Islands in Lake Huron, between South Baymouth (on Manitoulin Island) and Tobermory, Ontario. More photos here.
Scientists do the work of SF writers…
…and make a list of some of the planets that may exist in other solar systems. I’ve posted about it at Futurismic. (Rather than copy my posts from there here, from now on I’ll just make a note when I post something over there–apparently the searchbots and webspiders don’t like duplicate content.)
Nuclear summer
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. *** As a science writer, I’ve written about a lot of things I’ve never expected to see up close. The outer planets of the solar system, for example. The bottom of the ocean. Nuclear reactors. I still haven’t reached Neptune, and I’ve never been …
Robot and human surgeons compare micro-gravity operating skills
Good news for future space travelers: the world’s first demonstration of robotic surgery in a simulated micro-gravity environment takes place this week, in a collaborative effort between SRI International and the University of Cincinnati. On four parabolic flights September 25 to 28 aboard a NASA C-9 aircraft (nicknamed the “Weightless Wonder“), a human surgeon will …
Photo of the Day that was Actually Taken Some Time Ago: Lake Huron Sunset
Sunset over Lake Huron, seen from Thessalon, Ontario. (More photos here.)
Pulp-based computing
In computers, we have software and hardware. Jokingly, the human brain is sometimes called wetware. Up next: pulpware! OK, technically it’s hardware–wires, sensors and computer chips–embedded in paper or cardboard. A spiral of conductive ink can be a speaker, or a touch sensor. Two layers, and a page can tell when it is being bent. …
Photo of the Day that Was Actually Taken Some Time Ago: Chequamegon Bay, Ashland, Wisconsin
I haven’t been posting a photo of the day because I took so many photos on our recent driving trip to Ontario that I’m a little burned out on photography. So instead, I’m going to start posting some scenes from our vacation, beginning with this view of a very small part of Lake Superior from …
The wave of the publishing future?
Harlequin, the world’s biggest publisher of romance novels, is going to start making all of its new titles available for download on the Internet – 120 titles a month. Will more “respectable” publishers follow suit?
Genetic modification of large animals just got easier
Efforts to genetically modify large animals have been hindered by the fact that the two methods currently used to effect it, somatic cell nuclear transfer or pronuclear injection, are costly, inefficient, difficult, and carry a risk of producing abnormal offspring. Now researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have successfully produced genetically …
They like me, they really like me!
Just heard from my agent that DAW is going to buy my proposed sequel to Marseguro, working title Terra Insegura. Woo-hoo! Watch for the return of “the first sentence I wrote today” in the very near future…
Well, it was nice while it lasted…
…but it turns out there was an error in my Persephone Theatre contract and I really am playing Monsier D’Arque, as I originally thought, not Maurice, in the upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast. That’s life upon the wicked stage, I guess. It makes more sense, though; I thought I would be an odd …
Smarter than the average Harvard senior!
I got 51 right out of 60 on this quiz about American history, government and politics, for an 85 percent average, and most of the questions I missed I don’t feel too badly about, although there were a couple where, when I read the correct answers, I felt extremely “Duh!” The quiz has been in …
My latest live walk and vlog
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