Brian Keene’s “Earthworm Gods”

Posted on January 29, 2012 by skullsinthestars

I haven’t blogged about horror fiction for a while — work, travel and holidays have conspired against me!  This post is an attempt to catch up.

A few years ago, I had a plan to do a blog post surveying weird fiction books about the apocalypse.  After some initial research, I put the project on hold for a while, because apocalyptic fiction has a long, long, long history!  For instance, in 1826 Mary “Frankenstein” Shelley wrote a novel The Last Man, describing the end of humanity due to a devastating plague — and this is not the earliest novel about the end of the world, by far!

Though I didn’t write the post (yet), I did explore and read quite a number of books that looked at “The End”; one of those that caught my eye was Brian Keene’s The Conqueror Worms:

I have to admit, I expected something rather schlocky when I read the title of the book: it reminded me of many of the cheesy “creature feature” novels I read as a high school student, in which two-dimensional, indistinguishable characters get knocked off one by one by some sort of really absurd monster. (Cough cough Killer Crabs cough cough!)

What I got instead, was a book far more thoughtful — and with much more depth than I expected!  It turns out the title was quite misleading as to the tone of the book: Keene’s preferred title is Earthworm Gods, which was changed by the Dorchester Publishing Company for the first paperback edition.

Since then, Keene has had a falling out with Dorchester, and the book is scheduled to be rereleased (under Earthworm Gods) sometime in the near future by Deadite Press.  In light of this, I thought it would be an appropriate time to say a few words about Earthworm Gods…

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Science Online 2012: A visit to the North Carolina Museum for Natural Sciences

Posted on January 28, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The second of a series of posts chronicling my observations and experiences at Science Online 2012, which I attended last week.

I love museums!  My parents, especially my father, started taking me to science museums and zoos in the Chicago area from a very young age.  I grew up amongst such diverse distractions as dinosaurs, lunar landing modules, ancient Egyptian culture, and dolphin shows!

So when I had an opportunity to tour the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Rayleigh, NC during Science Online 2012, I jumped at the chance!  In fact, I had two chances: the conference reception was held in the museum on Thursday evening, and I signed up for a tour of the facility on Friday afternoon, including some fascinating behind-the-scenes peeks.

It is a wonderful museum, one which is in the process of completing a major expansion to be opened in April.  I thought I’d share some of the photos I took during the trip.

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Posted in General science, Travel | 3 Comments

Science Online 2012: Weird and Wonderful Stories in the History of Science

Posted on January 25, 2012 by skullsinthestars

This is the first of a series of posts summarizing my observations and experiences at Science Online 2012, which I attended last week.  

When I was starting out as a student of physics, most of the stories I heard about the history of physics were anecdotes about the eccentric behaviors of various famous figures.  There is so much more that we can learn from the history of science, however, and at the same time that we entertain people with stories from the past we can educate them about how science works.

This was, in essence, the idea behind a session co-moderated by myself and Brian Malow (Science Comedian) at Science Online 2012, “Weird and Wonderful Stories in the History of Science”.  We asked people to share their weird stories of science and tried to provide some thoughts on the lessons that those stories taught.  What follows is a rough transcript of the stories & events of the session.  At the end, we also had a bit of a discussion of books that tell excellent stories about historical science; a list of those books is provided at the end of the post!

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Posted in History of science, Personal | 10 Comments

Weird science facts, January 18 — January 24

Posted on January 25, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Been a quiet week on the blog, thanks to my participating in Science Online 2012, which was one of the most fun and interesting events ever!!! We’re back with Twitter #weirdscifacts, however, and this week includes a number of facts learned at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences during a tour of their excellent facilities!  (I’ll have more to say about Science Online 2012 over the next few days.)  We also have one bonus fact this week that was too interesting not to share!

676. Jan 18: Cows kill more people nationally every year than sharks do worldwide.  This one came from Science Online keynote speaker Mireya Mayor!  (h/t @maggiekb1)

677. Jan 19: #weirdscifacts at a bar, via @SFriedScientist : no domestic turkeys can have sex!

678. Jan 20: Sea monsters: misidentified whale penises?  I’ve heard it speculated plausibly before that many sea serpents were misidentified giant squid, but this post by @scicurious give an… alternate… interpretation to some sightings!

679. Jan 21: #weirdscifacts via @naturalsciences: the shrimp Acanthephyra purpurea “vomits” bioluminescence to blind predators! (Post by @laelaps!)

680. Jan 22: The mysterious elliptical “Carolina Bays“, of not-quite-certain origin!  (h/t @naturalsciences)

681. Jan 23: #weirdscifacts of @naturalsciences: Bladderwort, a carnivorous plant that essentially vacuums up prey through roots!

682. Jan 24: #weirdscifacts via @naturalsciences: Red-cockaded woodpecker uses tree sap to make nests too sticky 4 snakes 2 enter!

682a. Bonus #weirdscifacts via @astVintageSpace: how to keep an astronaut from swearing on the Moon?  Communication with mission control was publicly broadcast — this was a problem when one astronaut was an uncontrollable cusser!

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Weird science facts, January 11 — January 17

Posted on January 19, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Still going strong on Twitter #weirdscifacts! This will likely be the last significant post of the week, due to my attending ScienceOnline 2012!

(I posted my facts one day late this week, in solidarity with those in opposition to the very stupid SOPA/PIPA bill, for what it’s worth.)

669. Jan 11: Teletanks: the radio-controlled Soviet tanks used during WWII!  With all the recent excitement and controversy about surveillance and predator drones, it is somewhat surprising to realize that remote controlled vehicles were used so long ago.  (h/t @tobascodagama)

670. Jan 12: Parrondo’s mathematical paradox, “a losing game-playing strategy that wins”.

671. Jan 13: Granular convection, aka “Brazil nut effect“: why the biggest nuts end up on top of the pile!

672. Jan 14: The 1953 Flint-Worcester tornados — blamed by congressmen on nuclear testing.  This horrific tragedy was the result of such atypical weather that congressman incorrectly blamed it on recent nuclear testing.  (h/t @patrickneville)

673. Jan 15: The Collatz conjecture: another odd and unproven mathematical hypothesis.  (h/t @patrickneville, again!)

674. Jan 16: Icebergs can melt enough to flip over, creating big waves! This is somewhat obvious, when you think about it — a sudden collapse of a side of an iceberg can upset its balance, making it flip over.  (h/t @discoveryplace)

675. Jan 17: While imprisoned, physicist Arago relied on monkeys to groom him & keep him lice-free.  Arago was captured by the Spanish while on a ship that was transporting exotic animals to Napoleon.  He was incarcerated in a broken windmill with the animals, but they turned out to provide an important service!  (from my blog post!)

Posted in Weirdscifacts | 2 Comments

The Giant’s Shoulders #43 is out — People, places & things!

Posted on January 17, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The 43rd edition of the history of science blog carnival The Giant’s Shoulders is out today over at  The Dispersal of Darwin!  Go there to read about the people, places and things of the history of science, including:

  • Victorian poet scientists
  • Legends of “cursed” glaciers
  • A pictorial history of the mysterious wolverine (the animal, not the X-Man!)

Many thanks to Michael Barton for putting together an excellent and intriguing edition of the carnival!

We’re still desperately looking for future hosts of the carnival for the next few months!  I’m hoping, now that the holidays are behind us, that people will step forward to volunteer to host.  Please drop us a comment if you’re interested and/or send an email to one of the carnival managers.

Posted in General science, Science news | 2 Comments

François Arago: the most interesting physicist in the world!

Posted on January 16, 2012 by skullsinthestars

When he was seven years old, he tried to stab a Spanish solider with a lance
When he was eighteen, he talked a friend out of assassinating Napoleon
He once angered an archbishop so much that the holy man punched him in the face
He has negotiated with bandits, been chased by a mob, broken out of prison
He is:
François Arago, the most interesting physicist in the world

If you asked to describe what a “typical” physicist looks and acts like, what would you say? The picture that most people would paint wouldn’t be terribly flattering, and would conform to rather negative stereotypes.  Studies have been done in which children are asked to draw a scientist, and the results are quite uniformly of the “mad scientist” variety.  Shows like “The Big Bang Theory” on television typically depict physicists* as socially inept, unathletic, genuinely unworldly individuals, conforming to stereotypes that I’ve personally been familiar with since I was very young.

Real physicists, however, are much more varied and interesting than the popular image suggests.  For example, I myself jump out of airplanes as a regular hobby, and my friends and colleagues have an incredibly diverse spectrum of backgrounds, personalities and interests.

One physicist, however, blows away the stereotypes more than any other I’ve encountered.  As the preamble above suggests, the French physicist François Arago (1786-1853) lived a lifetime’s worth of danger, adventure and intrigue in just his first 23 years of life — and he would go on to make crucial discoveries in optical science as well as become an important politician of his time.  In the course of some recent research, I happened across Arago’s autobiography of his early years, and the story it tells is remarkable and worth recounting, at least in part.  Arago’s biography was unpublished during his lifetime; in fact, it is unclear exactly when he wrote it or who the intended audience was.  What is clear, however, is that François Arago was a badass, and his story should be “exhibit A” whenever someone dredges up tired stereotypes about the demeanor and toughness of scientific persons.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science | 20 Comments

Weird science facts, January 4 — January 10

Posted on January 11, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Time again for another week’s roundup of Twitter #weirdscifacts!  This week we reached the dubious milestone of fact #666!  To celebrate, we provide a bonus fact, and two of the facts this week are my own posts on WEIIIIIIRD OPTIIIIIIICS!!!

662. Jan 04: Jeanne Baret, an 18th century lady botanist who disguised herself as a man to travel!  (h/t @jenlucpiquant)

663. Jan 05: A camera fast enough to watch light move?  The link leads to my own post on the “picosecond camera”, which can record images — with some caveats — as such a rate as to track the motion of a pulse of light!

664. Jan 06: What happens when your brain is split in two — and you survive? With the connection between the left/right halves severed, many bizarre “split personality” behaviors have been observed. (h/t @jenlucpiquant)

665. Jan 07: So, what is a “temporal cloak“, anyway? Another of my posts, on the recent announcement of a cloak that can hide an event in time!  Again, not quite as shocking as it initially sounds, but quite remarkable research.

666. Jan 08: Sharks contain urea (normally a component of urine) in their body tissue.  Many species of fish are constantly losing water to the salt-rich seawater surrounding them, and much replenish it.  Sharks, however, use urea to help keep the ion balance in their body comparable to that of the sea.  (h/t @whysharksmatter)

667. Jan 09: The pearl fish makes its home in the anus of sea cucumbers. O_o  (h/t @edyong209)

667a. Bonus fact!  On December 6th, 1916, a German military vessel sunk a set of dinosaurs. (h/t @Laelaps)

668. Jan 10: The scientific lecture that included full-frontal male nudity!  Even worse, the lecturer waggled his exposed erect penis as he waded into the audience… for science! (h/t @miriamgoldste)

Posted in Weirdscifacts | 1 Comment

Weird Fiction Monday: Convergence

Posted on January 9, 2012 by skullsinthestars

It’s time for Weird Fiction Monday, when I post stories that I’ve written — both new and old — for the entertainment (hopefully) of my readers!  As always, I note that I haven’t done extensive editing of the tales here, so don’t be surprised to find the writing a little rough.

I finished this story just this evening, having started it back in May of 2011.

Convergence

The story I am telling happened about three years ago. There isn’t any particular reason to tell it now, other than the hope that, by finally writing it down, I might remember some crucial detail, some neglected observation, which would finally make sense of things. If I could find some sort of explanation for the events, maybe I could stop thinking about them after all this time.

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Posted in Fiction | 10 Comments

So, what is a “temporal cloak”, anyway?

Posted on January 7, 2012 by skullsinthestars

ResearchBlogging.orgI’ve been saying for a few years that optical science has entered a truly remarkable new era: instead of asking the question, “What are the physical limitations on what light can do?”, we are now asking, “How can we make light do whatever we want it to do?”  Among other things, we can make light travel “faster than light“, we can focus light through a highly scattering material, we can take high-resolution pictures with low-resolution sensors, and even make particles “fly” on a “wind” of light!

Inevitably, though, many of these discoveries get misinterpreted in popular news accounts to the point that their real significance is lost in a haze of science fictional, or even supernatural, hype.  A good example of this is the “picosecond camera” that I described last week, which is an amazing achievement but also possesses a number of technical limitations that make it not quite a “camera” in the ordinary sense of the word.

This week, the experimental realization* of a “space-time cloak” or “temporal cloak” by researchers at Cornell University has made national news.  This novel device differs from the “invisibility cloaks” discussed previously on this blog in that it hides temporal events, not spatial objects.  Loosely speaking, this has also been referred to as a “history editor”.  Naturally, the discussion of “cloaking” has again brought out references to “Harry Potter cloaks” and other dramatic imagery; the reality is much more mundane, but still fascinating — and an amazing achievement.  Let’s take a look at what was done, what was not done — and why it’s quite cool!

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Posted in Invisibility, Optics | 6 Comments