Kate Rauner's Blog, page 54

Science Olympiad – it’s time for the nerds to shine :) #science #education #nerdgirl #nerdboy #nerd

So many distractions as I try to finish the final edit of my new book, but here’s a worthwhile distraction. Western New Mexico University hosts our regional Science Olympiad every year and I’m one of the many volunteers.

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Part of my event requires kids to identify poisonous critters – from pictures only! The Black Widow is easy.

This is a science competition for middle school and highschool kids. They get an inside look at a real university and a chance to prove themselves in both written and hands-on challenges.

The competition comes up at the end of the month and I’m diverted to getting ready. This year I’m working on the Potions and Poisons event! Slows my editing and delays research for my blog posts, but well worth it! Good luck Olympians!

Short Stories, Articles, and Poetry in Silver City Quarterly – and something by me! #story #shortstory #poetry #read

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Painting © 2016 by Jenny Floravita What happens when a hurricane bears down on an endangered island nation?

Happy New Year! The 2018 winter edition of the Silver City Quarterly Review is now available. I’m thrilled to have one of my short scifi stories included!

The review spotlights local authors from Silver City and southwestern New Mexico, presenting their short fiction and non-fiction pieces, and poetry. There’s something for everyone and an archive too. Help encourage local authors and read for free – you can’t beat that.

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City Hall, Silver City, NM, USA

Silver City is my home, a lovely little mountain town in rural southwest New Mexico, USA. Founded by a gold and silver rush in the late 1800s, we still have active copper mines, and a wonderful greenspace around old iron mines. Enter from behind the courthouse (right in town!) for a lovely stroll. Silver is a gateway to the Gila National Forest and Continental Divide Trail, and boasts a growing artist community and the best coffee shops I’ve ever lounged around. Plan a visit sometime.

Filed under: Poetry, Science Fiction Tagged: local authors, read, read for free, short story, Silver City New Mexico USA, Silver City Quarterly Review, small town America, stories

Women Who Write #poetry #stories #poems #women #amwriting #amreading #reading

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Not all rainbows though there may be a few

You Tube for Books #newtrailer #trailer #scifi

[image error]I’m dipping my toe into a new pond – a trailer for one of my science fiction books. Not bad for a first try, if I do say so myself, though I left the music playing way past the end of the trailer. Still some things to learn. I’d love to know what you think about my maiden voyage, about book trailers in general, or what you’d like to see from authors. It’s only a minute long. View it here.

 

Filed under: Neat Science News

Merry Christmas #MerryChristmas have a #merry #time

[image error]I like an artificial tree

Then I can bend the tips

So each ornament dangles free

The way Dad always wanted

Filed under: Neat Science News

Christmas is Practically Here – eBooks are Greatest Last Minute Gift Bargains #ebook #book #giftideas

[image error]Twas the night before Christmas –

Thought my shopping was done,

Till I sprang from the couch.

I’d forgotten someone!

No worries. Send an ebook at the speed of light – an affordable last minute gift.

Glory on Mars, Colonization Book 1: Emma wants to explore and build a new home, but something is terribly wrong on Mars. At Amazon or your favorite store. Read a preview on Amazon.

Someday soon you’ll be reading real-live tales of a colony on Mars. Until then, travel with science fiction. Each book in my On Mars series is a stand-alone story, so start anywhere. Hours of reading fun for teens and adults.

A book’s faster than eagles

On its internet flight.

Merry Christmas to all

And to all a good night.

Filed under: Kate's Books, Science Fiction Tagged: Amazon, Apple iBooks, B&N, Books, ebooks, Gift Ideas, join a near-future colony on Mars, Kobo, last minute gifts, Merry Christmas, Merry Xmas, reality science fiction [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

Evolution and One Lost Boy Produce New Species of Bird in Two Generations, and for the first time we absolutely watched it happen #science #biology #evolution #Galapagos

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Scientists identified the island and species their bird came from – here’s one of his brethren

What’s a species? What separates one species from another? The word may be a handy abstraction but it’s also fuzzy. Our words aren’t as precise as we might hope.

Consider the evolution of a new species of bird, in two generations, from a single lost finch spotted by a graduate student.

The arrival 36 years ago of a strange bird to a remote island in the Galapagos archipelago… mated with a member of another species resident on the island, giving rise to a new species that today consists of roughly 30 individuals.

The newcomer was a male that sang a different song, and was much larger with a larger beak than three finch species living on the island. Because the island was small and intensely studied, researchers were able to collect blood samples of the new male and track his breeding.

A species is a population that interbreeds within its own group but not outside. That doesn’t mean individuals can’t or won’t breed outside their group – and produce offspring that can also breed. Some species are isolated because they because they never bump into each other.

“Reproductive isolation is considered a critical step in the development of a new species.” The new male’s offspring looked different and sang a different song than the fiches around them. Since they had each other, they weren’t as desperate (or lucky? insistent?) as their father, so they mated with each other. That’s why they’ve been awarded the title of species.

Such intense inbreeding can exaggerate genetic diseases and weaknesses, but that isn’t obvious yet for these finches. Who knows? Problems may arise. Perhaps we’ll watch the demise of this new species in coming years.

This new species may say more about people than birds. The Galapagos finches continue to be fascinating birds, utterly unconcerned about human-created concepts, taxonomy, or language.

More at phys.org/news and many other outlets.

Filed under: Neat Science News Tagged: birds, evolution, evolutionary biology, Galapagos finches, Galapagos Islands, hybrid, reproductive isolation, what is a species

Christmas Eve Eve – it’s almost here #ChristmasEveEve #Merry Christmas #MerryXmas #birdwatching

[image error]Got an early present today – a new yard bird – a Goshawk. Yes, I’m one of those bird-watchers, but I’m only a little crazy.

He’s taken over the power pole where my pair of ravens usually sit, but the little birds don’t seem to be scared away. They must know that he’s not hunting.

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Winter Solstice for Us Northerners – Longest Night of the Year #wintersolstice #solstice #solstice2017

[image error]Since our ancestors first noticed the longest night, we’ve celebrated winter solstice. Holidays from many traditions cluster around “midwinter.” I’ll be at a party tonight – food, wine, friends, and a candle-lit labyrinth. Best wishes to you and yours.

Filed under: Kate's Books Tagged: Books Make Great Gifts, gitft ideas, northern hemisphere winter solstice [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]

This is Absolutely the Best Science Fiction Book I’ve Read in Ages – has Aliens and Surprising Catastrophes – Terrific Ending #review #bookreview #scifi #books #giftideas #giftidea

[image error]I’m an incorrigible skimmer, but I read every word of Tomorrow’s Kin by Nancy Kess. The story begins with aliens who have a surprising link to Earth. They’ve already landed when middle-aged geneticist Marianne Jenner is summoned. She joins a team of earthly scientists working with the aliens to defeat a lethal danger that threatens both humans and extraterrestrials – a cloud of interstellar spores that could wipe out both worlds.

Nothing goes the way I expected. Disaster is slow and complicated, driven as much by human failings as the interstellar threat, with a fascinating impact on Earth and its children. It’s a good story – a global calamity told from the intimate perspective of Marianne and her family, with a chance to follow the aliens to their home world. There are action scenes, but a lot of the story covers Marianne’s relationships, so that’s my one caveat if you’re not into that. In addition to planet-wide impacts, climate change is raging, which is not related to the main plot but adds some colorful background.

In the latter half of the book, young children told some of the story from their point of view. Those sections were handled wonderfully. The kids notice exactly what a kid would, leaving me with more meaning than the children realize themselves. Kess occasionally drops names from science and the arts (Stephen Hawking, Melville’s Ahab), which is fun. I enjoyed the references I recognized, but none was vital to the story so they never slowed me down.

I liked both the science and the characters – lengthy personal interactions related to the overall story and held my interest. The rip-roaring climax was surprising, but all made sense in the end. It’s a good thing I finished the book on a weekend because I couldn’t put it down through the last quarter of the book.

What others are saying

With 3.5 stars on Amazon and 24 reviews, the book isn’t as popular as I expected. The alien potion of the book is based on an award-winning novella by Kess (one reviewer said “word for word”), and some readers were disappointed that the aliens left the story early in the book. The effects of the alien’s visit on individuals was belabored for some, too much like “filler.” Others loved both premise and characters. As is common, the features of the book that delighted some readers were exactly what others disliked.

Book Two in the trilogy is available now, though there were no reader reviews on Amazon when I checked. The description seemed a little disappointing – sounded like a rework of the original book’s plot.

Filed under: Science Fiction Tagged: aliens visit Earth, book review, extraterrestrial physics, interstellar danger, science fiction, SciFi, spaceship