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"Beyond a thousand years from now humans are not quite recognizably human, and I have trouble finding characters."
- Larry Niven
 |
| 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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'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
