STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

Earth Has A Brand-New Continent Called 'Zealandia,' And It's Been Hiding In Plain Sight For Ages

Kids are frequently taught that seven continents exist: Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Geologists, who look at the rocks (and tend to ignore the humans), group Europe and Asia into its own supercontinent — Eurasia — making for a total of six geologic continents.

But according to a new study of Earth's crust, there's a seventh geologic continent called "Zealandia," and it has been hiding under our figurative noses for millennia.
The 11 researchers behind the study argue that New Zealand and New Caledonia aren't merely an island chain. Instead, they're both part of a single, 4.9-million-square kilometer (1.89 million-square-mile) slab of continental crust that's distinct from Australia.

"This is not a sudden discovery but a gradual realisation; as recently as 10 years ago we would not have had the accumulated data or confidence in interpretation to write this paper," they wrote in GSA Today, a Geological Society of America journal.

Ten of the researchers work for organisations or companies within the new continent; one works for a university in Australia. But other geologists are almost certain to accept the research team's continent-size conclusions, says Bruce Luyendyk, a geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara (he wasn't involved in the study).

"These people here are A-list earth scientists," Luyendyk tells Business Insider. "I think they have put together a solid collection of evidence that's really thorough. I don't see that there's going to be a lot of pushback, except maybe around the edges."

Why Zealandia is almost certainly a new continent

Zealandia, shown in grey to the east of Australia, may be Earth's seventh geologic continent.

The concept of Zealandia isn't new. In fact, Luyendyk coined the word in 1995.

But Luyendyk says it was never intended to describe a new continent. Rather, the name was used to describe New Zealand, New Caledonia, and a collection of submerged pieces and slices of crust that broke off a region of Gondwana, a 200 million-year-old supercontinent.

"The reason I came up with this term is out of convenience," Luyendyk says. "They're pieces of the same thing when you look at Gondwana. So I thought, 'why do you keep naming this collection of pieces as different things?'"

Researchers behind the new study took Luyendyk's idea a huge step further, re-examining known evidence under four criteria that geologists use to deem a slab of rock a continent:

1. Land that pokes up relatively high from the ocean floor
2. A diversity of three types of rocks: igneous (spewed by volcanoes), metamorphic (altered by heat/pressure), and sedimentary (made by erosion)
3. A thicker, less-dense section of crust compared to surrounding ocean floor
4. "Well-defined limits around a large enough area to be considered a continent rather than a microcontinent or continental fragment"

Over the past few decades, geologists had already determined that New Zealand and New Caledonia fit the bill for items 1, 2, and 3. After all, they're large islands that poke up from the sea floor, are geologically diverse, and are made of thicker, less-dense crust.

This eventually led to Luyendyk's coining of Zealandia, and the description of the region as "continental," since it was considered a collection of microcontinents, or bits and pieces of former continents.

The authors say the last item on the list — a question of "is it big enough and unified enough to be its own thing?" — is one that other researchers skipped over in the past, though by no fault of their own. At a glance, Zealandia seemed broken-up. But the new study used recent and detailed satellite-based elevation and gravity maps of the ancient seafloor to show that Zealandia is indeed part of one unified region.

The data also suggests Zealandia spans "approximately the area of greater India," or larger than Madagascar, New Guinea, Greenland, or other microcontinents and provinces.

"If the elevation of Earth's solid surface had first been mapped in the same way as those of Mars and Venus (which lack [...] opaque liquid oceans)," they wrote, "we contend that Zealandia would, much earlier, have been investigated and identified as one of Earth's continents."

The geologic devils in the details

The study's authors point out that while India is big enough to be a continent, and probably used to be, it's now part of Eurasia because it collided and stuck to that continent millions of years ago.

Zealandia, meanwhile, has not yet smashed into Australia; a piece of seafloor called the Cato Trough still separates the two continents by 25 kilometers (15.5 miles).

An elevation map of Zealandia and nearby Australia.

One thing that makes the case for Zealandia tricky is its division into northern and southern segments by two tectonic plates: the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate.

This split makes the region seem more like a bunch of continental fragments than a unified slab.

But the researchers point out that Arabia, India, and parts of Central America have similar divisions, yet are still considered parts of larger continents.

"I'm from California, and it has a plate boundary going through it," Luyendyk says. "In millions of years, the western part will be up near Alaska. Does that make it not part of North America? No."

What's more, the researchers wrote, rock samples suggest Zealandia is made of the same continental crust that used to be part of Gondwana, and that it migrated in ways similar to the continents Antarctica and Australia.

The samples and satellite data also show Zealandia is not broken up as a collection of microcontinents, but a unified slab.

Instead, plate tectonics has thinned, stretched, and submerged Zealandia over of millions of years. Today, only about 5% of it is visible as the islands of New Zealand and New Caledonia — which is part of the reason it took so long to discover.

"The scientific value of classifying Zealandia as a continent is much more than just an extra name on a list," the scientists wrote. "That a continent can be so submerged yet unfragmented makes it a useful and thought-provoking geodynamic end member in exploring the cohesion and breakup of continental crust."

Luyendyk believes the distinction won't likely end up as a scientific curiosity, however, and speculated that it may eventually have larger consequences.

"The economic implications are clear and come into play: What's part of New Zealand and what's not part of New Zealand?" he says.

Indeed, United Nations agreements make specific mentions of continental shelves as boundaries that determine where resources can be extracted — and New Zealand may have tens of billions of dollars' worth of fossil fuels and minerals lurking off its shores.

[MIKA27]

Latest King Arthur Trailer Is Full Of Swords, Prophecies And Absolute Insanity

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It's the first solid look at the movie since the San Diego Comic-Con trailer premiered last year, and folks, we have yet another Chosen One on our hands. Also, this movie looks bananas.

The trailer goes into the destiny-laden journey of how Arthur went from street rat to the rightful King of England. Sure, the Arthurian legend is all about the true king being the only one who could pull the sword from the stone, but this is looking ridiculously complex. Richie's movie is turning Arthur into The Boy Who Lived. I am so sick of prophecies, folks. Why can't he just be a guy who got lucky? Anyway, here's the official synopsis:

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When the child Arthur's father is murdered, Vortigern (Jude Law), Arthur's uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur (Charlie Hunman) comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy… whether he likes it or not.

I'm going to give the trailer a specific bit of flack for being the latest victim of what I'm calling "Logan Syndrome". After the first Logan trailer brilliantly used Johnny Cash's "Hurt", every freaking trailer has been adding sensitive folk music, even when it doesn't fit. Also, points go to Law, who looks like he could not give less of a crap about this performance. Seriously, check out that face. That's the look of a guy who's trying to remember if his Thai takeout from three days ago is still good or not.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword comes out May 11, but it's not the only Arthurian legend hitting theatres this year. We also have Transformers: The Last Knight in June.

[MIKA27]

Transformers Monopoly Is A Work Of Art You Can Actually Hang On A Wall

You can find a copy of Monopoly tailored to almost any interest, hobby, or pop culture property. The most popular board game in the world has been endlessly licensed, but this magnificent Transformers version from Winning Solutions raises the bar all the way to Cybertron.

Featuring original artwork inspired by the packaging of the '80s toy line, Transformers Monopoly replaces all of the game's classic properties with Transformers characters. Where you'd normally find Park Place and Boardwalk, you'll instead find Bumblebee and Optimus Prime as the game's most valuable spots to buy up on the board. And players don't Pass Go to collect $US200 ($261), they instead "Roll Out." Perfect.

Monopoly's traditional houses and hotels are also gone in this version of the game. Players collect money to buy energon cubes instead which powers up the characters they have purchased to increase the 'rent' when other players land there.

Even the game's money will have you wishing the US Mint created a similar design for the country's official currency, with Autobot and Decepticon logos featured on each bill.

What really steals the show, though, are the game's tokens. Hasbro recently reached out to the internet to help vote and decide what all the new tokens for the classic version of the game will look like. But had the options included Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Rodimus Prime, and the Allspark, which all come bundled with Transformers Monopoly, they would have easily swept the voting.

The game is a work of art, so Winning Solutions has designed the game board so that collectors can actually hang it on a wall if they want. Hinged aluminium panels surrounding the board can be folded in (or transformed) to cover everything except the Transformers artwork in the center. Is it a little over-the-top? Without a doubt. But when the game is finally available sometime around July 1 later this year, it's going to come with a price tag somewhere around $US500 ($652)-$US600 ($783), so the last thing you'd want to do is shove it back into a closet when you're done playing.

[Winning Solutions]

[MIKA27]

DIVE INTO THE BEST IMAGES OF THE UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR CONTEST

Underwater Photographer Of The Year: Dancing Octopus, by Gabriel Barathieu

Photography helps us see our planet (and beyond) in a whole new way.

Our next photographic adventure takes us into territory normally only seen by scuba divers. The Underwater Photographer of the Year contest has announced the winners for 2017, giving us a rare peek at how sea creatures hunt, swim, and play below the surface.

French diver Gabriel Barathieu scooped up the top prize for his photo Dancing Octopus. The image captures the graceful cephalopod in a lagoon in Mayotte, off the south-east coast of Africa. Judge Alex Mustard called it “both balletic and malevolent.”

“This image shows that the octopus means business as it hunts in a shallow lagoon,” Mustard said. “The way it moves is so different from any predator on land, this truly could be an alien from another world. A truly memorable creature, beautifully photographed.

Judge Peter Rowlands praised its “vibrant contrasting colours, detailed delicate textures” and “perfect pose.”

The year’s other big winners are Nick Blake (who took British Underwater Photographer of the Year for his image Out of the Blue), Horacio Martinez (who won Up-And-Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year for Oceanic in the Sky), and Nicholao Georgiou (who scored Most Promising British Underwater Photographer of the Year for Orca Pod).

Winners and runners up were also announced in a variety of categories, including Macro, Wrecks, Behaviour, Wide Angle, and Portrait. You’ll find a selection of the best above and all winners of the 2017 Underwater Photographer of the Year competition here.

British Underwater Photographer of the Year: Out of the Blue, by Nick Blake

Most Promising Underwater Photographer Of The Year: Orca Pod, by Nicholai Georgiou

Commended, Portrait: Green Turtles in the Rays by Greg Lecoeur

Runner-up, British Waters Wide Angle: Competition, by Richard Shucksmith

Highly commended, wide angle: Prince of the Waters, by Yannick Gouguenheim

Commended, Up and Coming: By Patryk Pinski

Commended, Wide Angle: By Anatoli Myshlyaev

Commended, Portrait: By Francis Pérez

Highly Commended, Portrait: Imp of Darkness, by Damien Mauric

Highly Commended, Behaviour: By Greg Lecouer

Commended, Up and Coming: Whale Calf Posing, by Christophe Lapeze

Commended, Wrecks: Last Flight, by Steve Jones

Winner, Wrecks: The Wreck of the Louilla at Sunset, by Csaba Tökölyi

Highly Commended, Macro: Paddle Flap Rhinopias, by John Parker

Highly Commended, Macro: Backlight Shrimp, by Fábio Freitas

Highly Commended, Wide Angle: Frozen Hunting, by Fabrice Guerin

Highly Commended, Wrecks: The Haunted Room, by Nadya Kulagina

 

[MIKA27]

BLU TANK XTREME 5.0 SMARTPHONE

Like most folks, we have a hard time going anywhere without bringing our smartphones along for the ride. And that’s usually not a problem. That is, until we find ourselves out on an adventure that’s potentially a risk to our delicate technology. You see, most smartphones can’t survive desert dust, raging rapids, or even an accidental drop. BLU’s Tank Xtreme 5.0, however, isn’t most smartphones.

Featuring a rugged rubberized frame, a display with Gorilla Glass 3, and an IP65 rating – this durable smartphone resists water, dust, and shocks better than devices with half the functionality. What functionality, you ask? Well, it’s equipped with Android’s Marshmallow 6.0 operating system, boasts a 720×1280 pixel HD display, and is powered by a 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor. As if that’s not enough, it also has a powerful 3,000mAh battery (over 50% more juice than an iPhone 7), a whole gig of RAM, 8 gigs of internal memory than can be expanded up to 64GB, and dual 5 megapixel cameras (front & rear). Honestly, at a price of just $130, this might be the best adventure-ready phone ever. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

Pappy Van Winkle 25-Year-Old Bourbon

In the pantheon of great spirits, few are more revered than Pappy Van Winkle. It’s the stuff of legends. So, it should come as no surprise that a newly announced 25-year-old Pappy bottle is being met with a good bit of fanfare. Coming soon from the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery and Buffalo Trace is an extremely limited 25-year-old bottle with a suggest retail price of $1,800. (Spoiler Alert: You won’t find it for $1,800.) Only 710 bottles(!) of the precious hooch will be sold, as only 11 barrels met the standards set by the distillery, which is both commendable and extremely disappointing at the same time. The bourbon will be stored inside a handmade bottle from the Glencairn Crystal Studio, which, in turn, is sealed with a silver stopper. Let’s be honest here, though. You’re never going to find a bottle of this Pappy. But, hey, if you do, post it here.  

[MIKA27]

Kentucky Bourbon Grilling Honey

Grilling season may be a way off for some, but that won’t stop us from dreaming about that first seared piece of meat. To make patience even tougher there’s Kentucky Bourbon Grilling Honey, a newly released blend of authentic Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and pure honey from RogersMade. Slather some on your meal before it’s tossed over that flame and it will come out with a rich, smoky, and oak flavor that just screams of summertime. As you wait for warmer weather to fire up the grill, Kentucky Bourbon Grilling Honey can be used for other, less weather-dependent applications, like finishing a salad or glazing a roast that’s going in the oven. If you’re like us and will take your bourbon anyway you can get it, Kentucky Bourbon Grilling Honey should be in your pantry and ready for use at all times.

[MIKA27]

WHEN DARKNESS FALLS

Since its inception in 1962, racers and spectators have made their way to the Daytona International Speedway for one of sports' most grueling endurance races. The 24-hour event takes place over an entire day, pushing drivers and their crews to not only battle their competition but also their own physical limits from sunrise to sunset. In this short documentary, those who know best describe what it takes to survive 24 Hours of Daytona.

[MIKA27]

MELODY KEY PRIVATE ISLAND LODGE

Comprising 5.24 acres of seclusion just 25 miles from Key West, Melody Key Private Island Lodge represents both an investment opportunity and a chance to get away. Its three-story timber home consists of three bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and an open top-floor that holds the kitchen, bar, dining area, lounge, and offers 360-degree views of the ocean. There's a freshwater pool and covered poolside lounging, and the solar system works with the backup generator and desalination system for self-sufficient living. It's currently open to guests as a rental accommodation, but it's up to your whether you'd want to keep the additional revenue stream or have it all to yourself.

 

[MIKA27]

EHANG DRONE TAXI

Chinese company Ehang is bringing the first unmanned aerial taxi to Dubai this year. The massive drones can carry 100 kgs and have a compartment for a small suitcase. Navigation is provided by a passenger-controlled tablet, for selecting your destination. While pricing isn't yet available, you can expect it to be a little more expensive than a cab ride across town.

[MIKA27]

NASA Found Seven Earth-Sized Planets That May Support Life

Today NASA announced that a team of scientists has confirmed seven Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, a star located just 39 light-years away from our Sun. The six inner planets are very likely to be rocky, are roughly the same mass as Earth, and are thought to have comparable surface temperatures to our own planet. Three of the planets may even be able to support liquid water and perhaps, life.

This discovery signifies the largest number of Earth-sized planets found and largest number of potentially habitable worlds for a single star system. Both factors will make TRAPPIST-1 immensely appealing in the ongoing search for habitable worlds and life beyond Earth.

"This is the first time that so many planets of this kind are formed around the same star," Michaël Gillon, an astronomer at the Université de Liège and a co-author on the study published today in Nature, said in a press briefing. "[The planets] form a very complex system, [since] they're all very close to each other and very close to the star, which is very reminiscent of the moons around Jupiter."

In 2016, Gillon, along with astronomers Amaury Triaud, Emmanuël Jehin and others spotted three exoplanets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, classified as an "ultracool dwarf" star because it features surface temperatures under 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit. After following up on TRAPPIST-1 using the instruments like NASA's Spitzer Telescope and the ESO's Very Large Telescope, the team found four more exoplanets in the star system. All of the potentially Earth-like worlds were spotted using the transit method, which measures dips in a star's light output as a planetary body crosses in front from our line of sight.

The news has justifiably sent space geeks into a frenzy.

"Finding several potential habitable planets per star is great news for our search for life," Lisa Kaltenegger, Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University said.

In our solar system, Earth is situated squarely in the habitable zone where liquid water can form, while two other planets — Venus and Mars — skirt the inner and outer edge, respectively. According to models, the TRAPPIST-1 system contains three planets in the habitable zone, making it the record holder for stars we know of with rocky planets that could potentially support liquid water, Kaltenegger explained.

At this point, we have more questions than answers about these exoplanets. Hopefully, the James Webb Telescope, which launches next year, and the yet-to-be-completed Extremely Large Telescope will be able to tell us more about their atmospheres. This will be critical for determining whether or not the planets really can support liquid water and life.

"If the star is active (as indicated by the X-ray flux) then [a planet in orbit] needs an ozone layer to shield its surface from the harsh UV that would sterilize the surface," Kaltenegger said. "If these planets do not have an ozone layer, life would need to shelter underground or in an ocean to survive — and/or develop strategies to shield from the UV."

Artist's rendering of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system.

One of the many questions from this discovery is, well, can we go there? While star system Proxima Centauri is a more sensible choice for an interstellar voyage, since it also contains a rocky, habitable-zone planet and is much closer to Earth (4.22 light years away), the opportunity to find life on multiple worlds in the TRAPPIST-1 system increases its chances of a visit someday.

"Finding many potential habitable planets around a star is definitely motivating," Kaltenegger said.

[MIKA27]

Five-Legged, Seven-Footed Calf Worth $3,000 to Cow Cult

A calf born with five legs and seven feet sounds like an animal that must be worth something, especially if it survives. But $3,000? That’s what farmer Abhinav Abrol has been offered (200,000 rupees) for a newborn and seemingly health calf … healthy except for the extra leg and feet. The offer came from a so-called “cow-worshipping cult” that obviously sees some value in this curious creature.

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This new born calf has suddenly become a centre of attraction and people are coming from far flung areas to see him.

Residents of the Ludhiana district in Punjab, India, are protective of their friend, Abhinav Abrol, and not just because they, like many others, consider his calf to be a harbinger of good luck – especially if you touch its fifth leg. The extra limb is attached to the calf’s neck. That alone makes it unusual but this leg has three distinct hoofed feet at the end of it. Is this like a triple-word score in the game of good-luck cattle Scrabble?

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This new born calf has suddenly become a centre of attraction and people are coming from far flung areas to see him. People are really excited to take photos with this calf and some people are treating him as a lucky charm.

A lucky charm and possibly more. As usual, many are connecting it to the Hindu bovine-goddess Kamadhenu – a truly lucky “cow of plenty” who was said to provide her owner with whatever he wanted and is considered to be the mother of all bovines and eleven Hindu gods. Religious experts are quick to point out that Hindus do not “worship” cows but revere them for all of the things they provide.

Of course, you don’t have to be religious to see the value of a five-legged cow that people want to see and touch for good luck. Under the guise of an alleged cow-worshiping cult, someone has offered Abrol nearly $3,000 for the calf – a figure that could be earned back many times over at a buck per lucky rub. It’s happened before with other extra-limbed beasts. So far, Abrol has resisted the offers, saying he’s become attached to the animal and has dedicated it to his father.

His father may want to check the water or the breeding pens on the farm. Having extra limbs is a birth defect called polymelia that can be genetic or caused by outside contaminants. Is it still lucky if the fifth leg came from a nearby nuclear plant?

Let’s hope the five-legged, seven-footed calf brings Abhinav Abrol luck so he doesn’t have to sell out to the “cow-worshiping” cattle cartel.

MIKA: I don't know why but the below came to mind when I read this and its totally unrelated lol!! 

 

[MIKA27]

A Video Of Harrison Ford’s Aerial Mishap Appears Online

On Monday February 13th Star Wars and Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford had a rather huge, but thankfully injury- and casualty-free, aerial mishap when he accidentally landed on the taxiway runway instead of the runway he was assigned to land on. His plane flew almost directly above a taxiing American Airlines jet with 110 people on board. Ford asked air traffic control just after the incident, ““Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?” Deadline has posted a video of the incident released by Orange County’s John Wayne Airport.

The video captures the incident from various different angles, and while no one was hurt, the FAA is still investigating. This isn’t the first time Ford has been involved in an aerial mistake, but not all of them have been his fault. This one is though, and while it’s unlikely, the FAA could revoke his pilots license.

 

[MIKA27]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Helped Resurrect Tarkin for Rogue One

Of the many surprises in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, none was more impressive than the movie’s resurrection of Grand Moff Tarkin. It wasn’t extraordinary that he factored in to the plot of the film, per se—Tarkin was definitely a big deal in the Empire at the time—it was remarkable because the actor who played him, Peter Cushing, passed away in 1994. To recreate his performance, Industrial Light & Magic had to pull off all kinds of CGI tricks, including using a facial capture technique that began its life on 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Find out how the ILM team did their Oscar-nominated work in the Design FX video above.

[MIKA27]

MUCHA LIGA TEQUILA

In the world of liquor pairings, we challenge you to find a better combination than tequila and wrestling; Lucha Libre to be specific. In this regard, Mucha Liga tequila pays homage to these brave and entertaining Luchadores with their renowned tequila housed within a series of Lucha Libre masks. It’s Mexican culture at its finest. Now all you need is some salt and lime.

With each mask comes a different expression of tequila. In this case, each of bottle represents a Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo tequila. Dubbed Bravo, Canibal, and Invicto respectively, each bottle features one of the three main characters of the league vying for their chance to become El Campeon. Their agave is grown in the La Cienega region of Jalisco, where the soil boasts a high balance of nutrients thanks to the limited amount of agave grown in that area. This allows each and every batch to obtain a vast variety of flavors and aromas that make each sip a memorable experience- as long as you don’t overindulge of course. Salud. [Purchase]

 

[MIKA27]

A Show About the Life of Jack Daniel Is Coming to TV

As you’d expect from a man whose career began just before the Civil War, Jack Daniel’s early life has all the makings of a great story. That’s why we’re surprised it took nearly 150 years for someone to write a biography about the guy, then another decade and change for television to think about putting out a show. WGN America and Aaron Paul’s production company, Lucid Road Productions, have started work on Blood and Whiskey, a drama about the life of Jack Daniel. Presumably, the show will follow Daniel as he is orphaned at 15 and discovers distilling, works as a moonshiner for 10 years, then founds his famous distillery in an attempt to go legitimate. We’re going to assume a lot of the series will focus on Daniel’s time as a moonshiner, since that’s where most of the action was, but with Andrew Colville of Mad Men fame penning the script, you can bet the corporate plot lines are going to be meaty as well. Marketing those square bottles won’t be easy.

[MIKA27]

Sound BlasterX Katana

The Sound BlasterX Katana by Creative is a gaming soundbar that’s designed specifically to go underneath your desktop monitor. The sleek Katana has a minimalist and slimness design, packaged within an anodised gray brushed metal-finish casing. Like other soundbars, it combines what would typically be three speakers into one unit, and is powered and enhanced by Creative´s award winning multi-core audio DSP making it the worlds first true Under Monitor Audio System (it can also be used as an enhancement for TV audio). It also features Creative’s programmable Aurora RGB LED lighting (the first gaming and entertainment sound system to have such a feature) that elevates your gaming and movie experience. This is the perfect addition to fully optimize and customize your PC and desktop setup.

 

[MIKA27]

James Bond 25 And The Untapped Stories of the Novels

A spoiler lies ahead for Spectre...

Over the course of 11 years, Ian Fleming wrote 12 James Bond novels and nine short stories before his death in 1964, forming the basis for the film series which survives to the present day. 24 films and 55 years since the birth of the cinematic Bond, it might come as a surprise that the franchise hasn’t completely exhausted its source material. More often than not, however, the James Bond films have been adaptations in name only.

Starting with Roald Dahl’s outlandish screenplay for the fifth Bond film, You Only Live Twice, the film scripts began to drift away from their literary inspirations. For most of Roger Moore’s seven-film tenure, for example, entire plots and characters were omitted in the transition from page to screen. Fortunately, this has left an abundance of material ripe for translation into new adventures for the filmic Bond.

In recent years, the Bond films have made a concerted effort to return to their literary roots.

Martin Campbell’s 2006 reboot, Casino Royale, was a refreshingly faithful update of Fleming’s first Bond novel, and subsequent films have incorporated additional elements from the books. Skyfall introduced screen audiences to parts of Bond’s childhood and his upbringing in Scotland, previously found in the pages of You Only Live Twice. The character of Hannes Oberhauser, Bond’s skiing instructor mentioned in Spectre, was taken from the short story Octopussy (the peculiar decision to turn this minor character into the father of criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld was, typically, an invention for the screen). With this trend in mind, there are a number of other stories from which future screenwriters could take inspiration.

What’s in a name?

The first and most obvious element to consider is the title. Until 1989’s Licence To Kill, the official Bond films all borrowed their titles from an existing novel or short story. Since then, inspiration has often been drawn from elsewhere in Fleming’s work and life. Goldeneye was named for the author’s Jamaica home where he wrote much of his material, while The World Is Not Enough was the literary Bond’s family motto, previously referenced in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Spectre took the name of the villainous organization first revealed in the novel Thunderball, originally an acronym for 'Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion'. Only Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace bucked the trend by taking their names from a Fleming novel and short story respectively.

A few Fleming titles remain unused, all of which are short stories: Risico, The Property Of A Lady, The Hildebrand Rarity, and 007 In New York. Of the bunch, Risico is probably the most feasible – make it the name of the villain or his organisation/plan/superweapon and we’re in business. The Property Of A Lady could work, but it’s a name that doesn’t quite meet the expectations of a modern action-thriller. Likewise, The Hildebrand Rarity is a little obscure, and Hildebrand was already used as the name of an MI6 safe house in Spectre. I would say it’s safe to count out 007 In New York entirely, but then again, I didn’t expect them to release a film called Quantum Of Solace, so who knows what could happen.

You Only Live Twice: Welcome to Japan, Mr Bond

Of the material left over from the books, the plot from Fleming’s You Only Live Twice is probably the most appropriate for a modern reworking. In this story, set months after the murder of his wife at the hands of Blofeld, Bond’s grief has driven him to even greater excesses of gambling and alcoholism (if that were possible). Concerned about his performance and wellbeing, M dispatches Bond to Japan on a diplomatic function. There, he is tasked by the Japanese Secret Service with assassinating the mysterious Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, whom Bond identifies as Blofeld in disguise. 007 infiltrates the villain’s reclusive castle residence, which is surrounded by a deadly 'Garden of Death', and defeats his nemesis by strangling the life from him.

What makes this story so opportune for a screen adaptation is that it would make an excellent conclusion to the story arch of Daniel Craig’s James Bond. 2015’s Spectre ended with Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld alive and in British custody, while Bond appeared to turn his back on a life of violence. Perhaps the film could open with an audacious escape by Blofeld, enticing Craig’s reluctant 007 to return to the fray once more. Bond would trace the fugitive to a Japanese hideout, with the final confrontation playing out as in the novel. If they need an original title, then Blofeld’s alias, Shatterhand, is as good as any of recent years.

As an interesting aside, the ending of Fleming’s You Only Live Twice features Bond stricken with amnesia following his escape from Blofeld’s headquarters. Unaware of his identity, Bond lives as a Japanese fisherman and impregnates his lover, Kissy Suzuki, before heading to Russia in a desperate attempt to uncover his past. This conclusion would probably be too bold a step for the Bond film franchise, while the amnesia plot device may be a little cliché in a post-Bourne world. Nevertheless, it’s something to consider if they wanted to end the story on a dark and unexpected note.

Moonraker: Nuclear warheads on the English countryside

Moonraker is another novel deserving of a faithful adaptation (the 1979 film version jettisoned the original plot in favor of sending Bond into space, with only the villain’s name staying the same). Admittedly, this story is a less natural fit for our expectations of the screen Bond; exotic locations are missing in favour of the southern English coast, while the plot hinges on an ex-Nazi scientist redirecting an experimental nuclear missile towards London.

The narrative kicks off with an oddly personal request from M. The MI6 chief suspects that another member of the Blades Gentlemen’s Club, Sir Hugo Drax, is cheating at cards, and asks Bond to find out the truth. This apparently innocuous inquiry leads Bond to investigate Drax’s Moonraker missile project near Dover, where it is discovered that Drax is a former Nazi commando working in league with the Soviets. The book’s heroine, Special Branch agent Gala Brand, has also never been portrayed in the film series. Her character has the unique distinction of rejecting Bond’s advances at the end of the novel, revealing herself to be already engaged to a colleague.

With a little embellishment, Moonraker could easily be revised into a modern story playing on contemporary fears of Britain’s nuclear capability and the Trident program. Then again, if they ever decide to go ahead with a one-off Bond adventure set in the fifties, then a fully-fledged version of Moonraker would surely be a no-brainer.

The Man With The Golden Gun: Bond meets the war on drugs

Fleming’s The Man With The Golden Gun features plot elements which could be similarly adapted for modern-day concerns. Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Francisco Scaramanga in the 1974 film adaptation is rightly remembered as a classic Bond villain, but his performance was actually a tremendous departure from the character in the novel. Fleming’s Scaramanga is an uncouth thug and a stooge for more powerful criminals, unlike the refined, independent personality of Lee’s interpretation.

The book version of The Man With The Golden Gun is also set primarily in Jamaica, rather than the South-East Asian setting of the film (a concession to the kung-fu movies that were popular at the time). In the original story, Bond faces a syndicate of American Gangsters and Soviet KGB agents, bent on destabilising western economic interests in the Caribbean and central America. Among the villains’ schemes are efforts to inflate the price of Cuban sugar and smuggle narcotics and prostitutes into the United States. After going undercover with CIA agent Felix Leiter, 007 eventually thwarts their operation, while Scaramanga himself is shot dead in a climactic duel.

Although The Man With The Golden Gun would have to be necessarily reworked for a post-Cold War world, a new Bond adventure set in this part of the globe could place Bond within the ongoing 'war on drugs'. This murky realm of drug cartels on the US-Mexican border was recently explored in Denis Villeneuve’s excellent crime-thriller, Sicario, and would provide an unorthodox environment for James Bond.

Bits and pieces

Beyond broad story outlines, there are also a number of specific sequences from the Fleming novels which are yet to be put to film. The following are just a few scenes which I’ve always believed to hold untapped cinematic potential, if they could only be worked into an original story.

From A View To A Kill, the short story which gave its title, but nothing else, to the 1985 film A View To A Kill, features an exciting sequence in which a British army motorcyclist is assassinated at high-speed by an enemy agent. Bond later avoids a similar fate by outmanoeuvring the killer.

Casino Royale contains a similarly tense moment in which Bond has a hidden gun pointed at his spine during a high-stakes game of baccarat (this was actually filmed for the 1954 American TV version of Casino Royale, which starred Barry Nelson as 'Jimmy' Bond).

The increased violence of recent films also brings to mind some of Fleming’s more brutal moments. A visceral torture scene from Diamonds Are Forever has Bond trampled by thugs in studded football boots. He subsequently commandeers a push-car and escapes along a disused railway line.

Lastly, in Dr. No, Bond is captured by the titular villain and put through a series of physical trials, including a cage of poisonous spiders and an admittedly preposterous fight with a giant squid. It’s an intense and often squeamish passage which was dropped from the original film thanks to budgetary constraints.

Bond beyond Fleming

Evidently, the 007 source material still holds a lot of potential for the world’s longest-running film franchise. And it’s not just Fleming’s stories which can be plundered for the screen. There also exists a vast array of 'continuations novels', written by other authors after Fleming’s death, from which the Bond writers may take inspiration. Indeed, the drill-based torture sequence from Spectre was adapted almost verbatim from a scene in Kingsley Amis’ 1968 Bond novel, Colonel Sun. Having hardly read these works, I couldn’t comment any further on their suitability for the cinematic Bond. But at the very least, Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care would be a cracking title for a future instalment.

Nevertheless, it remains my maxim that if Casino Royale taught us anything, it’s this; when in doubt, go to Fleming. The very best James Bond films are those that root their tone and characters most closely to the original source material. As blockbuster film franchises, Bond included, continue to rely on characters and ideas which we’ve seen before, perhaps it’s time to capture some of the stories we missed on the first time around.

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Trailer for Netflix's The Discovery Starring Rooney Mara, Jason Segel, and Robert Redford

In the chilling initial trailer for Netflix’s new film The Discovery, the only spoken words are Jason Segel uttering “people are just going to keep killing themselves.” For the rest of the 90-second trailer, Roy Orbison’s “Only The Lonely” plays over a series of moving pictures one could only describe as “Black Mirror Meets The Leftovers.” That’s one way to stand out when you already have three marquee stars, Segel, Rooney Mara, and Robert Redford, to market your film.

Lack of a proper introduction aside, we do know that The Discovery is about a scientist (Redford) who discovers that an afterlife can be scientifically proven. Set a year after the revelation, the fallout is millions of people commit suicide in search of a fresh start.

The premise leaves plenty of blanks to fill in, take a look at the trailer.

The Discovery was acquired by Netflix in June 2016. It is directed by Charlie McDowell, and written by McDowell and Justin Lader. It releases on Netflix on March 31st.

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Matt Reeves Is Officially Directing The Next Batman Movie

It's been a tumultuous few weeks behind the scenes of the upcoming Batman film, but now it's official. Warner Bros. announced that Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and this summer's War for the Planet of the Apes, is directing a standalone Batman film.

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"I have loved the Batman story since I was a child," Reeves said in a press release. "He is such an iconic and compelling character, and one that resonates with me deeply. I am incredibly honored and excited to be working with Warner Bros. to bring an epic and emotional new take on the Caped Crusader to the big screen."

Reeves will also produce the film. No word on who will be credited as the screenwriters or a release date.

"We are thrilled to have Matt Reeves taking the helm of Batman, the crown jewel of our DC slate," added Toby Emmerich, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. "Matt's deep roots in genre films and his evolution into an emotional world-building director make him the perfect filmmaker to guide the Dark Knight through this next journey."

Reeves was the among the top choices from the moment Ben Affleck stepped down as director. However, the previous news was that negotiations between he and the studio had broken down. Obviously, whatever problems arose between the parties have now been settled.

One very curious thing about the press release? There is no mention of Affleck. Affleck who is expected to play Batman and even wrote a version of the script with DC Films' Geoff Johns. However, it seems like that's just an oversight. He's attached to star.

We'll next see Batman, played by Affleck, in Zack Snyder's Justice League when it hits theatres November 17.

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The Lego Batman Movie Director Will Bring Nightwing To The Big Screen

Importantly, this should also mean that Chris McKay is bringing one of the most lauded butts in comic books to the big screen as well.

The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that McKay is currently in talks with Warner Bros. to bring Grayson — the original Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, superspy, and many other roles as well as his costumed identity as Nightwing — to the big screen with a live action movie. The Accountant's Bill Dubuque is set to write the script. Sources speaking to io9 also corroborated the information in THR's report.

It's an interesting move — and yet another Batman-focused entry into the DCEU behind Gotham City Sirens, Suicide Squad, and, of course, the standalone Batman movie — as up until we've not seen a Robin in the DCEU. We know there was one, because Batman keeps his former outfit in the batcave, but many have assumed it was a version of Jason Todd, the Robin famously beaten to death by the Joker, given the character's seemingly grim fate before Batman v Superman.

If that is meant to be the movie universe's answer to Jason Todd, it's great to see that Dick is alive and well, and heading to his own movie to boot. We'll bring you more on the Nightwing movie as we know it.

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The Hunt For The Next Exoplanet Could Be In The Hands Of EVE Online Players

It's a big day for exoplanets. Not only did NASA confirm that it has spotted seven exoplanets that have Earth-like qualities orbiting TRAPPIST-1, but the makers of the popular massive multiplayer game EVE Online have announced a crowdsourcing effort to get players to identify exoplanets while they explore virtual space.

This is the second edition of EVE Online's mini-game feature known as "Project Discovery." The first round tasked players with classifying human protein data from a large collection of cell images. This time, CCP Games has partnered with Massively Multiplayer Online Science (MMOS), the University of Reykjavik and the University of Geneva to enlist players help with classifying astronomical data.

Thousands of users will be able to play a mini-game in their downtime during jumps between space stations that can take several minutes. They will be shown real images from an astronomical database and are asked to classify them based on criteria that hasn't been announced yet. If enough consensus is built around individual classifications, that data is kicked back to the scientists and they will determine if we're looking at a new exoplanet or perhaps some other strange anomaly.

According to CCP, the first experiment with human protein data was a massive success and over 25 million classifications of human cells were processed.

Full details about how the project will work won't be available until the spring. Michel Mayor, discoverer of the first exoplanet and recipient of the 2017 Wolf Prize in physics, will give a presentation on the project at EVE Fanfest which runs April 6-8. You can get an idea of how the protein data interface worked in this video:

EVE Online is, pretty much, the perfect platform for this kind of project. Not only is it a space game but its players are a notoriously tenacious bunch. Massive space battles result in thousands of dollars in damage to virtual gear that costs real money. And in at least one case they offered up a $US75,000 ($97,618) bounty against a rival group that pissed them off. Yeah, they're dedicated. Rewarding that zeal with bonuses for helping us explore the real universe could lead to real breakthroughs.

 

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Watch The Official Prologue To 'Alien: Covenant' Here

Meet the crew of the mission as they gather for a final meal before entering cryosleep.
Set aboard the Covenant, a colonisation ship on its way to a remote planet to form a new human settlement, the main crew (all couples) and their android, Walter, enjoy their final meal together before cryosleep.

This prologue is conceived by Ridley Scott and 3AM, directed by Luke Scott, and produced by RSA Films.

Ridley Scott is returning to the universe he created, with Alien:Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world.

When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England and Benjamin Rigby, you can catch it in cinemas from May 19.

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Inside the Fight Against a Massive Telescope Atop a Sacred Hawaiian Mountain

Indigenous groups argue that Mauna Kea is already overdeveloped.

Mauna Kea's summit is an unparalleled vantage point for astronomers eager to peer deep into the universe.

The mountain's prime stargazing location is no secret to Native Hawaiians, either. They deeply revere the dormant, skyscraping volcano: At the top of the 13,000-foot mountain, stone shrines, erected by their ancestors, align with constellations piercing the night sky.

"They're all interconnected and make a star grid. The alignment meant that families were able to connect with those star beings, those star nations," E. Kalani Flores, a professor of Hawaiian lifestyles at Hawaii Community College–Palamanui, told VICE. "It's a divine connection to other life forms on other star systems. Our ancestral knowledge is actually embedded in the sites up there—it's imprinted and can still be activated."

Some Native Hawaiians, like Flores, are perturbed by the "overdevelopment" of Mauna Kea. Its peak is peppered with telescopes—13 of them to date. And there could be an additional one in the future, an unrivaled, hulking piece of machinery called the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that will be capable of gazing about 13 billion light years into space. According to Flores, the project will mar culturally important sites, like the star shrines, if it's built.

The $1.4 billion, 18-story telescope, spearheaded by the TMT International Observatory (TIO), has been in the works for roughly 14 years. In recent years, it's been mired by unwavering pushback from the indigenous Hawaiian community.

Opposition to the project came to a head in 2015, when "protectors" halted a stream of construction crews and dignitaries from breaking ground. Nerves became frayed, and some Native Hawaiians were arrested.

Joshua Lanakila Mangauil, the director of the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hamakua, helped launch the initial revolt.

"We wanted to get in their cameras and show that this action isn't all hunky dory. Mauna Kea is part of our creation story," he told VICE. "The pinnacle of Mauna Kea is that it is the crown of the aquifer. It jettisons up into the sky and gives us multiple climate zones that allows for many lifeforms to thrive."

The fight to protect the mountain has circulated through the court system. Currently, there are more than 60 people involved in a contested case hearing—Flores being one of the lead parties. The quasi-court process allows opponents to air grievances and will ultimately determine the legal grounds of the project.

This is the second hearing to date. The Hawaiian Supreme Court ordered the state's Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to host an additional one after it found the department unlawfully voted to issue a permit to streamline construction.

"The supreme court affirmed our position and ended up invalidating the permit because they didn't vote to have a hearing first," said Flores. "They didn't follow the process of law."

Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, a cultural group made up of Native Hawaiians, also delivered concerns to the supreme court after the incident and is likewise involved in the hearing. She is a former telescope systems specialist on Mauna Kea but now says development on the mountaintop has gone too far.

"It truly does not meet the legal requirements," she told VICE during a hearing recess. "They [the state] has actually exceeded the carrying capacity that was established years ago, which was 11 major and two minor telescopes. This project is so huge it can't even fit on the summit."

The bottom line is "opposing the desecration of the sacred," she said.

"When I worked up there, I didn't necessarily see it as a conflict, as I come from star people. However, where the conflict began is when the landscape began to be dominated by human [constructions] and it was removing the space for sanctity and reverence. Since 2001, our position has been no further development."

For the TMT to be built, it needs both a permit and a sublease since it's on conservation land. This is where the University of Hawaii fits in.

"What the university has done is sublease different parts to various international corporations and entities," said Flores. "As part of this, they wanted to give a sublease to the TMT."

The BLNR was also involved in approving a sublease issued by the university, which Flores and others appealed. A circuit court agreed that a revived contested case on the matter should be held, he said.

"Right now this project doesn't have a permit, and they don't have consent to a sublease. They're back to square one."

In an October news release, TIO announced it's searching for an alternate site, presumably because of prolonged delays. One location is on Spain's Canary Islands.

"Maunakea continues to be the preferred choice for the Thirty Meter Telescope, and the TIO Board will continue intensive efforts to gain approval for TMT in Hawaii," it says. "TIO is very grateful to all our supporters and friends throughout Hawaii, and we deeply appreciate their continued support."

The board did not respond to an email sent by VICE.

Paul Coleman, an astrophysicist at the university and a Native Hawaiian, conversely explained the telescope represents "a leap year of new technology and possibilities."

He told VICE that Mauna Kea isn't as sacred as some Native Hawaiians make it out to be. If it is, he added, he wants evidence.

"There are things worth fighting and arguing over," he said. "I just don't think this is one. Astronomy, no matter what form, fits quite nicely into the cultural aspects of Hawaii because I believe Hawaiians are astronomers. That defines us. This is a wonderful thing for the state, particularly Native Hawaiians who can benefit both economically and educationally."

To Mangauil, the fight to protect Mauna Kea is a microcosm of what is happening all around the world: corporate interests encroaching on delicate and sacred environments.

"We understand, as island people, you only take what you need and we live on a finite planet with finite resources," he said. "Continental people don't seem to understand that. What's happening on the summit is the same abuse the whole planet is seeing."

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2017 ITALDESIGN AUTOMOBILI SPECIALI

The Geneva Motor show is a few weeks away and the buzz is already kicking into high gear. Just this week Italdesign revealed some renderings of their much anticipated 2017 Automobili Speciali.

The only thing that seems to rival this supercar’s looks is its power plant. A gargantuan 5.2 liter V10 engine sits under the hood of this beast – the same that powers the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan – and it boasts the capability of sending the car rocketing from 0 to 62mph in just 3.2 seconds on its way to a top speed of over 205 miles per hour. These stats are in large part thanks to how lightweight this vehicle is. The modular chassis is made from a combination of carbon fiber and aluminum, while the bodywork is built entirely out of the featherweight plastic. Only 5 of these will be made, but according to Italdesign CEO Joerg Astalosch, the company plans to put out a new car every 18 to 24 months from here on out. Prices for this particular car are expected to start at $1.6 million.