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Remote-Controlled Sharks
Boston University marine biologists have made progress converting sharks to “remote control” so that they might be outfitted with sensors and sent on spying machines. The sharks were implanted with electrical stimulators that trick their brains into smelling food. Using the stimulators, researchers were able to “steer” the sharks around a tank. The military has,…
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It’s No Coincidence that George Orwell was British
Criminal profilers working for the London Metropolitan Police’s Precrime…I mean, Homicide Prevention Unit are putting together a list of 100 future murderers. They’re not simply keeping a list of violent criminals who are now at large. The project seeks to identify individuals who will, in the future commit serious crimes. Instead of Philip K. Dicksian…
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Russia Studies Space-Elevator Clusters For Moon
Russia has entered the space tether slingshot race – a ‘space railway’ that will reduce the cost of boosting payloads to the Moon.Link
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Mars Still Has Water?
Recent photographs seem to suggest that water could have been present on the surface of Mars as little as five years ago. The discovery resulted from images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor which first recorded gullies and trenches that could have been made by fast-flowing water coursing down cliffs and crater walls. Scientists in…
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NASA Plans Permanent Moon Base by 2020
I may take this with a grain of salt given their recent efforts, but NASA has announced plans to establish a permanently-occupied lunar base with manned missions starting in 2020. The project is a joint effort amongst 14 of the world’s space agencies, and would send humans back to the lunar surface for the first…
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“Elevate Me!”
This ladybug is trying to fly, but she’s trapped by the ultrasound field in which she has been levitated: After the investigators got the ultrasound field going, they used tweezers to carefully place animals between the emitter and reflector. The scientists found they could float ants, beetles, spiders, ladybugs, bees, tadpoles and fish up to…
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Nations Sign Pact to Make Fusion Reactor
The United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea have signed a pact to harness the fusion process that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy.Link
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New Scientist’s 50-Year Forecast
As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, New Scientist published brief comments by more than 70 scientists about what the next 50 years may hold. A few clips from longer essays: The biggest breakthrough in the next 50 years will be the discovery of extraterrestrial life.— Freeman Dyson Within 50 years, lives will be significantly…
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Baen Books Free to Disabled Readers
From the site: Baen Books (www.baen.com), a publisher of science fiction, will provide its books to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or are amputees, in electronic form free of charge, effective immediately.Baen Books is making this offer in recognition of Veterans Day, and all our disabled military veterans. Many Baen authors are veterans…
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Jack Williamson April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006
Reported on several newsgroups and e-mail lists, he died peacefully at home. He published science fiction stories in each of nine decades. “The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made as follows: Â The Jack and Blanche Williamson Scholarship Fund ENMU Foundation Eastern New Mexico University Station #8 Portales NM 88130”…