Genesis Pathfinder: Space Inflatable Module
Genesis Pathfinder is an inflatable space habitat scheduled to launch in November 2005. Genesis weighs in at 1,360 kilograms and is approximately 4.6 meters in length by 1.9 meters in diameter; this is a one-third scale model. (re: Larry Niven)

NASA's New Radiation Shielding First Proposed By John W. Campbell In 1936
NASA engineers are working on a clever new idea for shielding astronauts from cosmic rays - using the fuel and water needed for the journey for shielding. Just like John W. Campbell first proposed in 1936. (re: John W. Campbell)

A Smart Home With Cyber Crumbs - Bradbury's Happylife Home?
In his 1951 short story collection The Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury wrote about the Happylife Home, which took care of the people who lived in it. Today, researchers work to create a smart home with cyber crumbs. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Sprint RFID Loyalty Card Triggers Minority Report-Style Ads
Sprint has developed two RFID applications based on customer loyalty cards that can identify a customer as he or she walks through a store, triggering the appearance of a customized computer avatar on a nearby screen. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Teleo-Reactive Programs Are Reaching Their Goals
Teleo-Reactive Programs (TRPs) help robots and other machine intelligences achieve goals, not just specific behaviors. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Zombie RFID Tags Arise To Face Privacy Advocates
Zombie RFID tags may find their way into your pockets - causing some privacy advocates to breath a sigh of relief. (re: Neal Stephenson)

MADMEN Robot Swarm To Handle Incoming Asteroids?
SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. has completed a preliminary study for NASA in planetary defense against asteroid impactors - Modular Asteroid Deflection Mission Ejector Node (MADMEN) robots. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Sad Day For Odor Alarm Clock Enthusiasts
Stunning news reaches us today regarding a new Brown University study concluding that scents will not rouse us from sleep. (re: Frank Herbert)

Super-Photons Used For Good, Not Evil
Super-photons may be able to provide a way to encode yet more information on CDs; more powerful computers and higher data security may also be possible. This is not your father's Thessian super-proton technology. (re: John W. Campbell)

Proposal To Move An Asteroid
The B612 Foundation recently testified before a senate subcommittee regarding a "new" proposal to move an asteroid. What science fiction author proposed moving an asteroid over sixty years ago? (re: Robert Heinlein)

HetaCool - Your Personal Antifreeze?
Lowering the body temperature to near freezing would be very helpful for certain surgeries, but it's impossible to cool blood to that temperature without disrupting the cells you need to live. But what if you had antifreeze running in your veins? (re: Robert Heinlein)

The Rapture Of The Avatar
The Church of Fools, the Internet's first virtual-reality place of worship, got off to an unusual start when the avatar of Reverend Jem Clines turned to face the sanctuary wall and disappeared, leaving virtual parishioners thinking about The Rapture. (re: Neal Stephenson)

The Blind May See - In The Dark
A number of companies and research laboratories are working on optical prostheses; devices that are actually implanted in the eye of a person who is unable to see. Some allow a patient to see in the far-infrared. (re: Bruce Sterling)

GlowRing: Light Without Power
The GlowRing will glow for up to ten years in funky colors. GlowRings do not require any external power source (and no internal source - a battery - either!) (re: Frank Herbert)

InTouch Companion: Medical Rounding Robot
InTouch Health is now leasing a remote-controlled telepresence robot called The Companion to hospitals and nursing homes nationwide. The 200 pound robots stand about five feet tall and have computer screens for "heads." (re: Peter Watts)

Tooth Bud From Stem Cells Looms Large
Implanted tooth buds created from stem cells may replace false teeth. This procedure has been shown to work in mice, and may work in humans as well. (re: William Gibson)