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The future of civilian space travel in low Earth orbit (or "LEO," for those in-the-know) is looking brighter by the day, but what will life be like when you're soaring hundreds of miles above Earth's surface? How will you eat, how will you sleep, and how will you go to the bathroom? We've got a preview of ten things you should know about day-to-day life in LEO, so you don't embarrass yourself when your opportunity at space travel finally presents itself. More »
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On earth, we're slowed down by the muck of the everyday world. Matter slows us down, rubbing against us and taking away our speed and power. Gravel, air, even slip-n-slides, exert some friction on us. This frictional force runs counter to our motion, and it can't be escaped anywhere on earth. Eventually, inevitably, it will slow us to a stop. More »
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People often ask: how realistic is the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where Bowman makes a space-walk without a helmet? How long could you survive in vacuum? Would you explode? Would you survive? How long would you remain conscious? More »
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No space travel movie would be complete without someone getting shoved out of an airlock and dying horribly. This handy guide will help you ascertain how fake these airlockings really are - and get over your fear of sliding doors. More »
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There is an organism living on this planet who can travel through space without a suit. Cute, unassuming little invertebrates, these organisms are called tardigrades, or water bears, and usually spend their days crawling around on a piece of nice wet moss in a forest, or meandering through our vast oceans. They only grow to be about 1.5 millimeters long, but over 1,000 species of them inhabit the planet, and they all have a superpower unmatched by any other species on Earth. No now knows why, but tardigrades can withstand temperatures as cold as liquid nitrogen, radiation doses that would kill a human 100 times over, thrive in an outer-space-like vacuum, and survive without water for years. More »
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Disney's Wall-E wasn't above making an appearance at the Superbowl, although he didn't show off any new footage from his upcoming feature film like Iron Man did. Instead this commercial offered a meta-Pixar reference as Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story chow down on some popcorn and talk about Disney's cuddly robot. Meanwhile, Wall-E apparently finds out just how pleasing a vacuum cleaner's sucking power can be. Check out the video below, and see if you still have the hose attachments for your own Hoover. More »
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