For some, the technologies to bioengineer skateboards exist today. But when biohacked boards and living wheels ride the sentient pools will new issues arise? What if you believe, fundamentally, that synthetic biology goes against the laws of nature? Three Pool Rhumba provides six brief glimpses of a world inhabited by skateboarders and biohackers. Enjoy your […]
Author: karlschmieder
On the F-Train
She’s carrying her new eyeballs in a Styrofoam box on the crowded uptown F train, is jostled, drops the box and it opens, eyeballs rolling zig-zag across the floor, hitting heels and sandal-clad feet, eliciting loud “Ohmigods” and “What the?” as she screams “My eyes!”
Things that influenced me this week – March 21, 2014 edition
This was a busy week of completing projects, starting new ones, trying out new tools, and being exposed to a lot of information. In particular: This week I made the trek to New York’s Javits Center for the annual Interphex show. Interphex (the International Pharmaceutical Expo) brings together the manufacturers that make the biopharmaceutical industry […]
The Pool at 4 PM (excerpt)
My father’s pool is, was, and always will be –– all skaters agree –– absurd. The pale blue surface is very hard, durable, very fast, and sentient. The coping is a great grindable bullnose. The shape is a perfect kidney, just under nine-feet deep. To ride the pool from one lip to the other across […]
Things That Influenced Me This Week – March
Genetic Engineering News – I am a subscriber to a couple of dead-tree magazines: Biotechniques Billboard, The Redbulletin, Response, and Genetic Engineering News. I typically devour every issue the same way I used to devour Skateboarder when I was 13 or 14. I’ve re-read the article on CRISPRs a new way of editing genes at […]
Unintended Consequences
You may know the Viagra story. The one where Pfizer scientists synthesized Sildenafil to treat hypertension but during the first clinical trials found it didn’t work. Instead, they observed the compound an interesting side effect. The story continues with Pfizer essentially creating a new disease and marketing the first oral treatment for that disease – […]
My (Not So) Modest 2013 Reading List
UPDATE 01.06.2014: If you want to see what I actually did read in 2013, click here to see my Pinterest Page of Books and Media Consumed in 2013. Fiction I Want to Read Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, Eoin Colfer. I’ve been a huge Artemis fan from way back (Artic Incident review, The Eternity Code […]
2013 – Media Consumed
Here’s a link to my Pinterest Board of books, movies, and music I consumed during 2013. Some highlights include: Cat’s Cradle The Magicians The True Meaning of Smekday H+ Boyd American Hustle Elysium Europa Report Obliviion
2013 Reading, Listening and Viewing | Media Consumed
Review: Across the Event Horizon
Mercurio D. Rivera’s stories punch you in the stomach with a great idea, toy with your emotions, then leave you gasping for more. In this first collection of short stories, Across the Event Horizon, Rivera’s ideas will initially surprise you. They’ll stay with you for days after you read them. Rivera understands there are infinite possibilities […]