AACC’s Journals, Clinical Chemistry and The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, to Be Published through Oxford University Press – PRNewswire

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AACC, a global scientific and medical professional organization dedicated to better health through laboratory medicine, is pleased to announce a publishing partnership with Oxford University Press for its peer-reviewed journals, Clinical Chemistry and The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine. Both journals will join Oxford University Press's world-class science portfolio starting in January 2020. The partnership will increase researchers' and healthcare practitioners' access worldwide to the important science published in the journals.

Laboratory medicine is essential to high-quality patient carewithout it, patients might receive the wrong diagnosis, inappropriate treatment, or no treatment at all if an illness isn't accurately detected. As the most trusted and authoritative journal in laboratory medicine, Clinical Chemistry is committed to driving progress in the field by highlighting innovative research at the forefront of clinical testing. The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, in turn, focuses on advancing the practice of lab medicine by showcasing findings that lab professionals can easily put into action. Together, these journals cover the gamut of timely healthcare subjects, from new tests that could help combat the opioid epidemic to gender-based disparities in medicine.

"With Clinical Chemistry and The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, AACC strives to provide lab professionals and related fields with the vital information they need to solve challenging patient health problems," said AACC CEO Janet B. Kreizman. "We are excited to partner with Oxford University Press's experienced publishing team to expand the reach of this crucial research and applied laboratory medicine information."

About AACCDedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit http://www.aacc.org.

Clinical Chemistry (clinchem.org) is the leading international journal of laboratory medicine, featuring nearly 400 peer-reviewed studies every year that help patients get accurate diagnoses and essential care. This vital research is advancing areas of healthcare ranging from genetic testing and drug monitoring to pediatrics and appropriate test utilization.

Launched by AACC in 2016, The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine (jalm.org) is an international, peer-reviewed publication showcasing the applied research in clinical laboratory science that is driving innovation forward in healthcare.

Christine DeLongAACCSenior Manager, Communications & PR(p) 202.835.8722cdelong@aacc.org

Molly PolenAACCSenior Director, Communications & PR(p) 202.420.7612(c) 703.598.0472mpolen@aacc.org

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AACC's Journals, Clinical Chemistry and The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, to Be Published through Oxford University Press - PRNewswire

A Q&A with Penn Medicine’s Jason Freedman for National Coming Out Day – Penn: Office of University Communications

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What is your coming out story?

Its a little anticlimactic, actually, because I had figured out who I was quite early. In high school and college, I had amazing friends and social networks and was pretty much out to everybody except my immediate family. I had a hang-up about telling my family. I chalked it up to there being a lot going on with my family, my grandmother being sick, and of course not wanting to disappoint my family. I internally felt that my family didnt need another stressor at the moment. Early in my training, thats when I came out to them officially. I had been dating my now husband for several months, and knowing it was a solid committed relationship, I felt it was time to be completely out and share my joy with my family. It was a much later coming out than I had wanted, but I did it when it felt right and authentic to me.

How did you feel after?

I felt great. There were some rough moments, of course, but it made me realize I wish I had done it earlier. Even my parents said they wished I hadnt waited or delayed any of it, because they would have loved and supported me, and shared in my joy, and coming into my own. They did understand its an individual process and a step you take in your own time.

I think, looking back, would I do it differently? Absolutely. Am I upset with how it played out? No. I just think we all have hang-ups about certain things, seeking approval and wanting to be the person we think others have envisioned. Coming out is really an individual experience and timed when one sees fit. It wasnt that I was completely inhibited or wasnt able to experience life, but just not openly with everyone. When I came out, my mom even joked, Can I still dance at your wedding? Yes, I answered with happy tears, and happily, that happened in 2016 when I married my husband, Neil.

Did you ever need a professional coming out?

I didnt, really. I was always out at work because I was comfortable with myself. I never had to say to somebody else, Im gay, but at times it was slightly uncomfortable. I remember one situation at the hospital where a faculty member made a comment about my clothing and how I almost looked straight, as I was wearing jeans just before leaving for vacation. I knew deep down she meant no harm by this comment, as we have a great relationship, but I was completely embarrassed. It was one of the only times I felt like I had a public outing in the workplace, or ever, for that matter.

I just laughed it off in that moment and everyone probably realized how awkward that was for her, too. But I made a decision that I had to stand up for myself. Either I was going tosit with this frustration, and let someone make comments about me like that, or I was going to be honest with her and explain how this had affected me. However, I was a trainee, and it was uncomfortable to have to speak up to a senior mentor and discuss such a personal situation with her. However, with the encouragement of friends, I did it. The essence of the conversation was that her words and actions outed me and reflected stereotypes that are inappropriate. I explained that coming out and sharing that information with those around me is 100% my decision. She was absolutely apologetic, owned it, regretted saying it, and never meant to hurt me that way.

In general, being gay has never been an issue for me at work. In fact, it is not solely what defines me. People are generally very supportive of me as a person, and I know I am lucky. I am always unapologetically myself no matter what.

You met someone at work?

When I was a fellowliterally the first week of trainingI walked into rounds and saw someone who intrigued me. I said to a nurse practitioner, Who is that? It turned outhe was our clinical pharmacist at the time. After a year of friendship and getting to know each other, we started dating at the end of my first year of training. We have now been together for eight-and-a-half years, and married for over three years. Meeting him and having such an amazing, supportive husband is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Our journey together is an amazing story because hes Indian, and culturally being gay and Indian, it was really a struggle for him and his family. My family is Jewish, and though supportive, Neil and I werent sure how our same-sex multicultural relationship would be embraced. Our wedding was proof that people come around. Both sides were incredibly well represented and openly shared in our joy. Even his great grandmother was dancing and smiling ear to ear on the dance floor. We wrote our ceremony combining elements of both cultures and embracing a central theme that love is love. Many family members came up to us and commented on how much love was in the room and they could feel how much we loved each other. That night, we broke cultural barriers and we broke stereotypes, able to demonstrate it doesnt matter whether youre a man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman. When you love somebody and you are your authentic self, life happens and its beautiful.

How do you think your LGBT perspective contributes to your work?

I think it gives me a unique perspective in caring for adolescent patients and those coming of age. People have asked me how to approach or help patients who have expressed concerns about coming out. I think each of our personal experiences shapes how we approach and appreciate patient concerns in a unique way, where youre able to give some of yourself and your background to the clinical encounter. I have often thought, if my pediatrician asked me about sex or sexuality, perhaps it would have normalized my feelings, and I wouldnt have waited so long to come out to my family. To that end, I am committed to discussing this with patients to help them know they have a safe space to talk about anything they want. Even patients I have treated for cancer or have had a bone marrow transplant years priorknow they can call me or email me anytime. I make myself available to them knowing that one day, a struggling teenager will reach out and it may make a difference in their life to have someone who understands.

Its also been nice to take care of patients who are the children of parents in same-sex families. As my husband and I are embarking on the family-building process, its easy to relate to families in similar situations. An unspoken compassion and understanding the difficulties and challenges of creating a family in the LGBTQ community help form a bond between us. Sadly, our world does not always accept families where there are same-sex parents.

I also enjoy being a part of medical education and mentoring trainees, fellows, residents, and students. Im on the Outlist, and people can and have contacted me. Also, as part of the PENN LGBTQ People in Medicine program, I mentor two medical students longitudinally; one now a fourth-year and another a third-year. Together, we have developed an on-campus family where we meet to chat about all things from research and career planning, to how they are doing as people facing LGBTQ challenges in academia. I feel proud to be a small part of their medical school journey, and again, wish I had this when I was a medical student. Its awesome to be part of a community at Penn which promotes diversity and discussions around it. I think Penn Medicine has done a lot of work to really support the LGBTQ community and I am excited to play a small role in helping students along the way.

Youve had people reach out to you from the Outlist?

I have. Ive had several people reach out to me, and one who wanted to shadow me clinically. It is a really great service, and I encourage more students and members of the Penn community will join the list and take advantage of its potential.

Anything youd like to add?

When youre able to embrace your true self, love yourself, and live confidently as your authentic self, navigating life is easier. Though this sounds both trite and hard to do, you truly will thrive on the other side. Do I think there might be people who take issue with who I am? I am sure there are. But do I let it upset me or get in my way? No. I am myself with every single person; I dont change who I am or how I act with anybody. And I think being that way has allowed me to succeed and advance in my career.

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A Q&A with Penn Medicine's Jason Freedman for National Coming Out Day - Penn: Office of University Communications

Fighting for acceptance and access to medicine in India as a transgender HIV-positive person – RFI English

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Why Pimping, the Practice, and the WordShould Be Eradicated from Medicine – BMC Series blog – BMC Blogs Network

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The practice of pimping (also known as toxic quizzing") and the use of the word in medical education is being called into question. In an article recently published in BMC Medical Education, the authors are asking the medical community to stop using this degrading word and for the end of this practice.

Caroline King, Kelsey Priest & David Chen 11 Oct 2019

skynesher / Getty Images / iStock

It is the first month of medical school, and you hear the word pimping in an unfamiliar context: medical education. You learn that pimping, also known as toxic quizzing, happens when a junior trainee is asked a series of obscure or intentionally unanswerable questions, usually publicly, by a more senior physician. You may adopt pimping into your vocabulary, which is already rapidly expanding with medical terminology. Or you may not be able to shake the colloquial connotations of pimping a form of sex-trafficking and you may silently disengage when classmates and professors casually use the term. Or you may begin to question the culture of your profession, which has retained qualities of exclusion for women, non-binary individuals, and people of color throughout its evolution.

We are adding our voices alongside medical educators and learners who are calling into question the use of the word, and the practice of pimping in medical education.

() seeing the very good has helped us to recognize the very bad.

To be clear, we do not fear hard work. We are not afraid to meet the limits of our own knowledge, or the exciting challenges of learning the science and art of medicine. We wouldnt be here if we did. Instead, we have each had the privilege of experiencing effective clinical teaching. When a senior physician maps out how to localize a neurologic lesion, or stays an hour after clinic to teach us how to read EKGs and chest x-rays, or shows us how to properly hold an otoscope. We have each reaped the benefits of these learning moments. These are the opportunities in which physicians, our teachers, seek to understand how much we know so they can show us what is beyond. We have experienced the good, and seeing the very good has helped us to recognize the very bad.

The word pimping, as described in our commentary, was popularized in a satirical 1989 JAMA article. At that time, women comprised less than 20% of medical faculty positions and around 30% of medical student graduates. The word to describe the practice of toxic quizzing was born from a system that not only excluded people of color and non-male identified persons, but trampled on the practices of traditional woman-identified healers. The result is a training system the perpetuates the abuse of power hierarchies. A symptom of this system is the normalized culture of using words that some (and certainly not all) would describe as locker room talk, including pimping.

It is time to rethink the practice of pimping, and the elimination of the use of the word will naturally follow.

We have arrived, after centuries long-struggle, to a moment of reckoning in the face of the #MeToo movement. We are questioning not only what language we use as leaders, but also what toxic behaviors exist within society, and in places of learning. We must work to stop harms that persist, particularly in spaces where hierarchies are the foundation of systems. It is time to rethink the practice of pimping, and the elimination of the use of the word will naturally follow.

Can medicine, and particularly medical education, make this change? It can, it should, and it must to meet the evolving demands and needs of a contemporary physician workforce. We see this work, this evolution, related to the ongoing discourse on licensing exams, rethinking resident work hour limits, questioning the harms of medical honor societies, and calling out the lack of patient consent in medical training. When practice changes, the labels used to describe the practice will follow. When toxic quizzing is eliminated, the term pimping in medicine will become irrelevant, because these behaviors will cease to exist.

skynesher / Getty Images / iStock

The use of the word, and practice of pimping within medicine is not devoid of cultural and contextual meaning. Pimping occurs in a training system in which up to 50% of women medical students experience gender harassment from faculty and staff, and a society in which 1 in 4 undergraduate women are sexually assaulted by the time they graduate. For now, the use of the term pimping serves as a label for a behavior that is culturally ingrained within the medical education system. In addition to asking the medical community to stop using this degrading word, we are also calling for the end of this practice.

Support Services

In the United States, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Clery Act are federal laws that require educational programs to address and remedy any known sex and gender discrimination, including sexual assault and harassment on campus. All institutions that accept federal financial support are required to stop discrimination, prevent the recurrence of the behavior and mitigate its effects. Contact the Title IX Coordinator at your institution for more information about your rights and resources.

Some institutions have non-reporting, private resources on campus, such as privileged or confidential advocate programs (resources will vary by institution and state). If you need help navigating issues related to sexual assault or harassment, the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline is a free, 24/7 resource: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

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Why Pimping, the Practice, and the WordShould Be Eradicated from Medicine - BMC Series blog - BMC Blogs Network

UB’s biorepository brings power of precision medicine to Western New York – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University at Buffalo…

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Research News

The UB Biorepository has the capacity to collect, process, store and distribute millions of biological specimens that are maintained at a constant -81 degrees Celsius. Photo: Douglas Levere

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM

Published October 11, 2019

UB has officially launched the UB Biorepository, a critical new facility in the Clinical and Translational Research Center that will be a powerful resource regionally and throughout the state in driving biomedical innovation in academia and industry.

From molecular profiling of samples to integration with clinical data about patients, the facility has the capacity to collect, process, store and distribute millions of biological specimens that will allow UB and its research and industry partners to harness the discoveries that ultimately benefit patients. The UB Biorepository strengthens the ability of researchers in academia and industry to advance precision medicine by developing new drugs and diagnostic tools targeted to specific disorders and even individual patients.

The biorepository is important to UB for many reasons: to foster broad academic and industry collaboration, to create a valuable resource not just for UB researchers, but for partners at institutions across New York State, and to make UB pre-competitive for significant federal funding opportunities, says Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development.

Adds Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB: The extensive use of biological materials is absolutely critical today in the fields of biomedical science, precision medicine and clinical science. The biorepository is already playing a significant role in increasing UBs research enterprise and serving as a hub for collaboration.

The UB Biorepository program is designed to advance discovery and innovation in health care.

Part of BIG

Funded by UB and New York State, the UB Biorepository is a critical part of the Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics (BIG), which connects life sciences companies to technical expertise and high-tech facilities at UB. BIG is supported by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos economic development efforts in Buffalo, and is one of the key initiatives helping to build the regions innovation economy by leveraging its life sciences assets to drive economic growth.

According to Andrew Brooks, chief operating officer and director of technology development at RUCDR Infinite Biologics at Rutgers University and a consultant to the UB Biorepository, a centralized biorepository is an essential ingredient today in advancing biomedical research and collaborations.

While in the past the emphasis was on the safe storage and preservation of biospecimens, the explosion of big data in biomedicine has created major new opportunities for innovation based on the far more detailed information now available about each biospeciman. The UB Biorepository provides comprehensive annotation of biospecimens, through which the functions and locations of genes and coding regions in a genome are identified, as well as big data integration.

Rich resource

With each individual sample potentially providing as many as hundreds of thousands of annotations, or datapoints, whether youre studying the genome, the proteome or the the microbiome, the biospecimens in the biorepository are an incredibly rich resource, says John E. Tomaszewski, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the Peter A. Nickerson Chair of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the Jacobs School.

While the facility operates 24/7 with multiple backup systems, maintaining specimens at a constant minus 81 degrees Celsius and conducting blood fractionation (separating out specific components) and pathology services, as well as nucleic acid extraction, the staff at the biorepository and those who use it are keenly aware that patients are at the center of everything they do.

Every biospecimen represents a patient, says Norma J. Nowak, executive director of UBs New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and faculty leader with Tomaszewski of the biorepository. Nowak, whose research directly contributed to the mapping of the human genome, has seen precision medicine evolve over the decades.

As part of the human genome program, there was a perception that once we sequenced that first genome, we would have the answers to solving human disease, she says. Now we know that individuals genomes are different and that those differences, at the molecular level, result in how individuals respond to therapeutics and which diseases they may be at risk for.

She describes the UB Biorepository as comprehensive and disease agnostic, meaning that it will cover every kind of disease; it also includes biospecimens that are part of population health studies and may not be associated with any disease at the time of collection, which will contribute meaningful information about exposures and epidemiological or environmental health questions.

Targeting diseases in Western New York

In particular, Nowak explains, having a biorepository in Western New York allows local researchers in both academia and industry to target diseases that have a high incidence in Western New York, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). For example, she notes that biospecimens gathered by Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, professor of neurology in the Jacobs School and a physician with UBMD Neurology, are housed in the biorepository and will help researchers address fundamental questions about who is at risk for MS and why.

Nowak adds that the biorepository will become an especially valuable resource since it will eventually reflect the ethnic and international diversity of Buffalo and Western New York. The biorepository will capture that diversity, she says.

And companies are taking notice. Circuit Clinical, which partners with BIG, develops software products that are driving enrollment in clinical trials. It was among the first to take advantage of the UB Biorepository.

The UB Biorepository is a key asset in positioning UB and Western New York at the heart of precision medicine research opportunities both academic and commercial in the years ahead, says Irfan Khan, founder and CEO of Circuit Clinical. This facility will enable biomedical companies to enlist UB and Circuit with strong confidence that any biostorage needs for their clinical projects are well within UBs state-of-the-art capabilities.

The UB Biorepository program is obtaining College of American Pathologist accreditation, and it implements Good Laboratory Practice and is Good Clinical Practice certified. It manages biosamples suitable for use in any downstream applications with academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.

More information about the UB Biorepository is available online.

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UB's biorepository brings power of precision medicine to Western New York - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo...

Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to Three For Oxygen Regulation Linked to Cancers – Cancer Network

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Three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for their discovery of the mechanism of how cells regulate oxygen: William G. Kaelin, MD, an oncologist who is the professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Gregg Semenza, MD, PHD, a scientist at Johns Hopkins; and Peter Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci, of the Francis Crick Institute in London.

The key breakthroughs were made through an oncological look into a rare hereditary cancer type, according to the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute.

The Nobel Committee cited that Semenza and Ratcliffe were focused on the rise of the levels of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) in response to hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in the 1990s. Both Semenza and Ratcliffe were studying the genes controlling EPO in mice and thereby elucidating the hypoxia-inducible factor, or HIF.

Kaelin, a cancer researcher, was instead studying an inherited syndrome called von Hippel-Lindaus disease, or VHL. Its a rare inherited affliction which dramatically increases the likelihood of some tumors. The mutated gene in VHL was eventually shown by Kaelin to show that it controlled the response to hypoxia and was thus integral in HIF.Kaelinshowed that one form of the protein, HIF-2, is critical in the development of some kidney cancers, and how HIF-1 is hijacked by triple-negative breast cancers, according to a statement by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The consequent identification of proline hydroxylases of the 3 scientists working independently of one another fully determined how oxygen uptake is regulated, the Nobel officials explained.

Through the combined work of these 3 laureates it was thus demonstrated that the response by gene expression to changes in oxygen is directly coupled to oxygen levels in the animal cell, allowing immediate cellular responses to occur to oxygenation through the action of the HIF transcription factor, the Nobel Committee stated.

The 3 scientists were named winners of the Lasker Award for Medical Science in 2016.

The impact to cancer includes possible inhibitors to the HIF pathway including one found by Kaelin and his colleagues to block the EPAS1 function, thereby slowing tumor growth, as per a 2016 study published inNature.

Kaelin said in a phone interview with a Nobel interviewer that some of the key breakthroughs were made because they were trying to understand the entire oxygen pathway.

The clinical features of patients who had mutations in the VHL gene were a curious constellation of findings but one way to unify them was that there was some abnormality in the way the tumors they were developing were sending and responding to oxygen, Kaelin recalled. We thought if we could understand that, we could understand more globally how cells and tissues sense and respond to changes in oxygen.

I, like my co-awardees, Im trained as a physician, he added, in the early-morning call. We understood very well the important of oxygen in so many human disease Now that we understand the pathway we have opportunities for pharmacological intervention in diseases such as cancer.

The work was made possible, Kaelin added, because the scientists were trying at first to just understand the biology and they were not focused solely on clinical applicability.

There are no shortcuts, as far as Im concerned, the oncologist said.

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Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to Three For Oxygen Regulation Linked to Cancers - Cancer Network

Digital Medicine Movement Is Growing Up And Thats A Good Thing – Forbes

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There has been a lot of hype about the digital transformation of healthcare. Some commentators are beginning to say the field is growing too fast and others say it has already peaked. Sure, there have been many promises but now the initial exuberance is being tempered as people focused on responsible progress and real payment models come into the picture, setting the stage to help address healthcares many problems.

The good news is that industry leaders are working slow and sure to build the field of digital medicine. The goal is to harness the power of technology to transform healthcare and secure the business model. Groups such as the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) are helping ensures this new field is evidence-based with effective and safe treatments. The DiMe scientific advisory board had its first meeting a couple of weeks ago (I am a board member) and committed to develop ethically sound Good Digital Practice types of guidelines.

Industry meetings are now focused on reimbursement and partnerships, not just cool shiny digital apps. The Digital Therapeutics (DTx) East conference was held on the Harvard Medical School campus. Attendance nearly doubled since the previous year and focus was on reimbursement, IPOs, partnerships and payors. The conference theme was integration of digital therapies into the healthcare system, which is code of course, for How are we going to pay for this stuff? Earlier themes centered on promoting science and excitement grew around positive clinical studies, which caught the attention of venture investors. But the field needed to mature and show that early speculators can get returns on their invested capital.

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Venture investors are beginning to see returns from public markets. Over $34 Billion in private funding has gone into digital applications in healthcare in the last decade, peaking with $9.5 Billion last year. This summer we saw a handful of high-value initial public offerings (IPOs), which means that financing risk is being transferred from venture insiders to public markets, who usually demand profits and have a low tolerance for promises. With Livongo, CatalystHealth and several others, there is a portfolio of publicly traded digital health companies that are collectively worth around $20 Billion. Some of these companies are experiencing over 2X annual revenue growth, which suggests payers are also voting with their pocketbooks. Public investor money helps validate the digital healthcare business model.

Conditions are ripe for a digital medicine inflection point. We all know that healthcare in America is extremely inefficient and provides poor accessibility. There are hundreds of millions who suffer from multiple chronic conditions or behavioral health issues including substance abuse. The sheer volume of need overwhelms the few thousand healthcare professionals who serve such populations. The average doctor visit is just 12 minutes and most people see their physicians only 2-3 times per year.Digital disease management such as Voluntis diabetes and oncology platforms make a difference because they leverage doctors and nurses time. The key to success is patient engagement that also improves adherence. For example, Proteus Digital Health has demonstrated success in difficult hypertension patients that were considered refractory to regular drug therapy.

Good digital practice guidelines will establish the trust that patients and doctors need to embrace technology-based solutions. The DiMe scientific advisory board has membership from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as some of the pioneers who developed early digital healthcare platforms. It takes a village for a new field to responsibly develop and professional societies are helping take on the challenge to create recommendations and a virtual library of evidence-based health information. DiMe has hundreds of members from across industry, academia and 24 different countries. They are working collaboratively to establish good digital practice guidelines to help set the standards for this new industry.

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The FDA is creating a regulatory atmosphere to help promote advances. Even government regulators are helping. Recently the FDA issued a statement on new steps to advance digital health policies that encourage innovation and enable efficient and modern regulatory oversight. This includes a draft of practices for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based software as a medical device.

It is exciting to witness the birth of a promising new industry. As digital medicine matures we should have reason to believe that sometimes good things can develop when different groups collaborate to help sort out the mess that is healthcare.

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Digital Medicine Movement Is Growing Up And Thats A Good Thing - Forbes

My prayer is that Tennessee will embrace cannabis as a medicine for the sick | Opinion – Tennessean

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Charles Martin II, Guest Columnist Published 5:00 a.m. CT Oct. 10, 2019

I want to change this unjust and immoral law that prohibits people from choosing an all-natural,God-given plantto treat their illnesses and alleviate their suffering.

I agree with our good Governor that prayer and fasting are wonderful means of grace and powerful tools for one's spiritual discipline. I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe in science and feel that we get God's best for people when we take advantage of both prayer and science.

I have been a pastor here in Tennessee for 30 years and I have witnessed my share of pain and suffering in people's lives during that time. I am also a medical cannabis advocate and believe wholeheartedly in the medicinal properties of this God-given plant. The problem is cannabis is illegal at the Federal level as well as here in Tennessee and this presents a moral dilemma for me as a Pastor. Let me explain.

Lawsprovide for us the opportunityto live in peace and harmony with our neighbors. However, laws that oppress or infringe on the natural human rightsand freedomsof people are unjust laws. "How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This difference betweenjust andunjust laws brings me to the heart of my dilemma: How can I as a law-abidingcitizen-a member of the Clergy in covenant with God to care for all God's people-obey an immoral law? Specifically, how can Isupport a law that is clearly not rooted in natural law- a law that demands that I stand idly by and watch a human beingsuffer in pain when I have the mental faculties, physicalaccess and themeans to help alleviate human suffering.

(Photo: Getty Images)

I do not wish to break the law. I want to change this unjust and immoral law that prohibits people from choosing an all-natural,God-given plantto treat their illnesses and alleviate their suffering. To incarcerate and make an otherwise law-abiding citizen into a criminal for choosing to usecannabis as medicine to alleviate their suffering is absolutely unconscionable to me.

Why iscannabis socontroversial?I have tobe honest here, for the better part of my life I believedmuch of the stigma, stereotypes and propaganda associated with cannabis.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

As a Southern, Bible-belt-raised-boy the use of cannabis, or as we called it, "dope," was a symbol of rebellion and asign of laziness. Why didI believe such things?It was theculture of my community.

This ideologywas passed on to meby the people with whom I lived and loved.We valued family, community, country, and hard work.We wereno fans of Communists, draft-dodgers, long hair, or the hippie counterculture- and marijuana was a symbol of all of those things. During the 60s, 70s, and 80sall of the politicians, preachers and news media were saying the same thing: "Hippies smoke dope. Hippies are Communists. Communists are bad. Dope is bad."

Tennesseans need a solid medical cannabis program for the sick and suffering, and I have read that Governor Lee does not support medical cannabis. On this day of prayer and fasting, I will be praying for God to soften Governor Lee's heart and open his eyes to the truth: Cannabis is medicine.

With love and justice,

Reverend Charles Martin II is pastor of Erin United Methodist Church in Erin, Tennessee.

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My prayer is that Tennessee will embrace cannabis as a medicine for the sick | Opinion - Tennessean

Nathaniel Johnson on trial for theft, racketeering, and practicing medicine without a license – FOX 5 Atlanta

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ATLANTA - Cobb County prosecutors say an unlicensed doctor who performed cosmetic procedures on women is on trial for racketeering and the unlawful practice of medicine.

He is a man our FOX 5 I-Team knows well. It was more than ten years ago that our I-Team first reported on the legal problems of then Dr. Nathaniel Johnson.

Johnson pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and lost his license to practice medicine. Cobb prosecutors say after serving time Johnson began practicing medicine again.

Senior I-Team reporter Dale Russell was in court as the case unfolded.

I saw all those awards on the wall, I'm thinking I found the doctor of my dreams, testified patient Monique Broscious.

The man Monique Broscious consulted with, prayed with, and she says performed a cosmetic procedure on her was not a licensed doctor.

"I'm thinking I found the doctor of my dreams."

He told me he had been doing this for years, pointed out other things that he could do to my body to make it body. So, I didn't have a reason not to think he wasn't a doctor, testified Broscious.

It is not the first time the I-Team has reported on Nathaniel Johnson's troubles in a courtroom.

Eleven years ago, the FOX 5 I-Team investigation found Dr. Johnson allowed this man, Jeff Romeus, to pose as a licensed doctor in Dr. Johnson's gynecology practice. Romeus was a Guyana medical school graduate, but not a licensed doctor.

Following our report, the state prosecuted Dr. Johnson and he pled guilty to Medicaid fraud, conspiracy to defraud the state, and aiding the unlicensed practice of medicine in 2014. He was ordered to repay taxpayers $300,000 in restitution and surrender his medical license.

Johnson served six months behind bars and was out on probation, running his Hello Beautiful Cosmetic Surgery center in Smyrna when Monique Broscious found him in 2016. And so did Cobb County Police

Johnson and two employees are now in court facing 90 counts of theft by deception, racketeering, and the unlawful practice of medicine.

His conceit was he thought the rules didn't apply to him, said prosecutor Jason Marbutt in court.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Jason Marbutt told the jury that Johnson opened a cosmetic surgery clinic and performed procedures on patients. Marbutt argued Shannon Williams posed as a nurse, and she and Dr. Peter Ulbrich worked side by side with Johnson knowing Johnson was no longer a licensed doctor.

This is a criminal case. The proceedings shouldn't have happened at all, said Marbutt.

This case is about the road to redemption, countered Johnsons attorney Dwight Thomas.

Thomas told the jury everything Johnson did was appropriate and permissible and that Johnson was just an office administrator.

But, Monique Broscious testified Johnson was in the operating room during her procedure.

Dr. Johnson was on one side; Dr. Ulrich was on the other side, testified Broscious.

Under cross-examination, Thomas got her to admit she signed paperwork before that procedure saying Dr. Peter Ulbrich would be her physician.

Still, she dug in her heels and insisted Nathaniel Johnson lied to her about being a doctor.

Every day I remember exactly what happened to me. Every day I remember exactly who I spoke to, how they introduced themselves and who took my money. Every day, testified Broscious.

Prosecutor Jason Marbutt told the jury there are 45 victims in the case, but not all of them will testify. The trial is expected to last into next week.

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Nathaniel Johnson on trial for theft, racketeering, and practicing medicine without a license - FOX 5 Atlanta

Food As Medicine: What Biochemistry And Genetics Are Teaching Us About How To Eat Right – Forbes

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We often talk about genetics as if its set in stone. She just has good genes or He was born with it are common phrases.

However, over the past decade, biochemists and geneticists have discovered that your genetic expression changes over time. Based on environmental factors, certain genes may be strongly expressive while others are dormant.

In fact, a 2016 study of human longevity found that only 25% of health outcomes are attributable to genetics. The other 75% of outcomes are attributable to environmental factors. Among those environmental factors, diet and nutrition play a major role.

An entire branch of scientific research has now exploded around nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction between nutrition and genetics. Scientists now understand that genes set the baseline for how your body can function, but nutrition modifies the extent to which each gene is expressed.

As more data comes in about the types and quality of food that improve health outcomes, high-tech farmers are also entering the nutrigenomics conversation. Using precision agriculture, they hope to produce food thats targeted to deliver a nutrient-rich, genetically beneficial diet.

Implications Of Nutrigenomics

Researchers have found that theres no such thing as a perfect diet. Dietary recommendations are not one-size-fits-all. Each individual needs different nutritional choices for optimal health and gene expression. In addition, each person is different in the extent to which their genes and health are impacted by their diet.

Geneticists and nutritionists are working together to study the dietary levers that most impact genetic expression. If theyre successful, it may be possible to prevent and treat disease through individualized nutrition tailored to your genetic profile. Indeed, you may walk into a doctors office and leave with a dietary prescription customized to your DNA.

In the near future, instead of diagnosing and treating diseases caused by genome or epigenome damage, health care practitioners may be trained to diagnose and nutritionally prevent or even reverse genomic damage and aberrant gene expression, reports Michael Fenech, a research scientist at CSIRO Genome Health and Nutrigenomics Laboratory.

The initial results of nutrigenomics studies are promising. A healthy, personalized diet has the potential to prevent, mitigate, or even cure certain chronic diseases. Nutrigenomics has shown promise in preventing obesity, cancer and diabetes.

If Food Is Medicine, Food Quality Matters

Nutrient abundance or deficiency is the driving factor behind nutrigenomics. Foods that have grown in poor conditions have a lower nutritional density. In turn, eating low-quality foods can have a significant impact on human gene expression. In order to take advantage of the findings of nutrigenomics, consumers need access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

Similar to human health, plant health is impacted by the combination of genes and nutrient intake. Healthy soil, correctly applied fertilization techniques, and other forms of environmental management lead to healthy crops.

However, applying these custom growing techniques at a large scale is a major challenge. Agriculture technology (AgTech) will play a big role in allowing farmers to precisely manage the growing conditions and nutrient delivery for their crops. In turn, this precision farming will make crops more nutritious and targeted for nutrigenomics-driven diets.

Making Food Thats Better For Us

Plant health relies on nutrient uptake from the soil. In order to ensure plants receive the nutrients they need, farmers need to precisely apply additives where theyre needed. With in-ground sensors, advanced mapping of crop quality across a field, and other technologies, farmers can target their applications of water and nutrients to match plant needs. The days of broadly applying generic fertilizer to entire fields are coming to an end.

Farmers play an integral role in providing access to diverse, nutritious food, explains Remi Schmaltz, CEO of Decisive Farming. Nutrient deficiency in plants and the soil can contribute to the deficiencies found in humans. The opportunity exists to address these deficiencies through precision nutrition delivered by the agriculture sector.

Additionally, CRISPR and other technologies allow us to experiment with the genetic makeup of plants, increasing nutrition and flavor, both pluses for consumers. In recent years, genetic modification has produced disease-resistant bananas, more flavorful tomatoes, lower gluten wheat, non-browning mushrooms and sustainable rice. While there has been a lot of skepticism over genetically-modified crops, multiple studies have shown that GMOs are safe for consumption and can even improve plant health and nutrition.

Using Biochemistry And Big Data To Create Better Food And Healthier People

Nutrigenomics will completely change how we think about health and disease prevention. Indeed, personalized diet recommendations that are tailored to your genes could be a new form of medicine for chronic illnesses.

Nevertheless, a key part of making nutrigenomics effective is having access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods. AgTech is using the internet of things, AI, precision farming and gene editing to make nutrient-dense food more readily available. The benefits to public health from these efforts could change the way we think about medicine, longevity and what it means to be healthy.

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Food As Medicine: What Biochemistry And Genetics Are Teaching Us About How To Eat Right - Forbes

Penn Medicine’s experience moving to cloud: Don’t bite off more than you can chew – Healthcare IT News

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There is still quite a lot of chatter about cloud these days and it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down or getting less complex

"Whats your multi-cloud strategy?"

How about hybrid cloud? Whats your plan?

How about your on-premise hybrid multi-layer hyper-converged cloud?

The variations are dizzying. So weve decided to keep our move to cloud technology a little simpler to start. While were finding our way slowly but steadily with targeted projects, we are learning what works well and how best to get there through these experiences.

This approach takes planning at a strategic level in determining clouds place in the overall technology portfolio as well as orchestrating among multiple technical teams in pursuing targeted initiatives. Significant time is also needed to implement and assess results and progress made.

We began with moving email to the cloud not an earth-shattering endeavor but its a start, and email maintains a significant production workload. There is a mounting track record for email migrations to cloud and at this point its most likely considered low hanging fruit for most organizations.

Currently were also in the midst of moving our analytics platforms to cloud. Thats a little more complex than email. So were migrating in phases and iterating as we go along. A few positives weve experienced so far in migrating to cloud:

That said, we are still determining the long-term cost of moving all of our analytics workloads to cloud. We just dont know enough yet to have that answer. I hear a fair amount of negative comments about the cost of cloud and how its more expensive than on-premise.

But I havent really seen any long term side-by-side comparisons to validate those remarks and wonder if thats really true or just the experience of some that havent properly managed their cloud infrastructure and usage. Heck, your cable bill is a great example of how an unmanaged service can get out of control.

Were modeling our experiences each time we move a workload and use that knowledge to develop a profile that helps us plan for the next opportunity. We are also now facing the tough work of developing migration plans for all of our existing analytics infrastructure. This is not a trivial task for sure and well learn along the way.

My advice for anyone that seems to be in a fog about the cloud is to keep in mind that its really not a new whiz-bang just-invented technology. At its core, it is an updated version of traditional economy of scale CPU and storage sharing thats been around for decades, with a variety of new bells and whistles for sure.

Proper planning, oversight and management go a long way - just like these elements have always been the key underpinnings of successful technology pilot, rollout and maintenance.

My ultimate recommendation is to use these cornerstone approaches for cloud migration just the way you would any other technology project. And lastly, dont bite off more than you can chew. This will help you avoid the pitfalls that have always been in play with Information Technology.

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Penn Medicine's experience moving to cloud: Don't bite off more than you can chew - Healthcare IT News

CSU to host first Adaptive Design Workshop at newly constructed Translational Medicine Institute – Source

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The first Adaptive Design Workshop for Preclinical, Clinical Veterinary, and Translational Human Studies at Colorado State Universitys brand-new Translational Medicine Institute (TMI) is set for Friday, Nov. 8.

Adaptive designs have been used by major pharmaceutical and device companies to improve the efficiency and ethical balance of randomized clinical trials.

Dr. Heather Pidcoke, the CSUs first chief medical research officer and associate director of research at the TMI met up with us to discuss adaptive clinical design and give some insight into everything that it entails.

Adaptive clinical design is essentially designing a clinical trial in a way that allows continual modifications to major pieces and components of the trials as data is collected.

These changes do not undermine the validity or the integrity of the trials, but rather help create a positive allocation of resources and speed up the potential for scientific findings.

Heather Pidcoke: Some of the biggest advantages are shorter trial times, improved likelihood of scientifically relevant trial outcomes, reduced use of resources, and limited allocation of inferior trials.

With adaptive design, the waste of money, time, and materials is minimized through the constant changing and rearranging of the trial. When a hypothesis seems to be ineffective, researchers have the flexibility to restructure the trial to different dosage amounts or different populations instead of being stuck in an inconclusive trial.

HP: Sample size, dosage, termination of inferior treatments, lengthening and/or shortening of trial times, and the creation of more focused populations are some of the most common trial modifications in adaptive design.

Modifications like these help investigators manage the scope of their research as the results of the trials begin to be uncovered.

HP: Yes, The US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have both released extensive resources and guidelines that properly explain the adaptive design process. It is necessary to read through these documents before engaging in any sort of adaptive design trials.

HP: It is very important to have a sound plan for your trial before it has begun. Unplanned modifications can weaken the validity of the study and may not allow for the study to support the application of a future product.

Be prepared and have a variety of scenarios planned out to make sure that your research is valid and that your actions are in accordance with the USDA and EMA guidelines.

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CSU to host first Adaptive Design Workshop at newly constructed Translational Medicine Institute - Source

Highpoint Health Opens New Therapy, Sports Medicine Location In Vevay – Eagle 99.3 FM WSCH

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Highpoint Health is excited to have a full-time presence in Switzerland County.

(Vevay, Ind.) - Highpoint Health Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine is now open in Vevay. Located at 1035 W. Main Street, Suite 2, the facility offers a comprehensive array of preventive and rehabilitative services for all ages and activity levels including children, high-level athletes and geriatric patients.

Individuals are seen for back, neck, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle pain, as well as for repetitive stress injuries, arthritis, work conditioning, post-operative joint replacements, post-operative orthopedic injuries, sports related injuries, balance disorders, fall prevention, industrial rehabilitation, neurological rehabilitation, wound care, lymphedema management and dysfunction of the upper and lower extremities.

The new facility also offers gait analysis, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, neuromuscular, re-education, traction, biofeedback, aerobic training, plyometrics, hands-on manual therapy, compression garment fitting, work conditioning, balance training, neuro-developmental treatment (NDT), Graston soft tissue mobilization, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), functional assistance, dry needling, and strength training exercises to ensure that patients receive the most appropriate form of care for their injury or condition.

Our physical therapy and sports medicine team is excited about having a full time presence in Switzerland County, noted Ed Brush, MSPT/ATC, Director of Highpoint Health Rehabilitation Services. While our office in Vevay is new, our staff has long cared for patients in the area through our work with Switzerland County High School and Highpoint Health Home Health & Hospice. With our new facility, we are looking forward to welcoming patients from throughout the region including those from Ohio, Jefferson, Ripley, Gallatin and Carroll Counties.

Hours for the new Vevay facility are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. To learn more about Highpoint Health Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine - Vevay, or to schedule an appointment, please call 812/427-0293. A public open house is planned for later this year.

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Highpoint Health Opens New Therapy, Sports Medicine Location In Vevay - Eagle 99.3 FM WSCH

World of Warcraft’s upcoming races revealed: adorable foxes and cyborg gnomes – PC Gamer

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Blizzard unexpectedly just revealed the upcoming 8.3 update for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth in an 18-minute video detailing all of the new features players can look forward to when it launches, presumably, early next year. But of those new features, one is sure to set the community on fire: The fox-like Vulpera are joining the Horde as a playable Allied Race while the less-exciting Mechagnomes team up with the Alliance.

Seen above, the Vulpera have been teasing players since Battle for Azeroth's launch last year as one of the new non-playable races added in the expansion. They're the inhabitants of the Vol'dun zone found on the island of Zandalar. Conversely, the Mechagnomes are the natives of Mechagon, a once-lost city where normal gnomes have augmented their bodies with robotic parts.

Both the Vulpera and Mechagnomes are the two newest Allied Racesof which there are eight that have been added since Battle for Azeroth first launched. For the uninitiated, Allied Races work a little differently than normal races because they're not immediately available for new characters. Instead, players have to complete a lengthy grind that involves maxing out an associated faction reputation and completing a quest before they can start a new character and play as any Allied Race.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Typically, Allied Races are variants of an archetypal race. Players can play as a dwarf, or if they unlock the Dark Iron Dwarf allied race, can choose to play as their red-eyed, ashy-skinned version. Sometimes these changes can be quite dramatic, though, as is the case with the Zanadari Trolls being able to stand upright and Kul Tiran humans being considerably more girthy.

Both the Vulpera and the Mechagnomes fall into the latter category. Though the Vulpera technically have the same dimensions as the Horde goblins, they really look nothing alike. Likewise, Mechagnomes can look more like mini-robots than living, meaty gnomesas you can see from the image above.

The Vulpera are particularly noteworthy since the Horde lacks races that I would ever describe as cute or cuddly. Now Horde players have the option of retaining their badass Horde reputation while still looking like a very good boy who definitely deserves a treat.

Two new Allied Races is actually one of the smaller features coming in update 8.3. Find out what else is coming in our full story here.

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World of Warcraft's upcoming races revealed: adorable foxes and cyborg gnomes - PC Gamer

Goodbye humans, hello cyborgs: The moment of Singularity is nigh – Daily Maverick

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Picture from Pixabay

Almost exactly three years ago in 2016, Apple launched the iPhone 7s. Among the usual announcements and upgrades, it revealed the smartphones new portrait mode, which would allow users to take images that are able to isolate the subject and make the background blurry. The idea? A mechanical technique generally achieved by the actual SLR cameras using the kind of wide lens that is able to achieve a shallow depth of field depending on the distance between the subject and the background.

The size of the phones lens being what it is, phone manufacturers dont have the luxury of making phones with interchangeable and big lenses. Their solution was artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, a subset of AI. While the phones lens might struggle to tell the distance between the subject and the background, the AI technology, trained on a massive amount of photographic data, is able to identify the face on a selfie, and then separate that from the background, making the latter blurry.

Portrait mode, or Live Focus as it is known in some Android phones, is just one among many and some far more consequential examples of how artificial intelligence and machine learning has become a ubiquitous part of our lives through our smartphones. Much of this technology has increased our efficiency, whether its a navigation app warning us of traffic and finding us the best route, or for journalists like this one, a transcription app that can transcribe a 30-minute long interview in a matter of seconds.

Over the last few years, platforms like Gmail and their accompanying smartphone apps have become frighteningly good at classifying our email and identifying spam, chain letters and promotional material wed rather not see, and sticking it all into folders where the sun doesnt shine.

There are also the somewhat bothersome and eerily accurately targeted adverts that pop up on our phone apps. Admittedly not always on target; at times even after youve done your online shopping, that item might keep popping up in ads for a few more days. To be fair, marketers for whom this particular kind of advertising works might find them a tad less bothersome.

On the dark side of AI, we have algorithms on social media platforms that only feed us more of what we want to see, sometimes reaffirming the beliefs we hold, with little regard for factual integrity. Harmless when they feed you happy cat videos every hour if thats your groove. Not so harmless when your YouTube feed is a long list of conspiracy videos about how the Clintons run a child trafficking ring, aka Pizzagate.

However, AI goes far beyond phones, and into areas such as smart cars, smart homes, banking, and even employee procurement. The ubiquity of the smartphone as the primary way in which many of us interact with the internet makes it one of the most prevalent ways in which we experience AI. And we expect it to work every time. We expect that Uber app to know the shortest and least busy route, and predict a fair fare without fail. And, indeed, in many instances, our interactions with AI are so predictable as to be unremarkable. However, for most of us not directly working in tech, we have no way of predicting where our ecstatic embrace of AI, and our growing dependency on it, championed by the smartphone, will lead us.

On 28 August 2019, at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been vocal on his concerns about the future of AI, took to the stage in conversation with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.

Well, computers actually are already much smarter than people on so many dimensions. We just keep moving the goalposts. So we used to think like, for example, being good at chess was an example of a smart human. And then Kasparov was crushed by [IBM supercomputer] Deep Blue in 97. That was a long time ago, 22 years. I mean, right now your cellphone could crush the world champion at chess, literally. Go used to be thought of as something that humans were better at than computers. Then Lee Sedol was beaten four to one by [Google DeepMind program] Alpha Zero, said Musk, referring to the popular Chinese-invented board game.

Humans trying to play a computer at Go is like trying to fight Zeus. Its not going to work. Hopeless, we are hopeless. Hopelessly inadequate basically theres just a smaller and smaller corner of what of intellectual pursuits that humans are better than computers. Every year it gets smaller and smaller, and soon will be far surpassed in every single way.

He went on compare the difference between human intelligence and the future of AI to the difference between chimpanzee intelligence and human intelligence, the human being the equivalent of the chimpanzee in this scenario when compared to AI.

In fact, if the difference is only that small, that would be amazing. Probably its much, much greater. So, like, the biggest mistake that I see artificial intelligence researchers making is assuming that theyre intelligent. Yeah, theyre not, compared to AI. A lot of them cannot imagine something smarter than themselves, but AI will be vastly smarter vastly.

Over the past two decades, the idea of a superior artificial intelligence has grown in popularity and is encompassed in the concept of the singularity. Scholars, fiction writers and futurists have defined in different ways the idea that there will come a time where technology will advance so exponentially that the human systems we know will be obliterated. All will become irreversible as a superior machine intelligence takes over in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Other definitions focus on our eventual merging with the machines, to become a different type of being. One of the most prominent voices is futurist, entrepreneur and inventor Ray Kurzweil who wrote the 2005 book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. He predicts the exact year of the realisation of the Singularity to be 2045.

We are entering a new era. I call it the Singularity. Its a merger between human intelligence and machine intelligence that is going to create something bigger than itself. Its the cutting edge of evolution on our planet. One can make a strong case that its actually the cutting edge of the evolution of intelligence in general, because theres no indication that its occurred anywhere else. To me, that is what human civilization is all about. It is part of our destiny and part of the destiny of evolution to continue to progress ever faster, and to grow the power of intelligence exponentially.

To contemplate stopping that to think human beings are fine the way they are is a misplaced, fond remembrance of what human beings used to be. What human beings are is a species that has undergone a cultural and technological evolution, and its the nature of evolution that it accelerates, and that its powers grow exponentially, and thats what were talking about. The next stage of this will be to amplify our own intellectual powers with the results of our technology, said Kurzweil in a 2001 talk published on Edge.

Others like Musk are as vocal about the potential pitfalls of AI, and Musk has even written a cautionary open letter about it. Yet, he believes, If you cant beat them, join them.

In July 2019, he announced the first product from his company Neuralink, a computer chip that can be stitched into the human brain, which is able to pick up signals from the brain and translate them into machine-readable code, effectively merging us with machines in one way, and offering up potential health benefits, like helping the blind see, or returning certain functions to body parts that have lost them. At the highly futuristic end, the chip could allow humans to interact directly with AI, sans smartphone.

By Musks own admission, they have tested it on rats and monkeys, and: A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain, just FYI. Human clinical trials are expected to begin in 2020.

Says Musk: Can we be able to go along for the ride with AI? I mean, I really think that there should be other companies like Neuralink, essentially, to create a high bandwidth interface to the brain. Because right now, we are already a cyborg. People dont realize we are already a cyborg. Because we are so well integrated with our phones and our computers. ML

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Goodbye humans, hello cyborgs: The moment of Singularity is nigh - Daily Maverick

‘Avengers’ Directors Share First Photo From ‘Cherry’ With Tom Holland – Heroic Hollywood

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Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo shared a new photo from the set of their new film Cherry with Tom Holland.

After collaborating with directors Anthony and Joe Russo on the previous two Avengers films, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland will re-team with the filmmaking duo on their upcoming film titled Cherry. Based on the novel of the same name,Cherry will feature Tom Holland asan army medic who returned from Iraq andresorted torobbing banks to fund his drug addiction.

Production on Cherry is currently underway and theAvengers: Endgame directors shared a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of the film. While Tom Holland was not featured in the Cherry photo, the Avengers directors included the caption, New beginnings.

Check out the post below to see the behind-the-scene photo from Tom Hollands Cherry by the Avengers directors.

Are you excited to see Tom Holland in the upcoming movie? Do you think the Avengers directors are the right team to adapt Cherry? Let us know in the comments!

Here is the official synopsis forAvengers: Endgame, which features Tom Holland as Spider-Man.

The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame.

Directed byAnthony and Joe Russo,Avengers:Endgamestars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans,Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Josh Brolin.

Avengers: Endgameis now available on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Tom Holland and Cherry.

Source: Instagram

Along with the premiere of the first teaser forDoom Patrol,DC Universe also debuted a collection of character posters for each of the members of perhaps the strangest team of characters to be adapted in live-action form for DC Comics.

In particular, these new character posters highlight Timothy Dalton's The Chief, Diane Guerrero's Crazy Jane, Joivan Wade's Cyborg, April Bowlby's Elasti-Woman, Matt Bomer's Negative Man and Brendan Fraser's Robotman. These posters each follow unique designs that reflect the nature of each character and tease unique personalities amongst the group as well.

You can start the gallery of new posters by clicking "Next".

Which of theseDoom Patrolposters is your favorite? Are you excited to see what the cast brings to these roles? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to continue following Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news in the DC Universe.

Doom Patrol is a reimagining of one of DCs strangest group of outcast Super Heroes which includes: Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor/Negative Man, Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele/Robotman, April Bowlby as Elasti-Woman, Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane, Joivan Wade as Victor Stone/Cyborg and Timothy Dalton as Dr. Niles Caulder/The Chief.

Here is the synopsis for the show:

Doom Patrolwill find the reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with a warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.

Doom Patrolwill premiere on February 15, 2019 exclusively on DC Universe.

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'Avengers' Directors Share First Photo From 'Cherry' With Tom Holland - Heroic Hollywood

10 Key DC Characters Who Debuted In The 90s | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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DC and their comics and charactershave been around for a very long time. Many classic characters from the 1940s through the 1960s are still some of the most popular in the industry.Batman and Superman are both around80 years old! Wonder Woman and versions of The Flash and Green Lantern have been around since the early days of DC as well.

RELATED: 10 DC Characters Who Are (Or Were) Reformed Criminals

However, there was a point of time in the '90s where both Marvel and DC began to reinvent themselves. In Marvel, new characters like Cable and Carnage not only made their debuts but became lasting characters that have remained a large part of comic books today. DC Comics also brought us some icons who have done the same. Here are some of the key DC characters who made debuts in the 1990s.

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Cyborg Superman became a significant villain after theDeath of Superman storyline. Hank Henshaw himself made his debut in the pages ofAdventures of Superman #466in May1990. He was an astronaut who lost most of his crew (including his wife) in a shuttle accident and blamed Superman for the tragedy.

Henshaw had created a body similar to Superman and returned to Earth to kill Superman, but saw he was too late. Henshaw became Cyborg Superman and ended up involved in one of the most infamous moments in DC history. He used Mogul to destroy Coast City, which turned Hal Jordan into a villain.

Doomsday made his debut in November 1992,in the pages ofSuperman: The Man of Steel #17. The monster originated on Krypton. His creators killed and resurrected him over and over again in an attempt to create an unbeatable weapon. It worked as well.

Doomsday ended up on Earth and took the fightto Superman. He was more than the Man of Steel could handle,and they ended up locked in a stalemate battle where they beat each other to death. Doomsday has returned several times in the years since.

Renee Montoya made her debut in the pages ofBatman#475 in 1992. She was a detective from the Gotham City Police Department as part of the Major Crimes Unit that kept contact with Batman. However, in the pages of52, Montoya ended up becoming the new Question when the original died. In the New 52, she was the partner of Harvey Bullock.

Fans got to know Montoya more on the Batman animated cartoons. Movie fans will get a chance to finally meet her when she appears in the 2020 DC movieBirds of Prey.

In 1992, a new Batman villain made his debut when Mr. Zsasz appeared for the first time in the pages ofBatman: Shadow of the Bat #1. Like most of the villains in the world of Batman, Mr. Zsasz was not superhuman at all, but was instead a vicious serial killer.

RELATED:10 DC villains more manipulative than Baron Zemo

Victor Zsasz was, at one time, the head of his own company, but when his parents died, he lost all his money. He then tried to take his own life, but when a passer-bysaved him, he killed the man and then decided he did him a favor. Every time he kills a person, he slices a mark into his body.

Harley Quinn is a unique DC Comics character. She didn't make her debut in the comics at all. Harley Quinn made her first appearance onBatman: The Animated Series on Sept. 11, 1992. She was an original animated cartoon character, later introduced into the comic books.

Harley Quinn made her first comic book appearance inThe Batman Adventures #12 one year later in September 1993. She has since become one of DC's most beloved characters, moving from her role as Joker's sidekick to a member of the Suicide Squad, and she will also appear in 2020's Birds of Prey.

One of Batman's most powerful enemies is Bane, and he made hisDC Comics debut in 1993 inBatman: Vengeance of Bane #1. The fact that Bane got a series named after him showed that DC was serious about making him a massive threat. He was more than that.

Bane is the villain who broke the bat. During the storylineKnightfall, Bane was able to break down Batman little by little, as he sends most of Batman's most dangerous villains after him. When Batman is finally at his weakest, Bane broke Batman's back and took him out of action for a long time.

After Superman died at the hands of Doomsday, four new versions of Superman showed up. One was a villain introduced in the '90s, Cyborg Superman. Another was John Henry Irons' Steel. The other two were the Eradicator and a new version of Superboy. Out of the four, it was Superboy that made the most impact.

Kon-El was a clone created from Superman's DNA. He went on to create his own legacy as a member of the Teen Titans and later Young Justice. He was a massive part of theYoung Justicecartoon and is one of the most important DC characters created after theDeath of Superman event.

In the 1980s, Barry Allen gave his life to save the world inCrisis on Infinite Earths. When the multiple Earths rebooted into one, it was Wally West who was the new Flash, quickly becoming one of the most popular versions of Flash in DC Comics history.

RELATED: 10 Most Heartbreaking Things To Happen During A DC Crisis Event

With Wally West giving up his role as Kid Flash to become the main DC Comics version of Flash, it opened up a character.Bart Allen debuted in 1994 as the new Kid Flash. Bart debuted inThe Flash #91, the grandson of Barry Allen from the future.

In the '90s, Hal Jordan watched his beloved Coast City destroyed by Mogul and Cyborg Superman and used his powers to bring it back. The idea was to make Hal a villain and replace him as the Earth's Green Lantern. That new Lantern was a young man named Kyle Rayner.

Rayner made his first appearance in DC Comics inGreen Lantern (Vol. 3)#48, and he became the new Green Lantern two issues later. Kyle became hugely popular, an artist who was able to use his creativity when creating his weapons and was easier for young fans to relate to than Hal Jordan.

Parallax is one of the most dangerous villains in the world of the Green Lantern Corps. The demon with the power to control minds and cast fear made its debutinGreen Lantern (Vol. 3) #50 and was strong enough to warp the mind of Hal Jordan and turn him into a villain.

With Parallax controlling him, Hal Jordan became the most powerful villain in DC Comics, and even the greatest heroes couldn't beat him. When Hal came back to his senses,he gave his life to save the Earth andParallax was finally defeated.

NEXT: The 10 Most Important Green Lantern Stories You Probably Never Read

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Insight: Transhumanists believe in the bionic body beautiful – The Scotsman

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No of course there shouldnt really be a religion based on The Bionic Woman that would require you to watch the show and it is cheesy and definitely for kids, laughs Ana Matronic, pop diva and Jaime Sommers obsessive.

We are having this conversation because, in her teens, she turned her fictional hero into a quasi deity the combination of the forces of science and nature and placed her at the centre of a belief system called Bionic Love. While she may now mock her fanzine flights of fancy, she still has faith in technology to transform humanity.

Matronic has been captivated by robots and cyborgs since C-3PO squeaked into her life at the age of three. Her right arm is a declaration of love a half-sleeve tattoo which began as a mishmash of cogs and springs, la Sommers, but now incorporates other favourites such as R2-D2 and Maria, the female robot from Fritz Langs 1927 film Metropolis.

Matronic, who was originally called Ana Lynch, has always been attracted to the blurring of boundaries. This is the woman who was once the only female drag queen in San Franciscos The Trannnyshack. That was before she became lead singer of the self-consciously flamboyant Scissor Sisters: a band that revelled in its own campness.

Today, she has lost none of that flamboyance; she still hosts the BBC Radio 2 programme Dance Devotion. But, an academic at heart, she also tours the country evangelising about transhumanism the merging of human and machine as well as warning of the dangers.

Later this month, she will be appearing at an event in the Dundee University Festival of the Future, along with Graeme Gerard Halliday, aka Hallidonto, a Scottish-born, London-based artist, who creates images of cyborgs, and Kadine James, Creative Tech Lead with Hobs 3D, a company that specialises in 3D printing.

Im really interested in all aspects of technology, from the three-minute pop song to AI [Artificial Intelligence] and advances in medical treatment, says Matronic.

I am interested in how things work and how they affect humanity. Technology holds so much promise, but it moves faster than governments. Thats a dangerous thing and something we ought to talk about.

The Dundee University event is timely. Not long ago, cyborgs were of mostly hypothetical interest, explored in science and speculative fiction, but not generally regarded as a contemporary reality impacting on everyday behaviour.

In the past year or so, however, transhumanism appears to have entered the mainstream; every day seems to bring a news story that could have come straight from Charlie Brookers Black Mirror; a story that challenges our preconceptions about what it means to be human.

Some of the technology we are seeing changes us physically. Blade prostheses that allow amputee athletes to run as fast as able-bodied ones for example, and power-suits that strengthen the muscles of elderly people, mean cyborgs are already in our midst.

Just last week, we learned a Frenchman paralysed in a nightclub accident had walked again thanks to a mind-controlled exo-skeleton suit. Recording devices implanted either side of his head between the skin and the brain read brainwaves and send them to a nearby computer, where they are converted into instructions for controlling the exo-skeleton.

Technology is developing so rapidly that both scientists and philosophers are pondering the possibility that we may eventually be able to transform ourselves into beings with abilities so great as to merit the label post-human.

The extent to which the concept of transhumanism (if not the word itself) has entered the public consciousness could be seen in the recent Russell T Davies drama Years And Years in which one of the main characters, Bethany, wants to become part-machine.

She has mobile phone implants in her hands, camera implants in her eyes and brain implants that allow her to make a mental connection with the internet. Set just a few years hence, and building on existing technology, the interesting thing about the series is not how futuristic it seems, but how feasible. Even when, towards the end, her aunt Edith uploads her consciousness to the cloud so she can continue to exist after death, it does not feel too far-fetched.

Martine Rothblatt, the founder of SiriusXM Satellite Radio, a super-fascinating person No 1 on my fantasy dinner party list is already developing the technology to create a mind file, says Matronic. The idea is you gather as much information on yourself as you can so that when you die your mind-file can be downloaded into a phone or into a robot and you or rather a facsimile of you can live on for your family. There are also people working on substrate independent minds brains that dont need a body to function. And people who are trying to extend life or eradicate death.

But if death becomes an option then the fairy tale of unlimited economic growth becomes even more of a fairy tale. And thats before we start thinking about storage. If you are a digital person, where do you live? And if the storage facility is so big it can store digital people then the computational power of that facility is not a what but a who. The whole thing is a crazy, crazy rabbit hole I love to jump down.

The first robot

Matronics right; it is a rabbit hole, and the further you go down it the more you lose yourself in an ethical maze.

At its best, technology has the power to tap into human potential; to make us the best we can be. When Makoto Nishimura created Japans first robot, Gakutensoku (the name means learning from natural law), he was conceived as an ideal.

At an exhibition to mark Emperor Hirohitos ascension to the throne in 1926 the year before Metropolis was released spectators were awe-struck as the God-like bronze figure appeared before them clutching a mace and arrow and smiled beatifically. Nishimura believed robots were a continuum of humanity a natural evolution. If humans are the children of nature, then robots are the grandchildren of nature, he said.

Yet, ever since the industrial revolution, western society has tended to have an adversarial attitude towards machines, viewing them as sleekit creatures who will steal our jobs or turn against us, like Frankensteins monster. In literature too, we are accustomed to the idea of scientific progress producing dystopias such as Airstrip One in 1984 or the boarding school for clones in Kazuo Ishiguros Never Let Me Go.

Overemphasising the downsides of technological advance may be discriminatory, says Matronic. When we have conversations about the evils of technology, we are being ablist. If you say, social media is bad, I will show you someone with locked-in syndrome or crippling social anxiety for whom it has opened up the possibility of friendship.

Technology could also eradicate paralysis; there would be no more quadriplegics. Also, at present we only use 10 per cent of our brains. If we have machines that can help us explore more of that, then its amazing.

Even so, neither Matronic nor Hallidonto is naive. They understand the potential pitfalls of transhumanism in a capitalist society where efficiency and profits are the most powerful drivers.

Technology initially developed for positive purposes may be subverted for negative ones, while the push to create a super-race of better, fitter, more cognitively capable humans veers perilously close to eugenics.

And then there is the question of marginalisation. We are already living in a world where those who do not own a smartphone are disadvantaged. How much greater will that socio-economic inequality become once it is possible to pay for superior physical strength and brain power?

Professor Kevin Warwick, the worlds leading expert in cybernetics, has been called the first cyborg. In the late 1990s/early 2000s, he experimented with his own body. First, he had an RIFD transmitter implanted under his skin which allowed him to control doors, lights, heaters and other devices. Then he had a BrainGate electrode array fitted which allowed him to control a robotic arm on the other side of the Atlantic a feat that conjures up the image of Thing in the Addams Family. Finally, he linked his nervous system electrically to his wifes in such a way that every time she closed her hand, his brain received a pulse. Was that not freaky? It was very intimate, he says. You are getting signals from someone elses body and nobody else knows.

The link cannot yet be made brain to brain, but when it can, it will be the basis of thought communication: telepathy, but for real.

Back in the 90s, Warwick faced criticism, not technically, just people saying: Youre a buffoon, because they didnt understand what I was doing. In the end, of course, the joke was on them.

Yet today, some people are still dubious, not about the science, but about the morality. The ethical dilemmas sparked by some of these developments are huge. For example, if you can control an arm miles from where you are, then presumably you can use it to commit crimes. Meanwhile the linking up of brains if achieved would be a useful way to communicate with someone who couldnt speak but, in the wrong hands, it could be used for coercive control.

Warwick accepts all this, but seems unperturbed. As a scientist, you are aware of things potentially going in a negative way, but you hope society will look at applications and say: Yes, this one is great it will help people and No, we dont think this one should be allowed.

Asked if it would be ethical to amputate a normal human leg in order to replace it with blades that allowed an athlete to run faster, he says yes.

I cant see a problem. We have to look to the future. At the moment, we have a body. The body does things OK and the brain controls it and its all a pretty limited package. But we have the possibility of redefining what our body and our brains can do. Why should anyone lag behind with ordinary human body parts when they could have something thats much better?

When I suggest this will exacerbate the disenfranchisement of the most vulnerable, he implies a degree of inequality is a social inevitability and points out that wealthy people can already pay for physical enhancements through cosmetic surgery.

Not everyone is this sanguine. Hallidonto is as passionate about robots as Matronic. Growing up in the 80s, the first cyborg he encountered was the one in The Terminator. I remember sitting on the sofa with my dad at three years old and being completely traumatised by it, he says. Later, I had Darth Vader toys and I would pretend I was wearing a robotic suit. I would feel quite powerful.

When he was 12, Hallidonto suffered a collapsed lung. He was put in a machine and experienced visceral, morphine-induced dreams about babies with wires coming out of their eyes. Then when he was 25, he had a brain injury on a holiday in Germany and it changed how he saw the world.

A graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College in Dundee, his work has always featured robots. At the launch of his exhibition, Cyborg Cadavers, in London last week, he explored some of the pitfalls. I spoke about the Anthropocene and the Promethean allegory and pointed out that if we dont watch what we are doing we may end up, not with the body we desire, but with the body that is required, he says.

With technology developing so rapidly, Matronic believes there is an urgent need for tech companies and governments to talk about ethics before it is too late.

Most of the negative stories about robots/cyborgs, from Frankenstein on, involve someone with a God complex thinking they can do what the Creator does. Those stories are a warning against hubris.

So we definitely need to have conversations about morality and every tech company should have its own ethicist. They should be saying things like: Dear Elon Musk loving the SpaceX stuff, but do we really need a flamethrower?

Matronic says some of her worst fears, technologically speaking, are already being realised with Facebooks lack of transparency and peoples identities and data being turned into a commodity.

I am really concerned about autonomous weapons too, she says. Mines are horrible enough, but guns that can walk and speak? That is a terrifying prospect. I dont think they should be allowed to exist.

The potential for technology to reinforce inequality will have to be addressed too because otherwise only some people will lag behind. It will be: Oh my God did you get the brain update? No, I am still working with version 2.4. Well, version 3 just came out and its amazing.

Chair of the Dundee University event, Karen Petrie, associate dean for learning and teaching in science and engineering, is developing educational software that can adapt to the learning speed of individual students.

Her biggest fear is the one feminist activist Caroline Criado Perez touches on in her book Invisible Women: that as computers take over more and more tasks, they will replicate existing biases.

Most AIs are built on machine learning, she says. That means they take a large quantity of data, mine that data and learn behaviour. Unfortunately, if theres any bias in that data, even if it is implicit bias, then the machine will learn it. A good example of this is a big tech firm that was trying to use a machine learning algorithm to scan CVs and work out who they should or shouldnt employ.

However, until now this tech firm has employed 95 per cent men, so when this algorithm was used it pretty much screened out all the women.

Body hacktivism

For all the potential problems, the notion that technology could transform us aesthetically, cognitively, spiritually cannot fail to excite the imagination. The myriad possibilities it throws up are proving a rich source of inspiration for both artists and philosophers.

Indeed they have engendered a new art form: body hacktivism. Tight restrictions on the kinds of surgery that can be done on humans has led to a school of DIY body modification artists, who carry out work on themselves or others. There is Neil Harbisson, who sees the world in black and white, but wears an antennae that translates the frequency of colours into sounds; Tim Cannon, who had magnets implanted in his fingers; Lukas Zpira, author of the body hacktivism manifesto, who offers tongue splitting, implants, and subincision (the splitting of the penis); and Steve Haworth, who specialises in subdermal and transdermal implants, such as the Metal Mohawk a row of spikes inserted into the head to replicate a punk haircut.

Despite her fixation with cyborgs, Matronic is a late adopter of new technology. I am last to everything I never even have the latest smartphone. But she believes the future will be more fluid. Others have connected this fluidity to transgenderism; after all, if you can change the human body at will, then sex and gender become less important. And if your consciousness can exist without corporeal form then, arguably, they cease to matter at all.

If you see yourself as a religious person and you believe in the soul, then, when your soul leaves, is it male or female? says Matronic.

You have just your body you can be anything. Gender really is a construct something that is mandated by society. Different societies have different expressions of gender and different codes. I think as we expand as humans, we understand there are different ways of being and definitions loosen, so we are going to have new words and new definitions and new genders.

Everything will be new, new, new. It might be scary for some people and difficult conversations will have to be had but I believe that us humans learn to human better as we evolve and I look to the future with hope.

How Robots Are Shaping the World We Live In, 6.30pm, October 19, Juniper Auditorium, V&A, Dundee

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10 Best DC Cosplays That Look Exactly Like The Characters – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Cosplay is one of life's many gifts that keeps on giving, especially when it comes to the realm of superheroes, villains, and comic-based movies. Every year we get a slew of incredible costumes from the many conventions that take place worldwide. Some cosplayers dress up for laughs while others go to great lengths to craft the most intricate outfits they possibly can.

RELATED: 10 Incredible Harley Quinn Cosplays That Would Even Impress Mr. J

However, there are several cosplayers whoeither via their natural appearances or their excellent makeup skillsare capable of looking exactly like the characters they're channeling. Here are 10 of the best DC cosplays that look exactly like their characters.

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Lobo is one of DC's most violently reckless personalities, but he's so iconic that even Stan Lee labeled him his favorite DC character. While most people look like they're auditioning for a spot in KISS when they don the Lobo ensemble, California-based cosplayer Eli manages to capture the bounty hunter's true essence.

Eli's makeup is expertly done, made even more accurate by the inclusion of red contact lenses. His accessories are on point and he has Lobo's signature cigar on hand at all times. This cosplay covers all the bases and beyond, making him one of the most accurate Lobos ever.

Being Superman's cousin is no easy task, but Kara Zor-El handles it like a pro with her own equally impressive set of superpowers. Since 2015, Supergirl has been thriving in her television show after joining Arrow and The Flash in CW's own DC universe.

Even though Melissa Benoist plays the superhero on television, cosplayer Laney is such a convincing Supergirl that she could have possibly snatched the lead role for herself had she auditioned. While Kara's costume isn't the most complicated to cosplay, Laney's luscious blonde hair, well-crafted outfit and charming confidence make for one very convincing Supergirl.

Laurel Lance, better known as Black Canary, has been through the wringer on CW's Arrow. While Katie Cassidy brought her to life on the television show, cosplayer Laurel (yes, her real name is Laurel) gives the actress a run for her money.

RELATED: 10 Incredible Poison Ivy Cosplays That Would Infatuate Batman

Aside from sharing a name with the character, Laurel the cosplayer brings her Black Canary to life with an accurate costume and the perfect accessories to match. After all, you can't channel Cassidy's Canary without the police baton and a good face mask. All that's left to find out is how good cosplayer Laurel's Canary Cry is.

Cyborg is a difficult hero to cosplay, mostly because his costume involves heavily detailed mechanical parts. When it comes to channeling Victor Stone, most people resort to pre-made bodysuits and a simple mask. However, cosplayer Daywalkerxknight takes his Cyborg to the next level.

His cosplay is comprised of several remarkable homemade pieces, including the tools and weapons that Cyborg famously uses to take on villains. Many fans have taken to the cosplayer's Instagram comments to claim that he's the best Cyborg they have ever seen. They're not wrong; the talented costume maker could hold his own within the Justice League.

Green Lantern is one of DC's most popular heroes to cosplay because there are so many of them. Ryan Reynolds already brought Hal Jordan to life in a notoriously panned film, but there may be a Green Lantern Corps movie in the works that is set to feature John Stewart. If so, we suggest that cosplayer Andrien shoots his shot with an audition.

For starters, Andrien's outfit already looks better than the one we saw in the 2011 film. He certainly has the confidence and passion to portray Stewart, which he exhibits in his cosplay photoshoots that can be found all over his Instagram.

At this point, it's borderline impossible to imagine Bane as anyone other than Tom Hardy. His iconic role as the man that broke the Bat's back in The Dark Knight Rises will go down in superhero film history. However, cosplayer Brian Cooper has no qualms about trying to out-Bane the actor.

RELATED: 10 Best Comic Book Cosplays From SDCC 2019

Brian's arms are an alarming level of muscular, which is perfect for the character he is portraying. As is the case with Cyborg, many Bane cosplayers resort to pre-made bodysuits to recreate the villain's look. Brian, on the other hand, assembles his outfits and puts his guns on full display.

Zatanna Zatara is one of the most popular DC cosplays for women despite being criminally underrated as a superhero. Zee hasn't received the live-action treatment on the big screen yet, but if she ever does, the casting department should keep Russian cosplayer Ksenia in mind for some top-notch pointers.

Ksenia skillfully captures Zatanna's sultriness with the same magical charm she exudes in the comics. Sure, the magician is long overdue for some big-screen adventures, but we can always enjoy this cosplay until a live-action Justice League Dark happens. Maybe we'll get it sooner than later if we say it backward.

By now just about anyone that has any sort of interest in movies has seen The Dark Knight and is fully aware of Heath Ledger's legendary performance. Of course, the Joker has famously been played (or voiced) by the likes of Jack Nicholson, Jared Leto, Mark Hamill, and Joaquin Phoenix. Yet, Ledger's unforgettable role stands above all others in the hearts of many fans.

One of those fans is cosplayer Alyson Tabbitha, who recreated Ledger's Joker as accurately as possible. It's mind-blowing that the person behind the wig and makeup is a female. Everything about this cosplay is shockingly perfect, even down to the outfit.

Nightwing costumes come in many shapes and forms sincetechnically speakingfans that dress up as Robin arejust inadvertently cosplaying a younger Dick Grayson. Unfortunately for Nightwing, changing his name doesn't change the fact that he was once reduced to being Batman's sidekick.

RELATED: 10 Incredible Joker Cosplays That'll Chill You

Nightwing enthusiast Shawn makes the most of the character's multiple identities. He is known for crafting outfits based on several of the hero's looks throughout the years. Nightwing's batons are his signature weapons and Shawn pairs different versions of them with their corresponding costumes. All of his looks are well-made and are boosted by flawless face masks created by tigerstonefx.

Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman will forever be one of the savings graces within the DCEU. She was a crowd-pleaser in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and her solo Wonder Woman film was adored by many.

Making another appearance on this list is Alyson Tabbitha, whose cosplay is so remarkable you might need to look twice (or maybe thrice) before realizing that it's not Gal Gadot herself. Remember that this is the same woman who can also transform herself into a carbon copy of Heath Ledger's Joker. Nevertheless, this is a more natural cosplay for Alyson since she shares several facial features with Gadot.

NEXT:10 Best Anime Cosplays That Look Exactly Like The Characters

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Charting the Uncanny Valley – Reporter Magazine

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by Abby Bratton | published Oct. 8th, 2019

Photo by Jasmine Lin, illustration by Unique Fair-Smith

A sense of vague unease crawls through your mind as you notice that the reflection in your mirror doesnt match your own face,or when a puppet keeps waltzing evenafter its strings have been cut. Then there's the androidthatsmiles whileits eyes stare unblinking into your own. These images of horror story fodder dont rely on fear of the unknown, but of the almost known. Objects that evoke this reaction are said to fall into the uncanny valley.

Chip Sheffield, a professor of the College of Art and Design and faculty affiliate with the School of Individualized Study who created the course Art and Technology: From the Machine Aesthetic to the Cyborg Age, explained the origins of this term. According to Sheffield, the concept of the uncanny valley is credited to the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori.

It really has to do with how we would respond to, say, a robot that had human-like attributes or human-like qualities, and the human-likeness of any given entity, and how humans respond to that entity. [Mori] proposes graphing this on an x- and y-axis, Sheffieldsaid.

Moris graph shows that human familiarity or comfort with something increases as it becomes more human-like, until the object reaches approximately 80 percent similarity to a human. At this point, there is a sharp drop-off in familiaritywhich rises up again as the entity approaches 100 percent human-like characteristics. The resulting shape is a valley.

David Simkins, an associate professor with the School of Interactive Games and Media, explained that the uncanny valley is a statistical average rather than an exact reaction experienced by all humans.

Whenever youre talking about the uncanny valley... youre talking about what people see and how it affects them, Simkins said.

Because people react to perception in different ways, Simkins explained, there's some variation in how the uncanny valley affects individuals. However, the phenomenon usually evokes similar emotions.

When we perceive something to be human-like or human, if something is just a little bit off about it,[then]we start to become really uncomfortable interacting with the thing, or being around the thing even," Simkins said. "Its eerily not right, and that sense of it not being right creates anxiety.

One factor that differentiates this phenomenon from other fear reactions is that its source is not always clear.

The interaction with the uncanny valley happens before people are aware usually of whats wrong. So they can identify that they dont like the face or dont like the thing, but they cant necessarily tell you exactly what it is about it that torques them off. Its deep in their perception, Simkins said.

This inability to pin down exactly what is wrong heightens the sense of unease people experience when confronted with the uncanny. At times, they may not even think to look for the source of their anxiety.

As Sheffield put it, we so rarely question, when were looking at another human face, whether that face is human or not.

"We so rarely question, when were looking at another human face, whether that face is human or not."

Once this phenomenon is understood, it can be intentionally avoided or invoked.

Good artists know how to use,and not unintentionally use,the uncanny valley, Simkins said.

The ways thatartists explore the uncanny valley phenomenon go beyond physical designs, he explained. While the uncanny valley has its roots in visual perception, the same idea of uncanniness can be manipulated in music, mood, storyand character movement.

Sheffield alsospoke about artistic examination of the uncanny, in addition to pointing out that awareness of the uncanny is critical in the fields ofprostheticsand facial recognition.

One of the most popular areas for application of this conceptis in the game industry specifically inhorror games.

[Horror games] are a great place to use eeriness, Simkins continued. You want to make your player feel something is eerie, feel anxious, feel a little out of controland if you can ... trigger some of that anxiety before they even know why theyre anxious.Thats a great tool to use to try and get somebody in the mood to be frightened. Thats much of the trick of a horror game, is getting the player to get on board with being willing to be horrified.

While many uncanny games have been created over the years, Simkins recommends The Sinking City and the Silent Hill series as particularly good examples of this phenomenon.

It is always important to realize that [the uncanny valley] is a sociobiological phenomenon, not just a biological phenomenon, Simkins said.

"Thats a great tool to use to try and get somebody in the mood to be frightened."

Thissocial aspect means that the uncanny valley relies heavily on cultural norms. Sheffield also emphasized this point, saying thatthe divide in eastern and western cultural approaches to robotics results in different levels of associated uncanniness.

Not only does the uncanny valley shift between different societies, butit can shift over time, both on an individual and cultural level.

Theres some pushback on the uncanny valley because its not the only thing operating. For one thing, our perception is all socially based, Simkins explained. So when someone gets used to something, it no longer has that uncanny valley response to it."

In terms of more widespread changes, Simkins gave the example of how technological advancements in computer graphics led to an uncanny valley shift. Images and designs that were an accepted standard in the late 20th century are now often considered uncanny because most people are accustomed to a higher degree of realism.

Simkins suspects that this trend may continue as art becomes increasingly cinema-realistic. He predicts the valley will broaden over time as society grows uncomfortable with designs that arent either highly realistic or intentionally abstract.

Because of its cultural and individual relativity, the uncanny valley is a nebulous concept. Perhaps the best way to understand it is to experience it firsthand. If horror games and robotic realism interest you, maybe its time to take the metaphorical plunge down the slopes of the valley. The comforts of the familiar world will be waiting when you climb back out.

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Charting the Uncanny Valley - Reporter Magazine