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U=(N/T)M*G: Pandora

A big red globe, with a black starburst in the center, surrounded by red spines.

Ah, climate change. A host of chaos in the near future because of it, no matter what we do now. Intensified storms, higher seawater levels, habitat destruction. Lots of stuff to keep us busy for years. We can throw one more middle finger on top of that pile. Ancient viruses. Yep. You read that right. Scientists are already pulling samples out of the increasingly warm Siberian permafrost, and quite a few of these viruses are still viable. No, there’s no need to panic, yet. It’s that yet which is the problem. First, these viruses are the super big ones and … Read more

SCIENCE: There’s Now a Bionic Vulture

Bionic Vulture

A wild vulture recently had surgery in Vienna to implant a bionic leg. While still a nestling, Mia suffered a major injury to her right leg. Her parents had used sheep wool to hold the nest together, and some of the fibers became tangled around the young vulture’s ankle. With her strangled foot starved for oxygen, her toes began to die. Fortunately for Mia, a team of veterinarians treated her injury. However, the foot was beyond repair; an amputation left her with a right leg ending in a stump. For a bearded vulture, lacking a foot is a death sentence, … Read more

SCIENCE: Penis Transplant Surgery Could Soon Become a reality

man crotch - deposit photos

The doctor that has pioneered penis transplant surgery believes that soon it will become possible to operate a successful transplant. “This would be a quantum leap if you were able to transplant a real penile structure. It’s certainly pushing the boundaries,” plastic surgeon Curtis Cetrulo, M.D. told MedPage Today. “We’re ready to do it, and we could do it pretty soon if we get it approved,” the Boston doctor claimed. Cetrulo, who works at Massachusetts General Hospital, was the first to complete a successful penis surgery in 2016. Now he has to convince the medical community and hospital administration that it … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Venom

Three bees tending to a honeycomb section.

Despite the fact this year has been cursed, and yes I really believe that, we’re lucky a few rays of blissful sunlight have shown through. We, as a society, are figuring out new and exciting ways to connect to each other. Many are taking the lock-downs as a great opportunity to create or hone things they’ve wanted more time on. And yet more are taking that staycation they’ve needed for years. It’s been difficult, stressful, even heart-wrenching at times this year, but we’re managing. Here’s one of those little rays of sunshine to get your writing brain thinking. Bees. Yes, … Read more

SCIENCE: The Coronavirus & Mars

Mars - Pixabay

A new virus called SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of a disease called COVID-19. Public health groups, such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are still learning about the virus, monitoring the disease it causes, and researching potential ways to stop it. You can read all about the coronavirus and COVID-19 at our sibling site, LiveScience. But me being me, my mind went straight to Mars. I have long been aware of science fiction’s vision of Earth receiving space souvenirs that carry organisms that might be dangerous to … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Decade

Cool cats, we’ve entered a new decade and I’m on the edge of my seat about it. The 2010’s were a circus for me, personally and publicly and politically, a roller coaster of wildness I’m hoping won’t be repeated. It wasn’t all bad. I started my writing career and had a son, got married and got divorced, made friends and lost friends and rekindled my zest for life. The last decade was something to behold, a time to look back and shake my head in wonder that I manage to knuckle under, survive it mostly on nothing by spite. The … Read more

Drug Mix-Up Creates “Werewolf” Babies in Spain

werewolf - pixabay

Parents in Spain started panicking this summer when 17 children and babies mysteriously came down with hypertrichosis, or “werewolf syndrome,” a condition in which their bodies and faces became covered in a dense layer of hair, according to news reports. “My boy’s forehead, cheeks, arms, legs and hands filled with hair. He had an adult’s eyebrow,” Ángela Selles, the mother of 6-month-old baby Uriel, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais. “It was very scary because we didn’t know what was happening,” Selles said. At first, parents and doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Was it genetic? A metabolic disorder? On … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Zombie

Know that strange tingle one gets when something bad is about to happen? Well, that happened to me when I was hunting down a nifty bit of science to feed my fellow authors’ Muses. A group of neuroscientists when and revived 32 pig brains 4 hours after death. These brains were harvested from a slaughterhouse, so no pigs were killed for this experiment, and the scientists had termination protocols ready, just in case there was any indication these brains showed awareness. Ethics for the win. But the scrupulous practices of the researchers in this experiment notwithstanding, there is something deeply … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Awesome

I have a personal opinion about Hell, if Hell exists, and it’s a floor stretching out for eternity. Covered in Lego. Yeah. That’s my definite version of Hell. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Lego. Those little blocks make for hours of a frustrating good time and these days come in some wild builds. The Space Shuttle build is my kidlet’s favorite. And that brings me to the point of this whole little ramble: kidlets and Lego. Every parent’s worst child-related fears come with some version of them swallowing a foreign object. How long until it passes? Will it … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Hoax

The science side of humanities was rocked this month by the exposure of three hoaxers. I won’t publish their conclusions or anything, because that’s not really the point of this post, but you can find their nonsense here. The whole impetuous for their shenanigans was bullshit, from start to finish, in my opinion. What basically happened was these three found out about a study they didn’t like. In an effort to undermine the field that study came out of, as well as undermine the humanities in general, these hoaxers put out 20 fake papers to academic journals to see if … Read more