James Cameron is a fish at heart.

My hero James Cameron is an ocean lover to say the least. He's brought us such movies as The Abyss, Titanic and Avatar, as well as the documentaries Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. Oh, and let's not forget Piranha 2! In 2011 Cameron was named an Explorer-in-Residence by National Geographic for his commitment to discovery, and now he hopes to take us all to the lowest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, 7 miles below the surface. Not since 1960 has anyone gone down to those depths, and that trip only lasted 20 minutes. Cameron will spend 6 hours at the bottom, and hopes to usher in a new era of deep-sea exploration by showing us what's down there... in 3D! I think it's cool. I mean, it's not like any of us are ever going to swim down there. I just hope James doesn't get eaten by a large whale or something because I'm very much looking forward to seeing Avatar 2 & 3, which Cameron has said will focus on the oceans of Pandora... Maybe going to the bottom of our ocean will spark some creativity, because there's probably shit down there that we've never even seen! Good luck, and bring me back something cool.

Solar Storm hits today.

The strongest solar storm in five years hit Earth today, after a large solar flare escaped the Sun on Tuesday. Although we aren't facing mass extinction quite yet, the storm could potentially disrupt satellite activity or power grids, and there is some risk of radiation for those flying in high altitude airplanes. On the plus side, you may get to see the northern lights much farther south than normal, all the way down to the Canada/USA border. To do so you may have to escape all the light pollution that most major cities produce nowadays, and the full moon tonight could also make the lights harder to see. The storm should pass by tomorrow, and the wait continues for the next Extinction Level Event.

Mars is here.

Mars will be making a close approach to Earth tonight, so keep your eyes open for that reddish yellow light in the Eastern sky. It will get even closer over the next couple days, giving us a good look at the planet's features and poles. Every couple years Mars and Earth align, and this pass brings Mars and Earth within 62.6 million miles of one another. This isn't the closest our two planets have been. Back in 2003 Mars came within 34.8 million miles of Earth, but that won't happen again for another 275 years. I plan on living to see it, but I don't know about the rest of you mortals. If you're interested in seeing Mars, but you're too lazy to leave your computer, you can find some live streams online. I do recommend the real thing though.

Kairuku, the penguin of 26 million years ago.

35 years ago, the first bones were discovered for a giant sea bird, long extinct. It's taken scientists some time to reconstruct the skeleton, using three different sets of fossils, but we now have our first glimpse of what the penguin-like animal looked like. Standing over 4 feet tall, the Kairuku, meaning "diver who returns with food", had a slender build, long wings, and a spear-like bill that would have been perfect for making sashimi. Being a larger animal than modern penguins, this thing would have likely been able to swim farther and deeper, making easy prey of all sorts of fish. No one knows exactly what would have cause the Kairuku to become extinct, but competition for food, new predators, and climate change are likely candidates.

Virgin Galactic test flights in 2012

 
I like Richard Branson because he knows how to use his billions of dollars wisely. If I had that much money I would be researching space travel myself. Alas, I don't even have a fraction of the $200,000 that Virgin Galactic is charging for a flight into space, but 500 other people have already booked their ticket... lucky bums. This year Virgin Galactic plan suborbital tests of SpaceShipTwo, the first of the five ships in their fleet, designed by Scaled Composites. They have already conducted 31 test flights inside Earth's atmosphere, some attached to a carrier aircraft named WhiteKnightTwo, and other glide tests. They hope to start testing their rocket motors later this year, and the plan is to offer commercial flights by 2013 or 2014. Time to start saving if you want to see the Earth against the backdrop of space and join the 68 mile high club.

30,000 Year Old Plant

 
Russian scientists have successfully revived a 30,000 year old plant from seed cells dug up in the Siberian permafrost. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Maybe they can also revive the little squirrel that buried those seeds... Okay that's a little less likely, but ice certainly has a way of preserving cells. Carbon dating on the seeds themselves came back at 31,800 years. It makes you wonder what other treasures are buried in the vast frozen soil that covers such a large majority of our planet. The plant, once grown, bore fruit and seeds the same as any modern day plant. Interesting stuff... Now let's revive a mammoth.

I watched... TAKE SHELTER

We all know that the world is going to screw us over one day, the real question is how... Take Shelter plays on the idea that something catastrophic is on the way, but instead of going all Emmerich on us, it focuses on a single family, and how their life begins to change when the father starts having visions of the impending doom. Played convincingly by Micheal Shannon, the Curtis character has nightmares and visions of deadly storms, and although the movie does a good job of making us question his sanity, the character himself chooses to act on his feelings, and spends his time and money building a storm shelter for his family. Although the movie is a little slow, the storm visuals are well done, and the movie does build some suspense as we try to decide if Curtis is crazy. To find out for sure you'll have to watch the movie. Now I'm all excited to see Michael Shannon play General Zod in Man of Steel. It's clear he's a good actor but it will be interesting to see how he handles playing the lead villain in a huge blockbuster. I think it's going to work out very well. Kneel before Zod!

Facebook going public? Looks that way.

Lots of talk about Facebook going public... Makes sense since 800 million of us use that site. Now you can own a little piece of it too. They are expected to file their IPO this week and the estimate right now is that they'll raise about $10 billion. That will bring their worth to $75 billion to $100 billion, and remind us all that nerds are fucking smart! Also, if you haven't already changed your profile to Timeline, you soon won't have a choice. It's going to be mandatory in the very near future, and remind us all why we shouldn't post shit online. Whatever.

XBOX 720 vs PS4

There have been rumors circling that Microsoft have started development on the successor to the Xbox 360, the tentatively titled Xbox 720. The new system will likely be available sometime in 2013, and will sport hardware for DirectX 11, 3D and multiple displays. Whether or not it will exceed the abilities of new and more powerful PCs will remain to be seen. Remember Microsoft, it's called "next-gen" for a reason. Meanwhile, Sony say they're in no rush to release the Play Station 4, indicating that they're under far less pressure than their competitors to release a console. I'm still enjoying my PS3, having bought it the first week it was released back in 2006. If a new system came out now I probably wouldn't rush out to get it anyway. Take your time and make it great, Sony.

Wii U by Xmas 2012?

Despite seeing a 60% decrease in quarterly profits, Nintendo hopes to get back on track by launching the Wii U for the 2012 holiday season. That's good news for Nintendo, who haven't exactly been keeping up with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The last Nintendo system I owned was the Nintendo 64, which at the time was a great system. Nintendo lost me as a customer when their games and graphics fell behind the quality products of their competition. From what I've seen of the Wii U, it looks like the system is a great leap forward for Nintendo, and may finally put them on par with other consoles. The wireless tablet style controller is also a nice touch, allowing you to interact with games, and even play entirely on the device if your TV is occupied. Good luck, Nintendo. I hope Santa brings you great success.