Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Futurism.
Star Formation on Filaments in Molecular Cloud RCW106
The image above comes from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, an ESA mission with participation from NASA. It was obtained as part of Herschel's Hi-GAL key-project, which imaged the entire plane of the Milky Way in five different infrared bands.
By Susan Fourtané7 years ago in Futurism
Outrun Stories #2
He looked out onto the ocean, the pre-dawn moonlight sheen glowing a neon blue and mixing with the first hint of sun. The silhouette of the palm trees, an early morning runner with her dog. The waves crashing in the distance, their faint sound creeping through the floor-to-ceiling glass he stood behind, the shiver across his skin.
By Outrun Stories7 years ago in Futurism
Five Experiments That Show Your Universe Is Weird, Really Weird
We take our reality just like we take our tax preparers: solid and dependable, with an aversion to surprises. Experiments during the last few years, however, seem to indicate that our reality is less like a nerdy accountant buried in piles of 1040 forms and more like the half naked, fully drunk performance artist who thrives on not just surprising, but shocking the ever-loving crap out of us.
By Matt Swayne7 years ago in Futurism
The Stepping Stone of Mars
Space travel is an unrehearsed dream. Many men have looked up at the night sky and thought about traveling to those pinpoints of light out there. First man went to the moon and now Millions lived there. The next place we went was Mars. It is only a stepping stone out into the great unknown. Men using their own minds to battle the vastness of time and space. Men who are always imagining new ways to further themselves and mankind as a whole. Even now shuttles are landing and departing from the red planet. This is a story about Milo, one man who is determined to tame the new frontier. Milo, who traveled to the new west to make his claim on history and make his fame and fortune here on the red rock and beyond. His shuttle landed and he made his way into the station and from there he was able to take a tram to his hotel. The gravity did feel lighter here than on Earth. As well it should but Milo thought about how much less gravity he felt here after spending his whole life on Earth. Knowing that the gravity was about a third of Earths was one thing but feeling it, experiencing was quite another thing. Milo felt so light on his feet. The fact that he could jump fifty feet at a time when running was exhilarating. But that was not why Milo had come. Milo was an inventor. Milo knew that the corporations that were on Mars wanted to go further. Those companies wanted to go out into the stars. Those companies wanted to do the impossible. Mine for Diamonds that rained down from the sky on Jupiter. Some companies had faster than light travel and were preparing to go out into the vast black emptiness of space. To explore those worlds that until now had been beyond mankind's reach. The corporation called Lightwill had designed an engine that would travel faster than light. Lightwill had a major problem though and that was stopping fast enough to make the trip worth it and not smash everything inside of the ship. That is where Milo came in. Milo had invented an artificial gravity machine. Arriving at the hotel Milo got very little sleep and was excited about presenting his idea to the board of Lightwill. Milo was up early and ate a very small meal as his stomach couldn't handle more. Milo thought for a few moments that maybe his loss of appetite might be due to an illness and that was something he couldn't have right at this crucial moment. Then Milo thought maybe it was due to the low gravity. As soon as he got up he knew it was just the excitement and nervousness at the life changing technology that he brought to the red planet.
By Adam McCaulley7 years ago in Futurism
The Limits
"I don't know how much longer I can take this." Elisa would have muttered those words only to herself were it not for her virtual buddy, Peter. Peter was her tag along. Everywhere she went, she made sure Peter followed. Elisa found Peter many months earlier while rummaging through an old, long abandoned robotics workshop. Elisa was a talented and brilliant woman, so it was only a matter of short time before she had figured out how to activate Peter through the embedded controls of the otherwise ordinary pair of glasses. Peter was an artificial intelligence whose only visible body was that of the glasses that were now a semi-permanent fixture settled on the bridge of Elisa's nose.
By Rod Christiansen7 years ago in Futurism
The Top Ten Night Sky Sights for March, 2017
We've all stopped and stared at the night sky from time to time but few of us are aware of what we're looking at. Many of us are surprised to learn that our nearest neighbors, the planets, are just as easily seen ias the Moon and the stars themselves.
By Richard J. Bartlett7 years ago in Futurism
Brutalist Stories #1
“There’s a piano playing in my mind.” The fog glittered in the light from the lamps that circled him. A high note, a low note, a high note, a low note. Back and forth, back and forth. One for her, one for him. He looked up and away from the path in front of him to the ceiling of the dome and a high note rang through. A sonic hallucination, the vibration of the key and a memory flashing before him, projected onto the fog. Her smile, her laughter, a moment, a memory, a time and place far away from here.
By Brutalist Stories7 years ago in Futurism
Modern Mancy Pt 1
The pursuit of knowledge was central to Alexi’s life. For as long as he could remember, he would go to any lengths to attain more. Until recently, however, he had been bound by his duty as a spellsword for the central empires self-defense force. Military service was compulsory for his home land, and he was not about to burn bridges by refusing service, unless he had to, no Centralian would. So, he bided his time while he waited for the tenure to end. Now after more than five years, his power had grown but his hunger for knowledge wouldn’t be sated. Out on his own now, he had studied all he could in the libraries of his home, and he had to move beyond Centralian borders, well outside of his safe zone.
By daniel morris7 years ago in Futurism