Category: Uncategorized
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The cover for Athena’s anthology. Too bad we have to wait till April.
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Thanks to David Brin‘s recommendation, I spent an unexpected weekend on interview for an upcoming episode of Alien Encounters. Produced by Karga7, this Science Channel show imagines an alien spaceship that lands on Earth to disperse a mysterious microbial substance. Minus the space ship, it sounds rather like The Highest Frontier. Above is Avi’s story board,…
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“The islands of our planet are at war against climate change, warming temperatures and rising seas. Entire nations that currently occupy this Assembly, whose representatives sit among us as friends and equals, may simply cease to exist as a result of our inaction.” These words come from the warning of island nations at the UN,…
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Well, it’s getting to that time of year when my Bio Sci Fi students encounter biology more bizarre than science fiction. We already saw the new trachea engineered from stem cells, and the glow-in-the-dark cat that will help find a cure for AIDS. This week we get to the basics of DNA mapping. So here’s…
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Students at Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, were there at 6:30am to vote–one on crutches. 500 students voted, beyond those who voted early, probably 800 in all. But voting is just the beginning. The national results are exciting–but we’re left with a failed school levy, and a congress person who supports fracking. Voting is just…
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Brain Plague was too ahead of its time in 2000; you can tell from the early reviews, people had trouble understanding microbial brains. Today, Nature Reviews Microbiology reports on the connection between our gut microbes and our own brains. Psychiatric disorders are connected to irritable bowl syndrome and liver disease. Even fecal transplant might help…
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This week for Biology in Science Fiction, my students came up with testable hypothesis for why bioluminescence evolved in the plants and animals of Avatar. Here are some of the more fascinating proposals. HYPOTHESIS #1 Since the luminescence is activated by touch [Jake shows, while chasing Neytiri back to Hometree], it may be a warning…
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A recent review of The Highest Frontier by neuroscientist Matt Weber calls the book a “mix of Charlie Stross and Jane Smiley.” While vastly flattered by this comparison, I take issue with some other points. An Amherst grad, Matt admits to being “sensitive because one of the running jokes is that Amherst once accidentally admitted…
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So what does it take for a college to host a presidential debate? “Is the humidity in the hall just right? Are there enough hotel rooms nearby to hold the hordes of campaign staffers and journalists? Will the candidates’ dressing rooms be big enough?” Sounds like The Highest Frontier to me. And as usual, the…
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Here is a more interesting one; a family of the cephaglobinids in A Door into Ocean. My students will do this one on Friday. Cephaglobinids are the squids on steroids, such as the “rocket squids” that fly out of the water, and the seaswallowers that migrate from pole to pole, devouring entire floating rafts. Then…
Joan Slonczewski 