March 2021

Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey

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The novel “Tiamat’s Wrath” by James S.A. Corey was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the eighth book in the Expanse series and follows “Persepolis Rising”.

Laconia has quickly become the ruler of humanity thanks to the technologies developed by studying the protomolecule. Despite this, the High Consul Duarte knows that his ambitions could clash with the alien species that annihilated the creators of the protomolecule. He has enlisted Dr. Elvi Okoye to study any trace of this alien species, and at the same time prepares for the worst by training his daughter Teresa to succeed him even if she’s only 14 years old.

Naomi Nagata continues her work with the resistance movement in the solar system. With James Holden captive on Laconia and Amos missing in action, she is left with Alex and Bobbie, but fighting Laconia seems like a mission impossible, at least until an attack on a Laconian spaceship that appears to have ended in half failure reveals unexpected results.

Oviraptorid brooding its nest of eggs

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An article published in the journal “Science Bulletin” reports the discovery of fossils of a species of feathered dinosaur attributed to the oviraptorid family that include a partial skeleton of an adult that was brooding a group of 24 eggs, some of which were broken and showed bones still in their embryonic state. A team of researchers conducted the first study of these fossils dating back to about 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, discovered in the Nanxiong Formation, near the city of Ganzhou, China. This is the first discovery of a non-avian dinosaur while it was brooding a nest with eggs that preserved their embryos.

The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin

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The novel “The Obelisk Gate” by N. K. Jemisin was published for the first time in 2016. It’s the second book in The Broken Earth trilogy and follows “The Fifth Season”. It won the Hugo Award as the best novel of the year.

In the underground city of Castrima, Essun and Alabaster can live even though their orogenic nature is known. That can happen thanks to the influence of community leader Ykka and because the strange mechanisms that run all the city’s systems only work in the presence of orogenes. However, Alabaster is slowly turning into stone and knows he doesn’t have much left to live, so he tries to teach Essun not only more about orogenes but obelisks as well. Essun is perplexed when Alabaster tells her about an object he calls Moon.

After Jija killed his son because he found out that he’s an orogene, he fled taking his daughter Nassun with him. He understood that she too is an orogene but didn’t have the courage to kill her too. There are rumors that in the south there’s a place where it’s possible to eliminate orogeny from a person, and Jija intends to bring Nassun there.

The English Assassin by Michael Moorcock

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The novel “The English Assassin” by Michael Moorcock was published for the first time in 1972. It’s the third novel in the Jerry Cornelius series and follows “A Cure for Cancer”.

Jerry Cornelius looks more dead than alive when he is recovered from the sea. Helpless, he becomes a trading pawn in a geopolitical game involving various factions, including the Cornelius family. Various possible apocalypses might be near.

A moment of the lab work on Escherichia coli (Photo courtesy Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” reports the production of sulfated chondroitin by biosynthesis thanks to genetically modified bacteria of the type Escherichia coli. A team of researchers used a variant of the various CRISPR gene editing techniques called CRISPRi (CRISPR interference) to obtain what, combined with glucosamine, is considered a valid supplement in the treatment of some forms of osteoarthritis. Chondroitin sulfate is normally obtained from the cartilages of animals such as cows, so the ability to generate it using bacteria would offer an ethical and sustainable alternative.