Imagine The Future Of The Space Elevator
Here's your chance to help science meet fiction. The 2005 Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction competition has just been announced by the European Space Agency's Technology Transfer and Promotion office. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Delta IV Heavy Lifter - Space Freighters In Fact And In Fiction
The twenty-three story Delta IV Heavy rocket vehicle will go aloft sometime this week (if the weather holds). (re: Robert Heinlein)

Burj Tower In Dubai To Be World's Tallest Building
What is the tallest building in the world? Right now, it is the TFC 101 building in Taiwan - 509 meters tall. Not for long, though; Emaar Properties has awarded a contract to Samsung for $847 million to build the Burj Tower. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Universal Whistling Machine - The Future Of Non-Verbal Communications
Canadian artists Marc Bohlen and J.T. Rinker want to change the way that you interact with your favorite electronic devices. Tired of tiny keyboards, poor speech recognition or incomprehensible interfaces? (re: George Lucas)

Robotic Fish From China
A robotic fish designed for underwater archaeology, mapping, water cultivation and even fishing has been co-developed by the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. (re: Michael Swanwick)

Crime-Fighting Computer - The Game's Afoot 24x7
Computer scientists in Chicago have created the Classification System for Serial Criminal Patterns (CSSCP), a computer system that uses pattern-recognition software to sift through case records to find the link (and the perpetrator) connecting differ (re: Harry Harrison)

Ornithopters In Fact And Fiction
An ornithopter (a flapping wing aircraft) under development at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies may yet make Leonardo da Vinci's dream a reality. Frank Herbert fully visualized them in Dune. (re: Frank Herbert)

Planetary Parks Proposed For Mars Conservation
A set of seven 'planetary parks' have been proposed for the conservation of the martian environment by two European scientists. (re: Alfred Bester)

First Methuselah Mouse Rejuvenation 'M Prize' Awarded
The first Methuselah Foundation Rejuvenation 'M Prize" for Reversing Aging in Middle-Aged Mice Using Techniques Applicable to Human Beings has been awarded to Dr. Stephen Spindler, who lead an experiment to make mice biologically younger while extend (re: Robert Heinlein)

Genesis Inflatable Space Module Gets Go-Ahead
Bigelow Aerospace has been given payload approval for its Genesis inflatable space habitat by FAA-AST. 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)

Holo-Dek - A Unique Real-World Virtual Venue
The Holo-Dek center in Hampton, New Hampshire, may not quite have the same features as the holodeck from Star Trek - but when you see your favorite computer games unfold at human scale, you might just buy into their business. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Self-Cleaning Fabric - Polymer Film Sprinkled With Silver Nanoparticles
Researchers at Clemson University are trying to make your clothes cleaner - permanently. The secret is a polymer film of polyglycicidyl methacrylate sprinkled with silver nanoparticles. (re: Neal Stephenson)

RoboCoaster G2 - Extreme Robot Roller Coaster
RoboCoaster G2, the next generation of rollercoaster ride, was demonstrated in Orlando on Friday. It's an industrial grade robot and it moves on a configurable track. (re: Various)

Carbon Nanofiber Makes Smart Yarn
Carbon nanofiber can now be spun like yarn to make an amazing variety of new inventions possible. (re: Neal Stephenson)

iBand Exchanges Data With Handshake But Lacks Hand Jive Recognition
As the makers of the new iBand remark, initial meetings and introductions build relationships, but only if you can remember whom you shook hands with. That's why the iBand gathers and processes information automatically when it registers a handshake (re: Neal Stephenson)

SMART-1's Ion Drive Not Science Fiction
SMART-1 has made it all the way to the Moon using an ion drive. (re: Jack Williamson)