As Reproductive FACT Act Awaits Governor’s Signature, New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For Regulating So-Called “Crisis Pregnancy Centers”

As Reproductive FACT Act Awaits Governor’s Signature, New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For Regulating So-Called “Crisis Pregnancy Centers”

New Poll For NARAL Pro-Choice California Finds Support Among All Demographics For Tougher Regulations

See the poll here: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/download-files/ca-ab-775-polling.pdf

With recently-passed legislation regulating so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) now awaiting the Governor’s signature, a new poll finds an overwhelming majority of California voters strongly back greater regulation of these facilities. The poll by Tulchin Research was released today by NARAL Pro-Choice California.

The poll found:

• There is an overwhelming and broad-based consensus among voters in the state that pregnancy service providers have an obligation to provide comprehensive and honest information about reproductive health services and about the state financial assistance programs available to California women. 

• Eight in ten voters (80%) support requiring state-licensed facilities that provide pregnancy- related services to inform women of state programs that provide financial assistance for contraception, prenatal care, abortion, and family planning; 

• Nearly seven out of ten Republicans (69%) and 77 percent of Catholic voters support requiring licensed facilities to inform women of state programs that provide financial assistance for reproductive health services; 

• More than seven in ten voters (71%) support requiring unlicensed facilities that advertise pregnancy-related services to women to prominently display and include in their advertising a statement that clarifies that they are not medical facilities licensed by the state of California; 

• Nearly three-quarters of Republicans (74%) and two-thirds of Catholic voters (67%) support requiring prominent disclosure by unlicensed facilities. 


You can see the full poll memo here: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/download-files/ca-ab-775-polling-memo.pdf

The Reproductive FACT Act (AB 775), authored by Assemblymembers David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and Autumn Burke (D-Los Angeles), requires unlicensed facilities that provide pregnancy-related services to disclose that they are not licensed medical providers. Licensed reproductive health clinics must notify patients that California has programs to help them access affordable family planning, abortion services and prenatal care. This includes so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” facilities run by anti-choice organizations that pose as comprehensive reproductive health clinics but work to block women from accessing abortion care.

The bill, which is sponsored by NARAL Pro-Choice California, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Black Women for Wellness, has passed through the legislature and now awaits Governor Brown’s signature.

“This common sense legislation enjoys overwhelming support,” said Amy Everitt, Director of NARAL Pro-Choice California.  “We urge the Governor to sign it immediate and stand up for the women of California who have been defrauded by CPCs for long enough.”

Moms Group Praises President Obama’s Labor Day Expansion of Paid Sick Days to Federal Contractors

 

MomsRising Backs President Obama Urging Congress to Pass the Healthy Families Act and the FAMILY Act

 

Earlier today, President Obama in a Labor Day address announced a new executive order expanding paid sick leave to all employees who are working on federal government contracts. The action makes all federal contract workers eligible to earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to 7 days.  In the speech, President Obama also announced his support for the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would guarantee paid sick leave to all U.S. workers; and of the the FAMILY Act, legislation that would establish an insurance program that would provide workers—including those who are self-employed and/or work part time—with much-needed income while they, or a family member, deal with the arrival of a new baby or a serious health issue.

 

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRIsing.org, an organization of more than 1 million mothers and their families issued the following statement, praising President Obama’s announcement and urging Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act and FAMILY Act:

 

“Moms and their families across the country welcome President Obama’s expansion of earned paid sick days to all federal contract workers.  Advancing earned paid sick days, as well as family leave insurance, boosts our nation’s families and our nation’s economy.  Our over million members wholeheartedly support these two policies and have been raising their voices, sending letters to leaders, attending meetings, sharing their stories with the media, and much more at the city, county, state and federal levels to advance these critically important policies.

 

Plain and simple - no one should ever have to choose between going to work sick and risk infecting coworkers and customers or staying home and losing an invaluable day’s pay.  And no one should have to go back to work immediately after a new baby arrives or when facing a catastrophic health issue.  

 

American families just can’t afford it. American businesses and our economy can’t afford it either.

 

It is now up to Congress to take the next step and expand earned paid time off to all American workers.  Our public policies are not caught up with what modern working families and our modern economy need to thrive.  Women are now 50% of the labor force, and 40% of primary breadwinners are moms, but our family economic security policies are stuck in the stone ages.

 

For instance, despite the fact that over 160 countries guarantee a minimum number of earned sick days, right now, nearly 40% of private sector workers, and more than 80% of low-wage workers, in the US don’t have the ability to earn a single paid sick day - costing the economy nearly $160 billion in lost revenue and productivity.

 

Further, it is a national embarrassment that over 177 countries provide some form of paid family leave insurance to new parents and that the US isn’t one of them.  Even though the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed more than two decade ago, only 13% of American workers are able to access paid family leave when a new baby arrives. 

 

President Obama’s Labor Day announcement for working families, including his public support for the Healthy Families Act (earned sick days) and the FAMILY Act (paid family leave insurance) are important steps in helping to improve family economic security in the US, while at the same time strengthening our businesses and our economy.

 

We thank and salute President Obama for his commitment to helping our families and our economy be healthy and strong and recognizing the needs of the American workforce this Labor Day. Moms and their families around the country back President Obama’s call for Congress to pass these crucial laws now, and we call on every single person running to be President of the United States to support earned paid sick days and a national paid family leave insurance policy.”

 

# # # # #

 

MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable childcare, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many others.  MomsRising also advocates for better childhood nutrition, health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2013, Forbes.com named MomsRising’s web site as one of the Top 100 Websites For Women for the fourth year in a row and Working Mother magazine included MomsRising on its “Best of the Net”list.  MomsRising also maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.

Mathmatics

Mathematics: 

This comes from 2 math teachers with a combined total of 70 yrs. experience.
It has an indisputable mathematical logic. 
It also made me Laugh Out Loud.
This is a strictly .....  mathematical viewpoint... and it goes like this:

What Makes 100%?

What does it mean to giveMORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%.

How about achieving 103%?

What makes up 100% in life? 

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions: 

If: 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

Is represented as: 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26. 

Then: 

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K 
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 =98%

And 

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E 
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 =96% 

But ,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E 
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 =100% 

And, 

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T 
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 =103% 

AND, look how far ass kissingwill take you. 

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G 
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118% 

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while Hard work andKnowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there. 
Its the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top. 
Now you know why some people are where they are!

NASA Book Shows How Space Station Research Offers "Benefits for Humanity"

A new book from NASA is showing how research aboard the International Space Station helps improve lives on Earth while advancing NASA's ambitious human exploration goals.

NASA will release “Benefits for Humanity” online and in print at the fourth annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference, which is being held Tuesday through Thursday in Boston. The book highlights benefits in a number of key areas including human health, disaster reliefand education programs to inspire future scientists, engineers and space explorers.

NASA's "Benefits for Humanity” book highlights International Space Station research off the Earth for the Earth that improves lives.

Credits: NASA

"Some 250 miles overhead, astronauts are conducting critical research not possible on Earth, which makes tremendous advances in our lives while helping to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations. "Since 2012, this research has been carried to orbit by our U.S. commercial cargo providers Orbital ATK and SpaceX. Both companies will return to flight soon, having learned from recent challenges to perform even stronger. In the next few years, SpaceX and Boeing will send our crews to orbit from the United States, increasing the size of space station crews to seven, doubling the amount of crew time to conduct research for all of humanity." 

The space station, which has been continuously occupied since November 2000, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. It is an unprecedented success in global cooperation to build and operate a research platform in space. In a partnership between five member space agencies representing 15 countries, it advances a unified goal to utilize the orbiting laboratory for the betterment of humanity. The partner agencies include NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

"People do not realize how much their lives today have been made better by the space station," said Julie Robinson, NASA International Space Station chief scientist. "You would be surprised to know that station research has resulted in devices that can help control asthma and sensor systems that significantly improve our ability to monitor the Earth and respond to natural hazards and catastrophes, among many other discoveries." 

Scientists use the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), also known as Kibo, to research effective drugs that may improve the lives of patients suffering around the globe.

"The International Space Station and Kibo remind me of a computer," said Kazuyuki Tasaki, deputy director of the JAXA JEM Utilization Center. "After being invented, the computer disseminated diverse public knowledge applicable in many fields, such as computing, simulation, word processing, games and the Internet. The space station and Kibo also offer huge potential for benefitting humankind."

Since 2010, the Vessel-ID System, installed on ESA’s Columbus module, has improved the ship tracking ability of coast guards around the world and even aided rescue services for a lone shipwreck survivor stranded in the North Sea. 

"The International Space Station with its European Columbus laboratory is steadily producing lots of important research results which are relevant for many areas of life on Earth," said Martin Zell, head of ESA’s Space Station Utilisation and Support. "Experimental demonstration of new technologies, as well as the interaction between astronauts and younger generations on Earth for educational activities are invaluable benefits from the permanent human space laboratory in low-Earth orbit."

CSA’s robotic heavy-lifters aboard the space shuttle and station, Canadarm, Canadarm2 and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (Dextre), inspired medical technology that is changing the lives of patients on Earth.

"Technologies developed for the assembly and maintenance of the station are helping to save lives here on Earth," said Nicole Buckley, CSA chief scientist, Life Sciences and ISS utilization. "The Canadian robotics system that helped build and now operates on the International Space Station has led to tools that give doctors new ways to detect cancer, operate on sick children, and perform neurosurgery on patients once considered to be inoperable."

In addition to the updated benefits book, NASA released its third iteration of the International Space Station Reference Guide, which explains what the space station does and how it works. This release focuses on the station’s capabilities to perform pioneering science in its microgravity environment. To date, 83 countries have taken part in more than 1,700 experiments and educational efforts on this world-class laboratory in space.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), who is hosting the conference in cooperation with the American Astronautical Society and NASA, is releasing a new research-focused, interactive website that provides tools, information and resources to give researchers a competitive edge sending new investigations to the space station. Visit the website at:

http://SpaceStationResearch.com

For more information about the International Space Station and research aboard the orbiting laboratory, visit:

Kepler's Borucki Retires after Five Decades at NASA

After a career spanning 53 years and championing a mission deemed impossible for decades, William Borucki, the principal investigator of NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission, will retire from the agency on July 3. 

Kepler spacecraft fully assembled in the clean room facility at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado.

Credits: NASA Ames/Ball Aerospace

Borucki's civil service at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, culminated with the development and launch of NASA's first mission to detect Earth-size planets around other stars in the habitable zone -- the range of distances from the host star where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet. Since its launch in March 2009, Kepler has made scientists and enthusiasts alike reimagine the possibilities for life in the galaxy.

“Bill’s unique leadership, vision, and research tenacity has and will continue to inspire scientists around the world,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and head of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “He retires on such a high note that he leaves a legacy of inquiry that will not only be celebrated, it will be remembered as opening a new chapter in the history of science and the human imagination."

Kepler has shown that most stars have planets and that small planets like Earth are common in our Milky Way galaxy. This result has rewritten textbooks and has revised our understanding of our place in the cosmos, and was made possible through the sheer determination of Borucki and fellow team members.

In a lesson for science dreamers and future principal investigators, it took five proposals spanning a decade for Borucki and colleagues to prove the efficacy of transit photometry for discovering Earth-size planets around sun-like stars.

The first proposal in 1992 was rejected because suitable detector technology was believed to be unavailable. In 1994, concerns over the cost of the mission resulted in the second proposal rejected.

Kepler demonstration facility in the Precision Optics Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center. The facility demonstrated the design stability and sensitivity of the instrument that would fly on the Kepler spacecraft.

Credits: NASA Ames

In 1995, support for Borucki and the team came in the form of the first discovery of an exoplanet around a star like our sun. This discovery proved the suitability of current detector technology. The third proposal in 1996 was met with rejection as the technique of automatically observing and measuring thousands of stars simultaneously had never been done before, and observations such as Kepler was proposing could be risky. 

In response to this concern, the team built an observatory at the Crocker Dome at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, California. Using a specially designed telescope, called Vulcan, the team demonstrated thousands of stars could be measured simultaneously.

After a rejection in 1998 due to concerns of the instrument's ability to perform in the harsh environment of space, Borucki and colleagues built a test-bed facility to demonstrate Kepler's design stability and sensitivity. With the final concerns addressed, the mission once deemed impossible was accepted in 2000. 

"Those were joyful days of hard-earned celebration to be sure, but Bill wasn't one to pat himself on the back.  The qualities that kept him moving forward in the face of rejection were the same qualities that kept him focused on the job ahead," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at Ames. "To me, Bill embodied the essence of NASA -- the childlike spirit of discovery, the tireless work ethic, and the playful tinkering and risk-taking that leads to bold innovation."

Acknowledging Kepler's achievements, Borucki was recently awarded the esteemed Shaw Prize in Astronomy 2015for conceiving and leading the Kepler mission, which greatly advanced knowledge of both extrasolar planetary systems and stellar interiors. This $1 million award capstone is on top of recognition from U.S. President Obama and many prestigious national space and science foundations.

During the first 10 years of Borucki's career, he worked on the challenge of getting astronauts to the moon and safely returning them to Earth. He conducted laboratory and theoretical studies of the radiation environment of vehicles reentering Earth's atmosphere. The results of the investigations were used in the design of the heat shields for the Apollo program.

After the successful moon landings, Borucki spent the next 12 years studying Earth's atmosphere and lightning activity in planetary atmospheres. He developed models of Earth’s atmosphere that estimated the changes in Earth’s ozone layer. He also built a lab facility to produce lightning discharges in simulated atmospheres of Jupiter, Venus and Titan.

Fred Witteborn, researcher at NASA Ames, works on the photometer on the Vulcan telescope at the Crocker Dome, Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, California.

Credits: NASA Ames/ W. Borucki

In 1983, Borucki began working on what would be approved 17 years later as Kepler with its selection as the 10thDiscovery class mission.

The Shaw Prize is the latest in a series of acknowledgments that Bill or the Kepler team have received. These include the:

• 2015 Shaw Prize in Astronomy, Shaw Foundation
• 2015 Trophy for Current Achievement, National Air and Space Museum
• 2015 NASA Ames Fellow
• 2014 Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, National Space Club
• 2013 Space Award, The World Technology Network
• 2013 Career Achievement Award, Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals given by U.S. President Obama
• 2013 Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, NASA Honor Award
• 2013 Henry Draper Medal, National Academy of Sciences
• 2012 Nelson B. Jackson Aerospace Award, National Space Club; Kepler Team
• 2012 Vision to Reality Award, Space Frontier Foundation
• 2012 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award, Astronomical Society of the Pacific; Kepler Team
• 2012 Space Science Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Kepler Team
• 2012 George W. Goddard Space Science Award, SPIE
• 2012 John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration, Space Foundation
• 2012 Laureate Award for Space, Aviation Week
• 2011 Lancelot M. Berkeley Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy, American Astronomical Society
• 2011 Public Service Leader of the Year, Harvard Club of San Francisco
• 2011 Professional Award, Astronomical Association of Northern California
• 2010 Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Honor Award
• 2010 NASA Software of the Year Award, NASA Software Advisory Panel
• 2010 Systems Engineering Excellence Award, NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer
• 2010 Group Achievement, NASA Honor Award; Kepler Team
• 2009 Breakthrough Award, Popular Mechanics
• 2005 Scientist or Researcher, Ames Honor Awards
• 2000 Group Achievement Award, NASA Honor Award; Astrobiology Team
• 1999 Superior Accomplishment, NASA Ames Award; Vulcan Project
• 1998 Group Achievement Award, Cassini Program Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument Team, NASA
• 1987 Excellence for Center Productivity, Quality, and Safety Award, NASA Ames
• 1967 Apollo Mission Achievement Award, NASA

"My greatest honor has been the opportunity to develop and lead the Kepler mission. It showed the galaxy is full of Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of other stars. New and more powerful missions will tell us if the galaxy teems with life," said Borucki. "I hope that young people the world over will take up the challenge to explore our galaxy and will build missions to continue our search for life and to find our place among the stars."

Though Borucki will rejoin the NASA family in August as a volunteer Ames Associate where he will continue studying exoplanets and planetary system formation, this week marks his last as a civil servant and the principal investigator for Kepler.

Skies to Study Nighttime Thunderstorms

NASA has joined a multi-agency field campaign studying summer storm systems in the U.S. Great Plains to find out why they often form after the sun goes down instead of during the heat of the day.

The Plains Elevated Convection at Night, or PECAN, project began June 1 and continues through mid-July. Participants from eight research laboratories and 14 universities are collecting storm data to find out how and why they form. NASA’s DC-8 airborne laboratory began research flights Tuesday from the Salina Regional Airport, Salina, Kansas.

“We’re hoping to collect measurements that will be used to characterize the atmosphere ahead of these storms,” said Richard Ferrare, senior research scientist in the Atmospheric Sciences Division at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. “If we can map the water vapor that goes into these storms, we’ll be able to improve computer models that represent these conditions and better predict the storms.”

The NASA DC-8 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) P-3 Orion research aircraft supporting the PECAN mission will be open to the media from 3 to 5 p.m. CDT on Saturday, July 11, at the Salina Regional Airport. The airport is located at 3237 Arnold Avenue.

Unlike other parts of the United States, summer thunderstorms across the Great Plains are most common after sunset. Much of the rain comes from medium-size weather systems and resulting thunderstorms known as mesoscale convective systems. These nighttime storms can produce heavy rainfall that contributes a significant portion of the yearly precipitation in the region.

Scientists understand that thunderstorms that form during the day result from a vertical “convective” circulation driven by rising warm air from the heated Earth’s surface and falling air cooled at higher altitudes in the atmosphere. Less well understood are the mechanisms that cause thunderstorms after the sun has gone down and the land surface has cooled.

The DC-8 carries atmospheric science instruments and investigators from Langley; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California; and several universities and research labs. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is providing a ground-based Doppler radar system.

PECAN is funded by the National Science Foundation with additional support from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and the Department of Energy.

In addition to the NASA and NOAA aircraft, researchers will receive data from a University of Wyoming King Air plane, ground-based instruments, weather balloons and mobile radars. Storm information will continue to be gathered from multiple agency ground and air instruments across northern Oklahoma, central Kansas, and south-central Nebraska through July.

The DC-8 is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Facility in Palmdale, California, and supports NASA’s Airborne Science Program under the Science Mission Directorate. The extended range, prolonged flight-duration capability, large payload capacity, and laboratory environment of the DC-8 make it one of the premier aircraft available for NASA Earth science investigations.

NASA researchers collect and study data from space, air, land and sea to tackle challenges facing the world today, including improved environmental prediction and natural hazard and climate change preparedness. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

Light Toned Deposit in the Aureum Chaos Region on Mars

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a light-toned deposit in Aureum Chaos, a 368 kilometer (229 mile) wide area in the eastern part of Valles Marineris, on Jan. 15, 2015, at 2:51 p.m. local Mars time.

The objective of this observation is to examine a light-toned deposit in a region of what is called “chaotic terrain.” There are indications of layers in the image. Some shapes suggest erosion by a fluid moving north and south. The top of the light-toned deposit appears rough, in contrast to the smoothness of its surroundings.

More information and image products

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Caption: HIRISE Science Team

NASA Signs Scientific and Education Agreements with Brazil

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President José Raimundo Braga Coelho have signed agreements to further research into heliophysics and space weather and to enhance global climate study and educational opportunities.

“I am delighted to expand our relationship with our long time exploration partner Brazil through these agreements,” Bolden said. “This partnership encompasses critical work not only to understand our planet, but also to help develop the leaders of tomorrow, and we look forward to many positive outcomes.”

Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) President José Raimundo Braga Coelho, left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden sign agreements to further research into heliophysics and space weather and to enhance global climate study and educational opportunities, Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Credits: Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

“Brazil has an incredibly talented group of researchers and young people that are eager to participate in and enrich the unique scientific and educational opportunities that NASA affords,” Coelho said. “I am happy that the NASA-Brazil partnership continues to grow through these activities that promise to be fruitful for our two agencies and nations.”

Building on the Framework Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the two space agencies finalized an implementing arrangement that will enable Brazil to acquire and process space weather data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission. In addition, the agreement enables Brazilian participation in missions studying the sun’s impacts on Earth’s space environment such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

Brazil also will now be the newest partner in the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. The environmental science and education program brings together teachers, students and scientists to use Earth and space-based observations to study the global environment and promotes understanding of our planet as a system.

NASA and AEB also will partner to increase opportunities for Brazilian undergraduate and graduate students to participate in an internship at a NASA center through the NASA International Internship Program. The new agreement, signed separately by NASA and AEB on June 18 will provide a unique educational experience for Brazilian students while providing U.S. students an opportunity to work on international teams.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov