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Science Fiction in the News Articles
Related to material in Cities in Flight
by James Blish

Cities in Flight is really four separate novels; They Shall Have Stars (1957), A Life for the Stars (1962), Earthman Come Home (1955) and The Triumph of Time (1958). The period of time spanned by these four novels adds up to many hundreds of years. The books all derive their plot from a single great idea - the spindizzy, a gravity polarizer that allows entire cities to break free of the Earth and leave for the stars. This is a great science-fiction novel; it has wonderful inventions, well-written characters, and remarkable political sophistication.

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:

RocketScore Tells You Your SAT Essay Score
   You now have an online teacher and evaluator - RocketScore, the artificially intelligent grader that provides a prediction of the score your essay will get on the SAT.

Robot English Teacher From KAIRA
   A robotic english teacher is now being used in pilot programs in Seoul, Korea.

AMANDA May Find Probes To Other Dimensions
   The AMANDA neutrino array team may have some positive results in the use of high-energy neutrinos in proving the existence of higher dimensions.

Artificial Gravity Generator Now Possible?
   Scientists have sneered at artificial gravity generators for the last 75 years. These ESA-sponsored experiments may have generated the first artificial gravity fields.

ULTra PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) Planned For London
   The ULTra is back in the news, this time at Heathrow airport.

MindMentor Computer-Based Psychotherapy
   Does the Eliza computer therapy method actually work? Two Dutch psychiatrists think so.

Lessons To Be Downloaded Into Brains Of Schoolchildren
   Forward-thinking schoolmen get a jolt from the Matrix.

Polaris Poker AI Defeats Humans, Rakes In $195K
   Interesting shift in strategy brings victory to Polaris, the winner in the Man-Machine Poker Competition held in Las Vegas this weekend.

'Virtual Space Station' NASA Software Psychologist
   This software suite provides a therapist - or group therapy - on a DVD; perfect for long space voyages, which can be stressful.

Emdrive Electromagnetic Drive For Chinese Space Ships?
   Is this technology a physical impossibility? The Chinese space program is determined to find out.

'Thinking Cap' Now With TMS Coil
   Sydney researchers try using transcranial magnetic stimulation to improve ordinary people, with anecdotal results. SF writers love this idea.

Brain Stimulation Enhances Motor Skill Learning
   Any shortcuts to learning are appreciated; when can we get it in a convenient helmet form?

ULTra Personal Pod Driverless Taxis Here!
   This driverless taxi apparently lacks a depressed robotic driver; it drives itself.

Computer, Heal Thyself - With ClearView
   When you can read about an idea fifty years before it's implemented (and in an entertaining story to boot), that's good value.

Biofuel From Algae
   Can we improve the ability of algae to produce material we need? Should we?

Your Computer Therapist Will See You Now
   Computers are more helpful than ever.

Electric Brain Stimulation Quickens Learning
   Faster learning is as close as the nearest electrical outlet.

DecNef: Download Skills Into Your Brain
   Click here to download your next career.

Fear of Dentists App, iPhone-based Therapist
   'The machines aren't ignorant of human psychology - far from it.'

Robonaut ISS Checkout Video
   Amazing video of a teleoperated robot on the International Space Station; sf authors saw this a half-century ago.

Russia's SAR-400 To Work Alongside Robonaut 2
   'For a wild instant he had thought there was a man on Jupiter already...'

Mahoro Two-Armed Lab Robot
   '...He realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'

NASA's Robotic Rover Drivers
   'Helmuth, after all, was not on Jupiter - though that was becoming harder and harder for him to bear in mind.'

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