Nanobots (very small robots, potentially as tiny as molecules) have been a staple of science fiction for decades. But, despite massive investment in scientific research that has produced amazing things, actual nanobots haven’t made it into the real world. However, that may be about to change. This article talks about research at the University of California …
Category Archives: science
Where are all the aliens?
An article in Science presents research showing that the building blocks of life are more prevalent than previously thought. It says a lot of other things too, but this is what I get out of it. This makes me wonder more than ever about the Fermi Paradox, which states that reasonable assumptions lead to the …
Is the Brain Multi-dimensional?
Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain contains multi-dimensional geometric structures, up to 11 dimensions. The scientists are talking about algebraic topology, and how it describes neurons connecting into ‘cliques’, and that the description requires higher-dimensional geometric objects. This is a mathematical concept, and they are not claiming to have measured higher dimensional space-time objects (after all, …
Culling the Human Race
This article talks about how a very small mutation allowed the H7N9 flu virus to jump from birds to humans, and it disturbs me for two reasons. The first is how minor the change was that allowed this to happen. The second is how long after the fact the science is catching up to this virus. What if …
Book Review of THE BEAUTIFUL LAND
Alan Averill’s THE BEAUTIFUL LAND was a real surprise for me. I picked it up on a bit of a whim; the premise was interesting and I knew it won the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, so I was curious. Technically it is speculative fiction, but the physics concept is so far beyond the bleeding …
#MyWritingProcess
Welcome to this tour of my brain. Hopefully it will provide some enlightenment as to my writing process, or at least supply more data for my future commitment proceedings. I lead with a current picture of myself in my writing attire. If you suspect I’m pushing the definition of “current” too far, then I’ll have …
Book review of NEVER LET ME GO
Kazuo Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO is speculative fiction at its best. Ishiguro contemplates an alternate reality where clones are raised for spare parts. Do I hear groaning? Relax, this isn’t yet another rehash of a tired old science fiction troupe: step one, clones are blissfully ignorant; step two, clones realize they’re only spare parts; …
Book Review of THE HANDMAID’S TALE
I first read this book soon after it was published and just re-read it a quarter century later. This is a seminal work about gender roles that is often mistaken as a rant against religion. Atwood needed a dystopia in which to set her tale of Offred. She chose a religious dystopia, perhaps because there …
Physics and Art 