Blog Post

November 9, 2016 saw an election that was historic in many ways. As we all know, every vote counts, even those cast outside of the United States. History was made not only in the United States, not only on Earth, but also in outer space. Shane Kimbrough, a NASA astronaut on the International Space Station, made his mark on history this election day. Kimbrough filed his ballot in last week’s presidential election from space.
Kimbrough was not the first astronaut to vote from space. That happened in 1997, the year space voting was implemented by President George W. Bush, when NASA astronaut David Wolf cast his ballot. The voting process is remarkably similar to that which is experienced here on earth, though it does take a bit longer. Astronauts decide which elections they would like to vote in: local, state, federal, or general. Then, they request a standard Registration and Absentee Ballot Request a year ahead of the election. Six months before the election, the astronauts are provided with the form. The form is provided  over the internet by the relevant county clerk. The county clerk then copies the electronic votes onto a paper ballot and submits it on election day. Although Shane Kimbrough did not leave the polls with a coveted “I voted” sticker, he did ensure that his voice was heard on one of the most important nights in our nation’s recent history.

Lindsey Marie Round

Explorers shed new light, both figuratively and literally, on ship wreckage at the base of the Black Sea.[1] They used technology to take high resolution photos of ship wreckage that can be dated back to the 13th or 14th century.[2] This marks the first time that a ship of this kind has been discovered in such complete form.[3] Scientists believe that ships such as the one discovered predate vessels used to explore the New World and served the Venetian empire.[4] The ship was found over a half-mile deep in the sea, and the condition of the vessel’s masts, timbers, and planking appeared to be almost completely preserved.[5] The team used photogrammetry, composing thousands of photographs and readings, to produce an image that appears three dimensional.[6]

However, this discovery is not the only one of its kind. Recently, explorers have found more than forty ships off the coast of the Bulgaria, ranging from those used in the ninth century all the way to the nineteenth century.[7] What makes these discoveries so valuable is the remarkable condition that each ship has been found in.[8] For the most part, these ships are unbelievably intact.[9] Scientist Dr. Foley, credits this incredible preservation to the lack of oxygen in the deep waters.[10] This lack of oxygen is caused by the immense amount of fresh water that rivers pour “into the sea that a permanent layer forms over the denser, salty water from the Mediterranean.”[11] This system prevents oxygen from the atmosphere, which readily mixes with fresh water, from penetrating the barrier and reaching the bottom of the sea, where ship wreckage remains lie.[12]

These discoveries, as well as future discoveries that explorers will inevitably make when a greater area of the Black Sea is studied and searched, help historians and people today further understand the trade routes and movement of individuals years ago. These vessels contain stories of individuals that lived years ago that we would not be able to any other way. Science has played an invaluable part in preserving this history that we would not otherwise have access to. It will be interesting to see what other discoveries are found in the future, now that researchers know that a potential undiscovered world lies in the depths of the Black Sea.

 

[1] William J. Broad, ‘We Couldn’t Believe Our Eyes’: A Lost World of Shipwrecks Is Found, N.Y. Times (Nov. 11, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/science/shipwrecks-black-sea-archaeology.html.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Broad, supra note 1.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Broad, supra note 1.

[12] Id.

Shamsheer Kailey

Facebook came under scrutiny for its discriminatory network policies and algorithms that shape what appears on the user’s news feed. Questions have also been raised about Facebook’s role in the victory of Trump. Following such criticism, Facebook has decided to stop any ethnic or race based ads on its service by disabling use of the tool, called “ethnic affinities” which is used for ads that offer housing, employment etc.

Facebook allows advertisers to use data collected by the website to categorize it and target certain groups of population. However, the company will now disable ads offering housing, employment or credit based on ethnic affinity marketing and will update policies to require advertisers to not engage in discriminatory advertising.

A non-profit investigative news organization, ProPublica, brought to the forefront discriminatory practices Facebook engaged in. Following the revelation, a group of Facebook users have filed a lawsuit against the company claiming violation of Fair Housing Act and Civil Rights Act.

______________________________________________________________________________

­­­­Dustin Volz, Facebook to stop ethnicity-based targeting for some ads, Reuters (Nov. 12, 2016), http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-ethnicadvertising-idUSKBN1361QD

Emma Fusco

South Carolina Medicaid, along with 19 other states, gives women the option of birth control at quite an odd time: right after having a child.[1]  Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and in a majority of those cases, the woman already has at least one child with rates twice as high for women in poverty.[2]  Many women in this situation who are offered birth control after having a child will have a doctor implant new and more modern IUDs that last for up to five years and are far more effective than condoms and the pill.[3]

The reason behind doing this small procedure at this opportune time is because most often, especially if the woman already has a child, it may be[4] unduly burdensome just for one trip to the doctor for herself, let alone for her children as well.  The idea is to take advantage of the time when women are already in the hospital so they don’t have to come back for such a simple procedure.[5]  This timing is also important because the woman is more likely to be insured because pregnant women who are poor and without insurance are put on Medicaid temporarily.[6]  Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the country.[7]

 

[1] Sabrina Tavernise, When to Offer Birth Control? Medicaid Has Idea, New York Times, Oct. 29, 2016, at A1

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

Aiden Scott

This week the Patent and Trademark Office is asking for community feedback regarding the amount of time it spends reviewing patent applications. The request for feedback is part of an ongoing effort by the Patent and Trademark office to “reevaluate its examination time goals.” Since examination goals were originally created, they have only been adjusted twice, but due significant “changes in the law, review process, and technology.” they are up for only their third adjustment. These goals vary by the type of technology that is being examined, and demonstrate the average amount of time an examiner will spend when evaluating an application. By taking both written and electronically submitted comments, the office hopes to ensure that its examination times “respond to stakeholder interests.” Specifically the office is attempting to balance between the interests of speed, and that of a thorough examination that will result in less secondary responses from applicants and additional review by examiners.

Xiang Qi

Following the recent merger of AT&T and Time Warner at a stunning $85 billion price, Centurylink, a high-speed fiber optic cable company is paying $25 billion for Level 3 Communications. Qualcomm, which makes semiconductors for smartphones, also proposed a $38 billion acquisition for NXP Semiconductors. After the merger, Centurylink is now among the biggest service providers in the United States, selling mostly to business clients. Whether the industry if bracing for a bigger networking future remains to be seen after series of mega-mergers.

Lindsey Marie Round

Just like your body self-heals after you get a cut, scientists are in the midst of developing a new, innovative technology which enables fabric or devices that are printed with a special magnetic ink to “heal” themselves.[1] The magnetic ink has tiny particles of magnet embedded within it that attract to one another when there is a lesion in the fabric.[2] The latest technology allows cuts up to three millimeters long to be repaired in a mere fifty milliseconds.[3] This new technology replaces the traditional “self-healing” mechanism used in materials and fabrics known as polymerization.[4] This ink is certainly not limited to clothing, and scientists anticipate that it will have a wide diversity of uses in various different fields ranging from clothing to solar panels to medical devices.[5] In addition, an important advantage of this new technology is that is it inexpensive, which will make it marketable and practical.[6] This new application could save large amounts of time and money by allowing devices to continue to operate and be useable without the need for repair or a replacement device.

 

[1] Steph Yin, Wearable Devices That Could Heal Themselves When They Break, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/science/printed-electronics-self-healing.html

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.