How should the arts respond to the events of September 11? This question is being asked from Broadway to Hollywood, from the studios of artists to the rehearsal halls of theatres to the offices of authors. It’s even being asked by practitioners of my own art form, written science fiction. After all, in many ways, …
It sounds like something out of science fiction: surgeons in North America removing the gall bladder of a 68-year-old woman in France using a remote-controlled robot. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this month, ushering in an exciting new era of telesurgery that holds promise of saving lives all over Earth–and even off of it. …
In everyday usage, “The Pentagon” is shorthand for the U.S. military command, so we sometimes forget that it is an actual building. Last week’s terrorist attacks on the U.S. reminded us all too forcefully that it is, in fact, really just an office building–albeit one of the largest in the world, one in which 23,000 …
It’s that time of the year again. The weather is turning cooler, the leaves are changing color, Canadians are leafing through travel brochures featuring sandy beaches, blue water, and warm sunshine. Except… …except, there’s been a lot of news about shark attacks coming from those very same sunny beaches. Some could be excused for wondering …
Last month, Sicily’s Mount Etna erupted for two weeks, providing television viewers with spectacular pictures but really doing very little damage. But that’s not always the case with volcanoes. After all, the most violent explosion on Earth in modern times wasn’t a nuclear blast–it was the eruption of Krakatoa, which blew apart in 1883. The …
The recent announcement that the University of Alberta has landed a $120 million nanotechnology research facility was mostly reported as an example of how the federal Liberals are trying to woo Albertans. Surprisingly little was said about nanotechnology itself (one commentator, in fact, referred to it simply as “nanotechnology–whatever that is.”) Allow me to rectify …
Multitasking–doing several tasks simultaneously–sounds like a time management expert’s dream. What could be more efficient than, say, driving to work while talking to your secretary about the day’s meetings, or writing a report and dictating a letter while also catching the latest stock quotes on TV? There’s just one problem–new studies show multitasking doesn’t work. …
I spent the past weekend deeply involved in discussions ranging from whether the Harry Potter books teach witchcraft to children to whether technology can save the world. In between, I participated in the improvisational writing of a short story, sang songs by J. R. R. Tolkein, and photographed Dirk Benedict, former star of Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team. …
Pottery is a unique form of creative expression, one whose practitioners must be as well-endowed with technical savvy as they are with artistic vision. That’s particularly true of raku, the ceramic form practiced by Regina’s Donovan Chester. Don’s studio was the destination of the third Twilight Tour put on by the Mackenzie Art Gallery this …
Wilf Perrault’s art is among the most immediately recognizable work by any Regina artist. His landscapes capture, not the countryside, but the back alleys of this city and others, alleys where trees, bushes, power poles, fences, garages, puddles and snow come together to create unexpected beauty. Until recently, Wilf created his art in a small …
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a machine that could tell you when someone is lying? Some people believe that there is. It’s called a “polygraph”–popularly known as a “lie detector”–and it’s been in the news lately, both in Washington and in Regina. Other people, however, will tell you that the polygraph is a fraud, no …
“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man.” So began each episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, of which I was a big fan not all that many decades ago. At the time, of course, the idea of “rebuilding” a man with artificial parts was …
