2023

Serpent's Fury by David Bruns and Chris Pourteau

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The novel “Serpent’s Fury” by David Bruns and Chris Pourteau was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the sixth book in The SynCorp Saga series and follows “Masada’s Gate”. It’s also the third book in the Empire Earth trilogy.

On the Moon, Ruben Qinlao is trying to set up a plan to free Tony Taulke but Cassandra is already preparing him for transport to Earth, where he will be subjected to a public trial aimed at marking the end of SynCorp.

The two factions are preparing the final moves before the final clash that will determine the future of the entire solar system. Stacks Fischer takes Bekah Franklin to the Moon to complete Project Jericho to defeat Cassandra.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

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The novel “Upgrade” by Blake Crouch was published for the first time in 2022.

Logan Ramsay is an agent of the Gene Protection Agency (GPA) and is also the son of Miriam Ramsay, the scientist who attempted to use genetic engineering to improve crops but ended up causing the worst famine in the history of humanity. His job is to enforce the very strict laws against genetic engineering and he’s working on a case of geneticists who are working secretly.

When Logan Ramsay and his partner Nadine Nettmann arrest a suspect, he seems ready to cooperate by revealing the location of what is supposed to be an underground laboratory. Actually, it’s a trap and Logan becomes infected with a virus that starts modifying his DNA.

One of two flakes_or hand tools_ seen from three different angles_discovered in the Jordan Rift Valley

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An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports a study that offers evidence that groups of Homo sapiens migrated from Africa using the Levant as a passageway to western Asia and northern Arabia. A team of researchers conducted a digging campaign in Jordan looking for traces of ancient human passages in what is now a desert but tens of thousands of years ago was an area covered by savannah and grasslands. The discovery of sediments dating back about 84,000 years containing tools created with the so-called Levallois technique in that area confirms that the Levant was part of at least one of the human migration routes from Africa.

Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson

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The novel “Pacific Edge” by Kim Stanley Robinson was published for the first time in 1990. It’s the third book in the trilogy of the Three Californias. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.

Kevin Clayborne was elected to the city council of El Modena, a town in Orange County. A member of the Green Party, he finds himself on the opposite side of the New Federal mayor Alfredo Blair regarding the project to open up the last hill in the city still remaining in a completely natural state to possible commercial exploitation.

The situation for Kevin is made more complicated by the relationship he’s trying to build with Ramona Alvarez, who has just ended a relationship with Alfredo. Kevin must juggle his personal and political situation in what is supposed to be a utopia of 2065 California.

The fossil of Bohemolichas incola (a) and views of its 3D reproduction with the contents of its digestive tract highlighted in shades of red and blue (c)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a study on a trilobite fossil of the species Bohemolichas incola dating back to around 465 million years ago, in the Middle Ordovician period, which reveals the contents of its guts in the last meal that occurred before its death. A team of researchers subjected the fossil in an extraordinary state of preservation to a sophisticated synchrotron microtomography that made it possible to create a 3D reproduction that also shows the contents of its intestinal tract. That revealed that this trilobite ate some marine invertebrates such as ostracods, bivalves, and echinoderms.