Thankful For...

Thanksgiving is in two days. I'm thankful for:

My husband, Greg, a great source of support.

My friends.

My publisher, Musa Publishing.

Having (mostly) good health.

Not being broke. Having the heat on and not having to worry about paying for it - which in the cold this week... Not having to wonder where next month's rent is coming from.

Being able to go riding.

Yeah. Time to be thankful for what you have and not envious of what you don't.

Tech From Life

Biomimicry is an important component of today's technology. A lot of our designs are taken from nature.

For example, engineers are studying whether they can apply the silent flight capability of barn owls (highly disconcerting if you've ever encountered one) to helicopter blades and airplane wings. Oh, and submarine propellers. The point? Reducing noise pollution and, in the case of underwater vehicles, not giving dolphins and whales as many headaches.

As somebody who lives right under the flight path of National Airport and one of the common routes for helicopters heading to and from the Pentagon, I say bring it. I doubt I'm alone on that front.

Of course, nothing based off of an owl is going to be nearly as cute as the real thing...

Friday Updates!

Been buried in short stories all week, but I do have an announcement.

On Cyber Monday (which is December 2 this year) ALL Musa books will be 50% off through their site. You will have to go to www.musapublishing.com (not a third party retailer). So if you're looking to pick up a few Christmas reads, now's your chance.

On top of that, Musa will also be starting a Thirteen Days of Christmas promotion - this will consist of free short stories from Musa authors. It will include "War Crimes," a prequel story to Transpecial set during the Martian War of Independence - which will be released on December 8. So if you aren't sure about whether you'd like the book - check out the free teaser. And, of course, the various other free shorts that will be on offer.

New Land

Japan has one more island than they did yesterday. Maybe.

An undersea volcano has pushed up a circle island with a diameter of 660 feet. It's the first new island since the 1970s.

It's fairly likely that the small island will sink back under the waves - and because of that, Japanese authorities haven't named it. If it does stick around it will add a little bit to the land area of Japan, a country shaped and threatened by high levels of volcanic activity.

For once, geological activity might have done a good thing. Or at least a very, very cool one.

Video of the eruption can be found here.

Viruses and DNA transfer

Here's an intriguing thought. About 8% of our DNA is made up of ERVs. What's that?

ERV stands for "endogenous retroviruses." ERVs pass on with the rest of our DNA, but they initially came from...viruses. Some of them were even shared with other human species. Even more intriguingly, the HML2 family of viruses, which appear to be shared with Neanderthals and Denisovans, may be linked to cancer and the severity of AIDS.

So, do old viruses play a role in modern disease? More interesting still is the prospect that that viral DNA may actually do something- and that it may be possible to "catch" inherited traits the same way as one catches a cold. Could we find something in these viruses that could be used in gene therapy...and do we want to, given germ line gene therapy (passed on to offspring) is an ethical and even spiritual can of worms?

At the very least we may be able to come up with some more accurate predictors of cancer risk.

MAVEN is on its way

The MAVEN orbiter was successfully launched yesterday afternoon. If all goes well, it will reach Mars in ten months.

The purpose? To work out what happened to Mars' atmosphere. This is important data - it will help us understand climate and planet formation better. The lead theory is that Mars, lacking a magnetic field, was exposed to the solar wind, which slowly blew the atmosphere away. If true, it might mean that a significant magnetic field is an essential element of a habitable planet. Maven might tell us the answer.

Once its mission is over, MAVEN will be parked in orbit to act as a communications relay for present and future surface rovers.

A few days after arrival, it will be joined by India's Mangalyaan mission, which launched sooner but is on a different flight path.

So. To Mars!

Where's My Winter?

It's in the mid sixties.

Again.

Chicago's apparently too warm too. Not sure whether to blame global warming or the solar maximum, but I sort of want some winter, you know. It never feels right when the weather is doing weird things like this.

(Oh, and there were no updates last week. Yet. Sorry, guys).