March 2017

Old and new dinosaur classification (Image courtesy Nature)

An article published in the journal “Nature” describes a new hypothesis regarding the relationships within the group of dinosaurs. A team of scientists from the British Cambridge University and the Natural History Museum in London proposed a new structure for the tree of the dinosaur group that heavily restructures the classical groups by assigning a number of new names as well. The scientists also proposed the hypothesis that dinosaurs originated in the northern hemisphere and not in the southern.

The Wall Street Journal reported the launch of Neuralink, the new Elon Musk company. The restless founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors has opened another company to develop a technology that allows to directly connect the human brain to a computer. Neuralink was registered as a medical research company because the project doesn’t have a transhumanist purpose only but also aims to develop treatments for neurological problems.

The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards

The novel “The Resurrection Casket” by Justin Richards was published for the first time in 2006.

The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler are traveling in the Tardis when they’re forced to land by a strange anomaly that knocks out the Tardis systems. The two travelers find themselves on the planet Starfall, where no modern technology works and must wait until the Tardis fixes its own systems to be able to leave.

The Doctor and Rose discover a world whose inhabitants are in search of a legendary treasure and where steam technology was developed so much as to create robots with personality. There they get involved in the agenda of Drel McCavity, who owns the planet and is a collector of local artifacts.

Doliodus problematicus specimen (Photo courtesy John G. Maisey et al)

An article published in the journal “American Museum Novitates” describes a research that provides the strongest evidence yet that sharks descended from a very ancient group of fish called acanthodians. A team of researchers led by John Maisey of American Museum of Natural History’s Division of Paleontology analyzed fossil remains that were exceptionally preserved of an ancient shark-like fish called Doliodus problematicus identifying it as a transitional species between acanthodians and sharks.

The short story “Reading the Clouds” by Tendai Huchu was published for the first time in 2016.

George programmed the simulation of a universe that includes a civilization of sentient beings. It’s a very complex project and running it is even more difficult because of his disagreements with his son Jesse, who has ideas different from his father’s about the development of the simulated civilization. Interfering with a simulated world can have consequences on the real one but what’s real?