2021

The Corporation Wars: Insurgence by Ken MacLeod

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The novel “The Corporation Wars: Insurgence” by Ken MacLeod was published for the first time in 2016. It’s the second book in The Corporation Wars trilogy and follows “The Corporation Wars: Dissidence”.

A habitable planet has become part of a clash involving DisCorporates, sentient robots, and digitized minds split into a series of factions in which alliances can form and dissolve. There are sentient robots who prefer to remain neutral but any interaction with external entities can change the balance.

For digitized human minds, one of the problems is that their memories are incomplete. Who really are these digital versions of humans who lived centuries ago? Carlos faces an interrogation in virtual reality.

PlasticARM

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An article published in “Nature” reports the creation of a flexible microprocessor based on plastic materials instead of silicon. A team of ARM researchers developed this processor that was called PlasticARM also because its Cortex-M0 core is based on ARM architecture, precisely ARMv6-M. It’s an extremely limited processor in its performance, as it has a frequency of 30 kHz and supports up to 128 bytes of RAM and 456 bytes of ROM. The aim was to produce a fully functional flexible processor so this is a starting point from which to develop processors for use in fields where flexibility is important such as wearables and other products connected via the Internet of Things such as medical devices.

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The short story “Indra’s Web” by Vandana Singh was published for the first time in 2011.

Mahua is involved in the development of Suryanet, a major project that is inspired by a myconet, a fungal network that connects the plants of the forest. The result of the project is supposed to be a revolutionary energy grid but something isn’t working properly putting the whole project at risk. As if that weren’t enough, Mahua’s thoughts are more focused on her grandmother, in the hospital after a stroke.

Falling Torch by Algis Budrys

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The novel “The Falling Torch” by Algis Budrys was published for the first time in 1959 incorporating three previously published short stories. A revised and slightly expanded version was published in 1991 under the title “Falling Torch”.

In the Alpha Centauri system, the Earth’s government in exile is having a reunion as it has for twenty years, since the Invaders have conquered their planet and some Earthlings fled to the human colony established long ago. This time, however, there’s something that goes far beyond the usual chatter because there’s a real possibility to obtain weapons to provide the resistance on Earth with a hope of victory.

Michael Wireman, the son of the President in exile Ralph Wireman, is chosen to lead the group of humans who are tasked with returning to Earth with the weapons. Upon arrival, he comes into contact with Franz Hamill, the self-appointed general of the United Terrestrial Army of Liberation, who, however, turns out to be an inept leader from a military point of view.

Two adult males of the Loango Chimpanzee Project (Photo courtesy LCP, Lara M. Southern. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Scientific Reports” reports the observation of two clashes that took place in the Loango National Park, Gabon, between groups of chimpanzees and gorillas that led to the death of two gorilla infants and the injury of three chimpanzees. Lara M. Southern, Tobias Deschner, and Simone Pika reported the chronicle of these two unprecedented clashes since until the first clash the relationships between the two species seemed even friendly. Among the possible explanations is a decline in the availability of fruit that affected various parts of Gabon due to climate change and may have triggered the competition for food up to these outbreaks of violence.