Divination Space Station: Fontaine Foxworth + Brown Girl Tarot – Patheos (blog)

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The Empress card from the Brown Girl Tarot. All rights reserved.

Divination Space Station is proud today to feature Brown Girl Tarot , the worlds first real life non-illustrated Tarot Card Deck, that exclusively features 78 photographs of Women of Color and one adorable brown baby girl! Brown Girl Tarot deck is set to include 78, 3.5 X 5 artfully designed photographed, 350 GSM, Satin finish cards, including all suits of the Major and Minor Arcana. Created by Fontaine Foxworth, BGT celebrates and embraces the beauty and diversity of brown and black women, as every card is art directed to emphasize the core, sacred messages of tarot- with a modern brown girl spin. BGT aims to Uplift, Empower, & Unite WOC, Whilst Redefining Black Spirituality Through Tarot Cards. Im honored to reveal that I will be included in this deck too, as the Hierophant card. It was my pleasure to sit down with Foxworth recently and ask her some questions about tarot and this exciting new deck.

When did you start divining? With what method?

About 3 years ago, I found my first deck of tarot cards in the empty apartment above mine. My sister and I were only snooping around up there to use the gas stove to make some ginger tea. I had just moved in and the gas was not on in my apartment and I was feeling sick. The deck was in a velvet pouch in an otherwise empty kitchen cabinet. I have fallen in love with tarot and its divine power ever since.

The Strength Card courtesy of Brown Girl Tarot. All rights reserved.

What method do you use most often now?

I most often use tarot as my main source of divinatory meditation, however I have included the use of crystals, blessing oils, incense, and have even dabbled in spell work via Wiccan magical practices and evoking Orishas. I have been also grounding and molding my spirit to channel directly from source.

How important is the choice/phrasing of the question?

I think the choice and phrasing of the question is really important. I like to hone my energy and spirit onto very specific queries to the universe. I feel like if you are confused or unclear about the questions you need answers too, you should meditate and get as clear about what you are asking spirit to help you with. Its easy to get mixed messages from the universe, if you were not clear about your problem in the first place.

Do you have a yes/no method of divining you recommend?

I dont really have a yes/no method. Im pretty open to trying new things because I have a adventurous spirit. I think its about whatever you are most comfortable with, and whatever seems most natural to you. Some people like to practice divination using mirrors as oracles, but I personally havent ever had great success with that method. I guess some things take time and practice.

Is there any advice you have for newcomers when using divination?

I would say take it one step at a time. Opening your heart and spirit to this kind of work takes a lot of courage, focus, and will power. Its a sacred space that opens your spirituality up to a higher realm of consciousness definitely something that cant be rushed or forged. Be patient with yourself, and spirit also.

How did you come up with the idea for the Brown Girl Tarot Deck?

Brown Girl Tarot came by way of divine inspiration. I dont remember the date, nor the moment the thought came in my head. It was like one day it didnt exist, and the next day it did. In my imagination, it feels like the idea was implanted in my head by something not of this world when I was sleeping, and I have no recollection of how it was done.I just remember one night, whilst laying in bed thinking about it, I felt compelled by spirit to raise my hand and reach toward the ceiling. All I could say out loud, repeatedly was, thank youthank you. Im divinely grateful for Brown Girl Tarot.

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Divination Space Station: Fontaine Foxworth + Brown Girl Tarot - Patheos (blog)

Imagery from Wednesday’s Ariane 5 launch in French Guiana … – Spaceflight Now

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Blasting off shortly before sunset in French Guiana, an Ariane 5 rocket delivered two communications satellites to orbit Wednesday for the Indian space agency and companies based in Greece and the United Kingdom.

Propelled by two solid rocket boosters and a hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine, the Ariane 5 took off at 2115 GMT (5:15 p.m. EDT; 6:15 p.m. French Guiana time) Wednesday from the ELA-3 launch pad at the European-run Guiana Space Center on the northeastern shore of South America.

Its payloads were the Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN and GSAT 17 communications satellites designed for television broadcasts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, airborne Wi-Fi connectivity as part of the European Aviation Network, and video and data distribution services over India.

Wednesdays launch was the fourth Ariane 5 flight of the year, and the 94th Ariane 5 launch overall. A video replay and photos of the liftoff are posted below.

Read our full story for details on the mission.

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Imagery from Wednesday's Ariane 5 launch in French Guiana ... - Spaceflight Now

Next SpaceX launch on track for Sunday after hold-down firing at pad 39A – Spaceflight Now

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A Falcon 9 rocket missing its payload fired its nine Merlin 1D main engines at 8:30 p.m. EDT Thursday (0030 GMT Friday). Credit: SpaceX

Six days after SpaceX fired its last Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center, another launcher rolled to historic pad 39A and ignited its nine Merlin 1D engines at sunset Thursday in preparation for a commercial satellite delivery mission Sunday for Intelsat.

The two-stage rocket rolled out to pad 39A from SpaceXs nearby hangar Thursday, and ground teams lifted it vertical on the pads launch mount around 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT). A few hours later, SpaceXs launch crew loaded super-chilled, densified RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the rocket.

The nine Merlin 1D engines affixed to the base of the first stage ignited at 8:30 p.m. EDT Thursday (0030 GMT Friday), a few minutes after sunset at Cape Canaveral. The engines ramped up to full throttle around 1.7 million pounds of thrust and fired for around seven seconds, sending a plume of exhaust into the air and a dull rumble across the Florida spaceport.

SpaceX confirmed the test on Twitter a few minutes later, and the hotfire keeps the companys next mission on track for liftoff Sunday at 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT), weather permitting.

Engineers will review data from Thursday nights test before clearing the Falcon 9 rocket for flight in a launch readiness review.

The flight will loft the Intelsat 35e communications satellite on a trip toward geostationary orbit, a perch nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator. Built by Boeing, the Intelsat 35e spacecraft is set for a 15-year service life covering the Americas, the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Africa for Intelsat.

SpaceXs technicians will remove the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A as soon as Friday and roll it back to the hangar a quarter-mile away, where workers will connect the Intelsat 35e satellite and its protective payload fairing to the two-stage launcher.

The U.S. Air Force weather team predicts iffy conditions could prevent the Falcon 9 from launching Sunday. Anvil clouds and cumulus clouds from storms expected across Central Florida have a 60 percent chance of violating weather criteria for a launch, forecasters said.

If the Falcon 9 is able to blast off Sunday, it will be the third launch by SpaceX in less than 10 days.

A Falcon 9 rocket took off June 23 from Kennedy Space Center with the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite, then another Falcon 9 launched June 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 voice and data relay spacecraft for Iridium. Both missions were successful and featured landings of the Falcon 9s first stage on platforms at sea.

BulgariaSat 1s booster made its second flight after SpaceX recovered, inspected and refurbished the stage following its first liftoff in January.

SpaceX does not plan to recover the first stage after Intelsat 35es launch due to the satellites heavy weight. The booster is not fitted with the landing legs or grid fins needed for a landing.

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Next SpaceX launch on track for Sunday after hold-down firing at pad 39A - Spaceflight Now

Space sector stable but still dwarfed by the aviation sector: AIA Vice President – SpaceFlight Insider

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Tomasz Nowakowski

June 30th, 2017

Front page of the 2017 Facts & Figures report. Image Credit: AIA

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), a trade association representing leading aerospace and defense (A&D) companies in the U.S., has recently published its report entitled 2017 Facts & Figures, which reveals key numbers about A&D industrys economic impact. Among other things, the summaryhighlights the condition of the space systems sector as part of the A&D industry.

According to the document, in 2016, the U.S. A&D industry supported 2.4 million American jobs. By industry group, employment for 2016 accounted for the following: 547,900 for aeronautics/aircraft, 79,000 for space systems, 140,900 for land and sea systems, and 77,700 for cyber.

Based on the employment numbers, you can see that the nearly 80,000 people employed in the space sector are much smaller than the number of employees in aviation which shows that space, while important and stable, is still dwarfed by the aviation sector, Frank Slazer, Vice President for Space Systems at AIA told SpaceFlight Insider.

Employment trends in space systems sector number of jobs in recent years (in thousands). Image Credit: AIA

Employment in the space systems sector has beenstable during recent years as since 2011 the number of jobs in this segment fluctuates between 79,000 and 80,800.

However, sales in this sector remained stagnant. In 2016, space systems generated $40.4 billion out of $450.1 billion overall attributed to A&D firms producing end-use goods and services. This value has not exceeded $42.2 since 2010.

Total U.S. government spending on space is about 12 percent of the global space market of $335 billion in 2015 much of which is tied to commercial services from space, Slazer said.

What is also noteworthy, commercial space is far more than just the new space market entrants such as Blue Origin and SpaceX that tend to get a lot of media attention. AIA member companies sell billions of dollars of satellites and launch services annually to commercial customers and have for many years, he added.

Slazer also notedthat while these might be government space programs that the work being done is performed by commercial contractors.

In fact, typically, over 80 percent of NASAs budget is spent through industry contracts, he noted.

In general, the A&D industry generated approximately last year $872 billion in sales, and reduced the U.S. trade deficit by a record $90.3 billion the highest of any U.S. industry sector.

The report also underlines the significant growth of government research and development (R&D) spending relevant to A&D. In 2016, it grew by 7.5 percent to $84.7 billion.

R&D spending from the Department of Defense (DoD) accounted for 84 percent ($71.5 billion) of the total, while R&D spending from NASA accounted for the remaining 16 percent ($13.3 billion).

AIA was founded in 1919 by many of aviations early pioneers including Orville Wright and the organization regularly publishes reports on topics related to the A&D industry since 1922.

Tagged: Aerospace Industries Association AIA Commercial Space Department of Defense report The Range

Tomasz Nowakowski is the owner of Astro Watch, one of the premier astronomy and science-related blogs on the internet. Nowakowski reached out to SpaceFlight Insider in an effort to have the two space-related websites collaborate. Nowakowski's generous offer was gratefully received with the two organizations now working to better relay important developments as they pertain to space exploration.

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Space sector stable but still dwarfed by the aviation sector: AIA Vice President - SpaceFlight Insider

NASA sounding rocket releases artificial clouds above mid-Atlantic – SpaceFlight Insider

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Jason Rhian

June 29th, 2017

NASA launched a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket at 4:25 a.m. (08:25 GMT), on Thursday, June 29, from Wallops Flight Facility located in Virginia. (Click for full view) Photo Credit: NASA

On Thursday, June 29, after numerous delays, the early morning skies along the mid-Atlantic coast came alivewith luminescent clouds as NASA checked outa new deploymentsystem. that supports science studies of the ionosphere and aurora.

The flight lasted for about 8 minutes and deployed about ten canisters as part of the rockets payload. Photo Credit: K. Hoppes / NASA

The mission was launched atop a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocketfrom the agencys Wallops Flight Facility (the 15th flight of one of these rockets from Wallops Island) on the eastern Virginia shore. The flight was supposed to get underway on May 31, then on June 1.

When all was said and done, the mission was rescheduled numerous times, almost all of which were due to weather conditions not being optimal.

The space agency has not stood still while waiting for this mission to get underway. A Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket carrying the RockOn/RockSat-C payload was successfully launched at 5:30 a.m. EDT (09:30 GMT) on Thursday, June 22.

Clear skies whilepreferred, werenot required, on this particular mission with blue-green and red artificial clouds being produced as part the test this occurred approximately4 and 5.5 minutes after launch. NASA has stated that these could be visible all the way fromNew York to North Carolina.

Ground cameras located at Wallops and Duck, North Carolina, monitoredthe vapor tracers. which provide their results through an interaction withbarium, strontium, and cupric oxide.

It is anticipated that these clouds or vapor tracers will allow scientists to visually track particle motions in space from the ground. These tracers were deployed at altitudes of about96 to 124 miles (154 to 200 kilometers).

NASA hopes that scientists will be able to usethismulti-canister or ampule ejection system to get data from a much larger area than was previously possible.

During the flight, ten canisters, about the size of a soda can, weredeployed into the atmosphere around 6 to 12 miles (9.65 to 19 kilometers) away from the 670-pound (304 kg) primarypayload.

From start to finish, the mission elapsed time stood at approximately 8 minutes, with the payload (which was not recovered) splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean some 90 miles (145 kilometers) from the launch site.

As one might imagine, such a highly visible event was witnessed by a large number of people.Wallops received almost2,000 call-ins, emails, and images relating to the clouds from New York and all the way down to North Carolina. According to the space agency, these also came from across Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

Video courtesy of NASA Wallops

Tagged: NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute The Range Wallops Flight Facility

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.

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NASA sounding rocket releases artificial clouds above mid-Atlantic - SpaceFlight Insider

CHESS mission measures light filtered through interstellar medium – SpaceFlight Insider

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Jerome Strach

June 29th, 2017

The CHESS payload is integrated with the sounding rocket before launch. The goal of the mission was to measure the light filtered through the interstellar medium in order to examine the earliest stages of star formation. Photo Credit: Kevin France / University of Colorado

In New Mexico, from the White Sands Missile Range, NASA launched a Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 1:10 a.m. EDT on June 27, 2017. The mission known as CHESS Colorado High-Resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph has given every indication to NASA mission handlers that the flight appeared very promising with science data being received as anticipated.

Within the vastness of distant star neighborhoods, there float near-infinite clouds of neutral atoms and molecules, along with charged plasma particles called the interstellar medium, that scientists theorize could form into new stars, or even planets, over millions of years. CHESS will focus on these vast reservoirs of interstellar soup seeking to analyze infant star formation stages.

CHESS will analyze the atoms and molecules as light passes through the interstellar medium to gain a better understanding of stars and their dynamic history. The gathering of this scientific data for later analysis of the light spectrumis achieved with a brief 16-minute flight. Only 45 percent of this flight time can be used making observations while the sounding rocket travels 90200 miles (145322 kilometers) above the surface.

The observations must be made above Earths atmosphere because far-ultraviolet light, which is the portion of the light spectrum that CHESS focuses on, will not penetrate our atmospheres protective shield. Once observations have transpired through apogee, the payload delicately parachutes back to Earth in order to be recovered for future flights.

This iterative process is why this particular flight is the third in a series initiated over the past three years, and also why it is the most significant survey yet. This launch payload utilized a newly upgraded diffraction grating, a process whereby light reflection is separated into various wavelengths allowing for detailed analysis.

Kevin France is the primary investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he discussed this upgraded payload grating. A more efficient grating means the instrument is that many times more sensitive, France said. Compared to the first flight of CHESS, this third incarnation is about eight times more sensitive.

Utilizing sounding rocket vehicles allows for an economic science hardware refinement process that can ultimately see advanced instrument design placed into orbit for long-term missions. According to France, the CHESS instrument serves as a spectrograph prototype for NASAs LUVOIR concept.

Supporting technology and suborbital flight projects today directly translates into lower risk and shorter development time for NASAs large missions in the next two decades, France said.

CHESS is supported through NASAs Sounding Rocket Program conducted at the agencys Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Orbital ATK provides mission planning, engineering services, and field operations for the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASAs Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.

Tagged: Black Brant IX CHESS The Range University of Colorado White Sands Test Facility

Jerome Strach has worked within the Silicon Valley community for 20 years including software entertainment and film. Along with experience in software engineering, quality assurance, and middle management, he has long been a fan of aerospace and entities within that industry. A voracious reader, a model builder, and student of photography and flight training, most of his spare time can be found focused on launch events and technology advancements including custom mobile app development. Best memory as a child is building and flying Estes rockets with my father. @Romn8tr

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CHESS mission measures light filtered through interstellar medium - SpaceFlight Insider

Ariane 5 rocket tallies 80th straight success with on-target satellite launch – Spaceflight Now

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Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace Photo Optique Video du CSG S. Martin

Two geostationary communications satellites rode an Ariane 5 rocket into orbit Wednesday from a launch pad in French Guiana, embarking on missions to broadcast television across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, link European air travelers with Wi-Fi, and relay video and data signals across India.

The tandem satellite launch marked the fourth Ariane 5 flight of the year, and Arianespaces seventh mission of 2017, deploying a spacecraft shared by the Greek and Cypriot operator Hellas-Sat and London-based Inmarsat and a payload built and owned by the Indian Space Research Organization.

The nearly 180-foot-tall (55-meter) rocket blasted off at 2115 GMT (5:15 p.m. EDT; 6:15 p.m. French Guiana time) after a 16-minute delay to allow the Arianespace launch team time to finalize final countdown preparations.

Rocketing into a partly cloudy sky shortly before sunset, the Ariane 5s guidance computer directed the launcher east from the northeastern coast of South America before it dropped two side-mounted solid rocket boosters into the Atlantic Ocean just after the flights two-minute point.

The Ariane 5s Swiss-made nose cone jettisoned in the fourth minute of the flight, and the core stages Vulcain 2 main engine, guzzling a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fired for nine minutes before giving way to an HM7B upper stage powerplant for the final maneuver to enter orbit.

The launcher intended to drop off the Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN and GSAT 17 communications satellite into an egg-shaped transfer orbit with a perigee, or low point, of 155 miles (250 kilometers) and an apogee, or high point, of 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers). The drop-off was inclined around 3 degrees to Earths equator.

Arianespace said the Ariane 5 reached an on-target orbit before releasing the two satellite passengers, first the 12,742-pound (5,780-kilogram) Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN spacecraft, which launched in the upper position inside the rockets dual-payload accommodation.

The Indian-built 7,665-pound (3,477-kilogram) GSAT 17 communications satellite separated second.

Officials with Thales Alenia Space, the manufacturer of the Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN satellite, and the Indian space agency confirmed ground controllers established contact with both spacecraft soon after arriving in space.

The launch closed out a successful first half of 2017 for Arianespace, which had its launch campaigns in French Guiana halted more than a month in March and April by a general strike by local workers.

Arianespace resumed launchings May 4, and Wednesdays mission was the French launch companys fourth rocket flight in eight weeks.

Arianespace is delighted to announce that Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN and GSAT 17 have been separated as planned in the targeted geostationary transfer orbit, said Luce Fabreguettes, executive vice president of missions, operations and purchasing at Arianespace.

For the fourth time this year, and the 80th time in a row, Ariane 5 performed flawlessly, she said. Unlike Ariane 5s usual missions, our heavy-lift vehicle delivered not for two but for three major customers at the service of telecommunications today.

The satellites will fire on-board thrusters in the coming days to circularize their orbits nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator, where they will hold position over a fixed spot on the planet in geostationary orbit.

Developed in a cost-sharing arrangement by Hellas-Sat and Inmarsat, the missions larger payload will broadcast direct-to-home television programming over Europe, Africa and the Middle East with 44 Ku-band transponders and a Ka-band payload owned by the Hellas-Sat, a telecom provider based in Greece and Cyprus.

It will expand and eventually replace broadcast capacity currently offered by the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite launched from Cape Canaveral by an Atlas 5 rocket in May 2003.

Harry Iordanou, Hellas-Sat 3 project manager, said the satellite will be Hellas-Sats second satellite at 39 degrees east delivering in-orbit, direct-to-home, and telecom services over its coverage areas in Europe, the Middle East and sub-Saharan African countries.

Its activation will not only maintain but also expand Hellas-Sats business reach with additional capacity, while bringing video content in high and ultra-high definition format, Iordanou said.

The satellites initial orbit-raising maneuvers and deployments will be controlled from Thales Alenia Spaces center in Cannes, while in-orbit testing and commercial operations will be managed from a control site in Nemea, Greece.

Speaking soon after Wednesdays launch, Greek telecommunications and digital policy minister Nikos Pappas said Greece is set to start its first space agency in the next month or two.

The S-band payload on the Hellas-Sat/Inmarsat S EAN spacecraft will connect airline passengers traveling across Europe with Wi-Fi as a centerpiece of Inmarsats European Aviation Network.

This is a key milestone for our European Aviation Network, said Michele Franci, Inmarsats chief technology officer. Its part of a hybrid satellite and terrestrial network to provide cabin connectivity to passengers throughout Europe. This is one step of many, but with this we hope to be able to launch the service at the end of this year.

The European Aviation Network will have coverage in all 28 European Union member states, plus Norway and Switzerland.

The aeronautical communications project is a partnership between Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom, which provides a network of approximately 300 4G ground sites, allowing a computerized controller aboard aircraft to automatically switch between ground and satellite Wi-Fi service as needed.

The airborne Wi-Fi network is a European program that has been riding on one of Europes best successes, Ariane, and its to provide a service in Europe for European passengers, Franci said. It will add to our drive to provide more and more services for aero connectivity, for cabin and passenger connectivity throughout the world. We have several hundred planes already being installed with our terminals and getting into our network, and well be able to serve many, many airlines over the next months and years.

Passenger jets operated by British Airways, Vueling, Iberia and Aer Lingus will be among the first to go live in the European Aviation Network.

Heading for an operating position at 93.5 degrees east longitude, GSAT 17 is the heaviest Indian-built spacecraft ever built, according to Prakasha Rao, GSAT 17 launch campaign manager at ISRO.

Outfitted with C-band broadcast transponders and an S-band payload designed for mobile services, GSAT 17 will join 17 current satellites in Indias communications network. According to ISRO, GSAT 17 also hosts a payload to relay meteorological data and has a search and rescue support mission.

K. Sivan, director of Indias Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, said GSAT 17 is the third Indian communications satellite to launch in the last 50 days. It also caps a busy June for ISRO, which launched the maiden orbital test flight of its largest rocket, the GSLV MK.3, June 5 and deployed 31 Indian and international satellites in orbit on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle last week.

GSAT 17 is a major (mission) for ISRO and India, Sivan said It is providing continuity of services of two aging satellites, as well as augmenting our transponder reliability and broadening our horizon to mobile satellite services, as well as to the Antarctic areas.

Arianespaces next launch from French Guiana is set for Aug. 2 at 0158 GMT (Aug. 1 at 9:58 p.m. EDT), when a lightweight solid-fueled Vega booster will hurl the Optsat 3000 high-resolution reconnaissance satellite into orbit for the Italian military and deploy a French-Israeli environmental satellite named Vens.

The next Ariane 5 mission is scheduled to lift off Aug. 31 with the Intelsat 37e and BSAT 4a communications satellites.

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Ariane 5 rocket tallies 80th straight success with on-target satellite launch - Spaceflight Now

NASA Denies That It’s Running a Child Slave Colony on Mars – Daily Beast

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A report on Alex Jones InfoWars claiming child sex slaves have been kidnapped and shipped to Mars is untrue, NASA told The Daily Beast on Thursday.

There are no humans on Mars. There are active rovers on Mars. There was a rumor going around last week that there werent. There are, Guy Webster, a spokesperson for Mars exploration at NASA, told The Daily Beast. But there are no humans.

On Thursdays program, the InfoWars host welcomed guest Robert David Steele onto The Alex Jones Show, which airs on 118 radio stations nationwide, to talk about kidnapped children he said have been sent on a two-decade mission to space.

We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride, said Steele. So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.

Jones echoed Steele, saying clearly they dont want us looking into what is happening because every time probes go over they turn them off.

Look, I know that 90 percent of the NASA missions are secret and Ive been told by high level NASA engineers that you have no idea. There is so much stuff going on, Jones said.

At the beginning of his campaign in December of 2015, President Donald Trump told Alex Jones that your reputation is amazing and I will not let you down in a half-hour interview on InfoWars.

In the 2016 campaign, Jones amplified the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory that Hillary Clintons campaign was running a child sex ring under the basement of a D.C. pizza shop that has no basement. The theory was kicked off by a Reddit user who claimed John Podestas hacked emails show proof of a global child sex ring if one were to replace the word pizza with little boy.

Edgar M. Welch fired shots into that pizza shop after sending a video of one of Jones segments to a friend, according to police.

Jones has since apologized directly to James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Pizza, in a carefully worded letter and statement. He later hired Mike Cernovich, who pushed Pizzagate-related hashtags prior to the election in an effort to make them trend on Twitter, as an InfoWars host. Cernovich was granted a one-day pass to the White House press briefing in May, and Donald Trump Jr. said he would win a Pulitzer in a long gone time of unbiased journalism.

On Thursdays Infowars broadcast, Steele alleged the kidnapped children were not only being kidnapped for space labor, but also murdered for their blood and bone marrow.

"Pedophilia does not stop with sodomizing children, said Steele. It goes straight into terrorizing them to adrenalize their blood and then murdering them. It also includes murdering them so that they can have their bone marrow harvested as well as body parts.

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This is the original growth hormone, said Jones.

When NASAs Webster was asked about the veracity of the one rumor by The Daily Beast on Thursday, he responded, theres only one stupid rumor on the Internet? Now thats news.

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NASA Denies That It's Running a Child Slave Colony on Mars - Daily Beast

A small NASA rocket created a burst of colorful clouds in the night sky – The Verge

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After a month of trying, NASA finally launched one of its small sounding rockets from the coast of Virginia, creating a delightful mix of colorful clouds in the upper atmosphere. The vibrant show was no fluke, but the main point of the mission. The rocket, a Terrier-Improved Malemute, was tasked with releasing canisters filled with multi-colored chemical vapors into the sky to create vivid clouds that could be seen from the ground.

Its a launch thats been a long time in the making

Its a launch thats been a long time in the making. Originally scheduled for May 31st, the mission has been continuously pushed back due to poor weather conditions. But at 4:25AM ET this morning, the sounding rocket finally got off the ground from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, reaching an altitude of 118 miles. During the flight, which lasted just eight minutes, 10 canisters filled with chemicals called vapor tracers were released and formed the clouds.

Creating these artificial clouds helps researchers more easily track how particles move at super--high altitudes. And thats important when it comes to better understanding Earths ionosphere the upper part of our planets atmosphere that is ionized by solar and cosmic radiation. These ionized gases, which extend out into space, are manipulated by Earths magnetic field. Scientists have made models to predict how the ionosphere moves and changes across the globe, but the best way to prove if those models are correct is to see these particles in action.

These sounding rocket missions are an artful way to do that, and NASA assures everyone that the launches do not pose any threat to human health. The vapor tracers that are released are made of barium, lithium, and trimethylaluminum, the same ingredients you might find in fireworks. And NASAs sounding rockets release a whole lot less of these chemicals than a big fireworks show.

Its no surprise, then, that the result of NASAs mission does look a bit like a firework. And thanks to a new method of releasing the canisters, the clouds could be seen for many miles around, from North Carolina to New York. NASA says it got 2,000 reports of cloud sightings, but dont take the agencys word for it. Check out viewers shots of the vapor tracers on NASAs Wallops Facebook page.

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A small NASA rocket created a burst of colorful clouds in the night sky - The Verge

NASA to Test Fission Power for Future Mars Colony – Space.com

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An artist's impression of a nuclear power system, consisting of four separate fission reactors, for Mars habitats.

As NASA makes plans to one day send humans to Mars, one of the key technical gaps the agency is working to fill is how to provide enough power on the Red Planets surface for fuel production, habitats and other equipment. One option: small nuclear fission reactors, which work by splitting uranium atoms to generate heat, which is then converted into electric power.

NASAs technology development branch has been funding a project called Kilopower for three years, with the aim of demonstrating the system at the Nevada National Security Site near Las Vegas. Testing is due to start in September and end in January 2018.

The last time NASA tested a fission reactor was during the 1960s' Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power, or SNAP, program, which developed two types of nuclear power systems. The first system radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs taps heat released from the natural decay of a radioactive element, such as plutonium. RTGs have powered dozens of space probes over the years, including the Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars. [Nuclear Generators Power NASA Deep Space Probes (Infographic)]

The second technology developed under SNAP was an atom-splitting fission reactor. SNAP-10A was the first and so far, only U.S. nuclear power plant to operate in space. Launched on April 3, 1965, SNAP-10A operated for 43 days, producing 500 watts of electrical power, before an unrelated equipment failure ended the demonstration. The spacecraft remains in Earth orbit.

Russia has been far more active developing and flying spacecraft powered by small fission reactors, including 30 Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites, or RORSAT, which flew between 1967 and 1988, and higher-powered TOPAZ systems. TOPAZ is an acronym for Thermionic Experiment with Conversion in Active Zone.

A photograph of the SNAP-8 generator from the Lewis Research Center, part of NASA's Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) program. Here, engineers exposed the system to shocks and vibrations expected to occur during a launch into space and subsequent maneuvering.

NASA has funded several nuclear power technology efforts in the 50 years since SNAP, but financial, political and technical issues stymied development. Three years ago, the agencys Game Changing Development program backed Kilopower, with the goal of building and testing a small fission reactor by Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the current fiscal year. The project is costing about $15 million.

"It'll be the first time that we operate a fission reactor that could be used in space since [the] 1960s SNAP program," said Lee Mason, who oversees power and energy storage technology development at NASAs Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

The tests in September are designed to validate Kilopowers design and performance. After that, NASA would be ready to proceed with developing a higher-fidelity system for testing on Mars or elsewhere, Mason said.

The test reactor, which is about 6.5 feet tall (1.9 meters), is designed to produce up to 1 kilowatt of electric power, but to keep costs down, the test unit does not include a full array of Stirling engines to convert energy generated by the fission process into heat. Thermal simulators will be used for the balance of the engines to verify the reactors power output, Mason said in an interview with Space.com.

NASAs interest in fission resurfaced after a 2010 study that looked at options for RTG systems.

"At that point, we were trying to find a small fission reactor that could provide similar power output as the radioisotope power systems," Mason said.

NASA engineers figure human expeditions to Mars will require a system capable of generating about 40 kilowatts of power, which is about what is needed for "about eight houses on Earth," according to the agency. Curiositys RTG was designed to supply about 125 watts less energy than what is needed to power a microwave oven though power levels fall as the radioactive plutonium decays. [How Will a Human Mars Base Work? NASA's Vision in Images]

Solar power is another option, but that would restrict power generation to regions that are exposed to enough sunlight to charge batteries. Inside the moons Shackleton Crater, for example a prime candidate for lunar sorties due to its water resources it is completely dark. The sunniest spots on Mars receive only about one-third the amount of sunlight as Earth does.

"If you want to land anywhere, surface fission power is a key strategy for that," Michelle Rucker, an engineer at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, said during a presentation in December to NASAs Future In-Space Operations working group.

A SNAP 10A spacecraft system being tested inpreparation for launch.

Fission reactors also can continue working in adverse weather conditions, such as Mars ubiquitous dust storms.

"Weve landed some really cool things on Mars and theyve had some pretty remarkable power systems but theyre not going to cut it for human missions," Mason said during last months Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C.

The biggest power requirement for future human expeditions is running the equipment to produce fuel, air and water, plus running the habitat and recharging batteries for rovers and science equipment. NASA envisions sending four or five small fission reactors, each capable of generating about 10 kilowatts of power, to Mars, Mason said at the Humans to Mars Summit.

The units would be launched cold and activated once they reach their destinations.

"Theyre not operating at launch, whereas once you fuel an RTG, its operating, and you have to process the thermal output," Mason said. "The reactors also have a very low radiological inventory at launch less than 5 curies so its benign There are no fission products until the reactor is turned on, and thats when there will be some radiation."

Partners in the Kilopower project include NASAs Glenn Research Center, the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Lab and the Y12 National Security Complex, which supplies the reactors uranium.

Irene Klotz can be reached on Twitter at @free_space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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NASA, FAA drop crash-test dummies in jet section at NASA Langley – Daily Press

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Ten jet passengers landed with a thud beneath NASA Langley Research Center's storied gantry on Thursday afternoon.

The passengers were crash-test dummies aboard the 5,180-pound cross-section cut from a 68-passenger regional jet, similar to one that might fly out of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.

When it dropped, the plane hung at a 5-degree angle hoisted almost 15 feet above a thick dirt mound which sloped downward toward the ground at a 10-degree angle.

The drop was the second in a joint collaborative effort between NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. Data gathered from the simulated crashes will help inform the development of the next generation of aircraft frames.

"This helps us get data from the crash performance of these smaller aircraft," said Joseph Pellettiere, FAA chief scientist and technical adviser for crash dynamics. "This particular test is kind of a new configuration test, in that we're dropping it onto a sloped berm, when a lot of our previous tests were just on a flat, level, hard surface. ...

"It's going to help define a baseline performance level for this size of aircraft, so when people want to come up with new designs using new material, namely composites, they can kind of run a comparison," to the traditional metal-framed plane tested Thursday, he said.

A large crowd of onlookers, many of whom were student interns savoring a chance to see the gantry in action, crowded along the fence and chanted in unison with the 10-second countdown.

Workers involved in the drop were jokingly taking bets about how the cross-section would perform. Would its tail tip forward as it landed, or would it skid down the dirt path?

Instead, upon impact, the plane, which traveled at about 30 feet per second to the ground, hardly moved beyond where it landed.

Engineers and researchers involved in the drop will spend time now analyzing the information collected Thursday. Tiny black dots on the side of the plane individually placed to ensure a lack of uniformity were captured by special cameras that will, in a way, model the crash. Instruments covered parts of the interior and the dummies themselves to help gather information about what happened upon impact.

Some of the dummies in the first row of five seats visibly bore the brunt of the impact, slouched over in their harnesses. One of the seats appeared to be broken, its passenger slumped over toward the middle aisle.

One dummy in the second row had been configured as if to brace for impact, as flight attendants instruct passengers to do in cases of crashes, in order to obtain different, additional data.

"The fuselage didn't deform as much, or, if at all, very little, compared to other sections of the aircraft," Martin Annett, lead test engineer, said of his first impressions of the crash. "That in turn puts a lot more load into the seats and the dummies."

Solimar Kwa and Alina Creamer, two interns with the contamination control and planetary protection lead, had eagerly peered through the fence as they recorded the drop on their phones.

Some in the crowd had laughed upon impact, the result of a long wait in the hot sun for a short payoff. One equated it to the build-up and hours of preparation for Thanksgiving dinner, only for it to be eaten in a matter of minutes.

But to Kwa and Creamer, witnessing the short drop was an opportunity worth seeing.

"Quite a big buildup for a 'bloop' noise ... (but) it's cool to be part of history, in a way. You think about the past and the future that we're building towards," Kwa said. "We're really lucky to be a part of this."

Hammond can be reached by phone at 757-247-4951.

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Senator complains about cost increases in NASA’s fixed price contracts – Ars Technica

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Enlarge / Sen. Richard Shelby, (R-Ala.) speaks during a Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing in 2016.

NASA

As part of the annual US budget process, the NASA administrator meets with the appropriations subcommittees in the Senate and House to discuss the president's budget request. Under the new president, NASA doesn't yet have an administrator, so acting administrator Robert Lightfoot is making the rounds. On Thursday morning he met with the Senate's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.

Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) chairs this committee, which writes the budget for NASA and therefore wields extraordinary power over the nation's civil space activities.During Thursday's hearing, Shelby renewed his longstanding concerns about the space agency's commercial crew programthe NASA-funded efforts by Boeing and SpaceX to develop capsules and rockets to carry US astronauts to the International Space Station.

The agency had hoped for an operational capability by the end of 2017, but now that is likely to slip into early or mid-2019. Shelby asked about rising costs and delays. "What assurance can you give this committee that there will be no more cost increases or delays?" Shelby said, querying Lightfoot. "Can you do that?"

To his credit, Lightfoot, a former director of Marshall,gently corrected Shelby. "I think it's a fixed price contract; I don't expect any more cost increases," he said. "There may be delays, though, just with the sheer nature of what they're trying to do, and what we're trying to accomplish."

The key phrase here is "fixed price" contract. Unless it changes the design requirements, NASA won't pay Boeing or SpaceX more for commercial crew, because the contracts are "fixed." The companiestherefore have a strong incentive to deliver a finished product as soon as possible.

By contrast, NASA has a traditional cost-plus contract with Boeing to build the core stage of the Space Launch System rocketand with other heritage contractors for the engines and solid-rocket boosters. This means that if there are delays, NASA simply pays additional costs to the aerospace companies. And there have been delays. When Congress wrote the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, it called for an "operational" rocket by the end of 2016. Now, anuncrewed test flight launch of the SLS rocket has been delayed at least three years, to 2019. With a budget that now exceeds $2 billion annually, those delays havetherefore cost NASA about $6 billion.

Nevertheless, onThursday Shelby argued that the SLS rocket needs more money, not less, from the administration in the fiscal year 2018 budget. This is consistent with his past beliefs, as Shelby strongly supports the rocket being designed and tested in his home state at Marshall Space Flight Center. For example, in fiscal year 2017, the Senate budget increasedfunding by $840 million for the SLS rocket, a substantial 60-percent bumpabove the president's request.

The fact that both SpaceX and Blue Origin have made significant strides toward lowering launch costs in the last year has not changed his position. As at the outset of the hearing, Sen. Shelby scorned those who believe NASA should move to fixed price contracts for transportation in spacethat is, buy rockets and spacecraft directly from commercial providers.

"Theres growing sentiment that NASA should change the way it does business," he said, "that it should be a buyer of commercial transportation services." But that's not Sen. Shelby's sentiment: "While risk is inherent in anything NASA chooses to undertake, there's no replacement for proper analysis and reasonable precaution when lives and resources of the nation are at stake."

In other words, NASA alone can do deep space.

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Asteroid Day: Watch NASA Live Broadcast on How it is Defending Earth From a Space Collision – Newsweek

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Its the one youve all been waiting for. June 30 is International Asteroid Day.

Scientists, including astrophysicist andQueen guitarist Brian May launched the day in 2014 to raise awareness of the risks of an asteroid colliding with Earth. TheUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairsinaugurated it as an official global day of note in December 2016.

To celebrate, NASA willrun a special television program aboutits Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which tracks asteroids and other Near Earth Objects (NEOs). The program will explain the damage that could be caused by an asteroid hitting Earth, and how NASA is prepare to avoid such an eventualityincluding by potentially using a nuclear explosion to vaporize part of the asteroid before impact.

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The program will run at 12 p.m.Eastern Time (ET) on Friday. It is part of a 24-hour Asteroid Day program from Broadcasting Center Europe, which begins at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday. You can watch the stream below:

Asteroids are celestial bodies that orbit the sunlike planets. They are made up of metals and rocky materials. This makes them different from comets, which are partly made from rocky material but have an icy core and includedustand organic compounds. Both are formed out of leftovers from when the solar system was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. Asteroids can have unusual orbits and most of them reside in the asteroid belt, a region located between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.

The date of International Asteroid Day coincides with the biggest asteroid crash believed to have ever occurred in recent history. In 1908, a huge explosion happened in Russias Eastern Siberian Taiga, a sparsely populated region. The incident flattened 770 square miles; scientists have widely attributed it to the explosion of an asteroid or comet before it hit the Earth.

More than 16,000 NEOsasteroids and cometshave been discovered so far; about three-quarters of these are over 50 meters in size, meaning that they may not disintegrate before impact and could produce substantial damage were they to collide with Earth, says Paul Chodas, the manager of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The chances that there is a large NEO heading for Earth are very small, but the consequences of a collision could be very large, says Chodas. In the worst case, we could have an impact that leads to a global catastrophe, but that would take an asteroid larger than about 1 kilometer [0.6 miles] in size.

Chodas says that NASA has found 90 percent of the objects that could cause a global impact were they to hit Earth, and that the agency had prepared techniques for dealing with a potential collision. These include sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid before it gets close enough to cause any damage, or using ion beams to send the asteroid off course.

Just three years ago, Russia witnessed the threat of asteroids: An object of approximately 20 meters entered Earths atmosphere near the town of Chelyabinsk, burning up and creating a light brighter than the Sun. The object was technically a meteorthe name given to small rocks, or meteoroids, when they enter Earths atmosphere and burn upand caused more than 1,500 indirect injuries, mostly from flying glass as the meteor shattered windows.

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NASA puts Saturn’s weirdest moons into perspective – CNET

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Atlas, Daphnis and Pan are shown to scale with each other.

With so many odd-shaped moons, it can feel like Saturn's weird satellites all kind of blur together. NASA released a montage on Wednesday that helps to put three of those moons into perspective by highlighting the differences in their sizes and shapes.

The pictures of the moons -- Atlas, Daphnis and Pan -- all come from the Cassini spacecraft and were taken on different dates this year. The combined image shows the moons to scale, so you can see how Atlas and Pan are roughly the same size, while Daphnis nearly disappears at just 5 miles (8 kilometers) across.

Observers have noted that Atlas looks a lot like a classic UFO and Pan resembles a celestial ravioli. With a little imagination, Daphnis looks like a wrinkled bean.

Tiny Daphnis has an interesting relationship with Saturn's rings. Its gravitational influence creates wave-like formations at the edge of the dark-ring gap where it orbits. Pan is also busy, carving out what's known as the Encke Gap, a dark path within the rings. Atlas orbits just outside of Saturn's bright A ring, the first ring discovered by astronomers on Earth.

Cassini, which launched in 1997, is currently in the middle of the grand finale phase of its mission. It will end its life with a scheduled plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in September.

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Relive Cassini's most spectacular Saturn images

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Nanotechnology Now – NanoDefine Will Hold Workshop on … – Nanotechnology News

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Home > Nanotechnology Columns > Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. > NanoDefine Will Hold Workshop on Measurement and Classification of Nanomaterials According to the EC Definition

Abstract: On October 24, 2017, NanoDefine will hold a one-day workshop in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

June 29th, 2017

On October 24, 2017, NanoDefine will hold a one-day workshop in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. See http://www.nanodefine.eu/index.php/news/120-invitation-to-the-2nd-nanodefine-industry-focused-workshop The main purpose of the workshop is to provide a practical demonstration of newly developed measurement techniques to end-users who have to implement the European Commission's (EC) recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial (2011/696/EU). NanoDefine experts have developed a wide panel of new validated measurement methods, techniques, instruments, and software to classify existing and new advanced materials, including a two-tiered analytical approach consisting of: (1) rapid and cost-effective screening methods; and (2) more in-depth confirmatory methods. In particular, according to NanoDefine, the NanoDefiner e-Tool will help practitioners to determine reliably "whether a material or product is or contains nano." The workshop will address the following questions:

- How to address the analytical challenges caused by the EC definition; - How to handle the diversity and complexity of commercially relevant products and materials that have to be classified; and - How to meet the needs of industry for quick and unambiguous measurement tools.

Registration is free but spaces are limited. According to the May-June 2017 issue of the NanoDefine Bulletin, an open beta version of the NanoDefiner e-Tool will be available online later in 2017. See http://www.nanodefine.eu/index.php/news/118-2nd-nanodefine-bulletin Users will be invited to test the beta version and to provide feedback that will be used to prepare the final public version.

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Investigational cancer compound receives FDA approval to begin human trials – Penn State News

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- An investigational compound developed by Penn State researchers that targets and destroys cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed has been approved for phase one clinical human trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Keystone Nano, a biopharmaceutical company cofounded by James Adair, professor of materials science and engineering, biomedical engineering, and pharmacology, recently was approved to begin clinical trials to assess ceramide nanoliposome for possible use in treating cancer. The trials will seek to establish safe dosing levels and examine the compounds efficacy as an anticancer therapy. Keystone Nano was founded in 2005 with Mark Kester, former professor of pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, with the goal of gaining FDA approval for nanoscale biomedical products.

The compound works by weaving ceramide a known anticancer therapeutic agent thats never been used in clinical testing to treat cancer with other fatty lipids that dramatically increase its delicate stability in the body. Upon reaching the tumor, it penetrates the cellular lining before depositing its chemotherapeutic cargo. The coating has resulted in a much greater window of effectiveness over current chemotherapy treatment because ceramide has been found harmless to noncancerous cells in dozens of preclinical animal tests.

A cancer drugs window of treatment is determined by the gap between the point in which a drug becomes an effective treatment and when it becomes harmful to the patient. Drugs with a larger window of treatment generally pose fewer risks to the patient.

An investigational compound developed by Penn State researchers that targets and destroys cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed has been approved for phase one clinical human trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Theres a whole litany of side effects that cancer patients put up with. About three percent of all patients die from the side effects of the chemotherapy, said Adair. Were very encouraged by ceramide nanoliposomes because the study findings suggest that they could kill cancer while doing little or no harm to the patient.

Phase one of the trial will recruit patients with solid tumors for testing. If the trial reaches Phase two, it is expected to focus on liver cancer.

Kester resolved ceramides instability obstacle by protecting the compound in a proprietary fatty coating. Ceramide is then able to freely flow through the body, before eventually being sucked in by the tumor as it funnels metabolic resources from the host.

In dozens of animal tests, the researchers found that the compound remained in the body attacking cancer tumors for more than a day.

Ceramide is a bioactive lipid that selectively kills cancer cells. At equal dosing, normal cells go to sleep, cancer cells die, said Kester, now director of NanoStar Institute at the University of Virginia. The problem is it precipitates. It falls out of solution. The only way to deliver it is to turn it into a nanoformulation, which is our intellectual property. Think of it as a very small FedEX truck that delivers on time, all the time but only to the cancer cells.

The targeted delivery system if approved, may offers positive benefits over current chemotherapy, which tends to target the human body like a hatchet, delivering a few percent of the dose to the tumor, said Adair. The dose that doesnt reach the tumor causes harm to the immune system and the body. That means that the therapeutic window of treatment is narrow and rife with side effects.

According to researchers, because ceramide nanoliposome works like a more like a scalpel, it leaves healthy cells unharmed at effective dosing, the therapeutic window of treatment is much greater and potential harm to the body is much lower.

The nano formulation has been shown to preserve the bodys ability to rebuild rapidly regenerating cells found in areas such as the digestive system and scalp, which means patients likely wont experience digestive problems or hair loss from the treatment. Also, the patients immune system isnt attacked like it is with chemotherapy.

Phase one of the clinical trials, a goal of Penn State nanomedical researchers since 2003, will begin by testing patients who havent responded to treatment methods and will focus on proper dosing levels and efficacy. Phase two is anticipated to focus on liver cancer, which annually kills about 27,000 people in the United States and 700,000 worldwide. There is currently no known cure for the disease and the lone existing treatment method extends life, on average, between six to eight weeks. Testing will take place at three sites: the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The compound will be given to 30 patients, increasing dosage until side effects are noticed. Adair and Kester said ceramide nanoliposome could become an FDA-approved drug within a few years if it shows promise in clinical testing.

Other formulations developed by Adair use nanojackets formed from calcium phosphate that are formulated to seek out cancer cells to deliver a chemotherapeutic agent or imaging cargo. In animal tests, thats led to similar results as ceramide nanoliposome, where chemotherapy delivers only to the cancer, ignoring healthy cells.

Its also produced another benefit: early detection. In other studies, researchers have combined nanojackets with fluorophores, which emit light, to detect cancer tumors using near infrared light. Early detection alone would dramatically increase survivor rates, which could diminish as the cancer progresses.

The targeted compound has also shown promise in treating non-tumor cancers. In lab tests, it eliminated 30 percent of chronic myeloid leukemia, a nonsolid cancer of the blood stream. Adair said he expects these technologies, now in preclinical trial phase, to reach the clinical trial stage within a few years.

With targeting, our research has shown you can have your particles hunt down and kill single cell cancers of the blood, said Adair. The particles that dont find their way to the cancer remain intact. They never deliver their cargo unless they get absorbed by the cancers cell membrane. Its a trigger that no other formulations really have.

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Investigational cancer compound receives FDA approval to begin human trials - Penn State News

Safety, tolerability, and risks associated with first- and second-generation antipsychotics: a state-of-the-art … – Dove Medical Press

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Marco Solmi,1,2 Andrea Murru,3 Isabella Pacchiarotti,3 Juan Undurraga,4,5 Nicola Veronese,2,6 Michele Fornaro,7,8 Brendon Stubbs,2,911 Francesco Monaco,2 Eduard Vieta,3 Mary V Seeman,12 Christoph U Correll,13,14 Andr F Carvalho2,15

1Neuroscience Department, University of Padua, 2Institute for Clinical Research and Education in Medicine, Padua, Italy; 3Bipolar Disorders Unit, Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clnic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; 4Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Clnica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo, 5Early Intervention Program, J. Horwitz Psychiatric Institute, Santiago, Chile; 6National Research Council, Ageing Section, Padua, 7Laboratory of Molecular and Translational Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University Federico II, Naples, Italy; 8New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; 9Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, 10Physiotherapy Department, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, 11Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK; 12Institute of Medical Science, Toronto, ON, Canada; 13Department of Psychiatry Research, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, 14Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine Hempstead, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA; 15Translational Psychiatry Research Group and Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Cear, Fortaleza, Cear, Brazil

Abstract: Since the discovery of chlorpromazine (CPZ) in 1952, first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs) have revolutionized psychiatric care in terms of facilitating discharge from hospital and enabling large numbers of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) to be treated in the community. Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) ushered in a progressive shift from the paternalistic management of SMI symptoms to a patient-centered approach, which emphasized targets important to patients psychosocial functioning, quality of life, and recovery. These drugs are no longer limited to specific Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categories. Evidence indicates that SGAs show an improved safety and tolerability profile compared with FGAs. The incidence of treatment-emergent extrapyramidal side effects is lower, and there is less impairment of cognitive function and treatment-related negative symptoms. However, treatment with SGAs has been associated with a wide range of untoward effects, among which treatment-emergent weight gain and metabolic abnormalities are of notable concern. The present clinical review aims to summarize the safety and tolerability profile of selected FGAs and SGAs and to link treatment-related adverse effects to the pharmacodynamic profile of each drug. Evidence, predominantly derived from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and clinical trials of the drugs amisulpride, aripiprazole, asenapine, brexpiprazole, cariprazine, clozapine, iloperidone, lurasidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, sertindole,ziprasidone, CPZ, haloperidol, loxapine, and perphenazine, is summarized. In addition, the safety and tolerability profiles of antipsychotics are discussed in the context of the behavioral toxicity conceptual framework, which considers the longitudinal course and the clinical and therapeutic consequences of treatment-emergent side effects. In SMI, SGAs with safer metabolic profiles should ideally be prescribed first. However, alongside with safety, efficacy should also be considered on a patient-tailored basis. Keywords: antipsychotics, side effects, tolerability, safety, psychosis, psychiatry

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Marcus Program Funds COPD Research, Other Projects to Improve Patient Care – UCSF News Services

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Healing the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) could save millions of lives each year yet the frustrating condition remains poorly understood and lacks any substantive therapy.

As physicians, we would love to understand better what is going on with COPD so that we can precisely target our therapies to patients, said Stephanie Christenson, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at UC San Francisco.

Her team hopes to tease apart the complexity of COPD and create treatments specific to each variant of the disease. One of Christensons collaborations will be taking findings from studies in mice to see if the same holds true in humans.

Ours is certainly a risky proposal, but it potentially could have huge rewards if we find ways to regenerate destroyed lungs, she said.

Christenson is one of 26 UCSF investigators who received funding from the 2017 cycle of the Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation to help generate understanding of human disease. The program, supported by a gift from longtime UCSF supporters George and Judy Marcus, specifically supports high-risk projects that would likely yield high-impact benefits to patients.

COPD is a huge burden on the health care system, and the funding from the Marcus Program helps us drill down into the mechanisms of the disease to figure out how to treat patients better, Christenson said.

In its first two years, the Marcus Program has awarded more than $3.5 million, supporting 66 UCSF researchers in 17 departments across four UCSF schools. Projects all employ innovative research approaches to better understand why disease presentation and response to treatment are different for each individual, with the goal of developing specialized therapies to improve patient care the cornerstone of precision medicine.

The 10 projects funded this year include precision diagnoses of infectious diseases and autoimmune encephalitis, a therapy for Parkinsons Disease and development of a molecular medicine consult service for patients with rare and undiagnosed diseases.

Investing in the future of health by encouraging teams of diverse scientists to solve modern medical problems was the vision of George and Judy Marcus when they initiated the Marcus Program last year. George Marcus serves on the UCSF Foundation Board of Overseers and is a former UC Regent.

The wonderful thing about the Marcuses is that they recognized the enormous need for funding basic science research especially where it has clear ties to translation into improved patient care and they had a real interest in helping fill that funding gap with their support, said Gretchen Kiser, PhD, the executive director of the UCSF Research Development Office.

The program has two award categories to allow funding of early ideas that dont have much data as well as support for more established studies. The Seeding Bold Ideas program enables initial exploration of untested hypotheses with funding up to $75,000, while the Transformative Integrated Research award supports new directions for established basic science-driven translational studies with funds up to $400,000.

The Marcus Program emphasizes speed in bridging basic and translational research by supporting projects that will generate specific results within one year. Those findings may include the discovery that the proposed idea was incorrect.

The bottom line is that our researchers cant wait to get started, but while their ideas are scientifically sound, they lack the preliminary data that more traditional funders require, said Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. The Marcus Program provides the type of funding that is critical to enabling those high-risk projects to happen quickly. Often it is projects like these that lead us beyond more incremental, albeit valuable, advances, resulting in significant leaps forward in improved patient care.

For more campus news and resources, visitPulse of UCSF.

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Immigrant Heritage Month Profile: Meet Sana Khan – The Rapidian

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In celebration of Immigrant Heritage Month, this series features profiles of community members who have immigrated to Grand Rapids.

Sana and Ammad Khan

For Immigrant Heritage Month, I asked several friends and connections who immigrated to Grand Rapids to share a little about their heritage. The goal of this endeavor is to helpeducate and inform myselfand others in the community about the rich cultures of our neighbors. And, to celebrate the ways that these individuals have contributed to what we know as American culture today. I asked each of them the same questions and their responses are all featured here in theProfilesection of The Rapidian.

Sana Khan is a graduate student at Grand Valley State University and also a clothing designer in her spare time. I met her at the Grand Rapids Asian Festival, where she had a booth selling Pakistani clothing and accessories. She was gracious enough to invite me to her home to shop after I missed the opportunity to do so at the Festival. After chatting with her, I knew wanted to ask her to participate. She enthusiastically accepted!

I asked Khan: What is an important part of your culture/heritage that you want to preserve in your life and also want to share with American culture? And, what in American culture do you embrace?

Khan said: "The important part that I feel should preserve in my life and pass on to my children would be knowing my mother language which is Urdu, which is a combination of Hindi and Persian languages. I want to preserve the folk and cultural music of my country, which reminds me of the beauty of nature from different cities and states. And, I would like to preserve the religious values that have been taught to me.

In our culture, and to me, family values are important. We celebrate our children and we celebrate old people. It is a norm in our culture to have inter-generational cohabitation. We look after our parents, our kids, and our families.

I would like to share my cultures family values with American culture. I feel that here people celebrate their independence more. I hear people saying that 18-years-olds should get their own place and move out. I feel like that there is a generation gap here; I would like this to change maybe a little bit.

What in American culture do I embrace?

I love how generous people are here. I love it when someone holds the door for you or you do the same for them and you receive this warm smile and a gesture of thank you and welcomes.

I want to embrace the fact that people here dont judge each other by their looks and color.

My name is Sana Khan. I grew up in Pakistan and immigrated in 2009. I am pursuing my Masters in Cell and Molecular Biology from Grand Valley State University. I am working as an intern in Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at Michigan State University. I love designing Pakistani modern cultural clothes and I occasionally design stuff for my friends and family living here. If you'd like to check out my collection you can go to my Facebook page: Elegant Cuts."

About: Allison Bannister (Queenofgr)

Allison has been a West Michigan resident since 1987, when she moved from the east side of the state to attend GVSU. She currently lives on the northeast side of Grand Rapids and has been a professional writer since 2002. Recently, she launched her own freelance writing business. An enthusiasm for arts and culture brought her to The Rapidian to participate in the ArtPrize Community Journalism Program. A love of writing and her adopted city promises future community journalism endeavors.

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Immigrant Heritage Month Profile: Meet Sana Khan - The Rapidian