As a scientist, I love hard science fiction, especially when the story makes me think about the true nature of reality or takes me on an adventure to places unknown. We’ve all read the classics from Clarke, Heinlein, Bear, or Asimov. But books written decades ago are becoming increasingly dated as society progresses into a new century. (Will people of the future really chain smoke? And why are all the characters men?) Never fear, modern hard sci-fi is alive and well. Here are five recent books that tell an intriguing, uplifting, or awe-inspiring story. Even better than the classics, it’s hard sci-fi for the 21 st century! In a world where people with a rare gene are kidnapped for their blood's wonder-cure abilities, an LAPD officer fighting the activities of illegal blood farms is pitted against a madman who has modified healing blood to unstoppable levels. The emerging picture is one of many waves of ancient human migrations, so that all populations living today are mixes of ancient ones, and often carry a genetic component from archaic humans. David Reich, whose team has been at the forefront of these discoveries, explains what genetics is telling us about ourselves and our complex and often surprising… Again, this word laughing is repeated throughout the scene. However, it is also punctuated with other words such as, ‘ terrified’, ‘ crying’, ‘ stubbed out cigarettes’, ‘ punch him’, ‘ pegged a stone’.

Scene 1: Mark and Jan discuss that someone is ‘dead’ and this throws the audience into the middle of the action. The nucleotide sequence of the human β-globin gene. This gene carries the information for the amino acid sequence of one of the two types of subunits of the hemoglobin molecule, which carries oxygen in the blood. A different gene, the α-globin (more...) I’ve been fascinated by American women’s lives my whole life, reading and writing women’s biographies from high school through graduate school and into my career as a professional historian. I was raised in the Great Lakes region of the United States, and was educated at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania. I teach early American history, women’s history, and the history of sexuality at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, and am at work on a book about women’s lives in the generation after the American Revolution. Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome—an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms—that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. This book is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases.THEATRE INCLUDES: Debris (Theatre503/BAC); Osama the Hero (Hampstead); After the End (Paines Plough/Traverse/The Bush/UK and international tour); Love and Money (Young Vic/Royal Exchange); Taking Care of Baby (Hampstead/Birmingham Rep); Orphans (Paines Plough/Traverse/Birmingham Rep/Soho). Plays for young people include: DNA (National Theatre) and Our Teacher is a Troll (National Theatre of Scotland). He also co-wrote the comedy series Pulling (BBC3) and wrote and created Utopia (Channel 4). Kathryn is the best sci-fi author you haven’t read. How do I know? I was her critique buddy. We traded chapters as we wrote, each acting as advisor to the other.

Vague descriptions of a murder incident by teenagers that allow lots of imagination and filling in the blank by yourself. The DNA double helix. (A) A space-filling model of 1.5 turns of the DNA double helix. Each turn of DNA is made up of 10.4 nucleotide pairs and the center-to-center distance between adjacent nucleotide pairs is 3.4 nm. The coiling of the two strands around (more...) Although quiet for a long time, Phil clearly considers everyone’s words and actions before he speaks. He gives calm and considered instructions to each member of the group as he assigns roles and tasks for them to complete. This makes him appear callous and nihilistic. A key quote that justifies his actions: Adam wants to be part of the group and Mark and Jan see exactly what he will do to be part of their gang: I’m a paranormal romance and fantasy author who fell in love with fantasy as a young girl. My journey as a reader started when I was four, but what changed me entirely was Russian Tales woven with magic. I’m passionate about Lycans, Werewolves, Witches, Vampires, and everything that’s magical. I like to write sizzling tales of love and betrayal.A portrait of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist explores the impact of James Watson's The Double Helix on her career and how her team's invention of CRISPR technology enabled revolutionary DNA-editing approaches to fighting disease. Jan is Mark’s close friend and constant companion. Mark and Jan’s vague, gossipy conversations act as preludes during each part of the play, opening the action in a disorienting and intriguing way. Jan and… Climax: After painstakingly covering up their accidental murder of their schoolmate Adam, a group of London youths discover a boy who very well may be Adam living in a hedge near the spot where they left him for dead. Dialogue: I like the vagueness of Jan and Mark's dialogues appearing at the beginning of every part. The cross-cutting will be fun to perform, though difficult.

I love books on our living world that take a wide perspective, employ a simple and clear voice, are intellectually appealing, and are conclusive. Bringing things ‘to the point’ has been my own principle of academic teaching for decades. Teaching plant sciences across all grades, I always tried to be ‘emotionally touching’ because this is the best way to create lasting knowledge. I am convinced that good science does not require jargon and can sell in everyday, common language and does best, if it goes to heart. The books I am listing, adopt this principles of communication. They open an arena of basic natural science knowledge about the world we are part of. I read this with a group of friends about a week ago. No. We all thought it was terrible. :-( I will try and forget it exists. These characters act as the ‘chorus’ or narrators. They throw the audience directly into the action at the beginning of each Act and are useful as they fill in any blanks for us.I also enjoyed seeing Phil and Leahs relationship evolve, the way the two characters interacted was mostly coming from Leah's side. But when Leah moves away, we see that Phil is deeply affected by this, even though he appeared not to care much about Leah. I really liked Monkey Girl, a great choice for teen girls. But Project Hannibal is my favorite. Kathryn works at a zoo, so she knows a lot about animals. In Hannibal, she asks, could DNA from extinct woolly mammoths be used to impregnate a modern elephant? And if you could produce mammoth offspring, why do it? An exploration of human DNA and the stories it can tell describes how genes can explain why JFK's skin was bronze, Einstein was a genius, and why people with exceptional thumb flexibility can become world-class violinists. Kean's vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy while showing how DNA will influence our species' future. One in a Billion by Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher