Movie tourism in America’s mid-west: Where bluebirds fly
Issue: Firing the boss Fly Title: Movie tourism in America’s mid-west Rubric: Nothing quite turns a town into a tourist destination like a film. Our correspondent travelled in America’s Great...
View ArticleThe science in sci-fi: Enterprising
Issue: In defence of the demon seed Fly Title: The science in sci-fi Rubric: Location: TO SEEK OUT NEW LIFE: THE BIOLOGY OF STAR TREK. By Athena Andreadis. Crown; 240 pages; $21 AS CONSTANCE...
View ArticleQuantum teleportation: In the twinkling of an ion
Issue: Back to the 1970s? Fly Title: Quantum teleportation Rubric: Two groups have succeeded in teleporting quantum states in atoms Location: SOME ideas won't go away. Ever since the writers of...
View ArticleMONITOR: Science fiction? Not any more
Issue: You're hired Fly Title: MONITOR Rubric: Communications: Taking its cue from “Star Trek”, an American company has devised a clever new form of voice-driven wireless communicator Location:...
View ArticleComputing: How to build a Babel fish
UK Only Article: standard article Issue: Can robots be trusted? Fly Title: Computing Rubric: Translation software: The science-fiction dream of a machine that understands any language is getting...
View ArticleMedicine: Free to flutter
Issue: The heat is on Fly Title: Medicine Rubric: A promising new artificial heart wins regulatory approval Location: new york ARTIFICIAL hearts have long been the stuff of science fiction. In...
View ArticleThe planet hunters, June 2nd
SIR — Rocky planets, water and habitable zones: that's fine for homo sapiens and lizards, but carbon based sun worshiping beings may not be the only living things in the universe. Why not some that...
View ArticleCalendar for 2009
Fly Title: Rubric: Our selection of events around the world Location: January The Czech Republic assumes the presidency of the European Union, and Linz in Austria and Vilnius in Lithuania become...
View ArticlePresident geek is up for president
CHRISTMAS is a news-free zone, so the Associated Press has the room to explore a vital, underreported issue: whether or not America's new president is a geek. Mr. Obama is good at "repressing his inner...
View ArticleYes, Starfleet can
THE long-awaited reboot of the "Star Trek" franchise is welcome as 1) the rare summer blockbuster that even critics love and 2) the perfect summation of the era of Barack Obama. That's according to...
View ArticleLink exchange
TODAY'S recommended economics writing: • Was today's job report in America (unemployment up to 8.9%), encouraging or dreadful? • Conor Clarke says the stress test's "adverse scenario" is looking a lot...
View ArticleQuote of the day
Can't do it. System overload. Circuits breaking down.- Barack Obama, becoming perhaps the first president to impersonate a robot from one of the first seasons of Star Trek. The robot, in this scenario,...
View ArticleSnowclones: The X of Y
RARE are those moments when learning the word for something brings a whole new category into your understanding of the world around you. I had one of those moments recently when I learned the word...
View ArticleRidley Scott's "Prometheus": Bigger, not better
TOWARDS the end of "Prometheus", the new film by director Ridley Scott, a large quasi-toroidal spacecraft, having crashed to earth (but not Earth), rolls along a shattered basalt landscape like the...
View ArticleWorld in figures: Industries: Entertainment
UK Only Article: standard article Fly Title: World in figures: Industries Main image: 20130110_idp005.jpg The shift from physical to digital distribution is a wrenching process for the...
View ArticleMedical tricorders: The dream of the medical tricorder
UK Only Article: standard article Issue: The dream of the medical tricorder Fly Title: Medical tricorders Rubric: Medical technology: The hand-held diagnostic devices seen on “Star Trek” are...
View ArticleMachine translation: Conquering Babel
UK Only Article: standard article Issue: America’s European moment Fly Title: Machine translation Rubric: Simultaneous translation by computer is getting closer Location: Seattle Main image:...
View ArticleGoogle Translate: Still waiting for a Universal Translator
WHEN Google announced that its Google Translate app would be getting an update, the technology press went into a bit of a swoon. First with the story was the New York Times:The idea of a universal...
View ArticleInnovation: The X-files
UK Only Article: standard article Issue: The great distortion Fly Title: Innovation Location: Rancho Palos Verdes Main image: Hand in glove with Peter...
View ArticleSci-fi films: “Star Trek: Beyond” strips politics from the universe
This article contains spoilers from “Star Trek: Beyond”, but they are minorIN THE 1980s, some gay activists were pleading with politicians to care about AIDS, while others were writing to the producers...
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