August 21, 2017 Deep Lake in the Vestfold Hills region of Antarctica. The 36-metre deep lake is so salty it remains in liquid form down to a temperature of minus 20 degrees. Credit: UNSW Sydney

UNSW Sydney scientists studying microbes from some of the saltiest lakes in Antarctica have discovered a new way that the microbes can share DNA that could help them grow and survive.

The research, based on 18 months of water sampling in remote Antarctic locations, including during the extreme cold of winter, could throw light on the evolutionary history of viruses.

The team unexpectedly discovered one strain of the Antarctic salt-loving microbes contained plasmids - small molecules of DNA which can replicate independently in a host cell, and which often contain genes useful to an organism.

"Unlike viruses, which encase themselves in a protective protein coat, plasmids usually move around by cell to cell contact, or as a piece of naked DNA," says research team leader, UNSW scientist Professor Rick Cavicchioli.

"But the plasmids that we found in the Antarctic microbes were masquerading as viruses. They produced proteins which went into the host's membrane, which then allowed the membrane to bud off containing the plasmid DNA.

"The budded membranes, called membrane vesicles, allowed the plasmids to infect microbes of the same species that did not have any plasmids present, and then replicate themselves in the new host," he says.

Study first author Dr Susanne Erdmann says: "This is the first time this mechanism has been documented. And it could be an evolutionary forerunner to some of the more structured protective coats that viruses have developed to help them spread and become successful invaders.

"This finding suggests some viruses may have evolved from plasmids," she says.

The study, by Dr Erdmann, Dr Bernhard Tschitschko, Dr Ling Zhong, Associate Professor Mark Raftery and Professor Cavicchioli, is published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

The Antarctic microbes studied by the researchers are called haloarchaea and are known to be promiscuous, swapping DNA readily between themselves.

They can survive in Deep Lake, a 36-metre deep lake that is so salty it remains in liquid form down to a temperature of minus 20 degrees. The lake, which is about five kilometres from Australia's Davis Station, was formed about 3500 years ago when the Antarctic continent rose, isolating a section of ocean.

Haloarchaea microbes containing the plasmids were isolated from very rare water samples collected from the Rauer Islands about 35 kilometres further away.

"We also discovered that the plasmids could take some of the DNA from the host microbe, integrate it into their own DNA, produce membrane vesicles around themselves, and then go off and infect other cells," says Professor Cavicchioli.

"The findings are therefore relevant to Antarctic science as well as biology as a whole."

Explore further: Bacterial plasmids readily pick up new genes and spread them to new species

More information: Susanne Erdmann et al. A plasmid from an Antarctic haloarchaeon uses specialized membrane vesicles to disseminate and infect plasmid-free cells, Nature Microbiology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-017-0009-2

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Antarctic salt-loving microbes provide insights into evolution of viruses - Phys.Org

Young students in Turkey will no longer be taught about evolution as the countrys government has decided to phase out its education, according to a new report.

Turkeys education minister announced last month in a news conference that new textbooks will be introduced to students this fall with the concept of evolution omitted,NPR reported, adding that it had been taught to ninth-graders.

NORTH KOREA: HOW CHRISTIANS SURVIVE IN THE WORLD'S MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN NATION

"Evolutionary biology is best left to be taught at the university level," Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said. "It's a theory that requires a higher philosophical understanding than schoolchildren have."

Government officials are phasing in a curriculum which they say is based on values, as critics have reportedly accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pushing conservative views and religious beliefs on the nation.

With approximately 99 percent of the country Muslim, many Turkish residents have said they dont believe in natural selection also known as Darwinism, or the theory of evolution but rather believe in creation. Creationism is the idea that god created earth, out of nothing, by an act of free will.

GERMAN NATIONALISTS PULL ANTI-ISLAM PIG POSTER

The new textbooks will be released to students in 1st, 5th and 9th grades this fall and the remainder will follow next year, the report adds.

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Turkey to stop teaching evolution in schools, report says - Fox News

U.S. study entitled 'A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right' unveils the specifics of the race theory embraced by the movement

NEW YORK American researchers have published a working paper showing that people identifying with the alt-right consider Jews, Mexicans, blacks, Democrats, journalists, feminists and Muslims as subhumans, below homo sapiens on the evolutionary scale.

The study, entitled "A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right," unveils the specifics of the race theory embraced by the movement. For example, unlike other far-right groups, members of the alt-right do not rank Jews at the bottom of the racial hierarchy.

In the study, Prof. Patrick Forscher of the University of Arkansas and Prof. Nour Kteily of Northwestern University questioned 447 people who identify with the alt-right and 382 members of a control group who do not.

The study is a working paper; it has not yet been published in a scholarly journal. The initial findings were released two days before the Unite the Right demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a man has been charged with murder for allegedly ramming his car into a crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 people.

To study the dehumanization of various social groups by the alt-right, Forscher and Kteily showed their subjects the iconic March of Progress illustration describing the five phases of human evolution, from apes to homo sapiens, and asked them to mark where various population groups fell.

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On average, those identifying with the alt-right placed whites, Republicans, Americans, Swedes and Christians at evolutions highest level of development as homo sapiens. The other groups were ranked as belonging to earlier evolutionary stages. Among the inferior groups, in descending order reflecting an alleged lack of development, were Jews, Mexicans, blacks, Democrats, journalists, feminists and Muslims.

The members of the control group ranked all the groups as homo sapiens except for Donald Trump, whose name the researchers had offered for classification by the respondents. The control group put the president one stage lower than modern humans. Both groups were also asked to rank Hillary Clinton; alt-right adherents placed Clinton at the level of Muslims, two stages below modern humans.

The researchers also studied the extremism of members of the alt-right based on aggressiveness and so-called Dark Triad traits including narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy that are associated with callous, manipulative behavior. They determined that the alt-right respondents fell into two subcategories, one that the researchers dubbed supremacist, the less extreme one populists.

Members of the supremacist group showed traits of narcissism, psychopathy and aggression, and said they had engaged in violent behavior such as threats and harassment, both in social encounters and online.

The members of the second alt-right group were more moderate; they were less aggressive and more concerned with issues such as government corruption. But both alt-right groups viewed major media outlets such as CNN, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal with suspicion. They opposed Black Lives Matter and expressed concerns about discrimination against males and whites in the United States.

In the paper, Forscher and Kteily said they found some of the findings surprising and contrary to the stereotype attributed to the alt-right. For example, in questions about the social relations of the extremists whom they examined, there were no significant differences between them and the control group.

Contrary to the image of the troll hiding in his parents basement, members of the alt-right reported having close social relationships at levels similar to the control group. Also, there were no significant differences in the level of concern that alt-right members and the general population had about the state of the U.S. economy.

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Evolution According to the 'Alt-right': Journalists, Blacks and Jews Among the Subhuman - Haaretz

Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munchs The Scream figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? Its one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. Theyre subversive, beautifully crafted and often hilarious. They are gachapon.

Gachapon refers both to vending machines and the capsule toys they spit out. When you crack open one of these plastic eggs, youll never know what youll get even though its part of a defined set of toys. Thats only a fraction of the fun of gachapon, a roughly 30 billion industry with 150 new toys hatched every month. While capsule toys originated overseas, gachapon are uniquely Japanese.

If you grew up in North America, chances are you raided your piggy bank to feed gumball and capsule toy machines made by Oak Manufacturing, Beaver Machine and other manufacturers. For a fistful of quarters, you could go home with a jawbreaker in your cheek and a pocketful of miniature playing cards, die-cast animals, toy soldiers, rubber monsters and other novelties. Then you grew up and forgot all about the trinkets you once coveted.

In Japan, however, childhood seems to enjoy an extended lease. And gachapon are loved by kids of all ages: At the capsule toy corner on the sixth floor of Yodobashi Cameras Akihabara outlet, you can see boys and girls and men and women, even suit-and-tie salarymen, jamming 100 coins into stacks of machines, perusing the display cards and hunting for a rare prize. Akihabara is a mecca for otaku geeks, a moveable feast of subculture products, and gachapon can easily be overlooked in the riot of anime and electronics. But step outside of Yodobashi Camera and youll find gachapon shops along Chuo-dori, in the back streets and at the station. At Gachapon Kaikan, a legendary specialist shop that has been around for about 16 years, there are some 500 gachapon machines and 60 percent of its clientele are non-Japanese.

Capsule toy vending machines in Yodobashi Camera in Tokyos Akihabara district. | TIM HORNYAK

Gachapon used to be mainly figures, but recently theyre small items you can place around your computer, or attach with a strap to your smartphone or key ring, says manager Yo Kono, who tends to the machines and fields customer requests, often in Chinese. They were also more geared to guys who were into anime, but younger females, and ordinary men and women, are getting into it.

Like modern-day netsuke accessories, gachapon are remarkable for their multiplicity, craftsmanship and sheer wackiness. Theyre miniature works of art in plastic. There are gachapon sushi, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, dinosaurs, trains, insects, Tokyo Towers, manekineko cats, daruma dolls, Mount Fujis and samurai. There are oodles of popular anime and manga characters on Lilliputian scale from franchises such as Pokemon, Anpanman, Sailor Moon, Dragonball, Doraemon, One Piece, GeGeGe no Kitaro, and, of course, Gundam.

And then there are the progressively wacky gachapon. These could fill an encyclopedia, but heres a selection: capsules containing tiny office chairs, backpacks, camping lanterns, water faucets, wrist pillows, traffic lights, raw eggs, stretchable tamagoyaki, pizza toast, ramen, pygmy hippopotamuses, aquatic animals wearing bowties, cats showing off their butts, headscarves, bunny ears and penguin bonnets for cats, police caps for dogs, whales with oversized chins, the Statue of Liberty hoisting a glass of beer, cute girls with snail shells on their backs, Easter Island Moai wearing lipstick, underwear and sweaters for plastic bottles, futons for smartphones and drumroll, please Godzilla formally apologizing at a press conference podium for wanton acts of destruction. Now who wouldnt spend 300 for one of those?

While modern, coin-operated vending machines selling postcards and gum date to 1880s London and New York, the zany, freewheeling culture that is gachapon began with an entrepreneur named Ryuzo Shigeta, known today as Gacha-gacha Ojisan. In the 1960s, Shigeta and his brother had been exporting cheap goods to the United States and a partner there sent them an American vending machine known as a bulk vendor. For 10 a pop, it would spit out candy and cheap toys, but they came out willy-nilly, all mixed together. Shigeta found that unsanitary and frustrating, and had a brainwave: Why not encase each product in a plastic shell? On Feb. 17, 1965, gachapon were born when Shigeta set up the capsule vending machine at his shop, Penny Shokai, located in Kuramae 3-chome in Tokyos Taito Ward.

For the next 10 years, gachapon featured cheap novelties made with scrap plastic. Manufacturers such as Konno Sangyo Co. also pioneered the industry but it was revolutionized in 1977 with the entry of a toy giant: Bandai Co. Founded in 1950, Bandai was a trailblazer in gachapon. Aside from trademarking them as Gashapon, its executives gambled that their capsule toys would sell even if priced at 100 a pop, much more than competitors who were offering 20 trinkets.

That gamble paid off in spectacular fashion. On the back of Gundam, Kamen Rider, Ultraman and other popular brands, Gashapon lifted capsule toys to new heights and Bandai sold an astonishing 3.4 billion units in the 40 years to March 2017. The company says it has some 360,000 vending machines across Japan and claims a roughly 70 percent market share; it has some 20,000 elsewhere in Asia.

Hand-carved in Japan as prototypes, then manufactured and hand-painted in China, the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, Gashapon lead a brief retail existence. Bandai launches 30 to 40 new Gashapon every month, priced at 100 to 500 apiece, with some tied to seasonal events. Popular Gashapon can sell out in a week or two; while some see repeat production runs, the vast majority are done after only one batch.

There have been three gachapon booms. The first was in 1983 with the launch of Kinniku Man Keshigomu; Bandai sold more than 180 million units of the polyvinyl chloride muscleman erasers in over 400 varieties. This emboldened Bandai to launch capsule toys priced at 200 in 1991. The second boom began in the mid-1990s with the appearance of full color, detailed Gashapon figures such as the SD Gundam series. This attracted an increasingly adult clientele, especially collectors and fans of anime and manga. The third boom began with Yokai Watch, the hit multimedia franchise that debuted in 2013 as a Nintendo 3DS game. Meanwhile, gachapon have grown more sophisticated, with intricate items that require assembly. They can include up to 24 joints and even have glowing LED eyes, as seen in the Ultraman Ultimate Luminous series.

We can see gashapon all over Japan and Ive come to think its part of Japanese culture, says Kenichiro Otsuka, assistant manager in Bandais Vending Machine Business Department, where about 30 staffers dream up new capsule toys. In recent years weve seen women getting into them for Sailor Moon and Disney, as well as foreign tourists buying gashapon as souvenirs.

The evolution of gachapon hasnt been confined to toys. Gashapon machines were at first large and clunky and delivered the capsule to a basket at the bottom. Today theyre slim, double-decker affairs, allowing them to be lined up by the dozen in compact rows. This can be done anywhere, since most dont require electricity, though some of the newer models do because they can accept payment by smart card; some capsule toy machines even work with large video or lottery game screens. While originally confined to dagashiya neighborhood candy shops and the roofs of department stores, gachapon are now found everywhere, from street corners, convenience stores, supermarkets and electronics retailers to train stations, airports, tourist spots and locations such as Gashapon Street in Tokyo Station.

Capsules themselves have changed little over the years from the original design of connecting halves, one of polypropylene and the other of polystyrene. In recent years, however, Bandai introduced polypropylene-only versions that can be recycled more easily. It also launched cylindrical capsules to accommodate larger products, as well as capsules that form the toy itself, such as the head of Doraemon or a Zaku robot from the Gundam franchise.

Kitan Clubs Koppu no Fuchiko capsule toys | TIM HORNYAK

Some capsule toys are a phenomenon unto themselves. A standout gachapon in recent years and one of the drivers of the third boom has been Koppu no Fuchiko. With a name that plays on the Japanese word for edge (fuchi), shes an OL (office lady) whose outstretched arms allow her to hang from the lip of a glass or whatever else you fancy.

Launched in 2012 and designed by manga artist Katsuki Tanaka, Fuchiko has been a smash hit among all capsule toys, with sales of 20 million units and more than 1,500 variations of her in various poses, wearing everything from Hawaiian dresses to Shinto robes. Shes extremely popular online do an Instagram photo search with the hashtag # (koppunofuchiko) and youll find more than 145,000 hits and even has her own set of Line stickers. Manufacturer Kitan Club, which has turned out some of the more bizarre gachapon in recent years, marked Fuchikos fifth anniversary with special sales and exhibitions.

We had noticed that many OLs would post rather boring photos of their lunches to SNS sites such as Facebook, so we thought about how they could be made more interesting, says Kitan Club spokesman Seita Shiki. Since its launch, Koppu no Fuchiko has been featured at meetings, tea parties, drinking parties, and so on. The cup edge became a completely new genre that took off with the whole SNS craze.

Indeed, Kitan Club has launched about 40 other cup edge gachapon under its Putitto series. Kitan Club and other makers have produced hanging cats, dogs, frogs, hedgehogs and penguins, anime characters from Pikachu to Golgo 13, Star Wars Imperial stormtroopers and even singer Shigeru Matsuzaki.

Its perhaps not surprising that gachapon have spawned a fan subculture that includes avid collectors.

Waki Kaiyama is an author, TV and radio personality from Sendai whose business card features a cartoonish drawing of him holding a capsule and a gachapon machine. Kaiyama began collecting in 1977, the year Gashapon hit the streets, and is still going strong 40 years later. He now has an unbelievable 100,000 capsule toys and is known as the top gachapon collector in Japan.

Kaiyama became addicted to the capsule toy drug through his grandmother, who ran a dagashiya candy shop with gachapon. When his parents were splitting up, she took him in. He didnt have friends in her neighborhood, so gachapon became his friends. While other kids would buy them and eventually toss them out, he held on to them. A collector was born.

Collector Waki Kaiyama has around 100,000 capsule toys. | TIM HORNYAK

Over iced coffee in Tokyo, Kaiyama proudly displays some of his treasures: an early alien figure gachapon, originally priced at 100, and now worth 100,000; simple gachapon of yesteryear featuring musclemen and sumo wrestlers; vintage vouchers that, if found in a capsule, entitled the bearer to pick any number of novelties; gag knives and poop; and intricate modern gachapon such as a rickshaw from Tokyo manufacturer Epoch. He even has an old capsule toy vending machine to show off. You can really get a sense of time travel back to your childhood when you look at gacha-gacha, says Kaiyama, who goes by the name MC Wacky when appearing on television. Gacha-gacha are like a barometer for life reflecting your happiness, sadness and all your ups and downs. You can see how such silly products are being made and perhaps find encouragement for your own ideas.

Those views are echoed by another capsuleist, Hiroaki Omatsu, a journalist and gachapon fan who has just written his own book on the subject, Gachapon Idea Note. In it, he profiles not only dozens of crazy gachapon but the insights of about 10 designers. For instance, Hiroaki Haba of capsule toy maker Takara Tomy Arts created a series of richly detailed salarymen figurines called Kakkoi Ossan that are engaged in uncharacteristic action poses such as firing guns or baring washboard abs, all while keeping their neckties, glasses and comb-overs intact.

Some examples of capsule toys from Waki Kaiyamas collection. | TIM HORNYAK

The book quotes Haba as saying he watches a lot of movies and was sketching a typical middle-aged salaryman face in a meeting when he started thinking about how it could look cool. The result was a hit gachapon for 2016.

Gachapon that appeal to adults are a form of pop culture plus traditional Japanese monozukuri craftsmanship, says Omatsu, who has accumulated more than 1,000 gachapon. Theres definitely a nostalgic element to it. When we were kids, we didnt have any money to buy these things but as adults, we can.

However, gachapon can also be a communication tool, for instance as desktop ornaments at work. In an age of video games and virtual entertainment, gachapon are wonderful analog toys that havent changed for decades.

For just three coins, they give you a thrill, a surprise and a lot of fun. I hope this form of Japanese culture will spread overseas.

Capsule toys in Japan are known by various names, but the most common term is gachapon, referring to the toys and the vending machines themselves. Its an onomatopoeia based on the sound of the vending machine crank and the thud the capsules make when spat out. Depending on demographics and trademarks, however, people may use a different term.

Japanese in their 40s and 50s tend to call them gacha-gacha, says gachapon fan Hiroaki Omatsu, while Japanese in their 20s and 30s call them gachapon.

Meanwhile, Bandai Co. calls its capsule toys Gashapon, while Takara Tomy Arts Co. uses the trademark Gacha.

To make things slightly more confusing, not all gachapon sold under these makers machines are their trademarked products. For instance, Bandai machines also sell other companies toys, which are not Gashapon.

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Gachapon: Tracing the evolution of Japan's colorful toy capsules - The Japan Times

In the spirit of Hi-Evolution's "remixed" chronological order, the following Q&A sessions with the director of Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution, Tomoki Kyoda, will be presented out of order. You may have caught my preview of Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution, but there was plenty more information Kyoda had to offer about his movie. Over the course of several Q&A sessions, he provided information about the philosophy film trilogy, the production of movie 1, his career, and some interesting hints regarding what comes next. The first set of questions were delivered immediately following the world premiere screening of Hi-Evolution on Saturday while the second rewinds to Tomoki Kyoda's focus panel on the previous day.

Did you pay any special attention to the mecha action?

Eureka Seven is a very over-the-top story. In order to make an over-the-top movie to work out, you have to be realistic in certain ways.For example the scenes such as the spectacular explosion of the battleships were made possible by the recruitment of super animators such as Hideki Kakita and Takashi Hashimoto.

Can you tell us more about Acperience 7?

If you look up the Acperience, you won't see it in the dictionary because it comes from a german techno group called Hardfloor. Dai Sato and I have been big fans of them since our youth and we asked them if we could use their composition Acperience 1. They said no, let's do something completely new and they wrote a new one for us called Acperience 7.The original parts for the compositions only went from 1-5. They skipped over 6 and went directly to 7 to keep with Eureka Seven.

The scene with Adroc. Did that make you more emotional as you watched the film?

Yes, the scene with Adroc is the beginning of it all, so its meant to be very meaningful to all three movies.After youve seen the 3rd Eureka Sevenmovie and go back to watch the Adroc scene, its meant to be meaningful in a new way.

Other than that, do you have any other favorite scenes?

During the pre-titles everything is memorable to me, but especially Adrocs first line. It was delivered by voice actor Toru Furuya. He was very spot-on.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the last half? Such as the monologue by Renton and the play back/play forward construction of the film?

Eureka Seven was always going to be a story that spans two generations. The part with Adroc is very serious and heavy and thus I wanted to make the part thats 10 years hence, the story about the child, Renton, be much more light and calm. Its a more comedic story and so we found this composition.

How is your impression of the music?

My original intention was not to feature techno sound in the movie, but after hearing the recording I felt it would be appropriate to use Hiroshi Watanabes sound. This would be the piece that strung Eureka Seven from 12 years ago into and the new film together.

Do you have any other favorite scene from the last half?

I like the dogs...

The other thing is that I really meant this movie to make sense as part of a trilogy. There are parts in the latter half of the movie that might be frustrating or cryptic on first view. Theyre really meant to make sense and be much more sympathetic after we go through all three parts. Thats my intention and something I really put my heart into.The composition will really make sense when all three parts are released, so I hope youll come along for the ride.

After the credits there was a teaser for the second movie--can you talk a little bit about it?

We are currently in pre-production for the part 2 movie and a lot of you may have been wondering where is Anemone? You can there will be a lot of Anemone in part 2. I havent decided if part 2 will be just as light-hearted in style as the teaser. So that hasnt been fixed yet.For each part of the movie, we go through a codename for the title. The working title for part one was Renton Seven. Part 2 the working codename is Anemone Seven.

PLAY BACK:27 hours before Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution world premiere

What is the best way to watch Hi-Evolution?

The best way to watch it is without any spoilers at all. The best way to understand it is that one of the primary characters in Hi-Evolution will be Rentons father and Renton will be following in his fathers footsteps.

Hi-Evolution is the story of Renton and him transforming from boy to man. Its something pretty common in anime these days, usually featuring a harem of girls, but thats not gonna happen in this story... Everything he has will be destroyed so only the future is something he can look forward to and build for himself.

What sort of audience do you want to watch this?

Our intention was, of course, to accommodate and reunite with the audience who watched Eureka Seven 12 years ago but there will be new people, perhaps some who werent even born at that time, who are welcome to discover Eureka Seven as a new show. Those are the two audiences that we intend Hi-Evolution for.

Can you tell us a bit about the music?

In the original tv show we featured a lot of folk music such as Denki Groove. For Hi-Evolution, we wanted to get much more original in the sound track. Myself, and also the screenwriter Dai Sato, have really been influenced by this artist called Hardfloor for this reason. Since Hi-Evolution is not only a story about Renton but also this father, we wanted to go back to our own roots and so we went to Hardfloor and asked if they would do the music for us. We got a yes and they made a great soundtrack and that's something thats been incorporated into Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution.

The other piece of music featured in Eureka Seven comes from Hiroshi Watanabe. If you go back to the original TV show, he wrote the themes for Charles and Ray. Since Charles and Ray have a much more prominent role in Hi-Evolution, their music was reprised and revised.

The other theme song is provided by Hiroya Ozaki, but since Hi-Evolution itself is a story about father and son and Ozaki himself is the son of another singer, Yutaka Ozaki who was a very talented singer who died young in a tragic way. His story and the story of the Ozakis resonates with the father and son theme in Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution. It was just so fitting and he has made a great song for us.

For fans of the original TV show from 12 years ago, youll find something familiar with Hrioshi Watanabes music and, at the same time, the coming of a new film in Ozakis songs.

As a director, what was the most challenging project for you to work on?

Eureka Seven: AO

What sort of themes were you looking to explore with the new trilogy that you hadnt yet explored or old things you covered in the past that you want to revisit?

It may not be something that we couldnt do, but maybe something we didnt really explore in Eureka Seven would be the relationship between father and son. Since all three of us, myself, Dai Sato the screenwriter, and character designer Kenji Yoshita have aged 10 years, we probably have changed our perspective and ideas. That could possibly be reflected. At the same time we want to be consistent with what we originally depicted in Eureka Seven.

I do that the central pillar of Eureka Seven is the childhood experiences of Renton and Eureka. I think that has always been consistent in all the works of Eureka Seven. Possibly not in the best way but I do think its been pretty consistent.

You previously worked no theRahXephonmovies, which were an adaptation of an existing TV series. When you are adapting an existing property how do you plan what ideas you want to retain from the original work while also introducing new elements?

One difference between RahXephon and Eureka Seven is they were made at different times so philosophies and elements will be very different. One of the things that's most time consuming in adapting an existing story is deciding what to focus on. Once thats done, the rest comes much easier. In the case of RahXephon, it was the relationship between Ayato and Haruka and how Haruka would retain her feelings for Ayato. In contrast with Eureka Seven the relationship is still a work in progress and thats the difference when we went into production.

Being an animation director, do you give your animators a lot of freedom or do you prefer they stick more closely to the storyboards? Also, do you prefer to make more detailed or more sketchy storyboards?

That is actually one of the biggest evolutions in my own style of storyboarding and directing. Ive been directing for the past 20 years and started off by doing storyboards and expecting animators to trace out exactly what I did in the storyboard. But, as Ive learned there are plenty of talented animators who can come up with scenes and draw much better than I, Ive learned that the best way to do storyboards is to come up with ones that will be inspirational to the animators. However, one thing that my staff has been telling me recently is that I really expect a lot from my animators and really set the hurdle high.

When you draw for 20 years, its very natural that you get better at drawing and when you look at my storyboards you get the impression that it might be a little detailed but we like to present it to the animators as a springboard for their own ideas.

In the original Eureka Seven TV series, how much freedom did you give episode directors? Would you say each episode is the closer to your vision are theirs?

The production style of a TV show is different dependent upon the show and the culture of the studio, so what I say now does not reflect every single production. There is one person who supervises the production of every episode and that is the general director. There is then the technical director who works on individual episodes.

The general director's job is to come up with the common underlay that follows beneath each episode. I consider it my job to prepare the ground so the episodic staff and the technical director can do their job. That leads to slight discrepancies between each episode but its the animation director to unify all those styles so that everything is consistent throughout the series.

How did it feel to work on franchise as legendary as Space Battleship Yamato and, if you got the chance, would you like to work on more Yamato projects in the future?

The reason why I had involvement with Yamato 2199 wasnt because the show was legendary or because I was fond of it, but moreso because of director Yutaka Izubuchi. Since I owe a lot to him, he wanted me to work on some part of Yamato. It was really difficult to adjust my schedule and I think I was able to oblige him when I got to do the storyboards for the very final episode and I was very happy.This required both the elements of the show being Yamato and the director being Izubuchi. If neither of those were the case, I dont think I would have been involved.

As for if I would be interested in working on any other legendary shows, I cant really come up with any shows that I would find enticing, although in terms of a legendary franchises I would be very happy if I could work on Pacific Rim.

---

Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll and author ofMonthly Mangaka Spotlight. You can follow him on Twitter@PeterFobian.

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Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution Q&A Panels with director Tomoki Kyoda - Crunchyroll News

Its easy to blame all of our sleep problems on our not-so-healthy lifestyle habits. And its true that our tendencies to stareat glowing screens, drink caffeine or alcohol, not get enough exercise, and not eat a healthy diet can negatively impact our quality of sleep.

Sleep quality, however, is influenced by much more than just our lifestyle habits. In a recent study, researchers were able to confirm a sentinel hypothesis fromdecades ago, which proposed that animals living in groups shared the task of keeping each other safe by taking shifts to watch for potentialsigns of danger. This suggests that our sleep patterns (including many of the disruptions we experience throughout the night) are rooted in human evolution and the survival techniques our ancestors used to protect themselves against nighttime threats.

To examine sentinel-like behavior in humans as they sleep, the researcherstracked the activity patterns of members of ahunter-gatherer tribe inTanzania. Thirty-three men and women were given activity tracker wristbands to monitortheir sleep and wake periods throughout the night over a three-week period.

By the end of the three weeks and with over 13,000 tracked minutes, the researchers found that every member of the tribe had slept simultaneously for only 18 minutes. In fact, 40 percent of the group on average was awake or in a light dozeat any time of the night.

Previous studies have shown similar findings in other animals like mice and birds. This, however, is the first study to confirm these types of sleep pattern behaviors in humans who live a lifestyle that most closely resembles that of our ancestors.

The researchers also found that tribe members ages influenced their sleep patterns. Younger members typically stayed up later while older members went to sleep earlier and woke up earlier in the mornings due to a poorer nights sleep.

In Western society, we tend to think of these types of disruptive patterns assomething we need to fix, butthe study findings suggest that theyre what helped our ancestors survive. The researchers also made sure to point outthat poorer sleep quality as we age might indeedstem from thissurvival advantage.

Although we dont face the same threats in the west as our ancestors or those living in hunter-gatherer tribes today, we do face our own modern day versions of threatsto our survival. Its possible that our adaptive sleep select-ability could be partly to blame for the sleep disruptions that occur due to the subconscious effects of our perceived problems related to finances, job security, relationships and other modern day realities.

The next steps involve studying the sleep patterns of self-contained human populations of other cultures in other geographical areas. The team of researchers will continue their investigation next in the Arctic, to find out whetherdifferences in light, temperature and latitude may have contributed to the evolution of human sleep patterns.

Related 5 Myths to Stop Believing About LonelinessWant to Improve Your Sleep? Work on Fulfilling Your Life PurposeSleeping in on Weekends May Help Protect Against Weight Gain

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Trouble Sleeping? Human Evolution May Be Partly to Blame - Care2.com

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Evolution Mining: Gold Miner Rallies 6% After Dividend Hike - Barron's Barron's Australian gold miner Evolution Mining (EVN.AU) is one of the best performers in the S&P/ASX200 Index after lifting its dividend payout. Illustration: Getty Images. Evolution Mining rises 5.5pc on $217m profit - The AustralianThe Australian Evolution Mining up on record profit, dividend | The West AustralianThe West Australian Evolution swings from loss to record profit - Mining WeeklyCreamer Media's Mining Weekly Motley Fool Australia all 5 news articles »

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Evolution Mining: Gold Miner Rallies 6% After Dividend Hike - Barron's - Barron's

In July of this year, a prominent statue of antievolutionist William Jennings Bryan in Dayton, Tennessee acquired a new neighbora statue of Clarence Darrow, the evolutionist and criminal defense attorney who fought against Bryan in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. The new statue is largely funded by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the trial itself was backed by the ACLU, which persuaded John Scopes, a local science teacher, to incriminate himself for violating the Tennessee Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in state-funded schools. The trial garnered much attention during its eight-day run in 1925, including among African Americans.

Many Fundamentalist African Americans supported William Jennings Bryan, despite his lack of support for the black community. However, some church leaders, such as the Reverend W. H. Mosesthe campaign director for the National Baptist Conventionbelieved the focus on evolution would bridge the increasing divide between secular and religious African Americans. Historian Jeffrey P. Moran writes, Moses hoped that the trial would demonstrate that Christianity is strengthened by science rather than weakened and that the conflict would thus restore the confidence of the darker races in Christianity.

Southern black intellectuals viewed the fundamentalist nature of the South, among both blacks and whites, as counter to intellectual and socioeconomic progression.

While Moses desire largely went unfulfilled, the secular black elite championed evolution during this time, and even employed the Scopes trial in their twin struggle against white supremacy in the South and ministerial dominance throughout African America. The black newspaper the Washington Tribune connected the black struggle not just to Scopes, but also to his sister, who was denied employment as a math teacher based on her evolutionist opinions. The newspaper immediately connected the decision with the white Souths refusal to grant African Americans their rights because they might become trouble-makers and challenge the status quo.

Moran writes that part of the white, Southern antagonism against evolution was due to its perceived connection to interracial marriage and the increase of mixed race individuals who could not easily be classified. Other antievolutionists fought against the idea that races had not come from a single sourceAdam and Eve. Even evolutionists of the time, however, largely supported eugenics and the belief that African Americans, and other minorities, were less evolved than their white counterparts. In fact, the well-regarded textbook John Scopes used in his classroom promoted eugenics.

Despite evolutionists historical connection to racist ideology in the manner of intelligence tests, craniometry, and physical anthropology, the secular black elite saw these antiquated views slowly but positively leaving professional practice. For this reason, [b]lack intellectuals took the occasion of the Scopes trial to renew their struggle for influence within the overwhelmingly pious black community. They viewed the fundamentalist nature of the South, among both blacks and whites, as counter to intellectual and socioeconomic progression.

John Scopes ultimately lost the trial and was forced to pay a $100 fine. Though The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes did not end in favor of Scopes, Darrow, or the secular black elite, it paved the way for future recognition and legislative support for evolution. It also turned Dayton, Tennessee into place of national significance, where travelers and enthusiasts flock to the small town for the annual Scopes Trial Festival.

By: Jeffrey P. Moran

The Journal of American History, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Dec., 2003), pp. 891-911

Oxford University Press on behalf of Organization of American Historians

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How African Americans Supported Evolution in the 1925 Scopes Trial - JSTOR Daily

Native St. Louisan Jonathan Losos is a Harvard University biology professor and director of Losos Laboratory at the university. He recently wrote the book Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance and the Future of Evolution.

The book follows researchers across the world who are using experimental evolutionary science to learn more about our role in the natural world.

On Thursdays St. Louis on the Air, Losos joined host Don Marsh to discuss the science behind evolution and whats changing in todays world.

The scientific evidence that evolution has occurred is overwhelming, Losos said. We have ample evidence in the fossil record that documents one species changing to another. We can see that evolution happening today, before our eyes, and we can do experiments on evolution and see it occur.

On the day-to-day, Losos said scientists are able to see environmental pressures that spur natural selection and evolution, giving the example of antibiotic-resistant microbes. In humans, its not so palpable.

One could argue humans arent evolving so much anymore, Losos said. The reason for that is that for evolution by natural selection to occur, individuals with particular genetic variants must leave more offspring in the next generation. For example, if individuals with blue eyes produce more offspring, that would lead to evolution. But the way our culture has come to be, the link between physical characteristic and reproductive success is weak. Human evolution isnt happening so much anymore.

Listen to the full discussion about evolution and how it impacts the world we live in today here:

Harvard biologist Jonathan Losos discusses evolutionary biology and what it means in today's world with St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh.

Related Event

What: St. Louis County Library Presents Jonathan Losos When: Thursday, August 17 at 7:00 p.m. Where: St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis MO. 63131 More information.

St. Louis on the Airbrings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. St. Louis on the Air hostDon Marshand producersMary Edwards,Alex HeuerandKelly Moffittgive you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region.

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Harvard biologist, St. Louisan Jonathan Losos discusses evolution we see in the world today - St. Louis Public Radio

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I feel like when things get more dangerous, itll be a chance for Missandei to show what shes really made of, Nathalie Emmanuel told BuzzFeed News. (Warning: Spoilers all over the damn place.)

Posted on August 17, 2017, 20:23 GMT

Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) in Season 7 of Game of Thrones.

Nathalie Emmanuel was a fan of Game of Thrones long before she joined the cast in Season 3 as Missandei, a trusted adviser to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). As fate would have it, after two seasons of faithfully watching the HBO series along with other fans, she saw the listing for a nonwhite actress, playing age 18 to 24, and immediately jumped at the chance.

I phoned my agent and she was like, Ive already got you an audition, Emmanuel told BuzzFeed News. The actor knew little about her characters arc besides the fact that she would appear in a few episodes in Season 3 of the HBO original series, with the possibility but no guarantee of returning in future seasons. Emmanuel was also drawn to the role because of Missandeis relationship with Daenerys, also known as Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Mother of Dragons, and Breaker of Chains, among other names.

When I first had the audition, they just gave us one scene to prepare, so I didnt know much about Missandei. But what I did know was shed been through a lot and was a very strong individual, Emmanuel said.

When viewers first meet Missandei in the first episode of Season 3, she was a slave to Kraznys mo Nakloz (Dan Hildebrand) in Astapor. Kraznys is a slave trader and a Good Master someone who rules over the three cities that make up the appropriately named Slavers Bay. We learn later that she was born on the island of Naath in the Summer Sea, and was removed from her home at a young age before she began her life of servitude. Fluent in 19 languages, Missandei acted as an interpreter between Kraznys and Daenerys when Daenerys visited Astapor. While the slave master was rude and condescending to Daenerys, Missandei diplomatically as Emmanuel described it translated his words so as to not offend Khaleesi.

After reaching an agreement to trade one of Daeneryss dragons for his 8,000 Unsullied soldiers and Missandei, the Queen of Dragons spoke to Kraznys in his own language of Low Valyrian and revealed that she understood his insults the whole time Missandei was translating for him. She then orders the Unsullied to attack the Good Masters and kill all of the slave owners and their soldiers. Daenerys and the Unsullied leave Astapor, and Missandei joins her new queen on a journey to reign over Westeros. After freely serving Daenerys and assisting her with handmaiden-like tasks, Missandei eventually earns her place as one of Daeneryss trusted advisers.

Shes gone from enslaved object and a piece of property to this free-thinking, free-feeling person with emotions, opinions, and authority. And in a way, assertiveness."

Emmanuel thinks of Missandeis current role as a significant shift and major achievement, considering where she started. Aside from being Daeneryss adviser, shes a member of her small council, the most trusted people within the queens inner circle.

Shes gone from enslaved object and a piece of property to this free-thinking, free-feeling person with emotions, opinions, and authority. And in a way, assertiveness, Emmanuel said.

Missandei and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) have a brief moment alone in Season 7.

Missandei and Daeneryss friendship has become one of the hallmark relationships on the show. She spends most of her days with Daenerys the two powerful women existing in a world dominated by men.

Missandei had seen this woman free people and show her incredible humanity to people. Missandei believed in her and wanted to support her, Emmanuel said. But then in return, Daenerys has this person who knows this world and understands these people, and she obviously seeks her advisement and her expertise on it. As a result, theyve got this pretty great team.

Missandei and Daenerys's relationship extend beyond the politics of Westeros its deeply personal. In Season 7, Episode 4, The Spoils of War, Missandei had a moment alone with Daenerys and asked if she'd heard from the Unsullied after they were ordered to storm Casterly Rock. Daenerys picked up on Missandeis sense of urgency about Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), an Unsullied soldier Missandei has developed a strong affection for. In fact, the two had a romantic encounter before Grey Worm left for Casterly Rock. When asked by Daenerys what happened between them, Missandei coyly replied, Many things. Daenerys replies, Many things? and the two smirk at each other, leaving the obvious unsaid.

Its not uncommon on Game of Thrones for advisers to develop strong bonds with the kings and queens they serve, but Missandei and Daeneryss relationship is still a unique one; the two can go from discussing war policy to matters of the heart, according to Emmanuel.

The story is mostly about this war and this journey that were on with these characters, and so I think these very real moments between Missandei and Daenerys are lovely to see because it reminds us that theyre really just human beings, she said. They all have crushes, and its an aside from the official business.

Their characters' friendship on the show reflects a genuine relationship in real life, according to Emmanuel. The cast members have built an authentic bond off set and hang out outside of work, which often results in chatting and drinking tea. Bless her heart, she works so hard, Emmanuel said of her Emilia Clarke. Shes up and puts in work a long time before I am even waking up.

Missandei and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) kiss in Season 7.

Missandeis relationship with Grey Worm who is also a part of Daeneryss small council is another window into her characters evolution. Grey Worm, like Missandei, has been loyal to Daenerys since her usurping of Astapor, and has risen through the ranks to become the leader of the Unsullied forces. The pairs relationship is based on their mutual understanding of where they both come from and what theyve survived, from enslavement and abuse to gaining freedom and power.

They found themselves in the middle of this new world, and theyve almost helped each other through it, Emmanuel said.

The feelings between Grey Worm and Missandei came to a head in Season 7, Episode 2, titled Stormborn. When Daenerys sent the Unsullied soldiers to overtake Casterly Rock and fight the Lannisters, Grey Worm was forced to leave Missandei behind in Dragonstone where she and Daenerys awaited Jon Snows arrival and plotted their next moves toward Westeros. In a vulnerable moment, before Grey Worm left, the two are physically intimate.

From what I imagine about Missandeis sexual experiences as a woman and a slave, they would not have been consensual or what she wanted, she said. So, this is her first time being touched and embraced by a man who cared about her, who loved her, and who she felt the same way about.

After it appeared in the July 23 episode of Game of Thrones, Missandei and Grey Worms sex scene was at the center of the conversation around the show. It was well-received by critics and was considered a big deal. Emmanuel thinks a lot of people reacted so positively to Missandei and Grey Worms sex scene because viewers have watched their relationship build for a long time. Often, a lot of the sex scenes are about gratification, stealing moments with each other, and with certain people it happens in the brothels or its been rape, Emmanuel explained. Thats been very brutal. The only exception Emmanuel could think of is Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Ygrittes (Rose Leslie) cave moment in Season 3, which, like Missandei and Grey Worm, involved trust and consent.

As a member of the Unsullied, Grey Worm was castrated, leaving him especially vulnerable with Missandei. That factor alone made this moment incredibly important to him. She wasnt concerned with what was there or what wasnt there, essentially. She was like, I love this man, I want to see him in his entirety, and love him just as he is, Emmanuel explained.

She knows where he comes from, she knows what happened to him, she said.

Missandei and Daenerys when they first meet in Season 3.

There arent many actors of color who appear on Game of Thrones in significant roles, and the HBO show has received backlash for its predominantly white cast and lack of diversity. Daenerys has even been at the center of this criticism, with people calling her a white savior for emancipating slaves and helping people of color. In Season 3, Episode 10, there was an especially controversial image of Khaleesi being lifted up in a large crowd of Yunkai people who were worshipping the woman who liberated them. The shot shows Daenerys (white, blonde, and wearing a light blue dress) lying on top of a sea of nonwhite people, repeating the word mysah (mother) over and over again in gratitude.

Emmanuel thinks her role as a woman of color on GoT is crucial and she's grateful that the writers on the show gave Missandei an interesting and important storyline. When it comes to diversity on television overall, however, the actor believes there are still many strides to be made in the name of progress. Hopefully in the future when we have shows on this kind of level, we can see more and more characters of diversity and actors from different backgrounds being included, she said. Im hopeful for that, and am willing to work and push toward that.

"Hopefully in the future when we have shows on this kind of level, we can see more and more characters of diversity."

While she personally will always want to discuss representation on television and film, Emmanuel believes its a conversation everyone needs to have.

I feel like its a question thats often posed to people of color and actually the conversation is for everybody the people who are making shows, writing, and casting on every level, she said. Maybe one day Ill be in those rooms and making my own things and I can influence that more myself. Its a conversation that I enjoy having and will always have, but I do think that its a conversation that needs to be had with everybody at every level.

As far as Missandeis experience as a person of color with power in Westeros, Emmanuel thinks you can relate that back to real life.

Missandei is very aware that shes in new territory with new people and probably people that are racially different from her, she said. That can often be a huge shock to your system when youve been growing up in one place with people who look like you, and then all of a sudden youre thrown into this world where youre one of a few. And then especially also being a woman, theres no doubt shes felt a little trepidation about that.

Despite the fact that shes an outsider in the predominantly white and fictional land of Westeros, Emmanuel thinks her character still holds her her own agency and power.

In Season 7, Episode 4, when Jon Snow and Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) were visiting Dragonstone at Daeneryss invitation, the men asked Missandei why she still serves Daenerys even though shes freed from slavery and servitude. Missandei replied that shes free to serve who she wants, and that she genuinely believes in Khaleesi. Jon Snow then asked what would theoretically happen if Missandei wanted to return to her home, to which she said, Then she would give me a ship and wish me good fortune. Missandeis power lies in her own choice to stay loyal to Daenerys, and whatever role she is given if Daenerys does become queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

They believe in this woman and this queen based on her actions not based on anything else, Emmanuel said. Thats the world that I want to live in one day, one thats based purely on your actions and who you are, not based on your gender, race, sexual orientation, or gender identification, and its about what you are as a person who you are as a person.

With Season 7 drawing to a close on Aug. 27 and only one final season to follow thereafter, viewers anxiously watch each week to see what will happen to the people of Westeros. Emmanuel is one of the millions of people watching GoT on Sundays, and like the shows fans, shes watching these episodes for the very first time.

Weve read scripts a year ago and maybe have an idea of whats happening. I know my own storyline, but even with that, it was such a long time ago, she said. Its hard to know how its going to unveil on screen. And no matter what you think it might look like or feel like to watch it, it exceeds all of your expectations, ever.

Missandeis fate, much like everyone else's on Game of Thrones, is currently unknown. Emmanuel said she isnt sure whats in store for her character, but that shes happy to be a part of Season 8.

"I feel like when things get more dangerous, itll be a chance for Missandei to show what shes really made of."

She is smart. I feel like when things get more dangerous, itll be a chance for Missandei to show what shes really made of, Emmanuel said. Shes got the bravery to get to this point, so maybe well see a bit more of that bravery.

As for the prospect of Missandei enduring a less positive outcome, Emmanuel said shes made her peace with that being an option for her character. After seven seasons fans of Game of Thrones are aware that death is always a possibility, especially as the plot thickens and tensions rise between the Lannisters, Starks, Daenerys Targaryen, and the White Walkers. If Missandei does die in the midst of the impending action, Emmanuel said she wants people to feel a lot of things.

I want her death to be an epic moment that people remember.

Krystie Yandoli is an entertainment editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.

Contact Krystie Lee Yandoli at krystie.yandoli@buzzfeed.com.

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The Evolution Of Missandei As One Of The Most Important Game Of Thrones Characters - BuzzFeed News

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 12:05 PM

How did we get here?

There was a time when late night TV shows like "The Tonight Show" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" were a light respite from harsh realities.

In recent weeks, the one following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in particular, hosts of once-fun talk shows broke from their usual hilarity to get serious about the news.

Jimmy Fallon, who was criticized during Donald Trump's campaign for tousling the reality-star-turned-politician's infamous coiffe in September 2016, fought back tears as he recalled watching white supremacists and neo-Nazis spew hatred over the weekend.

Jimmy Fallon skips the jokes while addressing Charlottesville

Kimmel follow suit, half-joking that following a series of questionably sincere statements from Trump, Americans were left questioning his alliances.

"We went into the weekend wondering about Kim Jong Un starting a war. We came out of it wondering if our president was cutting eyeholes in his bedsheets," he said.

For Fallon and Kimmel, the events that unfolded in Charlottesville served as something of a turning point.

Early in Trump's campaign both late night TV hosts regularly took jabs at the New York real estate mogul. Fallon repeatedly donned a wig in the same style as Trump's hair while Kimmel often mocked his inability to put his ego aside while delivering speeches.

Jimmy Kimmel says son is doing great months after heart surgery

As the President's wild ride continues, both slowly began taking a harsher stance.

On May 2, amid cries from Trump to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, Kimmel broke down in tears about his newborn son's health issues.

He praised congress for opting "to not go along with" the president's proposal to cut the National Institutes of Health's budget by $6 billion, noting that no family should have to fear losing their child because they can't afford care.

"If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make," Kimmel said. "I think that's something that whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?"

Stephen Colbert wants to finish TV show before nuclear war

Fallon's defining moment came in the wake of Trump's July Twitter proposal to ban transgender military service personnel.

Rather than skewer the president himself, Fallon invited trans comedian Patti Harrison to throw a few comedic punches for him.

As the Trump administration's reign wages on, it's becoming increasingly apparent to late night viewers that they can no longer tune in and zone out to "Tonight Show" games of Kimmel's wildly popular "Lie Witness News."

Trump's campaign actively divided the nation and now, it's creating a rift among late night TV shows.

No one knows where North Korea is on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

While "The Tonight Show" and "Live with Jimmy Kimmel!" are relatively newly woke, other late night show runners have been utilizing their platform to make people laugh while also keeping them in the loop.

Early in Trump's presidency,Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver decided they weren't going to cut Trump any slack.

The "Late Night" host delivered an especially moving post-Charlottesville Trump takedown, bashing the president's decision to point fingers at "many sides" following the rally, which left one dead.

"On many sides," Meyers said quoting the president. "If that choice of words made you feel sick to your stomach, the good news is you're a normal and decent person. The jury is still out on the president, as he initially refused to condemn the white supremacist movement in this country."

Anthony Scaramucci to appear on Late Show' Monday

On "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," the host has made a point to call out Trump and his cohorts at every turn since he announced his candidacy in 2015, growing more and more vocal as time passed.

In February the former "Colbert Report" host tackled Trump's first solo press conference. During the speech, the president suggested that he had "inherited a mess," which didn't sit right with Colbert.

"No, you inherited a fortune. We elected a mess. For the record," Colbert said.

For his part, Oliver has delivered a number of scathing Trump-centric "Last Week Tonight" speeches, though perhaps his most memorable comments on the matter came right after Charlottesville.

Jimmy Fallon ends Stephen Colbert's five-month winning streak

Using his usual brand of British sarcasm to his benefit, Oliver slammed Trump's failure to denounce Nazis right off the bat.

"I've got to say, David Duke and the Nazis really seem to like Donald Trump," he said. "Which is weird, because Nazis are a lot like cats; if they like you, it's probably because you're feeding them.

The trio has, in the weeks and months since those poignant on-and-off-air moments, continued to cover Trump and his administration in great detail, regularly tackling disparaging policy proposals, potentially illegal acts and more.

The trio continues to pave the way in late night time slots, refusing to back down for the sake of bipartisan viewership. Only time will tell if the others continue to hold their ground.

Continued here:

The evolution of late night TV shows under Donald Trump - New York Daily News

Chilesaurus, a two-legged dinosaur with a Frankenstein-like mix of features, could be the missing link that fills a mysterious gap in the dinosaur family tree, a new analysis shows.

The findings, published in the journal Biology Letters, may support a new proposal that could alter our understanding of dinosaur evolution.

Chilesaurus, described by an earlier team of scientists in 2015 in the journal Nature, lived around 150 million years ago in what is now southern Chile. About 2 to 3 meters in length from snout to tail, it walked on its back legs. Judging by its flat teeth, the dinosaur was probably an herbivore.

Scientists place dinosaurs into the family tree by comparing key physical characteristics, such as the teeth or the shape of the hips. Chilesaurus didnt seem to fit neatly into any one of the dinosaur categories, said Matthew Baron, a doctoral candidate in paleontology at Cambridge University who co-led the Biology Letters paper.

Dinosaurs are generally separated into one of two groups: the lizard-hipped Saurischia, which includes theropods (like Tyrannosaurus rex and all birds) and Sauropodomorphs; or the bird-hipped Ornithischia, which counts stegosaurus, triceratops and the duck-billed hadrosaurs among its members.

Chilesaurus didnt fit into any of these categories. It was classified as a theropod, which are mostly meat-eaters. Yet it had flat teeth for plant-eating, as the largely herbivorous Ornithischia would. Why would it have a mix of traits if those two groups were so distantly related?

It was a bit of a puzzling specimen, really, Baron said.

Nobu Tamura

Chilesaurus, depicted in this artist's rendition, has a strange mix of physical traits that defy easy explanation.

Chilesaurus, depicted in this artist's rendition, has a strange mix of physical traits that defy easy explanation. (Nobu Tamura)

Earlier this year, however, Baron showed that the dinosaur family tree branches might need to be radically redrawn. And he did just that, putting theropods and ornithischians together as sister groups, with a direct shared ancestor. Under his new model, described in the journal Nature, Baron realized that this strange Chilesaurus fossil might actually make sense.

Baron reanalyzed the dinosaurs features by comparing them against the 457 physical characteristics hed already used to categorize dinosaurs for his updated family tree.

The results put Chilesaurus in with the plant-eating ornithischians, not the meat-eating theropods. And since those two groups are sisters in Barons proposed family tree, sharing a direct common ancestor, it makes sense that Chilesaurus is a transitional species, with some traits from both groups.

Baron speculated that the ancestor to theropods and ornithischians could have been omnivorous, and as its descendants split, one group became overwhelmingly carnivorous while the other turned increasingly to plants.

To eat more plants, ornithischians had to develop larger, more complex guts and their hips shifted into the bird-like position the group is named for. But Chilesaurus doesnt seem to have the bony beak of many of its peers, such as triceratops.

This was a bit of a surprise previously, scientists werent sure whether the plant-cropping beak or the plant-digesting gut developed first in these herbivores, Baron said. Chilesaurus provides a possible answer to that question.

(Keep in mind, even though ornithischians are called bird-hipped, living birds are actually descended from the lizard-hipped theropods, not from ornithischians. Scientists came up with these labels in the late 1880s, long before researchers knew about the relationship between dinosaurs and birds, and the names stuck.)

Gabriel Lio

A look at Chilesaurus, inside and out.

A look at Chilesaurus, inside and out. (Gabriel Lio)

Sorting out these differences is important because it helps us understand the complex and dynamic relationship between animal evolution and the environment, Baron pointed out.

Around 200 million years ago, the supercontinent known as Pangaea began to break up and the fragments drifted apart, eventually becoming the continents we recognize today. That allowed more moisture to reach more land, allowing plants to flourish and spread. And as plants thrived, the thinking goes, so did plant-eating dinosaurs, developing and diversifying like never before.

Dinosaurs really are the best model set of organisms that we have for looking at larger questions about life on earth because theyre very well studied, Baron said. We have a 247-million-year record; we know a lot about how they lived and changed and adapted through time.

And dinosaurs lived though some of the most turbulent changes in Earths history, he pointed out dramatic shifts in temperature, sea level and atmospheric content. All those changes, preserved in rock, can be mapped against the fossil record to see how life reacted and adapted over time.

As well as being really cool museum specimens and movie monsters, Baron said, dinosaurs are also one of the best groups of organisms that we know of for modeling how life responds to a changing climate.

amina.khan@latimes.com

Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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This odd-looking creature may be the 'missing link' in dinosaur evolution - Los Angeles Times

Thursday's meeting of the Boulder Planning Board was a big moment for the future of the city's east edge.

Before the board were proposals for two separate developments along east Arapahoe Avenue, which together would bring 566 rental housing units to the evolving corridor.

The first proposal a plan to redevelop the Eastpointe Apartments at 1550 Eisenhower Drive won the board's approval, in a 5-1 vote that will be final barring an intervention and subsequent reversal by the City Council.

Should that decision stand, the existing Eastpointe complex, which features 140 relatively inexpensive units in aging buildings, will be razed. The 7-acre site will be redeveloped with 226 units with rents, developer Aimco said, that will range from about $1,500 for studios to "the high $3,000s" for three-bedroom units.

High as those figures might be, the immense wealth in the Boulder area means that, according to calculations of area median incomes, Eastpointe's units would qualify as "middle-income."

The future Eastpointe is set to have a 254-space underground parking garage, plus ample bike parking.

Following the Eastpointe vote was a hearing on the concept plan for a development proposal at what's become known at the Waterview site a location that's proven vexing to developers who've tried and failed to build there in recent years.

At Waterview, across 14 acres at 5801 and 5847 Arapahoe Ave., Zocalo Community Development seeks to put up 11 buildings, in which they'd put 340 units and 19,000 square feet of commercial space.

Those units would range from roughly $1,000 for studios to $1,300 for two-bedrooms, the developers said, while the market-rate units would range from $1,250 to $2,450.

In presentations to the board on Thursday, the developers of the respective sites made similar appeals: Their projects, they said, will provide sorely-needed housing largely at middle-income rates along a major transit corridor and burgeoning job center. Pedestrian-oriented designs with an eye on green space will appeal to residents and passersby, they both argued.

"This," said Eastpointe developer Patti Shwayder, "is going to be transformational to the community."

Eastpointe is only one project, and the Waterview plans are likely months away from even going up for possible approval. But these two plans, if realized, would bring many hundreds of new residents to a corridor that includes single-family neighborhoods, minimal commercial options and a lot of industrial and office space.

While Aimco and Zocalo focused on what their projects can do to fill needs, Eastpointe and Waterview could also help usher in or at least accelerate a period of substantial change along east Arapahoe Avenue in terms of transportation options, housing density and mixed-use development.

But not all are thrilled with the changes that these two projects represent.

The public-hearing portion of Waterview did not begin until late Thursday night, but previous comments submitted to the city indicate strong concerns about the project's potential impact on traffic and transportation safety, as well as the presence of wetlands on the site.

"This is a very low-density area and to put a high-density project on this site does not fit," said Mary Beth Vellequette, who lives nearby. "We are very concerned about the number of cars on Arapahoe; there's already difficulty getting out of our subdivision as it is."

The Planning Board was only giving feedback on Waterview, as opposed to voting, but comments by some members suggested the site's flood risk could be a hurdle for the project, as could the fact that the developers aim to insert hundreds of new residents into an area with a presently undefined character.

Meanwhile, at Eastpointe, the concerns lean more toward the issue of affordability.

Aimco, like all developers, must satisfy the city's inclusionary housing requirement as part of its approval; it plans, as of now, to satisfy that by paying cash in lieu of developing affordable units on- or off-site.

While those Planning Board members generally offered high praise for the project's design, the fact that the new Eastpointe will attract greater wealth than the current one has is troubling to some. That includes members of the City Council who called up the project when it was still in the concept phase, and specifically requested Aimco prioritize a diversity of housing types at a diversity of price points.

"I think we have to strive harder for on-site affordability," lamented Planning Board member Crystal Gray, who cast the lone vote against the project.

"There's a certain sense of regret that we know there will probably be higher rents in the new development," member David Ensign said. "It does make us take a little pause to think about how we are meeting our affordable housing goals."

And board Chairman John Putnam added: "I am disappointed that at least one of the (four residential) buildings wasn't designated for a housing authority."

But the Planning Board and City Council can't require that under the city's current rules, which allow every developer the option to simply give the city cash or land, if they don't want to build on-site affordable housing.

"I think as we look forward, we have to look at this," Putnam said, "because we're going to have more of our housing stock turning over."

Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness

Read more from the original source:

East Boulder evolution in focus as Eastpointe redevelopment wins approval - Boulder Daily Camera

Ran Holman of Cushman & Wakefield

Dallas is a real estate town, it always has been. With so much homegrown talent, there was a time, not that long ago, when major firms from faraway places like New York, LA, and Chicago had some challenges in establishing a tenant representation foothold here. Those firms had high-level relationships that they brought to DFW, but had stiff competition in developing organic, local business. The hometown firms in Dallas were smart, aggressive, and unique. And due to the citys periodic explosive growth, they were battle-tested.

But times change, and so has the industry. I recently reviewed a list of the top 75 office prospects in DFW and found something interesting: The top three global firms control two-thirds of the top 75 deals in the market. Even more stark was the fall off after No. 3.

Thats not to say that firms outside the top three are not successful. Many are very productive, creative, and formidable. But in the larger requirement arena, the shift to the larger firms is very apparent. The reason for this is a function of the evolution of our industry and the deep and sophisticated requirements of major users. Those needs are specialized, costly, and difficult to pencil without scale. Our business at its core is transactional; however, what many clients need before and after that transaction has changed. Simply put, major users want more, and they want consistency, irrespective of geography.

The good news is, there are a lot of fish in the ocean. And although the big deals capture a lot of attention, there are myriad others that are meaningful and do not require the scope and depth of resources that many of the larger tenants do. There will always be room for entrepreneurs in DFW.

Dallas offers one of the best business environments in the world. Thats good news for commercial real estate in DFWand for the clients we all serve.

Managing Principal Ran Holman leads Cushman & Wakefields Dallas-Fort Worth office, one of the largest and most active within the global organization.

See the article here:

CRE Opinion: The Evolution of Tenant Representation in DFW - D Magazine

With some great women at the helm, teenage girls are anything but overlooked.

Picture the 1980s for a minute. It heralded the vast popularization of the blockbuster in full force. Horror films prevailed. Kevin Bacon/dancing movies were undoubtedly a thing. And then theres John Hughes. Hughes solidified many a filmgoers ideal expression of teenage life. Judd Nelsons triumph is palpable in our marrow when he throws his fist in the air at the end of The Breakfast Club.Everyone probably still secretly wants to be Ferris Bueller for a day.

The 80s teen movie has a rather special inclusion in its arsenal:Amy Heckerling, who burst onto the scene with the Cameron Crowe-penned Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film celebrates its 35th anniversary this week, and it is considered quintessential in its portrayals of teenage concerns. Heckerling navigates baby-faced future Hollywood mainstays through the trials of growing up and makes a particularly lasting impression with the young women in the film.

So many of our memorable teen girls are directed by men, which made Heckerling and the mainstream appeal of Fast Times all the more historic. There is constant warranted pushback against pervasive masculinity in media, from print to broadcast to cinema and digital screens of today. Particularly in the male-infused film scene of the 80s, Heckerling provided a kind of alternative to constructing teen girl identity.

Here, we examine a brief timeline of womens portrayals of teen girls over the last 35 years. This is not an exhaustive study. Instead, it is a selection of some of the most memorable of films in that time period and perhaps those that deserve more recognition and finding a pattern of teen girl identity within them.

Lets start with a meaty quote here because its a kind of sentiment that is often repeated. The debate over the presence of women in art and media rages on, and rightly so:

the exclusion of a female imaginary certainly puts women in the position of experiencing herself only fragmentarilyas waste, or excess, what is left of a mirror invested by the (masculine) subject, to reflect himself, to copy himself. (Irigaray as in Bainbridge, 130)

There are many things about teen movies that are stereotypical you dont need us to tell you that. But more prevalent in the 80s was the constant reinforcement of reductive tropes characterizing young women as boy-obsessed and not much else. In Fast Times, Stacy Hamiltons (Jennifer Jason Leigh) only concern is sex and dating. As a virginal 15-year-old sophomore, she constantly wonders what her first time will be like. Unfortunately for Stacy, each of her sexual encounters leaves her underwhelmed. One even leads to an abortion. However, she finally realizes that a relationship is what shes after and ends the movie in a passionate love affair with Mark (Brian Backer) one good guy in a sea of inconsiderate, terrible ones.

Universal Pictures

Its easy to be dismissive about teenagers lives given the general presumptions people have about them in the first place. Watch enough teen films and youll know that the quest for a straight romance is usually treated with the utmost importance. In 1961, Jessie Bernard published a journal article titled Teen-age Culture. The abstract alone classifies such culture as a product of affluence, with specific material concerns (clothes, cars, recreation) and nonmaterial concerns (language and customs). There is an assumption of nonchalance and even vapidity when it comes to teen culture, with the era of high school being the pinnacle of teen existence.

That is evident in films like Fast Times. At the very least, Stacy has her best friend, Linda (Phoebe Cates), to go to for advice. While Linda very much enables Stacys quest for sexual fulfilment and truthfully, both girls dont talk about anything besides boys, Heckerling builds a sense of amity between them. Theyre positive forces and support systems in each others lives no matter the boy trouble.

Universal Pictures

In contrast, theres a film like Martha Coolidges Valley Girl a flat-out fairytale of a movie. Loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, the premise is simple: Girl meets Boy, but they are tragically from different worlds. Boy introduces Girl to brand new, exhilarating experiences, and widens her worldview. They are the only ones who can make each other happy.

This is an against all odds kind of story. Julie Richman (Deborah Foreman) isnt supported by her clique. They instead tease her about wanting to hang out with someone so urban and dangerous. For a moment, Julie actually caves under that pressure and returns to her obnoxious, unappreciative high school boyfriend.

The film ends with Julie and her new beau, Randy (Nicolas Cage), riding off into the distance after literally causing a food fight as a distraction, ostensibly leaving the mess of high school and popularity contests behind. True love conquers alland viewers are left feelingas fulfilled as Julie supposedly is. However, if ending up in a relationship is the only thing these young girls seem to care about, its easy to question the legitimacy of that freedom too.

Atlantic Releasing

The chick flick is on the rise and that includes a bunch of Shakespeare adaptations. Anything between Heckerlings own Clueless and Gil Jungers 10 Things I Hate About You prove to be a commodity between their modern take on classic literature and highly attractive casting decisions. In the case of Clueless a film often included in many best of the 90s lists Heckerling continues to lead by example by bringing the fashion-conscious, well-intentioned, but painfully obtuse Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) to life.

Cher is a Popular Girl in the vein of Julie Richman. Rather than focus solely on boyfriends and dating (although she does obsess about them), she is very headstrong and possibly takes too much pride in her talents and achievements. Cher believes herself to be a good Samaritan, setting up her teachers on dates and trying to rehabilitate the awkward new girl, Tai (Brittany Murphy), by bringing her into the inner circle of affluent popularity. However, Cher treats people as projects until it backfires completely. Tais popularity begins to eclipse her own and so begins an avalanche of bad luck, in her eyes.

Cher may not be the most likable girl on campus, but she is certainly someone we learn to empathize with over the course of Clueless. Her romance with Josh (Paul Rudd) figures in a more incidental fashion than the ones in most teen films he playfully mocks her for her superficiality but that in itself doesnt push her towards the change she needs to make in her life. Self-reflection and an investment in her good intentions do it for Cher.

Paramount Pictures

Yet on an abruptly darker note, another of the decades most prominent woman-directed films was Sofia Coppolas The Virgin Suicides. Coppolas film introduces a variety of contradictory perceptions of teen girls. It is told from the perspective of a group of boys observing the comings and goings of the reclusive Lisbon family. Confined and constrained by deeply religious parents, the Lisbon sisters try to secretly navigate the teen experience, including sneaking out, going to a school dance and having sex. But their isolation eventually causes them meet dire ends.

Everything is portrayed through Coppolas surreal and dreamy filmic gaze. The camera pans softly over the girls who are both idealized and brutalized. The boys end up admitting that they did not actually know the Lisbon sisters, but could only guess from the legends that they came to be. This along with the films structure of telling and retelling provides apt commentary about how young girls themselves are viewed, reshaped for consumption by men without having voices of their own.

Paramount Classics

It would be remiss to talk about powerful cinematic images of young women of the early 2000s without mentioning Lindsay Lohan. She steadily worked on a wide variety of pictures directed by women and men for the first five years of the decade bringing teen girls to life. The Disney Channel Original Movie, Get a Clue (directed by Maggie Greenwald), featured Lohan as a teen detective investigating a teachers disappearance. Sarah Sugarmans Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a teen rom-com with a touch of personal drive and female friendship goals. Finally, Angela Robinsons Herbie: Fully Loaded sees Lohan as the newest driver of the famous sentient Volkswagon Beetle. As an actress, Lohan portrayed feisty go-getting characters throughout most of her teen idol career, those ranging from petulant to bubbly but never scrimping on likability. It sealed her status as a poster child of the modern teenage girl.

Meanwhile, across the Pond, Gurinder Chadhas Bend It Like Beckham further brought inclusion to the table. In the film, 18-year-old Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) desperately wants to play football despite her parents disapproval. But despite their protestations, she manages to strike a balance between upholding culture and chasing her dreams, eventually moving away from home on a sports scholarship to university. Chadhas later effort, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, riffs on similar themes to Clueless. 14-year-old Georgia (Georgia Groome) ostensibly stresses out over her 15th birthday party while awkwardly trying to woo the boy of her dreams (baby-faced Aaron Taylor-Johnson). But ultimately, the films emotional crutch hinges on acquired self-awareness and a commitment to be a better person.

The 2000s also brought the supernatural to a fever pitch. Yes, were talking about Twilight. Catherine Hardwickes adaptation of Stephenie Meyers bestselling novel was perhaps the only film in its four-part life cycle in which Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) had any regard for herself outside of her relationship with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Twilight is the epitome of grand fantasy wherein its protagonist falls in love and uncontrollably so. Bella is willing to sacrifice a lot for Edward, and it is debatable whether she is ultimately strong or weak in her decisions.

On the flipside, there is Karyn Kusamas Jennifers Body, which has thankfully gained cult classic status since its lukewarm initial release. Its a movie that allows a teenage girl to take her power back in every sense of the word. Girls and horror have long been associated with each other, whether its the so-called inherent horror of girlhood (see:Carrie) or the final girl trope in its many iterations. In Jennifers Body, Needy (Amanda Seyfried) bookish and shy has to contend with her popular, supernaturally-imbued, literally boy-hungry best friend, Jennifer (Megan Fox). They face off towards the end of the film but overall the narrative celebrates female friendships albeit to an extremewith Needy eventually taking on supernatural capabilities and being able to fend for herself without Jennifer.

Paramount Pictures

Summit Entertainment

Strong female characters continue to permeate blockbusters as the YA adaptation craze reignited with films such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. (These were still directed by men.) Despite this, consistent calls for industry inclusion have brought more arthouse efforts to the forefront. As a result, noteworthy women-led and women-directed films have appeared at a higher frequency in recent years.

Dee Rees Pariah tells the story of a lesbian African-American girl, Alike (Adepero Oduye), and depicts the struggles she faces coming to terms with her identity and cultivating relationships with the people around her, including family and friends. While not every relationship is mendable and not everyone is accepting of her, Alike chooses her destiny as best as she can.

The French drama Girlhood follows 16-year-old Marieme, a working-class girl longing for a life away from her abusive brother and vocational training. The film is a sobering look at developing identity, friendship and loyalty. Marieme greatly depends on the sisterhood she forms with Lady (Assa Sylla) and her girl gang, however questionable their activities were. A particularly iconic scene one celebrating excess and female camaraderie set to Diamonds by Rihanna is as carefree as she gets. Marieme ends the film at a crossroads after realizing she never attained the independence she was after in the first place.

Mustang, directed by Deniz Gamze Ergven, is essentially a more positiveVirgin Suicides situation. Five Turkish girls fight for autonomy of their actions. Not a single boy tells their story for them, and none of them dies. The film is far from devoid of the dark recesses of violence and oppression, but it importantly gives its girls a much sweeter, warmer ending.

Andrea Arnold consistently deals with realism onscreen and is regularly concerned with teenage girls. Fish Tank and American Honey focus on young women in the throes of poverty trying to pave their way to stability. Arnolds teenage girls display both worldliness and naivete, allowing them to boldly go for what they want but without necessarily letting them land on their feet completely. Their revelations about themselves are heartbreaking but life-affirming in the long run.

And coming full circle and looking back at the 80s is Kelly Fremon Craigs The Edge of Seventeen. Fremon Craig has described the film as an homage to John Hughes movies for this age. The film tracks its deeply troubled protagonist, Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), as she struggles with issues of self-discovery. She attempts to deal with the fast-paced changes happening in her life involving her brother, her best friend and two potential love interests, while juggling feelings of self-loathing and jealousy. Its not a pretty film in the slightest, which is whats amazing about it. But it does so without perpetuating harmful stereotypes. In the end, Nadine begins to willingly open up to others, and theres a genuine sense of hope for her as a person.

Focus Features

STX Entertainment

These werent 35 wasted years in the slightest, even if many films aimed at women including those helmed by women continue to operate on face value. The quest for women paving the way for themselves looks promising regardless. It is definitely much easier to appreciate the simple and the feel-good when its tempered by realism and even heartbreak. If anything, the trends of the last three and a half decades prove that womens cinema is slowly but surely moving out of the shadows, finding a middle ground of much-needed representation and respect for teen girls.

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Amy Heckerling and Beyond: The Evolution of Teen Girls On Screen - Film School Rejects

Christopher Nolan has a thing for widowers.

I like to think there are two main classes of Nolan film: high concept and Dark Knight. (And a smattering of others that now includeDunkirk). The former are the films that play with time and perception, that make you question what youve seen and studied it later. These films areMemento, The Prestige, Inception,andInterstellar.

And they all star widowers.

Each of these films protagonists loses his wife, and his character is shaped by it. How much hes shaped varies, however, because with each successive film you can see a very clear progression. The protagonists grow and evolve, becoming less defined by and obsessed with their wives deaths, more focused forward. They find solace and meaning in the future, in their children. Its as if each is a new moment in the grieving process, working toward acceptance and catharsis over the course of the 14 years in which the films come out.

Does this mean Nolans widowers are all the same person? Maybe. They certainly all share a tragedy, and the ways in which they cope with it follows a clear progression that Ill study below.

But firstthe deaths of these characters wives arent particular spoilers since they come early or even before the start of the film. Im going to talk about their deaths in the context of the rest of the films, however, and that will be spoiler heavy. So tread carefully if you havent seen these films. Or dont tread at all. Its up to you.

If youre still here, lets get started.

Newmarket

Memento(2000) is about Leonard (Guy Pearce), a man obsessed with revenge. Leonards wife was raped and murdered in front of him, and hes devoted his life to tracking down and killing the person who did it. As avengers go, Leonard is more obsessive than mosthe cant form new memories, and the last thing hecan remember is his wifes death. Hes innately defined by his loss.

Of course, the big reveal at the end of the film is that Leonards wife actually survived the night she was raped. And the implication is that he accidentally killed her himself, giving her too much insulin when she tried to call his bluff on his memory problem.

Leonard has conditioned himself to believe his wife was murdered, altering his final memory of her and devoting his life to tracking down the person he thinks killed her. Whats worse is that he does find and kill the man who raped her, but he decides to expunge the evidence of it. This way he can devote the rest of his life to revenge, the only thing that matters.

Leonards existence is informed exclusively by his wifes deathhe literally cant form any new reasons to live. His entire life takes place in his distant past, and his only plan for the future is a vengeance he doesnt know hes already achieved.

Warner Bros.

The Prestige(2006) could be argued to have two (or three) protagonists, but since far fewer of his secrets are kept from the audience, I would argue that the main character is Robert (Hugh Jackman). Early in their careers, Robert and Alfred (Christian Bale) are friends. The friendship ends when Roberts wife drowns during a magic trick because she cant undo the knot Alfred has tied around her hands. This sparks a desperate, lifelong feud.

Just like Leonard inMemento, Robert becomes obsessed with his wifes killer. But unlike Leonard, he knows exactly who his target is. And instead of killing him, he devotes his life to besting him, to being a better magician. Healthy it is not, but this obsession is at least focused more outwardRobert lives his life, and he excels at what he loves. His revenge is productive, rather than destructive.

And most importantly, he has an eye to the future. When Robert sees Alfred with a wife and baby, it kills himhe begrudges Alfred for having everything that hes lost, everything hell never have. Near the end of the film, he actually adopts Alfreds daughter. Its meant to be one more insult for Alfred, of course, but it also gives Robert a portion of the future he lost. Unlike Leonard, he has something new to live for.

Its the first appearance of children in these widowers lives, and its an important introduction that will get more and more prominent.

Warner Bros.

Inception(2010) is a big step forward for our widowers. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) has turned his anger inwardhe considers himself wholly responsible for his wifes death, and his grief and guilt make it almost impossible for him to work. Cobb may not be set on revenge, but his subconscious is.

Importantly, though, Cobb has children. Unlike his predecessors, he has the future to look to. He has people to live for.

And he does live for them. The entire plot of the film hinges on Cobbs desperation to see his children again. He exposes himself and his team to all kinds of danger so he can get back to them. And, against all odds, it works. (I wont get into it here, but the prevailing theory of many interpretations is that the final sequence of the film does take place in reality).

This success of Cobbs plan is important because hes the first of Nolans widowers to get a happy ending. And that happy ending is contingent upon both the past and the futurethe plan can only succeed if Cobb finally lets go of his wife. By accepting Mals death and voicing the guilt he feels, Cobb can rescue Saito and return to reality. By rescuing Saito and returning to reality, he can be reunited with his kids.

Cobb gets past defining himself by his wifes death, and he moves into the future with his children.

Warner Bros.

Interstellar(2014) is the continuation of Cobbs happy family life. Coop (MatthewMcConaughey) has lost his wife to cancer. He resents his post-science world for not having the technology to save her, but thats all it isresentment. Theres no guilt, no thirst for revenge.

In fact, this explanation of Coops wifes absence is one of her only mentions. Another comes when Coop quotes her, trying to convince Murph that he has to leave:

After you kids came along, your mom said something to me I never quite understood. She said, Now were just here to be memories for our kids. And I think now I understand what she meant. Once youre a parent, youre the ghost of you childrens future.

This is some obvious ghost foreshadowing, of course, but its also a strong message about the secondary nature of parents and, by extension, of spouses. The moment his children were born, they became the most important thing in Coops life. His wifes death has been hard on him, of course, but by the start of the film hes already achieved the acceptance it took Cobb almost all ofInception to get. He lives entirely for his children, and for the future.

Because thats what the entire film is for: the future. Coops world is dying, and he devotes himself to finding a better one for his children. In the end, Coop succeeds, getting the human race off of Earth and pointing them toward a new home. Just as importantly, however, he gets to see his own future generations. When he visits Murph on her deathbed, shes surrounded by her children and their children and on and on. Its the ultimate continuation of living for your children.

Coop doesnt just let go of his pasthe sees his future.

Warner Bros.

The widowers of Christopher Nolans concept films follow a clear trajectory toward healing and redemption. Little by little, each lets go more of the past and defines himself less by grief, focusing instead on his children and the future. They go from living completely in the past and bent on revenge, to living for a present revenge with half an eye to the future, to letting go of the past in favor of the future, to abandoning a lifetimes worth of the past and working exclusively for the future.

Is this the mark of a filmmaker whos aging, both refining his craft and shifting his priorities as he has children of his own?

Probably.

But its also possible to think of these widowers as a single character of sorts, gradually dealing with the same tragedy over the years, healing and coping more with each iteration.

Nolans asked us to accept stranger things, after all.

Christopher NolanHugh JackmanLeonardo DiCaprio

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The Evolution of Christopher Nolan's Widowers - Film School Rejects

The rise in popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and a consumer desire to access valuable data on various devices has led to network security becoming increasingly complicated for financial services providers.

As financial institutions transition their network security strategies to meet these consumer demands and grant greater individual access to their networks, they must also be conscious of the ever-evolving threat landscape. The cyberattacks of today are constantly becoming more sophisticated in order to outwit traditional network security measures. In addition, increased access to the network by IoT devices (such as mobile phones, and tablets) has resulted in an increase of possible attack vectors. As such, the need for evolved network security is further emphasised by the attention it has garnered from government regulators, who are shining a spotlight on compliance and security at financial institutions of all sizes.

The Challenge

Strong network security revolves around two key factors: speed and service. Network experience is typically judged by how quickly bits of information get from point A to point B, and how quickly applications are able to respond to queries. In finance in particular, rapid communication and effective security is vital, and neither can come at the expense of the other. Furthermore, consumers have come to expect access and the ability to edit information stored within the network through the web. This ability is integral to staying competitive, with more than 60 per cent of financial institutions currently developing cloud strategies as a result.

Network security strategies are having to change and adapt to meet this increase in demand for real-time, on-demand services. Data must now be more secure, travel faster, and be more readily available across devices, all of this in spite of being constantly under attack from sophisticated threats.

Looking ahead, financial services firms will be forced to respond to new attack vectors that threaten their core functions. And as these trends persist, robust network security strategies need to evolve to include the following tactics:

Detection

In order to adapt to meet these new challenges requires moving away from the traditional tactic of simply focusing your security efforts at your network perimeter whats required is something much more comprehensive. As todays perimeters are become more dynamic and increasingly temporary, rendering edge-based protection less and less relevant. Whats more, security professionals have come to understand that it is simply impossible to stop every attack. The reality is, an organisation will be breached, and security needs to be designed with this in mind.

Effective security strategies have had to transition from simply relying on intrusion protection to intrusion detection as well. Intrusion detection systems operate on the assumption that an attack will breach network perimeter defences. They are able to scan the network for abnormal behaviour in order to detect live attacks that have evaded the perimeter in order to reduce the time security teams are kept in the dark, because the longer an intruder or malware resides undetected within the network, the higher the probability it will be able to find and steal valuable information. The goal is to detect and mitigate the threat before data loss occurs.

This expansion from perimeter-based protection to include security measures at network segmentation demarcation points, deep in the core of the network marks, and out to the cloud are an important strategic shift in network security as financial services firms navigate todays threat landscape with the digital evolution of the modern workforce.

Response

With intrusion detection systems in place, incident response is the next logical step in ensuring attacks are mitigated quickly and effectively once detected. With todays new threats, incident response is required to go beyond having a list of procedures to follow in the event of an attack. A response needs to include integrated tools that provide full visibility into the security posture of the network. It should also include automated solutions that are able to identify and respond to the abnormal activity, and the forensic tools to analyse and ensure similar threats are thwarted in the future. Once malware is detected, its important to have an integrated security structure in place across your entire extended network to mitigate its impact before it can further compromise your network.

Intelligence

Once a threat has been mitigated, the incident response team needs to assess the threat to ensure that protocols are updated to keep similar threats from being successful in the future. Threat research is just as important as intrusion prevention and incident response. Teams study critical areas such as malware, botnets, and zero-day attacks in order to identify device or network vulnerabilities, uncover weak threat vectors, and create mitigation signatures, putting your organisation in the best possible footing to face down threats in the future. In doing so, the broader network security is hardened, and updated with abnormalities to look out for, and enhanced with the tools needed to stop them from causing damage. Solid threat intelligence is key to keepings your network steps ahead of attackers by establishing protocols for both known and unknown vulnerabilities.

Four key changes have made it necessary for financial institutions to re-evaluate their approach to network security: cloud-based infrastructure and services, the rise of IoT, the ever-increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, and stricter government regulations. As the internal network interacts more with the cloud, and attacks become more grandiose, it is inevitable that an attack will successfully breach the network. Which is why it is critical that an organisations security focus shift in order to ensure that once malware has made it into the network, it can be detected and remediation efforts can begin as quickly as possible to ensure the least possible damage and reduce the chance of recurrence.

Follow this link:

The evolution of network security strategies being adopted by the financial services sector. - Finextra (blog)

I recently reconnected with my college friend Cindy, whom I'd scarcely seen since the summer after graduation when we traveled for a month throughout Italy and France . She reminded me of the time we raced back to the youth hostel in Verona after an open-air concert in the amphitheater to make curfew. I can still hear the clapping of flip-flops on cobblestones behind us and the hopeful lilt of Australian accents calling for us to hold the doors open. We made plans to meet those same Aussies in Avignon later that month, the logical coda to an easy kinship born of averted misadventure. That night, we all slipped into our travel sheets, money belts safely stowed, and slept the deep hummingbird sleep that only relief brings.

Nostalgia sparked a conversation about our shared lifelong wanderlust, the places we have yet to visit, and the bittersweet sense of a foreshortening future at middle age. "My working theory is that we have a better (or worse?) sense of time now, because we know the next thing's coming and the next," she wrote to me in an email. "We always see the horizon line, so we don't have that slow unfolding we once had as kids." Add to that our compulsive need to document and share every sunset and avocado toast , and there are few occasions when we actually allow a moment to play out.

Except, of course, when we travel. While we may have moved from American Express Travelers Cheques and postcards to Apple Pay and Facebook Live, what doesn't change is the way in which walking into a medieval hilltop town square in Liguria at the golden hour, or diving through a pristine wave in Sumba, reminds us how lucky we feel to be alive, and changes our perception of time.

In the age of TMI, and the deafening chorus of self-anointed expertise across digital and social media, we've almost come full circle in our desire to narrow the universe to those recommendations we trust most. When Sir Harold Evans launched Cond Nast Traveler 30 years ago, he did just that, creating a publication that drew a hard line between travelers who crave genuine connection to place and mere tourists ticking off a bucket list.

Thirty years later, we still believe that the very best kind of travel comes when we are armed with the right information, itineraries, on the ground inteland, yes, technology to move through the world with a confidence that allows for serendipity. I know I should be less concerned with timing the afternoon light so it reflects off the church steeple just so for my Instagram. But I am also keenly aware that what took me off the highway in pursuit of that church in the first place was a description I read by my favorite food writer (and confirmed by a local bartender), its corresponding Insta geotag, and Google Maps. It takes both vulnerability and confidence to follow the recommendation of a no-frills osteria meal over an acclaimedif overratedMichelin-starred one. But it is only in stepping outside of our comfort zone, permitting ourselves to move toward something we can't quite picture, that we allow for the slow unfolding of memories in the makingand, yes, for that horizon line to inch back just a little further.

Continued here:

Editor's Letter: The Evolution of Travel - Cond Nast Traveler

Real World article (written from a Production point of view) "Evolution"

Production number: 40273-150

An obsessed scientist arrives on the Enterprise-D to perform a once-in-a-lifetime experiment. Accidentally released nanites, however, threaten both it and the ship. (Season premiere)

"Forget to set your alarm, Wesley?"

Wesley Crusher is asleep in the science lab as the USS Enterprise-D orbits a red giant. There is a beep as the familiar voice of Commander Riker can be heard over the comm. He asks Crusher if he forgot to set his alarm, to which Crusher, realizing he is late, expresses his apologies, packs up his things, and hurriedly heads for his station.

Moments later, on the bridge, Dr. Stubbs gazes out into the viewscreen as Crusher assumes his position at the helm. Riker asks the acting ensign what their current position is, to which he replies, "approaching one million kilometers from the neutron star, sir". The commander orders him to slow to one third impulse power. Stubbs then turns to Crusher and expresses his feelings of how beautiful the star is and explains how, "over and over again, the intense gravitational pull of the neutron star sucks up the star material from the red giant and builds up on the surface until it explodes, every one hundred and ninety six years like clockwork", and they are only eighteen hours away from experiencing it. Or eighteen hours, seven minutes and ten seconds, as Data corrects.

"Spectacular, isn't it?"

Just then, Captain Picard enters the bridge from his ready room, and asks the doctor if he would like to make one final inspection of the egg. Dr. Stubbs replies that he has been inspecting the egg for the last twenty years and that they "may lay it when ready". Picard, slightly bemused by the statement, orders the launch of the probe. The shuttlebay doors are opened as Data reports they are nearing the launch site.

Suddenly, something rocks the Enterprise-D and Dr. Stubbs goes flying across the bridge. Picard quickly orders Crusher to stabilize but the ship's controls aren't responding. In engineering, chief engineer La Forge reports that there is nothing wrong with the inertial dampeners. Back on the bridge, Worf says they are heading straight into the path of the stellar matter. The captain orders shields up but Worf cannot; "the shields will not respond," he shouts, as the ship slowly drifts away.

The Enterprise-D continues to drift towards the stellar matter with only thirty seconds until impact. Picard orders a manual override on the shields while Riker tells La Forge to reset the inertial dampeners. The shields begin to rise but the inertial dampeners are still unresponsive. The chief engineer activates the impulse engines in full reverse, which seems to stabilize the ship, but the momentum is still carrying the Enterprise-D into the stellar matter. Dr. Stubbs clings onto the bridge's tactical handrail, frightened, while Data reports that all systems are reporting normal. Picard asks the computer what the cause of the control malfunction was but the computer has no record of any such error. Confused, he checks Data's console, but everything appears normal.

Down in sickbay, there is a hive of activity as the injured are being treated. Among them is Dr. Stubbs, lying on the main surgical biobed, being treated by Dr. Crusher, who has returned to the Enterprise-D and replaced Dr. Katherine Pulaski as chief medical officer. Moments later, Wesley enters and informs Stubbs that all systems are back to normal and that they can attempt another launch as soon as he is ready. Stubbs jokes that the Crushers are "quite a dynamic family team".

"The food slot is functioning properly."

Beverly replies that it is nice to be together again, after her year away at Starfleet Medical, where she missed her son. Stubbs says "I'm not sure I'd want my mother flying through space with me," which gets a concerned look from Dr. Crusher. After hearing Wesley give a technical report, Stubbs asks if Wesley does anything other than work, to which Dr. Crusher expresses confidence that he does, but to her dismay, Wesley answers that he is actually spending most of his time in study to prepare for Starfleet Academy.

After Stubbs is given a clean bill of health, he invites Wesley to go and check on "Humpty Dumpty", and the two leave. Just as the doors swish closed, Dr. Crusher notices something strange happening in the replicator - the computer is replicating a glass of water, with the water overflowing the glass. When asked to correct the error, the computer replies that it is working perfectly. "Well, check again," Beverly orders, annoyed. According to the computer, the food slot is working fine. Crusher finally deactivates it and the water stops replicating.

Back in engineering, La Forge is investigating the earlier matter on the bridge. Over the comm, he informs Picard that they are analyzing the computer systems data but it is not showing anything unusual. In his ready room, Picard orders a level 1 diagnostic series. Picard tells La Forge that he needs the computer working 100%, in order to expedite Dr. Stubbs' experiment and the food slots in sickbay, before closing the channel.

"He's his father's son. Honest, trusting... strong."

Crusher visits Picard to talk about her son, asking, "How would you feel if you were seventeen years old and the only Starfleet officer whose mother was on board?", to which he replies, "Inhibited, I suppose". He goes on to say that Wesley is doing fine and that, if she is concerned, she shouldn't be. The doctor then asks him to tell her about Wesley during her time away. The captain has some good things to say about him. He begins to tell her how hard-working her son is, when she stops him mid-sentence. "No!", she says, "Tell me about him". After a moment of reflection, Picard compares him to the captain's dearly departed friend and Beverly's husband, Jack Crusher. "He's his father's son. Honest, trusting... strong," he tells her. Beverly smiles at Picard's statement, and asks him what he was like when he was seventeen. He jokes that he was probably getting into more trouble than Wesley is. "So was I!" Crusher says, "Isn't that what seventeen's supposed to be?"

Meanwhile, Dr. Stubbs is inspecting his probe, down in the shuttlebay. He concludes that everything is fine. Wesley asks him how he can be so calm when he is on the verge of making a major breakthrough in astrophysics. The Doctor says that he has had no doubt that this day would come and that Wesley's day would come too. "You will never come across a greater adversary than your own potential," he tells Wesley.

"Sensors clearly indicate the approach of a Borg vessel!"

Suddenly, the red alert is sounded. Wesley informs Stubbs that he should return to his quarters, immediately. On the bridge, there is an air of tension. Sensors have detected something but there is no evidence of it on the viewscreen. Picard, worried, orders Worf to zoom in on a region of space, but he still can't see anything. Riker asks if Worf was absolutely sure, to which Worf says, "Sensors clearly indicate the approach of a Borg vessel." He is ordered to raise the shields but they are not responding and the manual override is jammed. Suddenly, sensors report the Borg ship is opening fire. As Worf calculates the Borg ship's vector, all of a sudden, it disappears.

They realize that this was another computer error. As Picard tries to ascertain the cause of the malfunction, the computer begins spurting out chess moves and the doors start opening and closing to the observation lounge for no reason, whatsoever. The ship is rocked violently, knocking everyone off-balance. Data reports the controls are unresponsive and La Forge states that all engines are down. He and Worf head for engineering, while Picard orders Riker and Data to the conference room. "It's time to discuss the future of this mission..." he says, "...if there still is one."

In the conference lounge, the three officers are discussing what is happening on the Enterprise-D. Picard fears that the ship is suffering from a failure of the main computer. Data objects, however, saying the system automatically provides for self correction and that there hasn't been a complete systems failure on a starship for over seventy-nine years. Just then, Counselor Troi enters, informing the captain that Dr. Stubbs is waiting outside. Without waiting to be let in, the doctor enters, asking to be informed as to what is going on. Picard invites him and the counselor to sit down.

"We are dealing with a potential breakdown of the main computer."

He informs Stubbs that Lieutenant Commander La Forge is attempting to resolve the situation but the doctor is only interested in his experiment. Picard reassures him that the experiment will go ahead as planned, as long as it is safe to do so, and that the safety of the ship and crew come first. The counselor attempts to reassure Stubbs but he is adamant to continue his experiment, saying that he would rather die than leave. A moment later, he stands up. "Well, if we don't leave in time, it's one sure way to get into the record books, eh?" he says, before leaving the room. After he has left, Troi explains that Stubbs has put his entire self-worth on the line for the experiment and that he really would rather die than leave.

Down in engineering, La Forge is attempting to correct the situation on the ship. Wesley is with him and the two of them have found some kind of continuing disintegration with the computer circuitry but La Forge has no idea what is causing it. He zooms in on a computer image of the circuitry. "If I didn't know better, I'd say somebody had climbed in there and started taking it apart," he says. Wesley suddenly looks concerned, as though he might have an idea about what is causing the malfunctions. He rushes back to the science lab, where he was working the night before. There, he opens a container and begins scanning it with a piece of equipment. Finishing, he looks very worried and leaves.

"Are you saying there are nanites loose!?"

Wesley has gone to an empty Ten Forward, where he is crawling along the floor, behind the bar, with another piece of equipment in his hand. He places a circular object on the floor, next to the bulkhead, and notices Guinan, looking over his shoulder. He stands up and explains to her that he is setting traps. Guinan jokes that she runs a clean place. Wesley says he is scared, saying that everything that is going wrong could be his fault. He goes on to explain that he had been working on nanotechnology, as part of his advanced genetics project, and that he was specifically studying nanites he obtained from the sickbay genetics supplies. His theory was that, by working together in tandem, nanites could combine their skills and increase their usefulness.

He says it worked, but he fell asleep while collecting the data and left their container open. "It's just a science project," he says, but Guinan reminds him of Dr. Frankenstein. Just then, he gets a call from his mother, over the comm. She says she stopped by his quarters but he wasn't there. Wesley says he is on his way but he stops to ask Guinan not to tell anyone. She just gives him a look and he says he will be the one to tell everyone. Before Wesley leaves, Guinan asks him if he will get a good grade. He says he always gets an "A" and leaves Ten Forward. As the doors close, Guinan mutters to herself, "So did Doctor Frankenstein."

"The bridge - such as it is - is yours."

On the bridge, Commander Riker orders a manual restart. La Forge reports the restart was successful and the impulse engine functions all appear normal. With Picard's approval, it is time to begin the experiment once again. Riker contacts the shuttlebay and tells the crewman to open the doors. The crewman reports that the door did not respond and the computer begins loudly playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa - another malfunction. Riker tries to turn it off but the computer isn't accepting it.

Data says that it is playing on all communications channels; the Enterprise-D is being stripped of one system at a time. "Shut off the power to the bridge!" Picard shouts, over the music. The bridge plunges into darkness, with only the light of a few flickering consoles providing illumination. Picard asks La Forge if he can get the ship out of the star system, safely. Stubbs, who was quietly standing at the rear of the bridge, lurches forward, insisting they stay. He is told to be quiet by Riker and La Forge is given the green light to get the ship out of the system. Riker then suggests circuiting in auxiliary power to the bridge, in case "Sousa decides to do an encore". The captain agrees but prioritizes the task of finding out who or what is doing it.

Dr. Stubbs and Wesley are now back in the shuttlebay. The doctor is worried that history will not remember him, that he "won't even be mentioned." He goes on to talk about baseball and how he has "seen the great players make the great plays." Wesley asks if he recreates the games on the holodeck, to which Stubbs replies, "No, in here," pointing to his head. He says that playing whole seasons of baseball, in his head, was his reward for patience and the knowing that his time will come. He is now disappointed that he will never get the chance to carry out his experiment. "A brand new era in astrophysics... postponed one hundred and ninety six years... on account of rain," he says.

"I think I've made a horrible mistake."

A few minutes later, Wesley is back in the lab, analyzing the traps he set for nanites. He manages to find one of them, just as his mother enters the room. She suggests to him that he should get some rest but he insists he has responsibilities and must finish. Beverly says she thinks he has taken on too many responsibilities. Wesley snaps at his mother, for not being there for the past year. "I'm here now, Wesley," she replies, before offering to help him with his work. Wesley admits, "I think I've made a horrible mistake."

The senior staff are gathered in the conference room. Dr. Crusher stands at the front, filling everyone in on nanites and their medical uses. She goes on to say that the nanites that have "infected" the Enterprise-D are no ordinary nanites - they have evolved. Stubbs is skeptical, asking how it is possible a machine can evolve. Wesley then informs everyone that it was his fault - that he allowed the nanites to interact and evolve past their intended purpose. Picard asks how far they have evolved, to which Wesley shows them how the nanites can absorb any piece of technology, such as a linear memory crystal from the Enterprise's computer core and replicate. "It's like candy to them," Riker observes. Data then calls engineering and has them display computer core processor 451, element 0299, and magnifies the section, one thousand times. Picard proposes that they may know what they are doing and Riker asks why they would attack the Enterprise-D. Stubbs suggests that they should just "kill" them, thus solving the problem straight away.

Dr. Crusher protests, arguing that they are now working with a new collective intelligence, operating together and teaching each other new skills. Stubbs argues that the whole thing is nonsense, that a whole civilization of computer chips can't exist. Crusher challenges him by asking how he could explain what he has just seen, but he argues it is no more strange than watching a strain of Leutscher virus reproduce itself and that is actually a lifeform. Picard interrupts as Stubbs asks Crusher how many diseases and viruses she has destroyed, during her time. The captain says that he cannot exterminate something that may or may not be intelligent. As Stubbs gets ready to argue some more, Picard stops him and reminds him that there is still time. After ordering Wesley and Data to work together to solve the nanite problem, he concludes the briefing.

Stubbs fires at the nanites

Dr. Stubbs has now gone down to the computer core, where Data, La Forge and Wesley are working. Crusher reports that they are trying low gamma bursts in an effort to slow down the productivity of the nanites. Stubbs asks if they have tried a high-level charge but Data replies a high-level charge will kill them. "I know," Stubbs says, taking out an energy weapon and firing on the core with high-intensity gamma radiation. Data, La Forge and Wesley grab the doctor, stopping him before he can do any more damage.

In his ready room, Captain Picard is discussing the situation with Commander Riker. He says he cannot get the story of Gulliver out of his head: how he was overpowered by the tiny Liliputians. He wonders how much longer they have to wait. Riker says they can continue to bypass the section of the computer that is affected, but the nanites are soon spreading through the whole ship. Suddenly, Picard smells a change in the air - the bridge is being flooded with toxic levels of nitrogen oxide, a reaction to the attack by Stubbs. Riker manually overrides the air handler and removes the toxic gas, but the bridge continues to suffer malfunctions, with lights flashing on and off and consoles activating and deactivating. The next moment, Worf arrives on the bridge, along with Stubbs and Data. He informs Picard of Stubbs' actions and that all the nanites in the upper core have been killed.

"Simply turn them off and be done with them. "

The bridge systems are continuing to malfunction, as Stubbs stands smug in front of Picard. "You have no choice now. It is a matter of survival," he says. Picard begins to inform him what would happen if he was a member of his crew, but the doctor interrupts him, reminding him he has been sent by the "...highest command of the Federation." Picard replies that he would have Stubbs' head, should anything happen to anyone on the Enterprise-D. Stubbs cannot believe that the Captain wants to save them, when they are only "machines with a screw loose." Data proves him wrong by informing him that his own actions have shown that the nanites do indeed possess a collective intelligence.

Their actions against the life support system were in direct response to the irradiation of the upper core; it is difficult to see it as anything other than retaliation. The warrior in Worf suggests to the Captain that, as the ship is at risk, extermination may be the only option. After a brief pause for thought, Picard orders Dr. Stubbs confined to his quarters. As he leaves the bridge, the systems come back online and the Captain asks Data if there is anyway to communicate with the nanites. He suggests modifying the circuitry in the universal translator to enable communication with them.

Dr. Stubbs, now working in his quarters, receives a visit from Counselor Troi. She says she wants to help him but Stubbs is resistant. He invites her to join him in New Manhattan on Beth Delta I, when the mission is over, where they can laugh over glasses of champagne. She refuses, saying his "self portrait is so practiced, so polished." She continues by telling him that it is stretched so tight that the tension fills the room and that if he finally fails, it may snap. He congratulates her on a good try and informs her that "sometimes, deep down beneath a man's self portrait, you may find nothing at all." The Counselor has had enough and leaves. The doctor goes back to his work.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Data is busy trying to communicate with the nanites. He doesn't seem to be having any luck, as of yet.

The nanites strike back

Stubbs is now resting in his quarters, imagining a baseball game out loud while he drifts off to sleep. Suddenly, the computer terminals begin to switch off, plunging the room into darkness, but Stubbs is oblivious. A bolt of electricity climbs the wall and enters the food replicator, where it sends a surge towards Stubbs. He cries out in pain. The security officer outside hears his scream but the door is locked. A second later, Stubbs comes staggering out of the doorway and falls into the crewman's arms.

In sickbay, Dr. Crusher is treating the doctor on the main biobed, when Captain Picard walks in. He says he cannot believe that it was an arbitrary attack. Crusher asks him if Data has made any progress but, before he gets a chance to respond, Stubbs grabs Picard and begs him to protect him by killing the nanites.

Picard enters the bridge and informs Riker that he has decided to irradiate the nanites with gamma radiation. Just as Worf readies the gamma pulse generators, Data reports he has established contact.

Data explains that, as they continue communicating, the nanites learn more and adapt. Picard asks if they can talk to them, yet. Data believes it is worth an attempt and Dr. Stubbs is brought to the bridge. The captain tells Stubbs to apologize to the nanites, so they can negotiate peace. Data proposes he allow the nanites to inhabit his body, so as to make communication easier. He explains how they can interface with his programming by entering his neural net, something which would only require them to use their basic skills. Worf protests, arguing that, if they had control of a Starfleet commander, they would become an even greater threat. Picard wants to know if they can be removed from Data. Data says it would be an enormous risk but would demonstrate trust on their part. Picard agrees and Data submits the suggestion to the nanites, along with a diagram of the path they need to take once inside him. They agree.

The nanites take over Data

Picard, Riker, Worf, Data and Stubbs are now down in the computer core, where Data is making preparations for the transfer. He places his hand on a piece of equipment and the nanites enter his body. His head suddenly jerks up and haltingly looks around, as the nanites experience the world as Data does for the first time. "You are very... strange looking creatures," they say. The captain explains that they have encountered even more creatures, perhaps even more strange looking than them, and that they seek to live peacefully with them. The nanites ask why they were attacked. Picard tells them that that they misinterpreted their actions as an attack.

They explain that they were seeking out new raw materials for use in their replicating process and that they meant no harm. The nanites turn to Stubbs. He apologizes for the deaths of the nanites and explains he was protecting his lifetime's work. Picard interrupts, proposing they end the conflict. "Mistakes were made on both sides," he says. The nanites agree, but they have a request. "This ship is too confining. We require... relocation."

"I am at your mercy."

With all systems restored and the nanite situation resolved, Dr. Stubbs' experiment goes ahead as planned. The Egg is launched and everything goes according to plan. Dr. Stubbs is in a state of excitement, as the computer telemetry pours in.

In Ten Forward, Beverly Crusher is talking to Guinan about being a parent, when Wesley enters and it looks like he has a girlfriend. The Doctor is happy to see him finally enjoying himself. "It's so good to see him having fun for a change, with an attractive young woman who obviously looks at him with extraordinary affection." She suddenly realizes something. Turning to Guinan, she quickly asks, "What do you know about this girl?"

"Captain, I have been inspecting the egg for the last twenty years. You may lay it when ready."

"I'm not sure I'd want my mother flying through space with me. No, I take that back. I am sure. I wouldn't want her."

"I always get an A." "So did Dr. Frankenstein."

"I'm just setting some traps." "I run a clean place."

"You will never come up against a greater adversary than your own potential..."

"You can't have a civilization of computer chips!"

"Look, I have done everything that everyone has asked of me and more! And how can you know? You haven't even been here!" "...I'm here now, Wesley."

"I would rather die than leave." "I don't believe you speak for the majority of the crew."

"You have no choice now... it is a matter of survival." "If you were a member of my crew, sir, I would..." "But I am not a member of your crew, sir... I am a representative of the highest command of the Federation... which has directed you to perform my experiment." "If any man, woman or child on my ship is harmed as a result of your experiment, I will have your head before the highest command of the Federation."

"Your self portrait is so practiced, so polished." "Yes. Isn't it though?" "It's stretched so tight the tension fills this room. And if you finally fail, I fear it will snap.." "A good try counselor. ... but sometimes, when you reach beneath a man's self portrait - as you so eloquently put it - deep down inside what you find -- is nothing at all.."

"I have seen the great players make the great plays [...] in here... [indicates head] With the knowledge of statistics, runs, hits and errors, times at bat, box scores. Men like us do not need holodecks, Wesley. I have played seasons in my mind. It was my reward to myself. For patience. Knowing my turn would come. Call your shot. Point to a star. One great blast and the crowd rises. A brand new era in astrophysics, postponed one hundred and ninety-six years on account of rain."

Several scenes were filmed but later cut from the episode during editing. These scenes came to light in May 2013 when Star Trek collector Cyril "Patchou" Paciullo (who owns several more episode workprints) uploaded the contents of an early workprint VHS tape of the episode to the internet. [1]

These scenes were discovered too late for them to be incorporated in the remastered episode, or otherwise be included on the 2013 TNG Season 3 Blu-ray release, but as the webmasters of TrekCore (where the VHS workprint was submitted [2] [3]) stated, "(...) we passed on all the information about the recent discoveries to CBS which encouraged them to embark on a hunt for deleted footage. As a result, a number of deleted scenes will be presented on the upcoming fourth and fifth season Blu-ray sets (including the footage we featured from "The Wounded"). We're assured that the hunt for additional deleted scenes from Seasons Six and Seven is underway as well. Unfortunately, the film reels for Seasons 1-3 have been returned to archival storage making any retroactive inclusion of earlier deleted scenes on later sets unlikely." [4]

Wesley and Stubbs on the bridge

Wesley runs into Eric, Eric's girlfriend, and Annette

Stubbs discusses his unauthorized biography

Eric brings an injured Annette to sickbay

The duty nurse is electrocuted by the replicator

Worf suspects an outside threat

La Forge performs repairs in engineering

Doug Drexler's nanite okudagram as featured in Star Trek Science Logs

2287; 2346; 2348; A; advanced genetics; air handling system; America; aquarium; As You Like It; astrophysics; band music; baseball; Beth Delta I; binary language; binary star system; biography; Borg cube; Branca, Ralph; candy; cell; champagne; chess; composer; computer access room; computer core; confined to quarters; critic; Crusher, Jack; Dakar; Dark, Alvin; diagnostic; diffraction polarimetery scan; door; Earth; The Egg; electromagnetic scanner; environmental control; evasive maneuvers; exterminator; fast food; Federation; fish; food slot; Frankenstein; gamma radiation; gamma pulse generator; genetics; German language; gesture; gigabyte; Gulliver's Travels; holodeck; Humpty Dumpty; inertial dampener; Kavis Alpha IV; Kavis Alpha sector; kilometer; lesion; Leutscher virus; Lilliputian; linear memory crystal; Lockman, Whitey; medical tricorder; mosquito; manual override; manual restart; nanite; nanotechnology; neural net; neutrino; neutronium; neutron star; New Manhattan; nitrogen oxide; Old Faithful; rain; record book; red alert; red giant; rain; science laboratory; screw; Senegal; Sousa, John Philip; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet Medical; "Stars and Stripes Forever, The"; statistics; strain; Stubbs' mother; Thomson, Bobby; trap; universal translator; vector; wunderkind

Ansel Adams; Armstrong; Chris Pike; Clarke; Cochrane; Cousteau; Curie; Decartes; Einstein; El Baz; Feynman; Hangar 1; Hangar 2; Hangar 3; Hangar 4; Hangar 5; Heinlein; Indiana Jones; JF Kennedy; Lindberg; main shuttlebay; McAuliffe; Onizuka; PT Farnsworth; refit; Sakharov; Sam Freedle; Shuttlebay 2; Shuttlebay 3; Starbase 515; Tereshkova; type 7 shuttlecraft; type 15 shuttlepod; Von Braun

Beldoron; Switzerland

David; Goliath

Read the original here:

Evolution (episode) | Memory Alpha | FANDOM powered by Wikia

A new project will tap funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to collect a centurys worth of hard-to-access circulation data to document the histories of major American magazines such as the New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, Life and Black Mask, then present it with compelling, open-source digital tools.

The Circulating American Magazines Project is the brainchild of Edward Timke, a media studies lecturer at UC Berkeley who has a a keen interest in media history and the role of advertising, and Brooks Hefner, an associate professor of English at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., who has a penchant for hard-boiled crime and detective fiction, dime novels and westerns.

The photo above shows a news stand chock full of magazines in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1938. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

First, Timke said, they want to make circulation figures for 1868-1972 that have been virtually invisible available for research, teaching and learning. The data currently is available only by personal visit to the Library of Congress archive in Washington, D.C. Timke and Hefner say their website should be available to the public by summer 2018.

Reasons behind popular reading

By digitizing the data and making it openly available, researchers can explore questions from easily available, officially sanctioned data that have not been studied before such as why a magazine may have died or why it may have become so popular in one particular place, said Timke.

UC Berkeley media studies lecturer Ed Timke hopes the Circulating American Magazines Project reveals some long-hidden truths about the ebbs and flows in U.S. magazine popularity. (UC Berkeley photo by Brittany Hosea-Small)

He and Hefner are including magazines based on their stand-out roles, such as serializing popular novels or communicating in new ways about popular culture, fashion or news.

Were consulting with an advisory board of periodical scholars to make sure our list is expansive and inclusive to cover various genres and audiences (i.e. price points for magazines, magazines for and by women, magazines for and by people of color, etc.), Timke said.

By collecting and correlating circulation data overall and by state with other information, the researchers plan to provide information important to understanding American magazine history. For example, the data could help determine if spikes in circulation were caused by changing prices or adjustments, an eye-catching cover, a shift in editorial leadership or other factors.

Stuff that dreams are made of

Hefner has noted that circulation for Black Mask, a legendary pulp magazine, peaked in the winter of 1929-30 when it serialized Dashiell Hammetts detective novel, The Maltese Falcon, and then dropped precipitously during the Great Depression.

Brooks Hefner of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, brings a penchant for hard-boiled crime and detective fiction, dime novels and westerns to the project.

Another circulation swing for the magazine coincided with a 1934 cut in its cover price, while sales otherwise following traditional seasonal dynamics for the magazine market climbing in the winter and falling in the summer.

Hefner and Timke think the new project could shed even more light on these and other questions.

Obtaining reliable data

Although some circulation data was collected for major magazines in the United States in the period Timke and Hefner are examining, they say many numbers are piecemeal, self-reported or come from unreliable sources such as memoirs and letters.

In 1914, American magazine advertisers joined the newly established Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) in hopes of using higher circulation numbers to boast advertising rates. Although the ABC recorded the circulation of major U.S. magazines every six months, data has remained hard to access or find. Some records have been poorly catalogued, while some exist only in summary reports or in original copies available only at the Library of Congress reading rooms in Washington, D.C.

The research team will collect the ABC data and offer it for easy download and visualization. They also will supplement the audit reports with information from the advertising agencies of Philadelphia-based N.W. Ayer & Son, and George C. Rowell & Co. in New York, as well as Street & Smith, a large publication company that recorded some circulation figures for its printed books and affordably priced magazines.

We want to add visualization tools on our site so users can explore and find relationships based on circulation figures, said Timke. Making things visually appealing makes data more exciting and attractive than a list of numbers.

Timke and Hefner decided to team up after learning of each others shared interests during an NEH summer institute in 2015 that looked at the history and influence of New York on American periodical history. Timke was studying audit bureaus in the U.S. and Europe after World War II and into the 1970s, and Hefner was interested in magazine publishers circulation data.

Interactive graphics

The NEH recently announced that it is supporting their work with a digital humanities advancement grant of $50,000.

Timke and Hefner want to excite students about magazine and media history as well as the power of data and data visualization. Students with UC Berkeleys Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program will work with Timke this fall, working on an online interface similar to the interactive graphics found on the New York Times website.

Our project provides data that can be used not just in history, literature and media studies, said Timke, but it can be taken up in statistics and possibly even business. Its a blend of the humanities and quantitative social sciences.

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Visualize this: Project shows US magazine evolution - UC Berkeley