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"The thing that I'm most interested in at the moment is the so-called Infinite Energy solution - the possibility of finding new ways of tapping into virtually limitless sources of energy."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Rabbit-Paper | ||
| A paper pregnancy test that showed immediate results. |
| Automatically, she reached into the glove compartment of the car and groped for a neatly-wrapped strip of rabbit-paper, as it was called. She found a strip - it was the old kind, not the new - and unwrapped it, put it between her teeth and bit.
In the glare of the dome light of the car she examined the strip of rabbit-paper. One dead rabbit, she thought recalling the old days (they were before her time) when a rabbit had to die for this fact in question to be determined. The strip, in the dome light, was white, not green. She dropped it into the disposal chute of the car and it incinerated instantly. |
| Technovelgy from The Game Players of Titan,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Ace Books in 1963 Additional resources -
|
The idea of a pregnancy test is old; human beings have been wishing for something like this since the ancient Egyptians watered bags of wheat with the urine of a possibly pregnant woman (germination indicated pregnancy).
However, it wasn't until the 1970's that the discovery of monoclonal antibodies lead to cheap, disposable immunoassay strips used in home pregnancy tests.
In the story, the remarkable capabilities of the "new West German kind" are also touted:
"Not with the new West German kind," Pete said. "I read about it. It records an impregnation only an hour old."
As far as I know, the earliest results are within about ten days after conception.
Pretty good prediction by PKD; I don't recall hearing about this from an earlier source.
"...It wouldn't show up from us yet. It's too early."
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
