April 2014

Illustration of some application of BTO research (Image courtesy DARPA. All rights reserved)

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has opened a new division called Biological Technologies Office (BTO), which aims to develop biotechnologies. It’s a field in great development in recent years and the American agency intends to explore in particular the intersection of biology with physical sciences leading to a merge with engineering and computer science.

Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick (Italian edition)

The novel “Bones of the Earth” by Michael Swanwick was published for the first time in 2002.

Richard Leyster is a paleontologist who works for the Smithsonian Institution, where he deals in particular with dinosaurs. One day a Mr. Griffin offers him a job that requires absolute secrecy warning that there’s a risk of violent death. He provides no details but leaves a box and, after he’s gone, Leyster opens it and finds a real Stegosaurus head.

Leyster discovers that time travel is possible but only thanks to the fact that someone has provided the ability to perform it to humans. However, the exploitation of this possibility is subject to precise rules, which still allow scientific expeditions in the Mesozoic. The dangers, as well as fierce dinosaurs, come from a group of creationist terrorists who want to stop time travel at all costs.

Andrew Lincoln in 2012

On March 30 the fourth season of the show “The Walking Dead” ended. Like the third season, it was composed of 16 episodes of which 8 were broadcast in October / December 2013 and the other 8 in February / March 2014, again with extraordinary results in ratings. The show has already been renewed and a spinoff was also announced, which is expected to debut in 2015.