Firms will inherit Apollo legacy

6 December 2012 Last updated at 19:43 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

One of the last men to set foot on the Moon has said that private enterprise will be the driving force for a return to the lunar surface.

Harrison Schmitt told the BBC that governments are "too inefficient" to send humans back to the Moon.

Mr Schmitt's comments come on the 40th anniversary of Nasa's last manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 17.

The veteran astronaut said that companies would soon embark on a new commercially-driven space race.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

Government is too inefficient to make the costs come down to make another Moon landing economic. It will be an entrepreneurial effort?

End Quote Harrison Schmidt Apollo 17 Astronaut

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Discovery programme, he said that he felt that private firms could make a return on the huge investment needed to set up extra-terrestrial mining operations by garnering a new source of fuel called helium-3. The gas is similar to the helium used to blow up balloons, but has properties that some scientists believe make it the ideal fuel for nuclear fusion reactions.

"The economy of space and economy of settlements of the Moon will be supported by helium-3. When you have a reason to build rockets and spacecraft and mining machines, costs will come down," he told BBC News.

Mr Schmitt's comments come in the year that a group of billionaires, which include the film director James Cameron and Google's chief executive, Larry Page, unveiled plans to mine asteroids using robotic probes. It was also the year that Elon Musk's firm SpaceX successfully delivered cargo to the International Space Station using its Dragon freight capsule on top of a Falcon rocket. So could the private sector take the next giant leap for mankind and send people back to the Moon? Harrison Schmitt believes that there is no other way.

Highlights from the Apollo 17 mission

"Government is too inefficient to make the costs come down where it would be economic. It will be an entrepreneurial effort," he told the BBC.

Richard Nixon, the US President in 1972, had announced earlier that year that Apollo 17 would be the last mission to the Moon for the foreseeable future. Its launch on December 7 was a bittersweet moment for those involved in the US space programme and for all those who had followed their incredible exploits. Among those watching the launch was John Logsdon, now a professor at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

Melancholy Continue reading the main story

Last expedition to the Moon

• Apollo 17 broke records for the longest time in lunar orbit and the largest sample return
• Geologist Harrison Schmitt became the only scientist to walk on the Moon
• Strange orange soil was discovered on the lunar surface, which was later found to be a legacy of the Moon's volcanic past

Source: BBC Science

"There was an undertone of melancholy. We had done those wonderful missions and that was the end of it."

The event was the first night launch of the powerful Saturn V rocket. For a moment night turned to day as the fire from its five F1 engines bathed the Kennedy Space Center with an incandescent glow. Then, as Apollo 17 surged upward like a fiery angel, darkness.

Back on Earth, the Watergate scandal had broken, President Nixon was making plans to begin a Christmas mass bombing campaign on the Vietnamese and the US was riven with conflict and protest.

And this was the last time that astronauts were to be sent to the Moon for the foreseeable future.

This was the moment that perhaps marked the end of optimism.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

There was an undertone of melancholy. We had done those wonderful missions and that was the end of it?

End Quote Prof John Logsdon George Washington University

The mission was the sixth to land on the Moon but arguably the first to devote a significant amount of time to scientific research. Harrison Schmitt was the first qualified geologist to be sent to explore the lunar surface.

Schmitt, along with fellow astronaut Eugene Cernan, spent three days on the Moon. They drove further on the lunar rover than anyone has driven before, collecting rocks and carrying out a series of experiments.

So at ease were the two men on the lunar surface they even found time for a song: "We were walking on the Moon one day," though this was quickly followed by a note of discord when the astronauts failed to agree whether the next line should be "....'merry, merry month of May,'" as specified in the original song or the scientifically more accurate though less poetic "December".

Many felt that the Apollo missions had been scrapped just as they had got into gear. Nasa had plans for Apollo 18, 19 and 20 missions that would also be research intensive. But President Nixon took the decision to scrap this hugely successful programme because it had achieved its principal aim three years earlier when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon.

Very expensive

"There was no compelling reason to keep going with a very expensive programme," according to Prof Logsdon.

"We did it as a geopolitical act of competition with the Soviet Union to demonstrate the superior technological and organisational power of the US. It had very little to do with exploring."

Golden Spike Chairman Gerry Griffin: "The moon is of interest to the scientific community... and the commercial development of space"

Nasa's focus turned toward developing an orbiting laboratory, SkyLab, and the development of the space shuttle. The space agency believed that this was not the end of its glory years, rather the beginning of a new era where space travel would become cheaper and more commonplace.

Of course that never happened. Successive US Presidents have tried to match President Kennedy's inspirational challenge to Nasa and the nation more than 50 years ago:

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."

Since then Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, both Presidents Bush and the current administration have matched neither their predecessor's rhetoric nor the financial support for such an endeavour. So the big question is whether anyone will ever set foot on the Moon again?

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard?

End Quote John F Kennedy US President 1961-1963

Prof Christopher Riley, a space historian at Lincoln University, is pessimistic.

"I suspect in my lifetime I have seen the last footprint on the Moon. It is very difficult for governments to do that kind of adventure at this time in the economic cycle."

It is a prospect that saddens Prof Riley. "One of the things that defines us as humans is this desire to explore and if we stop exploring we cease somehow a little bit to be human," he said.

International effort

Of all the countries with the motivation and resources to send an astronaut to the Moon is China. It already has ambitious plans to send robotic explorers to the Moon next year. Those missions may prompt an Apollo-type effort by China to demonstrate its own technological power by sending an astronaut to the Moon.

Prof Logsdon believes that it would be far better for the next attempt at a Moon shot to be an international effort.

"One of the great political challenges of the next decade is whether China can be incorporated into the global space effort or whether because of a combination of its own intentions and the fact that they are not being welcomed it puts them in a position where they choose to go it on their own."

For many who watched in awe as Nasa sent mission after mission to the Moon, a return to the lunar surface is not only possible but inevitable. It's a view that's implicit in the plaque left by the Apollo 17 astronauts which anticipates many more daring adventures.

"Here man completed his first exploration of the Moon - December 1972. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind."

Discovery - Last Man, First Scientist on the Moon was first broadcast on BBC World Service on Monday 3rd December at 19:32 GMT, with repeats.

Follow Pallab on Twitter

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20540172#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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'Spartan High School Style' By Garden Spot Students Named 'Worst Video On The Entire Internet'

We've seen our share of "Gangnam Style" parodies in our day, but this one takes the cake.

What started as a school project at Garden Spot High School in New Holland, Penn., "Spartan High School Style" has become a viral sensation as "the single worst video on the entire Internet."

"THIS IS NOT MY VIDEO," YouTube user Cym4tic writes. "This is from my high school. And I hate my high school, so no shame. Feel free to hate it and share it with the world!"

The video has garnered more than 14,700 dislikes by Thursday morning, and features lyrics on school spirit and student motivation as students and teachers attempting PSY's "Gangnam Style" dance.

It was a student project created before Thanksgiving, and the school principal thought the student creator did a "great job" with the the assignment, Intelligencer Journal reports.

"It ties into our Spartan language about doing what's right, doing your best and doing for others. It's a parody in a positive way," Principal matthew Sanger told the publication. "It's about school-wide unity. We decided to embrace it and see the good in it. W'ere letting it roll and we'll see where it goes."

Where it's going is more than 407,500 views by Thursday morning, and counting. BostInno has done a timestamped breakdown of the video with snarky commentary. Reddit users have filled a message board with hundreds of comments.

"It's amazing the turn it's taken," Garden Spot Dean of Students Eli Cox told the Intelligencer Journal. "I'm onto really concerned with what other people think who sit around making fun of people putting themselves out there."

While a commendable effort on the students' parts for this school assignment, California math teacher Hyun "Teddy" Ko is still our favorite dancer. His "Gangnam Style" performance for Murrieta Mesa High School's first pep rally of the year is nothing short of remarkable -- and he even looks a little like PSY.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/spartan-high-school-style_n_2249445.html

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'BioShock Infinite': 5 ways it's different

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Fans clamoring for the video game "BioShock Infinite," the highly anticipated spiritual successor to the legendary "BioShock," will have to wait a bit longer, but it should be worth the wait.

At a dazzling media preview of the game this past week at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, creative director Ken Levine said "Infinite" is now scheduled for release on March 26, 2013, so the developers can do further polishing. It had initially been set for release this month, then delayed to Feb. 26.

Just like the original, "Infinite" begins at a lighthouse. The video game's protagonist, an ex-Pinkerton agent named Booker DeWitt, ascends the beacon in 1912 before he's transported through the sky to the city of Columbia, a floating World's Fair that looks like a twisted version of a Norman Rockwell painting. DeWitt's been sent to this American haven to recuse a young woman named Elizabeth.

While "Infinite" very much handles like the original 2007 game, it's simultaneously feels different.

After spending a few hours with the beginning of "Infinite" and talking with Levine, it's evident the developers at Irrational Games have labored over forging a new path with "Infinite," all the while staying true to what helped make the original "BioShock" sell more than 5 million copies and achieve critical acclaim.

Here are five ways "Infinite" will be different from its predecessor:

___

SKY'S THE LIMIT

Unlike the claustrophobic undersea enclave of Rapture, the richly detailed setting of the first two "BioShock" games, Columbia is drastically more open, requiring new tactics for players to take down foes with a combination of guns and powers called "vigors." One called "Devil's Kiss," for instance, can transform DeWitt's hand into a grenade launcher.

___

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Before he's permitted to enter Columbia, DeWitt must submit to a baptism in a watery church by the believers of Father Comstock, the bearded ultra-nationalist leader of Columbia who is revered as a prophet by much of the city's population. Columbia's religious overtones are in stark contrast to Rapture's boozy confines.

___

TALKING HEADS

DeWitt and Elizabeth aren't strong silent types. Unlike the mostly mum protagonists of the previous "BioShock" games, these two continually converse with both each other and other characters. Levine said the most challenging part of crafting "Infinite" was writing all that dialogue, so much so that he had to hire other writers to work on the game.

___

REVITALIZATION

There are no Vita-Chambers to resurrect DeWitt when he bites it. Instead, he'll have to step through the front door of a dreamy rendition of his office back home to return to Columbia. Once he rescues Elizabeth, she'll attempt to keep her new protector healed with medical supplies ? and jab him with a needle when he goes down in battle to save him from death.

___

RACE RELATIONS

Equality isn't lifting up Columbia. There's restrooms marked for blacks and Irish, and at the beginning of "Infinite," when De Witt is first infiltrating the city in the clouds, he must choose whether he goes along with a hostile crowd and attack an interracial couple or stand up for them. If he assists, the pair will help him out later in the game.

___

Online:

http://www.bioshockinfinite.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bioshock-infinite-5-ways-different-130345872.html

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Video: Drill to Boost Economy?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50111025/

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No sign of emissions letting up as climate talks begin

FORGET fire, it's the smoke that matters. In the lead-up to the climate change summit in Doha, Qatar - which wraps up at the end of this week - study after study painted a grim picture of our future, from sea level rising faster. The worst news, however, is that far from cutting our emissions, we are pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than ever.

The latest figures from the Global Carbon Project, released this week, show that global emissions have been growing at an average of 3 per cent each year since 2000. We are on course to emit 35.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide this year just from burning fossil fuels and producing cement - a 58 per cent increase on 1990 levels, and this doesn't include another 3 billion tonnes or so of emissions from deforestation and other changes in land use (Nature Climate Change, doi.org/jwf).

China, now the biggest emitter, is responsible for most of this growth. "It's a slow tsunami," says the head of the project, Pep Canadell of Australia's national science institute CSIRO in Canberra. China's emissions are expected to grow until at least 2030. Even if they do peak by then, the emissions of other developing nations, particularly India with its 1.2 billion people, may continue to climb. The World Resources Institute reported last month that there are plans to build 1200 new coal-fired stations globally, most in India and China.

So there is little prospect of global emissions peaking around 2020 - which is what is needed to stop the world warming more than 2??C. Limiting warming to 2??C is still possible, but after decades of inaction, it would now take an unprecedented global effort to achieve it. "If this is not forthcoming, 2??C is beyond our grasp and even 4??C begins to look challenging," says Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Norwich, UK. Each year you don't do anything, the challenge grows greater, he adds.

Some countries have pledged to cut their emissions, but even if all existing pledges were kept - which seems unlikely - there is still a one in five chance that the world could warm by over 4??C, a report commissioned by the World Bank warned last month. If we carry on as we are, temperatures could rise more than 4??C well before 2100, and more than 8??C before 2150.

This is not even the worse-case scenario. Some studies suggest that the rise in temperature will be 4??C by the 2070s. The simulations on which these projections are based do not include the possibility of vast amounts of carbon being released from melting permafrost and undersea hydrates. Last week, reports from NASA and the UN warned that permafrost is already melting fast and that there could be extensive losses by 2100.

At the moment, however, we are pumping such amounts of carbon into the atmosphere that even massive releases of carbon from natural sources will not make much of a difference. Estimates suggest they will only lead to a small amount of extra warming. Instead, the real threat is more subtle - it's that the longer we delay cuts, the less difference they will make, because by the time our emissions start to fall, the land and oceans won't be able to take in any more carbon and will begin releasing it.

Meanwhile, the consequences of the 0.8??C warming that has already happened since pre-industrial times are becoming ever more apparent. Studies out last week confirmed that ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting much faster than predicted, for instance. Global sea level has already risen about 20 centimetres, largely because of the expansion of water as it warms, and this has undoubtedly increased the damage caused by storm surges such as that of superstorm Sandy.

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High Blood Pressure When Pregnant | Health Problems and Fitness

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH)?is?an increase in blood pressure after?20 weeks of gestation and?occurs in about?5 to 7% of?pregnant women. ?In PIH, vasospams of?both the?small and large arteries occur resulting in various manifestations.?The cause of PIH is unknown but there are various risk factors that are associated with it;

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension Risk Factors

• Multiple pregnancies

• Race (more common in women of color).

• Pregnant women who are younger than 20 years or older than 40 years.

• Women who have given birth more than five times.

• Pregnant women coming from low economic status?background.

• Women with medical history of other conditions. Such as kidney or heart problems.

• Women with?history of hypertension (essential hypertension).

• Women who have less than normal amniotic fluid (hydramnios).

?

Symptoms of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension

The symptoms and signs experienced by?a woman?depends on the stage of?progression. Pregnancy Induced Hypertension is classified into different categories;

?

• Gestational Hypertension

• Mild Preeclampsia

• Severe Preeclampsia

• Eclampsia

?

Gestational Hypertension

A woman is said to be having a gestational hypertension when?the blood pressure is 140/90mmHg without presence of protein in urine or edema (swelling).? In most cases, no medical treatment is ordered for?such cases since it is usually very mild and can be managed with other means.

?

Mild Preeclampsia

A woman is said to be having a Mild Preeclampsia if the blood pressure is above 140/90mmHg taken atleast in two occassion with 6 hours in between takings. Another way to?assess is by looking at?the woman's?previous?blood presssure readings. An?increase in diastolic pressure of more than 30mmHg and diastolic pressure greater than 15mmHg from the base line readings, suggests a woman is?developing a?Preeclampsia.

?

In normal pregnancy, most women shows a?trace of protein in urine samples. In?Mild Preeclampsia, apart?from the high blood pressure readings, there is?presence of?1+ or 2+ protein in urine. Edema also?develop due to protein loss and sodium retention. Woman may start to gain weight due to?edema,?mostly pronounced?on?the upper part of the body.

?

A significant weight gain of more than 2 pounds in a week in the second trimester or more than 1 pound in a week in the third trimester may be another sign that woman is having?Preeclampsia.

?

Severe Preeclampsia

A woman is considered to have developed a Severe Preeclampsia when the blood pressure increases?up to?160/110mmHg or above, taken at least two times with 6 hours in between the takings when the woman is at bed rest.

?

In Severe Preeclampsia, there is presence of 3+ or 4+ protein in urine taken randomly or more than 5g in a 24 hours urine sample. Women present with puffy face and hands due to extensive edema. Other signs of Severe Preeclampsia include;

?

• Decreased urine flow (urinating less than 500ml or less in 24 hours).

• Abnormal renal function tests - increased creatinine of more than 1.2 mg/dl.

• Headache

• Blurred vision

• Noticeable edema on the peripherals - woman may experience shortness of breath if pulmonary edema is presence.

• Liver dsfunction

• Epigastric pain

• Nausea and vomitting may occur

?

Eclampsia

This is the most fatal?classification of pregnancy induced hypertension.? A woman having eclampsia?experience all other symptoms of PIH plus seizure or coma.??This is because at this stage, the?cerebral edema is so intensive causing?cerebral hemorrhage, renal failure or circulatory collapse and eventually may lead to?death. Maternal?and fetal mortality rate with Eclampsia is as high as 20 and 25%?, respectively.

?

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension Treatment

Treatment of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension depends on the stage of advancement. Gestational hypertension and Mild Preeclampsia may not require any medication and can be managed easily at home with proper follow ups.

?

On the other hand, women with Severe Preeclampsia requires?hospitalization for close monitoring. If the fetus is already passed 36 weeks and the lung is mature, pregnancy can be terminated. If not, woman is put under medication?and frequent monitoring is maintained.

?

In Severe Preeclampsia,?hypotensive drugs such as hydralazine may be prescribed for hypertension and for women under Eclampsia watch, magnesium sulfate is the drug of choice which is?administered to prevent eclampsia.

?

Other non-pharmacology management of pregnancy induced hypertension?are;

• Encouraging?woman to take?bed rest.

• Providing proper nutrition to the woman.

• The woman room is maintained dark since bright light can trigger a seizure.

• Providing emotional or psychological support to the woman.

• Frequent monitoring of the mother and the fetus.

Source: http://healthfitnessconditions.blogspot.com/2012/12/high-blood-pressure-when-pregnant.html

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NYC police make arrest in fatal subway push

NEW YORK (AP) ? A suspect was arrested Wednesday in the death of a man who was pushed onto the tracks and photographed just before a train struck him.

Naeem Davis, 30, was taken into custody for questioning Tuesday after security video showed a man fitting the suspect's description working with street vendors near Rockefeller Center. Police said Davis made statements implicating himself in Ki-Suck Han's death.

Davis was arrested on a second-degree murder charge. He was in custody, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Witnesses told investigators they saw a man talking to himself Monday afternoon before he approached the 58-year-old Han of Queens at the Times Square station, got into an altercation with him and pushed him into the train's path.

The New York Post published a photo on its front page Tuesday of Han with his head turned toward the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time. It was shot by freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train.

Abbasi told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that he was trying to alert the motorman to what was going on by flashing his camera.

He said he was shocked that people nearer to the victim didn't try to help in the 22 seconds before the train struck.

"It took me a second to figure out what was happening ... I saw the lights in the distance. My mind was to alert the train," Abbasi said.

"The people who were standing close to him ... they could have moved and grabbed him and pulled him up. No one made an effort," he added.

Trains generally arrive at the stations going 25 mph, but it's not clear how fast the train was going when it struck Han. The waiting area is a narrower than other subway stations, but the platform is still about a dozen feet wide.

In a written account Abbasi gave the Post, he said a crowd took videos and snapped photos on their cellphones after Han was pulled, limp, onto the platform. He said he shoved them back as a doctor and another man tried to resuscitate the victim, but it was no use. The man died in front of Abbasi's eyes.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that it appeared the suspect in Han's death had "a psychiatric problem."

The mayor said Han, "if I understand it, tried to break up a fight or something and paid for it with his life."

_____

Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik and Tom Hays and contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-police-arrest-fatal-subway-push-180303540.html

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