Visible to short-wave infrared (VSWIR, 0.4–5.0 µm) reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful tool to identify and map mineral groups on the martian surface. The Mars Express/OMEGA and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/CRISM instruments have characterized more than 30 mineral groups, revolutionizing previous understanding of martian crustal composition and the role of water in altering it. Analyses of these spectral images revealed the primary structure of the crust to be dominated by basalt, over a deep layer of segregated pyroxene- and olivine-rich plutons, with sparse feldspar-rich, differentiated intrusions. Martian volatile-bearing environments have evolved through four phases: the pre-Noachian to early Noachian period when alteration by liquid water occurred near the surface and deep in the subsurface, in chemically neutral to alkaline environments that formed hydrous silicates and carbonates; the middle to late Noachian period when liquid water was widely present at the surface forming valley networks, lacustrine deposits, and clay-rich pedogenic horizons; the early Hesperian to early Amazonian period during which water became increasingly acidic and saline, forming deposits rich in sulfate salts, chlorides, and hydrated silica; and the Amazonian period when surface water has existed predominantly as ice, with only localized reaction with regolith and briny flow on the surface.

Technological transformation has profound and frequently unforeseen influences on art, design and media. At times technology emancipates art and enriches the quality of design. Occasionally it causes acute individual and collective problems of mediated perception. Time after time technological change accomplishes both simultaneously. This new book series explores and reflects philosophically on what new and emerging technicities do to our everyday lives and increasingly immaterial technocultural conditions. Moving beyond traditional conceptions of the philosophy of technology and of techne, the series presents new philosophical thinking on how technology constantly alters the essential conditions of beauty, invention and communication. From novel understandings of the world of technicity to new interpretations of aesthetic value, graphics and information, Technicities focuses on the relationships between critical theory and representation, the arts, broadcasting, print, technological genealogies/histories, material culture and digital technologies and our philosophical views of the world of art, design and media.

The series foregrounds contemporary work in art, design and media while remaining inclusive, both in terms of philosophical perspectives on technology and interdisciplinary contributions. For a philosophy of technicities is crucial to extant debates over the artistic, inventive and informational aspects of technology. The books in the Technicities series concentrate on present-day and evolving technological advances but visual, design-led and mass-mediated questions are emphasised to further our knowledge of their oftencombined means of digital transformation.

The editors of Technicities welcome proposals for monographs and well-considered edited collections that establish new paths of investigation.

Technological transformation has profound and frequently unforeseen influences on art, design and media. At times technology emancipates art and enriches the quality of design. Occasionally it causes acute individual and collective problems of mediated perception. Time after time technological change accomplishes both simultaneously. This new book series explores and reflects philosophically on what new and emerging technicities do to our everyday lives and increasingly immaterial technocultural conditions. Moving beyond traditional conceptions of the philosophy of technology and of techne, the series presents new philosophical thinking on how technology constantly alters the essential conditions of beauty, invention and communication. From novel understandings of the world of technicity to new interpretations of aesthetic value, graphics and information, Technicities focuses on the relationships between critical theory and representation, the arts, broadcasting, print, technological genealogies/histories, material culture and digital technologies and our philosophical views of the world of art, design and media.

The series foregrounds contemporary work in art, design and media whilst remaining inclusive, both in terms of philosophical perspectives on technology and interdisciplinary contributions. For a philosophy of technicities is crucial to extant debates over the artistic, inventive, and informational aspects of technology. The books in the Technicities series concentrate on present-day and evolving technological advances but visual, design-led and mass-mediated questions are emphasised to further our knowledge of their often-combined means of digital transformation.

The editors of Technicities welcome proposals for monographs and well-considered edited collections that establish new paths of investigation.

In the suburbs of Washington DC during the early 1980s, a familyrun travel agency provides cover for a married couple who are, in fact, KGB ‘Illegals’, Soviet agents fighting deep behind Cold War enemy lines. This is the premise of The Americans(2013–), one of the most unlikely hit television dramas of recent years. Framed by the everyday concerns of an ordinary American family, the show is at once ludicrous – the agents’ next-door neighbour is an FBI officer – and nostalgic, not just for the paraphernalia of the 1980s but for an era when commitment might mean something beyond self-interest. While initially the narrative appears to be taking shape as a drama of defection – the male agent's concern for the couple's two children leads him to wonder whether they ought to turn themselves in – the show swerves away from what might have become a conventional story of redemption through renunciation. Instead, the couple's resolve hardens and the audience is invited to root for a pair of assassins contemptuous of American freedoms (the mother despairs because her teenage daughter wants to go to church; in diners, they are appalled by the length of the menu). The United States intelligence community is hardly portrayed in a favourable light: the FBI man next door destroys his marriage by having an affair with an attractive Soviet spy, whose punishment is imprisonment in the Gulag. The senior Bureau officer is played by Richard Thomas, an actor best known as John-Boy in The Waltons, the sentimental Depression-set soap from the 1970s. The Soviets are far cooler: hardbodied, ruthless and much more effective, they are able to drop the kids off at school before disposing of a body by snapping the bones and folding it into a suitcase.

The Americansmanages to deliver a perspective on the US that would have been inconceivable only a few years ago: an unstable, inconsistent, yet occasionally direct anti-Americanism. Historical distance, of course, provides the necessary safety valve; everybody knows the Soviet Union will soon crumble.

Technological transformation has profound and frequently unforeseen influences on art, design and media. At times technology emancipates art and enriches the quality of design. Occasionally it causes acute individual and collective problems of mediated perception. Time after time technological change accomplishes both simultaneously. This new book series explores and reflects philosophically on what new and emerging technicitiesdo to our everyday lives and increasingly immaterial technocultural conditions. Moving beyond traditional conceptions of the philosophy of technology and of techne, the series presents new philosophical thinking on how technology constantly alters the essential conditions of beauty, invention and communication. From novel understandings of the world of technicity to new interpretations of aesthetic value, graphics and information, Technicities focuses on the relationships between critical theory and representation, the arts, broadcasting, print, technological genealogies/histories, material culture, and digital technologies and our philosophical views of the world of art, design and media.

The series foregrounds contemporary work in art, design and media whilst remaining inclusive, in terms of both philosophical perspectives on technology and interdisciplinary contributions. For a philosophy of technicities is crucial to extant debates over the artistic, inventive and informational aspects of technology. The books in the Technicities series concentrate on present-day and evolving technological advances but visual, design-led and mass-mediated questions are emphasised to further our knowledge of their often-combined means of digital transformation.

The editors of Technicities welcome proposals for monographs and well-considered edited collections that establish new paths of investigation.