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SF Signal » TOC: ‘After’ Edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:25:38 +0000
Ellen Datlow has posted the table of contents for After, the post-apocalyptic/Dystopia anthology she co-edited with Terri Windling (due in October 2012): “The Segment” by Genevieve Valentine “After the Cure” by Carrie Ryan “Valedictorian” by N.K. Jemisin “Visiting Nelson” by Katherine Langrish “...

SF Signal » DVD GIVEAWAY: ‘Ancient Aliens Season 3′ and ‘Frozen World – The Story of the Ice Age’
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:22:33 +0000
Courtesy of A&E, SF Signal has one (1) copy of both Ancient Aliens: Season 3 and Frozen World: The Story of the Ice Age to giveaway, one each to an SF Signal reader. Here’s what they are about. Frozen World: This special collection features four specials, each examining a different aspect of the Ice Age. [...] Related posts: GIVEAWAY REM...

SF Signal » Saturday Morning ‘Toon: “No Robots”
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:15:40 +0000
When robots become so ubiquitous that we enact laws against them, will sthey still be able to teach us what it means to be human? That’s the question raised by the touching story of No Robots, a beautifully done short film by Kimberly Knoll and Yunghan Chang. [via Gavin Rothery] Related posts: Saturday Morning ‘Toon: [...] Related posts...

SF Signal » Free Fiction for 1/28/2012
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:14:39 +0000
Something special this week: Jeff VanderMeer and Eric Orchard have teamed up for an original comic story, “The Situation”. Special thanks once more to Annie. Written @AEG: “The Righteous” by Brian Yoon @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: “The Last Gorgon” by Rajan Khanna @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: “The Castle That...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 1/28/12
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:05:36 +0000
Interviews & Profiles Douglas Cobb on W.G. Marshall. Gollancz blog interviews Elspeth Cooper. Suvudu (Matt Staggs) interviews Anders Dahlgren, Founder of Radio Rivendell. Lightspeed Magazine (Wendy N. Wagner) interviews Aimee Bender. Lightspeed Magazine (John Nakamura Remy) interviews Nancy Kress. Lightspeed Magazine (Christie Yant) interviews...

The Planetary Society Weblog » One Man's Quest for SETI's Most Promising Signal
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:29:46 +0000
Review of Robert H. Gray, The Elusive Wow: Searching for Extraterrestrial intelligence (Chicago: Palmer Square Press, 2011). By Amir Alexander The signal from the stars arrived at the Big Ear radio observatory in Ohio at 11:16 p.m. on the night of August 15, 1977. It came in loud and crisp, reaching at least 30 times the volume of the backgroun...

Science@NASA » Solar Eclipse over the USA
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:55:27 +0000
A "ring of fire" solar eclipse is coming to the USA this spring. It's the first annular eclipse visible from the contiguous United States in almost 18 years....

» Workunits for February upcoming
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:54:45 +0000
The workunits for the about 410.000 new protein sequences (for the February release of SIMAP) will be available from Wed, Feb 1. We estimate that the batch for February will need about two weeks of work. Best, Thomas...

SF Signal » REVIEW: Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000
REVIEW SUMMARY: A promising start with a new take on fantasy and military fiction. MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Around the world, people begin to develop magical powers. Oscar Britton is an army officer in Vermont, and following a mission, finds that he’s developed a forbidden talent for opening portals. Immediately, he’s turned from a me...

SF Signal » GIVEAWAY: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ by Madeleine L’Engle 50th Anniversary Edition!
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:25:59 +0000
It’s hard to believe but Madeleine L’Engle’s classic story, A Wrinkle in Time, was first published 50 years ago in 1962 and won the Newbery Medal in 1963. Thanks to Big Honcho Media, one lucky SF Signal reader will have the opportunity to win the 50th Anniversary Edition of the book along with a $50 [...] Related posts: RIP: Madel...

SF Signal » New Author Spotlight: Mary Robinette Kowal
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:20:33 +0000
New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres. Today’s spotlight shines on Mary Robinette Kowal! Mary’s debut novel is: Shades of Milk and Honey published by Tor. She also edited The Hugo Award Showcase: 2010 by Prime Books Here’s the cover copy for [...] Relate...

SF Signal » Friday YouTube: Laser Pointer Hack
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:15:49 +0000
Supercharge your laser pointer. Is there nothing science cannot do? Related posts: Friday YouTube: Wonder Woman vs. Laser Friday YouTube: Yoda and Jar Jar Do “Who’s on First?” Friday YouTube: It’s DJ Spock! Related posts: Friday YouTube: Wonder Woman vs. Laser Friday YouTube: Yoda and Jar Jar Do “Who’s on First?&...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 1/27/12
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:05:00 +0000
Interviews and Profiles Library Thing (Jeremy Dibbell) interviews Theodora Goss. Fangirl The Blog interviews Paul S. Kemp. Transcript: SFFWRTCHT 1/25/12 With John R. Fultz. SFFWRTCHT interviews E.E. Knight. Galileo Games interviews Chuck Wendig. Readers Entertainment interviews Chuck Wendig (podcast). Comic Vine interviews Marjorie Liu. Reddit inte...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Guest Post: Jason Davis: Solar flares from Skylab
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:43:06 +0000
Early on January 23, 2012, our Sun tossed out a powerful, M-class solar flare. M-class eruptions aren't as violent as their X-class siblings, but the accompanying ejection of excited protons was powerful enough to light up our planet's polar regions with dazzling auroral displays. The flare was captured in glorious high-resolution imagery by NASA's...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Today's 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast Offers a Free, Online Astronomy Class!
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:06:37 +0000
By Mat Kaplan The marvelous 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast has begun its fourth year of daily offerings from contributors around the world. The Planetary Society will originate at least 12 podcasts in 2012, each on the last Thursday of the month (except for August, when we'll be heard on the fourth Thursday). Our first effort of the year is feat...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Parallel planetary processes create semantic headaches
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:55:36 +0000
So here's a semantic problem I ran into today. Consider this photo, a radar image of the Congo river from Envisat.Click to enlarge >Synthetic aperture radar view of the Congo riverThis wide-swath radar image is a mosaic of two images centred over the Congo River, one of the largest rivers in the world flowing 4,374 kilometres (2,718 miles) from...

SF Signal » Today’s Special is Brainnnssss – Surviving the Hordes of Zombie Novels
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:00:42 +0000
Zombies seem to be the genre d’jour…ironic since zombie stories have inspired hordes of reading fans who endlessly prowl the shelves in search of the next big horror novel to gnosh on. Zombies have also broken out of just being a horror-genre trope, and now can be found in comedies, romances, and even appearing in [...] Related posts: Z...

SF Signal » Protocols and The Spectacle of Reading Fantastika
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:34 +0000
“SF is like a mystery where the world and the history of the world is what’s mysterious, and putting that all together in your mind is as interesting as the characters and the plot, if not more interesting. We talk about worldbuilding as something the writer does, but it’s also something the reader does, building [...] Related posts: The ...

SF Signal » The SF Signal Podcast (Episode 104): An Interview with Charles Day
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:29:13 +0000
In episode 97 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester sits down to chat with author and small press publisher Charles Day. The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief by Charles Day (Noble Romance Publishing) The Plan: A Mystery by Charles Day (Naked Snake Press) From Charles Day’s Website: Charles Day Aka, The evil little Jester, [...] No related posts...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 1/26/12
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:05:30 +0000
Interviews and Profiles Jackie Morris interviews Margo Lanagan. Daemon Books interviews Theodora Goss. The Qwillery interviews Theodora Goss. Fantasy Book Critic (Mihir Wanchoo) interviews James Rollins. Gollancz interviews Stephen Deas. ThrillerCast interviews Angela Slatter (podcast). SFF World interviews Myke Cole and Michael J. Sullivan. SF Squ...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Stephen Hawking's Curios – UPDATE
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:33:40 +0000
by Charlene Anderson The Cosmos Award for Public Presentation of Science – at least the blown-glass Saturn trophy given to Stephen Hawking by The Planetary Society – continues to appear around the Internet. The BBC has now posted a great image from the Science Museum in London's exhibit of curios from Dr. Hawking's office. That's our Saturn on t...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Geek craft: GRAIL twins Ebb and Flow in plastic canvas
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:10:19 +0000
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that after beginning with Dawn last week, I've kept my fingers busy, stitching more spacecraft from plastic canvas. I now have prototypes for GRAIL, New Horizons, and MESSENGER (though I'm not completely happy with how the last one turned out, and am starting over with a modified design).Click to enlarge ...

SF Signal » Who is John Carter? (A John Carter Primer)
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:35 +0000
With Disney’s trailers and announced March release of the movie John Carter, readers of the books that inspired the movie are at once hopeful and fearful: hopeful that the movie will actually capture the imagination as well as the initial reading of Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series did; fearful that the movie will be an [...] Related posts...

SF Signal » Science Fiction and Fantasy: The Grand Masters (Part 4)
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:00:31 +0000
My series of posts about the Science Fiction and Fantasy Grand Masters continues over at the Kirkus Reviews blog today, whrein I shock the audience by following up part three with…[pauses for dramatic effect]…part FOUR! I know. Totally out of left field. Don’t miss the final installment of the series: Science Fiction and Fantasy: ...

SF Signal » Patricia C. Wrede Releases ‘Lyra’ Series as eBooks (Plus: She Has the Best Closets Ever!)
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:17 +0000
Author Patricia C. Wrede is releasing her classic Lyra series, a cult favorite among sff fans, in digital format for the first time. Each book takes place in Lyra, a fantastical world in which four (very) different cultures exist, sometimes peacefully, sometimes not so peacefully. The first book in the series, Caught in Crystal, is [...] Related po...

SF Signal » MIND MELD: What Was Your Introduction to Fantasy and Science Fiction?
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:29:20 +0000
[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Let us know!] Where and how people (fans, reviewers and authors alike) were first introduced to genre often gives insight into how they think and write about genre. With that in mind, we asked this week’s panelists… Q: Where, when and how were you introduced [...] Related posts: MIND MELD: Th...

SF Signal » Free Fiction for 1/25/2012
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:14:24 +0000
Thanks again to Annie! Also: we found some of these through Free Speculative Fiction Online. They have countless links to previously published fiction as well. Written @AE: “My Bicycle, 4500 A.D.” by Stephen Case @Baen: “Death Reported of Last Surviving Veteran of Great War” by Dan Abnett @Baen: “Hel’s Half-Acre&#822...

SF Signal » SF Tidbits for 1/25/12
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:05:31 +0000
Interviews and Profiles Lightspeed (Wendy Wagner) interviews Aimee Bender. Lightspeed (Christie Yant) interviews Ken Liu. Lightspeed (Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy) interviews Neal Stephenson. The Once and Future Podcast interviews Patrick Rothfuss. Gollancz interviews Joe Abercrombie. Suvudu (Matt Staggs) Take Five with Marianne Malone. Specula...

The Planetary Society Weblog » At last: Rosetta's Mars flyby photos have been released!
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:51:38 +0000
On February 24, 2007, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft passed by Mars, the second of four planetary gravity-assist flybys on its long route to a 2014 rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the time, they released two photos from the main science camera, OSIRIS. One was a very pretty high-resolution view of Mars and the othe...

» Tour de Primes 2012
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:23:12 +0000
February is just a week away which means it is time for the 4th annual Tour de Primes. 2 is the first prime number...and the only even one. Therefore, we have declared February, the 2nd month, as prime month. We're offering a small informal competition in tribute to this unique prime number. There are no points to be gained or awards to be won.....

POEM@HOME » Server Upgrade
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:09:59 +0000
The main BOINC server needs to be rebooted - we will be down for 15 Minutes in about 2 hours. Sorry for the inconvenience....

Docking@Home » DB problems
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000
We are experiencing some problems with our database and thus D@H is very slow. We are temporarily stopping the generation of new jobs. We are collecting results....

The Planetary Society Weblog » Dusty girl
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:32:23 +0000
Today Opportunity sent back to Earth the last few frames of the "deck pan" self-portrait she took during the waning days of 2011. Her solar panels are very dusty, which isn't helpful. It's near winter solstice in her southern location on Mars, so the angled Sun is not providing as much power as it would in a different season. That's why she's pa...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Is there life on Venus? Not in reprocessed Venera-13 images.
Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:56:40 +0000
At the end of last week, a rather sensational article appeared in both the Russian- and English-language sites of the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti. "Life Spotted on Venus - Russian Scientist," ran the English headline; a Google translation of the Russian one goes: "The Soviet probes may have photographed creatures on Venus." Accompanying the a...

» The Year of the Dragon in 24 hours
Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:22:24 +0000
The Dragon, the mightiest of all the signs, is a creature of myth and legend. In Asia, the Dragon is an auspicious creature, a symbol of benevolent power, strength and good luck and capable of great good. 23 January 2012 marks the start of the Year of the Dragon. Let's see if we can channel that Dragon energy to find some primes for the start of Pr...

» Generalized Fermat Mega Prime
Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:48:32 +0000
On 18 Jan 2012 21:13:24 UTC, PrimeGrid’s Generalized Fermat Prime Search found the mega prime: 525094^262144+1 The prime is 1,499,526 digits long and enters Chris Caldwell's The Largest Known Primes Database ranked 2nd for Generalized Fermat Primes and 24th overall. The discovery was made by David Tomecko of the United States using an NVIDIA G...

The Planetary Society Weblog » Stephen Hawking's Curios
Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:32:44 +0000
By Charlene Anderson Catching up on my blog reading today, I turned to "Cosmic Log," science writer Alan Boyle's must-read column on msnbc.com. Today's entry is titled "Stephen Hawking's curios explained." To celebrate Hawking's 70th birthday, the Science Museum in London is displaying the keepsakes he displays in his office and Alan reported on s...

Science@NASA » Comet Corpses in the Solar Wind
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:12:00 +0000
A paper published in today's issue of Science raises an intriguing new possibility--the presence of abundant comet corpses in the solar wind. The new research is based on dramatic images of a comet disintegrating in the sun's atmosphere last July....

Science@NASA » What Happened to all the Snow?
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:18:46 +0000
Winter seems to be on hold this year in some parts of the United States. Snowfall has been scarce in places that were overwhelmed with the white stuff at the same time last year. In this story from Science@NASA, JPL climatologist Bill Patzert explains what's going on....

» Mega Prime Found
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:35:17 +0000
On 17 Jan 2012 20:24:07 UTC, PrimeGrid’s Mega Prime Search, through PRPNet, found the Mega Prime: 81*2^3352924+1 The prime is 1,009,333 digits long and enters Chris Caldwell's The Largest Known Primes Database ranked 42nd overall. This prime is also a Generalized Fermat prime and ranks as the 6th largest found. The discovery was made by Micha...

Space Spin » MESSENGER images - December 12-16, 2011
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:15:43 +0000
The following new featured images taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft are now available: A Small Pond (Released 12 December 2011) This image shows a small pond of impact melt that was ejected from a crater just out of view. Rays of Light Material (Released 13 December 2011) The ejecta of this fresh 20-km impact crater swept the surface, leaving bea...

Space Spin » Mars Odyssey THEMIS images - December 12-16, 2011
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:12:24 +0000
The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available: Windstreak (Released 12 December 2011) This windstreak is location on the volcanic flows of Daedalia Planum. Reull Vallis (Released 13 December 2011) This VIS image shows Reull Vallis where it cuts through the rim of Li...

Space Spin » RXTE detects 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidate
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:08:42 +0000
An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific type of X-ray pattern, nicknamed a "heartbeat" because of its resemblance to an electrocardiogram. The pattern until now has been recorded in only one other...

Space Spin » Young star rebels against its parent cloud
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:32:30 +0000
Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 has captured this image of a giant cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by a bright young star. The image shows how violent the end stages of the star-formation process can be, with the young object shaking up its stellar nursery....

Space Spin » HiRISE images for December 14, 2011
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:58:18 +0000
The following new images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft are now available: Faults in Ius Chasma Ius Chasma is one of many steep-sided interconnected depressions that comprise Valles Marines, the largest canyon system in the Solar System. Spring Fans Bursting from Crac...

Space Spin » Chandra: A galaxy cluster gets sloshed
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:51:19 +0000
Like wine in a glass, vast clouds of hot gas are sloshing back and forth in Abell 2052, a galaxy cluster located about 480 million light years from Earth. X-ray data (blue) from Chandra shows the hot gas in this dynamic system, and optical data (gold) from the Very Large Telescope shows the galaxies. The hot, X-ray bright gas has an average tempe...

Space Spin » Fermi shows that Tycho's star shines in gamma rays
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:26:44 +0000
In early November 1572, observers on Earth witnessed the appearance of a "new star" in the constellation Cassiopeia, an event now recognized as the brightest naked-eye supernova in more than 400 years. It's often called "Tycho's supernova" after the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who gained renown for his extensive study of the object. Now,...

Space Spin » Dawn images - December 12-13, 2011
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:15:31 +0000
The following new featured images taken by the Dawn spacecraft are now available: Topography and Albedo Image of Numisia Crater (Released 12 December 2011) These Dawn Framing Camera (FC) images show the ~20km diameter Numisia crater, after which Numisia quadrangle is named. Topography and Albedo Image of Oppia Crater (Released 13 December 2011) T...

Rosetta@home » Project News Jan 16, 2012
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Journal post from David BakerIn response to requests from many of you, we will be posting descriptions of the many scientific problems currently being tackled with Rosetta@Home on the Science message boards in the next couple of weeks--stay tuned! I also want to describe a new research direction we are now embarking on aimed at future cancer thera...

Science@NASA » Re-thinking an Alien World
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:24:49 +0000
A distant super-Earth named "55 Cancri e" is wetter and weirder than astronomers thought possible. The discovery has researchers re-thinking the nature of alien worlds....