Flying On The Fringe

Did your parents encourage your imagination, or discourage it?

My mother did a lot to encourage my imagination, though I didn’t appreciate it when I was a child. Barbie dolls were all the rage when I was in elementary school. I didn’t care much for dolls, but I liked all the accessories in the stores. I had a “fashion” doll, but not a Barbie. When I wanted to buy new clothes for it, Mom handed me leftover scraps of cloth. I’m sure she hoped I’d decide to try my hand at sewing, but I made do with string for belts and safety pins.

I really wanted one of the fancy Barbie convertible cars. I got a shoe box and was told to use my imagination.

Admittedly, we probably couldn’t afford the store-bought car, but I doubt I would have gotten it anyway. I have to admit, a shoe box can be a car, a stage coach, or a spaceship.

My imagination allowed me to use a lawn swing tied to a tree as a stagecoach, and a swing on the swing set as a spaceship. I remember one summer afternoon when my cousin and I spent the afternoon exploring other planets. I also remember the sense of shock when my mother called us in to lunch and I realized I was “back” in my own yard. I hadn’t been there for hours, you see.

Looking back, I missed the importance of those lessons when raising my kids. I could afford to buy lots of “stuff,” and I am mortified at the boxes and boxes of toys I now have stored in the basement and barn. Fortunately, they seem to have survived my poor parenting. The older one complains I yelled too much (I did lecture A LOT), but he enjoys reading and is eager to try new things, go new places, and eat foods he hasn’t tried before. The younger one is an exceptional author and game designer.

At least I can say with confidence I never tried to discourage their imagination. What’s your story?

The Depths of Love anthology from Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Guild, which includes my short story Hope Takes Flight, is now available on Amazon. This is a great read from a collection of talented writers. Please check it out!

Reprinted from: https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/2-meteor-showers-to-peak-at-same-time-on-tuesday-night/782062

Updated Jul. 26, 2020 11:13 PM

As Comet NEOWISE fades away, stargazers will have a new astronomical event to look for in the final days of July—a phenomenon that hasn’t happened in nearly three months.

On the night of Tuesday, July 28, into the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 29, shooting stars will glisten in the night sky from not one, but two meteor showers: The southern Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids. The last time that a moderate meteor shower put on a show in the night sky was the Eta Aquarid shower in early May, but clouds were an issue for many stargazers across North America.

Neither of the two showers this week are considered major, but together they will bring around 15 to 20 meteors per hour in dark areas away from light pollution. The Alpha Capricornids is the weaker of the two meteor showers, but it could prove to be the one that is most intriguing.

“What is notable about this shower is the number of bright fireballs produced during its activity period,” the American Meteor Society (AMS) explained.

(Visit the link above for a spectacular fireball video)

Fireballs are incredibly bright meteors that can light up the entire night sky for a few seconds. They also are visible for much longer than the typical shooting star, glowing for several seconds as they streak through the sky.
“Vivid colors are more often reported by fireball observers because the brightness is great enough to fall well within the range of human color vision,” the AMS said.
“The dominant composition of a meteoroid can play an important part in the observed colors of a fireball, with certain elements displaying signature colors when vaporized.”

Skywatchers planning to head out for the celestial double feature on Tuesday night might want to put on a pot of coffee as they are best seen after about 1 a.m. local time.
This is the time when the moon is setting, meaning that there will be less light pollution in the sky during the second half of the night. It is also the time when the radiant point of the two showers starts to climb high in the sky.
The radiant point is simply the area in the sky where the meteors originate. As the radiant point moves higher in the sky, onlookers will be able to count a greater number of meteors. Both the southern Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids have a radiant point in the southern sky, close to Saturn and Jupiter, but meteors will be able to be seen streaking across all areas of the sky, not just to the south.

The only things that people will need to be able to see the two meteor showers are a clear view of the night sky and cloud-free weather conditions.
The best viewing conditions on Tuesday night are expected across the Great Lakes, the interior West and the northern Canadian Prairies.
Clouds are likely to be an issue for much of the Plains and the East Coast, but some pockets could have enough breaks in the clouds to catch part of the show.

The first few weeks of “shelter in place” didn’t bother me much. I’m married, so I’m not totally devoid of personal contact. I often talk with my close friends by phone and over Facebook, and I’ve been catching up on overdue housework and getting a fair amount of writing done. But as of this last week, the lack of face-to-face contact with my friends and my sons is wearing me down. I can’t focus to write, my exercise routine went in the toilet, and I’m suffering from an overall feeling of frustration.

I know I’m not alone in these feelings. Some people battled depression at the beginning, some weathered it well for a while, but like me, are finding their coping skills wearing thin. Until the last five years, most of my “friendships” were workplace acquaintances. My co-workers and I got to know each other pretty well, but rarely socialized outside of the workplace. I had a close-knit family—my husband and two sons, my mother and my sister, with whom I was very close. That was pretty much all I needed.

My mother passed away almost twenty years ago, and my sister a little over a year ago. My sons have moved to another city about sixty miles away, though under normal circumstances, I see them almost every weekend. But my day-to-day support circle has dwindled to just my husband. Therefore, new friends with whom I share the joys and tribulations of the writing profession have become much more important to me.

So, I found the following article by Inga Popovaite, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, University of Iowa, very interesting. It was posted by EarthSky Voices in Human World, April 23, 2020, (www.earthsky.org). (Earthsky republished it from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license).

Dr. Popovaite writes:

Understanding isolation’s effects on regular people, rather than those certified to have ‘the right stuff,’ will help prepare us for the future, whether another pandemic or interplanetary space travel.

I was supposed to travel to “Mars” this month. The plan was to stay two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station—actually in the Utah desert—to simulate human operations on the red planet. Eight of us were to live in a two-story cylinder, 24 feet (7 meters) in diameter. We would conserve water and put on mock spacesuits every time we ventured outside. (Image via George Frey/ Getty Images News/Getty Images, reprinted on www.earthsky.org.)

But, in an ironic twist, the coronavirus pandemic and the worldwide spread of social distancing put on hold our simulation of isolation on Mars.

My main goal had been to collect data for my dissertation. I research groups in space analog environments, isolated and confined places that share characteristics with human space missions. I’m especially interested in the way gender contributes to individuals’ influence within a group and how men and women manage their emotions in isolation and confinement.

(Image via David Howells/ Corbis Historical/Getty Images, reprinted on www.earthsky.org.)

I will not go to “Mars” this spring. As I am self-isolating at home, though, I keep thinking about what lessons for future space travel the current situation can provide. Astronauts have shared tips on how to survive long periods of loneliness and isolation. Maybe in return, the experiences of millions living under lockdown can offer insights into previously understudied social effects of isolation and aid future space travel….the more researchers understand the social effects of isolation on regular people – as opposed to those certified to have “the right stuff” – the better we will be prepared for the future, whether another wave of pandemic or interplanetary space travel.

Most group behavior research in space and space-analog environments focuses on leadership, cohesion, and conflict—factors that affect teams’ performance and their ability to complete tasks. It makes sense, as astronauts are first and foremost a team of co-workers on a specific mission.

But, by focusing on the professional level, researchers overlook other potential relationships between crew members – such as family ties or intimacy. It is not a minor detail: Interpersonal relationships can certainly change dynamics of group behavior. If you’ve ever shared a workplace with a romantic couple, for instance, you probably know there can be some drama.

So far, only one married couple has been to space. Researchers suggest that couples are better equipped to handle isolation because of mutual social support. Having couples on board makes the team feel closer as a whole.

However, anecdotal evidence from China suggests that divorce rates jumped after the quarantine. This factoid suggests that it’s not clear whether average real-world couples are better suited for isolation than single individuals.

Now, researchers like me have an opportunity to understand how couple dynamics influence life in isolation – including sex and sexuality, questions that NASA is not eager to address. While pregnancy can be dangerous, intimacy and sexuality can improve emotional and mental well-being over long periods of social isolation…. Men and women have the same general goal – to survive the pandemic and its aftermath – but they experience the quarantine differently. In most middle-class families, the traditional work-home divide is now gone, as both partners work from home. But women are still likely to spend more time running the household, including child and elderly care.

While at this stage there are no screaming toddlers in space, space-analog research shows similar trends of women taking care of other crew members. The widespread lockdown could allow researchers to get more data on how social norms and expectations about each gender—for example, who is supposed to offer more emotional support—influence behavior in mixed-gender groups in highly uncertain and stressful situations.

There is no doubt that coronavirus-caused social isolation will take a toll on individual and collective mental health. But staying home saves lives. Maybe this experience will also provide lessons on how to plan for future cities and social life on another planet.

As writers, we draw from our own experiences, even when creating fantasy or alien characters. So use this difficult time in your life to explore your own emotions and reactions, and those of the people around you, to lend more depth to your characters in crisis.

The eruption of Anak Krakatau last week reminded me of the great landscapes and habitats for world building that volcanoes create. Earthsky.org had some beautiful video of the eruptions. https://earthsky.org/earth/anak-krakatau-volcano-eruption-april-2020

I took a trip to Arizona a couple of years ago, presumably to help a friend of mine with research for a book she was writing, but the landscape there inspired an entire alien culture for my third book (delayed release due to you-know-what).

Lava tubes are among my favorite world building choices. The tubes are created when the edges and top of a lava flow cool and crust over, leaving a channel of flowing lava in the center. They create amazing caves with strong, solid walls and ceilings, sometimes miles in length. Great habitats! Plus, the rumblings of earthquakes and the threat of a volcanic eruption upsetting everyone’s plans creates a great sub-conflict.

The longest and deepest lava tube in the world is Kazumura Cave on the eastern slope of Kīlauea on the island of Hawai’i, surveyed at 40.7 miles (65.5 km) long and 3,614 feet (1,102 m). Like any other cave, lava tubes may host underground sources of fresh water, lending another ray of hope to the possibility of finding life on other volcanicly active planets, even those that may not have surface water. (Photo from Wikiwand).

And lest you think that cave homes would have to be dark, damp, and forbidding, check out the luxury Beckham Cave Lodge with all the amenities in Parthenon, Arkansas (www.beckhamcave.com).

Or, what about a whole community of bubble homes?

I can’t vouch for this particular community in Japan (www.japantoday.com) was built, but a similar construction here in the U.S. is done by inflating a fabric “bladder,” basically a big, strong balloon, and spraying a type of quick crete on the inside. Once that hardens, another layer is applied to the exterior, and voila—you have the exterior of a house. These are quick—ready to finish out in a matter of days. You can add more space with more bubbles, and they have the added advantage of being fire and storm resistant.

Or maybe something like these in Holland for areas that flood often (photo from buzznick.com)?

So what kind of exotic life space will your beings develop?

How many hands could a “person” have?

Depends on your definition of a “person.”

In science fiction and fantasy, our characters don’t have to be human, or they might be human with enhancements or different genetic characteristics. On Earth, most vertebrate land animals have four limbs. Even snakes evolved from lizards. Why? How many hands, or fingers, or toes, could a human have?

“The condition of having no more than five fingers or toes—in this context, ‘most species’ means a subgroup of jawed vertebrates—probably evolved before the evolutionary divergence of amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians) and amniotes (birds, mammals, and reptiles in the loosest sense of the term). This event dates to approximately 340 million years ago in the Lower Carboniferous Period. Prior to this split, there is evidence of tetrapods from about 360 million years ago having limbs bearing arrays of six, seven and eight digits. Reduction from these polydactylous patterns to the more familiar arrangements of five or fewer digits accompanied the evolution of sophisticated wrist and ankle joints–both in terms of the number of bones present and the complex articulations among the constituent parts.” (Michael Coates, associate professor in the department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago and co-editor of Evolution & Development, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-most-species-have/

In evolution, it’s far easier to lose properties than to create something that didn’t previously exist. So snakes lost all their digits, horses evolved to use only one digit which forms a hoof, and others utilize two or three digits.

What strikes me as interesting in the chart is that the first creature in the tetrapodomorpha branch, Eustenopteron, has six fins, not four. Two are lost by the appearance of Tiktaalik. Could that option still exist in our genome? One scientist, Yacine Kherdjemil, demonstrated that by reproducing the fish-type regulation for the hoxa11 gene, mice develop up to seven digits per paw, i.e., a return to ancestral status https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005132654.htm. Chart at right from https://earthsky.org/earth/elpistostege-ancient-4limbed-fish-fin-origin-human-hand?

There’s no particular evidence to prove that four limbs are better than six or eight. “You could consider it somewhat arbitrary,” said Edward Daeschler, associate curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Land vertebrates all share the same basic design, but could it be different? Absolutely.” (https://www.livescience.com/33284-what-if-first-animals-crawl-out-sea-six-legs.html)

Some believe six or eight limbs are simply less practical, that the extra legs would get in the way. On the other hand, there’s no reason why an extra pair of limbs couldn’t function both as legs and as arms as needed. Wouldn’t that be cool? I used that approach in my sentient insect species, the Rakshi, who appear in my third book, Salvation’s Star, (to be released sometime this spring depending on COVID-19). Scientists also claim insects with an exoskeleton couldn’t evolve to be as large as a human, because the exoskeleton couldn’t sustain that much weight. Though it’s never occurred on Earth, there’s no reason an animal on another planet couldn’t have developed both a skeleton and an exoskeleton.

Most appearances of extra limbs or digits are genetic anomalies or defects. However, another hint of what might have been, or what might still be possible for humans, comes from research by Yacine Kherdjemil, who demonstrated that by reproducing the fish-type regulation for the hoxa11 gene, mice develop up to seven digits per paw, i.e., a return to ancestral status. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005132654.htm

If a story that takes place on Earth, I find it harder to become fully immersed in plots that defy science. While I’ll admit I enjoyed the X-men movies, I never could develop a deep affinity for an array of characters, each of whom mysteriously developed genetic mutations independent of each other, and so many different mutations at one time. Nature doesn’t work that way.

That said, taking a look at the mutations independently, some are certainly plausible. Wings? Birds developed from the same common ancestor as humans. Apelike characteristics? Apes are closely related to humans. Invisibility? Never heard of any Earth creature who could pull that off other than through camouflage. The X-man would work better for me if there had been an evil mastermind at center stage who was manipulating the genome to create the mutations. Maybe a feline gene could have explained Wolverine’s ability to extend his claws.

But who am I to question an icon of fantasy who made millions?

World-building is a critical component of science fiction and fantasy. For me, creating other worlds and the societies that inhabit them is what inspired me to write science fiction in the first place. In my mind, even the most exotic worlds should be based on science. That said, things can get pretty weird.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the extremes under which life can exist. Maybe the better question would be, under what conditions could it NOT exist? Extreme levels of several elements seem to present barriers to the development of advanced life. Life may survive under extreme conditions, but in a reduced state of metabolism similar to hibernation. Some seeds and microbes can sustain life for years while waiting for more suitable environmental conditions. On the other hand, there is ample proof that some life thrives within certain boundaries. However, if an environment shifted from moderate to extreme over a long period of time, more advanced organisms might be able to develop adaptations, especially in terms of finding or building suitable habitat.

The key elements that serve to inhibit life include lack of water, salinity, alkalinity/acidity, temperature, radiation, pressure (air and water), and poisons. For each of these elements, there is at least one organism on earth that can withstand extremes. Salinity and oxygen are two that readily allow the development of advanced life forms, so for the purposes of my blog, I will dismiss those. Given enough time, it wouldn’t surprise me to have dolphins, whales, and maybe octopi join us as sentient lifeforms (if they haven’t already, and we’re just too stupid to know it). If you don’t know why I included octopi, do some reading on these amazing creatures—my top pick for inspiration in alien life.

Water

Water seems to be a critical limiting factor, enough so that NASA is using the presence of liquid water as its primary focus in seeking extraterrestrial life. The Atacama desert in Chile is one of the oldest, driest, hot deserts on Earth, with areas receiving on average less than 15 mm of rain per year, and other areas receiving no rain at all for years at a time.

In 2003, a team of researchers published a report in which they duplicated the tests used by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars landers to detect life, and were unable to detect any signs in Atacama Desert soil in the region of Yungay. The region may be unique on Earth in this regard, and is being used by NASA to test instruments for future Mars missions. Later, however, the team duplicated the Viking tests and found that they missed signs of life in soil samples from Antarctic dry valleys, the Atacama Desert, and other locales. However, in 2014, a new hyperarid site was reported, Maria Elena South, which was much drier than Yungay. (Wikipedia)

Nonetheless, life flourishes on the borders of the Atacama Desert. Fog from the ocean is common and produces pools or lakes called lomas, which provide a water source. (Photo by Leon Petrosyan on Wikipedia) Over 500 species of flora have been gathered within the border of this desert. Some are succulents that can store water, and others have adapted to postpone periods of growth and flowering until rain does fall. Animals such as the leaf-eared mouse, guanacos, the South American gray fox, several species of birds, lizards, beetles, and wasps have also adapted to living there.

People in the Atacama have a history of collecting water from the air. For hundreds of years, native people in the Andes harvested water by capturing the morning dew. They dug pits into the ground to hold buckets and made funnels from branches to channel water into the buckets. Lids made of branches and leaves kept the water from evaporating. The trap was left overnight and the water collected in the morning after dew formed. They have also been capturing water from fog for over a decade using screens that have very small mesh. The water in the fog condenses on the screens and drips into troughs below. Pipes carry the water to where it will be used. The idea caught on and now there are fog collectors installed in 25 countries in Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Asia. How’s that for a great world-building idea? https://www.windows2universe.org/vocals/water_clouds.html

Temperature:

The upper limit for DNA and chlorophyll is about 158 degrees F (70^o C), and the lower limit is about 5^o F (-20^o C). The lowest temperature for active microbial communities is about -0.4^o F (-18^o C). Below these limits, many organisms can survive, but at reduced metabolic states. https://space.nss.org/life-in-extreme-environments/ I have to say, when I did my research, these limits blew my mind. I expected a much broader range. Cold-blooded creatures like frog and turtles use water frozen outside their cells to insulate them, but they remain dormant at colder temperatures. Other organisms must have special proteins, cryoprotectants, to allow them to survive thawing, or must be able to produce molecules that lower the freezing point of water.

In case you’re wondering, when a human is placed in cryogenic suspension, all the water must first be removed from their cells and replaced with a cryoprotectant. https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/cryonics2.htm

Penguins use a combination of blubber and feathers to insulate them against the Antarctic cold. Emperor Penguins can withstand temperature at the bottom of the temperature range, down to -20^o C (-4^o F).

Tardigrades, commonly called “water bears,” can survive temperatures from -391^o F (-235^o C) to 304^o F (151^o C) in hibernation mode. They can also survive up to 6,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level. Don’t let the photo fool you—this guy’s a lot smaller than he looks. This was taken with an electron microscope. (Photo from ame616.tumblr.com on Pinterest) I really want to pet one!

On earth, the only organisms that thrive at extremely high temperatures are Archaea or Bacteria (some have even been found in volcanic vents!), but some Eukaryotes can thrive at low temperatures and extremes of high acidity or alkalinity, pressure, and salt. Eukaryotes have a nucleus surrounded by a cell membrane and include all higher life forms.

Other metabolic dangers

Substances such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium are toxic to most earth life. Humans have used small amounts of poisons such as snake venom and even arsenic to develop resistance to such toxins. Oxygen is also toxic to some earth life forms, known as anaerobics.

If humans can train their bodies to resist toxins within the space of a single lifetime, what could they accomplish over generations? With a carefully crafted world, almost any environment could be made believable. Make it more real by thinking carefully about how your people adapted. What are their homes like? What do they eat? What health problems do they suffer?

Radiation also damages DNA, though some microbes seem to be resistant to that as well.Scientists are fairly certain that microbes even survive the rigors of space on asteroids. Could an advanced life form develop a similar ability? How long would that take? The first human ancestors appeared about 2.5 million years ago. Homo erectus was the first to migrate out of the comfortable environment of Africa about 1.9 million years ago, and Homo sapiens didn’t appear until about 300,000 years ago. How would we have developed if radiation levels had gradually increased over that time?

Enjoy your new world.

Thanks for visiting. Join me again next week for more world-building science.