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

[MIKA27]

Study Suggests Water On The Red Planet Could Support Life

Mars has long been thought of as dry and barren – unable to harbour life. But research over the past few years indicates that there is most likely some briny water present there today, including a possible subsurface lake. This has led to new hopes that there could actually be life on the red planet after all, depending on what the conditions are like in the water.

Now, a new study, published in Nature Geoscience, surprisingly shows that brine deposits below the surface of Mars, particularly near the poles, can contain molecular oxygen – which is crucial for life on Earth. This is exciting as it makes it even more likely that the planet could support microbial life or even simple animals like sponges.

The surface of Mars 3.8 billion to 4 billion years ago was much like the Earth’s and would therefore have had the right conditions for life. At that time, it had a thick atmosphere and flowing water on the surface, a global magnetic field and volcanism.

Today, the surface is dry and cold – 5ºC to 10ºC by day and -100ºC to -120ºC at night. In fact, the atmospheric pressure now is less than 1% of the Earth’s, meaning that any flowing water would quickly evaporate into the atmosphere. But it can remain trapped below the surface. Volcanism is also dead and only small-scale crustal magnetic fields remain to protect it from harsh solar radiation in the southern hemisphere. It was for these reasons that current life on Mars was until very recently considered highly unlikely.

Mounting evidence

We now know that there are traces of methane on Mars, however, as discovered by Mars Express and the Curiosity rover. The source of this methane might be either hydrothermal activity (the movement of heated water), or microbial life. On Earth, flatulent cows alone produce some 25% to 30% of the methane in the atmosphere. Either of these possibilities challenges our current understanding of the red planet, but if the source is life that would obviously be an amazing discovery. The joint European and Russian ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is currently investigating the source of this methane.

The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also discovered seasonal features called “recurrent slope lineae” – streak-like patterns which may indicate briny water seeping to the surface. However there are alternative explanations. Some scientists suggest that these may also just be movements of sand. That said, rovers and landers have found substances including calcium and magnesium perchlorates near the suspected water seeps and at other locations on Mars – and these indicate the presence of brine.

A lake is thought to lurk below Mars’ south polar ice cap. NASA

Most recently, the ESA Mars Express mission found radar evidence for liquid water underneath the south polar region on Mars – potentially a subsurface lake. This water, which also appears to be briny, would be a whopping 20km wide and be situated 1.5km under the surface.

The new study calculated how much molecular oxygen could be dissolved in liquid brines on Mars. It shows that the small amount of oxygen that is produced in the atmosphere could indeed become dissolved in brines at the temperature and pressure seen near the surface of Mars. Using an atmospheric model, the researchers then studied this solubility at different locations of the planet and over time. Liquid environments which contain dissolved molecular oxygen would be scattered over most of the surface of Mars, but would be particularly concentrated near the poles where conditions are colder.

The computer models show that this could lead to breathable concentrations of oxygen for any aerobic microbes (bugs that require oxygen). On Earth, life evolved alongside photosynthesis, which provided breathable oxygen for aerobic life. The new results are interesting – they show how breathable oxygen could be created independently of photosynthesis. They may also explain how the oxidised rocks on the planet’s surface could have formed.

Leads for space exploration

So how can we find evidence of life? The current Mars missions are providing global mapping of minerals from orbit as well as information from the surface. Recent rover results include Curiosity’s discovery that organic molecules may be long lived on Mars. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission will cache samples ready for an eventual NASA-ESA mission to return them to Earth, being planned now.

However, the NASA rovers are designed to drill only five centimetres under the surface. The rover that is part of the ESA-Russia ExoMars 2020 mission that we are working on will be able to drill up to two metres below it. This will get below where ultraviolet, cosmic and solar radiation can penetrate and harm life – providing our best hope of finding life on Mars of any planned mission. The ExoMars rover landing site will be decided in November from two current candidates – Mawrth Vallis and Oxia Planum, both of these were ancient water-rich environments.

Water seeps on Mars.

Although the current strategy is to search for signs of ancient life on Mars, current life should be detectable too if present. We will have to wait for the ExoMars results to see if signs of either past or present biomarkers are present, and in the longer term analyse the returned samples. While the rover won’t go to the lake or the water seeps, there is evidence for brines at other locations too, so there is a good possibility that they may be present at the ExoMars candidate sites.

Beyond the current missions, should we be targeting the brines specifically? That certainly would provide tantalising targets for future missions. The limit of what we can do may be imposed by the difficulty of deep drilling on a planet far away. Drilling up to 1.5km below the surface to sample the lake would be a large scale effort beyond the capability of current technology. The better bet may therefore be to target the nearer surface brine regions, such as the water seeps.

Another obstacle is the planetary protection rules, which state that you shouldn’t risk contaminating an area where there may be extra-terrestrial life with bacteria from Earth. However, the hope is that any Martian life would be hardy enough to populate other areas and that our missions, designed and built with strict planetary protection guidelines, will find it.

[MIKA27]

Discovery Of Ancient Spearpoints In Texas Has Some Archaeologists Questioning The History Of Early Americas

Archaeologists have discovered two previously unknown forms of spearpoint technology at a site in Texas. The triangular blades appear to be older than the projectile points produced by the Paleoamerican Clovis culture, an observation that’s complicating our understanding of how the Americas were colonised — and by whom.

Clovis-style spear points began to appear around 13,000 to 12,700 years ago, and they were produced by Paleoamerican hunter-gatherers known as the Clovis people. Made from stones, these leaf-shaped (lanceolate) points featured a shallow concave base and a fluted, or flaked, base that allowed them to be placed on the end of a spear.

New research published today in Science Advances describes the discovery of two new spearpoint technologies at the Buttermilk Creek Complex of the Debra L. Friedkin archaeology site in Bell County, Texas, which date to between 13,500 and 15,000 years ago.

Because these spearpoints pre-date Clovis culture, they may have inspired the development of subsequent projectile point styles, including those made by the Clovis people, said Michael Waters, the lead author of the new study and an archaeologist at Texas A&M University. Either that, he said, or the previously unknown spearpoints were brought to North America during a separate migration into the continent.

But not everyone is convinced by this latest research. The experts we spoke to said it marked an important discovery, but the conclusions reached by the researchers were a bit of a stretch.

Pre-Clovis projectile points found at the Friedkin site. 

Clovis spearpoint technology was once thought of as the earliest example of human activity in North America. However, a series of key discoveries made during the past few decades have largely overturned this assumption. Archaeological and genetic evidence now suggests that humans made their way into North America between 15,000 and 16,000 years ago, and not 13,500 years ago as once believed.

To complicate matters even further, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a different style of spearpoint technology, dubbed the Western Stemmed Tradition.

These projectile points were manufactured by people who lived in Western North America; their points were leaf-shaped like Clovis, but instead of being fluted, they were tapered at the base to form the stem. The base of these points suggests they were hafted onto the spear in a different way than the Clovis points.

The oldest evidence of the Western Stemmed Tradition dates to around 13,000 years ago, leading archaeologists to wonder if any connection existed between stemmed points and the Clovis style.

But now, the discovery of pre-Clovis stemmed points at the Friedkin site suggests this manufacturing tradition emerged prior to the Clovis invention, and may have even served as a precursor.

Archaeologists have been working at the Friedkin site since 1998, pulling out artefacts and other evidence of an ancient Paleoamerican culture. In the new study, Waters and his colleagues describe 238 tools recently uncovered at the site, including 12 complete and fragmented projectile points.

Using a well-established dating technique known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), the researchers directly dated the sediments within which the projectile points and other artefacts were buried, arriving at a range between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago.

Interestingly, these artefacts were found in deposits directly below a younger geological layer containing Clovis artefacts. The authors of the new study say the discovery is significant because practically all Pre-Clovis sites contain stone tools — but never any spearpoints.

The newly discovered point styles come in two forms: Mostly lanceolate, or leaf-shaped, stemmed points dated to between 15,500 and 13,500 years ago, and triangular-shaped stemmed points dating later, to between 14,000 and 13,500 years ago.

“Our discovery shows that stemmed points predate lanceolate point styles,” Waters told Gizmodo.

“Given the age of the Debra L. Friedkin site — early people carrying stemmed points likely arrived by entering the Americas along the Pacific coast. Later lanceolate point forms — like Clovis — may have developed from the stemmed point forms or a second migration of people carried some sort of lanceolate point, like the triangular lanceolate form we found at the Friedkin site, and this developed into Clovis.”

Waters said these are the two most likely scenarios. It’s well established that Clovis culture originated in North America south of the continental ice sheets, he said, and that people did not carry Clovis points from Alaska into the unglaciated portions of North America.

“The peopling of the Americas during the end of the last Ice Age was a complex process,” said Waters. “This complexity is seen in the genetic record. Now we starting to see this complexity mirrored in the archaeological record.”

Excavations at the Debra L. Friedkin site in 2016.

Ben Potter, an archaeologist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks who isn’t affiliated with the new study, said the new paper is providing some important new details about the Friedkin site. That the site pre-dates Clovis by around 500 to 1500 years make it “a significant contribution to the [archaeological] record,” he told Gizmodo. However, he had some issues with the paper.

“This study relies almost exclusively on OSL dating and the comparison of a single class of artefacts — projectile points — not on genetics, or detailed technological, economic or palaeoecological analyses,” said Potter.

“Arguments about ethnogenesis [origin] and population relationships on the basis of [stone artifacts] alone are difficult at best. Here we have thousands of years and thousands of miles between a few pre-Clovis sites with differential levels of empirical support and acceptance in the broader archaeological community.”

Potter is also not thrilled with the rather sizable error bars connected to the dating; the dates provided by the researchers have a plus-minus that ranges from 12,665 to 17,760 years ago, which is significant. He said radiocarbon dating on cultural elements and artefacts would provide “more precise and secure chronology”.

“I agree with the authors’ statement, ‘the connection between the artifact assemblages... and later Clovis and Western Stemmed Traditions remains unclear’,” said Potter.

“I don’t think this paper has pushed us that much further,” to which he added: “The pre-Clovis sample of points is minuscule and difficult to use to infer population relationships on continent scales. In sum, the authors present interesting and important data on the Friedkin site, but I am not convinced of the speculative hypotheses of a single early stemmed-point migration of Native American ancestors.”

In other words, Potter doesn’t believe the researchers are justified in speculating that the artefacts represent a significantly new category of spearpoint.

Stuart Fiedel, a senior archaeologist with the Louis Berger Group and an expert on pre-Clovis culture who also was not involved with the new study, argued that Water and his colleagues did a poor job with their interpretation of the projectile points.

“The newly reported bifaces from Friedkin are mostly nondescript tips and midsections as well as some broken preforms that are probably Clovis artefacts,” Friedkin told Gizmodo.

“The two complete specimens are an elongated triangle and a fishtail-stemmed lanceolate. The triangle is similar to several types that occur sporadically throughout the late Paleoindian and Archaic cultural sequence in Texas, while the fishtail appears to closely resemble the Victoria variant of the Angostura type, which dates between around 8500 and 10,400 year ago.

“Many Angostura points were found at the Friedkin site, within an 80cm vertical spread. Are these obvious similarities between claimed pre-Clovis artefacts and later points found in overlying sediments merely coincidental?”

Importantly, Fiedel said the authors failed to mention that the soil at the Friedkin site is classified as a vertisol; the clay-like soil at the site is prone to developing long vertical cracks through which artefacts can move both up and down. These soil processes, he said, can result in the vertical distribution of small artifacts, such as the ones described in the new paper.

Clearly, more work needs to be done in this area. Archaeology is complex, and it takes a lot to prove a point. Even when those points are made of stone.

[MIKA27]

This Mercedes-Benz Truck Is Built for Hunters

If you and your hunting party roll up in a Honda Civic, you better plan on parking it and hoofing it for a while. The Mercedes-Benz Gruma Hunter is a far more capable alternative, purpose-built for hunters. Clever appointments include a dog box in the bed, a gun compartment in the tailgate, an Aqua2Go mobile cleaning unit, and Lazer Lamps. To get you to your hunting location, the matte green beast boasts beefy off-road tires, a front-end winch, and added protection to the undercarriage. Not only does the paint job help the Gruma Hunter blend into its surroundings, but it helps it stand out when carving down the highway. If you’re interested, contact Gruma Hunter for customization and pricing details.

[MIKA27]

MALLMANN'S GRILL

Argentinan chef Francis Mallmann has brought traditional Patagonian barbecuing techniques to the mainstream through his firey restaurants around the globe. The key to his signature char comes from his towering domed fire pits. To emulate this process at home, Mallmann has partnered with Best Made to create a line of outdoor meat alters. These grills stand eight-feet tall and feature ventilated firebox that replicates a chulengo pit roaster that works with both wood and charcoal. Meats can be cooked right over the flames on a grated grill, seared on a flat top, or hung from above for smoking. The entire piece is made from steel and crafted in Argentina.

[MIKA27]

An Attack On Titan Movie Is Coming From The Director Of It

Another day, and another popular manga is getting the big-budget Hollywood treatment.

Variety reports It's director Andy Muschietti has signed on with Warner Bros. to direct a new live-action adaptation of the popular Hajime Isayama manga Attack on Titan.

Producers include Harry Potter’s David Heyman, Heroes’ Masi Oka, and It’s Barbara Muschietti. A screenwriter has yet to be announced.

Muschetti is currently at work on It: Chapter Two, which will be out 6 September 2019.

From there, Variety suggests this will be his next film, though he had previously been attached to multiple other projects, including an adaptation of Robotech.

Attack on Titan is set in a future where humanity has walled itself off from the outside world to protect itself from giant creatures called Titans.

It began as a manga series, became a popular anime, and even had a previous live-action film adaptation from director Shinji Higuchi. The two-part film was not very well-regarded, though, hence this new version.

If Attack on Titan really is Muschietti’s next film after It: Chapter Two, it’s hard to imagine exactly what it will be like.

He’s really only done smaller horror movies (his only previous film before It was Mama, based on his own short story) — and though It is certainly considered a larger-scale horror movie, it's not quite on the same scale as giant monsters fighting in massive cities. It’ll be fascinating to see how his talent for mood and character might transfer to a story on a much, much larger scale.

[MIKA27]

How Industrial-Scale Tar Production Powered The Viking Age

Vikings acquired the capacity to produce tar at an industrial scale as early as the 8th century AD, according to new research. The protective black goo was applied to the planks and sails of ships, which the Vikings used for trade and launching raids. Without the ability to produce copious amounts of tar, this new study suggests, the Viking Age may have never happened.

Tar sounds like a relatively modern invention, but it's actually been around for quite some time. By the 16th century, Europeans had developed a technique whereby piles of wood, placed in funnel-shaped pits, were burned slowly under an oxygen-constricting layer of an earth-clay mixture and charcoal. Dripping tar from the burning wood fell into an outlet pipe, from which the precious material was collected.

Hundreds of years earlier, however, Vikings were also making and using tar, but their production methods were a mystery to archaeologists and historians. New research published today in the journal Antiquity is shedding new light on this unanswered question, revealing a unique method of tar production previously unknown to scientists.

The lone author of the new study, Andreas Hennius from the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University in Sweden, documents the discovery of large tar-producing pits in the Swedish province of Uppland. Archaeologists have uncovered a surprising number of these extra-large pits over the past 15 years, which have been carbon dated to between 680 and 900 AD. This both pre-dates and coincides with the Viking Age (roughly 750 to 1050 AD). The Vikings used this tar to seal and protect structures made of wood, such as boats and longships, and to waterproof sails.

Photo and diagram of a funnel-shaped Viking tar pit.

These tar pits were located several kilometres away from villages, likely due to their closer proximity to an essential ingredient of tar production: forests filled with wood. Like the tar pits of Early Modern Europe, the Viking pits were funnel-shaped, but instead of using an outlet pipe, the Vikings placed a 0.91m-wide (1 meter) container at the bottom of the pit to collect the drippings. This technique required the Vikings to dig out the entire pit to remove the container and its mucky contents.

These pits were enormous in size, capable of producing 200-300L of tar during each production cycle. The discovery shows that Vikings — as early as the 8th century AD — had acquired the capacity to produce tar at industrial-scale levels. Hennius refers to these facilities as "forest factories for tar production."

Given this scale of production, it's hard to believe that archaeologists are only discovering this now. Hennius says it's only been during the last 15 years that archaeologists have been able to investigate, interpret, and scientifically analyse these types of tar pits.

"There are many more pits in Swedish forests, for now interpreted as charcoal production pits, trapping pits for animal hunting, and numerous other purposes," Hennius told Gizmodo. "Many of these interpretations are probably wrong and there are a large number of tar pits hiding out there. But it will be quite a time-consuming effort to inspect all of these."

Diagram and photo of a tar pit.

Building, operating, and maintaining the larger pits in the forest required considerable work, said Hennius, involving such tasks as forest management, the cutting down of trees, chipping and stacking wood, and monitoring the firing. Afterwards, a supply of barrels would have to transported to various locations.

This level of tar production seems excessive, and it's certainly more than a single household would ever need, but Hennius said it's consistent with developments in Viking Age shipbuilding and maritime expansion that were happening at the time.

To construct a single longship, the Vikings needed an estimated 500L of tar, about 190m³ of wood, and 1600 hours of manual labour, according to Hennius.

"Tar is very useful for protecting wood from decay in house construction but especially within shipping," he said. "Tar was used in enormous amounts within shipping up until boats were made from steel. For the Viking ships it was not only used for the wood in the boards but also for the caulking between the planks, the rigging, and the sails. Viking sails were made from wool and needed a coating to be effective."

But the demand for tar didn't just end there; the Vikings had to constantly replenish tar coatings on Viking vessel timbers and sails, creating further demand for the black material.

Vikings managed fleets ranging from dozens to possibly even hundreds of ships. These ancient Scandinavians had an intimate connection with their maritime vessels, even burying high ranking individuals inside of ships.

It's within this context that the Viking need for industrial-scale tar production starts to make sense. And in fact, Hennius goes so far as to suggest that the Viking use of voluminous amounts of tar, and their reliance on the forested outlands of Scandinavia, is what made the Viking Age possible.

With their tar-coated ships, the Vikings travelled along Russian rivers, conducting trade with the wealthy regions of the East Roman Empire and the Middle East. And as Hennius points out, the Vikings also traded their sticky goo; Viking tar barrels dating back to this time period have been found in Lower Saxony, now Germany.

A preserved Viking longship.

"This paper presents a production feature for tar production that is unknown to most people," Hennius told Gizmodo. "It also highlights a change in the mode of production from small-scale household production during the Roman Iron Age to large-scale production in the forests just before the Viking Age. I interpret these changes and the increased production as fundamental for the Viking maritime culture but also as an indication of more specialised handicraft and production during this time."

It's important to point out that this study is based on limited evidence from a limited geographical area in Sweden. Further excavations and investigations will likely provide a clearer picture of Viking tar production and its effect of Viking society.

Humans have been inventing useful materials for quite some time. Neanderthals made glue as far back as 200,000 years ago, Palaeoamericans in California produced tar-like bitumen some 5000 years ago (which sadly exposed them to dangerous toxins), and Romans developed highly durable concrete 2000 years ago. Humans, as history shows, are good at making the stuff that makes even better stuff.

[MIKA27]

TAG HEUER UNVEIL ONE OF THEIR MOST ACCURATE WATCHES IN THE CARRERA TÊTE DE VIPÈRE

Accuracy is a big deal in the Swiss watchmaking game. TAG Heuer wanted to make that point clear so they enlisted the independent testing body known as the Besançon Observatory to trial their latest watch.

The result is the TAG Heuer Carrera Tête de Vipère, the first ever TAG Heuer chronograph to wear the prestigious “Tête de Vipère” certification from the organisation.

What that stamp means for any timepiece is a guarantee of unrivalled precision and accuracy in timekeeping. The backstory of Besançon Observatory is interesting in itself. The organisation was abandoned in the 1970s only to be revived in 2006. Since then, only 500 timepieces have earned the “Tête de Vipère” stamp of approval. This TAG Heuer Carrera us is now one of them.

Watches which go through Besançon Observatory are fully assembled and undergo a protocol involving 16 days of testing across five different positions at three different temperatures.The Besançon Observatory, operating on behalf of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, is the only independent, public organisation able to inspect chronometers.

Naturally, the TAG Heuer Carrera Tête de Vipère will come as a limited edition of 155 pieces to celebrate 55 years since the Heuer Carrera was created.

The watch features a tourbillon movement in the HEUER-02T calibre which provides chronograph functions (Chronograph minute counter at 3 o’clock and Chronograph hour counter at 9 o’clock) alongside the standard hours, minutes and seconds.

The dial is a striking design in the form of a black skeleton face with Rhodium plated accents and blue SuperLuminova coatings. Finishing off the wildly masculine timepiece is a 45mm blue ceramic case with a steel sapphire case back brushed with black PVD coating.

The watch affords 100m of water resistance whilst paired to a matte black alligator strap sewn onto a rubber backing with blue stitching.

Interested? You’ll need to prepare your credit card for a hit. The TAG Heuer Carrera Tête de Vipère retails for AU$26,750.

[MIKA27]

TOPPLING GOLIATH KENTUCKY BRUNCH STOUT

Currently rated as the #1 beer in the world, Toppling Goliath is releasing another batch of their Kentucky Brunch Brand Stout later this year. The 13% ABV Imperial stout is brewed with coffee and aged in whiskey barrels and packaged in hand-waxed, hand-numbered 12oz bottles. Toppling Goliath describes KBBS as "chocolate chip pancakes drenched with maple syrup served with espresso and a shot of bourbon, all in one sip." Limited to one bottle per person, this brewery-only release is slated to return on December 15th.

[MIKA27]

NISSAN 370Z PROJECT CLUBSPORT 23 COUPE

Nissan's 370Z has been around for a decade now, but the company keeps proving how flexible the platform is with continual upgrades that keep a strong competitor in the sports car market. Nissan is bringing the 370Z Project Clubsport 23 to the 2018 SEMA show and raided its own parts bin and the bins of a few SEMA suppliers to show that the 370Z isn't done yet. First and foremost, Nissan dropped in the 400 horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Infiniti Q50 400 Red Sport. The engine is mated to the manual transmission from the 370Z Nismo, the first time this engine has been available with a standard shift. Nismo suspension pieces with KW Variant coilovers and Eibach springs make for track-day fun, and Rays wheels wrapped in Hankook high-performance tires keep everything on sticking to the pavement. With the Z-car due a refresh, Nissan shows what might be on the table for the next generation.

[MIKA27]

Listen To The Sci-Fi Radio Drama That Kinda-Maybe-Sorta Caused A Panic 80 Years Ago

Radio dramas have made a comeback over the past few years, with podcasts such as Welcome to Night Vale, The Bright Sessions and Limetown (whose second season launched this week) reviving the bygone era of fictional stories told through spoken word.

But back in the 1930s, radio plays were one of the most popular forms of entertainment. And sometimes, they got a little dangerous.

This week is the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ classic reading of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. During the broadcast, which aired on 30 October 1938, Welles posed as a news announcer who was interrupting some scheduled programming with news of a horrifying alien invasion.

There were constant warnings that it was a theatrical presentation, but that didn’t stop some people from taking to the streets in a mass panic. Or did they?

Probably not. Historians believe that the number of people who actually freaked out about the broadcast was about 50 — far fewer than the million or more reported by the news at the time.

According to The Washington Post, this suggests news outlets exaggerated the problem because it made for more salacious stories, which wasn’t exactly surprising back then. This was a time when journalists would actually tamper with crime scenes so they’d make for better photographs. Standards were a bit different.

Even though the actual response to War of the Worlds may be more myth than fact, that doesn’t change the fact that the radio drama holds up really well, even after 80 years. Here’s just a snippet from the script, which you can read in full here:

Quote

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed... Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or... something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks... are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be. Good heavens, something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a grey snake. Now it’s another one, and another. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing’s body. It’s large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face...

I highly recommend taking an hour out of your day to listen to this iconic piece of science fiction history. It may not be real (and the hysteria it supposedly inspired back in 1938 may have been slightly overblown), but it is still really cool to hear.

[MIKA27]

The Reason Why Your Whiskey Should Come From a Pot Still

Almost a decade ago, lots of people were talking about where the line between macro- and micro-distilling was going to be drawn, and what we, culturally, were going to decide the term “craft” meant. I had no skin in the game, and my discussions about this topic happened on the sidelines. My contributions were but a chirp next to those who were making a livelihood producing spirits. Many of my friends were presenting in front of government commissions, drafting industry by-laws and arguing around conference tables. But the conversation was unavoidable and ran on a seemingly continuous loop. It was the topic that overtook casual dinner parties and was the reason why my phone often buzzed at all hours of the day.

Right about this time my Half Full colleague David Wondrich published a small article, in which he claimed that there are only two kinds of spirits: those which come off a pot still and those which come off a column still.

That’s exactly what I’d been saying. The only way to segment the industry, I said to everyone who would listen, is to draw a line between the tools used to create the spirit. All other delineations are pretend. At the time, no one, except Dave, agreed.

But I still believe it to be true and the only way to truly differentiate between spirits.  

Think of distillation as a form of selection, since after all you have a substance from which you want to isolate certain components. Distillation exploits the properties of those components, so that the distiller can take some but not all, this but not that.

A column still is a tremendously efficient tool for doing this, and after Aeneas Coffey refined the design and patented his eponymous still in 1831, the world has never looked back. But the column still is an industrial device that resembles—nay, is identical to—the column that fractions crude oil into its various parts, including gasoline and heating oil.

Things in the column separate like light refracting into a rainbow and the operator pulls off exactly the fraction of the column that is desired. To continue what I think is a useful metaphor, imagine if you could break that rainbow down into its different parts and take only the red color, or, if you wanted a more varied spectrum, you could crank the dial and make a wider grab to take red with a little bit of the orange and yellow. The former is clear rum, vodka, neutral spirits—just the red, as close to pure ethanol as possible—and the latter is column still whiskey, such as most bourbon, carefully selected with a little wider of a spectrum.

A column still is static, the mash (the mix of fermented base ingredients) is continuously fed into the top of the contraption, and the alcohol is continuously harvested from the bottom. Nonstop. The proof of the resulting spirit is consistent, whatever the operator has set it to is what is produced.

But humans have been making alcohol long before the invention of the column still.

The alchemist Maria the Jewess, who we think lived in the second century C.E., described a three-armed apparatus for distillation. The Islamic alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan distilled alcohol from wine in the eighth century, although he didn’t seem to find the flammable vapor he produced very interesting.

Irish monks, however, seem to have seen the potential. A group returned from a Mediterranean trip two hundred years after Hayyan with an apparatus, or plans for one, designed to distill perfume. They put their minds to work and adapted the perfume still for the production of beverage spirits. Uisce beatha—Gaelic for water of life A.K.A. whiskey—was born.

Everything different about how an alembic, or pot still, is run since these early iterations is a refinement, rather than a major change.

To distill in a pot still, one adds the fermented base ingredients—a beer made of barley, for instance—to the bulbous base of the contraption, which is really is just a big teapot. The beer is slowly brought up to temperature until it starts to steam. The steam rises through the conical top and ultimately runs through a cooling coil where it condenses back into a liquid. Because different constituents possess different volatility (and because you are removing those constituents from the original batch) the makeup of the steam changes over the course of the cooking. The first bit, the so-called foreshots, is all volatile stuff that smells like paint thinner and tastes like hydrochloric acid flavored Pop Rocks. Things get better after that.

What I’ve always found most interesting about the contrast between the column still and the pot still is that the running of a pot still is an existential exercise—the spirits that come off a pot still are the product of the passage of time. The differences, however, are not entirely philosophical. The column still is efficient, and that which is harvested from it is cleaner, more direct. (Why anyone would think that a “pot stilled” vodka is a good idea escapes me.) If you want a neutral base for gin, if you want a sparkling, clear as crystal shot of vodka, pull that alcohol off a column. Pot stills, in contrast, find their beauty in inefficiency, in the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, in the perfection found in imperfections. Funky rums, luscious Armagnacs, and robust Irish whiskies are all the products of pot stills. These differences are why a number of distillers have built hybrids that combine a column still and a pot still, which they use to make a range of spirits.

This is also not a new discussion. Testifying before a turn-of-the-century government panel tasked with codifying what whiskey was—and specifically whether spirits made in a column still could be called whiskey—John Talbot Power, of Powers Whiskey, was asked if the products of a column-still had “any of the characteristics of whiskey.” He said “none whatever.” Further, he noted that the spirits obtained from a column “would not be accepted by any Irishman as whiskey.”

If you take a dram of a pot still whiskey, like Redbreast, what you have in your glass is a very different, very specific thing. Consistency, as one can easily imagine, is the product of expertise, an artistic application of science. It is distilled in one go. Its full flavor profile and slick mouthfeel aren’t the product of a column.

History has not sided with Mr. Powers, but common sense does.

[MIKA27]

Is This the Spookiest Place in North America?

Whole towns in this stretch of North American prairie have been abandoned, just waiting for somebody with the resolve to enter places intuition tells you would best be left alone.

Insinger, Saskatchewan—The “No Trespassing” sign looked old, and there was no one around as far as I could tell. So I stepped inside the crumbling house, the floorboards bowing beneath my feet. The dying October light filtered in through the shattered kitchen window. I stopped and listened, making sure no one else was there. An unexpected encounter with a stranger was not what I was looking for.

Earlier in the day, when the sun was high, my search for ghost towns had felt more whimsical. Now, the air had gone cold and the shadows were everywhere, obscuring corners and stairwells. The vast Saskatchewan prairie had turned on me, just as it had for the settlers who pioneered it. Dusk had transformed the bright and inviting landscape into something desolate and menacing.

A house in a field in Jedburgh.

Towns like Insinger, wholly abandoned or inhabited by only a few hangers-on, are scattered across the quiet hinterland of this central Canadian province. Hidden down dusty, forgotten roads, they’re overgrown with native grasses and scraggly oak trees, strewn with homes, schools, hotels, post offices and churches, many of them barely standing. Seeking them out requires some advance research, a paper map (service is spotty on the plains) and a resolve to enter places your intuition tells you would best be left alone.

The kitchen of a house in Insinger.

Many of these towns can be found along Highway 13, a corridor that skirts the province’s southern border. But I was coming from Manitoba’s Swan River Valley, heading west toward Saskatoon. This would bring me through an area that had long ago been decimated by depopulation and poverty. First settled in the 19th century, the region started out as an agricultural powerhouse. Hardscrabble Ukrainian immigrants harvested wheat with scythes and shipped it eastward by rail. They built general stores, banks, cafes, Orthodox churches and dance halls for parties and weddings.

Then drought struck in 1929, and by the mid-1930s the soil had turned to dust. Soon this dust was airborne, cycloning through the towns with terrifying force. In the world beyond, the global economy was collapsing, slicing grain prices to the bone. An exodus ensued. Desperate farmers fled to the cities with whatever they could carry.

An abandoned house in Insinger.

Much of what they abandoned remains where they left it for anyone with an affection for history’s eerier side to discover. Jedburgh is a good place to start. Perched on a dirt road 12 miles south of the Yellowhead Highway, a gentle rise leads to the town’s most prominent feature, a dilapidated former library. Inside the reading room, chairs face a blackboard covered in chalk. A typewriter is caked in bird droppings, and vintage books and pamphlets, yellow with age, lie open on shelves and across the floor.

I could hardly believe my luck at stumbling upon such a well-preserved ruin at my first stop. But I soon learned that many of Saskatchewan’s ghost towns remain remarkably intact. Their remoteness—and perhaps the gentle nature of considerate Canadians—has left them suspended in time. Teacups sit on their saucers, jackets hang on hooks by the door.

An old photo of two children lying on a wastebasket in a house in Insinger.

An hour later I was in West Bend. My map had sent me down some muddy old roads so rutted I was sure I was lost until the tattered village appeared on the horizon. I came across a two-story school incongruously built in a brutalist architectural style—baffling until I remembered this region was settled by Eastern Europeans. The upper-floor classrooms were filled with sunlight spilling in through the broken roof, but the basement was sectioned off into spaces resembling narrow animal pens. (I shuddered to think.)

In the style of the houses, too, you could see that decline had come to West Bend in waves. Some were a century old, but others had been inhabited as recently as the 1980s. Their decor gave them away: paisley upholstery, geometric wallpaper, vinyl seating, Zenith TVs. Behind one house, grass grew through the engine block of a late-‘60s Plymouth Fury. In another, boxes of Herbalife supplements sat on the kitchen counter, the owner’s last-ditch attempt at salvaging a livelihood before leaving town.

The boarded up church in Insinger.

By the time I reached Insinger it was six in the evening. Unlike most of Saskatchewan’s ghost towns, it’s just off the highway, a vanished society in full view of rural commuters. It’s also the biggest of the ghost towns I visited. Founded in 1913, at its peak it was home to a hundred residents whose decaying houses still line the compact street grid.

The back of Graval's Cafe in Insinger where the kitchen used to be.

As late as the 1960s, in fact, there was life in this town. The dance hall continued to host Ukrainian dances, which the younger generation attended in stylish gogo boots. Every Sunday, after church, the community convened at Graval’s Cafe for pierogis. The service station did a brisk business with traffic from the new highway, and the school held classes until closing in 1967.

An overgrown road in Insinger.

Today, the population of Insinger is fewer than 20, and from what I’ve read online, they’re not big fans of out-of-towners wandering about with their iPhones raised. As I prowled the old buildings—the service station still stocked with rusting car parts, the cafe housing an antique stove, the dance hall carpeted with broken glass—I felt that I was being watched. As the sun dropped below the horizon, I found myself jogging back to my car and, once inside, locking the doors. Pulling onto the highway, I watched Insinger fade in the rearview mirror, the gloom of twilight consuming it. It seemed best to heed the lesson that out here on the prairie, it’s best to walk away before things take a turn for the worse.

A smashed window in a house on the road to Jedburgh.

[MIKA27]

NASA's Killer Pumpkin-Carving Skills Are A Cut Above The Rest

Every Halloween, the folks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory put everyone else’s jack-o’-lantern game to shame with some heavily engineered pumpkins. This year brought about some of the nerdiest entries in the contest’s history.

The JPL team held its showcase yesterday afternoon, and the winner hasn’t yet been publicly announced. But when we contacted NASA, a spokesperson informed us that an outstanding display themed around Pixar’s Coco tied with the truly terrifying work, “The Infinite Paperwork Inside Every Spacecraft.”

Last year’s champion, a Europa (clipper) Pirate Ship returned as part of a display in which its eviscerated by a Planetary Sample Acquisition Submarine Pumpkin.

Some of our favourites include a pumpkin welcoming NASA’s new colleagues at “Space Force” that screams “born to die.” And of course, there’s a Day of the Dead-styled shrine to the dearly departed Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

You can check out the other contenders below and check out some nice making-of photos on NASA’s Flicker account.

[MIKA27]

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Just Smashed Two Records In A Single Day

NASA’s historic mission to “touch the Sun” just reached two important milestones: It now holds the record for the closest approach to the Sun by a human-built object — and also the record for the fastest spacecraft ever sent into space.

Launched on August 12, 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is now entering into the first stages of its mission.

At 1:04 pm ET on October 29, the spacecraft got closer than 42.7 million kilometers from the Sun’s surface — a new record for a human-built object.

The old record was held by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft, which achieved the feat in April 1976. From here on in, every inch closer that the probe gets to the Sun will be a new distance record, with a closest approach of 6.16 million kilometers expected in 2024.

“It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history," Parker Solar Probe Project Manager Andy Driesman said in a NASA statement. “It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter.”

Less than 10 hours later, the probe set yet another record. Attaining and then surpassing a speed of 246,960 kilometers per hour, the Parker probe became the fastest-ever human-built object relative to the Sun.

The previous record was also held by the Helios 2 mission. By 2024, the spacecraft is expected reach speeds in excess of 692,000 kilometers per hour (0.0006 per cent the speed of light).

To calculate the speed and distance of the Parker Solar Probe, the space agency utilises its Deep Space Network, or DSN. NASA explains:

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The DSN sends a signal to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft’s speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal.

Parker Solar Probe’s speed and position were calculated using DSN measurements made on October 24, and the team used that information along with known orbital forces to calculate the spacecraft’s speed and position from that point on.

 

At its current distance to the Sun, the probe requires 150 days to make a complete orbit. It will achieve the first of 26 perihelion events (the point closest to the Sun) on 6 November 2018.

Over the next six years, the probe’s orbital length will gradually shrink, allowing it to get closer to the Sun. As it gets nearer to the star’s surface, the probe will face formidable heat and radiation, which it will fend off with a manoeuvrable shield always pointed toward the flaming ball of fire at the center of our Solar System.

The Parker Solar Probe’s onboard sensors will take measurements, providing unprecedented new data for scientists. By learning more about the Sun, we will have a better understanding of how it affects Earth and other planets, and possibly improve our space weather forecasting. Knowing how and when the Sun produces massive solar storms, for example, could go a long way in reducing damage on Earth.

[MIKA27]

An Iceberg Five Times The Size Of Manhattan Just Popped Off West Antarctica

While the internet was obsessing over that rectangular iceberg, some more disconcerting icy behaviour went down on the other side of the Antarctic.

The Pine Island Glacier has been breaking off monstrous icebergs over the past five years, presenting a worrying sign that the West Antarctic is destabilizing. The latest occurred this weekend. Satellite imagery shows an iceberg roughly 115 square miles — five times the size of Manhattan — breaking off the front of the glacier.

In comparison, TU Delft remote sensing expert Stef Lhermitte told Earther the tabular iceberg of viral internet fame is likely less than one square mile. Wake up, sheeple.

“What is mostly remarkable about this event is that the frequency of calving seems to increase,” Lhermitte said about the big boy ‘berg that broke off Pine Island Glacier. In the 2000s, so-called iceberg calving events of this magnitude used to occur roughly every five years. But since 2013, there have been four calving events including one last year.

Icebergs break off the front of glaciers on the regular because glaciers are giant rivers of ice. As the upstream ice flows toward the sea, it puts tremendous stress on the ice below, causing icebergs to snap off.

But what’s been happening at Pine Island Glacier in recent years could be a sign the flow is increasing. Satellite imagery put together by Lhermitte shows that the calving front has slowly receded for decades before beginning a sharp recession in recent years, including 5km of shrinkage since 2015 alone.

The calving front of Pine Island glacier over time.

All that activity has contributed to making Pine Island Glacier the most rapidly receding glacier on Earth. In addition to the calving area retreating, the ice has gotten thinner by about a meter annually over the past 15 years while shedding a staggering 45 billion tons annually. Much of that is driven by warm water eating away at it from underneath.

If the disintegration continues, there’s concerns it could lead to something called 'marine ice cliff instability', where the walls of ice at the calving front get progressively taller due to the downward slope of the bedrock beneath it.

This is expected to make the remaining ice more wobbly, like an ever-growing Jenga tower, and it could lead to an even more rapid breakup of glaciers that causes sea level rise to spike.

“Changes at PIG in terms of mass loss and ice shelf retreat are perhaps more important for future sea level rise as the PIG (and Thwaites) region is one of the potential hot spots for future mass loss from Antarctica,” Lhermitte said, referring to the glacier by its acronym as well as Thwaites, its next door neighbour.

So forget the 'freakberg' and keep your eyes on where the real drama is.

[MIKA27]

The Wandering Earth could be China’s breakout sci-fi blockbuster film

China isn’t typically known for its science fiction blockbusters, but a new trailer for an upcoming film called The Wandering Earth has all the hallmarks of a big, Hollywood-style genre movie: it features a dramatic story of the Earth in peril, complete with eye-popping scenes of spaceships escaping Earth.

The Wandering Earth is based on a story by Cixin Liu, the author best known for The Three-Body Problem, and, more recently, Ball Lightning. In the original story, scientists discovered that the sun is on the verge of turning into a red giant, and when it does, it’ll expand beyond the orbit of Mars, incinerating all of the solar system’s potentially habitable planets. They concoct a desperate plan to move Earth out of the solar system to a new star, Proxima Centauri.

The story begins with the early life of a young boy who was born just after engineers stopped Earth’s rotation. It follows him as the world prepares to leave the solar system. The engineers push Earth into an exaggerated orbit, build vast cities under the planetary surface, and escape the doomed system before the Sun expands. Like The Three-Body Problem and its sequels, it takes a global perspective on the threat to Earth and hearkens back to science fiction’s “Golden Age” stories when scientists engineered big solutions to formidable problems. Liu shows off the drastic changes Earth undergoes over decades: massive temperature fluctuations, natural disasters, societal problems, and the beauty of watching Jupiter pass overhead.

The Chinese film industry clearly recognized that the story is perfect fodder for a science fiction blockbuster. The adaptation, directed by Guo Fan, is slated to be released in February 2019, and it’ll be China’s first big-budget science fiction film. The trailer shows humanity fleeing the Earth’s surface as temperatures plunge, and it suggests the unrest that arises in the aftermath. A teaser from earlier this year shows off a high-stakes scene on board a space station.

On a global scale, China is becoming an increasingly important player in the film industry. Its growing middle class has seen the rise of theater chains across the country, and Chinese audiences have become an important part of US films’ successes. Projects like Iron Man 3 specifically filmed additional scenes for the Chinese release, and films like S.M.A.R.T. Chase and The Meg bring together Chinese and American investors, casts, and crews in an attempt to equally court Chinese and American audiences.

The ambitions and budgets in the Chinese film industry are steadily growing. The Great Wall — a massive Chinese / American co-production that gained some notoriety in the US for casting Matt Damon — was budgeted at $150 million, while Bleeding Steel, a $65 million Jackie Chan cyberpunk thriller, made global headlines by shooting in Australia, with scenes set atop the Sydney opera house. Just as America is looking to make inroads into the Chinese market, Chinese filmmakers are increasingly looking for global appeal and international-scale releases.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Wandering Earth is China’s “first full-scale interstellar” film. Chinese science fiction author and screenwriter Anna Wu says science fiction “is a new challenge for the Chinese film industry.” While there have been numerous fantasy films, she told The Verge that studios and investors have hesitated when it comes to the genre because of the perception that they need both a high level of special effects and to rake in lots of money in order to be successful. Chinese filmmakers have made some high-profile attempts at the genre, but they’ve stumbled along the way. An adaptation of Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body trilogy was filmed in 2015, only to sit on a shelf because of post-production structure and budgeting problems. And while there have been persistent reports that Amazon wants to adapt the series (for a mind-boggling $1 billion), Chinese studio YooZoo says it’s the only rights holder for any potential TV or film production.

Still, Wu notes that within China, “there is a growing acceptance of science fiction,” and that as the economy has grown, people are “getting busier, wealthier and more stressed,” which creates a perfect environment for new escapist genre film and television. The Wandering Earth, she says, is highly anticipated. “Everyone is looking forward to it.” However, she says, “I am also very concerned about the box office earnings, which will affect the investment situation of [future] Chinese science fiction films.”

[MIKA27]

UJET FOLDING ELECTRIC SCOOTER

Urban commuting can be painful, at least in terms of parking and never-ending traffic. Thankfully, it appears Luxembourg-based UJET has developed the perfect solution with this foldable electric scooter.

Fully equipped with two battery packs for up to 150 km of range and near silent yet ever-so-smooth mobility, this e-scooter is a 21st Century city-roaming-ride at its finest. We say that because not only does the UJET host a futuristic appearance but exceptional functionality as well. We’re talking a Bluetooth speaker, magnesium fiber frame, front-facing HD camera to record video, a touchscreen display, integrated GPS, 3G, voice control, and music playback thanks to onboard WiFi. Users can also remotely lock and unlock the scooter via a compatible smartphone application for a truly hands-free experience. Available now.

 

[MIKA27]

Cambusa Wine Cabinet 

A fine wine collection deserves an equally opulent display, the beautifully crafted Cambusa Wine Cabinet is a multifunctional storage unit for the avid wine lover. Expertly crafted in Italy and designed by Giuliano Capelletti, the stunning Cambusa Cabinet is assembled with attractive dovetail joints and features a push-pull opening system. Boasting a contemporary finish in walnut with a stylish feature stripe in irondust on its front, this cabinet offers all of the storage solutions a wine lover could ever wish for. And to admire your wine collection, a system of LED lights automatically illuminates the interior when the cabinet doors open. 

[MIKA27]

Tonal Smart Fitness System 

The innovative Tonal Smart Fitness System is aimed at those who follow the mantra "your body is a temple” so you should take good care of it, but it also provides much more than simple exercise. It’s a machine that looks good enough to set in your home and proudly show it. It is the first ever digital weight strength training system with interactive video workouts, and provides a personal trainer whenever you need one. The personal home trainer is powered by machine learning, it starts with a complete physical check up and then sets a training plan for you to follow, keeping track of all your data and making you more conscious of your evolution and updating your training plan. It is one of the first intelligent workout machines that is powered by an electromagnetic resistance engine rather than large metal plates and gravity, it measures and responds to you automatically. If you’re struggling to complete a rep, sensors automatically adjust the weight. If you don’t love the gym but love yourself this is pretty much the thing to get.

 

[MIKA27]

Sir Ridley Scott Still Planning ‘Gladiator 2’, Writer Added

Perhaps one of Sir Ridley Scott‘s true masterpieces is getting a sequel. No, it’s not another Alien film (although he is still working on those), but rather his Oscar-winning feat of historical epic-ness that is Gladiator.

Yes, we’re talking Gladiator 2: Are You Not Entertained [Again].

This is something Scott has been trying to do for sometime, but it never really found footing. There was that time last year when Nick Cave revealed his plans for a sequel, and Scott commented on that idea saying:

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You know I can bring him back, I know how to bring him back. I talked him [Russell Crowe] into how I bring him back. I used the [body] of a dying warrior as a portal to bring somebody back.

Reportedly, this sequel is for Paramount, and writer Peter Craig (Top Gun: Maverick) will tackle the script. Deadline says Gladiator 2‘s story (at this time) will:

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follow the continuing story of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), The youth was the nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the weaselly son of Roman leader Marcus Aurelius who murdered his father seized the throne and wound up in the gladiator ring with Maximus, who though mortally wounded, skewered the emperor before fading into the great beyond to reunite with his slain wife and son. Maximus saved the boy and his mother while avenging his own family, and left a strong impression on the young Lucius.

The outlet also says that Scott is currently circling to direct the project. Could this maybe mean another score by Hans Zimmer!? One can only hope.

[MIKA27]

AUSTRALIAN ENTREPRENEURS UNVEIL THE WORLD’S FIRST CANNABIS GIN

Since hemp became legal in Australia on November 12, 2017, two Aussies and an Irishman have been turning the non psychoactive parts of the plant into useful products—chief among them, a relaxing gin that will invoke euphoria, but won’t get you high.

Intrigued? Then forget about hemp’s ability to medicate, feed, shelter, clothe, fuel, make auto parts and bio-plastics, and read on.

The Cannabis Co. is the love-child of a PhD biochemist (Dr David Stapleton), a successful entrepreneur & brand builder (Richard Jameson) and a marketing guru (Cormac Sheehan).

As for the gin, “It took quite a few goes to get to a good product,” Sheehan told the SBS in an interview. “As we started adding in botanicals, we began to uncover a gin which was great, but not… award-winning. That wasn’t good enough – from day one we didn’t want novelty gin. It had to stand on its own two feet as a gin, regardless of the cannabis element.

The key to the gin’s success lies in terpenes—essential oils found in many types of medicinal plants and flowers—the “essence” of a plant. And Cannabis Co.’s innovative new spirit, the “Myrcene Hemp Gin” pays tribute to Myrcene, the most abundant terpene found in cannabis.

Dr. David Stapleton, a Senior Researcher at The University of Melbourne with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, helped them discover and implement this into their gin recipe, and his expertise (he has worked all over the world and published over 100 scientific papers) has proved crucial in shaking the “hippie” stigma that comes with cannabis.

This is helping them re-invent the public image of hemp, which has applications as a food, a medicine, a textile and even as a sustainable fire-resistant building material. And now: as a way to spice up a drink that’s been largely un-invigorated since the era of Orwell and Churchill.

Their limited edition Myrcene Hemp Gin was originally distilled with select elements from the hurd, bast and seed of the cannabis plant, giving it a considerable hemp content and earthy woodland character. However, what really distinguishes it from other gins is the addition of various terpenes, which were isolated and examined, with myrcene being selected as the winner.

Also found in hops, bay leaves and mangoes, Myrcene is reputed to produce “joyful” and “euphoric” effects alongside “an overall feeling of relaxation.” Perhaps the most highly-valued terpene due to its ability to ease symptoms of chronic pain and inflammation, they stumbled across Myrcene in a slightly unusual manner.

The breakthrough, according to their press release, finally came about not after sweating away in the lab, but reclined (we presume) on a couch with a bunch of history books, where they discovered some interesting commonalities between terpenes and spirits, strongly influenced by an early 17th century gin-making practice.

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“Whereas these early pioneers used primitive pot stills and added terpenes to mask the flavour of crudely-produced spirits, The Cannabis Company use column stills to craft a lighter and more refined gin, adding myrcene for its joyful sense of euphoria alongside its relaxation-inducing qualities.”

“A common practice in tropical British colonies was to soften quinine’s bitter flavour by adding gin,” the press release continues. “Australia today has thankfully outgrown many of its more negative colonial echoes, but it still retains one old habit which has now gone global: taking the edge off the mozzies with a cool gin & tonic.”

So for old world tradition with a splash of contemporary ingenuity, get your hands on one of the 300 limited edition (of this initial release) bottles of brew, crafted in Healesville Victoria.

[MIKA27]

Exclusive ‘Asher’ Trailer: Ron Perlman Is a Hitman Looking to Change His Ways

 

[MIKA27]

BASQUIAT 

In his short life, Jean-Michel Basquiat went from a homeless graffiti artist to a neo-expressionist icon before he was 27. Author Leonhard Emmerling chronicles Basquiat's quick catapult to fame in this hardback book. Its 96 pages follow his beginnings in the street art duo SAMO, his relationship with mentor Andy Warhol, and the influences that developed his bold style that is coveted by collectors like Jay-Z and Leonardo DiCaprio while highlighting some of his most prolific pieces.

Hardcover / 8.3" x 10.2" / 96 Pages

[MIKA27]

ROYOLE FLEXPAI FOLDING SMARTPHONE

With Samsung and LG rumored to be unveiling their own in the coming weeks, Royole has beaten the Korean giants to the punch with the announcement of the world's first folding smartphone. Dubbed the FlexPai, it has a 7.8-inch display and a footprint that's roughly half that. It's powered by the yet-unannounced Qualcomm Snapdragon 8150 processor, has 16-megapixel wide-angle and 20-megapixel telephoto cameras in its sizable bezel, and runs Water OS on top of Android 9 Pie.

Available for order now, with deliveries beginning in December.

[MIKA27]

Showtime Is Bringing Back Penny Dreadful in A Whole New Time Period

Two years after Showtime shockingly cancelled Penny Dreadful, it's bringing it back — but it's going to be very different show than you remember.

THR reports that Showtime and Penny Dreadful showrunner / creator John Logan are reuniting for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, a new series set to begin production in 2019.

Described as a "spiritual descendant" to the original series — which took place in an alternate Victorian-era England filled with gothic monsters and frights — City of Angels instead takes place in, if you hadn't guessed by the name, Los Angeles. The time period will be circa 1938, and the show will take cues from Mexican folklore for its supernatural elements while also tackling issues of race and politics in the city. Here's Logan on the series:

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Penny Dreadful: City of Angels will have a social consciousness and historical awareness that we chose not to explore in the Penny Dreadful London storylines / We will now be grappling with specific historical and real-world political, religious, social and racial issues.

In 1938, Los Angeles was facing some hard questions about its future and its soul. Our characters must do the same. There are no easy answers. There are only powerful questions and arresting moral challenges. As always in the world of Penny Dreadful, there are no heroes or villains in this world, only protagonists and antagonists; complicated and conflicted characters living on the fulcrum of moral choice.

 

It's a bizarre choice to take what basically sounds like a completely different series and put the Penny Dreadful name on it — but we'll have to wait and see just how it ties into the world of the original show, or if any of the original characters will make an appearance in City of Angels' cast. But for now, at least, we know the show is back... sort of.