A Very, Very, Very Fine House

Posted on February 8, 2013 by jrenstro

From a comic by Wally Wood (1953, EC Comics)

From a comic by Wally Wood (1953, EC Comics)

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, feeds the dog, and performs pretty much any other household task imaginable (with the help of robot mice, of course). In the story, the house seems alive, rather than programmed; it seems to possess emotions, especially as it spins uselessly without humans to serve.

As people do less and require their gadgets to do more, the idea of a house that cleans up after itself and its inhabitants moves higher on the list of technological priorities.

from Wally Wood's comic

from Wally Wood’s comic

Such a house would be even more impressive than cheese that cleans.

To my knowledge, such a house doesn’t exist—yet—though it would certainly make Downton Abbey more interesting (and much less crowded). What we do have, though, are Ninja Blocks. If I didn’t know better, I would assume these were awesome fighting weapons—stealth bricks of some sort. But they’re not, quite.

Ninja Blocks are the latest way to control your home—and not just your devices. You can program a Ninja Block to text you when a Jehovah’s Witness is approaching your stoop, or send an alert to remind you about the soup you left simmering on the stove. It could even take a picture of your cat barfing a hairball and upload it to Dropbox. And that, I think, is really the gold standard of innovation.

A standard Ninja Kit (again, this conjures nothing but bad-ass imagery) includes a Ninja Block, which is the command center of all Ninja-ness—a “cloud-enabled” mini-computer—as well as a bunch of wireless sensors that can detect motion, door and window contact, temperature, and humidity. Customers can order however many sensors they want, depending on how many kids they’re trying to prevent from sneaking out their bedroom windows or tampering with the air conditioning, and then place them strategically wherever they need to be.

Then things get a little more complicated, because, as with everything else in life, the rest is all about the apps. The remote app, security app, and thermometer widget come free with the Ninja Kit; the rest you have to write yourself—“almost no coding knowledge needed,” assures the website. If only there was a robot house that knew how to write apps, we’d be all set.

A quick peek at the “how to” page on the Ninja Blocks website is less than reassuring, despite its goal to “make it trivial to write applications that inteact (sic) with devices,” although I have to admit that I find this kind of awesome:

$ mkdir helloNinja

I think I might make a hello ninja directory anyway, just for fun.

Once you’ve got all this stuff figured out like a true programming ninja, you can get the sensors to retrieve and communicate data to or through whatever media or channels you specify. And here I thought setting up a Nanny Cam to spy on my cat was high tech.

Apparently, a Raspberry Pi makes a viable substitute for a Ninja Block, which may end up being one of the most marketable features of this system. There’s also a way for tech-savvy customers to make their own sensors; in fact, the creators of Ninja Blocks pride themselves on their open source/open hardware philosophy, which only makes sense—after all, I could just spy on them using a Ninja Block and learn all their secrets anyway.

In the Bradbury story, the mechanized house eventually catches fire and burns down in a storm. And therein lies Bradbury’s message—not that anything man could possibly invent pales in comparison to the power and permanence of nature, but that, had there been a Ninja Block in the house, it would still be up and running. And, of course, tweeting.

ninja_block_large

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Very, Very, Very Fine House

The Baby with the Biggest Head Wins

Posted on January 22, 2013 by jrenstro

THE-NEANDERTHAL-MAN 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 them.

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (a subject of an early Could This Happen? post) brought the past into the present, and achieved the unexpected feat of demoting the T-Rex to the second-scariest dinosaur around.

Of course, it’s not just the dinosaurs and the woolly mammoths that give the past intrigue that rivals the future—it’s the people. Er, the humans. I mean, hominids.

In the Neanderthal Parallax, Hugo Award winning author Robert Sawyer invents a parallel world in which Neanderthals develop the sentience of today’s Homo sapiens and become the dominant species.

Of course, this couldn’t happen—at least, not on this planet. Sure, there’s a service offering to clone deceased, beloved pets (there’s also a show about these pet owners on TLC in which “The Return of Sir Lancelot” takes on a whole new meaning). And just because we’re working on cloning the woolly mammoth doesn’t mean we could, or would, ever try to clone a proto-human, right?

According to Harvard geneticist George Church, cloning a Neanderthal isn’t just possible, it’s desirable.

Before we get going on this, let me point out that Church (the irony of his name alone makes this story a keeper) is a synthetic biology expert at Harvard. You’ve heard of that place. He played an instrumental role in developing the Human Genome Project, among other totally legitimate and awesome scientific project. So the guy has some credibility.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Church promotes “de-extinction.” Sounds good in theory, right? I’ve always wanted to see a Do-do bird or a Quagga (which, by the way, a group of scientists in South Africa are trying to bring back). Church argues that since we can clone animals, why not humans? There’s a little thing called the law, his German interviewer points out. I guess cloning humans is illegal in Germany—score another point for those outlandish Teutons. While he acknowledges that this may be a problem, Church focuses primarily on technological possibility; he also sees a social mandate as more important than the law.

The interviewer asks what I see as the most pertinent question in all this: would one want to create a Neanderthal in the first place?

Church argues that because they’re an entirely different species, Neanderthals could provide clues about cognition, problem-solving, and brain development—they might even turn out to be more intelligent than humans in some ways. They could also provide some important clues about how diseases and antibodies develop. One of the primary goals of cloning a Neanderthal would be diversity. Church argues that monocultures are at great risk, and that breeding Neanderthals might help ensure humanity’s future.

Understandably, the interviewer is curious about how this would all work. Would the Neanderthals live in a lab under observation the whole time?

Church then waxes optimistic about creating a whole “cohort” of Neanderthals so they can establish an identity. He then talks about them becoming culturally and politically active. Well, we’ve had a black president. We’ll probably have a female president at some point fairly soon. How long until we have a Neanderthal in charge?

Although a recent discovery of a hominid skeleton in Serbia suggests that Neanderthals coexisted with humans—perhaps even a new species of human—and recent findings theorize that early Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals, I can see the anti-discrimination legislation and equal rights movement now…

Technically, cloning a Neanderthal wouldn’t be all that different than cloning a woolly mammoth. Scientists have sequenced the Neanderthal gene already. The next step, according to Church, is to divide the genome into thousands of chunks, and then introduce each synthesized chunk into a human stem cell. Given enough time and repetition, scientists could assemble a complete Neanderthal stem cell line which could be inserted into a human stem cell. Theoretically, this would produce a Neanderthal clone. It could also be possible to create a variation of the Neanderthal—a half-Neander, or a mutant-thal.

There’s just one small detail left! In order to bring this ambitious task to fruition, scientists would need “an extremely adventurous female human.”

Now, I would describe myself as adventurous. I’ve scuba dived–at night. I’ve sky dived. I’ve traveled to and within questionable countries by myself. I risk my life everyday bike commuting in Boston.

Whoever this female human might be, she’d have to be more than “extremely adventurous.” I think “batshit” insane is a bit more accurate; “fucking crazy” would also fit the bill.

Perhaps looking backward is looking forward after all. Sadly, Church says it’s unlikely that we’ll see the return of the caveman. Although now I know what I’ll do if I’m ever really in the mood for adventure.

Image credit—Ivan Allen, theage.com.au

Image credit—Ivan Allen, theage.com.au

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Baby with the Biggest Head Wins

Should This Happen?

Posted on January 13, 2013 by jrenstro


thinner(both)
In Stephen King’s novel (and movie) Thinner, a vengeful gypsy curses an overweight and corrupt lawyer, causing him to drop pounds as though they were steaming hot potatoes.

Sounds a lot better and easier than jump-roping one’s way to slimness, like Lee Adama after most of the Battlestar Galactica crew settles down to life on New Caprica.

If only it were that easy, right? If only we didn’t have to change our eating or exercising habits…

Be careful what you wish for. Now there’s a device that makes Stephen King’s weight loss tactics look tame.

Enter the AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System. I mean that literally. Promoted as an alternative to gastric bypass or gastric restriction, this stomach pump siphons undigested food out of a person’s stomach about 20 minutes after eating.

Before using the device, a patient undergoes outpatient surgery to have a tube inserted into the stomach, connecting to a port implanted in the abdominal skin. The device links to the tube through the port.

Now the fun begins.

A patient eats as he or she typically would, and about 20 minutes later, excuses himself. Even in a public bathroom, I’m pretty sure people would grant privacy for this.

Then, the patient takes the device out of its travel pouch, puts the lanyard around his neck, fills the reservoir with water, and hooks it up to the stomach through the port. Then, with a slide of the valve the patient’s stomach contents siphon through the tube into the toilet or some other receptacle. A patient can infuse the water from the reservoir into the stomach to loosen food and promote further aspiration. Patients are advised to use the device three times a day, or after every major meal.

Here’s a video of the process.

According to the Aspire Bariatrics website, preliminary clinical studies show that the AspireAssist device helps the average patient lose about half of his excess weight in approximately one year, comparable to gastric restriction and gastric bypass, but without the surgery. The site also says that the system has very low infection and complication rates. Most users lose weight consistently for about a year and continue using the system after that. The hope is for users to develop healthier lifestyles and reach a point where they don’t have to aspirate as much, though the website acknowledges that reducing use of the device might result in weight gain. Patients can choose to keep and use the device indefinitely.

To me, this sounds a little bit like a more direct form of bulimia, though the Aspire Bariatrics site rightly points out that bulimia is a psychological condition, and that the implantation of this device doesn’t cause or promote bulimia. Still, this process seems to suggest that patients can continue eating, or overeating, as much as they like so long as they suck out enough calories before they’re absorbed by the intestines.

The AspireAssist was approved for sale in Europe just over a year ago, and has not yet been approved for sale in the U.S., though given our obesity rates, that’s likely to change.

In 1984, Isaac Asimov and George R.R. Martin co-edited an anthology called The Science Fiction Weight-Loss Book, showcasing various sci-fi stories dealing with weight struggles. While the writers describe various methods of weight-management—cutting off body parts as motivation/punishment, achieving weightlessness without reducing size (weight-loss would be a blast if we could escape gravity’s clutches!), and hiring robot chefs, to name of few, none of them came up with anything like this, which should perhaps tell us something.

Despite the sweat, I’m willing to bet that Lee Adama would reach again for the jump rope—or even for the boxing gloves, despite getting his ass kicked by his dad and a girl.

tumblr_lxpzbfChWq1rn9ho7o1_500

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Should This Happen?

(And I Feel Fine)

Posted on December 20, 2012 by jrenstro


2012_movie-poster-01

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 order to advance a doomsday scenario.

So, could the world end tomorrow?

The easy answer is that sure, it could. Bigfoot could also come over for tea and crumpets, and my cat could suddenly begin speaking in Latin. But, sadly, I doubt those things will happen. And, according to Mayan experts and scientists, it seems likely that the world will keep chugging right along.

The 13th 400-year-long cycle of the Mayan calendar, called a bak’tun, is ending on Dec 21. Perhaps the unlucky association of the number 13 contributed to people thinking that this bak’tun would be the last. The end of the cycle holds primarily religious significance, rather than practical or apocalyptic significance, which is why the Mayans noted the date in the first place. Those glyphs don’t contain any actual prophecies, doomsday or otherwise.

People may have concluded that the date signified the end of the world because common lore is that the Mayan calendar stops in 2012. However, this is another misconception. The Mayan calendar actually extends another 2,400 years beyond December 21st. So we can start worrying again in the year 4,400–if the world hasn’t already ended by then.

When prophecies have no basis in reality, people often turn to science for some kind of data that can be (mis)construed as evidence.

Some people believe that the ancient Sumerians discovered a planet, Nibiru, which was predicted to collide with earth in 2003. When that didn’t happen, apocalyptics looked to the next nearest important celestial date and then merged that rumor with the Mayan one. Always game to debunk cosmological myths, NASA says that if this were even a remote possibility, they would have been tracking such a planet for years and that by now, we’d all be able to see it, like in last year’s cataclysmic movie Melancholia. NASA assures us that this scenario belongs in the movies only.

Melancholia pic 4

Some people claim that the world will end on the 21st because the Earth will be in extremely rare alignment with other planets, and/or the sun, and/or a black hole. However, according to NASA, and according to maps of the current positions of the planets, no such alignment will occur. However, on the 21st, which happens to be the Winter Solstice, the Sun will cross the Milky Way’s equator at 11:11 am GMT (that’s 6:11 am for us East Coasters). The unusual aspect of this alignment is that it will occur along the plane of the entire Milky Way, an event known as the procession of the equinoxes. During this procession, the position of the stars changes in terms of their latitude, or equatorial coordinates, and its (ecliptic) longitude, and the Earth’s rotational axis will trace a cone shape. The procession of the equinoxes, otherwise known as an axial procession, occurs once every 26,000 years, thus fomenting the doomsayers’ greatest fear (or wildest fantasy) that the Earth would somehow not be able to survive this alignment. Regardless, the Mayans’ ability to foresee such a rare alignment further substantiates of their credibility and reputation as an ancient people closely in tune with the heavens.

Others think that on the 21st, perhaps as a result of this alignment, the planet’s magnetic poles will reverse. Now, this part isn’t quite as far-fetched—Earth’s poles do reverse. This doesn’t occur like clockwork, and the causes are still disputed, but on average this happens about every 400,000 years. Regardless, scientists say that no such reversals are expected in the next couple thousand years, and NASA says that even if such a reversal occurred, scientists don’t think humans would be harmed.

The December 21, 2012 end of days is fiction, plain and simple. So why does such an unseemly rumor persist?

The Mayan doomsday prediction reflects our obsession with the end of days, which isn’t so different from an individual’s obsession with his or her own mortality. The scope of our knowledge has expanded exponentially in the past few decades, and it makes sense that the scope of our imagined tragedies would expand too.

We like talking and thinking about the end of the world, for whatever reason–perhaps simply because we like drama, and we like narratives that embrace drama. Prognostication, which people generally tend to find fascinating regardless of origin, also adds to that drama by introducing an element of right or wrong, as well as an occasion for an “I told you so.” Remember the most recent Rapture? The Rapture inspired all kinds of silliness, including this entrepreneurial business, which I can’t help but kind of love (though don’t all dogs to go heaven?)

Ultimately, many narratives, science fiction and otherwise, will continue to embrace the narrative and dramatic opportunities presented by the end of the world scenario.

And if you’re a doomsayer, you’ve got plenty of chances after Dec 21.

Back in the early 1700s, Isaac Newton said that based on his calculations, the world wouldn’t and couldn’t end before 2060. Of course, he didn’t say it would end in 2060, but I’ll bet all my apples that a contingent of Newtonians start talking about end times in about forty years.

Although by then, we’ll all be immortal anyway.

If you’ve been an “apocalypse half-full” kind of person, you may have shirked your holiday duties in favor of time better spent. But it’s probably time to go buy those Christmas presents after all. Perhaps there will be some “Earth hasn’t gone black” Friday sales.

were doomed

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on (And I Feel Fine)

More Than Meets the Eye

Posted on December 12, 2012 by jrenstro



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 as fantasies, not even science fiction. While the premise still seems like fantasy, the acintual ability to transform a car to robot (with guns) has been available for some time now.

The first time I saw the movie transformation, I was struck by its complexity. I’m equally struck by the transformation of Kenji Ishida’s car, which does a fair job of converting into a robot. Granted, it’s difficult to replicate the job done through the movie’s CGI, but Ishida’s car/robot is far more believable, with fewer spinning components. For me, watching how all the parts move into place is fascinating, and I can slow-mo the video to satisfy my engineering brain.

Before this, there were other toys produced, like the Transforming Optimus Prime. The biggest problem with that toy though, is that it doesn’t have legs–it rolls along on its tires. Similar toys have the same problem; many of them either don’t transform completely, or they don’t do it on their own.

What’s cool about Ishida’s Transformer is that it uses 22 servo motors, and completes its entire transformation under its own power–and has legs to stand and walk on. The real question is whether or not this is even possible for a full-sized car. After all, what I would want is to buy one of them and be able to transform my car into a robot and go “off road” in the real sense of the word. Also, couldn’t this be great for NASA the next time they go to Mars? If the rover gets stuck in the sand, transform it into a robot and walk out of the crater!

Understandably, there are still elements that have to be perfected. After all, most robots (even the ones that don’t transform from a car or truck) being built today use what’s called quasi-static locomotion (or Zero Moment Point techniques) for walking. This means that no moment in the horizontal direction is present at the point where the foot hits the ground. Basically, if the robot were to stop mid-stride, it would continue to stand. Humans, on the other hand, would fall over. So, robots don’t walk like humans, yet, though that may be changing.

It makes sense, then, that bigger Transformers would roll instead of walk. If one considers the weight of materials and the fact that walking takes more energy than rolling, then an actual car- or truck-sized transformer isn’t very likely, even if it used hydraulics power to facilitate movement. Frankly, it would take a lot of ordinary diesel fuel to move the monster robot. According to an article in How Stuff Works?, weight alone could cause a lot of problems, at least for Optimus Prime: “Since traditional semis frequently exceed 30 tons in weight, the final weight of Prime (with hydraulics components) could easily be in the 35 to 40 ton range. Compare this to the world’s best walking robot, Honda’s ASIMO robot, which has a total weight of 119 pounds and yet can only walk for about 40 minutes (electrically powered) and at a max speed of less than 2 mph.”

At this point, I’d say we’re a bit far from having life-sized Transformers to drive to work, but that doesn’t mean that new technologies and new fuels won’t get us there someday. It’s always nice to have something to look forward to.



Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. He is a Pushcart nominee, and has published technical articles in numerous engineering journals. His novel, “Cathedral of Dreams” is a ForeWord magazine Book of the Year finalist in the science fiction category. His novel “Sweet Song” just won a Silver IPPY Award. His latest novel is, “Revision 7: DNA”, a sci-fi thriller. Terry’s website is: www.TerryPersun.com or you can find him on Amazon.

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Well, You Know, I Work Out

Posted on November 25, 2012 by jrenstro


Ever wonder how superheroes get such absurd muscles? I mean, when’s the last time you ever saw one in a gym? Sure, Superman developed his biceps by hauling car around and Clark Kent is likely built under the bland and shapeless clothes he usually wears. I’m sure Bruce Wayne is too, but the minute he turns into Batman his Pecs broaden and harden into chest-shields (maybe it’s the costume?). Spiderman shapes his shoulders by scaling buildings and whipping around with sticky string, but his bulging muscles seemed to be a serendipitous side effect of the radioactive spider bite. And what about the Hulk? Dr. Banner doesn’t just become a muscle-bound beast—he becomes the Mr. Universe of beasts. And even Buffy has a sudden onset of muscle, even if she doesn’t particularly look it–one day, she’s hefting pom-poms, and the next day she’s vaulting fences and bending metal with her bare hands.

Suspension of disbelief, you say? Certainly this fundamental premise of superhero stories warrants it.

But as it turns out, while science can’t cause the sudden appearance of freakish muscles, it is possible to create muscles without breaking a sweat, and to make them in certain shapes and sizes.

Scientists have created a few versions of artificial muscles. Like real muscles, they make physical movement possible, but they’re not naturally occurring, nor can they move themselves.

This awesome jellyfish robot has artificial muscles that run on hydrogen-oxygen cocktail that, when catalyzed by platinum, causes a reaction that produces heat. The heat is then transferred by carbon nanotubes to the artificial muscles, an alloy that becomes flexible when heated. The “shape-memory” alloy functions like a Tempurpedic mattress, returning to its original shape as soon as the heat is removed. The interplay of hot and cold mimics a muscle’s expansion and contraction.

Eventually, scientists hope that Robojelly will be able to extract hydrogen and oxygen from its environment, which would allow it to fuel itself indefinitely.

Recently, scientists from the University of Texas created artificial muscles out of carbon nanotubes that, when woven together like yarn and then filled with paraffin wax, are 200 time stronger than the same-sized human muscles. Heating a nanotube expands the wax, which makes the tube shorter and thicker, simulating muscle contraction. When the wax cools, the tubes become long and thin, which simulates muscle expansion.

These carbon nanotube yarns can seal their “pores” to resist damage; longer ropes could be used to make uniforms that would help protect firefighters and other high-risk workers. Eventually, these artificial muscles could be used in medical devices and robots, or for other small tasks.

While these muscles have mastered mobility, they bear little resemblance to the ones that contract and relax via impulses from the brain.

Recently, scientists from the Université de Strasbourg in France created molecules sensitive to pH levels. When strung together, the molecular chain contracts roughly one billionth of a meter in a high pH solution and expands by the same amount in a low pH solution. The tiny degree of the contraction and relaxation lead scientists to create longer molecular chains that had a larger range of movement observable with a magnifying glass.

Roxtane, a chemical, compromises these positively-charged molecules, which are surrounded by a macrocycle ring. When more hydrogen ions, which carry a positive charge, are introduced to the surrounding environment, the pH level increases and the ring moves to one side of the roxatane molecule. When hydrogen ions are removed, it moves in the opposite direction.

When scientists make a chain, the roxatane molecules are held together by ligand molecules and metal ions. The higher the pH, or the more hydrogen ions are introduced, the closer together the molecules sit; the lower the pH, the further apart the molecules stretch.

While currently small-scale, there seems to be no apparent scientific reason that this process couldn’t be adapted on a macroscopic level. Deliberately engineering molecules or “molecular machines” to move and work, much as our own muscles do, has countless possible applications once molecular chains are bound together to comprise fibers. Artificial muscles are only the beginning.

This is one example of Nanotechnology, which many scientists and futurists believe will revolutionize medicine, among many other things. The potential of altering and enhancing the body with cellular-based technologies is one reason that some scientists believe in the possibility of immortality by 2045.

Lucky for us, now we don’t even have to be superheroes on the inside. We can just wait for science to make us into superheroes on the outside. Sadly, the invisible jet remains a fantasy. For now.

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Well, You Know, I Work Out

Lots and lots and lots of pinwheels

Posted on October 30, 2012 by jrenstro



A common misconception of Frankenstein (second to the mistaken belief that Frankenstein is the monster’s name) is that lightning somehow brings Victor’s creature to life. The 1931 movie starring Boris Karloff made the lightning-animation “It’s alive!” scene famous, though in the book Victor plays coy: “I see by your eagerness, and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be: listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject.”

Regardless, the idea of harnessing nature for power (in addition to controlling the weather for nefarious means) has churned through science fiction for decades. Among others, Asimov writes about channeling and converting the energy of matter, including space itself (presuming it isn’t actually a vacuum) in a process called transduction.

In honor of hurricane Sandy, I thought I’d find out if this could actually happen. Especially out here in Massachusetts where we have enough nifty wind turbines to animate an army of freakishly big green monsters.

Hurricane energy comes in two forms–kinetic wind energy and the energy released when water condenses and forms clouds and/or rain. Scientists calculate that the latter can produce 200 times the amount of energy the entire world can produce in any given moment. A hurricane’s wind energy can release half the amount of energy that the entire world can generate in that same amount of time.

We could all drive Humvees if only we could figure out how to convert hurricane energy!

One of the challenges in harnessing a hurricane’s energy that the storms don’t generally contain concentrated “high grade” energy; instead, they contain “low grade” or diffuse energy.

It’s possible that a big field of wind turbines could work (see?!), but they’d have to be securely anchored in place and be strong enough to avoid damage while retaining full mobility. And planting a field of hurricane wind-converting turbines doesn’t make much sense, as winds this strong don’t tend to frequently recur in the exact same spot–at least not yet. We’ll see what Global Warming has to say about that.

But humans don’t much appreciate being outdone by nature, do they?

In 2005, a Canadian engineer named Louis Michaud proposed generating artificial tornadoes and harnessing their energy for electricity. Conceptually modeled after the solar chimney, the vortex would be created inside a hollow cylinder approximately 200 meters across and 100 meters long positioned inside of a greenhouse, which functions like an oven. As the sun heats the greenhouse, the hot air is forced up the cylinder, helped along by a turbine (and blasts of steam) at the cylinder’s base. The constant rise of hot air and its subsequent expansion, cooling, and condensation would churn the winds until they reached hurricane-size. Ideally, a self-sustaining “atmospheric engine” could be controlled by a fairly small station and could consistently produce 200 megawatts of power.

One possible problem is that meteorological peculiarities could cause the induced tornadoes to spin out of control and out of containment (that’s a plot I’m surprised I haven’t seen in a sci-fi movie yet). Thus far, development of a process that would safely generate and harness the energy of a wind vortex has been moving slowly.

What about lightning, then? In a skyscraper competition, a Tesla Research Facility concept called Hydra won an honorable mention. The Hydra concept involves using hydrogen energy and proposes building a skyscraper out of grapheme, a highly conductive carbon-based material, in order to attract lightning and store its energy.

An average lightning bolt can generate roughly 500,000 megawatts of energy (give or take, depending on the size of bolt). While that sounds like a lot, one lightning bolt could keep a 100-watt lightbulb going for roughly two months. A household would need three to four good lightning strikes per month to keep it lit and running.

The University of Florida’s Lightning Research Laboratory has conducted limited lightning channeling experiments, but concluded that while thunderstorms produce an almost nuclear amount of energy, trying to siphon energy from lightning is next to impossible. The idea of a “lightning farm” comprised of multiple lightning-attracting, energy-storing towers has also been considered, but given the amount of lightning necessary and the relative lack of geographical consistency in lightning strikes, this isn’t plausible either.

We may not be able to run our houses or countries on lightning energy, but at least we can use it for time travel–perhaps to the time when the hurricane clean up is done and the lights are back on.

Posted in Could this Happen? | Comments Off on Lots and lots and lots of pinwheels

These Are Not the Droids You Want

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jrenstro


Who hasn’t tried to play a Jedi mind trick? After all, if whiny, sniveling Luke can control minds, there’s no reason the rest of us can’t learn.

Could This Happen has explored the possibility of neural prosthetics, brain implants, and mind reading; now for the daddy of them all–mind control.

From Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the Manchurian Candidate to Robocop, the turning-people-into-puppets trope has carved out a prominent place for itself in science fiction, and for good reason. Alien possession seems a bit farfetched, but what about the subtler version of mind-control–conditioning, sleep teaching, and state-sanctioned hallucinogens–exercised by the government in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? Or Orwell’s “Newspeak”? We already know that we are, to some extent, not so different from Pavlov’s dogs–we’ve been trained to respond to ads, to other people, and to our own emotions and desires in particular and consistent ways. It’s not such a huge step from that to mind control. In fact, it’s already happening–with worms.

Worms have all the fun, don’t they? First, a trip to space. Next, having their neurons controlled by scientists.

By using lasers, scientists at Harvard can control worms’ neurons, forcing them to turn in a particular direction. They can also convince the worms that food is nearby by manipulating the worms’ sensory processing.

Neuroscientists believe that controlling behavior is crucial to understanding how the brain and nervous system work; this applies to worms, mice, monkeys, people, etc Even though these worms have only 1,031 cells and 302 neurons (with 5,000 connections), the ability to manipulate their neural circuits demonstrates a fundamental understanding of their functioning. Researchers hope to develop a complete computational model of the worm’s nervous system, which would be like having its mind computerized.

The process of understanding, manipulating, and modeling the nervous system of the worm paves the way for the understanding of more complex creatures. And, eventually, the ability to computerize or “upload” the minds of those creatures. But we’re getting ahead (aren’t puns fun?) of ourselves just a little bit.

For a while now, scientists have attempted to identify and isolate neurons that make possible certain behaviors in animals. In most previous experiments, scientists confirmed identification of the correct neuron by destroying it, thus rendering a specific behavior impossible. This recent experiment distinguishes itself by “hijacking” rather than destroying the neurons in order to see which neurons control which behaviors.

As you might imagine, controlling the “mind” of a worm presents some difficulties.

Before manipulating the neurons, scientists genetically engineered the worms’ neurons to emit fluorescent light, which makes it possible to track them. They also made the neurons light-sensitive and responsive to lasers.
Scientists also had to create worm-sized tracking hardware that could also instantaneously isolate a single neuron, which is no small feat (heh) given the size of these worms and the density of the neurons near their heads. The hardware allows scientists to receive an image of the worm and then identify the specific neuron they want to isolate. Then they can track the worm, target the specific neuron, and induce a response with a laser. All of this happens in about 20 milliseconds.

Check out this short video in which a worm responds to light and then changes directions.

The Harvard researchers will continue experimenting with the worms to see what other behaviors they can control. They will also continue updating their cameras and hardware in the hopes of being able to keep up with more advanced animals. Next up: fish. Just think of how successful your next angling trip could be! It’s kind of like shooting quail in a corral.

Among other things, we now have an explanation for the president’s performance in the first debate. We didn’t notice the laser at the time, but now it all makes sense.

Maybe Poltergeist was prescient in its admonition to not go into the light…

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on These Are Not the Droids You Want

I Do Jet Packs

Posted on September 22, 2012 by jrenstro


A bit of history: the very first post on Could This Happen was about jet packs. It seemed like the right place to start, given the prevalence of jet packs in science fiction and the implicit (and explicit) promise that by now we’d all be zooming around wearing them.

With the inundation of Olympics coverage, as well as news about security mishaps, doping, and scandalous badminton, viewers may have missed the most exciting part of the lead-up to the Games–the delivery of the Olympic torch by jet pack on the 46th day of the torch relay.

Nick Macomber, otherwise known as the “Jet Pack Man” (not to be confused with the Jet Pacman), wore a steam-powered Go Fast jet pack, which is described in more detail in that first post. Here’s some video of him zooming around with the torch.

The torch relay isn’t the only recent example of innovative jet pack use. A couple in California exchanged wedding vows while wearing Jetlev R200 jetpacks. This pack differs from the ones described on the earlier post; this one is designed specifically to fly over water. The system includes a hose connecting the pack to a boat, which has fuel and a propulsion engine that powers the pack with pressurized water. The water then shoots back out of exhaust pipes on both sides of the pack, allowing the user to fly. The hose helps stabilize the user and also tethers the user to the boat which reinforces a safe flight ceiling and range of flight.

A user can take off in either shallow or deep water, and then navigates via handlebars that extend over the shoulders and are connected to a Remote Throttle Control Transmitter, which allows for steering, velocity, and forward movement. The pack can reach a maximum speed of 25 mph and a height of 30 feet, and can fly for up to 4 hours and travel up to 80 miles.

Right now, recreational rental flight locations exist in Florida, California, Hawaii, and Arizona. If you decide to buy one, you should be prepared to fork over about $100,000, and you’d also need a compatible boat. In case you were wondering, Jetlev does provide special courses for “key members of your yacht crew.” How about combining the two and making a flying yacht? Think of the parties you could have on that thing!

Watch the airborne newlyweds.

This is the most interesting wedding I’ve seen since the couple who got married hanging from hooks. Although after the nuptials, the bride seems to have some trouble getting off the ground…er, water–let’s hope that’s not a metaphor for the relationship.

Given the publicity surrounding this event, I hope the couple at least receives a discount to use the packs again. You never know when you’ll need a little space from your partner, and a marital spat 30 feet above sea level could get interesting, especially if it involves a chase.

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Not Over the Moon

Posted on September 10, 2012 by jrenstro


In 1902, Georges Melies wrote and produced the first science fiction film, Le Voyage dans la Lune (The Voyage to the Moon). This 14-minute silent film inspired by the stories of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells involves a group of men who arrive on the moon (in the moon’s eye, to be exact) via a rocket shot out of a cannon. Despite the humans’ ability to disintegrate the indigenous moon creatures with their umbrellas, they’re captured and brought to the moon king. Eventually they end up killing the moon leader, and then they fall off the side of the moon and successfully “land” the rocket in the ocean.

Yeah, you read that right. But hey, it was 1902! And that’s almost certainly not the least feasible plot turn imaginable.

What Melies, Wells, and Verne started, countless writers such as Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, and LeGuin have continued. The idea of someone or something living on the moon gave way to stories about human colonies on the moon, and even though the moon may lose a little luster next to our recent space explorations and discoveries, neither science fiction nor science is ready to let go of the idea.

Enter the 3-D printer. Yes, it can make pastries, burritos, and possibly meat. It’s likely that someday, we will be able to print bones and organs. But a professor at the University of Southern California believes 3-D printers can produce much bigger things right in the eye of the moon.

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts division has awarded a $500,000 grant for the development of a technology called Contour Crafting that will help build permanent structures and settlements on the moon.

Contour Crafting uses a layering technique similar to that of 3-D printing, but instead of a print box, Contour Crafting uses an electrically-power, computer-controlled crane for construction. This allows for production on a much larger scale than a 3-D printer; Contour Crafting technology would use a material similar to concrete to build a lunar base, roads, platforms, shields, and other structures.

Current 3-D printing technology is notoriously slow, and can take hours to print small objects. One of the goals of Contour Crafting is speed; it may be possible for this technology to produce a home in about a day without any manual labor. This technology also wouldn’t release the fumes or generate the waste normally associated with construction.

The most difficult and expensive detail would be the transportation of the components, which is currently estimated to cost roughly $100,000 per kilo. Perhaps we can 3-D print some extra dough.

While bringing this concept to fruition might take decades, some moon inhabitants are already waiting excitedly for humans, ready to steal playthings of extraordinary magnitude. Better guard that crane (and your Foreigner belt!)

Posted in Could this Happen? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments