SF/F Links: April Roundup (First Half)

By the way, this is going to be long since I’m pulling links off my desktop and my laptop. So, get ready for a long list of SF/F related links!

• Universe Today
• Want to know what happens when two black holes collide? What about three? Sound like science fiction? Yeah, they asked the same question too. It’s not.
• Intel, being the cool company that they are, have begun devising ways to protect microchips from cosmic rays. Basically, the chips are going to be smart enough to go “hey, that’s not right” and magically fix themselves–in theory.
• Want to read more about how all life on Earth is from outer space? So do I. Screw E.T. We’re more interesting (well, not really, humanity is somewhat boring to me now).
• New images of an actual dust avalanche on Mars! Now all we need are skiers. And just to add to this I think a cute picture is needed: the little blue planet and its moon from Mars. I love this planet. We’re so cool.
• Apparently Saturn’s moon, Rhea, has rings. Who knew? I always thought their relationship was strictly professional.
• Hubble, being the great piece of machinery that it is, has turned up evidence for organic molecules around an exoplanet! It just keeps getting better and better.
• Salt deposits discovered on Mars might be a good place to look for evidence of life (fossilized, but still, life is life). I’m skeptical, but enthusiastic. Even if we find microbial life, it’s good.
• New evidence has been discovered to suggest that Titan has a liquid ocean underneath its crust! Good news? Yes, actually. This has some interesting implications about the possibilities for life on other planets.
• Did the asteroid impact for Sodom and Gomorrah happen? It’s quite possible. A clay tablet that has been puzzling scientists is believed to describe an asteroid impact a long long time ago on this very planet. So maybe it really happen, eh?
• Futurismic
• First flights from Boeing to use fuel-cells! Yeah! Now we are getting closer to the answer to my question: When oil runs out, what happens to airline flights?
• The lovely folks in the Netherlands have a low-tech way of converting salt water into something drinkable.
• To add to the frightening change in our cyber-culture, there are now reports of high-tech heart monitors being hacked into. Scary? I think so.
• Apparently British waters are a great place to get mostly clean energy. Read about it here.
• Stem cell research shows it can help deal with Parkinson’s. Babies killed to figure that out? Zero. Good job everyone! In a serious note, this is great news for me because I’d like to see Michael J. Fox come back to to TV.
• We’re one step closer to suspended-animation, since we can now almost completely do it with mice. Yeah, this is good news because now I don’t have to completely BS this stuff.
• Afghanistan is smart. Now with food prices on the rice it seems that all those lovely opium fields are being converted to wheat fields. Yay democracy, or whatever prompted them to do that.
• Listverse
• Top 10 Sciencific Frauds and Hoaxes. A bonus is you get a nice anti-evolution hoax in there. Fun!
• 10 More Unsolved Mysteries. I’m particularly fond of 5 and 3.
• Top 10 Bizarre Genetically Modified Organisms. Michael Jackson isn’t on this list by the way.
• Top 10 Evil Human Experiments. Because we humans tend to be a little screwed up.
• Top 12 Things You Need to Be a Mad Scientist. Oh yes, now I have a mission in life!
• Top 12 Dystopian Novels. Also known as the list of really awesome books.
• Top 15 SF Book Series! Another good list!
• 8 Atrocities Committed in the Name of Religion. Not a particularly powerful list (missing a few things that need to be there), but certainly one I will give a thumbs up to.
• Top 10 Interesting Abandoned Places! I love these kinds of lists!
• io9
• This is fascinating. Apparently studies show that dyslexics are able to work comfortable when working in a language other than the one they first learned. So someone who speaks English might not have much problems working in Chinese. The article also talks about why such people are great at computer programming.
• Need a 20% decrease in fuel consumption on those oil-guzzling transport ships? Well, attach a sail to it. This might be just the thing we need to stick it to them damned oil companies.
• Apparently some scientists think we might not be that different from aliens after all.
• Genetic manipulation might be used for good: stopping HIV in its tracks. Yup. New studies show that we are born with a gene that could combat the virus, but that it is turned off. So, should we turn it on at birth? (Note, the gene is present in people infected with HIV)
• Detailed military specs on how to stop a giant monster in your home town. Yeah, someone has a lot of time on their hands.
• The survival guide to bad SF movies. Great list indeed!
• Want to see something scary? The science vs. scientology timeline! Yeah, apparently the Thetans are inside us all.
• Apparently this lizard can drink through its foot. That has to suck.
• Google, being so awesome, is teaming up with MIT to design the first satellite that can actually detect small Earth-like planets around other stars. I love you, Google.
• Apparently this is the new bacteria that will cause the next pandemic. I’m skeptical. It looks like a wimp to me.
• Menopause sucks (or so I hear). But guess what? You need men even more now because studies show that you can use testosterone to counter the bad effects of menopause! Yeah!
• Scientists have found a mirror galaxy to ours. Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not exactly like ours, but it shares similarities.
• Heathrow Airport will now have a new form of transportation from the parking structures to the airport. And it’s unmanned! Awesome!
• New Scientist
• Some scientists think that it’s possible there are imprints that can be seen in our sky of a pre-Big-Bang universe. It sounds fascinating, but is it true? I wonder. Can you imagine what might have existed in a universe that existed before ours?
• We’re going to find out real fast if Alpha Centauri is home to an Earth-like planet (by real fast, I mean years, but that’s pretty fast considering). It better be true! I mean it. I want to find aliens so I can name them the Nimblethuns!
• Apparently those folks who will eventually shoot off to land on Mars are going to be stuck with a plant that doesn’t smell too good. Mosquito Fern is apparently on the list of things for them to eat. Yeah, I feel sorry for them too.
• Tobias S. Buckell has some really awesome advice about when to retire stories. Doesn’t mean you have to do it how he does, but it might make you give your own work a real good second look.
• I have no idea where I got this. If I stole it from you, please let me know so I can credit you! There is going to be a new form of Internet soon called “The Grid”. Thanks to LHC research. By the way, this would be an occasion where you could say “I can’t imagine going back to DSL/Cable” in the same manner that we say the same thing about 56k. Yeah. Check it out. On a side note: Futurismic has some more about it here.
• SF Signal talks to Michio Kaku, who is possibly one of the more interesting hip scientists out there today. I’ve linked a video by him some time ago about different stages of civilizations. Check out the interview because it’s interesting.
• For those that don’t know, Ben Stein, that guy from TV and movies with the monotone voice that comes off really smart, is actually, apparently, officially a moron. Check out this review of his new movie, Expelled, where he lies, manipulates and basically BSes his way into making those of us who look at physical evidence and say “evolution is real” look like Hitler wannabes. Yeah, nice right?
• The Speculist talks about new research into skulls found in the Tower of London’s moat that might help us find the links between current day lions and the now extinct Barbary lions. Hurray for research into medieval times!
• NASA just keeps giving us these awesome images. Check out this weird claw-like structure on Mars! Another image from NASA is this one of two galaxies closing in on one another. I love space so much. It’s so fascinating and amazing.
• The CG Society put on a contest for art and CG work based on Greg Bear’s Eon. See the results of the competition here.
• Shaken & Stirred has this picture of a truly bizarre house. I’m intrigued because it looks like a slightly modernized version of a Dr. Seuss invention.
• The best 11 time travel tales of all time! (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Jim Van Pelt talks about why he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with SF. I generally agree! (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Want to see what the pros do when they write a novel synopsis for a publisher? Check it out here! (Courtesy of SF Signal, I think)
• Want to know what Star Wars would be like if it were from the 60s (or 70s?)? Find out here!
• Science Fiction Biology has an article on how to repopulate the world without men. I’m not a fan, because I’m a man, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
• Check out these gorgeous images of Earth taken from space at night. We have too many lights. It’s like permanent Christmas.
• The Unintelligencer! Basically, type whatever you want in the box, select the level of stupid you want and have fun. Those of you who do a bit of writing might find this rather amusing. Those of you who want to know what your college professors sound like when dumbed down to hill billy level should have no short amount of entertainment.
• Top ten mind-blowing SF books! (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• At least someone is giving a little attention to those of us who are still skeptical about global warming.
• I stumbled upon this one: the ten craziest scientific experiments ever conducted. Crazy, bizarre, fascinating!
• 50 SF & F works that socialists should read. Interesting indeed. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Another find from stumbling: the amazing ACSII webcam! If you have a webcam and would like to see what you look like in ACSII format, go! It’s amazing! It does it in real time too!
• Mike Brotherton is brilliant for a good reason: he knows what he is talking about. Check out this article about the unique strength of SF! Additionally, here is an article by him over at SF Novelists that acts as a guide to reviewing books, from his perspective as a writer.
• The ten most prophetic SF movies ever! And of course there are loads of classics in there. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• Solar Flare has an article about SF books that should be movies. I agree with almost all of them, except the ones I’ve not read. (Courtesy of SF Signal)
• The more you stumble the more you realize that the Internet is awesome. I found this little poster than made me giggle inside. Maybe scientists will rethink what they did to poor pluto.
• Technovelgy has an awesome article on plagiarism in SF and where to draw the line!
• Jason Stoddard talks about 5 small things SF can do to improve its image. Good ideas!