Friday, July 7 – UFC

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Stepping in for Anderson in the bout for the vacant UFC featherweight title will be Invicta FC bantamweight champion Tonya "Triple Threat" Evinger.

This is something Ive thought about doing going up to 145 pounds just to get more competition," Evinger told UFC.com's Matt Parrino. "I even said Id go down to 125, but the opportunity was at 145 and Im definitely willing to beat up on some 45ers.

RELATED: UFC 214 fight card|Robin Black previews Cormier vs Jones 2

Unbeaten for nearly six years, Evinger has been among the best fighters in the world since her pro debut in 2006, and she has fought the best of the best, including Julie Kedzie, Sara McMann and Alexis Davis. But it was in Invicta that the 36-year-old Missouri native began to rise to the elite level, with her victories over Sarah D'Alelio, Cindy Dandois and Irene Aldana making her a star in the promotion. Now on July 29, this fearless competitor, who has finished five of her last six victories, gets a chance to add UFC gold to her trophy case when she battles Cyborg.

I think I match up better than any of her other opponents," Evinger said. "I think my style is really unpredictable. Im tough and youve never seen me in a fight where I got my ass really beat up. I think Im a perfect matchup; I drag people where they dont want to go and I make a fight hard for them. I dont fight other peoples fights. Its a frame of mind. Im just an old school wrestler and I think its just a frame of mind. Were tough and we come out there to fight."

In the UFC 214 main event, which airs live on Pay-Per-View from Honda Center in Anaheim, its the long-awaited rematch between UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former titleholder Jon Jones.

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Friday, July 7 - UFC

The 27 Most Beautiful Beaches In The World – Forbes

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Photo courtesy of Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon

Deadmans Beach on Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands: one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

What is defines a beautiful beach? For some, it'sthe whitenessof the sand and the clarity of the water. For others,it's theruggedness of the coastand the power of thewaves.For others,it'sthe beauty of the people sitting along theshore.When it comes to beaches, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

So I decided to pollsome of the most astute judges out there: superstar travel photographers and Instagrammers who make it their business to showcase beautiful places. I tapped into 20women whose taste and judgement I trust to find out what they think are the most gorgeousbeaches in the world. Naysayers will argue that many stunnershave been left off (feel free to add your favorites in the comments section). But say what you will: There's no denying the beauty of the 27 places that made thislist.

Photo courtesy of laura_austin/Instagram

Along the bright blue shores of Tulum, Mexico.

Where: Tulum, Mexico

Who: With wanderlust running through her veins, photographer Laura Austin is someone you cant help but watch. After growing up in small mountain towns in Colorado and Vermont, she is currently based in Los Angeles. The contrast of her roots in nature and the urban environment where she lives now forcesAustinto constantly escape the city and explore. Follow her on Instagram:@laura_austin

Why: From yoga retreats to trendy beach bungalows, it is the perfect mix of luxury and adventure with the most beautiful crystal-clear blue water and white-sand beaches.

Photo courtesy of @girleatworld

Boracay White Beach in the Philippines.

Where: Boracay White Beach, Philippines

Who: Melissa Hie is a user-experience designer who caught the travel bug a few years ago. She also loves eating and has found the perfect medium to combine the two through Instagram. While not a photographer by trade, she has been interested in photography since young age and is fascinated by "bokeh. Her love for photography took off once she got her hands on an iPhone five years ago. Follow her on Instagram: @girleatworld

Why: If you are looking for a quiet white beach with clear blue water, Boracay is not the place for you. And that's exactly why I picked this place. Don't be mistaken, the soft white sand and the clear blue water are there, but what makes Boracay stand out to me is that the White Beach is lined up with cool restaurants, chic cafe, clubs, water sports activities and hotels, just steps away from the beach. It really makes a quick post-lunch dip in the clear blue water very convenient, and you never run out of things to do!

Photo courtesy of @laurenepbath/Instagram

Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday islands of Australia.

Where: Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays, Australia

Who:Lauren Bath is a chef turned photographer, thanks to her early success on Instagram. After quitting her job in 2013,shelaunched full force into a travel careerandalso writesand has become involved with project management and education. With her unique approach, Bathis able to tap into the all-important dreaming phase of holiday planning.Follow her on Instagram:@laurenepbath

Why: I find it difficult to articulate what I love about the beach, as Ive grown up by the sea and it feels as much a part of me as any other part of me. I feel the power of the tides and the waves, the salt air permeates my home and the subtle sounds of the ocean filter through to me as I sleep. Despite all of my travels and my love of the mountains and deserts, I know Im only home when the beach is close by.

Photo courtesy of @theashleygraham/Instagram

Ashley Graham at Six Senses Zil Pasyon in the Seychelles.

Where: Six Senses Zil Pasyon, Seychelles

Who: Ashley Graham is a leader for the bodypositivity movement, a business-savvy entrepreneur who designs lingerie, dresses and swimwear, a sought-after television personality and an author. Her book,A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty & Power Really Look Like,was recently published by Dey Street Books. Follow her on Instagram:@theashleygraham

Why: The beaches in the Seychelles atSix Senses Zil Pasyonare some of the most stunning Ive ever seen. The atmosphere is exotic and peaceful with the pure white sand and incredibly bright blue sea water, almost so picturesque that it looks like a stage set for a tropical island.

Photo courtesy of @eggcanvas/Instagram

Strolling on Sugar Beach in St. Lucia.

Where: Sugar Beach, St. Lucia

Who:Erica Choi is a New York City-based digital art director, photographer and blogger. She is the founder of Egg Canvas, a visual journal conveying an array of lifestyle stories spanning fashion, beauty, hospitality and travel. Her experience as a graphic designer in the luxury industry has led Choi to continuously develop a keen sense of refined aesthetic, and she hopes to communicate this sensibility through her style, content and work.Follow her on Instagram:@eggcanvas

Why: Sugar Beach is situated between the UNESCO World Heritage Pitons, and provides a sense of isolation and calm, but community at the same time. We stayed in a beach-front bungalow at Sugar Beach, a Viceroy Resort, where we were able to wake up to the sound of the waves and go to bed at night before taking a dip in a private Jacuzzi in our courtyard. Every day felt like a scene from a movie.

Photo courtesy of @izkiz/Instagram

Blue Lagoon in ldeniz, Turkey.

Where: Blue Lagoon, ldeniz, Turkey

Who: Jennifer Tuffen is a British Instagrammer, travel blogger and content creator who works on campaigns with major brands, tourism boards and hotels around the world. Jennifer loves taking photos and showing the beauty of the world around her in her own unique, colorful way. She started photography as a hobby and is now one of the top travel Instagrammers with more than 2.7 million followers. Follow her on Instagram: @izkiz

Why: One of the most beautiful beaches Ive been to and probably one of the best beaches in the world is the Blue Lagoon in ldeniz, Turkey. The area is a well-known paragliding spot and youll see them floating all over the azure sky above you like colorful birds. just so I could take photos of the Blue Lagoon from above. The picture-postcard beach, with its turquoise blue and emerald green shades, makes it the perfect place to take a dip.

Photo courtesy of @taramilktea/Instagram

Miami's South Beach from above.

Where: South Beach, Miami

Who:Tara Whiteman is an Asian-Australian traveler, designer, creative and Instagram star who is also known as Tara Milk Tea. She showcases her love of travel, food and fashion via Instagram, herblog, an online store and collaborations with companies that share her passions, including some of the world's best-known travel brands. Follow her on Instagram:@taramilktea

Why: South Beach in Miami is exciting, colorful and most definitely beautiful. The rainbow, art deco architecture that lines this beach has its own charm, and you can bike ride along the path to see the Miami locals, who are quite possibly the most tanned, topless and muscly people you'll ever see. Flying over South Beach is one of the best ways to see this Miami gem and I did exactly that.

Photo courtesy of @alysscampanella/Instagram

Alyssa Campanella on Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara.

Where: Butterfly Beach, Santa Barbara

Who:Alyssa Campanella Coombs is a style and travel editor atThe A List, as well as a former Miss USA. Since her site launched in 2014, she has traveled all over the world with her husband, actor Torrance Coombs, on behalf of The A List, which is alifestyle blog andone-stop destination on the most sought-after in fashion, travel and beauty.I love keeping my readerson their toes as they're welcomed into my feminine and fast-paced world across the globe."Follow her on Instagram:@alysscampanella

Why:For our one-year wedding anniversary trip to Belmond El Encanto this past April, we knew a beach escape to one of Santa Barbaras beaches would be the best choice. Still centrally located, Butterfly Beach is much less crowded than other Santa Barbara beaches, which made it feel extra private. Stay for the sunset its the perfect combination of serenity and romance.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon

Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon on Deadmans Beach on Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands.

Where:Deadmans Beach, Peter Island, British Virgin Islands

Who: Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon is a Caribbean travel expert, award-winning travel journalist, TV personality and self-described Carivangelist, who ventures to the beach and beyond to share the diverse cultures, relaxed lifestyle and colorful people of the worlds favorite warm-weather destination. Follow her on Instagram:@JetSetSarah

Why: One of five strands on Peter Island (a private-island resort in the British Virgin Islands), ; punctuated with thatch-roofed palapas; and blessed with cool breezes most of the day. Ive only visited twice, but I have a photo taken of me on the sand printed on the back of my business cards. So now wherever in the world I am, I only have to pull one out to feel as if Im there.

Photo courtesy of @meg_haywoodsullivan/Instagram

Imsouane Plage in Morocco.

Where:Imsouane Plage, Morocco

Who: Meg Haywood Sullivan is a professional photographer and environmentalist who splits her time between shooting campaigns with brands and pushing for environmental stories through editorial features and her social platforms. With one foot in the outdoor industry and another in the realm of the commercial/fashion world Sullivans clients include Patagonia, KEEN, Clif Bar, The New York Times and more. She currently is working on various projects exploring mankinds relationship with the great outdoors.Follow her on Instagram:@meg_haywoodsullivan

Why:Imsouane Plage in Morocco is nicknamed Magic Bay" by the locals for a reason it has one of the longest waves I have ever surfed, plus the gorgeous backdrop of mountains cascading to the beach. Imsouane is a must-see for all those adventure-seeking world travelers out there who want a dose of culture mixed with remote paradise.

Photo courtesy of @carly/Instagram

Carly Heitlinger on Steps Beach in Nantucket.

Where:Steps Beach, Nantucket

Who: CarlyHeitlingeris a New England-based influencer who started her blog in 2008. She covers style, travel and New England lifestyle. Anything that shed share with her close friends, she shares with her fans, whether its a trip she just went on, a great sale that cant be missed, a documentary or book she loved, a personal challenge shes gone through or simply an outfit she thought was particularly cute. Follow her on Instagram:@carly

Why: I have yet to find one that I dont love each has a unique feel but Steps Beach is a favorite of mine. Steps Beach is best reached by bike, which you get complimentary if you are a guest at any of the Nantucket Island Resorts: White Elephant Village, The Wauwinet and The Cottages at the Nantucket Boat Basin. This beach is a little more secluded due to a steep descent to the sand, but its worth the climb down and up. A great spot to enjoy a picnic or to watch the sunset.

Photo courtesy of @krystal_bick/Instagram

The beach at Curtain Bluff in Antigua.

Where:Curtain Bluff, Antigua

Who: This Time Tomorrow is the discerning girls destination for all things style, travel, art, dating and New York City related. And probably a few other rambling (and hopefully amusing) mishaps along the way, told through the eyes of Krystal Bick, a lifelong West Coaster now living in the West Village with her corgi Elvis. You can find them on an given Saturday reading a book in Washington Square Park.Follow her on Instagram: @krystal_bick

Why: Beaches are quiet and tucked away beautifully unassuming and intimate in every way. And the water? Don't get me started on the water. It's like walking out into a warm, inviting bath, with the sun waiting to dry you off the minute you step out.

Photo courtesy of @bearleaderchronicle/Instagram

St. Ives beach in Cornwall.

Where: St. Ives, Cornwall

Who: While some are born to royalty, Daniela Stallinger was born to travel. At just three weeks of age, she took her first international flight and by her early teens had a well-worn passport. Choosing photography as a career, Stallinger was naturally drawn to travel as a photographic genre and has worked around the world on assignment. She is also the founder of Bearleader Chronicle, a travel site that looks beyond the obvious to discover hidden gems. Follow her on Instagram: @bearleaderchronicle

Why: An easy trip from London on the sleeper train from Paddington Station, because if its unique light, lush nature, golden beaches and the quintessential English village life. From spring to fall, the beach features all manner of surf activities, along with an ever-curious seal population. Romantic beach walks at low tide in the fall and winter, capped off with a lovely cup of tea and biscuits cant be beat.

Photo courtesy of Brooke Brady Photography

Andrea Pion of A Slice o' Pi at the Ocean House beach in Rhode Island.

Where: Ocean House Beach, Rhode Island

Who: Andrea Pionof A Slice o' Pi isa lifestyle and style blogger, who is a lover of all things delicious, pretty and New York City. She moved to New York in 2013 and created A Slice o' Pi as a place to document all the things that defineher.This is a slice of herlife, along with the places and things sheloves and cherishes the most.Follow her on Instagram: @asliceopi

Why: Greeted by a warm sandy beach and crystal-clear waters that can compete with the Caribbean, every square inch of the hotel will tug on your heart strings. I love the exclusive privacy thatOcean House guests receive whether walking the beach collecting New England seashells or relaxing underneath the resort'sBose-powered cabanas, which are outfitted in bright Lilly Pulitzer prints. With it being only a short three-hour train ride away from Manhattan, it's the perfect East Coast getaway.

Photo courtesy of @meagancignoli/Instagram

The wide open Jamaica Inn beach in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Where: Jamaica Inn Beach, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Who: Meagan Cignoli is the founder and creative director atVisual Country, a full-service creative video production agency specializing in creating micro video content for social media and TV. The company that began in her Brooklyn apartment now counts Google, Coca Cola, Nike, Tiffany & Co, Twitter and hundreds of other major brands as clients. Cignoli more recently has prioritized travel into her busy lifestyle. Not only do I gather inspiration from new destinations, but it reinvigorates my entire creative process, she says.Follow her on Instagram:@meagancignoli.

Why:My first visit to Jamaica did not disappoint. The entire island is magical.Jamaica Innin Ocho Rios is one of those marvelous colonial-style Caribbean resort with no TVs, radios or clocks in the rooms so distractions are minimal. The inn is situated on a private cove with a 700-foot private white sand beach considered to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. The water is calm in the morning if you want to try stand up paddleboarding or go snorkeling. The best part of my room was direct ocean access, where I started and ended each day with a dip in the crystal blue water.

Photo courtesy of @lesleyannmurphy/Instagram

LesleyMurphy on Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico.

Where: Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico

Who: Lesley Murphy is a travel journalist, TV personality and blogger based out of an overweight suitcase, who travels the world for a living.She is the founder of TheRoadLesTraveled, a site that reveals her crazy adventures around the world, from getting lost in the culture of people and how they move, to what they eat and how they make a living. Lesley enjoys discovering what makes a destination tick. Follow her on Instagram:@lesleyannmurphy

Why: A big portion of Dorado is beautifully calm and good for snorkeling or paddle boarding, thanks to the rock barrier that acts as a wave breaker put in place years ago by the Rockefellers when the family turned a plantation into the Caribbean's first luxury eco-resort, now called Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. Another unique aspect is the Rockefeller Nature Trail that goes through forests and alongside the beach to show off the island's diverse flora and fauna. And I can't forget the hammocks that overlook the beaches an unreal spot to watch some of the most dramatic sunsets I've ever seen.

Photo courtesy of @sophiehellyer/Instagram

Cala Goloritz, Sardinia.

Where: Cala Goloritz, Sardinia

Who:Sophie Hellyer is a surfer and environmentalist living on the west coast of Ireland. Sophie started and runsThe Green Roomsurf school and shop as a toolforenvironmental and social activation. Inher sparetime, you will always find her near a body of water, body surfing,swimming, surfing or paddle boarding. Rarely seen onland. Follow her on Instagram: @sophiehellyer

Why: I have travelled to some amazing places around the world, but when asked which is the most beautiful beach I can answerCala Goloritz without flinching. There is a 143-meter pinnacle, making it a paradise for climbers, resembling something from the movie UP and an archway to the right of the beach to swim through or jump off for the more adventurous. I think it is the only beach I have been to in my life where there was no visible plastic pollution; the Sardinian government seem to do a lot to preserve and protect it from human damage, declaring it a national monument and aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site.

Photo courtesy of @jetsetchristina/Instagaram

Christina Vidal on Pelican Point Beach in California's Half Moon Bay.

Where:Pelican Point, Half Moon Bay, California

Who:Christina Vidal is the California-based luxury travel blogger behind JetsetChristina. She's been to 55 countries and countingand her swoon-worthy Instagram shots are all about enjoying the finer things in life. "My perfect day involves brunching, beaching, sailing, sunsets and champagne," she says. "Life is short, but vacations are shorter. I try to inspire people to live up every moment of travel to the very fullest." Follow her on Instagram: @jetsetchristina

Why: , because despite being only 30 minutes south of San Francisco, it transports you to a world away. Stepping foot onto The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, I felt as if I had flown to Scotland. There were waves crashing against majestic, rugged cliffs, people roasting marshmallows over bonfires, and even a bagpiper playing music at sunset. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever set foot on.

Photo courtesy of @stacieflinner/Instagram

A view of Playa Redondo from Belmond Miraflores Park in Peru.

Where: Playa Redondo, Lima, Peru

Who: Stacie Flinneris an interior decorator and founder of stacieflinner.com, a premier online destination for travel and design inspiration. Currently on a year-long, around-the-world trip, Flinneris dedicated to discovering and sharing the most beautiful places and spaces in the world.Follow her on Instagram:@stacieflinner

Why: Lima's beachfront has something for everyone, from day trippers looking to sun themselves on El Silencio's miles of white sand to expert surfers looking to ride the biggest waves Peru has to offer at Pico Alto Beach. When staying at Belmond Miraflores Park, I enjoyed a privileged position overlooking Playa Redondo. I loved the beach, as it offered the perfect way to capture both the beauty of the glamorous neighborhood and Lima's dramatic coastline.

Photo courtesy of Susan Portnoy @insatiabletraveler/Instagram

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The 27 Most Beautiful Beaches In The World - Forbes

Health advisory issued for beaches on St. Simons Island – WXIA-TV

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Dr. Beach rates the best beaches in the United States every year. Here is the 2017 list. Elizabeth Keatinge (@elizkeatinge) has more.

WMAZ 3:25 PM. EDT June 28, 2017

Beachgoers look on as crews pull an alligator from the surf at Coast Guard Beach near St. Simons Island in Georgia. (Photo: FCN viewer)

The Glynn County Health Department issued health advisories Tuesday for beachgoers at St. Simons Island.

They apply to two beaches on the island: East Beach and Massengale Park Beach.

The release says the advisory was issued to alert swimmers of a possible risk of illness associated with water contact.

Possible illness would be due to an abundance of enterococcus bacteria in the water that exceeds the EPAs standards. The bacteria, which usually live in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals and humans, and can be an indicator of the presence of fecal waste contamination.

According to the EPA, the bacteria can sicken swimmers and is linked to some illnesses like urinary tract infections and meningitis.

The health department says that although the beaches are not closed, they ask people do not swim or wade in the water in those two areas.

The water will be retested and the advisory lifted once the bacteria levels meet the proper standards.

2017 WMAZ-TV

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Health advisory issued for beaches on St. Simons Island - WXIA-TV

Long Beach reopens most beaches after sewage spill; 2 remain closed – Long Beach Press Telegram

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All but two beaches in Alamitos Bay were reopened to the public Wednesday after a sewage leak prompted health officials to bar recreational access, pending results from water samples taken around the Naples and Belmont Shore area.

After reviewing samples taken Monday and Tuesday, health officials have authorized the reopening of waters at Colorado Lagoon, Marine Stadium, Bayshore Beach at Second Street and the Bayshore Float, said Nelson Kerr, Long Beach environmental health bureau manager.

Kerr said health workers and firefighters are removing warning signs from several of the affected beaches.

The waters at Mothers Beach and 56th Place will remain closed for further monitoring, Kerr said, explaining that samples taken Tuesday at Mothers Beach had bacterial levels above state standards. Samples taken Tuesday at 56th Place came back clean, he said, but there were elevated levels of bacteria in that area on Monday; health officials require two consecutive days of clean testing before they will reopen the waters.

Long Beach Fire Department officials on Monday discovered what appeared to be wastewater leaking from a seawall along Marina Drive at about 7 a.m., according to a city announcement. Kerr said the leak was contained at 1 p.m., and during that time officials estimate 7,500 gallons of sewage was discharged into the bay.

The source of the spill is still under investigation.

For the latest status on beach and bay closures or postings, call the Beach Advisory and Closure Hotline at 562-570-4199.

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Long Beach reopens most beaches after sewage spill; 2 remain closed - Long Beach Press Telegram

Bourne’s Beaches Get Mats For Handicapped – CapeNews.net

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With the summer season underway, the town has moved forward with providing the physically handicapped with access to two Bourne beaches. On Tuesday, June 28, work crews with the Department of Public Works rolled out and installed handicapped-accessible beach mats at Monument Beach, Hen Cove, Electric Avenue Beach and Gray Gables Beach.

Work crews started at Monument Beach. While one worker in a bulldozer smoothed a section of beach adjacent to the beach parking lot, several other crew members raked areas the heavy machine could not reach. Once smoothed over, the blue plastic mat was rolled out, and two-foot-long spikes were hammered through eyelets in the mats border into the sand to anchor the walkway in place.

A second mat was connected to the first and stretched down to the high tide mark by the waters edge. More spikes were driven into the sand along the sides of both mats, ensuring each mat will provide solid footing for anyone who is physically unstable.

This will be good for anyone in a wheelchair, using a walker or on crutches, DPW Director George M. Sala said.

Mr. Sala instructed the workers to stretch the mat as far as possible, even if it meant a portion of it would enter the water. He said he was advised by Bourne Department of Natural Resources Director Timothy W. Mullen that any growth on the mat, such as algae, would be killed by the hot sun during low tide and easily swept away. It will be the responsibility of Monument Beach lifeguards to sweep the mat free of sand that accumulates on it during the day, he said.

Town residents approved Article 26 at Annual Town Meeting last month, which included $20,000 to the Bourne Recreation Department for access beach mats at Monument Beach and Hen Cove. After rolling out the mats at Monument Beach and Hen Cove, Mr. Sala realized there was enough material to install beach mats at Electric Avenue Beach in Buzzards Bay and Gray Gables Beach, as well.

Mr. Sala noted that while the lifeguards at Monument Beach will sweep the mats there, DPW crews will clear the mats at the other beaches when they make their trash runs. He asked that residents using the beaches also help out by occasionally sweeping the mats clear of accumulated sand. He also encouraged residents to report any sign of vandalism to the mats.

If people using the beach want good things, they have to keep an eye out and report any type of damage, so we can correct it immediately, he said.

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Bourne's Beaches Get Mats For Handicapped - CapeNews.net

Beaches and waterways closed after sewage spill in Long Beach – Long Beach Press Telegram

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Several local beaches and waterways were closed to the public Monday after a sewage leak was discovered on the eastern end of Alamitos Bay, health officials said.

The leak was stopped, but as a precaution, health officials ordered the closure of beaches throughout Alamitos Bay, including Mothers Beach, Marine Stadium, Colorado Lagoon and Bayshore Beach.

Nelson Kerr, the citys environmental health bureau manager, said Long Beach Fire Department officials discovered what appeared to be wastewater leaking from a seawall along Marina Drive at approximately 7 a.m. He said the leak was contained at 1 p.m., and during that time officials estimate 7,500 gallons of sewage was discharged into the bay.

Kerr, however, said it could be more as they are unsure when the leak first began.

Were really sad to have to close the beaches, but the first priority is peoples health and we dont want to put anybody at risk if we dont need to, Kerr said.

The Long Beach Health Department is testing the water quality of beaches both in the bay as well as oceanfront beaches, according to Councilwoman Suzie Prices office, which first released news of the closure shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. Beaches will remain closed and swimmers will be asked to stay out of the bay until test results can determine whether there are health risks associated with the spill.

Results from the first round of water samples are expected back by Tuesday afternoon, Kerr said, though Wednesday would be the earliest beaches could reopen because health officials require two consecutive days of clean results before lifting the closure.

Signs have been posted around the affected waterways.

The source of the spill is still under investigation.

The closure comes amid the first substantial heat wave of the summer season, with temperatures nearing 88 degrees Monday.

For the latest status on beach and bay closures or postings, call the Beach Advisory and Closure Hotline at 562-570-4199.

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Beaches and waterways closed after sewage spill in Long Beach - Long Beach Press Telegram

California’s filthiest beaches, ranked – SURFER Magazine – Surfer Magazine

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Heal the Bay released their list of the ten dirtiest, nastiest, most polluted beaches in all of California recently, which, sadly, went mostly unnoticed until The NY Times made it a story on their homepage. Some notoriously dirty beaches were not on the list, so were reaching out to Heal the Bay to get a handle on why that might be and how they conducted their study.

Perusing the list, many of the usual suspects appear. Bucolic and forested (but also full of pulp mills and cattle) Humboldt County (site of the first ever Surfrider battledid you know that?) is a repeat offender and boasts the worst beach in terms of pollution. Cowells, in Santa Cruz, has long made the list of most polluted beaches (though there are grumbling that thats partially because the samples are taken beneath the boardwalk, home to thousands of roosting and pooping birds, but far, far away from the surf zone).

But Imperial Beach, in San Diego County? Repeatedly closed to swimmers because of dangerous bacteria levels? And it isnt here? This seemsodd?

The study reflects that these are the worst beaches during big periods of rain runoff, so its possible beaches that are normally heavily polluted dont fare much worse during the rainy season, and that the ten beaches on this list are uniquely positioned to basically flush the states toilets during winter storms.

Anyway, here is the list, from worst to least worst:

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California's filthiest beaches, ranked - SURFER Magazine - Surfer Magazine

Astronomers detect orbital motion in pair of supermassive black holes – Astronomy Now Online

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Artists conception of the pair of supermassive black holes at the center of the galaxy 0402+379, 750 million light-years from Earth.Credit: Josh Valenzuela/University of New Mexico

Using the supersharp radio vision of the National Science Foundations Very Long Baseline Array, astronomers have made the first detection of orbital motion in a pair of supermassive black holes in a galaxy some 750 million light-years from Earth.

The two black holes, with a combined mass 15 billion times that of the Sun, are likely separated by only about 24 light-years, extremely close for such a system.

This is the first pair of black holes to be seen as separate objects that are moving with respect to each other, and thus makes this the first black-hole visual binary, said Greg Taylor, of the University of New Mexico (UNM).

Supermassive black holes, with millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun, reside at the cores of most galaxies. The presence of two such monsters at the center of a single galaxy means that the galaxy merged with another some time in the past. In such cases, the two black holes themselves may eventually merge in an event that would produce gravitational waves that ripple across the universe.

We believe that the two supermassive black holes in this galaxy will merge, said Karishma Bansal, a graduate student at UNM, adding that the merger will come at least millions of years in the future.

The galaxy, an elliptical galaxy called 0402+379, after its location in the sky, was first observed in 1995. It was studied in 2003 and 2005 with the VLBA. Based on finding two cores in the galaxy, instead of one, Taylor and his collaborators concluded in 2006 that it contained a pair of supermassive black holes.

The latest research, which Taylor and his colleagues are reporting in the Astrophysical Journal, incorporates new VLBA observations from 2009 and 2015, along with re-analysis of the earlier VLBA data. This work revealed motion of the two cores, confirming that the two black holes are orbiting each other. The scientists initial calculations indicate that they complete a single orbit in about 30,000 years.

We need to continue observing this galaxy to improve our understanding of the orbit, and of the masses of the black holes, Taylor said. This pair of black holes offers us our first chance to study how such systems interact, he added.

The astronomers also hope to discover other such systems. The galaxy mergers that bring two supermassive black holes close together are considered to be a common process in the universe, so astronomers expect that such binary pairs should be common.

Now that weve been able to measure orbital motion in one such pair, were encouraged to seek other, similar pairs. We may find others that are easier to study, Bansal said. 04 The VLBA, part of the Long Baseline Observatory, is a continent-wide radio telescope system using ten, 240-ton dish antennas distributed from Hawaii to St. Croix in the Caribbean. All ten antennas work together as a single telescope with the greatest resolving power available to astronomy. That extraordinary resolving power allows scientists to make extremely fine measurements of objects and motions in the sky, such as those done for the research on 0402+379.

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Astronomers detect orbital motion in pair of supermassive black holes - Astronomy Now Online

Celebrate Asteroid Day with NASA’s special broadcast – Astronomy Magazine

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Back on June 30, 1908, the biggest recorded potentially asteroid-related impact event occurred near the Stony Tunguska River in Russia. Now, we honor June 30 as International Asteroid Day, a day to raise awareness about asteroids, how they impact Earth, and what we can do to protect the planet.

To honor the day, NASA is featuring a special TV program with the Planetary Defense Coordination Office and other projects that study near-Earth objects (NEOs).

The program will feature several segments that will go over information about NEOs such as how they are found and characterized as well as what to do in the event of a potential impact threat. Viewers can also send in questions for the broadcast via social media by using the hashtag #AskNASA in their post.

The Asteroid Day broadcast will air on NASA TV as well as NASAs website starting at noon EDT.

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Celebrate Asteroid Day with NASA's special broadcast - Astronomy Magazine

Protostar May Have Triggered Formation of Another, Younger Star – Sci-News.com

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Astronomers using NSFs Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found new evidence suggesting that a jet of fast-moving material ejected from an intermediate-mass protostar known as FIR 3 may have triggered the formation of a younger protostar, FIR 4.

The protostar FIR 3 with outflow that may have triggered the formation of the younger protostar FIR 4. Pullouts are individual VLA images of each protostar. Image credit: Osorio et al / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

The orientation of the jet, the speed of its material, and the distance all are right for this scenario, said Dr. Mayra Osorio, an astronomer at the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucia in Spain.

Dr. Osorio and co-authors studied the Orion Molecular Cloud complex, a giant cloud of gas approximately 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion.

The region has been studied before, but the team carried out a series of VLA observations at different radio frequencies that revealed new details.

Images of the pair show that the younger protostar, FIR 4 (also known as Herschel Orion Protostar Survey 108, or HOPS 108), lies in the path of the outflow from the older, FIR 3 (also known as HOPS 370).

This alignment led University of Tokyo astronomer Dr. Yoshito Shimajiri and co-authors to suggest in 2008 that the shock of the fast-moving material hitting a clump of gas had triggered the clumps collapse into a protostar.

We found knots of material within this outflow and were able to measure their speeds, said Dr. Ana K. Diaz-Rodriguez, also from the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucia.

The VLA observations gave important support to the idea that the older stars outflow had triggered the youngers stars formation process.

The scientists suggest that the jet from FIR 3 began to hit the clump of gas about 100,000 years ago, starting the process of collapse that eventually led to the formation of FIR 4.

Four other protostars in the region also could be the result of similar interactions, but the researchers found evidence for shocks only in the case of FIR 4.

While the evidence for this triggering scenario is strong, one fact appears to contradict it.

The younger star seems to be moving rapidly in a way that indicates it should have been formed elsewhere, apart from the region impacted by the older stars outflow.

This motion, however, might be an illusion possibly created by an outflow from the newer star itself, Dr. Osorio said.

We want to continue to observe it over a period of time to resolve this question.

The results were published in the May 3, 2017 issue of the Astrophysical Journal (arXiv.org preprint).

_____

Mayra Osorio et al. 2017. Star Formation Under the Outflow: The Discovery of a Non-thermal Jet from OMC-2 FIR 3 and Its Relationship to the Deeply Embedded FIR 4 Protostar. ApJ 840, 36; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa6975

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Protostar May Have Triggered Formation of Another, Younger Star - Sci-News.com

Viewing the MIlky Way – AccuWeather.com (blog)

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Astronomy blog By Dave Samuhel, AccuWeather senior meteorologist 6/28/2017, 6:38:51 PM

Check out a super high res version of this image here

Every star you see in the night sky is in the Milky Way. In fact, every individual star you can see with the naked eye is in a small part of the Milky Way, nearest Earth. Our galaxy is huge!

The Milky Way galaxy contains somewhere between 200 and 400 billion stars. What we refer to the Milky Way you view in the night sky is the actual center of the galaxy. The milky looking cloud that stretches from horizon to horizon is the galactic center of the Milky Way. The cloud is made up of lots and lots of stars. Click on the image above to get an idea of the amount of stars we are talking about.

AccuWeather Astronomy friend Ron Shawley recently shot a meteor crossing the Milky Way.

The problem viewing the Milky Way is the fact that it is rather dim. The cluster of stars that make up the galactic center of galaxy is much further away than the individual stars you can see with the naked eye.

The Earth is about 26,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy. The closest stars are just over 4 light-years away; 23,600,000,000,000 miles away! So we are some 15,340,000,000,000,000. Yes, that is 15 quadrillion miles away!

So, you need a dark area to see the Milky Way clearly. The problem is, there are fewer and fewer of these places.

The brighter the color, the higher the light pollution. Image courtesy of World Atlas of Light

Zooming in on North America

The brighter the color, the higher the light pollution. Image courtesy of World Atlas of Light

Finding the Milky Way The number one thing to do to ensure you have a chance of seeing the Milky Way is to let your eyes adjust to the darkness. Go at least 15-20 minutes in the dark let those pupils grow large enough to take in all the night sky has to offer!

While you are waiting for your eyes to adjust, find the Summer Triangle. It is made up of 3 of the brightest stars in the night sky. They are easy to spot later in the evening and through the overnight hours when they are high in the sky. The Milky Way flows right through this trio of stars.

Image courtesy of Lonley Speck. How to find the Milky Way

If you are looking in a northerly direction, use Cassiopia. This famous constellation looks like the letter "W". The Milky Way goes right through this constellation as well!

While Cassiopia generally shows the northern extent of the Milky Way, use Scorpius and Sagittarius to see the southern extent.

Image courtesy of Gold Paint Photography. How to find the Milky Way

There are some good mobile apps out there to help you find the Milky Way, but I would recommend using these apps indoors and putting your phone away before attempting to view the night sky. That phone light will kill your night vision. If you're looking for apps, here is a great write-up about what is available 5 Awesome Astronomy Apps

You will be more likely to see the Milky Way in the evening sky later in summer. Through early summer it is best viewed after midnight.

Good luck seeing the Milky Way! Look during the next few nights before the moon dominates the night sky next week. Thanks for reading and just look up, you never know what you will see!

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Betelgeuse is lumpy! Except not really! – SYFY WIRE (blog)

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A new observation of the bright star Betelgeuse shows it's odd.

[Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. OGorman/P. Kervella]

You can see it in that image (much bigger versions are available, too). The orange color isn't real; the observations were made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), which observes light way outside the color range our eyes can see. But the bright spot to the upper left is real, as is the gigantic lump on the left side, too. But here's the thing: That lump isn't really a lump, at least not a physical protrusion in the side of the star. It's actually a place where the star is warmer and denser, making it look like a lump.

I know, that's weird. Let me explain.

First, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, a star much more massive than the Sun (about 20 times the Sun's mass) and nearing the end of its life. When a star like that runs out of available hydrogen in its core to fuse into helium, the core heats up. The gas above the core responds by expanding (just like a hot air balloon; when you heat a gas it expands). Furthermore, Betelgeuse is already on the next step, fusing helium into carbon and oxygen. That creates a huge amount of energy that gets dumped into the outer layers. When that happens a star's size increases hugely; depending on how you measure it, Betelgeuse is about a thousand times wider than the Sun!

Normally, stars are far too small to see them as anything other than points of light. But Betelgeuse is so big that our most powerful telescopes can resolve it into a disk. The ALMA image shows it to be about 0.1 arcseconds wide. Arcseconds are an angular measure; there are 60 arcseconds to an arcminute and 60 arcminutes to a degree. The Moon appears in the sky to be 0.5 degrees = 30 arcminutes = 1800 arcseconds across. That's 18,000 times wider than Betelgeuse!

So just seeing Betelgeuse at all as a disk in these images is pretty amazing. But it gets better.

When a massive star expands into a red supergiant, counterintuitively, despite the extra energy, the gas cools: That same energy is spread out over a lot more volume, so each cubic centimeter of the star has less energy in it. When the outer layer cools it goes from being blue-white hot to reddish, dropping to a temperature of a few thousand degrees Celsius, cooler than the Sun.

I described how this works in my episode of Crash Course Astronomy: High Mass Stars (at about the 2:30 mark):

Betelgeuse doesn't have an actual surface. It's a gas, and a pretty rarefied one at that. The density deep inside it is quite high, but by the time you get out into that outer part the density can be so low it's pretty much a hot vacuum.

So a funny thing happens when you look at it. The kind of light you see from the star depends on the density and the temperature of the gas emitting it. Deep down, it's hot and dense and the light is bluer a wavelength of a few hundred billionths of a meter. Up near the top, the gas is cooler and thinner and is redder, with a wavelength twice as long. Gas farther out from the center emits even longer-wavelength light, with a wavelength around a millimeter or so.

Thats the kind of light ALMA is sensitive to. So what you're seeing isn't really the surface of Betelgeuse which it doesn't have anyway but just the gas in it that emits at that wavelength. The size you measure for a star depends on what kind of light you're looking at!

This is where that lump comes in. At a certain distance from the center of Betelgeuse, the gas is the right temperature and density to emit the light ALMA sees. Outside of that, it's cooler and doesn't emit that light, so it looks black. There is still gas there, but we just can't see it in the ALMA image. However, for some reason, in that one spot on the edge of the star there is some gas still warm and dense enough to emit millimeter light, and so we see it in the ALMA image as a lump, a local patch of gas warmer (and/or denser) than the gas around it.

That bright spot stretching across the upper left of the star may be the same sort of phenomenon as the lump, but we see it against the disk of the star, so it looks like a bright spot.

So what's causing this? It's not clear. It may be magnetic in origin. The Sun has a pretty strong and complicated magnetic field, and that can cause all sorts of odd features we can see. Betelgeuse has strong convection hot blobs of gas rising from the interior, like water boiling in a pan and we know that these blobs can have their own embedded magnetic field (the Sun does the same sort of thing). It may be we're seeing the top of a strong convection cell in Betelgeuse, with the gas heated by the magnetic field it carries.

I know this may seem a little esoteric, but it's actually pretty important. For one thing, we know that red supergiant stars blow tremendous winds of gas, like a super solar wind (Betelgeuse has a wind a million times stronger than the Sun's!). But we don't really understand the mechanism behind it. Magnetic fields may be important there, so studying Betelgeuse's upper atmosphere could lead to insight there.

Also, stars like Betelgeuse do one more thing at the ends of their lives: They explode. Like, supernova explode, sending huge amounts of gas several times the mass of the Sun screaming outward at a significant fraction of the speed of light! Betelgeuse is about 8 million years old and may only have about 100,000 years left before it goes bye-bye. At a distance of 650 light-years or so, it's probably too far from us to physically impact us, but it'll be bright when it explodes, about as bright as the full Moon. You'll be able to see it in the daytime.

These explosions create the heavy elements we need to live: The iron in our blood, for example, came from a star that blew up long before the Sun was born. Studying Betelgeuse gives us insight into this mechanism, which in turn is critical for our being here at all to study it!

Beyond that rather philosophical direction of thought, Betelgeuse is just amazing to observe. In 2013, astronomers observed that it had blown out an arc of gas as big as our solar system! It's also traveling through space, and the gas blowing away from the star will soon (well, in 5,000 years) hit a sheet of gas that will distort and interact with the star's wind. That should make for pretty pictures.

And, as you may know, Betelgeuse marks the right shoulder of the constellation Orion, and is bright enough that we can actually see its reddish color with the naked eye. I like showing it to people through my telescope when I can; the color is amazing, and its so bright it's like a ruddy gem in the eyepiece.

And I like knowing that, as beautiful as it is by eye, what we see is just one small bit of what Betelgeuse really is. If it had a surface, we'd barely be scratching it.

[The image at the top of this post is Orion by Rogelio Bernal Andreo; Betelgeuse is the bright orange star at the upper right. This is the best image of the constellation I have ever seen, and you can buy a print of it.]

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What is Astrophysics? – space.com

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The Hubble mosaic unveils a collection of carved knots of gas and dust in a small portion of the Monkey Head Nebula (also known as NGC 2174 and Sharpless Sh2-252). The nebula is a star-forming region that hosts dusky dust clouds silhouetted against glowing gas.

Astrophysics is a branch of space science that applies the laws of physics and chemistry to explain the birth, life and death of stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae and other objects in the universe. It has two sibling sciences, astronomy and cosmology, and the lines between them blur.

In practice, the three professions form a tight-knit family. Ask for the position of a nebula or what kind of light it emits, and the astronomer might answer first. Ask what the nebula is made of and how it formed and the astrophysicist will pipe up. Ask how the data fit with the formation of the universe, and the cosmologist would probably jump in. But watch out for any of these questions, two or three may start talking at once!

Astrophysicists seek to understand the universe and our place in it. At NASA, the goals of astrophysics are "to discover how the universe work, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars," accordingNASA's website.

NASA states that those goals produce three broad questions:

Whileastronomyis one of the oldest sciences, theoretical astrophysics began with Isaac Newton. Prior to Newton, astronomers described the motions of heavenly bodies using complex mathematical models without a physical basis. Newton showed that a single theory simultaneously explains the orbits of moons and planets in space and the trajectory of a cannonball on Earth. This added to the body of evidence for the (then) startling conclusion that the heavens and Earth are subject to the same physical laws. [Related: How Isaac Newton Changed the World]

Perhaps what most completely separated Newtons model from previous ones is that it is predictive as well as descriptive. Based on aberrations in the Newtonian orbit ofUranus, astronomers predicted the position of a new planet, which was then observed and namedNeptune. Being predictive as well as descriptive is the sign of a mature science, and astrophysics is in this category.

Because the only way we interact with distant objects is by observing the radiation they emit, much of astrophysics has to do with deducing theories that explain the mechanisms that produce this radiation, and provide ideas for how to extract the most information from it. The first ideas about the nature of stars emerged in the mid-19th century from the blossoming science of spectral analysis, which means observing the specific frequencies of light that particular substances absorb and emit when heated. Spectral analysis remains essential to the triumvirate of space sciences, both guiding and testing new theories.

Early spectroscopy provided the first evidence that stars contain substances also present on Earth. Spectroscopy revealed that somenebulaeare purely gaseous, while some contain stars. This later helped cement the idea that some nebulae were not nebulae at all they were other galaxies!

In the early 1920s, Cecilia Payne discovered, using spectroscopy, thatstars are predominantly hydrogen(at least until their old age). The spectra of stars also allowed astrophysicists to determine the speed at which they move toward or away from Earth. Just like the sound a vehicle emits is different moving toward us or away from us, because of the Doppler shift, the spectra of stars will change in the same way. In the 1930s, by combining the Doppler shift and Einsteins theory of general relativity, Edwin Hubble provided solid evidence that the universe is expanding. This is also predicted by Einsteins theory, and together form the basis of the Big Bang Theory.

Also in the mid-19th century, the physicists Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) and Gustav Von Helmholtz speculated that gravitational collapse could power the sun, but eventually realized that energy produced this way would only last 100,000 years. Fifty years later, Einsteins famous E=mc2equation gave astrophysicists the first clue to what the true source of energy might be (although it turns out that gravitational collapse does play an important role). As nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and particle physics grew in the first half of the 20th century, it became possible to formulate theories for how nuclear fusion could power stars. These theories describe how stars form, live and die, and successfully explain the observed distribution of types of stars, their spectra, luminosities, ages, and other features.

Astrophysics is the physics of stars and other distant bodies in the universe, but it also hits close to home. According to the Big Bang Theory, the first stars were almost entirely hydrogen. The nuclear fusion process that energizes them smashes together hydrogen atoms to form the heavier element helium. In 1957, the husband-and-wife astronomer team of Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, along with physicists William Alfred Fowler and Fred Hoyle, showed how, as stars age, they produce heavier and heavier elements, which they pass on to later generations of stars in ever-greater quantities. It is only in the final stages of the lives of more recent stars that the elements making up the Earth, such as iron (32.1 percent), oxygen (30.1 percent), silicon (15.1 percent), are produced. Another of these elements is carbon, which together with oxygen, make up the bulk of the mass of all living things including us. Thus, astrophysics tells us that, while we are not all stars, we are all stardust.

Ariel Balter has a Ph.D. in physics. He teaches and writes about science.

Further reading

A History of Astrophysics

The Glassmaker Who Sparked Astrophysics

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‘Pompom’ stars may solve quasar puzzle – Phys.Org

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June 28, 2017 Schematic graphic of quasar twinkling. Credit: M. Walker (artwork), CSIRO (photo)

Gas filaments surrounding stars like the strands of a pompom may be the answer to a 30-year old mystery: why quasars twinkle.

Dr Mark Walker (Manly Astrophysics) and collaborators at Caltech, Manly Astrophysics and CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) published this solution today in the Astrophysical Journal.

Their evidence comes from research done with CSIRO's Compact Array radio telescope in eastern Australia.

Walker's team was studying quasars powerful, distant galaxies when they saw one called PKS 1322110 start to dim and brighten wildly at radio wavelengths over just a few hours.

"This quasar was twinkling violently," Walker said.

Quasar radio twinkling was recognized in the 1980s. Most often it is gentle small, slow changes in radio brightness. Violent twinkling is rare and unpredictable.

Stars in the night sky twinkle when currents of air in our atmosphere focus and defocus their light. In the same way, quasars twinkle when streams of warm gas in interstellar space focus and defocus their radio signals.

But until now it was a mystery what those streams were and where they lay.

The first sign that stars are involved came when the team prepared to look at their twinkling quasar, PKS 1322110, with one of the 10-m Keck optical telescopes in Hawai'i.

"At that point we realised this quasar is very close on the sky to the hot star Spica," co-author Dr Vikram Ravi (Caltech) said.

Walker remembered that another violently twinkling quasar, J1819+3845, is close on the sky to the hot star Vega something previously noted by other researchers. Two hot stars, two twinkling quasars: is this just a coincidence?

Further work suggested it's not.

Walker's team re-examined earlier data on J1819+3845 and another violent twinkler, PKS 1257326. They found that this second quasar lies close on the sky to a hot star called Alhakim.

The chance of having both twinkling quasars near hot stars is one in ten million, the researchers calculated.

"We have very detailed observations of these two sources," co-author Dr Hayley Bignall (CSIRO) said. "They show that the twinkling is caused by long, thin structures."

The team suggests that every hot star is surrounded by a throng of warm gas filaments, all pointing towards it.

"We think these stars look like the Helix Nebula," Walker said.

In the Helix a star sits in a swarm of cool globules of molecular hydrogen gas, each about as big as our solar system. Ultraviolet radiation from the star blasts the globules, giving each one a skin of warm gas and a long gas tail flowing outwards.

The star in the Helix is in its death throes, and astronomers usually assume that the globules arose late in the star's life. But Walker thinks such globules might be present around younger, mainstream stars. "They might date from when the stars formed, or even earlier," he said.

"Globules don't emit much light, so they could be common yet have escaped notice so far," he added.

"Now we'll turn over every rock to find more signs of them."

Explore further: Astronomers observe early stages of Milky Way-like galaxies in distant universe

More information: Walker, M.A. and seven co-authors. "Extreme radio-wave scattering associated with hot stars." Astrophysical Journal, Volume 843, 27th June 2017. http://www.manlyastrophysics.org/MaterialForAstronomers/PublishedPapers/2017Walker.pdf

Journal reference: Astrophysical Journal

Provided by: Manly Astrophysics

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How artificial intelligence is taking on ransomware – ABC News

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Twice in the space of six weeks, the world has suffered major attacks of ransomware malicious software that locks up photos and other files stored on your computer, then demands money to release them.

It's clear that the world needs better defenses, and fortunately those are starting to emerge, if slowly and in patchwork fashion. When they arrive, we may have artificial intelligence to thank.

Ransomware isn't necessary trickier or more dangerous than other malware that sneaks onto your computer, but it can be much more aggravating, and at times devastating. Most such infections don't get in your face about taking your digital stuff away from you the way ransomware does, nor do they shake you down for hundreds of dollars or more.

Despite those risks, many people just aren't good at keeping up with security software updates. Both recent ransomware attacks walloped those who failed to install a Windows update released a few months earlier.

Watchdog security software has its problems, too. With this week's ransomware attack , only two of about 60 security services tested caught it at first, according to security researchers.

"A lot of normal applications, especially on Windows, behave like malware, and it's hard to tell them apart," said Ryan Kalember, an expert at the California security vendor Proofpoint.

HOW TO FIND MALWARE

In the early days, identifying malicious programs such as viruses involved matching their code against a database of known malware. But this technique was only as good as the database; new malware variants could easily slip through.

So security companies started characterizing malware by its behavior. In the case of ransomware, software could look for repeated attempts to lock files by encrypting them. But that can flag ordinary computer behavior such as file compression.

Newer techniques involve looking for combinations of behaviors. For instance, a program that starts encrypting files without showing a progress bar on the screen could be flagged for surreptitious activity, said Fabian Wosar, chief technology officer at the New Zealand security company Emsisoft. But that also risks identifying harmful software too late, after some files have already been locked up.

An even better approach identifies malware using observable characteristics usually associated with malicious intent for instance, by quarantining a program disguised with a PDF icon to hide its true nature.

This sort of malware profiling wouldn't rely on exact code matches, so it couldn't be easily evaded. And such checks could be made well before potentially dangerous programs start running.

MACHINE VS. MACHINE

Still, two or three characteristics might not properly distinguish malware from legitimate software. But how about dozens? Or hundreds? Or even thousands?

For that, security researchers turn to machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence. The security system analyzes samples of good and bad software and figures out what combination of factors is likely to be present in malware.

As it encounters new software, the system calculates the probability that it's malware, and rejects those that score above a certain threshold. When something gets through, it's a matter of tweaking the calculations or adjusting the threshold. Now and then, researchers see a new behavior to teach the machine.

AN ARMS RACE

On the flip side, malware writers can obtain these security tools and tweak their code to see if they can evade detection. Some websites already offer to test software against leading security systems. Eventually, malware authors may start creating their own machine-learning models to defeat security-focused artificial intelligence.

Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer at the California vendor CrowdStrike, said that even if a particular system offers 99 percent protection, "it's just a math problem of how many times you have to deviate your attack to get that 1 percent."

Still, security companies employing machine learning have claimed success in blocking most malware, not just ransomware. SentinelOne even offers a $1 million guarantee against ransomware; it hasn't had to pay it yet.

A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE

So why was ransomware still able to spread in recent weeks?

Garden-variety anti-virus software even some of the free versions can help block new forms of malware, as many are also incorporating behavioral-detection and machine-learning techniques. But such software still relies on malware databases that users aren't typically good at keeping up to date.

Next-generation services such as CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Cylance tend to ditch databases completely in favor of machine learning.

But these services focus on corporate customers, charging $40 to $50 a year per computer. Smaller businesses often don't have the budget or the focus on security for that kind of protection.

And forget consumers; these security companies aren't selling to them yet. Though Cylance plans to release a consumer version in July, it says it'll be a tough sell at least until someone gets attacked personally or knows a friend or family member who has.

As Cylance CEO Stuart McClure puts it: "When you haven't been hit with a tornado, why would you get tornado insurance?"

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TurboPatent aims to improve the patent process with new artificial … – GeekWire

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A look at TurboPatents new RoboReview service. (TurboPatent Photo)

Seattle startup TurboPatent is releasing a pair of new products designed to improve the patent application process, with help from artificial intelligence.

TurboPatent, which raised $1.4 millionin funding earlier this year, focuses on corporations and law firms, automating taskslike formatting or document preparation, for example, freeing up people to work on more complex, high-value work. The service is designed to cut costs, save time and lead to more accurate patent documentation.

The new products are called RoboReview and RapidResponse. RoboReview uses AI and predictive analytics to automatically analyze and review draft patent applications. The company says this will reduce to seconds a process that can normally take several people multiple days to complete. RapidResponse helps speed upoffice actions,written correspondence between an applicant and patent examiner during the application process.

Like any procedure that involves people, the review process is subject to human error, said TurboPatent CEO James Billmaier. TurboPatent automates the most tedious and time-consuming parts of the process, which drastically cuts down on the likelihood of potential issues going unnoticed. That leaves humans to decide whether or not to submit a patent and if so, what alterations need to be made.

Formerly known as Patent Navigation, TurboPatent has an experienced team led by co-foundersBillmaier and Charles Mirho. Billmaier was previously CEO of Melodeo, a cloud-based media platform company that sold to HP in 2010. He also teamed up with Paul Allen in 1999 to launchhome-entertainment technology company Digeo, which was eventually sold in 2009 to ARRIS Group Inc.

Mirho, meanwhile, is a patent law veteran, having worked as a patent counsel at Intel and later as a managing partner of a patent law firm. He also has a computer science degree from Rutgers.

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TurboPatent aims to improve the patent process with new artificial ... - GeekWire

IBM Is Trying to Convince Congress That Artificial Intelligence Isn’t That Bad – Inc.com

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IBM is convinced that its Watson supercomputer is capable of doing a whole lot more than winning at Jeopardy--and the company wants to make sure it stays that way.

To that end, IBM is making a push this week to urge lawmakers not to fall victim to artificial intelligence fear mongering. David Kenny, IBM Watson's senior vice president, sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday stressing the importance of pushing A.I. forward instead of restricting it. According to Recode, he's meeting with a group of Representatives today to discuss the technology.

"When you actually do the science of machine intelligence," Kenny wrote in the letter, which IBM published Tuesday, "and when you actually apply it in the real world of business and society ... you understand that this technology does not support the fear-mongering commonly associated with the AI debate today."

Kenny argued that fears of "massive job loss, or even an eventual AI 'overlord' " are overblown. "I must disagree with these dystopian views," he wrote. "The real disaster would be abandoning or inhibiting cognitive technology before its full potential can be realized."

IBM has an interest in ensuring that the government chooses not to restrict the use of artificial intelligence. While the Watson system is perhaps most famous for beating Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings in 2011, it's since been applied to a variety of tasks. Watson is used to recommend treatments for patients in medical facilities including the Cleveland Clinic and New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. H&R Block has begun using Watson to prepare client's tax returns. In April, the software was applied to the Masters golf tournament, letting online viewers quickly see the most exciting highlights, which it selected automatically based on factors like crowd noise and player reactions.

Even so, in recent months, some in the A.I. world have expressed surprise that Watson isn't further along in its capabilities, given what it did six years ago. The company's ambitions for more widespread applications of its tech mean the company has a lot at stake.

As A.I.'s abilities expand to tasks like driving, reading X-rays, diagnosing illnesses, and performing paralegal work--all of which it's already capable of doing on some level--millions of jobs could be lost. Recent expert predictions on the number of jobs lost have ranged from from 6 percent by 2021 to 50 percent by 2035.

Yet IBM is the latest A.I. company to assure the public that its fears of the technology are overblown. Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Apple's Siri and virtual assistant A.I. startup Viv, compared the fears that A.I. will become too smart to worrying about overpopulation on Mars. "We're barely at the beginning of A.I.," he said. "There's nothing to even be done yet."

Last month, Jeff Bezos, whose popular Amazon Alexa relies heavily on A.I., said during a chat at the Internet Association that the problem with artificial intelligence is that we don't have more of it. "Basically," he said, "there's no institution in the world that cannot be improved with machine learning."

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have also spoken out in defense of A.I.

Meanwhile, there's also a vocal group within the tech industry that errs on the fear-mongering side. A recent survey of academics and industry leaders found they believe, on average, that A.I. will be capable of performing any task--from driving trucks to writing novels--better than humans by 2060.

Elon Musk, whose Tesla vehicles rely on artificial intelligence, soon chimed in with the notion that this would happen closer to 2030. "I hope I'm wrong," he tweeted.

Other Silicon Valley giants have warned against the technology. Peter Thiel co-founded OpenAI, a non-profit to ensure A.I.'s safe use, along with Musk. Earlier this year, Bill Gates suggested that robot taxes could help slow the loss of jobs to automation. And Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, recently warned that A.I. could one day replace financial institutions and control the world economy.

The lobbying push from IBM comes about a month after the formation of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, a group of Representatives that will study A.I. and seek to create policies related to its use and implementation. Congressman John K. Delaney of Maryland, one of the group's co-founders, recently met with Amazon and Google, according to CNBC. The meeting with IBM on Wednesday is the group's next step.

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IBM Is Trying to Convince Congress That Artificial Intelligence Isn't That Bad - Inc.com

BankThink Is artificial intelligence the future of capital markets? – American Banker (subscription)

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Before the internet arrived, I used to be an equity analyst. I'd spend my days finding and arranging metaphorical jigsaw pieces to come up with a complete picture and an investment recommendation, which the sales guys would disseminate by telephoning their favorite clients first, and the ones they didn't like so much a bit later.

Today, at asset management companies and other financial institutions, there are still large teams of analysts and portfolio managers, sifting through data, developing investment theses and making asset allocation decisions. The difference is that we are deluged in data. Not only is the amount of data available to us accelerating, the nature of it is changing, with new sources of information being seen as potentially relevant for analysis. For example, the location-based data that comes from your mobile phone shows whether you are in a mall. Scaled over the whole of the country, this could allow us to see what is happening to footfall, which would help with understanding retail sales in real time. The footage from closed-circuit television that shows what's happening in transportation is another example. Or social media analysis of events happening in real time from people on the ground. Or weather data. The list goes on.

The reality is that there is just too much data for humans to be able to use. Opportunities go wasted because a team of humans just cannot create a sophisticated response to all of this. Of course, funds have been using complex algorithmic-driven trading strategies for years, but this is largely confined to market data. Imagine if we could take all the data that's coming from the real economy and use that to discern price, predict performance, understand risk and make better investment decisions. The only feasible way to do this is to use computing power to ingest the data, understand correlation and causation, and deduce rapidly enough how to respond. Artificial intelligence has now advanced to the stage where this is possible. While this gives rise to some interesting opportunities to radically transform investment management and capital markets, it will be very disruptive for people who work in the industry.

Let's assume that you use very sophisticated AI-driven models to scan data from not just the market but a whole plethora of other sources to define, implement, monitor, refine and adjust your trading strategies. What kind of people do you now need to employ? Performance will come down to how well your combination of engineers, scientists and market people can define and improve those models. The kinds of people employed in the industry will change; we will need people who can model data, and others who can validate the models and the results. And we will not need so many people. Much of the dialogue around the types of jobs that will disappear because of artificial intelligence has centered on relatively unskilled jobs, but in financial services it will be expensive, highly educated Wall Street types finding themselves out of work. An asset manager friend of mine agreed. He also said there's no way he'd go public about using this strategy; he'd prefer investors think how great his team was at stockpicking!

Change is already underway. One of the most high-profile companies in this space is Kensho, which is backed by Google, Goldman Sachs and S&P Global. Kensho uses AI to scan vast data sets much more quickly and accurately than analysts, and sells the information to banks and other financial institutions.

One competitor is Sentifi, which takes in data from thousands of sources, then filters it for accuracy. The founder got the idea after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, when an investment manager friend griped that it would take three weeks of sifting through seemingly unconnected data to work out the implications of this event on his portfolio.

One hedge fund taking artificial intelligence to the next level is Numerai which doesn't even employ the AI talent! This San Francisco fund encrypts its trading data and then crowdsources AI-based algorithms from anyone who wants to have a go. Contributors who develop algorithms that successfully improve performance get paid in bitcoin.

It's a long way from when I used to analyze company reports, scan articles in actual newspapers and use old-fashioned methods like the telephone and company visits to develop my investment ideas.

Hazel Moore is the chairman and co-founder of the London investment bank FirstCapital.

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BankThink Is artificial intelligence the future of capital markets? - American Banker (subscription)

Airbus helping to build aerospace futures in Alabama – Alabama NewsCenter

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Global aerospace giant Airbusis doing more than designing and manufacturing planes in Alabama.

The France-based company also is helping to shape education and workforce trends in its corner of the state and beyond, particularly the prospects and pipeline for aerospace engineers.

The Airbus Engineering Center, which was the forerunner to the companys aircraft manufacturing plant in Mobile, has a workforce of about 220 engineers and support staff, recruited from across the nation. They work on nearly all of the commercial aircraft products in the Airbus fleet family.

Our initial cadre was mostly not from this region. We needed to have a more experienced workforce than the folks who were in the region allowed us to have, said David Trent, site director of the facility.

However, that quickly changed. Over the past five years or so, weve been able to hire almost exclusively from the region, or hire folks who are originally from the region coming back home, he said.

The facility, which recently celebrated a decade of operation in Mobile,has a low attrition rate, he added.

We know if we give our employees good work to do and a good place to do it, they seem to be quite loyal, he said.

Generational approach

In addition to supporting Airbus global operations and regularly interacting with colleagues in France and Germany, the facilitys employees volunteer their time and share their expertise at a nearby elementary school, middle school and high school.

Weve really taken a generational approach to transforming a community and its capabilities in engineering, avionics and aviation technology, Trent said. Weve adopted these schools, and a lot of our employees are very much engaged in these activities.

I think thats something that keeps them here as well. It really resonates with them.

At the elementary level, Airbus employees are involved in a Reading Buddies program with students. And at the middle school, the focus is on the Airbus Flying Challenge, a STEM and citizenship-mentoring program that rewards participating students with a flight on a single-engine airplane.

The message is when you stay in school, get good grades and stick with it, you have good options in life, Trent said.

At the high school, employees mentor students and help them with classroom presentations. Theyre also involved in other programs where students take special courses that will put them on an engineering or technician career track.

Airbus is involved in supporting scholarships and internship programs at the University of South Alabama, too.

Weve got a lot of activity on the education front because if were going to need an engineer in 10 years, they need to be starting now, Trent said. If we dont take a generational view, were not going to be as strong as we need to be going forward.

In addition, Airbus teamed with the state on theAlabama Aviation Education Center,a planned $6.5 million facility in Mobile that aims to encourage young people to pursue careers in aerospace.

Aerospace engineers

Alabama is a popular place for aerospace engineers, according to federal employment data.

The state ranks in the Top 5 among U.S. states for the highest employment in the occupation, with nearly 4,500, according to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.California tops the survey, with aerospace engineer employment of 10,800.

The dataare available for about 35 states and do not include Washington, a key hub of the aerospace industry and home base of Boeing Co. However, the numbers still indicate Alabama as a major player in the industry.

The vast majority of Alabamas aerospace engineers are employed in the Huntsville area, longtime home of operations for NASA, the U.S. Army and Boeing, as well as suppliers and support firms.

But the BLS data also shows a significant presence of aerospace engineers in Mobile, home to Airbus, and Southeast Alabama, which is dotted with facilities for Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, Arista Aviation, Vector Aerospace and Commercial Jet Inc.

The annual mean wage for aerospace engineers in Alabama is $115,550.

Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, said Airbus and the state have a far-reaching partnership.

Alabama workers are delivering high-quality products and services for Airbus global operations, carrying on the states long and proud tradition in the aerospace industry, he said.

At the same time, the company and its local employees are making a profound difference in the lives of students here at home by showing them new worlds of opportunities and helping them achieve ambitious goals.

Global connections

When the Airbus Engineering Center opened in 2007, 35 people were working there, focused on cabin and cargo components and systems for the new A350 XWB aircraft.

Today, employees are still in the cabin and cargo business, but have expanded their focus to the A330, A320 and A380 aircraft as well.

Mornings at the facility are busy as the Mobile staff typically coordinates with its colleagues in France and Germany, Trent said.

It really does create an exciting atmosphere for our engineers, he said. We get to touch and do things you dont get to do in a company unless its global, and we get to meet people from around the world as we all work on a really great product.

Beyond the advantages they find on the job, the people working at the Airbus Engineering Center enjoy the advantages of living in Alabamas Port City, Trent said.

What weve experienced is when people come here, they really tend to put down some roots, he said. Outside of work, they have a good quality of life, and they live in a community thats growing, a community that cares about Airbus.

And we care about them. And we try to provide cooperative opportunities for them to be involved in growing the community to what it can become.

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerces Made in Alabama website.

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Airbus helping to build aerospace futures in Alabama - Alabama NewsCenter

Baldwin County Is On The Aerospace Map – WKRG

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It was a very productive trip. Probably the most productive that we have had. Just back from the Paris Airshow and wheeling and dealing aerospace giants, Baldwin County Commission Chairman Chris Elliott is still excited about the possibilities for Baldwin County. We will see in the coming years an increase advanced manufacturing and aerospace presence here in Baldwin County.

He points to companies like UTC Aerospace in Foley already in the midst of a 30 million dollar expansion and adding hundreds of jobs as a success story. In Paris, he along with Governor Kay Ivey and Economic Development Director Lee Lawson discussed the future of the aerospace company. They are singing the praises of the workers here in Baldwin County. They are absolutely thrilled with their investment here in Baldwin County and anywhere somebody is thrilled with their investment, we are going to ask them to make more.

Because of the Paris Airshow, he says more aerospace companies and jobs are on the way. I hope that it is sooner than later but these are huge multi-national companies that are evaluating where to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and thats not something they take lightly, thats not something they do overnight.

Another thing working in Baldwin Countys favor, the tremendous growth predicted over the next several years. An estimated 60 thousand more people by the year 2030.

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Baldwin County Is On The Aerospace Map - WKRG