Butterfield & Robinson Announces 50th Anniversary Celebration

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Toronto, ON (PRWEB) February 02, 2015

This month, Butterfield & Robinsonthe worlds premier active travel companybegins counting down to its 50th Anniversary. To celebrate, B&R is dipping into its extensive archive to craft all new journeys to some of its favourite corners of the globe, returning to destinations that have had the most profound impact over the years.

To celebrate the anniversary, B&R has announced five new trips, Munich to Salzburg Biking, New Zealand Biking, Patagonia Walking, Bali Multi-Active, and Santiago to Mendoza Biking, with an additional slate of European adventures to be released in the spring.

From its early beginnings as a 59-day odyssey taking 43 students through five countries, a company not to mention an entirely new way to travel was born. Fifty years later, having traversed six continents and more than 80 countries, Butterfield & Robinson is not only the world leader in luxury active travel, but credited with having invented the niche.

We travel in style and comfort. I guess were known for that, says founder George Butterfield. But for me, it's always been about the journey.

Butterfield & Robinsonthe worlds premier active travel companydesigns incredible journeys to the worlds most amazing places. Crafted from the finest ingredients (exceptional lodgings, incomparable access, stellar wines and food, experienced guides and more than a few secrets), B&R trips combine adventure with unparalleled cultural immersion in the worlds greatest destinations.

For more information on this trip and more visit http://www.butterfield.com.

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Butterfield & Robinson Announces 50th Anniversary Celebration

10 up-and-coming travel destinations and when to visit

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Toronto's skyline, in Ontario, Canada.

By Jessica Plautz2015-02-02 20:38:44 UTC

Travel booking websites field millions of searches everywhere in the world, putting them in an ideal position for identifying trends and deals that is, if they can distill all that data into useful tips.

Kayak says it handles more than 1 billion travel booking searches annually, and the company's "Travel Hacker Guide," launched Monday, is an effort to do just that for North American travelers. The "hacks" included in the guide are meant to help people travel smarter.

Kayak ranked the top 10 trending destinations based on year-over-year increases in flight searches. Milan, where the World's Fair will take place this year, came in at No. 1.

KAYAK's new "Travel Hacker" tool provides insights on popular destinations as well as tips for getting the best deals.

A calendar feature displays average airfare, popular hotels and travel tips.

"We've made the data featured in the [guide] highly visual and easy to reference, which we know is ideal for travelers who are hungry for hacks to make trip planning as simple as possible," said David Solomito, North America brand director for Kayak.

The cities rounding out the trending list show the appeal of growing urban destinations.

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10 up-and-coming travel destinations and when to visit

Slide Show: This years 5 biggest Super Bowl ad misfires

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With 30 seconds of airtime costing around $4.5 million during the Super Bowl, and over 100 million viewers to reach, companies want to spend their advertising dollars wisely. But they also need to take risks, doing something cute, shocking or memorable that will have people talking about the commercial around the water cooler on Monday. The commercials during the game either inspire awe, like mini-movies or give people the opportunity for a bathroom break.

Ads for the 2015 game on Sunday night drew notice for their overall somber toneand for some head-scratching miscues. The Wall Street Journal is currently running an online poll where you can vote for your own picks for best and worst Super Bowl ads.

This year, there were some returning stars Budweiser rolled out its cute, horse-loving puppy for the second consecutive year and some breakout stars: smartphone recharger Mophie ran a bleak, end-of-the-world ad to show how some people feel when their phone runs out of batteries, and Always feminine products had a #runlikeagirl ad that aims to debunk negative stereotypes and empower young girls.

Not everyone likes the commercials enough to watch the entire game. Im the guy who left a friends Super Bowl Party during the first part of the half-time show, says Jonathan Bernstein, president of public relations consultancy Bernstein Crisis Management. That said, most of the ads are available online before (and after) the game.

Read: 10 endorsement deals gone wrong

Here are 5 of this years worst Super Bowl ads:

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Slide Show: This years 5 biggest Super Bowl ad misfires

Topeka Zoo's bear gets CT scan, stem cell therapy

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Peek, a 20-year-old American Black Bear living at the Topeka Zoo, is undergoing treatment, including a CT scan, for back condition, zoo director Brendan Wiley said Monday.

Peek came out of her den two weeks ago and her keeper noticed the bears hind legs were wobbly. Peek was given pain medication. However, the condition quickly worsened, Wiley said in a news release.

Peek within the next seven days continued to lose control of her rear legs.

One of the unique things about this scenario is that Peek hasnt acted like anything is hurting her, said Shanna Simpson, animal care supervisor. It is like the front half of her body can no longer communicate with the back half. Peeks illness required the use of a CT scan, which used equipment the zoo doesnt have, Wiley said.

Zoo veterinarian Shirley Llizo brought in Larry Snyder and Travis Gratton, of University Bird and Small Animal Hospital, to help harvest fat cells from Peek. This would allow the fat cells to be converted to stem cells to be injected.

Peek was tranquilized Jan. 22 and transported to the zoos hospital so the fat cells could be harvested. After the harvest, Peek was transported to St. Francis Health Center, where she was met by Brent Wilkins, director of imaging services, and his staff.

After confirming Peek would fit in the 72-centimeter CT scanner, Wilkins was able to do the scan, and radiologist James Owen found an area of Peeks spine was experiencing spinal stenosis. This is a narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord, according to zoo officials.

Our first priority is human patient safety and access, Wilkins said. We work with the Topeka Zoo to accommodate animals that need CT scans in off hours when one of our CT scanners is available. We made sure the bear was separated from any other patients and performed a high-level decontamination and cleaning of the area, called a terminal cleaning, after the bears visit. Were very happy to help our friends at the zoo in keeping the animals healthy.

After the CT scan, Peek went back to the zoo, where she received the stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy treatment in bears is new technology, Wiley said. It is believed that Peek is the first bear to undergo this type of therapy, Wiley said in a news release. In the event Peek should need a second round of stem cell therapy, a cryogenic lab in Kentucky is maintaining the rest of the sample that was produced from Peeks fat cells.

Last week, Peek showed her first sign of improvement. However, she is still considered to have a poor prognosis, Llizo said.

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Topeka Zoo's bear gets CT scan, stem cell therapy

Two UC San Diego Scientists Receive Stem Cell Technology Grants

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Newswise The governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded two University of California, San Diego researchers almost $3 million in combined funding to pursue new technologies intended to accelerate advances moving stem cell therapies out of the lab and into the clinic.

The funding was part of almost $30 million in new Tools and Technologies awards announced at CIRMs monthly meeting in San Francisco.

Sometimes even the most promising therapy can be derailed by a tiny problem, said Jonathan Thomas, JD, PhD, chair of the CIRM Board. These awards are designed to help find ways to overcome those problems, to bridge the gaps in our knowledge and ensure that the best research is able to keep progressing and move out of the lab and into clinical trials in patients.

Shaochen Chen, PhD, professor in the Department of Nanoengineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering and a member of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine at UC San Diego, received a $1.3 million in CIRM funding for development of 3D bioprinting techniques using human embryonic stem cell-derived heart muscle cells to create new cardiac tissue.

Millions of Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease, specifically congestive heart failure in which a heart valve ceases to work properly. Current treatment often calls for a valve transplant, but donor availability does not meet need.

Chen and colleagues are exploring the possibility of engineering healthy cardiac tissues bioprinted from heart muscle cells, called cardiomyocytes, created from human embryonic stem cells. These tissues could then be implanted in a damaged heart, restoring function.

Shyni Varghese, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering and director of the Bio-Inspired Materials and Stem Cell Engineering Laboratory, received a $1.4 CIRM grant to improve in vivo function of transplanted stem cells.

Vargheses lab focuses upon the complex interactions of cells with their surrounding microenvironment, and how the conditions necessary to promote normal, healthy survival and growth occur.

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Two UC San Diego Scientists Receive Stem Cell Technology Grants

Franciscan priest to appear on Oprah Winfrey's 'Super Soul Sunday'

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Washington

If you think somebody's famous because they've written scads of books on spirituality, traveled the world speaking about God's love, and have 150,000 people on a daily email list for meditations, then brace yourself for when that person sits down for a televised face-to-face interview with Oprah Winfrey.

"That person" is Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr, and his interview with Winfrey will be seen on "Super Soul Sunday," which runs at 11 a.m. Eastern time Sunday, Feb. 8, on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Rohr will be the first Catholic priest to appear on "Super Soul Sunday" since the series debuted in fall 2011, 101 episodes ago.

"We're prepared for the 'A.O.' effect -- After Oprah," laughed Rohr, who prefers to be addressed as just "Richard." "What it is is what it is."

Winfrey had Rohr in the interview chair for an hour and 20 minutes, the priest told Catholic News Service from the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, N.M., which he founded in 1987.

Rohr said Winfrey had one of his books in her hands during the interview. "She had highlighted page after page, arrow after arrow," he said. "She wasn't threatened by Catholic theology." But the book was so marked up, he added, "she didn't get to ask one-tenth of what she wanted to say."

After the interview, Rohr said, "they had me put on my Franciscan habit and go over to the old Mission Santa Barbara [in California] for another two hours. So I'm walking around there, looking holy. It was a bit embarrassing."

On top of that, a staffer at the Center for Action and Contemplation, at the show's request, sent them "lots of pictures from my boyhood -- everything: my first Mass, my ministry with the Indians. She sent them everything she could. I'm going to be as surprised as anybody" to see the finished product, Rohr said.

"Super Soul Sunday" runs just one hour. Take out the commercials and promos, and there's 42 minutes of content. "It's going to be interesting to me to see what she does include and what she drops," he said.

Still, the experience was quite positive, Rohr said. "We really connected, I think it's safe to say. If you care to watch, there's good chemistry between us. That started before they started filming, although we never met until that day. ... She's got an amazing mind and an amazing heart."

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Franciscan priest to appear on Oprah Winfrey's 'Super Soul Sunday'

WFEB hosts Corporate Culture and Spirituality conference

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In the backdrop of shifting global landscapes, corporate heads, business leaders, government heads and NGO's, from India and across the world, convened at the two-day annual conference- 'Corporate Culture and Spirituality' (CCS) by The Art of Living and the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB).

For two days, this diverse group addressed concerns and engaged in a candid dialogue on global issues affecting business and economic outlook and ways to sharpen corporate philanthropic practices.

The conference was inaugurated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Spiritual leader & Humanitarian and Founder, Art of Living who said, "We need to drive a message into the budding entrepreneurs of society that it is smart to be ethical, it is smart to be service oriented, and it is smart to be sharing & serving. I hope this conference can bring up values like this to people around the world."

He also spoke about harnessing technology which connects the entire world to create actionable solutions globally and said, "Conferences are incomplete if they are not followed up with projects. Just talk will not suffice. Thought should follow an action plan."

Day 1 of the conference featured keynote presentations and addresses by eminent leaders top and renowned experts including Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Governor, Govt of Karnataka ; Juan Carlos Losada, Member of Parliament, Columbia; F K Morule, High Commissioner, South Africa; Daljit Singh, President, Fortis Group; Soumitra Bhattacharya, Joint Managing Director, Bosch Ltd., India, among others.

The other day saw an exciting line-up of speakers from organizations such as Amazon, Snapdeal, Paypal, TVS, SBI and many others, who addressed a range of issues under business through non-linear thinking and ways to unleash human potential.

H.E Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Governor of Karnataka said, "The earning of wealth must be linked to the development of the country."

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WFEB hosts Corporate Culture and Spirituality conference

Zebrafish flex their muscles for research aboard the International Space Station

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2 hours ago The Zebrafish Muscle study will observe the effects of microgravity aboard the International Space Station on the zebrafish. Credit: Sehara Lab

Although zebrafish are not deadlifting weights in orbit, they are helping researchers learn about muscle changes during their stay aboard the International Space Station. This impacts not only the fish, but also the crew and can have implications for Earth-related muscle challenges too. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Zebrafish Muscle investigation observes the effects of microgravity on the zebrafish, Danio rerio, a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family.

This research has the potential to lead to new drugs or treatments for patients on extended bed rest or with limited mobility. In addition to the potential human benefits, results from this study could aid researchers in developing countermeasures for muscle weakness in astronauts living in microgravity during extended missions.

"The main question of the Zebrafish Muscle experiment is whether atrophy of muscles under microgravity also occurs in fish, and why that muscle atrophy occurs in microgravity," explains Atsuko Sehara-Fujisawa, principal investigator and professor at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan.

Muscle atrophy is the wasting of muscle tissue. This occurs in microgravity since the muscles are not used to resist the force of gravity, as they would be on the ground. Astronauts mitigate this atrophy through prescribed daily exercise, yet some still lose bone and muscle mass during extended spaceflight.

In this investigation, the zebrafish is used as a model for comparison to larger organisms. Researchers use model organisms such as plants, animals or microbes like yeast to study the influence of microgravity on cells. Taking these organisms to space allows for examination of growth and development and physiological, psychological and aging processes without the impact of gravity. Previous observation of Medaka fish aboard the station monitored changes in bone impacted due to the microgravity environment.

Researchers study zebrafish because of their transparency compared to other fish. Scientists use transgenic zebrafish, which express fluorescence proteins inside the body to obtain three dimensional imaging of skeletal muscle and tendon tissues within the zebrafish. This means that the zebrafish contain DNA that is inserted experimentally. Furthermore, the availability of whole genome sequencing in zebrafish makes it an essential organism to study. This reveals the genetic characteristics of an organism with a precision that other technologies cannot match.

This investigation employs the station's Aquatic Habitat, an aquarium in microgravity. An LED light fixed to the top of the habitat illuminates the study for recording and simulates the sun's light on the surface of the water. The fish use their instinctual response to this light and swim in a position similar to upright on Earth. View the zebrafish swimming and eating during their spaceflight of more than 21 days on the space station in these JAXA videos.

A total of 18 zebrafish were launched to the space station. Five fish returned alive on a previous Soyuz spacecraft and some chemically preserved fish will be returned with the completion of the fifth SpaceX commercial resupply mission. The Zebrafish Muscle research team will compare gene expression - the process of determining a cell's function - profiles between fish flown in space and control fish on Earth. Specifically, they will look to see if fish muscle deteriorates in space and recovers upon return to the ground. The team also will examine if fish tendon is sensitive to microgravity.

"We hope that this research enables us to understand how microgravity affects muscle mass and strength in terms of genes and molecules and what kinds of molecular mechanisms contribute to the recovery of muscle after the exposure in microgravity," said Sehara-Fujisawa. "This research should clarify whether physical exercise and anti-gravity reactions share common gene regulation. It would be wonderful if this research gave us hints to ameliorate muscle atrophy due to aging or diseases."

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Zebrafish flex their muscles for research aboard the International Space Station

NASA | SMAP Radiometer versus Radio Frequency Interference #NasaGoddard – Video

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NASA | SMAP Radiometer versus Radio Frequency Interference #NasaGoddard
The microwave radiometer on NASA #39;s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite was designed and built at NASA #39;s Goddard Space Flight Center. Along with the microwave radar, data from the...

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NASA | SMAP Radiometer versus Radio Frequency Interference #NasaGoddard - Video

Hubble Space Telescope Could Survive Through 2020, Scientists Say

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Scientists working with the long-lived Hubble Space Telescope say that the intrepid eye on the sky could continue functioning through 2020, and even beyond.

Hubble is currently in good shape. The instruments repaired during the last Hubble servicing mission in 2009 have operated longer since the repairs than they did with the original hardware, Kenneth Sembach of the Space Telescope Science Institute said during a news conference in January at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Many of the other systems on Hubble are functioning well, even with the telescope reaching its 25th year in space in 2015. NASA did a study in 2013 evaluating Hubble's engineering and subsystems that ultimately showed a good likelihood that the telescope would continue functioning at least until 2020, Sembach said. [See amazing images taken by Hubble]

Operating the telescope through 2020 is an important goal for NASA. Hubble's successor NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) should launch in 2018, creating a one-two punch of space telescope observations for at least a couple years before Hubble's mission ends.

And officials are doing all they can to be sure that the spacecraft keeps working through at least that target date.

"We're conducting what we're calling the '2020 vision' for Hubble, and that is to make sure that the observatory is ready to run for at least five or six years to get at least a year of overlap with James Webb, if not more," Sembach said. "We're lucky in that we have very proactive engineering that's been going on over the last few years and continues to go on both at the [Space Telescope Science] Institute and at [NASA's] Goddard [Space Flight Center] to make sure that we're operating the observatory as safely and as effectively as we can. So, we're going to get to 2020."

JWST and Hubble are designed to observe somewhat different cosmic spectacles. JWST will extend Hubble's reach into the early universe, allowing scientists to potentially learn more about how the earliest galaxies formed.

If the two telescopes do function simultaneously, scientists might be able to observe one target using both observatories, giving researchers a more detailed spectrum of science from the cosmic target.

"The Hubble Space Telescope mission office and the James Webb Space Telescope mission office are discussing ways that we can allow people that have excellent science ideas that require both facilities to take data of the same targets to get those data sets on both missions," Jason Kalirai of the Space Telescope Science Institute said during the news conference. "We're in the process of putting together policies that are going to ensure that's possible."

Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Hubble Space Telescope Could Survive Through 2020, Scientists Say

State of NASA Speech by NASA Administrator Bolden

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Feb. 2, 2015

Thank you, Bob (Cabana). Its great to be here today at the Kennedy Space Center, where so many giant leaps have been made and where so many of our future dreams will take flight.

It was just a few short years ago that President Obama stood here in the Armstrong Operations and Checkout building and committed us to a Journey to Mars, beginning with an unprecedented mission to send astronauts to an asteroid as part of a stepping stone approach to reach the Red Planet.

Thanks to the hard work of our NASA team and the work of our contractor, academic and entrepreneurial partners all across America -- weve made a lot of progress on that journey.

This includes progress in integrating all of our work in a structured roadmap that is leading us to breakthroughs in new advanced technologies, driving us to new destinations and generating the inspiration on which future generations will thrive.

Just behind me are some tangible examples of our progress. The Orion spacecraft, which recently performed a near flawless flight test on its first journey to space, is being taken apart right now so it can reveal its secrets about that amazing flight. What we learn will prepare us for its next launch aboard our Space Launch System rocket (SLS) and its future with astronauts aboard exploring farther into our solar system than ever before.

Thanks to grit, determination and American ingenuity, weve returned cargo resupply missions to the United States, insourcing these jobs and creating a whole new private market in low Earth orbit.

Now U.S. companies, large and small, are developing the new systems in which our astronauts soon will travel from right here on the Space Coast in Florida to low Earth orbit. This initiative, where we hand off low Earth orbit transportation to the private sector, is critical to our journey to Mars.

The Boeing CST-100 mockup behind me that features the companys first-generation weld structure is a prime example of how the American aerospace industry is rising to the challenge of increasing crew safety while bringing down the cost of space travel.

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State of NASA Speech by NASA Administrator Bolden

NASAs CATS Installed On ISS By Robotic Handoff

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Mon, Feb 02, 2015

On Jan. 22, robotic flight controllers successfully installed NASAs Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) aboard the International Space Station through a robotic handoff the first time one robotic arm on station has worked in concert with a second robotic arm. CATS will collect data about clouds, volcanic ash plumes and tiny airborne particles that can help improve our understanding of aerosol and cloud interactions and improve the accuracy of climate change models.

CATS had been mounted inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo crafts unpressurized trunk since it docked at the station on Jan. 12. Ground controllers at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston used one of the space stations robotic arms, called the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, to extract the instrument from the capsule. The NASA-controlled arm passed the instrument to a second robotic arm like passing a baton in a relay race. This second arm, called the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System, is controlled by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The Japanese-controlled arm installed the instrument to the Space Stations Japanese Experiment Module, making CATS the first NASA-developed payload to fly on the Japanese module.

After installation, CATS was powered on and is currently sending health and status data back to NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the instruments data will be analyzed, as the team begins their checkout procedures.

CATS is a lidar remote-sensing instrument designed to last from six months to three years. It is specifically intended to demonstrate a low-cost, streamlined approach to developing science payloads on the space station. CATS launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Jan. 10 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

(Image provided by NASA)

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NASAs CATS Installed On ISS By Robotic Handoff