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Is NASA Ready For A Venus Rover? – Daily Caller

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

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A team of NASA scientists developed electronics that can operate in the harsh conditions on Venus surface.

The new developments mean NASA could soon send a rover to Venus.

With further technology development, such electronics could drastically improve Venus lander designs and mission concepts, enabling the first long-duration missions to the surface of Venus, Phil Neudeck, lead electronics engineer for this NASA project, said in a press statement. We demonstrated vastly longer electrical operation with chips directly exposedno cooling and no protective chip packagingto a high-fidelity physical and chemical reproduction of Venus surface atmosphere.

Presently, extreme conditions on Venus prevent landers from operating on the planets surface for longer than a few hours. Venus average surfacetemperature is typically 864 degrees Fahrenheit, making it hotter than most ovens. Typical electronics simply cant operate in such an environment, forcingany landers to be protected bythermal and pressure-resistant shells. Theseshells only last a few hoursand are extremely expensive, limitingthe amount of science that can be done on the planet.

NASAs Glenn team created anextremely durable silicon carbidecircuit and tested it in a lab simulating conditions of the Venus surface.The circuits tolerated the extreme temperatures and atmospheric conditions for 521 hours, about 100 times longer than any other Venus mission.

This work not only enables the potential for new science in extended Venus surface and other planetary exploration, but it also has potentially significant impact for a range of Earth relevant applications, such as in aircraft engines to enable new capabilities, improve operations, and reduce emissions, Gary Hunter, NASAs principle investigator for Venus surface electronics development, told reporters.

NASA has a long history of successfully operating rovers on Mars. The agencys Curiosityrover found evidence that organic material is all overthe Red Planet in Decemberas well as discovering new geological evidence of liquid water possibly flowing on the Red Planet in the distant past.

The U.S. space agency is currently operating two rovers on Mars, dubbed Opportunity and Curiosity. Americas space agency successfully landed seven different probes on Mars and only crashed two.

No country besides the U.S. has successfully operated a probe on Mars for longer than14.5 seconds.

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Is NASA Ready For A Venus Rover? - Daily Caller

NASA Says Asteroid Bigger Than Empire State Building Is On Track To Hit Earth – Elite Daily

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Its probably safe to assume peanuts dont really spark fear in many people unless youre allergic to them.

Unless, of course, what is masquerading as a giant peanut is actually a huge space rock hurdling toward Earth.

On February 12, the Arecibo Observatory, an enormous radio telescope located inside a sinkhole in Puerto Rico, captured new movies of an asteroid, which they have named2015 BN509.

Measuring approximately 200 meters (660 feet) wide by 400 meters (1,310 feet) long which, by the way, is taller than the Empire State Building asteroid 2015 BN509 has been deemed potentially hazardous by NASA.

This means the objects orbit through space may lead it to crash into Earth one day.

According to Ed Rivera-Valentn, who studies Arecibo data as a planetary scientist with the Universities Space Research Association, asteroid 2015 BN509 flew by Earth last week, traveling at about70,500 kilometers per hour (44,000 mph).

Rivera-Valentn told Business Insider,

The peanut shape comes from the fact that it is a contact binary, where the two parts [of asteroids] could not successfully orbit each other and fell back together.

He added these contact binaries are quite often shaped just like peanuts. Yum.

If the threat of a ginormous asteroid striking Earth gives you that dj vu feeling, youre not crazy. In the past three weeks, weve seen not one, but twosimilar space rocks that seem determined to strike our planet.

Whats different about 2015 BN509 (lets just call it the peanut monstrosity), though, is how close its come to Earth. The object flew by at arange of about 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon.

Rivera-Valentn added,

An asteroid impact, unlike other natural catastrophes, can actually be avoided. The data from Arecibo can be used by NASA to inform a planetary defense mission.

I guess thats his comforting way of telling us were not actually as screwed as it sounds?

Heres to hoping that, if the peanut monstrosity does make contact with Earth, it will simply unleash millions of peanuts to rain down upon us, la Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

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Allie is a News Writer at Elite Daily, as well as a recent graduate from The University of Delaware. If you are in her social circle, you probably know more than you care to about her cat, Jasper. She loves to exercise, but basically cancels th ...

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NASA Says Asteroid Bigger Than Empire State Building Is On Track To Hit Earth - Elite Daily

Researchers engineer ‘thubber,’ a stretchable rubber that packs a thermal conductive punch – Phys.Org

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

February 13, 2017 A nano-CT scan of "thubber," showing the liquid metal microdroplets inside the rubber material. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

Carmel Majidi and Jonathan Malen of Carnegie Mellon University have developed a thermally conductive rubber material that represents a breakthrough for creating soft, stretchable machines and electronics. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

The new material, nicknamed "thubber," is an electrically insulating composite that exhibits an unprecedented combination of metal-like thermal conductivity, elasticity similar to soft, biological tissue, and can stretch over six times its initial length.

"Our combination of high thermal conductivity and elasticity is especially critical for rapid heat dissipation in applications such as wearable computing and soft robotics, which require mechanical compliance and stretchable functionality," said Majidi, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Applications could extend to industries like athletic wear and sports medicinethink of lighted clothing for runners and heated garments for injury therapy. Advanced manufacturing, energy, and transportation are other areas where stretchable electronic material could have an impact.

"Until now, high power devices have had to be affixed to rigid, inflexible mounts that were the only technology able to dissipate heat efficiently," said Malen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. "Now, we can create stretchable mounts for LED lights or computer processors that enable high performance without overheating in applications that demand flexibility, such as light-up fabrics and iPads that fold into your wallet."

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The key ingredient in "thubber" is a suspension of non-toxic, liquid metal microdroplets. The liquid state allows the metal to deform with the surrounding rubber at room temperature. When the rubber is pre-stretched, the droplets form elongated pathways that are efficient for heat travel. Despite the amount of metal, the material is also electrically insulating.

To demonstrate these findings, the team mounted an LED light onto a strip of the material to create a safety lamp worn around a jogger's leg. The "thubber" dissipated the heat from the LED, which would have otherwise burned the jogger. The researchers also created a soft robotic fish that swims with a "thubber" tail, without using conventional motors or gears.

"As the field of flexible electronics grows, there will be a greater need for materials like ours," said Majidi. "We can also see it used for artificial muscles that power bio-inspired robots."

Majidi and Malen acknowledge the efforts of lead authors Michael Bartlett, Navid Kazem, and Matthew Powell-Palm in performing this multidisciplinary work. They also acknowledge funding from the Air Force, NASA, and the Army Research Office.

Explore further: Breakthrough soft electronics fabrication method is a first step to DIY smart tattoos

More information: High thermal conductivity in soft elastomers with elongated liquid metal inclusions, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1616377114

Imagine if your electronic wearable device, like your Fitbit, adhered to you like a sticker or temporary tattoo and could read your pulse or measure hand gestures. As electronics are becoming thinner, lighter, and more power ...

Panasonic Corporation announced today that the company has developed a soft, flexible, and stretchable polymer resin film using its proprietary stretchable resin technology. The Company will also provide a transparent electrode ...

Due to its excellent material properties of elasticity, resilience, and electrical and thermal insulation, elastomers have been used in a myriad of applications. They are especially ideal for fabricating soft robots, flexible ...

Scientists, including several from the University of California, Riverside, have developed a transparent, self-healing, highly stretchable conductive material that can be electrically activated to power artificial muscles ...

Electronic components that can be elongated or twisted known as "stretchable" electronics could soon be used to power electronic gadgets, the onboard systems of vehicles, medical devices and other products. And a ...

(Phys.org)Researchers from North Carolina State University have created conductive wires that can be stretched up to eight times their original length while still functioning. The wires can be used for everything from ...

In the future, wide-ranging composite materials are expected to be stronger, lighter, cheaper and greener for our planet, thanks to an invention by Rutgers' Richard E. Riman.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have entered the "Wild West" of the periodic table to finally solve a decades-old scientific challengeand have revealed that an important but niche chemical bonding principle ...

Many of the processes essential to life involve proteins - long molecules which 'fold' into three-dimensional shapes allowing them to perform their biological role.

A team of researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has invented a new technology to produce automobile tires from trees and grasses in a process that could shift the tire production industry toward using renewable ...

(Phys.org)Drug delivery is tricky because the therapeutic compound needs to be non-toxic and deliver the correct dosage at the correct time. Some therapeutics are chemically unstable and others do not have the correct ...

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Researchers engineer 'thubber,' a stretchable rubber that packs a thermal conductive punch - Phys.Org

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) Realizes There Will Be A Post-Moore’s Law Era And Is Already Investing In … – Seneca Globe

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)[Trend Analysis], stock knocked down around -0.34% in early session as its gaining volume of 44.07 Million. Intel (INTC) declared that it realizes there will be a post-Moores Law era and is already investing in technologies to drive computing beyond todays PCs and servers. The chipmaker is investing heavily in quantum and neuromorphic computing, said Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, during a question-and-answer session at the companys investor day on Thursday.

We are investing in those edge type things that are way out there, Krzanich said. To give an idea of how far out these technologies are, Krzanich said his daughter would perhaps be running the company by then.

Researching in these technologies, which are still in their infancy, is something Intel has to do to survive for many more decades. Shrinking silicon chips and cramming more features into them is becoming difficult, and Intel is already having trouble in manufacturing smaller chips.

The stock showed weekly upbeat performance of -3.23%, which maintained for the month at -3.67%. Similarly, the positive performance for the quarter recorded as 2.42% and for the year was 29.15%, while the YTD performance remained at -1.87%. INTC has Average True Range for 14 days of 0.57.

Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS)[Trend Analysis] pretends to be active mover, stock plunged around -2.13% to traded at $54.19.

The liquidity measure in recent quarter results of the company was recorded 3.90 as current ratio, on the other side the debt to equity ratio was 0.09, and long-term debt to equity ratio remained 0.09. The Company has gross margin of 49.10% and profit margin was positive 16.80% in trailing twelve months. (Read Latest [Free Analytic] Facts on NASDAQ:CRUS and Be Updated). To accommodate long-term intention, experts calculate Return on Investment of 12.50%. The firm has Profit Margin of positive 16.80%.

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Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) Realizes There Will Be A Post-Moore's Law Era And Is Already Investing In ... - Seneca Globe

Uncovering Metabolism’s Clockwork – Northwestern University NewsCenter

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Joseph Bass, MD, PhD, is the chief and Charles F. Kettering Professor of Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine at Feinberg.

This story originally appeared in the Breakthroughs Newsletter.

Timing is everything may be an old clich, but for Joseph Bass, MD, PhD, its also a reflection of an emerging discovery in physiology: that the bodys circadian clocks are in fact critical to driving a host of behaviors, processes and pathways including those associated with several diseases and pathologies.

Bass, chief of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine, focuses his research on illuminating how the bodys clocks regulate feeding behavior and glucose metabolism, and identifies how disruptions in that overarching circadian system play a role in metabolic disease. The goal of the research is to develop a deeper understanding of the clock and its mechanisms, which may eventually lead to novel therapies for widespread disorders like obesity and diabetes.

The field of circadian time has been an area of excellence at Northwestern for more than 20 years, said Bass, also the Charles F. Kettering Professorship of Medicine and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. What were trying to do now is take advantage of our know-how to identify new pathways and drugs for those pathways that could, for example, augment insulin secretion and improve diabetes.

Its long been known that the body possesses a master circadian clock, located in the brain, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. But it wasnt until more recently, as the field of circadian time rapidly advanced, that it was discovered there are also distinct clocks residing in nearly every cell of the body.

The master clock cued by internal factors and environmental signals like light holds the rhythm across all the bodys peripheral clocks, regulating behavior and biological processes throughout the 24-hour light-dark cycle. But when individual clocks fall out of tune with the master timekeeper, the breakdown in synchronization can contribute to a range of disorders, including diabetes.

My focus has increasingly been drawn toward understanding the perspective of time as a variable in biochemical processes that determine our drive to eat in turn affecting bodyweight and regulate blood sugar control, Bass said.

Bass, who joined Northwestern in 2000, arrived at an opportune time in the history of circadian clock discovery. Seminal work in the late 1990s by Fred Turek, PhD, professor of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Joseph Takahashi, PhD, a former professor of Neurology, for the first time pinpointed and cloned the genes that drive circadian function in mammals.

There was this intersection of critical developments at Northwestern that really opened the field, Bass said. The collaborative environment then enabled me to join together my background in endocrine, metabolic and medical physiology with these powerful strategies from genetics to try to understand how the clock regulates behaviors and physiologic systems.

In a landmark paper published in Science in 2005, Bass, together with Turek and Takahashi, demonstrated that a misaligned biological clock impaired metabolism, increasing the prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. In the study, mutant mice with a dysfunctional clock gene experienced a 35 percent increase in fat mass compared to wild-type mice.

The paper was the first to provide genetic evidence that the clock system regulates both body weight and glucose metabolism; that was key, said Bass, who is also co-director of the Center for Diabetes and Metabolism and of the Comprehensive Metabolic Core.

Numerous breakthroughs in the metabolism-clock connection followed over the next 15 years of Bass tenure at Northwestern. In Nature in 2010, Bass and his team first reported that beta-cells in the pancreas require a clock in order to produce insulin. In a subsequent study building upon those findings, Bass laboratory, together with co-investigator Grant Barish, MD, used next-generation genome sequencing to pinpoint the precise set of genes in the pancreas that are controlled by the clock transcription factors. The findings were published in Science in 2015.

Joe has really been a leader in establishing a very direct connection between the circadian clock and diabetes, said Barish, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine. Particularly in this most recent study, the discovery of the underlying regulatory mechanism by which the circadian clock controls the secretion of insulin the principal hormone responsible for glucose homeostasis really cements a link between the clock and aspects of insulin, diabetes and related physiology.

The anticipation is that such fundamental discoveries may eventually inform the development of novel therapeutics for diabetes and other diseases. While were still very early in this, we know that some features of these circadian transcription factors are targetable and, to some extent, are amenable to pharmacologic manipulation, Barish said.

Bass findings also have applications for the treatment of a wider range of disorders, as the bodys metabolism of drugs is in part influenced by the circadian system, an area of study called chronopharmacology. For example, statins are largely administrated at night because the clock coordinates the synthesis of cholesterol to occur at night. Its likely that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that there are many other processes targeted with drugs that are controlled by the same clock mechanism, Bass said.

In ongoing research, Bass laboratory is also striving to uncover how the clock helps regulate production of a key molecule called NAD+. The connection was first reported in a pair of papers Bass published in Science in 2009 and 2013, with first author Kathryn Ramsey, PhD, and first author Clara Peek, PhD, respectively, both research assistant professors of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine.

NAD+ has been shown to be central to the mechanism that connects life span and aging to nutrition. Were now trying to understand how it is that nutrition and clocks influence aging, and we think one of the ways this comes about is through the control of NAD+, Bass said. He is collaborating with colleagues in chemistry, including Milan Mrksich, PhD, professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Navdeep Chandel, PhD, David W. Cugell Professor of Medicine and of Cell and Molecular Biology, to address such questions.

Interactions with other groups at Northwestern have enabled us to make key advances in our understanding of the clock and in how its controlling other physiologic systems, Bass said. Because of the history of discoveries here, were now in a position to be on the ground floor in using genetic approaches to get at questions that have been asked for a long time in a more descriptive way.

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Uncovering Metabolism's Clockwork - Northwestern University NewsCenter

Gene discovery sheds light on growth defects linked to dwarfism – Science Daily

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Gene discovery sheds light on growth defects linked to dwarfism
Science Daily
Professor Andrew Jackson, of the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine, says: 'Identification of DONSON as a microcephaly gene has given us new insights into how the genome is protected during DNA replication, and has ...

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Share your photos of walls and barriers around the world – The Guardian

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

A Snappy Shot: children taking photographs using Kodak Instamatic cameras, Cincinnati, OH, 1970. Photograph: Cincinnati Museum Center/Getty Images

For nearly four years readers have been sharing photographs and stories on a range of topics and assignments via GuardianWitness. Your images and experiences have been informing us about the world where you live from news events to lifestyle issues. Now, our picture editors have a new challenge for you.

Every two weeks, the picture desk are going to set a topical theme and will be choosing the best of your photos to publish in an online gallery. They will also share with you what they admire about the images that have been selected as well as highlight some of the skills necessary to develop as a photographer and will look forward to seeing your progress along the way.

You have until Thursday 23 February to upload your images. We will publish the gallery for this assignment on Friday February 24 and set out next assignment on Monday 27.

Fiona Shields, the Guardians head of photography, explains:

This is a question Im asked frequently. There isnt a single answer, as each photograph exists within its own context, but there are some indicators to bear in mind.

Firstly, strong geometry can lend a powerful dynamic as can vivid blocks of colour or contrasted black and white. Attention to detail and cropping can help to make sense of a complex scene. Look for wit and incongruity or a non-choreographed moment. An animated shot can be more engaging than a static image. Use post production techniques with care and above all, consider focus.

To upload your images via GuardianWitness click the blue contribute buttons on this article. Please upload the highest resolution image you have this will help us display the photograph in our gallery and will also allow our picture editors to consider featuring some of the best images in print.

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Share your photos of walls and barriers around the world - The Guardian

Future Voices: Revision tips for when nothing else is working – Norfolk Eastern Daily Press

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

11:00 13 February 2017

Alex Caesari, 19, Norwich

A science festival at Ormiston Victory Academy to help year 11 students from Victory, Venture, Endeavour, Cliff Park and North Walsham High School with revision.

Archant

Revision is a fundamental part of achieving success at any level of education.

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Whether it is at secondary school or university, mock exam or the real thing, it is vital that students are able express their knowledge fully and well.

However, revision can be often be laborious and tiresome. There are no one-size-fits-all techniques, either.

To overcome these problems there are some unusual methods that may help students whose conventional revision is not paying off.

Recording Yourself

This is particularly efficient for memorising poems or sections of writing that need to be recalled and quoted accurately in an exam. Simply recite the poem or section of writing you need to remember over and over, record yourself doing it, and then listen to the recording.

Repeat this process until you can recall the text perfectly. The audio can then replayed anywhere, so revision can be done on the walk to or from school, in the bath, or at any free moment.

Watching YouTube Videos

There are some fantastic resources on YouTube for revision, with the best videos being made by other students or by teachers.

At A-level I found a channel named Mr Pollock integral to my success at biology. You may even want to create your own videos and upload them as a form of revision, helping other students in the process.

Taboo Acronyms or Diagrams

Students recite information better when they have memorable cues that allow them to access it. Taboo acronyms or diagrams serve as incredibly effective cues - they stick out in our memory as they are distinct and unconventional stimuli, rather than decaying like mundane memories which sink into the realm of the forgotten.

Next time you need to remember Eastern Daily Press, use the acronym EDP and construct a sentence, using words whose first letters match the acronym that you might hide from your parents. It just works.

Cover Your Room In Mind Maps

Mind maps are consistently found to be the most effective form of revision. However, once you finish them dont put them away, instead decorate your room with them - put mind maps on walls, windows and the ceiling above your bed.

Seeing the information you need to remember constantly will keep it fresh in your mind and make it more easily accessible.

Create mind maps that are as bright and colourful as possible to make them even more memorable.

Can you think of any other unusual revision tips? What works best for you?

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Future Voices: Revision tips for when nothing else is working - Norfolk Eastern Daily Press

‘Humans’ Season 2 Review: AMC’s Exceptional Sci-Fi Drama Continues the Fight for Synth Rights – Collider.com

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Perhaps the most integral storyline to the first season of AMCs Humans is the Hawkins familys reaction to their synth, Gemma Chans Mia, burgeoning open consciousness. For the two daughters of the household, her increasingly odd behavior was both fascinating and endearing, while matriarch Laura (Katherine Parkinson) became immediately suspicious and worried. The men of the house, of course, only had the extents of Mias ability to give sexual pleasure on their mind, at least for the first week or two. After that, the state of Mias mind and emotions became of particular interest to the family for several reasons, including Lauras distrust and jealousy of the synth in her home.

Image via AMC

Weve all seen the videos of robots serving dinner, diagnosing diseases, dueling expertly with swords, and even creating music, but the most fascinating thing about the dawn of artificial intelligence is how they will engage with us intimately. And that is what is still at the heart of Humans as its second season gears up, facing up to the bizarre and endlessly intriguing intricacies of a world where synths androids, essentially are beginning to seek rights like flesh-and-blood people. As the series opens, Emily Berringtons Niska, a former prostitute synth, is attempting to get a handle on being liberated and a wanted fugitive in Berlin.

For what its worth, the world is good to Niska: she meets a friendly woman whom she begins to sleep with and something of a romance begins to bloom over a few brunches and mornings in bed together. Her issue, which becomes a stalling force in said romance, is that she doesnt know how to talk about herself or her history, especially considering the fact that her history includes a murder. The question that creators Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent seem to be pondering is what happens when you must build your own morality from scratch, when influence and programming dont have as much say in your decisions as your natural impulses or cognitive ability. Lying is an option but does that solve the underlying problem? If it doesnt, would a synth be able to ignore the uselessness of that tactic?

Image via AMC

Niska is also something of a Che Guevera in the world of synths. Around the same time she arrives in Berlin, she uploads a reprogramming virus to all synth servers, one that deconstructs their docile loyalty to people and makes them fascinated by their own existence. Two of the newly woke synths take up with Leo and Max (Colin Morgan and Ivanno Jeremiah), who are being tracked by an enigmatic organization looking to enact default programming on any and all synths. Another synth, under the ownership of tech genius Milo Khoury (Marshall Allman), is the central figure in a new study on sentience by down-and-out AI pioneer Dr. Athena Morrow, played byCarrie-Anne Moss(hot off her excellent work in Jessica Jones). Brackley and Vincent use this splintered perspective to give a variety of perspectives on how the age of sentience in artificial intelligence will not only effect the synths but those who are fighting their own personal battles in the fields of robotics and advanced technologies.

Athena, for instance, seems to have a distinct distrust of people and an open, friendly relationship with synths and computers, a feeling that seems to be reflected when one of her first attempts to upload her sentient program into a synth, its rejected. In moments like these, the series highlights how synths are used as highly advanced personal crutches even in a professional setting. Her dependency and obsession with her own program is not all that different from Theo Stevensons Toby and Tom Goodman-Hills Joe Hawkins obsession with Mia. The writers are careful not to paint either Toby or Joe as simply crass, pathetic men in need of getting their rocks off. That element is there, of course, but theres also an emotional longing in both of them that Mia briefly assuaged. The loneliness that the people suffer, just like the repression that the synths are damned to suffer under, is constantly felt throughout Humans.

Image via AMC

This puts the show in direct opposition to HBOs Westworld, another series about artificial intelligence but one that clearly cant be bothered to consider the interior lives of its characters. Where Humans readily brings up the embarrassments of people in the face of A.I., as well as the horrors, Westworld seemed to only see the ugliness and pettiness of the human race and never, not once, suggested a genuinely challenging idea about its promising conceit. Westworld is a show about breaking free of your narrative and yet, on the whole, its a series that relies on nothing so much as its excess of narrative to keep its audience interested. Humans is chiefly fascinated by how and why we build our own narratives for ourselves and what they say about us; Westworld rightly sees narratives as restrictive but has exactly no idea how to break out of the cycle other than to create more narratives, a tactic used to simultaneously rousing and emptying effect in Game of Thrones.

The fact that Humans is, for instance, interested in how an android would go about being tried in a court of law suggests philosophical and societal ambitions that are absent in HBOs show, which has a much larger audience than Humans. Its fun to watch androids and humans rape, murder, and violate each other while a piss-poor player-piano cover of Radiohead goes off in the background but for all the excessive talk in Westworld, it has nothing even remotely insightful to say about man or modern technology. Humans never turns away from violence or mistreatment but neither does it assume that the world pivots on such actions. Humans may lack the visual pizazz or expressive symbolism to bring its bigger ideas into greater relief, but its becalmed yet thoughtful aesthetic actually works perfectly in tune with its subtext. Underneath the clean labs, modern homes, and cold, verdant landscapes where Mia, Morrow, Leo, and Max do their work is an assured wisdom and a riot of radical concepts about behavior and desire, a sprawling petri dish teeming with actions and thoughts that feel at once convincing and unreal.

Rating: Excellent

Humans airs on Monday nights at 10 p.m. EST on AMC.

Image via AMC

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'Humans' Season 2 Review: AMC's Exceptional Sci-Fi Drama Continues the Fight for Synth Rights - Collider.com

Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda proves she’s the best ever as she completely overshares with hilarious birthday card to him – The Sun

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

The Rock DJ star has been given the right to do whatever he wants by his wife

ROBBIE Williams been granted a hall pass for blokey behaviour on his birthday by his loving wife Ayda Field.

The Aquarian singer turned 42 on Monday and his 37-year-old actress wife gave him an impressive gift to celebrate.

Getty Images

Sharing a handwritten birthday card on Instagram, Ayda revealed that she would be turning a bling eye to all things outrageous on his big day.

On this very special day, I want to give you the gift of things you love the most (besides us, of course, her note began.

Please spend your day watching and playing as much football as you like, eating as much chocolate as your hearty desires, with all the time in the world you want, she continued.

Scratch your balls, trump to your merry delight, and be in total boy heaven. This is your day, she wrote.

Getty Images

Uploading a photo of the card to Instagram, she added: Happy Birthday to my beautiful hubby @robbiewilliams!! May you have the best day today and may this year be the best year yet!! I love you boozy!!

The occasional Loose Women star later shared a photo of some expletive slogan balloons that said old git, Happy f***ing birthday, and old as f**k.

Robs birthday celebrations come just days after he confessed to smoking marijuana in Buckingham Palace during the 2012 Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert.

Getty Images

Robbie said: Threw up in Buckingham Palace? No, before adding: I smoked a spliff in Buckingham Palace.

Robbie, who has daughter Teddy, four, and son Charlie, two, with wife Ayda, has been open about his use of the class B substance.

In 2013 he said he still uses the drug recreationally, despite two trips to rehab.

He said at the time: The last time I got high was two days ago. No big drug sessions, mind, just a small amount, purely to relax.

Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 02077824220

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Robbie Williams' wife Ayda proves she's the best ever as she completely overshares with hilarious birthday card to him - The Sun

Art museum hosts a speed-dating night and only women show up. Here’s what happens next – Los Angeles Times

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

The news is alarming. Five minutes prior to the start of a speed-dating program called Drawn to You at the El Segundo Museum of Art, organizer Chelsea Hogan confides that no men have RSVPd. It is a January evening, Friday the 13th a nightmare dating scenario.

Eight women mill about the museum lobby, carefully dressed and nervously snacking on a cheese and veggie platter laid out beside bottles of Champagne and wine. Speakers in the gallery rock low strains of a romantic playlist including True by the 1980s new wave band Spandau Ballet, and fragrant perfume drifts through the air.

The clock ticks 10 minutes past 6:30 p.m.as the awkward truth of the situation dawns on the women. A few men walk past the picture window on Main Street, but none turns and enters. Hogan, now sure that no surprise attendees are in store, finally breaks the ice by gathering the women together and stating the obvious.

Im sorry. Id be really disappointed if I were you, she says, adding that it would be great if everyone wanted to continue anyway. The point of the night, after all, is to meet people and make art.

To everyones credit, no one leaves. After a bit of embarrassed laughter, the mood lightens up. The plan was to have the guests sit at a long table and draw one anothers portraits. Each portrait would take about eight minutes before people switched partners.

It was a great idea, in theory. So why had no men shown up?

All the men, the women joke, are across the street at Rock & Brews. With rows of massive TV screens, more than 100 craft beers and a rock-themed beer garden, the restaurant is a bit of a macho magnet. The women are here because they are hoping to avoid another night at the bar. (So college! one laments.) They are also tired of dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid.

I find out if someone is who he says he is, says Leah Solomon, 58, of her interactions on Tinder. One guy said he was from Brazil, so I started to speak Portuguese and he was like, Oh no, I dont speak Brazilian.

Solomon is tall, busty and blondwith a youthful voice and demeanor. She has two sons, one 18 and one 20. She was married for 21 years, but the marriage broke up about 10 years ago and she has been pretty much single ever since. She left her husband because she fell in love with another man who turned out to be a great Peter Pan.When she reflects on the end of her marriage she sometimes thinks, Wow, I mustve been out of my mind. I didnt realize that the men out there arent good men those are staying in their marriages.

Solomon is a performance artist, but she says she doesnt meet a lot of single men in art circles.

I think theyre just there to buy art, she says.

As she finishes her thought, a distinguished-looking man walks into the museum. He is probably in his mid-50s, but more important, he is well coifed, as if, maybe, he is here for a dating event. He appears taken off guard by the abundance of women at tables drawing each other, and he turns to look at the art on the wall, as if that is what hes here for on a Friday night past 8 p.m.

Theres a guy! Solomon says, perking up and speaking a bit too loudly. She signals with an exaggerated arm wave to Hogan, and then addresses the man from her spot at the table.

Are you here to draw? she asks.

He turns and blinks his eyes like a fawn in high beams.

She tries again, speaking slowly this time, Would you like to draw?

The man pauses, gathering his wits about him like a protective blanket. He becomes incredibly gracious and debonair as he turns to exit the museum.

Oh no, no, he says, bowing ever so slightly. But thank you so much.

Solomon turns back to the women, shrugging.

I tried, she says, adding:He was very polite.

Meanwhile, at another long table, women have been instructed to cut out quotes from printouts provided for that purpose. They are told to paste those quotes to the pictures they have drawn of one another. The idea is to create an analog dating profile that one could, in theory, upload to a digital dating app. (This thought comes from another of the museums event coordinators, Joan Mace, in a bit of quick thinking intended to switch up the mission of the evening.)

Kerry Wieder, a slender actress with striking features and close-cropped hair, has snipped out Syntax errors and placed it above her head on her picture. The quotes provided come from the Nobel laureates who are the subject of the exhibit that has been on display at the museum.

Titled Brain, the exhibit features 396 black-and-white photos of Nobel Prize winners taken by Peter Badge over 16 years in locations all over the world. Ironically, Wieder notes, most of the photos are of men.

They surround the women on all four sides. They look very important and unavailable.

Its kind of like looking at a poster for a Scorsese movie, Wieder says, 5,000 men and one abused woman. I watch movies and I count the number of women, because our stories dont matter.

The men who thought of coming to this event and decided against it (if they exist) are missing out. This is a sharp, funny group of ladies. The kind of women you imagine you might bump into at an art gallery.

Katie Neal, a petite blond, found the event through a popular South Bay events website. She says she does a lot of community and charity work, and she keeps her fingers crossed that she might meet someone that way. She speculates that no men showed up because women are more willing to put themselves out there than men are.

Women might be prone to come to something more thoughtful, she says.

Jaray Watkins, whose smile and laugh light up the room, found out about the event from the same website as Neal.

Honestly, this is very out of my comfort zone, she says, adding that at first she was disappointed when no men showed up, but that her disappointment soon gave way to relief. Will they like me or not like me? Will anybody want to take my number? All these things go through your head when youre single.

With the pressure off, the women simply enjoy themselves. There is Champagne and laughter, and quite a few creative pictures are completed.

Later that evening, after theTimes reporter has left the event,Solomon texts her an update. Its a picture of a young man with a shiny brown beard and thick black-framed glasses.

Look who showed up, she writes. 28-year-old Brandon A. Then he invited another friend and we had drinks at Sausal.

Shes referring to a restaurant down the street that left coupons next to the cheese plate that night.

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Art museum hosts a speed-dating night and only women show up. Here's what happens next - Los Angeles Times

Dr. Virginia Apgar: Changing perceptions in medicine – Medical News Today

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

One morning in 1952, when anesthesiologist Dr. Virginia Apgar was eating breakfast in a hospital cafeteria, a medical student commented on the need for a way to assess how well a baby has endured delivery. Dr. Apgar immediately wrote down five evaluation criteria: breathing, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes, and skin color.

One year later, Dr. Apgar suggested that using these five criteria to generate a score is an effective way to determine which babies are likely to need medical attention after birth.

"A practical method of evaluation of the condition of the newborn infant 1 minute after birth has been described," she wrote in her 1953 proposal paper. "A rating of 10 points described the best possible condition with two points each given for respiratory effort, reflex irritability, muscle tone, heart rate and color."

This method was soon coined the "Apgar score," and the technique was rapidly adopted by clinicians across the globe.

In the first of a series highlighting female role models in medicine, we explore Dr. Apgar's life, career, and lasting legacy, particularly as they apply to healthcare professionals today.

Dr. Apgar's list of achievements is impressive. She was the first woman to direct a division at Presbyterian Hospital, the first woman to become a full professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and the first woman to devise a critical tool for neonatal care, to name but a few.

She was also a great advocate for patients. Her relatively simple solution to an unmet clinical need made a key contribution to reducing infant mortality rates.

Importantly, the Apgar score also had a lasting effect on changing the perception of newborn babies. Previously viewed as a byproduct of birth, newborns were now at the center of care in the delivery room.

More than 60 years on, despite significant advances in technology, the Apgar score remains the first medical assessment of a newborn baby.

But why has Dr. Apgar's solution persisted, and what can modern clinicians learn from her approach?

Dr. Apgar graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons as an M.D. in 1933, as one of just nine women in a class of 90.

Despite her promising surgical skills, she specialized in anesthesia, as career opportunities for women in surgery were limited at the time.

Following her training, Dr. Apgar became the director of the newly established Division of Anesthesia at the New York-Presbyterian Department of Surgery - the first woman to hold such a position.

In 1949, Dr. Apgar became a professor of anesthesiology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, making her the first woman to hold a full professorship at the university.

As a professor, she was able to focus more of her attention on research. It was during this time that she developed her interest in obstetric anesthesia, which was an understudied field of medicine.

Dr. Apgar's breakthrough was to follow shortly.

Though it may seem that the Apgar score was a spur-of-the-moment creation in a hospital cafeteria, evidence suggests that there was much more thought behind its development.

In 1950, there were more than 20 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births in the United States, and Dr. Apgar was concerned by these figures.

Anoxia - primarily due to obstetric anesthesia - was to blame for the majority of neonatal deaths. However, in the delivery room, the presence of medical staff who were skilled in anesthesiology and resuscitation was sparse.

Furthermore, there was no consensus on what a "normal" newborn state was, nor were there any measures in place to determine which newborns required resuscitation.

The Apgar score filled this void, providing five criteria that clinicians could use to determine a baby's condition 1 minute after birth and whether they required medical assistance.

Most importantly, and as Dr. Apgar herself stated, the Apgar score "gets people to look at the baby." Finally, newborn babies were getting the attention they deserved.

As noted in the March of Dimes archives:

"In essence, the Apgar score was revolutionary because it was the first clinical method to recognize the newborn's needs as a patient. It helped spur the development of neonatology as a medical focus, establishing the need for protocols and facilities such as the newborn intensive care unit to provide specialized care."

By the early 1960s, the Apgar score was in use at many hospitals across the U.S.

Dr. Apgar pointed out in a review in 1966 that "five [signs] were chosen which could be evaluated without special equipment and could be taught to the delivery room personnel without difficulty." It is not surprising that the Apgar score quickly gained popularity, being easily implemented in delivery rooms worldwide.

Today, it remains the "gold standard" of newborn evaluation.

The past 60 years have seen some significant advances in neonatal care, such as the introduction of mechanical ventilation and surfactant replacement therapy.

Unsurprisingly, attempts have also been made to improve the Apgar score. In 2010, researchers from Stanford University reported the creation of what they claim is a more "reliable, electronic version of the Apgar score," called PhysiScore.

When tested in preterm babies, PhysiScore demonstrated greater accuracy than the Apgar score, according to study results.

Whether PhysiScore or another form of neonatal assessment will one day supersede the Apgar score remains to be seen, but it seems that its simplicity is holding it in good stead.

"Its convenience, ease of use and applicability in identifying babies that need immediate support helps explain its endurance," Dr. Yasser El-Sayed, of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology - Maternal Fetal Medicine at Stanford and member of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told Medical News Today.

"[...] several investigators have proposed adding to or changing the Apgar score, but so far there hasn't been a major effort to do so," noted Dr. Kristi Watterberg, professor of pediatrics and neonatology at the University of New Mexico and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"I think that it's so well-known and relatively easy to perform (even though subject to individual variation) that it would be hard to easily change," she told MNT.

The development of the Apgar score inspired a wealth of research related to the prevention and treatment of birth defects, much of which Dr. Apgar was involved in.

In 1959, she became director of the division of congenital defects at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as March of Dimes) - a position she held until her death in 1974.

"She also popularized use of the term 'birth defects,' which was more accessible to the public than the medical term 'congenital anomalies,' used by doctors," Dr. Edward R.B. McCabe, chief medical officer of the March of Dimes, told MNT.

"Drawing national attention to birth defects led to the recognition that these conditions are significant contributors to infant mortality," he added. "Dr. Apgar's work at the March of Dimes led to nationwide activities to prevent birth defects and thus reduce infant mortality."

By finding a practical solution for communicating complex medical problems to the public, Dr. Apgar once again demonstrated how a change in perception can have a profound impact on health.

Despite practicing medicine at a time when gender inequality was at a peak, Dr. Apgar claimed that being a woman had not posed any serious limitations on her career.

"Women are liberated from the time they leave the womb," she once said, explaining her decision not to take part in the women's movement.

Behind closed doors, however, Dr. Apgar sometimes spoke of her frustration surrounding disparities among men and women in medicine, particularly when it came to differences in pay - an imbalance that remains evident to this day.

"She was a remarkable woman," Dr. Watterberg told us. "She provided a powerful role model for women in medicine."

Since 1950, the neonatal death rate in the U.S. has fallen dramatically, standing at around 5 per 1,000 live births in 2010.

While the improvement in neonatal survival cannot solely be attributed to Dr. Apgar, there is no doubt that her work played a significant role, and it continues to be pivotal in neonatal care and research.

Her approach to innovation speaks of empathy for the patient and a drive to develop practical solutions that not only raise awareness and change perception, but that can also be effectively translated into clinical practice.

By designing the Apgar score in a way that could be easily implemented in delivery rooms worldwide, Dr. Apgar demonstrated that simple solutions, capable of addressing complex problems, can stand the test of time.

"She [...] left us a lasting tool, the Apgar score, providing a structured approach to evaluate newborns. Her score serves as a common language among the various specialties, including anesthesiology, that care for newborns.

Her score led to better treatment of newborns and to great advances in anesthesia for their mothers. Her score was a unique contribution to anesthesiology, to maternal and child health, and to a generation of researchers dedicated to improved neonatal outcomes."

Dr. Selma H. Calmes, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

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Dr. Virginia Apgar: Changing perceptions in medicine - Medical News Today

This medicine-toting drone flew where no one thought it could – CNET

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

The villagers gather in Pampa Hermoza.

The villagers of Pampa Hermoza, Peru, gathered in the wooden bleachers on the local football field, their faces turned toward the sky and their legs dangling freely over the ground below.

On this late December afternoon, they hoped to witness the first cargo drone delivery of antivenom to their remote settlement in the Amazonian rainforest. At first they were excited, but as time passed and the drone didn't show, they grew anxious.

Even more frustrated was Patrick Meier, executive director and co-founder of WeRobotics, a global nonprofit employing drones and robotics for humanitarian causes. Meier worked for months with the Peruvian government, his own local Flying Labs team, Peru's aviation authority and a US drone startup to get this test up and running.

Getting the project to work could be a lifesaver. Local doctors in the region report up to 45 snake bites, many of which are life threatening, every month among thousands of indigenous communities. Delivering the right antivenom can take hours by boat and foot, which is why WeRobotics and the Peruvian Health Ministry were keen to find out if cargo drones could realistically complete the task in a fraction of the time.

It's yet another potential application for drones, which have gone from being military tools to Lady Gaga 's backdrop at the Super Bowl. In Japan, researchers are developing drones that pollinate flowers, augmenting a declining bee population.

Drones are everywhere, cheap enough for you to buy on Amazon for your kid, and smart enough that retailers like Amazon are testing them for deliveries. The drone market is expected to nearly double to $11.2 billion by 2020, according to Gartner.

Beyond antivenom, WeRobotics has research teams in Peru, Tanzania and Nepal to explore other uses for drones, including combating the spread of the Zika virus.

Some drones are already providing health care in remote regions, especially for disaster relief scenarios, according to Stelios Kotakis, an analyst from IHS Markit. The growth will largely depend on the outcome of projects currently in the "experimental stage," he said.

For WeRobotics, its field test in Peru can be chalked up as a success -- albeit in a slightly roundabout way.

Just as Meier began to lose hope, the villagers started calling his name. A speck appeared on the horizon. The drone finally arrived -- five minutes later than expected. The flight took 35 minutes.

Children clapped and cheered as it swooped in and skidded smoothly across the grass. "There's video of me jumping up and down a dozen times and yelling hooray, hooray, hooray," Meier said.

He had good reason to be relieved.

The few days prior were rife with frustrations as the original $40,000 vertical takeoff and landing drone that arrived from North America failed to complete even one of the many dozens of planned flights.

Fortunately, there was a plan B.

Franky may not be pretty, but at least it can fly.

The team happened to bring an old $3,000 mapping drone along for the ride to the home base of Contamana, a six-hour riverboat journey from Pampa Hermoza. Battered, bruised and covered in gaffer tape, the mapping small fixed-wing drone, an Event 38 E384, was in such a state that Meier's staff nicknamed it Franky, after Frankenstein's monster.

For well over a year, Franky had been flying over the rainforest mapping and monitoring its environment. Fortuitously, the space housing the camera was exactly the right size to fit the mini cooler carrying the antivenom. With a few minor modifications, Franky suddenly had a new job.

There was only one problem: Franky had never flown more than 10 kilometers before, and it needed to go four times the distance.

"We had zero idea that this would work and zero guarantees," said Meier. The team decided to press on. "We might as well go all out."

By making it safely to Pampa Hermoza that day, Franky showed that there's hope for delivery drones to play a role in delivering health care in the Amazon.

"The use of the technology will be crucial in the future to improve access to health services, in particular highly specialized services," said Dr. Leonardo Rojas, former executive director of telemedicine at the Ministry of Health in Peru.

But the plucky little engine that could hadn't finished demonstrating what it was capable of.

A return flight was planned. Franky was supposed to deliver a vial of blood for testing back at the hospital in Contamana. Meier and his colleagues swapped in a fresh battery for the return journey.

It was getting late. There were no records of any cargo drones being flown successfully at night over the Amazon. It didn't deter Meier and his team. "We figured we might as well go for gold here," he said.

They strapped a bike light to Franky's nose with yet more gaffer tape.

Just as the team was ready to launch, it realized Franky wasn't connecting to the base station back in Contamana, through which its flight path was programmed. A debate ensued. There was a small chance that if the drone got enough altitude it would manage to connect, said Juan Bergelund, Meier's counterpart back in Contamana.

Meier wasn't so sure.

Franky takes a tumble.

"Even the other Peruvians were saying, 'Are you kidding me?'" said Meier. "We're going to lose the drone, we'll never recover it."

But Bergelund made the call and Franky flew into the darkness.

"All we see is this blinking drone fly off through the night." said Meier. "At this point it was beyond surreal, we were asking for trouble."

Bergelund's bet paid off, and Franky connected to the base station. But due to a slight miscalculation of the GPS coordinates, the drone ended up in a fight with a coconut tree near the field in Contamana.

If such an entanglement had occurred when testing the original $40,000 drone, it could have cost thousands of dollars to repair the damage, Meier said. For Franky, it meant -- yep -- another gaffer tape job and a $3 replacement part. The vial of blood stashed inside was unharmed.

Franky's success provided the whole team with a much-needed reality check on the approach it was taking to cargo drones.

"This awesome, humble Peruvian team had pulled off with just a few thousand dollars in a few hours what a major company had failed to pull off after a few months of planning with a drone that cost more than 10 times that price," Meier said

The Peru Flying Labs team saved the day with Franky the mapping drone.

The report on the field tests, published Monday, concludes that for the price of the original $40,000 drone, WeRobotics could buy 11 E384 Franky-style drones, establishing a whole delivery network. Neither the report, nor Meier, would disclose the US startup that built the original drone.

But two successful flights are not enough on their own to justify building such a network. The team is out in Contamana conducting further tests, this time using E384 UAVs from the get-go. Presuming they are successful, they will conduct further tests in May that will see them push the range up to 100km.

Beyond the Amazon test, WeRobotics is exploring fighting Zika by using its drones to release millions of sterilized, male mosquitoes into an environment where they will compete with local populations to mate with females, reducing the numbers of insects in the subsequent generation.

WeRobotics will have to use larger drones, but it has learned its lesson about the kind of technology it employs.

"It doesn't have to be sexy, it doesn't have to cost $40,000," Meier said. "As long as it works, that's good enough."

Life, disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it?

Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.

This medicine-toting drone flew where no one thought it could - CNET

‘Women With Heart’ to advocate for Volunteers in Medicine – Florida Times-Union

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Mia Jones helped her YMCA-director father raise money for needy children to take part in Y activities.

Kathryn Pearson Peyton played violin for residents of a retirement home.

Susan Towler was a child-care volunteer at the Happy Acres Ranch.

Other families go outside and play football, said Annie Egan. We did community service.

They are among 12 Northeast Florida women who trace their charitable tendencies to their youth, when their parents and families set an example of helping others. Volunteers in Medicine Jacksonville, a nonprofit clinic largely staffed by volunteers, honored them at a recent luncheon as Women With Heart who champion health-care access, kicking off a unique year-long fundraising campaign.

Philanthropist Delores Barr Weaver, a longtime donor who gave the clinic two $100,000 challenge grants in the past year, was given the inaugural Dorion-Burt Heart of Gold Award, named after the clinics founders. Each of the other 11 women honored Jones, Pearson Peyton, Towler and Egan, along with Aimee Boggs, Paula Liang, the Rev. Kate Moorehead, Helen Morse, Nicole Thomas, Lisa Weatherby and Tracy Williams will spend a different month in 2017 working to increase public awareness about Volunteers in Medicine and financial support for its mission.

How they customize that month of advocacy is up to them, said clinic CEO Mary Pat Corrigan. As a conversation starter during their respective month, each will wear the $7,000 diamond heart necklace designed exclusively for the cause by Beards Jewelry. At next years luncheon, the necklace will go home with the winner of a drawing. Also, at the luncheon they received an exclusive Bacardi rum made in their honor.

With their individual circles of influence, we believe we will significantly increase the recognition of the valuable work we are doing to keep our vulnerable, hard-working and uninsured families and individuals healthy, employed and out of our hospital emergency rooms, Corrigan said.

Volunteers in Medicine provides free health care to low-income, uninsured working adults and their families at a full-service downtown clinic funded by grants and donations.

About 230 volunteers including 70 physicians and nurse practitioners from all the major area hospitals annually provide about $1.2 million worth of primary and specialty care, dental and eye care, mental-health and nutritional counseling, among other services. Also, the clinic is a learning ground for nurse practitioners, resident physicians and other health-care professionals in training at area colleges and hospitals.

In 2002 founders Dottie Dorion and Jim Burt saw the need for health care for the working poor. Dorion was a registered nurse, founder of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida and philanthropist; Burt, a recently retired urologist who was long active in community affairs and advocacy for the medically underserved. After a year of planning, fundraising and overseeing renovation of an old Salvation Army building, they opened the clinic in 2003.

I wanted to do something for the community to help people who were finding it hard, Burt said.

Even though the working poor had jobs in some cases, two jobs many of them still could not afford health care for themselves and their families, he said.

They dont fit into the [health care] system, he said.

Over the years, the clinic has received grants and donations that allowed us to stay open and keep up with patient care, Dorion said.

We had the good fortune to be supported by many people who shared our vision, she said, citing Weaver in particular as providing game changing funding last year when it was needed most. Weavers two 2016 grants not only helped the nonprofit achieve financial stability, but enabled us to expand our services, according to board chairman Cory Meyers.

Florida Blue, which hosted the luncheon at its Deerwood Campus conference center, is also a longtime supporter, said Darnell Smith, North Florida market president.

Everybody deserves access to good health care, he said at the luncheon.

Also, he said the 12 Women With Heart deserve recognition for their collective good works.

Each has demonstrated compassion, dedication and commitment to help better our community, Smith said. They demonstrate integrity.

The honorees each said community service was an integral part of their lives. Liang recalled a teacher who made her realize it was OK to be smart and a girl, which led to her going to Brown University and law school.

How could I not pay that forward, she said.

Williams said when she sees an injustice, I have to help.

I truly believe we are here to take care of each other, she said.

When we follow God, Moreland said, we are all capable of miracles.

Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109

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'Women With Heart' to advocate for Volunteers in Medicine - Florida Times-Union

HIMSS Precision Medicine Summit: Call-for-presentations now open – Healthcare IT News

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Healthcare IT News and HIMSS are accepting speaker proposals for the inaugural Precision Medicine Summit, June 12-13 in Boston.

This event will give attendees a valuable state of the industry for precision medicine. Over two days, speakers will discuss the current state of precision medicine, the ultimate goal, and what the healthcare industry must to do reach that goal.

Audience and speakers will include a mix of clinicians, health IT professionals and researchers at academic medical systems, hospitals, physician practices, government andacademic institutions.

Session proposals should focus on how healthcare organizations are using precision medicine to deliver targeted, personalized care. Specific topics could include: the vendor and reimbursement landscapes, ethical issues, building data bases, managing unstructured texts, privacy & security, data use and migration, among others.

Case studies are a priority for this event.The deadline for submitting a proposal is 5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017.

Click here to submit a proposal and for more information.

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HIMSS Precision Medicine Summit: Call-for-presentations now open - Healthcare IT News

Corn, milk proteins make medicine easier to swallow — ScienceDaily – Science Daily

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Science Daily

Corn, milk proteins make medicine easier to swallow -- ScienceDaily
Science Daily
It's all about the layers, say scientists. Encapsulating a drug in corn protein nanoparticles and then covering with them milk protein can make children's ...

and more »

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Corn, milk proteins make medicine easier to swallow -- ScienceDaily - Science Daily

Medical School Affiliates Protest Trump Resort Fundraiser | News … – Harvard Crimson

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Dozens of protesters assembled in front of Harvard Medical Schools Gordon Hall Saturday called on the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to relocate a Feb. 18 fundraiser at President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort.

Dana-Farber, a Medical School teaching hospital, announced Thursday that it will keep this years annual fundraiser at Trumps Palm Beach resort but vowed to avoid controversial venues in the future. In January, thousands of Medical School affiliates signed a petition supporting the relocation of the event after Trump signed an executive order barring immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Brandishing signs and wearing warm clothes on a chilly afternoon, the protesters cheered on patients, doctors, and students who spoke at the rally. Many discussed their immigrant backgrounds and thoughts on how Trumps immigration executive order has negatively affected the medical field.

Celeste Royce, a doctor from Dorchester, said some immigrants have been deterred from seeking medical attention due to fear of prosecution after the presidential order. She urged audience members to advocate for vulnerable patients.

If we do not speak out against the discriminatory policies, then who will? Royce said.

Senan Ebrahim, a fourth year M.D./Ph.D. student whose parents are Muslim Syrian refugees, said he was concerned that many patients abroadincluding his own grandmothercannot seek quality medical care in the United States because of the executive order.

Today, we are complicit in a grave and growing injustice, Ebrahim said.

In a statement Thursday, top Dana-Farber administrators thanked patients, faculty, and staff for their respectful and constructive concern, but wrote that cancelling the fundraiser would also be seen as a political statement. Dana-Farber has paid Mar-a-Lago $150,000 every year since 2011 to hold its annual Discovery Celebration fundraiser.

Our decision last year to continue to rent that facility for this long-standing fundraiser was never meant to be, and does not now intend to be, any type of political statement or endorsement of any political figure or policy position, President of Dana-Farber Laurie H. Glimcher and Board of Trustees Chairman Joshua Bekenstein wrote.

At the protest, student activists challenged Glimcher and Bekensteins statement, which Medical School student Omar Bayomy said focused on appeasement rather than the issues at hand.

Bayomy said he respected for Dana-Farber for the medical services it offers but challenged the hospitals statement that the decision to hold the fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago was not intended to be a political endorsement.

In my opinion, these issues are not political, Bayomy said. We are speaking about human life and the respect and dignity we uphold for such lifethis is not politics, this is humanity. Wearing stethoscopes to indicate their medical backgrounds, student organizers thanked the crowd for braving the cold temperatures.

We will be cold and be uncomfortable because this matters that much, said student organizer Colleen M. Farrell to the crowd, which cheered in response.

Several Dana-Farber faculty members made closing remarks and said they were concerned about the Mar-a-Lago controversy.

When many of us heard about the issue, we thought it would go away, said Julie-Aurore Losman, a Medical School assistant professor who said many at Dana-Farber were deeply troubled by the Mar-a-Lago decision. We have a moral imperative to not only stand up for our colleagues and families, but our patients.

Dana B. Sarvey, a Medical School assistant professor who participated in the protest, described herself as uncomfortable with sitting at home and doing nothing.

More physicians need to be involved in healthcare policy, Sarvey said. At times in the past, individuals in the medical profession havent always spoken up for patient interests for a variety of reasons, but now is the time to speak up.

At the conclusion of the event, Farrell encouraged the audience to keep standing up for all the people in our community. She described herself as heartened and energized by the support from not only students, but also faculty members for whom protesting is more delicate. Organizers will schedule a town hall meeting in the near future about the Mar-a-Lago event.

Thank you and this is just the beginning, Farrell said to the crowd.

More here:

Medical School Affiliates Protest Trump Resort Fundraiser | News ... - Harvard Crimson

WRESTLING: After review, Liberty and Fauquier declared 4A West co-champions – The Daily Progress

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

When the Fauquier and Liberty (Bealeton) wrestling teams left Amherst County High School after two days of battle at the 4A West regional tournament, this much was clear: Fauquier was the regional champion and Liberty fell just short.

The Falcons edged Liberty in the team score, 184.5 to 183. Fauquiers Franco Camarca defeated Libertys Jordan Florence in the 170-pound finals to clinch Fauquiers championship.

A point recount after the tournament confirmed the team scores.

That changed Monday afternoon, with Liberty and Fauquier declared co-Regional champions, according to Liberty athletic director Dean Spahr.

There was confusion at the tournament regarding advancement and achievement points in the seventh/eighth place rounds, Spahr said. In wrestling tournaments, advancement points are awarded after winning matches. Achievement points are added for major decisions, technical falls and pins.

Fauquiers 184.5 point total included points from the seventh/eighth place matches, while Liberty believed those points should not have been counted.

Some schools left thinking the seventh and eighth place matches didnt count toward team points, while other schools thought they did, Spahr said. We chalked it up to a clerical error.

Spahr and other athletic directors from the 4A West region had a meeting scheduled for Monday. Spahr brought up the confusion and the representatives decided to declare Liberty and Fauquier co-champions.

We really didnt want to strip a team title to someone afterwards, Spahr said. I thought this was a good compromise.

The compromise means Liberty is a regional champion for the first time in school history.

A call to Fauquier athletic director Mark Holmes was not immediately returned. Check back for more updates.

Culpeper Star-Exponent correspondent Chuck Jackson contributed to this report.

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WRESTLING: After review, Liberty and Fauquier declared 4A West co-champions - The Daily Progress

West Liberty school shooting victim Logan Cole returns to school – Dayton Daily News

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

The family of Logan Cole, the victim in a West Liberty school shooting, shared on social media today the teen is back to school.

Mother Julie Cole posted today on Facebook that she dropped Logan Cole off at school.

Julie Coles post said in part:

I just dropped off at school the bravest kid I know. Logan Cole, you inspire me daily. You have taught me more in these last 3 weeks, than you will ever know. You have more faith, strength, confidence, love and forgiveness than men twice your age. I could not be prouder to be your mom.

The student shot during the West Liberty Salem shooting returns to school.

Logans father Ryan Cole added in an emailed statement to our newsroom: Our family is so thankful that Logan was able to return to school today. We continue to be amazed by the love and support of the school staff and the community. A huge thank you to everyone who has been praying for Logan's healing.

Read the original:

West Liberty school shooting victim Logan Cole returns to school - Dayton Daily News

Fire that destroyed Liberty County home investigated for arson … – Chron.com

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Danzig

Staff Report, daytonnews@hcnonline.com

A Sunday night house fire in the Knights Forest Subdivision in northeast Liberty County is being investigated for possible arson.

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Feb. 12, Hardin volunteer firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the corner of CR 2501 and CR 2096. When firefighters arrived, they found the home fully involved in fire.

MIDNIGHT SHOCK: Ford Mustang catches fire, destroys home

Firefighters worked quickly to keep the fire from spreading to other nearby homes. Debris from the blaze blew across the road, igniting in a tree and grass, but firefighters quickly extinguished those and returned their attention to the house fire.

According to neighbors, the house had been unoccupied for many years. They also claim to have seen two men on four-wheelers at the house shortly before the fire started.

A fire Sunday night destroyed a home in Knights Forest. The home was unoccupied at the time.

Fire that destroyed Liberty County home investigated for arson

Liberty County Fire Marshal Bill Hergemueller said by phone Monday that the cause of the fire is still under investigation and no ruling has been made at this time.

Hardin VFD was assisted by Hull-Daisetta and Cypress Lakes VFDs.

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Fire that destroyed Liberty County home investigated for arson ... - Chron.com

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