future
Exploring the future of science today, while looking back on the achievements from yesterday. Science fiction is science future.
Why Humans Aren't Built For Space Travel
(Originally appeared on the Dana Foundation website, November 18, 2014, as “This is Your Brain in Space.”) When Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, made his historic flight in 1961, Soviet scientists limited the mission to a single 108-minute orbit, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was over. Why? The usual concerns—plus fears that a prolonged flight in zero gravity could prove fatal.
By Dirk Hanson9 years ago in Futurism
The Energy Equation
In a year that has already seen it's share of misfortunes not only for countless millions of Americans but millions more the world over along comes pre-summer inflationary trends in the price we pay for just about everything we buy. We have already seen staggering increases in the price of food from dairy to beef and now we are facing more pain at the pump just to get to the store to pay those inflated prices. When is comes to the price of milk lately it would be cheaper to buy a cow. Now, as we are approaching the summer months as usual the price of gas always increases. That old saying that supply and demand dictates the price, well today it is not really the supply and demand rational so much that has set the price of gas soaring it really is corporate greed. In just the past two months the price we pay at the pump has jumped and in most places around the country many are paying more than $4.00 per gallon. Many don't realize that the price we pay at the pump does dictate the price of everything else and that includes food.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
Operator
OPERATOR By Shane Phillips This was supposed to be an easy mission. They usually were, and even when they weren’t, she was always notified in advance. But as she tried to peek around the corner of the old brick wall she had her back to, the sudden shower of bullets that forced her back into cover reminded her that today had been an unpleasant surprise. And indeed, today was full of unpleasant surprises, as her accuracy was frustratingly poor, and she was quite confident that it wasn’t her fault.
By Shane Phillips9 years ago in Futurism
Alex The Inventor-Chapter 11 (Pt.2)
Read Chapters 1 - 11 at Deep Sky Stories Chapter 11 (Part 2) - Rainah's Pain... Jade greeted the two of them as they entered. She cast them a sharp, warning look and swished her long Dragon-tail when she saw Alex. Jade took longer than most creatures to warm up to strangers of any sort; especially strangers who had just befriended her Mistress. She gave Alex a haughty, dismissive look then turned, giving him a deliberate bump with her club-like tail, and disappeared round a sharp corner in the otherwise round room.The first impression Alex had was of being inside a large, dimly lit, cozy red beach ball. The walls and ceiling curved around and overhead as one continuous surface, even the floor stayed flat for only a fraction of its area before it too curved upward to blend in with the encircling wall. The whole effect was like being inside a large, smooth pudding-bubble room and Alex relaxed a little, feeling that he was being protected from the dangers of the outside world for a while.Soft, dim red lights glowed down from the small dome overhead, bathing everyone in a fuzzy red hue. Everything was of a smooth-edged design and even the walls had contoured padding to prevent injury to the occupants of the sphere.In the center of the room, about twenty feet away from the doorway stood an odd pillar or pipe, running from floor to ceiling and coiled around it were two sets of graceful spirals, one within the twist of the other. The spirals came down from the ceiling like an upside-down cone, with the wide base gradually tapering down to a point only a few feet above the floor. The inner spiral merged with the pipe and the outer spiral slid into a hole in the floor just beside the pipe.
By G.F. Brynn9 years ago in Futurism
The 21st Century Challenge
The die has been cast, the gauntlet thrown, do we dare pick up the challenge or do we retreat to our safe haven of complacency? For too long we have ignored the warning signs of what we have done to our planet by our continued drilling, extracting, processing and consuming fossil fuel sources. Ever since the first Industrial Revolution mankind has been consumed with it's unquenchable thirst for energy sources that are known to be detrimental to every form of life on this planet and yet we continue our onslaught of destruction by not fully integrating alternate fuel sources that will have a beneficial impact on not only the environment but have a very profound and positive effect on humanity as well.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
The AI Missionary
[Hello, and once again I am back. I just want to thank my followers on Vocal. I am going to be scaling back on my writing for vocal so that I can focus on writing novels. Still if you like what you see here you can follow me on twitter @amccaul1976 and just about everywhere at the same handle. Again thanks for reading.]
By Adam McCaulley9 years ago in Futurism
Uncanny
A night on Mars. The stars in her eyes as she peered deeply into the night sky. Home alone in her capsule. Home like when she was young. Wedged like a sphynx into a curvature that bore through the outside wall of the rectangular enclosure and held its lone window - a clear, circular lens capturing the brilliance of the constellations above Mars.
By Module Ten9 years ago in Futurism
Let Guinea Pigs be Guinea Pigs
If you work in a biomedical research lab, you better not get emotionally attached to the lab animals. For some lab workers, it isn't easy. Those mice and guinea pigs, and sometimes rats, can look downright cute and cuddly. If, however, you can't jab the animals with compounds that make the critters sick, and even kill them, then you need to find a new line of work.
By Alan Kotok9 years ago in Futurism
The Year 2525
"In the Year 2525, if man is still alive, if women can survive, they may find." That opening to one of the most memorable hit songs of the late 60's set a very ominous tone for the future of mankind. Subsequent verses pick up a very foreboding story of mankind spanning 10,000 years. As with Nostradamus's disturbing predictions, Zager & Evans constructed an altogether more disturbing and sobering scenario for the future of humanity. A little more than 500 years from now we may find mankind at the mercy of all the technology we have created.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
The Vagabond's Odyssey
In the year 2187, one hundred years after the Great War, the earth is still scorched. Smoldering relics of a time now forgotten litter the land as far as the eye can see. Among the few surviving humans now emerging from the caves comes the one man able to save the rest of humanity. A man whose steely blue eyes and white hair have weathered years in quiet desolation, exiled far below the earths surface. Now, as he emerged gazing over all that surrounds not a bird in sight, no trees to see only the emptiness of a barren land laid before him.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
Exoplanetary 002 - Love For Sale
Download MP3Subscribe on iTunesEarlier Episodes - Episode 1 Episode 002 – Love For Sale by C. Christopher Hart Ben Wolverton visits the home of an asteroid miner and discovers that Exoplanetary's Human Simulation Android is not for everyone. Lucy the Android cooks and cleans and adores Harry, but she can't fix what's really wrong with him.
By C. Christopher Hart9 years ago in Futurism
