Star Trek Anti-Virus - in Klingon
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in Klingon, science, Star Trek on
I’m not sure what to make of this, and it’s probably a PR stunt to make the most out of the release of the recent Star Trek movie, but security vendor Sophos have decided to release anti-virus software in Klingon.
Having a Mac I can’t really see what the difference there is to English version anti-virus software because I can’t run the exe file, but I’m guessing it does the same thing - only in Klingon.
Funny thing about Klingon is that it actually is a real language. Not in the sense that there is actually a race of Klingons, but more in the sense that a trained linguist was actually called upon to create an alien language. (More details here).
I saw the Star Trek movie recently thanks to Symantec (security and geekery could could possibly go hand in hand then), and enjoyed it. It went very quickly, which was a good sign, and all the new versions of old characters really did work for me.
Generally though when I think about Star Trek I think about Next Generation because it was more what I watched when growing up, although I do have a soft spot for Deep Space Nine.
However, this movie will make all the classic characters like Spock and Kirk at the front of Star Trek thinking, which I guess is where the belong.
There’s definite sequel potential in it, and if there’s no Klingon in part two, I will be very surprised!
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Human cloning - are we already there?
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in research, science, human clones, Predictions on
In my feature the Top five sci-fi tech we didn’t get, I put human cloning as one of the technologies we haven’t seen yet, and remarked that with advances in DNA science it could be closer than I thought.
Well, reports have indicated that ‘maverick’ doctor Panayiotis Zavos has already done it - cloning 14 human embryos and implanting them in the wombs of 14 volunteers.
Naturally, the Daily Mail has chosen to go for the fury baiting angle, by reporting that a ten year old little girl who died at the age of ten could be brought back to life thanks to freezing blood cells that he secured after her death.
According to the Independent, the cloning was recorded by a documentary film-maker, who testified that the cloning had taken place, and that he was actually dealing with women who were prepared to carry the first cloned embryos specifically created for human reproduction.
Is this to be believed and are we actually at a stage where human clones could be born? The New Scientist makes the good point that he provided no scientific proof or data to back up the claims.
If it isn’t true, then it shows the lengths and ways people will go to in securing publicity and fame. He appears to have a long career and has a long list of qualifications - is he so desperate for publicity that he would go as far as making up wild claims?
If it is true, then that’s a whole different matter. It is simply hard to believe that people would volunteer to have a cloned baby, but perhaps if you are looking at the publicity and fame surrounding it, then it is maybe understandable.
From the doctor’s point of view, you can also understand why he’s attempting it in the first place. No matter how abhorrent you may find it, a successful birth of a human clone would put his name down in history forever.
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