I’ve been working hard on editing book two in the Logan’s World series, Kwelengsen Dawn, which will release on June 7th. I’m getting toward the end of this round of editing, and most of the work is the frustrating, nit-picky job of commas, periods, and similar. The downside of this focus is that it means less time available for the third book, but fear not! Work is still progressing on the end of the trilogy. Right now though, it’s time for my weekly look at interesting stories from the world of science.
- One of the big challenges to any kind of long-term operation on the moon is that it has no atmosphere. But a new device being developed by ESA, the European Space Agency, will be able to extract oxygen from the lunar regolith (dust) that covers the surface, making sustainable lunar habitats possible. Read more…
- One of the biggest mysteries surrounds how life on Earth developed, and one theory, known as Panspermia, holds that life-bearing compounds from space may have seeded life on our planet. Now, astrobiologists have shown that peptides, the precursors of proteins, can spontaneously form on particles of cosmic dust, and could have provided the building blocks of life. Read more…
- In the TV series The Expanse, we see people living and working in the asteroid belt. These “belters” are looked down upon by the Earth and Mars people, and this creates much of the political tension in the shows. This article analyzes in depth how the asteroid belt could become the Solar System’s industrial hub. Read more…
- Networks of neural nodes known as “transformers” have been successfully used to handle language and are now being applied to the area of computer vision and object recognition, but they may also have a lot more potential in artificial intelligence. Read more…
- Traditionally, nuclear power stations are big, expensive, and take a long time to build, but with the new focus on the environment they’re getting new exposure as an alternative to fossil-fuel systems. But what if we could make them smaller and safer? Read more…
- We tend to associate intelligence with larger brains. But recently, researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that a tiny predatory worm, with a brain comprised of just 302 neurons (humans have around 86 billion), is capable of surprisingly complex thought processes. Read more…
- And while on the subject of intelligence, a new study shows that lead exposure from gasoline in the 60s and 70s has reduced the IQ of millions of people, and could lead to a greater incidence of brain-related illnesses and other long-term health issues. Read more…
- In Star Wars, the planet Tattooine orbits a binary pair of stars and also has three moons, but nature can be even more inventive it seems, and astronomer Ana Díaz-Rodríguez and her team used the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array (VLA), along with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), to discover that star system SVS 13 is not only a binary pair but also has three separate planetary systems forming around it! Read more…
- Spider silk is an amazing substance, capable of creating incredibly strong bonds, but now it might prove useful in the fight against cancer, as a group of Swedish scientists have started fusing it with anti-cancer proteins that can protect us more effectively. Read more…
Which of these stories do you like most? Have you seen any you think should be included? Let me know in the comments. Stay safe, positive, and curious!
