SciFi Friday: NASA Introduces us to our Cousin - Kepler 452b

An artist concept of Kepler 452b.
T.Pyle/Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA

Thursday (July 23, 2015), NASA announced it has found a "cousin" to our planet. Named Kepler 452b (a very unappealing appellation), the newly discovered planet is approximately 1400 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Okay, for Ancient Aliens and Chariots of the Gods fans, it's no mystery why the guys and gals at NASA are pointing their telescopes in that direction. Several ancient civilizations believed that the "gods" came from Cygnus. Maybe they knew something that we're only now finding out?

NASA says that 452b has a 385 day orbit - a long year, but not ridiculously long (or overly short) as some planets they've found. And most importantly for the possibility of harboring life, 452b orbits a star that is similar to our sun and it sits in the so-called "Goldilocks" zone, likely not so cold that all water would be ice but no so hot as to burn it all away.

If you evolved on 452b, you'd likely be a strong and stocky sort. The gravity is estimated at twice that as on Earth. If we were able to beam there right now, we'd likely feel like we'd gained a lot of weight. No leaping for joy and frolicking in near weightlessness.

From both a science and a science fiction standpoint, it's also promising that the startsystem in which this planet sits is likely about 1.5 billion years older than our solar system. That means that there has been plenty of time for life to evolve (but the system isn't so old that the star has used up its fuel).

It's a very exciting find for NASA, the Kepler team and all of us who keep our eyes to the heavens. I wonder how many stories in the future will be set on this distant planet, our Earth's cousin? Surely we can come up with a better name for it!

What do you think we should name this new planet?

You can read the NYTimes article here and see more illustrations and news on NASA's Kepler website here.

Sci Fi Friday: A New Look at the Farside

Of all the strange things in the known universe, I find it truly odd that we see only one side of the moon. When I first heard that, I thought for sure it was some made-up BS.

But in fact it is true. While the moon orbits our beautiful blue, she never shows us her "dark side", keeping a part of herself forever secret (as all women of mystery do).

But thanks to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the lady's secrets are being revealed. We can now see the "far side" of the moon thanks to the lunar mapping.

While it is lovely of course, I must say I prefer the familiar face the moon we're used to. The far side, once revealed, lacks the pizazz of the "man in the moon" features.

Perhaps, as with a woman, the mystery was better before it was revealed …

What do you think?

Sci Fi Friday: Newtonian Rap, Neil deGrasse Tyson and a Giveaway!

On Fridays I usually post a story culled from the news about technology that sounds sci fi but isn't. But today I have to pass along this bit of sciencey silliness. Each time I watch this it makes me chortle. I especially like the Neil deGrasse Tyson assist toward the end. Enjoy!

So who do you think won? If I reach ten comments on this post, I'll give away a digital copy of one of my book's to one of the commenters (picked randomly). So if you want to win a book, include your e-mail address in your comment so I can e-mail the winner :-)

SciFi Friday: From Science Fiction to Science Fact - Prosthetics That Can Feel

Science fiction fans love robots, cyborgs, humans that are part machine and machines that act like humans. While Six Million Dollar Man prosthetics are still the stuff of fiction, scientists inch ever closer toward the dream of prosthetic devices that are adequate replacements for a lost body part.

Silvestro Micera, a neural engineer at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in Switzerland, led the team that developed a new prosthetic device that they call the "bionic hand." Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the man in the video that tested the hand for the team. This new technology relies on touch sensors that are connected to electrodes that have been surgically embedded in the nerves of the man's upper arm.

While this is a long way from being available to amputees, it's an amazing breakthrough for an amputee to be able to feel again with fingers that he no longer has.

What science fiction invention would you most like to see become science fact?

*Story via Livescience.com.

Who Needs Time Travel? You're Already There

For those of you who have read Emily's House, you know that one of the themes of the story is the convergence of mysticism and science. And it's little wonder that came through. I love science, and I'm intrigued by mysticism and spirituality.

Reading avidly in both areas, I've long noticed how physics and metaphysics are closely aligned. It's like they're talking about the same things, only in different languages.

The other night, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. To be fair, I'd probably listen to Morgan talk about snow shovels for an hour - LOVE that guy.

Morgan Freeman, photo by Colorstorm Media/Eyevine

But combine Morgan with far out, freaky, cutting edge science and I'm all in.

What up with the cat on his head? 

So I was all settled into the small dent my butt has created on my couch (okay, big dent), Morgan cranking on the set. The episode was about eternity and time. Toward the end, along comes Dr. Jeff Tollaksen, of Chapman University, and says this about time:

"There's an ocean flowing here. There's a current flowing, from past to future and future to past."

Dr. Tollaksen of Chapman University. I wonder if he has
this much attitude because of something his future
self has done?

Dr. Tollaksen was referring to the results of over twenty years of experiments he and his colleagues have performed - experiments which have led him to the conclusion that the future affects the present.

What?

According to Dr. Tollaksen, not only does the past affect our present, but the future does as well.

Can you get your head around that? I'm not sure I can - not really. This would mean that I'm doing shit right now, in a future I'm completely unaware of, and it is affecting what I do now. But what I'm doing now - wouldn't that affect my future? Doesn't this create one *ucked up paradox?!

But here's the thing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when he said that time was like a stream. This is a section of Chapter 50 of Emily's House - a chapter entitled "Put Your Boat In":

Brighid said, "But time is very much like a stream . . ."

Emily replied, "So if the stream is like time, then if I put my boat in back there, by the big willow . . ."

"Then that is what you observe . . ."

"And that's like the past."

"Yes."

"But if I put the boat in way up there, by that big oak . . ."

"Then you are with the oak in that moment . . ."

"And that is like the future."

"Precisely."

"I can put the boat in the stream wherever I want to go. So I can go to any time I want simply by choosing it?"

"Your Anam is eternal. You already exist in all time that ever was or ever will be." 

When I wrote this exchange between Brighid and Emily, I had not heard of Dr. Tollaksen or his experiments. This idea about time - how it's a stream with past, present and future connected - was influenced by metaphysics and new age spirituality. And I thought it was a cool way to deal with the concept of time travel, a device I needed to use to make the story work.

But doesn't it sound similar? Isn't it intriguing that science is now proving what some mystics have long believed - that time flows freely from future to past, and past to future?

What do you think?

I'll see you in the future. Oh wait, we've already been there . . .