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2013-05-25 02:27:30 (4 comments, 6 reshares, 25 +1s)

I am interviewed in the San Diego Union Tribune and its online site about SETI... the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence.  By coincidence, after the recent Starship Century Symposium at UCSD, we had the honor of hosting Dr. Freeman Dyson and Dr, Jill Tarter (head of the SETI Institute) at our home.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/May/21/extraterrestrial-life/?#article-copy

Bonus! See the archived video from the Starship Conference (fascinating stuff!)
http://imagination.ucsd.edu/starship/

And about the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination.
http://imagination.ucsd.edu

2013-05-25 02:21:51 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

Tomorrow is the International Space Development Conference in La Jolla which you should consider attending!  I speak 10 am on Saturday.  See:

http://isdc.nss.org/2013/schedule-sat.shtml

2013-05-22 05:20:31 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

The Starship Century Symposium at the Arthur Clarke Center will be streaming a second day of fascinating panels and lectures live, this  Wednesday (May 22) starting at 9:00 Pacific time. Browse the agenda... http://imagination.ucsd.edu/starship/agenda.html

… then on Tuesday join the live stream by clicking near the top of: http://imagination.ucsd.edu/starship/

2013-05-20 20:58:09 (18 comments, 5 reshares, 31 +1s)

Wow, media sure have picked up on the Mars One endeavor... and my application among 40,000 who are (tentatively) interested in the mission to the Red Planet.

http://www.blastr.com/2013-5-20/why-david-brin-wants-go-mars-even-if-its-one-way-trip?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

2013-05-20 05:36:28 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

The Italian-language sci fi blog Noctutnia interviewed me about writing, science, literature and all of that.  

http://wwwwelcometonocturnia.blogspot.it/2013/05/david-brin-lintervista-completa.html

2013-05-19 22:29:31 (11 comments, 7 reshares, 40 +1s)

If you do home auto repairs, then you know the Haynes Manual for your make and year and model.  Now see Haynes Manuals that aren't for cars... but for wonderful spaceships of the future! Lovingly detailed, these are all for Space Force and alien ships from the 1950s Dan Dare comic books.  Vivid and remarkable.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326510/Dan-Dare-Car-repair-manual-publisher-releases-nuts-bolts-guide-comic-hero-Dan-Dares-spaceships.html

2013-05-19 20:00:39 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 22 +1s)

Tens of thousands have signed up as preliminary candidates for the Mars One Project, aimed toward sending a high risk and one-way "first colony" to the Red Planet.  This NBC story gives an overview by profiling three applicants -- an 18 year old college student, a 71 year old retiree… and yours truly.   You can also view our 1 minute video sales pitches. In a year, the public may get a chance to help vote for the final team.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/19/18305415-why-sign-up-for-a-one-way-mars-trip-three-applicants-explain-the-appeal?lite

2013-05-19 03:02:15 (18 comments, 10 reshares, 48 +1s)

A TV network has posted an edited snippet I gave them. Getting a bit lyrical and big-picture, I describe how we are in a race to cross a dangerous zone…into the future.

David Brin (US): How do you see research and innovation making a difference ...?

2013-05-17 18:17:18 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 26 +1s)

My latest posting - "Mixed News From Space" discusses the near-certain demise of our planet-hunting ace, the Kepler telescope, and why this mission should fill us with ambition to do more.  Also, the new "barnstorming era" in space may include private trips to the moon and so much more!  I discuss the weirdest aircraft you ever saw or imagined. Plus a range of news that tells us that we aren't done, out there.  We've barely begun.

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/05/mixed-news-from-space.html

2013-05-17 00:47:08 (9 comments, 15 reshares, 37 +1s)

The age determination of a deep-drill core from the Pacific Ocean showed that the supernova explosion must have occurred about 2.2 million years ago, roughly around the time when the modern human developed. Isotopic inspection of bacterial fossils containing tiny crystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) show some iron isotopes that would have decayed by now if not caused by a very recent supernova. We know lots more about the (pre-Noah) past than some folks allow into their philosophy, alas.  In this case, it makes you envision our australopithecine forebears staring up, in wonder.  And changing.

http://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/short/article/30832/

2013-05-16 18:04:32 (15 comments, 6 reshares, 44 +1s)

One of my heroes, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (a Republican who served both recent presidents and may have saved us all, under one of them) is interviewed about Benghazi and the Arab Revolutions, offering the views of a genuine grownup.

http://www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/Gates-Some-Benghazi-Critics-Have-Cartoonish-View-of-Military-Capability-207111921.html?ref=921#.UY_PUJVAKgw

2013-05-16 03:47:34 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 45 +1s)

In a little over an hour - 10pm Pacific - I will join other talkative folk + special effects wizards on History Channel, talking about Star Trek and all that!

http://www.history.com/shows/star-trek-secrets-of-the-universe

2013-05-15 05:50:44 (31 comments, 10 reshares, 54 +1s)

My novel EARTH (1989) portrayed hackers in the 2020s deliberately tweaking this "Nuremberg-ware" so that it would do the opposite.  Instead of helping people only see and hear and read what agrees with them, the hacked relevance algorithms would let through different and provocative points of view.  Breaking folks out of the group-think "nuremberg rallies" of memic sameness.

Stay contrary! ;-)

David Brin
http://www.davidbrin.com
blog: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/

2013-05-14 01:36:49 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

My latest posting starts with announcing my appearance on Wednesday (on the History Channel's show STAR TREK: SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE. This blog then goes on to tell about the "reinventing Space" online panel I just hosted online, with NASA scientists plus entrepreneurs, exploring and explaining the new "barnstorming era in space."  And the Starship Century Symposium... and so much more!  Like news about the Campbell Award nominations for best science fiction novel of the year... plus snippets on science, singularities, bold new Hollywood SF flicks... and more!

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/05/news-about-space-and-science-fiction.html

Are we entering the second phase of humanity's adventure in space -- the Barnstorming Era? One characterized by many more private sector initiatives and a profusion of entrepreneurial energy. The role of government needst... more »

2013-05-12 18:20:15 (10 comments, 3 reshares, 21 +1s)

I'll be on the show "STAR TREK: SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE" this Wednesday at 10pm on the History Channel.  A fun romp through the range of speculative sci & tech that serve as foundations and help propel the fabulous Trek franchise to realms of vast imagining and hopeful possibility.   
      Then -- May 21 and 22 -- the “Starship Century Symposium” at UCSD will be devoted to an ongoing exploration of the development of a real starship in the next 100 years.  I'll be there too.

http://www.history.com/shows/star-trek-secrets-of-the-universe/videos/star-trek-secrets-of-the-universe--sneak-peek?cmpid=MRSS_Google_HIS#

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/uc_san_diegos_arthur_c_clarke_center_for_human_imagination_lifts_off_with_public_events?utm_campaign=thisweek&utm_medium=web&utm_source=tw-2013-05-09-web

2013-05-12 04:41:39 (74 comments, 12 reshares, 29 +1s)

Sign a petition opposing sale of Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune to the Koch Brothers.  Can you believe that we are even in this position?

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/08/local/la-me-tribune-times-koch-20130509

Petition: http://democracyforamerica.com/pages/768?t=bernie

2013-05-12 01:10:25 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

My new blog covers X-Prizes and Grand Challenges and asks for ideas: what do you think would make a great tech-prize contest?  Also would you sign up for the "Mars One" notion of a 2025 one-way trip to Mars? Interesting tradeoffs. Followed by my regular potpourri and science, technology and enlightenment news! Come feast.

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/05/grand-challenges-x-prizes-and-mars.html

2013-05-11 04:21:09 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Happy 20th Birthday Mysterious Galaxy! One of the finest sci fi and mystery bookstores on the planet. Join the bash tomorrow with John Scalzi, Vernor Vinge, Eoin Colfer, David Brin, Alan Russell, Nancy Holder, Todd McCaffrey, Jeffrey Mariotte, and more. I'll be there for cake, and signing books at 3 pm. 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, 92111
 
http://www.mystgalaxy.com/event/mg-sd-20th-birthday-bash-051113

2013-05-10 19:48:25 (414 comments, 1232 reshares, 2768 +1s)

In a major medical breakthrough, researchers have developed particles that can be injected into a bloodstream to keep it oxygenated even when the lungs are not functioning at all and there is no access to a heart-lung machine. The microparticles used are composed of oxygen gas pocketed in a layer of lipids, around two to four micrometers in length and carry about three to four times the oxygen content of our own red blood cells. Beyond medical uses, imagine spies or seal who can "stay underwater for over 20 minutes? If a boat was to begin to sink, you could shoot yourself as the boat is going down to ensure you aren’t drowned in the under current of the sinking vessel."

http://www.techwench.com/scientists-invent-oxygen-particle-that-if-injected-allows-you-to-live-without-breathing/

2013-05-10 18:14:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I appear on AskimoTV, giving two 10-minute mini lectures :

What does SETI stand for? What is its mission? 
http://www.askimo.com/pages/PlayVideo.aspx?vid=3995

On the Flynn Effect - are successive generations getting smarter? http://www.askimo.com/pages/PlayVideo.aspx?vid=3992

2013-05-09 22:48:42 (82 comments, 50 reshares, 154 +1s)

Neal Stephenson has joined Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear, Vernor Vinge, Catherine Asaro and me -- along with several others -- in urging the renewal of a science fiction that talks about hope. (While delivering great action, peril and adventure.) Read about Neal's positive-thinking and uplifting Hieroglyph project… 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-science-fiction-writers-inspire-2013-05

…and my own reasons why readers and viewers should turn away the sheer laziness of those who cannot think of any way to propel a lively plot, except by calling humanity and civilization worthless. See:

http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2013/01/david-brin-our-favorite-cliche-a-world-filled-with-idiots-orwhy-films-and-novels-routinely-depict-society-and-its-citizens-as-fools/

2013-05-09 03:27:44 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 19 +1s)

Where are we heading in space? Register to attend the Global Collaboration in 21st century Space Conference -- or International Space Development Conference -- May 23 to 27 in San Diego. Speakers include: Buzz Aldrin, Mae Jemison, Robert Zubrin, Vernor Vinge, David Brin, Chris Lewicki, Natasha Vita-More….   Just after UCSD's Starship Century Symposium earlier in the week

http://isdc.nss.org/2013/

Oh yes, don't forget tomorrow's online hangout-discussion about our human future in space! 
http://reinventors.net/roundtables/reinvent-outer-space/

2013-05-08 18:03:35 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 29 +1s)

ReInvent Outer Space: We’re entering the second age of humans in space, the 'barn-storming era' with dozens of private or semi-private ventures aimed at blasting off in the next few years. On Thursday, I host an all-star online gathering on the Re-Inventors' site, an "outer space roundtable." May 9th at 11 am Pacific (California) Time -- Tune in to hear a stimulating discussion with Geoffrey Landis, Ariel Waldman, Peter Leyden, Andrew Hoppin, Chris McKay, Jim Karavala...

http://reinventors.net/roundtables/reinvent-outer-space/

2013-05-08 04:20:57 (3 comments, 11 reshares, 20 +1s)

I shoulda known as I read "Steve & Steve". I was thinking, this is fantastic stuff. Whoever did this is brilliant. Now who does this remind me of...? Then I reach the "to be continued" and see it's Patrick Freaking Farley! (I wonder if he'll actually finish this one!) No really, the sepia tones completely had me. So different from the psychedelic colors of his Space Epic.

http://www.steve-and-steve.com/000/

For contrast have a look at the amazing video preview-trailer for Existence, also created by Patrick Farley! An amazing, under-rated talent. http://www.tinyurl.com/exist-trailer

2013-05-07 16:22:33 (22 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

As if we didn't already have enough reasons to dread this particular path to artificial intelligence (AI) now they are planning to equip Skynet… I mean Goldman Sachs HST systems… with lasers! Laser beam technology originally developed for the military is being rolled out to shave time off trades. It will compete with new microwave networks that are increasingly being used by traders. Ah, humans.  Marx was right about capitalists, they will sell the new dictatorship the rope used to hang us all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22380611

More about this... and dilbert, transparency, whistle blowers and much more, on my latest blog posting on Contrary Brin!
http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/

2013-05-07 01:18:08 (30 comments, 3 reshares, 24 +1s)

My latest weblog posting returns to the central matter of our era... transparency and all of the important things that depend upon it.  We start with Dilbert-creator Scott Adams and how near-far is is from "getting it."... then we move on to Skynet - the source of the fictional Terminator - and how something akin to that malevolent AI may be underway at Goldman-Sachs!

 Then onward to a roundup of fascinating news that is worrisome, challenging or encouraging. Including wisdom from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal... and another of my patented swerves as I take a quick swipe at... the left!

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/05/dilbert-skynet-and-latest-from.html

2013-05-06 22:21:45 (34 comments, 3 reshares, 26 +1s)

Meet five billionaires who want to live forever. I know some of them. And I'm all in favor... up to the point where they try to keep it for themselves.  Transparency And if they're responsible for conquering death, then let's honor them personally 1000 years from now.

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/magazines/fortune/2013/04/04/live-forever.fortune/jump.html

2013-05-06 16:57:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

KMO presents a good (and very recent) audio podcast interview with me covering a very broaf range of topics, from sci fi movies to how we might move past culture war. 

http://c-realm.com/podcasts/crealm/360-c-stands-for-contrarian/

2013-05-06 00:59:43 (12 comments, 57 reshares, 95 +1s)

Cracked.com links you to  "5 Badass New (mini) Sci-Fi Movies You Can Watch on Your Lunch Break." The tech is moving along and there are fine artistic sensibilities in this vividly visual small flicks.  Alas, there are so many stories that could be told with these methods.  Cool and ORIGINAL short stories instead of old, old, old tropes, but these fellows apparently consider that to be their very last priority.  Still. They are visually stunning and worth a watch.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-badass-new-sci-fi-movies-you-can-watch-your-lunch-break/

2013-05-05 17:21:15 (21 comments, 10 reshares, 72 +1s)

I've filled out the application and profile and intro video for "Mars One" - the proposed endeavor to send volunteers to "colonize" Mars well before a simple manned landing and return can be accomplished. How? Simple.  Make the journey one way!  I have mixed feelings, but I approve of the devil-may-care courage that's involved and the willingness to toss aside the solipsistic importance of the self for something spectacularly ground-breaking. I can't promise for sure that I would go.  But I talk about the mind-set and I think I've got at least a bit of it. Drop by and view and vote!

An alternative to weigh in comparison is Dennis Tito's endeavor to attempt to send an older married couple on a free-return flyby of Mars in 2018. Ideally a couple with some qualifications. My wife & I both have planetary science doctorates.  Now... to persuade her!<... more »

2013-05-05 06:53:16 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 22 +1s)

Our children will have so many diagnostic tools to focus on their kids than we clueless parents had.  For example: new research from Bristol and Cardiff universities shows that children whose brains process information more slowly than their peers are at greater risk of psychotic experiences. These can include hearing voices, seeing things that are not present or holding unrealistic beliefs that other people don’t share. These experiences can often be distressing and frightening and interfere with their everyday life.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/news/2013/178.html

2013-05-05 03:54:30 (21 comments, 50 reshares, 132 +1s)

The world's smallest flying robot has fly-like agility - stunning size and flexibility breakthrough in use of piezo-electric materials.  So far, it draws its power and computation down hairlike cable.  But we will live in the world described in The Transparent Society  (1997) - one in which "insects" will fly into any building capable of spying.  What is to be done?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22380287

2013-05-05 01:12:20 (19 comments, 5 reshares, 36 +1s)

My latest blog posting is another science roundup, filled with wonders to make you go "wow, I get to be a member of a civilization that does stuff like THIS?"  Alas, it leads off with another look at those who want us to STOP being that kind of civilization.  We need to be militant about remaining a moderate, calm and pragmatic, can-do, problem-solving folk!

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/05/science-technology-roundup.html

2013-05-04 20:04:09 (30 comments, 26 reshares, 48 +1s)

Are All Telephone Calls Recorded And Accessible To The US Government? Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, hinted the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations (in the context of the Tsarnaev bombings.)  My reaction: and you expected… what? If they cannot do it now, they certainly will. Nothing on Earth will prevent the mighty (and I am more scared of oligarchs than civil servants) from seeing and hearing us.  We must concentrate our efforts on measures that allow us (or trusted representatives of us) to sousveil and reciprocally looking at the  mighty.

http://www.businessinsider.com/greenwald-are-all-telephone-calls-recorded-and-accessible-to-the-us-government-2013-5

2013-05-03 03:36:44 (76 comments, 28 reshares, 57 +1s)

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) said in 2010 that he opposed action on climate change because “the Earth will end only when God declares it to be over.” He is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy. Think this is an anomaly?  Have you seen some of the things said by the top three majority members of the House Science Committee?  But this study by the University of Colorado is especially disturbing.  It found that belief in the imminence of  biblical end-times correlates very strongly with and was a major motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/01/belief-in-end-times-stifling-climate-change-action-in-u-s-study/

This does not mean that all Republicans are like this! Nor are all "climate skeptics" motivated by a rejection of science. But when this is the company you keep, isn't it worthconside... more »

2013-05-02 16:48:43 (18 comments, 3 reshares, 24 +1s)

Dark Eden, the story of an alien planet where the descendants of two stranded astronauts struggle to survive for centuries in near total darkness, has won the UK's top science fiction prize, the Arthur C Clarke award. Author Chris Beckett, a part-time lecturer in social work, beat some of science fiction's best-known writers, including Kim Stanley Robinson and Ken MacLeod, to take the prize.   Congratulations Chris Beckett.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/01/chris-beckett-wins-arthur-c-clarke-award

2013-05-02 03:17:55 (40 comments, 10 reshares, 43 +1s)

The federal deficit is shrinking rather quickly — both in absolute dollars and as a share of the overall economy. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit will drop below 4 percent of GDP next year and below 2.5 percent in 2015. …The economy is paying a price in slower growth. Even some conservatives are now warning that austerity has gone far enough.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/05/01/180335095/the-federal-deficit-is-actually-shrinking

2013-05-01 23:14:45 (16 comments, 8 reshares, 29 +1s)

Brian Eno on “anti-fragility” and long-term thinking

This is a letter Brian Eno wrote to Nassim Taleb, author of THE BLACK SWAN and ANTI-FRAGILITY, as part of an art piece by Jem Finer.  Quote...

“In terms of time, however, the picture seems to be narrowing. Public attention is increasingly focused on very near futures: businesses live in terror of the bottom line and the quarterly results, while politicians quake at tomorrow’s opinion polls and formulate policy in terms of them. We’ve heard tales of farmers planting olive trees or vineyards for their grandchildren to harvest, or of foresters cultivating groves of oaks to replace a chapel roof hundreds of years in the future, but by and large, we don’t do that anymore. We have less active engagement with our future than our ancestors did.”

2013-05-01 00:53:15 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

A cool and informative Scientific American article about Google Glass... and my sci fi augmented reality "specs" in Existence... and other takes on how we'll move through a world of many layers and textures.


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/assignment-impossible/2013/04/29/a-modest-proposal-google-glass-meets-facebook/

2013-04-30 00:40:33 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 23 +1s)

Watch as I host an all-star online gathering on the Re-Inventors' site, this time an "outer space roundtable." On May 9 at 11 am Pacific (US) time.  This seems especially topical in the week that Richard Branson and Burt Rutan ignited the solid rocket motors of Space Ship 2, hoping to commence, this year, the era of private, manned suborbital flight.

"Today we’re entering the second era of humans in space, what David Brin, the inventor/scientist/science fiction writer who will lead this session, calls the “Barnstorming Era.”

This new phase recalls the barnstorming age of air flight in the early 20th century where all kinds of tinkerers and entrepreneurs in the private sector tried all kinds of approaches to flying – often at great risk to their money and their lives. We’re now seeing a similar phenomenon happening in the newly privatized space sector withentreprene... more »

2013-04-29 23:08:04 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

My latest blog posting returns to controversial political territory with "Sensible Tax Reform, Wealth disparities.. and Gun Control"  -- starting with an approach to simplifying the tax code that is (unlike every other suggestion) completely NON-political and sure to work!  That is, if were only tried.  Other matters covered?  The issue of whether we should be optimistic because things are (worldwide) generally getting better!  And which major political movement got its start from the Tobacco Industry... and so on.

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/04/sensible-tax-reform-wealth-disparities.html

2013-04-29 17:59:47 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 37 +1s)

The best and smartest of the topical web comics is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC). A recent strip illustrates the psychological state that drives elites -- even well-meaning ones -- to proclaim a need for asymmetric information flows… to know everything about us while letting us know very little about what they are doing.  In fairness, such asymmetries can be necessary at a tactical level. But you can count on the rationalizations always getting pushed beyond sense, extending secrecy as a convenience, as job security, and an expression of self-importance, a tendency that winds up endangering citizenship and freedom.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2961#comic

We shouldn't get angry about this fundamental trait of human nature. We simply have to keep up pressure, to find innovative methods for applying transparency upward (sousveillance). Watchingth... more »

2013-04-29 04:56:01 (28 comments, 5 reshares, 43 +1s)

Smart dust computers, no bigger than a snowflake, will scavenge power from their surroundings, and monitor your world. Clearly a huge predictive hit for my friend Vernor Vinge in his novel -- A Deepness in the Sky -- which explores the possibilities.  Big potential upsides… or else downsides far worse than Orwell. Raging against such things won't stop them from being abused.  Embracing them just might.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829146.400-smart-dust-computers-are-no-bigger-than-a-snowflake.html

2013-04-28 19:27:59 (30 comments, 10 reshares, 41 +1s)

New measurements suggest the Earth's inner core is far hotter than prior experiments suggested, putting it at 6,000C - as hot as the Sun's surface.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22297915

2013-04-28 01:19:58 (41 comments, 16 reshares, 34 +1s)

Prof. Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of our Nature (proving that violence has declined, steeply (per capita), worldwide since 1945), has a new tome about Human Nature and the Blank Slate. Fascinating as usual. Here is a TED talk.  

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_chalks_it_up_to_the_blank_slate.html

2013-04-28 00:41:40 (12 comments, 10 reshares, 43 +1s)

A major mystery of life on Earth is that organisms are exclusively made up of left-handed amino acids.  (Chirality.) One theory is that star-forming regions sometimes exhibit circular polarization of the light from a powerful star, and this polarization may affect the molecules forming near other new stars in the region, causing most or all of the pre-biotic "soup" molecules to prefer one orientation over the other.  Hence, sibling systems born from the same nebula might tend all to be the same molecular twist… and another region will be opposite, with nothing for the first group to eat.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Star_and_Planet_Forming_Regions_May_Hold_Key_to_Lifes_Chirality_999.html

2013-04-27 22:49:14 (55 comments, 159 reshares, 336 +1s)

An amazing 90 minute documentary on the Graf Zeppelin's 1929 voyage around the world. Especially fascinating is the portion about the airship's brush with death, after leaving Japan and barely surviving a Pacific typhoon, blown off course and coming  down near an uninhabited island to do repairs. (That part is 55 minutes in.)  A terrific show about olden times that (I believe) may in some ways come again!

Graf Zeppelin 1929 Around Globe Trip, Full Documentary

2013-04-27 05:39:13 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

My latest posting is a weekend potpourri of fun items from John Cleese, Shakespeare, Daniel H. Wilson, Elon Musk, algae farming and some nifty science miscellany!

Have a super weekend...

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-potpourri-of-ironies-for-weekend.html

2013-04-25 22:27:19 (4 comments, 5 reshares, 20 +1s)

An auspicious anniversary? On 25 April, 1953, Nature published "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" by J.D.Watson and F.H.C.Crick, setting out the double helix structure of the molecule of heredity. This year is DNA@60. 

 Now watch the estimable Roger Bingham interview James Watson in an enlightening Science Channel Show.


http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-science-studio/dna-60

Excerpt:
 http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-science-studio/dna-60-the-book-had-to-be-written

2013-04-25 20:48:38 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

One of my ongoing themes has been a 21st Century struggle to empower citizens, after the 20th Century's relentless trend toward the "professionalization of everything."  But this may be about to change.  For example, an overlooked aspect of the9/11 tragedy was that citizens themselves were most effective in our civilization's defense, reacting with resiliency and initiative while armed with new technologies:

  http://www.futurist.com/archives/society-and-culture/value-and-empowerment/     

See a recent supporting article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-myth-of-the-panicking_b_837440.html

Best of all, see also: A Paradise Built In Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster. In this excellent book, top nonfiction author Rebecca Solnit shows how people generally respond to disaster, across continents and across contexts.With f... more »