NASA wants to hear from smallsat builders interested in hitching rides on SLS – SpaceNews

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NASA artist's concept of SLS.

LOGAN, Utah As NASA prepares to launch cubesats on the first Space Launch System flight, the space agency is asking satellite developers to share information on small spacecraft they would like to fly on subsequent missions.

We are seeking your input, said Kimberly Robinson, NASA Marshall Space Flight Centers SLS secondary payloads manager. We want to make flexible options and accommodate the type of cubesats you want to fly in the future.

NASA plans to fly 13 cubesats to gather data on the sun, moon, asteroids and Earth on the first SLS test flight slated for 2019. For the following SLS mission, a test flight of SLS with the Orion crew capsule known as Exploration Mission-2 scheduled to launch in 2022, NASA is redesigning the second stage to loft 105 metric tons into orbit.

That redesigned SLS, known as Block 1B, will include a secondary payload adapter which could house small satellites, ranging from 6u to 27u cubesats. The 2022 SLS flight also might also be able to accommodate ESPA-class payloads, Robinson said, referring to the EELV secondary payload adapter the Air Force designed to fly on United Launch Alliances Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.

Robinson also asked small satellite developers to describe the type of spacecraft they would like to fly on the SLS Europa Clipper mission so her office can make the case to include secondary payloads on the flight. As we get your input, we can advocate for that mass allocation in the future, Robinson said.

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NASA wants to hear from smallsat builders interested in hitching rides on SLS - SpaceNews

NASA program gives students access to astronauts – Phys.org – Phys.Org

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August 8, 2017 by Danny Baird A Girl Scout raises a ham radio antenna to the sky in preparation for the ARISS contact. Credit: Girl Scouts of North East Ohio

On June 23, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer spoke with 22 Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, while he was aboard the International Space Station. More than 400 people attended the event, with many more watching live footage online.

Children all over the world can connect with astronauts aboard the space station via Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), and with the help of volunteer ham operators. ARISS delegates from the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan help connect the world, from Senegal to Cincinnati, with the station. These contacts endeavor to inspire youth worldwide to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) interests and careers.

"Ham radio was one of the most rewarding things to do on the International Space Station," said NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, a former Girl Scout and Ohioan. "Having that connection with kids on Earth who have worked hard to understand and build HAM radio was priceless. Their excited voices, echoing through equipment they had a hand in building, brought numerous smiles and often tears to my eyes. Afterward, getting the reports on how the kids enjoyed the event, and how amazed that they were that they were talking directly with a space ship, really made me understand how important and how easily we can get kids interested in STEM. ARISS is a great project and we are so happy to be part of it on the International Space Station."

The Girl Scout mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. Williams embodies this tenet. She's lived more than 322 days in space over the course of four expeditions to the ISS, Expeditions 14, 15, 32 and 33. During her stay, she logged more than 50 hours of space walks, ran the first marathon and triathlon in space, and participated in a number of ARISS contacts. She currently trains to fly America's first commercially built spacecraft, the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and the SpaceX Dragon.

The week prior to the contact, Sydney Walter, an 11-year-old Girl Scout, participated in the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio's Space Cadettes program at Camp Timberlane in Lorain County, Ohio. She met with NASA professionals, learned what it's like to float in zero gravity and explored constellations with a Starlab portable planetarium. The ARISS contact rounded off a week of activities devoted to STEM education.

"I really like that NASA can do this for kids at schools and Girl Scouts at camp," said Sydney. "It was a really fun experience and I will never forget it."

Programs like this instill powerful memories that can spark a lifelong passion for STEM. For 10 minutes, with the space station in range of northern Ohio, a field of girls spoke with humans among the stars. Their vests now bear patches honoring that moment in time. Pink and green encircle a yellow tent with the bold gray shadow of the space station above. The patches honor 10 minutes when they were not Girl Scoutsthey were astronauts.

Volunteers from national amateur radio organizations and AMSAT run ARISS events. For more information and to learn how your community can get involved, visit http://www.ariss.org.

Explore further: Space station astronauts ham it up to inspire student scientists

On Thursday, March 10, 2016 astronauts on the International Space Station logged their 1,000th educational contact with the ground. NASA astronaut Tim Kopra answered questions posed by the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium ...

Replay of the docking of the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft to the International Space Station with ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik and Roscosmos commander Sergey Ryazansky. The astronauts were launched ...

A group of pupils at a Zagreb high school on Wednesday marked their country's July 1 entry into the European Union by talking to an astronaut at the International Space Station (ISS).

A Soyuz space capsule blasted off Thursday for the International Space Station, carrying an American astronaut making his first space flight and a veteran Russian cosmonaut.

Two US astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully completed a spacewalk Thursday to make repairs and install new equipment.

President Donald Trump will speak next week to the commander of the orbiting International Space Station.

After conducting a cosmic inventory of sorts to calculate and categorize stellar-remnant black holes, astronomers from the University of California, Irvine have concluded that there are probably tens of millions of the enigmatic, ...

Studies of molecular clouds have revealed that star formation usually occurs in a two-step process. First, supersonic flows compress the clouds into dense filaments light-years long, after which gravity collapses the densest ...

A group of astronomers led by Javier Lorenzo of the University of Alicante, Spain, has discovered that the binary star system HD 64315 is more complex than previously thought. The new study reveals that HD 64315 contains ...

The five sunshield layers responsible for protecting the optics and instruments of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are now fully installed.

In our hunt for Earth-like planets and extraterrestrial life, we've found thousands of exoplanets orbiting stars other than our sun. The caveat is that most of these planets have been detected using indirect methods. Similar ...

A NASA mission designed to explore the stars in search of planets outside of our solar system is a step closer to launch, now that its four cameras have been completed by researchers at MIT.

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Scientists Reprogram Cells’ DNA Using Nanotechnology – Voice of America

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Researchers have turned skin cells into blood vessel tissue to save a mouse's wounded leg. They were able to do that simply by tapping the wound with a chip that uses nanotechnology to inject new DNA into the cells.

This step follows a number of significant advances in techniques to turn one type of cell into another. Scientists hope this so-called cell reprogramming can one day be used to regenerate damaged tissue, or cure conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

The research, published Monday in Nature Nanotechnology, combines existing biotechnology and nanotechnology to create a new technique called tissue nano-transfection. The researchers turned skin cells into brain cells, in addition to demonstrating the therapeutic benefit of turning them into vascular cells.

Maintaining blood flow to deliver nutrients around a wound is critical for recovery, so by making more blood vessel cells, researchers found that a mouse's wounded limb was more likely to survive.

A brief electric current causes the chip to eject DNA fragments that reprogram the cells. The particles only enter the very top layer of cells, so L. James Lee, a biomolecular engineer at Ohio State University and study co-author, said he was surprised to find reprogrammed cells deep within the tissue.

"Within 24 hours after the transfection, we actually observed the propagation of the biological functions deep inside the skin," Lee told VOA. "So we were very surprised that it actually works for tissue." Lee said it wasn't yet entirely clear why this was possible.

Masato Nakafuku, who studies cell reprogramming at the University of Cincinnati and was not associated with the research, told VOA that he, too, was surprised "to see very efficient generation of the [vascular] cells."

Nakafuku added a cautionary note: It is not clear that that tissue nano-transfection will work on animals as large as humans, since the treatment would have to reprogram cells much deeper in the tissue in order to be effective.

Lee told VOA he is hopeful that upcoming human trials will prove the real-world effectiveness of tissue nano-transfection.

In theory, tissue nano-transfection should be able to turn any cell in the body into any other cell type. That could make therapeutic applications of cell reprogramming easier and safer, because cells would stay in the body during reprogramming. If cells are removed from the body, reprogrammed and then returned, they could be attacked by the immune system.

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Protein Cages May Have Applications in Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology – Controlled Environments Magazine

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A multidisciplinary team from the Bristol BioDesign Institute has come together to study the self-assembly of protein building into protein cages, leading to new research which has potential applications in nanotechnology and synthetic biology.

The paper: Beyond icosahedral symmetry in packings of proteins in spherical shells, describes theoretical work and numerical simulations by a team of mathematicians, theoretical physicists, chemists and biochemists from the University of Bristol's BioDesign Institute, and is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bristol BioDesign Institute (BBI) brings together BrisSynBio, a UK Synthetic Biology Research Centre, and the SynBio Centre for Doctoral Training, and is at the forefront of the global effort to engineer biological systems more predictably and reliably (synthetic biology). BBI brings together postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, academics, policy makers and industry, and engages the public through emerging solutions to global challenges.

The research was led by Professors Tanniemola Liverpool and Noah Linden from the School of Mathematics and Professor Dek Woolfson from the Schools of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and builds on previous research performed in Professor Woolfsons laboratory on synthetic protein cages. The teams findings shed light on understanding the regularity of the self-assembled cages, potentially leading to new approaches in protein design for self-assembly and driving new experimental methodologies.

Commenting on the research, lead author, Dr Majid Mosayebi, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theoretical Biophysics in the School of Mathematics, said:

The design and construction of man-made structures at microscopic scales is one of the key goals of modern nanotechnology. With nature as inspiration, synthetic biological building blocks have recently been designed that self-assemble into quasi-spherical shells or cages.

While many natural protein building blocks self-assemble into highly symmetric ordered shells (e.g. viruses), our study shows that surprisingly even a small amount of (unavoidable) flexibility in the synthetic protein building blocks leads to stable disordered configurations.

Our work focuses on how robust the symmetry of the cage is given the flexibility of the protein building blocks. Our work sheds light on the self-assembly mechanisms in these cages, which can have widespread applications in material science and synthetic biology, including fabrication of metamaterials, targeted drug delivery, vaccine design and nanoreactors.

SOURCE: University of Bristol

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Protein Cages May Have Applications in Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology - Controlled Environments Magazine

EC Publishes NanoData Landscape Compilation Reports – The National Law Review

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Since 1996, Carla Hutton has monitored, researched, and written about regulatory and legislative issues that may potentially affect Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C) clients. She is responsible for creating a number of monthly and quarterly regulatory updates for B&C's clients, as well as other documents, such as chemical-specific global assessments of regulatory developments and trends. She authors memoranda for B&C clients on regulatory and legislative developments, providing information that is focused, timely and applicable to client initiatives. These tasks have proven invaluable to many clients, keeping them aware and abreast of developing issues so that they can respond in kind and prepare for the future of their business.

Ms. Hutton brings a wealth of experience and judgment to her work in federal, state, and international chemical regulatory and legislative issues, including green chemistry, nanotechnology, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Proposition 65, and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) program.

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EC Publishes NanoData Landscape Compilation Reports - The National Law Review

Targeting tumours: IBBME researchers investigate biological barriers to nanomedicine delivery – U of T Engineering News

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For cancer patients, understanding the odds of a treatments success can be bewildering. The same drug, applied to the same type of cancer, might be fully successful on one persons tumour and do nothing for another one. Physicians are often unable to explain why.

Now, U of T Engineering researchers are beginning to understand one of the reasons.Abdullah Syed and Shrey Sindhwani, both PhD candidates,and their colleagues at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) have created a technology to watch nanoparticles traveling into tumours revealing barriers that prevent their delivery to targets and the variability between cancers.

The biggest thing weve noticed is that nanoparticles face multiple challenges posed by the tumour itself on their way to cancer cells, says Sindhwani, an MD-PhD student in the Integrated Nanotechnology & Biomedical Sciences Laboratory of Professor Warren Chan (IBBME). Syed and Sindhwani co-published their findings online June 22, and on the cover of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. So the treatment might work for a while or worse, theres just enough of the drug for the cancer to develop resistance. This could be prevented if we can figure out the ways in which these barriers stop delivery and distribution of the drug throughout the cancer.

Tiny nanoparticles offer great hope for the treatment of cancer and other disease because of their potential to deliver drugs to targeted areas in the body, allowing more precise treatments with fewer side effects. But so far the technology hasnt lived up to its promise, due to delivery and penetration problems.

To dismantle this roadblock, the two graduate students searched for a way to better view the particles journey inside tumours. They discovered that the tough-to-see particles could be illuminated by scattering light off their surfaces.

The sensitivity of our imaging is about 1.4 millionfold higher, says Syed. First, we make the tissue transparent, then we use the signal coming from the particles to locate them. We shine a light on the particles and it scatters the light. We capture this scattering light to learn the precise location of the nanoparticles.

It was already understood that nanoparticles were failing to accumulate in tumours, thanks to a meta-analysis of the field done by Chans group. But the researchers have developed technologies to look at nanoparticle distribution in 3D, which provides a much fuller picture of how the particles are interacting with the rest of the tumour biology. The goal is to use this technology to gather knowledge for developing mathematical principles of nanoparticle distribution in cancer, similar to the way principles exist for understanding the function of the heart, says Syed.

And because each tumour is unique, this technology and knowledge base should help future scientists to understand the barriers to drug delivery on a personalized basis, and to develop custom treatments.

The next step is to understand what in cancers biology stops particles from fully penetrating tumours and then to develop ways to bypass cancers defences.

But the technology is also useful for diseases other than cancer. With the help of Professor Jennifer Gommerman, an researcher in the Department of Immunology who studies multiple sclerosis (MS), Syed and Sindhwani captured 3D images of lesions in a mouse model mimicking MS using nanoparticles.

This is going to be very valuable to anyone trying to understand disease or the organ system more deeply, says Sindhwani. And once we understand barriers that dont allow drugs to reach their disease site, we can start knocking them down and improving patient health adds Syed.

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Targeting tumours: IBBME researchers investigate biological barriers to nanomedicine delivery - U of T Engineering News

Medication for the unborn baby – Medical Xpress

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August 8, 2017 Empas multicellular model, which is mimicking the placental barrier: a core of connective tissue cells, surrounded by trophoblast cells. Credit: Empa

An Empa team has succeeded in developing a new three-dimensional cell model of the human placental barrier. The "model organ" can quickly and reliably deliver new information on the intake of substances, such as nano-particles, by the placental barrier and on any possible toxic effects for the unborn child. This knowledge can also be used in the future for the development of new approaches to therapy during pregnancy.

During its development, the foetus is extremely susceptible to toxic substances. Even the tiniest doses can cause serious damage. In order to protect the unborn child,one of the tasks of the placenta is to act as a barrier to "filter out" harmful substances, while at the same time providing the foetus with the nutrients it needs. In recent years, however, evidence has increasingly suggested that the placental barrier is not 100 percent effective and that nano-particles are actually able to penetrate it.

Nano-particles are being used in ever more varied areas of our lives. They are used, for example, in sun creams to protect against sunburn; they are used in condiments to stop them getting lumpy; they are used to make outdoor clothing waterproof and they are likely to be used in the future to transport medicines to their rightful destinations in the body . "At the moment, pregnant women are not being exposed to problematic amounts of nano-particles, but in the future that could well happen due to the ever increasing use of these tiny particles," suggests Tina Buerki of the "Department of Particles-Biology Interactions."

In order to ensure the safe development of nano-particles in the most diverse areas of application, their absorption mechanism at the placental barrier and their effect on the mother, foetus and placenta itself must be looked at more closely. It is the size, charge, chemical composition and shape of the nano-particles that could have an influence on whether they actually penetrate the placental barrier and, if so, in what way they are able to do so. At the moment, however, this research is only in its infancy. Since the function and structure of the human placenta is unique, studies undertaken on pregnant mammals are problematic and often inconclusive. Traditional models of the human placental barrier are either very time consuming to construct, or are extremely simplified.

A 3-D model of the human placental barrier

Tests of this nature are best carried out on donated placentas that become available after childbirth by Caesarean section. The organs are connected as quickly as possible to a perfusion system and this ensures the tissue is provided with nutrients and oxygen. This model is, indeed, the most accurate, i.e. the most clinically relevant. It is, however, very technically demanding and, moreover,restricted to a perfusion time window of six to eight hours. Against that, such placentas can be used to reliably test the ability of any given nano-particle to penetrate the placental barrier. The model does not, however, yield any information on the mechanism used by the particle to penetrate this complex organ.

Researchers are therefore tending to fall back on the use of simple cell cultures and other modelling systems. An individual cell, possibly taken from the epithelium and subsequently cultivated and propagated in a petri dish, is perfectly suited to a whole range of different experiments. However, researchers cannot be certain that the cells in the petri dish will ultimately behave like those in the human body. The new model that the Empa team under Tina Buerki described in the scientific journal Nanoscale at the end of last year is, by contrast, three-dimensional and consists of more than one cell type. The cells exist in a tissue-like environment analogous to the placenta and can be experimented on for a longer period of time.

Golden test candidate

In order to create the model, the research team used the "hanging drop" technology developed by Insphero AG. This technology allows models to be created without "scaffolding," which can hinder free access of the nano-particles to the cells in the subsequent transport tests. Rather than introducing the cells in a flat petri dish, a special device, in which the cells in the hanging drops combine to form spherical micro-tissue, is used. The resulting micro-tissue mimics the human placenta much more closely than cells cultivated on a "rigid" culture dish. Experiments can be carried out much more quickly using the 3-D model than with the real placenta and, significantly, on the most widely differing types of nano-particle. In this way, those nano-particles that show potentially toxic effects or demonstrate desirable transport behaviour can be efficiently pre-selected and the results verified using a real placenta.

The model has already proved itself in a second study, which the team has just published in the scientific journal Nanomedicine. Buerki's team has come up with an absorption mechanism for gold particles that could be used in a range of medicinal applications. The Empa team looked at gold particles of various sizes and different surface modifications. In accordance with the results of other studies, the researchers discovered that small gold particles were able to penetrate the placental barrier more easily. In addition, fewer particles passed through the barrier if they were carrying polyethylene glycol (PEG) on their surfaces. These are chain-forming molecules that almost completely envelope the particles. PEG is often used in medicine to allow particles and other small structures to travel "incognito" in the body, thus preventing them being identified and removed by the immune system. "It therefore appears possible to control the movement of nano-particles through the placenta by means of their properties," Buerki explains.

Medicines for pregnant women that do not harm the child

Empa's research team is keen to further develop this 3-D model in the future. The team is hoping to augment the model using a dynamic component. This would, for example, mean introducing the micro-tissue in a micro-fluid system able to simulate blood circulation in the mother and child. Another approach would be to combine the model of the placenta with other models. "With the model of a foetus, for example," Buerki suggests. In this way, complex organ interactions could also be incorporated and it would be possible, for example, to discover whether the placenta releases foetus-damaging substances as a reaction to certain nano-particles.

"With these studies, we are hoping to lay the foundations for the safe but nevertheless effective use of nano-medicines during pregnancy," Buerki continued. If we understand the transport mechanisms of nano-materials through the placental barrier well enough, we believe we can develop new carrier systems for therapeutic agents that can be safely given to pregnant women. This is because many women are forced to take medicines even during pregnancy patients suffering from epilepsy or diabetes, for example, or patients that have contracted life-threatening infections. Nano-carriers must be chosen which are unable to penetrate the placental barrier. It is also possible, for example, to provide such carriers with "address labels," which ensure that the medicine shuttle is transported to the correct organ i.e. to the diseased organ and is unable to penetrate the placenta. This would allow the medicine to be released first and foremost into the mother. Consequently, the amounts absorbed by the foetus or embryoand therefore the risk to the unborn child are significantly reduced.

Explore further: New placenta model could reveal how birth defect-causing infections cross from mom to baby

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Nano Positioning Systems Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 – 2025 – PR Newswire (press release)

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LONDON, Aug.8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Nano Positioning Systems Market: Overview

Nanopositioning and the nano measuring machines are being used for the purpose of three-dimensional coordination measurement in a range of (25 mm x 25 mm x 5 mm) having a resolution around 0.1 nm. It has got unique sensor arrangement which provides Abbe error-free measurement on all of the three coordinate axes. Measurement axes of the 3 miniature plane mirror interferometer for the length measurement intersect virtually with a contact point of a probe sensor having measuring object at a single point.

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Global Nano Positioning Systems Market: Drivers and Restraints

Nano positioning has got major applications in positioning, manipulation, measurement and processing of the objects in the field of microelectronics, micromechanics, molecular biology, optics and microsystem engineering with the nanometric precision within the large range. Thus, the rise in demand for active vibration damping, structural health monitoring, micro thrusters and rotary positioning in aerospace industry is expected to create growth opportunities for nano positioning system manufacturers during the forecast period. The nano positioning systems market is expected to expand steadily over the forecast period. With technological advancement in optoelectronics and microscopy segment with higher adoption of piezos are fueling the growth of the nano positioning systems market.

Global Nano Positioning Systems Market: Segmentation

Based on sensor type, the market has been segmented into four types which include capacitive, piezoresistive, piezoelectric and others. Piezoelectric sensor held the largest market share in terms of sensor type, followed by piezoresistive and capacitive sensor .Piezoelectric sensors depends on piezoelectric effect which is required to measure the plethora of different parameters like strain, pressure and force by, converting them into voltages. But piezoelectric sensor mostly operates purely as sensor and not in reverse mode, by applying voltage to generate the effect.

The growing demand of piezo sensors and piezo actuators in optics and aerospace is actually driving the market. Piezoelectric sensors are a kind of electromechanical component which exhibits close to zero deflection. Resulting to that, they used to respond across a high-frequency bandwidth and exhibits consistent linearity over the wide amplitude ranges.

The growing adoption of piezoelectric sensors and piezoresistive sensor in advance positioning system and advanced force microscopy is expected to drive the market in the forecasted period. Based on actuator type, the market is segmented into five segments which include mems-based electrostatic, magneto- strictive, electromagnetic, piezo and others.

By application the market has been segmented into six segments which includes optics & photonics, R&D, microscopy, advance positioning system, aerospace and others Geographically, the nano positioning systems market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The market for Nano Positioning Systems has been provided in (USD million) in terms of revenue and the CAGR for the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.

Global Nano Positioning Systems Market: Competitive Landscape

The key players in the nano positioning systems market have been competitively profiled across the five broad geographic regions. This competitive landscape is inclusive of the various business strategies adopted by these major players and their recent developments in the field of Nanopositioning. Further, the report includes the market attractiveness analysis of different deployment of nano positioning and insight into the major application area of the nano positioning system.

The report also provides assessment of different drivers that is impacting the global market, along with the restraints and opportunities that has also been covered under the scope of this report. For each segment (such as sensor type, actuator type, applications), market dynamics analysis has been provided. All these factors help in determining different trends that has been impacting the overall market growth. Moreover, after taking into consideration all this factors, an extensive analysis of the region wise growth parameters of Nano Positioning Systems market along with the overall assessment for the forecast period of 2017-2025 has also been provided within this report.

Some of the leading players who are operating in the market are like Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co.(Germany), , Prior Scientific Instruments (U.K.), Aerotech Inc. (The U.S.),Cedrat Technologies (France), OME Technology Co. Ltd. (Taiwan), Dynamic Structures and Materials, LLC (The U.S.), SmarAct GmbH (Germany), OWIS GmbH (Germany) and Mad City Labs, Inc. (The U.S.) among others.

The Nano Positioning Systems market has been segmented as follows:

Global Nano Positioning Systems Market, by Sensor Type Capacitive Sensor Piezoresistive Sensor Piezoelectric Sensor Others

Global Nano Positioning Systems Market, by Actuator Type MEMS-based electrostatic Actuator Magneto- Strictive Actuator Electromagnetic Actuator Piezo Actuator Others

Nano Positioning Systems Market by Application Optics & Photonics R&D Microscopy Advance Positioning System Aerospace Others

Global Nano Positioning Systems Market, by Region North America The U.S Canada Mexico Europe U.K Germany France Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan Korea India Rest of APAC Middle East and Africa U.A.E Saudi Arabia South Africa Rest of MEA Latin America Brazil Argentina Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5027966/

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Nano Positioning Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 - PR Newswire (press release)

Frozen fish embryos warm up better with nanorods – The Biological SCENE

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Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are widely used as a model organism for developmental biology. But after being frozen and thawed, zebrafish embryos rarely survive, meaning that researchers can only do experiments on live ones and cant store embryos for later experiments or to share with other labs.

Now, researchers report that injecting zebrafish embryos with gold nanorods can improve their viability when thawed, offering the possibility of long-term storage. With further development, the technique could also serve as a tool for the conservation of endangered species (ACS Nano 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b02216).

The work is very creative, says Mehmet Toner of Harvard Medical School, who was not involved with the study. Zebrafish are a very important molecular biology tool, and the embryos are extremely difficult to cryopreserve, but this technique could make it cost effective and practical for many laboratories.

During freezing and thawing, intracellular liquids can form needlelike ice crystals that pierce cell membranes and kill cells. Injecting cryoprotective chemicals that prevent ice crystal formation can help. But another problem is that when cells warm up unevenly, as when embryos are thawed in a water bath, intracellular proteins get scrambled, explains Nilay Chakraborty of the University of Michigan, Dearborn, who was not involved with the research. Think of it as having an oven that doesnt heat well, so some parts are undercooked and others are burnt.

Changing temperatures quickly and evenly throughout the entire volume of the embryo is crucial. This is feasible for small mammalian embryos but difficult for zebrafish, whose embryos are approximately seven times as large as human ones.

Looking for a solution, John C. Bischof of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and his colleagues injected a combination of propylene glycol, which acts as a biocompatible antifreeze, and gold nanoparticles into zebrafish embryos before freezing them in liquid nitrogen. After a few minutes, the team thawed the embryos with a millisecond pulse from a laser. The gold nanoparticles absorbed this energy and warmed the embryos quickly and evenly, at a rate faster than ice crystals could form. One hour after warming, 31% of the embryos were viable. They continued to develop normally for a day and were twitching their tails, not appearing to suffer any toxic effects. In contrast, a set of embryos frozen with the nanorods but warmed conventionally using a water bath did not survive thawing.

The laser-heated embryos still died after about 24 hours and did not develop into full-grown adults. But for now, the current technology could still prove useful for research, says Chakraborty. It depends on what the end goal is: Do you want a swimming zebrafish or to look at a particular proteins expression during early embryonic development?

Refining the technique so that the animals can grow to adulthood might help conservation efforts for certain endangered species that have large, hard-to-freeze embryos, including amphibians, birds, and reptiles. This is a platform that can be applied across species, Bischof says.

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UNC-Greensboro, N.C. A&T State University launch I-Corps … – Triad Business Journal

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Bitcoin can get to $100000 if it keeps following one of tech’s golden rules – Markets Insider

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REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel

Bitcoinis trading at record highs on Monday, but the cryptocurrency may still be far from hitting its ceiling.

It rallied 16.19% since July 31, despite last week's fork that split it in two. It's up 465% since last year.

According to analysis by Dennis Porto, a bitcoin investor and Harvard academic, bitcoin's price could hit $100,000 per coin if it continues to follow one of tech's "golden rules" - Moore's law.

The rule, which was devised in 1965 by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore, describes the exponential improvements of digital technology.

"Moore's law specifically applied to the number of transistors on a circuit but can be applied to any digital technology," Porto wrote in an email to Business Insider. "Any technology that is growing exponentially (i.e., 'following Moore's law') has a doubling time."

Typically, however, the rule applies to a technology's computing power or capabilities. This is the first time Porto has noticed a technology's price following Moore's law.

Since bitcoin's inception, according to Porto, its price has doubled every eight months.

Dennis Porto

"This poses a unique opportunity for investors: Whereas it was difficult to invest in circuits or internet speeds, it is easy to buy a bitcoin," Porto said.

Porto expects that this doubling trend could continue until bitcoin reaches mass adoption. Of course, another cryptocurrency could usurp bitcoin in the meantime.

By February 2021, Porto believes, it could be worth over $100,000.

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Bitcoin can get to $100000 if it keeps following one of tech's golden rules - Markets Insider

Indian Scientists Resurrect World War Era Drug To Fight Malaria – Outlook India

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A neglected and old anti-parasitic drug used during the World War II is emerging as a new weapon in the fight against malaria as malaria parasite becomes resistant to currently available drugs.

A group of Indian researchers have resurrected acriflavine or ACF which was used as an anti-parasite drug in the last century, and have found it to be effective against malaria parasite. Now they are working to make this molecule more effective using nanotechnology.

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Researchers at the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have got a patent for antimalarial properties of ACF. They have now joined hands with scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) to develop a nano-formulation of the dug and to study its potential in animal models. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is funding this joint effort.

ACF was previously used as a trypanocidal agent against a range of infections during World War II. But due to preferential use of chloroquine for treatment of malaria, its antimalarial activity was never investigated. It was used as an antibacterial and anti-parasitical agent but it was not known as antimalarial agent. We have found that it is effective as an antimalarial molecule also, said Prof Suman Dhar of JNU. We believe nanoformulation of ACF will help release the molecule slowly into the host. This will increase its stability, and it will be then conjugated with specific antibodies to make it more specific.

The researchers have already shown that ACF inhibits the growth of both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of human malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It was also found to clear malarial infection from bloodstreams of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. In addition, they have found that ACF is preferentially accumulated in the parasitized red blood cells.

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Chloroquine and pyrimethamine, which were used as primary chemotherapeutic drugs, are of little use now since the parasite has developed resistance to them. Though there is a decline in global burden of malaria continues to be a major health problem in many countries. Recent reports of resistance to artemisinin, the only effective antimalarial drug at present, are causing concern among health agencies globally.

The team of researchers includes Prof Suman Dhar from Special Center for Molecular Medicine at JNU; Dr Jaydeep Bhattacharya and Dr Deepak Gaur from School of Biotechnology at JNU; and Dr Agam P. Singh from NII, New Delhi.

(Indian Science Wire)

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Indian Scientists Resurrect World War Era Drug To Fight Malaria - Outlook India

U.S. News & World Report Ranks UK Chandler Hospital Best in the … – UKNow (press release)

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 8, 2017)UK HealthCares University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital remains the No. 1 hospital in Kentucky and the Bluegrass Region, according to the U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals Rankings released today.

In addition, four major health care areas have achieved top 50 national rankings, three of them for the first time. UK HealthCare rankings included: #50 in Cancer, #44 in Neurology and Neurosurgery, #43 in Geriatrics, and #37 in Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Along with the Top 50 rankings, UK HealthCare is ranked as high-performing in five other adult specialties Gastroenterology and GI Surgery; Nephrology; Orthopedics; Pulmonology; and Urology. Additionally, the health care system was designated high performing in eight common adult procedures and conditions: Aortic Valve Surgery, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure, Colon Cancer Surgery, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Hip Replacement, Knee Replacement, and Lung Cancer Surgery.

As many patients in the Commonwealth struggle with some of the most complex health issues, these recognitions cement UK HealthCare's role as the major health care system best equipped to deal with our state's unique health needs, said Dr. Michael Karpf, University of Kentucky executive vice president for health affairs.

We are committed to providing the best programs and best care available in Kentucky so that no one has to travel far from home for world-class advanced specialty care and these rankings speak to the hard work and dedication of our physicians, nurses and our entire health care team, Karpf said.

This years U.S. News & World Report rankings cover nearly every hospital in every community nationwide. According to survey officials, the rankings are grounded in objective data and offer patients a deep, rich resource on their hospital choices. Over 70 percent of the rankings are based on objective data, with U.S. News analyzing more than 2,600 metrics across 21 data-driven specialties and procedures and conditions. The result is thousands of data points on hospitals that excel at treating the most challenging cases, those that do best in more routine procedures, like knee replacements, and those that provide top local care.

UK HealthCare is a place where you feel safe because you know we're ready no matter the situation or illness, said Colleen Swartz, UK HealthCares chief administrative officer. If you have someone you love who lives in Kentucky you will need UK HealthCare at some point in time. Whether it's someone with a newly diagnosed cancer, or a premature baby, or a critically ill or injured child, or brother or mother or sister, you want to know that a place like this is ready to go when you need us.

Cancer care was included in the top 50 for the first time although it has consistently been designated as High Performing for many years. Still, the move up is indicative of the Markey Cancer Centers continued emphasis on providing exemplary care as the states only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated center.

We see 50 percent of our patients coming from Eastern Kentucky which has some of the highest rates of cancer in the country particularly lung cancer and colon cancer. So, the Markey Cancer Center is vitally important to our region, said Dr. Mark Evers, director of the Markey Cancer Center.

Since 2016, UK HealthCare has gone from one specialty top-50 ranking Geriatrics, which moved up two spots from #45 to #43 to having four major adult specialties nationally ranked.

This is the first time our programs at UK in neuro (neurology and neurosurgery) have achieved national rankings, said Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, the Ruth L. Works Professor and chair of the UKDepartment of Neurology, and co-director of the Kentucky NeuroscienceInstitute (KNI). This is something we've been working on for the past two years, and it's wonderful to be able to have our faculty and staff receive this recognition for all the great things they're doing.

Fellow KNI co-director Linda Van Eldik, who also is director of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, was pleased with national rankings in Neurology and Neurosurgery as well as Geriatrics. This is really a culmination of the work we've been doing for many years in the areas of brain, Van Eldik said. It's recognition from the outside that we already knew that we were doing cutting-edge work and we are continuing to enhance our excellence.

Dr. Shawn Caudill, professor and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Womens Health, sees increasingly more geriatric patients in UK HealthCares outpatient clinics. (The rankings) are a reflection of why we have such a larger aging population than we had before, Caudill said. Weve had lot of success on overcoming the things that used to kill people heart attacks, strokes, lung disease and weve done interventions to help keep people going longer and now it is important for us to continue to help take care of them.

This years rankings also included a major leap for UKs diabetes and endocrinology program. The previously unranked adult specialty is now 37th in the country, a testament to both the clinical care and research at UKs Barnstable-Brown Diabetes Center. We are one of the few places in Kentucky where all these services are provided either under one roof or where we can engage people to help you in all these different arenas, said Dr. John Fowlkes, director of the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center.

This collaboration and patient-centered care offered at the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center provides patients with outstanding clinical care throughout their lifespan and for all aspects of their health, added Dr. Lisa Tannock, chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Molecular Medicine. Our physicians, advancedpractice providers (APPs), endocrinology fellows and staff, including expert certified diabetes educators, continually seek opportunities to pass on advanced patient care based on our ongoing research into the best ways to prevent and treat diabetes and endocrine diseases.

In acknowledging all of UK HealthCares national rankings and achievements, one common factor is always first to be attributed to success the people who work there.

I've been here almost a year and a half and to see what the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare has achieved, really in a short time is remarkable, said UK College of Medicine Dean Dr. Robert DiPaola. And to see the passion of the people here behind the scenes doing the things that make a difference for our patients it is absolutely amazing. I know that going forward, we will continue this trajectory.

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U.S. News & World Report Ranks UK Chandler Hospital Best in the ... - UKNow (press release)

MHHS earns pair of accreditations – Citizentribune

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Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System was recently awarded a three-year term of accreditation in computed tomography (CT) and nuclear medicine as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

These accreditations join a line-up for the hospitals imaging services including accreditations for general ultrasound and breast imaging resulting in the hospital being named a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence.

This means this community has access to a high level of imagining quality, Emily M. Blomenberg, MBA, RT(R), CRA, director of imaging services at MHHS, said. When you come to Morristown-Hamblen, you know youll be treated the same way each time because we have a set requirement which involves the highest quality care possible in the imaging world.

It also means, youre going to have a safe experience. Safety is extremely important, she continued. I want that for my own family, and I want that here for my patients as well. Youll have a high-quality, consistent and safe environment in Morristown.

CT scanning sometimes called cat scanning is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and tailor treatments for various medical conditions. A CT scan can be used to study all parts of the body such as the chest, abdomen, pelvis, an arm or leg. It can take pictures of body organs such as the liver, pancreas, intestines, kidneys, bladder, adrenal glands, lungs and heart. And it can also study blood vessels, bones and the spinal cord.

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material, ingested by the patient, to diagnose and treat a variety of disease including many types of cancer, heart disease and certain other abnormalities within the body. Depending on the type of nuclear medicine exam, the radiotracer is either injected into the body, swallowed or inhaled as a gas and eventually accumulates in the organ or area of the body being examined. Radioactive emissions from the radiotracer are detected by a special camera or imaging device that produces pictures and provides molecular information. Nuclear medicine helps physicians do things such as visualize heart blood flow and function, assess damage to the heart following a heart attack, scan lungs for respiratory and blood flow problems, evaluate bones for fractures, detect the early onset of neurological disorders such as Alzheimers disease and stage cancer by determining the presence or spread of cancer in various parts of the body.

The earning of the accreditations for these two departments and others earned prior, required the consistent work of all radiologic technologists. It recognizes their ability to produce high-quality work in a consistent manner and to provide the safest environment possible to patients.

This is not possible without my direct staff. This isnt me or the hospital doing this. This is technologists working directly with patients. They did this, Blomenberg said. They had to adjust to be sure everything was appropriate in these images. They have learned in the process and can be certain they are providing the highest quality of care. I just want to thank them.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Parameters and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report that can be used for continuous practice improvement.

The ACR, founded in 1924, is a professional medical society dedicated to serving patients and society by empowering radiology professionals to advance the practice, science and professions of radiological care. The College serves more than 37,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

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Experts call for national policy on integrative medicine – India … – India Education Diary

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Kochi: The Government needs to formulate a national policy on the integration of Ayurveda with allopathy so that India can take its rightful place as the global leader in integrative medicine, said experts assembled at Indias biggest conference on integrative Ayurveda and modern medicine at Kochis Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. The two-day event called Amrita Samyogam, in which more than 60 experts and 1,000 delegates from around the world participated, was held in collaboration with Amrita Universitys School of Ayurveda. It was inaugurated by Dr. Rajesh Kotecha, Special Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH.

The Conference brought together allopathic doctors, Ayurveda practitioners and modern scientists on a common platform to identify strategies for integrating Ayurveda with Allopathy in the management of cancer, auto-immune diseases like arthritis, diabetes, neuro-degenerative diseases, and mental health.

Speaking at the event, Shri Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Special Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, said: In integrative health, all streams of health sciences come together in a synergistic manner to positively impact health outcomes. The Government is very serious about promoting a model where experts in different domains contribute to the health science, and migration of knowledge occurs between each stream. Indian healing systems are holistic and intuitive they cannot fully fit into all parameters demanded by Western medicine. The government is setting up a nationwide AYUSH grid connecting all hospitals and research labs to record case histories and observations so that a huge amount of evidences can be generated through data analytics about the efficacy of Ayurveda. While robust research is being conducted into Ayurveda, the problem arises in implementation of integrative medicine at the level of public health. This is because Ayurveda is still not accepted as a science by the Allopathic community. The Government of India has decided to extend its full support to Amrita Universitys initiative on integrative medicine.

Said Dr. P Ram Manohar, Research Director, Amrita Centre for Advanced Research in Ayurveda: We have a pluralistic healthcare system which is officially promoted, but the irony is that there is no national policy for integrative medicine in the country. The thrust for such integration is currently coming from the patients, who are left to decide for themselves which system of medicine is best suited for them. This can be dangerous as most patients are not well-informed. The trend of integrative medicine is on the rise worldwide and India needs to emerge as the leader in the field. There is a need for practitioners of Ayurveda and allopathy to collaborate and work together as one multi-disciplinary team to deliver better healthcare. We need to develop integrated clinical trials and integrated practice guidelines for practitioners across different healthcare systems.

Said Prof. Shantikumar Nair, Director, Centre for Nanosciences & Molecular Medicine, Amrita University: Allopathic medicine has distinguished itself with molecular level diagnostics and therapy. However, in many chronic conditions like diabetes, arthritis and neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, allopathic care does not promise cure. While disease management is possible with allopathic drugs, they have side-effects due to the use of synthetic elements. In Ayurveda, treatment is through natural herbal medications which can have significant potency and potential for substantial improvement in several disease conditions as well as less deleterious side effects. The main drawback of Ayurveda is the lack of scientific validation and data documentation as per evidence-based criteria, which prevents its better acceptance and recognition.

Added Dr. Christian Kessler, Internal Medicine Specialist, Charite Medical University, Germany: Ayurveda is a highly complex and whole medical system. Through its unique multi-modality therapeutic approach, it tackles issues related to health and disease at a systems level rather than unidimensional physical phenomena of single organs or cells. While modern biomedicine is currently rediscovering such inter-relationships in disciplines like psycho-neuro-immunology or psychosomatics, this has been at the heart of Ayurveda for thousands of years. Therefore, Ayurveda can be a great of source of inspiration for Western medicine, particularly in the emerging fields of personalized medicine, self-effectiveness and a strong emphasis on restoring health instead of focusing on disease only.

The Conference focused on evidence-based practice guidelines for cross-referrals and combination therapy, understanding the biological mechanisms underlying integrative care, and integration of modern technological tools in Ayurvedic diagnostics, treatment procedures and drug delivery. An International Journal of Integrative Health was launched at the event and a Society for Integrative Health was established to promote the development of Integrative Medicine in India.

Eminent medical experts who attended the Conference included: Dr. Jeffrey White, Director of National Cancer Institute, USA; Dr. Daniel Furst, Rheumatologist at University of California; Dr. Nereo Bresolin, Neurologist, University of Milan; Dr. Christian Kessler, Internal Medicine Specialist, Charite Medical University, Germany; Dr. Valdis Pirags, Diabetologist, University of Latvia; Dr. Maryam Matar, Genetics Specialist, UAE; Dr. Ravi Mehrotra, Director, National Institute for Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, Dr. B.N. Gangadhar, Director, NIMHANS, Bengaluru; Dr. Rama Jayasundar, Professor, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Dr. Ketaki Bapat, Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, and many others.

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Experts call for national policy on integrative medicine - India ... - India Education Diary

Digital Immortality, The Future of Memory, and Sci-Fi Utopias: An Interview With Dr. Phil Frana – Outer Places

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When you sit down with Phil Frana, you better buckle up for a conversation that ranges from the history of artificial intelligence (he's literally writing the book on it) to visions of the future, including uploading our minds to the singularity and 3-D printing our way to a utopian society. Phil is one of the speakersat the upcoming Escape Velocity 2017, the Museum of Science Fiction's annual sci-fi and science event, where he'll be leading a talk on matter duplicators. Ahead of Escape Velocity, we sat down with Phil to talk about sci-fi, tech, and the future.

Outer Places: Tell me a bit about yourself: your background, your interests, and what got you interested in sci-fi.

OP: You've taught courses on transhumanism, virtual worlds, and futuristics. What major changes do you see affecting humanity in the next thirty years?

Phil: I really think we're going to make tremendous progress on what I call the "totalization of memory" (You might call it "total recall"). We are so fearful of forgetting the most minute detail of our personal lives. We fear forgetting. But we also fear corporations, the government, and other nefarious types using our memories and data against us. We may see a form of digital immortality through mind-uploading (whole brain emulation) in our lifetimes. Reverse engineering the brain to achieve substrate independencethat is, transcribing the substance of the mind and emulating it on a variety of forms of physical or virtual mediais a recognized Grand Challenge of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering...

OP:Perfect segue into the next questionwhat are some of yourfavorite sci-fi books, movies, or shows?

Phil: What's the saying? "The golden age of science fiction is 12." I think that's the phrase. Meaning, you never care more about science fiction than when you were that age...I love the sense of wonder and attention to conceptual breakthroughs in 1920s-1960s science fiction. I love our grandparent's science fiction because the authors actually wanted to solve problems and, in the process, make the world a place of bliss. A.E. van Vogt's Weapon Shops time operas and R.A. Lafferty's short story All Pieces of a River Shore are some of my favorites. Somewhere in the late 1960s we began to lose our wayscience and technology became as much the problem as the solution. And today, despite all our encouragement of STEM disciplines, we are so very sure the tech is going to kill us all. SF, particularly in film, hectors us into believing that high technologies are the problem. Not the solution.

OP: What are your thoughts on recent sci-fi movies, like Arrival and Ghost in the Shell? Anything you wanted to direct attention to as a scholar or sci-fi fan?

Phil:Harrison Ford needs to stop with the science fiction-fantasy film series comeback routine...I've reached peak Harrison Ford.

I saw Valerian last week...The dialogue is pretty wooden (like the hardest wood possible, quebracho maybe?) but the visuals are stunning. The scene where the commando jacks into the guard at the augmented reality bazaar is fantastic. Remote control animals is real science. They've done it with cockroaches, beetles, sharks, turtles, mice and rats. That sort of thing. They slip a subcortical electrode implant under the skin and drive the things by push button.

OP: You've got an event at Escape Velocity this year where you talk about matter replication. Can you give me a teaser about what that'll be like?

Phil:Sure. I'll mostly be talking about the past and present of an idea we now call "post-scarcity." We are so hungry for a world where automation and radical abundance replace traditional human labor for wages. Even people who think they are against this are probably really in favor of it. We don't need to be defined by the drudgery of our lives anymore; we've actually never wanted to be. A number of commentators have suggested that a Minecraft mindset combined with additive manufacturing tools are harbingers of the post-scarcity economy. I would say that science fiction has been prepping us for a very long time before Minecraft and 3D-printing.

I'll be talking about visions of worlds where machines churn out most material goods, at negligible cost, starting with a 1935 short story by Murray Leinster called "The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator." In the story, Leinster conjures up a duplicator-unduplicator that exploits the notion that the four-dimensional universe (which includes time) has a bit of thickness. The device grabs chunks from the past and propels them into the present. The protagonist (Pete Davidson) uses the devicewhich he inherits from his inventor uncleto copy a banknote placed on the machine's platform. When the button is pushed the note remains, but it is joined by a copy of the note that existed seconds before, exactly when the button was pushed...The machine is used to hilarious effect as Davidson duplicates gold, and then (accidentally) pet kangaroos, girlfriends, and police officers plucked from the fourth dimension.

OP: Anything you're looking forward to seeing at Escape Velocity, apart from your panel?

Phil:My favorite part of EV is the cosplay. As I said on the phone, last year I was moderating a couple of sessions on the social lives of robots and had a cosplay Daft Punk robot sit down next to me and strike up conversations before and after sessions. The girl under the helmet was college-aged and super smart. She asked all sorts of interesting and important questions about why she liked to dress up like a robot. I was flummoxed by her brilliance.

Want tocheck out Phil Frana's talk at Escape Velocity this year (September 1st-3rd)? You can win a pair of weekend tickets to the event, courtesy of the Museum of Science Fiction and Outer Places! Click here to access the giveaway, or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.letting us know!

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Digital Immortality, The Future of Memory, and Sci-Fi Utopias: An Interview With Dr. Phil Frana - Outer Places

Exclusive: Framestore Is Building A Mind-Bending Fractal Multiverse For VR – UploadVR

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Global creative studio Framestore is usually known for taking client projects and executing them with world-class attention to detail despite tight deadlines and high expectations. Its visual effects department works on some of the worlds biggest movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange, while other parts of the company build immersive and groundbreaking experiences, including Ascend The Wall for HBOs Game of Thrones and a magic school bus that takes kids on a field trip to Mars.

At SIGGRAPH last week I got the first look at something quite different on the way from Framestore: a passion project led by Senior Creative Developer Johannes Saam. The software is called CORAL and it is a fractal multiverse that will invite VR developers and early adopters on some long relaxing visits. It is expected to be available in the coming months.

For those unfamiliar, a fractalcan be gorgeous and almost mesmerizing when representing a repeating mathematical function as objects or shapes in two or three dimensions.

A fractal is a mathematical function with verymathematically simple terms that ever-repeating patterns creates very interesting shapes and structures that, in theory, have infinite detail, saidSaam.

I spent a fair amount of my third grade class staring at a screensaver on an old computer that had similar kinds of illustrations, which can sometimes seem to be represented as an endless tunnel with changing shapes and colors. When the teacher finally realized it wasnt just me but a large portion of the class totally ignoring her for hours at a time, she turned the computer away from us so we couldnt stare at it while she spoke. For a few minutes at SIGGRAPH, I was brought back to that mesmerizing effect and didnt want to stop flying through the fractal multiverse of CORAL.

Its more of an art piece, a gallery experience, than a game as of today. Nothing stops us using the same technology in a game, or making this experience more game-like, said Saam. If youre interested in beautiful shapes and you just want to relax its kind of a very meditative state you get into.

I describe it as a multiverse because these structures repeat in every direction into infinity and a simple button press on an Xbox controller transports the visitor to a completely different structure to explore. It is almost like shifting to a different universe. Other buttons on the controller change the parameters of the function so you can change the shape and pattern of the structures as you fly through them.

You can use a stick on the controller to move forward and wherever your head is pointed is where you fly. Theyve implemented a similar kind of field of view constriction as seen in Eagle Flightso that intense flying or shifting in directions should be more comfortable.

So if youre familiar with Eagle Flight, this is basically that type of flying experience but instead of soaring over Paris youre zooming into an endless universe of shapes that might look like coastlines or snowflakes. One minute it feels like youre passing through a vast alien ship and the next through the intricate structures of a cell. Having not experienced an acid trip myself, I suspect this is about as close as you can come to having one without actually taking a drug.

ARKit Fractal.Raymarching for the mobile win! @Framestore @CumuloBimbus pic.twitter.com/uHLVQpl7Lr

Johannes Saam (@JohannesSaam) June 30, 2017

Weve heard of some other fractal VR software in the past but getting them to run at 90 frames per second required for comfortable VR viewing is a real challenge. That said, it appears to be something Framestore has a good grasp on. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in CORAL and didnt want to leave. Saam and the rest of his team at Framestores Los Angeles office are targeting reasonable specifications for PC hardware but may build some settings so it looks even better on higher end hardware.

Do you have any mesmerizing fractal memories of your own? Let us know down in the comments below!

Tagged with: CORAL, Framestore

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Exclusive: Framestore Is Building A Mind-Bending Fractal Multiverse For VR - UploadVR

5 VR Apps For Cat Lovers On International Cat Day – UploadVR

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If youve clicked on this article, its more than likely youre a cat person. Welcome, my friend, to a safe haven, free from those other types. Today, we celebrate all that is cute, furry and cuddlybut not too cuddly so that it doesnt scratch our eyes out.

Cats are wonderful, wonderful things, so long as theyre not a bit moody (which is around 2 minutes of every day). Theyre worth celebrating and, young as it is, VR already has plenty of apps that do just that. So sit back, pat your leg until your four-legged feline finally decides to stop ignoring you and jumps up, get a cushion so it doesnt sink its claws into your skin, and take a look at the best VR apps for cat lovers on this most precious of days.

Cant have a real cat? Well then live out your wildest dreams with Konrad, a virtual kitten that you can dress and play with to your hearts content. Earn currency in minigames that you can spend on new outfits and make sure to keep the little guy happy as can be. Developer Fusion Play is adding new features to the game all the time, so expect more content to come soon.

The Vive Cat Tracker is a personal favorite of ours here at UploadVR, as we know the pain caused both to your soul and your fuzzy friend when you accidentally walk into them in VR. Using a Vive Tracker, this app keeps tabs on your pet when they walk inside your play space to make sure you dont trample over them or worse during an intense game of Gorn.

As a lover of cats, you tolerate many, many things. An indescribably will to destroy all of your earthly positions is one such thing. Catlateral Damage lets you enter the mind of a feline and explain exactly why theyre so intent on destruction; because its so much fun. Smash through houses, museums and more in VR and become the destroyer you always knew you were.

Turns out that its a myth that cats land on all fours. Never fear, though, as in this game youre assigned with catching kittens that fall out of trees and burning buildings. You can also catch regular babies, but we dont really care about that. Cats!

Saying goodbye to a cat is the harsh reality of owning them that we must all face one day. That is unless you have Super Cat Herding, in which players can make their pets invincible. If your cat runs into the road, then its the car that gets ruined. Oh you can also givethem special abilities like fire breathing. Because of course.

Were including Chocolate on this list as a bonus app, because its not actually out yet. This is the latest VR project from Tyler Hurd, who made the bizarreButts. His follow up looks just as zany and hilarious. Look out for it on both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on August 17th. It will cost $1.99 at launch and $2.99 after August 24th.

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Gustafson: There are whiners, and there are wine-rs – Aspen Times

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I propose a toast to those who drink heartily from a cup half full, washing down a gulp of life with a splash of gratitude. Add a small twist of cynicism and you may find the golden ratio.

While stopping quickly at the Village Market uhh I mean Clark's the other morning, I had collected my mail from Jim, who's on a first-name basis with most villagers, personifying community spirit. And I was feeling keenly aware of what a special privilege it has been living in such a Rockwellian-montage my whole life and of just how lucky my own children are to be here as well.

Moments later, while sitting in my car in the parking lot sifting through my mail, I accidentally eavesdropped on two diametrically different conversations coming from either side of my jeep. With both my passenger and driver's side windows open, I listened as two men, both middle-aged white Americans and both seemingly on vacation, and likely of similar economic strata, were clearly having dramatically different experiences.

To my left, let's call him Joe Grateful, exclaimed to his companion, "I am upright and walking and in the most beautiful place in the world, nothing to complain about here," he smiled with sunlight in his face and walked across the street nearly into an oncoming car.

To my right, fully clad in this season's trendy cycling threads, push-rolling his rental bike through the parking lot, a presumed father figure, let's call him Johnny Killjoy, was spouting off in confrontational rhetoric asking, "Just how much do you think this vacation is costing me?" unaware of how some of us envious-onlookers may take that statement. He carried on about the price gouging; he was going to be no one's fool. And I could almost see the cloud of his misery hanging right over him while the sound of cash registers rang through his head.

I suppose I could relate to both in one way or another, but there must be some balance between blissfully vulnerable and miserably cynical. Still, I had to ask myself, why is it that some of us roll with life's punches while others can find fault in a flower; and I wondered, is there a happy and safe medium?

Perhaps at times we build things up and the expectations far exceed the experience, and at other times we can still find simple creature comforts to be humbling.

I remember occasionally finding myself sitting on the waiting couch in the Snowmass Village Salon, back in the '80s when it was managed by Renee and located next to the upper level of the Stewpot and downstairs from the Mountain Dragon. I used to thumb through glossy catalogs and listen to the gossiping, preaching and theorizing while my mom had her hair done. I held on to a few precious nuggets of wisdom that seemed like the gospel coming from that confident crowed; those woman seemed to have it all figured out to my impressionable young self.

"If you got it, flaunt it," they'd whoop in chorus, " but if you don't got it flaunt it anyway," and they would all laugh in sync. "Searching for gold makes it hard to see the silver lining," was another of their saying that still echoes in my mind.

Of all of the offbeat comments I heard back then, perhaps my favorite was, "There are whiners and than there are wine-rs," a favorite adage I've used myself and will not soon forget.

Earning the right to complain or knowing when to do so seems like an art. Still some more than others seem to have attained a level of respectability that earns them the right to openly and tactfully disapprove.

We can easily recognize that there is more to living here than just our impressive natural surroundings. Here in Snowmass, we enjoy a setting and a system that enriches our hearts along with our fiscal potential, and there seems to be so much to feel grateful for, much of which is owed to the dedication of those who were and are civil-minded enough to place the goals of the greater whole before their own vested self-interests. And when they protest, it's good to listen. Therefore a little skepticism about those who would carve out too much for their own self-gains is also reasonable.

I'm personally of the humble belief that if I cannot offer a solution I feel leery about pointing out flaws. I'm more inclined to simply ask questions first as I'm not sure that I've earned full complaint status yet.

For example, I'd like to ask why we were not presented any conceptual renderings of buildings 7 and 8 at the Upload for the Download? Not because I'm itching to critique or whine about the potentially unpalatable possibilities, but because I'm curious if we were being distracted; losing our way in the "hidden forest" or dreaming of "running away with" our lovers, oh yeah and the free drinks, keeping us wine-ing instead of whining on our way down.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak my mind, ask my questions and collaborate. And it's easy to find a silver lining with these inspiring mountain vistas as the backdrop.

In fact, anyone in town can fill out our Community Survey and speak up. I did it with a glass of finely fermented, but not sour grapes. With Joe Grateful sitting on my left shoulder reminding me to be thankful just to be here in Snowmass. Although I couldn't quite shake Johnny Killjoy off my right, as he whispered "watch out for the distractions, there's always a catch."

So I'll finish my toast to all those who feel enthusiastic about our improvements and "upgrades" and enjoy my moiety of merlot with a gilded chaser of unanswered questions, hoping that the right people are going to keep on asking so that all of our cups can remain at least half full. Cheers!

Let's exchange a piece of my mind for a little peace of mind, after all, if we always agree, what will we talk about? Britta Gustafson appreciates an open mind; share yours and email her at brittag@ymail.com.

Excerpt from:

Gustafson: There are whiners, and there are wine-rs - Aspen Times

The Newest Instagram Update Lets Everybody Watch You Video Chat With Your Friends – TeenVogue.com

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If you've ever FaceTimed with a friend and wished you could share your hilarious conversation with the world, Instagram has got you covered.

The photo-sharing app announced on Tuesday that it's started rolling out a new update, which allows users to add a friend to their Instagram Live broadcasts. Basically, at any point throughout your livestream , you can tap the icon of two smiley faces in the bottom right corner of your screen and invite any of your current viewers to join your video. If they accept, they'll show up below you in a split screen, and all of your viewers will be able to watch you interact with your new co-star.

According to a blog post from Instagram, "You can remove your guest and add someone else at any time, or they can also choose to exit on their own." As usual, once you've ended the livestream, you can choose whether to upload the video to your Instagram Story or discard it forever. And don't worry if the feature isn't showing up in your Instagram app just yet "this feature is currently testing with a small percentage of our community and will be rolling out globally over the next few months," according to the blog post.

Instagram is billing the update as a way for users to catch up with friends, "whether you're just doing homework or catching up on your day," but it could also cause major FOMO (fear of missing out) as your Insta followers watch you laugh it up with your bestie onscreen. The new feature seems like it could potentially worsen mental health issues that a recent study says are already linked to social media usage: Earlier this year, the U.K.'s Royal Society for Public Health published a study that found that Instagram negatively affects young people's anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep, body image, and FOMO, and worsens bullying. "Platforms that are supposed to help young people connect with each other may actually be fueling a mental health crisis," explained Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society.

While this definitely doesn't mean you need to delete your Instagram account and swear off Snapchat, you should always keep in mind that the perfectly posed and filtered pics you see online are not real life. And if you choose to use Insta's newest feature, be mindful of the followers you're leaving out, and consider switching to a private video chat if you and your co-livestreamer are only interacting with each other and ignoring your viewers.

Related: Apple JUST Joined Instagram

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The Newest Instagram Update Lets Everybody Watch You Video Chat With Your Friends - TeenVogue.com