Democracy can’t be strong if spirituality is weak, says PM – The Nation – The Nation

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Prayut said the country had faced a number of problems because of the absence of spirituality, which provides what he calls a moral blanket against ill practices.

The premier said he did not want to blame anyone, but was reminding everyone about this point so people would come to help one another and get out of this sticky situation.

Dharma-based democracy, he said, was something that people did not talk about much, but it was actually crucial because its based on rationale. Democracy without dharma, he said, would find no peace and stability. To achieve moral society, this principle should be taken into consideration. It was also the starting point for reconciliation, he said.

I just want you to be thoughtful about the country a bit and have conscience enough to be able to think of some religious principles that we can apply to our present political problems, he said.

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Democracy can't be strong if spirituality is weak, says PM - The Nation - The Nation

Regina woman says she needed spirituality while in solitary confinement – National Observer

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A Regina woman who spent 3-1/2 years in solitary confinement cried Wednesday as she recalled how a spiritual ceremony led by a First Nations elder helped her through difficult times at a British Columbia prison.

BobbyLee Worm, 31, was testifying at a B.C. Supreme Court trial launched by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada over the use of indefinite solitary confinement.

Worm was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in June 2006 for armed robbery. She served time at the Edmonton Institution for Women before being transferred in July 2008 to the Fraser Valley Institution for Women in Abbotsford, B.C., where she occasionally participated in spiritual ceremonies.

Prison officials limited an elder to certain elements of a spiritual ceremony, she said.

"The elder would still want to see me regardless of how they were telling her how to give me my spirituality because she knows how important it was to me to have that in my life at that time," Worm said through tears.

"It helped me keep grounded and keep myself together in order to get through those times."

Justice Peter Leask stopped proceedings to give Worm a break from testifying about her experiences, which involved long stints in 23-hours-a-day isolation, including one term that lasted almost a year.

Worm told the trial she was handcuffed in her cell while an elder met with her through a food slot.

The constitutional challenge was filed in January 2015. The federal government tried to stop the trial, saying legislation introduced last month would impose a time limit on solitary confinement terms.

However, the two groups say a warden would still have the final say and cases such as the 2007 in-custody suicide of Ashley Smith of Moncton, N.B., could still happen. The judge rejected the government's argument.

Correctional Service Canada maintains that so-called administrative segregation is used when inmates are difficult to manage, their safety may be at risk in the general population, or if there is no reasonable alternative to maintain the safety and security of an institution.

The court heard 50 allegations were made against Worm at the Edmonton prison, stemming from damage to property, possession and dealing of contraband, fights, assaults and uttering threats.

Worm told court she once tried suicide and said in her affidavit dated June 1 that she understood through counselling in prison that her repressed anger led her to assault inmates, leading to more time in isolation.

Her parents were intravenous drug users and she also turned to similar drug use, eventually contracting hepatitis C, she said in the affidavit.

She wanted to complete her Grade 12 education in prison but sometimes refused to participate because she was overwhelmed by trying to learn while being restrained as a teacher spoke to her through a food slot, Worm told court.

When she saw a teacher in another room, Worm said she was led out of her cell in shackles and handcuffs and learning became challenging because her hands were cuffed from behind and she couldn't use a pencil.

"I just got tired of everything that came with it, trying to get that," she said of a high school diploma.

Worm said she eventually earned privileges such as guitar lessons but was handcuffed during that time.

"It would have been a good nightclub act," the judge said, to which Worm responded: "I'll have to keep that in mind."

In 2013, she settled a lawsuit against the federal government, filed on her behalf by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which said she'd suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of abuse her during childhood and adolescence.

Correctional Service Canada is currently required to release prisoners from administrative segregation at the earliest possible time. The proposed law would establish an initial time limit of 21 days, with a reduction to 15 days once the legislation is law for 18 months.

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An abode of spirituality: Tiruvayyaru – The Hans India

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Tiruvayyaru is a place of great musical and spiritual significance not only for Tamil Nadu but for the entire world of Carnatic music lovers. However, the most admired place wears a deserted look

It had been my long-cherished dream to visit Tiruvayyaru in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, ever since I heard a lot about it from the speeches of lovers of music in Hyderabad and elsewhere. But to my astonishment, it was quite different from what I dreamed about it.

I imagined the small village to be a place where there would be intense musical activity daily, with special programmes on auspicious or important occasions. I visited the temple with a view to take a dip in the lore of music. But alas! Ones travels will be only travails in vain to such a distant place from various corners of the country to visit the temple of the Saint and only to be returned disappointed.

Saint Sri Tyagaraja lived at the five river kshetram known as Tiruvayyaru in Tanjore district for about 80 years worshipping his favourite deity Sri Rama for whom he had immense devotion. The saint composed 24,000 keerthanas on Lord Rama describing various aspects of the story of the Lord.

The place has become sacred and world famous since the Saint had the audience of Lord Rama after he recited the Lord's name for 96 crore times. In January 1847 on Pushya Bahula Panchami tithi, Saint Tyagaraja attained salvation at the banks of the sacred river Cauvery.

Sri Tyagaraja Sarma, son of the great grandson of Saint Tyagaraja now resides near the temple and performs daily worship in the temple. Beyond this, there is no other programme that satisfies the staunch lovers of the saints compositions. The only event conducted is the seven-day programme ending the Pushya Bahula Panchami every year when musicians from all over the country reach Tiruvayyaru and render Pancharatna Kritis en mass.

Devotional music has a profound influence on human mind unlike any other form of art. That is why great seers who regarded recitation of Gods name as the most potent means of salvation not only practised Nada yoga but have also made a significant contribution to the progress of this cult.

Of these, Tyagaraja of the universal fame, the greatest of the exponents of the classical Karnataka music is an outstanding one. He provided a rich musical medium for this method of worship. Such a great spiritual leader and musical genius who enjoys reputation all over the world is least known or popular in the small sleeping village called Tiruvayyaru, where Tyagaraja lived and attained communion with Lord Sri Rama.

Tyagaraja in his compositions relates the truths of the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and handed over to mankind the story of Rama in a musical form. He is one of the long-line of torch bearers of spiritual enlightenment like Jayadeva, Purandaradasa et al born right from the times of Rig Veda. He occupies a unique place among the best representatives of the Indian hymnology.

Does he not deserve to be remembered daily through a rendition of his compositions in the temple dedicated to him in Tiruvayyaru, on the banks of the sacred river Cauvery in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu?

Tiruvayyaru is a place of great musical and spiritual significance not only for Tamil Nadu but for the entire south and the world of Carnatic music lovers. The organisers of music festivals or music concerts in the entire South India may organise similar concerts monthly, if not daily, in the temple of Tyagaraja in Tiruvayyaru to perpetuate the great musical traditions of India.

By: Dr Chaganti Nagaraja Rao The writer is Senior Faculty at Centre for Urban Development Studies, Dr MCR HRD Institute.

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An abode of spirituality: Tiruvayyaru - The Hans India

LOOK UP! The International Space Station flies over Asheville – WLOS

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS)

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth and you can see it fly over Asheville--if you know where and when to look.

At 10:48 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, 2017 the ISS will fly over Asheville and be visible as it crosses overhead for about six minutes. (If you're seeing this story ahead of the flyover, a good way to remember to watch the ISS is to set an alarm on your cell phone, if you have one)

If skies are clear in your area, look west-southwest about 10:48 p.m., and wait for the ISS to become visible over the horizon. It will look like a bright, fast-moving star, and will travel overhead and move out of sight into the north-northeast.

The ISS travels at about 17,150 mph as it zooms by, and you can view how many people are aboard it right here.

You can track where the ISS is here.

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LOOK UP! The International Space Station flies over Asheville - WLOS

Google Street View now lets you tour the International Space Station – Komando

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Anytime the topic of space is mentioned my attention is immediately grabbed. I've been fascinated with space exploration, the discovery of new planets, and astronomical events since I was a child. I'm super excited about the total eclipse that is going to occur on August 21.

There is more good news. Google recently announced a new feature that will give everyone a birds-eye view of the International Space Station (ISS).

There is already a way to catch breathtaking live views coming from the ISS. Click here to check out the ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment. It's a live stream of HD video cameras pointed at Earth from the ISS.

Now, you have the chance to explore the International Space Station itself. Google announced last week that its map imagery tool, Street View, will allow everyone to get an in-depth look inside the ISS.

The feature gives users a 360-degree, panoramic view of everything happening inside the ISS, including activity from astronauts that are onboard.

Watch the following video to catch a glimpse of what to expect:

It took nearly four months for French Astronaut Thomas Pesquet to map the entire ISS for Google. He collected images that were sent back to Earth and used to put together a 360-degree view.

Pesquet said in a statement, "The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions--left, right, up, down. And it's a busy place, with six crew members carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day. There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work."

Click here to check out images from Street View of the ISS. Once you've clicked our link, click the box that says International Space Station. It's pretty amazing!

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Google Street View now lets you tour the International Space Station - Komando

Opportunity rover peers into ‘Perseverance Valley’ Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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Toward the right side of this scene is a broad notch in the crest of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Wheel tracks in that area were left by NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as it observed Perseverance Valley from above in the spring of 2017. The valley is a major destination for the rovers extended mission. It descends out of sight on the inner slope of the rim, extending down and eastward from that notch. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

NASAs Opportunity rover, now showing nearly 28 miles (45 kilometers) on its odometer since landing on Mars, recorded a panoramic view last month of its next scientific destination, a valley that may have been carved by water, an icy or muddy debris flow, or ancient Martian winds.

Imagery experts stitched together this view from a series of images taken by Opportunitys panoramic camera from June 7 to June 19, according to NASA. The panorama covers three-quarters of a full-circle view.

The rover collected images for the panorama while engineers analyzed a stall on the robots left-front wheel steering actuator.

The wheel was pointed outward more than 30 degrees,prompting the team to call the resulting vista Pancams Sprained Ankle panorama, NASA said in a press release.

Engineers were able to get the wheel pointed straight ahead to resume driving, but Opportunity now uses the steering capability of only its two rear wheels, NASA said. The right-front steering actuator failed in 2006.

Opportunitys tracks lead into notch to the right of an outcrop dubbed Cape Tribulation, and scientists think the dip may have been a spillway through which water, ice or wind flowed into the bed of Endeavour Crater, an expansive 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer) depression the rover has explored for nearly six years.

The mobile robot landed on Mars in January 2004 and studied several smaller craters to find evidence that Mars was once habitable. Opportunity arrived at the rim of Endeavour Crater in 2011 after a cross-country journey from its original landing site, outliving its original three-month design life more than 50 times.

The floor of Endeavour Crater stretches toward the horizon in this panorama.

The wheel tracks visible in the image were created as Opportunity drove to the edge of the crater to look into Perseverance Valley, which lies on the inner slope of the crater rim just beyond the notch. Three-dimensional stereo images will help controllers plot Opportunitys drive into the valley, which sits at a slope of 15 to 17 degrees and extends the length of two football fields, based on observations from orbit.

It is a tantalizing scene, said Ray Arvidson, Opportunitys deputy principal investigator from Washington University in St. Louis. You can see what appear to be channels lined by boulders, and the putative spillway at the top of Perseverance Valley. We have not ruled out any of the possibilities of water, ice or wind being responsible.

The rover is now parked in the upper reaches of the valley.

Opportunity will drive deeper into Perseverance Valley next month once engineers re-establish full communications with the rover. Signals between Earth and spacecraft at Mars are currently blocked as the red planet travels behind the sun, but the rover is collecting a new panorama from its current location.

The valley is the prime target for this phase of Opportunitys mission, which NASA approved last year through at least September 2018. Scientists want to know what created the valley, which is the first such fluid-carved feature to ever be visited by a rover on Mars.

Opportunity will also take measurements of the rocks inside Endeavour Crater to compare their composition to the material on the plains outside the crater, officials said.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Opportunity rover peers into 'Perseverance Valley' Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle – Sacramento Bee

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Sacramento Bee
What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle
Sacramento Bee
The goal of his Burning Man on water was to tickle the imagination of like-minded free-thinkers and generate interest in seasteading floating colonies free from existing governments. With funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, the young ...

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What does a boat party have to do with reinventing government? Find out at Ephemerisle - Sacramento Bee

Preparing to paint the town red for world record attempt and Huntington’s Disease fundraiser – The Northern Daily Leader

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22 Jul 2017, 7:30 p.m.

Orange set to paint the town red for world record attempt and Huntington's Disease fundraiser.

SHADES OF RED: Austin, Rachael and Finn Brooking (front) joined other redheads at Wade Park on Saturday ahead of their September gathering. Photo: JUDE KEOGH

RED PRIDE: Adults and children with red hair gathered on Saturday to encourage others to join them at their world record attempt in September. Photo: JUDE KEOGH

Redheads from infants to adults gathered at Wade Park, Orange,on Saturday in bid to encourage other redheads to join them in aGuinness World Record attemptin September.

Event organiser Rachael Brooking is hoping more than 1672 red heads,from people with strawberry blonde hair through to those with dark auburn locks, will gather at Wade Park by 1pm on September 30 for the attempt.

Mrs Brooking said the event is also about raisingmoney to support NSW families of people living withHuntingtons disease, which claimed her mother Frances Kelly, also a redhead.

She said there will also be childrens activities including a jumping castle and face painting, a red beard competition for all men with red beards, live music, food and drinks from 11am to 3pm.

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Preparing to paint the town red for world record attempt and Huntington's Disease fundraiser - The Northern Daily Leader

LL.M. in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law …

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Welcome to the University of Nebraska College of Law's Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program! Our LL.M. degree is the first of its kind in the United States and the only degree of its kind in the world taught in English. We have an outstanding faculty, including Professors Frans von der Dunk and Jack Beard, and Professors and Program Co-Directors Matthew Schaefer and Gus Hurwitz. We also have exceptional adjunct faculty who teach, and work, in areas of space law, cyber law and telecommunications law.

Our alumni council features top graduates from our LL.M. program, including those working US Cyber Command, SpaceX, McKinsey Consulting (satellite group), and the U.S. State Department. We draw speakers from the Air Force, NASA, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Aviation Administation, the White House, DirecTV, US Strategic Command, Clearwire, Skype, Virgin Galactic, AT&T, Boeing, and many Washington, D.C. law firms and other companies. While our advisory board has top lawyers and executives from private industry and government and helps mentor our students.

Major Erik Mudrinich received his Bachelors of Arts degree with a major in Political Science and International Relations from Saint Olaf College in 1996. He attended Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota where he received his Juris Doctor in May of 1999. Major Mudrinich also studied at the University of Oslo, Norway, completing his concentration in International Law. Major Mudrinich is the Chief of Space and International Law for Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. In this capacity he is responsible for advising the dual-hatted 14 AF/CC (AFSPC) & Commander JFCC SPACE (USSTRATCOM), staffs, and the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg on a wide variety of legal specialties including space operations, military operations, international law, and national security law. Major Mudrinich participates in planning for and execution of global and theater military space operations and exercises, and coordinates with the supported geographic combatant commanders' staffs. As a member of the LL.M. class of 2011, Erik prepared a thesis dealing with cyber-warfare, specifically delineating what the cyber domain is and how this domain impacts military operations and national security at a technical level. It was published in Vol 68 of the AF Law Review 2012, titled "Cyber 3.0: The Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace and the Attribution Problem."

In 2013, he earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law (LL.M. Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications law). Since receiving his LL.M. degree, Mr. Schmitt has developed a specialty practice in cyber law and currently represents corporations and individuals in a variety of cyber, computer fraud, and internet-related matters. He recently published an article on computer fraud in the Creighton Law Review: David J. Schmitt, The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Should Not Apply To The Misuse Of Information Accessed With Permission, 47 Creighton L. Rev. 423 (2014).

Mr. Schmitt graduated from the University of Iowa (B.B.A. 1985) and Creighton University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1989), where he was the Assistant Editor of the Creighton Law Review. After receiving his Juris Doctor, he served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable Lyle E. Strom, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. He has also served on the adjunct faculty at Creighton University School of Law teaching courses in trial practice and legal research and writing. He is admitted to practice in both federal and state courts in Nebraska, state court in Iowa, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Major Keira Poellet is currently the Chief of the Operations Training Division at the Pentagon where she advises The Judge Advocate General, Chief of Staff of the Air Force and senior leaders on legal matters pertaining to operations training, plans and policy. After graduating from the LL.M. program, Keira was an Operational Law Attorney at United States Cyber Command at Fort Meade in Maryland. She advised on the global mission for the Department of Defense network operations, was the legal advisor to an operational planning team in support of full spectrum cyber operations, coordinated and advocated for the Department of Defenses cyber strategy and policies with DoJ, DoS, and CIA, as well as key nations, and instructed operators, policy-makers, and other operational attorneys on cyber law.

Major Poellet coauthored an article with Colonel Gary Brown (UNL J.D. Class of 1987),The Customary International Law of Cyberspace, Strategic Studies Quarterly (Fall 2012). While a candidate in the LL.M. program, Keira focused her research on network neutrality and published an article with her thesis advisor, Professor Marvin Ammori,Security versus Freedom on the Internet: Cybersecurity and Net Neutrality, SAIS Review (Summer Fall 2010).

Major Poellet has served her country in other JAG Corps positions, including deploying as a Staff Judge Advocate in the Middle East; Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Lajes Field in Portugal; and Chief of Military Justice and of Civil Law at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas. Prior to joining the JAG Corps, Keira was an acquisitions officer in the Strategic and Nuclear Deterrence Command and Control System Program Office at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado where she was a project manager on emerging satellite command and control programs for U.S. and Air Force Space Command. Keira graduated,cum laude, from Whittier College School of Law, Costa Mesa, California in May 2005, where she was a published member of the Law Review, an extern for the Honorable David G. Sills, a fellow in the Intellectual Property Law program, and received the Outstanding Student in IP Law Award. Keira graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in Mathematics and is a native of Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Sarah J. Morris is a true Nebraska native born and raised in Omaha, she migrated to Lincoln in 2002 for her undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Graduating with a B.A. in English and political science in 2006, she continued her education there, receiving her J.D. from the College of Law in 2009. As an undergraduate, Morris developed an interest in law and public policy through her involvement as a senator and committee chairwoman for the Universitys student government, as a legislative page with the Nebraska State Unicameral, and as an intern in the D.C. office of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. As a policy counsel for the Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, Morris assists in the research and development of policy proposals related to open technologies, broadband access, and emerging technological issues.While at the law school, Morris clerked at the Omaha, Nebraska, law firm Lamson, Dugan and Murray doing general litigation work and spent her semesters researching telecommunications law for Professor Marvin Ammori.

Morris culminated her legal education in the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law LL.M. program. As part of the LL.M. program, Morris completed her thesis on privacy and security concerns related to Smart Grid technology. After graduation Morris served as a Google Policy Fellow with the Media Access Project, where she assisted with research and drafting of FCC comments on issues including media ownership, the open Internet and retransmission consent.

Jeff Nosanov grew up in Los Angeles, California. At 5 years old, he went to the Griffith Observatory with his parents and knew at that moment he was going to spend his life as part of the space exploration effort. After attending the University of California-Irvine and receiving his degree in Environmental Analysis and Design, Jeff enrolled in New York Law School as a result of his interest in the legal and policy component of space exploration. The University of Nebraska created its Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications LL.M. program just in time for Jeff to come to Nebraska Law straight from NYLS in 2008. He was the programs first graduate.

While a student, Jeff found that his thesis was career determining. Focusing his research on export control law resulted in a job in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at NASA in Pasadena, California. He then moved to the Radioisotope Power Systems Program office at JPL., where he works on research proposals, writes on space policy affecting power sources for NASA missions, and helps bridge the gap between legal and technical issues when it arises. In August of 2012 Jeff was named as a NIAC (NASA Innovative and Advanced Concepts) Fellow at NASA. He continues his research at UCLA and The California Institute of Technology into novel space mission financing arrangements. He currently manages an engineering project and is in the process of proposing several more.In May of 2012 his family grew by one with the birth of his son Nathan and he and his wife began another adventure - parenting.

Maria-Vittoria "Giugi" Carminati is a trial attorney in Houston, Texas. She practices commercial litigation, qui tam litigation, and white collar criminal defense at the trial boutique Berg & Androphy. Her practice focuses on complex multi-jurisdictional cases ranging from mortgage fraud to allegations of conversion to pharmaceutical company's off-label marketing, and everything in between. Giugi is also co-owner and co-manager of ADE Aerospace Consulting, LLC, a human physiologic consulting company for extreme environments, including high altitude jumps and suborbital flights. Prior to joining Berg & Androphy, Giugi practiced Complex Commercial Litigation and (briefly) International Arbitration in the Houston office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges from 2008 to 2013.

Giugi has published numerous articles on commercial space, including a recurring column for Space Safety Magazine called "Cross-Talk: Space Law in Down-To-Earth English." In 2012, Giugi co-authored The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers published by the ABA, which became a best-seller and is currently used as a space law textbook in several law schools around the country. In May 2013, Giugi was the first graduate of the University of Nebraska's online LLM program when she obtained her LLM in Space, Cyber & Telecommunications law. Her LLM thesis analyzed the Space Activities Statutes in the six states which, at the time, had passed such legislation and discussed whether and how such statutes would be enforced by the various courts. Giugi is currently working on her Space Law JSD at the University of Nebraska Law School. Her doctoral dissertation analyzes management of liability exposure for commercial human spaceflight companies.

Giugi has taught Pre-Trial Litigation at the University of Houston Law Center and will teach Law and the Commercial Space Industry in Fall 2014. She is also Vice Chair of the ABAs Science & Technology Section Space Law Committee. Giugi also regularly lecture on topics relating to space law, including delivering an annual lecture at UTMB's Aerospace Medicine Short Course where she provides aerospace medicine students and residents an overview of space laws and regulations.

She will become Chair at the ABA Annual in August 2014. She is also an IISL Observer to UNCOPUOS, for which she attends UNCOPUOSs Legal Subcommittee meetings in Vienna in the Spring. In addition, Giugi is Associate Regional Organizer for the IISL's Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, North American Regional Rounds, which takes place at Georgetown Law School in March-April of every year. Finally, in 2012, Giugi published her first science fiction novel, Sparcus: Broken Worlds.

Jessica Tok is a civilian Strategic Communications Analyst (Space) in the Communication Synchronization branch of the Campaign Plan Division, Plans and Policy Directorate for the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Offutt AFB, NE. Prior to joining USSTRATCOM, Ms. Tok obtained a law degree (J.D.) and a Masters of Law (LL.M.) specializing in Space and Telecommunications Law, and worked for multiple state and federal organizations, including the University of Nebraska College of Law, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. District Court of Nebraska. Ms. Tok also worked closely with top-level diplomats and scientists, serving previously as the Secretariat to the Association of Space Explorers standing committee on Near Earth Objects, and as the editor of their 2009 policy document, Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response. In 2010-2011, she was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Committee of Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. She is admitted to practice law in Nebraska and currently serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska. Jessica resides in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband, Mr. Matthew Carper.

Dennis J. Kamph received his Bachelor of Art's degree in Criminal Justice from Saint Cloud State University in February, 2002. After obtaining his undergraduate degree Dennis completed a post-baccuralette paralegal certificate program at the Minnesota Paralegal Institute where he graduated top of his class. After obtaining his certificate, Dennis enrolled at the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, whereupon he successfully completed his JD in May, 2008. While at Cooley, Dennis was an honors scholar and served as the Senior Research Editor for the Thomas M. Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law. After graduating law school, Dennis worked in private practice, focusing on Criminal defense; Wills, Estates and Trusts; and Bankruptcy law. Dennis left private practice in 2011 to take a position with the Federal Government. Shortly after Dennis began the Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Online LL.M. program at Nebraska Law. While studying at Nebraska Law, Dennis focused on Domestic Telecommunications and Cyber Law. The program provided Dennis a better understanding of the intersection of the law and technology and, upon graduation, helped Dennis take a more active role within the Government. Dennis is now working on protecting the United States' technological infrastructure and works with foreign governments to address their similar technological issues. Dennis is admitted to the Michigan and Minnesota bar.

Stephen Rooke grew up in neighboring Colorado and was always enthusiastic about space. He presented on quasars for his fifth grade science project, which included running through the halls of his elementary school with an alarm clock to illustrate red shift. Stephen received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Policy Studies from Rice University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

While at Michigan, Stephen served as the Managing Editor of the Michigan Journal of International Law and interned in Intelsat's international trade compliance and regulatory departments. He also wrote a blog article on the potential for National Trademark DNS servers for the Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review.

Stephen was a member of the 2012 LL.M. class. During his stay in Nebraska, Stephen helped promote space law by lecturing on the subject to Lincoln's Prairie Astronomy Club and was an avid bowler. Stephen's LL.M. thesis focused on the intersection of international satellite telecommunications law and the right to health care. He explored the capacity of satellites to bridge the urban-rural health care divide in developing countries and the conflict between national obligations to provide access to health care and state sovereignty over wireless communication technology. His thesis was published as a student note in volume 34 of the Michigan Journal of International Law. After graduation, Stephen joined McKinsey & Company's office in Stamford, CT. As a consultant, he has advised corporations, nonprofits, IGOs, and governments on a variety of topics including health care, telecommunications, oil and gas, media and advertising, and finance.

Jenifer Lamie grew up in Cheshire, CT. For undergrad, she attended the University of Hartford where she completed her B.A. in psychology and philosophy summa cum laude, with university honors. After, she worked as a children's art teacher until she took a job for a multinational Japanese corporation teaching English in Fukuoka, Japan. She then received a Masters of International Studies with distinction from Otago University in New Zealand and a J.D. cum laude from Vermont Law School before beginning her studies at Nebraska Law. While at UNL, she interned with USSTRATCOM working on cyber issues, competed in the Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition where her team won Best Brief, and completed a thesis on U.S. State Space Launch Legislation: Preemption, Immunity, and International Harmonization. After graduation Lamie co-authored the leading text book on space law, The Laws of Spaceflight: A Guidebook for New Space Lawyers, with Matthew J. Kleiman and 2013 LL.M. student Maria-Vittoria "Giugi" Carminati. She is currently an serving in the Army as a Judge Advocate at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and continues to write on space law issues in her free time.

Luke Pelican is an Associate at the Ammori Group, a public policy-focused law firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Ammori Group, Mr. Pelican obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 2010, where he served as an Executive Articles Editor on the Michigan Journal of International Law. He subsequently earned his LL.M. degree in Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, where his thesis advisor was Marvin Ammori. While at Nebraska, Mr. Pelican was a member of the school's Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Team. The team won the Best Memorial award for the North American Competition, a first for the school. Mr. Pelican was a Google Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in 2011.

Mr. Pelicans writing has appeared in the Washington Times, the Sacramento Bee, the Daily Caller, CNET, and Politico. His LL.M. thesis on the treatment of cyber espionage was published in the Spring 2012 volume of Catholic University Law Schools CommLaw Conspectus.

Many are the links between space and music music as the most abstract of arts often offering the most appropriate means to capture and reflect the out-of-the-ordinary character of outer space, where words may easily seem to come up short.

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Google Street View Now Lets You Explore the International Space Station – Mental Floss

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On July 22, 1962, NASA launched the Mariner 1 probe, which was intended to fly by Venus and collect data on its temperature and atmosphere. It was intended to be the first interplanetary craftthe first time humans had sent a space probe to another world. Unfortunately, NASA aborted the mission 293 seconds after launch, destroying the probe in the Atlantic. What happened?

First off, a bit of history. Mariner 1 was based on the pre-existing Block 1 craft used in the Ranger program, which was aimed at gathering data on our moon. Those early Ranger probes didn't do so wellboth Ranger 1 and Ranger 2 suffered early failures in orbit. Mariner 1 was a modified version of the Ranger design, intended for a much longer mission to another planet. It lacked a camera, but had various radiometers, a cosmic dust detector, and a plasma spectrometerit would be capable of gathering data about Venus, but not pictures per se.

The two previous Ranger missions had used basically the same launch system, so it was reasonably well-tested. The Ranger probes had made it into orbit, but had been unable to stabilize themselves after that.

Mariner 1 launched on the evening of July 22, 1963. Its Atlas-Agena rocket was aided by two radar systems, designed to track data on velocity (the "Rate System") and distance/angle (the "Track System") and send it to ground-based computers. By combining that data, the computers at Cape Canaveral helped the rocket maintain a trajectory that, when separated, would lead Mariner 1 to Venus.

Part of the problem involved in handling two separate radars was that there was a slight delay43 millisecondsbetween the two radars' data reports. That wasn't a problem by itself. The Cape computer simply had to correct for that difference. But in that correction process, a problem was hidinga problem that hadn't appeared in either of the previous Ranger launches.

To correct the timing of the data from the Rate Systemthe radar responsible for measuring velocity of the rocketthe ground computer ran data through a formula. Unfortunately, when that formula had been input into the computer, a crucial element called an overbar was omitted. The overbar indicated that several values in the formula belonged together; leaving it out meant that a slightly different calculation would be made. But that wasn't a problem by itself.

The fate of Mariner 1 was sealed when the Rate System hardware failed on launch. This should not have been a fatal blow, as the Track System was still working, and Ground Control should have been able to compensate. But because that overbar was missing, calculations on the incoming radar data went wonky. The computer incorrectly began compensating for normal movement of the spacecraft, using slightly incorrect math. The craft was moving as normal, but the formula for analyzing that data had a typoso it began telling Mariner 1 to adjust its trajectory. It was fixing a problem that didn't exist, all because a few symbols in a formula weren't grouped together properly.

Mariner 1's rocket did as it was told, altering its trajectory based on faulty computer instructions. Looking on in horror, the Range Safety Officer at the Cape saw that the Atlas rocket was now headed for a crash-landing, potentially either in shipping lanes or inhabited areas of Earth. It was 293 seconds after launch, and the rocket was about to separate from the probe.

With just 6 seconds remaining before the Mariner 1 probe was scheduled to separate (and ground control would be lost), that officer made the right callhe sent the destruct command, ditching Mariner I in an unpopulated area of the Atlantic.

The incident was one of many early space launch failures, but what made it so notable was the frenzy of reporting about it, mostly centered on what writer Arthur C. Clarke called "the most expensive hyphen in history." The New York Times incorrectly reported that the overbar was a "hyphen" (a reasonable mistake, given that they are both printed horizontal lines) but correctly reported that this programming error, when coupled with the hardware failure of the Rate System, caused the failure. The bug was identified and fixed rapidly, though the failed launch cost $18,500,000 in 1962 dollarsnorth of $150 million today.

Fortunately for NASA, Mariner 2 was waiting in the wings. An identical craft, it launched just five weeks later on August 27, 1962. And, without the bug and the radar hardware failure, it worked as planned, reaching Venus and becoming the first interplanetary spacecraft in history. It returned valuable data about the temperature and atmosphere of Venus, as well as recording solar wind and interplanetary dust data along the way. There would be 10 Mariner missions in all [PDF], with Mariner 1, 3, and 8 suffering losses during launch.

For further reading, consult this Ars Technica discussion, which includes valuable quotes from Paul E. Ceruzzi's book Beyond The LimitsFlight Enters the Computer Age.

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Google Street View Now Lets You Explore the International Space Station - Mental Floss

Tardigrades Could Live on Earth Until the Sun Dies | Mental Floss – Mental Floss

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In considering the relative brevity of human existence, astronomer Carl Sagan once wrote, "We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever." The same could not be said of the microscopic animals known as tardigrades, which, scientists are now predicting in the journal Nature, could stick around on Earth until the Sun dies.

Thetardigrade, also known as the moss piglet or water bear, is an admirably durable little monster. It superpower is a sort of half-death state called cryptobiosis. When hard times come around, the tardigrade simply curls up, dries up, and mostly stops living, only to re-inflate and rejoin the world when conditions are more comfortable. Studies have shown that tardigrades can survive scorching heat, blistering cold, starvation, desiccation, radiation, and even the vacuum of space.

That's just on the individual level. There are more than 1000 different tardigrade species [PDF], and all have already been around for a long, long time. Scientists estimate that the first tardigrades appeared on the planet around 600 million years agoabout 370 million years before the first dinosaurs. The dinosaurs disappeared. The tardigrades kept on trucking.

And according to the authors of the new paper, the moss piglets could just keep on trucking for another 10 billion years.

"A lot of previous work has focused on 'doomsday' scenarios on Earthastrophysical events like supernovae that could wipe out the human race," co-author David Sloan of Oxford University said in a statement.

But humans are far from the toughest kids on the block. ("Human life is somewhat fragile to nearby events," as the researchers diplomatically put it.) Why not try to find out how sturdier species would fare in those same scenarios? To do so, the researchers calculated the effects of three doomsday eventsan asteroid strike, a nearby supernova, and a gamma ray burst (another type of stellar explosion)on tardigrades' environment and physiology.

You can probably guess what they discovered.

"Although nearby supernovae or large asteroid impacts would be catastrophic for people, tardigrades could be unaffected," Sloan said. "Therefore it seems that life, once it gets going, is hard to wipe out entirely. Huge numbers of species, or even entire genera may become extinct, but life as a whole will go on."

Co-author Rafael Alves Batista, also of Oxford, said his team's findings should expand the scope of what we might consider a "habitable planet."

"Tardigrades are as close to indestructible as it gets on Earth, but it is possible that there are other resilient species examples elsewhere in the universe. In this context there is a real case for looking for life on Mars and in other areas of the solar system in general. If tardigrades are Earth's most resilient species, who knows what else is out there."

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Tardigrades Could Live on Earth Until the Sun Dies | Mental Floss - Mental Floss

NASA posts hundreds of archive videos featuring air and space vehicles to YouTube – Sacramento Bee

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Sacramento Bee
NASA posts hundreds of archive videos featuring air and space vehicles to YouTube
Sacramento Bee
Anyone interested in space and aviation has hours of new material to browse through, courtesy of NASA. Over the past month, the space administration has posted more than 300 archive videos from its Armstrong Flight Research Center on a distinct YouTube ...
History of flight: NASA is uploading its research archives to YouTube (VIDEO)RT

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NASA posts hundreds of archive videos featuring air and space vehicles to YouTube - Sacramento Bee

NASA’s newly released video archives contain a skyfull of goodies – Popular Science

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NASA is forever linked to space, a plucky government agency bravely hurtling people and robots into the great beyond. Yet the agency has always had as much of an earth-bound mission as an outer space one. The Aeronautics at NASA may get short shrift, but with 300 videos of archival aviation tests released online this week, theres plenty of airborne excitement waiting for viewers.

There are drop tests of the X-1, the first plane to break the speed of sound in level flight.

There are daring feats of aerial logistics, like this supersonic SR-71 spy plane refueling mid-air.

There are early drone tests.

And vertical takeoff footage from the 1980s, before the V-22 Osprey became a mainstay of the modern military.

Theres even footage of experimental spacecraft like the X-40A, learning how to fly through the sky so it can successfully reenter the atmosphere after space missions.

The archive is a delight to explore, and only partially complete. NASA says it has about 200 more videos to release, all snippets into the skies of future past.

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NASA's newly released video archives contain a skyfull of goodies - Popular Science

NASA needs your help for the upcoming full solar eclipse in the US – Digital Trends

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Continued here:

NASA needs your help for the upcoming full solar eclipse in the US - Digital Trends

NASA says your eclipse glasses may be unsafe. Here’s how to tell if they’re not – Island Packet

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WYFF Greenville
NASA says your eclipse glasses may be unsafe. Here's how to tell if they're not
Island Packet
August's upcoming eclipse will be eagerly taken in by millions of people across the nation, and except for a scant few minutes if you are in the path of totality, almost all of it will be watched through eclipse glasses. Now NASA is warning that some ...
NASA alerting people to unsafe eclipse glassesWYFF Greenville
NASA says unsafe eclipse glasses being distributedWNCN
NASA issues warning: You may have a bad pair of eclipse glasses ...WIS

all 15 news articles »

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NASA says your eclipse glasses may be unsafe. Here's how to tell if they're not - Island Packet

Nasa wants curfew in Lamu, Tana River and Garissa lifted – Daily Nation

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Sunday July 23 2017

Nasa leaders address supporters at Baraza Park in Lamu on July 22, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS KAVISU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Nasa has called for the lifting of the dusk-to-dawn curfew in Lamu, Tana River and Garissa counties, terming the move a Jubilee Governments strategy to steal votes in the coming elections.

Addressing hundreds of residents at the Mkunguni Square on Lamu Island on Saturday, Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga accused the Jubilee administration of failing to ensure peace and security in the three counties.

Mr Odinga said the curfew was unwarranted especially at a time when the country was heading to elections.

He stated that unless the Jubilee administration has ulterior motives with the curfew, he saw no reason that could stop it from lifting the curfew.

PEACE The opposition chief demanded that the government ensures there is peace in the three counties instead of enforcing the dusk-to-dawn curfew. He said the curfew was negatively affecting the residents of Lamu both economically and socially as their livelihoods solely depended on fishing.

Our fishermen have suffered for long since a curfew stops them from venturing out at night to fish.

This is very unfortunate. Lamu does not need a curfew. Let the curfew be lifted and the government protect people and their property.

Whatever it is that Jubilee plans to achieve with the curfew isnt genuine.

We want the curfew lifted immediately because we know it will also affect the voting pattern in the coming elections, said Mr Odinga.

He added; The government should strengthen the security apparatus instead of opting for curfews whenever security challenges arise.

His running mate and Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka claimed the Jubilee Government was planning to use the curfew to steal votes in the forthcoming elections.

He called on Lamu residents to vote out Jubilee in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Musyoka said Nasa will have the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops withdrawn from Somalia if it takes over power on August 8.

KDF has no business being in Somalia when the country itself is in dire need of security.

Look at the rampant insecurity that Jubilee has driven Kenya into. Nasa will ensure the troops are withdrawn from Somalia so that they can concentrate on guarding our borders, said Mr Musyoka.

Nasa co-principal Musalia Mudavadi said a Nasa government will also eliminate landlessness which, he added, had increased drastically during Jubilees tenure with rampant land grabbing reported in Lamu county where a lot of land is till listed as public, making it easy for grabbers to illegally acquire through dubious means.

Mr Mudavadi urged residents to vote for a government that supports cheap and affordable education, referring to Nasa.

Bungoma senator Moses Wetangula said a Nasa government will ensure the construction of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor project is fast-tracked.

He also said they would set up an industrial park in Lamu to ensure adequate employment for the youth.

LAPSSET PROJECT Mr Wetangula also said Nasa will ensure the county government gets a say in the running of the Lapsset project.

The Jubilee Government is moving the Lapsset project at a very slow pace. Jubilee has done nothing so far but makes our people suffer and has increased joblessness. Nasa shall change all that. We want Lamu to be an economic zone so that people in Shanghai, China, can come to shop here, said Mr Wetangula.

Earlier, while addressing residents of Tana River County at the Hola stadium, Mr Odinga termed August 8 as Kenyas liberation day.

Mr Odinga accused the Jubilee Government of mismanaging the economy, leading to a rise in the cost of basic commodities.

At Galana/Kulalu, they misused Sh17 billion and got only 30,000 bags of maize, that is their way, he said.

He reiterated that Nasa will have parallel tallying centres to compare with results from the electoral commission to make sure no vote is stolen.

We will make sure there is no curfew on voting day and you must stay at polling stations to guard your votes, he said.

Raila released a list of officers he claimed were being deployed to IEBC.

Acting Interior minister has ordered officers to flush out any person who is not an agent from

Raila released a list of officers he claimed were being deployed to IEBC.

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Nasa wants curfew in Lamu, Tana River and Garissa lifted - Daily Nation

Global Transmission Electron Microscope Market 2017-2021 … – Business Wire (press release)

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Transmission Electron Microscope Market 2017-2021" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

The global transmission electron microscope market to grow at a CAGR of 8.56% during the period 2017-2021.

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global transmission electron microscope market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the sales market and does not include sales from the components used in the manufacture of TEM. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

Electron microscopes are broadly categorized as TEM and SEM. This report covers the market size, growth opportunities, challenges, and trend of the global TEM market. TEMs use a beam of electrons that are transmitted through an ultra-thin specimen, which then interact with the specimen as they pass through it. From the interaction, an image is formed, which is then magnified and focused on a fluorescent screen upon a layer of photographic film, for getting detected by a sensor; for example, a charge-coupled device.

The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is Development of newer forms of TEMs. As TEMs can present 2D images of the specimen, there is a limit to the size of the specimen that has to be viewed. Newer models of TEMs combine the features of both TEM as well as SEM. Nion, a prominent vendor in the TEM market, used to manufacture the second generation spherical aberration corrector for TEM, which has shifted to exclusively manufacturing STEMs due to its high advantages over TEM.

Key vendors

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive summary

Part 02: Scope of the report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market landscape

Part 06: Market segmentation by application

Part 07: Market segmentation by end-user

Part 08: Geographical segmentation

Part 09: Decision framework

Part 10: Drivers and challenges

Part 11: Market trends

Part 12: Vendor landscape

Part 13: Key vendor analysis

Part 14: Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tpt7zd/global

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Global Transmission Electron Microscope Market 2017-2021 ... - Business Wire (press release)

New Nano Light Detector Could Change Solar Panels Forever – OilPrice.com

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In todays increasingly powerful electronics, tiny materials are a must as manufacturers seek to increase performance without adding bulk. Smaller is also better for optoelectronic deviceslike camera sensors or solar cellswhich collect light and convert it to electrical energy.

This image shows the different layers of the nanoscale photodetector, including germanium (red) in between layers of gold or aluminum (yellow) and aluminum oxide (purple). The bottom layer is a silver substrate. (Credit: U. Buffalo)

(Click to enlarge)

Think, for example, about reducing the size and weight of a series of solar panels, producing a higher-quality photo in low lighting conditions, or even transmitting data more quickly.

However, two major challenges have stood in the way: First, shrinking the size of conventionally used amorphous thin-film materials also reduces their quality. And second, when ultrathin materials become too thin, they are almost transparentand actually lose some ability to gather or absorb light.

The new nanoscale light detector, a single-crystalline germanium nanomembrane photodetector on a nanocavity substrate, could overcome both of these obstacles. Related:Russian Energy Minister: No Additional Output Cuts Are Needed

Weve created an exceptionally small and extraordinarily powerful device that converts light into energy, says Qiaoqiang Gan, associate professor of electrical engineering in the University at Buffalos School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and one of the papers lead authors. The potential applications are exciting because it could be used to produce everything from more efficient solar panels to more powerful optical fibers.

The idea, basically, is you want to use a very thin material to realize the same function of devices in which you need to use a very thick material, says Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma, professor in electrical and computer engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison, also a lead author.

Nanocavities are made up of an orderly series of tiny, interconnected molecules that essentially reflect, or circulate, light.

The new device is an advancement of Gans work developing nanocavities that increase the amount of light that thin semiconducting materials like germanium can absorb. It consists of nanocavities sandwiched between a top layer of ultrathin single-crystal germanium and a bottom, reflecting layer of silver.

Because of the nanocavities, the photons are recycled so light absorption is substantially increasedeven in very thin layers of material, says Ma.

However, most germanium thin films begin as germanium in its amorphous formmeaning that the materials atomic arrangement lacks the regular, repeating order of a crystal. That also means that its quality isnt sufficient for increasingly smaller optoelectronics applications.

An expert in semiconductor nanomembrane devices, Ma used a revolutionary membrane-transfer technology that allows him to easily integrate single crystalline semiconducting materials onto a substrate.

The result is a very thin, yet very effective light-absorbing photodetectora building block for the future of optoelectronics. Related:Halliburton Sees Oil Price Spike By 2020

It is an enabling technology that allows you to look at a wide variety of optoelectronics that can go to even smaller footprints, smaller sizes, says Zongfu Yu, who conducted its computational analysis for the project.

While the researchers demonstrated their advance using a germanium semiconductor, they can also apply their method to other semiconductors. And importantly, by tuning the nanocavity, we can control what wavelength we actually absorb, says Gan. This will open the way to develop lots of different optoelectronic devices.

The researchers are applying jointly for a patent on the technology through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

A paper describing the research appears in the journalScience Advances.Additional coauthors of the paper are from the University at Buffalo, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yale University. The National Science Foundation partially supported this research.

By Futurity

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SHIVA Trial: France’s Big Shot at Precision Medicine for Cancer – Labiotech.eu (blog)

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SHIVA01 and SHIVA02 are large-scale trials run in France to evaluate the efficacy of precision medicine that have created ripples in the oncology field.

Although molecular alterations are shared among different types of cancer, drug development today is still mainly based on tumor localization. The only recent exception is MSDs Keytruda (pembrolizumab) an antibodyapproved by the FDA in May 2017 for any solid tumor, independently from its location, that expresses MSI-H or dMMR biomarkers of errors in DNA replication.

However, the clinical utility and validity of precision medicine approach remain to be demonstrated.The frequency of molecular alterations that can be targetedusing precision medicine is low you could screen thousands of patients before finding one with the relevant biomarkers. Clinical trials need to include a huge number of patients in order to drawrobust conclusions.

To face these challenges, Institut Curielaunched in 2012 the French precision medicine SHIVA01 trial, led by Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau, senior Medical Oncologist and Head of Clinical Research in the Department of Medical Oncology at Institut Curie.

So far, nobody has demonstrated the concept of precision medicine in oncology, where every single cancer patient would be treated based on its tumor molecular profile. The SHIVA01 trial coordinated by the Institut Curie,however, suggested that this approach is relevant in some cases, says Le Tourneau.

Christophe Le Tourneau discussing precision medicine studies at ASCO 2017

SHIVA01 was a multicentricPhase II trial thatcompared targeted therapy based on tumor molecular profiling versus conventional therapy in patients with any kind of refractory cancer. Molecular profileswere performed on biopsies using high throughput next generation sequencing andestimations of the number of gene copies and expression of hormonal receptors.

Using a predefined algorithm, patients whose tumor harbored a molecular alteration matching one of the 11 targeted therapies available within the trial were randomized between the targeted therapy anda conventional approach. The study managed to include an impressive total of 741 patients at eight sites in France.

The SHIVA01 trialfinishedonly recently, but it has already made noise in the field,producing an impressive amount of publications in major journals besides the principal publication in The Lancet Oncology in 2015. These paperscover everything frombioinformaticstocirculating tumor DNA, biological interpretation of variants, andinterventional radiology.

Results of the primary endpoint of SHIVA01: Progression-free survival in patients with molecular alterations in the hormone receptor RAF/MEK pathway

In the end, this trial can be definitely considered as a major step forward in terms of clinical trial design, even if results were negative for its primary endpoint. In fact,the SHIVA trial did not show that patients treated with targeted therapy had a better outcome, but demonstrated, however, that the administration of targeted therapy outside their indications might be a valid approach in a subgroup of patients with a molecular alteration in the MEK/RAF signaling pathway.

Based on these results and experience gained, a second trial has already started. SHIVA02aims to recruit 400 patients within 2 years using the patient as its own controland will focus on patients with alterations inMEK/RAF,also known as the RasRaf-MEK-ERK pathway.Compared to the first edition, the treatment algorithm for SHIVA02 is more refined. The researchers will use anNGS panel designed in house to capture relevant mutations, amplifications and deletions in the target genes.

In order to run thistrial, the Institut Curie will receivefunding of 1.6M over a period of 5 yearsfrom the MSDAvenir Foundation,an autonomous entity created by MSD in 2015 to foster research and social initiatives in France.

Dominique Blazy (President of the Scientific Council at MSDAvenir); Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau and Pr Thierry Philip (President of the Institut Curie)

What makes the SHIVA trials different is that theyonly evaluate the whole strategy of precision medicine and not the efficacy of each drug separately. In addition, they arealso definitely interesting for biotech industries. The resultingcurated sample databaseopens the door to a broad range of retrospective studies that can be valuable to refine theunderstanding of a disease and improve researchmodels.

Even if there is still a long way to go, Prof. Le Tourneau says, Several precision medicine trials are currently ongoing worldwide, each with a unique design but all aiming to address the main question: does a targeted treatment strategy based on tumor molecular alteration is more efficacious than standard treatment based on tumor localization?Hes already considering aSHIVA03 trial that will include immunotherapies in theprotocol.

Special thanks to Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau and Maud Kamal for their assistance in writing this article.

Images via smart.art / Shutterstock;Institut Curie; Le Tourneau C. et al. The Lancet Oncology (2015).Volume 16, No. 13, p13241334

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SHIVA Trial: France's Big Shot at Precision Medicine for Cancer - Labiotech.eu (blog)

"Goodbye, Dave" –Scientists Ponder How to Identify Conscious Future AI’s on Earth – The Daily Galaxy (blog)

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The question is not so far-fetched. Robots are currently being developed to work inside nuclear reactors, fight wars and care for the elderly. As AIs grow more sophisticated, they are projected to take over many human jobs within the next few decades. So we must ponder the question: Could AIs develop conscious experience?

This issue is pressing for several reasons. First, ethicists worry that it would be wrong to force AIs to serve us if they can suffer and feel a range of emotions. Second, consciousness could make AIs volatile or unpredictable, raising safety concerns (or conversely, it could increase an AIs empathy; based on its own subjective experiences, it might recognize consciousness in us and treat us with compassion).

Third, machine consciousness could impact the viability of brain-implant technologies, like those to be developed by Elon Musks new company, Neuralink. If AI cannot be conscious, then the parts of the brain responsible for consciousness could not be replaced with chips without causing a loss of consciousness. And, in a similar vein, a person couldnt upload their brain to a computer to avoid death, because that upload wouldnt be a conscious being.

In addition, if AI eventually out-thinks us yet lacks consciousness, there would still be an important sense in which we humans are superior to machines; it feels like something to be us. But the smartest beings on the planet wouldnt be conscious or sentient.

A lot hangs on the issue of machine consciousness, then. Yet neuroscientists are far from understanding the basis of consciousness in the brain, and philosophers are at least equally far from a complete explanation of the nature of consciousness.

A test for machine consciousness

So what can be done? We believe that we do not need to define consciousness formally, understand its philosophical nature or know its neural basis to recognize indications of consciousness in AIs. Each of us can grasp something essential about consciousness, just by introspecting; we can all experience what it feels like, from the inside, to exist.

Based on this essential characteristic of consciousness, we propose a test for machine consciousness, the AI Consciousness Test (ACT), which looks at whether the synthetic minds we create have an experience-based understanding of the way it feels, from the inside, to be conscious.

One of the most compelling indications that normally functioning humans experience consciousness, although this is not often noted, is that nearly every adult can quickly and readily grasp concepts based on this quality of felt consciousness. Such ideas include scenarios like minds switching bodies (as in the film Freaky Friday); life after death (including reincarnation); and minds leaving their bodies (for example, astral projection or ghosts). Whether or not such scenarios have any reality, they would be exceedingly difficult to comprehend for an entity that had no conscious experience whatsoever. It would be like expecting someone who is completely deaf from birth to appreciate a Bach concerto.

Thus, the ACT would challenge an AI with a series of increasingly demanding natural language interactions to see how quickly and readily it can grasp and use concepts and scenarios based on the internal experiences we associate with consciousness. At the most elementary level we might simply ask the machine if it conceives of itself as anything other than its physical self.

At a more advanced level, we might see how it deals with ideas and scenarios such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph. At an advanced level, its ability to reason about and discuss philosophical questions such as the hard problem of consciousness would be evaluated. At the most demanding level, we might see if the machine invents and uses such a consciousness-based concept on its own, without relying on human ideas and inputs.

Consider this example, which illustrates the idea: Suppose we find a planet that has a highly sophisticated silicon-based life form (call them Zetas). Scientists observe them and ponder whether they are conscious beings. What would be convincing proof of consciousness in this species? If the Zetas express curiosity about whether there is an afterlife or ponder whether they are more than just their physical bodies, it would be reasonable to judge them conscious. If the Zetas went so far as to pose philosophical questions about consciousness, the case would be stronger still.

There are also nonverbal behaviors that could indicate Zeta consciousness such as mourning the dead, religious activities or even turning colors in situations that correlate with emotional challenges, as chromatophores do on Earth. Such behaviors could indicate that it feels like something to be a Zeta.

The death of the mind of the fictional HAL 9000 AI computer in Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey provides another illustrative example. The machine in this case is not a humanoid robot as in most science fiction depictions of conscious machines; it neither looks nor sounds like a human being (a human did supply HALs voice, but in an eerily flat way). Nevertheless, the content of what it says as it is deactivated by an astronaut specifically, a plea to spare it from impending death conveys a powerful impression that it is a conscious being with a subjective experience of what is happening to it.

Could such indicators serve to identify conscious AIs on Earth? Here, a potential problem arises. Even todays robots can be programmed to make convincing utterances about consciousness, and a truly superintelligent machine could perhaps even use information about neurophysiology to infer the presence of consciousness in humans. If sophisticated but non-conscious AIs aim to mislead us into believing that they are conscious for some reason, their knowledge of human consciousness could help them do so.

We can get around this though. One proposed technique in AI safety involves boxing in an AImaking it unable to get information about the world or act outside of a circumscribed domain, that is, the box. We could deny the AI access to the internet and indeed prohibit it from gaining any knowledge of the world, especially information about conscious experience and neuroscience.

We doubt a superintelligent machine could be boxed in effectively it would find a clever escape. We do not anticipate the development of superintelligence over the next decade, however. Furthermore, for an ACT to be effective, the AI need not stay in the box for long, just long enough administer the test.

ACTs also could be useful for consciousness engineering during the development of different kinds of AIs, helping to avoid using conscious machines in unethical ways or to create synthetic consciousness when appropriate.

Beyond the Turing Test

An ACT resembles Alan Turings celebrated test for intelligence, because it is entirely based on behavior and, like Turings, it could be implemented in a formalized question-and-answer format. (An ACT could also be based on an AIs behavior or on that of a group of AIs.)

But an ACT is also quite unlike the Turing test, which was intended to bypass any need to know what was transpiring inside the machine. By contrast, an ACT is intended to do exactly the opposite; it seeks to reveal a subtle and elusive property of the machines mind. Indeed, a machine might fail the Turing test because it cannot pass for human, but pass an ACT because it exhibits behavioral indicators of consciousness.

This is the underlying basis of our ACT proposal. It should be said, however, that the applicability of an ACT is inherently limited. An AI could lack the linguistic or conceptual ability to pass the test, like a nonhuman animal or an infant, yet still be capable of experience. So passing an ACT is sufficient but not necessary evidence for AI consciousness although it is the best we can do for now. It is a first step toward making machine consciousness accessible to objective investigations.

So, back to the superintelligent AI in the box we watch and wait. Does it begin to philosophize about minds existing in addition to bodies, like Descartes? Does it dream, as in Isaac Asimovs Robot Dreams? Does it express emotion, like Rachel in Blade Runner? Can it readily understand the human concepts that are grounded in our internal conscious experiences, such as those of the soul or atman?

The age of AI will be a time of soul-searching both of ours, and for theirs.

Susan Schneider, PhD, is a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at the University of Connecticut, a researcher at YHouse, Inc., in New York, a member of the Ethics and Technology Group at Yale University and a visiting member at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Her books include The Language of Thought, Science Fiction and Philosophy, and The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (with Max Velmans). She is featured in the new film, Supersapiens, the Rise of the Mind.

Edwin L. Turner, PhD, is a professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, an Affiliate Scientist at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo, a visiting member in the Program in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and a co-founding Board of Directors member of YHouse, Inc. Recently he has been an active participant in the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative. He has taken an active interest in artificial intelligence issues since working in the AI Lab at MIT in the early 1970s.

By Susan Schneider, PhD, and Edwin Turner, PhD Originally published in Scientific American, July 19, 2017

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"Goodbye, Dave" --Scientists Ponder How to Identify Conscious Future AI's on Earth - The Daily Galaxy (blog)