Monthly Archives: September 2021

France medicine shortage: Which products are affected and why? – The Connexion

Posted: September 12, 2021 at 9:46 am

Reports of medicine shortages in France have risen sixfold since 2016, with over a hundred different drugs affected.

Some of the most commonly reported shortages concern medicines used to treat high blood pressure, cardiovascular conditions and neurological issues.

Last year, one in four people reported difficulties in obtaining the medicines they needed because of their scarcity.

Earlier this month it was announced that pharmaceutical laboratories would from now on have to stock at least two months worth of products of major therapeutic interest to avoid shortages.

We look at the drugs that are most frequently reported to be in short supply, and the potential reasons behind this.

Which medicines are affected?

Medicine shortages have risen year on year since 2016, when there were 405 reports of a laboratory warning that they may run out of stock. In 2020, this figure had risen to 2,446, according to Frances medicines agency, l'Agence nationale de scurit du mdicament et des produits de sant (ANSM).

The spread of Covid-19 also caused a shortage of the muscle relaxant curare, which was widely used to treat intensive care patients.

ANSM reports also show that blood pressure medications irbesartan and ramipril, as well as other medicines concerning the cardiovascular and nervous systems are often subject to shortages.

Risperidone, which is used to treat schizophrenia, and lansoprazole, which eases stomach inflammation and ulcers, are also among the most commonly reported shortages.

When certain medications are in short supply, healthcare workers are left without an alternative treatment.

A November 2020 study* carried out by consumer group UFC-Que Choisir indicated that in 18% of cases, laboratories do not offer any substitute, leaving patients in a terrible impasse.

For other medications, manufacturers might suggest a mediocre alternative that may bring with it dangerous side effects, the group said

*The UFC-Que Choisir study concerned the 140 medicines reported to be out of stock or in short supply by the ANSM in July 2020.

What has caused the problem?

This rise in reports of shortages is in part due to the introduction of a 2016 law which lowered the threshold upon which laboratories were required to report a lack of supply to the ANSM.

The 2020 Loi de financement de la scurit sociale (Law on the funding of social security) also reinforced the sanctions that laboratories might face if they failed to declare a potential stock shortage as far in advance as possible.

Figures also indicate that medicine supply was impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic, with 700 shortages reported in March and April 2020 alone, when countries were closing their borders to combat the virus spread.

At that time, 80-85% of Frances medicines and active medical ingredients were produced in China, according to Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who described this situation as irresponsible and unreasonable.

Even before the pandemic began, this dependence had posed issues. In 2017, to reduce its emissions, China limited the electricity supply of some industrial zones, which housed several pharmaceutical factories. This led to a global shortage of the antibiotic amoxicillin and clavulanic acid.

Several experts in the pharmaceutical field have also suggested that the short supply of many cheap, commonly used drugs may be down to the economic strategy of the manufacturing company.

Philippe Lamoureux, director general of pharmaceutical companies association LEEM told Le Monde that when medicines enter the public domain and the market is filled with competitors, their price falls very rapidly.

Sometimes the price falls below the cost of production, and so the medicine is no longer produced.

An ANSM study on the 3,530 shortage reports made between 2012 and 2018 showed that 63.4% of the medicines in question had first been made available over 10 years before, meaning that they were no longer profitable for the manufacturers.

If production stops and supply is reduced, demand and therefore profitability will increase.

Decisions to stop manufacturing certain medicines have direct effects on patients. On September 7, Franceinfo reported on the story of Marc, who was forced to have his bladder removed following repeated shortages of the medicines he needed for his cancer treatment.

Related articles

French study: 20% severe Covid patients have genetic or immune issue

Paracetamol to be made in France once again

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Horrified Anti-Vaxxer Discovers Every American Who Got Smallpox Vaccine In 19th Century Now Dead – The Onion

Posted: at 9:45 am

LYNCHBURG, VAAstounded by the damning information, local anti-vaxxer Pete Dixon was reportedly horrified Thursday after discovering that every single American who got a smallpox vaccine in the 19th century was now deceased. Were expected to follow along blindly with the CDC, but if people would simply look to the history, theyd see that the thousands of people who were inoculated against smallpox in the 1800s have since dropped dead, said Dixon, telling reporters that it was disgusting that the mainstream media had refused to share any stories about Americans who had taken the government-mandated vaccines, only to eventually perish from complications including respiratory failure, cancer, heart attack, stroke, or cholera. They act like these shots are completely safe and tested, but I guarantee that future historians are going to look back on this time period centuries from now and discover that everyone who took the Covid vaccine is dead, too. Dixon added that despite the medias constant downplaying of alternative medicine, not a single person in the 19th century had died from ingesting ivermectin.

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Short on Evidence, Dubious Therapies Turn to the Tongue – Undark Magazine

Posted: at 9:45 am

When Kimberly Sheldon was 47, she says made the biggest mistake of her life. That was in 2018, when she says that a dentist explained to her that cutting the tissue under her tongue would help her jaw pain, gum recession, and occasional headaches. Her issues, he said, could be due to the fact that the back of her tongue couldnt reach the roof of her mouth. With a quick laser slice, a $600 charge, and some instruction on tongue exercises, he seemed confident that she would feel better soon after.

But, according to her account, the dentist didnt explain the possible risks, which include nerve damage and scarring that can restrict the tongue. Sheldon only found out about the issues after she experienced them. Since then, she says, the effects have torn her life apart.

The idea that tongue position can contribute to health problems is not well-supported by research, but its edging towards the mainstream. Millions of people are watching YouTube videos about how the tongue allegedly influences the face and jaw, and books, videos, websites, and social media posts say that improper tongue position can contribute to a host of health issues dental problems, sleep apnea, headaches, neck and back pain, and more. These ideas are especially becoming popular in dentistry echoed by Colgate and a dental hygienists magazine. Some even claim that changing the tongue position can make people more attractive.

Two proposed solutions to help with an allegedly poor tongue posture are becoming more popular, which may be done together or separately (in Sheldons case, her dentist recommended both). The first is myofunctional therapy, a series of exercises to strengthen the tongue so that it can rest on the roof of the mouth. Celebrities, including Kourtney Kardashian, are promoting this therapy. The second is surgery on what some practitioners call a tongue-tie a condition in which the tissue under the tongue, called the frenulum, is supposedly restricted.

Some tongue-ties are undisputed diagnoses generally in very young children. In infancy, a type of tongue-tie where the frenulum attaches all the way to the front of the tongue and severely restricts its movement has been treated for hundreds of years. More controversial are hidden, or posterior, tongue-ties, which, as Undark previously reported, are increasingly diagnosed and cut in children. Adult tongue-tie diagnoses also lack rigorous evidence.

Despite the limited evidence, myofunctional therapy and tongue-tie surgeries are increasingly promoted as a treatment for the many ailments attributed to poor tongue posture in adults. Especially concerning, some experts say, is the claim that the therapy is an alternative treatment for sleep apnea, despite a lack of evidence and with possible risks to patients.

Many doctors, however, caution against the idea that changing tongue posture is a panacea. I think people want to believe that myofunctional therapy is helpful, Eric Kezirian, a professor and physician of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at the University of Southern California, wrote in an email. The problem is that the history of health care is littered with thousands upon thousands of treatments that were not helpful, or were in many cases harmful, in spite of peoples best intentions. (An otolaryngologist is also called an ear, nose, and throat doctor, or ENT.)

To be sure, some patients say that tongue surgery and therapy has been life changing. In an invite-only Facebook group for tongue-tied adults, which has more than 15,000 members, some advocates report improvements in everything from facial composition to migraines, neck tension, anxiety, and even bowel movements. But not everyone has a positive experience. After the numbing wore off from Sheldons procedure, she says the pain was horrific; her tongue was pulled backwards and pinned down, gagging her. Her dentist recommended more tongue exercises, she says. It didnt help. After months without improvement, Sheldon said a member of the Facebook group referred her to an oral surgeon four hours away, who also set her up with a myofunctional therapist.

The new surgeon said her problems were obvious: The first dentist missed a bit of tissue or ligament, and he would fix it with a second procedure. But after that second laser cut, Sheldon had a persistent painful burning sensation at the base of her tongue, and the tip and the underside became permanently numb some of the nerves were damaged, she recalls being told. She couldnt swallow solid foods, she says, and her weight dropped from 140 pounds to 106. Eventually, she was hospitalized due to difficulty swallowing, and got occupational therapy to help. Now, she sees a doctor every three months for related chronic pain.

When the frenulum is cut, it could damage nerves, salivary glands, and ducts that lead to salivary glands, says Soroush Zaghi, an otolaryngologist and sleep surgeon, as well as the medical director of The Breathe Institute in California, where Kardashian is a patient. Theres also a risk of scarring, which Zaghi says is the most common adverse outcome. Scar tissue can cause the tongue to contract and reduce tongue mobility.

Nonetheless, Zaghi advocates for a surgery that cuts through the frenulum and sometimes into the muscle. He calls the procedure a frenuloplasty, during which he cuts until the patient is able to lift their tongue so the tip is just behind the front teeth when their mouth is fully open, and the back of their tongue can reach the roof of the mouth. (Sheldons laser surgery was a different approach, and there is no consensus or evidence to indicate if one technique is better.)

A tongue-tie, Zaghi asserts, can contribute to improper facial development in children, plus mouth breathing, sleep apnea, and more. However, Cristina Baldassari, an otolaryngologist and sleep medicine specialist at Childrens Hospital of The Kings Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, wrote in an email that there are no high quality research studies that demonstrate that tongue-tie causes any of these issues. The few studies that do exist have include small numbers of patients, or lack a control group.

Zaghi and others also promote myofunctional therapy, sometimes in conjunction with frenuloplasty, as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. But Baldassari says there isnt sufficient evidence to support myofunctional therapy as a sleep apnea treatment, either. The few small studies that have been done did not show that the therapy alone could decrease moderate to severe sleep apnea. Baldassari says she worries that real harm could come to sleep apnea patients with a severe disorder if they eschew conventional medical treatment for tongue therapy, because there are risks for medical complications like stroke and heart attack if the disease goes untreated.

The problem is that the history of health care is littered with thousands upon thousands of treatments that were not helpful, or were in many cases harmful, in spite of peoples best intentions, wrote Kezirian.

Cutting the frenulum could even make sleep worse, Baldassari says. Slicing through the tether could cause the tongue to fall back into the throat, obstructing the airway during sleep. This concern was echoed by Karthik Balakrishnan, a professor and physician of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Stanford University, though he pointed out theres no research on the subject to know for sure. And even Zaghi says some people are better off with an intact frenulum, including those who dont have enough space to accommodate their tongue high in their mouth, and those with low tongue muscle tone (though Zaghi cannot point to a method for providers to objectively assess these things, he says hes working on it).

Baldassari points out that researchers know the tongue is involved in sleep apnea devices that send electrical signals to the tongue, which cause it to move outward during inhalation during sleep, are effective at enlarging the airway. But, she says, if this tongue stimulation is strengthening the tongue, like myofunctional therapy proposes to do, it doesnt have a lasting effect; if doctors turn the device off after a year, patients still have sleep apnea.

Yet Baldassari doesnt mind if someone with mild sleep apnea or other conditions like neck tension, anxiety, bad posture, allergies, or teeth grinding, want to try myofunctional therapy, despite the lack of research, because she says theres little risk. Still, she added in an email, it likely will be a waste of time and money.

In addition to the lack of strong evidence, both the tongue therapies and surgeries dont have strong professional standards. Neither has a standardized protocol, so the process varies from one practitioner to another. And while tongue-tie surgeries are performed by licensed doctors or dentists, myofunctional therapists have no system of licensure. Sarah Hornsby, a myofunctional therapist a sizable YouTube following and therapy co-director at The Breathe Institute, who offers a training program through the institute, acknowledges that this lack of standardization is one reason the medical community is skeptical of the therapy and says it is something therapists are working towards.

Though Zaghi has published a method for assessing tongue-ties, he argues that at least some standards for myofunctional therapy are unnecessary. For instance, he says that myofunctional therapy shouldnt all be based on one persons protocols he compared it to an exercise regimen, pointing out that there are benefits whether someone does yoga, pilates, weightlifting, or running.

Other experts disagree. If an exercise is used as a medical treatment, it needs to be researched that shows its effective, says Kezirian. Myofunctional therapy has nothing like this, he wrote in an email. (Kezirian holds a patent for a device to correct obstructive sleep apnea, as well as for head and neck exercises done with an apparatus to improve sleep disordered breathing, though he is not currently selling either product.) Not only do variations in practices make it difficult for researchers to evaluate whether it works, Baldassari wrote that if there is a lack of standardization, there is no way to ensure that patients are getting adequate therapy.

Myofunctional therapy lacks standardized training programs, too. A myofunctional therapist is often a dental hygienist, as Hornsby was; other times, the therapist may be a dentist or speech language pathologist who has completed a short online training program. Most of these programs, which are not accredited by a professional organization, cost thousands of dollars. (Several organizations, including the International Association of Orofacial Myology, do offer certifications to those who complete their training.) Even tongue-tie revision surgery training for dentists can be done online, or through a two-day course with two hours of hands-on instruction, and Zaghi teaches his frenuloplasty method online since the pandemic began.

Baldassari wrote that if there is a lack of standardization, there is no way to ensure that patients are getting adequate therapy.

Despite the lack of training and standards, myofunctional therapists stand to earn more than they did as dental hygienists, with fees ranging from $80 to $250 per session; those who are also dentists or speech therapists can charge more. And dentists who revise adult tongue-ties can charge up to about $1,500 for the procedure. I do not want to suggest ulterior motives, Kezirian wrote in an email, but of course treatment is offered to patients that pay for services, often on their own because these treatments are not covered by medical insurance.

Sheldon has also noticed these financial incentives. She avoids the adult tongue-tie Facebook group these days because she says practitioners are also members, and stand to profit from the groups messages. And when someone has an issue after a tongue-tie surgery, members tend to doubt whether that person did enough myofunctional therapy or found the right provider, instead of questioning the procedure itself.

Sheldon says she has struggled to forgive herself for agreeing to do something that brought her chronic pain and health problems. But one thing brings her peace: Because of her experience, she sought a second opinion when an orthodontist suggested that her son needed tongue-tie surgery in order for his teeth to be straightened. What happened to her, she says, saved her son from the possibility of a similar fate. Now, she adds, I dont believe that were supposed to be cutting peoples frenulums.

Christina Szalinski is a freelance science writer with a Ph.D. in cell biology based near Philadelphia.

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Short on Evidence, Dubious Therapies Turn to the Tongue - Undark Magazine

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Replacing Salt with a Low-Sodium Alternative Lowers the Risk of Stroke: Study – Bel Marra Health

Posted: at 9:45 am

According to new research, replacing salt with a low-sodium alternative can lower the risk of stroke in people with high blood pressure. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study looked at the effects of sodium on heart disease, stroke, and death.

Previous studies have shown that both elevated sodium and low potassium intake are associated with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Salt substitutes have been shown to lower blood pressure, but there have been concerns about using them in people with chronic kidney disease, as they could cause hyperkalemia, which may lead to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death.

This new study was conducted in 600 villages in the rural areas of five provinces in China. There was a total of 20,995 participants who were divided into two groups.

One used regular salt, and one used a salt substitute that had about 75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride. Participants in the salt substitute group were encouraged to use the replacement more sparingly than they would normally use salt to maximize their sodium reduction.

The average age of all participants was 65.4 years, and 49.5% were female. Of all participants, 72.6% had a history of stroke and 88.4% had a history of hypertension.

Researchers set an average follow-up of 4.74 years and found that more than 3,000 people had a stroke, more than 4,000 died, and more than 5,000 had a major cardiovascular event. Of these events, it was noted that the risk of stroke was reduced with a salt substitute compared to regular salt.

Major cardiovascular events were also reduced in the group that took the salt substitute, along with total mortality.

Principal investigator Professor Bruce Neal said, This study provides clear evidence about an intervention that could be taken up very quickly at very low cost. A recent modeling study done for China projected that 365,000 strokes and 461,000 premature deaths could be avoided each year in China if a salt substitute was proved to be effective. We have now shown that it is effective, and these are the benefits for China alone. Salt substitution could be used by billions more with even greater benefits.

Low-sodium salt substitution is a more practical way of achieving changes in the amount of salt that people consume. Many people struggle to reduce their salt intake, and this provides a way to achieve a reduction in daily consumption.

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meme | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts | Britannica

Posted: at 9:44 am

meme, unit of cultural information spread by imitation. The term meme (from the Greek mimema, meaning imitated) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Selfish Gene.

Dawkins conceived of memes as the cultural parallel to biological genes and considered them, in a manner similar to selfish genes, as being in control of their own reproduction and thus serving their own ends. Understood in those terms, memes carry information, are replicated, and are transmitted from one person to another, and they have the ability to evolve, mutating at random and undergoing natural selection, with or without impacts on human fitness (reproduction and survival). The concept of the meme, however, remains largely theoretical. It is also controversial, given the notion of selfishness and the application of the concept to the evolution of cultures, which formed the basis for the field of memetics.

Within a culture, memes can take a variety of forms, such as an idea, a skill, a behaviour, a phrase, or a particular fashion. The replication and transmission of a meme occurs when one person copies a unit of cultural information comprising a meme from another person. The process of transmission is carried out primarily by means of verbal, visual, or electronic communication, ranging from books and conversation to television, e-mail, or the Internet. Those memes that are most successful in being copied and transmitted become the most prevalent within a culture.

The exploration of relationships between cultural evolution, cultural transmission, and imitation has led to intriguing theories about memes. For example, various ideas have emerged about the nature of memes, such as whether they are beneficial, neutral, or harmful. Memes may be interpreted as being inherently harmful, since, according to some scholars, memes are parasites or viruses of the mind; once assimilated into the human mind, their chief purpose becomes their own replication, with humans having little or no control over them. Some memes, however, are benign or beneficial but can become dangerous because, after they have been seeded in the human mind, they lend themselves to being misused or abused. For example, although memes associated with religious or political ideas may benefit the people who carry them, those same memes, when imposed on people whose religious or political memes are different, may cause harm, such as through the loss of religious traditions or social or political stability. Memes associated with religious or political ideas may also be abused, as in the case of religious cults or extremist groups, which can result in the death of individuals. Beneficial memes, on the other hand, could include those that promote human health and survival, such as memes associated with hygiene.

In the early 21st century, Internet memes, or memes that emerge within the culture of the Internet, gained popularity, bringing renewed interest to the meme concept. Internet memes spread from person to person through imitation, typically by e-mail, social media, and various types of Web sites. They often take the form of pictures, videos, or other media containing cultural information that, rather than mutating randomly, have been deliberately altered by individuals. Their deliberate alteration, however, violates Dawkinss original conception of memes, and, for that reason, despite their fundamental similarity to other types of memes, Internet memes are considered by Dawkins and certain other scholars to be a different representation of the meme concept.

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MINDFULNESS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

Posted: at 9:44 am

Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. For most of the farmers, knowing the customer also includes mindfulness of socio-economic class and income levels. Defining mindfulness as the ability to challenge stereotypes, they advance the idea that training in mindful thinking will reduce ageism. This commentary challenges the explanatory adequacy of cognitive nativism, suggesting that memetics has as much claim to utility and "mindfulness" as innate mental modules do. On the other hand, the tide of globalization threatens the good old practices of familialism and communitarianism and the scope for mindfulness to other persons. Mindfulness of strong cultural currents that give preference to youth over age is key to a critical social gerontology. The sense of trust, goodwill, connection or familialism and mindfulness are all about the traditional type of social capital. This is frequently addressed though fostering of mindfulness. A candidate for the strategy of creation is a virtue we might call mindfulness. In mindfulness training a person learns to be an observer of the flow of impulses, emotions, and events, without allowing them to compel actions that are not reflectively endorsed. For skills related to positive affect, patients learn to increase current pleasant events, work toward long-term goals involving positive affect, and apply mindfulness techniques to positive affect. And what does this mindfulness entail? Instead of breathing a collective sigh of relief and closing the books on the breach, it displayed collective mindfulness and recognized areas of its total performance that needed reform. Similarly, 'mindfulness' in question 44 is contrasted to the concept of 'competitiveness' under globalization. They suggest that mindfulness describes the condition in which one is attentive to what is occurring, and the consequences of actions, therefore providing a basis for more informed, self-endorsed actions.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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MINDFULNESS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

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The first all-civilian SpaceX flight is set to launch next week from Kennedy Space Center – USA TODAY

Posted: at 9:41 am

If all goes as planned, four private citizens who had never met until a few months ago will launch atop a SpaceX rocket from Kennedy Space Center nextweek for the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth.

Dubbed "Inspiration4," this flight will be far more advanced than the recent suborbital "hops" that carried billionaires and other civilians.

Rather than just climbing to the edge of space and returning to land in less than an hour as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin did, Inspiration4 will circle the Earth for three days and do so in a higher orbit than the International Space Station.

Paying for it all is Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-oldbillionaire high-school dropout, who is promoting the flight as massive fundraising effort for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Anddocumenting the entire processa la a reality-TV show are camera crews from Netflix.

Life on the Red Planet?: NASA is looking for 4 people to live inside their 3D-printed Mars module for a year

As of Friday, SpaceX said the launch was set for no earlier than 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday.It expects to narrow that down to a five-hour window about three days ahead of time. The crew, who arrived at Kennedy Space Center Thursday,will launch from Launch Complex 39-A at the KSC, the same pad from which Apollo 11 launched to the moon.

Isaacman, who started his internet company Shift4 Payments as a 16-year-old in the basement of his parent's house, says he knows some people will see this mission asa billionaire going ona joyride."

But in the Netflix series "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space" Isaacmansaid it was much more than an ego trip for a rich man.

"Were not going to do this if we cant make a huge difference for the problems the worlds faced with today or we dont earn the right to go up into space. We gravitated right to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," he said.

Isaacman, an accomplished pilotwhois listed as the "Mission Commander and Benefactor,"sees the mission as a vehicle to raise $200 million for St. Jude. He has pledged the first $100 million himself.

Isaacman is basing Inspiration4 around four "mission pillars:" Leadership, Hope, Generosity, and Prosperity, with each represented by a seat in the Dragon capsule.

"We're not going to go up with a bunch of fishing buddies," Isaacman said.

Space tourism: Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic shoot for the stars

Isaacman will fill the Leadership seat. The other three crew members are

Issacman, a pilot who is qualified to fly commercial and military jets,was on a phone call with some people from SpaceX in 2020 on a unrelated matter. Toward the end of the conversation, he said,"Whenever you guys are ready to really open this thing up, just, like, keep me in mind."

The SpaceX folks told him they were just about ready to send civilians to space and offered him the opportunity to be first. "And I was just all over it," Isaacman said on the Netflix series.

Isaacman and SpaceX were able to quickly reach a deal. Neither is saying how much he is paying SpaceX for the launch, though Isaacman has said it was far less than $200 million he hopes to raise for St. Jude.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk calledthis first private orbital space flight animportant step toward his goal of eventually colonizing Mars.

"Hopefully, as the name suggests, it inspires people about spaceflight," Musk said in the Netflix series. "You need pioneers likeJared in order to have the future mission and ultimately making science fiction not fiction forever."

Launch of a new era or flights of fancy?: Branson, Bezos ventures may open space travel to all

SpaceX and Isaacman unveiled their project to the world in a TV ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February encouraging people to apply for the mission.

The Super Bowl ad and the all-civilian crew aren't the only signs that Inspiaration4 is something completely different from a NASA mission, which until now was the only way people reached orbit from U.S. soil.

For one thing, the timing of NASA missions are normally set far in advance of the planned launch.

But since Inspiration4 doesn't have to rendezvous with the International Space Station or plans to place a satellite in a particular orbit, the normal timing restraints don't apply.

Instead SpaceX has said it has two back-to-back 24-hour windows that open at 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept 14. It expects to narrow that down closer to launch.

Brevard County activates emergency management forlaunches and has a plan for crowd control for the launch, but can't put anything into place until it has a narrower launch window. "We are still in the dark for it ourselves," said county spokesman Don Walker. "We are in a holding pattern."

Another sign that this is not a NASA mission has been the presence of Netflix cameras from almost the time the mission was conceived.

The first two episodes of the series, which became available Sept. 6, tells the story of the crew members, how they were selected, what training they've received and how their families are dealing with their loved ones tackling space travel.

While "Countdown: Insporation4 Mission to Space" is labeled a documentary series, it is more akin to reality television than a Ken Burns film. Video cameras seemed to have been omnipresent around the crew for months, capturing everything from the moment the crew members first found out they were headed to space(via Zoom calls in which reactions varied from shock to tears) to them sharing the news with friends and family to a trip to KSC to visit the launch pad where they will blast off. It even includes video footage of Arceneaux as 10-year-old patient at St. Jude.

A deeper look at Jeff Bezos' trip to space: Plenty of elbow room and the largest windows in space

The crew of Inspiration4 has had to cram all its training into six months, while basic astronaut training takes two years at NASA.

Among the training the crew has received are centrifuge rides to simulate G forces, Zero-G plane training and time in a Dragon capsule simulator.

Of course, the flight is fully automated and Inspiration crew will never have to take control of the capsule.

Also setting Insporation4 apart from other space missions is the passel of goodies the crew canbring with them to space that will be auctioned off with proceeds going to St. Jude. NASA astronauts head to the space station are allowed to bring along 3.3 lbs. of personal items, with the rest of the cargo load set aside for science experiments and essential supplies.

Among those items heading up on Inspiration4:

As the name suggests, Isaacman hopes the Inspiration4 inspires people and to look forward to the day when space travel is not limited to highly trained astronauts.

And its hard to find a more inspiring story than Arceneaux's. She will be the youngest person ever to orbit the Earth, the first cancer survivor in space and, because of a metal rod in her leg, the first person with a prosthetic to fly on a rocket.

A 'new breed' of astronaut: Meet the citizen space traveler who'll be on Virgin Galactic's next flight

Inspiration4 and the recent space hops by billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have drawn pushback from those who argue that the billions of dollars spent to make space tourism possible would have been better spent helping to solve problems on Earth.

In the Netflix series, though, Musk argues that humanity can both tackle problems on Earth and explore the heavens.

"I think we should spend the vast majority of our resources solving problems on Earth. Like 99% plus of our, you know, economy should be dedicated to solving problems on Earth,"he said. "But I think maybe something like 1% or less than 1% could be applied to extending life beyond Earth. ...If life is just about problems I mean why … whats the point of living."

Follow John McCarthy on Twitter:@JournalistJohnM

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On space barons and global poverty – Brookings Institution

Posted: at 9:41 am

On July 21, 2021, billionaire Jeff Bezos rocketed about 65 miles above the Earths crust. Another billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, did the same nine days before, but his vehicle could only climb to 53 milessome do not consider that a space flight, really.

Clearly, this was not the first time man ventured into space. However, in all earlier cases, explorers pursued a publicly defined mission and were paid from the public purse. Whereas Bezos and Branson were motived by private interest. Although Bezos thanked his companys workers and customers for paying for his trip, it was, nonetheless, a privately financed venture. These two aspects, private interest and private financing, make these billionaires the worlds first space barons.

The public reception of the emerging elite space travelers club is mixed. Space enthusiasts celebrate the renewed interest in space travel, which could spark future technologies that, one day, help bring life to other planets. Critics suggest that the money used would be better spent for fighting global hunger and poverty.

There is more to both sides of this argument than meets the eye, and further inquiry is warranted. For starters, I shall rule out an otherwise interesting, but notoriously complex, dimension that gave economists a headache for decades. That is the problem of interpersonal comparison of utility. In this case, can we really compare the utility gained by Bezos from his $5.5 billion trip with that of 37 million people had the money been used to end their hunger? The question may seem rhetorical, but it is not.

The problem remains an interesting one even after Bezos, and thus the need to compare his well-being with that of others, is taken out of the picture. Let us look exclusively from the viewpoint of potential beneficiaries in the developing world. Would a transfer of cash to them be better than using the money on space tourism? Surprisingly, the answer is not necessarily affirmative.

Nobel laureate economist Angus Deaton suggests that technological innovations like antibiotics, pest control, and vaccines have been the primary drivers of humanitys escape from destitution, including in developing countries, far surpassing development aid in impact. By this logic, space tourism could muster moral support, in addition to cash, if it also facilitates significant technological advances (in addition to conspicuous consumption).

So far, blasting billionaires off to the edge of space has not exactly been earth-shattering, technically. Mankind had previously stepped onto the moon on six separate occasions; astronauts and cosmonauts have visited space routinely, often without such commotion; and Mars is already inhabited by robots. The NASA Voyager, built half a century ago, has become the first man-made object to exit our solar systemcurrently drifting at 14.2 billion miles away from usthat is about 21 hours of light-travel time from Earth (solar light reaches us in about eight minutes).

Previous research on space technology has undoubtedly improved life on earth. Modern water filtration systems, solar cells, firefighting equipment, insulin pumps, and artificial limbs are all reported to have been initiated by space research. It is too soon to see such impact from the new billionaire-driven space race. However, Bezos company Blue Origin is reported to hold at least 19 patents, whereas Elon Musks SpaceX has followed a different path: The company has not submitted any patent applications to avoid technological disclosure. Yet, there are some obvious advances including reusable rockets, which have reduced the cost of space flight dramatically.

Nonetheless, even in the presence of such innovations, there may remain significant doubts. Would for-profit innovations diffuse for public benefit as much as the publicly funded ones? The reluctance to lift intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines has been a sobering test just recently.

In some highly specialized settings, when a group tries to help those outside the group, their joint action can actually hurt the outsiders instead of helping them. This is called the Samaritans Curse and was recently discussed by Kaushik Basu, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow. In the case of foreign aid, a similar argument is considered when donors respond to deteriorating conditions in a country by providing more aid while the recipient country government acts strategically by leaving needs unfulfilled to qualify for further aid.

In space tourism, a Samaritans Curse argument can hold even without such mischievous behavior by potential recipients. Suppose the poor could benefit significantly from future innovations driven by selfish (for-profit) motives of space travelers. Then, using the space tourism money for simple cash transfers instead could be the worse option for the poor themselves. For example, in Africa, cellphone technology may have improved life more than a hypothetical transfer of equivalent size.

For such prominent technology effects, it is not enough if private space ventures muster a whole lot of innovations. The effects on the global poor will also depend on how easily those innovations can be utilized for practical purposes in daily life and how quickly those applications can diffuse to developing countries. This is an area where public policy can go a long way: Capping intellectual property protections at a reasonable level, especially when public funds are used, could help broadly. Similarly, a technology-focused assistance scheme for developing countries can complement other international aid programs. Without such discretionary actions, the benefits of space tourism could take a long time to trickle down.

The bottom line is that space tourism can hold its moral ground if it achieves life-changing technological advances. However, a public nudge is most likely needed to distribute such benefits beyond the elite space travelers club. Otherwise, humanity may jump out of the Samaritans Curse into the trickle-down economics for the space age.

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On space barons and global poverty - Brookings Institution

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You can book travel insurance for your next trip to space wait, what? – The Next Web

Posted: at 9:41 am

Did you knowSHIFT is taking the stage this fall? Together with an amazing line-up of experts, we will explore the future of mobility during TNW Conference 2021.Secure your ticket now!

In the world of mobility there are two main types of insurances: motor vehicle and travel insurance.

And while, Im sure, you all know the basics of what each of them covers, let me surprise you here by saying that travel insurance will expand to space.

Yes, you read that correctly. Travel insurance company Battleface has launched its services for space tourists, Travel Daily News reports.

So, what does a space travel insurance cover? As per Battleface, there are many benefits included such as accidental death and permanent disablement.

Well, going to space is and inherently dangerous business. Say the spaceship catches fire during launch everything goes wrong and youre lost in space forever. But dont worry, at least you can be insured.

Sasha Gainullin, CEO of Battleface, said:

Todays landscape mirrors the early days of air travel back at the beginning of last century. [] The first policy for aviation was written in 1911 and in 1927 the first transatlantic flight flown by Charles Lindbergh was insured. We are excited to be one of the first companies in 2021 to be providing insurance to space tourism pioneers who want to have the freedom to travel into space.

Of course, not everyone will have the freedom to travel into space, or to be exact, the financial means.

Too expensive

Battlefaces policy is valid for any of the space flights operated byElon MusksSpaceX, Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin, Richard BransonsVirgin Galactic, and high-tech balloon manufacturers, Space Perspective, among others.

A seat on SpaceXs Crew Dragon costs the exorbitant amount of $55 million. Trips aboard the Blue Origins New Shepard were auctioned for $28 million. Riding on Virgin Galactics VSS Unity will cost passengers $250,000 apiece. And tickets for Space Perspectives Neptune One balloon start at $125,000.

All this seems very excessive, given that were at least decades aways from seeing suborbital transportation and space travel becoming an integral part of mobility.

But if we really think about it, they are indeed infiltrating it.

Civilians, although not regular ones, like Musk, Branson, and Bezos have already made their first trip to space. Plus, all the companies mentioned in the insurance plans are planning commercial flights within the next three years.

So, it is kinda happening now.

Yes, commercial space travel is still in its infancy, but the fact that insurance companies are eyeing a place within this industry makes me wonder whether well be alive to witness mobility moving from the earth to the stars.

Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?

Then you need the weekly SHIFT newsletter in your life.Click here to sign up.

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As Space Commercialization Heats Up, Can Investors Ride the Rocket? – The Ticker Tape

Posted: at 9:41 am

Space commercialization may make space tourism a reality. How can investors position their portfolios to take advantage of going orbital?

4 min read

Photo by TDAmeritrade

Private and public sector space investment is increasing

Global space industry could surpass $1 trillion by 2040

Space stock remains riskyboth to travel to and invest in

The successful space trips in 2021 by Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos Blue Origin and Richard Branson, founder of Virgin and Virgin Galactic (SPCE), meant more than just two billionaires being weightless in space for a few minutes. It may lead to advancements in commercialized space flights and scientific innovation too.

Although many of us cant afford to bid on a seat for the next space flightticket sales for Virgin Galactics VSS Unity start at $450,000 a seatthere are a few ways investors can position their portfolios to take advantage of going orbital.

Theres certainly a lot of interest in space investing, even if a lot of it hasnt shown profitability yet. Shares of SPCE more than doubled between the start of 2020 and mid-2021, for instance.

Elon Musks SpaceX is also in the thick of commercial space ventures. SpaceX has been around longer than both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic and was the first to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Its a private company, however, so investors cant participate. SpaceX plans to fly a passenger around the moon in 2023, but its biggest businesses are heavy launch vehicles and satellites.

Other companies looking to develop commercialized spacecraft are familiar household names that offer the public a chance to invest, including Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT), and Northrop Grumman (NOC). BA became a big player in the space tourism race when it signed an agreement with NASA as part of its Commercial Crew Development program to launch crew vehicles into space.

The private sectors push into commercialized space flight could lead to greater space spending across the board, according to Michael Fairbourn, education coach at TDAmeritrade. President Bidens proposed 2022 NASA budget contains more science funding than ever, at $24.7 billion, including a 9% increase in the agencys science division and a 5% increase in funding for deep-space exploration systems. NASA still targets 2024 for the first piloted moon landing since 1972, though its possible the timetable on that might be delayed.

Fairbourn noted that SPCEs Branson had originally priced space travel tickets at $250,000. Being able to increase prices is critical, and to do it sustainably is what might make the venture viable.

Bransons pretty good at getting a sense of demand, Fairbourn said. He has been with other products, at least. Thats just such an important point. If you can see the pricing going up like that, its central to generating those revenues consistently.

Morgan Stanleys (MS) Space Team estimates that by 2040the global space industry could be worth more than $1 trillion, versus $350 billion in 2016.

Aside from companies developing ships and rockets for human flight, firms that might be thought of as space adjacent can profit through space-related technology that helps us on Earth.

A key part of making commercialized space flight a reality is satellites. This is one of the largest subsectors in the space industry, and these companies specialize in the infrastructure and technology of near-space and low-Earth orbit, which is where Branson and Bezos spent time. Established U.S. satellite companies include EchoStar (SATS) and Iridium Communications (IRDM).

Many start-up satellite companies are going public through special purpose acquisition (SPAC) companies, so thats another area to consider watching.

Another critical area: satellite internet improvements that make communications between spaceships and Earth seamless and provide better broadband service back home. Innovations such as 5G may speed up communications and make them clearer. Companies in this sector include Dish Network (DISH), once a part of EchoStar;Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI); and Viasat (VSAT). Morgan Stanley forecasted that internet spending will garner the lions share of spending, estimating it at 39% of that $1 trillion.

The most significant short- and medium-term opportunities may come from satellite broadband internet access, Morgan Stanley stated in a recent report. Launching satellites that offer broadband internet service will help drive down the cost of data, just as demand for that data explodes.

Satellites and broadband might be seen as more practical aspects of investing in space. The riskier area could be space tourism, which is highly speculative. Several companies and concepts have ended up in the dustbin, including a Spanish company that wanted to create a hotel-like space station. Also, a 1960s proposal for a starship powered by exploding nuclear bombs appears to be off the table.

Then there are safety issues. Space-travel safety experts noted neither Branson nor Bezos wore the pressure suits NASA and other nations require for protection from rapid decompression outside the Earths atmosphere. Under Armour (UAA) designed the space suits for Virgin Galactic.

According to Bloomberg News, there are no safety standards for the commercialized space industry, and Congress exempted U.S. space tourism from federal safety oversight for crews. This exemption lasts until at least 2023.

Space accidents are deadly, and two of them occurred with NASAs Space Shuttle. Out of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, 14 people died during the shuttle program. NASA grounded the Space Shuttle for two years after the 1986 Challenger disaster, and the agency scrapped its Space Flight Participant Program, which wouldve sent private citizens into space.

A deadly mishap in the nascent commercialized space industry could easily scuttle the advances made and set it back for years, so investors need to be cautious. Its also helpful to assess which companies are riskiest. A company working on crewed travel to the moon or Mars, for instance, might be more vulnerable to a disaster than a company trying to improve 5G through satellites.

Then again, the payoff possibilities for investors might be better if theyre willing to take on more risk. They could also lose everything, so remember: If you invest in this area, dont put in more than you can afford to lose.

Even if there arent any spectacular and tragic mission failures, space is an area thats defeated many governments in the past and may continue to defeat private companies, too.

For now, the high costs of manufacturing or mining on an asteroid or on Mars likely outweigh the possible revenue from those operations. Companies that succeed in space will need to find a way to get the price of missions and development down enough where it makes sense to operate there rather than on our own planet.

Eventually (and this may be way down the road), space could offer manufacturing and mining opportunities pretty much undreamed of on Earth. According to Forbes, a single 140-mile-wide asteroid (named 16 Psyche) made of iron and nickel could have resources worth $1 trillion.

Mining an asteroid and manufacturing products in space, if it could be done profitably, presents what might be a big step in green technology. Any pollution associated with the activity would be in space, not on Earth. Some scientists see a future where Earth eventually becomes more of a garden spot of the solar system, free from the pollutants of manufacturing and mining, which would occur on asteroids or moons. Companies that find a way to do that could become popular with the environmental, social, and governance investing crowd here at home.

Still, thats probably decades away, if not more. For now, investors might have to approach the space industry one small step at a time.

Debbie Carlson is not a representative of TDAmeritrade, Inc. The material, views, and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and may not be reflective of those held by TDAmeritrade, Inc.

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As Space Commercialization Heats Up, Can Investors Ride the Rocket? - The Ticker Tape

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