2021

The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds

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The novel “The Medusa Chronicles” by Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds was published for the first time in 2016. It’s the official sequel to the novella “A Meeting with Medusa” by Arthur C. Clarke.

The contact with Jupiter’s “medusae” was an extraordinary feat for Howard Falcon, but being a cyborg capable of doing things impossible for a normal human being leaves him even more isolated. Despite this, he’s sometimes considered useful to accomplish some very special missions, for example when some machines become sentient.

In 1968, the space race is a part of the cold war between the USA and the USSR and the Moon missions are an important part of it. When an asteroid is spotted en route to Earth, the hostility between the two superpowers must give way to a collaboration to save the world from catastrophe.

Melissa McBride

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On April 4 the 10th season’s extra episodes of the show “The Walking Dead” ended.

The episode “A Certain Doom” was supposed to be the 10th season finale of the TV show “The Walking Dead”. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, not only has it become a special episode broadcast six months after the previous ones but the producers decided to extend the season. In the period that the second part of a season of this show normally airs, six extra episodes aired.

A trilobite preserved in pyrite

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An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports a study on trilobites that offers evidence that in the upper branch of these ancient arthropods’ limbs there were gill-like structures that were used for breathing. A team of researchers led by Jin-Bo Hou of the University of California at Riverside (UCR) subjected exceptionally preserved specimens belonging to the Triarthrus eatoni and Olenoides serratus species to CT scans to study their anatomical details. The results led to their conclusion concerning the presence of gill-like structures in the upper branches of their legs which they used to breathe.

Reconstruction of Llukalkan aliocranianus head

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An article published in the “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology” reports the discovery of a carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 80 million years ago in today’s Argentina. A team of researchers led by paleontologist Federico Gianechini of the National University of San Luis named it Llukalkan aliocranianus after examining a partial skull discovered in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation. The new species and the new genus have been attributed to the Furileusauria group, part of the abelisaurid family, widespread in the ancient subcontinent Gondwana. The examination of the uncovered bones suggests that it had better hearing than the other abelisaurids.

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

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The novel “Blackfish City” by Sam J. Miller was published for the first time in 2018. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel of the Year.

When the orcamancer arrives in Qaanaaq in a skiff pulled by an orca and with a polar bear on a leash, she becomes the center of attention of the entire city population. Like so many other families, hers got dispersed following the climate wars and a trace led her to what is considered one of the last bulwarks of civilization.

Among the topics of the discussions about the orcamancer, there are the old stories about a technology that allowed to create a mental bond between a person and an animal. In a city afflicted with various problems including the new disease known as the breaks, an event such as the arrival of the woman generates further chaos.