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Offworld Report: December '03: Weird Science
Scientists engineer the first artificial virus, the Pentagon begins
production of battlefield laser cannons, 200,000 years old carvings
of faces cause a stir, hydrogen cars revisited, and sales of robot
domestics shoot up.
 December
'03's news and content roundup of all that is worthy and good in
the weird science, found living offworld the 'Nest.
Where's
ET?
There must be an alien civilization around somewhere, right?
Europa
Seas
SETI's Kevin Hand on the search for life forms that can survive
in the extreme.
Making
the Fans Pay
More on the proposed US tax on science fiction to help pay for NASA.
Only in America …
Keeping
it Real
Look at the tome 'Backroom Boys', Francis Spufford's tribute to
the British space programme and science in general.
Martian
Sands
Why soil in our oldest desert matches the soil of the red planet.
Olympian
Face
Fascinating footage of Jupiter from the Cassini mission.
No
New Planets Today, Please
Europe's search for Earth-like planets axed in budget cuts.
Dry,
Dry Moon
Earth's moon show no signs of water at its poles – there goes plans
for the moon base.
Atlantis
Really
Nutty questions are posed and answered; such as will we ever find
Atlantis?
Those
Wacky Robo-Racers
Looks at the Pentagon's challenge to build a robot capable of racing
from LA to Vegas.
Nanotech
Breakthrough
How to fit one hundred million nano-motors on the top of a pin.
My
Eros, Hands Off
Why there's a sudden bout of legal fisticuffs over the ownership
of the asteroid Eros.
Scary
Life
New chemical synthesis technology used by scientists to produce
the first fully functional 100% artificial virus (in just two weeks
too). Oh dear, goodbye God, hello mankind.
Flare
Up
Biggest ever solar-flare strikes the Earth's magnetic field.
The
Art of Space
Are these utterly fantastic new photographs taken by space probes
art?
Pumping
Hydrogen
More breakthroughs in hydrogen-powered automobiles.
My
Robot Slave
Sales of robot domestics go through the roof.
Russian
Space Taxi
A new crew boards the International Space Station, ferried up by
Soyuz.
Ancient
Heads
200,000-year old carvings found made by an extinct branch of the
human species.
Hello
Mega-City One
Mega cities used to be found in the Judge Dredd comic books, but
now they're becoming real in Asia.
Laser
This
The Pentagon is close to realizing their scheme for battlefield
laser weapons.
Energy
Virus
Virus constructed from DNA fragments to service mankind's future
energy requirements.
Water
Power
Scientists find a technique to extract electricity from water and
use it to power computer CPUs.
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OTHER CONTENT - December 2003
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Tom
Holt: Singing for Nero
Author Tom Holt on his old life as a lawyer, choosing the right words, falling
asleep during 'The Matrix', and why the Roman Emperor Nero may not have been
such a bad egg after all.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Mini-Reviews from the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival
Mark comes back from Canada laden with reviews of the SFF movies Bright Future, Code 46, Cypher, A Problem With Fear, Nothing, and Le Temps Du Loup.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Shaun Jeffrey gets Evil(ution)
Horror writer Shaun Jeffrey sits opposite our Donna in the interview chair ... and she discovers how hard it is to mix the usual trappings of a day job with novel writing.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Wheels within Wheels
Fantasy author Robert Jordan interviewed about his Wheel of Time prequel, and why, if stranded on a desert island, he'd need an M-14 rifle with a good scope and as much ammunition as he could carry .
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Seeing Sullivan
Author Tricia Sullivan interviewed about her stunning new work of future-fiction, Maul, and why some may fine her imagined world extremely disturbing.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Conspiracy
in the Shadow of Hierarchy
Despite some recent indulgences, Scots SF author Ken MacLeod is not much of
a one for conspiracy theories. In general they hinge on misapplications of the
principle of cui bono. Who shot JFK? Well, Lee Harvey Oswald must surely top
the list of suspects.
(COMMENT)
Offworld
Report: December '03: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Robin Hobb, Iain Banks and Peter Crowther are interviewed, Robert Silverberg
muses over the contents of dinosaur intestines, while John Jarrold visits the
odd world of Korean science fiction.
(NEWS)
Offworld
Report: December '03: Weird Science
Scientists engineer the first artificial virus, the Pentagon begins production
of battlefield laser cannons, 200,000 years old carvings of faces cause a stir,
hydrogen cars revisited, and sales of robot domestics shoot up.
(NEWS)
Scary
Movie 3
It’s that dubious time once again to indulge in another spoof-starved Scary
Movie installment. Sadly, Frank discovers more of the same.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Elf
Frank discovers that Ferrell doesn’t disappoint when Jon Favreau helms a kooky
comedy that proves an instant delight to moviegoers in the offbeat Christmas-themed
flick Elf.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Series
7: The Contenders
Six people hunt and kill each other in a futuristic satire of today's 'reality
TV'. But Mark reckons this movie comes off a little phony, exploiting the violence
it appears to condemn.
(FILM REVIEWS)
The
Composite Man
Editor Geoff slyly considers what ingredients you'd stir into the pot to make
the ideal science fiction hero for a cinema audience.
(ARTICLES)
The Matrix Revolutions
Franks asks: 'is The Matrix Revolutions the ideal finishing touch to an awestruck sci-fi film trilogy that captivated moviegoers since its hedonistic conception back in 1999?' The succinct answer: Hardly.
(FILM REVIEWS)
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