The NASA Rocket Scientist Leaving Mars for Politics – The Atlantic

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A few Fridays ago, Tracy Van Houten drove to a registrars office to pick up the paperwork she would need to run for Congress. Doing so would mean giving up her role as an aerospace engineer at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratorya dream job that she had held for 13 years. Her plan was to pick up the papers, think about them over the weekend, and make a decision afterwards.

Sitting outside the building, she wavered, and decided to call her senators to voice her opposition against Betsy DeVosthe since-confirmed nominee for Secretary of Education. She got a busy tone. She tried again. Another busy tone. It was at the fifth one that I thought: Okay, I need to get to Washington and get a seat at the table, she says. That motivated me to get into the building and get on with it.

Van Houten is now officially running to represent the 34th Congressional District of California in the U.S. House. The seats former occupant, Xavier Becerra, was appointed as attorney general of California last December, and 23 candidates are now vying to replace him in a special election, to be held in April. The roster includes experienced politicians, activists, and lawyers. Van Houten, who is something of a wildcard, is the only rocket scientist.

Shortly after joining the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), she became the lead systems engineer on Team Xa crack team of engineers devoted to designing plans for innovative space missions. We designed every kind of space vehicle you could think of, designed to go to every space destination out there, she says. That led her to work on the Mars Curiosity Rover, as part of a group that checked if everything was working, so we could hand the keys to the science team. Shes now working on a similar rover that should land on Mars in 2020. I had intended to be there to the end, she says. But if her candidacy is successful, shell be abandoning Mars for Capitol Hill.

I spoke to Van Houten about her political ambitions. An edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Ed Yong: Why run for Congress?

Tracy Van Houten: Its been several years in the making. I love my job at the JPL, but Ive been feeling this calling, that something bigger was needed from me. I was hoping to make a run for the California state legislature in 2018 or 2020and then Trump was elected. And his first weeks in office brought executive order after executive order, and horrendous cabinet nominee after horrendous cabinet nominee. When this special election opened up, I thought I must accelerate my plans and do this now. Ive been very involved with my community and the Society of Women Engineers and public schools here. I realized that everything Ive been doing in my life has been leading to this point.

Yong: Tell me more about that path. What was the first step?

Van Houten: I did an engineering elective in high school, and although I was one of just two girls out of 40, I had the highest grades in the class. I loved the design process, and I always had this infatuation with space. So when I was 15, I became singularly focused on getting to JPL. I decided thats where I wanted to work. For the next several years, if I met anyone with any association with JPL, I would collect their business cards and write little notes saying: This persons uncles bosss niece knows someone who works at JPL. By my senior year in college, I had a notebook with 200 business cards, and I just carpet-bombed the network. And it worked.

Yong: So, youre in the job youve worked toward for years, you help to explore other worlds, and you are literally a rocket scientist. And youre given that up for a life in politics?

Van Houten: Everything Ive done so far in my career has been to study the big questions about the universe. And right now, that doesnt feel big enough. That contribution feels so pitiful when our rights and environment and families are on the line.

You need to have a seat at the table. The only way well change Washington is if we change the people who we send there. Engineers make up less than 2 percent of Congress, and I believe that if Im elected, Id be the first ever woman engineer in Congress. Its shocking to me that in 2017, that would be a novelty. So, part of this is about inspiring the next wave of young women, moms, and those with in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) backgrounds to run. Ive been a mentor for a long time and I can see in the faces of my mentees how deeply this election has affected them. I feel that this is the right response.

Yong: What specifically have you done to inspire the next wave of women in STEM?

Van Houten: At JPL, I have mentored nearly 40 summer students and early-career hires. They havent all been women, but certainly well over half have been. For the last two years, Ive been part of a team whose specific mission is to go to womens organizations and recruit women to JPL. Im also a life member of the Society of Women Engineers, and was a leader of that organization in college. Out of college, I helped to develop a program within the organization that identified and trained future leaders in engineering. That program has been in existence for 11 years now, and has graduated hundreds of women engineers. [Van Houten also won an Emerging Leader Award from the Society of Women Engineers in 2016.]

Yong: Speaking of which, have you seen Hidden Figures?

Van Houten: Yes! Theres also another book I love called Rise of the Rocket Girls, about female computers at the JPL.

Ive very aware of sexism throughout our industry, although my own experience at JPL has been a very positive one. Ive had to push back on minor things, like being given secretarial duties. Part of why I love Mars 2020 is that we have a huge team of phenomenal women, a lot of whom are in leadership positions. But the proportion of women in engineering is still just 14 percent. Its 19 percent in Congress, so if and when I get there, Im going to feel surrounded by women.

Yong: I note that, unlike other scientists and engineers who have expressed interest in running for office, science doesnt form the core part of your platform. Youre also taking specific stances on education, public transit, social justice, and affordable housing.

Van Houten: When Trump was elected, the thing that I was singularly most fearful about was the irreversible damage that could be done to our environment. But Im definitely not just doing this because of science. Ive spent my whole life trying to help people. Ive been a big supporter of public schools so I felt sick watching Betsy DeVos get confirmed. Ive stood for the rights of the LGBTQ community for a long time; in my early 20s, I protested and quit a job that I loved because of their discriminatory policies. And I come from a long line of strong women. My grandmother was a small business owner in San Diego, and she fought for civil rights there. She had a way of bringing warring groups together at the table to make positive change, and that has always been a guiding light in my life.

I think that the challenges in my district come down to affordable housing, making our public transportation system work, and water issues. Every time it rains, all that water goes flooding down our streets, into the Los Angeles River, and into the ocean. This isnt sustainable; we need to find a way to store our water appropriately. These are all areas where being an engineer will really help.

Yong: Recent debates about the March for Science have shown that many scientists still feel that science should be above politics. Would you disagree?

Van Houten: I agree that ideally, our STEM workforce should be focused on solving the problems of the world. I think all of us would probably much prefer to stay in our own domains and make change there. But unfortunately, thats not working for us very well. We cant say that science doesnt have a place in politics. Politics has dragged us in.

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The NASA Rocket Scientist Leaving Mars for Politics - The Atlantic

NASA’s Juno Probe Will Keep Its Distance From Jupiter – Seeker

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NASA's Juno spacecraft will remain in its present 53-day orbit around Jupiter due to a possible problem with the spacecraft's engine.

Scientists had hoped to tighten Juno's orbit so that it circles around Jupiter every 14 days. But a braking burn of Juno's engine, planned for last October, was canceled after two helium check valves, which are part of the plumbing for the spacecraft's main engine, did not operate as expected when the propulsion system was pressurized.

"Telemetry from the spacecraft indicated that it took several minutes for the valves to open, while it took only a few seconds during past main engine firings," NASA said in a status report Friday.

Engineers spent the next several months studying the problem, but in the end NASA decided it wasn't worth the risk since Juno can accomplish its mission objectives without changing its orbit.

RELATED: Juno Looks Into a Fierce Jupiter Storm During Dramatic Orbital Dive

"We looked at multiple scenarios that would place Juno in a shorter-period orbit, but there was concern that another main engine burn could result in a less-than-desirable orbit," project manager Rick Nybakken, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement.

"The bottom line is a burn represented a risk to completion of Juno's science objectives," he said.

"The science will be just as spectacular as with our original plan," added lead researcher Scott Bolton, with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Juno, which reached Jupiter on July 4, makes its key science measurements when it passes closest to the planet, whether that happens every 14 days or every 53.

"The worst-case scenario is I have to be patient and get the science slowly," Bolton said after the engine problem surfaced in October.

With the spacecraft healthy, managers likely will request funding from NASA to extend the mission, which currently is due to end on July 31, 2018, after what will now be a total of 12 close approaches for science.

Bolton pointed out that with Juno traveling farther away from Jupiter, it will spend less time near the planet's killer radiation belts, perhaps prolonging its life.

RELATED: Juno Successfully Buzzes Jupiter's Clouds for the Third Time

"This is significant because radiation has been the main life-limiting factor for Juno," Bolton said.

On close approach, Juno soars some 2,600 miles above Jupiter's cloud tops. Data collected during the flybys will help scientists figure out how much water the planet contains, a key piece of information for determining how and where the solar system's largest planet formed.

Image: NASA's Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiter's south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on Feb. 2, 2017, from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. This image was processed by citizen scientist John Landino. This enhanced color version highlights the bright high clouds and numerous meandering oval storms. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/John Landino

WATCH VIDEO: Juno Has Arrived At Jupiter! Now What?

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NASA's Juno Probe Will Keep Its Distance From Jupiter - Seeker

NASA’s audacious Europa missions are getting closer to reality – The Planetary Society (blog)

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Posted by Jason Davis

21-02-2017 15:43 CST

Topics: Europa, Europa lander, Europa Clipper

NASA is boldly going to Europahopefully.

Two separate missions to send a flyby spacecraft and lander to Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon are steadily gaining steam. Today, NASA said the flyby craft, internally dubbed the Europa Clipper, has officially entered the preliminary design phase, having cleared a program milestone called Key Decision Point B. The lander also took another step toward reality earlier this month, when a team of scientists formally delivered a report laying out the mission's science goals and some overall engineering concepts.

Together, the missions would attempt to discover whether Europa is habitable, and directly search for signs of lifesomething NASA hasn't done since the Viking missions to Mars in the mid-1970s.

Neither mission is fully funded. And even in a best-case scenario, the lander mission wouldn't touch down on Europa until 2031 or 2032, meaning it could be 15 years before we know whether something is swimming under Europa's icy crust. Will the wait pay off? I spoke with two experts about this audacious pair of spacecraft, and looked into what needs to happen to make them a reality.

NASA / JPL-Caltech

The first thing I learned about the Europa Clipper is that the spacecraft's name is more than a mere nod to the romantic sailing ships of yesteryearit's an apt description of how the mission works.

The radiation environment around Jupiter is hard on spacecraft, due to the planet's large magnetic field, which traps charged particles from the sun. Rather than orbiting Europa in the heart of that radiation, the Clipper will fly around Jupiter in large, egg-shaped orbits that are mostly outside the harmful radiation belts. Over the course of two to three years, the Clipper will dive into the radiation 45 times, whizzing past Europa to gather data before the spacecraft then, as Dipak Srinivasan puts it, "gets out of Dodge."

Srinivasan is the RF telecommunications lead for Clipper at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He told me the spacecraft will behave like an ancient sailing ship speeding between trade stops. After a Europa flyby, the Clipper will spend about three weeks in safe harbor beyond Jupiter's radiation, transmitting science data back to Earth. Srinivasan said these signals serve double duty: Not only do they carry mission data, ground controllers measure their Doppler shifts to pinpoint the spacecraft's location.

The Clipper mission's goal is to assess whether Europa is habitable.

"We really want to understand the composition of Europa's interior and exterior, and see whether that composition is commensurate with what we think is required for life," Srinivasan said.

Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's Moon. Its surface is an icy shell 25 kilometers thick, sitting atop an ocean about 100 kilometers deep that contains twice as much water as our own. Scientists suspect the ocean is salty, and stays liquefied because of the immense tidal forces exerted by mighty Jupiter.

"Wherever there's water on Earth, there's life," said Srinivasan. "Given the fact that there is liquid water on Europa, and the fact that it's been there for billions of years, makes it one of the likeliest places for life in our solar system."

During each flyby, the Clipper will scan Europa with an array of science instruments. There's an ice-penetrating radar, a magnetometer to measure the ocean's salinity, and a thermal camera to look for warm spots near the surface. Other instruments will examine plumes of saltwater that may periodically spray into space. Cameras aboard the Clipper will deliver views of the surface in resolutions down to a meter per pixel; our best views of Europa so far come from the Galileo mission, and have a maximum resolution of 6 meters per pixel.

The mission is being jointly developed between the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"It's kind of neat," Srinivasan said. "You have an all-star cast of people across both institutions, both of which have significant deep space experience. You're kind of pulling from a really, large bench and you're coming up with really clever solutions on how to make this work."

NASA / JPL-Caltech

In June 2016, NASA convened a science definition team, or SDT, to investigate what kind of questions a lander could answer on the surface of Europa. The SDT was also tasked with defining some of the lander's high-level engineering and instrument requirements.

Earlier this month, the SDT released its 264-page report, with this grin-inducing quote on page six:

"Europa may hold the clues to one of NASA's long standing goalsto determine whether or not we are alone in the universe. The highest-level science goal of the mission presented here is to search for evidence of life on Europa."

The implications of that goalwhich was set by officials at NASA headquartersare stunning. The agency has not directly searched for life on another world since the Viking missions to Mars in the mid-1970s. The dual Viking landers contained three biological experiments that tried to metabolize soil samples. The results were inconclusive, and in the decades since, there has been a lot of debate on how to go about detecting extraterrestrial lie.

Deciding how a Europa lander would search for life was "a little surreal," said Sarah Hrst, a planetary scientist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University who served on the SDT.

"Would this be life? What is life? It's not a conversation I normally have on a daily basis," she told me.

For guidance, the team included experts familiar with subglacial lakes in Antarctica, and scientists who study extremophilesorganisms that thrive in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.

The Europa lander would collect five, 7-cubic-centimeter surface samples, scraped from 10 centimeters below the surface. The samples would be analyzed with a suite of instruments, including a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer to detect organics, a microscope system to look for microbial cells, and an ultraviolet spectrometer to characterize possible organic material.

It would likely take a combination of measurements, said Hrst, to conclude life might be present.

"As far as we know, right now there's not one measurement where you say, 'Okay, if we measure that, then there's life,'" she said.

Since the lander's samples would only come from 10 centimeters below Europa's radiation-flooded surface, what are the chances of finding anything alive?

Hrst said reconnaissance work by the Clipper spacecraft might yield younger sections of ice that have been bombarded by less radiation. Additionally, not all areas of the moon are irradiated at the same level. Europa, like Earth's moon, is tidally locked, meaning the same side always faces Jupiter.

And even if the lander scoops up some life that, as Hrst puts it, is "no longer intact," there might be leftover chemical footprints showing something was once there.

"Even samples that have been highly radiation-processed on Earth still retain chemical signatures that you could interpret as a evidence of life," she said.

NASA / JPL / Ted Stryk

NASA officials say the Clipper mission is still on track for a mid-2022 launch.

Using a powerful boost from NASA's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, the Clipper would fly directly to Jupiter and arrive in 2025. Without SLS, the journey would take five years longer, and require flybys of Venus and Earth to reach the right trajectory.

Flying past Venus means flying closer to the Sun. Flying closer to the Sun means extra heat shielding. And extra heat shielding means a heavier spacecraft. Though Congress has ordered NASA to use SLS for both the Clipper and lander missions, the agency is still keeping the extra heat shielding in the Clipper's design for nowjust in case anything derails development of the yet-to-be-flown rocket.

Without SLS, the lander as currently designed might not be able to fly at all, according to the SDT report. That's because the spacecraft will be heavy. In addition to the lander itself, there are three other components: a carrier and relay stage, a de-orbit stage, and a descent stage. Officials aren't publicly saying how heavy the entire package might be, but it would currently require a deep space thruster burn and Earth gravity assist to put it on the correct path to Jupitereven with the added boost from SLS. The earliest the lander would launch is 2024 or 2025, putting it at Jupiter around 2030.

Once in orbit around Jupiter, the lander spacecraft would spend 18 months slowly spiraling inward to Europa, swinging past Callisto and Ganymede on the way. At Europa, the carrier and relay orbiter would separate and act as a data relay satellite. The Clipper, ideally still operating in an extended mission, would be used as a backup relay. The lander would not have the capability to talk to Earth on its own.

Remember the Curiosity spacecraft's seven minutes of terror, during which it plunged to the Martian surface in a harrowing process known as entry, descent and landing, or EDL? Since Europa has no atmosphere, and the descent begins in orbit, a new acronym is in play: DDL, which stands for de-orbit, descent and landing.

First, the de-orbit stage will pull the descent stage and lander out of orbit. As the thruster-powered descent stage approaches the surface, it will perform the same skycrane maneuver that deposited Curiosity onto Mars, where a tether lowers the lander. The descent stage then cuts loose and flys away for an intentional crash-landing.

Once the lander is safely on the surface, scientists will have to work fast to gather their data. The spacecraft is powered only by a 45-kilowatt-hour battery designed to last between 20 to 40 days. Why not find a way to stay longer? Because the carrier relay orbiter, which will be bathed in Jupiter's radiation, is expected to fail in just a single month.

Federal fiscal year 2017 began back on October 1, 2016, but Congress has not yet passed a 2017 budget. As of now, with the notable exception of Orion and the Space Launch System, NASA is operating under 2016 funding levels.

In 2016, Congress earmarked $175 million for the Clipper mission. In proposed 2017 spending bills, the House allocated $260 million to be used for both the Clipper and lander, while the Senate did not mention the missions at all. One source I spoke with said NASA is internally estimating a cost of $2 billion for the Clipper alone, and that doesn't include the cost of the Space Launch System, which could have have a price tag between $500 million and $1 billion, according to statements by various NASA officials.

That means that despite the progress, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before humanity gets a chance to search for life on Europa. But NASA missions have endured far worse; look no further than the 16-year struggle to get the New Horizons mission to Pluto on the launchpad.

And in this case, the end result could be a confirmation of life beyond Earth.

"Just imagine if that ends up being the case," Srinivasan said. "That's transformative, to be able to say that we lived in a time when that discovery was made."

Or read more blog entries about: Europa, Europa lander, Europa Clipper

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NASA's audacious Europa missions are getting closer to reality - The Planetary Society (blog)

Nano-printing process could dramatically increase processing power – Cosmos

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Sheets of semiconducting oxide just a couple of atoms thick look set to revolutionise the electronics industry after researchers perfected a manufacturing process that works in real world conditions.

A team led by Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from the School of Engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, has developed a new technique that uses liquid metals to create ultra-thin integrated circuits. The results have been published in Nature Communications.

Although various methods of nano-printing have been successful in laboratory situations, they either require very high temperatures to operate, or defeat attempts to scale them up beyond proof of concept.

The key to the teams success lies in using the metals gallium and indium. Both have low melting points 30 C and 156 C respectively so they dont require specialist apparatus in order to be liquidised. When melted, they produce an atom-thin surface layer of oxide, and it is this that the researchers have been able to transfer onto a new substrate, creating an electronic wafer.

The wafers are just 1.5 nanometres thick, or 66,666 times thinner than a piece of paper.

The manufacturing process is scalable, so can be adapted to the production of computer chips which are big things compared to nano-scale objects.

Kalantar-zadeh says the invention will dramatically change the capabilities of electronic devices. Computers and smartphones, he notes, have gained little in processing power in the past half-decade because their circuits have reached the limits of complexity under current manufacturing protocols.

"That is why this new 2D printing technique is so important creating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs, he says.

"It will allow for the next revolution in electronics."

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Nano-printing process could dramatically increase processing power - Cosmos

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86 – MIT News

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Mildred S. Dresselhaus, a celebrated and beloved MIT professor whose research helped unlock the mysteries of carbon, the most fundamental of organic elements earning her the nickname queen of carbon science died Monday at age 86.

Dresselhaus, a solid-state physicist who was Institute Professor Emerita of Physics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was also nationally known for her work to develop wider opportunities for women in science and engineering. She died at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a brief period of poor health.

Yesterday, we lost a giant an exceptionally creative scientist and engineer who was also a delightful human being, MIT President L. Rafael Reif wrote in an email today sharing the news of Dresselhauss death with the MIT community. Among her many firsts, in 1968, Millie became the first woman at MIT to attain the rank of full, tenured professor. She was the first solo recipient of a Kavli Prize and the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering.

Millie was also, to my great good fortune, the first to reveal to me the wonderful spirit of MIT, Reif added. In fact, her down-to-earth demeanor was a major reason I decided to join this community. Like dozens of young faculty and hundreds of MIT students over the years, I was lucky to count Millie as my mentor.

A winner of both the Presidential Medal of Freedom (from President Barack Obama, in 2014) and the National Medal of Science (from President George H.W. Bush, in 1990), Dresselhaus was a member of the MIT faculty for 50 years. Beyond campus, she held a variety of posts that placed her at the pinnacle of the nations scientific enterprise.

Dresselhauss research made fundamental discoveries in the electronic structure of semi-metals. She studied various aspects of graphite and authored a comprehensive book on fullerenes, also known as buckyballs. She was particularly well known for her work on nanomaterials and other nanostructural systems based on layered materials, like graphene, and more recently beyond graphene, like transition metal dichalcogenides and phosphorene. Her work on using quantum structures to improve thermoelectric energy conversion reignited this research field.

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus recounted her career for an MIT oral history project in 2007.

Video: MIT Video Productions

A strong advocate for women in STEM

As notable as her research accomplishments was Dresselhauss longstanding commitment to promoting gender equity in science and engineering, and her dedication to mentorship and teaching.

In 1971, Dresselhaus and a colleague organized the first Womens Forum at MIT as a seminar exploring the roles of women in science and engineering. She received a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1973 to support her efforts to encourage women to enter traditionally male dominated fields of science and engineering. For a number of years, she led an MIT seminar in engineering for first-year students; designed to build the confidence of female students, it always drew a large audience of both men and women.

Just two weeks ago, General Electric released a 60-second video featuring Dresselhaus that imagined a world where female scientists like her were celebrities, to both celebrate her achievements as well as to encourage more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Dresselhaus co-authored eight books and about 1,700 papers, and supervised more than 60 doctoral students.

Millies dedication to research was unparalleled, and her enthusiasm was infectious, says Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and head of MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). For the past half-century, students, faculty and researchers at MIT and around the world have been inspired by her caring advice. I was very fortunate to have had her as a mentor, and as an active member of the EECS faculty. She made such a huge impact on MIT, and her contributions will long be remembered.

Diverted from teaching to physics

Born on Nov. 11, 1930, in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus attended Hunter College, receiving her bachelors degree in 1951 and then winning a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Cambridge University.

While she had planned to become a teacher, Rosalyn Yalow who would go on to win the 1977 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine encouraged Dresselhaus to pursue physics instead. She ultimately earned her MA from Radcliffe College in 1953 and her PhD in 1958 from the University of Chicago, where she studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. From 1958 to 1960, Dresselhaus was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University.

Dresselhaus began her 57-year association with MIT in the Solid State Division of Lincoln Laboratory in 1960. In 1967, she joined what was then called the Department of Electrical Engineering as the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Visiting Professor, a chair reserved for appointments of distinguished female scholars. She became a permanent member of the electrical engineering faculty in 1968, and added an appointment in the Department of Physics in 1983.

In 1985, Dresselhaus became the first female Institute Professor, an honor bestowed by the MIT faculty and administration for distinguished accomplishments in scholarship, education, service, and leadership. There are usually no more than 12 active Institute Professors on the MIT faculty.

Scientific leadership and awards

In addition to her teaching and research, Dresselhaus served in numerous scientific leadership roles, including as the director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy; as president of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; as chair of the governing board of the American Institute of Physics; as co-chair of the recent Decadal Study of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics; and as treasurer of theNational Academy of Sciences.

Aside from her Medal of Freedom the highest award bestowed by the U.S. government upon American civilians and her Medal of Science, given to the nations top scientists, Dresselhauss extensive honors included the IEEE Medal of Honor for leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering; the Enrico Fermi Award from the U.S. Department of Energy for her leadership in condensed matter physics, in energy and science policy, in service to the scientific community, and in mentoring women in the sciences; and the prestigious Kavli Prize for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures. She was also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Active on campus

Always an active and vibrant presence at MIT, Dresselhaus remained a notable influence on campus until her death. She continued to publish scientific papers on topics such as the development of 2-D sheets of thin electronic materials, and played a role in shaping MIT.nano, a new 200,000-square-foot center for nanoscience and nanotechnology scheduled to open in 2018.

In 2015, Dresselhaus delivered the keynote address at Rising Stars in EECS, a three-day workshop for female graduate students and postdocs who are considering careers in academic research. Her remarks, on the importance of persistence, described her experience studying with Enrico Fermi. Three-quarters of the students in that program, she said, failed to pass rigorous exam requirements.

It was what you did that counted, Dresselhaus told the aspiring scientists, and that followed me through life.

Dresselhaus is survived by her husband, Gene, and by her four children and their families: Marianne and her husband, Geoffrey, of Palo Alto, California; Carl, of Arlington, Massachusetts; Paul and his wife, Maria, of Louisville, Colorado; and Eliot and his wife, Franoise, of France. She is also survived by her five grandchildren Elizabeth, Clara, Shoshi, Leora, and Simon and by her many students, whom she cared for very deeply.

Gifts in her memory may be made to MIT.nano.

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Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86 - MIT News

Molecular Medicine – Introduction

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The Department of Molecular Medicine encompasses a diverse scope of basic and translational research. The faculty on our La Jolla and Florida campuses leverages the fields of chemistry, structure and biology to understand cellular processes and disease mechanisms at the molecular level, which lays the foundation for the development of novel therapies to counter disease. Ongoing research of our faculty address major therapeutic areas that include diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, retinal degeneration, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and diseases of aging.

A special emphasis within the Molecular Medicine Department is placed on state of the art chemical biology to dissect signaling pathways and transcriptional programs, and identify molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. Multidisciplinary approaches and ready access to advanced instrumentation for next-generation sequencing, proteomics, structural biology and high-throughput drug screening offers unique opportunities to discover new therapeutic targets and identify drug leads.

Interests in cancer cover most major human malignancies including breast, lung, ovarian, leukemia, pancreatic and prostate carcinoma, and glioblastoma. Research conducted involves the study of tumor cell biology, metabolism, development, signal transduction pathways, oncogenes and tumor suppressors, apoptosis, the DNA damage response, autophagy, invasion and metastasis, chemo-resistance, and the interplay between aging and cancer.

Faculty engaged in research on age related diseases are focused on understanding alterations in whole-body metabolism that lead to metabolic diseases and identifying the physiological changes that lead to physical and cognitive decline during aging. This knowledge may then be applied to developing therapies targeting metabolic disease and age-dependent functional impairment, with the goal of maintaining optimal health throughout lifespan.

Faculty and their research groups have access to multidisciplinary methodology and model systems for target identification, validation and pre-clinical studies, and options access to optimize the leads for target validation through close interactions with medicinal chemists and pharmacologists at TSRI.

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Molecular Medicine - Introduction

Two Pore Guys to Present at Point-of-Care Diagnostics Symposium at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference – Yahoo Finance

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SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Two Pore Guys, Inc., (2PG) today announced the company will showcase its sample-in/results-out molecular diagnostic platform at the Point-of-Care Diagnostics symposium, part of the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference in San Francisco, on February 23rd at the Moscone South Convention Center.

The symposium is comprised of both developers and end-users of point of care (PoC) technologies, who will examine barriers to entry and proposed solutions for this critical marketplace. CEO Dan Heller and CSO Trevor Morin will discuss and demonstrate 2PGs technology in a presentation titled, Handheld, Single Molecule Sensitive Diagnostic Platform, taking place from 12:40-1:15 p.m. PT in room 305.

Multiple barriers to entry have historically limited the commercial success of PoC diagnostics, such as rapid turnaround time, off-grid power sources, clinical sensitivity, and a broad menu of diagnostic tests. 2PGs battery operated, hand-held device has single-molecule sensitivity and can measure targets ranging from small molecules and proteins, to DNA or RNA, including the presence of specific genes and mutations from bacteria, viruses, people, animals, and any other life form. The companys novel business model allows third-parties to develop assays for its platform. Large diagnostic companies can even adapt reagents already used in reference lab systems, allowing for a broad menu of tests to be available for a PoC market.

Heller commented: Molecular diagnostics is the gold standard for confirmatory diagnosis of infectious diseases, cancer, and other critical conditions, but providing PoC technologies that satisfy clinical sensitivity levels and can also be used outside of labs at very low price points has been challenging. Until now, no PoC solution has achieved single-molecule sensitivity at a price point that can attain broad market adoption, while also addressing multiple barriers to entry. We believe our solution for the PoC market will open many exciting opportunities for developers and end-users alike.

2PG first formally introduced its platform last month when it announced a collaboration with UCSF to use its hand-held device to detect cell-free tumor DNA from blood and urine samples from cancer patients. The company also presented its platform in January at both the BioWeekSF series of conferences and at the Precision Medicine World Conference in Silicon Valley, where it won the prestigious Most Promising Company award.

About Two Pore Guys

Two Pore Guys (2PG) develops single-molecule sensing technologies that employ solid-state nanopores and biochemical reagents to create a versatile sample-in/results-out detection platform. 2PGs first product is a handheld device that can use reagents from existing molecular or analyte diagnostic assays and provide accuracy and sensitivity rivaling sophisticated laboratory equipment. The battery-operated device is ideal for point-of-use applications. The easy-to-use platform is designed to sync with a smartphone or computer for further analysis and data sharing, including integrationwith electronic health records. Founded in 2011, the company is based in Santa Cruz, Calif. More information, including videos demonstrating the device, is available at twoporeguys.com.

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Two Pore Guys to Present at Point-of-Care Diagnostics Symposium at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference - Yahoo Finance

Amazing medicine – The News International

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If we cut off the tail of a lizard, it grows back. If we cut off the hand of a human being, it does not grow back. Why not? This question has perplexed scientists for a long time. Recently scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Arizona State University (ASU) in the US identified three tiny RNA switches (known as microRNAs) which turn genes on and off and are responsible for the regeneration of tails in the green lizard. Now researchers are hoping that using the next generation genomic DNA and computer analysis will lead to discoveries of new therapeutic approaches to switch on similar regenerative genes in human beings.

Micro RNAs are able to control many genes at the same time. They have been compared to an orchestra conductor controlling and directing many musicians. Hundreds of genes (musicians playing the orchestra of life), controlled by a few micro RNA switches, have been identified that are responsible in the regenerative process. This may well mark the beginning of a new era in which it may be possible to regenerate cartilage in knees, repair spinal cords and amputated limbs.

Tissue regeneration has become an attractive field of science, triggered by exciting advances in stem cell technologies. Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that are then converted into various types of cells such as heart, kidney or skin through a process known as differentiation. They can divide into more stem cells and provide a very effective mechanism for repair of damaged tissues in the body. The developing embryo contains stem cells which are then transformed into specialised cells as the embryo develops. They can be obtained by extraction from the bone marrow, adipose tissue or blood, particularly the blood from the umblical cord after birth.

Stem cells are now finding use in a growing number of therapies. For instance leukaemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. To treat leukaemia, one approach is to get rid of the diseased white blood cells and replace them with healthy cells. This may be done by a bone marrow transplant through which the patients bone marrow stem cells are replaced with those from a healthy, matching donor. If the transplant is successful, the stem cells migrate into the patients bone marrow resulting in the production of new, healthy white blood cells that replace the abnormal cells. Stem cells can now be artificially grown and then transformed (differentiated) into the heart, kidney, nerve or other typed of cells.

The field of regenerative medicine is developing at a fast pace. It involves the replacement, engineering or regeneration of human tissues and organs so that their normal function can be restored. Tissues and organs can also be grown in the laboratory if the body cannot heal itself. If the cells of the organ being grown are derived from the patients own cells, the possibility of rejection of the transplanted organ is minimised. Stem cells may also be used to regenerate organs.

Each year about 130,000 organs, mostly kidneys, are transplanted from one human being to another. The process of growing organs artificially has been greatly accelerated by the advent of 3D bioprinting. This involves the use of 3D printing technologies through which a human organ, liver or kidney, is produced by printing it with cells, layer-by-layer. This became possible when it was discovered that human cells can be sprayed through the nozzles of an inkjet printer without destroying or damaging them. Tissues and organs can thus be produced and transplanted into humans. Joints, jaw bones and ligaments can also be produced in this manner.

Initially, the work was confined to animals when ears, bones and muscle tissues were produced by bioprinting and then successfully transplanted into animals. Even prosthetic ovaries of mice were produced and transplanted so that the recipient mice could conceive and give birth later. While gonads have not been produced by bioprinting in humans, blood vessels have already been produced by the printing process and successfully transplanted into monkeys. Considerable work is also going on in the production of human knee cartilage pads through the bioprinting process. Wear and tear of the cartilage results in difficulties in walking, particular in older age groups, and often requires knee replacement through surgeries. The development of technologies to replace the damaged cartilages with new cartilages made by bioprinting could prove to be invaluable.

Another area of active research in this field is the production of human skin by bioprinting which may be used for treating burns and ulcers. Technologies have been developed to spray stem cells derived from the patient directly on the areas of the body where the skin is needed. In this way, stem cells help skin cells regrow under suitable conditions. Similar progress is being made in generating liver, kidney and heart tissues so that the long waiting time for donors can be circumvented.

When will we be able to print entire human organs? It has been estimated that complete human kidneys and livers should become commercially available through the bioprinting process within five to seven years. Hearts will probably take longer because of their more complex internal structure. However, one thing is clear: a huge revolution is now taking place in the field of regenerative medicine, triggered by spectacular advances in stem cell research. This presents a wonderful opportunity for learning and developing expertise in this field for us in our country.

In Pakistan a number of important steps have been taken in this fast evolving field. One of them is the establishment of a first rate facility for stem cell research in the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) in the University of Karachi. This institution has already earned an international reputation because of its outstanding publications in this field.

A second important development is that plans to set up an Institute for Translational Regenerative Medicine at PCMD so that Pakistan remains at the cutting edge in this fast emerging field are now under way.

Such initiatives can however only contribute to the process of socio-economic development if they operate under an ecosystem that is designed to promote the establishment of a strong knowledge economy.

Pakistan spends only about 0.3 percent of its GDP on science and about two percent of its GDP on education, bringing the nations ranking to the lowest 10 countries in the world. This is largely due to the stranglehold of the feudal system over our democracy. It is only by tapping into our real wealth our children that Pakistan can emerge from the quagmire of illiteracy and poverty and stand with dignity in the comity of nations.

The writer is chairman of UN ESCAP Committee on Science Technology & Innovation and former chairman of the HEC. Email: [emailprotected]

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First breath shapes the lungs’s immune system, Health News, ET … – ETHealthworld.com

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Before birth, lungs are filled with a germ-free liquid, and it is only with the first breath that they abruptly expand in order to take over the oxygenation of blood. This sudden exposure to the outside environment includes incoming airborne microbes and pollutants, which requires the lungs to develop appropriate defense mechanisms, while maintaining the gas exchange.

The postnatal immunological development of the lungs remained largely unknown until a group of scientists at CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Medical University of Vienna shed light at a complex immune program that starts right after birth: the study published in Cell Reports reveals how first breath-induced interleukin-33 signaling shapes the performance of pulmonary immune cells and influences anti-bacterial defenses.

Vienna, February 21, 2017 : The lung is an important interface between the body and the outside environment: with each breath, a surface of roughly 100 square meters exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide. More than 10,000 liters of air pass adult lungs every day and with this come numerous viruses, bacteria and pollutants, which need to be prevented from entering the body.

To defend the organism from these intruders, the lungs harbor their own arsenal of highly specialized immune cells that are equipped to maintain the balance between host defense and tissue quiescence. However, how this balanced immune homeostasis in lungs emerged after birth, was largely unexplored. Now, for the first time, the group of Sylvia Knapp, Director of Medical Affairs at CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Professor of Infection Biology at the Medical University of Vienna showed with the help of mouse models that the very first breath of a newborn releases crucial signals that shape the lifelong immunological milieu of lungs.

The study, published in Cell Reports (DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2017.01.071), reveals that the mechanical forces of spontaneous ventilation at birth lead to the release of interleukin (IL)-33, a cytokine with a wide-range of effects: So-called type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) follow the IL-33 signal and migrate into the lung tissue, where they release IL-13, another cytokine. This second signal determines the faith of alveolar macrophages by inducing the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype.

ILC2-cells are crucial in defending the lungs against parasites or influenza viruses, but little was known about their role in lung homeostasis, first author Simona Saluzzo, PhD Student funded by the CCHD Program at CeMM and the Medical University of Vienna, explains. Now we understand that right after birth, ILC2 are responsible for the differentiation of alveolar macrophages into specialized cells that keep the immune system in check and ensure that the lungs stay calm and healthy to ensure proper gas exchange.

These ILC2-induced effects protect the lungs from excessive inflammation to daily encountered environmental triggers but there is a catch, senior author Sylvia Knapp emphasizes: We could show in our study that the described mechanisms are crucial in achieving lung quiescence after the first contact with the outside world. However, these processes at the same time increase the susceptibility to bacterial infections, such as caused by pneumococci. In other words: The mechanism that maintains the lung function of gas exchange at the same time explains why bacterial pneumonia is the primary cause of death by an infectious disease in Western countries.

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Oman’s Move Toward Personalized Medicine – Al-Fanar Media

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MUSCATArab scientists should start solving Arab health problems, say a number of experts in the region. Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat is taking this idea to heart by actively pursuing a medical research agenda that uses information collected from Omani patients in Omani hospitals, instead of relying on European and American datasets(a common practice in the Arab world).

While there are enthusiastic researchers in other parts of the region who are keen to follow suit, they say its hard to convince funders of the merits.

There is a widespread lack of data in the Middle East, which forces academics in all fields of research to use Western data. But when it comes to medical research, this means the region is missing out on the personalized medicine movement, through which treatments and screenings are tailored to specific populations based on their genetics.

Arab populations are more likely to suffer from genetic diseases and illnesses influenced by their genessuch as diabetesthan their European counterparts. Thats what makes it important to treat according to the genetic setup of the patientand to do that you need to understand your population, so you can personalize treatment, says Moiz Bakhiet, director of the Princess al-Jawhara Center for Molecular Medicine, Genetics and Inherited Disorders in Bahrain.

But if scientists are largely failing to use data taken from Arab patients then that understanding is unlikely to ever materialize, and the important role of the Arab genome is neglected in the development of treatments.

Meanwhile, researchers in the West continue to hunt for cancer cures, HIV therapies and fertility treatments based mainly on data collected from European patients, which means any drugs that may result from their work will essentially be designed to work best with European DNA.

The Arab world should do the same, says Fahad Al-Zadjali, assistant dean of academic affairs at Sultan Qaboos University College of Medicine. We cannot trust that what works best for other populations will also automatically work best for us.

But for the moment, many of the most noteworthy and cutting-edge research projects in the region are simply adding to the efforts of Western scientists by using data collected from beyond the Arab world. For example, a recent study from Qatar University showed that thyroid cancer is over-treated to the point that it very often doesnt extend the lives of patients yet still inflicts a number of unpleasant side effectsbut the researchers had to use data from Australian autopsies because the relevant database doesnt exist in the Arab world.

Thats not to say medical research in the region that relies on foreign data does not help Arab patients. Undoubtedly it doeshuman genomes are not so different that drugs and treatments will only work for certain ethnicities. But it does mean that the research doesnt help as much as it could if data from Arab patients was readily available.

Bakhiet says this has to change. The Arab world has to get better at collecting data from Arab patients and making that data more accessible to researchers.

Others agree. Mohammed al-Buloshi, an associate researcher at Sultan Qaboos Universitys Department of Immunology and Microbiology, says his university is making an effort to promote personalized medicine in Oman through research.

There isnt much investigation going on in the Arab world, especially in Oman, and the reason is known to be a lack of funds. But now Arab governments are starting to focus on this research, he says.

Sultan Qaboos University, based on the outskirts of Muscat, is now more likely to allocate funding to medical research that collects and analyzes data locally, says Al-Zadjali.

The government gives priority to research that has relevance to Oman, he explains. The ministry of health is pushing this focus. The university has followed the ministrys lead and now pursues a research agenda to satisfy the ministrys aims.

The aim of our research at SQU is to find solutions for problems in our community, al-Buloshi says. So many diseases affect Omanis differently, and so the standard procedures may need to differ from other countries. Thats why SQU focuses on personalized medicine.

Al-Buloshi is currently investigating what may cause fertility problems and miscarriages, also known as spontaneous abortions, in Omani women.

Hes been taking blood samples to screen for immune responses to certain strains of bacteria in women whohave miscarried compared to women who experience a healthy pregnancy. He has found that a number of bacteria are significantly associated with miscarriages. He hopes to eventually screen pregnant women in Oman to see if they have a large number of these bacteria and if so to offer antibiotics or dietary advice.

Al-Buloshi says others in the region could look to Sultan Qaboos University as an example of how to encourage personalized medicine. To further the progress of this field, he says its important to stress the tangible results that can come from the research. Its something thatcan directly benefit the Arab world. We want to apply what we find for the benefit of our population.

That is useful information to people like Bakhiet who are trying to push personalized medicine in their own countries. Im trying to convince the authorities that we should establish a Bahrain Genome Project, he says. The idea would be to eventually decode the sequence to every Bahrainis DNA, but starting with just 1,000 people. He estimates it will cost about $5 million to get the ball rolling.

It sounds expensive, but it could really change lives, he says.

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‘Agents of SHIELD’ recap: ‘Self Control’ – EW.com

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Last weeks cliffhanger promised a coming stand-off between Fitz, Simmons, and a group of LMDs that replaced their team. Before we check back in on that, though, this episode begins with a look at those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in their suspended animation, and then at the Superior himself. Anton Ivanov survived his battle with Daisy, but just barely. Hes now laid out on an operating table, where AIDA is getting ready to fix him. Ever the Darwinian eugenicist, he makes her promise not to mess with his mind or upload him to the Framework like the others. She agrees, but the changes she has in mind sound even more extreme than that. She soon picks up a chainsaw and fires it up.

Now we get a look at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where Fitz and Simmons are figuring out how to interact with their newly replaced teammates (including the repaired Director Mace). Mack LMD wants to bring all Inhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. assets to base, presumably to kill them. He also suggests splitting up, but Fitz and Simmons insist on sticking together.

In Coulsons office, he and the resuscitated May LMD are talking about snow, leading May to realize that even though theyre both LMDs, theyre substantively different. Whereas the May LMD was ignorant about her true nature and only realized it gradually, Coulson knows hes a robot, and hes fine with it. Proselytizing for the Framework, he tells May its a place where you can wipe away your big regrets. His, for instance, was committing to the spy game in the first place, instead of pursuing a more normal civilian life. May LMD seems to consider picking Andrew over Phil one of her big regrets, and Coulson LMD tells her that in the Framework, they can be together.

As they go to the lab together, Fitz and Simmons realize that Radcliffe must have used the Deathlok eyes in the May LMD to study everyones biological data, enabling him to prepare their LMD bodies ahead of time and then switch them out during last weeks operation. Unfortunately, as they talk, FitzSimmons head through another LMD detector, and it goes off. Each naturally suspects the other of being the robot, but Simmons is the one who draws a gun. She insists that Fitz cut his wrist (non-lethally) to prove hes not a robot. He does so, but he starts tearing up and worrying that he accidentally severed a key artery. This gets Simmons to lower her guard, and Fitz attacks, revealing himself as the LMD. So much for that you and me against the world vibe they had going.

Fitzs LMD transformation is confirmed in the next sequence, which finds Radcliffe waking up from the Framework and glimpsing the real Fitz strapped in beside him. Hes mad at AIDA for waiting more than 24 hours to wake him up, but she says she didnt. Seems the Framework has a bit of time distortion going on. Combined with the fact that its hard to separate from the real world, Framework trips pose a real danger of losing oneself doubly so because AIDA has specifically rejiggered the Framework to take its inhabitants through their greatest regret. Radcliffe is opposed, but he spends most of his time these days in the Framework anyway. In his absence, AIDA is slowly asserting more authority and vision. Their conversation ends with AIDA off-handedly revealing the other S.H.I.E.L.D. member not yet in their possession, and its Daisy, not Fitz.

NEXT: Ka-me-ha-me-ha

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'Agents of SHIELD' recap: 'Self Control' - EW.com

Qualcomm and Intel reveal LTE modems with 1Gbps download speeds – Android Authority (blog)

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Even as wireless carriers and smartphone makers hype up their plans to offer 5G speeds sometime in the future, the current 4G LTE technology continues to get refined and improved. Today, ahead of the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, chip rivals Qualcomm and Intel have both announced new LTE modems with support for faster network speeds.

November 24, 2016

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE chipset is the 7th such product from the company to support LTE networks, and the second that uses itsGigabit LTE technology. According to Qualcomm, the modem can support download speeds up to1.2Gbps. It can achieve these kinds of speeds through the use of carrier aggregation, which allows a device with the modem to access as many as12 unique streams of data, each with speeds of up to100Mbps. Upload speeds with the Snapdragon X20, while not as fast as its download rates, are still pretty solid at up to 150Mbps.

Sounds good, doesnt it? However, there are a few things to keep in mind. The biggest one is that theSnapdragon X20 LTE chipset has just started sampling to phone makers, and they are not expected to be put inside new handsets until mid-2018. Another thing to keep in mind is that current LTE networks will likely not be able to handle 1.2Gbps speeds in the real world.

Intel is not sitting down and letting its big competitor have all the LTE fun today. The company also announced its new smartphone modem, the Intel XMM 7560, which is its 5th such product to support LTE networks. TheXMM 7560 is supposed to handle download speeds exceeding 1Gbps and upload speeds up to225Mbps. Like Qualcomms new modem, theIntel XMM 7560 also uses carrier aggregation to achieve these new speed records.

As with Qualcomms solution, the claimed speeds on Intels chips sound good but likely wont be able to be reproduced in the real world on current LTE networks. Intel says theXMM 7560 will start sampling to smartphone makers sometime in the first half of 2017. Once again, that means we wont likely see any devices with Intels hardware inside until sometime in 2018.

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Qualcomm and Intel reveal LTE modems with 1Gbps download speeds - Android Authority (blog)

Breakdown In Immigration Screening: The Devil Is In The Details – Daily Caller

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5495192

As the activist and their judges in the 9thCircuit Court wrestle with President Donald J. Trump over immigration and executive orders, one of the most dangerous mistakesconsistently being repeated by politicians and academics is still being overlooked. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) with real, recent operational experience are not consulted and detailed solutions are rarely considered.

Perhaps this is best exposedwhen considering the immigration screening issue. Call them immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers. it really doesnt matter because there is a breakdown of epic proportions when it comes to fingerprinting immigration applicants and collecting data of any type in their country of origin and uploading and running that data through the Department of Defense (DOD) secured data basis that contains information on an unknown number of dangerous people that have been caught and released in a war zone, or people that may be associated with them.

Currently in the United States there arehundreds ofongoing investigations of individuals that have come to the US (some as long as 10 years ago) that were originally caught by the DOD in the Middle East making bombs, planting IEDs etc. The DOD fingerprinted these individualsbut that information was neverput in databases that are shared with State Department or Border patrol. Because remote locationswhere immigrants are submitting their applications for admission into the US oftendo not offer the technologyto scan fingerprints or upload data, individuals are not fingerprinted in places like Djibouti whereindividuals from Somalia get screened when they seek to immigrate to the US.

Even in the places where immigrantsare fingerprinted, those prints are not uploaded to databases fora total and complete scanof their history. Even phone numbers are not beingrun properly through DODdatabases during this process they go unknown as well. Yet many immigrants are still put on a plane by our State Department and sent to the US.

When these immigrantsdoarrive in the USit is ensured that they are fingerprinted, but in most cases thoseprintsand other important dataare still not ranthrough the classified DOD databases.Yet the process continues and they are processed and cleared to enter into the US from whatever holding facility in which they arrive.

Interestingly, the one time when the DOD systems can be accessed isntuntil years laterwhen immigrants approach ICE to get benefits. That is apparently when information is finallyranthrough the DOD system.

Now, hundreds of cases are being investigated involving immigrants that have been residing inside the US for long periods of time (in some cases over 10 years) that areconnected to bombings and other crimes from war zones the Middle East. Their information had been collected by DOD operators in the field, and uploaded to DOD databases with no plan to share with other agencies.

There are more details to this story butit is problematic in that no one really knows exactly what is screened and at what point and it is a problem that has largely been overlooked, even by the current administration.If President Trumps administration concentrated on these types of details that subject matter experts working on the ground understand, these gaps could be closed and our immigration security could take a huge leap forward.

As a former FBI special agent, my investigative mind tells me these issues will continue to plague immigration screening because so much attention is being placed on executive orders and hiring more Customs Officers and not on these types of simple solutions.

The Devil is always in the details, thats why simple issues always cause such massive problems. Dont believe me? Just ask someone that is working at the ground level, like the policy makers should be doing!

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Breakdown In Immigration Screening: The Devil Is In The Details - Daily Caller

The Rules To Getting Clients Online (Part 2) – Above the Law

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about the first three rules to getting clients online. Here are a few more to help you get started.

Dont Flaunt Pointless Awards

I think I found a good lawyer to help us with our case that will shape the outcome of our lives. I hope hes Martindale Hubbell A/V rated, said no one ever. There are ratings that are important to the public, like having that big A in your window from the health department if you sell food. People know what that is. It also has a logical rating scale. Telling your potential clients that on a scale of 0 to best, you are AV means nothing. Lawyers are the only ones who know what an AV rating is, and not all of them. In fact, the same can be said for a lot of lawyer awards.

Im not saying dont mention your awards. Im saying dont mention them in a way that assumes your client base understands what it means and dont assume they appreciate the significance of the award. Dont just put in your bio A/V rated lawyer. That means nothing. Say received highest ranking for ethical and professional standards by one of the nations most prestigious attorney ranking systems or something.

Be Wary of False Awards

I routinely get letters in the mail from some form of national lawyer association telling me that out of the 1.2 million lawyers in the United States, I am in the top 30 of something and I just need to pay $5,000 to be listed in their magazine and website. I was flattered the first time I got one of those letters that a 4th year lawyer would be recognized in such a way. Then, I took 30 seconds to Google that organization and found out that it was a total scam. If I had paid the $5,000 to get that award and listed that on my website, imagine if a client saw that award and decided to google it. That would do more harm than good.

Claim Your Online Presence

Ive talked about having a robust social media presence too many times to count. For those of you with no social media presence at all, dont worry. You dont need to worry about investing lots of attorney time into all the snapchats and the twitters. You should, however, claim your Twitter, Facebook Business page, Avvo, and Yelp profiles. If your website says you are the best, but when I google you, I cant find any other information about you, Im going to be suspicious. Thats just how people shop around these days. They expect to find things about you online. Would you buy a TV on Amazon if it said it was the best, but had no reviews, while virtually every other TV has lots of reviews? That would make you suspicious that its maybe not the best TV like it claims. Fill out your basic contact info and upload a picture. Clients are much more likely to trust you enough to reach out to you if they know what you look like.

How often should you update your social media? As often as you can, but even if you dont update it, at least claim your pages. I would personally rather hire a lawyer with zero tweets than 45,000 tweets because I would need someone who could focus for most of the day and not chat online with their friends for an hour a day on Twitter.

Conclusion

Remember to always focus on your audience. How are they going to find you? What are they going to think when they do find you? Are they going to be impressed or bored and skeptical? Target your efforts to keep the audience in mind and youll do fine.

Jeff Bennion is a solo practitioner at theLaw Office of Jeff Bennion. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of San Diegos plaintiffs trial lawyers association,Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is also the Education Chair and Executive Committee member of the State Bar of CaliforniasLaw Practice Management and Technologysection. He is a member of the Advisory Council and instructor at UCSDsLitigation Technology Managementprogram. His opinions are his own. Follow him on Twitterhereor on Facebookhere, or contact him by email atjeff@trial.technology.

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The Rules To Getting Clients Online (Part 2) - Above the Law

Optus Switches On 1Gbps 4.5G Network In Sydney – Lifehacker Australia

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Macquarie Park in Sydney is the first suburb getting access to Optus' new 4.5G network that is capable of 1.03Gbps maximum theoretical download speeds. Here's everything you need to know.

Telstra was the first to launch a 4.5G network, dubbed 4GX, and now Optus is following suit. After testing out 4.5G technology and achieving 1.03Gbps speeds in tests, the first suburb to get a taste of the Optus 4.5G network is Macquarie Park, where the telco's headquarter is based.

According to Optus, there are 95,000 residents and 400 businesses in Macquarie Park that will be able to take advantage of the 4.5G network.

The network uses 4CC/5CC carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM technology. Huawei has helped Optus develop the 4.5G technology that is being rolled out.

Bear in mind that 1Gbps is the theoretical maximum; in reality, individual connected devices will only get a fraction of the speed. Factors that will determine speed include the device you're using and how many people are on the network;

Another thing to consider is only newer devices that support 4.5G will be able to enjoy a significant speed boost. Commercial devices that can support 1Gbps on the 4.5G network aren't even available yet; Optus said they will become available later this year. However, Optus network managing director Dennis Wong said that those who don't have 4.5G ready devices will still experience benefits:

Putting this new technology in Macquarie Park is not just about speed. Having this new technology in existing networks actually brings up capacity and performance by two to four times.

Even if you don't have the latest device, you can still enjoy capacity and performance Now we have an ecosystem, the kind of speed and bandwidth for innovators and partners to come and try to develop new technologies and services for our customers.

The plan is to rollout 4.5G in selected capital cities in the next 12 months; 4.5G is expected to reach over 70% of the Optus network in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. There are currently 5600 4G mobile sites across Australia.

All this is part of Optus' strategy to eventually move onto a 5G network by 2020. The 3.5GHz spectrum has been harmonised as a 5G band and Optus has 90MHz of this. The company is continuing to look at using and acquiring spectrum.

Optus will also be starting trials of its massive MIMO 128T128R base station antenna technology which will significantly bolster speeds and provide around eight times more capacity, according to the telco.

Last month, Telstra announced it was now capable of delivering 1Gpbs download and 150Mbps upload speeds over its 4G LTE network. It teamed up with Netgear to launch a new mobile router, the Nighthawk M1, to let customers tap into those speeds.

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How much can a family living in a four-bedroom house save by using the Tesla Powerwall and good ol' solar power? The figure has come in at $2110.46 a year for the Pfitzner family. Here are the details.

As we've opined in the past, burritos are the perfect fast food. They're even more perfect than pizza (case in point. you can't wrap a pizza in foil and stick it in your jacket pocket.) This infographic from Fairmont Hotels breaks down everything you need to know about seven popular burrito styles - from their storied history to the ingredients you need to make your own.

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Optus Switches On 1Gbps 4.5G Network In Sydney - Lifehacker Australia

Stanford Medicine magazine looks at what arts, humanities bring to … – Stanford Medical Center Report

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Imagine your doctor told you at the end of an exam, Im going to prescribe you an artistic experience. Would you be thinking, Time to get a new doctor?

Well, you might want to stick with the one you have. Taking part in art probably wont cure you, but, depending on your particular illness, it really could help. People with Parkinsons disease, for instance, benefit physically and psychologically from taking dance classes.

The winter issue of Stanford Medicine, produced in collaboration with Stanfords Medicine and the Muse program, features articles on the role of the arts and humanities in medicine, among them an article on Dance for PD, a program that offers dance classes to people with Parkinsons disease.

The worlds of dance and medicine have been far apart for a long time. That is why this is so exciting, professor of neurology Helen Bronte-Stewart, MD, said in the article.

As physicians, we stress the importance of physical activity, social interaction and mental stimulation to our patients with Parkinsons disease, Bronte-Stewart said. Dance for PD gives them all three. But it is much more than a possible therapy or treatment; the PD dancers have told us this type of dance restores their self-image and brings them joy.

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Anti-epilepsy medicine taken by pregnant women does not harm the … – Science Daily

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Anti-epilepsy medicine taken by pregnant women does not harm the ... - Science Daily

Lisa K. Nolan named dean of UGA College of Veterinary Medicine – Online Athens

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Dr. Lisa K. Nolan, a veteran educator, administrator and scholar of diseases that affect animal and human health, has been named dean of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.

Nolan is professor and Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and her appointment at UGA is effective July 1.

Dr. Nolan is one of the nations most respected veterinary educators and administrators, and Im delighted that she has joined the University of Georgias leadership team, said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten. She comes to our College of Veterinary Medicine at a time of growth in the scope and impact of its instruction, research and service, and I am confident that the best is yet to come under her leadership.

Nolan has led the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University since 2011. She co-chaired a campus-wide One Health-One Medicine initiative that brought faculty members from across campus together to foster new collaborations that span animal, human and ecosystem health. The initiative has resulted in several faculty hires across campus and a significant enhancement of Iowa States research capacity.

To improve student learning outcomes, she oversaw a comprehensive curricular review, enhanced the assessment of teaching, and upgraded teaching labs and study spaces. The college met or exceeded all of its fundraising goals under her leadership, and it is now in the public phase of an ambitious campaign to increase scholarship support, enhance facilities and create additional endowed faculty chairs.

Dr. Nolan has built an extraordinary career as a researcher, professor and administrator, said President Jere W. Morehead. We are fortunate to have such an outstanding alumna of the University of Georgia return to campus to lead the College of Veterinary Medicine to new heights of excellence.

Prior to becoming dean of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nolan was founding director of the Great Plains Institute of Food Safety at North Dakota State University and chair of the department of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine at Iowa State. Her additional administrative experience includes service as associate dean of academic and student affairs, and associate dean of research and graduate studies.

Her research focuses on bacterial diseases that impact animal health, human health and food safety. She is the author or co-author of nearly 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, as well as private foundations. Her patents include a vaccine and a biomarker to assess avian E. coli virulence.

Nolan has received several honors over the course of her career, including being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an honorary diplomat of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society. She has received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Blue Key National Honor Society, the Philbro Animal Health Excellence in Poultry Research Award and the Academic Alumnus of the Year Award from the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, among other honors.

Nolan earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from UGA and also earned her masters degree and Ph.D. in medical microbiology from UGA. She earned her bachelors degree in biology from Valdosta State College, now Valdosta State University.

As a proud alumna, it has been thrilling to follow the College of Veterinary Medicines impressive growth and continuing excellence, Nolan said. I am honored to be able to partner with the colleges faculty, staff, students and alumni to further enhance the colleges impact on animal and human health.

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Old Crow Medicine Show Ready Bob Dylan Tribute Album – Rolling … – RollingStone.com

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In May 2016, Old Crow Medicine Show paid tribute to Bob Dylan's 1966 masterpiece Blonde on Blonde with a live re-creation of the album at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. The Grammy-winning roots-music group, known for transforming a Dylan song sketch into the ubiquitous hit "Wagon Wheel," recorded the performance and will release 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde on April 28th.

The project doubles as Old Crow Medicine Show's first release for Columbia Nashville. After a career as a primarily independent act, the group is now signed to Sony Music Nashville and announced their addition to the major label's roster with an impromptu performance of Blonde on Blonde's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." (Watch the video above.) Blonde on Blonde was itself released on Columbia.

"Fifty years is a long time for a place like Nashville, Tennessee. Time rolls on slowly around here like flotsam and jetsam in the muddy Cumberland River," wrote Old Crow's singer and fiddle player Ketch Secor in an essay on their upcoming Dylan tribute. "But certain things have accelerated the pace of our city. And certain people have sent the hands of the clock spinning. Bob Dylan is the greatest of these time-bending, paradigm-shifting Nashville cats."

Old Crow Medicine Show were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2013 and remain staples of the country-music institution, performing regularly. They'll launch a tour in support of 50 Year of Blonde on Blonde on May 4th in Santa Barbara, California.

Here are Old Crow Medicine Show's upcoming tour dates: May 4 - Santa Barbara, CA @ The Granada Theatre May 5 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern May 6 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater May 8 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall May 10 - Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre May 12 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Hall at Eccles Theater May 13 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen May 14 - Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre May 20 - Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre May 22 -Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre May 24 - New York, NY @ The Town Hall May 25 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre May 28 - Cooperstown, NY @ Brewery Ommegang May 30 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE May 31 - Columbus, OH @ EXPRESS LIVE! June 1 - Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre June 2 - Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater June 8 - Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre June 9 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater June 10 - St. Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre June 11 - Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater June 12 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant June 24 - Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz June 25 - Glasgow, UK @ O2ABC June 28 - London, UK @ Shepherds Bush Empire June 30 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso

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Benefits to having a family physician, promoting family medicine week – UpperMichigansSource.com

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LANSING, Mich. (WLUC) - During Family Medicine Week in Michigan, all residents are encouraged to have a relationship with a family physician or build one to maintain the health and wellness of themselves and their families.

Governor Rick Snyder has declared this week, February 19-25, 2017, as Family Medicine Week in Michigan in partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan Academy of Family Physicians, and Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians. The week-long observance highlights family physicians dedication to providing high quality, patient-centered primary care to residents across the state. Research shows that adults and children with a family physician as their regular source of care have lower annual costs of care, visit the doctor less, are prescribed fewer medications and report less difficulty accessing care.

A healthcare system based on a foundation of primary care holds the answers to many of the health and wellness challenges that we currently face, said Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive with the MDHHS. Having a family doctor is good for the health of individuals, families and communities which is why were encouraging all residents to establish and maintain a relationship with a family physician.

Tuesday, February 21, the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians and Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians are hosting Michigan Family Medicine Advocacy Day in Lansing to provide an opportunity for family medicine advocates from across the state to discuss policy issues impacting the delivery of and access to healthcare for Michiganders. Together, the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians and Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians collectively represent more than 5,000 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students statewide.

Visiting a family physician for regular check-ups can help families stay healthy and prevent illness, said Debra N. McGuire, MBA, IOM, CAE, chief executive officer with the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians. If you do get sick, your family doctor can help you get healthy or provide the best referrals when another specialists care is needed, and they can also be your partner in managing a chronic, long-term illness, such as diabetes, heart disease, or asthma. Plus, family physicians are integrated into their communities, making them a valuable conduit for connecting individuals with local health and social services.

To learn more about the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians, visit http://www.mafp.com. To learn more about the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians, visit http://www.maofp.org.

You can view Governor Snyders Family Medicine Week proclamation by clicking here.

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Benefits to having a family physician, promoting family medicine week - UpperMichigansSource.com