It may be in sight. LEDs have come a long way, baby.
Robots And Supervolcanoes
On Tuesday, I noted that someone needs to categorize and prioritize all the things that might kill us. Well, someone must have read my post, because the Guardian has done just that. The Daily Ablution has the story.
I’ll chime in with Glenn and others, and note that I also welcome our robot overlords.
I disagree, though, that there’s nothing we can do about supervolcanoes (at least in terms of preserving humanity). Having an economically independent and genetically diverse population off planet will at least preserve the species against such an event. That won’t help with gamma ray bursts though. This list is a little terracentric, in that it doesn’t distinguish between those events that would be a problem just for the earth (e.g., a supervolcano eruption) and those that would be more comprehensive (e.g., gamma rays, or obstreperous robots). By the way, does the robot scenario encompass gray goo?
Anyway, they need to rectify this.
[Tax day morning update]
Phil Bowermaster has all the solutions.
Make Sure He Doesn’t Leave
This is a pretty funny commentary on the Senate confirmation process.
[Via NASA Watch]
Make Sure He Doesn’t Leave
This is a pretty funny commentary on the Senate confirmation process.
[Via NASA Watch]
Make Sure He Doesn’t Leave
This is a pretty funny commentary on the Senate confirmation process.
[Via NASA Watch]
Eternal Sunshine Of The…
…well, not the spotless mind, but actually the lunar north pole.
This is very interesting, for two reasons. Most plans for lunar bases assume a need for a nuclear power plant, because of the two-week-long night there. Discovering regions where the sun always shines means that we can get by with solar power. From a design standpoint, it will also be a lot easier to design equipment for a single temperature (-50 C) than for an environment with huge temperature swings, which is the case between lunar day and night.
The real question now is whether or not there’s ice in the craters, where the sun never shines, as seems to be the case at the south pole.
Save Frodo From John McCain
Dive
Anyone who thinks that private spaceships are a pipedream should check out this private submarine, which is for sale for a cool eighty million bucks. This is the next big thing in yachts. I think that we’ll have the space equivalent within twenty years.
Here Comes The Future
Ten cool emerging technologies.
I like the silicon lasers and the universal memory, but a $0.25 malaria treatment is going to have huge effects on the developing world. The next step after that will be to get rid of the sickle-cell gene (though if malaria is artificially conquered, it should disappear naturally in a few generations).
[Via Geek Press]