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Climate Change This Week: Siberia Exploding, Too Hot to Work, LED Job Surge, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Soon This May Be The Only Kind Of Tropical Frog In Existence - one made of painted women; better to conserve our carbon-storing tropical forests. By Johannes Stoetter, source www.rebelsmarket.com

Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon




Palm Oil Eats Away as its plantations wipe out forests. Credit mongabay.com

OO Can We Feed The World Without Cutting Forests? It can be done, says U.N. (MEH: not really - see below.) Agriculture is biggest driver of deforestation globally, but:

• Giving people clear land ownership creates sustainable management;
• 
  
• Boosting investment boosts land productivity;
• 
  
• Forests can be protected.

MEH: The above argument is greatly flawed:

• boosting land productivity beyond sustainable limits has already destroyed arable land;
• 
  
• our global population levels are already beyond sustainable limits;
• 
  
• forests fall when desperate, unsustainable populations use them for resources.

• 80% of all arable land is already under cultivation globally;
• 
  
• The total amount of arable land is decreasing due to desertification and overuse.

Humanity is crashing through its global limits.


FORESTS ARE BURNING UP




Climate Change Drives Wildfires - as higher temperatures both melt out mountain snowpacks earlier (meaning less water later in summer), and, in combo with drought, dries out trees, creating tinderbox conditions for fires. Source Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory

OO Wildfires Have Burned More Than 2.6 Million Acres So Far This Year - under continuing climate change, higher temperatures and more frequent and intense droughts will fuel ever more intense and larger wildfires - until we run out of forests.


OO California's Costly Wildfire Season Might Never End until it runs out of forests.





Source siberiantimes.com

OO Huge Swaths Of Russia's Forests Are Ablaze
- Possibly A Record Fire Season - The past few years have seen huge conflagrations in this region, from a combination of forest management practices, firefighting policies, human-caused global warming and shorter-term weather fluctuations.


OO Russian Wildfires Put Key Climate Change Resource At Risk - as the government's practice of leaving massive wildfires to burn out of control in sprawling stretches of Siberia shrinks a key global resource for absorbing climate-warming emissions: its trees.

When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.




Just How Desperate Are You For A Hamburger? - enough to fuel climate change by destroying carbon sinks? Source www.vox.com

OO Cattle Grazing Is Now Causing Massive Deforestation Hotspots
In The Peruvian Amazon


OO Drought 'Shuts Down Amazon Carbon Sink' by killing trees and slowing trees' growth rates, a study has shown.





Source www.smarborists.com

OO Global Warming Could Limit Forest Capacity as Carbon Sinks - more specifically, North American forests, says a new study.





OO How To Stop Deforestation?
Give Indigenous People Rights To Land - Indigenous people are better than governments at preventing forests from being cut and should be seen as a solution, not a barrier to protecting them, said a UN official.


*
*

GOING, GOING...




Fracking As Far As The Eye Can See Credit Mark Gamba at Corbis via Foundation for Deep Ecology

OO Humans' Consumption of Earth's Natural Resources Has Tripled in 40 Years - says a new UN report.

Growing consumption drives climate change, as it uses huge amounts of climate-polluting energy; those energy sources, in turn, are using increasing amounts of energy just for extraction and distribution.




Asia Deforests Source ulet ifan at flipboard.com

Trees, Orchids, Beautiful Birds, And More - All Gone when a tropical forest disappears, and often extinguishing unknown, unique forms of life.

"The alarming rate at which materials are now being extracted is already having a severe impact on human health and people's quality of life," said UN International Resource Panel co-chair, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra.

"We urgently need to address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that power our economies and lift people out of poverty.

[It] calls for a rethink of the governance of natural resource extraction."


OO UN: Shorter Working Hours May Be Needed To Save Environment - to increase efficiency of resources used and slow their extraction.


*
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HOT NEWS




OO Heat Alerts Blanket US. - N.Y.C., L.A. and Chicago were all under heat advisories recently, plus 23 states in between.


OO Deadly Dangerous Heat Wave Scorched Central And Eastern U.S. with at least 6 heat related deaths. The heat index, a measure of how hot it actually feels, could reach 115°F in parts of Washington, DC and 108°F in Philadelphia.


Related Headlines:





How Much Hot Temperatures Differed for June 2016 in the US from the average. Source NOAA

OO Sizzling Midwest Previews a Hotter Future Climate - 'Climate change is putting heat waves on steroids,' says prominent climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, with dire consequences for public health.

"Heat waves are getting more frequent and stronger."


OO Heat Dome Had Tens Of Millions Sweating From Minneapolis To Mississippi and the high pressure area persisted for days, creating a vast heat wave across much of the US.





OO Eastern Hemisphere's All-Time Temperature Record:
Kuwait Fries In 54°C (129.2°F) Heat on July 21, 2016 in the Middle East.






A Hot Map tracing global temperature anomalies. Source Climate Central via NASA, NOAA data

OO First Half of 2016 Blows Away Temp Records -the first half of 2016 has blown away temperature records, capped off by a record hot June, once again bumping up the odds that 2016 will be the hottest year on record globally, according to data released recently.


OO Earth On Track For Hottest Year Ever As Warming Speeds Up - and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also confirmed that June was the 14th consecutive month to break temperature records.





OO Global Warming Happening Faster Than Predicted says the World Meteorological Organization, reporting the first six months of this year have seen all previous global warming records broken.

It also marked the 378th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.




@@ Climate Change 101: Why Care?
What You Need to Know - Bill Nye tells it all in five minutes amid graphic, dynamic, engaging, compelling imagery. Check it Out!

*
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MELTDOWN

OO Siberia: Areas Leaking Methane 200 Times Faster Than Usual,
Massive Releases Creating Giant Holes, 'Trembling Tundras' - as Russian scientists measured the gas emitted by the mysterious bubbles The 'trembling tundra' also contains concentrations of carbon dioxide 20 times higher than usual levels.

Scientists theorize the sudden appearance of giant holes in northern Siberia - a 2013 eruption was heard 60 miles away - is from methane gas from melting tundra is trapped in existing ice, exploding it.




Siberia: Scientists Discover Unusual Methane Bubbles Underground


OO Siberia: Heat Wave Sparks Anthrax Outbreak - as it melted the decades old, anthrax riddled carcase of a reindeer, allowing the pathogen to spread. 1500 other reindeer died from the highly infectious disease, and 13 people were hospitalized.






A Canyon in White - as Greenland melts away. Credit James Balog

OO Greenland Lost A Staggering 1 Trillion Tons Of Ice In Just Four Years - How much is that?

Think of the ENTIRE weight of humanity currently - now multiply that by about 3,000.


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GOOD CLEAN NEWS




Sun Lights A Night Time Street with solar powered LEDs. Source www.truelite.us

OO Off-Grid LED Lighting Could Create 2 Million Jobs as solar systems come on-line across the globe.


OO Governments Look to Phase Out HFCs, which are potent climate changing gases, causing 1,300 times as much warming as carbon dioxide over a span of 100 years even though they exist for a shorter duration in the atmosphere.

Diplomats and leading national ministers are negotiating to phasing them out. Originally, HCFs substituted chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs) as refrigerants for air conditioners.





OO Solarcity Raises $345 Million To Fund New Projects


OO Corporate Investment In Energy Efficiency 'At An All-Time High'





@@ Time To Choose - this is the trailer but one can view the entire documentary here via download torrent.

OO Not Your Typical Climate Change Documentary:
It Focuses On Solutions, Not Doom - The film provides a compelling argument to its audience that renewable energy and alternative forms of living and eating are not only legitimately effective, but can give us a real shot at stopping climate change.


OO California: Alameda County Bans Fracking - the results of 2+ years of persuasion from a coalition of environmental groups.


OO California Moves Forward With Oil, Gas Methane Rules to slash methane emissions from oil and gas facilities 40-45% by 2025.





OO Obama Plans to Expand Solar for Low-Income Homes to One Gigawatt - via the 'Clean Energy Savings For All' initiative by 2020.

The DOE also will award up to $100,000 for projects that develop solar farms and train solar workers in low-income communities.


OO India Doubles Down On Solar Parks After Sunedison Setback - the company formerly contracted to build major solar projects. India will double the target for energy to be generated from solar parks by 2020.


OO PM Modi Lures India's Top Fossil Fuel Companies To Back Solar Boom





OO Elon Musk Unveils Tesla's 'Master Plan':
Package Electric Cars, Solar Panels and Energy Storage for Customers by merging two big companies, Tesla and Solarcity.


*
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OH-OH




What We're Doing Won't Prevent More of This and worse, as climate change continues. Use your vote to tell leaders we have to do more.

OO The World's Climate Pledges Are Not Even Close To Good Enough - the Paris agreement won't prevent our planetary thermal shields, the polar ice caps, from melting, or rainforests from dying.

But there's still time to prevent even more catastrophic change - and the good news is, countries can easily do more than they've promised so far.

"If all countries were to replicate policies that are currently successfully implemented by some countries, the gap toward two degrees Celsius could almost be closed," says a senior Netherlands government climate policy analyst.

Beyond national governments, organizations and corporations are also moving to effect change. Get involved.





Missing In Action are measures to prevent the drowning of European civilization. Source www.caribflame.com

OO EU Climate Targets Fall Short Of Paris Deal Ambitions, Experts Warn - the European Commission missed an opportunity recently by failing to introduce a mechanism to increase emissions targets over time, a European coalition of environmental NGOs said.


OO Six EU Countries Have Already Met Their 2030 Climate Targets - indicating that the targets are way too weak.


*
*

SPEAKING OUT




OO 'World Can't Afford To Silence Us':
Black Church Leaders Address Climate Change - One of the largest and oldest black churches in the US warns that black people are disproportionally harmed by global warming and fossil fuel pollution.


OO France And UN Press For Ratification Of Climate Agreement


*
*

NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS




Higher and Higher - what is now our lowest global average temperatures is higher than the highest global average temperatures just 40 years ago... Credit Climate Central using NASA data

OO The Climate That Most Of Us Grew Up With Is Gone For Good







Climate Change > Drought, Heat > Dry Forests > Wildfires in the US West Source www.climatesignals.org

OO Massive Wildfires Rage Across California - destroying lives, homes, forests and sparking mass evacuations.


Extreme heat and years of ongoing drought, both linked to climate change, are increasing wildfire risk in California, and ten of the state's 20 largest wildfires on record have all burned in the last 10 years.

OO Flame Broiled Alaska: With soaring temperatures and crackling lightning, wildfires erupt across the state.





Credit Claudio Accheri at flickr

OO Tropical Storms To Get Fiercer As The World Warms − known variously as cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes, they bring death and destruction to huge swathes of the Earth's surface. And new research suggests that they are likely to become even stronger.


Air pollution that cools the air masks the accumulating heat on the planet, and as the air gets clean, that mask will be stripped away: heating air absorbs more water - that extra water and energy translates into fiercer storms.

As if life weren't exciting enough already...





A Stinking Green Monster Is Engulfing US Waters - toxic algal blooms are sickening swimmers, suffocating water life, driving away tourists, and smell like "death on a cracker." Credit Rick Egan at The Salt Lake City Tribune via AP

OO Why Disgusting Toxic Blue-Green Algae Blooms Seem Increasingly Common - across the US and elsewhere, sickening algal blooms are occurring more frequently.

"We've primed the system perfectly for blue-green algae blooms," says Australia government scientist Darren Baldwin:

• Nutrient runoff from agriculture settles in lakes and coastal areas;
• 
  
• Fiercer storms, fueled by climate change, stir up those nutrients more;
• 
  
• Hot waters, heated by global warming, and nutrients fuel massive algal blooms.

An Undersea Rainbow Collapses Into Gray and Brown - as corals bleach die, taking down an entire ecosystem with them in the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere. Credit Justin Marshall at the University of Queensland

OO Sections Of Great Barrier Reef Suffering From 'Complete Ecosystem Collapse' as fish numbers tumble and surviving corals continue to bleach into winter, says a scientist witnessing it.




What Once Was Is No More at Lizard Island and other devastated areas of the Great Barrier Coral Reef.

These natural undersea wonders, the evolutionary work of millennia, have been destroyed, and will not come back for generations, if ever.







The Face of Climate Change - this could be the face of humanity in coming decades, if we do not address the underlying causes of climate change. Credit Kerstin Langenberger at Facebook

OO Polar Ecology In Flux Due To Climate Change - glacial melting and rising ocean temperatures are affecting the feeding, breeding and dispersion patterns of species, such as krill, cod, seals and polar bears, in the polar regions, say two new research studies.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls...


OO Wildlife Dying En Masse as South American River Runs Dry - the Pilcomayo River in Paraguay is littered with dead caiman and fish carcasses; in some areas almost all the caimans and capybaras - furry river animals - have died.


WASTE MAKES CLIMATE CHANGE




OO America Wastes $160 Billion In Food Every Year But Is Too Busy To Stop


OO Denmark Leads Europe In Tackling Food Waste - 33+% of all food is spoiled or squandered, resulting in nearly a loss of $1 Trillion, and generating 8% of global greenhouse emissions.

"Waste makes everybody poorer," said a Danish minister.

Led by a passionate activist, Denmark has been working intensively on solutions backing a global food waste measurement standard; once measured, it can be managed.




Credit S. Brandlin at Deutsche Welle

Strategies include:

• Supermarket "stop food waste areas" where nearly expired food sells very cheaply;
• 
  
• "ugly" food gets used in prepared food;
• 
  
• Public campaign urging people to eat their UFOs* once a month;
• 
  
• Too Good To Go startup pairs unsold meals with people who can buy them cheaply at day's end.

*Unidentified Frozen Objects found in overstocked freezers. Yes, you probably have some.



OO Wal-Mart, America's Largest Grocer, Is Now Selling Ugly Fruit And Vegetables - at a discount, using weather dented produce that might otherwise go to waste.


*
*

SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS





OO Soaring Temperatures Will Make It Too Hot To Work, UN Warns.


OO Global Warming Set To Cost The World Economy $2+ Trillion By 2030 as it becomes too hot to work.
'If you are physically active in work, the hotter it is, the slower you work.'





Source www.independent.co.uk

OO Heat Stress To Wipe Billions Off GDP In India, China





So Pretty, So Deadly For Humanity - the loss of reflection as ice melts, not only speeds Arctic warming, but contributes to climate disruption worldwide. Source NASA

OO This Year's Record Arctic Melt Is A Problem For Everybody - "Melt ponds are a major contributor to radiation and heat in the Arctic," says a NASA sea ice scientist. Takeaways:

• Global warming is melting ice;
• 
  
• This increases Arctic heat absorption by darker waters;
• 
  
• Further heat speeds Arctic warming;
• 
  
• Arctic warming wobbles the polar jet stream;

• Wobbling further mixes extreme cold and warm air masses over the northern hemisphere;
• 
  
• Thus, the wobbling is linked to more extreme weather where humanity lives.

So, Arctic warming helps fuel more extreme weather. Be concerned.


WATER, MORE AND LESS




Source www.chiangraitimes.com

OO Torrential Rains, Floods Kill At Least 112 Across China,
With Scores Missing


OO Colorado: Climate Change Causes Earlier Snowpack Runoff,
Late Summer Water Scarcity For Farmers






Drought Continues even as the devastating 2015-16 El Niño subsides; many parts of Africa, Central
America and Southeast Asia rains and harvests are not expected to recover until 2017.

OO Devastating Droughts Continue As El Niño Subsides





OO Nigeria: Pests and Drought Hit Farms of Tomatoes - a staple of Nigerian diet. Increasing drought and desertification, along with pesticide resistance to the tomato moth worm, are decimating this important food crop.


*
*

FIXING CLIMATE CHANGE



@@ A Simple And Smart Way To Fix Climate Change given by Dan Miller in 2014 at a Ted talk suggests a way to profit as we tackle climate change, by finally charging those who sell and use fossil fuels - and distributing the revenues back to all of us.

The strategy is sure to speed transition to clean renewable energy. What's not to like? Check it out!

*
*

CLUELESS LEADERSHIP




Credit Donar at politicalgraffiti.wordpress.com

OO GOP Platform, Which Calls Coal 'Clean',
Would Reverse Decades Of US Energy And Climate Policy


OO Republican Platform Rejects Paris Climate Agreement,
Climate Regulations


OO Republican Dream Of Shrinking EPA Could Hurt Industries former EPA officials say, and "rejects 40 years of environmental history and success," says an ex EPA head under the GHW Bush administration.





Credit Nate Beeler at the Columbus Dispatch

OO President Trump Would UP Climate Change
By Upping US Oil, Gas Production - a policy promoted by his energy advisor.)
l

*
*

ELECTION YEAR:




If You Don't Vote For Climate Action, You Can Forget The Rest - in a climate-changing world of famine, drought, rising seas, giant storms and heat waves, there will be no security in jobs, health, wealth, or national safety. There will be chaos ensuing from increasing crises and disasters. Vote.

OO Global Warming Policies We Set Today Will Determine The Next 10,000 Years - of global warming, a new study shows -- and whether our civilization survives or not: history shows that harmful climate change has destroyed civilizations before.

This time, it could be worldwide. Let's keep "The Hunger Games" in the realm of fiction.

*
*

GOOD IDEAS




Source Wikipedia

OO Invest In Small Scale Renewable Projects Too,
To Ensure Universal Access To Low Carbon Energy


OO The Public Health Case For Energy Storage - A new study proposes storage and demand response to avoid extra air pollution while meeting peak demand.


OO Curb the Marijuana Industry's Voracious Energy Appetite - policymakers should start by requiring indoor cultivators to consume only carbon-free energy sources or to pay a carbon fee until such measures can be implemented.





Some Like It Cool - but if a cool pool isn't nearby, try a cool neck wrap instead. Source www.arcticspas.com

OO The Best Strategies To Keep Bodies Cool In A Heatwave, say researchers, is full body immersion or cooling the extremities to help maintain healthy body temperatures.

Okay, let's just assume we all don't have a cool pool handy at home or work. What to do?

The Wet Scarf: Carry a cotton scarf/cloth, a wash cloth, and bottle of water with you. When you start heating up, thoroughly wet the scarf and wash cloth, roll the latter inside the former, and tie around your neck. It makes a BIG difference. Replenish occasionally with ice cubes or cold water (often free at fast food places).

At night, keep a wet wash cloth nearby for periodically swabbing down your extremities.





Google Data Center Source Google/Rex

OO Google Uses Artificial Intelligence To Cut Data Centre Energy Use By 15%


OO How A Former Wal-Mart Executive Is Helping The Air Force Cut Energy Costs


OO Paying Businesses To Power Down 'Could Save UK Billions' a new industry report finds.





Zipping Around In a Borrowed Car helps reduce pollution.

OO Car-Sharing Reduces Pollution, Autos On The Road says a new study, filling in the small gaps between those who commute using mass transit or bicycling.


OO China Launches New System To Efficiently Channel Wind Power Investments - to prevent investment in areas where lack of infrastructure results in useless power production.


OO Australia, Cheap And Clean:
Company Creates Hydrogen With Near-Zero Emissions - using cheap iron ore to convert methane into hydrogen, capturing any resulting carbon as graphite.


*
*


CLIMATE LEADERSHIP




The Man Gets It - "Stay safe as it heats up: Drink water, stay out of the sun, and check on your neighbors," tweeted President Obama. Source www.baltimoresun.com

OO Weather-Communicator-In-Chief? President Obama Calls Attention To Heat Wave


*
*

FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES




OO Increased Asthma Attacks Tied To Exposure To Natural Gas Production


OO Ships Worsen Air Pollution Over China, Killing Thousands finds a new study.


OO The Future Of Big Oil?
At Shell, It' The "New Coal," Natural Gas as the deluded energy giant thinks this will help address climate change.





Credit Joel Pett

OO New Documents Reveal
Oil And Tobacco Industries' Dirty History Of Working Together to mislead the public on the harms of each.


OO Tobacco And Oil Industries Used Same Researchers To Sway Public - as early as the 1950s, the two groups shared scientists and publicists to downplay dangers of smoking and climate change.

*
*



If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.





@@ Myth vs Truth: The Huge Value of Contraception is an incisive, heartfelt recognition of the value of contraception by Sarah Brown, CEO, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy


Unintended Pregnancy Costs US Taxpayers:

Unintended Pregnancies Cost US Taxypayers Nearly $11 Billion Yearly
-the Guttmacher Institute

Teen Childbearing Alone Cost US Taxpayers $9+ Billion In 2010
And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
publicize where women can access affordable contraception.



They can go here to find locations:




And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

*
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SOLAR KEEPS RISING



OO Tanzania: Dodging Costs And Power Cuts,
Firms Profit From Solar Drive


OO China Installed 20 GW Of Solar Power in first-half of 2016; triple from a year ago.





Check it out here, right now!

*
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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS




Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Aug 4, 2016

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues and so does the drought in California.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.




There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this wild spotted coralroot orchid I photographed one spring. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.

-- 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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Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: 'Green News Report' - August 4, 2016  
The Green News Report is also available via...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: New criminal charges for MI state employees in the Flint Water Crisis; $1...

Read more: Clean Energy, Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Democratic Convention, Democrats, Donald Trump, Economy, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Global Warming Deniers, Green News, Green News Report, Oil, Regulation, Renewable Energy, Republican Convention, Republican Party, Republicans, Video, Enbridge, Pipeline, Oil Spill, Kalamazoo Oil Spill, Flint Water Crisis, Voting, Hillary Clinton, Green News

 
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Finance, Renewable Energy And Social Inclusion Are Key To A Sustainable Future  
When opening the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, I quote one of my favorite Guyanese creole sayings: wan wan dutty build dam. Put differently, every house must sit on solid foundations and we build it one brick at a time. Many years later, the Paris Climate agreement brought us the international breakthrough many have fought for so hard: near universal action to address climate change and keep global average temperature well below 2 degrees centigrade.

Of course it was the euphoria of the outcome that made the headlines. But the Paris agreement also noted some important points of caution. First that the commitments made in Paris are not enough to achieve the temperature goal, second that early action is imperative and thirdly that the provision of finance, technology and capacity support are essential to enable enhanced pre-2020 action by developing countries. As early as 2018 countries will meet to take stock of efforts taken to meet the long term goal.

If Paris was all about setting the goal(s) and drawing the boundaries of the pitch, the next conference in Marrakesh will be about defining the rules of the game. That is critical if the 2018 stock-taking is to provide the confidence to take next and bolder steps towards achieving the long-term goal. As the Guyanese also say in creole: clath ah easy fuh dutty but hard fuh wash (having achieved a goal, it is difficult to retain it)!

As an organization dedicated to working with its members to achieve a greener model of growth, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is now doing everything to help countries understand how international climate finance can be made to work for climate action, remove the barriers that prevent investments in renewables, translate climate ambitions into bankable projects, build national finance institutions to support this and ensure that growth is more socially inclusive.



In line with an effort to identify practical solutions to sustainability challenges, GGGI and its partners will organize the Global Green Growth Week (#GGGWeek2016), on September 5-9, on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. The sessions throughout the five-day event will focus on three key topics: 1) mobilizing finance for climate action and green growth, 2) driving renewable energy and green investments in Asia and 3) improving the livelihoods of and creating a green and inclusive economy for the poor.

First, finance is an important issue. In principle, sufficient financial resources from the public and private sectors are available to support developing nations. However, not enough attention has been paid to enhancing the capacity of the system to absorb the capital in ways that are beneficial to the poor in developing countries and acceptable to those that bring the capital. The Global Green Growth Summit (GGGS) aims to explore ways to unblock the barriers to capital flowing to emerging markets, develop innovative international financial instruments for green growth, strengthen national financing vehicles and build solid project proposals. It is critical to find blended financial models and innovative solutions to mobilize climate finance.

Second, transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy will bring health and financial benefits as well as enhance employment opportunities. Asia is claiming to be going green, but according to the International Energy Outlook 2016, China and India are projected to be the top two coal-consuming countries together with the United States, accounting for more than 70% of world coal use. For instance, in 2012, China accounted for 50% of world coal consumption and its coal use is expected to grow through 2025. Coal is expected to continue to play a prominent role in Asia's energy consumption due to the abundant regional endowment of coal and low extraction costs.

On a brighter note, energy demand is projected to almost double in the Asia and Pacific region by 2030. This rapid rise in demand is a reflection of the dramatic economic growth in countries such as China and India. Countries in Southeast Asia have also been enjoying remarkable economic progress in recent years while solidifying their position as a major driver of global growth in energy demand. Investments in renewables have now overtaken investments in fossil fuel and renewable investments in developing countries have significantly overtaken those in industrialized countries - all of which is positive. But the reality remains that making more money available and decreasing costs of technology is not enough to address the challenges of climate change.

The Asia Regional Policy Dialogue (ARPD) will examine the success factors and barriers to scaling up the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy. The discussions will be tailored to the Asian context, in line with the goal of building consensus among major stakeholders on strategic, actionable solutions to be taken to promote clean energy.

Third, more emphasis needs to be placed on creating better lives and livelihoods for poor people in society by using green growth policies. Billions of people have been lifted out of poverty, but the gap between the rich and poor is increasing. 90% of urban population growth this century will occur in developing countries, predominantly in Africa and Asia and a significant proportion of that growth will be in cities that don't exist yet. Although the world has made significant progress in reducing poverty in the last decade, inequality still persists, with large portions of humanity, particularly in developing countries, lacking basic sanitation, access to electricity, and clean drinking water.

Growth in developing countries will continue, yet this growth needs to be green and inclusive. The discussion topics for the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) Annual Conference include examining challenges of inclusive green growth, exploring the climate change and poverty nexus and identifying whether economic growth can be inclusive and green.

#GGGWeek2016 will serve as a platform to generate innovative solutions, leverage green growth opportunities and promote delivery of growth that is pro-poor, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable.

Click here to learn more about #GGGWeek2016.

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A student of Gothic literary monsters assesses Donald Trump's allure.  
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Want to Fight Food Waste? Get with the Food System  

Above: Students working in the Field and Fork Student Gardens at the University of Florida. Part of creating a sustainable food culture is appreciating the labor and resources that go into food production. UF/IFAS Photo by Amy Stuart

At the University of Florida's Innovation Academy, students are challenged to come up with creative, inventive solutions to some of our toughest problems.

This year, the freshman class was tasked with developing a business concept or invention that responded to the issue of food waste. As the campus food system coordinator and part of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, I was invited to talk to some of these students about their ideas and probe their thinking.

Needless to say, this was a group of very smart, very talented young people. But as I listened to them talk about their ideas, I began to notice a trend that worried me.

It's not that their ideas were unrealistic. For example, one student proposed a composting device people could install in their homes and use like any other appliance, an approach I thought was both clever and practical.

The problem was that they all assumed that waste was inevitable and that all we can do is figure out what to do with it. They weren't asking themselves how they could reduce the amount of waste produced in the first place.

When I pointed this out, some of the students got excited. Others looked daunted, struggling to imagine a world in which food waste wasn't a given.

This isn't to say that composting or participating in food drives are bad things to do. These efforts are a great step toward sustainability and food security. In our campus food program, Field and Fork, we embrace composting in our student garden, and we ask our community to donate extra food to our on-campus food pantry.

But these efforts are a response to food waste and don't necessarily stop it from happening.


Above: Student volunteers learn not only how to grow their own food, but also how to manage the gardens' operations. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones

I encouraged the students to think about how food is often wasted as a result of our preference for beauty and abundance. I asked the students to visualize how fresh fruits and vegetables, for instance, apples, are typically displayed in stores--hundreds of shiny apples, all the same color, size and shape.

The store may not sell all those apples, and the ones not sold may be thrown out. But a mountain of fruit conveys abundance, and we're attracted to abundance. A display of only a few dozen apples is underwhelming, even suspicious. If given the choice, we'd likely choose an apple from the big pile over one from the small pile, even if the apples themselves were identical.

As a class time drew to a close, the students and I thought about how we could tap into this preference for abundance in a way that doesn't lead to wasted food.

One way to reduce food waste may be to offer people, particularly young people, a chance to be part of food production.

As consumers buying broccoli at the store, we only know the end product--we may not even know what a broccoli plant looks like. But when a student at the Field and Fork Student Gardens grows a broccoli plant from seed, she not only understands where her food comes from but also gains an appreciation for all the resources--energy, labor, time, water--that go into producing it.

Understanding how an apple or a head of broccoli is produced may be one way to recognize the vast abundance already embedded in our food.

-- 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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Radar tracking reveals the 'life stories' of bumblebees as they forage for food  
Scientists have tracked the flight paths of a group of bumblebees throughout their entire lives to find out how they explore their environment and search for food.  
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Mary Ellen Harte: Climate Change This Week: Siberia Exploding, Too Hot to Work, LED Job Surge, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Soon This May Be The Only Kind Of Tropical Frog In Existence - one made of painte...

Read more: Climate Change, Environment, Drought, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, Sustainability, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Nature, Science, Technology, Technologie, Green Technology, Technology News, Climate Change Denial, Climate, Climate Science, Climate-Change, Obama, Green Energy, Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, Natural Gas, Wind Power, Solar Power, Fossil Fuels, Heat Waves, Congress, Voting, Weather, Business, Business News, Corporations, Economy, Climate Change Solutions, Greenhouse Gases, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Carbon Emissions, Food, Water, Coal, Fracking, Oil, Agriculture, Crops, Rising Sea Levels, Insurance, Pollution, Wildlife, Transportation, Transports, Transport, Cities, Deforestation, Jobs, Natural Disasters, Population, Population Growth, Overpopulation, Oceans, President Obama, Barack Obama, Epa, Nasa, Noaa, Department of Energy, Republicans, Gop, Democrats, Animals, Cute Animals, Fish, Birds, Activism, Political Activism, Humor, Alaska, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, Utah, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, United Nations, United Kingdom, England, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Europe, European Union, France, Denmark, India, Asia, Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, Siberia, Children, Babies, Children'S Health, Kids, Human Health, Health, Education, Air Pollution, Seafood, Shell, Donald Trump, Soil, Art, Cartoons, Elon Musk, Wal-Mart, Cars, Tobacco, Tesla, Solarcity, Green News

 
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American Crocodiles on Florida Bay  

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Crocodylus acutus

A pair of recent hatchlings take their first steps into the world in a remote estuary of Florida Bay in south Florida. Because of long term conservation efforts, this species was downgraded from Endangered to Threatened on the Endangered Species list in 2007. Today, more than 1,500 wild crocs are estimated to inhabit south Florida. Long term conservation and management plans are essential for the long term survival of this species moving forward.

 
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London at Sunset  

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Over The Shard

Thanks for all the views, Please check out my other photos and albums.

 
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Photos of the Week: 7/30-8/5 (35 photos)  

Scenes from Rio as the Olympics are set to begin, wildfires in Greece, horses at a McDonald's Drive-thru in Spain, the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, fireflies in Mexico, a bear atop a New Mexico garbage truck, and much more.

 
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Towards Deptford Strand  

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the clouds come in

 
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london-29  

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Get Thee to a Hospital  

This story originally appeared on the Conversation and is reproduced here with permission.

A report published in May from researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine claims that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind only heart disease and cancer.

According to the researchers, medical errors account for 251,454 U.S. deaths each year—and they regard this figure as an underestimate.

That's the sort of finding that makes headlines. Indeed, you might have read about this report in the newspaper or even seen it reported on the evening news.

But as we'll argue, the methods the researchers used to draw this conclusion are flawed, and that means the conclusion that medical error is the third leading cause of death is highly questionable.

When a report like this gets broad media coverage, it can foster unwarranted mistrust of medicine, which could prevent people from seeking needed care—a concern for everyone who takes care of patients.

A medical error can be defined as a decision or action that results in patient harm, one that experts agree should have been made differently given the information available at the time. But applying such a definition in reviewing patient records is fraught with difficulty.

The study's authors argue that death certificates should be redesigned to recognize that more deaths are attributable to medical error. That's a reasonable suggestion. But the implication of many media reports that these findings prove hundreds of thousands of people are dying each year due to medical errors is highly problematic.

First, the authors of the Johns Hopkins report did not collect any new data. Instead, they based their conclusions on studies performed by other authors. There is nothing wrong with that, in principle.

But in this case, the results are highly misleading because they are based on large extrapolations from very small data sets: The authors based their conclusions on four studies that included a total of only 35 deaths attributable to medical error—out of nearly 4,000 hospital admissions. Extrapolating from 35 deaths to a population of 320 million is quite a leap.

In addition, these studies frequently do a poor job of distinguishing between adverse events and errors. They are not the same thing.

An adverse event is defined as any undesirable outcome after a drug or treatment is administered to a patient. Every medical test and therapy, from antibiotics to surgery, is associated with some risk of an adverse outcome. Adverse events can include death, although that is rare. While every adverse outcome is regrettable, it does not prove that an error was made—that based on what was known at the time, a medical professional should have made a different decision or acted in a different way.

Physicians typically cannot know in advance which patients will experience such reactions, so attributing such deaths to error is misleading.

There is another problem with the Hopkins report: Two of the four studies it draws on use Medicare data, which generally include patients advanced in years, in relatively poor health, and being treated in the hospital. Sad to say, many such patients are at substantially increased risk of death to begin with. Many will die during their hospitalization no matter how well they are cared for. To attribute such deaths to error is to fail to account for the inevitability of death.

In fact, one of the studies on which the Hopkins report is based even includes a prominent correction factor. The author estimates the number of deaths due to medical error at 210,000. Then, based on the fact that the tools used to identify errors are imperfect, the author chooses to double his estimate of the number of deaths due to error to 420,000.

The sort of medical chart review used in these studies is radically different from caring for patients. The uncertainty and stress associated with caring for the very sickest patients are often invisible to hindsight. Seriously adverse patient outcomes are associated with a greater tendency to blame someone. When a patient has died, we want someone to be responsible even if every action taken appeared justifiable at the time.

This isn't the first study to try to assess how often medical errors can lead to death. Other studies paint a very different picture of the number of deaths attributable to error.

In one study responding to claims of very high death rates due to medical error, physicians reviewed 111 deaths in Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals by attempting to determine whether such deaths were preventable with “optimal care.” VA patients are generally older and sicker than the U.S. population, and thus somewhat comparable to studies based on Medicare data. Also, by using “optimal care,” the study may catch even more deaths than the “medical error” standards, resulting in a tendency to overestimate the number of deaths due to error.

At first, the researchers estimated that 23 percent of deaths could have been prevented. But when they were asked whether patients could have left the hospital alive, this number dropped to 6 percent. Finally, when the additional criterion of “3 months of good cognitive health after discharge” was added, the number dropped to 0.5 percent. Preventable deaths should be viewed in context, and there is a big difference between preventing death and restoring good health.

Applying the rates from the VA study to U.S. hospital admission data, medical error would drop down to No. 7 of the top 10 causes of death in the United States. Applying the additional criterion of three months of good cognitive health, medical error would not even rank in the top 20. Of course, doing so runs the same risks as the Johns Hopkins study; namely, extrapolating from a small study to the entire U.S. population.

To produce a truly balanced account of medicine's role in causing death, it would be necessary to account not only for the risks but also the benefits of medical care. Many patients with heart disease, cancer ,and diabetes whose deaths such studies attribute to medical error would not even be alive in the first place without medical treatment, where its benefits vastly outweigh its risks.

Looking at medicine from this point of view, we are fortunate to be living in an era of unsurpassed medical capabilities, when the profession is doing more to promote health and prolong life than at any time in the past.

Perhaps the strongest evidence that such studies overestimate the role of medical error is that the fact that, when causes of death are ranked by authoritative organizations such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, medical error is not even included in the top 10. Would adding medical error to death certificates change this? We doubt it.

There is no doubt that mistakes occur in medicine every day, and if we take appropriate steps, error rates can be reduced. But inflated estimates of the number of deaths associated with error do nothing to advance understanding and may in fact make many patients more reluctant to seek care when they need it. A blinkered focus on error without corresponding accounts of medicine's benefits contributes to a distorted understanding of medicine's role in health and disease.

 
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American Crocodile  

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Crocodylus acutus

A hatchling explores a mangrove estuary on a remote key in south Florida.

 
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Technology that Could Turn the Tide on Climate Change: Clean Coal Technology  
New technology is required to make meaningful progress on climate change. This column will focus on one of those options: making coal power greener.

Coal will be a part of the international energy equation for decades to come. While domestic coal consumption is decreasing, worldwide consumption is still trending upwards. For many regions, coal is a plentiful, inexpensive feedstock and it is often the only option available for energy generation. Any pragmatic approach to attacking the global problem of climate change must include a way for developing economies to continue to use coal in an environmentally sustainable way.

Researchers are exploring several options to reduce emissions from burning coal. One approach is pre-combustion capture which separates the CO2 after gasifying the coal. It is less expensive and more efficient to capture the carbon dioxide on the front-end of the process than to add CO2 capture equipment on the back-end of a traditional power plant.

Another alternative is burning coal in recirculated flue gas and oxygen rather than air. This changes the chemistry of the emissions, eliminates the nitrogen, and recycles most of the CO2 so that it is not emitted.

Industry and government have invested in research, demonstrations and pilot projects to test these technologies. Depending on the results it could be a real game changer for power generation.

-- 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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The Climate Post: New York Joins Handful of Other States with Ambitious Clean Energy Targets  
By 2030, half of the energy produced in the state of New York will come from renewables, according to a new policy adopted Monday by the state's public service commission. The move is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels (80 percent by 2050) and to attract billions in clean energy investment.

"New York has taken bold action to become a national leader in the clean energy economy and is taking concrete, cost-effective steps today to safeguard this state's environment for decades to come," said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "This Clean Energy Standard shows you can generate the power necessary for supporting the modern economy while combatting climate change. Make no mistake, this is a very real threat that continues to grow by the day and I urge all other states to join us in this fight for our very future."

The plan calls for New York to retain its nuclear reactors--though The Washington Post reports that those facilities don't count as part of the 50 percent renewables target. According to New York regulators, doing so might cost $965 million over two years but could lead to net benefits of $4 billion due to avoided carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution. While supporters of this provision applaud New York's effort to retain its emissions-free nuclear generation, opponents are likely to challenge the nuclear subsidies on the grounds they are discriminatory, hurt markets, and intrude on federal authority.

New York is not the first state to announce an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target. In April 2015, California announced it planned to cut those emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels in the same time frame with renewables increases. Like California, New York plans to phase in its renewables increase; 31 percent of its energy is to come from renewables by 2021 and 50 percent by 2030. Those targets are meant to give utilities and clean energy companies time to develop their business models.

The only states with higher renewables standards are Vermont, which set a target of 75 percent renewable power by 2032, and Hawaii, which set a target of 100 percent renewable power by 2045.

White House to Federal Agencies: Consider Climate Change Impacts

In an action with broad implications for thousands of projects, including energy and mineral development on public lands, natural gas import and export facilities, and transportation projects, the Obama administration issued final guidance on how federal agencies should consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts when conducting reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (subscription).

"Focused and effective consideration of climate change in NEPA reviews will allow agencies to improve the quality of their decisions," the guidance states. "Identifying important interactions between a changing climate and the environmental impacts from a proposed action can help Federal agencies and other decision makers identify practicable opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve environmental outcomes, and contribute to safeguarding communities and their infrastructure against the effects of extreme weather events and other climate-related impacts."

The guidance, the product of a six-year effort by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, advises agencies to quantify projected greenhouse gas emissions of proposed federal actions whenever the necessary methodologies and data are available. It also encourages them to draw on their experience and expertise to determine the appropriate level and extent of quantitative or qualitative analysis required to comply with NEPA and to consider alternatives that would increase the climate-change resilience of the action and affected communities.

"From the public standpoint, we are now going to know what all of our decisions add up to in terms of impacting climate change," said Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the Council on Environmental Quality. "You can think of all the different federal decisions, and how they all add up. We have numbers where we can actually say, 'this is a huge decision, given the amount of greenhouse gases coming out of it.' And that gives the public a chance to really weigh in on decision-making."

Several media outlets pointed out that because the White House guidance is not a regulation, agencies are not legally bound to follow it.

Clean Power Plan Analysis: National Costs Low, State Costs Varied

Wednesday marked one year since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally rolled out the Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. Even with the February stay by the U.S. Supreme Court, which halted implementation of the plan pending resolution of legal challenges, some say the plan is having an impact while others are finding more reason to explore the legality of the rule (subscription).

Should the rule survive judicial review, a new paper by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions uses the Nicholas Institute's Dynamic Integrated Economy/Energy/Emissions Model to evaluate Clean Power Plan impacts on the U.S. generation mix, emissions, and industry costs. It indicates that industry trends are likely to make Clean Power Plan compliance relatively inexpensive, with cost increases of 0.1 to 1.0 percent. But policy costs can vary across states, which might lead to a patchwork of policies that, although in their own best interests, could impose additional costs nationally.

"The answer is not the same for everyone in terms of what's going to be the least-cost way for a particular state to approach this policy," said lead author and Nicholas Institute Senior Economist Martin Ross. "Nationally, it would make the most sense to have a broadly coordinated policy where you can take advantage of the usual economic [tools] to spread the cost reductions around and pick up the most cost-effective sources for reducing emissions."

Similar findings were presented at a conference of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Because of lower-than-expected natural gas prices, renewable power, and extended federal tax credits for that power, the country as a whole is set to meet the Clean Power Plan's early goals, reports ClimateWire.

The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

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Regardless of Fierce Opposition, Rooftop Solar Is Unstoppable  
As the Spanish saying goes, the sun is the poor man's blanket. And thanks to technology, it's also our heating system, air conditioner, refrigerator and a shinning spot that lights up our clean energy future.

The solar industry is the fastest growing sector of the US economy. It currently employs more than 200,000 workers, thousands of them Latinos, and double that of the coal mining industry. And for us Latinos, solar energy is a three-fold blessing.

"Since I had my rooftop solar panels installed last year, I spend less than half of what I used to pay for dirty energy," says Oscar Medina, a client of Solar City in Tucson, AZ. "It not only keeps my home cool in the Arizona desert, it also allows me to avoid using power from dirty coal."

And one of those thousands of Latino solar workers is Roberto "Bobby" Rosthenhousler, another Tucson resident, whose mother is from Los Mochis, Mexico. He enthusiastically supports solar.

"If you are Latino, this is a good choice," says Bobby, who installs panels for Net Zero Solar. "As long as the sun is there, we are going to have a job. I want to be a pioneer because there is only room to improve in this industry."

But dark clouds loom over solar --the backlash of public utilities. In the last four years, the explosive growth of rooftop solar has turned it into a severe threat to an archaic system based on a monopolistic model that heavily depends on dirty energy.

Take Arizona utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP), which owns, at least partly, four coal-burning plants, including the San Juan Generating Station in Northern New Mexico.

TEP is due to review its energy plan for the next few years, which presents it with the opportunity to drop at least a large part of its coal fleet and expand its clean, renewable energy portfolio. Alas, TEP plans to stick with the dirty coal plant, hike rates for its customers and damage Arizona's growing rooftop solar industry with new fees on solar customers such as Oscar.

Utilities across the country justify these rate hikes by arguing that rooftop solar clients continue relying on the electric grid without contributing their fair share to its maintenance. Study after study, however, indicates that rooftop solar reduces the stress and wear of the grid by using it less often. Furthermore, it limits the construction of expensive, dirty plants, thus substantially reducing coal pollution and the climate change it triggers.

These abusive practices may paint a bleak future for the rooftop solar industry. The clean energy progress, however, is unstoppable. A Cambridge University study indicates that photovoltaic solar panels will soon be more competitive than any fossil fuel energy. And this scares the living lights out of the energy dinosaurs.

"They need to let other environmentally friendly companies come in and provide a service that would especially benefit working-class families," says Oscar. "It's clear that utilities need to stop the pollution that makes people sick, especially us Latinos."

"My four-year-old is autistic," says Bobby. "And that's one other reason I went into clean energy. I worry about all those chemicals in the air affect my child. This is something I can give back to him."

No matter how hard the utilities try, you can't block the sun with an umbrella.

-- 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 I Fell In Love With Ugly Food  

While grocery shopping one day, I realized I'd spent close to 30 minutes just in the produce section, meticulously choosing the best-looking apples, bananas that were ripe, but not spotted, ears of corn with perfectly aligned kernels. I admit, I'm picky about my produce. But I bet I'm not the only one that rejects the slightest bruise, blemish or mark on my fruits and veggies. 

How did we get this way? Could it be because we are living in a society where everything is filtered, where beauty is rewarded, where supermarkets reject foods that don't adhere to a certain standard, where everything is shiny and bright?

I've also seen how my pursuit of perfect produce has impacted my kids. When I pack their lunches, I make sure to include the plumpest tomatoes, crispest blueberries, cucumbers without any dents or scratches. But one day when my daughter refused to eat an avocado that was turning slightly brown, I knew I had to change my ways. I realized I was unconsciously raising my children to accept society's norms of perfection and that these perceptions can have a devastating impact on our environment.  

In the U.S, up to 40 percent of food produced is wasted every year. Most of this waste ends up in landfills that create dangerous greenhouse gases. Around 20 percent of food waste is produced directly at the farm because this so-called ugly food may not meet certain cosmetic standards set by grocery stores, yet are still perfectly consumable. Meanwhile, 48 million Americans live in food-insecure households.  

On a recent night in San Francisco, I attended a dinner party to raise awareness about this growing problem. The event was called the Salvage Supperclub and it is the brainchild of food waste activist Josh Treuhaft, who decided to create a unique, immersive experience as a conversation starter around food waste. It was an intimate gathering of 16 people dining on a table made from reclaimed wood, all within a cleared-out dumpster. The chef, Pesha Perlsweig, prepared a six course meal with food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Perlsweig sourced some of the evening's ingredients from Imperfect Produce, a delivery subscription service that specifically sells “ugly” fruits and vegetables. Boxes of produce might contain organic crooked carrots or knobbly sweet potatoes for 30 to 50 percent of the price that one might pay at a traditional market.   

I was blown away by Perlsweig's creative dishes made from food the industry considers trash including stuffed wilted kale, ugly eggplant and squash ratatouille, and a delectable banana doughnut made from the actual peel of a banana. Before each course, Perlsweig offered guests tidbits and tips about how we can reduce our food waste. Did you know that if you cut off the end of a limp carrot or celery stalk and place it in water it will become firm again? 

After the evening's dinner, I became inspired to rethink the way I shop for and consume food, to embrace the imperfect, the ugly, the unique. My actions have inspired my daughter to think differently as well. One morning, while she was helping prepare her school lunch, I noticed her choosing a handful of cherry tomatoes with slight blemishes. “They're special,” she said.  

Here's hoping these small changes in our perception might make a big impact on our world.

Watch more of Laura Ling's reports on Seeker. Follow her on Twitter @lauraling.

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Spider sharing isn't always caring: Colonies die when arachnids overshare food  
Spiders living together in colonies of tens of thousands can go extinct from sharing food equitably, finds new research.  
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Lab-reared maggots may save Darwin's famous finches  
Researchers reveal how they used chicken blood to rear larvae of the fly Philornis downsi, an invasive species that parasitizes birds in the Galapagos Islands. The new method may be the first to effectively rear an avian blood-feeding fly from egg to adult in the absence of its host.  
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Tim Profeta: The Climate Post: New York Joins Handful of Other States with Ambitious Clean Energy Targets  
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Sumatran Tiger On Danger  

dptro posted a photo:

Sumatran Tiger habitat were pushed away by oil palm plantation and poacher.

 
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Joan Michelson: Energy & the Environment Positions in the 2016 Election - Dispatch from the 2016 Democratic National Convention  
The Democratic and Republican platforms and their nominees' energy plans reflect complete opposite views. Here's a round-up of the differences, including excerpts from selected energy and environment events this week in Philadelphia where historic Philadelphia rolled out the red carpet and an analysis by top energy consultant, Peter Kelly- Detwiler* of Northbridge Energy.

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The Current State of Manufacturing Human Organs  
Thirteen. The number of people that die each day waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant.

$5 billion. The cost to create a new drug.

$3 billion plus. The amount invested in engineered tissue and organ research by the Federal government in a three year period.

Zero. The number of organs currently being manufactured by US industries for transplant.

322,762,018. The number of Americans in 2016 that could benefit from the Department of Defense's new Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ATB-MII).

The Department of Defense has been interested in engineering organs, tissues and limbs for decades as a means of treating its wounded soldiers. The number of veterans in need of tissue repair and limb replacement has skyrocketed in the 21st century, due primarily to the recent and pervasive use of improvised explosive devices, coupled with dramatic improvements in body armor that save lives but not without sacrifice. Meanwhile, the need is equally as strong in the civilian world, where hundreds of thousands of Americans wait on organ transplant lists living day-by-day in fear of what the future holds.

Many wonder: "Why can't we manufacture organs TODAY?" The charge is not new, nor will it fade in the coming years. It rises from the halls of Congress. It mingles with tears in homes across our nation. It echoes down hospital hallways and lingers in operating rooms. As a DoD scientist working in the field of biofabrication and tissue engineering for over 15 years, I wake up every morning trying to answer that same question; trying to explain to my children, my colleagues, my friend whose husband is on his second and final kidney transplant--why can't we make faster and more substantive progress?

The answer, as is often the case in the world of science, is not so simple. The world is full of promising technologies. Stem cells. Bioprinters. Gels that simulate the biological and structural properties of human tissue. Sophisticated imaging and computer-aided design technologies. Why, then, do we not have manufacturing plants that churn out organs? We should be able to use these starting materials just as Henry Ford used steel, rubber, and assembly lines to create the first automobiles, right? Answers like "Biology is really complicated" and "Soft, living materials are just more difficult to build than computer chips and iPhones", don't resonate too well, especially when the need is so high.

Despite these challenges, progress is being made on all fronts. After decades of research, these technologies are maturing to the point where manufactured tissue is almost within reach. All that is needed is one big push.

Enter the Government's most recent investment, bringing at least $160 million to the table to accelerate tissue and organ development: the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Manufacturing Innovation Institute, or the ATB-MII for short, sponsored by the Manufacturing Technology Program within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The ATB-MII will pull emerging technologies into the industrial world--the world of manufacturing, automation and standardization. It will convene the best and brightest minds in the country across universities, small and large businesses, as well as local, state and federal governments, to identify, elevate, and synergize technologies. It will enable disruptive biofabrication tools, currently isolated in specialized laboratories across the country, to be inserted into manufacturing processes throughout diverse biotechnology sectors. It will enable biological starting materials and biofabrication tools to be standardized to the small- and mid-sized companies looking for a competitive edge. Ultimately, the ATB-MII will evolve into an enduring ecosystem that will accelerate the development to manufacture tissues, organs, and organ-based products.

Short-term products will emerge from the institute such as miniature tissues or organs, coined "organs-on-a-chip," that can be used to eliminate poorly performing drug candidates before they enter costly animal and human trials. These organs-on-a-chip will translate test results into the world of personalized medicine, helping speed up decision-making by clinicians looking to determine the most effective and least dangerous treatments for critically-ill patients.The industry is poised to revolutionize the way new drugs are discovered, as well as the way we engineer tissues and organs.

The ATB-MII is the path to create definable tools, products and standards that will have tangible

Dr. Ringeisen will serve as the DoD's Chief Technology Officer for the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication MII, which is currently under solicitation. He also serves as the Head of the Bioenergy and Biofabrication Section at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and ORGANIZE, a non-profit looking to end the organ donation crisis by identifying and building on opportunities for improvement through technology, advocacy, and policy. Learn more at ORGANIZE.org.

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A Closer Scientific Look at Antibacterial Soap Unearths Some Problems  
Do antibacterial soaps do more harm than good? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by Tirumalai Kamala, Immunologist, Ph.D., Mycobacteriology, on Quora:

Over the years, the consensus that the harm caused by antibacterial soaps outweighs the benefits has indeed coalesced. But to understand how antibacterial soaps could harm, we first need to understand how they differ from regular soaps. Also referred to as antimicrobial or antiseptic soaps, they contain chemicals that regular soaps don't.

Many liquid soaps labeled antibacterial contain triclosan, a synthetic compound, specifically a phenylether or chlorinated bisphenol. While the US FDA classifies it as a Class III drug, i.e., a compound with high solubility and low permeability, triclosan is also a pesticide. Triclocarban is another common chemical found in antibacterial soaps. Many of the concerns about triclosan also apply to triclocarban (1).

Since it appeared on the scene in 1972, triclosan has steadily permeated through the consumer landscape such that it's practically ubiquitous today (see lists below from 1 and 2).

Triclosan is so ubiquitous it's even found embedded in medical devices such as catheters and sutures to prevent infections (3).

As for its beneficial effects, a 2015 study compared the bactericidal effects of plain versus triclosan-containing soaps in conditions that mimic hand washing, and found no difference in their ability to reduce bacterial numbers during a 20-second exposure (4). In other words, dubious benefit when used for routine hand washing under normal circumstances, i.e., only washing hands for a few seconds. After all, most of us don't scrub as though preparing to do surgery every time we wash our hands.

How Triclosan Inhibits/Kills Microbes

In vitro studies show triclosan can stop bacteria growing at low concentrations (bacteriostatic), and kill them at high concentrations (bactericidal). It also has some activity against some fungi (5) and even parasites such as those that cause malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, and toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii (6).

Triclosan is able to target many different types of bacteria by blocking the active site for an enzyme essential for bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis (7, 8). Blocking the enzyme enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase, triclosan prevents bacteria from synthesizing fatty acids, which they need for their cell membranes and for reproduction.

Problems With Triclosan

I. Triclosan selects for antibiotic resistance

As widespread triclosan use increased, labs increasingly started finding cross-resistance to antibiotics. Under selection pressure from triclosan, bacteria mutate to develop resistance mechanisms to it, which end up bestowing antibiotic resistance as well. In other words, studies show triclosan selects for antibiotic resistance (see table below from 9).

II. Discharged widely into the environment, triclosan can affect biomass such as algae and bacterial communities

Since it's widely used in such a diverse array of products, triclosan ends up in soil, ground water, and municipal wastewater treatment plants. Such plants require proper functioning of microbes to break down sewage. Triclosan can inhibit methane production in wastewater plant anaerobic digesters as well as select for multi-drug resistance in such bacterial communities (10). Triclosan's effects persist even beyond because it's discharged from wastewater treatment plants as effluent. Certain algae species in the vicinity of such plants have been found to be very sensitive to triclosan (11, 12). Triclosan also affects bacterial communities in rivers (13). Potential environmental risk of triclosan becomes even more relevant in areas of water scarcity where it doesn't get sufficiently diluted.

III. Triclosan can alter gut microbiota in fishes and rodents, potentially alter human microbiota, and even promote tumors in rodents

• 
  
• Triclosan could profoundly (14) and stably (12) alter fish gut microbiota as well as those of baby rats (15).
• 
  
• While so far triclosan doesn't appear to affect human gut microbiome, the data are far from conclusive, being based on just one study with 7 volunteers (16). On the other hand, a study on nasal secretions from 90 healthy adults found a positive correlation between presence of triclosan in nasal secretions and nasal colonization by Staphylococcus aureus (17). This suggests triclosan indeed has the potential to influence and even alter human microbiota.
• 
  
• One mouse model even found triclosan capable of promoting liver tumors (18).
• 
  

IV. Triclosan can disrupt hormonal function

Triclosan was found to disrupt thyroid hormone-associated gene expression and altered the rate of frog metamorphosis (19). It could also disrupt thyroid (20, 21), estrogen (22), and testosterone (23) function in rats.

V. Triclosan bans

Given the increasing litany of concerns about triclosan's deleterious effects on the physiology of a wide variety of species, which may also increasingly include humans, several governments are either considering banning it or have already done so.

• 
  
• In March 2010, the European Union banned triclosan from any products that may come into contact with food (2).
• 
  
• On 16 May, 2014, the US state of Minnesota banned the sale of triclosan-containing cleaning products (soaps), giving manufacturers time until early 2017 to phase them out (24).
• 
  
• As of 2015, Health Canada was considering banning triclosan. It's estimated that ~1730 products, including cosmetics, health, and personal care products containing triclosan were available in Canada in 2011 (1).
• 
  
• The US FDA is mulling its regulation (25), with a report due in September 2016.
• 
  

Bibliography

1. Dhillon, Gurpreet Singh, et al. "Triclosan: current status, occurrence, environmental risks and bioaccumulation potential." International journal of environmental research and public health 12.5 (2015): 5657-5684. Triclosan: Current Status, Occurrence, Environmental Risks and Bioaccumulation Potential

2. Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics. "Triclosan." White Paper prepared by the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) (2011). http://emerald.tufts.edu/med/apu...

3. Stickler, David James, G. Ll Jones, and Allan Denver Russell. "Control of encrustation and blockage of Foley catheters." The Lancet 361.9367 (2003): 1435-1437. http://carambola.usc.edu/Biofilm...

4. Kim, S. A., et al. "Bactericidal effects of triclosan in soap both in vitro and in vivo." Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2015): dkv275.

5. Vischer, W. A., and J. Regös. "Antimicrobial spectrum of Triclosan, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent for topical application." Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene. Erste Abteilung Originale. Reihe A: Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Parasitologie 226.3 (1974): 376.

6. McLeod, Rima, et al. "Triclosan inhibits the growth of Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii by inhibition of Apicomplexan Fab I." International journal for parasitology 31.2 (2001): 109-113. https://www.researchgate.net/pro...

7. McMurry, Laura M., Margret Oethinger, and Stuart B. Levy. "Triclosan targets lipid synthesis." Nature 394.6693 (1998): 531-532.

8. Levy, Colin W., et al. "Molecular basis of triclosan activity." Nature 398.6726 (1999): 383-384.

9. Schweizer, Herbert P. "Triclosan: a widely used biocide and its link to antibiotics." FEMS microbiology letters 202.1 (2001): 1-7. http://femsle.oxfordjournals.org...

10. McNamara, Patrick J., Timothy M. LaPara, and Paige J. Novak. "The impacts of triclosan on anaerobic community structures, function, and antimicrobial resistance." Environmental science & technology 48.13 (2014): 7393-7400. https://www.researchgate.net/pro...

11. Reiss, Richard, et al. "An ecological risk assessment for triclosan in lotic systems following discharge from wastewater treatment plants in the United States." Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 21.11 (2002): 2483-2492.

12. Lawrence, J. R., et al. "Resilience and recovery: The effect of triclosan exposure timing during development, on the structure and function of river biofilm communities." Aquatic Toxicology 161 (2015): 253-266. https://www.researchgate.net/pro...

13. Ricart, Marta, et al. "Triclosan persistence through wastewater treatment plants and its potential toxic effects on river biofilms." Aquatic Toxicology 100.4 (2010): http://www.clipmedia.net/galera/...

14. Narrowe, Adrienne B., et al. "Perturbation and restoration of the fathead minnow gut microbiome after low-level triclosan exposure." Microbiome 3.1 (2015): 1. Microbiome

15. Hu, Jianzhong, et al. "Effect of postnatal low-dose exposure to environmental chemicals on the gut microbiome in a rodent model." Microbiome 4.1 (2016): 1. Microbiome

16. Poole, Angela C., et al. "Crossover Control Study of the Effect of Personal Care Products Containing Triclosan on the Microbiome." mSphere 1.3 (2016): e00056-15. http://msphere.asm.org/content/m...

17. Syed, Adnan K., et al. "Triclosan promotes Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization." MBio 5.2 (2014): e01015-13. Triclosan Promotes Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization

18. Yueh, Mei-Fei, et al. "The commonly used antimicrobial additive triclosan is a liver tumor promoter." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.48 (2014): 17200-17205. http://www.pnas.org/content/111/...

19. Veldhoen, Nik, et al. "The bactericidal agent triclosan modulates thyroid hormone-associated gene expression and disrupts postembryonic anuran development." Aquatic Toxicology 80.3 (2006): 217-227. https://www.researchgate.net/pro...

20. Crofton, Kevin M., et al. "Short-term in vivo exposure to the water contaminant triclosan: evidence for disruption of thyroxine." Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 24.2 (2007): 194-197. https://www.researchgate.net/pro...

21. Zorrilla, Leah M., et al. "The effects of triclosan on puberty and thyroid hormones in male Wistar rats." Toxicological Sciences 107.1 (2009): 56-64. The Effects of Triclosan on Puberty and Thyroid Hormones in Male Wistar Rats

22. Stoker, Tammy E., Emily K. Gibson, and Leah M. Zorrilla. "Triclosan exposure modulates estrogen-dependent responses in the female wistar rat." Toxicological Sciences (2010): kfq180. Triclosan exposure modulates estrogen-dependent responses in the female Wistar rat

23. Kumar, Vikas, et al. "Alteration of testicular steroidogenesis and histopathology of reproductive system in male rats treated with triclosan." Reproductive Toxicology 27.2 (2009): 177-185.

24. SF 2192 Status in the Senate for the 88th Legislature (2013

25. Kuehn, Bridget M. "FDA pushes makers of antimicrobial soap to prove safety and effectiveness." JAMA 311.3 (2014): 234-234.

This question originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:​

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Why We Usually Have No Idea We're Getting a Sunburn  
Why is it so hard to tell you're getting a sunburn? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by Joshua Engel on Quora:

The reddening of sunburn isn't caused by the sun itself, but by red blood rushing in to heal the damage.  Blood vessels swell in response to the damage, a bit like a bruise. That extra blood causes the skin to appear red. 

It also causes the skin to feel hot to the touch.  Ordinarily, the skin is a few degrees cooler than your internal body temperature, because it's on the surface radiating heat, and evaporation from sweat cools the skin.  The extra blood (heated to fully 37 degrees C in the core of the body) warms the skin up, making it feel hot.

Like a bruise, it doesn't appear immediately.  The damage is done, but it takes the body's systems a while to react to it.  Thus, you get redder over the course of hours or even a day.

Turning brown is another effect, as the melanocytes react to the damage by producing more melanin.  This happens slowly, and takes a couple of days to produce noticeable browning.  The red isn't really "fading to brown:" as the damage heals, the swelling shrinks, and the reddening decreases, around the same time as the melanin has accumulated to the point that you can see it.

You can't feel the damage as it's being done because it's very slow, and it doesn't trigger the pain nerves.  The energy is being accumulated in the cells, but it's not making you all that much warmer.  You will feel warm, but you'll just attribute it to the overall warmth of the day.  (If you manage to be out on a glacier, you may well notice that your skin feels warmer than expected.  That's a warning, one that I've ignored to my peril.)

The damage is the same as caused by a regular burn from a fire, but it happens over hours rather than seconds.  You need to be aware of the sun (which can cause burns even when the temperature is cold) and not depend on your body to warn you.

This question originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:​

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For more info and stories behind my pictures follow me on facebook .... www.facebook.com/mbontenbal

 
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Photos of the Day: Aug. 5, 2016  

Explore the news of the day with these images from around the world.  
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The opening ceremony of the XXXI Olympiad will take place...  

The opening ceremony of the XXXI Olympiad will take place tonight in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city's newly constructed Olympic Tennis Center and Maria Esther Bueno Court are seen in this shot from aerial photographer @gilesinfo. This particular photo is taken from Morar Olimpíadas, his new book that examines the physical transformation of Rio de Janeiro in the run up to the event. Let the games begin! (at Rio 2016 Summer Olympics)

 
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Rising Sun and Cranes 5 Aug 2016  

Sculptor Lil posted a photo:

 
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Love Through the Ages by Алексей Романовский  

Love Through the Ages by Алексей Романовский

Алексей Романовский: Photos

 
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Golden Hour A380.  

spencer.wilmot posted a photo:

Ready to push at Terminal 4.

 
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Front by Wesley Wilquin aka belk  

Front by Wesley Wilquin aka belk

Sunset

Wesley Wilquin aka belk: Photos

 
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Evening Pushback At Heathrow.  

spencer.wilmot posted a photo:

China Southern 787 at Terminal 4.

 
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Sunset Over Westminster  

The Narratographer posted a photo:

Well, I decided to process a lot of the images from my trips across Europe over the last few years. Recently, I haven't done many landscapes and cityscapes, so Ive decided to get back into them.
The main reason for this, is the fact that my best friend, Anthony, has decided to move across the pond to Canada. Best friends since we were 11, he was my travel companion, my ally and my source of inspiration. We spent most of our adult life travelling across the UK, and across Europe, having fun and taking photos. For all those years, we were inseparable, the closest two friends can ever be.
Like I say, a year ago, he decided to move to Canada, to be with a girl he met on Facebook. Now, they have a child and are married...and I haven't seen him since. So all of these images are dedicated to my distant friend. He was with me when I took all of them, and without him, Id have never have taken them. So I just thought that I would post these images, as lately Ive been feeling very nostalgic and sad that we don't get the chance to do these sorts of things anymore. so thanks Ant, for being the best friend anyone could ever wish for. I miss you.
Anyway, I hope you like the images.

 
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r0B0t: Project Murphy Is Microsoft's Latest Artificial Intelligence Robot, And It Wants To Photoshop Pictures For You  

Microsoft's recent Artificial Intelligence robot Tay didn't exactly make headlines for the right reasons, after Twitter users somehow managed to trick it into becoming a Nazi. But the computer giant is probably hoping their latest venture will steer clear of any controversy.

Project Murphy is described as a “robot with imagination” - you can talk to it through your Facebook Messenger app and ask it to dream up funny pictures for you.

For example, you could ask Murphy “What if Donald Trump was a fish?” and it would automatically edit the presidential candidate's head onto a sea creature.

Naturally, people are devoting a lot of time to finding the funniest possible combinations.

Here are a few of our favourites:

Although they don't always work out:

 
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Big unknowns: what is consciousness? - podcast  

What does it mean to be you? And how can science unpick the age-old debates around conscious experience? Join us for a journey into the unknown

Ever since Descartes famously split the world into “mind” and “‘matter”, the debate amongst philosophers and thinkers about conscious experience has raged. And with recent advances in brain imaging technologies, scientists now offer a new and exciting viewpoint on this quintessential human phenomenon. But are we any closer to revealing the mechanisms behind it? And can science offer anything other than objective measures? Under the watchful gaze of the cognitive neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth, Ian and Nicola delve into the murky world of consciousness in an attempt to unravel its mysteries. Along the way we meet UCL's Dr Steve Fleming and Professor Christof Koch from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, to hear how experimental practice and theory are tackling this problem head on.

Continue reading...  
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Book Readers Live Longer Lives, According to New Study from Yale University  

Image by Johannes Jansson, via Wikimedia Commons

What are the keys to longevity? If you ask Dan Buettner, the author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest, he'd list nine key factors. They range from slow down and don't stress out, to have a clear purpose in life, to eat mainly plant based foods and put family first. Nowhere on his list, however, does he suggest sitting down and reading good books.

And yet a new study by researchers at Yale University's School of Public Health indicates that people who read books (but not so much magazines and newspapers) live two years longer, on average, than those who don't read at all. Becca R. Levy, a professor of epidemiology at Yale, is quoted in The New York Times as saying, “People who report as little as a half-hour a day of book reading had a significant survival advantage over those who did not read.” “And the survival advantage remained after adjusting for wealth, education, cognitive ability and many other variables.” Precisely how book reading contributes to increased longevity is not spelled out. You can read the abstract for the new study here.

via NYTimes

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Related Content:

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Can Young Blood Make You Live Longer?  

Soooo … I heard Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, age 48, is using the blood of twentysomethings to stay young.

Actually, he's not doing that yet. Reportedly, he's considered receiving blood transfusions from younger people, which he hopes might reverse signs of aging, but he hasn't actually said anything publicly beyond hint that he might be game.

Wait, is that even possible? Sucking in young blood to make yourself younger?

Let's back up a few steps. There's been some exciting, preliminary research in mice that suggests there's something about young blood. In these experiments, scientists have stitched together a young mouse and old mouse so that their circulatory systems are pumping the same blood through each other's veins. This makes tissue stronger in the older mice: repairs spinal cord damage, prompts new brain cells to grow, and “even makes their fur shinier,” writes journalist Megan Scudellari for Nature in a great primer on the research's history.

When these experiments were done in the 1950s, mice sometimes reacted by trying to bite each other's heads off. It was not great. But in modern experiments, they are carefully selected for compatibility and hang out beforehand, which seems to help. They seem to behave normally while sewn together and can even be separated afterward. The older mice might be healthier for it but as Scudellari writes, “no one has convincingly shown that young blood lengthens lives, and there is no promise that it will.”

You'd have to be physically stitched to another person and receiving their blood for this to work?

No, no, obviously not, though that is the method that's shown most of the best results in mice. There's some evidence that repeated injections of plasma will work the same way, too: A 2014 study showed that they improved cognitive function in aging mice. But we would not stitch humans together, no.

Well, what are we doing to humans then?

We're basically trying to figure out if any of this translates to humans. This is all very preliminary, but there are actually a couple companies trying out various methods of the idea that young blood can reduce disease in older patients. Stanford researcher Tony Wyss-Coray, who has long been stitching together mice, founded a company called Alkahest and is carrying out a clinical trial on 18 people with Alzheimer's to see if plasma injections can improve their cognitive function—and, if so, which parts of the plasma are doing the work. The general understanding is that the proteins in young blood have some sort of restorative property, though no one quite understands the mechanism that makes young blood useful.

Another company, Ambrosia LLC, founded by a recently minted Stanford MD, is booting up a clinical trial for anyone over 35 who is aging (aka anyone over the age of 35). (It's this company that attracted the attention of Thiel's health adviser, though there's no sign that Thiel himself has enrolled in the trial.)

In the Ambrosia trial, 600 participants will each receive a liter-and-a-half of blood from someone under 25 over the course of a couple days. Before and after the trial, Ambrosia will analyze various measurements of the participants' health to see if they can assess any change from the infusion.

Where do they get the young blood?

They buy it from blood banks, just like any other hospital would.

OK, I guess that's not that weird. So, I'd like to live longer. How do I sign up?

Whoa, slow down. This will probably not actually extend people's lives. It's not even always effective in mice. In a trial that involved injecting rodents with plasma over the course of 16 weeks, the mice didn't live any longer than a control group injected with saline. There isn't enough research done in humans to know if the small benefits to tissue health transfers, and we do know that mice are not perfect foils for the human body.

“There's just no clinical evidence [that the treatment will be beneficial], and you're basically abusing people's trust and the public excitement around this,” Wyss-Coray told Science magazine of the Ambrosia trial. (Yes, his company could be considered a competitor to Ambrosia, though it doesn't seem like he's selling anything yet.)

Ambrosia's founder Jesse Karmazin, on the other hand, tells me that he finds the evidence from mouse studies along with encouraging results from the few small studies that have been conducted in humans, like Wyss-Coray's, enough to justify his trial.

At any rate, transfusions are very safe when properly supervised, so it's not like he's trying some experimental procedure that could do harm. He is, however, charging participants $8,000.

Seems pretty fair for a shot at longer life, no?

Well, normally, in clinical trials, people are paid for their time and participation, not the other way around. This is actually pretty weird. So weird, in fact, that it's unlikely this trial will result in reputable results able to tell us anything meaningful about blood transfusions.

Taking money from participants is referred to as pay-to-play. While a handful of researchers are trying it, it's rife with ethical issues, many of which University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel (and co-authors) outlined in an editorial for Science Translational Medicine last year. (They also noted that the method has been favored by “unscrupulous companies and health facilities” looking to turn a profit.)

The reason why this is suspect is because clinical trials are setup to test a treatment as objectively as possible. In fact, the highest standard of clinical trial is one that is placebo-controlled and conducted double-blind. Participants are recruited based on specific criteria—for example, if they all have a disease and are within a certain age range. These participants are randomly assigned to different groups. One of these groups receives a placebo (a sugar pill instead of a drug), so researchers can understand what changes are attributable to the drug itself and what changes are attributable to the theater of the treatment. Patients are put in these groups randomly: Ideally, neither the patient nor the experimenter knows what kind of treatment they're receiving.

Isn't Ambrosia doing that?

Nope. In Ambrosia's trial, all patients appear to be getting the same treatment—there is no placebo set up, so there is nothing to blind. The thinking is that people shelling out eight grand won't accept the terms of a randomized treatment, and the possibility of receiving a mere placebo—the very backbone of a good clinical trial.

The terms of enrollment for Ambrosia's trial are also laughably general. I mean, 35-year-olds aren't exactly elderly. They aren't going to have any diseases associated with aging. As Harvard researcher Amy Wagers told Scudellari in Nature last year, most effective use of young blood will probably be for treating a specific disease, or helping elderly recover from surgery. It's hard to know what kind of measurable effect it might have on a—by all appearances spry—40-something like Thiel.

It also means that Ambrosia's sample is going to be skewed toward people who are can afford the treatment and who self-select to prioritize youth. There's no telling how this sample size may compare to the average person.

Maybe it's not a perfect clinical trial. But won't the people still get something out of it?

Honestly, who knows! The pay-to-play model is potentially very dishonest: Most clinical trials do not work out. This is how science goes. A clinical trial is an experiment, not a service. When scientists set it up like one, it puts patients in a position to be taken advantage of because the treatment being tested probably will not work.

Hmmm. But this is legal and everything?

Yes, technically it is. Blood transfusions are a common, Food and Drug Administrationapproved treatment, and Karmazin has a medical degree, so he can administer them at his discretion.

I asked Karmazin about some criticisms of the pay-to-play model. He wrote in an email that “patients frequently pay for off-label uses of medications, based on physician judgment.” That's true. But the doctor's judgement in this case is rather optimistic. The price is also pretty steep.

I think I'm going to sit this one out and see what they come up with.

That seems best.

What else I can do to live longer?

There are a number of actions you can take that have been shown to extend lifespan, such as eating more vegetables, exercising regularly, or not smoking.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

 
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Sunset from Royal Hill - Day 4  

Joe.Gibson posted a photo:

Part of a project I have set myself to upload a photo for each day for the two weeks that I am off work.
Went to try and catch some shots of the sunset from Royal Hill in Greenwich.

 
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Windows by Konstantin Gribov  

Windows by Konstantin Gribov

Moscow, July 2016

Konstantin Gribov: Photos

 
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© chicheri by raquel lopez-chicheri  

© chicheri by raquel lopez-chicheri

raquelchicheri.com

raquel lopez-chicheri: Photos

 
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St. Paul's Dome  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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London sunrise  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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Work in progress  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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Sunrise on Thames  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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The Shard  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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Sunrise in London  

crissudi posted a photo:

 
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Velvet Antlers  

www.matthewcattellphotography.com posted a photo:

A Red Deer Stag in a misty meadow, photographed so that the low morning sun created a halo around its velvet-covered antlers.

 
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How many times can you fold a piece of paper in half?  
Jack Baker answers this often-asked question  
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Perlan 2: The glider that will slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the edge of space  

Sailplane en route to Argentina for sky-scraping test flights

Euro airliner firm Airbus is sponsoring a glider capable of soaring to greater altitudes than the famous SR-71 Blackbird spy aircraft.…

 
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A physical feast  
Mystified by modernist cuisine? Margaret Harris reviews a book that takes culinary physics "out of the lab and into your kitchen"  
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A physical feast  
Mystified by modernist cuisine? Margaret Harris reviews a book that takes culinary physics "out of the lab and into your kitchen"  
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Reach in and touch objects in videos with 'Interactive Dynamic Video'  

Full Text:

We learn a lot about objects by manipulating them: poking, pushing, prodding, and then seeing how they react. We obviously can't do that with videos — just try touching that cat video on your phone and see what happens. But is it crazy to think that we could take that video and simulate how the cat moves, without ever interacting with the real one? Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have recently done just that, developing an imaging technique called Interactive Dynamic Video (IDV) that lets you reach in and “touch” objects in videos. Using traditional cameras and algorithms, IDV looks at the tiny, almost invisible vibrations of an object to create video simulations that users can virtually interact with.

Image credit: Abe Davis/MIT CSAIL

 
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The Yellowstone River  

Full Text:

The Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park after a late spring snowstorm. Earlier annual snowmelt periods may decrease streamflow and reduce forests' ability to regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study. By mid-century, a shift in snowmelt timing could lead to 45 percent reduction of forest CO2 uptake.

Image credit: Theodore Barnhart

 
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You May Also Like by Tom Vanderbilt review what forms our tastes in a digital age?  
Why do we like what we like this band or that ice-cream flavour? Is it biological or cultural? And what role do Amazon and Netflix play in shaping our preferences?

When an earnest undergraduate quizzed the aged E M Forster about the good life, the novelist is supposed to have replied: “Don't ask about the good life. Find out what you enjoy.” I'm not sure of the source of the story, which I've heard in more than one version, but the dictum attributed to the novelist encapsulates a popular type of liberal philosophy. Arguments about the good are unending and inconclusive. Despite Aristotle, Buddha, Laozi and all those who followed them, there is no more agreement on the subject than there was two and a half millennia ago. Given the essential elusiveness of goodness, why not focus on something we can judge with reasonable confidence? After all, we all know what we like. If we stick to what we enjoy, we can hardly go wrong.

The trouble is that, in fact, what we like is often unclear to us. As Tom Vanderbilt writes:

Related: The secret of taste: why we like what we like | Tom Vanderbilt

Continue reading...  
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The Midas Throne Row  
There is some furor over an exhibit now at Philadelphia's Penn Museum: "The Golden Age of King Midas," showcasing the art of Turkey's ancient Phrygia, a kingdom ruled by Midas in the first millennium BC and known for its superb artistry. Particularly at issue is the curator of the show, C. Brian Rose, suggesting that one of the pieces on display, an ivory statuette known as the "lion tamer" could have been part of the "Midas throne" Herodotos mentions (but never describes) as Midas's gift to Delphi (the Greeks). To date, not even the remains of Midas have been found, although lots of exquisite Phrygian art has been recovered from the so-called "Midas Mound" at Gordion (present day Ankara) and from five tombs to the southwest near the village of Bayindir, with some of the most spectacular objects now on view in Philly through November.



Lion Tamer

Actually, two pieces in the show that I know of -- there may be more revelations to come -- are now being disputed by archaeologists. And getting it right matters because such objects help us to understand human history. The other object, whose image opens and closes the Penn Museum show catalogue, is a silver statuette thought to be of a "eunuch priest." Phrygian priests traditionally emasculated themselves to honor the Phrygian goddess, Matar Kybele.



Silver Priest

The eunuch priest had its public debut in America 27 years ago in a story I wrote with Turkish journalist Özgen Acar for the December 1989 issue of Connoisseur. The magazine (now defunct) at the time was run by Tom Hoving following his other famous run as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.








A little background. . . The art we presented in our above Connoisseur story, experts dated between late 8th century BC and early 7th century BC -- and we interviewed a variety of experts. The pieces were found near present day Bayindir village (ancient Lycia), outside what once were the known borders of Phrygia. But there was a Phrygian presence in the region, including places for travelers and pilgrims to worship Matar Kebele, and Phrygian pottery and metal artifacts had been found in the area prior to the Bayindir discoveries. The Bayindir tombs were also adjacent to a stretch of meadow, considered a resting place for assorted ancient caravans en route to the Mediterranean Sea or making passage over the Taurus Mountains.

As we reported, the Bayindir art was largely considered by experts to be Phrygian in design -- and still is. And because the find was so far to the southwest, the story suggested that the map of ancient Asia Minor might have to be redrawn.

Özgen Acar and I both stand by what we reported then. Özgen has recently emailed me reaffirming:

"I think the Bayindir finds are Phrygian."

I did not have an opportunity to physically examine the Bayindir objects for Connoisseur in the hands-on way I had the Euphronios vases for an Economist magazine story the following year, prior to my coverage of Sotheby's sale of the Bunker and Herbert Hunt collection. Instead, I worked from slides of the artifacts found at Bayindir and from my taped conversations with scholars both here and in Turkey. Frankly, I was astonished by the brilliant artistry upon first seeing the silver pieces showcased in Philly.

Particularly dazzling in design is a belt made of one continuous sheet of metal incised with a four-square repeating pattern that was found in Tumulus D wrapped around the waist of the remains of a 20-25 year old woman (per pelvic bone analysis). The Phrygians loved geometrical design in art, some patterns meant to honor the Phrygian goddess and others intended as puzzles, mazes.

The current row over the two objects mentioned at the top of this story is largely a stylistic one, but, again, one that impacts history. And again, the pieces in question -- both in the Philly show -- are the two statuettes pictured above: (1) an ivory figure known as the "lion tamer" on loan to Penn Museum from the Archaeological Museum, Delphi, Greece, and (2) a silver eunuch priest on loan from the Antalya Museum.

The Penn Museum actually does indicate in its press that the silver priest is from Lycia (Bayindir) even though the object is the star image opening and closing the King Midas Phrygian show catalogue.

Lycia was a culture that was subject to both Near East and Greek influences, and was located in what is now southwest Turkey. It was the home of Sarpedon, the legendary prince depicted both in Homer's Iliad and on the Euphronios krater and wine cup auctioned at Sotheby's for the Hunt brothers (now returned to Italy).

The Penn exhibition also includes pieces found in other ancient cultures that had relationships with Phrygia: Lydia, Urartu, Assyria, Persia, Greece -- perhaps because art historians increasingly take the perspective that art of this period reflects diverse cultural influences as a result of trade, war, marriage and other associations.

But Dietrich von Bothmer, for one, chairman of the Met's department of Greek and Roman art, told me for the Connoisseur article that he clearly thought the silver eunuch priest and other objects found at Bayindir were "purely" Phrygian:

"This is a fabulous discovery. I have never seen anything like it. Each and every piece is of purely Phrygian type."

Oscar White Muscarella, who was early on part of the Gordion excavation team and for decades an Ancient Near East (ANE) expert at the Met, dated the Bayindir tombs at the time of our story late 8th to early 7th century BC -- in concurrence with a 2,000-page computer analysis of fibulae (ancient pins), some of which were found with the remains of the young woman in Tumulus D wearing the silver belt.

Muscarella has more recently told me: "Von Bothmer knew nothing about Phrygian art," saying further that he plans to review the objects presented in the Connoisseur story, claiming pieces may be East Greek. He has already expressed doubts in print about the silver eunuch priest being Phrygian.

We await Oscar Muscarella's further analysis. . .

However, it is the ivory "lion tamer" about which scholars are most divided and the reason is this. The claim has been made by Brian Rose, who also heads the Gordion excavation in Tukey for the University of Pennsylvania, that the piece is Phrygian, late 8th century BC. And in a 2012 article: "The Throne of Midas? Delphi and the Power Politics of Phrygia, Lydia, and Greece," which is based on an unfinished paper by University of Pennsylvania professor and museum curator Keith DeVries, Rose establishes his claim that the lion tamer may be a piece of the Midas throne Herodotos mentioned.

Brian Rose recently emailed me from Gordion, where he is digging for the summer, saying that he stands by the 2012 story:

"Thanks Suzan. I've written about this with Keith DeVries in 2012, and we still stand by that."

Other ANE experts say the link between the Midas throne and the ivory lion tamer seriously lacks evidence and is a distortion of history as well as commercial hype, partly to sell tickets to the Penn Museum show, which has been ongoing since early February.

There was, for example, a black tie "Golden Age of King Midas Gala" six months ago at Penn Museum where (tax deductible) tickets sold for $50,000 (premier sponsor), $25,000 (prime sponsor), $10,000 (sponsor), VIP ($1,500), $500 (individual).

However, the Rose/DeVries perspective is supported by Athanasia Psalti, director of the 10th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Delphi, Greece -- even though a web site that seems to belong to the Archaeological Museum of Delphi indicates that the lion tamer it calls "Master of the Beasts," is from a "workshop in Asia Minor, but is the work of a Greek artisan as indicated by the meander on the base (7th century B.C.)."

A. Psalti recently emailed me saying that she stands by what she wrote when the lion tamer was part of the Met show "Assyria to Iberia," that is, she thinks DeVries/Rose "convincingly" make the case that the piece is from a workshop in Phrygia (also, in said Met show was an ivory statuette probably depicting Kybele, that made its American debut on page 2 of our above Connoisseur article, although neither the Met nor Penn Museum cites our story in its literature):

"Dear Suzan, you may consult the catalog entry of the exhibition Assyria to Iberia, at the Dawn of the Classical Age, edited by Joan Aruz, Sarah B. Graff and Yelena Rakic, New York, 2014, p. 308, nr. 180 with previous references as well as the attached article on the same subject. Should you need any further help, do not hesitate to contact me.

Athanasia"

The Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue says the following:

"Initially attributed to a Greek artist under strong Near Eastern influence, more recently the figurine has been convincingly suggested to have originated from a Phrygian workshop. It has also been proposed that this unique object was made as a decorative attachment for the magnificent throne of Midas. . . ."

Those experts contesting the Rose/DeVries claim were all once part of the Gordion team: Oscar Muscarella; Ken Sams -- one of three archaeologists who Rose acknowledges as being "responsible in some way for the content" of the current King Midas exhibition and pictured in the Penn Museum show catalog; and Elizabeth Simpson -- a professor at Bard Graduate Center who is director of the Gordion Furniture Project as well as a consultant to Penn Museum.

Muscarella points out in a recent article, "An Ivory Statuette from Delphi---Not from King Midas's Throne," that DeVries's claim that the object was part of the Midas throne was made in January 2002 in articles in the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor (in that chronological order) and in Voice of America, February 2002. DeVries has since died.

Muscarella told me he questions why those news organization would publish the DeVries claim, didn't they do their own assessment of the piece? He's also told me that he contacted the Times about its coverage but got no response.

In his above-mentioned article, Muscarella notes further that the facial features, in particular, of the lion tamer are clearly not Phrygian:

"Although it could be argued that stylistic analysis is in the end largely subjective, even a cursory look at the items compared shows no components of the Delphi figure's face (mouth, eyes, etc.) or hair reflect Phrygian features."

I did spend some time examining the hair on the ivory lion tamer while in Philly because the room was dimly lit. Muscarella is right about the lion tamer's hair not have the interesting texture depicted on other Phrygian art from Gordion and Bayindir.

Ken Sams, who is now a professor of classical archaeology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, recently emailed me commenting:

"The ivory piece from Delphi, currently on display at the University Museum in Philadelphia, is assuredly not Phrygian [emphasis added], in my opinion, but the product of a west Anatolian or East Greek workshop. The meander is found in Phrygian furniture, but it came to be such a widely used motif that one cannot use it to determine origin. It is a strange piece that I have wondered about for years. The lion, for whatever reason has an erection, for which I know of no parallels."

Muscarella further advised by phone regarding the lion:

"That is not an erection!"

Elizabeth Simpson emailed these salient points to me regarding the lion tamer:

"Have you read Brian Rose's 2012 article in The Archaeology of Phrygian Gordion? His comparanda is not convincing[emphasis added], and it is generally acknowledged by colleagues that there is no evidence [emphasis added] that the ivory Lion Tamer statuette is Phrygian in style per se.

The Delphi Museum's posted description [you emailed me] is much more accurate than Rose's contention. Do you know if the Delphi Museum post is official? Is this what the museum label for the Lion Tamer says? Can you please let me know? I am curious.

In terms of the meander design on the base (which is published upside down in Rose's article), this exact pattern is not found on any Phrygian furniture that I know of, and the cross-within-a-square is particularly unusual in that regard.

In terms of form and joinery, the piece was recovered in fragments and has been restored; not all of it is preserved, and I have not seen the bottom of the base. There is a mortise (square cutting) in the back of the figure, but it is shallow, suggesting that the Lion Tamer was not a structural element but decorative. I am not sure how or where the Lion Tamer would have been attached to whatever it once belonged to.

Apart from the style of the ivory figure, the pattern on the base, and its form and joinery, however, one must consider whether the Lion Tamer is from a piece of Phrygian furniture at all -- and whether there is any evidence that it "is" or "may be" from Midas's famous throne.

1. First, a large collection of Phrygian royal furniture survives from the tombs at Gordion, and none of it has carved figures as elements, let alone ivory figures of this sort. You can see what the Gordion furniture looks like from my publications, particularly my 2010 Brill book on the furniture from Tumulus MM (in the MMA library, the Bard Graduate Center library, and elsewhere). A brief summary and bibliography can be found in the Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordion_Furniture_and_Wooden_Artifacts

Although there are no "thrones" from the Gordion tombs, there was a small chair in Tumulus MM, but it has no carved human figures -- only a crest with small animals in panels carved in relief.

There were ancient Near Eastern thrones that had carved human figures (or deities) as elements, but there is no evidence of this from Phrygia. Such figural elements occur initially in the third millennium B.C., and they are found later in Assyria, Urartu, and elsewhere in the first millennium B.C.

Ivory attachments of various types are well known from the second and first millennia in the ANE [Ancient Near East], but ivory attachments are not found on the royal furniture from the Gordion tombs. Several small, square ivory plaques were excavated in association with wood fragments from Megaron 3 on the City Mound at Gordion, but the figures carved in relief on these plaques are Phrygian in style, like those on the crest rail of the chair from Tumulus MM -- and bear no stylistic resemblance to the Lion Tamer from Delphi. You can read about ANE furniture in my article, "Furniture in Ancient Western Asia," here attached.

Rather, the design and decoration of Phrygian royal furniture involved the abstraction of three-dimensional forms, and elaborate inlaid geometric patterns with complex symmetry, including mazes, apotropaic and religious symbols, and "genealogical patterns." Phrygian furniture seems to be completely different from its eastern counterparts. The examples we have are made of wood, typically boxwood inlaid with juniper and walnut, which survived in relatively good condition in several tombs at Gordion.

So, the ivory Lion Tamer is in no way characteristic of Phrygian furniture, in terms of extant evidence. In fact, it looks completely unrelated in this regard.

2. Second, might the Lion Tamer have come from the throne that Midas dedicated in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi? Although I suppose it is remotely possible, there is absolutely no evidence for this contention. As already discussed, there is no evidence that the statuette is actually Phrygian, although it may have been made somewhere in Anatolia. And carved figures of this type are not found on Phrygian royal furniture as we know it.

But let's just imagine that Midas did have a throne with carved figures on it. Maybe he imported it from Urartu or Assyria. Even if that were the case, there is no evidence that this particular carved figure came from it [emphasis in original]. Indeed, the Lion Tamer does not look either Assyrian or Urartian, and it is hard to tell exactly where it was made or what it was once attached to.

I do not doubt that Herodotus saw a throne at Delphi that he believed was dedicated by King Midas [Herodotus 1.14). Unfortunately, he does not describe it.

I gave a lecture on April 2, 2016, at the Penn Museum at the conference, "The World of Phrygian Gordion," in which I said all these things. Brian Rose was in attendance, as the convener of the conference. He heard what I said and appeared to acknowledge the cogency of my argument. Nonetheless he continues to stand by his 2012 article.

Oscar[Muscarella]'s source article on the Lion Tamer is very good on the various issues. I also plan to write an article on "Midas's Throne," as it is important that Rose's article not stand unchallenged."

Following is one bronze object found at Bayindir in Tumulus C and now at Antalya Museum that has been suppressed, except for mention on page 2 of our above Connoisseur story, where we describe it as "a ring of phallus-shaped knobs probably made as a fertility symbol":


Phrygian or East Greek?

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/1-7-august-2016/dba-members-highlight-brexit-concerns-opportunities/  
6 things designers should consider following Brexit  

The Design Business Association surveyed its membership three weeks after the Brexit vote to get a snapshot of how the industry is feeling. Despite the tangible and real sense of unease around the uncertainty Brexit has created, the industry continues to be optimistic, and there will be many who grasp the opportunities that change brings with both hands.

One member, Make It Clear member Jay Nicholl, says: “Design is about embracing change and realising the opportunities it brings. We only do our jobs if we help our clients change something.

“Design can be a positive force for encouraging clients to embrace the change that the referendum result will bring, helping frame challenges as opportunities and designing solutions.”

The success of the industry moving forward depends a great deal of course upon the ability of the government to bring stability and reassurance that trade, free movement of talent and international relations will be prioritised and supported during the EU negotiations.

Government will need to invest in creative industries

In addition the government will need to invest in and nurture the future of creative talent in the UK. The recent EBACC decision presents a worrying outlook on how government views creative thinking and its potential to differentiate the UK. Without the flow of creative talent coming through the pipeline either from UK schools, or through immigration, creative talent could be severely compromised.

This is where a strong trade association is essential. The DBA will be lobbying government and business at every opportunity, spreading the message that UK design is a potent business asset and a sound commercial investment.

The findings of the survey are currently being fed into work the DBA is doing with the Creative Industries Federation, and the Creative Industries Council, as well as guiding our direct discussions with government in the coming months.

Our members have shown us that there are three main areas that they are concerned about and three areas, which are can become opportunities.

Top three concerns

• Education, flow of talent and the need to grow creative skills in the UK

Design operates on a global stage, and a broad international perspective is imperative for creative ability and essential to help drive up standards. We need the best of the best. If the flow of creative talent through immigration is restricted, the pressure is on the government to support the design industry and education sector to develop home-grown talent, by investing in and championing creative subjects. And why do they need to? Because the creative industries contribute massively to the UK economy, and design is the fastest growing sector within it.

• Brand UK

Is the UK going to be viewed as too insular to be able to offer a valid global perspective when delivering creative work? The cultural richness of our creative industries is fundamentally important. All UK businesses will need to communicate skilfully and loudly to the world design agencies can help with this.

• EU funding / access to work

Consultancies that work with public sector, cultural institutions, charities, higher education, research and similar sectors are concerned that work flowing through EU funded projects will reduce. Also that UK design consultancies will now be cut off from access to the database of large EU tenders, which EU regulations require to be shared widely across member states. Government must ensure that small companies are able to go for, and win, government tenders.

Top three opportunities

• Spending cut backs vs competitiveness of UK design rates

Fluctuating sterling, business uncertainty and the potential for those who only see design as a commodity to cut that spend first are all seen as barriers to growth. But as sterling remains weak, the opportunity increases to win more overseas projects, as UK agencies become more competitive on price.

• Commissioning design is part of the solution to growth out of Brexit

Change requires communication and design does some of its best and most effective work in dynamic environments. As real and perceived challenges arise, design agencies are well placed to help their clients navigate them. Design is an investment, not a cost and it demonstrates ROI time and time again.

• UK design is global design

The onus is on us now to develop new ways of doing international business. It's a global marketplace and there's a clear opportunity for British design to grow its status across the globe.

The post 6 things designers should consider following Brexit appeared first on Design Week.

 
design  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/1-7-august-2016/5-important-things-happened-design-week-3-7/  
5 important things that happened in design this week  

Airbnb launched a new design studio

Airbnb opened Samara this week, an innovation and design studio which looks to bring together design and engineering experts.

Based within the company's San Francisco headquarters, the space hopes to transform Airbnb from a design-focused company providing a service for consumers to a studio capable of designing and supporting other projects.

The first project to come out of Samara is the Yoshino Cedar House, a permanent house designed for an exhibition space in Tokyo, which looks to encourage a better relationship between hosts and guests.

Following the exhibition, the house will be installed in small Japanese village Yoshino and will be available to hire. Projects like this aim to increase services available to Airbnb's community of users.

Instagram overhauled its app design with a new Stories feature

Instagram has taken a turn towards fleeting photo and video reels, which disappear after 24 hours a strikingly similar feature to rival social media app Snapchat.

Snapchat Stories also lets users personalise photos and videos with emojis and images and “draw” on them with text and paintbrushes.

The UX design update takes the social media platform away from static images and more towards a moving, living reel of action perhaps a shift that complements Instagram's rebrand earlier this year, which saw it drop its vintage-looking camera icon for a more modern, minimal look.

Many social media apps are turning to live media now, with Facebook which owns Instagram investing heavily in 360° video and silent/subtitled video for its mobile newsfeed advertising, and Snapchat of course kicking off the temporary video clip trend in 2011.

The National Theatre opened a virtual reality studio

Theatre set design is increasingly becoming less restricted by a physical stage this week, the National Theatre opened a virtual reality studio which showcases how shows are using advanced technology to captivate existing audiences, and entice new ones.

The studio will be a space where set and digital designers can work with directors, writers and actors to produce immersive experiences, and also use VR within the design process itself.

Currently the Immersive Storytelling Studio presents four very different pieces of work that the theatre has created using VR technology: a music video experience from last year's Wonder.Land show; an educational story created in collaboration with the BBC about the 1916 Easter Rising; emotional insight into a Sudanese refugee's journey through the Calais Jungle; and a look at a National Theatre cast rehearsal.

The studio is a signifier towards the future of set design, and will be a springboard for more advanced VR applications in the future.

The Beijing 2022 Olympics started looking for logo designers

The Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games announced this week that it is looking for people to express interest in creating the games' logos.

The brief is currently vague, but states that the visual identities would need to reference the Beijing event and broader Chinese culture, capture the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics, and embody the culture and values of the host city.

The Beijing Organising Committee has not yet made clear whether only professional designers can apply, or whether anybody can.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games previously saw much controversy, when logos created by professional designer Kenjiro Sano were dropped and replaced following a plagiarism row and a subsequent competition open to the public.

Research showed design is the most highly employed creative sector in the UK

An extensive report from research charity Nesta and Creative England has shown that design is performing exceptionally well compared to other creative sectors.

Between 2007 and 2014, the research shows that design had the highest employment rates, and has the most number of businesses as well as the highest turnover, alongside the software and digital sector.

It also proves that the creative industries as a whole are growing faster than any other business sector in the UK, with its Gross Value Added (GVA) totalling £84.1 billion in 2014.

While London is the most thriving location for the creative sector, responsible for 40% of jobs, the report highlighted other nationwide hotspots, such as Glasgow, Brighton and Liverpool.

The makers of the report hope the research will act as sufficient evidence for government to invest more in creativity, and to focus on developing areas outside of London.

The report reads: “Over half of Local Enterprise Partnerships fail to mention the creative industries in their strategy plans. We hope that [this] evidence…will persuade some of them to…take action to boost the creative industries' growth that is taking place on their doorsteps.

“We also believe that national and devolved governments can play a more active role to scale up creative clusters outside London and the South East.”

The post 5 important things that happened in design this week appeared first on Design Week.

 
design  

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http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2016/08/04/facebook-hidden-page/  
This hidden Facebook page is extremely painful to look at  

Facebook's interface is a big maze of confusing buttons, lists and menus. That's exactly why there are a lot of interesting pages hidden away far from the News Feed. While navigating its beautiful mess of clickable things today, I stumbled upon one of the darkest corners of the social network. It's a pure and honest confrontation with the harsh reality of social media. It's probably the number 1 thing Facebook doesn't want to show you. Here we go. Don't say I didn't warn you. It's going to hurt. Click this: Sent Friend Requests That right there are all your unanswered friend requests…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2016/08/04/self-driving-cars-need-one-killer-feature-to-prevent-fatalities/  
Self-driving cars need one killer feature to prevent fatalities  

New research on traffic incidents in the US published in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that the availability of Uber's on-demand cab service had no association with the number of subsequent traffic fatalities contrary to what Uber-funded non-profit group Mothers Against Drunk Driving would have you believe. That's a sad reality we all have to live with at present. But forward-thinking car companies like Tesla want us to believe that there's hope: Once they arrive, autonomous vehicles will be able to whisk us to and from our destination without the need for us to even touch the steering…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/03/xbox-one-s-teardown-reveals-tiny-master-chief-hidden-inside/  
Xbox One S teardown reveals tiny Master Chief hidden inside  

The Xbox One S just launched yesterday, but that's not stopping hardcore nerds from tearing it apart to figure out what's inside. Austin Evans, a YouTube tech vlogger just so happens to be one of these nerds. During a standard teardown of the new system on Evans' YouTube channel, the vlogger discovered a very cool easter egg from the team at Microsoft — a laser etched illustration of the original hero of the Xbox, Master Chief of Halo. The discovery was particularly impressive because it paid tribute to one of the iconic characters of the console in an area where few —…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/aug/04/modernism-monaco-le-corbusier-eileen-gray-cap-moderne-roquebrune  
Modernism in Monaco: Le Corbusier and Eileen Gray shine at Cap Moderne  

A peninsula near Monaco is home to an array of modernist architecture, including houses by two stars of the scene, and a revamped visitor centre is helping to show it all in the best light

Cap Martin is a rocky finger barely 2km long that pokes out into the Mediterranean at Roquebrune, just east of Monaco but it's one of the most important sites in the history of modern architecture, and of women in design. The collection of fabled buildings at its heart was rebranded Cap Moderne when it received visitors for the first time in 2015 (only ad hoc access was possible before this).

Recently, a new, permanent visitor centre opened up in a former train carriage at the nearby SNCF station; a shipping container had been used as a temporary information post. Le Corbusier's simple holiday home, Le Cabanon has been open for guided visits for a few years but now the famous Etoile de Mer restaurant next door sadly no longer a functioning eatery is open too, since the death last year of Robert Rebutato, son of the former restaurateur.

Continue reading...  
design  

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http://99u.com/articles/54260/secrets-to-a-successful-creative-road-trip/  
Secrets to a Successful Creative Road Trip    

The sameness of office life has a way of dulling your senses, lulling you into a dreamlike state and turning you into a task robot, mindlessly staring into the world wide ether day after day. Your only solution to avoid becoming that sad sap who is so immune to the world around them that they wear their phone headset both into and out of the bathroom, while carrying on a conversation with the caller the entire time, is to bust out of your confines and go on a creative road trip. You heard that right a creative road trip, which marries the freedom and exploration of travel with your artistic passion. It's the chance to move outside of your normal working conditions, where you have all of your tools, and force yourself to make something outside of your comfort zone.

Take 3D artist Craig Winslow. When he moved from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon, he turned the coast-to-coast drive into a personal quest to produce daily, impromptu light installation projections at each of his 15 city stops, many of which were hundreds of miles apart and completely new to him. Oh, and he pushed himself to finish one light installation each day, and that often meant he had to grind away through the night to complete each concept before sunrise. The endeavor, Projecting West, was one-part scenic drive, one-part the chance to make work unlike any other he had created, and one-part personal challenge to see if he could do it.

Winslow convinced his buddy Mike Ackerman, a Bay Area concept designer, to join him and the two packed themselves, a pair of light projectors, and one generator into a gray Honda Element and took off. Though they had successfully raised $7,038 via Kickstarter to cover their expenses, they hit the road weeks before the funds actually were transferred into their bank account. “We were always going to do it for ourselves, whether or not we raised the money,” says Winslow. He handled the projection mapping at each stop, while Ackerman designed the different elements that would be projected. For setting backdrops, they used mooring buoys in a Maine harbor, an empty silo in Buffalo, New York, an old wall advertisement in Omaha, Nebraska, a barn and fence in Montana, and a small forest grove in Idaho. While the locales were unique, their process was uniform: pull into a town in the early evening and throw an installation up against an unsuspecting backdrop. Then they'd orchestrate their light show that revolved around a fictional narrative of their main “character” Little Buddy taking a trip, videotape the result to show their backers, and pack up their equipment by the time dawn broke. Sometimes they'd catch a few winks during the day, other times if they were in a real hurry they simply went sleepless.

The trip resulted in more than personal satisfaction and self-discovery; Winslow had a catchy side project that ultimately helped him land a spot as an Adobe Creative Resident this year, where he is being paid a 12-month salary to further explore the field of light projection.

Here Winslow shares his advice on how to set up your own creative road trip that will spark your imagination, compel you to adapt on the fly, and help you strike a balance between the pressures and pleasure of working on a challenging albeit rewarding project.

1. Map our your trip but don't plan every single minute

“When we arrived in the cities, we usually had a vision of what we wanted to do, but we still had to find the right location. Our goal wasn't to find a blank wall. That would be a curse for me. If you have a blank canvas, you tend to overscope and go nuts with it. When you have limitations, it forces you to make decisions quickly based on your landscape, so we were looking for existing elements that could provide an interesting surface like grass or trees. Coming into Chicago, I really wanted to project under a bridge, and we found a great spot under a bridge that wasn't super dark, but had very interesting shadows. Instead of fighting the streetlights, we embraced them, focusing on the shadows to put new architecture into story as Little Buddy wandered through a city, following his compass. The very next night, we arrived in Omaha and didn't find a location until midnight. Feeling impending failure, we wandered around this massive downtown sculpture, Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness, which depicts travelers on the Oregon Trail. A sobering feeling washed over us, realizing their venture was far more treacherous than ours. Suddenly, we realized the old wall advertisement from earlier in the night was a perfect canvas. (A year later, that day's concept turned into the idea for my entire Adobe Creative Residency.) And on day nine, our plan was to camp in Yellowstone National Park and project off of something there. When we got close to the campsite, however, a huge storm had flooded the area, so we backtracked and ended up in the cute town of Sheridan, Wyoming, and stayed at a KOA campground. We thought it would be an uninspiring location, but we got a tent site with electricity, so we could avoid generator noise, and turned a rock into a digital campfire, and a tree into a dreamscape recalling heartbreak. It was one of our favorite overall projections, perfect for a drizzly night.”

2. Embrace collaboration

“Up until this project, it was often hard for me to fully collaborate with someone else. I've worked on teams and initiated projects before where each person owned a part of a project, but on this one, Mike contributed to every level of narrative, design, and ideas as much as I did. We were fully entwined into one singular project. During the start of the trip, I felt like I had this edge of East Coast hustle and could stay up later and get more work done. Mike, who had been living in San Francisco for a few years, adopted a more laidback personality. When you're racing against the clock, that can become a point of stress. I was really trying to push him, but I didn't want to be harping on him. Plus, I preferred to drive most of the time, putting a lot of pressure on him to be productive during the drives. Halfway through our trip, this hit a peak: We got ambitious, Mike passed out, then I passed out, and we missed a day (see point #4). I realized it was all a give and take and, over the course of two weeks of non-stop making things, Mike's stamina-based approach helped us pace ourselves. The trip helped me learn to trust him and share the load.”

In the above video, Winslow describes the ideas behind his different Projecting West videos. 

3. Remain authentic to your mission

“While we were raising money on Kickstarter, we were offering higher level sponsorships for each day. There was a moment where a previous client of mine said they would be happy to be a sponsor, but only if we agree to a specific installation at their shop, at a certain time during the day. That would have felt very obviously sponsorship-y, especially for a crowd-funded project. Like, why are we doing this part of the story in a retail store? That's when we realized this was a chance to not have corporate sponsorships and retain full creative freedom. It was a defining moment to make sure this cross country trip was very worthwhile for us and our creative ambitions, and not a point of stress fulfilling sponsorship requests.” 

4. Understand that failure doesn't mean you've failed

“Usually after we decided on our locations, we averaged four hours of work until the installation was complete. However, on day seven, we we didn't get to the Badlands in South Dakota until the sun had set, so we were working in the dark. As I mentioned before, with no location limitations, our ideas and concepts that night became very general and complex we wanted to project on every single peak around us to create a parallel universe. The time got later and later and we still weren't finished. We decided to take a half hour nap around 3 a.m., and when we got up and tried to make more animations, we heard birds chirping. At this point on earlier days that went long, we'd be packing up our equipment, but we hadn't even driven to our location yet. We rushed off, unprepared, but it was too bright already. That was the worst feeling; we let our backers down. We had failed to do one projection every day. The more we reflected on the failure over the next day, however, we realized the thing we needed to do for the rest of the trip was to just have fun and not succumb to time pressure. If we fail, we fail — we shouldn't feel pressure not to fail. We adjusted our scope and efficiently busted out two installations the next night, catching ourselves up. And even better — we got to bed early.”

5. Give your creative mind the chance to breathe 

“On the road from one town to the next Mike and I would ‘real talk' a lot about where we were in life, our struggles and about our perspective moves out west, to inform the narrative of our project. Because we were racing against the clock, we often felt like we should be working during those drives, but we knew we couldn't push ourselves creatively 100 percent of the time because— well, you know how people get their best ideas in the shower or doing something else mundane? We needed that downtime to not think about or do anything. It was such a challenge for me as a perfectionist, to attempt one projection a day. Time itself became a large point of stress. If I were to do it again, I would abolished the whole “thing-a-day” sentiment and committed to a projection every other day a driving/scouting day, followed by a creating day. One installation a day was very ambitious, especially in the long days of summer.”

6. Focus on the journey, not the destination

“By the time we got to Portland we wanted to have a grand finale and not unlike previous nights, we raced the sunrise to wrap up the narrative. Little Buddy and two characters that joined him along the way finish their journey but discover giant new monsters await them in Portland. But from their past struggles, they've gained the strength and courage for what new adventures lies ahead. Boom, what a story! Once we were done, the sun started to rise in my backyard, which has a heated, shared pool, so our reward was to jump in a steaming hot pool. Right as we dove in though, we rapidly learned that the heater broke the day before— and the water was freezing cold.”

7. Carry the lessons with you after the last mile

“I've always had a knack for staying up all night— when I'm on a roll with something, I tend to stay up until 3 a.m or 4 a.m. especially if there are any impending deadlines, but Projecting West gave me some appreciation for figuring out how to find a better work / life balance. When I take on ambitious projects now where I wish certain working conditions or timelines could be better, I look back at Projecting West and remember what I accomplished under such challenging limitations. Beyond that, I've realized how important it is to be selective and aware of what I'm currently working on at any moment, and how it contributes to what I want to be doing in the future. Pursuing that weird self-initiated project that came from your gut is the best way to really discover what you want to be working toward in life.”

 
culture  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/Jk_mlC6evOU/  
The Mystery of Hieronymus Bosch  
His imagination ranged from a place beyond the spheres of Heaven to the uttermost depths of Hell, but for many of his earliest admirers the most striking aspect of his art was what they described as its “truth to nature.”  
culture  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/a8mqvEA8ZAY/  
The Genius of James Brown  
There are as many James Browns as people to talk about him: “Brown was crazy. Brown was a genius. Brown was a woman basher. Brown was abused by gold-digging women. Brown was cheap. Brown would give away his last dime.” Multiple versions exist of almost every episode of James Brown's life, and some of the contradictions can be traced back to the man himself.  
culture  

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http://www.designboom.com/art/olympic-animation-henrique-barone-rafael-mayani-conor-whelan-08-04-2016/  
these animated athletes represent the olympic symbol's five rings  

the five sports represented by the athletes include hurdles; discus; javelin; high jump; and long jump.

The post these animated athletes represent the olympic symbol's five rings appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

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http://heptagram.co/post/148424007272  
colin-vian: LOTHAR FISCHER (1933 - 2004).     

colin-vian:

LOTHAR FISCHER (1933 - 2004).   

 
art  

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http://www.designboom.com/art/pokemoji-keyboard-pokemon-emoji-kevin-magalhaes-laureen-minet-08-04-2016/  
pokémoji keyboard brings emoticon pokémon to your fingertips  

two french designers have proposed a keyboard of emoticons that would allow people to communicate using pokémon characters.

The post pokémoji keyboard brings emoticon pokémon to your fingertips appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

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http://heptagram.co/post/148419376437  
paperstorage: Like Jack and Rose (via The Pyrus Garden | The...  

paperstorage:

Like Jack and Rose

(via The Pyrus Garden | The Garden Edit)

 
art  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/zx7D1KP_9e8/nasa-spies-a-dark-zone-swarm-of-10000-black-holes-have-migrated-to-milky-ways-core.html  
NASA Observatory Reveals a Dark Zone --"Swarm of 10,000 Black Holes Have Migrated to Heart of the Milky Way"  
 
astronomy  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/QU6dsC2A_zA/abundant-oxygen-measured-in-a-12-billion-year-old-galaxy.html  
Abundant Oxygen Measured in a 12-Billion-Year-Old Galaxy  
 
astronomy  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/OtI2xWWtd6w/listening-for-aliens-startalk-radio-with-neil-degrasse-tyson.html  
"Listening for Aliens" --StarTalk Radio With Neil Degrasse Tyson  
 
astronomy  

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/28142351903/  
RF testing of antenna coatings  

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Candidate coatings for a new space antenna undergoing testing at ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands.

“Protective coatings safeguard antennas against temperature extremes or other environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation,” explains antenna engineer Elena Saenz, performing the testing at ESA's technical centre in Noordwijk.

“Working with industry, we were asked to evaluate several candidate coatings for the coming MetOp microwave imager which sounds the atmosphere at various frequencies to gather data on rainfall, water vapour, temperature and clouds.

“The testing needs to measure the radio frequency behaviour of sample coatings across a very wide range of frequencies, from 18.7 GHz up to a maximum 191.3 GHz checking, for instance, that they do not cause unacceptable signal losses.”

Feed horns send out radio signals to be reflected across the table to the coating and back again, to assess performance.

Two of the candidates proved most promising to coat the carbon-fibre reinforced polymer honeycomb microwave imager antenna. ESA's antenna test facilities carry out around several of these kind of campaigns annually.

Higher frequencies were tested on the cleanroom tabletop system seen here, while testing for lower frequencies below 50 GHz was undertaken in ESA's Compact Antenna Test Range, normally used for antenna testing but adaptable for materials testing as well.

Credit: ESAG. Porter

 
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803151127.htm  
Astronomers make first accurate measurement of oxygen in distant galaxy  
Astronomers have made the first accurate measurement of the abundance of oxygen in a distant galaxy, essentially looking back in time at this galaxy as it appeared 12 billion years ago.  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803143117.htm  
Lasers melt rocks to reveal development of super-Earths and how giant impacts make magma  
New experiments provide insight into how Earth-type planets form when giant asteroids or planetesimals collide and how the interiors of such planets develop.  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803124941.htm  
Demonstrating strong electric fields in liquid helium for tests of matter-antimatter symmetry  
Physicists and engineers demonstrated that it is possible to use liquid helium to apply an electric field several times larger than that used in previous neutron electric dipole moment experiments, which provides insights into the nature of the universe.  
astronomy  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/112027109460832372/  
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pin-gaia  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354095589435751331/  
Small carrion beetle  

Small carrion beetle (Catops sp.) collected near Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: BIOUG23268-C06; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=GMOLH393-15; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:ACX9198)

 
pin-gaia  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281543706359000/  
Jesup Path in Acadia  
Jesup Path in Acadia National Park, Maine (© Pat & Chuck Blackley/Alamy) 2016-08-04 [www.bing.com/search]  
pin-images  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/146859637828065769/  
Daily Dozen — Photos  
Daily Dozen — Photos -- National Geographic Your Shot  
pin-images  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/513199320020727187/  
Wildheart  
Wildheart  
pin-images  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/302937512418675157/  
Cute kid in a villag  
Cute kid in a village in Cote d'Ivoire  
pin-images  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/302937512418675160/  
A picture is worth a  
A picture is worth a thousand words.  
pin-images  

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http://wallpapermag.tumblr.com/post/148466232928  
Casa Mirante by Brazilian firm FGMF   

Casa Mirante by Brazilian firm FGMF 

 
design  

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http://wallpapermag.tumblr.com/post/148456047803  
Experimental magazine BLAD explores modern urban growing  

Experimental magazine BLAD explores modern urban growing

 
design  

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http://wallpapermag.tumblr.com/post/148415631243  
Berlin's new coffee star   

Berlin's new coffee star 

 
design  

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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/148458481594  
341  

341

 
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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/148409661679  
340  

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http://movieposteroftheday.tumblr.com/post/148429055242  
Soviet poster for ANDROMEDA NEBULA (Yevgeni Sherstobitov,...  

Soviet poster for ANDROMEDA NEBULA (Yevgeni Sherstobitov, USSR, 1967)

Artist: Shulgin

Poster source: Posteritati

 
culture