Daily Archives: January 9, 2013

Kentucky Students to Speak with Space Station's Tom Marshburn

Posted: January 9, 2013 at 10:50 pm

Students of all ages, educators and pre-service teachers will gather at Eastern Kentucky University to speak with International Space Station astronaut Tom Marshburn on Friday, Jan. 11. The long-distance conversation is scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. EST and can be seen live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Students will ask Marshburn, a member of the space station's Expedition 34 crew, about his experiences living, working and conducting research aboard the orbiting laboratory. He arrived at the station last month to begin a six-month stay.

Media representatives interested in attending the event should contact Marc Whitt at marc.whitt@eku.edu or 859-200-6976. Eastern Kentucky University is located at 521 Lancaster Avenue in Richmond.

In anticipation of the downlink conversation with Marshburn, educators have been preparing students by incorporating NASA activities into the classroom, creating awareness about the station, and encouraging students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching from Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

The exact time of the event could change because of real-time operational activities. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Kentucky Students to Speak with Space Station's Tom Marshburn

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Space station skipper beams down beautiful views

Posted: at 10:50 pm

Chris Hadfield via Google+

Australian wildfire: Look closely, you can see the flames from orbit ...

By Alan Boyle

Astronaut Chris Hadfield is making a name for himself as the International Space Station's first Canadian commander, the "Singing Spaceman" and Star Trek skipper William Shatner's Twitter buddy but he's also one heck of a photographer.

Since his arrival at the station on Dec. 21, Hadfield has posted more than 100 pictures to Twitterand Google+, most of them showing amazing views of Earth below. Between his official duties and his unofficial Earth-watching sessions, how does he find time to sleep?

"Yes,I should sleep more on station," he told one follower, "but the view from the window is like a perpetual magnet, too wondrous to ignore."

The space station's six residents all take turns behind the lens, but some astronauts take the job way more seriously than others: Notable shooters from past orbital stints include NASA's Scott Kelly,Douglas Wheelock,Ron Garan andDon Pettit, as well as Japan's Soichi Noguchi and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers. Hadfield is sure to take his place among them.

His favorite hangout is the seven-windowed Cupola observation deck, which provides an unparalleled view of Earth. His favorite camera? "We use primarily Nikon F2s and F3s, with a variety of lenses," he said on Twitter. "We even take them out on spacewalks, into the hard vacuum."

To get those awesome pictures of Earth landscapes, he brings out the Big Lens. "The big lens is Nikkor 600 mm, used with a 2-fold converter = 1200 mm," he tweeted. "Available for just US$10,300."

When you consider that the space station's crew is delivering pictures that no one on Earth can, that seems like a small price to pay. Check out a few of the recent masterpieces from outer space:

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Space station skipper beams down beautiful views

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NASA Deal May Put Inflatable Private Module on Space Station

Posted: at 10:50 pm

WASHINGTON NASA and Bigelow Aerospace have reached an agreement that could pave the way for attaching a Bigelow-built inflatable space habitat to the International Space Station, a NASA spokesman said.

The $17.8 million contract was signed in late December, NASA spokesman Trent Perrotto told SpaceNews Monday (Jan. 7). Perrotto declined to provide other terms of the agreement, except to say that it centers around the Bigelow Expanded Aerospace Module(BEAM). He said a formal announcement is in the works.

That inflatable space habitat, which is similar to the Genesis-model prototypes Bigelow launched in 2006 and 2007, could be used for extra storage at the space station and provide flight data on the on-orbit durability of Bigelows inflatable modulescompared to the outposts existing metallic modules.

Bigelow and NASA have been discussing an inflatable addition to the space station for years.

The deal signed in December follows a nonpaying NASA contract Bigelow got in 2011, under which the North Las Vegas, Nev., company worked up a list of procedures and protocols for adding BEAM to the space station. Bigelow got that contract, which did not call for any flight hardware, in response to a 2010 NASA Broad Agency Announcement seeking ideas for support equipment and services meant to help the U.S. portion of the International Space Station live up to its billing as a national laboratory.

Last March, NASA spokesman Josh Buck said the agency would tap one of its Commercial Resupply Services contractors, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) or Orbital Sciences Corp., to get BEAM to the space station.

SpaceX and Orbital are under contract for space station cargo deliveries through 2016. So far, only SpaceX has flown to the station. The company, which flies Dragon cargo capsulesatop Falcon 9 rockets, completed its first contracted run in October. Orbital, which is developing a cargo freighter called Cygnus for launch aboard its new Antares rocket, is now scheduled to launch a demonstration cargo run in February from NASAs Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia.

SpaceX and Orbital both signed Commercial Resupply Services contracts in 2008. SpaceXs $1.6 billion resupply pact calls for 12 flights. Orbitals $1.9 billion deal is for eight flights.

This story was provided bySpace News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

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NASA Deal May Put Inflatable Private Module on Space Station

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How does DNA Evolution™ integrate with Avid® Interplay®? – Video

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How does DNA Evolution trade; integrate with Avid Interplay?
LTO LTFS Archiving: StorageDNA #39;s CEO and president, tC Chakravarty, talks about DNA Evolution - a cost-effective and well-integrated archive option for Avid Interplay

By: StorageDNAdemos

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How does DNA Evolution™ integrate with Avid® Interplay®? - Video

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How does DNA Evolution™ integrate with CatDV? – Video

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How does DNA Evolution trade; integrate with CatDV?
LTO LTFS Archiving: StorageDNA #39;s CEO and president, tC Chakravarty, talks about how DNA Evolution seamlessly integrates into CatDV for LTO LTFS archiving and nearline, and easy content restores

By: StorageDNAdemos

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How does DNA Evolution™ integrate with CatDV? - Video

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How does DNA Evolution™ protect media long-term, and make it easy for you to find and restore it? – Video

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How does DNA Evolution trade; protect media long-term, and make it easy for you to find and restore it?
LTO LTFS Archiving: StorageDNA #39;s CEO and president, tC Chakravarty, talks about how DNA Evolution protects file-based media long-term, and makes it easy for you to find and restore it when needed

By: StorageDNAdemos

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How does DNA Evolution™ protect media long-term, and make it easy for you to find and restore it? - Video

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What are the benefits of DNA Evolution™ in a production environment? – Video

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What are the benefits of DNA Evolution trade; in a production environment?
LTO LTFS Archiving: StorageDNA #39;s CEO and president, tC Chakravarty, talks about the benefits of using DNA Evolution - media intelligent LTO LTFS workflow solutions - in a production environment

By: StorageDNAdemos

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What are the benefits of DNA Evolution™ in a production environment? - Video

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Pap Smear DNA Analysis May Find More Cancers, Study Shows

Posted: at 10:49 pm

New versions of the Pap smear that check cells in the cervix for cancer may also identify malignancies of the ovaries and endometrium, a finding that could broaden the preventive benefits of the test.

In the study published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers found genes of cancer mutations in samples of cervical cells and secretions from Pap smears they tested. The DNA tests accurately detected all endometrial cancers and 41 percent of ovarian cancers.

No routine screening exists for endometrial or ovarian cancers, which were responsible for 47,000 and 22,000 new illnesses respectively in 2012, according to the National Cancer Institute. The Pap smear is routinely administered to women of reproductive age, and since its introduction has reduced the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer by 75 percent. Todays study may provide the first steps widening its success to more reproductive cancers, researchers said.

Even if tumors were identified at an advanced stage, detection of presymptomatic ovarian cancers could be of benefit, the authors wrote in the study. The earlier these advanced-stage ovarian cancers are diagnosed, the lower the overall tumor burden.

The investigators focused on 12 of the most common types of ovarian and endometrial cancer mutations. They were able to identify mutations in the DNA of Pap smear specimens in all 24 of the endometrial cancers surveyed, and 9 of 22 ovarian cancers.

More research needs to be done before this test can be broadly applied in gynecologists offices, the authors wrote. Todays findings may lead toward more routine testing.

The studys lead author was Isaac Kinde, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The work was funded by Across America, The Commonwealth Fund, and the Hilton-Ludwig Cancer Prevention Initiative, among others.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in San Francisco at elopatto@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net

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Pap Smear DNA Analysis May Find More Cancers, Study Shows

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Disappointed 'Diefenbaby' draws DNA paternity blank; pleads to have mom asked

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TORONTO - A man who believes he's the son of former prime minister John Diefenbaker is pleading to have his mother confirm his paternity, now that he's drawn a disappointing blank in his latest bid for genetic certainty.

Exhaustive DNA tests on a tooth found in a museum in Saskatoon were unable to come up with a definitive match to end George Dryden's quest once and for all.

"Unfortunately, so many people have mishandled the material over the years that it has been compromised to the point where it is impossible to obtain a clear DNA profile of Mr. Diefenbaker," the testing company said in a letter this week to Dryden.

"The evaluation we were able to do indicated some matching markers, but the results are inconclusive."

Dryden, 44, who bears a striking resemblance to Canada's 13th prime minister, has been on a two-year quest to nail down his paternity since discovering that Gordon Dryden, the man he always thought was his dad, was not his biological father.

His mother, Mary-Lou Dryden, was a known confidante of Diefenbaker, who was prime minister from 1957 to 1963 and died in 1979. She may have had an affair with the PM that produced Dryden, although Diefenbaker has always been believed to have been childless.

Dryden called the latest DNA dead end "disappointing."

"We're looking for a needle in a haystack trying to get DNA from somebody who's been dead for almost 35 years," Dryden said Tuesday.

"We've pretty much come to the end of the road if we can't get it off his tooth."

The Toronto businessman said the most obvious and viable next step is to find out from his mother who his father really was.

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Disappointed 'Diefenbaby' draws DNA paternity blank; pleads to have mom asked

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DNA pioneer attacks cancer researchers

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A day after an exhaustive national report on cancer found the United States is making only slow progress against the disease, one of the country's most iconic - and iconoclastic - scientists weighed in on "the war against cancer." And he does not like what he sees.

James Watson, co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA, lit into targets large and small. On government officials who oversee cancer research, he wrote in a paper published on Tuesday in the journal Open Biology, "We now have no general of influence, much less power ... leading our country's War on Cancer."

On the $100 million U.S. project to determine the DNA changes that drive nine forms of cancer: It is "not likely to produce the truly breakthrough drugs that we now so desperately need," Watson argued. On the idea that antioxidants such as those in colorful berries fight cancer: "The time has come to seriously ask whether antioxidant use much more likely causes than prevents cancer."

That Watson's impassioned plea came on the heels of the annual cancer report was coincidental. He worked on the paper for months, and it represents the culmination of decades of thinking about the subject. Watson, 84, taught a course on cancer at Harvard University in 1959, three years before he shared the Nobel Prize in medicine for his role in discovering DNAs double helix, which opened the door to understanding the role of genetics in disease.

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Other cancer luminaries gave Watson's paper mixed reviews.

"There are a lot of interesting ideas in it, some of them sustainable by existing evidence, others that simply conflict with well-documented findings," said one eminent cancer biologist who asked not to be identified so as not to offend Watson. "As is often the case, he's stirring the pot, most likely in a very productive way."

There is wide agreement, however, that current approaches are not yielding the progress they promised. Much of the decline in cancer mortality in the United States, for instance, reflects the decline in smoking, not the benefits of clever new therapies.

"The great hope of the modern targeted approach was that with DNA sequencing we would be able to find what specific genes, when mutated, caused each cancer," said molecular biologist Mark Ptashne of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The next step was to design a drug to block the runaway proliferation the mutation caused.

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DNA pioneer attacks cancer researchers

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