Get your toilet humor and poop puns ready – it’s time for another edition of “What do astronauts do with all that doo-doo?” NASA recently asked researchers to come up with a way to use all of the human waste expected to pile up when it builds a moon base. The best answer was to use it to fuel spacecrafts on their trips back to Earth.
Continue reading… “Human Waste can be used as Fuel in Space”
Terraforming Mars
While scientists believe that at one time, long ago, Mars had an atmosphere similar to Earth’s and was covered with flowing water, the reality today is quite different. In fact, the surface of Mars is so hostile that a vacation in Antarctica would seem pleasant by comparison.
In addition to the extreme cold, there is little atmosphere to speak of and virtually no oxygen. However, a team of students from Germany wants to change that. Their plan is to introduce cyanobacteria into the atmosphere which would convert the ample supplies of CO² into oxygen gas, thus paving the way for possible settlements.
Continue reading… “Latest thinking about terraforming Mars, introducing cyanobacteria”
A machine that administers sedatives recently began treating patients at a Seattle hospital. At a Silicon Valley hotel, a bellhop robot delivers items to people’s rooms. Last spring, a software algorithm wrote a breaking news article about an earthquake that The Los Angeles Times published.
Although fears that technology will displace jobs are at least as old as the Luddites, there are signs that this time may really be different. The technological breakthroughs of recent years — allowing machines to mimic the human mind — are enabling machines to do knowledge jobs and service jobs, in addition to factory and clerical work.
Continue reading… “The Rise of Technological Unemployment”
A new study found that more than half of players are downloading their game content on consoles or PC, and that 75 percent spend at least some time playing free games. A third of all gaming time is spent on free-to-play titles, the study showed.
Continue reading… “The Latest Trends in Gaming”
Isolated, the words all sound so cliché. Organic. Flowing. Curvy. But set to the backdrop of Chicago’s blocky skyline, they assemble a brash thesis on the city’s future: The new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a low-slung knoll inside a landscape of towering Lego, an Egyptian pyramid reimagined for the year 2020.
Continue reading… “Sneak Peek: George Lucas’ Future Museum”
A remarkable Empire of One business
Rich Burlew created the first The Order of the Stick, a hilarious webcomic that celebrates and satirizes tabletop role-playing games and medieval fantasy, on September 29, 2003. The strip was originally produced to entertain people who came to his website for gaming articles, but it quickly became the most popular feature, leading Burlew to eventually abandon writing articles almost entirely.
The entire comic strip is drawn with simple stick characters, hence the name.
On September 30, 2005, The Order of the Stick began appearing in Dragon, the long-running official D&D magazine, and the strip became profitable enough for him to quit his job as a freelance graphic designer and concentrate on cartooning.
Rich also started self-publishing his comics in book form in 2005, but it became hard for him to keep all of the older books in stock. So in 2012 he decided to do a Kickstarter project with a goal of $57,750. Instead, he raised $1,254,120 from 14,952 backers…
Continue reading… “Rich Burlew’s Comic Book Business Success Story”
The planet named Kepler-16b, will have an extraordinary double sunset at the end of each day.
Astronomers discover a real-life Tatooine. A spectacle made popular by the “Star Wars” saga — a planet with two suns — has now been confirmed in space for the first time, astronomers revealed.
Continue reading… “Star Wars-like planet orbiting two suns discovered”
Star Wars as an educational tool.
Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a character from the Star Wars universe here. Can you name them all? You might notice some of the main characters are missing in action, because a puzzle should never be too easy. The answers are at Gamma Squad…
(The complete game after the jump)
Continue reading… “The Star Wars alphabet guessing game”
3D Tv’s without glasses… Coming soon!
A new type of holographic telepresence allows the projection of a three-dimensional, moving image without the need for special eyewear such as 3D glasses or other auxiliary devices.
Continue reading… “Moving Holograms: From Science Fiction to Reality”
British soldier of the future.
Armed to the teeth with the latest in technology, this is the new face of the British soldier. And if he looks a little familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen something very similar in the Star Wars movies.
Continue reading… “British Soldier of the Future Take on the Taliban”
Lightsaber diagram
Okay, folks, make sure you have some tissues handy because GE engineer Matt Gluesenkamp is about to break a lot of hearts. The laser just turned 50, and that got Gluesenkamp thinking about one of the most iconic representations of the technology: the lightsaber. He analyzes the tech it’d take to make them real. Is it possible? In a word, no.
Continue reading… “Lightsaber Turns 50 – GE Engineer Explains How It Could Not Possibly Work”
Star Wars fans dressed as storm troopers during a parade.
Star Wars fans on May 4th said “may the fourth be with you” in tribute to the Hollywood films, on the unofficial day honouring the cult movies. Millions of Jedi fans posted tributes to Luke Skywalker, C-3Po and Darth Vader on Twitter, the micro-blogging site and Facebook in celebration for the hugely successful franchise.
Continue reading… “Star Wars Day: ‘May the Fourth be with You’”
