Ancient Sea Scorpion was Bigger than a Human

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071121/sc_nm/scorpion_fossil_dc_1

This is as critter akin to a lobster. They found a fossilized claw that put the whole creature at about 8 feet long. Probably about the size of a big bull sea lion. How scary would that be? For the answer, see the inevitable thriller about the people who accidentally run across a group of these things that are still around.

One of the problems with monster SF is that things with exoskeletons don't usually get very big (gravity, inefficiency with exterior supports, the scaling of surface area, and the amount of energy to create a big exoskeleton). The article mentions the possibility of higher O2 concentrations in the air. Also, these were sea creatures, so they have buoyancy to help counteract gravity.

Now imagine what sorts of creatures could evolve on a low gravity planet with high O2 levels. Throw in some stranded astronauts and the story writes itself.

Children bonding with robots

http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn12879-giggling-robot-becomes-one-of-the-kids-.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Now, if this isn't a sign of impending doom (via a Star Trek inspired plot), I don't know what is. THEY have built a robot that giggles when children touch it's head. It wanders around a room full of kids and avoids them, sitting occasionally, and over a few weeks, the children seem to be bonding to it.

Is the government looking for more ways to make the population into automatons? Are aliens prepping the way for an easy take-over? Is this a preview of Battlestar Galactica science gone awry?

I don't know, but if I wrote it, it wouldn't be a giggle robot for toddlers. It would be a slapping robot for politicians who make speeches to congress when they are supposed to be asking the witness a question. NO! Bad senator. Go to your room for wasting everyone's time.

Solar sails revisited

http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11375&feedId=online-news_rss20

Some ideas for how to use magnetic fields to power satellites and space craft. Basically, a charge in a changing magnetic field (or a moving charge in a static magnetic field) produces a current. Use that to power up a capacitor and then use that energy to run your systems. The moving charge is generated by radioisotopes attached to the capacitor material, so it generates power constantly. They plan to use a device like a sail (probably folded up into a sock-like geometry) with large surface area. Change the surface area or geometry to alter the capacitance and thus regulate the power generation.

You could use that to accelerate or brake as you travel, and Jupiter (with its bigger magnetic fields) could serve as the depot where space stations and ships hang out/get built before being sent off on missions.

Good inspiration for writers, and something I'll use in my Science in Science Fiction talk at Writer's Weekend later this month.

U.S. warns about Canadian spy coins - Yahoo! News

U.S. warns about Canadian spy coins - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - Money talks, but can it also follow your movements?

In a U.S. government warning high on the creepiness scale, the Defense Department cautioned its American contractors over what it described as a new espionage threat: Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden inside."
============================

Wow, that seems so, I don't know, Cold War. If it is China, they should just embed the transmitters into cellphone plastic when they are made. Or shirt buttons. Something that won't change (ha ha) hands as often as coins.

Reminds me of the nanobarcode technology for embedding tags in plastic at the time of molding, so you can fingerprint each one on a molecular scale.