Bye Bye Penny! Hello SciFi-licious currency!

Canada's getting rid of the penny. We're going to round up or down, gain or lose. My brain's still twirling around that one.

Now we're moving even closer to a Science Fiction-like world with the MintChip that has just been announced by Canada's Royal Mint that will allow us to pay for things with our phones, tablets, and other popular gadgets, without exchanging personal information.

They are actually holding a contest for software developers to come up with the perfect MintChip.

Canada's MintChip

What do think? Is this MintChip a better alternative to debit cards and digital wallets?

Speaking of Elements...

 Over at www.dailygalaxy.com,

 

Rare Earth Element Detected for the First Time in 12-Billion-Year-Old Stars in Milky Way's Halo

OCAD's SUMO Robot Challenge 2012 - March 3, 1:30pm to 4pm, Toronto

Guys, this is pretty cool. If you register by February 27 you can be like Hugh Jackman in "the-movie-that-no-one-I-know-noticed-or-watched-in-the-theatre" (also known as Real Steel). Though, building a kick-ass robot might take a little longer than a few days.

Why don't you observe this time round and sniff out the competitors' weak spots. Next year you'll be able to dominate the ring!!!!

Read the registration and competition rules

OCAD's SUMO Robot Challenge 2012 - March 3

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 2, airs this April!!!

 

Where IS the beef?

Apparently, it's growing in Professor Mark Post's lab in Maastricht University in the Netherlands. 2 cm strips of muscle have been grown so far and the lab is working towards growing enough meet by October, when a celebrity chef will cook into a juicy hamburger.


 Ew or Yum? I don't think I'll have to opportunity to find out as the burger will cost over £200,000. However, the researchers hope that they will be able to create a more cost effective method of creating the synthetic meat, resulting in an environmentally friendly solution for world hunger. 


Excited? I'm not sure, but I'm wondering if the donor cow will get residual fees every time one of these hamburgers is eaten?! Check out the BBC article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16972761 


This is an example of Science Fiction becoming Science Fact. So many SciFi stories include synthetic versions of the four major food groups. After reading several J.D. Robb "...in Death" books in a row, I've caught myself willing my microwave to be an autochef and cook me up some Grilled Calamari or  my mother's Chicken Biryani.


technovely.com lists several synthetic SciFi foods, including the Yeast-Beast machine, a vat that produces tissue-grown meat cutlets, featured in David Brin's short story, Natulife, published in Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1994.


What books have you read that takes place in a future that includes synthetic food! How is it made? Food slot? dehydrated cubes? How does it taste?

BYOB, conventioners! A Convention you can attend from home!

If you're not doing much this weekend, check out Dot Con 2012, a convention that you can enjoy from your computer!

 The convention's guest panel will feature various "nerdy" Hollywood types, including actors, producers and screenwriter from some of our favourite show and films. On Saturday and Sunday, you can experience interactive ice cream making, listen to some bands and watch a movie with other attendees!!!!

Check it out (http://dotconfest.com) and let me know your thoughts!

Choystar

Strange New Worlds, anyone?

Fodder for the space exploration enthusiast! How many new planets have we discovered in the pages of our favourite books, or in films? Remember the habitable moon Pandora, in the movie Avatar, the desert planet Arrakis in the Dune series, or the planet Alpha, in Asimov's Foundation series?! Well, writers, scientists are still discovering new planets, and, habitable or not,  gas giant or frozen moon, they might be worth a look at for your next story idea!

Check out super-earth GJ1214b, discovered by the Hubble in 2009:

http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/hubble-reveals-new-type-planet






http://www.space.com/14634-alien-planet-steamy-waterworld-gj1214b.html