Recent content by Callex

If only! Astronomers are buggers for dressing discoveries up with big fancy unlabelled artist's conceptions. We don't have the technology at present to really resolve an extra-solar planet; any light reflected off it tends to get drowned out by the host star. The usual technique is to look for a...

I'm a Physicist studying aaaall the way up in sunny Scotland, St.Andrews. For me at least, heading to university was the single best decision I've ever made. The first couple of days will be tough - it's easy to feel alienated, but don't panic and above all: Don't hide away in your room. You...

Credit where it's due - it's perhaps one of the few good changes they made, but now that the Microsoft hate-ball has gained momentum it's been completely overshadowed. You can have a shared game library with up to 10 other family members, with two consoles at a time accessing and playing...

A shame, really. The thing is, the 'critic' the man was addressing was actually a friend he had a history of tongue-in-cheek verbally sparring with. This fact was completely neglected of course from any reports of the matter and now another career is down the drain. The kind of comments he made...

Air bursts can actually be very dangerous! Because of the kinetic energy an asteroid this big would have, it would go off like a nuclear weapon. Back in the early 1900's a 300ft meteor was believed to have exploded over Russia in what is known as the Tunguska Event - flattening 2000 square...

Pretty much this. For an asteroid to impact the Earth it needs to pass through a narrow keyhole region. Ramming a satellite into it (as has been done before) early on would be enough to nudge it onto a safer trajectory. No need for explosives.

With the NDA lifted, we can finally talk about the Planetside 2 beta! Are there any other escapians in the beta? What factions are you all playing? I've really enjoyed the beta so far. Yes, performance is an ongoing issue but the weekly patches are constantly upping those framerates. I'm...

Some of you guys have expensive tastes! As a student, I take this: Mix it with 1/3 bottle of this: And let the night unfold!

It's not just item spawning or xp commands; you could move players, spawn mobs etc, or other functions that would otherwise be done in the server console or a mod pack. The idea is that you could download full campaign-style adventure maps with quests, rewards, story progression etc, all coded...

I'd probably say I was a mental lightweight. Generally I think it's a good thing; I can get drunk for a lot less and I'm usually quite puke-resistant. When bars are so damn expensive you have to predrink as effectively as possible; a couple of quid, 1.5 litres of lambrini and you have the...

Just one more to go! Introversion complete pack anyone? Darwinia, Multiwinia, Uplink and Defcon for £6 with the coupon! £24 when bought separately.

Giving away: EDIT: All done!

Not entirely. Although we still know very little about gravity & the origins of mass, there has been work on creating a gravity-like effect using circular motion. It wouldn't work on mars, but if you had two space-shuttles attached via a cable spinning quickly around each other as they traveled...

No chance. The gravity is just too low. In the long-term it would be crippling; if you stayed there long enough your body would be unlikely to cope with being on Earth, regardless of exercise. Plus, it plays havoc with reproductive systems. They've put pregnant animals in low-weight...

Finally! Someone who knows what they're talking about. It's embarrassing the amount of knee-jerking there is whenever the origin topic pops up. You can't personify a corporation. They're all out to make money, it's just some have bigger PR budgets than others...