Tag Archives: Chris Hadfield

Sea Shambles update

Things have changed (but not the event date) since my March 3, 2020 posting about the Sea Shambles event in London’s (UK) Royal Albert Hall. It will now be livestreamed by the Royal Albert Home (series) and The Stay at Home Festival on May 17, 2020.

[downloaded from https://cosmicshambles.com/words/news/sea-shambles-at-home-guests]

You may recognize Cobie Smulders (fourth from the left) from her stints on television (How I Met Your Mother and Stumptown) and in the movies (the Avengers films). Here’s a little more about her from her IMDb (Internet Movie Database) entry, some of which helps to explain her presence,

Cobie Smulders was born on April 3, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Dutch father and an English mother. As a girl, Cobie had set her sights on becoming a doctor or a marine biologist. …

Is a certified scuba diver and former model.

Here’s more about the updated Sea Shambles event (from the Cosmic Network Shambles May 17, 2020 event page),

With the live version of Sea Shambles sadly unable to go ahead for obvious reasons, it’s time to bring a rejigged version of the show direct to you on the same date and time, May 17th [2020] at 7:00pm [BT]. [For those of us on the west coast of Canada, that would be 11 am {PT}.]

Among the exciting names who will be joining hosts Robin Ince, Helen Czerski and Steve Backshall on the night are physicst Professor Brian Cox, astronaut Chris Hadfield, actor and ocean advocate Cobie Smulders, rock band British Sea Power, science broadcaster Liz Bonnin, poet Lemn Sissay, comedian Josie Long, marine biologist Helen Scales, singer-songwriter Jim Moray, performer and rapper Ben Baily Smith, actor Samuel West, climate scientist Dr Tamsin Edwards, comedian Katy Brand, writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes, actor Rufus Hound, violinist Dunja Lavrova, laserist Seb Lee-Delisle, performer David McAlmont, singer/songwriter Grace Petrie, actor Reece Shearsmith and musician Steve Pretty. And, of course, we’ve got a bunch of surprises up our sleeves too…

So join us on a celebratory online voyage of discovery of our own blue planet and how we are best placed to protect it. We might not be on stage but we’re still bringing everything you’ve come to expect from one of the Cosmic Shambles Network’s signature variety shows. Including running over. This is set to be a 3 hour + extravaganza.

Lucy Noble, Artistic Director of the Royal Albert Hall, said: “We’re so excited to present this special version of Sea Shambles as part of the Royal Albert Home series. We would have loved to welcome audiences to the building to experience this spectacular show, but at the moment of course that’s not possible. This ‘at home’ version is the next best thing, with a truly staggering line-up of guests from the worlds of science, comedy and music.”

The show will be free to watch but as with all the shows during the Stay at Home Festival there will be a tip jar where people can leave a tip to help artists and venues hit hard by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as well the Royal Albert Hall charity itself. With all our profits from the original live show set to go to marine charities we’ll also be highlighting and encouraging donations during the show to our three chosen charities, Bite Back, Surfers Against Sewage and Oceana.

Here’s a link that will get you to the livestreamed event on May 17, 2020 at 11 am (PT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBQmdbVeoKw#action=share

One last thing, Tara Lohan has written a May 7, 2020 article for The Revelator about a groundbreaking international treaty for protecting the high seas (Note: A link has been removed),

Most of us have never been to the world’s immense last wilderness and never will. It’s beyond the horizon and often past the limits of our imaginations. It contains towering underwater mountain ranges, ancient corals, mysterious, unknown forms of life and the largest seagrass meadow in the world.

Yet it begins just 200 nautical miles off our shores. Technically referred to as “areas beyond national jurisdiction,” these remote expanses are known to most people simply as “the high seas.”

Their vast, dark waters encompass roughly two-thirds of the ocean and half the planet and are the last great global commons. Yet just 1% are protected, leaving these vital but relatively lawless expanses open to overfishing, pollution, piracy and other threats.

That could change soon.

In 2018, after more than a decade of groundwork at the United Nations, negotiations officially began for a new treaty focused on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the waters beyond national jurisdiction.

Sea Shambles in London, UK on May 17, 2020 (one night only)

Should you be in London (UK) in mid May 2020, you might want to check out a special event, Sea Shambles, at the Royal Albert Hall. Here’s a bit of a preview,

Here’s more about Sea Shambles on May 17, 2020 from the Cosmic Shambles Network event page,

Due to popular demand we are BACK at the Royal Albert Hall with a brand new event. Our biggest and most spectacular show EVER!

Following the success of 2018’s hugely popular Space Shambles, The Cosmic Shambles Network are excited to announce their return to The Royal Albert Hall in 2020 with a brand new sea themed spectacular which is destined to be their biggest show ever.

On May 17th 2020 The Cosmic Shambles Network and the Royal Albert Hall will take you on a celebratory voyage of discovery into the depths of our blue planet and how we can protect it, with a spectacular new show, Sea Shambles. Anchored by co-host of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Robin Ince with physicist and oceanographer Dr Helen Czerski, naturalist and wildlife presenter Steve Backshall and many very special guests, we’ll be turning the entire main auditorium of the Royal Albert Hall into a virtual underwater playground with everything you’ve come to expect from The Cosmic Shambles Network’s signature variety shows, including special effects, puppetry and so very many lasers.

Join Robin, Helen and Steve as they set sail with an all-star cast of scientists, comedians, performers and musical guests (we’ll reveal some, not all – don’t be greedy – very soon…) for a one night only event you’ll never forget.

Tickets on sale NOW!

As always we want to make these unique events as accessible to as many people as possible and so we’ve made sure there are 100’s of tickets starting at just £10!

As part of the event we will also be once again collecting for The Trussell Trust Food Banks and raising money for selected ocean charities.

Usually I’d include the link to the page where you can purchase tickets in the text about the event but this time, I’m directing you here. From there you’ll be directed to a seating chart where you can see which seats are available to you based on whet you are willing to pay for the seat. There’s more but it’s probably best you investigate for yourself.

As happens, I got interested in the group behind this ‘shambles and found this About Cosmic Network Shambles,

The Cosmic Shambles Network, was created in 2017, by comedian Robin Ince and Trent Burton of Trunkman Productions.  It was borne out of The Incomplete Map of the Cosmic Genome (which started back in 2013) and Utter Shambles (2010), later Book Shambles (2015).

The Cosmic Shambles Network creates and curates podcasts, digital content and live events for people with curious minds. People who want to find out more about our universe through science, art, history, philosophy, music, literature. People who believe ignorance is not bliss. People who want to keep on discovering and learning about our wondrous universe and who want to have a laugh while doing it. People who believe that it is indeed our curiosity that makes us human.  We believe we can never stop learning – science will never be finished and that’s exciting. The Cosmic Shambles Network brings together the world’s leading scientists, comedians, writers and performers to create entertaining content fuelled by curiosity. The approach is fun, real, accessible. Amongst the shambles there’s something for everyone.

Enjoy! One more thing, I notice that the Space Shambles event of 2018 featured Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut.

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) will lead an Ideas Lab at 2016 World Economic Forum

The theme for the 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) is ‘Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution’. I’m losing track of how many industrial revolutions we’ve had and this seems like a vague theme. However, there is enlightenment to be had in this Nov. 17, 2015 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) news release on EurekAlert,

KAIST researchers will lead an IdeasLab on biotechnology for an aging society while HUBO, the winner of the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge, will interact with the forum participants, offering an experience of state-of-the-art robotics technology

Moving on from the news release’s subtitle, there’s more enlightenment,

Representatives from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) will attend the 2016 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum to run an IdeasLab and showcase its humanoid robot.

With over 2,500 leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society, academia, media, and the arts expected to participate, the 2016 Annual Meeting will take place on Jan. 20-23, 2016 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. Under the theme of ‘Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution,’ [emphasis mine] global leaders will discuss the period of digital transformation [emphasis mine] that will have profound effects on economies, societies, and human behavior.

President Sung-Mo Steve Kang of KAIST will join the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), a high-level academic meeting to foster collaboration among experts on issues of global concern for the future of higher education and the role of science in society. He will discuss how the emerging revolution in technology will affect the way universities operate and serve society. KAIST is the only Korean university participating in GULF, which is composed of prestigious universities invited from around the world.

Four KAIST professors, including Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, will lead an IdeasLab on ‘Biotechnology for an Aging Society.’

Professor Lee said, “In recent decades, much attention has been paid to the potential effect of the growth of an aging population and problems posed by it. At our IdeasLab, we will introduce some of our research breakthroughs in biotechnology to address the challenges of an aging society.”

In particular, he will present his latest research in systems biotechnology and metabolic engineering. His research has explained the mechanisms of how traditional Oriental medicine works in our bodies by identifying structural similarities between effective compounds in traditional medicine and human metabolites, and has proposed more effective treatments by employing such compounds.

KAIST will also display its networked mobile medical service system, ‘Dr. M.’ Built upon a ubiquitous and mobile Internet, such as the Internet of Things, wearable electronics, and smart homes and vehicles, Dr. M will provide patients with a more affordable and accessible healthcare service.

In addition, Professor Jun-Ho Oh of the Mechanical Engineering Department will showcase his humanoid robot, ‘HUBO,’ during the Annual Meeting. His research team won the International Humanoid Robotics Challenge hosted by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was held in Pomona, California, on June 5-6, 2015. With 24 international teams participating in the finals, HUBO completed all eight tasks in 44 minutes and 28 seconds, 6 minutes earlier than the runner-up, and almost 11 minutes earlier than the third-place team. Team KAIST walked away with the grand prize of USD 2 million.

Professor Oh said, “Robotics technology will grow exponentially in this century, becoming a real driving force to expedite the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I hope HUBO will offer an opportunity to learn about the current advances in robotics technology.”

President Kang pointed out, “KAIST has participated in the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum since 2011 and has engaged with a broad spectrum of global leaders through numerous presentations and demonstrations of our excellence in education and research. Next year, we will choreograph our first robotics exhibition on HUBO and present high-tech research results in biotechnology, which, I believe, epitomizes how science and technology breakthroughs in the Fourth Industrial Revolution will shape our future in an unprecedented way.”

Based on what I’m reading in the KAIST news release, I think the conversation about the ‘Fourth revolution’ may veer toward robotics and artificial intelligence (referred to in code as “digital transformation”) as developments in these fields are likely to affect various economies.  Before proceeding with that thought, take a look at this video showcasing HUBO at the DARPA challenge,


I’m quite impressed with how the robot can recalibrate its grasp so it can pick things up and plug an electrical cord into an outlet and knowing whether wheels or legs will be needed to complete a task all due to algorithms which give the robot a type of artificial intelligence. While it may seem more like a machine than anything else, there’s also this version of a HUBO,

Description English: Photo by David Hanson Date 26 October 2006 (original upload date) Source Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Mac. Author Dayofid at English Wikipedia

Description
English: Photo by David Hanson
Date 26 October 2006 (original upload date)
Source Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Mac.
Author Dayofid at English Wikipedia

It’ll be interesting to note if the researchers make the HUBO seem more humanoid by giving it a face for its interactions with WEF attendees. It would be more engaging but also more threatening since there is increasing concern over robots taking work away from humans with implications for various economies. There’s more about HUBO in its Wikipedia entry.

As for the IdeasLab, that’s been in place at the WEF since 2009 according to this WEF July 19, 2011 news release announcing an ideasLab hub (Note: A link has been removed),

The World Economic Forum is publicly launching its biannual interactive IdeasLab hub on 19 July [2011] at 10.00 CEST. The unique IdeasLab hub features short documentary-style, high-definition (HD) videos of preeminent 21st century ideas and critical insights. The hub also provides dynamic Pecha Kucha presentations and visual IdeaScribes that trace and package complex strategic thinking into engaging and powerful images. All videos are HD broadcast quality.

To share the knowledge captured by the IdeasLab sessions, which have been running since 2009, the Forum is publishing 23 of the latest sessions, seen as the global benchmark of collaborative learning and development.

So while you might not be able to visit an IdeasLab presentation at the WEF meetings, you could get a it to see them later.

Getting back to the robotics and artificial intelligence aspect of the 2016 WEF’s ‘digital’ theme, I noticed some reluctance to discuss how the field of robotics is affecting work and jobs in a broadcast of Canadian television show, ‘Conversations with Conrad’.

For those unfamiliar with the interviewer, Conrad Black is somewhat infamous in Canada for a number of reasons (from the Conrad Black Wikipedia entry), Note: Links have been removed,

Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, KSG (born 25 August 1944) is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher and author. He is a non-affiliated life peer, and a convicted felon in the United States for fraud.[n 1] Black controlled Hollinger International, once the world’s third-largest English-language newspaper empire,[3] which published The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), The Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America, before he was fired by the board of Hollinger in 2004.[4]

In 2004, a shareholder-initiated prosecution of Black began in the United States. Over $80 million in assets claimed to have been improperly taken or inappropriately spent by Black.[5] He was convicted of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice in a U.S. court in 2007 and sentenced to six and a half years’ imprisonment. In 2011 two of the charges were overturned on appeal and he was re-sentenced to 42 months in prison on one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.[6] Black was released on 4 May 2012.[7]

Despite or perhaps because of his chequered past, he is often a good interviewer and he definitely attracts interesting guests. n an Oct. 26, 2015 programme, he interviewed both former Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, and Canadian-American David Frum who’s currently editor of Atlantic Monthly and a former speechwriter for George W. Bush.

It was Black’s conversation with Frum which surprised me. They discuss robotics without ever once using the word. In a section where Frum notes that manufacturing is returning to the US, he also notes that it doesn’t mean more jobs and cites a newly commissioned plant in the eastern US employing about 40 people where before it would have employed hundreds or thousands. Unfortunately, the video has not been made available as I write this (Nov. 20, 2015) but that situation may change. You can check here.

Final thought, my guess is that economic conditions are fragile and I don’t think anyone wants to set off panic by mentioning robotics and disappearing jobs.

Tweet the International Space Station on the solstice, June 21, 2014

On the heels of the nanosatellite project (see this June 19, 2014 posting) here’s an email announcement about a very interesting project for the Summer Solstice (June 21, 2014),

The June Solstice (Saturday, June 21) is the best time to view the International Space Station [ISS] in the northern hemisphere.

But now there¹s another way.

Crowdsource the pictures via Twitter.

Space enthusiasts are being encouraged to tag their tweets with #SpotTheStation and include a location name and it will go on an interactive map.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman had the idea while on the International Space Station.  His tweet for example was ³During #Exp40, spot the #ISS & tweet your town, country-or-state w/ #spotthestation (pics welcome); we’ll map it! bit.ly/SpotTheStation2²

Here’s a little more detail as to the company and agency behind this project,

Esri, a GIS mapping software provider, has partnered with the Center of Geographic Sciences in Canada to develop a Twitter app to pinpoint the exact location of the ISS sightings around the world in order to give a complete view. The global map documenting the recent ISS sightings is already live.

I have looked at the live map and tweeters have been active. You can check to see the locations. For example, as of June 19, 2014 1000 hours PDT, Canada has some 26 tweets while Florida has 40 and Munich tops them both with 132 tweets.

I have looked up the company, Esri, and found this on the About Esri History page,

Jack and Laura Dangermond founded Esri in 1969 as a small research group focused on land-use planning. The company’s early mission was to organize and analyze geographic information to help land planners and land resource managers make well-informed environmental decisions.

There’s a very interesting article on the Esri website, which provides some insight into the origins for the June 21, 2014 ‘#SpotTheStation’ project. Written by Carla Wheeler (an Esri writer), it is undated but there is mention of Chris Hadfield’s sojourn on the ISS and his attendance at an event in June 2013 after he landed. From Wheeler’s 2013 (?) article, A Map App Odyssey,

Today social media, with doses of humor, are very much a part of the space mission, with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and many astronauts sending messages, videos, and photos back to Earth via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Followers post messages for the astronauts too, making interaction about space interactive.

The photos Hadfield and fellow ISS astronaut Thomas Marshburn sent via Twitter inspired their follower David MacLean, a faculty member at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS), Nova Scotia Community College, and his students to create a mapping app called Our World from the ISS. It used Esri ArcGIS Online to map more than 950 photographs of interesting places on Earth that Hadfield and Marshburn shot from space. They took the photos during their December 2012–May 2013 mission and posted the images on Twitter with their observations of each scene (in 140 characters or fewer, of course). Hadfield, a Canadian, was especially prolific and poetic. …

MacLean, also a Canadian, was intrigued by the astronauts’ unique perspective as they orbited 400 kilometers (250 miles) above earth, photographing everything from cities to barrier reefs and sand formations to smoke from brush fires. He didn’t want their geologically and geographically interesting images and descriptions—such as “taffy-twisted African rock” and the “yin and yang of ice and land”—to quickly get swallowed and lost in the fast-moving Twitterverse.

“[Hadfield] took pictures all over the earth, with wonderful prose as he described the outback of Australia and parts of Mauritania and Algeria that no one would [otherwise] get to see,” MacLean said. “Unfortunately, Twitter seems to be a very temporal medium, and all these wonderful pictures—these rich resources—slip away and you have to really look to find them.”

MacLean wondered if there was a way to preserve the images and messages in the Tweets in a form that was easy for people to find and view. He decided to try building a mapping app, which he and his students created using geographic information system (GIS) technology from Esri, online comma-separated value (CSV) files, and Google Docs spreadsheets in Google Drive. Their map displays icons, provided courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency, that look like small space stations. These show the approximate (or, at times, quite accurate) locations of each photograph. Viewers can pan the map, zoom in to any area of interest, and tap an icon. A pop-up window will appear that includes a thumbnail of the picture and the message from the astronaut. You can also click the thumbnail to see the full-size Tweet in the astronauts’ Twitter feed. (Clicking the photo in Twitter will then bring up a larger, sharper image.) It’s a little like seeing photos of landscapes in National Geographic—only taken from space.

Tap an icon north of Medina, Saudi Arabia, to see Hadfield’s May 3 [2013?] photo of the Harrat Khaybar volcanic lava field and read his post: “The Earth bubbled and spat, like boiling porridge, long ago in Saudi Arabia.” Another geologic wonder caught his eye Down Under: “A splash of dry salt, white on seared red, in Australia’s agonizingly beautiful Outback.”

So, on June 21, 2014 get ready to tweet ‘#SpotTheStation’ and have a joyous Summer Solstice!

Nicholas Negroponte and Chris Hadfield at TED 2014’s Session 1: Liftoff

Nicholas Negroponte opened the first TED conference in 1984 and has come back for the 30th anniversary. Here’s his TED biography,

The founder of the MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte pushed the edge of the information revolution as an inventor, thinker and angel investor. He’s the driving force behind One Laptop per Child, building computers for children in the developing world.

media.mit.edu

Negroponte discusses what has changed over the years. When he first started in the 1970s no one thought you’d ever use a touchscreen and putting your fingers on the screen was considered silly. This sort of thinking (touchscreens) is what went into the development of MIT’s Media Lab. He seems to be highlighting some of the high points of his thinking. He finds some of today’s internet of Things thinking to be pathetic (he references some of the sessions earlier today). He (?) started Wired magazine. Negroponte has gotten more interested in computers and learning over the years. He compares iteration to learning and mentions One Laptop Per Child. There was virtually no international aid for that project, the money came from the countries that used the program. After that project, he worked on an initiative where they dropped off computers to children (in Ethiopia and ?) with no instruction. Within days, the children had figured it out and within six months they hacked Android. He now wants to connect 100M people (on the African continent?). He predicts that in 30 years, we will ingest information (swallow a pill where the information travels through the bloodstream and on into the brain).

For some reason, they thought it would be amusing to play the Joe Canadian commercial. Chris Hadfield is then introduced. Here’s his TED biography,

Tweeting (and covering Bowie) from the International Space Station last year, Colonel Chris Hadfield reminded the world how much we love space.

Hadfield (who has a guitar on stage with him) talks about danger (asks the audience what’s the most dangerous thing theyu’ve done) and notes that space travel is dangerous. He then  describes in detail what it’s like to get into a space shuttle and head for the space. He says that a space shuttle is the most complicated machine (?) ever built. He next shows a shuttle launch and  describes being on the International Space Station. You see a sunrise every 25 minutes due to the speed at which you are travelling. He describes his first space walk when his left eye went blind. His left eye teared up while he continued work outside the station.

In space your tears don’t fall, they build up until there’s enough force to push them across the bridge of your nose and land like a small waterfall in your right eye. When the tears wooshed over to his right eye, he became completely blind.

Hadfield asks the audience again about danger and talks about overcoming fear and dealing with real danger as opposed to perceived danger. One of the ways astronauts deal with their fear and danger is to practice until they’ve changed their primal fear.

Hadfield plays a guitar and covers David Bowie’s Space Oddity and ends his talk with these words “Fear Not.”

I am done for today and I hope there aren’t too many mistakes in this post.

*Four Vancouver (Canada) science events: Policy Making and Science; Solving a global medical crisis with a particle accelerator; and Marc Garneau asks, Should Canada be in space?; light to quantum materials

It’s going to be busy in Vancouver (Canada) next week, if you plan your life around the city’s science events.

The first event, “The Art of Policy Making: What’s Science Got to Do With It?” is being held by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science. It will be held at lunchtime on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver.

The Art of Policy Making:

What’s Science Got to Do With It?

Speaker: Andrew Petter, President of Simon Fraser University

Panelists: Adam Walters-Navigate Surgical Company, Vancouver, B.C. and David S. Fushtey, Senior Fellow,, Centre for Corporate Governance and Risk Management, SFU Beedie Faculty of Business, and Fellow, SFU Centre for Dialogue

Moderator: Bill Good, CKNW Radio, Vancouver, B.C.

Co-Chairs: Martin Zuckermann, D.Phil. (Oxon), FRSC, Emeritus Professor of Physics, McGill University

Olga A. Barrat, Ph.D., Research Scientist

Date: November 26, 2013

Location:
Simon Fraser University
Harbour Centre / Segal Centre
515 West Hastings, Vancouver
Registration: 11:30 a.m.
Presentation: 12:10 p.m.
Discussion: 12:50 – 1:45 p.m.

Pre-register via email at: caas@caas-acascience.org
Or by post to CAAS at the address or fax number noted below
Tickets: $35.00 (payable at the door by cash or cheque)
Information: caas@caas-acascience.org

For that price I hope they are including lunch. I did not realize we had a Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science (established in 1999) or that it was located in North Vancouver,

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
P.O. Box 75513, 3034 Edgemont Blvd., North Vancouver, B.C., Canada V7R 4X1 / Fax: 604-926-5806
www.caas-acascience.org

The next day, you can trot off to: ‘Medicine Accelerated: Canada’s role in the Medical Isotope Revolution’ (part of the Unveiling the Universe Lecture Series) will be held on Wednesday, 27 November 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PST) at Vancouver’s Science World., From the Nov. 15, 2013 TRIUMF;Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics news release,

Medicine Accelerated: Canada’s role in the Medical Isotope Revolution

Join Science World and TRIUMF in welcoming Dr. Paul Schaffer for a free public lecture at the TELUS World of Science Wednesday November 27, 2013.  As part of the “Unveiling the Universe” lecture series presented by TRIUMF and Science World, Dr. Schaffer will be speaking about recent advances in radiopharmaceuticals and and their role in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. he also will be highlighting Canada’s leadership role in developing cyclotron particle-accelerator technology to create medical isotopes.  This lecture is offered in cooperation with ARPICO, the Society of Italian Researchers and Professionals in Western Canada. (www.arpico.ca).

Tickets are free but registration is required.

Visit http://medicine-accelerated.eventbrite.ca  to reserve your seat.

Doors open at 6pm with the lecture starting at 7pm.   There will be a Q&A session to follow.

A live webcast of the lecture will be available online (requires Silverlight plugin). Visit registration site for link.

About Paul Schaffer

Paul Schaffer is the Division Head of the Nuclear Medicine program at TRIUMF, Canada’s national lab for particle and nuclear physics in Vancouver, BC. He is responsible for maintaining TRIUMF’s medical isotope and radiotracer production programs in support of neurological and oncological research. He was recently recognized as one of British Columbia’s Top Forty under 40 by Business in Vancouver magazine

About Science World

Science World British Columbia is a not-for-profit organization that engages British Columbians in science and inspires future science and technology leadership throughout our province.

About TRIUMF

TRIUMF is Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. It is owned and operated by a consortium of Canadian universities and is funded by a contribution through the National Research Council of Canada. The Province of British Columbia provides capital funding for the construction of buildings for the TRIUMF Laboratory.

There are some 23 General Admission tickets still available as of November 20, 2013 (9:15 am PST). This talk is likely to touch on TRIUMF’s recently ‘unveiled’ medical cyclotron (from my June 9, 2013 posting),

Today, Sunday, June 9, 2013, TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, and its partners announced that they have devised a technique for producing medical isotopes that is not dependent on materials from nuclear reactors. From the June 9, 2013 TRIUMF news release,

With Canadian-developed tools and technology, a national team led by TRIUMF has reached a crucial milestone at the BC Cancer Agency in developing and deploying alternatives for supplying key medical isotopes. The team used a medical cyclotron that was designed and manufactured by Advanced Cyclotron Systems, Inc. (ACSI) of Richmond, BC, and successfully achieved large-scale production of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), sufficient for a metropolitan area.

The team announced the successful ramp-up of its technology to regularly produce enough of the critical Tc-99m isotope to supply an urban area the size of Vancouver. This achievement eliminates the need for nuclear reactors to produce isotopes, especially those that use weaponsgrade uranium, which has been the traditional approach.

ETA Nov. 25, 2013: There’s a Nov. 22, 2013 news item (Medical isotope supply interrupted across Canada; Delivery of one isotope to hospitals down to less than 50 per cent of normal) on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) News online about the latest shortage of medical isotopes.

The third event is being hosted by Canadian Member of Parliament,(Liberal) Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra) on Friday, November 29, 2013 at Enigma Restaurant on W. 10th Avenue near the University of British Columbia. From the November 15, 2013, invitation,

Please join Member of Parliament Joyce Murray at her Friday November 29th MP Breakfast Connections discussion with guest speaker Marc Garneau, MP: “Does Canada need a Space Program?”

 Be part of the conversation with Canada’s first Astronaut and former President of Canada’s National Space Agency, Marc Garneau.  Canada’s Space Agency began in 1990, with a mission to lead the development and application of space knowledge for the benefit of Canadians and humanity.  Canadians have made significant contributions to space travel with the robotic Canadarm, developed in part here in British Columbia, by MacDonald Dettweiler, and we were all enthralled last year when Canadian Chris Hadfield was commander of the International Space Station and shared his experiences from space.  Is there a future for Canada’s  Space Agency?  Let’s ask Marc!

Details:

Friday, November 29, 2013

7:30 – Registration + Buffet Breakfast

7:50 – 8:45 Speaker + Q and A

Enigma Restaurant – 4397 W. 10th Ave. (Off Trimble) (map)

The cost of the breakfast is $20 / $10 for students.

(Cash only at the door)

Please RSVP to joyce.murray.c1c@parl.gc.ca or by calling 604-664-9220.

Interestingly, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfleld has been in Vancouver giving interviews (Nov. 18, 2013 on The Rush television programme), as he’s been promoting his new book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. You can find out more about the book at http://chrishadfield.ca/

Btw, I have been to Joyce’s breakfasts before and they serve a good breakfast at Enigma.

*As of Nov. 20, 2013, 2:30 pm PDT: I’m adding one more event: Vancouver’s Café Scientifique is being held in the back room of the The Railway Club (2nd floor of 579 Dunsmuir St. [at Seymour St.], Vancouver, Canada), on Tuesday, November 26,  2013 at 7:30 pm. Here’s the talk description (from the Nov. 20,, 2013 announcement,

Our speaker for the evening will be Dr. Andrea Damascelli.

From Light Quanta to Quantum Materials

he photoelectric effect – the ejection of electrons from a solid consequent to the absorption of light – was discovered by Hertz in 1887 and explained by Einstein in 1905 on the basis of the revolutionary hypothesis of Light Quanta, or photons. This intuition, which gave Einstein the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, marked the beginning of quantum physics and also of photoelectric spectroscopy, one of the most active fields in modern science and technology. Owing to recent technical progress and in particular to the development of third generation synchrotron sources – particle accelerators in which electrons traveling at nearly the speed of light generate the most brilliant light available to scientists – the last decade witnessed a renaissance in this technique and its applications. These have now become the primary tools in the study of emerging Quantum Materials, systems which manifest a wide range of astonishing electronic and magnetic phenomena and with the potential to revolutionize consumer electronics, telecommunications, next-generation computing, alternative energy, and medicine.

You can find Dr. Damascelli’s profile page here on the University of British Columbia website.

Do you think we’re sexy? Canadian five dollar bill ‘launched’ from outer space

I’m a bit late to this party as the new bills were launched, so to speak, from outer space by Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the International Space Station, along with the usual suspects. In at least one quarter, there’s more than a hint of envy regarding our sexy new $5 bill. From the May 1, 2013 article by Kadim Shubber for UK Wired,

Though it pains us to say it, Canada may have “out cooled” the UK (but just this once).

Canada’s new $5 note features an astronaut, a view of Earth from space, and, yes, space robots. The UK’s new £5 note will feature… Sir Winston Churchill.

Canada’s Financial Post, in an Apr. 28, 2013 piece about both new bills, noted this,

Focus groups consulted about the proposed images for the new bank note series thought the space motif of the new five-dollar bill looked childish.

Others were left scratching their heads over the depiction of Dextre, a Canadian robotic handyman on board the International Space Station.

Some people wrongly assumed Dextre was the name of an astronaut shown on the bill, while others had no clue who the name referred to.

Here’s what the fuss is all about (you can find a larger image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bankofcanada/8694157272/_),

$5—back/verso

Here’s more about the launch from the Apr. 30, 2013 Bank of Canada news release,

While orbiting more than 350 kilometres above Earth, Commander Hadfield gave Canadians their first look at the new $5 polymer note. It features images of Canadarm2 and Dextre – robotics innovations used to build and maintain the Space Station and that symbolize Canada’s ongoing contribution to the international space program.

“I try to inspire young Canadians to aim high. This new $5 bill should do the same,” Commander Hadfield said. “By giving prominence to Canadian achievements in space, this bank note reminds us that not even the sky is the limit.”

The front of the $5 note features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911.

One of the Canadian leaders in our robotics space exploration programme is MDA, which was founded in Richmond, BC. From MDA’s space exploration webpage,

MDA’s robotic systems have enabled human spaceflight for nearly three decades, assembling space infrastructure, servicing space assets, supporting spacewalks, and safe berthing of visiting space vehicles. With exploration entering a new era of deeper space transportation and commercial crew and cargo services, MDA’s next generation robotic systems and advanced technologies are being developed to meet the future needs of human space infrastructure.

As global space agencies turn their attention to the next steps in planetary exploration, MDA has developed a broad portfolio of advanced planetary technology spanning robotics, vision, instruments, and complete rover vehicles to support future international missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

MDA’s solutions have helped advance the boundaries of robotic exploration, from vision systems for orbital rendezvous and proximity operations, to robotic arms and mechanisms aboard every one of NASA’s Mars rovers and landers, and planetary science instruments that include the Phoenix Meteorological Station, MSL’s APXS spectrometer currently en route to Mars, and the OLA mapping LIDAR for NASA’s OSIRIS-REX asteroid mission.

You can find out more about Canadarm2 and DEXTRE on the MDA website. As for the new $5 and $10 bills, they will be put into circulation in November 2013.

I last mentioned in Hadfield in connection with a National Film Board of Canada Space School in my Apr. 22, 2013 posting.

Canada’s National Film Board launches Space School for 11 – 15 year olds and TRIUMF celebrates award-winning photo

Exciting news from the National Film Board of Canada arrived in my mailbox this morning (Monday, Apr. 22, 2013),

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have teamed up to create NFB Space School, a free and fun interactive learning experience for families and classes alike that engages young Canadians in the wonders of space exploration by giving them their own front-row seat to CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s historic mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Designed for youth between the ages of 11 and 15, NFB Space School helps kids discover more about space, science, technology and leadership, reigniting a wonder about our universe through cutting-edge interactive features.

The out-of-this-world new website will blast off with an online launch from Halifax’s Discovery Centre, featuring a 20-minute Q&A with Commander Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the ISS, via a live downlink from 12:10 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., Atlantic Time [8:10 – 8:30 am PDT]. Commander Hadfield will answer questions from Halifax-area school children and media while he orbits the Earth aboard the ISS. [This event has occurred.]

NFB Space School is launching with two modules, Mission and Leadership, featuring exclusive footage of Hadfield training for his historic mission, along with interactive videos and quizzes. The site will be updated with new modules on such subjects as astronomy, history and astrobiology.

Available in both English and French, NFB Space School is also ideal for classroom use, with additional educational resources available through the NFB’s subscription-based educational portal, CAMPUS, in September 2013.

NFB Space School is a unique partnership between the NFB, one of the world’s leading digital content hubs and Canadian pioneer in online streaming for educators, and the CSA, committed to leading the development and application of space knowledge for the benefit of Canadians and humanity. Paul McNeill is the creative lead and producer of NFB Space School. Graham MacDougall is the interactive strategist, with interactive design, development and programming by Halifax-based web developers theREDspace. Ravida Din is the executive producer for the NFB. NFB Space School was developed and produced by the NFB’s Atlantic Centre in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

To learn more about the Expedition 34/35 mission and the CSA’s activities, visit Chris Hadfield’s Astronaut Mission page. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Canadian Space Agency and Chris Hadfield on social media.

I was a little disappointed I didn’t receive the announcement a little sooner as I would have liked to view the livestream interview with Hadfield. It’s easy to forget just how big Canada is and that four hour time difference really has an impact when you’re on the ‘wrong’ end of the country.

It was a great idea to launch the school with a live event with Hadfield communicating from the space station. Unfortunately, there’s no follow through on the rest of the website.  For two suggestions/examples. (a) An ‘explorer’  doesn’t get to amass enough points answering the quizzes to perhaps get a special session with Hadfield or someone else on the space station. (b) There aren’t any projects where a student could create their own space film and submit it for a contest. In all, this interactive site is curiously unidirectional. Information is pumped out and the participant/student answers quizzes, very much like school.  In the end, the Space School seems to be designed more for teachers than explorers of all ages (but especially those from the ages of  11 to 15). Anyway, it’s early days yet for the school and hopefully there are already some changes being planned.

Now, here’s a bit of news from the pacific end of the country. TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for nuclear and particle physics, has been recognized with a second place standing in an international photography exhibition, the second Global Particle Physics Photowalk. From the TRIUMF Apr. 19, 2013 news release,

TRIUMF is pleased to announce and congratulate local contestant Andy White, a 3rd year Visual Arts student at UBC from North Vancouver, who was awarded 2nd place in the juried competition for his winning photo of TIGRESS.

Along with studying art and photography at school, Andy is also a competitive Javelin thrower on the varsity track & field team. His spirited nature served him well in this competition. “I come from quite an Arts-based background and really don’t have much involvement with science, yet I have always been fascinated by technology so I was eager to get involved. This would be my first time visiting TRIUMF and I had no idea what to expect,” explained Andy.

What he found during his visit to TRIUMF was TIGRESS, a nuclear physics spectrometer, in the ISAC-II building. This equipment allows researchers to study the structure of the nucleus and the forces that hold it together by analyzing rare nuclear reactions.

“What drew me to TIGRESS was its element of fine craftsmanship, colour and shape. I chose to photograph it symmetrically and end-on to reveal these features as they were best presented,” said Andy.

Greg Hackman, research scientist at TRIUMF, is responsible for the operation and maintenance of TIGRESS. “This is a gamma-ray detector designed for nuclear structure experiments and specifically to make optimal use of ISAC,” says Greg. “The function entirely drove the form.”

Andy muses, “It was great connecting the arts with science, and this photowalk offered me a unique challenge to present technology in a creative way. What is most fascinating is our human capability to create such instruments, and this is what I intended to bring forward in my images.”

To decipher the science behind TIGRESS, as displayed in Andy’s photo, Science Division Head Reiner Kruecken explains, “Instruments like TIGRESS allow us to peak into the femto-world of the atomic nucleus and deduce what is happening in this otherwise invisible world which is only the size of one millionth of a millionth of a millimeter. What you see in the photo from inside to outside are Germanium crystals and two layers of so-called BGO shield detectors. These shield detectors look toward the center of the array where we induce nuclear reactions and show us something about the structure and dynamics in atomic nuclei.”

Just as physicists are enticed by symmetries in nature as they unleash mysteries of the universe, photographers are drawn to symmetries in their subjects as they create alluring images to captivate their audience.

Here’s White’s award-winning photograph,

Credit: Andy White

Credit: Andy White

Interactions.org, one of the event organizers, has provided more detail about this international event in an Apr. 18, 2013 news release,

In September 2012, hundreds of amateur and professional photographers had the rare opportunity to explore and photograph accelerators and detectors at particle physics laboratories around the world.

In the InterActions Physics Photowalk, ten of the world’s leading particle physics laboratories offered special behind-the-scenes access to their scientific facilities:

Brookhaven National Laboratory
 (New York, USA)
Catania National Laboratory
 (Catania, Italy)
Chilbolton Observatory
 (Hampshire, UK)
Daresbury Laboratory
 (Cheshire, UK)
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
 (Illinois, USA)
Frascati National Laboratory
 (Frascati, Italy)
Gran Sasso National Laboratory
 (Gran Sasso, Italy)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
 (Oxfordshire, UK)
TRIUMF
 (Vancouver, Canada)
United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre
 (Edinburgh, UK)

Participating photographers submitted thousands of photos for local competitions. Each laboratory selected local winners, and advanced these top photographs to two global competitions. [emphasis mine]

More than 1,250 photography enthusiasts voted online to name the global people’s choice winners. [emphasis mine] Nino Bruno’s photograph of a tunnel connecting the underground halls of INFN’s Gran Sasso National Laboratory garnered the most votes, followed closely by Enrique Diaz’s side view of the STAR detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Steve Zimic’s photograph of the tunnel that houses Brookhaven’s RHIC accelerator.

A panel of international judges also selected three winners. [emphasis mine] The judges—photographers Stanley Greenberg from the United States, Roy Robertson from the United Kingdom, Andrew Haw from Canada and Luca Casonato from Italy—awarded the top prize to Joseph Paul Boccio’s detailed photograph of the KLOE detector at INFN’s Frascati National Laboratory, second prize to Andy White’s photo capturing the color and symmetry of the TIGRESS detector at the Canadian laboratory TRIUMF, and third prize to Helen Trist’s photograph of data storage at the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. [emphasis mine]

There are prizes for the winners,

The winning photographs will be featured in upcoming issues of the particle physics publications the CERN Courier and symmetry and the Italian popular science magazine Le Scienze. The participating laboratories will also feature the global winners and their local Photowalk selections in temporary exhibits.

I wonder if White and other local contestants will be have their photos displayed not just in Vancouver (Canada) where TRIUMF is located but perhaps also at some of the member institutions across the country.