November 2018

Bird eggs with a dinosaur egg (Photo courtesy Jasmina Wiemann/Yale University. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” describes a research on dinosaur eggs’ pigmentation and their link to bird eggs. A team of researchers led by molecular paleobiologist Jasmina Wiemann of Yale University analyzed 18 fossil dinosaur eggshells to look for traces of biliverdin and protoporphyrin pigments, the ones found in bird eggshells, finding them in Eumaniraptoran eggshells, a group that includes small carnivores such as Velociraptor. The conclusion is that pigmentation has a mimetic purpose that evolved in dinosaurs that created at least partially open nests.

The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

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The novel “The Long War” by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter was published for the first time in 2013. It’s the second book of The Long Earth series and follows “The Long Earth”.

Many years after the Step Day, which marked the opening of the Long Earth frontier, humanity has expanded into many parallel universes forming a complex network of communities, sometimes even large, and fleets of airships that maintain contacts. Relationships with Datum Earth are becoming tense because the Americans who staid there want more and more money in taxes from the inhabitants of the other Earths without offering anything in return.

Many communities of Americans who settled on other Earths don’t like their government’s attitude and the pushes towards independence increase. Captain Maggie Kauffman’s mission is to remind all of them of the presence of their government. The situation is made complicated by the presence on many Earths of other intelligent species and their relationship with human beings are not always easy.