More on hyperspace drive

Here’s the New Scientist article that is referred to in The Scotsman‘s story about a possible “hyperspace drive” that I blogged about yesterday.

Is this the great e-book breakthrough we’ve been waiting for?

It’s The Sony Reader and it looks intriguing, but you know what? I’m finding my Audiovox Harrier is a jim-dandy e-book reader all on its own. The Sony one looks like overkill for just reading text.

A working hyperspace drive?

The Scotsman sums up the cover story from The New Scientist this week: AN EXTRAORDINARY “hyperspace” engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government. They’re serious. It probably isn’t really possible. But if it is…wow.

Scenes from Saskatoon

Photo research for my APEGS book took me to Saskatoon today–and a beautiful day it turned out to be, with the sun shining on hoarfrost. Alas, I didn’t have my good camera with me, so I had to make do with my Audiovox Harrier built-in camera. Still, I thought these were worth sharing. Below, from …

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A wee dram o’ chemical engineering

As a dark-haired man, I have spent a number of recent New Year’s Eves standing out in the cold just before midnight so I can be the first person into the house. This is my own fault for having married into a family whose Scottish heritage includes the custom of “first-footing,” which dictates that the …

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Paging Orson Scott Card

The Air Force is looking to develop spacewar skills through computer games.

Superlens in sight?

Oregon State University researchers have made an important step toward a functional superlens, one using negative refraction–that is, it bends light the opposite direction to things in nature. Why should you care? In theory, a superlens might be able to attain visual resolution at the level of the nanometer, which is pretty small – a …

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A wonder of the world?

Here’s a lot more detail about the proposed New Mexico spaceport. The New Mexico spaceport is to be environmentally friendly in consideration of the local surroundings, featuring an eye looking up into space, Branson said. “As you look down at it from space, seeing this giant eye in the middle of the desert….maybe I’m over …

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Happy New Year!

And that’s all I have to say today! (Well, probably.)

The Case of the Disappearing Teaspoons

In the British Medical Journal, reported by Science Blog, results of fascinating and vital research from the Burnet Institute in Australia on the well-known yet baffling phenomenon of tea (and, by extension, coffee) spoons disappearing in the workplace. Some results: During the study, 56 (80%) of the 70 teaspoons disappeared. The half life of the …

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A "Huh?" for Wired News

Wired News‘s top science story of 2005 is global warming. Fair enough, but the first sentence of their paragraph describing it brought me up short: “1. It’s getting hot in here: Thanks to the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, global warming can no longer be ignored.” The linking of global warming to Katrina is just …

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What brings people to my website?

From Sitemeter, here are the top search terms that bring people to my main website, Edward Willett’s Intergalactic Library (out of the last 4,000 visits, which is probably eight to 10 days’ worth): No. ofvisits………….Search term131…………….hamoukar42……………..riedel glasses37……………..rogue waves35……………..christmas physics34……………..pheremones31……………..riedel wine glasses29……………..christmas chemistry26……………..christmas questions22……………..hygiene hypothesis19……………..edmund scientific17……………..physics of football15……………..animal emotions14……………..riedel glass13……………..skycar13……………..golf technology12……………..skunks12……………..art restoration12……………..animal intelligence That high-ranking placement …

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