March 2019

Needle by Hal Clement (Italian edition)

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The novel “Needle” by Hal Clement was published for the first time in 1949 in the magazine “Astounding” and in 1950 as a book.

The Hunter is chasing the fugitive in space to bring him to justice on their planet but their spaceships fell to Earth, in the Pacific Ocean. Both belong to a symbiotic species living inside hosts that belong to other species. On reaching the beach, the Hunter finds Bob Kinnaird, a boy of fifteen, and takes advantage of the fact that he is asleep to enter his body.

For the Hunter, taking care of his host and not hurting him is one of the most important laws, but humans are an unknown species for him and must proceed with caution. Slowly he learns enough about his host to establish a form of contact with him, which is essential to begin the search for the fugitive, who could have entered the body of any large Earth’s organism.

A remarkable diversity of microorganisms discovered in one of Yellowstone springs

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” reports the discovery of a diversity never encountered before in the microorganisms found in one of the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, in the USA. A team of researchers from Montana State University (MSU) used genomic tools to examine the microbial community in the source called Smoke Jumper 3 (SJ3), discovering both bacteria and Archaea that represent about half of the known branches of these domains of life. It’s an extraordinary discovery because understanding which geological and biological processes can lead to such diversity can provide new information on the reasons why certain life forms can emerge and thrive.

Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) in Light and Shadows (Image courtesy CBS / Netflix. All rights reserved)

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“Light and Shadows” is the 7th episode of the 2nd season of the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery” and follows “The Sounds of Thunder”.

The USS Discovery is still orbiting planet Kaminar when a time rift pops up with consequent distortions. While Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) begins a close investigation, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) returns to Vulcan in the hopes of finding new information on Spock.