I used to live with a guy who had no sense of smell – true story, but feel free to apply your own punchline. At the time, the cause of this phenomenon (known as anosmia) was unclear, but recent research indicates that my friend may simply have had an overabundance of ‘death factor’ cells in his nasal mucus.

However, mucus has its uses – in unnatural noses as well as the real thing. A group of UK scientists have discovered that furnishing their ‘electronic nose’ with a mix of polymers that replicate the function of human snot vastly improves the device’s ability to discern different scents.

I was pretty sure this theory had been around for a while, but apparently a new study is suggesting that black holes may actually be wormholes leading to entirely new universes. Of course, this being an astronomy and physics theory, there’s little consensus on the validity of the results. Assuming it’s true, maybe we should be thinking about building a warp drive to get us to the nearest interdimensional gateway. But wait – if that’s possible, then there’s a chance that extraterrestrial intelligences have pipped us to the technological post, and are heading our way in a mighty battle fleet! But George Dvorsky says there’s little point spending any time worrying about what to do in the event of an alien invasion – it’ll be over before we know it’s arrived.

There’s no need to feel jealous of Google employees for getting to see lectures and presentations by the great and the good on work time – because the Big G has decided to share the wealth and let us lowly web-heads watch the events in video form. I knew they had to be buying YouTube for a reason …

Of most interest to genre fiction fans will be videos of Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link and Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, and the incredibly recent visit by John “If rocks stars can tour, so can I” Scalzi.

There’s lots of others interesting people in the selection too; I’ve not watched them yet, but I’m guessing that Lawrence Lessig and Chris “Long Tail” Anderson will be well worth watching, too – whether you’re already interested in copyright issues and internet marketing or not.

[Crossposted from VCTB]

Bruce Sterling is that rarest of things – a visionary science fiction author who has made the transition to being a visionary outside of the genre. In a typically poetic article for Metropolis Magazine, he takes a look at the potential future that could await a digital world society that embraces green ‘ambient powered’ wireless communications technology – while nodding towards the doom awaiting a planet that doesn’t wise up to energy efficiency.

The casual visitor to Second Life may be put off by the sheer acreage of crap that a newcomer ends up running into. I know I was – and I didn’t start going back until I’d seen reports of things really worth seeing. Luckily, you can teleport from place to place, and hence avoid the tedium in between the good stuff – but you still need a list of places to check out. Which is where comics maverick Warren Ellis’s column for Reuters comes in handy – and this week, he simply lists a bunch of his favourite virtual haunts. If you have a few hours to spare of the weekend, why not create a free account and go and see what all the fuss is about? And if you visit The Wastelands, be sure to stop by and say hello.