Video shows Scale of Planets

Brad Goodspeed wondered what the sky would look like if the planets in our solarsystem were as close to Earth as the moon is and revolved around us. [Watch fullscreen for best effects].


Scale from Brad Goodspeed on Vimeo.
Scale Video Shows Planets in Sky | Geekosystem

Jane Espenson: Science Fiction Writer and Nerd

Jane Espenson (46) is writer and/or co-executive producer of some of the biggest cult science-fiction shows of the past decade, including Star Trek The next generation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and Gilmore Girls.


Jane studied computer science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Go Bears!


Read more about Jane Espenson here: Jane Espenson: Writer, sci-fi thriller, one nerdy lady - CNN.com

Science Tattoo Collection

For hard-core science geeks: Click here to see a collection of evolution-themed tattoos: Visualizing Evolution

Additionally, you can visit the Science Tattoo Emporium that has a large collection of tattoos featuring scientific visualizations from different disciplines (chemistry, physics, biology, computer science, earth science, math, engineering).

The History of Social Media

Social media aim to fulfill different human needs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77813293@N00/4926795330/

The History of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Swiss Company Acabion predicts travel at 12,000 mph by year 2100

Swiss company Acabion aims to revolutionize traveling by introducing a new class of vehicle - called the "streamliner". 


Acabion's visions of future travel do certainly sound ambitious: 

• 2015: Streamliners 8 times more efficient than electric vehicles are introduced.
• 2050: To take full advantage their incredible speed, streamliners are given special elevated tracks. On these tracks, streamliners operate in auto-pilot mode.
• 2100: A series of vacuum tubes criss-crosses the planet for super-fast streamliner (at speeds around 20,000 km/h (about 12,000 mph) driving over great distances. Coupled with the elevated tracks, this creates a “traffic internet.”

I am just wondering how much it would cost to build all those tubes...

Acabion Streamliner Car Travels Through Tubes | Geekosystem

Reactor prototype uses solar energy to produce hydrocarbon fuel

A research team, including Caltech professor Sossina M. Haile and Swiss Institute of Energy Technology professor Aldo Steinfeld, developed a reactor which mimics plant life, turning the Sun's energy to make hydrocarbon fuel.

The reactor uses the solar energy and the metal ceria (a rare-earth metal) to break down water or carbon dioxide into hydrogen and oxygen.

The prototype of the reactor is still in its infant stages and extremely inefficient, harnessing only 0.7% to 0.8% of the solar energy it absorbs. The researchers are confident they can reach levels of around 20% which would make the device commercially viable.

SciTech - Latest Headlines - New Reactor Harnesses Sun's Energy Like Plants

Technology of the Future Now

Do we live in the future? Some current technology certainly does look futuristic: From X-ray body scanners at the airport to virtual realities, personal jetpacks, flying cars, sonic weapons, and universal translators. See list here: 9 Developments That Prove We Really Are Living In The Future

Glass tougher than steel

Can glass be stronger and tougher than steel? Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)and the California Institute of Technology developed a new type of damage-tolerant metallic glass, demonstrating a strength and toughness beyond that of any known material. Read full article here: New glass stronger and tougher than steel


Doesn't this sound a lot like transparent aluminum that Scotty revealed in Star Trek IV? 

We Are What We Share

This youtube video is based on the book "We Think" by Charles Leadbeater. It explores how sharing over the internet changed our potential for innovation. We are what we share.

Universal Translator soon available

Universal Translators are common in science fiction. Star Trek has the universal translator. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has the paradoxical Babel Fish. In Farscape, John Chrichton is implanted with translator microbes. In The Last Starfighter, Alex Rogan is given a chip that was attached to the collar of his shirt. And the companions of Doctor Who have an instant translation service by a telepathic field generated by the TARDIS.


Thanks to Google, universal translation will become available on Earth soon. Google's prototype language translator, Conversation Mode, uses Android phones to record spoken words and then play them back in a different language.

Conversation Mode combines the technology of Google Voice and Google Translate (which only works for text) to translate over fifty languages via a speech interface on a smartphone. Read more here: Google Waves Goodbye to Language Barriers : Discovery News

The video shows a demonstration of Conversation mode.

World largest stable synthetic molecule revealed

Dieter Schlüter at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (my home university) announced that his team successfully created the world's largest stable synthetic molecule ever made to date. PG5 has a diameter of 10 nanometres and a mass equal to 200 million hydrogen atoms (Previously, polystyrene was the largest stable synthetic molecule, at 40 million hydrogen masses). PG5 could find applications in delivering drugs, which could either dock to their surface via the different branches, or nestle in the spaces produced by the molecule folding in on itself.

Read more here: Tree-like giant is largest molecule ever made - physics-math - 07 January 2011 - New Scientist

A Simulation of Everything

The Living Earth Simulator (LES) aims to collect data from billions of datasources to create a simulation of everything that happens on earth. The ambitious (to say the least) project was introduced by Dr. Helbing, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (my home university), Chair of the FuturICT. FuturICT is a response to the European Flagship call. It intends to unify hundreds of the best scientists in Europe in a 10 year 1 billion EUR program to explore social life on earth and everything it relates to.

An international team of scientists will build the LES that can simulate everything that happens on Earth - from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or traffic jams.

At it's heart, the LES is about working towards better methods to measure the state of society, he says, which would account for health, education and environmental issues. "And last but not least, happiness."

Read full article here: BBC News - Earth project aims to 'simulate everything'

Microscopic creatures that live on the human body

Humans are covered with several species of mites, fungi, and bacteria pretty much all the time, regardless of how well we take care of ourselves. Enough to equal the population of the Earth.


Microscopic Creatures On Our Bodies | Geekosystem