I have trouble believing that there wasn’t some movie magic and/or behind-the-scenes chicanery to make this video work, but, on appearance alone, it’s bar none the best thing to happen to Rube Goldberg since the invention of the marble.

Wow! My name made the cover!

Hey folks, good news! The Tangled Bank, an anthology of spec-fic centered around themes Darwinian, has launched. Edited by Chris Lynch, it’s an anthology that strives to fill a fairly shocking gap in science fiction — fiction about evolution. It’s amazing that, given that evolution may be the single greatest, life-changingest scientific discovery ever, there does not already exist a vast oeuvre of science fiction devoted to exploring its ramifications. But editors like Lynch are looking to remedy the problem. The Tangled Bank contributes over 100,000 words about nature, red in tooth and claw!

As you’ve no doubt guess, I have a story in The Tangled Bank, a little number called “Confessions of a Voluntary Egg Carrier.” It’s the story of a United Nations Senator — in the future, the United Nations has real power! Yay! — who allows an alien life form to impregnate him with thousands of eggs. Why? Read and find out!

Below is the official press release. Enjoy!

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The Tangled Bank: Love, Wonder, & Evolution has launched!

The anthology, which marks the 150th anniversary of Origin of Species, features over 100,000 words of speculative fiction, poetry, artwork, and essays about evolution.

An international line-up of nearly 50 contributors includes Sean Williams, Brian Stableford, Patricia Russo, and Carlos Hernandez.

Just US$4.99, The Tangled Bank is now available for download as a PDF at http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/the-tangled-bank-love-wonder-and-evolution/8340048

Check out “Darwin’s Daughter” by Christopher Green (a free short story from the anthology)
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/darwins-daughter/8339953

For more information, visit the website, or our Facebook or Twitter pages.

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Tangled Bank Press
http://thetangledbank.com/

“Games take us immediately out of a state of paralysis or alienation or depression and they switch on the positive ways of thinking. They trigger the brain to a state in which it’s possible to do good work. It’s possible to aspire to tough goals.”

–Jane McGonigal, Director of Games Research at the Institute for the Future, and one of the premiere theorists on how games can teach.

You can read a terrific Wired interview with McGonigal here; it’s an excellent introduction to play-based learning.

In researching my new novel, I’ve been following International Space Station cosmonaut Maksim Suraev’s blog (kindly translated by the good folks at RT). Suraev’s blog is a fascinating window into life at zero-g, and he’s got a great, easy manner and a good sense of humor — two essential things when you’re cooped up in submarine-sized living and working areas.

A few days ago he posted the little cartoon below (click on it for a bigger image):

Okay, admit it. You cried a little.

And lo, Carlos’s visage appeared upon the pancake, and there was peace throughout the world.

(Wanna make your own miracle pancake? Head here. Also, many other fun and easy web-based pic-manipulation apps to try out. A personal favorite is the ASCII art generator.)

I think Google’s 20% time program is one of the most genius innovations in the history of business. Look, if we’re going to live in an evil imperialist late-capitalist society, at least there’s Google giving people some time to think creatively while on the job.

Here’s one result of that 20% time: Liquid Galaxy. Basically, it’s Google Earth with eight screens and a joystick. Simple, right? No big deal, right? Oh, but what a difference eight screens makes:

Adrian Owen and Steven Laureys, neurologists respectively from Cambridge and the University of Liège (Belgium), have proven that some people in persistent vegetative states are close to, and perhaps fully, aware and awake. Recently, they were able to verbally communicate with a male patient in a manner that, if it can be replicated, proves to my satisfaction that we’re to have to get a lot more subtle when distinguishing between life and death. From the article in New Scientist:

… the researchers selected one of the four – a 29-year-old man who had been in a car crash. They asked him to imagine playing tennis if he wanted to answer yes to questions such as: Do you have any sisters? Is your father’s name Thomas? Is your father’s name Alexander? And if the answer to a question was no, he had to imagine moving round his home.

The man was asked to think of the activity that represented his answer, in 10-second bursts for up to 5 minutes, so that a strong enough signal could be detected by the scanner. His family came up with the questions to ensure that the researchers did not know the answers in advance. What’s more, the brain scans were analysed by a team that had never come into contact with the patient or his family.

The team found that either the SMA or the parahippocampal gyrus lit up in response to five of the six questions (see diagram). When the team ran these answers by his family, they were all correct, indicating that the man had understood the task and was able to form an answer (The New England Journal of Medicine, DOI: 10.1056/nejmoa0905370). The group also asked healthy volunteers similar questions relating to their own families and found that their brains responded in the same way.

“I think we can be pretty confident that he is entirely conscious,” says Owen.

Ye gods!

Be sure to read the artist’s statement at the bottom of the page. And remember: my birthday may have passed, but I accept gifts every day of the year!