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

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The CW's Batwoman Rises In Our First Look At Ruby Rose As Kate Kane

We’ve known for a while now that Australian Ruby Rose would be heading to Gotham this summer as the CW’s very own Batwoman. But now we actually have an official look at her in costume, and the title of the CW’s best superhero look might just have a new owner.

Officially unveiled by the CW today, here’s your first look at Rose as Batwoman, ahead of her debut in this December’s Arrow/Flash/Supergirl crossover, Elseworlds.

It’s a pretty spot on take on Kate’s iconic look in the comics — especially the flowing hair coming out of the back of her cowl — even if the lower part of the suit has been a little more streamlined. The design on the cape (right down to its classic shaping) is a lovely touch, to boot.

And ooh, look! Wayne Tower itself in the background! Just in case you were really unsure this was Batwoman in Gotham City.

Rose will make her debut as Kane in Elseworlds this December’s DC/CW crossover, ahead of a planned solo series set to air in 2019.

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Voyager 2 Detects Hints That Interstellar Space Is Nearby

Six years ago, the Voyager 1 spacecraft informed scientists that it had become the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. Now, Voyager 2 has begun to return signs that its own exit from the Solar System could be coming soon.

Two of Voyager 2's instruments have measured an increase in the number of high-energy particles called cosmic rays hitting the spacecraft, according to a NASA release. Scientists think that the heliosphere, the region of particles and magnetic fields under the Sun’s influence, blocks some cosmic rays. An increase in their rate means that the probe could be nearing the heliopause, the heliosphere’s outer boundary.

This could be a taste of things yet to come. “We’re going to learn a lot in the coming months, but we still don’t know when we’ll reach the heliopause,” Voyager Project Scientist Ed Stone said, according to the release. “We’re not there yet — that’s one thing I can say with confidence.”

Voyagers 1 and 2 launched in 1977 in order to explore Saturn and Jupiter. Voyager 1 then embarked on its mission out of the Solar System, while Voyager 2 was able to return data on Uranus and Neptune before starting its own decades-long journey. The probes made discoveries, returned important data, and presented iconic images of the outer planets.

Scientists still operate the probes 40 years later, though the missions have changed — now, the spacecraft explore the Solar System’s limits, periodically sending back data via radio waves.

Voyager 1 measured an increase in cosmic rays back in May 2012 before crossing the heliopause three months later — a measurement accompanied by a sudden increase in the density of the ambient plasma.

Perhaps Voyager 2 is now getting close, too, though one Princeton scientist who uses Voyager data, Jamie Rankin, stressed to Gizmodo that Voyager 2 hasn’t yet reached interstellar space.

Randy Gladstone, Southwest Research Institute scientist on the New Horizons mission, explained why crossing the heliopause with a second probe is important: “As with almost anything, doing something the second time can tell you whether you really understand it or not. Voyager 2’s crossing is in a much different place, and while current models can adjust for that, it is almost certain those models are too simple to get it perfectly. We always learn a lot in these situations (it’s a big reason why we have a Voyager 1 and a Voyager 2).”

It’s tough to say whether Voyager 2 will leave the Solar System soon. But it’s another reminder of how incredible these missions are. Voyager 2 is currently 18 billion km from the Sun, 118 times the distance between the Sun and Earth. Voyager 1 is over 21 billion km from the Sun, which is 144 times the Sun-to-Earth distance. Yet they can still send us interesting scientific results, and yes, explore space even beyond the Sun’s influence.

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Pulpy Epic Shadow Builds To Action That'll Blow Your Mind

The first thing you notice about Shadow is how accurately descriptive its title is. Save for the skin tones, most of the film is drained of colour, giving the whole thing a black-and-white, graphic-novel feel. That, in turn, sets a very specific dark tone—which works quite well, but also makes a slow-building movie feel that much slower.

Shadow is directed by Zhang Yimou, best known in the U.S. for blindingly bright epics like Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Shadow is in the same ballpark as those narratively, but a complete 180 visually. The story follows a commander (Deng Chao) who has been secretly grooming a personal doppelgänger (also Chao) to act out his devious deeds under the nose of the king (Ryan Zheng). The political intrigue is ripe and juicy, with multiple kingdoms feuding, alliances shifting, romances forming, and much more. It’s completely engrossing and interesting—but the first third of the film is mostly exposition, with rarely a moment of action to break it up.

The early part of the film may look gorgeous, but it drags a bit brutally. Eventually, though, Shadow gets brutal in the best sense of the word. The built-up tension leads to a war between two cities and, in grand Zhang Yimou fashion, the sequence features flat-out incredible action that’s worth the price of admission on its own. There’s slow-motion one-on-one combat, army-on-army showdowns, and much of it features...wait for it...knife umbrellas. All of these scenes are breathtaking and even more exciting after the film’s glacially-paced set-up.

From there, Shadow once again dives deep into exposition, but at least this time it’s tempered with action, giving the film a more balanced, satisfying ending. You walk out of the theatre happy, which is absolutely a worry during the film’s first act. Thankfully, while Shadow may be an uneven film, the highs are so high they make it worth it, plus the lows are still better than most things you’ll see out there.

Shadow had its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest 2018 and does not yet have an Australian release date.

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Is Apple Brandy the Next Big Thing?

You can easily figure out a bar manager’s secret passion. All you have to do is take a close look at the bottles behind his or her bar. No matter how diverse the selection, there is almost always a collection of spirits that are a bit out of place. Perhaps, it’s an oddly robust group of amaro or a carefully curated collection of vintage Chartreuse.

I’m, of course, guilty of this behavior, too. For me it is apple brandy, a spirit that every autumn seems to almost breakthrough to the mainstream, only to be misunderstood and tossed back into the pile of other seasonal offerings, like so many fallen leaves.

Bourbon may have been named America’s native spirit by Congress but apple brandy was drunk even earlier in the colonies. During cold New England winters, colonists would leave hard cider outside overnight allowing it to freeze. In the morning, they would throw away the ice. Since alcohol doesn’t freeze, what was left over after this rudimentary distilling, or “jacking,” process was a more concentrated alcoholic apple beverage.

This beverage became known as applejack and had as large a reputation for causing blindness from poor “distilling” as it did for getting the drinker drunk. But it wasn’t long before industrious entrepreneurs started improving the spirit’s production and actually using stills.

One of those distillers was Robert Laird, who served under George Washington in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. There are records of Washington requesting Laird’s family recipe for “cyder spirits,” which is the basis for the claim that Laird supplied applejack to the army. After the War, Laird built a proper distillery in Scobeyville, New Jersey. It is now the oldest licensed distillery in the United States. (In fact, it received license number one from the U.S. Treasury in 1780.)

But the colonists, of course, didn’t invent apple-based spirits. And while the fruit seems quintessentially American, people have been making calvados from apples in Normandy, France, for centuries. I recently had the pleasure of exploring the region’s history and visited the Christian Drouin Distillery and Orchards.

I stepped off the train in Pont-l’Évêque on a typically rainy Normandy day and was immediately greeted by Herve Pellerin, the impossibly charming representative of Christian Drouin. He was the perfect guide, given that he’s been working in the calvados industry for more than 30 years, since beginning with LeCompte in the 1980s.

Over morning coffee, Pellerin explained that when he started out most calvados in the region was drunk as “Café Calva” (coffee with a shot of calvados). At the time, a Café Calva was the same price as a plain coffee, which meant that calvados was considered essentially an inconsequential addition. Bars and restaurants were literally giving it away for free.

Calvados, like Cognac, Champagne, or Roquefort cheese, for that matter, has its own AOC, or appellation d’origine contrôlée. An AOC is a protected designation of origin for French products that is meant to maintain control and quality. (It also helps prevent competition from producers in other areas.) Calvados is required to come from Normandy, can only be made from a few specific varieties of apples and has to be aged for at least two years in oak barrels. It is also usually distilled just once. However, there is even a stricter AOC that Christian Drouin qualifies for known as Calvados Pays d’Auge. To gain that designation, a brand has to be in the growing region to the eastern end of Normandy and the brandy has to be distilled twice in a copper pot still. These differences cause a notable change in style and quality of the calvados.

Once we arrived at the distillery we were greeted by Guillaume, third-generation Drouin and the brand’s current head distiller. I spent the next several hours walking the grounds, picking fruit, talking production methods, and, of course, tasting calvados.

Attention to detail, history and flavor is what drives Drouin. The company currently uses 35 different varietals of apples, which is more than double the standard amount. Harvest begins in September and continues through December as various varietals ripen across the season. Even after ripening the apples need days or even months of resting off the tree to truly unlock their flavor.

Next, the apples are gently pressed and then fermented. Fermentation is all natural with native yeasts and can take anywhere from one to five months to complete. This fermentation produces a cider of about 6-percent alcohol, which is then double distilled in a traditional alembic copper pot still. Like so many perfectionists Drouin believes that the secret to great distillation is to take your time.

The apple eau de vie that is produced is then aged in oak barrels until it is deemed ready. The company is currently aging more than 1,200 casks of calvados and each one is unique. Some are former bourbon barrels, which have been aging for less than a year and are just beginning to soften the acidic nature of the apple spirit. In the cellar, there is even a 30-year-old former sherry cask and older barrels that stretch back to 1939. The Drouin’s catalogue of flavors and aromas rivals any that I have found in the great distilleries of the world.

It’s easy to see how the traditional production methods for making calvados would play well with American drinkers who are increasingly interested in historic and rare spirits. This trend has led to the rebirth of the Old-Fashioned and rye whiskey, and maybe next up is apple brandy. With any luck, in a few years, my collection of bottles on the back bar might not seem that unusual after all.

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Sony Has Acknowleged that the Next PlayStation is on the Way

Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has acknowledged in an interview that there will be a new PlayStation.

There have been little murmurs floating around about a new PlayStation for a little while. The idea of us being pretty close to a new console generation isn’t a new one, with various rumours about the shape and function of the potential system flying quietly around the rumour mill. With us being basically 5 years into the PlayStation 4’s life, it’s not surprising that talk about what’s coming in the next year or two has already started.

If you thought that maybe generations might have gone with iterative consoles like the PlayStation Pro and Xbox One X, well it looks like you’d be wrong. Speaking to the Financial Times, Sony boss Kenichiro Yoshida has said pretty definitively that we are getting a brand new Sony console and thus, generation. When asked about the prospect about a new console, he said:

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At this point, what I can say is it’s necessary to have a next-generation hardware.

Yoshida declined to say if the console would be called a PlayStation 5… but I’m going to say that it’s a pretty safe bet. The article went on to acknowledge rumours flying around about the hardware, saying it could have “a tablet that would connect to multiple devices” but also notes that they don’t expect the console to be a radical departure.

The buzz of a new console generation is always exciting for gaming fans with it only coming 5 to 10 years at a time. Here’s hoping that whatever form the next PlayStation comes in, it can carry on the excellent legacy of the current hardware.

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THE STAN LEE STORY BOOK

Culturally speaking, there has never been a better time for comic books and comic book fans. And, undoubtedly, the now-Disney-owned Marvel Comics is at the top of the heap. Of course, none of that would have been possible without the work of one man: Stan Lee. And now you can learn everything there is to know about this real-life comic book hero in the pages of this Taschen-produced book, The Stan Lee Story.

Befitting a man of such legendary stature, this book includes a gargantuan collection of photographs, artwork, letters, and more — over 1,000, all told, from Stan and Joan Lee’s personal archives — beautifully reproduced true-to-size across its pages (there are even pages in the back dedicated to his movie cameos). From his childhood, growing up in Depression-era New York to his creation of a pantheon of pop culture icons and present position as Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment, this book tells the story of Mr. Lee’s life in intimate detail unheard of anywhere else. And, as if that isn’t enough, the limited edition run of 1,000 numbered copies is even signed by “The Man” himself. Available in November of this year, The Stan Lee Story will sell for $1,500 a pop!

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Let's Appreciate Flight Sim Graphics For A Minute

Digital Combat Simulator is more widely famous for a takeoff video, but jokes about how complicated it is can get in the way of just how good these planes can look.

Here’s the latest entry, due out this “Winter”. It focuses on the F-14 Tomcat — a subject very close to my heart — and has loads of cool touches, like the ability for two players to team up and fly the two-seat fighter cooperatively (one as Maverick, one as Goose) and a cockpit “built using photogrammetry from the F-14 Tomcats preserved at museums.”

But it’s the visuals in this trailer that get me. I know flight sims have it easy in some respects, since there aren’t many objects to move around and the ground is usually thousands of feet away, but still. From the fighters themselves to the lighting to the water, this looks incredible.

F-14A/B is a module for DCS made by Heatblur, and flight nerds can see more of its features here.

 

 

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Tasmania's Newly Discovered Volcanic 'Lost World' Is A Haven For Marine Life

Australian scientists have discovered a previously unknown chain of volcanic seamounts near Tasmania. The area appears to be brimming with marine life, including a surprising number of whales who may be using the undersea volcanoes as a navigational tool.

The volcanic chain was discovered by scientists from the Australian National University and the CSIRO while on a 25-day mission aboard the research vessel Investigator to conduct detailed seafloor maps of the region. The undersea volcanoes are about 400km east of Tasmania, and they’re quite deep.

“Our multibeam mapping has revealed in vibrant detail, for the first time, a chain of volcanic seamounts rising up from an abyssal plain about 5000 meters deep,” Tara Martin, a member of the CSIRO mapping team, said in a statement.

“The seamounts vary in size and shape, with some having sharp peaks while others have wide flat plateaus, dotted with small conical hills that would have been formed by ancient volcanic activity.”

The mapped chain of volcanic seamounts.

The tallest of the seamounts extends 3000m from the seafloor, so they aren’t tiny. It’s hard to believe that something so large has gone undetected for so long, but our oceans are notoriously understudied. A mere 20 per cent of Earth’s oceans has been explored, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Having detailed maps of such areas is important to help us better manage and protect these unique marine environments, and provides a stepping stone for future research,” said Martin. “This is a very diverse landscape and will undoubtedly be a biological hotspot that supports a dazzling array of marine life.”

Indeed, the volcanic chain wasn’t the only thing that caught the eye of the researchers; the seamounts appeared to serve as a kind of mid-ocean oasis for a host of marine organisms. In addition to finding copious amounts of plankton in the area, the researchers observed various seabirds and a surprising number of whales.

Humpback whales swimming in the waters above the seamounts.

“We estimated that at least 28 individual humpback whales visited us on one day, followed by a pod of 60-80 long-finned pilot whales the next,” Eric Woehler, a research scientist from BirdLife Tasmania who participated in the expedition, said in a statement.

“We also saw large numbers of seabirds in the area including four species of albatross and four species of petrel. Clearly, these seamounts are a biological hotspot that supports life, both directly on them, as well as in the ocean above.”

The volcanic seamounts, the researchers say, are likely important stopping points for migratory animals, particularly whales, who rely on seafloor structures for navigation. The volcanoes are likely serving as important signposts as the whales travel from their winter breeding areas to summer feeding grounds, the researchers say.

The team is now eager to learn more about this previously unknown volcanic chain. The’re planning to return later this year for two missions aboard the Investigator in November and December, at which time they’ll capture hi-res video of marine life and collect rock samples.

It would be good to know, for example, if these seamounts have exhibited any recent volcanic activity, or if any hydrothermal vents are on the seafloor.

There’s a lot of cool life above these volcanic seamounts, but the real prize could be waiting at the bottom. Two years ago, for example, researchers found a batch of unknown sea creatures, such as a new species of scaleworm, near a hydrothermal vent about 2000km southeast of Madagascar. And later this year, fingers crossed, scientists will be able to explore the mysterious seafloor exposed by Antarctica’s gigantic A-68 iceberg.

So who knows what they might find near these seamounts? We’ll be following the team’s progress to keep you up to date on any discoveries.

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Trailer For Kurt Russell's Santa Claus Movie Is Finally Here

Sometimes there’s a movie on the horizon that just stands out from the rest. Maybe it’s a huge franchise, maybe it’s an anticipated sequel, or maybe it stars Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. And really, who can’t immediately get excited to see Kurt freaking Russell playing Santa Claus?

If you count yourself among those people, you’ll get your chance to see it sooner rather than later.

Russell plays Santa in a new movie called The Christmas Chronicles, which is coming to Netflix November 22. And while some paparazzi shots of the Escape From New York and Big Trouble in Little China star in Kris Kringle gear had been floating around the internet, now you can finally get a really great look at him — as well as the story and some creepy elves, thanks to the first trailer.

Produced by Chris Columbus and directed by Clay Kaytis, The Christmas Chronicles comes to Netflix November 22.

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The First Disturbing Pet Sematary Trailer Is Here To Remind You To Leave Dead Things Alone

After years of being stuck in development hell and having a number of different directors reportedly attached to the film, the first trailer for Paramount’s big screen remake of Pet Sematary is here to resurrect one of Stephen King’s most disturbing stories ever.

Sometimes it’s best to leave dead things in the ground where they can rest in peace, but when the youngest member of the Creed family suddenly dies, Louis (Jason Clarke) makes the inadvisable decision to bury his son in the local pet cemetery, a mystical place (and Native American burial ground) that has to power to bring dead things back to life.

Of course, when the young boy’s resurrected, he comes back... wrong and, well, you know how those stories go.

Pet Sematary hits cinemas 4 April 2019.

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Intense Heat From Ancient Vesuvius Eruption Caused Victims' Skulls To Explode

During the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, clouds of superheated gas enveloped the ancient city of Pompeii and its surrounding areas, instantly vaporising bodily fluids and soft tissues, according to new research. Sounds grim, but this mode of death was actually a blessing in disguise, given the alternatives.

Death came in any number of ways when Mount Vesuvius erupted on that fateful August day back in 79 AD. And in fact, many Roman citizens likely died before the eruption even happened.

In the days leading up to the explosion, a series of earthquakes rocked the bustling city of Pompeii, toppling buildings and other structures. Many of the survivors, recognising the signs of an impending volcanic explosion, wisely chose to flee the city (perhaps as many as 90 per cent of Pompeii’s inhabitants evacuated).

When Vesuvius finally erupted, it threw a massive column of molten rock, scalding ash and pumice into the sky. Within minutes of the explosion, this debris started to rain down hard and fast, causing the roofs and floors of structures to collapse. Some unlucky citizens were struck down by boulders or the debris from collapsing structures.

The eruption prompted a second wave of evacuations, but with a vastly shorter window of opportunity.

Over the next few hours, the remaining inhabitants of Pompeii, including those living in the nearby settlements of Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis, were overwhelmed by avalanches of gas and dust, known respectively as hot surge clouds and pyroclastic flows, pouring down quickly from the mountain. By the time the two-day eruption was over, nearly 2000 people had died.

That fast-moving pyroclastic flows of gas and ash killed scores of people during the eruption is well documented. During the Vesuvius eruption, six distinct surges hurtled through a region extending for 30km. The first of these surges, known as S1, consisted of the superheated gas cloud.

The authors of the new study, led by Pierpaolo Petrone from the Federico II University Hospital in Naples, Italy, say many of Vesuvius’ victims were killed before the subsequent ash-filled pyroclastic flows reached them.

Previous studies have shown the same thing, citing “thermally induced fulminant shock” as a typical cause of death, as opposed to getting slammed by a wall of ash, suffocating, or getting clobbered by a boulder.

As a term, thermally induced fulminant shock isn’t very descriptive, even if it does sound dreadful. But that’s where the new study, published recently in PLoS One, has new things to offer.

The superheated surge clouds vaporised the flesh and bodily fluids of victims in an instant, the researchers say, producing a gruesome effect in the skull, causing it to crack and explode.

The remains of a child (left) and a young adult male (right) from the Herculaneum site. The postures of the body suggest instant death.

The evidence for these claims comes from an archaeological site in Herculaneum, which like Pompeii, was completely buried in ash and mud after the eruption.

Soon after Vesuvius erupted, around 140 citizens sought shelter in a dozen boat-chambers, or houseboats, on the town’s beach. None survived, but the occupants of these impromptu shelters were spared from the incoming ash avalanches, resulting in “the exceptional preservation of fully articulated skeletons” still in their final death pose, the authors write.

This site was discovered back in the 1980s, and it been the subject of intense study ever since. It’s generally believed that the hundreds of people stranded on the Herculaneum beach were overcome by the extreme heat.

The refugees in the boat-chambers, it has been argued, died from asphyxiation after the concrete-like ash smothered the shelters. The new analysis suggests this wasn’t the case, and that, like the people on the beach, these victims were also killed by the heat.

The smoking gun for this claim comes in the form of red and black residues found on the skulls and other bones of the victims inside the boat-chambers.

Petrone and his colleagues analysed over 100 samples found at the site using Raman microspectroscopy and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), which can detect the presence of minerals at exceptionally low concentrations. The red and black residues contained unusual amounts of iron, which the researchers say is consistent with blood.

“These findings, the authors write in the study, “indicate that the extremely high content of iron could not be ascribed to volcanic ash or other volcanic products, suggesting that it might have originated from the victims’ body fluids.”

Red and black mineral residues were found outside and inside the victim’s skulls. 

Physical examination of the remains offered further proof. Here’s how the authors grimly describe it in their study:

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In the present work, careful inspection of the victims’ skeletons revealed cracking and explosion of the skullcap and blackening of the outer and inner [layers of the cranial bone], associated with black exudations [i.e. when liquid pours out] from the skull openings and the fractured bone. Such effects appear to be the combined result of direct exposure to heat and an increase in intracranial steam pressure induced by brain ebullition [boiling], with skull explosion as the possible outcome.

After the organic liquids in the brain evaporated, the brain was almost immediately replaced by a chunk of ash. An “ash cast” was found in all victims, including those who displayed minor heat effects, providing “evidence that the S1 surge was sufficiently hot and fluid to penetrate the intracranial cavity soon after soft tissues and organic fluids disappeared,” the authors write.

In terms of temperatures reached, the authors estimate somewhere between 400C to 500C.

This all sounds unbelievably awful, but these victims died instantly, if that’s any consolation. We know this because of the way their bodies were oriented in the chamber (this kind of analysis was possible, the authors say, owing to the “extraordinarily well-preserved skeletal joints fixing the body shape in three-dimensional space”).

People who were killed by the ash-filled pyroclastic flows were exposed to temperatures around 200C to 250C; as their bodies burned, their muscles contracted, resulting in a final “pugilistic” body posture in which their toes and fingers were curled inwards. The victims in the boat-chambers, on the other hand, had “life like” death poses, suggesting an instant death.

The lack of a “complete pugilistic pose in the victims’ corpses at Herculaneum may indicate that the muscles disappeared more quickly than they contracted,” the researchers write. This life-like stance, the researchers argue, can “only be explained by very rapid replacement of flesh by ash”.

The phrase “rapid replacement of flesh by ash” is certainly as poetic as it is horrifying.

The authors use an array of tools to demonstrate their case, while paying close attention to previous work done in this area. If there is a shortcoming of the study, however, it’s the analysis of the red and black minerals.

The claims being made are so extraordinary that, ideally, other teams would replicate the findings and make sure the iron (if that’s what it is) isn’t coming from somewhere else (for example, coins and other metal objects found within the chambers). It would also be good to see if another team agrees with the morphological analysis done on the skull and bones.

To this day, Mount Vesuvius remains an active volcano, and it’s located a mere 12km from Naples, a large Italian city populated by three million people. It’s estimated that Vesuvius experiences a major eruption once every 2000 years or so — a troubling tidbit of information, given that it last erupted 1999 years ago.

Now, that doesn’t mean an explosion is imminent, but it is a cause of serious concern. Fortunately, local officials have an emergency plan should the worst happen again.

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‘The Gymkhana Files’ Official Teaser Trailer

If you’re unfamiliar with Ken Block, just know that he pretty much treats real cars like they were toy cars, whipping them around tracks and unique terrain with reckless abandon. The Gymkhana Files is an unscripted series that takes you inside the world of the race car hooligan and his Gymkhana series. How much work goes into gaining over 500 million video views and becoming a viral sensation for putting the pedal to the metal? Find out on November 16, when The Gymkhana Files hits Amazon Prime Video.

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There May Still Be Hope For NASA's Sleeping Opportunity Rover

It’s been months since NASA engineers have heard from the sleeping Opportunity rover, which powered down after getting caught in a massive dust storm on Mars that obscured its surface from the Sun. But all hope isn’t yet lost, as the space agency said in an update Thursday that a coming windy season on the Red Planet could help clear dust believed to be obstructing Opportunity’s solar panels.

“A windy period on Mars—known to Opportunity’s team as “dust-clearing season”—occurs in the November-to-January time frame and has helped clean the rover’s panels in the past,” NASA said.

In the meantime, engineers with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)—which oversees the 14-year-old rover’s operations—are increasing the number of commands to Opportunity and listening for any calls home in the event that it is still operational.

Engineers last heard from the rover on June 10 while it was working in Mars’ Perseverance Valley. NASA said it believes the global dust storm that peaked in June may have resulted in a layer of dust on the rover’s solar panels, blocking the necessarily sunlight it needs to recharge. At the time, NASA was forced but to put Opportunity into hibernation mode in order to preserve any remaining power until after the storm dissipated.

“No one can tell just how much dust has been deposited on its panels,” the space agency said in its update this week, but it added that its team remains hopeful.

Last month, the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spotted the sleeping rover on the Red Planet’s surface, indicating that it hadn’t been completely buried by dust and offering a glimmer of hope that sunlight would be able to reach its solar panels once the storm cleared.

“The Sun is breaking through the haze over Perseverance Valley, and soon there will be enough sunlight present that Opportunity should be able to recharge its batteries,” John Callas, Opportunity project manager at JPL, said in a statement last month. “When the tau level [a measure of the amount of particulate matter in the Martian sky] dips below 1.5, we will begin a period of actively attempting to communicate with the rover by sending it commands via the antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Assuming that we hear back from Opportunity, we will begin the process of discerning its status and bringing it back online.”

The Opportunity rover has far, far outlived its expected lifetime of 90 Martian days. Launched in 2003 with its twin Spirit as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, the golf-cart-sized robot is nearing 15 years on the Red Planet.

Here’s to hoping this remarkably resilient little rover will phone home soon.

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Celebrate 10 Years Of Marvel Studios With These Brand New Mondo Posters

The Mondo Gallery in Austin, Texas just opened its doors and revealed Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years, a massive gallery show featuring brand new posters spanning the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The show consists of 11 new posters, along with six variants, for Iron Man, Thor, all three Captain America films, both Guardians of the Galaxy films, Doctor Strange, The Avengers and Spider-Man: Homecoming. If you’re a fan of the MCU, even if you don’t love these posters, you’ll be amazed at what that team has accomplished in the last decade.

(There are also two Black Panther posters in the show which are not yet for sale as they’re "pending approval", but they will be at a later date.)

Now, while you can’t buy these just yet (unless you happen to be at the Mondo Gallery in Austin, TX where they’ll be on display through October 20) many of them are likely to make it online. Anything that doesn’t sell out at the gallery with end up on their site, and you can get news of when that’ll happen by following @MondoNews on Twitter.

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First Teaser For Disney's Live-Action Aladdin

Disney’s Aladdin arrives in cinemas 23 May 2019.

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Latest Boston Dynamics Video Proves The Robot Uprising Will Be Shockingly Nimble

Do you remember the Boston Dynamics robots videos of just a few years ago? It was a big deal that robots such as Atlas could walk on (gasp!) uneven ground.

But Atlas keeps blowing through milestones left and right, like in this new video that shows Atlas effortlessly jumping over obstacles and hopping onto boxes as though it’s a parkour legend. The robot uprising is on the horizon, folks. This is not a drill.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that Atlas has gone from subhuman to superhuman in just a few short years. As recently as January of 2016, it was a big deal that robots like Atlas could walk untethered along hills. Now we’re seeing robots like Atlas doing backflips. I can’t even do a backflip! Back in 2015, Atlas still needed a tether to properly run through the woods.

Yes, Atlas still makes mistakes now and again — like last year, when an Atlas robot fell off a stage. But that’s something that even humans do. When was the last time you bounded up an obstacle course like Atlas?

And all of this is to say nothing of other Boston Dynamics robots like the SpotMini, which is agile enough to do the dishes; the Handle, which jumps over huge platforms; and Spot, which can open doors and stay on its feet when it’s kicked around.

When I went to the DARPA Robotics Challenge in 2015, one of the most difficult challenges for the teams was getting their robots to move autonomously across a rocky, uneven surface. But now, those same teams would probably just have their robots leap over the obstacles.

I think we all know where this is heading. And it isn’t pretty for humanity. Just get it over with, Atlas. Put us out of our misery.

[MIKA27]

The New Glass Trailer Makes You Believe Supervillains Are Real

The second trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s highly anticipated film, Glass, is here, and with it, the curtain has been pulled back just a little bit more on a film almost two decades in the making.

In Glass, the worlds of Unbreakable and Split collide as David Dunn (Bruce Willis) of Unbreakable finds himself chasing The Beast (James McAvoy) from Split, all while, from a prison cell, Mr Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) is orchestrating a master plan that will reveal to the world superheroes, and supervillains, do exist.

This new trailer pretty clearly shows us the plot of the movie or, at least, what Shyamalan wants us to think the plot of the movie is. It seems as though somehow David and The Beast end up in the same institution as Elijah (probably after some earlier altercation), their arrival awakens something in him, and, using The Beast, Elijah unleashes his master plan to tell the world superheroes, and supervillains, actually do exist.

The whole thing makes it feel as though the hero, David Dunn, is up against an impossible task. In fact, it almost feels as though his story is the afterthought here and the Glass and the Beast’s relationship is at the forefront. (Which wouldn’t be a surprise considering the title of the film.)

I’m damned curious how Glass is going to balance these three figures. Who is the star? Who is the hero? Who is right? Who is wrong? It may seem obvious but I’m guessing it’s not.

Oh, and a special shout out to the James Newton Howard Unbreakable theme playing throughout this trailer. He isn’t scoring Glass (that falls to composer West Dylan Thordson) but the movie wouldn’t be the same without that music.

We’ll find out on January 17 when Glass comes to cinemas.

[MIKA27]

ESPRESSO VELOCE ROYALE – A V12 ESPRESSO MAKER

The Espresso Veloce Royale is almost certainly the most opulent espresso maker released this year, it was designed for those of you who have a super yacht or a helipad in your backyard, the rest of us lower down on the economic scale will have to stick with our trusty french presses for now.

The machine is designed to evoke the look of a classic V12, with 12 velocity stacks along the top and 12 “exhaust pipes” along each side, with the righthand bank of pipes acting as the espresso dispensers.

Each Royale is made from a combination of anticorodal 6082 T6, aerospace grade 7075 alloy, stainless steel 316 titanium, surgical stainless steel grade 304, 18ct white gold, diamonds, Royal Purple Amethyst and thermoset gold lead carbon fibre.

The machine uses coffee capsules as they require minimal cleaning and maintenance while producing reliably good espresso. There’s an integrated grappa dispenser too, a feature sorely lacking on most other coffee makers.

With a total weight of 28 kilograms and dimensions of 380 mm L x 420 mm W x 340 mm H the Espresso Veloce Royale will feat neatly on most kitchen countertops. Input voltage can vary between 110 to 240 V which covers almost all world markets and matching cups can be ordered to match the machine.

[MIKA27]

1932 'THE MUMMY' MOVIE POSTER

Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb just a decade earlier, 1932's The Mummy starring Boris Karloff was one of a trifecta of early horror releases for Universal that set the tone for the genre. All are considered classics. This rare original-copy poster for the film is also considered a classic, and one of the most prized film posters in existence. A stone lithograph designed by Universal advertising art director Karoly Grosz, it's one of one three examples known to exist and is an outstanding early example of the visual language that still dominates movie poster design today. It already set the record for most valuable film poster once, in 1997. With an astronomical estimate and a starting bid to match, it will no doubt do so again when the hammer drops on October 31. $1M

[MIKA27]

KARUIZAWA MURASAKI GEISHA WHISKIES

Virtually unknown outside Japan for most of its life, the Ocean Karuizawa Distillery closed in 2001. Before it did it produced what is now one of the most sought-after whiskies in the world. These Murasaki Geisha Whiskies are one such expression. Aged 29 and 31 years, their flavor profiles are quite different, yet equally excellent. As one bottle of each was opened and poured at The Whisky Show, there are now only 59 of each remaining, and each will be offered by ballot, meaning only the luckiest will get to own the matching set. $7,900

[MIKA27]

How to Visit Iceland Without Ruining It

In the last eight years, international visitors to Iceland have quadrupled. How can tourists enjoy this wonder-filled island without destroying it and pissing off its inhabitants?

Scroll through Instagram, and you’ll probably see enough geysers, waterfalls and northern lights to know that everyone’s going to Iceland. International visitors there have quadrupled since 2010, with nearly 2 million arriving in 2016, inundating the island nation’s 350,000 residents. So how can conscientious travelers enjoy this trending destination without overwhelming it?

Icelandic writer Alda Sigmundsdóttir, author of eight books about her home country, offers some ideas in her latest title, The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland. She’s quick to point out that the influx has been a boon to Iceland’s economy, which was devastated in the 2008 financial downturn, but accommodating so many visitors creates significant disruption to Iceland’s way of life and stretches the limits of its infrastructure. By taking some time to learn a bit about Iceland’s culture and environment, thoughtful visitors can ease the burden.

“Very often the things that locals find intolerable are things that visitors are simply not aware of, and would refrain from doing if they knew how upsetting they were to the local people,” Sigmundsdóttir says.

Here’s what to keep in mind:

To fit in, strip down.

There’s no better way to infuriate an Icelander than to flout the ironclad rules of hygiene at the country’s many thermal pools. Before you can dip so much as a toe into one of these geothermally heated pools, you must wash—with soap, buck naked—in locker-room style showers. Washing with your swimsuit on will not do.

“We are conditioned from a very young age to keep to a certain standard of hygiene at the pool,” Sigmundsdóttir says. “Those pools use very little chlorine, and the fact that there are many people sharing those pools who are not of the same mind, and do not respect that rule, puts many Icelanders off.”

Good news for bashful visitors: Some pools, such as Laugardalslaug in Reykjavik, are adding private showers, and the tourist favorite Blue Lagoon offers them, as well.

Try not to need rescuing.

Cheap airfare deals have led more people to book spur-of-the-moment trips to Iceland, which means some visitors haven’t taken the time to familiarize themselves with the country’s dangers. Sigmundsdóttir warns of avoidable injuries, even fatalities, from scalding hot springs, rogue waves that snatch tourists off the beach and winds that blow cars off the highway.

That’s not just a problem for tourists. When visitors find themselves in trouble, the people who come to their rescue are volunteers—regular folks with day jobs. They’ll drop what they’re doing and risk their lives to save strangers, Sigmundsdóttir explains, but they’d rather not have to do it for something completely preventable. So when you see a sign advising you not to do something, for heaven’s sake, don’t do it.

You can also browse current warnings and register your travel plans with the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue.

Don’t poop on the natural wonders.

While top tourist draws like Gullfoss and Þhingvellir have bathrooms, many attractions in Iceland’s countryside don’t. That leads visitors to answer nature’s call in the wild, but many don’t take the extra step of burying their leavings, Sigmundsdøttir says. That’s a problem in a country as windy as Iceland: No matter how discreet a place you’ve chosen to go, the wind will relocate your used toilet paper, often to a trail, parking lot or picnic area. If you must go al fresco, bury your TP or stuff it into a rock crevice.

Camping isn’t a free-for-all.

One of the more shocking chapters in The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland details the questionable places some tourists have seen fit to pitch tents, including a bustling city street, the lawn of an historic home and an unwitting family’s backyard.

Camper vans are another offender. Because you can sleep and cook in them, they’re a popular option in a country where high-season lodging is scarce and priced accordingly, and the cheapest restaurant meals cost $20. But Icelanders feel understandably annoyed when they see public places turning into illegal campgrounds.

“This is really infuriating,” Sigmundsdóttir says, “especially because in most cases there are no toilet facilities nearby… and we all know what that means.” (see #3.) The solution: Stick to designated campgrounds.

Watch your language.

No one expects tourists to converse in Icelandic, a notoriously difficult language. But as tourism brings in English-speaking workers from other countries, Icelanders sometimes have to conduct their daily tasks in English because the workers don’t speak Icelandic. While preserving the Icelandic language is beyond the reach of tourists, it wouldn’t hurt for visitors to show respect for the culture by learning a few words, Sigmundsdóttir says. And don’t assume everyone speaks English.

“It always rubs me the wrong way when people walk up to me on a street in a country where the native language is not English, and start speaking to me English,” she says. “Even though most people in Iceland DO speak English, I think it shows courtesy at least to ask ‘Do you speak English?’ before launching into a question.”

Stick to the road.

Iceland’s wide-open expanses might give you the urge to go off-road in your rented 4x4 vehicle, but you’d be destroying sensitive landscapes that could take decades to recover. Driving off-road is illegal and carries hefty penalties: Just ask the drivers slapped with $13,000 in fines in August after they carved up two natural areas with their 4x4s.

Be a good neighbor.

For residents of downtown Reykjavik, the sound of suitcase wheels clattering over the pavement beneath their bedroom windows isn’t exactly a lullaby. Keep sleeping neighbors in mind when checking in and out of your lodging in the wee hours and when returning from Reykjavik’s legendary nightlife.

Something else to consider: As in many cities, the rise of short-term rentals like Airbnb has proved a mixed blessing for Reykjavik, Sigmundsdóttir says. Rentals help ease the lodging shortage and provide extra income for residents, but investors who buy properties exclusively for vacation rentals deplete the housing stock in an already expensive city. For this reason, Sigmundsdóttir suggests renting from someone who actually lives in the home.

Book with certified companies.

Hotels, guides, and tour operators have sprung up to satisfy the demands of the tourism boom, but not all follow sustainable practices. To ensure your service providers are above-board, you can book companies certified by Vakinn, a program run by the Icelandic Tourist Board.

There’s a self-serving reason to go with Vakinn-accredited vendors, as well.

“Those companies have to adhere to a certain standard when it comes to quality, and not least safety,” Sigmundsdóttir says. “Iceland is a country in which keeping to safety standards can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.”

For more of Sigmundsdóttir insights into how visitors can make sure their visit to the country is sustainable, check out her book.

[MIKA27]

Steven Moffat's New Dracula Miniseries Is Going To Be A Netflix Period Piece

Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ long-awaited Dracula miniseries is finally happening, and the BBC is partnering with Netflix to make it a reality. And here’s the best part: Oh yeah, it’s a period piece.

In a press release, the BBC announced that its Dracula three-part miniseries, which was first teased back in 2017, is at long last moving forward. BBC Drama controller Piers Wenger called Moffat and Gatiss’ planned horror adaptation “as clever as it is chilling,” saying their version will re-introduce fans to the classic villain who’s been brought to “life” in countless adaptations. Some good, some bad. And hey, since we never got the Dark Universe version, this seems as good as time as any to bring him back from the dead.

Even though there’s a wide breadth of content to choose from, the three 90-minute episodic series will focus on the Dracula from Bram Stoker’s original novel. Taking place in 1897 (therefore guaranteeing we won’t get a Blade III situation), it’ll center around Dracula, the infamous Transylvanian vampire, as he prepares to take on Victorian London. In a joint statement, Moffat and Gatiss remarked on why they wanted to adapt Stoker’s Dracula for the small screen. “There have always been stories about great evil. What’s special about Dracula, is that Bram Stoker gave evil its own hero,” they said.

This is the latest post-Doctor Who project that Moffat has announced, the previous being a television adaptation of The Time Traveller’s Wife for HBO. Moffat and Gatiss are serving as showrunners, writers, and executive producers for Dracula, with Sue Vertue from Hartswood Films also coming on as an executive producer. The series will premiere on BBC One in the UK and Netflix internationally. No production or release dates have been revealed yet.

[MIKA27]

THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE RED WINE JUST SOLD FOR $785,000

Did you hear that sound? No? That’s the sound of a record being smashed. Up until recently the most expensive standard bottle of wine ever sold was a ‘measly’ $328,000. But over the weekend a bottle of 1945 Romanee-Conti Burgundy wine went under the hammer for an unprecedented sum—$785,000, to be exact—at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

The previous record was set when a 1869 Chateau Lafite Rothschild was sold in Hong Kong in 2010. However this weekend, Romanee-Conti rubbed salt (sulphates?) in the wound, as just minutes after the global record-breaking bottle was sold, another 1945 of the same brand was auctioned for $698,000 (which would have also broken the record).

The sought-after bottles came from the personal collection of Robert Drouhin, former head of the prominent wine producing company, Maison Joseph Drouhin.

As reported by the ABC, “Mr Drouhin’s father made an agreement in 1928 with the owners of Romanee-Conti to be their sole distributor for France and Belgium—and consequently amassed a unique wine collection.”

The wine also has an interesting back-story. According to Mr Drouhin, during world war two, his father created a secret compartment in the cellar to make sure the wine was never discovered by the Nazis.

Quote

“It is both with regret and pleasure that I share these bottles,” Mr Drouhin wrote in a statement.

“Regret even through there remain some for my children and friends, but mainly pleasure as those who will purchase the bottles—apart from the appreciation of quality and luxury they convey—they will receive a testimony of my family and Burgundy at its very best.”

[MIKA27]

The Whisky Vault Is a Bulletproof Safe for Your Prized Hooch

It’s nearly impossible to get your hands on a bottle of one of the World’s Best Whiskies at retail. But if you manage the herculean feat of picking up a Ballantine’s 17, Pappy, Hibiki, or (insert your coveted bottle of choice here) you’re going to need a way to keep it safe. If you’re anything like us, you’re far less concerned about ne’er-do-wells and intruders than you are about your own drunk self and your friends. Consider protecting your prized collection of bottles with the Whisky Vault, a bulletproof, armored and almost impenetrable safe that will keep your bottles cozy while also allowing you to show them off. The “ultimate in whiskey protection” is exactly as advertised—a side-loading, solid steel plate construction safe with multiple vault door locking bolts, a tri-spoke handle and a bullet proof window that allows you to protect your impressive collection. The Whisky Vault is supposedly launching an Indiegogo campaign in December. If you don’t want to wait that long—and who does?—you can apparently order the bomb-proof booze safe starting at $6,000

[MIKA27]

The Wild History of Poison Rings

A favorite decoration of both assassins and generals, 'poison rings' could conceal perfume, tiny momentos—or something far more deadly.

Life is tough; there are tremendous amounts of dastardly and deadly substances out there, with all sorts of malicious properties. The only logical protection against them, of course, is magical jewelry.

While this might sound crazy to 21st-century minds, jewelry was used as the first line of defense against many forms of devilishness for centuries. For instance, a gold or silver rattle with a piece of coral on one end served two purposes: the coral was porous and a relatively soft material, perfect for teething infants, but coral has also long been used to ward off evil spirits and as a protective charm. If the coral helped a screaming child through the pain of sprouting a tooth, then perhaps the magic charm was real enough, after all.

Medicine, magic, and religion all were once intermingled in the ancient psyche, and the most superstitious answer often won out. The mystical solution for any given problem, like a pregnant woman’s baby being swapped out for a changeling, could easily be attributed to the magical powers of a stone or a protective charm.

As much as jewelry was a protective tool, it was also used as a weapon. There is a long history of poison rings, and some of the oldest examples may date back to ancient Asia and India. In Western European culture, they surface prominently in the Middle Ages, the quintessential era for tipping one’s hand over a goblet to sprinkle deadly powder into wine.

In her book Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty, Diana Scarisbrick writes that, “for centuries, rings, conveniently ready for use on the finger, have been adapted for functions other than the sealing of documents with signets. They might be attached to perfume flaçons, spy-glasses and handkerchiefs; they might measure time, safeguard property and conceal poison.”

Poison rings usually have a large stone bezel set into the band of the ring, but they can come with all sorts of different ornamentation. The larger the stone, the more concealed the compartment below is, and thus the dispersal of poison liquid or powder can go undetected. A small catch and hinge allow the stone to swing open and release the deadly agent into the victim’s food or beverage.

If they didn’t hold poison, these rings commonly concealed pomanders—small capsules of fragrance to disguise the atrocious odors of streets and rank gutters. The cavities could also be used to hold relics, bits of bone, fragments of flesh, or even locks of hair, a kind of precursor to 19th-century mourning jewelry.

Russian 14K gold, onyx, and old mine diamond poison ring, circa 1900 from @plattboutiquejewelry

Italian Renaissance femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia is thought to have used poison rings to elegantly off her enemies, but it’s never been proven. In 183 B.C. the Carthaginian soldier Hannibal committed suicide by ingesting poison from a ring after he had sent home spoils of other rings taken from Roman soldiers’ corpses. Much later, noted mathematician, philosopher, and politician Marquis de Condorcet also died by his own bejeweled hand following his arrest in 1794, in order to beat the guillotine.

This particular so-called “poison ring” (see below) is a 19th-century American version from the firm of Marcus & Co., so it was probably not intended as an actual poison ring. The faceted emerald flanked by chimeras flips up to reveal a cavity that could be used for a variety of purposes, including a perfumed scent.

To every poison, there is an antidote. This is where the widespread superstition and mysticism surrounding the innate powers of gemstones comes in. Rock crystal was commonly thought to be a prophylactic and guard against poisons. We see many rock crystal elements in goblets and chalices over the centuries, due both to its luxury-item status, and in the hopes that it might dispel any poisons in the cup.

The jeweled form of the clenched fist, with the thumb between the first and second finger, is known as a “figa” charm, and has a long and complicated history. In Italy, it had a reputation as a fertility charm, but in other parts of Europe, it is known to keep away the evil eye. This particular figa from Wartski in London is Iberian in origin, and was made in the 17th century. The gold cuff around the wrist and the loop on the end suggests this would have been worn as a pendant, and perhaps dipped into beverages to dispel toxins.

Figa charm from @wartski1865

Other magical objects used to ward against evil draughts can be found in a newly opened exhibition on the occult in Oxford, England. Titled Spellbound: Magic, Ritual, & Witchcraft, the exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum boasts objects from all over the United Kingdom that have to do with sorcery and mysticism. One ring, loaned from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is described in the catalogue for the exhibition: “This Northern Italian silver ring from the early 15th century reuses an onyx intaglio of a scorpion, dating from the second or first century BC, that evokes the zodiac sign of Scorpio. Rings and talismans with images of scorpions were believed to protect against poisoning.”

Large rock crystal ball in a silver gilt mount c.1650

The V&A also has in its collection a ring known as a toadstone ring, which is actually the fossilized tooth of a fish called Lepidotes, which was common in certain areas of England. It was a hard brownish orange substance, thought to come from the head of a toad, that cured kidney disease, protected against venomous bites, and kept pregnant women’s babies safe from changelings. The toadstone ring would also supposedly heat up in the presence of poison.

From protector to poisoner, jewels can play a dangerous game, especially rings. Maybe make sure several charms are at hand in order to stand the best fighting chance?

Ring with engraving of a scorpion, silver and onyx, early 15th century © Victoria and Albert Museum, London