February 2018

The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings

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The novel “The Girl in the Golden Atom” by Ray Cummings was published for the first time in 1922.

In the course of his research, the Chemist realized that in a golden atom of his mother’s wedding ring there’s a whole world. With a very sophisticated microscope, he’s able to discover the presence of inhabitants of that world and in particular a beautiful girl. Charmed by her, he looks for a way to reach that world and invents a drug that can miniaturize him together with one that can make him bigger.

The Chemist tells his friends about his discoveries and announces them that he intends to miniaturize himself to get in touch with the world in the atom he examined. When he does it, he meets a civilization that lives on that world and Lylda, the girl he saw during his research. There he discovers that Lylda’s people are threatened by their neighbors’ aggression.

Peter Diamandis and Bob Hariri (Photo courtesy Elizabeth Lippman / Celularity. All rights reserved)

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Celularity, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of tissue regeneration solutions thanks to the allogeneic transplantation of stem cells, stated it received $250 million in funding. The company founded in September 2017 by Bob Hariri, also its CEO, and Peter Diamandis, received funding from pharmaceutical companies such as Celgene and Sorrento Therapeutics, from the biotechnology sector such as United Therapeutics Corporation and by Human Longevity Inc., another research company in the field of longevity with the same two founders.

DNA nanorobots with thrombin molecules (Image courtesy Jason Drees, Arizona State University. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Biotechnology” describes a research that uses nanotechnologies based on the exploitation of DNA for medical purposes. A team of scientists from Arizona State University (ASU) and the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences programmed nanorobots to cut tumorss’ blood supply.

Supernova by C.A. Higgins

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The novel “Supernova” by C.A. Higgins was published for the first time in 2016. It’s the second book of the Lightless trilogy and follows “Lightless”.

The Mallt-y-Nos started its revolution against the System on all colonized planets and moons, but above all on Earth. However, disagreements among the organization’s leaders and the uncertainties about who are the allies and who are the enemies make the liberation of the solar system complex. The revolution might burn anyone who gets involved.

On the spacecraft Ananke, the artificial intelligence on board was modified to such a point that it was transformed into a sentient creature but it’s totally devoid of experience. Althea Bastet, the ship’s computer expert, tries to assess her skills but being a mother to a creature different from any ever existed before is difficult, especially if she can destroy anyone who threatens her.

Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) in Will You Take My Hand? (Image courtesy CBS / Netflix)

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“Will You Take My Hand?” is the 15th episode – also the 1st season finale – of the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery” and follows “The War Without, The War Within”.

Note. This article contains spoilers about “Will You Take My Hand?”.

Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) leads the operations in the mission on the planet Qo’noS despite some problems with the crew, not used to her attitude, typical in the mirror universe. During the reconnaissance that’s supposed to aim to gather information, Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) discovers the real plan and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) finds herself once again in the position of having to make crucial choices.