Everybody likes lists, especially around New Year’s. The magazine Popular Mechanics is no exception: its December issue included the magazine’s choices for the top 50 inventions of the last 50 years, as compiled by 25 experts from 17 museums and universities across the United States. As it happens, when searching for column topics, I also …
This story about North Dakota planning to test balloons as a method of extending cellphone service caught my eye because of the book I’m working on about Saskatchewan engineering projects of note. In the late 1970s a SaskTel engineer proposed that it should be possible to use a string of hot-air balloons, rather like tethered …
The Rocket Racing League has just introduced its first team, which not surprisingly features some ex-fighter pilots. The figures quoted for getting going in the leauge sound like a lot of money–but it’s actually cheaper than getting involved in auto racing.
…not for space exploration, but for sequencing the DNA of 100 individuals within a limited time frame. This would represent a medical breakthrough and could lead to an era of medicine based on personal genomics. (Via FuturePundit.)
Video captures the attack by a giant Pacific Octopus on a remote-controlled submarine. Where was Kirk Douglas and his harpoon?
…is here. And well worth a visit, even if it hasn’t been freshened up in a while. It’s not like any of the stuff on the site is going to go (any more) out of date! (Via Medgadget.)
This sounds like good news!
Need a hobby? Download plans for paper models of great science-fictional spacecraft. (Via The Corner.)
South Pole Detector Could Yield Signs of Extra Dimensions.
Hard on the heels of my previous post about Russian plans to mine Helium-3 on the moon, The Speculist gives a quick overview of the state of fusion research–and mentions something I saw but didn’t quite know what to make of, a Chinese claim that it may be on the verge of creating the first …
A Russian space official claims Russia will have a permanent base on the moon by 2020 to mine Helium 3 to fuel nuclear fusion reactors. Presumably that means the Russians also expect we’ll have energy-producing fusion reactors by then. I hope they’re right, but I think I’m going to have to fall back on my …
…this makes me happy.
