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Web Design
Notes Client
Linking to a remote database in mobile designs
In a mobile design, you generally want the design to be self-contained. This means that all the design is in one XPage with content coming in when needed. This is done through several application pages and navigation between the pages. But what if you want to link to another page? The "Rounded List Item" design element (<djxmLineItem>) has a "moveTo" property that says the application page to move to. When this is within a self-contained application, you list the name of the other page.

In a "non-self-contained" application, you want to link to another application or another URL outside your control. To do this, there is an "href" property that can be added to the dojo element that gets created. That property doesn't show up in the UI, so it has to be added as a dojo attribute. The name to add is "href" and the value is the URL of the remote web page to open.

<xe:djxmLineItem id="djxmLineItemB5" label="Jump">
        <xp:dojoAttribute name="href" value="/subdir/file.nsf/xpage.xsp">


Accessibility Navigation:

Alumni of Color Engagement

The Alumni of Color Engagement (ACE) initiative addresses and develops new channels and opportunities for connection between our alumni of color and the college to strengthen commitments and contributions to the life and success of the college. ACE focuses on three main areas:

  1. Event Attendance
  2. Volunteerism
  3. Participation in The Fund for Davidson

The Alumni of Color Engagement initiative was created during a September 2008 Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting in which the group discovered that alumni of color were underrepresented in key volunteer positions. The group's mission was to figure out why, determine how to change that reality, and address barriers that exist between alumni of color and their ability to fully engage in the life of the college.

ACE continues to explore new, innovative ways to reach out to more alumni of color, and is pushing to better understand the processes that led to underrepresentation on particular volunteer boards.


Dataset Feature Classication for Increased Accuracy in Intrusion Detection

Celice, C. (2015). Dataset Feature Classication for Increased Accuracy in Intrusion Detection (MSc ASDF Dissertation). Edinburgh Napier University (Macfarlane, R., Buchanan, B.).

The evolution of the threat landscape over the past few years, including the important riseofmalware,aswellasthegrowthofmulti-vectorattacksandmorecoordinatedactors, has rendered traditional methods of defence such as Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Firewalls less effective. Current research trends attempting to address the problem such as the use of Artiﬁcial Intelligence (AI), particularly Machine Learning (ML) applied to intrusion detection,hasshownsomegoodresults. However,theuseofhistoricaldatasets,possible lack of exploration about the importance of the features available in these datasets, as well as other issues, have increased the number of challenges in the ﬁeld.
The objective of this project is to investigate whether some of the more improved and newer datasets, such as the NSL-KDD and Kyoto 2006+ datasets, may be better candidates than the overused and older DARPA KDD Cup 1999, and to what extent the features available in a dataset are relevant to detecting particular types of attacks. Towards this, three set of experiments were designed and carried out: comparing the Cup ’99 and NSL-KDD datasets, evaluating the Kyoto 2006+ dataset, and evaluating a selection of features for detecting particular types of attacks, against three of some of the most widely used ML algorithms for intrusion detection in Weka.
On the comparison of the Cup ’99 and NSL-KDD datasets, it was concluded that while NSL-KDD produced better results when used with a clustering algorithm, the results successfully demonstrated that it did not seem like a better candidate overall, due to similar accuracy but less attack classes available. On the Kyoto 2006+ dataset, the results produced showed that this dataset was far behind the more popular datasets present in the literature, and its weaknesses highlighted as to provide some contributions to the ﬁeld in suggesting some of the factors to take into consideration when developingnewdatasets. Finally,ontheimportanceofthefeaturesavailableinadataset, itwasconcludedthatfeaturesdoplayanimportantroleindetectingcertaintypesofattacks, hence the importance ofdeveloping datasets containinga high number ofattack classesavailableformoredetailedevaluationofMLalgorithmsforintrusiondetection, or even Intrusion Detection Systems as a whole.
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Charley Celice
+44 131 455

Areas of Expertise

Electronic information now plays a vital role in almost every aspect of our daily lives. So the need for a secure and trustworthy online infrastructure is more important than ever. without it, not only the growth of the internet but our personal interactions and the economy itself could be at risk.

Associated Projects


[colored_box color=”grey”]Rating: 6.5
Label: Hydro-Phonic Records
Website: Link
Author: Kostas Tsotsanis[/colored_box]

US stoner rock band Black Pyramid had a difficult question to answer back in 2012. This question was about how successful they can be without Andy Beresky, their guitarist and vocalist for about four years. After two full-length records and some other releases, Andy decided to quit, leaving the two other members alone. Gein (bass) and Clay Neely (drums) continued with the band, hiring Darryl Shepard to sing and play the group’s heavy riffs on the guitar.

As a result, we have “Adversarial“, their third album so far. Black Pyramid’s aesthetic is recognizable to the record’s cover and it counts just five songs, and about 38 minutes of stoner and doom music. First things first, the music is a little short in duration, catching me thinking that I needed more and that something was missing. I’ve been curious about the guitars and the vocals too. However, I think that Darryl Shepard did a wonderful work. His voice is harsh and deep, fitting exactly with the heavy stoner riffs Black Pyramid usually rock out.

The record starts with “Swing The Scimitar“, a long duration song (about twelve minutes long), and Black Pyramid greets us with some of their stickiest riffs. Explosive and trippy are some of the adjectives that could describe the sounds of “Adversarial“. Now, some shortcomings of the album; more vocals seem to fit in songs like “Aphelion” so as in the instrumental song ‘Issus’. The second of the above-named, breaks the flow of the songs and could be a different one, a better one. However, the record closes with “Onyx and Obsidian“, a song which causes strong headaches because of the headbanging following it! There are some of the best vocals Darryl Shepard has sang in his short shift as a member of Black Pyramid.

The production leaded to the right result, an underground-like record. Nothing special but a satisfactory one. By the end of the “Adversarial”, the fact that the band could slow-down the recordings and takes their time is clear enough to be comprehended. They could have a pippin album, but specific particulars reduced the awesomeness and quality of the record. But, I’m not disappointed, the melodies and riffs of “Swing The Scimitar”, “Bleed Out” and “Onyx and Obsidian” are striking! I’m pretty sure their next release will be much better, as the band will progress and improve, leaving in the past the recent line-up change.

Overall, a fine record and a great chance for the band to hit the road and perform new and old hits.

Track List Line Up
01. Swing The Scimitar
02. Bleed Out
03. Issus
04. Aphelion
05. Onyx and Obsidian
Darryl Shepard – Guitars, Vocals
Gein – Bass
Clay Neely – Drums


Why do children need osteopathic care? In the event that a baby’s body has become strained at birth and this strain is not resolved, it will cause the baby’s whole body to grow in an unbalanced way.

As a consequence, structures within the whole body will be required to compensate for this distortion, but signs and symptoms may present themselves soon after birth or much later.

Paediatric osteopathic treatment soon after birth is recommended as birth misalignment becomes progressively more difficult to correct with time. The reason for this is that there are many changes that will occur in the infant head during the first 6 years of life and anatomy gradually changes to accommodate growth and development into the early adult years.


English Corner – More Fun with Modals

In the last ‘English Corner’ post, I focused on introducing the topic of modals by beginning with ‘modals of ability.’ As I mentioned previously, there are different types of modals in the English language. We have already covered the modals of ability and permission so now this article will concentrate on those modals that deal with making suggestions, having obligations, seeking advice, going through with a decision, and getting an invitation. The modal verbs of must, shall, should, will, would are going to be highlighted in this article in terms of when to use them in sentences and how those sentences are to be structured.

For making suggestions, the modal verb of ‘shall’ can be used to offer up something to someone or to give advice to them. You can also use this auxiliary verb in the future tense if you plan on doing some action decisively. The modal ‘shall’ can be used both in the positive for and also be posed as a question.

1) Shall I pick you up from your house at 8 pm tonight?

2) I shall travel to Morocco and Brazil in 2018.

Once again, it should be noted that ‘shall’ like other modals is to be used as an auxiliary verb in the sentence and often goes before the main verb like ‘travel’ or ‘pick up.’

When it comes to giving out advice or seeking it from somebody else, the modal verb of ‘should’ will come in handy for English learners. You can use ‘should’ at both the beginning of a sentence if it’s in the question form and towards the middle of the sentence after the subject word if you’re using it in the positive form. Should can also be used negatively when you change the word to ‘shouldn’t’ to express that modal in its’ negative form.

1.) You should go to the doctor since you have a high fever.

2.) Should we wait for the presentation to end before leaving here?

3.) They shouldn’t have been rude to the doctor yesterday.

When you have an obligation that you simply can’t get out of or a duty to fulfill that cannot be delayed, the modal verb of ‘must’ is key to put in your sentences. Similar to other modal verbs, it is auxiliary and comes before the main verb in the sentence structure. You can also use ‘must’ in the form of a question as well.

1.) He must do his homework by tomorrow.

2.) Must I bear this burden alone?

When it comes to making a firm decision to be carried out in the future, choosing the modal word of ‘will’ is a good choice. It is a definite verb that can be used as a question, a positive and a negative. To create the negative form, you simply have to change ‘will’ to ‘won’t’ after conjugating ‘will’ and ‘not’ together to form ‘won’t. When you use ‘will’, you’re not just making a decision but you’re also making a promise to someone that you shouldn’t break.

  1. I will play football with you guys this weekend.
  2. Won’t you join us for dinner tonight?
  3. She will be so tired from the party that she won’t be able to study later.

As shown above in the third example, you can use both the positive and negative form of the modal ‘will’ in the same sentence, and the same modal can be used more than once in the same sentence too.

For the last modal ‘would’, you are going to want to use this one when it comes to seeking permission, giving a request, or extending an invitation to somebody. There are a couple of different uses for this last main modal verb but it’s important to keep in mind that it can be used in all forms including positive, negative, and question. As with the other modals, it is an auxiliary verb that will always come before the main verb in the sentence.

  1. Would you join me at the birthday party Friday night?
  2. I would like to go home now if that is fine with you.
  3. We wouldn’t climb Mount Everest because it is so dangerous.

The modal verbs of must, shall, should, will, would are focused on the future tense and are very strong in terms of making suggestions or going through with a decision. In total, you now have a basis of understanding the nine main modal verbs. There are others in the English language but these nine words ‘can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would’ come up the most and are the most important to master.

‘Children of Men’ – Film Review and Analysis

What would happen to our world if women were no longer able to have babies? How would human society, nations, and the globe as a whole react to such a consequential event to humanity? A dystopian take on the state of a world without children is the focus of the 2006 critically acclaimed film titled, ‘Children of Men’, directed by Alfonso Cuaron. This film stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in its leading roles. The film is based off of a novel of the same name, ‘Children of Men’, which was written by author P.D. James in 1992.

The screenplay and the story have both been adapted from the novel but the striking visuals and the memorable cinematography make it fit for the big screen treatment. Despite a limited release and low profit earnings when it first came out, Children of Men has stayed in the public consciousness due to its timely socio-political themes on immigration, the environment, terrorism, and political violence. With the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President and the unlikely occurrence of Brexit, the message and themes of the film have turned out to be quite relevant. Although this film is set in the United Kingdom in the future year of 2027, despite the non-issue with the infertility of women, the issues that humanity is dealing with in 2017 are tied directly to different issues that the film brings up in its’ plotline.

Theo Faron, a civil servant for the British government and former activist, seems to have given up his fight for a better future. With humanity on the brink of extinction and with most of the countries’ governments having collapsed, there doesn’t seem to be any hope left. As one of the characters, Miriam, explains to Theo in the film, “As the sound of the playgrounds faded, despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children’s voices.” Theo and his ex-wife, Julian, estranged for years after the death of their infant child, Dylan, are reunited due to a refugee named Kee. Julian and the Fishes, an anti-government and pro-refugee group involved in an uprising, would like to take Kee to the Human Project.

She is known to be the only woman in the world who is pregnant with the world’s first child in eighteen years, and is very valuable. However, things are not as they seem with the Fishes and their motives for helping Kee. Theo, in this film, is a lone character who promises to help Julian to bring Kee to the Human Project to ensure the future of humanity against all odds. Instead of using Kee as a political prop to help their cause against the government, Theo decides to help her escape from the Fishes, bring her to the British coast, and protect the future of humanity. Along the way, the viewer of the film sees the consequences of a world without babies. Where once there was no hope, Theo gains his sense of purpose and faith again as he hopes to redeem himself by getting Kee to safety and away from both the British government and the Fishes group.

Starting from the opening scene where the main character, Theo, is taken aback from a suicide bomb blast in the heart of London after just having left the café where the attack happened, you get a sense of what you’re in for with this movie. There’s a sense of hopelessness, dread, and despair as the audience is thrust into the focus of the movie as it’s made clear that the youngest person on Earth was eighteen years old meaning that something seriously has gone wrong to make that a reality. Although it’s never directly addressed in the movie, a few of the characters speculate that the reasons women can’t have babies anymore vary from environmental degradation to genetic experiments to too much pollution / radiation. The reason for women’s infertility is never addressed but the film makes it clear that the world is without hope because of the fact that there are no children to carry on the future of the human race.

Humanity faces certain extinction and the United Kingdom where the film’s setting is, instead of maintaining its’ parliamentary form of democracy has regressed into a totalitarian police state. Because it is one of the few surviving nations left on Earth, the country has developed a strict anti-immigration and anti-refugee policy. Any refugees or immigrants from outside the U.K. are rounded up and sent to detention camps, which have very poor and inhospitable conditions. The situation is so dire that the Fishes, labeled as a terrorist group, are fighting a guerrilla war campaign against the government to fight for immigrant rights.

The Fishes, with Julian, Theo’s ex-wife as their leader seem like the good guys but they have nefarious intentions in mind when it comes to the righteousness of their cause especially after they discover the first pregnant woman, Kee, in eighteen years. Throughout the movie, Theo is shown to be caught in the middle between the tyrannical government and the nefarious freedom fighter groups who are both trying to get hold of Kee for their own political gain.

The Human Project, believed to be a group of the world’s leading scientists, are thought to be the best people to help Kee with the baby and to perhaps study why she out of all the women on the planet was able to give birth to a child. Theo, having seemingly lost all hope and reason for living after the death of his baby, Dylan, believes again in the cause of getting Kee to be in the safe hands of the Human Project and to keep her from falling into the hands of either the Fishes group or the government. One of the main themes in this film is Theo’s regaining of hope and his quest for redemption after losing his only son years ago with his ex-wife, Julian.

The director, Alfonso Cuaron, does a great job of setting the scene of a dystopian future where humanity has lost all hope. A pill that allows people to commit suicide peacefully called ‘Quietus’ is mass advertised, terrorist attacks are an almost daily occurrence, and the immigrants, refugees who come to Britain are kept in detention camps separate from the rest of the population because the borders of the country have been closed down. In a plot and setting so dark, the only light to hold on to is Kee and her newborn to be. In a particular moving moment, Kee decides to name her baby girl after Theo’s deceased child, Dylan, showing just how much she really cares for the man who is getting her to the Human Project. It’s no coincidence that Kee herself is a refugee from a West African nation where the first humans emerged.

One of the best scenes in the film occurs when Kee, Theo, and the newborn baby are trying to leave a bombed out building where the rebels and the government are fighting each other in an urban war. The only thing that stops the bombs from falling and the bullets from firing are the sounds of a newborn baby echoing throughout the building and the street. This particular scene is a reminder of how special the sounds of a children’s cries are to the vitality of the world and how without them, it’s likely that humanity would descend into a downward spiral of chaos and violence. When all of the soldiers stopped for a few minutes to stop fighting, they realized that there was still hope in the world and that life can continue. It’s a very special scene for a special movie.

In addition to great directing, and great acting, Children of Men has some of the best cinematography of any movie in modern history. The single tracking shots, and there are quite a few throughout the film are ridiculously well done and help the viewer feel the tension and suspense in every scene. The soundtrack, the setting, and the messages of the film are extremely powerful and relevant to today’s world. I believe the director does a great job of asking the audience about how susceptible we are to either the rule of a totalitarian government or to the whims of absolutist extremist groups when societal collapse is imminent.

When there are no children or future generations, what is there worth fighting for? How also do we prevent ourselves from scapegoating other groups when things go bad? Maybe the issue is not infertility per say but rather climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence, or war between nations, how do we prevent ourselves from losing hope when things look bleak? The film, Children of Men, makes the argument that we should never lose hope especially in dire times. The future must be protected however especially as shown by the role the character, Theo, plays in helping Kee in her quest to meet members of The Human Project.

Ironically, there have been news stories out about the precipitous drop in men’s sperm counts over the past forty years in countries such as the United States. While this may not lead to total infertility, researchers labeled it as a cause for concern due to the overall trend of less fertility in men. In addition, birth rates are down below replacement level rates in multiple Western countries causing concern among scientists. Similar to the theories laid out in ‘Children of Men’, it is unclear why male infertility may be on the rise but it may be due to a number of factors, both environmental and otherwise. Where as Children of Men focused on women being infertile and not being able to have babies, the possibility of men being infertile in the future should be a cause for concern. (Source: http://www.newsweek.com/2017/09/22/male-infertility-crisis-experts-663074.html)

It is difficult to see why Children of Men did not win any of the Academy awards that it was nominated for. It’s an excellent, thought-provoking film that raises questions to the audience that are difficult to answer. If you have the chance to rent or buy this movie, please do so because it is widely regarded as one of the best movies of the 21st century.

An Urban Transformation

“The kids were cheering me on.”

I had the pleasure recently of visiting Comuna 13, a neighborhood in Medellin that has had a difficult history with gang violence and the illegal drug trade but which is showing signs of both progress and renewal. Due to the investments made by both the local and city government, Comuna 13 has become a hotbed for beautiful street art and graffiti murals, which has attracted many local artists to make a positive mark on this community. Many of these artists are from Medellin and grew up in the neighborhoods of Comuna 13. Rather than discuss the past of Comuna 13, I would rather talk about why this particular community is poised to have a brighter future.

Beyond just the new street art and the graffiti murals that you can find around Comuna 13 are the relatively new escalators that connect the San Javier metro station to the communities located in the hills surrounding this transportation hub. These escalators make it a lot easier for both students and workers to gain easier access to the rest of the Medellin metropolitan area and are an easy way to get from point A to point B. The escalators are free to use for all people including the tourists who come to visit this part of the city.

While the escalators are not so numerous, it is possible that more of them will be added to other parts of the city in the future if I were to haphazard a guess. Medellin can set an example to other urban cities on how to connect neighborhoods efficiently with the use of escalators, especially those with sloping hills and steep mountains within the city limits. For the elderly and children as well, these escalators can be quite useful in helping them get around the neighborhood without too much trouble.

If you don’t feel like taking the escalators, there are concrete staircases adjacent to the new escalators so you can choose which way you want to go up or go down. The escalators are weatherproof as well which is quite genius when you think about. On your way to the metro, the overhang, which is a bright, fluorescent orange color, will protect you fully from the elements such as rain, snow, hail, etc. It only takes about five to ten minutes to get from the top of the escalators to the bottom of the escalators so if you’re in a rush, you won’t have to go through too many escalators to get to your final destination.

The city government of Medellin and local police has done a great job in my opinion with regards to keeping this part of Comuna 13 safe and secure. I noticed during my visit that locals and volunteers are instrumental in helping to keep the area around the escalators clean and orderly. There are park benches and small parks nearby to encourage community get-togethers as well as the fact that there is a big slide where the local children can use to slide up and down to have some fun in the neighborhood. Being the kid at heart that I am, I partook in one of the slides because it is pretty enjoyable and you do go down at a pretty fast speed.

Beyond just the new escalators, the cool slides, and the park benches, there are also now a few library parks, which are free for members of the community to enjoy, explore, and learn. In addition to being places for education, the libraries are great meeting places for the community and can strengthen neighborhood ties. You can also hold cultural, recreational, and educational activities such as group English classes or a family birthday party. Books in these libraries are free to borrow and use.

Everyone can use them regardless of their age, educational level or social status. The mind is a terrible thing to waste and because of the twelve library parks in Comuna 13 and other parts of Medellin, city residents here have a real chance to learn new things and satisfy their curiosity. One particular volunteer group that I’m interested in learning about is called ‘Stairway to English’, which provides free English classes with native speakers to members of the Comuna 13 community.

My visit to Comuna 13 left quite an impact on me. I did go through an organized tour this time, which I do recommend to people visiting this webpage. It was really useful to learn about the history, background, and the progress being made for this part of Medellin. Medellin is quite a large city and it can be easy to get caught up in only staying within your own neighborhood and to not see other parts of the city. Personally, I do hope that other escalator projects in urban areas will become popular in Colombia and other parts of the world.

Human beings are increasingly becoming more urban with over 70% of the world’s population projected to be living in cities by mid-century. This puts the onus on local, city, and national governments to adapt to this reality and try to make life easier and better for the millions of people who call a city their home. Other cities should take note of the social progress being made in Comuna 13 and I can only hope that more and more residents of Medellin will be able to improve their lives in different ways because of urban projects like building library parks or constructing escalator routes.

If you’re in Medellin sometime and you’re curious to check out the positive urban transformation that is ongoing in Comuna 13 and other parts of the city, I would recommend using Comuna 13 Tours, which has a very knowledgeable, kind, and helpful staff members who are bilingual and want to share their city with foreigners out of the goodness in their heart. This is not an official endorsement and I don’t get paid or receive any benefits from mentioning this tour on my website.

I’m doing it because I really enjoyed the experience I had recently with them and I think other visitors who come to Medellin should do the same based off my positive experience using this tour group. Perhaps, most importantly of all, you’ll meet a few locals during your tour and you can see how hospitable, kind, and open they are in Comuna 13. My only advice is to be careful about your photo taking, and to be respectful of both the tour guide and the locals who are kind enough to take some time out of their day to share with you. I look forward to visiting Comuna 13 again someday and I hope to use that giant slide again too.

For more information: http://www.comuna13tours.com/

Fear of The Unknown

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Why do people sometimes have a fear of the unknown? As human beings, we each have our own unique doubts, fears, and phobias that develop as we deal with the world and its’ challenges. Whether they are fears related to heights, spiders, snakes, or even speaking in front of a large audience, it’s part of what makes us human to have fears. Facing and confronting your fears is not an easy struggle and it takes courage, compassion, and emotional maturity to get past your phobias. One of the most common fears that most of us have from time to time is ‘Fear of the Unknown.’

To have a strong desire to control your circumstances, your path in life, and your future is only natural. However, it’s clear that some things can never be fully known and that there will be changes that we will have to cope with. Trying to control everything and everybody around you is a recipe for disaster. Facing the unknown without fear is not easy but it is necessary in order to become a more mature and more centered person. Fear of the unknown is related to other fears that people have which have a connection to one another such as the fear of death, the fear of getting old, the fear of being homeless, the fear of life changes, etc.

There’s a popular saying that goes, “You always fear what you don’t understand.” This quote ties into a central idea that people fear most what they cannot change, anticipate, or prevent from happening. Some examples of this phenomena include economic recessions, societal changes, job loss, personal loss, election results, retirement planning, health problems, environmental concerns, etc. All of these phenomenon tie into the overall ‘fear of the unknown’ for the average man or woman. None of these phenomena can be controlled or even changed by one individual. Since we cannot usually have a great effect on preventing these fears from becoming real or taking place in our lives, what can we do or what should we do?

It’s best not to resist the changes that are bound to happen at some point in our lives. We simply cannot know everything that is to occur in the future and it would be useless to try to plan for everything ahead of time. Most of the time, it’s best to go with the flow, try best not to fight what comes your way, and to make the most out of things. Do not give in to fear, hate, doubt, disappointment, and anger, which are all negative consequences that come with fearing the unknown and the unseen. Having fear about what can happen a week, a month, a year, or a decade from today is a waste of time because you simply can’t know what exactly lies ahead in the future.

The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to be adaptable and malleable to the future. Trying to plan everything out is a waste of time and energy. While seeking stability, security for yourself and others is an important part of the human condition. Sometimes, you need to cope with some instability and insecurity that will come your way. Another notable saying that people rely on for strength is the popular quote; “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Persistent fear of what’s to come is not productive, not enjoyable, and not healthy for anyone in the long-term.

What happens to most people when they feel a palpable sense of fear? Well, there are a number of common symptoms and ailments that one can experience as a result. Your heart rate starts to increase, and your breath will become shorter and more harried. You may begin to panic, and feel an enormous sense of tension in your body. You’re going to be anxious and stressed about the unknown and what you’re going to do about it. The more extreme symptoms of feeling fear involve nausea, fainting, vomiting, crying, and shaking uncontrollably. I mention these reactions to fear not to scare my readers but so you can better learn to recognize these symptoms and try to control and alleviate them as best as you can.

Now that we know what the ‘Fear of the Unknown’ is and how to classify it along with the related symptoms, how can we cope we this fact of life? The most important thing to keep in mind when confronting this particular fear is to stay positive about what’s to come. Not everything in life will go smoothly and there will be challenges ahead. However, it’s important to remove the negative associations, conclusions that your mind will come up with sometimes when it comes to thinking and planning for the unknown. A little bit of anxiety and stress is natural when it comes to facing the future but it should not affect your daily activities and your personal relationships.

You’ll have a more peaceful state of mind when you react to the strange and unforeseen future with a positive and upbeat outlook. It’s best to focus on your goals, stay focused, and don’t get sidetracked about what might or what not happen to you in the future. Changing your thoughts and your mindset through meditation for five to ten minutes on a daily basis can also be a great self-help remedy for getting rid of your fear of the unknown.

Embracing a new environment, new friends, and new work opportunities can also keep your imagination in the right state of mind. If your sense of anxiety and fear of the unknown is extremely strong and hard to break, it may be best to consider neurolinguistic programming, cognitive behavioral therapy, and even certain medications if the problem becomes that severe. However, these kinds of remedies should be used only as a last resort.

Having a sense of ownership and direction in our lives is extremely important. However, we cannot control everything especially the unknown that lies ahead. Whether its’ moving to a new city or country, jumping into a dark lake, starting a new job or hiking up a mountain, these are all instances in life that can give us reasons to worry and to be anxious. However, by controlling our thoughts and emotions, and having the ability to stay positive regardless of the circumstances will keep you both mentally and physically fit.

As the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt stated famously during his 1st inaugural address to the American people on the subject of facing the Great Depression, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.”

“Will humanity become more or less interconnected during the 21st century?”

When the 21st Century is over and becomes apart of the history books, it will be known as the first truly interconnected, interdependent, and entangled era of human history. Compared to past eras, borders are more open, long-distance travel is common place due to modern aviation, and global commerce is more free than it ever has been. Globalization as a phenomenon has been made possible not just through open borders and advances in aviation but also due to the wonders of the Internet.

While many human beings can not physically cross borders or take modes of transport to other countries, the Internet has helped to minimize that gap of connection by allowing people from around the world to connect virtually at an increasing frequency. As the technology continues to improve and advance, the Internet has made our planet interconnected on a scale once considered unthinkable a generation ago.

I woke up one morning in New York, had my breakfast and juice, and then was able to log-in to Skype and chat with my good friend who is living in Beirut, Lebanon about his work there and how he has adjusted to living in the Mediterranean metropolis. After that, I sat down to have lunch and finished some homework for a 1:30 PM Spanish lesson with my teacher who is originally from Mexico but currently lives in Italy. Somehow, we were able to make the six-hour time difference work between me in New York and her in Italy. Before the day was over, I had two more Skype and Google Hangout based English lessons with my students from countries like Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Satisfied with my day of both teaching and learning, I settled the rest of my affairs and went down to the kitchen to prepare my dinner for the evening.

None of these lessons or exchanges of information would be possible between persons of different countries and backgrounds without the invention of the Internet. Too often, the average person either takes for granted the capabilities that allow us to stay connected on a worldwide scale or doesn’t take advantage of using this technology to bolster their abilities personally or professionally.

Professionally, as an ESL teacher, the fact that I have been able to use the Internet and web applications such as Skype, Google+, etc. to connect with numerous students from around the world virtually has been a real treat for me. Sometimes, my students with whom I’m working with online do not have the means or ability to work with a native English speaker / teacher in person in their own city or country. Those of us language teachers who commit time out of our lives to help others learn our native languages should be commended for making this a possibility. It is truly enjoyable for me to work with those students online from different countries who will share with me interesting tidbits about their cultures and societies.

Personally, I have been able to stay in touch and meet up again with friends of mine from different regions of the world thanks to staying connected through social media websites like Facebook, CouchSurfing, Twitter, etc. The Internet has allowed me to stay connected with international friends, both new and old, thanks to the rise of social media and its applications. It is funny to think that only fifty to hundred years ago, or even before the advent of the Internet, twenty years ago, the best that you could do is send a handwritten letter by mail or make an expensive call to any location overseas. Now, such communication to an international location is often very cheap or even free of charge depending on which application you decide to use.

While the advent of globalization has its positives and negatives, which are often debated and discussed endlessly, I believe that one net positive from globalization has been how the Internet and the “world wide web” has made humanity interconnected. This one trend of “Interconnectedness” for the 21st century is one that isn’t going to reverse course anytime soon and is going to be hard pressed to find itself limited in total amount of users or overall global popularity.

According to the World Bank’s recent report titled “World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends”, the number of people worldwide who have access to the Internet has tripled from about 1 billion people in 2006 to about 3.5 billion people in 2016. This recent development is an extraordinary occurrence. This means that over 40% of humanity now has some type of access to the Internet which has become increasingly possible due to rise of mobile technology and the spread of 3G and 4G cellular networks.

As more and more people connect to digital markets of e-commerce, become new entrepreneurs and start to create their own small businesses, this will also allow more students to connect and learn with me here in New York and other teachers around the world to learn English or another foreign language. The possibilities of eventually having everyone connected to the Internet would be truly endless. It could lift millions more people out of poverty and create new economic opportunities where there were none before.

Some of the big questions to be answered in the coming decades is how do we as a global community work together to connect the remaining 60% of humanity to the Internet? How do we work together as governments, NGOs, and individuals to give people the means virtually to benefit economically and personally from the advent of the Internet? These are not easy questions to answer let alone solve. However, if humanity is to continue advancing and developing into the future, we must continue to become more interconnected to each other. That is a fundamental truth of the 21st century for which we all must be aware of.

1.)  http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/13/internet-not-conquered-digital-divide-rich-poor-world-bank-report

2.) http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016

A Future To Believe In

It is very rare in American politics these days to have a candidate running for high office who is sincere, genuine, and committed to his principles and ideals. A candidate who will not bow to the special interests, who will look out for all citizens and not just the wealthy few, and who has the ideas to make the United States a more fair, equal, and prosperous country. Because of these reasons, I am supporting  Bernie Sanders’ candidacy for President and why I will be voting for him in the upcoming Democratic primary in New York on April 19th.

While there is no such thing as the “perfect Presidential candidate”, Senator Bernie Sanders is the best choice not only for the Democratic Party but for the nation as a whole. He has served not only as a U.S. Senator for Vermont, but also as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Mayor of Burlington before that. For over thirty years, Senator Sanders has been a faithful and dutiful public servant. Over the course of his political career, he has always been a staunch defender for the rights of working class people, the middle class, and the poor.

From a young age of 22 when he was apart of the historic ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ along with Dr. King and other civil rights leaders, he has continuously fought for equality of opportunity and greater freedom for minorities, women, and the LGBT community. What is also notable to mention from his past was his willingness to participate in an anti-segregation protest in Chicago in 1963. Because he stood up for his beliefs, he ended up being arrested and was taken away by the police for living up to those principles of fairness, justice, and equality.

Mr. Sanders has made his Presidential campaign “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” He refuses to take money from SuperPACs unlike his Democratic and Republican rivals. He also does not accept donations from big corporations and the millionaires, billionaires of the country. He wishes to nominate Supreme Court justices who will attempt to overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision, which allowed large corporations the ability to donate huge sums of money to their favored candidates for elected office. I applaud his commitment to making his campaign about the individual supporters, donors rather than about corporate sponsorship and special interest contributions. More so than any other Presidential candidate in recent history, he has shown a commitment to running a national campaign that’s fueled and powered by the average voter.

In addition, I believe in his policy proposals for a national minimum wage of $15 per hour, a Medicare-for-all policy that would ensure universal health care for all U.S. citizens, and to reduce the incarceration rate significantly over time to end the unfortunate distinction of being the country that has the biggest prison population in the world. Over the past few weeks since I returned from Colombia, it has been a pleasure for me to knock on doors, make phone calls, and to volunteer for his campaign at the Washington Square Park rally on April 13th.

About 30,000 people attended one of the largest rallies of the 2016 election season at Washington Square Park this past Wednesday night to see Senator Bernie Sanders speak about his vision for America. As a volunteer at the event, I helped with crowd control by keeping the huge lines orderly and moving cordially. The atmosphere was filled with excitement and anticipation. The mood of the people attending the rally was happy and even joyous at times. It was a cold evening in lower Manhattan but you could feel the energy and the passion people felt about this particular campaign. In addition to Senator Sanders’ rousing one-hour stump speech, notable celebrities, public officials and figures also lent their voices during the massive rally. The most notable names were Tim Robbins, Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson, and Shailene Woodley.

I enjoyed the rally immensely and I was lucky enough to be close to the stage after a hectic day of volunteering and keeping order among the large crowds of people waiting in line. I shook Senator Sanders’ hand after the end of his speech and wished him well in Tuesday’s New York primary. It was an exciting moment for me and I was glad to be apart of such a large and historic campaign event. I can only hope that this rally will lead to a large turnout and a successful result at the polling places across New York State in just a few days from now.

While I usually avoid writing blog posts about politics, I have to make an exception in this case because I feel strongly about Bernie Sanders’ candidacy and believe that he is the best choice not only for the Democrats but for the country too. Similar to Candidate Obama in 2008, Candidate Sanders has created a lot of enthusiasm, held huge rallies, and has earned support from diverse groups of voters due to his campaign’s message and consistency.

Time will tell if his candidacy will be successful enough to be nominated as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer and to continue on to the 2016 general election against the Republican nominee. However, so far, he has shocked all of his doubters and made it further than anyone would have originally thought possible. Despite what may happen in Tuesday’s New York primary and beyond, I know that I will continue to “Feel The Bern.”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post represent solely my own and do not reflect or represent those of any outside party, organization, company, or group. Thank you.


East Central Europe in the First Half of the 20th Century – Transnational Perspectives

Traditionally the decades of the first half of the 20th century appear as a period of nationalization
and de-globalization, and seems to be true also for the region East Central Europe. After World War I (Nation)states such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were (re)established after the monarchies of the Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, and Romanovs had fallen apart. Wilsonian idealism, promoting national self-determination, gained a fertile ground. The 1930s were dominated by the Great Depression, autarkic economic policies and nationalist ideologies. Following World War II and in an ex-post perspective, these “national” lines of development were made more prominent in historical narratives
so that the whole period seemed as a “road from war to war”. In this reductionist view, aspects of continuities across the apparent historical breaks of 1914 / 18 or 1939 / 45 often are marginalized. What about the sense for the beginning of a “New Europe” in a “New World” after the break-up of the empires, or the openness of the moment felt by contemporaries once the wars were over? How changed the conditions under which people migrated? How enterprises gained new markets? How cultural exchange was revived? How territorialization processes were globalized? A transnational perspective can help to find answers concerning the region and the period under question in the conference.

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Biol 121- 2010.03.26- Evolution- Phylogeny, History of Life on Earth (Ch. 27).docx

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Biol 121 225 Freeman 543-556 Mar 26, 10 Evolution: Phylogeny and History of Life -variation is the key to natural selection -species divergence is the outcome of selection and evolution How do biologists study the history of 1) Construct phylogenies life on earth? (2) 2) Fossil record Phylogeny -is the evolutionary history of a group of organisms -phylogenies are usually summarized and depicted in the form of a phylogenetic tree Phylogenetic tree -shows the ancestor-descendant relationships among populations or species, and clarifies who is related to whom -in a phylogenetic tree, a branch represents a population through time; the point where two branches diverge is a node that represents the time when an ancestral group split into 2+ descent groups -the endpoint of a branch represents a group (a species or larger taxon) living today, or one that went extinct (dead end) -phylogenetic trees are an extremely effective way of summarizing data on the evolutionary history of a group of organisms -however, the genealogical relationships among species cannot be known with absolute certainty but are instead estimated from given data How do researchers estimate -make inferences by looking at morphological or genetic characteristics or both: phylogenies? closely related spp should share many of their characteristics, distantly related species should share fewer characteristics -e.g. morphology of fossils compared to contemporary populations to see what process has occurred -e.g. analysis of base sequence -two methods of using data to estimate trees: 1) Phenetic -compute a statistic that summarizes overall relatedness among populations based on some data -for example, use base sequence in a gene to compute a genetic distance (relatedness to different groups) -computer program then builds a tree that clusters the most similar populations and places more-divergent populations on more-distant branches 2) Cladistic -based on the realization that relationships among spp can be reconstructed by identifying shared derived characters, or synapomorphies – traits in one group that exists in no other groups -can be molecular or morphological -allows recognition of monophyletic groups (aka clades or lineages) Homology vs. homoplasy -homology – when traits are similar due to shared ancestry -homoplasy – when traits are similar for reasons other than common ancestry -issue with phonetic and cladistic analyses is that traits can be similar in two species not because those traits were present in a common ancestor, but Biol 121 225 Freeman 543-556 Mar 26, 10 because similar traits evolved independently in two distantly related groups -this is known as convergent evolution – when natural selection favours similar solutions (or similar traits) to the problems posed by a similar way of making a living e.g. common dolphin and the ichthyosaur are two species that are far apart on the evolutionary tree, suggesting that they are not closely related -however, they both have streamlined bodies, long jaws with teeth, and fins + flippers Parsimony -parsimony is when the most likely explanation or pattern is the one that implies the least amount of change -to reduce the chance that homoplasy will lead to erroneous conclusion about which species are most closely related, biologists who use cladistic approach will also use parsimony -e.g. biologist compares branching patterns that are theoretically possible and count the number of changes in DNA sequences that would be required to produce each pattern -convergent evol and other causes of homoplasy should be rare compared with similarity due to shared descent, so the tree that implies the fewest overall evolutionary changes should be the one that most accurately reflects what really happened during evolution
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Science News

Indore Friday, 13 April, 2018 - 16:09

Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore have developed L-lyso—a novel water soluble, fluorescent dye which can permeate the membranes of lysosomes, marking them for future tracking and imaging.

Lysosomes are organelles found in almost every animal cell, and helps with the digestion of various biomolecules, macromolecules, old cell parts and microorganisms. The interiors of a lysosome is an acidic environment, with a variety of hydrolytic enzymes, which break down biomolecules, like nucleic acids, proteins and polysaccharides. Lysosomes are also considered as powerful indicators of various pathological disorders. The disorder could either affect the acid hydrolases within the lysosomes or cause genetic mutations, affecting the functioning of a lysosome. Such disorders, however, can be tracked by monitoring the lysosomes.

Conventionally, tools and dyes like LysoTracker are used as a marker. However these are often either expensive or are not efficient at tracking a lysosome for longer periods without losing their fluorescent properties. To overcome the limitations of conventional dyes, the team at IIT Indore developed L-lyso.

L-lyso is, according to the authors, “a new water soluble fluorescent Schiff-base ligand (L-lyso) containing two hydroxyl groups”. Here Schiff base refers to a class of compounds with a pre-defines structure and a sub-class of imines. Ligands are ions or molecules which are bound to a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose.

L-lyso is also said to display excellent two-photon properties. Two-photon excitation microscopy is a technique where, a subject is first marked with a fluorescent dye, and then illuminated with a source of light, generally in the near infra-red wavelength. The dye absorbs two photons of the incident IR light and begins to fluoresce, acting as a marker for the subject. The light also penetrates deep in to the subject, providing clear a image with deeper penetration. According to the authors “ L-lyso exhibits excellent two-photon properties with tracking of lysosomes in live cells as well as in 3D tumor spheroids”. L-lyso also remains active for 3 days, enabling tracking for longer periods.

The authors claim “L-lyso has an edge over the commercially available expensive LysoTracker probes and also over other reported probes in terms of its long-term imaging, water solubility and facile synthesis” talking about the superiority of L-lyso compared to conventional Lysosome trackers.

Section: General, Science, Health, News Source: Link
Bengaluru Friday, 13 April, 2018 - 08:00

In 2008, a person was hospitalized in Sweden for a urinary tract infection--a common infection caused by bacteria that results in a burning sensation during urination. Often, a course of antibiotics should make the patient better. But what was remarkable in this case was that the infection persisted in spite of it being treated with a range of existing antibiotics! Baffled, the doctors examined the bacteria responsible for the infection.

What they found was a new gene in the bacteria that was making it survive despite the antibiotics. The bacteria, aptly named ‘superbugs’, had grown immune to the effects of antibiotics. Such superbugs infect roughly 2 million people every year, of which 23000 people fail to survive, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The culprit gene, in the bacteria causing the infection, was named the ‘New Delhi-metallo-beta-lactamase’, after New Delhi - the city that the Swedish person visited before he contracted the infection. Since then, NDM-1 has been identified in multiple bacterial infections across the country, causing havoc and rendering well-known antibiotics ineffective.

Antibiotics -- the double-edged sword

In the past century, our understanding of bacteria has helped us design the most effective drugs against them. Bacterial infections such as typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, and pneumonia, which used to be the leading cause of mortality in the pre-antibiotic era, are today effectively cured with antibiotics. As a result, a person born today will live for an average of about 71 years, as compared to the lifespan of 47 years of those born before the 1950s. This astounding increase in 50% of one’s life expectancy is possible, thanks to the magic pills called antibiotics.

Sir Alexander Fleming's Nobel Prize-winning discovery of penicillin heralded the start of the ‘antibiotics era’. Since then, we have developed close to 100 different antibiotics that cure a range of bacterial infections. Thanks to their effectiveness, they were ubiquitous and widely used and became more accessible and affordable.

Antibiotics are not just used for tackling diseases caused in humans, but also animals. Cows, buffaloes, poultry, pigs, and fish are regularly treated with antibiotics to fight diseases or prevent them. While this step helps improve our yields and keep our animals healthy, the drugs creep into the food chain and enter our bodies when we eat any of these products.

There exists yet another tragic epilogue to the use, or ‘abuse’, of antibiotics. Statistics show that the efficiency of cure is decreasing as more and more bacteria become resistant to antibiotics of all types. In summary, the bacteria are getting stronger and antibiotics are losing the plot. But how do bacteria develop resistance to drugs that once used to kill them? The answer lies in evolution.

Evolving from a ‘bug’ to a ‘superbug’

Before delving into the evolution of superbugs, here is a brief summary of how antibiotics work, or used to work, against the bacteria. Some antibiotics restrict the growth of bacteria by preventing them from dividing; others kill them by interfering with the production of proteins essential for their survival. Many bacteria, fungi, and other micro-organisms naturally produce antibiotics. In fact, penicillin, the first antibiotic, was discovered in a liquid secreted by the mold Penicillium notatum.

If antibiotics are so strong to kill the bacteria completely, how then do bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics? Turns out, some bacteria are naturally resistant to antibiotics, while others acquire resistance over time. According to the theory of natural selection, organisms evolve naturally over time to develop traits that make it easy for them to survive in their environment. Antibiotics provide such an environment to the bacteria and enforce the survival of those bacteria that are either resistant to antibiotics or develop resistance over time.

The ‘selection pressure’ on the bacteria works very well. Every time a bacterium divides, it is likely to undergo a spontaneous genetic mutation, i.e. a random change in its DNA sequence. If you throw in an antibiotic on such bacterium, it will undergo a genetic mutation that enables it to make a substance that renders the antibiotics ineffective or eliminates it from the cell. Those bacteria that are successful in acquiring these mutations will grow, whereas the others will die. Over time, these bacteria will outcompete the non-resistant bacteria and render antibiotics ineffective. These antibiotics resistant bacteria are commonly called ‘superbugs’.

To make things further complicated and interesting, unlike humans who only transfer their genetic material to their offspring, bacteria can transfer their genetic material to any other unrelated bacteria. In a community of bugs, if you have one superbug to start with, over time, through gene-transfer, many more unrelated bugs will become superbugs.

To quantify and standardize the degree of antibiotics resistance, a group of international experts from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA categorized superbugs as multi-drug resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and pan-drug resistant (PDR). MDRs are superbugs resistant to more than one class of antibiotics, XDRs are resistant to most antibiotics and PDRs – the most lethal of all, are resistant to all antibiotics.

India’s battle against ‘superbugs’

India has one of the world’s highest number of bacterial infections; tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia and a host of them. In fact, the country has the highest number of tuberculosis patients in the world, accounting for one-fourth of all TB patients in the world. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis cases are increasingly reported.

Unlike the usual TB infection, treating MDR and XDR TB infections involve special diagnostic tests and combinations of rare antibiotics for longer durations. This makes the diagnoses difficult and treatment expensive. In a country like India, where 22% of the population still lives below poverty line, increased cost reduces the probability of people getting proper treatment, which leaves the infection uncured. With TB being an airborne disease, one infection left uncured could propagate to many such infections and lead to an epidemic. This becomes more concerning in case of MDR and XDR TB, resulting in an incurable TB epidemic.

TB is not the only disease plagued by superbugs. Pneumonia, another common bacterial infection, also features in the list. A 2017 study, that examined the bacteria S. pneumoniae present in blood samples of children infected with pneumonia in multiple hospitals across 11 states found that most of these bacteria were resistant to first-line antibiotics – 66% were resistant to co-trimoxazole, 37% to erythromycin and 8% to penicillin. Another 2017 study that examined a more severe form of pneumonia found that 69% patients infected with the superbug K. pneumoniae did not survive. These superbugs were found to be resistant to both carbapenems – antibiotics used to treat MDR infections, and colistin – the last resort antibiotics which are used when no other antibiotics work. Similar rates of antibiotic-resistance have been detected in other bacterial infections like typhoid, cholera, and gonorrhea.

In summary, the threat is real and calls for immediate attention and action. What are some of those actions? What can we do about it? What are some hotspots of these bacterial infections? These are some of the questions that need immediate answers. The first step, however, is to understand the implications of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and spread awareness about the callous use of antibiotics.

Section: General, Science, Health, Deep-dive Source:
Bengaluru Thursday, 12 April, 2018 - 16:17

Scientists from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have demonstrated a new type of 3 dimensional imaging platform, called iLIFE, that provide detailed images of biological specimen flowing in a fluid.

iLIFE stands for integrated light-sheet imaging and flow based enquiry. Light-sheet microscopy is a technique used to image fast moving or imaging-sensitive biological samples. Here the biological sample is made to pass through a light-sheet—a literal sheet made of light, while a detector or a camera placed perpendicular to the sheet, records the cross sections of the biological sample as it moves through the light-sheet. The detector can then provide a complete 3D image of the sample by merging the cross sections together. This method also avoids any affects of the light on the specimen, by illuminating only a single plane of the specimen at a time.

For iLIFE, the scientists used a “diffraction-limited light-sheet, with a large field-of-view, to optically section the specimens flowing through the microfluidic channel”. They then optimized the parameters of set-up; like the intensity of the light used, width and thickness of the light-sheet, the width and flow rate of the microfluidic channel, and the exposure time and frame rate of the camera. Once the parameters were optimized, the setup could then be used to cross sectional imaging of the biological specimen as the moved through the optimized microfluidic channel, illuminated by a light-sheet. The cross sectional images are then used to create a complete 3D image reconstruction of the biological specimen. Next, a maximum likelihood technique was developed and optimized to the iLIFE imaging system, making it an efficient system at recording the samples as it flowed fast through the light sheet.

The system has already been used to screen and image biological specimen of varying sizes, including single cell organisms (like HeLa) and multi cellular organisms, like Caenorhabditis elegans, commonly called roundworm which can grow to a size of around 1 millimeter.

The authors foresee a range of 3D imaging applications for the iLIFE system in the future, in fields like structural biology and biophysics, with their demonstration being the first step.

Section: General, Science, News Source: Link
Mumbai Thursday, 12 April, 2018 - 07:48

How basic academic research in the country can help in realizing the dream of designing a reusable hypersonic aircraft.

What if you could fly from Mumbai to New York in just 2.5 hours? If manned hypersonic flights were a reality, you wouldn’t have to spend about 18 long hours in a cramped aeroplane! Research works led by Prof. Shripad P. Mahulikar from the Aerospace Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) are contributing to setting up a foundation to make hypersonic aeroplane design a reality. The researchers have proposed changes to the aircraft geometry to address the problem of heating of the body at the extremely high speed.

Hypersonic aeroplanes, meaning aeroplanes that fly several times faster than sound,  are the ‘next-big-thing’ in space and military aerospace research across the globe. For example, the company Space-X has announced its plans for building hypersonic reusable launch vehicles and China has successfully tested hypersonic missiles. Russia and USA have full-fledged hypersonic research programs underway.

“Reusable Hypersonic Vehicles (RHVs) are promising low-cost candidates for future space missions”, remarks Prof. Mahulikar. “The future of space missions will be based on the cost reduction for a kilogram of payload (satellite) launched”, he says, adding that this can be achieved by the Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) RHVs. These vehicles are ‘fully-reusable’ as they reach the intended orbit without expending their hardware. “The future of military missions will also get a boost with hypersonic attack vehicles that can achieve their offensive mission with an unprecedented surprise element due to the high speed”, says Prof. Mahulikar.

The RHVs fly at enormous speeds (more than 6000 kmph) which is greater than five times (known as Mach 5) the speed of sound and at a typical cruise altitude exceeding 35-km! In comparison, currently operational long-distance commercial aeroplanes such as the Boeing-747 are subsonic, and cruise at about Mach 0.8 (less than 1000 kmph) at a cruise altitude of about 11-km.

There are unprecedented challenges in designing such RHVs due to the high speeds. To achieve hypersonic speeds, these planes need specialized engines, efficient management of the heating due to the air resistance, and changes to the configuration design of the aircraft. Prof. Mahulikar’s basic research findings on, “Aerothermal Considerations in Configuration Design of RHVs”, provides clues and insights into cracking some of these challenges.

Hurdles to flight at hypersonic speeds

The air-flow over an aircraft creates an aerodynamic drag force which resists the aircraft’s forward motion. Aircraft wings are designed to minimise the air-drag which reduces the fuel consumed. Aircraft designers modify the aircraft geometry to achieve this with insignificant repercussions to its weight.

The aerodynamic drag also heats the aircraft’s body and is known as aerodynamic heating. At hypersonic speeds, the aerodynamic heating can increase  the vehicle temperatures to higher than 1600°C. The designer’s focus then shifts from designing just for aerodynamic drag reduction to designing for managing the harsh aerothermal environment. Studying and understanding the aerothermal environment for RHVs enables designing a reliable Thermal Protection System (TPS) – the lifeline of hypersonic aircraft.

Solving the hypersonic vehicle’s aerodynamic heating challenge

At speeds greater than sound a different drag comes into play (caused by the shock waves) and designers address this drag by incorporating a ‘sweepback’ to the wings, i.e. a wing that angles backwards from where it is joined to the aircraft’s body (fuselage). The angle at which the wing is ‘sweptback’ varies from 0° (no sweep) for straight-winged low-speed aircraft to about 45° and beyond for supersonic aircraft such as the fighter jets (e.g. F-16). The sweepback angle is designed to minimize aerodynamic drag and its value for minimum drag is the ‘drag-minimized sweepback’.

 Figure 1: Concept of Sweepback Angle

Prof. Mahulikar proposed that due to aerothermal considerations, the sweepback angle of the lifting-body of hypersonic aircraft should be more than the drag-minimized value.  He also proposed a modification to the geometry of the leading edge.

In a theoretical study published in the journal, “Aerospace Science & Technology” in Nov’2005, Prof. Mahulikar proposed a configuration design modification to the hypersonic aircraft’s lifting-body (integrated wings and fuselage). He demonstrated based on mathematical derivations as well as through numerical simulations that due to aerothermal considerations, the sweepback angle of the lifting-body of hypersonic aircraft should be more than the drag-minimized value. For RHV cruising at a Mach number of 7 at an altitude of 35-km, this sweepback angle was calculated to be 79°-80°, i.e. higher than the drag-minimized value of about 73°.  Further, the incremental aerodynamic drag for this newly proposed sweepback angle was found to be insignificant.

The geometry of hypersonic aircrafts dramatically differs from commonly seen aircrafts. The lifting-body of RHV that provides the lift (a force that keeps the aircraft in air) is shaped like a surf-board to reduce the wave-drag. In the configuration of RHV shown in Figure 2, the nose-cap has a smaller radius in the side view and a much larger radius in the top view (a non-axisymmetric bi-curvature nose-cap).

Figure 2: Configuration of Lifting-Body of RHV

In studies published in 2017, in Acta Astronautica and Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Prof. Mahulikar and his team computationally validated the earlier proposed theoretical concepts. They studied the aerothermal characteristics of the nose-cap of RHV and Swept-Back Leading Edges (SBLEs) of the lifting-body (front part of lifting-body that first faces the flow).  Researchers found that the bi-curvature nose cap heats up lesser than an axisymmetric one (same radii in all directions, i.e. a cap of a sphere).

The numerical simulations were run at a cruise Mach number of 7 and flight altitude of 35-km for different sweepback angles. They indicated that the surface temperature of RHV was high at 1335°C for a design with a sweepback angle of 40° and decreased to 914°C until a sweepback angle of about 79°. Increase in the sweepback angle beyond 79° was found to increase the surface temperatures. The sweepback at which the surface temperatures are the least is the ‘heat-transfer-minimized-sweepback’, which differs in concept and value from the ‘drag-minimized-sweepback’ of about 73°. This ‘drag-minimized sweepback angle’ has so far been the consideration for the aerodynamic configuration design of RHVs.

“The temperatures of the SBLE surface, as well as the upper and lower surfaces of the lifting-body, are significantly lower for the ‘heat-transfer-minimized-sweepback’ than for the ‘drag-minimized sweepback’”, says Prof. Mahulikar. These results have immediate practical implications in the selection of lightweight TPS-materials for RHV. “Therefore, for RHVs, the heat-transfer-minimized sweepback angle of about 80° must be used and not the drag-minimized sweepback angle of about 73°”, he adds.

Researchers also studied how varying the radius of leading edge of RHV’s lifting body can also reduce the temperatures. Conventionally, the leading edge is blunted to reduce the in-flight temperatures. Researchers computationally observed that for 80° sweepback, the leading edge with a smaller radius (i.e. ‘sharper’ leading edge) is at a lower temperature. For sweepback angles greater than about 60°, sharpening the leading edge reduces the temperatures along the SBLE surface. This non-intuitive observation is termed as the “Thermally Benign Sharp SBLE Effect”.

These new findings have important implications for the configuration design of RHVs. But how far are we from actually realizing a hypersonic flight? Quite far, perhaps a few decades, feel the researchers. The next active area of research is the development of an engine that can sustain combustion at supersonic engine air flows and can sustain the high temperatures on its inside and outside. Also, to have a full-fledged operational hypersonic vehicle, it is necessary that bulk manufacturing facilities for its parts, sub-systems, and their assemblage are in place. Until then, we might still have to cramp ourselves for about 18 long hours to fly to the USA from India, hoping to soon fly at hypersonic speeds!

Research papers the article is based on:

1. Theoretical aerothermal concepts for configuration design of hypersonic vehicles

2. Transient aero-thermal mapping of passive Thermal Protection system for nose-cap of Reusable Hypersonic Vehicle

3. Aerothermal Analysis for Configuration Design of Swept Leading Edge Hypersonic Vehicle

4. Aero-thermal analysis of lifting body configurations in hypersonic flow

Section: General, Science, Engineering, Deep-dive, Featured Source:
Chennai Wednesday, 11 April, 2018 - 16:19

A team of scientists from Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) and Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research Kolkata (IISER Kolkata) have studied the formation of 2 Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks (COF)- organic solids bound together by covalent bonding, to understand the science behind the underlying structure.

COFs are porous and crystalline solid structures made of light, organic solids like Hydrogen, Boron, Nitrogen and Oxygen. Due to their lightweight nature, COFs are employed in engineering lightweight materials and their porous nature makes them useful in applications like gas storage. With wide ranging applications, economical and bulk synthesis of COFs is a challenge for material science. Several process like solvothermal synthesis have given rise to several variations of COFs, enriching the COF library.  However, to manufacture on a large scale, scientist have to first, understand the processes that lead to the formation of such a structure.

According to the authors “the fundamental understanding of the integral processes of 2D COF assembly, including their growth from nucleating sites and the origin of periodicity, is an intriguing chemical question that needs to be answered”

To answer this question, the scientists, in their study, came up with a “green and easy to perform” approach of COF formation using an acid-diamine (organic compound with two amino groups) mixture. Using the new approach, the scientist were able to explore the role of hydrogen bonding in improving the crystallinity and porosity of the COFs that were formed. They did this by studying the average distance of the Hydrogen atom in the amines to the Oxygen atom in the acid. Thorough crystallographic analyses of the salt molecules provided accurate measurement of the role of hydrogen bonding.

Further, the scientists used their knowledge of hydrogen bonding distance in the acid-diamine salts and the relationship between product quality and reactant-structure to synthesize highly porous and crystalline COF, which, according to the authors “are unattainable by other synthetic means”.

Section: General, Science, News Source:
Bengaluru Wednesday, 11 April, 2018 - 07:47

From guarding your house and livestock to being your best friend playing with you on the couch, dogs have come a long way in the past 33,000 years. But, there is another disturbing aspect to this saga of furry friends; Canis lupus familiaris (dog, for short) is also an ‘invasive’ species in many ecosystems! Like the Japanese kudzu vine or the infamous Lantana, dogs are a non-native introduced species that are wreaking havoc on the ecological balance of many sensitive ecosystems. Now, a study by researchers from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment explores the effect of free-ranging dogs, or strays, on their surroundings in India.

How bad are dogs really to our ecosystems, you ask? Previous studies have shown that domesticated dogs have imperilled 188 threatened species of animals and caused 11 mass extinctions, globally! “Domestic dogs have been considered as invasive mammalian predators. After cats and rodents, they are the third most damaging invasive predators”, says Ms. Chandrima Home, one of the researchers of the study, in an interview to Research Matters.

In countries like India, where the population of stray dogs are surging by the day without checks and bounds by a governing body, these dogs turn feral—a state in which they are neither truly wild not truly domesticated. “Unlike cats and rats which perhaps target smaller sized animals, feral dogs can target a larger range of prey size as predators as they can hunt in packs. Their impacts are as detrimental as cats and rats, though cats and rats have reported higher extinction for biodiversity”, adds Ms. Home referring to previous studies and their own findings.

The present study is the first ever assessment of the impact dogs have on the biodiversity in India. The researchers used a two-pronged approach to collect data for the study—an online survey and print media. They conducted an online survey where they asked the respondents to give details about any attacks on wildlife carried out by dogs. In the print media, they looked for keywords like ‘stray dog’, ‘dog attack’, ‘dogs attack wildlife’ and related terms in newspaper reports published between the 1st of January 2015 to the 30th of June 2016.

Among the 249 respondents who took the online survey, a whopping 73% said they had seen stray dogs attack wildlife. The researchers recorded 403 incidents of attacks by dogs on wildlife from the online survey, and 57 incidents from print media! They found that 80 species were under attack by dogs, including four ‘critically endangered’ species, twelve ‘endangered’ species, eight ‘vulnerable’ species and seven ‘near threatened’ species. From the survey results it would seem that no prey is too big for the dogs! They were recorded hunting sambar deer, blackbucks and on one occasion, they were chasing a leopard.

The study shows that the threat from dogs on wildlife is real and could come in the way of conservational efforts. So, what can we do to curb this conflict? Managing dog population is the key, say the researchers. The survey respondents also seem to agree on this as 87% of the respondents felt the need to control dog population near wilderness areas. The researchers opine that in order to protect local wildlife and ensure a good quality of life for dogs, carefully planned population control programs should be implemented near protected forest areas.

“When it comes to dog population management, nobody actually wants to look at one of the most important problem in India—dog ownership policies. People like to feed dogs (an easy way to show compassion) but do not want to be responsible pet owners. Also, sterilization is considered the only way to curb population. No one talks about reducing garbage or food for dogs. The general idea prevalent is that dogs are born to feed on garbage. I think the basic attitude in India needs a change”, explains Ms. Home.

Domesticated dogs are adding a new dimension to the threats many species of wildlife are already facing due to habitat loss, deforestation, encroachment, etc. Man’s best friend is turning out to be biodiversity’s biggest enemy, as this research shows.

Section: General, Science, Ecology, Deep-dive Source:
New Delhi Tuesday, 10 April, 2018 - 23:04

Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Advisor and Scientist H at the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India took over as Secretary, DBT on 10th of April 2018. She takes over the role from Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, who served as the interim Secretary, DBT. Dr. Renu Swarup’s appointment which is approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet was formally notified today for a period of two years or until attainment of 60 years or until further orders.

Dr. Swarup, who holds a PhD degree in Genetics and Plant Engineering, completed her Post Doctoral studies at The John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. Her career at DBT started in 1989 when she joined the department as a Science Manager. Currently, Dr. Swarup is also a Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public company that promotes innovative research in biotechnology with a special focus on startups and small and medium enterprises.

At DBT, Dr. Swarup was part of several initiatives. As a Science Manager, she worked on policy planning and implementation. She also heads the National Bioresource Development Board and is involved in development, funding and monitoring of programmes in the area of energy biosciences, bioresource development and utilisation and plant biotechnology, tissue culture and other biomass associated programmes. She was also instrumental in the formation of the first Biotechnology Vision in 2001, the National Biotechnology Development Strategy in 2007, and the second strategy in the year 2015, where she served as the Member Secretary of the Expert Committee.

Dr. Swarup has been a fervent supporter of women scientists and has been closely involved in several initiatives related to women and science. She is credited with initiating the Biotechnology Career Advancement for Women Scientists (BioCARe), a DBT scheme.  She was also a member of the task force on Women in Science, constituted by the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister. Over the years, she has been the winner of several awards and honours including, the ‘Bio-Spectrum Person of the Year Award’ in 2012 and National Entrepreneurship Award in 2017.

Here is wishing Dr. Swarup all the best in her new leadership role.

Section: General, Science, Society, Policy Source:
Haryana Tuesday, 10 April, 2018 - 15:53

In a first comprehensive study, researchers from the Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Sciences and G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology have explored the reasons behind the prevalence of Bluetongue Virus (BTV) in the state of Haryana. BTV is responsible for causing the bluetongue disease—a non-contagious, insect-borne, viral disease caused mainly in sheep and less frequently in cattle, goats, buffalo, deer and antelopes.

The bluetongue disease spreads through a small flying insect called midge. The disease causes the animals to develop a fever, along with excess salivation, swelling and cyanosis of the tongue. Cyanosis refers to the tongue appearing blue due to a lack of oxygen reaching the tongue’s tissue.

Although the disease causes mortality in sheep, it is usually not fatal to other cattle. Nevertheless, the recovery after the disease is contracted is slow and painful. This makes it important to understand how far the disease has spread within a population of cattle in a given area, as it affects their productivity.

To check for the prevalence of the virus, the researchers collected blood samples from 408 cattle and 395 buffalo from 80 different villages in 21 different districts of Haryana. They then separated the blood serum, which was then used in c-ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) tests—an immunological technique that indicate if the virus is present in the serum.

The researchers found that the virus was present in 75.49% of the samples in cattle and 92.91% of the buffalo samples. In districts like Gurgaon and Rohtak, the virus was found in each of the cattle and buffalo sampled. Though previous studies have shown that the occurrence of the infection in cattle increases with the arrival of the monsoon, the researchers attribute the high prevalence in the state of Haryana to two main factors. First is the free movement of animals from neighbouring states for grazing, and the second being the increase in the number of adult midges (Culicoides oxystoma) during the monsoon.

The study provides some important data points that could help in containing the spread of the disease, against which there is no vaccine yet. Continuous monitoring of blood samples among cattle needs to be carried out to prevent future outbreaks, say the researchers. “Recent developments of inactivated or subunit vaccines may in the future help to control the disease in the state”, they add.

Section: General, Science, Health, News Source: Link
Kharagpur Tuesday, 10 April, 2018 - 07:39

Researchers from National Institute of Technology, Durgapur and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in West Bengal, with support from Department of Biotechnology, Government of India,have shown that the one way to efficiently deal with oil sludge, is to cultivate suitable microbes using nutrients, which then disintegrate the contaminants in the sludge.

Our world today is powered by fossil fuels, the source of which is the crude oil pumped out of the ground. India, which imports all its oil, alone imported around 4.5 Billion gallons per day of crude oil last year. Once petrol and other fuels like diesel, kerosene are removed, the remaining sludge is still ripe with chemicals like hexane, benzene, fluorine and naphthalene. Petroleum Industries worldwide generate about a billion ton of petroleum sludge each year. If left untreated, the sludge could cause severe environmental hazards, like pollution and poisoning of ecosystems.

Some microorganisms like Bacillus, Coprothermobacter, Rhodobacter, Pseudomonas, Achromobacter etc are known to degrade hydrocarbons. Bioremediation involves employing such microorganisms to degrade hydrocarbons in our petroleum sludge. The researchers suggest two ways of achieving efficiency with bio remediation: biostimulation and bioaugmentation.

Biostimulation involves stimulating the bacteria by suitably altering the environment in which they grow. In this case, the researchers used nutrients like nitrates, phosphates, or a mixture of the two to stimulate the growth of microorganisms which then degrades the waste sludge. However this process depends on the ability of the native and endemic microorganisms to degrade the sludge quickly, which often isn’t the case.

To aid the native microorganisms, the researchers suggest using bioaugmentation- a process of introducing other microorganisms that can do the job faster. The petroleum sludge can be home to millions of colonies of bacteria and other microorganisms. Of these, to successfully degrade the contaminants, fermentative, hydrocarbon degrading, sulfate-reducing, CO2-assimilating and methanogenic (methane producing) microorganisms are required. Although native microorganism already present in the sludge can have these properties, to accelerate the degradation, biosurfactant producing and hydrocarbon utilizing indigenous Bacillus strains were introduced along with the native organisms.

The study showed a 46-55% higher rate of degradation was observed with the addition of nutrients or after biostimulation and and 57-75% reduction of contaminants with the addition of the bacillus strains. The researchers believe “nutrients induced community dynamics and metabolic interplay” could be the reasons for the accelerated bioremediation. According to the researchers, “This study recommends the addition of nutrients along with potential endogenous hydrocarbon degraders in the sludge for the bioremediation of otherwise recalcitrant petroleum refinery waste”

Section: General, Science, News Source: Link
Mumbai Monday, 9 April, 2018 - 15:32

Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai have observed a new phenomenon in a semiconductor quantum dot-- particles of nanometre (a billionth of a meter) size which are also called artificial atoms) made of Cu2ZnSnS4  (CZTS). By shining Ultra Violet (UV) light, on the quantum dots immersed in an electrolyte, they noticed an increase in its capacitance. The effect could be engineered to serve as photocapacitors- capacitors that are charged using light.

A capacitor can be thought of as a tiny battery. It can store charges between two plates of metals, which then discharge to provide a burst of electricity. It is then charged again, using a source of electricity, just like batteries. A Photocapacitor, much the same way stores charges, when shone with light, which can then discharge to provide a small charge.

When particles or objects are immersed in a fluid, especially an electrolyte- an electrically conducting solution, double layers of separate positive and negative ions are formed on the surface of the immersed object. In the case of CZTS quantum dots too, when immersed in an electrolyte, such a charge separation and double layer formation was observed. But when the CZTS particles were bombarded with UV radiation, the researchers observed a 26% increase in integral capacitance of the particle, meaning it could now hold more separated ions on its surface than before. This in turn leads to a higher flow of current.

The researchers believe that the increased charge separation occurs due to additional carriers like electrons or positive ions that are generated by excitation due to the UV light, which leads to larger electrostatic forces between the quantum dots and the electrolyte it is immersed in. This in turn leads to an enhanced double layer, and hence a higher capacitance. Their theory was supported by another observation- a decrease in the differential capacitance which according to the researchers could be happening due to an enhanced double layer.

The researchers claim “This (study and results) illustrates the utility of a colloidal quantum dot-electrolyte interface as a non-linear photocapacitor”

Section: General, Science, Engineering, News Source: Link


In 1797, at the dawn of the industrial age, Goethe wrote The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a poem about a magician-in-training who, through his arrogance and half-baked powers, unleashes a chain of events he cannot control.

About 20 years later, a young Mary Shelley answered a dare to write a ghost story, which she shared at a small gathering at Lake Geneva. Her story would go on to be published as a novel, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, on January 1, 1818.

Both are stories about our powers to create things that take on a life of their own.

Goethe’s poem comes to a climax when the apprentice calls out in a panic:

Master, come to my assistance!
Wrong I was in calling
Spirits, I avow,
For I find them galling,
Cannot rule them now.

While the master fortunately returns just in time to cancel the treacherous spell, Shelley’s tale doesn’t end so nicely: Victor Frankenstein’s monster goes on a murderous rampage, and his creator is unable to put a stop to the carnage.

Who foretold our fate: Goethe or Shelley?

That’s the question we face on the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, as we find ourselves grappling with the unintended consequences of our creations from Facebook, to artificial intelligence and human genetic engineering. Will we sail through safely or will we, like Victor Frankenstein, witness “destruction and infallible misery”?

Will science save us?

In Goethe’s poem, disaster is averted through a more skilful application of the same magic that conjured the problem in the first place. The term for this nowadays is “reflexive modernity” – the idea that modern technology can be applied to deal with any problems of its own creation. Whatever problems arise from technoscience we can fix with more technoscience. In environmentalism, this is known as ecomodernism. In transhumanist circles, it is called the proactionary principle, which “involves not only anticipating before acting, but learning by acting.”

Frankenstein, by contrast, is a precautionary tale. Imbued with the impulse to transform nature, humans risk extending beyond their proper reach. Victor Frankenstein comes to rue the ambition to become “greater than his nature will allow.”

He laments: “Learn from me…how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world.”

Hubris, he seems to warn, will be the death of us all.

The rise of the Silicon Valley refuseniks

This same worry over hubris appears to be creeping up among today’s scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, many of whom seem to be getting cold feet. After creating something, they’ve turned around and denounced their very creations.

Are they like the apprentice calling for a master who will rescue us? Or are they, like Frankenstein, engaged in a futile quest to squelch something that is already beyond our control?

Consider Sean Parker. The co-founder of Napster and an early investor in Facebook recently announced his status as a social media “conscientious objector.” Facebook, he claims, is likely damaging children’s brains and definitely exploiting human psychological weaknesses.

There are more Silicon Valley refuseniks. Justin Rosenstein, the inventor of the Facebook “like” button, has deleted the app from his phone, citing worries about addiction, continuous partial attention disorder and the demise of democracy at the hands of social media. Former Google employee Tristan Harris and Loren Bricther who invented the slot machine-like pull-to-refresh mechanism for twitter feeds are both warning us about the dangers of their creatures.

Anthony Ingraffea spent the first 25 years of his engineering career trying to figure out how to get more fossil fuels out of rocks. From 1978 to 2003, he worked on both government and industry grants to improve hydraulic fracturing. His own research never panned out, but when he learned of the success of others and the magnitude of chemicals and water required, he was “aghast” and said, “It was as if [I’d] been working on something [my] whole life and somebody comes and turns it into Frankenstein.” Over the past ten years he has become one of the nation’s leading fracking opponents. The industry that once funded him now regularly trolls and attacks him.

Jennifer Doudna is one of the main scientists behind the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR. In her new book, A Crack in Creation, she writes that CRISPR could eliminate several diseases and improve lives, but it could also be used in ways similar to Nazi eugenics. Doudna has revealed that she has nightmares where Hitler asks her to explain “the uses and implications of this amazing technology.”

Elon Musk worries that with Artificial Intelligence we are “summoning the devil.” AI is, for him, “our greatest existential threat.” Musk has super-charged Dr Frankenstein’s initial impulse of evading his abominable creation: He is working on interplanetary colonisation so that we can run all the way to Mars when AI goes rogue on planet Earth.

Treating technology like a child

The anthropologist Bruno Latour chastised Musk for this kind of thing. The way Latour sees it, the moral of Frankenstein is not that we should stop making monsters but, rather, that we should love our monsters. The problem wasn’t Dr Frankenstein’s hubris, but his unfeeling – he abandoned his “child” rather than educating it so that it could learn how to behave.

Latour’s point is that no amount of technological advance will give us total control and a blissful detachment from the world. Instead, technology, like parenting, will always require being constantly folded into new developments, tending, fretting and caring.

Musk’s initiative OpenAI, which seeks to develop safer AI technologies, is more what Latour has in mind.

As it turns out, Latour is putting his own advice to the test. He is the creator-in-chief of the scariest monster of our times. This creature is not actually a product of science, but rather a way of thinking about science. Latour spent his career showing how scientific facts are socially constructed, and that there is no such thing as unbiased access to truth.

In short, he argues that objectivity is a sham and science is never really settled or certain.

Now, of course, he’s watching in horror as this spirit of deconstruction and distrust takes root in our post-truth age of alternative facts, climate change denialists and partisan media bubbles.

In a recent interview, Latour admitted that he now regrets his earlier “juvenile enthusiasm” in attacking science and vows to reverse course:

“We will have to regain some of the authority of science. That is the complete opposite from where we started doing science studies.”

In order to love our monsters we have to have some basic agreement about when they are misbehaving and what to do about it. That agreement comes through widespread trust in the traditional institutions of truth: science, the media and universities. Latour sought to liberate us from the paternalism of the experts inhabiting these institutions, and it was a noble quest.

But his acid, combined with the chaos of social media and the greed of big money, has corroded things more deeply than he imagined. Now it is bias all the way down, everything is susceptible to a knee-jerk accusation of ‘fake news!’ Climate change may be the ultimate abomination or maybe it’s a hoax. Who can tell? The skepticism-induced paralysis is hardly conducive to chasing monsters.

Adam Briggle, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.