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Science Fiction in the News Articles
Related to material in Methuselah's Children
by Robert Heinlein

Lazarus Long (aka Woodrow Wilson Smith) is introduced in this story, along with the Howard families. A retailer named Howard who made a fortune during the gold rush died at an early age; he created a foundation that encouraged human beings to marry for longevity. Lazarus has lived 200 years by the start of the story; he is one of Heinlein's most human and most enjoyable characters. This story starts on Earth, but moves quickly toward space exploration.

Methuselah's Children was published in two versions; an early version serialized in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 and then in the final version published in 1958. This site refers to the 1941 version; some terms were changed for the 1958 version, as noted in the entries below.

Science fiction in the News articles describe real-world events that relate to the ideas and inventions in sf novels and movies. Select a news article:

Road Stud Traffic Camera Reads License Plates
   A traffic surveillance camera concealed in a road stud can read your license plate as you drive by; it can even see if your tires are bald at 150 miles per hour.

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?

Adaptive Cruise Control
   Adaptive cruise control implemented in just one out of five cars could significantly improve highway safety and reduce traffic jams, according to a recent study by a University of Michigan physicist.

Electronic Number Plate RFID Keeps Tabs On Vehicles
   A South African company now offers Electronic Number Plate RFID technology to keep track of your comings and goings in your car.

SpaceShipOne - The First Strato-Yacht?
   Is SpaceShipOne a modern incarnation of a Joy-boat Junior, from Methuselah's Children?

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

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).

Young Blood Found To Revive Aging Muscles
   Dr. Thomas Rando and his group have been studying specialized cells called satellite cells, which are the stem cells in muscles.

Honda Accord ADAS Heinlein Wannabe
   We are SO close to Heinlein's Camden Speedster.

BMW Plans Fully Autonomous Cars By 2025
   'She woke just before the signal from the car which would have called her... '- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Blinkx.tv And Heinlein's Newsbox
   Robert Heinlein wrote about something similar two generations ago.

ANPR Cams - Britain's Roadside Big Brother
   The UK's ANPR cameras will log the movement of every vehicle on the roads.

Tweezer Magnifier Available Now (Bush Robots - Not)
   What will they think of next? As my eyes age, I need this.

Spy Cameras Watch Spy Cameras In UK
   In Britain, home of 1984, surveillance cameras are under surveillance by - surveillance cameras.

Long Life Family Study (Heinlein's 'Howard Families') Now Recruiting
   Robert Heinlein got his program started in the mid-1800's; the NIA is starting late, but maybe they'll still get there.

Rinspeed 'Splash' English Channel Crossing
   Amphibious cars are almost speedy enough for sci-fi.

DARPA Urban Challenge For Autonomous Vehicles
   Cars that can really drive themselves in traffic? DARPA sets the Urban Challenge.

Robot Parking In Fact and In Fiction
   Okay, George Jetson had a car that folded into a briefcase; but you can take your car to NYC and have the robot garage park it for you in real life.

Automatic License Plate Recognition Goes Mobile
   The police can now check up to 3,000 license plates per hour as they cruise down the road.

Used Spacecraft Lot Needed On Moon
   If you could just gather all the stuff, Robert Heinlein's dream of a used spacecraft lot could be realized.

Chinese Government To Control Olympic Weather
   The Chinese government appears to have more control over the weather than you might think.

Imagine The Pizzamato
   Here at least is a nice picture of what genetically modified food should really be like; Heinlein pictured it first, though.

Heinlein Controlways Predicted By Kiwi Profs
   Professors seem to be channeling RAH on this one.

Carnegie Mellon's Boss Wins DARPA Urban Challenge
   It was a complicated call, but Carnegie Mellon pulls it out in the DARPA Urban Challenge.

Orexin A Sleep Surrogate
   DARPA seems to have funded something that bloggers who stay up too late will pay real money for the next morning.

GM Betting On Driverless Cars
   When GM says it thinks that autonomous vehicles will be commercially available in ten years, you're starting to get mainstream.

Rain-Making Bacteria May Affect Climate
   If we knew more about how rain forms, we might be able to have some control over rainfall.

Skypark Robotic Parking Garage: The Future Of Enormous Machines
   We're all fascinated by the successful miniaturization of devices; is there room in our future for really enormous machines?

Pribot Robotic Prius Tours 'Frisco
   New entry in self-driving sweepstakes comes not from a huge team but from one very determined engineer; you may recall his self-driving motorcycle from four years ago.

Moller M400 SkyCar Taking Too Long
   What exactly is keeping this guy? Don't we all want skycars? Robert Heinlein certainly did.

Attention Assist - Drowsy-Driver Detection Standard
   German engineering gives rise to the exact opposite of a famous sfnal automotive prediction.

Aquapeutics Futuristic Luxury Steam Shower
   I feel somewhat reluctant to enclose myself in this device, especially without any protective gear, but we must face the future bravely.

WaterCar Python Not Your Father's Amphicar
   This is not a slow boat and it's not a slow car, either. I'd like to try driving one of these. With video.

Autonomous Valet Parking By Volkswagen
   Imagine leaving your car at the curb of the restaurant, pushing the 'park' button and just walking in for dinner. Watch the video.

Nozzl Real-Time Local News
   Interesting experiment in real-time, localized automated news.

Finding A Habitable Planet
   The perfect book for those of us who would like to go 'looking for our own piece of real estate.' As RAH once said.

NewOrgan Prize From Methuselah Foundation
   Sounds like an effort that the science fiction community could get behind.

Google's Autonomous Robotic Car
   Self-driving cars have put over 140,000 miles on the road.

SpaceX Dragon To Land On Any Planet
   A space craft should be able to 'land on its fins' and take off again, don't you think?

Autonomous Cars In Nevada?
   'A person is not required to actively drive an autonomous vehicle.'

China's Weather Modification Office
   Engineering the rain with artillery.

Don't Drive Your Self-Driving Car
   Don't try to drive your self-driving car, Googlers. Lesson learned.

3D Printed Clothing 'Escapism' Couture Collection
   Someday you'll just get new clothing from the 3D fab machine in your closet.

Cadillac Super Cruise Self-Driving Car
   Cadillac luxury, in an autonomous vehicle.

Google Self-Driving Car Now Commuter-Ready
   'The car slid up the ramp... then joined the high-speed northbound stream. Mary Risling settled back for a little nap...'

Self-Driving Cars Ready To Buy In 5 Years Says Sergey Brin
   Your autonomous car will drive itself off the lot by 2017!

SpaceX Dragon First Private Craft To Dock With ISS
   'Why, the ship wasn't a proper deep-space craft at all.'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Could Young Blood Stop Alzheimer's?
   '...the blood gets so clogged with the poisons that the scavenging process doesn’t take place properly.'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Lawmaker License Plates Invisible To Traffic Cams
   'Gragg's digital ink license plates flicked from California to Oregon vanity tags that read GECCO...'- Daniel Suarez, 2009.

Ray, Your Parking Robot
   '[Mary] claimed her car from the robopark...'- Robert Heinein, 1941.

Cruise Automation's 'Highway Autopilot' For $10K
   'It cut her out of the stream of vehicles and reduced the speed of her car...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941

Bespoke Clothing In 30 Minutes
   'He sat himself down in a sales cubicle and dialed the code number for kilts.'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Tesla 90 Percent Autonomous Car By 2015 - Elon Musk
   'It cut her out of the stream of vehicles and reduced the speed of her car...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941

Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitats Sleeping Your Way To Mars!
   'Somnolents require about one per cent the living room needed by active, functioning humans...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Robert Heinlein, Your Self-Driving Car Is Almost Ready!
   'Mary Risling settled back for a little nap...'-= Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Mind Control Of Gene Expression In Mice
   'We used your thought images almost entirely...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

BMW's Remote Valet Parking Assistant
   'Mary... claimed her car from the robopark...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Volvo's 'Drive Me' Program Offers Autonomous Cars In 2017
   'She woke just before the signal from the car which would have called her...'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

The Secret of Longevity?
   'if any one of them had had the grace to die at a reasonable age...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Is Space In The Brain Limited?
   '...Some totally different method of memory association in order to be eclectively time-binding.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Man Filmed Sleeping In Tesla On Autopilot
   'Mary Risling settled back for a little nap...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Sewbo Robot Perfect For Heinlein's Bespoke Kilts!
   'He sat himself down in a sales cubicle and dialed the code number for kilts.'- Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Used Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Will Fly Again
   'the overstrained meters made the smaller craft skittish as a young horse...' - Robert Heinlein

Ambrosia Start-Up Offers New Blood For Old 'Caper'
   'It consists largely in replacing the entire blood tissue in an old person with new, young blood...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Elon Musk Seeks To Create 1941 Heinlein Speedster
   'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

ELROI Satellite 'License Plate'
   Robert Heinlein was thinking about this in 1941.

Spicy Tomatoes Created With Genetic Engineering
   How about mashed potatoes and brown gravy?

Tesla Driver Caught Napping Behind The Wheel
   'Mary Risling settled back for a little nap...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Nobe 3-Wheel Electric Vehicle Parking Like I, Robot
   Spidercar, Spidercar, does whatever a spidercar does.

Plants of the Future - What Should They Be Like
   'He almost choked in his astonishment. Mashed potatoes and brown gravy!' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Maybe We Could Hibernate Until The Covid-19 Pandemic's End
   'Cold-rest was a common last resort therapy for functional psychoses.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Tesla Roadster Plus SpaceX Thrusters Equals Rocket Car
   'The car surged and lifted...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Google's Remixed 'Your News Update' ala Heinlein, Clarke, Pohl
   'Perhaps we had better use the soundtrack and let it hunt.' Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Rid Thyself Of Ads On The Newsbox
   'Can't we scramble that commercial?' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Elon Musk STILL Wants To Make Heinlein's 1940's Speedster
   'As she neared the barrier the car surged and lifted...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Space Traffic Management (STM) Needs Action
   'Approaching Earth, he called over the patrol frequency and asked for a parking orbit...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Small Town Wants 60 License Plate Readers
   'the registration number which the traffic control automatically photographed as she left the controlway...' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.

Mem, The All-Your-Memories, Super Note-Taking App
   'Life experience is linearly additive, but the correlation of memory impressions is an unlimited expansion.' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Physiotherapists Get Help From Robots
   'Most of the Members went into cold-rest; the others tended them...' - Robert Heinlein, 1941.

Orion's 'Skip-to-M'Lou' Entry
   'A lightning pilot possibly could land that tin toy without power and still walk away from it provided he had the skill to play Skip-to-M’Lou in and out of the atmosphere...' - Robert Heinlein, 1958.

Heinlein’s Controlway - Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor In Michigan
   'Well, that's us,' said Lazarus.

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