%feed http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/aquanauts-splash-down-beginning-neemo-21-research-mission Aquanauts Splash Down, Beginning NEEMO 21 Research Mission The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21 mission began on July 21, 2016, as an international crew of aquanauts splashed down to the undersea Aquarius Reef Base, 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The NEEMO 21 crew will perform research both inside and outside the habitat during a 16-day simulated space mission. astronomy
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atlasobscura.com%2Farticles%2Fphotographing-a-superpod-of-sperm-whales&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 Photographing A Superpod Of Sperm Whales It's a two-day party for these underwater giants. images
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fmedical-discovery-news-%2Fmore-about-unibrows_b_11143484.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dscience%26ir%3DScience&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 More About Unibrows
By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog
My mother used to say that I was going to give her grey hair, but what actually caused it was a reduction in the amount of a pigment called melanin. Scientists have now identified 18 genes that are associated with features and characteristics of hair including turning greying, thin eyebrows or a unibrow or why some men need to shave by early afternoon and why others cannot grow a beard at all. Hair is thought to serve many purposes including camouflage, thermal regulation, sensation and in social cues. Approximately 83 billion dollars is spent annually on hair care products globally, not to mention haircuts, wigs and other hair associated expenses, so obviously it is something we humans value.
Humans have lost the vast majority of their body hair but we have retained a substantial amount on our heads and it comes in a vast variety of colors, textures and types even before we start fooling with it. Natural hair color is an inherited trait. Variations in hair can be restricted by geography, for example, different hair colors are essentially restricted to Western Asia and Europe. Straight hair is all but absent in sub-Saharan Africa. Genes have been identified for baldness, hair colors and curliness. Two different genes have been found associated with straight hair, one in Europeans and another in East Asians suggesting that this trait arose independently at least two times.
The latest study involved a genome wide association study or GWAS in people of mixed European, Native American and African ancestry to identify genes associated with variations in hair. GWAS is a rapid method to scan genomes for genetic variations that are associated with diseases or other traits. Natural hair color is determined by the amount of dark brown eumelanin and reddish pheomelanin. If a person makes a great deal of eumelanin, their hair will be black while a person with little will be blonde. Shades of red hair depend on the amount of pheomelanin compared to eumelanin. Genes for hair color include MC1R which determines how much pheomelanin is made. Now for the first time a gene for the graying of hair has been identified, IRF4, which turns on the TYR gene resulting in melanin production. One type of TYR gene leads to reduced melanin levels and lighter hair or the graying of hair. Stem cells in hair follicles renew the melanocytes that make melanin. These same proteins also appear to maintain melanocyte stem cells offering two possible mechanisms for going gray.
A gene called EDAR regulates the developmental location, size shape and density of hair follicles, particularly for beards. All told, 18 new genes associated with various features of hair were discovered. Most interventions to correct or change hair appearance rely on products that act on hair outside of the hair follicle. A furthering of our understanding of how and where hair grows could lead to the development of products that act on the hair as it grows. Could we block the graying of hair, change the shape, type and location of hair? Who knows, maybe we both could regain the hair we have lost over the years. Medical Discovery News is hosted by professors Norbert Herzog at Quinnipiac University, and David Niesel of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.
-- 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.
science
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%feed https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354095589435537144/ Shore bug (Saldula l
Shore bug (Saldula laticollis) collected in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: BIOUG06729-G11; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=SSJAE1693-13; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:AAG8807)
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2016%2F7%2F20%2F12212472%2Fhow-to-build-a-fire-like-a-caveman&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 Campfires, Explained Those tiny fragments were more than a million years old and likely the handiwork of Homo erectus , a species that predates Homo sapiens (i.e., you and me). gaia
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Faudrey-peterman%2Fnature-is-a-giant-broadca_b_11141750.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 'Nature Is A Giant Broadcasting Station Through Which God Speaks To Us Every Hour' The reassuring words of George Washington Carver came soothingly to me this morning as I greeted the first day following the formal determination of the Republican Party's candidate for president of the United States. My nerves were rattled and knowing that many of my friends on social media would be feeling as I did, I walked up on deck and took a picture of the rising Sun and posted it to Facebook.
Posting a picture of the sunrise over the river where I live is part of my daily ritual and my reminder to take nothing for granted. This morning I also needed to reassure myself that the Earth is still in its right orbit relative to the sun, despite the cataclysmic shock.
Whenever I'm disturbed, messages from 179 national parks I've visited come flooding into my thoughts and feelings and calm me down:
"I like to think of nature as a giant broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only listen," George Washington Carver whispered as I walked through his "Secret Garden" at his birthplace National Monument in Missouri a few weeks ago. "Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth."
I delighted in the images of Dr. George Washington Carver on the trail through the woods at GWC National Monument in Diamond, MO
Oh Dr. Carver! I'll take your word for it! Because how else might a man born into enslavement, an orphan, black as berry juice, with a lisp and a high falsetto voice come to save American agriculture? How else could you become a world renowned scientist, educator and mentor? A member of the British Royal Society of Arts?
"All my life I have risen regularly at four o'clock and have gone into the woods and talked with God," Dr. Carver said.
That experience reinforces my belief that humans have access to supernatural power if we will invest the time, energy and effort to connect with it. As I've tried to practice spending more time in nature and contemplation each day since, I'm grateful for my husband Frank who reminds me that Dr. Carver didn't have all the distractions I have today -- 24-hour TV news, movies and social media that are my default activities. So even if I don't increase by leaps and bound, I'll just keep working toward that goal.
Another happy-making thought came to mind from my visit to Rocky Mountains National Park last month. Visiting the alpine area where plants stay low to the ground to protect themselves from the cold and the wind almost 12,000 feet up the snowcapped mountains, I mentioned to a ranger that his Deputy Superintendent reminded me of my new crush, actor Gerard Butler that I recently discovered in the movie "London has fallen."
Gerard Butler has become one of my new favorite actors and definitely one of the people I'd most like to meet on a trail in a national park.
"Wow! Gerard Butler was here hiking with me a couple weeks ago," the ranger beamed in response.
I like him even more now that I know he loves our parks.
Our national parks are the repository of our cultural and historic legacy and spectacular natural beauty. From Gerard Butler to Greening Youth Foundation's science interns working in parks, people are drawn to the recreation and inspiration they provide. From George Washington Carver National Monument to Mount Denali in Alaska or Fort Jefferson at the mouth of the Florida Straits, they contain incredible stories of the strivings and heroism of our ancestors.
Angelou Ezelio, (3rd from right) is a member of the Next100 Coalition and with her husband James (2nd from left) founded Greening Youth in Atlanta, training interns in science and land management for employment in public lands around the country.
But large swaths of the American public are still clueless about their existence. That's why Frank and I are part of the Next100 Coalition asking President Obama to continue his legacy of adding parks that represent a diverse cross section of ethnicities, landscapes and stories. A Presidential Memo issued on the National Park Service Centennial Anniversary August 25, would outline a vision that is inclusive of all demographic groups. (The President has added units that honor the contributions of women and the LGBT community since the Center for American Progress cited that less than 20% of our 412 units represent diverse groups.)
Senators Cory Booker, Michael Bennet and 25 others have signed on to our letter, and multiple leaders in the House including Raul Grijalva and Alcee Hastings have called upon the public lands agencies to engage diverse Americans as a greater percentage of their users and workforce.
Some of Dr. Carver's myriad inspirational insights are on display in the Visitor Center at the monument.
. So today I will not indulge feelings of depression or instability. Instead I am channeling my experience at the Carver Monument to pay attention to nature, that "giant broadcasting system" and learning the lessons it has to teach me. I'm staying open to be used for good as Dr. Carver allowed himself to be used. Join me in exploring our parks, learning our stories and drawing inspiration from them to help our country achieve our ideal, "with liberty and justice for all."
-- 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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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F65321544%40N07%2F28475419545%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 Endangered Species-the ONLY Dragonfly on List: Hine's Emerald
This is the only dragonfly on the USA Federally Endangered Species list. Once thought to be extinct, the Hine's Emerald was rediscovered at the Mink River Estuary, Wisconsin in 1987. Today, Door County, Wisconsin harbors the largest population of this dragonfly in the world. Now the Hine's Emerald is found in very small populations in only 3 other states, IL., MI., MO. It is unlawful to kill, harass, or possess specimens. The Mink River Estuary is a Great Lakes coastal wetland fed by ground and surface waters as well as by Lake Michigan. This estuary, where the waters of Mink River and Lake Michigan meet, is considered one of the few high quality, freshwater estuaries remaining in North America. The preserve protects almost the entire shoreline of Mink River and much of the river's surface watershed, helping safeguard water quality and wildlife habitat. The Hine's Emerald lives in calcareous (high in calcium carbonate) spring fed marshes and sedge meadows overlaying dolomite bedrock. They spend up to five years as larvae, surviving in small wetland streams fed by groundwater. The adult will live only 3-5 weeks. The best month to see the Hine's Emerald is July and early August at the Ridges Sanctuary in Door County, WI. This is where I saw several. Seeing this dragonfly was the highlight of a 4500 mile road trip. Somatochlora hineana
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdotearth.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F07%2F22%2Fmusing-on-meat-as-two-bulls-enjoy-a-brief-pre-slaughter-moment%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 Musing on Meat as Two Bulls Enjoy a Brief Pre-Slaughter Moment Some meaty thoughts arise as two bulls bound for a slaughterhouse briefly roamed West Baltimore. gaia
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fralph-nader%2Fan-open-letter-to-preside_b_11142316.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 An Open Letter To President Obama -- Domestic Catastrophic Risk Demands Action Behind The Talk Dear President Obama:
As Senators, you and Joe Biden were leaders in highlighting the threat of America's hazardous chemical plants -- and in calling for solutions that included moving these facilities to inherently safer technologies. In 2006, you bluntly stated "these plants are stationary weapons of mass destruction spread all across the country."
Unfortunately, three years after the West, Texas, ammonium nitrate explosion, after you spoke at a memorial service for the 15 deceased individuals, and after you issued an executive order demanding action, your EPA has released a proposed rule that does too little to require a shift to safer technologies.
That is outrageous, given the risk of more catastrophes by negligent accident, natural disaster, sabotage, or terrorism. Since the West, Texas tragedy, which federal investigators recently determined was deliberately set, there have been more than 430 chemical incidents and 82 deaths. The EPA has identified 466 U.S. chemical facilities that each put 100,000 or more people at risk.
In 2005, the Homeland Security Council estimated that a major attack on just one of these chemical facilities would kill 17,500 people and injure tens of thousands more. Many of the first victims would be plant workers and people in the low-income communities that often are located near these dangerous plants.
Numerous experts are urging the EPA to issue a rule that focuses on safer technologies, often called materials substitution. They include your former EPA head Lisa Jackson; President Bush's EPA head, Governor Christine Todd Whitman; retired generals like Russel Honoré and Randy Manner; the U.S. Chemical Safety Board; and a broad coalition of environmental, community, and labor groups.
You know who the opposition is: avaricious corporate interests like the Koch brothers. They don't want to pay to shift to safer materials and technologies, even though other companies like Clorox, which eliminated the use of chlorine gas in favor of a safer process for making bleach, have already made the switch and are thriving.
How would our country view a weak EPA rule if one day there was a chemical catastrophe that killed thousands of Americans? More than twenty thousand people died as the result of the 1984 gas leak at a plant in Bhopal, India, in addition to many serious disabling illnesses. A U.S. company, Union Carbide, owned the plant.
If the plant was in the United States, and 20,000 Americans died, would not our country already have responded to this problem? We can't wait for such a tragedy to explode before we take action.
Communities where the most dangerous plants are located -- from Newark to Detroit, Mississippi to California -- cannot wait any longer. For the facilities that have converted, the result is reliable protection for employees and communities against catastrophic disasters, and at low cost. Wherever this can be done, it should be a requirement.
The proposed EPA rule does take an important first step by mandating that certain high-risk chemical plants conduct a safer technology and alternatives analysis (STAA) and feasibility assessment on the use of inherently safer technologies. Perhaps that is one reason why Republican congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas, in whose district Koch Industries is located and who has taken extensive campaign contributions from company officials, is pushing legislation to prohibit the EPA from issuing any rule at all.
But the Administration should not simply resist this industry-backed amendment; it should dramatically improve the rule by:
Requiring all so-called "Risk Management Plan facilities" -- those that use extremely hazardous substances and thus are required to develop a Risk Management Plan (RMP) -- to assess safer alternatives to existing chemical processes. The inadequate proposed EPA rule exempts 87 percent of the some 12,500 Risk Management Plan chemical facilities from requirements to conduct a safer technology and alternatives analysis. The exempted facilities include, for example, water treatment plants, some of which put major cities at risk of a catastrophic release of chlorine gas.
Require all these especially hazardous RMP facilities to send their safer alternatives analyses (STAA) to the EPA and readily share the information with nearby communities and other interested parties, such as emergency responders, vendors of safer technologies, facility employees and contractors, and safety researchers.
Establish a publicly accessible clearinghouse of safer available alternatives that could encourage and support the adoption of safer alternatives by more facilities as soon as practicable.
Starting with the highest risk facilities, require chemical facilities to actually substitute safer alternatives to their industrial processes, wherever feasible, that will eliminate or significantly reduce the consequences of a catastrophic release. The coalition of community, worker and environmental groups that has engaged the EPA on these issues has recommended that EPA at the very least begin a pilot program to require inherently safer technologies to be implemented in a subset of RMP facility categories, such as waste water and drinking water treatment plants, bleach plants and hydrogen fluoride refineries, and for those facilities among the 2,000 high-risk facilities cited in the EPA's National Enforcement Initiative proposal.
The people must demand your EPA issue a stronger rule that moves industry to proven safer technologies and protects the public in every endangered community.
Sincerely yours,
Ralph Nader
P.S. For a map of RMP facilities across the country, concerned citizens may visit this website.
Citizens interested in contacting the EPA may do so by calling (202) 272-0167 or writing to:
Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460
-- 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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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Feuropean-horizons%2Fenvironmental-consequence_b_11126336.html&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 European Horizons: Environmental Consequences of the Brexit Britain's vote to leave the European Union has electrified the interest of policy makers, leaders, and investors as the consequences of the vote unfold. As a result of the vote, many internal and external implications may arise, including environmental concerns that put Britain at risk for weakened environmental standards and a stifled voice in international environmental law.
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F07%2F160721151045.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 Fluorescent trypanosomes reveal invasion of skin and beyond following tsetse fly bites Trypanosome parasites cause sleeping sickness in Africa. If left untreated, the infection causes coma and eventually death. A study takes a close look at what happens after an infected tsetse fly transmits parasites into the skin of a mouse host and shows that very few parasites are needed to successfully colonize the host. In addition, multiplication of parasites at the bite site creates a reservoir from which parasites can be picked up by subsequent tsetse fly bites. gaia
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%feed https://www.pinterest.com/pin/213639576052267311/ The Wonder Garden — The Wonder Garden — angulargeometry: T1000. pin-gifs
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astronomy
%feed http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/AiCfDrywkUI/nasas-kepler-mission-reveals-a-strange-giant-planet-a-molten-landscape-of-a-lava-world-an-alien-hell.html NASA's Kepler Mission Reveals a Strange Giant Planet --"A Molten Landscape of a Lava World, an Alien Hell"
Few nighttime sights offer more drama than the full Moon rising over the horizon. Now imagine that instead of the Moon, a gas giant planet spanning three times more sky loomed over the molten landscape of a lava world. This alien hell exists in the two-planet system that includes rocky Kepler-36b, discovered in 2012 that has a turbulent orbital relationship with its neighboring world, 36c. Every 97 days that planet, a “hot Neptune” gas giant comes perilously close to 36b, roughly five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Harvard-Smithsonian artist David Aguilar imagined the glorious spectacle shown above, with the purple gas giant "hot Neptune 36C looming some 2.5 times larger in the sky than our own moon. These picturesque planetary fly-bys that occur every 97 days on average that would trigger tremendous gravitational tides that would squeeze and stretch both planets, triggering even more volcanic activity on 36b, a planet already defined by its lava flows and 1300-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. (The image above shows what 36c might look like from 36b).
"They are the closest to each other of any planetary system we've found," added co-author Eric Agol of the University of Washington.
They spotted the planets in data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which can detect a planet when it passes in front of, and briefly reduces the light coming from, its parent star.
The newfound system contains two planets circling a subgiant star much like the Sun except several billion years older. The inner world, Kepler-36b, is a rocky planet 1.5 times the size of Earth and weighing 4.5 times as much. It orbits about every 14 days at an average distance of less than 11 million miles.
The outer world, Kepler-36c, is a gaseous planet 3.7 times the size of Earth and weighing 8 times as much. This "hot Neptune" orbits once each 16 days at a distance of 12 million miles.
The two planets experience a conjunction every 97 days on average. At that time, they are separated by less than 5 Earth-Moon distances. Since Kepler-36c is much larger than the Moon, it presents a spectacular view in its neighbor's sky. (Coincidentally, the smaller Kepler-36b would appear about the size of the Moon when viewed from Kepler-36c.) Such close approaches stir up tremendous gravitational tides that squeeze and stretch both planets.
Researchers are struggling to understand how these two very different worlds ended up in such close orbits. Within our solar system, rocky planets reside close to the Sun while the gas giants remain distant.
Although Kepler-36 is the first planetary system found to experience such close encounters, it undoubtedly won't be the last.
"We're wondering how many more like this are out there," said Agol.
"We found this one on a first quick look," added Carter. "We're now combing through the Kepler data to try to locate more."
This result was made possible with asteroseismology. Asteroseismology is the study of stars by observing their natural oscillations. Sunlike stars resonate like musical instruments, due to sound waves trapped in their interiors. And just like a musical instrument, the larger the star, the "deeper" are its resonances. This trapped sound makes the stars gently breathe in and out, or oscillate.
Co-author Bill Chaplin (University of Birmingham, UK) noted, "Kepler-36 shows beautiful oscillations. By measuring the oscillations we were able to measure the size, mass and age of the star to exquisite precision."
He added, "Without asteroseismology, it would not have been possible to place such tight constraints on the properties of the planets."
Today's Most Popular
The Daily Galaxy via CfA and University of Washington
When "Star Trek" was first broadcast in 1966, the largest telescopes on Earth could only see about halfway across the universe -- the rest was uncharted territory. But Hubble's powerful vision has carried us into the true "final frontier." Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, "Star Trek" has captured the public's imagination with the signature phrase, "To boldly go where no one has gone before." NASA's Hubble Space Telescope doesn't "boldly go" deep into space, but it is "boldly peering" deeper into the universe than ever before to explore the warping of space and time and uncover some of the farthest objects ever seen.
This is epitomized in the latest Hubble image released today in time for the new motion picture "Star Trek Beyond." The Hubble image unveils a very cluttered-looking universe filled with galaxies near and far. Some are distorted like a funhouse mirror through a warping-of-space phenomenon first predicted by Einstein a century ago.
In the center of the image is the immense galaxy cluster Abell S1063, located 4 billion light-years away, and surrounded by magnified images of galaxies much farther.
Thanks to Hubble's exquisite sharpness, the photo unveils the effect of space warping due to gravity. The huge mass of the cluster distorts and magnifies the light from galaxies that lie far behind it due to an effect called gravitational lensing. This phenomenon allows Hubble to see galaxies that would otherwise be too small and faint to observe. This "warp field" makes it possible to get a peek at the very first generation of galaxies. Already, an infant galaxy has been found in the field, as it looked 1 billion years after the big bang.
This frontier image provides a sneak peak of the early universe, and gives us a taste of what the James Webb Space Telescope will be capable of seeing in greater detail when it launches in 2018.
The cluster contains approximately 100 million-million solar masses, and contains 51 confirmed galaxies and perhaps over 400 more.
The Frontier Fields program is an ambitious three-year effort, begun in 2013, that teams Hubble with NASA's other Great Observatories -- the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory -- to probe the early universe by studying large galaxy clusters. Identifying the magnified images of background galaxies within these clusters will help astronomers to improve their models of the distribution of both ordinary and dark matter in the galaxy cluster. This is key to understanding the mysterious nature of dark matter that comprises most of the mass of the universe.
The island of Tongatapu and the nearby smaller islands all part of the Kingdom of Tonga archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean are pictured in this Sentinel-2A image from 23 May.
Tonga's population is spread across 36 of Tonga's 169 islands, but about 70% live on this main island. The capital, Nukuʻalofa, sits on the island's north coast and along the Fanga'uta Lagoon. The lagoon's mangroves provide an important breeding ground for fish and birds.
Built on limestone, the island has fertile soil of volcanic ash from neighbouring volcanoes, and we can see how agricultural structures cover most of the island. Crops include root crops such as sweet potato and cassava, as well as coconuts, bananas and coffee beans.
North of the island we can see many coral reefs. Although not part of its original mission objectives, scientists are experimenting with Sentinel-2 to monitor corals and detect coral bleaching a consequence of higher water temperatures.
Bleaching happens when algae living in the corals' tissues, which capture the Sun's energy and are essential to coral survival, are expelled owing to the higher temperature.
The whitening coral may die, with subsequent effects on the reef ecosystem, and thus fisheries, regional tourism and coastal protection.
The recent El Niño weather phenomenon has caused increased bleaching across the world's corals, and scientists are finding Sentinel-2's coverage helpful in monitoring this at reef-wide scales.
Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA
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%feed https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/18-24-july-2016/scottish-design-fresh-playful-exciting-new-exhibition/ Scottish design is “fresh, playful and exciting” in this new exhibition Stacey Hunter, director at Local Heroes
Design Week: Why did you start the Local Heroes initiative?
Stacey Hunter: To present a snapshot of Scottish design that wouldn't look “Scottish”. I live and work in Edinburgh and so I see the sort of products that are marketed to tourists on a daily basis. Yet I'm surrounded by designers working on the most amazing projects they trade, collaborate and work internationally. So why can't we see it? I wanted to produce an ambitious project that showed Scottish design through the lens I looked through. It was also important to show Scottish designers that they are noticed and appreciated and that's where the name Local Heroes came from.
DW: What does the exhibition include and what are you hoping to achieve?
SH: The Local Heroes pop-up exhibition and shop features nine commissions from product, fashion, graphic and textile design. The project's designers were asked to “reimagine the souvenir” and produce a unique travel-themed design object.
All the designers have businesses based in Scotland. We want to identify and celebrate excellence in Scottish design, demonstrate how design thinking is at the heart of successful products, develop opportunities for diverse audiences to engage with, and enjoy design.
We have an elegant umbrella titled Rain Dance by Karen Mabon, who says: “I wanted to create a piece that was a little tongue-in-cheek nod to Scotland's famously changeable weather and something that would be really eye-catching among all the colour and drama of the Edinburgh Festival.”
The entire collection celebrates Scotland's contemporary designers who embrace colour, pattern and innovative techniques and materials, and will be available to buy throughout August.
DW: Why did you choose the airport as your canvas for design?
SH: I've always loved airports. Growing up my dad worked as an aeronautical engineer and I actually think that's when I began thinking like a designer looking at all of the pieces of a plane, the rivets, the turbine engines and seeing how it fitted together seamlessly.
I was introduced to the chief executive officer of Edinburgh Airport by Faith Liddell, the former director of Festivals Edinburgh. We talked about how bringing a design show to the airport in front of this enormous cultural audience which comes annually for festivals 1.2 million predicted would be a fantastic thing to do. Luckily, the Edinburgh Airport team agreed we will be the first thing many visitors see when they arrive in Scotland, and for the others, a fond farewell. In that way the airport is an absolutely perfect canvas for a design exhibition and pop-up shop.
DW: Who are some of the commissioned designers, and why did you choose them?
SH: They all live and work in Scotland, and have really interesting and impressive projects and clients in the UK and internationally. I'm just fascinated by how you would never see their work when walking down Edinburgh's strip the Royal Mile! I'm sure that this exhibition will have real impact and present people with an image of Scotland that's fresh, playful and exciting.
Karen Mabon sells scarves to Liberty of London; Tom Pigeon, who has produced an exclusive neckpiece which uses a playful combination of textures, materials and shapes, is based in a rural and quite remote studio in Fife and his work is stocked in the Tate Modern and Barbican Centre as well as in LA, Denmark, and Athens. Laura Spring prints her own fabrics and has everything made within a 20-mile radius of her studio, yet collaborates with some of Glasgow's well-known artists and bands such as Ciara Phillips and Belle & Sebastian.
Orkney based designer Hilary Grant's piece Archipelago is a lambswool travel blanket inspired by rhythm, mirroring and the knitting traditions of Scotland and its neighbouring Nordic countries. Design group Instrmnt has created the Instrmnt 01-D, a watch that comes unassembled with tools provided for customers to build their own accessory. In collaboration with Gabriella Marcella, Instrmnt has produced a limited edition risograph printed pack.
DW: What stereotypes about Scottish design are you hoping to dispell, and how would you like to see Scottish design perceived?
SH: I'm dual nationality (Scottish / Canadian) so maybe I pick up on it more but stereotypes which I feel are hemmed in are that Scottish design is always about heritage and tradition, and that its personality is romantic. The design community I'm part of isn't like that, it's part of a global discussion about design. It's diverse, modern, and polished. There is no doubt among creatives that the Scottish referendum had an effect it brought about a confidence, boldness and ambition I haven't seen before in my lifetime.
SH: This project was inspired by the important role design exhibitions have played in the past, in particular those which commission new work, like Scotland Can Make It! which took place during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. It demonstrated two very important things: that designers want projects that trust them to create and that there is an enormous public appetite for engaging with design in a cultural context as well as as a consumer.
When Scotland's Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design was announced I immediately saw the potential for Scotland to put designers on an international stage, presenting and promoting Scottish products and industries to the public, with a focus on high quality design.
I teamed up with Edinburgh Airport; Janine Matheson and Gillian Easson (directors of Creative Edinburgh and Creative Dundee respectively). We are also funded by EventScotland, which runs Creative Scotland. It's been an amazing insight for me to work with a project team that's bridging commercial and creative waters. We've developed a cross-sector partnership with expertise in design, culture, cities, creativity, enterprise, entrepreneurship, and travel and tourism.
DW: Why was it important that you access a global audience?
SH: Scotland is a small country and in some ways we are a bit isolated being at the edge of Europe. It's important to take every opportunity we have as designers to communicate what we are all about. I think people will be surprised when they see the show and the commissions. It's outstanding design from Scotland not “Scottish-looking design”. I am proud of the way that we have worked together to present Scottish design talent to the world.
DW: How can UK design work from outside of London be given more of a global presence?
SH: It begins with policy. Sadly there aren't any regarding design in Scotland that has to change, and it has to be led by the design community for it to be effective. The Office for the Design Economy in Glasgow is a grassroots campaign for a design policy for Scotland that I urge our colleagues in the rest of the UK to have a look at. You can see it here.
I also firmly believe that regions should put resources into projects like Local Heroes that match up designers with the marketplace in a meaningful way. If there was a Local Heroes shop in every airport in the UK, that would be a good start.
DW: Have you got any future plans for other similar initiatives?
SH: Local Heroes is a pilot project but I hope that when it completes its run at the end of August there will be the opportunity to reflect and begin dreaming about the next stage. Design is arguably one of the most accessible expressions of 21st century creativity and I hope that we can ultimately increase appreciation for design wherever we go. Now that we have created an easy to transport exhibition structure we'd like to take Local Heroes on tour.
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%feed https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/22/pokemon-go-kahlo-week-art-fitzwilliam-cambridge-baltic-alice-neel Pokémon in museums, Kahlo selfies and medieval beasts the week in art
Witness the sensual wonders of the middle ages in Cambridge while the Baltic explores playground utopianism. All that and more in your weekly art dispatch
Alice Neel Touching, intimate portraits of Americans by this powerful modern realist promise to be a highlight of this year's Edinburgh art festival. • Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 29 Julyto 8 October.
%feed https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/22/pokemon-go-kahlo-week-art-fitzwilliam-cambridge-baltic-alice-neel Pokémon in museums, Kahlo selfies and medieval beasts the week in art
Witness the sensual wonders of the middle ages in Cambridge while the Baltic explores playground utopianism. All that and more in your weekly art dispatch
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