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Hugo nominees for 2009
(Lookit John Scalzi – 3 nominations! Wonder if that is a record?) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Anticipation: Press Release #20, March 2009 Hugo Nominees Announced Anticipation is pleased to announce the Hugo nominees for 2009. For more information about the award and the voting process consult our website http://anticipationsf.ca/English/Hugos The Hugo Award, first presented in 1953,…
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The SyFy Hatred Roundup
The Sci Fi Channel recently announced that it was changing its name to “SyFy,” and lo, there was much gnashing of teeth. The uniformity of the negative response to the decision is surprising: Virtually no one is saying, “Hey, great idea,” the most positive responses have been along the lines of, “Meh,”* and the negative…
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Yeah, We Never Saw That Coming
A robot…designed to look like a pretty girl. (!!!) Cybernetic Human HRP-4C is a “fashion-bot” that will soon be strolling the catwalk in Tokyo. She’s been programmed to emulate 42 different “fashion model movements,*” and although she’s designed to look more or less like an average Japanese woman, her creators gave her slightly larger-than-normal eyes…
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Robot to Teach Elementary School
Japan is faced with an aging workforce, pushing up wage costs and making recruitment difficult. In an attempt to reduce costs but still retain some human interaction, an android named Saya is about to have a trial run as a teacher at a primary school in Tokyo. “She” has a latex face with 18 motors…
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He’s not a Loctopi
The caretakers for the octopi at the aquarium place food inside locked boxes as an enrichment activity. The idea is that the animals, who are very intelligent, must figure out how to unlatch the boxes and get the food, aquarium officials said in a news release. This contortionist had other ideas …
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Saturn Has a New Moon
(Well, it’s new to us.) The formation of Saturn’s G ring appears to have finally been solved, with the discovery of yet another moon. Researchers think that meteorites whacking into the small moon break off the icy chunks that form one of Saturn’s more mysterious rings. Link
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2008 Nebula Awards – Final Ballot
Nebula Final Ballot SFWA is proud to announce the nominees for the 2008 Nebula Awards. The awards will be presented at the 2009 Nebula Awards® Weekend, April 24-26, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. For more information on the awards and the Nebulas Weekend, please visit the Nebula Awards Website. (You don’t have to be an…
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Mars Has a Water Cycle
At least, a little one. Scientists are still poring over data gathered from the Phoenix Mars Lander, but think they’ve found evidence that water vapor is collapsing into the Martian soil at night. The thin films of “unfrozen water” (not as free-flowing as water but more mobile than ice) are enough to allow some chemistry…
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See-thru sea-life
This is just bizarre. (I can never remember how to upload a picture, so here’s the URL) Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute The things at the front of its head that look like eyes are actually nostrils. The green bodies inside its head are the eyes.
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Boom!
Carlos Labs has a cool doodad that shows the thermal damage if you hit a target (like a city) with various nukes…or a big asteroid. I have no idea if sound is also applied – my speakers don’t work. Try it on a city you love. Or one you don’t. I nuked Disneyland :-) Ground…