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Are you a fan of the NASA’s Z-1 spacesuit, one of the Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2012, and cannot wait to see the next version? The good news is maybe you can help decide what it will look like. Although it may be too much a task to design a new suit that can take our heroes into the space, NASA want our votes to decide how it will look like.

The fecundity and relatively efficient protein production of pigs have made them popular livestock for millenia.  Most people today think of them only as bacon, or as pets.  They provide no products other than meat, as they are unsuitable for dairying, and their hair and skin are useless for leather or textiles.  

Historically, though, they've served another very important role for a number of civilizations: waste management.

While I am studying how tropical cyclones influence human mobility, one thing amazes me the most is how resilient human mobility, or human society in general, is. For example, although Hurricane Sandy caused tragic loss of lives, injuries and economic loss, its impacts on human mobility is rather brief, only about 24 hours. People went back to their routine even though major commute and civil infrastructures were still suspended. It shows although natural or man-made disasters can cause dissemblance in human society, we have capacity to tolerate such disturbance to certain extent.

To me, the most important intended impact of my work is ethical in nature.  This research will ultimately provide a foundation for future building and infrastructure system designs that employ other species, particularly mammalian and avian, in ways that exhibit their intelligence and personalities while maintaining their independence as free agents.  The ‘payment’ for this employment would be tailored to the values of the species, and its culture in the case of social animals.  By doing this, we can incorporate these organisms into human society in a way that does not necessarily remove th