Life on Kepler 22b

Since its announcement earlier this week, Kepler 22b seems to have captured the imagination of the public more than any other exoplanet we’ve discovered so far. Personally, I’ve spent a lot of time answering questions about what it would be like to live on the planet, or if it’s likely that anyone already lives there. Anything that gets people excited about science is a good thing, and while we aren’t likely to be flying to Kepler 22b any time soon, it would be useful to take some time to ask ourselves what this discovery does mean for us today.

Artist's impression of Kepler 22b

Another Giant Leap for China in Space

The Chinese space program has had the space community in a steady stream of admiration ever since they became the planet’s third space-faring nation back in 2003. And as the years have rolled on, the roll of applause has only gotten louder.

FTL Neutrinos – Interesting Possibilities

Since the discovery of the famous FTL Neutrinos, the science community has been hard at work trying to either come up with a new theory of relativity, or disprove CERNs findings. Well, mostly the latter. It’s important to state that NOBODY has conclusively done so thus far. There have, however, been a couple of suggestions which I personally found fascinating.

A Look at the Proposed Space Launch System

With the Constellation debacle seemingly behind us, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden proudly announced the successor to the Space Shuttle Program: the Space Launch System (SLS). Assuming that the SLS receives the proper funding, research and development (and that's a BIG assumption), what can we expect from this architecture?

E3 2012 Predictions - What's going down in LA?

After the riotous success and accurate predictions made about this year’s show, I have decided to try and extend my ‘kill-streak’ and lay down the Only Logical E3 2012 Predictions even earlier.

E3 2012 Predictions Time!

Level System in Mass Effect 3: unclenching at Eurogamer

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the Eurogamer Expo 2011. Among the many highlights of the show was the chance to play Bioware’s Mass Effect 3 long in advance of the game’s March 2012 release date. Here are my thoughts after my hands-on preview of Mass Effect 3.

The Neutrino Controversy- What's all the Fuss About?

This week has been huge for the scientific community. And that cannot be understated enough; if the events at CERN are not corrected as "experimental error", modern physics is on the brink of a quantum leap.

Talkradar UK, you called me out. Now I respond!

On this weeks Talkradar UK my comment criticising the zero-g missions in Halo and Killzone was received with some…confusion by the hosts. They proceeded to challenge me to defend my claims and prove my scientific girth (just for you, Cundy) by shedding light on the issue of gravity in space. I will now do so, one erroneous comment at a time.

Smallville Finale

Smallville is now just four episodes away from being over. The show is now at a really interesting point; Clark is genuinely on the cusp of becoming Superman. And, after 10 seasons, it's about time!


I intend this post to be a call-to-arms for any comic book fans to start watching now even if you haven't watched before. Like him or not, Superman is the biggest comic book superhero of all time. And this is the most exciting point in Superman's story, where everything comes together. You may think that it's too late to jump in if you're not a regular viewer, but this really isn't the case. The purpose of this post is to bring you up to speed on what's been happening so far in seasons 1-10 of Smallville, and to prepare you for the 4 episodes leading to the grand finale.


I'll also Chip in my two cents on what I'd like to see in the Smallville Finale.

NASA's MESSENGER Space Probe Arrives at Mercury

In August, 2004, a small robotic spacecraft hurtled skywards to begin a 4.9 billion mile trek to the planet Mercury. Today, 6 years later, that spacecraft arrives and officially becomes the first artificial satellite of Mercury in history.

MESSENGER arrives at Mercury (Artists Depiction)

Battle: Los Angeles Review – Callin’ out the Haters!

Halo: The Movie will never be made. And even if it is, you can guarantee it will be about as far off the mark as a sniper with parkinsons. 

But if a director ever musters up the testicular fortitude to try, I strongly recommend that they watch Battle: Los Angeles first, and take some serious notes. Why? Because here we have an example of a near perfect action/invasion/sci-fi movie for our generation of virtual gun-maniacs.

 

And I mean this in the nicest possible way; Johnathan Liebesman has merged Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Halo 1-3 in the most seamless and gritty way possible. For the first time this year, I have watched a movie that I sincerely hope gets the sequel treatment. But more on that later.

Eurogamer Expo 2011 - An Unmissable Event!

5am, Saturday October 2^nd, 2010. A small, converted farmhouse in West Yorkshire. I awake to the gentle sounds of my iPhone alarm, and immediately, a wide grin manifests itself across my face. Why am I so cheerful at this most ungodly hour of the morning? Because today is a special day. Today is the Eurogamer Expo.

England is different to America in many ways. One disadvantage of living on the British Isles is the relative lack of geeky conventions. To all intents and purposes, there is only one such event in the UK: Eurogamer Expo.

FEATURE: Nuclear Travelling Wave Reactors - Can Bill Gates Save the World?

What would you do if you were the richest person alive? New car? New house, huge TV, pool and gym? Well, Bill Gates is one of the richest human beings on the face of the planet, and has enjoyed that privilege for many years now, so he probably has all of those things. But what’s amazing is what he’s spending the majority of his money on now.

Bill has reached an interesting point in his life, it is pretty much impossible for him to spend all of his fortune before he dies- he’s just that rich. So, he has nobly decided to focus his efforts on leaving this planet in a better way than he found it. Let's get one thing clear: this is not just about generically pumping money into random charities; he is actually making serious, real efforts to revolutionise YOUR life. How?

Watch the Next Shuttle Launch Live on your Playstation

Got a Playstation 3? If you do, you might want to take the opportunity to watch the upcoming Shuttle launch streamed live. The event is currently slated for  February 24 at 4:50pm EST.

Launch to be streamed live to Playstation 3

Don't forget that this is one of the final Space Shuttle missions that will ever be launched, so please take advantage of this opportunity to witness essential nerd history. This is one of the coolest missions in a long time; the crew consists of 6 humans and 1 humanoid robot!

The Physics of Mass Effect

Recently I have been playing Mass Effect 1 and 2 for the second time. During these play-throughs, I have taken more time to read the codex entries, and I have become fascinated with the Mass Effect Universe. Naturally, one of the parts that really fascinates me the most is the science behind Mass Effect.

Then I stumbled onto this video, in which Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku examines the various aspects of Mass Effect, and tires to comment on the plausibility of each aspect. 

For example, how far off of ‘invisibility’ are we? Are Biotics physically plausible? Could we travel faster than light using “the Mass Effect”?

While the video is enjoyable and all of what he says is accurate, unfortunately it seems as if Dr Kaku has never played the game, as he doesn’t actually address the “mass effect” in good detail. Instead he talks about dark energy and matter, which is nothing to do with the mass effect. I will now attempt to jump in!

Why It's Never Hammer Time in Space

Have you ever been watching a sci-fi show, and heard the captain of the ship yell “All Stop!” at the helmsman? Have you ever wondered what that actually means?

Orion CEV

I once had a long debate with a fellow astrophysics student over the question of what ‘all stop’ really means for a spaceship.

See, for a real life spacecraft (lets say the Shuttle or Apollo missions) the vessel itself never stops, from the moment it leaves the planet to the moment it lands again. It is constantly moving: either orbiting earth, or the moon, or moving between the two. But it is always moving at speeds of at least 17,000 mph (all the way up to 24,000 for a lunar mission). You can only imagine that for interstellar missions, the same principle must be true, probably to an even greater extent. 

Well I decided to try and imagine the physics and do some simple calculations.

Wheaton’s Law – Why I Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists

I like to think of myself as a level-headed, tolerant person. I get on with 99% of people, and I try to conduct myself in public fairly, and with a sense of humour. As a British person, I strive to be a gentleman in all ways that I can – that’s the true mark of a man. This code of conduct applies equally to real world interaction and internet interaction.

The internet has become a place where controversial statements are considered humorous. There is a general understanding among our generation about things said on the internet; how they should be accepted and interpreted. 

There’s only one hard fast rule, one unwritten internet law that is unofficially enforced by the hive mind. This rule was first formally vocalised and by renowned ‘geek’ overlord Will Wheaton. That rule is known as Wheaton’s Law. Google it.

3DS vs NGP (Specs) - Will Sony win Round 2?

Today Sony officially announced the successor to the PSP. It is being referred to by the codename “NGP”, which stands for “Next Generation Portable”. The usage of a codename for the product is nothing new, for example think of Kinect’s original codename, “Natal”.

As it stands, there are currently only two major portable dedicated gaming consoles: Sony’s PSP and the Nintendo DS. So the question is, “How do they compare?”

Gaming Setup: My First Living Room

The holiday period is over. For most people, that means that the time to relax and take stock of their home, friends, and family is over too. Not the case for me. I spent the 2010 holiday season moving to my first place.

Which means that now that the season is over, I finally get chance to relax and enjoy it. As you can imagine, for a geek like me the best part of getting my first place was s putting together my gaming setup. If the readers of this care about anything I write (and they probably don’t) they will like to see my gaming setup.

But it doesn't stop here.

Should I Buy an Xbox or a PS3:Tales of a 360 Owner

I am a self-confessed 360 fan boy. It has not always been this way, I was a Playstation man up until this generation. But with the delays to the Playstation 3, and the steep asking price, I ended up spending a respectable £300 on a shiny new Xbox 360. Since then, I’ve never looked back. But I always wondered, what would have happened if I had waited, saved, and gone the Sony route?

 

PS360

 Well, thinking along these lines inspired me to ask fellow Gamer, Geek, and TDard Mark “Breener96” Breen about his recent acquisition of a 360. Up until Christmas 2010, Mark has been a Playstation 3 gamer, and I was interested too hear about his journey across the gaming bridge.

Street Fighter IV: A Cry for Help

Calling anyone bored enough to be reading this blog: I need your help! Recently I’ve been sliding deeper and deeper into an addiction to Street Fighter IV. On iPhone.

Seriously, almost every time I pull my phone out these days I almost instinctively open my “Gamz” folder (thank you iOS4) and tap on the image of Ryu’s determined looking squint. But I don’t need your help with my addiction, the problem comes with how I’m playing the game. Heres the thing: I only ever play as Ryu. And even I know that that is just dumb.

I refuse to buy Super Street Fighter IV until I start playing this game properly!

Matt Cundys Cameo on the Inbetweeners

Watching Channel 4's teen sitcom "The Inbetweeners" today, I spotted an amusing link to Gamesradar's Matt Cundy...

TDard Saturday – Jump on board!

For quite a while now, listeners to the weekly gaming Podcast TalkRadar have had a weekly play-session, when gamers can jump onto a current or popular video game and play online together. It’s a great way for members of the community to interact, and if you are a new member of the TalkRadar or GamesRadar community then I highly recommend joining in.

Credit: Batman5273

The Week of Blog Posts

As you may have noticed, Only Logical has been fairly devoid of posts over the past three weeks or so. OK, so you didn’t notice. Well anyway, it has been.

Space & Games, hand-in-glove. 

I have been busy moving house and kicking ass, but now that January (and the depression that goes along with it) has arrived, it’s high time I got back to shouting at the staggering 4+ readers of this blog about games and space. Not at the same time, though, unless we are talking about Mass Effect.

So this week, I’m going to try to commit to a post every day. Topics covered will include:

·         Super Street Fighter IV – Cry For Help
·         Gaming Setups

·         Tdard Saturday

·         Xbox 720/PS4 Excitement

·         Tales of a 360 Owner

·         When Astrophysics Goes Right

So, I guess you’ll probably read all of them apart from the last one. Well if that’s the case, shame on you. The last one will be the best, I guarantee it.

Motivational Game Music: MoWaDuece

Nope, this won’t be a regular thing. I just wanted to throw up a link to this video in a place that I can easily find at any time. I was going to simply ‘favourite’ the video on YouTube, but then I thought “what the heck, a few of my friends like this song too so I’ll put it somewhere public.” Plus, It’s been a while since the last post here.

The song is by Hans Zimmer, and is called “Going Loud”. You will remember it from the Modern Warfare 2; it plays both during the epic Gulag mission, and at the beginning of certain online game modes.

It certainly lives up to its name, never fails to get the adrenaline flowing. TARGET NEUTRALISED!!