Author: storiesbywilliams

Matt Williams is a professional writer, science fiction author, and science communicator who currently writes for Universe Today, Interesting Engineering, Stardom Space, and Stellar Amenities. He is also the Director of Media Communications for Mars City Design and a member of Enterprise in Space and Explore Mars. His novels, The Formist Series, are available at Amazon.com and through Castrum Press. He lives with his wife and family on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia.

Nile-Like River Spotted on Titan

titan_nileOut in the far reaches of the Solar System, the Cassini Space Probe continues to send us mind-bogging images of Saturn and it’s moons. This latest was released by NASA just two days ago, a photograph which shows a massive river on Titan, Saturn’s appropriately-named largest moon. Already, Cassini confirmed the existence of a large, methane lake in Titan’s “tropical” region. But this latest find would seem to indicate the Titan is even more Earth-like than previously thought.

For example, the river is not only comparable in relative size and shape to the Nile here on Earth, it is also filled with a cold, hydrocarbon liquid (most likely ethane or methane). This is a historic find, since it is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere beyond Earth. But of course, it’s what the river implies that has many scientists especially excited. For example, Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University, USA, claims that the river may be an indication of plate tectonics:

“Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea. Such faults – fractures in Titan’s bedrock – may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves.”

In short, the river is another indication that Titan may be an early version of Earth. At one time, it is believed Earth’s own surface was covered with lakes that were much different in chemical composition than the one’s we know today. The process of change is what may have given rise to certain colonies of cell bacteria, which in turn created more complex organisms and eventually vertebrates. Intrinsic to all of this were shifts in the planet’s plates, which corresponded to several life-creating epochs in Earth’s history – the most notable being the “Cambrian Explosion”.

Naturally, there are plenty of difference between this “alien” river and it’s Earth-bound cousin too. For one, the Nile extends for a whopping 6,650 kilometers (4,132 miles), whereas Titan’s big river is roughly 400 km long. What’s more, Titan cycles hydrocarbons instead of water, as our life-friendly planet does. On top of all that, Titan is able to maintain these hydrocarbons in a liquid state because of its cold temperatures, much colder than what we enjoy here on the comparatively balmy Earth.

nileStill, I think you’ll agree, the resemblance is quite startling 😉 Stay tuned for more news from our Solar System. It becomes more exciting every day!

Source: Universe Today.com

The Future Is Here: The Braille-Streaming Implant

secondsightImagine, if you will, a revolutionary new technology that sidesteps visual impairment and allows a blind person to process visual information by transmitting braille patterns directly into their retina. Might sound like the stuff of science fiction (a la Geordi LaForge), but thanks to a recent development by the company Second Sight, it is scientific fact. In what was a medical first, researchers tested the device by streaming Braille patterns directly into a patient’s retina, allowing them to read visually with almost 90% accuracy.

“It’s basically a cochlear implant, but for the eyes,” says Thomas Lauritzen, Senior Research Scientist at SMP and lead author of the study. But whereas the cochlear implant circumvents dead hair cells on the inner ear that respond to acoustic signals, the Argus II device circumvents photoreceptors, the cells in the human eye that measure light. By combining a retinal implant with the headset which work together to read the environment and transmit the information to the optical nerve, the device will allow the visually impaired to see color, movement, and objects.

Unfortunately, according to Lauritzen, the new eye device is about 30 years behind the technology of the cochlear implant. Whereas the device is capable of translating larger objects reliably, it has some troubles conveying smaller visual cues, such as letters and short sentences. It was for this reason that Lauritzen and his research team turned to streaming braille instead of normal text. This test bypassed the usual configuration of a camera and the neuroprosthetic implant and sent the electrical information directly into the implant itself. So instead of feeling Braille with their finger tips, the patient was actually able to see the succession of Braille symbols streaming onto their retina.

And the results were incredibly encouraging, with tests being conducted with 50 patients. According to the team’s report: “For this specific visual Braille project, we were able to increase reading speeds by more than 20-fold.” What’s next for the Argus II? Hopefully, FDA approval to begin large-scale production and distribution in the United States and elsewhere. And with time and improvements, it just might result in vision loss being restored for countless people!

Check out a video of the Argus II in action below:

Source: IO9

More Judgement Day Announcements…

terminator_judgement_dayNovember saw some rather interesting developments in the field of robotics. First, there was the unveiling of Disney’s charming juggling robot, an automaton capable of playing catch with a human being. This robot is intended for use in Disneyland parks as a form of entertainment for guests, but many people wonder if this is an eerie precursor to a machine that is capable of throwing other things as well…

While Disney was scant with the details of how the robot works, they did explain that a camera tracks the balls being thrown, while an algorithm works out exactly where the ball is going to land and positions the robot arm accordingly. Combining video tracking and software, the robot is able to anticipate where its catching hand needs to be, much like the human brain does. Check out the video of it playing catch with a human stand-in below:


Also in the news, Momentum Machines unveiled a new automated burger robot chef last month. After being successfully tested on the line, the company announced its plans to introduce this robot to fast food chains everywhere, saving companies millions of dollars in staffing costs. According to projections, Momentum Machines says that its automated burger robot — which does everything from flipping burgers, to slicing tomatoes, to toasting the bun — could save the fast food industry $9 billion in wages.

Of as yet, no video is available of the burger robot doing a demonstration, but this helpful infographic does give a breakdown of the robots structure and basic functions (below). Granted, this might seem like a callous and insensitive move, especially to the over 2 million workers currently employed in fast food in the US alone. But with just about every other production line having been automated already, this seems to many like the next logical step. Good luck Momentum Machines; hope the angry mob outside your offices doesn’t scare you!

robot-burger-flipper-momentum-machinesGranted, this may all still seem like a far cry from Skynet and Cylons, but under the circumstances, is it any wonder that Cambridge University founded the Center for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) to evaluate new technologies? Clearly, some people are worried robots are going to be doing more than just chucking balls and flipping our burgers.

Awesome Sci-Fi Movie Mashup!

Behold, the cool scenes from every science fiction movie ever made, all in one video. Well, not necessarily all of them; in fact, true geeks may noticed that some of their favorites might be lacking. However, I think you’ll agree, this is a pretty good sampling of a wide array of classic films. In fact, the creators merged footage from 100 movies here, a collection of classic and more recent sci-fi films, and set it all to music (Glitch Mob remix of “Monday,” by Nalepa). Enjoy!

Death of a Superhero

Came across this trailer while making one of my usual rounds of the internets! And I have to say, it looks both intriguing and incredibly heartwarming. In this film, which has already won a slew of awards – People’s Choice Award and the Young Jury Award at the 2011 Les Arcs European Film Festival, and the Audience Award and ‘Special Mention’ of the Jury at the Mamer-en-Mars European Film Festival – a young boy draws comics of an invincible superhero while he struggles with his own mortality.

Based on a New Zealand novel of the same name and filmed in Ireland, the movie splices animated segments with real footage in order to capture the spirit of the text and to posit real-life experiences with imaginative renderings. In addition to showing the power people have to shape their reality and use fictional escapes to deal with life, it also serves as a sort of commentary on the enduring power of superheroes and mythology in the modern world.

I shall be watching it forthwith! I recommend you do the same 😉

Second Asteroid Makes Even Closer Pass to Earth

CometThank you to Raven Lunatick for bringing this to my attention! It seems that while everyone was watching Toutatis the other day, another asteroid slipped past Earth with few noticing. Luckily, researchers had been observing this newly-discovered asteroid, named 2012 XE54, since Dec. 9th and knew that like the much larger Toutatis, this one would pass Earth by without incident.

But whereas Toutatis avoided Earth by a whopping 7 million kilometers, roughly 18 times the orbit of the Moon, XD54 passed within 230,000 km of Earth. That’s within the Moon’s orbit in case you don’t know, which is a far closer shave for those keeping track!

Granted, this asteroid was substantially smaller than Toutatis, measuring in at 36 meters at its widest point compared to Toutatis’ hefty 4.5 km length. However, that does not mean that such a small object does not have considerable destructive power. For the sake of perspective, consider the case of the asteroid that landed in Siberia in 1908. Here, the stellar object in question was similar size to XD54, and flattened some 2000 square km of forest when it exploded above Siberia’s Podkamennaya Tunguska River.

In addition, XD54 shares another characteristic to the much larger Toutatis, in that its orbit is similar to our own. Scientists now predict that it takes the stellar object 2.72 years to complete a single lap of around the sun. This means that, like Toutatis, we can expect to see it again in the not-too-distant future. However, that’s not likely to be for many years and there’s no indication of if and when it will collide with our planet. So as far as the Doomsayers are concerned, humanity just might make it out of 2012 alive!

Source: DNAIndia.com

Asteroid Toutatis Narrowly Misses Earth

Asteroid-ToutatisAstronomers were keeping their eyes on the skies yesterday as the asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis passed Earth by. While it was never a direct threat to Earth, its passage presented an opportunity for scientists to study it and the history of the early Solar System.

At its closest approach, 4179 Toutatis was 7 million km away from Earth, or roughly 18 times farther than the Moon. But that was close enough for NASA’s Goldstone Observatory to snap some radar images of the object (shown below). The timing could not have been more fortuitous, since NASA had recently upgraded to a new digital imaging system. And numerous amateur astronomers were able to get some interesting pics and even video.

Already, there are some preliminary findings from this 4.5-kilometer- long (3-mile-long) asteroid’s flyby. According to Michael Busch, a radar team member of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory: “Toutatis appears to have a complicated internal structure. Our radar measurements are consistent with the asteroid’s little lobe being ~15% denser than the big lobe; and they indicate 20% to 30% over-dense cores inside the two lobes.”

In truth, this is not the first time that Toutatis has passed Earth by. As it passes by Earth’s orbit every 4 years, it is one of the largest known potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) to have an orbit around the Sun so closely resembling our own. This presents another opportunity for study of the object. As Lance Benner of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program (NEOP) puts it: “We already know that Toutatis will not hit Earth for hundreds of years. These new observations will allow us to predict the asteroid’s trajectory even farther into the future.”

As they say, “an ounce of preservation…” And in the meantime, check out the photos and video taken of 4179 Toutatis as it passed Earth between the days of Dec. 11th and 12th, 2012.

Toutatis.dec11.13runs.and_.25runs.p05us.p025Hz.chirp_.s446Source: Universe Today

The Revengers: Operation Pimp Daddy!

gargoyleThe following is a transcript of events that occurred on the evening of Dec. 12th, 2012 in the confines of the St. John’s Cathedral. Revenger agent Panacea on scene, questioning a possible informant:

“The room’s soft lighting reflected off the ornate stone work, adding to the atmosphere that was already in abundance, thanks to the Gregorian chant collection playing in the background. Father Michael moved from pew to pew, gathering his strength after another evening mass and trying his best to shake off the burden of another day’s worth of confessions. Such terrible secrets the people of this city held, and such pain. One had to wonder if anyone would ever be capable of shouldering it all…

His eyes drifted to the front, where the bronze figure of the Savior hung on the cross. How sad he looked, his eyes downcast to the ground as he died. How heavily burdened he seemed too, carrying all of the world as he did on his slender shoulders, the cruelties, horrors, pains, petty jealousies of so many, the sin and vice of entire race. Was it really the nails and the spear point that had done him in, or was it the crushing weight of his children’s own nature?

Better you than me, he thought with some degree of mirth. At times like this, it was important to remember that one was never alone on the great battlefield. It was important to keep a sense of humor as well, otherwise one could go mad.

The father’s heart fluttered when he heard a noise behind him. His old bones could not turn fast enough to see what had caused it, but he knew something was back there, hiding in the knave somewhere. He began to walk slowly towards the rear, calling to it loudly.

“Who’s back there?” he said aloud. “Father Cleo? Are you back there?”

No answer. He approached it more quickly.

“Jack? If you’re sneaking around back there, I’m going to have to ask you to stop it. The congregation hall is no place for you and your brothers to be at play.”

He heard another noise. This time, it came from his left. His eyes were drawn to the far corner of the room, a small stand of candles that were rocking back and forth.

His heart picked up again as he realized that whoever, or whatever, was there was taking great pains not to be noticed. He turned back to the front to face the Saviour. He had known the risks of coming to the inner city to do the Lord’s work. He had been warned many times over what challenges he would be facing, and the dangers he would be asked to brave. He had always known that sooner or later, a misguided soul might come knocking, a poor fool who knew not what he did, but was prepared to do it.

“I shall fear no evil,” he whispered to himself. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to stoke his courage, and turned again to address the source. “Who is there? If you’re in here still, show yourself. You have nothing to fear from me.”

He walked back towards the altar and heard another small bump, but got no indication of where it was coming from. By now, the noise echoed off the walls and sounded like it could be coming from just about anywhere. Since it would not appear, he simply spoke ahead, knowing that it would hear him no matter which way he faced.

“If you are looking for money, I can tell you you won’t find much in here. Whatever we have is marked for good works and it is taken away on a daily basis. If you’re looking for drugs, you’ve come to the wrong place. The only things n here are aspirin, communion wine and my rheumatoid medication, and I don’t think you’d find much enjoyment there. And anything you might want to steal would be impossible to fence too. Pawn shops don’t take cherished religious items much, very little resale value.”

He was almost laughing now. He felt his courage returning by small increments, until he felt like a servant of God again. No fear in the face of evil, only forgiveness.

“If you are looking for food, shelter and forgiveness though, I have plenty to offer…” he looked around, waiting to see if that elicited any response. “Why don’t you come out and we will see what we can do for you?”

A slight breeze blew through the knave. The flames of every candle flickered as the slight chill passed them by.

“Father…” a voice said. Michael spun around to see a classical figure standing before him. His mind flashed back to seminary, all the research and study he had been required to do on the motifs and iconography of ancient Rome and Byzantium. Figured cared from marble and metals, perfect in their proportions and sculpted in their physiques. And yet, he knew that this one was very much real. A true physical specimen that now stood before him.

He took a deep breath and found his voice. “What can I do for you, my child?”

She took several steps forward, her boots clopping against the stone floor and the lapels of her white gown brushing against her legs. The candlelight sparkled off her green eyes and was dangerously close ot mesmerizing him. He listened closely so as not to fall under any spell she might be wielding.

“I bear a message,” she said. “The house of the Lord is being transgressed by men of depravity. They seek to make a new house of this city, a house of inequity and lust. Already, these men control a great deal of young women through the manufacture and sale of drugs, and seek to sell them to men to sate their most wanton and base desires.”

Father Michael drew back and tried to take in all he was being told. He was at once horrified and insulted by the thought.

“Who are these men? How are they using my church? What are you accusing us of?”

The lady raised her hand and smiled gently. “You are innocent in these crimes, Father, or so I believe. Your house is being used against its will, against yours. We seek your help in reigning these men in and restoring this place to its intended purpose. If you would help us, that is…”

Michael blinked a few times and ran his hand over his mouth. He was feeling suddenly fatigued and his back was beginning to ache. The ravages of old age and a life dedicated to others, he knew.

“Perhaps we would be more comfortable speaking in the rectory. I am in need of a drink and I think I should be sitting for the rest of this.”

The lady-goddess moved to his side and laid a hand on his shoulder. Father Michael stopped in his tracks and straightened. He drew in a deep breath and almost cried out. A blinding sensation filled him suddenly, driving out all vestiges of pain and fatigue. His eyes illuminated with a new clarity and everything around him became painfully clear in that instant.

She withdrew her hand. Father Michael looked down and took several more deep breaths to still his pounding heart. The sensation faded, but the pain and fatigue did not return. He looked to her and saw her with new found clarity and energy, charged by something incredibly bright and lively deep inside him.

“What did you do to me?” he asked. “Are you heaven-sent? An angel sent from the Lord?”

She smiled. “No, father. Just a messenger with her share of gifts, and a servant in her own right. And now I need you to listen, for we don’t have much time. Your quarry and ours is a man by the name of Robert B. Farnsworth, aka. Billy Bob. Do you know him?”

Father Michael’s memory seemed unusually clear. He recalled that name instantly. “Robert Bolton Farnsworth,” he said with a smile, and quickly turned it to a frown. “A troubled lad if ever I saw one. He was a student at the Sister Mary School for many years, but was removed because of all the trouble he would get himself into.” His frown turned to a look of dismay. “Is he the one doing all that you’ve said? Is he reducing women to the status of sex slaves?”

She closed her eyes and nodded somberly. Father Michael felt a sudden burst of flame in his heart and stamped his foot against the stone.

“That damnable cur! I knew he wasn’t coming here out of sincerity! I should have known! I should have seen it! He never changes! Thrice-damned liar!”

He continued to stomp around, placing his feet against the stonework and slamming against it with a ferocity he had not felt in years. He would have been surprised at his own vitality, were he not so consumed with rage. He had known Robert as a lad, seen him grow into a troubled youth, and then lost site of him for many years as he continued to go in and out of juvenile offenders programs. He had been relatively controllable when his mother still lived, but when she died…

“Father,” the woman said finally. “I need you to calm down. If we’re to stop him, we need your help. It’s only a matter of time before he returns, and we need to know when he does.”

Father Michael turned to face her. “What is he doing here? Is he using my church for some of his misdeeds?”

“Only it’s location, Father. Your church sits atop an ancient tunnel that runs under the city. He has been using for some time to allude detection and to find his way back to where he runs his operations in secret. When he comes through next, we need to know so we can tail him. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Father Michael nodded. He had heard rumors of an old network that ran into St. John’s, an avenue from the earliest days of the church’s existence when Catholics fears about the Reformation were still widespread. The tunnel had been meant to serve as an escape route, should the powers that be dispatch any officers on orders of the King or Church to round up Catholic heretics. He had never known it to be true or false, or where it ran. Perhaps his predecessor had known something of it, but failed to pass it on. In either case, the thought that it was being used for such purposes as this filled him with disgust.

Still, there was one concern he could not allow to slip by without mention.

“And once you have your hands on him, what will you do?”

She smiled again, in that same warm way of hers. “We will dispense justice, Father. But we will not kill him. That is not our way. We only wish to end the harm and torment he is causing, not add to it by enacting sentence. In the absence of authority and justice, we are Judge and Jury, but not executioner.”

Father Michael nodded. “You could say I have your word on that?”

“You can indeed because you do.”

Father Michael nodded again. He didn’t really need to ask, every instinct he had told her she was telling the truth. But better to do so and know that he did. His own conscience would abide nothing less. He lowered his head and asked one final question/

“Very well. How will I contact you?”

“Just speak the name of Justice, father. We will hear you.”

“Justice?” he said, looking up. She was gone. He looked in all directions for a sign of her, but there was none. She had left as easily as she had come.

“Where are you?” he said to the roof itself. It’s beams and buttresses did not reply. “What have you done to me?”

“I lessened your burder, Father. I lightened your load,” a soft voice replied. He knew it to be hers, though he still couldn’t see her.

He ran his hands all over himself and noticed that the pain of his rheumatism was also non-existent. His back was also straighter than it had been in recent memory and devoid of aches. He laughed aloud, and looked back to the heavens.

“Are you sure you’re not heaven sent?”

No answer. It was just as well. He knew he wouldn’t be told either way. A shame, but one could live with.

He walked back to the rectory, a new found bounce in his step. Would anyone believe him if he told them what happened here tonight? Probably not, he reckoned. And that he could live with too. He was sure the only parties that truly mattered had seen all they needed to see, and were quite pleased…

Next up, our exciting take-down of the notorious “Pimp Daddy”, Billy Bob himself!

The Future is Here: The HIV-Preventing, Contraceptive-Delivering, Dissolving Condom

condomDoesn’t that sound like a tall order? A nanofabricated condom that delivers an anti-HIV drug, prevents pregnancy, then disappears so as not to create waste. Did I say tall order, or something out of a dream? Hard to say. The point is, its could soon be reality thanks to researchers at the University of Washington who just published a paper in describing how they’ll use “electrospinning” to create next-generation female condoms made from specially customized nano-fibers.

For those unfamiliar with the terminology, electrospinning is a process where an electrical charge is used to draw very fine fibers (typically on the micro or nano scale) from a liquid. Using this method, the UofW researchers hope to weave an ultra-thin series of cloth-like fibers and medicine together to create female condoms that will boast all the necessary protection and contraceptives to make recreational sex perfectly safe. And the rate of disolution, which can be engineered to take place in a matter of minutes, hours or days, ensures that women don’t need to remove it after sex is had.

According to their abstract, the new condom is based in the field of “Multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs)”, a relatively new concept that seeks to “simultaneously prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy”. Given the current rate of population growth and the ongoing epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other STI’s, this new field is considered to be a possible answer to a growing global health concern. What’s more, they claim that “combining chemical and physical barriers offers the greatest potential to design effective MPTs, but integrating both functional modalities into a single device has been challenging.”

The abstract also goes on to describe the process that they will be relying on and the results:

“Using FDA-approved polymers, we fabricated nanofiber meshes with tunable fiber size and controlled degradation kinetics that facilitate simultaneous release of multiple agents against HIV-1, HSV-2, and sperm. We observed that drug-loaded meshes inhibited HIV-1 infection in vitro and physically obstructed sperm penetration. Furthermore, we report on a previously unknown activity of glycerol monolaurate (GML) to potently inhibit sperm motility and viability.”

Despite the challenges in the process, the results thus far have been encouraging, and even garnered the attention of Bill and Melinda Gates. Apparently, their Foundation has pledged a research grant of one million dollars to develop the technology which will make these condoms possible. I don’t know about you, but I feel safer!

Source: IO9.com

Hilarious Bane Outtakes!

In this little gem, produced by the internet comedians Auralnauts, we see a very different type of Bane character at work, thanks to the magic of voice-over. Among the high points are Bane’s ongoing concern about Gothamites fiber intake, some Mortal Kombat moves, Bane freestyle rapping to a crowded stadium, and the Bat’s all-90’s retro music playlist! Much fun!