The Wordsmith's Forge

Legendary magazine Starlog is being resurrected

The classic science fiction magazine Starlog is returning, just in time for its 50th anniversary. Starlog was an enormously influential magazine devoted to science fiction media, covering news about the genre starting in 1976 before it eventually closed down in April 2009.

At the end of June, word broke that the storied magazine would be resurrected as a print publication and that it would have an impressive editorial roster behind it: Annalee Newitz (founder of io9 and author of such books as The Terraformers and Automatic Noodle) will serve as the magazine's Editor-in-Chief, with Meredith Borders as Senior Editor and Jason Kauzlarich as Senior Art Director. The first issue of the magazine is expected to be released this fall, and it'll go both to subscribers and be available on newsstands.


I remember this one! :D

Cave in Türkiye challenges what we thought about Neanderthal culture

When modern humans replaced Neanderthals in one cave along the eastern Mediterranean, researchers expected to see a cultural shift. Instead, almost nothing changed.

A new study found that both groups made the same kinds of stone tools, hunted in similar ways, and even collected the same small, inedible seashells over a span of more than 20,000 years. The findings suggest Neanderthals and modern humans may have shared ideas and traditions, challenging the long-held view that each species maintained its own distinct culture.


I think the location matters. That bottleneck combined a challenging place to live with relatively high traffic for its time period. Both of those encourage people to share ideas and resources, and increase the chance of discovering best ways of doing things in that locale.

( Read more... )

Dinosaurs may have shaped the evolution of fruit-bearing plants

The timeline for fruit evolution has shifted dramatically. Researchers now suggest large, fleshy fruits evolved tens of millions of years earlier than expected.

This means that dinosaurs may have eaten them long before the mass extinction. The study was led by the University of Kansas.

The research pushes back on the idea that flowering plants didn’t develop large fruits and seeds until after the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs roughly 66 million years ago.


It seems sort of obvious that dinosaurs would eat fruits, if fruits were available. That means the animal vector was available for plants to exploit as soon as they discovered ways to do so.

( Read more... )

Today we went to the Effingham Artisan Fair at the Tuscan Hills Winery.

( Read more... )

Today is cloudy, humid, and hot. It rained off and on this morning, then poured during part of today.

We went out to an art fair, so I haven't fed the birds yet. I bought a tiny ceramic dish on a stake that will serve as another bug watering dish. :D

On the way home, I spotted a red-headed woodpecker. They used to be common here, but nowadays I mostly see downy woodpeckers. It makes sense that they would be active now, because of all the storm-damaged trees attracting colonizing insects. There was a small branch down in our driveway that had clearly been killed by the previous storm because all its leaves were already brown.

EDIT 7/11/26 -- I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/11/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/11/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 7/11/26 -- I cracked open a black plum pit, but it had no seed inside. I cracked 2 apricot pits, both yielding a good seed which I put into the bag of damp sand to stratify.

EDIT 7/11/26 -- I walked along the road a bit. The sky to the west and east is clear, but there are clouds towering up to the north, northwest, southwest, south, and southeast. It made for a very pretty sunset.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today is partly cloudy and warm.

I fed the birds. I haven't seen much activity yet.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a few sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I watered the new picnic table garden. I picked two more yellow pear tomatoes. The first sunflower in the septic garden is blooming -- medium height, medium-small single flower, yellow petals.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I watered seedlings in the savanna.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I watered plants in the house yard.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I watered plants on the patio.

EDIT 7/10/26 -- I cracked open 4 apricot pits and got 3 good seeds. I cracked two batches of black cherry pits and bagged them in damp sand to cold-stratify in the refrigerator.

I watered the telephone pole garden.

I've seen at least 3 bats swooping along the edge of the yard. :D Fireflies are coming out.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

An artificial cell with a full lifecycle has been created for the first time

SpudCell can feed, divide, and even outcompete its siblings. It's not truly alive, its creator tells us, but it could still transform the bioengineering world.


That does actually meet my criteria for life, specifically because it can reproduce its genetic code and evolve. Also, that is the point where you should not be doing this experiment on a planet with a biosphere. You do those in space or a heavenly body without life on it. Just in case there is a containment breach or hazardous development, you don't want to risk anything dangerous getting loose.

( Read more... )

Scientists Have Found Climate-Resistant Coral Reefs Around the World Totaling the Size of Wisconsin

A sophisticated AI-powered examination of coral reef resistance extrapolated into the future found that there’re about 64,000 square miles of coral reefs on Earth that could still be resisting climate change by 2050.

The common theory states that CO2 emissions create a greenhouse effect which warms the seas which causes coral reefs to bleach or even die, yet there are environments—as GNN has frequently reported—where corals seem to be more resilient.


It would be nice if Earth didn't have to reinvent reefs again, and could keep this version.

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...


* Comment on Just One Thing (8 July 2026) in awesomeers.

* Commented on Check-In Post - July 8th 2026 in get_knitted.

* Commented on "Speak Up Saturday" in tv_talk.

* Posted "Agriculture" in first_nations_freaks.

"Plural Checklist" by leathersys on tumblr -- copied on DW by synecdoches

I recently found an interesting survey on Tumblr by leathersys, called the Plural Checklist. They made this as a quiz for people who think they may be plural/multiple, but don't have classic amnesiac barriers, since a lot of quizzes and diagnostic tests are geared toward the most obvious dissociative symptoms. I like the questions, but I strongly dislike Google and don't want to send this info to a stranger, so I'm going to copy the questions here and consider my answers. Most of the questions were very insightful-- some shockingly so-- and only one or two of them made me feel like an out of touch old man.