2023

Slab containing Burgessomedusa phasmiformis fossils (Photo courtesy Jean-Bernard Caron, Royal Ontario Museum)

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An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B.” reports the identification of the oldest known jellyfish species, dating back to about 508 million years ago, in the Cambrian period. A team of researchers named it Burgessomedusa phasmiformis after examining 182 exceptionally well-preserved specimens that were found in the famous Burgess Shale in Canada. These up to 20 centimeters tall animals were equipped with over 90 short tentacles they could use to hunt other animals. This discovery helps to reconstruct the evolutionary history of jellyfish and in general of the phylum of cnidarians, one of the oldest.

Foundation's Triumph by David Brin

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The novel “Foundation’s Triumph” by David Brin was published for the first time in 1999. It’s the third book of the so-called second Foundation trilogy and follows “Foundation and Chaos”.

Hari Seldon is supposed to have completed his task related to the creation of the Foundations but there are still some points of the psychohistory that give him headaches. A meeting with a person outside the project who suggests some connections between the characteristics of some planets’ soil and psychohistory intrigues him and drives him to start a journey that has an unexpected final destination.

The robot that used the name Dors Venabili meets Lodovik Trema, who gives her the head of R. Giskard Reventlov. Dors begins to relive Giskard’s memories, starting with the ones connected to R. Daneel Olivaw, who is carrying out a plan he reveals to his assistant Zun Lurrin.

The fossils of Repenomamus robustus and Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis with insets showing some magnified details of their interactions that are considered among the evidence that they died during a fight

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An article published in the journal “Scientific Reports” describes what appears to all intents and purposes a fight in which a mammal of the species Repenomamus robustus attacked a dinosaur of the species Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis. A team of researchers examined fossils discovered in today’s China dating back to about 125 million years ago, in the Jurassic period, which offer the first evidence of a mammal hunting a dinosaur. The two animals engaged in a mortal fight became entangled in a flow of volcanic mud similar to the one called lahar in jargon, leaving evidence of that fight.

Alien Universe aka The Green Helix by E.C. Tubb

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The novel “Alien Universe” by E.C. Tubb was published for the first time in 1952 under the pseudonym Volsted Gridban and reprinted in 2009 as “The Green Helix” under the author’s real name.

Caleb is the captain of his own cargo spacecraft, an old spaceship with which he manages to make some money despite the competition from big space corporations. He tries not to worry about the disappearance of various spaceships in hyperspace but the problem becomes important for him when Professor Armitage offers him the possibility of obtaining a huge profit if he finds his daughter, among the passengers of one of the missing spaceships.

Only one of the missing spaceships has been found but Professor Armitage claims that there are aliens at work attacking human spaceships. Caleb agrees to go on a journey to an entirely unknown destination that leads them into another universe.

Chapterhouse Dune by Frank Herbert

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The novel “Chapterhouse Dune” by Frank Herbert was published for the first time in 1985. It’s the sixth book in the Dune saga and follows “Heretics of Dune”.

The Honored Matres keep on conquering planets controlled by the Bene Gesserit. Lampadas, where there was an important Sisterhood school, fell and Chancellor Lucilla was only able to share her memories with Rebecca, a Jewish “wild” Reverend Mother. The Jews managed to escape to the planet Gammu but have to hide in a no-chamber.

On the Chapterhouse planet, the Bene Gesserit are trying to replicate the desert of ancient Arrakis to revive the great worms. To try to turn the tide of what seems like a lost war, it’s essential to raise a ghola of Bashar Miles Teg but Duncan Idaho has his ideas about the child. Duncan is also taken by his relationship with Murbella, the captured Honored Matre who is on her way to becoming a Reverend Mother after being trained as a Bene Gesserit.