Visions of the Future.

Ok, ok im late on this one. Starting on November 5 and ending November 19, BBC4 (which i dont have in the U.S.) ran a 3 part series of documentaries called Visions of the Future; hosted by my absolute favorite human being in the universe: Michio Kaku. Michio sais that we are transitioning from the age of scientific discovery to the age of scientific mastery. Like i said-my favorite human being in the universe.
I have recently received copies of the broadcast and will post a full write up and review in the very near future. As a teaser, here is a trailer.

The Owls are Not What They Seem

OVVLVVERK supposedly began as a parody of another blog, but I think it's a wonderful site on its own merits. Much as we explore and report on Science, they focus solely on owls and on the multitude of connections they offer to other subjects. It reminds me of free association in longform improv or jazz.

Let's not forget Bohemian Grove. These guys LOVE owls!



Some noteable members




Here's what Nixon had to say about the place...

**You have gained a Level**

Attention all cadets:

Kindly set phasers to http://www.sciencepatrol.net/.

Of course, the old name is still active.

Your experience points can be used to purchase valuable skills.
"I'm gonna specialize in Data Mining!"

recipients of the medal of infinite density

These individuals are Immortals in the Eyes of Admiral Ackbar. He pronounces them Impenetrable, in the name of science.

• Admiral Ackbar
  
• Allen, Paul
• Archimedes (OSG)
• Asimo
• Asimov, Isaac
• Bender Bending Rodriguez
• Blow, Jonathan
  
• Conchords, The Flight of The
• Concrete Ron
• Cylon G1
• Doom, Dr. Otto von
• Fresco, Jacque
• Ganesha (OSG)
• Gondry, Michel
• Grey, Alex
• HAL 9000
• Hawking, Stephen (OSG)
• Johnny 5, S-A-I-N-T Prototype #5
• Kaku Michio
• Kojima Hideo
• Led Zeppelin
• Mega Man (Rockman)
• Megalon
• Miyamoto Shigeru
• Miyazaki Hayao
• Pistorius, Oscar
• R2-D2 (09/26/07)
• Randi, James "The Amazing" (OSG)
• Robotnik, Dr. (Genesis only)
• Stark, Tony
• Strange, Dr. Stephen
• T-1000
• T-800 (Face Melted Only)
• Tesla, Nikola
• Tezuka Osamu
• Turbo Teen
• Twiki & Dr. Theopolis
• Waits, Tom
• Wily, Dr. Albert W.
• Xavier, Charles Francis

In sixty seconds your Head will be an Egg.

Scientific American has a great video podcast series called "Instant Egghead". In their latest release, total hotty Christie Nicholson explains Moore's Law in layman's terms. Not that any of you are layman...it's just Moore's law is something that has intruiged me since i was a junior league scientist-so i get excited when total hotties start talking it up. Also, check out the first podcast-explaining dark matter.

Click To Play

Cosmos: War of the Planets

This movie is intense. especially from 1:48 to 2:00. I have watched this clip about ten times.

This day in space:1964

Fourty-three years ago today marked the launch of Mariner 4, the first man made vessel to do a flyby of the planet Mars. Since then we have come a long way-we have 2 rovers on the surface and plans for manned flight to mars are in the works for as early as the next decade.
Mariner 4 orbited Mars for over 3 years-much longer than initially expected by nasa scientists. Below are some pictures taken from mariner 4 courtesy of nasa. Happy 43rd Mariner4!

Sound Science

Not this Universe, the other one...

Constellation Eridanus

Lately scientists have been looking at some pretty strange stuff out in the cosmos. First there was the scare that observing dark energy may hasten the decay of the universe. Now astronomers are saying that a large hole at the edge of the universe could be the beginning of a whole new universe-a so called exo-universe. From iTwire:

The hole is estimated to be almost one billion light-years across, where one light-year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers (5.9 trillion miles) and is located within the constellation Eridanus.

The Mersini-Houghton team states that the hole is another universe at the edge of our own universe. Such an explanation, if true, would be the first experimental evidence of such an exo-universe, or a universe outside of our own universe.

If this is true, then stare at dark energy all you want, we found a spare universe.

The Future as Seen From The Past, Again

I drive by the old Flushing Meadows Park on the L.I.E. from time to time. That silver globe poking up from the skyline has beckoned me to do a little further research on the site. The World's Fair was a spotlight on things to come in the world of tomorrow (a creepy film shown by GM in the 1939 Fair, 2:18 is it's most sinister moment).Extravagant exhibits blanketed the former landfill and swamp once in 1939 and in '63-'64 respectively. Then, after all of that "looking toward the future" mumbo jumbo, the 196 participating companies, from GM, DuPont, the Masons, and Christian Science to Schaffer Beer and Chunky chocolate bars, ( you could spend all day with this interactive map ) were required to demolish their exhibits within 90 days of the closing of the Fair. The only structures still standing on the site today were paid for with taxpayer money and deemed too expensive to demolish. Because the structures were intended to be temporary, construction crews were forced to drive new metal pilings to replace the 11 or so wood pilings that had sunk into the soft toxic slurry, all of which probably sunk as well.
In the seventies, the New York State Pavillion has housed a roller rink, as well as concerts by the Grateful Dead and The Byrds. There are plans for the structure to be renovated into a new aeronautics and space musuem, but I'm sure they'll need to put in a few more pilings for good measure.

Yours Truly,
Vision

Science Patrol Welcomes Vision Von Braun

If you peek just to your right there, under where it sais we are geniuses, you will see the tab labeled "Alpha Squad". Today i have the great pleasure of announcing our first addition to that list since our inauguration. Science Patrol gladly welcomes Vision Von Braun as a regular contributor here at the fight. VvB has been a vital force behind the scenes at Science Patrol well before we first began transmitting, and we are honored to have him at our side in the fight of science for life of man. Sally Forth, Vision Von Braun!

Cybernetic Pets

Spotted over on the Behance Network comes this cute, cuddly, precious little cybernetic fawn by artist Lisa Black. Also, here is a link to a duckling in the same series.

Robot Replication Iminent

These robots are from Cornell University circa 2005. The idea is that they can replicate themselves in a contained lab environment. Each bot is made of several "molecubes"; each articulated and fitted with electromagnets to aide in assembly. Watch the video and you will soon realize that the robot is building a copy of itself out of further molecubes. The under-construction bot will even assist in the construction of itself.



via Cornell News.

Days of Future Past

An amazing set of retro-skiffy landscapes.

The Damanhurian Temples

Since ancient times men have dreamed of a secret world lying underneath our own. In days of old many underground complexes have been created for many purposes, but rarely with such skill as those put to use in the design of the Damanhurian temples, located deep within the rocks of Italy, far beneath the house of a 57-year-old insurance broker who secretly built these temples starting in 1978. They were since discovered and repossessed by the government, but the work continues.

Set condition one throughout the fleet....

Thats right, today marks the long awaited return of one of the best television shows currently in production. I speak of course of Battlestar Gallactica. Tonight at 9pm est. on SciFi you can catch Razor; the two hour special event that marks the triumphant return of the series after nearly a years hiatus following the startling revalations seen in the last episodes of season 3.
Supposedly Razor will be a series of flashbacks that follow Battlestar Pegasus after the Cylon attack on the Colonies, and if the Flashback teasers that aired during the less good Flash Gordon over the last few weeks are any indication; we are in for more of the same excellent storytelling that BSG has offered in the past. Ohh and Admiral Cain returns in this and im all hot and bothered just thinking about it.

Autobot Uprising Iminent

In the wake of the CGI heavy hollywood blockbuster comes this real life transformer. Right after the video cuts off this thing jumps off the table and steals everyones Energon.
Science Patrol: Transform and Roll Out!!

spotted on hitslot.com

The Road Ahead

"My feeling is that the time has passed in which SF, in its predictive mode, can successfully utter jeremiads and point out the hazards in the road ahead. This has now become a pointless act from which all meaning has been drained, for the simple fact that the road ahead is almost nothing but hazards. To create a successful work of fiction--one that will penetrate the protective shell of numbness surrounding the reader--it is necessary to give up pointing at potholes and instead attempt to search out whatever is left of the road."

-Bruce Sterling in a letter to John Kessel, 13 June 1985

Rube Goldberg:Burn the Wind

Spotted on splodetv is this most excellent rube goldberg device that utilizes flame, explosives and combustion to continue the chain reaction. Science Patrol is not responsible for the actions contained in this video. We would have burned down the lab for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Master Blaster and your friends at Science Patrol.

We Have Arrived

Mr. T's NE Mowhawk Haxxor

I used to play World of Warcraft. I don't anymore, but I did.
I probably wouldnt have stopped had i known Mr. T had hacked the game so he could play a Night Elf Mohawk. While WoW is one of the most expansive, immersive, and engrossing games you can play; if there is one thing it lacks it is Night Elf Mohawks as a playable class.
Epic.

Me and My Squad of Ultimate Badasses Will Protect You

"I'm ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State-of-the-badass-art! You do not want to FUCK with me. Check it out. Hey, Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate bad-asses will protect you. Check it out. Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. Whap! Fry half a city with this puppy! We got tactical smart missiles, phase plasma pulse rifles, RPG's... we got Sonic Electronic Ball-Breakers! We got nukes. We got knives, sharp sticks, bolos, nunchucks...we be doin' Indian burns...."
-Private William Hudson, Aliens

Meat.

Although im told its a classic, i recently discovered This hilarious short story by Terry Bisson. Coincedentally not 24 hours later was i made aware of this meaty stuff. Apearantly if you are made out of meat, you need a meat chair, a meat toilet, a meat bike, a meat iron, and a meat blowdryer so you can rep your meaty pride.

from OhGizmo!
Paolo Maria Deanesi(artist page)

I speak Basic.....only Basic.

I dont speak Russian. In fact im not even sure what language it is that i dont speak, but that's o.k. because This entire page is full of breathtaking CG images; and a picture paints a thousand words. Go there, check them out-there are dozens.

Victorion, Defender of the Mission

Every neighborhood should have a benevolent mecha watching over it.

We <3 Rube Goldberg

Virtual Worlds within Virtual Worlds

This is an old article, but it represents the forefront of artificial life research in the Offworld Colonies.

The continent of Svarga is an artificial environment in Second Life that is growing and evolving on its own. James Wagner Au reports.

Truck the Future

Otaku-like truck drivers in Japan drive these pimped-out monstrosities that look like Optimus Prime crashed into a pachinko parlor.

Steampunk Mission to Venus

No man-made probe has ever survived for more than 2 hours on the surface of the planet Venus. Things there melt, as its surface tempature is a sweltering inferno teeming with corosive atmospheric gases and cosmic radiation. That is why nasa wants to go there. Because you kind of cant. New research on old science from two scientists at the Glenn Research Center in Ohio is out to change all that and send a robot to the Venusian surface that can survive there for at least several weeks.
By utilizing a device invented in 1816 called a Stirling Cooler, the scientist are working on a rover that uses the expansion and compression of gas in a piston to keep the electronic circuits cool. The Stirling Cooler was invented in 1816 by a Scottish clergyman named Robert Stirling, who had no intention of going to Venus at the time.
While NASA currently has not approved a mission to Venus, Im betting a rover that can survive its harsh surface can probably convince them to give him a ride.

link

What You are Now Watching is Only the Beginning

On Friday night I was witness to a wonderful nocturnal display that I would compare to the Northern Lights: only through being in the right place at the right time would one be able to seee something totally incredible.

Leaving all hyperbole aside, what did happen? New York Public Access did play, at 1:30 AM, a program that I have described in my logs as "the channel-surfing of the Gods." The specific Gods would in any paper of record be nameless, but were definitely chthonic, eldritch, lustful and bloodthirsty, and some were quite depraved. It was a bad-ass display, and despite my best efforts, the VCR recorded only static and some harrowing moans that weren't part of the original broadcast. This Youtube clip is low quality, but more is available here.



It's called Concrete TV, and the God in question is Concrete Ron, the latest recipient of a Science Patrol Medal of Infinite Density. We ran out of Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscopes, so our new gift to honorees is a pair of welding goggles that allow the wearer to stick their face inside any substance to see what's inside. I tried my pair on everything from an iron foundry to Aria Giovanni, and I know you're gonna get a kick out out of these.

Book Autopsies

By Brian Dettmer. There's more here, and here.

Plumbing the Depths of Space

Picked up Super Mario Galaxy yesterday. A lot of blogs have already commented on the tight controls and varied gameplay, so I would like to focus on the evolution of Mario's gameworld.

As you know, Galaxy centers on Mario's travels in space. I did not appreciate the nuances of this until I started playing. Then I suddenly remembered--There is no Up or Down in space.

Mario's original abilities, after all, were to run left and right, jump up, and fall down landing on opponents' backs. When Mario 64 was released, Mario could suddenly run in all directions, so players had to learn to think of "Left" and "Right" as relative, changing factors. Of course, this maps realistically to our own worldview. If I'm giving directions in real life, the expression "Run right" is meaningless. We use a frame of reference: "Facing the castle, cross the the lava pit to your right." Mario's world evolved to become more like our own.

Galaxy is a challenge precisely because most of us have never navigated open space. When Mario stands on an asteroid, the game doesn't allow us the luxury of thinking of this as a planar surface. The camera doesn't swoop behind his head, it remains dangling in space. We can clearly see the insubstantial nature of the surface, while empty space yawns all around us. Mario cannot "jump up"--he jumps away from the surface. Each jump increases the feeling that he could jump away and not be pulled back. To navigate this sphere, Mario will spend a lot of time "upside down" to our eyes. You'll constantly find your senses confounded by what your eyes are seeing.

I'm going to make a prediction now: when orbital vacations are commonplace and tourists spend their time exploring the low-grav regions of asteroids and artificial satellites, they will explain their comfort level by saying "I played a lot of Mario Galaxy as a kid."

NASA talks Sci-Fi

NASA has an excellent page displaying the tenets of Science Patrol.

Clive Barker's Jericho

I like Clive Barker's books but this sounds like excrement. This is not the future of games, people. Right? Right?

Dead Island

One thing that we like to see more of at Science Patrol is more realistic physical modeling of humans in videogames. This video displays just such a technology, to gruesome effect. (ZOMBIES ZOMG)

New Ghostbusters Game

Money Quote: All four members of the movie team -- Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis -- will be giving voice and likeness rights for the game. Some supporting castmembers have signed up as well, including William Atherton, Brian Doyle Murray and Annie Potts.

Tomorrow is the Future, Today...on Weed

This is my essential point: whatever is imagined in sci-fi (or "skiffy" as we refer to it in the lab) will eventually, probably, come to pass. This is a thing. Now, in Achewood, I read this panel some months ago, and was struck by the power of his idea. What I did not know, is that the Japanese have done exactly that. Did Ray know this, as his stoned self stood at home plate? I don't know. But science has made dunderheads of us again. What was once stoned fiction is now science fact. BLAMMM.

Writebot Uprising Iminent

From robotlab comes a kuka robotic arm programmed to scribe the entire Martin Luther version of The Holy Bible in calligraphy. These kuka arms have been programmed to do some pretty amazing things, like this higly inspired kuka arm that was hacked to be controlled via Wiimote. And use a sword.

Link.

Happy Birthday, Mario

Mario has appeared in over 200 video games to date. Super Mario Galaxies was released yesterday but I will be getting my copy tomorrow. Then none of you will hear from me for some time. Portrait by Rob Sheridan.

Mother 3 Eats your Face

Mother is the Japanese name for the series known as Earthbound in the U.S. The third entry in the series was made for Game Boy Advance several years ago, but Nintendo has thus far not approved the game for an American localization even though Mother 2 (heroes shown above) is one of the most beloved of SNES games. (Reggie Fils-Aime and George Harrision have repeatedly made rumblings about Virtual Console versions of Earthbound, Mother 3, and other classic Japanese titles, but these have thus far failed to come to fruition.)

Anyway, in the absence of real progress from Nintendo, fans are busily translating the ROM of Mother 3 into English. They've been at it for one year and this video just whets my appetite. Thanks, Nintendo, now only "pirates" will have access to this masterpiece. Arrrr!

the future is jammed

You put this on your face.

This is a new helmet they are going to use to kill people with but it is really quite amazing. The helmet works by placing several cameras on the outside of a jet. The video is then fed into a real time visual display of the entire panoramic view around the plane. So instead of looking down and seeing mostly cockpit, the pilot will be able to see the entire sky around him and the ground below.
It can also feed vital flight and combat data onto the display, and the cameras are infrared equipped to handle even the darkest of midnight sorties.
At this point, the real life fighter pilots are playing video games right there in the middle of the war. That is what i call next gen.

via Daily Mail

Taking great leaps, or stuck in the present?

The future will hold a seemingly infinite number of fields of science. Pioneers will be born every day, and the new technologies and possibilities provided will drastically change every aspects of our lives. But today, however, it seems, sometimes, that we aren't pushing the boundaries enough. Science is focused today too much on three fields: transportation, energy, and sustainability. Granted, these three are possibly three of the most important fields of knowledge and research that exist or have ever existed, but would it not be better to simply find a viable solution and move on? There are many problems to overcome, and much value can be added to our society by not saturating the environment with too many extravagant solutions to few hurdles. With this in mind, here is one of the best solutions to urban transportation that I have seen theorized yet. Now lets adopt this, and get crackin on elective prosthetics, human genetic transmogrification, and corneal video databanking.

In the End

Lance's formulation of Science Patrol: "Future Science in Present Tense." The present is actually the future, which is actually a reality foreseen in Blade Runner, Total Recall, Buckaroo Banzai, or any other sci-fi film you care to mention.

So where does Dawn of the Dead come in? I add to Lance's gambit: "Futures Multiply." Every moment of your life, with every step you take, billions and billions of new futures will be created and destroyed. All possible universes are contained within the tenth dimension. And in many of these futures, zombies will eat your brains.

Thanks to Jonathan Coulton.

Why We Fight (It's for the Future)

I hadn't bothered to learn about the Writers' Strike until now. These guys need help. It's criminal what the studios are trying to get away with.



They're absolutely right. This is the perfect time to make their stand.

Coney Island to Be Rebuilt. Better. Faster. Stronger.

Da Mayor revealed his big plans for the New Coney Island. I was glad to see that it will include a new amusement park 15 acres in size: five times as large as Astroland. However, the article notes that it may not be done for 20 years. In the future our robot bodies will not tire at the end of a long day at the park. We will power-cycle our lithium cells and dance on into the night.

A lot of eulogies have been written for Coney Island's Astroland and the tragedy of its eventual destruction but in the end I will be glad to see it go. It had its own rundown charm but things that continue to run down at some point just have to make way for the new. It seems that Astroland will actually get one more summer, so I will be glad to go back and see it for the final time. I will definitely do my mourning then. The Warriors will lose their home forever, but the Techno-Warriors will self-construct their exoskeletons from the dying embers. Long Live the Future.

Moonbot Uprising Iminent

New footage of nasa's lunar robot project called Athlete.

"It is designed for lunar cargo hauling, has full stereoscopic panoramic view and six 'legs' that can be used as wheels, legs, arms, power claws, plows and drills."

They say it may hit the moon in around a decade, but with the X-Prize for lunar landing still up for grabs we might have need for him sooner than that.

Save the Planet: Samorost

Help! The planet is doomed! Not Earth mind you, that is old news. The planet in question is your home planet in the flash game Samorost. Created by Amanita Design, this flash game stands out on so many levels. It is visually striking, it offers deep exploration and experimentation to execute each level. Both Samorost 1 & Samorost 2 are availible via the links, but be sure to check out their home page for the scoop on the newest latest.

Planet System Similar to Ours Revealed

"Finding five extrasolar planets orbiting a star is only one small step," Marcy said. "Earth-like planets are the next destination."

Stop Me if You've Heard This One

Back to the Third Age

Never let it be said that Science Patrol doesn't appreciate the traditions that have come before. The lore that was passed down in the shadows of time, over a decade ago. Before we three reached manhood, we were stewards in an entirely different order, which measured heroes by the length of the hair on their feet. Yes, friends, I am speaking of...The Lord of the Rings.

We just like that shit. We are also suckers for Dungeons and Dragons, and just imagining the combination of the two actually inspired me to buy the Middle Earth Role-Playing system (MERPs). Anyway, since we like mash-ups best of all, I give you The Twenty-Sided Tale, or what Lord of the Rings would be like, if it were a role-playing campaign played by a group of dorks. (Via the excellent Blue Tea, who also recommended three other RPG-tinged humorous quest dealies that I will be reading later: Erfworld, 8-Bit Theatre, and Order of the Stick.)

Steampunk Star Wars

The idea of a steampunk version of Star Wars has been on a bunch of blogs lately. This is a freaking awesome interpretation of Vader, but what is his saber made of? It looks like red-hot metal. I found it here. The original person given credit for this idea is Eric Poulton.

The Emperor is coming here......

Yes, and he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress. Insider sources have pointed to rumors of a scheduled visit from Lance Cardigan at Science Patrol headquarters in New York early this week. While no scientific proof has yet surfaced of such a visit, leading researchers say the theories all point in one direction. There is much speculation as to why Lance Cardigan would journey to NYC so unexpectedly. Some say it has something to do with the re-release of the film Blade Runner, while others believe that it is to discuss secret projects with other high ranking Science Patrol officials. Yanos Solong has yet to confirm or deny any allegations of such meetings. More as the story develops.

Pac-Gentleman

An inspired soul has recently unearthed one of the first penny-operated entertainment automatons, the Pac-Gentleman machine.

“When this game was first released in 1880 it was so hugely popular in taverns and inns that the bank of England was forced to mint more threepenny bits to keep up with demand. The game was created by messrs Nam & Nam and Co. as a novelty pastime for the masses. Outdoing the previous top public house game of Shove Ha’penny. “



However, that is not all! Another intrepid hacker was so inspired by this discovery that he has auto-magically "down-loaded" a disk image of this historical game and encoded it in something called "M.A.M.E." Delightful!

the Zeusaphone

You know how Tesla coils emit that crazy buzzing sound when they spark? Like God's BugZapper. Some genius at Burning Man or something figured out that you could actually program a Tesla coil to make music--especially videogame music. The original experiment from this summer was pretty awesome, but by using two coils in harmony, the awesomeness is exponentiated.

William Willett messed with your clock.

Today is Daylight Savings Time. The Time/Space continuum will no longer accept that it is Noon at noon today, and will only regard 11am as the proper time at noon. All subsequent hours will be observed on the hour previous, and that hour will fall on the hour before it. Seems tedious doesnt it. You can blame/thank William Willett for today's extra hour-as it was he who ressurected the idea from ancient societies who wanted to be around for as much of the sunlight hours as possible. Benjamin Franklin is often wrongly accredited for DST's revival, but this is incorrect as he merely mentioned the idea in an anonymous satire written in 1784.
So love it or hate it, you now have an extra hour to build that danger ray, calibrate your robots lasers, or read boring blog posts about daylight savings. See you an hour ago!

Webcomics Patrol

As a preview of the upcoming Science Patrol Blogroll, here's a look at some webcomics every scientist should enjoy. I've emphasized comics which aren't mired in continuity, so it's possible to enjoy them without being a superobsessed freak. (Although I can recommend this one Achewood comic.)


A Lesson is Learned (But the Damage is Irreversible) - Dreamlike and strange, and lamentably on indefinite hiatus, this comic is still regarded as a high-water mark in the short online history of comics. Read the archive in its entirety, and wait for the book.













Dresden Codak - A reclusive tinkerer cavorts with time-traveling robots, a tiny Carl Jung, two guys who live in a castle on the Moon, and tons of science in this lushly drawn, highly original comic that just began weekly installments.











XKCD is about the life of the mind and the weird ideas that can sometimes take over. It's also the perfect expression of romantic love in nerd's terms.

Overcompensating - This is an autobiographical comic about a shirtless, drunken comic artist who blindly stumbles through life with his best friend, the perennially stoned "rapper" Weedmaster P, his girlfriend Baby, and his secretary Tallahassee. I should also mention his amazing comic Wigu, which has fallen on hard times and an identity crisis. (It used to be a humorous comic and now it's a humorous adventure comic.)

The Perry Bible Fellowship - Visiting alternate worlds and surreal situations in a manner resembling The Far Side, Nicholas Gurewitch displays an incredible range.

Slow Wave is written by people who describe their dreams to Jesse Reklaw, who picks the best submission and adapts it each week.

Wondermark is about the characters inside old book illustrations, and the surprisingly rude and hilarious things they talk about.

That is all for Webcomics Patrol.