status, plain and simple. The courts decision strongly suggests that the Blaine Amendments remaining in 35 states are constitutionally infirm, and may not be used to discriminate against religious schools.

Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru

In Our Lady of Guadalupe, the court held that the First Amendment bars courts from intervening in employment disputes involving teachers at religious schools. Writing for the Court Justice Alito stated that the First Amendment protects church autonomy including the right of religious institutions to decide matters "of faith and doctrine" without government intrusion.

This protection, Justice Alito noted, was crucial to the Framers of our Constitution the British Crown, for example, had the right to fill "religious offices" and to otherwise control religion. As applied to schools, the court recognized that teachers who are entrusted with inculcating religious values and beliefs are "ministers of the faith," even though they are not formally ordained.

As such, the government may not interfere with a religious schools decision to hire or fire such an employee.

As Alito recognized, parents choose to send their children to religious schools for "religious education and formation." Thus, a narrow interpretation of the ministerial exception would have interfered with the ability of parents to raise their children with a distinctly religious education.

In short, teachers at religious schools play a critical role in transmitting the faith to the next generation and are properly categorized as "ministers."

Conclusion

Justice Thomas has famously lamented that the Free Exercise Clause seems to rest precariously on the lowest rung of the Courts ladder of rights. With its trifecta of religious liberty decisions this term, the Supreme Court may finally be poised to give equal weight to religious liberty.

Its about time.

Erin Hawley is a senior legal fellow at Independent Womens Law Center. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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Point: Religious liberty scores a win at the Supreme Court. Its about time - Houma Courier

The First Amendment and our rights to speak, assemble and seek change – Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era

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How do you protest safely during a pandemic? While theres no way to eliminate the danger, one of the obvious and universally recommended measures to mitigate the risk is to wear a mask. In the past weeks weve seen law enforcement pose its own dangers to protesters, employing weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as increasing their possibility of contracting COVID-19 by arresting them and packing them into confined spaces. But the most ironic of these actions would have to be the police in Washington, D.C., arresting protesters for wearing masks.

In addition to Washington D.C., 18 states and numerous municipalities have anti-mask laws. Many of these laws were passed in the 1940s and 50s to target the Ku Klux Klans use of masks and hoods. The rationale behind these laws that masks embolden people to commit crimes and make those crimes more frightening isnt necessarily outdated. But what is outdated is the fact that while most of these laws make exceptions for things like Halloween costumes and sporting events, and some have exceptions for face coverings worn for religious reasons, none has exceptions for masks worn for public health reasons or during protests. This ignores the fact that our society has undergone two major shifts since these laws were passed that should change our entire analysis of them. First, were in the midst of a pandemic spread by an airborne virus. And second, advances in surveillance technology mean that the right to speak anonymously and associate freely is compromised in a way that its never been before.

The First Amendment protects the right to speak and assemble anonymously, with the understanding that those who engage in political activism often need anonymity in order to avoid prosecution and harassment from those in power. This concept has a long history in the United States Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers under pseudonyms. During the civil rights movement, the Supreme Court found that protecting the anonymity of members of controversial groups was necessary to preserve their freedom of assembly. The landmark 1958 case National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) v. Alabama arose out of the NAACPs refusal to turn over lists of its rank-and-file members to Alabama authorities. The civil rights organization successfully argued that publicizing these lists would lead to reprisals against its members, which would dissuade them and any potential recruits from associating with the NAACP in the future. The court recognized that there is a vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in ones associations. The Supreme Court has upheld this concept repeatedly. As the court wrote in its 1995 decision McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. ... It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation ... at the hand of an intolerant society.

Like tear gas and rubber bullets, invasion of privacy is a weapon that authorities can use against advocates for change. Just as theres a long history of anonymous speech in this country, there is perhaps an equally long history of government agencies surveilling and targeting activists and organizers. Its happened before. Just think of the years that the FBI spent monitoring Martin Luther King Jr., a campaign that included wiretapping, bugging, spying and collecting information about his sex life.

We also know that its happening right now. According to a memo obtained by BuzzFeed News, the Department of Justice recently expanded the Drug Enforcement Administrations power to conduct covert surveillance on protesters demonstrating against the police killing of George Floyd. The rise of facial recognition technology allows law enforcement agencies to do this on a larger scale than during the civil rights era. Government initiatives like the Janus program enable them to draw on a database of faces compiled from social media. As Clare Garvie of the Center on Privacy and Technology writes, It enables anyone whose face shows up in a photo or video to be identified or misidentified by the police. Put another way, face recognition is a tool that can remove the shield of anonymity from the tens of thousands of Americans out in the streets today, protesting the intolerances of systemic racism and anti-blackness.

At this juncture, engaging in political protest without being able to wear a mask is dangerous in multiple ways. As American Civil Liberties Union senior policy analyst Jay Stanley says, [I]ts the spread of facial recognition that is likely to raise the stakes around anti-mask laws the most. The more accurate and widespread the technology becomes, the more situations will arise where people wont want to show their faces. The cameras that increasingly surround us will allow the police to cheaply and easily identify us and who were with, even if part of a giant crowd.

Its yet another risk that protesters have to contend with and where a mask could offer some protection.

Lata Nott is a Freedom Forum Fellow. Contact her via email at lnott@freedomforum.org, or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.

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The First Amendment and our rights to speak, assemble and seek change - Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era

U.A.E. Mars mission from Japan delayed again by weather – CTV News

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TOKYO -- The launch of a United Arab Emirates Mars orbiter, already delayed two days, has been postponed further due to bad weather at the Japanese launch site.

The orbiter named Amal, or Hope, is the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The launch, initially scheduled for Wednesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, had already been postponed until Friday. It was delayed further on Wednesday to an unspecified date, said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the provider of the H-IIA rocket.

The U.A.E. mission team said on Twitter that the launch would occur later in July. Mitsubishi said it usually announces launches at least two days before the scheduled date.

Mitsubishi launch official Keiji Suzuki said earlier this week that a postponement was possible because intermittent lightning and rain were forecast over the next few days.

Heavy rain has fallen for more than a week in large areas of Japan, triggering deadly mudslides and floods on the southern main island of Kyushu.

Hope is to reach Mars in February 2021, the year the U.A.E. celebrates 50 years since its formation. A successful Hope mission would be a major step for the oil-dependent economy seeking a future in space.

Hope carries three instruments to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change and is scheduled to circle the red planet for at least two years. U.A.E. says it will provide a complete view of the Martian atmosphere during different seasons for the first time.

Two other Mars missions are planned in coming days by the U.S. and China. Japan has its own Martian moon mission planned in 2024.

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U.A.E. Mars mission from Japan delayed again by weather - CTV News

How Perseverance will Search for Life on Mars – The Planetary Society

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Perseverance, NASAs 2020 rover, leaves for the Red Planet in just days. Deputy project scientist Ken Williford tells us how it will look for signs of past life where there was once a Martian lake. Hell also take us through his Jet Propulsion Lab facility where scientists are learning how to recognize the evidence of long ago biology here on Earth. Comet NEOWISE is still lighting up the northern hemisphere sky. Bruce Betts knows where to find it. Weve also got great new prizes for the space trivia contest.

The winner will be revealed next week.

What do the following have in common? The Venus atmosphere near the surface of the planet, and some coffee decaffeination processes.

The Venus atmosphere near the surface of the planet contains a large amount of supercritical carbon dioxide, the same stuff that is used in one process that decaffeinates coffee.

Mat Kaplan: How Perseverance will look for life on Mars, this week on Planetary Radio. Welcome, I'm Mat Kaplan of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. Strictly speaking, I should have said how Perseverance will look for past life on the red planet. There's so much more to this story though, including how the study of ancient life on Earth is preparing us for the quest on Mars. Ken Williford is deputy project scientist for the rover mission that is now set to launch on or shortly after July 30th. He'll take us inside Perseverance and into his fantastic JPL lab. We've also got two contests to finish this week, along with your opportunity to win one of two ultra-cool new Planetary Society T-shirts. Bruce Betts will also tell you how to see Comet NEOWISE.

Mat Kaplan: With so much going on, we'll make this week's dip into The Downlink very brief. Want to see how astronauts on the International Space Station caught the comet? That's the lead image in the July 9 edition. It's followed by headlines about the ongoing troubles of the mole on the Mars InSight Lander, the next road trip for the Curiosity rover in Mars's Gale Crater, and new findings of more metal on the moon than was thought to reside there. You'll find lots of links to learn more about these and many other stories at planetary.org/downlink. Here's the word of the week, Astrobiogeochemistry. More, if you want to save time, ABC. It's the field and the opportunity that brought Ken Williford to the Jet Propulsion Lab a few years ago, and it helped prepare him to help lead all science activity that will be conducted by Perseverance.

Mat Kaplan: That science will include the collection of samples for eventual return to earthly laboratories, even as the big rover conducts its own analysis. As you'll hear from Ken, Perseverance also carries instruments and experiments that will bring humans one step closer to visiting the red planet themselves. Get ready for an absolutely fascinating exploration of this mission and the search for ancient life that it will undertake. Ken and I talked online a few days ago.

Mat Kaplan: Ken, it is an honor to welcome you to Planetary Radio, especially now when we are days, or, at most, a couple of weeks away from the launch of Perseverance toward the red planet. Thanks for joining us.

Ken Williford: Yeah, it's good to be with you, Mat. It is a very exciting time.

Mat Kaplan: Let's start with the obvious, what's the current status of the spacecraft, and that Atlas V rocket that is supposed to get it on its way toward Mars? I mean, the delay was from the rocket, right? Nothing to do with Perseverance.

Ken Williford: That's right. There were a few issues with, we call it the launch vehicle, with the Atlas V rocket and associated equipment, but everything I've heard so far suggests that the issues are under control and everything has a solution and we're on track for a July 30th launch. I just saw a little bit ago someone sent me a picture in an email from down in Cape Canaveral nighttime shot of our spacecraft, all buttoned up inside the fairing, being rolled out to the pad and ready to go up on top of that big rocket.

Mat Kaplan: Does this mean that RTG, that hot radioactive package, is it already installed in Perseverance so it's ready to power up when the time comes?

Ken Williford: Actually, that's a good question. I believe it is not. And I can't tell you actually all the details just because I don't know of the exact step by step sequence to getting everything ready for launch. But I did hear today, our project manager talking about a dress rehearsal with the RTG. And so, I believe that must either be done before they lift it up and put it on the rocket, or even after it's already up there, they put the RTG in last.

Mat Kaplan: If I remember correctly, with Curiosity, it was not installed until very shortly before launch. So, I bet you're right about that. Before we talk more about Perseverance and what its job will be on Mars, I noted that you lead a lab at JPL that I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of, until I started to do research for this conversation, even though its name is as simple as ABC. What is the Astrobiogeochemistry or abcLab that you lead at the Jet Propulsion Lab?

Ken Williford: Yeah, well, you have to run in certain circles to have heard of the abcLab, I guess. But, we do have a lot of collaborators around the world, but they tend to be organic and isotope geochemists doing similar kinds of work. But our mission really, in the lab at JPL, is to study the processes of formation, preservation, and then the detection of signs of life and planetary evolution in geologic materials, if that sounds like a mission statement. It is, and it aligns... It's what I came to JPL to do originally, now going on about almost eight years ago, and it was always with an eye towards supporting Mars sample return, and what we call typically, return sample science. And so, that's the type of science you do on Earth, eventually, with samples that are returned from other worlds.

Ken Williford: In this case, the work in my lab is very specifically dedicated to preparing us to work on samples from Mars, that we hope one day will come back. And we're most interested in looking for signs of life. In this case, it's ancient life in generally very old rocks, rocks that are most typically in my lab hundreds of millions of years to several billion years old. And some of them are the oldest sedimentary rocks that we have on Earth. And we're studying some of the earliest Earth environments, some of the earliest evidence for life on Earth. But then, another theme is looking at the interactions of living organisms on planet Earth and the nonliving systems, the geologic systems, looking at the coevolution of those things, especially at times of great change.

Ken Williford: So, we're interested in studying mass extinction events and other things like that in the lab. But generally, everything we do is with an eye toward refining the techniques, we call them the interpretive contexts, or just building the scientific context necessary to understand all the great data that we hope to extract from samples that come back from Mars one day.

Mat Kaplan: When you look back at the most ancient era of life on Earth, when life began, or, at least, not long after, my understanding is, you don't see a lot of fossils. Are we learning to detect the past presence of life in other ways, which are probably going to be useful on Mars, or we hope will be?

Ken Williford: Yeah, that's right. There are fossils, I would say, extending back to as far as the good, I would say conclusive record of life extends on Earth, which, in my personal view, is to about three and a half billion years ago. There are signs of life that have been reported in rocks older than that, back to about 3.8 billion years ago or potentially older, depending who you believe. Everything older than about three and a half billion years is generally quite controversial and plagued by a lot of ambiguity, because the rocks have been so heavily altered at that age by the forces of tectonics on Earth. But we have this record starting at about 3.5 billion years ago, expressed best in Western Australia, a place called the Pilbara, but also some places in South Africa.

Ken Williford: We do, in fact, see fossils all the way back, and they are not the kinds of fossils that most people are used to thinking about, certainly nothing like a dinosaur bone, but not even a trilobite, if you're familiar with that, or any kind of clam fossil, this is a long time before the evolution of animals and even plants. This was a time, and in fact, most of Earth history, the vast majority of Earth history, really, the entire planet was populated only by microscopic microorganisms. Now, sometimes those microscopic organisms, these are bacteria, and similar organisms called archaea, single-celled organisms that sometimes group together in colonies.

Ken Williford: Most people would be used to seeing pond scum as bright green stuff at the edge of a pond, and that's exactly the kind of stuff we see preserved in rocks, in other fossil versions of pond scum, are what we see preserved as the earliest best evidence for life on Earth in these three-and-a-half-billion-year-old rocks in the Pilbara in Western Australia. And we call these things stromatolites. Imagine a gooey layer of pond scum, and then you have some mud and silt and sand flowing in covering that gooey layer, getting trapped in that gooey layer of bacteria, and then the bacteria grow up and over that layer of mud and sand, and the whole process repeats over and over and over again, until you build up this wrinkly-layered structure, that then gets buried and turned into a fossil. A long time later, some geologist comes around and digs it up.

Ken Williford: And that's the kind of thing, honestly, that's sort of the holy grail of what got our eyes peeled for with Mars 2020. That's the kind of thing that could be detectable with our rover. And we are certainly going to explore the environments in Jezero Crater, where, if that ancient lake was inhabited, and if it was capable of producing pond scum, we are going to go to the rocks, particularly on the edge of that lake, where that stuff would have concentrated and fossilized, if that lake was inhabited. So, that's one of the types of things we're most excited about March 2020.

Mat Kaplan: I want to mention that I watched most of your fascinating 2017 von Karman lecture at JPL about Perseverance, but in that, you had an image of a section of stromatolites. We'll link to that lecture, of course, from this week's show page at planetary.org/radio. How big a dance will you do if Perseverance finds stromatolite in Jezero Crater?

Ken Williford: It will be quite a dance. I'm picturing the Michael Jackson Thriller video or Saturday Night Fever combined on steroids. That would be a very happy day, if we see anything that looks like those stromatolites in Australia. Of course, that said, when the dancing subsides, we will all get to the task of making sure we can confirm a shape like that is actually something important and was actually produced by life. And it's a very tall order. So, even with the oldest evidence for life on Earth, the scientific community finds it challenging to come to strong agreement. When any new paper is published, pushing back the record of life and putting a case together that life emerged maybe early than we thought, it's hard to get agreement.

Ken Williford: And usually, it takes years, sometimes decades, where many different scientists have to go and look at the same rocks with all sorts of different techniques. Sometimes the story changes over the years as we learn more in different things, and even more so, as you can imagine, for Mars. So, it's such an extraordinary claim, it would be such an extraordinary claim that life once existed on Mars, that it will certainly require extraordinary evidence. And that's why we think it'll be critical to get those samples back to analyze them, no matter what we see really on the surface of Mars with 2020.

Mat Kaplan: Well, thank you for paraphrasing that quote from our co-founder, Carl Sagan. You have made me think back to a time when I did a little dance, not too many years ago, I got to hold a tiny fragment of that famous piece of Mars known as Allan Hills 84001. I remember when the announcement came, I was so thrilled that when NASA announced that microfossils had been found in this meteorite from Mars, I had to pull my car over to the side of the road and get out and do a little dance. Wasn't long before that conclusion was called into doubt. Good science can be so disappointing sometimes. What have we learned since then? How will we avoid getting it wrong this time? Or, did we even get it wrong that time?

Ken Williford: Well, I think it's a great example, the Allan Hills meteorite, and in a sense, I might not be where I am, having made it through grad school, funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute largely, working on a Mars rover mission at JPL, had it not been for that work on Allan Hills. As much as we point to it as an example of jumping to conclusions or maybe getting something wrong, I really encourage people to go back to that paper, or go to the paper, the McKay et al., 1996 paper, that was the original report, and there's a lot of good work to be found in that paper. And often, that study is used, I think, oversimplified, and we look at those images that are pretty famous of these worm-shaped features in the rock.

Ken Williford: But the study was about much more than that, and it was actually, I think, a pretty nice template for the kind of approach that we take today, where we look for combinations of lifelike shapes. Sometimes in geology, we call them textures, or morphologies, but basically, lifelike shapes in a rock, that are combined with or co-occur with in space, lifelike compositions. So, chemical compositions. These can be the elements that are the chemical elements that are important to biology. There's this super important shortlist that we often call CHNOPS, C-H-N-O-P-S, but there are certainly quite a few other elements that are important to life. And then, biologically important minerals. The seashells around us are made of calcite or aragonite, our teeth and bones have apatite, hydroxyapatite, phosphate minerals, carbonate minerals, sulfide minerals, iron oxides, and so forth, minerals that tend to hang out in the presence of life.

Ken Williford: They do so often because they represent metabolic substrates. All animals, ourselves included, use one very specific type of metabolism, aerobic respiration, where we take in organic matter, breathe in oxygen and harness that energy, that very energetic metabolism. But basically, any chemical reaction that you can imagine, that involves what we call redox chemistry, oxidation reduction chemistry, and rusting is a great example of that, turning iron into iron oxide, any chemical reaction like that, there's some microbe living off of it. So, there are so many different types of metabolisms, and those different metabolisms, when they're expressed in the environment, lead to the precipitation of different minerals that can be preserved for billions of years.

Ken Williford: So, that's important, we look for those, and then we look for lifelike compositions in terms of molecules, the organic molecules. All life that we know of is carbon-based, we'll often hear about, "Yeah, but what about silicon-based life or other..." And there are all kinds of possibilities, but when we talk about looking for ancient life on Mars, where we're looking, first, at least, for life mostly as we know it. So, for carbon-based life that would be built of organic molecules and use liquid water. And so, going back to that original Allan Hill study, if you take a look at that paper again, you'll find that they were using a bunch of different cutting edge techniques to look at those concentrations of elements and minerals, and in some cases, molecules, that co-occurred in shapes that were interesting.

Ken Williford: So, it's actually not all that different, the approach we use today. Now, that said, you're right, that I think the consensus view is that the interpretation that that evidence that represents evidence of ancient life on Mars is not really there in the scientific community today, but it launched that study, and similar things around the same time launched a whole new conversation about astrobiology and the search for life on other planets. The NASA Astrobiology Institute was founded not long after that. And again, like I said, that paid for a lot of my PhD and put me where I am today. So, I certainly look at that study as really critical step along the way to where we are today.

Mat Kaplan: It just reminds me that even when science may have a disappointing result, it leads to, often leads to terrific progress. You're talking about that paper from 24 years ago. You look back 44 years to Viking, and its first attempt to find biological activity on the red planet. We have learned an awful lot since then, right? I mean, including about the sorts of, yes, life as we know it, but still, extreme life as we know it, those so-called extremophiles.

Ken Williford: That's right. Clearly, Viking, and you mentioned Carl Sagan earlier, those heady days around the time that I was born actually. And Carl Sagan has long been one of my scientific heroes, and I remember watching the entire Cosmos series in high school, and just being so inspired. Yeah, Viking was a huge step. But again, as you said, we have come a long way, and so, I often say that Mars 2020, with our core objective to directly seek the signs of life, is doing something in astrobiology that I think has not been done this seriously since Viking, really. So, after Viking with largely negative results from the biology experiment, you and your audience will be aware that there was one part of the biology experiment that produced some ambiguous results that even some folks today think might have pointed to life. But again, the consensus is not there, and generally, people think the biology results from Viking were negative.

Ken Williford: There was a real low in Martian surface science after that, until Pathfinder and the era that we're in now of the Mars rovers. But there was this stepwise approach, starting with follow the water with MER, to MSL, which so brilliantly took a more nuanced approach to habitability, finding evidence for habitable environments, that went beyond the binary presence or absence of water. And again, they did that beautifully, to now what we're doing, which will follow in those footsteps, and of course, we'll be following the water all the way to this lake, ancient lake in Jezero Crater, we'll be using a lot of what we've learned from the approach that MSL and Curiosity took to understand the habitability of that environment, but then we'll take that next logical step, which is to directly seek the science of ancient life, in a way that I don't feel was, at least, as explicitly done by past missions.

Ken Williford: Now, that links us to Viking. But of course, we have to understand there's a very important distinction between our mission and the Viking mission, and that is that Viking was primarily looking for evidence of extant life. So, those biology experiments were looking for life that was alive at that time or had recently deceased in the Martian soil or the Martian regolith. Our mission is to look for signs of life in rocks that are very, very old, in rocks that are older than the ones that I talked about earlier, where the oldest evidence for life on earth is. So, these are between three and four billion years old, closer to four billion years old. These are very old rocks deposited at a time when Mars was much more Earth-like than it is today, and where we have excellent geologic evidence that there was abundant liquid water on the surface, which tells us that the atmosphere must have been very different, much thicker. We believe there was probably a magnetic field, and that the planet was much more active and dynamic than it is today.

Ken Williford: And so, we're taking the approach of looking through that window which is three and a half billion years old, to see if we can determine whether life existed back at that time.

Mat Kaplan: Though, I imagine, you and the rest of the science team wouldn't complain if one of those cores that you'll be pulling up, if something tiny crawled out of it, within view of one of the cameras on Perseverance.

Ken Williford: True, true enough. That would be exciting indeed. And while I say that's clearly not part of our mission is to... If you wanted to design a mission to look for extant life on Mars, and it's a great thing to think about, it's certainly not impossible that life currently exists on Mars, but it's almost certainly, if it does, it's almost certainly in the deep subsurface. And so, it's a very different set of instruments and set of technologies that you would send to Mars, if that was your goal. And so, that is not our goal. But that said, when the samples come back someday, clearly, one of the most important things that will happen will be to look for any evidence of extended life that they might contain. And so, no doubt, there will be work done to determine whether there is evidence of extant life in our samples, it's just that our strategic approach is not to optimize our capability to answer that question.

Ken Williford: This question is about, how did Mars evolve as a planet? What can we learn about our solar system's evolution broadly, the evolution of terrestrial planets broadly? And then, the broader question, was Mars ever inhabited?

Mat Kaplan: Ken Williford has much more to share with us as we begin the countdown to the Perseverance Mars rover mission. I'll be back with him after this break. I want to come back to your lab, or rather, your lab's website. And I hope that people will take a look at it. It's fascinating. I especially enjoy the little tour of your lab equipment. You've got a lot of cool toys, by the way. What in the world or what in any world is a CEM Mars6 microwave-assisted extraction digestion system?

Ken Williford: Right, yeah. Okay. It's interesting that you found yourself concentrating on that. Yeah, we are extremely fortunate to have some very fun toys to play with. I hesitate to call them toys, lest our funders get angry with us. But certainly, we relate to them just as an excited kid would on Christmas morning when we get a new one or we get an upgrade. It's just as exciting as I remember the newest transformer being when I was a kid.

Mat Kaplan: There you go.

Ken Williford: So, the CEM extractor, the Mars6 device that you talked about, this is a device that's basically a very fancy microwave. This is a microwave-assisted extraction device. And we primarily use it to extract organic molecules from rocks. We will take a rock sample from the field, it is, say, two-billion-year-old mud stone from an ancient Lake, let's say, and we believe it has organic matter in it, and that organic matter consists of the dead bodies of the bacteria that were living in the surface of that lake and fell to the bottom. And then the molecules that they were made of, some of them polymerize into a gooey substance we call kerogen, but some of them remain as something like oil, we would call it in my lab, bitumen, but it's basically oil. We study both of those organic substances, kerogen and bitumen.

Ken Williford: The bitumen often has a lot of great information in it about the original organisms that produced it. So, we use an organic solvent basically, imagine something like alcohol, we just pour, it's really methanol and dichloromethane, into a Teflon tube and seal it up. And inside that tube is also several grams of rock powder of that mud stone, and then we heat it up in the microwave under pressure, and that organic solvent extracts the bitumen, gets that oil into it, and then we filter the whole thing, and now we have our solvent in a vessel. We evaporate away the solvent, leaving behind this sort of oily film, and then we do some chemistry on that and we eventually put it into our GCMS or a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, which tells us about its molecular composition.

Ken Williford: So, we look at the structure of the individual molecules that make up that organic matter, many interesting things are preserved. Some of the typical things we call steranes and hopanes, and these are molecules that are produced. They sit inside the cell membranes of eukaryotes like ourselves. Algae and plants and animals, inside every cell membrane, they have these molecules called steranes. We're familiar with cholesterol, that's an example of this, and it regulates membrane rigidity. And so, these little membrane building blocks, basically are stripped down to their basic organic skeletons, their hydrocarbon skeletons, and then they can be preserved for billions of years. And then we can measure them in the lab and determine that, "Hey, look, there was some kind of algae here living in this lake," and we make other measurements on those molecules and learn more and more about what types of life was living in those different environments and what sorts of metabolisms they were using.

Ken Williford: And also, you can extract information about what the planet was doing at that time. If you, say, measure the same thing through a time sequence that's preserved in a long drill core, for example, we can measure the isotopic composition of different molecules and learn something about how the ocean and atmosphere were behaving over time.

Mat Kaplan: It really is utterly fascinating. You make me want to visit and look over the shoulder, your shoulder, shoulder of your colleagues in the lab and watch as this works. But, I mean, you'll see where I'm going with this, because you have all these wonderful machines and a fair number of human hands to make them all do their work properly, you don't have that luxury on Perseverance. Now, the suite of instruments that it carries is simply awesome. But, I mean, if you were to think about what Perseverance is capable of doing on its own, I don't even know if it's fair to ask this, but what percentage of the capabilities of labs back here on earth like your own, are going to be carried by Perseverance to the surface of Mars? I expect pretty small.

Ken Williford: Yeah, that's right. I mean, I certainly couldn't put a percentage number on it, but I think it's totally fair to say that it's a tiny, tiny fraction of the full capabilities of the laboratories of planet Earth. I mean, there are so many things we can do here on Earth, when we don't have to worry about the mass and volume constraints in the harsh environments of space and of the surface of Mars where the temperature swings are enormous and where it's impossible to go and repair these things. I mean, think of a synchrotron, one of the types of instruments that we like best to study the record of ancient life on Earth and plenty of other things, involves putting some type of microscope or spectrometer at the end of a beam line, that itself is the product of acceleration of electrons and production of X-rays in a ring that's the size of a city block or more.

Ken Williford: And so, this synchrotron radiation allows us with different analytical techniques to get an extraordinarily high spatial resolution and signal to noise that we could not otherwise achieve. Now, there's no way, in fact, I hate to say never this or never that, but in fact, I will say, we will never fly a synchrotron, at least in this form that I'm describing, because you'd never do that. If you were able to do that, you would sooner build a synchrotron on Mars than to fly it there, right? Now, of course, it's possible that we could find some radically new technology that would allow us to do the same thing in a smaller package, but we don't have that yet. And even then, just by definition, anything you send to another planet, you're always going to be able to get more, have more diverse capabilities if you bring a sample back to the scientific home of humanity, which is planet Earth.

Ken Williford: So, as you said, yeah, there are extraordinary capabilities that represent pretty major advances in interplanetary science on Perseverance, relative to prior missions. It's often asked, do we have to make major sacrifices in instrumentation to do what we're doing to move Mars sample return forward? And it's certainly true that the space that on the Curiosity rover, that is taken up by the SAM and CheMin instruments, those large spaces inside the front of the rover, where you have these extremely capable analytical laboratories, that space on Perseverance is taken up by what we call the adaptive caching assembly. And it's this sort of robot within a robot that looks like a little bottling plant, and it stores the sample tubes and it processes the sample tubes et cetera.

Ken Williford: But it's also true that out on the end of the arm, we have two very advanced new instrument platforms called SHERLOC and PIXL. And these are both spatially resolved instruments of a type that we have never had on a previous space mission. These things both are analogs to instruments that we use, like instruments we might find on a synchrotron or in labs back on Earth, where we can simultaneously extract that spatial information and the compositional information. So, where at the same time, we're looking for lifelike shapes and lifelike compositions. And both instruments raster or move a beam about the diameter of a human hair over an area about the size of a postage stamp, and they create a map of chemical composition.

Ken Williford: And so, you're now resolving spatial information in the compositional heterogeneity that we were not otherwise able to do in past missions. So, whereas the APXS instrument on the Curiosity rover averages the elemental composition over about, say, a square centimeter, PIXL will map that elemental composition over about the same area. So, it's a big advance.

Mat Kaplan: It actually creates an image, what is the advantage of having that spatial revolution rather than, as you said, just averaging out what the radioactive activity finds?

Ken Williford: We will often talk about in the scientific community and we deal with it in my lab, the difference between what we call bulk analysis or spatially resolved analysis. And they absolutely both have their strengths. Bulk analysis is often cheaper and much faster, and you can get a higher throughput measuring those average compositions. And sometimes you actually want to know the average composition, because it allows you to not be biased by this or that thing. You really just want to average over a larger area for certain questions. But spatially resolved analysis, which is almost always technologically more difficult in labs back on Earth, sometimes more expensive to do, and requires more careful sample preparation often, so, it can be slower, but the amount of information, the information density is so much larger in this case.

Ken Williford: And the key thing here is spatially resolved analysis like we will achieve with PIXL and SHERLOC on Perseverance, allows us to simultaneously look for lifelike shapes and lifelike compositions. So, it's not just, do we see a composition that indicates life? It's, is that composition that indicates life, is it arranged in a shape that itself indicates life? Another way to say is we're looking for spatially correlated compositional heterogeneity. Some folks say life tends to be clumpy, it has little bits of this over here and little bits of that over there. So, those are the types of things we're looking for.

Mat Kaplan: In your von Karman lecture, you pointed out, as you zoomed in on a bit of stromatolite, a little wave view, a little bit of filament, and you said, this is the kind of thing that gets people like you excited.

Ken Williford: That's right. Yeah. And that is something that I'm not sure in that case it is a fossil microbial cell, but it looks very much like what we call microfossils, which, in younger rocks, microfossils can include little protists like foraminifera and little single-celled animal-like things. In the much older rocks that certainly that will study on Mars and the much older rocks on Earth, these microfossils are even smaller, and these are individual fossilized bacterial cells. And so, they're often tiny little spheres or filaments, that are one to 10, say, micrometers in diameter. So, very, very, very small. Smaller, in fact, than anything we can resolve with any instrument on Perseverance.

Ken Williford: And so, in order to see these things, not only are they smaller than what we can resolve with the instruments that have ever flown, by the way, on any space mission, they require some very careful sample preparation. And the image I was showing you there or showing in the lecture, was of what we would call a petrographic section. It's where we cut a piece of rock, basically glue it to a glass slide, and then cut away as much of it as we can, and then grind it down until it's thinner than a sheet of paper, and then polish it to a mirror finish, so we can shine light through it and see these little features that are inside of it. So, those are the types of techniques we'll be able to do with the samples when they come back from Mars, and it opens up many new analytical possibilities.

Mat Kaplan: And again, I'll recommend that listeners check out that lecture that you delivered about three years ago. It's a great additional background to all of this, with the advantage of your great slides. While we're talking about images, Jim Bell was my guest a couple of weeks ago, we talked about how his team's Mastcam-Z will integrate with the other instruments carried by Perseverance, some of what you've been talking about. How important is that imaging on a bigger scale, the kind of stuff that Mastcam-Z can do, in the search for past life on Mars that Perseverance will be taking on?

Ken Williford: It's absolutely critical. I mean, it's just absolutely fundamental to what we're doing. And the Mars rovers are often described as robotic geologists. More than anything, the Mastcam on Curiosity and Mastcam-Z on Perseverance are like the eyes of that geologist. I mean, they really are a pair, a stereoscopic pair of imagers just like our eyes, about six feet off the ground, like a fairly tall geologist cruising across the surface, looking around and doing that most basic activity that a geologist does in the field, which is to look at the shapes, the colors, and the textures, and the structures that she sees around her, to understand the basic processes of formation and alteration that led to those rocks in the exploration area.

Ken Williford: So, they really are our first weapon there as we explore our environment.

Mat Kaplan: Everything that you've been talking about just is more evidence of what a complicated machine this rover is. You mentioned that sample handling system, which is just a mechanical marvel. I mean, to me, it seems more like robots within robots, within a robot, but one more level of complication. Do you ever worry about all those moving parts in that harsh environment?

Ken Williford: Yeah, you're right, it absolutely, it's robots all the way down, right? A robot within a robot, within a robot. And to say nothing about the follow-on missions, I mean, it's a very similar situation there, just the number of robots involved boggles the mind. But I try not to worry about that. There are certain things that are outside of my control, which is nearly everything. And I just don't walk down that path of worry, in that case, instead, I think about my colleagues, just incredibly talented engineers at JPL and all the other organizations that have supported us to put this thing together and to get it into space. It's been really a highlight of my career to work with the people who are so creative to come up with these designs, but then to make them happen.

Ken Williford: I mean, we have the sort of key challenge or key benefit from another point of view of working at JPL is navigating the science engineering language boundary. It often feels like, we come from different countries, and it can be frustrating at times. But the beauty of the engineers is they actually get it done. The joke is the scientists are always trying to break it and make it do more than it can, or they always want more, and the engineers are just trying to hold us back. Whereas we dream up every possibility in the realm of science and come up with all the fun stories, but the engineers make it work.

Ken Williford: I've learned so many times during my experience on this mission about the kinds of sacrifices that need to be made and you don't always get everything that you want, but it's in the interest of getting something and making it work and solving a problem that it's just absurdly hard, if you really think about it, what we're trying to do here. And so, my hat goes off to all of them and I try not to worry.

Mat Kaplan: It does seem like you guys on the science team, you discover the miracles and they build them.

Ken Williford: That's right. Yeah, we need each other, for sure.

Mat Kaplan: Before we leave Perseverance, there are two or three other instruments on that rover, which may not be as directly involved in this search for past life, but they do seem to pave the way for us delicate humans to follow the robots to Mars. Can you mention a little bit about that role of Perseverance and how it will be helping to make it a safe place for us men and women?

Ken Williford: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I personally think that's a very important part of what we're doing. I'm a huge fan of human spaceflight and I'm very inspired by the idea of one day, a human being flying to Mars and standing on the surface, picking up a handful of Martian regolith and grabbing a few rocks and bringing them back to the ship and flying back to Earth to tell us all what that felt like. I mean, that idea really inspires me, and I know it inspires a lot of people in this country and in the world. And so, I look forward to when we can one day see that happen. Some of the things as you said, some of the things we're doing on Mars 2020 are very directly related to that. So, we have the meta instrument contributed from Spain, which is a weather station. Measuring the weather conditions is obviously relevant to future human explorers.

Ken Williford: We have the MOXIE instrument, which converts carbon dioxide, which is abundant in the Martian atmosphere, into oxygen, which is very rare at Mars, in the atmosphere, anyway, but would be vital to human explorers. Obviously, human explorers could breathe oxygen, but a critical piece of getting humans home safely is having an oxidizer for the fuel in the rocket that will get them off the planet surface and back home. And all the better, so much the better if they don't have to bring all that oxygen with them from Earth, and can have it made for them on the surface. And so, that's what MOXIE does is to demonstrate on a small scale, something that can be scaled up later to support human spaceflight. And then RIMFAX is an instrument that's contributed by Norway, and it's a ground penetrating radar.

Ken Williford: This technology has been used in the past in orbit, and currently in orbit around Mars, but never on the surface. We plan to use RIMFAX mostly to look at geologic structures in the subsurface. But one application for ground penetrating radar in the future could be to look for ice or water in the subsurface that human explorers could use. So, those are the specific things that we're doing, but in a broader sense, everything we learn about Mars, prepares us better, I would say, to send humans there and get them home safely.

Mat Kaplan: It is all thrilling. We are all looking forward with such excitement, enthusiasm to that launch. And then, out there in February of 2021, those seven minutes of terror that we experienced with Curiosity, where are you going to be when Perseverance makes that descent down to the surface?

Ken Williford: Yeah, well, it's an interesting question. Certainly, I will be either at JPL or very close to JPL. I imagine I'll either be on lab, we call it at JPL, and I really hope there's a way for us to do that safely, to be there together as a team. But, as we all know, it's such a strange time in the world right now with the coronavirus, and so, it can be hard to get those groups of people together in a small room that we're all familiar with, jumping up and down and yelling and screaming with joy at a successful landing. I don't know what it's going to look like, honestly. And it may look very different than that. And so, I might be at home with my family watching this on the computer, and that'll be okay, too.

Ken Williford: No matter what, we're going to be together in spirit, at least, and I'm definitely going to be connected immediately. I'm sure I'll be texting with my best friends on the mission and in phone calls, and at the very least, celebrating what I hope and expect is just going to be another one of those great days where we can all be proud of what we've done together.

Mat Kaplan: Well, I'm going to share that hope with you, and I'm going to go beyond and hope that we are back in a big room full of people, thousands of us who watched Curiosity make that dissent, and we were jumping up and down and cheering. I'll only say, this time, let's hope it's a big room full of vaccinated people. But one way or another, we'll be following along with you, Ken. I got just one other question for you, and it was obvious from your von Karman lecture, I think it's obvious from this conversation, you clearly enjoy sharing what our boss, the Science Guy, calls the passion, beauty, and joy, the PB&J of science. Is this as important to you as it sounds like?

Ken Williford: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I was just talking with some of my colleagues earlier about exactly this question, and I can tell you that, for myself, the opportunity to do this kind of thing and to talk about science with other scientists, but especially with non-scientists, is as important to me as anything. I love so much being able to talk about these things and share ideas and communicate. So, I appreciate this opportunity and it's great. I look forward to many more.

Mat Kaplan: Ken, it really has been a great pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us here on Planetary Radio. Ad astra, ad Aries, looking forward to all that great science that Perseverance will start doing in February of next year.

Ken Williford: Yeah, the pleasure is mine. Thank you so much, Mat, and look forward to talking to you about it again when we're on the surface, maybe.

Mat Kaplan: Oh, please count on that. I hope you'll be back, and maybe before then. That's Ken Williford, he serves as the Deputy Project Scientist for the NASA Mars 2020 mission, Mars 2020 rover that we now know as Perseverance. He is also the Director of the JPL Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory. Bruce Betts joins me next.

Bill Nye: Greetings, Bill Nye here, CEO of the Planetary Society. Even with everything going on in our world right now, I know that a positive future is ahead of us. Space exploration is an inherently optimistic enterprise. An active space program raises expectations and fosters collective hope. As part of the Planetary Society team, you can help kickstart the most exciting time for U.S. space exploration since the moon landings. With the upcoming election only months away, our time to act is now. You can make a gift to support our work. Visit planetary.org/advocacy, your financial contribution will help us tell the next administration and every member of Congress, how the U.S. space program benefits their constituents and the world.

Bill Nye: Then you can sign the petitions to President Trump and Presumptive Nominee Biden, and let them know that you vote for space exploration. Go to planetary.org/advocacy today. Thank you. Let's change the world.

Mat Kaplan: Time for What's Up on Planetary Radio. It's the special extended edition of Planetary Radio. We're answering two, count them, two contests today.

Bruce Betts: What!

Mat Kaplan: I know, it's never been heard of before except maybe once, I think. Anyway, that voice you heard incredulously there was Bruce Betts, the Chief Scientist of the Planetary Society. Welcome back.

Bruce Betts: Thank you. What!

Mat Kaplan: What up?

Bruce Betts: There's this comment. We talked about it last week. You've been stuck under the fog and clouds, haven't you?

Mat Kaplan: I've tried twice. Socked in, as they say.

Bruce Betts: So, Comet NEOWISE has turned out to be pretty groovy, especially for those using binoculars and taking pictures. There's some gorgeous pictures on the web. You can't see it naked eye. I don't expect it to look quite as stunning as in the pictures with your eyes, but it's still pretty darn cool. And will depend on how much light pollution you've got as to whether you're able to see, how much of the tail you may be able to see. Or, it may depend, for Mat, on weather clouds follow him around. So, how do you see it? It's passing into the evening sky, by the time this is coming out. That's the best place to look forward. The farther north you are, the better. So, in our neck of the woods, Northern U.S. and Canada will do better than lower, but it's getting higher in the evening sky each night.

Bruce Betts: And if you're in the southern hemisphere, look online for pictures, because, sorry, that's all you're going to see. So, look to the northwest, low in the northwest over the coming few days, and the comet will be there below the Big Dipper, below Ursa Major. It'll be rising higher in the sky each night, but it'll also be getting dimmer as it gets farther and farther from the sun. So, it's a trade-off. You're going to want to look probably an hour or so after sunset, because that's the trade-off between it being higher in the sky and the brightness of the sun. I do encourage you to find an online finder guide because it is moving from one night to another and it'll help you find it. It is not streaking across the sky as shown in most cartoons, just a little tip there. Anyway, it's up.

Bruce Betts: And if you're looking in the evening sky, look over in the east just a little later and you'll see bright Jupiter with yellowish Saturn nearby. A couple hours later, middle of the night, Mars coming up, and in the predawn sky, Venus dominating the predawn east, getting higher as time goes along. Good stuff. If you don't have clouds and if it makes feel any better, Mat, I'll retell my story. I spent 12 nights on three trips at Palomar Observatory long ago, and every night was cloudy.

Mat Kaplan: I do feel better now. Thank you.

Bruce Betts: Feel my pain, let it soothe you.

Mat Kaplan: Share your pain. Yes, thank you.

Bruce Betts: We move on to this week in space history. It was a big week. First humans walking on another world, Apollo 11. In 1975, Apollo-Soyuz took place, with the U.S. and Soviet Union meeting up in space. And then, 1994, we watched the first fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slam into Jupiter.

Mat Kaplan: 51st anniversary of Apollo 11. Hello to Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin out there.

Bruce Betts: We move on to random space thought.

Mat Kaplan: That's the Kuiper belt trying to make me feel worse, I think, by hissing at me.

Bruce Betts: Just for you, mat, I've got an all comet show. So, comet tails can some times be as long as the Earth-sun distance, as long as one AU.

Mat Kaplan: Wow, stunning.

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How Perseverance will Search for Life on Mars - The Planetary Society

My Coronavirus Summer 2020 Reading List – The National Interest

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J. C. Wylie spoke truer than he knew when he divided military strategy into sequential and cumulative forms. In fact, his insight applies to all human endeavors. Sequential campaigns plod from tactical action to tactical action, one after another, until campaigners reach their ultimate goal or failure interrupts the series. The operational pattern is linear. Cumulative campaigns exhibit a scattershot pattern. Tactical actions take place all over the map, unrelated to one another in time or space. Strategic progress comes by increments as micro successes add up to macro strategic results.

Peacetime pursuits abide by Wylies taxonomy as well. For example, the annus horribilis that is 2020 has demonstrated that public health is a wholly cumulative effort. There is no marching sequentially to victory over disease. Even your personal reading habits display a more sequential or more cumulative character depending on your leanings. Some benighted folk read a book from cover to cover, then move on to another. They incline toward the sequential. Others dabble, keeping multiple readings going at the same time in cumulative fashion. Count me among the dabblers. Rather than recommend the most edifying summer reading of all time, heres my directionless reading list for this most offbeat of summers.

The Expanse. The most gripping sci-fi series Ive come across apart from canonical works from the likes of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. In fact, Im experimenting with reading, listening to, and watching the series concurrently. (An adapted version streams on Netflix.) Humanity hasnt reached the stars yet in the Expanse universe, but spacefaring technology has advanced sufficiently for humanity to plant colonies across the solar system. This is no upbeat Star Trek universe where space exploration triggers an age of perpetual peace. Mars and Earth are waging a cold war while the Belt, a disparate group of colonies scattered among the asteroid belt and moons circling the gas giants, simmers with resentment toward the inner planets. A separatist Outer Planets Alliance agitates for independence, chargingwith considerable justicethat the inner planets plunder the Belt for natural resources with scant regard for Belters well-being. The series follows the crew of the frigate Rocinante as they navigate this interplanetary struggle (and much more). So as not to divulge any spoilers, suffice it to say author James S. A. Corey is a wizard with plot twists and character development. Big questions about philosophy, the legitimacy of armed force, and modes of socioeconomic organization come up frequently.

Caesar and Livy. Sci-fi is great, but I have declared this my summer of Rome because reasons. Caesars accounts of the Gallic War, Roman Civil War, and other military enterprises that helped make him dictatorand precipitate his assassination on the Ides of Marchare reproduced in The Landmark Julius Caesar, the latest in the classics series that gave us user-friendly editions of Herodotus History and Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War. Caesars writings rank among the most durable works from the era that saw the Roman Republic perish and an empire rise from its ruins. The author comes off looking rather well in them. As Churchill quipped, history tends to be kind to major figures who write it. Nevertheless, these histories reveal much about Caesars way of war and statecraft and are worth reading for the dictators elegant, unembroidered prose alone.

Another master stylist, Titus Livy, penned a patriotic History of Rome that constitutes our sole source for broad swathes of Roman history. In his first five booksI prefer Aubrey de Slincourts mellifluous translationLivy recounts the citys origins in the dim recesses of legend and carries the story through the Gallic sack of the city in the fourth century B.C. Ensuing books retell how Rome expanded throughout Italy and the Mediterranean basin and mounted three titanic wars against Carthage. No dry chronicle, Livys history is a spectacle abounding with moral lessons, gossip, and colorful personalities. This is Roman history as Romans liked to remember it.

A Scheme of Heaven. Author Alexander Boxer claims to have written a history of astrology, but it is far, far more than that. It is a history of how astronomy commingled with astronomy from remote antiquity forward as humanity gazed heavenward. Along the way we meet such fascinating figures as the Greek astronomer/astrologer Ptolemy, whose geocentric model of the universe reigned supreme for fifteen hundred years, and an elderly Caesar Augustus, who forbade private citizens to practice astrology for fear they would predict his death and disrupt the imperial succession. But beyond such historical nuggets, A Scheme of Heaven investigates how human beings process data in bulk, finding patterns and making sense of it. Stargazers of yesteryear discerned constellations in the night sky, helping them simplify and interpret what they beheld; we have masses of Big Data to contend with. Surveying the history of astrology, then, reveals something about our future while illuminating the remote past.

The Winds of War. Novelist Herman Wouk went to his reward last year after a long, reclusive life. Colleagues dubbed him an American Tolstoy, a chronicler of epic clashes through invented but thoroughly believable characters. He was also the U.S. Navys Tolstoy, depicting the sea service as one of two great influences on his life. The Winds of War traces the World War II experiences of Captain Pug Henry and his family. The scene ranges from Nazi Germany to Fascist Italy to Pacific warfare against Imperial Japan. If you know nothing about the war going in, you will have a good sense of the issues at stake and how the fighting unfolded by the time you put the book down. If youre a World War II buff youll appreciate the human drama. This is historical fiction with heft and flair.

Popper Selections. If you take an interest in the philosophy of science or just want to review how to think clearly and incisively, Karl Popper is the philosopher for you. Popper is best known for contending that any theory must meet the test of falsifiability to qualify as scientific. In other words, a theory is never finally proved but can be disprovedand those who advance a theory have a duty to look for ways to falsify it. If they fail the theory standsprovisionally. An unfalsifiable theory, on the other hand, is an ideology; it is unscientific. These selected writings are a tonic. One can only imagine Poppers wonderment at the state of public and academic discourse in 2020.

Loserthink. Best known as the cartoonist who created Dilbert, Scott Adams has made himself into a political commentator of considerable repute and insight. Loserthink is an often amusing romp through fallacies and biases in how we think. To avoid these pitfalls Adams urges readers to cultivate range, training themselves to view the world like an engineer, a historian, an economist, and so forth. The author hopes the term loserthink will catch on, taking its place in our everyday lexicon alongside such Orwellian terms as wrongthink and Newspeak. I doubt it will attain that lofty statusbut we would reason more keenly as a society if it did.

Happy (cumulative) reading.

James Holmes is J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College. The views voiced here are his alone.

Image: Reuters.

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My Coronavirus Summer 2020 Reading List - The National Interest

Banks should embrace the open banking ecosystem: IBM – Which-50

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Banks may currently hold a privileged position in the market, but the real opportunity for them from open banking is to start out in an ecosystem that allows them to provide new and better services to their customer base.

Thats the view of Mark Allaby, Managing Partner, Financial Services Sector, Australia and New Zealand at IBM who says this plenty of evidence from the European experience to suggest this is a very plausible thing for them to do.

Now, absent an open banking or speedier type regime the banks would have to build the ecosystems themselves. But the reality is building private ecosystems takes time, its expensive, and every bank is trying to play the same game so you would end up with a lot of duplication.

Instead, the Consumer Data Right underpinning open banking offers the banks benefits, he says.

It creates a model whereby the industry has a shared infrastructure and a level playing field. But because of the perceived upside to the fintech I think it will actually spur on innovation [by the banks]. They are very well-positioned because they do know an awful lot about that customer.

He told Which-50, They have very deep industry experience very deep relationships. They know what customers need and they really do have an opportunity to match these needs. So perhaps the introduction of CDR will be the impetus that will then will spur them on, whereas in the past they probably had the advantage of privileged access to customer information which will no longer be there.

Allaby says that the experience in Europe where open banking has had longer to develop demonstrates that there are really good innovations from incumbents developing very targeted segment-specific propositions.

The model I think is a really good exemplar for Australian banks to learn from and embrace is Rabobank, a specialist agricultural bank.

Rabo has been building propositions for agricultural segments around areas such as vet services or logistics, says Allaby.

The proposition to those businesses is that it will help you run your business. What is really interesting for Rabo is that they didnt launch propositions as Rabo bank branded services. They actually launched them as standalone almost fintech propositions and they made the very brave choice to transfer their customers from Rabo to the new startup.

This allows them to lean in and start gathering customers who were not previously Rabo customers onto these propositions and then start bringing the banking services elements back to Rabo, he said.

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Banks should embrace the open banking ecosystem: IBM - Which-50

Global AI in BFSI Ecosystem Market 2020 Industry Analysis by Key Players, Product Type, Application, Regions and Forecast to 2025 – NJ MMA News

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Researchstore.biz has produced a research report titled Global AI in BFSI Ecosystem Market 2020 by Company, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 which speaks about the potential development openings available in the market. The report covers the growth prospects, market development potential, profitability, demand and supply, and several other important topics. The report introduces the market competitive landscape among the vendors and manufacturers that contribute to the growth of the business. The report gives knowledge about the development openings that will build the market. It further showcases company profiles and market price analysis in relation to the value chain features.

The study profiles and examines leading companies and other prominent companies operating in the global AI in BFSI Ecosystem industry, covering: Google , Oracle Corporation , IBM Corporation , Microsoft Corporation , Cape Analytics LLC , Amazon Web Services Inc , Baidu Inc , Avaamo Inc

DOWNLOAD FREE SAMPLE REPORT: https://www.researchstore.biz/sample-request/42165

NOTE: This report takes into account the current and future impacts of COVID-19 on this industry and offers you an in-dept analysis of Multi Channel Flame Photometers market.

The Report Encapsulates Following Particulars:

Global AI in BFSI Ecosystem market report presents the industry analysis for the forecast timescale. An up-to-date industry detail related to industry events, import/export scenario, market share is covered in this report. Also, the fundamental opinions regarding the market landscape, emerging and high-growth sections of the market, high-growth regions, and market drivers, restraints, and also market chances have collectively added in the report. The research estimates the current market size and growth potential of the global market across sections such as also application and representatives.

By the product type, the market is primarily split into: Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language processing (NLP), Predictive Analytics, Machine Vision

By the end-users/application, this report covers the following segments: Embossed FilmBanking, Insurance, Wealth Management

Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers in these key regions: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.), Middle East& Africa (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa). Here each geographic segment of the AI in BFSI Ecosystem market has been independently investigated along with pricing, distribution, and demand data for geographic market.

Research Methodology:

One of the objectives of the report is to reach an objective that showcases the influence of the factors during the forecast period from 2020 to 2025. The report examines the global AI in BFSI Ecosystem market using various research approaches that form Porters Five Force Model. Moreover, another method called the SWOT analysis is also used that helps to identify and underline the main strengths, weaknesses, risks, and opportunities.

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Researchstore.biz is a fully dedicated global market research agency providing thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of extensive market research.Our corporate is identified by recognition and enthusiasm for what it offers, which unites its staff across the world.We are desired market researchers proving a reliable source of extensive market analysis on which readers can rely on. Our research team consist of some of the best market researchers, sector and analysis executives in the nation, because of which Researchstore.biz is considered as one of the most vigorous market research enterprises. Researchstore.biz finds perfect solutions according to the requirements of research with considerations of content and methods. Unique and out of the box technologies, techniques and solutions are implemented all through the research reports.

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Global AI in BFSI Ecosystem Market 2020 Industry Analysis by Key Players, Product Type, Application, Regions and Forecast to 2025 - NJ MMA News

BSEC to help boost startup and venture capital ecosystem – The Financial Express

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VCPEAB members seek policy support

FE DESK REPORT | Published: July 16, 2020 09:52:29

A delegation from Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB) led by Shameem Ahsan, Chairman of VCPEAB and General Partner of Pegasus Tech Ventures (former Fenox Venture Capital), met Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, Chairman, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and his team through a video conference.

Venture capital and private equity association has sought policy support to create a sustainable venture capital industry in the country.

They sought the support when a delegation from Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB) met Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, Chairman, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and his team through a video conference on Wednesday.

The delegation put emphasis on the possible contribution by venture capital and private equity investments to boost trade, innovation, export and help create home-grown startups that can contribute to the securities market in Bangladesh.

The delegation was led by Shameem Ahsan, Chairman of VCPEAB and General Partner of Pegasus Tech Ventures (former Fenox Venture Capital), according to a statement.

During the meeting, the team discussed different initiatives related to strengthening the venture capital, private equity and startup ecosystem.

The BSEC chairman assured to give support to work with VCPEAB on policies to nurture the emerging industry.

"BSEC is continuously working to make the investment environment easier and transparent in our country. We will certainly accommodate relevant changes that are necessary for the venture capital and private equity enterprises," Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam added.

Shameem Ahsan, Chairman, VCPEAB, urged to expand the scope of venture capital and private equity industry with policy support to assist them contribute to the economy through their investment in innovative startups. He mentioned that as a result, these startups can create an ecosystem that can contribute up to 2.0 per cent of GDP of Bangladesh by 2025.

Shameem also said, "The successes of global companies like Google and Facebook is not only attributed to their founders but also to the VC investors like Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Greylock partners among others, who supported them while they were only startups. Similarly, the best companies from Bangladesh will emerge with the investments of venture capital and private equity funds."

BSEC Commissioner, Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed said that they will give all kinds of support to improve the startup and venture capital industry in Bangladesh.

Shawkat Hossain, General Secretary, VCPEAB, presented a keynote on behalf of the association to share the policy reforms necessary to develop the venture capital and private equity industry.

"We can see our current policy has many drawbacks when compared to policies followed worldwide. From VCPEAB we are proposing to amend and add to our current structure to make an industry conducive to creation of local startups," said Shawkat Hossain.

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BSEC to help boost startup and venture capital ecosystem - The Financial Express

Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market Expected to Secure Notable Revenue Share During 2020-2026 – Apsters News

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Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Marketreport covers the COVID 19 impact analysis on key drivers influencing market Growth, Opportunities, the Challenges and the Risks faced by key players and the Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem market as a whole. The complete profile of the worldwide top manufacturers like (Allianz Insurance, AmTrust International Underwriters, Assurant, Asurion, Aviva, Brightstar Corporation, Geek Squad, GoCare Warranty Group, Apple, AIG) is mentioned such as Capacity, Production, Price, Revenue, Cost, Gross, Gross Margin, Sales Volume, Sales Revenue, Consumption, Growth Rate, Import, Export, Supply, Future Strategies, and The Technological Developments that they are making are also included within this Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem market report. The historical data from 2012 to 2020 and forecast data from 2020 to 2026.

Get Free Sample PDF (including full TOC, Tables and Figures)of Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem[emailprotected]https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2223339

In-Depth Qualitative Analyses Include Identification And Investigation Of The Following Aspects: Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market Structure, Growth Drivers, Restraints and Challenges, Emerging Product Trends & Market Opportunities, Porters Fiver Forces.

Scope of Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market:Mobile insurance refers to a type of insurance cover which is available to protect your mobile, iPhone or PDA in the event it is lost, stolen or accidentally damaged, either in the domestic area or overseas. Mobile insurance cover can be taken out on a monthly or annual basis paid by direct debit or in some cases by credit card, some insurers offer an automatic renewal service when the policy expires.

The market is very disparate in global view, Major players in this market are Allianz Insurance, AmTrust International Underwriters, Assurant, Asurion, Aviva, Brightstar Corporation, Geek Squad, GoCare Warranty Group and Hollard Group. Leading Mobile Network Operators like Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefnica, Sprint, MTN Group, Orange, Etisalat, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Ooredoo, MTS and SoftBank and many others are also playing very important roles in Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem market stage.

On the basis on the end users/applications,this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, shipments, revenue (Million USD), price, and market share and growth rate foreach application.

Physical Damage Theft & Loss Other

On the basis of product type, this report displays the shipments, revenue (Million USD), price, and market share and growth rate of each type.

wireless carriers insurance specialists device OEMs retailers

Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry[emailprotected]https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=2223339

Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market Regional Analysis Covers:

The Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market Report Can Answer The Following Questions:

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Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem Market Expected to Secure Notable Revenue Share During 2020-2026 - Apsters News

Neurotechnology Market: Qualitative Analysis of the Leading Players and Competitive Industry Scenario, 2025 – Express Journal

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Growing at a steady pace, this Neurotechnology market research values the industry size in USD million terms for 2020 and expected USD million value by the end of 2025 is provided for decision makers and stakeholders interested in Neurotechnology market. The report on Neurotechnology market provides qualitative as well as quantitative analysis in terms of market dynamics, competition scenarios, opportunity analysis, market growth, industrial chain, etc.

The Neurotechnology market research report provides a thorough analysis regarding the production and the consumption patterns of this industry vertical. Based on production aspect, the study offers crucial insights pertaining to the manufacturing patterns of the items, revenue share, and its respective impact on the overall gross margins of the producers.

As per consumption patterns, the document assesses the consumption value and volume regarding each of the product offerings, their sale prices and import & export conditions across various regions listed. Additionally, the report also delivers production and consumption expectations, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.express-journal.com/request-sample/140478

Emphasizing on the regional landscape:

Summarizing the product landscape:

Elaborating on the application space:

Highlighting the competitive dynamics:

Briefly, the Neurotechnology market research report comprises of a granular assessment regarding the upstream raw materials, downstream buyers, manufacturing equipment and distribution channels. Furthermore, it evaluates the various market dynamics such as opportunities, trends, drivers and limitations & challenges which are impacting the revenue generation of the overall market.

Key Questions Answered in Global Neurotechnology market Report: -

The Report Provides The Following Information:

Categorize data at the regional level as well as revenue and growth of in these regions

Distribution channels, and consumption patterns, of the global Neurotechnology market

Study data of the market on the basis of the country, including market share and revenue of the important countries

Critical analysis of every market player, such as collaborations, acquisitions, and product launches

Market opportunities, challenges, and threats faced by the vendors in the global Neurotechnology market are highlighted

Upstream raw materials and manufacturing equipment are investigated.

Request Customization on This Report @ https://www.express-journal.com/request-for-customization/140478

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Neurotechnology Market: Qualitative Analysis of the Leading Players and Competitive Industry Scenario, 2025 - Express Journal

Virtual Reality in Therapy Market 2020 2023: Company Profiles, COVID 19 Outbreak, Regional Study, Emerging Technologies, Business Trends, Industry…

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Virtual Reality in Therapy Market Scenario:

Virtual reality in therapy market is poised for tremendous growth over the forecast period of 2017-2023. The immense expansion of this market can be attributed to the growth of artificial intelligence and its arrival into the healthcare sector.

Virtual reality is basically a computer-generated virtual environment that provides real-life sensory experiences to the recipient. This technology has the capability to construct a three dimensional, visual and intriguing environment. In such a form of an alternate reality a person can control the virtual elements and also carry a number of tasks. The environment created can either be real or imitated depending on the situation and purpose

Currently, the global healthcare industry is in a phase of technological reformation. Owing to this, it can be confidently affirmed that the global market for virtual reality in therapy will grow by leaps and bounds through the next seven years. The market is expected to generate a revenue of around USD 3.9 Billion by the end of the forecast period. The estimated CAGR for this time span will be 32%.

One of the major factors that drive the growth of the Virtual Reality in Therapy Market happens to be advantages of virtual therapy in comparison to conventional therapies. When a patient undergoes this form of treatment the need for drugs or invasive surgeries is eliminated. Thus, saving a whole lot of time and money.

Many hardware vendors and medical device providers have embarked upon joint ventures with an aim to devise a new product or service. This is another aspect that positively impacts the growth of the market.

Additional growth propellers like technological advancements, government support, increased demand for improved technological solutions, higher adoption of handheld medical instruments and the need for better means of education for the medical students further foster the growth of the market.

Although, the market may face certain restraints like stringent rules & policies and price related issues. However, experts believe that as the market progresses it will cope with such minor issues.

Request a Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4345

Major Key Players:

Players leading the global virtual reality in therapy market include Virtalis Ltd (UK), Siemens Healthcare (Germany), CAE Healthcare (US), Virtual Realities, LLC (UK), GE Healthcare (US), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (US), Vuzix (US), Samsung Group (South Korea), Brainlab (Germany), and Mimic Technologies Inc, (US), among others.

Virtual Reality in Therapy Market Regional Analysis:

The North American region leads the global virtual reality in therapy market. Attributing to the growing demand for high-end technology solutions to treat an increasing number of mental conditions like ADHD and PTSD, the VR in therapy market in this region commands the largest market share on the global platform.

Moreover, increasing R&D activities for various therapies and rising usage of VR technology in the healthcare sector drives the regional market. The virtual reality in therapy market in the US and Canada lead the regional market, heading with the high healthcare expenditure. Continuing with these growth trends, North America is expected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period, creating a considerable revenue pocket.

The virtual reality in therapy market in the European region takes the second lead, globally. Factors such as significant technological advancements and the emergence of digital medicines support the growth of the regional market. Moreover, the presence of the flourishing medical devices market and rising healthcare expenditure in the region are estimated to facilitate the growth of the market.

The Asia Pacific virtual reality in therapy market is emerging as a lucrative market, worldwide. The growth of the market attributes to the presence of a large number of technology providers and the growing use of VR technology in the increasing numbers of medical institutes in the region. Huge population in the region demonstrates large unmet needs for the treatment of ADHD and PTSD cases.

Moreover, the availability of low-cost treatment solutions due to the significant technological developments alongside, the improving economic conditions in the region is supporting the growth of the market. Besides, increasing funding support from the public and private organizations are supporting the market growth in the region, increasing R&D activities.

Virtual Reality in Therapy Market Segmentations:

The report segments the market into four key dynamics to widen the scope of understanding,

Virtual Reality in Therapy Market Competitive Analysis:

Highly competitive, the virtual reality in therapy market appears to be fragmented characterized by the presence of various small and large-scale players. Well-established players incorporate strategic initiatives such as acquisition, collaboration, expansion, and product launch to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Browse Full Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/virtual-reality-therapy-market-4345

Industry/Innovations/Related News:

June 24, 2019 - The researchers at VAs Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rhode Island, publishes their brain-stimulation study in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The new brain-stimulation research involves testing the effectiveness of combining transcranial direct current stimulation with VR, a form of prolonged exposure therapy for Veterans with chronic PTSD cases.

The researchers used a relatively new form of transcranial magnetic stimulation called theta-burst stimulation and a magnetic coil that can induce an electrical current in brain cells on 50 chronic PTSD cases.

Using virtual reality headset researchers found that this brain stimulation type that can immediately improve communication between neurons in the brain would help ease PTSD symptoms.

About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

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Virtual Reality in Therapy Market 2020 2023: Company Profiles, COVID 19 Outbreak, Regional Study, Emerging Technologies, Business Trends, Industry...

Carnival to raise $1.26 billion in debt to deal with COVID-19 impact – Midwest Communication

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Wednesday, July 15, 2020 5:12 p.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Carnival Corp is planning to raise about $1.26 billion in a bond offering, the beleaguered cruise operator said Wednesday as it struggles to stay afloat after the COVID-19 pandemic impacted its business.

The bond offering is split into a $775 million tranche paying an annual coupon of 10.5%, and 425 million euro-tranche ($484.93 million) paying 10.125%.

The senior secured notes are due 2026, with the offering expected to close on July 20, Carnival said.

Carnival said the notes will be secured by a second-priority lien, a lower priority of repayment in case of bankruptcy or liquidation of assets.

The cruise business is one of the worst hit from the pandemic and many cruise operators have been forced to raise billions through various means, even by pledging ships and private islands.

Carnival has raised over $10 billion through a series of financing transactions since its voyages were paused, enough to withstand another full year in a zero-revenue scenario, Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald had said earlier this month.

A number of U.S. companies, including Macy's Inc are also pledging their assets and properties to raise money and clear debt as businesses reopen after a long government mandated lockdown.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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Carnival to raise $1.26 billion in debt to deal with COVID-19 impact - Midwest Communication

Lofton’s Island in Caloosahatchee River back on the market – Wink News

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FORT MYERS

Do you ever have days where you want to escape it all? You wont have to go far if you can afford to buy an island in the Caloosahatchee River near downtown Fort Myers.

Loftons Island, between the Edison and Caloosahatchee bridges, is up for sale.

They always have their mystique. Someone always wants to own their own private island, said Lamar Fisher, president and CEO of Fisher Auction Company.

Fisher has auctioned off his fair share of islands, but the feeling remains the same.

The aspect takes over of what can I do with it, and so the imagination just roams, he said.

Coming in at 9.3 acres, theres room to roam on Loftons Island, which has access to water, sewer, and electricity, so it would be possible to build a home there.

Or even someone putting multi-family townhomes, and even a hotel, a resort-type property, so uses run the gamut and the interest has been that way as well, Fisher said.

The interest goes beyond Fort Myers. Fishers said people from 21 states and countries have responded.

Its exciting and the interesting part about this auction is its a no-reserve auction. Its an absolute auction, so there are no reserves or minimums, so its going to sell to the highest bidder.

The online auction starts July 21 and closes July 23.

While auctioneers dont have an estimate of what Loftons Island might sell for, it was previously listed at $5.9 million.

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Lofton's Island in Caloosahatchee River back on the market - Wink News

This Chilean island offers absolute seclusion – The Spaces

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Social distance amid the wild coastal landscapes of this uninhabited private island off the west coast of Chile.

Isla Imelev has lush prairie landscapes with native plants and trees, including Chilean myrtle and wide sandy beaches on two sides and dramatic high cliffs on the other. It lies in the Chilo Archipelago about 24 miles away by boat from its main island of Chilo.

Credit: Private Islands Inc

Credit: Private Islands Inc

Credit: Private Islands Inc

Credit: Private Islands Inc

Credit: Private Islands Inc

The 32-acre walkable Chilean island, for sale via Private Islands Inc for $1.7m, has safe swimming waters, and underground freshwater sources. Its new owners can develop their own off-grid retreat, for personal or commercial purposes, subject to planning consents.

The triangular Los Lagos region island has all-round archipelago and Pacific Ocean views and includes a lighthouse used as a reference point for navigators.

Credit: Private Islands Inc

Credit: Private Islands Inc

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This Chilean island offers absolute seclusion - The Spaces

July 9 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine – Bangor Daily News

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The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

Another Mainer has died as health officials on Thursday reported 26 more cases of the coronavirus in the state.

There have now been 3,486 cases across all of Maines counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 3,460 on Wednesday.

Of those, 3,092 have been confirmed positive, while 394 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.

New cases were tallied in Androscoggin (3), Cumberland (15), Franklin (1), Lincoln (1), Oxford (1), Penobscot (3), Piscataquis (1) and Somerset (1) counties.

The latest death involved a woman in her 80s from Penobscot County, bringing the statewide death toll to 111. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

So far, 365 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 16 people have been hospitalized, with seven in critical care and four on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 45 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 2,901. That means there are 474 active and likely cases in the state, down from 494 on Wednesday.

Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.

A private island in Casco Bay once used as a federal quarantine facility during the last pandemic 100 years ago is now being marketed as a virus-free safe zone for wealthy tourists from New York and Washington, D.C., where they can do most anything as long as its legal. Troy R. Bennett

As the states public and private universities make plans to reopen campus this fall, a majority of professors at Maines flagship university dont want to return to teaching in person. Some 57 percent of more than 250 professors who responded to a late June survey said they felt uncomfortable with teaching in classrooms this fall as the coronavirus pandemic continues and as new cases surge nationally. Eesha Pendharkar, BDN

The clock is ticking for University of Maine athletics in terms of whether there will be a fall season. The fate of sports at UMaine and elsewhere remains up in the air due to the COVID-19 pandemic and protocols put in place to deal with social distancing, large gatherings and testing. Larry Mahoney, BDN

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins opposes President Donald Trumps call for the reopening of schools nationwide and threats to halt federal funding to those that stay shut, saying during a stop in Maine on Thursday that school restarts should be decided locally. Nick Sambides Jr., BDN

Walmart in Presque Isle the busiest store in Aroostook County has stood out for its uncovered display of faces coming from around The County to shop at the superstore since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The maskless trend seemed to accelerate during the summer, but that will soon change. Presque Isles Walmart announced Wednesday that face coverings shielding the nose and mouth would be required for all customers. The only exceptions are young children and people with certain medical conditions. David Marino Jr., BDN

As of Thursday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 3,088,913 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 132,934 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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July 9 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine - Bangor Daily News

July 11 update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine – Bangor Daily News

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The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

Another 21 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in Maine, health officials said Saturday.

There have now been 3,520 cases across all of Maines counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 3,499 on Friday.

Of those, 3,131 have been confirmed positive, while 389 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.

New cases were tallied in Cumberland (10), Franklin (1), Kennebec (1), Sagadahoc (1) and York (7) counties. Daily changes in county-level data may vary from new case reports as the Maine CDC continues to investigate cases.

One new death was reported Saturday, raising the statewide death toll to 112. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

So far, 366 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 16 people are currently hospitalized, with seven in critical care and four on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 41 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 2,972. That means there are 436 active and likely cases in the state, down from 457 on Friday.

Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.

Lauded for their service and hailed as everyday heroes, essential workers who get the coronavirus on the job have no guarantee in most states theyll qualify for workers compensation to cover lost wages and medical care. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press

As the states public and private universities make plans to reopen campus this fall, a majority of professors at Maines flagship university dont want to return to teaching in person. Eesha Pendharkar, BDN

An increasing number of U.S. small businesses plan to lay off workers after using a federal coronavirus relief loan as many states are slowing or changing reopening plans amid a spike in cases, a new survey shows. Mark Niquette, Bloomberg News

Reducing plastic waste is harder during the pandemic than it was before COVID-19 came to Maine. Here are 7 ways you can reduce plastic during the pandemic. Sam Schipani, BDN

A private island in Casco Bay once used as a federal quarantine facility during the last pandemic 100 years ago is now being marketed as a virus-free safe zone for wealthy tourists from New York and Washington, D.C., where they can do most anything as long as its legal. Troy R. Bennett, BDN

As of Saturday afternoon, the coronavirus has sickened 3,213,902 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 134,420 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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July 11 update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine - Bangor Daily News

UNWTO Recognizes Safe And Responsible Restart Of Tourism On The Canary Islands – Hospitality Net

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The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has paid an official visit to the Canary Islands to recognize the reopening of the destination and the steps the local authorities have taken to keep both visitors and tourism workers safe as the sector restarts.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili was accompanied by the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, for a series of high-level meetings with both public and private sector leaders. The delegation met with the President of the Canary Islands ngel Vctor Torres and the Secretary of Tourism for the Canary Islands Yaiza Castilla, as well as with the Spanish government's representative on the islands, Anselmo Pestana and the President of Town Hall of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales.

Mr Pololikashvili said: "Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors for the Canary Islands, providing jobs and livelihoods and supporting many local businesses. The responsible restart of the sector will allow the many benefits tourism offers to return, and UNWTO welcomes the measures that have been taken to build confidence and trust in the sector."

This official visit follows a successful visit to Italy - the first trip undertaken since restrictions on international travel were eased within the Schengen Zone of Europe. Both visits recognize how tourism is a lifeline for many countries and highlights support for tourism at every political levels and the close collaboration with the private sector.

The UNWTO Regional Director for Europe, Alessandra Priante, said: "Health and safety, including the state of healthcare systems, are now key elements for all destinations. This needs to be reflected in their marketing and communications strategies, both now as tourism restarts and into the future as the sector recovers. Tourism has proven its resilience and its unique ability to drive the recovery and development of societies and it will do so again, and this time sustainability and innovation must be front and centre."

Alongside meetings with public sector leaders, the UNWTO delegation also saw first-hand the steps being taken by the private sector to ensure the highest level of public safety and hygiene in tourism destinations.

In parallel, UNWTO officials visited each of the eight islands of the Canarian Archipelago to see first-hand the safety protocols put in place to maximize security and safety. A group of up to 60 Spanish and international media also witnessed the safety updates along the whole tourism value chain.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a United Nations specialized agency, is the leading international organization with the decisive and central role in promoting the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how. Its membership includes 159 countries, 6 territories, 2 permanent observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

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UNWTO Recognizes Safe And Responsible Restart Of Tourism On The Canary Islands - Hospitality Net