Americans living longer, healthier lives

13th September 2013Americans living longer, healthier lives
Overall, Americans today are living longer and more healthily than the previous generation, according to one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind. There was a 3.8 year increase in average life expectancy during the last two decades, with quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) also increasing. However, there was a notable rise in anxiety among young and middle-aged people, beginning in 2001.

Thanks to medical advances, better treatments and new drugs not available a generation ago, the average American born today can expect to live 3.8 years longer than a person born two decades ago. Despite all these new technologies, however, is our increased life expectancy actually providing more active and healthy years of life? That question has remained largely unanswered – until now. In a first-of-its-kind study, the University of Massachusetts Medical School has found that the average 25-year-old American today can look forward to 2.4 more years of healthy life than 20 years ago while a 65-year-old today has gained 1.7 years.
Synthesising data from multiple government-sponsored health surveys conducted over the last 21 years, the researchers were able, for the first time, to measure how the quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) of all Americans has changed over time. The study’s findings are described in a paper published yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health
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“QALE tells us more than how long a person can expect to live,” said Dr. Allison Rosen, associate professor of quantitative health sciences. “It tells us what the relative qualities of those added years are in terms of physical, emotional and mental well-being. Though many studies have measured this in different ways, this is really the first time we’ve been able to capture this type of information across the whole U.S. population over an extended period.”
Overall, the data shows that Americans are living longer, reporting fewer symptoms of disease, have more energy and show less impairment in everyday tasks than a generation ago. According to the study, a 25-year-old person today can expect to live 6 percent or 2.4 quality years longer than their 1987 counterpart. Meanwhile, a 65-year-old person will gain 1.7 quality years, a 14 percent increase from a generation ago.
Thanks to improvements in health care, many conditions are far more treatable today than 25 years ago, Rosen said. Heart disease, for instance, was potentially much more debilitating a generation ago and patients often suffered a decline in quality of life as a result. “Today, it is far less likely that a patient recovering from a heart attack will become institutionalised or need around-the-clock care the way they once might have,” Rosen said.

Today, Americans are more likely to see quality of life declines related to chronic, degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, while younger Americans appear to be experiencing problems related to a sedentary lifestyle. The authors also identified some troubling health trends. Among these was an increase in anxiety among young and middle-aged people, beginning in 2001. They also found that health gains made as a result of smoking cessation programs were being off-set, in part, by increases in obesity.
In the past, researchers have had a difficult time measuring population health beyond simple life expectancy because quality of life incorporates so many variables – physical well-being, mental health, pain, vitality, energy, emotional state – that it’s difficult to bring all these things together cohesively into a single number. Making it even more challenging, surveys measuring quality of life are rarely consistent with each other as they all define health and life quality differently.
Using multiple national surveys that asked Americans about their health in various ways over the last 21 years, Rosen and her colleagues solved this problem by identifying areas where the studies overlapped – allowing them to build a single, large data set that covered the entire adult population over more than two decades.
“Comprehensive measures of the overall health of the nation are practically non-existent,” said Rosen. “This study shows how existing national data can be used to systematically measure whether the population is getting healthier – not just living longer.”
As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) goes into effect from 2014–2020, the value of a single, consistent way of measuring improvements in health over a large population will be invaluable in assessing the impact of these pending changes, according to the authors.
“Having a consistent measure of population health represents a major advance in our ability to measure the impact of health care reform on the health – not just the health care use – of all Americans,” said Rosen. “The bottom line in assessing the success of the ACA is whether or not we are getting the most health from our investment of increasingly limited resources. Are we getting the most health bang for our bucks?”
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New NIH awards focus on nanopore technology for DNA sequencing

11th September 2013New NIH awards focus on nanopore technology for DNA sequencing
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded grants of $17 million to eight research teams, with a focus on nanopore technology aimed at more accurate and efficient DNA sequencing.

These grants are the latest awarded through the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)’s Advanced DNA Sequencing Technology program, which was launched in 2004. NHGRI is part of NIH.
“Nanopore technology shows great promise, but is still a new area of science. We have much to learn about how nanopores can work effectively as a DNA sequencing technology, which is why five of the program’s eight grants are exploring this approach,” said Jeffery A. Schloss, Ph.D., program director for NHGRI’s Advanced DNA Sequencing Technology program and director of the Division of Genome Sciences.
Nanopore-based DNA sequencing involves threading single DNA strands through tiny pores. The individual base pairs – chemical letters of DNA – are then read one at a time as they pass through the nanopore. The bases are identified by measuring the difference in their effect on current flowing through the pore. For perspective, a human hair is 100,000 nanometres in diameter; a strand of DNA is only 2 nanometres in diameter.
This technology offers many potential advantages over current sequencing methods, e.g. real-time sequencing of single DNA molecules at low cost and the ability for the same molecule to be reassessed over and over again. Current systems involve isolating DNA and chemically labelling and copying it. DNA has to be broken up, and small segments are sequenced many times. Only the first step of isolating DNA would be necessary with nanopore technology.
Innovation is crucial in these, as well as the other (non-nanopore) genome studies being funded. For example, one team eventually hopes to use light to sequence DNA on a smartphone chip for under $100.
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Microrobots for cell and drug delivery in the human body

17th September 2013

Microrobots for cell and drug delivery in the human body

A team of researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has developed a novel type of magnetic "micro-robot" capable of transporting cells and delivering drugs to specific locations inside the body. This new technology has the potential to revolutionise minimally invasive medical treatment such as targeted therapy and tissue regeneration.

The development of microrobots requires interdisciplinary knowledge including mechatronics, materials science, biology, computing and automation. These tiny devices have the potential to work in very small and confined spaces and thus have broad applications in many fields, but particularly in minimally invasive medical treatment.

Prof. Zhang Li, from CUHK's Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, collaborated with Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in Korea, and ETH Zurich. Together, they innovated a new microrobot capable of transporting the appropriate amount of cells and therapeutic drugs to specific areas of the body. The team used laser lithography to construct porous 3D scaffolds which were coated with a thin layer of magnetic material (nickel) and biocompatible material (titanium). This allowed remote manipulation of the devices using external magnetic fields to guide them, while causing no harm to living cells.

Prof. Zhang commented: "Our microrobots have enormous potential in on-demand, minimally invasive medical treatments. They allow accurate cell and drug delivery and reduce risk of complications arising from more invasive treatment methods. The low-strength magnetic fields are biologically harmless to living cells and tissues, and are therefore safe to use in the human body. This innovation is a great leap forward in the development of wirelessly-controlled medical microrobots."

One lab test involved cultivating human kidney cells in the microbot model, which grew and interacted with the model, Zhang said. This confirmed that the model could interoperate with the kidney cells, he said, adding that tests were currently conducted on rabbits and mice. This technology could lead to targeted treatment of various diseases such as cancer, cerebral infarction and retinal degeneration.

Professor Zhang is now leading the CUHK research team to improve the performance, intelligence and design of these micro-devices by paying close attention to their locomotion and dynamic properties in fluid. At present, they are just over 100 micrometres (µm) in length. However, as technology improves, they will become even smaller and more sophisticated. Experts believe that nano-scale robots may be possible by 2025 – able to repair individual cells and even work directly inside them. Further into the future, these machines could become a permanent part of our physiology.

The research results of this latest study will be featured as the cover story in a forthcoming issue of Advanced Materials.

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Robots taking over the economy: sudden rise of interacting machines trading at speeds too fast for humans

11th September 2013

Robots taking over the economy: sudden rise of interacting machines trading at speeds too fast for humans

Researchers have discovered a "global ecology" of interacting machines that trade on the global markets at speeds too fast for humans, causing periodic outages. These high frequency trading algorithms could lead to increasingly large crashes, as the volume of data in the world continues to grow exponentially.

Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. This was so serious that – on one day – it resulted in a third fewer shares being traded in the USA. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system. The appearance of this "ultrafast machine ecology" is documented in a new study published today in Nature Scientific Reports.

The findings suggest that for time scales less than one second, the financial world makes a sudden transition into a cyber jungle inhabited by packs of aggressive trading algorithms. "These algorithms can operate so fast that humans are unable to participate in real time, and instead, an ultrafast ecology of robots rises up to take control," explains Neil Johnson, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami (UM).

"Our findings show that, in this new world of ultrafast robot algorithms, the behaviour of the market undergoes a fundamental and abrupt transition to another world where conventional market theories no longer apply," Johnson says.

Society's push for ever faster systems that outpace competitors has led to algorithms capable of operating faster than the response time for a human. For instance, the quickest a person can react to potential danger is about one second. Even a chess grandmaster takes around 650 milliseconds to realise that he is in trouble – yet microchips for trading can operate in a fraction of a millisecond (1 millisecond is 0.001 seconds).

In this study, the researchers assembled and analysed a high-throughput millisecond-resolution price stream of multiple stocks and exchanges. From January 2006, through to February 2011, they found 18,520 extreme events lasting less than 1.5 seconds, including both crashes and spikes.

The team realised that as the duration of these ultrafast extreme events fell below human response times, the number of crashes and spikes increased dramatically. They created a model to understand the behaviour and concluded that the events were the product of ultrafast computer trading and not attributable to other factors, such as regulations or mistaken trades. Johnson, who is head of the inter-disciplinary research group on complexity at UM, compares the situation to an ecological environment.

"As long as you have the normal combination of prey and predators, everything is in balance, but if you introduce predators that are too fast, they create extreme events," Johnson says. "What we see with the new ultrafast computer algorithms is predatory trading. In this case, the predator acts before the prey even knows it's there."

Johnson explains that in order to regulate these ultrafast computer algorithms, we need to understand their collective behaviour. This is a daunting task, but is made easier by the fact that the algorithms that operate below human response times are relatively simple, because simplicity allows faster processing.

"There are relatively few things that an ultrafast algorithm will do," Johnson says. "This means that they are more likely to start adopting the same behaviour, and hence form a cyber crowd or cyber mob which attacks a certain part of the market. This is what gives rise to the extreme events that we observe," he says. "Our math model is able to capture this collective behaviour by modelling how these cyber mobs behave."

In fact, Johnson believes this new understanding of cyber-mobs may have other important applications outside of finance – such as dealing with cyber-attacks and cyber-warfare.

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Giant aquifers discovered in drought-prone Kenya

14th September 2013

Giant aquifers discovered in drought-prone Kenya

Massive new reserves of groundwater have been found in Turkana County, northern Kenya – enough to supply the entire country for 70 years.

Huge underground water reserves have been found in Turkana, one of Kenya’s driest and poorest regions. The discoveries were made by Radar Technologies International (RTI), a natural resources exploration firm, during a survey conducted for the Kenyan Government on behalf of the UN. The aquifers were detected using the WATEX System – a state-of-the-art, space-based exploration technology.

Both shallow and deep aquifers were surveyed across northern and central Turkana County in an effort to identify supplies to combat drought and water scarcity for the 2 million people living in the region. It was found that Turkana hosts a minimum reserve of 250 billion cubic metres of water, replenished mainly by rainfall in the Kenyan and Ugandan highlands at a rate of 3.4 billion cubic metres per year. This new wealth of water represents nearly double the amount that Kenyans consume today. It could dramatically improve the livelihoods of Turkana's people, most of whom live in poverty and have limited access to basic services and clean water.

Kenya, and the location of Turkana County, including the disputed Elemi Triangle (light green). Credit: Mandingoesque / Nairobi123

Two major aquifers were recorded and proven by drilling. The Lotikipi Basin Aquifer is estimated to store 207 billion cubic metres of water, the same volume of nearby Lake Turkana. About the size of the US state of Rhode Island, this aquifer replenishes at a rate of 1.2 billion cubic metres a year. This paleo lake could be part of the “Land of Marvels”, the ancient sources of the Nile that were explored by Egyptian Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut some 3,500 years ago.

The Lodwar Basin Aquifer is situated within a short distance of Lodwar town and Turkana’s oil reserves. It is fed by the perennial Turkwel River and has an estimated reserve of 10 billion cubic metres. RTI recorded three other large structures – Gatome, Kachoda and Nakalale – which may prove to store a combined 30 billion cubic metres if confirmed by drilling.

In addition to deep reserves, RTI also mapped 2 billion cubic meters of water passing only a few metres under the ground and easy to reach, significantly raising the prospect for local agriculture activities.

Looking ahead, RTI has recommended that all measures be taken to ensure the sustainability and viability of these newly discovered resources. Their work also establishes a new basis upon which future investigations and mapping in Kenya can be based.

The WATEX System detects water with its unique method of processing and interpreting remote sensing, oil industry and conventional data. The WATEX maps have a 6.25-metre surface accuracy and have been proven to locate underground water with over 94% certainty in most areas. Known for its rapid and large-scale mapping capabilities, WATEX has been utilised in a number of countries to find water for international aid agencies and foreign governments – most recently in Ethiopia, Angola, Chad, Darfur and Afghanistan. During the Darfur Crisis, RTI used the WATEX to find water for thousands of Sudanese refugees. Its partners have used WATEX groundwater maps to drill over 1,500 wells to help alleviate the crisis in Darfur.

Announcing these latest findings at the opening session of UNESCO's Strategic and High-Level Meeting on Water Security and Cooperation, Judi Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary, said the results were a critical scientific breakthrough for Kenya: “The news about these water reserves comes at a time when reliable water supplies are highly needed. This newly found wealth of water opens a door to a more prosperous future for the people of Turkana and the nation as a whole. We must now work to further explore these resources responsibly and safeguard them for future generations.”

Stressing Kenya’s vulnerability and water insecurity caused by erratic rainfall patterns and the influence of climate change, Judi Wakhungu said more research and investment were now needed to identify and understand groundwater aquifers and improve capacity for monitoring and assessment of these resources.

“UNESCO is proud to be a part of this important finding, which clearly demonstrates how science and technology can contribute to industrialisation and economic growth, and to resolving real societal issues like access to water,” said the Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, Gretchen Kalonji. “It is indeed in line with UNESCO’s vision for science for sustainable development and we will continue to support Africa, to unlock the full potential of its invisible water wealth.”

Gallery: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/multimedia/photos/kenya-groundwater-survey/

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Stacked solar cells handle energy of 70,000 suns

11th September 2013

Stacked solar cells handle energy of 70,000 suns

North Carolina State University researchers have developed a new technique for improving the connections between stacked solar cells, which could improve the overall efficiency of solar energy devices and reduce the cost of solar energy production. The new connections allow these cells to operate at solar concentrations of 70,000 suns worth of energy, without losing much voltage as "wasted energy" or heat.

Stacked solar cells consist of several solar cells that are stacked on top of one another. They are currently the most efficient cells on the market, converting up to 45 percent of the sunlight they absorb into electricity. To be effective, however, designers need to ensure the connecting junctions between these cells do not absorb any of the solar energy and do not siphon off the voltage the cells produce – effectively wasting that energy as heat.

“We have discovered that by inserting a very thin film of gallium arsenide into the connecting junction of stacked cells we can virtually eliminate voltage loss, without blocking any of the solar energy,” says Dr. Salah Bedair, a professor of electrical engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper describing the work.

This work is important because photovoltaic energy companies are interested in using lenses to concentrate solar energy from one sun (no lens) to 4,000 suns or more. But if the solar energy is significantly intensified – to 700 suns or more – connecting junctions used in existing stacked cells begin losing voltage. And the more intense the solar energy, the more voltage those junctions lose – thereby reducing the conversion efficiency.

“Now we have created a connecting junction that loses almost no voltage, even when the stacked solar cell is exposed to 70,000 suns of solar energy,” Bedair says. “And that is more than sufficient for practical purposes, since concentrating lenses are unlikely to create more than 4,000 or 5,000 suns worth of energy. This discovery means that solar cell manufacturers can now create stacked cells that can handle these high-intensity solar energies without losing voltage at the connecting junctions, thus potentially improving conversion efficiency.

“This should reduce overall costs for the energy industry because – rather than producing large, expensive solar cells – you can use much smaller cells that produce just as much electricity by absorbing intensified solar energy from concentrating lenses. And concentrating lenses are relatively inexpensive.”

The paper, “Effect of GaAs interfacial layer on the performance of high bandgap tunnel junctions for multijunction solar cells,” was published in Applied Physics Letters.

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Google launches new company with aim to defeat aging

18th September 2013

Google launches new company with aim to defeat aging

Google today announced Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being – in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases. Arthur D. Levinson, Chairman and former CEO of Genentech and Chairman of Apple, will be Chief Executive Officer and a founding investor.

Announcing this new investment, Larry Page, Google CEO said: “Illness and aging affect all our families. With longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives. It’s impossible to imagine anyone better than Art — one of the leading scientists, entrepreneurs and CEOs of our generation — to take this new venture forward.”

“I’ve devoted much of my life to science and technology, with the goal of improving human health," Levinson commented. "Larry’s focus on outsized improvements has inspired me, and I’m tremendously excited about what’s next.”

Art Levinson will remain Chairman of Genentech and a director of Hoffmann-La Roche, as well as Chairman of Apple. Commenting on Art’s new role, Franz Humer, Chairman of Hoffmann-La Roche, said: “Art’s track record at Genentech has been exemplary, and we see an interesting potential for our companies to work together going forward. We’re delighted he’ll stay on our board.”

Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, said: “For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.”

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Europe's largest tidal energy project given go-ahead

16th September 2013

Europe's largest tidal energy project given go-ahead

MeyGen has been awarded consent by the Scottish Government for an 86 megawatt (MW) tidal energy project, following the completion of the statutory approval process with the regulator Marine Scotland.

The project is located in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth off the north coast of Caithness, home to one of Europe’s greatest tidal resources. It is the largest tidal stream energy project to be awarded consent in Europe and constitutes the first phase of a site that could yield almost 400MW by 2020.

MeyGen plans to build an initial demonstration array of up to 6 turbines, with construction starting in early 2014 and turbines commissioned in 2015. This initial array will provide valuable environmental data for the subsequent phases and the wider tidal energy industry. When fully operational, it could generate enough electricity to power around 40% of homes in the Scottish Highlands.

Ed Rollings, Environment & Consents Manager of MeyGen, commented: “The award of this consent is the culmination of over four years of environmental work and extensive consultation with stakeholders and the local community.

“The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters region is an internationally important area for wildlife and we are committed to continuing research with interested parties to ensure that the exploitation of this clean, predictable and sustainable energy resource is done so in a manner that does not have a detrimental effect on the species and habitats in the area.”

Fergus Ewing, the Scottish energy minister, added: "We must tackle climate change. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels through better and more efficient uses of energy. Marine energy – a homegrown technology with huge potential – is part of the solution."

Another huge marine project – the world's largest wave farm – was recently approved by the Scottish government and will be constructed on the other side of the country. First Minister Alex Salmond has set the ambitious goal of generating 100% of electricity from renewables by 2020.

Seawater is 832 times denser than air, so a 5 knot ocean current has more kinetic energy than a 220 mph wind.  Therefore, ocean currents have extremely high energy density and require smaller devices to harness than wind power. Since oceans cover 70% of Earth’s surface, ocean energy (including wave power, tidal current power and ocean thermal energy conversion) is a vast untapped resource, estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 TWh per year. The potential of marine energy is being explored by a number of other countries, including the USA, which last year granted a license for the nation's first wave power station.

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2019 – A vaccine to treat melanoma

2019

China's first high-tech stealth fighter enters service

Entering service this year is the Chengdu J-20 (literally, "Annihilator Twenty"), a fifth generation stealth fighter jet developed for the People's Liberation Army Air Force.* Until now, the United States was the only country to operate a stealth fighter; in its case, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which is slightly smaller than the J-20.

Though it has slightly less agility and speed than the F-22, the J-20 has a longer range and nevertheless acts as a formidable addition to the Chinese air force. It is built using several Russian components and is believed to be designed using certain Russian plans. Armaments include both long and short range air-to-air missiles together with lateral weapons bays.

The avionics and navigation technology is highly advanced, and regarded with secrecy by the Chinese government. This has raised suspicions of cyber-espionage, as the Chinese program bears a number of striking resemblances to the American F-35 Lightning II. Investigations point to leaks from government contract firms. The affair leads to a period of tense international relations between the two superpowers. The J-20 meanwhile acts as another milestone in China's march towards an ever larger and more high-tech military force.*

Credit: Alexandr Chechin

A new generation of U.S. tanks

In addition to the M1A3 Abrams (first deployed in 2017), a new Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) has been developed. This huge tank weighs 84 tons – more than twice as much as its predecessor. It is so heavily armoured, in fact, that it can withstand hits from roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs).* Designed to carry a nine-man squad and three-man driving crew into battle, it provides covering fire with a 30mm cannon, the Mk44 Bushmaster II.

The vehicle is equipped with a hi-tech C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) system. It has an E-X-Drive hybrid electric system, for high power and torque, with an engine that is 20% more fuel efficient than the previous generation. Its top speed is 47 mph (75 km/h) and maximum range is 188 mi (300 km).

With its monstrous weight, superb armour, high manoeuvrability and numerous hi-tech systems, the GCV is a formidable addition to the U.S. army. Its open architecture and infrastructure means it can also be adapted to other existing and future C4ISR systems. It remains in service until the 2050s.

Copyright © 2012 BAE Systems

British troops leave Germany

Britain has maintained a continuous military presence in Germany since World War II. After the Cold War, however, there was less need to keep personnel stationed there. The last remaining army bases are finally closed this year. Around 15,000 troops had left in 2016; the remaining 4,500 are brought back in 2019, closing an important chapter in the history of both countries. This move saves Britain around £240 million a year in operational running costs.*

The International Linear Collider is completed

This project is the culmination of more than 20 years of concerted international effort, with funding and research from nations in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Over 300 universities and laboratories have taken part. It originated as a series of three separate collider proposals – the Next Linear Collider (NLC), the Global Linear Collider (GLC) and the Teraelectronvolt Energy Superconducting Linear Accelerator (TESLA), all of which were combined into the International Linear Collider (ILC).*

Located in Europe, the ILC is the successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), building upon the work already done by that machine. Although its collisions are less powerful, it offers far more precise measurements. It also gives off less electromagnetic radiation.

The ILC consists of two opposite-facing linear accelerators, together stretching 31 kilometers (19.3 miles), that hurl particles and anti-particles towards each other at close to the speed of light.* Along with the linear accelerators, the facility contains two dampening rings, with a circumference of 6.7 kilometers (4.2 miles). Current energy levels of the collisions are 500 billion-electron-volts (GeV), but will soon be upgraded to a trillion-electron-volts (TeV).

The extreme precision and exact recordings offered by the ILC help to reveal some of the deepest mysteries of the universe. Some of the experiments are concerned with extra-dimensional physics and supersymmetric particles, while others provide research into dark matter.*

The ExoMars rover touches down on Mars

ExoMars is a joint mission between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) which is divided into two parts. The first phase of the mission is launched in 2016, arriving nine months later. This consists of an orbiter – ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter – which maps sources of methane and other gases on Mars, to determine the best location for a rover to study. It also contains a static demonstration module to prove the landing site is viable.

The second phase is launched in 2018, arriving in 2019 with the ExoMars rover built by ESA. This lands on Mars using a "sky crane" system, in which four rockets slow the descent once the main parachute has been deployed.

The rover's primary objective is to determine any signs of microbial life on Mars, past or present. It is equipped with a drill that bores down two meters below the surface to retrieve samples. These are transferred to a miniature laboratory inside the rover. This contains a sensor for biological molecules, infrared and X-ray spectroscopes that catalog the mineralogical makeup of the sample, together with imaging devices.

Located in the drill structure is another infrared spectrometer which studies the inside surface of the bore hole. ExoMars uses ground-penetrating radar to search for ideal locations at which to drill. The mission is almost entirely automated, as the rover uses imaging cameras to create a 3D map of the terrain in order to avoid obstacles. It has a lifespan of six months, travelling approximately 100 metres each day and testing dozens of different samples.

Alongside the ESA rover, NASA had originally planned to include its own – the Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Catcher (MAX-C). However, this was cancelled in 2011 due to budget cuts. The remaining program lays the foundation for the first Mars sample return mission, to be carried out in the 2020s.*

The first manned outpost beyond the Moon begins assembly

The "Gateway Spacecraft" is humanity's first manned outpost beyond the Moon. Its orbit is placed at Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 (L2)* – roughly 38,000 miles from the Moon and 277,000 miles from Earth – a location allowing it to function as a stepping stone for future missions to the Moon, Mars and nearby asteroids.

Some of the construction involves using "recycled" parts from the International Space Station, which itself is nearing the end of its life. The new Space Launch System delivers the first components in 2019.* Because it lies outside the Earth's magnetic field, special consideration is given to the shielding needed to protect the astronauts at risk from the Sun's radiation.

Earth-Moon Lagrange Points. Diagram not to scale. Credit: NASA

The first mission to a gas giant using solar sail propulsion

Solar sail propulsion is a new method of space travel that requires no fuel, but instead captures the Sun's energy in the form of high-speed gas particles and photons. Known as the "solar wind", this stream of charged particles can be harnessed so that it strikes large mirrors, gradually accelerating a craft to extremely high speeds.

It was first demonstrated in 2010 with a 14m (46 ft) Japanese experimental probe called IKAROS. This passed by Venus at a distance of 80,800 km (50,200 mi). It was followed by two NASA spacecraft – NanoSail-D2 in 2011 and the much larger Sunjammer in 2014, the latter with sails reaching 38m (124 ft).

Later in this decade, an even larger spacecraft is deployed, again by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This measures 50m (164 ft) and is shaped like a flower. It features a hybrid propulsion method that combines sailing with an ion-propulsion engine, powered by embedded solar cells. The craft is sent to explore Jupiter and the nearby Trojan asteroids that share the planet's orbit.**

Launch of the BIOMASS mission

BIOMASS is a €400 million Earth Observation mission launched by the European Space Agency (ESA). It provides the first truly comprehensive measurements of global forest biomass. High resolution maps of tropical, temperate and boreal forest biomass are generated, using a radar sensor to determine both the height of trees and how much wood they contain. These ultra-accurate maps help scientists address fundamental questions about changes in forest structure – especially in tropical regions, where ground data are scant. They also help put a figure on the carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and land-use change, making it possible to form better estimates of future climate change. The mission runs from 2019-2024.*

Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab

Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system is fully operational

Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) built by the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA). The €5 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide a high-precision positioning system upon which European nations can rely, independently from the Russian GLONASS, American GPS, and Chinese Compass systems, which can be disabled in times of war or political conflict.

When in operation, it uses two ground operation centres near Munich, Germany and in Fucino, Italy. In 2010, Prague in the Czech Republic was voted by EU ministers as the headquarters for the project. In 2011, the first two of four operational satellites were launched to validate the system. The next two followed in 2012, making it possible to test Galileo "end-to-end". Once this In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase was completed, more satellites were launched, reaching Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in the middle of the decade. Full completion of the 30 satellites in the Galileo system (27 operational + 3 active spares) is achieved in 2019.* Europe now has its own independent satellite navigation capability.*

In addition to basic navigation services free of charge (giving horizontal and vertical measurements accurate to within 1 metre), Galileo provides a unique global Search and Rescue (SAR) function. Satellites can relay distress signals from a user's transmitter to the Rescue Coordination Centre, which then initiates a rescue operation. At the same time, the system provides a signal to the user, informing them that their situation has been detected and that help is on the way. This latter feature is a major upgrade compared to the existing GPS and GLONASS systems, which do not provide feedback to the user. The use of basic (low-precision) Galileo services is free and open to everyone. High-precision capabilities are available for paying commercial users and for military use.

Credit: Lukas Rohrt

Computers break the exaflop barrier

An exaflop is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (a million trillion, or a quintillion) calculations per second. The world's top supercomputers are now reaching this speed, which is a 1000-fold improvement over those of a decade earlier.* This exponential growth will continue for many years to come.

Personal computers are becoming ever more compact and sophisticated, with laptops and other mobile devices far outnumbering desktops.* Physical hard drives have become almost redundant, with most storage now done online using "virtual drives" in remote servers, aided by the growth in broadband speeds and wireless communications.

Web applications have reached startling levels of sophistication, especially where search engines are concerned. These not only find keywords in a search, but also interpret the context and semantics of the request, often with voice recognition software. Natural language processing had already begun to emerge some years earlier with Siri and other such tools. This form of AI, acting like a personal assistant, is now even more powerful and versatile.* Users can ask highly specific questions and receive detailed answers customised to their exact requirements.

Bionic eyes with high resolution are commercially available

Following years of trials, high resolution bionic eyes are now available for patients with degenerative vision loss. The first prototypes of this technology were somewhat crude and pixelated, with less than 100 dots of resolution. However, these new versions provide over 1000 dots, allowing patients to recognise faces and read large print.*

Bionic eyes continue to gain in sophistication over subsequent decades, making rapid progress in resolution and visual quality. Fully artificial eyes are eventually developed that actually provide better vision than healthy eyes. This leads even people with normal eyes to "upgrade" their sight.

A vaccine to treat melanoma

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, killing over 48,000 people worldwide each year. During the 2010s, attempts were made to develop an implantable vaccine to treat the condition. In preclinical trials, 50 percent of mice treated with two doses of the vaccine – animals that would otherwise have died from melanoma within about 25 days – showed complete tumour regression. The Phase I study involving humans was completed in 2015* with similar success. By the end of this decade,* after subsequent phases and approval by the FDA, it is available to the wider public.

A small, disc-like sponge – about the size of a fingernail and made from a biodegredable polymer – is implanted under the skin. This contains growth factors and components designed to activate and reprogram a patient's own immune cells "on site". By controlling their biology, it can instruct the immune cells to patrol the body and hunt for cancer cells, killing them. Although initially designed to target cancerous melanoma in skin, this method has potential in treating many other types of cancer. It also helps to lower the cost of cancer treatments, by shifting vaccine production from the laboratory to directly within a patient's own body.*

Connected vehicle technology is being deployed in a number of countries

Many of the world's cars are already linked to the Internet in some way. By 2019, another layer of technology is being added in the form of wireless connections between vehicles.* Using a combination of Wi-Fi and GPS signals, they are now able to alert drivers to potential hazards or obstructions. For example, if a car two vehicles ahead of the driver brakes, but the car immediately in front does not, this technology warns him/her with a loud beep and flashing red lights on the windshield to hit the brakes.

By communicating with each other and the roadway infrastructure, cars now have greatly improved safety, while traffic congestion and carbon emissions are reduced. In fact, the system is so effective that in some countries, accident fatalities drop by 80%.* It soon becomes mandatory, due to the obvious economic and safety benefits. This technology had already begun to appear on trucks, a few years earlier. Now passenger cars are using it too.

Automated freight transport

Autonomous rapid transit has already been in place at certain airports and on city metro systems. By 2019, it has begun spreading to public roads, with significant numbers of driverless trucks appearing.* These are capable of travelling hundreds of miles on their own, negotiating traffic and obstacles using advanced GPS technologies.

They have a number of advantages over human drivers - such as being able to operate for 24 hours a day without getting tired, never being absent, and not requiring a salary or training. The trucks can also detect mechanical or software faults. These automated vehicles will eventually include cars, taxis and other types of road vehicles, becoming widespread by the 2030s.

© Scanrail | Dreamstime.com

Lunar-resonant streetlights are appearing in many cities

In response to the looming energy crisis, this new technology has begun to appear in many urban areas.* As well as saving energy, it also helps to address the issue of light pollution - which not only affects humans, but is a threat to many ecosystems, disrupting the natural circadian rhythm of plant and animal species.

Using a highly sensitive photo-sensor cell, LED light bulbs can be made to dim and brighten, depending on the relative brightness of the Moon and stars at night.* Systems using lunar resonance lamps can save up to 95% of the energy normally used in street lighting.

This offers a substantial reduction in energy usage and pollution, as street lighting uses a large portion of available electricity in developed countries and emits a significant fraction of CO2. In the US, for example, street lamps account for 38% of all electricity used for lighting and produce 300 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually.*

US copyright begins to expire, starting with all works from 1923

Up until 1998, US copyright law stood with all works published before 1923 in the public domain, all works between 1923 and 1977 holding a copyright for 75 years (assuming a renewal was made) and works published after 1977 holding a copyright dependent on the author's date of death.

However, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 made several revisions to the law. While all works published prior to 1923 remained in the public domain, all works published between 1923 and 1977 had their copyrights extended to 95 years after their creation. According to this law, the copyright of the first year of materials, 1923, will expire in 2019, assuming they did not have their copyright renewed. In 2020, all works from 1924 will enter the public domain, and so on.**

Examples of works now entering the public domain this year include the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems, New Hampshire, by Robert Frost; the Noël Coward play, The Young Idea; and the film, The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

Jordan opens its first nuclear power plant

Earlier this decade, Jordan imported 98% of its energy requirements. This was costing the country, a desert nation of six million people, almost one-fifth of its GDP. Faced with such a burden, the government began pushing for greater energy independence. At the same time that Russian companies began searching for oil and natural gas deposits in Jordan, the Jordanian government made a series of deals regarding nuclear power.* In 2013, mining operations began which aimed to exploit Jordan's previously untapped uranium deposits, estimated to be around 67,000 tonnes. By 2015, a five-megawatt research reactor was switched on at the Jordan University for Science and Technology. This led to the first commercial reactor in the kingdom's history being completed in 2019.*

The multi-billion dollar project is built in the city of Majdal, in northern Al Mafraq province, due to its favourable seismic location. Once operations begin, the plant helps the Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission (JNRC) to reach its 2020 goal of 6% reliance on nuclear power.

One of the most pressing issues it is hoped the plant will address is the country's water supply, which is precarious: a shortfall of nearly a third for drinking water and 50% for irrigation needs. Desalination had been looked at to cover the deficit. However, this method requires huge amounts of power: an estimated 900 MW for 800 million cubic feet of water. The annual output of the Majdal plant is 1 GW, but Jordan as a whole will require upwards of 8 GW of new power production by 2030. Despite this gap, it is hoped that the country will become a net energy exporter by then - with nuclear energy providing 30% of the kingdom's power.*

During its construction, there is serious opposition to the project. Concerns are raised over safety standards and the lack of feasibility studies. The fact that Jordan lies in a seismically active region leads to fears of a possible meltdown similar to the Japanese Fukushima disaster of 2011.*

The East Side Access subway extension opens in New York

This project connects Grand Central Station in Manhattan to the Long Island Rail Road, via underground tunnels. The idea for the East Side Access dates back to the sixties, but the New York fiscal crisis in 1970 halted work for several years. The newly opened route begins underneath the Sunnyside Rail Yard in Queens and connects to the 63rd Street Tunnel. On the Manhattan side of the project, a series of new tunnels are built which connect from the 63rd Street Tunnel to a new platform under Grand Central Station.

The new route cuts journey times by up to 40 minutes a day for customers who previously travelled to Penn Station and then took a subway, bus or walk to the East Side. It greatly eases traffic congestion, as it becomes the shortest and most direct route between Long Island and East Midtown Manhattan. The East Side Access reduces major burdens on the metropolitan area, namely overcrowding and overcapacity at Penn Station. Overall, trains become more reliable in the area and public transportation is a more realistic option for travellers.*

Credit: MTA

The Aral Sea disappears from the map

As recently as the 1970s, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake, with an area of 68,000 km2.

However, Soviet irrigation projects diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers which fed into it. By 2004, the sea had shrunk to 25% of its original surface area, and a nearly fivefold increase in salinity had killed most of its natural flora and fauna. By 2007, it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into three separate lakes, two of which were too salty to support fish. The once prosperous fishing industry had been virtually destroyed, and former fishing towns along the original shores became ship graveyards.

The Aral Sea was also heavily polluted, largely as a result of weapons testing, industrial projects, pesticides and fertilizer runoff. Wind-blown salt from the dried seabed damaged crops and polluted drinking water, while salt- and dust-laden air causd major public health problems in the Aral Sea region. The retreat of the sea also caused localised climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.

Although a dam project in 2005 saved what little remained of the northern part of the sea (the Small Aral), the much larger southern part of the sea (the Large Aral) continued to shrink, and by 2019 had evaporated entirely.*

Credit: NASA

Oil prices are becoming dangerously high**

Global crude oil reserves – having reached a plateau in 2005 – are now in serious decline, causing havoc on the financial markets. Food and energy prices have soared, creating the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen. With most of the remaining oil located in the Middle East, further conflict looms in this troubled region.

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Medical time travel: cryopreservation

14th September 2013

Medical time travel: cryopreservation

Max More is president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the largest provider of cryonics services in the world. Internationally acclaimed as a strategic philosopher – and widely recognised for his thinking on the cultural implications of emerging technologies – his contributions include founding the philosophy of modern transhumanism and co-founding the Extropy Institute, an organisation crucial in building the transhumanist movement since 1990.

In this recent video, he talks about the will to live, and his personal journey through life and death. He also explains the science and desire behind cryonics, which could lead to breakthroughs in the coming decades and the eventual revival of human beings from death.

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NASA evaluates candidate sites for 2016 Mars mission

12th September 2013

NASA evaluates four candidate sites for 2016 Mars mission

NASA has narrowed to four the number of potential landing sites for its next mission to Mars, a lander designed to study the planet's interior.

The stationary Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander is scheduled to launch in March 2016 and land on Mars six months later. It will touch down at one of four sites selected in August from a field of 22 candidates. All four semi-finalist spots lie near each other on an equatorial plain in an area of Mars called Elysium Planitia.

"We picked four sites that look safest," said geologist Matt Golombek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "They have mostly smooth terrain, few rocks and very little slope."

Scientists will focus two cameras from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the semi-finalists in the coming months to gain data they will use to select the best of the four sites well before InSight is launched.

The mission will investigate processes that formed and shaped Mars and will help scientists better understand the evolution of our inner solar system's rocky planets, including Earth. Unlike previous Mars landings, what is on the surface in the area matters little in the choice of a site, except for safety considerations.

"This mission's science goals are not related to any specific location on Mars because we're studying the planet as a whole, down to its core," said Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at JPL. "Mission safety and survival are what drive our criteria for a landing site."

Each semifinalist site is an ellipse measuring 81 miles (130 kilometres) from east to west and 17 miles (27 kilometres) from north to south. Engineers calculate the spacecraft will have a 99 percent chance of landing within that ellipse, if targeted for the centre.

Elysium is one of three areas on Mars that meet two basic engineering constraints for InSight. One requirement is being close enough to the equator for the lander's solar array to have adequate power at all times of the year. The elevation must also be low enough to have sufficient atmosphere above the site for a safe landing. The spacecraft will use the atmosphere for deceleration during descent.

All four semifinalist sites, as well as the rest of the 22 of the candidate sites studied, are in Elysium Planitia. The only other two areas of Mars meeting the requirements of being near the equator at low elevation – Isidis Planitia and Valles Marineris – are too rocky and windy. Valles Marineris also lacks any swath of flat ground large enough for a safe landing.

Elysium Planitia. Topography data from MOLA, place names from Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Credit: Areong

InSight also needs penetrable ground, so it can deploy a heat-flow probe that will hammer itself up to 5 yards into the surface to monitor heat coming from the planet's interior. This tool can penetrate through broken-up surface material or soil, but could be foiled by solid bedrock or large rocks.

"For this mission, we needed to look below the surface to evaluate candidate landing sites," Golombek said.

InSight's heat probe must penetrate the ground to the needed depth, so scientists studied Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images of large rocks near Martian craters formed by asteroid impacts. Impacts excavate rocks from the subsurface, so by looking in the area surrounding craters, the scientists could tell if the subsurface would have probe-blocking rocks lurking beneath the soil surface. InSight will also deploy a seismometer on the surface and use its radio for measurements.

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Apple Tops Personal Computer Customer Satisfaction for Tenth Straight Year [Mac Blog]

Apple Tops Personal Computer Customer Satisfaction for Tenth Straight Year - Mac Rumors window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '263507923666566', status : true, // check login status cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session xfbml : true // parse XFBML }); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); Front Page Mac Blog iOS Blog Roundups iOS 7iPhone 5ciPhone 5siWatch Buyer's Guide ForumsGot a tip for us? Share it...Twitter • Facebook • RSSa. Send us an emailb. Anonymous formclose (x)Apple Tops Personal Computer Customer Satisfaction for Tenth Straight YearWednesday September 18, 2013 6:18 am PDT by Richard PadillaThe American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released its annual rankings for customer satisfaction in the category of personal computers, which include both traditional computers and tablets, with Apple’s line of Macs as well as the iPad topping the survey’s rankings for the tenth straight year. Apple’s satisfaction rating of 87 is ranked above other competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which finished with scores of 80 and 79, respectively. The satisfaction rating of each company in the survey is dependent on factors such as customer expectations, perceptions of quality, and perceptions of value.

Apple maintains the strong lead it has held for a decade, inching up 1% to an ACSI score of 87 Still, Apple’s position might be a bit more precarious in 2013. While iPhone sales are rising, shipments of Mac PCs declined and iPad sales are slowing, pointing to possible saturation in the tablet market. Nevertheless, even as Samsung and other manufacturers of Android-based devices make inroads, Apple continues to dominate in the U.S. market, with iPads accounting for about 80% of all tablet usage.

Early last month, the ACSI also released its annual rankings for smartphone satisfaction in the United States, which revealed that the iPhone 5 was topped by Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in customer satisfaction.

As the new report notes, Mac sales have stagnated in recent quarters alongside significant weakness in the overall PC market, remaining flat in July with a 5% year over year drop expected for the September quarter. Apple is, however, set to release the newest version of its operating system, OS X Mavericks, in late October, with a refresh of the company's iPads and much of its Mac line expected to happen in the next few months. [ 16 comments ]Tweet Top Rated Comments(View all)

Michaelgtrusa11 hours ago at 06:20 amThis is indeed true. Good for Apple.Rating: 2 Positivesanzio11 hours ago at 06:20 amI can see why. I had a couple of issues with my rMBP (image retention, and a dead pixel after that). This machine is fantastic, but those issues would've killed the experience.

Apple didn't even bat an eye and fixed the machine both times. I'm satisfied for sure. Support is one of the many things that adds to this rating, I'm sure.Rating: 2 Positivesroadbloc10 hours ago at 07:07 amHow in the universe are HP 2nd place? And how in the universe are Lenovo not on the list?Rating: 2 Positives4mat11 hours ago at 06:29 amI can see why. I had a couple of issues with my rMBP (image retention, and a dead pixel after that). This machine is fantastic, but those issues would've killed the experience.

Apple didn't even bat an eye and fixed the machine both times. I'm satisfied for sure. Support is one of the many things that adds to this rating, I'm sure.

Same here. Apple helped me out earlier this year with my 2009 iMac.Rating: 1 PositivesFlatlinerG11 hours ago at 06:30 amI've said it before and I'll say it again, people who like Apple products love Apple products.Rating: 1 Positiveslincolntran10 hours ago at 07:04 amAgreed they have a huge lead on computers. Their customer service, hardware and OS set them completely apart from the competition. BUT this news comes a month or so after apple was displaced by samsung for smartphone satisfaction. Apple is consistently #2 behind Windows Phone in most other surveys. Apple is now lagging behind in a space that they basically defined. Most other companies are making phones with competitive or better features for less money.

Any data to back it up?Rating: 1 PositivesGiuly9 hours ago at 07:48 amBut hey men, take it easy, bodylotion and anti wrinkle cream will be the next big ***** we have to fight with, then we will finally overcome such banalities like supercoolfruityspeakdevicewithintgratedmicrowave. yeah.

What the hell are you even talking about, man? How did you start at "Apple Tops Personal Computer Customer Satisfaction for Tenth Straight Year" and end with body lotion and anti-aging cream?Rating: 1 Positives
[ Read All Comments ]Front Page StoriesiOS 7 Tidbits: iMessage Timestamps, App Switching, Spotlight Search, and More1 hour ago on Front PageApple released iOS 7 to the public earlier today and while we highlighted a number of the major features in the operating system, there are more than 200 changes in all, including hundreds of minor...45 commentsApple Increases Over-the-Air App Store Download Limit to 100MB4 hours ago on Front PageWith iOS 7, Apple now allows app downloads up to 100MB over cellular connections, prompting users to connect to Wi-Fi for larger apps. Apple previously boosted the limit to 50MB with the launch of...58 commentsApple Adds 'Designed for iOS 7' Section to App Store5 hours ago on Front PageFollowing the public release of iOS 7, Apple has added a new "Designed for iOS 7" section to its App Store. The section highlights apps that have been updated or released with an iOS 7-style...38 commentsApple Releases New 'Designed Together' Ad for iPhone 5c and iOS 75 hours ago on Front PageFollowing the release of its "Plastic Perfected" ad earlier this week, Apple has just released another iPhone 5c ad entitled "Designed Together". The 55-second spot highlights...123 commentsApple Releases iOS 7 With UI Redesign, iTunes Radio, New Notification Center, Multitasking Screen and More7 hours ago on Front PageApple has just released iOS 7 to the public, making the download available to users of recent iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch models. Users can obtain the update either by connecting their devices to...1538 commentsApple Releases iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio, Genius Shuffle and More8 hours ago on Front PageAhead of today's release of iOS 7, Apple has just released iTunes 11.1 with support for iTunes Radio (U.S. only at launch), Genius Shuffle, and more.This version of iTunes comes with several...292 commentsApple Updates 'Apple Store' iOS App for iOS 710 hours ago on Front PageIn what is undoubtedly the first of many Apple iOS apps to receive updates for iOS 7 today, the company Apple Store app [Direct Link] has been updated with iOS 7 compatibility, a new icon, and a...80 commentsNext-Generation iPad Mini Rear Shell Surfaces in 'Space Gray'10 hours ago on Front PageFollowing Apple's introduction of a new "Space Gray" color to replace the slate color previously used on the iPhone 5 and the company's iPod lineup, many have wondered whether the...108 comments• First iPhone 5s Reviews: Touch ID a 'Real Advance', Two-Tone Flash Produces 'Lovely Results' (355)• First iPhone 5c Reviews: Color is a 'Breath of Fresh Air', Will 'Sell Like Hot Cakes' (95)• White House Files Petition Asking FCC to Require Carriers to Unlock All Mobile Devices (231)• iCloud Website Gets iOS 7-Inspired Makeover (81)• iPhone 5s Inventory Said to Be 'Severely Constrained' at Launch (520)• Burberry Releases Full Fashion Show Shot with iPhone 5s (172)• Apple Hiring Genre Experts to Program iTunes Match Stations (54)Rumors by ProductiPhone - iPad - iPad Mini - iPod
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