One of the exceedingly cool things about living in the time we live in is this: some of the really hardcore science fiction ideas of the past 50 years are becoming technically possible. Now they may not be practical, but I find it amazing that we can seriously contemplate building something like a space elevator.

This article on CNN talks about a world-wide conference being held in Japan this fall to discuss the feasibility of such a project.  As the article states, the space elevator was first suggested by Arthur C. Clarke in his novel The Fountains of Paradise in 1979. It's shown up in other novesl since then; the most memorable one I can remember is Kim Stanley Robinson's martian space elevator in Red Mars (a technological feat made easier by the Red Planet's lower gravity; the elevator's fall from orbit during the Martian revolution is one of the book's most amazing scenes.