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Science Fiction in the News Articles related to the works of Raymond Z. Gallun

Raymond Z. Gallun (rhymes with "balloon") was born in rural Wisconsin in 1910. He attended one year of college at the University of Wisconsin, then left to travel in Europe. He started writing science fiction in 1929; he attained widespread recognition with Old Faithful in 1934. Also wrote stories under the name William Callahan. (Raymond Z. Gallun) Along with John W. Campbell, he did as much as anyone to help science fiction evolve from crude pulp stories to interesting literature. He died in 1994. 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:

Aerojet Rocketdyne 'Ion Drive' To Reach The Asteroids? (Update!)
   'It has its own ion drive...' - Jack Williamson, 1947.
Liquid Mirror Telescope For Moon Studied By NASA
   Liquid Mirror Telescopes are cool enough - but putting one on the moon?
'Protonic Storms' Unleashed On DNA In Space
   Should astronauts watch out for the fury of protonic storms?
Insbot Robot Cockroaches Make Friends And Influence... Roaches
   Tiny robots with Dale Carnegie-style programming help scientists learn about animals that exhibit group behaviors.
Robots Making Smaller Robots Making Smaller Robots
   Robotic technologies make possible smaller and smaller manufactured goods - too small for people to make.
'New' Israeli Bionic Hornet Concept Is 70 Years Old
   The Israelis shouldn't bother with making up science-fictional insect-sized robots - let the writers do it!
Porta-Person Remote Conferencing Stand-In
   Remote-controlled portable person helps teleconferencers be in two places at once.
Insect Lab Beetle Clockwork Sculpture
   Not robots - but an amazingly cool set of sculptures that are a science-fiction fan's dream come true - if you think about insects and clockwork.
Jumping Microrobot 'Flea' Is Solar Powered
   Little fleas have littler fleas, it is said. Here comes one now.
Bandai Hex Bug Toy Robot Infestation
   These tiny pests need to be paid, and probably kept charged as well (see pix and video).
Robotic Fly Micro Air Vehicle
   I'd hate to think that one guy with a flyswatter could take down your entire air force.
Morphing Micro Air-Land Vehicle: It Flies, It Crawls
   There is something definitely creepy about a small flying vehicle that also crawls along to be able to spy better.
3D DNA-Directed Nanoassembly
   First instance of three-dimensional self-directed nanoassembly; building materials from the bottom up.
NeuroArm Robotic Surgeon 'Hands'
   I think Raymond Z. Gallun called this one in 1939; think 'caliper slowness, minuteness and precision.'
Self-Repairing Aircraft Mimic Borg Cubes
   It may be possible for aircraft to repair structural damage in flight - kind of like a Borg cube, but with no offers to assimilate passengers. Yet.
DelFly Micro Smallest Camera Plane
   Look out - this tiny MAV ornithopter can be steered remotely using the video feed from its tiny camera.
ExoFly Flapping Planetary Survey Aerobot
   Visionary use of the tiny DelFly micro camera plane in planetary exploration and survey is planned.
Katana Mono-Wing Rotorcraft Nano Air Vehicle
   DARPA is financing this coin-sized flying machine; take a look at four imagined futures as well.
3D HD da Vinci Surgical Robotics
   This remarkable system lets you perform microsurgery in binocular hd.
Lunar Oasis Greenhouse 2012
   That plant will need a space suit to survive on the surface of the moon. And that's what the Lunar Oasis is. With video.
Bendable, Self-Healing Concrete
   This engineered cement composite can not only bend, it can heal itself without any intervention from human beings.
Stealthy, Persistent Perch and Stare UAVs
   Yet another DARPA program that proves they've been reading great science fiction from the Thirties (and beyond).
Robotic Microsurgery Instrument Goes Anywhere
   The idea of robotic micro-surgical instruments has a longer history in sf than in medicine. This powerful TED talk displays the latest devices.
Robo-Bat Has Shape Memory Alloy Joints
   Cutting edge materials used for bones, joints and muscles make this robotic bat as light as possible.
Robobees To Swarm At Harvard
   Ten million dollars from the NSF for wild-eyed science fiction from the 1930's? You betcha.
Bio-Mechanics And Micro-Robotic Flight
   Take a close look at one of nature's wonders - the micro air vehicle called a dragonfly.
Perching Project Drones Wait For You
   A surveillance officer's dream, flocks of these little drones may be perching in cities near you one day.
Insectothopter Robotic Dragonfly CIA Tech From 1970s
   See the video; this is pretty amazing for the 1970's.
Microcamera Big As Grain Of Salt
   New manufacturing process yields tiny cameras no larger than a coarse grain of salt.
Bigelow BEAM Still Useful On ISS
   'It's a shame, ain't it, Frank—calling a pretty thing like that a 'bubb'—it's an ugly word. Or even a 'space bubble.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1961.
Robobee Learns The Waggle Dance
   Karl von Frisch, are you watching this?
BOLT Bipedal Ornithopter Robot
   Remarkable video shows progress in flapping wing robotic MAVs.
Robotic Insect Pop-Up Origami Fabrication
   Remarkable fabrication process for tinier and tinier robots.
Hand-Held Robot Operates On Man's Prostate
   'In his slender hands he held a surgical instrument he had invented. It was a marvel!'
Smart, Self-Healing Hydrogels
   Linked chains of polymer molecules... with 'dangling side chain' molecules.
Israel's Robotic Butterfly Drone Flies Indoors
   'There it studied its surroundings, transmitting to its manipulator... all that it heard through its ear microphones and saw with its minute vision tubes.'
Self-Healing Materials - Microencapsulated or Microvascular
   'An inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures...'
Seven (Ten!) Inflatable Space Structures From Science Fiction
   'In another minute John Endlich and his wife were setting up an airtight tent...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Can't Wait For My Robot Dragonfly!
   'It studied its surroundings, transmitting to its manipulator... all that it heard through its ear microphones and saw with its minute vision tubes.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Telescopes With Liquid Mirrors Go Mainstream
   'The bowl contained mercury. As the container spun on its perfectly balanced axis, centrifugal force caused the mercury to spread...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1934.
Black Hornet Nano UAV Used By British Troops
   'The Scarab paused on its perch for a moment...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
RoboBee Swarm Replaces Pollinating Insects?
   'With a buzz that any uninformed person would have mistaken for that of a beetle, it started out on its journey.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
   '... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
CurvACE Artificial Compound Insect Eye
   '...transmitting to its manipulator, far away now, all that it ... saw with its minute vision tubes.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Self-Healing Polymer Works Without Catalyst
   'It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Self-Healing Plastic Fixes Even Big Holes
   'The room had been strained and healed faultily....'- JG Ballard, 1962.
Are Human Settlements On Asteroids Possible?
   'Here on Vesta... the interior of this five-acre greenhouse was the one most desirable place to be.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1953.
Harvard's Robobee Has Insect-Inspired Eyes
   'It studied its surroundings... and saw with its minute vision tubes.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Tiniest Microphone Inspired By Fly
   'Transmitting to its manipulator, far away now, all that it heard through its ear microphones...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
World's First Rapid 3D Nanoscale Printer
   'Down, to the limit imposed by the ultimate indivisibility of the atoms themselves...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1937.
Fast Lightweight Autonomy Indoor Drones For DARPA
   'the Scarab buzzed into the great workroom... and sought the security of a shadowed corner.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
'Cortical Modem' Latest On DARPA's Wishlist
   '...inside his skull... is a little cylinder, that neuronic receptor-transmitter.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1938.
UR3 Robot At Work On Copies Of Itself
   'I don't mean that you should construct this ultra-microrobot with your own fingers, of course...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1937.
NASA's VestaTrek - Visit Asteroid Vesta
   'At the Asteroids Homesteaders' School in Chicago... he had been shown diagrams and photographs of Vesta.'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Living Concrete Repairs Itself
   Science fiction fans were given this idea in 1951.
Self-Healing Materials For Spacecraft
   'It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that sealed the punctures...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Harvard's Robobees Now 'Fly' Underwater
   '...the Scarab buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might, and sought the security of a shadowed corner.' - Raymond Z Gallun, 1936.
VIDIUS Smallest First Person View (FPV) Drone
   '...the Scarab... transmitting to its manipulator, far away now, all that ... it saw with its minute vision tubes.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Self-Adapting Composite Heals Itself
   '...Could seal the punctures that grain-of-sand-sized meteors might make.' - Ramond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Picobug Robot Flies, Runs And Grabs
   'About it, as it scrambled forward, were weeds and bushes and grass...' - Raymond Z Gallun, 1936.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module Attached to ISS
   'John Endlich and his wife were setting up an airtight tent...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Space Station Room Inflated! (Time-Lapse Video)
   'Letting it inflate from the air-flasks...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1961.
Six Amazing Surgical Robots In One Video
   Micro-surgery, as imagined by Raymond Z. Gallun, 1939.
Tomatoes From Sun And Seawater
   'Hydroponics. Gotta almost do it, if I'm going way out to Mars without much supplies.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1961.
Mini Robot Uses 2 mm Surgical Tools
   '... surgical tool - blades, tweezers, probes - so fine you could just see them with the naked eye.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1939.
Tiny Drones With Sticky Feet Pollinate Flowers Now
   'The Scarab rubbed its hind legs together...' - Raymond Z Gallun, 1936
Robotic Physician Assistant Has Steady 'Hands'
   'You turned the screws below and the prongs moved... with caliper slowness, minuteness and precision.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1939.
NASA's Meteorite-Resistant Fabric Perfect For Space Armor
   'The men who labored so feverishly there, were clad in heavy space armor...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1932.
NASA's Prototype Lunar Greenhouse For Mars And Moon
   'In contrast to the airless desolation outside, the interior of this five-acre greenhouse was the one most desirable place to be.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Poli-X1 Prototype Bee Pollinator
   Always buzz, buzz, buzz, eh Mr. Drone?
A Look Into The Future Of Spacecraft!
   Ever wonder how you look when you enter a new part of a spacecraft?
RoboFly Is Laser-Powered, Adorable
   Don't swat this fly!
Self-Healing Circuits From Carnegie Mellon
   'It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Self-Healing Material Pulls Carbon Out Of The Air
   '... could seal the punctures.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
WINE Spacecraft To Extract Water From Asteroids
   'Yes, strangely enough there was still sufficient water beneath the surface of Vesta.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
FLIR Black Hornet 3 Palm-sized Drone
   These drones can provide situational awareness beyond visual line-of-sight capability.
Bee+ Robobee Now With Four Wings
   'It was a tiny thing, scarcely more than an inch and a half in length...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
'Aerogel' Sheets For Martian Gardens
   'Sealed to the ground along all the sides, Honey, he growled...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Robot Hummingbird Hovers Biomimetically
   'With a buzz... it started out on its journey.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Grow Plants On Moon Or Mars!
   'In contrast to the airless desolation outside, the interior of this five-acre greenhouse was the one most desirable place to be.' Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
3rd Century BC Gold Bee Is Just The Start
   Bees knees, I order you to freeze!
Smartphone Microdrone Concept - Viva Vivo!
   'With the Scarab as big as a beetle, I could make a Scarab as big as a sand grain.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1937.
RUSSE Self-Healing Plastic Works Underwater
   'It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Smallest Remote-Controlled Walking Robot Crabs
   A robot 'as big as a dust grain.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1937.
Shift Moonwalkers Help You Walk Faster? How About Tractor Treads!
   '...a man could sleep — if he could sleep in an erect position — while the little tractors on his boots carried him on and on.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1938.
Four-Legged Robot With Magnetized Feet Climbs Walls
   '... his magnetic boots which served to hold him to the steel floor.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1931.
Too Soon To Doom Lunar Farside Observatories
   'Earth never shone there, but life was good.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1954.
The FLUTE Project - A Huge Liquid Mirror In Space
   'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1934.
First Ever Proof Of Water On Asteroids
   'Yes, strangely enough there was still sufficient water beneath the surface of Vesta.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951.
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
   'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.

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