The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon... Read More.
Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin
"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine
"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review
"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
Nice Succinct Story-Telling in Google’s Superbowl Ad
February 8th, 2010
I am not such a huge football fan in general, but I had the superbowl on tv while I was revising an astronomy paper I’m working on. One of the commercials really caught my eye: Google’s “Parisian Love.”
Normally ads on tv are visual. This one is text-based, and an example of how to tell a big story indirectly and quickly. It really highlighted Google and how it affects so much of our personal lives, too. Nice story-telling, nice ad. Reminded me of Earnest Hemingway’s famous six word short story: For sale. Baby shoes. Never Worn.
There’s already been a lot of talk about the NASA budget, and I will probably say more on that myself in the near future, too. I wanted to pass on a summary from the American Astronomical Society (AAS) about science funding overall. Overall, the news is good. Despite talks of a spending freeze, science spending is up in the proposed budget. I think that’s great, wise, etc. I do have a grant proposal pending with the National Science Foundation, so I must admit my bias…
Anyway, here’s the summary.
Informational email - The President’s Budget Request for FY 2011
Anita Krishnamurthi, John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow
SUMMARY: The President’s budget request for FY 2011 has been released. Overall, science funding will rise despite the proposed spending freeze with most big investments in climate change research, renewable energy, and STEM education. The doubling path for the three key science agencies included in the American Competitiveness Initiative (NSF, DOE, and NIST) is maintained by providing them a combined $13.3B, an increase of $824M (6.6%) over the FY 2010 enacted total.
DETAILS:
The President has released his Administration’s budget request for FY 2011. Science has fared well despite the spending freeze proposed by the President on all non-discretionary spending. This budget request asks for a 5.9% increase in non-defense R&D spending (an increase of $3.7B for a total of $66B). The country’s total R&D budget request for FY 2011 is $147.7B once the defense R&D funding is included. This is an increase of $343M or 0.2% over the enacted FY 2010 level. There is also significant investment in programs to foster the next generation of S&T workers, both at the NSF, DOE and the Department of Education.
The breakdown for the agencies relevant to our community is as follows:
NSF: The NSF request is for $7.4B, an increase of 8% over 2010 levels. The Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (MPS), which houses the Astronomical Sciences (AST) within NSF, receives a 4.3% increase and AST receives a 2.5% increase to $251.77M.
Of the facilities supported by MPS, the AST facilities have done very well getting a majority of the funding increases. The requests and the percent increase over FY2010 estimates are: ATST - $2M, ALMA - $23.5M (33.8%), Gemini - 1$19.58M (2.5%), IceCube - $2.5M (16.3%) and LIGO - $30.30 (6.3%).
The Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program sees a 16.4% increase to $158.24M while the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) sees a 6.5% increase to $209.16M. There is also an additional investment of $103M to realign and consolidate existing programs to broaden participation by under-represented groups in the S&T workforce.
NASA: The biggest change at NASA is of course a new vision for the manned space flight program. NASA’s total budget request is for $19B with $5B for the Science Mission Directorate. The biggest increase within SMD goes to Earth Science in line with the Administration’s focus on renewed investment in global climate change research.
Planetary Science sees a small increase, targeted to identify and catalog Near Earth Objects. Some really good news for planetary science is that the Plutonium-238 production restart is called out prominently. Members might recall that the Administration had requested $30M in funds in the last budget for the Pu-238 production restart required to power missions to explore other planets in the solar system. Congress had zeroed out the request citing inadequate detail. This request reopens the dialogue. Heliophysics sees a small increase as well of roughly $13M. Astrophysics funding declines over 2010 levels by 2.5% (~$27M). The good news for the astronomy community is that new money has been requested to fund the increased investment in earth science and space science was not cut to fund that increase.
DOE: The Office of Science at DOE receives a 4.4% ($217.7M) increase for a total of $5.1B. The High Energy Physics program, which supports astronomical programs such as Fermi, receives a 2.3% increase for a total of $829M. Fusion energy sciences are down 10.8% to $380M. Of some interest to our community might be that the U.S. ITER project sees a decrease of $55M compared to FY 2010 levels. This is a reflection of the pace of construction and W.F. Brinkman, the Office of Science Director, is quoted as saying that the DOE was not willing to provide money for ITER until it had solved some underlying problems and the funding reduction was intended to “send a message.”
The President’s budget request reflects the priorities of the Administration. It is very supportive of science, including curiosity-based science, but has focused its big investments in climate change research, renewable energy sources, and STEM education. There is also a substantial investment in technology development at NASA. We must now engage Congress about the role astronomy plays in the national agenda and what our community can contribute to the nation. Everyone is awaiting the report from the Decadal Survey to set funding priorities for astrophysics. But we need to start talking to lawmakers now about the role of astronomy in the innovation agenda.
Stay tuned for more information from the AAS about the budget process in the coming months. If you have questions, or want to help, please drop us an email (anitak@aas.org). We will do all we can to make sure you can have a positive impact on the policy process with the least amount of effort and time.
“Astronomers have found the first clear evidence of a binary quasar within a pair of actively merging galaxies. Quasars are the extremely bright centers of galaxies surrounding super-massive black holes, and binary quasars are pairs of quasars bound together by gravity. Binary quasars, like other quasars, are thought to be the product of galaxy mergers.”
This article is right up my alley. I could go all sour grapes and say that I should have made this discovery first — and I should have — but I’ll praise the result. There is an image of a binary quasar clearing showing the interacting host galaxies. Geoffrey Burbidge is probably rolling in his grave, which I hope doesn’t cause any earthquakes. Anyway, it’s a nice result and there’s a video at the link showing a simulation of how this might happen.
I’ve discovered binary quasars before. About ten years ago I proposed a project to image binary quasars with the Hubble Space Telescope, but the proposal was rejected.
A couple of my post-starburst quasars may actually be merging systems with binary quasars at their merging core, especially the last one from my press release in 2008, but I haven’t been able to get spectroscopy at high enough spatial resolution to prove it. X-ray observations using Chandra (CXO) would also work, but turned down there, too. Sometimes it’s tough. This story gets a press release and news coverage, and my proposals get turned down. Works that way sometimes, even with good proposals. I get other projects through the review panels, so I can’t bitch. Too much.
There’s an article about artificial limbs with a picture of an attractive woman, a double-amputee, running along the beach. The premise of the article is that some artificial limbs are starting to outperform original limbs, in at least some ways. This trend will continue into the future, no doubt, until we have the capability to make impressive cyborgs. I’m just wondering how many people, if anyone, even among science fiction loving folks who are the most common readers here, would cut off a healthy limb in favor of a mechanical limb that worked better. (I understand “better” is a relative term here, probably.) If I had a permanently injured limb, for sure, probably. But a normal healthy limb?
I’m not big on poetry as a rule. It’s a taste I think. I like rock and roll, but not country. I like colas, but not coffee. And I prefer novels to short stories, and short stories to poetry. I think I’ve always been more enamored of the idea of something than its presentation, although I do prefer a nice presentation. Still, I think as a writer, developing skill with poetry is valuable and I have written poems. I’ll read the poetry in science fiction magazines when I see it, and usually like it, although rarely love it (could be me, or the quality, not sure).
Haikus I’ve always liked pretty well. They’re short, usually grasped in a moment’s reflection, and sometimes surprisingly profound or memorable. From Wiki, a very short definition:
Haiku (俳句,haikai verse?)listen (help·info), plural haiku, is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras (or on), in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively.[1]
I’m about science and science fiction, and it’s fun to insert these into old, traditional forms. A lot of haikus are about nature, but why not technology? Or other science fictional concepts?
There is a lot of science fiction poetry out there already, of course, and, as it turns out, a lot of haiku in particular. There is in fact, a whole webpage and wike about SciFaiku. I love it! Check some out here and here, and a list of links here.
I thought I’d share a few efforts.
Never questioning,
Always working, the robot
Saves us time for what?
A big universe
too giant to comprehend
makes me feel little
My greatest nightmare
An evil robot monkey
Eating at my face
Teleport our team
To the blue planet below…
Wait! Wore my red shirt!
An ugly spaceship
Manufactured for vaccuum
Not for atmosphere
Quantum mechanics
Makes many worlds in my mind
And reality
A ray gun is fun –
until the alien pulls
out a bigger one
Have a favorite one to share yourself? Write it in the comments or send a link.
It’s been a busy semester so far, and I’ve had giant “to do” lists. I spent the evening hanging artwork on the walls as part of my remodeling. Some of the pictures have been leaning against an out of the way wall for four months already. Still I wanted to share some links.
Women’s Studies programs removed from Canadian universities: “These courses has done untold damage to families, our court systems, labour laws, constitutional freedoms and even the ordinary relations between men and women.” I guess I don’t shed a tear if these are gone. I’m egalitarian, and have always feared something asymmetric about such courses. Where are the Men’s Studies courses? I guess some would say every other course and department out there, but that’s not exactly fair. It’s fucked up not to have Women’s Studies with Men’s Studies and pretend everything is ok. And if everything gets ok someday, who will judge and who is going to kill Women’s Studies? Not me — I’d be afraid. Well, that should be provocative enough for some comments….moving on.
And the guys with similar views, who I do respect? Short-sighted, too. Obama to axe moon mission, apparently. Yeah, we’re broke, but some things you don’t turn your back on. Research and exploration are two of those things.
Tonight’s full moon will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon.
This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights. Each month brings another full moon name.
I missed our astronomy journal club today, so I thought I could take some of that time I “saved” and invest it here in talking about what is journal club.
In the sciences, you generally finish classes in your second year of graduate school, and are not likely to take more. Teach more yes, but not take more.
Additionally, this is when a scientist focuses on their thesis topic. Focuses deep. Becomes the world expert on some little tiny niche in some sub-sub-field. After getting the PhD, there are post-doc positions and perhaps eventually a faculty job, with each career step predicated upon ample publication. Those who publish most tend to be those who stay in their subfield, for better or worse. Not so much new to learn to write each paper as someone who does very different things.
Still, a scientist should keep up with the broader field, at least the important results. There are not a lot of formal ways of doing this, and most scientists I know can’t keep up with reading papers in their subfield let alone outside it.
One way astronomical culture has evolved to deal with this problem is to invent the “Journal Club.” In most departments, and not all have a journal club, people meet once a week to discuss a new or relatively new paper of special interest, with one person leading the discussion. Most of these papers are preprints available online from the astrophysics preprint server.
There are different philosophies about what Journal Club is for and how to run it. I’ve outlined some of my personal thoughts above. Others sometimes feel it’s for educating grad students, and giving them a chance to give more informal presentations before needing to give high-pressure seminars like dissertation defenses.
I don’t know if journal clubs are common in all fields, but I’ve seen them in most astronomy departments I’ve been in or visited for any length of time.
It’s tough sometimes, with teaching, students, faculty meetings, administrative work, and your own research to even pay attention to the latest cool planet discovered or a new record-holder for most distant object. Journal Club helps a lot. When you find the time to attend.
Although I mostly shop online, I still get catalogs in the mail — most of which have websites I can then visit to actually shop. I’ll look at a catalog in a way I won’t look at online spam, so I guess they’re still effective. Once in a long while I order things, sometimes a lot, and I had some friends visit recently who ordered from them, too. I thought I would compile some nice websites that cater to selling what I can only call “geek toys.” Here’s my short list, and I hope you’ll suggest some that I don’t list.
Think Geek. Where I got my first green laser, and may have to get a Vampire Seduction Handbook.
Kotous.com. Where I’m going to have to buy light saber chopsticks.
Hammacher Sclemmer. Always some things I want in these catalogs, but haven’t bought.
Spencer Gifts. I love this store in the mall, but you can order online, too.
Skymall. That airplane catalog. Always cool stuff in here, but usually cheaper someplace else.
Sharper Image. Also seem to be able to find things cheaper elsewhere.
Gizmodo. Not exactly a shopping site, really, but it does sometimes give me shopping ideas!
Westfield Comics. I don’t buy comics so often anymore, but I used this company for many years and can recommend them.
Threadless Tees. Lots of very geeky t-shirts here. I have at least a dozen in my closet.
X-treme Geek. Haven’t used them before, but like stuff on the site.
OK, what wonderful websites did I miss? I have a birthday coming up in March, and amazon isn’t the only website in the geek universe!
New Short Story Forthcoming in Running with the Pack
January 26th, 2010
I recently sold a short story to World-Fantasy-Award-winning editor Ekaterina Sedia for publication in Running with the Pack, an anthology of werewolf stories. I don’t write short stories that often, but had an idea for this one I wanted to do, and wanted to take a break from the science fiction, because I also do like fantasy and horror. The collection should be out from Prime Books in late May.
Running With the Pack
INTRODUCTION
WILD RIDE, Carrie Vaughn
SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE, Steve Duffy
COMPARISON OF EFFICACY RATES FOR SEVEN ANTIPATHETICS AS EMPLOYED AGAINST LYCANTHROPES, Marie Brennan
BEAUTIFUL GELREESH, Jeffrey Ford
SKIN IN THE GAME, Samantha Henderson
BLENDED, C.E. Murphy
LOCKED DOORS, Stephanie Burgis
WERELOVE, Laura Anne Gilman
IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING, Molly Tanzer
ROYAL BLOODLINES, Mike Resnick
DIRE WOLF, Genevieve Valentine
TAKE BACK THE NIGHT, Lawrence Schimmel
MONGREL, Maria Snyder
DEADFALL, Karen Everson
RED RIDING HOOD’S CHILD, N.K. Jemisin
ARE YOU A VAMPIRE OR A GOBLIN? Geoffrey Goodwin
THE PACK AND THE PICKUP ARTIST, Mike Brotherton
THE GARDEN, THE MOON, THE WALL, Amanda Downum
BLAMED FOR TRYING TO LIVE, Jesse Bullington
THE BARONY AT RODAL, Peter Bell
INSIDE OUT, Erzbet Yellowboy
GESTELLA, Susan Palwick
I was just thinking of, or trying to think of, video games with good science that teach a little science. As usual, I tend to think of physics and astronomy, and the things that occur to me first are usually down this line of thinking. I know that I’ve missed a lot of PC games and console games and thought I’d ask for help. What games have good science, particularly in terms of physics or astronomy? I’ll throw out two from my childhood that I was a big fan of.
Space War. Ships moving in space with impulse and gravity. You learn right away a lot of rules of celestial mechanics, or the star/black hole eats your ship. There is also the issue of 2-dimensional thinking that did in Kahn.
Lunar Lander. Fuel. Action and reaction. Gravity. Good old Newtonian physics:
What else? I know there have been some PC-based space exploration games that use real stars and things, but I can’t remember any specifically by name. Games that get space battles, inertia, mechanics right? Games that depend on evolution? Help me out. I’d like to make a list. A lot of the older games can be found online these days, in some version or another.
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