» science fiction meets science fact

Scientists Prepare to “See” Black Holes

The Loki Man — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:41:06 +0000

A report from New Scientist details how astronomers plan to ‘see’ black holes by visualizing high energy light emitted from matter as it is swallowed into the event horizon (the point beyond which not even light can escape the singularities gravitational pull).

What will our response be if we see a Romulan warship exiting a black hole? Are we prepared to gaze past the event horizon?

Ongoing Research Excerpts from DARPA’s Strategic Plan

The Loki Man — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:09:52 +0000

DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) recently released a 50+ page strategic plan highlighting some of the most advance research projects it is currently undertaking. On page 9, section 2.6, DARPA outlines a “short list” of ongoing research. We list the highlights here.

High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System – You heard it here. These are small high power laser weapons, i.e. weapons that shoot energy beams at the speed of light. That’s fast.
High Productivity Computing Systems – a.k.a. Super computers a.k.a. SKYNET from the Terminator mythos.
Machine Learning – Cognitive machines. Hmmm. Again, we’ll reference SKYNET and Terminator.
Neuroscience – In specific, projects that’ll create brain-machine interfaces. Is this putting us one step closer to The Matrix?
Real-Time Accurate Language Translation – Tower of Babel my ass.
Space – , here we come.

Scary, but real, stuff. You can find the full report here.

Which one of these research projects would you most like to see come to fruition?

Alien Life Forms on Mt. Everest!?!

The Loki Man — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:22:55 +0000

A former astronaut is climbing Mt. Everest in a hunt for alien life on Earth. Read more here.

If there is alien life on Everest, do we really want to find it? Anything tough enough to survive in the harsh environment of Mt. Everest could be a serious threat to mankind. To illustrate this point, here are two stories that clearly portray the dangers of searching for alien life in the frozen and hostile climates of Earth.

Story #1 is H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness, the terrifying story of a scientific expedition to the arctic that discovers the ruins of a vast alien civilization and the preserved remains of highly evolved creatures that aren’t as dead as they appear.

Story #2 is John Carpenter’s The Thing, which recounts another arctic expedition’s encounter with a deadly alien organism that’d been frozen under the ice for hundreds of thousands of years.

If you don’t knkow these stories, we highly recommend you familiarize yourself with them. They are a clear warning against the current exploration for alien life on Mt. Everest.

Here’s the trailer for The Thing.

Real Life Star Trek: DARPA Rewards VULCAN Engine Contracts

The Loki Man — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:48:38 +0000

Right before the release of J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency kicks off their VULCAN Engine Program by rewarding four contractors with funding to begin first phase development of the proposed super engine system.

When we hear the word Vulcan, our thoughts wander to the Star Trek character Spock, his home planet, and his people. The VULCAN Engine Program is appropriately named since it is a “propulsion system demonstration effort to design, build, and ground-test an engine capable of accelerating a full-scale hypersonic vehicle from rest to Mach 4+.”

This could be our first steps towards a “warp drive” propulsion system like the one that propels the Enterprise across vast distances in space.

Read the DARPA News Release here (via DARPA’s news room.)