As you may have read, a certain US satellite is heading back to Earth rather faster than expected. Some people are worried that when the satellite crashes back to Earth, the hydrazine fuel cell within may cause chlorine-poisoning-like symptoms to anyone nearby. That two thirds of our planet is water and that the size of the effect isn’t much than a few acres doesn’t seem to matter. The US have decided to blow the satellite up in orbit before we get the chance to play satellite crashland lottery, in a move that many analysts see as retaliation for China shooting down its own satellite last year. At least we might get to see some pretty effects, if someone manages to capture the missile on video.
All posts by Tomas Martin
Space in video games
Online video game magazine The Escapist, home to the hilariously funny animated review column Zero Punctuation, has the theme of space for its 136th issue. They talk about why the starfighter genre appears to have died down since the heyday of X-Wing vs Tie Fighter and Wing Commander and about how science fiction is, although often set in the future, a commentary about now.
Although the space combat genre is in a lull right now, space strategy and so called ‘4X’ civilisation games are enjoying some underground success thanks to the efforts of indie games publisher Stardock, which produced the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilisations II last year. Its latest release, Sins of a Solar Empire, came out this month and combines Real Time Strategy elements of controlling fleets of spacecraft as well as exploration and colonisation. Currently holding a very respectable 87% average on Metacritic and impressing this writer enough to squeeze it into my schedule, games like this and Will Wright’s forthcoming evolutionary Spore are showing that maybe there’s a future for space in video games after all.
Autonomous fridges and dryers decide best time to use electricity
Discover has an article on a new smart technology being employed in prototype household appliances like fridges and tumble dryers. The project, GridWise, put small chips into the appliances of 200 homes. The chips read the levels of electricity usage from the grid – when the grid is heavily in use, they turn off, saving their high energy use for when larger amounts of energy is being wasted unused across the country.
As well as helping providing blackouts, widescale adoption of such technology could enable consumers to maximise the efficiency of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, which are not consistent in their output. The chips can also be hooked up to realtime energy prices, only turning on your thermostats and washing machines when the price is low.
Anonymous continues to blur the boundaries between the internet and the real world
After calling for mass protests against Scientology in its videos a few weeks ago, did online collective Anonymous have any effect on the world? Well, around 500 people showed up to protest in both London and Los Angeles, with hundreds more in other cities. The majority of protesters in London wore striking Guy Fawkes masks like in the film ‘V for Vendetta’. Protests appear to have been peaceful and in good spirits – eyewitnesses talk of lots of shouting of internet memes such as ‘The Cake Is A Lie’ from video game ‘Portal’, and little to no problems with police. Overall an estimated 7000 people in 100 cities across the world protested against alleged human rights abuses by the church.
It’s fascinating to see that many of the protesters were in their teens and twenties. This, together with evidence of large youth turnout in the Democratic Presidential Primaries suggest that the internet is gradually starting to increase the participation of some young people with real world politics and protest, rather than diminishing it. And with Anonymous’ activities moving away from the legally murky waters of hacking towards peaceful protest, are we seeing a return of the protest-happy youth of the sixties, with the help of some www’s?
Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology at five years old
Via the blog Responsible Nanotechnology, Mike Treder, Executive Director of the Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology presents his thoughts on the state of the emerging science of nanotech, five year’s since the centre’s creation. He begins by highlighting the original positions made by CRN in 2003:
“Early in 2003, we published the following foundational statements that summarized CRN’s basic positions:
- Effective use of nanotechnology can benefit everyone.
- Unwise use of nanotechnology can be very dangerous.
- Nanofactory technology can be used safely.
- Preventing nanotechnology is impossible; careful study will be necessary for wise use.
- Effective use of nanotechnology will require intelligent and prudent policy-making.
- The situation is urgent; nanofactories may be developed within a decade.“
The following post then analyses each of these in turn, comparing things now in 2008 to how it was then back in 2003. There’s been a lot of progress in the field since then but they believe their assumptions remain true. As new ways to manipulate matter at the nanoscale are discovered, potential beneficial uses and dangers will increase exponentially. Theodore Judson’s forthcoming novel ‘The Martian General’s Daughter’ for instance, has a Roman-like empire collapsing because a nanotechnology plague is destroying the metal inside computers and equipment.
[DNA tetrahedron created by Andrew J. Turberfield, Department of Physics, University of Oxford. Image via Nanorex, Inc.]