September 2016

Big Bang Larissa and Case 74 by Cristian M. Teodorescu

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The short story “Big Bang Larissa” by Cristian M. Teodorescu was published for the first time in 2014. It was translated from Romenian by Loredana Fratila Cristescu.

Larissa is twenty years and starts asking her mom questions about the nature and origin of money. Her mother doesn’t want to give her only ritual commandments and answers based on various rules and tries to explain how Accounting, Mint and other elements of Finance work but her daughter’s curiosity threatens to trigger a crisis.

Convergence between ancient reptiles and dinosaurs (Image courtesy Michelle Stocker et al.)

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An article published in the journal “Current Biology” describes a research on a species of reptile that was called Triopticus primus. A group of paleontologists led by Michelle Stocker of Virginia Tech College of Science studied this reptile that lived about 230 million years ago, noting several features similar to those of pachycephalosaur dinosaurs that lived 100 million years later. The research also revealed other similarities between animals contemporary to Triopticus primus and dinosaurs that lived millions of years later.

The Deviant Strain by Justin Richards

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The novel “The Deviant Strain” by Justin Richards was published for the first time in 2005.

A distress call is picked up by the Tardis and when the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler come to check the Doctor says it’s OK because someone answered. Captain Jack Harkness admits he was the one who answered so the travelers have to go to the signal’s origin, on Earth at the beginning of the 21st century.

The Tardis takes the travelers to the Novrosk peninsula, where there’s an old Soviet naval base, now abandoned. When the Russian special forces arrive, it’s clear that something serious has happened and Colonel Levin who heads the operation explains that a body in really poor conditions was found in the circle of stones existing in the area. Who or what reduced him like that?

American alligator

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Two articles, one published in the “Journal of Herpetology” and another in the journal “Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology”, describe a research about the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). A team of researchers led by Dr. Evan Whiting of the University of Minnesota states that 8 million years ago they looked the same as today and even 30 million years ago they were not very different so they’re older than expected.

Dani tribesman from Papua New Guinea

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Three articles published in the journal “Nature” describe as many genetic studies that aim to reconstruct the genetic history of modern humans’ migrations. The results agree that non-African populations show traces of a single expansion started from Africa about 75,000 years ago. However, one study suggests that at least 2% of the DNA of the inhabitants of today’s Papua New Guinea comes from a previous migration. One of the studies shows that Aboriginal Australians split from the Papuans about 37,000 years ago.