Science Fiction in the News:
Science and Technology News

ANYmal Quadruped Robot Trots On
'Fast-plodding, articulated legs...' - Anthony Boucher, 1951. (re: Anthony Boucher)

Voice-Recognition Door DIY
'Almost all our locks are phonographic.' - Clement Fezandie, 1921. (re: Clement Fezandi)

3D Printed Replacement Tissue
'The object is built up of an infinite series of plane layers, at the focus of the ray,' - Jack Williamson, 1930. (re: Jack Williamson)

Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS)
'When it sees a tank silhouette, it steers toward it.' - Niven and Pournelle, 1985. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

CRAM Cockroach Robots Flatten On Demand
Yes, I think they're very graceful. (re: Steven Spielberg)

Rabbit's Brain Cryogenically Frozen Successfully
'Even in the case of the most perfect freezing there is still some activity...' - Edward Page Mitchell, 1879. (re: Edward Page Mitchell)

NTT Docomo To Create 'Ghost In The Shell' Technology
That's a lot of science-fictional tech! (re: )

Pothole Detection Technology Expands
'It would adapt its shape and diameter to the terrain...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1968. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Data Crystals Offer Eternal Storage
'The books were crystals with recorded contents...' - Stanislaw Lem, 1961. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

Joy For All Companion - Robot Pet
What about an exact electric duplicate of your cat? - Philip K. Dick, 1968. (re: Philip K Dick)

The Eye Is Watching! Samsung Gear 360 Camera
'It scooped up the eye that had been witnessing its activities.' - Robert Silverberg, 1969. (re: Robert Silverberg)

Artificial Muscles To Power UAV Drone Wings
'The long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...' - HG Wells, 1898. (re: HG Wells)

Denisovans, Neandertals... And Us?
'But in far realms, among strange hominids, you couldn't shun each other, either.' - Larry Niven, 1996. (re: Larry Niven)

Patented! Google's Autonomous Delivery Trucks
I hope Google's trucks can find my house! (re: Miles J. Breuer)

3 Parent Embryos Approved By Bioethicists
' A tkan merely courts a mlenb and is attracted to a good guur...' - William Tenn, 1949. (re: William Tenn)

DIY Armed UAV (Toy)
'Each a television eye and a sonic stunner...' - Larry Niven, 1972. (re: Larry Niven)

Tired Of Speeders On Your Block? DIY Speed Tracker!
'There is no danger of a vehicle's speed exceeding that allowed in the section in which it happens to be...'- John Jacob Astor IV, 1894. (re: John Jacob Astor IV)

Centriphone Whirling Selfie Camera
''Tight mid-shot and pull out on but behind me,' he told it...' - Karen Traviss, 2004. (re: Karen Traviss)

Eagles Vs. Drones
'Moon bird's view was... partly blocked by the pyramid, so that he did not see the bird-things dark against the brilliant sky...' - Roger Zelazny, 1080. (re: )

SCiO Scanner Wants You To Be Spock
Almost as easy as a tricorder? Apparently, you can pre-order one now. (re: Amitav Ghosh)

Self-Adapting Composite Heals Itself
'...Could seal the punctures that grain-of-sand-sized meteors might make.' - Ramond Z. Gallun, 1951. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

Rigid Clothing, Or Wearable Furniture?
'Earth's scientists solved the problem ... by devising rigid metallic clothing.' (re: Edmond Hamilton)

Swarming Intelligent Aquatic Surface Robots Ahoy!
'A remote-controlled emulsion, as it were, with uniform center...' - Stanislaw Lem, 1961. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

SuitX Cheap Medical Exoskeleton
'... standing on two corrugated-soled titanium footplates...' - Fritz Leiber, 1968. (re: Fritz Leiber)

Harvesting Energy From Internal Resonance
'Sometimes a man has a windmill on his roof...' - John Jacob Astor, 1894. (re: John Jacob Astor)

Sticker Harvests Energy From Your Skin
Another way to harvest power from the body. (re: Frank Herbert)

Twitter Sarcasm Detected By Computer
Seriously? (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Myo-Controlled Prosthetic Arm
'Sensitive actuators touch the tendons in your right wrist.'- Harry Harrison, 1960. (re: Harry Harrison)

Self-Driving Trucks For Netherlands' Ports
'Trucks gulped packages and scurried like beetles...' - Poul Anderson, 1956. (re: Poul Anderson)

Apple Ring: Finally, Engineers Want To Make My Finger Watch
'Crayn glanced at his finger watch...' - HB Fyfe, 1951. (re: HB Fyfe)

Google Should Name Roads After Science Fiction Authors
Heinlein, DIck, Niven - and more! (re: Miles J. Breuer)

First Flower Grown In Space Is Edible
Yeoman Rand, admire the flowers, please. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Get Your Own 64 Channel, Dry-Electrode Brain-Computer Headset!
'they all relaxed and got mellow....' - Philip K. Dick, 1977. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Biggest Drone Swarm Sets World Record
Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously. (re: Neal Stephenson)

ATLAS Robot Now Does Housework!
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do?' - Robert Heinlein, 1956. (re: Robert Heinlein)

LG's Rollable Display Video Is Amazing
Rollable maps, oh yes, please. (re: EC Tubb)

Asteroids Threaten Earth? New Study Details Laser Ablation Method
'This obelisk is one huge deflector mechanism...' - Gene Roddenberry, 1968. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

EHang 184 AAV Passenger Drone Future Of Commuting?
'The cab was an egg-shaped bubble...' - James Blish, 1957. (re: James Blish)

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. (re: Raymond Z Gallun)

Autonomous Cars In Snow? Ford, University Of Michigan Say Yes!
'Under the guidance of its automatic controls...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976 (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Martian Concrete, Rich In Sulphur, Made After Arrival
'We have been mining steadily, and making some photocells...' - John W. Campbell, 1951. (re: John W. Campbell)

XYZprinting 3D Pen Used, Reviewed By Terrible Artist
'Plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens...' - Murray Leinster, 1945. (re: Murray Leinster)

ShotSpotter Gunshot Location Tech Expands Coverage
'Sound trackers on the roof could zero in on weapons action...' - Greg Bear, 2007. (re: Greg Bear)

Israel Working On Tunnel Detection Snake Robots
'...At the front end is a hard-edged orifice that drills a hole in the ground.' - Harry Harrison, 1962. (re: Harry Harrison)

Livescribe 3 Black Edition Smartpen
Yes, Thunderbird fans, you've seen this one before! (re: Various)

The 'Internet Of Touch' For Telemedicine
'Immediately an enormous apparatus fell on to her out of the ceiling...' - EM Forster, 1909. (re: EM Forster)

LG's Rollable Newspaper Display
'A wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling colour....' - EC Tubb, 1958. (re: EC Tubb)

Robotic Suitcase Follows You
'The machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound...' (re: John Brunner)

Robotic Guide Dogs May Displace Fido
'The mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live...' - Ray Bradbury, 1953 (re: Ray Bradbury)

Will OpenAI Have High Ethical Standards?
Loyal Bolos are still in the future. (re: Keith Laumer)

Tokyo Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
'...the Sense/Net Pyramid screamed.' - William Gibson, 1984. (re: William Gibson)

Nima Portable Gluten Tester
'... the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'- Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert)

LONald 'Contract Robot' First In UK
'The law clerk arrived, a smallish robot...' - Frederik Pohl, 1954. (re: Frederik Pohl)

My Basic Income (Mein Grundeinkommen)
'Earned by just being born.'- Philip Jose Farmer, 1967. (re: Philip Jose Farmer)

Islamic State Now Organlegging?
'His heart went into storage immediately...' -Larry Niven, 1967. (re: Larry Niven)

Kollektomat Tithing Machine
'He pressed buttons cast in the likenesses of animals and demons...' - Roger Zelazny, 1965. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Strong Metal, Light Metal - Same Metal!
'A metal... light as cork and stronger than steel...' - Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1929. (re: Edgar Rice Burroughs)

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

Deep Speech 2: Mandarin and English Recognized
'the words came to the ear in perfect English...' - Frank Stockton, 1901. (re: Frank Stockton)

Robots Will Learn From Each Other
'Talk Between Robots radio...' - Frederik Pohl, 1954. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Bionic Eyes Coming Up In Australia
We can build a new you, if not rebuild you. (re: Various)

Army Wants Invisibility Cloaks
No, you can't see me. Nope, not here. (re: Ray Cummings)

Can Bacteria Provide Food In Space?
At least the scop was improving... - Bruce Sterling, 1988. (re: Bruce Sterling)

Fully Autonomous Vehicles In 2 Years - Musk
'The beautiful old car cruised... under the guidance of its automatic controls...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976 (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

NASA Wants To Grow Potatoes On Mars
Will Martian potatoes turn out to be red skins? (re: Andy Weir)

Mattel Bug Racer Driven By Live Cricket
'With wheels they could move along... and manipulate with their fronds and tendrils.' - Vernor Vinge, 1992. (re: Vernor Vinge)

Netflix Smart Socks Know When You Doze Off
'Presently the speed control slipped out of her relaxed fingers, the lights went out and she slept.' - Robert Heinlein, (re: Robert Heinlein)

Do You Really Want Your Car To Talk To Pedestrians?
'Robots have worse problems than anybody' - Philip K. Dick, 1952. (re: Philip K Dick)

XSTAT 30 - Plugs Wounds In 15 Seconds!
'It's done miracles. It can patch up a smashed and broken body...' - Clifford Simak, (re: Clifford Simak)

Microsupercapacitors Make Wearable Electronics Disappear
'He pressed the button in his sleeve communicator...' - Murray Leinster, 1945. (re: Rudy Rucker)

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission
'[Asteroid] Eighty-eight received a series of gentle pats, always on the side headed along her course...' - Robert Heinlein, 1939. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Can You Give A Robot A Conscience?
Do roboticists have a conscience? I guess you could start with that. (re: Various)

California Proposes Ban On Driverless Vehicles
'She gestured him ahead of her, toward a bubble-car...'- Larry Niven, 1976. (re: Larry Niven)

3D Printing Microparticles
'Finest quality. Superior workmanship...' - Ridley Scott, 1982. (re: Ridley Scott)

Drone Catches Drone! In Japan
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.' - Neal Stephenson, 1995 (re: Neal Stephenson)

Space Synthetic Biology Grand Challenges
'What better purifying machine is there than a plot of grass?' - George O. Smith, (re: George O. Smith)

The Time-Traveling Quantum Computer
'His closed-timeline-curve time-travel computing machine.' Stephen Baxter, 2004. (re: Stephen Baxter)

Robots Should Start Out As Babies
'He is beginning to learn control of his limbs: it is apparent that he will walk before his human brother.' (re: David H. Keller)

Internet Needs 'Hate Spell Checker' - Eric Schmidt
'He adjusted the n, the r and b knobs, and hopefully anticipated a turn for the better...' - Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Hybrid Chips: Solid-State Device With Integrated Biological Cells
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...' - Philip K. Dick, 1966 (re: Philip K. Dick)

Electrochromic FIlm For Smart Windows
'The glass had been muted to dark blue.' - Frank Herbert, 1972. (re: Frank Herbert)

Aerial Assault Drone Looking For Padme's Apartment
"I can sense everything that is happening in that room.' (re: )

Store Electricity In Paper - Next Stop, E-Paper!
'It looked exactly like a dirty, wrinkled, blank sheet of paper.' - Neal Stephenson, 1995. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Guide A Telepresence Robot With Your Mind
'The floor was hard and smooth and of a bright blue color and a very easy for him to roll on.' - Clifford Simak, 1961. (re: Clifford Simak)

MIT 3D Scanner - 1000x Improvement?
'... Feeler-planes brushed down...' - Jack Vance, 1954. (re: Jack Vance)

'It Feels Like Robocop - Without A Weapon
Gandhi's exoskeleton? (re: Fritz Leiber)

Naviator Drone Flies - And Swims
Every sub commander wants a Flying Sub! (re: Irwin Allen)

Niven's King's Free Park - In Toronto
'King's Free Park had been part of the San Diego Freeway...' - Larry Niven, 1970. (re: Larry Niven)

'Ingestibles' Are Medical Devices You Can Swallow
These devices get smaller and more capable. (re: Various)

Solowheel Xtreme Heinlein Tumblebug Video
'The cadets 'stood to horse' alongside their poised tumblebugs...' - Robert Heinlein, 1940. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Algorithm Predicts Marriage Success (HAL 9000 Will See You Now)
'I can tell from your voice harmonics, Dave, that you're badly upset....' - Arthur C. Clarke (re: Philip K Dick)

Denmark Island Earth (Verdenskortet ala Ringworld)
'They wanted to keep something of what they were losing...' - Larry Niven, 1970. (re: Larry Niven)

Humai Startup To Implant Your Brain In Robot Body
'The astounded onlookers saw a human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.' - Otis Adelbert Kline (re: Otis Adelbert Kline)

Blue Origin Reusable Rocket's Vertical Landing
We're getting there, one launch at a time. Nice going, Blue Origins! (re: Various)

X125 Snake-Arm Inspection Robot Video
'... long, flexible, glittering tentacles...' - HG Wells, 1898. (re: HG Wells)

Super-Thin Smart Glazing Displays
'...a wide sheet of clear material suddenly flared with light and swirling color.'- EC Tubb, 1958. (re: EC Tubb)

Have Scientists Found A Parallel Universe Leaking Into Ours
'Ellis had found a weak point, a shimmer, at which another continuum completely had been visible.' - Philip K. Dick, 1966. (re: Philip K Dick)

Active Wellness Smart Car Seat
'Maybe the car was right...' - Philip K. Dick, 1963. (re: Philip K Dick)

Tech Tats Prototype Sfnal Devices
'...Permanently fixed in the centre of his forehead.' - (re: Brian Aldiss)

ANNABELL AI Can Learn English From Scratch
'...Could understand not only classic programming but also Loglan and English..." - Robert Heinlein, 1966. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Tesla Suit Gives Haptic Hugs
'Then a pressure on the lips...' - Frederik Pohl, 1965. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Surgically Implantable Artificial Kidney Starts Testing
'George Walt... proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...' - Philip K. Dick, 1964. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Self-Filling Water Bottle Is Beetle-Based
'That moisture trickles down...', Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert)

Senate Passes Space Mining Legislation
'The law of filing on newly discovered asteroids was definite...' - Nat Schachner, 1941. (re: Nat Schachner)

Microsoft's Surface Book Is Part Clipboard
'Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1968. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Police Use Predictive Maps ala 'Minority Report' Routinely
'...the data-receptors, and the computing mechanisms that studied and restructured the incoming material.' - Philip K. Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Tesla Autopilot Road Trip 2995 Miles, 57 Hours
'The beautiful old car cruised ... under the guidance of its automatic controls...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

The 'Marching Mountains' Of Pluto
Calling Captain Future! Your time has come. (re: Edmond Hamilton)

Graphene Thermopile May Grant Predator Heat Vision To Humans
'What the hell are you?' Predator vision systems at work. (re: Various)

BitDrones Flying Microbots Model Programmable Matter
'... 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)

Starship Turbolift Elevators Coming From ThyssenKrupp AG
Your sideways elevator is getting closer to your floor. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

LineFORM MIT's Shape-Changing Interface
'For an interval, the device struggled with itself...' - Philip K. Dick, 1957. (re: Philip K. Dick)

LM3D Swim First 3D-Printed Production Car
'Almost as good as the original it was printed from…' - Philip K. Dick, 1956. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Protopiper Lets You Sketch Full-Size Objects In Real Space
'Plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens...'- Murray Leinster, 1945. (re: Murray Leinster)

AI Trainers: Assisting Artificial Intelligences
'[Ava] wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew...' - Amitav Ghosh, 1995. (re: Amitav Ghosh)

New Glass Tough As Steel
'Windows of an artificial transparent element...'' - Olaf Stapledon, 1930. (re: Olaf Stapledon)

FORTIS Exoskeleton Not Quite Ripley's Alien-Fighting Exoskeleton
'Earth's scientists solved the problem to some extent by devising rigid metallic clothing...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932. (re: Edmond Hamilton)

Kirobo Mini - Your Dashboard Droid
No protocol droid needed for translation! (re: George Lucas)

RF-Capture Lets MIT Boffins See Through Walls
'A television set that would see through walls...' - Nat Schachner, 1936. (re: Nat Schachner)

Reduce Hurricanes By Altering The Atmosphere
'When yon volcanoes belch gas, the maintenance posts fire jets of tailored algae into the air stream.' - Niven and Pournelle, 1974. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

Second Skin Clothing By Biologic Changes With You
'A dress can change its color and texture in a few seconds...' - JG Ballard, 1970. (re: JG Ballard)

Skin Sensor Signals Brain
'Which permitted it to gauge to an ounce the amount of pressure necessary...' - Roger Zelazny, 1966. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Blackest Black? New Disordered Nanostructured Material
'Well, we have a black coating now that’s ninety-nine percent absorptive...' - Doc Smith, 1934. (re: Doc Smith)

3D Printed Soft Robotic Tentacle May Grab You
'Monique's tissues had at least three other basic attractor modes as well...' - Rudy Rucker, 1997. (re: Rudy Rucker)

UK's Self-Repairing Cities
'The city was divided into two sections, a section of many strata where machines functioned smoothly...' - John W. Campbell, 1934. (re: John W. Campbell)

Gene-Edited Muscle Dogs From China
'Its skull was improbably high-domed and its eyes, deep-set, were disturbingly uncanine.' - John Brunner, 1975. (re: John Brunner)

Sprint Wants Sales Robots
'Robot-salesmen were everywhere, gesturing, pleading...' - Philip K Dick, 1954. (re: Philip K Dick)

3D Printed Pluto And Charon, For Imperial Collectors
'It was the kind of globe made for wealthy collectors or planetary governors of the Empire.' - Frank Herbert, 1965. (re: Frank Herbert)

Tesla's New Autopilot, With Test Drive Video
'As the beautiful old car cruised in almost perfect silence under the guidance of its automatic controls...' (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Do You, Human, Take This Robot...?
'Streamlined, smooth-working, absolutely noiseless, breath-takingly realistic.' - Fritz Lieber, 1954. (re: Alice W. Fuller)

Boeing Creates Lightest Metal Ever
'A metal that was apparently as light as cork and stronger than steel...' - Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1929. (re: Edgar Rice Burroughs)

MIT's Microwave Camera Sees Through Walls
'Through the lenses of those goggles Costigan's keen and highly-trained eyes studied every concealed detail...' - EE 'Doc' Smith, 1934. (re: EE 'Doc' Smith)

A Solar System Swept Clean - For A Dyson Swarm
'They cleaned it out...' - Larry Niven, 1970 (re: Larry Niven)

QRoSS Robot Inspired By Star Wars Droidekas
'They are no match for droidekas...' - George Lucas, 1999. (re: George Lucas)

Will The Dashboard Disappear From Autonomous Cars?
'No controls and no instruments...' - James Blish, 1957. (re: James Blish)

Nifty 3D Printed Flexible Robotic Finger
'It's motion was so swift, complex, and perfect that at first I did not see it as a machine...' - HG Wells, 1898. (re: HG Wells)

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. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

ADEPT Heat Shield Works For Mars
'...A synthetic which air-friction would erode away...' - EE Doc Smith, 1934. (re: EE 'Doc' Smith)

Ultralight Origami Crane UAV Flexes Its Wings
'They began to flex their wings.' - (re: Roger Zelazny)

UM Solar Car Now Also With IBM Research Power
'It drew its power from six square yards of sunpower screens on its low curved roof.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Robot-Based Trash Collection
'Robots pick up the garbage and junk and load it in there...' - Harry Harrison, 1956. (re: Harry Harrison)

Warrior Web Exoskeleton For Soldiers Undergoes Tests
'The real genius in the design is that you don't have to control the suit; you just wear it...' - Robert Heinlein, 1959. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Tesla Promises Fully Autonomous Cars By 2018
It's been a criminal offense for at least a hundred years to drive manually on a public highway.- Arthur C. Clarke, 1976. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Light Molecules (And Maybe Light Sabers, Someday)
'It will be matter, matter made of light...'- John W. Campbell, 1930. (re: John W. Campbell)

Telepresence In The Office
'That led to his development of robot probes; small devices with cameras and sound equipment which could move freely... under direct control.' - Niven and Pournelle, 1981. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

Piper, Google's 2 Billion Line Code Repository, Needs A Cool Display
'The student pointed a finger and as he did so, the line of equations marched down the wall...' - Isaac Asimov, 1953. (re: Isaac Asimov)

WEpod Driverless Vehicle On The Netherlands Roads
'The car moved smoothly away. Mirelly-Lyra half relaxed; she was not steering.' - Larry Niven, 1978. (re: Larry Niven)

Computer Predicts Psychosis Better Than Psychiatrists
'The mechanism which was the portable extension of Dr. Smile...' - Philip K. Dick, 1965. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Robot Evolution Needs Mass Extinction Events
'It was small, one of the baby ones.'- Philip K. Dick, 1953. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Lab-Grown Kidneys Implanted Successfully - In Animals
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the Hospital to get treatment with the ramrobot symbiots'- Larry Niven, 1968. (re: Larry Niven)

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