WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, Vice President Joe Biden discussed the progress of the White House Cancer Moonshot, an initiative with the goal to make a decade’s worth of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, in five years. Recently, the Cancer Moonshot Task Force released a report that outlines what we need to do to achieve this goal, including: enhancing prevention efforts, expanding access to care, increasing collaboration and sharing data amongst cancer researchers, and building an international commitment to the fight against cancer. The report also highlighted the progress we’ve made since the launch of the Moonshot. Today, federal agencies are working together to share research – such as the National Institutes of Health using NASA’s research on radiation and its effects on the human body. In the past few months, more than 70 public and private sector commitments have been made to join the fight against cancer – such as IBM, which offered its supercomputer, Watson, to partner with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help patients determine specific therapies they need for their cancer treatment. The Vice President said the Moonshot is about all of us doing our part in the fight against cancer. To learn how you can volunteer to help, visit Cancer.Serve.Gov, and to learn about clinical trials nearby, visit Trials.Cancer.Gov.
Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Earth Day 2016
We need to take care of the Earth,it's the only planet that we have.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
~Native American Proverb
Earth Day is a reminder of our eternal duty to protect our planet, our home.
- Al Gore
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
– Carl Sagan
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
– Neil Armstrong
"The earth does not argue,
Is not pathetic, has no arrangements,
Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise,
Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures,
Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out."
– Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass," 1855
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
– Carl Sagan
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
– Neil Armstrong
This Earth Day, let’s get really big stuff done for our planet.
What are we waiting for? The time is now.
Learn more about Earth Day and what you can do @ EarthDay.org
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
NASA Celebrates Earth Day
NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. The agency also develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records, shares this unique knowledge, and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing. Here's a brief thirty second video showing some of the sights and sounds of our Earth and why it's important to us all to appreciate our unique home in the solar system.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
And The Heavens Smiled Down On Us
NASA released this image taken from the Hubble Space Telescope the other day.It shows a group of galaxies known formally as SDSS J1038+4849, this "smiley face" cluster of stars is located some 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major
Monday, February 9, 2015
NASA Video Reveals Dark Side Of The Moon
Throughout the course of time mankind has asked the question, "What does the other side, the dark side of the Moon looks like?" After many thousands of years NASA has answered the question.
Using mapping data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA has created a stunning animated video that gives us a new look at the moon's far side
It's pretty amazing but what I really want to know is where is the secret Nazi Moon Base located or where the alien spacecrafts are hiding? You can't tell from this video... Haha!
Using mapping data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA has created a stunning animated video that gives us a new look at the moon's far side
It's pretty amazing but what I really want to know is where is the secret Nazi Moon Base located or where the alien spacecrafts are hiding? You can't tell from this video... Haha!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Earth Day 2014
We need to take care of the Earth,it's the only planet that we have.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
~Native American Proverb
Earth Day is a reminder of our eternal duty to protect our planet, our home.
- Al Gore
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
– Carl Sagan
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
– Neil Armstrong
"The earth does not argue,
Is not pathetic, has no arrangements,
Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise,
Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures,
Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out."
– Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass," 1855
"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
– Carl Sagan
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
– Neil Armstrong
Saturday, March 29, 2014
"There is something fascinating about science."
The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:
In Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain wrote, "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." He was being facetious, of course, extrapolating that the Mississippi River, if it continued to shorten by cutting new channels through its bends, would eventually be a mile and three quarters long from southern Illinois to New Orleans, but he was more right than he intended. Science does offer marvelous extensions of understanding, far beyond a scientist's immediate observations. Last week, scientists working at the South Pole announced new measurements of tiny variations in the radio noise in the deep sky that greatly advance our understanding of the origins of the universe. How could these subtle variations measured by a telescope pointed to different points of the sky tell scientists about the origin of the universe?
More than 80 years ago Edwin Hubble, an astronomer hired at the Carnegie Institution telescope on Mount Wilson, California, looking at cloudy nebulae determined that indeed they are clusters of stars, but vast clusters, vastly far away. He determined they are galaxies like our own Milky Way, and he then concluded, wonder of wonders, that the universe is expanding: that every distant galaxy in the sky is speeding away from each other. The realization that space itself is expanding led several scientists to postulate that a Big Bang had exploded the entire universe from a tiny point to its present almost-incredible size. More and more evidence has amassed in support of the conjecture, especially evidence collected decades ago at Bell Labs in New Jersey that in every direction in the sky there is a faint, cold radio signal, the afterglow of the Big Bang.
For a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, according to the favorite theories, the universe briefly inflated at a rate far faster than the speed of light. Different parts of the universe, expanding so fast they were out of touch with each other, could inflate at different rates, and tiny fluctuations could grow so that galaxies, planets, and things on planets (us) could eventually form. The variations in expansion rate also generated gravitational eaves. As Princeton University's David Spergel points out, NASA's COPE and WMAP satellites had already detected the density fluctuations. This latest experiment reported the first detection of gravitational waves from the very early universe. If confirmed by other scientists, this week’s discovery, which was sponsored in part by our tax dollars through the National Science Foundation, would represent our first physical evidence that such a rapid inflation actually happened.
Don't you find it a remarkable testament to the power of science that humans can, simply by looking closely at the sky, determine with high certainty what happened in the moments after the universe began? These discoveries may seem esoteric now – but so too did research into electricity in the 18th century or radioactivity in the 19th. Or who would have thought that magnetic techniques to deduce the shape and spin of unseen atomic nuclei would lead to MRI diagnoses of brain aneurysms or multiple sclerosis? History shows that, when individuals and businesses and governments invest in scientific research, the payoffs are enormous both for our economy and for our understanding of the world.
Ways to Make Your Voice Heard
In order for me to do my job, it’s important that I hear from you. Please know that you can always send me an e-mail through my webpage or voice your opinions by calling me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT.
If you visit my office, I or a member of my staff may be able to meet with you personally to hear your thoughts. I am glad to help you to make your voice heard: the House can provide, for instance, a sign-language interpreter if you or a member of your party can communicate better through American Sign Language.
If you come to Washington D.C., I hope you’ll also take advantage of the many tours I can help arrange of landmarks such as the Capitol, the White House, the Supreme Court, and more. I especially recommend that you visit the Jefferson Building of the beautiful and interesting Library of Congress.
Working for You
In mid-January, I heard from an East Windsor man who thought the Social Security Administration had been underpaying his Social Security Disability benefits. He was right. He had recently suffered a major medical emergency and urgently needed the money. On his behalf, I reached out to the Social Security Administration’s payment center, and the man soon received a payment of $10,110 for wrongly withheld benefits.
Have you encountered a similar problem with the Social Security Administration, the IRS, a passport center, the VA, Medicare, or any other federal agency? If so, please call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT or send an e-mail. I’ll do all I can to address your problem.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
Monday, April 22, 2013
Earth Day 2013
NASA's fleet of science satellites and research aircraft are at work around the world 24/7 helping scientists discover just how our living planet really works. Take a look at some of the insights and don't forget to celebrate Earth Day!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Hardship Is Only Beginning To Be Felt
The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed – over my objections – the so-called Ryan budget, a grim and pessimistic vision for America’s future authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
If the plan of the budget resolution were made real in appropriations legislation, it would, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, cost 2 million jobs next year. It would eliminate the mandatory Pell Grant program, a cut of $98 billion, and let interest rates double on student loans. It would cut key transportation investments by more than 20 percent. It would slash Medicaid support by $810 billion, and it would end the Medicare guarantee on which seniors depend.
If that sounds familiar, it should. This Ryan budget is a barely warmed over version of last year’s Ryan budget, which was so thoroughly debated during last year’s election – and so soundly rejected by voters.
It is important to remember that a House budget is only a roadmap and does not have the force of law. However, budget sequestration, which already is in effect, and the Appropriations Legislation passed today are binding. The resulting hardship is only beginning to be felt.
A Shameful Anniversary
As we now recognize that it has been 10 years since American troops were sent into Iraq, it is worth remembering that the Iraq war was a shameful example of the victory of ideology over evidence. Indeed, some leaders were so tied to their ideology that they deluded themselves and the public at the cost of more than 100,000 American and Iraqi lives.
People often ask me whether my decision to vote against the Iraq war was a difficult one. In advance of that vote, I worked hard and thought hard to examine the evidence about whether military action would improve America’s security. But ultimately, it was an easy vote once it became clear that there was no justification to go to war.
On a Collision Course
Earlier this week, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology – spurred to action by the February meteor in Chelyabinsk, Russia that injured more than 1,500 people – held a hearing to examine methods of detecting asteroids and comets that might impact the Earth.
The Chelyabinsk meteor was, to be sure, an exceedingly unusual event; an impact of this magnitude occurs only once a century or so. Even more rarely, far larger rocks fall from the sky: Every 100 million years or so, the Earth is hit by a meteor large enough to cause mass extinctions, like the one at the end of the age of dinosaurs.
As I wrote in a Washington Post op-ed with my colleague Donna Edwards, while the threats posed by meteors are miniscule on a day-to-day basis, surely any existential threat to the human race must be taken seriously. In particular, we should provide NASA with the support necessary to meet a 2005 Congressional mandate that it detect 90 percent of all near-Earth asteroids larger than about 500 feet in diameter. Congress also should take seriously a possibility that has been raised by senior military officials: that a meteor impact might be misinterpreted as a nuclear strike, leading to dangerous overreactions from nuclear-armed states.
Recently I discussed these concerns with the journalist Chuck Todd. A video of our conversation is available online.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed – over my objections – the so-called Ryan budget, a grim and pessimistic vision for America’s future authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
If the plan of the budget resolution were made real in appropriations legislation, it would, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, cost 2 million jobs next year. It would eliminate the mandatory Pell Grant program, a cut of $98 billion, and let interest rates double on student loans. It would cut key transportation investments by more than 20 percent. It would slash Medicaid support by $810 billion, and it would end the Medicare guarantee on which seniors depend.If that sounds familiar, it should. This Ryan budget is a barely warmed over version of last year’s Ryan budget, which was so thoroughly debated during last year’s election – and so soundly rejected by voters.
It is important to remember that a House budget is only a roadmap and does not have the force of law. However, budget sequestration, which already is in effect, and the Appropriations Legislation passed today are binding. The resulting hardship is only beginning to be felt.
A Shameful Anniversary
As we now recognize that it has been 10 years since American troops were sent into Iraq, it is worth remembering that the Iraq war was a shameful example of the victory of ideology over evidence. Indeed, some leaders were so tied to their ideology that they deluded themselves and the public at the cost of more than 100,000 American and Iraqi lives.
People often ask me whether my decision to vote against the Iraq war was a difficult one. In advance of that vote, I worked hard and thought hard to examine the evidence about whether military action would improve America’s security. But ultimately, it was an easy vote once it became clear that there was no justification to go to war.
On a Collision Course
Earlier this week, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology – spurred to action by the February meteor in Chelyabinsk, Russia that injured more than 1,500 people – held a hearing to examine methods of detecting asteroids and comets that might impact the Earth.
The Chelyabinsk meteor was, to be sure, an exceedingly unusual event; an impact of this magnitude occurs only once a century or so. Even more rarely, far larger rocks fall from the sky: Every 100 million years or so, the Earth is hit by a meteor large enough to cause mass extinctions, like the one at the end of the age of dinosaurs.
As I wrote in a Washington Post op-ed with my colleague Donna Edwards, while the threats posed by meteors are miniscule on a day-to-day basis, surely any existential threat to the human race must be taken seriously. In particular, we should provide NASA with the support necessary to meet a 2005 Congressional mandate that it detect 90 percent of all near-Earth asteroids larger than about 500 feet in diameter. Congress also should take seriously a possibility that has been raised by senior military officials: that a meteor impact might be misinterpreted as a nuclear strike, leading to dangerous overreactions from nuclear-armed states.
Recently I discussed these concerns with the journalist Chuck Todd. A video of our conversation is available online.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
Saturday, May 26, 2012
A Central Ingredient of a Democratic Society
From the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt
Earlier this week, my friend and former Congressional colleague Jim Leach, who currently chairs the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), visited New Jersey to see the impact of the NEH in our state.
The NEH is a relatively small agency, but its influence has proven remarkable. In Princeton, for instance, the public library recently received a $500,000 Challenge Grant that supported major community-wide events, including the Princeton Reads year-long community reading program, McCarter Live at the Library, Page to Stage, and other popular programs. Library officials explained that they were required to match each dollar of federal funding with three dollars from other sources, dramatically magnifying the effect of NEH funds. Later, during a visit to Rutgers, we heard from numerous faculty members about how the NEH had supported their community outreach and their important research on Thomas Edison, William Penn, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Chairman Leach also has used his prominent role to become a passionate and articulate promoter of civility in our politics and our day-to-day lives, a message he underscored during our visit together to Lore Elementary in Ewing. As he recently wrote:
“Civility is not simply about manners. It doesn't mean that spirited advocacy is to be avoided. What it does require is a willingness to consider respectfully the views of others, with an understanding that we are all connected and rely on one another. Seldom is there only one proper path determinable by one individual or political party. Public decision-making does not lend itself to certitude. Everybody can learn from somebody else. That is why civility is a central ingredient of a democratic society.”
Does Big Oil Need More Public Land and Tax Dollars?
Last week, the Department of the Interior released a new report showing that nearly two-thirds of the acreage leased by oil and gas companies remain idle, neither producing nor under active exploration or development by companies who hold those leases.
In fact, oil and gas companies are leasing but failing to use an area of public land roughly the size of New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Vermont, and Connecticut combined. Yet Big Oil has the temerity to claim that they need more taxpayer land and more taxpayer subsidies to continue drilling.
The Next Age of Space Exploration
Many people recently have raised with me questions about NASA’s future, especially now that the shuttle era has drawn to a close and the private space launch company SpaceX is having success. Even as NASA continues its development of a next-generation spacecraft, the administration is using this pause as an opportunity to consider NASA’s future direction. As long as this pause is only temporary, NASA need not lose significantly expertise or momentum. Meanwhile, it is good to see private investment and ideas coming into the space program.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
Earlier this week, my friend and former Congressional colleague Jim Leach, who currently chairs the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), visited New Jersey to see the impact of the NEH in our state.
The NEH is a relatively small agency, but its influence has proven remarkable. In Princeton, for instance, the public library recently received a $500,000 Challenge Grant that supported major community-wide events, including the Princeton Reads year-long community reading program, McCarter Live at the Library, Page to Stage, and other popular programs. Library officials explained that they were required to match each dollar of federal funding with three dollars from other sources, dramatically magnifying the effect of NEH funds. Later, during a visit to Rutgers, we heard from numerous faculty members about how the NEH had supported their community outreach and their important research on Thomas Edison, William Penn, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Chairman Leach also has used his prominent role to become a passionate and articulate promoter of civility in our politics and our day-to-day lives, a message he underscored during our visit together to Lore Elementary in Ewing. As he recently wrote:
“Civility is not simply about manners. It doesn't mean that spirited advocacy is to be avoided. What it does require is a willingness to consider respectfully the views of others, with an understanding that we are all connected and rely on one another. Seldom is there only one proper path determinable by one individual or political party. Public decision-making does not lend itself to certitude. Everybody can learn from somebody else. That is why civility is a central ingredient of a democratic society.”
Does Big Oil Need More Public Land and Tax Dollars?
Last week, the Department of the Interior released a new report showing that nearly two-thirds of the acreage leased by oil and gas companies remain idle, neither producing nor under active exploration or development by companies who hold those leases.
In fact, oil and gas companies are leasing but failing to use an area of public land roughly the size of New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Vermont, and Connecticut combined. Yet Big Oil has the temerity to claim that they need more taxpayer land and more taxpayer subsidies to continue drilling.
The Next Age of Space Exploration
Many people recently have raised with me questions about NASA’s future, especially now that the shuttle era has drawn to a close and the private space launch company SpaceX is having success. Even as NASA continues its development of a next-generation spacecraft, the administration is using this pause as an opportunity to consider NASA’s future direction. As long as this pause is only temporary, NASA need not lose significantly expertise or momentum. Meanwhile, it is good to see private investment and ideas coming into the space program.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
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