A Dance with Dragons, bought!

Hey all. I doubt if anyone remembers, but a few months back when I began reviewing A Song of Ice and Fire, I said that I would be ending the series with the fourth book. After completing A Storm of Swords, I figured one more book was enough. After all, with Dragons just released and the buzz claiming that there would be at least two more books to come, I was sure that I would have to cut myself off or risk being totally sucked in to Matrin’s “Wheel of Time”esque vortex.

But, and here where’s things get awkward, that was a lie… apparently! Last night, I finally finished A Feast for Crows and purchased A Dance with Dragons. And believe it or not, it was the not the cliffhanger ending in book four that made me want to do that, though that helped give me a final push. In truth, friends of mine, such as Goran Zidar, and a slew of other people have been saying how book five is really good and covers all the threads that were strangely missing from book four. So really, the decision to buy it was made several weeks ago, but after getting into the last few chapters, a number of sudden twists piqued my interest and I found myself wanting to know what happened right away!

And, interestingly enough, I also discovered that the final chapter of Crows was not a chapter at all, but a note from the author. In it, he explains that book four was the way it was –  namely, bereft of any information about Tyrion, Jon Snow, Daenerys, or Stannis and Melissandre – for a simple reason. Basically, he went this way because to include what he had planned for all of these characters – plus those of Samwell Tarly, Cersei, Sansa, Arya, Brienne, Jaime, et al, – would have turned Crows into a tome the likes of which had not been seen since War and Peace. Okay, he didn’t say it in those words, I’m just adding them for dramatic license 😉

Hence, he decided to break all he had planned for the fourth installment in the series into two volumes. And instead of telling all of the stories half-way, he chose instead to select half the stories and tell them in full, the rest to be followed up later. I can see the wisdom in this, and the marketing angle, because it certainly worked on me. Damn you, Martin! I swear that this is the last of your books that I’m going to read… It probably won’t be. I’m sure I’ll be checking out book six, especially if this one is as good as they say. I hate you, sir! Keep up the good work!

The Walking Dead, Season Three Premiers!

It’s here at last!This past Sunday, after taking a very long break, the AMC’s Walking Dead finally premiered their third season.I tell ya, I was waiting so long that I almost forogt all about it. And it’s been weeks since there have been any helpful previews to remind me!

But alas, last night I remembered that the 14th was the big day, er, evening, in which the show would be airing. And, since I lack cable TV, I knew I would have to be employing extra-legal means to see it. So, taking to my computer, I found a torrent, uploaded it, and watched it with baited breath! Well, not exactly baited, but definitely lots of anticipation. I mean, it’s not like it was the new season of Game of Thrones, am I right? 😉

But before I tell you about this episode (Spoilers to follow), there’s the matter of how the last season ended. As we all know, all what was left unresolved thanks to the showdown between Shane and Rick, the split up of the original group, the loss of the farm, and Andrea’s rescu eby a mysterious hooded stranger. What was going to come of all this? Who would make it in this next season, and who would die?

Episode One – The Seed:
The party breaks in to a home occupied by Walkers and begins killing them, clearing the way for the rest to come in and settle down. Afterward, they begin to search for food, but find only an owl (which Daryl shoots with his crossbow) and some cans of dog food. However, more Walkers begins descending on the house, and they are forced to throw their bags into the small fleet of vehicles they have and flee.

From this opening scene alone, a few things become clear. For one, it has been several months since the shootout at the barn took place as evidence by Lori’s pregnancy bump. Second, Hershel, Maggie and Beth have joined the party, clearly believing that they would be safer on the road than on their farm. Third, Shane, Andrea and Dale are gone, either dead or having split off and gone their own way.

After leaving the house, the group confers and agrees that they can’t keep moving as they have been. Pursued by different groups of Walkers, their ultimate goal is to find a place to set down until Lori can deliver her baby. At last, they find a place that seems secure – a prison! However, there is still the matter of clearing it of all the Walkers that are currently inside. After making their way through the fence, the group deploys with the discipline of an army unit and takes out over twenty of them. Apparently, they are getting pretty good at killing zombies!

After making camp and having a meal, Rick tells them that they need to push and take the rest of the prison. He thinks that it fell early on, and that it must have supplies, food, medicine, and an armory. However, since they are low on ammo, they will need to go in in and fight it out hand to hand. This they begin to do,but quickly realize the interior of the prison is not as secure as hoped.

Luckily, a cell block which they come upon does appear to be impenetrable and they decide to spend the night there. And just to be on the safe side, Rick finds the keys to the cells and every locks themselves in for the night. Ironically, the prison’s purpose is reversed now, locking people in instead of trying to keep them from getting out.

In between all this, we cut to a small town, where we meet Michonne for the first time and watch her ass-kicking skills at work! This consists of her decapitating zombies with her samurai sword, and without the slightest bit of trouble I might add! After making the rounds, she returns to a “Deer Cooler” (a meat locker) where we find Andrea, who appears to be sick and in her care.

They decide to set out again, as Andrea doesn’t think she’ll survive if they stay. Packing up her two captive Walkers, the two set out… Yes, apparently Michonne is n the habit of keeping two Walkers with her in chains while traveling. Neither have jaws, which is clearly a defensive measure to make sure they can’t bite her. And I’m guessing having them around keeps other Walkers off their backs. Clever!

Lastly, we cut back to Rick and his usual party of hunters are exploring the basement of the prison. Unfortunately, this area is filled with Walkers, the party gets broken up as they begin running from two separate parties. In the process, Hershel is bitten on the leg and they are forced to scramble to the nearest secure room. Once there, Rick amputates Hershel’s leg with an axe to prevent the spread of the infection. Hershel is still in danger of bleeding out on the floor, and Daryl turns around to see several uninfected prisoners hiding in the next room…

Summary:
What can I say about this opening episode except WOW! Some seriously and truly badass stuff happened here, not to mention plenty of more cliffhanger notes. For starters,the opening scene was very effective and quite intelligently done. Not a word of dialogue passes between anyone in those first few minutes, and yet, we are made to everything of importance. The group has changed, they’ve become more seasoned and experienced, but everyone has the same look of fatigue and wear on their faces. The moment when Carl opens a can of dog food and Rick throws it in the fire place, that too was classic. It’s like he’s saying,”we may be hungry but we’re not animals!” And it was done without a single word.

Then there are the scenes where they fight their way onto the prison grounds, then into the prison proper were both very cool! In the first, special attention is given to the fact that the company has become a highly disciplined and able force, which is demonstrated in how hey manage to quickly envelop the zombies and pick them off from all sides. The moment at the end where Rick shoots the last of them and then laughs to himself is especially good here. It’s like a moment of pride where he’s realizing how effective they’ve become at the whole business of staying alive and killing zombies!

Then comes the fight next day where they begin clearing out the prison grounds using only handheld weapons. Each and every one of them is particularly badass here, stabbing and slicing their way in. But the best part is when the former guards, decked out in full riot gear come to fight them and they have to get creative. After all, you can’t simply smash in their skulls when they are protected by a helmet, and Daryl’s arrows prove useless against the helmets face shields. Here, T-Dog grabs a riot shield and begins bashing into some, while Maggie realizes that the best way to kill them is to stab under the helmets, and then feels very proud of herself when she kills one this way.

And of course, the irony of the prison. What better demonstration is there of how in an apocalyptic world, everything is turned upside down? In this kind of environment, a facility that was once built to incarcerate men is now turned into a fortress, with the express purpose of protecting those withing from those without. And the ending, where they must both cut off Hershel’s leg and find prisoners who are still alive? Whoa, you talk about a climax! A sure fire guarantee that people will be tuning in next week! I know I will…

However, there were also some kinder, gentler elements that were also well suited to the story. In this episode, Lori is desperate to talk to Rick about everything they’ve gone, specifically the triangle that existed between her, Shane and Rick. The matter of the baby’s true father is intrinsic to this, and while Lori wants to talk it out, Rick sure as hell doesn’t! She lets on towards the end that she thinks that Rick hates her, and intimates that Rick killed Shane, which is something she blames herself for. Her words “I put that knife in his hands” silences any doubt as to the whereabouts of Shane, and whether or not she or being literal or metaphorical remains to be seen.

Also, there is the issue of budding and developing romance that is factored in here. In the last season, Maggie and Glen began to have a relationship, and its clear from this episode that it is still happening. At the same time, Carol is beginning to make some overtures towards Daryl, who as we may recall was a great comfort to her last season while they were still looking for her daughter Sophia. However, Daryl seems a bit unenthused and is keeping her at a distance for the time being.

At the same time, little Carl also seems to be taking an interest in Beth, much to the chagrin of her father Hershel. Between these two seasos, he’s obviously grown considerably and is trying to emulate his father, wearing his old hat, shooting a gun, and trying to be a protector. It’s cute, it’s endearing, and in a way all of these relationships are indicative of something very important in the story. In the midst of all that death, people want to cling to life and take what joy they still can. But naturally, there’s a great deal of misgiving and hesitancy since there’s a chance it will end in pain.

Michonne was also very cool, and for what’s it worth, it’s good that they introduced here. Obviously they haven’t developed the thread involving her and Andrea very much in this episode, but we can assume their will be more to  come on that front later. At this point, we can only assume of what happened to separate her from the rest. But if I were a betting man, I’d say Shane killed Dale to protect his secret, Rick killed Shane out of necessity (he did kinda go batshit crazy there!), and Andrea took off because her and Shane had a thing. Somewhere along the way, she got sick and fell in with Michonne, who pulled her out of harm’s way.

The only complaint I might make, more of an observation really, was that as usual, they did up the disgusting factor! The worst part, for me, was when Rick ripped the helmet off one of the prison guard Walkers and his entire face came with it! Oh, and did I mention the skull kept screaming at him? And then Rick cut his head in half with the machete. I know it’s all animatrons and models, but holy shit yuck!

Looking forward to episode two and more revelations, not to mention zombie smashing!

The Smart Bra: The Future of Cancer Prevention

It is no secret that breast cancer is a major disease, accounting for 22.9% of all cases and leading to the death of approximately 500,000 women a year. With one in eight women being effected worldwide at some point in their life, early detection is key. Up until recently, these took the form of doctor exams or self-examinations. However, within a few years, there may very well be an early detection system that women can wear and which never stops working.

It’s known as the Breast Tissue Screening Bra, or Smart Bra as many like to call it. Developed in 2008 by the company First Warning Systems, in Reno, Nevada, the bra is designed act as a continuous exam device. As an alternate to self-exams and the somewhat controversial mammography, early tests indicated that it may actually be the most effective form of cancer screening to date.

The bra accomplishes all this by relying on a series of internal sensors and pattern recognition software. By detecting tiny temperature changes that occur as blood vessels grow and feed tumors, the bra is able to identify the presence of tumors while still in early formation, and up to six years before they would be  detectable by mammogram and twelve years before they could be removed by surgery.

Thus far, First Warning Systems has conducted three clinical trials using a total of 650 participants. So far, the results have been favorable, with the bra showing a 92.1 percent level of accuracy in detecting and classifying tumors. This is compared to a 70 percent accuracy rating as seen in routine mammograms. At present, the company plans to being releasing the bra in Europe by 2013 and, pending FDA approval, in the United States by 2014.

Personally, I don’t think this product can reach the market soon enough. With luck, it could very well signal a new era in the ongoing struggle to put an end to cancer. And who knows? If this works out, perhaps a similar garment could be developed for men, a pair of shorts that help with the screening of testicular and prostate cancer. Combined with nanomachines that are capable of monitoring our hearts, brains, lungs, pancreas and other internal organs, we may very well be able to stop cancer through early detection and prevention.

Here’s hoping! Meanwhile, check out this video of the Smart Bra’s design and workings.

Source: news.cnet.com

The Future is Here: Electronics that Dissolve

electronicsIt is no secret that research into nanotechnology is bearing fruit these days. Back in February, both Standford and MIT unveiled implantable devices which would be capable of delivering drugs directly into the human blood stream and detecting health problems. However, despite all the progress being made in terms of nano-miniaturization, there are still numerous barriers which need to be overcome.

For example, having microelectronics in the body, while initially beneficial, might prove problematic with time. What’s to happen when they are finished their jobs, become obsolete, or simply stop working after awhile? As anyone who’s ever owned a computer, PDA, mobile device or laptop can tell you, the stuff breaks! And if it does happen to live past its warranty, chances are it will be obsolete in six months… tops!

Such machines need a way to be removed, but given their size (o.oooooooo1 meters), that’s not exactly practical. And even if it were, there’s the question of disposal. Once commercially viable, there are likely to be billions of nanomachines in circulation. Even at their miniscule scale, such machinery could pose environmental hazards, especially if its likely to malfunction. Ever heard of Grey Goo? Well that’s a scenario that researchers have to consider.

Luckily, researchers at the University of Illinois have come up with a possible solution: electronics that dissolve! Composed of silicon, magnesium, magnesium oxide and contained within a protective layer of silk, these “transient electronics” are built to melt away just as soon as their tasks are complete.

In the process, they will reduce or remove the need to pass or surgically remove medical implants. Using rats as test subject, the researchers built their implants out of extremely thin sheets of silicon called nanomembranes to get the electronics to dissolve in hours or days instead of years.

Of course, the medical applications are clear. Already, electronics are being tailor made for the delivery of drugs, sensors implanted in internal organs to monitor of problems, and temperature monitors created to safeguard against infection and disease. Combined with external sensors, doctors would be able to do a full medical workup within seconds, and much of the guess work involving symptoms and patient history could be eliminated. Exploratory surgery could also become a thing of the past, since doctors would be able to use internal sensors to diagnose unexplained problems.

The researchers also used silk collected from silkworm cocoons to control the speed of disintegration. This is part of a growing field of electrical engineering that seeks to create biodegradable microchips and other electronics, in part for the sake of implantation but also to ensure the elimination of computer waste.

Such waste, which includes disposable cell phones, cameras, and computers, currently accounts for 50 million tons of waste a year. Sixty percent of that is produced in the US, but could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in developing nations such as India and China. Designing these types of components now could ensure the aversion of a possible ecological disaster.

Source: news.cnet.com

The Next Big Thing: Blog Hop!

Yeah, apparently there’s this new thing making the rounds known of late. Lord knows this here internet is filled with memes, but when you get tagged as part of a new one, you gotta go play. My thanks to Casey Sheridan for being the one to tag me, and now I go on to spread the word! Of course, it behooves me to post the rules of this particular meme. Here they are:

  • Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you (already done!)
  • Post the rules for this hop (in progress!)
  • Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog
  • Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

And now, here are the author questions which I shall begin to answer in sequential order:

  1. What is the working title of your book?
    Data Miners
  2. What genre does the book fall under?
    Thriller/suspense, but with some clear science fiction elements since a lot of it is speculative
  3. Which actors would you choose to play your characters for the movie rendition?
    C.S. Lee (who plays Vince Masuka on Dexter) as Yamal Pradchaphet, Lyndsy Fonseca as Agent Righetti, and Mila Kunis as Angela Thompson.
  4. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
    A second-rate programmer by day and hacker by night finally stumbles onto a real-life conspiracy that is ten years in the making.
  5. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
    Self-published to begin with, with the intent that it will be represented at some later date
  6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
    Three y
  7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
    If pressed, I’d say Neuromancer, Cryptonomicon, and Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, the works that most directly inspired it.
  8. Who or What inspired you to write this book?
    Reading plenty of William Gibson and other thrillers about technological trends, cryptology and espionage.
  9. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
    The book explores the mysteries of the human mind, with inspirations from Arthur Koestler, B.F. Skinner, and Gilbert Ryle; the concept of digital immortality; and several ongoing questions about what really happened to the Stealth Fighter that was shot down during the Kosovo War.

And last, but certainly not least, are the five people I want to tag next. Naturally, this is 100% volunteer participation, so if you can’t join, don’t worry about it:

Rami Ungar – http://ramiungarthewriter.wordpress.com
Nina D’Arcangela – http://sotetangyal.wordpress.com
Nicola Higgins – http://nicolahigginsfiction.wordpress.com
Lesley Carter – http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com
Margaret E. Alexander – http://addictivestory.wordpress.com

Thanks again to Casey, and hope everyone has a good week!

True Skin: A Cyborg Short

Hello again all. You know that feeling you get when you sense that you’re getting swept up in a trend? Well, it seems that the trend of making futuristic and predictive videos has captured me in its wake. The latest comes from Vimeo, courtesy of N1ON Productions, and is entitled True Skin. The concept is quite intriguing too: a near-future where cybernetic enhancements are all the rage, and people who are purely organic are discriminated against and looked down upon.

Filmed entirely in Bangkok, this video has a real nitty gritty feel to it, something that no cyberpunk tale would be complete without! And of course, there’s plenty of social commentary too, showing how cybernetic augmentation is tantamount to status and the poor are easily recognized by their lack of physical enhancements. And in the end, the story is told from the point of view of a man who knew he had to get upgraded if he was not going to slip through society’s cracks, even if that meant breaking the law.

No more spoilers, check out the video. And enjoy the scenery, courtesy of Bangkok’s Red Light District!

Baumgartner Makes Historic Space Jump!

It happened! The extreme skydiving daredevil made his historic, record-setting jump, after only one false start. The first attempt took place on Tuesday, but unfortunately high wind conditions forced them to cancel the jump. Despite the high altitude and extremely daring nature of the entire enterprise, minor variations in atmospheric and wind conditions had to be taken into account

Luckily, today things went off without a hitch. Launching from their base camp in Roswell New Mexico, Baumgartner ascended via his high-altitude balloon to the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. Then, at an altitude of approx. 38.5 km above sea level, he jumped with the hopes of achieving supersonic free fall.

And that is precisely what he did, and then some. In fact, according to the  Red Bull Stratos team, Baumgartner’s achieved a top speed of 1,173 km/hour, or 729 mph. The team’s expectation was that 690 mph would be sufficient to get Baumgartner to Mach 1, considering the extreme elevation. The previous record, one of several he sought to beat was 614 mph, which was set back in 1960 and has stood ever since.

Naturally, there were a few technical glitches along the way. These included some issues with Baumgartner’s visor and the balloon’s power supply. After making the jump, he found himself spinning faster and faster, and almost lost consciousness at one point. This is apparently what prevented him from feeling the sonic boom that he eventually made. All in all, Baumgartner admitted it was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Hmm, jumping out a balloon on the edge of space and free falling towards the planet at speeds so fast you break the sound barrier? What’s hard about that?

Kudos to Baumgartner for the record-setting jump and making history. And be sure to check out the video of his jump, freefall and landing below:

The Case for Terraforming Venus

This weekend appears to be shaping up with a theme: news from space that isn’t about Mars. I swear that it’s entirely accidental. First there was the discovery of the diamond planet, 55 Cancri e, and now a story about the merits of terraforming another planetary neighbor. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s not Mars for a change.

Yes, it seems that there is a strong case for terraforming Venus instead of the Red Planet, and it comes from numerous scientists who claim that altering the climate on that planet could help us save our own. The reason being – and stop me if this sounds frightening – is because our planet could one day look just like our lifeless, acid ridden, cloud covered neighbor.

In short, Venus underwent a carbon-dioxide fueled cataclysm a long time ago, when it was still young and was believed to have oceans. In those early days, and as the sun got brighter, Venus’s oceans began to boil and evaporate into the atmosphere. As a result, carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere, due in part to the lack of carbon recycling which depends on the presence of oceans and seaborne algae. This is essentially a magnified version of the Greenhouse Effect, which scientists identify as the reason for rising temperatures and melting polar ice caps here at home.

Because of this, Venus became the hot, deadly planet that we are familiar with today, with surface temperatures that average 467°C (872°F), hot enough to melt lead. What’s more, its atmosphere consists of 96% carbon dioxide, which appear as thick layers of clouds that float 50-70 km above the surface. Above that, clouds and mist of concentrated sulfuric acid and gaseous sulfur dioxide lead to acid rains that could literally melt the flesh off your bones and the metal off a landing craft. Combined with the amount of sunlight it gets (twice that of Earth) and the lack of a magnetosphere, Venus is a pretty damn awful place to visit!

Of course, some would say that this makes terraforming the planet a pretty dangerous and poor prospect, at least compared to Mars. However, the benefits of terraforming Venus are far greater, certainly when we consider that the lessons gleamed from it could help us reverse the Greenhouse Effect here on Earth. In addition, it’s closer than Mars, making it easier and quicker to travel back and forth. And like the Earth, it resides within the solar system’s habitable zone and has its own atmosphere, not to mention it is nearly the same mass and size as Earth.

All of this, when taken together, would make Venus a far more suitable place to live once the terraforming process was complete. In short, its easier to convert an existing atmosphere than to create one from scratch. And, as noted, the process of converting the CO2 and sulfur-rich atmosphere into one that a breathable one that is rich with water and precipitation would go a long way to helping us device solutions to cleaning up our own atmosphere here at home.

This may sound like pure speculation, but in truth, many solutions have already been proposed. In fact, Carl Sagan began proposing that we introduce genetically-modified airborne algae into Venus atmosphere 50 years ago. Thought not 100 percent practical, it was a stepping stone to some more recent ideas which may prove doable. In 1981, NASA engineer James Oberg proposed that all the CO2 could be blown out into space. Again, not the most practical idea, but they were thinking and that’s what matters!

More recently, Paul Birch, a writer for the British Interplanetary Society, proposed flooding Venus with hydrogen. Once it interacting with the high concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, the end products would be graphite and plenty of water. Other plans involve carbon capture, nanotechnology, and other advanced forms of ecological engineering. These, alone or in combination, could prove to be the difference between thick glass clouds and sulfuric oceans and a lush green planet covered with water and vegetation.

A pretty interesting prospect; and if it all works out, humanity could end up with three habitable planets within the Solar System alone. Combined with pressure domes and sealed arcologies on the system’s various moons and larger asteroids, planet Earth could one day retire as the sole host of humanity and this thing we call “civilization”. In fact, I could foresee a time when our world goes on to become hallowed ground, hosting only a few hundred million people and free of heavy industry or urban sprawl. Hello idea for a story!

And, to mix up what I usually say at the end of every one of these posts, stay tuned for more news from Mars and other planets within our Solar System. There’s a lot of them out there, and someday, they might all places that our species calls “home”.

Source: IO9

A Diamond Bigger Than Earth

Some interesting news from space these days, and for once didn’t have to do with Mars. For many years, scientists at NASA and other space agencies have known about 55 Cancri e, an extrasolar planet that orbits the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A that is approximately 41 years from our system. Up until recently, it was believed that this planet was a “Super-Earth”, a planet many times the mass of Earth composed of granite.

Recently, however, scientists have announced that the planet may in fact be composed of carbon. That means, in essence, that the surface is composed of graphite and diamond. These findings come as part of a study that was released by the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulouse, France. Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale researcher who was part of the project, estimates that at least a third of the planet’s mass, the equivalent of about three Earth masses, could be diamond.

Imagine that, three entire Earth’s worth of diamonds! The mind reels at the staggering amount of wealth and opulence that this planet could produce, if only human mining teams were able to access it. However, surface conditions might complicate that a little. According to that same report, the planet is incredibly hot, with temperatures on its surface reaching 1,648 Celsius (3,900 degrees Fahrenheit). Not exactly cozy, by Earth standards.

Speaking of which, this is another aspect of the discovery which is proving exciting. According to Madhusudhan, “This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth,” adding that the discovery of the carbon-rich planet meant distant rocky planets could no longer be assumed to have chemical constituents, interiors, atmospheres, or biologies similar to Earth. And he’s not alone is suspecting that discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg, as we work our way further out into the universe and discover more examples of strange and exotic exoplanets.

Source: Yahoo News.ca

New Music Video Tells the Theory of Panspermia

Those who saw Prometheus recently, or witnessed the cinematic spectacle known as 2001: A Space Odyssey, will be instantly familiar with the concept. Basically, it asserts that life exists throughout the Universe and is distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids. In the more fantastic and imaginative version of this story, the distribution process is being helped along by alien “Engineers” or “Firstborn” who make it a point to seed worlds with their own genetic material, or tamper with existing life to promote evolution.

This new music video, produced by Tom Walsh, is a new and interesting take on the concept. Here, set to the music of “The Last Human on Earth” (by Swimming & Alex Herington), tells the story of a human engineer who is busy distributing human DNA throughout the Universe. Many times over, the name HERA comes up, which refers to Human Evolution Recovery Administration, a group that was formed in 1950 with the purpose of ensuring that humanity survives the death of our sun, our world, and any cataclysms that might come our way.

Check out the video below, and be sure to look up HERA at its website as well. Some very cool reading and watching!

Source: IO9