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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/earth-like-planet-found-orbiting-our-suns-nearest-star-raises-hopes-for-life-proxima-b  
Discovery of potentially Earth-like planet Proxima b raises hopes for life  

Thought to be at least 1.3 times mass of Earth, planet lies within ‘habitable' zone of Proxima Centauri, raising hopes for life outside our solar system

The search for life outside our solar system has been brought to our cosmic doorstep with the discovery of an apparently rocky planet orbiting the nearest star to our sun.

Thought to be at least 1.3 times the mass of the Earth, the planet lies within the so-called “habitable zone” of the star Proxima Centauri, meaning that liquid water could potentially exist on the newly discovered world.

Related: Proxima b will be our prime laboratory in the search for extraterrestrial life

Related: Proxima Centauri planet could tell us about alien life in the universe

Continue reading...  
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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/149395057989  
4 days to go! What are you going to do?????  

I'm gonna keep going. 

This project started out as a way for me to learn how to use new software and create new things, and it's gonna keep going in that same direction. 

I don't think I'm done with this project.

So, here's what you can expect out of me and this blog, 3d stuff, Iv'e been postponing this because… well… laziness. Generative art, I'm gonna get a massive amount of tea herbs so the massive headache I'm gonna get, doesn't seem so bad, when I try and do some coding stuff.

I am preparing a small surprise for you guys, hopefully you'll like the idea.

 
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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/25/i-couldnt-make-this-up-if-i-tried/  
Peter Thiel just backed a startup that helps you sue companies algorithmically  

If Peter Thiel was trying to convince the world he wasn't a lawsuit-happy nerd, this probably isn't the best way to do it. Reports today detail Thiel's latest investment, a $100,000 Thiel Foundation grant to a company, Legalist, that makes trial-by-algorithm a real thing. Legalist, founded by two Harvard undergrads, combs through a mountain of local legal filings to find cases that have a high probability to succeed. The algorithm applies 58 variables that are said to be good indicators of the strength of the case against the opposing party. For cases it deems winnable, the company will invest between…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/08/24/apple-wants-unicode-consortium-add-5-new-emoji/  
Apple wants Unicode Consortium to add these 5 new emoji  

iOS 10 will include over 100 new emoji. Apple things that's about five too few. Apple's Peter Edberg, a software engineer that's been with the company 28 years, reached out to the Unicode Technical Committee recently and shared five mockups that he — and Apple — think should be included. ? Apple requests five new emoji professions: Artist, Firefighter, Pilot, Astronaut, Judge https://t.co/rEEHdhOFiK pic.twitter.com/aFzpS0k1zj — Emojipedia ? (@Emojipedia) August 24, 2016 The new emoji — an artist, firefighter, pilot, judge and an astronaut — would be in addition to the 72 new emoji Unicode just approved, most of which have made…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/24/shh-recently-discovered-earth-like-planet-listening/  
Shh! A recently discovered Earth-like planet could be listening  

Researchers have identified a number of planets outside our solar system that both resemble Earth and carry a better than zero chance at containing life. None of these is as close to Earth as newly-discovered Proxima b. Only 4.2 light-years away — about 25 trillion miles — Proxima b is our nearest neighbor outside this solar system. If you're keeping score at home, 25 trillion miles is about 300,000 times further than the Earth is from the sun. While the distance sounds daunting, it's a relative stone throw in the greater scheme of things and further details just how vast…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/08/24/woz-warns-apple-dont-kill-headphone-jack/  
Woz warns Apple: Don't kill the headphone jack  

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn't impressed with the company's plans to ditch the headphone jack. According to rumors, the next iPhone will be so much thinner, Apple may have to drop the headphone jack. Instead, customers would use the same lightning port used to charge the phone as a headphone jack — or go wireless and use Bluetooth. But that's not a one-size-fits-all solution. According to Wozniak: I would not use Bluetooth … I don't like wireless. I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/24/big-banks-learned-stop-worrying-love-blockchain/  
How big banks learned to stop worrying and love the blockchain  

From its inception, banks have all but dismissed Bitcoin while embracing the technology that powers it — blockchain. Bitcoin is volatile, prone to theft and confusing for the average customer. The blockchain, however, is merely a digital ledger or transactions, a tool that could decrease costs significantly for major banks. Several of these big banks have now teamed up to create their own solution. Led by UBS, the group — Deutsche Bank, Santander, BNY Mellon and ICAP — teamed up to create ‘Utility Settlement Coin,' (USC) which — if we're honest — sounds a lot like the in-game currency for a…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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http://thenextweb.com/google/2016/08/24/googles-ai-trumps-jpeg-compression-reducing-image-file-sizes/  
Google's AI trumps JPEG compression in reducing image file sizes  

A group of researchers at Google appear to have taken a leaf out of HBO comedy Silicon Valley's book for its latest project. The team has developed a way to use neural networks that mimic the workings of the human brain to compress images more efficiently than traditional methods. The researchers trained an AI system (built using Google's TensorFlow, which the company open sourced last year) to learn how compression works using 6 million photos for reference. It broke these images into 32 x 32 pixel pieces and selected 100 pieces with the least effective compression to learn from; the idea…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/wpp-weathers-brexit-storm-post-positive-results/  
WPP weathers Brexit storm to post positive results  

WPP has released its interim results, revealing signs of cautious optimism for its businesses, which have generally stood up well since Britain voted to leave the EU.

This has partly been put down to the falling value of the pound. In its analysis of current trading, WPP says that there was strong trading in the UK in July, which may be a reflection of a “post-Brexit vote recovery, driven by a weaker pound sterling.”

Upturn in July

July has been a positive month across all WPP regions and sectors with like-for-like revenue and net sales up 4.6% and 1.9% respectively.

The main results give a view of the financial performance of the group for the six months preceding 30 June 2016.

As a group WPP has posted pre-tax profits of £690 million, which is up 15.8%. Meanwhile constant currency revenue a measure which eliminates the effect of exchange rate fluctuations  is up 8.9% and like-for-like revenue is up 4.3%.

“Pre-Brexit vote uncertainties”

In the UK “pre-Brexit vote uncertainties” were cited as a reason for a slow-down in growth, which stood at 3.5% in the second quarter, but 4.7% in the second quarter of this year.

Internationally, branding and identity, which is grouped together with healthcare and specialist communications, showed like-for-like net sales growth of 3.7% in the second quarter, compared with 5.2% in the first quarter.

However, the branding and identity, direct, digital and interactive groups margins were “up strongly” and it was the healthcare and specialist communications businesses which had put pressure on the sector.

UK-based WPP design consultancies include Brand Union, Coley Porter Bell, Fitch, Landor and The Partners.

The post WPP weathers Brexit storm to post positive results appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/designstudio-gives-future-finance-optimistic-new-look/  
DesignStudio gives Future Finance an “optimistic” new look  

DesignStudio has unveiled a new visual identity for Future Finance, which looks to reconcile serious subjects such as student loans, with an attention grabbing new look.

It needed to appeal to wide range of student customers, including undergraduates, medical students, lawyers and MBA graduates.

Series of joined-up shapes

The redesign, which includes a different logo and website, centres on “the individual paths we all take to realise our potential”, according to DesignStudio.

The consultancy has used a series of joined-up, distinctive shapes, intended to be a connector between the customer and their future self.

Alongside the kit of Perspex shapes, an “optimistic”, bright colour palette has been used throughout to “side-step the cold, functional world of finance to speak directly to students and their potential,” says the consultancy.

“Brave and bold”

Speaking about the rebrand, DesignStudio's executive creative director, James Hurst, says: “The opportunity that Future Finance offers its customers is extraordinary.”

“Capturing that ambition and impact on real lives means being brave and being bold. This is an identity that signals a brand both connected to you and your connection to a more enriching future.”

The post DesignStudio gives Future Finance an “optimistic” new look appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/brands-can-collaborate-better-creatively/  
How brands can collaborate better creatively  

It would be great to see our cultural institutions sharing quality content with our social institutions; let's take the National Gallery to the NHS. Prescribing culture as part of a cure is an interesting concept and might work just as well, if not better than any other therapy.

Genuine collaborations are sustainable, benefit everyone involved and share and grow knowledge within the participating organisations, what's not to love!

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71% of the population wear glasses. Specsavers own the negative of poor eyesight, but no brand owns the positive; the beauty, drama, life-affirming happiness of seeing properly. Boots, I'm squinting at you.

Now, forests are visually brilliant. The mad, Impressionist dappling of spring sunlight bouncing between leaves. The cosiness of a winter avenue, trees hooded with snow, bowing in pagan prayer. Stopping on a hill to spot three counties. The euphoria of perspective as you stand in a clearing to see the Milky Way bisect a coldly dark sky.

Boots Opticians and The Forestry Commission should talk to each other.

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You know what I would love to see two brands swapping employees for a month. I spent years working on internal brand campaigns and looking at the business from the inside. Instead of an external facing brand collaboration, I would like to see an internal one.

Think the Gucci folk swapping with VOLVO Group's staff, or Nike's people swapping with HSBC's brand team. I am true believer that their people are part of their brand, so this could be a fantastic experience to see just how true they are to it.

The result could be a great PR story and the ideas may spawn new collaboration as well. Anyone wanna give it a go? I'll facilitate.

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I'd have to opt for two very disparate entities in Southeastern trains and Amazon. One delivers packages smoothly and efficiently across the globe in such an effortless manner that it's difficult to remember a time before they existed.

The other tries desperately to deliver passengers from one destination to another across a comparatively small network but fails dismally, if the comments of their human cargo are anything to go by.

I can't think of another service industry that has its own Facebook page, I Hate Southeastern trains (note the capital H in Hate, incidentally), dedicated to its general incompetence.

I know there will be many mitigating factors in why they provide such a poor service such as investment in the business, and no doubt union power. However, in a fanciful world wouldn't those commuters view their carriages in a totally new light if they were emblazoned with the Amazon logo? I'm sure it would bring a smile to their faces too.

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Recognising an affinity with another brand or spotting a niche, technology or craft that would complement each other brings a whole new level of brand experience and recognition to the customer.

Nike and Liberty have done it so well and I'm eagerly awaiting the outcome of the IKEA and Tom Dixon collaboration.

But rather than a visual or tech collaboration, I'm interested in how charities and brands can collaborate for the better. Viewed favourably by many but controversially in some communities, it could be interesting to encourage an organisation such as Airbnb with the ethos of Belong Anywhere to collaborate with Shelter, the charity campaigning for a home for everyone.

Could there be an Airbnb community shelter in highly populated city communities, a contribution from Airbnb, working with Shelter to help people to really “Belong Anywhere”?

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On 19 June 2009, WHSmith apologised after promoting a book on cellar rapist Josef Fritzl as one of the “Top 50 Books for Dad” as a Father's Day gift. Yes — you read that correctly.

Now… I'm ever the optimist, it really helps when your job is to launch and relaunch brands. And a team approach is a great way to innovate as well as help rejuvenate brands that have lost their way and become less relevant to their audiences.

So I'd love to see the billion-pound bounder that ties WHSmith up with a smart brand to help save its desperately awful stores.

Could Google save them? It organises the entire internet and makes it useful — perhaps it could reorganise the endless upset of 2kg bars of chocolate being attached to your morning newspaper purchase?

Any brand with its own twitter account (@WHS_Carpet — read it and weep) dedicated to just how deplorable the experience has become needs a strong new partnership.

Sadly, I suspect conventional brand tie-ups will not suffice here. Only the powers of Paul McKenna will do, add in David Blaine, Penn & Teller, hell, let's throw Copperfield in there with Derren Brown too — because only one hell of a magic trick is going to turn this one around…

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The Underground is the blood running through London connecting us to inspiring, creative design hubs. Born and raised in London, I was travelling by tube from a young age; let's give it an overhaul and bring some personality back.

The British interior and lifestyle brand House of Hackney would do wonders with the interior of the classic underground train. Reupholstered seats in London-designed and manufactured fabrics, celebrating what is great about our city and its famous Underground.

House of Hackney could work its magic of tradition for a new generation making our journey that bit more inspiring.

The post How brands can collaborate better creatively appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824160255.htm  
Can one cosmic enigma help solve another?  
Astrophysicists have proposed a clever new way to shed light on the mystery of dark matter, believed to make up most of the universe. The irony is they want to try to pin down the nature of this unexplained phenomenon by using another, an obscure cosmic emanation known as 'fast radio bursts.'  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824140053.htm  
NASA's WISE, Fermi missions reveal a surprising blazar connection  
Astronomers using observations from NASA's WISE and Fermi missions have confirmed a connection between the infrared and gamma-ray light emitted by blazars, a class of distant galaxies powered by monster black holes.  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824135521.htm  
Cosmic neighbors inhibit star formation, even in the early universe  
Researchers have discovered four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old. This sample is now providing the best measurement yet of when and how fast galaxy clusters stop forming stars in the early universe.  
astronomy  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgo.theregister.com%2Ffeed%2Fwww.theregister.co.uk%2F2016%2F08%2F25%2Fvoyager_2s_closest_saturn_swoop_was_35_years_ago_today%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Voyager 2's closest Saturn swoop was 35 years ago today  

Only Cassini's been there since, V'ger 2 is now 15 light-hours away

The Voyager mission is celebrating another remarkable milestone, the 35th anniversary of Voyager 2's closest encounter with Saturn.…

 
science  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Frobert-gottfried%2Fdoes-anybody-really-know-_b_11677622.html&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Robert 'Robin' Gottfried: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Does Anyone Really Care?  
Photo credit: Pixabay

The following is a guest post written by my friend and colleague, Jerry Cappel.

Have you heard of the term, "Body Burden"? It ...

Read more: Environment, Religion, Christianity, Sustainability, Religion News

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.tnc.org%2Fmigrations-in-motion%2F%234%2F56.92%2F-466.08&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
A Gorgeous Animated Map Showing How Climate Change Will Force Species To Migrate In North America  
Using flow models from electronic circuit theory, researchers plotted movement routes for each species , connecting current habitats with their projected locations under climate change.  
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fedward-flattau%2Fthe-poaching-mentality_b_11687258.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
The Poaching Mentality  
While poachers are considered destructive criminals of the first order, few think of society as harboring a similar, if less blatant mentality in the handling of natural resources.

Yet a poacher-like attitude is more pervasive in society than one would expect, with instant gratification resulting in behavior that "kills the goose that lays the golden egg".

It's easy to separate ourselves as law-biding citizens from the heinous acts of poachers. Public outage is widespread at the wanton desecration of such species as the elephant and rhino, propelling them towards extinction.

On the European continent, it is easy to denounce French poachers' illegal pursuit of an immediate payoff from the trapping and wholesale depletion of goldfinches. Criminal traffickers are selling these wild song birds, which the public unfortunately snaps up as household pets. The methodology for capturing these birds produces cruel collateral damage in which nine goldfinches perish for every one recovered. Not surprisingly, in the past 16 years, the once ubiquitous goldfinch population in France has been reduced by half and the carnage continues, despite stepped up law enforcement. At some point, the poachers could conceivably exhaust the population and then move on to the next bird "du jour".

Bad news, but is humanity in general engaged all too often in a variation of the poacher's same reckless behavior?

In that vein, I think back years ago to a drive in the Chinese countryside. An eerie silence prevailed over the land. No birds, no insects, or other signs of wildlife were in evidence. The only animals to be observed were some domesticated stock when one passed an occasional farm.

The mystery was dispelled when I entered a nearby town and visited its open market. For sale primarily as culinary fare or decoration was every life form, big or small that had once inhabited the surrounding countryside.

This is an extreme example, but the truth is that no people are immune at times from being moved by greed, desperation, or some other motivation to care only for the moment in exploiting a resource.

The July 2014 Science Magazine identified 322 birds, mammals, and reptiles eradicated due to human activity. Most were probably not depleted in the purposeful fashion of the poacher, but the outcome was the same.

In our own country, streams that were once drinkable no longer are as a result of human activity. Some marine species have been decimated from overfishing, and forests with rare plants have been stripped bare. Wolves were wiped out in the Rocky Mountain West at agricultural interests' request, upsetting the balance of nature.

Are poachers an advance team for a human race of two-legged lemmings inexorably caught in a fatal march to the sea? Or will mankind be able to pull back from the brink and commit itself to a sustainable use of the earth's remaining natural resources?

Stay tuned.

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

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824143910.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Mutually helpful species become competitors in benign environments  
Nature abounds with examples of mutualistic relationships. Think of bees pollinating flowers whose nectar nourishes the bees. Each species benefits the other, and together their chances of survival are better than if they lived apart. Now scientists have found that such mutualistic relationships aren't always set in stone. Depending on environmental conditions, once-simpatico species can become competitors, and in extreme cases, one species can even drive the other to complete extinction.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824111100.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Arctic gives clues on worst mass extinction of life  
Extreme global warming 252 million years ago caused a severe mass extinction of life on Earth. It took life up to 9 million years to recover. New study finds clues in the Arctic as to why this recovery took so long.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824093601.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Endangered Cuban solenodon evolved after the extinction of dinosaurs  
The Caribbean islands form a natural laboratory for the study of evolution due to their unique biological and geological features. There has been heated discussion since the early 20th century on how species appeared on the islands. The Cuban solenodon is a small, rare, endangered animal, belonging to the mammalian order Eulipotyphla. It is a mole-like nocturnal animal with a long snout that feeds on insects and is found in only a few fragmented locations in Cuba. Its evolutionary origins have been widely contested and have remained relatively elusive because they have been so difficult to capture and examine.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fview%2Farticles%2F2016-08-23%2Fhealth-care-is-a-business-not-a-right&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Health Care Is A Business, Not A Right  
While we're perfectly okay with griping about the cost of a gallon of milk, we don't like to think about healthcare in terms of dollars and cents. Which is why America will never transition over to a single-payer healthcare system.  
general  

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Predicting plant-soil feedbacks from plant traits  
In nature, plants cannot grow without soil biota like fungi and bacteria. Successful plants are able to harness positive, growth-promoting soil organisms, while avoiding the negative effects of others. Which plant traits can predict these interactions, or the success of a plant? Researchers and plant breeders would like to know.  
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http://twitter.com/radj/status/768583733108678656 
Threshers should be on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list for protection. https://t.co/W1scwSjCdy 
https://t.co/W1scwSjCdy