New Zealand fishermen have landed a half-ton, 39-foot-long colossal squid, probably the largest specimen ever recovered. I once wrote a science column about colossal squid (which are a different species from giant squid). I like this paragraph: “I can assure you that this is going to draw phenomenal interest. It is truly amazing,” said Dr. …
Popular Mechanics explains the plans. I’m really happy we’re heading back to the moon, but I found this paragraph depressing: It took pilots 50 years to progress from scarf-and-goggles barnstorming to setting down footprints on the Sea of Tranquility; it will have taken another half-century for us to return to the moon. Sigh. Oh, and …
More photos here.
More photos here.
A Swiss entrepreneur says his thin-film solar panels will provide power more cheaply than fossil fules within five years: Even though solar technology has made significant gains since the 1970s when it cost $100 per watt (now it’s $3 to $4 per watt), that sweet spot of beating out fossil fuels is $1 per watt. …
According to a new study, group thinking clouds decision-making: People have a harder time coming up with alternative solutions to a problem when they are part of a group, new research suggests. I think every organization should seriously look into this problem, perhaps by striking a committee. Oh, wait…
Every year The Web Site @ the End of the Universe creates a free downloadable science fiction calendar. This year, it’s the swimsuit edition! (That’s Miss January at left.)
Monday was Family Day in Saskatchewan, and probably more than one family that got together that day set a dinner-time rule: “Don’t talk about politics.” Political disagreements, unlike run-of-the-mill disagreements, tend to turn hot very quickly. And that’s just one way they’re unusual, says Michael Huemer of the University of Colorado in Boulder. In “Why …
Here comes the bionic eye, the best hope yet of restoring sight to the blind: Profoundly blind people could get their best shot yet of restored vision with a more advanced “bionic eye”, researchers have announced. Trials of the new retinal prosthesis will begin shortly, following the success of a prototype that has enabled six …
Here’s the first review I’ve seen of Terry Gillam’s Tideland, shot in Saskatchewan (as you can see in the photo that accompanies the article, which was clearly taken in the Qu’Appelle Valley). In fact, a great deal of it was shot across the street from the condo we lived in until last October, at the …
…when you’ve got DNA? Japanese scientists say it might be possible to use DNA to store text, images, music and other digital data for thousands of years inside living organisms. Masaru Tomita and colleagues at Tokyo’s Keio University say data encoded in an organism’s DNA, and inherited by each new generation, could be safely archived …
Robert J. Sawyer, a friend and someone whose Writing With Style sessions on writing science fiction I’ve twice attended at the Banff Centre, has received the Toronto Public Library Celebrates Reading Award. Established in 2001, this is one of Canada’s top book-related honours. The award, which includes a cash prize of $2,500 and a crystal …
