The world just keeps getting fuzzier. Last week we found out about a bacterium that can metabolise arsenic instead of phosphorus; now it seems we have solar-powered wasps. Is there no respect for demarcation any more?
Read MoreAnother Life?
Something’s cooking at NASA. The webs are abuzz with the words “extraterrestrial life” but a cursory examination reveals that the rumors actually point to an announcement of terrestrial life, albeit one that is very different from life-as-we-know-it. I think that’s even more exciting; a finding that will shake the foundations of...
Read MoreMaking a Mockery
At the Grand Academy of Lagado on the flying island of Laputa, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver encounters strange and fanciful creatures: the scientists. He observes their attempts to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, weave coloured spider webs by feeding the spiders differently coloured flies, and other absurd projects. One ardent researcher is working on “an...
Read MoreGuilty as charged.
Author copies of the Brazilian edition of SW – “Pequenas maravilhas” – arrived this morning at my doorstep. A very nice way of starting one’s day; I recommend it heartily. I had a peek inside, as you do – though what you expect to achieve by that is a mystery. The first and only thing that caught my eye is the...
Read Moreist beste populärwissenschaftliche Lektüre.
The German translation of SW, titled Kleine Wunderwerke, translated by Sebastian Vogel, is out. I received a few copies of it by mail the other day. One goes straight to the “vanity shelf”, of course, but what should I do with the rest of them? It’s a nice little format, with an attractive cover, and they’ve even added an index,...
Read MoreMore Fan Trouble
Update on the fan front: X31 no longer gives the “fan error” message, but has for some days now been refusing to start properly. When I turn it on, its screen stays dark, it emits a series of about ten irregular beeps, then does nothing more except whir a bit. It does not respond to anything. I turn it off, then on again, and the same thing...
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