Fresno Bee | The Board Room for July 3 Fresno Bee He completed medical school and his residency at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, followed by research at the Institute of Genetic Medicine at USC and his residency at the Department of Internal Medicine at USC. Realty Concepts added Parvis ... |
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In brief
Cancer has long been defined by where it starts to growthe lungs, the colon, the breasts. But the recent approval of a cancer immunotherapy for anyone harboring a specific genetic profile, regardless of the tissue in which it is found, signals a shift in how researchers think about cancer. Read on to learn more about how technology and drug development are converging to realize the promise of personalized medicine.
When Adrienne Skinner was diagnosed with ampullary cancer, a rare gastrointestinal tumor, in early 2013, it didnt come as a complete surprise. For nearly a decade, she had known her genes were not in her favor. What she didnt know was that her genes would also point the way to a cure.
Skinner has Lynch syndrome, an inherited disorder caused by a defect in mismatch repair (MMR) genes, which encode for proteins that spot and fix mistakes occurring during DNA replication. People with Lynch syndrome have an up to 70% risk of developing colon cancer. Women with the disorder have similarly high chances of developing endometrial cancer at an early age.
The first time Skinner heard about the syndrome was in late 2004, after her sister was diagnosed with colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers, the telltale trifecta associated with Lynch syndrome. It turned out that Skinner, her sister, and their mother were all carriers of deficient MMR genes.
After Skinner spent a year responding toand then not responding totwo types of chemotherapy, her oncologist suggested she look into a novel trial under way at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Clinicians there were testing a drug called Keytruda in cancer patients who have gene defects like hers.
Keytruda, developed by Merck & Co., is part of a wave of new treatments called checkpoint inhibitors that help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.
Although remarkably successful at treating skin and lung cancers, checkpoint inhibitors werent eliciting the same results with colon cancer. The team at Hopkins had a theory about why only a handful of colon cancer patients benefited: Like Skinner, they harbor defects in MMR genes. The researchers convinced Merck to give them the drug and found a nonprofit to support a study to test their hypothesis.
Once every two weeks, Skinner took a train from her home in Larchmont, N.Y., to Baltimore, where she was given an infusion of Keytruda.
Less than three months into the study, she went in for a biopsy to gauge whether the drug was kicking her immune system into gear. The surgeon who walked in after the procedure delivered incredible news. Skinner recalls he looked at her and said, You know, if somebody hadnt told me you had ampullary cancer, I wouldnt have known, because theres nothing in there.
Skinner isnt the only patient to experience that kind of dramatic response. Clinicians later reported that the immunotherapy works in people with all sorts of cancers that are characterized by MMR deficiency or a related condition known as microsatellite instability.
In a trial of 149 patients who had not responded to more conventional cancer drugs, tumors shrank in roughly 40% of those with colon cancer and 48% of those with other types of cancer.
The results were unbelievable, says Luis Diaz, who conceived the trial while at Hopkins and is now head of the solid tumor oncology division at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Things never happen this way. I mean, 80% of the ideas one has fail.
In May, swayed by the Keytruda data, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration granted its first-ever approval of a cancer therapy for patients harboring a specific molecular profile. The tissue-agnostic approval is perhaps the most public example of an ongoing redefinition of how cancer patients are treated.
Cancer care has always centered on the organ where a tumor is bornthe lungs, the breasts, the colon. Even in this much-heralded era of personalized medicine, drugs that target genetic aberrations are still approved for use in specific organs. Moreover, companies still largely need to run separate trials to prove a drugs efficacy in each organ.
Now, thanks to cheaper and faster genetic sequencing, researchers are thinking differently about cancer. With the technology, they can more easily match targeted treatments or cancer immunotherapies to the patients who have the molecular makeup to benefit from them.
More and more early- and midphase clinical trials, known as basket studies, are looking beyond the organ of origin and welcoming anyone with a specific genetic profile. Now that FDA appears open to a genetics-focused development approach, experts expect the oncology field to shift from its preoccupation with a tumors location.
The overarching goal of the tissue-agnostic approach is to make cancer drug development more efficient. Looking beyond the location of a tumor promises to speed up treatment options for people such as Skinner, who otherwise might not have known they would benefit from a drug.
Mercks tissue-agnostic approval is a watershed event, says Razelle Kurzrock, head of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at the University of California, San Diegos Moores Cancer Center.
Kurzrock explains that oncology has for decades defined cancer cells by how they look under a microscope, leading to todays organ-centered categories. Now, instead of looking at the surface of the cell, she says, oncologists are more often looking inside the cell to identify what is making it abnormal.
Scientifically, that makes so much sense, Kurzrock says. Youre hitting the fundamental alteration that is driving cancer rather than the superficial appearance of the cancer.
Still, the focus on the organ of origin persists, even as companies turn to designing drugs that block cancer-causing genetic mutations found in many tumor types. The idea of precision medicine actually does work, but up until now, it has been largely tumor restricted, says Roy Baynes, Mercks senior vice president for global clinical development. The real hope is this mechanism-based approach will translate more broadly.
But challenges abound. Although oncologists laud the tissue-agnostic approval of Keytruda, they also caution against overselling genetics as a panacea.
Its definitely a step forward but not a definitive solution to all cancers, says Igor Puzanov, director of early-phase clinical trials at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Among cancer researchers such as Puzanov, the BRAF gene is the fly in the ointment of tissue-agnostic drug development. BRAF mutations are ubiquitous in cancer but most commonly found in melanoma, colon cancer, and thyroid cancer. When the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib was discovered, researchers hoped the molecule would destroy cancer cells in people with any of these three cancers.
Skinners ampullary cancer immediately responded to treatment with Keytruda.
Credit: Courtesy of Adrienne Skinner
It didnt. Vemurafenib, which specifically blocks the BRAF V600E mutation, works remarkably well against skin cancerRoche won approval for the drug to treat melanoma in 2011but hardly any colon cancer patients respond to it. Researchers have spent several years trying to understand the discrepancy. Even as they come up with plausible theories, the failure of BRAF inhibitors to work in both kinds of tumor has dogged the field.
UCSDs Kurzrock argues that dismissing tissue-agnostic approaches based on the BRAF story is shortsighted. No cancer drug works in every person. Even vemurafenib elicits a response in only half of melanoma patients with BRAF mutations. The other half have additional mutations that also need to be blocked.
Colon cancer is no different, Kurzrock says. The key is figuring out the other pathways involved so appropriate treatment combinations can be pursued. For example, adding an EGFR inhibitor to a BRAF inhibitor elicits a response in colon cancer patients.
Shifting how the medical establishment thinks about cancer means overcoming a mind-set that has persisted for decades.
While we live in a research world where we sequence 600 genes for every tumor, youre going to be worked up in a diagnostic setting that is different if you have breast cancer versus lung cancer, says Wendy Winckler, head of next-generation diagnostics at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Thus, a patient with, for example, breast cancer typically isnt tested for EGFR mutation, which is commonly found in lung cancer.
Moreover, for drug companies it was simply easier to seek an approval for melanoma patients, 3045% of whom have BRAF V600E mutations, than for non-small cell lung cancer patients, just 12% of whom have the mutation. To run a clinical trial in lung cancer, 100 patients would need to be screened to find just one to enroll. That wasnt happening before, Winckler says.
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But the availability of broad screening panels is changing that paradigm. Historically, the world has been rate limited from doing this kind of drug development largely because of diagnostics, says Joshua Bilenker, chief executive officer of Loxo Oncology. Just five years ago, he notes, the next-generation gene sequencers that can test for a large swath of molecular drivers of cancer didnt even exist.
Broad testing is how you find things you never even knew you were looking for, Bilenker says. This was the case for the rare mutations targeted by Loxos most advanced drug candidate, larotrectinib.
Loxo is developing larotrectinib as a treatment for any cancer patient harboring TRK gene fusions, which occur when chromosomes break apart and then rejoin in the wrong place. Between 1,500 and 5,000 patients who are newly diagnosed with advanced cancer each year have a TRK fusion, Loxo estimates, meaning the genetic error appears in less than 1% of all cancers.
Larotrectinib, which inhibits the fusions, stole the spotlight at last months annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. Researchers presented a study that tested the drug in 50 children and adults who had TRK fusions across 17 cancer types, ranging from rare tumors to common cancers, such as colon and lung. An astounding 76% saw their tumors shrink, and the drug continued to work for those responders a year into the trial.
The truly tumor-agnostic activity weve seen is a bit surprising, even to us, Bilenker says. Loxo plans to apply by early 2018 for FDA approval of the drug for anyone with TRK fusions.
Last month, the biotech firm also began a trial of its next-generation TRK inhibitor, LOXO-195. Although many patients have seen sustained responses to larotrectinib, cancer cells inevitably develop resistance to targeted agents. LOXO-195 was designed to lock the conformation of TRK into place, overcoming resistance.
Another company, Ignyta, will also seek approval next year of a drug for people with TRK fusions.
Ignyta is taking a slightly different approach for its lead compound, entrectinib, which blocks fusions in TRKs, ROS1, and ALK. It plans in 2018 to seek a tissue-agnostic approval in people with TRK fusions and an approval in lung cancer for people with ROS1 mutations.
The tissue-agnostic development pathways that Loxo and Ignyta chose are outliers. Although several other large basket trials are under way, most are geared toward finding signals of efficacy before companies move on to trials in specific organs or tissues. Still, researchers hope that some of those studies will reveal drugs with broad efficacy.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced that it has sequenced the tumors of 6,000 people as part of its Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice, or NCI-MATCH, trial. The study started enrolling patients in August 2015 with the goal of pairing anyone whose tumor has a particular molecular makeup with one of 21 drugs or drug combinations.
So far, about 19% of the people recruited have been matched with a drug or drug combination, and more than half of them have rare cancers, says Barbara Conley, the associate director of NCIs Cancer Diagnosis Program. Conley is responsible for overseeing the NCI-MATCH study.
The trial is designed to find signals that the targeted treatments are effective. Still to be seen is whether the signals point to broad use in patients who share mutations or suggest efficacy in specific organs. There are going to be some drivers that are so strong that they will drive a response and benefit across tumors, Conley says, but she expects responses limited to individual organs to be more common.
Novartis, meanwhile, has for several years been running what it calls Signature trials, which similarly match patients to one of its targeted therapies.
Since the program launched in 2013, Novartis has studied more than 600 patients who have 15 types of cancer and were given a range of experimental compounds, says Richard Woodman, Novartiss head of North American oncology clinical development.
Looking ahead, researchers see several opportunities for tissue-agnostic drug approvals. Everyone points out that high tumor mutational burden, a measure of the number of gene mutations in cancer cells, anecdotally correlates with positive response to checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytruda.
Researchers are also interested in exploring whether PARP inhibitorscompounds that block an enzyme that helps patch up tumor DNA and are already approved to treat BRCA-mutated ovarian cancercould be broadly effective against all BRCA-mutated cancers. And ongoing studies are testing whether HER2-targeted breast cancer treatments could be effective in other HER2-mutated tumors.
The futuristic world is broad sequencing assays are used in nearly all routine cancer workups to find whatever it is that leads to the right therapeutic option for the patient, Loxos Bilenker says.
FDA seems invested in clearing the path for developing drugs based on genetics. Last month, in testimony to a Senate subcommittee, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency will this year release a new policy that will address the issue of targeted drugs and how we simplify the development of drugs targeted to rare disorders that are driven by genetic variations, and where diseases all have a similar genetic fingerprint, even if they have a slightly different clinical expression.
Regardless of what comes next, patients such as Skinner who have rare mutations are thankful for the recent advances. Skinner stopped treatment with Keytruda in April 2016 and more than a year later remains tumor-free. Given her genetic makeup, she knows her cancer could return. But she is relieved to have access to an approved drug that could address whatever comes next.
That relief isnt just about her own future. Skinner has four daughters, three of whom have tested positive for Lynch syndrome. I can face near-certain deathand I didand Ill tell you that I was ready for it, she says. But the fact that my kids are at risk was the worst. That now makes this drug trial and fabulous result that much more meaningful for me.
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Boston Business Journal | After raising $50M, virtual gene therapy startup LogicBio sets up ... Boston Business Journal LogicBio Therapeutics becomes the latest local entrant to the field of gene therapy, a method of inserting healthy genes into cells to replace missing or faulty ... |
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After raising $50M, virtual gene therapy startup LogicBio sets up ... - Boston Business Journal
In Brief Lightyear is a company that is promising a solar powered electric car. The car could be charged both by regular home outlets as well as the sun. Lightyears Ahead
Even before electric cars officially take over as the new normal, clean driving just isnt enough for some. One company is looking to take green personal transportation to unprecedented heights. Lightyear is a next-generation car company from the Netherlands that is making some truly lofty promises. The company is working on bringing the world a vehicle powered not just by electricity, but by energy generated from the sun.
According to the companyswebsite, all cars of the world combined drive one light year, every year. Their mission is to switch from a fossil fuel powered light year of travel to one powered by the sun by 2030.
Lightyear is hoping to sidestep one of the major limitations and anxieties of electric vehicles: range. Mass adoption of electric vehicles could be hindered by a lack of investment in charging infrastructure. The website claims that [o]nly 3% of the world population lives within 100 km of a publicly accessible charging station.
The vehicle promised will be powered by energy stored in a battery that can be charged both by a standard (3.7 kW) outlet, as well as solar panels in the vehicles body. In a sunny environment like Hawaii, the car could theoretically run for months between charges. Even without the sun, the car could run for a significant range. Depending on your battery configuration you have between 400 800 km of range buffered in the battery, Lightyear says on their websitesFAQ section.
This technology has yet to be proven, although the company is planning to haveten vehicles produced in 2019. Cost is also a considerable barrier to obtaining one of these future cars. You can reserve one for 19,000 (around $21,700) a small chunk of the overall 119,000 ($135,800) price tag. Its an interesting addition to the EV lineup, so well be sure tokeep an eye on the development of this technology asthe first prototype gets closer to hitting the road.
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This Next Generation Car Company is Developing Solar-Powered EVs - Futurism
In BriefOver its 1,000 day orbit, MAVEN has revealed the weird andwonderful history of Mars, which NASA has now codified into a listof top ten discoveries. As well as being scientificallyfascinating, what does this knowledge allow us to prepare for? The MAVEN Mission
On June 17th, NASAs Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) celebrated 1,000 days in orbit around our solar system neighbor it entered into this orbit in September 2014. To commemorate the 1,000 day anniversary, NASA released a list of its 10 most exciting findings.
MAVENs goalis to explore the Red Planets upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the sun and solar wind in order to gain insight into the history of Marss atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The changes that caused its transition from a habitable world to the rocky tundra we see today are mainly caused by the dissipation of Marss volatiles (the low-boiling point compounds that make up the atmosphere) into space.
The mission is remarkable because it is the first to explore Marss atmosphere rather than its surface. In order to do this, MAVEN is using eight separate instruments and fluctuates between 3,728 miles (6,000 km) and 77 miles(124 km) from Marss surface this allows it to study the entire spectrum of Marss atmosphere. It contains no tools to search for life on the planet, because adding a detector for methane (a gas indicative of extant life) would have exceeded the projects budget.
MAVEN has made a number of interesting discoveries during the last 1,000 days. Gas is exchanged between the upper and lower halves of the Mars atmosphere in a way that will require further study; the ionosphere of the planet has a layer of metal ions; and there are two new types of aurora that have been discovered,calleddiffuse and proton and, informally, Christmas Lights.
What NASA thinks is most important is the explanationbehind how it lost such a significant proportion of its atmosphere. It was stripped layer by layer from the top by the the sun and the solar wind, which were more violent millions of years ago. Bruce Jakosky, Mavens principal investigator, said that it was like the theft of a few coins from a cash register every day, the loss becomes significant over time.
These arent all of the discoveries made by MAVEN; you can read the full list on the NASA website.
MAVEN has given us an incisive look into the nature of Mars, which is pivotal if we want to colonize the planet in the future, as both Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have proposed. This is because a knowledge of the past allows us to make more accurate predictions about the future: it will inform us of the nature of the challenges we may face when we reach the Red Planet, and allow us to prepare for them in advance.
An example of this early preparation is the recent concept of what a human driven Mars rover could look like, which is informed by the information gathered by MAVEN and other, land-based Mars exploration missions like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.
These missions also show us what we dont know, which allows us to send tailored spacecraft to Mars to fill in gaps in our knowledge. Our next mission to Mars will be NASAs InSight Mars Lander, which is due to launch in 2018 and aims to study the planets deep interior. InSight will complete our study of the layers of Mars, giving us a schematic of the planet from the subterranean to atmospheric level.
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After 1000 Days in Orbit, Here Are the 10 Most Remarkable Things MAVEN Taught Us - Futurism
Enhanced Regional Inequalities
A new study from the Climate Impact Lab, a consortium of 25 economists and policy experts from across the country, shows that the American South will be more affected byclimate change than any other region in the United States. The analysis also shows that the effects of climate change will transfer wealth from poor counties in the Midwest and Southeast to wealthier counties on the coasts and in the Northeast. This will aggravate the trend of economic inequality in the U.S.that already exists.
States that are alreadywarm or hot such as Florida, Arizona, Texas, and the states of the Deep South will therefore lose income potentialwhen jobs and other benefits migrate to cooler areas. Counties in states that border the Gulf of Mexico in particular are likely to experience the equivalent of a 20percent, county-level income tax solely attributable to climate change. This tax will come in the form of skyrocketing summer energy costs, struggling harvests, rising seas that engulf real estate, and heatwaves that trigger public health crises and inflate mortality rates.
TheU.S. GDP will decrease by around 1.2 percent for every additional degree Celsius of warming. Although the Paris Agreement terms would allow a rise of four degrees Celsius by the end of this century, but even if we didnt surpass that limit,the GDP of our country will still contract by 1.6 to 5.6 percent. If the Paris terms are not met, the damage will be more severe. (To put this into perspective, the biggest drop in GDP during the Great Recession was 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. It took years to recover from the drop, and the ramifications were felt all over the world.)
The study is an exhaustive, detailed effort, which models every single day of weather in each county in the U.S. during the 21st century in order to simulate the economic costs of climate change. It is by far the most in-depth economic assessment of human-caused climate change to date. It is also highly significant because it takes a bottom-up approach, building on multiple microeconomic studies with regional economic data to provide a more detailed picture of the future of the U.S.
As detailed as the study is, the team omitted many serious risks of climate change because they lacked sufficiently detailed data to include them. For example, although the researchers could agree that biodiversity and other non-market goods are important, without a concrete way to assess the costs of those losses they didnt feel they could include them in the study. They also omitted increased chance of tail risks, which areunlikely yet catastrophic events likemass migration,violent civil or military conflicts, massive droughts, or major polar ice collapses.
The studys economic projections also end in 2099. While certain regions in the Northern regions of the U.S. might initially benefit from the pain the Southern statesare feeling thanks to climate change, that wont last. The authors of the study point out that the North will also experience more severe economic damages should climate change continue unchecked into the next century.
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New Study Says This Region of the US Will Be Hit Hardest by Climate Change - Futurism
Dr. Leif Nelson, who worked on the development of the LUKE arm, said that the number of people who had lost arms relative to those who had lost legs was too small to spur private research and development. Thats when Darpa, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs, funded studies to develop the latest prosthesis. They in turn were able to enlist private companies, working with Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway.
Sensors, similar to the ones found in smartphones that automatically sense when the screen has been flipped, were strapped to a persons feet, enabling arm control by moving the foot side to side or back and forth. And for those who had lost an entire arm, motors at shoulder level enabled people to lift their arms above their head. The next step, Dr. Nelson said, was to develop on-skin sensors that would detect nerve signals and translate them into specific movements.
This is the first device that intuitively moves multiple joints at one time, he said. With other technology, you had to use the hand, then stop. Use the wrist, then stop. It wasnt fluid.
The arm, which will be commercially available through the manufacturer Mobius and sold to civilians too, will cost in the low six figures, though pricing is being worked out, officials said. An initial order of 10 has been placed for veterans.
Mr. Downs and Mr. McAuley were chosen as recipients based on medical necessity and because they participated in the research that led to the LUKE arms development.
Mr. McAuley, 70, who lives in Richmond Hill, Queens, where he cares for his mother, spent most of his post-military life without a prosthetic arm. I did one-armed stuff, he said. I tied my tie with one arm. I tied sneakers with one arm. I typed with one finger. I was strictly a one-sided person.
He participated in Darpas research project, he said, not so much for himself but to help others. Its given me hope for the future, he said. Its not that I want to be remembered, but I would like this to be an inspiration for people down the road.
Mr. Downs, a former Veterans Affairs official who lives in Maryland and is now a consultant to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, had long used a hook arm. But his new prosthesis will finally let him do tasks that require greater dexterity or the ability to hold his hand close to his face.
The symbolism of getting his new arm this weekend was not lost on him.
When you lose an upper extremity, you lose your independence, your ability to take care of yourself, he said. When you lose your independence, you lose somewhat of your dignity as a human being because you have to depend on others to comb your hair, go to the bathroom. With a prosthetic limb, your independence and dignity are returned to you. This is freedom, let me tell you. When I dont have my arm on, I think I am disabled. But when I have this arm on, I dont think Im disabled.
A version of this article appears in print on July 3, 2017, on Page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: For Two Veterans, a Freedom Restored for Independence Day.
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For Two Veterans, a Freedom Restored for Independence Day - New York Times
(Where have we seen that sort of thing before Russia maybe?)
Or when the White House plays so many games with its press briefings, taking them off camera and placing conditions on how and when they can run or, in the case of its rare, unrestricted live briefings, using them to falsely accuse the news media of dishonesty?
For those who cherish a robust free press, its hard to feel much like partying after witnessing how some cheered Representative Greg Gianforte, Republican of Montana, for body slamming a reporter for The Guardian, Ben Jacobs. His sin: asking unwelcome questions.
The he had it coming camps celebration of the violence against a reporter seemed out of step with Mr. Gianfortes own response. He ultimately apologized, pleaded guilty to assault and pledged a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Then again, it wasnt out of step with President Trump, whose weekend tweet appeared to promote violence against CNN which, some argued, violated Twitters harassment policies certainly undercut Mr. Gianfortes message of contrition.
Yes, America, all of the attacks against something so central to your identity must have you in quite the birthday funk.
The likely reaction in anti-press precincts to a column like this one will be that mainstream journalists think theyre above reproach, which is nonsense.
When a real news organization makes a mistake, it takes action, as CNN recently did when it retracted an article about the Russia investigation, saying the article had not received the proper vetting. Three people lost their jobs.
The Trump administration torqued it into supposed proof that CNN and much of the rest of the news media including The New York Times and The Washington Post are fake news.
It was a powerful reminder to journalists everywhere to take the extra time to get it right, to make sure that the processes that ensure editorial quality and accuracy remain intact and strong.
The stakes are higher now, as the anti-press sentiment veers into calls for more action against journalists, if not against journalism itself.
Look no further than the new National Rifle Association advertisement. In it, the conservative radio and television star Dana Loesch angrily describes how they whoever they are use their media to assassinate real news, contributing to a violence of lies that needs to be combated with the clenched fist of truth.
Given that the ad was for a pro-gun group, this sort of thing tends toward incitement, Charles P. Pierce wrote in Esquire. (Added context: The N.R.A. chief Wayne LaPierre recently called academic elites, political elites and media elites Americas greatest domestic threats.)
The Fox News host Sean Hannity has urged the Trump administration to force reporters to submit written requests in advance of the daily White House press briefing, which, he said, should be narrowly tailored to specific topics the administration wants to talk about.
Mr. Hannitys good buddy Newt Gingrich went one better, suggesting that administration officials fully close the briefing room to the news media, which he has called a danger to the country right now.
Whats most extraordinary in all of this is how many people calling for curtailments on the free press are such professed constitutionalists and admirers of the founders.
The founders didnt view the press as particularly enlightened, and from the earliest days of the republic it certainly wasnt. (To wit, a passage in The Aurora, an early publication, described George Washington as the source of all the misfortunes of our country.)
But they drafted the founding documents to enshrine press freedom for good reason. As the Stanford University history professor Jack Rakove said in an interview last week, James Madison was most concerned about a misinformed publics acting on misplaced passions, and saw the press as an antidote. Were he alive now, Mr. Rakove said, Madison would be worried by the idea of government whipping up or exploiting what he called badly formed passions.
Sure, there were the occasional stumbles, like the short-lived Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which banned false, scandalous and malicious writing about the government, but they led to stronger free speech protections.
So this, our 241st birthday, seems just the time to invite some of our forebears to remind us including those at the top of the government why a free press is so important.
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Benjamin Franklin, 1722
There is nothing so fretting and vexatious, nothing so justly terrible to tyrants, and their tools and abettors, as a free press. Samuel Adams, 1768
The freedom of speech may be taken away and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter. George Washington, to officers of the Army, 1783
Nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power, and to withhold from them information without which power is abused. A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. James Madison, 1822
There is a terrific disadvantage not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily, to an administration. even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didnt write it, and even though we disapprove, there still isnt any doubt that we couldnt do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press. John F. Kennedy, 1962
Since the founding of this nation, freedom of the press has been a fundamental tenet of American life. There is no more essential ingredient than a free, strong and independent press to our continued success in what the founding fathers called our noble experiment in self-government. Ronald Reagan, 1983
Power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosive. And its important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere. George W. Bush, 2017
Jaclyn Peiser contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on July 3, 2017, on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Celebrating Independence As Free Press Is Besieged.
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Independent Press Is Under Siege as Freedom Rings - New York Times
BBC News | Press freedom 'under threat' in new Myanmar BBC News When the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Laureate kept under house arrest for years because of her democratic activism, won historic elections in 2015, many expected more media freedom would follow. But journalists and press freedom advocates are ... |
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U.S. President Donald Trump waves at the Celebrate Freedom Rally in Washington, U.S. July 1, 2017. Photo by Yuri Gripas/Reuters
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump vowed to support and defend religious liberty, telling a gathering of evangelical Christians that the threat of terrorism is one of the most grave and dire threats to religious freedom in the world today.
We cannot allow this terrorism and extremism to spread in our country, or to find sanctuary on our shores or in our cities, Trump said Saturday night at a Celebrate Freedom concert honoring veterans. We want to make sure that anyone who seeks to join our country shares our values and has the capacity to love our people.
The evangelical megachurch First Baptist Dallas and Salem Media Group sponsored the event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress was a strong backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign.
The event at times felt like one of Trumps signature campaign rallies, with the president promising an adoring crowd that America would win again and prompting cheers with attacks on the news media.
The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but Im president and theyre not, he said.
READ NEXT: Trump vows to repeal political limits on churches
Trump appeared on a stage decorated with a massive American flag. Choirs performed The Battle Hymn of the Republic and other hymns and debuted a song with the lyrics make America great again Trumps campaign slogan.
Besides speaking to the events religious theme, Trump renewed his campaign promise to always take care of Americas veterans.
Not only has God bestowed on us the gift of freedom, hes also given us the gift of heroes willing to give their lives to defend that freedom, he said.
Overwhelming support from evangelical voters helped propel Trump to victory in 2016. Since he took office, Christian conservatives have been overjoyed by Trumps appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and his executive order ordering the IRS to ease up on a rarely enforced limit on partisan political activity by churches.
Trump was spending the pre-Independence Day weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, but traveled back to Washington for the event.
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Trump vows to support and defend religious freedom in US - PBS NewsHour
The grotesque betrayal of the generation that most detests Brexit is like some lost Restoration comedy. The Country Wife at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
Nothing is more important to the creative industries than innovation. Without it, well quickly lose our international pre-eminence and a sector that in 2014 was worth 84bn, and is growing at twice the rate of the wider economy, will shrivel and die.
New ideas, contrary to romantic myth, dont emerge fully formed from the imagination of a lone genius. By and large, theyre the result of the kind of creative ferment that feeds off direct exposure to whatever and whoever is breaking new ground, wherever it is happening. In the 19th century, when Britain really was the country the Brexit nostalgists want back, you could work anywhere without a passport. Isambard Kingdom Brunel studied in Paris before he came home and revolutionised engineering. John Ruskin developed his thinking on architecture in Italy. George Eliot lived for eight formative months in Germany; three years later she published her first novel.
The young are still ground-breakers, and theyve been the chief beneficiaries of the freedom of movement that has come with EU membership. It cuts both ways: creatives from the rest of Europe come here because they want to be part of a thriving creative economy. They bring new energy to architecture, fashion, design, music, film.
Its no surprise, then, that before the EU referendum, a survey of members of the Creative Industries Federation showed 96% support for remaining in the EU. Arts world groupthink, sneered the Brexit operative who was sent into the TV studios by the leave campaign to urge us to subscribe to alternative groupthink about taking back control. And if groupthink is the consequence of the individual experience of everyone in the group, maybe it was.
Starting out in the theatre, I worked in France, Germany and the Netherlands. More recently, Ive employed artists from all over Europe, and I felt nothing but shame when the National Theatres head of wigs, hair and makeup reminded me recently that he has yet to be assured he can continue to live his life here. Hes Italian, but he has worked and paid taxes in the UK for 15 years.
Young British theatre-makers hit the road and bring back what they discover from living and working in Berlin and Paris
Meanwhile, young British theatre-makers, impatient with the theatre establishment, hit the road and bring back to our theatre what they discover from living and working in Berlin and Paris. Theyre inspired by what can be achieved with European levels of public subsidy, which accounts for as much as 95% of the income of some German theatres. Its not all upside. With lavish subsidy comes political control: government paymasters have recently turfed out admired directors of theatres in Germany, Poland and France. Our own system of arms-length funding via the Arts Council protects artists from political interference. This system is not the European norm, but at no point during the past decades has the EU tried to bring it into line. In the arts, we cant take back control because it was never given away in the first place.
In any event, the freedom to work and learn in the rest of the EU has been every bit as crucial to British creative success as the freedom to hire talented Europeans to work in Britain. During the election campaign, freedom of movement was presented as a one-way street: unrestricted immigration from the EU is the problem; border control is the solution. Continued membership of the single market is off the table, even for the Labour party, which continues to equivocate about a deal that would genuinely protect the interests not just of the economy but of the young people who voted for it in such numbers.
The students who delivered Canterbury for Labour deserve the right that their predecessors enjoyed to work and live without visas outside this country, if only to be able to come back and turn its failing economy around. In our brave new self-controlled world, the not-for-profit arts sector may miss the modest EU subsidies that it could once apply for. The commercial theatre, of which I am now part, may struggle with a doubled immigration skills charge. But far scarier is the prospect of a generation of creative talent crabbed by insularity and stunted by the delusion that our native genius, once unfettered, will be enough to see off the opposition.
The grotesque betrayal of the generation that most detests Brexit is like some lost Restoration comedy. The Restoration playwrights, their eyes wide open to the worlds lust and avarice, show young people with names such as Heartfree, Constant and Worthy doing battle for the future with their self-regarding seniors. Imagine a creaky burlesque called Lady Woodens Stratagem. Like so many old comedies, its not funny. Lady Wooden thinks herself extremely clever but turns out to be dense, and is held hostage by characters whose names announce their hypocrisy and malevolence: Backstab, Brute, Bullingdon, Gove. They scheme to cheat the young of their inheritance. The play ends badly, but theres no reason why it cant be rewritten.
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Freedom of movement helped British creativity thrive. Its loss will diminish us - The Guardian
FREEDOM, Wis. Police in Freedom, Wisconsin are issuing a warning on their Facebook page after a call this week.
According to police, a person living in the Town of Freedom heard someone knocking on their front door. The homeowner went to the door and saw an adult woman who was alone and crying, asking to come inside the house.
The person inside the home offered to call police for the woman on several occasions, but according to police, the woman kept refusing help and stated NO dont call police. Police say when the woman realized the resident of the home was not going to let her into the house, she left the area.
Police say it is still unknown why the woman was upset and knocking on the door.
Freedom Police say they would like to use this incident as a reminder; you should never let someone inside of your house that you do not know. They add, if you have this happen to you, please call police.
If you have any questions, please contact the Freedom Police Department at (920) 788-0902.
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STERLING HEIGHTS -- Steve Miller and Peter Frampton get a bum rap sometimes.
Both singer-guitarists are fiercely loved as vastly underrated purveyors of rock blues guitar while simultaneously, and unfairly, slammed for their unapologetic love for pure pop-oriented radio tunes. On Saturday night, July 1, in the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill, the two classic rock fixtures played both sides of their respective coins, delivering the hits and showing off their serious instrumental chops in equal measure, making for a satisfying summertime jaunt.
Related: Peter Frampton at Freedom Hill, 5 Things To Know
Frampton offered a truncated but tight sunset show, ripping through his pop favorites while also exploring deeper musical spaces. Say what you will about his overuse of the Talk Box, but the simple fact is that Frampton can roll with the best of them, delivering superbly on super smash Do You Feel Like We Do as he blended his own clean soloing with the bluesy lines from keyboardist Rob Arthur, and on (Ill Give You) Money, certainly his heaviest song.
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Less successful was Framptons tribute to the late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, a good but awkward instrumental cover of Black Hole Sun that seemed to confuse the baby-boomer dominated crowd. But that was an exception as a talkative Frampton offered stories from his lengthy career, like when he partied too hard in the Bahamas with Alvin Lee and then, hung over, wrote Baby I Love Your Way in a single afternoon when he was short on time.
The Steve Miller Band played in the headline slot, after a booming public address announcer introduced the group as Stevie Guitar Miller and the Steve Miller Band! The 73-year-old frontman proved more than worthy of that cocksure moniker, at times even channeling his godfather and guitar teacher Les Paul, albeit doing so on a (gasp!) Fender guitar. From the opening few frames -- going haywire on Abracadabra, for example the group was in the zone.
The set felt, above anything else, democratic, with Miller bringing out Frampton for a guest appearance, simply stating that were gonna do some songs for ya! The two traded dexterous and pleasing barbs on Mercury Blues, launching the song into the cosmos.
The obscure, stretched-out shredding indulgence was tempered by the fact that Miller has a laundry list of megahits in its arsenal. A straightforward version of The Joker shone like a gleaming diamond amid stunning yet overly-extravagant fretwork. Fly Like an Eagle combined the earworm-like quality of Millers songcraft with his otherworldly guitar skills, playing spacey funk licks over pulsing organ by keyboardist Joseph Wooten and funk bass from sideman Kenny Lee Lewis.
An encore pairing of Jet Airliner and Jungle Love capped a show that packaged two of the 1970s biggest acts. But Frampton is far from his Humble Pie roots, while Miller has reinvented himself so masterfully over the years that its easy to forget he was in the thick of the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic explosion. Both classic rock fixtures have stood the test of time, and on Saturday night they truly stood and delivered a rollicking blast of shimmering rock and blues to the delight of a lively audience.
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Review: Steve Miller, Peter Frampton rock at Freedom Hill - The Oakland Press
Jul 2, 2017 at 4:09 pm | Print View
CEDAR RAPIDS Organizers of the annual Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival pride themselves on the fact the event attracts visitors from near and far.
Saturday was no exception as thousands flocked to downtown Cedar Rapids to take part in a variety of activities and kick off the Independence Day weekend.
Among them was Lisa Holt, a native of Earlville, who now lives in France.
She was back visiting family and came down to the Freedom Festival parade, which stepped off at 2 p.m. It was her first time at the parade and she noted the differences between how Americans and the French celebrate their independence.
They dont really have parades, she said of life in France. The town will get together and have games and things like that. They do have fireworks in the evening like we do, but they dont really have parades.
The Fourth of July equivalent to Bastille Day, celebrated on July 14.
They do have one parade in Paris on the 14th, but its all military, Holt said. Its all the different branches of the military marching down the Champs-lyses. The air force also does some aerobatics in the air. Thats about the only parade Ive seen or heard of (in France).
Holt said the closest event in France to the Freedom Festival parade is a celebration called Carnaval.
We have something equivalent to this at Carnaval, Holt said. Its a lot more musical and they dont throw things out into the crowd.
Holt said she enjoyed the Freedom Festival parade and appreciated seeing everyone being brought together by the event.
I think its great. Its a good way to bring everybody together even if youre not all technically socializing with everyone, she said. Were all out here for the same reason and it can only be a positive thing.
A panel of judges handed out awards for the top parade entries during a ceremony at 2 p.m. at NewBo City Market.
This years winners are:
l Best Animal Unit Gwens Pet Grooming
l Best Walking Unit Hy-Vee
l Judges Choice Collins Community Credit Union
l Leonard Pfeifer Award for Best Original Float: Corridor Hockey Association
l Best Use of American Pride Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Local 263
The Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival continues this week with several activities planned, including a pancake breakfast, car show, road races, concert, family activities and a fireworks show on Tuesday.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Here are some of the events taking place today through Tuesday at the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival. For a complete schedule, go to freedomfestival.com:
Today
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dock Dogs competition, NewBo Ale House
3 p.m. Star Spangled Organ concert, First Presbyterian Church
7:30 p.m. Cedar Rapids Municipal Band concert, McGrath Amphitheatre
Monday
6 p.m. Music at the Museum, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library amphitheater
7 p.m. Five Seasons Ski Team show, Ellis Park
Tuesday
8 a.m. Pancake breakfast, Veterans Memorial Building
8 a.m. Fifth Season Races, featuring Health Solutions 8K, start at Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
8 a.m. Freedom Festival Car Show, Third Avenue Bridge
4 p.m. Celebration of Freedom, downtown Cedar Rapids
5 p.m. The Johnny Holm Band performs, McGrath Amphitheatre
7 p.m. Five Seasons Ski Team show, Ellis Park
Dusk Fireworks show, downtown Cedar Rapids
l Comments: (319) 368-8538; elianna.novitch@thegazette.com
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Beach closures, habitat loss and degradation and beach fouling in the eastern basin continue to be major concerns, the study's authors say.
A U.S.-Canada governmentstudyexamining the status and trends of the Great Lakes ecosystem determined that Lake Erie's ecosystem is in poor condition and deteriorating.
Those findingswere released recently in the State of the Great Lakes 2017 Highlights Report. The report was assembled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
"I am not surprised that Lake Erie is in the most difficultcondition of the five Great Lakes,''saidDave Skellie,acoastal land use and economic specialist with Pennsylvania Sea Grant. "Why is it having these problems? There are a lot of population centers, and Lake Erie is the most developed from a land use and population standpoint, with Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo on its shores.''
The ecosystem status for Lake Superior was found to be "in good condition and the trend is unchanging,'' while the ecosystem status for Lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario were labeled "in fair condition and the trend is unchanging,'' according to the study.
Overall, the Great Lakes are assessed as fair and unchanging.
The U.S. and Canadian governments, pursuant to theGreat Lakes Water Quality Agreement,basedtheir studyfindings on nine indicators of ecosystem health: drinking water, beaches, fish consumption, toxic chemicals, habitats and species, nutrients and algae, invasive species, groundwater quality, and watershed impacts and climate trends.
Those indicators are supported by 44 sub-indicators, which measure such things as concentrations of contaminants in water and fish tissue, changes in the quality of and abundance of wetland habitat and the introduction and spread of invasive species.
More than 180 government and nongovernment Great Lakes scientists and other experts assembled data on the sub-indicators and what those indicators revealed. Status was defined as poor, fair or good. Trend was defined as deteriorating, unchanging or improving.
"Harmful algal blooms resulting from excessive nutrient inputs occur regularly in the western basin and Lake St. Clair during summer, and have impacted drinking water treatment systems,'' the study said of Lake Erie. "Beach closures, habitat loss and degradation, and beach fouling in the eastern basin continue to be major concerns.''
OtherLake Erie study findingsindicate that increased amounts ofdecaying algae "exacerbate seasonal anoxia (depleted dissolved oxygen conditions) and hypoxia (low oxygen conditions) in bottom waters of the central basin.''
Despite thosechallenges, the study found some positive Lake Erie ecosystem trends, including increased walleye across the lake and lake sturgeon in the St. Clair-Detroit River system; increased aquatic habitat connectivity due to dam removal and mitigation projects; and declines insea lamprey wounding of fish since 2010.
The study reports that, since 2009, the western Lake Erie Cooperative Weed Management Area partners in Ohio and Michigan have treated more than13,000 acres of invasive phragmites, resulting in a 70 percent decrease in live phragmites in Ohio and a resurgence of native plants in Michigan and Ohio.
Some of those study indicators also tell researchers that the Great Lakes remain a source of high-quality drinking water; that some beaches are unsafe for swimming at times due to bacterial contamination; that we are losing the battle against aquatic invasive species, and that we face challenges with nutrient loadings in Lake Erie.
"Information from studies like these are crucial to informing the public and helping regulating agencies do their job better,'' Skellie said. "It appears that Lake Erie is being hit the hardest with these series of problems with the nine indicators of the Great Lakes ecosystem health.''
While the study reports that progress has been made in reducing toxic chemicals in the Great Lakes,the reportsays invasive species, harmful algal blooms and nutrient-related runoff continue to harm the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem.
"We continue to move into outlying areas, where you have more impact on the watershed that is draining into the lakes,'' Skellie said.
Skellie said more than 180 invasive species are established in the Great Lakes basin.
"We have a lot of challenges there,'' Skelliesaid."I would say we have a lot of work to do to stabilize where we're at, let alone moving the needle in a positive direction to restoring the lakes closer to where they once were. It's never going to return to pre-humanity days. We have to work harder and be smarterand find resources to address these problems.''
Ron Leonardi can be reached at 870-1680 or by email. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/ETNleonardi.
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Study: Health of Lake Erie's ecosystem 'poor, deteriorating' - GoErie.com
Invasive Species Week 2017 runs from July 9 through 15. An invasive species is any plant that is not native to our area, but has been introduced, either intentionally or unintentionally.
It grows or reproduces aggressively in an area, establishing itself at the expense of native species by out-competing for available water, nutrients and space. They have the potential to alter the ecosystem in their favor and crowd out other species of plants.
Keep in mind that an ecosystem depends on a great number of factors to remain in balance. Predators, parasites, herbivores, diseases and other organisms competing for the same resources limit the number of organisms that are able to survive in a given area. A nonnative plant may not be subject to the same limiting factors. Perhaps it is not affected by the same diseases, or there are no predators or parasites that menace it. The potential exists for the nonnative to out-compete the native for limited resources, and impair the growth of the existing plants.
A native plant is one that occurs naturally in the ecosystem. It is indigenous to the area; originated there, is growing and living naturally. A nonnative, or exotic, plant is one that does not occur naturally in the ecosystem.
Most exotic species introduced into the ecosystem do not become invasive. They are simply living outside their native range of distribution. Most have no effect at all on the ecosystem, and others can be beneficial. Of the 50,000 nonnative species in the United States, only 4,300 are considered invasive. Many nonnatives have become part of our environment, diet and culture. It is thought that 98 percent of the food we raise in the United States is attributable to nonnative crops and livestock.
Ornamental landscape plants, shrubs and trees have been introduced over hundreds of years either for their beauty, connection to ones homeland or economic reasons. Some escape cultivated control and are able to thrive and reproduce on their own. Purple loosestrife, an attractive, brightly colored plant that blooms from late June through August, was introduced to eastern North America in the early to mid-1800s and was available in nurseries in the not too distant past. It is now altering our wetlands. It can tolerate most any moist site, a wide range of environmental conditions, likes all kinds of soil and has no natural predators, be they disease or insect, on this continent. It clearly can out-compete native vegetation.
As an invasive species it replaces native plants, eliminating food, nesting and shelter areas for our wildlife. If wildlife populations are displaced, some may be lost to lack of habitat. Loss of habitat affects fish spawning and waterfowl, which affect recreational values of wetlands, which hurts the economy. This cascade effect is the real danger of an invasive species. It stopped being about a purple flower in moist soil when it began to spread on its own.
If you would like more information on invasive species in the North Country, contact us. We are also available to do presentations for your organization or neighborhood. As always, there is no charge.
Jolene Wallace is the consumer horticulture educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Clinton County. Contact her at 561-7450 or jmw442@cornell.edu.
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Effect of invasives on the ecosystem - Plattsburgh Press Republican
The voicebot ecosystem is growing immenselyand there are amazing opportunities abound. Reading a recent post by Alon Bonder, and realizing the main subject of conversation for product managers, startups, and developers is voice-tech, I figured out some points to help you focus on building the right product for whats coming next. Basically, the mobile apps ecosystem we saw growing 10 years ago is making a return, but this time aroundit is all about voice.
At its beginning, before the mobile apps ecosystem rose in popularity, things werent as clear as they are today: that specific iOS app had memory problems; the UI was too simple; the development platforms were horrid (or nonexistent); there was a lack of solution for mobile app marketing, acquisition, attribution; and the competition was featured apps along with thousands of farting, semi-funny, and non-valuable apps.
But the ecosystem evolved, matured, and granted many options to individuals and startups that went ahead and made an App for that that could be heaven sent, or perhaps simply told you if something is Not a Hotdog.
Developers these days are struggling with incomplete voice platforms: Alexa, Cortana, Siri you name it. Even if an amazing voice app is built, the ecosystem isnt necessarily ready for primetime, or The Full Funnel: Develop Acquire On-board Retain Make money.
The voice ecosystem is missing essential tools available in the mobile apps ecosystem to conduct appropriate analytics and measurement, marketing attribution, A/B testing, deep-linking for improved acquisition and re-engagement, and the list continues.
There are development solutions available for basic voice products thanks to APIs, frameworks, and AI tools but these are basic and, in most cases, only allow to build a proof of concept without acquiring real users to use your real product.
That leads us to a series of problems and opportunities.
Discovery: building a voice app is the first logical step, but finding an audience is the first difficult step.
How should developers distribute their apps? Try to tell Alexa to order you a cab, ask Cortana to transfer $100 to a friend, or ask either to find you a good payment skill/app.Voice Ad networks, affiliations, and more they are a challenge. Any personal assistant or voice interface is available by chat and can disrupt word-of-mouth as we know it.
Discovery isnt that good now, so we need to promote our skill on Facebook, Google, maybe Twitter. Simple enough, but dont we need a skill URL? How about the ability to enable the skill from the ad (like app downloads/installs), or track behavior after ad was clicked? Unfortunately, its not available just yet. Appsflyer, for example, has been providing amazing attribution for the mobile apps ecosystem, but we need such a solution for the voice ecosystem.
Happy times, a new user connected to your voice app. It was enabled while driving his BMW, but how does he use the skill?
To provide a great and practical onboarding experience, we must develop a proper, flexible, AI/ML based tool that will talk the user through an experience to help them achieve their goals. Think WalkMe but with voicemaybe TalkMe?This can be combined with the attribution, so the talk-through may be personalized to the individual user and help you find the ads, preferences, age, gender. Of course, proper analytics tools like GA or MixPanel (or Voicelabs making their move), and a real-time content platform to analyze, improve, and test your onboarding funnel.
Whats a common known with mobile apps funnel these days is non-existent for voice. Were missing a tool for in-depth analysis, granting us insights to understand, change, test, and optimize the experience of the new skill enabled user. Kind of like an Apptimize but for voice. Also consider the conversion optimization ecosystem (Qualaroo, Unbounce) and the amazing possibilities voice apps are opening.
Did you know voice app retention is around 3% after 7 days? In other words, 97 out of 100 users will not use your voice app after 7 days. Crazy churn!Trust is one of the top reasons for churn or the lack of trust. To build trust, the AI must understand how users perceive the apps voice, tone, and tempo. Voice analytics will truly help us understand the bot and the user.
Push notifications must also be adopted by the voice ecosystem to help in the retention department, as Appboy or Urbanairshiphave been providing for mobile.Alexas approach is a good first step but should improve to include real-life communication between people. For example, if your friend wants to call you with an update about the game tonight, he will call you and not send a red colored LED. Thats a given.
How do other users bring new ones to use your voice app? A click on that Facebook or Twitter ad wont doremember, people dont click. But you can ask Alexa, please share Uber with Dan. Social sharing is difficult when by voice only, so we must create a voice sharing experience. A tool to share my actual Cortana email experience can make this personalized and trustworthy, so we can listen and understand the value of voice.
How about social proof, such as Rate our app! and please add your 5-star review so new users will think our voice app is amazing. Alexa is thereCortana and others, not yet.And the ecosystem?Build an API allowing users to share amazing skills, and developers to easily track them to understand how viral the voice app is.And lets not forget the right tools to ask for feedbackby voice; thats difficult, as you dont want a robot to interrupt while helping you navigate.
Whats next? Invite three friends (tech, biz dev, product) for a brainstorming session with beer and snacks, and read this post again. Then list thee top products from the mobile apps ecosystem and how they may evolve to the voice ecosystem. Build it!
Ariel Kedem is the VP of Productsat Knowmail, an AI messaging system.
Above: The Machine Intelligence Landscape This article is part of our Artificial Intelligence series. You can download a high-resolution version of the landscape featuring 288 companies by clicking the image.
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We really enjoy Supergirl for its diverse and great cast of good guys, but unfortunately the villains do leave something to be desired.
Actor David Harewood feels the same way, describing his role as Cyborg Superman as "boring".
The actor made the claims during a Supanova interview with an adorable young Supergirl.
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"I don't like playing Cyborg Superman," he admitted. "It's boring. They didn't really flesh it out, they didn't really write for the character. They just gave me this rather cheap-looking mask and no costume, and said 'Okay, you're Cyborg Superman.'
"It didn't really pan out. They didn't really go into why he was a cyborg, how he became a cyborg, what his powers were it was just kind of randomly calling him 'Cyborg Superman.'
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"I was very excited about it at first, but then I very quickly realised that there wasn't really much to it, so it's kind of boring.
"Whenever I'm walking to my trailer and I see that costume, I just switch off. Because I know it's going to be a really boring day."
Diyah Pera/The CW
Luckily for Harewood, he also plays the shapeshifting Martian Manhunter in the show (who took on the form of Hank Henshaw, a man who everyone thought had died but was then revealed to have been turned into Cyborg Superman... look, comics are weird, okay?).
Supergirl will return for its third season in October, following the season two finale which contained an epic smackdown between the titular hero and Superman.
Speaking of Superman, it doesn't look like Tyler Hoechlin will reprise his role as the Man of Steel in the show again, which is a crying shame if you ask us.
Supergirl airs on The CW in the US, and on Sky 1 in the UK.
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Supergirl's David Harewood really wasn't a fan of playing Cyborg ... - DigitalSpy.com
Wichita Eagle | There are more astronomical wonders than an eclipse this summer Wichita Eagle Parts of far northeastern Kansas, as well as parts of neighboring Nebraska and Missouri, lie in the eclipse's path, prompting many Kansas astronomers to prepare road trips to see the celestial event. The Wichita area, not in the path of totality, will ... |
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There are more astronomical wonders than an eclipse this summer - Wichita Eagle
Huge coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on the Sun produce extreme space weather effects at Earth. Models of solar CMEs have now been applied to M-dwarf and Sun-like stars a popular target in the search for Earth-like exoplanets, in research published in the Astrophysical Journal (arXiv.org preprint).
Artists conception of an exoplanets atmosphere being stripped by the radiation from its parent star. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick.
CMEs are gigantic clouds of solar plasma drenched with magnetic field lines that are blown away from the Sun during solar flares and filament eruptions.
They are a fundamental factor in so-called space weather, and are known to disrupt the flow of the solar wind and produce disturbances that strike the Earth with sometimes catastrophic results.
However, astronomers have shown that the effects of space weather may also have a significant impact on the potential habitability of planets around cool, low mass stars.
Traditionally an exoplanet is considered habitable if its orbit corresponds to a temperature where liquid water can exist.
Low mass stars are cooler, and therefore should have habitable zones much closer in to the star than in our Solar System, but their CMEs should be much stronger due to their enhanced magnetic fields.
When a CME impacts a planet, it compresses the planets magnetosphere, a protective magnetic bubble shielding the planet.
Extreme CMEs can exert enough pressure to shrink a magnetosphere so much that it exposes a planets atmosphere, which can then be swept away from the planet.
This could in turn leave the planetary surface and any potential developing lifeforms exposed to harmful X-rays from the nearby host star.
We figured that the CMEs would be more powerful and more frequent than solar CMEs, but what was unexpected was where the CMEs ended up, said lead author Dr. Christina Kay, from NASAs Goddard Flight Center and Boston University.
Dr. Kay and co-authors modeled the trajectory of theoretical CMEs from V374 Pegasi, an M-class dwarf star located 19.6 light-years from Earth.
V374 Pegasi has a surface temperature of only 2,900 degrees Celsius, in contrast to the Suns 5,500 degrees Celsius. Its mass and radius are less than one-third the mass and radius of the Sun.
The researchers found that the strong magnetic fields of V374 Pegasi push most CMEs down to the Astrophysical Current Sheet (ACS), the surface corresponding to the minimum magnetic field strength at each distance, where they remain trapped.
While these cool stars may be the most abundant, and seem to offer the best prospects for finding life elsewhere, we find that they can be a lot more dangerous to live around due to their CMEs, said co-author Marc Kornbleuth, a graduate student at Boston University.
The results suggest that an exoplanet would need a magnetic field ten to several thousand times that of Earths to shield their atmosphere from the cool stars CMEs.
As many as five impacts a day could occur for planets near the ACS, but the rate decreases to one every other day for planets with an inclined orbit.
This work is pioneering in the sense that we are just now starting to explore space weather effects on exoplanets, which will have to be taken into account when discussing the habitability of planets near very active stars, said co-author Dr. Merav Opher, an associate professor at Boston University.
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C. Kay et al. 2016. Probability of CME Impact on Exoplanets Orbiting M Dwarfs and Solar-Like Stars. ApJ 826, 195; doi: 10.3847/0004-637X/826/2/195
This article is based on text provided by the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Atmosphere Stripping May Limit Habitability of Extrasolar Planets - Sci-News.com