Real-Life 3D X-Files Reveal Asteroid Leveled Siberian Region

When the object detonated in midair, Sandia's report says, the force of the blast appears to have been contained by the Earth's atmosphere, funneling downward as a column of superheated gas. In fact, the atmosphere might have been the trigger for the explosion, as increasing resistance compressed the asteroid until it detonated.

'Active glacier found' on Mars

"If it was an image of Earth, I would say 'glacier' right away," Dr Gerhard Neukum, chief scientist on the spacecraft's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) told BBC News.

"We have not yet been able to see the spectral signature of water. But we will fly over it in the coming months and take measurements. On the glacial ridges we can see white tips, which can only be freshly exposed ice."

Giving Avatars Real Bodies

Scientists have developed an interface between reality and virtual reality in which, in a sense, virtual reality can control reality.

The puppet-like system is called "Ubibot" (short for "ubiquitous robot"), and is a composite of three different types of robots: Sobot a software robot (a virtual reality avatar), Mobot a mobile robot, and Embot an embedded robot.

(Via Future Scanner.)

Forget those Japanese bicycles; take a look at these Pakistani trucks!

I saw "I Am Legend" today. Besides featuring Will Smith's best performance to date, it's a visual triumph: its depiction of an apocalyptic Manhattan is the most attentive and arresting of any film I can think of (with the possible exception of Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys"). Real effort was spent transforming New York into a weather-beaten carcass, and the result yields moments of genuine visual poetry. Factor in Smith's convincing alienation and the first half of the film is wrenchingly good.

But there are problems. For one, the CGI zombies are too obviously CGI. Computer-generated FX work best when cooking up insects and reptiles, as in "The Mist"; the scrambling cadavers that feast on screen-time in "I Am Legend" move with a biomechanical complexity that betrays their unreality and aggravates the viewer's suspension of disbelief.

But the defining problem with "I Am Legend" is the ending, which insults the intelligence of the rest of the film (and that of its audience) with a whorish appeal to superstition and the oh-so-flawed cinematic wisdom that Love Conquers All. Like "Children on Men," "I Am Legend" succumbs to one of the deadliest science fiction foes of all: undeserved optimism.

(To read author Peter Watts' review, click here.)

South Koreans Clone Cats that Glow in the Dark

South Korean scientists have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene, a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, officials said Wednesday. In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.

(Via Futurismic.)

Paleovirology

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), like the more typical retroviruses such as HIV, rewrite the DNA of the cells they infect; the endogenous retroviruses do so not just to the somatic (body) cells, but to the germline (reproductive) cells, becoming part of the DNA we pass down to the next generation. These aren't rare -- more of our DNA comprises these old retroviruses than genes that actually code for proteins. New ERVs generally will quickly lose their potency as viruses, but can come to play critical roles in how our bodies operate.

Makes you wonder if there could be a literal Burroughsian "word virus" lurking in our neurological source code . . .





Chernobyl: Lost world

Scientists have had access to limited data when it comes to assessing the true facts within the 4,000 square kilometres of the "zone of alienation". Photographs of the abandoned city of Pripyat, near Chernobyl, reveal that trees and shrubs have started to sprout through the roads and buildings. Nature has begun to reclaim what was originally lost to urban development and agriculture.

"Zone of alienation" has such a dire existential ring to it, don't you think?

(Both items cribbed from Beyond the Beyond.)

You're thinking it's the same picture as before, aren't you? Guess again!

So, can you find all of the aliens? (And no, I don't count.)

(Big thanks and best holiday wishes to Elan.)

I appear on the latest episode of The Paracast discussing the reformation of ufology with Daniel Brenton and Jeff Ritzmann. The MP3 is available here.

"Fallen Art" is one of the most original and disturbing works of digital animation to have graced my monitor. Fellow Kafka fans might find it reminiscent of "In the Penal Colony."



(Thanks to Michael Garrett for the heads-up!)

You can catch my "profound" thoughts on the UFO phenomenon in the second half of this clip from "Best Evidence: Top Ten UFO Sightings."

For more information, check out the new Redstar blog.

Halifax is a haven for used-book stores. Here I am trying (in vain) to find the science fiction section.





Paul Kimball and assistant Christine Boss man the cash-box at the Wired Monk prior to show-time.





The obligatory visual pun (taken within the perimeter of the town's iconic citadel). As you might imagine, I needed that stocking hat.

Haunted Mouses

How have we come to accept and circulate as everyday snapshots the obscure output of ultrasound, M.R.I. and CT-scan technology? On a primitive level, crude renderings of the inside of our bodies simply look spooky. On a more sophisticated level, these magnetic-resonance images apparently show traces of our hydrogen atoms magnetized, spun by radio waves and amplified to make soft tissue visible. That's no less spooky.

Today's new methods of making and sharing digital images have not allowed us to see things more clearly, in other words. Rather, they've introduced new kinds of visual and auditory static. The Internet's greatest production might in fact be just this beguiling static, unpredictable bytes of sound and light that fly around in cyberspace until someone interprets them.

(Via The Anomalist.)

Seas Could Rise Twice as High as Predicted - Study

Experts working on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have suggested a maximum 21st century sea level rise -- a key effect of global climate change -- of about 32 inches (0.8 metres).

But researchers said in a study appearing on Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience that the maximum could be twice that, or 64 inches (1.6 metres).

More delicious retro futurity, from "Metropolis" to Syd Mead.

(Thanks: Gerry Canavan.)

I finally got the digital photos from my Halifax trip "developed." (I used a disposable digicam and had to wait for a chance to drop it by a pharmacy. Yes, I know I need to upgrade.)

Here's one of me taken in the food-court of a mall. I'm wearing a button that reads "There Is No Mad Tofu Disease."





More to come . . .

Veteran researcher Jacques Vallee discusses UFOs in this 1979 clip:

Who Speaks for Earth?

Zaitsev has already sent several powerful messages to nearby, sun-like stars -- a practice called "Active SETI." But some scientists feel that he's not only acting out of turn, but also independently speaking for everyone on the entire planet. Moreover, they believe there are possible dangers we may unleash by announcing ourselves to the unknown darkness, and if anyone plans to transmit messages from Earth, they want the rest of the world to be involved.

I can't help myself! More gorgeous retro SF cover art!

(With thanks to Steve S.)

'Exodus' to virtual worlds predicted

The appeal of online virtual worlds such as Second Life is such that it may trigger an exodus of people seeking to "disappear from reality," an expert on large-scale online games has said.

(Via Blogging the Singularity.)

As I wrote previously:

Maybe one of the reasons we have yet to make irrefutable contact with extraterrestrials is because ET civilizations tend to reach a point of terminal decadence, an erotic cul-de-sac that precludes exploration. (Compare and contrast such an implosion to the "Singularity" too many of us are waiting for with bated breath.) Sufficiently advanced ETs might while away the millennia in a hedonistic stupor, brains (or their equivalent) melded to pleasure-generating devices.

Silver Bridge Disaster 40 Years On (Greg Bishop)

Despite numerous attempts to debunk the Mothman itself, the concatenation of strange events in the area from 1966-67 still continues to defy rational explanation, and is a classic case of a paranormal "window"-type event. Like hauntings and UFO flaps, the period of strangeness lasted for a finite amount of time, and Keel looked at the period in a way that still provides a good lens to examine other spooky goings-on.

Project Aiko's assertive fembot

From the demonstration video: "Please let go of my arm. You are hurting me. Why did you do that for? It hurt. I don't want to do this anymore. I do not like it when you touch my breasts."

More Evidence that Gliese 581 Has Planets in the Habitable Zone

The discovery of Gliese 581 was one of the most exciting moments in extrasolar planetary researcher. Astronomers found an Earth-massed planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a distant star. This would mean that liquid water could be on its surface - and maybe life. Now there's even more evidence that Gliese 581 is living up to the speculation. Astronomers have published two independent studies this week, claiming that there are least 2 Earthlike planets orbiting the star within the habitability zone.

Even "Blade Runner" didn't see this coming.

(For more, click here.)

Evolution vs creation row ends in stabbing

(Thanks: Peter Watts.)

NASA gets hip to Mars anomalies:

Strange Shapes Seen on Mars

NASA scientists have discovered what might form some of the weirdest landscapes on Mars, winding channels carved into the Martian surface that scientists have dubbed "spiders," "lace" and "lizard skin."

The unusual landscape features form in an area of Mars' south pole called cryptic terrain because it once defied explanation.

(Via The Anomalist.)

"Cryptic terrain." I like that.

Here's a solar-powered augmented reality window that responds to the owner's "intuitive gestures." Is it too late to add this to my Christmas wish-list?



(Found at Beyond the Beyond.)

Do you like pulp UFO/science fiction covers as much as I do? If so, nirvana is a mere click away!

(Hat tip to Elan.)

Spacecraft chases highest clouds

"These clouds are getting brighter with time, they're seen more often and also they're being seen at lower latitudes," said James Russell from Hampton University, Virginia, US.

"These are things we don't understand and they all suggest a possible connection to global change; and we need to understand that connection and what it means for the whole atmosphere," he told BBC News.

Don't look now, but even Boing Boing is pimping Hoagland's "Dark Mission."

Did UFO encounter cost woman her life?

The hovering UFO then moved higher into the sky. As it flew over the treetops, Cash and Landrum claimed that a group of military helicopters approached the object and surrounded it in tight formation. Cash started up her car and left the scene. She claimed to see glimpses of the UFO and the helicopters receding into the distance, according to the Web site.

That night, Cash, Landrum and her grandson all got sick. They suffered from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, general weakness, a burning sensation in their eyes and feeling as though they had been sunburned. Over the next few days, Cash's symptoms got worse when she developed blisters and hair loss. She was taken to the local emergency room for treatment on Jan. 3, 1981. The Landrums fared somewhat better, though both suffered from lingering weakness, skin sores and hair loss.

(Via UFOMystic.)

The Cash-Landrum incident is disturbing on multiple fronts, not the least of which is the possibility that some faction of the military has secretly pioneered a form of "antigravity" propulsion. There's no need to invoke extraterrestrial pilots or reverse-engineering in order to make sense of the case; I contend that the explanation for what Cash and the Landrums witnessed is close-to-home but nevertheless off-limits.

In 2007, Polar Ice Cap Vanished at Record Clip

Arctic ice at the North Pole melted at a record rate in the summer of 2007, the latest sign that climate change has accelerated in recent years, climate scientists said on Wednesday.

"In 2007, we had off-the-charts warming," Michael Steele, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, said at the 2007 meeting of the American Geophysical Union, where 15,000 researchers have gathered to discuss earthquakes, water resources, and climate change.

It gets scarier . . .

An Ice-Free Arctic?

A scientist from NASA is predicting that the Arctic Ocean could be completely barren of ice by the summer of 2012. Scientists are alarmed at the rapidly increased melting in the Arctic. In recent years, the total amount of yearly melted ice has risen dramatically from the year before. Scientists fear a feedback loop, where the newly melted ice warms the world's oceans while the increasing lack of ice cover, which reflects 80% of the Earth's sunlight, will hasten the melting process.

Author/blogger Daniel Brenton has a tentative plan to "fix" UFO research, effectively starving out the "kook factor" that pollutes our collective understanding of the phenomenon (or phenomena) by appealing to peer review and skeptical oversight. Will it work? I don't know. But I don't see what we have to lose by trying.

Big Machines Parked In Orbit - Black Ops, Star Wars Or ET? Or All Of The Above?

A young man by the name of John Lenard Walson has discovered a new way to extend the capabilities of small telescopes and has been able to achieve optical resolutions - at almost the diffraction limit - not commonly achievable. With this new-found ability, he has proceeded to videotape, night and day, many strange and heretofore unseen objects in earth orbit. The resulting astrophotographic video footage has revealed a raft of machines, hardware, satellites, spacecraft and possibly space ships which otherwise appear as 'stars'...if they appear at all.

Interesting images. Any ideas?

Under the sea: Dubai's underwater hotel takes shape

Guests and visitors will arrive at the land station, on Dubai's Jumeirah Beach, where they can view a high-tech cinema presentation on the evolution of aquatic life and underwater architecture. The wave-shaped land station will be stunning to look at in its own right, and it will house Hydropolis staff, marine biology research labs, a conference center, parking and even a cosmetic surgery practice.

Come for the meditative underwater ambience -- stay for the face-lifts!

Headline of the day!

Man falls into vat of cyanide

"I'll Take the Rain" (R.E.M.):

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting at Record Rate

"The amount of ice lost by Greenland over the last year is the equivalent of two times all the ice in the Alps, or a layer of water more than one-half mile (800 meters) deep covering Washington DC," said Konrad Steffen of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Using data from military and weather satellites to see where the ice is melting, Steffen and his colleagues were able to monitor the rapid thinning and acceleration of ice as it moved into the ocean at the edge of the big arctic island.

The extent of the melt area was 10 percent greater than the last record year, 2005, the scientists found.

A ufological anthem?

Mars rover finds signs of microbial life

"Whichever of those conditions produced it, this concentration of silica is probably the most significant discovery by Spirit for revealing a habitable niche that existed on Mars in the past," he said.

"The evidence is pointing most strongly toward fumarolic conditions, like you might see in Hawaii and in Iceland."

In other space news:

Spider attacks shuttle

Study finds humans still evolving, and quickly

The pace of human evolution has been increasing at a stunning rate since our ancestors began spreading through Europe, Asia and Africa 40,000 years ago, quickening to 100 times historical levels after agriculture became widespread, according to a study published today.

By examining more than 3 million variants of DNA in 269 people, researchers identified about 1,800 genes that have been widely adopted in relatively recent times because they offer some evolutionary benefit.

Until recently, anthropologists believed that evolutionary pressure on humans eased after the transition to a more stable agrarian lifestyle. But in the last few years, they realized the opposite was true -- diseases swept through societies in which large groups lived in close quarters for a long time.

Altogether, the recent genetic changes account for 7% of the human genome, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(Via Beyond the Beyond.)

The implications make the mind reel . . .

Make of this what you will.

A Most Complex Encounter (Whitley Strieber)

Then I was in bed again, and aware that I was asleep, and not only that but I was dreaming about the lives of five different Whitley Striebers unfolding in five parallel universes at the same time, one of which was the one I was in.

While this was happening, the five of them were distinct, and I was inside five different selves at once. There was no confusion, and I wasn't on the outside looking in. I was in these lives, living them, all at the same time. I wasn't in the least confused by this. It seemed extraordinary, of course, but also perfectly possible.

To Tame the Solar Wind

The beauty of the concept is that you do away with a material structure of the sort so tricky to deploy in large solar sail designs. Instead, you generate the magsail from within the spacecraft. Couple this with a particle beam and you may have an interstellar vehicle on your hands.

Warning sounded over 'flirting robots'

The artificial intelligence of CyberLover's automated chats is good enough that victims have a tough time distinguishing the "bot" from a real potential suitor, PC Tools said. The software can work quickly too, establishing up to 10 relationships in 30 minutes, PC Tools said. It compiles a report on every person it meets complete with name, contact information, and photos.

(Via Peter Watts' blog.)

Apparently there's been some naive speculation that "CyberLover" is poised to pass the Turing Test. (Not a chance . . . although maybe I shouldn't be too quick to write it off, not having "spoken" with it).

Turing-compliant or not, this development cheers me because it provides further evidence for my pet theory that true AI will arise from sexbots (online, in meatspace or -- perhaps more likely -- in augmented reality). Dispense with cheery visions of android receptionists; the first convincing humanoid robots will be sex workers. They'll have to pass for "real" if they're to do their jobs, and the economic imperative for true-to-life pleasure bots will persist so long as there's a market. (And do you really think potential clientele will lose interest just as the requisite technologies are falling into place?)

Further musings on this subject can be found here.

Is God's face in Leonardo da Vinci's work?

It is well-documented that Leonardo, who lived between 1452 and 1519, often wrote in mirror writing, either in an attempt to stop his rivals stealing his ideas or in a bid to hide his scientific theories, often deemed as subversive, from the powerful Roman Catholic Church.

But now a group known as The Mirror of the Sacred Scriptures and Paintings World Foundation believes that he applied the same technique to some of his best-known creations, including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, to conceal mysterious faces and religious symbols.

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Unsurprisingly, the "mirroring" technique has been used tirelessly in an effort to make sense of intriguing formations on the surface of Mars. I hesitate to call it an invalid research tool, but it's fraught with unique aesthetic difficulties.

There's no hope -- and this rigorously scientific chart by R. Crumb proves it!

(Thanks, Ectoplasmosis!)

I come to you with yet more pulp magazine covers (alphabetized by artist). Unfortunately no thumbnails, so click at random and hope you unearth a gem.

Now that I think about it, there might be an idea for a game here . . .

A fairly up-to-date account of the "alien autopsy" fiasco now appears on Wikipedia. Incredibly, the story continues to become even more convoluted as new details emerge.

Here's an interesting video of a technician demonstrating a robot's human-like responses to being pushed around. What bugs me is how endlessly compliant the robot is; when shoved, for instance, it casually regains its footing and waits for more, eyes vacant. By the video's final moments I was ready to see the bot start taking swings at the imperious human bully.

I'm not too big on T-shirts, but I'd wear this in a heartbeat.