John Carter

I don't see any way to begin a review of "John Carter" without referring to "Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot." That was a series of little stories that appeared in the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1956 to 1973 and had a great influence on my development as a critic. In one of the Feghoot adventures, the hero finds himself on Mars and engaged in bloody swordplay. He is sliced in the leg. Then in the other leg. Then an arm is hacked off. "To hell with this," Feghoot exclaims, unholstering his ray gun and vaporizing his enemies.

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Astronomer Finds Evidence for Record-Breaking Nine Planet System

A study by Mikko Tuomi, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire, has revealed that the planetary system around the star named HD 10180 may have more planets in its orbits than our own Solar system. Dr Tuomi carried out his analysis as part of the EU research network RoPACS, being led in Hertfordshire.

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First-Ever Model Simulation of the Structuring of the Observable Universe

A team of researchers from the Laboratoire Univers et Théorie (LUTH, Observatoire de Paris/CNRS/Université Paris Diderot)(1) coordinated by Jean-Michel Alimi has performed the first-ever computer model simulation of the structuring of the entire observable universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. The simulation has made it possible to follow the evolution of 550 billion particles. This is the first of three runs which are part of an exceptional project called Deus : full universe run (2), carried out using GENCI's new supercomputer CURIE at the CEA's Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC).

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Google stock split helps Page, Brin maintain grip

Google Inc announced a stock split designed to preserve the control of co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin over the world's No. 1 Web search engine, asking investors to trust their long-term vision.

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Quantum Computer Built Inside a Diamond

Diamonds are forever -- or, at least, the effects of this diamond on quantum computing may be. A team that includes scientists from USC has built a quantum computer in a diamond, the first of its kind to include protection against "decoherence" -- noise that prevents the computer from functioning properly.

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Take Shelter

Here is a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading in the land: that the good days are ending, and climate changes or other sinister forces will sweep away our safety. "Take Shelter" unfolds in a quiet Ohio countryside with big skies and flat horizons, and involves a happy family whose life seems contented.

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Jeff Nichols (Director, Writer)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2158772/

Computer Scientist Leads the Way to the Next Revolution in Artificial Intelligence

As computer scientists this year celebrate the 100thanniversary of the birth of the mathematical genius Alan Turing, who set out the basis for digital computing in the 1930s to anticipate the electronic age, they still quest after a machine as adaptable and intelligent as the human brain.

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Hypercomputation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercomputation

Hava Siegelmann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hava_Siegelmann

An AICN Reader Has Boarded Peter Berg's BATTLESHIP In Tokyo!!

An AICN reader named Jake Walsh attended yesterday's Tokyo premier of Peter Berg's bigscreen adaptation/alienificaton of the famous Hasbro game BATTLESHIP.

What follows are Jake's thoughts on the film. I've tweaked his contributions slightly to extract a SPOILER or two which maybe wouldn't have been fair to release so far out, but substabntively this is very much his report in full. We deeply appreciate his time and effort when sending this along.

His verdict? It's huge, oversized, Bay-esque extravagenza but without the heart and charm of Bay. I'll let Jake speak for himself from this point forward.

We can judge for ourselves when BATTLESHIP opens next month.

Continue Reading on AintItCool.com 

Peter Berg (Director)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000916/

Tadanobu Asano
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0038355/

Google Unveils Project Glass: Wearable Augmented Reality Glasses

Google today went public with its plans to offer augmented reality glasses, which it’s calling “Project Glass.” 

Unveiling the project should make it easier for Google to test the weird-looking glasses in public. As currently designed, they have a horizontal frame that rests on a wearer’s nose, with a wider strip of computer and a little clear display on the right side. So they’re not really “glasses” in the traditional sense at all.

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Babak Parviz
http://www.ee.washington.edu/faculty/parviz_babak/

Steve Lee
http://www.quora.com/Steve-Lee

Sebastian Thrun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Thrun

Self-sculpting sand

New algorithms could enable heaps of ‘smart sand’ that can assume any shape, allowing spontaneous formation of new tools or duplication of broken mechanical parts. 

Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: The sand has assembled itself into a large-scale replica of the model.

Continue Reading on Web.MIT.edu

Euclid as the Father of Geometry

Chemtrail conspiracy theory

The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agentsdeliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials.[1] This theory is not accepted by the scientific community, which states that they are just normal contrails, and that there is no scientific evidence supporting the chemtrail theory.

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Chemical Brothers - Don't Think

Something happened during the initial theatrical screenings of the Chemical Brothers' concert documentary Don't Think that, while spontaneous, also felt like a foregone conclusion: audiences got up and danced. Sharing a darkened room with a flashy, quick-cutting, psychedelic sensory overload blasted out in Dolby Surround can do that to people. Especially when it's based around a set from arguably the most enduringly successful rave-gone-pop act of all time. Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons have built a 20-year canon that can effortlessly fill 90 minutes with wave after wave of euphoric, body-shaking classics. And at a time when their occasionally-bumpy transition from next-big-thing 1990s icons to Hanna-scoring cool older brothers has positioned them as elder statesmen of a resurgent moment for electronic dance music, the role of a generation-bridging legacy act has fit them well. So while Gondry and Jonze did them plenty of justice in the MTV era, an actual audiovisual document of their mind-bending live show feels a bit overdue.

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Malaysian Grand Prix: five talking points from Sepang - Nico Rosberg must step up, Sergio Pérez may be the real deal and Bernie Ecclestone is right about water's entertainment value

In 2010, when Michael Schumacher made his comeback, and again last year, the seven-times world champion was consistently beaten by his younger team-mate, both in qualifying and on race day. But this season Schumacher, in his 44th year, appears to have the upper hand. Rosberg was 12th in Australia and 13th on Sunday and seemed to be standing still as a succession of rivals went past him. He is a seriously competent driver but he will never win his maiden grand prix at this rate. But even with Schumacher looking hungrier than before, the Mercedes, so promising on Saturday afternoon, is a Sunday washout. If they are cheating with their new DRS-driven F-duct, as some teams rather churlishly suggest, they are not making a very good job of it.

Continue Reading on Guardian.co.uk

"He also has an uncanny knack of looking after his tyres as if they were his own."