See NASA’s flexible solar array all rolled out in space – CNET

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NASA tests the ROSA system on the International Space Station.

Most satellites rely on chunky solar arrays akin to the large rigid panels we use on Earth to provide power to homes and businesses. NASA is looking ahead to the future of solar power in space with a test of its experimental ROSA (Roll Out Solar Array) design. NASA likens the unfurling, flexible nature of ROSA to a tape measure or one of those party favors you blow into.

"This new solar array's design rolls up to form a compact cylinder for launch with significantly less mass and volume, potentially offering substantial cost savings as well as an increase in power for satellites," says NASA. Arms on either size of ROSA extend as it rolls out.

NASA shared a photo on Tuesday of the ROSA array unrolled and attached to a mechanical arm on the International Space Station after its deployment on Sunday.

The experiment is scheduled to last for seven days with the aim of seeing how the system responds to microgravity, extreme temperatures and the rigors of a spacecraft's movements.

NASA also released a sped-up video on Monday showing the array's deployment from the space station arm. It looks a lot like a scroll unfurling and you can see the photovoltaic cells wiggling during the process. This is the first test of ROSA in space.

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See NASA's flexible solar array all rolled out in space - CNET

Meet the elite team revolutionizing how NASA thinks — from a California trailer – CNN

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The first US mission to the moon, the Mars rover, the first scientific satellites in orbit -- for decades JPL scientists have been looking outward, pushing the boundaries of human knowledge beyond our planet.

It's awe-inspiring, imagination-tickling work. But space scientists spend their days focused on the numbers, data and details.

So at JPL, a team of wonder-cultivators stands guard against the mundane. Embedded on campus, it is composed of artists and designers tucked among the laboratory's astrophysicists, aerospace engineers and geologists. They call themselves The Studio.

The Studio functions as an in-house creative agency of sorts. Its clients are scientists, missions and JPL departments who approach the team with their creative needs.

So far the Studio has created a human-scale comet in Brooklyn and an interactive installation that simulates exploring the surface of Jupiter. It has helped scientists to visualize countless missions and projects, from landing a spacecraft on a comet to designing a disaster-response robot.

Finally, Anthony Freeman, who managed JPL's Mission and Systems Architecture section, told him, "I don't really understand what it is that you do, but I'll give you six months." That was almost 15 years ago.

One of Goods' first projects was a brightly lit wall which reveals planets and other shapes when shadows are cast on it. The installation was designed to capture the challenge -- and reward -- of searching for new planets.

The actual studio from which the team works is an unassuming gray trailer. But open the door and it's obvious you're in a place where extraordinary things happen. Posters, whiteboards, photographs and sketches cover the walls. Tables are littered with old scientific glassware, a lumpy black model of some space rock, a copy of "The NASA Atlas of the Solar System" and various other curiosities.

De La Torre and Kim spend a lot of their time creating storyboards for mission proposal books, which create visual aids for mission planners and can be the length of a short novel. De La Torre worked on the 2004 launch of the Rosetta, the first probe to land on a comet, by using Hollywood filmmaking and matte painting technique to visualize the operation.

As she quizzed the scientists, helping her create the visuals, it prompted them to ask questions about the comet's surface that they hadn't fully considered. Would there be geysers or caves? What was the surface like? They knew it was porous, but not like a sponge. They described at as more like "pancakes cooking," De La Torre recalls.

"So I went and literally made pancakes, and took photos of the texture," she says. "It actually ended up being pretty accurate when [the probe] arrived."

The Studio's reach extends far beyond the JPL campus. While its role is primarily to assist JPL's missions, it also exists to tell the laboratory's stories to the public.

The steel sculpture, which is about nine feet tall and 12 feet long, glows to mimic how real comets reflect the sun's light. Shoots of vapor combine with dust to create the comet's tail.

In 2015, the Studio commissioned Studio KCA once more to design a "sound experience" called Orbit Pavilion in which visitors enter a huge model of a seashell. Inside, trajectory data of NASA satellites is paired with sounds that move across the inside of the shell producing an effect similar to that of jets flying overhead.

Delgado and Goods came up with the idea for Orbit Pavilion at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, a California observatory that communicates with spacecraft orbiting the Earth and those in the far reaches of our solar system.

"You get out (to the complex) and there's this issue of perception, because you know that there's a huge amount of dataflow going back and forth. But it's just perfectly quiet and you have no idea what is happening," Delgado says. This led the pair to think, "What if you could listen to where these spacecraft are?"

But one of the Studio's most affecting works is one of its smallest: a hole drilled into a grain of sand. The grain was supposed to represent the Milky Way, while the hole symbolized the area of our galaxy in which our planet -- and planets around other stars -- are found.

After Goods displayed the project under a microscope, he recalls an astrophysicist coming to take a look.

"This guy gets to point Hubble at things," Goods says. "He looked down (at the sand), he looked up and he looked in my eyes and said 'You reminded me why I work here.'"

The Studio team's position is a rare one. Very few research institutions have such a robust art and design facility. But even amid uncertain government funding for scientific research, the JPL continues to stand behind the Studio's essential role at the lab.

"We recognize the value of communicating, both externally to tell the story, and internally to help with the missions," says JPL's deputy director, Lieutenant General Larry James.

"I think one of the key things about JPL is that we have such an incredible story to communicate. When you look at all the amazing missions -- to Mars, to Saturn, to Jupiter, humanity's first interstellar spacecraft with Voyager -- you want to communicate that well. You want to communicate that uniquely to the public, and (the Studio) absolutely help us do that."

"JPL is all about being on the edge of possibility," Goods says.

And that's where the Studio is firmly ensconced: on the border of what has been done, and what's never even been imagined -- until they imagine it first.

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Meet the elite team revolutionizing how NASA thinks -- from a California trailer - CNN

NASA Has Found Hundreds Of Potential New Planets – HuffPost

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Scientists are now one step closer to answering whether life exists on other planets.

NASA released a list of 219 new planet candidates discovered by the Kepler space telescope, 10 of which are similar to Earths size and may be habitable by other life forms. The announcement Monday marks the end of Keplers search for planets orbiting other stars in the constellation Cygnus, bringing the telescopes tally to 4,034 planet candidate discoveries.

Of those discoveries, scientists have verified 2,335 as planets. More than 30 of those confirmed planets are similar in size to Earth and in their starshabitable zone the range of distance from a star where liquid water could pool while around 20 others that fit that description remain unverified, according to NASA.

Most of the planets they discovered are smaller than Neptune, which is about four times the diameter of Earth, Kepler research scientist Susan Thompson said at a press briefing Monday in Mountain View, California.

Mondays findings inch closer to solving one of humanitys great cosmic mysteries, she said.

This survey catalog will be the foundation for directly answering one of astronomys most compelling questions: How many planets like our Earth are actually in the galaxy?

Beyond the additions to the Kepler catalog, scientists working on the mission revealed Monday that theyve identified two distinct groupings of small planets, which range in size from Earth to Neptune.

About half are similar to Neptune in size and composition in that they have thick atmospheres and are mostly gas with no surface to speak of,Benjamin Fulton, a doctoral candidate who analyzed Keplers findings, said Monday.The other half are similar to Earth in size and are rocky with little to no atmosphere.

Discovering that distinctionsharpens up the dividing line between potentially habitable planets and those that are inhospitable to life as we know it, Fulton explained, likening it to the discovery that mammals and lizards are separate branches on the tree of life.

It also revealed the likelihood that those rocky,potentially habitable planets are usually no bigger than 75 percent larger than Earth, he said.

Mondays NASA announcement marks Keplers eighth release of data after a four-year mission and years of analyzing the findings.Since 2014, Kepler has been on a second mission to find more exoplanets in different areas of the cosmos.

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NASA Is Getting Into The Fashion Industry – GOOD Magazine

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When you think of astronauts heading into the great unknown, you probably picture them in puffywhite suits and form-fitting Lycra in primary colors. According to sci-fi movies, that is the fashion of space travel. But if NASAs latest project comes to fruition, astronauts could be clad in modern chain mail.

Thanks to the wonders of 3D-printing technology, designers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab have created a protective fabric that can deflect light while both absorbing and reflecting heat. Those properties alone arent new; NASA already uses a variety of materials to protect both spacecrafts and human travelers from inhospitable atmospheres. However, this material can do it all while shape-shifting to meet the unique demands of different bodies. Its also lightweight, which is crucial when it costs $10,000 to send a single pound to space, Wired reports.

Over the pasttwo years, NASA has been refining the fabric, ultimately creating a flexible material that has a reflective geometric pattern on one side and interconnected loops on the other. Despite it looking like chain mail, the fabric is light and easy to manipulate while being just as strong as metal. Its adaptable properties mark the beginning of a 4D-printing era in which materials have multiple uses and reactive abilities (like the ability to adjust to temperature differences). Additionally, astronauts might be able to print more of the material while in space, making it the ultimate galactic fabric. Though, as one of the engineers who worked on the design told Wired, fashion designers could certainly use the material for their art, as well.

Personally, Id love to see Sen. Kamala Harris don a chain mail power suit, but thats just my futuristic fashion fantasy.

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NASA Is Getting Into The Fashion Industry - GOOD Magazine

Gannon and NASA team up for eclipse video – YourErie

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Gannon University undergraduate students are preparing to launch in to history. A team of students are bulding the tools and conducting research for NASA in a historic project that's never been done before.

The team of seven students and two professors are heading to Kentucky to take part in the first ever livestream video of the solar eclipse on August 21st through the use of a high altitude balloon. But, the team says it's not just a few images, it's video of the entire eclipse across the country.

Today, the students tested the high-altitude balloon package they designed and built. Two years of hard work, which will be put to the test 80,000 feet in the air.

Maia Mackeller, Senior, Electrical Engineering student says, "It's nice to be out be able to create a system from beginning to end and work on it, test it, make sure everything works and actually launch something. The high altitude balloon is probably the best part because we would never be able to do that in a classroom."

Professor Wookoon Lee adds, "the main thing is to develop the instruments for NASA to compile the eclipse, the video, across the entire eclipse pass from Oregon to South Carolina."

Gannon is one of 56 teams helping to collect the video. NASA will compile the entire video feed and use that for years to come. Today's wind made it very difficult to test, but the students say that helped prepare for August.

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Gannon and NASA team up for eclipse video - YourErie

New NASA Tech Tells Drones When They’re Brokenand Helps Them Land – WIRED

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New NASA Tech Tells Drones When They're Brokenand Helps Them Land - WIRED

Marine Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli Selected as NASA Astronaut Candidate, Fulfilling Childhood Dream – USNI News

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NASA photo.

Two decades ago, a young Jasmin Moghbeli decided she wanted to be an astronaut. She researched Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, for a school project, and she knew then that space exploration was her goal.

But by 2010, that dream had slipped a bit further away. Moghbeli was flying AH-1 Cobra missions in Afghanistan and loving her job as a Marine Corps pilot.

When NASA sought applications in 2015 for its next class of astronauts, though, Moghbeli knew it was now or never and out of more than 18,000 applicants, she was selected to achieve her childhood dream of training to become an astronaut.

Maj. Jasmin Jaws Moghbeli, who spoke to USNI News on June 15, said shes thrilled about her selection and that, wherever her NASA career takes her, going to space at all still sounds incredible to me.

As a kid in Baldwin, N.Y., Moghbeli was drawn to math and science.

I in sixth grade we had to do a book report, and I chose to do mine on Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, cosmonaut. So that got me interested in space, she said. And we dressed up as the person we did the book report on, so my mom helped me make this space suit and everything. So that kind of got me interested and I was like, yeah, I want to be an astronaut. As a kid I think it was just the excitement of exploring space and it just sounded cool. As I got older, junior high, early high school, I started looking into, how would I become an astronaut, and that kind of got me looking into military aviation.

Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli in December 1994, dressed up as Valentina Tereshkova for a 6th grade project at Lenox Elementary School.Courtesy photo.

Moghbeli said she came close to attending the U.S. Naval Academy but was surprised to receive an acceptance letter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and selected MITs aerospace engineering program. Between her junior and senior year she went through Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduation.

Still with a space career in mind, Moghbeli assumed shed need to fly fighter jets to be a viable candidate for NASA. She fell in love with rotary wing aviation during basic training, though, which left her unsure how to proceed.

Valentina Tereshkova, Russian Cosmonaut

In the back of my mind I was kind of like, I dont think you can be an astronaut if youre flying helicopters. I was a little torn, she said.

She had an opportunity to watch a night shuttle launch just before starting flight school, though.

Suni Williams had launched on that she was one of the crew of seven, and shes a Navy helicopter pilot so I was like, oh, you can be a helicopter pilot and still be an astronaut, she said, and shortly afterwards she was selected to fly Cobras.

Though her dream of becoming an astronaut weighed on her decisions up until that point, Moghbeli said being a naval aviator took on a life of its own.

When I was flying Cobras in Afghanistan, I never once was thinking about being an astronaut, and I can say genuinely that if you had asked me in that moment if I would leave and become and astronaut right then, I dont honestly know if I would have said yes, because I was in a moment enjoying what I was doing, she said.

In 2013 NASA sought applicants for a class of astronauts. Recently back from a float with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Japan, Moghbeli didnt think the time was right and didnt feel qualified for the job.

I didnt think I had a viable application I was still not a senior pilot, I still hadnt had test pilot school, I didnt have my Masters. So I had been staying on top of it and I was expecting, just based on they had been doing them every four to five years, I was expecting them to do one around the same timeline, she said. Instead, two years later, in December 2015, the call for applicants went out again.

This time around I decided to apply because I felt like I had what they were looking for, so if I had a shot of getting it it was going to be now, she said.

The first step was simple: submit a resume, five references and a summary of aeronautical experience. She did that in February 2016, and began the waiting game. More than 18,000 people applied, and NASA whittled that down to less than 500 applicants to begin calling references. Moghbeli heard from her references that they had been contacted, but it wasnt until August or September that NASA called to invite her to a first-round interview.

She said she dropped everything and said she was free to come to Johnson Space Center any time, even though she was set to begin a class around that time.

The 33-year-old spent three days with nine other candidates, interviewing in front of the Astronaut Selection Board, going through teamwork exercises and more.

After the first round and second round and meeting the other applicants, I left wanting the job even more but knowing I couldnt be disappointed if I didnt get it because all the other applicants were amazing, Moghbeli said. I feel so lucky to have gotten the job because every single one of the people who I met throughout the process I think could have been just as successful. So for whatever reason they chose me as one of the 12 and Im very thankful for it.

After a call in December to come in for a second-round interview, where she got to meet current astronauts, as well as the engineers, medical staff and other behind-the-scenes teams, after that I was just waiting for months for the call.

The first people I called after I got the call from the Astronaut Selection Board were my parents, and my mom later told me they were at a pizza place when I called and my dad was crying so hard he couldnt even drive home because he was so excited, she said. My dad is super excited. My mom is as well, but I think she gets nervous. Shes like, well can you be an astronaut but just not go to space?

Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli at Advanced Space Academy in Huntsville, AL, in August 1998. Courtesy photo.

The next steps two years of training will be physically and mentally challenging, but Moghbeli said her time in the Marine Corps has prepared her for what lies ahead.

Moghbeli serves as a quality assurance officer and avionics officerwith Marine Operational Test & Evaluation Squadron 1 (VMX-1), where she tests out new systems headed to the Cobra fleet. As an operational tester, she and her crew are the final thumbs up or downbefore sending new systems to the fleet. Just prior to this job, Moghbeli worked on the developmental test side, flying new software and weapons, and servingas project officer for tests on a new electromagnetic warfare pod.

As a test pilot, she has learned a lot about human factors engineering, which will be important as both NASA and commercial industry seek new capsules for sending people into space. She also has extensive flight time, which will make the T-38 trainer a bit easier, and shes well accustomed to working as part of a crew.

One of the things Im most eager about, and maybe slightly nervous as well, is the work we do in the neutral buoyancy lab training for space walks, she said, where the astronaut candidates go into a big pool, are balanced to neutral buoyancy, and then practice space walks with a life-sized mock-up of the International Space Station.

Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli standing outside the AH-1Z with her name on it while performing developmental test with VX-31 at NAWS China Lake, Calif., in December 2014. Courtesy photo.

Moghbeli said the 12 candidates will first go through survival training, and then over the next two years will study the International Space Station, learn Russian so they can communicate with their ISS partners, learn more about robotics, and more.

After meeting the other 11 future astronauts for NASAs selection announcement, I can tell you, its going to be a fun two years. Its going to be challenging, Im sure, but itll be fun. Were already getting along really well and joking around with each other.

This class of astronauts also includes three Navy officers: Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Dominick, 35; Lt. Kayla Barron, 29; and former Navy SEAL Lt. Jonny Kim, 33.

Did I think it was possible? I thought it was an improbably goal I guess, Moghbeli said. I am always so grateful for the people who got me here: the teachers, the coaches, the mentors throughout my career. So many people contributed to this and preparing me for this.

Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli at Advanced Space Academy in Huntsville, AL, in August 1998. Courtesy photo.

And Moghbeli hopes to give back as much as she can, in the form of mentoring young girls who may be interested in embarking on military or STEM careers of their own.

That is honestly one of the things Im most excited about with this job. Ive done some outreach with STEM programs as a pilot, working with younger girls and trying to get them excited about well, not get them excited, because that age they generally are excited, but feed that excitement so it continues to grow, she said. NASAs very big on that outreach to the younger generation, so as an astronaut I would be able to have even more impact in that, and I think its so important. For me, I can tell you there were certain people that I saw, and I could say, hey, I can relate to them, they seem similar to me, if they can do it I can do it. I think thats incredibly important.

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Marine Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli Selected as NASA Astronaut Candidate, Fulfilling Childhood Dream - USNI News

New Off-Grid Desalination NanoTechnology Uses Solar Energy to Convert Salt Water into Drinking Water – AZoNano

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Written by AZoNanoJun 20 2017

An off-grid technology using only the energy from sunlight to transform salt water into fresh drinking water has been developed as an outcome of the effort from a federally funded research.

This scaled up test bed of NEWTs direct solar desalination technology uses carbon black nanoparticles that convert as much as 80 percent of sunlight energy into heat. Results from an earlier prototype showed the technology could produce as much as six liters of freshwater per hour per square meter of solar membrane. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

The desalination system uses a combination of light-harvesting nanophotonics and membrane distillation technology and is considered to be the first major innovation from the Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), which is a multi-institutional engineering research center located at Rice University.

NEWTs nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation technology (NESMD) integrates tried-and-true water treatment methods with cutting-edge nanotechnology capable of transforming sunlight to heat. The recent online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents a description of this technology.

Over 18,000 desalination plants function in 150 countries, however NEWTs desalination technology is unlike any other that is currently being used.

Direct solar desalination could be a game changer for some of the estimated 1 billion people who lack access to clean drinking water. This off-grid technology is capable of providing sufficient clean water for family use in a compact footprint, and it can be scaled up to provide water for larger communities.

Qilin Li, a Corresponding Author, Rice Scientist and Water Treatment Expert

Distillation is considered to be the oldest method that has been used for producing freshwater from salt water. In this method, salt water is boiled and the steam is captured and made to run through a condensing coil. This distillation method has been used for centuries, however it needs complex infrastructure and is considered to be energy inefficient because of the amount of heat needed for boiling water and producing steam. More than half the cost of running a water distillation plant is used for energy.

An emerging technology for desalination is membrane distillation. In this method, hot salt water is made to flow across one side of a porous membrane and cold freshwater is made to flow across the other. Water vapor is naturally drawn through the membrane from the hot to the cold side, and the energy requirements are less than they would be for standard distillation since the seawater need not be boiled. However, the energy costs are still important since heat is constantly lost from the membranes hot side to the cold side.

Unlike traditional membrane distillation, NESMD benefits from increasing efficiency with scale. It requires minimal pumping energy for optimal distillate conversion, and there are a number of ways we can further optimize the technology to make it more productive and efficient.

Naomi Halas, a Corresponding Author on the paper and the Leader of NEWTs Nanophotonics Research

The new technology developed by NEWT builds upon research performed in Halas lab in order to produce engineered nanoparticles capable of harvesting as much as 80% of sunlight to generate steam. NEWT added commercially available, low-cost nanoparticles to a porous membrane in order to significantly change the membrane itself into a one-sided heating element that is capable of heating the water all by itself in order to drive membrane distillation.

The integration of photothermal heating capabilities within a water purification membrane for direct, solar-driven desalination opens new opportunities in water purification, said Yale University's Menachem Meny Elimelech, a Co-Author of the new study and NEWTs Lead Researcher for membrane processes.

In the PNAS study, Researchers provided proof-of-concept results based on the tests conducted with an NESMD chamber just a few millimeters thick and about the size of three postage stamps. A custom designed top layer of carbon black nanoparticles infused into a porous polymer was present in the distillation membrane in the chamber. The light-capturing nanoparticles heated the complete surface of the membrane when exposed to sunlight. A cool freshwater stream flowed below, and a thin half-millimeter-thick layer of salt water flowed on the top of the carbon-black layer.

Li, the leader of NEWTs advanced treatment test beds at Rice, stated that the water production rate significantly increased by concentrating the sunlight. The intensity got up 17.5 kilowatts per meter squared when a lens was used to concentrate sunlight by 25 times, and the water production increased to about 6 liters per meter squared per hour.

Li said NEWTs research team has earlier developed a much bigger system comprising of a panel that is about 70 cm by 25 cm. She stated that NEWT ultimately hopes to develop a modular system where users will be able to order as many panels as they require based on their daily water requirements.

You could assemble these together, just as you would the panels in a solar farm. Depending on the water production rate you need, you could calculate how much membrane area you would need. For example, if you need 20 liters per hour, and the panels produce 6 liters per hour per square meter, you would order a little over 3 square meters of panels.

Qilin Li, a Corresponding Author, Rice Scientist and Water Treatment Expert

NEWT, established by the National Science Foundation in 2015, focuses on developing mobile, compact, off-grid water-treatment systems capable of providing clean water to millions of people who do not have it and making U.S. energy production more cost-effective and sustainable. Over the next decade, NEWT is expected to leverage over $40 million in industrial and federal support and is considered to be the first NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) in Houston and just the third in Texas since the ERC program was started by NSF in 1985. NEWT concentrates on applications for rural water systems, humanitarian emergency response and wastewater treatment and reuse at remote locations, including both offshore and onshore drilling platforms for gas and oil exploration.

Li is Rices Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Nanoengineering. Halas is Rices Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Chemistry, Bioengineering, Physics and Astronomy, and Materials Science and Nanoengineering. Elimelech is Yales Roberto C. Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering.

Additional study Co-Authors include Pratiksha Dongare, Alessandro Alabastri, Seth Pedersen, Katherine Zodrow, Nathaniel Hogan, Oara Neumann, Jinjian Wu, Tianxiao Wang and Peter Nordlander, all of Rice, and Akshay Deshmukh of Yale University.

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New Off-Grid Desalination NanoTechnology Uses Solar Energy to Convert Salt Water into Drinking Water - AZoNano

Latest university expansion designs submitted – Insider Media

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Images courtesy of ADP Manchester

Plans have been submitted to build a world class research and development centre close to the Parkinson Building in the centre of Leeds.

The University of Leeds has submitted plans for its proposed Integrated Campus for Engineering and Physical Sciences (ICEPS).

ICEPS would be a multi-disciplinary teaching facility with resources for research and student education in the engineering and physical sciences disciplines.

The new building would encompass new lab spaces specifically for the high specification equipment required to undertake modern research and enable growth in these areas.

ICEPSis a flagship development at the University of Leeds and represents part of the ongoing investment and improvement of the institution.

The new university buildingwould consist of a new six storey (plus a basement) building and the refurbishment of and new roof to the grade II-listed Old Mining Building.

The building would contain the highly technical laboratory, postgraduate research spaces, undergraduate teaching and academic offices.

The design and access statement said: "The Integrated Campus for Physical and Engineering Sciences is a unique and exciting opportunity at the University of Leeds.

"The project will deliver state of the art and exemplary facilities capable of supporting the longterm development of physical, bio-nano, computing and engineering sciences through enhanced educational and research facilities.

"This will enable a step change in achieving the universitys ambitions of world-class research and student education through the delivery of a flagship development."

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Latest university expansion designs submitted - Insider Media

Modeling Gulf War illness: Knowing the cause of brain dysfunction is key to finding a cure – Medical Xpress

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June 20, 2017 by Christina Sumners Credit: Texas A&M University

When hundreds of thousands of American troops deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991 in what is now called the First Gulf War, they were exposed to a variety of chemicals. These chemicalsespecially when coupled with war-related stressseem to still be affecting nearly 200,000 Gulf War veteransor 25 to 32 percent of those who servedmore than 25 years later, and the constellation of resulting symptoms has been termed Gulf War illness (GWI). This condition is characterized by central nervous system impairmentsincluding cognitive and memory problems, mood dysfunction, sleep disorders and chronic fatigueand systemic symptoms such as gastrointestinal problems and hypersensitive skin.

Using an animal model of GWI, researchers at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System were able to demonstrate how GWI occurs, and their findings, which were published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, hint at possible ways to mitigate some of the symptoms. This work was supported by grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense and from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

The chemicals troops were exposed to in the Persian Gulf included pyridostigmine bromide, which was used as prophylaxis to prevent death in an attack with nerve gas agents. In addition, mosquito repellants, such as DEET, and pesticides, such as permethrin, were sprayed on their clothes and tents to keep potentially disease-carrying insects and rodents at bay. Some troops were also likely exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents, due to demolition of Iraqi facilities storing those agents, and smoke from oil well fires.

Chemicals like DEET and permethrin can enter the brain through disruption of the blood-brain barrier, where they can inhibit the breakdown of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. "Essentially, they cause acetylcholine to build up in the brain, causing hyperexcitability of neurons as well as the death of some neurons, which leads to inflammation in the brain," said Ashok K. Shetty, PhD, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, associate director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, research career scientist at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System and senior author of the paper. "At the same time, troops were also taking pyridostigmine bromide, which can sequester the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, compounding the problem."

To test the effects of such exposure, the researchers must first create an animal model. "We simulate what happened during the war," Shetty said. "We give pyridostigmine bromide orally and apply DEET and permethrin dermally, and then expose them to a mild stressor. When you do that, these animal models develop the symptoms of GWI, such as cognitive and memory problems, and have chronic low-level inflammation in the brain." Six months laterwhich is about 17 years in human termsthere was still evidence of persistent oxidative stress, even though they hadn't been exposed to either chemicals or stress in the interim.

"Our data in animal models matches very well with what has been seen in patients," Shetty said. They both had considerable systemic inflammation, which can be measured by levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood serum. Pro-inflammatory cytokines circulate all over the body and cause systemic inflammation, which, in turn, can cause considerable problems in certain vulnerable regions of the brain such as the hippocampus. These problems include declined production of new neurons important for making new memories.

"We examined changes in a type of housekeeping cell in the brain, called microglia, and they indicated inflammation, which looked similar to what we see in aging individuals with memory problems and other cognitive impairments," Shetty said. The animal models also had hyper-activated mitochondria (the 'powerhouse' of the cell), implied by increased expression of genes related to mitochondrial respirationthe process by which mitochondria transform stored energy into a form the cell can use. The researchers also found that many genes related to inflammation were upregulated. "Together, these findings raise the possibility that hippocampal dysfunction in GWI is one of the adverse outcomes of persistently elevated oxidative stress and inflammation at the systemic level," he added.

Fortunately, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds may be able to treat systemic inflammation, and it is possible such treatment would improve memory and mood function, Shetty said. The next steps are to test antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory compounds on human veterans. For this, Shetty has established a collaboration with Dena Davidson, PhD, deputy director of research at the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans in Waco, Texas, to purse clinical trials in GWI patients. Davidson and her team, along with Shetty, will begin a clinical trial funded by the Department of Defense in September to examine the efficacy of resveratrol in GWI patients. Shetty's earlier research has shown that this compound may be able to help prevent memory loss occurring with aging. Additional studies completed recently in Shetty's laboratory have also shown resveratrol as a promising compound for decreasing systemic and brain inflammation, as well as improving cognitive and memory function in animal models of GWI.

"This really does demonstrate that when someone is exposed concurrently to a whole host of nasty chemicals even at low doses, there are consequences that are not going away," Shetty said. "We hope that our research can help improve the quality of life in these veterans who were exposed while serving our country, and therefore are so deserving of whatever we can do to support them."

Explore further: Compound found in grapes, red wine may help prevent memory loss

More information: Geetha A. Shetty et al. Chronic Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Nrf2 Activation and Inflammation in the Hippocampus Accompany Heightened Systemic Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in an Animal Model of Gulf War Illness, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (2017). DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2017.00182

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Modeling Gulf War illness: Knowing the cause of brain dysfunction is key to finding a cure - Medical Xpress

Stanford Medicine launches health care trends report – Stanford Medical Center Report

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An opportunity and a challenge

Today, health care is becoming increasingly connected but also increasingly complex. This unique dichotomy poses both an opportunity and a challenge for institutions like our own, whose job it is to heal, innovate and educate, said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine. In publishing this report, we hope to show how big data is the most important trend facing the sector and, in the process, inform and educate the entire medical community including patients, doctors, the private and public sectors who are actively shaping the future of health care.

As big data becomes more of a resource for patients and their physicians, it simply is not enough to stick to the traditional ways of conducting research, engaging in patient care and educating the next generation of doctors, he added. Institutions like Stanford have a responsibility to drive advances in data management so that patients can be partners in their own care. By leveraging big data, we can create a vision of health care that is more preventive, predictive, personalized and precise.

The report suggests that the following areas must be prioritized if the impact of big data in health is to be fully realized:

Print copies of the report can be requested at (650) 850-1265.

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Stanford Medicine launches health care trends report - Stanford Medical Center Report

Trump-Rubio Better Deal For Cuba Reaffirms America’s Commitment To Liberty – The Daily Caller

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On Friday President Trump and Senator Rubio took to the podium before a passionate crowd in Miami to announce their Better Deal for Cuba policy. The new policy, which reversed much of President Obamas opening with Cuba, restores Americas ability to leverage our political and economic strength to push for human rights in Cuba. Furthermore, it reaffirms the primacy of Americas moral commitment to liberty, both for the people of Cuba and around the world.

The Better Deal for Cuba Policy is a carefully tailored policy that allows America to continue interaction with Cuba on diplomatic and national security issues, as well as limited economic interaction, but prevents American dollars from going towards GAESA, the Cuban militarys holding-company which controls large parts of the tourism, retail, and overall economy.

Rather, American dollars spent on the island will be funneled towards small businesses owned by the Cuban people, and thus directly for their benefit, instead of subsidizing the repressive police state.

The policy that President Trump, Senator Rubio, and Congressman Diaz-Balart hammered out demonstrates a commitment to whats best for the American people, the Cuban people, and the cause of liberty overall. The administration apparently, according to reports, initially considered either a complete termination of diplomatic and economic relations were Cuba to not comply with a variety of human rights demands or simply just leaving the Obama administrations Cuba policy in place.

Instead, this policy achieves a balanced middle-ground that still allows American businesses and interests to interact in appropriate ways with Cuba while not so blatantly casting aside our commitment to human rights in the island as under President Obamas Cuba policy.

One of the major problems with President Obamas Cuba policy was that, by near-completely normalizing diplomatic and economic relations with Castros Communist regime without any human rights concessions, we tarnished Americas half-century struggle for freedom for the Cuban people by essentially giving up the fight.

Not only did the Obama Administrations policy essentially forsake the Cuban peoples struggle for liberty, but it sent a message across the world to oppressed peoples living under tyrannical regimes that America was willing to put aside their aspirations and rights in exchange for a paltry economic gain. Thankfully, if President Trumps liberty-oriented speech in Miami sets the tone for our foreign policy under his administration, such disregard will be no more.

The Cold War may be long over, but the firm commitment America made to human liberty across the world during that struggle should never be closed. Americas relationship with Cuba has been long, complex, and guided for a long time by titanic international geopolitical affairs. It has changed in many ways, but in many ways it still hasnt.

Cuba is no longer a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Neither does Cuba still provide, to our knowledge, heavy financing and training to rebel organizations that work against Americas interests both in Latin America and across the world.

Nonetheless, Cubas regime retains its ideological center through a demonization of America and our way of life. The only way they keep a modicum of public support is by presenting America as a capitalist boogeyman. When such a tale does not ring with citizens of Cuba, the force of arms of their repressive police state that remains as active and brutal as ever fills in the enthusiasm gap. The 10,000 political arrests in Cuba in 2016 are but one of many reminders of that still-current reality.

President Trump has fulfilled one of his key campaign promises that undoubtedly was essentially in helping him win the crucial state of Florida in 2016. While President Trump is still working on major legislative victories, nonetheless in terms of executive branch policy he has demonstrated a consistent commitment to systematically achieving the changes he campaigned on.

Throughout this saga, Senator Rubio has also demonstrated again his unshakable commitment to human freedom not just for Americans but for all peoples. It is reported that Senator Rubios efforts in crafting the Better Deal for Cuba were not just crucial, but the main crux of the effort. America is blessed to have such an articulate and strong advocate for our ideals as we have in Senator Rubio.

The Better Deal for Cuba reaffirms Americas long-standing moral commitment to liberty for the Cuban people and all oppressed peoples across the world. It is a reminder that America remains not just a refuge for freedom-seeking peoples across the world but also their advocate, defender, and champion.

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Trump-Rubio Better Deal For Cuba Reaffirms America's Commitment To Liberty - The Daily Caller

Anker takes on AirPods with Zolo Liberty Plus earphones – CNET

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Anker's better known for its battery accessories for mobile phones and tablets, but lately it's been making a serious push into the headphone market with a line of inexpensive Bluetooth headphones. Now it's going a bit more upscale with a set of totally wireless earphones called the Zolo Liberty Plus that it hopes will put a small dent in Apple AirPods' sales.

The earphones aren't due out till October, but Anker's launched a Kickstarter campaign to spur preorders. The Zolo Liberty Plus will retail for $150, but Anker has the earphones on sale at launch for prices below $100 (that converts to 79 or AU$132). Anker says it offers worldwide shipping.

The Zolo Liberty Plus earphones in their included charging battery case.

I got a chance to give a preproduction Liberty Plus a quick spin. The earphones fit my ears snugly and comfortably -- I got a tight seal and thanks to the included silicone earhooks, they stayed in my ears. I thought they sounded quite good for this type of totally wireless earphone, offering decent clarity and relatively plump but well sculpted bass. I'll reserve final judgment on sound quality until I get a final shipping sample, but my initial impression was that they sounded better than Apple's AirPods.

Anker says the Liberty Plus will be Amazon Alexa-enabled and will support other voice assistants, but those features weren't available in the early sample I took for a spin.

The earhook cover helps keep the buds securely in place.

That $150 retail price isn't bad, but the Liberty Plus is certainly a more attractive option at less than $100. While China-based Anker is an established company with lots of products, with any Kickstarter there's some chance the product will never ship, so proceed at your own risk.

The Liberty Plus is the first product to arrive under Anker's new, more upscale Zolo brand. The company says more Zolo headphones are in the works and will be released in the coming months.

Case closed.

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Anker takes on AirPods with Zolo Liberty Plus earphones - CNET

ELCA’s Sean Queen continues family tradition, commits to Liberty University – Henry Herald

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McDONOUGH Eagles Landing Christian Academy football and track and field student-athlete Sean Queen said he felt as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders when he committed to continue his athletic career at Liberty University.

Im glad I am able to relax and not focus so much on what college I have to go to, since I already know, Queen said. I can focus on school and football. Ive been praying about where to go to college since I was in ninth grade. God gave me that answer.

Queen was part of the state championship football team and the state championship track and field team. He also won an individual state title in the long jump this season. The decision to attend Liberty will continue a family tradition, as both of his parents attended the school for their college educations.

Liberty has always been a school thats been close to my heart, Queen said. The campus is amazing and the coaches are godly. The environment there is just amazing. Being able to compete in the classroom is just as important as competing on the field. Both of my parents were ecstatic. That is where they went to college I feel as if this is a family dream come true.

Queen said he feels as though he will play an important role in Libertys offense from the slot receiver position. Liberty recruited him heavily, and that relationship made all the difference.

They pursued me unlike any other college, Queen said. People always say to go to a college that loves you just as much as you love them. I feel like Liberty is that place for me.

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ELCA's Sean Queen continues family tradition, commits to Liberty University - Henry Herald

Tropical storm warning for Harris, Galveston, Chambers, Liberty counties – KENS 5 TV

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Blake Mathews , KHOU 5:40 PM. CDT June 20, 2017

HOUSTON -- A tropical storm warning has been issued for Harris, Galveston, Chambers and Liberty counties as Tropical Storm Cindy shifts west in the Gulf.

The warning extends from San Luis Pass to the mouth of the Pearl River in Louisiana.

The latest report from the National Hurricane Center says Cindy's winds are still at 45 mph.

The current track would bring the storm onshore near the Texas-Louisiana border late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

HURRICANE CENTRAL: What you need to know to prepare for a storm

BE READY:KHOU11 Hurricane & Severe Weather Preparedness Guide

LIVE BEACH CAMS: Gulf Coast cameras

The National Weather Service says residents in a Tropical Storm Watch should review evacuation routes and review their disaster supply kit. In a Tropical Storm Warning, the threat is more imminent, and residents should stand by for evacuation orders as well as check in with family and friends.

The Red Cross is on standby with shelters in Galveston, Bolivar, Vidor and Orange if needed.

TheKHOU11 weather team is closely monitoring Cindy and will keep you updated on-air and online until the threat has passed.

WATCH: Dr. Neil Frank and Chief Meteorologist David Paul on TS Cindy

Many models continue to show a direct or near direct impact on the Houston area by Wednesday evening as a moderate to strong tropical storm. While there are a few model suits that show an impact in extreme east Texas of Louisiana, the vast majority now show a southeast Texas landfall near Galveston.

For that reason a Tropical Storm Watch has been extended west to include the cities of Galveston and Houston. A watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 48 hours.

It is possible that these watches could be expanded westward to include the rest of our viewing area and or upgraded to a warning Tuesday afternoon.

Probably not. However, there are some models that do show the upper-level wind shear weakening as the storm approaches land which would allow for additional strengthening. Due to the very unorganized nature of Cindy and it's eventual proximity to land by the time the wind shear relaxes, it is likely Cindy will not have an opportunity to strengthen much stronger than she is right now.

In fact the latest forecast out of theNHCsays the maximum sustained winds won't exceed 45 mph from now until landfall Wednesday night. However that's a forecast and is subject to change. I can tell you that some models do show a fairly healthy and strong tropical storm nearing the Texas coast.

%INLINE%

The image above is courtesy of the University of Wisconsin. In simplest terms the red areas are bad for development chances and green areas are very favorable for development.

What you're looking at are the upper-level winds (shear). Hurricanes require a very relaxed atmosphere with calm winds above. A hurricane needs to be what we call "vertically stacked." That can only happen when the winds are blowing slowly; generally less than 10 knots. However the analysis above is showing 60 knots sheer! Those are screaming winds!

That's the reason why Cindylooks more like a kidney bean than the more typical spinning pinwheel of a well defined hurricane. The winds are blowing the tops of the thunderstorms away from the center of circulation. Until the winds relax, which likely won't happen due to an upper-level low near Texas, this will not become a hurricane. Expect a very ugly, lopsided, water-loaded tropical storm in the central gulf.

Areas of low pressure (tropical storms and hurricanes) always follow the path of least resistance. In this case, the least resistance path is somewhere between southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. Many models, including the Euro model show a direct impact on the Houston/Galveston area. Other models show Beaumont while others still show southwest Louisiana.

EURO:

%INLINE%

European models shows a robust tropical storm making landfall near Galveston very early Thursday morning.

GFS:

%INLINE%

GFShas shifted west to align more with the Euro model. However, it's landfall point remains east of Houston near Beaumont/Port Arthur.

CMC (Canadian):

%INLINE%

The CMC model has been by far the most consistent with showing a landfall along the north gulf coast for well over a week. It has bounced back and forth between Houston and central Louisiana and continues to call for a landfall in southwest Louisiana.

%INLINE%

The spaghetti models above are a conglomeration of many models showing the potential path of a tropical storm. Notice the consensus is the mouth of the Sabine River.

Just because a "hurricane" is not in the forecast doesn't mean it can't be just as damaging or deadly. Tropical storms are prolific rainmakers and in a flood-prone city like Houston, this system certainly warrants your attention.

If the storm makes landfall east of Houston near Beaumont, our area will be spared the brunt of any bad weather. That's not to say that a few rain bands won't be possible. The main impacts will be well east into Louisiana.

If the storm moves further west and makes landfall on Galveston Island as some models suggest then our forecast becomes more challenging. The main impacts still will be east of the Houston area but the flood threat becomes much more tantamount. Along and east of the center of circulation 5 to 10 inches of rain will be possible with isolated higher amounts. Therefore where the center arrives will determine who gets the worst impacts.

Remember, the further west the storm hits the worse off Houston will be. The further east the better.

Cindy never was and likely will never be a wind event. However gusty winds in excess of 30 to 40 mph will be possible along the coastal counties and areas near the bay. Winds may gust to 50 mph or stronger but it'll be isolated in nature.

This is NOT a wind event for the city of Houston.

Of course the "what to expect" is ever changing with the forecast.

2017 KHOU-TV

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Tropical storm warning for Harris, Galveston, Chambers, Liberty counties - KENS 5 TV

Liberty Tax CEO sued by ex-girlfriend claiming he shoved her down stairs – Virginian-Pilot

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VIRGINIA BEACH

A lawsuit filed against Liberty Tax CEO John Hewitt claims he shoved a woman down the stairs and threatened to throw her dog in the lake outside the Virginia Beach home they shared.

Tiffany K. Glenn filed the lawsuit in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, nearly two yearsafter the night of May 26, 2015, when she claims Hewitt grabbed her by the face and neck and shouted: This is my house. Get out!

Glennclaims Hewitt shoved her down the stairs from behind, threatened her dog Gucci and threw her boots into a lake on the property, according to requests for admission filed by her attorney.

Calls and an email sent to Hewitt at his Liberty Tax address seeking comment were not returned. His attorney, Larry Woodward, declined to comment, but said he would be filing a response to the complaint in the next few days.Hewitt founded the Virginia Beach-based tax prep franchise company.

The lawsuit says Glenn was left withnumerous bruises and marks on her face, neck, arm and other places.

Glenns attorney, Kevin Martingayle, said Hewitt was arrested and criminally charged at the time, but his client dropped the charges at the urging of Hewitt and his then attorney. She and Hewitt had been in a relationship for a significant period of time and she believed they might reconcile, Martingayle said. The relationship, though, ended.

Glenn is seeking up to $700,000 in combined compensatory and punitive damages.

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Liberty Tax CEO sued by ex-girlfriend claiming he shoved her down stairs - Virginian-Pilot

Local Libertarians betting on community engagement to improve ballot recognition – Mid-City Messenger

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Local Libertarians betting on community engagement to improve ballot recognition
Mid-City Messenger
The Orleans Parish Libertarian Party is working to grow their party while earning recognition on the ballot, but community engagement is the first step. Mike Dodd, chairman of the local party, encouraged other Libertarian party members to run for ...

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Local Libertarians betting on community engagement to improve ballot recognition - Mid-City Messenger

What Conservatives and Libertarians Should Learn from Grenfell – National Review

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The fire that consumed Grenfell Tower last Wednesday was an unimaginable sort of horror. Parents threw children out of windows to onlookers below; entire households perished; there are reports that no one from the top three floors survived. The death toll is still increasing. It was almost certainly the worst fire in the United Kingdom in decades.

And it was entirely preventable. For an additional 5,000 (about $6,400) the apartment block could have been refurbished with fire-resistant cladding, rather than the highly flammable materials banned in the United States and Germany that were used instead, and that probably transformed a run-of-the-mill high-rise fire into a national tragedy. For 138,000 ($176,000), the entire building could have been retrofitted with sprinklers. Residents had complained for years that the building was unsafe and could not be safely evacuated in the case of a serious fire.

It should not be shocking, then, that Megan McArdle has received a blizzard of rebukes for suggesting that it may be misguided to criticize the London authorities for not installing sprinkler systems. McArdle does not make any conclusive claims about the sprinklers: She acknowledges that the former housing minister who decided not to require developers to install sprinklers may have made the wrong call. But, McArdle argues, all expenditures must be justified and balanced against the possible trade-offs: Every dollar [the government] spends on installing sprinkler systems cannot be spent on the health service, or national device, or pollution control. And McArdle, as a good libertarian, points out that requiring developers to install sprinklers would increase rents and impose other costs, while leaving the issue unregulated would allow potential tenants themselves to choose whether sprinkler systems and other safety features are worth the cost.

McArdle was savaged on social media for these transparently reasonable sentiments; one particularly asinine Slate article was mockingly titled, Would I Cross the Street to Spit on You If You Were on Fire? Theres Always a Trade-Off. People dont, it turns out, particularly appreciate the notion that safety is a trade-off; they particularly dont appreciate hearing about the importance of such trade-offs in the aftermath of an unbearable tragedy. At times like these, people want to hear about requisitioning the empty houses of rich people, as Jeremy Corbyn suggested. They want to hear about greedy developers going to prison; they want politicians unseated. People want something to be done, even if that something doesnt make much sense or will not be particularly helpful.

This, of course, is a problem with people, not a problem with Megan McArdle, whose column appeared obnoxious precisely because it was reasonable and levelheaded at a time when one is not supposed to be either. McArdle is right that there is always a trade-off and that the government should install sprinklers in public housing only if that is the best use of the money. McArdle is right, too, that requiring developers to install sprinklers in every single building would price low-income households out of units they could otherwise have afforded, and would deprive people of the ability to determine for themselves what level of risk they are willing to pay for.

But McArdles analysis is incomplete. Any perfect cost-benefit analysis, after all, should take into account not only the fiscal costs and benefits directly implicated in a decision but also the costs and benefits associated with the long-term repercussions of the decision.

In this case, the decision not to install more expensive cladding at Grenfell was a catastrophic failure for the cause of responsible governance. The tragedy has galvanized England and will almost certainly bring in its wake a less compromising, and less proportionate, attitude toward building regulations. A flurry of laws will surely be passed to assuage the horror and the sense of national culpability. Some of these laws may be reasonable and well designed, but it is likely that most will not be. And that is the best-case scenario. Londons mayor, Sadiq Khan, has suggested that the tower blocks of the 1960s and 70s, which provide low-income housing to thousands in a city with a severe housing crisis, may be systematically torn down. And if, as seems possible, the Grenfell fire leads to the fall of Theresa May and the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, then a libertarian approach to building regulations will ultimately have produced the first genuinely left-wing government the United Kingdom has seen since 1979.

There is very little that is worse for skeptics of big government than a tragedy. Since people demand action after a tragedy, tragedies tend to lead to greater regulation, and regulation is subject to a ratchet effect: Once regulations are passed, they are hard to reverse and the new regulatory climate becomes normal. The political effects of a tragedy can shape society for decades it was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan that brought about new regulatory standards in factories, and the Titanic changed maritime safety forever.

It stands to reason, then, that conservatives and libertarians have an interest in promoting modest, cheap, and popular safety rules and regulations. If the United Kingdom had banned the flammable cladding used in Grenfell, as America and Germany had, no one would be talking today about tearing down low-income housing across London, and the cost would be only a few thousand pounds more per development. If the authorities had prevented factories in lower Manhattan from locking their employees in, the garment workers would probably never have unionized. If the Titanic had been forced by law to carry enough lifeboats, maritime regulations would probably be far simpler today.

Libertarians in particular will find these preventive regulations difficult to stomach. But most of the world is not libertarian certainly, not after a trauma of this magnitude and so, difficult to stomach though they may be, safety rules and regulations, carefully chosen and managed, are a worthwhile investment in a slightly more libertarian future.

READ MORE: Assigning Blame for Londons Tower Inferno The Tragedy of Grenfell

Max Bloom is an editorial intern at National Review.

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What Conservatives and Libertarians Should Learn from Grenfell - National Review

Hundreds of whales slaughtered in horrifying gruesome photos of … – The Sun

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The shocking ritual turned the sea completely red off the Danish islands' shores

THE sea was turned red with the blood of whales during a gruesome ritual whale massacre on the Faroe Islands.

Hundreds of animals were slaughtered with lances by locals for the shameful Grindadrap festival after being forced towards the shore.

Rex Features

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Pilot whales swimming close to the islands during migration each year are herded towards the coast by fisherman where locals wade into shallow water and hack them to death.

The cruel practice dates back to 1584, with whales pelted by stones to terrify them into beaching themselves.

Grindadrap is the Faroese term for whale killing, and the ritual can happen several times a year depending on how close whales get to the islands.

Slaughtering the animals is banned in Denmark, and across the EU, as they are a protected species.

But despite being a protectorate of Denmark, the Faroes are not a member of the EU creating a legal grey area, according to the charity Sea Shepherd.

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Hundreds of whales slaughtered in horrifying gruesome photos of ... - The Sun

Tropical Storm Bret forms by Leeward Islands – WPEC

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by Jeffrey Beradelli and Gary Detman

Tracking the Tropics. WPEC.

UPDATE:

The CBS12 Weather Team is tracking 2 areas in the tropics.

At 5pm today the National Hurricane Center named the 2nd tropical storm of the season nearing the Leeward Islands. This storm is named Bret. (The first storm of the year was Alex and that was way back in January.) Bret has winds of 40 mph located south of Barbados, near Brazil, and is moving WNW at 30 mph. This storm is forecast to maintain its tropical storm status through midweek but then run into some high wind shear across the central Caribbean. At that point it is forecast to weaken and potentially dissipate.

The other system we are watching is much closer to home. A large but disorganized area of convection is located in the Southern Gulf near Cancun. This system may gradually get better formed and become a subtropical or tropical storm over the next 1-2 days. The system is forecast to move NW towards the Louisiana coast. As it moves away from South Florida it will steal our moisture and give us more sun and a lot less rain over the next few days. But for the northern Gulf coast from eastern Texas to the western FL Panhandle they will see increasing heavy rain. Some isolated areas may see a foot or more of flooding rain through the end of the week.

Neither system is a threat for South Florida.

Original Story:

Tropical Storm Bret has formed near the Leeward Islands.

Bret is moving WNW at 30 miles per hour.

There are tropical storm warnings up for Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada and a portion of Venezuela. Tropical storm watches are in place for Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba.

Bret is one of two systems being tracked in the tropics right now.

There is another system moving in the Gulf that has triggered tropical storm warnings for a portion of the Louisiana coast.

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Tropical Storm Bret forms by Leeward Islands - WPEC