Science

Neat things that we know or are learning because brains are good things that should be exercised through creative exploration and curiosity.

Shades of Gattaca

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More and more, I think that in the coming years, the movie Gattaca may be seen as far more prescient than it was recognized as at the time it came out. Today’s example, for instance:

A Nobel Prize winning scientist has called on the British government to introduce legislation to [prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s genetic make-up][bq1], the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

[…]

Medical advances and the sequencing of the human genome have led to concerns that genetic testing could be used by insurance companies and employers to discriminate against people with an increased risk of developing certain diseases.

It’s only a matter of time before the “haves” and the “have-nots” are determined by what’s in their genes, I fear.

Custom kids, made to order

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How would you feel if a major reason for your existence in the world, possibly the primary reason for your conception, was to act as a genetically guaranteed donor to cure your older sibling of a disease?

Kind of weird to think about.

Sure, this kind of thing has been done for years, just without the benefit of Gattaca-style genetic screening to ensure a compatibility match, but it was a far more private matter. With the news stories surrounding these more recent children, how might they feel if somewhere down the line, when they’re old enough to understand, what if they somehow find out that they are one of these kids?

“Well, we weren’t planning on having another child, but then your brother got sick….”

Better or worse than finding out you’re adopted?

What if there was any favoritism — real or perceived — in how the two children were treated before this aspect was discovered? If the older child (the recipient) was seen as the “favorite”, how much could that affect the younger child’s perception of themself? Or if the younger was perceived as the “favorite”?

That could easily be enough to screw you up for a long, long time.

More megapixels isn’t necessarily better quality

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Something I need to keep in mind while continuing my search to replace my digital camera: 8 megapixels isn’t always better than 5.

With spring has come the release of several new 8 megapixel “prosumer” digital cameras. These new “digicams” sport the latest optics, metering, focusing systems and of course, sensor resolution. I would contend, however that in many cases the limitations imposed by capturing 8 million pixels on a 2/3″ size sensor negate the assumed advantages of increased pixel output. There just might be more to look for when selecting your next camera than the number of megapixels listed in the specifications.

Don’t get me wrong, I find that “8.0 megapixel” stamp on the front of the camera as enticing as any other high-tech craving camera connoisseur. The problem lies not in the number of pixels recorded, but in the quality of those pixels. Now, if I am to make any sort of logical argument that labels these new cameras as having “low-quality” pixels, I must provide a concrete example of “high-quality” pixels for direct comparison. Thus, I introduce into the argument the current crop of digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras.

The Slashdot discussion that I picked this up from has a lot of good discussion buried in it too, including this fun little tidbit: the cameras on the Mars rovers that have been sending back all those gorgeous, ultra-high-resolution digital photographs?

One megapixel.

NASA’s Spirit Rover is providing a lesson to aspiring digital photographers: Spend your money on the lens, not the pixels.

Anyone who has ever agonized over whether to buy a 3-megapixel or 4-megapixel digital camera might be surprised to learn that Spirit’s stunningly detailed images of Mars are made with a 1-megapixel model, a palm-sized 9-ounce marvel that would be coveted in any geek’s shirt pocket.

Spirit’s images are IMAX quality, mission managers say.

Even more amazing, at the end of that article comes the little tidbit that the sensor in the Hubble telescope is a whopping .8 megapixels — only 800 by 800 pixels.

Of course, if I could get a portable camera with the Hubble’s optics attached to it, I probably wouldn’t need all those extra megapixels either….

Yesterday’s Trek, today’s tech

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In the 23rd century universe of “Star Trek,” people talked to each other using wireless personal communicators, had easy access to a vast database of information and spent hours gazing at a big wall-mounted video screen.

On 21st century Earth, that future is already here.

Fun little article, though somehow I’m very _un_surprised that so many of today’s electronics are designed by geeks that grew up on Star Trek. Seems only natural to me.

Now all we need is warp drive and the transporter…

(via Jacqueline)

The latest from Mars

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Two LiveJournals have popped up to keep us informed of what’s really going on on Mars, without being filtered through the publicists at NASA.

First, Spirit Rover…

Monday, February 9th, 2004

9:56 pm

i’ve been staring at the same rock for two weeks.

stupid, boring rock.

this weekend i got my revenge. first i got to grind into it, then i drove right over it.

okay, i admit it, i had fun. i’d like to do more of this autonomous navigation thing. i knew i didn’t really need nasa telling me what to do.

And sister Opportunity:

**Friday, February 6th, 2004 **

8:23 am

squee!

I got to drive today! It’s so cool! I didn’t think I’d ever be allowed to go out on my own. NASA is so protective sometimes; it’s like they wanted to keep me swaddled in airbags forever. But anyways, I keep finding these round pebbly things. They get stuck in my treads. Do you think they’ll leave a mark? OMG what if Stardust saw me like this? No, it’s cool. It’s not like he’d ever come by this planet again…

Spirit is still “sick.” She swears she’s gonna drive to that crater any time now, though. She just wants to do it on her time and not when NASA orders her to. Like, whatever. Don’t tell anyone but sometimes I miss her.

Personally, I think this stuff is brilliant.

(via Boing Boing)

Biosphere

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There’s an interesting article from the Philadelphia Inquirer looking at the early-90’s Biosphere experiment. I remember being fascinated by this at the time it was going on, but thought I remembered that it eventually fell apart. Apparently I was wrong — the experiment did last the full two years planned, though not without problems…

Living inside the glass enclosure known as Biosphere 2 for two years wasn’t easy. If its eight pioneering residents wanted pizza, they had to grow their own wheat and milk a goat for cheese. They contended with thinning air, insufficient food, constant work and, worst of all, each other.

Things like this might be more and more important as we look more seriously at exploring the universe outside of our little planet. It’s neat to see people looking back on this again, and nice to be able to get a little more information on how things actually went during those two years.

(via The Mediaburn Radio Weblog)

Mars Dead or Alive

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If you’ve got an hour to kill and a broadband connection, the NOVA program “Mars Dead or Alive” is freely available on the web! I’ve just spent the past hour watching it, and it’s fascinating, going from the construction of the two rovers and the problems encountered during their assembly and testing, through both launches, and right up to Spirit’s successful landing on Mars.

Mars Dead or Alive

To watch the program, just go to the ‘Watch the program‘ section of the site, choose your connection type, and kick back.

Tip for QuckTime Pro users: Rather than watching the program in the small pop-up window that their site provides, just open up QuickTime Player, choose File: Open URL in New Player…, and paste in this URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars/media2/mars.mov. Once you’ve done that, you can then choose Movie: Present movie… and watch the entire program full-screen.

(via IPFreely)

Also available in the site is ‘From Launch to Landing‘, a stunning nine-minute long computer animation of Spirit’s journey from liftoff to its first moments trekking across the Martian landscape.

Pictures from Mars

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Very cool webpage automatically collecting and displaying the newest images from Mars.

This web page contains imagery from the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. It is gathered from the raw imagery on the JPL site.

Technical data (filter, instrument type, acquisition time) is captured from the image filename and available. Also, stereo anaglyphs are automatically made from images that were taken in stereo at regular intervals. When appropriate filters were used, color images and thumbnails are created as well.

And even better, it comes with an RSS feed for newsreader users.

(via /.)

Mars vs. Marriage

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Money allocated by President Bush to increase NASA’s budget in order to encourage space exploration, a replacement for the Space Shuttle, finishing the International Space Station, establishing a manned base on the Moon, and planning for manned trips to Mars:

One billion dollars spread over the next five years.

Money allocated by President Bush in a planned drive to “promote traditional marriage values”:

One and a half billion dollars, apparently over a single year.

I guess we’ve all got to have our priorities, don’t we?

As a long-time science fiction geek, I’d really like to get excited about the new emphasis on space exploration and research, and even a little more budgetary increase is better than none. Somehow, though, it comes across to me as nothing more than election-year grandstanding than something that’s really going to have much impact.