(Credit:
NASA)
The International Space Station isn't just an orbiting laboratory, spaceship testing ground, and multinational geek fest--it's also the world's highest (250 miles) and fastest (17,500 mph) computer network. We burrow under its metal skin and siphon out its most interesting specifications, like some kind of star-hopping alien data vampires (but without the plutonium-coated fangs).
Read more of "Space Station IT: High technology" at Crave UK.
Koichi Wakata looks comfortable enough to me.
(Credit: NASA)For some reason, every time high-tech underwear news hits the Internet, my editors think it's something I need to cover (pun intended). This time, though, it's underwear from space. And it's Japanese underwear from space that lasts up to a week before you have to change it--for better or worse.
According to Reuters, the clothing called J-ware is currently being tested aboard the International Space Station, perhaps to the dismay of Koichi Wakata's fellow astronauts.
The skivvies, developed by textile specialists at Japan Women's University in Tokyo, are meant to absorb moisture, kill bacteria, and generally be comfortable in situations where there are no laundry facilities and you really can't be as freshly dressed as you'd like.
Thankfully, so far the tests have been successful. Wakata has been quoted as saying, "Nobody has complained, so I think it's so far, so good." The question is, if the tests are fully successful, will the general, non-space-going world buy into the idea? There are plans for Earth-bound mass marketing of the week-long underwear. I for one am not into the idea, even if it works fine.
Stephen Colbert
Should anything happen to Earth, the human race will now be insured.
Comedy Central announced Monday that the host of The Colbert Report will have his DNA digitized and sent to the International Space Station (ISS). According to the Associated Press, Stephen Colbert's gene package will be carried there by famed video game designer Richard Garriott, who will travel to the station in October.
Garriott will deposit the "Immortality Drive," a time capsule that will include human DNA and records of humanity's greatest accomplishments, along with personal messages collected specifically for the project.
This will be the second time Colbert goes intergalactic. In May, he was the first late-night host to interview an astronaut, Garrett Reisman, while he was in space.
In a statement, Stephen Colbert said he was thrilled to have his DNA shot into space, as this would bring him "...one step closer to my lifelong dream of being the baby at the end of 2001," referring to the 1968 sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In a statement, Garriott said: "In the unlikely event that Earth and humanity are destroyed, mankind can be resurrected with Stephen Colbert's DNA. Is there a better person for us to turn to for this high-level responsibility?"
Stephen Colbert's answer to that rhetorical question would probably be "no."
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