| Driving on Glass? Inventor Hopes to Lay Down Solar Roads A truck tire supporting a 36,300-kilogram load repeatedly traverses an 18-meter stretch of road, day in and day out, rolling up 483,000 kilometers on the odometer at the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DoT) testing facility in Virginia. The goal is to thoroughly challenge any new paving techniques and see how the road surface holds up. Now imagine putting a solar panel under there. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Life Quest: Could Parallel Universes Be Congenial to Life? After more than 40 years that included five long-running TV series (even an animated version) and a string of movies, the writers of the latest Star Trek blockbuster in theaters decided to move to a new universe--one that has created fresh opportunities for stories and the chance to modernize and update the franchise. In the movie last summer Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang were back. But a critical change--a time-jumping, revenge-seeking mad­man who caused the death of Kirk’s father and then destroyed the planet Vulcan--shattered the well-trod timeline of events that longtime fans have come to know so well.Many Star Trek fans, old and new, like the new, parallel universe, which is intriguingly darker and gives beloved characters and the too-good-to-be-interesting Starfleet a helpful kick-start for future movies. One thing that struck me, however, was how similar the two universes actually were, aside from the cataclysms that brought forth the new timeline. They had the same starring roles (albeit with new, younger actors) and revolved around the same key worlds, the same Federation of Planets, and so on. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Fresh Fish, Frozen Angler Winter camping in Ontario is not the easiest way to get a dinner. travel.nytimes.com |
Summer Camp, for the Creative and Career-Conscious For some children, vacation season is a time to be hip and “aspirational.” nytimes.com |
The decade the clones came: Beware the mighty Marmokrebs! At the start of the decade, I had no idea that the invaders were among us. No scientist did.Invasions are like that sometimes. [More] rss.sciam.com |