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Juno Closes in on Jupiter  
This is the final view taken by the JunoCam instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft before Juno's instruments were powered down in preparation for orbit insertion on July 4.  
astronomy  

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NASA's Juno spacecraft prepares for cosmic date with Jupiter  
 
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Playing a science-based video game? It might be all wrong  
Playing 'Spore' is a good way to explore evolution.'Spore' screenshot

By Alex Leith, Michigan State University

You look down from the sky, manipulating the world and seeing how it responds to your changes. You are able to alter vegetation and climate while watching their effects on the surrounding organisms. In this way, and many others, digital games provide excellent opportunities for players to learn about complicated subjects, including the concept of evolution through natural selection. Even games designed for fun and not specifically for education can provide rich, concise, dynamic representations of complex science, technology, engineering and math topics.

Since I was young, digital games have successfully supplemented the educational process in a range of topics, including math, science and biology. Research shows that if these games are going to actually teach those concepts, they must represent them accurately. Games that include incorrect depictions teach the wrong lessons.

Since Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, evolution has been understood as a process based on genetic differences between individual organisms of the same species. There are three key principles:

1. 
   
2. Organisms with genetic advantages for their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, while organisms whose genes make their bodies less suited will die more quickly and reproduce less effectively.
   
3. Because these characteristics are genetic, they are passed on to offspring.
   
4. Organisms with genes that improve their survival will have more successful offspring, which will in turn pass on their advantages to the next generation.
   

Some colleagues and I looked into how well current games could serve as educational tools, specifically about evolution. We examined how Darwinian evolution was represented in 22 games, which we located either through game databases like GameSpot or IGN, or through Google searches. Most games got evolution at least partly wrong. Only five accurately represented all three key principles of evolution.

The five that got it right

"Creatures" provides a rare example of the three principles. In that game, players create cartoon-like creatures called "norns," through a process that allows norns to be altered not just in terms of appearance, but at the genetic level. For the most accurate representation of evolution, the game offers a play mode called "wolfling run." In that mode, players cannot directly affect their norns, but can observe their relative fitness for a particular in-game scenario. The potential variations in both norn creation and the environment they must survive in provide for an astonishing number of evolutionary possibilities.

Maxis, best known for creating the "SimCity" game series, and its spinoff "The Sims" collection, also made a set of games called "SimEarth" and "SimLife." Like "SimCity," both give players top-down control of a world. "SimEarth" was designed for players to make major changes to the weather, landscape and animals to create an environment. Players were then able to see how the animals would fare in this created environment. "SimLife" was more specific: it has players engage with the animals (rather than merely creating them) to learn about the biology surrounding their survival.

We also found two academically oriented games that loosely presented the three mechanics of evolution: "Selection Game" and "Who Wants to Live a Million Years" (which was later renamed "Charles Darwin's Game of Survival"). The two games were designed to be simple tools that could be played quickly in places like museums. Despite the limited mechanics present in such games, they still clearly show each element of the evolution process.

Market success doesn't mean accuracy

The most commercially popular game we found didn't quite get evolution right. "Spore" left out something many other games did, too: Organisms' genetic differences didn't affect their survival rates. Instead, organisms whose genes were unfit for the environment would not necessarily die more often, in keeping with evolutionary principles. Rather, players could intervene and increase an organism's likelihood for success by, say, helping it move more intelligently and strategically, beyond the scope of its genetically predisposed movements.

Nevertheless, "Spore" does a reasonable job presenting the broader concept of evolution to players, and is the best such game made this century. ("Creatures," "SimEarth," and "SimLife" are all from the 1990s.) "Spore" is also still available for purchase, so it is the only game readily usable by the average educator or student.

But other findings were disappointing. Most games inaccurately portrayed evolution, usually in the same way Spore did - allowing player intervention to save organisms that were unfit for survival.

For these other games, evolution becomes more akin to mutation during a single organism's life than a process that occurs through generations. In "E.V.O.: Search for Eden" and "L.O.L.: Lack of Love," players earn points they can spend to modify their organisms. In "Eco," at the end of each level, the player arbitrarily changes an attribute, though not necessarily one that affects an organism's survival prospects. In each of these cases, what the game calls "evolution" is actually external genetic manipulation, rather than inheriting particular traits.

These inaccuracies may confuse those unsure of what evolution actually is. If other scientific subjects are similarly poorly depicted in video games, the potential educational benefits of these games could be lost. However, as game designers become more adept at modeling scientific themes, it could herald an educational revolution.

Alex Leith, Doctoral Candidate in Media and Information Studies, Michigan State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Down to Earth: NASA's kilo-kitty balloon lands after 46 days  

100 day target still out of reach

NASA's super-pressure balloon project has once again fallen short of its 100-day target, but still managed to set some records on the way.…

 
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r0B0t: Amazon's robot worker challenge won by AI-powered suction arm - TechRepublic  

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Amazon's robot worker challenge won by AI-powered suction arm TechRepublic ... packing goods. Without automation, Amazon would be unable to ship items to millions of people each day and as the retail giant moves towards its goal of using drones to deliver packages within 30 minutes, it needs to continue to streamline delivery ... New warehouse robots roll out after Amazon corners marketArkansas Online Robotic arms race for online retailersFort Wayne Journal Gazette Adrian Weckler: Robots helped to cause Brexit - and they're not done yetIrish Independent all 9 news articles »

 
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starter of green olives, black olives, capers, buffalo mozzarell by irina grigorii  

starter of green olives, black olives, capers, buffalo mozzarell by irina grigorii

starter of green olives, black olives, capers, buffalo mozzarella, artichokes and red Chili peppers filled with tuna on blue

irina grigorii: Photos

 
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Photos of the Day: July 4, 2016  

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girl and lady by superchinois801

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r0B0t: Robot arm wins Amazon's tech award  
A mechanical arm created by a Dutch team of roboticists wins Amazon's Picking Challenge award.  
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r0B0t: Beauty and the bot: Artificial intelligence is the key to personalizing aesthetic products - The Globe and Mail  

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Beauty and the bot: Artificial intelligence is the key to personalizing aesthetic products The Globe and Mail Physical beauty is subjective and often difficult to define. But for the robot jury of Beauty.AI, an online competition billed as “the first international beauty contest judged by artificial intelligence,” beauty is calculated by a set of complex ...

 
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r0B0t: Robots could replace low-skilled migrant workers - Daily Mail  

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Robots could replace low-skilled migrant workers Daily Mail Summarising the findings, author Adam Corlett explained: 'Looking at those sectors with the highest proportion of EU migrants, we find that some such as cleaning and domestic staffing face relatively low prospects for automation, while others ... and more »

 
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VIEW: JUNO MISSION NASA TV CONTINUOUS COVERAGE LIVE TODAY! 10:30 PM Eastern Juno Spacecraft Enters Polar Orbit Around Jupiter  
 
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Alma finds a swirling, cool jet that reveals a growing, supermassive black hole  
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Ethical hacker certification bundle gives you the keys to an in-demand six-figure career  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/4-10-july-2016/furniture-makers-company-looks-boost-uk-furniture-exports-new-award-scheme/  
The Furniture Makers' Company looks to boost UK furniture exports with new award scheme  

Furnishing industry charity, The Furniture Makers' Company has revealed a new award that aims to increase exports of UK furnishing manufacturers.

The Export Award, which is open to any furnishings company that manufactures in Britain, has been introduced to help combat the current trade deficit of £3.3bn, according to figures from The Office for National Statistics.

“Recognise and champion companies”

Through the award, The Furniture Makers Company will acknowledge companies that already excel in export, and promote them as an example to other manufacturers.

Paul von der Heyde, chairman of the Manufacturing Guild Mark Committee, says: “The goal of the Export Award is to recognise and champion companies that are flying the flag for British manufacture in export markets.

Demand for UK design

“The UK has a great tradition of fine furniture, bedding and furnishing design and manufacturing and, while imitations are often manufactured overseas, there is an increasing demand for ‘the real thing'.”

Heyde is included among the panel of judges, alongside Ben Burbidge, master of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers; chief executive of the British Contracts Furniture Association, Jeremy Stein; chairman of the British Furniture Association, Jeremy Stein and Stephen McPartland MP, who is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group.

When assessing applicants, judges will consider factors such as any development initiatives; growth; techniques; long term commitment and relevant accreditations.

To apply, applicants should fill out an entry form on The Furniture Makers' Company website before 31 August. More information is available here.

The post The Furniture Makers' Company looks to boost UK furniture exports with new award scheme appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/4-10-july-2016/tatty-devine-designs-royal-london-hospital/  
Tatty Devine designs for Royal London Hospital  

Jewellery designer Tatty Devine has designed a series of site specific installations at The Royal London Hospital's new building.

Vital Arts, the arts organisation for Barts Health NHS Trust has commissioned the works, which are entitled All That Glitters May Be Bones and now cover the children's imaging department.

X-rays and bones

Tatty Devine, which is known for its laser cut acrylic jewellery, has created thousands of bright acrylic pieces along the theme of x-rays and bones.

Waiting areas, corridors and treatment rooms have all been redesigned so that they're less frightening and more engaging for children according to Vital Arts.

Tatty Devine partner Rosie Wolfenden says the installations: “Will help make hospital visits a better experience for children, especially those within our local community.

“It was fantastic to realise our ideas in such a different environment and we hope it makes people smile for years to come.”

Representing patient demographics

Barts Health lead paediatric radiographer at NHS Trust Martin Shute says: “Working closely with Vital Arts and Tatty Devine at the beginning of the project meant that the artists understood exactly how all the spaces within the imaging department are used, and the specificity of our patient demographics.

“The variety of colour serves to distinguish separate areas, including a soothing pink area for breastfeeding mothers, and an Autumnal palette for the adolescent waiting room, which, again, is different from the softer hues in the waiting area for our youngest patients”.

Royal London has worked with many artists and designers in recent years including Morag Myerscough, Tord Boontje and Chris Haughton.

The post Tatty Devine designs for Royal London Hospital appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/4-10-july-2016/small-businesses-lose-financial-support-following-eu-referendum/  
Small businesses could lose financial support following EU referendum  

Small UK businesses could lose financial opportunities and support as a result of the EU referendum result, according to business lender Funding Circle.

£100 million for British businesses

On 20 June, prior to the EU referendum, it was announced that the European Investment Bank (EIB) would provide £100 million to support small British businesses, working with UK-based lender Funding Circle. Funding Circle provides loans of roughly £50,000 to businesses sized on average 30 people or less.

“It's very unlikely to happen now”

But following the majority Leave result on 24 June, co-founder at Funding Circle James Meekings told the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Committee which assesses spending by governmental department BIS that the £100m funding project is now “at risk”.

“The deal with the EIB was a start to create a multi-billion pound programme for getting more funds into UK business,” Meekings says. “The programme is at risk. If I'm honest, it's very unlikely to happen now.”

According to Meekings, loans to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) employ roughly 60% of people across the country.

Too soon to speculate

In a statement, the EIB says it is yet to come to any decisions about its ties with the UK.

It says: “At present, the EIB's shareholders have not requested the Bank to change its approach to operations in the UK.

“It is premature to speculate on the impact of the referendum result on the EIB, including the Bank's future relationship with the UK Government and its future engagement to support long-term investment in the UK without clarity on the timing, circumstances and conditions of a withdrawal settlement.”

Small businesses earn less than £8.4 million

The majority of design consultancy businesses fall under the SME category small businesses are defined by Europa as those with a staff count of maximum 50, and a turnover of maximum €10 million (£8.4 million), while a medium-sized business is one with maximum 250 staff, and a turnover of maximum €50 million (£42 million).

Government backing necessary

Meekings adds that with doubts around funding from Europe, UK-based banks like the British Business Bank will need to be utilised, and the UK Government should be “putting more money in” to help SMEs.

“To date, we have had £60 million from the British Business Bank,” he says. “During this time of uncertainty, the British government should be backing small businesses.”

“Our question is what are the programmes that the Government could put in place given this new world of uncertainty to help get public funds and encourage growth and money directly into small businesses?” he says.

Businesses need “certainty”

Marcus Stuttard, head of AIM, the London Stock Exchange's international market in place to help small companies grow, told the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee that the business community is looking for “certainty” so that they can “plan”.

“We would expect that companies will delay making investment decisions and therefore requesting finance as well,” he says. “The greatest thing we can all do is remain collaborative and provide as much certainty as quickly as possible.”

Samir Desai, chief executive officer at Funding Circle, says in a statement that investors are unlikely to be affected in the “short term”.

“Many of our UK small businesses do not trade with the European Union and are unlikely to be immediately affected,” says Desai. “Our small business customers have been trading for ten years on average, and have experienced economic volatility before. We have conducted rigorous stress tests on our loanbook which show that even in the most stressed conditions, investors will continue to earn positive returns.”

“The value design brings to the economy is undeniable”

Deborah Dawton, chief executive officer at the Design Business Association, says of the design industry following the referendum vote: “UK design is world leading UK design is still a potent business asset and a sound commercial investment.”

According to the UK Government, between 2013 and 2014 the creative industries' value to the economy grew at almost double the rate of other UK industries, with design including product, graphic and fashion increasing the most at 16.6%. It also states the value of the creative industries was £84 billion in 2014 and accounted for 5% of the UK economy.

“The value design brings to the economy is undeniable,” says Dawton. “It is fundamentally important that this continues to be recognised.”

Creative Industries Federation to host post-referendum events

Creative Industries Federation (CIF) adds that while access to regional and sector-specific funding is a key concern for those working in the industry following Brexit, as is access to markets, IP protection and freedom of movement of talent.

In reaction to the vote, the organisation has announced it will be holding a series of “practical” events around the UK which will aim to “bring the sector together”, “marshal opinions” and “come to decisions” about the future.

The first meeting takes place in London on 7 July. A venue is yet to be announced.

The post Small businesses could lose financial support following EU referendum appeared first on Design Week.

 
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Juli 2016

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Northern blue butterfly (Plebejus idas) collected in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: 04HBL003084; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=LCH084-04)

 
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The Lion by Rebeca Saray  

The Lion by Rebeca Saray

Trabajo de mi curso de una semana en Sao Paulo, esta vez la parte creativa en exteriores --- Septiembre, Octubre y Noviembre)**** 17 y 18 Septiembre MADRID Taller Fotografía y retoque Intensivo (Estudio y exterior, beauty y fotografía creativa) 24 y 25 Septiembre VALENCIA Taller exteriores "Fotografía creativa y retrato" Valencia 01 y 02 Octubre BARCELONA Taller Fotografía y retoque intensivo Noviembre MEXICO TODA LA INFORMACIÓN CURSO 66 horas (Fotos de muestra, making of, etc..en el siguiente enlace) http://www.rebecasarayworkshop.com/…/curso-nivel-2-moda-y-b… INFORMACIÓN Y RESERVAS: info@rebecasarayworkshop.com ♥TAMBIËN PUEDES ENCONTRARME EN ♥ SUSCRIBETE AL CANAL DE YOUTUBE para consejos de fotografía y videotutoriales gratuitos: www.youtube.com/dosis WORKSHOPS // VIDEOTUTORIALES & ACCIONES: http://www.rebecasarayworkshop.com/ SNAPCHAT: rebeca_saray INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/rebecasaray/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/rebecasaray GRUPO EN FACEBOOK PARA SUBIR VUESTROS TRABAJOS REALIZADOS CON MIS VIDEOS https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebecasaray/

Rebeca Saray: Photos

 
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Alabaster by Laura Sheridan  

Alabaster by Laura Sheridan

Model - My Fragility Costume - Agnieszka Osipa Photography - Laura Sheridan's Art

Laura Sheridan: Photos

 
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Americans: 'Our Crown Jewel National Park System Worth $92 BILLION to Us!'  
When America declared our independence from the British Crown 240 years ago today, we cut ourselves off from the "dowry" of Crown Jewels protected in the Jewel Vault in the Tower of London. Including the Imperial Crown of State -- adorned with the Second Star of Africa, part of the largest diamond ever mined in history, 2,783 other diamonds, 17 sapphires, 277 pearls, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies -- a total of 142 spectacular items are protected as Crown Jewels, "enduring symbols of 900 years of monarchy." Every year approximately 2 million Britons and foreign tourists gape at them from behind a glass partition.


When we took our independence from Britain we eschewed the trappings of monarchy including this Imperial Crown of State, and created a new system of government and a new system of Crown Jewels - National Parks.

In contrast, America's Crown Jewels are spread out across our country like a vast network of precious gems available for every American and millions of foreign visitors to enjoy . The system of living, breathing landscapes and historic sites to which President Abraham Lincoln made the first deposit of Yosemite Valley in 1864, now stands at 411 units valued at $92 billion, according to a recent study.


The ethereal vision of Yosemite Valley that Albert Bierstadt portrayed in his paintings inspired President Lincoln to set aside the valley as our fist state park, later expanded to become Yosemite National Park.

With the great man-made monuments of Europe behind them, Americans in the "new world" chose a system of values based on land, creating our Crown Jewels from the glorious swaths of nature they encountered as they pushed west. Today our "Crown Jewel" National Park System ranges from the diamond hard face of "the Great One" - Mount Denali in Denali National Park, Alaska to the welcoming turquoise waters of the US Virgin Islands National Park and archaeological records dating back to 800 BC. From Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the US Constitution was debated and signed to George Washington Carver's Secret Garden at his birthplace National Monument in Diamond, Missouri, our historical sites serve as guideposts, continually refining our progress towards a nation "with liberty and justice for all."

Last week President Obama added another jewel to our treasury, creating the Stonewall Inn National Monument in New York City as a tribute to the efforts of the LGBT community to have their human rights recognized. Our Crown Jewels support our lives by purifying our air and water, providing habitat for wildlife, absorbing storm surge and protecting us from the effects of climate change. As valuable as they are, Britain's crown jewels cannot lay claim to those qualities.


I can hardly wait to explore the trail to his Secret Garden at George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri when I speak at Carver Day on Saturday, July 9.

So today I rejoice in the knowledge that the American people truly recognize and prize our Crown Jewel National Park System. A study released last week by the National Park Foundation shows that Americans assign a value of $92 BILLION to the System and the services provided by its caretaker agency, the National Park Service. The study showed that even people who do not visit national parks value them highly and say they'd be prepared to pay higher taxes to protect them.

These results perfectly illustrate the complete unacceptability that our Congress assigns a meager annual budget of approximately $3 billion to the parks, resulting in a huge deficit of funds to adequately care for and protect them, to maintain the roads and restrooms (I learned that each stall at Grand Canyon south rim uses one mile of toilet tissue every day!) hire biologists and wildlife managers, and park rangers to tell the stories of history and nature. It is only appropriate that we create an endowment for the Park System that honors the park service's mission to protect them in perpetuity instead of having to depend on an anemic annual budget.

I am trusting that this report will spur a different conversation about the future of our Crown Jewels. I hope it exposes the Park Service's attempts to allow a greater corporate presence in our national parks in exchange for money, as proposed by the current director in a pending order. Like a poison pill that will go into effect after he leaves office at the end of this year, the order proposes a shift to commercialize our crown jewels in ways that have not been allowed in 152 years and was not intended by their 19th Century founders. If managers at the Tower of London suddenly decided to give corporations titular ownership of the Crown Jewels in exchange for money, today's uproar over the outcome of Brexit might seem comparatively mild.


Bear Lake - oh what a feeling!

In Estes/Rocky Mountains National Park a few weeks ago, I sat on a bench overlooking idyllic Bear Lake and watched visitors strolling by on the trail. From the youngest babies and eager young children clutching their Junior Ranger notebooks and making notes, to elderly family members walking with a cane, no one seemed rushed or stressed. Everyone smiled and said hello to me as I sat quietly enjoying the forest and the lake, the ambience of singing birds and quaking aspen leaves.

Seeing a young mixed couple going around for the second time, I asked what they'd think if they knew there was a move afoot to allow a greater corporate presence in our parks.

"What?!" they blurted simultaneously. "That's dumb. We come out here to get away from the corporate world."

Exactly.

As we celebrate our Independence from Britain and all other foreign powers today, let us remember the words of our founding father Thomas Jefferson, in one of his last letters:

". . . let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them," he said of Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence in June 1826. He died the following month.

Let us demand of Congress that they allocate the budget required by the Park Service to appropriately care for our Crown Jewels. I have no issue with corporations contributing to the support of our parks, but God forbid that they have an ego big enough or rude enough to want to impose their "brand" on our collective treasures. For shame! Whatever else happens, it is our patriotic duty to defend our parks "for the benefit of this and future generations."

Happy Independence Day!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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How being Down Under helped me see Brexit the right way up  
I've just arrived back from Australia, where I was sharing Forum for the Future's work at the first Sustainable Brands conference in the region.

I left London on the day that 52% of the UK population voted to leave the EU. I left with a very heavy heart, dumbstruck that such a body blow to one of the most important integration projects since World War 2 had been delivered. For the next few days I would wake (admittedly, at totally the wrong time for my UK-based body clock) with a profound sense of loss, which took a few seconds to pin-point to the outcome of the vote.

I now realise that travelling to the other side of the world has actually helped me begin to make sense of what's happened, and, critically, begin to understand what needs to happen next.

First: We ignore inequality at our peril. The voting demographics of the Referendum reflected a huge divide between the haves and have-nots, the urban and rural or ex-industrial populations, and age groups. London has become a prosperous, multi-cultural bubble, disconnected from other parts of the UK despite being the home of its national government.

Even though my family comes from the Midlands, where the Leave campaign romped home, I failed to really notice - by that I mean internalise - that the high street of the town I grew up in is now reduced to a string of charity shops, and that when a job is advertised in the new, local Costa Cafe, hundreds apply, and that job goes to someone with a Master's degree. I failed to notice that the digital revolution is just mumbo jumbo to a vast swathe of over-60s, and has delivered precisely nothing for them.

Contrast this with Australia, where huge efforts are now underway to deliver a meaningful reconciliation plan, designed to address the huge inequalities that exist between the native aboriginal people, and within the broader Australian society. Plans such as the one being delivered by Bupa, the global healthcare company. Australia is taking inequality very seriously.

Without facing inequality head on, any hope we have of delivering broader environmental progress is probably doomed.

What next? We need to ensure that action taken by business, NGOs, government and civil society is guided by goals that deliver simultaneously for all strata of society and the environment. Which is why in these turbulent times, the Sustainable Development Goals have never been more important.

Second: A functioning, progressive national government is useful, but not essential for progress towards sustainable development. Cut scene back to Australia, where for two years, from September 2013 to September 2015, it was governed by Tony Abbott, a climate denier who famously described the science around climate change as 'crap'. During this time, some of the passionate sustainability champions I met in Sydney, described how they didn't feel comfortable sharing their profession with 'non-susty' types, and just kept quiet about what they did for a living.

And yet, whilst they stayed under the political radar, they remained busy. Busy promoting renewable technology as the sensible transition pathway for a coal-dependent economy, busy innovating and testing sustainability solutions, such as bugs that turn waste into fuel. Busy creating a movement of sustainability advocates, who, now that Mr Abbott is gone, are unleashing their energy and passion with vigour on Australia's businesses and government.

The political vacuum that is emerging in the UK (which some may argue has been here for some time), is no reason not to push ahead with a powerful sustainable development agenda. Businesses remain committed, so is civil society (well, elements of it), and nothing has changed for the NGOs.

What next? We must harness the levers for change that remain as strong as they were before June 24th. To do this, we need to employ systems thinking and innovation to understand our sustainability challenges from the inside - examining the linkages and interactions between and among different actors to diagnose exactly where the barriers and opportunities for collaborative action lie, and how best to push those levers to accelerate change.

We will continue to push ahead with our global initiatives that bring stakeholders together to transform entire systems that we all depend on - these include the Protein Challenge 2040, Cotton 2040, the Living Grid and the Net Positive Project. We will harness the energy of business, civil society and others, and leave a spare seat for national government, hoping that sometime soon they may want to focus on progress, rather than each other.

Third: Even if, and maybe when, the button that triggers Article 50 is pushed, the UK is still part of a global economy. Here's my last reflection from Australia: It is a very long way away from anywhere. It has access to all the resources it needs. It could theoretically exist as an isolated outpost in the Southern Hemisphere.

But! We live in an interconnected society. An interconnected economy. As Forum's Futures work has demonstrated time and again, one decision made today has multiple long-term ramifications that echo across the world. Even if project globalisation halted tomorrow, there are global links that connect us in ways that didn't exist before. Perhaps these links will burst apart under isolationist-type pressures. I doubt it though.

For me, this is why the Leave campaign argument that leaving the EU would give the UK more control over its economic destiny was such piffle. The UK may well leave the EU, but its complex web of connections - societal, economic and environmental - don't recognise state borders and won't all get sucked into the waves of the English Channel. These connections are strong. What binds us unites us, and it's folly to think otherwise.

What next? Yes, the UK will feel the EU's wrath at this ridiculous vote, but the UK is part of a system. We don't exist in isolation. While elements that bind part of our system might weaken, others can grow stronger. At Forum we will be concentrating on harnessing the power of parts of the system that are passionate for progressive change. From citizen innovators to enlightened trusts and foundations, which happen to be in the UK but are certainly part of a global economy, these are individuals and organisations that won't let a miscalculated vote undermine the positive forces for change. And neither will Forum.

So, thank you Australia. Thank you to all the wonderful people I met. Being Down Under for a few days has definitely helped me see things the right way up, and I now face the challenging times ahead for the UK with a renewed sense of optimism.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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New study confirms that migration leads to larger wings in monarch butterfly populations  
How does migration boosts the size of monarch butterflies? This was the question scientists asked in their recent study, which found that in fact migration can increase the size of wings in these butterflies.  
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Scientists discover maleness gene in malaria mosquitoes  
Scientists have isolated a gene, which determines maleness in the species of mosquito that is responsible for transmitting malaria. The research describes identification and characterization of a gene, named Yob by the authors, which is the master regulator of the sex determination process in the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, and determines the male sex.  
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New electron-microscopy technique measures magnetism at the atomic scale  
Aberration of electron beam allows microscope to pick out magnetic moments  
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Last Sunlight  

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Last Sunlight  

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The Best Fourth Of July* Speech In American History  
In 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a rousing speech on July 5, a day more black Americans chose to celebrate in the decades before the end of slavery.  
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Baby Tamarin  

syphrix photography posted a photo:

A very young baby cotton-top tamarin. Isn't it cute? You can see it near the entrance of the Singapore Zoo.
Taken at the Singapore Zoo.

[Facebook | 500px]

 
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By Jove! NASA's Juno prepares to slip into orbit around Jupiter  

The big red button has already been pushed on the risky manoeuvre to date

NASA's Juno spacecraft is set to enter its most critical stage as it attempts to fly into Jupiter's orbit.…

 
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r0B0t: Robotic rectum may aid prostate cancer diagnosis  
A robotic rectum may help doctors and nurses detect prostate cancer. The technology, which consists of prosthetic buttocks and rectum with in-built robotic technology.  
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r0B0t: New warehouse robots roll out after Amazon corners market - Arkansas Online  

Irish Independent

New warehouse robots roll out after Amazon corners market Arkansas Online "Warehouses are very high-tech places," said Bruce Welty, co-founder and chairman of Locus Robotics, a firm that's developed robots to work alongside, rather than replace, human workers. "Because the only way you can take costs out is automation.". Robotic arms race for online retailersFort Wayne Journal Gazette Adrian Weckler: Robots helped to cause Brexit - and they're not done yetIrish Independent all 4 news articles »

 
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r0B0t: Giant spacecraft nears Jupiter - CNN  

CNN

Giant spacecraft nears Jupiter CNN (CNN) It's been speeding toward Jupiter for nearly five years. Now -- can it slow down? On Monday, NASA's Juno spacecraft -- a spinning, robotic probe as wide as a basketball court -- will perform what the space agency calls a 35-minute long ... NASA Probe Ready for Fourth of July Rendezvous With JupiterNBCNews.com NASA Swears It Didn't Mean to Interrupt Your July 4 CookoutWIRED NASA's dangerous Juno mission: Unravel Jupiter's secrets and solve the mysteries of lifePhys.Org Scientific American -Wall Street Journal -International Business Times -Ars Technica all 308 news articles »

 
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Yugoslavia 1991: How Can a War Start If Nobody Wants It?  
Twenty-five years ago, Yugoslavia's best-known musicians gave a concert in Sarajevo. Those in attendance were sure of one thing: There should not and would not be a war. Then all hell broke loose. A new project is looking for people who were at the show.  
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Merkel's Chief of Staff on Brexit: 'Advice from Outside Out of Place'  
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, discusses the consequences of Brexit for Europe and why he believes the British should be given the time they need to contemplate the consequences of their vote to leave the EU.  
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The Yugoslav War: A Prisoner in My Own City  
Before the war, Milan Trivic worked for a Yugoslavian broadcaster. Along with a few rock musicians, he came up with the idea for a peace concert. Once war broke out, he lost everything. Milan Trivic's story in his own words.  
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The Yugoslav War: Answers to the Ten Most Important Questions  
What brought about the wars in former Yugoslavia? What role did ethnic tensions play? Did war criminals get punished? Answers to the most important questions.  
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The Crimea Complex: A Crisis of Identity Where East Meets West  
It's been two years since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Since then, President Vladimir Putin has been cheered for liberating the peninsula and scorned for usurping it -- depending on who you ask. But what do the Crimeans think?  
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Happy Fourth of July! The incredible shot shows the Statue of...  

Happy Fourth of July! The incredible shot shows the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The colossal copper structure depicts a robed female figure — Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty — who bears a torch and a tablet upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence — July 4, 1776. The statue is an American icon of freedom and a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad. We hope everyone in the US has had a fantastic holiday weekend! ? by @jeffreymilstein (at Statue Of Liberty)

 
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P1110061  

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London sunset HydePark  

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Chain  

JB_1984 posted a photo:

Weathered chain on the beach by Chiswick Bridge at low tide.

 
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Join The Fight to Defend Our Oceans  

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Meatless Monday: The Revolution Will Not Come With Meal Kits  
Today we celebrate Independence Day, that time a few hundred years ago when our forefathers broke with British tyrants. Their revolution took nerve and hard work, but it turned out okay. So okay, in fact, it's time to try it again. This time, we're not taking aim at the Brits - they've got enough problems. We need to take aim at ourselves.

We're obese. Not pretty. Not healthy. Not cheap. The annual health costs are between $150 and $200 billion. Our forefathers didn't have a revolution in order for us to stuff ourselves to death. The new revolution needs to happen in the kitchen.

Don't believe me? Here's some more off-putting stats. According to a recent study:

-- Over 60 percent of overweight participants say their food portions are too large.

-- More than half say their family doesn't know how to choose healthy food.

-- Over 40 percent of respondents say they'd eat healthier, except fast food and food delivery make it easier not to.

-- The same number say they're too busy to eat healthy.

As a result, most Americans eat products, not food.

Spoiler alert -- the study was conducted and funded by Home Chef, the meal kit company, or rather one of many meal kit companies. Touted as the new great market disrupt, meal kit subscription markets itself as home cooking with the sourcing and sous cheffing done for you. You pay, and the components of your favorite foods come pre-portioned, made-to-measure, cleverly packaged and shipped to your door. Some assembly required. Combine the contents in the boxes and bags, simmer and voila, dinner.

Anything that gets you in the kitchen is good. Yet I'm conflicted about meal kits. I wonder about price point. Safe, accessible, healthy food should be accessible for all, not just those who can afford it. I wonder about other costs, too, including the amount of packaging waste it produces. When you factor in the carbon involved in shipping, I question sustainability.

Perhaps Mark Bittman has questions, too. The VB6 author and former Opinionator left the New York Times for the vegan meal kit startup Purple Carrot . . . only to leave it a few months later.

Most of all, though, I wonder about us. I can't think of anything more essential to our daily wellbeing and our overall humanity and socialization than cooking -- and we outsource it. Is it really so hard to open a can of beans that we have to pay someone else to do it for us?

Beautifully-styled food and celeb chefs make great entertainment but they're as far from real, everyday eats as meal kits are. Worse, they contribute to the lie that you're unqualified to cook. If you can read this, you've eaten enough food by now to get a good sense of it. You know more about making it than you think you do.



The revolution will not come with an app or a kit. Rather than outsourcing, empower yourself. Kitchen literacy, from sourcing your food to preparing it, is the real declaration of independence.

Fireworks Black Bean and Mango Salad

This salad is so quick and easy, it barely qualifies as a recipe. But it explodes with pizzazz, pairing the sweet summer burst mango (let's hear it for fresh, seasonal and local -- summer means mango season in South Florida) with a zing of chili. Black beans add fiber for fullness and protein because that's what your body wants. Besides, everything works with basic black. All this and it's fat-free, too.

Serve atop the fresh local farmers market greens of your choice.

1 jalapeno, minced (wear gloves when handling chilies -- really. Yes, even you.)
1 red pepper, diced
2 ribs celery, chopped fine
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or 4 cups cooked black beans)
1 teaspoon cumin
juice of 1/2 lime
2 mangos, peeled and diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for garnish, optional but adding fabulous crunch, not to mention goodly amounts of manganese and magnesium
3-4 cups fresh greens like spinach, arugula or frisbee

In a large bowl, gently mix together jalapeno, diced red pepper and celery. Add the black beans and combine well.

Add the cumin and the lime and toss to coat.

Just before serving, add the mangos and chopped cilantro. Season to taste. Place atop greens and serve at once, garnishing with toasted pepitas, if you like (and you will).

Serves 4 to 6.

More at soulfulvegan.com

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We talk to Respawn Entertainment about its forthcoming sci-fi sequel, which adds a campaign mode, new weapons and fresh ideas, to the acclaimed original

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But one thing many players said about Titanfall was that, beyond the raw speed and inarguable thrill of the highly vertical, highly acrobatic gameplay, there was little in the way of tactical depth. It's something the team says it wants to address.

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www.instagram.com/vaylola/

 
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It's me :D

 
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Greece / refugee camp by Joe Greer

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Joe Greer: Photos

 
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Kalevi Kull: Censorship & Royal Society Evo Event  


Founders of the Copenhagen-Tartu School of Biosemiotics at a Seminar in Estonia: (l-r) KALEVI KULL, Claus Emmeche, Jesper Hoffmeyer, Frederik Stjernfelt

Biosemiotics pioneer Kalevi Kull has sent the following letter to me in response to one of the organizers of the upcoming Royal Society public meeting on paradigm shift attempting to censor my coverage of the event.

Kalevi Kull plans to attend the November gathering in London.

Dear Suzan,

Well, I really interpret the letter you refer to in your article ["Censorpship & Upcoming Royal Society Evo Meeting"] as evidence that this IS a paradigm shift. Because it focuses not on the biological theory itself, but on social matters in academia. And this is a serious hint. Because if this kind of deep change happens, then very many scientists face a problem of how to survive this change because the new dominant model they would like to accept results in many of their previous writings losing much of their value. Nobody wants to belong to the party of losers. One of the best strategies in such a case is evidently an interpretation of the change as a gradual accumulation of knowledge while their work has always been at the cutting edge.

[Following is the censorship email Kull refers to above -- it was not written by Denis Noble:

"Could I request that you stop referring to the forthcoming RS-BA meeting ("New Trends in Evolutionary Biology: Biological, Philosophical and Social Science Perspectives"), and to the extended evolutionary synthesis, more generally, as in some way advocating a "paradigm shift". Such language is both misleading (the vast majority of scientists working towards an extended synthesis do not seek revolutionary change in neo-Darwinism) and counterproductive (such talk undermines calm scientific discussion by creating an unnecessarily emotive and antagonistic atmosphere). I view the Kuhnian model as superseded long ago: the data suggests that sciences rarely if ever change through "revolutions". Lakatos' framework of "research programmes" offers a more up-to-date, accurate and useful conceptualization of (gradual and progressive) scientific change. The extended evolutionary synthesis is best regarded as an alternative research programme, entirely complementary to orthodox evolutionary biology. Talk of "paradigm shift" gives the false impression that the differences amongst evolutionary biologists are far more extreme than they actually are. . . ."]

[Kalevi Kull's correspondence continues:] Is this a radical change in biology what is going on now? The contrast is quite clear, if we look at how evolutionary innovation is described. Either innovation begins from a new mutation, followed by newly behaving phenotype, which is amplified by natural selection (this is what the neo-Darwinian model suggests), or innovation begins from a change of function (with habitat choice, or resource choice, etc.) first stabilised by epigenetic or ecological inheritance and followed by fixation due to mutational noise (which is what the new model states, let us call it the post-Darwinan model).

That is: either a genetic change first, followed by functional change, or a functional (epigenetic, i.e., non-genetic) change first, followed by genetic changes.

The details of this contrast are described, for instance, in my work "Adaptive Evolution without Natural Selection" published in the Linnean Society journal. . . but there are many scholars who share this model. That paper provides a row of references. Isn't it a deep contrast, and a possible move from one to another, a radical change of the major model of evolution?

However, if indeed one knows all the dramatic history of the theory of evolution. . .
Here's a sketch. Estonia has been described as a country with one of the richest political experiences. We also see this in our history of Darwinism.

In the 19th century, Tartu University was one of the leading German-language universities, and one of the leading critics of Darwin was working at Tartu University -- Karl Ernst von Baer, the founder of developmental biology. Simultaneously, one of the very first courses in the world and best textbooks written about Darwin's-time Darwinism was provided by a professor at the same university, Georg Seidlitz.

Around the turn of the century, before WWI, Tartu University was a Russian-language university, and Darwinism was soon popularised as supporting early socialist ideas. Soon after, together with advances in genetics, evolutionary theory was interpreted as a basis for eugenics (also used in this way by national socialists in Germany before WWII).

Then Estonia was annexed by Russia, and after the WWII for more than a decade it meant the influence of vulgar Darwinism (also called 'creative Darwinism' at that time), as propagated by Lysenko (yes, he also praised Darwin, he just did not like genetics).

In the 1970s and 80s, all students in the Soviet Union had to learn how Darwinism goes hand in hand with Marxism, meaning a good connection with the 'synthetic theory of evolution', which was a synonym for neo-Darwinism. . .

Simultaneously, a radical non-Darwinism was also developing within certain circles of Soviet biologists, who took it from the theory of Nomogenesis of Lev Berg and his follower Alexander Lyubischev. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an outgrowth of neo-Darwinism called sociobiology became a dominant view for many, particularly among zoologists. . .

If one has read all this and been able to understand why all these scholars had the views they had, it is hardly possible to describe this history as gradual improvement of a model, continuous extension of a synthesis. There have rather been different paradigms existing and developing in parallel. Most of the time just one of them was strongly dominant over the other. And since evolutionary theory has almost always been tied to some ideological battles, its changes were not limited by scientific discoveries.

Nevertheless, we have good friends and colleagues whose views about evolution we do not share. But should we therefore be less strict in our formulations about our views? No, that would mean giving up our understanding. Good teachers wouldn't do so.

Science, deeply speaking, is the mutual help in understanding. We should help each other as friends; nobody is understanding everything. Keeping this in mind, the best way to make our thoughts clear is to use formulations that do not hide meaning. A better understanding is not always an extension of the earlier model, sometimes it is an alternative.

In other words -- summarizing -- claiming that what is going on is just an ongoing extension of Darwinism would be equivalent to saying that Einsteinian physics is just an extended Newtonianism. Why not, one may describe it so. However, the Einsteinian change became a classic example of a paradigm shift, for Kuhn. . . .

I like very much your writings.

Warm wishes

Kalevi

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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