小鼠胚胎从发育的第八天（左上）到出生（右下）的过程 图源：C. Qiu et al./Nature **分工合作，胚胎“树”据** 前述研究已于今年2月发表在《自然》杂志上。Chengxiang Qiu、Beth K. Martin、Ian C. Welsh是论文的共同第一作者，他们主导研究并完成了主要工作 ...  已发表的论文截图 图源 _Nature_ Qiu和Martin同是Jay Shendure实验室的成员。Jay Shendure通常不研究小鼠的发育，他的实验室以建立分子生物学技术闻名，其中有一项名为“sci-RNA-seq3”的技术

 小鼠胚胎从发育的第八天（左上）到出生（右下）的过程 图源：C. Qiu et al./Nature **分工合作，胚胎“树”据** 前述研究已于今年2月发表在《自然》杂志上。Chengxiang Qiu、Beth K. Martin、Ian C. Welsh是论文的共同第一作者，他们主导研究并完成了主要工作 ...  已发表的论文截图 图源Nature Qiu和Martin同是Jay Shendure实验室的成员。Jay Shendure通常不研究小鼠的发育，他的实验室以建立分子生物学技术闻名，其中有一项名为“sci-RNA-seq3”的技术

Apr 12, 2024 7:30 AM Sci-fi fiends have a long history of saving their darlings. Francis Ford Coppola’s epic _Megalopolis_, 40 years in the making, could be their biggest save yet.  Francis Ford Coppola is seen backstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California.Photograph: Al Seib/Getty Images Of all the utterly depressing things printed in the [Hollywood](https://www.wired.com/tag/hollywood/) trades on any given day, this has got to be among the worst: “It’s so not good, and it was so sad watching it … This is not how Coppola should end his directing career.” This was in response to an early screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s _Megalopolis_, a [$120 million](https://www.gq.com/story/francis-ford-coppola-50-years-after-the-godfather) sci-fi epic that the legendary _Godfather_ director has been trying to make for roughly four decades. The quote, from an unnamed “studio head,” was published in [a piece](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/megalopolis-francis-ford-coppola-challenges-distribution-1235867556/) in _The Hollywood Reporter_ positioning the film as the kind of movie no one in the business wants to funnel money into because it (allegedly) doesn’t have box office potential. While that quote was, in journalism parlance, the kicker, the real zinger came in the addendum at the end: “This story has been updated to include that _Megalopolis_ will premiere in Cannes.” Shot. Chaser. _THR_’s piece doesn’t provide the gender of the studio exec quoted, but I’m going to go out on a limb: Sir, what the fuck are you talking about? Even if _Megalopolis_ is two hours and 15 minutes of Adam Driver (yes, he stars) doing paper doll plays, Coppola has survived so much worse. This will not end his career. If anything, quotes like this signal an end of—or at least the massive need for a reboot of—Hollywood. Earlier this week, Bilge Ebiri wrote a [full-throated plea](https://www.vulture.com/article/is-francis-ford-coppola-megalopolis-doomed.html) in Vulture, declaring “Hollywood Is Doomed If There’s No Room for _Megalopolis_es.” Matt Zoller Seitz took a slightly different tack, addressing France directly [from his desk at RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/megalopolis-coppola-cannes) and begging Cannes Film Festival participants to cheer the film and save the US from itself. Both pointed out that many of Coppola’s films—_Bram Stoker’s Dracula_, _One from the Heart_—didn’t fully connect with audiences or critics when they were first released. The latter [nearly bankrupted](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/francis-ford-coppolas-one-from-the-heart-is-exactly-what-its-title-says) him—right after he [mortgaged everything he owned](https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/02/movies/coppola-risks-all-on-22-million-movie.html) to finance _Apocalypse Now_, which currently sits, alongside other Coppola films, on the American Film Institute’s [top 100 movies](https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/02/movies/coppola-risks-all-on-22-million-movie.html) of all time. I’d like to make an entreaty of a different kind: Nerds, assemble. We have a long history of crowdfunding and letter-writing to manifest the projects on which Hollywood has wobbled. Bjo Trimble [saved _Star Trek_](https://www.startrek.com/news/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek). [Queer sci-fi](https://www.wired.com/story/credence-lgbt-sci-fi-consumer-launch/), _Veronica Mars, [The People’s Joker](https://www.wired.com/story/vera-drew-the-peoples-joker-interview/)_—we’ve raised cash for all of it. Studios don’t think _Megalopolis_ is bankable; it may not appease any streaming service’s algorithm. Who cares. An online petition with enough backing can provide a marketing campaign to rival the multimillion-dollar one Coppola has envisioned. It’s worth a shot, > _The Monitor is a_ [_weekly column_](https://www.wired.com/tag/the-monitor/) _devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter._ I should say, I haven’t seen _Megalopolis_, nor can I vouch for its quality. It does feature Shia LaBeouf, which gives pause. But it also has _Game of Thrones_’ Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza. Plot details have been scarce, but apparently it’s about a decaying New York-esque city that one idealistic architect (Driver) wants to turn into utopia, even though the city’s mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) stands in his way. “New Rome” is the name of the town, so it’s sure to ignite more [Roman Empire discussion](https://www.wired.com/story/ask-men-about-roman-empire-tiktok-twitter-pop-culture/). Someone who saw an early screening called it “[batshit](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/francis-ford-coppola-wild-megalopolis-plot-distributors-1235964635/).” Sounds like a hoot. Even if _Megalopolis_ turns out to be, air quotes, “bad,” it just might not be palpable in modern cinema. Most of the best sci-fi is confused and confusing. Look at [_Jupiter Ascending_](https://www.wired.com/2015/02/go-see-jupiter-ascending/). _2001: A Space Odyssey_ is mad weird. Also, a classic. Speculative fiction exists as a genre in order to imagine the future. If Coppola, who reportedly began writing the movie in the 1980s and funded it using proceeds from [the sale of his wine business](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/francis-ford-coppolas-megalopolis-reportedly-faces-an-uphill-climb), has put all of his chips down on this, it’s a vision worth seeing. As much as I’d love to see an original epic from a brilliant new unknown, if Netflix was willing to take a chance on [Zack Snyder's _Rebel Moon_](https://www.wired.com/story/rebel-moon-director-zack-snyder-on-violence-loss-and-extreme-fandom/), someone should do the same with this. Truly, Francis Ford Coppola likely doesn’t need our help. He’s Francis Ford Coppola. Someone will likely distribute his film. Cannes will probably love it. The writer-director himself said as much this week, [telling The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/francis-ford-coppola-on-megalopolis-uproar-just-like-apocalypse-now) that the same thing happened to _Apocalypse Now_, adding that _Megalopolis_ will “stand the test of time.” Hollywood is out of ideas, so the criticism goes. Thirty years from now, the industry may be relying on [AI](https://www.wired.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/) to write and direct _Terminator 10_, and _Megalopolis_ will be a cult classic.

173463712 story [](//entertainment.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=scifi)[](//entertainment.slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=movies) Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday April 06, 2024 @03:34PM from the bending-air dept. Disneyland is a proposing part of its park be dedicated to James Cameron's _Avatar_, [reports SFGate](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/disneyland-concept-art-new-land-19385393.php). "[The rendering](https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2024/04/continuing-to-turbocharge-disney-experiences/) isn't a carbon copy of the Pandora land in Disney World's Animal Kingdom; instead, it's themed more closely to the recent sequel, _Avatar: The Way of Water_." _The teaser was dropped as part of Wednesday's company [shareholders meeting](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/disney-stops-activist-investor-19383801.php). The concept art shows a large lake in the middle of the land, surrounded by the signature floating mountains that loom over Animal Kingdom's Pandora. Boats filled with guests can be seen in the water, suggesting some sort of ride. No attractions have been announced for the land yet. Animal Kingdom has two: the spectacular flight simulator Flight of Passage and bucolic indoor boat ride Na'vi River Journey... There's no timeline for construction to begin. Disney officials have consistently referred to it as a "potential" project, often calling it an "experience" rather than a land. _

Movie-goers are headed back to the [Matrix](https://www.theguardian.com/film/the-matrix). Warner Brothers announced on Wednesday that The Martian screenwriter Drew Goddard will write and direct a new movie in the sci-fi action franchise for the studio. This will be the first in the cyberpunk series, which includes the 1999 original as well as The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections, not to directly involve its co-creators Lana or Lilly Wachowski, though Lana is attached to executive-produce. No word yet on whether the franchise stars [Keanu Reeves](https://www.theguardian.com/film/keanureeves), Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Anne-Moss, Hugo Weaving and Jada Pinkett-Smith will return. Goddard, who won an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay for The Martian in 2016, has considerable sci-fi credits, having started his writing career on the 90s show Buffy the Vampire Slayer before moving on to such shows as Angel, Alias and Lost. He is the creator of Marvel’s Daredevil, which ran from 2015 to 2018 on Netflix, and an executive producer and director on NBC’s beloved comedy series The Good Place. Additional screenwriting credits include Cloverfield, The Cabin in the Woods and World War Z. It was Goddard who brought the idea of another Matrix film to Warner Bros, after 2021’s [The Matrix](https://www.theguardian.com/film/the-matrix) Resurrection grossed a less-than-hoped-for $159m worldwide, in part due to a pandemic same-day streaming release. “Drew came to Warner Bros with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters,” said Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros Motion Pictures president of production, in a statement. “The entire team at Warner Bros Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making his new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/03/new-matrix-movie-drew-goddard#img-2) Drew Goddard. Photograph: Vincent West/Reuters The first Matrix, starring Reeves as a computer programmer turned fighter in the cyber underworld, became a defining cultural touchstone at the turn of the millennium for its groundbreaking visual effects, mind-bending story of simulated reality and propulsive action. The film went on to gross $467m worldwide, turned Reeves into a bankable movie star and won four Oscars, for best visual effects, best editing, best sound and best sound editing. Follow-ups to the red pill didn’t go quite as well; The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, released back-to-back in 2003, garnered mixed reviews and uneven audience interest. The Matrix Resurrections also received poor to mixed reviews, with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw [calling it](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/21/the-matrix-resurrections-review-keanu-reeves) “a heavy-footed reboot which doesn’t offer a compelling reason for its existence other than to gouge a fourth income stream from Matrix fans”. It was assumed to be the end of the franchise for a while, until Goddard stepped in. “It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life,” said Goddard in a statement. “Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.” This article was amended on 3 April 2024. The Martian received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay but did not win the Oscar as an earlier version said.

It has brain-bending physics, mysterious visitors and futuristic technology. Yet viewers of the new Netflix sci-fi epic [3 Body Problem](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix) could be forgiven for some confusion as its opening scenes unfold. A drama about coming contact with aliens catapults us back to China in 1966, at the height of the Cultural Revolution: we see an eminent physicist viciously attacked by zealots before a howling crowd. As incongruous as it seems, this moment is central to understanding the book on which the show is based. Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem has been a multimillion-seller at home and abroad, earning praise from Barack Obama and others. The show takes liberties with the author’s text, replacing key characters with multiracial friends who studied physics together at Oxford to make it more “global” (read: more western). That’s [annoyed many in China](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/netflix-3-body-problem-divides-viewers-china), despite Liu’s blessing. But the show is strikingly faithful to the historical scenes – and those scenes point to the lasting impact of this pivotal moment in China’s history. The [decade-long Cultural Revolution](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/the-cultural-revolution-50-years-on-all-you-need-to-know-about-chinas-political-convulsion) was a time of extraordinary violence and unpredictability: an estimated two million people died, from top political leaders to infants. Tens of millions more were hounded. In the early stages, Red Guards – often teenage boys and girls – beat victims to death. Revered scholars were prime targets. Some family members watched helplessly as victims suffered (like the physicist’s daughter); others betrayed their parents or spouses under pressure (like his wife). 3 Body Problem captures the sadism in its specific details, down to the humiliating dunce caps placed on victims’ heads and the excruciatingly painful “airplane” position that they were forced into: bent double with arms held out behind them. The scene is central to the story that unfolds over Liu’s trilogy of novels. But it is more than just a way to drive the plot, or to humanise a key character. Liu grew up in the Cultural Revolution. As a young child, he was sent away to grandparents when his parents’ workplace was engulfed by fighting between warring factions. [](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/03/netflix-3-body-problem-trauma-china-liu-cixin-tv-cultural-revolution#img-2) ‘In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards – often teenage boys and girls – beat victims to death.’ Red Guard members pictured in 1966. Photograph: Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images Survivors I have met [remain deeply scarred](https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9781783352661-red-memory/) by what they witnessed, what was done to them and what they did to others. Those years bred profound cynicism and fear. The sense of an individual’s puniness against vast forces, and of an apparently hopeless existential struggle; an awareness of impossible moral choices; profound pessimism about human nature; a fixation on the importance of reason; the idea that speech is dangerous – all of these themes within Liu’s work are preoccupations shared by others who lived through the era. In the world he depicts, characters discover that generosity and humanity may not merely be irrelevant, but actively threatening to the one thing that counts – survival – as the scholar Chenchen Zhang discusses [in a perceptive essay](https://madeinchinajournal.com/2023/12/11/the-three-body-problem-the-imperative-of-survival-and-the-misogyny-of-reactionary-rhetoric/) exploring why rightwing nationalists are among those who have embraced his work. In the Chinese text, however, the historical scenes appear partway through: Liu has said that his publishers feared censors would [take exception otherwise](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/magazine/ken-liu-three-body-problem-chinese-science-fiction.html). While the Cultural Revolution is not utterly taboo in China, it is highly, and increasingly, sensitive. And neither the book nor the Netflix series refer to the movement’s origins: it was unleashed by Mao Zedong to reassert his political supremacy and, secondarily, to remould the people. Without that crucial context, which would not be tolerated in China, the Cultural Revolution is just a story of youthful fanaticism, human unreason and weakness. Liu’s depiction of a civilisation alternating between stable and chaotic eras also evokes the widely shared fear of turmoil left by the events of the Sixties, ironically fostered by the party as a way of defending the political status quo. ([He told one interviewer](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/24/liu-cixins-war-of-the-worlds) that “if China were to transform into a democracy, it would be hell on Earth”.) But instability and fragmentation are persistent anxieties throughout Chinese history, and in many ways the most obvious parallel for Liu’s central conflict is the confrontation between 19th century Qing dynasty China and the imperial powers whose advanced militaries allowed them to carve it up. What China calls the “[century of humiliation](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/never-forget-national-humiliation/9780231148917)” began with Britain and the opium wars and concluded with the end of the brutal Japanese occupation in 1945. Many Chinese readers also see an allegory of their country’s current struggle with the US as the two battle for technological superiority. Chinese writers have addressed [contemporary concerns through sci-fi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Country) for over a century. Like historical fiction, it allows them greater latitude, especially at a time of more stringent censorship. Of course, it does novelists a disservice to treat their work as a cypher: Liu stresses he is not using fiction to disguise a critique of the present. He is truly passionate about science – as his dense technical passages make clear – and has lived through extraordinary leaps in knowledge; he compares China’s recent flourishing in sci-fi to the “golden age” of the genre in America, where scientific innovations spurred authorial invention. But while fiction doesn’t simply encode the real world, it does reflect and refract its concerns. (The book’s reiterated theme of ecological despoliation also makes the climate crisis loom large for the reader). Liu has written, of the Cultural Revolution and other childhood experiences, that “In this book, a man named ‘humanity’ confronts a disaster, and everything he demonstrates in the face of existence and annihilation undoubtedly has sources in the reality that I experienced.” His trilogy is rooted in the events of 1966, even as it stretches into a distant future. * Tania Branigan is foreign leader writer for the Guardian and author of Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution

Barbara Rush, the female lead of 1950s sci-fi horror It Came from Outer Space, has died aged 97. Her daughter Claudia Cowan, a reporter for Fox News, [told Fox News Digital](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/barbara-rush-golden-globe-winning-star-it-came-from-outer-space-peyton-place-dead-97): “My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition.” Born in Denver in 1927, Rush grew up in Los Angeles and, after studying theatre at the University of California, Santa Barbara, [was signed to Paramount Pictures](https://marinmagazine.com/arts-events/theater-film/the-starry-hollywood-career-of-barbara-rush/). After making her screen acting debut in The Goldbergs – a big-screen spinoff of [the popular radio and TV series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goldbergs_(broadcast_series)) – Rush’s breakthrough role came in 1951 in the [Oscar-winning sci-fi picture When Worlds Collide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Worlds_Collide_(1951_film)), as the daughter of an astronomer attempting to warn humanity they are doomed by a rogue star on a crash course with Earth. [](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/01/it-came-from-outer-space-star-barbara-rush-dies-aged-97#img-2) Barbara Rush in 2019. Photograph: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TCM Two years later she appeared in It Came from Outer Space, another now-cult product of the 1950s sci-fi cycle inspired by fears of nuclear armageddon and communist invasion. Here Rush played a schoolteacher who, along with her boyfriend (Richard Carlson), spots a falling meteor that turns out to be a spaceship carrying aliens. While the aliens duplicate the bodies of local townspeople, they turn out to essentially be benign, unlike other “red scare” films of the time. Rush won a Golden Globe for most promising female newcomer for her role in the film. Rush then went on to play supporting roles in a string of major productions. She was Jane Wyman’s stepdaughter in the Douglas Sirk melodrama Magnificent Obsession, Tony Curtis’s sister in medieval-set drama The Black Shield of Falworth, and James Mason’s wife in Bigger Than Life, the Nicholas Ray-directed drama about the side-effects of cortisone therapy. She also featured in the Marlon Brando war picture The Young Lions as Dean Martin’s love interest, starred opposite Paul Newman in legal drama The Young Philadelphians as his disillusioned lover, played Frank Sinatra’s girlfriend in swinging-bachelor comedy Come Blow Your Horn, and appeared again with Sinatra as Marian in the Rat Pack comedy Robin and the 7 Hoods. Having appeared regularly in TV guest spots, including as [feminist villain Nora Clavicle in Batman](https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Nora_Clavicle), Rush was cast in a major role in long-running serial Peyton Place as rebellious teenager Carolyn Russell’s mother, whose marriage is breaking down. Thereafter Rush continued to work mostly in TV, with guest spots on shows including The Mod Squad, Ironside, The Streets of San Francisco, The Bionic Woman and Fantasy Island. In the 1990s she held down a long-running role in the popular soap All My Children, as winery owner Nola Orsini. Rush was married three times – to Jeffrey Hunter (between 1950 and 1955)​, Warren Cowan (1959-1969)​, and Jim Gruzalski (1970-1973) – and had two children.

[Benj Edwards, Ars Technica](https://www.wired.com/author/benj-edwards-ars-technica/) Mar 25, 2024 2:07 PM Vernor Vinge’s writings heavily influenced futurists like Ray Kurzweil, who in turn influenced those at companies like OpenAI.  Vernor Vinge in front of the Geisel Library at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California, in 2008.Photograph: Sandy Huffaker/The New York Times/Redux On Wednesday, author David Brin announced that [Vernor Vinge](https://www.wired.com/2022/11/geeks-guide-fire-upon-the-deep/), sci-fi author, former professor, and father of the [technological singularity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity) concept, died from Parkinson's disease at age 79 on March 20, 2024, in La Jolla, California. The announcement came in a [Facebook tribute](https://www.facebook.com/AUTHORDAVIDBRIN/posts/804165974862720) where Brin wrote about Vinge's deep love for science and writing. "A titan in the literary genre that explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor enthralled millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters, and the implications of science," wrote Brin in his post. As a sci-fi author, Vinge won Hugo Awards for his novels [_A Fire Upon the Deep_](https://www.wired.com/2022/11/geeks-guide-fire-upon-the-deep/) (1993), _A Deepness in the Sky_ (2000), and [_Rainbows End_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End_(Vinge_novel)) (2007). He also won Hugos for novellas _Fast Times at Fairmont High_ (2002) and _The Cookie Monster_ (2004). As Mike Glyer's [File 770 blog](https://file770.com/vernor-vinge-1944-2024/) notes, Vinge's novella [_True Names_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Names) (1981) is [frequently cited](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466893191/truenamesandtheopeningofthecyberspacefrontier) as the first presentation of an in-depth look at the concept of “cyberspace.” Vinge first coined the term “singularity” as related to technology in 1983, borrowed from the concept of a [singularity in spacetime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_singularity) in physics. When discussing the creation of intelligences far greater than our own in a [1983 op-ed in _OMNI_ magazine](https://archive.org/details/omni-archive/OMNI_1983_01/page/n1/mode/2up), Vinge wrote, “When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding.” In 1993 he expanded on the idea [in an essay](https://web.archive.org/web/20140121032922/http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Singularity/sing.html) titled _The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era_. This story originally appeared on [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/03/vernor-vinge-father-of-the-tech-singularity-has-died-at-age-79/), a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. The singularity concept postulates that AI will soon become superintelligent, far surpassing humans in capability and bringing the human-dominated era to a close. While the concept of a tech singularity sometimes inspires [negativity and fear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_The_Future_Doesn%27t_Need_Us), Vinge remained optimistic about humanity's technological future, as Brin notes in his tribute: “Accused by some of a grievous sin—that of ‘optimism’—Vernor gave us peerless legends that often depicted human success at overcoming problems … those right in front of us … while posing new ones! New dilemmas that may lie just ahead of our myopic gaze. He would often ask: ‘What if we succeed? Do you think that will be the end of it?’” Vinge's concept heavily influenced futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has written about the singularity several times at length in books such as _The Singularity Is Near_ in 2005. In a 2005 interview with the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology website, Kurzweil [said](http://crnano.org/interview.kurzweil.htm), "Vernor Vinge has had some really key insights into the singularity very early on. There were others, such as John von Neumann, who talked about a singular event occurring, because he had the idea of technological acceleration and singularity half a century ago. But it was simply a casual comment, and Vinge worked out some of the key ideas." Kurzweil's works, in turn, have been influential to employees of AI companies such as OpenAI, who are [actively working](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2023/11/openai-ceo-sam-altman-wants-to-build-ai-superintelligence/) to bring superintelligent AI into reality. There is currently a great deal of debate over whether the approach of scaling large language models with more compute will lead to superintelligence over time, but the sci-fi influence [looms large](https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1486176302071574529?s=20) over this generation's AI researchers. British magazine _New Worlds_ published Vinge's first short story, _Apartness_, in 1965. He studied computer science and received a PhD in 1971. Vinge was also a [retired professor](https://edoras.sdsu.edu/~vinge/) of computer science at San Diego State University, where he taught between [1972 and 2000](https://cs.sdsu.edu/emeritius/). Brin reports that, near the end of his life, Vinge had been under care for years for progressive Parkinson's disease “at a very nice place overlooking the Pacific in La Jolla.” According to Vinge's fellow San Diego State professor John Carroll, “his decline had steepened since November, but \[he\] was relatively comfortable.” _This story originally appeared on_ _[Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/03/vernor-vinge-father-of-the-tech-singularity-has-died-at-age-79/)._

"Vernor Vinge, who three times won the Hugo for best novel, [has died](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/03/vernor-vinge-father-of-the-tech-singularity-has-died-at-age-79/)," writes Slashdot reader [Felix Baum](/~adobefelix). Ars Technica reports: _On Wednesday, author David Brin announced that Vernor Vinge, sci-fi author, former professor, and father of the [technological singularity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity) concept, died from Parkinson's disease at age 79 on March 20, 2024, in La Jolla, California. The announcement came in a [Facebook tribute](https://www.facebook.com/AUTHORDAVIDBRIN/posts/804165974862720) where Brin wrote about Vinge's deep love for science and writing. "A titan in the literary genre that explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor enthralled millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters, and the implications of science," wrote Brin in his post. As a sci-fi author, Vinge won Hugo Awards for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1993), A Deepness in the Sky (2000), and Rainbows End (2007). He also won Hugos for novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster (2004). As Mike Glyer's File 770 blog notes, Vinge's novella True Names (1981) is frequency cited as the first presentation of an in-depth look at the concept of "cyberspace." Vinge first coined the term "singularity" as related to technology in 1983, borrowed from the concept of a [singularity in spacetime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_singularity) in physics. When discussing the creation of intelligences far greater than our own in an [1983 op-ed in OMNI magazine](https://archive.org/details/omni-archive/OMNI_1983_01/page/n1/mode/2up), Vinge wrote, "When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding." In 1993, he expanded on the idea [in an essay](https://web.archive.org/web/20140121032922/http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Singularity/sing.html) titled The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era. _

A plucky microbudget indie, Brightwood is a masterclass in what is achievable with hardly any money whatsoever: just a premise, a couple of actors, and a writer-director (Dane Elcar) who doubles as cameraperson. It’s also an illustration of the limits of the form, because it would be starry-eyed and untrue to claim that money makes no difference to what can be achieved. We open on a couple, jogging in the woods and fighting as they go. Jen (Dana Berger) and Dan (Max Woertendyke) have evidently been married for long enough to really get to know and dislike each other. She’s listening to a podcast about how to divorce, he’s irritated she won’t take her earbuds out long enough for them to have a conversation, she’s furious about his drinking and flirting and, on top of everything else, he’s wickedly hungover. Their interactions have a painful, circular feeling to them, each loop of their protracted argument landing a staccato rap on an existing bruise. You want to pull them out of it, but can’t. They’re so wrapped up in their own toxic dynamic that it takes them a while to realise they are caught in a loop in more ways than one. Here’s where the film enters into more surreal territory: Jen and Dan find that there is seemingly no way out of the circular path around a pond in the woods which they’ve been navigating. They keep finding themselves back where they started, quite literally. These kinds of time loops or impossible spaces may be a fairly standard feature of sci-fi, but the dovetailing of the glitch with the psychological landscape of the characters is what lends it a little bit of the heft of something like Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel. Unfortunately the characterisation is also trapped with the limitations of microbudget film-making, which requires that the script and two actors carry the entire weight of the film. There’s nothing especially wrong, per se, with either the writing or the performances, but a film with more resources has more options; you can support the actors and dialogue with other elements, say, a juicy turn from a favourite character actor, or add some knockout set pieces or production design. Here, we’re essentially locked in with no change of scene, just like the characters; and there are moments where that becomes an endurance test in the wrong way. Nevertheless, this is intelligent, scrappy film-making that should lead to bigger things for both cast and crew. Brightwood is on digital platforms from 21 March

3月12日，华夏建设科学技术奖励委员会发布了2023年度华夏建设科学技术奖授奖项目名单，广西大学作为第一完成单位项目《近海工程结构混凝土耐久性定量设计成套关键技术及工程应用》荣获2023年度华夏建设科学技术奖一等奖，该项目由广西大学土木建筑工程学院杨绿峰教授主持完成 ...  该项目形成了具有自主知识产权的近海工程结构混凝土耐久性定量设计成套关键技术，成功解决了混凝土材料及结构耐久性定量设计的国际难题，在国内外首次从模型、流程和技术上实现“强度与耐久性并重”的混凝土结构设计理念，有效提升海洋混凝土结构耐久性，降低工程造价、减少碳排放量，取得显著的经济和环境效益。研究成果已编入国家工程建设设计标准，获国际和国家专利41项、计算机软件著作权7项，发表论文84篇（SCI、EI收录40篇），先后获得中国专利优秀奖（2020年）、中国工程建设标准科技创新奖一等奖（2020年）和广西发明创造成果展览交易会金奖（2012年），推广应用于斯里兰卡、印度尼西亚、喀麦隆、坦桑利亚等“一带一路”国家的建筑工程、桥梁工程、海港码头等领域的工程项目

 ? 用废弃木材3D打印的微型桌椅。图片来源：Thakur et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadk3250 (2024) 美国莱斯大学的Muhammad Rahman说，几个世纪以来，木材一直被用于建筑和结构目的。但使用这种材料并不是特别有效，因为将其凿成一定尺寸会导致大量木材的浪费 ... “我们需要重新思考如何在不砍伐树木的情况下建造建筑。”Rahman说，“如果我们能够使用3D打印而不是传统制造来回收废木材，那将是向前迈出的一大步。” 相关论文信息：https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adk3250 版权声明：凡本网注明“来源：中国科学报、科学网、科学新闻杂志”的所有作品，网站转载，请在正文上方注明来源和作者，且不得对内容作实质性改动；微信公众号、头条号等新媒体平台，转载请联系授权。邮箱：[email protected]。

中国团队实现最小资源消耗量子态分辨 节省约30%资源 中国科技大学郭光灿院士团队在量子态分辨研究中取得重要进展。该团队李传锋、项国勇、侯志博研究组在最小资源消耗的量子态分辨问题中首次提出了全局最优自适应策略，并发展了自适应集体测量实验技术，实验结果相比国际最好方法节省约30%资源。该研究成果于3月14日在线发表在国际知名期刊《物理评论快报》（Physical Review Letters）上 ... 量子世界的一个核心特征是两个量子态一般不正交，且不正交的量子态不能完美区分，这一方面为量子信息技术安全性提供了保障，另一方面也使得量子态区分成为量子信息科学中有挑战性的基础问题。实际量子信息任务中通常考虑最小消耗量子态分辨问题，即在给定分辨错误率要求下，如何设计最优测量策略使得平均消耗量子态拷贝数最少。当前国际上最好测量方法是最优固定测量，即对所有消耗资源采用相同测量。这种方法第一个局限性是固定测量，不能充分利用测量过程中得到的信息；第二个局限性是局域测量，不能全局提取量子态信息

[](/) [風物](/channel/culture)[深度](/channel/feature) 維倫紐瓦從未真正理解他者，儘管這是科幻小說的重大命題。他以自我為中心將自我無限投射出去，形成一個充滿維倫紐瓦的世界 ...  《沙丘2》劇照

‘I really wanted to get away from horses,” says David Benioff. It has been five years since the end of [Game of Thrones](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/game-of-thrones), the world-conquering show that put Benioff and his joint showrunner DB Weiss on the iron throne of small-screen entertainment. Anticipation has been high as to what they’d do next – especially after their $200m (£157m) leap from [HBO to Netflix](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/29/game-of-thrones-creators-benioff-and-weiss-drop-star-wars-movies-for-netflix) in 2019. The answer turns out to be a complete U-turn: away from high fantasy and into futuristic sci-fi. So it’s goodbye to swords, sex and feudal scheming, hello to interstellar travel and quantum entanglement. They really mean it about the horses. “Horses are dangerous if you don’t know what to do with them. They weigh, like, 1,200lbs, and they run really, really fast,” says Weiss over video call from an unusually rainy Los Angeles. “I think it’s a minor miracle that we escaped eight years in Westeros with no actor being seriously injured,” says Benioff. “It almost happened in the last season. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau \[who plays Jaime Lannister\] fell off a horse, and he was one of our best riders, but there were wet cobblestones and the horse slipped. Luckily, Nik is a good-enough athlete that he was able to jump clear.” It wasn’t just the horses. Nor was it Northern Ireland, where much of the show was made. “I feel nostalgic when I look out of my window and I see a rare case of LA looking the way Belfast did,” says Weiss. But Thrones fans sensed that Benioff and Weiss were tiring of their golden goose during a final season that, for many, brought the saga to a disappointing conclusion. [](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix#img-2) Why are the stars flickering on and off? … Jess Hong as Jin Cheng and John Bradley as Jack Rooney in 3 Body Problem. Photograph: Ed Miller/Netflix “We loved the time we spent doing what we did,” says Weiss. “But it was 13 years. You’re living, sometimes literally, in castles day in, day out, operating in one world, within the confines of one subgenre. At a certain point, things start to ossify if you stay in one place for too long. We wanted to shake things up.” They got their wish. Their new show, [3 Body Problem](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/12/knives-guns-poison-the-bizarre-catastrophes-that-befell-hit-tv-shows), is adapted from a bestselling science-fiction trilogy by [Liu Cixin](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/14/liu-cixin-chinese-sci-fi-universal-the-three-body-problem), formerly a power plant engineer in Shanxi province, now considered “China’s Arthur C Clarke”. Published in 2007, it was the first Asian novel to win the Hugo award and has sold more than 20m copies in its English translation alone (which has a cover quote by Barack Obama, no less). Even by sci-fi standards, the story is staggering in its scope – some portions are set 18m years into the future, in galaxies far, far away. Liu’s story introduces concepts it is almost impossible to fathom, let alone visualise. Such as 11-dimensional supercomputers the size of protons. Or a landscape that’s lit by three suns in chaotic orbit (this is the “three-body problem” of the title). “Our DoP was literally tearing his hair out trying to figure out how to light for three suns,” says Benioff. “It was similar to the original thought with [Game of Thrones](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/game-of-thrones), which was: this could maybe be a great series, but how on Earth are we going to get it made? The intimidation factor was perversely appealing for us.” “That’s where all the grey comes from,” says Weiss, pointing to his hair. [](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix#img-3) ‘It’s perversely appealing how intimidating it is’ … From left: David Benioff, DB Weiss and Alexander Woo, creators of 3 Body Problem. Photograph: Austin Hargrave/Netflix Benioff continues: “Particularly now, in the wake of ‘peak TV’ – I don’t even know if we’re still in it – but given how many shows have come out in the last decade, trying to distinguish yourself from everything else that’s out there becomes harder and harder.” Part of the initial appeal of watching 3 Body Problem is just figuring out what the hell is going on: scientists around the world are inexplicably taking their own lives; the stars in the night sky mysteriously flicker on and off; a strange metallic headset transports people to an uncannily immersive VR game; and Jonathan Pryce is heading up an apocalyptic cult on an oil tanker. If Benedict Wong’s world-weary detective can’t figure it out, what hope for the rest of us? Without giving too much away, 3 Body Problem is an alien-invasion story. We don’t even see any aliens in this first, eight-part season but we know they’re coming, though we’ve got 400 years to prepare. While the book’s settings and characters are all Chinese, Benioff and Weiss – along with Chinese American producer Alex Woo, best known for HBO’s True Blood – have made liberal changes in terms of locations, genders and ethnicities, refashioning the story around a multicultural group of ex-university friends in the UK, particularly Oxford. “Honestly, we really like living and working over there,” says Benioff. Having made Game of Thrones in the UK, “it was a great chance to get the band back together.” It was also a matter of aesthetics, says Weiss, Oxford’s clashing mix of super high-tech and medieval architecture just fit the story: “No offence to Berkeley or MIT, but none of them really look like Christ Church.” This is potentially perilous ground, considering recent “race-lifting” fiascos such as the Scarlett Johansson-led remake of Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, or M Night Shyamalan’s 2010 version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which cast white actors in roles that were originally east Asian and Inuit. This is different, the showrunners argue. For one thing, an authentically Chinese version of Liu’s story already exists: a 30-part series, faithful to the novel, was broadcast on Chinese state television last year. Their series is the _English-language_ adaptation, Benioff stresses: “We’re doing something different; we’ve made the show global.” When they met him over a videocall in 2022, Liu himself understood the necessity of making changes, says Weiss. “He had sort of preempted where we were planning on going before we could even float any of the ideas … in a weird way, it put more pressure on us. I think we’re more worried about letting him down.” Woo adds: “The first thing he said was: ‘I’m a huge fan of Game of Thrones.’” [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix#EmailSignup-skip-link-18) Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and exclusive features in your inbox every Monday **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion [](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix#img-4) ‘It’s vast. Like, cosmically vast’ … Vedette Lim as Vera Ye in 3 Body Problem. Photograph: Netflix Even in its new version, 3 Body Problem still contains plenty of Chinese characteristics, which is part of what makes it so refreshing. Ironically, perhaps, the show has more actors of Chinese descent than any mainstream show in recent memory, alongside a few old Thrones faces such as Pryce and Liam “Davos Seaworth” Cunningham. The story begins in 1960s China during the Cultural Revolution – a time when scientists and intellectuals were being persecuted and even executed (and sci-fi was banned). It is still a sensitive subject in China. When Liu’s book was first serialised, in 2006, the chapters set during the Cultural Revolution were published later in the story to avoid attracting official attention. “When we auditioned actresses from China and asked them what they knew about the Cultural Revolution, almost all of them said: ‘We really didn’t learn about this in school,’” says Woo. On a broader level, let’s face it, mainstream sci-fi is still dominated by old stories written by white guys. Dune: Part Two, currently cleaning up at the box office, is based on a story from 1965. Likewise Apple TV+’s big-budget Foundation series (adapted from a 1951 Isaac Asimov story), or long-running, endlessly rebooted franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien and Doctor Who. With its new concepts and perspectives, Liu’s saga is a breath of fresh air. Is there anything inherently Chinese about it? Some have noted that in western sci-fi, invariably, the humans conquer the galaxy or repel the aliens but in Liu’s story we humans are under threat from a civilisation that is more powerful and technologically advanced – comparable, perhaps, to China’s position during Liu’s childhood: a nation overshadowed by the more technologically advanced US. It may also reflect China’s newfound embrace of technology, says Woo: “There is, culturally, a sense that that technological achievement, technological superiority, is paramount … the more you advance technologically, the more you advance as a society.” Perhaps the torch has been passed; sci-fi literature is now booming in China. In a 2014 [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/books/liu-cixins-the-three-body-problem-is-published-in-us.html) with the New York Times, Liu said: “China is on the path of rapid modernisation and progress, kind of like the US during the golden age of science fiction … The future in the people’s eyes is full of attractions, temptations and hope. But at the same time, it is also full of threats and challenges. That makes for very fertile soil.” In the context of China’s communist rule, there could even be a political debate going on here. Liu’s story has running through it “a strong element of exploring the differences between a fundamentally collectivist attitude towards your society and a fundamentally individualist attitude,” says Benioff. “It’s a very, very interesting, nuanced vision.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/08/goodbye-horses-hello-cosmos-how-the-game-of-thrones-team-went-interstellar-with-3-body-problem-netflix#img-5) If Benedict Wong’s world-weary detective can’t figure it out, what hope for the rest of us? … Wong as Da Shi with Liam Cunningham as Wade in 3 Body Problem. Photograph: Netflix Despite the threat of alien colonisation, 3 Body Problem is not really a dystopian story, say the creators. If anything, it’s the _aliens_ who live in the dystopia; to them, our planet is paradise. It could even be seen as optimistic, in that it imagines humanity coming together in the face of a global existential crisis. “If Covid taught us anything, it’s that the world, at least as presently constructed, does _not_ come together in a crisis,” says Benioff. “It’s hard to imagine what _would_ bring us together. Maybe it would take an alien invasion.” Whether or not these messages resonate with humanity on a Game of Thrones scale, we’ll find out soon enough. Could 3 Body Problem do for sci-fi what Thrones did for fantasy? Benioff, Weiss and Woo have no idea, they profess. The feeling right now brings back memories of just before Thrones premiered, says Benioff, with a then-unknown cast heavy with northern-accented Brits: “I was terrified, watching the show hundreds of times and thinking: ‘Is anyone in the United States going to understand these accents?’” When that show started, they had lower expectations, says Weiss: “Initially we thought, this will be a hit with a certain kind of person. And most other kinds of people may not make it past episode five.” Game of Thrones was not a runaway success from day one, but in the pre-streaming era, it had time to find an audience. The fear is that 3 Body Problem may not have that degree of latitude – which it very much needs: season one is “relatively contained compared to where it goes from here,” says Weiss. “It gets vast. Like, cosmically vast. The hope is to get enough people interested to take that trip to the farthest reaches of everything.” _3 Body Problem is on Netflix on_ _21 March__._

Mar 6, 2024 1:00 PM Here’s how to stream the best sci-movies of all time, from _Dune: Part Two_ to _The Matrix_. .jpg) Still from _Dune: Part Two_.Courtesy of Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures Chest-bursting aliens. Time-traveling DeLoreans. Dystopian futures. Galaxies far, far away. Science fiction is full of characters, set pieces, and scenarios that few other genres could ever get away with. Due to its often speculative nature, the most accomplished sci-fi movies can sometimes require a bit of work on the part of the viewer. Yet as fans of the genre understand, when it’s done right, a great sci-fi film is well worth the mental gymnastics that watching it might demand. Speaking of sci-fi done right: Whether you’re a lifelong genre devotee or have never even sat through a _Star Wars_ movie to the end, a little guidance can go a long way—and that’s exactly what we’ve got for you. When you’re ready to take your mind on a cinematic journey, check out any one (or all) of our picks for the very best science fiction movies you can watch right now. > _If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism._ _[Learn more](https://www.wired.com/2015/11/affiliate-link-policy/)._ “Tell them a messiah will come. They’ll wait. For centuries.” Chani (Zendaya) speaks those words early on in [_Dune: Part Two_](https://www.wired.com/story/review-dune-part-two-fulfills-the-prophecy-of-dune/). She’s speaking about the prophecy that a savior will arrive to help her and her fellow Fremen, and whether or not Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) will be that messiah. She could also be talking about the wait for a truly epic adaptation of [Frank Herbert’s award-winning sci-fi novel](https://www.wired.com/story/the-dune-legacy/). Yes, [David Lynch made one](https://www.wired.com/story/david-lynch-dune-sequel-script-unearthed/) in the 1980s, and it’s a camp classic, but it is director Denis Villeneuve’s pair of films that truly bring Herbert’s story to life. Lushly designed, action-packed, and understandable even to people who’ve never touched the book, these _Dune_s are the real deal. If you know anything about the lore, you know there’s far too much to really get into it here, but let it be known: Villeneueve’s adaptations aren’t just mind-blowing sci-fi—they’re monumental works of art. While Denis Villeneuve has dabbled in a variety of genres since beginning his filmmaking career in the mid-1990s, a sci-fi milieu seems to suit him best. As if _Enemy_ (2014) or his pair of _Dune_ movies didn’t make that obvious, consider this: The man dared to make a sequel worthy of Ridley Scott’s genre-defining _Blade Runner_—and [succeeded](https://www.wired.com/2017/09/behind-the-scenes-blade-runner-2049-sequel/)! Then there’s _Arrival_, which is basically a linguistics lesson wrapped in a sci-fi feature and all the more engrossing because of it. After the unexpected arrival of an alien species on Earth, linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with creating a universal language that will allow humans to speak with them, and vice versa. But she quickly comes to realize that effectively communicating with her human colleagues—who want results now—might be the bigger challenge. It’s a stark, and all too timely, reminder that progress takes time, and as such requires patience. [Watch on Peacock](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/32ZjHBEcANQ5x7mzLSHJxUJgTJvhgXHfHPZv4bh7yVDjyLtpRHirtz1mh9mvmeCdXqyePF2EG5MBF5MC79TvfwQQvYUoqzDNJ1Zhk7RTtYRsDgqa7sxSEBX8XFozpaRaMt4v9UrioB3jhKSqEbQSZyoVYN9ETuDzAupvvuMdeVApkMTRkbEmawKiPfbd3Gqt3EkkSNnKsPqACGVh)[Watch on Paramount+](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/RLUH3gniSGMDL2j6ufRsTUAoJXksSb7TSgjgme3KyP5ZNkgMDJXQkBbxB7QHQC9kehocEJMPELeKceXqDGSDZw3VYe9gCsw2Qh8g6RQCqQrGkodgsbQaqMEtcxYvtUj6SpdBwW2Ka4eRv3qp7cQs32JJgQM7Y2ugsqipfUEaug6gqkMJWhqAacvSSNt8c2P)[Watch on Amazon](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/5bwkygcD8TrHAb6Xpv2T9qy8XNRQ2ihyhD9jr5LnZJxSAbNd2dD1r6bqwZQFjBDFsLnQGiBBfrQ8dghdzUmFwH2fmk1hWo2jS62ucDyQNRSZUzg5Mg2qeC8Uj5vpMknYwa5cVSvWGawAjcYKuZDvogM37tc71UtB) Any cursory attempt to recreate the ’80s usually goes straight for the popped collars and neon-colored everything. But a quick review of some of the decade’s most popular movies reveals a deep sense of disillusionment. Case in point: In the same year that Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) was declaring “greed is good” in Oliver Stone’s _Wall Street_, Paul Verhoeven was unleashing one of cinema’s most subversive sci-fi flicks, which sees the mayor of Detroit hand over control of the city to the evil Omni Consumer Products (OCP), which promptly turns Motor City into a testing ground for its latest technologies. One of those creations is RoboCop (Peter Weller), a law-enforcing cyborg who is programmed with the sole intent of eradicating the city’s crime problem—until memories of his human existence find their way back into his head. Hey, it happens. Especially when you recycle the corpse of a police officer murdered in the line of duty in order to make your robot cop thing work. The film’s extreme violence initially earned it the dreaded X rating, which Verhoeven skirted with some clever editing. But the real scares are in its statement on capitalism and the power that corporations wield, which is as true today as it was nearly 40 years ago. Anyone who has ever seen [_Inception_](https://www.wired.com/2010/11/pl-inception-nolan/) knows that you probably need at least a second go-around—or 20—to fully understand its many complexities. If that is even possible. The less you know about the details of the story going into it the better, but the basics are this: Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an “extractor”—a talented thief who steals his targets’ secrets by infiltrating their dreams with his trusty team of colleagues, which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, and Tom Hardy. People [still debate](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/christopher-nolan-inception-ending-correct-answer-1235676875/) what happened in the film’s ending, which is just the kind of mindfuckery [Christopher Nolan](https://www.wired.com/story/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-ai-apocalypse/) seems to revel in. There are only a handful of movie sequels that have somehow managed to be better than the film that spawned then, and _The Empire Strikes Back_ is near the top of the list. The film reunites Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford)—the fearless threesome who made _A New Hope_ an instant smash hit—as they yet again do their best to keep their world safe from the dastardly Darth Vader. While _A New Hope_ dazzled with its ahead-of-its-time visual effects, _The Empire Strikes Back_ was just as impressive—but took the Star Wars universe in a decidedly darker, and more adult, direction. Today, [_The Matrix_](https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-legacy-book-excerpt/) is part of an enormously popular franchise that includes movies, video games, and even an animated feature (_The Animatrix_). While all those additional pieces of the puzzle may have diluted the impact of the original film, its one-of-a-kindness still stands. In a dystopian future (really, is there any other kind?), the world is living in a simulated reality without even realizing it—until a top-notch hacker named Neo ([Keanu Reeves](https://www.wired.com/story/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-interview/)) sees what’s happening and works to separate fact from AI-created fiction. The Wachowskis’ visionary directing, thought-provoking script, and mind-bending action sequences still have the ability to make viewers’ jaws drop. Audiences haven’t looked at spoons—or [Keanu Reeves](https://www.wired.com/story/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-interview/)—the same way since. In a different world, the studio could have won a casting argument with James Cameron, and _The Terminator_ would star O.J. Simpson instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Through a fortuitous and circuitous turn of events, Cameron met with Schwarzenegger to pretend to consider him for the role of Kyle Reese in _The Terminator_ and walked away knowing he had just found their eponymous cyborg, who time-travels from 2029 to 1984 in order to murder Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a waitress and future mom to the kid who will save the world. Fortunately, she’s got Reese (Michael Biehn)—another time traveler—on her side. On paper, it may sound preposterous, but 40 years later _The Terminator_ still manages to impress—and is still spawning new content. [Watch on AMC+](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/5bwkygcD8TrHAb6Xpv2T9qy8XNRQ2ihyhD9jr5LnZJxSAbNd2dD1r6bqwZQFjBDFsLnQXbBKV5GWQKi2yJLsYPKP8UWg4oMn7nk1o4tsVPs3wuNnG4mtRkany5hcfLUrZFxQgpK8v2BtfMG5jxjA3Pc85AYAuvjV)[Watch on Apple TV](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/2rQwPprcmtWkDQzcq5ScmhpvFNNkddwZViNPQY2VGjrT7u1ngDJMDoboGXdFRDiSVSkEMdjT9HfYKq3B59nvE8zzVxoPJ4yoP8GWoj1TiVugaxbDBwT8J7259Rcd5ptanYzXGDFkcuF91bFvL4P8FpRMLbRvG7e9g6Gkmfoq4n3FfxK1EQgTbbRnRC67fHufR)[Watch on Amazon](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/TdsMtFs7CeQKqD1JYZF39TD7Qzw5RXxoJoRi9K9q9Cx3oCHdma3hKor6UN47weXUmSrYpvMwXBN9utaMu8huYJJLoQHNU7BpLotpD4kZtPnQ2SDToRBKqXix3N859PBRpgvickyYqFPyrucemnP1MefXq9dsRmzuqu99b5DThPirdiheDzj5p1XMBQc28GV7hPKbS6vJH5arV1) If _The Terminator_ raised the bar for sci-fi films, _Terminator 2: Judgment Day_ smashed it to pieces. Like so many cyborg movies that preceded it—including its 1984 parent film—_T2_ is as much a commentary on what it means to be human as it is a declaration of just how far is “too far” in the development of intelligent technology. If only early ’90s James Cameron knew what would lie ahead. The plot of this sequel essentially follows the same pattern as the original film: a Terminator (Robert Patrick) is sent to Los Angeles to kill John Connor (Edward Furlong), son of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), before he can lead the human resistance. Once again, the Connors have a guardian angel—only this time it’s a kinder, gentler, familiar old Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is sent to protect John. Where _T2_ managed to supplant its predecessor is in its VFX. As he has done so many times throughout his career, Cameron essentially had to create new technology in order to see his vision to fruition and, in doing so, led the transition from practical effects to CGI (for better or worse). Even by today’s standards, _T2_’s liquid metal shots are incredible to witness. [Watch on Paramount+](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/5TQA8ikSt37UEdTZSk1cg5B1MCf1QQeVBrDdTBBgQr1FyHBTLAsvVvHLLQuWJCAL6G71fSJ5odBHNjZXhEfHZr7V3PvbVT2jRCz85xLFzU3opyZpQDsfE9VAi2QYSufmmg3M3Wt2S4zsJwdvqtLd2c99Ba2tXjLywrQTc21LWkgs9Ktk4jRyJGqXztZCeZDZghXRfNr4krf9paT6UXdDTtuZ)[Watch Apple TV](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/9wuTcQB4CMStrGua4nazFqX39882ZSgXyLcHCt85nKZEfgoiJComESeQGDjGecgQEkPoccPVD1qrMg8cefD8JMt9aavV4hukKvzWjby8wNch6NfPNEqPf3z3gfeXPFoq4Qo1a2bCp5W2aeVAfwG5C7M2n64hcCBkkdJjbVhWdz9DSaM2N8Wxc6nL5urGwbvNgqTNbGJK8GnbdjgYK) John Carpenter may be better known as a master of horror, but he’s no slouch in the sci-fi department. Set in the then future year of 1997, _Escape From New York_ offers a version of America where the country is one big war zone and the island of Manhattan is one giant maximum security prison. That’s unfortunate for the president (Donald Pleasence), as New York City is exactly where Air Force One crash-lands after an attempted hijacking, and POTUS is taken hostage by one of the country’s most dangerous crime bosses. In order to ensure the president’s safe return, the government has no choice but to enlist the help of Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a soldier-turned-criminal who might just be the only person who can save the country from total anarchy. Are there synth scores? You betcha. Carpenter would double down on his sci-fi prowess and reteam with Russell again, just one year later, with his equally awesome _The Thing_ (1982). [Watch on Criterion Channel](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/23Up7xC9e31HoaZ4p788HWDiacfc8BotpB1Ai2SKvzY8y6XGsDHKKNfFiMwCwsLzk9NHhnRm7a43KBgWCvt62SmEmoatqmqKjTq7bs2qdNx7L31hL7E7fv13uRYFUVsJs4qXimExXkrPyGBv2cKL5hR4sjqWuwH)[Watch on Amazon](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/TdsMtFs7CeQKqD1JYZF39TD7Qzw5RXxoJoRi9K9q9Cx3oCHdma3hKor6UN47weXUmSrYpvMwXBN9utaMu8huYJJLoQHNU7BpLotpD4kZtPnQ2SDToRBKqXiwqKrbRTVLhJFJwuKXndn12D6zFyauXBiWkRoK8wUoQijSS5YLhiLh6vPFFzbPJEnPt47JYPUARwXoGPQH7EiiPm)[Watch on Apple TV](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/5562jUBkjoEKAjbbHdEMar6h1zY8RkSSWxJ7BGKeSw8r8SynoiKKJPJzjWBEGh1EJ3oVo7CPeysFJBdya9tF6A9ewM3wy7xqUFSozELgjaQRNpUjDVjobAxufGmdB5rqBdAGA777odsE9LNbtjCJmVdeAWyPaKdNFWxTHeddYxhdazpHLK8EsfdAQ2MkKaqRTvQzgXZJB) While the 1980s were undoubtedly a very good time for sci-fi, the new millennium has proven that there are still plenty of wholly unique stories to be told—and _Ex Machina_ is one of them. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is a programmer who is invited to the remote home of an eccentric tech billionaire (Oscar Isaac) for what he thinks is a gig helping to develop a truly groundbreaking humanoid robot. But when Caleb meets Ava (Alicia Vikander), the robot in question, it becomes clear that it is she, not the humans, who is in control. With its A-list cast, stellar directing, all-too-relevant storyline, and synchronized dance scene, _Ex Machina_ just might be this millennium’s _Blade Runner_. Yes, _Back to the Future_ is a comedy. And a family film too. Not to mention an ’80s classic. But at its heart, the time-traveling adventure of Marty McFly is sci-fi through and through. Marty (Michael J. Fox) is a cool ’80s teen who has a hot girlfriend yet somehow manages to spend most of his time hanging out with a middle-aged mad scientist (Christopher Lloyd), who turns a sweet DeLorean into a time machine. Hijinks ensue, as does a bizarre plotline involving Libyan terrorists, all of which land Marty back in 1955, where he meets the teen versions of his parents and desperately thwarts his mom’s attempts to seduce him. (That storyline could be its own movie, really.) But by interfering with the past, Marty is putting his own future at risk. Forcing him to find a way to get back to 1985—but not before inventing rock ’n’ roll as we know it. [Watch on Peacock](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/YugL81LJJg6NKrcZi1LUBzP8rdPP1jCjmCTdH3BvW6TF5dj314Mp2BmUYGT6NURjgkZYULHL2rJmhoc2dmuc8A4D6EWb4bvCN6bmBVDvj28dnwBAh6D6xJoeDdprpvNqzX5Bteyi7Vyt2HsacvYuHLG5iuYKwaHHbQFs8c9bqokhD8ZFS1eWAvtwgQkhuuuaNSMUhzgHKruVEnfUtGskHihF4hxFeRke2aBhks1hTb1D)[Watch on Amazon](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/TdsMtFs7CeQKqD1JYZF39TD7Qzw5RXxoJoRi9K9q9Cx3oCHdma3hKor6UN47weXUmSrYpvMwXBN9utaMu8huYJJLoQHNU7BpLotpD4kZtPnQ2SDToRBKqXhz8t68FqeRc97zFzVUP68E4ufnfXXd2Y8YKtfWZkfUCTkFGZLjCCYnVRGczkfC2scjk3KoAJBML664ixH6LA4bsZ)[Watch on Apple TV](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/D7sWyRTyBnUnTaHMR77KBhGEZ43eitLyDnnSdhpEcUKdgki15auhHzefFA6YDDzPqnGHtupEiZodmiUavxV2BjsxqX12AZ4j9mLM428zkt3oCxxokoWJryuBkGevhNWTuypzxQrN9xhrVi48FTCSNzxreoE9F6GPr6D9GPciig4EkNU2tMCjPD951HtUMVcACSti35) Ridley Scott has dabbled in virtually every genre, but the bars he has set in the sci-fi world are undeniable. Two years after making his feature directorial debut with the period film _The Duellists_, Scott changed the science fiction game with _Alien_. The film follows the crew of the spacecraft _Nostromo_, including warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who respond to a distress call as they’re making their way home to Earth. This turns out to be their first mistake—especially when they realize that they’re being stalked by an unknown alien species that seems determined to make sure none of the crewmembers ever leave the planetoid. _Alien_ introduced audiences to an array of terrifying creatures—Xenomorphs and face-huggers and chestbursters, oh my—and kicked off a notable movie franchise that will continue later this year with _Alien: Romulus_. Two years after inventing the “summer blockbuster” with _Jaws_, Steven Spielberg made a quick pivot from vengeful sharks to mysterious extraterrestrials—a theme he would revisit again a few years later—with _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_. The film reunited the director with Richard Dreyfuss, who here plays a loving husband and father whose unexpected run-in with a UFO turns into an obsession that threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. Nearly a half-century later, it remains one of the most smartly made alien movies Hollywood has ever seen by doing away with the “extra-terrestrial invasion” trope and instead focusing on the challenges that would come with the discovery of an alien life-form. [Watch on Amazon](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/TdsMtFs7CeQKqD1JYZF39TD7Qzw5RXxoJoRi9K9q9Cx3oCHdma3hKor6UN47weXUmSrYpvMwXBN9utaMu8huYJJLoQHNU7BpLotpD4kZtPnQ2SDToRBKqXi6B6GaFPPssrgnokz8QxqY51CRnk2SwcGvfYGsqg93QKLDJMUrybMV2phsYTd2zGpbkq6XeLJp6sfGjHuE37YFSB)[Watch on Apple TV](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/YugL81LJJg6NKrcZi1LUBzP8rdPP1jCjmCTdH3BvW6TF5dj314Mp2BmUYGSzP1oZvwH4PGXyFfbwHb4MMMhymRKSbfeeoVsEiUvTueLisg3FFwCckJs6HCuwagfXjUPC2D2nMu6xPrFf77RLi4FV9FK7TTSUVFHcDteJhThYmtWmKhrmntPeajh1aWRPpDP3goG8D8TCZC1bjpZZYQsv7rR7yPM3qJhH4pCkMVtiwpDq) Stanley Kubrick’s _2001: A Space Odyssey_ is the sci-fi movie to end all sci-fi movies, with every genre flick that has followed owing the auteur a debt of gratitude. With its epic scope, gorgeous cinematography, and its somewhat prophetic—and deeply dystopian—narrative about the potential dangers of relying too much on technology, the film is as relevant today as it was upon its initial release nearly 60 years ago. Particularly with its main storyline, which focuses on a group of men taking part in a space mission with the help of HAL 9000, a piece of AI technology that decides to go rogue. It’s not a short film, and every one of its 189 minutes is packed with prescient storytelling and ahead-of-its-time technology, making it stand out as one of the most accomplished films in cinema history. Between _The Last Duel_ (2021) and _Napoleon_ (2023), Ridley Scott has been on more of a historical epic kick lately. But no amount of time away from the sci-fi world could ever threaten his place as a preeminent master of the genre. While he made his name with _Alien_, he achieved icon status with _Blade Runner_. The setting: Los Angeles, 2019. (Stick with us here.) Flying cars are a thing, as are bioengineered humanoids known as replicants, and that’s a bad thing. Which is why there are so-called “blade runners” like Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), whose job is to find and kill these nonhuman threats to society. But when everyone looks and often acts human, where do you draw the line? _Blade Runner_’s complex storyline led to Scott and Ford being forced to record and attach a voice-over, which they both hated, to the film’s original release. The film has subsequently been rereleased, both theatrically and in home versions, a number of times and in different iterations. In 1992, Scott finally got to release a director’s cut of the film, which did away with the voiceover (and other elements he didn’t love), but even he didn’t have final say over that cut. Finally, in 2007, he got the chance to be the last word on every element with _Blade Runner: The Final Cut._ Watch ’em all and see where you land.

Not long into “Spaceman,” Adam Sandler’s new somber sci-fi [space movie on Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/81301595), it becomes quite clear that it’s struggling to channel something greater, something better, something already respected. Sandler’s character, a Czech cosmonaut named Jakub, has spent many months alone in a ship investigating a mysterious purple cloud — alone except for an alien arachnid called Hanus (voiced by Paul Dano). Hanus speaks to Jakub — about fear, guilt, pain and the origins of the universe — in a soothing yet stilted tone, evoking the [voice of HAL 9000](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/movies/hal-2001-a-space-odyssey-voice-douglas-rain.html), the conflicted A.I. entity in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” from 1968. The central themes in “Spaceman,” loneliness and disconnection, are fundamental in many cerebral space movies including “2001,” but perhaps more so in Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 Soviet space drama, “Solaris,” about a small crew of scientists who come mentally undone. “Spaceman” also has some [“Gravity,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/movies/gravity-stars-sandra-bullock-and-george-clooney.html) some [“Interstellar,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/movies/interstellar-christopher-nolans-search-for-a-new-planet.html) some [“First Man,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/movies/first-man-review-ryan-gosling-damien-chazelle.html) some [“Ad Astra,”](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/movies/ad-astra-review-brad-pitt.html) the New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson [wrote in her review](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/movies/spaceman-review.html). Many middling sci-fi space movies have faced such fates: measured not by what they are but by what they wished they were. Often these films have the potential to be brilliant. “Spaceman” was directed by Johan Renck, who won two Emmys in 2019 for his work on the HBO mini-series [“Chernobyl”](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/arts/television/chernobyl-hbo.html); Sandler, while a comedian, has soared in complex dramatic roles, notably in “Uncut Gems” and “Punch-Drunk Love”; Jakub’s wife is played by Carey Mulligan, who is up for a best actress Oscar this month for “Maestro.” What is toughest to forgive, though, is that “Spaceman” commits the biggest movie no-no of all: It’s boring. “It is not fun-bad,” Wilkinson writes. “It is maudlin-bad, belabored-bad and also pretty boring-bad.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and [log into](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F03%2F03%2Fmovies%2Fspaceman-adam-sandler-netflix.html&asset=opttrunc) your Times account, or [subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F03%2F03%2Fmovies%2Fspaceman-adam-sandler-netflix.html) for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F03%2F03%2Fmovies%2Fspaceman-adam-sandler-netflix.html&asset=opttrunc). Want all of The Times? [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F03%2F03%2Fmovies%2Fspaceman-adam-sandler-netflix.html).

Harry Potter might have “wrock” (AKA “wizard rock”), Doctor Who fans “trock” (“Time Lord rock”) and Star Wars “jizz” (don’t ask) but you could argue that few works of sci-fi or fantasy have influenced the history of popular music as much as Dune. Since the novel’s release in 1965, countless huge artists, from [Iron Maiden](https://www.theguardian.com/music/iron-maiden) to Grimes, have released songs or entire records inspired by Frank Herbert’s epic tale of war, colonialism and human morality. Although the book is particularly beloved fodder for 70s and 80s prog musicians, its influence has leached into everything from underground pop to Fatboy Slim’s No 2-charting 2001 hit Weapon of Choice, with successive generations finding new ways to reinterpret Herbert’s images of monstrous sandworms, blue-eyed freedom fighters and superhuman nuns through music. Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris first read [Dune](https://www.theguardian.com/film/dune) when he was in his early teens. Despite thinking “it was a bit odd going for the first 20 pages”, because of Herbert’s unusual terminology, he ended up loving the series and reading a number of its sequels. Over a decade after reading the first novel, Harris incorporated the language of Dune into one of his songs, ending Iron Maiden’s 1983 album Piece of Mind with a churning epic inspired by the series’ messianic protagonist Paul Atreides: “He is the Kwizatz Haderach / He is born of Caladan / And will take the Gom Jabbar.” “Originally, I just thought Dune would translate into an incredible film,” Harris recalls. “The riffing in the song almost reminds you of the desert or something, and that’s what sparked me thinking it would be about that book.” [](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/the-bene-gesserit-can-kill-with-their-voices-thats-what-i-try-to-do-the-musicians-mining-dune-for-tunes#img-2) Christopher Walken in Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice video, directed by Spike Jonze. Photograph: YouTube To Tame a Land was originally entitled Dune, but the band ran into clearance issues when trying to OK the title with Herbert. “We later realised it was around the time they were making the film,” says Harris. “In retrospect, it would have been a good thing if we had called it Dune – it would have helped people be interested in the original film.” Harris is referring to David Lynch’s infamous 1984 film adaptation of Dune, a critical and commercial flop that was later disowned by Lynch. The film has since achieved cult status, but its poor reception at the time slapped Herbert’s book with a reputation as an “unfilmable” novel, a legacy that persisted until [Denis Villeneuve’s successful 2021 version](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/20/dune-review-denis-villeneuves-awe-inspiring-epic-is-a-moment-of-triumph). That status may be why so many musicians have found the book ripe for reinterpretation: without constraints around visual effects and budgets, they’re free to create a musical landscape that best fits their vision of the book. [](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/the-bene-gesserit-can-kill-with-their-voices-thats-what-i-try-to-do-the-musicians-mining-dune-for-tunes#img-3) The artwork for Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind album. Photograph: CBW/Alamy Lynch’s adaptation also contributed to the Dunecore canon: its soundtrack was composed, amazingly, by Toto, two years after they hit No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Africa. Their soundtrack for Dune couldn’t be more different from their best known hit: working with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, they created a moody, sweeping sound that was miles (or planets) away from the jaunty schmaltz of Africa or their Grammy-winning Rosanna. When describing his vision to Toto, Lynch played them symphonies by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich. “He’s making the anti-Star Wars movie,” Toto keyboardist David Paich recalled last year. “He wanted me to avoid anything that’s uplifting, that’s happy, that’s joyous, that’s compelling.” Herbert’s book reinterpreted the tensions of his era: the book’s oppressed, insurgent Fremen tribe were inspired by Algerian FLN fighters pushing back against French colonialism; its discussion of ecology and gender dynamics reflected changing understandings and social norms. The relative seriousness of much Dunecore sets it apart from wrock and trock, novelty genres which tend to unearth the inherent comedy in a lot of sci-fi and fantasy jargon. Since Harris wrote To Tame a Land, many more metal musicians have found inspiration in Dune, including legendary stoner outfit Sleep with the 2018 song Giza Butler, and Australian trap-metal MC Zheani, who has referenced the book’s Litany Against Fear prayer. The book was equally influential on electronic and prog musicians. Geidi Primes, the debut album by Canadian pop musician [Grimes](https://www.theguardian.com/music/grimes), takes its name from a planet in the novel and other songs refer to characters and locations in the book. Her intention, she told Pitchfork in 2020, was to “make an album that would sound like Dune”, one of her favourite films: “My dream at the time would have been to direct the movie, so I was \[like\] ‘Oh, I’ll write the soundtrack.’” [](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/the-bene-gesserit-can-kill-with-their-voices-thats-what-i-try-to-do-the-musicians-mining-dune-for-tunes#img-4) Flop … Francesca Annis and Sian Phillips in Dune, 1984. Photograph: Ronald Grant You can understand why an artist like Grimes would be so interested in reinterpreting Dune: Herbert’s book is set in a post-technological world, requiring anyone trying to capture its sound to look beyond hackneyed “futuristic” ideas. And for all its seriousness, Dune is also kind of ridiculous – perhaps the only sci-fi property that can cause its fans to gravely discuss the politics of sandworms or superhuman nun cults without a trace of irony. (Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice might be the only Dunecore track that’s totally tipped the source material on its head, reinterpreting the nomadic Fremen tribe’s “sandwalk” and the Bene Gesserit nuns’ power of “the voice” into calls to the dancefloor.) [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/the-bene-gesserit-can-kill-with-their-voices-thats-what-i-try-to-do-the-musicians-mining-dune-for-tunes#EmailSignup-skip-link-12) Sign up to Sleeve Notes Get music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras. Every genre, every era, every week **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion The book’s knowing grandeur has made bedfellows of prog and sci-fi, says renowned French experimentalist Richard Pinhas, who wrote an entire album based on Dune, the 1978 song cycle Chronolyse. “There is a direct connection between sci-fi, philosophy and an open mind. I was always concerned with the philosophical concept of time, of repetition, of event” – key ideas in Herbert’s work. [](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/05/the-bene-gesserit-can-kill-with-their-voices-thats-what-i-try-to-do-the-musicians-mining-dune-for-tunes#img-5) The artwork for Richard Pinhas’s Chronolyse. Photograph: Records/Alamy Alain Neffe and Nadine Bal, a Belgian husband and wife duo who recorded minimal wave music under the name Bene Gesserit in the 80s, took more literal inspiration from Herbert’s book. The Bene Gesserit can kill by modulating with their voices. “And that’s a bit like what I try to do,” says Bal. “We like science fiction, and I think the way we compose our music, it’s also exploration in fantasy and imaginary worlds, and I often sing in invented languages. We invent – we’re not just telling a little story of ourselves, it’s invention of a different world.” Bal and Neffe, like all the musicians interviewed for this piece, found David Lynch’s 80s adaptation of Dune underwhelming – and none of them had seen Villeneuve’s recent films. Perhaps unlike blockbuster adaptations, music allows endless opportunity to expand and refract Herbert’s world. “Dune is one of the first books I read from page one to last page in a night,” recalls Bal. “It’s a very realistic world – you can project yourself completely, and it’s … wow.”

CHENGDU, China -- For a few days in October 2023, the capital of the science fiction world was Chengdu, [China](https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/Taiwan). Fans traveled from around the world as Worldcon, sci-fi’s biggest annual event, was held in the country for the first time. It was a rare moment when Chinese and international fans could get together without worrying about the increasingly fraught politics of China’s relationship with the West or Beijing's tightening grip on expression. For Chinese fans like Tao Bolin, an influencer who flew from the southern province of Guangdong for the event, it felt like the world finally wanted to read Chinese literature. Fans and authors mingled in a brand new Science Fiction Museum, designed by the prestigious Zaha Hadid Architects in the shape of a huge steel starburst over a lake. But three months later, much of that goodwill turned sour as a scandal erupted over allegations that organizers of the Hugo awards — sci-fi’s biggest prize, awarded at Worldcon — disqualified candidates to placate Chinese censors. The event embodied the contradictions that Chinese science fiction has faced for decades. In 40 years, it’s gone from a politically suspect niche to one of China’s most successful cultural exports, with author Liu Cixin gaining an international following that includes fans like [Barack Obama](https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/BarackObama) and [Mark Zuckerberg](https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/Facebook). But it’s had to overcome obstacles created by geopolitics for just as long. With a big-budget Netflix adaptation of his “The Three-Body Problem” set to drop in March, produced by the same showrunners as “Game of Thrones,” Chinese sci-fi could reach its biggest audience yet. Getting there took decades of work by dedicated authors, editors and cultural bureaucrats who believed that science fiction could bring people together. “Sci-fi has always been a bridge between different cultures and countries,” says Yao Haijun, the editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World, China’s oldest sci-fi magazine. Chinese sci-fi’s journey abroad started with another convention in Chengdu three decades ago, but politics nearly derailed that one before it could get off the ground. Science Fiction World planned to host a writers’ conference in the city in 1991. But as news of the brutal crackdown on student protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square circled the globe in 1989, foreign speakers were dropping out. The magazine sent a small delegation to Worldcon 1990, hosted in The Hague, to save the conference. Its leader was Shen Zaiwang, an English translator in Sichuan province’s Foreign Affairs Department who fell in love with sci-fi as a child. He packed instant noodles for the weeks-long train journey across China and the fragmenting Soviet Union. In The Hague, Shen used toy pandas and postcards of Chengdu to make the case that the city — more than 1,800 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Beijing — was friendly and safe to visit. “We tried to introduce our province as a safe place, and that the people in Sichuan really hope the foreign science fiction writers can come and have a look and encourage Chinese young people to read more science fiction novels,” Shen says. In the end, a dozen foreign authors attended the conference. It was a small start, but it was more than anyone could have imagined a few years earlier. China’s science fiction community faced suspicion at home as well. Science fiction magazines such as Chengdu's Science Fiction World started being launched in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as China began opening to the world after the Mao era. But in the early 1980s, Beijing initiated a nationwide “spiritual pollution cleaning” campaign to quash the influence of the decadent West, and sci-fi was accused of being unscientific and out of line with official ideology. Most of the young publications were shuttered. Science Fiction World’s editors kept going. “They believed if China wanted to develop, it needed to be an innovative country — it needed science fiction,” Yao, the editor, said in a recorded public address in 2017. In 1997, the magazine organized another international event in Beijing, headlined by U.S. and Russian astronauts. The conference got attention in the Chinese press, giving sci-fi a cool new aura of innovation, exploration and imagination, Yao says. China’s growing sci-fi fandom was devouring translated works from abroad, but few people abroad were reading Chinese stories. Liu Cixin was going to change that. A soft-spoken engineer at a power plant in the coal-dominated province of Shanxi, his stories were hits with genre fans. But “The Three-Body Problem,” first serialized by Science Fiction World in 2006, reached a new level of popularity, says Yao. Authorities took note. The China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation, the state-owned publications exporter, picked up the novel and its two sequels. The translations were intended from the start as “a big cultural export from China to the world, something very highly visible,” says Joel Martinsen, who translated the trilogy’s second volume, “The Dark Forest.” But no one could have anticipated the critical and popular success: In 2015, Liu became the first Asian author to win a Hugo Award for a novel. “There was something quite fresh and raw and eye-catching, and even sometimes very dark and ruthless in his work,” says Song Mingwei, a professor of Chinese literature at Wellesley College. The next year, Beijing-based writer Hao Jingfang beat Stephen King to win a Hugo for short fiction with a story about social inequality in a surreal version of China’s capital. Liu’s translations were also a political breakthrough for the genre: In two decades, it had gone from barely tolerated to a flagship export of China’s official cultural machine. The government encouraged the growth of an “industry” spanning movies, video games, books, magazines and exhibits, and set up an official research center in 2020 to track its rise. Worldcon Chengdu was to be the crowning achievement of these efforts. The event itself was seen as a success. But in January, when the Hugo committee disclosed vote totals, the critics’ suspicions seemed to be confirmed. It turned out several candidates had been disqualified, raising censorship concerns. They included New York Times bestselling authors R. F. Kuang and Xiran Jay Zhao, both politically active writers with family ties to China. Leaked internal emails — which The Associated Press could not independently verify — appeared to show that the awards committee spent weeks checking nominees’ works and social media profiles for statements that could offend Beijing, and sent reports on these to Chinese counterparts, according to an investigation by two sci-fi authors and journalists. They don’t show how the reports were used or who made the decisions about disqualification. The Hugo awards organizers did not respond to requests for comment by the AP. Despite the frictions, Chinese sci-fi remains poised to continue its international rise. Netflix’s adaptation of the “The Three-Body Problem” could bring it to a vast new audience, a coming-out orders of magnitude bigger than Shen Zaiwang’s trip to The Hague. And insiders like Song and Yao are looking forward to a new generation of Chinese sci-fi authors that’s starting to be translated into English now. It’s led by younger, female writers who were educated abroad such as Regina Kanyu Wang and Tang Fei. Their works explore themes that resonate with younger audiences, Song says, such as gender fluidity and climate catastrophes. “When doing anything with the endorsement of either the market or the government, imagination can dry up very quickly,” Song says. “I think often the important thing happens on the margin.” Yao continues to believe in sci-fi’s role as a bridge between cultures, even in turbulent times. “As long as there is communication,” he says, “we’ll be able to find some things in common.” \_\_\_ AP researcher Wanqing Chen contributed to this report.

An anonymous reader shares a report from the ongoing Mobile World Congress trade show: _This year's big scrum gatherer was [Lenovo's long-rumored transparent laptop](https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/26/lenovos-laptop-concept-is-fully-transparent-but-the-point-isnt-entirely-clear/). It's real. It functions surprisingly well and -- nearest anyone can tell -- its existence is a testament to form over function. That's a perfectly fine thing to be when you're a concept device. When it comes to actually shipping a product, however, that's another conversation entirely. \[...\] Broadly speaking, it looks like a laptop, with a transparent pane where the screen should be. It's perhaps best understood as a kind of augmented reality device, in the sense that its graphics are overlaid on whatever happens to be behind it._ _It's a crowd pleaser, with a futuristic air to it that embodies all manner of sci-fi tech tropes. The transparent display has become a kind of shorthand for future tech in stock art, and it's undeniably neat to see the thing in action. \[...\] The bottom of the device is covered in a large capacitive touch surface. This area serves as both a keyboard and a large stylus-compatible drawing surface. The flat surface can't compete with real, tactile keyboards, of course. Typing isn't the greatest experience here, as evidenced by previous dual-screen Lenovo laptops. But that's the tradeoff for the versatility of the virtual version._

Netflix's new sci-fi drama _Spaceman_ centers on Czech astronaut Jakub Procházk, [described by _Polygon_](https://www.polygon.com/24080545/adam-sandler-spaceman-interview-talking-to-a-tennis-ball-netflix) as "painfully introverted, emotionally repressed, and above all, _quiet_... so muted and compressed, he seems like a trauma victim." _The film, adapted from the 2017 novel _Spaceman of Bohemia_ written by Czech author Jaroslav KalfaÅ(TM), is a solemn drama in the mold of Andrei Tarkovsky's _Solaris_, or to some degree, Christopher Nolan's _Interstellar_. The story revolves around Jakub's disintegrating frame of mind after eight months alone in space as he investigates a glowing cosmic phenomenon that's become visible from Earth. Meanwhile, his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan), heavily pregnant and going through her own breakdown back home, decides to leave Jakub, and his handlers (Isabella Rossellini among them) work to keep him from finding out. And then the giant spider appears, and Jakub worries that he's losing his mind._ [CNN says](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/entertainment/spaceman-review-adam-sandler/index.html) Sandler's deal with Netflix "means pretty much doing whatever he wants, which, in the case of _Spaceman_, means traveling to the furthest reaches of space as the near-solitary star of a pretentious, message-heavy drama." You can [watch a trailer here](https://youtu.be/rNZ0xKaCdus). The movie enjoys a "limited theatrical release" this weekend, and will stream on Netflix starting March 1.

**1** Which sci-fi character’s hairstyle was inspired by Mexican revolutionary Clara de la Rocha? **2** What indignity did Sandy Island, New Caledonia, suffer in 2012? **3** Carmen Callil founded which publishing house? **4** Which athlete ate 1,000 chicken nuggets at the 2008 Olympics? **5** ADX Florence in Colorado is the last of what in the US? **6** The Kirkwood gaps are interruptions in what? **7** Which BBC programme for deaf people has run since 1981? **8** Which two Labour party leaders died in office? **What links: 9** Rankin; Stillz; Weegee; Yevonde; Yosigo? **10** Bann; Tay; Thames; Tywi? **11** 1st (unaffiliated); 2nd (Federalist); 3rd (Democratic-Republican)? **12** APA; Chicago; MHRA; MLA? **13** Afar; Amhara; Oromia; Somali; Tigray? **14** Big Wednesday; Blue Crush; Blue Juice; Point Break? **15** Entertainment; Football; History; Money; Politics? [](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/24/what-links-blue-juice-with-point-break-the-saturday-quiz#img-2) Confounded by the Carmen Callil clue? Photograph: Fairfax Media/Getty Images **1** Princess Leia (Star Wars). **2** Proved not to exist. **3** Virago Press. **4** Usain Bolt. **5** Federal “supermax” prison. **6** Asteroid belt. **7** See Hear. **8** Hugh Gaitskell and John Smith. **9** Mononymous photographers. **10** Longest rivers entirely within: Northern Ireland; Scotland; England; Wales. **11** Political affiliations of first three US presidents (Washington, Adams and Jefferson). **12** Academic referencing systems. **13** Regions of Ethiopia. **14** Films featuring surfing. **15** The Rest Is … podcasts.

Why would you scrap a movie that is all but finished before anyone except studio suits have had a chance to see it? The answer, for Hollywood bigwigs, is a tax write-off. In the last 18 months, Warner Bros has [deleted a live-action Looney Tunes riff, Coyote vs Acme](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/09/warner-bros-coyote-vs-acme-movie-john-cena); the animated adventure Scoob! Holiday Haunt; and, most infamously, the $90m DC Extended Universe flick Batgirl. Now Netflix seems to be getting in on the act with news this week that the Halle Berry-led sci-fi tale The Mothership [is also being axed before critics have had the chance to view it](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/netflix-cancels-halle-berry-film-mothership-1235886861/amp/). Has it also fallen victim to the twisted machinations of nefarious accountants? It’s probably fair to say that a cheesy-sounding Scooby Doo episode and a movie that would have starred John Cena as a lawyer going up against Wile E Coyote probably don’t count as monumental totems of 21st-century cinema that have now been lost for ever in the cruel mists of time. Still, a lot of people quite liked the idea of Batgirl, and ultimately felt cheated that the people who ponied up the money to get this thing made decided it was too risky to actually release. > Netflix emerged by striking ambitious deals that traditional studios would never have entered into So why is Netflix at it now? The streaming service has made headlines ever since it first emerged from the death spiral of the home video era for striking ambitious deals that more traditional studios would never have entered into. There was Adam Sandler’s spectacular (at the time) [four-movie deal](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/02/adam-sandler-netflix-movie-deal), the more recent decision to acquire [rights to the entire Roald Dahl back catalogue](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/sep/22/netflix-acquires-works-of-roald-dahl-as-it-escalates-streaming-wars-matilda-bfg), and even its ill-fated dalliance with Harry and Meghan. So it’s hardly surprising that we’ve now discovered – it seems nobody noticed when it was announced – that [Netflix has had a content deal with Halle Berry to release multiple films](https://variety.com/2021/film/news/halle-berry-netflix-film-deal-bruised-1235122210/) ever since it picked up her 2020 directorial debut Bruised after its premiere at the Toronto film festival. The streamer is still due to release Berry’s The Union, about a construction worker (Mark Wahlberg) who is roped into espionage by his former high school girlfriend. But assuming that The Mothership has gone the same way as its less-than-illustrious predecessors, the film will now only exist in any tangible form as a line on a set of accounts. For those of us who love sci-fi, this has to be a worrying turn of events. For every 20 half-decent superhero flicks, there is perhaps just a single attempt at an intelligent vision of futurism hitting cinemas. And out of every 10 of these films, only one or two is actually any good. Chances are that The Mothership, which was centred on a single mother who discovers an extraterrestrial object on her farm that is linked to her husband’s disappearance one year before, would not have been 2024’s [I Am Mother](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/20/hollywood-blockbuster-sci-fi-extinction-i-am-mother) or [Ex Machina](https://www.theguardian.com/film/ex-machina). But the possibility that it just might have been will now remain hanging in the air like a tiny culture bomb whirling for ever in the echo chamber of misery. [The InSneider newsletter reports](https://www.theinsneider.com/p/halle-berry-mothership-netflix-not-moving-forward-oscar-nomination-reactions-snubs-surprises) that Netflix bosses couldn’t get their heads around the fact that Berry’s film needed reshoots, more pertinently that its child stars had aged in the three years since the movie first wrapped in 2021. That sounds like pretty bad planning for a movie that must have had a budget stretching into tens of millions of dollars. Writing it off just seems like such a waste. Netflix was once known as the streaming service that loved to pick up cherished cancelled shows the US networks could no longer find a home for and give them a new lease of life. It’s the home of [Black Mirror](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/15/black-mirror-6-review-prepare-to-convulse-in-horror-on-the-sofa-netflix), the greatest anthological sci-fi show of modern times. Surely they can do better than this.

A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in [China](https://www.theguardian.com/world/china) for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process. The New York Times bestseller [Babel by RF Kuang](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/10/babel-by-rf-kuang-review-an-ingenious-fantasy-about-empire), an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October. Babel, which won fiction book of the year at the British book awards in 2023, is a speculative fiction novel by [Kuang, a Chinese-American author](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/20/rebecca-f-kuang-who-has-the-right-to-tell-a-story-its-the-wrong-question-to-ask) also known for her novel Yellowface. No reason was given for the exclusions, which were only revealed on 20 January when the [Hugo awards](https://www.theguardian.com/books/hugoaward) published the full nomination statistics for last year’s prize. Certain titles were listed as having been given votes, but were marked with an asterisk and the words “not eligible”, with no further details given. The Hugo awards are the premier accolade for sci-fi and fantasy fiction. They are administered by the World Science [Fiction](https://www.theguardian.com/books/fiction) Society, a loose collective of sci-fi fans who vote for their favourite works or authors across more than a dozen categories before the annual conference, Worldcon, which is held in a different city each year. Last year’s event was the first time it had been held in China. [Recently released documents](https://www.thehugoawards.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-Hugo-Award-Stats-Final.pdf) showed that several works or authors – some with links to China – had been excluded from the ballot despite receiving enough nominations to be included on their respective shortlists. The excluded nominees include Kuang and Xiran, authors who were born in China but are now based in the west. Concerns have been raised that the authors were targeted for political reasons, connected to the fact that the ruling Chinese Communist party exerts a tight control on all cultural events that take place inside its borders. Dave McCarty, the head of the 2023 Hugo awards jury, wrote on Facebook: “Nobody has ordered me to do anything … There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner.” McCarty did not respond to a request from the Guardian for comment, but shared what he said was the official response from the awards administration team on Facebook: “After reviewing the constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.” He declined to elaborate on what the rules were. “I can only guess to why I was excluded, but it probably has something to do with my critical comments about the Chinese government in the past,” said Xiran. “You would think that as a big, powerful country, China would be graceful about criticisms, but they in fact take it very personally, and doubly so when it’s from Chinese diaspora.” Kuang debuted as an author with the Poppy War trilogy, an award-winning fantasy series inspired by modern Chinese history that imagines Mao Zedong as a teenage girl. Episode six of The Sandman, which is based on a comic book written by Neil Gaiman, was excluded from the best dramatic presentation category, despite receiving enough nominations to be on the final ballot. Gaiman has [publicly criticised](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/21/neil-gaiman-authors-chinese-president-jailed-writers) the Chinese authorities for imprisoning writers. In an Instagram post published on 22 January, Kuang wrote: “I wish to clarify that no reason for Babel’s ineligibility was given to me or my team. I did not decline a nomination, as no nomination was offered … I assume this was a matter of undesirability rather than ineligibility.” [skip past newsletter promotion](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/24/science-fiction-awards-held-in-china-under-fire-for-excluding-authors#EmailSignup-skip-link-13) Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books with our expert reviews, author interviews and top 10s. Literary delights delivered direct you **Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our [Privacy Policy](https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy). We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply. after newsletter promotion Paul Weimer, a hobbyist sci-fi writer, discovered last week that he was excluded from the best fan writer category, despite receiving enough nominations to be shortlisted. “I had the highest of hopes for Chengdu,” said Weimer, who has been nominated for Hugos in previous years. “I thought it was amazing that a number of Chinese fans had got together to get this bid together.” The organising committee of Chengdu Worldcon did not respond to requests for comment. Some people in the sci-fi community had raised concerns about the event being hosted in China when Chengdu won the bid to host the event in 2021. “My Hugo acceptance speeches would have gotten me arrested in China. I have said things on record that are just illegal,” [said the writer Jeannette Ng](https://twitter.com/jeannette_ng/status/1472293496669286406) in 2021. The Worldcon organisers “should have taken our concerns about the awards being held in China seriously from the beginning. We knew something like this was going to happen,” said Xiran. Writing on Facebook, Gaiman said: “Until now, one of the things that’s always been refreshing about the Hugos has been the transparency and clarity of the process … This is obfuscatory, and without some clarity it means that whatever has gone wrong here is unfixable, or may be unfixable in ways that don’t damage the respect the Hugos have earned over the last 70 years.”

Halle Berry-led sci-fi thriller The Mothership will not be released after Netflix decided to stop post-production. The Mothership, which completed filming in 2021, was originally set to be released in 2022 and a brief clip was teased by the streamer in a trailer for the year’s big releases. But the film was the victim of multiple delays and has now been scrapped entirely, according to [Variety](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/netflix-cancels-halle-berry-film-mothership-1235886861/). Reporting by [The Wrap](https://www.thewrap.com/netflix-halle-berry-movie-mothership-canceled/) has sources claiming the decision was not “taken lightly”. The film allegedly required “significant reshoots” which would have been expensive and difficult with child actors having aged. It was written and directed by British Oscar nominee Matthew Charman, who co-wrote the script for Steven Spielberg’s 2015 drama Bridge of Spies. He also co-wrote the Michelle Williams-starring romance Suite Francaise.  Still from The Mothership. Photograph: YouTube The news follows other similar scrapped films, such as the $90m DC adventure [Batgirl](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/03/irredeemable-batgirl-movie-unexpectedly-cancelled-despite-being-in-final-stages) which was cancelled while in post-production and last year’s reveal that [Coyote vs Acme](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/09/warner-bros-coyote-vs-acme-movie-john-cena) would also not be released despite completion of production. Both were the result of studio Warners choosing a tax write-down. The latter, a live-action/animation hybrid starring John Cena, has since been shopped around. Last year Netflix [decided](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/netflix-offloads-inheritance-house-wife-1235310514/) not to release two completed films – thrillers The Inheritance and House/Wife – but allowed the makers to shop them elsewhere. This week saw an impressive Q4 report from [Netflix](https://www.theguardian.com/media/netflix) with over 13 million new subscribers, ahead of predictions. The platform also performed well during the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations with a tally of 18. The Mothership starred Oscar-winner Berry as a single mother who finds an extraterrestrial object on her farm. Berry has worked with Netflix before on the release of Bruised, her directorial debut, and will next be seen in the streamer’s action thriller The Union alongside Mark Wahlberg. Neither Berry nor Netflix has made an official statement.

 图1（a）基于超表面二维位移感测的原理图；（b）位移感测系统实验装置示意图；（c）输出功率随超表面二维位移的变化 ...  图2（a）二维位移测量系统的测量精度；（b）长间隔距离的四个字母形状路径的测量结果；（c）亚微米尺寸复杂图案边缘路径的测量结果

 1月6日，2023年“西湖优秀女性博士后奖”获奖名单正式公布。西湖大学生命科学学院博士后黄诗嘉、西湖大学理学院博士后杨青云、西湖大学工学院博士后郑碧珠获奖 ...  **黄诗嘉** 黄诗嘉，西湖大学生命科学学院柴继杰课题组博士后。她长期致力于植物免疫信号通路的研究，发现了植物效应因子触发的免疫反应过程中重要的免疫第二信使pRib-AMP/ADP和ADPr-ATP。截至目前，以第一作者的身份发表SCI论文5篇，主要的研究工作以两篇研究长文的形式发表在《Science》期刊上。博士后阶段，她将继续深耕于植物免疫领域，希望能进一步阐明TNL类抗病蛋白介导的免疫反应的信号过程，为培育具有更高抗病能力的作物奠定基础

[](/search?tid=148) [Wilson](/~Wilson) (42865)发表于 2023年12月23日 13时12分 星期六 [新浪微博分享](//service.weibo.com/share/share.php?url=//www.solidot.org/story?sid=76959&appkey=1370085986&title=%E6%9C%B1%E4%BB%A4%E9%93%8A%E4%B8%AD%E6%AF%92%E5%BD%93%E4%BA%8B%E4%BA%BA%E5%8E%BB%E4%B8%96) [](javascript:void(0);) **来自陨落的众生** 朱令铊中毒当事人于 2023 年 12 月 22 日晚上去世，年仅 50 岁。本案真凶至今仍未归案。1994 年 10 月-1995 年 3 月期间，朱令多次出现疑似中毒症状，送医后因条件等种种因素未进行中毒检测。1995 年 4 月 10 日，朱令高中同学贝志诚等人将其病史翻译成英文发布在 Usenet 的 sci.med 等新闻组，这是中国首次利用互联网进行国际远程医疗的尝试，医生们普遍认为是铊中毒，但直到 4 月 28 日铊中毒才被确认。1995 年 8 月 31 日朱令从长达 5 个月的昏迷中苏醒，但因为后遗症严重她一直没有康复，直到 2023 年 12 月 22 日 22 时 59 分去世。本案的主要嫌疑人被认为是她的同寝室同学，但因为证据被破坏没能定罪 ... https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%B1%E4%BB%A4%E9%93%8A%E4%B8%AD%E6%AF%92%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6

Plastic is great. It’s strong, it’s light, and it can be pressed into just about any shape: lawn chairs, bobbleheads, bags, tires, or thread. The problem is there’s too much of it, as Doug Main [reported in MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/12/1081129/plastic-recycling-climate-change-microplastics/) this year. Humans make 430 million tons of plastic a year (significantly more than the weight of all people combined), but only [9%](https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastic-pollution-is-growing-relentlessly-as-waste-management-and-recycling-fall-short.htm) gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills and, increasingly, in the environment. Not only does the average whale have kilograms of the stuff in its belly, but tiny bits of “microplastic” have been found in soft drinks, plankton, and human bloodstreams, and even floating in the air. The health effects of spreading microplastic pollution have barely been studied. Awareness of the planetary scourge is growing, and some are calling for a “plastics treaty” to help stop the pollution. It’s going to be a hard sell. That’s because plastic is so cheap and useful. Yet researchers say the best way to cut plastic waste is not to make it in the first place. _More: [Think your plastic is being recycled? Think again](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/12/1081129/plastic-recycling-climate-change-microplastics/) (MIT Technology Review), [Oh Good, Hurricanes Are Now Made of Microplastics](https://www.wired.com/story/oh-good-hurricanes-are-now-made-of-microplastics/) (Wired)_ The New York Times declared it Silicon Valley’s “[Big, Bold Sci-Fi Bet](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/technology/silicon-valleys-big-bold-sci-fi-bet-on-the-device-that-comes-after-the-smartphone.html)” for what comes after the smartphone. The product? A plastic badge called the Ai Pin, with a camera, chips, and sensors.  A device to wean us off our phone addiction is a worthy goal, but this blocky $699 pin (which also requires a $24-a-month subscription) isn’t it. An early review called the device, developed by startup Humane Ai, “equal parts magic and awkward.” Emphasis on the awkward. Users must speak voice commands to send messages or chat with an AI (a laser projector in the pin will also display information on your hand). It weighs as much as a golf ball, so you probably won’t be attaching it to a T-shirt. It is the creation of a husband-and-wife team of former Apple executives, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, who were led to their product idea with the guidance of a Buddhist monk named Brother Spirit, raising $240 million and filing 25 patents along the way, according to the Times. Clearly, there’s a lot of thought, money, and engineering involved in its creation. But as The Verge’s wearables reviewer Victoria Song [points out](https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/19/23964212/humane-ai-pin-wearable-culture), “it flouts the chief rule of good wearable design: you have to want to wear the damn thing.” As it is, the Ai Pin is neat, but it’s still no competition for the lure of a screen.

Dec 7, 2023 11:00 PM Announced at the 2023 Game Awards, _Den of Wolves_ is a new kind of co-op heist game from the minds behind _PayDay._  Following two years of preproduction, game developer [10 Chambers](https://careers.10chambers.com/pages/about-10-chambers) finally announced its new heist game—_Den of Wolves_—Thursday during the 2023 Game Awards. Set in 2097 in a highly corrupt city located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it is, according to narrative director Simon Viklund, the kind of game “where you're supposed to feel like a badass.” For Viklund, who also serves as the game’s composer (he did the compositions for [_PayDay: The Heist_](https://www.wired.com/2011/09/payday-the-heist-preview/) and [_PayDay 2_](https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/13/payday-2-review), too), that means “the music needs to, like, \[grunt noise\].” True to its name, _Den of Wolves_’ fictional city is a place where basically anything is legal as long as it is done in the pursuit of supercharged innovation and groundbreaking technology. Imagine _PayDay_ meets [_Cyberpunk 2077_](https://www.wired.com/story/cyberpunk-2077-review-story-problems/) set in a metropolis that's a mixture of Venice and Hong Kong. The concept is quite different from 10 Chambers’ previous work with [horror game _GTFO_](https://www.polygon.com/23379060/gtfo-best-horror-video-games-coop-shooters-steam), but it structurally plays to the studio’s core strength: four person co-op games. A lot is on the line as the studio works on its second release. 10 Chambers received an investment from Chinese tech and entertainment conglomerate [Tencent](https://www.tencent.com/en-us/) to build this game and expand from a small staff of around 10 people to nearly 100. Viklund emphasizes that the game will have a highly detailed environment but that gamers should not expect an open-world experience. The overall vibe, Viklund adds, pulls from a litany of sci-fi and thriller movies, like _Heat_ and _Judge Dredd_ (the Stallone one, not the 2012 reboot). While he enjoyed working on horror game music for _GTFO_, Viklund is excited to move away from that genre and back to a _PayDay_\-esque heist experience. “My wheelhouse is this power fantasy type of music,” he says. Never played that franchise before? Give “[Razormind” from _PayDay 2_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fl_LJBixfg) a listen any morning you forget your coffee at home and need a quick jolt of adrenaline. So, what can players expect from the music in _Den of Wolves_? “So, there’s going to be elements, of course, that are similar to _PayDay_,” says Viklund. “But I’m keen on taking it somewhere else in terms of tempo. Making it heavier, slower paced.” He also looks forward to incorporating different elements of percussion inspired by the Pacific Ocean setting. Since the game is still in early development and won’t be released for a while, WIRED did not see any actual game footage during a recent preview event 10 Chambers held for the title. Similar to the launch of _GTFO_, the company plans to release the game at first to players through Steam early access. _Den of Wolves_ doesn't have a release date yet, but PC gamers can anticipate receiving it before their console counterparts. Fans of _GTFO_ may be disappointed that their game’s content updates are ending, but Viklund points to 10 Chambers’ first game as critical for building the company’s confidence around design. “It was very freeing to be able to have a project where we could have that ‘fuck it—we’ll just do it’ sort of attitude,” he says. This type of confidence is a driving force behind 10 Chambers’ decision to develop something fresh for players rather than relying on a franchise concept that already exists.