Ryan North, of Dinosaur Comics fame, asked his friend Ben Tippett to write a scientific paper-style analysis of Superman's powers after listening to Tippett describe his unified theory of the Kryptonian's abilities. Tippett, trying to understand Superman's powers from a physics perspective, has posited that Superman doesn't have multiple superpowers, but one amazing ability:

It is our opinion that all of Superman's recognized powers can be unified if His power is the ability to manipulate, from atomic to kilometer length scales, the inertia of His own and any matter with which He is in contact.

Tippett then proceeds to explain how each of each of Superman's abilities — his superstrength, his senses, his flight, his freezing vision — are simply a manifestation of that ability, and offers helpful equations and diagrams to illustrate his points:

The folks at Metafilter are already poking and prodding at the theory, with the key argument being that, if Superman can manipulate matter in this way, why bother with heat vision and freezing breath? Why not simply heat and freeze matter with any part of his body?

A Unified theory of Superman's Powers [Dinosaur Comics via Metafilter]

At the Ishikawa Komuro Lab at Tokyo University, a group working on superfast robotic motion has invented robot hands that can do things like dribble balls with alarming accuracy, twirl pencils blurringly fast, and tie knots with a flick of the wrist. This video, which has been making the rounds of the interwebs for the past couple of days, will astound you. Pay attention to the way the researcher talks about the robot motions - I think it's interesting that inventing these motions forces us to come up with ways of explaining complicated things we do with our bodies that we don't normally think about. Like "dynamic holding," which is a way of thinking about what dribbling really is.

It seems to me these would make terrific prosthetics. We already have artificial arms that are activated by neural interfaces - imagine if these were hooked into your nervous system. Essentially you would have superpowers, even if they only work on pencils and ping pong balls.

Meanwhile, Clemson University bioengineering researcher Nina Zhang has invented a biogel that you inject into somebody's brain to regrow injured brain tissues. Essentially, it's brain-in-a-tube: Zhang and her colleagues squirted this substance into rat brains, and it transformed into fully-functioning bits of gray matter. Says Zhang:

These results that we are seeing in adult lab rats are the first of its kind and show a sustained functional recovery in the animal model of TBI (traumatic brain injury). It also represents one of very few in the traumatic brain injury field that attempts structural repair of the lesion cavity using a tissue-engineering approach.

What she's saying is that basically this is a fast way to do tissue engineering on brains. And it might be ready for use in humans within three years.

Here you can see an image of some of the brain tissues that regrew after Zhang squirted the biogel into a damaged rat brain. The red indicates blood vessels, and the green shows nerve cells. Sounds like a great fix for damaged brains, but what about undamaged ones? All I'm saying is that I'd like a little extra brain to add to my current one.

via Ishikawa Komuro Lab and Clemson University

Universal Pictures bought Bekmambetov's reimagining of Herman Melville's classic last fall, and the director promised an action-packed update in keeping with his previous films. But in a recent interview with MTV, Bekmambetov revealed a supernatural component to his plan:

The concept is if we're talking about a creature with supernatural abilities, Moby Dick, then every whaler will have supernatural abilities, too. Something. They can fly. I don't know, they can bend bullets, whatever.

Jokes about bending harpoons aside, I'm curious as to what superpowers we'll see from Bekmambetov's vengeful whale hunters. Elemental control? The ability to command an army of sharks? A harpoon-launching mechanical arm? Shapeshifting into a killer whale? Bekmambetov certainly has a knack for portraying odd mystical abilities, and, after watching him deliver his special brand of visual lunacy to more urban settings in Night Watch, Day Watch, and Wanted, it'll be exciting to see Bekmambetov bring the action to the high seas.

'Wanted' Director Timur Bekmambetov Readies His 'Supernatural' Harpoon For 'Moby Dick' Adaptation [MTV Movie Blog]

Alphas comes from X3 screenwriter Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. The series began life as Section 8, which sparked a network bidding war in the summer of 2007 and eventually found a home at ABC. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Writers Guild strike and ABC's increasing discomfort with the show's scifi elements landed it in the dustbin. Now Syfy has dusted it off and redubbed the show Alphas.

Back when the show was at ABC, Futon Critic posted a synopsis and review of the Section 8 script, which had some intriguing ideas for its superpowered protagonists:

When a witness is inexplicably murdered in a locked room at a federal courthouse, Section 8 (under the auspices of the National Security Agency) is put on the case. Lead by Dr. Leigh Rosen (all roles have yet to be cast), the team has but one mandate - locate and assess the threats posed by "alphas," human beings "with enhanced abilities due to differences in their brain structure." Joining Rosen in his quest are four such alphas - Gary Bell, a highly functioning autistic with an ability to process information that rivals most computers; Bill Harken, a former FBI agent who can amp up his "fight or flight" reflex, giving him extraordinary strength for a brief period of time; Nina Theroux, a beautiful woman who can reprogram other people's minds to do as she bids; and Rachel Myers, an orthodox Jew who can shatter glass with but a whisper. However with said powers comes a price - for Gary, autism which makes him a child for all intents and purposes; for Harken, severe anger issues that cost him his job and family; for Rachel, living life as a near mute and being forced to wear an electronic device against her larynx; and Nina, never really knowing how those close to her actually feel. In any case, they've all come together for the common good with Rosen as their mentor, teaching them to further control their abilities with each passing day. As for the courthouse murder, it's not long before the team uncovers that one of their own kind was responsible - Christian Hicks, a former Marine sharpshooter with supernatural balance and aim (he guided the bullet through a ventilation duct). After bringing him in though, they realize someone even more powerful was pulling the strings... someone with a new technology that can be used to mimic one of the team's gifts.

Unfortunately, Futon Critic claims the script's execution doesn't live up to its shiny ideas, constantly trying to assure the reader of the show's awesomeness.

I'm on the fence with this one. Penn's got a bit of checkered past; he worked on the story for X2, but didn't write the screenplay, and penned Elektra and the better recent adaptation of The Incredible Hulk. Plus, he's writing the screenplay for the upcoming Avengers movie, so someone at Marvel must have faith in him. And the optimist in me hopes the original Section 8 script has had time to marinate. But maybe I'm just so excited at the prospect of Syfy picking up another scripted, science fiction-themed show that I'm willing to give anything a chance.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Juan Antonio Martínez and a team of researchers at the University of Alcalá de Henares taught a group of volunteers (and themselves) to make palate clicks similar to those used by dolphins — although at a much slower rate. The series of protocols they developed then called for subjects to learn to aim their own sounds, and then to recognize their echos to identify objects around them.

The scientists promise, though, that you don't need to be blind (like famous echolocaters Daniel Kish and Ben Underwood) to awaken your latent echolocation skills. Martínez tells SINC:

Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you, and within another two weeks you can tell the difference between trees and a pavement.

In fact, the scientists who taught themselves echolocation can now detect far more than just the terrain ahead of them: they can identify bones and even objects hidden in a bag.

They hope that their techniques can be put to use in the future by firefighters, rescue workers, people lost in fog or those lost in bat-filled caves in West Virginia.

Spanish scientists develop echo-location in humans [EurekAlert]

[Image via Weekly World News]

On the 19th of May, 2001 Charlie and Jack, Juniors at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, invite the three girls from downstairs to hang out and try Jack's first successful attempt at home-brewed beer. The beer's pretty good - but in the morning something more extraordinary has occurred than Charlie's fumbling make-out session with his dream girl, Caroline. All five of them awake with a bit of a hangover and new abilities, right out of a comic book.

Each of them has gained one of the more typical powers from our dreams of wish-fulfillment. Caroline, who feels ignored by her globe-trotting cougar mom, can fly. Jack gets mistaken for a big clumsy lunkhead, but now the local farmboy and Chem major is the fastest man alive. Short, bookish study-grind Mary Beth can toss cars around like nerf balls. Charlie, a good-natured but vague and unfocused slob becomes a mind-reader. Harriet is the daughter of a Madison P.D. detective and is haunted by a horrible incident in her past, so she gets the relatively lame power of invisibility. Almost immediately they all decide to band together as a superhero team.

Mary Beth purchases a stack of essential research from an amazingly helpful and informative woman at the local comic book store. Caroline whips up some Lycra costumes in primary colors. Everybody goes to Jack's family farm to practice a few martial-arts moves Harriet picked up. Now properly prepared, they go off to fight crime, foiling an armored car heist on their very first day. At first this has all the makings of a comedy, and I immediately thought of the comic book Freshman by Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov. Although there are several very funny moments, Schwartz wants us to take his story seriously. This is meant to be a sober, realistic examination of normal confused, insecure kids thrust into fantastic circumstances. The characters are realistically portrayed and believable, but their powers are pure fantasy. The new heroes make no attempt to find out how any of this could possibly be happening. "Hey, I can fly! Well that's weird. Better get me a costume." Magic beer, really?

The powers are also utterly inconsistent with physics. A 5'2" girl stops a speeding car as if it had smashed into a wall. Her outfit gets torn but she hasn't budged an inch. Does she have some sort of force field like Alan Moore used with Miracleman? Apparently that's none of our business, because no explanation is ever given for any of these miraculous feats. Forgive a nerd for nit-picking, but David Schwartz is an avowed comic book fan and should really have known better. I wouldn't want to wade through pages of Character Stats and technobabble, but if he wants to play in a realistic world, he should observe the rules.

Schwartz's characters are well-written with actual depth and personal backgrounds that live and breathe. The passages about Jack and his family coming to grips with his father's losing battle with cancer are especially moving. Like young people anywhere, they also struggle with demanding classes, crummy jobs, and disastrous romances. Most of the cast is very believable, maybe too much so. They are likable, normal - and ultimately, not very interesting.

The third-person omniscient narrative is occasionally interrupted by "Editor's Notes" written in the first person by a supporting character who supposedly wrote the book Superpowers. Marcus Hatch, independent journalist and conspiracy nut, breaks in repeatedly to remind us this is all a True Story, that He Was There, and that Terrible Things will happen before the story is over. He also tosses around some vague ruminations on the nature of heroism. This is all mind-bogglingly annoying. And one of these Terrible Things, hmm... will it happen in the first half of September, 2001?

So do the superheros get involved with the tragic events of 9/11 and their aftermath? Not really. Other than losing people they knew and being horrified and furious, the heroes of this story have no more connection to 9/11 than most of us. Schwartz is telling us that even with superpowers, life is still filled with problems. While that is a bit depressing, his message is neither bleak, nor even particularly original. They keep the streets of Madison safe, but face no supervillain or any major threat other than lawsuits and keeping up their GPAs. There is also some attempt at political allegory, observations of the media and law, even a tantalizing hint of other superheroes in the world. Alas, none of it really goes anywhere. I cannot recommend this lightweight, bland tale of nice kids with superpowers and personal tragedies. It might make a perfect show for the CW, but I doubt I would ever watch it.

Superpowers via Amazon

This month, io9 reviews all the nominees for the Nebula, Hugo and Clarke awards. You can read them all here.

Commenter Grey_Area is known to the Justice League of Dawson's Creek as Christopher Hsiang. Next book, please.

I don't blame the show's producers, who hadn't planned for this to be a series finale, but wow, that was an unsatisfying conclusion. I literally kept rewinding and fast-forwarding to make sure there wasn't another minute or two of episode, after Cassidy pulled the "Luke, I am your father... Oh wait, I mean brother" speech.

There wasn't just the out-of-nowhere question of, "How does Kyle deal with being related to this guy, who's been destroying his life?" Which I honestly wouldn't lose any sleep over anyway. It's not like Cassidy and Kyle are brothers in any meaningful sense, and it seems like everybody at Latnok is related to everybody else. There was the larger issue: can Kyle ever really be free of Latnok?

Even though Kyle dealt a serious blow to Latnok's science-maniacs in this episode, it still felt like a bit of a downer. Because Cassidy's right: Latnok will never stop trying to control Kyle, and they can get a lot more aggressive if they need to. So far, all Latnok's done is manipulate Kyle a bit, when Kyle wears his heart on his sleeve and proclaims loudly that the Tragers are the most important people in his life. Kyle is practically announcing, "Threaten the Tragers and I'll do anything you want."

And Latnok was at its absolute creepiest last night, with the plan to clone 100 Kyles and (possibly) turn them into biological computers, without any free will or life of their own. It sounded, reading between the lines, like a "Spock's Brain" scenario, only more dehumanizing and evil. With 100 Kyles hooked up, you could rule the world.

Supposedly, Kyle dealt with that particular threat last night, although I have my doubts. What kind of mega-scientific organization has an incredibly valuable formula, and only makes one offsite backup? I couldn't help jeering at the screen a bit when that plot point was introduced. (There's also the issue, which nobody ever raises, that this formula is a magic cure-all which brought back Nicole Trager from the brink of death. Kyle is sentencing millions of ordinary people to death by destroying it. And of course, if Latnok really wanted to rule the world, they could just sell the formula and become rich enough to buy countries.)

Some kind of resolution to the Kyle/Latnok issue would have been nice... even if it was just Kyle realizing that he's going to be fighting Latnok for the rest of his life.

One thing I did like was Mama Trager bringing up the fact that Kyle has gotten pretty ruthless and crafty all of a sudden, in a drastic (but mostly believable) shift from his old doe-eyed innocent act. He's basically doing what he has to do, since he's up against some pretty evil people, but it doesn't change her point. (Even if she did simper a bit too much in delivering her warning.) I'm all in favor of the show realizing that "coming of age" doesn't always mean "learning toasty life lessons and becoming a better person." Sometimes — often — becoming an adult means getting your hands dirtier.

The other thing I really loved about this finale — and wished I'd be seeing more of, in the fourth season we're not going to get — was the fact that both of "Kyle's girlfriends" really stepped up. Okay, so Jessi is still psycho and clingy, and has never seen a boundary she doesn't want to steamroller over. But at least this time around, Jessi got to do actual science, and prove she was as smart as Kyle, even though he's the golden boy. It was Jessi who found the warehouse where they were keeping the cryo-chambers, and who figured out how to use staph bacteria to kill the magic formula. Meanwhile, Amanda, who hasn't always been my favorite character, got to show some backbone and stand up to Jessi. Plus, she decked Nate. Woo!

Another character who got to prove how awesome he was was poor old Declan, who's been enjoying a bit of a renassance in the past few episodes, but especially last night's. Helping Kyle break into Cassidy's apartment, hacking into Andy's GPS as she's traveling across the country. I would actually totally watch a Declan spinoff. Oh, and speaking of Andy, the Josh/Andy closure was not particularly great in this episode, but I guess they got their real send off last week, with the cheesy Star Trek thing and the sleepover. The only character I really felt was shortchanged, by this episode as well as a lot of the recent episodes, was poor old Lori. We needed at least ten more scenes of her and cute DJ boy making out and processing.

All in all, I was frustrated even though this was a pretty solid episode of Kyle XY. What resolution we got felt somewhat forced, and the cliffhanger ending just felt a bit like dirty pool. Let's hope ABC Family comes to its senses and greenlights a miniseries or TV movie to address some of our pressing Kyle XY resolution needs.

What did you think?

I've mentioned (in morning spoilers) that I'm not too enthusiastic about the "Kyle's surrogate mom gets in a car accident" storyline. It feels a bit too soap operatic, and I don't want to see Nicole turned into just a martyr or victim. But the kids' acting in this scene really sells me on it, actually. And judging from the episode's promo, this is going to lead to Kyle making a deal with the devils at Latnok.

Ever thought about having gamma-ray vision? The power of in-flight flight (pictured)? An immunity to the thirteenth bullet? Well, it's time to explore the possibilities of these alternate abilities — the more useless side of superpowers, if you will. Superuseless Superpowers is paving the way through this ironic discussion, inventing talents such as psychic amnesia:

This superuseless superhero foresees the future while instantly forgetting anything he has just foreseen. Known in some circles as Untotal Recall.

The brains behind Superuseless Superpowers are an imaginative bunch. Maybe you'll never be able to move objects with your mind, but don't lose hope! You might one day be able to achieve 99% opacity.

[Superuseless Superpowers]

Ahearne told British entertainment paper The Stage that he plans to do a more classic interpretation of the superhero genre than is currently on British television:

“It is a new and original superhero idea which is not a send-up. All the super hero stuff that is on TV in this country - ITV’s No Heroics, My Hero - British TV is happy to do if it is a send-up, but no one has done it for real. There is a particular gimmick in mine, which I won’t give away, but it means it will be refreshed every episode,” he revealed.

But the show won’t be a superpowered soap opera, either. Instead, each episode will follow the story of a single individual from beginning to end. And honestly, after the many and meandering plotlines of this season’s Heroes, a superhero anthology sounds like a breath of fresh air. And if Ahearne can bring the same sort of sensibilities to superheroes that he brought to vampires in the Ultraviolet miniseries, we could be in for something special.

BBC1 plans Marvel comic-inspired superhero series [The Stage via Coventry Telegraph]

Here's the quick description of the book:

Madison, Wisconsin: In the summer of 2001, five college juniors wake up with . . . not just a hangover, but superpowers. . . .

Jack Robinson: Grew up on a farm, works in a chem lab, and brews his own beer. Age: 19. Superpower: SPEED.

Caroline Bloom: Has a flair for fashion design and a mother who’s completely out of touch. Works as a waitress for a lunatic boss.
Age: 20. Superpower: FLIGHT.

Harriet Bishop: Studied violin, guitar, and piano . . . and was terrible at them all. Now writes about music for the campus paper.
Age: 20. Superpower: ­INVISIBILITY.

Mary Beth Layton: Is managing a 3.8, but feels like she’s working three times as hard as the people around her.
Age: 20. Superpower: STRENGTH.

Charlie Frost: Has an anxious way about him, and always looks like he’s on day 101 of his most recent haircut.
Age: 20. Superpower: TELEPATHY.

But how do you adjust to an extraordinary ability when you’re an ordinary person? What if you’re not ready for the responsibility that comes with great power?

The novel also takes place in the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks in the United States, which gives Schwartz's undertaking a geopolitical sheen I find ingriguing. The book comes out next week from Three Rivers Press, and simultaneously as an e-book from Random House.

Superpowers [via Amazon and Random House]

• Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle) both wrote and directed this movie, although he faded from the limelight once it tanked. He went on to direct a Disney Channel movie called Up, Up and Away, which was also about superheroes.
• The plot follows a fairly straightforward comic book route, having mild mannered Jefferson Reed Jefferson Reed gain powers after he gets hit by a meteor. However, they went a bit overboard with his powers.
• The meteor gave Jefferson the following powers: super strength, super speed, the ability to fly, telekinesis, laser vision, x-ray vision, freezing breath, the ability to heal quickly, the power to talk to animals, and the power to make plants grow quickly. Oh, and he can also absorb everything in a book by touching it, but only for 30 seconds, which is probably one of the lamest powers ever created.
• There's actually a scene where Meteor Man clears out a vacant lot, plants grass seeds, using his meteor powers to make it rain, and grows a field of giant vegetables and tomatoes. All to the tunes of cool, light jazz. Ouch.
• There's also a scene where the lead villain and the Meteor Man both absorb a book about "ladies modeling" and they have a vogue-off. Yes, you can't make this stuff up.
• This was Don Cheadle's fifth movie, and isn't usually listed in his filmographies or bios. He sports a blond hairdo throughout the film, and chews up a fair amount of scenery.
• James Earl Jones stars as Earnest Moses, and is dressed in an oversized baseball jersey for the whole movie, and check out his high fade haircut. It's pretty embarrassing to watch the voice of Darth Vader try and imitate Radio Raheem from Do The Right Thing.
• Not that Bill Cosby was the greatest actor to grace the silver screen, but in this film he stars as a mostly mute homeless man (he barks at dogs near the end) who gets the same powers as Meteor Man, and comes to the triumphant rescue at the end of the flick.
• Robert Guillaume of Benson fame also stars as Jefferson's dad Ted, and Marla Gibbs, better known as Florence from The Jeffersons stars as his mom. In Up, Up, and Away, Marla stars again as his mom, and Sherman Helmsley (Mr. Jefferson) stars as his dad.
• Even LaWanda Page, better known as Aunt Esther from Sanford & Son makes an appearance as a sassy nurse. Townsend really enjoyed mining older TV shows to fill the roles in his projects.
• Eddie Griffin plays Jefferson's best friend Michael, although he actually chews up less scenery than usual. Since it was only his fifth film, he hadn't hit his wisecracking stride yet.
• Frank Gorshin, who played The Riddler on the old Batman tv show and Bele on Star Trek: The Original Series, portrays big baddie Byers, in probably one of the worst roles of his life. Sometimes, there is shame in taking a job for the paycheck.
• Sinbad and Luther Vandross both have small roles in the film, and you can imagine what the combined box office power of a comedian and a classic singer would have done, if only it had been marketed properly.
• Marvel Comics produced a six-issue limited series based on the movie, where Meteor Man encounter Spider-Man. Seriously, Meteor Man meets Spidey.
• Meteor Man could see through walls with his X-Ray vision, but for some reason when he looked at people, he could see through their clothes, but not their underwear. Behold the power of a PG rating! In the scene below, you can watch as Meteor Man battles a crackhouse full of underwear clad workers, unites the Crips and the Bloods, and grows the magic field. Endure it if you can.

For example, if you buy this book, you'll learn things like how to run faster and how to keep wounds from reopening (wait, is Wolverine reading this?). And you'll get secret tips on even stranger things, such as how to make a tiny piece of soap big again and how to revive a dying ballpoint pen. I think somebody on Heroes actually had that soap power.

Every chapter is arranged into a series of dilemmas, accompanied by the urawaza solution. Want to cure your runny nose? Lisa has the answer:

Simply cut the top fronts off two green onions, stick the remaining thick white root sections into your nostrils, and let your new nose plugs do their thing. Your sinuses will magically clear up — plus, you don't have to deal with drippy boogers.

Urawaza [Amazon]

According to the authors of the study, which comes out this week in the Journal of Labor Economics:

While natural daylight patterns have some effect on people's life patterns, the demands of global business—market openings, etc—and regular television schedule demarcate the boundaries of most Americans' lives . . . Individuals in early television zones (Central and Mountain) are 6.4 percentage points less likely to be watching television between 11 and 11:15 p.m. than those in later zones, but if the sunset is pushed back by an hour the probability of watching TV at 11pm only increases by about one percentage point. The implications for people who want to change their sleep patterns — to get up earlier, say, or go to bed at a regular time — are enormous. If you are somebody who watches TV, you can simply turn the TV off earlier and give your body a cue that it's time to sleep.

If you are in the "professional service" sector (finance, information, business services), you are more likely to follow the time zone cue, while you are in other services sector (education, health, leisure, and hospitality), you are probably more responsive to television cues.

I love it when science actually backs up common sense. Though the idea that our circadian rhythms have been replaced by late-night TV rhythms is sort of creepy.

Early to Bed and Early to Rise . . . Depends on the TV Schedule in Your Time Zone [Eurekalert]

According to an article in the most recent issue of Physics World:

The "stealthiest" ship that currently exists is Sweden's Visby Corvette. Apart from being painted in grey dazzle camouflage and made of low-radar reflectivity materials, it also does not use propellers, which are the noisiest part of a ship. The vessel also has the lowest "magnetic signature" of any current warship.

But the next generation of warships could be truly invisible by exploiting "metamaterials" - artificially engineered structures first dreamt up by physicist John Pendry at Imperial College, London. Metamaterials are tailored to have specific electromagnetic properties not found in nature. In particular, they can bend light around an object, making it appear to an observer as though the waves have passed through empty space.

About the research, Chris Lavers writes, "If optical and radar metamaterials could be developed, they might provide a way to make a ship invisible to both human observers and radar systems, although the challenges of building a cloak big enough to hide an entire ship are huge."

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