Joss Whedon’s doomed struggle: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and superhero cinema’s decadent phase – Salon.com

So Joss Whedon, TV cult hero and creator of the Buffyverse, has spent most of the last five years engaged in immensely lucrative struggle with a Marvel Comics mashup franchise. Toward what end, I am genuinely not sure. I have tried to take the question seriously: I went back and watched “The Avengers” again, and…

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IBM Just Cracked One of the Biggest Problems Facing Quantum Computing

Quantum computing could make complex calculations trivial—but it’s currently fraught with problems. Now, though, IBM has solved one of the biggest, allowing it to detect the internal errors that could otherwise render quantum calculation useless. One of the many problems exhibited by the breed of future computers is that they exist in the delicate and…

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New Test Suggests NASA’s “Impossible” EM Drive Will Work In Space

Last year, NASA’s advanced propulsion research wing made headlines by announcing the successful test of a physics-defying electromagnetic drive, or EM drive. Now, this futuristic engine, which could in theory propel objects to near-relativistic speeds, has been shown to work inside a space-like vacuum. Illustration: “Dreamscape IV,” by jamajurabaev, via Deviantart NASA Eagleworks made the…

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