bananas
bananas's JournalNASA is funding a 3D food printer, and it'll start with pizza
Source: The Verge
NASA is funding research into 3D-printed food. As Quartz reveals, Mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor received a $125,000 grant from the agency to build a prototype 3D printer with the aim of automating food creation. It's hoped the system could provide astronauts food during long-distance space travel, but its creator has the loftier aim of solving the increasing food shortages around the world by cutting down on waste. The software for the printer will be open-source, while the hardware is based on the open-source RepRap Mendel 3D printer.
The concept is to use basic "building blocks" of food in replaceable powder cartridges. By combining each block, a wide range of foods should be able to be created by the printer. The cartridges will have a lifespan of 30 years, more than long enough to enable long-distance space travel. After proving his system works on a basic level by printing chocolate, Contractor will start his project within the next few weeks by attempting to print a pizza.
The pizza printer will first print a layer of dough, which will be cooked while being printed, before mixing tomato powder with water and oil to print a tomato sauce. The topping for the pizza will be a nondescript "protein layer." It's early days for the project, but if it's successful it would be a real milestone on the way towards a Star Trek-style Replicator.
Read more: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350948/nasa-funding-3d-food-printer-pizza
Firm to appeal nuclear plant whistleblower case
Source: Associated Press
An engineering firm accused of firing a whistleblower for reporting unsafe conditions at an eastern Kansas nuclear power plant plans to appeal the ruling by federal regulators, the firm said Monday.
The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found Enercon Services violated whistleblower protections when it retaliated against an engineer for raising concerns during construction work at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Burlington.
The company was ordered to pay $261,152 in back wages, damages and interest, plus attorney's fees. OSHA found it violated the whistleblower protections of the Energy Reorganization Act (ERA), OSHA said Monday.
"Professionals who work in the nuclear power industry have a right and responsibility to express their professional opinion and report safety-related concerns," OSHA acting regional administrator Marcia Drumm said in a news release. "The department's responsibility is to protect all employees from retaliation for exercising basic worker rights. The ERA protects the workers, who, in turn, protect the public."
<snip>
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100754522
NASA, Bigelow To Discuss Private Sector Human Space Exploration And Development on May 23
NASA, Bigelow To Discuss Private Sector Human Space Exploration And Development
WASHINGTON, May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas are holding a media availability at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 23, to discuss the agency's Space Act Agreement with the company for its insight on collaborating with commercial industry on exploration beyond Earth orbit. Journalists can participate in-person or by teleconference.
The media availability participants are:
- William Gerstenmaier , associate administrator, human exploration and operations, NASA
- Robert Bigelow , founder and president, Bigelow Aerospace
Journalist who want to attend in-person at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW in Washington, or dial-in to ask questions should contact Rachel Kraft at [email protected] or 202-358-1100 by 11 a.m. May 23.
Under the agreement, Bigelow will work with a variety of commercial space companies to assess and develop options for innovative and dynamic private and public investments to create infrastructure to support domestic and international governmental exploration activities alongside revenue generating private sector enterprises. Bigelow will deliver its analysis by the end of this year.
The agreement includes a two-phased approach that will help NASA assess potential opportunities for collaboration. During the first phase, Bigelow will leverage its existing relationships with other private companies and its expertise from continuing operations in space to form common objectives between the private sector and NASA. In the second phase, Bigelow will create a series of options for public-private collaboration that lower costs and takes advantage of rapid implementation.
For more information on Bigelow Aerospace, visit:
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com
For more information on NASA's exploration goals, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
SOURCE NASA
Iranian cleric says women cannot be president as 30 females try to have names added to the ballot
Iranian cleric says women cannot be president as 30 females try to have names added to the ballot
A member of Iran's constitutional watchdog group insists that women cannot be presidential candidates, a report said on Thursday, effectively killing the largely symbolic bids by about 30 women seeking to run in the June 14 election.
30 women put their names forward for the forthcoming election but none will be sanctioned
Photo: ALAMY
AP
12:50AM BST 17 May 2013
Even before the comments by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, chances for a woman candidate in Iran's presidential election were considered nearly impossible.
Women also have registered as potential candidates in past presidential elections, but the group that vets hopefuls appears to follow interpretations of the constitution that suggest only a man may hold Iran's highest elected office. Women, however, are cleared to run for Iran's parliament and have served as lawmakers.
The semi-official Mehr news agency quotes Yazdi as saying the "law does not approve" of a woman in the presidency and a woman on the ballot is "not allowed."
The Guardian Council, where Yazdi is a member, vets all candidates for the presidency and parliament. A total of 686 people have registered to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third mandate because of term limits.
<snip>
UK Clinical Psychologists Call for the Abandonment of Psychiatric Diagnosis and the 'Disease' Model
The actual position statement is at http://www.madinamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DCP-Position-Statement-on-Classification.pdf
Here are excerpts from an explanation by one of it's authors:
UK Clinical Psychologists Call for the Abandonment of Psychiatric Diagnosis and the ‘Disease’ Model
Lucy Johnstone
May 13, 2013
In a bold and unprecedented move for any professional body, the UK Division of Clinical Psychology, a sub-division of the British Psychological Society, issued a Position Statement today calling for the end of the unevidenced biomedical model implied by psychiatric diagnosis. The key message of the statement is:
“The DCP is of the view that it is timely and appropriate to affirm publicly that the current classification system as outlined in DSM and ICD, in respect of the functional psychiatric diagnoses, has significant conceptual and empirical limitations. Consequently, there is a need for a paradigm shift in relation to the experiences that these diagnoses refer to, towards a conceptual system not based on a ‘disease’ model.”
In brief, the argument is that the so-called ‘functional’ diagnoses – schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, ADHD and so on – are not scientifically valid categories and are often damaging in practice. The statement argues that we already have alternatives, such as psychological formulation, and that there is a need to work in partnership with service users and professional groups, including psychiatrists, in order to develop these further.
The story made the front page of ... <snip>
Needless to say, there has been as much backlash as appreciation. ... <snip>
The actual statement makes it absolutely clear that these are misrepresentations. The DCP specifically states that ‘This position should not be read as a denial of the role of biology in mediating and enabling all forms of human experience, behaviour and distress.’ The statement also explicitly says that the argument is about ways of thinking, not about particular professions. The ‘turf wars’ accusation is particularly wide of the mark given that the DCP statement is simply a more measured reiteration of recent comments by some of the world’s most eminent psychiatrists: Allen Frances himself described DSM-5 as ‘deeply flawed and scientifically unsound’, while Dr Thomas Insel, NIMH director, said ‘Patients…deserve better’. Former NIMH director Dr Steven Hyman, was even blunter: he called DSM-5 ‘totally wrong, an absolute scientific nightmare’ and in response, the Chair of the DSM-5 committee, Dr David Kupfer, admitted “We’ve been telling patients for several decades that we are waiting for biomarkers. We’re still waiting.”
The main difference – and of course it is a crucial one – between the position of these eminent psychiatrists and the DCP is that the former are determined to pursue the biomedical model at all costs. Indeed, NIMH has (as discussed on this site) announced the intention of launching a 10-year programme to pin down, once and for all, the elusive biomarkers that have evaded researchers so far. The project starts from the remarkably unscientific position of assuming what needs to be proved: in their words that ‘mental disorders are biological disorders.’ Flawed as this enterprise is, it will allow traditionalists to continue to claim that ‘We’re getting there – honestly!’ In the meantime, the overwhelming amount of evidence for psychosocial causal factors is once again relegated to a back seat.
<snip>
New Documents Reveal How a 1980s Nuclear War Scare Became a Full-Blown Crisis
Source: Wired
During 10 days in November 1983, the United States and the Soviet Union nearly started a nuclear war. Newly declassified documents from the CIA, NSA, KGB, and senior officials in both countries reveal just how close we came to mutually assured destruction — over a military exercise.
That exercise, Able Archer 83, simulated the transition by NATO from a conventional war to a nuclear war, culminating in the simulated release of warheads against the Soviet Union. NATO changed its readiness condition during Able Archer to DEFCON 1 , the highest level. The Soviets interpreted the simulation as a ruse to conceal a first strike and readied their nukes. At this period in history, and especially during the exercise, a single false alarm or miscalculation could have brought Armageddon.
<snip>
Oleg Gordievsky , a CIA and MI6 source during the Cold War , was previously known to have warned the West about these fears, but the CIA article identifies a second source of this information: a Czech intelligence officer with ties to the KGB who “noted that his counterparts were obsessed with the historical parallel between 1941 and 1983. He believed this feeling was almost visceral, not intellectual, and deeply affected Soviet thinking.”
<snip>
Documents obtained by Jones detail a massive KGB intelligence-gathering mission called Operation RYaN. (The name is a Russian acronym for “nuclear missile attack.”) According to the CIA article, RYaN was “for real” and accelerated in the early 1980s during the scare. The goal was to find out if and when the United States and NATO would attack. According to KGB instructions sent to agents in London, Soviet spies were to monitor bomb shelters, blood banks, military bases and key financial and religious leaders for signs of war preparations. “Many of the assigned observations would have been very poor indicators of a nuclear attack,” Jones warns.
<snip>
Read more: http://wired.com/dangerroom/2013/05/able-archer-scare/
IRS faces class action lawsuit over theft of 60 million medical records
IRS faces class action lawsuit over theft of 60 million medical records
California HIPAA-covered entity sues big time
Erin McCann, Associate Editor
SAN DIEGO | March 15, 2013
The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.
According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.
"This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued.
According to the case, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe company, however, "it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter," the complaint read.
The class action lawsuit against the IRS seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages "per violation per individual" in addition to punitive damages for constitutional violations. Thus, compensatory damages could start at a minimum of $250 billion.
How Renewable Energy Can Transform New York State
How Renewable Energy Can Transform New York State
More than 160 business leaders, elected officials, representatives from organizations and concerned citizens packed the Mount Kisco Public Library in Westchester County, NY, last night to hear nationally-recognized experts explain how New York could and should accelerate New York State’s renewable and sustainable energy future. Only one seat—reserved for Gov. Cuomo—remained empty during the forum, Renewable New York: Local Energy Today and Tomorrow.
Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University, Dr. Anthony R. Ingraffea of Cornell University and Dr. Jannette M. Barth of Pepacton Institute, three of the co-authors of a new ground-breaking study, explained the technical capacity, economic feasibility and benefits of a renewable energy infrastructure that can transform New York State by eliminating dependence on polluting fossil fuels by 2030.
They demonstrated how this translates into job growth, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy independence and security, improved water and air quality, protection of public health, lower health care costs and stabilization of energy costs. This game-changing plan would not only fast-track renewable energy, but would also reduce New York’s electric power demand by 37 percent. The program was moderated by Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper and Hudson Riverkeeper.
<snip>
“New Yorkers can be confident that in saying ‘no’ to shale gas, there is a much better alternative available starting today; better for jobs, better for water and air, better for their health, better for their energy pocketbook and better for climate,” said Dr. Ingraffea, professor of engineering at Cornell University and president of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, Inc. “Alternative energy sources are no longer ‘alternative’—they are here now, and just as real as fossil fuels.”
Dr. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University presenting climate change impacts from methane in shale gas development.
<snip>
NASA May Launch Donated Spy Satellite Telescope to Mars
Source: Space.com
One of the two spy satellite telescopes that recently fell into NASA's lap may eventually make its way to the Red Planet.
The space agency is currently mulling potential uses for the two space telescopes, which were donated by the National Reconnaissance Office and are comparable in size and appearance to NASA's venerable Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
Some scientists have proposed sending one of the powerful telescopes to Mars orbit, where it could look both up and down, giving researchers great views of the Red Planet's surface as well as targets in the outer solar system and beyond.
<snip>
But MOST likely wouldn't be able to study extremely distant objects as well as the famous HST, because installing a Hubble-like guidance and navigation system that allows a prolonged lock on such faint targets would raise the price tag significantly, McEwen said.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.space.com/21064-nasa-donated-spy-telescope-mars.html
U.N. nuclear talks with Iran fail to end deadlock
Source: Reuters
The United Nations' nuclear agency failed to persuade Iran on Wednesday to let it resume an investigation into suspected atomic bomb research, leaving the high-stakes diplomacy in deadlock.
<snip>
"At some point, the director general of the IAEA will have to return to the Security Council and say: ‘I can go no further. There has been no response. You have to take further action,'" Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told lawmakers in Washington. That could happen in June or in September, she said.
TWO TRACKS
Later, the European Union's foreign policy chief met Iran's nuclear negotiator for dinner in Istanbul to discuss the other line of talks which are a bid to resolve a row that could ignite war in the Middle East.
<snip>
The two sets of talks represent distinct diplomatic tracks but are linked because both centre on suspicions that Iran may be seeking the capability to assemble nuclear bombs behind the facade of a declared civilian atomic energy program.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/us-iran-nuclear-idUSBRE94E0RV20130515
Profile Information
Member since: Wed Nov 10, 2004, 12:55 AMNumber of posts: 27,509
