2021

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

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The novel “The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula Le Guin was published for the first time in 1969. It won the Hugo and Nebula Awards as best novel of the year.

Genly Ai is an envoy of the Ekumen who has obtained an audience with Argaven Harge XV, the king of Karhide, the nation of the planet Gethen in which he managed to have the most important contacts. That result was achieved thanks to Prime Minister Estreven, who seems very interested in the possible alliance between Karhide and the Ekumen. However, the night before the audience, Estreven warns Genly Ai that he can no longer contribute to his cause.

Puzzled by Estreven’s behavior, Genly Ai prepares for a meeting with the king but discovers that there have been major changes in the government with the appointment of a new prime minister and Estreven getting exiled. The king rejects the Ekumen’s alliance proposal and Genly Ai decides to make another attempt in another nation but ends up entangled in political intrigues he doesn’t understand.

Bone fragments from Denisova Cave (Photo courtesy Samantha Brown)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Ecology and Evolution” reports the identification of new fossil bones belonging to the Denisovans, the hominin species still mysterious from various points of view. A team of researchers led by Katerina Douka conducted a very sophisticated analysis of nearly 3,800 bone fragments too small to be identified by normal methods and found five that belonged to humans, four containing enough DNA fragments to establish that three belonged to Denisovans and one to a Neanderthal. The bones were found in a layer of Denisova Cave dating to as early as 200,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest human fossils from which it was possible to extract DNA. They’re important fossils also because they were discovered in the same sediments as animal remains and stone tools that offer information about that people’s life.

Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer

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The novel “Starplex” by Robert J. Sawyer was published for the first time in 1996.

The starship Starplex and its crew that includes members of four different species aims to explore the space reached thanks to artificial wormholes of which the creators are unknown. Each new wormhole discovered leads to a different area of ​​space that can offer surprises. The discovery of a green star with a composition possible only after a time much longer than the age of the universe is definitely unexpected.

The discovery of the mysterious green star is only the first unexpected event for the crew of the Starplex. Keith Lansing, the human commander of the expedition, suddenly has to run a mission with far more serious problems than the relationships between crew members. The situation starts getting dangerous and the stakes quickly rise.

A silhouette of Australopithecus sediba showing the available bones with the vertebrae and their 3D reconstruction

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An article published in the journal “eLife” reports a study of Australopithecus sediba’s spine. A team of researchers created 3D reproductions of fossil vertebrae discovered in 2015 during excavations at the Malapa site, where the first bones attributed to this hominin species were discovered. This allowed obtaining an almost complete lower spine of the specimen cataloged as MH2 whose characteristics confirm the conclusions of previous studies that indicated that these australopithecines used their arms to climb trees like apes but used their legs in bipedal walking like the later species of the genus Homo.

Light of Impossible Stars by Gareth L. Powell

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The novel “Light of Impossible Stars” by Gareth L. Powell was published for the first time in 2020. It’s the third book in the Embers of War series and follows “Fleet of Knives”.

The starship Trouble Dog is on the run from the Fleet of Knives, like any other starship whose crew doesn’t intend to abide by the strict rules that were set for humanity. The only hope seems to be in the Intrusion, where reality is very different from that of the normal universe.

Cordelia Pa and her half-brother Michael salvage alien artifacts, as they can make some good money out of them. When they get in trouble, they get rescued by people who tell Cordelia they want to take her to her father. Michael doesn’t have the courage to leave everything and go with her and Cordelia finds herself living a life completely different from the one she knew, not least because she starts manifesting strange connections with the alien artifacts.