February 2018

Terminal Mind by David Walton

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The novel “Terminal Mind” by David Walton was published for the first time in 2008. It won the Philip K. Dick Award.

Mark McGovern is the son of a wealthy politician so his life is far more comfortable than the average, yet his best friend is Darin Kinsley, who belongs to a social class with which the rich generally avoid personal relationships. The situation for the two of them becomes complicated when they release a super-virus called a “slicer” into the net.

That event has a series of important consequences and ramifications that add tension in Philadelphia, one of the city-states that emerged from the fragmentation of the old USA. A political and social situation that was already unstable is likely to become explosive and the attempts to destroy the slicer make disturbing truths slowly emerge.

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Edward Hamilton Waldo, this is his birth name, was born on February 26, 1918 in New York, USA. His parents divorced when he was still a child, his mother remarried to William Sturgeon and he took his surname also changing his personal name, hence becoming legally Theodore Sturgeon.

In 1950 Theodore Sturgeon published his first novel, “The Dreaming Jewels”, also known as “The Synthetic Man”, first in the magazine “Fantastic Adventures” and later in a revised version as a book. In 1953 Theodore Sturgeon published his second novel, “More Than Human”, obtained fixing-up three previously published stories. These are the novels considered his masterpieces, in which he develops at best some elements typical of his works with misfit protagonists.

Theodore Sturgeon lived for several years in Springfield, Oregon, where he died on May 8, 1985 of pulmonary fibrosis. He left a mark in the field of science fiction with stories in which he explores his characters’ humanity in various ways. He’s also known for the law that bears his name that states that Ninety percent of [science fiction] is crud, but then, ninety percent of everything is crud”.

400 million-years old Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii fossil (Image courtesy The Natural History Museum, London. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” describes a research on the timeline of the mainland colonization by plants. A team of researchers led by the British University of Bristol used the molecular clock methodology to compare genetic differences among the various species even in the absence of complete fossils. The conclusion is that plants started colonizing the mainland about 100 million years earlier than previously thought based on the oldest fossils, which date back to about 420 million years ago.

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Jeri Lynn Zimmermann – this is her birth name – was born on February 22, 1968 in Munich, in the then West Germany, where her father, an American military, was serving.

In 1997 Jeri Ryan joned the cast of the TV show “Star Trek: Voyager” playing 7of9, a Borg drone who gests disconnected from the collective and must rediscover her individuality. She’s remembered in particular for her very close-fitting costume but in various episodes she also showed her acting skills for which she won the Golden Satellite Award in 1999 and the Saturn Award in 2001 also receiving nominations in other years. 7of9 is her most famous character, to which she also gave her voice in a couple of videogames based on that show.

Doctor Who - Planet of Giants

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“Planet of Giants” is the first adventure of the second season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1964. It follows “The Reign of Terror” and it’s a three parts adventure written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield.

Something’s wrong in the Tardis and the doors open during its journey. The First Doctor (William Hartnell) and Susan (Carole Ann Ford) try to locate the fault but everything seems fine. The rematerialization seems correct and the journey apparently ends without other hitches.

Together with Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), the Doctor and Susan leave the Tardis and start exploring the surroundings. Initially they think they have arrived on another planet where giant insects and worms live but soon realize they’re on Earth and they have somehow shrunk.