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Episode of iconic astronomy programme The Sky At Night filmed in Devon – Devon Live

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

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This month's episode of The Sky At Night was filmed at a Devon observatory.

The Sky at Night is the longest running science TV programme in the world. It takes a monthly look at developments in space exploration, as well as what can be seen in the night sky.

August's episode, at the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth, will focus on meteorites, from the astonishing micrometeorites found all around us, in the dust on our roofs, gutters and cars; through the wonders of shooting stars; to the larger, sometimes devastating, meteorites that can survive their dive through the atmosphere and make it to the Earth's surface.

Read More: Residents on busy road leading to Torbay Hospital fear they will be marooned by weeks of roadworks

This episode will see experts who study these messengers from space speak, but also local amateur radio enthusiasts, Mike Dennis and Iain Grant, who base themselves at the observatory to gather information on meteors in a rather unusual way. They detect meteors using radiowaves and this shows that hundreds fall into the atmosphere every day.

The Norman Lockyer Observatory is home a number of historic and modern telescopes, a planetarium, and a wealth of astronomical knowledge and information. It is run by a very active and inclusive amateur astronomy community who run a range of astronomy groups, talks and courses for all ages and abilities.

The Sky at Night, from the Norman Lockyer Observatory, will be shown on BBC Four at 10pm on Sunday 13 August.

Astronomers find the (maybe) smallest star ever seen. – SYFY WIRE (blog)

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

As normal stars go, our Sun is roughly in the middle of the size scale. The biggest are about 25 times the Suns diameter, the smallest about a tenth as wide. Still, its big. Its ten times the diameter of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, and over a hundred times wider than the Earth.

That lower end is pretty interesting, though. How small can a star get and still be a star? Well, astronomers recently found what looks to be the smallest actual star ever discovered. How small, you ask?

Roughly the size of Saturn. Yes, Saturn, the planet.

Its right at the lower limit of whats considered to be a true star. And while it may very well be the smallest star ever found, theres just enough uncertainty in its size that we cant be 100% sure. Still, no matter how you slice it, its a very teeny star.

It was found using WASP, the Wide Angle Search for Planets project. This is comprised of two sets of wide-angle camera arrays, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern, which take images about once per minute every clear night. They monitor a staggering 30 million stars in total, looking for variations in brightness that might indicate the presence of a planet. If the orbit of such an exoplanet is edge-on as seen from Earth, it blocks a tiny fraction of its host stars light as it passes in front of it once per orbit (what wee call a transit), and that dip can be detected.

One star observed by WASP, later to be called EBLM J0555-57, is about 630 light years from Earth. It was seen to exhibit transit-like dips in brightness, and so was flagged for follow-up. More observations taken by other telescopes revealed that it was actually a binary star, two stars orbiting each other.

The two stars have a wide orbit, with a distance between them of roughly 70 billion kilometers (well over ten times the distance from the Sun to Neptune) and so it takes centuries for them to orbit each other once. The brighter of the two, called EBLM J0555-57A (note the A at the end), is much like the Sun if a bit bigger and warmer, and the other, EBLM J0555-57B, is a bit smaller and a touch cooler.

But the plot thickened. The dips in light were coming from only one of the two stars, the brighter of the two (Star A), and whatever it was orbited with a period (a year) of 7.75 days. That means its closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. Because of that we cant see it directly; the glare of the far brighter star overwhelms it. It revealed itself by blocking the light from its star. But it turns out theres still more to this

Normally, when you have a transiting exoplanet, all you can figure out is its size (by how much light it blocks from the star) and how long its year is. But, if the object is massive enough, as it orbits the star it tugs on the star with its gravity, and the star makes a little circle as well. I like to make the analogy of two kids, one heavier than the other, facing each other, clasping hands, and swinging around each other. The lighter kid makes a big circle, and the heavier kid makes a smaller circle.

This is critical. As the star moves around in a circle, its light is Doppler shifted; the color changes. It shifts toward the red end of the spectrum as it moves away from us in the circle, and toward the blue when it moves toward us. That can be measured with pretty good precision! Knowing the mass of the star from physical models, its then possible to figure out the mass of the smaller object.

And thats when astronomers got a shock. The second object, called EBLM J0555-57Ab, has a mass of 0.081 times the Sun. That would be huge for a planet 85 times the mass of Jupiter! but very low for a star. In fact, its right at the limit for how low mass a star can be.

Stars are objects that are able to sustain the fusion of hydrogen into helium in their core. They need enough mass that the pressure in their core can squeeze the hydrogen atoms together hard enough to fuse them. There are other factors involved as well, including how rapidly the star spins, the abundance of heavier elements inside it like carbon and magnesium, and so on. For an object with the same physical composition as EBLM J0555-57Ab, that limit is about 83 times the mass of Jupiter.

This means that EBLM J0555-57Ab made the cut at 85 Jupiter masses its a true star, if a very, very, very low mass one. In fact, thats why it has the name it does: EBLM stands for eclipsing binary, low mass. That term is reserved for stars, not a star orbited by a planet.

The star isnt just low mass, its tiny, too: By studying the eclipses, astronomers determined its diameter to be 0.084 times that of the Sun. That makes it smaller than Jupiter! Its about 0.84 times the width of Jupiter, making it just about Saturn sized, maybe a hair smaller.

Its important to note that there is some uncertainty in both its mass and size; these observations dont provide exact results. Because of this, we cant be 100% sure its truly the smallest star ever found. Another teeny star, 2MASS J05233822-1403022, was found in 2013, and it also is smaller than Jupiter, about 0.86 times its width. Thats very similar to this new star! And it turns out the uncertainties in the measurements of both stars means we cant really know which one in reality is smaller. Be wary of news articles and such saying this is the smallest star. It might be, but we really dont know.

But since it is a star, that means the system isnt a binary! Its whats called a hierarchical triple, two stars orbiting each other like a binary system, and a third star orbiting just one of those stars. Cool.

And its not just an oddity. Extremely low-mass stars are very important to our understanding of how stars work! Because they are right at the lower limit for what a star can be, they test our models of just how stars can fuse hydrogen into helium. Because these stars are so faint we dont see very many of them, so every one we find is a precious sample.

Im fascinated by objects like these, ones that sit right on the border between two different kinds of things. In many cases the borders are fuzzy, and thats true here as well. Very big planets slide into the brown dwarf range, and very massive brown dwarfs slide into the star range, but its not like you can draw a line distinguish them. When we study these objects, we learn more about not just them, but about both classes of objects they kinda sorta fall in.

Objects in space display a huge diversity, and its by understanding that diversity that we better understand the Universe itself. Im all for that.

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Astronomers find the (maybe) smallest star ever seen. - SYFY WIRE (blog)

Hubble detects exoplanet with glowing water atmosphere – Astronomy Now Online

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

This is an artists impression of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-121b. The bloated planet is so close to its star that the tidal pull of the star stretches it into an egg shape. The top of the planets atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius), hot enough to boil iron. This is the first planet outside our solar system where astronomers have found the strongest evidence yet for a stratosphere a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes. The planet is about 900 light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, or exoplanet. A stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes.

This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system a warm stratosphere also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres, said Mark Marley, study co-author based at NASAs Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley. We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system.

Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists used data from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope to study WASP-121b, a type of exoplanet called a hot Jupiter. Its mass is 1.2 times that of Jupiter, and its radius is about 1.9 times Jupiters making it puffier. But while Jupiter revolves around our sun once every 12 years, WASP-121b has an orbital period of just 1.3 days. This exoplanet is so close to its star that if it got any closer, the stars gravity would start ripping it apart. It also means that the top of the planets atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals. The WASP-121 system is estimated to be about 900 light-years from Earth a long way, but close by galactic standards.

Previous research found possible signs of a stratosphere on the exoplanet WASP-33b as well as some other hot Jupiters. The new study presents the best evidence yet because of the signature of hot water molecules that researchers observed for the first time.

Theoretical models have suggested stratospheres may define a distinct class of ultra-hot planets, with important implications for their atmospheric physics and chemistry, said Tom Evans, lead author and research fellow at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Our observations support this picture.

To study the stratosphere of WASP-121b, scientists analyzed how different molecules in the atmosphere react to particular wavelengths of light, using Hubbles capabilities for spectroscopy. Water vapor in the planets atmosphere, for example, behaves in predictable ways in response to certain wavelengths of light, depending on the temperature of the water.

Starlight is able to penetrate deep into a planets atmosphere, where it raises the temperature of the gas there. This gas then radiates its heat into space as infrared light. However, if there is cooler water vapor at the top of the atmosphere, the water molecules will prevent certain wavelengths of this light from escaping to space. But if the water molecules at the top of the atmosphere have a higher temperature, they will glow at the same wavelengths.

The emission of light from water means the temperature is increasing with height, said Tiffany Kataria, study co-author based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Were excited to explore at what longitudes this behavior persists with upcoming Hubble observations.

The phenomenon is similar to what happens with fireworks, which get their colors from chemicals emitting light. When metallic substances are heated and vaporized, their electrons move into higher energy states. Depending on the material, these electrons will emit light at specific wavelengths as they lose energy: sodium produces orange-yellow and strontium produces red in this process, for example. The water molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-121b similarly give off radiation as they lose energy, but in the form of infrared light, which the human eye is unable to detect.

In Earths stratosphere, ozone gas traps ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which raises the temperature of this layer of atmosphere. Other solar system bodies have stratospheres, too; methane is responsible for heating in the stratospheres of Jupiter and Saturns moon Titan, for example.

In solar system planets, the change in temperature within a stratosphere is typically around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 56 degrees Celsius). On WASP-121b, the temperature in the stratosphere rises by 1,000 degrees (560 degrees Celsius). Scientists do not yet know what chemicals are causing the temperature increase in WASP-121bs atmosphere. Vanadium oxide and titanium oxide are candidates, as they are commonly seen in brown dwarfs, failed stars that have some commonalities with exoplanets. Such compounds are expected to be present only on the hottest of hot Jupiters, as high temperatures are needed to keep them in a gaseous state.

This super-hot exoplanet is going to be a benchmark for our atmospheric models, and it will be a great observational target moving into the Webb era, said Hannah Wakeford, study co-author who worked on this research while at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA.

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Hubble detects exoplanet with glowing water atmosphere - Astronomy Now Online

Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images – Digital Trends

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

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Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images - Digital Trends

Caltech astrophysics professor who harassed women has resigned – Boing Boing

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Christian D. Ott, a tenured professor of theoretical astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology, has resigned in the wake of an investigation that found he had harassed two students.

From BuzzFeed:

"This has been a difficult situation for our community," the Caltech statement said. Caltech declined to provide any further comment to BuzzFeed News, and Ott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to more than 1,000 pages of emails and chat messages submitted to the investigators, first publicly reported by BuzzFeed News, Ott had become infatuated with Kleiser, whom he then fired due to his feelings. He later confessed his actions in increasingly inappropriate and erratic emotional exchanges with Gossan.

Gossan filed a complaint with the university's Title IX office in the spring of 2015, which Kleiser joined soon after. Prior to Gossan's complaint, Kleiser had no idea she had been fired for reasons unrelated to her scientific work.

Kleiser is relieved that Ott resigned. But her experience with him, as well as the "lukewarm" response from many in the faculty to news of the problem, has led her to decide to leave academia once her PhD is complete.

"I didnt see a lot of action on the part of people that I considered to be my role models in my field," Kleiser said. "So thats kind of difficult, and I think that makes it harder to want to stay and eventually take a permanent position in a place like this."

In 112 recent cases of stalking and harassment reviewed by UK police watchdogs, not a single one was dealt with properly, reports the BBC. The report, Living in Fear, found that victims of harassment and stalking were widely disregard and left at risk, and often told that the harassment they received was their own fault. []

In the New York Times, Katie Bienner relates a cultural shift in Silicon Valley: women victims of sexual harassment describing their experiences frankly. In an industry bound by delusions of meritocracy and egality, simply talking about it is radical. More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent []

A Connecticut man who screamed You will never ever, ever, stop me, my Christianity, thumped his chest, and menaced an Arab family on a Texas beach, was charged with public intoxication earlier this week, reports Fox News. This man verbally attacked an Arab family and yelled Donald Trump will stop you pic.twitter.com/m8vrV3RS3S NowThis (@nowthisnews) May []

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Caltech astrophysics professor who harassed women has resigned - Boing Boing

Book Scene: Pondering the universe … quickly – Yakima Herald-Republic

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered about the stars, planets and galaxies but have no time to read up on it? Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson can help with that.

What exactly is astrophysics? Its the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies. The book offers small chapters of easily consumable information about our universe.

Tyson is a well-known astrophysicist, author and general science communicator. I was excited when I saw he had a new book out. I have had a busy summer, but his book is especially designed for people with a full schedule, making it a quick, fun read.

He begins with the Big Bang and the formation of the universe. Tyson moves on to some intriguing facts about the universe while also briefly explaining the history of physics itself. Some topics he touches on are the cosmic background, what it is and why its so important to studying the universe.

He writes about how exciting and weird the space between galaxies can be, containing million-degree X-ray emitting gas, dark matter, faint blue galaxies ... super-duper high-energy charged particles and the mysterious quantum vacuum energy.

The author also includes chapters on dark matter and dark energy, and why they are so interesting. And he explains why the planet Uranus has moons named after characters in Shakespearean plays.

Tyson does an excellent job of taking broad, often confusing topics and making them easily understandable and engaging. His writing, while witty and delightful, is likewise beautiful and thought-provoking.

Heres an example. When I track the orbits of asteroids, comets and planets, each one a pirouetting dancer in a cosmic ballet, choreographed by the forces of gravity, sometimes I forget that too many people act in wanton disregard for the delicate interplay of Earths atmosphere, oceans and land, with consequences that our children and our childrens children will witness and pay for with their health and well-being.

I really enjoyed this book, picking it up whenever I had a spare moment, transporting me to the wonders and mysteries of our universe. I would highly recommend this as a gift for teens and adults interested in space or science. I believe it is also a wonderful place to begin if youre just starting to ponder the universe yourself.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson was published in May by W.W. Norton & Co. It retails for $18.95.

Rachel Fowler works for Inklings Bookshop. She and other Inklings staffers review books in this space every week.

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Book Scene: Pondering the universe ... quickly - Yakima Herald-Republic

Astronomers discover ‘heavy metal’ supernova rocking out – Astronomy Now Online

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

This artists impression of SN 2017egm shows the power source for this extraordinarily bright supernova. The explosion was triggered by a massive star that collapsed to form a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field and rapid spin, called a magnetar. Debris from the supernova explosion is shown in blue and the magnetar is shown in red. Credit: M. Weiss/CfA

Many rock stars dont like to play by the rules, and a cosmic one is no exception. A team of astronomers has discovered that an extraordinarily bright supernova occurred in a surprising location. This heavy metal supernova discovery challenges current ideas of how and where such super-charged supernovas occur.

Supernovas are some of the most energetic events in the Universe. When a massive star runs out of fuel, it can collapse onto itself and create a spectacular explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy, dispersing vital elements into space.

In the past decade, astronomers have discovered about fifty supernovas, out of the thousands known, that are particularly powerful. These explosions are up to 100 times brighter than other supernovas caused by the collapse of a massive star.

Following the recent discovery of one of these superluminous supernovas, a team of astronomers led by Matt Nicholl from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass., has uncovered vital clues about where some of these extraordinary objects come from.

Cambridge Universitys Gaia Science Alerts team discovered this supernova, dubbed SN 2017egm, on May 23, 2017 with the European Space Agencys Gaia satellite. A team led by Subo Dong of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University used the Nordic Optical Telescope to identify it as a superluminous supernova.

SN 2017egm is located in a spiral galaxy about 420 million light years from Earth, making it about three times closer than any other superluminous supernova previously seen. Dong realized that the galaxy was very surprising, as virtually all known superluminous supernovas have been found in dwarf galaxies that are much smaller than spiral galaxies like the Milky Way.

Building on this discovery, the CfA team found that SN 2017egms host galaxy has a high concentration of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, which astronomers call metals. This is the first clear evidence for a metal-rich birthplace for a superluminous supernova. The dwarf galaxies that usually host superluminous supernovas are known to have a low metal content, which was thought to be an essential ingredient for making these explosions.

Superluminous supernovas were already the rock stars of the supernova world, said Nicholl. We now know that some of them like heavy metal, so to speak, and explode in galaxies like our own Milky Way.

If one of these went off in our own Galaxy, it would be much brighter than any supernova in recorded human history and would be as bright as the full Moon, said co-author Edo Berger, also of the CfA. However, theyre so rare that we probably have to wait several million years to see one.

The CfA researchers also found more clues about the nature of SN 2017egm. In particular, their new study supports the idea that a rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron star, called a magnetar, is likely the engine that drives the incredible amount of light generated by these supernovas.

While the brightness of SN 2017egm and the properties of the magnetar that powers it overlap with those of other superluminous supernovas, the amount of mass ejected by SN 2017egm may be lower than the average event. This difference may indicate that the massive star that led to SN 2017egm lost more mass than most superluminous supernova progenitors before exploding. The spin rate of the magnetar may also be slower than average.

These results show that the amount of metals has at most only a small effect on the properties of a superluminous supernova and the engine driving it. However, the metal-rich variety occurs at only about 10% of the rate of the metal-poor ones. Similar results have been found for bursts of gamma rays associated with the explosion of massive stars. This suggests a close association between these two types of objects.

From July 4th, 2017 until September 16th, 2017 the supernova is not observable because it is too close to the Sun. After that, detailed studies should be possible for at least a few more years.

This should break all records for how long a superluminous supernova can be followed, said co-author Raffaella Margutti of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Im excited to see what other surprises this object has in store for us.

The CfA team observed SN 2017egm on June 18th with the 60-inch telescope at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatorys Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona.

A paper by Matt Nicholl describing these results was recently accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and is available online. In addition to Berger and Margutti, the co-authors of the paper are Peter Blanchard, James Guillochon, and Joel Leja, all of the CfA, and Ryan Chornock of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

A copy of the paper isavailable online.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

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Astronomers discover 'heavy metal' supernova rocking out - Astronomy Now Online

Microsoft’s new corporate vision: artificial intelligence is in and mobile is out – GeekWire

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft filed its annual report Wednesday, and among the many pages of documents and numbers are insights on what the company sees as its core vision, and that appears to be changing.

As first spotted by CNBC, Microsoft has inserted artificial intelligence into its vision for the first time, and removed references to a mobile-first world. That fits with Microsofts recent push into AI and retreat from the smartphone market.

We believe a new technology paradigm is emerging that manifests itself through an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge where computing is more distributed, AI drives insights and acts on the users behalf, and user experiences span devices with a users available data and information, according to Microsofts vision statement.

Microsoft last year formeda new 5,000-person engineering and research teamto focuson its artificial intelligence products a major reshaping of the companys internal structurereminiscent of its massive pivotto pursue the opportunity of the Internetin the mid-1990s.

Just last month the companymade a series of AI announcements, including a new iPhone app that describes the world for the visually impaired, an AI research and incubation hub inside Microsoft Research, a new Ethical Design Guide for AI andan initiative called AI for Earthto encourage the use of artificial intelligence for environmental solutions.

Here is Microsofts full vision statement from the document:

Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world. Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge infused with artificial intelligence (AI).

The way individuals and organizations use and interact with technology continues to evolve. A persons experience with technology increasingly spans a multitude of devices and becomes more natural and multi-sensory with voice, ink, and gaze interactions. We believe a new technology paradigm is emerging that manifests itself through an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge where computing is more distributed, AI drives insights and acts on the users behalf, and user experiences span devices with a users available data and information. We continue to transform our business to lead this new era of digital transformation and enable our customers and partners to thrive in this evolving world.

And for comparison, here is last years:

Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

The mobile-first, cloud-first world is transforming the way individuals and organizations use and interact with technology. Mobility is not focused on any one device; it is centered on the mobility of experiences that, in turn, are orchestrated by the cloud. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide people and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party datacenters. Mobility encompasses the rich collection of data, applications, and services that accompany our customers as they move from setting to setting in their lives. We are transforming our businesses to enable Microsoft to lead the direction of this digital transformation, and enable our customers and partners to thrive in this evolving world.

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Microsoft's new corporate vision: artificial intelligence is in and mobile is out - GeekWire

Facebook’s artificial intelligence agents creating their own language is more normal than people think, researchers say – The Independent

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Fears that computers were taking over swept the world this week when stories emerged about Facebook's AI creating its own language that researchers couldn't understand. But they might be a little misplaced.

But artificial intelligence experts have looked to calm worries that robots are becoming sentient or that we are living through the prelude to Terminator.

The messagesmight seem strange, they agree. But they are explicable and fairly normal in the world of artificial intelligence research.

Some of the discussion between the bots is seen below:

Bob: i can i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to

Bob: you i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me

Bob: i i can i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me

Bob: i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to

Bob: you i i i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have 0 to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to

Bob: you i i i everything else . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to

The messages didn't seem to be especially sinister. But the worrying nature of not being able to understand what an AI was saying or why it was saying it concerned many, and led to worries about such systems becoming sentient or conducting decisions without us being able to hold them accountable.

The story came after repeated warnings from many of the most respected minds in the world: people including Stephen Hawking have suggested that artificial intelligence could potentially bring about the end of humanity. Those predictions came to a head days before the story became popular as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg argued about the dangers of AI with Mr Zuckerberg saying that the danger had been overstated, after Mr Musk has repeatedly suggested that artificial intelligence could take over the world if it is not properly regulated and restrained.

But artificial intelligence researchers including those involved in the project have looked to calm those worries.

The idea of a chatbot inventing its own language might sound terrifying, those behind the Facebook research say. But it is actually a long-running part of the way that AI works and is studied sometimes being encouraged, and at other times happening by itself.

Similar things have been seen in AI work done by Google for its Translate tool and at OpenAI, for instance.

In the case of the recent Facebook study, it was entirely accidental. The agents were simply not told to ensure that they worked using language comprehensible to their human masters and so didn't.

"While the idea of AI agents inventing their own language may sound alarming/unexpected to people outside the field, it is a well-established sub-field of AI, with publications dating back decades," Dhruv Batra, who worked on the project, wrote on Facebook.

In the case of Facebook's AI, the messages might be incomprehensible but their meaning can be worked out, at least a little. It has been compared to the kinds of shorthand that are developed in all communities of specialists where words might come to mean specific things to people, but be completely mystifying to anyone who is outside of the group.

Mr Batra also took issue with the phrasing of "shutting down" the chatbots, and said that such a decision was commonplace. Many AI experts have become irritated because some stories said that researchers had panicked and pulled the plug but in fact researchers just changed the AI, killing the job but simply altering some of the rules that it worked by.

"Analyzing the reward function and changing the parameters of an experiment is NOT the same as 'unplugging' or 'shutting down AI'," he wrote. "If that were the case, every AI researcher has been 'shutting down AI' every time they kill a job on a machine."

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Facebook's artificial intelligence agents creating their own language is more normal than people think, researchers say - The Independent

Artificial intelligence, machine learning to impact workplace practices in India: Adobe – Economic Times

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

NEW DELHI: Over 60 per cent of marketers in India believe new-age technologies are going to impact their workplace practices and consider it the next big disruptor in the industry, a new report said on Thursday.

According to a global report by software major Adobe that involved more than 5,000 creative and marketing professionals across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, over 50 per cent respondents did not feel concerned by artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning.

However, 27 per cent in India said they were extremely concerned about the impact of these new technologies.

Creatives in India are concerned that new technologies will take over their jobs. But they suggested that as they embrace AI and machine learning, creatives will be able to increase their value through design thinking.

"While AI and machine learning provide an opportunity to automate processes and save creative professionals from day-to-day production, it is not a replacement to the role of creativity," said Kulmeet Bawa, Managing Director, Adobe South Asia.

"It provides more levy for creatives to spend their time focusing on what they do best -- being creative, scaling their ideas and allowing them time to focus on ideation and creativity," Bawa added.

A whopping 59 per cent find it imperative to update their skills every six months to keep up with the industry developments.

The study also found that merging online and offline experiences was the biggest driver of change for the creative community, followed by the adoption of data and analytics, and the need for new skills.

It was revealed that customer experience is the number one investment by businesses across APAC.

Forty-two per cent of creatives and marketers in India have recently implemented a customer experience programme, while 34 per cent plan to develop one in the one year.

The study noted that social media and content were the key investment areas by APAC organisations, and had augmented the demand for content. However, they also presented challenges.

"Budgets were identified as the biggest challenge, followed by conflicting views and internal processes. Data and analytics become their primary tool to ensure that what they are creating is relevant, and delivering an amazing experience for customers," Bawa said.

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Artificial intelligence, machine learning to impact workplace practices in India: Adobe - Economic Times

Opinion: Apple’s stock could double on the ‘mother of all artificial-intelligence projects’ – MarketWatch

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

There are times when it pays to look years ahead when youre an investor.

That time is now for Apple AAPL, +4.73% Under one scenario, Apples stock could double. At first glance, such a possibility seems ridiculous given current Wall Streets price targets on Apple. Isnt Wall Street often behind the curve?

When I made the call to aggressively buy Apple at $18.71 for the very long term, I suggested that the stock could go to $143. This call was made long before Apple became a popular stock. Many called it outrageous; some even canceled their subscriptions to The Arora Report. Well, Apple is trading north of $150 as of this writing, and The Arora Report is still holding part of the original position bought at $18.71.

No, I am not a genius to be able to pick an exact number like $143 to be achieved years later. I simply picked the round number of $1,000 as a potential target. Since then, Apples stock has split seven for one. And $1,000 divided by seven is $143.

Let us explore how the stock might double.

Five stages of a long trade

Please click here to see five stages of a long trade. The diagram shows one cycle. In the recent past, Apple has gone through three cycles; first from the long side, then from the short side and once again from the long side.

Please click here to see five stages of a short trade.

At present, Apple is in the fifth stage marked as crowded trade in the diagram. According to the ZYX Change Method, we now have the first solid indication that at some time in the future, Apples stock may embark on another cycle of five stages to the upside.

Please note that the first stage is marked as change not recognized. This is where the highest alpha trades are entered. In plain English, alpha simply means generating excess returns. The potential change is not in Wall Streets analysis.

Artificial intelligence

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday: In terms of autonomous systems, what weve said is that we are very focused on autonomous systems from a core technology point of view. We do have a large project going and are making a big investment in this. From our point of view, autonomy is the mother of all AI [artificial intelligence] projects. And the autonomous systems can be used in a variety of ways, and a vehicle is only one. But there are many different areas of it, and I dont want to go any further with that.

Ask Arora: Nigam Arora answers your questions about investing in stocks, ETFs, bonds, gold and silver, oil and currencies. Have a question? Send it to Nigam Arora.

Obliteration of the case against Apple

As well as Apples stock has performed, it has always been constrained by the fact that it is primarily a one-product company. Yes, Apple has many products. However, over 70% of its profits have been generated by only one product: the iPhone. One-product companies are inherently risky.

From Cooks statement, now we are seeing concrete signs that Apple may end up with at least one other big hit using artificial intelligence on par with the iPhone. If this happens, not only will the stock be driven higher by excitement, but analysts will likely raise their targets as they give the company a higher price-to-earnings multiple.

As a note of caution, please remember that not all good scenarios come true. For this reason, investors need expert guidance.

The best investment opportunities

The best investment opportunities are likely to come not in Apple, but in two other categories.

First is Apple suppliers. Following Apples good earnings report Tuesday, its suppliers stocks are gaining: Cirrus Logic CRUS, +0.46% Skyworks Solutions SWKS, +0.14% Broadcom AVGO, +2.00% Qorvo QRVO, -1.78% Analog Devices ADI, -0.16% and Micron Technology MU, +1.02%

The second category is artificial intelligence. The crowd favorites are Nvidia NVDA, -0.06% and Advanced Micro Devices AMD, -2.48% Most of the cutting-edge artificial-intelligence work is being done at companies such as Alphabet GOOG, -0.05% GOOGL, +0.11% Facebook FB, -0.33% and Microsoft MSFT, -0.44% However, those companies are too big to present the best opportunities for investments.

At The Arora Report, we are working hard to identify the best companies to invest in this theme that are not too big and not already too crowded like Nvidia and AMD.

What to do now

There is strategy and there are tactics. This article is about strategy. Please stay tuned for an article in the future about the tactics. Tactics include when to buy or add, how much to buy and when to sell.

Disclosure: Subscribers to The Arora Report may have positions in the securities mentioned in this article or may take positions at any time. All recommended positions are reviewed daily at The Arora Report.

Nigam Arora is an investor, engineer and nuclear physicist by background, has founded two Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies, is the developer of the adaptive ZYX Global Multi Asset Allocation Model and the ZYX Change Method to profit from change in trading and investing. He is the founder of The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters. Nigam can be reached at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.

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Opinion: Apple's stock could double on the 'mother of all artificial-intelligence projects' - MarketWatch

Fiery aerospace entrepreneur Peter Zieve likely headed to Mukilteo general election – The Seattle Times

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Citizens know him as the owner of a very successful business, said a Mukilteo council member, explaining why voters may have supported Peter Zieve despite an AG rebuke and other damaging information.

Seattle Times staff reporter

A Mukilteo council member predicted it: Peter Zieve would get more votes in the primary than many people expected in the race for City Council Position 2. But even the council member, Scott Whelpley, didnt think Zieve would make it through to the general election.

It looks like he will. Initial results Tuesday show the Electroimpact president and major Trump donor had 27 percent of the vote, 9 percentage points ahead of real- estate agent Tina Over. The incumbent, Bob Champion, had a comfortable lead with nearly 55 percent.

In March after the state Attorney Generals Office found that Electroimpact, discriminated on the basis of religion and marital status the aerospace company entered into a consent decree that required it to pay $485,000 and take Zieve out of direct hiring.

For years, Zieve had been circulating inflammatory emails at work about refugees and Muslims, and last year he sent out a mass mailing informing Mukilteo residents about the planned construction of a local mosque.

In the months leading up to the primary, some residents also raised concern about court and police records showing a history of volatility between Zieve and his wife. Although both were at one time charged with low-level assault, the charges were dismissed.

In spite of some of the information thats come out, a lot of the citizens know him as the owner of a very successful business in Mukilteo that employs a lot of people, said Councilmember Richard Emery.

Emery also noted that Zieve, who put $50,000 of his own money into his campaign, blanketed Mukilteo with yard signs.

On his signs, and during a late July candidates forum, Zieve stressed his opposition to new taxes and support for family-friendly initiatives, like new playgrounds.

Despite the wide margin between Zieve and Champion, Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of CAIRs Washington office, said he was disturbed by the number of people who voted for the aerospace entrepreneur. It tells us that we have a more work to do, said Bukhari, an advocate for Muslim civil rights.

Mohammed Riaz Khan, head of the group building the mosque Zieve opposed, was trailing after Tuesdays count in his bid for City Council Position 1.

Continued here:

Fiery aerospace entrepreneur Peter Zieve likely headed to Mukilteo general election - The Seattle Times

Aerospace Data Recorder Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size … – Markets Insider

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

LONDON, Aug 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The aerospace industry across the globe has been experiencing rapid escalation in air traffic in the past few years. In order to meet the rising air traffic, the airline operator are ordering for more aircrafts, integrated with latest technologies. This trend is expected to grow the market for aerospace data recorder market in the current scenario. The aerospace data recorder are the electronic devices used to record or collect any electronic signals sent to the aircraft as well as the conversation between the pilots' and the on board crews and air traffic controller. These devices are used by the aircraft accident investigation agencies and the aircraft operators during any aircraft accident or incidents.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5038756/

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market: Drivers and Trends

The demand for accurate and precise flight data among the airline operators and defense forces across the globe are fuelling the growth of market for aerospace data recorder. Another factor bolstering the growth of the aerospace data recorder market during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025 is the modernization of the existing aircraft with latest technology. The latest technology will offer the commercial airlines and defense forces with enhanced safety and operation benefits. The modernization of aircrafts are evoking the interest among the manufacturers to incorporate robust data recorders. The benefits of flight recorders can help the airliners and investigation agencies to identify and detect the cause of the accident or incident. In order to meet the surging demand for modernization of aircrafts, the manufacturers are procuring the data recorders in large numbers, which in turn is helping the aerospace data recorder market to grow over the period

The market for aerospace data recorder is poised to grow in future due to introduction of expanded underwater locator beacon. The manufacturers of flight recorders have developed a new underwater locator beacon which can operate under water for maximum of 90 days, which was limited to 30 days in the conventional aerospace data recorders. This development is anticipated to impact heavily on the growth of market for aerospace data recorder in the coming years.

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market: Segmentation

In the report on aerospace data recorder market, the market is segmented on basis of components, application and geography. The different components of aerospace data recorder included in the report are cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder, quick access recorder, data loggers. In 2016, the largest market globally was captured by flight data recorders. Owing to the fact that, flight data recorders captures various data from an aircraft, the same are heavily attached to aircrafts. This has led the segment to dominate among the various components of flight recorders. Cockpit voice recorder is estimated to be the fastest growing type segment, expanding at a significant rate during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. The application segment is bifurcated as commercial and defense sector.

Due to the rapid escalation in the commercial aviation worldwide, the commercial segment held the majority of market share in 2016 and the segment is estimated to grow at a significant CAGR from 2017 to 2025. The estimated growth of commercial segment is attributed to the fact that, the global aerospace industry is witnessing huge growth in air traffic.

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market: Geographical Analysis

Geographically, the aerospace data recorder market is categorized on basis of five key regions as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. The majority of the market share was contributed by North America in 2016 followed by Europe. Due to extensive research and development being carried out in the North America region in order to manufacture technologically robust flight recorder, the region is leading the market in 2016. Asia Pacific is witnessing huge demand for air traffic especially in the countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea among others, due to which the region is estimated to be the fastest growing region globally.

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market: Competitive Analysis

Across five key regions globally, the top ten participants operating in the market for aerospace data recorder has been profiled in this report. The participants are Honeywell International Inc. (U.S), Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (U.S), AstroNova Inc. (U.S), SLN Technologies (India), FLHYT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (Canada), Leonardo DRS (U.S), RUAG Group (Switzerland), Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions (U.S), L-3 Technologies Inc. (U.S), Universal Avionics Systems Corporation (U.S).

The segments covered in the man-portable anti-armor weapons market are as follows:

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market, 2017-2025: By Components

Cockpit Voice RecorderFlight Data RecorderQuick Access RecorderData Logger

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market, 2017 - 2025: By Application

CommercialDefense

Global Aerospace Data Recorder Market, 2017 - 2025: By Geography

North AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeU.KGermanyItalyFranceRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and AfricaSaudi ArabiaIsraelRest of Middle East and AfricaLatin AmericaBrazilDownload the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5038756/

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Aerospace Data Recorder Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size ... - Markets Insider

Manitoba aerospace industry gets $10M lift from federal government – CBC.ca

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Manitoba's aerospace industry is getting a boost from the federal government.

The federal Liberals are investing $10 million to expand the Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training and create a new space at Red River College dubbed the Smart Factory, Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science and economic development, said Wednesday.

By expanding the technological capabilities at Red River College, the investment will help align the needs of industry with the expertise of post-secondary institutions, Bains said.

The government is partnering with Red River, which will invest $1.2 million, and StandardAero, which will invest $4.5 million, for a combined total investment of $15.7 million.

"This expansion is going to have far-reaching impacts across the province and will be able to serve both the aerospace and non-aerospace industries through direct access to the college's equipment, facilitiesand expertise," said Paul Vogt, president and CEO of Red River College.

The Smart Factory will help aerospace and manufacturing organizations with special equipment connect.

The goal is to help students develop skills needed in the workforce.

The Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training campus is located at StandardAero in Winnipeg, where the company started as Standard Machine Works in 1911.

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Manitoba aerospace industry gets $10M lift from federal government - CBC.ca

Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems surges on tentative deal in contract dispute – Tulsa World

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings stock jumped the most in eight years after reaching an understanding with Boeing, its largest customer, that could end a sprawling contract dispute affecting every commercial jet in the planemakers product lineup.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding addressing open commercial issues on a range of Boeing programs, including the 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner, Spirit said in a statement Wednesday as it announced earnings. The manufacturers are still working to finalize the five-year pact.

The tentative accord takes a major step toward removing a question mark surrounding Spirit, which makes major air-frame components and relies on Boeing for 80 percent of sales. The pact also provides a boost to Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gentile, who joined Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit last year.

Despite warnings that a deal still isnt finalized, investors are likely to take the news of an MoU with Boeing as a sign of good progress and at least a partial removal of the uncertainty that has clouded the stock over the last few years, Rob Stallard, an analyst at Vertical Research Partners, told clients.

Spirit shares closed up 17 percent at $71.72. The stocks largest previous intraday gain in eight years was 15 percent. Boeing dropped 1 percent to $237.95.

Spirit AeroSystems also posted earnings Wednesday morning.

If you care about business and this community, it's a small price to pay to be in the know. For a limited time, get a digital subscription for just $3.95 a month. Sign up now at tulsaworld.com/subscribe.

The aerospace manufacturers adjusted earnings rose to $1.57 a share in the second quarter, exceeding the $1.20 average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales were little changed at $1.83 billion. Analysts had predicted $1.74 billion.

The company also increased its full-year profit forecast to a range of $5 to $5.25 a share. Analysts had anticipated $4.81 a share.

Spirit employs about 1,400 people at its Tulsa facility and about 250 workers in McAlester.

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Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems surges on tentative deal in contract dispute - Tulsa World

Aerospace tech expanding at Red River College | Home | Winnipeg … – Winnipeg Sun

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Danzig

Winnipeg Sun

Aerospace tech expanding at Red River College | Home | Winnipeg ...
Winnipeg Sun
Red River College's aerospace and manufacturing programs will be getting a $10-million dollar boost.
Red River College Getting New Smart Factory - MyToba.ca NewsMyToba

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Aerospace tech expanding at Red River College | Home | Winnipeg ... - Winnipeg Sun

When P.M. Bhargava’s Biochemistry Lesson on Beef Threw … – The Wire

Posted on August 2, 2017 by ev1

After Bhargava organised a controversial meeting at a research lab in Hyderabad in 1967, he was summoned by a committee set up by the Centre to be quizzed abouthis meat-eating preferences. Golwalkar was part of the committee.

Credit: richichoraria/pixabay

The following is an excerpt from a biography of Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, currently in preparation by Chandana Chakrabarti, and from a biography of Verghese Kurien. Bhargava passed away on August 1, 2017. He was 89years old. The excerpts have been lightly edited for style.

The year 1966 witnessed a mass agitation against cow slaughter organised by the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)]. The demand was for a complete ban on cow slaughter in the country. It culminated in a huge demonstration lead by sadhus who tried to storm the Parliament house in Delhi. While the Shankaracharya of Puri went on a fast for the cause, the frenzied mob went on a rampage. A 48-hour curfew had to be imposed to control the situation.

It was against this background that the Society for the Promotion of Scientific Temper held a public discussion at the Regional Research Laboratory in Hyderabad in 1967, on the relevance of a ban on cow slaughter, with Dr Pushpa Bhargava (PMB) chairing it. At this meeting, one of the speakers, Dr P. Ramchander, a well-known physician, said, If we dont eat the cows, the cows will eat us. This caught the headlines of newspapers the following day. The statement offended those who were asking for the ban and PMB promptly started receiving verbal threats. Questions were asked as to how could PMB organise such a meeting in a government laboratory.

Subsequently, the Government of India set up a high power committee headed by Justice Sarkar, a former Chief Justice of India, to look into the issue. Guru Golwalkar, the head of RSS, Shankaracharya of Puri, Verghese Kurien (the Milk Man of India), and H.A.B. Parpia, the director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute, were members of the committee. PMB was summoned to Delhi to give evidence before the committee.

When PMB arrived at Krishi Bhavan to appear before the committee, a man sitting in the waiting room immediately started quizzing him about cow slaughter. His questions were unending: was PMB a Brahmin since Bhargavas are supposed to be Brahmins?; did PMB eat meat?; if he does eat meat he surely does not eat cows meat?; how does the body make meat?; and so on. PMB ended up giving the man a crash course in elementary biochemistry, saying that we eat food which has proteins. Those proteins are broken down in our [gastrointestinal]tract into amino acids, which are absorbed into the blood stream, and they go to various organs, where they get reconverted to proteins. But how is milk made, the man asked. Milk is made exactly in the same way as meat, PMB replied. Then why dont you drink milk instead of eating meat, the man asked. Why dont you eat meat like you drink milk, because both are made the same way, PMB replied. To PMBs surprise, this little encounter proved to be a curtain-raiser to what unfolded when he appeared before the committee.

Inside the meeting room, Guru Golwalkar asked PMB exactly the same questions. And when PMB replied to Golwalkars question, as to why he did not drink milk instead of eating meat, with another question that is, why by the same logic did Golwalkar not eat meat instead of drinking milk Golwalkarwent into a fit of rage. It took quite a while for the chairman and Sankaracharya to calm him down. Shankaracharya pleaded with Golwalkarthat he was spoiling their case. After PMB came out, he got a slip from Justice Sarkar asking to meet him before he left. Justice Sarkar cheerfully told PMB that he was fantastic and added that the only person who did better than PMB was a professor of Sanskrit who appeared before the committee and quoted from ancient Indian literature on the advantages of eating beef.

As it turns out several years later, while collecting material for a joint paper on biology in India from ancient times to 1900, PMB and I stumbled across the following statement made in the Charaka Samhita:

The flesh of the cow is beneficial for those suffering from the loss of flesh due to disorders caused by an excess of vayu, rhinitis, irregular fever, dry cough, fatigue, and also in cases of excessive appetite resulting from hard manual work.

Three decades later, PMB went to see Kurien in Anand, Gujarat, along with a friend. When PMB reminded Kurien about the incident, Kurien told him that over the years when he and Golwalkar became close friends, the latter admitted to him that the cow protection agitation was only a political agitation which he started to actually embarrass the government. Kurien would later describe this episode in his biography, which was titled I Too Had a Dream.

One day after one of our meetings when he had argued passionately for banning cow slaughter, he came to me and asked, Kurien, shall I tell you why Im making an issue of this cow slaughter business ?

I said to him, Yes, please explain to me because otherwise you are a very intelligent man. Why are you doing this ?

I started a petition to ban cow slaughter actually to embarrass the government, he began explaining to me in private. I decided to collect a million signatures, for this work I traveled across the country to see how the campaign was progressing. My travels once took me to a village in Uttar Pradesh. There, I saw in one house a woman who, having fed and sent off her husband to work and her two children to school, took this petition and went from house to house to collect signatures in that blazing summer sun. I wondered to myself why this woman should take such pains. She was not crazy to be doing this. This is when I realised that the woman was actually doing it for her cow, which was her bread and butter, and I realised how much potential the cow has.

Look at what our country has become. What is good is foreign;what is bad is Indian. Who is a good Indian? Its the fellow who wears a suit and a tie and puts on a hat. Who is a bad Indian? The fellow who wears a dhoti. If this nation does not take pride in what it is and merely imitates other nations, how can it amount to anything ? Then I saw that the cow has potential to unify the country she symbolises the culture of Bharat. So I tell you what, Kurien, you agree with me to ban cow slaughter on this committee and I promise you, five years from that date, I will have united the country. What Im trying to tell you is that Im not a fool, Im not a fanatic. Im just cold-blooded about this. I want to use the cow to bring out our Indianness. So please cooperate with me on this.

Chandana Chakrabartiis a biologist, consultant and joint secretary of the P.M. Bhargava Foundation, Hyderabad.

Cancer survivor becomes a cancer fighter at a Philly start-up – Philly.com

Posted on August 2, 2017 by ev1

What Debra Travers really wanted to be was a marine biologist, until I found out Jacques Cousteau wasnt hiring.

How she wound up as chief executive of PolyAurum LLC, a Philadelphia start-up developing biodegradable gold nanoparticles for treating cancerous tumors, involved a professional journey of more than 30 years in pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries, and a personal battle with the disease shes now in business to defeat.

After determining that studying sea creatures was not a viable career choice, Travers a military kid from all over switched her major at Cedar Crest College in Allentown to medical technology. She graduated in 1979, then worked for three years in a hospital laboratory until she concluded she didnt like shift work and could do more.

What followed was an impressive career progression: Travers started as a chemistry technician at DuPont Biomedical Products Division, advancing to executive positions in marketing and product development at Centocor, GlaxoSmithKline, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and IMS Health.

Much of that work involved bringing new products through the long development and regulation-heavy process from concept to launch, with experience in therapeutic areas including oncology, urology, pain medicine, cardiology, and rheumatology. In an industry of specialty silos, Travers developed a uniquely blended expertise in marketing and R&D.

It was on March 23, 2006, that her health-care vocation turned personal: Travers, then a 50-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

An oncologist recommended a double mastectomy, removal of both ovaries, and chemotherapy. The tearful pleadings of her daughter, Kelly, then 18 I need you here when I graduate college, when I get married, when I have kids persuaded Travers to follow that recommendation.

She returned to work at Endo for seven more years, as a director in project management, before being laid off in June 2013, one month before her daughters wedding. The break gave Travers time to concentrate on the big event and to start to think what Id like to do when I grow up.

That process would lead her in late 2015 to PolyAurum, a start-up spun out of the University of Pennsylvania.

I became a CEO and a grandmother in the same year, said Travers, now 61, chuckling during a recent interview at the Pennovation Center incubator in West Philadelphia. From there, her home in Delaware, and the sites of pitch opportunities with investors, she is working to raise $1.3 million in seed funding by early in the fourth quarter, to help get PolyAurum closer to clinical trials on humans.

So far, research and testing funded through $4 million in grants to the university has been limited to mice with tumors. It has shown that gold nanocrystals greatly enhance the effectiveness of radiation on tumors without increasing harm to healthy surrounding tissue, said Jay Dorsey, an associate professor and radiation oncologist at Penn and one of four university faculty who developed the technology.

The effectiveness of metals in improving a tumors ability to absorb radiation has long been known, Dorsey said. But one of the stumbling blocks to incorporating gold nanoparticles in such therapeutics is that the metal is not eliminated from the body well, posing serious problems to vital organs such as the liver and spleen.

Penns David Cormode, a professor of radiology, and Andrew Tsourkas, a professor of bioengineering, have worked to make gold more biocompatible, resulting in PolyAurums current technology, Dorsey said. The gold nanocrystals are contained in a biodegradable polymer that allows enough metal to collect in a tumor. The polymer then breaks down, releasing the gold for excretion from the body so that it does not build up in key organs.

The companys name is a combination of those two essential ingredients: Poly, derived from polymer, and Aurum, the Latin word for gold.

Explaining all that, and the potential that PolyAurums founders see for extending and saving lives, is the message Travers now is in charge of disseminating the part of the critical path to commercialization that is not the strength of most researchers toiling in laboratories.

She knows what the founders dont know it just makes a perfect match, said Michael Dishowitz, portfolio manager at PCI Ventures, an arm of Penn that helps university start-ups find investors, recruit management, and get to market.

Since its formation about eight years ago, PCI has helped more than 150 companies secure more than $100 million in funding, said Dishowitz, who has a doctoratein bioengineering from Penn and spent several years studying the impact of cell-signaling pathways on orthopedic injury.

While calling PolyAurums technology cool and very transformative for treatment, Dishowitz also delivered a dose of reality about the rigors ahead, as health-care start-ups must navigate a course with no guarantees their products will lead to actual clinical implementation.

PolyAurum is one of 13 companies that entered Philadelphia Media Networks second annual Stellar StartUps competition in the health-care/life sciences category. A total of nine categories drew 88 applicants. The winners will be announced Sept. 12 at an event at the Franklin Institutes Fels Planetarium. (Details at http://www.philly.com/stellarstartups.)

A lot has to go right, all the planets and stars have to align for this to hit the market, Dishowitz said of PolyAurums commercial prospects.

Which is why the team behind any start-up is so essential to investors, he said, calling Travers interest in joining a company that has yet been unable to pay her (she has equity in PolyAurum) incredibly lucky.

Margo Reed

At the Nanomedicine and Molecular Imaging Lab at Penn Medicine are (front row, from left) Jay Dorsey, a radiation oncologist and a founder of PolyAurum; Debra Travers, CEO; and Andrew Tsourkas, another founder of PolyAurum; and (back row, from left) Michael Dishowitz, portfolio manager, PCI Ventures at Penn; and David Cormode, lab director and PolyAurum founder. (MARGO REED / Staff Photographer)

The only thing Travers corporate-heavy background lacked, he said, was raising money for a start-up. It doesnt worry him, Dishowitz said, citing Travers perseverance, no-quit attitude.

When youre out there raising money, youre going to hear no about 100, 150 times before you hear yes, Dishowitz said.

When it comes to pitching for PolyAurum, Travers has extra incentive.

I am working on a cancer therapeutic, which is very important to the 11-year cancer survivor in me, she said.

As for handling nos, shes had plenty of professional experience with that.

After spending 30-plus years in the drug and diagnostic industries, where it is hard to find women CEOs or board members, Travers said, Ive learned to ignore the negative voices.

When: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Where: Fels Planetarium, Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia 19103

For more information: http://www.philly.com/stellarstartups

Published: July 28, 2017 3:01 AM EDT

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Cancer survivor becomes a cancer fighter at a Philly start-up - Philly.com

CIO – The C Suite

Posted on August 2, 2017 by ev1

By Bianca Allery, Communications Manager, 3CXTechnology & InnovationPublished: 1 August 2017

When implementing new technologies, such as a Unified Communications solution, the main concern used to be the underlying infrastructure. However, far more attention is now being paid to the applications themselves instead of the network that underpins tem. This is due to the growth of the cloud, after all why worry about the infrastructure underpinning services when they are being hosted by another business many miles away? Yet even with in-house services, the shift in attention is noticeable.

However, this new way of looking at IT management underlines the many challenges issues that have been tied up in background infrastructure. Companies now expect that any new applications they introduce will be implemented quickly, easily and at a low cost. Yet as CIOs well know, it isnt always that simple. Applications and solutions may have very particular software and hardware demands, from installing the correct hardware PBX, to running software on the right operating system. As the role of the CIO evolves, they no longer have time to manage every detail of IT infrastructure. Instead, they just need to know that software works, whether on the cloud or for part of the 90% of desktop users still reliant on Windows.

Back to the futureHistorically, when organisations have invested in new technology, it has traditionally been brought in alongside its own software. While the software would ideally be fine-tuned for its purpose, it would also have its own demands, such as the need to run on a specific operating system.

Understandably, this caused major headaches for organisations, as they needed to maintain multiple operating systems, all of which are deemed necessary because of the add-on programmes they support. This strategy was both expensive, due to the cost of purchasing and managing these systems, and insecure because of the gaps created when systems are not updated regularly; particularly when developers stop providing security updates for legacy systems.

The advent of cloud has fuelled the ongoing simplification of IT infrastructure. After all, if the organisation can access software on-demand, it no longer needs to worry about the underlying infrastructure. At the same time, there is a growing expectation that applications will work on any operating system, so that a business can access Unified Communications whether it runs Windows, iOS, Linux or even a combination of all three mixture of the three and then some.

Nine to fiveAlong with this change in expectations has come a change in the CIOs role. At one point, CIOs were predominantly concerned with infrastructure and day-to-day IT operations, however modern CIOs now command a more strategic role leading the direction of IT in support of wider business strategy, rather than just focusing on the tech. In this environment, the applications become critical. For example, if an organisation seeks to target expansion in Latin America, it will want to know if its CRM and communication applications can support local languages. It will be less worried about what server and OS those applications sit on. The more time CIOs can spend thinking about how technology supports these strategic initiatives, rather than thinking about what is happening under the hood, the more effective they will be.

One of the simplest ways for CIOs to do this, is by adopting a software agnostic approach. Companies need to be able to add the necessary applications to the operating system used on any desktop, laptop or mobile, without limitation. Software agnosticism will ensure that CIOs can create a simplified, forward-looking and productive environment, which will be able to develop alongside the technical IT changes the future will present. The CIOs that grasp this concept, and adopt this approach to simplify their business for the future, will ultimately be the ones who are successful in the long run.

For more information please visit http://www.3cx.com

Defining Faith – Patheos (blog)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by ev1

This last weekend, I participated in the Gateway to Reasonconference in St Louis, Missouri. One of the speakers there was John Loftus.Hes an author of religious philosophy with a bachelors degree from Great Lakes Christian College, a Master of Divinity degree from Lincoln Christian University, and a Masters of Theology degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Now to me, all of that is equivalent to having advanced degrees in Aesops fables. But at least we know that he should have a pretty good idea what faith is according to the Christian tradition. In his presentation at that conference, he defined faith thusly: Apart from the overt acknowledgement that faith is irrational, this is essentially the same definition given by EVERY former theologian, and I know several. Some of them are with the Clergy Project, where professional ministers, priests, and pastors realize they just cant pretend anymore.

Faith is the acceptance of the truth of a statement in spite of insufficientevidence. . . . Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertionis by faith, then you are conceding that it cant be taken on its own merits.Dan Barker; Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

This definition is also commonly implied in the hymns, sermons, and even scriptures of all three of the most popular religions.The Quran (for example) saysthose who are mindful of God, believe in the unseen.The Bible describes faith as things hoped for but not seen, looking at things that arenot seen, and not seeing what is seen. All according to the circular argument of the question begging fallacy in addition to confirmation bias and so on; where we are expected to see what is not there, and we are blessed if we believe impossible absurdities for no good reason. Because you have to believe everything youre told, or else risk a fate worse than death if you just cant convince yourself of what you know cant be true.

To illustrate another aspect of faith, if you think your brother is telling you the truth, then regardless whether his testimony would be considered evidence by others evaluating all sides collectively, were still talking about why you accept his particular claim individually: especially when pitted against evidence or other testimony to the contrary. You might believe him solely on his authority as your brother. In which case, you dont need any evidence to back him up. You might even go so far as to deny evidence against himwhich of course would be dishonest. Do you accept what he says without question or reservation, simply because he says so? Or do you first need to see facts that show whether what he says is true? This is the difference between faith and reason.

With faith, you could have evidence, but you dont need it.With evidence, you dont need faith, and wouldnt want it.

This is why dictionaries also reflect the common usage that faith is a firm belief or complete trust that is not dependent on evidence, but may be accepted on the assumption of authority instead.That definition is also admitted by many current believers too, sometimes including even the part about it being irrational. Several times believers have confessed to me that they dont care what the facts are because they dont really want to know what the truth is. Why cant I believe what I want to believe? Many have said theyll take the authority of scripture as the only sources of truth in this world, and that everything else in the whole of reality is a lie. One guy even admitted to me that hed rather take a bullet in the ear than listen to reason and give up his faith.Many otheradmissions by religious people make clear that their belief matters more tothem than does truth, and this is explicitly expressed by the 2nd centuryapologist Tertullian:

We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquiringafter enjoying the gospel! With our faith, we desire no further belief.

And the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it isabsurd. And he was buried and rose again; the fact is certain because it isimpossible.

After Jesus Christ we have no need of speculation, after the Gospel noneed of research. When we come to believe, we have no desire to believeanything else; for we begin by believing that there is nothing else whichwe have to believe.

Religious faith must be a helluva drug.

I often hear the faithful making these admissions, but they usually wont unless theyre only talking to each other. Whenever I catch them making that confession, I point it outlike I did when Pastor David C Pack did that in one of the videos aimed at his own subscribers.I did it again with Pastor John Christy. I found one of his sermons, which I showed in one of my presentations. In it he confessed that he (and by extension his entire congregation) were delusional by definition. Because hes gonna believe whatever he wants to believe regardless what the facts are, because [he admitted] he doesnt care whether its really true or not. Of course I have many other examples like that too.

Faith means not wanting to know what is true. Friedrich Nietzsche.Faith is believing what you know aint so. Mark Twain

Many sectarian organizations publish a statement of faith (as if this were something to be proud of) wherein they admit that their beliefs are required, not indicated. They assert unsupported speculation as absolute truth, stating facts that are not facts, which is already dishonest. But then they also use apologetics to systematically make up excuses to rationalize or reject any and all arguments or evidence there could ever be against their desired/required belief, admitting only that theyll never admit when theyre wrong. This makes faith the most dishonest position it is possible to have.

Faith does not ignore the facts,it ignores the power of the factstelevangelist, Benny Hinn

Thats why Im an apistevist, one who will not believe anything on faith. We either believe certain claims because of our past experience, knowledge of probabilities, trust in credentialed expertise, objectively verifiable facts and so on, or we believe on faith instead, just cuz some perceived authority said so. But any belief that requires faith should be rejected for that reason. The only thing in the universe that desires or requires your faith is a bad salesman.

I often see equivocation used as a defense of such indefensible beliefs, confusing the religious context with the colloquial context of having faith *in* someone. The reason why I might believe what my wife says is not the same reason that I believe she exists. Religious faith is not a synonym of trust. Theres a prefix and suffix required. Faith is a [complete] trust [that is not based on evidence].

Now realize that a rational person is typically defined as having reason and being open to reason, meaning that they should only believe what they have good reason to believe, rather than believing anything on faith. They also have to be reasonable, being able to be reasoned with. But since apologists typically refuse to admit when theyre proven wrong, or that they even could be wrong, because God has revealed it to me in such a way that I know it for certain (for example) then this is the second point where faith is irrational by definition.

For this reason, believers will sometimes completely invert their definition of faith to the opposite of itself whenever theyre trying to seem reasonable to unbelievers, such that suddenly faith depends on evidence. Then theyll say that I got the definition wrongeven though Ive already shown that an overwhelming consensus of definitive/authoritative and uncontested sources from every relevant field that proves I obviously got this right.

This reversed redefinition that faith suddenly demands evidence appears to be a combination of the logical fallacies of projection, tu quoque, strawman, equivocation, and false equivalence that I see frequently repeated by most defenders of the faith. Every logical fallacy has been used as an argument for God, and every argument for God is a logical fallacy. Believers assume their belief without reason and defend it against all reason. They know how unreasonable that is, but theyre hoping you dont know that. So in such cases, they stand firm behind a cloak of seemingly rational intellectual argumentsto create the illusion that their belief was determined by, or could be effected by reason.

But every time they do that, they betray themselves one of two ways:Sometimes theyll tell me there is no evidence of evolution and thus my belief in atheism requires more faith than their belief in supernatural things. Of course this is a Freudian admission that they already realize that faith is not based on evidence, and they just dont want to admit that to me.

Otherwise, if they pretend to believe what they do because they were convinced by the evidence, then Ill inquire as to what evidence supports their belief. I invariably learn that they never had any reason that would qualify as actual evidence: not one verifiable fact that is either positively indicative of that conclusion nor exclusively concordant with it.

Either that or they redefine and thus negate every other relevant word toosuch that facts are no longer factual and evidence cant be evident anymore. Sometimes theyll invert or pervert both of these at once, effectively turning faith into science and evidence into subjective speculation, as if the make-believers are trying to trade places with rational thinkers.

Either way, this exercise shows that their faith is typically based on a presupposed assumption of authority instead of any evaluation of objectively verifiable data. Regardless whatever bullshit excuse they use to hide this fact, the real reason they believe as they do is almost always unchallenged cultural conditioning. Theyve simply bought the lie theyve been fed since they were children. They dont know how to question that, or dont want to, and typically never believed anything elseeven if they pretend they were once atheist.

Atheist: anyone who is unconvinced that an actual deity really exists.

Theists like to change the definition of atheism as necessary too. Theyll minimize the number of admitted unbelievers by saying that atheists are only those who know for certain that no god exists, and that everyone else is merely agnosticas if that makes any difference. (Gnostism pertains to knowledge rather than belief. Agnosticism says no one can know anything about the nature of the supernatural, but that has nothing to do with one believes there is a god or not. You can be atheist and agnostic. You can also be theist and agnostic. Theyre not mutually-exclusive.) But if believers want to pretend to have once been atheists who have since seen the light and turned to God, then theyll use the etymological definition of lacking-theism, of simply not yet practicing the religion they were almost always born into. They usually know no other way.

The same goes for when they say they used to believe in evolution-ism, yet they still cant tell you what that even is or show you anything they honestly believed about it.

Ive actually known three people who could confirm having once been atheist; two were even activists. However when I inquired as to what evidence brought them back to their faith, it turned out there never was any. One simply missed the community of her church. Another said she just didnt want any flak from the overwhelmingly religious environment she lived in. Another initially claimed to have been convinced by the evidence, but after continued interrogation, she still could not cite any. Instead she finally admitted that she changed her mind only because the guys at the Christian table in her college were hot. Seriously. So even on the rare occasion that an atheist does convert, there still isnt either logic or evidence compelling that decision, as there would have to be for me.

So if you ever find yourself having this argument with a spiritual devotee who says their faith depends on evidence, and/or that evidence is either subjective impressions or philosophical argumentsrather than what either common language or a court of law would recognize as actual factual evidence, then let them know that we can all see through their smoke screen.Then challenge them with the following questions:

What body of facts convinced you that your previously materialist perspective was wrong, and that there is a supernatural/magical aspect to the universe?

What body of facts convinced you that a bona fide deity not only could exist but actually does exist? How does it exist? How does it do anything? Especially when it comes to helping you get that job, find your keys, or win the big game?

What body of facts convinced you that your particular denomination of one of many different faith-based belief systems was significantly more accurate than all the other seemingly man-made mythologies including the older ones yours is apparently based on?

What did you believe before learning these facts that changed your mind? And why did you believe whatever that was?

What body of facts convinced you that any of humanitys supposedly sacred fables of any religion even could have any divine authority, such as several such tomes to other gods discordantly claim?

[If youre talking to a creationist, throw in this one too.]What body of facts convinced you that all the worlds best-educated expert specialists in any field are all wrong, and that the theories of evolution, cosmology, and atomic chemistry are all fundamentally fatally flawed?

My experience has been that these questions unmask the problem with faith-based beliefs so well that it is highly doubtful that any believer trying to promote faith as a rational position would risk exposing their true condition by answering any of these. Because they know that if they do, we will see that theirFaith [as it is commonly defined according to a consensus of definitive/authoritative religious or secular sources] really is a firm belief or complete trust, which is not based on, or not dependent onevidence [as that too is commonly defined, again according to virtually every relevant source for both scientific and common language].

If the above definition was not correct, whether about all religious faith or any particular believers allegedly exceptional brand of faith, then they should have no problem answering all the preceding questions. Theyd even want to. How could they not? Even if they believed they had metaphysical evidence, they still could answer these and reveal their reasoning. But if they already know that this definition really is correct, and that it is applicable to their particular faith, but they dont want you to see through their obfuscation, there will be some excuse as to why they wont, or dont have to answer any of these. Because faith really is the most dishonest position it is possible to have.

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Defining Faith - Patheos (blog)

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