Richard Leis

Horror Writer & Poet

Month: October 2007

  • Armadillo Aerospace’s Latest Competition Attempt Fails

    With the moon visible overhead, Armadillo Aerospace unsuccessfully attempted to win the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup this weekend at Holloman Air Force Base. The only competitor of nine ready to go for the event, Armadillo Aerospace, led by John Carmack of Doom and Quake fame, experienced both successes…

  • X PRIZE Cup – Table of Contents

    A race to space is shaping up in the private industry and once a year the public is invited to see the latest breakthroughs, vehicles, and competitions intended to accelerate this progress. The Wirefly X PRIZE Cup was held October 26 through 28 at the Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. Combined…

  • HiRISE Releases False Color Images of Potential MSL Landing Sites

    The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) team today released a slew of new false color images of the surface of Mars to the public, the culmination of many months of software and automation development.

  • “No Graveyard”

    “No Graveyard”

    “Alcor is no graveyard.”

  • Alcor Conference – Table of Contents

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. Frontier Channel liveblogging from the 7th Alcor Conference: Day 1 Day 2

  • Sputnik 1: 50 Years Later

    [History] | [Commentary] Plenty of space blogs, organizations, and media outlets are marked last Thursday as the 50 year anniversary of the first artificial satellite in Earth orbit, Sputnik 1. On October 04, 1957 Russia surprised the United States by demonstrating their technological prowess with the successful launch of Sputnik 1. The “artificial moon” did…

  • Rumor: Artificial Life

    Although the following news appears to have been confirmed by Craig Venter, it should be viewed as rumor until there is an official announcement. The Guardian is reporting that Venter and a team of scientists have created artificial life, in the form of an artificial chromosome that can make use of another organism’s cellular machinery…

  • Alcor Conference – Chris Heward

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Chris Heward discussed his work on the “Kronos Longitudinal Aging Study (KLAS)” as a measurement of human aging. KRONOS Science Laboratory [defunct link] is a research institution in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Heward showed a graph of progress…

  • Alcor Conference – Christine Peterson

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Christine Peterson presented “Good News, Bad News, Surprising News” about life extension. She now spends about half time studying life extension as an enthusiast. She began by stating that terminology matters. Which terms are best: life extension, health…

  • Alcor Conference – Calvin Mercer

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?”  Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people.  How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people? How the discussion…

  • Alcor Conference – Morning Break

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Popcorn, cookies, and pretzels. We talked to a couple who are musicians and Alcor members about how art can be used to promote life extension and transhumanism.

  • Alcor Conference – Calvin Mercer

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?” Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people. How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people? How the discussion…

  • Alcor Conference – Steven Harris

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Steven Harris is a researcher developing “Rapid Body Cooling for Prevention of Brain Damage.” Rapid body cooling technologies are important to both cryonics and emerging short-term treatments. Hypothermia induced by lowering the body temperature by 4 degrees…

  • Alcor Conference – Morning Panel

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Day two of the Alcor Conference. The day began with the “Human Cryopreservation and Critical Care Medicine Panel,” including Alcor’s Tanya Jones, critical care physician David Crippen and bioethicist Leslie Whetstine and moderated by Aschwin de Wolf. [Recap]…

  • Alcor Conference – Alcor Board of Directors Panel

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Stephen Van Sickle, Ralph Merkle, Michael R. Seidl, and Brian Wowk of the Alcor Board of Directors answered questions from the audience for the last session of the day. The Board addressed questions about the current state of…

  • Alcor Conference – Aubrey de Grey

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Does Aubrey de Grey really need an introduction at this point? His public proposal for repairing and reversing the damage of aging, SENS, and his public admission of being an Alcor member were the topics he discussed…

  • Alcor Conference – Afternoon Break

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Ice cream! Networking! Being nearly run over by busy organizers!

  • Alcor Conference – Michael West

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Another approach to recovery of cryonics patients, or patients prior to requiring cryonics, is regenerative medicine, that is, the ability to use stem cells to rebuild tissues. Michael West from Advanced Cell Technology discussed “Immortal Cells: The…

  • Alcor Conference – Ralph Merkle

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Nanotechnology. Once only an obscure buzzword among fringe techno-progressives, nanotechnology has emerged both as a multi-billion dollar industry and a controversial technology that could lead, according to some, to a prosperous future of plenty, or, according to…

  • Alcor Conference – Luncheon

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] It is time for lunch. These breaks, lunches, and dinners are includes in the conference package and sponsored and funded by organizations or wealthier Alcor members. These sponsors have been mentioned between talks.

  • Alcor Conference – Tanya Jones

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Tanya Jones is the COO of Alcor. She has also participated in over half of the members’ cryopreservations. She talked about “Improving Cryopreservation Technology at Alcor.” The moment the heart stops and legal death begins, Alcor must…

  • Alcor Conference – Stephen Van Sickle

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] The next speaker from Alcor was Stephen Van Sickle, Executive Director, discussing the “Research Direction at Alcor.” There was a time when Alcor did not conduct much research, focusing instead on their services and gaining new members.…

  • Alcor Conference – First Break

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Commentary] Break time! Time to mingle, network, eat snacks, or catchup on liveblogging… The accommodations are very nice here at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort. About 100 people are in the audience, with water, gum drops, and notepads on…

  • Alcor Conference – Brian Wowk

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] Brian Wowk discussed cryobiology, the field of cold tolerance in nature and cryopreservation of biological material. In nature, organism survive freezing temperatures by ice avoidance and ice tolerance, using cellular “antifreeze” or cryoprotectants. By studying these organism,…

  • Alcor Conference – Steve Bridges

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] [Recap] A former Alcor president, Steve Bridges opened up the conference with a question: “Why are we here?” His answer: “Alive = Good. Dead = Bad.” Over the past 100 years, technology and medicine have improved our ability…

  • Alcor Conference – Introduction

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] When people die, some of them are buried in a plot in a graveyard. Others choose cremation their remains kept in an urn (perhaps after some of their remains are sprinkled in favorite locations around the Earth.) For…

  • Frontier Channel at 7th Alcor Conference

    Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. [Alcor Conference – Table of Contents] Frontier Channel will be liveblogging this weekend from Scottsdale, AZ, USA for the 7th Alcor Conference [defunct link]. The three day event will bring together experts in cryobiology, life extension research, and nanotechnology to present the latest information…