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Why I abandoned my frantic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

JACINTA TYNAN

Last updated18:34, June 28 2017

JAMES BRICKWOOD

Being "spiritual" can contribute to the greater good but not when we are driven by a far more shallow desire to be in the cool gang, writes Jacinta Tynan.

At one point I was juggling my meditation teacher, kinesiologist, hypnotherapist, psychotherapist and chiropractor (who also practises NLP). I had a clairvoyant's number in my phone and took a friend's recommendation on a "spiritual healer". I meditated twice a day, did a course onA Course in Miraclesand occasionally made it to yoga.

My tower of self-help books teetered precariously close to my pile of crystals atop my angel cards in a room that had been "cleansed" by burning sage. My so-called spiritual life was at risk of becoming my whole life, yet I was no closer to enlightenment.

It was a scatter-gun approach, hoping that one thing might pay off and deliver me eternal happiness.

Not that I would admit to any of that. That was a time when personal growth was seen as self-indulgent and flaky, putting your faith (and cash) in rogue charlatans, while you were taken for a blatant ride. Worse, it was an overt admission of vulnerability and fallibility that was no one's business but your own.

READ MORE: *4 Kiwisshare their religious and spiritual views *High-flying women lose money in spiritual movement *Where to go... if you're a hippie

Oh, how we've evolved. It's chic to be conscious. Mindfulness and meditation are as much a part of many people's days as an acai chia berry smoothie after pre-dawn bikram.

Being "spiritual" is all the rage, which can only be for the greater good but not when our quest for wholeness is driven by a far more shallow desire to be in the cool gang.

In our mad rush down the path to enlightenment as we strive to fit in positive affirmations and mantras, while spreading the love and paying it forward we can lose sight of the end goal. The ashtanga and juice detoxes become more obligation than organic, and still we're not feeling the love.

And that's because we're looking in the wrong place.

"I have meditated, I have prayed, I have found Jesus, I have found him again," said author Danielle LaPorteon her recent packed-out Australian tour. "I have juiced, I have consciously uncoupled, I have sat at the feet of a Buddhist monk called Mark, and I have hashtagged it all."

LaPorte says we've become "hoarders of spiritual accoutrements", which she realised was getting her nowhere. She stopped meditating ("It was stressing me out") and yoga. She even ditched her $115,000 crystal collection and "took a permanent break from the esoteric", only to return with a fresh outlook. "I came back on my own terms, when it was no longer a chore."

LaPorte adds, "We buy into the lie of inadequacy, that someone outside of ourselves knows what's best for us."

Someone like Liz Gilbert. After sharing her story of personal transformation inEat Pray Love,shehad to issue a warning to readers not to try to replicate her experiences, as hordes of women were treating her memoir like a guidebook to happy endings.

"I've been reminding people that they don't need to get divorced and move to India, just because I did," she posted on Facebook. "For a journey of self-discovery to work, your path must be your own. Don't do what I did. Ask what I asked."

I admit, sheepishly, that I once sought out Gilbert's healer in Ubud, but bailedwhen I saw the queue of desperate seekers in the dusty heat, waiting not so patiently for their names to be called.

Vedic Meditation teacher Jo Amor says that we must carve our own path to inner peace and not rely on searching outside ourselves. "We believe if we can just acquire more stuff there will be this moment when we have everything we need and we'll be fulfilled. But this moment is never going to come.

"If we put the demand on the outside world for our happiness and spiritual fulfilment, then ultimately we will find we still have to come back to ourselves for that and all the while it was there."

I, too, have pared back on the frantic search for meaning. I still meditate and get to yoga if time permits, and I do love my kinesiologist. But not as if my life depends on it.

-Sydney Morning Herald

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Why I abandoned my frantic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment - Stuff.co.nz

Strategies to Stimulate Your Core Creativity – HuffPost

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Most of us were taught that creativity comes from the thoughts and emotions of the mind. The greatest singers, dancers, painters, writers, and filmmakers recognize that the most original, and even transformative, ideas actually come from the core of our being, which is accessed through an open-mind consciousness.

In ancient traditions, open-mind consciousness was considered to be a spiritual awakening, the great enlightenment that dissolves the darkness of confusion and fear, and ushers in peace, happiness, clarity, and contentment. Today the notion that theres one formulaic way to achieve this spiritual awakening and creative vibrancy has been blown apart. You dont have to run off to a monastery or practice meditation for thirty years before attaining a breakthrough.

A few years ago, I had a client, named Sarah whod completely given up on psychotherapy until a failed suicide attempt convinced her to try it one more time. I urged her to begin a mindfulness practice, and she agreed. After several monthsnot years, but monthsshe had an extremely powerful experience while meditating. As she described it, she felt a rush of light and energy infuse her body, and experienced an ineffable sense of the presence of the divine, the cosmos, and a collective consciousness. After this transcendent experience, Sarah whod been overweight to an unhealthy degree, lost several pounds, became more engaged by her work and closer to her friends, and was no longer suicidal. It was a major turning point for her.

What Sarah described has been called not only open-mind awareness but also, in the West, a peak experience, being in the flow, or being in the zone. I call it accessing your core creativity, because I believe that deep inside every person lies this potential for connecting to a universal flow of knowledge and creativity thats boundless and expansive. Our individual thoughts and memories are a part of this greater, larger resource.

Just as an athlete whos in condition has the muscle tone to be able to spring into action instantly, someone who regularly accesses their core creativity becomes creatively toned. For this person, the faucet to this remarkable flow of inspiration opens up easily, naturally, and often, allowing spontaneous and dramatic breakthroughs. When youre creatively toned, instead of merely dipping your toe in the water and playing it safe, youre willing to be utterly daring. Knowing this, you can navigate through a sea of self-limiting thoughts and transform such unwholesome beliefs as I had my chance and blew it, Its too late; my time is over, Ill never be happy again, and I cant.

Here are 6 ways you can stimulate and tone your creativity from my book, Wise Mind, Open Mind

Mindfulness Meditation Practice

One of the most effective ways to become creatively toned and start accessing core creativity is through a mindfulness meditation practice. Mindfulness allows us to listen and pay attention to what we might otherwise overlookwhether its a fresh idea or a new way of perceiving a situationenhancing our creativity and letting go of our obstacles to innovation. Many people are intimidated with the idea of meditating with excuses of not having the time or ability to quiet the mind. Really all you need is 5 to 20 minutes a day and there are many mediation CDs that can help guide you through the process. In fact my CD Mindful Meditations for Creative Transformation was created to specifically help one access their inner resources.

Our cultures overemphasis on fame and great success often turns people away from their creative inclinations, because they feel that if they cant reach a professional goal with their writing, singing, or painting endeavors, they shouldnt bother. What they dont realize is that simply dabbling in the fine arts, with no specific goals or intentions, awakens our ability to approach life with greater openness and curiosity. In the same way that mindfulness practice jogs the areas of the brain associated with well-being, optimism, and compassion for yourself and others, so too does immersing yourself in any artistic exploration or enjoyment jog your creativity.

Immersing Yourself in Nature

Experiencing nature can awaken in you a sense of vitality and infinity, which becomes a path to your core creativity. Without conscious thought, you can look up at the astonishing number of stars in the sky or leaves on a single tree in a forest, and feel a sense of vastness and spaciousness. As you gaze at the heavens the ancients observed, knowing that humanity throughout history and across continents has pondered these very stars, you experience being a part of something larger than yourself that feels as if it has always existed and always will.

In ancient times, sacred spaces, such as churches, temples, and sites for group rituals, were built on land whose features evoked a sense of spirituality. Treks to places like Machu Picchu, the temples of India, and Stonehenge have become more popular for Westerners who yearn for a sense of connection to their divine nature. Yet sacred spaces can exist wherever you feel a sense of spaciousness and connection to the creative, life-supporting forces of the universe. Arranging the space in your home or office to bring in light and nature will help you feel expansive and access your core creativity as you open up to your important role in all of creation.

Seeking Out Creative Stimulation

When the Irish band U2 wanted to reinvent their music, they traveled to Berlin, a bustling, gritty city unfamiliar to them, and soaked in the atmosphere, allowing its energy to infuse their songwriting and sound. Similarly, a famous actor I once spotted in an art museum stood before a painting for a good ten minutes before throwing his arms out and his head back, and standing for many more minutes, as if opening his heart to a beam of creative energy emanating from that painting. We all have this capacity to open to the vital forces around us and allow ourselves to take them in, mingling them with our own passions.

Many forms of physical movement can be an entre into open-mind consciousness. Somatic therapy or somatic disciplines such as martial arts, tai chi, and yoga are the most well-known ways of quieting the rational mind and opening up to the intuitive mind and its connection to the numinous creative force. Any physical activity that involves discipline and a slowing down of thoughts, from skiing to dance, actually creates new neural pathways in your brain that become roads to innovation.

Becoming creatively toned can lead to a breakthrough in parenting or relating to others, or it can make you feel vitalized and fully engaged in the mundane chores of the day. The Buddha said that to find enlightenment, one must chop wood and carry water, meaning that the deepest, more purposeful life may not be one dedicated to an extraordinary cause or endeavor, but one thats simply lived with a deep sense of awareness and openness to both the known and the unknown. A passion for discovery, for embracing the new and the unfamiliar can help you transform your life in ways you never dreamed possible, as you find the strength to move out of fear and resistance and into something new.

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Strategies to Stimulate Your Core Creativity - HuffPost

Jacinta Tynan: Why I abandoned my frantic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment – The Sydney Morning Herald

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

At one point I was juggling my meditation teacher, kinesiologist, hypnotherapist, psychotherapist and chiropractor (who also practises NLP). I had a clairvoyant's number in my phone and took a friend's recommendation on a "spiritual healer". I meditated twice a day, did a course on A Course in Miracles and occasionally made it to yoga.

My tower of self-help books teetered precariously close to my pile of crystals atop my Angel Cards in a room that had been "cleansed" by burning sage. My so-called spiritual life was at risk of becoming my whole life, yet I was no closer to enlightenment.

It was a scatter-gun approach, hoping that one thing might pay off and deliver me eternal happiness.

Oh, how we've evolved. It's chic to be conscious. Mindfulness and meditation are as much a part of many people's days as an acai chia berry smoothie after pre-dawn bikram.

Being "spiritual" is all the rage, which can only be for the greater good but not when our quest for wholeness is driven by a far more shallow desire to be in the cool gang.

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

And that's because we're looking in the wrong place.

LaPorte says we've become "hoarders of spiritual accoutrements", which she realised was getting her nowhere. She stopped meditating ("It was stressing me out") and yoga. She even ditched her $100,000 crystal collection and "took a permanent break from the esoteric", only to return with a fresh outlook. "I came back on my own terms, when it was no longer a chore."

LaPorte adds, "We buy into the lie of inadequacy, that someone outside of ourselves knows what's best for us."

Someone like Liz Gilbert. After sharing her story of personal transformation in Eat Pray Love, shehad to issue a warning to readers not to try to replicate her experiences, as hordes of women were treating her memoir like a guidebook to happy endings.

I admit, sheepishly, that I once sought out Gilbert's healer in Ubud, but bailedwhen I saw the queue of desperate seekers in the dusty heat, waiting not so patiently for their names to be called.

"If we put the demand on the outside world for our happiness and spiritual fulfilment, then ultimately we will find we still have to come back to ourselves for that and all the while it was there."

I, too, have pared back on the frantic search for meaning. I still meditate and get to yoga if time permits, and I do love my kinesiologist. But not as if my life depends on it.

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Jacinta Tynan: Why I abandoned my frantic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment - The Sydney Morning Herald

MegaFest Kicks Off in Dallas Wednesday – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

WATCH LIVE

MegaFest kicks off in Dallas on Wednesday. This is the third time Bishop T.D. Jakes has hosted the bi-annual festival in Dallas. Organizers expect about 100,000 people, and estimate a $30 million impact in Dallas during the four day event.

Sonya Thomas got to Dallas this afternoon. Her mom had been asking to go to the festival for years. This year, they made the trip from Richmond.

I am excited for the speakers, the line-up, the wealth of information, spiritual enlightenment, Thomas said. I am hoping to see some of the city, eat some good food.

Restaurants nearby are getting ready for participants. The owner of RJ Mexican Cuisine said it is their busiest weekend of the year, and business doubles.

We know that we are going to get hit all at once because everybody is on a time limit, so we have to double up our staff, owner Jay Khan said.

There is an express menu to get everyone out quickly during the packed four days.

There are speeches from Bishop T.D. Jakes and others, a faith and family film festival, a comedy show, and empowerment events.

There is nothing you can't get. It is a 360 event, said Derrick Williams, the Executive Vice President of T.D. Jakes Enterprises.

Sonya Thomas hopes this lasts more than the weekend for her.

I am just hoping to kind of soar from here, just kind of take a lot of spiritual empowerment, and go higher with my life, she said.

Published at 6:29 PM CDT on Jun 27, 2017 | Updated at 11:52 AM CDT on Jun 28, 2017

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MegaFest Kicks Off in Dallas Wednesday - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Psychedelic Saint brings torch of enlightenment to Rochester – Post-Bulletin

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

I am ushering in a new era of enlightenment.

So states Psychedelic Saint, a multifaceted mixed arts creator who does everything from directing music videos to writing movie scripts to featuring upcoming artists on her website. She acts, writes, and directs everything from poetry videos to short plays. She creates visual art, composes music, and is heavily involved in the Rochester Arts community. Her latest work, The (Almost) Complete Works, isnt cataloging all she has to offer; its merely a stepping stone to pursuing her passions.

Like her painted periscope of a face, this collection of poetry, short stories, and scripts mirrors the illusions society accommodates and caters to. Commenting on identity, imagination, play, love, loss stemming from heartbreak, societal power plays, and overall wonder, Psychedelic Saint provides not only an emotionally charged book, she provides a service to those who need something to relate to during tumultuous times. This book includes her written works, as well as her visual art bright, zine-styled collages using pop culture references. Saint uses these bold backdrops to add another layer of depth to her storytelling. She aims to deconstruct societal norms and uphold a calling for truth. In doing this, she offers an idealist, realistic setting of the world at large.

When you are multitalented, multimedia, and a community oriented artist, sometimes your art gets lost in the fray and it is challenging to earn living that way, says Saint. I hope to begin capitalizing on my art in order to achieve the American Dream people talk so highly about. Traumatic things have happened to me, and because I have survived those struggles through art, I feel its my obligation to reflect that pain and the challenge of overcoming adversities. I strongly hope to engage, inspire, and help those that feel lost.

Why the face paint? This eye-catching persona is used for anonymity and intimacy, as Saint noticed people are far more open when met with a colorful caricature of a person. Using Lady Gaga and David Bowie as inspirations, Saint refuses to be bound to restrictions of what an artist should be she embraces the otherworldly and spiritual side of what artistry can be. She wants to not only write about celebrating the unorthodox, but also publicly advocate that its possible to be abnormal yet accepted.

This journey started a few months ago, when Forager held an event for women to come and say a single line of an original poem written by Psychedelic Saint, Femme Fatal. Roughly 100 women aged 6 to 70 came out to support this event that celebrated women, and all participants left feeling empowered. The short video of the readings, filmed and edited by Films By Cloey, will be released at the upcoming book release event.

The film premiere and book release will be this Saturday at the newly open Jive Mill Listening Room.

Of course, the Psychedelic star herself will perform spoken word poetry for her fans, whom she refers to as her Stars and Bruises. STEM Academy Poetry Club will bring greater diversity by performing, while Duluth local Mary Bue performs music, and Amy Abts creates live art. A community art project will be initiated and there will be a photo booth, as well.

Saint hopes for this literary debut to be a catalyst for an unconventional and honorable career path. She has plans of book touring throughout the Midwest with her fianc (a featured artist on her website), gender neutral cat, and mammothly inspiring message to share. A spoken word album will be released a couple of months after this event. Down the road, Saint will debut another book cataloging her entire works of poetry. She ultimately hopes to sell movie scripts which she believes to be some of her strongest works.

If you want to support diversity and help lend a voice to those who generally feel voiceless, come out and celebrate the unconventional, forgotten, and marginalized. A cash bar will be offered after the STEM Academy Poetry Club performance, so come sober and leave inspired.

Where to go… if you’re a hippie | Stuff.co.nz – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

LORNA THORNBER

Last updated11:27, June 28 2017

Matt Cardy

Hippies are alive and well in 2017 (just in different guises).

Travel might not solve all our problems but it can definitely help you gain some perspective. In our new series "Where to go if..."we hope to inspire you regardless of the stage of life you're in. From where to go if you're recently heartbroken, to where to go if you love vodka, we've got you covered.

If the daily grind is killing your vibe, it's probably high time you took the kind of physically and mentally restorative holiday that'll really get your groove back.

Say what you like about the hippies, they knew a thing or two about cheap and meaningful travel. Determined not to let the man get them down, they sought out destinations that would help them shake off the shackles of capitalist society and embrace alternative ways of living. Following the fabled "Hippie Trail" westward through Europe, the Middle East and Asia, these free thinkers were chasing spiritual enlightenment as well as a good time.

Raglan: perfect for finding peace, love and quiet contemplation.

Fifty years on from that highpoint of hippie culture - the Summer of Love in San Francisco - there are still plenty of places to go if you feel like dropping out of your regular routine for a while and embracing your inner bohemian.Which isn't to say you need to ditch the shampoo and deodorant and dial a dealer. Unlike the original hippies who sought nirvana in psychedelic drugs, modern day hippies are more about finding peace and happiness through yoga, meditation, clean and sustainable living and embracing the outdoors.

Here are a few places to consider the next time you need to peace out for a bit and indulge in a spot of soul-searching or pure, unadulterated pleasure-seeking.

READ MORE: *Tripping out on the 'hippie bus' of the Wild West *Becoming a neo-hippie in Berkeley, California *Most hippies in Goa are gone, but peace, love and more remain

Raglan, New Zealand

Diehard surfers are often hippies at heart, finding solace and a sense of connection to something greater than themselves in the open ocean. Champion surfer Kelly Slater once described surfing as his religion, likening riding through the barrel of a breaking wave to being in the womb.It makes sense then that Raglan - with its world famous surf breaks set amid stunning native scenery -has become a haven for surfers, modern hippies, artists,environmentalists and alternative lifestylers. Stay in eco-friendly digs and hang ten at broad, black-sanded beaches like Manu or Whale bays before refuelling at one of the many health-focused cafes and restaurants.

Some believe Byron Bay has a special energy.

Browse local artists' creations in the innumerable galleries, take a head-clearing bushwalkto Bridal Veil Falls or simply get your zen on at often deserted Ruapuke Beach. Yogis should check out The Raglan Yoga Loft, where you can flex your way back into alignment in a light-filled studio in the Old Dairy Co-op Building and take special classes such as the divine sounding candlelit yin yoga set to "live music to travel around the world".Nearby Solscape is a modern hippie'sdream with a surf school, yoga centre and holistic therapies and workshops aimed at improvingyour health and wellbeing. Its onsite cafeThe Conscious Kitchen - open November through April - serves up organic, plant-based fare, with many ingredients sourced from itspermaculture gardens. Their food mantra: "Nothing with a face or mother".

Byron Bay, Australia

It's the vibe, locals say, that sets Byron apart from the myriad other surf towns scattered along this long stretch of squeaky white-sanded coastline. Byron it set in the basin of a volcano active 23 million years ago and some say the substratum of black obsidian it left behind has infused it with a special energy. Its original inhabitants, the Bunjalung people, honoured it as a site for sacred rituals and healing and, these days, it'san epicentre of New Age living.It's impossible not to feel at one with the world as you walk the Cape Byron Track, passingBangalow palm-fringed Wategos and Little Wategos beaches and rounding the easternmost point on the Australian mainlandbelowbefore arriving at the century-old Byron Bay Lighthouse. Climb to the top for groovy views of Tallow Beach (long, uncrowded and perfect for a spot of meditation) and the rainforest-covered hinterland. Speaking of which, it's well worth heading out of town to sample the area's lesser known but equally glorious natural assets.

SERGEY PRISTYAZHNYUK

You'll find colourful streets and characters in Christiania, Copenhagen.

Spot koalas, goannas and cockatoos at Minyon Falls, taking a slight detour to the Channon Markets, where buskers are likely to serenade you as you munch your way through fat juicy tropicalproduce and wholesome, homemade fare. If the guys selling "ice cream" made only from frozen bananas and strawberries are there, do not pass it up! If you're in need of a little extra help to get your groove back, book intoone (or more) of the many yoga, meditation and tai chi classes, spas and retreats in the area.Head to nearby Nimbin, the so-called Amsterdam of Australia,for a properly trippy experience. The last time I was there, the sudden wail of sirens in the main street sent locals scampering into the museum (dedicated to hippies no less)to hide their stashes.

Christiana, Denmark

Established by a group of hippies who broke down the barricades of an old army base in 1971 and laiddown their own laws, Christiana is essentially a sprawling commune in the heart of the Danish capital. While it's far from the utopia its original free-thinking inhabitants had imagined, the semi-autonomous freetown is still as colourful as the murals that cover its eccentrically restored buildings.

MATT CARDY

Celebrating the summer solstice at Glastonbury Tor.

Explore the art galleries, artisan workshops, performance venues and organic eateries downtown before following the cobblestone streets that wind past Hobbit-like homes, cosy beer gardens and fairytale-like woodsto the seaside. It sounds idyllic but you do need to be careful. Its drug problem is well known and police have said they don't have easy access to the area. To be on the safest side, take one of the daily guided tours.

Glastonbury, England

Best known for its mind-altering music festival, Glastonbury is also a year-round magnet for those with an interest in spirituality and alternative lifestyles. Some believeit's the ley lines - major energy channels beneath the earth's surface - that give the town its special aura and explain why it has attracted pilgrims for centuries. But whether or not you're a believer, there are plenty of mind-bending experiences here toget you contemplating some of life's greater mysteries.

DOJO

The laid-back hippie vibe at Canggu, Bali remains.

Check out the Abbey ruins and the Chalice Well, under which the Holy Grail is said to be buried. Drink from the healing pool in the Chalice Well Gardens and climb Glastonbury Tor - said to be the gateway to King Arthur's legendary Kingdom of Avalon - before coming back down to earth and exploring the independent shops that line the high street.

Canggu, Bali

On the so-called Island of the Gods, you half-expect to find a path to spiritual enlightenment around every corner. But while the throngs of tourist hotspots such as Kuta, Seminyak and Ubud can make quiet contemplation impossible, there are plenty of places where you can still do your soul searching in relative peace. Canggu, on the province's southern coast, is one such spot. While an influx of upmarket boutiques and trendy cafes meanit's not the scruffy surf town it once was, the mellow vibe remains.

Rejuvenate body and mind surfing, sunbathing, practicing yoga and meditation at one of the many studiosand feasting on healthy fare at eateries such asCrate Cafe and theopen-air Betelnut Cafe. This being Bali, there are also numerous places to get a massage - your shortcut to what every hippie is ultimately striving for. A state of pure bliss.

Travel might not solve all our problems but it can definitely help you gain some perspective. In our new series "Where to go if..." we hope to inspire you regardless of the stage of life you're in. From where to go if you're recently heartbroken, to where to go if you love vodka, we've got you covered. Do you have an idea you'd like to see here? Email travel@stuff.co.nz and we'll get working on it.

-Stuff

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Where to go... if you're a hippie | Stuff.co.nz - Stuff.co.nz

These Companies Want to Revolutionize Trash Day on the Space … – Air & Space Magazine

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Stowage gets a little tight up there on the Space Station, as John Phillips illustrates in 2011.

airspacemag.com June 28, 2017 8:00AM

Science in, garbage out. Every time a Cygnus or Progress cargo spacecraft brings up tons of experiments and equipment to the International Space Station, it stays around long enough for the astronauts to unload the new supplies. Then the spacecraft is refilled with tons of trash for a suicidal trip back through Earths atmosphere, where spacecraft and trash both burn up.

The routine is costly in terms of both money and astronaut time; it takes hours to finish all the loading and unloading, since every item must be carefully tracked. By some estimates, plastics account for about 20 percent of whats thrown out on a typical mission. NASA has found ways to reduce waste, such as having astronauts drink recycled urine, but it will need even better ideas for trash disposal if the agency wants to send humans on long missions into deep space.

Thats why its funding a couple of promising ideas for trash disposal under the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which awards contractors up to $750,000 each for a two-year study. If they still look promising, the projects would be fully commercialized.

One of the ideas is to turn packaging plastic into raw material for 3D printing. The technology, called ERASMUS, takes Ziploc bags or any other thermoplastic waste, and transforms it into filament. Developed by Tethers Unlimited, ERASMUS is intended to be fully plug-and-play, with astronauts simply loading the container with trash, then walking away while it does its thing.

ERASMUS can even turn waste plastic into food-safe utensils for astronauts to use. Space station crews now clean their utensils and plates with wet wipes, according to Rachel Muhlbarer, additive manufacturing program manager for Tethers Unlimited. Over timeif all youre doing is wet-wiping [utensils] every so often, it is gross, she says.

ERASMUS is now in Phase 2 of NASA funding, and in addition to testing the basic technology, theyre looking at how plastics degrade in microgravity. Its not clear whether degradation happens differently in microgravity than on Earth, or whether the material will outgas differentlya potential problem given the stations carefully balanced atmosphere.

Another trash-y idea currently receiving Phase 2 SBIR funding is a heat melt compactor developed by NASAs Ames Research Center, in partnership with Materials Modification of Fairfax, Virginia. Earlier versions of the HMC suffered because water vapor could not be easily removed from polyethylene bags, which plugged the vents from compacting chambers and stopped steam from escaping. The HMC now uses a membrane bag to allow water vapor to escape, while keeping the solid waste generated during the HMC process.

In a separate project, Materials Modification is looking to improve cleanup on board the ISS. We have also developed an antimicrobial, self-cleaning coating on surfaces to keep the NASA crew compartments clean and reduce the logistical burden of carrying a lot of wipes and cleaning supplies onboard, said Kris Rangan, chief chemist of the company, in an e-mail.

If successful, both of the SBIR contractors plan to test their proposed technology on the station in coming years. The long-range goal is to develop cleaning and trash disposal ideas for use on NASAs Orion spacecraft in the 2020s. That vehicle is headed for deep space, where Earths atmosphere wont be available for use as a convenient incinerator.

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These Companies Want to Revolutionize Trash Day on the Space ... - Air & Space Magazine

Stanford engineers design a robotic gripper for cleaning up space debris – Stanford University News

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Go to the web site to view the video.

Kurt Hickman, Stanford University

Researchers combine gecko-inspired adhesives and a custom robotic gripper to create a device for grabbing space debris. They tested their gripper in multiple zero gravity settings, including the International Space Station.

Right now, about 500,000 pieces of human-made debris are whizzing around space, orbiting our planet at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour. This debris poses a threat to satellites, space vehicles and astronauts aboard those vehicles.

What makes tidying up especially challenging is that the debris exists in space. Suction cups dont work in a vacuum. Traditional sticky substances, like tape, are largely useless because the chemicals they rely on cant withstand the extreme temperature swings. Magnets only work on objects that are magnetic. Most proposed solutions, including debris harpoons, either require or cause forceful interaction with the debris, which could push those objects in unintended, unpredictable directions.

To tackle the mess, researchers from Stanford University and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have designed a new kind of robotic gripper to grab and dispose of the debris, featured in the June 27 issue of Science Robotics.

Hao Jiang, graduate student in the Cutkosky lab and lead author of the paper, shows a basketball being gripped by the gecko-inspired adhesive. (Image credit: Kurt Hickman)

What weve developed is a gripper that uses gecko-inspired adhesives, said Mark Cutkosky, professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the paper. Its an outgrowth of work we started about 10 years ago on climbing robots that used adhesives inspired by how geckos stick to walls.

The group tested their gripper, and smaller versions, in their lab and in multiple zero gravity experimental spaces, including the International Space Station. Promising results from those early tests have led the researchers to wonder how their grippers would fare outside the station, a likely next step.

There are many missions that would benefit from this, like rendezvous and docking and orbital debris mitigation, said Aaron Parness, MS 06, PhD 10, group leader of the Extreme Environment Robotics Group at JPL. We could also eventually develop a climbing robot assistant that could crawl around on the spacecraft, doing repairs, filming and checking for defects.

The adhesives developed by the Cutkosky lab have previously been used in climbing robots and even a system that allowed humans to climb up certain surfaces. They were inspired by geckos, which can climb walls because their feet have microscopic flaps that, when in full contact with a surface, create a Van der Waals force between the feet and the surface. These are weak intermolecular forces that result from subtle differences in the positions of electrons on the outsides of molecules.

The gripper is not as intricate as a geckos foot the flaps of the adhesive are about 40 micrometers across while a geckos are about 200 nanometers but the gecko-inspired adhesive works in much the same way. Like a geckos foot, it is only sticky if the flaps are pushed in a specific direction but making it stick only requires a light push in the right direction. This is a helpful feature for the kinds of tasks a space gripper would perform.

If I came in and tried to push a pressure-sensitive adhesive onto a floating object, it would drift away, said Elliot Hawkes, MS 11, PhD 15, a visiting assistant professor from the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-author of the paper. Instead, I can touch the adhesive pads very gently to a floating object, squeeze the pads toward each other so that theyre locked and then Im able to move the object around.

Close up of the robotic gripper made by the Cutkosky lab at Stanford University. The gripper is designed to grab objects in zero gravity using their gecko-inspired adhesive. (Image credit: Kurt Hickman)

The pads unlock with the same gentle movement, creating very little force against the object.

The gripper the researchers created has a grid of adhesive squares on the front and arms with thin adhesive strips that can fold out and move toward the middle of the robot from either side, as though its offering a hug. The grid can stick to flat objects, like a solar panel, and the arms can grab curved objects, like a rocket body.

One of the biggest challenges of the work was to make sure the load on the adhesives was evenly distributed, which the researchers achieved by connecting the small squares through a pulley system that also serves to lock and unlock the pads. Without this system, uneven stress would cause the squares to unstick one by one, until the entire gripper let go. This load-sharing system also allows the gripper to work on surfaces with defects that prevent some of the squares from sticking.

The group also designed the gripper to switch between a relaxed and rigid state.

Imagining that you are trying to grasp a floating object, you want to conform to that object while being as flexible as possible, so that you dont push that object away, explained Hao Jiang, a graduate student in the Cutkosky lab and lead author of the paper. After grasping, you want your manipulation to be very stiff, very precise, so that you dont feel delays or slack between your arm and your object.

The group first tested the gripper in the Cutkosky lab.They closely measuredhow much load the gripper could handle, what happened when different forces and torques were applied and how many times it could be stuck and unstuck. Through their partnership with JPL, the researchers also tested the gripper in zero gravity environments.

In JPLs Robodome, they attached small rectangular arms with the adhesive to a large robot, then placed that modified robot on afloor thatresembleda giant air-hockey table to simulate a 2D zero gravity environment.They then tried to get their robot to scoot around the frictionless floorand capture and move a similar robot.

We had one robot chase the other, catch it and then pull it back toward where we wanted it to go, said Hawkes. I think that was definitely an eye-opener, to see how a relatively small patch of our adhesive could pull around a 300 kilogram robot.

Next, Jiang and Parness went on a parabolic airplane flight to test the gripper in zero gravity. Over two days, they flew a series of 80 ascents and dives, which created an alternating experience of about 20 seconds of 2G and 20 seconds of zero-G conditions in the cabin. The gripper successfully grasped and let go of a cube and a large beach ball with a gentle enough touch that the objects barely moved when released.

Lastly, Parnesss lab developed a small gripper that went up in the International Space Station (ISS), where they tested how well the grippers worked inside the station.

Next steps for the gripper involve readying it for testing outside the space station, including creating a version made of longer lasting materials able to hold up to high levels of radiation and extreme temperatures. The current prototype is made of laser-cut plywood and includes rubber bands, which would become brittle in space.The researchers will have to make something sturdier for testing outside the ISS, likely designed to attach to the end of a robot arm.

Back on Earth, Cutkosky also hopes that they can manufacture larger quantities of the adhesive at a lower cost. He imagines that someday gecko-inspired adhesive could be as common as Velcro.

Additional Stanford co-authors are Matthew A. Estrada, Srinivasan A. Suresh, Amy K. Han, Shiquan Wang and Christopher J. Ploch. Christine Fuller and Neil Abcouwer of NASA JPL are also co-authors. Cutkosky is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

This work was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and a Samsung Scholarship.

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Stanford engineers design a robotic gripper for cleaning up space debris - Stanford University News

Unplugged: Promising shows at Space Station, El-Rocko over holiday weekend – Do Savannah

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Do Savannah

Unplugged: Promising shows at Space Station, El-Rocko over holiday weekend
Do Savannah
Once again this week, the all-ages Starlandia Concert Series at the Space Station, 2436 Bull St., features a promising mix of touring and local talent. On June 30, the Space Station will feature touring acts Plan Z, a self-described electro-pop-punk ...

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Unplugged: Promising shows at Space Station, El-Rocko over holiday weekend - Do Savannah

The SpaceStation sponsors Media Agency Rising Star Award – Bizcommunity.com

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

At this year's Most Awards ceremony, The SpaceStation will sponsor the Media Agency Rising Star Award. The Media Agency Rising Star Award goes to the person who has consistently displayed excellent relationship skills, open minded, innovative, confident, challenges the status quo, outspoken, decisive, takes the lead, involved in the industry and developing a profile.

Image supplied.

We chose to sponsor The Media Agency Rising Star Award, specifically because in the digital arena, the landscape changes almost daily. In this fluid industry, it is essential that industry pillars recognise the need for ongoing development and robust recognition for those people who are showing talent in the media industry both as an inspiration to future talent and an ongoing guide for the industry as a whole.

The award ceremony will be held on Thursday, 14 September 2017 at The Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg.

Voting for the 9th annual Most Awards will continue until Friday, 30 June 2017. To vote, click here.

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The SpaceStation sponsors Media Agency Rising Star Award - Bizcommunity.com

Arianespace closes the first half of 2017 with launch of Flight VA238 – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Curt Godwin

June 28th, 2017

Ariane 5, Flight VA238, launch. Image Credit: Arianespace webcast

After a minor technical glitch interrupted the countdown for five minutes, Arianespaces Ariane 5 rocket left the pad at the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 5:15 p.m. EDT (21:15 GMT) on June 28, 2017. Flight VA238, as the mission was named by Arianespace, deployed two satellites Hellas Sat 3 / Inmarsat S EAN and GSAT-17 into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) 39 minutes after lifting off, completing the fourth Ariane 5 launch of the year.

Ariane 5, Flight VA238, ascends from the Spaceport in French Guiana on Arianespaces seventh mission of 2017 with Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat S EAN and GSAT-17 aboard. Photo Credit: S. Martin / ESA / CNES / Arianespace

While tropical thunderstorms threatened to delay the mission, conditions improved enough to allow for an (almost) on-time launchat five minutes after the opening of the 77-minute window.

At T-minus 0 seconds, the core stages Vulcain 2 engine roared to life. Approximately seven seconds after main engine ignition, and after passing health checks and allowing the main engine to reach flight thrust levels, the flight computer signaled the twin P241 solid rocket boosters (SRBs) to ignite.

The output from the triowas more than enough to lift 20,408pounds (9,257 kilograms) of satellites, plus the mass of the rocket and its propellant, off the pad.

With a combined 2.92 million pounds-force (13,000 kilonewtons) of liftoff thrust, the 180-foot (54.8-meter) tall Ariane 5 climbed fromthe pad and soared into a cloudy nighttime sky, with the roar and crackle from the three engines echoing across the jungle.

Shortlyafter clearing the launch tower, the Ariane 5turned eastward and climbed over the Atlantic Ocean.

As the rocket climbed and gained velocity, atmospheric pressure reached its maximum impact on the vehicles structure. This region of high stress is called max Q and is a function of the vehicles speed combined with the pressure exerted on the rocket by the surrounding air. At nearly the same time, the Ariane 5surpassedMach 1 the speed of sound as it continued its rapidlyacceleratingclimbto orbit.

After passing through this part of its flight profile the most stressful on the rocket throughout its ascent the dynamic forces began to rapidly dissipate.

Slightly more than two minutes after ignition, and at more than37miles (60 kilometers) in altitude, the Arianes pair of solid-fueled boostersexhausted their propellant and were jettisoned. Unlike the boosters from the now-retired U.S. Space Shuttle program, the spent motors were not recovered after splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.

Though only operating for marginallymore than two minutes, the SRBs accounted for more than 90 percent of the Arianes thrust at liftoff. However, with the vehicle weighing significantly less than it did on the pad, the core stages Vulcain burning through approximately 700 pounds (317.5 kilograms) of fuel and oxidizer per second was able to supply the power necessary to continue accelerating the lightened rocket and its payload.

Approximatelythree-and-a-half minutes into the flight, and at68 miles (110 kilometers) in altitude, the Ariane jettisonedits 55.8-foot (17-meter) long protective payload fairing. Though the aerodynamic shell protectsthe vehicle and its payload from acoustic, aerodynamic, and thermal stresses in the lower, thicker parts of the atmosphere, it becomes unnecessary mass and a barrier to payload deployment once in the vacuum of space.

The Vulcain main engine powered the vehicle for nearly nine minutes, and, once the core stage was depletedof its liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant, itseparated from the ESC-A (second) stage and fell into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea.

The ESC-As highly efficient HM-7B engine, burning a cryogenic mixture of LH2and LOX, startedits 16-minute long burn to place the two satellites in their intended GTO delivery spot.

Twenty-eightminutes after lifting off, the ESC-Awas in a position to deliver the first of its two passengers to the 155-mile (250-kilometer) by 22,236-mile (35,786-kilometer) transfer orbit.

Hellas Sat 3 / Inmarsat S EAN was the first of the satellites to separate from the vehicles SYLDA payload adapter. After the Thales Alenia Space-built satellite was clear and at a safe distance, SYLDA was jettisoned, exposing GSAT-17.

Following a short coast, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) GSAT-17 satellite was free to deploy.

Both satellites will raise their orbit with their onboard propulsion system while undergoing a set of checkout procedures by theground crew before being declared operational.

Flight VA238 marks the seventh overallmission for Arianespace in 2017, with fivemore left on the manifest for the year. Coming next for the French multinational launch provider is the launch of their lightweight Vega launch vehicleon Flight VV10, carrying Optsat 3000, scheduled for July 25, 2017.

Video courtesy of Arianespace

Tagged: Ariane 5 ArianeSpace GSAT Hellas Sat Inmarsat Kourou French Guiana Lead Stories Urgent VA238

Curt Godwin has been a fan of space exploration for as long as he can remember, keeping his eyes to the skies from an early age. Initially majoring in Nuclear Engineering, Curt later decided that computers would be a more interesting - and safer - career field. He's worked in education technology for more than 20 years, and has been published in industry and peer journals, and is a respected authority on wireless network engineering. Throughout this period of his life, he maintained his love for all things space and has written about his experiences at a variety of NASA events, both on his personal blog and as a freelance media representative.

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Arianespace closes the first half of 2017 with launch of Flight VA238 - SpaceFlight Insider

NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover on walkabout near crater rim … – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Jim Sharkey

June 28th, 2017

The Pancam on NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took the component images of this enhanced-color scene during the missions walkabout survey of an area just above the top of Perseverance Valley, in preparation for driving down the valley. (Click for full view) Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

NASAs Opportunity Mars roverisinvestigating rocks near the rim of Endeavour Crater for signs that they were either transported by a flood or eroded in place by the Martian wind. These are two of several possible explanations for features observed the crater rims crest above Perseverance Valley, which is carved into the inner slope of the craters rim.

Once Opportunity completes its walkabout survey of the area, the rover team will drive it down Perseverance Valley. Opportunitys drives now use steering motors on only the rear wheels, due to a temporary jam of the left-front wheels steering actuator earlier this month. The rover has not used its right-front wheels steering actuator since 2005.

Artists rendition of Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Mars. Image Credit: NASA / JPL / Cornell Univ.

The walkabout is designed to look at whats just above Perseverance Valley, said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. We see a pattern of striations running east-west outside the crest of the rim.

There is a broad notch in part of the crest at the top of Perseverance Valley. Just west of the notch, elongated patches of rock line the sides of a slightly depressed, east-west strip of ground which may have had a drainage channel billions of years ago.

We want to determine whether these are in-place rocks or transported rocks, Arvidson said. One possibility is that this site was the end of a catchment where a lake was perched against the outside of the crater rim. A flood might have brought in the rocks, breached the rim and overflowed into the crater, carving the valley down the inner side of the rim. Another possibility is that the area was fractured by the impact that created Endeavour Crater, then rock dikes filled the fractures, and were seeing effects of wind erosion on those filled fractures.

Investigation of the piles of rock along the edges of the possible channel may help scientists evaluate these and other possible histories of the area. The Opportunity team is currently studying stereo images of Perseverance Valley to plot the rovers route. The valley extends about the length of two football fields, at a slope of about 15 to 17 degrees.

The steering actuator for Opportunitys left from wheel stalled with the wheel turned outward more than 30 degrees on June 4. On June 17, diagnostic testing succeeded in straightening out the left front wheel.

For at least the immediate future, we dont plan to use either front wheel for steering, said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California. We can steer with two wheels, just like a car except its the rear wheels. Were doing exactly what we should be doing, which is to wear out the rover doing productive work to utilize every capability of the vehicle in the exploration of Mars.

This graphic shows the route that NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove in its final approach to Perseverance Valley on the western rim of Endeavour Crater during spring 2017. Image & Caption Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/NMMNH

Tagged: Endeavour crater Mars NASA Opportunity The Range

Jim Sharkey is a lab assistant, writer and general science enthusiast who grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, the hometown of Skylab and Shuttle astronaut Owen K. Garriott. As a young Star Trek fan he participated in the letter-writing campaign which resulted in the space shuttle prototype being named Enterprise. While his academic studies have ranged from psychology and archaeology to biology, he has never lost his passion for space exploration. Jim began blogging about science, science fiction and futurism in 2004. Jim resides in the San Francisco Bay area and has attended NASA Socials for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landing and the NASA LADEE lunar orbiter launch.

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NASA's Opportunity Mars rover on walkabout near crater rim ... - SpaceFlight Insider

SpaceFlight Insider has joined Patreon! – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

SpaceFlight Insider

June 27th, 2017

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. SpaceFlight Insider is proud to announce it has joined Patreon, a crowdfunding website that is a simple way for our loyal audience to contribute every month to our coverage of the space industry and get exclusive rewards in return!

For the last four years, we have been endeavoring,with a team of hard-working individuals, to produce daily content in the form of stories, exclusive interviews, a photographic library, videos, live webcasts, and more. In total, more than 100 pieces of content are produced each month along with coverage of launches from around the world.

In working to make our audience an insider regarding all things space, the SFI team has created one of the best launch calendars currently in existence, an ever-expanding gallery of photographs and video packages, a mission monitor page, that, unlike most, provides all the essentials to track missions in one central location and a database of launch vehicles, spacecraft and centers called the Hangar.

At present, SpaceFlight Insider is the only comparable media outlet to host live webcasts during launches at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. We hope to expand that to other locations in the near future.

However, providing these services is a labor of love for the SpaceFlight Insider team. Regular travel expenses, equipment procurement, and maintenance, as well as paying editors, writers, and photographers, consumes much of what funds SFI has managed to acquire so far. All of these efforts require a great deal of infrastructure, manpower, and coordination to achieve.

We at SFI want to create a place where people can turn to for all the information they want regarding space exploration and development. The team aims to deliver high-quality video, audio, still imagery, and much more to give you an insiders view of the whole industry and we take your questions directly to those officials within NASA and other space-related organizations who can answer them.

SFI offers all of its services for free, but we could use your help to keep it that way. We ask those of you who are able, to help us not only maintain what we have doneso far but also to take even larger, bolder steps. We believe that with Patreon, this will allow us to truly make you the insider our name implies.

You can pledge any amount you want for as long as you feel comfortable. However, at five dollars, were going to start giving back to you. Head over to our Patreon page to see what we offer and what works best for you. Contribute what you feel is fair. If only one-third of our daily viewers were to contribute one dollar a month, thats just 12 dollars a year SpaceFlight Insider would finally be able to bring you the level of access that weve envisioned and that you deserve.

Our team has decades of experience covering the space program and we are focused on providing you with the absolute latest on all things space. If we cant pay the bills, let alone our staff which currently consists of mostly volunteers and hard-working space enthusiasts then we cant do everything we can to share the thrill of space exploration with the world.

If you like space and want more space news, launch videos, images, and podcasts, then help us by becoming a Patron of SpaceFlight Insider.

Tagged: Lead Stories Patreon SpaceFlight Insider

SpaceFlight Insider is a space journal working to break the pattern of bias prevalent among other media outlets. Working off a budget acquired through sponsors and advertisers, SpaceFlight Insider has rapidly become one of the premier space news outlets currently in operation. SFI works almost exclusively with the assistance of volunteers.

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SpaceFlight Insider has joined Patreon! - SpaceFlight Insider

NASA Space-Flight Discovery: Archaea Found in Extreme Earth … – The Daily Galaxy (blog)

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

A new study that stemmed from a planetary protection project for NASA and the European Space Agency. It turns out our skin is crawling with single-celled microorganisms -- and they're not just bacteria. A study by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Medical University of Graz found that the skin microbiome also contains archaea, a type of extreme-loving microbe, and that the amount of it varies with age.

It was not until the 1970s that scientists realized how different archaea were from bacteria, and they became a separate branch on the tree of life -- the three branches being Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya (which includes all plants and animals). Archaea are commonly found in extreme environments, such as hot springs and Antarctic ice. Nowadays it is known that archaea exist in sediments and in the Earth's subsurface as well, but they have only recently been found in the human gut and linked with the human microbiome.

At first it was thought the Thaumarchaeota were from the outside, but after finding them in hospitals and other clean rooms, the researchers suspected they were from human skin. So they conducted a pilot study of 13 volunteers and found they all had these archaea on their skin.

The researchers conducted both genetic and chemical analyses of samples collected from human volunteers ranging in age from 1 to 75. They found that archaea (pronounced ar-KEY-uh) were most abundant in subjects younger than 12 and older than 60. Their study has been published in Scientific Reports (a Nature journal) in an article titled, "Human age and skin physiology shape diversity and abundance of Archaea on skin."

"The skin microbiome is usually dominated by bacteria," said Hoi-Ying Holman, director of the Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology (BSISB) Program and a senior author on the paper. "Most of the scientific attention has been on bacteria, because it's easier to detect. Based on the literature, six years ago we didn't even know that archaea existed on human skin. Now we've found they're part of the core microbiome and are an important player on human skin."

The study was a joint effort of Holman, Berkeley Lab postdoctoral fellow Giovanni Birarda (now a scientist at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy), UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Alexander Probst (now associate professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany), and Christine Moissl-Eichinger, the corresponding author of the study. Moissl-Eichinger and her team at the Medical University of Graz in Austria and at the University of Regensburg in Germany analyzed the genetic features of the skin microbiomes.

In addition to the influence of age, they found that gender was not a factor but that people with dry skin have more archaea. "Archaea might be important for the cleanup process under dry skin conditions," said Moissl-Eichinger. "The results of our genetic analysis (DNA-based quantitative PCR and next-generation sequencing), together with results obtained from infrared spectroscopy imaging, allowed us to link lower levels of sebum [the oily secretion of sebaceous glands] and thus reduced skin moisture with an increase of archaeal signatures."

Holman's focus is on developing synchrotron infrared spectroscopy techniques to look at biological or ecological systems. Using Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), one of the world's brightest sources of infrared beams, the Holman Group developed a rapid and label-free method to screen cells and immediately tell if they're bacteria or archaea.

"The challenges in microbial profiling are speed, throughput, and sample integrity," she said. "We spent years developing this technique and could not have done it without the unique resources of the ALS."

But the dearth of studies on skin archaea is not just because of technical limitations. The researchers assert that the lack of age diversity in the sampling in previous studies was also a factor. "Sampling criteria and methods matter," Holman said. "We found middle-aged human subjects have less archaea; therefore, the archaeal signatures have been overlooked in other skin microbiome studies."

As a follow-up, which is the current study, they tested 51 volunteers and decided to get a large range in ages to test the age-dependency of the archaeal signatures. Samples were taken from the chest area. The variations in archaeal abundance among the age groups were statistically significant and unexpected. "It was surprising," Holman said. "There's a five- to eightfold difference between middle-aged people and the elderly -- that's a lot."

Their study focused on Thaumarchaeota, one of the many phyla of archaea, as little evidence of the others was found in the pilot study. "We know that Thaumarchaeota are supposed to be an ammonia-oxidizing microorganism, and ammonia is a major component of sweat, which means they might play a role in nitrogen turnover and skin health," Holman said.

In collaboration with Peter Wolf of the Medical University of Graz, the team also correlated archaeal abundance with skin dryness, as middle-aged persons have higher sebum levels and thus moister skin than the elderly.

So far, most archaea are known to be beneficial rather than harmful to human health. They may be important for reducing skin pH or keeping it at low levels, and lower pH is associated with lower susceptibility to infections.

"The detected archaea are probably involved in nitrogen turnover on skin, and are capable of lowering the skin pH, supporting the suppression of pathogens," said Moissl-Eichinger. "Bacteria with the same capacities are already used as skin probiotics, potentially improving skin moisture and reducing body odors. Nevertheless, the clinical relevance of Thaumarchaeota remains unclear and awaits further studies."

Holman listed several avenues of inquiry for future studies with Moissl-Eichinger. "We would like to investigate the physiological role of human skin archaea and how they differ from environmental archaea," she said. "We would like to find out which niches they prefer on or in the human body. We also want to know whether they might be involved in pathogenic processes, such as neurodermatitis or psoriasis. So far, there is little evidence of the pathogenicity of archaea."

The Daily Galaxy via DOE/Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Laboratory

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NASA Space-Flight Discovery: Archaea Found in Extreme Earth ... - The Daily Galaxy (blog)

Living on Earth: PRI’s Environmental News Magazine

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

American Climate Action Goes Local listen / download President Trump is ending U.S. participation in the Paris climate Agreement, but a coalition of over 1,000 U.S. governors, mayors, businesses, and universities says Not so fast. Their We Are Still In declaration pledges that the US will still meet its commitments to the Paris agreement.

Flint Water Homicide Indictments listen / download Five Michigan state officials have been indicted for involuntary manslaughter related to their alleged failure to act in the Flint Water Crisis. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette claims the lead-contaminated water in Flint led to a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires Disease that the state employees failed to warn the public about.

Industrial Air Pollution as Unhealthful as Second Hand Tobacco Smoke listen / download Children living near sources of pollution have virtually the same risk of developing asthma as those exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, according to early results of a study in Western Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon researchers surveyed 1200 children living near the Pittsburgh areas biggest polluters.

Beyond The Headlines listen / download A heat waves no-fly zone, relaxed rules for reducing smog pollution, and a furry new product from Alaska feature in this weeks trip beyond the headlines. We also look back a hundred and ten years to a decision that tarnishes Teddy Roosevelts conservation legacy.

BirdNote: The Whiskered Auklet listen / download Alaskas Whiskered Auklet nests deep inside rock crevices each spring, and BirdNotes Michael Stein explains how its extraordinarily long white whiskers come in handy.

Seasteading: New Societies on the Floating Frontier listen / download Californias Seasteading Institute has an audacious claim: establishing floating societies will restore the environment, enrich the poor, cure the sick, and liberate humanity from politicians. Seavangelist Joe Quirk, author of the new book Seasteading, describes this bold vision.

A River Town in Transition listen / download Wrangell, Alaska is a small, isolated town at the mouth of the mighty Stikine River and a former a timber capital. But since the saw mills shut down in the 90s, the small town has reinvented itself as a tourist destination and a commercial fishing hub. Since both of these industries are dependent on the Stikine, some locals worry that a mining development upriver could put the whole towns livelihood at risk. Blog Series: Alaskan River Riches

Cowee, North Carolina listen / download Living on Earth is giving a voice to Orion magazines longtime feature in which people write about the place they call home. In this weeks edition, songwriter Angela-Faye Martin uses her words and music to picture her North Carolina valley on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. Blog Series: The Place Where You Live

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Living on Earth: PRI's Environmental News Magazine

Who is Peter Thiel? – Radio New Zealand

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Peter Thiel, who was granted New Zealand citizenship in 2011 despite only visiting the country a handful of times, is a storied US investor and entrepreneur.

US President Donald Trump, at the time president-elect, with Peter Thiel in December 2016. Photo: AFP

Officials today revealed Mr Thiel had spent only 12 days in New Zealand at the time of his application, after the Department of Internal Affairs was told by the Ombudsman to release the information, deeming it in the public interest.

Normally a permanent resident has to spend more than 70 percent of their time in New Zealand over five years before they can apply for citizenship.

His application was supported by Xero founder Rod Drury and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan.

Mr Thiel, 49, is reportedly worth $US2.7 billion after making his fortune in the tech boom in the early 2000s.

Recently, he was a donor to Donald Trump's election campaign and a technology adviser to the president-elect.

Biographies of Mr Thiel do not say he was a superlative coder. He was, instead, a maths and chess wizz. In high school he topped a California-wide maths test and ranked seventh in the US in chess in his early teens.

Mr Thiel read Ayn Rand and admired Ronald Reagan at school and went on to study philosophy and law at Stanford University - where he founded a conservative newspaper.

He then spent time as a commodities lawyer and derivatives trader but was dissatisfied.

He moved to California in the mid '90s at the start of the tech boom and co-founded PayPal. He was one of the first investors in Facebook and has since started a raft of tech, finance and venture capital firms.

The Seasteading Institute, which Thiel has given money to, wants to build a floating city in the Pacific. Photo: Supplied / The Seasteading Institute

Mr Thiel is known as a libertarian, and in an essay in 2009 he declared that freedom and democracy were incompatible and that technology was the only way to make a difference in the world.

He advocated exploring the possibilities of colonising space as an "escape from world politics", but thought "seasteading" (making permanent floating cities on the ocean away from the grasp of national governments) was more realistic than space travel.

He co-founded the Seasteading Institute, which works to make that a reality, and has also backed groups working on extending the human lifespan.

In 2014 on Bloomberg TV he said he was taking pills in an effort to extend his life, and he is reportedly interested in the process of parabiosis - injecting oneself with blood donated by young people - something that has been satirised on the HBO television show Silicon Valley.

TV personality Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, leaves a news conference in 2012 after discussing legal action being brought on his behalf. Photo: AFP

In 2012-13, he gave $US10m to Hulk Hogan to help sue news site Gawker, which had made public a sex tape involving the wrestler.

Hogan took Gawker to court demanding $US140m for breach of privacy, and won, which led to the site shutting down. It eventually settled with the wrestler for $US31m.

The New York Times reported that Mr Thiel supported Hogan because he wanted to curb Gawker's "bullying". The website had outed him as being gay in 2007.

In January the New Yorker published an article about a group of tech and finance executives devoted to survivalism - getting off the grid and preparing for a coming societal collapse.

It said New Zealand was seen as a "favoured refuge in the event of a cataclysm" by the wealthy in Silicon Valley.

The article did not say whether Mr Thiel was among that group, but said he was among high-net-worth individuals to have bought property in this country.

And one last fun fact: Mr Thiel seems to be a Tolkien fanatic. He has named a number of companies for characters in the author's books, some of which require an expert level knowledge of Middle Earth to discern, including: Rivendell LLC, Mithril Capital, Arda Capital and Valar Ventures.

Maybe that's another reason why he was drawn to New Zealand?

- RNZ / BBC

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Who is Peter Thiel? - Radio New Zealand

Teen Vogue: Intersex People Are As Common As Redheads – NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

Teen Vogue: Intersex People Are As Common As Redheads
NewsBusters (press release) (blog)
Teen Vogue wants you to know that there is no shame in embracing who you really are. So they had teen activists, who identified as intersex, of course, do a video for their readers explaining what it means to be a non-traditional gender. The video ...

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Teen Vogue: Intersex People Are As Common As Redheads - NewsBusters (press release) (blog)

Demi Moore, 54, turns heads on New York red carpet in floral suit and glasses at the premiere of new film Blind – The Sun

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

Demi Moore looks spec-tacular just weeksafter revealing she lost both front teeth due to stress

DEMI Moore looked spec-tacular as she donned black glasses and flashed her cleavage at the premiere of her new movie Blind.

The actress, 54, was all smiles as she walked the red carpet at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York on Monday.

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Her appearance comes just two weeks after revealing she lost both front teeth due to stress.

Demi stars alongside Alec Baldwin, 59, in the upcoming romantic thriller, two decades on since they first appeared on screen together in The Juror.

It tells the tale of a novelist, played by Alec, who was blinded in a car crash that killed his wife who goes on to have an affair with Demis character, the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

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House spending bill would boost NASA funding – SpaceNews

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

A House bill offers nearly $19.9 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2018, almost $800 million more than the administration's request.

WASHINGTON House appropriators introduced a spending bill June 28 that would increase NASAs budget by nearly $800 million above the administrations request, with particular support for the agencys exploration and education programs.

The bill, to be marked up by the commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee June 29, would provide $19.872 billion for NASA, $780 million more than in the administrations request released May 23. It would also be $218 million above what the agency received in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus appropriations bill enacted earlier in May.

NASA has also earned the highest level of funding in the history of the agency, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) said in a statement accompanying the release of the draft bill. For too many years, NASA has been overloaded with too many missions and not enough funding. This bill guarantees NASA receives the funding they need to lift Americas space program above the glory days of Apollo.

NASAs exploration account receives the largest increase in the House bill: a $616 million increase over the request to $4.55 billion. The bill would fund the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System at the same levels as in the 2017 omnibus bill, rather than the lower levels in the budget proposal. It increases funding for ground systems and exploration research and development above both the request and the 2017 omnibus bill.

The bill would also restore much of NASAs education program, which the administration proposed closing in its 2018 budget request, offering $37.3 million in closeout costs. The bill offers $90 million for education, $10 million below the 2017 level. The bill specifically funds two programs in that office, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, that would have been shut down in the budget request.

Plans to end those education programs faced bipartisan opposition when the CJS subcommittee held a hearing on NASAs budget proposal June 8. Im concerned about, in your budget, your cuts to the Office of Education, said Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), a former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee who is now a member of the CJS subcommittee. I cant understand why you would want to cut that.

NASAs science account would get an increase of $147 million from the request to $5.859 billion. The bill does not include funding levels for the various divisions within the account, although the statement accompanying the bill notes that it targets funding to planetary science and astrophysics to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs, while reducing funding for lower-priority research.

The bill text does specify that NASA spend $495 million of the science budget on both Europa orbiter and lander missions, launching in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Culberson has been a strong proponent of Europa exploration. The administration had requested $425 million, exclusively for the Europa Clipper orbiter mission and not for a follow-on lander.

The bill, after the June 29 markup, will likely be taken up by the full committee after the July 4 recess. The Senate has yet to introduce its version of the bill. The CJS subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the administrations budget request for NASA on June 29, with NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot testifying.

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House spending bill would boost NASA funding - SpaceNews

NASA orbiter snaps the ‘Niagara Falls of Mars’ – CNET

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Danzig

It's no place for a honeymoon, but these lava-fall views are still gorgeous.

Ah, Niagara Falls, a grandiose natural phenomenon of rushing water. You won't find anything quite like it on the dry surface of Mars, but the Red Planet has a landmark that bears a resemblance to the famous falls.

NASA posted an image today from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and titled it "The Niagara Falls of Mars." There's no bubbling river here, but there are the remnants of what was once a great lava flow.

NASA says the image "shows one of the many examples from Mars where lava (when it was molten) behaved in a similar fashion to liquid water."

What you're looking at is the north rim of a crater nearly 19 miles (30 kilometers) in diameter. Nasa notes, "a lava flow coming from the north-northeast surrounded the crater rim, and rose to such levels that it breached the crater rim at four locations to produce spectacular multi-level lava falls."

As epic as all this looks now, it would have been totally mind-blowing in the long-distant past while the lava was actually flowing and creating these spectacular formations. For another view, check out this 3D image that makes it feel like you're visting in person.

NASA's MRO launched in 2005 and has sent back quite a few fascinating views of Mars, including recent looks at theCuriosity rover and a mysterious deep pit.

26 weird objects seen on Mars, explained (pictures)

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NASA orbiter snaps the 'Niagara Falls of Mars' - CNET

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