Team:British Columbia/HP nanowrimo

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<b>Mechalarum by Emma Larkins </b><a href="http://www.emmalarkins.blogspot.com">Read more here!</a><br/>
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The realm has been at war for as long as the oldest of the elders can remember, and at last it looks like the tides are turning - for the worse. The old Patrus and his advisors are running out of ideas, and also running out of men to fly the suits that fit closer than skin known as the Mechalarum. Each suit is genetically engineered to bond with its host to ensure the most advanced fighting capabilities; when the hosts die, the suits live on, of little use to anyone. As combat rages outside the palace walls, the only daughter of the Patrus makes the terrible choice to bond with an abandoned suit. The mis-matched genetic material degrades her body even as she desires to fly skyrockets and her father forbids his only heir to risk her life fighting a losing battle.
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<b>Nightfall by Maximillian d'Erembourg </b><a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/674349">Read more here!</a><br/>
<b>Nightfall by Maximillian d'Erembourg </b><a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/674349">Read more here!</a><br/>
Three millennia after man spread to the stars like seeds from the tree of life, the great Terran Empire collapsed from a devastating war that almost cost humans our homeworld. Threatened by an alien menace, many alternate homeworlds were seeded. Half a millennium later, the Terran Empire re-emerged to expand and re-conquer all lost territory, enslaving all independent worlds.<br/>
Three millennia after man spread to the stars like seeds from the tree of life, the great Terran Empire collapsed from a devastating war that almost cost humans our homeworld. Threatened by an alien menace, many alternate homeworlds were seeded. Half a millennium later, the Terran Empire re-emerged to expand and re-conquer all lost territory, enslaving all independent worlds.<br/>
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<b>Progress Unbound by David Scheidl</b>
<b>Progress Unbound by David Scheidl</b>
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<b>Promethean by Bradford James </b><a href="http://www.leofungo.com">Read more here!</a><br/>
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The events on the Island have rocked his and his friends' lives, but so far the world around them is oblivious to the fact that figures from the Greek, Norse and Egyptian pantheons are real. After discovering he was the grandson of a Norse god, and seeing his friend McCray lie in a coma for 8 months, Thurston tries to figure out whether to stay with his comatose friend or go back to the mainland and find out what has happened to his missing mother. When McCray wakes up and escapes the island with a plan that may set half the world afire, it's up to Thurston and company to rein him in. But with Dr. Gabriel, leader of the PHAROS project with a (very, very, very) long history of wielding mythical power, making his own plans, the road won't be easy. And Thurston may learn that the source of this power may not be as heavenly as he has been led to believe.</p>
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<b>QUBIT - Degrees of Freedom by Sally Kirkpatrick </b><a href="http://qubit-degreesoffreedom.blogspot.com/">Read more here!</a><br/>
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How could an innocent show and tell between two friends threaten the Earth and perhaps the very fabric of life itself? Jeremy Garrett thought it was an ordinary day, but before the events set in motion that day were over he would have to face the horror of the hidden depths of his own humanity and fight for the freedom of mankind. The only one who believes he will make the right choice is his best friend, Rachel, but will she still believe in him if she knows his secret?
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<br/>In 2041, lab tests showed that a dead rat can, in fact, twitch his whiskers again. In 2042, lab tests showed that a dead human being can, in fact, walk again. But if there was anything the results proved, it was that the dead cannot truly live again. Death, however, could be beaten at its own game.<br/>
<br/>In 2041, lab tests showed that a dead rat can, in fact, twitch his whiskers again. In 2042, lab tests showed that a dead human being can, in fact, walk again. But if there was anything the results proved, it was that the dead cannot truly live again. Death, however, could be beaten at its own game.<br/>
Or so Dr. Margot Bachman thought when she developed the vaccine that should have helped humanity overcome its number one destructive disease: death. What she didn’t realize was that the vaccine, coupled with her brother’s greed and impatience, would give way to a disease far worse than death. Now those who have been infected walk amongst the dead, and those who still walk with the living must put their faith in a scientist, half-mad and half-wicked, to find an unlikely cure-or be served up as lunch in the ruins of America’s leading retailer.<br/>
Or so Dr. Margot Bachman thought when she developed the vaccine that should have helped humanity overcome its number one destructive disease: death. What she didn’t realize was that the vaccine, coupled with her brother’s greed and impatience, would give way to a disease far worse than death. Now those who have been infected walk amongst the dead, and those who still walk with the living must put their faith in a scientist, half-mad and half-wicked, to find an unlikely cure-or be served up as lunch in the ruins of America’s leading retailer.<br/>
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<b>The Phoenix and the Turtle by B. Rainier Hilyer </b><a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/684817">Read more here!</a><br/>
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The planet's scientific community is rocked by the appearance of several supernovae explosions of nearby stars in rapid succession. Famed physicist and nobel laureate Dr. Walter Phoenix reveals to a former colleague that he is somehow behind the astronomical events. Phoenix believes he has discovered the secret of the universe, and man's place within it: The universe itself is a living organism, and he means to "breed" new universes with the fiery corpses of stellar matter. What unfolds is a mind-numbing unravelling of the cosmic order, as one man's genius forces humanity to the brink of a new struggle for existence—one far grander than anyone could have imagined.
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<b>The Problem With Being Dead by Patience Ray </b><a href="http://looking-both-ways.blogspot.com/ ">Read more here!</a><br/>
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Shae Kincaid had the perfect life; until she died three weeks ago. While she's been reunited with her family thanks to the now-routine 'procedure', her boyfriend refuses to be seen with a 'dead girl,' her best friend's parents won't let them hang out, and her bio-engineered New-skin keeps melting away in the sun. In addition to the therapy sessions that are supposed to help her adjust to her new situation and the regular maintenance checkups at the hospital, she's been forced to transfer to night school with all the other deceased minors. Even worse, she's expected to testify against the old granny who ran her over. Yes, Shae is discovering that there are definitely worse things than being dead.
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<b>The Uncanny Valley by Meredeth Beckett </b><a href="http://www.notuboc.com">Read more here!</a><br/>
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A single generation into the future, a group of brilliant
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young scientists put the finishing touches on their masterpiece: an
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android who can pass for human. As they set about preparing it for its
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future life as the object of study the world over, they must battle
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profit; public opinion, which is divided and passionate on this highly
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<h3>NaNoWriMo</h3>
<h3>NaNoWriMo</h3>
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This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology.
This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology.
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<a href="http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/1249978316/synthetic-biology-and-your-novel">See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light!</a>
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<a href="http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/1249978316/synthetic-biology-and-your-novel">See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light!</a> We hope that through this exchange, iGEM participants will be able to see the range of sci-fi synthetic biology novels written by the public, and NaNoWriMo participants will be able to find out much more about what synthetic biology can achieve by browsing through iGEM projects. Many of the stories on this page tell a futuristic tale about ethical complications when humans decide to synthetically generate and/or alter humans. Although the settings of these stories may be chronologically far away, they pose many questions about the means of synthetic biology research and its applications. And although the idea of humans abusing synthetic biology research to such extremes may seem quite far-fetched at the moment, synthetic biologists should also consider political and corporate parties (such as those in these novels) who may choose to invest in synthetic biological warfare or ethically questionable products.
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Some interesting questions to ponder... <br></br><br></br>Are there any ethical boundaries to the design of synthetic organisms?<br></br><br></br>What are the ethics when it comes to synthetically generating or altering humans?<br></br><br></br>What about the use of synthetic biology in warfare, peacekeeping and law enforcement?
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<br></br><br></br>Are there any barriers set in place to avoid terroristic applications of synthetic biology?<br></br><br></br>And before those products even come into existence, are there any ethics regarding research methods and subjects?
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<br></br><br></br>What about accessibility of synthetic biology products? Will poor and sick people receive the same benefits? Will synthetic biology just be another way to reap lots of money off the poor in an unsustainable way?
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<br></br><br></br>Is synthetic biology going to become a political bargaining chip like other morally grey topics?
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<br></br><br></br>As the field of synthetic biology grows, these questions become increasingly real and require increasingly practical answers.
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Latest revision as of 00:28, 26 October 2010



Stories Featuring Synthetic Biology














































NaNoWriMo





National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.



Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.



As participants spend November writing, they can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.



In 2009, NaNoWriMo had 167,150 participants. 32,178 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.



This year, NaNoWriMo and iGEM are collaborating for the first time to showcase stories featuring synthetic biology. See our NaNoWriMo-iGEM article at the Office of Letters and Light! We hope that through this exchange, iGEM participants will be able to see the range of sci-fi synthetic biology novels written by the public, and NaNoWriMo participants will be able to find out much more about what synthetic biology can achieve by browsing through iGEM projects. Many of the stories on this page tell a futuristic tale about ethical complications when humans decide to synthetically generate and/or alter humans. Although the settings of these stories may be chronologically far away, they pose many questions about the means of synthetic biology research and its applications. And although the idea of humans abusing synthetic biology research to such extremes may seem quite far-fetched at the moment, synthetic biologists should also consider political and corporate parties (such as those in these novels) who may choose to invest in synthetic biological warfare or ethically questionable products.



Some interesting questions to ponder...



Are there any ethical boundaries to the design of synthetic organisms?



What are the ethics when it comes to synthetically generating or altering humans?



What about the use of synthetic biology in warfare, peacekeeping and law enforcement?



Are there any barriers set in place to avoid terroristic applications of synthetic biology?



And before those products even come into existence, are there any ethics regarding research methods and subjects?



What about accessibility of synthetic biology products? Will poor and sick people receive the same benefits? Will synthetic biology just be another way to reap lots of money off the poor in an unsustainable way?



Is synthetic biology going to become a political bargaining chip like other morally grey topics?



As the field of synthetic biology grows, these questions become increasingly real and require increasingly practical answers.