Gun that makes you puke, and other links

The wall-penetrating vomit beam.

Lightning gun.

A new drug wipes out fearful memories. Hmm, sounds a lot like Ray Loriga's novel Tokyo Doesn't Love Us Anymore.

Life on Mars

Plant life on Mars and human life on Mars. Via Paleo-Future.

Gotta get me one of those ray guns

Inventions and ideas by science fiction writers at Technovelgy.

Science Fiction online

The Last Question, a novella by Isaac Asimov.

Contemporary Science Fiction at Futurismic.

Peter Watt's novel Blindsight is downloadable online under a Creative Commons license. Haven't had the time to read it yet, but it sure sounds interesting. A review from Publisher's Weekly says:

Canadian author Watts (Starfish) explores the nature of consciousness in this stimulating hard SF novel, which combines riveting action with a fascinating alien environment. In the late 21st century, when something alien is discovered beyond the edge of the solar system, the spaceship Theseus sets out to make contact. Led by an enigmatic AI and a genetically engineered vampire, the crew includes a biologist who's more machine than human, a linguist with surgically induced multiple personality disorder, a professional soldier who's a pacifist, and Siri Keeton, a man with only half a brain. Keeton is virtually incapable of empathy, but he has a savant's ability to model and predict the actions of others without understanding them. Once the Theseus arrives at the gigantic and hideously dangerous alien artifact (which has tellingly self-named itself Rorschach), the crew must deal with beings who speak English fluently but who may, paradoxically, not even be sentient, at least as we understand the term. Watts puts a terrifying and original spin on the familiar alien contact story.

O brave new world

Private police forces

They wear uniforms, carry weapons and drive lighted patrol cars on private
properties like banks and apartment complexes and in public areas like bus
stations and national monuments. Sometimes they operate as ordinary citizens and
can only make citizen's arrests, but in more and more states they're being
granted official police powers.

The Panopticon Singularity

Surveillance need not even stop at our skin; the ability to monitor our
speech and track our biological signs (for example: pulse, pupillary dilation,
or possibly hormone and neurotransmitter levels) may lead to attempts to monitor
thoughts as well as deeds.

Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?

AI Cited for Unlicensed Practice of Law.