Via poor ginger living in a trailer park.
Originally shared by Thomas Frey
Hidden under your feet is an Internet-like information superhighway that allows plants to communicate and help each other out. It’s made of fungi.
http://www.impactlab.net/2016/05/03/under-your-feet-is-an-information-superhighway-made-of-fungi/
Originally shared by Adafruit Industries
The Wood Wide Web #Biohacking
https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/05/08/the-wood-wide-web-biohacking/
A new study shows that trees of different species can exchange large amounts of carbon via the fungal internet that connects their roots, via The Atlantic
In 1999, a team of scientists led by Christian Körner did what thousands of people do every Christmas: they wrapped Norway spruce trees in tubes. Except this was in March, not December. And the trees were 40-metre-tall giants in the middle of a Swiss forest, not 2-metre pipsqueaks in a living room. (The team had to use a crane). And the tubes had no lights or baubles on them. Instead, they had a series of tiny holes, which pumped out carbon dioxide.
Read more
https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/05/08/the-wood-wide-web-biohacking/
Via MrsA Wiggins.
I should note that there’s currently an SFF anthology with the theme of refugees seeking submissions, for charity, but paying pro rates. Check on The Submission Grinder – I think it’s called “Welcome”, but “refugee” is in the name as well.
Originally shared by N.R Dewi Nurmayani
Originally shared by MJ Bush
When Characters Argue
Punctuate with action. Like leaving.
Don’t let it get drawn out and flimsy.
DO something.
A drawn out argument loses punch, and makes us wonder why neither is putting their foot down or compromising. It makes the positions look weak and the emotions seem insincere.
Action solidifies a position and makes us believe they mean it. Makes us believe they feel it.
Not open to negotiation? Leave.
Ready to fight? Throw a punch.
Bonus: Give them attitudes and multiple things to argue over, then let subtext reign. Even if it lasts longer, this adds substance and keeps the exchange from seeming flimsy and insincere.
#writingtips
Originally shared by Eduardo Suastegui
On #VR & #storytelling: “in VR, the story does not come to you; you go to it.” #amwriting
http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/07/steamboat-willie-days/?ncid=rss
Just when I’d stopped expecting any depth from The Mary Sue… This.
Originally shared by The Mary Sue
On why the story of a robot overcoming society’s programming feels so compelling — and some ideas for how we could make our robot stories even better.
Sharing to bookmark.
Originally shared by Fantasy Literature (FanLit)
How Great Science Fiction Works: A college course for science-fiction fans
I have a story in Volume 2, but my five-star review is not influenced by that. Rather, it stems from the fact that these are well told, moving, clever, diverse and interesting SF stories.
They trained an AI on romance novels to make it better able to “respond” to people.
Give me your comedy stylings in the comments.
Good stimulus for steampunk or fantasy stories.
Originally shared by The Public Domain Review
One of the many designs for hydraulic automata created by the first-century-AD engineer Hero of Alexandria. Many involved elaborate networks of siphons that activated various actions as the water passed through them, especially figures of birds drinking, fluttering, and chirping. Read more in our latest essay “Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence” by Jessica Riskin — http://bit.ly/1W9hZTR