2017

Asgard archaea in the tree of life (Image courtesy Eva Fernandez-Caceres)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” describes the discovery of new microorganisms that provide more information on the evolution of eukaryotic organisms, the ones formed by complex cells. The new species discovered are archaea that were called Thor, Odin and Heimdall, simpler organisms that however have some characteristics found only in eukaryotes and together with another archaea family called Loki whose discovery was announced in September 2015, form a group that was called the Asgard archaea.

The Green Brain by Frank Herbert

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The novel “The Green Brain” by Frank Herbert was published for the first time in 1966. It’s the expanded version of a novelette titled “Greenslaves” published in 1965 in the magazine “Amazing Stories”.

To try to remedy the overpopulation, nations such as China and Brazil are looking to expand their habitable areas in the jungle. Among the work needed there’s the total elimination of insects with actual weapons but that causes a series of unexpected consequences.

Joao Martinho and his team are supposed to clean up an area of ​​Mato Grosso in Brazil but are hampered by insects that seem immune to elimination attempts. Giant insect sightings seem just nonsense or fraud but even the assistance of the Chinese scientist Chen-Lhu and entomologist Rhin Kelly bring no progress. The insects seem to be under the control of an intelligence but who or what can it be?

Haplophrentis carinatus reconstruction (Image courtesy Danielle Dufault/ROM)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” describes a research on Haplophrentis carinatus and in general of the group of hyoliths, animals that lived during the Cambrian period, starting from about 530 million years ago. A team of researchers from the University of Toronto found evidence that these animals are related to the brachiopods (phylum Brachiopoda), marine invertebrates that existed at the time of which some species still exist today.

If the Stars Are Gods by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund (Italian edition)

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The novel “If the Stars Are Gods” by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund was published for the first time in 1977. It’s a fix-up of stories published in previous years.

Bradley Reynolds already has experience with space missions that have scientific purposes including the search for alien life forms in the solar system. The arrival from outer space of an alien spacecraft forces him to a different mission because he has to understand the way of thinking of beings who think that the stars are gods and speak to them.

After that experience, Bradley Reynolds retires to private life but after many years is called when an alien message is picked up. The search for the meaning of that message brings him to a space station in orbit around Jupiter in a situation made complex also by what happens on Earth.

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George Alec Effinger was born on January 10, 1947, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The greatest successes came for George Alec Effinger in the ’80s, particularly the Marîd Audran series, with the protagonist who operates in the Budayeen, a district in a Middle Eastern city heavily inspired by the New Orleans French Quarter with plenty of transsexuals, transvestites, and more. The stories also have strong cyberpunk influences with characters that have cybernetic implants of various kinds.
Throughout his life, George Alec Effinger suffered serious health problems that in the ’90s became too serious for him to continue with his work as a writer. The growth of medical costs led him at one point to his inability to pay for the cures. One of the gastric ulcers he suffered from caused internal bleeding which caused his death on April 27, 2002.