3D printed teeth kill bacteria

 

Dental implants could soon have built-in antibacterial properties (Credit:Shutterstock) Creating replacement parts for various bits of the human body is one of the many areas in which 3D printing has huge potential. Dental implants are on that list, too, and if new research out of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands comes to fruition, 3D-printed replacement teeth could come with the added bonus of being able to destroy 99 percent of bacteria that they come into contact with. The research team, led by Andreas Hermann, has developed a process to manufacture 3D-printed teeth and braces capable of destroying bacteria using a special type of antimicrobial resin. To create the resin, the researchers combined antibacterial ammonium salts with standard dental resins. The resultant mixture was then hardened using ultraviolet light and put inside a 3D printer to print samples of replacement teeth. The positive charge on the ammonium salts gives the resin its bacteria-killing property, disrupting negatively charged bacterial membranes and causing them to burst and die. To test the antibacterial capacity of the resin the researchers applied a mixture of saliva and tooth decay-causing bacteria Streptococcus mutans on the samples of the replacement teeth and found that the material was effective in destroying 99 percent of the bacteria colonies on the sample. The material can kill bacteria on contact but is not harmful to human cells, Hermann told New Scientist. It's not all smiles though. In a review of the study Nicholas Staropoli, a research associate for the American Council on Science and Health, points out that while the teeth could prevent oral infections, such as endocarditis, and preserve dental implants, it could also wipe out helpful bacteria that help protect a person from harmful pathogens. As of now the material is still a prototype and according to the researchers further testing will be required before human trials can be conducted. In addition to inhibiting bacterial damage to teeth implants, the researchers believe the material may also be suitable for orthopaedic and non-medical applications, such as water purification, food packaging and children’s toys. The research paper entitled 3D-Printable Antimicrobial Composite Resins is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.   http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printer-teeth-kill-bacteria/40161/

Lack of 'sleep' may zap cell growth, brain activity, study in plants suggests

 

Lack of adequate sleep can do more than just make you tired. It can short-circuit your system and interfere with a fundamental cellular process that drives physical growth, physiological adaptation and even brain activity, according to a new study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Albrecht von Arnim, a molecular biologist based in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, studied plants but said the concepts may well translate to humans. His team examined how protein synthesis--the process that determines how organisms grow and how cells renew themselves--changes over the course of the daily day-night cycle. He also explored whether any such changes are controlled by the organism's internal time keeper, the circadian clock. Proteins are newly created in every cell by translating messages made from the cell's own DNA, the genome. Von Arnim's findings, published in the journal Plant Cell, show not only that protein synthesis activity changed over the course of the day, but also that it was under the influence of the circadian clock. "When we misalign our behavior with our circadian clock, for example by creating jet lag, or by working as a night owl, we do not only disrupt normal physiological processes such as cycles of appetite and body temperature," von Arnim said. "This work in plants suggests that we may also be interfering with a more fundamental cellular process, protein synthesis." Muscle action, brain activity, growth and development are functions all performed by proteins whose synthesis is carefully regulated, he said. "For example, when cells are stressed by high temperatures or from a virus infection, they drastically reduce their protein synthesis activity," von Arnim said. The findings could also have implications for agricultural production as farmers and companies seek to better cultivate land and maximize outputs from plants required to sustain human life. "Protein synthesis is part of the basis for crop yield," von Arnim said. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Anamika Missra et al. The Circadian Clock Modulates Global Daily Cycles of mRNA Ribosome Loading. The Plant Cell, 2015 DOI:10.%u200B1105/%u200Btpc.%u200B15.%u200B00546 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151030153115.htm

Qualities admired in another from far away can be threatening as that person approaches

 

What people believe they want and what they might actually prefer are not always the same thing. And in the case of being outperformed as an element of romantic attraction, the difference between genuine affinity and apparent desirability becomes clearer as the distance between two people gets smaller. In matters of relative performance, distance influences attraction. For example, someone of greater intelligence seems attractive when they're distant or far away in your mind. But less so when that same person is right next to you, according to a new study by a University at Buffalo-led research team published in the latest edition of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. "We found that men preferred women who are smarter than them in psychologically distant situations. Men rely on their ideal preferences when a woman is hypothetical or imagined," said Lora Park, associate professor in the UB Department of Psychology and the study's principal investigator. "But in live interaction, men distanced themselves and were less attracted to a woman who outperformed them in intelligence." Previous research has shown that similarities between individuals can affect attraction. This new set of studies suggests that psychological distance -- whether someone is construed as being near or far in relation to the self -- plays a key role in determining attraction. "It's the distinction between the abstract and the immediate," says Park. "There is a disconnect between what people appear to like in the abstract when someone is unknown and when that same person is with them in some immediate social context." Even though the research focus of the current study was on romantic attraction and, specifically, men's interest in women, Park says the result might potentially be a broader phenomenon, extending to other interpersonal situations. "That's a question for future research," she said. "But presumably, anyone who is outperformed by someone close to them might feel threatened themselves. We just happened to look at men in a romantic dating context." Park's team conducted six separate studies involving 650 young adult subjects. The studies ranged from presenting subjects with hypothetical women, to women they expected to meet, to actually engaging in an interpersonal interaction. "In each case, how much you like someone or how much you are attracted to them is affected by how intelligent that person is relative to you and how close that person is relative to you," said Park. But the area of performance has to be something important to the individual. "The domain matters," says Park. "If you don't care about the domain, you might not be threatened. Yet, if you care a lot about the domain, then you might prefer that quality in somebody who is distant, then feel threatened when that person gets close to you." Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University at Buffalo. The original item was written by Bert Gambini. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151030161339.htm

'Everything in moderation' diet advice may lead to poor metabolic health

 

Diet diversity, as defined by less similarity among the foods people eat, may be linked to lower diet quality and worse metabolic health, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The study was published today in PLOS ONE. "'Eat everything in moderation' has been a long-standing dietary recommendation, but without much empiric supporting evidence in populations. We wanted to characterize new metrics of diet diversity and evaluate their association with metabolic health," said Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, Ph.D., first author and assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health. Using data from 6,814 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a study of whites, blacks, Hispanic-Americans and Chinese-Americans in the United States, the authors measured diet diversity through different measures. These included the total count (number of different foods eaten in a week), evenness (the distribution of calories across different foods consumed), and dissimilarity (the differences in food attributes relevant to metabolic health, such as fiber, sodium or trans-fat content). Researchers evaluated how diet diversity was associated with change in waist circumference five years after the beginning of the study and with onset of Type 2 diabetes 10 years later. Waist circumference is an important indicator of central fat and metabolic health. When evaluating both food count and evenness, no associations were seen with either increase in waist circumference or incidence of diabetes. In other words, more diversity in the diet was not linked to better outcomes. Participants who had the greatest food dissimilarity actually experienced more central weight gain, with a 120 percent greater increase in waist circumference than participants with the lowest food dissimilarity. To compare with the results seen for diet diversity, the researchers also examined how diet quality relates to metabolic health. Diet quality was measured using established scores such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) score and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) score. At five years, diet quality was not associated with change in waist circumference. At ten years, higher diet quality was associated with about a 25 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. "An unexpected finding was that participants with greater diversity in their diets, as measured by dissimilarity, actually had worse diet quality. They were eating less healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, and more unhealthy foods, such as processed meats, desserts and soda," said Otto. "This may help explain the relationship between greater food dissimilarity and increased waist circumference." Dietary diversity as measured by food count and evenness was also associated with higher intakes of both healthy and unhealthy foods. "People in the US with the healthiest diets actually eat a relatively small range of healthy foods," said Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior author and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston. "These results suggest that in modern diets, eating 'everything in moderation' is actually worse than eating a smaller number of healthy foods." Nikhil S. Padhye, Ph.D., from UTHeath School of Nursing, was a coauthor on the study. Funding came from a research supplement grant awarded to Otto by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, as part of a larger research grant number R01HL085710, whose principal investigator is the senior author Mozaffarian.   Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, Nikhil S. Padhye, Alain G. Bertoni, David R. Jacobs, Dariush Mozaffarian. Everything in Moderation - Dietary Diversity and Quality, Central Obesity and Risk of Diabetes. PLOS ONE, 2015; 10 (10): e0141341 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141341

The Ultra-Detailed Wood Carving of Dongyang

 

Posted: 31 Oct 2015 03:00 AM PDT

Trouvant ses origines dans la dynastie Tang (environ en -700 avant Jésus Christ), l’artisanat chinois du bois de la région de Dongyang présente des sculptures incroyables et hyper détaillées. Ces formes élégantes possèdent énormément de relief et mettent en scène des sortes de dioramas muraux. Cette discipline traditionnelle est encore pratiquée aujourd’hui dans cette région (où on trouve quelques workshops) et servent à décorer son intérieur ou ses meubles.

www.fubiz.net

To Photograph a Wind Farm You Must Learn to Survive at Sea

 

The prize was more than thirty miles off the German coast. Rising 300 feet from the surface of the North Sea was a forest of shimmering fiberglass-and-steel wind turbines. In his dreams, photographer Luca Locatelli stood atop a turbine with his camera to capture the essence of Germany’s massive push for offshore wind power.

But his dream would have to wait.

All wind-turbine workers must receive water-safety training before they can work offshore. Inside a German training pool of the Maritime Center of Competence Elsfleth (MARIKO), a student readies to flip a life raft as his instructors look on.
All Photographs by Luca Locatelli

 

Trainees in an emergency raft signal to a faux helicopter for rescue in a simulated nighttime thunderstorm, which includes waves more than six feet high, total darkness, deafening sound, and high winds inside the Elsfleth training center.

“I have to say that we have severe preconditions for everyone,” wrote an energy company executive. “The photographer needs to have all certificates … [which] include, among other training, the so called ‘survival at sea’ and HUET,” (which stands for Helicopter Underwater Escape Training).

An instructor, left, and a safety diver, right, watch an upside-down trainee try to safely escape from a capsized-helicopter simulator. Helicopter escape training is a prerequisite for working on offshore wind platforms.

 

Two trainees in red suits are surrounded by instructors and safety divers as the helicopter simulator descends into the wave pool.

Undaunted, Locatelli and his assistant, Sirio Magnabosco, enrolled in the grueling four-day training, which allowed them access to the offshore wind farms. Magnabosco made a video (at the top of this page) of Locatelli going through the course. The training included weathering a pool outfitted to create stormlike conditions at sea—six-foot waves, thunder and lightning, and wind and rain, all in total darkness.

“I can tell when it’s dark, when there is the wind, when there is the noise of the thunderstorm, somehow you don’t recognize very well that it’s a simulation,” Locatelli recalled. “You are just in trouble. The water is real. The waves are real. So you have to breathe, and you have to swim, otherwise you fail.”

A helicopter shuttling workers prepares to take off from the Regina Baltica, a boat that is used as a floating hotel, more than 30 miles off the coast of Germany. Nineteen wind farms have been built or are under construction in German waters of the North and Baltic Seas.

“Energy cowboys” wait for the ride out to the wind turbines to begin work in the morning aboard the Regina Baltica.

The wind farm that Locatelli was able to photograph, courtesy of DONG Energy, was the Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind farm that was inaugurated this month. The312-megawatt wind farm has 78 turbines producing enough power for 320,000 German households. Eighteen other wind farms have been built or are under construction in German waters of the North and Baltic Seas.

And, once Locatelli was finally allowed access to the turbines in the sea, he was finally able to make the images that he had envisioned all along.

Photographer Luca Locatelli is all geared up to photograph wind turbines in the North Sea.

 

A Siemens worker on an offshore wind turbine uses a crane to lower a wrench to workers below. The technicians were finishing work on the 78-turbine Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind farm off the coast of Germany in the North Sea.

A Siemens maintenance vessel floats among wind farms more than 30 miles from the German shoreline. The vessel can hold up to 40 technicians, has a workshop, holds small turbine parts, and can safely deliver workers to turbines in eight-foot swells.

 

---

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/28/to-photograph-a-windfarm-you-must-learn-to-survive-at-sea/

China Ends 1-Child Birth Policy, but it May be Too Little, Too Late

 

Critics say that change may be slow because large families are too pricey October 30, 2015 For illustration purposes only. NI QIN ©iStock.com By Megha Rajagopalan and Koh Gui Qing BEIJING (Reuters) - China will ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of a strict one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party said on Thursday, a move aimed at alleviating demographic strains on the economy. The policy is a major liberalization of the country's family planning restrictions, already eased in late 2013 when Beijing said it would allow more families to have two children when the parents met certain conditions. A growing number of scholars had urged the government to reform the rules, introduced in the late 1970s to prevent population growth spiraling out of control, but now regarded as outdated and responsible for shrinking China's labor pool. For the first time in decades the working age population fell in 2012, and China, the world's most populous nation, could be the first country in the world to get old before it gets rich. By around the middle of this century, one in every three Chinese is forecast to be over 60, with a dwindling proportion of working adults to support them. The announcement was made at the close of a key Party meeting focused on financial reforms and maintaining growth between 2016 and 2020 amid concerns over the country's slowing economy. China will "fully implement a policy of allowing each couple to have two children as an active response to an ageing population", the party said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency. There were no immediate details on the new policy or a timeframe for implementation. Wang Feng, a leading expert on demographic and social change in China, called the change an "historic event" that would change the world but said the challenges of China's aging society would remain. "It's an event that we have been waiting  for a generation, but it is one we have had to wait much too long for," Wang said. "It won't have any impact on the issue of the aging society, but it will change the character of many young families," Wang said. Too little, too late? Under the 2013 reform, couples in which one parent is an only child were allowed to have a second child. Critics said the relaxation of rules was too little, too late to redress substantial negative effects of the one-child policy on the economy and society. Many couples who were allowed to have another child under the 2013 rules decided not to, especially in the cities, citing the cost of bringing up children in an increasingly expensive country. State media said in January that about 30,000 families in Beijing, just 6.7% of those eligible, applied to have a second child. The Beijing government had said last year that it expected an extra 54,200 births annually as a result of the change in rules. Chinese people took to microblogging site Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, to welcome the move, but many said they probably wouldn't opt for a second child. "I can't even afford to raise one, let alone two," wrote one user. Couples who flout family planning laws in China are, at minimum, fined, some lose their jobs, and in some cases mothers are forced to abort their babies or be sterilized. William Nee, a China researcher at human rights campaign group Amnesty International, welcomed the move, but urged China to go further. "China should immediately and completely end its control over people's decisions to have children. This would not only be good for improving human rights, but would also make sense given the stark demographic challenges that lie ahead," he said.   http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-ends-1-child-birth-policy-but-it-may-be-too-little-too-late/

Maple Sweet Potato Cake

 

Maple and Sweet Potato Cake.  Garrett McCord Whenever it starts getting a bit cool I roast sweet potatoes. They're an easy meal in themselves or perfectly fine for a side. Plus, roasting them is so easy. When I roast sweet potatoes I usually make a few extra than I need for that meal. The leftovers get mashed and then scuttled away in the freezer or fridge for future projects. Sometimes I use the mash for a sweet potato shepherd's pie topping, or swirl them into waffle or biscuit dough. However, one of my favorite uses is this crazy easy sweet potato cake. This cake take about 5 minutes of active work followed by 1 hour of baking. The result is a dense, sweet, earthy cake that easily beats out any pumpkin cake recipe you have. It's incredibly rich, and the maple and brown sugar give it a musky flavor. A pinch of cinnamon keeps it simple, but I've happily added ground mace, coriander, allspice, ginger, and even ground star anise for something truly elegant. Serve this plain as a snack or toast a slice before smearing it with butter. I've also used this cake in a trifle with pastry cream, bourbon, and candied cranberries. Lastly, I enjoy serving this with a little bit of black coffee or even a hot buttered rum. Related Sweet Potato Links: Perfect Roast Sweet Potatoes What's the Difference Between Yams and Sweet Potatoes? History of the Sweet Potato in China Are Sweet Potato Greens Poisonous? 7 Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes Ingredients 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1/2 cup of sugar 1/2 cup of brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup of pureed sweet potatoes 1/2 cup of olive oil 2 eggs 1/4 cup of maple syrup (Grade B, preferably) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 60 minutes Total Time: 65 minutes Yield: 1 loaf cake Preparation 1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan by spraying it with baking spray or lightly buttering and flouring it. 2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and sugars. Set aside. 3. Whisk together the sweet potato puree, olive oil, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture and stir together with a spoon until it just comes together. Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out of the center clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to cool on a wire rack. Serve hot, warm, cool, or toasted.   http://produce.about.com/od/Fall-Produce/r/Maple-Sweet-Potato-Cake.htm

Halloween Cocktails Cinemagraphs

 

Posted: 29 Oct 2015 11:00 AM PDT

À travers de superbes cinémagraphes, les créatrices de Kitchen Ghosts nous invitent à découvrir une série de cocktails spécialement conçus pour la fête d’Halloween. Épicés ou plus légers, les ingrédients sont indiqués afin pour que vous puissiez vous aussi réaliser ces délicieux breuvages.

www.fubiz.net

A Year in Space

 

Wed, 10/28/2015 - 1:40pm Tim Studt Astronaut Scott Kelly offers his expertise, experience and body to build a knowledge database that will pave the way for trips to Mars, and beyond. Astronaut Scott Kelly. Photo: NASA Johnson Astronaut Scott Kelly has accomplished a lot during his 51 years, much of it in non-normal environments. Nearly 2.5 years of Kelly’s life has been spent in extreme environments, either as a naval test pilot experiencing high-G’s in super-sonic military aircrafts or working on science experiments in the International Space Station (ISS)’s zero-G environment. As a NASA astronaut with long-duration experience on space shuttles and the ISS, Kelly volunteered and was selected by NASA, in November 2012, to be its member of a planned Year-in-Space mission. As its member of the planned two-person science-based mission, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) selected veteran cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko. Kelly and Korniyenko were launched to the ISS on March 27, 2015, aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Both are scheduled to return to Kazakhstan in Spring 2016 (342 days). The Kelly-Korniyenko Year-in-Space mission is unique to space travel as it’s the first time long-term science experiments are being dedicated to understanding how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Kelly’s mission will be the longest continuous term in space for an astronaut, while Korniyenko’s mission will add to six other cosmonauts’ records who spent 10 to 14 months aboard Russia’s (now-defunct) MIR orbiting spacecraft in the 1990s. The Year-in-Space duration is twice as long as a normal six-month tour aboard the ISS for “traditional” astronauts and cosmonauts, and spans ISS Expeditions 43 to 46. Scott Kelly also has an identical twin, Mark Kelly, who also was an astronaut and a Captain in the U.S. Navy who became a test pilot and piloted four STS missions to the ISS. Scott and Mark are the first siblings to go into space. They each agreed to become the test and control subjects, respectively, for some of the science experiments being conducted during the Year-in-Space mission. Being identical twins, they have the same genetic makeup and offer an excellent methodology and capability to determine what effects living and working in space have on the body’s genetic makeup. “This is a once-in-a-space-program opportunity,” says John Charles, PhD, Associate Manager for International Science, NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP), reflecting on the strong scientific value of having identical twins perform space medicine experiments. With these criteria, it became an obvious choice this year for the Editors of R&D Magazine to choose Scott Kelly as our 2015 Scientist of the Year—R&D Magazine’s 50th annual Award, recognizing outstanding researchers for their groundbreaking research, and the knowledge they create to enhance the human condition. Scott is both the subject of these year-long science experiments, and the researcher collecting unique data that will influence generations of space travelers in the future—he is literally this year’s scientist of the year. The science There already have been and are plans in future expeditions for human research investigations aboard the ISS. All astronauts are medically monitored during pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight phases according to established Medical Evaluation Documents and protocols. The opportunity to collect and compare the effects of spaceflight on the human body over 12 months—rather than typical six-month missions—is the unique capability Year-in-Space offers, especially on twin brothers—test and control subjects—for genetic changes. Much of the data collected will be evaluated for future human travel to Mars. A trip to Mars can vary from six to eight months one-way, depending upon planetary positions, so data is needed for these long-duration voyages. “For typical ISS science studies, we usually have specific outcomes in mind, and they’re goal-oriented,” says NASA’s Charles. For Kelly’s Year-in-Space mission, “the [experiment] slate was essentially blank.” As such, NASA offered academic, government and private researchers the opportunity to propose research studies that could be performed with the resources offered by Scott and Mark. An aurora taken from the International Space Station. Image: NASA Johnson“ Scott will participate in about 450 experiments while on the Year-in-Space mission,” says Julie Robinson, PhD, ISS Program Scientist. “About 700 to 800 researchers are expected to directly work with the data provided by Scott. Along with the comparative medical science investigations with his brother, the experiments Scott will participate in include Earth studies, astrophysical studies and physical science experiments.” Robinson also notes there is a huge community of researchers who are working on details for travel to Mars and developing the criteria for building a Martian infrastructure. “The scale of the work being created and collected by Scott is invaluable for these efforts,” she says. The knowledge and lessons learned in space also can have direct carryovers to the development of advanced patient care on Earth. One of the medical science experiments being conducted during the Year-in-Space examines how body fluids shift to the upper body while in a microgravity environment. It’s known the faces of in-orbit personnel get “puffy,” while their legs lose bone mass and get skinny. Previous studies have noted varying visual deficits experienced by up to two-thirds of the orbiting astronauts and cosmonauts, which on long-duration voyages could be a big concern. For one astronaut, the deterioration was so severe that he couldn’t read the checklist for landing on re-enrty—luckily he had it memorized. One of the hypotheses being evaluated is the shifting of body fluids to the upper body contributes to increased intracranial pressure and subsequent decreased visual capacity. A potential solution developed by the Russians is the creation of a lower body negative pressure suit. The use and testing of this system, however, required moving NASA testing equipment to the Russian Zvezda service module where the large immovable negative pressure suit system is located—not a small undertaking. And, instead of using invasive techniques to measure intracranial pressures, such as drilling into the skull, NASA developed noninvasive optoacoustic devices for this experiment. This noninvasive device could also be used for patients suffering from elevated intracranical pressure on earth. These Year-in-Space experiments are supported by the Henry Ford Medical Center, UC-San Diego and the Wyle Science, Technology and Engineering Group. Vision experiments are at the top of NASA’s medical concerns. Scott’s lack of serious vision problems was one of the criteria that resulted in NASA’s final approval for his participation in the Year-in-Space program. Another experiment being evaluated investigates how microgravity affects an astronaut’s DNA and RNA. Taking blood samples from space-borne Scott and Earth-bound Mark at similar intervals throughout the Year-in-Space, as well as during pre-flight and post-flight periods, researchers can determine if gene expression and behavior changes while in space. The body fluid samples taken by Scott are bagged and frozen aboard the ISS and are scheduled to return with Scott next spring for evaluation by a number of researchers and research organizations. Some of this specific DNA/RNA evaluation work is supported by Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell Univ. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived on the Kounotori 5 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5.). Photos: NASA Johnson Still another experiment proposed by nutritionists at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, creates a biochemical profile of Scott using blood tests to show his internal organ health. Other investigations look to analyze the human molecular response (from blood samples) to the physical, physiological and environmental stresses associated with Scott’s diet, stress, weightlessness and other unique responses to spaceflight. Life in a confined environment, for example, can affect the creation of chemical compounds that tell a human cell what to do and when to do it. Other space medicine experiments considered for the Year-in-Space include investigations as to how the immune system is affected aboard the ISS; space effects on atherosclerosis; effects on microorganisms within the body; risks of osteoporosis; changes in blood vessels; changes in brain structure and sensory/motor abilities; and the post-flight return of mental and physical abilities. In addition to blood, urine, saliva and even fecal samples are taken and bagged at regular intervals from both Scott and Mark for the specific experimental comparisons and evaluations that will be performed by various researchers in the post-flight time period. Mark doesn’t have the same diet as Scott, but does follow Scott’s daily 1.5 to 2.0 hrs routine of exercise to keep in a similar physical condition as his brother. Scott’s daily waking routine consists of about a third of the time devoted the Year-in-Space experiments, a third devoted to ISS maintenance concerns and the remainder spent on physical exercise and personal care. While generating data on the various medical effects noted above, the purpose of these experiments is to help scientists develop countermeasures to offset the negative effects through drugs, new exercise routines, upgraded shielding or artificial gravity systems. Living and working in space has a lot of physical and medical issues, including backaches, bone loss, poor sleep patterns, loss of balance, muscle atrophy, nausea, rashes and post-flight kidney stones to name a few. “You feel bad for the first month and I’ve never felt completely normal,” says Scott. Scott’s twitter In response to requests for Earth studies and working with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to help people better understand the Earth from the ISS’s vantage point, Scott creates almost daily tweets (@StationCDRKelly) containing recent images he has taken. The images include those of specific geographical spots on the Earth, weather patterns, the ISS and whatever else strikes his fancy. He often makes a game of these, asking followers to see if they can identify the geographical image he’s tweeted. The Expedition 43 crew gathers aboard the International Space Station to affix their mission patch to the vehicle. In view is Commander Terry Virts (center left), Scott Kelly (top left), Gennady Padalka (top center), Anton Shkaplerov (top right), Mikhail Kornienko (bottom right), Samantha Cristoforetti (bottom center). Photo: NASA Johnson One of his tweets noted the departure of Expedition 44 crew members on September 11, and the recognition of his elevation to ISS commander for Expeditions 45 and 46, following the departure of ISS commander for Expeditions 43 and 44, Gennadi Padalka. Padalka is the most experienced spaceman in the world with a record 879 days in space over five space missions. Not all went as expected during the beginning of Scott’s Year-in-Space, further demonstrating the fragility of the systems and potential dangers in which astronauts operate and how changes often have to be made “on the fly.” In April, a Russian Progress supply ship wasn’t able to be controlled by ground controllers and ultimately re-entered the atmosphere and burnt up. The very next resupply mission, a SpaceX system then exploded soon after launch in late-June. Back-up supplies are always maintained so that re-supply failures can be tolerated without endangering the health or safety of the ISS personnel. Following the SpaceX failure, the ISS still had enough supplies to last them through October. But failures of consecutive resupply missions are rare. These consecutive failures slightly affected the sequencing of the Year in Space experiments with substitutions subsequently made and implemented. A Russian supply ship successfully docked with the ISS in mid-July, two weeks after the SpaceX failure. Scott took all of this in stride and continued his experiments, tweeting and instructional videos.   http://www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/10/year-space