New Aluminum Windows

http://www.livescience.com/technology/051018_new_glass.html


I want to build a transparent gyro!!!

I keep saying there is no such thing as science fiction. It's all just Hari Seldon's "psychohistory". Who would have thought that Scotty's transparent aluminum, that he wanted so he could save the whales, would show up on a Hummer.

Cobra Doc said:

Scotty's transparent aluminum, that he wanted so he could save the whales, would show up on a Hummer.

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That is exactly what I thought of when I saw this!

Actually Tim, the first part is answer I came up with on the 7th at Budd Davisson's Bearhawk Bar-B-Que. The lady that asked why I liked sci-fi immediatly caught the reference to to Asimov's "Foundation" series. She also thought it was cute that Honda named their robot "Asimo". We still wonder what happend to the "v".

Asimov is great but he gets most of the credit he desurves. My favorite Authur C. Clarke is less renown but just as visionary IMHO.

I used to be terrible at math until I read the non-sci-fi Asimov on Numbers. Hal Clement over at JPL in Pasadena also writes some amazing fiction. The visionary writers are just too numerous list.
Wonder Woman's invisible jet of the 1940s could be a reality already! You never know what the egg-heads at Groom Lake AFB are working on.

The material is aluminium oxynitride - NOT metallic aluminium; somewhat closer to "corrosion" than "airframe".

I suppose you would be able to see through a pre-corroded airframe.

Well the way I see it, you cant see through sand to good either yet it sure makes good glass!

The guys that did the Star Trek movie apparently got wind of the early aluminum oxynitride research going on during the making of the movie. They threw "transparent aluminum" into the film to make themselves look like prophets in all likelyhood.

Raytheon developed aluminum oxynitride as trade name ALON. The earliest reference I can find to ALON is a bulletin to the American Ceramics Society titled 'Thermomechanical
Properties of Aluminum Oxynitride Spinel (ALON)' by G. D. Quinn, N. D. Corbin, and J. W. McCauley, and dated 1984. 'The Voyage Home' Star Trek movie where "transparent aluminum" is mentioned was released in 1986. The Star Trek writers obviously do their homework.

Well, the aluminum tubing I want for by control rods is transparent apparently, at least I cannot see it yet.

Space Elevator:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/...e/2005/09/28/1127804549435.html?oneclick=true

The entire tech staff of the Star Trek series of series was always on the lookout, and keeping track of advancements in tech. Just think about the communicators and the P.A.D.D.'s (modern day cell phones and PDA's). They also had an episode with the space elivator and it getting stuck. I am still waiting for Stephen William Hawking to work out the principles of the warp drive, as he hinted to while visiting the set of the Enterprise D's engine room. I think he was just joking, but you never know...

The space elevator is another case of which came first, the research or the sci-fi novel. I believe it was an Aurthur C. Clark novel. I'll have to check my library.
If you ever check the names of some of the Star Trek writers, most of them are not unknowns in the science community, especially the physics field.
Dr. Hawking has alluded to work warp drives several times. He has a fanstic sense of humor, but I get the feeling he may not be joking. I wonder what we would have if Hawking and Einstein had ever had the chance to collaborate.

Cobra Doc said:

I wonder what we would have if Hawking and Einstein had ever had the chance to collaborate.

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There was a ST:TNG episode where Data programed a holodeck adventure to explore that very idea, along with Mr. Neuton, and a deck of cards. Pretty funny.

I know this is an Irish curse, but we sure live in interesting times.

Unfortunately, interesting also makes it very dangerous.... how many times was the enterprise about to blow up??? Just hope Scotty's around to save our butts

As long as you have your paperclip, rubberband and nuclear accelerator, what else do you need? Oops, almost forgot the towel!!! Ofcourse it doesn't hurt to also have a pair of Jujantra Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.
The only thing that surprises me is how long it took for GPS to move to the civilian market.

The thing I appreciated most about Star Trek on TV was that it generally stayed true to science. Most of the technology in the stories had a legitimate scientific basis. Given that most people interested in science fiction are probably at least somewhat interested in science itself, it makes sense to at least try for accuracy.

I saw a recent episode of the TV series "Threshhold." The premise was that aliens have stolen powerful digital audio processor chips, to build a device which transmits an audio signal which can turn humans into super-beings. It works by "emitting microwaves." It requires massive amounts of power, yet uses no large speaker or other transducer. The bad guy rigged it up in a subway tunnel, using 700 amps of electrical current from the rails, fed through small wires into the pins of the processor chip.

Just try to count the problems with that story line!

It was reasonably well acted and produced, but layers and layers of implausible technical details ruined my enjoyment of the show. In one final insult, one of the characters was played by a white-haired Brent Spiner...the guy who played Data on Star Trek!