British businessman Richard Branson poses in front of the spaceplane VSS Unity with the other missions specialists of Virgin Galactic’s Unity-22 mission. The glass-paneled terminal of Spaceport America is visible in the background. From left to right: Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor; Branson; Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations; Colin Bennett, Lead Operations Engineer.
Credit: © Virgin Galactic

After years of delay, the age of space tourism may finally be upon us. On Sunday morning, the British businessman Richard Branson flew aboard his company Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane in a suborbital flight. Soon, paying customers will get their turn to go to space.

Branson rode with five other members of his company on VSS Unity.VSS Unity is a SpaceShipTwo model spaceplane. A special aircraft called a WhiteKnightTwo takes off from a runway carrying a SpaceShipTwo. A WhiteKnightTwo named VMS Eve took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico and carried VSS Unity up above 45,0000 feet (14,000 meters). After Eve released Unity, pilots ignited a rocket engine and the craft soared up to 300,000 feet (90,000 meters). After a few minutes of weightless freefall, Unity glided back down to Earth. The whole flight lasted about 90 minutes.

Branson and the other mission specialists float around the cabin of VSS Unity during the spaceplane’s July 10 flight.
Credit: © Virgin Galactic

Branson has always relished spectacle, and Sunday’s flight was no different. Virgin Galactic’s live stream of the event was hosted by the American comedian Stephen Colbert. The landing featured the debut performance of “New Normal”, a new song by American singer Khalid. South-African-born entrepreneur and fellow space baron Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX) was among the well-wishers at Spaceport America.

Branson’s flight is a hopeful milestone on Virgin Galactic’s long, fraught road toward commercial operations. Branson founded the company in 2004. He licensed the technology of the American aerospace company Scaled Composites, which won the Ansari X Prize that year for developing a rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo in 2006. But the next year, an explosion during a ground test killed three Scaled Composites employees and injured three others. In 2014, a SpaceShipTwo named VSS Enterprise broke apart during a test flight. The pilot was killed and the copilot seriously injured. Despite these setbacks, Virgin Galactic forged ahead. Unity was completed in 2016 and underwent several test flights prior to its mission Sunday.

Space tourism existed long before Unity’s flight on Sunday. In 2001, the American investment consultant Dennis Tito became the first space tourist, visiting the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz craft. Over the next several years, a handful of space tourists made similar trips. But they all paid tens of millions of dollars to buy extra seats aboard government-funded spacecraft.

Until about a week ago, it appeared that American businessman Jeff Bezos, not Branson, was going to be the first mogul to fly to space aboard his own spacecraft. Bezos, who made billions from his online shopping company Amazon, founded an aerospace company called Blue Origin in 2000. Bezos is scheduled to launch aboard his company’s reusable New Glenn rocket on July 20. Although Branson denied the existence of a race between the two, he added himself to Sunday’s flight, which was originally scheduled as a test flight, after Blue Origin’s announcement.

Virgin Galactic plans to hold two more test flights before starting paying trips, probably sometime in 2022. Then, it will begin scheduling rides for the 600 people who purchased tickets.

Space tourism will still be for the very wealthy. Virgin Galactic was selling tickets for $250,000 apiece before it paused ticket sales after the 2014 accident. Blue Origin has not yet begun selling tickets, but they are expected to be within the same range. So, if you’d like to go to space, save your pennies!

Credit: © rblfmr, Shutterstock

Amateur stock investors raised an uproar on Thursday, January 28, when several investment services temporarily restricted stock transactions related to the video game retailer GameStop. What was going on with GameStop, and why was everyone so upset?

It helps to know about an investment strategy called “shorting.” The stock market is very complicated, so let’s try to keep things as simple as possible. “Shorting” is something investors can do when they expect a stock to go down in price. Basically, the investors borrow shares of the stock and sell them at the current price. Once the price goes down, the investors buy the stock back and return it. By selling a stock at a relatively high price and buying it back at a cheaper price, the investors make a profit.

But, you might ask, what happens if the stock price goes up? You guessed it, investors who shorted the stock have to buy it back at a higher price, taking a loss. This possibility makes shorting a stock a risky investment strategy, and investors can get stuck with disastrous losses. This is pretty much what happened with GameStop.

GameStop’s business was not looking good, so adventurous investment partnerships called hedge funds began shorting the company’s stock. At the same time, many amateur investors started investing in GameStop, driving up the stock price.

Some amateur investors probably bought Gamestop stock in the hopes that it was a good investment. Others may have hopped on the bandwagon, hoping to make some money as the stock price rose. At least some investors worked together in an effort to intentionally drive up GameStop prices, making cash and inflicting huge losses on the hedge funds. The technique of intentionally driving up prices to inflict losses on investors who have shorted a stock is called a “squeeze.”

The squeeze in this case was put on by legions of amateur investors coordinating through online social media platforms, including the forum Wall Street Bets on the service Reddit. The investors made their trades using such online services as E-Trade and the app Robinhood. At least one hedge fund suffered devastating losses.

Many small investors cheered the GameStop squeeze as a victory for amateurs over traditional Wall Street powerhouses. The urge to inflict losses on the hedge funds may have been fueled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many small investors seemed angry that large companies and investors had made huge profits during the pandemic, even as millions of individuals lost their jobs.

GameStop is not the only stock that has been used in this way. More traditional investors worry that such trading strategies artificially inflate the value of stocks such as GameStop, creating “bubbles” that can lead prices to tumble when they pop. They also worry that large investors could sell off other stocks to cover their losses, driving down the market as a whole.

Wally Amos, cookie entrepreneur
Credit: © David L Ryan, The Boston Globe/Getty Images

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

No matter where you eat a bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, you are home. Well, it might not be your home. But in a way, it is the home of a woman named Aunt Della. She is the woman who inspired the American businessman and cookie entrepreneur Wally Amos to found the Famous Amos cookie company in the 1970’s. Amos worked as a talent agent before founding the company. After selling Famous Amos, he went on to found other cookie companies, write books, and eventually return as the spokesperson for his original brand.

Wallace Amos, Jr., was born on July 1, 1936, in Tallahassee, Florida. It was after his parents separated that he moved to New York City to live with his Aunt Della. She often baked chocolate chip and pecan cookies. Amos studied the culinary (cooking) arts for two years at the Food and Maritime Trades Vocational High School in New York City. He served four years in the United States Air Force. In 1957, Amos returned to New York. He worked at the department store Saks Fifth Avenue before getting a job in the mail room at the William Morris Agency, a talent agency.

Amos worked his way up at the William Morris Agency. In 1962, he became the company’s first Black talent agent. Amos signed the singing duo Simon and Garfunkel. He eventually became the head of the agency’s rock music department. There, he worked with such famous Black singers as Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Diana Ross.

In 1967, Amos moved to Los Angeles, California, to open his own management company. Without much business, he began baking chocolate chip cookies. He set out to open a cookie store using a version of his Aunt Della’s recipe. Amos got a loan from Gaye and the singer Helen Reddy. He staged a large advertising campaign and grand opening gala to launch his cookie business. In 1975, he opened the first Famous Amos cookie store in Los Angeles. Soon after, he opened two more stores on the West Coast and one in the Bloomingdale’s department store in New York City.

In 1985, Amos began selling off parts of Famous Amos. In 1988, an investment group purchased the company and repositioned the cookie as a lower-priced snack food. In 1991, Amos launched the Wally Amos Presents Chip & Cookie company. He was sued by the owners of Famous Amos for infringing on the brand and forbidden to use his own likeness to sell food products. In 1998, the Keebler Company purchased Famous Amos. Amos returned to the brand as a spokesperson.

In 1993, Amos and the distributor Lou Avignone launched the Uncle Noname Cookie Company. In 1999, it became Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company. In 2005, Amos started Chip & Cookie. In 2016, another Amos business, the Hawaii-based Cookie Kahuna, was featured on the television investment show “Shark Tank.”

Amos wrote many books, including the memoir The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips (1983, with Leroy Robinson). His other works include two inspirational books written with Stu Glauberman, Watermelon Magic: Seeds of Wisdom, Slices of Life (1996) and Watermelon Credo: The Book (2010).

Wally Amos was far from the first Black inventor to be obsessed with food. George Washington Carver (1864?-1943) won international fame for his agricultural research. He was especially noted for his work with peanuts. Carver made more than 300 products from peanuts, including a milk substitute, face powder, printer’s ink, and soap. He also created more than 75 products from pecans and more than 100 products from sweet potatoes, including flour, shoe polish, and candy.

Nurse administering a vaccination.
Credit: © Shutterstock

The coronavirus disease COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people and infected more than 60 million people around the world. But, hope may be just around the corner, in the form of vaccines. Vaccines are special medicines that can help make a person immune to a particular disease. Vaccines have been successful in fighting many other diseases, including chickenpox, meningitis, and yellow fever.

In late November, the companies Pfizer and Moderna each applied for emergency approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their COVID-19 vaccines.  The two companies are among dozens of drugmakers that have worked tirelessly to develop a vaccine against the deadly virus.

Most vaccines are administered into the body by injection. A vaccine contains substances that stimulate the body’s immune system to produce molecules called antibodies. The immune system uses antibodies to fight against germs that enter the body. Antibodies produced in response to a vaccine can protect a person who is exposed to the actual disease-causing organism. The process of protecting the body in this way is called immunization. 

Pfizer and Moderna began clinical trials in July. During these trials, participants were given either the vaccine or a placebo. A placebo is a substance that contains no active ingredient. Comparing infection rates in subjects who received the placebo with those among subjects who got the vaccine can help determine if the vaccine is effective. In the Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials, half the participants were given a placebo of salt water, and half were given the vaccine. The researchers then waited to see who might get sick. The results were very promising—both vaccines were about 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. By contrast, commonly administered influenza vaccines (known as flu shots) are 40 percent to 60 percent effective.

Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools in modern medicine. They have nearly or completely eliminated several diseases. For instance, Edward Jenner, a British physician, introduced vaccination in 1796 as a preventive measure against smallpox. By the late 1970′s, smallpox vaccination had wiped out the dreadful disease. In the United States and many other countries, disease has been greatly reduced by widespread childhood immunizations. In 1952, for example, more than 21,000 cases of the paralytic disease polio were reported in the United States. By the end of the 1900′s, fewer than 10 cases per year were reported. More than 95 percent of children in the United States receive all their recommended immunizations by the time they enter school.

In many cases, administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will be voluntary. But, it will be a while until everybody who wants a vaccine can get one. Once approved, the vaccine—from Pfizer, Moderna, or other companies—will likely first be available to health care workers, frontline workers (workers likely to encounter the disease), and people who are vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and people with such risk factors as obesity or diabetes. Some of these people may receive the vaccine by the end of 2020. But, most people will have to wait until the spring of 2021.

Baseball executive Kim Ng, shown at a youth promotional event for Major League Baseball, became general manager of the Miami Marlins in 2020.
Credit: © Rob Leiter, MLB Photos/Getty Images

On November 13, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Miami Marlins named Kim Ng as general manager, making her the first woman hired to run a major league team’s operations. As general manager, Ng’s responsibilities include making trades, negotiating contracts, and running the team’s draft. Ng’s appointment is significant not only for baseball, but for all sports—Ng became the first woman general manager in any major North American men’s professional sports league.

In 1990, Ng began working for the Chicago White Sox as an intern. Seven years later, she left the White Sox for the American League office. (The National League and American League kept separate offices until owners voted to consolidate their management in 1999.) At the American League office, she served as the director of waivers and records. At age 29, she became the youngest assistant general manager, when she joined the New York Yankees in 1998. In 2002, she moved to the West Coast, serving as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ vice president and assistant general manager. In 2011, she became the senior vice president of operations for MLB. She worked in this role until her appointment as the general manager of the Marlins in 2020.

Ng was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but she grew up in Queens, one of the five boroughs (districts) of New York City. Despite growing up close to the home of the New York Mets, she became a Yankees fan. She graduated from Ridgewood High School in New Jersey in 1986. She then attended the University of Chicago, where she played softball. She graduated in 1990 with a degree in public policy.

In Peru, a unique conservation effort is taking place near the city of Cusco at the Parque de la Papa (Park of the Potato). Located outside the Andes Mountains town of Pisac (or Pisaq), the park celebrates the Peruvian potato, of which there are some 3,000 varieties. The park is also a living tribute to the cultural heritage of the region’s indigenous (native) communities.

Potatoes originated in the highlands of Peru and nearby areas of the Andes Mountains. Credit: © Shutterstock

The Parque de la Papa is administered and farmed by the local Amaru, Chawaytire, Pampallacta, Paru Paru, and Sacaca indigenous communities. Within its grand boundaries—the park covers over 22,000 acres (9,000 hectares)—are grown more than 1,300 varieties of potato native to that area of the Andean highlands. Many potato varieties in the park are found nowhere else in the world. The cultivation of such rare potatoes helps ensure their existence for future generations, as does the park’s sharing of precious seeds with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a long-term seed storage facility in Norway.

The Parque de la Papa demonstrates the ability of potatoes to survive in the region’s harsh but changing conditions. The park sits in the cold and thin air at an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) above sea level. Climate change is bringing warmer temperatures, however, forcing farmers still higher to reach the optimum growing environment for some potato varieties.

Peru is home to some 3,000 varieties of potato. Credit: © Shutterstock

Visitors to the park learn about traditional potato cultivation, harvesting, cooking, and storage. They are also treated to delicious local potato dishes. Hiking trails allow people to walk off their meals while also providing panoramic views of the Andean highlands. The Parque de la Papa features a variety of local crafts and products—from cosmetics and teas to medicines and textiles—made from potatoes and other plants native to the area.

A patchwork of potato fields covers this section of the Altiplano, a cold plateau in the Andean highlands. Credit: © Roux Frederic, Shutterstock

The potato originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. Scientists believe cultivated potatoes came from a species that first grew around Lake Titicaca, in what are now Bolivia and Peru. People living there and in surrounding areas were growing potatoes long before Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500′s. Potatoes were then introduced to Europe and other parts of the world. The nutritious potato became a vital food crop in many regions.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket, in preparation for launch on May 27, 2020.
Credit: © SpaceX

A new era of human spaceflight began Saturday, May 30, as Space Exploration Technologies (commonly called SpaceX) launched its Crew Dragon capsule into space. (The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, when it was delayed due to bad weather.) The Dragon became the first private spacecraft ever to take astronauts into orbit. The mission, called the Demo-2 mission, transported National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS).

Astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley (right) prepare for the first crewed launch of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
Credit: © SpaceX

Millions of people watched from home as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station into space. In orbit, the crew tested the spacecraft’s control systems to make sure the capsule was performing as intended before its arrival at the ISS. The Dragon features various modern technologies in its engineering and construction. Unlike previous spacecraft, it has a touchscreen control interface that looks similar to those used in the popular science fiction television series Star Trek.

The International Space Station (ISS)
Credit: NASA

An important part of the mission was docking the Dragon to the ISS. The capsule reached the ISS on Sunday, May 31, about 24 hours after launch. Aboard the space station, Behnken and Hurley will perform research and other tasks with the rest of the ISS crew. They will remain on the ISS for one to four months before undocking the Dragon and re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. The capsule will land in the Atlantic Ocean, where the crew will be retrieved and returned to Cape Canaveral, completing the mission.

If the Demo-2 mission is successful, NASA will certify the Crew Dragon to regularly transport astronauts to the ISS. Since NASA’s space shuttle program ended in 2011, the administration has relied on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. The Soyuz can transport up to three astronauts at a time, and NASA pays about US $86 million per seat. The Dragon is able to transport up to seven astronauts at once, and the cost per crew member is expected to be around $55 million.

April 13, 2020

In late March, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in New York City named the computer scientists Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan as the recipients of the annual A. M. Turing Award. The award is given to one or more individuals each year in recognition of contributions of lasting importance in the field of computing. Catmull and Hanrahan were honored for their work on three-dimensional (3-D) computer graphics and the impact of these techniques on computer-generated imagery (CGI). Their work has greatly influenced the motion picture and video game industries as well as the fields of augmented reality and virtual reality.

The 1995 film Toy Story used 3-D animation software created in part by Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan, the winners of this year’s A. M. Turing Award. Credit: © Walt Disney Pictures/ZUMA Press

Ed Catmull is a former president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Pat Hanrahan, a founding employee at Pixar, is a professor in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Stanford University. Catmull and Hanrahan helped guide Pixar through its early years (the animation studio was created in 1986), and they helped create the “RenderMan” graphics system that gives two-dimensional images a 3-D appearance.

Under Catmull, Pixar used the RenderMan software to produce the motion picture Toy Story (1995), the first fully computer-animated feature film. Pixar then used RenderMan in a number of highly successful Toy Story sequels and other animated films. RenderMan software has also been used in numerous video games and in such blockbuster live-action films as Avatar, Titanic, and movies in the “Lord of the Rings,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Star Wars” series.

Alan M. Turing (at right) was an English mathematician and computer pioneer. He made important contributions to the development of electronic digital computers. Credit: Heritage-Images/Science Museum, London

The A. M. Turing Award is named after Alan Mathison Turing, a British mathematician and computer pioneer. Turing made key contributions to the development of electronic computers, including his work helping to build the first British electronic digital computer. In 1950, he proposed a test for determining if machines might be said to “think.” This test, now called the Turing test, is still central to discussions of artificial intelligence.

The first Turing Award was given to the American computer scientist Alan J. Perlis in 1966 for his role in developing influential computer-programming techniques. Since then, an award has been given every year. As of 2014, the award includes a $1 million cash prize. Catmull and Hanrahan are scheduled to receive the A.M. Turing Award at ACM’s annual awards banquet on June 20, 2020, in San Francisco, California. That event is contingent, of course, on the containment or continued spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

March 13, 2020

This Sunday, March 15, is the bicentenary of the northeastern state of Maine. Throughout 2020, bicentennial celebrations and events are commemorating Maine’s entrance to the Union as the 23rd state in 1820.

The beautiful, rocky coast of Maine attracts thousands of vacationers to the state each year. The Portland Head Light, in Cape Elizabeth, is one of the best-known American lighthouses. It was built in 1791. credit: © Shutterstock

A special bicentennial flag is flying above Maine’s public and government buildings in 2020. This Sunday, Statehood Day celebrations in Augusta, the capital, include birthday cake, music, poetry, and speeches. Events later in the year include a bicentennial parade, a sailing ships festival, and the sealing of a time capsule. Special bicentennial programs include a “Maine in the Movies” series, which celebrates the state’s role in Hollywood films, and the mass planting of white pine saplings in new or existing public parks. The state is even publishing The Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook to showcase the state’s unique culinary traditions.

Maine state map. credit: World Book map; map data (c) MapQuest.com, Inc.

The Maine region was the home of Native Americans for thousands of years before English colonists first settled the area in 1607 (13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock). Such difficulties as cold weather and a lack of leadership, however, forced the settlers back to England in 1608. Colonists, primarily fishermen, returned to make permanent settlements in Maine in the 1620′s. Maine was a part of Massachusetts throughout its colonial history and for 44 years after the Declaration of Independence established the United States in 1776.

The Maine quarter features a lighthouse on a granite coast and a schooner. The lighthouse is the Pemaquid Point Light, northwest of Portland. The lighthouse dates from the 1820’s and is a popular tourist attraction. Granite is a common feature of Maine’s coastline and one of the state’s leading mined products. The schooner resembles one of Maine’s famous windjammers (sailing ships). credit: U.S. Mint

In 1785, a movement began for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and for Maine’s admission to the Union as an individual state. Many people in Maine protested heavy taxation, poor roads, the long distance to the capital city of Boston, and other conditions. But before the War of 1812, most voters wanted Maine to remain a part of Massachusetts. The separation movement grew much stronger after the war. Many of those who favored separation won election to the legislature. They swayed many voters to their side. The people voted for separation in 1819, and Maine entered the Union the next year.

The name Maine probably means mainland. Early English fishermen used the term The Main to distinguish the mainland from the offshore islands, where they settled. New Englanders often refer to Maine as Down East. They call people who live in Maine Down Easters or Down Easterners. These terms probably come from the location of Maine east of, or downwind from, Boston. Ships from that port sailed down to Maine, and ships from Maine traveled up to Boston.

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is from Portland, Maine’s largest city, and the American Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain is from the town of Brewer. The author Stephen King, a native of Portland, sets many of his novels in Maine.

February 3, 2020

Today, February 3, marks 100 years since the 1920 formation of the Negro National League (NNL), the first of the official professional baseball Negro leagues. The Negro leagues were for black players, who were barred from playing alongside white players because of racial segregation. The Negro leagues operated until 1962.

The 1919 Chicago American Giants pose for the official team photo. In 1920, the manager Rube Foster (top row without uniform) led the team to the inaugural Negro National League title. Credit: Public Domain

An all-black professional baseball team existed as early as 1885. For many years, black teams played one another as independent teams. They also played all-white teams in exhibition games. Rube Foster, a former pitcher and the owner and manager of a black team, the Chicago American Giants, met with seven other team owners in Kansas City to form the Negro National League in 1920. The first season, the league included Foster’s American Giants and a second Chicago team known simply as the Giants as well as the Cincinnati Cuban Stars, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABC’s, Kansas City Monarchs, and—somewhat confusingly—another Giants ball club in St. Louis. The teams did not play the same amount of games, and opponents often included independent black ball clubs in other cities, but the Chicago American Giants won the first title with a 43-17-2 record against NNL opponents.

Jackie Robinson, shown here sliding into home plate, was the first African American player in modern Major League Baseball. Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Credit: UPI/Corbis-Bettmann

The NNL operated successfully until 1931. After that, the two dominant leagues were a new Negro National League (1933-1948) and the Negro American League (1937-1962). The best players were featured in an annual all-star exhibition called the East-West Game, and from 1942 to 1948, the league champions met in the Negro World Series.

Satchel Paige pitched 18 seasons in the Negro leagues before entering Major League Baseball in 1948 at age 42. Credit: AP/Wide World

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern Major League Baseball (MLB). After Robinson’s success with the Brooklyn Dodgers, MLB teams quickly signed star players from the Negro leagues, leading to the decline and eventual end of those leagues.

Larry Doby played for the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League before making his MLB debut with the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1947. Credit: AP Photo

Baseball historians agree that many Negro league players would have succeeded in Major League Baseball. Such Negro league players as Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, and Satchel Paige later starred in MLB and were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Other Hall of Famers who spent their entire careers in the Negro leagues included Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, and Buck Leonard.