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 Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 47 4889

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Nichelle Nichols Confirms ’Heroes’ Role 2007-08-19 23:13:00 From SYFY portal blog:"Star Trek" legend Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in the original series, has shared what kind of role she'll be playing on the series, and it looks like it will involve Noah Gray-Cabey's character of Micah. It's a role similar level to that of her former Trek co-star George Takei who was an integral character during the first season as Kaito Nakamura, the CEO of a massive Japanese corporation as well as the father of hero-in-training Hiro Nakamura. And just like Takei, Nichols will have a fraternal relationship with one of the heroes…namely Micah Sanders. ...

New Shaun A. Saunders Story 2007-08-18 00:31:00 Our regular science news contributor Shaun A. Saunders has a new story in the newest issue of Antipodean Science Fiction. Tis called "What Else but War?" Those of you that have listened to Beam Me Up for a bit will recognize the name and type of fiction. This is "flash" fiction which Shaun has mastered and wields with great skill. Click the article title or click HERE to go directly to the story. Oh and if you think of it, I am sure Shaun wouldn't mind you voting on your favorite as well.And as I have mentioned in the recent past, Shaun has a new book out containing his short fiction called "Navigating in the New World" I have had the pleasure of reading a few of the stories in the book here on Beam Me Up, plus I have read the book and enjoyed it greatly. The book is well worth checking out. ...

Painkiller gone, Neon sees some light 2007-08-17 18:24:00 According to the SF Signals blogPainkiller Jane got the ax from the Sci-Fi Channel. No real big surprise there. I could complain and say that they didn't even give a warning on this one but I knew something was up last week when "Flash" ran (I know, not punny....but your giving me way to much credit) in the same slot.But this is supposed to be the replacement? I fell asleep half way through. The new Flash Gordon is a loser that lives in his mother's basement! The show is a horrible remake of a witless remake or a corny serial that was so badly done it used stock footage of older sf films! Wonder how many hits off the bong it took to make this show seem entertaining?Still no word about The Dresden Files. I suspect that it has gone down for the third time. No body is talking so I recon the corpse is starting to stink.Meanwhile....... The anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion is back in the news. For those of you that are not in the know.....NGE is the story of mankind's s ...

Gemini to start production soon 2007-08-17 18:02:00 Rosario Dawson is set to produce and star in The Gemini Division, a live-action/motion-capture animation online SF series. Partnered with Electric Farm Entertainment, they will produce 100 three-minute episodes, which will star Dawson as a New York cop who is investigating the bizarre murder of her husband and who uncovers a global conspiracy involving the creation of simulated life forms that have assimilated with the unsuspecting public. ...

'Lunar Ark' Proposed 2007-08-17 16:30:00 Wow, does this bring a 70s science fiction movie to mind or what!!!!! name that film!!!From nationalgeographic.com via the fine folks at Boing boing: David Pescovitz writes:Researchers at the International Space University (ISU) in France propose that NASA's planned lunar base should also include a "biological and historical archive" of human civilization. The idea is that this "ark" would preserve humanity's history if the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or comet. From National Geographic.Give up? What movie am I talking about?Drum roll pleaseSilent RunningBruce Dern + Huey, Dewey and Louie ...

Blows Against the Empire (book discussion ) 2007-08-17 15:54:00 From the New Yorker Adam Gopnik writes about Blows against the Empire a book that looks into the phenomena that was Phillip K. Dick. Here is an excerpt.Of all American writers, none have got the genre-hack-to-hidden-genius treatment quite so fully as Philip K. Dick, the California-raised and based science-fiction writer who, beginning in the nineteen-fifties, wrote thirty-six speed-fuelled novels, went crazy in the early seventies, and died in 1982, only fifty-three. His reputation has risen through the two parallel operations that genre writers get when they get big. First, he has become a prime inspiration for the movies, becoming for contemporary science-fiction and fantasy movies what Raymond Chandler was for film noir: at least eight feature films, including “Total Recall,” “Minority Report,” “A Scanner Darkly,” and, most memorably, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner,”Thanks to Nelson for the post ...

New experiments demostrate possiblility of FTL 2007-08-17 15:07:00 Two German physicists claim to have forced light to overcome its own speed limit using the strange phenomenon known as "quantum tunnelling". Exceeding the speed of light, approximately 300,000km per second, is supposed to be completely impossible. According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate an object through the light barrier. The scientists set up an experiment in which microwave photons appeared to travel "instantaneously" between two prisms forming the halves of a cube placed a metre apart. When the prisms were placed together, photons fired at one edge passed straight through them, as expected. After they were moved apart, most of the photons reflected off the first prism they encountered and were picked up by a detector. But a few photons appeared to "tunnel" through the gap separating them as if the prisms were still held together. Although these photons had travelled a longer distance, they arrived at their ...

Seven warning signs of bogus science 2007-08-15 14:33:00 From the Geekend, Jay Garmon writes this caustic little piece. I was laughing until I really started to think about it.... And he is right. If you use this as an outline, then you can see that quite a few of the "new" discoveries are pretty much humbug. But it still is funny.In an age where we still have to convince people that the Apollo landings actually happened and that perpetual motion devices don’t actually exist, it’s handy to have these Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science around to help the logically disinclined ferret out the charlatans among us: The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.The discoverer has worked in isolation.The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to expla ...

Commercial space station to launch before 2010 2007-08-15 13:19:00 The world's first privately financed space station could be launched before 2010.Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bigelow Aerospace has successfully placed two inflatable spacecraft, called Genesis I and Genesis II, in Earth orbit. The company had planned to orbit a third spacecraft called Galaxy in 2008 before lofting its Sundancer space station, able to support a crew of three, into orbit in 2010. But a statement by founder Robert Bigelow that was posted on the company's website says rising launch costs have pushed the company to forego the launch of Galaxy and bring forward Sundancer's launch.The company had previously said it planned to launch Sundancer in 2010. Although Bigelow has not given a new date for launch, the statement says the schedule change means private space habitats "could be arriving much earlier than any of us had previously anticipated".The announcement came three days after reports that another company called Galactic Suite intends to put a three-bedroom space ho ...

pixar's "Uplifted" short 2007-08-12 22:26:00 This is some of the funniest animation I have seen in a while. Click on the title or here to view the short. You won't be disappointed. ttp://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=774 ...

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People 2007-08-12 20:15:00 It looks like AT&T is gearing up for more than just selling the American public out to the NSA.Check this out! I found the link on Boing Boing. This stuff just isn't going to go away. What do you think Shaun? Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child� policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card. ...

Space Hotel opening by 2012 2007-08-11 22:27:00 BARCELONA (Reuters) - "Galactic Suite", the first hotel planned in space, expects to open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around the world in 80 minutes. Its Barcelona-based architects say the space hotel will be the most expensive in the galaxy, costing $4 million for a three-day stay. During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...

Time Travel could just be possible..... 2007-08-09 20:11:00 Time travel could actually be a possibility for future generations. This might be possible with new research into Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a theory of gravity that shows how time can be warped by the gravitational pull of objects. Quite literally, researchers have said, bend time enough and you can create a loop and the possibility of temporal travel. Prof Amos Ori has set out a theory in the prestigious science journal Physical Review, that rests on a set of mathematical equations describing hypothetical conditions that, if established, could lead to the formation of a time machine, technically known as “closed time-like curves.� In the past, one of the major challenges has been the alleged need for an exotic material with strange properties - what physicists call negative density - to create these time loops. “This is no longer an issue,� suggests professor OriThanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...

This Week's Master of Science Fiction on ABC 2007-08-08 14:02:00 The Awakening" (SATURDAY, AUGUST 11), stars Terry O'Quinn and Elisabeth Rohm. Based on the short story by Hollywood Blacklist author Howard Fast ("Spartacus," "Citizen Tom Paine"), the episode opens outside Baghdad, where U.S. soldiers discover a mysterious casualty - one they can't even identify as human. William B. Davis ("The X-Files") guest stars as the President of the United States. Michael Petroni ("Till Human Voices Wake Us") directed from a script he wrote, based on the short story by Howard Fast. ...

Scientists discover technology that may someday levitate human 2007-08-07 18:25:00 Physicists may have solved the mystery of levitation, figuring out how to make objects, and even people, float in midair. How? By countering the Casimir force, that strange phenomenon holding molecules together. Now British physicists are figuring out how to reverse that effect, making objects repel each other, and hope to first use the technique to reduce friction in nano machines, and someday maybe even levitate people. The discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.link to story in SCI FI Tech ...