National Science Foundation $9M grant will fund neurotech research hub at Cornell – The Ithaca Voice

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YOUR LOCAL NEWS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SUPPORT FROM This story was written by Syl Kacapyr and originally published in the Cornell Chronicle. It was NOT written by The Ithaca Voice.

ITHACA, N.Y. As neuroscientists examine challenging questions about the complexities of the central nervous system, new tools to be developed at Cornell will provide them with an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of the brain thanks to a five-year, $9 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant will establish the Cornell Neurotechnology NeuroNex Hub, which will focus on researching, developing and disseminating new optical imaging tools for noninvasive recording of neural activity in animals. It will also establish the Laboratory for Innovative Neurotechnology at Cornell, where engineers and biologists will collaborate on developing and testing the tools.

The hub aims to overcome three barriers faced by neuroscientists:

Deep imaging of intact brains Multiphoton microscopy, invented at Cornell, has allowed neuroscientists to record the activities of individual neurons up to approximately 1 millimeter deep into a mouse brain. However, the mouse brain is about 8 millimeters thick, and even thicker in larger animals. The hub will optimize a recently developed three-photon microscope and focus on making the tool widely available.

Imaging of large and multiple neural regions The best whole nervous system images have come from laval zebrafish, but existing imaging tools cannot holistically view larger brains, even at the scale of an adult zebrafish. Using a combination of two- and three-photon microscopy, the hub will develop a new tool to simultaneously observe neurons in different regions of the mouse brain and the spinal cord.

Faster imaging for volumetric recording To record large numbers of neurons, high-speed imaging will be achieved through the development of an adaptive illumination microscope in which the sample becomes an integral part of the imaging system. By leveraging prior knowledge of the sample, optimum laser exposure will be used to record the activities from a large number of neurons.

Within five years, the hub aims to integrate the three tools to demonstrate the deepest, high-resolution, large-scale neural activity recording ever achieved.

It is well recognized that neurotechnology development is essential to push the envelope of neuroscience. At the Cornell NeuroNex Hub, we will create, optimize and then disseminate the new tools that will enable biologists to attack some of the impossible problems in neuroscience, said Chris Xu, professor of applied and engineering physics, and principal investigator for the hub.

Using the technology, biologists hope to explore unanswered questions, such as how animals consciously switch from autonomous locomotion to deliberate limb placement.

Behaviors emerge from interactions of neurons widely distributed in brains, but we do not yet have the tools we need to simultaneously monitor single-cell activity widely in the brains of diverse species, said Joseph Fetcho, professor of neurobiology and behavior, and a senior investigator for the hub.

The hub is part of the largerCornell Neurotech program launchedwith a multimillion-dollar gift from the Mong Family Foundation in 2015 with the same goal of encouraging cross-disciplinary research to develop new tools for neuroscience. The hub will also educate the next generation of scientists by involving graduate and undergraduate students who will learn to collaborate across such disciplines as biology, computer science, engineering, medicine and physics.

In many ways, Cornell Neurotech has been growing at a rate faster than we could have anticipated, said Gretchen Ritter 83, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences. This trajectory is prompted both by the leading-edge imaging work of its researchers, as well as the attention that Cornells investment in neurotechnology has been generating more broadly.

Added Lance Collins, the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering: Its been exciting to see this Neurotech initiative blossom here at Cornell, which really is an ideal place to make great discoveries in neurotechnology and neuroscience. We not only have the collaborative environment, but we have a proud history of pioneering new technologies.

A large number of academic and industry partners across the nation have already signed on to participate in the hub, which will be led by Xu, Fetcho, Chris Schaffer, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Nilay Yapici, assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior, and Mert Sabuncu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of biomedical engineering.

Featured image:Principal investigators for the Cornell Neurotechnology NeuroNex Hub.Courtesy of Dave Burbank/Cornell University.

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National Science Foundation $9M grant will fund neurotech research hub at Cornell - The Ithaca Voice

$2.6 million to build versatile genetic toolkit for studying animal … – Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

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Looking beyond the mouse, fruit fly and roundworm for the neural underpinnings of behavior

Sophisticated techniques for testing hypotheses about the brain by activating and silencing genes are currently available for only a handful of model organisms. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are working on a simple toolkit that will allow scientists who study animal behavior to manipulate the genomes of many other animals, including the honeybees graduate student Cassondra Vernier is collecting for research. (Photo: Katelyn Marcus.)

On Aug. 1, the National Science Foundation announced 17 Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex) awards for projects that will yield innovative ways to tackle the mysteries of the brain.

A team from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was awarded $2.6 million to develop a simplified genetic toolkit that will allow scientists who study animal behavior to test hypotheses about its neural underpinnings. The Washington University award is intended to establish a NeuroNex Technology Hub that will develop and disseminate innovative neurotechnology.

Yehuda Ben-Shahar, the projects principal investigator and associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, said much of what we know about the connections between behavior and the brain is derived from work with just four species: the fruit fly, mouse, roundworm and zebrafish.

As science has progressed, hard core neuroscience and ethology (the study of animal behavior) have drifted apart. Fewer scientists trained as ethologists would consider testing a hypothesis or model by genetic manipulation, Ben-Shahar said, because theyre not trained in the techniques, and there are all sorts of real and imaginary barriers to adopting them.

So the goal of his team is to devise a simple approach that can be used to produce animal lines that would readily accept transgenes (foreign genes) and to teach organismal biologists how to use it.

In proof-of-principle demonstrations, his team will insert a gene into the olfactory neurons of locusts and honey bees that will allow researchers to watch the response to odors. Although they are starting with insects, the ultimate goal, Ben-Shahar said, is a flexible set of tools that scientists can easily tailor for any purpose and any animal.

Working with Ben-Shahar will be Barani Raman, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University; Gene Robinson, director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Ian Duncan, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

Raman maintains a breeding facility for the locust Schistocerca americana and Robinson for the honeybee Apis mellifera. Duncan studies the gene expression in fruit flies as they develop from larva to pupa to fly.

A sampling problem

Ben-Shahar has nothing against model organisms. In fact, his desk is covered with small flasks of fruit flies stoppered with cotton balls. Some were different species of Drosophila, he said. Others were various transgenic animals for one of my side projects. I like to keep them on my desk so I dont forget to take care of them.

Still, he points out that the number of species we study with modern neuroscience tools has been steadily shrinking. Many breakthroughs in the neurosciences were made with species that are now rare in the lab. For example, the action potential, or nerve impulse, was originally characterized in the squid, which happened to have a giant axon, or nerve projection, so that it could contract the muscles needed to jet away from danger as quickly as possible. Yet, squids are rarely used in neuroscience research nowadays.

Gradually, the animals used for basic neuroscience have been reduced to a few whose genomes have been completely sequenced. The tools for neural imaging and optogenetics (the manipulation of genes with light) exist primarily for these chosen few, so the gap between canonical model organisms and species not considered genetically tractable is rapidly widening.

Given the accidental way model organisms were chosen, it is highly unlikely that they are the best or the only model organisms we will need to understand the brain. The brain is a noisy organ, Ben-Shahar said. Sometimes theres no easy way to start understanding how something works in a human or a mouse, but you might be able to make a start on a nervous system that is a bit simpler, simple enough that you can see a signal in the noise.

Insert cassette, press play

So how does the team propose to turn neurogenetics into a turnkey operation? To create transgenic animals, they need to be able to control the location where the foreign gene is inserted and the efficiency with which the swap is made. The scientists propose to achieve both goals with the help of a two-step process.

The first step relies on the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to substitute DNA landing sites for a foreign gene (a transgene) for a gene called white that is found in similar or identical form in most insects.

When there is a mutation in white, insects eyes, which are typically bright red, turn white. White was one of the first genes identified in T.H. Morgans fly room at Columbia University because the white-eyed flies were so easy to spot among their red-eyed siblings.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a homing device (the CRISPR part) that guides molecular scissors (the Cas9 enzyme). The scientists plan to use CRISPR/Cas9 to cut a section out of white that is then replaced with a foreign piece of DNA that codes for red fluorescent protein and for landing sites for the enzyme used in the next step.

This first step produces stable insect lines prepped for the insertion of any additional pieces of foreign DNA and which can be easily identified by their white eyes or, under the right light, glowing red eyes.

In the second step, the transgene of a scientists choosing will be inserted into the landing site by a second, highly efficient reaction that replaces the red fluorescent protein. If the integration is successful, the insects eyes will remain white, but the fluorescent proteins will be lost and the eyes will no longer glow.

The reason for the two step process, Ben-Shahar explains, is that CRISPR/Cas9, while precise, is not efficient, meaning that most of the time the effort to insert the DNA cassette in the white gene will fail. But the second step makes use of an enzyme that is highly specific, fast and efficient.

Thats the trick, Ben-Shahar said. We take a first step that is low efficiency and we generate a line that can be used to construct many different transgenic animals with very high efficiency.

Taking it for a spin

The scientists will beta test their toolkit by generating honey bee and locust lines that express a reporter for neural activity in olfactory (smell) neurons.

This reporter, called GCaMP, is a genetically encoded protein, which acts as a fluorescent indicator for levels of calcium ions in neurons. The more active a neuron, the higher its calcium levels, so bright fluorescent GCaMP signals indicate nerves are firing.

The Raman lab has been studying the olfactory system of the locust for a long time, Ben-Shahar said, but theyve been using the traditional method of recording neuronal activity by directly measuring the electrical activity of neurons. That gives you very high temporal resolution, he said, but you can only record activity in a few neurons.

What were going to try to do is to generate grasshoppers with calcium reporters in larger populations of neurons tens to hundreds of neurons. The idea is to do the same experiments theyve done already to see if the activity in whole regions of the brain or subpopulations of neurons differs from the electrophysiological data they have on individual neurons.

Well try something very similar with the honeybee, he said, again inserting a calcium reporter in areas of the brain thought to be important for olfaction. One interesting question we could address is how olfaction changes as bees age into different roles in the hive.

As workers get older, he explains, their roles change from nursing and cleaning the hive to guarding and foraging. Nurse bees are attentive to olfactory cues released by the larvae to which foragers pay no attention, he said. How does that work? The foragers used to be nurses, after all. What changes in a bees sensory system when it suddenly commits to a different task?

There are many models for how this might work, Ben-Shahar said, but now we can generate tools that will allow us to directly test experimental predictions from these models and either prove or disprove them.

We didnt invent anything here, he said. Were really just taking bits and pieces that people have used in different contexts and putting them together in a user-friendly system. The innovative aspect of this is making these tools accessible to a whole community that wasnt able to take advantage of them before.

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$2.6 million to build versatile genetic toolkit for studying animal ... - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

Calgary bucking national trend of couples with fewer kids, census … – Calgary Herald

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Postmedia Calgary Downtown Calgary as seen from The Bow building on Thursday May 11, 2017. Gavin Young/Postmedia Network Gavin Young Gavin Young, Gavin Young Gavin Young Gavin Young / Gavin Young

Calgary is bucking the national trend of couples having fewer kids, according to new census data released Wednesday.

Canadian census data from 2016 shows partners across the country have shown less interest in starting families over the last five years, yet Calgary couples are opting for more baby rattles and cribs.

University of Calgary sociology professor Pallavi Banerjee said it could be the result of conservative family values across Alberta, a growth in immigrant populations in the city and a fairly stable economy until recent years.

Calgary, until recently, had the largest growing immigrant population, many of which align with conservative values that consider marriage and having children as important to family life, explains Banerjee.

The city has seen over 61,000 births since 2011.

Despite minor changes in national family dynamics since the previous census in 2011, dramatic shifts have taken place over time.

Census 2016 data shows 21.3 per cent of couples in Canada are common-law compared to a mere 6.3 per cent in 1981.

In Calgary 15.5 per cent of all couples are common-law, including Sam Ridgway, 24, and her 30-year-old partner. They have lived together for almost five years and said their recent decision to get married next year was nothing but a practical choice.

We took a long time to even talk about getting married because we didnt think it was something we needed to do, Ridgway said. It became a pragmatic thing because we want to move to the U.K. and I have citizenship, but Andy doesnt.

She said if it wasnt for their future plans its unlikely they would ever tie the knot.

Weve seen our parents get divorced. Weve seen our friends parents get divorced, said Ridgway. Its not a magic piece of paper and I think people are just willing to accept that if it has meaning you should do it, and if it doesnt you dont have to.

Its a huge expense to get married, have kids, have a house and its just something that most of the people your age arent in a position to do, like our parents were, said Ridgeway.

The new data also shows Canadian couples are having fewer children.

Partners with children make up 26.5 per cent of households in 2016, compared to 31.5 per cent in 2001.

I think it has become slightly less stigmatized for women to remain childfree thanks to the feminist movement, said Banerjee. Women now have the vocabulary to say that they would like to remain childfree without being social ostracized and there are more and more male partners on board.

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Calgary bucking national trend of couples with fewer kids, census ... - Calgary Herald

Political correctness: The great disease in this century – Mexia Daily News

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Submitted by mexia2010 on Wed, 08/02/2017 - 4:27pm

By Roxanne Thompson Staff Writer Some doctoral theses elicit a yawn and collect dust, but the thesis Andy Hopkins is working on may elicit sparks among those who value politically correctness. Hopkins is the son of Gwen Bartsch, who has a home at Lake Mexia and is an active member of the Mexia Lions Club. He spent 21 years in the Army, specializing as a Korean linguist, cryptographer and military intelligence officer. Now retired from the Army, Hopkins works at Wacos L3 Technologies, which provides security for military and commercial customers around the world. Hopkins already had an MBA and decided to pursue a doctorate. His thesis is on political correctness and its corrosive effects on peoples lives, freedom and national security. The United States has a history of embracing free speech, he noted, but as political correctness has grown in strength, free speech has suffered, and Americans now have to be fearful of what they say, write and think. We have to be afraid of using the wrong word; a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, racist, sexist or homophobic, he said. Weve seen other countries, particularly in this century, where this has been the case but we now have this situation in our country; and if you do any research in political correctness and where it comes from, your eyes will be opened.

To read more of this story, pick up a copy of Thursday's edition of The Mexia News. Subscribe online or call 254-562-2868.

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Political correctness: The great disease in this century - Mexia Daily News

Texas sheriff’s Facebook war on political correctness upsets residents – Salon

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Denton County, a small area north of Dallas, is host to a diverse populationofold-timers and college students. Its also home tolocal sheriff Tracy Murphree, whos been makingheadlines thanks to a history of controversial Facebook posts. Following the May terrorist attack atan Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, for example, he called for an end to political correctness and warned against an enemy with an ideology hell bent on killing you.

The post, in which he declared, The left wants to cater to the very group that would kill every group they claim to support . . . What will it take? This happening at a concert in Dallas or a school in Denton County? If we dont do something quick this country will die of political correctness, soon wentviral. Murphree then went public to defend his remarks, which he stands by, though he refused a recent request for comment. During an interview with Fox Business, hesaid that his words were on target and claimed he was simply voicing the thoughts of many others over the last few years. He also stated he wrote the post with his own children and the citizens he is sworn to protect in mind.

[The response] shocked me, said Murphree. I expected a lot of criticism from the left, from liberals, but I expected that more locally than worldwide. I dont understand why a Texas sheriffs Facebook post has gone worldwide.

But the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, issued a statement following the post calling for Murphreeto reaffirm his commitment to equal justice for all county residentsregardless of faith, ethnicity or national origin.

The guy has a serious anger management problem, and sometimes in certain combat situations thats good, but this guys walking the streets as a public safety officer and its just not good to know that something could set him off that shouldnt, said Larry Beck, an active Denton citizen who started Denton Doings, a blog that covers local events. It sets a poor example for his men, too.

Because Murphree is an elected official with a good reputation in law enforcement, there is not much to be done in the way of disciplinary action other than monitoring the behavior and hoping he does not act on his beliefs, according to Beck. However, this is not the first time Murphree has made controversialcommentstargeting minority groups. And some feel that the possibility of violenceis real, either fromMurphree himself or someone inspired by him.

The fact that hes in a reputable position, county sheriff, saying things like thatit doesnt bode well for the city and it can affect others who have the tendency to actually carry out the actions of what some people say, said Beck. That would bother me;that should bother any citizen.

Beck continued, As long as we keep a level head and keep an eye on him, I think hopefully hell either straighten his act out or hell step over that line thatll probably allow us to take legal action against him. I just hope nobody gets seriously hurt or killed in the process before it happens.

Shortly before his 2016 election, Murphree made a different Facebook post, in which he threatened to beat any transgender women unconscious whotried to use the restroom with his daughter.

This whole bathroom thing is craziness I have never seen, Murphree wrote in a post that has since been deleted. All I can say is this: If my little girl is in a public womens restroom and a man, regardless of how he may identify, goes into the bathroom, he will then identify as a John Doe until he wakes up in whatever hospital he may be taken to. Your identity does not trump my little girls safety. I identify as an overprotective father that loves his kids and would do anything to protect them.

Sharon Kremer, who has lived in Denton County her whole life and relies on Murphree as her first responder, also has concerns about the sheriffs behavior, stressing the importance of having a leader with a steady hand, and a cool head.

As an early senior aged, single female, living on a couple of acres by herself, it doesnt make us feel secure, said Kremer, who feels that Murphree could benefit greatly from counseling. Just because we have a Twitter-happy president doesnt mean that thats a model. . . . Its a piece of erratic behavior, and I think all of us would agree that nobody needs to handle firearms and be erratic in behavior, and unsound in judgment, and reactionary. The third strike must come with some kind of consequences.

Citing his right as an American citizen to weigh in on national issues, Murphree continues to speak his mind.

I think political correctness is one of the reasons that these things happen. People are afraid theyre going to be called what Ive been called: a racist, or islamophobe, or a hate mongerer, he said earlier this year. People dont speak out because they dont want to be called those things, and Im not afraid to be called those things. Im not that, I just speak the truth.

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Texas sheriff's Facebook war on political correctness upsets residents - Salon

Where will all this political correctness end? – Northside Sun

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Maybe I'm getting a better perspective, or perhaps getting worn down. I don't know. But I'm pretty neutral when it comes to the state flag. If I had an ancestor who had died in the Confederate army, or one who was a slave perhaps I would feel differently. Let's review. The flag was officially adopted after the Civil War in April 1894. The referendum for a new design was soundly defeated by 64 percent of voters in 2012. There has been insufficient support to put it back on the ballot in the 2018 election, although, I understand, it could be removed by the Mississippi Legislature should they risk doing so.

Since the shooting of nine black worshipers in a South Carolina church on June 17, 2015 by a white supremacist, there has been a renewed effort to not only change the flag, but also remove other symbols of Confederate history. First the flag: Mississippi is the only state that displays such a flag. After the 2015 shooting, South Carolina removed a separate Confederate flag that they flew alongside their own state flag. Most of our state's universities have removed the state flag. A court in Clarksdale has removed the flag, as has the state Capitol in Jackson.

Next - other symbols of the Confederacy: In 2010 Colonel Reb was replaced by the Black Bear as the official symbol of Ole Miss. Ironically many believe a black man was the inspiration for the Colonel. From 1896 till his death in 1955 blind Jim Ivy attended and supported many Ole Miss athletic events. He famously said: "I have never seen Ole Miss lose!" The politically correct administration at the university has also discontinued the singing of "Dixie" at games. In New Orleans four monuments of Confederate heroes have been removed from public grounds.

Where will this end? 'Ole Miss' is the nickname for a slave owner's wife. Should that go? A building on the campus was built by slaves. Should that be destroyed? But our first President, George Washington, was a slave owner. Should the Washington Monument go? The architect of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was a slave owner. Should it be ripped up? What about our history books - surely the Civil War needs to be edited severely we'll soon say. Let's not include Sherman's raids (he was a Yankee) when he devastated such towns as Meridian, burning most houses and stealing food (destroying what he didn't need) in the middle of winter in February 1864.

I was not born in the South. In 1957 I immigrated from England. That country too has lost a few battles. On the bank of the River Thames in London there is a statue of Queen Boadicea who ruled ancient Brits immediately before Roman times. Although flogged and her daughters raped, she led her army against the Roman invaders. Eventually she lost, but her statue remains as a reminder of past bravery and history. Shouldn't Mississippi do the same?

Peter Gilderson is a Northsider.

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Where will all this political correctness end? - Northside Sun

Renaming Hollywood streets takes political correctness too far | Letters – Sun Sentinel

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In response to the July 30 letter to the editor "Part of history lost," I agree that replacing the names of Confederate generals Robert. E. Lee, John Hood, and Nathan Bedford Forrest on local streets in Broward is carrying political coreectness way too far.

Like it or not, this country fought the Civil War, and those generals are part of our national history. George Washington had slaves, and so did seven other sitting presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, who wrote much of our historic laws and documents. Of course slavery was wrong no one disputes that. But would those local idiots wanting to replace the street names advocate removing these historic names from public places as well?

My forebearers fought in the American Revolution, and my ancestors from Pennsylvania fought with the Union in the Civil War. Many in our family are married to descendents of those who served on the Confederate side. We all love each other and respect our forebearers, who did what they believed in during that time period.

From what I have been told, these days very little American history is taught in schools, so it is doubtful that younger people even know who these generals were with the possible exception of Lee. Lincoln stressed "with malice toward none..." and respect for all. That should apply to our nation's history all of it.

In my humble opinion, the current craze of "political correctness" that is sweeping this country has gone far beyond the point of common sense. Let's honor and respect all Americans and try to focus on working together for the common good.

Kathleen Dempsey, Pompano Beach

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Renaming Hollywood streets takes political correctness too far | Letters - Sun Sentinel

Cloning, Counterfeiting and Fraud in digital payments what to know to stay safe – Technology Zimbabwe

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Technology Zimbabwe
Cloning, Counterfeiting and Fraud in digital payments what to know to stay safe
Technology Zimbabwe
The second topic being discussed at the Mobile money and Digital payments conference at Meikles hotel is discussing Cloning, Counterfeiting and Fraud in mobile money and digital payments. The discussion was kick started by a presentation from Jaqueline ...

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Cloning, Counterfeiting and Fraud in digital payments what to know to stay safe - Technology Zimbabwe

Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots is a timely look at robots that Kubrick could only dream of – review – Telegraph.co.uk

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Those pesky robots, eh? This week, Facebook shut down a pair of its artificial intelligence chatbots after they invented their own language and started talking to each other in a way only they understood. Eat your heart out, Stanley Kubrick. This was like a sinister plot twist in a dystopian vision of the future.

If the tinny tykes arent hell-bent on universal domination (see Doctor Whos Cybermen), theyre becoming scarily sentient (witness Humans or Westworld).

Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots (BBC Four) was a timely two-part documentary investigating how far robots have come and what it could mean if, like in those sci-fi series, machines developed true consciousness and emotional intelligence.

This concluding episode saw evolutionary biologist Dr Ben Garrod and electronics engineer Professor Danielle George criss-crossing the globe to come face to metal face with a range of futuristic creations.

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Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots is a timely look at robots that Kubrick could only dream of - review - Telegraph.co.uk

How to Slam Dunk Creationists like Mike Pence When It Comes to the Theory of Evolution – Newsweek

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This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The 2001 discovery of the seven million-year-old Sahelanthropus, the first known upright ape-like creatures, was yet more proof of humanitys place among the great apes. And yet Mike Pence, then a representative and now U.S. vice president, argues for the opposite conclusion.

For him, our ideas about our ancestors have changed, proving once more that evolution was a theory, and therefore we should be free to teach other theories alongside evolution in our classrooms.

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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an event celebrating National Military Appreciation Month and National Military Spouse Appreciation Day at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., May 9. Joshua Roberts/File Photo/Reuters

How to respond? The usual answer is that we should teach students the meaning of the word theory as used in sciencethat is, a hypothesis (or idea) that has stood up to repeated testing. Pences argument will then be exposed to be what philosophers call an equivocation an argument that only seems to make sense because the same word is being used in two different senses.

Evolution, Pence argues, is a theory, theories are uncertain, therefore evolution is uncertain. But evolution is a theory only in the scientific sense of the word. And in the words of the National Academy of Sciences:The formal scientific definition of theory is quite different from the everyday meaning of the word. It refers to a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence. Attaching this label to evolution is an indicator of strength, not weakness.

If you take this approach, you have failed to understand the purpose of Pences rhetoric, or why it is so appealing to creationists. Pence is an accomplished politician, and knows exactly how to appeal to his intended audience. He is also an accomplished trial lawyer, which makes him a conjuror with words, and like any skilful conjuror he has pulled off his trick by distraction. Pence has drawn us into a discussion about words, when our focus should be on the evidence.

I would suggest the opposite approach. The problem is not really with the word theory at all. Students will have learned its meaning in the same way they learn meanings in general: by seeing how the word is used.

Charles Darwin J. Cameron/CC

They will have heard of atomic theory, which no one has seriously doubted for over a century. And what about the theory of gravity? Finally, they may have seen how Darwin himself uses the expression my theory,"although at the time it was neither comprehensive nor well supported (there were huge gaps in the fossil record), to refer in a very general way to his linked ideas about mutability of species, common descent, and the power of natural selection.

So if anyone says, Evolution is a theory," dont give them a lecture on the meaning of the word theory."If you do, youve fallen into the trap of making it seem that how we define words should affect how we see reality. You will be fighting on ground of your opponents choosing, since arguing about how to apply words is the stock in trade of theologians, preachers and lawyers like Mike Pence.

The correct response is to say that evolution is a theorylike gravity is a theoryand then redirect attention to the evidence. And that evidence is overwhelming.

Start with family relationships. Carl Linnaeus showed how living things can be classified into species, genera, families and so on, and Darwin pointed out that this is exactly the structure we would expect from a family tree. All dogs are canines, so dogs share an ancestor with foxes; all canines are carnivora, so dogs share a more remote ancestor with bears; all carnivora are mammals, so dogs and sheep are, albeit more remotely, related, and so on.

Then look at the discovery over the past few decades of family relationships at the molecular level, and the fact that the molecular family tree matches that based on anatomical resemblances.

Observe the fossil record. Once lamentably full of gaps (Darwin was among the lamenters), it is now densely populated. A century ago, it still made sense to point to the missing link between humans and pre-human apes. Now we know of several different hominin species living alongside each other, and the problem becomes one of distinguishing our grandparents from our great uncles. And yes, there are missing links in the chain, but without evolution we would not have a chain at all.

A display of a series of skeltons showing the evolution of humans at the Peabody Museum, New Haven, Connecticut, circa 1935. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

And then theres biogeography: for example, why marsupials are only found in South America and Australasia, and except for a few species that made their way across the Isthmus of Panama, are never found elsewhere.

Plus we can actually observe evolution, and study it in the field or in the lab. The emergence of pesticide resistance is evolution in action, as shown in the justly famous Harvard/Technion demonstration evolution on a plate." So is the delightful Russian experiment of breeding tame foxes. Artificial selection, just as much as natural selection, is evolution in action.

And finally, and most convincingly, we must look at the way that these different lines of evidence mesh together. We can apply biogeography to the fossil record, and link it to what we know about the movements of the continents. Using the methods of molecular biology, we can identify and time the mutations that led different species to diverge from their common ancestor, and match the timing against the fossil record.

Sperm whale. Whales are related to hoofed animals. Hiroya Minakuchi/Minden/National Geographic Creative

Thus the fossil record, deep anatomical resemblances, and DNA evidence agree in showing that whales, for instance, are closely related to hoofed mammals, diverging from them in the Eocene period. There are many other examples of such consistency.

Then, and only then, pause to explain how a scientific theory is an interlocking connection of ideas that explain things about the world, and that evolution is one of the most successful examples. And challenge the Mike Pences of this world to spell out exactly what they would like to see taught alongside the Theory of Evolutionand why.

Paul Bratermanis Hon. Research Fellow; Professor Emeritus atUniversity of Glasgow

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How to Slam Dunk Creationists like Mike Pence When It Comes to the Theory of Evolution - Newsweek

MSU genetics and evolution study receives $1.2 million NSF grant – Mississippi State Newsroom

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Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.Mississippi State is part of a new research collaboration sponsored by the National Science Foundation in which a colorful tropical butterfly is helping researchers investigate genetics and evolution.

Scientists at the Starkville land-grant university and the University of Puerto RicoRio Piedras will be studying the relationship in organisms between genetic material, or genotype, and physical characteristics due to gene expression and environmental influences, or phenotype.

Brian Counterman, an associate professor of biological sciences, leads the MSU research team. Ryan Range, assistant professor of biological sciences, as well as Jovonn Hill and Federico Hoffman, both assistant professors in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, also are part of the study that will examine genotype-phenotype relationships using color patterns of the Heliconius butterfly.

More than $1.2 million is being provided through the NSFs Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, known as EPSCoR, for the MSU collaboration over four years.

National Science Foundation leaders have noted how the genotype-to-phenotype relationship has significant societal and economic implications across scientific fields and areas of industry such as medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.

According to EPSCoR Head Denise Barnes, Over the past several decades, scientists and engineers have made massive strides in decoding, amassing and storing genomic data. For that reason, the federal agency is committed to providing the U.S. scientific community, including MSU, with resources for future discoveries that may help improve food-crop yields, better predictions for human disease risk and new drug therapies.

Angus Dawe, head of MSUs Department of Biological Sciences, said that in addition to helping raise our profile nationally, the project will make possible extensive support for training students and extend the impact of work at MSU to other regions.

This award will support foundational work at the cutting edge of genetics and evolution, Dawe said.

As Counterman recounted, groundbreaking 19th century naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-82) considered Heliconius to be the most striking example of natural selection in the wild because it has the ability to work with other butterflies to train predators that they are toxic.

When species work together, more individual butterflies survive and produce offspring, which is the process of natural selection at its best, Counterman observed.

Counterman said the new inquiry actually is an extension of a project we were already working on with Puerto RicoRio Piedras. When we finished in February, we decided to take it a step further and write a proposal for this grant.

Dawe said the MSU department is proud of its facultys continued success in obtaining research support from a variety of agencies, even as federal funding rates have been cut dramatically. To be able to receive awards in this climate is further evidence that biological sciences at Mississippi State competes with the very best programs anywhere, he emphasized.

Counterman said he and fellow team members are excited about opportunities to provide highly specialized genomic training in both Mississippi and Puerto Rico.

An MSU faculty member since 2010, Counterman is a biology doctoral graduate of Duke University who earlier earned a bachelors degree in ecology and evolution at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dawe said that research proposals for national grants typically involve a tremendous amount of work. He expressed his departments deep appreciation for administrative support and scientific collaborations with campus colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as the offices of Sponsored Projects and Research and Economic Development.

We are extremely grateful for their support, without which the submission of grant proposals could not happen, he said.

For details about EPSCoRs ongoing mission, visit http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/epscor.

MSUs College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,000 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. It also is home to the most diverse units for research and scholarly activities, including the Department of Biological Sciences.

Research expenditures in the humanities are also an important part of Mississippi States overall research portfolio. Additionally, the NSF has ranked MSU among the top 25 for research expenditures in the social sciences. For more information on MSUs College of Arts and Sciences, visit http://www.cas.msstate.edu. The Department of Biological Sciences is online at http://www.biology.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippis leading university, also available online at http://www.msstate.edu.

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MSU genetics and evolution study receives $1.2 million NSF grant - Mississippi State Newsroom

Father of Afghan Robotics Team Captain Is Killed in Suicide Bombing – New York Times

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Photo Mourners carrying the coffins of victims of an attack on Tuesday on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan, that killed 37. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Credit Agence France-Presse Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan When the Afghan female robotics team, made up of teenage students from the western city of Herat, finally made it to a global competition in the United States, the cameras were focused on them. Here was a glimmer of hope from a place so often associated with bloodshed. The girls had made it against all odds, including being denied visas twice.

With a big smile, Fatemah Qaderyan, 14, the team captain, illustrated just how far girls, even from a challenging place like Afghanistan, could go if given the opportunity. Crucial to that, she repeated, was the support of her parents.

Tuesday night, Fatemahs father, Mohammed Asef Qaderyan, 54, was killed when suicide bombers targeted hundreds of worshipers at a mosque near their home in the city of Herat.

Roya Mahboob, an Afghan technology entrepreneur who helped arrange the teams trip to the United States, confirmed the news of the death. Jailani Farhad, a spokesman for the governor of Herat, also said that Mr. Qaderyan had been among those killed.

The assault, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, left 37 people dead and 66 others wounded. It was the fifth attack this year against Shiite places of worship, killing at least 44 civilians and wounding 88, according to the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. Four of those attacks took place in Herat Province, and one took place in Kabul. The regional branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for two of them.

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Father of Afghan Robotics Team Captain Is Killed in Suicide Bombing - New York Times

Aussies Win Amazon Robotics Challenge – IEEE Spectrum

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Photo: Anthony Weate/QUT Peter Corke, director of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision at Queensland University of Technology, and other members of Team ACRV work on their robot, named Cartman, which won the 2017 Amazon Robotics Challenge in Japan.

Amazon has a problem, and that problem is humans. Amazon needs humans, lots of them. But humans, as we all know, are the most unreasonable part of any business, constantly demanding things like lights and air. So Amazon has turned to robots (over 100,000 of them) for doing tasks likemoving things around in a warehouse.But its proving to be much more difficult to get the robots to do some other tasks. One of the hardest ispicking objects from shelves and bins.

To solve this problem, Amazon is making it someone elses problem, by hosting a yearly robotics pickingchallenge. In the competition,teams have to developrobotics hardware and software that can recognize objects, grasp them, and move them from place to place. This is harder than it sounds, because were on year threeand Amazon is still running this thing, but some clever Australians are making substantial progress.

The 2017 incarnation of the Amazon Robotics Challenge was held at RoboCup in Nagoya last month, and sixteen teams from around the world made the trip to Japan. What Amazon was looking for was a robot that could identify items, remove target items from storage and place them into boxes (picking), take target items from totes and place them into storage (stowing), and then do both at once in a grand fantastic explosion all-or-nothing final competition.

Teams brought their own robots with their own nutty gripper designs, and also their own item storage system designed to be able to handle all of the stuff and junk that crazy people like you buy on Amazon every day. Points were awarded for successful picks, successful stows, neat packing, and overall quickness, while points were deducted for (among other things) major damage to items, which is unfortunate, since a robot that could just flatten everything into a pancake would have a much easier time at this!

Heres an overview of how things went:

Team ACRV (from the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision at Queensland University of Technology in Australia), which didnt place in the top three on either the individual pick task or stow task, managed to knock it out of the park on the combined final task, taking first place and going home with US $80,000 (which is way more in Australia).

Third place went to Singapores Nanyang Technological University, whichmanaged a first in the picking task anda second in the stowing task. And second place went to NimbRo, which posted this video of their final run:

A few things to note from these videos: It looks like most teams used some flavor of hybrid gripper design, relying primarily on suction and using a physical gripping mechanism when necessary. There are also plenty of instances when the first grasping attempt fails, and the robot needs to be able to detect and adapt to that, just like a human does. Additionally, the robots sometimes grasped multiple things at once by accident, or had to deal with objects (like books) that can change their shape post-grasp as they were lifted. These sorts of things are why challenges like these are important: Given the number of objects that Amazon is foisting on us,its hard to predict how any system will perform without trying it out in real life, or as close to real life as challenges like these allow.

While QUTs press release suggests that the team has solved a key robotics problem for Amazon picking items and stowing them in boxes in an unstructured environment, that strikes us as awfully optimistic. Its certainly a key robotics problem, but solving it implies a reliable robotic solution that can compete (at least to some extent) with a human picker, and based on these videos, we seem kind of far from that. Also worth noting is that QUTs winning robot is a stationary gantry system, suggesting that Amazon could perhaps be open to a picking solution that doesnt move, rather than a mobile manipulator.

On the other hand, maybe we shouldnt draw too many conclusions from the specific designs, and just be happy that were seeing some tangible advancements in object recognition, grasp planning, and everything else under conditions that are somewhat close to real-world usefulness. And as soon as Amazon buys up all the winning teams of one of their challenges and then cancels the following year, we might be able to actually figure out what their robotics fulfillment plan is.

[ Amazon Robotics Challenge]

IEEE Spectrums award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org

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Aussies Win Amazon Robotics Challenge - IEEE Spectrum

Robotics competition at UNCP on Saturday – The Robesonian

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PEMBROKE Robots will invade the Jones Center on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Saturday.

The main gym will be the site of the countys first-ever Thundering Herds of Robots event. It is a robotics competition pitting high school students from across North Carolina against one another. A dozen teams are scheduled to compete, including Robeson Early College High Schools ROBCOBOT.

This is not just about robots, Keenan Locklear, the teams coach. They gain leadership skills and I have found since theyve been involved in these robotics competitions, they are doing better in school. Some have found something they didnt know they had an interest in, like software programming and mechanical engineering.

We are trying to get our students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and this is the first step.

The host of Saturdays competition will be FIRST North Carolina, a nonprofit created to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology and to help them acquire the skills to compete in a technologically-driven economy.

There are 21 members on the ROBCOBOT squad. They will be competing in a game called Steamworks, in which a three-team alliance will guide their robots in an attempt to score points by building steam pressure, gathering materials to ignite rotors, and boarding robots onto an airship.

THOR is the states first off-season robotics competition for FIRST Robotics Competition teams. The build season for FIRST begins in January. Teams are given six weeks to design, build, program, and test a robot that can perform the necessary tasks to succeed in each years game.

Students work closely with teachers, like Locklear at Robeson Community Colleges Early College, and volunteer mentors. Locklear said they are in need of mentors to assist during each phase.

The students come up with the design, he said. There are no instructions just a tub or parts. Thats why we need mentors from the community to assist with the engineering and testing.

The Early College team was formed in 2016. Locklear, a two-time UNCP graduate who teaches Chemistry and Physical Science at the Early College, learned about the FIRST organization while serving on the N.C. Board of Science, Technology and Innovation.

My goal is to start up clubs at each of the middle schools in Robeson County, he said. I have seen my kids mature in the areas of public speaking. They come to high school thinking they want to be a doctor and thats all they think.

But once they get involved in robotics, they start thinking about designing prosthetics. This exposes them to other areas that they can succeed.

We have some smart students. They just need to be challenged. Robotics gives them the opportunity to rise to the challenge.

Mark Locklear is a Public Relations specialist at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

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Robotics competition at UNCP on Saturday - The Robesonian

Four You – The Worst Suplex You’ve Ever Cena – WAAF.com (blog)

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We lost 10 AM the previous seven. Podcasts are always on him. Mind you schedule and WA AF. It's time for the fort things you should know history rules and on the plot never got less than twelve hours a week. And I've got this thing first and as a city never going to hear a lady who's got a tattoo back. This is for you from Matty in the so we know that there is no shortage. All. Celebrities who have very attractive offspring. Through that you can do you think of the hottest ones this fall. All my god Eminem's daughter Hayley. All my dogs got them good looks just Google Haley matters get it up reenact. Oh yeah that's not the movie I really. Please don't intend to make eye contact to Toulouse and then getting ready. You know honored. They would irresponsible for somebody loaded this studio would. Is that I'll get it up for my neck as you pulled the Matty B Boehner. Gross I think I need to wash my years. Okay faux wow congratulations. Right okay now Google. Janet. Week Wayne Gretzky eased up polygraphs now Natalie Dustin Johnson and the body fat and zero clicked again that she's hot and now look just did you go to type in winged you don't even get to late yeah gene into Wayne Gretzky Donner I think that's exactly who Google wants to win. Are you god did acts also she's. I. Natalie Connally risky. She's like a 27 out of ten enterprise incredible there's no doubt about that but she idol I I don't go for the fitness model like and then the oh ugly face thing. Ugly thing. I don't know I don't know that's that's that's Hayley you know and that's where. But what you. You really look at or just kind of wondering why the grade is out eyes accounted dads get dead guys like Dustin does a lot. I'm just not a big fan that's all different strokes and eventually they send your body but I'll tell you what the rehab bring up is we have a near those crackers what and get out of my bed we have a new Corning. All alert fellas we have a new client hottest out on and on out yeah he would not tell me eared. Some here declaring new hot is still every dollar I have declared a new alert alert get to answer Graham now you're out yeah where. I'd show me a picture the daughter you know who it is first whose daughter's first. I'll say picks and could now turn against what's it. Daddy oh my god sent off longer and daughter. Well known dawn when. We have a new high just let me daughter telescope to insert him and follow I don't. Lundgren her full Amsterdam handle is Qaeda S Lungren she's 21 years. She's the daughter of and plastic superstar while longer and he hammers and venables and rocky four and you know rich red scorpion roll stars of lead but that. But I'll be masters of the universe a beautiful there's been he man. She's a will mean a model. And now an extra dead yet. Course if you mistreated her he would literally eat you for dinner literally like can you imagine if you ask her out to the dance that Brokaw ever home by eleven or. Who through Q is it literally eight kick boxing champion. I he's pro life you know also too much like Claudia Schiffer you know I think he has a PH is Italy's his masters he might have a Ph.D. yet Iraq I think he doesn't like. Astro physics and I was gonna say that while he's got his ass of visitors were by us story number two real quick as some disturbing and I'm still on polygraphs and I can Gretzky. No way this way. Well I think the Gretzky girl who don't and I'll look at Gretzky space given by some pics of her face stop looking at her bikini body look at her face her face is what error. Very average it's it's it's all right now I know we're not a celebrity daughter is so Chaz Bono. That's not. Actually time we're gonna bring that up in the later. I don't know 5 o'clock hour and a hotline at last we have a story about it. She is absolutely gorgeous a man woman having a baby in we're gonna get into that. I. Sheet dates had gone you know what it is you're just jealous of her face is like Kadish got wide face or eyes are dead she's just chemical plastic took plasticky initials plastic surgery to me is only like 26. Right she probably hasn't won enough not to leading contest for you this girl I no longer and isn't is natural. She's a beauty. She's just no. I asked the city to our at all. Fantastic and very very talented model. Well Liv Tyler okay good gala time. I don't know how does a high to ads trying to main star Alison Eastwood she heard like that stimulate my daughter you know Lawrence you don't get off her line Lawrence fish friend's daughter does porn. I heard that the saddest thing and turn. This woes on if you listened to the last name Fishburne. I was in a movie of him you know hide assets under water and on its annual than it he said to me what we're like you don't Butler in between takes any of the scene where you know Sean Penn loses Donnie scream and let's. It looks at me. These movies if people. It's sad and it's that's pretty fantastic outside. Dakota Johnson from the fifty shades of Kurt cobain's daughter. That does not have doll's face she's beautiful. Which isn't about. Yet I slippery drive goes daughter are you kidding me that's a Nazi old post. Last night's story number two and four things you should know in the 4 o'clock hour. John Sina. Was rational mind. Smackdown live. And who is he fighting here still is shouldn't. I don't know anything new resolution Snooki Nakamura morrow yes and at the end of the match Nakamura kind of who's giving him back soon plex is at least call back in the day. And senile landed awkwardly. And video is like cool it's it's it looks like he could have been really really hurt check this out. Okay. It's. I've seen it was OK but you know it's all scripted even though of course is very entertaining. But there's a moment there where you can tell the scripting was Ponce. You know because not Camara is like calling them on and he ain't get not he's like you could tell you thinks like right am I paralyzed right now you know having my yeah laying there. That's scary it is now is slipping and drive and jumping these guys do and this the pile drivers the tombstones. And the stone cold stunner is that one yet that you know the DDTs. How in the hell these guys are able to protect the next what I understand the first roll. Is to bawl your neck. And you know prepare like for the impact but it. That's my worst and the like and the soup out of the new world and how many are happy and I'm that lucky. A lot of worst fears someone jumping governor targeting simplex by press arrests I think you're OK am I do feared this hour buddhists. All of the whole. Our whole book oh. Odd dive mr. diamond Dallas page and here he might well lists of likes you that's so funny because we had diamond Dallas page I. But I can't. No but still is nosedive analyst Alan page doesn't diver yet he did Diane let's Dallas a Dallas page. He works in Chelsea Daiwa's Denver well he's doing to keep doing yoga and might be done with those it. Couple quick and make these two quick ones into one story. Nick I know you dig this type of thing as you dive as everyone knows you're in New York City for 1520 years. Sometimes in some of those streets near to close them down. Right to determine a pedestrian mall isn't always right well they do this some time to time in Boston Newbury Street. Be a protest pedestrian only walkway from Arlington amass. On August 13. And again this fall September 10. From 10 AM to 6 PM seeking experienced a car free Newbury Street transformed into your pedestrian. Destination on that's cool that's Saturday August 13 and in a Sunday September 10 and the beautiful part of that is is if LB and I noticed a lot of these Buchanan's for example we were just hasn't been struck by a note that Jason Day and I don't think so yeah I think technology could go I can catch you could. Make your way from Fenway in lockdown you can join a little branch action on Newbury may be go have a gentleman's. Little liquid lunch over agrees and then again enjoy a little. Impulse shopping your window shop and on the lives this also came from only in Boston and only in Boston on Twitter the wallet hub. Ranked the best public school systems. And your top ten public school systems ranked in a variety. Of our criteria. Yes to number one was. Any guesses about its public school systems not going to be. Deadly food you California's not the top ten how about Florida Florida's probably not in the top fifty. There's like fifty states. That like Connecticut and no it's got to be New York. New Jersey is number two really ten his main them. They don't have nine here than just a few of the top ten adding items and today that bad news nine's been eliminated we don't count now anymore we go seven right. And it and ten I'm focusing on the New England won Vermont exit number 50. Number three. Shout out to New Hampshire. Good for you out you know it is. All that lack of tax money but the number one best public school systems according to while. On a series of criteria. Massachusetts. Effect rapid and that's right. Best public schools in the country in Massachusetts a day we came back for a reason and then you went to RI. I believe the first public school was writing Aaron Massachusetts and they really bought them and interest in fact that no one cares about well I think it is yep and an americorps the first university which has nothing to do with that as well sometimes like to hear the sound of my own voice. Do they finally thank you. Another ranking this one much more important than public schools. Researchers at the department of psychology at university award in the United Kingdom. Have found the funniest word in the English language that team gathered a list of 4997. Common words from past research I know and after a session. Asked participants to rate 200 words randomly selected from the larger pool. One being humorless. Five being most humorous scale so wanting unfunny five absolutely funny right okay the number one funniest word. In the language any guesses let's let what is everyone's favorite funny word. Long and I English saying I would say who minds is who I think that as the sun rose we have some lovely guest in studio with us from. Fabulous floor almost restaurant and shalt save. Think yeah flora almost one of my favorite delicious hours. Again time for delicious what's your favorite funny word she magma that's. But. I neighbor throw out this notion works and she works in kitchens. Mean I've seen him I love of boy and a daughter Travis Red Hat. What on my kitchen well known. I'm of the word noodle. A degree or another because it's a button down burden. And also love to terror threat it's a great word uttered alive but to ticker it's it's adorable it's hilarious it's ridiculous yes to. It's due. What's word that brings you're divorce. Are adding. All. Out shut out education. Has. Understanding. Torture torment. These are some of the words on the participation. Yes so the funny and hitting the funniest word. In English language according to this big survey is booty. Booty. Be OO TY. All of really have to say I failed to realize or recognize. That any movie that Jamie fox may have made for the millions who worked as the underdog let's go to uploading calling. The unfunny it's like learning bootsy in that movie. I don't know I think again I think yeah I think you know the least funniest word rate. So that access went out just why no matter how does it why don't we all just agree and walk away. Jake in Dedham Jake hero Matty and neck. They're wants Arby's I've read about it. Dalembert is definitely. The First Act supported local store in America. Dedham Massachusetts. Index them Dedham Massachusetts area. Thank you Jay for the hand knowledge we've pretty well yeah the oldest frame built house in America still standing. Really oh yes it is very sick or. How about that hey Jake I. Jake thank you for being able called Jacob PDF thank you oh Jake what is what is your favorite funny word. My beard funny word yet. Probably squeegee. That's a frequent blood always work thank you.

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Four You - The Worst Suplex You've Ever Cena - WAAF.com (blog)

Another Perspective on Health and Medicine – TAPinto.net

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To the editor: I am writing in regard to the July 20 column by Mara Schiffren, Patient, heal thyself. My two best friends are pediatric oncologists. One is a Harvard Medical School M.D., Ph.D. geneticist at Sloane Kettering, the other is my classmate from veterinary school at U.C. Davis, a DVM, Ph.D. pathologist at St. Judes Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. I have shared tears with both of my best friends as they described to me the trials of confirming an astrocytoma or glioblastoma, both brain tumors, to the parents of their 3- and 4-year-old children. Leukemias, lymphomas, retinoblastomas and more bring heartache and shatter to the lives of parents in pediatric oncology wards across the country. A 3-year-old child has not the worldly circumspect to alter their lifes nutrition and lifestyle. Ms. Schiffrens flippant remarks regarding health and medicine are reflective of a seeming cynicism, a lack of knowing and an absence of compassion. I disagree with her dark perspective of todays medicine. I see the world of todays therapeutics as wonderfully changing. How integrated has the world of medicine become! As an equine veterinarian, alternative medicine abounds: acupuncture, chiropratic, holistic and herbal therapeutics are all incorporated into managing the lives and careers of horses. My brother, a graduate from the Yale School of Medicine, integrates an array of holistic therapeutics into his practice. Nutrition, exercise, meditation, and lastly, therapeutics, are brought on board. The world of both human and veterinary medicine has been dramatically changing for good in the past recent years, incorporating an array of diverse perspectives. A milestone example of changing therapeutics in my world as an equine veterinarian would be in the world of treating autism. As an equine veterinarian, horses have been substantiated to be one of the few successful therapeutic modalities for improving cognition, speech, balance and empowerment in special needs children. Who would have thought that which nickers and whinnys would replace a pill bottle? The world of human and equine medicine is wonderfully changing for the better, despite the cynicism of Mara Schiffrens article. Matt Eliott, DVM North Salem

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Another Perspective on Health and Medicine - TAPinto.net

In the Japanese film Happiness, a technological fix for sadness just makes life worse – The Verge

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Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the New York Asian Film Festival.

The Japanese film Happiness is like a dark car driving by slowly in the shadows. As it moves closer, it hardly sheds any light. Then, a window rolls down, revealing a face, staring out at the audience. In a flash, the car is gone, leaving nothing behind but a fleeting impression.

Similarly, the film doesnt explain much about its main character: a stoic, brooding man with an Elvis Presley hairdo. Thats a pity, because Happiness is strongest when its fleshing out its characters and building up a narrative of why the audience should care. A eerie silence pervades the film, lingering in every single scene save the climax, where ambient sounds echoes the protagonists emotional state. The film doesnt need music, though. Silence lends the story a kind of realism, which is helpful in a story based in technological fantasy.

Whats the genre?

Indie mystery, featuring a gadget thats a mix of science fiction and Eastern alternative medicine.

Whats it about?

Happiness revolves around a mysterious helmet. Its an amalgamation of golden typewriter keys built in at different angles to create acupuncture stimulation to the noggin. It also looks like a particularly aggressive motorcyclists headgear. The helmets creator, Kanzaki (played by Masatoshi Nagase), attracts attention around a small Japanese town when he claims the helmet can make wearers happy by triggering forgotten memories of the past.

Although the locals initially regard Kanzaki and his helmet suspiciously, his helmet proves its ability to pull up nostalgic memories from the users past. A mother of an unruly teenage boy sees her child as a newborn baby, giggling in his cradle again. The films goofball, Ishida, sees himself scoring a home run in a baseball game, to the adoration of cheering fans. Kanzaki soon gains local hero status for revitalizing the town, but he still remains an inscrutable character, his past and personal life a mystery. But when he makes his way to treating Inoue (Hiroki Suzuki), a teenage convict who lives in isolation, and takes in the unkempt state of Inoues dress and his spa-style slippers, he asks for an extra hour alone with the kid. From there, the film begins to delve into Kanzakis personal life.

Whats it really about?

Kanzaki's motives for building the helmet aren't entirely altruistic. The film is concerned with how joy and pain overlap, and how peoples most painful memories could also be their most joyous ones. Happiness explores the extremities of human emotion, psychological trauma, a looming sense of mystery, helplessness (the Japanese belief in shouganai, literally it cant be helped), young misfits, and belligerent angst.

Is it good?

Happiness is so close to being enjoyable, but because it throws viewers into scenes without explanation, and delays getting into characters backstories until the near end, there isnt much opportunity to engage with and love these characters. Watching the film can feel like watching paint dry, but at other times, its more like reading Agatha Christies murder mystery And Then There Were None, or Natsuo Kirinos Out, where middle-aged Japanese women bury a person theyve helped kill. Those novels are packed with twist after blood-dripping twist, and in its best moments, Happiness is as well. It veers between enthralling and exhausting.

The flaws in the narrative crop up as early as the first scene, as Kanzaki strolls into a nearly abandoned shop and takes note of the sad old lady sitting in the corner. He returns moments later with the nostalgia helmet. Writer-director Sabu brings the helmet into the story in a such a quick, out-of-context, and contrived way, its as if it was dropped into the film from a bad science fiction novel. An aging woman whos beyond depressed? Throw in the deus ex machina of a magical helmet, and shes instantly crying and laughing again. Its an artificial, awkward attention-grabber.

Sabu makes silence do the job of words

Sabu makes silence do the job of words. The camera lingers on Kanzakis face, attempting to convey his inner turmoil and the quick turns of his mind as he plots his next move. This works for some scenes, but not all of them. As the camera pauses on Kanzaki walking up multiple flights of stairs, or as tears slowly leak down his face while hes on a bus, scenes seem to stretch out to eternity. Happiness is a short 91 minutes, but it certainly doesnt feel that way.

The best content darts by: the flashbacks that explain the films core mystery, the climatic fight scene, and Kanzaki powerfully hacking and drilling his way into crafting the perfect happiness helmet. Granted, it is a low-budget film, which forces the action to be short and minimal, but the seams shouldnt show through so easily.

What should it be rated?

It earns an R for gratuitous violence, but those scenes are so few and far between that the rest of this film could pass as G rated.

How can I actually watch it?

Happiness was released in Japan in 2016, and is showing in limited, sporadic theatrical screenings in the US.

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In the Japanese film Happiness, a technological fix for sadness just makes life worse - The Verge

The Battle to Give Nigeria’s Moms and Babies a ‘Golden Window’ to a Healthy Life – TIME

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There is no period more critical in a childs development than its first few months of life, which is why so much attention is paid to what the mother, and the child, eats during that time. Nutritionists like to call it the golden window the slim period of time where a child, if he gets the right nutrients, can set out on a healthy path, or, if he doesnt, risks irreversible stunting and developmental delays . Eighty percent of the brain development happens in the first 1,000 days of a childs life, starting from conception, says nutritionist Sanjay Kumar Das.

And while getting the right nutrition whole grains, plenty of fruit and vegetables for both the mother and child, once he starts eating solids is relatively simple in most situations, conflict can make eating right all but impossible. This is the situation in northeastern Nigeria, where for the past seven years the Boko Haram militant group has waged a violent insurgency that has kept farmers from their fields, food away from markets, and families living off paltry food donations in camps for the internally displaced. While few here in the Dalori camp just outside the northeastern town of Maiduguri display the emaciated limbs and swollen bellies common among victims of outright famine, the little food they do get a once-daily gruel made of pulses and grains provides little more than the minimum calorie requirement, and almost no additional nutrition.

An estimated 5.1 million are malnourished in northeastern Nigeria. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund [UNICEF], more than half of them are children. Das, who is the nutrition manager for UNICEF's program in Maiduguri, says this is likely to have severe long-term consequences. The impact of acute malnutrition, which happens when a child is suddenly deprived of food, can be reversed relatively easily with emergency food rations and supplements. Chronic malnutrition occurs when a child eats enough to stop from starving, but doesnt get sufficient nutrients to develop properly, especially in the vital first two years of life. That golden window is when all a childs cognitive and physical development happens, says Das. If children dont get good nutrition from an early age, they are vulnerable. The child can suffer from disease and stunting, launching the cycle of poverty.

Indeed, chronic malnutrition can hinder a nations economy. Stunting early in a childs life has educational, income, and productivity consequences that reach far into adulthood, the World Bank writes in its most recent Nutrition Overview.

Children who are deficient in essential micronutrients have on average 13 fewer IQ points. Similarly, stunted children are more likely to start school later, perform more poorly on cognitive functioning tests, and are more likely to drop out of school. Adults who were stunted as children earn 20% less than non-stunted adults and are 33% more likely to live in poverty, the report says. It concludes that malnutrition can reduce GDP in some countries in Asia and Africa by as much as 2% to 11% each year.

Which is why organizations like UNICEF and other humanitarian aid agencies place such a high priority on the first 1,000 days, from the point of conception to the child's second birthday. Childhood stunting, once it has set in, cannot be reversed. But it can be prevented.

Thats where good pre-natal health and education comes in, says Marylyne Malomba, a nutrition consultant for the International Medical Corps, a humanitarian organization that runs several food and nutrition programs in Maiduguri, which was once at the center of the insurgency, and is now home to some 700,000 people displaced by the war. The IMC provides food, supplements and education for mothers and children in weekly clinics around the city and in several of the camps, with a special emphasis on pregnant women.

Malnutrition starts from the womb, says Malomba. If the mother has not stocked up enough nutrients, then the child will not get enough. Limbs, organs; even brain development is affected with lack of nutrients when the child is still a fetus. So its important to understand that the health of the mother at the point of pregnancy is one of the most important places to start taking care of the child. And if a mother is well fed during her pregnancy, she will most likely have enough breast milk to feed her child for the first six months another key element of early childhood nutrition.

The problem is that in a crisis situation like the one in northeastern Nigeria, or in Somalia, Yemen or South Sudan, other countries on the brink of famine , it is all but impossible for new and pregnant mothers to obtain the vital nutrients that round out the right diet for those first 1,000 days. Emergency food distributions usually include grains, pulses and oil, but fresh vegetables and fruit are too difficult to transport and store. And even if the families could afford to buy fresh produce in the markets, they arent always available, especially if conflict is keeping farmers from their fields. We need these mothers to eat vegetables. We need them to eat fruits," Malomba says. "And these are the items that we are not able to supply in an emergency context.

Nutritionists and scientists are working to develop supplements that can provide those essential micronutrients for use in future emergencies, but for the moment, nothing beats the fresh fruits and vegetables that are so hard to find in places like Dalori, or the scores of other IDP camps across northern Nigeria.

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The Battle to Give Nigeria's Moms and Babies a 'Golden Window' to a Healthy Life - TIME

University of Alaska Fairbanks intern looks at nucleotides as health supplement – KTOO

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Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the body,and have other health benefits. (Creative Commons photo by Natesh Ramasamy/Flickr)

Interns this summer with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute are looking at food science in Kodiak, and one is investigating a new health food fad.

University of Alaska Fairbanks student Alina Fairbanks is doing market research focusing on nucleotides.

A lot people when I explain this to them theyre like fish oil. Well, kinda. We want to extract nucleotides from pollock, right now because the Pollock Conservation Cooperative is funding me, but we want to utilize the entire product of a fish. A lot of people are exploring new ideas.

Fairbanks said her research is on the powdered form, as opposed to pills or liquid, such as fish oil.

Theres three markets right now that Ive discovered, so theyll put nucleotides in baby formula because nucleotides are commonly found in breast milk so, in baby formula, animal food, and for humans dietary supplements. A lot of body builders will actually take them.

She said nucleotides are supposed to improve the immune system and help in cell regeneration.

There are two other interns with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute on the island.

Camron Christoffersen, who recently graduated Brigham Young University, is looking into the Food and Drug Administrations methods for killing parasites before consumption.

The third intern, UAF student Phil Ganz, is helping to document the process. He uses video to make this and other scientific topics accessible to the general public.

All three interns wrap up their time on the island at the end of the month.

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University of Alaska Fairbanks intern looks at nucleotides as health supplement - KTOO

BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada in Peterborough lands five-year, $34M deal to make primary heat transport motors for … – Peterborough Examiner

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The BWX Technologies plant in Peterborough has been awarded a five-year, $34-million to supply seven primary heat transport motors for Bruce Power.

The motors to be produced at the BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada Inc. plant on Monaghan Road are part of Bruce Powers life-extension program that will extend the life of six of its reactors to continue providing Ontario with low-cost nuclear electricity for decades to come, according to a release from the company.

The primary heat transport motors are required to drive the main circulating pumps used to push heavy water through the reactor core into the steam generators, the release states. The scope of the contract includes the project management, engineering and manufacturing of seven 11,000 horsepower motors.

Work under the contract will begin immediately, with the first motor scheduled to be delivered to Bruce Power in mid-2018.

We appreciate the opportunity to execute this important project for Bruce Power and take great pride in our contributions to its life extension program, stated John MacQuarrie, president of BWXT Canada Ltd. (which is the former Babcock and Wilcox). BWXT is pleased to be in a position to supply its customers with a multitude of product and service solutions to assist them in extending the lives of their nuclear plants.

Bruce Power supplies 30% of Ontarios electricity at 30% less than the average cost to generate residential power. Extending the operational life of the Bruce Power units to 2064 will create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs every year, create $4 billion in annual Ontario economic benefit, and will ensure low-cost, clean and reliable energy for Ontario families and businesses, the release states.

Partnering with BWXT for this important motor work is critical to ensuring the life extension and operation through 2064, stated Mike Rencheck, Bruce Powers president and CEO. Planning and preparation is key to our continued on-time and on-budget performance since January 2016 when our life extension program was started. Suppliers like BWXT and their performance are critical to our success; its a team effort.

Nuclear energy plays a significant role to Ontarios economy and it is great to see the positive effects of Bruce Powers life extension project being felt right here in Peterborough, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal stated. Throughout its program to extend the life of six of its reactors, Bruce Power will inject billions into Ontarios economy and generate thousands of jobs.

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BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada in Peterborough lands five-year, $34M deal to make primary heat transport motors for ... - Peterborough Examiner