Virtual Rube

The Half-Life 2 engine is frickin awesome. It provides amazingly lifelike physics within its environments, as eloquently demonstrated by this Rube Goldberg device built using Garry's Mod.

fully operational

A distant galaxy is shooting a death beam at another distant galaxy.

Mars and Fiction

Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the Blue Mars series, wrote this article after the Mars rovers discovered water there in 2004. He discusses how science fiction, and dreams of Mars, inspired the original rocket scientists, and carries that forward to the present day. An awesome vision of how we are reaching out to the stars. Please also see this article about the Singularity.

EDIT: Interesting synchronicity: BLDGBLOG has just posted an interview with Robinson.

Superfluid Science

Reason Enough

So, yeah....AVP:R is coming to theaters this christmas. Which i guess is reason enough to post this awesome picture of a facehugger. Learning now will save you in the future.
Click to Enlarge.

LucidTouch: Semi-Transparent Handheld Device

Are your modern conveniences too inconvenient? Can you not touch the buttons on your touchscreen display because your fingers are in the way? Do you think weirdo future gadgets are awesome? Then it looks like LucidTouch could be for you. Researchers at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab are developing this device to eliminate some of the shortcomings of modern touch screen applications.

The Invisible World

Empire Star

Comet Jo had a body that was brown and slim and looked like a cat's, and on his left hand were sharp brass claws with which he had already killed three wild kepards and a boy his own age. He also had a propensity for wandering, and this was to lead him on an adventure spanning uncounted light-years of space and incalculable spans of time, to free a race of beings upon whom the civilizations of the stars depended.

Along the way he would meet: the strange multiplex consciousness called Jewel; the beautiful, soul-burdened space traveler San Severina; a creature known as the Lump, who was half-alien, half-machine; Ni Ty Lee, the suicidal poet of the stars, who lived everyone's life but his own; a young princess of the Galactic Empire, fresh from Miss Perrypicker's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies...

And finally he would meet - himself. A thousand times, or perhaps more.

-Empire Star, Samuel Delany

More Sci-Fi Covers

Lance Hates These.....

Except this one. This one is cool.

Russians are Calling Extraterrestrials

When I was a child and I first learned about SETI, I wondered why scientists weren't actively sending out transmissions to other parts of space, instead of only listening for others to phone us. Well, it turns out that a Russian scientist has been doing just that, and others in the scientific community are demanding that he knock it off. Read all about it.

In Space, Noone can hear you Carol...

I just read This Press Release at nasa.gov inviting all of us down here on Earth to send holiday greeting cards to the astronauts at the ISS(international space station). Log on to http://www.nasa.gov and hit the link under "Interactive Features" to choose a postcard and send your own message to the crew! As soon as i finish this post, im sending them a personalized greeting from Lance Cardigan and the rest of Science Patrol! You should do the same.

UPDATE: The following message has been sent to the crew of the ISS:
Dear ISS Crew, On behalf of myself and all of the bloggers at www.sciencepatrol.net, we would like to wish you a happy holiday in space. We are very lucky to live in an age where brilliant people such as yourselves have the ability to carry out such amazing research. Have a wonderful holiday. Thanks for helping us all live in the future. -Lance Cardigan and Yanos Solong, SciencePatrol.net

Violinbotic Uprising Iminent.....

He can also melt your face on Guitar Hero III, chump.

The Enrichment Center Reminds Henchmen of Proper Loading Dock Procedure

Give Yourself Something From Your Own Future

POPSCI asked a bunch of cool guys what Geek Gifts and Ultimate Gifts they'd like to receive this holiday. What are your own wishes?


Geek Gift: A PS3. Sure, I already decided that a 360 would be a better investment of my own money. That's why I'd love someone else to buy me the PS3, so I wouldn't have to look at the price tag. With more games coming out every day, its looking more attractive by the minute.

Dream Gift: A Flux Capacitor Watch. Sure, driving a DeLorean through the space/time continuum is awesome, and with a Mr. Fusion attached you'll never have to worry about your carbon footprint. But at the end of the day, getting that baby up to 88 mph is an unreliable method of diverting those tachyons. I think I'll just ask for a wrist-mounted version instead. Thanks, Jesus!

So easy a monkey could do it.

Most of us humans have never piloted spacecraft or learned sign language. Most of us probably suck at Memory too. Not these chimps. Our evolutionary cousins at The Primate Research Institute of Kyoto have learned to outperform humans in tasks of numerical sequence and memory. The study suggests that chimpanzees may have much higher cognitive abilities than previously estimated, even by many modern biologists. The study also suggests that placing treat dispensers in arcade games is good for science.

Gaming Cubed

levelHead is a game that uses digital cameras and software to sense the cube's position on a tabletop then superimpose the game world onto the face of the cube. By tilting and turning the cube, the player moves his character through the environments on each side of the cube. Using multiple cubes, the player can guide his character from one cube to the other by finding the connecting door. The game is being designed by digital artist Julian Oliver of New Zealand. I couldn't get my head around it either till i saw this video.

Books Will Kill Us All

Paper cut-out books by Thomas Allen.

(signs of) Life on Mars

The mars rover Spirit has uncovered a batch of pure silica on a plateau called "Home Plate" on the Martian surface. Researchers say that this silica may be the result of a fumarole-or hot spring that emits acidic steam. Similar springs on Earth are typically teeming with microbial life-which leads scientists to believe that this bed of silica may be the ancient graveyard of martian microbes. While not much is understood about the fossilization of microbes in a fumarolic environment, research is being done here on earth to determine if such fossils may be available on the surface of Mars.

via telegraph.co.uk

I am Awake.

Vision von Braun has called my attention to I am Legend:Awakening; an animated next gen graphic novel by dc/vertigo that plays as a companion to the full length feature starring the fresh prince. Here is the 4th installment in the series at Apple.

Internet Relaxation Cooldown.

The Internet is a hectic place. Millions of gigabytes of information whizzing past your eyes at face melting speed. Its enough to make you freak out in a schizoid embolism if you arent careful. That is why the researchers at Science Patrol value the import of taking a deep breath and relaxing from time to time. After all-every synapse in your cerebrum is a precious one. Calibrate your browsing apparatus to THIS SITE and point your cursor towards a happier and more healthy future.

Some Blood with your Future?

I have just uncovered data that we are in contact with alien forces. Forces with only one desire: to completely mess with your Mynd while telling a great story. I'm referring to Darren Franz, a colleague of mine who has published two novels and 22 short stories in various publications. The image above is an illustration from his story "The Drain," published in Black Ink Horror Issue #0--which is sadly no longer available.

Many people may be unaware that these Writers may be people you work alongside every day. They may not make their true intentions known to you until it is too late. If you encounter a writer in your daily activities, the Science Patrol advises you to avert your eyes and do not allow them to suck you into their twisting narratives and well-established characters. It may be the last mistake you ever make.

A Novel Idea.

Back in november, Yanos made us aware of these steampunk book creations. In that same vein, i present to you the Spring Clasp Journal, spotted on cre.ations.net. This is a wonderful way to keep your journal from opening willy nilly and thus allowing anyone to peruse your entries about how much you love star trek:the next generation.

Robot (arm) Uprising Iminent....

Festo is a company that deals in industrial automation. One of their products is Airic’s_arm, a robotic arm developed based on the natural structure of the human arm, and incorporates artificial bones and muscles. This blend of nature and technology has lent itself to one of the most fluid robotic limbs i have seen to date. I want to teach a couple of these things karate so they can guard my base. Notice how the Arm is spelling "Hell" in the youtube embed!


Spotted by Yanos at Technovelgy.