Transgenic lettuce

While the theme of food doesn’t come up until book four, I’m always on the lookout for relevant information. Here’s an interesting piece on the genetic modification of leafy greens to provide medication through diet.

From the article:
“A team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed modified transgenic lettuce that produces a bone-stimulating hormone. The lettuce can be easily grown in space and could help strengthen an astronaut’s bones. It may even help reduce the risk of osteoporosis on Earth…”

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

Mars sounds weird

I touch on the nature of sound on Mars in the first book, but this is new and a little wild. It’s not just the low pressure of the atmosphere that affects the transfer of sound. The composition of that atmosphere does as well. And it’s not the same across the range of sounds we hear.

From the article:
“Due to the unique properties of the carbon dioxide molecules at low pressure, Mars is the only terrestrial-planet atmosphere in the Solar System experiencing a change in speed of sound right in the middle of the audible bandwidth (20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz)… The result of this is that sound travels more than 10 meters per second faster at higher frequencies than it does at low ones.”

 

Book festival

Generation Mars will make a rare public appearance at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend.

I’ll be in the Indie Author Pavilion for Children’s Books on Saturday, March 12, from 2:30-4:30pm.

If you’re in the Tucson area, come by and buy a book or just say “Hi!”

Shelter is now available

Readers of all ages,

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two is now officially released.

The family is on an away mission when a solar particle event forces them to seek shelter where they can. As conditions go from uncomfortable to desperate, it falls to the sisters to save the family. It’s a struggle for survival in which they learn the full meaning of shelter.

Available now on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733731040