Launch of Delta IV with WGS-9 delayed – SpaceFlight Insider – SpaceFlight Insider

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Jason Rhian

March 4th, 2017

The Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) carrying the WGS-8 satellite clears the tower on its way to orbit. The flight of WGS-9 was delayed to no earlier than March 14, 2017. Photo Credit: Mike Deep / SpaceFlight Insider

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Colorado-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) uncovered an issue with the Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) rocket tasked with sending the ninth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-9) satellite to orbit. This has caused the flight to be delayed.

An issue with the Delta IVs first stage Common Booster Core was found during standard prelaunch inspections. As such, on Saturday, March 4, 2017, the company announced the mission will now launch no earlier than March 14.

The ULA statement noted the extra time was required to ensure the rocket would operate nominally. The company will issue a new launch date after the problem has been resolved.

The Delta IV will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Stations Space Launch Complex 37. ULA is working to send the WGS-9 satellite aloft on behalf of the U.S. Air Force.

Tagged: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 37 The Range U.S. Air Force United Launch Alliance WGS-9 Wideband Global SATCOM

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

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Launch of Delta IV with WGS-9 delayed - SpaceFlight Insider - SpaceFlight Insider

Sentinel-2B satellite set for launch atop European Vega rocket – SpaceFlight Insider

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Curt Godwin

March 5th, 2017

Arianespace is preparing to launch the Sentinel-2B Earth-observation satellite atop aVega rocket. Image Credit: Arianespace / ESA

Arianespace, aFrance-based multinational commercial launchprovider, is in the final stages of readying its Vega rocket to send the Sentinel-2B Earth-observation satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

The smallest member of Europes stable of launch vehicles is set to take flight at 8:49 p.m. EST March 6, (01:49 GMT March 7), 2017, from the Guiana Space Center in the South American country of French Guiana.

Vying for its first launch of 2017, and its ninth overall since its 2012 debut, Arianespaces Vega rocket has been tapped to deliver the 2,491-pound (1,130-kilogram) Sentinel-2B satellite to orbit. Unlike its larger Soyuz and Ariane 5 siblings, Vega is optimized to carry relatively small payloads to low-Earth orbitand has no stated capability to deliver apayload to geostationary transfer orbit.

Vega is unique among its European launch family in that all of its propulsion elements are solid-fueled. All three of its stages use the same hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) 1912 mixture.

Although significantly less efficient than liquid propellant, solid fuels greatly simplify propulsion elements and can be stored for long periods of time.

Photo Credit: Jacques van Oene / SpaceFlight Insider

Vegas first stage is the P80 solid rocket motor (SRM). At almost 10 feet (3 meters), it has the same diameter as the solid-fueled boosters used on the Ariane 5 and nearly the same length of a singlesegment of that booster. The first stage provides 677,799 pounds (3,015 kilonewtons) of thrust at liftoff and burns for nearly two minutes.

Both the second and third stages use variants of the same 6.23-foot (1.9-meter) diameter Zefiro SRM. Vegas second stage, the Zefiro 23, consumes 52,500 pounds (23,814 kilograms) of solid fuel during its 78-second burn time and provides up to 251,786 pounds (1,120 kilonewtons) of vacuum thrust.

Vegas third and final stage is the Zefiro 9 SRM. Although smaller than its first and second stage cousins, it burns longer and provides 71,264 pounds (317 kilonewtons) of thrust for its two minutes of operation.

All three SRMs are manufactured from a carbon filament and epoxy casing, greatly lesseningthe mass of the rocket.

Sitting atop the 98.1-foot (29.9-meter) tall Vega is the Sentinel-2B (S2B) satellite.

Built on the Airbus Defense and SpaceAstroBus-L spacecraft bus, S2B is an Earth-observation satellite that will monitor land masses and coastal areas. It will have a particular focus on collecting vegetation and pollution data.

The spacecraft tips the scales at 2,513 pounds (1,140 kilograms)and is designed to have an on-orbit lifetime of at least seven years.

It will orbit at an altitude of 488 miles (786 kilometers) in SSO and will be inclined 98.57 degrees to the equator. In this orbit, the satellite will pass over the same spot on Earthssurface at the same local solar time, providing consistent lighting angles for observation.

The satellite will have a resolution of 32.8, 65.6, and 196.9 feet (10, 20, and 60 meters) in 180-mile (290-kilometer) wide swathes with imagery covering13 different spectral bands.

The Sentinel series of satellites ispart of Europes Copernicus environmental monitoring program. S2B will be the fourth in the family and will join its Sentinel-2A sibling, orbiting 180 degrees apart, toprovide full Earth coverage every five days.

With two highly sophisticated satellites the Sentinel-2 mission will reach its full capability, said Nicolas Chamussy, Head of Space Systems at Airbus, in a release issued by the company.

ESAs Sentinel 2B spacecraft in the clean room being prepped for launch. Photo Credit: Jacques van Oene / SpaceFlight Insider

Tagged: ArianeSpace Guiana Space Centre Lead Stories Sentinel 2B Vega VV09

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

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Sentinel-2B satellite set for launch atop European Vega rocket - SpaceFlight Insider

There’s a Street-Style Gang of Redheads Taking Over Paris Fashion Week – Vogue.com

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There's a Street-Style Gang of Redheads Taking Over Paris Fashion Week - Vogue.com

James Webb Space Telescope will observe TRAPPIST-1 planets – The Space Reporter

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Following its October 2018 launch, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will observe the seven Earth-sized planets discovered orbiting the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, NASA announced last week.

Discovered in February, these planets are ideal targets for JWST because of their relatively nearby location just 40 light years away.

The star is small, so signals from the planets should be large, making it possible for scientists using JWST to detect atmospheric components.

Three of the planets, designated e, f, and g, are located in the stars habitable zone, where temperatures would allow liquid water to exist on their surfaces.

Scientists will use JWST to probe the planets atmospheres to determine the proportion of particular molecules, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, oxygen, ozone, and water. Knowing the proportions of these molecules will inform researchers as to whether the planets environments are conducive to supporting life.

JWST will observe in the infrared and will use spectroscopy, a technique in which light is split into distinct wavelengths, and their spectra analyzed, in its study of the system. These tools will extend its capabilities beyond those of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Each molecule has its own unique wavelength signature, so spectroscopy will enable scientists to identify the specific chemical components and their proportions in these worlds atmospheres.

These are the best Earth-sized planets for the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize, perhaps for its whole lifetime, said Hannah Wakeford, a postdoctoral fellow at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, where the telescope is currently located.

The Webb telescope will increase the information we have about these planets immensely. With the extended wavelength coverage, we will be able to see if their atmospheres have water, methane, carbon monoxide/dioxide, and/or oxygen.

Scientists will specifically look for evidence of ozone or methane, both of which are biomarkers, or signs of biological activity.

Ozone is produced when oxygen emitted by plant life via photosynthesis is released into the atmosphere and interacts with sunlight. Tracking methane will lead researchers to biological sources that could be producing oxygen.

The TRAPPIST-1 system will make it possible for scientists to engage in comparative planetology, a new field that involves comparing processes and compositions of different worlds.

Engineers and scientists are now conducting various tests on JWST, whose mirrors were installed last year.

For thousands of years, people have wondered, are there other planets like Earth out there? Do any support life? Now, we have a bunch of planets that are accessible for further study to try to start to answer these ancient questions, emphasized Sara Seager of MIT in the NASA statement.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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James Webb Space Telescope will observe TRAPPIST-1 planets - The Space Reporter

NASA Wants to Launch a Giant Magnetic Field to Make Mars Habitable – ScienceAlert

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NASA scientists have proposed a bold plan that could give Mars its atmosphere back and make the Red Planet habitable for future generations of human colonists.

By launching a giant magnetic shield into space to protect Mars from solar winds, the space agency says we could restore the Red Planet's atmosphere, and terraform the Martian environment so that liquid water flows on the surface once again.

Mars may seem like a cold, arid wasteland these days, but the Red Planet is thought to have once had a thick atmosphere that could have maintained deep oceans filled with liquid water, and a warmer, potentially habitable climate.

Scientists think Mars lost all of this when its protective magnetic field collapsed billions of years ago, and solar wind high-energy particles projected from the Sun has been stripping the Red Planet's atmosphere away ever since.

Now, new simulations by NASA suggest there could be a way to naturally give Mars its thick atmosphere back and it doesn't require nuking the Red Planet into submission, as Elon Musk once proposed.

Instead, the space agency thinks a powerful-enough magnetic shield launched into space could serve as a replacement for Mars's own lost magnetosphere, giving the planet a chance to naturally restore its own atmosphere.

In new findings presented at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop last week, NASA's Planetary Science Division director, Jim Green, said launching an "artificial magnetosphere" into space between Mars and the Sun could hypothetically shield the Red Planet in the extended magnetotail that trails behind the protective field.

"This situation then eliminates many of the solar wind erosion processes that occur with the planet's ionosphere and upper atmosphere allowing the Martian atmosphere to grow in pressure and temperature over time," the researchers explain in an accompanying paper.

While the team acknowledges that the concept might sound "fanciful", they point to existing miniature magnetosphere research being conducted to protect astronauts and spacecraft from cosmic radiation, and think that the same technology on a larger scale could be used to shield Mars.

"It may be feasible that we can get up to these higher field strengths that are necessary to provide that shielding," Green said in his presentation.

"We need to be able then to also modify that direction of the magnetic field so that it always pushes the solar wind away."

In the team's simulations, if the solar wind were counteracted by the magnetic shield, Mars's atmospheric losses would stop, and the atmosphere would regain as much as half the atmospheric pressure of Earth in a matter of years.

As the atmosphere becomes thicker, the team estimates Mars's climate would become around 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer, which would be enough to melt carbon dioxide ice over the Red Planet's northern polar cap.

If this happened, the carbon in the atmosphere would help to trap heat like it does on Earth, triggering a greenhouse effect that could melt Mars's water ice, giving the Red Planet back its liquid water in the form of flowing rivers and oceans.

If all of this were to occur as the team anticipates and admittedly, that's a pretty fantastical if it's possible that, within the space of a couple of generations, Mars could regain some of its lost Earth-like habitability.

"This is not terraforming as you may think of it where we actually artificially change the climate, but we let nature do it, and we do that based on the physics we know today," Green said.

The team acknowledges that the plan is largely hypothetical at this point, but it's a pretty amazing vision for what might be possible in the years ahead. The researchers intend to keep studying the possibilities to get a more accurate estimate of how long the climate-altering effects would take.

If the concept does prove workable, there's no telling just how much it would alter the prospects of colonising Mars in the future.

"Much like Earth, an enhanced atmosphere would: allow larger landed mass of equipment to the surface, shield against most cosmic and solar particle radiation, extend the ability for oxygen extraction, and provide 'open air' green-houses to exist for plant production, just to name a few," the researchers explain.

"If this can be achieved in a lifetime, the colonisation of Mars would not be far away."

The findings were presented at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop.

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NASA Wants to Launch a Giant Magnetic Field to Make Mars Habitable - ScienceAlert

Don’t expect a space race. SpaceX and NASA need each other – Los Angeles Times

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SpaceX, the upstart company, and NASA, the government agency, both have plans to venture to Mars and orbit the moon. But that doesnt mean theyve launched a new space race.

In fact, NASA has long been SpaceXs most important customer, providing contracts to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station. And the Hawthorne company will need NASAs technical support to achieve the first of its grand ambitions in deep space.

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk acknowledged as much last week, shortly after announcing that SpaceX would launch two private, paying individuals on a weeklong lunar flyby in 2018.

SpaceX could not do this without NASA, Musk tweeted. Cant express enough appreciation.

NASA, on the other hand, has come to rely on SpaceX and other companies for transport to the space station as its funding has tightened. In todays dollars, the agencys budget is about half what it was at the peak of the 1960s, and down from the 1990s.

In the wake of the SpaceX news, NASA issued a statement that said it is changing the way it does business through its commercial partnerships, in part to free the agency to focus on rockets and spacecraft to go beyond the moon into deep space.

The whole idea is that NASA is at the point of a spear, said Howard McCurdy, professor in the school of public affairs at American University. Its like exploration of any terrestrial realm. This is the way the model is supposed to work.

Indeed, the rapid ascent of Musk and other space industry pioneers is validation of the public-private partnership envisioned when Congress passed the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984.

By the mid-2000s, NASA was signing contracts with the private sector to fill in for its own funding constraints and the impending retirement of the space shuttle program.

In 2006, SpaceX won its first NASA award for $278 million to help develop the companys now-workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule. It later received an additional $118 million, and SpaceX contributed a total of about $454 million of its own funds to finish development, according to a NASA report.

Two years later, SpaceX won a $1.6-billion NASA contract to transport cargo to the space station. The deal came as the fledgling company of about 400 employees was starting to successfully launch the Falcon 1 from an atoll in the Marshall Islands.

It was not just NASAs financial resources and technical support that helped SpaceX, said company President Gwynne Shotwell, but also the agencys trust.

We would not be the company that we are today without that early support from NASA, Shotwell said. We would have made it, but it would have been more of a struggle, it would have taken us longer.

A major milestone for the partnership came in 2012 when SpaceX launched its first NASA cargo load, making it the first private company to send a spacecraft to the space station.

Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at the Teal Group, said the NASA supply missions gave SpaceX almost instant credibility."

"Having NASA as an anchor client allowed them to have enough revenue flow so that they could establish themselves and eventually diversify and get some commercial contracts and eventually to be able to get into the military establishment, he said.

Today, SpaceX and Boeing Co. are developing separate crew capsules as part of NASA contracts to transport astronauts to the space station.

SpaceX noted that this NASA program provided most of the funding to develop the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will make the moon trip. It is planning to conduct the first test flight of the Dragon crew capsule in November, followed by a flight test with humans in May 2018.

Once operational crewed flights to the space station are underway, the company said it would launch its Dragon capsule atop the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with SpaceX funds, for the lunar mission in late 2018.

Other well-known, newer space companies have also recently been awarded NASA contracts, including Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos Blue Origin and British billionaire Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic.

Both of those companies intend to target the suborbital space tourism markets, though Blue Origin has also unveiled plans for a launch vehicle called the New Glenn, which the company has said could lift astronauts to low-Earth orbit or even beyond.

Blue Origin is interested in developing a lunar spacecraft and lander, and eventually, a delivery service for the moon, according to a white paper obtained by the Washington Post that the company sent to NASA officials and President Trumps transition team.

Virgin Orbit, which recently split from Virgin Galactic, is focused on launching small satellites.

NASAs role as a development catalyst has been part of the agencys objectives since its earliest days, said Sean OKeefe, a former NASA administrator and current university professor at Syracuse University.

The idea was to spin that into opportunities for commercial market potential for other discoveries, for those who would build on the knowledge base of what was determined, discovered or invented as a means to overcome obstacles and take it to another level, he said.

Phil McAlister, division director for commercial spaceflight development at NASA, called the recent advances of the space companies really positive.

"Moving human presence deeper into space is going to require the best of NASA and the private sector," he said. Over the last 10 years, he added, NASAs private partners have become more technologically mature and capable.

Its unclear whether NASA will provide any further assistance for the SpaceX moon shot, though Musk emphasized that the agency would have first priority if it wanted to work with SpaceX on a lunar orbit mission.

NASA also has its own plans to fly around the moon with a crew in tow.

Last month, NASA said it would look into the feasibility of putting a crew on the first flight test of its Orion spacecraft and heavy-lift rocket, Space Launch System, in 2019. That mission is set to go around the moon to test maneuvers that would be necessary to eventually go farther into deep space.

While both SLS and Falcon Heavy will have heavy-launch capabilities, they may not necessarily be redundant, said Dava Newman, former NASA deputy administrator and Apollo program professor of astronautics at MIT.

If in the next two years theres two capabilities for heavy-lift, thatd be awesome, she said. Having one system leaves you vulnerable to system failures.

The nature of NASAs mission, and its funding, is up in the air under the new Trump administration, however. The agency is still waiting on Trump to appoint a new administrator, and there has been debate in Washington about whether NASA should go back to the moon or venture ahead toward Mars.

SpaceXs private moon mission could influence that debate, McCurdy said. It certainly complicates the argument that the moon-firsters would like to make.

Both SpaceX and NASA plan flights to Mars. Last year, Musk unveiled plans to colonize the Red Planet, sending up to a million people on more than 1,000 spaceships, stretched over decades. He called for a public-private partnership, but the nature of any collaboration was unclear.

The two entities will team up on at least one launch SpaceXs first Red Dragon uncrewed mission to Mars, now aimed at 2020, two years behind Musks original timeline.

NASA has more than 50 years of experience with Mars exploration and will provide SpaceX with technical support during the mission, which could include help with data transmission from deep space, flight systems and engineering, and mission design and navigation.

In exchange, NASA is interested in the entry, descent and landing data from the capsule.

SpaceX has started testing some of that supersonic retro-propulsion technology by landing its first-stage rocket booster on floating platforms and on land, a technique that could be important for future Mars landings, said Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist.

NASA has successfully landed rovers on Mars weighing up to almost a ton. The robots have dropped to the planets surface in air bags, using rockets, and with the assistance of cables extended from a sky crane all methods that are problematic for landing humans.

A human mission would weigh considerably more, somewhere between 10 and 20 tons, Newman said.

It is an order of magnitude greater than weve ever done, she said. We all want to figure out how to get to Mars. And one of the things we need to figure out is to get humans there safely.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

@smasunaga

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Don't expect a space race. SpaceX and NASA need each other - Los Angeles Times

Quora Question: Has NASA Discovered Life on Other Planets? – Newsweek

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Quora Questions are part of a partnership between NewsweekandQuora, through which we'll be posting relevant and interesting answers from Quora contributors throughout the week. Read more about the partnershiphere.

Answerfrom Robert Frost, instructor and flight controller at NASA:

One of the most fundamental questions is are we alone? The answer to that question would shake the foundations of our understanding of the universe and our place within it. Much of our identity is framed on the presumption that we are a peculiarity. We see ourselves as the only intelligent species on the only planet that hosts life. We therefore make ourselves the center of the universe and elevate our position. The answer to are we alone? would shake the foundations of religion, philosophy and biology. Finding other planets like our own would shake the foundations of astronomy and geology.

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Imagine you are a member of a primitive tribe, living on the plains thousands of years ago. Youve led a sheltered life and your comprehension of the universe is defined only by your observations and the observations of your tribe. You strike out on your own across the plainsto see what else is there. Imagine seeing your first bird and having your worldview shaken by the realization that there are forms of life that can fly. You continue onward and reach the shore. Imagine seeing your first fish and having your worldview shaken by the realization that there are forms of life that can swim.

Illustration provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech

We are almost that primitive in our understanding. We define life itself based upon our limited observation of it on our planet, Earth. All we really know about life is based upon observations of the life that formed on the planet Earth. From those observations, we conclude that life involves carbon and life requires water. So, we extrapolate that if we can find places where water and complex carbon-based molecules exist, then life may also exist. That may well be short-sighted. There may be life that doesnt need water nor carbon. But, chemistry tells us that life is more likely to be based on carbon than on any other element. Carbon is the lightest, most abundant, element with four valence electrons in a shell capable of eight. That means a carbon atom can form four covalent bonds while nitrogen can form three and oxygen can form two. Carbon can also form double bonds, allowing strong (but not so strong the molecules can't change), complex, branching molecules. This means carbon is a light and abundant element capable of forming very complex and flexible molecules. Life is complex. Life needs to be flexible to survive. Water is also viewed as a near prerequisite for life. Water is a universal solvent. It can dissolve many substances, making it extremely valuable at transporting materials in and out of living cells.

So, we look for complex carbon molecules and we look for water and we look for temperatures at which that water can be a fluid. So far weve found no life and few places that might sustain life. ButNASA has announced the discovery of a solar system that contains seven rocky worlds, all with the potential for water on their surface. Three of those seven planets are in the habitable zone (a region around the star with an environment much like the region where our planet Earth orbits). We have found multiple places, within a single star system, where life might exist.

Not only does this give us a great specific target to direct further study, but it raises our confidence in the idea that Earth is not only not unique in its form, but that planets of similar form might actually be quite common. We have scanned an almost infinitesimally small amount of our galaxy, looking for planets similar to Earth, and yet weve found multiple planets that might be like Earth. Maybe they are more like Mars or more like Venus, further study will tell, but with each additional discovery of small rocky planets, abundant in carbon, friendly to waterand moderately irradiated by their star, confidence in their commonality exists.

An artist's depiction shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, on one of seven newly-discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system that scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have discovered, according to NASA, in this illustration released February 22. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via REUTERS

Astronomer Frank Drake proposed an equation that has become known as the Drake equation: N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L.

The Drake equation proposes that if we multiply the rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent lifeby the fraction of those stars with planetary systems by the number of planets, per system, with an environment suitable for life by the fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears, by the fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life exists, by the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence, into space, by the length of time such civilizations would continue to broadcast, we would arrive at the number of civilizations in the galaxy that could possibly be detected.

Much of that equation is, today, guesswork. We have no concrete ways to determine the numerical values. We have to speculate, and speculation is qualified by our observations. This discovery, announced today, gives us better confidence in putting a more optimistic number into that middle term ne.

In our own solar system, we know of one planet that certainly is suitable for life and two planets that at one time may have been suitable for life. Today, a discovery of another solar system with between three and seven planets that may well be suitable for life.

We need to continue to make similar discoveries to become more and more confident. Someday, soon, we may actually reach the point where we are comfortable saying that a star that could potentially support life is more likely than not to also have planets that could support life. Such an revelation would dramatically change the value of N in the Drake equation, giving us more and more confidence in the idea that we are not alone. We need to develop ways to better study this system (TRAPPIST-1). In one location in the sky, we have three to seven targets that could reveal information that would radically affect multiple branches of science and possibly the way we see ourselves in the universe.

This is pretty fricking cool. With an admitted slight bit of hyperbole, this is kind of like Darwin first seeing the Galapagos. Weve found a place to turn our sights upon. We may determine that we can find no signs of life in that system. That would be disappointing, but still immensely valuable because it is more information to enhance our understanding.

What is the significance of NASA's Feb 22, 2017 announcement? originally appeared on Quorathe place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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Quora Question: Has NASA Discovered Life on Other Planets? - Newsweek

Probing seven worlds with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – Science Daily

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Probing seven worlds with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
Science Daily
"If these planets have atmospheres, the James Webb Space Telescope will be the key to unlocking their secrets," said Doug Hudgins, Exoplanet Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "In the meantime, NASA's missions like Spitzer, Hubble, ...
NASA to Launch a New Search for Earth-like ExoplanetsKQED
Science, Art Unite For Exhibit Inspired By NASA TelescopeCBS Baltimore / WJZ
At Goddard Space Flight Center, Scouts get a look at the future of NASAScouting Magazine (blog)
The Indian Express -3DPrint.com
all 51 news articles »

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Focused national strategy, sustainable funding can make Pakistan leaders in nanotechnology: Dr Nayfeh – The News International

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Islamabad

Pakistan has the right level of expert human resource and scientific activity in the field of nanotechnology. A focused national strategy and sustainable funding can make Pakistan one of the leaders in this sector.

These views were expressed by Professor of Physics in University of Illinois and Founder and President of NanoSi Advanced Technology, Inc. Dr Munir H. Nayfeh. Dr Nayfeh, along with Executive Director, Centre for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and Research Faculty, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois, Dr. Irfan Ahmad and Associate Professor and Director of Medical Physics Programme, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Dr. Bulent Aydogan were invited by COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) to deliver lectures on nanotechnology research and entrepreneurship with special focus on cancer nanomedicine.

The objective of the visit was to motivate and mentor faculty and students at COMSATS and also to provide feedback to campus administration and the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology on strategic initiatives to help develop the next generation of science and engineering workforce in Pakistan.

A story of success for the Muslim youth from areas affected by conflict and war, Dr Nayfeh, a Palestinian by origin, was brought up in a conflict area by a mother who did not know how to read and write. For him, the environment was actually a motivator to work hard and study. My mother was uneducated but she always wanted her children to get the highest degree possible and both my parents supported us in whatever way possible to achieve our dreams, he recalled.

Comparing Pakistan with other developing countries in scientific research enterprise, he said that despite lack of resources, he has observed some decent amount of research outcome from the existing setups. About their visits to different labs, he said that they found faculty members and researchers in need of for more and more funds. I dont blame them as I am also looking for more and more fund even in America. This is a positive sign which shows that these set ups are alive and want to do more.

Sharing his experience of visiting countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Emirates, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, Dr Nayfeh said that he witnessed similar setups but in most of the cases, the countries had high-level of resources but lack of expert human resources.

Sometimes, they had more instrumentations than researchers. Again, a lot of instrumentation without ample resources is not sufficient. On the contrary, it might be disadvantage, he said.

Dr. Nayfeh is greatly impressed with the number of women researchers and students in Pakistan. In Tunisia and Algeria, there were decent number of women in this field but Pakistan has the most and there are more publications coming out of Pakistan as compared to other developing countries.

He said that they currently have an agreement of cooperation with COMSATS University which will be taken to the next level in coming years. The current agreement has been successful and secured positions for more than a hundred advanced graduate students to take their degrees from the University of Illinois. At this time, there are around 25 degree seeking researchers from Pakistan in the Illinois University. We believe that it is time to move to the phase where we get to do research together.

He said they would like to see some researchers from Pakistani campuses to come to the Illinois University as visiting researcher or scholar and team up with the working lab there.

We would like them to be involved in the actual research of the cutting edge of science and technology. This partnership could be of six months or may be extended to a year. If the involvement is strong, we can have a joint pact or ownership.

He said that another model would be to have students who could have involvement in research in Illinois University and the research here. They can also have two advisers, one in Illinois and other in Pakistan. This model could be elevated to have a joint degree.

Finally, he said that they would like to see localisation of research in Pakistan. We want to transfer the knowledge and technology and these could be the steps. We are taking steps one at a time as small successes bring more support and more confidence and recognition by the country which hopefully ends into more funding. Without appropriate funding, nothing will move.

The visiting groups met and briefed top officials in Pakistan about their plans including President and Federal Secretary for Science and Technology Fazal Abbas Maken. We are pleased to know that we are on the same page. All of them agreed to lend us support and pledged to do the best to help make this happen at all level whether it is about support, open channels, funding and financial support etc to take initiative to the next level.

About areas of nanotechnology that are in the best interest of Pakistan, he said the best areas are areas which are of importance to Pakistans economy. We would like to see if we can develop the research in prototyping and device construction of low cost devices for example solar devices and water filtration. Particularly, the solar devices are more useful in remote and poor areas. These devices are not very expensive.

He said that nanotechnology is equally useful in medical field. But medical is the hardest in the world so far. Medical applications require all sort of testing with humans which involves long list of approvals.

Our themes for the last number of years, including Dr Irfan from Pakistan, Dr Buland from Turkey, myself and few other scientists from different disciplines and different origins, are the same areas. We have visited OIC and talked to General Secretary to assess how an activity can be generated which would be helpful for the region. Fortunately, this idea has also found some encouragement and acceptance by Pakistan and Pakistan as a country could spearhead this activity.

He said that Pakistani universities might not be equipped fully with latest instrumentation but it is never too late. Sustainable funding and human resource is a recipe of success.

Dr Nayfeh suggested that a national directive at university level, ministry level and even at higher level would accelerate the process. It could take some time but the elements are there. If science and technology becomes one of the priorities, no doubt it can happen.

He said that they didnt only see the research but also the right scientific activity in the country. The question is that how do we translate the effort of all these trained people and scientists making them useful beyond teaching and training. We have seen incubators here where people are trying to have start ups to take the research out of the lab and built devices and products that could bring recognition to the university as well as the country. That is very promising for the future of science and technology.

He said that funding is a major issue but it is not the only issue. Vision, national strategy, will to take the next step and guidance are equally important. In Pakistan, we think that two things might be lacking. One is generous funding as in the beginning of any scientific activity, you might think it is a black hole and money is going to waste but when the pipe starts to flow, it comes like rain coming down and everyone benefits. A lot of funds are required. And second thing is national strategy. When everybody knows that it s a priority field, they chip in.

About the experience of his visit to Islamabad, he said that it was wonderful to be in the pleasant sunny weather of Islamabad from the cold of Chicago. Islamabad is more like a high tech region with several universities, good hospitals, and information technology expertise. It could not be called a Silicon Valley, but soon I will give a name to this scientifically advanced valley, he said.

For young graduates in Pakistan, he said that to succeed, they need to make sure that they have to be focused on education, sports and reading above and beyond the school work. They have to believe in themselves and sky is the limit. Nothing is impossible. Complaining blocks the thinking. We have a cause as scientist and it is a logical one and eventually it will work.

Dr Nayfeh said that nanotechnology is not solution to all problems. Sometimes, with research in nanotechnology, we improve existing products and sometimes we even waste money but in other instances, we might gain a lot. But we cannot let this opportunity go by without being involved in it as a country. The age of nanotechnology is effectively only 15 years. There is no more time to delay otherwise, we will be way behind.

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Focused national strategy, sustainable funding can make Pakistan leaders in nanotechnology: Dr Nayfeh - The News International

Chemistry & Nanotechnology Developments to Watch in 2017 – JD Supra (press release)

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Chemistry & Nanotechnology Developments to Watch in 2017 - JD Supra (press release)

Nanoengineers 3-D print biomimetic blood vessel networks … – Science Daily

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Nanoengineers 3-D print biomimetic blood vessel networks ...
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Nanoengineers have 3-D printed a lifelike, functional blood vessel network that could pave the way toward artificial organs and regenerative therapies. The new ...

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Nanoengineers 3-D print biomimetic blood vessel networks ... - Science Daily

Bioinspired process makes materials light, robust, programmable at nano- to macro-scale – Science Daily

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Bioinspired process makes materials light, robust, programmable at nano- to macro-scale
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Researchers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have developed a new bioinspired technique that transforms silk protein into complex materials that are easily programmable at the nano-, micro- and macro-scales as well as ultralight and robust.

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Nano-sized hydrogen storage system increases efficiency – Space Daily

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Lawrence Livermore scientists have collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of researchers including colleagues from Sandia National Laboratories to develop an efficient hydrogen storage system that could be a boon for hydrogen powered vehicles.

Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier, but the development of lightweight solid-state materials for compact, low-pressure storage is a huge challenge.

Complex metal hydrides are a promising class of hydrogen storage materials, but their viability is usually limited by slow hydrogen uptake and release. Nanoconfinement - infiltrating the metal hydride within a matrix of another material such as carbon - can, in certain instances, help make this process faster by shortening diffusion pathways for hydrogen or by changing the thermodynamic stability of the material.

However, the Livermore-Sandia team, in conjunction with collaborators from Mahidol University in Thailand and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, showed that nanoconfinement can have another, potentially more important consequence. They found that the presence of internal "nano-interfaces" within nanoconfined hydrides can alter which phases appear when the material is cycled.

The researchers examined the high-capacity lithium nitride (Li3N) hydrogen storage system under nanoconfinement. Using a combination of theoretical and experimental techniques, they showed that the pathways for the uptake and release of hydrogen were fundamentally changed by the presence of nano-interfaces, leading to dramatically faster performance and reversibility. The research appears on the cover of the Feb. 23 edition of the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.

"The key is to get rid of the undesirable intermediate phases, which slow down the material's performance as they are formed or consumed. If you can do that, then the storage capacity kinetics dramatically improve and the thermodynamic requirements to achieve full recharge become far more reasonable," said Brandon Wood, an LLNL materials scientist and lead author of the paper.

"In this material, the nano-interfaces do just that, as long as the nanoconfined particles are small enough. It's really a new paradigm for hydrogen storage, since it means that the reactions can be changed by engineering internal microstructures."

The Livermore researchers used a thermodynamic modeling method that goes beyond conventional descriptions to consider the contributions from the evolving solid phase boundaries as the material is hydrogenated and dehydrogenated. They showed that accounting for these contributions eliminates intermediates in nanoconfined lithium nitride, which was confirmed spectroscopically.

Beyond demonstrating nanoconfined lithium nitride as a rechargeable, high-performing hydrogen-storage material, the work establishes that proper consideration of solid-solid nanointerfaces and particle microstructure are necessary for understanding hydrogen-induced phase transitions in complex metal hydrides.

"There is a direct analogy between hydrogen storage reactions and solid-state reactions in battery electrode materials," said Tae Wook Heo, another LLNL co-author on the study.

"People have been thinking about the role of interfaces in batteries for some time, and our work suggests that some of the same strategies being pursued in the battery community could also be applied to hydrogen storage. Tailoring morphology and internal microstructure could be the best way forward for engineering materials that could meet performance targets."

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IBM quantum computers fledge into a real business – CNET

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IBM's quantum computer looks nothing like a classical machine.

In a few years, the same quantum computing concepts that gave Albert Einstein the heebie-jeebies could help Amazon deliver your toothpaste faster.

That's because IBM, the company that surprised the world in 1989 by arranging 35 Xenon atoms into its own name, is launching its quantum computing business. Thirty-five years of research into the physics of the super-small is about to start paying its first dividends with actual customers.

"We will be providing access to quantum systems for selected industry partners starting this year," said Scott Crowder, who's leading the handoff of the quantum computing work from IBM Research to the IBM Systems product team.

A lot is riding on quantum computing. It offers fundamental breakthroughs that could help bring back the good old days of steadier computing progress. Moore's Law, the steady pace of chip improvements that's lasted for decades, has shrunk computing components so your smartwatch today is as powerful as a refrigerator-size mainframe last century. But some computing progress has stalled, which is why a 2017 laptop today doesn't get work done much faster than one from 2012.

"Moore's Law is struggling," Crowder said. But quantum computers will complement traditional computers, not replace them. "It'll do the pieces of the problem the classical computer can't."

Scott Crowder, chief technology officer of IBM's systems group, discusses the exponential advantages of quantum computing.

Quantum computers, which take advantage of the peculiar behavior and properties of atoms, are notoriously hard for even physicists to comprehend. But quantum computing is bubbling up at university and government labs, startups such as Rigetti and D-Wave, and the research arms of Microsoft, Intel and Google.

Quantum computing still is in its infancy, but even as it matures, you shouldn't expect a quantum-powered iPhone. IBM's quantum computer must be cooled a fraction of a degree away from absolute zero, a temperature colder than outer space, so its innermost niobium and aluminum components aren't perturbed by outside influences. The cooling alone takes days. That's why IBM customers will tap into quantum computers over the internet, not tuck them under their desks or plug them into the company data center.

What kinds of work are quantum computers good for? Early work will figure out how to out how to use quantum computers effectively and reliably -- kicking the tires, in effect.

After that, though, should come quantum chemistry work that could predict how molecules like new medicines interact; logistics to figure out the most efficient way to ship packages during the holiday shopping season; and new forms of security that rely on quantum physics instead of today's prevailing approach using math problems too hard to solve fast enough.

IBM's quantum computing lab.

One specific quantum chemistry example: factories need lots of expensive energy to make fertilizer, but microscopic bacteria do the same thing much more efficiently somehow. "We don't understand how that reaction occurs," said Jerry Chow, manager of IBM's experimental quantum computing team.

A quantum computer helps people understand what's really going on at the molecular level instead of fumbling around with trial-and-error experiments, Chow said.

The common thread for quantum computing tasks is rapidly analyzing a huge number of possible scenarios rapidly. That quantum computer strength also will be able to crack today's encryption -- by testing a colossal list of possible numbers to find which ones are mathematical keys that'll unlock private data.

Jerry Chow, manager of IBM's experimental quantum computing team

That famous quantum computer ability, though, is still "really far away," Crowder said. Meanwhile, governments and businesses are developing new quantum-proof algorithms.

The quantum era will add a thicket of new jargon to computing vocabulary. Brace yourself for cryogenic isolators, Josephson junctions and decoherence. For processing data, "and" and "or" logic gates from classical computing are joined by Hadamard gates and Pauli-X gates from quantum computing.

At their core, quantum computers store data with "qubits" -- quantum bits. Classical computers work by manipulating conventional bits -- small units of data that record either a 0 or 1. A single qubit, though, can store both 0 and 1 overlaid through a quantum peculiarity called superposition.

Superposition, combined with another quantum weirdness called entanglement, means that multiple qubits can be ganged together with exponential benefits to how much data they can store and process. A single qubit can store two states of information -- 0s and 1s -- while two qubits can store four states, three can store eight states, four can store sixteen and so on.

All that overlapping data stored in the same qubits lets quantum computers explore many possible solutions to a problem much faster than conventional computers -- finding which two integers multiply together into a huge number in encryption, say, or the fastest way to deliver a lot of packages.

But even then there are many practical difficulties. For example, the answer to a computing problem can be tucked away in one particular combination of 1s and 0s among many stored through superposition in entangled qubits. But the act of reading data from qubits "collapses" all the qubit states into a single collection of 1s and 0s -- and not necessarily the right one that holds the answer. So yes, it's complicated.

A 200mm silicon wafer houses IBM quantum-computing chips with 5 qubits apiece.

It'll be a long time before programmers learn the ropes for quantum computing. That's why IBM, Microsoft and Google offer simulated quantum computers. More ambitiously, IBM opened access to a website called Quantum Experience in 2016 that lets outsiders noodle with a real 5-qubit quantum computer.

A laptop can't simulate more than about 30 qubits, Crowder said. In the next few years, the IBM Q quantum computers will move to 50 qubits -- each a patch of niobium atoms hooked to its comrades with specialized aluminum wiring.

The real business breakthrough comes when companies can build quantum computing into their operations. That'll require about a thousand qubits, Crowley said. Another big threshold could arrive with about a million qubits, enough to overcome problems with errors undermining calculations. Those errors are more of a problem with quantum computing than classical computing.

"Fault tolerance is hard in a quantum system. You're going to need a lot of qubits," Crowley said. "That's probably at least a decade-plus away."

So maybe your toothpaste will arrive faster. But not anytime soon.

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IBM quantum computers fledge into a real business - CNET

IBM i License Transfer Deal Comes To The Power S812 Mini – IT Jungle

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March 6, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Back in the early days of the AS/400 midrange system, the processor, memory, networking, and disk and tape storage hardware embodied in the system was by far the most costly part of that system, far outweighing the cost of the systems software that ran atop it. We dont have the precise numbers at hand, but it was something like 85 percent hardware cost and 15 percent hardware cost.

Fast-forward a few decades, and the Moores Law improvements in every component in the hardware means that hardware is far less costly. But software doesnt have a Moores Law scaling; in fact, it is based on people and they cost more every year. And so software now represents a very large portion of the overall Power Systems-IBM setup these days. So customers are often in a position where they want newer, more powerful, and more capacious hardware but they cannot inexpensively move their existing IBM i and related system program licenses over to the new iron.

IBM has not cut prices for IBM i in recent years, as far as I know, and I have to guess because it is no longer possible to get list prices for anything in an easy fashion. Even partners have to use a configurator to get pricing, and it has to be tied to a particular customer and a particular set of serial numbers on machines for this information to be disseminated. (Again, this is as far as I know.) What I do know is that the list price system on IBMLink that I used for decades is no longer there. In any event, IBM i software has gotten a little more expensive over time when gauged in U.S. dollars and IBM is loath to cut prices. But every now and then it does something in special deals to make it a little less costly for customers with older machines to move to newer machines with regard to software pricing, and it has done it again with the new Power S812 Mini system that was announced for IBM i and AIX operating systems back on Valentines Day and that will be shipping on March 17.

Under the IBM i Power License Transfer Free promotion announced last week, which like the last such deal that was announced for earlier Power8-based systems in May 2016, offers customers a waiver on the fees that Big Blue charges to move an operating system. As has been the case for many years, IBM charges $5,000 per core to move an IBM i license from an old machine to a new one. This transfer fee seems absurd, as I have pointed out before, for a low-end system where the operating system only costs $2,995 per core. Or, more precisely, as I think it costs because that is what IBM used to charge per core in a P05 tier the last time I saw a list price on IBM i. I can see a $500 transfer fee for a license that has already been paid for, and I can make a very strong case for zero being a good fee in a world where IBM wants to get customers current. As detailed in the IBM i Processor and User Entitlement Transfer guide, IBM cushions the blow somewhat by saying that the $5,000 fee includes one year of Software Maintenance at no charge, which I think is funny for something that costs $5,000. And any Software Maintenance that you have paid for does not transfer from the old machine to the new one, also funny. But I have a warped sense of humor.

By the way, as you can see from that IBM i Processor and User Entitlement Transfer guide, the transfer fee is not a flat $5,000 across all classes of machines. That is just for a P05-class system that is transferring to another P05-class machine and within special groups organized by IBM. If you jump from Group 1 to Group 2 or Group 3 machines, the IBM i transfer fee is $18,000 per core, and from Group 4 to either Group 5 or Group 6 it costs $17,000 per core.

On February 28, IBM said in an announcement to business partners that it would allow customers to transfer IBM i licenses from the old machines to the new Power S812 for free, saving them the $5,000 per core charge. This is obviously a good thing, particularly if the Power S812 costs around 20 percent less than the Power S822 and Power S824 machines of similar single-core, light memory configuration. Every little bit helps. But 64 GB of memory cap on IBM i setups seems a bit light, perhaps even for a single 3 GHz core as the Power S812 machine has.

To take part in the IBM i Power License Transfer fee promotion, the old machine has to be installed for the past year or more and the new Power S812 machine has to ship between February 28 and August 31 of this year. Customers can apply this deal to up to five machines, but no more than that. As far as I know, this deal is only available in the United States and Canada, but obviously, customers all over the world should ask for the same treatment. And IBM similarly says that the transfer fee forgiveness only applies to machines moving in the same software tier as described by the guide above (not the IBM i software groups P05 through P60, which are different characterizations), but I think that anyone moving up to a higher group should at least ask for those $17,000 or $18,000 fees to be knocked down by $5,000 or abolished completely.

One more thing: Last May, when a similar IBM i license transfer deal was announced for Power S824 machines, IBM also waived the After License fee charges on Software Maintenance for customers who had let their support contracts lapse. Software Maintenance costs about 25 percent of the operating system licensing fees and is charged on an annual basis, and the After License charges can be in excess of a years worth of Software Maintenance fees, depending on how long it has lapsed. This can also be a large number, and if IBM wants customers with older machines to move ahead, then it is probably wise to offer this deal again. IBM has not done so here in early 2017, but nothing prevents customers upgrading to Power8 machines of any type from older gear to ask.

Ask and ye might receive.

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IBM i License Transfer Deal Comes To The Power S812 Mini - IT Jungle

CRISPR gene editing tech brings countless opportunities and … – Arizona Daily Wildcat

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Ian Green | The Daily Wildcat

Dr. Thomas Doetschman, Ph.D., examines the embryonic cells used to study and implant mutated and disease genes; if the mutated gene successfully imbeds itself into a sperm or egg cell, the resulting rat that is born will be studied to research the effects of that same disease genes in humans. CRISPR CAS9 is technology that allows the splicing of genes to both remove and replace particular DNA strands. CRISPR can affect either just the patient or his descendants as well, depending on the technique used.

Published Mar 5, 2017 6:00am

Updated Mar 5, 2017 4:56pm

A new genome editing technology known as CRISPR has the potential to revolutionize the way scientists study diseases and genetics.

I think its a really useful tool for science, in fact its sort of revolutionizing the speed at which we can accomplish certain things in the laboratory and it has tremendous potential for therapeutic applications, said Kimberly McDermott, a research associate professor of medicine and an associate professor of cellular and molecular medicine, cancer biology and genetics.

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR-Cas9, is based off a bacterial immune system, said Thomas Doetschman, professor of cancer biology, genetics and cellular and molecular medicine.

When bacteria become infected by a virus, they take pieces of the viruss DNA and incorporate it into their own genome. This allows the bacteria to recognize and attack the virus if it ever appears again. This system allows them to destroy the virus, but it also allows them to destroy DNA, Doetschman said.

In developing CRISPR, scientists took a hint from the bacteria.

What it [CRISPR] actually does is causes a mutation at that site, in the DNA, and then repairs it, Doetschman said. And you can repair it in different ways, such that you can actually modify the sequence of the DNA.

This has enormous implications for the study of genetics and combating human diseases. And while it may sound exciting, human gene editing isnt all fun and games.

There are two ways the CRISPR technology can be used in humans, Doetschman said. The first way is to alter somatic cells, which dont get passed down to the next generation. This would only affect the patient who is receiving the treatment. The second way, known as the germline, can have serious long-lasting effects. Altering genes in the germline can produce permanent changes in the patient that will then be passed on to their children.

Theres two completely different ways of doing this, and the real concern, the big concern, is that it be used by some unscrupulous people to try to change the germline of people, so that you can create progeny that will all have this kind of modification, Doetschman said.

CRISPR isnt just for humans; it can be used to edit plant cells as well.

It could alter genes in a plant so that the plant either becomes resistant to or susceptible to agents that might otherwise kill the plant, Doetschman said. This could mean disease-resistant plants or increased nutritional content.

One of CRISPRs greatest contributions is in the realm of research, specifically for understanding normal development and disease processes, McDermott said.

For example, in the future scientists may be able to grow human organs from the patients own cells, using CRISPR.

RELATED:Beefy bugs: antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose threat to health

Recent studies on mice and rats have introduced the possibility of using a model organism, such as a pig, to grow human organs, McDermott said.

Another exciting possibility available through CRISPR involves induced pluripotent stem cells, Doetschman said. This process essentially works as a time machine for your cells.

Doetschman describes it as the ability to put your own cells, such as skin cells, in culture and de-differentiate those cells back down to the pluripotent master key stem cell, using CRISPR. Once your adult cells are transformed into stem cells, you can make the genetic modifications youd like, such as correcting a mutation, and then re-differentiate the cells back into the cell type of the tissue you want to correct.

These cells could potentially be engrafted back into the patients disease tissue, Doetschman said.

Dr. Thomas Doetschman, Ph.D., describes a few of the many functions performed in the workspace pictured, which can effectively seal itself to create a sterile and airtight environment in which researchers can operate. CRISPR technology may redefine the future of genetics.

When it comes to working with human therapeutics, safety and regulations are extremely important, McDermott said.

As scientists, their primary concern is to minimize and prevent harm in every way possible.One of these regulations is a patent that was recently issued to the MIT and Harvard-affiliated Broad Institute, one of the centers responsible for creating CRISPR technology.

RELATED:UA researchers win NIH grant for autoimmune disease work

Despite heavy public controversy surrounding the patent, Doetschman said the patent is a good thing, because it will allow scientists to ensure that CRISPR research is carried out in a safe way, especially in regards to human use.

I think from a scientists perspective, the thing that were really focusing on is trying to listen to our colleagues but also the public in general about what are the fears of this technology, McDermott said. Of course when you start to edit genes and mutate genes theres a lot of concerns about what might happen.

As for the future of human genetics research, both Doetschman and McDermott remain optimistic. CRISPR improves both the efficiency and the accuracy of genome research.

McDermott said while scientists may have had the ability to make mutations in cells in the past, the results were usually inefficient and could produce off-target effects.

CRISPR might not be the cure to every disease, but it is the key to unlock many avenues of research, Doetschman said.

In terms of the research end of science and medical research, its expanding tremendously the scientists ability to ask questions about genetic disease, Doetschman said.

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CRISPR gene editing tech brings countless opportunities and ... - Arizona Daily Wildcat

Mind the gap: burn and destroy mission in Bengal fields leaves a few questions – Hindustan Times

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From cursory field clearing process to bewildered farmers, inadequate kerosene to half-finished burning of the affected plots, there are just too many gaps in the suspected control symptoms of wheat blast mission that the Bengal government has undertaken in a war footing mode.

Wheat blast is a deadly disease caused by fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Symptoms similar to this disease that wrecked havoc in April 2016 in Bangladesh (forcing authorities to destroy standing crops on nearly 20,000 hectares) showed up in two districts of Bengal Nadia and Murshidabad. Alarm bells rang in Bengal and Delhi and the Mamata Banerjee government ordered destruction and burning of the wheat on about 1,000 hectare in these districts on an emergency basis.

Central government officers visited Bengal and held meetings with us. There is no other way than to burn the crops. Primarily the symptoms look like what blast. We have to contain it because it will be devastating if it spreads. We have pressed in men and materials at the villages. However, it is a huge exercise and some shortcomings may be there. We are trying our best, said Purnendu Bose, state agriculture minister.

A farmer in Nadia shows the remains of his field after government officials set fire . Part of the crop remained unburnt. (Subhankar Chakraborty/HT PHOTO)

But a visit to some of the affected fields of Chapra blocks of Nadia district on Saturday by HT team exposed quite a few gaps resulting in some of the affected crops remaining untouched.

Read: Deadly wheat blast symptoms enters India through the Bangladesh border, Bengal govt burning crops on war footing

There seems to be fewer agriculture personnel in the districts who can ensure a fool-proof destruction of each and every strand of the wheat crop. They were visiting the fields, since morning but they dont have enough machines to fell the crops and burn them.

The government employees want the farmers to take the initiative to destroy their harvest. But they were suffering from the shock of the disease and the resultant financial loss. The government has announced a compensation, but it is not adequate to cover our loss. Moreover, we have no idea when the money will be paid to us, said Sixty-year-old Dulal Sheikh of Sonpukur village in Chapra Block in Nadia, situated barely 8 kms away from the Bangladesh border.

Bengal government has deployed combined harvester machines to clear the fields. But the numbers of such machines are far less than needed. (Subhankar Chakraborty/HT PHOTO)

They set fire to my field. But a lot of it remains. How will I clear all of it? Who will pay for it? I have already lost the crop, said Dulal Sheikh. The administration is offering Rs 50,375 as compensation for crop destroyed of per hectare.

The scene was the same at Sonpukur, Hatikhola, Mohotpur, Sikra and other villages in Nadia near the Indo-Bangladesh border.

On Saturday, a harvester machine felled more than half the crop on his 12.5 cottah field. But the machine has many fields to work on Saturday was the deadline set by the government for destruction of the crops and has to leave.

The government officials present at the spot set fire to the crops, but they had to leave even if half the crop was not burnt. As the HT team found out, merely setting fire to the crop could not ensure their destruction only the crop ripe for harvest would burn, while the unripe green ones would not.

Goverment officer speaking to villagers in Nadia. There is a need for more officers on the ground to cover all the affected villages. (Subhankar Chakraborty/HT PHOTO)

There were unexpected hurdles.

There is not even sufficient kerosene needed to effectively burn the entire crop. The unripe ones dont burn properly and remain. We are therefore seeking the help of the farmers, said an officer on conditions of anonymity.

At some areas authorities are asking farmers to cut the crop and burn it themselves, making a visit later.

The ramifications can be dangerous. Agri experts conceded that if the fungus crosses the borders of Bengal to reach the wheat basket in the Hindi heartland, the effects can be disastrous.

The record books, however, are unlikely to show these gaps. Government officers are recording the culling and burning process taking a few snaps of the field, the farmers and uploading the information along with the coordinates of the plot on a government website at the end of the day.

Read: Ground Zero: Farmers stare helplessly as govt race against time to contain spread of wheat blast like symptoms

In some fields the fungus, however, may continue to thrive and spread. The disease was first identified in 1985 in Brazil, and thereafter it spread to Bolivia and Paraguay. Last year it spread in six districts of Bangladesh.

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Mind the gap: burn and destroy mission in Bengal fields leaves a few questions - Hindustan Times

Tesla’s Project Loveday invites you to create an ad for the car company – Digital Trends

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Why it matters to you

Think you've got the mind of a great advertiser? Try it out with Tesla's new Project Loveday contest.

Want to do PR for Tesla? Heres your chance.

Before you get too excited, were not offering you a job at the car company. Rather, the company is holding a video contest that it has dubbed Project Loveday. In essence, its a way for Elon Musks futuristic car venture to source some of the best fan-made video advertisements out there. Its an interesting departure from Teslas normalmodus operandi, as the company does not advertise like others in its space. But hey, if you come up with the next great Tesla ad, you may just claim your 15 (or up to 90) seconds of fame.

Ten-year-old Bria Loveday sent us a letter and suggested we hold a video contest, Tesla explains on its website. We thought that was a great idea (thanks, Bria). Over the next couple of months we will collect videos from around the world as part of the Project Loveday video contest.

Entering the contest is easy simply shoot some footage, keep it at 90 seconds or less, then upload the video to YouTube and send the link (alongside your entry form) to Tesla. Then, the waiting game begins Tesla will announce its top candidates at some point after May 8, when the contest ends.

More:Tesla driver error caught on dashcam; autopilot needed help but didnt get it

So whos eligible? As per Project Lovedays terms and conditions, all entrants must be at least 18 years old or have the express permission of a parent or guardian. Other guidelines note that all entries must relate to Tesla, SolarCity, our products, or our mission to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy. And while you want your video to be memorable, it needs to remain appropriate for all ages that is to say, your Tesla ad cannot contain violence, nudity, or inappropriate language or behavior.

Moreover, Tesla wants all text or voice-overs to be in English, and of course, you cant refer to other products or brands that arent Tesla-related.

Submissions are said to be judged on originality, creativity, relevance to Tesla and its mission, and finally, entertainment value.The top 10 submissions will be featured via Tesla social media, and the top three are promised additional promotion. But the lucky grand prize winner will get an invitation to a future Tesla product launch event, and will be introduced as the champion of Project Loveday.Tesla also says it will pay for reasonable travel expenses, as well as accommodations for the winner and a guest for two nights.

So if you think you may have a talent for advertising, heres your chance to show your chops.

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Tesla's Project Loveday invites you to create an ad for the car company - Digital Trends

Indian-Kiwis racially abused in road rage attacks – Newshub

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An Auckland Indian man says he was assaulted, spat at and subjected to a racist tirade during a road rage incident.

It's the second case Newshub has been made aware of in just the past week and both were caught on camera.

It was 5pm on a weekday and Narindervir Singh started filming from inside his vehicle. The video was being streamed live onto Facebook.

Mr Singh says in the video: "I gave him a space ... that lady gave me the finger. He was driving that car [pointing to a white Holden] and now he's trying to threaten me, giving me bad names."

After Mr Singh informs the driver that he's uploading the video live, the situation escalates and Mr Singh is abused, sworn at and told to go back to his own country.

The abuser, who is seen in video wearing a grey Everlast t-shirt, was tail-gating according to Mr Singh, who says he simply pulled over to let him pass. The man also made derogatory remarks about Punjabi people.

As Mr Singh drove off, the abuser exposed himself.

"It really shocked me and after he [left], I was really shaken," Mr Singh told Newshub.

"I don't know what to do, it really hurts my heart ... The first thing in my mind was that he might hurt me with some weapon."

When Mr Singh left, he assumed it was all over. But when he parked on a nearby side street, he says the white Holden pulled up once again and the racist rant, including the n word, continued.

Bikramjit Singh suffered similar abuse last week as he left a Papatoetoe storage facility. A man who claimed Bikramjit was speeding yelled at him, saying: "Go back to your f*****g country - slow down! You know what the speed limit is here."

Bikramjit says he wasn't speeding, is a New Zealand citizen and has lived here for more than a decade.

"[It made me feel] so sad because New Zealand is so beautiful - there are lovely people here."

The man who hurled abuse in that case ended up apologising in an email, blaming two alcohol beverages he'd consumed earlier that day.

But those who work with migrants say such discrimination does appear to be increasing.

"We are seeing it much more openly which is a very serious concern," said Anu Kaloti from the Migrant Workers Association.

"I think societies are becoming more and more intolerant, especially since Trump was elected President of the US."

The message from the victims is clear - show respect.

"We should respect each and every culture," Narindervir said.

"Respect each other because we are all New Zealanders," Bikramjit said.

Both men have laid complaints with police.

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Indian-Kiwis racially abused in road rage attacks - Newshub

Precision Medicine Initiative | The White House

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Precision Medicine is already saving lives. Read the stories of some of the people that have benefited from this new approach:

William Elder, Jr. was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of eight, when the life expectancy for CF patients was very low. Now at 27, Bill is alive thanks to Kalydeco, a treatment of a particular form for his cystic fibrosis and a remarkable drug that treats the underlying cause of his CF, rather than the symptoms.

At a congressional briefing in 2013, Bill told members of the U.S. Senate that just knowing that there were individuals who were researching his condition gave him hope and the strength to continue his treatments and work to be healthier every day. Bill described waking up in the middle of the night after taking his new treatment for the first time. I sat on the floor of my room for a while slowly breathing in and out through my nose, and then I realized that was it. I had never been able to easily breathe out of my nose before. This was something profound, he said. He recalls telling his parents, "For the first time in my life, I truly believe that I will live long enough to be a grandfather.

At age six, Emily Whitehead was the first pediatric patient to be treated with a new kind of cancer immunotherapy and was cancer free only 28 days later. If you didnt know what happened to her, and you saw her now, you would have no idea what she has been through, says Emily's Mom.

Her parents decided to enroll her in a pioneering cancer immunotherapy trial at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Emilys T-cells were collected from her blood and re-engineered in the lab to recognize a protein found only on the surface of leukemia cells. Those T-cells were then infused back into Emilys blood, where they circulated throughout her body on a mission to seek and destroy her leukemia.Knowing how to turn these T-cells into what Emily called ninja warriors required big investments in basic biomedical research. In fact,Science Magazine named it a 2013 Breakthrough of the Year Emily's family couldn't agree more.

Melanie Nix's family has a history of breast cancer a history that Melanie couldn't escape when she tested positive for the BRCA gene mutations linked to breast cancer in 2008. After 16 rounds of chemotherapy and breast reconstruction surgery, she had to have both ovaries removed to further reduce risks of cancer in the future. But Melanie is now cancer free thanks to precision medicine.

Melanie's positive test results for the BRCA gene mutations instantly concerned her medical team. BRCA gene mutations are linked to breast and ovarian cancers. Further tests confirmed that she had triple-negative breast cancer, a very aggressive form of breast cancer that disproportionately affects African-American women. Her best chance for cancer-free survival was to have a bilateral mastectomy. Melanie says that this type of tailored treatment gave her hope. "Precision medicine offers the hope that by the time my daughter is at an age when she considers genetic testing, new, targeted treatments will be available to give her additional choices for preserving her health," she said.

Beatrice Rienhoff's eyes were spaced wider than usual, her leg muscles were weak, and she couldn't gain weight. Her father, a trained clinical geneticist, took notice and wanted to help. After six years, he and his team of scientific volunteers identified the cause of her condition.

Beatrice's original medical team had thought her condition resembled Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that can cause tears in the human heart. It's typically a fatal syndrome. However, the doctors couldn't fully diagnose Beatrice with Marfan or any other known disease. Acting as "Super Dad," Hugh lead his team to identifying a variant responsible for his daughter's condition and this research gave rise to the description of a whole new syndrome. The team continues to use precision medicine to learn more about the new syndrome and further study genetic variation to help those like his daughter. Today, Beatrice is living a full life.

Six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in 2008. Known to be lethal, leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. It caused the basketball great to slow down, fall ill, and worry. A few years later, he credits precision medicine for helping him to be well today.

Learn More:

FACT SHEET: President Obamas Precision Medicine Initiative

The Precision Medicine Initiative: Data-Driven Treatments as Unique as Your Own Body

Precision Medicine Is Already Working to Cure Americans: These Are Their Stories

Next Steps in Developing the Precision Medicine Initiative

Precision Medicine: A One-Year Update

The Precision Medicine Initiative: Data-Driven Treatments as Unique as Your Own Body

President Obama on the Benefits of Precision Medicine

FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Announces Key Actions to Accelerate Precision Medicine Initiative

Remarks by the President in Precision Medicine Panel Discussion

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Precision Medicine Initiative | The White House