Daily Archives: April 10, 2017

Iowa State Pride Week seeks to create local community – Iowa State Daily

Posted: April 10, 2017 at 3:02 am

Iowa States Pride Summit is kicking Pride Week off with a call for unity and inclusion.

Various clubs and campus organizations will host events Monday through Friday to inform and express what Pride Week is all about.

It gives us an opportunity to create intentional spaces and gather in community with each other, said Joel Hochstein, hearing officer for the Office of Student Conduct.

Hochstein said Pride Week is about forming a local community and connecting with other local communities to join together on a national scale.

All students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate in the 10 official panels, activities and political call-to-action events outlined in the LGBTSS Pride Week events webpage.

The Pride Alliance, College of Business, Pride Summit, LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS), Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Gamma Rho Lambda, the Queer Graduate Association and Iowa State oSTEM will host these various events this week.

The events that the organizations are doing are meaningful in different ways for different people, Hochstein said.

With events varying from political action sessions, such as Contact Your Representatives! in the Agora at 11 a.m. Thursday to an open campus event for information on sex topics at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Carver, Hochstein said theres bound to be something for just about everyone.

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Pride Summit will host Making Workday Work for You in the lobby of the Student Services Building. The event will include a town hall on the new ISU student information system, allowing students to ask questions about how they fit into this systems plan.

The Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion will also host an event at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Beardshear to discuss the founding of Ames first-ever Pride Fest. Students can come by to share their thoughts and opinions, and meet those who are trying to make Ames Pride 2017 a reality.

To get involved in Pride Week, students can attend events, become a part of one of the organizations that host the events or contact the Pride Summit for more information.

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Love, anger and social transformation – Open Democracy

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Credit: Flickr/r2hox. Some rights reserved.

Its November 9 2010, and Im one of many students that have surrounded and taken over the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank Tower in London. Im angry, we are all angry, because the government is trying to triple the amount of money we have to pay to learn, develop and grow as young people. They are trying to raise UK university tuition fees from 3,000 a year to 9,000 as part of the continuous process of marketizing education.

There is screaming, shouting and drumming all around me, along with police in riot gear, but we outnumber them by far as we are in our thousands. I am part of a huge crowd that is singing and moving like a shoal of fish in the sea. I am at the front, face to face with a helmet, baton and shield. It's hard to see the person inside but thats not my focus - I am focused on getting into the glass fronted party headquarters. Suddenly we are all pushed forward and I find myself kicking with my feet, hitting the glass with anything I can find. I feel this rush of adrenaline in my body. I feel all my anger around the injustice of what the government is doing come out as a physical force.

I feel a release as I kick at the glass - and then there is this beautiful moment when the glass window smashes. Everyone cheers and rushes forward. We have done it - we have broken into the building. People stand on chairs. We chant, we sing, we fill the room, and for a moment this collective anger becomes collective joy - it becomes togetherness. I feel elated, I feel pumped, I feel powerful. I feel we are powerful, I feel together we can change the world. We just broke into Conservative party headquarters for Christ sakes - we can do anything!

And yet

Theres no doubt that anger is a powerful motivator. It motivates us to get out onto the streets and do something: to take action; find kindred spirits; build collective power. But it also has a negative side when it turns to hate hate at the world around us, hate at people who are destroying the environment, hate at the people who voted for Brexit. In my own struggles I also began to direct that hate towards myself in the form of guilt - guilt for being white, middle class and privileged; guilt for spending time doing things other than creating social change; and at its worst, a general sense of guilt every time I experienced pleasure or joy.

That doesnt mean accepting racist, sexist or other discriminatory behavior we must stand up and challenge it and become aware of how we perpetuate it but carrying that hate around inside of ourselves is incredibly self-destructive. So, can anger coexist with love, or do we have to choose one or the other? Neither extreme works for me, so what could a new approach to politics look like that acknowledges both of these forces as equally important in creating transformational social change?

From my early twenties I was drawn to spaces and places where I could explore what alternative forms of love might look like. I spent time in intentional communities and at festivals such as Boom andNowhere (the European Burning Man), and went on courses and workshops exploring intimacy and sexuality. In different ways all of these spaces embraced the idea of love and connection as a force for positive social change.

It was during these explorations that I discovered Tamera an intentional community in Portugal that has had a particularly profound impact on my life. Tamera was founded in Germany in 1978 and in 1995 it moved to Portugal. Today 170 people live and work there on 330 acres of land. As they put it:

The founding thought was to develop a non-violent life model for cooperation between human beings, animals and nature. Soon it became clear that the healing power of love and human community had to be placed at the center of this work. Love, sexuality and partnership need to be freed from lying and fear, for there can be no peace on Earth so long as there is war in love. The ecological and technological activities of Tamera include water conservation and promoting regional autonomy in energy and food. Through theGlobal Campusand theTerra Nova School, we are working within a global network of similar communities on the social, ecological and ethical foundations for a new Earth a Terra Nova.

Love is a powerful force that motivates me to act, to create, to give, to be alive - love of the natural world, love of music, love from a friend that gets me through a difficult year; the love between me and a partner that can make me feel like I am flying and can achieve anything; sexual love that can put a smile on my face for the rest of the day; love for a stranger in another country that can make me donate money to charity; or the love of a family member that can make me drive through the night to be with them by morning.

Ive had some of the most empowering, motivating, life affirming experiences in these spaces, experiences that have given me the energy to go back to everyday life and keep on fighting for a more beautiful world. However deep down Ive always felt that there was something problematic in this approach to social change that it couldnt just be about love and nothing else. Theres a hope that when we live in utopian spaces such as Tamera, then all of the things that are sad, bad or problematic about human society like pain, anger and power will simply disappear, but this strikes me as naive. The reality is that we bring all of our issues and privileges with us to these communities, and if they are not explicitly addressed then the same patterns of inequality will be reproduced.

Without a clear awareness and analysis of power and how it functions, and proactive methods of engaging with it, love can become degenerative, particularly for those who may have less power because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic standing or personal confidence. So the way ahead at this crucial time in history must be nuanced, consciously working with power and embracing both our anger and our love.

With the rise of President Trump and a politics of hate and fear, its important that we dont disengage, that we stay awake to, honour and acknowledge our pain, anger and rage. These are crucial emotional responses that lead us to take action, challenge the status quo, and build a different form of power together. But we cant let that anger turn into hate, blame and guilt. Otherwise we lose, because we become participants in the political and emotional games of the forces that oppress and discriminate against marginalised groups; who promote further cuts in services and greater austerity; and whose actions take away the hope and future of the next generation.

Instead we must create a politics of love, empathy and compassion; a politics that reminds us of the beauty that exists inside of ourselves and in the world in which we live; and social movements that make us feel alive, connected and supported. But to do this we need to re-imagine and diversify the narrative of love, beyond the confines of romance and the passive acceptance that is so often used in new age philosophies. As the writer and activist Bell Hooks writes:

We need to reclaim the concept of love, not as an abstract, all embracing, fantasy but as a set of ethics, principles, values and behaviours. A love that is justice in action... To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility...Culturally all spheres of life politics, religion, the workplace, domestic households, intimate relations - should and could have their foundation in a love ethic.

In this understanding love does not become passivity, acceptance or disengagement, or give into the pretence that pain, anger, and power do not exist. Instead it becomes a daily practice which also involves critical reflection, discernment, values and principles, as well as nurturance, care and support. A love that is justice in action is one that acknowledges power and knows that equality is a prerequisite for unity. Thisquote from the Black Lives Matter movement sums it up perfectly:

Our aim is to provide hope and inspiration for collective action to build collective power to achieve collective transformation, rooted in grief and rage but pointed towards vision and dreams.

The politics of the future must embrace all that makes us human: our anger, our pain, our joy and our love.

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Astronauts Risk Damaging Their Brain’s With Deep Space Travel – TrendinTech

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Although the prospect of exploring space may just be too much for some people, astronauts just cant get enough of it. The trouble is that as well as the excitement that deep space travel brings, there is also a high risk of astronauts causing serious damage to their brains as high-energy cosmic rays whizz through the craft and into their bodies.

A new study examined the effects that space-like radiation had on rodents. The results showed there to be significant brain damage and cognitive problems six months after being exposed to the radiation. This suggests that astronauts could endure memory problems, impaired judgment, and anxiety as a result of space radiation.

Charles Limoli is a neurobiologist at the University of California, and he says, I do not think that during the course of a trip to Mars and back the astronauts will come back with anything remotely similar to full-blown Alzheimers. But more mild changes, more subtle changes they would still be concerning, given the level of autonomy astronauts operate under and the amount of work they have to do.

During the research, mice appeared to be less interested in new toys or toys in new locations once theyd been exposed to the radiation while rats became less flexible when responding to environmental changes. Both became more anxious and preferred to remain sheltered rather than be out in the open.

When Limoli and colleagues investigated the brain damage that may underlie these problems, hey found the neurons dendrites had a lot fewer spines than normal, and because the spines help pass signals between neurons, any damage to them will affect learning and memory. When we look at those animals that perform the poorest on a given behavioral task, those animals show the largest reductions in these dendritic spines, explains Limoli. Lasting inflammation was also found in the rodents brains.

During the research, none of the animals showed any signs of recovery, which surprised the researchers. But evidence suggests that these problems will, in fact, continue to linger. Limoli advises, The actual time that these animals are irradiated here on Earth.is a matter of minutes, and we see changes now that last out to a year, which is astounding. In humans, it could be months before these symptoms became apparent and until astronauts set off on a deep space mission, we cant be sure exactly how the body will react to galactic cosmic rays.

Next, Limoli and team will try to find out which regions of the brain are the most vulnerable to the radiation. Drugs are also being made that could help protect the brain against exposure to or recovery from it. Limoli comments, I dont think this means were not going into space, but if we know whats out there, we can prepare to deal with it much better.

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Adidas to Mass-Produce 3D Printed Shoes in Vats of Warm Liquid Goo – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 3:01 am

Adidas just announced theyre partnering with 3D printing company Carbon to mass-produce a line of shoes with 3D printed mid-soles (the spongy bit that cushions your foot). Called Futurecraft 4D, they aim to make 5,000 pairs by the end of the year, ramping up production to 100,000 pairs next year.

While 3D printing is often touted for its ability to customize products, Adidas will start with a single design to test the tech. Their ultimate goal, however, is to customize each shoe to fit the unique contours of a persons foot.

This isnt the companys first foray into the world of 3D printingan earlier model of the Futurecraft shoe, made with Materialise, previously sold for $333nor are they the only shoe company pursuing the technology.

Whats interesting about this project is the challenges Adidas says Carbons technology can solve. And whereas 3D printed shoes have mostly arrived in small numbers, Adidas commitment to ramp up production is notable.

The idea of printing objects on demand is exciting, but the reality is more nuanced. 3D printing is slow and costly. Traditional manufacturing processes like injection molding still reign supreme for mass manufacturing at cost.

Adidas and Carbon are optimistic this may be changing for some products.

Of the 3D printers weve covered over the years, Carbon's is a personal favorite. Instead of stacking layers to make an object, Carbon uses light and heat to selectively harden liquid resin. The result is very sci-fi. A digital design made manifest is hoisted from a vat of high-tech goo in a single finished piece.

But Carbon's process has practical advantages too. For one, its relatively fast.

Printing soles used to take Adidas 10 hours. Now it takes 90 minutes. And they aim to further reduce print time to 20 minutes. Also, each sole is printed continuously in one piece, which eliminates weak spots where layers meet. And the soles honeycomb geometrythe properties of which vary over the sole's lengthwouldnt be possible with injection molding.

Mechanical engineers have been taunting the world with the properties of these structures for years, according to Carbon cofounder, Joseph DeSimone. You cant injection-mold something like that, because each strut is an individual piece.

The technology also allows for faster, more complete prototyping. Adidas ran through some 50 designs before landing on their final choice.

A typical process, which would require copious retooling, would try out a handful of designs before moving on. By 3D printing both the design and the final product, Adidas can skip tooling on both ends. And unlike prior prototypes, the design and the final product are made of the same materiallimiting the likelihood the final product will perform differently.

In addition to Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, and New Balance have their own 3D printed shoe projects, but these have mostly been produced in small batches. While 100,000 pairs of shoes is a drop in the ocean relative to the hundreds of millions of pairs Adidas sells each year, it's a lot more than a few hundred pairs.

Whether the shoe itself catches on? We'll have to wait and see.

Image Credit: Adidas

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Basketball courts, playgrounds, more at Ascension Parish sheriff’s new, unique substation – The Advocate

Posted: at 2:59 am

DONALDSONVILLE Outdoor basketball courts a full court and two half-courts will be ready soon and two playgrounds are expected to be built in time for summer at the new Ascension Parish sheriff's family-friendly substation in Donaldsonville, deputies say.

Under an intergovernmental agreement with the Ascension Parish School Board, the Sheriff's Office has opened the substation in what was once an adult education building on the former campus of West Ascension Elementary School, which opened in 1966 and closed in 2005.

Two other elementary schools, Lowery Elementary and Donaldsonville Elementary, now serve schoolchildren in the Donaldsonville area.

Deputies have been working out of the new substation on Maginnis Street for several months now.

The Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement for the city, which hasn't had a police force since the 1980s.

Inside the building, in addition to office space for deputies, there's a conference room where deputies hope to offer a variety of programs for children. There, youngsters will be able to sit and read a book if they'd like, or they can step across the hall to a vending machine room and get a soda.

But the Sheriff's Office wanted the substation to be more than a satellite office. The substation, in fact, offers a new park for the city.

The deputies will continue to work out of the offices they have in Donaldsonville City Hall on Railroad Avenue, which is where people who have been arrested or who are being questioned about a crime will continue to be taken by deputies, Deputy Chief Bobby Webre said.

There won't be any of that type of activity at the new substation. There won't even be a "most wanted" poster on the wall, he said.

"Whatever we can do that will let the citizens, kids and deputies interact in a positive way" is the vision that Sheriff Jeff Wiley has for the substation, Webre said.

Across the country, "we're seeing more of a divide between law enforcement and the community," Webre said. "Instead of stepping back, let's step further out into the community."

The new substation has taken shape over two years, said Lt. Kyle Hanna, who is overseeing the project.

The 1,900-square-foot building itself was in good shape, but some plumbing work needed to be done, a parking lot poured and the new basketball courts put in, Hanna said.

The basketball goals, which will get their nets soon, can be adjusted for height, he said.

Deputy Delacey Joseph, who played basketball at Tulane University and now coaches a local girls basketball team, in addition to her work as a deputy, helped design the courts and will bring basketball workshops there, Webre said.

LSU students, all biological engineering majors involved with the university's Community Playground Project headed by professor Marybeth Lima, are helping design and will provide the volunteer labor to build two playgrounds near the basketball courts, Webre said.

Bleachers will go up near the courts, where people will be able to sit under the shade of a large live oak tree. A new pavilion nearby also offers shade.

The next projects for the park include fencing and public restrooms.

Capt. Darryl Smith, who leads the Sheriff's Office west side patrol, said, "There was nothing in this area when I grew up here.

"There was nothing equivalent, 20-something years ago. This is forever. It's a perfect family setup."

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Gorsuch’s ascension to high court vindicates McConnell plan – WBKO

Posted: at 2:59 am

WASHINGTON (AP) Neil Gorsuch's ascension to the Supreme Court was vindication for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, whose risky bet more than a year ago paid off big time for President Donald Trump and the Kentucky senator himself.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, McConnell decided immediately that the Senate would not fill the seat until the next president was elected. McConnell never wavered. He ignored Democratic griping, misgivings from fellow Republicans, and ultimately erroneous predictions that GOP Senate candidates would pay a political price.

Now McConnell can take credit for allowing Trump to put a young conservative on the court for life, even though it took changing Senate rules to do it.

"No. 1, it's courageous. No. 2, it's genius, in that order, because he knew how much criticism he would get," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

Democrats and some Republicans predicted dire fallout from McConnell's divisive Senate rules change that removed the 60-vote filibuster barrier for Supreme Court picks, and they warned of a more polarized Senate and court over time. But most in the GOP were full of praise for their wily leader.

"Mitch did what he thought was the right thing at the time, and I think the American people agreed with it, as was evidenced by the outcome of the election," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "And now we have a great justice on the Supreme Court."

Frustrated Democrats grudgingly acknowledged that McConnell got what he wanted and delivered for his party, even as they insisted that the damage done to the Senate in the process would not quickly be forgotten.

The next time Democrats control the White House and the Senate, they could be the ones to benefit from the rules change enacted under McConnell. That's because the change will apply to all future Supreme Court nominees, too, eliminating any need for input from the minority party in making confirmations to the high court.

"The Republicans engaged in historic obstructionism that made it possible for this confirmation process to be conducted," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "We now have a radical right-wing justice on the Supreme Court. And I think that was their goal all along. So it is successful."

Some Republicans say the vacancy was an important factor in Trump's victory in November because the prospect of putting a conservative on the court helped evangelicals and other voters overcome their misgivings about Trump. In exit polls 21 percent of voters called Supreme Court appointments "the most important factor" in their vote, and among those people 56 percent voted for Trump.

McConnell told reporters Friday that "the most consequential decision I've ever been involved in was the decision to let the president being elected last year pick the Supreme Court nominee."

It was a gamble. McConnell said after the election that he didn't think Trump had a chance of winning or Republicans of holding their Senate majority.

McConnell and other senators also expressed the hope that after the bitter fight over Gorsuch, the Senate can get back on a more bipartisan course. That will be necessary to pass spending bills to keep the lights on in government by an April 28 midnight deadline.

McConnell pledged to preserve the 60-vote filibuster threshold on regular legislation, as opposed to nominations, which will continue to act as a tool forcing bipartisan outcomes and ensuring participation from the minority party.

As for Gorsuch, 49, he will be sworn in Monday and jump into cases of consequence, including one involving separation of church and state that the justices will take up in less than two weeks. Gorsuch is a veteran of Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals with a history of conservative rulings that make him an intellectual heir to Scalia.

"As a deep believer in the rule of law, Judge Gorsuch will serve the American people with distinction," Trump said in a statement.

The judge won support Friday from 51 of the chamber's Republicans as well as three moderate Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won last fall: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who has been recovering from back surgery, did not vote.

Gorsuch is expected to join a conservative-leaning voting bloc of justices, making five on the nine-member court.

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Conference to focus on space exploration in next decade | Boston … – Boston Herald

Posted: at 2:59 am

LOWELL, Mass. Astronauts, scientists and entrepreneurs are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Space Age and looking ahead to the next frontiers at a conference in Lowell.

"Space Exploration in the Upcoming Decade: The Domestication of Space," will bring industry leaders from around the world to share their work.

The conference will be held at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell from April 21 and April 22.

Space travel, human's ability to live on other planets and research that benefits life on Earth are a few of the conference's topics.

Keynote speakers include astronaut Col. Robert Cabana, director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center; Kenneth Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, the first director of the Strategic Defense Initiative.

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Five JPL Futuristic Concepts Selected for NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Portfolio – Pasadena Now

Posted: at 2:58 am

JPL's AREE rover for Venus is just one of the concepts selected by NASA for further research funding. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A mechanical rover inspired by a Dutch artist. A weather balloon that recharges its batteries in the clouds of Venus.

These are just two of the five ideas that originated at Jet Propulsion Laboratory that are advancing for a new round of research funded by the agency.

In total, the space agency is investing in 22 early-stage technology proposals that have the potential to transform future human and robotic exploration missions, introduce new exploration capabilities, and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems.

The 2017 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) portfolio of Phase I concepts covers a wide range of innovations selected for their potential to revolutionize future space exploration. Phase I awards are valued at approximately $125,000, for nine months, to support initial definition and analysis of their concepts. If these basic feasibility studies are successful, awardees can apply for Phase II awards.

The NIAC program engages researchers and innovators in the scientific and engineering communities, including agency civil servants, said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program gives fellows the opportunity and funding to explore visionary aerospace concepts that we appraise and potentially fold into our early stage technology portfolio.

The selected 2017 Phase I proposals are:

A Synthetic Biology Architecture to Detoxify and Enrich Mars Soil for Agriculture, Adam Arkin, University of California, Berkeley

A Breakthrough Propulsion Architecture for Interstellar Precursor Missions, John Brophy, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California

Evacuated Airship for Mars Missions, John-Paul Clarke, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta

Mach Effects for In Space Propulsion: Interstellar Mission, Heidi Fearn, Space Studies Institute in Mojave, California

Pluto Hop, Skip, and Jump, Benjamin Goldman, Global Aerospace Corporation in Irwindale, California

Turbolift, Jason Gruber, Innovative Medical Solutions Group in Tampa, Florida

Phobos L1 Operational Tether Experiment, Kevin Kempton, NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia

Gradient Field Imploding Liner Fusion Propulsion System, Michael LaPointe, NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Massively Expanded NEA Accessibility via Microwave-Sintered Aerobrakes, John Lewis, Deep Space Industries, Inc., in Moffett Field, California

Dismantling Rubble Pile Asteroids with Area-of-Effect Soft-bots, Jay McMahon, University of Colorado, Boulder

Continuous Electrode Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, Raymond Sedwick, University of Maryland, College Park

Sutter: Breakthrough Telescope Innovation for Asteroid Survey Missions to Start a Gold Rush in Space, Joel Sercel, TransAstra in Lake View Terrace, California

Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission, Slava Turyshev, JPL

Solar Surfing, Robert Youngquist, NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida

A Direct Probe of Dark Energy Interactions with a Solar System Laboratory, Nan Yu, JPL

The 2017 NIAC Phase I competition has resulted in an excellent set of studies. All of the final candidates were outstanding, said Jason Derleth, NIAC program executive. We look forward to seeing how each new study will expand how we explore the universe.

Phase II studies allow awardees time to refine their designs and explore aspects of implementing the new technology. This years Phase II portfolio addresses a range of leading-edge concepts, including: a Venus probe using in-situ power and propulsion to study the Venusian atmosphere, and novel orbital imaging data derived from stellar echo techniques measurement of the variation in a stars light caused by reflections off of distant worlds to detect exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

Awards under Phase II of the NIAC program can be worth as much as $500,000, for two-year studies, and allow proposers to further develop Phase I concepts that successfully demonstrated initial feasibility and benefit.

The selected 2017 Phase II proposals are:

Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion, Ratnakumar Bugga, JPL

Remote Laser Evaporative Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor System, Gary Hughes, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo

Brane Craft Phase II, Siegfried Janson, The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California

Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets, Chris Mann, Nanohmics, Inc., Austin, Texas

Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments, Jonathan Sauder, JPL

Optical Mining of Asteroids, Moons, and Planets to Enable Sustainable Human Exploration and Space Industrialization, Joel Sercel, TransAstra Corp.

Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander, Stephanie Thomas, Princeton Satellite Systems, Inc., Plainsboro, New Jersey

Phase II studies can accomplish a great deal in their two years with NIAC. It is always wonderful to see how our Fellows plan to excel, said Derleth. The 2017 NIAC Phase II studies are exciting, and it is wonderful to be able to welcome these innovators back in to the program. Hopefully, they will all go on to do what NIAC does best change the possible.

NASA selected these projects through a peer-review process that evaluated innovativeness and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development, most requiring 10 or more years of concept maturation and technology development before use on a NASA mission.

NIAC partners with forward-thinking scientists, engineers, and citizen inventors from across the nation to help maintain Americas leadership in air and space. NIAC is funded by NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is responsible for developing the cross-cutting, pioneering, new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.

For more information about NIAC and a complete list of the selected proposals, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/niac

For more information about NASAs investments in space technology, visit:

spacetech

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WW3 fears as Boris Johnson claims Trump ‘could bomb Syria AGAIN’ amid threats from Russia – Express.co.uk

Posted: at 2:58 am

GETTY

Johnson praised Donald Trump for showing a resolve and willingness that has been sadly missing in the last few years.

The US battered the Al Shayrat airbase in Southeastern Homs in retaliation to a chemical weapons attack in which at least 80 people died horrific deaths.

We cannot miss this moment. It is time for Putin to face the truth about the tyrant he is still propping up

Boris Johnson

Washington warned Syria more military strikes could follow if they continue to launch chemical attacks, but would prefer a diplomatic solution.

Johnson said: We cannot miss this moment. It is time for Putin to face the truth about the tyrant he is still propping up.

Getty/Reuters

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Trump ordered a massive military strike against a Syria

And the Foreign Secretary was adamant critics carping and using the death of civilians in a gas attack to fire off personal insults were only emboldening the Russians and Assad.

Alex Salmond claimed the Foreign Secretary is in deep political trouble after pulling out of a meeting with Russia, in the wake of Trump's Syrian intervention.

Johnson responded: I am focussed on working with the US and getting the G7 behind the goal of ending this war and rebuilding Syria one Rex Tillerson will deliver for the whole of the G7 to Russia.

Russia has responded with fury, claiming the US is undermining Putins strategic efforts in the country.

GETTY

Speaking to The Sun, Johnson added: There is no doubt that the US action is a game changer in Syria.

We need to make it clear to Putin that the time to back Assad has gone. By continuing to support a man who gasses his own people he is damaging Russia further in the eyes of the world.

GETTY

He must now understand that Assad is now toxic in every sense. He is poisoning the innocent people of Syria with weapons that were banned 100 years ago. And he is poisoning the reputation of Russia.

A joint command centre of Russia, Iran and Islamist militant group Hezbollah warned America they would not allow further attacks on the Syrian regime.

The military chiefs declared in a joint statement: From now on we will respond with force to any breach of red lines and America knows our ability to respond well.

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Meditation and the psychedelic drug ayahuasca seem to change the brain in surprisingly similar ways – Businessinsider India

Posted: at 2:57 am

At the end of a dark earthen trail in the Peruvian Amazon stands a round structure with a thatched roof that appears to glow from within. In the Temple of the Way of Light, as it is known, indigenous healers called Onanya teach visitors about the therapeutic uses of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew that's been used by locals for thousands of years.

Across the Atlantic, researchers in an ornate blue-tiled hospital in Barcelona, Spain are studying ayahuasca's physical effects on the brain.

The teams in those two disparate locations approach the study of the psychedelic drug very differently, but researchers at each one are coming to similar conclusions about the way ayahuasca affects the mind.

Among volunteers who take ayahuasca for studies, scientists have documented a rise in certain key traits that mirror those of experienced meditators . These changes include increases in openness, optimism, and a particularly powerful ability known as decentering.

Amanda Feilding, the founder and director of the UK-based nonprofit Beckley Foundation , collaborates with scientists around the world to understand how psychedelic drugs affect the brain. Feilding describes decentering as "the ability to objectively observe one's thoughts and feelings without associating them with identity."

Decentering might sound esoteric, but it's one of the key aims of mindful meditation and is also a goal of successful depression treatments in some cases. In volunteers who've taken ayahuasca as part of Beckley's research, decentering has been linked with higher scores on questionnaires designed to measure well-being and happiness and lower scores on measurements of depressive or anxious thoughts and symptoms of grief.

"It's interesting because even though our research out of Peru is based on surveys, while in Barcelona it's based on more traditional scientific research , our results out of both places are showing an increase in these traits," Feilding says, adding, "It seems patients are finally able to liberate themselves from the emotional pain they've long been suffering from. To calmly observe one's thoughts and feelings in an objective way in order to become less judgmental and more self-accepting."

Since the findings out of Peru are based on surveys, they can't prove that ayahuasca caused the reduction in symptoms of depression and grief - only that there's a connection between the two. But in Spain, as part of a collaboration between Beckley and Sant Pau hospital, neurologist Jordi Riba is looking at the brain activity in depressed volunteers who are given ayahuasca. His findings indicate that in addition to people simply reporting that they feel more decentered and less depressed after taking ayahuasca, there is a corresponding neurological change in their brain activity.

One small study of 17 depressed volunteers who took ayahuasca saw a decrease in activity in areas of the brain that tend to be overactive in conditions like depression and anxiety. And a new study of regular ayahuasca users suggests a physical shrinking in these parts of the brain, though that work has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

These findings are bolstered by other research on the potential therapeautic effects of psychedelics. Studies out of New York University and Johns Hopkins suggest that the psychedelic drug psilocybin - the ingredient in magic mushrooms - elicits similar effects among depressed people.

"With the psilocybin, you get an appreciation - it's out of time - of well-being, of simply being alive and a witness to life and to everything and to the mystery itself," Clark Martin, a patient who participated in one of the Johns Hopkins trials, previously told Business Insider of his experience.

David Nutt, director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College London, has been working with Feilding, and says the brains of people with depression or addiction get locked into patterns of thinking driven by the brain's control center.

"Psychedelics disrupt that process so people can escape," he says.

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Meditation and the psychedelic drug ayahuasca seem to change the brain in surprisingly similar ways - Businessinsider India

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