#Approach

[mamaangiwine]

Something that I think holds a lot of new practicioners back is this sense that you have to be "important" or "chosen" in some aspect in order for your magic to be "powerful".

You have to be born on a special day.

You have to be from a long lineage of practicioners...never mind that it might have skipped a couple of generations...give or take a few...

You're kind of a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter- except it's more like you are the fourth daughter, with three brothers...but that kinda counts, right?

Like, idk, it might. But here's the thing-

For every "special" thing you are able to cobble together to validate yourself and your practice, just know that everyone has shit like that.

Like I'm not even trying to be flippant, I'm not using quotations around "special" to say that those things aren't special- more so they're not special in the way people think.

Everyone. Has. Stuff. Like. That.

Everyone is born on some day, under the influence of some sign, in the mansion of some moon. Everyone has a family member who is spooky. Everyone has a connection to some mystical pressence that can be traced back to their earlier years. Some god standing in their corner.

Something.

#magic #folk magic #spirituality #magic practitioners #approach #squint hard enough and ye shall see

[cbookn]

Supernatural (2005) Season 1 Episode 4 "Phantom Traveler" - Jensen Ackles, Jaime Ray Newman, Jared Padalecki

#actress #film #female #woman #supernatural #airplane #plane #horror #tv shows #well #adjusted #well adjusted #fear #pick up lines #dating #approach #rejection #demon #hunter #fortitude #christo #Jensen ackles #jared padalecki #jaime ray newman

[thepersonalquotes]

I don't think anybody's necessarily ready for death. You can only hope that when it approaches, you feel like you've said what you wanted to say. Nobody wants to go out in mid-sentence.

Johnny Depp

#Johnny Depp #thepersonalquotes #Death #Hope #Feeling #Thinking #anybody #approach #feel #going #likeness #nobody #readiness #sentence #sentencing #want #quotes #literature #lit #prose #life quotes

[theblackestofsuns]

“Approach”

Upon A Star (1987)

Moebius

Epic Comics / Marvel Comics

#Upon A Star #Moebius #Epic Comics #Marvel Comics #Great Comics #Great Comic Art #Approach

[jcmarchi]

Dark Energy Discovery a Decade in the Making: New Supernova Insights Offer Clues to the Expansion of the Universe - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/dark-energy-discovery-a-decade-in-the-making-new-supernova-insights-offer-clues-to-the-expansion-of-the-universe-technology-org/

Dark Energy Discovery a Decade in the Making: New Supernova Insights Offer Clues to the Expansion of the Universe - Technology Org

Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have contributed to a landmark study that complicates our understanding of the universe.

An example of a supernova discovered by the Dark Energy Survey within the field covered by one of the individual detectors in the Dark Energy Camera. The supernova exploded in a spiral galaxy with redshift = 0.04528, about 0.6 billion years light years away. This is one of the nearest supernovae in the sample. In the inset, the supernova is a small dot at the upper-right of the bright galaxy center. Image credit: DES collaboration

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) represents the work of over 400 astrophysicists, astronomers and cosmologists from over 25 institutions. 

DES scientists took data for 758 nights across six years to understand the nature of dark energy and measure the universe’s expansion rate. According to a new complex theory, the density of dark energy in the universe could have varied over time.

Dr Anais Möller from Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing was part of the team working on this revolutionary analysis, alongside Swinburne’s Mitchell Dixon, Professor Karl Glazebrook and Emeritus Professor Jeremy Mould.

“These results, a collaboration between hundreds of scientists around the world, are a testament to power of cooperation and hard work to make major scientific progress,” says Dr Möller.

“I am very proud of the work we have achieved as a team; it is an incredibly thorough analysis which reduces our uncertainties to new levels and shows the power of the Dark Energy Survey.”

“We not only used state-of-the-art data, but also developed pioneering methods to extract the maximum information from the Supernova Survey. I am particularly proud of this, as I developed the method to select the supernovae used for the survey with machine learning.”

In 1998, astrophysicists discovered that the universe is accelerating, attributed to a mysterious entity called dark energy that makes up about 70 per cent of our universe. At the time, astrophysicists agreed that the universe’s expansion should be slowing down because of gravity. 

This revolutionary discovery, which astrophysicists achieved with observations of specific kinds of exploding stars, called type Ia (read “type one-A”) supernovae, was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.

Now, 25 years after the initial discovery, the Dark Energy Survey is a culmination of a decade’s worth of research from scientists worldwide who analysed more than 1,500 supernovas using the strongest constraints on the expansion of the universe ever obtained. This is largest number of type Ia supernovae ever used for constraining dark energy from a single survey probing large cosmic times.

The outcome results are consistent with the now-standard cosmological model of a universe with an accelerated expansion. Yet, the findings are not definitive enough to rule out a possibly more complex model.

“There is still so much to discover about dark energy, but this analysis can be considered as the gold standard in supernova cosmology for quite some time,” says Dr Moller.

“This analysis also brings innovative methods that will be used in the next generation of surveys, so we are taking a leap in the way we do science. I’m excited to uncover more about the mystery that is dark energy in the upcoming decade.”

Pioneering a new approach

The new study pioneered a new approach to use photometry — with an unprecedented four filters — to find the supernovae, classify them and measure their light curves. Dr. Möller created the method to select these type Ia supernovae using modern machine learning. 

“It is very exciting times to see this innovative technology to harness the power of large astronomical surveys”, she says. “Not only we are able to obtain more type Ia supernovae than before, but we tested these methods thoroughly as we want to do more precision measurements on the fundamental physics of our universe.”

This technique requires data from type Ia supernovae, which occur when an extremely dense dead star, known as a white dwarf, reaches a critical mass and explodes. Since the critical mass is nearly the same for all white dwarfs, all type Ia supernovae have approximately the same actual brightness and any remaining variations can be calibrated out. So, when astrophysicists compare the apparent brightnesses of two type Ia supernovae as seen from Earth, they can determine their relative distances from us.

Astrophysicists trace out the history of cosmic expansion with large samples of supernovae spanning a wide range of distances. For each supernova, they combine its distance with a measurement of its redshift — how quickly it is moving away from Earth due to the expansion of the universe. They can use that history to determine whether the dark energy density has remained constant or changed over time.

The results found w = –0.80 +/- 0.18 using supernovae alone. Combined with complementary data from the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope, w reaches –1 within the error bars. To come to a definitive conclusion, scientists will need more data using a new survey.

DES researchers used advanced machine-learning techniques to aid in supernova classification. Among the data from about two million distant observed galaxies, DES found several thousand supernovae. Scientists ultimately used 1,499 type Ia supernovae with high-quality data, making it the largest, deepest supernova sample from a single telescope ever compiled. In 1998, the Nobel-winning astronomers used just 52 supernovae to determine that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.

Source: Swinburne University of Technology

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

#Analysis #approach #Art #Astronomy news #Astrophysics #billion #Collaboration #cosmology #Dark #dark energy #data #dwarf #earth #energy #energy density #European Space Agency #Featured Space news #Filters #Fundamental #Fundamental physics news #galaxies #Galaxy #gold #gravity #History #how #Image of the week #inset #insights #it

[happy-pix-jpn]

【秋たけなわ】

吉野神宮参道。 2023年11月30日撮影

吉野(下千本)へ行く時に 鳥居から見える紅葉が綺麗だなと思った事はあったのですが 行った事がなく、今年初めて参拝。 思ってた以上に美しい秋の世界が広がっていました。

#japan #nara #autumn leaves #shrine #approach #yoshino #紅葉 #参道 #神社 #吉野神宮

[ggstargetedlife]

Once you stop responding to the sheep's every taunt, every insult, and every verbal abuse along with any other attention-whore tactics, you become an even bigger threat because now they can no longer figure you out. The tactics they've used for years to drain your energy become useless, now they have to think up other ways to try and get under your skin because for the sheep, it all boils down to power: they feel oh so powerful about their meaningless and powerless lives when they can push you towards that edge. Like schoolyard bullies trying to show off in front of their friends. These are grown ass people with middle school mindsets, who can't even think for themselves. They like to try and show off because they know they have an audience watching and egging them on in the background. You know how it goes; when in a group, most people lose their identities to become what the group wants and thinks they should be. Perps are always the best example of this. They sell practically their very souls just to fit in, contradicting America's former moral stance that one should just be their self and not give a damn about fitting in with groups. Funny how the Program's antics always contradict their so called "mission." I still say publicly confronting perps as a way of self defense is the way to go, but ONLY if we are to do so in unity, which clearly, we still don't have. Most T.I.'s believe it's best to ignore the perps, and to an extent, I do too which is why I can't completely strike down that approach.

To an extent, it does work; you force them to work even harder when you consistently ignore them, and then those running the Program are forced to go back to the drawing board. However, there are some situations you cannot ignore. Having the discernment of knowing when to push back and when to let it be for the moment is crucial, I've come to learn. Sometimes, the best moves made are those completely unexpected.

#targeted individual #gangstalking #organized harassment #gangstalkers #organized stalking #harassment #self reminder #bullies #stalkers #approach #stance

[nocternalrandomness]

Bringing a Falcon into DVT RWY 25L

#Dassault #Falcon #900EX #Bizjet #Corporate jet #Business jet #Flying #pilot #approach #cockpit #DVT #Deer Valley

[iamlisteningto]

Alpha Twang’s Approach

#alpha twang #approach #music #electronic #techno #glitch #sound collage #ambient #abstract #drum and bass #dnb #club #dance #experimental #bandcamp

[wanderingflier]

Sakatsura Isosaki Shrine（酒列磯前神社）. Shrines in Ibaraki, Japan.

Beyond the tree-covered approach road.

Very beautiful shrine near the sea. Come and see.

August 2023

#ibaraki #shrine #japanese culture #shinto #sacred places #approach #blue sky #seaside #tunnel of trees #茨城 #神社 #神道 #参道 #写真 #original photographers

[bonguri]

20230714 Ise+Toba 1 by Bong Grit Via Flickr: 内宮の参道。いつ行っても空気が締まってる。 @Naiku, Ise city, Mie pref. （��重県伊勢市 内宮）

#Approach #Forest #Green #Tree #Trees #Nature #Plant #Gravel #Pebbles #Amaterasu-Omikami #Naiku #Kotai Jingu #Ise jingu #Shinto shrine #Shinto #Shrine #Ise #Mie #Japan #Nikon #Nikon D850 #AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G (Special Edition) #flickr

[seeseagulls]

#seagull #animal #bird #my #approach

[fudoh-k]

このまま持ち帰りしたい I want to take the cat home with me #猫 #ネコ #ねこ #cat #katze #chat #gato #gatto #サビ柄猫 #rust_pattern_cat #カメラバッグ #camera_bag #お寺 #temple #参道 #approach #切り株 #切株 #stub #nikon #coolpix #s10 (Chiba Prefecture) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoZddmCJsPK/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#猫 #ネコ #ねこ #cat #katze #chat #gato #gatto #サビ柄猫 #rust_pattern_cat #カメラバッグ #camera_bag #お寺 #temple #参道 #approach #切り株 #切株 #stub #nikon #coolpix #s10

[theblackestofsuns]

“Approach”

Arzach & Other Fantasy Stories (1987)

Moebius

Epic Comics / Marvel Comics

#Arzach & Other Fantasy Stories #Moebius #Epic Comics #Marvel Comics #Great Comics #Great Comic Art #Approach

[jcmarchi]

Unlocking mRNA’s cancer-fighting potential

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/unlocking-mrnas-cancer-fighting-potential/

Unlocking mRNA’s cancer-fighting potential

What if training your immune system to attack cancer cells was as easy as training it to fight Covid-19? Many people believe the technology behind some Covid-19 vaccines, messenger RNA, holds great promise for stimulating immune responses to cancer.

But using messenger RNA, or mRNA, to get the immune system to mount a prolonged and aggressive attack on cancer cells — while leaving healthy cells alone — has been a major challenge.

The MIT spinout Strand Therapeutics is attempting to solve that problem with an advanced class of mRNA molecules that are designed to sense what type of cells they encounter in the body and to express therapeutic proteins only once they have entered diseased cells.

“It’s about finding ways to deal with the signal-to-noise ratio, the signal being expression in the target tissue and the noise being expression in the nontarget tissue,” Strand CEO Jacob Becraft PhD ’19 explains. “Our technology amplifies the signal to express more proteins for longer while at the same time effectively eliminating the mRNA’s off-target expression.”

Strand is set to begin its first clinical trial in April, which is testing a proprietary, self-replicating mRNA molecule’s ability to express immune signals directly from a tumor, eliciting the immune system to attack and kill the tumor cells directly. It’s also being tested as a possible improvement for existing treatments to a number of solid tumors.

As they work to commercialize its early innovations, Strand’s team is continuing to add capabilities to what it calls its “programmable medicines,” improving mRNA molecules’ ability to sense their environment and generate potent, targeted responses where they’re needed most.

“Self-replicating mRNA was the first thing that we pioneered when we were at MIT and in the first couple years at Strand,” Becraft says. “Now we’ve also moved into approaches like circular mRNAs, which allow each molecule of mRNA to express more of a protein for longer, potentially for weeks at a time. And the bigger our cell-type specific datasets become, the better we are at differentiating cell types, which makes these molecules so targeted we can have a higher level of safety at higher doses and create stronger treatments.”

Making mRNA smarter

Becraft got his first taste of MIT as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois when he secured a summer internship in the lab of MIT Institute Professor Bob Langer.

“That’s where I learned how lab research could be translated into spinout companies,” Becraft recalls.

The experience left enough of an impression on Becraft that he returned to MIT the next fall to earn his PhD, where he worked in the Synthetic Biology Center under professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering and computer science Ron Weiss. During that time, he collaborated with postdoc Tasuku Kitada to create genetic “switches” that could control protein expression in cells.

Becraft and Kitada realized their research could be the foundation of a company around 2017 and started spending time in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. They also received support from MIT Sandbox and eventually worked with the Technology Licensing Office to establish Strand’s early intellectual property.

“We started by asking, where is the highest unmet need that also allows us to prove out the thesis of this technology? And where will this approach have therapeutic relevance that is a quantum leap forward from what anyone else is doing?” Becraft says. “The first place we looked was oncology.”

People have been working on cancer immunotherapy, which turns a patient’s immune system against cancer cells, for decades. Scientists in the field have developed drugs that produce some remarkable results in patients with aggressive, late-stage cancers. But most next-generation cancer immunotherapies are based on recombinant (lab-made) proteins that are difficult to deliver to specific targets in the body and don’t remain active for long enough to consistently create a durable response.

More recently, companies like Moderna, whose founders also include MIT alumni, have pioneered the use of mRNAs to create proteins in cells. But to date, those mRNA molecules have not been able to change behavior based on the type of cells they enter, and don’t last for very long in the body.

“If you’re trying to engage the immune system with a tumor cell, the mRNA needs to be expressing from the tumor cell itself, and it needs to be expressing over a long period of time,” Becraft says. “Those challenges are hard to overcome with the first generation of mRNA technologies.”

Strand has developed what it calls the world’s first mRNA programming language that allows the company to specify the tissues its mRNAs express proteins in.

“We built a database that says, ‘Here are all of the different cells that the mRNA could be delivered to, and here are all of their microRNA signatures,’ and then we use computational tools and machine learning to differentiate the cells,” Becraft explains. “For instance, I need to make sure that the messenger RNA turns off when it’s in the liver cell, and I need to make sure that it turns on when it’s in a tumor cell or a T-cell.”

Strand also uses techniques like mRNA self-replication to create more durable protein expression and immune responses.

“The first versions of mRNA therapeutics, like the Covid-19 vaccines, just recapitulate how our body’s natural mRNAs work,” Becraft explains. “Natural mRNAs last for a few days, maybe less, and they express a single protein. They have no context-dependent actions. That means wherever the mRNA is delivered, it’s only going to express a molecule for a short period of time. That’s perfect for a vaccine, but it’s much more limiting when you want to create a protein that’s actually engaging in a biological process, like activating an immune response against a tumor that could take many days or weeks.”

Technology with broad potential

Strand’s first clinical trial is targeting solid tumors like melanoma and triple-negative breast cancer. The company is also actively developing mRNA therapies that could be used to treat blood cancers.

“We’ll be expanding into new areas as we continue to de-risk the translation of the science and create new technologies,” Becraft says.

Strand plans to partner with large pharmaceutical companies as well as investors to continue developing drugs. Further down the line, the founders believe future versions of its mRNA therapies could be used to treat a broad range of diseases.

“Our thesis is: amplified expression in specific, programmed target cells for long periods of time,” Becraft says. “That approach can be utilized for [immunotherapies like] CAR T-cell therapy, both in oncology and autoimmune conditions. There are also many diseases that require cell-type specific delivery and expression of proteins in treatment, everything from kidney disease to types of liver disease. We can envision our technology being used for all of that.”

#Alumni/ae #approach #Behavior #bioengineering #Bioengineering and biotechnology #Biological engineering #Biology #blood #breast cancer #Cancer #cancer cells #cell #cell therapy #cell types #Cells #CEO #challenge #change #Companies #computer #Computer Science #covid #Database #datasets #deal #Disease #Diseases #drug development #drugs #easy

[opelman]

The Blue King by Treflyn Lloyd-Roberts Via Flickr: GWR King 6023 "King Edward II" stands outside the shed at Didcot as the rain approaches. Locomotive: Great Western Railway Collett 6000 Class 4-6-0 6023 "King Edward II". Location: The Great Western Society's Didcot Railway Centre, Oxfordshire.

#GWR #King #6023 #Edward #II #stand #outside #shed #Didcot #rain #approach #steam #loco #engine #train #Locomotive #Great #Western #Railway #Collett #6000 #Class #4-6-0 #King Edward II #Location #Society #DRC #GWS #Centre #Oxfordshire