Fantasist's Scroll

Here’s a follow-up story to yesterday’s post.

It’s on MSNBC. The article is all about the expedition that produced the lovely website that I posted about yesterday. Apparently, the whole discovery of new species was a product of serendipity.
These folks went out to study a totally different feature of the ocean floor, had trouble with that, then quickly revamped their mission and made some good progress. The interesting thing, to me, though, is that the article really illustratres how little we know about our oceans. The Earth is 2/3 ocean, but we have almost no idea how their ecosystems work or how much of an impact we have on that ecosystem. I know it’s been done to death, but the ocean really is the last frontier on Earth.
Of course, the list of science-fiction books with the ocean as a major component are almost limitless, too. And, I think, there’s still plenty of room for more.

…found deep in our own oceans.

I recall reading a book about writing science-fiction once that said, basically, any crazy, wild, “different” idea for a creature a writer can think of has already been out-done by Mother Nature. And, I have to say that I’ve found that to be a Universal Truth. One of the things I love about National Geographic, for instance, is the strange beasties that it brings me almost every month. Insects and plants that I never dreamed existed in their natural habitat in full-color photographs. Simply amazing.
Here’s another simply amazing collection of photos. In this case, of deep sea creatures, but sea creatures like I’ve never seen before. Twelve pages of fantastic creatures with names like long-nose chimera, lantern shark, and goblin shrimp. What a great place for a fantasy writer to use as source material for other-worldly oceans. Take the time to check out at least some of the pictures. You won’t be dissapointed.

Reach out and touch someone, indeed!

In this article on Wired News, they’re working on a technology that would allow people to feel things via the Internet. They list all kinds of good, sound scientific reasons why this would be a useful technology, like sports training and medical training. I, of course, can see other applictions for it that are less purient. Teledildonics takes on a whole new dimension! I shudder to think how this will be perverted.

I think so, in this case…

According to this article on Wired News, scientists have made “she-males” from embyronic cells to “better study” genes. Of course, this raised quite an outcry from a number of groups, most of whom I disagree with on this stuff. But, not this time. Of course, my father tried to tell me about this when I was a kid, but would I listen?
Sooner or later, scientists are going to push the envelope of ethical behavior in the name of research. I get especially worried about this when they’re pushing ethical boundries in biology. Haven’t they read Aldous Huxley? Haven’t they at least seen the movie “Gattica”? For pity’s sake, the science-fiction world has been trying to warn us about the dangers of this for decades, when will we listen?

Well, at least another possible Earth-like solar system.

According to this article on Wired News, scientists may have found solar system that meets the requirements for Earth-like life. All the right ingredients are there. The star is the right type and age. There’s a gas-giant at the right orbital distance. And, it’s far enough away that we can’t really tell too much else about it. Ah, well, at least there exists the possibility that life exists on other planets.

One day, I hope that interstellar travel is possible. I love the idea of going to other planets and seeing totally different ecosystems. Of course, travelling around our own world could be interesting enough, but alien life…. I guess I’m just a sci-fi junkie. The idea of aliens is just so appealing to me. Though, based on that last entry I made, maybe I should start learning Mandarin! I might well have a better chance riding a Chinese space-craft than a US one! C’mon, NASA, let’s get it in gear!!

Well, it sort of looks like they might.

Of course, they haven’t gotten to the moon, yet, but according to this article on Slashdot, they’re already making plans. And, pretty aggresive plans, too. I can’t help but wonder why they’re pushing so hard to get into space all of a sudden. Do they think it will suddenly catch them up to us technologically? Do they see us as weak and vulnerable, so they’re trying to take advantage? And, how are they getting all this development done? Is someone passing them secrets? Again?!

Actually, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. After all, it might just spur us on to greater heights in that neglected arena. Maybe they’ll come up with some interesting, new astronaut meals! The Chinese have always been food innovators. It might just be the best thing to happen to our space program!

No, actually, I guess it’s methanol.

Well, according to this news story on Yahoo, NEC has developed a methanol-powered laptop. No more recharging for me! Yahoo indeed!
Well, okay, you’ll have to keep refueling, but still… And, it’s supposed to last ten times longer than a normal battery, so, that’s cool, too.

What’ll they think of next?
Oh, and, yeah, I first mentioned this at my other blog.

Neal Stephenson is at it again!

He’s written a new book called Quicksilver, which is part of his new Baroque Cycle. It is, in part, about very old cryptography as described by John Wilkins in his book Mercury. What’s interesting to me, though, is that Mr. Stephenson used this old code to run a contest. (The details can be found here.) But, it’s already been solved! What’s more, the person who solved the mystery had never heard about Mercury, John Wilkins, or the cryptography system. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of how he did it.