Reports the BBC: “Scientists say they can read a person’s unconscious thoughts using a simple brain scan.” It’s the science-fiction headline of the day! (So far…)
SF Canada Web site updated
The SF Canada Web site, for which I’m webmaster, has been updated. The Spring 2005 version of the site features short fiction by Douglas Smith and Joe Mahoney and a short science article (on panspermia) by yours truly. There’s also a complete (I hope) list of 2004 works by SF Canada members to explore, compiled …
It’s not virtual, it’s augmented
Augmented reality, that is. But, as Ann Althouse asks, “Does this make me look like a tourist?”
More on the Oxyrhynchus papyri
OK, Dirk Obbink has posted something at POxy Oxyrhynchus Online about the application of multi-spectral imaging techniques to the Oxyrhynchus papyri. The new textual discoveries will be published in the next volume of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri in May, and there will also be an article on the technical aspects in Scientific American. There are also …
Hibernation on demand
Scientists have figured out a way to put mice into hibernation at will. Is this the first step toward the realization of that well-worn SF trope, suspended animation?
Shakespeare portrait a fake
This caught my eye because I’m in Globe Theatre‘s production of Twelfth Night right now, and so am attuned to all things Shakespearean: one of the most famous portraits of William Shakespeare has turned out to be a 19th-century fake.
A soundless sound system
Elwood “Woody” Norris, the same guy who invented the personal helicopter, the AirScooter, I blogged about a few days ago, has another invention: a device for beaming sound to a single individual. No one but the target can hear it; to the person on the receiving end, it seems like the sound is coming from …
The "classical holy grail" or unholy hype?
Hmmm. So, three days after I write my column on the subject (scroll down) and the very day it appears in the newspaper, I discover this article pouring cold water on the whole idea of any major new discoveries having been made using multi-spectral imaging on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Guess we’ll all have to wait …
What do writers listen to while writing?
Strange Horizons’s James Schellenberg asked several SF writers what they listen to while writing, and if music ever inspires them to write. Nobody asked me, oddly enough–but then, the answer would be I really don’t like having music playing while I’m writing–about the only time I want music in the background is when I’m driving …
World time zone map
Need to call, say, Belarus and uncertain what time it is there? Wonder no longer.
Dead pianists to perform
And, no, this isn’t a religious post either–they haven’t been resurrected. However, low-tech, scratchy recordings by dead piano greats Glenn Gould (who died in 1982) and Alfred Cortot (who died in 1982) will take on new life in a concert in Raleigh, North Carolina next month, when a Disklavier Pro piano will play MIDI files …
Good news from Genesis
Uh, no, this isn’t a religious post. Remember Genesis, the poor old solar wind-collecting spacecraft that fell out of the sky when its parachute didn’t open? Turns out some of the key collectors, at least, are in excellent shape.
My latest live walk and vlog
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