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http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/looking-up-at-new-work-platforms-in-the-vehicle-assembly-building  
Looking Up at New Work Platforms in the Vehicle Assembly Building  
In this view looking up from the floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, four levels of new work platforms are now installed on the north and south sides of High Bay 3. The G-level work platforms are the fourth of 10 levels that will surround and provide access to the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.  
astronomy  

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r0B0t: Automated furniture app transforms tiny apartments into mini mansions  
More about Buildings, Housing, Apps, Apartment, and Apartments  
robots  

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r0B0t: Watch a livestream of the 2016 Emmy nominations here  
More about Emmy Awards, Television, and Entertainment  
robots  

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r0B0t: Robot runs over toddler in shopping centre  
A security guard robot runs over a 16-month-old child in a shopping centre in California.  
robots  

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r0B0t: Robots in orbit could assemble replacements for Hubble - Daily Mail  

Daily Mail

Robots in orbit could assemble replacements for Hubble Daily Mail Space telescopes like Hubble has given astronomers a unique glimpse at the universe unhindered by the thick atmosphere of our planet that can blur our view. But hauling a huge telescope into space can be difficult, which makes it hard to build the ... Robots to build massive modular telescopes in spaceThe Stack Robots could assemble extremely large telescopes in spaceDaily News & Analysis Robot Would Assemble Modular Telescope — In SpacePhotonics Online Zee News -News Nation all 7 news articles »

 
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r0B0t: These robot stingrays are faster and more durable thanks to a secret ingredient: rat muscles - Quartz  

Quartz

These robot stingrays are faster and more durable thanks to a secret ingredient: rat muscles Quartz Lots of robotic engineers draw inspiration from animals, building everything from bat-like drones to mechanical cheetahs, dogs and octopi. But it's hard to make a lifelike machine with purely artificial parts, which is why some scientists are building ... and more »

 
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Why Recharging Your Batteries Is Important To Your Environmental Health  

Nantucket might sound pretty far for a California girl to travel to go to the beach but over twenty years it's become a family tradition and the place where I recharge my batteries. Having downtime to decompress, unplugging from technology and everyday demands are not only critical to ones overall mental and physical well-being, but it's also key to my personal environmental health.

The island has preserved its natural beauty with beautiful beaches, windmills, lighthouses and cobblestone streets. Just 47.8 square miles there is not much need for a car, so I rarely use one, preferring to use my bicycle to get around town. Nantucket's activities are so engaging that it is the perfect setting to turn off the cellphone and watch the sunset while enjoying a picnic dinner from Something Natural out on Great Point.

Nantucket is also filled with memories of my children growing up - another subtle reminder to slow down and be present.

I've been pregnant here, lying like a beached whale under an umbrella, wandering through Bartlett's Farms with toddlers hanging off my shopping cart, and sipping ice tea as if my life depended on it after a sleepless night.  My children all learned to ride bikes on the island. We've spent time at the library story hour, visited the Whaling Museum on rainy days, had family movie nights at the Dreamland Theater, attended lectures at The Atheneum and church services at the Union Chapel. We go fishing for bluefish and strippers at Just Do It Too and turtling in swamp water. Each season we try the new restaurants, and when our children were younger, we would bike to The Downyflake Donuts. There is a lot about Nantucket that makes it qualify as one of my happy places.

But beyond the bike rides to Sconset, tennis, and yoga and lazy afternoons in the shade reading a book, the best part for me of my Nantucket escape is the part that I can't see or touch. It's the feeling I get from allowing myself the luxury of letting my body recharge and indulge in serendipity instead of schedule, turning off not just the computer but also my brain so it can reset to its naturally creative self.

As an advocate for environmental health, I know that means more than being a conscious consumer and eliminating toxins from our food and air and water. It's also about purity in spirit which is something I find easy to access in Nantucket, dressing simply, wearing no make-up, spending time with friends singing at karaoke night or laughing while playing a board game and sitting on a porch at sunset and letting my mind detox and my soul refresh. Nantucket is a place where I can breathe fully and just be.

Each year when I leave on the ferry to Hyannis we throw an auspicious penny into the harbor in hopes we will return next summer. I remind myself that I don't have to wait until next summer to recharge my batteries. There are many things I can make a commitment to incorporate in my weekly routine that will improve my environmental health.

The research has shown that just twenty minutes a day being outside in nature can significantly boost vitality levels. A picnic in the park with friends or family, a hike, a walk or even sitting under a tree on a bench without the company of a cell phone can make a world of difference. A weekend without social media, cell phone free dinners and my self-imposed rule of no screen time after eight o'clock all help to restore that feeling I get while on Nantucket.

Whatever recharging your batteries means for you, I'm advocating you do it. Surrender your electronics for awhile, get out in nature and stretch your legs, breathe deeply and fully and let life flow in. Work and school and all the obligations of our human existence will always exist but taking extra time to just be, not just during the summer but all year round, will go a long way towards improving your personal environmental health.  

-- 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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Get Smart Fast: Climate Change Policy After the CPP Stay  
Earlier this year in a surprise move, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Clean Power Plan (CPP) while legal challenges play out. Opponents of the CPP and its goals had hoped this would dampen efforts to advance related policies. Yet the Administration is continuing to move forward with regulation and policy to further its climate change goals.

The EPA recently proposed the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP), a voluntary initiative that would provide incentives to states for early investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Administration is also targeting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Last month EPA finalized rules governing methane emissions from new sources in the oil and gas industry and is taking the first steps toward regulating existing sources. In addition, the Department of the Interior has proposed regulations to limit venting and flaring on public lands by oil and gas companies.

The stay on the CPP has certainly slowed - but not stopped - the Obama Administration's efforts to tackle climate change. And while these regulations will not all be finalized before President Obama leaves office, they will lay the groundwork for ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gases if Hillary Clinton takes his place.

-- 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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Terrified insect escapes a permanent tomb -- 50 million years ago  
Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type -- the one that got away. This insect literally was frightened out of its skin.  
gaia  

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The Story of Ahmed and Alin: Syrian Orphans Trapped in Turkey  
Ahmed and Alin were 10 and 11 years old when their parents died in Aleppo. They fled to Turkey and now work there as child laborers -- collecting scrap and working in a sweat shop. They dream of escape, but don't know how.  
general  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160713143156.htm  
Shocking new role found for the immune system: Controlling social interaction  
The immune system affects -- and even controls -- social behavior, a new study has found. Researchers discovered that blocking a single type of immune molecule made mouse brains go hyperactive and caused abnormal behavior; restoring it fixed both. The discovery could have enormous implications for neurological conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.  
technology  

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AT&T's Flying COW isn't what you think it is (thank goodness)  

AT&T today wrote a blog post detailing a proposed project involving something called a Flying COW. And no, it's not a nursery rhyme book. COW stands for Cell on Wings, which is the company's new drones initiative to bring LTE service to high volume areas like concerts, festivals, or disaster sites post-emergencies. “A Flying COW may even be able to provide coverage when a vehicle is unable to drive to a designated area,” the blog post says. AT&T says it is currently researching how to use drones to send large amounts of data in real-time and will trial the program nationally…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/14/dirty-house-music-how-david-adjayes-dj-brother-turns-his-buildings-into-beats  
Dirty house music: how David Adjaye's DJ brother turns his buildings into beats  

When architect David Adjaye creates a building, it's not finished until his DJ brother Peter ‘like Dr Dre on magic mushrooms' translates it into music. The pair introduce his latest soundscapes here

If architecture is frozen music, as Goethe said, then Peter Adjaye has been busy taking a blowtorch to his brother's buildings. The result, released this week in the form of a limited-edition vinyl album, sees 10 of David Adjaye's projects melted down into a liquid cocktail of electronic sounds, plucked strings and deep percussive beats, in a series of experimental soundscapes composed by his musician brother over the last 15 years. Ranging from ambient scores to more jazzy tracks, the results form an intriguing album, as meditative, brooding and spine-tingling as some of David's most evocative spaces.

“I see rhythms and melodies in everything that surrounds us,” says Peter. “Music is how we navigate the city. Every space has its own soundtrack.” He is sitting in the top-floor cafe of his brother's Idea Store library in Whitechapel, where, looked at through a musician's lens, the double-height timber columns form something of a syncopated beat against the green-tinted windows, themselves echoing the tarpaulin canopies of the market stalls outside. A grid of exposed concrete beams runs across the ceiling, forming a robust rhythm of its own, punctuated by a big open skylight.

Related: David Adjaye's buildings - in pictures

David's Horizon pavilion was given a soundscape based on silence

Related: Inside the new Smithsonian: a vivid exploration of African American history

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design  

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/14/riba-stirling-prize-shortlist-announced-architecture  
Glass wedding cake or London's best stairs? The RIBA Stirling prize shortlist  

This year's prestigious UK architecture prize shortlist includes a library, university buildings, a gallery, a controversial estate and a concrete stealth home in a hill

Three university buildings, two of them commissioned by Oxford, will go head to head with Damien Hirst's art gallery, a controversial estate regeneration project and a stealthy concrete house worthy of a Welsh Bond villain, in the battle to win the RIBA Stirling prize for the UK's best new building.

Related: RIBA awards 2016: academic buildings dominate list of UK's best architecture

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design  

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/jul/14/steve-bells-if-on-angie-the-eagles-policy-going-forward  
Steve Bell's If ... on Angie the Eagle's policy going forward  
Continue reading...  
culture  

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/jul/13/steve-bell-on-theresa-may-replacing-david-cameron-cartoon  
Steve Bell on Theresa May replacing David Cameron cartoon  
Continue reading...  
culture  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/KmT0ZofdKyA/  
A Bad Thing in Brooklyn  
Without preaching or making obvious points, Sebastián Silva's excellent film Nasty Baby, about a gentrifying neighborhood of Brooklyn, reminds us: how many of our daily interactions are shaped by race and class, how well we understand or intuit this fact, and how much about these issues remains unspoken. We feel that a bad thing is happening, as bad things will, and people are doing entirely the wrong things, as people so frequently do.  
culture  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fchristiana-figueres%2Frestoring-hope_b_10974734.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Restoring Hope  

The United Nations was founded 70 years ago in the turmoil and trauma of World War II with the firm conviction that a better future was possible, and it was ours to create.

Much has been achieved in the intervening years that has certainly kept the world on a safer trajectory, but today, only 16 years into the new millennium, we seem beset on all sides by impossible problems. Terrorism, inequality, environmental degradation, financial crises, wars, forced migration. There is a growing sense that our problems have changed and become more complex but also that they have become too large for us to solve. As a result, we have become used to not really addressing the fundamental issues but lurching from one crisis to the next, just getting by.

People have lost trust that their lives can get better and that institutions are on their side. This in turn is leading to apathy, depression, despair and in some cases to the development of radical views.

This cycle must be stopped, before it consumes our collective future.

The truth is that the problems of today can only be addressed through working together, using multilateral dialogue to find common ground and take collective action. The last years have seen a discrediting of multilateralism as agreements on issues such as trade and the refugee crisis have proved elusive. These failures themselves further feed the narrative that our problems have grown beyond our control.

It does not have to be this way.

I joined the UN Climate Secretariat after the disaster of the Copenhagen negotiations in 2009 and left in 2016 on the back of the most ambitious climate agreement in history. The Paris Agreement was not an accident -- it was strategy and attitude. It was the culmination of six years of patient rebuilding of a broken system that had lost all trust and confidence, into one that was capable of entering an upward spiraling of commitment and ambition. It was the result of a shared commitment that arose from the collective realization that we would all be losers if we did not find a way to win together. It was the harvest of years of careful listening that enabled the elusive common ground to emerge.

Paris can be an anomaly or it can become the norm for multilateralism in the 21st century. We must ensure it is the latter, so that we can rebuild the world's confidence in the ability of the UN and its Member States to work together and solve the most difficult problems of our times.

As our world becomes more interdependent and more complex, the necessity to make genuine progress through dialogue, commitment and investment is further increased. This is because the interconnections are such that failure to address critical areas of concern means that they will quickly spread and become destabilizing.

Without stronger mechanisms for managing critical cross-border issues, including resource management, refugees, and migration, we will not build the shared security needed to support everyday practical cooperation. Without adequate restrictions on the proliferation and use of weapons, we will continue to see growing displacement and inequalities generated by conflict and violence. Without climate stability there will be no food or water security, reducing our ability to remain in our communities, towns and countries. Without securing women's rights to education, land ownership, and political participation, we will not see a rise in equitable economic development. Without building more resilience to natural disasters, we will not create the economic or political space to plan for long-term development. Without respect for human rights, citizen participation, and reduced corruption, we cannot build the conditions for a sustained peace.

The interconnectedness of these issues further underlines the essential role that the UN must play. Indeed, only the UN can provide the forum through which Member States can coordinate effectively to address the intricate and interconnected issues that affect our world. If this is not achieved, then we face a risk that the unstable parts of the world will continue to destabilize other parts. This is unacceptable.

We must embrace the tough challenges and refuse to believe that real solutions are beyond our ability to find. It is our best chance to improve the lives of people everywhere.

We need a UN that reclaims its standing as a beacon of hope; a reason for global optimism that calls us toward a compelling vision of the future, rekindling our confidence and inspiring each and every one of us to live up to our highest purpose. Impossible is not a fact, it is an attitude. That is my conviction and my experience. It is also my invitation; together we can restore hope.

It is for the opportunity to pursue this vision that I have accepted the nomination of Costa Rica for the position of UN Secretary-General.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post regarding the selection and appointment of the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. A new Secretary-General will take office on January 1, 2017, and each of the declared candidates for the position was invited to participate in this blog series. The President of the General Assembly noted that, this year, the selection process will have more transparency than ever before. The declared candidates for the position are listed by the UN here. To see all the posts in the series, visit here.

-- 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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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Ftom-szaky%2Fthe-economics-of-organic_b_10971738.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
The Economics of Organic  
Consumer demand for organic food products led to $37 billion in sales last year, a significant 12% increase from 2014; halfway into 2016, the market's current worth is priced at a healthy $39 billion by some reports. Flourishing with real double-digit growth in most years since the 90s, even 2008's economic downturn didn't slow down organics, sales progression continuing to hold steady around 10%. In fact, the recession revealed a global consumer willingness to pay premiums for quality in a climate that called for more discretion with one's dollars, establishing consumer demand for organic foods as transcending the niche market segment.

Organic is the fastest-growing food and lifestyle consumer trend in modern history, yet less than 1% of the nation's farmland is certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With demand creating what Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack calls "a powerful local and regional food movement," why have so few farmers joined up on this profitable market trend?

Farmers aiming to transition to organic are presented with prohibitive challenges that, like most institutional obstacles, boil down to be a matter of economics. The strict production and labeling requirements for any raw or processed agricultural product to be USDA certified organic mean that farms and businesses that aim to grow, handle or process organic products must wait 3 years to become eligible. The lack of a market for transitional crops (non-organic crops grown during a farms transition to organic practices) to offset the sharp increase in production costs causes many farmers to that begin the process to abandon their changeover. Most farmers never even consider a changeover.

Increasing acreage beyond the 1% requires financial and infrastructural support for farmers transitioning to organic. Certified Transitional, created by Quality Assurance International (QAI), an independent, USDA-accredited organic certifying body, is the first and only program recognizing and incentivizing farmers as they transition their land from conventional to organic growing methods. Because there are not enough crops in the U.S. transitioning, products that contain 51% of transitional content produced by these farmers can be Certified Transitional and bear the program's QAI trademark logo, which helps consumers identify and support companies working towards the USDA Organic seal, which requires 70% organically produced ingredients.

The first food product to be certified under the new Certified Transitional program is Kashi's Dark Cocoa Karma Shredded Wheat Biscuits cereal. As it stands currently, all Kashi products are Non-GMO Project Verified, and many of its bestselling products are USDA certified organic. Consumers that already patronize the Kashi's health food goods now have the opportunity to directly support transitional farmers and impact the food supply chain as do consumers advocating for increased nationwide acreage of organic farmland.

Bear Naked, a TerraCycle program sponsor and a Kashi sister brand, is a company that currently demonstrates its commitment to sustainability by lowering the economic boundaries that prevent its packaging from being recycled. Similarly, QAI's Certified Transitional program eases the uncertainty and economic boundaries preventing farmers from going organic in direct partnership with key brands.

So that more farmers have the financial security to go full-term organic, the goal of this initiative to have more companies and producers consider transitional crops when sourcing ingredients. Consumer product manufacturers like Kashi can command premium pricing for Certified Transitional items similarly to items that are USDA certified organic, which means farmers can be paid more for a higher market value crop.

Food manufacturers nationwide are in a position to support "organics-in-training" and ensure supply chain security by joining this protocol. With the demand of organic foods continuing to eclipse supply, companies can either continue to source their ingredients from the limited 1% acreage currently available, or make the economics of organic work for them. Identifying as Certified Transitional encourages the support of farmers in transition and allows companies to bring the consumer into the process of expanding access to organic farmland.

-- 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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Kayakers Explore Alaska's Newly Revealed Class V Gorge  

Imagine being dropped off by a tiny bush plane into a remote wilderness, knowing you are about to brave the biggest challenge you have ever faced. Todd Wells did just that when he led an exploratory kayaking expedition into the heart of the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska. He and his team members were only able to get to their destination at the headwaters of the Chitina River by being dropped off one at a time, with their kayaks strapped to the bottom of the plane. “I had paddled Class V with each of these paddlers before, but this … was probably the biggest challenge that any of us had ever faced,” Wells says. “Our goal [was] just to make it down safely in one piece.”

The Chitina River in the WrangellSt. Elias National Park in Alaska originates right beneath the Logan Glacier. “Just a decade or two ago, the Logan Glacier used to cover this canyon,” Wells says. “Because of climate change and because of the recession of all these glaciers in Alaska, the Logan Glacier has retreated farther up into the mountains and opened up an entrance to the canyon that we've now been able to access.” Now there is a new, raging Class V+ gorge, which was previously concealed beneath the ice.

Wells put together a team of paddlers he trusts who have each spent at least 10 years paddling Class V rivers: friend Ben Mar, friend and photographer Eric Parker, Wells's brother Brandon, videographer Chris Korbulic, and local friend Matt Peters.

The headwaters canyon is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) long, and the team's goal was to paddle as much of the canyon as they could. “We knew that there were probably a couple portages that we would have to make, but as long as we were able to paddle the majority of the river and not have to portage the whole canyon, I was going to be satisfied,” Wells explains. They ended up only having to portage twice for about 500 yards (457 meters), which meant they faced a lot of white water.

“Sometimes when we're in a safer environment, we really push it hard and we try to run every single rapid and really, really push it. But out here on the Chitina, our goal [was] just to make it down safely in one piece and that's what we were able to do,” Wells says. “There are a couple rapids we portaged that potentially we could go back and try to run sometime, but they were really pretty scary and if we were to make a mistake on either one of those rapids, it could have been fatal.”

The team had to prepare carefully for other demanding conditions as well, such as camping in the cold and packing all of their equipment inside the back of their kayaks. “None of us have ever done anything quite like this,” Wells said. “It was a learning process figuring out where to set up camp where we [were] protected from the wind, how to portage and scout rapids safely. It was a difficult challenge for us all.”

The retreat of the Logan Glacier opened up the landscape relatively recently so there are dramatic rugged rocks and not a lot of vegetation. “Just being in the heart of the WrangellSt. Elias National Park was a really, really amazing experience. I'd never been anywhere that felt nearly as remote as the headwaters canyon and the Chitina River. We were seeing wildlife throughout the trip. There were bears and moose and just no human influence at all. It was a really special spot to be.”

This kind of remote exploration is what drives Wells as a kayaker. Doing a first descent down the Chitina canyon was a thrill. “I really feel that Alaska is the last frontier for a lot of explorations, a lot of kayaking expeditions. It's really unique to be able to be up there and explore these places that no one has ever been before.”

Todd Wells is a grantee of Nat Geo's Expeditions Council. Learn more about the science and exploration supported by the nonprofit National Geographic Society at natgeo.org/grants.

See more video from Todd Wells and the team at MountainMindCollective.com.

 
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Gorillas may have evolved a way to beat a cheating berry plant  
A "deceitful" West African plant makes super-sweet, but low-calorie berries to attract animals that disperse their seeds. Gorillas can see through the ploy at least, that's the theory  
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Jellymageddon: Can we stop the rise of the jellyfish?  
Acoustic shocks, electrocution, and robot shredders extreme measures are being considered to tackle the increasing numbers of jellyfish in the oceans  
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http://www.designboom.com/art/hense-curtin-university-ceiling-painting-perth-australia-form-public2016-07-14-2016/  
HENSE paints colossal prismatic passageway at perth's curtin university  

conscious of the supporting architecture, the mural dramatically transforms the existing landscape, turning the building into an epically-scaled color canvas.

The post HENSE paints colossal prismatic passageway at perth's curtin university appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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http://www.designboom.com/art/oscillating-skyline-to-aid-mental-therapy-sam-phong-nguyen/  
oscillating skyline proposes to aid mental therapy  

the project questions the perspective that one perceive mental illness: is it related more to the individual, or is it the environment? would we go as far as modifying the skyline for the sake of mental wellbeing?

The post oscillating skyline proposes to aid mental therapy appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/the-northerner/2016/jul/14/art-treasures-of-great-britain-1857-manchester  
Opening of the UK's largest art exhibition archive, 14 July 1857  

14 July 1857: A spectacular glass pavilion in Manchester is filled with 16,000 artworks for the Art Treasures Exhibition

The reign of Anne is like one of those meetings of tidal waters where the voyager is tossed in the hurly-burly of opposing forces till he is sickened and confused, and only discovers the overmastering strength of the dominant current when it has borne him out of the broken water of the tide-way. In this reign struggled for the last time, as equal antagonists, the claims of the prerogative and the powers of constitutionalism.

It is an interregnum between the arbitrary rule of the Stuarts and the law-limited government of the house of Hanover. It is true that the former was put down by the revolution of 1658, but William's whole reign was a struggle at once with those who repented of the share they had taken in the convention, with the non-jurors and Jacobites who regarded all the convention had done as deadly sin, and with the rival ambitions which the revolution had let loose.

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