Category: Story Fodder

Friday Writing Fodder[

Published on by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

In this week’s story fodder, two asteroid close encounters, awesome shots from space of six planets, an ancient crocodile-fish mashup, lost indigenous fort uncovered after 200 years, a mind blowing time theory, nuclear powered rockets, and missing galactic material discovered. Have a look. I hope they inspire your creativity.

Zero emissions in the U.S. is now pretty cheap https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/new-study-a-zero-emissions-us-is-now-pretty-cheap/

NASA mission will zoom by asteroid before returning sample to Earth https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/29/world/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-bennu-flyby-april-scn/index.html

The Mars Perseverance landing will be the most difficult ever https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-mars-perseverance-rover-most-difficult-landing-red-planet/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

NASA spacecraft bound for sun takes awesome shot of six planets  https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinandrews/2021/01/31/nasa-spacecraft-bound-for-the-sun-takes-awesome-shot-of-six-planets/?sh=2fdcea316f2f

Ancient fish-crocodile mashup  https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/ancient-fish-water-land-evolution/

Lost Alaskan indigenous fort discovered after 200 years  https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/lost-alaskan-indigenous-fort-rediscovered-after-200-years/

Scientists are testing a mind blowing time theory in a nuclear reactor https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a35423435/scientists-testing-quantum-time-theory-inside-nuclear-reactor/

Nuclear-powered rockets may push humanity to new worlds  https://bgr.com/2021/02/04/nuclear-rocket-mars-trip/

Student astronomer finds missing galactic matter   https://phys.org/news/2021-02-student-astronomer-galactic.html

A massive asteroid is about to whiz past Earth   https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/space-astronomy/asteroid-2001-fo32-flying-past-earth

Friday Writing Fodder

Published on by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

This week’s inspiration is longer than past editions because there were more stories I found of interest this week including ancient nuclear fusion, a Concorde successor, a scientific mystery may be solved, a very cool look at the point of view of different pets, and some historical flashbacks involving atomic bombs falling on North Carolina and others falling into Mexico. Hopefully this gets the creative juices flowing for some of you as it did for me.

Jeff Bezos backs an ancient kind of nuclear fusion https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a35276502/magnetized-target-fusion-technology-jeff-bezos/

Concorde successor AS2 takes a giant leap forward  https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/as2-supersonic-jet-florida-hq/index.html

Remembering the night two atomic bombs fell on North Carolina https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2021/01/remembering-night-two-atomic-bombs-dropped-on-north-carolina/

Saturn’s moon Rhea has a mysterious material on its surface https://www.inverse.com/science/saturns-moon-rhea-has-mysterious-material

Study shows how different pets view their environment https://apple.news/AT8I7ce10R3eWvXLLh02Bnw

Chestburster looks like hair but turns insects to zombies https://dailycaller.com/2021/01/26/chestburster-parasite-hair-turns-insects-zombies-wildlife-experts/?fbclid=IwAR2Mmuuv8uHHcs9sN5U3kj03e5tvvizVKsiLbZeVOy5mH5-Q6mZ3cBj4NYQ

Space missions to watch in 2021 https://www-space-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.space.com/amp/space-missions-to-watch-in-2021?fbclid=IwAR2a0QGU7mdwpcTdaz0zVDtDJ10M2wxLdiHB03epRUa9hLj0jO6MkWNG2eg

Book of The Dead scroll found in Egyptian tomb https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/13-foot-long-book-of-the-dead-scroll-discovered-in-egyptian-tomb?utm_campaign=9yearoldboysearchingwalnut&utm_term=organic&__source=Blastr_Vayner_syfy_Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_ad&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3lNs8LX0FNyNmG4cUvTU3XQBRahrpUxACw7AcxlktylqO0-XXyavP2N_c

Missiles over Mexico  https://rumble.com/vdavet-missiles-over-mexico-a-cold-war-story.html

Are we living in a universe that looks like a black hole to outsiders?  https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/baby-universes-black-holes-dark-matter?fbclid=IwAR0LIcVDoxC4S7dv580zk49eSdyOZcP4gO-G0onJaK3wedAlHBvAPsAIVpo

Has science solved one of history’s mysteries?https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2021/01/has-science-solved-history-greatest-adventure-mystery-dyatlov/

The soccer ball that survived the Challenger disaster and went back into space  https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/30782213/nasa-astronaut-ellison-onizuka-soccer-ball-survived-challenger-explosion

How detectives outsmarted a killer to find a body hidden for 15 years  https://apple.news/ATlLtWWcZRxKQxVFPT0YpMg

 

Friday Writing Fodder

Published on by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Round 2 of Friday Writing Fodder, my new regular blog feature, includes links both serious and humorous in nature, but all intriguing with possibilities for future stories. I hope many of you find inspiration here.

Asteroids the size of the Pyramid of Giza to fly by Earth https://apple.news/A8l89QdjZRiCuK9lODqUl9Q

NASA finds a planet with 3 suns. https://apple.news/AmrTA2b3EQL-S_kOleQFCQA

Physicist thinks mysterious space object might be an alien spacecraft https://apple.news/Ap17hGr53QpqxipicQ2GN5w

Orangutan steps up as “Mr. Mom” for daughter after mate dies unexpectedly. https://apple.news/ALibfTpNJRoqqSmJD9Mvc1A

Columbia’s Cocaine Hippos Must Be Culled (Follow up from last week’s hippo story) https://apple.news/A4YBKR86rQ4-v29jOmRSNzA

This fossil shows how dinosaurs peed, pooped, and had sex. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/world/dinosaur-fossil-sex-study-scn/index.html and fossilized butthole shows how dinosaurs have sex. https://apple.news/ANuVE3VN1QDO3FzdiQkrLxQ

Spotted and oddly striped zebras may be warning for species’ future. https://apple.news/AgQi61wXHRm6QkLUjBD1_bA

Friday Writing Fodder

Published on by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

I’ve decided to add a new regular Friday feature, in which I gather links to the articles I discover throughout the week and post to my social media as potential story fodder. Perhaps someone other than my immediate circle needs inspiration and can find it here, if nothing else some of it is quite entertaining, some of it quite informative, and the rest at least interesting (I hope).

Dire Wolves are real. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2021/01/dire-wolf-dna-study-reveals-surprises/

Italy braces for its biggest mafia trial in decades. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55633091?fbclid=IwAR1wixB7HU2Yw9ZaXS3KhCdfV7RPNoaPzVgCDDbDdckZQcs789WTInh-1uM

Rare Superplanet unlike any other discovered
https://www.foxnews.com/science/super-earth-nasa-discovers-10b-year-old-planet

Wanting out of the house despite COVID restrictions, wife puts husband on leash and takes him for a walk. Yes, you read that right.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55631198

Polar Vortex… let the disaster stories commence.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55631198

Columbia is overrun by hippos.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/11/invasive-hippos-escobar-colombia-castrate/

Astronomers keep watch on nearby planet with signals that seem technological in origin
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/proxima-centauri-blc1/617635/

Human culture lasted years longer than originally thought by 20k years.
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-human-culture-years-longer-thought.html

New super fast space ship
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a35133014/jupiter-nuclear-plane/

Well, so there you have it. Some interesting reads that I hope inspire you and stimulate your imagination, or at least keep you entertained. Tune in every Friday for more.