George Takei Asks Star Trek, Star Wars Fans to Unite in Fight Against ‘Twilight’
Michael Söze
December 13, 2011
Actor/Comedian George Takei is calling on all “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” fans to band against a common enemy: The “Twilight” saga.
“What’s needed today, now, more than ever, is ‘Star Peace’ for there is an ominous, mutual threat to all science fiction. It’s called ‘Twilight’. And it is really, really bad,” said the 74-year-old who is most known for playing Hikaru Sulu on the original “Star Trek” TV series.
Takei’s call for peace among sci-fi lovers comes after videos of William Shatner and Carrie Fisher went viral with the former deriding “Star Wars” and the latter taking digs at “Star Trek.”
”Gone is any sense of heroism, camaraderie, or epic battle. In its place we have vampires that sparkle, moan and go to high school,” Takei continued. “Now I’m not above mixing in a little sex appeal to spice up the fantasy, but sci-fi fans be warned, there are no great stories, characters or profound life lessons to be found in Twilight. No, in Twilight the only message that rings through loud and clear is: ‘Does my boyfriend like me?’”
Full Article:
http://www.inquisitr.com/168050/george-takei-broker-of-star-peace-video
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Beam me up, BEAMS
Teleporting breakthrough as scientists transport light particles
15th April 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1377370/Teleporting-breakthrough-scientists-transport-light-particles.html
Sci-fi enthusiasts have dreamt of being able to teleport from one location to another since Gene Roddenberry popularised the idea in Star Trek.
But the first steps towards making that dream a reality have now been taken by Japanese scientists who’ve found a way to transport light particles from one place to another – and echoed a popular theory in the process.
The famed Schrodinger’s Cat theory suggested that a body could be both alive and dead until its particles decide either way , due to outside interference.
In the experiment, Schrodinger proposed the idea of a cat left in a box with a radioactive substance, which had a 50 per cent chance of decaying and releasing a poison, thus killing the cat within an hour.
Because there is also a 50 per cent chance the substance would not decay, and thus not release the poison, quantum mechanics dictate that the cat is neither alive, nor dead, until the box is opened for measurement.
And new findings by scientists from the University of Tokyo bear similarity to Schrodinger’s Cat after they teleported light that is in two, seemingly contradictory, states simultaneously.
A team led by Noriyuki Lee used the quantum entanglement characteristic – where two particles can affect each other even after being separated – to dismantle a packet of light and then reassemble it elsewhere.
According to livescience.com, the team linked a light packet to one half of a pair of entangled particles, and then destroyed the light and the particle it had been linked to.
But because the remaining particle of the formerly entangled pair maintains a link to its partner – which had been linked with the light packet – the light can be reassembled elsewhere.
Though the technology is one small step on the road to teleporting a human, it echoes the particular destruction and reassembly of the teleporting deck used in Star Trek.
And, like the cat in Schrodinger’s famed thought experiment, the light exists in two states of being until it is measured by an outside observer.
Physicist Philippe Grangier of France's Institut d'Optique, who wrote an accompanying essay for the research in the Science journal, said the light ‘can't be presented classically — it would be an oscillation both up and down, which makes no sense’.
Despite the Tokyo team managing to teleport light, Mr Grangier admitted a similar human experiment would be unlikely in the near future, saying: ‘There is not at present a way to teleport even a bacteria’.
He added: ‘This is a long and painful process, especially for experimentalists like me. All these things, just a few years ago they were just ideas. Now they are turning into experimental realities.’
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Beam Me Up: 'Teleportation' Is Year's Biggest Breakthrough
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/17/beam-teleportation-years-biggest-breakthrough/
Beam Me Up: 'Teleportation' Is Year's Biggest Breakthrough
December 17, 2010
Crew members on the Starship Enterprise beamed to alien planets via teleporters. Now scientists are perfecting a way to communicate via a similar technology.
Thanks to physics, and the truly bizarre quirks of quarks, those Star Trek style teleporters may be more than fiction.
A strange discovery by quantum physicists at the University of California Santa Barbara means that an object you can see in front of you may exist simultaneously in a parallel universe -- a multi-state condition that has scientists theorizing that teleportation or even time travel may be much more than just the plaything of science fiction writers.
Until this year, all human-made objects have moved according to the laws of classical mechanics, the rules governing ordinary objects. Toss a ball in the air and it falls back to Earth. Drop a coin from your roof and it falls into your yard. But back in March, a group of researchers designed a gadget that moves in ways that can only be described by quantum mechanics -- the set of rules that governs the behavior of tiny things like molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles.
And the implication -- that teleportation and even time travel may someday, somehow be a reality -- is so groundbreaking that Science magazine has labelled it the most significant scientific advance of 2010.
Physicists Andrew Cleland and John Martinis from the University of California at Santa Barbara and their colleagues designed the machine -- a tiny metal paddle just barely visible to the naked eye -- and coaxed it into dancing with a quantum groove: First, they cooled the paddle until it reached its "ground state," or the lowest energy state permitted by the laws of quantum mechanics (a goal long-sought by physicists). Then they raised the widget's energy by a single quantum to produce a purely quantum-mechanical state of motion.
They even managed to put the gadget in both states at once, so that it literally vibrated a little and a lot at the same time -- a bizarre phenomenon allowed by the weird rules of quantum mechanics.
"When you observe something in one state, one theory is it split the universe into two parts," Cleland told FoxNews.com at the time, trying to explain how there can be multiple universes and we can see only one of them.
Crazy? Maybe. Insanely great science? Absolutely.
Science magazine has just recognized this first quantum machine as the 2010 Breakthrough of the Year. The magazine's editors have also compiled nine other important scientific accomplishments from this past year into a top ten list, appearing in a special feature in the journal's current issue.
"On a conceptual level that's cool because it extends quantum mechanics into a whole new realm," said Adrian Cho, a news writer for Science. "On a practical level, it opens up a variety of possibilities ranging from new experiments that meld quantum control over light, electrical currents and motion to, perhaps someday, tests of the bounds of quantum mechanics and our sense of reality."
Science's list of the nine other groundbreaking achievements from 2010 follows.
Synthetic Biology: In a defining moment for biology and biotechnology, researchers built a synthetic genome and used it to transform the identity of a bacterium. The genome replaced the bacterium's DNA so that it produced a new set of proteins—an achievement that prompted a Congressional hearing on synthetic biology. In the future, researchers envision synthetic genomes that are custom-built to generate biofuels, pharmaceuticals or other useful chemicals.
Neandertal Genome: Researchers sequenced the Neandertal genome from the bones of three female Neandertals who lived in Croatia sometime between 38,000 and 44,000 years ago. New methods of sequencing degraded fragments of DNA allowed scientists to make the first direct comparisons between the modern human genome and that of our Neandertal ancestors.
HIV Prophylaxis: Two HIV prevention trials of different, novel strategies reported unequivocal success: A vaginal gel that contains the anti-HIV drug tenofovir reduced HIV infections in women by 39 percent and an oral pre-exposure prophylaxis led to 43.8 fewer HIV infections in a group of men and transgender women who have sex with men.
Exome Sequencing/Rare Disease Genes: By sequencing just the exons of a genome, or the tiny portion that actually codes for proteins, researchers who study rare inherited diseases caused by a single, flawed gene were able to identify specific mutations underlying at least a dozen diseases.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Simulating the gyrations that proteins make as they fold has been a combinatorial nightmare. Now, researchers have harnessed the power of one of the world's most powerful computers to track the motions of atoms in a small, folding protein for a length of time 100 times longer than any previous efforts.
Quantum Simulator: To describe what they see in the lab, physicists cook up theories based on equations. Those equations can be fiendishly hard to solve. This year, though, researchers found a short-cut by making quantum simulators—artificial crystals in which spots of laser light play the role of ions and atoms trapped in the light stand in for electrons. The devices provide quick answers to theoretical problems in condensed matter physics and they might eventually help solve mysteries such as superconductivity.
Next-Generation Genomics: Faster and cheaper sequencing technologies are enabling very large-scale studies of both ancient and modern DNA. The 1,000 Genomes Project, for example, has already identified much of the genome variation that makes us uniquely human—and other projects in the works are set to reveal much more of the genome's function.
RNA Reprogramming: Reprogramming cells—turning back their developmental clocks to make them behave like unspecialized "stem cells" in an embryo—has become a standard lab technique for studying diseases and development. This year, researchers found a way to do it using synthetic RNA. Compared with previous methods, the new technique is twice as fast, 100 times as efficient and potentially safer for therapeutic use.
The Return of the Rat: Mice rule the world of laboratory animals, but for many purposes researchers would rather use rats. Rats are easier to work with and anatomically more similar to human beings; their big drawback is that methods used to make "knockout mice"—animals tailored for research by having specific genes precisely disabled—don't work for rats. A flurry of research this year, however, promises to bring "knockout rats" to labs in a big way.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Top 10 Movie Plot Holes You Probably Never Noticed Before
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/top-10-movie-plot-holes-you-probably-never-noticed-before/
Top 10 Movie Plot Holes You Probably Never Noticed Before
Matt Blum
November 16, 2010
It’s a rare movie that has no plot holes at all. Even movies nearly everyone likes, like Star Wars (I speak of Episode IV, in case that’s unclear), are occasionally rife with them. Of course, for many geeks — myself included — part of the fun of seeing a movie is identifying and discussing its plot holes afterward.
Here, then, are ten plot holes from geeky movies that, in my judgment, are ones that are easy to miss — even though some of them seem pretty obvious once you think about them. Please feel free to add your own favorite plot holes in the comments, and check out the first and second lists of plot holes (AKA “unanswered questions”) we’ve published on GeekDad before. (Note: The list below contains spoilers for the movies listed, out of necessity.)
10. The Matrix - The machines are keeping humans alive for their body heat, right? But they also have nuclear fusion reactors, and (while I haven’t run the numbers) I’d be willing to bet that a single fusion reactor would generate more net energy in an hour than all the humans on today’s Earth would in a day. Plus, fusion reactors are considerably less likely to try to escape, so it’s pretty clear the only reason the humans are still around is so the movie can exist. Oh, and while we’re at it, how come the simulated world everyone’s living in still has computers? Wouldn’t it be much smarter to remove the computers, thus significantly reducing the likelihood of someone like Neo making an appearance?
9. Jurassic Park – The scientists clone dinosaurs from the DNA in the blood in a preserved prehistoric mosquito. The problem is that blood cells in many animals (humans included) don’t carry DNA, and when they do they don’t carry nearly enough that the frog DNA they use to fill in the gaps wouldn’t dominate the bits of dinosaur DNA. Plus, of course, they would have no way to determine which DNA strands came from which dinosaur — and which from the mosquito itself!
8. Spider-Man 2 - Doctor Octavius is trying to find Spider-Man, and Harry suggests he talk to his good buddy Peter Parker, because Pete is always taking photos of Spider-Man. Doc Ock promptly finds Peter and Mary Jane at a coffee shop, and introduces himself by throwing a car at them through the window, which would certainly have killed them if Peter hadn’t been Spider-Man, sensed the danger, and pulled himself and MJ to the floor. But Doc Ock has no idea that Peter is Spider-Man, so why would he try to kill the person he wants help from?
7. Superman & Superman II – It’s just astonishing how Superman conveniently acquires new powers whenever his already-impressive selection of powers is inadequate to the task. In the first film, Lois Lane dies in the massive earthquake caused by the nuclear missile hitting the San Andreas fault. Superman, understandably distraught, suddenly and miraculously not only has the ability to turn back time by flying around the Earth really fast a lot of times, but somehow knows that he has that ability, despite it never having been mentioned previously. Then, at the end of the second film, the same thing happens again — only this time it’s an amnesia kiss. How exactly is he supposed to be able to remove the memory that Clark Kent is Superman, while leaving other memories intact? It’s never explained at all.
6. Star Trek II & Star Trek III - At the end of STII, the Genesis device creates a planet out of the Mutara nebula and the USS Reliant, right? And that’s fine as far as it goes, because scientists do in fact think that planets form out of nebulae. There’s just one tiny little question, though: Where did the sun for the planet to orbit come from? It sure wasn’t there before the device detonated, and if the device could create a star from a nebula, you’d think Carol Marcus would’ve mentioned it.
5. Batman Begins – Ra’s al Ghul (AKA Ducard) and the Scarecrow use the microwave emitter they stole from Wayne Enterprises to vaporize all the water in Gotham City, thus making people inhale the toxin contained therein. A creative idea, to be sure, except that human beings are 60-75% water (depending on age and other factors). So everybody in Gotham should be boiled to death in their own tissues.
4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – The final, climactic battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin rages all over and around the river of lava on Mustafar. Then it ends when Obi-Wan leaps onto the bank and tells Anakin he’s lost because Obi-Wan has the high ground. He turns out to be right, as Anakin leaps into Obi-Wans flashing lightsaber. Seriously, though, how does being on high ground matter when you’re both wizards who can levitate objects with your minds, leap incredibly high, and move astonishingly fast?
3. The Princess Bride – When the Brute Squad is cleaning up the Thieves’ Forest, Fezzik finds Inigo and nurses him back to sobriety. He tells him about Vizzini’s death and, more importantly, about “the existence of Count Rugen, the six-fingered man.” That’s great, except… how does Fezzik know Rugen is the six-fingered man? We see Westley notice Rugen’s extra digit, but he’s knocked out and taken directly to the Pit of Despair, so he clearly had no chance to tell Fezzik. And even if Fezzik had seen Rugen, is it really likely he’d have noticed? Fezzik isn’t that bright or that observant. (Incidentally, I looked this bit up in the book, and it doesn’t explain how Fezzik knew, either.)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - This is a problem in the book as well, but it’s in the movie so it counts. Barty Crouch, Jr., disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, arranges for the Triwizard Cup to be a portkey to take Harry to the graveyard in Little Hangleton so that he can be used to bring Voldemort back to life and then killed. He’s in the guise of a teacher at the school, so he had any number of opportunities to make a portkey out of, well, pretty much anything that he could be sure Harry would touch — Harry’s schoolbooks, his shoes, whatever. It’s been argued that Voldemort wanted to keep his existence a secret and make it look like Harry perished during the task, but really, having Harry just disappear without a trace wouldn’t be any more suspicious. And, incidentally, why did he make the cup a two-way portkey? It’s been established that most portkeys are one-use, one-way only. Why not make this portkey one of those, so that Harry had no way to escape?
1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back – Once Luke starts to figure out that the silly-acting, funny-looking little creature he’s with is in fact Yoda, Yoda’s mood changes. He criticizes Luke (legitimately, it must be said) and argues that Luke shouldn’t be trained to be a Jedi. Obi-Wan has to argue with him to get him to change his mind. Really, though, what choice does Yoda have? He either trains Luke or… what? The Empire wins? Good plan, Jedi Master.
Top 10 Movie Plot Holes You Probably Never Noticed Before
Matt Blum
November 16, 2010
It’s a rare movie that has no plot holes at all. Even movies nearly everyone likes, like Star Wars (I speak of Episode IV, in case that’s unclear), are occasionally rife with them. Of course, for many geeks — myself included — part of the fun of seeing a movie is identifying and discussing its plot holes afterward.
Here, then, are ten plot holes from geeky movies that, in my judgment, are ones that are easy to miss — even though some of them seem pretty obvious once you think about them. Please feel free to add your own favorite plot holes in the comments, and check out the first and second lists of plot holes (AKA “unanswered questions”) we’ve published on GeekDad before. (Note: The list below contains spoilers for the movies listed, out of necessity.)
10. The Matrix - The machines are keeping humans alive for their body heat, right? But they also have nuclear fusion reactors, and (while I haven’t run the numbers) I’d be willing to bet that a single fusion reactor would generate more net energy in an hour than all the humans on today’s Earth would in a day. Plus, fusion reactors are considerably less likely to try to escape, so it’s pretty clear the only reason the humans are still around is so the movie can exist. Oh, and while we’re at it, how come the simulated world everyone’s living in still has computers? Wouldn’t it be much smarter to remove the computers, thus significantly reducing the likelihood of someone like Neo making an appearance?
9. Jurassic Park – The scientists clone dinosaurs from the DNA in the blood in a preserved prehistoric mosquito. The problem is that blood cells in many animals (humans included) don’t carry DNA, and when they do they don’t carry nearly enough that the frog DNA they use to fill in the gaps wouldn’t dominate the bits of dinosaur DNA. Plus, of course, they would have no way to determine which DNA strands came from which dinosaur — and which from the mosquito itself!
8. Spider-Man 2 - Doctor Octavius is trying to find Spider-Man, and Harry suggests he talk to his good buddy Peter Parker, because Pete is always taking photos of Spider-Man. Doc Ock promptly finds Peter and Mary Jane at a coffee shop, and introduces himself by throwing a car at them through the window, which would certainly have killed them if Peter hadn’t been Spider-Man, sensed the danger, and pulled himself and MJ to the floor. But Doc Ock has no idea that Peter is Spider-Man, so why would he try to kill the person he wants help from?
7. Superman & Superman II – It’s just astonishing how Superman conveniently acquires new powers whenever his already-impressive selection of powers is inadequate to the task. In the first film, Lois Lane dies in the massive earthquake caused by the nuclear missile hitting the San Andreas fault. Superman, understandably distraught, suddenly and miraculously not only has the ability to turn back time by flying around the Earth really fast a lot of times, but somehow knows that he has that ability, despite it never having been mentioned previously. Then, at the end of the second film, the same thing happens again — only this time it’s an amnesia kiss. How exactly is he supposed to be able to remove the memory that Clark Kent is Superman, while leaving other memories intact? It’s never explained at all.
6. Star Trek II & Star Trek III - At the end of STII, the Genesis device creates a planet out of the Mutara nebula and the USS Reliant, right? And that’s fine as far as it goes, because scientists do in fact think that planets form out of nebulae. There’s just one tiny little question, though: Where did the sun for the planet to orbit come from? It sure wasn’t there before the device detonated, and if the device could create a star from a nebula, you’d think Carol Marcus would’ve mentioned it.
5. Batman Begins – Ra’s al Ghul (AKA Ducard) and the Scarecrow use the microwave emitter they stole from Wayne Enterprises to vaporize all the water in Gotham City, thus making people inhale the toxin contained therein. A creative idea, to be sure, except that human beings are 60-75% water (depending on age and other factors). So everybody in Gotham should be boiled to death in their own tissues.
4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – The final, climactic battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin rages all over and around the river of lava on Mustafar. Then it ends when Obi-Wan leaps onto the bank and tells Anakin he’s lost because Obi-Wan has the high ground. He turns out to be right, as Anakin leaps into Obi-Wans flashing lightsaber. Seriously, though, how does being on high ground matter when you’re both wizards who can levitate objects with your minds, leap incredibly high, and move astonishingly fast?
3. The Princess Bride – When the Brute Squad is cleaning up the Thieves’ Forest, Fezzik finds Inigo and nurses him back to sobriety. He tells him about Vizzini’s death and, more importantly, about “the existence of Count Rugen, the six-fingered man.” That’s great, except… how does Fezzik know Rugen is the six-fingered man? We see Westley notice Rugen’s extra digit, but he’s knocked out and taken directly to the Pit of Despair, so he clearly had no chance to tell Fezzik. And even if Fezzik had seen Rugen, is it really likely he’d have noticed? Fezzik isn’t that bright or that observant. (Incidentally, I looked this bit up in the book, and it doesn’t explain how Fezzik knew, either.)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - This is a problem in the book as well, but it’s in the movie so it counts. Barty Crouch, Jr., disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, arranges for the Triwizard Cup to be a portkey to take Harry to the graveyard in Little Hangleton so that he can be used to bring Voldemort back to life and then killed. He’s in the guise of a teacher at the school, so he had any number of opportunities to make a portkey out of, well, pretty much anything that he could be sure Harry would touch — Harry’s schoolbooks, his shoes, whatever. It’s been argued that Voldemort wanted to keep his existence a secret and make it look like Harry perished during the task, but really, having Harry just disappear without a trace wouldn’t be any more suspicious. And, incidentally, why did he make the cup a two-way portkey? It’s been established that most portkeys are one-use, one-way only. Why not make this portkey one of those, so that Harry had no way to escape?
1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back – Once Luke starts to figure out that the silly-acting, funny-looking little creature he’s with is in fact Yoda, Yoda’s mood changes. He criticizes Luke (legitimately, it must be said) and argues that Luke shouldn’t be trained to be a Jedi. Obi-Wan has to argue with him to get him to change his mind. Really, though, what choice does Yoda have? He either trains Luke or… what? The Empire wins? Good plan, Jedi Master.
Friday, November 26, 2010
'Space-time cloak' could conceal events
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/16/space.time.cloak
'Space-time cloak' could conceal events
Simon Hooper
November 16, 2010
Scientists compare bending light around an event to enabling a pedestrian to cross a road without interrupting the traffic flow.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists publish theory behind "cloak" capable of masking events
Cloak would use metamaterials to change speed of light
"Proof of concept" experiment possible with current technology, scientists claim
Theoretical cloak could have implications for quantum computing
New materials with the ability to manipulate the speed of light could enable the creation of a "space-time cloak" capable of masking events or even creating an illusion of "Star Trek"-style transportation, according to scientists in London.
The cloak, while currently only existing in mathematical theory, takes advantage of the potential properties of "metamaterials" -- artificial materials designed and manipulated at a molecular level to interact with and control electromagnetic waves.
Scientists have previously demonstrated that one possible use of metamaterials could be to render objects invisible by bending light around them. But Professor Martin McCall of Imperial College London says he has now extended the concept of invisibility to a cloak also capable of hiding events both in time and space.
"In some senses our work is mathematically quite closely related to the idea of invisibility cloaking," McCall told CNN. "It's just that we're doing it in space and time instead of just in space. It's added a new dimension to cloaking, quite literally."
In a paper published in the Journal of Optics, McCall said metamaterials made it theoretically possible to manipulate light rays as they enter a material so that some parts speed up and others slow down. This could create "blind spots" in time, masking an event. While the accelerated light arrives at a space before an event has happened, the rest of the light doesn't reach it until after the event.
"If you had someone moving along the corridor, it would appear to a distant observer as if they had relocated instantaneously, creating the illusion of a Star Trek transporter," says McCall. "So, theoretically, this person might be able to do something and you wouldn't notice."
Alberto Favaro, who worked on the project, compared the process to moving a pedestrian across a highway full of traffic by speeding up those cars already at or beyond the crossing point while slowing down the approaching vehicles.
"Meanwhile an observer down the road would only see a steady stream of traffic," said Favaro.
McCall said the theory could have practical implications in the future for quantum computing by opening up new possibilities for signal processing.
"If you have two channels that are carrying information, one of which has a continuous stream of bits on it, our technique can interrupt that stream and then process the other channel as a priority. So it can act as an 'interrupt without interrupt.' The original channels can then be seamed back together as if they'd never been interrupted."
The authors of the paper also joke that the "technology" would have its uses for criminals.
"A safe cracker would be able, for a brief time, to enter a scene, open the safe, remove its contents, close the door and exit the scene, whilst the record of a surveillance camera apparently showed that the safe door was closed all the time," they write.
The metamaterials necessary to create the perfect cloak are still many decades away, McCall said, while any prospect of upscaling the technology to conceal events even lasting a few minutes remains in the realm of science fiction because of the vast scale of the cloak that would be needed.
"Light travels at 100 million meters per second and in order to cloak it you'd need that many meters (of metamaterial), roughly speaking," he said.
But McCall said current optical-fibre technology could be used to construct a "poor man's cloak" capable of demonstrating "proof of concept" by imperfectly hiding events taking place over a few nanoseconds.
"We've provided a theoretical recipe and suggested how the experiment can be done. We believe the proof of principle experiment is available with current technology that experimentalist groups could achieve. It's up to the experimentalists to rise to the challenge," he said.
Ulf Leonhardt, a physicist working on the theory of invisibility technology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the paper was theoretically interesting but rejected the practicality of an experiment along the lines described by McCall.
"You'd need a very very strong light source and it's not something you can make with commercially available devices that you can buy for a standard university laboratory," Leonhardt told CNN.
But he said research activities in the field of invisibility had exploded since he first published papers on the subject in 2006. While optical cloaking technologies remained a long way off, there have been some very promising experiments involving cloaking soundwaves, he added.
"In acoustics you can definitely say this is working," said Leonhardt. "But it's still far away from being a practical technology for the optical range of the spectrum."
'Space-time cloak' could conceal events
Simon Hooper
November 16, 2010
Scientists compare bending light around an event to enabling a pedestrian to cross a road without interrupting the traffic flow.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists publish theory behind "cloak" capable of masking events
Cloak would use metamaterials to change speed of light
"Proof of concept" experiment possible with current technology, scientists claim
Theoretical cloak could have implications for quantum computing
New materials with the ability to manipulate the speed of light could enable the creation of a "space-time cloak" capable of masking events or even creating an illusion of "Star Trek"-style transportation, according to scientists in London.
The cloak, while currently only existing in mathematical theory, takes advantage of the potential properties of "metamaterials" -- artificial materials designed and manipulated at a molecular level to interact with and control electromagnetic waves.
Scientists have previously demonstrated that one possible use of metamaterials could be to render objects invisible by bending light around them. But Professor Martin McCall of Imperial College London says he has now extended the concept of invisibility to a cloak also capable of hiding events both in time and space.
"In some senses our work is mathematically quite closely related to the idea of invisibility cloaking," McCall told CNN. "It's just that we're doing it in space and time instead of just in space. It's added a new dimension to cloaking, quite literally."
In a paper published in the Journal of Optics, McCall said metamaterials made it theoretically possible to manipulate light rays as they enter a material so that some parts speed up and others slow down. This could create "blind spots" in time, masking an event. While the accelerated light arrives at a space before an event has happened, the rest of the light doesn't reach it until after the event.
"If you had someone moving along the corridor, it would appear to a distant observer as if they had relocated instantaneously, creating the illusion of a Star Trek transporter," says McCall. "So, theoretically, this person might be able to do something and you wouldn't notice."
Alberto Favaro, who worked on the project, compared the process to moving a pedestrian across a highway full of traffic by speeding up those cars already at or beyond the crossing point while slowing down the approaching vehicles.
"Meanwhile an observer down the road would only see a steady stream of traffic," said Favaro.
McCall said the theory could have practical implications in the future for quantum computing by opening up new possibilities for signal processing.
"If you have two channels that are carrying information, one of which has a continuous stream of bits on it, our technique can interrupt that stream and then process the other channel as a priority. So it can act as an 'interrupt without interrupt.' The original channels can then be seamed back together as if they'd never been interrupted."
The authors of the paper also joke that the "technology" would have its uses for criminals.
"A safe cracker would be able, for a brief time, to enter a scene, open the safe, remove its contents, close the door and exit the scene, whilst the record of a surveillance camera apparently showed that the safe door was closed all the time," they write.
The metamaterials necessary to create the perfect cloak are still many decades away, McCall said, while any prospect of upscaling the technology to conceal events even lasting a few minutes remains in the realm of science fiction because of the vast scale of the cloak that would be needed.
"Light travels at 100 million meters per second and in order to cloak it you'd need that many meters (of metamaterial), roughly speaking," he said.
But McCall said current optical-fibre technology could be used to construct a "poor man's cloak" capable of demonstrating "proof of concept" by imperfectly hiding events taking place over a few nanoseconds.
"We've provided a theoretical recipe and suggested how the experiment can be done. We believe the proof of principle experiment is available with current technology that experimentalist groups could achieve. It's up to the experimentalists to rise to the challenge," he said.
Ulf Leonhardt, a physicist working on the theory of invisibility technology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the paper was theoretically interesting but rejected the practicality of an experiment along the lines described by McCall.
"You'd need a very very strong light source and it's not something you can make with commercially available devices that you can buy for a standard university laboratory," Leonhardt told CNN.
But he said research activities in the field of invisibility had exploded since he first published papers on the subject in 2006. While optical cloaking technologies remained a long way off, there have been some very promising experiments involving cloaking soundwaves, he added.
"In acoustics you can definitely say this is working," said Leonhardt. "But it's still far away from being a practical technology for the optical range of the spectrum."
Friday, December 11, 2009
Oscars 2010: expect an open field
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8359404.stm
Monday, 30 November 2009
Oscars 2010: expect an open field
By Neil Smith
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
With three months to go before the Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, early indications suggest it will be one of the most open races in years.
Actor Alec Baldwin will co-host next year's Oscar ceremony
Indeed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to have anticipated this by opening the best picture category up to 10 movies, as opposed to the usual five.
That is not the only change either. In order not to coincide with the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the 2010 Oscars will take place a fortnight later than this year's were.
It will also boast not one but two hosts, the comedian Steve Martin sharing the presenting duties with actor Alec Baldwin.
The 2010 Oscar nominations will not be announced until 2 February. Already, though, industry pundits are identifying potential runners, riders and also-rans.
Here, then, is a rundown of some of the stars, films and film-makers we may be hearing more of in the weeks and months ahead.
BEST PICTURE
You have to go all the way back to 1944 for the last time 10 movies were shortlisted for the best picture Oscar.
On that occasion Casablanca won the prize, picking up additional awards for its director and three screenwriters.
However, the decision to expand the field again is less to do with recognising more movies than with appealing to a wider audience.
The general perception is the Academy celebrates niche pictures aimed at an art-house crowd - a notion it hopes to challenge by adding more populist nominees to next year's line-up.
It is expected, for instance, that JJ Abrams's well-regarded Star Trek film will find a berth among this year's hopefuls.
James Cameron's ambitious 3D blockbuster Avatar may also feature, with some tipping District 9 - a science-fiction adventure about bug-like aliens who become refugees on Earth - as an outside bet.
Take away the District and you have another potential contender - Nine, the big-screen version of the Broadway musical inspired by Federico Fellini's 1963 Oscar-winner 8 1/2.
Director Rob Marshall has some previous in this department, having steered Chicago - another stage to screen transfer - to its best picture Oscar in 2003.
Clint Eastwood has become a regular fixture on Oscar night and is sure to be in contention again with the sport-based Invictus.
The drama - like District 9 - is set in South Africa and tells of how president Nelson Mandela united the country behind its World Cup-winning rugby team in 1995.
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's drama about three bomb disposal experts stationed in Iraq, is generating a lot of positive buzz.
Some optimistic pundits are also tipping another, rather different war movie as a best picture contender - Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's flamboyant epic about commandos in Nazi-occupied France.
A safer bet might be Precious, the hard-hitting tale of a high school student coping with obesity, illiteracy, illegitimate pregnancy and sexual abuse.
No less gruelling is The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel that could muscle into the final 10.
McCarthy, you may recall, also penned No Country for Old Men, the book Joel and Ethan Coen adapted into an Oscar-winning hit.
The Coens are back this year with A Serious Man, a comedy drama based on their childhoods in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel about a murdered child, is another book-inspired work that may make the shortlist.
And with Pixar's Up heavily tipped to win the best animated feature Oscar, some are expecting it to be in with a shout in the best picture category as well.
BEST ACTOR
For many years, Morgan Freeman battled to turn Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom, into a film.
The fact he finally gets to play the South African icon in Invictus might therefore win him some consideration from the Academy's famously sentimental members.
Morgan Freeman is reunited with director Clint Eastwood in Invictus
George Clooney missed out on a best actor Oscar last year when Daniel Day-Lewis beat him to the coveted prize.
Their respective performances in romantic comedy Up in the Air and the aforementioned Nine opens up the possibility of a rematch.
Strangely enough, Viggo Mortensen was also nominated that year and may be so again for The Road.
Homegrown interest, meanwhile, is sure to focus on Colin Firth, considered a strong contender for his role as a grief-stricken gay academic in A Single Man.
Other possible nominees include Matt Damon, whose performances as an FBI whistle-blower in The Informant! and as South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar could conceivably see him cited in both the best actor and best supporting actor categories.
There is a chance Jeff Bridges might also make the cut for his role as a hard-drinking country music singer in Crazy Heart.
BEST ACTRESS
Last February Kate Winslet received this award for her portrayal as a former concentration camp guard in The Reader.
And early indications suggest Britain's best chances of Oscar success in 2010 will also be found in this hotly contested category.
Dame Helen Mirren, who received this award in 2007 for The Queen, is tipped to feature again for her role as Tolstoy's mercurial wife in The Last Station.
The smart money, though, is on newcomer Carey Mulligan, whose performance as a precocious 1960s schoolgirl in An Education has been tipped for glory on both sides of the Atlantic.
Australia's Abbie Cornish may also land a nomination for her role as John Keats's neighbour in the period drama Bright Star.
The endearingly full-figured Gabourey Sidibe, star of Precious, is another fresh talent who could be recognised.
Serial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, meanwhile, will surely be up for an award for which she has been nominated a remarkable 12 times.
Will her next nod be for her portrayal of eccentric cookery guru Julia Child in Julie and Julia, however, or for her upcoming turn opposite Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin - yes, them again - in romantic comedy It's Complicated?
Monday, 30 November 2009
Oscars 2010: expect an open field
By Neil Smith
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
With three months to go before the Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, early indications suggest it will be one of the most open races in years.
Actor Alec Baldwin will co-host next year's Oscar ceremony
Indeed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to have anticipated this by opening the best picture category up to 10 movies, as opposed to the usual five.
That is not the only change either. In order not to coincide with the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the 2010 Oscars will take place a fortnight later than this year's were.
It will also boast not one but two hosts, the comedian Steve Martin sharing the presenting duties with actor Alec Baldwin.
The 2010 Oscar nominations will not be announced until 2 February. Already, though, industry pundits are identifying potential runners, riders and also-rans.
Here, then, is a rundown of some of the stars, films and film-makers we may be hearing more of in the weeks and months ahead.
BEST PICTURE
You have to go all the way back to 1944 for the last time 10 movies were shortlisted for the best picture Oscar.
On that occasion Casablanca won the prize, picking up additional awards for its director and three screenwriters.
However, the decision to expand the field again is less to do with recognising more movies than with appealing to a wider audience.
The general perception is the Academy celebrates niche pictures aimed at an art-house crowd - a notion it hopes to challenge by adding more populist nominees to next year's line-up.
It is expected, for instance, that JJ Abrams's well-regarded Star Trek film will find a berth among this year's hopefuls.
James Cameron's ambitious 3D blockbuster Avatar may also feature, with some tipping District 9 - a science-fiction adventure about bug-like aliens who become refugees on Earth - as an outside bet.
Take away the District and you have another potential contender - Nine, the big-screen version of the Broadway musical inspired by Federico Fellini's 1963 Oscar-winner 8 1/2.
Director Rob Marshall has some previous in this department, having steered Chicago - another stage to screen transfer - to its best picture Oscar in 2003.
Clint Eastwood has become a regular fixture on Oscar night and is sure to be in contention again with the sport-based Invictus.
The drama - like District 9 - is set in South Africa and tells of how president Nelson Mandela united the country behind its World Cup-winning rugby team in 1995.
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's drama about three bomb disposal experts stationed in Iraq, is generating a lot of positive buzz.
Some optimistic pundits are also tipping another, rather different war movie as a best picture contender - Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's flamboyant epic about commandos in Nazi-occupied France.
A safer bet might be Precious, the hard-hitting tale of a high school student coping with obesity, illiteracy, illegitimate pregnancy and sexual abuse.
No less gruelling is The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel that could muscle into the final 10.
McCarthy, you may recall, also penned No Country for Old Men, the book Joel and Ethan Coen adapted into an Oscar-winning hit.
The Coens are back this year with A Serious Man, a comedy drama based on their childhoods in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel about a murdered child, is another book-inspired work that may make the shortlist.
And with Pixar's Up heavily tipped to win the best animated feature Oscar, some are expecting it to be in with a shout in the best picture category as well.
BEST ACTOR
For many years, Morgan Freeman battled to turn Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom, into a film.
The fact he finally gets to play the South African icon in Invictus might therefore win him some consideration from the Academy's famously sentimental members.
Morgan Freeman is reunited with director Clint Eastwood in Invictus
George Clooney missed out on a best actor Oscar last year when Daniel Day-Lewis beat him to the coveted prize.
Their respective performances in romantic comedy Up in the Air and the aforementioned Nine opens up the possibility of a rematch.
Strangely enough, Viggo Mortensen was also nominated that year and may be so again for The Road.
Homegrown interest, meanwhile, is sure to focus on Colin Firth, considered a strong contender for his role as a grief-stricken gay academic in A Single Man.
Other possible nominees include Matt Damon, whose performances as an FBI whistle-blower in The Informant! and as South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar could conceivably see him cited in both the best actor and best supporting actor categories.
There is a chance Jeff Bridges might also make the cut for his role as a hard-drinking country music singer in Crazy Heart.
BEST ACTRESS
Last February Kate Winslet received this award for her portrayal as a former concentration camp guard in The Reader.
And early indications suggest Britain's best chances of Oscar success in 2010 will also be found in this hotly contested category.
Dame Helen Mirren, who received this award in 2007 for The Queen, is tipped to feature again for her role as Tolstoy's mercurial wife in The Last Station.
The smart money, though, is on newcomer Carey Mulligan, whose performance as a precocious 1960s schoolgirl in An Education has been tipped for glory on both sides of the Atlantic.
Australia's Abbie Cornish may also land a nomination for her role as John Keats's neighbour in the period drama Bright Star.
The endearingly full-figured Gabourey Sidibe, star of Precious, is another fresh talent who could be recognised.
Serial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, meanwhile, will surely be up for an award for which she has been nominated a remarkable 12 times.
Will her next nod be for her portrayal of eccentric cookery guru Julia Child in Julie and Julia, however, or for her upcoming turn opposite Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin - yes, them again - in romantic comedy It's Complicated?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
TV's 'Newlywed Game' features first gay couple
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/16/entertainment/e095540D68.DTL
TV's 'Newlywed Game' features first gay couple
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
NEW YORK, (AP) -- Even as states and jurisdictions made gay and lesbian marriages legal, "The Newlywed Game" has played it straight — until now.
The long-running game show, now on the GSN cable network, said Wednesday it will feature its first gay couple this season on a celebrity edition. George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek," will appear with his partner, Brad Altman.
They just celebrated their first anniversary after being married in Los Angeles last September, but they're nothing like the giggly young couples the game is known for. Takei and Altman have been together for 22 years.
"What we want is to display the normality and the joy of having a happy union," Takei said.
"The Newlywed Game" has been on TV off and on since it premiered in prime-time on ABC in 1967, mostly with Bob Eubanks as host. Singer Carnie Wilson is now host of the show, which is in its second season on GSN and done well in the ratings for the network.
The show always teased and tested couples about how well they know each other, with the slightly lascivious Eubanks delighting in questions about "making whoopee."
It has since featured older couples, interracial couples and some who have lived together many years before marriage. Even long-ago contestants were retested as part of "Oldyweds Game" segments.
Kelly Goode, GSN's programming chief, said she couldn't speculate on why gay couples were never included in the past because GSN, the former Game Show Network, has only been responsible for the show for two years. She said it was in the game's rules that the couple needed to have a legally-recognized marriage to play.
The change "made sense for GSN," Goode said. "It seems like the show has always reflected the times in terms of marriages depicted and this felt like the next logical step."
Takei and Altman haven't taped their episode yet but expect to do so soon. GSN hopes to air in October.
The show is sprinkling a handful of celebrity players and their new spouses in this season, including Davy Jones of The Monkees, Christopher Knight of "The Brady Bunch" and Jonny Fairplay of "Survivor."
Wilson said she had been pressing behind-the-scenes to have an all-gay edition of the show. She's excited about Takei's appearance.
"It's needed at this point," she said. "To me, this is not anything political. This is not a political statement. This show has always been about couples and how well they know each other."
Dan Gainor, a vice president at the conservative Culture and Media Institute, said the move was a publicity stunt for a show most Americans didn't realize was still on the air. Despite Wilson's views, Gainor said he believed it was a political statement for the California-based show and network, coming in a state where voters banned same-sex nuptials months after Takei and Altman married.
"They're trying to use TV and the movies to set the gay agenda and make it mainstream," Gainor said.
Even though they've been a committed couple for 22 years, Takei said he and Altman are quietly preparing for their appearance. He's taking careful note of what his partner orders in restaurants and wears.
"To be included in something we never felt we'd be included in is very satisfying," he said.
TV's 'Newlywed Game' features first gay couple
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
NEW YORK, (AP) -- Even as states and jurisdictions made gay and lesbian marriages legal, "The Newlywed Game" has played it straight — until now.
The long-running game show, now on the GSN cable network, said Wednesday it will feature its first gay couple this season on a celebrity edition. George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek," will appear with his partner, Brad Altman.
They just celebrated their first anniversary after being married in Los Angeles last September, but they're nothing like the giggly young couples the game is known for. Takei and Altman have been together for 22 years.
"What we want is to display the normality and the joy of having a happy union," Takei said.
"The Newlywed Game" has been on TV off and on since it premiered in prime-time on ABC in 1967, mostly with Bob Eubanks as host. Singer Carnie Wilson is now host of the show, which is in its second season on GSN and done well in the ratings for the network.
The show always teased and tested couples about how well they know each other, with the slightly lascivious Eubanks delighting in questions about "making whoopee."
It has since featured older couples, interracial couples and some who have lived together many years before marriage. Even long-ago contestants were retested as part of "Oldyweds Game" segments.
Kelly Goode, GSN's programming chief, said she couldn't speculate on why gay couples were never included in the past because GSN, the former Game Show Network, has only been responsible for the show for two years. She said it was in the game's rules that the couple needed to have a legally-recognized marriage to play.
The change "made sense for GSN," Goode said. "It seems like the show has always reflected the times in terms of marriages depicted and this felt like the next logical step."
Takei and Altman haven't taped their episode yet but expect to do so soon. GSN hopes to air in October.
The show is sprinkling a handful of celebrity players and their new spouses in this season, including Davy Jones of The Monkees, Christopher Knight of "The Brady Bunch" and Jonny Fairplay of "Survivor."
Wilson said she had been pressing behind-the-scenes to have an all-gay edition of the show. She's excited about Takei's appearance.
"It's needed at this point," she said. "To me, this is not anything political. This is not a political statement. This show has always been about couples and how well they know each other."
Dan Gainor, a vice president at the conservative Culture and Media Institute, said the move was a publicity stunt for a show most Americans didn't realize was still on the air. Despite Wilson's views, Gainor said he believed it was a political statement for the California-based show and network, coming in a state where voters banned same-sex nuptials months after Takei and Altman married.
"They're trying to use TV and the movies to set the gay agenda and make it mainstream," Gainor said.
Even though they've been a committed couple for 22 years, Takei said he and Altman are quietly preparing for their appearance. He's taking careful note of what his partner orders in restaurants and wears.
"To be included in something we never felt we'd be included in is very satisfying," he said.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Your Friendly Neighborhood Barack Obama
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b78129_your_friendly_neighborhood_barack_obama.htmlYour Friendly Neighborhood Barack Obama
1-8-9
Joal Ryan
Excuse Barack Obama if his Spidey sense is tingling.
The nation's soon-to-be first commander in geek has been tapped—and drawn—to share covers of an upcoming Amazing Spider-Man with his beloved Webslinger.
The issue, No. 583, on sale Jan. 14, finds Peter Parker's costumed self making sure all goes well on Inauguration Day. Not to give away the ending, but celebratory fist-bumps are exchanged, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said today.
Obama was not consulted. Fellow comic geek Stephen Colbert was absolutely not consulted.
"The truth is since we put Stephen in an issue [Amazing Spider-Man No. 573], we basically own his ass," Quesada said.
Quesada said the idea for the Obama issue was hatched after reports said the future president collected Spider-Man. The same reports said Obama collected Conan the Barbarian, too, but Marvel doesn't own the rights to that character anymore.
A bipartisan comics fan, Obama has also been known to drop Superman references. And Green Hornet references. And Star Trek references. And…
With such apparent love for fandom, is there any doubt that Marvel's kingpin has a front-row seat at Obama's swearing in?
Well, actually, yeah, there's doubt. In fact, it's not happening—Quesada's not going ("I wish."). Spidey cover or no, Quesada confirmed that Obama hasn't even offered one of his heroes a role in the new administration.
Still, the editor said, "Spider-Man and I are at the ready, if needed."
Thursday, August 21, 2008
A brief history of warp drives
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/15/sciwarpdrive215.xml
A brief history of warp drives
By Roger Highfield
15/08/2008
This form of warp propulsion is called an Alcubierre drive after Miguel Alcubierre, who stunned physicists when he set out the physics while studying at Cardiff University.
Alcubierre demonstrated in 1994 that if the fabric of space and time can be locally warped so that it expands behind a spacecraft and contracts in front of it, then the craft will be propelled along with the space it is in - in effect, riding the crest of the wave.
His ingenious idea was set back in 1997 Michael Pfenning and Larry Ford at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, did calculations that suggested that it needed far more than the entire energy content of the universe to work.
Fortunately, Dr Chris Van Den Broeck, then working at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1999 resurrected Alcubierre's proposal.
The trick lies in using a strange form of warped space, involving a "bubble" with a large internal volume to carry a starship but a tiny surface area, a bit like Dr Who's Tardis.
Van Den Broeck used Pfenning and Ford's results to show that a bubble big enough to contain a starship could be formed using just a gram of suitable space-warping material: the Alcubierre drive had overcome this hurdle, though Dr Van Den Broeck said problems remain.
Warp drives are studied by physicists to test the limits of physics but they have been examined by Nasa's Breakthrough Propulsion Program and by the British Aerospace Project Greenglow.
So influential is Alcubierre's idea that it has even been referred to by the writers of Star Trek. While a doctoral physics student at California Institute of Technology in January of 2044, the inventor of Star Trek's warp drive, Zefram Cochrane studied the theories of Alcubierre and Richard Obousy, On April 5, 2063 at 11:15 AM local time, Cochrane made Earth's first warp flight, playing Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" during blast-off and dedicating the first flight to Alcubierre and Obousy.
A brief history of warp drives
By Roger Highfield
15/08/2008
This form of warp propulsion is called an Alcubierre drive after Miguel Alcubierre, who stunned physicists when he set out the physics while studying at Cardiff University.
Alcubierre demonstrated in 1994 that if the fabric of space and time can be locally warped so that it expands behind a spacecraft and contracts in front of it, then the craft will be propelled along with the space it is in - in effect, riding the crest of the wave.
His ingenious idea was set back in 1997 Michael Pfenning and Larry Ford at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, did calculations that suggested that it needed far more than the entire energy content of the universe to work.
Fortunately, Dr Chris Van Den Broeck, then working at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1999 resurrected Alcubierre's proposal.
The trick lies in using a strange form of warped space, involving a "bubble" with a large internal volume to carry a starship but a tiny surface area, a bit like Dr Who's Tardis.
Van Den Broeck used Pfenning and Ford's results to show that a bubble big enough to contain a starship could be formed using just a gram of suitable space-warping material: the Alcubierre drive had overcome this hurdle, though Dr Van Den Broeck said problems remain.
Warp drives are studied by physicists to test the limits of physics but they have been examined by Nasa's Breakthrough Propulsion Program and by the British Aerospace Project Greenglow.
So influential is Alcubierre's idea that it has even been referred to by the writers of Star Trek. While a doctoral physics student at California Institute of Technology in January of 2044, the inventor of Star Trek's warp drive, Zefram Cochrane studied the theories of Alcubierre and Richard Obousy, On April 5, 2063 at 11:15 AM local time, Cochrane made Earth's first warp flight, playing Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" during blast-off and dedicating the first flight to Alcubierre and Obousy.
Star Trek warp drive is a possibility, say scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/15/sciwarpdrive115.xml
Star Trek warp drive is a possibility, say scientists
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
15/08/2008
Two physicists have boldly gone where no reputable scientists should go and devised a new scheme to travel faster than the speed of light.
The advance could mean that Star Trek fantasies of interstellar civilisations and voyages powered by warp drive are now no longer the exclusive domain of science fiction writers.
In the long running television series created by Gene Roddenberry, the warp drive was invented by Zefram Cochrane, who began his epic project in 2053 in Bozeman, Montana.
Now Dr Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and Richard Obousy have come up with a new twist on an existing idea to produce a warp drive that they believe can travel faster than the speed of light, without breaking the laws of physics.
In their scheme, in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, a starship could "warp" space so that it shrinks ahead of the vessel and expands behind it.
By pushing the departure point many light years backwards while simultaneously bringing distant stars and other destinations closer, the warp drive effectively transports the starship from place to place at faster-than-light speeds.
All this extraordinary feat requires, says the new study, is for scientists to harness a mysterious and poorly understood cosmic antigravity force, called dark energy.
Dark energy is thought responsible for speeding up the expansion rate of our universe as time moves on, just like it did after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded much faster than the speed of light for a very brief time.
This may come as a surprise since, according to relativity theory, matter cannot move through space faster than the speed of light, which is almost 300,000,000 metres per second. But that theory applies only to unwarped 'flat' space.
And there is no limit on the speed with which space itself can move: the spaceship can sit at rest in a small bubble of space that flows at "superluminal" - faster than light - velocities through normal space because the fabric of space and time itself (scientists refer to spacetime) is stretching.
In the scheme outlined by Dr Cleaver dark energy would be used to create the bubble: if dark energy can be made negative in front of the ship, then that patch of space would contract in response.
"Think of it like a surfer riding a wave," said Dr Cleaver. "The ship would be pushed by the spatial bubble and the bubble would be travelling faster than the speed of light."
The new warp drive work also draws on "string theory", which suggests the universe is made up of multiple dimensions. We are used to four dimensions - height, width, length and time but string theorists believe that there are a total of 10 dimensions and it is by changing the size of this 10th spatial dimension in front of the space ship that the Baylor researchers believe could alter the strength of the dark energy in such a manner to propel the ship faster than the speed of light.
They conclude by recommending that it would be "prudent to research this area further."
But hold the dilithium crystals: Dr Chris Van Den Broeck of Cardiff University commented: "The problem with this and previous schemes (including my own) is that part of the exotic matter would have to travel faster than the *local* speed of light (roughly speaking, it would need to go faster than the speed of light with respect to the portion of space it occupies), and that's not allowed by any established physical theory."
And even if this criticism can be met, Richard Obousy computed the amount of energy required to start up a "warp" process (but not the total energy required to travel a specific distance) around a 10x10x10 metre-cube ship based on the required change in dark energy in a space equal to the volume of the ship.
The energy to kick start the drive turned out to be equivalent to turning the entire mass of Jupiter into energy, by Einstein's famous E equals Mc squared equation, where c is the speed of light. Given the mass of Jupiter is around 2000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms, that is a big number.
"That is an enormous amount of energy," Dr Cleaver said. "We are still a very long ways off before we could create something to harness that type of energy."
Star Trek warp drive is a possibility, say scientists
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
15/08/2008
Two physicists have boldly gone where no reputable scientists should go and devised a new scheme to travel faster than the speed of light.
The advance could mean that Star Trek fantasies of interstellar civilisations and voyages powered by warp drive are now no longer the exclusive domain of science fiction writers.
In the long running television series created by Gene Roddenberry, the warp drive was invented by Zefram Cochrane, who began his epic project in 2053 in Bozeman, Montana.
Now Dr Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and Richard Obousy have come up with a new twist on an existing idea to produce a warp drive that they believe can travel faster than the speed of light, without breaking the laws of physics.
In their scheme, in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, a starship could "warp" space so that it shrinks ahead of the vessel and expands behind it.
By pushing the departure point many light years backwards while simultaneously bringing distant stars and other destinations closer, the warp drive effectively transports the starship from place to place at faster-than-light speeds.
All this extraordinary feat requires, says the new study, is for scientists to harness a mysterious and poorly understood cosmic antigravity force, called dark energy.
Dark energy is thought responsible for speeding up the expansion rate of our universe as time moves on, just like it did after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded much faster than the speed of light for a very brief time.
This may come as a surprise since, according to relativity theory, matter cannot move through space faster than the speed of light, which is almost 300,000,000 metres per second. But that theory applies only to unwarped 'flat' space.
And there is no limit on the speed with which space itself can move: the spaceship can sit at rest in a small bubble of space that flows at "superluminal" - faster than light - velocities through normal space because the fabric of space and time itself (scientists refer to spacetime) is stretching.
In the scheme outlined by Dr Cleaver dark energy would be used to create the bubble: if dark energy can be made negative in front of the ship, then that patch of space would contract in response.
"Think of it like a surfer riding a wave," said Dr Cleaver. "The ship would be pushed by the spatial bubble and the bubble would be travelling faster than the speed of light."
The new warp drive work also draws on "string theory", which suggests the universe is made up of multiple dimensions. We are used to four dimensions - height, width, length and time but string theorists believe that there are a total of 10 dimensions and it is by changing the size of this 10th spatial dimension in front of the space ship that the Baylor researchers believe could alter the strength of the dark energy in such a manner to propel the ship faster than the speed of light.
They conclude by recommending that it would be "prudent to research this area further."
But hold the dilithium crystals: Dr Chris Van Den Broeck of Cardiff University commented: "The problem with this and previous schemes (including my own) is that part of the exotic matter would have to travel faster than the *local* speed of light (roughly speaking, it would need to go faster than the speed of light with respect to the portion of space it occupies), and that's not allowed by any established physical theory."
And even if this criticism can be met, Richard Obousy computed the amount of energy required to start up a "warp" process (but not the total energy required to travel a specific distance) around a 10x10x10 metre-cube ship based on the required change in dark energy in a space equal to the volume of the ship.
The energy to kick start the drive turned out to be equivalent to turning the entire mass of Jupiter into energy, by Einstein's famous E equals Mc squared equation, where c is the speed of light. Given the mass of Jupiter is around 2000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms, that is a big number.
"That is an enormous amount of energy," Dr Cleaver said. "We are still a very long ways off before we could create something to harness that type of energy."
Star Trek technology: The reality
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2563841/Star-Trek-technology-The-reality.htmlStar Trek technology: The reality
Much of the technology featured in the Star Trek films is either already a reality or under development. Here are some examples:
By Richard Alleyne
15 Aug 2008
Phaser guns
The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) gun is under development at the US Air Force Research Laboratory which like its science fiction counterpart can "stun" assailants. The real PHASR is a non-lethal, portable deterrent weapon which uses a laser system to blind the enemy temporarily.
The handheld Communicator
Like their Star Trek equivalent modern mobile phones often have flip top lids and can - thanks to satellite navigation technology - be used to pinpoint your position. Unfortunately using them to "beam you up" remains a scientific dream.
The Universal Translator
Like the Star Trek device which translates alien languages, the US military is using the Phraselator in Iraq for speech translation. The website Google, among others, can translate web sites and phone manufacturer NEC is launching the first mobile phone with speech translation.
Medical Tricorder
MRI and CAT scans can like Dr McCoy's hand-held tricorder device diagnose diseases by scanning the body. A San Diego-based company is developing a smaller portable device that when it touches the skin can detect illnesses.
Tractor Beam
Optical tweezers are a scientific instrument that uses a focused laser beam to provide an attractive or repulsive force. Unfortunately unlike the Enterprises tractor beam which can trap and pull in space ships they only work on a microscopic level.
Cloaking device
Scientists in the real world have come up with all sorts of devices to copy the technology that renders Klingon ships invisible, from "stealth" radar-absorbing dark paint to active camouflage. In the long run they are looking at a special "meta" materials, that theoretically could make light curve around an object and so make it appear as if it were not there at all.
The Hopes of a Long Suffering 'Star Wars' Fan
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/08/the-hopes-of-a.htmlThe Hopes of a Long Suffering 'Star Wars' Fan
Aug 14, 2008
by Christian Blauvelt
Categories: Film, I'm Just a Geek, Sci-Fi, Star Trek, Star Wars
Like many a recovering Star Wars fan, I await the premiere this Friday of Star Wars: The Clone Wars with a mix of excitement and dread. Excitement for the opportunity to see a new vision of George Lucas's beloved universe brought to the screen. Dread that, if without meaningful character development or a coherent plot (did you see any hint of a story in those trailers?), director Dave Filoni's pixelfest could be as much fun as watching another person play a videogame.
And yet despite my frustrations with the franchise, I keep coming back. I love this mythology, this universe, and these characters.
That's why it was so refreshing to hear the rumor that fellow Star Wars aficionado Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), who's playing Scotty in the upcoming Star Trek, had declared his desire to write an episode of Lucas's long-gestating live action TV series, supposedly set between Episodes III and IV. Pegg supposedly worried, however, that he may have alienated Lucasfilm by publicly criticizing The Phantom Menace.
Star Wars needs an overhaul, like what Christopher Nolan did for Batman or what J.J. Abrams intends to do for Star Trek. I'm not saying Pegg's the one to reinvent the saga from a galaxy far, far away, but it should be a fan of the series who knows it and loves it. As the saga's creator, Lucas never felt what it was like sitting in a darkened theater as a young would-be fan not knowing what to expect, seeing "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." pop up for the first time, and bathing in John Williams' blaring fanfare as that imperial star destroyer first passed overhead.
Maybe because of his unique position of knowing and nurturing this universe from its inception, Lucas actually might not understand what it is that his fans want. Hence Jar Jar, "the taxation of trade routes," the Galactic Senate's parliamentary procedure, the "I hate sand" monologue, and Natalie Portman saying "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo."
Why I am hopeful about this new Clone Wars movie and subsequent animated TV series is because some of the best Star Wars stories told since the original trilogy have come from people other than George Lucas. Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire paved the way for a whole "expanded universe" of storytelling through dozens of novels, by authors like Steve Perry, Matthew Stover, and Troy Denning, that delve into a level of detail about the characters, alien cultures, and political events that make the films seem superficial by comparison. Likewise, Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's Dark Empire graphic novel series reveals a brooding, melancholy undercurrent to the Star Wars universe that would seem to be jarringly incompatible with the gleaming surfaces and Flash Gordon thrills of the movies. Many fans consider the videogame Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to be the best Star Wars story since The Empire Strikes Back. And from 2003-2005, Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars micro-series injected new dynamism into a franchise that had apparently lost all of its kinetic charm.
These books, graphic novels, video games, and cartoons show that Star Wars has infinite possibilities. But when it comes to live-action films (or even the upcoming live-action TV show), Lucas has made it clear it's his vision or nothing. Dale Pollock's biography Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas reveals Lucas even resented the psychologically-charged direction Irvin Kershner chose to take The Empire Strikes Back. (Check out this fascinating fan Q&A with Pollock in The Washington Post from 2005.)
It would be a final irony that the creator of the most popular sci-fi franchise in history would doom his own series to creative irrelevance by his unwillingness to field fresh perspectives for his live-action series. I say, let Pegg have his shot writing an episode of the new series. For that matter, open up the franchise to other writers and directors for reinvention.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Should Lucas field fresh ideas from other filmmakers for the future of Star Wars? And what directors would you choose? Or is Lucas so synonymous with Star Wars that asking somebody else to try their hand at it would be like asking someone other than J.K. Rowling to write a Harry Potter book?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
George Takei planning to marry longtime partner
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1JXao0Kf_aQjZ9tSNW2dKy4d5JwD90PCO9O0
George Takei planning to marry longtime partner
5-20-8
LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Takei said he will wed his longtime partner and business manager, Brad Altman, now that the California Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage.
Takei, the original Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek," said on his Web site that he and Altman have shared their lives for more than 21 years and are "overjoyed" to be able to legally marry.
"No more 'separate but equal.' No more second-class citizenship," wrote Takei, 71. "Brad and I are going to be married as full citizens of our state."
Takei, who also had a recurring role on NBC's "Heroes" last year, said he and Altman are planning the details of their wedding.
NBC is owned by the General Electric Co.
On the Net:
http://www.georgetakei.com/
George Takei planning to marry longtime partner
5-20-8
LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Takei said he will wed his longtime partner and business manager, Brad Altman, now that the California Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage.
Takei, the original Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek," said on his Web site that he and Altman have shared their lives for more than 21 years and are "overjoyed" to be able to legally marry.
"No more 'separate but equal.' No more second-class citizenship," wrote Takei, 71. "Brad and I are going to be married as full citizens of our state."
Takei, who also had a recurring role on NBC's "Heroes" last year, said he and Altman are planning the details of their wedding.
NBC is owned by the General Electric Co.
On the Net:
http://www.georgetakei.com/
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Bones, Kirk enlist for "Star Trek" movie
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071018/film_nm/startrek_dc
Bones, Kirk enlist for "Star Trek" movie
By Borys Kit
Thu Oct 18, 2007
"Lord of the Rings" veteran Karl Urban is strapping on a stethoscope to play Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the Starship's Enterprise's medical officer, in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" feature.
Chris Pine, meanwhile, closed his deal to star as the young Captain Kirk. He had been in talks to play Kirk as well as a role opposite George Clooney in Joe Carnahan's "White Jazz." The two movies overlapped, and Pine was forced to choose between them, opting to make the "Trek."
Abrams has been furiously casting "Trek," with John Cho (Sulu), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Eric Bana (the villainous Nero) joining the film last week.
Also on board are Zoe Saldana as the young Uhura, Anton Yelchin as the young Chekov and Zachary Quinto as the young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, also will be part of the film.
The Paramount Pictures project is expected to shoot from November to March.
Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew.
The character of McCoy, originated by DeForest Kelley, didn't trust advanced technology and frequently sparred with Spock in debates of logic vs. emotion. Bones also was responsible for several of "Trek's" catchphases, including "He's dead, Jim" and "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a . . .," ending in a profession in which he had no training.
Urban, from New Zealand, played Eomer in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. His feature credits include "The Bourne Supremacy" and "Pathfinder."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Bones, Kirk enlist for "Star Trek" movie
By Borys Kit
Thu Oct 18, 2007
"Lord of the Rings" veteran Karl Urban is strapping on a stethoscope to play Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the Starship's Enterprise's medical officer, in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" feature.
Chris Pine, meanwhile, closed his deal to star as the young Captain Kirk. He had been in talks to play Kirk as well as a role opposite George Clooney in Joe Carnahan's "White Jazz." The two movies overlapped, and Pine was forced to choose between them, opting to make the "Trek."
Abrams has been furiously casting "Trek," with John Cho (Sulu), Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Eric Bana (the villainous Nero) joining the film last week.
Also on board are Zoe Saldana as the young Uhura, Anton Yelchin as the young Chekov and Zachary Quinto as the young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, also will be part of the film.
The Paramount Pictures project is expected to shoot from November to March.
Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew.
The character of McCoy, originated by DeForest Kelley, didn't trust advanced technology and frequently sparred with Spock in debates of logic vs. emotion. Bones also was responsible for several of "Trek's" catchphases, including "He's dead, Jim" and "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a . . .," ending in a profession in which he had no training.
Urban, from New Zealand, played Eomer in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. His feature credits include "The Bourne Supremacy" and "Pathfinder."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Dual Spocks for Abrams' Star Trek
http://tv.yahoo.com/heroes/show/39435/news/urn:newsml:tv.eonline.com:20070726:3a6f8f14_fb894eee_bc46_2598412ea62a__ER
Dual Spocks for Abrams' Star Trek
By Natalie Finn
7-26-7
Four Vulcan ears are always better than two.
J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias and the auteur who will be reviving the Star Trek franchise next year, said Thursday that his take on the sci-fi classic will feature dual Mr. Spocks, the younger of the two to be played by Heroes villain Zachary Quinto, as reported earlier this week by E! Online's TV blog.
And serving as young Spock's older and wiser incarnation will be none other than Leonard Nimoy, who was on hand when the good news was announced during Paramount Pictures' panel at Comic-Con, aka fanboy heaven, in San Diego.
"People have been asking me why I'm doing this movie, and I think the answer is obvious—we have a great director, a wonderful script, and a wonderful young actor playing Spock, so…it was logical," said the 76-year-old Nimoy, to everybody's proudly dorky delight.
Per the closely guarded script penned by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Quinto will star as Spock in his pre-Wrath of Khan days. Nimoy, meanwhile, will have a meaty cameo.
When asked how much of his take on the half-Vulcan Enterprise veteran will be inspired by Nimoy, Quinto, was last seen opening skulls and getting skewered as the power-hungry Sylar on Heroes, said: "Well, as much as he'd like it to be, since he's working on the film, which is an honor."
But, "I certainly intend to bring my own spin to it, and working with these guys, I'm sure I'll find it," he added.
Abrams' addition to the canon, which is slated for a Christmas Day 2008 release, couldn't be coming at a better time, at least for Trekkers, considering there hasn't been a new addition to the cinematic series in more than five years, and because, for the first time in what seems like forever, there is no first-run Star Trek spinoff series on the air right now.
While the last cinematic permutation of the series was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, Nimoy hasn't played big-screen Spock since 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Shooting on the new film—which, taking a cue from Casino Royale and Batman Begins, will bring us back to where it all began for Spock and pal James T. Kirk—is expected to kick off in November.
Abrams, who promised that he'd return to Comic-Con next year with more scoop, said that the role of young Kirk has not yet been cast and that they're trying to find a way to get William Shatner involved.
And…Star Trek isn't the only long-dormant franchise that's injecting some old blood and playing host to a familiar face.
Director Steven Spielberg also revealed (via video feed) Thursday at Comic-Con that Karen Allen, Harrison Ford's love interest from Raiders of the Lost Ark, will appear in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie
Joined (on tape) by cast members Ford (in full Indy gear), Shia LeBeouf and Ray Winstone, Spielberg delighted fans with the news that the spunky Marion Ravenwood was primed for a comeback.
No additional footage from the as-yet untitled film was presented, but the audience sounded psyched enough, allowing the all-star crew behind the ambitious endeavor to rest on their laurels for just a little longer.
"I'm here on the set of Indiana Jones and the…and that's the title of our film," Spielberg joked.
Fans were treated to clips from the upcoming Iron Man film, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. as the metal-enhanced superhero, as well as to the trailer for Robert Zemeckis' take on the medieval epic Beowulf, featuring Winstone and Angelina Jolie.
Dual Spocks for Abrams' Star Trek
By Natalie Finn
7-26-7
Four Vulcan ears are always better than two.
J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias and the auteur who will be reviving the Star Trek franchise next year, said Thursday that his take on the sci-fi classic will feature dual Mr. Spocks, the younger of the two to be played by Heroes villain Zachary Quinto, as reported earlier this week by E! Online's TV blog.
And serving as young Spock's older and wiser incarnation will be none other than Leonard Nimoy, who was on hand when the good news was announced during Paramount Pictures' panel at Comic-Con, aka fanboy heaven, in San Diego.
"People have been asking me why I'm doing this movie, and I think the answer is obvious—we have a great director, a wonderful script, and a wonderful young actor playing Spock, so…it was logical," said the 76-year-old Nimoy, to everybody's proudly dorky delight.
Per the closely guarded script penned by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Quinto will star as Spock in his pre-Wrath of Khan days. Nimoy, meanwhile, will have a meaty cameo.
When asked how much of his take on the half-Vulcan Enterprise veteran will be inspired by Nimoy, Quinto, was last seen opening skulls and getting skewered as the power-hungry Sylar on Heroes, said: "Well, as much as he'd like it to be, since he's working on the film, which is an honor."
But, "I certainly intend to bring my own spin to it, and working with these guys, I'm sure I'll find it," he added.
Abrams' addition to the canon, which is slated for a Christmas Day 2008 release, couldn't be coming at a better time, at least for Trekkers, considering there hasn't been a new addition to the cinematic series in more than five years, and because, for the first time in what seems like forever, there is no first-run Star Trek spinoff series on the air right now.
While the last cinematic permutation of the series was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, Nimoy hasn't played big-screen Spock since 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Shooting on the new film—which, taking a cue from Casino Royale and Batman Begins, will bring us back to where it all began for Spock and pal James T. Kirk—is expected to kick off in November.
Abrams, who promised that he'd return to Comic-Con next year with more scoop, said that the role of young Kirk has not yet been cast and that they're trying to find a way to get William Shatner involved.
And…Star Trek isn't the only long-dormant franchise that's injecting some old blood and playing host to a familiar face.
Director Steven Spielberg also revealed (via video feed) Thursday at Comic-Con that Karen Allen, Harrison Ford's love interest from Raiders of the Lost Ark, will appear in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie
Joined (on tape) by cast members Ford (in full Indy gear), Shia LeBeouf and Ray Winstone, Spielberg delighted fans with the news that the spunky Marion Ravenwood was primed for a comeback.
No additional footage from the as-yet untitled film was presented, but the audience sounded psyched enough, allowing the all-star crew behind the ambitious endeavor to rest on their laurels for just a little longer.
"I'm here on the set of Indiana Jones and the…and that's the title of our film," Spielberg joked.
Fans were treated to clips from the upcoming Iron Man film, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. as the metal-enhanced superhero, as well as to the trailer for Robert Zemeckis' take on the medieval epic Beowulf, featuring Winstone and Angelina Jolie.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Cremated Remains of 200 Lost in Mountains
http://www.space.com/news/070510_lost_ashes.html
Cremated Remains of 200 Lost in Mountains After Trip to Space
By Leonard David
Special Correspondent, SPACE.com
posted: 10 May 2007
The search for the UP Aerospace payload of experiments and the cremated remains of some 200 people - including "Scotty" of Star Trek fame, as well as pioneeering NASA Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper - continues within rugged New Mexico mountain landscape.
After a successful blastoff from New Mexico's Spaceport America on April 28th, the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket and its payload nosed into space on a suborbital trajectory. As part of launch operations, the rocket was tracked by specialists at the neighboring White Sands Missile Range.
While all went well with the flight, the rocket components parachuted into rough and tumble terrain. Repeated searches within the landing zone have come up empty.
Jerry Larson, President of UP Aerospace, has told me that the general location of the rocket hardware is known within some 1,300 feet (400 meters) or so. But given the dense vegetation on the side of the mountain being searched, along with equipment available to the search team, pinpointing the exact locale has proven a tough assignment.
Yet another trip up on the mountain is slated next week, Larson said.
Joining the search this time is the manufacturer of the transmitters onboard the rocket gear. He'll be bringing high-end tracking gear and years of expertise in locating objects in mountain terrain environments.
Cremated Remains of 200 Lost in Mountains After Trip to Space
By Leonard David
Special Correspondent, SPACE.com
posted: 10 May 2007
The search for the UP Aerospace payload of experiments and the cremated remains of some 200 people - including "Scotty" of Star Trek fame, as well as pioneeering NASA Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper - continues within rugged New Mexico mountain landscape.
After a successful blastoff from New Mexico's Spaceport America on April 28th, the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket and its payload nosed into space on a suborbital trajectory. As part of launch operations, the rocket was tracked by specialists at the neighboring White Sands Missile Range.
While all went well with the flight, the rocket components parachuted into rough and tumble terrain. Repeated searches within the landing zone have come up empty.
Jerry Larson, President of UP Aerospace, has told me that the general location of the rocket hardware is known within some 1,300 feet (400 meters) or so. But given the dense vegetation on the side of the mountain being searched, along with equipment available to the search team, pinpointing the exact locale has proven a tough assignment.
Yet another trip up on the mountain is slated next week, Larson said.
Joining the search this time is the manufacturer of the transmitters onboard the rocket gear. He'll be bringing high-end tracking gear and years of expertise in locating objects in mountain terrain environments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
