hitchBOT, a robot with a body made from found items and the brain of a small computer, is hitchhiking across Canada as a combination art project / social experiment. The contraption, created by professors at McMaster and Ryerson Universities, can only progress by receiving rides. HitchBOT received its first life on Sunday, and its progress can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Category Archives: Newspace
Newspace
Black Widow and the Fake Geek Girl:
You can’t take the ‘verse from me….
The entire Firefly cast will be reuniting for the forthcoming Firefly Online videogame.
And don’t forget to check out the free candy
Eight young Orange County girls found creepy doll doppelgängers outside their homes this week. Police have discovered the source of the unexpected gifts, apparently offered with good intentions.
Not to mention the hopes for fun-filled alien beaches
Extrasolar planets may contain less water than expected, problematizing the search for life elsewhere.
Don’t send Mark Wahlberg after them. You might not like what he finds.
Russians have lost contact with a spacecraft carrying sexually active geckos.
IDW and Boom! have announced a (classic version) Planet of the Apes / Star Trek crossover comic series. The Klingons back the gorillas; Kirk emotes with Taylor.
Several 2014 San Diego Comic Con videos follow (with updates all weekend), below:
Newspace
Tonight we celebrate the Forty-fifth Anniversary of the moon landing.
Check out the coverage, especially tonight.
At present, however, NASA remains something of a hostage to the Russians, who provide transport. Hopefully, private and other international efforts will continue.
For those of you less moonstruck, some Con and Cosplay video follows:
Newspace
Go a round with cosplayers:
Hula Cam at Anime Expo 2014
The, uh, birds of various species have “landed”
Privately-made Cygnus took off yesterday for the ISS (its arrival will test some new Canadian-made space parking/docking tech).
While SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched six Orbcomm satellites.
The Red Cabbage of Mars
Developments continue that will optimize plant growth: even on other worlds.
What did you do last month?
Twelve-year-old Lauren Arrington completed a breakthrough study on Lionfish
Update: Or, perhaps she had help from elsewhere.
Honey, have you seen the remote?
Wirelessly-operated birth control could be in your near future.
0.035 per cent of visual light is the New Black
Not dark matter, but a British company has developed the darkest material known.
Searching for Laughs
This week sees the third (and best?) installment of CollegeHumor’s “If Google was a Guy.” This perceptively-funny series (below) may not be entirely safe for work:
Newspace
The first Newspace of the summer arrives a bit late, and we have a mish-mash of items from the last few weeks, including this new behind-the-scenes Flash promo:
Russia’s next attempt to launch a post-Soviet-era rocket will take place on July 9.
NASA’s Mars-and-Beyond rocket passed a critical design review.
Bell’s Brewery, MI, will market planetary beer beginning this August through to July 2015. While Holst’s music, in fact, inspired the series, I still have to wonder what the relative gravity of each beer will be.
(Or how many jokes will be made at the expense of the fact that Uranus will be a Black Double).
Trending chimps, fracking earthquakes, autistic genes, Fantasy Con highlights, role-playing fantasy characters, League of Legends cosplay, prosthetic-wearing dwarves, and student zombies follow:
(Breaking item: Superman [‘s copyright holder] is a dick).
UPDATE: DC has changed its corporate mind and will allow the statue to feature the logo.
Newspace
In case you missed it, Space X has unveiled their Dragon V2 Spacecraft this week.
A private group contacted a probe from NASA’s past…
…and NASA itself will test a giant Martian parachute.
Medical science is using “emergency preservation and resuscitation”– you know, suspended animation— to preserve injury victims long enough to treat them. But what have they got against “science fiction” nomenclature, now that the technique is science fact?
Arctic wastes and British cosplay, below:
Newspace
Just in time for Days of Future Past:
It’s not quite Back to the Future II‘s hoverboard
…or Blade Runner‘s flying cars, but this hoverbike will be on sale by 2017.
You never call, you never text
We appear to have found our sun’s long-lost sibling, a star birthed from the same stellar nursery.
A little closer to home
…find out how you can watch SpaceX’s Dragon capsule leave the International Space Station later this weekend.
And, even closer to earth, the pristine remains of a teenage girl from 13000 years ago have shed new light on the earliest human inhabitants of the Americas.
Video below: Crowdsourced live-action Akira, German Con Cosplay, and a superhero race:
Newspace
Comic-reading Fools in the Rain:
Does it come in red?
NASA unveils its new Martian suit.
Speaking of aliens killed by the common cold….
Space scientists continue to work at preventing a Terran disease from laying waste to other worlds.
Red Planet
Therapy involving the blood of the young may slow aging and cure Alzheimers.
Below:
A heartwarming zombie film, some Spider-man silliness, a message from Penguicon (from a room party promoting Geek Fan Expo-related party, I’m informed), and, well, you know what day it is….
Newspace
NASA and their associates consider commercial uses for the International Space Station, while commercial space pioneers Virgin Galactic will team with Land Rover to provide future space tourists with their land rides.
Here on and under the earth, a modern-day legend about buried classic videogames turns out to be true. A more conventional dig, meanwhile, uncovers the most primitive pterosaur known.
Below: Recent Cons, Cosplay, and… National Superhero Day?
Newspace
This past week saw another Flaming Russian Meteor…
…the discovery of the most earth-like extrasolar planet to date
…and a few major steps forward by SpaceX.
Below: Cosplay at Wondercon 2014 (You might even see an Easter Bunny) and an hilarious bonus item you might have missed in March: