Buzz Aldrin developing ‘master plan’ to begin colonies on Mars by 2040 as he launches partnership with university

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aeronautics, Apollo 11, astronauts, Buzz Aldrin, colonies, cycling pathways, exploration, Gemini 12, Institute of Technology, mars, Moon, NASA, Neil Armstrong, phobos, science, settlement, space, Space Center

Buzz Aldrin, 85, is partnering with Florida Institute of Technology The Buzz Aldrin Space Institute will open in The Fall and focus on Mars Astronaut, the second man to walk on the Moon, has devised plan to get to the red planet using ‘cycling pathways’ and base on Mars’s moon Phobos By Associated Press and Christopher Brennan For Dailymail.com Published: 15:22 EST, 27 August 2015 | Updated: 21:00 EST, 27 August 2015 The second man to walk on the Moon is teaming up with Florida Institute of Technology to develop ‘a master plan’ for colonizing Mars within 25 years. Buzz Aldrin, 85, took part in a signing ceremony Thursday at the university, which is located in Melbourne, less than an hour’s drive from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Buzz Aldrin Space Institute is set to open this fall at FIT. Aldrin, who followed Neil Armstrong onto the moon’s surface on July 20, 1969, will serve as a research professor of aeronautics as well as a senior faculty adviser for the institute. He is pushing for a Mars settlement by approximately 2040 after crafting a system of flights to take humans there in incremental steps. Buzz Aldrin is opening an institute at Florida Institute of Technology this fall with hopes of colonizing Mars by 2040. Above, he is pictured with FIT President Dr Anthony Catanese and vice president Dwayne McCay The second man to walk on the Moon hopes that humans will reach Mars by the 70th anniversary of his landing. Above, Aldrin (right) with Apollo 11 crew mates Neil Armstrong (left) and Michael Collins (center) More specifically, he’s shooting for 2039, the 70th anniversary of his own Apollo 11 moon landing. His current proposal for colonizing Mars involves a concept called ‘Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars’ in which missions would be perpetually cycling between Earth and the red planet. Aldrin’s long term plan for colonizing Mars would take intermediary steps, testing out bases on the Moon and stationing astronauts on Mars’s larger moon Phobos. Unmanned ‘exploration modules’ would be sent to Mars as astronauts on Phobos readied for a move downwards to the surface by assembling a base with robots. The ‘cycler’ ships would later bring more astronauts, replacing the Phobos crew as the moon’s first crew goes down to Mars. Aldrin has pushed for Mars exploration, and developed a plan with a series of steps to the Moon and Mars’s moon Phobos. Above, he signs copies of his book about such an expedition in California this July
The astronaut has also pushed for the US to work more closely with countries such as China to create an international base on the Moon. Above left, Aldrin on the Moon in a photo taken by Armstrong ‘No giant leaps this time. More like a hop, skip and a jump,’ Aldrin said on his website of the plan. ‘I am proud of my time at NASA with the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 programs but I hope to be remembered more for my contributions to the future,’ he said in a release from FIT. In addition to advocating for Mars exploration, Aldrin’s work since his retirement from NASA has included his Share Space Foundation initiative to boost science literacy in children.
	He has also written in TIME that the US should cooperate more with other space exploration programs such as the European Space Agency and China. Aldrin says that the stations on the Moon should be international ventures. Read more: · Buzz Aldrin Space Institute Formed at Florida Tech · Buzz Aldrin: Why the U.S. Should Partner with China in Space
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Source URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3213428/Buzz-Aldrin-joins-university-forming-master-plan-Mars.html

Utah man dies from plague in 4th fatal case in US this year

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Black Death, Middle Ages, plague

Aug 27, 3:43 PM (ET) By MICHELLE L. PRICE (AP) JoDee Baker, with the Utah Department of Health, speaks during a news briefing… Full Image SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah man in his 70s has died after contracting the plague, bringing to four the number of deaths from the disease reported in the United States this year, health officials said Thursday. Officials are still trying to determine how the Utah person contracted the disease, but believe it might have been spread by a flea or contact with a dead animal, according to the state Department of Health. “That’s the most common way to get it,” said JoDee Baker, an epidemiologist with the agency. “That’s probably what happened, but we’re still doing an investigation into that.” Plague is a rare disease that is carried by rodents and spread by fleas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 11 other cases have been reported in six states since April 1. The other three people who died were ages 16, 52 and 79. (AP) This Aug. 6, 2015, photo, shows prairie dogs, in southern Utah. Utah health… Full Image Anywhere between one and 17 cases of the illness have been reported each year in the U.S. since 2000, according to the CDC. Deaths are rare, with no more than two a year having been recorded over the past 15 years. However, Mead said four deaths so far this year is not necessarily a cause for alarm. “Yes, it’s twice as many, but when you’re dealing with small numbers, you have that kind of variation,” he said Thursday. Patients in a few of the 11 other cases this year came down with the plague after visiting Yosemite National Park in California. The last human case of plague in Utah was in 2009, but state Health Department spokeswoman Charla Haley said no deaths from plague have been recorded in the state in at least 35 years. Haley said the latest patient got the disease in Utah, possibly after being in rural areas and near campgrounds. The person was hospitalized about five days after coming down with symptoms, and died in mid-August at the University of Utah’s Hospital. State health officials declined to release the patient’s age, gender or hometown, saying the person’s family wanted to keep those details private. However, Mead confirmed the Utah case involved a man in his 70s. Health officials checked with family members who may have been exposed to the person, but Baker said the incubation period has passed and no family members or anyone else reported symptoms. Plague is naturally occurring in Utah rodents and is often seen in prairie dog populations, the Department of Health said. Wildlife and health officials confirmed in July that an outbreak of bubonic plague killed 60 to 80 prairie dogs in an eastern Utah colony. Annette Roug, a veterinarian with Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources, said Thursday state investigators found prairie dog burrows near the person’s property but no sign that animals were still living there. Roug said if wildlife officials find prairie dog burrows in the area, they may treat them with insecticide to kill fleas that carry the disease. She declined to say where the affected area is in Utah. Human cases of plague often occur in areas where wild rodent populations are near campsites and homes. Transmission between people is rare. Baker said anyone going to rural areas or campgrounds can protect themselves by wearing insect repellent; thoroughly cooking any wild game and sanitizing knives and preparation tools; wearing gloves when handling or skinning wild animals; and ensuring pets are wearing flea collars. Follow Michelle L. Price at https://twitter.com/michellelprice .

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150827/us-plague-death-utah-79ccf3e144.html

Genes Tell Intricate Tale of Jewish Diaspora

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diaspora, genetics, Judah, Middle East, migration

by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | August 06, 2012 03:00pm ET The Aben Danan Synagogue in Fez, Morocco, brings a North African flare to the Jewish faith. Credit: Anibal Trejo, ShutterstockView full size image A new genetic map paints a comprehensive picture of the 2,000 or so years in which different Jewish groups migrated across the globe, with some becoming genetically isolated units while others seemed to mix and mingle more. The new findings allow researchers to trace the diaspora, or the historical migration, of the Jews, which began in the sixth century B.C. when the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah. Some Jews remained in Judah under Babylonian rule, while others fled to Egypt and other parts of the Middle East. Jewish migrations have continued into the day. The study researchers found that the genomes of Jewish North African groups are distinct from one another, but that they show linkages to each other absent from their non-Jewish North African neighbors. The findings reveal a history of close-knit communities prone to intermarriage, said leader Harry Ostrer of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. “Virtually all the Jewish groups we’ve studied tend to be quite closely related to one another,” Ostrer said. “It would seem for most Jewish groups, there is a biological basis for their Jewishness which is based on their sharing of DNA segments.” Tracing Jewish genetics Ostrer and his colleagues have been studying the genetics of Jewish groups throughout Europe and the Middle East, both to reconstruct the history of the religion and to investigate diseases such as the genetic disorder Tay-Sachs that disproportionately affect this population. In 2010, the group reported on the genetics of seven European and Middle Eastern populations. The new study, published today (Aug. 6) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expands the findings to a total of 15 groups, with the newest additions from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and the island of Djerba. [Photos:Ancient Jewish Treasure] The researchers worked with local communities to get volunteers to blood samples for genetic analysis. The current study analyzed the genes of 509 unrelated North African individuals, comparing them across groups. Similar work has been done linking ancient Israeli and Syrian people to Ethiopia. The results revealed close relations between North African and European Jews, Ostrer said. The researchers also found two distinct groups of North African Jews, one comprised of Libyan and Tunisian Jews and the other of Moroccan and Algerian Jews. These groups were more likely to share DNA segments than other Jewish groups, indicating more shared genetic history. “I like to think of Jewishness as a tapestry with these DNA segments representing the threads that weave the tapestry together,” Ostrer said. Non-Jews can convert to Judaism, but membership in the group is also passed down along a matrilineal line, meaning Jewishness straddles the line between religion, ethnicity and culture. A history of migration The findings tended to track with what is known of the history of the Jewish Diaspora, or spread of the Jewish people, through North Africa. For example, there was evidence of gene-sharing between North African Jews and non-Jews, but generally not recently, the researchers found. “This tends to fit the historical observation that during Islamic times from roughly the eighth century to roughly the 20th century, there was limited intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews,” Ostrer said. Among Moroccan and Algerian Jews, there was evidence of some mixing with the Sephardic Jews who trace their roots to the Iberian Peninsula. Again, the genetic results the known history of Sephardic Jews leaving Spain and Portugal, with some settling in Morocco and Algeria. The findings help create a “comprehensive view of what the Jewish Diaspora was like,” Ostrer said. Major times of movement included the classic period of Greek and Roman dominance, when Jewish groups migrated out of the Middle East and into Europe and North Africa, converting locals and intermarrying along the way. A second major migration occurred after the Spanish Inquisition in the late 1400s and early 1500s, a time when Jews and Muslims were ordered to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. [10 Myths of Medieval Torture] The most recent movement began in the late 1800s and continues today, with immigration to the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and South Africa, Ostrer said. The United States and Latin America tend to be a “melting pot” of genetics, Ostrer said — 50 percent to 60 percent of American Jews marry someone of a different religion or ethnicity — but the “Old World” genetics of European and North African Jews are helpful in understanding certain diseases. In these populations, people married within their communities and even within their own for centuries, allowing studies on relatively few people to be extrapolated more widely throughout the population. In a similar example, researchers recently found a gene that protects against Alzheimer’s disease in Icelandic populations. Those results were reported July 21 in the journal Nature. The same sort of research is possible in Jewish populations, Ostrer said. “It represents an extraordinary resource that is much harder to do, for instance, in the European-American population, because there has been such a melting pot occurring there,” he said. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We’re also on Facebook & Google+. Editor’s Recommendations · 8 Ways Religion Impacts Your Life · Top 10 Things that Make Humans Special · In Photos: A Journey Through Early Christian Rome

http://www.livescience.com/22137-genetics-jewish-diaspora.html

Author Bio Stephanie Pappas Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science. She covers the world of human and animal behavior, as well as paleontology and other science topics. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has ducked under a glacier in Switzerland and poked hot lava with a stick in Hawaii. Stephanie hails from East Tennessee, the global center for salamander diversity. Follow Stephanie on Google+. Stephanie Pappas on

Origin of the Romani People Pinned Down

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diaspora, DNA, Egypt, Europe, genetics, genome, Germany, gypsies, gypsy, India, migration, Romani

by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | December 06, 2012 12:00pm ET Romani with their wagon, photographed in the Rheinland of Germany in 1935. Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J0525-0500-003 / CC-BY-SA, distributed under a Creative Commons license (German Federal Archives) Europe’s largest minority group, the Romani, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago, new genetic study finds. The Romani, also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed “gypsies” in the 16th century, because this widely dispersed group of people were first thought to have come from Egypt. Today, many consider “gypsy” to be a derogatory term. Since the advent of better and better genetic technology, researchers have analyzed the genetic history of much of Europe, finding, for example, the history of the Jewish Diaspora written in DNA. But though there are 11 million Romani in Europe, their history has been neglected, said study researcher David Comas of the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain Linguistic history as well as a few limited genetic studies had already suggested the Romani originally hailed from India. To confirm this idea and uncover more details on the migration, Comas and his colleagues used a technique that compares DNA segments from across the whole genome with that of other populations. They used DNA samples from 13 groups of Romani spread across Europe. “In our study, we do not focus on specific regions of the genome, but on the genome as a whole, which provides us the complete genetic information of the populations under study,” he told LiveScience. The results revealed the modern Romani’s ancestors migrated out of northwest India all at one time 1,500 years ago, Comas and his colleagues report today (Dec. 6) in the journal Current Biology. Once they arrived in Europe, they spread across the continent from the Balkan region about 900 years ago, Comas said. Over hundreds of years of history, intermarriage between Romani people and local populations has waxed and waned, Comas said. They have often been discriminated against; during the Holocaust, somewhere between 200,000 and 1.5 million Romani were killed by Hitler’s Nazis. After World War II, Romani in communist nations were often targeted for “assimilation,” which sometimes meant forced sterilization to lower their birth rate. [7 Absolutely Evil Medical Experiments] Comas said he hoped to later widen the analysis to include more Romani groups as well as more Indian populations from the region where the Romani originated. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We’re also on Facebook & Google+. Editor’s Recommendations Genetics by the Numbers: 10 Tantalizing Tales Top 10 Things that Make Humans Special Top 10 Mysteries of the First Humans

http://www.livescience.com/25294-origin-romani-people.html

Author Bio Stephanie Pappas Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science. She covers the world of human and animal behavior, as well as paleontology and other science topics. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has ducked under a glacier in Switzerland and poked hot lava with a stick in Hawaii. Stephanie hails from East Tennessee, the global center for salamander diversity. Follow Stephanie on Google+. Stephanie Pappas on

Muslims harass congressmen visiting Temple Mount

“When there is a lack of resolve in protecting religious freedoms, it emboldens those who have no compunction about suppressing it,” Rep. Franks says. (L to R): Mark Murray, Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA), EJ Kimball, Elizabeth Jenkins, Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-WV), Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Bob Naegele. (photo credit: ISRAEL ALLIES FOUNDATION) A group of Muslim men harassed and stalked a delegation of US congressmen visiting the Temple Mount Tuesday. “There was an effort to completely suppress not only any expression of religious conviction, but any articulation of historical reality,” Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), co-chairman of the Israel Allies Foundation’s congressional caucus recounted, saying the harassment “shows the fundamental dynamics of the greater contention throughout the Middle East.” Franks, Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA), Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-WV) and his wife Elizabeth Jenkins, are members of a delegation organized by the Israel Allies Foundation, an umbrella organization supporting 33 parliamentary caucuses around the world that mobilize political support for Israel based on Judeo-Christian values. As part of the delegation’s trip to the Middle East, the group took a tour of the Temple Mount that was constantly interrupted by shouting, first by Arab men in the plaza and then by Waqf staff. “We walked up there,” Rothfus recounted, “and were almost immediately approached by several men who started shouting. We were tracked the entire time we were there and found these individuals surprisingly intolerant and belligerent.” The delegation said the harassment began when they ascended the Mount, and Mrs. Jenkins, who was wearing a calf-length skirt and a long-sleeved shirt was yelled at that she needed to cover up more, and police were needed to break up the melee and clear the way for the group to continue the visit. The delegation’s guide then began to speak about the history of the site, which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, but is controlled by Jordan and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf. When the guide showed the group a map of Israel, a man who was cleaning nearby notified another man in the area, who asked the guide questions about the maps and diagrams, demanding to be shown if any of them feature the Temple, and told him he cannot use the term “Temple Mount,” only “Dome of the Rock,” as can be seen in a video the group provided to The Jerusalem Post. Men wearing shirts with Waqf insignia then repeatedly interrupted the guide and tried to grab his diagrams and maps. The guide responded that he is doing nothing illegal and will only stop if told to do so by police. “Our guide was very respectful but very appropriately strong in his convictions. He was not confrontational, but handled it very appropriately,” Jenkins said. Soon after, 15-20 men began to harass the group, interrupting the tour guide, shouting and pointing, and once again police had to break up the commotion. The guide “let us know that men running around with walkie-talkies are not the final authority,” Jenkins recounted. “Despite the screaming and shouting and pointing of men with walkie-talkies, the police were able to exercise their authority and let us proceed comfortably.” For the rest of their visit to the Temple Mount, the group was followed by Muslim men. EJ Kimball, Director of US Operations for the Israel Allies Foundation said the congressional delegation “wasn’t doing anything controversial, no one was even wearing a yarmulke. [The Muslims on the Mount] did a good job of making everyone feel very uncomfortable just for being up there as a non-Muslim.” On their way out, the delegation saw a group of Jewish visitors confronted by a Muslim group crowding around them and shouting Allahu Akbar. The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel pays Murbitat, meaning protectors of holy places, who harass non-Muslim visitors, thousands of shekels every month. The groups of Murbitat are often led by women dressed head-to-toe in black, with their faces covered. Jenkins said he had mixed emotions after the visit to the Temple Mount. “It was a place of great religious meaning to me as a Christian, a destination…that me and my wife were looking forward to, and then to have the confrontation from the Muslims who yelled and shouted at us and my wife individually…To literally step on the Temple Mount and be confronted was certainly shocking,” Jenkins recounted. The congressman from West Virginia called the experience “unsettling,” saying that “in America we watch conflict around the world on the evening news. It’s unfortunate to walk on to the Temple Mount and see conflict not half a world away, but feet away.” Jenkins said that he believes in tolerance and acceptance of all religions, but that is not what he saw at a site that is so religiously significant. As a Christian raised on the stories of the Bible and New Testament, Franks said visiting the mount was “exhilarating and meaningful beyond words,” but that the experience was marred by the harassment, “a reminder of challenges both in micro and macro that the people of Israel face every day.” “I wish it was something the world understood more and was more aware of,” Franks said. “Even when visiting a historical site there is harassment, because of people who want to rewrite history.” Franks added that, while he does not question Israeli policies because they have experience in dealing with the problems on the Temple Mount, he found that “in general, when there is a lack of resolve in protecting religious freedoms, it emboldens those who have no compunction about suppressing it.” When asked if he felt his freedom of expression was violated, Rothfus said “certainly.” “We weren’t doing anything religious. We were learning the history of the Temple Mount,” he stated. Rothfus plans to share his experience, and said of the harassers: “Maybe the folks who were behaving like this might want to do some self-examination. They really are not presenting themselves as very good ambassadors for their cause.” The purpose of the delegation’s trip to the Middle East is “to gain a better perspective of the opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal and the increased cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors against shared threats from jihadist groups,” Kimball said. The group traveled to Egypt before Israel, where the congressmen met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after its trip to the Temple Mount. Source URL: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Exclusive-Muslims-harass-Congressmen-visiting-Temple-Mount-411782

Artist’s Statement ….Part Two

Artist’s Statement ….Part Two.