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Category Archives: Could this Happen?
Here to Serve
The Star Wars cantina scene demonstrates how awesome it would be to sidle up to a bar (preferably on some kind of bounty hunting mission) and order a drink from aliens. Attack of the Clones features a robot waitress, which … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged ai, attack of the clones, china, conveyor belt, dalek, Dalu, ipad, itray, Japan, order, replacement, robo-waiters, robot restaurant, south korea, star wars, thailand, tips, waiters, Yo Sushi
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Space For All
In 1945, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke published a paper suggesting that we put satellites in geostationary orbit. 18 years later, America launched Syncom 2. Soon, there will be one more satellite in the Clarke Belt, roughly 26,000 miles … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged ARKYD, arthur clarke, kepler, kickstarter, NASA, Peter Diamandis, planetary resources, satellite, space exploration, telescope, Virgin Galactic, zach braff
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Terminate This!
In science fiction, robots have been solving cases and apprehending criminals for a while. From Robocop to Terminator to THX 1138 the idea that robots may replace police officers has in recent years begun the transition from fiction to fact. … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged afghanistan, bomb, bomb defuser, Boston, boston marathon bombing, drones, howe and howe, IED, iraq, iRobot, law enforcement, military robots, packbot, police robots, robocop, robot combat league, SWAT, terminator, THX 1138, tsarnaev, warrior, watertown
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Which One of these Girls is Not Like the Others?
Since we can’t make the day longer, other than by adding leap seconds here and there, cloning ourselves would seem like the next best thing…unless it’s not. Find out about recent advances in human cloning by reading my article on … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged clone, cloning, DNA, Dolly, embryo, ethics, orphan black, reproductive cloning, slate, stem cells, therapeutic cloning, transplants
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A Very, Very, Very Fine House
Ray Bradbury’s lovely, human-less chapter of the Martian Chronicles, “There Will Come Soft Rains”, features an automated house that cooks meals for its inhabitants, issues gentle reminders of when to wake up and go to sleep, draws baths, washes dishes, … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged "There Will Come Soft Rains", actuators, app, automated house, cloud, communication, control, downton abbey, house, Martian Chronicles, mini-computer, motion detector, motion sensor, nanny cam, ninja, Ninja Blocks, Open hardware, Open Source, programming, Raspberry Pi, Ray Bradbury, remote control, robot house, robots, Sara Teasdale, sensors, temperature sensor, twitter, Wally Wood, wireless
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The Baby with the Biggest Head Wins
Sometimes science fiction looks backward instead of forward—some time travel stories, such as Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder,” propel readers not into space, but back in time, so that characters can carouse with dinosaurs. Or, y’know, try to shoot … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged breeding, caveman, cloning, de-extinct, Der Spiegel, dinosaurs, diversity, extinct, genes, genetics, george church, harvard, hominid, homo sapien, human genome project, Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, monoculture, neanderthal, Neanderthal Parallax, Robert Sawyer, science fiction, Sound of Thunder, woolly mammoth
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(And I Feel Fine)
Mayan hieroglyphics aren’t science fiction–though one could argue that as a basis of myths and legends, hieroglyphics are proto-proto-science fiction–but some people and some genres of literature, including sci-fi (remember that film 2012? Neither do I.), have embraced them in … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?
Tagged 12/21/2012, 2012, apocalypse, axial procession, baktun, dec 21, end of days, end of the world, hieroglyphics, isaac newton, magnetic poles, mayan calendar, myths, NASA, nibiru, Nuburi, planetary alignment, procession of the equinoxes, rapture, rumors, sumerians, winter solstice
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More Than Meets the Eye
I’ll admit to one thing up front: I’ve seen all the Transformers movies. I still think the first one was the best one, but I’d watch five more, too, if they make them. Until recently, I thought of those movies … Continue reading