Hasta La Gadget!

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has released the most thorough map of the Martian surface to date.

The new map of Mars, which was released Monday (July 14), was created using observations from four orbiting spacecraft over more than 16 years. It should significantly advance scientists’ understanding of the Red Planet, researchers said.

“Spacecraft exploration of Mars over the past couple decades has greatly improved our understanding of what geologic materials, events, and processes shaped its surface,” lead author Kenneth Tanaka, of the USGS, said in a statement. “The new geologic map brings this research together in a holistic context that helps to illuminate key relationships in space and time, providing information to generate and test new hypotheses.”

This new global geologic map of Mars depicts the most thorough representation of the “Red Planet’s” surface. This map provides a framework for continued scientific investigation of Mars as the long-range target for human space exploration.

The map relies on data collected by three NASA spacecraft — Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — as well as the European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe. The map covers the entire surface of the planet, piecing together various data to reveal some new insights, researchers said.

For example, the map reveals that the surface of Mars is older than previously thought. Three times as much surface area formed during the Early Noachian Epoch — the first major geologic time period, which ranges from about 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago — than had been previously mapped.

Characteristics of the Early Noachian include a high rate of meteorite impacts, widespread erosion, and the likely presence of water on the Martian surface, researchers said. (Planets in the solar system are thought to have formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago.)

The new map also confirms previous work suggesting that the Red Planet has continued to be geologically active up to today. It provides additional evidence that climate changes on Mars have at times allowed for surface water and near-surface groundwater and ice to form temporarily.

The new map will serve as an important reference for the origin, age, and historic change of geologic materials on the Red Planet, scientists said.

“Findings from the map will enable researchers to evaluate potential landing sites for future Mars missions that may contribute to further understanding of the planet’s history,” USGS acting director Suzette Kimball said in the same statement. “The new Mars global geologic map will provide geologic context for regional and local scientific investigations for many years to come.”

You can download the new map for free at the USGS site here: http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3292/

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

• Photos: The Search for Water on Mars
• Mars’ Most Detailed Geologic Map Revealed | Video
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• Mars Myths & Misconceptions: Quiz

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An unidentified criminal in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has two great loves — stripping cars and hitting cameras.

After noticing his crime was being recorded by three different cameras, the suspect made the dubious choice of repeatedly sticking his face directly in the lens.

The owner of the cameras, manufacturer Charles Springer, told KOAT TV the criminal is “not very intelligent.”

The hooligan may be smarter than he looks on the security camera because the theft happened three months ago and he hasn’t been caught yet despite a $1,000 reward.

Like many women, I’ve often distilled body image into a series of cold hard numbers: pounds, dress size, calories, carbs. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, the first time I realized weight would be an issue in my life, it was all about words.

I was in grade school, age 10, and heavy. On the playground at recess, the barbs began. They weren’t clever — “Whale,” “Fatso,” “Cow” — but they worked.

Lying awake in bed one night, I made a choice: I was going to be skinny. The next morning, I swiftly went to work, turning my self-worth into tangible, controllable numbers. I recorded fat and calories in a spiral-bound notebook, keeping track of every last food parcel with Type A tenacity. It worked: within a few months, I was 20 pounds lighter. And people did start looking at me differently.

I remember near the beginning of the diet, I was at a theme park with a boy I thought was cute — a friend of a friend. He teased me for toting around my notebook, and then for not buying an ice cream cone when the rest of the group did. After losing the weight, I saw him again, and he told me I looked great — the first time a boy had ever shown genuine interest in the way I looked.

The message stuck: thin is pretty. And I wanted to be pretty.

After that, I grew more critical of myself in photos and started paying attention to and coveting what other girls had and I didn’t — thin legs, flat stomachs, small arms. I tried low carb, low fat and low sugar diets, and began engaging in a silent internal monologue at the dinner table:“Don’t eat that piece of bread.” “One piece of bread really won’t hurt that much, right?” “No, but if you eat the bread all the time, it will.” And so on and so forth until, usually, I ate the piece of bread and hated myself after.

One day, in my mid-20s, while in the final stages of a dissolving relationship with a man who was open about his attraction for other girls, I stared at myself in the mirror and decided I’d had enough. No more crash diets, no more dinner table debates, no more girls who always looked better than I did. I went to the bathroom, lifted the lid, took a deep breath, and readied my finger in my mouth.

I’d always told myself I would never have an eating disorder — I was too reasonable, too mature — but I was done trying, day in and day out, to count everything I ate, only to never look like the girls with the thin legs, flat stomachs, small arms, who would always be more desirable than I was. Maybe this was the only way.

But then, I stopped. I took in where I was and what I looked like, hunched over the toilet, weak and insecure. And in that moment, I made a choice — just as I had when I was 10 and lying awake in bed. I bit down on my finger and decided I needed to change the way I looked at my body.

It wasn’t easy, but slowly I started making deliberate changes, from banishing scales to stopping all calorie/fat/carb counting. I no longer squinted at photos of myself, looking for what I could change. And I began focusing on the things I legitimately like about my body: big butt, wide hips, runner’s legs.

I also learned to stop worrying about how my body was perceived by men. Partly, I did this by entering into more positive relationships with partners who genuinely seemed to find me beautiful. But the bigger step was allowing myself to believe them, while recognizing that I didn’t need male attention to feel confident or sexy.

It’s been a few years since I stood over the toilet and a couple decades since my first diet, and I am by no means an entirely changed woman. Just the other day, when I read Keira Knightley was ridiculed for looking “anorexic,” my immediate feeling was not sympathy, but envy. And the weight revealed to me during a recent doctor visit was so humiliating that I flat-out stopped going to that doctor for a while.

The difference is that when these moments happen now, I challenge my reactions and actively try to stop the skinny ideal from tightening its grip.

As for those numbers, I’ve never been able to shake them entirely. And for the record, here’s where they stand now: I weigh 185 pounds and wear a size 12, sometimes 14. Today, I ate 1/3 of a carton of egg whites, one slice of wheat toast and one shrimp salad. I ran for 30 minutes. Tonight, I might have three slices of pizza and two glasses of wine because, hey… it’s been a long week.

Whatever the numbers tell me, I know that there’s a lot more to who I am than what I can fit inside the pages of a spiral-bound notebook.

This story first appeared at Ravishly.com, a women’s news+culture website.

When all the parts of your marketing organization aren’t working together, your success and growth may suffer. It’s no secret that silos are absolutely detrimental to marketing operations – and finding a way to break free of silos can be difficult.

Marketing departments are, by nature, segmented. They must communicate with departments internally, while communicating with external agencies and parties. They must communicate within the marketing organization itself and to other departments at the company. But when that communication breaks down, silos may begin to form. Here are four ways to determine if you’ve got a silo problem in your company:

1. Customers aren’t receiving a consistent brand message. If your customers complain about mixed messaging or inconsistent branding, it may be because of silos. Each department could have its own brand vision, goals and ideas. Until all your departments and people are on the same page, customers likely won’t receive consistent messaging and may be confused about your brand.

2. Your own employees are compromising your brand integrity. When each department or team member feels as if they’re working in a silo, they are less likely to follow regulations and protocol meant to protect the brand, simply because they feel less connected to the overall brand. Team members might compromise brand and company standards in order to boost sales or meet short-term goals. While it may be beneficial for the one silo, it’s terribly harmful to your brand and long-term success.

3. You struggle to get your teams to cooperate. If your team members feel that they’re working in small, separated pockets instead of one big team with similar goals and incentives, teamwork and cooperation will suffer.

4. You have trouble scaling programs and ideas. If you have a scalable program or idea that just doesn’t seem to be growing in the way you imagined, silos may be to blame. Ideas and programs cannot scale and flourish if departments operate independently of each other.

Smashing Silos

So, what’s the good news? Teradata teamed up with Forbes Insights to release a study titled, Breaking Down Marketing Silos: The Key to Consistently Achieving Customer Satisfaction and Improving Your Bottom Line. This study shows how and why silos form and how to break them down. But how can do you do it? First, it’s important to know that if you’re operating in a marketing silo, you’re not alone. Nearly 65 percent of marketers admit that silos make it difficult to have a clear view of initiatives and campaigns. But you don’t have to be a part of that 65 percent. Here are four ways to rid your organization of silos for good:

1. Create an environment that fosters effective communication and cooperation between departments and team members. It seems obvious, but effective communication is truly the best way to break down marketing silos. The CMO and leadership team should work to create an environment that encourages communication across departments and teams.

2. Increase internal training, strategizing and team building exercises. Take it a step further than communication. Schedule training sessions about internal standard operating procedures and processes to make sure everyone is on the same page. Create strategies with your leadership team that will allow your marketing department to see success and measurable results. Encourage team building through activities and exercises.

3. Don’t be afraid to consolidate. Part of the reason silos form to begin with is because employees are spread out across too many teams and departments, making internal communication and resource-sharing difficult. Rethink your organizational strategy and see where you can consolidate and simplify your internal teams.

4. Be the liaison between departments and teams. If all teams can’t communicate effectively with each other, you (or someone else) will need to be the liaison between all departments and teams. This role could be especially important for a large organization or a company with teams spread out across different offices, states or regions.

Learning to recognize silos, understanding how they affect your organization and knowing how to get everyone on the same page will be essential to your organization’s long-term success.

Theatre has always played a pivotal role in the lives of Taylor and Dana McDonald, so it was no surprise what happened when they tied the knot.

Taylor McDonald and Dana Baudouin first met during a Gray Wig production of 42nd Street at Hofstra University in 2009 and quickly became best friends. They’ve been together since 2010. Taylor proposed on 42nd Street in New York City, and sent 42 red roses the morning of the wedding.

Their first dance began as a romantic waltz, but quickly grew into a full-fledged bridal party flash mob, flower girls and all. See for yourself.

“I knew people would like it, especially our theatre friends,” said the bride, “but I never imagined the response we got. It started our night off great and really set the tone.”

Dana and Taylor currently live in Levittown, New York.

Members of the bridal party include: Tara Baudouin, Kyle McDonald, Gabrielle Farah, Samantha Deliso, Katherine Hoehn, Kayla Hoehn, Kara Hoehn, Noreen McDonald, Kerry Baudouin and Daniel Baudouin.