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Cute robots have been a fixture in the pop culture landscape, ever since C-3PO and R2D2 crashed on Tatooine in the original Star Wars — but there have been cute robots in pop culture for way longer. The history of cute robots is a proud and totally cuddly one, full of beeping, blooping noises. More »
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In the movie Silent Running, Bruce Dern plays a nice scientist who just wants to tend his garden — his gigantic garden that takes up a huge spaceship. In fact, he has four giant pods that contain the very last vestiges of Earth's four major types of ecosystem. Of course, Earth itself has been destroyed by pollution and lonely environmentalist Dern is left to care for all that remains of nature with his robot pals. Now lonely environmentalists on Earth can have Dern's robot pals too (see above). The robo-fans at Hack N Mod show you how. More »
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Whenever someone urges you to do something dumb in the name of science, it's always a good idea to stop and ponder. That's the important takeaway message in this clip from 1983's Brainstorm, the second movie from Silent Running director Douglas Trumbull. Scientists invent a new method for recording experiences, thoughts and even sensations, for later playback. So of course one of the first uses someone puts it to is seducing a blonde in a stripey polo shirt, so every sleazebag around the office can share in her connubial experience. (Clip is probably work-safe, although the guys are very skeezy.) More »
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When you're cruising across the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds and battling super-intelligent crystaline beings, the slightest mistake can spell disaster. So it's vital to have good feng shui on your starship's bridge. Just look at this flight deck from the movie Red Planet: cramped, ugly and angular, with no way for energy to "flow" around the space. We asked experts how to improve your starship's feng shui. Click through for tips, plus a gallery of command centers with good and bad feng shui. More »
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Wall-E may be the cutest lil robot ever to hit our screens, but he's also the latest in a long line. It seems like wherever you go in scifi, you have to step over a cute chirpy little bot, who whistles, or tweets out a little catchphrase — including R2D2 from Star Wars, Twiki from Buck Rogers and K-9 from Doctor Who. The cute-robot trend may have taken off in the late 70s, but it really began with 1972's Silent Running, as you can see from the clip above. Click through to find out how Bruce Dern's little robot friends changed science fiction forever. More »
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