Science Fiction in the News:
Science and Technology News

Outrunner Robot, Six-Legged Slamhound
You don't want one of these running you down. Because it's probably faster than you, and can outlast you. (re: William Gibson)

Napping Station Now At UofM Library
'Then he strolled across the dayroom to the hypnoteleset...'- Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952. (re: Pohl and Kornbluth)

Living Root Bridges Of India
Grow your own infrastructure and housing using ecologically sound materials. (re: Jack Vance)

Russia Bans Cursing, Demolition Man Morality Device Next
'John Spartan, you are fined five credits for repeated violations of the verbal morality statute.'- Demolition Man, 1993. (re: Various)

Thailand's Chatterbox Social Media App Influences Content
'He adjusted the n, the r and b knobs, and hopefully anticipated a turn for the better in the dire droning-on of the speech...' Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Tabbot Robot Inspired By Spiders (And Clarke?)
'Each leg in turn acted as a pivot around which the creature whirled its body...'- Arthur C. Clarke, 1972. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Tapster Automates Smartphone App Testing
'Rapidly, purposefully, the metallic fingers moved over the key-boards...'- Schachner and Zagat, 1931. (re: Schachner and Zagat)

An 'OFF' Switch For The Brain
'Yes, sir, he's status go.'- John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner)

PaperFold Foldable Smartphone
'...it gave me a little plastic book with four fold-outs'- Stanislaw Lem, 1961. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

GPS Bullets Legal For Cops In Hot Pursuit?
OTOH, the Jedi homing beacon tracking device allows Obiwan to follow Fett through both hyperspace and heavy asteroid fields. (re: George Lucas)

MorpHex MKII The Unreconstructed Hexapod
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'- Philip K. Dick, 1957. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Spaser-Based Circuits Could Be Printed On Clothing
'Alex rolled his wrist over to check the watch imprinted on his sleeve.'- Niven and Barnes, 1981. (re: Niven and Barnes)

Amazing Video Shows Chameleon-Like Crystal Display
'Across the vast impersonal face of metal... a ribbon of fluid letters appeared...'- Philip K. Dick, 1960. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Will Autonomous Systems' Self-Preservation Lead To Dangerous Behavior?
'This, the new types. The new varieties of claws. We're completely at their mercy, aren't we?'- Philip K. Dick, 1953 (re: Philip K. Dick)

Ooho Water Bulb (Or Blob) Replaces Horrific Plastic Bottles
'I held up my bulb of water ... visibly there was water missing.'- Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952. (re: Pohl and Kornbluth)

SRI International's Speedy, Ant-Sized Microrobot Swarm
'As if swarms of tiny animals were busily scurrying about...'- Stanislaw Lem, 1954. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

SF Authors Have Wearable Computing Ideas
The device would need to convey essential information, to the wearer and perhaps to those around him. (re: Various)

Bookies Let You Place Your Bets On the Future!
I'll bet you feel strongly enough about at least one of these bets to want to put your money down. (re: David Brin)

How Do Americans See The Future Of Technology?
What is most likely to happen in the future? Do you want to participate in the future? (re: Various)

Updated: Flying Graffiti Drone Will Alter The Urban Landscape
The tagger's dream - lie in bed while painting at a remote location. (re: William Gibson)

Should Autonomous Cars Have Feelings About Crashes?
'Robots have worse problems than anybody.'- Philip K. Dick, 1952. (re: Philip K. Dick)

M-Block Modular Robots Assemble Themselves
'... as though a child should build from nursery blocks a fantastic shape which abruptly is filled with throbbing life.'- Abraham Merritt, 1920. (re: Abraham Merritt)

Augmented Reality Ship's Bridge From Rolls Royce
'... the immense, three-dimensional, minutely cubed model...'- 'Doc Smith, 1934. (re: E.E. 'Doc Smith)

Artificial Blood From Factories
This blood's for you. (re: Various)

Wrigley's Anti-Impotence Chewing Gum
'Chew one of these, Mr. Chip.'- Philip K. Dick, 1969. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Arcology Now Universal Constructor
'... the hotel direly wanted to exist.'- Bruce Sterling, 1998. (re: Bruce Sterling)

MisTable Fog Display Like SeaQuest DSV
Captain Bridger, a message is coming in. (re: Francis Flagg)

Full-Size Invisibility Cloak Now Possible
'I donned it and drew its hood, and threw on its current.'- Ray Cummings, 1930. (re: Ray Cummings)

Bioengineered Muscle Grows In Mice
'Joeboys... shoulders bulging with grafted muscle.' (re: William Gibson)

Self-Assembling Nanoparticles Move Like Tiny Gears
'Microscopic machinery, smaller than ants, smaller than pins, working energetically...'- Philip K. Dick, 1955. (re: Philip K. Dick)

PredPol Predicting Crime As It Happens
'All day long the idiots babbled...'- Philip K. Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick)

UK Internet Filters Default To 'Family-Friendly'
'People bought personalized filter programs...'- David Brin, 1990. (re: David Brin)

NASA Gives Away Rocket Code - For Dads
'The rocket thundered and leaped. The children danced in their hammocks, screaming.'- Ray Bradbury, 1952. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Automated Planet Finder Telescope Starts The Hunt
'I was near enough it now to set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching it for a habitable planet.'- Edmond Hamilton, 1936. (re: Edmond Hamilton)

Crabster CR200 Robot Prowls The Deep
'The handling-machine did not impress me as a machine, but as a crablike creature...'- H.G. Wells, 1898. (re: HG Wells)

Neither Dead Nor Alive - But Not In Suspended Animation
'...Can he be brought out of the cold-pack?'- Philip K. Dick, 1960. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Dolphin Whistle Translator
'Louis could hear the other translator discs whistling softly in Puppeteer, snarling quietly in the Hero's Tongue.'- Larry Niven, 1970. (re: Larry Niven)

Military Tech Inside Your Roomba?
What else can Roomba do? (re: Katsuhiro Otomo)

True Player Gear's Answer To Occulus Rift - Totem!
How close to this idea did Hugo Gernsback get? It turns out that he was on the right track. (re: Hugo Gernsback)

Spacesuit Z-2: NASA Wants You To Pick Their Next Design
'Al was hastily donning his space suit...'- Schachner and Zagat, 1931. (re: Schachner and Zagat)

Living Slime Mold Builds Logical Circuits
Think of the fecundity of nature, countless molds in the floor of a forest. Think about how abundant bio-circuits could be. (re: Various)

Spray-On Polymer Mats Heal Wounds Fast
'Over her lacerated right shoulder he sprayed art-derm...'- Philip K. Dick, 1960. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Multi-Party Quantum Communication Possible
'The cops have heard every word... wherever in the whole universe that there's a Dirac transceiver.'- James Blish, 1957. (re: James Blish)

USC Google Glass Journalism - As Seen On Star Trek: Generations
'Jerryberry talked rapidly to himself while he panned the camera...'- Larry Niven, 1972. (re: Larry Niven)

Navy's Orbiting Solar Panels To Beam Energy Down To Earth
'Curt shuddered at the thought of a beam of terrific power smashing into... perhaps into a city.'- Clifford Simak, 1941. (re: Olaf Stapledon)

Auto Emotion Detector Lets Your Car Know Your Mood
'Why don't you take a stress pill and get some rest?'- Arthur C. Clarke, 1968. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Get Alien Vision And See New Colors!
This guy can perceive a greater color range than you can. I guarantee it. (re: Roger Zelazny)

HoverBall Bids Farewell To Ballistic Motion
'...the ball darted in behind him.'- George Lucas, 1976. (re: George Lucas)

Biotech Prisons - Serve A Thousand Years In a Day
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'- Joe Haldeman, 2011. (re: Joe Haldeman)

Triton Respirator Concept Looks Jedi To Me
Just don't stay down too long. (re: George Lucas)

QuiQui Pharmacy Drone Delivery
That's fast, fast, FAST relief! Thanks to Quiqui. (re: EB White)

Robotic Toaster Sells Itself
'I'm not yours to order around... I'm to remain with you until you buy me.'- Philip K. Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Momo App Locates 100M Possible Dates Nearby
'Locate where she's sitting, put the cursor on it...'- Larry Niven, 1998. (re: Larry Niven)

Is There A Subterranean Ocean?
'A vast, limitless expanse of water, the end of a lake if not of an ocean, spread before us, until it was lost in the distance.'- Jules Verne, 1864. (re: Jules Verne)

MIT Robotic Fish Is Self-Contained, Autonomous, Fast
'The Mitsubishi turbot wriggled, as if alive. With one fluid motion, it surged forward, plunged, and was gone.'- Michael Swanwick, 2002. (re: Michael Swanwick)

Roll-Up Flexible Displays May Use Source Gated Transistor Sheets
'...a wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling color.'- EC Tubb, 1958. (re: E.C. Tubb)

Can 'Dimers' Be Used For Star Trek's Long Range Sensors?
From 'Using Dimers to Measure Biosignatures and Atmospheric Pressure for Terrestrial Exoplanets'. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Australians To Zap Space Junk Ala Arthur C. Clarke
'[They] could easily pinpoint the debris of the early Space Age.'- Arthur C. Clarke, 1978. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Can You Detect The Robot Journalist?
'... A vast complex electronic organism buried deep in the ground.'- Philip K. Dick, 1963. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Space Replay - Art Or Rover?
What is Space Replay? That would be telling. (re: Various)

CUPID Intercept Drone Like Niven's Copseye
'Copseyes floated overhead... each a sonic stunner... they were there to enforce the law...'- Larry Niven, 1972 (re: Larry Niven)

DIY Taser-Proof Clothing
'His suit-shield sucked in the energy and discharged it...'- Philip K. Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Is Privacy Too Expensive?
'It was not a large office, but it was quite spy-proof and quite undetectably so.'- Isaac Asimov, 1951 (re: Isaac Asimov)

Navy Deploys LaWS First Ship-Borne Laser
When you hear that music, you know you're in for adventure - and predictions of possible technological futures! Jonny Quest is right again. (re: Various)

Myo Armband Controller Just 149 Bucks
'Actuators touch the tendons in your right wrist...'- Harry Harrison, 1960. (re: Harry Harrison)

Can Gut Bacteria Make You Smarter?
'Vergil had trained the lymphocytes in the past six months to interact as much as possible with each other and with their environment...'- Greg Bear, 1984. (re: Greg Bear)

Shimuzu Luna Ring Solar Power Project
'This was really free power... Power carried across millions of miles on Addison's tight-beam principle.'- Clifford Simak, 1941. (re: Clifford Simak)

AllSee Low Power Gesture Recognition
'It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course...'- Douglas Adams, 1979. (re: Douglas Adams)

Must Breaking Up Be Hard To Do?
'Whoever was placed inside the apparatus instantaneously experienced all the charms, lures, wiles, winks and witchery of all the fairer sex in the Universe at once.'- Stanislaw Lem, 1965. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

PillCam Colon Now Approved By FDA
'You're going to take a picture of my insides?'- The Jetsons, 1962. (re: various)

RYNO To Heinlein - Your Tumblebug Is Ready!
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel...'- Robert Heinlein, 1940. (re: Robert Heinlein)

3D Printing Your Winter Reality
'It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells...'- Murray Leinster, 1945. (re: Murray Leinster)

Roboroach Now Shipping!
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'- Thomas Easton, 1990. (re: Thomas A. Easton)

MeCam Selfie Nano Drone Like Karen Traviss' Bee Cam
'He set his camera to follow him, and it hovered behind him like a large tame bee.'- Karen Traviss, 2004. (re: Karen Traviss)

AeroLife Inhalable Food Powder
'Now shall the brutal murdering of fellow animals and brother vegetables forever stop...'- Edward Page Mitchell, 1879. (re: James Payn)

Harvest-Time On The International Space Station
We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. (re: Gregory Benford)

Pop Secret Pop Dongle Lets You Smell The Corn A Poppin' On Your Smartphone
'The joymaker in his hand hissed and sprayed him with something...'- Frederik Pohl, 1965. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman Taken Off Life Support
Although this is a very creepy idea, Frank Herbert has already been here. (re: Frank Herbert)

'Smart Silk' In Quantity
Strongest stuff in the world, stronger than the best steel. Synthetic spider silk...- Robert Heinlein, 1939. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Motorcycle Racing Suit With Airbags
She jerks the manual release on her cervical collar and goes into full Michelin Man mode- Neal Stephenson, 1992. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Lapel Cameras For LAPD Officers
'Every move they made, were being transmitted to their home unit...'- David Brin, 1990. (re: David Brin)

SciCast Prediction Market Offers Collaborative Forecasting
'When you consolidate their replies they tend to cluster around the actual figure…'- John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner)

QuickScann3D Has Your Full Body Duplicate
'... In a glass dome a three-dimensional simulacrum of himself six inches high took form.'- Jack Vance, 1954. (re: Jack Vance)

Edible Authentication Microchip
Ready to be monitored? (re: William Gibson)

Look Great In Your Garrison Bespoke Bulletproof Suit
'McKie longed for his armored clothing…'- Frank Herbert, 1977. (re: Frank Herbert)

Avegant Glyph Virtual Retinal Display
'...soon we'll be testing a system that projects directly on the retina of the eye…'- Kornbluth and Pohl, 1952 (re: Pohl and Kornbluth)

Ten Years Of Technovelgy
Thanks readers. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. (re: Bill Christensen)

First Commercial Artificial Brain?
'He had constructed an organ, a brain, of metal, entirely inorganic and lifeless...'- Edmond Hamilton, 1926. (re: Edmond Hamilton)

McCoy Home Health Tablet Declared Fraudulent
This nonexistent tablet is not even science-fictional, It's a scam. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Stasi Colonel Says Obama Surveillance Is 'Dream Come True'
'There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.'- George Orwell, 1948. (re: George Orwell)

MetaPro Holographic Glasses For VR Like Iron Man
'He passes you a pair of heavy, black-rimmed military spectacles…'- Charles Stross, 2007. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Robot Surgeons No Better Than Humans
"Take care, sir. (2-1B medical droid)" - George Lucas, 1980. (re: Harlan Ellison)

Robot Kirobo Talks With Astronauts Aboard ISS
Robots now converse in space. With humans. (re: George Lucas)

France Implants First Artificial Heart
'The workability of wholly mechanical organs…'- Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Protocell Running Shoes Regenerate
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color…'- JG Ballard, 1970. (re: JG Ballard)

Haute Cuisine On International Space Station
'The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary apparatus…'-Jules Verne, 1867. (re: Jules Verne)

Tongue Mouse Created By Valve Engineer
'He pressed hard with his tongue against his right upper first molar.'- Alfred Bester, 1956. (re: Alfred Bester)

K5 Autonomous Data Machine The Future Of Mall Security
''Halt!' A robot guard appeared…'- Philip K. Dick, 1955. (re: Philip K. Dick)

RF Safe-Stop Shuts Cars Off
'...a police control-override.'- Keith Laumer, 1965. (re: Keith Laumer)

Army's New Bird-Like Surveillance UAV
'The prototype blue-bellied, gray-backed tracer-bird with the wide-angle eye…'- Roger Zelazny, 1980. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Honda's Tumblebug - The UNI-CUB beta
'A tumblebug does not give a man dignity…'- Robert Heinlein, 1940. (re: Robert Heinlein)

NASA's LADEE Enters Lunar Orbit
'... dust normally on the surface picks up and keeps a charge.' - Hal Clement, 1956. (re: Hal Clement)

3D Printing An Entire Car
"... Almost as good as the original it was printed from."- Philip K. Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Aldebaran Robot Talks Like C3PO - Almost
That's a lot of languages - but there's room in our imagination for more. (re: George Lucas)

Google's Skin Tattoo Lie Detector
'Three and a half centimetres in diameter, permanently fixed in the centre of his forehead.'- Brian Aldiss, 1961. (re: Brian Aldiss)

inFORM Dynamic Shape Output Device
Like that pushpin device you remember, but supercharged. (re: David Brin)

Owlet Vitals, The Future Of Baby Monitoring
'In every diaper there is a fine copper wire…' - David H. Keller, 1928. (re: David H. Keller)

Robert Heinlein, Your Personal Electric Helicopter Will Be Ready In 2016
"They were half way home when a single flyer, hopping free in a copter harness, approached the little parade."- Robert Heinlein, 1954. (re: Robert Heinlein)

WildCat Runs Faster Than You, Untethered
'...moving with such drifting ease that it was like a single solid cloud of black-grey smoke blown at him in silence.' Ray Bradbury, 1953. (re: Neal Stephenson)

HiBot's ACM-R5H Robot Video Shows Graceful Terminator-Style Swimming
'No! No! Aaaaaaarrrrrrgh!' - Terminator Salvation, 2009. (re: Various)

tDCS Jumpstarts Your Future
'We invented a scanner that can change the labyrinthine neural connections of the brain by tiny electronic impulses…'- Edmond Hamilton, 1948. (re: Edmond Hamilton)

RealView Interactive Live Medical Holography
Surgeons can see an organ in its entirety in a live image. (re: Various)

Britney Spears And Lynn Minmay - Weapons Of Choice
An attack can take many forms. (re: Various)

Aireal Haptics Inching Towards Holodeck Experience
How to feel something that isn't there? (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Starchase Pursuit Management ala Star Wars
Yes, but does it follow evil doers through hyperspace? (re: George Lucas)

Child Trafficked To Britain By Organleggers
'The doctor took him apart with exquisite care, like disassembling a flexible, fragile, tremendously complex jigsaw puzzle.'- Larry Niven, 1967. (re: Larry Niven)

Nuclear Interceptors Designed For Planetary Protection
See NASA's concept for a nuclear interceptor. (re: Various)

Electro-Cosmetics Let You Input With Your Face
Hi, I'm Katia. I'm a superhero. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Google Vs. Death
Who wants to live forever? (re: James Blish)

OK2TALK Like Hearing Aid From Shockwave Rider
'Demanding no fees, it's affordable where psychotherapy is not.'- John Brunner, 1976. (re: John Brunner)

RealFace Glamoflage T-Shirt Like PKD's Scramble Suit
'...a million and a half physiognomic fraction-representations of various people...'- Philip K. Dick, 1977 (re: Philip K. Dick)

AquaTop Display Your Own Cylon Datastream
Command your robot army - from the tub! (re: Various)

Human On A Chip
'[The] life form ... had not yet objected to being made over into a portion of an electronic system.' (re: Philip K. Dick)

Engineered Bacteria Produces Gasoline
'They call 'em culture tanks... [they] produce oil as a waste product.'- Hal Clement, 1950. (re: Hal Clement)

Home Made Lightsaber?
'Instantly the disk put forth a blue-white beam as thick around as his thumb.'-George Lucas, 1976 (re: George Lucas)

Mock Drone Attack On German Chancellor
Try reading 'Kill Decision' to get another viewpoint on drone technology. (re: Daniel Suarez)

Control Your Dog Remotely
Your mutt will handle like a neodog with this advanced hardware and software. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Chinese Test UAV-based Parcel Courier Service
'...an aerial diaper service that flew diapers to rural homes...'- EB White, 1950. (re: EB White)

New Robot Threat - They Make You Love Them
Have you checked your feelings towards robots lately? (re: Philip K. Dick)

Self-Healing Polymer Works Without Catalyst
'It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1951. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

Eye-Controlled Data Glasses
I've been reading about being able to have useful information overlaid onto my view of the world for years. (re: Neal Stephenson)

When Do I Get My Cheap, Flexible Touchscreen?
'Bud ... snapped at it with his fingernail. New mediaglyphics appeared...'- Neal Stephenson, 1995. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Living Human Kidneys 3D-Printed In China
Next thing you know, you'll be able to print your own organs at home... (re: Philip K. Dick)

Electronic License Plates For California By Smart Plate Mobile
Another science fiction prediction come to life! (re: Daniel Suarez)

Biosensing Clothing Listens To Your Heart
I'm thinking that Rudy Rucker should have one of these... (re: Rudy Rucker)

Biomimetic Artificial Muscles
The robots of tomorrow may have super-strength, thanks to this research. (re: HG Wells)

'Smart Sock' From Owlet Baby Care
'In every diaper there is a fine copper wire...'- David H. Keller, 1928. (re: David H. Keller)

360Specs Virtual Reality Glasses From Smartphones
From Ray Latypov, the inventor of the Virtusphere. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Elon Musk Creates Parts With Gestures Like Iron Man
For some men, tomorrow is too long to wait for the future. (re: Various)

Calling Google's RoboTaxi
'The taxi utilized sophisticated electronic sensors to perceive its surroundings...'- Allan Dean Foster, 2006. (re: Allan Dean Foster)

Mobiserv Social Companion Robot
'Behind Norton came a withered old woman. Beside her moved a gleaming robant...'- Philip K. Dick, 1953. (re: Philip K Dick)

Pasona Office Building Is An Urban Farm
To what extremes of temperature and humidity would you accede in order to be more green? (re: Pohl and Kornbluth)

RoboThespian - Robot Comedian Wants Louis CK's Job
Even on microwire that file of jokes took up a lot of space...- William Tenn, 1951. (re: William Tenn)

SpaceX Grasshopper Divert Video
Isn't this the way that rocket ships were meant to land? (re: )

A Forced Air-Cooled Jacket?
'He went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit...'- Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Murray Leinster)

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. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Smartphone Monitoring Trashcans Binned
'The can intoned. "Galveston appreciates good citizenship.'- Bruce Sterling, 1988. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Plantscraper From Plantagon
'A towering eighty-story structure like the office "In-and-Out" baskets stacked up to the sky.'- Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952. (re: Pohl and Kornbluth)

The STAR Robot - From Minority Report?
Pretty close match, functionally speaking. (re: Steven Spielberg)

The Most Expensive Burger Ever Made?
'the carniculture plant where any kind of animal tissue we wanted was grown--Terran pork and beef and poultry...'- H. Beam Piper, 1962. (re: Various)

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