Doctors removed a tumor from the brain of a teenager, but in order to preserve her musical talents, she had to be awake and singing the whole time. “I think it’s funny that for my passion, I had to perform my passion while getting brain surgery,” the patient, Kira Iaconetti, told KIRO. Iaconetti, now 19, tells KIRO that she has been performing in musical theater since she was six and hopes to make a career of it. But four years ago, the Washington state teenager started experiencing short episodes when she would sing or listen to music. “All my energy is zapped, it’s all gone,” Iaconetti said of the condition, which she ignored it for a while. “It started to hit me over the years that this could happen on stage.” It turned out Iaconetti had a rare form of epilepsy that triggered seizures when she listened to or performed music. An MRI revealed a marble-sized mass in the right temporal lobe of her brain. Dr. Jason Hauptman, a neurosurgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital, proposed surgery to remove the tumor. Not only that, Hauptman also suggested an “awake craniotomy” where Kira would have to sing so he could map out areas of her brain to protect. “Because it’s not enough for her just to sing, I need to know if she’s singing in a way that’s deviating from the way she should be singing,” Hauptman said. Kira was on board. “If this is what it takes to keep my career going and get out of my tiny town, then sure, go for it,” Iaconetti said. Her song of choice: “Island in the Sun” by Weezer. “She performed flawlessly… really a performance of her lifetime,” Hauptman said. Three months later, Iaconetti said she feels back to normal. She still hasn’t returned to the stage, but she is making progress. “I feel like i’m not quite at what I know I can do, but getting there,” Iaconetti said. Iaconetti said she was glad her story has caught the attention of others. “I’ve seen a lot of other people say that they’ve had something very similar to this, and this made them speak out and figure out what it was,” Iaconetti said. Weezer even tweeted about her and sent her tickets to the April show in Vancouver. But most of all, she’s full of gratitude for Dr. Hauptman, who not only successfully removed the tumor but gave her a second chance at what she loves. “I was in shock that he even cared that much to preserve that,” Iaconetti said. “I think her prognosis medically is excellent. I think her prognosis in life is even better,” Hauptman said. Source: https://abc7chicago.com/
How The Ebola Affects The Economy And Investment In Africa
In the year 2014, the US government under Obama’s administration opened the hell gate of Ebola on three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, in support of the US government biological project for global depopulation. Since then the lies surrounding the deliberate spread of the disease has been attributed to bats, monkeys, bushmeat, but they haven’t mentioned cockroach yet. The impact the Ebola had on the economies of those countries is so severe that till now the three West African countries haven’t recovered. Uncertainty is the eternal enemy of the growing stock market and that uncertainty associated with the Ebola virus epidemic caused significant damage to Wall Street for some time. The impact of the disease also affected markets, budget revenues, and company profits. Because of the Ebola virus, air carrier stocks sunk. Even though Ebola occurred in three countries in West Africa, the world media poured petrol on the fire, devoting the whole editorials to spread fear and panic in the spread of the disease. Thus, investments in Africa plummeted. According to the World Bank forecast, the global economy may be short of $ 32.6 billion by December 2015, if the epidemic spreads beyond Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. In a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on September 22, 2014, countries affected by the Ebola virus fall into two categories: those in which intense transmission of the virus occurs, and those in which only the initial infections are recorded, or a localized transmission. The first category includes Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, the second – Nigeria and Senegal. Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are low-income countries in the western part of tropical Africa. According to forecasts, the epidemic will have a more pronounced effect in the short and medium term – provided that the virus can be managed before the end of 2015. However, the reappearance of Ebola in Congo about sixteen times creating a false impression that Africa is not a safe continent for business.yet all these problems are been caused by man but Short-term impact The short-term effect of the virus, if evaluated is divided into two categories: Direct and indirect economic consequences caused by a reduction in the labor force due to illness and the death of workers, as well as increased spending on the health care system. According to the World Health Organization, as of September 20, 2014, 3,803 deaths out of 5,843 cases of Ebola virus infection detected were recorded in the three countries mentioned but the death rate was four times higher. Effect of fear of infection on behavior. The impact of the Ebola virus on the behavior of people in countries affected by the epidemic is manifested in: emigration of people from affected areas, reduction in the proportion of working people due to staying at home and not going to work, evacuating staff and capital by foreign companies, and closing borders for exported goods. The economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea include the mining and agricultural sectors, as well as the services sector. Ebola can have a negative impact on them, which, in turn, will affect overall economic growth. Impact on the mining industry The mining industry in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia is dominated by iron ore and, to a lesser extent, gold and diamonds. This sector accounts for 17% of Liberia’s GDP. Arcelor Mittal, the country’s largest mining company, decided to postpone the planned investment to increase production from 5.2 million iron ore to 15 million, and China Union, Liberia’s second-largest mining company, suspended operations after the outbreak of the disease. As a result, the Liberia mining industry forecast for 2014, made by the World Bank, was revised from a growth of 4.4% to a reduction of 1.3%. The Ebola outbreak had an effect on the mining industry in Sierra Leone, which accounts for 16% of the country’s GDP. However, iron ore prices plummeted, and, accordingly, and mining company revenues fall. Guinea’s mining sector accounts for less of the same GDP as in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The country’s initial growth forecast for the mining industry was -3%, but has now been revised down by 3.4%. Impact on the agricultural industry The Ebola virus had a negative impact on the agricultural industry of all three countries. Agriculture accounts for almost 25% of Liberia’s GDP, and almost half of the country’s labor force is employed in this industry. The reduction in labour mobility and the migration of people to safer areas, as well as the suspension of investment by foreign companies associated with the evacuation of key expatriate employees, have affected exports and the local agriculture sector. As a result, the World Bank revised its growth forecast downward – from 3.5% to 1.3%. In addition, many small farms producing food for domestic consumption were abandoned. According to the World Bank forecast, Liberia will face food shortages, which, in turn, may lead to higher food prices. Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector, which focuses on rice, coconut and palm oil, accounts for 50% of the country’s GDP. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, the two regions that became the epicenter of the outbreak of the epidemic, in the aggregate, grew about 18% of the total amount of rice for eating by Sierra Leoneans. The introduction of quarantine limits the movement of labour, many farms have been abandoned. According to reports cited by the World Bank, rice prices have already increased by 30% in the affected regions of the country. Guinea’s economy relies heavily on the agricultural and services sectors. After the outbreak of the epidemic in the country, there was a sharp decline in the production of coconut and palm oil, which are the main exported goods of the industry. Impact on the service sector The service sector accounts for about 50% of Liberia’s GDP, and it’s hardest hit by the outbreak. According to the World Bank, retailers and wholesalers are faced with a 50-75 percent decline in turnover. The reduction in
England NHS to fund surgery on unborn babies with spina bifida
From April patients will be able to have prenatal procedure to repair foetus’s spine Unborn children with spina bifida will be able to have surgery in the womb under NHS plans to give more patients innovative treatments. Evidence from abroad has found that the procedure can improve the lives of sufferers, even allowing some infants to walk who might not otherwise have been able to do so. Only a handful of babies in Britain have so far had the operation, in which surgeons repair the spine in order to prevent the loss of spinal fluid that can cause severe physical and cognitive developmental problems. From April patients from all over England will be able to have the procedure, which surgeons from University College hospital and Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in London jointly performed for the first time on two babies this summer. Until now, mothers known to be carrying a baby with spina bifida have had to go to the US, Belgium or Switzerland to have the surgery. More than 200 babies a year are born with the condition, which is caused when a baby’s spine and spinal cord don’t develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine. Frankie Lavis from Plymouth became the first British child to have the procedure in 2013. It was carried out in Belgium, where teams from the two London hospitals trained before doing the first two in the UK this summer. The treatment will become routinely available on the NHS as part of a series of cutting-edge surgeries and innovative drugs that NHS England will start funding for the first time. In a statement, NHS England said: “The cutting-edge procedure for unborn children with spina bifida allows pregnant women to be treated closer to home and their families. The surgery involves repairing the spinal tissue while the baby is still in the womb, which can reduce illnesses including bladder, bowel and kidney conditions later in life, and improve walking ability.” The treatment is not suitable for every pregnancy but about 10 babies with spina bifida a year are likely to benefit. Which hospitals perform those surgeries will be finalised at a later date. Kate Steele, the chief executive of the charity Shine – which supports those affected by the condition – said: “Although open prenatal surgery is not a cure for spina bifida, and is not suitable for every pregnancy, any medical advances which will potentially improve the health and social outcomes for a baby born with spina bifida is very good news. “That the surgery is set to be procured in the UK will mean that far fewer parents-to-be will have to travel abroad and stay far from home for the surgery,” she added. NHS England has decided to start providing a number of new treatments after being persuaded over their cost and effectiveness by an independent team of experts. Between 1,000 and 2,000 patients a year will benefit from the expansion. The treatments NHS England will start funding from April include: Everolimus, a new drug that treats epileptic seizures caused by a genetic condition that leads to benign tumours forming in the body and the brain. About 300 people, most of them children, will start to get it. Selexipag, a new tablet that treats pulmonary arterial hypertension, a life-threateningly dangerous form of high blood pressure. It works by relaxing and widening the blood vessels connected to the heart and lungs to stop them getting damaged, ultimately reducing the risk of heart failure. Prof Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said: “The NHS leads the world on innovation and the [NHS] long-term plan will channel investment into some of the most advanced care and treatments anywhere in the world.” The long term plan, which will set out how the NHS will use the £20.5bn a year budget increases that Theresa May has pledged to give it by 2023, is expected to be published in early January. As 2018 draws to a close…. … we’re asking readers to make an end of year or ongoing contribution in support of The Guardian’s independent journalism. Three years ago we set out to make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers. The same technologies that connected us with a global audience had also shifted advertising revenues away from news publishers. We decided to seek an approach that would allow us to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford. More than one million readers have now supported our independent, investigative journalism through contributions, membership or subscriptions, which has played such an important part in helping The Guardian overcome a perilous financial situation globally. We want to thank you for all of your support. But we have to maintain and build on that support for every year to come. Sustained support from our readers enables us to continue pursuing difficult stories in challenging times of political upheaval, when factual reporting has never been more critical. The Guardian is editorially independent – our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important because it enables us to give a voice to those less heard, challenge the powerful and hold them to account. Readers’ support means we can continue bringing The Guardian’s independent journalism to the world. Please make an end of year contribution today to help us deliver the independent journalism the world needs for 2019 and beyond. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/
New: The DRC’s Ebola Outbreak Is an End-of-Year Nightmare
Six months after the first case of Ebola was confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict-torn border province of North Kivu, the outbreak is still raging, leaving a trail of fractured families and hundreds of orphans in its wake. As of December 20, more than 512 cases have been confirmed and 288 people have succumbed to the deadly virus, making it the second-largest outbreak in history. Twenty percent of new cases have been reported in the last month alone. Now an upcoming election and holiday travel are mobilizing the population, making a tough situation even harder to control. Efforts to contain the outbreak have faced tremendous obstacles. Local militia groups have stepped up their attacks as the country heads into a long-delayed national election on December 30. That’s when voters will choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, the only ruler the DRC has known since its bloody civil war ended in 2003. It also means that more people will be traveling to voting stations, sharing polling equipment, and coming into contact with strangers. The country’s emergency health response is understaffed. Because of the security threats posed by the militia, the US State Department withdrew Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers from the outbreak zones earlier this fall. The CDC employs some of the world’s leading Ebola experts. On December 14, the US Embassy in Kinshasa announced it had ordered all non-emergency government staff and family members out of the country. According to a State Department official, some Ebola responders will remain at the Kinshasa embassy as part of essential staff. “The US remains strongly committed to supporting the Congolese government’s efforts to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak,” the official said, while declining to offer any specifics. The CDC referred questions about its current Ebola efforts to the State Department. Ibrahima Socce Fall, the World Health Organization regional emergencies director for Africa, says that CDC staff have continued to provide data analysis and advisory support from Kinshasa and Geneva, where WHO is headquartered. With 300 people of its own deployed currently in DRC, the organization has been working with DRC’s Health Ministry on pop-up Ebola treatment centers. Teams from these centers are sent to track down and vaccinate people who’ve come in contact with the infected, and volunteers are going door-to-door and village-to-village to educate locals about the disease. Despite a battery of powerful new drugs, the virus continues to outpace available human resources, confounding projections. Since August the WHO has vaccinated close to 50,000 people with an experimental Ebola vaccine that has helped to stem the tide of transmission. But initial hopes that the vaccine would be enough to contain the outbreak have withered as new disease clusters have appeared in new locations. “At the beginning of the outbreak we thought we would have this under control by January,” says Fall. “Now we believe we will continue to be fighting through the end of April, at least.” Source:https://www.wired.com/
What foods can you eat for keto diet? The best diet plan for weight loss
THE keto diet became somewhat ‘trendy’ this year, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and and Megan Fox known to be firm fans of the diet plan. But why is the keto diet so good for weight loss and what foods can you eat on a keto diet? The keto diet is known for being a great weight loss method, due to its low carb and high-protein menu. Loved by celebrities such as reality TV star Kim Kardashian and Hollywood actress Megan Fox, the keto diet pushes the body into a state in which its forced to break down fat for fuel, instead of sugar. This makes it a very fast weight loss method, but also brings with it some disadvantages such as mood swings. What is the keto diet? The ketogenic diet helps you burn fat more effectively as, according to Diet Doctor, it allows the body to produce small fuel molecules called “ketones” – an alternative fuel source for the body, used when blood sugar (glucose) is in short supply. Clinical nutritionist Suzie Sawyer describes the keto diet as being “very effective for weight loss”. Dieters can also choose the weight at which you want to shed the pounds by gradually lowering the calories you’re consuming. She added: “You can choose the rate at which you want to lose weight by closely monitoring the total number of calories you’re eating on a daily basis. “For example, if you want to lose a kilo per week (a sensible approach), an averaged sized lady would need to eat around 1500 calories daily. Around 65 per cent of those calories would come from fat.” Suzie explained the diet can also bring with it nutrient deficiencies. The nutritionist continued: “Weight loss can be achieved quickly, and with around 30 per cent of calories coming from protein, the body won’t lose muscle mass, which frequently happens on weight loss plans. However, you’ll likely to have quite a few nutrient deficiencies including magnesium, needed for over 300 different biochemical reactions in the body. Magnesium is high in cruciferous vegetables and fruit, which are certainly lacking in the Keto Diet.” The keto diet means you can still enjoy eggs and bacon (Image: GETTY) What can you eat on the keto diet? The ketogenic diet is generally limited to 20-50 grams of carbs per day, but there are still a lot of nutritious and delicious foods you can enjoy, including cheeses and meat. Health line provide a list of foods you can eat on the ketogenic diet. They recommend: Seafood Low-carb veg Cheese Avocado Meat and poultry Eggs Coconut oil Plain greek yoghurt and cottage cheese Olive oil Nuts and seeds Berries Butter and cream Shirataki noodles Olives Unsweetened coffee and tea Dark chocolate and cocoa powder Meanwhile, Suzie adds an example day’s meal plan is: “Eggs and bacon for breakfast, sizzling beef for lunch and steamed fish with mixed vegetables for dinner, all fitting the bill.” What’s more, according to a study from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, it’s recommended that you opt for grass-fed meat. That’s due to the higher amounts of omega-3 fats that are present in this type of meat. Eggs, which are often recognised for their protein content, can also be eaten on the keto diet. Fish and shellfish are highly-rated on the keto diet, as they’re rich in B vitamins, potassium and selenium, and are practically carb free. Source: https://www.express.co.uk/
8 Facts About Seasonal Affective Disorder
As the winter days get colder, some look forward to making snow angels and curling up with a mug of hot chocolate. But for millions of people, winter brings debilitating depression and lethargy. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is thought to affect 6 percent of the U.S. population, with millions more having milder forms of seasonal malaise. Here’s what you need to know about this condition. iStock/Martin Dimitrov As the winter days get colder, some look forward to making snow angels and curling up with a mug of hot chocolate. But for millions of people, winter brings debilitating depression and lethargy. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is thought to affect 6 percent of the U.S. population, with millions more having milder forms of seasonal malaise. Here’s what you need to know about this condition. 1. Seasonal affective disorder is a relatively recent diagnosis. Doctors have commented on the seasonality of depression in their patients for hundreds of years. The 19th-century psychiatrist Jean-Étienne Esquirol described a Belgian man whose life was generally good, but “at the beginning of autumn [he] became sad, gloomy, and susceptible,” and this pattern had continued for years. Esquirol prescribed a trip to the south of France and then into Italy as winter progressed. In May, the patient returned to Paris “in the enjoyment of excellent health.” The modern understanding of SAD, however, didn’t emerge until the 1980s. A 1981 article in the Washington Post described a patient who was “almost dysfunctional in the winter, with both her mood and her energy levels at low levels.” It added that Norman Rosenthal, a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, “would like to hear from anyone with distinctly seasonal mood disorders. Applicants will be sent questionnaires, from which participants will be selected” for an experimental treatment program. Decades later, Rosenthal told the Washington Post, “I thought I was dealing with a very rare syndrome. […] We got 3000 responses from all over the country.” In 1984 Rosenthal and colleagues identified SAD in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, and in 1987 it was added to the American Psychiatric Association’s manual DSM-III-R. 2. Seasonal affective disorder doesn’t just happen in winter. In the APA’s current DSM (DSM-5), one benchmark for diagnosing depressive disorders “with seasonal pattern” is “a regular temporal relationship between the onset of major depressive episodes in major depressive disorder and a particular time of the year (e.g., in the fall or winter).” It also indicates that there must be no seasonally related stressors (such as consistent unemployment in winter), that full remission occurs at “a characteristic time of the year,” and that the pattern has repeated for two years without non-seasonal episodes. Nothing in that definition requires winter, however. An estimated 10 percent of people with SAD experience the opposite of the conventional diagnosis—their depression appears in spring and summer. And in places like the Philippines, studies have found more people feel their worst in summer rather than in winter [PDF]. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, summer-onset and winter-onset SAD can even have different symptoms. Winter symptoms can include oversleeping, weight gain, carbohydrate cravings, and low energy, while summer symptoms might be poor appetite, insomnia, agitation, anxiety, and even violent behavior. 3. It’s also not the ‘winter blues.’ SAD is not the same as feeling a little down as it gets gloomy outside. A SAD diagnosis meets all the criteria for major depression and should be treated as seriously—the only difference is that SAD has a seasonal pattern. Psychiatrists do recognize ‘winter blues,’ or sub-syndromal SAD (S-SAD), for “individuals who do not meet diagnostic criteria for depression during the fall/winter months, but who experience mild to moderate symptoms during fall or winter,” SAD expert Kelly Rohan told the APA. This form may affect an additional 15 percent of the US population. (This number is highly dependent on where the S-SAD patients live, however.) 4. Your chance of experiencing SAD depends on your latitude (to a point). It might seem obvious that as you get further north—to regions with colder, darker, and longer winters—SAD would be more prevalent. There is some evidence for this: An estimated 1 percent of Floridians experience SAD compared to 9 percent of Alaskans. But one study in Tromsø, in northern Norway, found “no significant differences in the reporting of current mental distress depending on season” (although they did find people had more sleeping problems in winter). Icelanders also have remarkably low instances of SAD. Even more surprisingly, people of Icelandic descent living in Canada have a lower prevalence of SAD than non-Icelandic Canadians in the same area [PDF]. 5. Not everyone in a region is affected the same way. SAD is reported to affect four times as many women as men, and a recent pilot study indicated vegetarianism may also be associated with SAD. The researchers found that: “The percentage of SAD patients among Finnish vegetarians was four times higher than in the normal population. The percentage of vegetarians among the SAD patients in a Dutch outpatient clinic was three times higher than in the normal population. In the Dutch population, the seasonal loss of energy, in particular, is related to vegetarianism.” Some factors may confound the data (for example, it’s possible vegetarians are more likely to forgo antidepressants, so there are more of them in outpatient facilities), but the researchers say the findings suggest a link. In fact, one theory for Iceland’s low SAD rate suggests that Icelanders’ fish-heavy diet may have a protective effect (and Icelanders living in Canada might be sticking with their traditional foods). 6. We don’t know what causes seasonal affective disorder. While scientists haven’t figured out what factors cause SAD, the most popular theory is the phase shift hypothesis: That, due to later sunrises and earlier sunsets, the body’s circadian rhythms sometimes get out of whack with its sleep/wake cycles, like a several-months-long jet lag. It’s also possible that people with winter SAD can’t regulate serotonin or they overproduce melatonin, and the imbalance
Cure for HIV and AIDS potentially discovered in Ghana
Ghana could be the proud discoverer of the much-needed cure for HIV and AIDS, a global disease burden which has claimed millions of lives, rendering children orphans and shattering families due to the lack of a cure. Dr Samuel Ato Duncan, the Executive President of the Centre of Awareness (COA) Global Peace Mission, who announced the breakthrough in Accra on Wednesday, said the COA Drug, which is purely herbal based, could destroy about 80 per cent of the HIV virus within two hours of its administration, with a negative effect on the human DNA. He said he discovered the formula for the potential cure after several years of waiting on the Lord for an answer to ensure global peace. Dr Duncan who was delivering an address at the Second Public Lecture and Launch of the Global Peace Mission International explained that the discovery led to further research and trials by the Centre for Plant Medicine Research at Akuapem Mampong and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at Legon, as well in South Africa. He said the results from all the institutions confirmed the efficacy of the COA Drug. Dr Duncan said the outcome of the drug, so far, showed that with further research and trials, Ghana would be leading the world in a historic breakthrough for the long-awaited cure for HIV and AIDS. He, therefore, presented a White Paper to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and called for the urgent commissioning of credible scientists, researchers and institutions to collaborate in conducting further studies and clinical trials on the COA Drug. “From all indications, I have no single doubt that Ghana has found a potential cure for HIV and AIDS. Nevertheless, there is the need for a group of Ghanaian scientists to come together to do further clinical trials using the International Standard Protocol set by the WHO for global acceptance of the product,” he said. Dr Duncan was, however, quick to explain that the discovery of the cure for HIV and AIDS was not for his personal gain, and hence its dedication to the Government to conduct further research and produce the cure for the whole world as part of his global peace mission. He said earnings to be derived from the production of the Drug could be used by the Government to finance the various social interventions and policies such as the Free Senior High School and the One-District One-Factory. The roadmap to achieving Global Peace, the world over, was to revert to the old state of ‘man,’ which was in the image of God, sinless and full of love and respect for one another as it was from the beginning of creation, Dr Duncan said. He defined global peace as achieving more than a world devoid of conflicts and war, but also where diseases, poverty, malnutrition, hunger and social injustices among other things were eliminated to ensure equality, good health and sustainable development. Dr Duncan, therefore, proposed that global peace be tackled locally, nationally and internationally, calling on all international agencies to work in collaboration with the Global Peace Mission to implement peace-centred policies and programmes that projected issues such as morality, accountability, justice and unity. Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, a Justice of the High Court, who represented the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, received the White Paper on behalf of the President and launched the Global Peace Mission International to lead in the advocacy for peaceful co-existence of all humanity. She promised the support of the Government and all other key stakeholders in achieving the goals and aspirations of the Peace Mission.
Moody photo from Mars shows a giant crater loaded with ice
Flying over the frigid northern reaches of Mars, the orbiting Mars Express satellite captured images of the 50-mile wide Korolev crater filled with ice. Korolev is an especially alluring sight, not just because it’s a well-preserved impact crater but because it’s loaded with ice over a mile deep year round. Launched 15 years ago by the European Space Agency (ESA), Mars Express often focuses on glaciers and ice in the Martian polar regions. The Korolev crater’s ice is resistant to melting during the warmer summer seasons because the massive plain of ice creates a “cold trap,” ESA explains. When air travels above the crater, it cools and sinks over the ice, building a sort of cool “shield” over the ice. The Mars Orbiter looking down upon the Korolev crater. So even as the seasons change, Korolev remains brimming with ice. Most Martian craters, even in cooler regions, don’t remain full year-round. As Mars Express zips over the desert planet, it takes photos of different strips of land, and then transmits the pictures back to Earth. ESA scientists then combine the images together to build a coherent picture of different Martian landforms, dried-up lakes, and masses of frozen water. These Korolev images above are composites of five different photos, each taken during a separate orbit across Mars. Korolev is named for a giant in space history: rocket scientist Sergei Korolev. Korolev headed the Soviet space program and famously beat the Americans into space. The Soviets, under Korolev’s leadership, sent both the first human and satellite into space. “He’s a key figure in space history — though he died much too early,” space historian Robert Pearlman said. Mars Express continues to actively scour the red Martian terrain and transmit truly brilliant extraterrestrial images back to Earth. Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/