Keeping Spore
The new big thing in Gaming is apparently “Spore“, a game in which the player gets to build a creature and lead it through its evolution until its development into an intelligent, social creature (and the game progresses into the space age at its advanced stages). I can straightaway note an extremely large number of things I like about this game, even without having played it yet. The creatures look ultra-cute, the game design and concept is smart, the idea of evolutionary biology forming the focus of a major game is rather cool,...
read moreSo Cold.
Melbourne is drenched with rain (that’s good) and freezing (not so good). We’re keeping our heaters on and covering up nicely, and it seems to do the trick. Daniel caught the sniffles last week but since he’s had no prior experience of sickness he didn’t seem to know that he’s supposed to be suffering,and did everything he usually does, only in a slightly stickier manner. It went away in due course and he’s back in the saddle again In the meantime, this article from “The Age” both heralds and...
read moreInstead of a proper post
There are people in this world who, upon determining that they have a job to do, go ahead and do it. One of my most earnest regrets in life is that I am not one of those people; my method of doing things has degenerated to the point where even my displacement activities have displacement activities of their own. One solution would of course be for me to clean up my act, stop mucking about and go and do whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing and be done with it. This rarely works. The alternative (other than just sit and hope for the elves to...
read moreHa!
Check out this recent research finding, reported in New Scientist, about a further level of the infection game: virophages – viruses of viruses. And with it the entire beloved panoply of such findings: 1) the joy of finding yet another complication of the “infecting-infected” relationships. (Well, I find it joyful). 2) Tentative hints at possible practical uses in the future (good for human interest and especially for funding) tinged with the proper responsible-sounding caution (also very good for funding). 3)...
read moreOh, yeah, that bird thing.
Whatever happened to Bird Flu? Two articles with that name have come out recently. The first an editorial in Reviews in Medical Virology (Rev. Med. Virol. 2008; 18: 1–3)and the second in Nature. The upshot: no pandemic yet (as you may have noticed) but whatever danger there was is still there, even though the media scare has thankfully blown over. In southeast Asia the virus is spreading throughout avian populations and its containment seems unrealistic, and since we’ve never studied at what rate the flu viruses can mutate into a...
read moreOut loud
My first public appearance is coming up (well, the first one since I sang “Light my FIre” in High School; how Immanuel persuaded me to do that I’ll never know. His claim was that I was the only one who knew the lyrics, but on retrospect it looks like a highly suspect claim. My score was zero rotten tomatos flung to zero cigar-touting music producers waiting with a contract backstage.) Anyway, as I was saying, first appearance coming up, appropriately a modest one: I saw something called the Banyule Writers’ group and...
read moreJust before it hits
Small Wonders is due in Australian bookshops on the 1st of September. I’m excited (“Go get ’em, book dude! You rule”) and apprehensive (“But don’t forget to dress warm! It could get chilly on the shelves at night!”) as one may expect. I’m also trying to relish the moment. I attended a meet-the-writer talk given by good guy Max Barry, and he said that the best time in an author’s life is just before the first book comes out. At that point, he explained, you just might be the Next Big Thing,...
read moreWhat the World needs now…
“Does the world need another microbiology book?” Such were the encouraging words of an Auckland Backpacker hostel manager when I told him what I was up to. I didn’t quite know how to answer that on the spot. But I do now. and I think it’s a good question which deserves a good answer. The answer is: YES, the world does need another microbiology book. It also needs more good books on other subjects in science. Because understanding the world we live in is a good thing, and interesting too, given half a chance. But...
read moreA short bio:
I’m 33; I’m married; I have a baby boy, Daniel, who is objectively (trust me, I’m a scientist) the most amazing human being ever to exist. Here he is, see for yourself: I was born in Jerusalem, grew up in the usual manner, read a lot, studied less, thought I’d be a musician but reality coughed politely and I turned elsewhere for career options. (I still have a black Fender Strat with a nice amp back at my parents’ home, though, and a sweet little Yamaha acoustic for household use.) Reckoned I’d like to...
read moreAnd now we rise…
Hi, I’m Idan; welcome to my blog, created for and about Small Wonders: How microbes rule our world , a book about microbiology intended mainly for people who don’t usually go for that sort of thing. It’s been in shops from September. It’s funny. The story so far: In 2006 I took part in a workshop for University of Melbourne post-graduate students and staff who wanted to learn how to write for a general audience. What exactly I was doing there is still a bit of a mystery; the most honest answer would probably be that it...
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