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Author Archives: jrenstro
Algae Power: Could Soylent Green Be the Future?
This post is written by guest blogger Beth Kelly, a Midwestern freelance writer with a passion for sci-fi and analog photography, as well as all kinds of other outdated and obsolete technology. She graduated from DePaul University with a degree … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, environment, technology
Tagged algae, beth kelly, biofuel, carbon, charleton heston, climate change, energy, farming, fossil fuels, industrialization, microalgae, plankton, soylent green
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Off to the Drone Races
One of the most iconic scenes from Return of the Jedi is the Endor speeder bike chase. Who could forget Luke and Leia whizzing through the forest, bumping into storm troopers and send them crashing into trees in a shower … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, drones, technology
Tagged drone racing, drones, endor, fat shark, FPV, phantom menace, return of the jedi, speeder bikes, star wars
2 Comments
One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure, Thanks to Plasma
This post is written by guest blogger Beth Kelly, a Midwestern freelance writer with a passion for sci-fi and analog photography, as well as all kinds of other outdated and obsolete technology. She graduated from DePaul University with a degree … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, environment, technology
Tagged British Airways, fossil fuels, gas, hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture, MSW, municipal solid waste, picard, plasma, pollution, Solena Fuels, star trek, syngas, trash, waste management
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Are You Being Controlled By Mind Parasites?
If something you can’t quite explain stops you from reading this post, you might be in trouble. One of the science fiction books that has stuck with me most over the years is Colin Wilson’s The Mind Parasites. Working like … Continue reading
No Light? No Problem.
Any superhero worth his or her salt has night vision: Doctor Mid-Nite, Wolverine, Peter Parker, Superman, Catwoman. Regular humans have desired this power for quite some time—night-vision devices have been around since World War II. But most of them look … Continue reading
Posted in biotechnology, Could this Happen?, medicine
Tagged biotechnology, Catwoman, Ce6, Chlorin e6, cockroaches, Doctor Mid-Nite, night vision, Peter Parker, Science for the Masses, Superman, vision, Wolverine
1 Comment
Robo-Journalist Wins The Pulitzer
Okay, so that hasn’t happened yet, but the folks over at Narrative Science, a company that has created software that performs “automated narrative generation,” confidently predicts that its computer program will win the coveted prize by 2016. Let’s back up … Continue reading
Posted in robot, technology
Tagged AP, automated insights, computer program, journalism, LA Times, narrative science, New York Times, newspaper, Quakebot, robo-journalism, robots
1 Comment
Exoskeletons, Cyborgs, and Prosthetics—Oh My!
Ellen Ripley’s power-loader, Matt Damon’s Elysium exoskeleton, and Iron Man’s get-up aren’t just fiction anymore. Italy’s Perceptual Robotics Laboratory has created a “body extender” that allows wearers to curl 100 pounds in each hand. Someone who calls himself Hacksmith has … Continue reading
Posted in medicine, technology
Tagged Cybathon, cyborg, Elysium, exoskeleton, Iron Man, Nicolelis, pacemaker, Pistorius, prosthetics
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I, Snowbot
In science fiction, robots perform all kinds of tasks. Sometimes they dictate the fate of humanity, such as in Isaac Asimov’s “Reason,” in which Q-T, a robot with impressive and frustrating existential curiosity, keeps an energy beam steady during an … Continue reading
Microsoft’s Holographic System Will Project More Than Princess Leia
When I first watched R2D2 beam a hologram of a distraught Princess Leia onto a tabletop, I was more interested in how I could get my hands on that technology than I was about her problem (don’t judge—I was little … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, technology, virtual reality
Tagged holodeck, holograms, hololens, microsoft, star trek, star wars, virtual reality
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