All posts by Jeremy Eades

I'm an English teacher in Japan. I have an interest in the brain and language acquisition, not to mention writing and the pipedream that I'll become the next Asimov. Or something like that. Nice to meet you!
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Return of the airship

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A new article by Air & Space Magazine hints at a return to airships, with a focus on their potential use for heavy lifting in military and commercial applications, as well as a use as a spy platform.  That’s the idea, anyway.  It remains to be seen if the necessary advances in technology will make these behemoths economically viable.  One interesting feature would be that they might not come back in the familiar cigar shape – evidently a sphere is better for balancing out the helium.  Another cool thing would be hover pads that could push or pull on the surface, either to keep the airship above the ground/ice/sea, or hold it down while cargo is being offloaded so it doesn’t shoot up into the air like a, well, balloon.

(via SciTechDaily) (image from article)

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Heinlein – beyond the books

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This year is definitely Heinlein’s year.  We’ve posted here about Heinlein’s centennial birthday, not to mention the digital archiving of his works.

In addition, there was a symposium held in Kansas City, the town Heinlein grew up in.  There, speakers discussed Heinlein’s effects on American culture – via book, television and film – as well as less related topics.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve always enjoyed his novels, even the ones where he gets a bit preachy with libertarianism.  I remember being so excited that Starship Troopers had been made into a film that I was there on opening night, and the ensuing horror at what had been done to such a fine novel (I now loathe Casper van Dien).  This article is a good read, as it touches on Heinlein’s ventures into TV and film, neither of which were terribly successful.

(image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

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Melting northlands might mitigate some effects of climate change

There are enough bad peat puns in the article, so I’ll spare you any in the headline here.  Conventional wisdom regarding climate change dictates that as temperatures rise, the frozen lands in the north will release methane that has been locked in the ground.  Methane is regarded as being 23 times stronger than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat, so this phenomenon would likely accelerate global warming.

As bad as it may seem, it may not be quite so.  A five year study done by ecologists at Michigan State University in East Lansing has found that as the frozen peatlands thaw out, they become wetter and provide fertile ground for fast-growing water plants which will suck up carbon dioxide, thus offsetting some of the methane release.

Of course, it won’t be a one-for-one tradeoff.  And as the wetlands fill in, the water plants will be replaced by slower-growing dryland plants and trees.  These new northern forests aren’t nearly as good at reducing global warming as the tropical ones.

So there you go.  We’re still going down the tubes, just not quite as quickly as people thought before.  Well, I’m off for a drink.

(via SciTech Daily Review) (image via brewbooks)

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SF writer gets rock star treatment from Chinese

Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer received the Galaxy award, China’s top science fiction prize, from the China International Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival in Chengdu, in Sichuan province.

Sawyer gives his take on the good science fiction can do for Chinese culture – mainly by providing a venue for controversial or taboo topics to be aired in a country not known for its free speech.  In addition, Sawyer relates the current situation regarding the genre to its genesis in inter-war years of America, how people reading sci-fi are inspired to careers in science and technology, and how people can actually see the increments in life quality provided by that science.

Sawyer touches on my major reason for enjoying science fiction – social commentary:

"They’re [China’s science fiction authors] ripe for a transition to a much more interesting sociology and social impact in the softer sciences," [Sawyer] said.

That kind of writing will also allow them to write about subjects that might otherwise be too sensitive in a civilization that doesn’t allow open discussion, he said.

It makes you wonder if the transition to democracy might happen based on sci-fi stories.

Before now, I’d never heard of Robert J. Sawyer.  I think I’ll go check out some of his books my next trip to a bookstore, it sounds like he’s got some interesting ideas.

(via SciTech Daily Review)

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One man’s take on why we don’t have our moon bases yet

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Here’s a good article by Nader Elhefnawy at The Space Review about the difficulties with getting a commercial space program up and running.  He questions why no country has made a commercial venture outside satellites, and comes up with some pretty good reasons.

The positive forces the author notes are mercantilism and national pride, whereas the negatives are long and hard to argue against.

While there may be good reasons, as of now they aren’t economical ones, and money is what makes the world go ’round.  Elhefnawy points out that businesses aren’t typically the adventurers they’re portrayed as (risk is not a good thing if you want to make money), and there’s also that pesky matter of space being REALLY big and hard to get to.

In sum, I’d like to be optimistic, but without a drastic change in the way the world works, I’m not getting off this rock.  Hopefully my children will.

(image courtesy of galaxygrrl)