The ethno-etiquette in the Yakut culture: sacred strategies and behavioral code

The ethnic etiquette of the Yakuts demonstrates traditional culture, worldviews, and ritual and mythological practices. The historical and anthropological approach used in this study allowed us to consider motives and strategies of the behavior, customs and rituals in space and time. The study of folklore and ethnographic and linguistic materials made it possible to identify and analyze responses of the behavioral strategies that expand the boundaries of the developed space (travel customs and rituals), eliminate the “otherness” of a guest (an etiquette), and provide for communications between the man and the deities/spirits (a ritual). For the first time, archival and field materials on the guest and travel etiquette are introduced into scientific discourse. The aim of the study is to conduct a historical and cognitive analysis of the travel and guest etiquettes, which begin with overcoming the developed space — the dwelling place. As the result, we have revealed that the travel etiquette is primarily aimed at ensuring that the traveler returns home without encountering any obstacles in his journey. To achieve that, they used words-taboos and made a sacrifice to the spirit of the fire and to the spirit of the road. The analysis of special travel terms has shown that the main guardian of the traveler is his horse, while the behavioral code serves as an assurance of a successful journey. Compliance with pre-travel and travel taboos and rules primarily contributed to a safe return of the traveler. It has been found that the status of the traveler is transformed when he overcomes a “cultural barrier” — the fence, enters the developed space, and becomes a guest. The guest etiquette mainly defines behavior of the hosts, since the arrival of the guest, his welcoming and parting with him strengthened their life values, stability, and prosperity. The guest was considered to be a messenger of an alien world, so that the first series of the ritual actions was aimed at removing the “otherness” of the guest, the second series was aimed at including the guest in the home space, and the third series was aimed at seeing off the guest. Nowadays, respectful welcoming of a guest is also of a great importance, and the metaphor "the Yakut’s hospitality" has still not lost its significance.

The Future of Personalized Medicine in Space: From Observations to Countermeasures

The aim of personalized medicine is to detach from a “one-size fits all approach” and improve patient health by individualization to achieve the best outcomes in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Technological advances in sequencing, improved knowledge of omics, integration with bioinformatics and new in vitro testing formats, have enabled personalized medicine to become a reality. Individual variation in response to environmental factors can affect susceptibility to disease and response to treatments. Space travel exposes humans to environmental stressors that lead to physiological adaptations, from altered cell behavior to abnormal tissue responses, including immune system impairment. In the context of human space flight research, human health studies have shown a significant inter-individual variability in response to space analogue conditions. A substantial degree of variability has been noticed in response to medications (from both an efficacy and toxicity perspective) as well as in susceptibility to damage from radiation exposure and in physiological changes such as loss of bone mineral density and muscle mass in response to deconditioning. At present, personalized medicine for astronauts is limited. With the advent of longer duration missions beyond low Earth orbit, it is imperative that space agencies adopt a personalized strategy for each astronaut, starting from pre-emptive personalized pre-clinical approaches through to individualized countermeasures to minimize harmful physiological changes and find targeted treatment for disease. Advances in space medicine can also be translated to terrestrial applications, and vice versa. This review places the astronaut at the center of personalized medicine, will appraise existing evidence and future preclinical tools as well as clinical, ethical and legal considerations for future space travel.

„Skrajny kwadrant gwiazdozbioru” – astronomia w fantastyce naukowej

As the author of the article claims, there exist close and lasting links between astronomy and science fiction genre. First and foremost, both of these phenomena developed in parallel since antiquity, and both have fiction at their centre as a socially established type of imagination. Scientific hypotheses use justified fabrication, and science fiction offers images of fictional cosmologies. Many writers of proto-science fiction brought astronomical concepts into social play. Among them were astronomers and philosophers who extensively used plot devices based on mythology or allegorical transformations: from Lucian of Samosata to Johannes Kepler. Space travel, beginning with Jules Verne’s prose, is an important part of the thematic resource of science fiction. Astronomy played an important role also in the beginnings of Polish science fiction, thanks to works of Michał Dymitr Krajewski and Teodor Tripplin.

The right to flight

In response to Peter Wright’s letter “Spaced out” in which he questions the value of billionaires’ space travel, such as the 20 July flight of Jeff Bezos on the rocket New Shepard, built by his aerospace company Blue Origin.