May 2019

Arthur Conan Doyle in 1914 (Photo Walter Benington)

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Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. “A Study in Scarlet”, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, was published in 1887 and was a great success. 56 short stories and three more novels about the famous detective were published in the following years: “The Sign of Four” (1890), “The Hound of the Baskervilles” (1902) and “The Valley of Fear” (1915). At a certain point the author made Holmes die in the short story “The Final Problem”, which introduces his archenemy Moriarty, but the readers’ reaction convinced him to find a way to change the detective’s destiny.

The novel “The Lost World” (1912) became a classic among modern science fiction precursors. Arthur Conan Doyle re-used the character of Professor Challenger for some other novels and short stories that today can be considered science fiction.

On July 7, 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle suffered a heart attack at his country home in Windlesham. At the time of his death, the character of Sherlock Holmes had already become the protagonist of some movies and a number of short films, quickly becoming an icon far beyond literature. He’s a crucial character in the detective story / mystery genre but the author is also remembered for other important works in various genres, also often adapted in cinema and television productions.

Ultima by Stephen Baxter

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The novel “Ultima” by Stephen Baxter was published for the first time in 2014. It’s the second book in the Proxima series and follows “Proxima”.

A group of people reached a different timeline and only the artificial intelligence known as Earthshine has some idea about what’s going on. The human beings who made that strange journey are only interested in trying to make a living in the new conditions despite the difficulties.

For Earthshine the matter is quite different because its plans are much more ambitious and long-term. The new situation is just another step in the search for the mysterious creators of hatches and kernels. His actions, however, can bring unexpected consequences, at least for his old traveling companions.

A spontaneous use of excavating tools observed in a group of chimpanzees

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An article published in the journal “PLOS ONE” reports the observation of the spontaneous use of tools to dig food buried in the ground in the zoo by a group of chimpanzees on the island where there’s the Kristiansand Zoo, in Norway. A team of researchers led by Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar of the University of Oslo observed the kind of actions taken by chimpanzees that never had the chance to observe them.

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David Boreanaz was born on May 16, 1969 in Buffalo, New York, USA. During his school years, David Boreanaz practiced various sports at a good level but at the Ithaca University he graduated in cinema and photography in 1991 with the intention of starting an acting career.

The great change in David Boreanaz’s career came when he was cast to play Angel in the TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, which began in 1997. Starting in 2005, David Boreanaz played FBI agent Seeley Booth in the TV show “Bones”. In 2017 David Boreanaz started playing Jason Hayes in the TV show “SEAL Team”, which follows the missions of a Navy SEAL unit.

Screenshot from an IllustrisTNG simulation (Image courtesy IllustrisTNG project)

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An article published in the journal “Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology” presents the complete public release of the simulations coded as TNG100 and TNG300 of the IllustrisTNG project, a highly sophisticated simulation of the universe that has been improved over years of work. A team of researchers kept on improving its details and functionalities also by developing new interaction and exploration 2D and 3D tools to simulate two cubes of space of 100 and 300 million parsec side length.