Knitted Robots

I thought that you might like to see this collection of Knitted Robots

Merry Christmas

No wash Cotton ( or should that read self cleaning)

One of the major issues in space is having to expensively upload clean clothing (this in the physical sense, as we do not use avatars to run our space hotels,pizza parlours or even tourists) as no one has really sorted out how to wash clothes...

even worse is that all the dirty clothing, gets put into one of the supply rockets, along with all the other rubbish and shot back towards earth to burn up in the atmosphere. Hmm not very green I hear you thinking... However moves are being made in China to produce cotton garments coated with Titanium Dioxide which when exposed to sunlight eats odours and stains. The full article on the BBC is here.

The Japanese have also got in on the act with antibacterial underware entitled J-Ware tested in 2009 and designed and researched by the "Near-Future Space-Living Unit" group led by Prof. Yoshiko Taya of Japan Women's University.

All of these things may seem a little far fetched  but if people are going to be working on the moon or in floating orbital hotels these issues are going to be critical, Mega rich tourists will not wish to be served by hosts and hostesses with BO

The Sky's Dark Labyrinth by Stuart Clark

Welcome to the blog tour of Stuart Clarks Dark Labyrinth

The cover

The lecture

The movie

Dr Stuart Clarks website

Click here to buy from Amazon

Follow on Twitter @DrStuClark

I was not a great fan of historical novels until I was introduced to Stuart Clark at the Borders book Festival last year. We were attempting to look at the stars but it was absoloutely teeming down and Stuart was giving a tour de force lecture about his new book the The Sky's Dark Labyrinth.
It gripped me from there and I was so pleased to be allowed to review it for you as part of the 2011 blog tour to promote the book.
The book covers all of the great things that a novel should: wine, beer, food, sex, politics and religion (not neccesarily in that order) It follows the struggle by an ace mathmetician Johannes Kepler to prove that in actual fact the earth moves round the sun and not that the heavens were moved by angels. Keppler is a down at heel character who is often sickly, poor and really quite arrogant about his own superiority and never suffers fools gladly.
The man seems to believe that the world owes him a living and really is quite an objectionable guest to whom so ever offers him a leg up or even offers him a bed.
Keppler is always being pushed by his wife to make something of himself and at one stage resorts to telling peoples horoscopes to make some money so that his housekeeper can buy some food.
Alongside this arrogant mathmeticians minutiae of life, illness and the day to day grind, is interwoven political and religious intrigue with Cardinals, Jesuits and Lutherans at odds with each other, vying for power across a divided Europe. The Inquisition gets a mention, along with great descriptions of  how earth shatteringly stupid religion can be if looked at through our distant eyes.
This is not just a novel but also a history of mathematics and how we eventually came to realise that the Earth is not the centre of the Universe.
A great read and I recommend that you go and buy it as soon as you can.
I cannot wait for installments 2 and 3

Dava Newman from MIT talks about the "Bio Suit"

Some really interesting insights into what we might be wearing in space. Dava Newman is an engineer working with NASA at MIT in America.
Is this fashion?
Possibly but it is definitely looking at materials and technologies that could influence how we might design fashion for space.

Dervishes in space

Produced by Riese Farbaute / riese-farbaute.de
Directed by Cristian Straub / cristianstraub.com
Director of Photography: Jakob Suess / jakobsuess.de
Camera Assistants: Sebastian Keim, Jonas Schaul
Gaffer: Max Toennis
DIT: Paul Spengemann
Lighting: Jonas Link, Niklas Bastian
Hair&Make-Up: Marianna Mukuchyan @ Optix Agency
Styling: Louisa Ritter-Witt @ Profiteam, Hamburg
Styling Assistant: Aylin Alp
Model: Mara Declair @ PMA Models
Set Photography: Elena Getzieh
First AD: Inna Knaus
Set Organisation: Rike Hoppse
Set Design: Kevin Paulsen
Props: Hang Aoki
Music: Envitre, Cristian Straub
Sound Design & Mixing: Pablo Paolo Kilian
Title Animation: Daniele Manoli
Photography by Elena Getzieh
MORE information at www.riese-farbaute.deProduced by Riese Farbaute / riese-farbaute.de
Directed by Cristian Straub / cristianstraub.com
Director of Photography: Jakob Suess / jakobsuess.de
Camera Assistants: Sebastian Keim, Jonas Schaul
Gaffer: Max Toennis
DIT: Paul Spengemann
Lighting: Jonas Link, Niklas Bastian
Hair&Make-Up: Marianna Mukuchyan @ Optix Agency
Styling: Louisa Ritter-Witt @ Profiteam, Hamburg
Styling Assistant: Aylin Alp
Model: Mara Declair @ PMA Models
Set Photography: Elena Getzieh
First AD: Inna Knaus
Set Organisation: Rike Hoppse
Set Design: Kevin Paulsen
Props: Hang Aoki
Music: Envitre, Cristian Straub
Sound Design & Mixing: Pablo Paolo Kilian
Title Animation: Daniele Manoli
Photography by Elena Getzieh
MORE information at http://www.riese-farbaute.de/