Happy weekend everyone! With the holidays (and Episode VII!) on our doorstep, it seems like the days just evaporate. The goal for the next week or so is to figure out when, exactly we'll get to the movies (and avoiding any and all spoilers until that point). While we wait, let's get down to a special Star Wars-themed Week in Geekdom.
Movies/TV
Anthony Daniels is the only actor to have appeared in every one of the Star Wars films. This in-depth interview details Daniels' interactions with J.J. Abrams and his tireless desire to own every part of his most famous role.
The latest edition of Nature Materials includes this research from MIT that, after combining microRNA strands into a triple helix, may be the foundation for a new type of cancer treatment.
Are you ready for your weekly dose of awesome photos from New Horizons? Well, wait no more.
Ok, we couldn't get through this section without at least one Star Wars reference. What's a realistic way to build a to-scale Death Star? The guys at JPL have a potential answer.
Feats of Nerdery/General Awesomeness
Check out this fully armed and operational Death Star replica
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
Happy weekend everyone! Hope you're all staying fed and hydrated among all the video game releases of this past week. If you're just now taking a break from your questing, here's the lowdown on the Week in Geekdom.
Extra Life may have been last weekend, but the charitable gaming continues! Watch here for the live stream of Desert Bus for Hope!
On Thursday fans of The Binding of Issac found that the latest bit of DLC for their beloved game was also the jump off point for an insane ARG. If you missed out on all the gaming goodness, PC Gamer covered the entire thing.
Nintendo announced its release schedule for the first and second quarter of 2016. Among the new titles was the introduction of Linkle, who will feature in Hyrule Warriors Legends on the 3DS.
It seems contradictory, but the latest research from a joint venture between China's ASIPP and the United States' General Atomics revealed that lowering the distance between pre-fusion plasma and the walls of the chamber said matter is confined in actually increasing the stability of the potential energy-producing system.
Canadian neurosurgeon Dr. Todd Mainprize has done what modern medicine has attempted to do for decades: penetrated the blood-brain barrier.
Computer scientist Laszlo Babai has allegedly developed an algorithm that allows the user to determine if two networks are the same, regardless of their respective complexity.
In the latest installation of What Can't 3D Printing Do is this art installation that features a printed ear derived from the DNA of Vincent Van Gogh. Extra eyebrow-raising is the fact that the ear can 'listen' to sound waves emitted into it.
The latest edition of Nature Communications contains this research from the Imperial College London that may introduce the world to a brand new, super efficient type of laser.
On the subject of gravitational dismantling, have you ever wondered if it's possible to see the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy? Here's how you could.
General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery
It's just a tad more luxurious than Vault 111. Welcome to the Oppidum, the world's largest 'billionaire bunker' for all your apocalypse-surviving needs.
Speaking of things that might be fun to own if you have all the monies, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is being converted into luxury condos.
Happy weekend everyone and sweet dreams to everyone who's finishing Extra Life 2015. This year's gaming marathon has raised nearly $6.4 million USD and counting! So many kudos to everyone who participated this year, now go get some much-deserved rest. And rest is definitely needed, as this upcoming week is chock-full of much-anticipated releases. For those of you still conscious, let's get down to the week in geekdom.
We're approaching the t-minus one month mark in the countdown to Episode VII. If a month is still too much to bear, Den of Geek has put together this massive compilation of all the posters, trailers, and assorted images that have been released to the public.
A team of researchers comprised of participants from UC San Francisco, the University of Michigan, and Washington University at St. Louis have identified a compound that, when applied as an eye drop, may clear up cataracts in humans. Their findings can be found in the latest edition of Science.
There are myriad examples in film and, increasingly, in real life wherein humans show more than a bit of disdain for AI programmed to be 'friendly' or otherwise helpful. As this sort of technology becomes more integrated into our lives, how will our behavior impact the way we relate to other humans?
NASA's JPL and the University of Texas at Austin have been working together to use satellites in order to observe patterns in the Earth's ocean currents. What they've found so far does not bode well in terms of the potential impacts of climate change.
This past Wednesday marked the exact centennial of Albert Einstein's historic, gravity-redefining lectures at the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Here's the story of how none of this would likely have come to pass were it not for the school of thought/obsession with a fictional planet.
How is it that supermassive black holes are capable of of flaring? Thanks to NASA's Explorer mission Swift and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, we may be closer than ever to answering that question.
We've been following the development of a potential EM drive as best we can and, allegedly, there have been a few new details released into the interwebs concerning this physics-defying device.
Happy weekend everyone and best wishes for a happy con to all you lucky nerds attending SPIEL and New York City Comic Con right now. One of these days we really should make the trip over to Germany and see all that Essen has to offer or get down to New York to get our comic con fix. Things have been a bit on the slow here in terms of new content here on the Care and Feeding of Nerds, but all that will change in the not-so-distant future (I promise!). In the meantime, let's get down to the week in geekdom.
Games
Bluepoint Games and Naughty Dog have pooled their resources to rebuild and release UNCHARTED: The Nathan Drake Collection for the newly repriced PS4. While this is, in itself, pretty exciting, it opened up the line of thought, "What other classic games should be rebooted for the PS4?"
Marvel is gung-ho to keep plowing ahead with its plans for Phase 3. The latest planned addition to the cinematic universe is Ant Man and the Wasp, which is slated to hit theaters in 2018.
Turns out that Mars isn't the only one of our solar system siblings that plays host to water. Thanks to the image cache sent back from New Horizons, NASA has been able to confirm that Pluto not only contains ice, but boasts blue skies as well.
Construction isn't slated to begin until 2018, but scientists are already atwitter with excitement about the Square Kilometer Array (a.k.a. what may be our best tool in the search for intelligent alien life).
If you were ever a student in a U.S. high school, you likely had to make use of a TI-83 graphing calculator at some point in your academic career. The computational behemoths are still widely used throughout the country, and here's why.
The latest edition of Nature Communications contains the details of this effort out of MIT to produce the first fully-functional prototype of a miniature particle accelerator.
For decades astronomers and physicists used gravitational effects to determine the mass of celestial bodies. New research from the University of Amsterdam, however, indicates that other methods may be just as, if not more, effective.
The most recent edition of Science Advances sounds like something straight out of science-fiction. Researchers at Lehigh University were able to control a fly's heartbeat using a laser.
While we're on the subject of supervillain-esque research, Nature details the research of George Church, his Harvard brethren, and a clutch of geneticists in China who have edited the genomes of pigs in order to allow them to be the perfect organ donors for humans.
Peto's Paradox described the phenomenon of the incidence rate of cancer being inversely correlated to an animal's size. Here's how a trip to the zoo spawned a detailed study at the University of Utah investigating this phenomenon.
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of This Week in Geekdoms. We're trying to squeeze all the summer we can out of these next few weeks before things take a turn for the dark and chilly. Gah, can't believe Labor Day crept up on us so quickly! The upcoming change in seasons will translate to more posts, if everything goes according to plan. In any case, let's get down to the Week in Geekdom!
Secret Wars is slated to draw to a close this October and Marvel has stated that there will be a full-on reboot of their entire comic universe in the immediate aftermath. Here's what you need to know to be prepared for this "All New, All-Different Marvel."
Games
As a follow-up to June's announcement that Kerbal Space Program will be coming to PS4, developer Flying Tiger confirmed this week that they are also working on a port of the game to Xbox One. Neither port has a release date yet.
If you were alive during the 1990s and ever visited an arcade, you likely were exposed to some not-so-subtle anti-drug propoganda. Ever wonder why various agencies chose to spread their message in arcades? Well, now you can find out.
Movies
We have a new trailer for the Martian. Let us bask in its glory
It may not be capable of causing rifts in the space-time continuum, but physicists from the University of Barcelona have successfully crafted a wormhole (that bores through electromagnetic fields).
It's a device straight out of the annals of science fiction, but more than one organization is seeking to at least attempt to make them a reality. What would happen if we could make a functional electromagnetic thruster?
Speaking of stuff that's straight out of science fiction, researchers at Ohio State University are claiming that they've grown a full-sized human brain in their laboratories (insert sinister cackling here).
Engineers at the University of Bristol may have a solution to one of the major limiting factors of quantum computing (and computing in general): the first quantum interconnect.
It hasn't even been a full month since the launch of Windows 10 and Microsoft has already released three patches to support the new operating system. The problem? Microsoft refuses to tell us what's in those patches.
It was arguably the single most viral phenomenon of 2014, but we're now learning just how much good the has come from the funds raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Crowdfundables For Your Consideration
Back in June we talked about a potential epic battle involving actual giant robots. Now one of the makers of said robots needs our help to make that fight happen. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the dream-fulfilling details.
There are just five days remaining to get in on the Button Shy Wallet Game series. This (completely funded) Kickstarter provides backers with three highly portable and fast-playing games.
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
Hi everyone and best wishes for a happy long weekend to those who've been able to configure such a nice unofficial start to summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Today's post is going to be a bit on the short side, as I'm currently participating in my very first MegaGame today. My fellow gamers and I will be reacting to the first extraterrestrial contact here on planet Earth in the campaign Watch the Skies! It should make for fun times and you can follow along in our adventures via our Twitter or Facebook accounts (or via the in-game blog I'll be running: the Global Technology Journal). Before we get down to chasing aliens, let's get down to the Week in Geekdom.
Games
This is the story of how Colossal Order reached out to frustrated fans of Sim City and built a brand new simulation phenomenon.
Nintendo would like you to know that it does, in fact, have indie games on its roster. They're just not anything that's been made all that recently.
Speaking of pointy dental structures, have you ever wondered what it's like to be a walrus? Now you can have a first-hand look at a day in the life of the giant marine mammal.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Congress passed this extremely controversial bill that removes budget-allocating powers from the National Science Foundation and gives those abilities to Congress itself. The bill also put hard limits on what research pertaining to fossil fuels could be used to guide energy policies in the United States.
Hi everyone. Hope you're all having a great weekend thus far. The GIR and I are still a bit giddy after our first foray into 5th Edition D&D yesterday. It felt so incredibly good to be back at a table again. We've done a handful of online-based games, but there's definitely something to be said about gathering friends around a screen and physically rolling our dice. But enough reminiscing; let's get down to the Week in Geekdom.
Comics
The big buzz this week centered primarily around the release of Age of Ultron. If you or your friends were inspired by the movie and want to dive into the source comics, this is an exeellent primer to help you do so.
The PC version of Grand Theft Auto V may be only days off the proverbial release block, but Rockstar Games has allegedly already put the kibosh on the development and use of mods.
One of the most fun and enjoyable scenes in Age of Ultron is the fight between the Hulk and Tony Stark wearing the Hulkbuster version of his Iron Man armor. If the trailer or the movie has you wondering just how hard Tony had to hit the Hulk in that scene, this is your answer.
News out of Dimension Jump Convention included this confirmation that the classic sci-fi series Red Dwarfwill be making a comeback. Not one, but two new incarnations of the show will be appearing on the UK's Dave network in 2016 and 2017 repectively.
40 years ago NASA scientists began gathering satellite images of the Earth. These are some of the time-lapse videos that came out of that collecting and they provide us with some stunning video clips illustrating the footprint that we've created on Earth's surface.
Artist's rendition of MESSENGER's last moments
Speaking of NASA, earler this week they bid farewell to MESSENGER, their Mercury orbiter, after the latter ran out of fuel and smashed onto the surface of the diminutive planet.
As the agency turned its eyes away from the center of our solar system and looked out to the farthest reaches of the latter they were met with what appears to be a polar ice cap on the most controversial of the dwarf planets.
They're also allegedly working on an ideal way to get from point A to point B by edging closer to making a functional warp drive.
Holy moly, it's already Sunday again. I know I often gripe about how quickly time speeds by, but it's so true! Maybe it's because we're still venturing out from our winter hibernation, but we're somehow already on the cusp of May. Must kick costume production into high gear! For now though, let's get down to the Week in Geekdom.
Comics
Hasbro is teaming up with IDW to release an all-female Transformers lineup. The comic run featuring these new heroines, Transformers: Combiner Hunters, will hit the shelves this upcoming July.
Frank Miller is coming back to oversee the production of the final chapter of The Dark Knight Returns. The Dark Knight III: the Master Race is due out this fall.
This week marked the 25th anniversary of the Hubble telescope's launch into orbit. On this milestone week, the Hubble proved that it's still got it by sending back these images of a stellar event that defies our current classification schemes.
We're nearly a month into the regular season for Major League Baseball, but these gifs depicting the practical physics utilized in the sport are still topical (and super fun to watch!).
Sticklers for accuracy rejoice! Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have built the most accurate atomic clock that humanity has ever seen.
The latest edition of Pancreas includes this joint study by Purdue University, Stanford-Burnham, and UC San Diego in which scientists were able to coax cancerous cells back into standard pancreatic cells.
Apparently even honey bees can fly drones (and doing so may be an enormous breakthrough in terms of how we grow our food).
It's one of the most referenced Laws in technology, but Moore's Law may not have actually claimed what it's purported to state.
General Awesomeness
A 7-year-old Star Wars fan wrote a distraught letter to George Lucas asking that the Jedi Order be altered so that their Force-wielding adherents can marry. This is how Lucasfilm responded.
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
Happy Easter to all you celebrating today and best wishes for a happy remainder of the con for everyone attending WonderCon or Anime Boston this weekend. Woo for convention season getting into full swing! Also exciting: the chance to win a copy of Star Wars: Armada, get your chance by following the instructions here.
Back from getting your entries in? Great! Now let's get down to the week in Geekdom!
Comics
Comics as we're experiencing them today are the result of three-quarters of a century's worth of drafting and evolution. In that spirit, here are 50 issues that helped define the modern comics industry.
Old and busted: comic book movies. (old) New hotness: video game movies.
Yesterday Mr. Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., turned 50!
It's become one of the most iconic opening sequences on the small screen, but where did the Game of Thrones intro come from? Turns out there's quite an interesting backstory.
George R.R. Martin will be developing a new science-fiction TV series for HBO (sadly not derived from Tuf Voyaging). The author also claims he's buckling down to finishWinds of Winter in an effort to complete the much-anticipated tome by 2016.
Fans of Star Citizen have thrown a combined $77 million USD at the title's developers, but, three years after its Kickstarter closed, they have yet to receive a complete, bug-free game.
The guys behind the insanely popular party game Cards Against Humanityhave released a science-themed expansion. Awesome bonus: all the proceeds from sales of the new pack going to fund a scholarship (a full-ride for an undergraduate degree) for women in the STEM fields.
Science/Technology
Astronomers using two pictures from New Mexico's Very Large Array have been able to capture the birth of a star. Extra impressive: the images they used were taken 18 years apart.
The technicians at CERN were keen to get in on the April Fool's fun with this claim that they had confirmed the existence of the Force.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum also tried to pull a fast one on Wednesday with this 'exhibit' featuring Wonder Woman's invisible jet.
Nuclear submarines have fascinated the public for decades, but decommissioning them is a laborious, lengthy, and extremely hazardous process. Where do nuclear submarines go to die?
We started off this post with a mention of con season getting into full swing. Here's a fun, but poignant reminder of why conventions are so important.
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
Happy weekend everyone and best wishes for what remains of your con for everybody at Emerald City Comic Con right now. Of all the conventions out there that we've yet to try, ECCC is at the top of our Potential Cons for 2016 list. We're giving serious thought to making a trip to Seattle happen next year, so if you've been to ECCC and would like to offer us any advice or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you!
But ok, less about next year and more about this week in Geekdom!
The DLC for the already difficult motorcycle platformer, Trials Fusion, is so intense that even the developers can't beat some of the levels they've created.
Movies/TV
It was a rumor we'd been following for quite some time, but this week it became a reality: the X-Filesis officially coming back to TV as a six-episode miniseries.
Tonight is the Season Five finale of the Walking Dead, but there's more zombie apocalypse goodness headed our way. The spinoff of the hit series officially has both a name and an order for two full seasons of production.
It's been nearly 10 years since the last broadcast of Star Trek: Enterprise, but, despite the lack of airtime, the series is experiencing something of a renaissance and here's why.
The Deadpool movie is only in the early stages of production, but we have at least one photo of Ryan Reynold's take on the Merc with a Mouth.
Paleontologists from the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the University of Pomona believe they have uncovered the common ancestor for lobsters, butterflies, and spiders (yep, they're related).
A group of California scientists (who may or may not be supervillains in the making) have discovered a treatment that appears to give humans extraordinary night vision. Warning: the subject for the study looks like he's been infected with the Black Oil from the X-Files.
On Friday, two astronauts were shuttled up to the International Space Station to begin a year-long stay in space.
Speaking of celestial drama, the latest edition of Physical Review Letters contains this research from the University of Cambridge that appears to provide solutions to decades-old equations that describe the behavior of two black holes colliding with one another.
It's happened to just about everyone: you find yourself laughing at what would be considered an inappropriate moment. Why do we do this? Here comes the science.
There are three weeks left for you to delve into the cyberpunk universe of Neon Sanctum. The Kickstarter for the card-based RPG will be up and running until April 19th. Bonus: it's EU-friendly!
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
The calendar says it's Spring, but our surroundings make us inclined to disbelieve. Can you guess it's snowing again? Seriously winter, you had your time...now make like a landspeeder and move along. Lingering House Stark mottos notwithstanding, we're working on all sorts of good stuff for you guys here behind the scenes. The coming weeks will see more fun games, the return of cosplay-related posts, and at least one (hopefully fun) contest. All that goodness is on its way, but, for now, lets get down to the Week in Geekdom.
Books
The final novel in the late Terry Pratchett's Discworld series will be published this coming October.
This past week there was much gnashing of teeth and internet screaming concerning a certain variant cover for Batgirl. If you missed out on this here's a summary of what went down.
Games
The feud between Kojima Productions and its publisher, Konami, looks like it's reaching an ugly head. Earlier this week the publisher confirmed that Kojima would be leaving Konami's purview after the release of Metal Gear Solid 5.
Speaking of VR, it's no secret that the technology is on the cusp of breaking into mainstream video gaming. If Valve's forthcoming headset isn't enough to get you excited, here are 10 VR games poised to make off with all your free time.
It's getting increasingly difficult to be able to play older PC games and, in this article by Escapist, we learn why this issue is only going to get more pervasive over time.
There's no shortage of examples of video game Kickstarters that have yielded vaporware or colossal flops, but here is the story of Harebrained Schemes (makers of Shadowrun: Hong Kong), one of the few crowdfunded studios that seemingly has done everything right.
If you are both a Star Trek fan and a player of the mobile game Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff then the next month or so will be filled with awesome as the latter features a special all-Trek event.
Our sun was remarkably active this week and said nuclear storminess produced some impressive auroras. If you missed out, no worries, here are some of the best pictures of these geomagnetic light shows.
Online retail megagiant Amazon.com has been given the all-clear by the Federal Aviation Administration to begin testing of their package delivery drones.
The Ig Nobels, deliverers of some of the best weird science we humans can come up with, turn 25 this year.
Google has sunk nearly half a billion dollars into the project and we can finally get this glimpse of the work produced by its augmented reality start up, Magic Leap.
The current issue of Nature Medicine includes a report that indicates Type 2 diabetics may be able to control their insulin levels with the help of a common over-the-counter cough suppressant.
It's a frustrating phenomenon that almost everyone has experienced: you definitely know the word or concept needed in a given situation, but you can't for the life of you recall what it is. What causes these 'brain farts'? Here comes the science.
Microsoft really, really wants you to switch over to Windows 10 when it launches this summer. It wants this so badly that you can reap the benefits of the free upgrade even if you're currently running a pirated copy of another version of Windows.
Ever wonder what happened to GeoSites, Netscape, or Lycos? Well wonder no more.
Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science have detailed their discovery of not one, not two, but five distinct types of transitory silica in the latest edition of Nature Communications.
What does flying a kite have to do with exploring the surface of Mars? Potentially quite a bit.
Crowdfundables For Your Consideration
Neon Sanctum is a fast-paced, richly realized RPG set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk universe. Players use a set of custom cards to track their various abilities, allowing for fluid gameplay while also making the game highly digestible to new players. The Kickstarter for Neon Sanctum is live now and will run until April 19th.
Loot and Recruit aims to be 'a new breed of deck-builder'. In this quick and beautifully illustrated game, players are goblins seeking to lay claim to the goblin throne during the course of a fairly rambunctious festival. The campaign for Loot & Recruitis running until April 9th.
Woot! We're back up to a normal publication schedule! Sorry about the little hiccup last week. Things got a little more crazy than we expected after back-to-back blizzards. But, as mentioned yesterday, we have a lot of great content headed your way, including more exciting projects from indie board game developers. For now though, less snowy talk and more This Week in Geekdom!
Well, that was 'fun' while it lasted? On Friday, DC announced that it will be ending its new 52 run on June 3rd of this year, after which time publication will split into 24 new comics and 25 ongoing titles.
Games
EA now claims that their offerings are simply too hard for new players to learn.
Tonight is the mid-season premiere of the Walking Dead. Can't wait for this evening? Check out the first two minutes of the episode in the embedded video below.
So the Teen Titans live-action TV series apparently will have the Titans, but they won't be teenagers...and some of your favorite characters may not be in the lineup. Check out this breakdown of how the show is shaping up.
The Hubble Space Telescope sent us back these stunning shots of three of Jupiter's moons traversing its face simultaneously.
Speaking of gobsmacking images from high-powered telescopes, the European Southern Obervatory's VISTA scope turned up this gorgeous evidence of previously hidden pulsating stars in the Trifid Nebula.
File this one under Potentially Unsettling: Google is now in the process of synthesizing human skin.
Raspberry Pi 2 is now available for purchase (for only $35 USD). Bonus: the diminutive PC will be able to run Ubuntu and Windows 10.
Does staring at a screen all day really damage your eyesight? Here comes the answer (and the science).
Up until this point, nearly all research pertaining to quantum mechanics had been carried out at the most micro of microscopic levels. Now physicists at Aalto University are trying to conduct experiments on a macro scale using, among other things, supercooled temperatures.
General Awesomeness/Feats of Nerdery
Ready to lose yourself in some epic images? These are some of the greatest GoPro shots ever taken.
She's faster than she looks. Check out this impressive effort by drone enthusiast Oliver C that resulted in a very unique-looking miniature Millennium Falcon. Bonus: there's a video of the mini-Falcon in flight!
It took Su Daocheng two months to build, but he was successful in his quest to make a ridable robotic horse.
Crowdfundables For Your Consideration
We did just talk about it yesterday, but, if you haven't already, you definitely should check out the Kickstarter for Amino. It's a fast, fun, thoughtful game that'll prove fun to both board game noobies and seasoned gaming veterans.
AMPL Labs launched an Indiegogo campaign for its SmartBackpack. The clever accessory not only serves as a standard backpack, but also is capable of charging all of your mobile devices. The project is already fully funded, but will be taking on new backers until March 4th.
J.S. Skye is writing a comic book based on one of his supporting characters from his Flurry the Bear series and has a Kickstarter that will hopefully support this effort. Three words guys: red panda samurai.
Finally, a very happy 83rd birthday to one of the greatest composers of all time: John Williams!
As always, best wishes for an excellent week ahead!
