Beam Me Up
Science Fiction in the news,on tv,at the movies or in print. Whatever is of interest to you and to me is fair game. I also discuss cutting edge science that just might influence new sci-fi |
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Eureka gets a go - Flash? no.....
2007-09-05 21:25:00
MICHAEL HINMAN over at SyFy Portal says that: Things are looking good for those setting up residence in the little town of "Eureka." Sources close to SciFi Channel say the show -- as expected -- is looking at an almost definite third season following strong viewership numbers in the first part of the show's second season which included some larger sets and new faces. The same can't be said about "Flash Gordon." canceled shows "Painkiller Jane." and the rebroadcast of "Doctor Who" has been generating higher ratings than "Flash Gordon". Of course Mike does end with "Of course, none of this has been confirmed by SciFi Channel or NBC Universal, so treat this as any rumor should be treated." But like I have been saying all along, Flash, was just that....a flash and nothing else. I suspect SciFi will give us Alien paint drying as a fill in any time now. (pac) ...
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Spaceport America: First Looks at a New Space Terminal
2007-09-05 19:40:00
URS Corporation took the wraps off new images that showcase the sprawling main terminal and hangar at the first purpose build Space Port - Spaceport America. Selected from an international field of eleven firms, the winning design is the work of URS Corporation - a large design and engineering enterprise - teamed with Foster + Partners of the United Kingdom, a group with extensive experience in crafting airport buildings. When the 100,000 square-foot (9,290 square-meter) facility is completed it will serve as the primary operating base for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliner, and also as the headquarters for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The design chosen is a low-lying, striking bit of construction that uses natural earth as a berm, and relies on passive energy for heating and cooling, with photovoltaic panels for electricity and water recycling capabilities. A rolling concrete shell acts as a roof with massive windows opening to a view of the runw ...
America
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Russia Shoots for Moon, Mars
2007-09-03 18:12:00
The Russian space agency announced a plan to send a man to the moon by 2025, to establish a permanent base there a few years later, and possibly even send a man to Mars by 2035, in an aggressive plan reminiscent of the 1960s space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. But Russia's plan to shoot for the stars is expensive, which is why it is looking for international assistance while relying on funding from its lucrative space tourism program.One former American astronaut said while the Russians plan may be in motion, it is beginning from a difficult starting point. "The Russians have some big ideas, but their space program is coming up slowly from being in a position bankruptcy," said Walter Cunningham, a former Apollo 7 astronaut.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...
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'Dune' Once Again Gets A Big Screen Adaptation
2007-09-03 15:48:00
ALAN STANLEY BLAIR over at SyFy Portal reports that the official Herbert family message boards ( CHUD ) have announced that after several rounds of intense negotiations a new "Dune" project was ready to be finalized. Over the last few months, the site has claimed that negotiations were taking place and in fact had been taking place for a number of years but have never come to anything until now. The possibility of another movie adaptation based on Frank Herbert's epic series has just come one step closer to reality. ...
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2007 Hugo award winners!
2007-09-03 14:30:00
from SF Signal The winners of the 2007 Hugo Award.... NOVEL: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [see SF Signal review] NOVELLA: "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed [see SF Signal review] NOVELETTE: "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald [see SF Signal review] SHORT STORY: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt [see SF Signal review] ...
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Why sci-fi still has a future
2007-09-03 14:20:00
The folks over at the Guardian and Paul Howlett in particular take issue with Ridley Scott's tirade at the Venice film festival when he said that Science Fiction Film making was circling the drain.Howlett says "Ridley Scott thinks sci-fi films have entered a black hole. Maybe he's not watching the right ones," Agreed, Ridley's all-time favourite sci-fi film, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, is probably the supreme example of the genre, and maybe nothing has topped it in the four decades since its release, but that doesn't mean you can write off all modern sci-fi films ("yes, all of them," as Ridley put it) as "nothing original ... we've seen it all before"But there are plenty of modern sci-fi movies in which a superior intelligence can be discerned alongside the computer-generated imagery: look at another Spielberg/Cruise project, Minority Report. Yes, it's a huge, glossy Hollywood production that basically sets a thrilling Hitchcockian chase movie in a future world - b ...
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Senate blocks mandatory ID implants in employees
2007-09-02 23:15:00
Tackling a dilemma right out of a science fiction novel, the state Senate passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted under their skin. State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices for use in humans. The devices, as small as a grain of rice, can be used by employers to identify workers. A scanner passing over a body part implanted with one can instantly identify the person. ...
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Strange Martian feature not a 'bottomless' cave after all
2007-08-30 20:07:00
Enlarge image From Newscienctist.comAn extremely dark feature on Mars is probably just a pit – not the entrance to a deep cavern that future astronauts could call home, a new image reveals. The 150- by 157-metre feature was first noticed in an image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on 5 May 2007 using a camera called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). Viewed from directly overhead, the dark spot showed no evidence of walls or a floor, leading some HiRISE scientists to suspect it was the opening to a cavern. The new image, however, suggests the feature is just a vertical shaft cutting into the surface. Taken on 8 August from a different angle, the image reveals a wall on the feature's ...
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Tor to podcast from this years's WorldCon
2007-08-30 16:41:00
From SFSignal's blog I hear that TOR books will have a podcast from the worldcon in Japan.Marking the first time that Worldcon has ever taken place in Japan, Tor publisher Tom Doherty and senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden will podcast directly from the convention. This international podcasting event will kick off Tor's new podcasting program, which will continue with regularly scheduled podcasts beginning September 12th.Here is a link to the Tor preview podcast LINK ...
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Sci-fi films are as dead as Westerns, says Ridley Scott
2007-08-30 15:15:00
Ridley Scott was the director of two of the most critically acclaimed science fiction films, now he believes that the genre is so tired and unoriginal that it may be dead. At the Venice Film Festival for a special screening of his seminal noir thriller Blade Runner, Scott said that science fiction films were going the way the Western once had. “There’s nothing original. We’ve seen it all before. Been there. Done it,” he said. Asked to pick out examples, he said: “All of them. Yes, all of them.” The flashy effects of recent block-busters, such as The Matrix, Independence Day and The War of the Worlds, may sell tickets, but director Scott believes that none can beat Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Scott said “There is an over reliance on special effects as well as weak storylines,”Click HERE for the complete TimesOnline story ...
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Dr. Wernher von Braun was at Roswell during ufo crash
2007-08-30 01:18:00
Now this is certainly interesting....not sure of the implications but it certainly is weird.IN an World Exclusive article, Clark C. McClelland in The Canadian, states that Von Braun was present and examined the Roswell New Mexico site that was purported to be the crash site of a UFO. The article is quite long so I won't chop it up here, but it is worth a read. check it outclick here.Thanks to Shaun Saunders for the post ...
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Luke Skywalker's lightsaber gets shuttle flight
2007-08-30 01:07:00
The original lightsaber wielded by Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill will be delivered to NASA for launch in late October aboard shuttle Discovery, a flight that will mark the 30th anniversary of the 1977 release of the movie classic "Star Wars." The lightsaber will be delivered today to Houston Hobby Airport, which is located about 30 minutes north of NASA's Johnson Space Center. The lightsaber will be transported to Space Center Houston -- the visitor complex on NASA Road One near the main gate to JSC -- where it will be on display through Labor Day. Then it will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center and stowed in the orbiter Discovery's middeck during the shuttle's 13-day round trip to the International Space Station.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...
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Nimoy sings......(watch at your own risk!)
2007-08-28 14:15:00
This has got to be the weirdest music video I have ever seen.... Nimoy sings about of all things, Bilbo Baggins.... oh and its ummm well, watch and see.... ...
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Sony runs Walkman off sugar-based bio battery
2007-08-28 11:38:00
Sony, one of the world's largest battery makers, said it had succeeded in creating a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed, delivers 50mW (milliWatts). The bio cell has sugar-digesting enzymes at the anode that extract electrons and hydrogen ions from the glucose. The hydrogen ions pass through a membrane separator to the cathode where they absorb oxygen from the air to produce water as a byproduct. The electrons flow around the circuit outside the device producing the electricity needed to power it.Thanks to Xnewsman for the post ...
Sony
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'Waving' cancer goodbye!
2007-08-27 17:37:00
CBS news reports that a promising new inovation may allow doctors to 'wave' certain cancers away using nothing more than radio frequency waves. John Kanzius, A former radio and TV engineer and one-time station owner, , believes radio waves could somehow be harnessed to destroy cancer, without drugs or invasive surgery. Kanzius' treatments would involve a patient being injected with tiny metal nano-particles, which would be carried through the bloodstream by a targeting molecule and attach only to cancerous cells. The patient would then be exposed to an energy field created by radio waves, and feel nothing, while the nano-particles would generate enough heat to destroy their cancerous host cell.Lab experiments using nano particles and cancer analogs have demostrated that the basic concept is sound, however targeting cancer cells will be the biggest challenge.Kanzius' invention has caught the attention of Dr. Steven Curley, a surgical oncologist and cancer researcher at MD Anders ...
Cancer
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