Discovery readies for its final flight, while Plan B from Canada take a long shot at the Google Lunar X Prize with a ship design that incorporates three hockey pucks.
Elsewhere in the galaxy, the jury remains out, but, if you haven’t already heard, the Kepler telescope may have found more than 1200 extrasolar planets in one small piece of the sky. Fifty-four of these may be potential earths.
Finally, for those who want video….
New evidence loosely supports popular SF tropes, lab-grown meat may be available soon, Russia (possibly) loses a satellite, Japan looks to cleaning up the mess we’ve made in space, and a teen’s death ray catches the Net’s attention.
We hope everyone welcomes 2011 in safety and with happiness. Meanwhile, enjoy some links (including Plinkett’s long-awaited Sith review):
Private spaceflight, a Martian record, extra-terrestrial green and gold, and more.
On Wednesday, SpaceX had a successful launch and splashdown (check
here and here), and they hope for a visit to the space station in the near future
We might have not bothered mentioning that researchers at McMaster University in Canada have figured out how to make blood from skin cells, but we couldn’t pass up a link to this story wherein someone mistook Neil Gaiman for Neil Patrick Harris.
Artist Aram Bartholl has been installing flash drives in public places— highly unusual places– in and around New York for people to download/upload whatever they will. The history of the Web suggests one should approach these with caution. Fascinating idea, though.
And a Happy Halloween to everybody!
Space tourism continues to grow, a few rich guys at a time; Virgin Galactic hopes for regular flights by 2012.
The stars may not be counted but the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics had found a new way to weigh them
Scarlett Johansson may be starring as Elizabeth Bennet in the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a role that had been attached to Natalie Portman.
Finally, Japan demonstrates an early-generation prototype for the Cylons—or, at least, replacement for Katie Perry and Lady Gaga:
A press conference this week sends UFOlogists and Conspiracy Theorists into overdrive, Firefly gets reimagined as a musical, and an NSFW zombie film features strippers and…. living dead sushi!
New types of moon rocks and elephant shrews, Batman teams up once more with Scooby-doo, while Rachel Bloom (famous for a certain recent NSFW youtube hit) finally meets Ray Bradbury.
More below:
Alex Case on used game-bashing, SETI’s anniversary, cars that drink and drive, a licensed celebrity Stormtrooper, NASA news, and an NSFW video about why being an SF writer can rock.
Anything to add?