Futurism Staff
Bio
A team of space cadets making the most out of their time trapped on Earth. Help.
Stories (149/0)
History of Halley's Comet
It was August in 1682 when the faint gleam first appeared in the night sky. From one night to the next, it grew slightly brighter and changed position among the background stars. The pioneers of astronomy peered at it through that new-fangled invention, the telescope, and watched it begin to sprout a tail. Among the majority of people, however, the instinctive reaction was fear. “A comet,” they whispered. “A comet has appeared! And plague, famine, and war will surely follow.”
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Arthur C. Clarke Interview
In 1945, a young English technical officer, who had spent World War II helping to develop radar systems for the Royal Air Force, published a remarkably prescient article in the British journal Wireless World. The article showed, in detail, how artificial satellites could be used to relay electronic communications around the world. The writer was Arthur C. Clarke.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Ultimate 'Battlestar Galactica' Guide
Glen Larson—musician, screenwriter, producer—had wanted to do something like Galactica, he told us, long before he saw Star Wars. That Lucas blockbuster, though, gave Larson’s idea “legs”—as they say in showbiz—made Galactica seem a profitable notion that could stand on its own and walk away with a bundle.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Genetically Engineering a Super Race
When Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932, he described a world state several centuries in the future where all human beings were reared from eggs in factories or incubators. Scientists could produce several classes of personality ranging from the highly intelligent, whose sole purpose was to enjoy life, to the feeble-minded who were suited only for manual labor. The novel was set in the distant future because the scientific knowledge needed to bring about this type of society was not available when Huxley wrote it.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Mysteries of the Maya
Imagine yourself the chief astronomer-priest of an ancient jungle empire. From your studies of records kept by astronomers for centuries before you, you are convinced that an eclipse of the Sun is likely to occur in three days' time. It is essential for you to inform the people of the empire of this event, so they will be prepared if the Sun begins to disappear.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Is the Government Hiding UFOs?
"You ever notice that UFO's never land at places like MIT or UCLA? They always land in some swamp in Arkansas where Billy Hot Dog and his cousin, Weenie, are out hunting. They're real good for reliable reports. It was big and round. Imagine if it landed in Times Square... taxi drivers would honk and scream out 'move that thing!' Bums would come and warm their hands by it and say 'This is nice!' " —Jay Leno
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
'This Island Earth'
The Zahgon fighter ships dive suicidally toward the planet Metaluna. Slicing through the thick cloud covering of the planet’s Ionization Layer, the delta-winged invaders magnetically carry a payload of deadly meteors in tow. The ships swoop in for the kill, sending the meteors hurtling down onto the war-ravaged planet’s surface. In a series of spectacular explosions, the space boulders sear into the Metalunan landscape. Eye-boggling displays of molten rock and incandescent smoke mushroom into the air, illuminating the surrounding area for miles around.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Bill Lear Interview
William Powell Lear was a notable rarity among inventors of the 60s and 70s: He turned his ideas into money. The classic inventor sold out in despair after years of unrewarding toil, then watched someone else make a fortune out of his invention. Bill Lear, by contrast, was worth between $30 and $50 million in his prime—and he started from scratch.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Impact Craters of North America
The time: June 30, 1908. The place: central Siberia, Imperial Russia. A giant meteorite, blindingly incandescent, streaked across the sky and smashed to Earth near the Tunguska River, devastating a roughly circular region nearly 150 kilometers in diameter. Forests were flattened and several herds of reindeer killed. The earth was pitted by cone-shaped craters up to 50 meters across. Ground vibrations from the impact shattered windows scores of kilometers away. Heat seared the bark from trees, and smoke billowed many kilometers into the atmosphere. Shock waves from the blast were "heard" around the world by delicate microbarographs, instruments that measure pulsations in atmospheric pressure set up by very long sound waves.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism