Meradeth Houston's Blog, page 80

Teaser Tuesday: The Chemistry of Fate part duex

[image error] While hunting around on Pinterest for a pic for this post,
I came across this one and happened to click through
 to the rest of this random couple's engagement shots.
Can I just say they are THE cutest pics I've ever seen?
Frigging adorable!Last time, I shared a little of the start of my forthcoming novel, The Chemistry of Fate, but from only one of the MC's point of view, Tom. Today, I thought I'd introduce you all to Ari, the Sary in the story :) 

(This is the unedited version, so, yeah, changes may/will happen...)


Chapter 2: Ari
“It was my choice to join the Sary. I died and was left with two options: join the Sary or never obtain a body of flesh and blood. Never know taste, touch, sound, smell. It wasn't a difficult choice, but I sometimes believe I may have been too hasty in my decision.”

He can’t honestly know the truth. It was impossible. Leaving him behind in the classroom, it was too easy to convince myself.

Without thinking, my fingers reached for the index-cards crumpled in my front pocket. They outlined my job here—not the kind of job I got paid for, unless you counted that I was allowed to stay on earth to complete it. I didn’t.

“Assignment: Thomas (Tom) Henniker, age 18. Freshman at the University of Montana, majoring in genetics. Concerns: has recently found possible source of information regarding the Sary. You are to investigate what he knows. If he knows the truth, you are to ensure he has no means to prove this to anyone. If assignment is unwilling to be dissuaded from the truth, and is a possible leak of information, then you are to report back immediately so fate can take its course.”

Translation: figure out if he knew anything about the Sary.

A little Halloween costume help?

I've never really been a huge Halloween person--as a kid I did enjoy dressing up and all (mainly because there was candy involved :), but as an adult, well, I honestly can't remember the last time I tried to put together a costume.

Of course, this year I have to teach on Wednesday--my big lecture class. So, there's absolutely no way that I'm going to don anything embarrassing. Wings, wigs, masks, make-up, yeah, it's probably not going to happen. BUT, I was still thinking I could swing an understated costume. Like, you know, a book character that wears fairly normal clothes?

Only problem? I have NO idea what to do! I've been thinking maybe dressing as a member of the Erudite faction from Divergent (fitting, in a pathetic sort of way), or maybe Evie from the Paranormalcy series (hmm, a pink taser in class??). Anyone have any suggestions?? I'm all ears! :)

What are you dressing up for this year?

Science Sundays: Early Modern Human Cultural Revolution?

Welcome to Science Sundays everyone! One quick side note: I had a fun little interview yesterday which was all kinds of fun--stop on by if you're so inclined :)

Today I thought I'd tackle a topic that I've been learning more and more about lately. I have to teach a whole class on it next semester, so I've been gearing up to do that (and in all honesty, kind of freaking myself out!). I normally hit on this topic for about one lecture every year, and it's a personal favorite. And, what might that be? Well, the emergence of modern human culture of course!

Okay, so here's the big mystery: modern humans show up ~150kya--and by that, I mean they look like modern humans do. They have chins (random fact--no other species that is ancestral to humans had a chin, and we really don't know why modern humans do), have our same limb proportions, look like us, have the same brain size, etc etc. But it's not until ~60kya, or almost hundred thousand years later, that we see this massive explosion of things that *culturally* look like modern humans.

What do I mean by that? Well, I mean more advanced tools, jewelry, art, cave paintings, exploiting new and more difficult resources (like fishing), and the list goes on and on. Before this cultural explosion there seemed to be very little of this stuff associated with the human remains and archaeological sites.

The question then is: what changed at this time? Why do we suddenly see so much cultural activity? Was there a shift? Or was it just a gradual accumulation of technology over a long period of time that just became more visible because at ~60-50kya people were leaving Africa and we have a better archaeological record?

Attempts to explain this shift tend to fall into two general camps:

The atlatl--a much more effective early tool :)
Also, illegal in some states!1. Gradual accumulation of cultural traits. This school of thought has been gaining steam recently with lots of new archaeological findings. Basically what the researchers are saying is that modern humans emerged and had the ability for complex, symbolic thought, and it slowly grew and grew over time. Early finds of art-like artifacts, more complex tools, and other traits that have been deemed to "only" come later in human history have bolstered this thinking. So, there was no cultural "revolution" but a slow and steady growth of modern human traits.

Early beads.2. Cognitive shift allowing for complexity. This school of thought sees the shift in cultural traits in archaeological sites as being quite dramatic and much more complex than anything that came before (they do have a point--but there are also quite a few more sites that date to this time period, too). They suggest that what happened was that there was some kind of mutation or other change in modern humans that allowed for them to use more complex symbolic items (art) and technology. Suggestions for this have included a mutation in the FOXP2 gene, for example, as we know that when a person had a mutation in this gene they are unable to use higher cognitive function, so possibly ancient humans had a different form of this gene. (Ancient DNA analysis has shown that Neanderthals had the same form of FOXP2 as us, however we don't know if it was regulated differently than our own.)

The jury is still out on what exactly happened with this cultural shift. It is still a really interesting thing to consider though, and I can't help but be drawn to the allure of there being a mutation that explains modern human cultural understanding, though the gradual accumulation of traits probably has a more firm (and simpler) explanation for what occurred.

So, tell me, what do you think? Which seems more likely?

After Reading: The Iron King

by Julie Kagawa


Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I have been meaning to pick up this series for ages and ages. I have heard so many good things! And it did not disappoint. I really enjoyed this one! The world that Kagawa creates is intricate and delightful and absorbing. I especially loved the twist with the Iron Fey--very cool.

On a more random side note: why is is that I have read like a billion books (okay, hyperbole, I know) that have a girl with a perfectly wonderful best friend, who is obviously into them, and then the girl goes for someone else? I see this ALL THE TIME. And it kind of annoys me. I mean, really? Are girls really that blind? Is the friend-zone that hard to break out of? Maybe I just like the whole situation on The Office with Pam and Jim too much :) Anyhow, seriously, I want a book where the girl actually picks her friend over the hottie, because I actually do think that would make for a better relationship!

 Off my little soap-box: this was a fun read and I'm curious as to what happens next. Can't wait to grab the rest of the series! (And it's nice not to have to wait for ages for the next one to come out for once, haha!)

Thankful Thursdays: The Photo Edition

 Another Thursday already? Dang the weeks go fast! So, yeah, I definitely need to count some blessings today :)

And, pretty please, go vote for me here? I'm #5! (I know, shameless begging, but I can't help it!)

1. I'm thankful for the awesome bloggers that have been helping me promote lately. There are a lot of them, but just yeterday I was hanging out at Mom In Love With Fiction, and Beth Overmyer's. Lovely ladies, both!

2. The fall here is amazing, hense all the photos today. It's started really getting cold though, so I don't know how much longer we'll get to see any color. And then, the snow will really start. Cue the shivering!

3. My husband. He's off for a little while right now, but left all these cute little notes around for me to find. It's adorable. And *almost* made up for the destroyed kitchen he left behind (how could one man use so many dishes??)
This guy has the best expression :)
These are my main things for today, though I'm undoubtely missing a few things! Enjoy the pics and tell me what you're grateful for today!
Best place to grab some great ice cream
so long as it's not too cold out!

My first video interview (aka: how to completely embarrass myself!)

Hi everyone, welcome to Tuesday. I'm going to share with you all this awesome little clip of me talking about my books, though, let's be honest, there's a big part of me that really thinking I ought to hide it and ensure no one ever sees it :) But, I really did have a blast doing this interview, and my host Dorothy Mercer was a total sweetheart! Anyhow, if you want to see what I "look" like, and realize how random I can be while chatting about my books, here you go:



Also, please, pretty please, go vote for me (#5, Colors Like Memories)!!

After Reading: Geek Love

by Katherine Dunn


Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out–with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes–to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There’s Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious–and dangerous–asset. 

As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

At times I really realize that I need to branch out and read more books that are A) written for adults, and B) considered more "literature" (whatever that's really supposed to mean :P). Anyhow, this was one of those books, and after picking it up at the library book sale in Davis, the lady ringing up my giant stack of books paused to glance at the book, then back to me. "You know, my daughter loved this book, but I hated it!" she told me. I grinned, surprised at her reaction, and made some random comment about how I'd have to see how it struck me. Well, honestly, I think I fall more onto the side with the blue-haired lady who rang up my purchase...
See, I just couldn't get behind any of the characters. They all kind of irked me, especially Arty, who I couldn't understand why anyone was going along with At All! Much less, why the MC, Oly, loved him. He was a monster. Some of the minor characters, Chick & the twins especially, were interesting, but then it all just kind of wound apart and left me wondering why I was bothering. Other thing I generally like in my books? Some kind of end goal--it doesn't have to be big, but there needs to be something that's being worked toward or I'm going to wonder why I'm bothering. 
Anyhow, the concept of this book is fantastically original and interesting, but I honestly didn't care for it much. 
Have you read it? Thoughts?

Science Sundays: Natural Selection and Pigmentation

Welcome back to Science Sundays! Before I launch into to today's topic I'm going to make a shameless plea for votes on my book's cover :) If you have two seconds, go to the You Gotta Read book cover contest here, and vote for #5, Colors Like Memories. Pretty please??

Okay, so today we're going to talk about the distribution of skin color across the globe. Last week we discussed how we ended up with so much variation in coloration due to continuous traits (didn't get to see that post?). What I didn't go over was the fact that, in general, the distribution of different skin colors is distributed clinally. And by that, I mean that the distribution of more concentrated amounts of melanin is generally closer to the equator, and the farther away from the equator, the less melanin there is in skin/hair/eyes. Now, this is a general trend, but there are plenty of exceptions, however there does seem to be some natural selection at work to explain why this is patterned this way.

Human skin color has undergone some interesting changes over the past few million years, ever since we split with chimps around 6 million years ago (give or take a million years--the date is pretty tentative). At that time our hominin ancestors had light skin covered by dense body hair that protected them from the sun. However about 1.5 million years ago, due to environmental reasons, we were in the sun more and needed to cool off easier (probably through sweating to cool ourselves, though there are a lot of theories on exactly how this happened). Anyhow, we developed dark skin color in response.

So, the ancestor of all humans ( Homo sapiens ) who arose around 150,000 years ago (again, give or take on the date) had a lot of melanin in their skin. When they started to migrate into other parts of the world, lighter skin color started to either be selector for, or was a shift that was neutral and in general not selected against, so it just kind of happened (there's been a lot of debate about this). Anyhow, there are lots of theories regarding how these changes occurred and the selective forces behind them. Here are a few:

1. Most people have heard about the Skin Cancer Hypothesis. Because having more melanin in the skin protects from UV exposure and therefore damage and skin cancer (a major killer), dark skin is selected for in regions closer to the equator where we have more direct UV exposure.

2. The Nutrient Photolysis Hypothesis is another important one. Vitamin B folate is extremely important in the body, especially for pregnant women (those horse pill vitamins pregnant women take have lots of folate in them). Folate is also sensitive to UV exposure, so more melanin in the skin protects the folate within the body.

3. The Vitamin D Hypothesis works the opposite as the first two, in that it selects for lighter skin. Vitamin production is catalyzed in the body through UV exposure, and without enough vitamin D, we can't absorb calcium from our diet, so we start to take calcium from our bones. This results in rickets, which is pretty nasty in that is bows the long bones in the body, and can reduce the birth canal region of the pelvis by 30% or so (um, ouch!). So, with less melanin in areas where there is less UV exposure, like away from the equator, it is possible to absorb more UV and therefore make enough vitamin D. (Random side note: women who are culturally kept indoors a lot often don't get enough sunlight and suffer from rickets too.)

Don't google images of frostbite
without a strong stomach!4. The Cold Hypothesis. There is a lot of evidence that melanin is really sensitive to cold, and can lead to greater amounts of frostbite or other problems. Again, this would select for less melanin in the skin in regions where it's colder, just to be able to survive the cold easier. (I won't go into the studies that have been done to look into this, but let's just say melanin and liquid nitrogen don't mix well...unless you want a really interesting pattern on your pet.)

There are actually more theories/hypotheses regarding how skin colors has been operated on by natural selection, where having a specific amount of melanin in the skin--a little or a lot--has been advantageous to an individual and therefore they have spread their genes to more of the population. However, this post has seriously gotten super long!

Questions, sing it out in the comments! And please, please go vote!

Thankful Thursdays

It's yet another Thursday where I need to take a second to list a few things I'm thankful for. Please jump in and let me know what's on your list today!

I'm thankful it's Thursday, my prep day, and hopefully I'll be able to tackle my giant pile of work and wrangle it into something more manageable :)That my drive to work is spectacular right now. The leaves are just amazing. I so adore fall!Hot chocolate. I've been living off of it lately. Love it! If I'm really feeling it, I'll share my recipe for Peruvian hot chocolate with cheese (I swear it's *amazing*!).That I can go to the eye doctor this morning. Thank heavens they can make me see clearly so I can read. It sucks wearing glasses forever (I'm randomly far-sighted), but at least I live somewhere where that can be fixed.That my belly is full and I'm warm. I probably take this for granted far far too often. It's good to remember that there are many who are not.Whatcha grateful for this fine Thursday?

Giveaways!

Okay, before this week completely swallows me whole, I want to let you all know about a couple of giveaways for copies of Colors Like Memories that will be ending shortly, and if you like free things, you should swing by to check them out :)

Tribute Books has a random little interview with me and a giveaway!

And the book tour from last week also has a nice little giveaway going on still. Check it out at this stop!

[image error] Source: icanhascheezburger.com via Heather on Pinterest

Just for kicks and giggles!