September 2023

Gravity by Tess Gerritsen

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The novel “Gravity” by Tess Gerritsen was published for the first time in 1999.

When a scientific experiment involving a species of archaea conducted on the International Space Station seems to fail, the directive given is to incinerate everything. That seems like the end of it, also because the Station doctor is rushed back to Earth when his wife is the victim of an accident.

Emma Watson is training within the Station’s regular crew rotation and being sent there ahead of schedule seems like a dream come true despite the tragic circumstances. However, when Japanese astronaut Kenichi Hirai starts feeling ill showing symptoms that are difficult to diagnose, the dream begins to turn into a nightmare.

Southlakia epibionticum, a type of Patescibacteria, growing on the surface of much larger, orange microbes. (Image courtesy Yaxi Wang, Wai Pang Chan and Scott Braswell/University of Washington)

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An article published in the journal “Cell” reports the results of the use of genetic manipulation to study the behavior of some bacteria belonging to a large group called Patescibacteria. A team of researchers managed to manipulate the DNA of bacteria belonging to the phylum Saccharibacteria, which is part of that large group, which is considered microbial dark matter for the difficulties biologists had in studying them. These are bacteria discovered not many years ago that are now considered interesting for their metabolic characteristics, which for example, may include enzymes useful in biotechnological applications.

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

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The novel “Waking Gods” by Sylvain Neuvel was published for the first time in 2017. It’s the second book in the Themis Files trilogy and follows “Sleeping Giants”.

It’s been years since the parts of the robot of alien origin that was named Themis were reassembled. It is now possible to drive it but there are still many unanswered questions regarding how it works and much more. For example, nobody knows what happened to Rose Franklin. The Earth Defense Corps, formed to defend the Earth from potential alien threats, seems quite useless.

The situation changes radically when another robot appears on Earth, in the middle of London. British authorities aren’t the only ones concerned about the consequences of alien arrivals on Earth. All over the world, emotional reactions are running high and even the mysterious man who manipulated the world’s most powerful people is losing control.