Shelli Spotts, an adjunct faculty member in BYU’s English department, says creativity is important for everyone, not just writers, artists, actresses and singers.

“If you have a great creative process and you know how to engage your own creativity, you can create anything, as long as you know what it looks like,” Spotts said. “But it’s about learning to find patterns on your own.”

Spotts said people can be creative as long as they understand the circumstances, abilities, and tools needed to create something.

Spotts said she wants her writing students to find what their own voice sounds like, because everyone has a unique voice to contribute. She said people can be passionate about their interests and advocate for change, but if individuals don’t know how to articulate these things in their own voice, they will always imitate someone else.

“I love working with students,” Spotts said. “I love being able to see their writing and see what they have to say about the world.”

Channing Spotts, the eldest daughter of Shelli Spotts, said her mother always encourages her and others to start where they are and with their passions.

“She just fosters an environment and a place where… whatever you’re passionate about, you can do something about it, which I think is really important because it just gives people the autonomy to do what they want. they want and not what they think. they should,” Channing Spotts said.

Spotts said finding the places and times of day when one feels they can be more creative is important in determining personal creativity. She said it’s important to sleep well and eat well because creativity is a higher need and basic needs must be met before higher needs.

Spotts said thought patterns are also an aspect of creativity to pay attention to. She said budding creators should learn to write things when they get an impression or think of something interesting.

She also encouraged individuals to learn how to research ideas, follow interesting rabbit holes, and put those things together.

Spotts has always been a writer. She said she has published poetry, non-fiction and fiction and is currently working on a collection of essays and two different novels.

“I love telling stories,” said Shelli Spotts. “I think we…as humans are conditioned to connect through history, and so it’s a very powerful way to connect with others.”

Spotts said the world around us right now is bound together by stories. She said social media is entertaining because it tells stories that keep us engaged, and so storytelling is a super powerful tool.

Spotts said her path to her current job was unconventional as she attended school throughout the time her children were growing up, earning her master’s degree when her eldest daughter graduated from school. secondary.

Women have this idea that they have to be perfect at everything they do, Spotts said, and women don’t have to do everything and they have room in their lives to do the things they are passionate about. She added that doing these things nurtures their individual souls and spirits.

“One of the essay collections I’m working on right now is actually a collection that looks at women’s creativity and the spaces available and the spaces we create for her,” Spotts said. “I feel like sometimes we have to go in and create our own space for the ways we want to create – the ways we want to contribute in a way that maybe isn’t the same as the way of which a man is creative.”

Spotts said women should find a mentor who has done some of the things they seek to do and knows what it’s like to try to balance those things.

“Understand that there are seasons in your life for doing all kinds of things,” Spotts said. “But…at some point you have to make a decision about the things that are really important.”

Spotts said she has many interests, including playing the violin, music, acting, sewing and quilting. She said she had had the opportunity to do all of these things in her life, but had to prioritize them based on what was most important at the time.

Kath Richards, one of Spotts’ former students, said she was the kind of person who is proud and unashamed of everything she loves.

“Being able to see her love so hard made me feel like I had nothing to do with being a guilty pleasure,” Richards said. “Anything could be something I like, and it’s okay.”

To stop the black army of Pariah in Dark Crisis on Infinite EarthsDamian Wayne assembles a small team for a plan concocted by the young Robin.

An overview for Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 shows Damian caught outside the courthouse and in the middle of the battle between Earth’s heroes and the Dark Army. He comes up with a plan to stop the army and tries to get fellow Super Son Jon Kent to join him, but Jon insists he stay on the battlefield and have Damian take a small team instead. Damian decides that his team needs transportation, brawn, energy, and brains, believing that Sideways, Power Girl, Dr. Light, and himself fill those four categories respectively.

RELATED: Dark Crisis Just Revealed What Really Makes Batman Happy – And It’s Miserable

The preview finally shows one of DC’s newest heroes in action, Red Canary, who appears to accidentally become the fifth member of Damian’s team after saving his life. Red Canary makes its first appearance in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #3, and is designed by artist Dan Mora, wearing a red leather jacket, ripped fishnet leggings and sneakers, an outfit similar to Black Canary Dinah Lance. Before The black armythis legacy hero was seen very briefly in dark crisis #3 and dark crisis #5.

Dark Crisis: The Dark Army is one of many issues with the main event, which is set to release its final issue on December 20. With Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, other issues to follow The black army to understand Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 and Dark Crisis: Warzone #1. The former will explore DC’s reborn Infinite Multiverse, while the latter will see the events of dark crisis through the eyes of various characters, like Iris West, Linda Park and others.

RELATED: DC’s Weirdest Characters Could Be The Most Powerful Beings In The Multiverse

After Dark Crisis comes Lazarus Planet and Dawn of DC

As for the future of the heroes making up Damian’s team, plans have only been announced by DC for Damian and Power Girl, while the next adventures of Sideways, Dr. Light and Red Canary are yet to be revealed. Damian and Power Girl will both appear in the upcoming Planet Lazarus event, which stems from the batman versus robin miniseries. Planet Lazarus is also a precursor to the year-long “Dawn of DC” saga slated for 2023, involving the start of many new series for various heroes like Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Cyborg, Shazam and more.

Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1 is written by Mark Waid, Delilah S. Dawson, and Dennis Culver, illustrated by Freddie E. Williams II and Jack Herbert, colored by Adriano Lucas, and lettered by Troy Peteri. The issue’s main cover is by Gleb Melnikov, with variant cover illustrations contributed by Taj Tenfold and Werther Dell’edera. The issue goes on sale November 22 from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics

]]> https://universoviviente.com/the-fourth-edition-of-beingshe-universe-starts-on-november-26/ Thu, 17 Nov 2022 07:33:40 +0000 https://universoviviente.com/the-fourth-edition-of-beingshe-universe-starts-on-november-26/

The fourth edition of ‘BeingShe Universe’ will be held on November 26 under the patronage of Sheikh Juma bin Maktoum Al Maktoum.

Founded by Aparna Bajpai in 2018, BeingShe has empowered and transformed women since its inception through its action-oriented initiatives – BeingShe Excellence Awards, She Talks and BeingShe Universe.

The “BeingShe Universe” platform exists to empower women by building confidence and self-awareness through a series of grooming and training sessions delivered by internationally renowned trainers ahead of the grand finale.

This season is powered by bottled drinking water company Mai Dubai in its support to improve women’s well-being and to complement the ‘Beauty and Fitness in Perfect Balance’ theme.

Hosted by media personalities Wassim Mandil and Nawfa Nurie, the press conference was held on November 15 at the DIFC’s Glo Dubai restaurant.

The judging panel consisted of BeingShe CEO Aparna Bajpai, international fashion designer Walid Atallah, Motivate Group editor Manish Chopra, motivational speaker Ms. Rawan Haj Husein, BeingShe Universe 2021 winner Pooja Kathuria and the BeingShe Universe 2021 Ambassador Marie Anne Malapo.

Aparna mentioned that BeingShe Universe is all about female empowerment as it offers women from different industries and backgrounds the opportunity to showcase their talents and skills to a wider audience for their personal growth.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the BeingShe family for being such a wonderful platform where I literally transformed myself from an ordinary person to who I am today,” said BeingShe Universe 2021 winner Pooja Kathuria.

Outgoing Ambassador Marie Anne added, “I am very grateful to the BeingShe platform because it has opened up many opportunities for me.”

Motivate Group editor Manish Chopra expressed the importance of such platforms for organizations such as Gulf Business, saying it is a step closer to ensuring that leadership does not stay the same. place.

Prominent businesswoman Somayeh Noora, international fashion designer Walid Atallah, senior director of Mai Dubai, Dinusha Gamage, Manish Chopra and Dr. Aseel Marie have been named grand judges for this season.

The concept has gained a lot of traction in the market with media partners B4U Aflam, B4U Plus, Gulf Business, Radio 4, Channel 4 and respectable brands like Mai Dubai, Walid Atallah and Evin, FNP, Hunter Foods, AB Fitness, Forever 52. , Cicada Events, The Chocolate Creations, Scream Entertainment and Qomrah Photography are already on board to support them.

About 47 million light-years from where you’re sitting, the center of a black hole-laden galaxy named NGC 1068 spews streams of enigmatic particles. These “neutrinos” are also known as the elusive “ghost particles” that haunt our universe but leave little trace of their existence.

Immediately after coming into existence, beams of these invisible pieces plunge through the cosmic expanse. They pass bright stars we can see and pass pockets of space full of wonders we have yet to discover. They fly and fly and fly until, once in a while, they crash into a detector deep below the Earth’s surface.

Neutrino travel is continuous. But scientists are patiently awaiting their arrival.

Nestled in about 1 billion tons of ice, more than 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) below Antarctica, is the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. A neutrino hunter, you might say. When neutrinos transfer their group to the frozen continent, IceCube stands ready.

In a paper published Friday in the journal Science, the international team behind the ambitious experiment confirmed they had found evidence of 79 “high-energy neutrino emissions” from where NGC is located. 1068, opening the door to novel — and infinitely fascinating — types of physics. “Neutrino astronomy”, scientists call it.

It would be a branch of astronomy capable of doing what existing branches simply cannot do.

Before today, physicists had only shown neutrinos from either the sun; the atmosphere of our planet; a chemical mechanism called radioactive decay; supernovae; and – thanks to IceCube’s first breakthrough in 2017 – a blazar, or voracious supermassive black hole pointed directly at Earth. A void named TXS 0506+056.

With this new source of neutrinos, we are entering a new era in the history of the particle. In fact, according to the research team, it’s likely that neutrinos from NGC 1068 have up to millions, billions, maybe even trillion the amount of energy held by neutrinos rooted in the sun or supernovae. These are jaw-dropping numbers because, in general, these ghostly fragments are so powerful, yet elusive, that every second billions and billions of neutrinos are moving through your body. You can’t tell.

And if you wanted to stop a neutrino in its tracks, you’d need to fight it with a light-year block of lead – although even then there would be a fraction of a chance of success. Thus, exploiting these particles, NCG 1068 version or not, could allow us to penetrate into areas of the cosmos that would usually be out of reach.

Now what?

Not only is this moment massive because it gives us more evidence of a strange particle whose existence wasn’t even announced until 1956, but also because neutrinos are like the backstage keys to our universe.

They have the ability to reveal phenomena and solve puzzles that we cannot solve by any other means, which is the main reason why scientists are trying to develop neutrino astronomy in the first place.

“The universe has multiple ways of communicating with us,” Denise Caldwell of the National Science Foundation and member of the IceCube team told reporters Thursday. “Electromagnetic radiation, which we see as starlight, gravitational waves that shake the fabric of space – and elementary particles, such as protons, neutrons and electrons spewed out from localized sources.

“One of those elementary particles has been the neutrinos that permeate the universe, but unfortunately neutrinos are very difficult to detect.”

In fact, even galaxy NGC 1068 and its gargantuan black hole are mostly obscured by a thick veil of dust and gas, making them difficult to analyze with standard telescopes and optical equipment – ​​despite years of scientists trying to break through. its curtain. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope might have a head start in this case due to its infrared eyes, but neutrinos might be an even better way in.

Intended to be generated behind such opaque screens filtering our universe, these particles can carry cosmic information behind these screens, zoom great distances while interacting with virtually no other matter, and provide humanity with pristine and untouched information about the elusive corners of outer space.

“We are very lucky, in a sense, because we can access an incredible understanding of this object,” said Elisa Resconi, of the Technical University of Munich and a member of the IceCube team, of NGC 1068.

It is also worth noting that there are many (many) more galaxies similar to NGC 1068 – classified as Seyfert galaxies – than there are blazars similar to TXS 0506+056. This means that IceCube’s latest discovery is, arguably, a bigger step forward for neutrino astronomers than that of the observatory.

Perhaps the bulk of neutrinos scattering in the universe are rooted in NGC 1068 lookalikes. But in the grand scheme of things, neutrino merit is not limited to their sources.

These ghosts, as Justin Vandenbroucke of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the IceCube team have said, are adept at solving two major mysteries in astronomy.

First, a host of galaxies in our universe have gravitationally monstrous voids at their centers, black holes reaching masses millions to billions of times greater than our sun. And these black holes, when active, blast jets of light from their innards – emitting enough illumination to dwarf every star in the galaxy itself. “We don’t understand how this happens,” Vandenbrouke said simply. Neutrinos could provide a way to study the regions around black holes.

Second, there is the general, but persistent, cosmic ray conundrum.

We don’t really know where cosmic rays come from either, but these strings of particles reach energies up to and beyond millions of times greater than what we can reach here on Earth with particle accelerators built by man like that of CERN.

“We think neutrinos have a role to play,” Vandenbroucke said. “Something that can help us answer these two mysteries of black holes powering very bright galaxies and the origin of cosmic rays.”

A decade to catch a handful

To be clear, IceCube doesn’t exactly trap neutrinos.

Basically, this observatory tells us whenever a neutrino interacts with the ice that envelops it. “Neutrinos barely interact with matter,” Vandenbrouke pointed out. “But they sometimes interact.”

As millions of neutrinos shoot out into the icy region where IceCube is installed, at least one tends to hit an atom of ice, which then shatters and produces a flash of light. IceCube sensors capture this flash and send the signal to the surface, notifications which are then analyzed by hundreds of scientists.

Ten years of light flash data has allowed the team to determine roughly where each neutrino appears to be coming from in the sky. It soon became clear that there was a dense region of neutrino emissions located right where the galaxy NGC 1068 is stationed.

But even with such evidence, Resconi said the team knows “now is not the time to open the champagne, because we still have a fundamental question to answer. How many times has this alignment happened? by chance? How can we be sure that the neutrinos are really coming from such an object?”

So to make it as concrete as possible and to really, really prove that this galaxy spits out ghosts, “we generated the same experiment 500 million times,” Resconi said.

Whereupon, I can only imagine, a bottle of Widow finally popped. Although the hunt is not over.

“We are only beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to finding new sources of neutrinos,” said Ignacio Taboada of the Georgia Institute of Technology and a member of the IceCube team. “There must be many other sources much deeper than NGC 1068, hidden somewhere to be found.”

Dr. Universe: When was the first bee? – Henry, 7, Illinois

Dear Henry,

It’s easy to love bees. They are furry and buzzy. Along with other insects, birds and bats, they pollinate about a third of the plants we eat.

I talked about the time bees buzzed around the Earth with my friend Silas Bossert. He is an evolutionary biologist in the Department of Entomology at Washington State University.

“The oldest bee fossil that really is definitely a bee is between 65 and 70 million years old,” Bossert said.

This bee fossil was found in a preserved tree resin called amber. Bossert told me that amber fossils are the best bee fossils because they can preserve the whole bee. But there are also other types of fossils.

Compression fossils are imprints left after something has been squeezed between layers of sediment. It could be the impression of an insect wing. Scientists can use the pattern of veins in a wing print to tell if it was made by a bee.

Fossil tracks are things left behind by an animal. Footprints and fossilized poo are traces of fossils. The same goes for chew marks left in preserved leaves. The fossil record includes leaves with chew marks that resemble the holes made by leafcutter bees. This is a clue that similar bees existed at the time.

Evolutionary biologists also examine DNA evidence. They can compare the DNA of bees from different eras and types of bees to build a map that shows how families of bees are related to each other. This also shows that bees are related to wasps. Bees and wasps share an ancestor: a carnivorous wasp that lived about 130 million years ago.

“Based on this genetic evidence, we think bees are probably around 120 million years old,” Bossert said.

This corresponds to what we know of flowering plants. The plants probably developed flowers shortly before the appearance of bees. Then the flowers flew away once the bees were there to pollinate them.

We don’t know exactly how this ancestor of the wasp gave rise to bees, but here’s an idea. Ancient wasps probably built nests like wasps do today. They probably filled the nests with food that their babies could eat when they hatched – probably some kind of insect since most baby wasps eat meat. It is possible that some wasps have also started leaving small pieces of pollen in the nest. Pollen is full of protein, so it could have been added to bulk up the food the mother placed in the nest. Or it could have been an accident. Maybe the pollen stuck to her hair and then fell into the nest. Eventually, a wasp left nothing but pollen for her babies – just like bees do today. This wasp was the first bee.

Right now, scientists are worried about native bees. These are bees that have always lived here, such as bumblebees and squash bees. They are in danger when their habitats or the plants they eat are lost.

There are things we can do to help native bees. Bossert suggests planting native flowers. Bee lawns also help. These mix flowers like clover with grass to provide food for the bees. Many bees nest underground in dirt or in cavities like hollow stems. Think like a bee! Protect areas that appear to be good nesting sites.

Today there are more than 20,000 species of bees. Scientists discover between 50 and 200 new species of bees each year. Bossert has found and described six new bees himself – and he’s working on more.

Finding new bees is exciting. It also helps us save native bees. After all, the more we know about our neighbors the bees, the better we can protect them.

Sincerely,

Dr. Universe

Adults can help children submit a question at askdruniverse.wsu.edu/ask.

BYU students and guests headed to Cornbelly’s Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point for a night of fun fall activities on October 27.

These students and guests purchased tickets through the BYU Student Association at a discount, traveling from Provo, UT to Thanksgiving Point, UT to explore the Cornbelly Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point.

BYU provided up to two discounted tickets per student, reducing the normal cost of $18.95 per adult to $8.50 per adult. BYU rookie Cameron Barlow said she was excited to walk through the corn maze and was “glad that BYU is giving us the discount here.”

BYU junior Brooklyn Barlow was in charge of leading this activity, having worked for BYUSA for only two months. “I’m so excited to see him come together and kind of kick off the holiday season,” Barlow said.

She said she and her team had been preparing for this activity for two months – coordinating with Cornbelly’s, the team members and Cosmo to make this activity a success. BYUSA posted information about the event on its Instagram and on its website. According to Barlow, 1,207 tickets were sold for students and their guests.

Cornbelly’s had a number of activities that students and other guests could take part in, from a pig race, otherwise known as the “Pigtucky Derby”, to the Los Moralitos Thrill Circus riding dirt bikes at the interior of a giant metallic sphere. The corn maze had two separate paths that formed an image of Peter Pan from above. Cosmo also made an appearance, taking photos and interacting with the students.

BYUSA provided insulated drink dispensers filled with hot chocolate, but students and other guests could also purchase food sold by Cornbelly vendors.

BYU junior Valeria Valentini said she had never been to a corn maze before, but felt the atmosphere at Cornbelly was “very pretty.” According to Valentini, she lived in Italy and said she didn’t really celebrate Halloween until she came to America.

“Everyone at BYU is so stressed right now,” said BYU second student Charly Bailey. “But we’re all here and just having a good time without even caring.”

BYU freshman Ashlyn Morton said she helped set up the tent before the event officially started at 6 p.m.

BYU freshman Lydia Wright and her friends said they love the corn maze, as well as the various games around Cornbelly’s. “It was just a fun fall activity,” Wright said. “[It] Wasn’t too expensive so it seemed like a good option.”

This week, Marvel Studios unveiled its most terrifying, scariest, and creepiest trailer yet: a teaser for the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special which was released a few days before Halloween.

It seems like the eternal slide into an ever-earlier Christmas and holiday season is happening even in the Marvel Universe. And oddly enough, in Marvel Comics, there might be a reason for that.