• Seven years on: advice to new writers Seven years on: advice to new writers

    Last week, on 9 December to be precise, was what I consider the anniversary of my writing career. In December [...]

     
  • Looking at the Earth through different eyes: the GRACE mission Looking at the Earth through different eyes: the GRACE mission

    Adapted from a talk given at #CSIROTweetup by Dr Daniel Shaddock (laser systems) Dr Paul Tregoning (geo data) ANU, supplemented [...]

     
  • Mars Curiosity Tweetup in Canberra! Mars Curiosity Tweetup in Canberra!

    On 25 November 2011, NASA will launch the Mars Science Laboratory mission in the form of the rover known as [...]

     
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Choosing a landing spot for the Mars Curiosity rover

Choosing a landing spot for the Mars Curiosity rover

Adapted from a talk given at #CSIROTweetup by Marion Anderson School for Geosciences Monash University. Marion is an incredibly passionate speaker and Australian ambassador for space science. Marion is a geologist, and was involved with site selection for the Curiosity landing. Our understanding of Mars [...]

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Dust & Rain – Icefire Trilogy book 2

Dust & Rain – Icefire Trilogy book 2

The saga continues… Fifteen years ago, a brilliant scientist built a barrier against the dangerous power that radiates from the City of Glass in the southern land, allowing the citizens of Chevakia to live without fear of their lives. Since then, the democracy of Chevakia [...]

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Looking at the Earth through different eyes: the GRACE mission

Looking at the Earth through different eyes: the GRACE mission

Adapted from a talk given at #CSIROTweetup by Dr Daniel Shaddock (laser systems) Dr Paul Tregoning (geo data) ANU, supplemented with data from the GRACE mission home page. Image snarfed from the NASA/JPL GRACE page Most people associate going into space with exploring objects not [...]

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#CSIROTweetup in photos

#CSIROTweetup in photos

A few pictures of the Tweetup event (explanation of what this event is in this post) ETA: An official report of the event is now up here These are some general overview pictures. Others will follow when I cover some of the subjects we heard [...]

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Mars Curiosity Tweetup in Canberra!

Mars Curiosity Tweetup in Canberra!

On 25 November 2011, NASA will launch the Mars Science Laboratory mission in the form of the rover known as Curiosity, which will be the third such rover to be trundling about the red planet. Curiosity (follow on Twitter as @MarsCuriosity) is larger than the [...]

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Meet Cory Wilson

Meet Cory Wilson

I’ve been having an extraordinary amount of fun with a couple of graphics programs. When hunting around for illustrations, I found it really hard to find pictures, even professionally-taken ones, that I could use for illustrations. So when I heard of software that helps you [...]

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Party, with Echoes – free short story

Party, with Echoes – free short story

Yuriko works as a dive guide for rich tourists wanting to see the exotic life under the ice at Jupiter’s moon Europa. But this one tourist has an agenda. Originally published in Redstone SF, May 2011. An original premise, nicely done, particularly the scenery. –Lois [...]

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How close are we to developing artifical minds?

How close are we to developing artifical minds?

The last few days, I’ve spent some time doing some research I’d been avoiding. It’s no secret that I am interested in astronomy, am not afraid of chemistry or physics, but I’ve rather been avoiding medical science, since I don’t feel particularly qualified to tackle [...]

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Space flight in SF: getting off this rock

Space flight in SF: getting off this rock

Image: the last Shuttle lift-off in May 2011. Image snarfed from the amazing APOD site. I’ve just finished reading a book I won’t mention, for the reason that it describes something that’s impossible and inaccurate, would never be practical in the way described, and I [...]

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Fire & Ice – part 1 of the Icefire Trilogy

Fire & Ice – part 1 of the Icefire Trilogy

Deep under the City of Glass in the frozen southern land, an age-old machine called the Heart of the City radiates a power which locals call icefire. Most citizens are immune to it, but a few, always born with physical disabilities, can bend it to [...]

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