Walking Papers

If you knew it would take two hours of sharpish striding to counteract that calzone you're eyeing for lunch, you might choose a lighter option. That was the premise behind an oven-fresh study by nutritionist Meena Shah and graduate assistant Ashlei James, both from TCU's Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. The results, presented yesterday at the Experimental Biology Conference in Boston, have been widely reported by Time, NPR and the BBC.  Interviewing Dr. Shah last year for a story about her research, I discovered that exciting things go on in that kitchen, er, metabolic lab of hers at TCU.

Found in Space

As a kid, Lori Motes decided that the best job in the universe would be driving a truck for Bluebell Ice Cream. Now that she's a space flight hardware developer at NASA, her cargo goes much further.
Astronaut Steve Swanson installing GPS antenna B on the JAXA Section of the ISS. photo courtesy NASA


But first, she has to build it. Here she is, testing one of the antennas for the International Space Station's GPS Antenna Project. Motes was lead engineer on that one, in charge of repairing and re-certifying three antennas and then building and certifying three spares. The Space Station's GPS antennas are crucial, as they pinpoint the attitude, position and speed of the ISS as it orbits the earth. "The safety of the crew is one thing there's no cutting corners on," says Motes. "It's our first priority."