Richard Leis

Month: April 2005

  • An Interview with Becca Walker

    Gender issues such as the role of women in science and technology were brought to a head recently when Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University, suggested at an academic conference that intrinsic differences between males and females may explain why there are fewer women in science, mathematics and engineering. Summers, according to his defenders,…

  • Organic Compounds Discovered in Titan’s Upper Atmosphere

    The Cassini space probe has discovered a variety of complex hydrocarbons and carbon-nitrogen compounds in the upper atmosphere of Titan. Described by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an “organic ‘factory’ of hydrocarbons” the upper atmosphere seems to be an unlikely spot for such high levels of these compounds, since they should condense and rain out…

  • Robot Insects Invade Finland

    The invasion of Finland by giant robotic insects has taken an ugly turn with reports of forestry workers being swallowed whole. The unfortunate victims are visible through the insect’s clear head/stomach and look strangely industrious even while being slowing digested. The six-legged freaks march through the forest like locusts, eating trees and unwary John Deere…

  • What I Want – Automated Internet TV

    There are a great many video weblogs and Internet television series available now that are interesting and better than most of the crap on over-the-air, cable, and satellite television. Unfortunately, you have to download episodes of each show manually (a few weblogs can be automatically downloaded through videocasting which is similar to podcasting), find them…

  • Skype Looms

    It is interesting that a review of VoIP services by Associated Press writers does not include any mention of Skype. The writers claim that their phone costs have been cut in half by moving to VoIP services such as Vonage, but somehow their excitement rings hollow when Skype is free. $19.95 for unlimited calls anywhere…

  • Who Are You?

    Who are you that you can tell me what to do? Who are you to tell me that I cannot pirate my digital content, take drugs, have sex with whomever I choose, dress how I want, color my hair how I want? Who are you to tell me that I cannot experiment with myself? Who…

  • Stratellite Unveiled

    The Frontier Channel first covered “Stratellites” in our August 2004 edition. With ambitious plans to replace cellular towers all over the world with balloon-lofted platforms in the stratosphere, Sanswire Networks officially unveiled their prototype vessel to investors yesterday. They plan public unveilings and a flight test as soon as they can get FAA and NASA…

  • Soft Tissue Retrieved from Dinosaur Fossil

    Scientists investigating the inner structure of a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovered what appeared to be preserved soft tissues, perhaps including intact blood cells, as reported in the March 25, 2005 issue of Science. If confirmed, the unexpected finding could revolutionize our understanding of ancient life forms. Biological tissues are generally not preserved in the geological…

  • Astonishing X-Men

    Several Astonishing X-Men comics laid out against black background

    The best movie, the best television show, and the best novel of the past year is not a movie, television show, or novel. Instead, it is a comic book.

  • “The Scene”

    One of the most innovative and suspenseful series currently running new episodes is not on network television or cable. Instead, “The Scene” is a series available for download over the Internet, and it is another great example of the independent passion at work. The series is innovative in its presentation. You are watching an active…

  • “Dolphin Returns to Land”

    When those of us who do focus on the future, we often see through anthropomorphic glasses; that is, we think in terms of humanity only. But the emerging future promises profound changes to other species of life on this planet as well. Even if humans had not created “technological” evolution, “natural” evolution would have continued…

  • Titan-ic Awe

    The latest flyby of Titan by Cassini occurred on March 31, 2005. NASA has not yet released processed images and scientific feedback, but the raw images have been available for a couple days now. When looking at these raw images of Titan, there is something profoundly strange yet incredibly familiar about them. The only reasonable…

  • Small Size, G(o)B(s) of Storage

    The hard drive in the latest iPod mini from Apple currently holds six gigabytes (GB) of data. The largest hard drive available for desktop computers is now 500GB. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced today that new technology will allow them to create a 20GB hard drive for the iPod mini and a one terabyte (TB)…

  • Cassini Discovers Atmosphere Around Enceladus

    As if Titan was not exciting enough, the Cassini space probe recently detected an atmosphere around a second Saturnian moon, this time Enceladus. Cassini did not spot the atmosphere directly but discovered that Saturn’s magnetic field lines are being bent in the vicinity of Enceladus. This indicates diversion of the field by an atmosphere. Because…

  • The Southern Hemisphere of Saturn, in Black and White

    On February 18, 2005 the Cassini space probe took an image of Saturn’s southern hemisphere. The interplay of the ring shadow and the banded atmosphere of Saturn at the top of the image is striking. The ring is seen nearly edge on.