Archives
Cassini-Huygens
If you’re a kid interested in astronomy, as I was, there are few thrills to compare with your first view of the rings of Saturn. So you can imagine how excited astronomers (and ex-kids like myself) are with the imminent arrival of the International Cassini-Huygens Mission at Saturn. The $3 billion space probe, launched October 15, 1997, is scheduled to enter orbit around Saturn on June 30. The maneuver place it there promises to be nailbitingly tense. Cassini will fire its main engine for 96 minutes to reduce its speed enough for it to be captured by Saturn’s gravity. As it enters orbit, it will pass right through one of the gaps in Saturn’s rings. It will ...Choosing a mate
How many times have you heard it said that "opposites attract"? From movies to books to musicals, it’s an idea that has been drummed into our heads: Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, for instance, or Liza Doolitle and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. But a new study has found that when men and women start seriously seeking a mate, they look for someone who is similar to them. Stephen Emlen, a behavioral ecologist at Cornell University, conducted the study with Peter Buston, who is now at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They gave questionnaires to almost 1000 men and women aged 18 to 24. Each was asked to rank the desirability of ...Rise of the aircar
It’s almost summer, that time of year when millions of vacationers develop whole new vocabularies as they curse the slow-moving RVs behind which they’re stuck. What they need is a car that can fly, a.k.a. an aircar, a staple of science fiction stories since at least the 1930s, but something that hasn’t gotten off the ground...yet. Nevertheless, as a recent story in Technology Review points out, new technology may soon make it a reality. The biggest problem with the aircar dream has always been the fact that ordinary drivers would presumably be at the controls (scary thought). But today’s powerful computers, combined with navigational technologies such as the Global Positioning Satellite system and advanced collision-avoidance ...Scientific stain removal
I like to write about the latest discoveries in cosmology and particle physics. But not all scientific research is focused on these frontiers. Some of it is aimed as close as--well, that spot of mustard on your pants. Textile experts at Cornell University have published a pamphlet with detailed, laboratory-tested instructions on how to remove almost 250 different types of stains. Judy L. Price, a retired extension educator from Monroe County, N.Y., and Ann T. Lemley, professor and chair of textiles and apparel in the New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell, worked together to update a 1975 Cornell publication called Removing Stains at Home. A ...Air conditioning
If you were fortunate enough to be able to spend last week in a climate-controlled environment, give thanks to Willis Haviland Carrier, whose new-fangled invention, air conditioning, first went into service 100 years ago, on July 17, 1902. Modern air conditioning is an offshoot of an earlier invention, mechanical refrigeration, which is based on the fact that liquids absorb heat from their surroundings when they evaporate or boil. By controlling the liquid's pressure, you can control the temperature at which this happens: the lower the pressure, the lower the boiling point. In both refrigerators and air conditioners, a compressor compresses a gas, which heats up as it is pressurized. Coils (on the back side of a ...Mars in the Arctic
A unique construction project finally overcame delays and disaster last week to take shape in the Arctic. It looks more or less like an oil tank, but in fact it's a model of the kind of habitat humans may one day live in when they visit Mars. The two-story fiberglass structure is the brainchild of The Mars Society, a private, not-for-profit organization whose goal is to encourage the exploration and settlement of Mars. And it's on Devon Island, Nunavut, for the simple reason that that remote, treeless island--part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands grouped between Baffin Bay and the Arctic Ocean--is about as close as Earth has to offer to a Martian environment....Air
A report this week that air pollution, particularly ground-level ozone, is a more serious problem in Canada than previously thought got me to thinking about this stuff that we breathe. What is air? It's a question we don't ask very often, because we generally take air for granted. Air is the mixture of gases comprising the atmosphere. Exactly what that mixture is, however, is harder to pin down, because while the concentration of some of the gases is nearly constant everywhere, others change from place to place and from time to time. Most people, when they think of air, think of oxygen, which from our point of view is certainly ...Avalanches
Every year, on average, avalanches kill 10 people in Canada. In the past few days, two more people were added to this year's tragic toll as Michel Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and Susanna Donald, a University of Calgary student from Regina, became the latest victims of these deadly snowslides, also known and feared as the "White Death." The yearly toll has been increasing in the past few years as more and more people take to the backcountry in winter. Avalanches happen naturally--it's estimated there are a million of them a year throughout the world's mountain ranges--but in cases where the avalanches claim victims, 90 percent of the time, experts ...Asteroids
Most of the time, they're harmless. Innocuous, really. They tumble along, minding their own business, not hurting anybody. But every once in a while--BOOM! "They" are asteroids, and when they go boom, it's because they've run into something. When that something is Earth...well, you've got trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with E, and that stands for "extinction." Probably, 65 million years ago, of the dinosaurs; possibly, next time, of us. Asteroids are rocky and/or metallic objects that orbit the Sun, just like the Earth does, but are too small to be considered planets. They're also known as "minor planets." They can be as small as a pebble ...The ocean
I've always been fascinated by the ocean: the endless rolling of the waves, the water's changing moods, the limitless horizon. Or maybe it's just because, coming from the dry prairies, I'm amazed that anything can be that big and wet. How big and wet? The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface: 361 million square kilometres, and holds roughly 1.34 billion cubic kilometres of water. Close to continents, it's relatively shallow, slowly sloping out, over a distance of many kilometres, to a depth of about 200 metres. This "continental shelf" gives way abruptly to the continental slope, which descends steeply to about 3500 metres; then there's an area called the continental rise, which slopes more ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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