Science round-up inspiration - 13

Welcome to my end of month round-up of science items that have piqued my interest as they’ve flowed across my social media stream.  As a science fiction writer (and scientist) I keep track of these for both a personal fascination and writing inspiration.  I never cease to be amazed at the advances and discoveries that are happening around the world and I know I’m only aware of a small minority.  Anyway, here’s this month’s selection:

Mars

Every month there are new plans/ideas as to how we will reach and colonise the red planet.  Although it seems the most notable event this month was the failure of the European Space Agency ExoMars lander.  It appears that it’s parachutes did not open early enough and it crash landed into the surface.  Helpfully NASA has released images of the disaster (follow this link – it’s the fourth item down).  This is on the Popular Science site – well worth a look if you don’t know it.

For the full blog follow this link

My monthly science highlights - 10)

I can’t believe I have now been producing these monthly blog round ups of what’s caught my eye in science for 10 months. From the feedback they 
seem to be appreciated. So here we go with this month’s selection:

• Space missions to look forward to

• More earth like planets found

• Umbrellas in the sky,

• A little hope for a long and healthy life

• The GM crops argument

• Some weird facts and more:

    Follow the link for the full blog

My monthly science round-up - 7)

A month is a short time in writing and I got caught out by February, so here is my (late) batch of inspiration - the seventh of my monthly picks of what's new in science.  Or at least what's new that has caught my imagination. http://wp.me/s3ycbY-science 

What will we be doing in the future - (3)

The final blog in this series looking at how out lives might change in the future.  In the festive season I end on a note of hope for that future. 

Men and machines - and what does it mean to be human?

Why must it always be an us and them?  In the future will the definition of man and machine become blurred?  and what will it mean to be human?

My Wednesday blog:

http://wp.me/p3ycbY-cT

Life, how long can we live (part3) - How will that affect society?

I believe humans will find a 'cure' for aging.   This is the third in my series of blogs looking at how living hundreds or thousands of years will change how we live and the society we live in.http://wp.me/p3ycbY-c4
 

Life, how long can we live (part 2) - What will that mean ?

The second part of my blog looking at one of the basic science fiction assumptions:  In future people will live for hundreds or thousands of years.  What will will mean for individual lives?.  http://wp.me/p3ycbY-bG

Life, how long can we live - and what will that mean (part 1)

Big questions this week:  Why do we age?, how long can we live? and what will an extended life mean for us and the human race?    http://wp.me/p3ycbY-by