On the show this week:

• A Different View
• Tech We Didn’t Know You Needed
• Sec3

CQ: Have we fundamentally changed as a civilization in the last two hundred years — and will we change again in another 200? Or are all the changes really superficial and circumstantial?

Full list of 10 articles after the jump!

• A Different View:
  • For the last time: phones are not demons, they are perfectly normal technology. DOOM.: Newsweek – The Vatican Is Training More Exorcists, With Reports of Demonic Possession Soaring
  • Will the sasquatch get it’s day in court?: WSDU – Woman suing California agencies for not recognizing existence of Bigfoot
  • Don’t tell the animals; it will hurt their feelings…: Vox – The surprisingly weak scientific case for emotional support animals
  • Are rockets ships more metaphor than they should be?: NBC/THINK – The patriarchal race to colonize Mars is just another example of male entitlement
• Tech We Didn’t Know You Needed:
  • (EXTRA) Actually, one could see this as a lesson in persistence against obstacles more than violence.: LiveScience – The Day Humans Taught Robots to Fight Back
  • (EXTRA) Any sufficiently developed biology is indistinguishable from magic. And probably smells.: LiveScience – These Bacteria Eat Toxic Metal, ‘Poop’ Gold Nuggets
  • (EXTRA) It’s the beginning of our underground future.: LiveScience – Whoosh! Virgin Unveils Hyperloop that Will Travel 760 Mph
  • (EXTRA) But… it’s right there. In the mountain. And it needs to be wound.: LiveScience – This Giant Clock Will Tick for 10,000 Years, But You’ll Never Find It
  • (EXTRA) Bonkers? Or the only way we’ll know the passage of time in the year 9 thousand, 2 hundred and five, after the ‘planetary mobility’ accident of 9 thousand 2 hundred and one..: Gizmodo – Jeff Bezos Begins Installation of His Bonkers 10,000 Year Clock
  • (EXTRA) Watch out for the roaming charges!: Metro – Vodafone and Nokia to install 4G on the moon in 2019

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On the show this week:

• Space Enough For Anyone
• Slyborg
• Making It Up As We Get Along

CQ: If you won the big lottery tomorrow, would you have 100% leisure time, or would you choose to work for a salary still?

Full list of 16 articles after the jump!

• Space Enough For Anyone:
  • And we all know that the universe conforms to simple math, just look at rocket science.: NBC/MACH – Simple math shows how many space aliens may be out there
  • Personally, I’m in favour of Star Watch: Exterrestrial Alien Recon.: LiveScience – ‘Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’ Needs a New Name, SETI Pioneer Says
  • So far, my RPG scenario from 1994 has not held up.: Reuters – Chemical sunshade to slow warming may not be feasible: U.N. draft
  • Suddenly space doesn’t seem so sexy..: NY Daily News – Human waste turned into astronaut food
  • Our 1000-year plan for future space habitation depends upon that car surviving.: Gizmodo – So Like, If You Could Bring Elon Musk’s Tesla Back From Space, Would it Still Work?
  • Well, *someone* had to!: Unknown source: – Yup, Flat-Earthers Think the Falcon Heavy Launch Was a Conspiracy
  • Maybe he should have put a car on top.: Unknown source: – Flat-Earth Rocketeer Fails to Launch (Again)
• Slyborg:
  • Good bye, glassholes! Welcome intelligeeks?: The Verge – Intel Made Smart Glasses That Look Normal
  • (EXTRA) Considering that we’re still a bit baffled by our own intelligence, this is pretty much a definite thing.: Ideas.ted.com – Why we need to create AI that thinks in ways that we can’t even imagine
  • (EXTRA) Along the lines of Douglas Adams, I expect the revelation of the meaning of the manuscript to immediately cause the book to transform into something even stranger..: Science Alert/CP – AI May Have Finally Decoded The Bizarre, Mysterious ‘Voynich Manuscript’
  • (EXTRA) Just don’t get on to her bad side.: LiveScience – Meet Erica, Japan’s Next Robot News Anchor
• Making It Up As We Get Along:
  • (EXTRA) Well, that’s clearly the way that language works.: Detroit Metro Times – Michigan Court of Appeals officially ruled 😛 emoticon denotes sarcasm
  • (EXTRA) Maybe they’re just sarcastic?: LiveScience – Why Are So Many People So Unhappy?
  • (EXTRA) Maybe they just aren’t trustworthy..: LiveScience – This Is Why You Trust Some Strangers and Not Others
  • (EXTRA) No? Wait.. what do you know?: The Aeon – Are you sleepwalking now?
  • (EXTRA) What, no one chose back tentacles?: NBC/MACH – 10 top science minds tell what strange new body part they’d like to have

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On the show this week:

• From Here To Beyond

CQ: Isn’t gravy just really thick soup?

Full list of 9 articles after the jump!

• From Here To Beyond:
  • Not sure how you land something going straight up.: LiveScience – Flat Earth Rocketeer Says He Will Launch in Two Weeks
  • It’s really just taking drones to the next level..: The UK Daily Mail – The ‘Segway of the sky’ that ANYONE can fly: French Flyboard inventor Franky Zapata reveals new Ezfly hoverboard that uses jet thrusters to zoom you through the air at 80mph
  • I do not really want to hear a dog speak.: NBC/MACH – Dogs can’t speak human. Here’s the tech that could change that.
  • Why would we make animals dumber?: SingrularityHub – If We Could Engineer Animals to Be as Smart as Humans-Should We?
  • Isn’t the Internet changing *everything*?: LiveScience – Is the Internet Changing the Way People Feel About Religion?
  • What even exists? (And how did the X-Files know?): Metro – Jim Carrey believes he doesn’t exist and is just an ‘idea’
  • Are any of us really here?: Boston Review – Philip K. Dick and the Fake Humans
  • (EXTRA) I hope they have a department and aren’t working alone..: LiveScience – Why the UK Just Appointed a Minister of Loneliness
  • (EXTRA) Survival of the social media fittest?: boingboing – Crowdfunding for medical costs is turning health-care into a reality-TV competition

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This episode is a continuation of articles from episode 395.

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This episode is a second-half of articles collected in episode 393.

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On the show this week:

• To The Moon, Alice
• Post-End of the World
• Disruptive

CQ: What song would you send to greet our alien cousins?

Full list of 19 articles after the jump!

• To The Moon, Alice:
  • Probably not a bad idea to start making more baskets..: New Scientist – Should we seed life through the cosmos using laser-driven ships?
  • Seeding the near earth orbit is a start, right?: New Scientist – The ‘space nation’ Asgardia just launched its first satellite
  • C’ing the universe, one chord at a time..: Mysterious Universe – Scientists Transmit Songs to Planet With Potential Alien Life
  • Because who says science can’t be cool looking.: Youtube – Sónar Calling GJ273b
  • I’m pretty sure he can’t fire it in a curve, because curves don’t exist.: AP – Self-taught rocket scientist plans to launch over ghost town
  • How do I want him to fail at succeeding, rather than fail to try?: Gizmodo – Flat Earth Researcher Told He Can’t Blast Himself Into the Sky at 500 MPH on Public Lands
  • : AP/ABC Australia – ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes eyes Monday for new launch date of homemade steam-powered rocket
  • Yeah, but aside from all the evidence, what more proof do you have?: Forbes – Five Impossible Facts That Would Have To Be True If The Earth Were Flat
  • Therefore: science is *all* wrong.: The LA Times – Mars may not have the water we thought it did, study shows
• Post-End of the World:
  • Seems like we should burn it or something..: Phys.org – ‘Trash islands’ off Central America indicate ocean pollution problem
  • On the burning edge of fashion.: Bloomberg – A Power Plant Is Burning H&M Clothes Instead of Coal
  • Seems like it would smell better than burning t-shirts.: Engadget – London buses to be powered by coffee grounds
  • (EXTRA) Are we wasting a precious resource — again?: LiveScience – Here Come the Macy’s Balloons, There Goes Our Helium?
  • (EXTRA) Evil or just amoral?: The New York Times – How Evil Is Tech?
• Disruptive:
  • (EXTRA) OHMYGODIWILLLIVEFOREVERGIMMEMOREESPRESSO: The UK Telegraph – Even seven cups of coffee a day cuts risk of early death, study suggests
  • (EXTRA) They should probably drink more coffee (and have a burger).: ACSH – Vegetarian Men are More Depressed – Are Steaks a Treatment?
  • (EXTRA) Don’t be alone until it’s good to be alone.: StudyFinds – Study: Being Alone Can Be Good For Your Mental Health, Sparks Creativity
  • (EXTRA) A new feat for high level Ranger characters!: Sploid – This Mind-Bending Archer Fires Arrows That Change Direction in Mid-Air
  • (EXTRA) It’s the end of the term, as you know it, but I feel fine..: TwinCities Pioneer Press – ‘Zombie apocalypse’ writing assignment leads to controversy at Minnesota high school

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On the show this week:

• Someone Made This Real
• Unusual Science
• Missing Things Found
• Unreal Intelligence

CQ: When we bring dinosaurs back from extinction, will we use them on the moon, on Mars or on Earth first?

Full list of 18 articles after the jump!

• Someone Made This Real:
  • ‘They were so busy wondering if they could, they never stopped to think whether they should.’: The UK Independent – Cheese tea is a thing – and it’s coming to the UK
  • And yet, we still hear people fart in the public bathroom..: The Daily Dot – You can now buy a $130 ramen fork that cancels out slurping noises
  • There’s a certain segment that is probably really interested.: The UK Daily Mail – Love the scent of fried chicken? KFC releases BATH BOMBS that will leave you smelling like the 11 secret herbs and spices
  • I’ve heard of bar deodorant, but that’s ridiculous!: KDVR/FOX – Pit Liquor: Colorado inventors make whiskey-based deodorant
  • It’s not what you think, but it could have been done a hundred years ago..: The UK Telegraph – Farmers urged to bury their underpants to improve quality of their beef
  • Most of the world already seems ludicrous to me right now..: News.com.au – 12 things that’ll seem ludicrous in our lifetime
• Unusual Science:
  • In what ways do we cross science over with art?: LiveScience – This Video of ‘Dancing Braids’ Will Change How You Think About Mathematics
  • Shouldn’t we all?: Fox43 – U.S. Army in Maryland using urine to generate power
  • The first stage of the replicator?: New Scientist – Kitchen counter bio-lab lets you make edible gloop from cells
  • Oh yeah? See you in a hundred years, pal!: Inverse Science – Immortality Is Impossible, Say Scientists Studying the Mathematics of Aging
• Missing Things Found:
  • They found it by looking everywhere else first. Whatever remains, must be nothing.: The Daily Grail – Scientists Find Suspected Hidden Chamber Within the Great Pyramid
  • So now you’re telling me that there’s nothing there — but isn’t that the same as the other guy?: Phys.org – Egypt archaeologist criticises pyramid void ‘discovery’
  • Let’s remember that games are still art, and art is for representation..: Ancient Origins – New Assassin’s Creed Has the Most Realistic Reconstruction of Ancient Egypt Ever Produced
  • (EXTRA) You might say this work is transformative..: Quanta Magazine – The Atomic Theory of Origami
• Unreal Intelligence:
  • (EXTRA) Why not? Corporations are people, so why not machines?: LiveScience – Lifelike ‘Sophia’ Robot Granted Citizenship to Saudi Arabia
  • (EXTRA) Let’s hope the stories weren’t aspirational..: New Scientist – ‘I Wake Up in a Pool of Blood’: These Horror Stories Were Written by an AI
  • (EXTRA) Inevitability or pipe dream?: Scientific American – Falling Walls: The Past, Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence
  • (EXTRA) That’s what the debate over AI sometimes feels like..: The Verge – I spent seven months living inside a conspiracy thriller and it’s not over yet

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On the show this week:

• Revisible
• Off-planet Casual
• By the Numbers

CQ: With the age of the Internet, we can experience things from all over the world in an instant, and integrate them into our personal culture — but does that mean that the notion of “regional” or “national” culture are doomed to fade?

Full list of 13 articles after the jump!

• Revisible:
  • Finally, offal news which is good!: CTV – Scottish haggis coming to Canada for first time in 46 years
  • I’m pretty sure this is the anti-gravity of the heat world..: New Scientist – Light-filtering paint cools your home when exposed to hot sun
  • Can we hide the Earth from the Sun when it’s being finnicky?: LiveScience – ‘Beam of Invisibility’ Could Hide Objects Using Light
  • It’s probably the story of a divorce caused by unfair trade in sheep..: Vice – Settlers of Catan Is Getting Turned into a Movie for Some Reason
• Off-planet Casual:
  • (EXTRA) Not only does the drive continue to make news, it continues to make new science..: Big Think – Is This The Secret Behind the Mysterious Em Drive?
  • (EXTRA) Real estate with one hell of a view, but the insurance is not comprehensive.: The UK Daily Mail – The MOON set to get its own space station made of inflatable modules in 2022
  • (EXTRA) A bit of a fixer-upper, and the view isn’t as good, but it’s got character..: The Guardian UK – Discovery of 50km cave raises hopes for human colonisation of moon
  • (EXTRA) I feel like we’re scaling down the space program a bit much..: Discover Magazine – The Wearable Reentry Spacecraft of Yesteryear
  • (EXTRA) Ah, but will it hit the moon?: New Scientist – A tech-destroying solar flare could hit Earth within 100 years
• By the Numbers:
  • (EXTRA) How Dundgeons and Dragons paved the way for (obsessive?) self-examination.: Slate – My Quantified Monster and Me
  • (EXTRA) Do you have the right stuff?: New Scientist – Online game will spot if you have hidden cybersecurity talents
  • (EXTRA) Aside from all the technical problems, there’s the fact that they were creepy.: LiveScience – Why You Shouldn’t Expect to See ‘Blade Runner’ Replicants Anytime Soon
  • (EXTRA) Like most fears, it isn’t real — but still has real consquences.: NY Post – ‘Slender Man’ sighting leaves small-town residents on edge

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On the show this week:

• Think Different. Pray Same.
• Space For Filling
• Non-Traditional

CQ: Which industry will be disrupted first: the clothing industry, when robotic tailors can custom-make clothing locally rather than ship them, or the travel industry, when we can VR remote into robotic surrogates?

Full list of 11 articles after the jump!

• Think Different. Pray Same.:
  • First, they took chess from me, now this?: BBC – The computers being trained to beat you in an argument
  • Replace the “return” button with “pray”.: New Scientist – Build an AI god? Beware the downsides of this weird tech plan
  • Make your own Sistine Chapel.: LiveScience – This AI Helps You Paint Like Van Gogh
  • And the good Lordbot said, ‘let there be food’.: Live Science – Robotic Farm Completes 1st Fully Autonomous Harvest
  • Asking for a friend. With a cyber brain plan..: Aeon – When you split the brain, do you split the person?
  • But what if it wants to eat the table?: LiveScience – To Keep AI from ‘Eating a Table,’ Scientists Make It Read Wikipedia
• Space For Filling:
  • (EXTRA) This will not help.: Fast Company – “If I Were An Alien, I Wouldn’t Feel All That Welcome Here”: Designing An Invite For Extraterrestrials
  • (EXTRA) I suppose he’s going to tunnel there..: New Scientist – Elon Musk’s new plans for a moon base and a Mars mission by 2022
  • (EXTRA) Probably trying to get away from.. everything.: Ars Technica – Why octopuses are building small “cities” off the coast of Australia
• Non-Traditional:
  • (EXTRA) It’s all about millenials, and had nothing to do with millenials.: Eater – Applebee’s Deserves to Die
  • (EXTRA) Not necessarily a bad idea — especially for pointing out other bad ideas.: Slate – Hello, Men! Welcome to Your Mandatory Year of Customer Service!

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My friends (Nax, Marie and Pat) join me to chat about what we enjoyed from Hal-Con, what we’d like to see, and what makes a con something we want to attend.

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