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Offworld Report - Weird Science: November 2003

Martial arts robots hit Asia, the day a meteorite crashed through my roof, China sparks a new space race, and life across the stars: why they're now betting on the system 37 Gem.


November's news and content roundup of all that is worthy and good in the world of weird science, found living offworld the 'Nest.

Every-boty was Robo-Fighting
Japan sees a new wave of martial arts droids capable of Karate and Sumo moves.

The Next Leap Forward
Look at the National Space Society's new position paper on what the heck we can do to get humans into space.

The Future of Flight
Seven visionaries predict the future of aviation across the next 100 years.

Life on 37 Gem?
Apparently the 37th brightest star in the Gemini constellation, aka 37 Gem, has the best chance of containing Earth-like planets with life.

The Great Drake Debate
NASA's exobiology forum, 'The Drake Equation Revisited,' reevaluates the probabilities for finding intelligent life outside Sol.

Smart Drive
The Smart 1 starship blasts up its groundbreaking ion drive as it begins its Lunar-bound voyage.

Betting With Dyson
Why scientist Freeman Dyson - Mr Sphere, to you - is now betting that the first alien life we find will be found sailing around the void, rather than planet-bound.

Die Technology Die
Author Bruce Sterling on the technologies that just plain deserve to die.

Stairway to Heaven
Why the 100,000-kilometre high space elevator is only ten years away from construction being started.

What's the Chances of that Happening?
The unluckiest man on the planet talks about the day a meteorite crashed through his roof.

Lifff on Mars
Scientists' search for life-bearing planets picks up pace.

Are you Anti-Antimatter?
Why antimatter could be getting a little more real every day.

Small Satellites Get Big
Article on the explosion of cheap microsatellite use.

Meteorite Maims Twenty
A shocking meteorite strike wounds twenty unlucky locals in East India.

Your Octopus Eyes
A new device simulates octopus-vision to help give robots the gift of sight.

Alien Invasion
The Milky Way is being buzz-bombed by thousands of stars yanked from the orbit of a nearby dwarf galaxy.

The One that Got Away
Another near miss from a space rock - the closest near miss yet recorded.

Going Up?
More guff on how new super-fibre research is moving the idea of the orbital beanstalk elevator from science fiction to science fact.

Europe to the Moon
The ESA’s ultra-cheap ion-drive ships gets going to the moon.

My One-Atom Laser
The California Institute of Technology builds a laser made with a single atom for the first time (by trapping a cold caesium atom in an optical cavity). Quantum computing here we come?

Paying the Robo-Piper
Why the Pentagon are paying a Scottish firm millions for their planned robot soldiers.

NASA Save Thyself
The changes NASA are trying to make in the wake of the Columbia disaster inquiry.

China Loves EU
China pumps millions into the EU's Galileo satellite system as the European's new partner. The Pentagon craps itself thinking about a GPS rival in the hands of the Reds.

Love the Earth: Live Shorter
Why the latest immortality research sucks.

The Alien Hunters
Large planets outside Sol might harbour intelligent life, says new report.

Our Tiny Universe
Is the universe a tiny soccer ball just 60 billion light years across?

Student Builds Home Nuke
A student fresh out of Spanish Fork High School has the physics faculty of Utah State University crapping flipping bricks with a nuclear fusion reactor he cobbled together from parts salvaged from junk yards and charity drops.

Giant Rodent Very Scary
The fossilized body of a mega-rodent that best resembles a mutant guinea pig is found in Venezuela.


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OTHER CONTENT - November 2003

Oasis Star Trek

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Chris Moriarty: All in a Spin
The science fiction author behind the amazing novel Spin State braves our interviewer's chair.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)

Offworld Report - SF: November 2003
Interviews with author Wil McCarthy, the cast of Alias, and the Director of Underworld. Plus criticism of this year's Worldcon in Toronto, the return of Dr Who, and a short science fiction history of the Middle East.
(NEWS)

Offworld Report - Weird Science: November 2003
Martial arts robots hit Asia, the day a meteorite crashed through my roof, China sparks a new space race, and life across the stars: they're now betting on the system 37 Gem .
(NEWS)

Offworld Report - Comics & Anime: November 2003
X-Men scribe Mark Millar interviewed, the return of the Micronauts, more flipping anthropomorphic animals, plus new G-Saviour, Cowboy Bebop and Melty Lancer. Don't you just love those odd anime titles?
(NEWS)

Offworld Report - RPGs and Games: November 2003
A look at The 1920s Investigator's Companion, Werewolf: the Dark Ages, Viking Age, and Stargate SG-1 the role-playing game, plus the question is posed: is live roleplaying on its last legs? Perish the thought.
(NEWS)

Cold Creek Manor
The creepy contrivance that takes the form of director Mike Figgis's haunted house hokum Cold Creek Manor definitely wants to develop the goose bump response for its anticipating audience. Unfortunately, this stillborn by-the-numbers movie of terror is reductive and just plods along.
(FILM REVIEWS)

Kill Bill (Volume One)
In the intentionally overwrought and gloriously violent-drenched B-movie actioner Kill Bill Tarantino pours it on thick as he chaotically pays homage to the movie genres that he reveres so deeply - creating a concoction of ubiquitous escapist Asian kung-fu flicks along with a dash of redemptive foreign spaghetti westerns.
(FILM REVIEWS)

Underworld
If a vampire loves a werewolf, where can they set up housekeeping together? Nowhere. At least not in a world where werewolves and vampires have fought for a thousand years. Mark discovers a film of non-stop action and non-start intelligence, with lots of gunplay and the look of The Matrix.
(FILM REVIEWS)

The Torrid Movies of Torcon
Mark brings you his impressions of some interesting upcoming movies based on attending the various trailer shows at Torcon 3, aka 2003's World Science Fiction Convention.
(FILM REVIEWS)

Does Science Fiction Have to be About the Present?
SF author Ken MacLeod has a theory that SF can be more illuminating about the time of its writing than about that of its imagined future.
(ARTICLES)

Star Trek Enterprise: Anomaly
Seeing the episode title "Anomaly" set off a few dozen alarms for our Evan. The title is reminiscent of the lowest form of storytelling we all saw so commonly on Voyager. Did it disappoint? Read on ...
(TV REVIEWS)

Star Trek Enterprise: Exile
This is the first episode of the season that is utterly devoid of any Trip/T'Pol scenes, at least in the romantic sense. Maybe that's one of the reasons our Evan loved it so much. What, no sensual T'Pol scenes? Forgetaboutit.
(TV REVIEWS)

Star Trek Enterprise: Extinction
In "Extinction," a sterile alien race, which is now extinct, creates a metagenic virus that has the effect of changing all other humanoid lifeforms into their own species. As far as originality goes, Evan reckons this episode gets a fairly average grade.
(TV REVIEWS)

Star Trek Enterprise: Impulse
Evan ponders whether this episode indicates that the show's reached a point where a continuing storyline can only go so far before involving the main characters in interesting and personal ways. Why? Well, poor old T'Pol is carted into sickbay, and she's obviously pushed way past the edge of sanity and into the realm of the truly psychotic.
(TV REVIEWS)

Star Trek Enterprise: Rajiin
This ep's premise appeared to be that the Enterprise was to take on a beautiful woman, who would use erotic and hypnotic powers to entice the crew. Evan thought we were in for another variation on "Precious Cargo," but he was pleasantly surprised.
(TV REVIEWS)


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