NASA is unlikely to be the operator of the next spacecraft to land on the moon, but the U.S. space agency is considering sending along some red tape.
As dozens of private teams race to return to the moon as soon as next year, spurred on by $30 million in prize money from Google and the X Prize Foundation, NASA is wrestling with how to safeguard the historic and scientific value of more than three dozen sites containing remnants of America’s golden era of space exploration, including the spot where Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. left the first footprints on the lunar surface. Later this month, the agency plans to issue what it calls “recommendations” for spacecraft, or future astronauts, visiting U.S. government property on the moon. Continue reading NASA to Launch Guidelines to Protect Lunar Artifacts→
Iceland’s natural hazards experts can now use part of a special avalanche risk assessment fund to study the dangers posed by the country’s many volcanoes, which seem to be growing more active. At the end of last week, the country’s parliament approved a resolution from the Ministry for the Environment allowing Iceland’s Meteorological Office, which is responsible for forecasting natural hazards, to shift more of its focus toward preparing for volcanoes. The office anticipates it may take more than a decade to fully assess Iceland’s volcanic risks, but it will initially devote an estimated $2 million* over the first 3 years to kick-start the project. Continue reading Iceland Directs Avalanche Funds Into Volcano Risk Studies→
This spring’s outbreak of a virulent form of Escherichia coli in Germany and France provoked a rapid response from public health authorities and the research community. Not only did the response represent a triumph of global collaboration in rapidly characterizing the Shiga toxin–producing strain but it also prompted an on-the-fly clinical trial of one of the world’s most expensive biotech drugs—Alexion’s humanized monoclonal antibody Soliris (eculizumab)—previously approved for the rare disease paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). As thousands fell ill with the enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strain O104:H4 from eating tainted food—a substantial fraction developing potentially fatal hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)—German and then French doctors turned to Soliris, which prevents the cleavage of complement component 5 (C5) and activation of the hemolytic cascade.
The cemetery in the final shootout of The Good The Bad and The Ugly is just north of Clunia, so we decided to shoot and edit a remake in homage to Blondie, Angel Eyes, Tuco, and the rest. If you go there, I recommend turning on the film soundtrack just as you leave Santo Domingo de Silos, the nearest village, for an atmospheric drive over the hills. Thanks to Iza for the photos; I was too busy assisting the director.
The location.
The production crew.
The Good.
The Bad.
The Ugly.
The Ugly’s dancing partner?
Some off-camera action.
Barely wrapped up in time for sunset!
Journalist covering global development by way of science and technology.
