Radar scans by Europe’s ‘Mars Express’ probe have detected what may be thin layers of water ice near to the polar cap deposits located previously.

The UK’s Bath University houses a project known as ‘RepRap’, short for ‘Replicating Rapid-Prototyper’. Basically, the idea is to produce a machine that can duplicate itself (and other industrial products) and then give away the resulting device under the GNU public licence – in other words create a von Neumann Universal Constructor.

DARPA is the branch of the Pentagon charged with keeping the US out in front of its competitors when it comes to technological superiority. They’ve come up with some pretty loopy ideas before, but the BBC are most unimpressed by their plans for insects implanted with micro-systems for control and surveillance.

Orville Schell has penned a harrowing guided tour of Iraq through a reporter’s eyes. What’s most absorbing from a futurismic perspective is the account’s detail of day-to-day life in an environment where modern weapons are ubiquitous and in constant use.

The organization National Popular Vote wants to make an end run around the U.S. Constitution to make the Electoral College irrelevant by convincing states to pass laws pledging all their votes to the winners of the popular election.